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Roleystone fruit grower Peter Casotti has been forced to dump 30,000 kilograms of nectarines as retail giant Coles stocks supermarket shelves with imported eastern states-grown stone fruit rather than local produce.

Hills Orchard Improvement Group spokesman Brett DelSimone said tonnes of fruit was being dumped while WA company Wesfarmers, the owner of Coles, turned its back on local growers.

Roleystone grower Peter Casotti has had to dump 30 tonnes of nectarines amid claims Coles looks to the eastern states for product.

"It is a shame that a WA-based retail giant ignores a fresh product that can be placed on shelves within 24 hours," he said.

"Instead, they choose to stock an imported product that has been harvested up to a week or two before, is transported to WA on trucks for days and then transported again through distribution centres."
Juba: The rebels are finally entering the capital of South Sudan, the world's youngest nation - but as part of a peace deal.

There to greet them are three Australian citizens - Dobuol Lual from Melbourne's eastern suburbs; Chuol Pouk from Bayswater; and David Gatwech, from Blacktown in Sydney.

Mr Lual, a member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-opposition (SPLM-IO), is overseeing the orderly arrival of 1370 rebel soldiers in Juba as part of the country's fragile peace agreement.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: A 25-year old American woman appeared in court Monday on misdemeanor charges for allegedly insulting the United Arab Emirates in public while waiting for a taxi at the Abu Dhabi International Airport.

The National, a government-owned newspaper in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, reported that the woman, who was not named, has been under arrest since February 23. The newspaper says she told the Federal Supreme Court that she was waiting for a taxi at the airport when two men approached and spoke to her in a manner she did not like.

It quoted her as saying that she "refused to engage with them and nothing happened." The report did not say if evidence was presented against her.
You'd think that director Thomas Kail would need a vacation after opening the mega-hit Hamilton on Broadway and staging a live television broadcast of Grease that was viewed by nearly 15 million people. But Kail is a theatrical superman, deservedly in demand and jumping headfirst back into the world of off-Broadway, developing some unique staging along the way.

On March 22, Kail returned to the Public Theater (where Hamilton premiered off-Broadway) to open Dry Powder, an intelligent and ambitious world-premiere drama from Sarah Burgess about the price of success in the world of high finance. This production, which runs through May 1, features a starry cast headed by John Krasinski and Claire Danes. Currently Kail can be found over at the Linney Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center, where he reunites with his In the Heights book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes to direct Daphne's Dive. The new play, featuring Daphne Rubin-Vega and Orange Is the New Black's Samira Wiley, will begin previews on April 26.

Both productions are a chance for Kail to refocus his vision, keep his "head down," and do work that's important to him as Hamilton continues to become a worldwide sensation.

Thomas Kail is the director of Hamilton on Broadway, Dry Powder at the Public Theater, and Daphne's Dive at the Pershing Square Signature Center.

( David Gordon)

What was it about Dry Powder that interested you as a director? I was really fascinated by the idea of jumping into a world that I didn't know much about. Fundamentally, one of the things I tend to migrate toward when I'm working is a story about people whose stories aren't told in theater. Sarah's voice was sharp and focused, and the writing was so strong and deft. I responded to the fact that each [character] had a very strong point of view that had real foundation under it. To me, that's where good drama comes from. That's where good comedy comes from.

How did you decide to stage it in the round?

We conceived of this very early on, before we were even cast. I'm interested in immediacy. I wanted to create this arena, to have this cauldron be one that's having heat applied from everywhere. The nature of the design Rachel [Hauck] and I came up with is really stripping it down, focusing on the story and these actors. I remember sitting and talking to John [Krasinski] saying, "By the way, we're doing this in the round."

And he and Claire Danes and Hank Azaria jumped right in?

They all rolled up their sleeves and went to work. They were all so rigorous in their pursuit of the play. It immediately galvanized the group. Because you're being examined from all angles when you're working in the round, it forces the actor to rely on the other actor in a very significant way. There's nowhere to be that's safe except in your scene. When I was doing Lombardi, which was also in the round, Dan Lauria had a great quote: "The safest place you can be when you're working in the round is your scene-partner's eye." You really have to lock in. That also serves as a catalyst to bond a group.

Hank Azaria, Claire Danes, and John Krasinski in Thomas Kail's production of Dry Powder by Sarah Burgess at the Public Theater.

( Joan Marcus)

Is there a difference in your directorial methodology when you're working with a "celebrity" like John Krasinski or a "theater person" like one of the Hamilton cast members?

Not at all. My job is the same if I'm making a new musical or making a play for sixty-five people or doing a live television broadcast. The job is to take care of the actor, the job is to create an environment where they can excel, and try to access all their attributes. In this particular group, everybody had a fair amount of stage experience. John studied playwriting in college, and his career had taken him in the direction it had taken him. It's a testament to his bravery that he said, "Yeah, I'll step back onstage and do this thorny, complicated play in the round as my New York stage debut." But that's the kind of actor you want. Whether they've done a hundred shows or one show, you want the person who's willing to just jump in, and everybody was interested in that.

Fundamentally, what you're trying to do when you're directing is get a group of people who most likely have never met, unify them, and make sure that we're all clear on what we're marching towards.

How is it going over at Daphne's Dive?

We just finished our first week of rehearsal. It's an excellent group and a really beautiful play. It's so nice being back in the room with Quiara. If you know her work, it's full Hudes. Her voice is so clear and true, no matter what she writes, and she writes with such affection and such care for the people that she puts onstage. It takes place in North Philadelphia in a bar, over a period of time from the nineties on.

This bar is a building you would probably just drive by, so we ripped the walls off and we peer in. We're doing this alley style, so I have an audience on two sides. That kind of proximity was going to be our friend, to put the audience right in there. When you put the show in the middle, it means the furthest audience member is two times as close as they would be if it were a traditional proscenium. It creates a nice dynamic and envelope around the set.

And Hamilton has become part of the cultural zeitgeist. Have you had the chance to step back and have a "holy cow" moment?

You know, mostly you keep your head down, because there's always something to do. We're still, in so many ways, in the early chapters of the show, even though it's been five years of our life. The beauty of making theater is that you have to go and do it the next day. Making a show nightly is a really difficult skill. It's something every theater actor and every theater maker is challenged with. As Lin and I say, it's like running a restaurant. You have to make the meal every time. We know we have the right people, we know we have the right ingredients, we're in the right place, and we owe it to everybody to try and serve it up to them in a way that they deserve and that can be fulfilling. What's really wonderful about this [is that] it's still going. You're still at the theater watching the show and having new people join the company. The work keeps us focused on what's important: the work.
Hyundai-Kia To Surpass European Brand Sales In US

SEE ALSO: Totally Kia

SEE ALSO: Totally Hyundai

Seoul April 10, 2016; Lee Hyo-sik writing for the Korea Times reported that Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors will soon sell more cars in the United States than 17 European brands combined, industry analysts said Sunday.

The two Korean automakers have maintained their market shares on a series of newly launched models this year, while the popularity of European-brand vehicles has waned among U.S. consumers following last year's Volkswagen emission-cheating scandal.

According to industry data, Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 319,651 cars in the world's largest automobile market in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 7.8 percent of the market. Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and 14 other European brands sold a combined 344,117, capturing 8.4 percent of the U.S. market.

The market share gap between Hyundai-Kia and the 17 European brands narrowed to 0.6 of a percentage point in the first three months of the year from a 1.2 percentage point gap last year.

Hyundai sold 173,330 cars, up 0.8 percent from the same quarter last year, while U.S. consumers bought 146,321 Kia vehicles, up 3.7 percent. In particular, Hyundai's all-new Tucson sport utility vehicle (SUV) was the most popular model with 7,830 sold in March, up 85.5 percent from a year earlier.

Both Korean carmakers posted record-high sales in the first quarter.

In contrast, Volkswagen's sales declined 12.5 percent to 69,314 cars during the period. BMW and other European brands also saw their sales either stagnate or decrease. As a result, their combined U.S. market share fell to 8.4 percent from 9.2 percent in 2015.

"Hyundai and Kia have been performing well since the beginning of 2016 as they aggressively introduced a series of new sedans and SUVs," an automobile industry analyst said. "Throughout the year, both automakers plan to launch more new models, including Hyundai's first premium brand sedan, the G90, which will attract keen attention from U.S. motorists."

However, European brands have lost their luster among U.S. consumers after Volkswagen's emission-cheating fiasco, the analyst said.

"Many U.S. motorists lost faith in European brands, making it difficult for Europe-based automakers to pitch for their vehicles," he said. "If the current trend continues, Hyundai and Kia will soon be able to sell more cars than 17 European brands combined."

Meanwhile, Hyundai's Tucson SUV, and i10 and i30 compact cars were among the top 10 best-sellers in Germany.

According to the German Association of the Automotive Industry, Hyundai sold 2,116 all-new Tucson SUVs in Europe's largest automobile market in February, the third highest after Nissan's Qashqai SUV (2,345) and the Fiat 500 compact (2,214).

Hyundai also sold 1,526 i10s in Germany for fifth place, while its i30 came in ninth (1,470). The automaker's overall sales in Germany rose 11 percent to 7,279.

"The German market is mostly dominated by Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other home-grown carmakers," a Hyundai Motor official said. "Given that, it's quite encouraging to see our cars have been well received by German motorists. We believe that Hyundai vehicles will perform better in other European markets."
Healthcare company opens Leeds HQ

A PRIVATELY owned healthcare company has opened a UK headquarters in Leeds city centre with plans to almost double group turnover to 80.7m (100m) by the end of 2018.

As part of the plans Healthcare 21 (HC21) has just signed an agreement with Acelity, a global wound care and regenerative medicine company. The agreement allows for the exclusive distribution of certain surgical portfolio products in Germany, Austria and Luxembourg.

The Leeds office has been set up predominantly as a sales and marketing hub and has resulted in a number of key appointments including business development director David Plotts who is tasked with spearheading continued UK and European growth.

Mr Plotts said: This is an exciting time at Healthcare 21 a lot has been achieved in a relatively short time frame in the highly regulated medical technology and healthcare products sector. We are now looking to maintain growth organically both in the UK and Ireland and also by launching Pan-European operations this year in Austria and Germany and next year in Scandinavia.

We take-over a head office in Germany with plans to develop a 13 strong sales force across Germany, Austria and Luxembourg, three managers and a marketing support team all overseen by a sales and marketing director.

We have ambitious plans to almost double group sales to 100m euros inside the next three years and this is a confident first step toward achieving that.

Healthcare 21 UK was set up four years ago by UK managing director David Frederick following the success of its Irish parent company launched in 2003 by chairman Owen Curtin. Annual turnover of the UK business is now at 22m euros (17m), with group sales over 65m euros (50m) employing 190 staff across both businesses with 25 based in the UK.

Frederick is a former vice-president of sales at Covidien, now part of Medtronic the worlds largest medical technology company, where he was responsible for 700 staff and a 700m turnover.

Mr Frederick said: I have known Owen and many of the members of our senior management team at Healthcare 21 for many years and it is that shared experience and trust which I believe has been the secret to the exceptional growth.

During this period we have continually reinvested in our business so that now we are well positioned to launch operations across Northern Europe and Scandinavia, building on the success in the UK and Ireland. As the deal with Acelity proves, we are looking at acquisition as a means to grow and strengthen our position with one eye on becoming an original equipment manufacturer ourselves in the longer term.

Under Fredericks stewardship the UK went from a standing start to 10m sales in its first two years from 2012 to 2014, almost doubling again in the two years following that, to its current level and as a result has been a key driver in the overall growth of the group.

We have been fortunate in the sense that there has been a lot of consolidation in the medical device and healthcare product sector, partly as a result of the recession, causing a lot of centralisation among the major players.

This has led to an increased demand for our services, where we can provide existing on the ground sales teams, specialist market knowledge and significant logistics capacity.

Because of our hard won expertise and significant ongoing investment in the business we are, unusually I think for a distributor, fully transparent with our partners.

Large multi-national organisations that have merged or been acquired are looking for a safe pair of hands to provide a sales focus on certain areas of their product portfolios as their commercial priorities change and evolve. Smaller companies can find it very beneficial to use our existing on the ground sales networks and operations rather than subsidise their own, protecting their profit margins.
ABUJA, Nigeria  According to a statement released in February by the Nigerian police, Abdul Lawal, dressed as the groom, and Umar Tahir, dressed as the bride, were just about to take their seats at their well-attended marriage ceremony on Feb. 6, when plainclothes police broke up the party and whisked them away to jail, along with several of the guests.

The so-called same-sex marriage ceremony, which took place at the popular Kings Land Hotel in the capital, is prohibited under Nigerian law.

The spokesman for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, Anjuguri Manzah, said the police acted based on the provisions of the Same-Sex Prohibition Act which many in this highly religious country have embraced, but which has been widely criticized by LGBT activists here and abroad.

The much scrutinized legislation (PDF) signed into law in 2014 outlaws sodomy and provides penalties of up to 14 years in jail for a gay marriage. It also prohibits the promotion of civil unions.

When it was approved by then-President Goodluck Jonathan, the United States, Britain, and Canada condemned the new law, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying that it dangerously restricts freedom of expression and association of all Nigerians.

Jonathans successor, Muhammadu Buhari, has stood firm in support of the anti-gay law, despite pressure for its repeal, particularly from the United States. Under his administration, gay people will be arrested and prosecuted based on the law.

Incidents like the arrest of Lawal and Tahir and their guests in a supposed marriage ceremony are rare, but not unprecedented, particularly in northern Nigeria. Similar arrests have taken place in Bauchi and Kano, where witnesses say suspects were often tortured in detention and forced to give names of other gay people they know to the police.

That is what they did to some of our friends in Bauchi after they were arrested, an unmarried gay man well call Mana, who lives in Jiwa community, told The Daily Beast. They tortured them into naming people they had come in contact with, including friends who werent gay.

Mana, who used to live in Bauchi, said his name was mentioned during interrogation, but he had left town by the time police came to arrest him in 2014.

I got information that policemen were arresting gay people and so I quickly fled, he said. Those who were unfortunately arrested said they were tortured and forced to give names and phone numbers of their close friends to the police.

Nigerian law enforcement agents are notorious for torturing suspects to extract confessions, and a number of officials have been accused of intimidating suspects until they implicate innocent friends and associates. One motive: to make money off of bail after they round people up.

Although news of the Jiwa arrests spread like wildfire across the country and the action of security officers in apprehending the actors was commended by a number of citizens and religious organizations, human-rights activists rejected claims by the police that a gay marriage ceremony had taken place anywhere in Abuja. They say that security officials carried out arrests in a local celebration that was not a same-sex wedding at all.

Rights worker John Adeniyi, who has been following the case closely, told The Daily Beast that the ceremony where Lawal and Tahir were arrested was actually a traditional fund-raising ceremonyknown in the local Hausa language as Ajowhere some participants socially cross-dress for the purpose of entertainment.

At one point in time when a traditional music was playing and people were performing the cultural dance, police stormed the event premises and caught one of the cross-dressed participants dancing in a close range to one other person who cross-dressed alongside several other persons, said Adeniyi.

The two persons presumed to be a couple were two individuals spotted dancing in a close proximity at the cultural dance performance although one of them was cross-dressed, which was the factor that made the police come to the conclusion without an adequate investigation, Adeniyi added.

In recent times, a number of human-rights activists have accused the police of arresting and detaining perceived homosexuals without cause, except for the purpose of extorting money from detainees to allow them to get out of jail.

Adeniyi said the accused gay couple and those arrested alongside them were required to pay bribes to the police to secure their release.

At least one lady confirmed to have paid 70,000 naira (about $350) in order to secure the bail of her girlfriend and herself, he said. Several other people paid different amounts of money to be released from detention.

There is also fear that the anti-gay law, accompanied by the aggressive clampdown on gay people, may have worsened the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the country. Apart from jailing gay couples, the law provides penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment for membership or encouragement of gay clubs, societies and organizations, and this has been interpreted to include groups formed to combat AIDS among gays.

Not long after the anti-gay law was passed, the UN agency fighting AIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria expressed deep concern that access to HIV services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will be severely affected in the country, which has an estimated 3.4 million people living with the HIV virus. About half of that number are women, but unprotected intercourse among men puts them at especially high risk.

Mana said a number of his gay friends have tested positive for HIV but are reluctant to seek counseling so as not to reveal the way in which they contracted the disease.

For some gay people it is better to die with the disease than reveal how it was gotten, he said. In a country that hates gay people, you cant tell who will help send you to jail.

Mana told me in February that he was making it back to Bauchi, where the very active Sharia system of Islamic law, which runs parallel to the state and federal justice system, prescribes the death sentence for homosexuality. A judge decides whether it should be done by a public stoning or by lethal injection, although no gay person has been subjected to such punishment as yet.

For Lawal and Tahir, it remains to be seen what further action the police will take against them, or whether this case may have been closed already after both men, as Adeniyi said, paid to secure their release on bail. Authorities have refused to speak further on the case to the media.

Whatever befalls the gay couple, and whether or not they were apprehended in a marriage ceremony, the public announcement and publicity surrounding their arrest, and the special attention given to this case by the police shows how much of a priority authorities put on hunting down gays.

At the point of release, Lawal and his supposed partner were verbally assaulted, named, shamed and photographed without consent, Adeniyi said, but they now feel helpless to respond. They fear further escalation.
Iraqi Kurdistans fight against ISIS has for many Kurds been an existential battle central to their survival and that of their autonomous region in Iraq. However, with ISIS prevented from embarking upon Kurdistans major towns and cities, thanks to the efforts of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the U.S.-led military coalition against the jihadists, the Kurds face what their deputy prime minister, Qubad Talabani, describes as the real existential threatthe regions economic crisis. If this situation does not improve soon, ISIS will be the least of its problems. Indeed, it is often overlooked that, as a result of the crisis, Iraqi Kurds are now found among the deluge of refugees and economic migrants from the Middle-East into Europe.

Sitting in an office in Sulaymaniah, and armed with a pen and whiteboard, Talabani, who is overseeing major economic reforms, explained to us how the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) faces an economic challenge of staggering proportions. Beginning in 2014, he describes how we were hit with an economic tsunami which came in four waves. The first of these came in February 2014, when the Iraqi government in Baghdad, which has been in dispute with the Kurds over a number of issues, unilaterally cut the KRGs share of the federal budget.

This was followed by the emergence of ISIS and its foray into Iraq in June 2014, which led to increased security and military spending and was followed by a massive influx of 2 million refugees and internally displaced persons into Kurdistan.The final hit was the global drop in oil prices that began in mid-2014, which the KRG failed to plan for during its boom years of 2006-2014 when the price of oil hovered at around $100 a barrel.

Before recent reforms began to take hold the KRG was grappling with a monthly deficit of around $406 million per month. Government employees have suffered pay cuts and civilian staff are only paid every five months, while those working in the security services receive theirs every four. A senior Kurdish intelligence official involved with all aspects of the war on ISIS, from recruiting informants to covert special operations, told us that the crisis threatens to stall the successful momentum against ISIS that the Kurds and the international community have recently enjoyed.

The crisis, as most politicians in the region would admit, could have been less severe. Kurdistans two ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), sustained a system of patronage that, among other things, involved providing superfluous jobs in exchange for political support. This form of artificial job creationa small village school or hospital, for example, may have up to 40 government paid guards  has had a devastating impact on the economy.

The KRG also appears to be paying so-called ghost-employees, whereby certain arms of the state claim more staff than they have so as to inflate their budgets. Of a population of 5.2 million, 1.4 million are on the government payroll, a clearly unsustainable wage bill. Last year, this amounted to $795 million per month. In addition, the KRG has for too long provided its oil industry with massive fuel subsidies and has relied on expensive diesel for power generation.

What will it take, then, to recover the situation? As a sub-state entity, the KRG does not have the advantages that states have when trying to rescue their economies. It has no track record in debt and is therefore not able to borrow its way out of this crisis. Furthermore, no international fund can come to its aid and provide the sort of bailout packages that have saved countries like Greece. Instead, the KRG has had to rely solely on fiscal management and reform.

Only a tiny proportion of the population pay taxes in the KRG, so among the first steps to offset the loss of oil revenue was to begin a push to collect, rather than raise, taxes. Additionally, all civilian government pay scales have been hit, with junior staff facing pay reductions of 15 percent, going up to 75 percent for senior positions. Beyond the pay cuts and freezes, fuel subsidies have also been reduced and power production is gradually being shifted from diesel to natural gas, with parts of the power grid also beginning to be farmed out to independent companies. The measures have yielded some positive results. By January of this year, the wage bill was reduced by 39 percent to around $480 million a month. The monthly deficit, according to Talabani, has also already been reduced to around $108.4 million.

It is hard to imagine many other populations in the world that would put up with months without pay, and some analysts point out that if this were to happen in Baghdad, the government there would have faced overwhelming social unrest and may have even collapsed. Baghdad, in comparison, is on edge as demonstrators have mobilized against the state to protest the lack of services and jobs. This mobilization has taken place at the behest of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has threatened armed confrontation against the Iraqi government unless things improve.

Kurdistan, however, has proven to be far more resilient. The experience of generations of repression and struggle and a strong collective memory and history are certainly reasons for the maintenance of relative social stability in the region so far. The undoubted effectiveness of the reforms has also led to a feeling of cautious optimism that has begun to allay fears and reduce tensions.

The KRG still has a long way to go before it recovers, and the crisis has been a wake-up call that is spurring structural reforms which have been a long time coming, even if these will take a while to fully take hold. In the meantime, there is plenty the West can do and Kurdistan is too important to fail. It shares a roughly 1,000-kilometer border with ISIS and is fighting an enemy that otherwise would likely be turning even more of its attention and resources to international terrorism.

In other words, the KRGs war on ISIS is also the international communitys war and the state of its economy will have a direct impact on the national interests of Western nations. That means that it must consider providing the KRG with more of the financial support it desperately needs to stabilize its economy so that it can fund this fight and prosper. This does not have to come at the expense of reform. As the U.S. and the European Union have done before, funds can be provided on a conditional basis. That will further incentivize reform, generate economic growth and ultimately position Kurdistan so it can sustain itself in the longer run.
One of the ongoing mysteries in Washington is why the Obama administration is still classifying 28 pages of a congressional report written in 2003 that documents Saudi support for the hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks.

The bipartisan co-authors of that report have long called for its release to the public, and President Obama on two separate occasions over the last several years promised the 9/11 families that he would declassify the 28 pages.

Now pressure on Obama to make good on his promise is mounting. Advocates claim there is no longer any reason to protect the Saudis 15 years after the attacks. Government insiders argue theres nothing in the 28 pages that they dont already know, and making them public will only roil an important strategic relationship at a time when its already under significant strain.

Into this volatile mix marches 60 Minutes, the venerable CBS News show, with a hard-hitting report Sunday on the making of those 28 pages, and a renewed push by those with the most direct knowledge of what they contain to finally make them public. As the 60 Minutes segment points out, Obama is traveling to Saudi Arabia in 10 days, a trip that comes in the midst of his administrations review of whether to go ahead with the de-classification.

Former Florida senator Bob Graham chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee and co-chaired the joint congressional committee that looked into the attacks. He told 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft, I think it is implausible to believe that 19 people, most of whom didnt speak English, most of whom had never been in the United States before, many of whom didnt have a high school education, couldve carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States.

An exchange between Kroft and Graham goes to the heart of the dispute. You believe that support came from Saudi Arabia? Kroft asks. Substantially, Graham replies. And when we say, The Saudis, you mean the governmentrich people in the country? Charities?

All of the above, Graham replies.

It has long been the Saudi position that support for the hijackers did not come from the government, and the congressional report contained a line that seemed to exonerate the government. Its not an exoneration, says former senator Bob Kerrey, a member of the 9/11 Commission who has filed an affidavit in support of a lawsuit brought by the 9/11 families seeking redress from the Saudi government for the loss of their loved ones.

The families dont want another 9/11 anniversary to pass without fully understanding the complicity that led to the attacks. By turning its media megaphone on the impasse, 60 Minutes showed viewers the extraordinary range of high-profile former officials on both sides of the political aisle who wish to see this matter resolved. Porter Goss, who co-chaired the congressional inquiry with Graham and then became CIA director under President Bush, recounted asking then-FBI Director Robert Mueller why the 28 pages were classified and basically being told, Because we said so.

Withholding them during the Bush years made a certain amount of sense because the attacks were still so fresh, and the Bush family had long-standing close ties with the Saudi royal family. Making those pages public would be embarrassing. Obama has more freedom to make a decision based on national security considerations, but he may be reluctant to strain U.S. ties with the kingdom further.

Former Democratic congressman Tim Roemer, who was a member of the joint committee, says the 28 pages contain information that will surprise people, including, he suggests, leads that were not sufficiently pursued. He mentions an imam at a San Diego mosque, Anwar al-Awlaki, who years later would be taken out by a U.S. drone in Yemen. Those are a lot of coincidences, and thats a lot of smoke. Is that enough to make you squirm and uncomfortable, and dig harderand declassify these 28 pages? Absolutely, he said.

60 Minutes opened its report with an image of a locked door on Capitol Hill, behind which the 28 pages are kept under top security. Members of Congress can go and read the pages, but they cannot take notes or bring along a staff member. A relatively small percentage of lawmakers have availed themselves of the opportunity. A bipartisan effort led by Republican Walter Jones of North Carolina and Democrat Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts is urging members to read the pages, and once theyve done that, to sign on to a resolution calling for their declassification.

John Lehman, secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration and another member of the 9/11 Commission, told 60 Minutes: Were not a bunch of rubes that rode into Washington for this commissionWeve seen fire and weve seen rain and the politics of national security. We all have dealt for our careers in highly classified and compartmentalized in every aspect of security. We know when something shouldnt be declassified. And this, those 28 pages in no way fall into that category.

There are real-life implications for the 9/11 families in these 28 pages and their potential impact on a lawsuit being heard in New York. The U.S. government holds the position that a sovereign government cannot be sued, and that has so far shielded the Saudi government. Lehman told 60 Minutes that he has no doubt some high Saudi officials knew assistance was being provided to al Qaeda, but he doesnt think it was ever official policy. He also doesnt think it absolves the Saudis of responsibility, Kroft said in his commentary.

It was no accident that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. They all went to Saudi schools. They learned from the time they were first able to go to schoolof this intolerant brand of Islam, Lehman said, referring to the ultra-conservative form of Islam known as Wahhabism. After oil, Kroft says, Wahhabism is one of the kingdoms biggest exports. Saudi clerics have billions of dollars to spread the faith, and the mosques and religious schools that the Saudi government builds all over the world are recruiting grounds for violent extremists.

Its long past time that someone blew the whistle on what the Saudis are doing in perpetrating extremism. There are no secrets here. Its what everyone knows is going on but few dare to disrupt. Shining a light on this long-standing protection racket could make some people squirm. It could also interrupt a very vicious cycle of behavior.
ISTANBUL  Forget The Donald, Hillary, and Bernie in New York. If you want to see some serious mud-slinging, look to Turkeys capital Ankara, where the president of the republic and the leader of the opposition have been calling each other political and sexual perverts.

Turkish politics has never been for the faint-hearted, with sex tapes ending political careers, fistfights breaking out in parliament, lawmakers going to jail for speaking Kurdish, and generals staging three coups detat in two decades. But the latest gutter-talk exchanges have shocked even seasoned observers here, with what the Hurriyet daily called some of the most severe accusations ever heard in Ankara.

As Murat Yetkin, editor if the English-language Hurriyet Daily News, wrote in a column, It is not clear where this war of decomposing language will end.

It all started when a sexual abuse scandal in a dormitory run by Ensar, a religiously conservative NGO seen as close to the government, came to light last month. At least eight male students reportedly were raped by a teacher in the dorm in the central Anatolian city of Karaman. A prosecutor is asking for 600 years in prison for the alleged rapist, who is in pre-trial detention, but the opposition in Ankara is accusing the ruling Islamic-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) of playing down the incident in order to protect Ensar.

Last week, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, of the secularist Republican Peoples Party (CHP), launched a broadside against the government during a speech in Ankara. He said government figures were refusing to protect child rape victims, lashing out against Family Minister Sema Ramazonoglu because she had defended Ensar by insisting a single incident should not be used to blacken the image of a whole institution.

This is when things started getting ugly. Kilicdaroglu said the family minister was laying [down] in front of someone; the phrase is well-known in Turkey because a former minister reportedly said he would lay in front of a shady businessman to protect him from being investigated for bribery.

Rahsan Gulsan, a columnist writing for the Sozcu newspaper, pointed out that laying in front of someone was not the same as saying the female family minister was laying underneath someone, but that didnt stop government leaders from declaring Kilicdaroglu had made a rude and sexist remark.

In the ensuing war of words, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made sure he was the one using the harshest language, saying now that the sexual pervert who had raped the boys was behind bars, Turkey should think about what to do with political perverts like Kilicdaroglu. May God save Turkish politics and Turkish democracy from types like this one, Erdogan said on Friday.

The opposition leader shot back by saying that Erdogan was guilty of political perversion himself because he ignored a constitutional demand that the head of state be impartial when in fact he was openly taking the AKPs side on all matters.

For good measure, Kilicdaroglu added that Erdogan had also admitted to staring at girls and women from the window of his office in Istanbul. This is called sexual perversion, Kilicdaroglu said. He accused the government of immorality by trying to pin a sexist remark on him when he hadnt made any and called on Erdogan to shut up just for two minutes.

Family Minister Ramazanoglu says she is going to court, demanding 50,000 lira ($17,500) in damages from Kilicdaroglu. Kadem, a womens rights group, brought criminal charges against the opposition leader, accusing him of a hate crime.

Sex and sexual innuendo pop up surprisingly often in public debates in Turkey, a Muslim society that is much more conservative than those in Western nations, especially outside the big cities like Istanbul.

Last year, an Islamic scholar made headlines by declaring during a chat show on the state-run TRT television channel that advanced oral sex was a sin even when performed by a married couple. He failed to explain what exactly he had in mind, as the female presenter of the show broke down laughing while live on air.

Earlier this year, the state-financed Religious Affairs Directorate caused a storm by publishing an Islamic ruling, or fatwa, that gave the impression of tolerating sexual advances of a father towards his own daughter, as long as the girl was older than 9 years old. The directorate said the press had distorted the content of the fatwa, but the author of the ruling was fired.

While the slander game in Ankara continues, some observers say the row around the alleged sexist slur by opposition leader Kilicdaroglu has in effect stopped efforts to get to the bottom of the abuse scandal in Karaman. Everybody in the capital focused on scoring the next rhetorical goal, not solving problems. As Hurriyet columnist Ahmet Hakan wrote on Friday, That is Turkeys biggest tragedy.
Total packaging redesign for Angostura rums

The House of Angostura has repackaged all five of its international rums: Angostura 1824, Angostura 1919, Angostura 7 Year Old, Angostura 5 Year Old, and Angostura Reserva.

Its a big, brave move for us, says Genevieve Jodhan, executive manager international sales and marketing. Every change reflects the exquisite quality of our rums. The new packaging isnt just aesthetically pleasing, it also centres the brand geographically in its Caribbean birthplace, Trinidad and Tobago, and reflects the unique nature of our journey.

The new, more premium packaging is intended to place Angosturas sipping rums in its rightfull position alongside the worlds best whiskies and spirits.

The labels for the entire range have been recreated withnew typography that is more streamlined, stylish and evocative of luxury. The iconic butterfly logo of The House of Angostura has been centred at the top of the front label, and two new brand icons have been added  a map of Trinidad and Tobago on the left, and an illustration of a butterfly and molasses on the right. These images tell the distinctive story of the brand: Butterflies have always been associated with Angosturas rums, and The House of Angostura is home to the Barcant Collection of more than 5,000 butterflies. All the rums are made at Angosturas distillery in Trinidad using highquality molasses. The back labels will also carry the Authentic Caribbean Rum Marque issued by the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association, which guarantees that the rum is a genuine Caribbean rum.

In addition to changes to the labels, Angosturas three premium rums 1824, 1919, and 7 Year Old  are presented in a new bottle with a thick glass base. Beautifully shaped with rounded curves, the bottles also use a new orchid closure system that is easy to open, yet safely secured for the customers protection. All five bottles are ergonomically balanced and shaped to facilitate storage and usage at the bar. The signature of Dr. J.G.B. Seigert, the founder of Angostura and the crest of the House of Angostura are also emblazoned on all the bottles.

All five rums bear a unique illustration on the bottle closure, called the Spirit of Trinidad and Tobago, which reiterates the brand story through portraits of a dancing woman, sugar cane and Trinidads Scarlet Ibis. The top of each bottle closure also bears a map of Trinidad and Tobago.

The new presentation cartons abd tube tubes have also been created for gifting.

The entire range of Angostura rums celebrates the history and the true spirit of Trinidad and Tobago, adds Jodhan. Over the last 192 years, Angostura has perfected the art of rum making, creating elegant stylish rums that are now found across the five continents. We believe our new, totally re-imagined packaging reflects our sense of adventure and innovation.

11 April 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor
Cats arent the only pets that get stuck in trees.

Just ask the firefighters who rescued a Great Dane from a high bough in rural Louisville, Nebraska, late Saturday night.

Youre not going to believe this, one Plattsmouth firefighter said to another after receiving the call for help about 10:10 p.m. They said theres a 125-pound Great Dane stuck 20 feet up in a tree.

They werent the first in disbelief.

Wes McGuirk, the dogs owner, couldnt believe his ears and eyes when, after searching his home, yard, barn and garage for his dog, Kora, he heard a soft whining from above. McGuirk said he pointed his flashlight up the tree, and there she was, like a little owl perched in a tree, with her eyes looking at me.

Yep, my Great Dane is in a tree, he thought. He and his friends had to get cellphone pictures.

Responding deputies and firefighters also had to take cellphone shots. A video of the rescue, posted on the Facebook sites for Elmwood Volunteer Fire and Rescue and the Plattsmouth Volunteer Fire Department, drew about 25,000 views and more than 300 shares.

We just couldnt believe it, McGuirk said. It just doesnt make physical sense that she could be that high in a tree.

The unusual rescue ended well for Kora, who was caught in a canvas tarp after being partially lowered with a harness and long leash.

While McGuirk was in Omaha on Saturday, the 16-month-old bluish-gray Great Dane/mastiff mix apparently leapt a 5-foot fence and scrambled up the tree  probably while chasing a raccoon or squirrel.

When McGuirk returned home and found Kora, he climbed a ladder into the tree and tried to coax her toward him. When that didnt work, he called the Cass County Sheriffs Office.

That night, the firefighters from Plattsmouth and paramedics from Elmwood were covering for the Louisville Volunteer Fire Department, which had been holding a recognition dinner for its crew.

Kora was scared, said Jacob Blunt, an Elmwood firefighter and paramedic. We could see her shaking from the ground, he said. She didnt want to come down.

Fortunately, a K-9 officer with the Cass County Sheriffs Office, Deputy Rob Rice, had a harness to use.

A firefighter slipped on the harness, attached to a 16- to 20-foot leash, and nudged Kora off the branch. The stitching on the harness gave way about 4 or 5 feet into the descent, said Lt. Jon Hardy of the Plattsmouth Fire Department. The dog fell into the tarp, not touching the ground except for one paw that tore through the tarp, he said.

Kora scampered away and resumed just being a dog, McGuirk said.
But the facts cannot be denied of a corporate globalization effectively stripping the lower middle classes and the public realm itself with no-one in Washington establishment saying a word against the greatest transfer of wealth to the 1% in history. Trump may deserve back as bad he gives. But this understanding keeps our eyes on the ego-contest which is the standard spectacle to avoid the real issues.

The personal attacks only tells us how deep the rupture has become between Trump's campaign and the establishment on the issues kept out of sight. This is why the corporate politicians and media are almost as wound into one-way demonization of Trump as they are when they beat the drums of war against a designated Enemy abroad.

In the end, it may get to him - as when he tries to find angry millions again from onside with an evangelical trumpet of abortion-is-murder just before the primary in Wisconsin. Trump is a shameless opportunist, no doubt. Yet we continue to revolve within an ad hominem circle until we go deeper than the establishment morality tale of the evil of the stigma object - the oldest propaganda trick in the book.

The major money interests that are really at stake in the conflict between Trump and the political-economic establishment remain unconnected and blocked out. 'Who will stop Trump?' is not only now asked across America, but the world's media in China too.

But nothing is less talked about than the globally powerful interests he has promised to rein back from the public troughs bleeding the country's capacities to build for and to employ its people. On this topic, there is only silence or abusive distortion frothing from the mouth.

Joining the dots of the Great Silence

Eventually people may ask why the establishment unanimously abhors Trump across party divisions which are otherwise unbridgeable. Even if he is a caricature of American privilege and self-promotion, who else could fight the corrupt corporate-state and media establishment? Who else could ever get public support from dispossessed masses and from inside the Republican Party base itself?

Who else could take on the supra-dominant corporate interests of the war state, drug monopoly, health insurance racket, lobby-run foreign policy, off-shore tax evasion, and global trade with only corporate rights to profit taking jobs in the tens of millions from home workers, and still hold a large and right-wing voter base onside?

Conversely, what else than Trump's threat to the corporate-state establishment can explain the unity of voice and venom against an American paragon of wealth and chupzpah? What else could motivate a cross-party and corporate media hate campaign where there is nothing else in common across the condemning voices? Only those citizens depending on the deep system corruptions he promises to reverse are really threatened by Trump's candidacy.

But how do these huge private interests go on getting away with a corporate-lobby state transferring every more public wealth and control to them at the expense of the American majority and their common interest when most people already dislike and are systemically exploited by them?

They get away with it by no-one being able to do anything about it. Trump represents a threat to these gargantuan public-trough interests that even the super clean and informed Ralph Nader candidacy for president never did. The corporate media and party machines just shut him down on the electoral stage so few even knew he was a presidential candidate.

You can't do that with Trump. That is the very big problem for the otherwise seamless political and media establishment who are all in on the fabulous payoffs of this corporate state game. Trump's entire strategy is based on getting public attention, and he is a master at it, un-buyably rich, and the most watched person in America across the country and the world. He can't be shut up.

Personal stigmatization and attack without let-up are the only way to gag his policies and turn the tide against him at the same time. Maybe it will work in the end. It's how disastrous and bankrupting foreign aggressions and wars have been sold whatever the ruinous costs to the public paying for them.

Until Wisconsin

When you join the dots to Trump also preaching a policy revolt against the insatiable corporate jaws feeding on trillions of dollars of public budgets in Washington, the meaning becomes clear. But that connected meaning is blacked out. In its place, the corporate media and politicians present an egomaniac blowhard bordering on fascism who preaches hate, racism and sexism.

But the silenced policies he advocates are more like jumping into a crocodile pit. He is on record saying he will cut the Pentagon's budget "by 50%". No winning politician has ever dared to take on the military-industrial complex, with even Eisenhower only naming it in his parting speech.

Trump also says that the US "must be neutral, an honest broker" on the Israeli-Palestine conflict - as unspeakable as it gets in US politics. Big Pharma is also called out with "$400 billion to be saved by government negotiation of prices". The even more powerful HMO's are confronted by the possibility of a 'one-payer system', the devil incarnate in America's corporate-welfare state.

Trump even challenges 'the Enemy' cornerstone of US ideology when he says "wouldn't it be nice to get along with Russia and China for a change?" Not very fascist of him. He was also open to nationalizing the Wall Street banks after 2008.

None of this sees the light of day in the hate-Trump culture that been effectively mounted across even left-right divisions. Most of all, Trump rejects the whole misnamed 'free trade' global system because it has "hollowed out the lives of American workers" with rights to corporations to move anywhere to get cheaper labour and import back into the US tariff-free.

But again the connected meaning is repressed. That Trump also wants to get the US out of foreign wars at the same time, the other great pillar of corporate globalization, is the real danger to the transnational corporate state he has set in motion.

All these policies threaten only the ruling money interests of America that depend on the superpower public purse to extend their transnational monopolies and multiply their wealth. This is the real establishment interest that has so far evaded the glare of publicity and critique of the Donald Trump phenomenon, bigger now with Bernie Sanders than any political challenge to the US system since the 1960's.

Trump is certainly not a working-class hero. He is a pure capitalist, with all the furies of private interest and greed that capitalism selects for. But at this time he is a capitalist who is not rich from looting the public purse as the biggest annual cash flow. Neither is it from exporting the costs of labour and taxes to foreign jurisdictions with subhuman standards that come back to the US as 'necessary to compete'.

Trump has initiated a long overdue recognition of parasite capitalism eating out the life capacities of the US itself.

John McMurtry is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada whose work is translated from Latin America to Japan. He is the author of the three-volume Philosophy and World Problems published by UNESCO's Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), and his most recent book is The Cancer Stage of Capitalism: from Crisis to Cure.

This article was originally published by Counterpunch.
Kentucky Governor-elect Matt Bevin answers a question during a press conference in the Kentucky State Capitol Rotunda, Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

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By Adam Beam, Associated Press

FRANKFORT  Kentucky lawmakers agreed Monday to extend the deadline for approving a two-year operating budget, temporarily averting an expensive special session and a potential government shutdown.

House and Senate leaders abruptly ended budget negotiations late Sunday night after both sides said they had reached a stalemate. The session is limited to 60 days this year, and lawmakers had already used 59 of them. They were scheduled to meet one last time on Tuesday. But that would not have given lawmakers enough time to approve a budget.

Republicans, who control the state Senate, at first refused to adjust the calendar, arguing it had been in place for months and lawmakers should stick to their agreements. But Republican Gov. Matt Bevin publicly pleaded with lawmakers to move the deadline.

The Legislative Research Commission estimates a special session would cost taxpayers $62,784 per day.

"We should not have to come back for a special session. If we do, we will waste money that frankly is unnecessary," Bevin said. "We will inflict pain and suffering on the people of this state without a budget for reasons that don't need to happen."

Hours after Bevin's message, Republican senators agreed to change the calendar. Budget negotiations are set to formally resume at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

"I think the governor's call was well taken by both sides," Stumbo said. "We'll get back to work on this thing."

Bevin has been in office since January. He proposed budget cuts of $650 million over the next two years to begin paying down the state's public pension debt, estimated at more than $30 billion.

Kentucky's state House is the last legislative chamber in the South still controlled by Democrats. The party solidified its control over the House by winning three out of four special elections last month after its candidates campaigned against Bevin's proposed cuts.

That set up combative budget negotiations with the Senate, with neither side willing to give in. A breakthrough came last week when college and university presidents agreed they would accept budget cuts of 4.5 percent over the next two years to encourage lawmakers to get a budget.

But lawmakers have been unable to resolve other education issues, including a Democratic proposal to spend $20 million to give free community college tuition to all Kentucky high school graduates.

The differences are so stark that Republican Senate President Robert Stivers, who has been mostly optimistic throughout the budget negotiations, changed his tone on Monday. Asked if he was confident a deal could be finalized this week, Stivers said: "I am confident it can. I am not confident it will."
Historic Golden Rule sailboat docks in Burlington

The refurbished sailboat has been navigating the Upper Mississippi River for the past month to spread a message of peaceful activism.
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BRUSSELS -- The arrest Friday of five men suspected of links to the Brussels bombings, including the last known fugitive in last year's Paris attacks, raised new questions about the extent of the Islamic State cell believed to have carried out the intertwined attacks that left 162 people dead in two countries.

After weeks of speculation about a mysterious "man in the hat" who escaped the Brussels attacks while three suicide bombers blew themselves up, authorities were checking whether that man was indeed Mohamed Abrini, the last identified suspect at large from the Paris attacks until Friday. Another man arrested in a series of raids, identified as Osama K. by Belgian authorities, was linked to the Nov. 13 Paris attacks by French authorities on March 22, hours after the Belgium attacks.

Abrini and Osama K. are now suspected of playing a role in the two biggest attacks carried out by the Islamic State group in Europe over the past year, killing 130 people in Paris and 32 in Brussels. French authorities renewed their call to arrest an armed and dangerous Abrini within hours of the Brussels attacks.

"We are investigating if Abrini can be positively identified as the third person present during the attacks in Brussels National Airport, the so called 'man in the hat,'" said prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt.

The man walked away from the airport attack, where two suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing 16. Authorities detained four other men on Friday, including Osama K., suspected of having contact with the suicide bomber who blew himself up in the Brussels subway the same morning, killing another 16.

Osama K. was filmed by security cameras in the City 2 shopping mall when the bags were bought that were used by the suicide bombers who attacked the airport.

Belgian prosecutors said Abrini's fingerprints and DNA were not only in a Renault Clio used in the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, but also in an apartment in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels used by the Brussels bombers.

Friday's detentions were a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been accused for months of mishandling the investigation. Both the interior and justice ministers had offered to resign before the detentions.

Despite multiple arrests, Brussels remains under the second-highest terror alert, meaning an attack is considered likely.

Abrini's precise role in the Paris attacks has never been clear, nor his full link to the Brussels attacks. Abrini is a 31-year-old Belgian-Moroccan, known as a petty criminal before he was believed to have traveled last summer to Syria, where his younger brother died in 2014 in the Islamic State's notorious francophone brigade.

Abrini went multiple times to Birmingham, England, last year, meeting with several men suspected of terrorist activity, a European security official has told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide details on the investigation. He said the meetings, including one later last summer, took place in several locations, including cafes and apartments.

Abrini had not resurfaced since the emergence of surveillance video placing him in the convoy with the attackers headed to Paris. He had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks who died in a police standoff on Nov. 18, and is a childhood friend of brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks.

Friday was three weeks to the day that authorities arrested in another Brussels neighborhood Salah Abdeslam, who had been on the run for four months. Abdeslam is awaiting extradition to France.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (AP) -- The Hindu temple in southern India was packed with thousands for a religious festival early Sunday when the fireworks began -- an unauthorized pyrotechnic display that went horribly wrong.

Explosions and a massive fire swept rapidly through the Puttingal temple complex about 3 a.m. in the village of Paravoor, killing 102 people and injuring 380 others, officials said.

Scores of devotees ran in panic as the massive initial blast cut off power in the complex, while other explosions sent flames and debris raining down, a witness said. Many people were trapped inside.

"It was complete chaos," said Krishna Das of Paravoor. "People were screaming in the dark. Ambulance sirens went off, and in the darkness no one knew how to find their way out of the complex."

Das said the first deafening explosion occurred as the fireworks display was about to end and as he was walking away. It was followed by a series of blasts, he added.

The fire started when a spark from the fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks that were being stored in the temple complex, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the top elected official in Kerala state.

Most of the 102 deaths occurred when the building where the fireworks were stored collapsed, Chandy told reporters. About 60 bodies have been identified so far, he added.

Das said six ambulances had been parked outside the complex as a precaution. They carried the injured to hospitals in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Paravoor, as well as the city of Kollam.

Villagers and police pulled many of the injured from under slabs of concrete.

TV channels showed video of huge clouds of white smoke billowing from the temple, as fireworks were still going off in the sky.

One of the explosions sent huge chunks of concrete flying as far as a kilometer (half a mile), said Jayashree Harikrishnan, another resident.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control by about 7 a.m., officials said. Rescuers searched the wreckage for survivors, while backhoes cleared debris and ambulances drove away the injured.

Thousands of worried relatives went to the temple to search for loved ones. Many wept and pressed police officials and rescue workers for information.

At one of the main hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. Thomas Mathew said that judging from injuries, a stampede was also likely to have occurred.

The temple holds a competitive fireworks show every year, with different groups putting on displays for thousands gathered for the end of a seven-day festival honoring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali.

This year, however, authorities in Kollam district had denied temple officials permission to hold the fireworks display, said A. Shainamol, the district's top official.

"They were clearly told that no permission would be given for any kind of fireworks," Shainamol told reporters.

Permission was denied over fears the competing sides would try to outdo each other with more and more fireworks and because the temple gets overcrowded during the festival, she said.

Public displays of fireworks can be conducted only with permission from district officials, Shainamol said.

Chandy, the state's chief minister, said he had appointed a retired judge to investigate the events leading to the fire and that strict action would be taken against those who had ignored rules.

"We will be investigating how the orders were flouted and who was responsible for the decision to go ahead with the firework display," Chandy said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew in from New Delhi to visit the site and met with Chandy and other Kerala leaders on measures to help the survivors.

Modi was accompanied by a team of doctors and burn specialists from New Delhi who will stay on to help treat the injured, officials said.

___

Associated Press writers Nirmala George and Katy Daigle in New Delhi contributed to this report.
BOSTON -- Several U.S. transit systems looking to defray costs of providing services for the disabled are weighing partnerships with Uber and Lyft, unsettling some advocates who note that ride-hailing services have themselves faced criticism over accessibility.

Paratransit, better known under names like "The Ride," ''Access-a-Ride," or "Dial-a-Ride," is required under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. But the costs, which include door-to-door pickup and drop-off, can be steep.

The average cost of operating a single paratransit trip is about $23 in the U.S., compared with less than $4 for the average trip on bus or light rail. In Boston, the average cost per ride is about $45, in Washington, about $50, and in New York, nearly $57, officials said.

Transit agencies nationwide logged about 223 million paratransit trips at a cost exceeding $5.1 billion -- about 12 percent of total transit operating costs -- in 2013, according to the most recent data from the American Public Transportation Association. The price tag is particularly high in major cities, where agencies struggle with regular service and maintenance.

"I understand there are budget concerns. But for me this is a quality-of-life issue," said Sarah Kaplan, 32, who was born with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. She rides a vehicle operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to get to and from her job as internship coordinator with the Boston Center for Independent Living.

"I want the right to leave my house like everyone else," Kaplan said.

In 2012, the MBTA doubled fares from $2 to $4 for The Ride, triggering protests; several people chained their wheelchairs together and blocked traffic. Fares were later rolled back to $3 for most rides.

The deficit-ridden agency now hopes to cut $10 million in annual paratransit costs by expanding an existing taxi voucher system and contracting with ride-hailing services.

The plan, not yet finalized, would charge customers $2 per ride, while the MBTA contributes up to $13 for the trip. If a trip costs more than $15, the passenger would pay the difference.

A potential incentive for riders: Uber or Lyft can be summoned immediately with an app; trips on MBTA vehicles must be scheduled a day ahead.

"My guess is it will be very appealing to people who need to go shorter distances where the fares are under $15 and they can get an on-demand ride as opposed to booking 24 hours in advance," said Brian Shortsleeve, the agency's chief administrator.

But convenience comes with a catch.

With a limited number of wheelchair-accessible vehicles, the ride-hailing services would be available largely to people who can walk. And while a majority of individuals certified to use paratransit fit that bill, advocates worry about creating an unfair and possibly even illegal two-tiered system for the disabled -- one serving people who can walk, the other those whose needs the private vehicles can't accommodate.

"We don't want racial segregation, and we also don't want disability segregation," said Marilyn Golden, senior policy analyst for the California-based Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund.

Uber and Lyft have both cited efforts to improve offerings for disabled riders. But the services have argued they are technology, not transportation, companies, meaning they are not required to provide accessible vehicles. Advocates for the disabled have filed a handful of lawsuits.

In January, a coalition including disability rights groups and labor unions wrote to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, known as Metro, expressing alarm over the agency's interest in contracting with companies such as Uber or Lyft.

"This is of grave concern to our coalition for many reasons, most importantly because neither company has adequate access to wheelchair accessible vehicles," the letter stated. Passenger safety and inadequate driver training were also cited as concerns, though activists did applaud Metro for seeking alternative forms of transportation.

The system already supplements its MetroAccess service with alternatives such as Transport DC, which offers $5 taxi rides to the disabled, including wheelchair-accessible cabs.

Metro hopes to solicit formal proposals from ride-sharing companies this summer but will pay careful attention to how such a program is structured, said Christian Kent, assistant manager of access services.

Pace, which operates the Chicago-area paratransit system, has had preliminary meetings with Uber and Lyft, said agency spokesman Doug Sullivan. He cited as a potential barrier the strict federal guidelines that drivers for Pace -- or any company under contract with Pace -- must meet for training, and drug and alcohol testing.

A spokesman for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the nation's largest transit system, declined to say whether it had reached out to ride-hailing services but did say no agreements were in place.

The San Francisco Examiner reported last year that Uber was in talks to take over that city's paratransit system, something that didn't come to pass.

Uber did not provide details of current paratransit proposals, but the company has pointed to disability outreach efforts such as UberACCESS that connects riders with wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

In a statement, Lyft said it has been in discussions with transit officials in Boston and was monitoring developments in Washington with the hope of participating in paratransit programs in both cities. The company also said it was working to accommodate people with disabilities, citing a recent partnership with the National Federation of the Blind.
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NORWALK -- Actress Ginger Grace channeled Emily Dickinson for a presentation at Norwalk Public Library Sunday.

"Inside Emily Dickinson: Her Poetry and Her Life" was part of the library's ongoing National Poetry Month programming.

Dressed in period garb, Grace impersonated Dickinson to deliver a first-person account of the life of the prolific Massachusetts poet, pausing at times for audience participation.

Dickinson, Grace explained, spent the last 30 years of her life writing poetry in seclusion at her family's Amherst estate.

"Pretend this is the great big trunk where she kept her poems, all 1,775 of them," said Grace, holding up a wooden box during her introduction of the performance. "Pretty good for recluse."

The performance drew on Dickinson's letters as well as her work, chronicling a childhood spent among Amhert's affluent classes.

"There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away," Grace said, quoting a well-known Dickinson poem.

At times Grace solicited poetry from her audience, asking spectators to contribute descriptive language.

Asked for words to describe a special memory, the audience offered words like "cataclysmic," "thrilling" and "invigorating," which Grace copied onto an easel.

Spectators were also asked to participate in free-writing exercises and to condense the results into two-line poems.

Much of Grace's acting work involves United States history.

In another single-actor show, "the First Ladies Coalition", Grace plays Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson and Mary Todd Lincoln, as well as an immigrant character named Colleen McCracken.

Grace has toured nationally alongside famed celebrity impressionist Rich Little's "The Presidents", playing First Ladies from Jackie Kennedy to Hillary Clinton.

Grace has also played Emily Dickinson in the one-actor play "The Bell of Amherst", by William Luce.
NORWALK -- A Florida man returned to Norwalk Sunday to answer for a theft committed in 1989.

Randy Iannacone, 60, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., arrived at Norwalk Police headquarters at 9 a.m. Sunday with a letter from Norwalk Police notifying Iannacone of an outstanding warrant for his arrest, police said.

The charge stemmed from the 1989 theft of a large television from the Norwalk Jewish Center, where Iannacone worked as a custodian.

According to police, the Jewish Center no longer exists, but it was located on Canfield Road.

When Norwalk Police located the stolen TV, its new owner said it was given to him by Iannacone as payment for a debt. The serial number on the television matched the one from the missing TV, according to police reports from 1989.

Police issued a warrant for Iannacone but were unable to locate him, and the warrant was not served until Iannacone's arrival at the Norwalk Police station Sunday morning.

According to Norwalk Police, Iannacone recently received a letter notifying him of the warrant and flew from Florida to present himself at the police department.

Iannacone was arrested and charged with larceny in the third degree. He was released with a promise to appear at Norwalk Superior Court on April 19.

When a warrant is issued, "we try to go out and serve it when we first get it, but sometimes people move," Norwalk Police Lt. Paul Resnick told The Hour. "They're nowhere to be found. This fellow ended up in Florida, so he came back and turned himself in, which is pretty cool."

Iannacone did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Monet rahapelien ystavat ovat viime vuosina loytaneet netticasinot ja olleet ihmeissaan. Verrattuna kotimaisen Veikkauksen kivijalkarahapeleihin puhutaan aivan eri tason palautusprosenteista ja lisaksi pelaaminen on aarimmaisen helppoa ja turvallista. Netticasinoiden maara on tana paivana todella suuri ja niita loytyy jokaiseen lahtoon, suurin ongelma aloittelevalla pelaajalla onkin tehda valinta siita, minka netticasinon valitsee. Kaikkien netticasinoiden mainospuheet naet lupaavat kauniita asioita ja niiden lapinakeminen on tietysti tarkeaa. Nyrkkisaantona voidaan kuitenkin jo kattelyssa todeta, etta jos valitsemasi netticasino on lisensoitu ETA-alueella, sen kanssa ei tule olemaan ongelmia, ellei niita itse jarjesta. Kay tutustumassa parhaisiin netticasinoihin osoitteessa www.ilmaiskierroksia.info!

Ensimmainen nyrkkisaanto on siis varmistaa, etta valitsemallasi netticasinolla on ETA-alueen lisenssi. Suurimmassa osassa tapauksista se on Maltan eli MGA:n lisenssi. Myos Viron, Englannin ja Gibraltarin lisensseja nakyy ja naissa valvonta on jopa Maltaa tiukempaa. Lopputulema on kuitenkin se, etta ETA-alueen lisenssi takaa suomalaisille verovapaat voitot seka sen, etta niita valvotaan kontrolloidusti. Maailmalla on iso nippu Curacaon lisenssilla toimivia netticasinoita ja niistakin suurin osa on laadukkaita. Ne eivat kuitenkaan ole suomalaisille asiakkaille verovapaita, joten emme suosittele niita.

Tana paivana markkinoille on ilmaantunut paljon ETA-alueella toimiva netticasinoita ilman rekisteroitymista. Jos tarkoitus on vain pelata yksittaisia pelikertoja, on varsin helppo suositella naita. Netticasinot ilman rekisteroitymista tarjoavat palvelun tunnistautumisen verkkopankin avainlukulistan avulla ja saman palvelun kautta tapahtuvat talletukset ja mahdolliset voittojen nostot silmanrapayksessa. Normaaleihin netticasinoihin pitaa asiakkaan rekisteroitya, tehda talletukset ja tunnistautua dokumenttien avulla. Tama on lisenssiehtojen mukainen kaytanto, eika kovinkaan monimutkainen, mutta silti monet asiakkaat haluavat yksinkertaista ja nopeaa palvelua. Toki normaalit netticasinot tarjoavat usein asiakkailleen laadukkaita talletusbonuksia ja erilaisia kampanjoita, joten kannattaa tarkkaan punnita, kumman ratkaisun valitsee. Kannattaa myos muistaa, etta tunnistautuminen tehdaan vain kerran, joten mikaan jatkuva riippakivi se ei ole.

Suomalaiset asiakkaat ovat netticasinoille tarkeita, joten kaikilla vahankin laadukkailla netticasinoilla on suomenkieliset sivut seka suomenkielinen asiakaspalvelu  suomenkielisyys kannattaakin ottaa netticasinoa valittaessa nyrkkisaannoksi. Vaikka tana paivana englanninkielisyys on harvoille ongelma, on suomenkielisten netticasinoiden maara niin valtava, etta suosittelemme niiden kayttoa. Rahansiirrot ovat tana paivana niin hyvassa mallissa, etta niiden kanssa tuskin tulee mitaan ongelmia. Kolme tarkeinta segmenttia: Suomalaiset verkkopankit, luottokortit (Visa, Mastercard) seka nettilompakot (Skrill, Neteller) loytyvat jokaisesta laadukkaasta netticasinosta. Viime vuosien trendiksi noussut verkkokauppa on kehittanyt rahansiirrot niin laadukkaiksi ja nopeiksi, etta niiden suhteen ei ole enaa vuosiin ollut ongelmia. Luonnollisesti netticasinot kayttavat naita samoja palveluita ja hyotyvat kehityksesta.

Naiden isojen linjojen jalkeen netticasinon valintaan vaikuttavat luonnollisesti tarjottavat tervetuliaisbonukset  uudet asiakkaat saavat tana paivana kovan kilpailun myota merkittavia etuja netticasinoilta ja niita kannattaa luonnollisesti vertailla. Erilaiset talletusbonukset, ilmaiskierrokset seka ilmaiset pelirahat tuovat suuriakin rahanarvoisia etuja ja niiden vertailu on ehdottomasti kannattavaa. Myoskaan useampien tilien avaaminen ja tervetuliaistarjousten kayttaminen ei missaan nimessa ole huono idea.

Kun edella mainitut asiat ovat mieleisia ja vaihtoehtoja on vielakin jaljella, mennaan jo nyansseihin. Toki pelivalikoima on yksi kriteeri, mutta taman paivan netticasinoissa tamakin asia on paasaantoisesti varsin samanlainen. Toki useamman samantasoisen netticasinon vertailussa kannattaa yleensa valita se, jossa on eniten peleja tarjolla. Vaikka omat suosikit loytyisivatkin useammasta, voi tulevaisuudessa mielenkiinto nousta joihinkin muihin peleihin ja silloin on tietysti mukavampaa, etta ne loytyvat valikoimista. Viimeisena voidaan nostaa esiin kaytettavyys  joidenkin netticasinoiden sivut ovat vilkkuvia, valkkyvia ja epakaytannollisia. Omaan silmaan ja kaytettavyyteen sopiva sivusto on luonnollisesti aina se paras valinta. Tarjonta netticasinoissa on tana paivana valtava ja jokaiselle loytyy varmasti se oma netticasino  onnea matkaan!
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.
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Linkedin Jonathan Pearlman (The Straits Times/Asia News Network) Sydney, Australia  Mon, April 11, 2016

For Australian farmers, basic tasks such as mustering cattle or inspecting crops no longer require hours on horseback or painstaking trips up and down distant fields.

The job is being revolutionized by the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which can do everything from rounding up cattle to irrigating fields, checking for damaged crops and lost herds, and monitoring breeding patterns.

"It's been very useful," said Mr Ross Johns, a third-generation wheat and barley farmer who has been hiring a drone service from a local provider.

"You can get a very clear picture of how the crop is performing. You can then try to lift the lower-performing crops to a higher level."

Aside from saving time, drones are helping to turn farming into an exact science and improving the quality and size of yields.

Mr Johns, 50, has a 6,600ha property in the state of Victoria. He used a local service to provide three drone flights to inspect and map crops last year and intends to conduct further flights this year.

He told The Straits Times the maps helped to show the health of different crops, which in turn allowed him to vary the type and amount of fertiliser and ultimately to produce more wheat and barley.

"You can do a ground inspection, but you don't get as good a grasp of the (health) differences of crops in different areas," he said.

Some experts believe drones are set to overhaul farming and will become more common as the price drops and the technology improves.

A drone on a farm in Australia. While farmers are fond of drones for covering lots of ground quickly, some have found that the drones are prone to being attacked by eagles - especially during mating season.(via The Straits Times/Emmetts John Deere)

An engineer who has researched the use of drones, Dr Cheryl McCarthy, last year predicted that drones will become as common as tractors by 2025.

"They offer a big time and labour saving in doing the scouting operations," she told ABC News.

"Instead of going in by foot, (the farmer) can be deploying the drone. It can be... collecting images and automatically interpreting where there are unhealthy areas in the paddock, or where there are weed outbreaks, and presenting that information in real time to the farmer."

Australia has about 135,000 farm businesses, which are expected to help produce about A$60 billion (S$61 billion) worth of exports this year. The biggest rural exports include beef and veal, live cattle, wool, cotton, milk as well as crops such as wheat, barley and other grains.

It is believed that only a small fraction - perhaps 5 per cent - of the nation's farmers are currently using the technology, though many of these are owners of larger farms. But the use is likely to increase soon with the introduction of new aviation rules which will make it easier for private farmers to fly drones on their properties.

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) said in a statement on April 1 that it plans to allow farmers to fly remotely-piloted drones weighing up to 25kg over their property without an operating certificate.

The changes are due to start from September.

"That's a drone that can take a pretty good payload, could carry a fair bit of chemical around for crop spraying, could easily carry cameras and other gear to do visual inspections," Casa spokesman Peter Gibson told ABC News.

An expert on drones, Mr Will Bignell, from a Tasmanian-based firm called DroneAg, said the most significant change for farmers will not be avoiding basic chores but having more accurate crop data.

"Data quality, data understanding and data manipulation is where a drone business comes into play, as opposed to just 'drones in agriculture', which usually means a farmer using an off-the-shelf drone to fly around herding sheep or looking for stuck cows, checking the back block and just general scouting," he told The Australian Financial Review last month.

Drone mapping can be used by farmers to make decisions such as whether to re-sow crops or use sprays to combat pests and insects.

Mr Matt Burns, from Emmetts John Deere machinery, a Victoria- based firm which operates drones, said the machines can cover from 450ha to 1,000ha a day. The charge is about A$5 per ha.

Mr Burns said farmers often do not need to cover an entire farm but can focus on particular fields.

"We're using the cameras to get a whole snapshot of how the field is performing," he told The Straits Times. "Farmers can reduce input costs (such as fertilisers, chemicals, re-seeding costs) - it can be a very quick return."

But some farmers in Australia have discovered one persistent obstacle: the drones are often attacked by wedge-tail eagles, a large bird of prey found across the country. During mating season, operators have had to land drones after realising they were being angrily pursued by eagles.

"You have to be very careful," Mr Burns said.

"We have been attacked a couple of times and followed a few times. So far we have not lost a UAV - but it definitely makes you nervous."
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Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, April 11, 2016 17:54 2386 9a908d6c9b5df7a03d27efc2fdbea239 1 Entertainment Fantastic-Beasts,trailer Free

Those longing to get lost again in J.K. Rowling's fantasy universe can now cheer with pleasure as the teaser trailer for Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, has been released and it looks promising.

Slated to arrive in theaters on Nov. 18, the movie follows the adventure of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) in New York as he lives among the muggles and thus needs to be careful, including by utilizing a suitcase that has a "muggle worthy" setting that reveals only normal-looking British-traveler contents at TSA-like security checks. There is likely to be, however, fantastic beasts in there.

The name Albus Dumbledore is mentioned as someone who is very fond of Scamander and who argued strongly against his expulsion from Hogwarts's Hupplepuff house for "endangering human life with a beast". Website Pottermore suggests that Dumbledore is in his 40s when the film takes place, working as a Transfiguration teacher. Colin Farrell, apparently portraying a wizard named Percival Graves, also entices curiosity.

Fans of Harry Potter can expect to feel somewhat nostalgic thanks to Fantastic Beasts' music score resembling the that of the famous movies throughout the trailer. The trailer promises to take audiences into "a new era of the wizarding world".

With J.K. Rowling working as a screenwriter for the very first time and David Yates as a director, who also helmed the last four Harry Potter films, it is arguably safe to say that the movie is worth the wait. The film is also going to be the first installment of a trilogy, so expect more excitement in the coming years.

Watch the two-minute trailer below. (kes)
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Linkedin David McFadden (Associated Press) Port-Au-Prince, Haiti  Mon, April 11, 2016

Amid a maze of car repair shops in Haiti's gritty capital, Andre Eugene pitches a shredded tire he found atop a towering sculpture he built out of rusty engine parts, bed springs and other cast-off junk.

"This is what I do: I work with the garbage of the world," says Eugene, assessing the largest sculpture displayed at the entrance of his studio and open-air museum off a crumbling street cutting through some of Port-au-Prince's poorest neighborhoods.

The Haitian sculptor is a founding member of Atis Rezistans, a shifting collective of artists who recycle whatever useful scraps they can find to give a raw, physical shape to the spiritual world of Voodoo, or Vodou as the religion is known by Haitians, and weigh in on the country's chronic political and economic troubles.

While Haiti's established galleries were slow to warm to the scrap sculptors of the capital's impoverished Grand Rue neighborhood, bustling with furniture-makers and other craftsmen, the artisans working with recycled materials have been embraced by a number of international art connoisseurs and academics.

In this April 4, 2016 photo, a turkey struts through an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP/David McFadden)

Over the last decade, the work of Atis Rezistans has been exhibited in cities such as Paris, London, and Los Angeles. There are sculptures included in the permanent collections of museums, including the Frost Art Museum in Miami.

Haitian art has long had a reputation for imaginative richness, and wealthy international collectors including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and filmmaker Jonathan Demme sought out self-taught painters colorfully evoking the everyday lives of Haitians or depicting dreamlike scenes. And even though found-object creations have been part of the poor country's art for decades, experts say there has been nothing like the in-your-face works of Atis Rezistans.

"Atis Rezistans takes an old practice in new directions, expanding the range of materials used and offering stunning new meanings for objects found in everyday life," said Marcus Rediker, a collector of Haitian art and a distinguished professor of Atlantic history at the University of Pittsburgh.

In this April 2, 2016 photo, sculptor Jean Robert Palanquet carves on a piece of wood in an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Palanquet is a member of a collective of Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans who have become celebrated in the international art world by creating sculptures out of scrapped car parts, old wood, cast-off toys and even human skulls found scattered outside crumbling mausoleums. (AP/David McFadden)

The materials that form the sharp-edged sculptures include automotive fragments, carved wood pieces, broken TVs, discarded toys and even real human skulls collected at a cemetery of mausoleums where bones were scattered by grave robbers.

Many of their artworks are a nod to Baron Samedi, the Vodou god of the dead, and his rambunctious offspring, Gede. Others offer a kaleidoscope of jarring images out of a Mad Max movie: sculptures of faces with spikes; masked figures resembling shrouded corpses; broken baby dolls fused with computer motherboards.

But it's not all darkness. There's plenty of evidence of playfulness and irreverent theatricality, such as a skull-topped figure with a stethoscope, snake sculptures with scales of inlaid bottle caps and much frank sexual imagery.

Perhaps their most acclaimed collaborative creation has been a mashup of high art-meets-developing world called the "Ghetto Biennale." Every two years, international artists come to the Grand Rue neighborhood in a kind of cross-cultural festival that leaves the door open for just about anything.

The Ghetto Biennale takes a form developed for European art fairs and radically subverts it, according to Anthony Bogues, a Brown University professor who co-curated a 2011 exhibition of Haitian art at the Providence, Rhode Island school.

"Art for them is not about the elite but rather recognizing that art is a language in which Haiti speaks to itself and the world," Bogues said of Atis Rezistans.

In this April 4, 2016 photo colorful pieces made out of recycled tires hang on a wall at an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They were created by Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans. Haitian art has long had a reputation for imaginative richness, and wealthy international collectors. (AP/David McFadden)

Collaborations with overseas artists who come to Haiti have given younger members of the collective chances to tap into art networks across the globe, while international artists are stimulated by the Haitian group's creative process.

"Their philosophy to turn trash into art, thus something seemingly worthless into something valuable, has inspired me," said Alice Smeets, a Belgian artist who collaborated with members of Atis Rezistans to create staged photographs in Haitian slums that depict figures from tarot cards.

Eugene hopes that the praise gathered for the group he founded with Celeur Jean-Herard, who has since departed the collective, can now translate into enough earnings to upgrade his yard's musty museum and improve the lives of members. and local youngsters dubbed "children of the resistance" who sculpt and paint.

Though he has traveled the world with his art, Eugene still lives in a small concrete shack next to his Grand Rue workshop and "Musee d'Art," where many sculptures are caked with dust and swathed in cobwebs. Two turkeys and several cats were the only visitors one recent afternoon.

He calls Atis Rezistans a social "movement" that should expand opportunities for its artists.

"I don't want to be famous," Eugene said in his rain-slicked concrete yard in the poor neighborhood, shortly after returning to Haiti from an exhibit of a major piece in Milan. "Step by step, I am looking to make money so we can improve our situation here."
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Boston, United States  Mon, April 11, 2016

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has derided The Boston Globe as "stupid" and "worthless" in response to a satirical front page printed by the newspaper Sunday that lampoons a potential Trump presidency.

The fake front page is dated April 9, 2017, and its main story is about Trump calling for deportations. Another article mentions work being halted on a wall at the Mexico border. There's also a short item about the backlash Trump received after tweeting a photo of his new dog he named "Madame Peng," after China's first lady Peng Liyuan (puhng LEE'-yoo-en).

This image shows a portion of a satirical front page of The Boston Globe published on the newspaper's website on Saturday, April 9, 2016. The editorial board of The Boston Globe used the parody to express its uneasiness with a potential Donald Trump presidency. (The Boston Globe via AP/-)

In an editorial, the Globe calls the satire "an exercise in taking a man at his word."

Speaking on the campaign trail in Rochester, New York, on Sunday, Trump called it a "totally dishonest story."
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Linkedin Words Richard Vines, Bloomberg (The Jakarta Post)  Sun, April 10 2016

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY PIONEER SHOWS FOOD FROM 36 COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD

So where does that leave Martin Parr, who has been snapping food portraits for 25 years? His new book Real Food features more than 200 slates of everyday meals and snacks from 36 countries.



Why focus on food when everybody else is doing it and he is known for capturing ordinary people at work and play, many of them on holiday at the British seaside?



You can tell a lot about society, who we are and what we like doing, by looking at the food we eat, he says in an interview. As a subject matter, its quite revealing. Its like a new social landscape so its been good to explore food all around the world.



I am showing food as it really is because we are surrounded by images in magazines where you see food looking glorious and beautiful, and we know that most people dont surround themselves with food like that. It is like the propaganda of food sales.



(His daughter is the chef Ellen Parr, who collaborates with set designer Alice Hodge in events company, The Art of Dining.)



Parr says he works quickly, taking just a few minutes to capture an image with a macro lens and a ring flash. For his first food book, British Food, published in 1995, he used a Nikon and shot on film. He has since moved on to a digital Canon.

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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, April 11, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama says that he will turn the newly cleared Pasar Ikan area in North Jakarta into a fish-trading center, with a concept similar to that of a nearby superblock built by property giant PT Agung Podomoro Land (APL).

The city administration began to evict residents and demolish buildings in Pasar Ikan in Penjaringan subdistrict on Monday as part of the city's revitalization of the North Jakarta coastal area. Local residents whose houses stand on the coastline and are often affected by tides and high waves are mostly fishermen and fish sellers.

"We want to build something similar to Green Bay for the fishermen, poor people and street vendors," Ahok said at City Hall on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

He was referring to Green Bay Pluit, a high-end superblock of residences and commercial areas in Pluit, also in North Jakarta, built by property giant APL, the president director of which, Ariesman Widjaja, has been named by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) a suspect in an alleged bribery case

According to Ahok, the city administration will start installing sheetpile as part of a sea wall in Muara Baru near Pasar Ikan in May to block high waves.

"We want to extend the sea wall to Nizam Zachman Port, covering around 10 to 12 hectares of land. I also want to clear the Pluit Dam area near Pasar Ikan. I want Luar Batang to connect to Muara Baru," the governor explained. (rin)
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Linkedin Lolita C. Baldor (Associated Press) Mormugao Port Trust, India  Mon, April 11, 2016

Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave an optimistic assessment Monday that the US military will be able to move ahead with agreements to cooperate more with India on aircraft carrier and other technology.

Speaking aboard the USS Blue Ridge, the command ship for the Asia Pacific region, Carter said he will be talking with Indian officials Tuesday about the pacts.

"I expect progress tomorrow" in many areas, he told reporters.

Noting that India wants to move to a flat-deck design of its aircraft carriers, he said the US is "more than willing" to share its catapult technology used to launch fighter jets off carriers.

Carter's stop in the Indian state of Goa on the southwest coast, included a visit Monday to the Karwar Naval Base  the first senior US official to go to that facility. He also toured the INS Vikramaditya, an Indian aircraft carrier, becoming the first defense secretary to see the ship.

This is Carter's second trip to India as secretary, and both times involve a coastal stop and a visit to an Indian navy ship. The visit to the navy base underscores US efforts to form a stronger, new military cooperation relationship with India and other nations in the Asia Pacific.

Shortly after his arrival Sunday, Carter and Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar toured several historic religious sites, including the expansive Manguesh Temple and the St. Francis Basilica. Goa is Parrikar's home state and Carter stopped here at his invitation.

In brief remarks, Carter said it is critically important for the US and India to expand their military relationship, including greater cooperation on high-tech projects and ship and fighter jet development. He has described the relationship as one "destined to be one of the most significant partnerships of the 21st century."

The US views India as a key ally in the Asia Pacific, in part as a countermeasure to China, which has escalated tensions in the region over its aggressive maritime claims in the South China Sea.

China's has steadily increased it campaign to construct man-made islands, and in some cases build airstrips and station military or other equipment on them.

Twice since October US warships have deliberately sailed near one of the islands China has been developing to exercise freedom of navigation and challenge the claims.

Last year, Carter and Parrikar signed a defense agreement, as part of a broader US effort to improve what has been a rocky relationship between the two countries.

During the 2015 visit Carter announced two US$1 million research ventures. While small, defense officials say the two-year projects will set the groundwork for future collaboration.

One involved the development of a small high-tech mobile power source for the Marine Corps that would work on solar energy and could be used in remote outposts. The other is a lightweight protective suit for the Army for chemical and biological hazard incidents.

The two countries are also working to collaborate on some aircraft carrier and jet engine technology.

During remarks last week, Carter noted that the negotiations represent great promise but they "can be difficult and global competition is high, I have no doubt that in the coming years, the United States and India will embark on a landmark co-production agreement that will bring our two countries closer together and make our militaries stronger."
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Linkedin (Associated Press)  Mon, April 11, 2016

Front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump pushed for big wins on friendlier terrain in the Northeast Sunday as they tried to build challenge-proof delegate majorities ahead of their nominating conventions against rivals who won't go away.

Both Trump and Clinton campaigned in New York ahead of its April 19 primary which offers a large trove of delegates who will select the parties' nominees at their national conventions in July.

Trump is seeking to rebound in his home state after a decisive loss to his main rival, the ultraconservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, last Tuesday in Wisconsin.

The billionaire real estate developer remains well short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the Republican nomination. His campaign is now focusing on developing a delegate-centered strategy akin to the one that Cruz has pursued for months.

"A more traditional approach is needed and Donald Trump recognizes that," Paul Manafort, Trump's new delegate chief, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Even so, Trump later in the day complained that the system is "corrupt" and "crooked" and said it's unfair that the person who wins the most votes may not be the nominee.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in a packed airport hangar in Rochester, New York. "We're supposed to be a democracy," he added.

If denied the Republican nomination, he went on to warn, "You're going to have a big problem, folks, because there are people who don't like what's going on."

Clinton, who lost Wyoming Saturday night to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, is trying to maintain her commanding lead among delegates no matter how many states Sanders wins  or how much "momentum" he claims. Key to her drive is a victory in New York, which she represented in the US Senate. Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, can claim New York as his home state.

After stops in New York City churches, Clinton headed to Baltimore for her first campaign rally in Maryland, where she picked up the endorsement of popular local congressman Elijah Cummings.

Maryland, where Clinton is favored, holds its primary on April 26 along with Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut.

Clinton's campaign is looking for big wins across the Northeast, in an effort to gain what they've termed an "all but insurmountable" lead in the delegate race.

"I was honored to serve as your senator for eight years. I worked hard with so many leaders," Clinton told parishioners at Greater Allen Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens on Sunday morning. "I'm now running for president to continue the work we've done all those years."

Sanders, behind Clinton by hundreds of delegates, is pointing to statewide wins in seven of the last eight state contests. But his latest victory in Wyoming did nothing to help him in the delegate chase: Both Sanders and Clinton got seven delegates.

On CBS, Sanders noted that the contest has moved from the conservative South  "Not a stronghold for me"  into states like New York, Pennsylvania and California where he expects to do well.

Clinton has 1,287 delegates based on primaries and caucuses, compared to Sanders' 1,037. When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 1,756, or 74 percent of the number needed to clinch the nomination. Sanders has 1,068.

On the Republican side, Trump continued to try to catch up to Cruz's ground operation, which is months ahead and trying to eat into Trump's home state support in conservative pockets of New York. Manafort said the Cruz campaign was using a "scorched earth" approach in which "they don't care about the party. If they don't get what they want, they blow it up."

He spoke a day after Cruz completed his sweep of Colorado's 34 delegates by locking up the remaining 13 at the party's state convention in Colorado Springs. He already had collected 21 delegates and visited the state Saturday to try to pad his numbers there.

For Ohio Gov. John Kasich, it's about winning enough delegates to keep all candidates from locking up a majority of delegates, thereby forcing a contested convention. And that means sowing doubts about the effect that a Trump or Cruz nomination would have on the party. He said there's "great concern" not just about how each would represent the Republican Party, but about the prospect of a blowout loss up and down the ticket in November.

"We would lose seats all the way from the statehouse to the courthouse"  meaning races all down the ballot, Kasich told CBS's "Face the Nation."

Trump still has a narrow path to nailing down the Republican nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, but he has little room for error. He would need to win nearly 60 percent of all the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. So far, he's winning about 45 percent.

Following Cruz's sweep of Colorado's remaining delegates on Saturday, the Associated Press delegate count stands at Trump 743, Cruz 545, and Kasich 143. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who suspended his campaign, has 171 delegates. To clinch the nomination by the end of the primaries, a candidate needs 1,237 delegates.
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Linkedin Nirmala George & Anna Mathews (Associated Press) Thiruvananthapuram, India  Mon, April 11, 2016

Rescue officials on Monday sifted through a Hindu temple in southern India where at least 110 people died when a fireworks display - an unauthorized pyrotechnic display that went horribly wrong - swept through a temple packed with thousands for a religious festival.

The death toll so far from the pre-dawn fire on Sunday at the Puttingal Devi temple complex in the village of Paravoor, stood at 110 people with more than 380 others hurt, said police officer, Unnikrishnan.

Scores of devotees ran in panic as the massive initial blast cut off power in the complex, while other explosions sent flames and debris raining down, a witness said. Many people were trapped.

"It was complete chaos," said Krishna Das of Paravoor. "People were screaming in the dark. Ambulance sirens went off, and in the darkness no one knew how to find their way out of the complex."

The fire started when a spark from the fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks stored in the temple complex, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the top elected official in Kerala state.

Police were searching for 15 members of the temple board who fled after the accident. Police were investigating for possible charges of culpable homicide, punishable with life imprisonment, and illegally storing a cache of explosives.

Most of the 110 deaths occurred when the building where the fireworks were stored collapsed, Chandy told reporters. More than 80 bodies have been identified, officials said. TimesNow, an Indian television news channel, put the death toll at 112.

Das said ambulances carried the injured to hospitals in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Paravoor, as well as the nearby city of Kollam.

Villagers and police pulled many of the injured out from under slabs of concrete and twisted steel girders.

TV channels showed video of huge clouds of white smoke billowing from the temple, as fireworks were still going off in the sky.

One of the explosions sent huge chunks of concrete flying as far as a kilometer (half a mile), said Jayashree Harikrishnan, another resident.

Rescuers searched the wreckage for survivors, while backhoes cleared debris and thousands of worried relatives went to the temple to search for loved ones.

The temple holds a competitive fireworks show every year, with different groups putting on displays for thousands gathered for the end of a seven-day festival honoring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali.

This year, however, authorities in Kollam district had denied temple officials permission to hold the fireworks display, said A. Shainamol, the district's top official.

"They were clearly told that no permission would be given for any kind of fireworks," Shainamol told reporters.

Permission was denied over fears the competing sides would try to outdo each other with more and more fireworks and because the temple gets overcrowded during the festival, she said.

Anitha Prakash, said she and some other residents have been trying since 2012 to stop the fireworks display which goes on for hours. "We petitioned state authorities this year also. Some of the organizers threatened my family with harm if I continued with my campaign," she told reporters.

Chandy, the state's chief minister, said he had appointed a retired judge to investigate the events leading to the fire and that action would be taken against those who had ignored rules.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew in from New Delhi to visit the site and met with Chandy and other Kerala leaders on measures to help the survivors.
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Linkedin Mari Yamaguchi (Associated Press) Hiroshima, Japan  Mon, April 11, 2016

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries, meeting Monday in the atomic-bombed Japanese city of Hiroshima, called for a renewed push for flagging nuclear disarmament efforts as they wrestled with some of the intractable global problems facing their nations.

A joint communique condemned the usual suspects: recent extremist attacks from Turkey and Belgium to Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Pakistan; North Korea's nuclear test and missile launches; and Russia's "illegal annexation" of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.

The international community used to share common values that maintained stability and prosperity, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said at a news conference.

"Today, the world is now facing challenges to change such common values and principles unilaterally, such as terrorism and violent extremism," he said.

On terrorism, the top diplomats from the US, Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy pledged to complete a G-7 action plan that the leaders of their nations can adopt at their summit in Japan's Ise-Shima region in late May.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said it's essential to reduce the number of terrorists who may try to return home from Syria and other areas. He also said it's key to stem the flow of refugees around the world.

"The refugee crisis demands a global response, and we all agreed on that here," he said.

A separate statement took aim at China's land reclamation in the South China Sea, where it is enmeshed in a series of overlapping territorial disputes with Southeast Asian nations.

"We express our strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions," the statement said, without mentioning China by name.

It also expressed concern about the situation in the East China Sea, where Japan and China both claim some uninhabited islands.

Japan gave the issue of nuclear nonproliferation added significance by making Hiroshima the venue for the two-day foreign ministers meeting.

Kerry  the highest-ranking American official to visit Hiroshima since World War II  and the foreign ministers jointly laid flowers for the victims of the US atomic bombing in 1945.

They issued two statements on nonproliferation, including a "Hiroshima Declaration" that calls on other political leaders to visit Hiroshima.

"In this historic meeting, we reaffirm our commitment to ... creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons," the declaration said.

The task is made more complex, it said, by the deteriorating security environment in countries such as Syria and Ukraine, as well as by North Korea's "repeated provocations."

The Hiroshima declaration aims to revitalize and restart the effort toward a nuclear-free world, which seems to have shrunk, said Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister.

"To that end, it was significant that the G-7 ministers saw the reality of the atomic bombing," he said, noting that the group includes both nuclear and non-nuclear states. "It is crucial for both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons countries to cooperate and together raise awareness of what happens when nuclear weapons are used."
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, April 11, 2016

The Jakarta administration started using heavy equipment to tear down hundreds of illegal buildings in the Luar Batang area of Pasar Ikan in North Jakarta on Monday as residents ended their protest and obeyed city orders to pack their belongings and move out to make way for the capital's 'revitalization' plans.

The city administration, backed by more than 4,000 city officers, Jakarta Police and Indonesian Military (TNI) demolished about 500 buildings starting Monday morning using 11 pieces of heavy equipment.

Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama had said that the clearance of illegal settlements in the area was needed for the city to start installing sheetpiles along the North Jakarta rivers around Pasar Ikan to prevent flooding during regular high tides.

The city fears Pasar Ikan, including Luar Batang and the Akuarium areas, will be drowned if buildings on the shoreline hamper water flow.

The governor had also announced plans to beautify the historic Luar Batang Mosque near the cleared area. The mosque is often visited by hundreds of pilgrims from across the country as it hosts the tomb of prominent cleric Al Habib Husein bin Abubakar bin Abdillah, who died in 1756.

The city aims to make a wide open space called a plaza, or public square, where Jakarta's maritime tourist attractions would all be connected. The visitors would be able to visit the mosque, the Maritime Museum and also the famous Sunda Kelapa Port while walking through the managed open space, Maritime Museum chief Husnizon Nizar said.

The administration would also accommodate traditional vendors who could open their business in the area, he added.

Amid the work of the heavy equipment and the thousands of officers standing guard, some residents who initially refused to be evicted were packing their belongings to leave their houses.

Hendri, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years with his parents, pondered where would he move while he packed.

Hendri said he was hesitant to move into one of the low-cost apartments provided by the administration, saying the small space would not accommodate his family and all their belongings.

He also expressed concern about the monthly rent that he must pay with what he earned from his job as a fish vendor.

Although the city administration claimed it had informed residents about the plans to evict them, Hendri said he had heard little about it.

"Once I heard this place will not be cleared. Then I got the warning letter to leave this house. It was unclear," he said.

The clearance was initially disrupted by a clash between the residents and police as it started in the morning.

When the chaos got worse, police shot tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Police personnel also detained several people they suspected to be the provocators of the protests. (rin)
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Linkedin Raphael Satter & Raf Casert (Associated Press) Brussels  Mon, April 11, 2016

The extremists who struck Brussels last month and killed 32 people initially planned to launch a second assault on France in the wake of the November attacks in Paris, authorities said Sunday.

But the perpetrators were "surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation" and decided to rush an attack on Brussels instead of going back to France, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. It didn't provide any details on the initial French plot or its targets.

Both France and Belgium warned it was no time to relax despite the recent spate of arrests.

"It's fresh proof of the very real threat that weighs on all of Europe, and on France in particular," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.

Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens said it amounted to "a dirty war" when more attacks could be expected in Belgium, France or beyond.

"Once the intention is there, the place of execution is rather secondary," Geens told VRT network. "If we secure one place, another target opens up."

Two suicide bombers killed 16 people at Brussels Airport on March 22. A subsequent explosion at Brussels' Maelbeek subway station killed another 16 people the same morning. Investigators have found links between the cell behind those attacks and the group that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13.

Sunday's statement provides confirmation of what many had suspected: the series of raids and arrests in the week leading up to the Brussels attacks  including the capture of key Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam  pushed the killers to action.

A laptop seized from a garbage can on a street outside the suicide bombers last known address contained a message purportedly from Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew himself up in the airport attack, that indicated he was expecting to be arrested imminently following the arrest of Abdeslam.

In it, prosecutors said El Bakraoui wrote that he felt "in a hurry," and "no longer knowing what to do," and "being hunted from everywhere"  all indications they might have looked for a speedier attack than initially planned.

Belgian police detained four men in Brussels raids over the weekend who were charged with participating in "terrorist murders" and the "activities of a terrorist group" in relation to the Brussels attacks. One of them, Mohamed Abrini, has also been charged in relation to the Paris attacks, prosecutors said.

Abrini has acknowledged being the "man in the hat" spotted alongside the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport, officials said. Surveillance footage has also placed him in the convoy with the attackers who headed to Paris ahead of the Nov. 13 massacre.

Abrini was a childhood friend of Brussels brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks, and he had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the Paris attackers' ringleader who died in a French police raid shortly afterward. Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in the Paris bombings while Salah Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on March 18  four days before the attacks there  after a four-month manhunt.

Geens insisted people should not get their hopes up too much.

"We can hope that the cell around Abdeslam and Abbaoud is just about caught but we should not believe it. In any case we need to remain very alert and new cells can pop up at any moment. The facts have already taught us that," Geens said.

"It is a dirty war which is unpleasant for France, for Belgium, or for the other nations in western Europe, because no one is immune," Geens said. Valls said the news was one more reason to remain attentive to the threat of extremism in France.

"We won't relax our vigilance," he told reporters in Algiers, where he is on an official visit.

The other suspects charged over the weekend were identified as Osama Krayem, who left the Swedish city of Malmo to fight in Syria and was described by one relative as having been "brainwashed." Also charged were Herve B. M., a Rwandan national, and Bilal E. M.

The past couple of days' developments represent a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been repeatedly criticized for bungling the bombings investigation. Despite the progress, Brussels remains under the second-highest terror alert, meaning an attack is still considered likely.

In a separate development, Brussels' STIB transport network announced that 12 stations closed since the attacks would reopen on Monday. Eighteen of the capital's 69 stations will remain closed until further notice, including Maelbeek.

Raphael Satter and Jan M. Olsen contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, April 11, 2016

Hundreds of residents of Pasar Ikan in North Jakarta on Monday staged a protest in the neighborhood against their eviction by the Jakarta administration as part of a project to revitalize the capital's north coast.

Around 300 residents of Pasar Ikan in Penjaringan faced off against thousands of officers deployed for Monday's eviction.

Carrying posters, they staged a sit-in to impede the officers and heavy equipment from entering the neighborhood that they have called home for years..

Some heckled the officers, some wept, while others still attempted to initiate mass prayers.

Clashes broke out as residents refused to vacate the area, though no injuries were reported.

Penjaringan subdistrict chief Abdul Khalit led the discussion between residents, city officials and police.

City representatives attempted to coax the protesters into leaving, urging them to follow up the matter through the courts rather than through protests.

But residents representative Upi replied with anger.

"The courts are on sale to the highest bidder. The procedures take ages too. We will leave this area, but only as corpses ," she declaimed.

Residents demanded compensation from the administration, with some claiming to hold official land certificates.

They refused to be relocated to the rusunawa (low-cost apartments) prepared by the city, and also asked for the eviction to be postponed as they had yet to to pack up their belongings.

One resident, baby in arms, was weeping disconsolately.

"I have family here. The city has offered us a rusunawa unit- but how can my whole family live there?" demanded the woman, who wished to remain anonymous.

The eviction is part of the city's wider plan to clear the Pasar Ikan area, including Luar Batang, home to the historic Luar Batang Mosque . The area is littered with illegal buildings, including homes and kiosks hugging the coastline.

Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama previously said that the eviction was needed for the city to install sheetpiles on the area's riverbanks and coastline as part of flood mitigation efforts.

The city also plans to revitalize the Pasar Ikan and Luar Batang area, home to the Maritime Museum, to create an attractive maritime-based historic tourism area connected to the better-known Sunda Kelapa Port.

At least 4,218 joint personnel were assigned to secure the eviction on Monday, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr.Cmr. Mohammad Iqbal said as reported by Antara news agency. The figure consists of 2,000 Satpol PP officials, 1,389 Jakarta Police officers, 429 officers from the North Jakarta Police and 400 soldiers from the Jakarta Military Command.

Police also deployed two watercannon and one Barracuda. (rin)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, April 11, 2016

Police officers allegedly gave Rp 100 million ($7,619) to the family of Siyono, an alleged terrorist who died under suspicious circumstances in police custody, the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and Muslim organization Muhammadiyah announced on Monday.

The amount of money was revealed by Komnas HAM and the Muhammadiyah Central Committee for the first time on Monday during a press conference to announce Siyonos autopsy results.

Two packages were given, each containing Rp 50 million in Rp 100,000 bills; one to Siyono's wife Suratmi and one his brother Wagiyono, Komnas HAM commissioner Siane Indriani said.

Female members of the National Police anti-terrorist squad Densus 88 are alleged to have given the first batch of money to Suratmi in an envelope when she had gone to see her deceased husband in hospital. The women handed the money to Suratmi and said that it was to help her raise her five children. The second batch was allegedly given to Wagiyono, Siyono's brother, to help with the burial process.

They both received the money without receipt, Siane said.

Both Suratmi and Wagiyono handed the envelopes, unopened, to Muhammadiyah and Komnas HAM when they reported the alleged torture Siyono underwent at the hands of Densus 88.

"Suratmi did not want the money," said M. Busyro Moqoddas, chairman of Legal and Human Rights at Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim organization.

Komnas HAM and Muhammadiyah will discuss the matter of the money further, said the former chairman of Corruption Eradication Commission.

The National Police announced that Siyono had died from a head trauma on March 11 during a fight with a security officer in a moving car.

National Police Spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan alleged that Siyono had held an important role in a Jamaah Islamiyah militant group.

Siyono was thought to know the location of the groups weapons warehouse.

"There are grenades, ammunition and a weapons manufacturer in the building, collected to establish the Islamic State of Indonesia [NII]," Anton said last week as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The police voiced regret over Siyono's death as it meant end of the information chain regarding the whereabouts of the weapons warehouse and the group's activities.
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, April 11, 2016

An alleged terrorist, Siyono, died as a result of a broken rib piercing his heart, an independent autopsy overseen by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the Muhammadiyahs youth wing and the Forensics Physicians Organization revealed on Monday.

The autopsy, conducted by nine doctors from the Central Java branch of the Indonesian Forensics Physicians Organization, revealed that Siyono had been hit by a blunt object that resulted in five ribs on the left side and one on the right side of his chest being broken. One of the bones pierced his heart, which led to his death, Komnas HAM commissioner Siane Indriani said on Monday.

Another wound found was on Siyono's head, which the police previously claimed had resulted in his death. However, the team found no signs of hemorrhaging in the brain and the autopsy showed that the head wound was not the cause of death.

"No signs showing that Siyono had fought or defended himself from an attack was found during the autopsy either," Sianer said in a press conference.

Muhammadiyah youth wing chairman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said the autopsy indicated that the police had lied when they claimed that Siyono had fought with an officer while in custody.

Dahnil also said the autopsy was the only one conducted on Siyono's body, despite police claiming that one had been performed at Kramat Jati Hospital in Jakarta. The police announced that Siyono had died from a brain hemorrhage after attempting to escape and fighting with an officer escorting him by car.

"The police's claim about hemorrhaging being the cause of Siyonos death is false, since no autopsy was conducted before," he said.

The team of forensics doctors also found bruises on Siyono's back, leading to the assumption that he may have been hit with a hard object.

Rori Haryono, a doctor from Diponegoro Universitys School of Medicine in Semarang who assisted in the autopsy, said that based on anatomic pathology, there were indications that the wounds on Siyono's body were made while he was still alive.

The autopsy was not too difficult to carry out as the dead body experienced saponification, in which the body did not decompose quickly has it had been buried in moist soil, Rori said.

Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization in the country, agreed to arrange the autopsy as requested by Siyono's wife, Suratmi, who had appealed for it to help her find justice for her late husband.

PP Muhammadiyah Legal and Human Rights Division Busyro Muqoddas said the organization had agreed to Suratmis request for the sake of transparent autopsy results.

Siyono, a resident of Dukuh village, Pogung, Klaten, Central Java, died on March 11 while in police custody. The National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism squad arrested Siyono on allegations of involvement in terrorism.

He is the 121st person to have died after being arrested by Densus 88 since the police unit for counterterrorism was established on Aug. 26, 2004, according to Komnas HAM data. (rin)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, April 11, 2016

The Jakarta Police will reroute traffic around the Pasar Ikan area in North Jakarta area to prevent congestion while the city administration continues demolishing buildings in the neighborhood on Monday.

Jakarta Traffic Police urged people not to use Jl. Pakin in Muara Baru as the traffic heading into it would be diverted, Antara news agency reported on Monday.

The traffic moving from Jl. Lodan to Jl. Gedong Panjang will be diverted through Jl. Tongkol to Jl. Cengkeh in Taman Sari, West Jakarta. Drivers heading to Jl. Lodan are strongly suggested to take the toll road in Gedong Panjang.

Container trucks coming from Jl. RE Martadinata to the Penjaringan area will all be directed toward the West Ancol toll road to take the exit at the Gedong Panjang gate.

Jakarta Traffic Police prepares detours to anticipate congestion during the clearing of the Pasar Ikan area in North Jakarta.

The city administration plans to "revitalize" the area, which also includes the Luar Batang area and Maritime Museum, into a maritime-themed historical public space.

The administration said it had sent out warnings to residents living in illegal settlements in the coastal area to leave their premises and tear down their houses. The city is preparing to relocate the residents to the Rawa Bebek low-cost apartments.

The city's operation starts on Monday. (rin)
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Linkedin (Associated Press)  Mon, April 11, 2016

The owner of Britain's Daily Mail is in early discussions over a bid for the ailing US internet company Yahoo.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Sunday that the media company is speaking with private equity firms about an offer.

A spokesman for the DailyMail.com said that, given the success of that site and Elite Daily, it has "been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders." He said the talks are in a very early stage and there is no certainty any transaction will take place.

Yahoo could not immediately be reached for comment. The company is under intense pressure to revive its revenue growth and activist investor Starboard Value, a big stakeholder, is pushing for a change in leadership.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Phnom Penh  Mon, April 11, 2016

Cambodian police have arrested an opposition lawmaker who has been a strong critic of the government's handling of demarcating the border with neighboring Vietnam, reviving a campaign of pressure Prime Minister Hun Sen launched last year against his foes and critics.

Um Sam An was taken to court Monday to be charged, apparently in connection with his remarks last year on the border issue. Journalists were not allowed into the court, but the lawmaker was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying he was being charged with inciting chaos, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.

One of his colleagues in the Cambodia National Rescue Party, Sen. Hong Sok Hour, is facing trial on several charges after making similar criticisms last year implying that the government failed to counter land encroachment by Vietnam, Cambodia's traditional enemy.

Hun Sen has been in power for three decades. While Cambodia is formally democratic, his government is authoritarian and known for intimidating opponents.

Last year, he put an end to an uneasy detente with the opposition party, with which he had reached a political truce in 2014 to end a boycott of parliament. The opposition mounted a surprisingly strong challenge against Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party in the 2013 general election, which it accused the government of stealing.

The opposition has faced physical and legal intimidation, and politically motivated legal actions against charismatic opposition leader Sam Rainsy have convinced him to stay abroad.

The opposition for its part had sought to capitalize on its election gains by hitting Hun Sen on the sensitive issue of relations with Vietnam, with some of its lawmakers charging that Cambodia was losing land to its neighbor. Hong Sok Hour was arrested last August after Hun Sen accused him of treason for an online posting, which included the purported text of a 1979 treaty with Vietnam that declared that their mutual border would be dissolved.

Hun Sen  who was foreign minister at the time in a government installed by a Vietnamese occupation force that invaded Cambodia to oust the murderous Khmer Rouge regime  insisted the treaty was forged. Hong Sok Hour apparently had reposted a bad translation of a document he found on the internet, and was indicted on three charges including falsifying public documents, using fake documents and inciting chaos. The charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years, 5 years and 2 years, respectively.

Um Sam An, who pursued the same issue, was arrested in the northeastern city of Siem Reap shortly after midnight Sunday. He had just returned from a trip to the United States.

His Cambodia National Rescue Party decried his arrest, saying it breached his immunity as a lawmaker. The government rejects such claims, saying such arrests are allowable became the lawmakers have been caught in the act of committing a crime.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Singapore  Mon, April 11, 2016

A rare and unexpected family feud has burst into the open between Singapore's prime minister and his sister over the anniversary of the death of their father, the city state's founding leader, Lee Kuan Yew.

In a Facebook post Sunday, Dr. Lee Wei Ling, a well-known neurosurgeon, said the government was trying to use the occasion of her father's one-year death anniversary to "hero-worship" him, according to Channel News Asia, a government-supported television station and news website. It said Dr. Lee suggested that her brother, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was "abusing his power" by conducting elaborate anniversary events, and trying to establish a political "dynasty."

Channel News Asia said the post was taken down from Facebook later Sunday. But then Lee fired back at his sister in his own Facebook post a few hours later, saying he is "deeply saddened" by her accusations, which he said "are completely untrue."

"The idea that I should wish to establish a dynasty makes even less sense. Meritocracy is a fundamental value of our society, and neither I, the PAP, nor the Singapore public would tolerate any such attempt," he wrote, referring to the ruling People's Action Party.

The PAP has been a solidly united political entity since it came to be headed by the late Lee in 1954. It has continued to rule since then, crushing all opposition in every general election.

Lee was prime minister from 1959 to 1990, and remained an influential figure in the government for several years thereafter. In the past, Lee had sued critics for defamation for suggesting nepotism in his government, so for such an accusation to come from within his own family is a political bombshell for Singaporeans.

Lee died on March 23, 2015, and the government carried out a host of public programs this year to commemorate his death.

"The first anniversary of a person's passing is a significant moment to remember him and reflect on what he meant to us. The more so with Mr. Lee Kuan Yew," the prime minister said in his Facebook post. He added that that his government recognized the "strong desire" of many in Singapore to show their respect for Lee, and agreed that the events and observances were "generally appropriate."

Channel News Asia said that in her Facebook post, Dr. Lee had reproduced her correspondence with the editors of The Straits Times over the draft of an opinion piece on the anniversary programs she had written. The opinion piece was not published by The Straits Times, and was eventually posted in full on Dr. Lee's Facebook page, Channel News Asia said.

It said that in one of the emails released by Dr. Lee, she said that she and her brother "are at odds on a matter of principle" with regard to the commemoration, and that her brother had "no qualms [about] abusing his power to [have] a commemoration just one year after Lee Kuan Yew died".

She added: "Let's be real, last year's event was so vivid, no one will forget it in one [year]. But if the power that be wants to establish a dynasty, LKY's daughter will not allow LKY's name to be sullied by a dishonorable son."

Channel News Asia said the posts were taken down on Sunday, but it was not clear by whom.

It quoted her as saying she will no longer write for the Singapore Press Holdings group, which publishes The Straits Times, saying its editors do not allow her "freedom of speech."

"In fact, that was the reason why I posted the article that LKY would not want to be hero-worshipped," she wrote, according to Channel News Asia.
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Linkedin (The Straits Times/ANN) Kuala Lumpur  Mon, April 11, 2016

The Malaysian police have opened four investigation papers against former premier Mahathir Mohamad, inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar said on Monday.

"We have already opened up four investigation papers against Mahathir,'' the Malaysiakini news website quoted the IGP as saying.

"Some are incomplete and some are being discussed with the attorney-general [Mohamad Apandi Ali]," IGP Khalid was quoted as saying.

Some [investigations] are for sedition and some for other things. No decisions have been made so far," he added.

He would not confirm if any of the investigations are related to Mahathir's latest call for foreign intervention to oust Prime Minister Najib Razak, according to the report.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian newspaper, Mahathir said that the chances of ousting Najib, who is under fire over heavily indebted state investor 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), were slim if there was no external pressure.

In response, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Mahathir's comment could result in the people losing respect for the former premier.

He said on Sunday that Mahathir, when in power from 1981-2003, had frequently reminded government officers and party leaders not to cooperate with foreign powers to tarnish Malaysia's image or damage the country.

"He used to scold us if we cooperated with foreigners, while some of us have also even been accused as being foreign agents," the New Straits Times quoted Zahid as saying.

The Umno Veterans Club has urged that action be taken against Mahathir under the Sedition Act for trying to bring in foreign interference into the administration of the country, Malaysiakini reported.

Its secretary Mustapha Yaakub reportedly said that the former prime minister had gone overboard, a clear indication that he was desperate in his attempts to overthrow Najib, according to the news website.

Mahathir is leading a "Save Malaysia" movement calling for Najib to step down as the prime minister. He has been questioned previously over his allegations against Umno leaders, and has suggested that he may soon be arrested for his continued attacks against Putrajaya.

In February, several police reports were lodged against Mahathir over his blog posting that repeated calls for Najib's resignation, on grounds that 1MDB-linked financial scandals had shamed the country.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Manila  Mon, April 11, 2016

The Philippine military says eight more Abu Sayyaf extremists have died and a top militant commander has been wounded as troops pressed a major offensive following the killings of 18 soldiers in fierce fighting over the weekend.

Regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan says four Abu Sayyaf gunmen who were wounded in battle Saturday later died and four others were killed in fresh fighting Sunday on Basilan island.

Tan says a ruthless Abu Sayyaf commander, Puruji Indama, has been seriously wounded in the head either by gun or artillery fire. Indama has been linked to deadly bomb attacks, kidnappings and beheadings of Filipino marines.

Daylong fighting in the outskirts of Basilan's Tipo Tipo town left 18 soldiers dead Saturday in the military's largest single-day combat loss so far this year.
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Linkedin Jim Gomez (Associated Press) Manila, Philippines  Mon, April 11, 2016

Philippine military officials vowed Sunday to "destroy" the Abu Sayyaf extremist group with more offensives after fierce fighting over the weekend left 18 soldiers dead in the government's largest single-day combat loss so far this year.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and top military officials flew to the south to meet most of the 53 soldiers who were wounded in fighting with Abu Sayyaf militants that raged for nearly 10 hours Saturday in the hinterlands on Basilan island. At least five militants, including a Moroccan fighter, were killed, the military said.

The large number of casualties were reported as the Philippines marked the Day of Valor Saturday to remember Filipino veterans who died in World War II.

"After we grieve for our soldiers, we shall continue the fight," Gazmin and the military said in a joint statement.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Eduardo Ano said the military aims to "finally destroy the Abu Sayyaf, especially now that we have found the exact location of the group."

A major offensive on Saturday targeted Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and has been hunted for years for his alleged role in several terrorist attacks, military officials said.

Washington has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Hapilon's capture and prosecution.

The Abu Sayyaf militants, however, managed to reinforce their ranks as the fighting dragged. While scouring a rebel area, the troops were met by heavy weapons fire and hit by explosions that may have been caused by bombs, Ano told reporters.

Among the slain militants was a Moroccan identified as Mohammad Khattab and a son of Hapilon, Tan said, adding that about 20 other gunmen were wounded.

Khattab, a bomb-making expert, had been in the Philippines for about three years and was trying to link up the Abu Sayyaf with Middle Eastern terrorist organizations possibly including the Islamic State group, Ano said.

While the Abu Sayyaf has been considerably weakened by more than a decade of U.S.-backed Philippine offensives, the large number of military casualties Saturday underscores the militants' resiliency and the complexity of addressing the decades-long security problems in the south, homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.

Last year, 44 police commandos were killed in clashes with various Muslim insurgent groups in southern Mamasapano town while on a covert mission that was fraught with faulty planning and execution but nevertheless killed a top Malaysian terror suspect.

Outrage over the police deaths stalled a peace deal with the Philippines' largest Muslim insurgent group, some of whose fighters got entangled in the fighting.

The Abu Sayyaf was founded in 1991 in Basilan, about 880 kilometers (550 miles) south of Manila. With an unwieldy collective of preachers and outlaws, it vowed to wage jihad, or holy war, but lost its key leaders early in combat, sending it on a violent path of extremism and criminality.

The United States and the Philippines have separately blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for deadly bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.

The brutal group has been blamed for a spike in kidnappings for ransom in recent weeks. An Abu Sayyaf faction freed a former Italian missionary on Friday after six months of jungle captivity on southern Jolo island.

The Abu Sayyaf threatened to behead one of two abducted Canadians and a Norwegian if a huge ransom was not paid, but there has been no sign of the fate of the hostages after the deadline expired on Friday.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Bangkok/Manila/Beijing/Hanoi/Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta  Mon, April 11, 2016

Tensions in the South China Sea are rising, pitting China against smaller and weaker neighbors who all lay claim to islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves. China's recent construction of artificial islands complete with airstrips and radar stations, and US patrols challenging Beijing's vast territorial claims, have caused concern that the strategically important waters could become a flashpoint.

A look at some of the most recent key developments:

A Chinese man is reflected on a glass as he reads China's nationalistic tabloid Global Times' front page article with a headline that reads: "the US, Philippine and Japanese military steer tension in the disputed South China Sea" posted on a public newspaper bulletin board in Beijing, April 5. (AP/Andy Wong)

INDONESIA, MALAYSIA WORRIED

Vietnam and the Philippines have been China's most frequent South China Sea adversaries, but now Indonesia and Malaysia are upset over forays by Chinese vessels close to their shores.

Tensions with Indonesia flared when one of its patrol ships intercepted a Chinese fishing vessel on March 19 off the Natuna Islands. That's where Indonesia's exclusive economic zone overlaps with China's so-called "nine-dash line"  which outlines Beijing's vast claims to almost the entire South China Sea.

According to Indonesian officials, a Chinese coast guard vessel came to the rescue of the fishermen and deliberately rammed the boat as it was being towed, allowing it to escape.

Indonesia has since refused Chinese demands to release eight crewmen who are being held on charges of illegal fishing. Indonesia deployed four special forces units equipped with an advanced air defense system to the largest of the Natuna Islands, according to IHS Jane's Defence weekly.

Achmad Sukarsono, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said the skirmish could signal a turning point in Indonesian views on the South China Sea. It has "dispelled the notion in Jakarta that Indonesia has no real stake in South China Sea tensions," he said.

Malaysia, meanwhile, complained that about 100 Chinese fishing boats had encroached near the Loconia Shoals. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the boats have a right to be there. Chinese officials consider the waters to be traditional Chinese fishing grounds.

Protesters display placards against China and the US during a rally near the US Embassy to coincide with the start of the annual joint military exercise involving thousands of US and Philippine military personnel amidst the current South China Sea tensions, in Quezon, Philippines, April 4.(AP/Bullit Marquez)

PHILIPPINES, US TROOPS IN WAR DRILLS

The Philippines, which has turned to the US to beef up its defense against China, has hosted more than 5,000 American troops for annual war games that include a scenario that could be playing out in the South China Sea.

A key exercise involves US, Australian and Philippine forces retaking an oil rig seized by hostile units. The mock assault utilizes an unused rig off the western province of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea.

A highly mobile US rocket system, the M142 HIMARS, is being used for the first time in the Philippines during the exercises. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter will witness the drills when he visits this week.

The Philippines is expecting soon a ruling at a UN tribunal on its case challenging China's maritime claims. China has refused to take part in the proceedings and said it would not be bound by the ruling.

OIL RIG MOVES CLOSER TO VIETNAM  AGAIN

Tensions between Vietnam and China are heating up again.

Vietnam has demanded that China remove an oil exploration rig from an area of the South China Sea where their border is still being demarcated, and has lodged a protest with the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi.

The oil rig was at the center of a standoff in 2014 when China parked it near the Paracel islands, which Vietnam claims as its exclusive economic zone. The incident sparked deadly riots in Vietnam targeting Chinese-owned companies.

Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh also protested China's operation of a new lighthouse on Subi Reef in the Spratlys, which is also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Rejecting Vietnam's demands, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the oil rig is conducting standard exploratory activities within waters under China's "undisputed" jurisdiction.

Hong also said the lighthouse on Subi Reef is a matter falling within China's sovereignty.

US ADMIRAL REPORTEDLY WANTS MORE AGGRESSIVE APPROACH

Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command, reportedly wants a more robust approach to China, including more assertive freedom-of-navigation operations such as helicopter flights and intelligence-gathering within 12 miles (19 kilometers) of Chinese-controlled features.

So far, US Navy ships have twice sailed close to Chinese-controlled islands. However, critics say those maneuvers amounted to innocent passage, during which foreign vessels do not stop or carry out activities that might be perceived as hostile.

The Navy Times quoted defense officials as saying the White House is discouraging strong rhetoric by military leaders on the South China Sea. It reported that National Security Adviser Susan Rice on March 18 imposed a gag order on military leaders over South China Sea comments in the run-up to the nuclear summit in Washington that ended April 1.

"The White House's aversion to risk has resulted in an indecisive policy that has failed to deter China's pursuit of maritime hegemony while confusing and alarming our regional allies and partners," Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

Harris declined to comment on the report, according to the Navy Times.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking in Washington, said that Beijing respects freedom of navigation and overflight but will defend its sovereignty in the South China Sea. Xi said China won't accept any act disguised as freedom of navigation that violates its security.

LAST WORD

"Washington should know that the more provocative moves it makes against China, the more counter-measures Beijing will take. Such an undesirable cycle may push both sides nearer confrontation and cause both to prepare for the worst-case scenario, potentially making it self-fulfilling."  editorial in the US edition of the state-supported China Daily.

___

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Bangkok, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Christopher Bodeen in Beijing, Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Hong Kong  Mon, April 11, 2016

Hong Kong teen activist Joshua Wong on Sunday unveiled a new political party that plans to field candidates in upcoming elections, marking the next step in the pro-democracy movement's evolution in the southern Chinese city.

Wong and several other young activists who led pro-democracy protests that gripped Hong Kong for 79 days in late 2014 said their new party is called Demosisto.

The teenager was the most visible face of the street protests, in which young activists occupied major thoroughfares of the semiautonomous Chinese region to protest Beijing's plan to restrict elections. While the protests fizzled out after Hong Kong's Beijing-backed leader refused to make any concessions, they also spawned a new wave of groups with more radical views, including advocating independence from China.

Wong is the group's secretary-general, although at 19 years old he is two years too young to run for a seat in citywide elections for the Legislative Council set for September.

Last month, he announced he was dissolving Scholarism, a protest group he helped found, in order to concentrate on the new party. Scholarism, which comprised mostly high schoolers, was at the forefront of the 2014 protests.

Demosisto's chairman, Nathan Law, said he and two other members of the group are considering contesting seats in the election, which will pit pro-Beijing parties against pro-democracy groups.

Wong said Demosisto's long-term goal is to hold a referendum in a decade to decide whether Hong Kong should have self-determination for its future after 2047, when a 50-year transition period following its handover from Britain to China ends.

"We know we can't achieve self-determination in one single step, so we propose a 10-year timetable for the plan," Wong said, adding that the party would lobby for international support for its cause. "We hope to decide our second future through a universal referendum."
As city and state investigators continue to probe the Rivington House fiasco, more details are emerging about the Allure Groups maneuverings on the Lower East Side during the past few months. After the city inexplicably lifted a deed restriction, the health care consortium flipped the longtime community facility earlier this year. At least three inquiries are now underway.

Allure executives told community members and staff of the nursing home that there was little choice but to shutter the center because Medicaid reimbursements could not be obtained for the facilitys 200-plus beds. Joel Landau, an executive with the firm, also spelled out plans to open a new nursing home in the neighborhood, alongside the Confucius Plaza housing complex in Chinatown.

These assertions are, for obvious reasons, now being looked on with suspicion. Last week, Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer said Landau lied in December, insisting hed never heard of the Slate Property Group. We now know that Slate and its partners signed a contract to purchase the building for $116 million seven months earlier. Now there are more questions about Allures explanation for the closure and its promises of a new facility in the community.

The original owner of Rivington House, VillageCare, filed a petition in state supreme court to sell the building in the fall of 2014. According to legal documents, a contract was signed with Allure Group executives Joel Landau and Marvin Rubin Oct. 9, 2014 for $28 million. On Dec. 11, VillageCare filed more papers, pleading with the judge for emergency relief, saying it was costing more than $1 million per month to keep the AIDS hospice open. All but two patients had been relocated. The judge approved the sale on Dec. 16.

The Allure Group had been given permission from the state health department to run a nursing home for the general population (rather than an AIDS-specific facility) with 204 beds. According to former staff members, they admitted close to 30 residents. But before long, it became apparent that not all was right at the nursing home, which had been renamed the Rivington Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation.

Allure management told employees that they could not accept Medicaid patients because VillageCare did not transfer its contracts to the new company. This was the same explanation Landau gave to CB3s Susan Stetzer and that Elazar Krieger, the centers administrator, gave to community activist K Webster during a June 2015 meeting. While Landau acknowledged in a conversation with Stetzer that Allure Group would be selling the building, he said a site for a new nursing home had already been identified. Landau added that the state health department had pre-approved the transfer of the beds from Rivington Street.

The new location was purportedly to be on land controlled by Confucius Plaza Housing. Board President Justin Yu told us over the weekend that Confucius Plaza representatives spoke with the Allure Group on two occasions, most recently about two months ago. They also visited Allures Hamilton Park nursing home in Brooklyn, and were generally impressed with its management. But Yu said no deal has been struck to build a new home in Chinatown.

Allures representations dont appear to add up in other ways. According to a spokesperson at the health department, nursing home beds are not transferable from one location to another. If an operator wants to open a new home, it must demonstrate a need for the beds and present a financial plan. The Allure Group has not made a request to the state. The spokesperson also said that the Rivington Center was eligible right away to bill for a geriatric Medicaid bed rate, but that Allure sought a higher rate. The firms plan wasnt allowed under regulations. The spokesperson indicated that repeated attempts to resolve the situation were rejected by Allure.

The former staff members said the center was partially occupied until Dec. 11 of 2015, when the last patients were transferred. A few days later, state health inspectors showed up for a re-certification survey and were surprised to learn that the building had been emptied. According to the health department, Allure then submitted a closure plan (its a violation of state and federal requirements to hold a nursing home license with no residents). The spokesperson said that, in light of recent developments, the department is reviewing all legal options related to the nursing home and its operators.

Last week, Allures Marvin Rubin released a statement saying, We tried to make Rivington House viable as a for-profit skilled nursing facility. When it became clear that this was not possible, we followed all proper protocols and sold the building.

Below we have posted some of the legal documents that were filed with the court.

They show that the sale price was agreed upon based on an on Oct. 2014 appraisal by Jerome Haims Realty. He found that the fair market value of the building was $22.9 million. The property was being sold, as a not-for-profit skilled nursing facility with restrictive covenants as to use.

As previously reported, VillageCare was unwilling to pay the city $16 million to lift the deed restrictions. The following November, the Allure Group paid the fee and then profited $72 million three months later in selling 45 Rivington St. to luxury condo developers. The citys Department of Citywide Administrative Services has, of course, come under heavy criticism for changing the deed. A mayoral spokesperson told Politico New York that a city appraisal was conducted in late 2014 but there was no new valuation of the property a year later when the transaction was officially approved.

The documents also show that Allure Group agreed to pay $28 million for the property, which included taking responsibility for debts in the amount of $17.7 million. The remainder was transferred to VillageCare in the form of a grant to support and benefit the chronically ill, with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS services.
(Or, The Journey of Campfire Story - Part 2)

Bringing your characters to life on the page is tricky enough, but at least the responsibility lies solely with you as the writer. When it comes to bringing them to life on screen, like everything else with filmmaking  that takes collaboration.

We knew Campfire Story would live and die on the strength of its cast, so we really wanted to utilise the talents of some local working actors.

the last article However, one of the many downsides of having a feather light budget is not being able to pay said local actors. Instead of begging and pleading with actors to be in the film for free, we decided to solve this problem in a similar way that I wrote about getting your script noticed in we decided to film something and show it to them in the hopes that they would be attracted to the project anyway.

So we jumped in a van with one of Kris friends, who agreed to play a small role as a favour, and we headed to West Wales, where we had scouted the perfect spot to shoot some preliminary scenes. A few transitional pick up shots and some painstaking editing later, we had our first trailer.

Once we linked the trailer to an actors network on Facebook, we were fortunate enough to have requests for auditions almost instantaneously.

One of the most encouraging discoveries about working on this aspect of the project was discovering that talented actors are constantly seeking out new films to be a part of. Why shouldnt one of them be yours?

After a week or so of talking to actors online and trying to match faces to characters, we selected a small pool to come in for the auditions. This was one of first times since the conception of Campfire Story that we had seen actors embody the characters wed been developing for months. This is a surreal experience for any aspiring screenwriter or director I can assure you. But, its also a freeing one. Making a film requires you to spread your energies over a wide range of tasks, and to see a group of actors come in and take ownership of your characters is a heavy weight off your shoulders, when there are a myriad of over things you need to worry about when trying to meet your films deadline.

After some close analysis of the recorded auditions, we had decided on our cast. Then came the bittersweet job of notifying the actors of either the good or bad news, which each of them received with the same level of professionalism that they had displayed during their audition.

After we had compiled our main cast, the project automatically felt bigger and real. This was reward enough for all the work it took to build the right on-screen team to take Campfire Story into production. We cant wait to show you all the final product, and showcase just how talented our small cast really is, but for now I have the pleasure of directing your attention to the clip below, in order to introduce the main cast of Campfire Story.

A young girl attempts to retell a classic campfire story, while her friends insist on adding their own unique perspective to the tale. Can she finish before they become the victims of a campfire slaying of their own?
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Live the Dream Sundays at Layans hottest poolside brunch

Brunch is not just about the food, its also about the experience. Its one of the many favourite pastimes amongst the expat and local community in Phuket and theres a variety on offer.



By Dalia Hilmi

Monday 11 April 2016, 02:18PM

Dream Beach Phuket provides an exceptional brunch.

To be considered one of the best Sunday brunches in Phuket requires a number of factors to set it ahead of the many contenders and theres certainly no doubt that the recently opened Dream Beach Club has attained such status.

For anyone that enjoys a magnificent view, delicious food and a vibrant atmosphere, then be sure to check this fabulous place out. They recently launched the popular #LiveTheDream Sunday Brunch, which I was fortunate enough to review.

Set on the islands stunning west coast, the newest beach-club on the island is a paradise for any bruncher. Upon arrival, you will be faced with all the trappings of a truly entertaining day: stylish white sun loungers and umbrellas for the sun worshippers, each surrounding a large and welcoming lavish swimming pool; as well as two pool-side bars. To top that off, there is also a swim-up bar where you will find Dreams very own friendly, magnetic resident DJ pumping out all the right tunes to create an uber-cool, electrifying, and memorable atmosphere.

Behind the luxurious and attractive pool area lays the stunning beach, creating an idyllic setting for a truly mesmerising sunset and remains one of the only beach-clubs with direct access to the sea. The design is cosmically cool; a simple, yet stylish blue and yellow theme that is minimally displayed throughout the entire venue (youll see them in the umbrellas and the towels). But for the rest of the venue, a simple stylish white theme is used.

Naturally, all this fabulousness has food to match. My colleague and I were greeted by the warm, friendly staff who took us to our table. We had the option of eating alfresco or within the main restaurant area. The large, tantalising buffet impressed us even before we filled our plates. The delightful spread of international cuisine inspired by influences from Japan, the United States and Italy, seemed to have it all.

From the large, fresh seafood station, to the cold-cuts and cheeses, to the meat carving station, we really were spoilt for choice. We ordered some classic cocktails from the enticing drinks menu, as well as a few glasses of bubbles to go alongside.

First up, I headed to the salad station where I was faced with impeccable options such as pasta salad, quinoa, potato salad, Thai beef salad, tuna salad, and cute mini bruschettas. Then I headed to the meat station where I was given generous portions of roast chicken, roast beef and deliciously cut pieces of lamb, each oozing with flavour. There were options of grilled vegetables, corn on the cob, roast potatoes, fried rice, as well as homemade breads. Being a great fan of all things tapas and mezze, I largely took advantage of the coldcut station and indulged in some fresh salami, chorizo, olives, pickles and brie cheese.

After all that, I have to say that the star of the show lay within the dessert station. Each of them artfully presented and as delicious as the next. From chocolate walnut cake, to panna cotta, to brownies, to ice cream, the choices were magical. But the one option which left me weak at the knees was the pancake and crepe station. Boy oh boy, were we in for a treat. The chef whipped up some fresh pancakes and once they were ready, there was a delightful choice of toppings waiting for us including sprinkles, chocolate gems, icing powder, lemon, sugar and maple syrup. Absolutely divine.

When we finally finished eating we were taken to one of the poolside plush beds, where we got to soak in the heavenly sunset with a few more cocktails. There was a great blend of chill and upbeat music played throughout the day.

Overall, Dream Beachs service is second-to-none, the staff are attentive, and well trained to ensure your experience is memorable and relaxing. Its one of the more livelier brunches on the island, yet still attractive for families, and therell be no Sunday blues at this club. And whats more, if you fancy making a weekend out of it, the beachclub is less than five minutes from Dream Phuket Hotel & Spa.

The consistently fresh flavours, along with the magnificent views and aura of the entire beach-club, not to mention the staff who go above and beyond to ensure guests are happy, all make Dream Beach a cracking venue. My experience at this enchanting playground was exceptional, from the food, to the staff, to the music.

For more information visit facebook.com/dreambeachphuket
Thai and Pakistani nationals arrested in Phuket on drug charges

PHUKET: A Thai man was arrested yesterday night (Apr 10) when he was found to be in possession of methamphetamine pills (ya bah) and crystal meth (ya ice) valued at around B120,000.

crimedrugspolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Monday 11 April 2016, 06:25PM

From left: Phakawan Srisuwan, 18, and Hanan Afzal, 28. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

The arrest of the man, 18-year-old Phakawan Srisuwan, then led to the arrest of a Pakistani man who was found to be in possession of 23.64 grams of marijuana.

After receiving a tip-off, police first arrested Phakawan at a hotel in Rawai with over 900 ya bah pills and an unknown quantity of ya ice.

Phakawan told police that he transported the drugs to Phuket himself when he travelled here from Bangkok by bus last Thursday (Apr 6).

Following his arrest, Phakawan then told police that there was a man from Pakistan who would buy drugs from him, he also provided police an address where the man was staying.

Police then went to a rented house close to Phakawans hotel and found 28-year-old Hanan Afzal in possession of 23.64grams of marijuana.

Both are currently being held at Chalong Police Station where Phakawan is to be charged with possession of Category 1 drugs with intent to see, and Hanan is to be charged with possession of a Category 5 drug.
Three lessons from Changsha: Currency, Gambling and Kites

China is littered with cities across a vast area of the Asian continent, many of which are relatively unknown. For every Shanghai, there are about a dozen Qongqings, with just as many people. It was in one of these lesser known Chinese metropolises that I found myself in recently as I accompanied a friend, Matthew Semper, to the Superstar Fight Series kickboxing tournament.



By Jean-Pierre Mestanza

Monday 11 April 2016, 11:26AM

The city of Changsha has over 7.3 million people sitting on just under 12,000 square km in Hunan province. As one of the largest cities in southern China, its played a key role in Chinese history dating back 3,000 years. From being the capital of the Han Dynasty (207 BC), to (one of) the cultural epicenter during the Warring States period (5th century BC) to modern times as the place where Mao Zedong converted to Communism.

These days, Changsha serves as a stopover for tourists looking for cheaper prices and an authentic experience. The city is just now opening up for international tourism but vestiges of local Chinese life remain intact.

While my friend sweated away the remaining kilos in our hotel room (he had to make weight the next day), I took the Changsha Metro down to a few stops to get lost. But first I learned a big lesson!

I forgot to convert Thai Baht into Yuan at the airport. This proved to be a huge mistake. A receptionist agreed to walk me over to the bank, since all the signs are in Mandarin. We took the Changsha Metro down to Furong Square, to the Bank of China. After an hour of waiting on line, getting a copy of my passport, I finally acquired Chinese currency. The lesson? Exchange your currency BEFORE you leave the airport (unless youre in Shanghai or Beijing).

Half the day almost gone, I tipped the receptionist and was on my way. I stopped at a random station down the Changsha Metro, hoping to see how locals live. It was here that I finally found it  the place where residents gather as schoolchildren made their way home and the ring of bells on bikes simply ting.

After several minutes, I stumbled on a cross-section of back alleys where tall apartments stained by years of pollution covered your sight line  a Chinese ghetto if Ive ever seen one. This is where I learned lesson two: Chinese locals in Changsha love games, especially if money is on the line!

Gambling dens, each with tables full of patrons playing a variety of card and dice games, were on every block with men and women of all ages waiting in the wings for a sucker to leave. If restaurants were empty, waiters played against cooks with bets in the making. Not a huge revelation, but when you see grandmothers pounding their cards on the table before taking all your money with a smirk, it puts a new perspective on things.

I wouldnt return to see the city until after my friends fight, which he won via unanimous decision (one of the few foreigners to win their bout that night).

With full bellies, Matthew and I embarked on a journey to Juzizhou, on Orange Island, which is smack dab in the middle of Changsha. On this sunny afternoon (a fog-less day!) I learned lesson number three, which is more of a note than a lesson: learn how to fly a kite! The park on Orange Island was full of families enjoying the day, with kids and their parents flying colorful kites. A relaxing sight that stirs the innocence in even the most hardened kick-boxer. Of course, some kites failed to take off which set off cries from more than a few kids.

Lessons from Changsha are simple but will serve me, and you, well. Change your money before entering the city. Use that money to bet in a gambling den. Use that money to buy a kite, which youve already learned how to fly! Thanks China, for teaching this Jersey kid a thing or three.
Nacogdoches, TX (75962)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. High near 85F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 66F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
How to watch and what to know about South Dakota State at North Dakota
Conjugation

By Phil Hall

BookThug, 112 pages, $20

This collection is a follow-up to Killdeer, Phil Halls previous book, which won both the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Governor Generals Literary Award. Conjugation continues Halls poetic project of wrestling the lyric honesty about the self  toward revelation & transformation, as he puts it. His gaze is not simply inward: these meditative poems take in the rural landscape of Eastern Ontario, the words of writers whose influence he honours and the nature of language itself. Like an auto mechanic working on an engine, Hall takes words and phrases apart, examines how they work, and tinkers. Terrible the word-plow nosing sense along, he writes in one poem. Throughout Conjugation, Hall challenges himself to eschew a compromised mulch of jingles & platitudes. He challenges readers too, in this bracing new collection.

Burning in This Midnight Dream

By Louise Bernice Halfe

Coteau, 98 pages, $16.95

As a residential school survivor, Saskatchewan poet Louise Bernice Halfe testified at the Truth and Reconciliation hearings. Burning in This Midnight Dream is also a form of testimony  a piercingly affecting one  about the violence, despair and disorienting loss of cultural identity that are the legacy of the residential school policy. The book begins with poems that chart the poets backwards walk along the hot-coal trail of the past. They then move forward over time to chronicle her reconnection with Cree traditions. Along the way, Halfe writes vividly about struggling with her inner demons. But she also writes of resilience. As she puts it lyrically in one poem, Like a sapling clinging to a mote of dirt/on the Rocky Mountains/Ive clung through swirling winds.

Little Dogs: New and Selected Poems

By Michael Crummey

Anansi, 170 pages, $19.95

Little Dogs spans 20 years, bringing together work from Michael Crummeys four previous collections and finishing off with a selection of new poems. Throughout, his style remains gracefully narrative and enlivened by resonant turns of phrase. Crummey writes movingly of his ties to family (first as a son and later as a husband and father himself) and to place (he grew up mostly in Labrador and now lives in St. Johns). But he can also be delightfully funny: some of the most entertaining poems give voice to historical figures, such as a retiring lighthouse-keeper whose warning to his successor about the isolation of his post includes the advice, Keep yourself occupied/or the place will mozzle your head. Rest assured that Little Dogs wont mozzle your head: its engaging and hospitable terrain.

All the Gold Hurts My Mouth

By Katherine Leyton

Icehouse/Goose Lane, 64 pages, $19.95

Ottawa-based poet Katherine Leyton debuts with a brash, provocative collection centred around how women are seen by men, as expressed in popular culture, and how women internalize that male gaze. She navigates this charged territory with sharp phrasing, a keen eye for telling details and an acerbic humour. In one poem she writes of a young woman who doesnt know if shes an American Apparel //mannequin or a woman with/a body shes learning. Elsewhere, Leyton writes from the perspective of women who play along with the sexual stereotype of a flirt or a submissive girlfriend, but even these portraits have an edge  as in one poem of deceptively amicable domesticity, where a lovers desire is momentarily derailed by the sight of the sparking edge of his girlfriends teeth, which she bares up from his lap.

The Names

By Tim Lilburn

McClelland & Stewart, 68 pages, $16.95

Over the course of 30 years and nine previous collections, Tim Lilburn has made a career out of melding ecstatic celebration of landscape with riffs on philosophy and theology in an exuberant rush of language crackling with images and ideas. His new work still has plenty of verve but is less manic, perhaps because theres a more intimate bent to The Names: in effect, Lilburn is composing a poetic family album. So theres Paddy Lilburn, half-dug into a cliff of the End of Things . . . cliff/comic and sheer and horsepowered with history and top unseeable; and Aunt Mary, from syrup of Dromore dirt. Not that Lilburn neglects the natural world that has consistently inspired his inventive phrasing. Here, as always, hes attentive to the beauty-vault of things.

100 Days

By Juliane Otok Bitek

University of Alberta, 120 pages, $19.95

Lest we forget: in 100 Days, Vancouver poet Juliane Otok Bitek commemorates the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Originally from Uganda, she draws partly on her familys experience of fleeing Idi Amins regime to render these personal testimonies. Sparely worded but hard-hitting, the poems track back from Day 100 to Day 1, which concludes, chillingly: we have run out of days. They are filled with small but poignant details: in one poem, refugees sing childhood songs from days of innocence because we needed a rhythm to walk . . . to drag ourselves along. Although Otok Bitek writes of we and I in the poems, she also points out that bearing witness is problematic, since the book is a work of imagination. Nevertheless, as she puts it, there is a slope that leads/from the days of fiction/into nightmares that are real.

Barbara Carey is a Toronto writer, and the Stars poetry columnist.

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A preference for boys among Indian-born parents may have contributed to a deficit of more than 4,400 girls over two decades in what researchers in a new study are calling Canadas missing girls.

The research, presented in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the online CMAJ Open, looks at more than 6 million births in Canada and reveals that a greater presence of boys among Indian-born mothers may in part be linked to abortions in the second trimester, when parents can learn the babys sex.

The birth data was compiled from databases administered by Statistics Canada and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto between 1990 and 2011, and 1993 to 2012, respectively.

The main implication is that among some immigrant communities, males are placed at a higher value than females. This is not just about abortions, it is about gender equality, said lead author Marcelo Urquia of St. Michaels Hospital. I hope that this is conducive to a respectful debate on the value of girls and women in todays Canadian society.

His study newly exposes a relationship between induced abortions and the previously reported large numbers of boys among Ontarios Indian community, said Urquia, noting the data likely explains an imbalance in the rest of Canada too. Some of the deficit of girls may be due to implantation of male embryos, said Urquia, but the data is insufficient.

While the natural odds of having a boy over a girl are slightly higher, they are consistent across the globe: up to 107 boys for every 100 girls. But Indian-born mothers living in Canada with two children had 138 boys for every 100 girls. In Ontario, that number inflated even more among Indian-born women with two daughters, who then gave birth to 196 boys for every 100 girls.

After abortions, the numbers rise dramatically: 326 boys after one abortion, 409 boys after multiple abortions, and 663 boys for every 100 girls following multiple abortions in the second trimester, when doctors can determine the sex of the fetus.

Miscarriages, or spontaneous abortions, were not linked to the births of more boys, the study found.

The implication is that the disproportionate ratios are a result of sex discrimination fuelled by son preference among people from Asian countries, particularly India, whose immigrants have the highest documented male to female ratio in the world, the study says. The new research focuses on immigrants from India as they contribute the most to immigrant births in the country, though disproportionate male births have been observed in other communities as well. The research found an imbalance among Chinese immigrants, but this could not be linked to abortion.

Data did not indicate how long Indian immigrants had lived in Canada and whether that impacted the sex ratio. Nor did it indicate what country the babys grandparents were from. These are questions for future research, said Urquia.

We are currently looking at whether the skewed sex ratios diminish with time after immigration. The idea is that exposure to a more gender equal environment, such as Canada, will result in placing more value on females over time, he said.

With this new research, its no longer a question of whether prenatal sex discrimination exists. It is evident over the last two decades across Canada. The real question, said researcher Abdool S. Yasseen III in a published commentary on the studies, is why this practice persists, particularly in a Canadian society that espouses sex equality.

For Baldev Mutta, CEO of Bramptons Punjabi Community Health Services, its a question he and other community leaders will have to face. With this new research, he says, it is time for some soul searching, in the countrys Indian community.

This is something that we cannot hide anymore, said Mutta, a proud father of two grown sons, one grown daughter, and grandfather of two girls. Born in Nairobi to Indian diplomat parents, Mutta came to Canada in 1968 after moving around the world. With an international perspective, Mutta has made an impact on the Brampton Indian community. He helped launch an initiative that flips the script on a traditional celebration called a Lohri, meant for celebrating the birth of a boy, but which Mutta and a group of young South Asian women have turned into a movement called Lohri For Her.

Even in Canada we need to be changing our value system, he says.

One of five girls, life coach Kulbinder Saran Caldwell might never have been born had her father listened to her grandmothers pleas: Leave your wife, she told him. All she was having was girls. She cursed him, says Caldwell, and said OK, if you like girls so much youll have five.

And he had five girls and one son. But Caldwells late father, the first feminist that I knew about, she says, celebrated his family till death, an outlook that Caldwell has adopted in her own work.

The presence of skewed ratios in Canadas Indian community doesnt surprise Caldwell. Change is difficult for many people, she says, but initiatives like Lohri For Her are key because they allow those who believe in gender parity to say it out loud to the community in a celebratory way.

Kripa Sekhar has been a voice for Indian women as the executive director at the South Asian Womens Centre. The issue of son-preference goes beyond sex selection. Its about choice, and the powerlessness that many women she has seen feel. She suspects that in many of the abortion cases, the mothers were coerced.

A woman who has a male child feels she has fulfilled her obligations to her family, says Sekhar. Shes seen women come to the South Asian Womens Centre abused and fearful.

In no way should this become an excuse to ban abortions, she says. This is about the lives of women who need to be able to make their own choices and not be coerced.

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There was a time, not that long ago, when George Argyropoulos was happy in his work. Hed turn up at the office before sunrise with a steaming cup of coffee to plug away in his obscure corner of the legal system.

Along with eight other provincial employees, Argyropoulos adjudicated disputes over legal bills between lawyers and their clients. They handled hundreds of cases per year in Toronto alone, some of them worth millions in contested fees. And he loved it.

Then his colleagues started disappearing. Three part-timers left and were not replaced. Two others moved on to different gigs in government. Another resigned. After Argyropoulos called it quits himself, in February, there were just two left.

And that, according to Argyropoulos and a slew of lawyers who spoke with the Star, is the crux of the problem. With a dearth of manpower devoted to the task, applications to fight legal bills in Toronto are languishing in a backlog of delayed cases  at a time, its worth noting, when surveys show lawyers fees ballooning to historic girth.

A recent Superior Court decision from Justice Sean Dunphy remarked on how Torontos legal profession is frustrated with the delays, which he said are by all accounts, unacceptably long.

Argyropoulos said its taking a year just to book a preliminary hearing when it used to take three months, and up to three years to get a final settlement. Beyond mere inconvenience (though certainly that), the former government worker argued, the delays are putting the whole principle of access to justice in jeopardy.

Its just a disaster, Argyropoulos, 46, told the Star. There are lawyers, believe it or not, that have called me and said: George, I can die. Ive got cancer. All I want is my money. Ive heard this.

And the public is not being serviced, he added. In essence theyre bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.

The legal bill dispute system in Toronto is now run by two government workers called hearings officers. The branch of the provinces Ministry of the Attorney General handles about 750 disputes per year, Argyropoulos said. Anyone who gets a legal bill from a lawyer can apply for a bill assessment at the designated office near Osgoode Hall on University Ave.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled to review evidence that will be called and determine whether there will be witnesses; then a later hearing is held to decide whether the bill is fair or should be reduced.

Brendan Crawley, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General, said in an emailed statement that the government is committed to addressing the delays and is actively exploring a number of options. These include pulling in officers from other regions to help with the Toronto backlog, and recruiting new workers in the near future.

We recognize that we have more work to do to address this important issue, Crawley said.

Robert Schipper is a lawyer in Toronto who frequently deals with the legal bill assessment process. A couple of weeks ago, he was at the assessment office to book a hearing. The earliest date they could give him, he said, was April 2018.

Justice delayed is justice denied, and unfortunately we cant accelerate the process because there arent enough hearing officers. Theres just two, Schipper said.

Ramesh Mehta feels the same way. Last summer, he said he challenged a legal bill of more than $110,000 that he incurred trying to get money from a separate civil suit in Brampton. After filing his challenge, the assessment office in Toronto emailed him saying they had to adjourn his case because we do not have any Assessment Officer available to hear your matter. The next available date for a hearing, according to the email Mehta provided to the Star, was October 2016.

Why dont they have an officer? Mehta asked. It is too much of a long time.

Low staffing also disrupts the opportunity to settle disputes by mediation, Schipper said. He explained that hearings officers can mediate and find collaborative solutions between parties and lawyers so that challenges are dealt with quicker. But if the officer tries this and fails, the same officer cant be the adjudicator on the case when it goes to a full-blown assessment hearing. With only two officers left in Toronto, this can make delays longer or prevent possible mediations from taking place at all, Schipper said.

Mick Hassell sees the issue as a symptom of a court system beleaguered overall by short-staffing and delays. The lawyer suggested there may be too many procedural steps and not enough adjudicators or courtrooms, and that the justice system is stuck in the past, relying too heavily on paper instead of taking advantage of efficiencies of the digital era, such as email and electronic filing.

Everything having to be served and filed; youve got to print it out, send it, swear an affidavit, he said. Its very cumbersome just to send a document around. Its as though the courts are oblivious to email.

Lawyers also said that assessment cases are becoming more complex and convoluted, partially because legal bills have been rising for several years. James Morton, another lawyer who deals with assessments, said the average case used to be settled in an afternoon; now they can take several days or even weeks.

And the backlog could have consequences beyond delayed justice. Ben Hanuka, principal at the firm Law Works, said theres a risk that lawyers who keep experiencing delayed payments because of a clogged assessment system could start demanding money upfront.

The less credit a lawyer is prepared to extend to his client for the payment of bills, the more difficult it will be to access lawyers, Hanuka said.

Argyropoulous, who worked in the assessment office for seven years, said that while the activity there may be little-known, the stakes are incredibly high for those involved.: lawyers owed large sums and clients who feel ripped off by potentially thousands of dollars.

I really hope they fix it for the publics sake. Because its only going to get worse, he said.

The public deserves better, said Argyropoulous.

So, you want to challenge your legal bill

Youve just been walloped with a huge legal bill. You dont like it, and its not fair.

What do you do?

Talk to your lawyer

This is the obvious first step, as proposed by the Law Society of Ontario and Pro Bono Law Ontario, a charity that helps low-income clients. If you dont like your bill, tell your lawyer. Maybe theyll trim some of the costs so that everyones happy.

Head down to 330 University Ave.

If that doesnt work, its time to take measures into your own hands. Within one month of receiving your bill, you must bring four copies of it to the seventh-floor assessment office at 330 University Ave., the Canada Life Building. Pay the court filing fee, fill out a requisition form and then youll get a notice for a preliminary hearing date.

Serve your lawyer

To let your lawyer know this is going down, you must serve them the notice of assessment and the order, given to you by the assessment office, that the bill is being challenged. You can hire a personal service agent to deliver this, or just mail it yourself. Sidenote: Even if youve paid your bill, or if your lawyer claimed a portion of winnings in your legal case, you can still challenge your fees to get money back. You can also hire a lawyer to represent you in the assessment hearing process.

Preliminary hearing

Because of backlogs in the system, its likely youll have to wait up to a year to get to the next step. Its possible that the hearings officer will mediate the disagreement between you and your lawyer, and try to arrive at a price thats agreeable to both sides. If this cant happen, then the officer will determine how much evidence will be presented by each side, and then book an assessment hearing at a later date. Again, because of the delays in the system, the hearing might not take place for up to two years.

The big show

Finally, at the assessment hearing, your lawyer must convince the presiding officer that your bill is fair and reasonable, according to the Solicitors Act. The officer considers a slew of factors, including: how much time the lawyer worked on your case; the amount of money at stake; your ability to pay the bill; the result of your case (if its over); and your lawyers skill and competence. The officer can deliver an oral decision at the hearing, or take time to think about it and deliver a written ruling. If you dont like it, you can challenge the ruling by submitting a motion to the Superior Court of Ontario.

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PARISThe law firm at the centre of the Panama offshore accounts scandal routinely usurped the name of the Red Cross and other charities to help obscure the origin of millions of dollars in questionable funds, two newspapers involved in the investigation reported Sunday.

Theres no suggestion that the charitable groups had any idea their names were being used in this way. International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Claire Kaplun told The Associated Press on Sunday that the revelation was a total surprise and something we find extremely shocking.

Frances Le Monde and Switzerlands Le Matin Dimanche said Mossack Fonseca created dummy foundations with high-minded names such as the Faith Foundation to hold shares in around 500 offshore companies. The foundations beneficiary was routinely listed as the Red Cross, a designation which served the dual purposes of hiding the firms real beneficiaries and of draping them in an NGO aura, the newspapers wrote.

Mossack Fonseca didnt immediately return an email seeking comment, but a leaked email cited by the publications appeared to lay out the firms reasoning.

Given that banks and financial institutions are today asked to obtain information about economic beneficiaries, it has become difficult for us not to divulge the identity of those of the Faith Foundations, the email said, according to the newspapers. Thats why weve implemented this structure designating the International Red Cross. Its easier that way.

Another email cited by the newspapers suggests Mossack Fonseca deliberately kept the Red Cross in the dark about the manoeuvre.

According to Panama law, the beneficiaries of a foundation can be used without knowing it, the email said, according to the newspapers. That means the International Red Cross doesnt know about this arrangement.

Kaplun, the Red Cross spokeswoman, said that using the groups name or logo without its permission is barred by international law  and could put the groups staff in jeopardy.

We work in conflict zones. We work without weapons. Our protection is our name, our emblem, the faith that people have in our reputation, she said in a telephone interview.

Lets say this money was linked to a warring party in a conflict. Imagine what consequences that could have.

The newspapers examination of the Faith Foundation turned up a host of questionable connections.

Both said that the Faith Foundation was a relay in the money trail leading back to former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who succeeded him in 2007. The foundation also played a role in a complex London real estate transaction involving Emirati leader Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the papers said, adding that another Panama-based foundation played a similar role in obscuring the finances of Elena Baturina, the wife of Moscows ex-mayor and repeatedly listed as Russias wealthiest woman.

Meanwhile, the offshore scandal made for awkward exchanges at a meeting between French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmalek Sellal.

Coverage of the meeting has been overshadowed by a partial French media boycott which kicked in after Algerian authorities refused to issue visas for journalists from Le Monde and Canal+. The former had used the Panama files to explore the finances of several high-profile Algerians, one of whom was pictured embracing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Valls had previously condemned the visa refusal.

Quizzed during a joint news conference Sunday, Sellal complained that Le Monde had dared to attack the honour and prestige of the presidency.

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PORTLAND, OREGONGuilt by association. Its the centrepiece of both Donald Trumps and Ted Cruzs policies toward Islam. And its something Muslims in this bastion of Pacific Northwest liberalism know a lot about. They have been struggling against innuendo, stereotyping, and mistrust since 9/11.

We have people living in our country that want to do great harm to our country, Trump told CBS News after the Brussels attacks. Asked whether Americans should profile their neighbours, he replied, Everybody should watch out.

Portlands Muslims feel like that has been the U.S. governments approach to them for the past 15 years.

Just ask Brandon Mayfield. A Portland lawyer and military veteran who converted to Islam when he married his Egyptian-American wife, Mayfield was accused of being involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed at least 191 and injured as many as 2,000.

The evidence seemed pretty damning: A fingerprint on an unexploded bomb in Spain that was a 100 per cent match to Mayfield, according to the FBI. Except that it wasnt. The Spanish, who never thought the fingerprint belonged to Mayfield, eventually arrested an Algerian national who was a match.

Being Muslim was the circumstantial evidence of my guilt, Mayfield, who was eventually freed and paid $2 million (U.S.) in compensation, told me when we met at a coffee shop in a strip mall outside Portland. Hes not alone. The city has been a hot spot for the prosecution of Muslims by federal law enforcement.

There is nothing about Portland that would seem to single it out for such attention. There are plenty of larger Muslim communities in America. Its not poverty-ridden or crime-plagued. It hasnt seen a flood of new arrivals from abroad.

But talk to Portlands Muslims, or the lawyers who have defended them, about why they seem to have been targeted, and the most common answer is the FBI. The city of Portland pulled its police force out of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) after the Mayfield imbroglio. When a divided city council in 2015 voted to resume co-operation with the JTTF, Portlands mayor, who cast the deciding vote, said it was one of the toughest decisions he ever made.

In the array of prosecutions and investigations in Portland since 9/11, even when the accused were found guilty, the cases have been surrounded by complaints of alleged entrapment, use of undercover informants, and a game of six degrees of separation from Osama bin Laden.

This is a tax fraud case that was transformed into a trial on terrorism, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in ordering a new trial in the case of an Iranian-American who ran an Oregon-based Muslim charity. The appeal illustrates the fine line between the governments use of relevant evidence to document motive for a coverup and its use of inflammatory, unrelated evidence about [Osama bin Laden] and terrorist activity that prejudices the jury.

In the Mayfield case, an investigation by the U.S. Justice Departments Office of the Inspector General concluded that Mayfields religion and circle of contacts in the Muslim community likely contributed to the examiners failure to sufficiently reconsider the fingerprint identification after questions were raised.

Those cases, and others that people here believe involved unfair targeting of Muslims, took place under George W. Bush or Barack Obama. Now theres Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighbourhoods before they become radicalized, Cruz said in response to the Brussels attacks.

Such a directive strikes a particular chord in Portland.

The Muslim community here understands what he is proposing because we have been under surveillance for many years, says Kayse Jama, the Somalia-born executive director of Portlands Center for Intercultural Organizing. Pitting neighbour against neighbour and ordering law enforcement to focus on Muslims and not others is dangerous and against American values.

Sarah Eltantawi, a professor of comparative religion at the Evergreen State College in neighbouring Washington, agrees. Its plainly unconstitutional, boorish, base, and counterproductive, playing into the narrative [Daesh] and their fellow travellers want to advance, she says.

The obvious question Muslims in Portland and across the country are asking: Does Cruz want to secure Muslims from something  or secure them in somewhere?

Its a recipe for a police state to have neighbourhoods patrolled based on religion, Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told me. What constitutes a Muslim community? Is it a Muslim couple? Ten Muslims? One hundred? Is it going to be, show us your papers? Checkpoints? Midnight raids? It is reminiscent of the Stasi in Hitlers Germany, not the American government in 2016.

Anyone who has watched protestors get beaten up at Trump rallies knows the power of words among zealots  including, sometimes, those who wear a badge.

Fear fomented at the top trickles down and drives so many of the actions of the individuals on the ground, says Steven Wax, who headed the federal public defenders office in Portland for 31 years and defended Mayfield and others accused of terrorism, including several Guantanamo detainees. If youre a true believer, you ignore facts because you believe so strongly in your mission and start to believe in your own infallibility.

A recent YouGov poll found that 74 per cent of Republicans support Cruzs proposal for patrols and 51 per cent of all Americans endorse Trumps ban on Muslim entry into the United States (except, of course, for Trumps rich Muslim friends).

Many immigrants in Portlands Muslim community have seen what happens when true believers are inflamed by the magniloquence of a charismatic leader; none more so than the citys 500 Bosnian Muslim families, refugees of the Serbian pogrom against them in the 1990s.

Everything started with hate speech, with inflammatory rhetoric. And then genocide, Imam Abdullah Polovina, a refugee of the war, told me, his voice dropping to a whisper. Not just one city, all over.

The FBIs use of undercover operatives in several Portland cases has created a climate of suspicion among the citys roughly 50,000 Muslims  a mix of ethnicities including Pakistanis, Arabs, Turks, African-Americans, and Caucasians.

The first time I met with the FBI, I told them, FBI equals fear in the Muslim community. Police department and the sheriff equals compassion, trust, says Salma Ahmad, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Portland.

That aspect of the Portland experience has played out in Muslim communities across the country. A 2014 study from Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on a pattern of FBI sting operations: In some cases, the FBI may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by conducting sting operations that facilitated or invented the targets willingness to act. A 2012 report by the NYU School of Laws Center for Human Rights and Global Justice warned that federal agents rely on the abusive use of informants, exaggerating the threat of homegrown terrorism.

A now-discredited 2007 report by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on the homegrown threat from Islamic-based terrorism warned that while American Muslims are more resistant to the extremist jihadi ideology, the powerful gravitational pull of individuals religious roots and identity sometimes supersedes the assimilating nature of American society.

In other words, no matter how much they may look like you and me, they cant be trusted. Theyre protecting each other, Trump said in mid-March, accusing American and British Muslims of failing to report radicals, while Cruz has criticized the NYPD for dropping a mosque surveillance program that the programs chief testified never produced a single prosecution.

The dichotomy between local Portland officials who built bridges and federal authorities perceived as antagonistic is one reason that despite a deep-seated suspicion about Trump, Cruz, and their ilk, Portlands Muslims still cling  almost desperately  to a conviction that the America they love will not abandon them.

Last month, the city council in Beaverton, a Portland suburb that is home to Nike, passed a resolution to declare support for the Muslim community and reaffirm Beaverton as a welcoming city for immigrants. Portland passed a similar resolution in December after Trumps call for Muslims to be banned from entering the United States. Presidential candidates have the right to say dumb things, and we have the right to censor them for it, Commissioner Nick Fish said at the time.

For Salma Ahmad, the resolutions only confirmed her belief in the country that has been her home for 50 years. I treasure in my heart the Constitution, because it is my protection, says the Philippine-born Ahmad, who was a guest at Obamas State of the Union address in January and has served as a liaison between the FBI and Portlands Muslims.

But many in the community remain on edge. You have a good number of people who cannot deal with the pressure, and they just isolate themselves, says Imam Polovina.

60 per cent of American Muslims say they have suffered religious discrimination in the past year, according to the ISPU poll. Oregonians have not been spared.

In early March, a Buddhist monk was assaulted and called a f---ing Muslim in the southern Oregon town of Hood River. Last month, an elderly Afghan man was beaten to death in his home in a Portland suburb, and while police said it did not appear to be a hate crime, many here are still suspicious.

And Portland Muslims say rude comments  particularly to women wearing hijab  are all too common. When Dana Ghazi, the president of the students association at Portland State University, ran for office on an anti-racist, anti-homophobic platform, she received emails and tweets that aimed at attacking my identity as a Middle Eastern Muslim immigrant rather than discussing my politics.

Meanwhile, there is continued suspicion that the community is still infiltrated by informers.

The mosque is supposed to be a place where we can relax and embrace each other, but people dont want to embrace someone and then find out he is an informant, says Ahmad. Imam Polovina agrees: Some of our people dont even trust me, because in Bosnia, the government made some imams into spies.

Mayfield was subject to surveillance, including eavesdropping devices in his home, for almost a year. The affidavit for his arrest made much of the fact that he was Muslim: He had done the legal work to arrange custody for the son of a local Muslim convicted of terrorism; he ran ads for his immigration and family law practice in a local Muslim community newspaper; he was seen driving past his mosque several times a day. And so it went.

But Mayfields case is just one among many that have rocked the Portland Muslim community. One of the most sensational was the conviction of the so-called Portland Seven, a group of men who set out to join the anti-American jihad in Afghanistan. Only one made it and was killed there; the rest were arrested on a tip from an FBI informant when they returned home. Other high-profile cases involved Mohamed Osman Mohamud, given a 30-year sentence for attempting to set off an explosive device at the citys Christmas tree lighting, and Reaz Khan, convicted of sending money to someone who became a suicide bomber in Pakistan.

Some in the Portland community say even the convictions are the result of entrapment. In Mohamuds case, the FBIs own internal emails said their agents assessment was that the then-19-year-old Somali-American was not capable of planning and executing the bombing on his own. The bomb he used was a fake supplied by the FBI. His case is on appeal. And then there are those against whom the evidence was circumstantial at best. Pirouz Sedaghaty (who uses the name Pete Seda), the publisher of that local Muslim community newspaper cited in Mayfields affidavit, is a case in point. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison for tax fraud in a trial that centred on claims he funnelled money to terrorists through his Ashland, Oregon-based charity. After a media frenzy, the verdict was overturned when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a simple tax fraud case had been transformed into a terrorism trial.

Meanwhile, Eritrean-born Yonas Fikre claims he was interrogated and tortured in Dubai for 106 days after refusing an FBI request to return to serve as an informant in Portlands biggest mosque, Masjed As-Saber.

Rahman says it was the stupidity of the Portland Seven that put the citys Muslim community on the map for federal law enforcement agencies. They paid the price, but they took the rest of the community with them, he says. Others believe it was a crusade by overzealous members of the FBIs JTTF.

Either way, the drama  or trauma  isnt over.

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Bernie Sanders isn't backing down from his critique of General Electric (GE) -- he's taking it further.

The Democratic presidential candidate fanned the flames of his ongoing feud with the conglomerate in an interview aired on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, calling GE "greedy" and saying that his original comments about the company were "valid."

"Here is a corporation that has shut down plants all over this country, moved to countries where they could find the cheapest possible labor," he told correspondent Jake Tapper. "In fact, the guy who was head of General Electric before Jeff Immelt, he basically said that he'd like to see his manufacturing plants on a barge so they can move to the cheapest labor."

His remarks referenced Jack Welch, CEO of GE from 1981 to 2001, who in 1998 mused: "Ideally, you'd have every plant you own on a barge to move with currencies and changes in the economy."

Senator Sanders on Sunday also claimed that GE "in a given year, paid nothing in federal income taxes" and said the firm is "part of lobbying efforts in Washington to protect the interests of the wealthy."

"I think General Electric is a company that is well known for negotiating contracts with its workers which call for concessions, sending jobs outside of this country and not paying their fair share of taxes," he said. "That is, I think, a greedy corporation."

Tapper pushed back slightly, asking the Vermont senator why he hadn't leveled the same accusations at Apple, which also manufactures many of its products abroad.

Sanders explained that he uses GE as an example, though he conceded the tech giant is a guilty party as well. "You're right, Apple does manufacture a lot of their products in China, and I sure as heck would like to see them, and if I have anything to do with it, and I will, as president, to try to bring back manufacturing to the United States of America," he said.

Sanders' comments, first reported by Bloomberg, are just the latest chapter in a battle against GE that has intensified in recent days.

He criticized the firm in an April 1 interview with the New York Daily News editorial board, accusing the company of "greed" and "selfishness" and having a "lack of respect for the people of this country." He invoked it as an example of a company that is "destroying the moral fabric" of America.

GE chief executive Immelt subsequently hit back at Sanders' comments in a letter published in the Washington Post on April 6, accusing the senator of "missing the point" in his criticism.

"It's easy to make hollow campaign promises and take cheap shots in speeches and during editorial board sessions, but U.S. companies have to deliver for their employees, customers and shareholders every day," he wrote. "GE operates in the real world. We're in the business of building real things and generating real growth for a nation that needs it now more than ever."

Immelt also wrote that Sanders had never visited GE's aviation plant in his home state of Vermont -- something Sanders said on Sunday is a lie. "He's not telling the truth," he told Tapper.

TheStreet's Jim Cramer weighed in on Sanders' latest remarks, landing firmly on the side of CEO Immelt.

"I think that Sanders forgets that Jeff could move that plant to Mexico tomorrow next to the Bombardier plant in Queretaro where workers are paid $3 an hour, there is universal health care and pollution laws are unimportant," he said. "He chooses not to because he values American workers and wants to preserve as many jobs as he can."

As for Sanders' invocation of Welch, Cramer noted that Immelt has his "own philosophy" for GE. "Last I looked, blaming Jeff for Jack's ways seems both lame and irresponsible and, frankly, childish," he said.

GE is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GE? Learn more now.

Neither GE nor the Sanders campaign immediately responded to request for comment on the senator's latest remarks.
One hundred years ago, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen bravely traversed the mysterious, ice-filled Northwest Passage on a modest, 45-ton fishing vessel with six men.

The first expedition ever to make it through the treacherous passage, it was an effort that took three years and involved spending two winters in Nunavut, the northernmost territory of Canada, learning about Arctic survival skills from the Inuit.

This August, a dramatically different expedition will take place along the legendary sea route located 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and in so doing, will illustrate just how much the planet has changed over the past century.

Crystal Cruises, one of the world's most extravagant luxury cruise lines, will embark upon a sold-out voyage with 1,700 passengers and crew on the 68,870-ton, 14-deck Crystal Serenity. It will be the biggest, most opulent vessel to travel the Northwest Passage to date.

The journey along such a famed route is now possible because of ice shrinkage tied to global warming.

Until about 2009, Arctic ice pack prevented regular marine shipping for most of the year. Since 1979, however, winter Arctic ice has decreased at about 3% to 4% per decade, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. And in more recent years, satellite data have revealed an even more dramatic reduction in ice cover, according to a November 2015 report posted by NSIDC.

In 2012 for example, the Arctic sea ice September minimum reached a new record low of 3.41 million square kilometers - 44% below the 1981 through 2010 average and 16% below the previous record in 2007.

At the same time, satellite records dating back to 1979, and even earlier, show spring melting is consistently starting earlier and lasting for a longer portion of the year.

"The fact that such a cruise is even being considered is a reflection of the low amounts of sea ice year after year," said Julienne Stroeve, a research scientist with NSIDC who studies atmosphere-sea ice interactions, sea ice predictability, climate change and associated impacts. "We've seen this accelerated rate of ice loss and have a bad feeling about this year. We may have a record low this year. We're starting out winter with the lowest amount of winter ice we've seen."



Stroeve, who has given keynote addresses around the world on Arctic climate issues, briefed former Vice President Al Gore and congressional staff, and been named one of the most influential scientific minds by Thomson Reuters two years in a row, says the Arctic is changing rapidly.

Record breaking ice melt has brought shipping traffic to the region in a way that was previously unthinkable on a route that captured the imagination of several of the world's famed explorers, (many of whom met with failure or disaster when trying to conquer it themselves).

In 2012, a record 30 vessels transited the Northwest Passage. And in 2013, for the first time, a large bulk carrier made the journey, according to Canada's Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The number of ships passing through the region has increased from about four per year in the 1980s to 20 to 30 as of 2013. Still, that traffic has mostly been icebreakers on research duties, small vessels, adventurers, or tug and supply boats and barges. There's also the occasional oil tanker or drill ship.

Crystal Serenity will, in many ways, be the in a league of its own when it makes the voyage.

"Other cruises have done it, but they fall along the lines of expedition vessels," says Paul Garcia, Crystal's director of global public relations. "We're the first to offer a true luxury experience, in terms of the onboard experience and everything we plan to deliver. It will be a truly unique experience in terms of onboard enrichment and excursions we have planned, but still has an expedition feel."

The luxurious ship recently underwent a multi-phase redesign that ultimately totaled $52 million. Its chic, contemporary styling, described as Hollywood glamour meets Fifth Avenue elegance, includes new Crystal Penthouses, renovated restaurants and many new design details including an herb garden on the lido deck, where one can wander through the olive trees and fresh lavender.

All of which is a far cry from the spare, if not downright brutal, onboard life experienced by Amundsen and his crew.

There will also be a variety of shore excursions along the Crystal Serenity route and volunteer opportunities at some of the small towns and communities the ship's passengers visit.



The cost to take part in the cruise starts at around $21,000 per person and goes as high as $120,000 depending on the accommodations.

For those wondering about the safety and other implications of such a journey, Garcia points out the company has done its homework and made extensive preparations for the passage.

The Serenity will sail with an icebreaking escort vessel carrying two helicopters along its entire route.

In addition, a full expedition team, experienced in the Northwest Passage, will be on board to advise and work with the Serenity's captain along the transit. The ship's bridge team for the voyage, meanwhile, will include additional officers and team members who've received enhanced education focused specifically on polar and ice navigation.

Serenity will also be outfitted with two ice searchlights, a high-resolution radar and other equipment that will allow for scanning the waters ahead in search of underwater obstructions or uncharted rocks.

"Research shows that the time we are going, the ice is at its most minimal level - during August and September - so I don't know if we're making any historic maneuvers here," continued Garcia. "Other cruises have done it. It's just the number of guests going is probably more than in the past."

Crystal's decision to offer the journey meanwhile, is something Garcia says was driven in large part by customer demand. The cruise line's well-traveled guests were seeking something new and exciting.

Sherri Eisenberg, editorial director for ShermansCruise, is not at all surprised Crystal is leading the way when it comes to embarking on the adventurous voyage. She described Crystal as an intriguing cruise line that has been going through many changes in recent years under the direction of its new CEO and president Edie Rodriguez. Since Rodriguez took over, the cruise line has been increasingly innovative in its efforts to give travelers new experiences, a brand expansion that has included launching Crystal Luxury Air, river cruises and expeditions.

"She has been very creative in trying to give people new experiences," Eisenberg notes. "Each time Crystal makes an announcement, I'm surprised. They're a really good brand, that really delivers what they say they're going to deliver. And the idea of having serious luxury in these kinds of locations is really appealing."

The opportunity to experience the Northwest Passage is particularly attractive to older travelers, those who have seen and done it all, she adds.

"I think a lot of baby boomers are looking at their bucket lists and seeing what they haven't done yet - the Antarctic, the Galapagos, the Northwest Passage," says Eisenberg. "Once they've accomplished a lot of it, they want to see the things they haven't yet."

In terms of what the journey says about the state of the planet, that's another matter.

Scientists expect the Arctic will be almost entirely ice free in the summer within 25 years - thus creating the possibility for year-round shipping.

It's a prospect with ramifications that have yet to be fully understood or addressed, both in the short term and long term.



"I think it's a little early for these types of trips, but there are some people for whom their reason to go is that they can and because no one has ever done it," says Tim Barnett, an emeritus research marine geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who has been a leader in efforts to improve understanding of climate through computer models and advanced statistical methods. "If it were ten years from now, I wouldn't be so concerned; it will have warmed up enough."

The Canadian Ice Service, meanwhile, warns that a rapid increase in shipping in the Northwest Passage should be approached with caution, noting that predictions of an ice-free Arctic may lead many to a false sense of optimism about the ease of shipping the route. The government agency points out that sea ice remains unpredictable and there still may be summers marked by very heavy ice conditions.

Even in the relatively ice-free late summer, the Northwest Passage and the Beaufort Sea remain difficult to navigate with their unmarked shallow areas, shifting sand-gravel bars, fog, and dangerous weather.

Increased shipping in the region, the Canadian agency concludes, would require a high level of preparation for environmental incidents.

It's a sentiment shared by Stroeve, the research scientist with NSIDC, and other environmental experts.

"I obviously understand people want to see it," she says. "If you are on a ship there, you're likely to see polar bears and other species. But I'm not sure the U.S. is prepared if there was a disaster...We're not set up for rescue operations in the Arctic, if something were to happen."
The shares of Qlik Technologies (QLIK) are falling after Citi and Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock. Citi cut its rating to Neutral from Buy, while Deutsche Bank lowered its rating to Hold from Buy. Both firms believe that Qlik, which provides business intelligence solutions, will not see its stock rise tremendously from current levels even if the company is acquired.

MUTED CHECKS: Noting that Qlik's stock had rallied 70% from its February lows, Deutsche Bank analyst Karl Keirstead says that the stock is now trading at the same valuation levels as its competitor, Tableau (DATA) , even though Tableau's revenue growth is expected to be almost 100% higher this year. Specifically, Tableau's revenue is expected to jump 29% this year, while Qlik's revenue is expected to increase 15%, the analyst stated. The stock already reflects the involvement of activist investment Elliott Management in the company, Keirstead says. Additionally, Deutsche's checks on Qlik as of the middle of March were "muted," as none of the sources contacted by the firm said that the company had significant momentum, said Keirstead, who noted that most sources suggested that Tableau and Microsoft (MSFT) had better momentum than Qlik. Although Qlik "could be a good fit " for a number of large tech companies, Qlik's stock already reflects a takeout premium, according to Keirstead. Furthermore, several of these major tech players - SAP (SAP) , Oracle (ORCL) , Microsoft, and IBM (IBM) - are either more focused on the cloud, versus Qlik's on-premise solutions, or already have competing products, the analyst stated. He kept a $30 price target on Qlik.

COST-CUTTING SEEN COMING: Based on the multiples of previous acquisitions in the business intelligence/analytics space, Citi analyst Walter Pritchard estimates that Qlik could be bought for $33 per share. Although Qlik is growing at a 20% clip versus an average of 7% for the companies in the space that were acquired, the sector is about to be shaken up by the launch of new, cloud-based solutions, the analyst warned. Qlik will probably announce a more aggressive cost-cutting plan for the second half of this year and into fiscal 2017, while "buyout prospects are a wild card," predicted Pritchard.

PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, Qlik fell 3% to $28.15.

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Barclays (BCS) are rising by 3.66% to $8.78 late Monday morning, as the bank plans to sell about 13 billion euros ($14.8 billion) of loans at its Italy segment, Bloomberg reports.

The move comes as the London-based bank refocuses its operations abroad on investment and corporate banking.

"Barclays is starting the disposal of its portfolio of performing and non-performing loans, the last step of the bank's exit plan from the Italian retail business," Barclays' Italy chief Alessandra Perrazzelli told Bloomberg on Friday.

"We are selling the complete portfolio of loans and we aim at closing the disposal of the whole portfolio in one or two years, depending on market conditions. We are now testing investors' appetite," Perrazzelli added.

The firm is refocusing on its most profitable segments in the U.K. and U.S. and selling consumer operations in continental Europe, which are not considered as central to the business, Bloomberg noted.

"Barclays has been working to simplify its business and to concentrate on those businesses where it can make sustainable returns and compete with the big American players...This process is also involving Italy, where our investment and corporate banking businesses perform very well, Perrazzelli said.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) --Shares of Banco Bradesco (BBD) are higher by 4.9% to $7.92 on Monday morning, as the Brazilian real advances today, boosting some U.S. traded Brazil-based stocks.

The South American country's currency is rising on further speculation that President Dilma Rousseff will be removed from office.

The real, the most volatile currency in emerging markets, gained by 0.5% to 3.5742 per dollar in Sao Paulo this morning, Bloomberg reports.

A newspaper in Brazil is reporting that more lawmakers are in favor of tossing Rousseff out of office. This is a move viewed by many as the best way to stabilize Brazil's struggling economy and end its ongoing political scandals.

"Markets are closely monitoring the impeachment story as this week could be a turning point in redefining Brazil's political landscape," Arnaud Masset, an analyst at Swissquote Bank SA in Gland, Switzerland told Bloomberg. "The high uncertainty surrounding the vote will keep assets volatile."

Banco Bradesco is a Sao Paulo-based multiple service bank that offers clients in Brazil and abroad a range of banking and financial products and services.
Chesapeake Energy pledged more assets as collateral to maintain is $4 billion credit line, TheStreet's TV anchor Rhonda Schaffler explains in the video, above.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) stock is advancing 12.95% to $4.25 on heavy trading volume on Monday afternoon after the oil and gas company reaffirmed its $4 billion credit line.

The Oklahoma City-based company was able to maintain its borrowing base by pledging additional assets as collateral under a credit agreement with lenders.

Chesapeake Energy will have relief for two covenants through next year. Lenders also agreed to postpone the re-determination of the company's borrowing base until June 2017.

Chesapeake Energy will maintain a minimum liquidity of $500 million while the covenant relief takes place.

Energy companies negotiate credit limits with lenders every six months, according to Reuters.

So far in the latest negotiations, credit limits have been reduced by a total of $3.5 billion at more than 12 companies, Reuters added.

About 42.82 million shares of Chesapeake Energy have been traded today, compared with its average daily volume of 40.97 million shares.

Separately, Chesapeake has a "sell" rating and a letter grade of E+ at TheStreet Ratings because of the company's deteriorating net income, generally high debt management risk, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow and disappointing stock performance.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: CHK

TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author.
Municipal bonds had a solid year in 2015. Judging by the group's fundamentals, the coming year should be similarly positive, said Robert Amodeo, head of municipal bonds at Western Asset Management.

"Tax receipts have come in stronger over the last handful of years, and austerity fatigue has not really settled in, so spending remains at moderate levels," said Amodeo. "There is some weakness in spots, but overall it's a healthy marketplace."

One of those weak spots clearly is Puerto Rico. The island's government is already struggling to meet its debt obligations and is seeking relief from creditors. Amodeo calls Puerto Rico's problems an "isolated event" and anybody who bought those bonds understood the risks. Amodeo said his only exposure is a small position of insured Puerto Rico Water and Sewer Authority debt.

He said Chicago and Illinois debt are the other big trouble spot. At least for the time being, he is avoiding those as well due to their massive unfunded pension obligations.

"In the near term, there is probably more bad news than good news coming out of that region, and so we would look for opportunities to buy into that ... thinking that they will ultimately right the ship and repay their debtholders," said Amodeo.

Finally, Amodeo said high-yield municipal bonds have performed extremely well in the past year, but may be getting too pricey for value investors, even though the fundamentals remain healthy. He said now may be a time to move more into the investment grade arena.

Amodeo's Western Asset Municipal High Income (LMHIX) Fund is up 3.3% thus far in 2016, according to fund-tracker Morningstar. The $784 million fund has returned an average of 7.3% annually over the past five years, putting it in the 59th percentile of Morningstar's high-yield municipal bond category. The trailing 12-month yield for the fund is 4.4%, according to Morningstar.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- United Continental (UAL) stock is gaining by 2.94% to $54.64 in early-afternoon trading on Monday, even though the airline expects that 2016 first quarter unit revenue will decline between 7.25% and 7.75% year-over-year.

Unit revenue is a key metric that reflects the amount that airlines generate for each passenger flown per mile.

The company has been negatively impacted by a strong dollar, lower surcharges and a travel slump from customers affected by retreating oil prices.

United also experienced a larger than expected decrease in "close-in" business travel around Easter and spring break.

The company's March traffic dropped by 1.5% and consolidated capacity fell by 0.1% compared to the year-ago period. Load factor, or percentage of seats filled, decreased by 1% to 84.9%.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "buy" with a ratings score of B.

United Continental's strengths such as its notable return on equity, attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, impressive record of earnings per share growth and compelling growth in net income outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: UAL

TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author.
Endo International (ENDP) is having an up-and-down Monday. Mostly down.

Shares of the specialty pharmaceutical firm opened weak and fell as much as 9% in sympathy with Insys Therapeutics (INSY) , which pre-announced sharply weaker first-quarter sales of its fentanyl painkiller Subsys.

The well-documented epidemic of opioid-related overdoses and deaths in the U.S. is spurring calls from politicians and law enforcement agencies for new restrictions on how painkillers are prescribed in this country. This, in turn, is putting pressure on companies like Insys and Endo which sell opioid-based painkillers.

On Monday, Insys said sales of Subsys would be $61-62 million in the first quarter, well off the consensus sales forecast of approximately $88 million. Insys blamed decreased demand, falling prescriptions and reduced inventory levels for the Subsys sales shortfall.

Insys shares fell 21% to $14 in Monday trading.

Endo's pain management products, including Opana ER and Voltaren Gel, comprise about half of the company's branded pharmaceutical revenue.

The stock rebounded slightly right before noon Monday on a market rumor that Allergan (AGN) might be interested in acquiring the company. The takeout chatter was uncannily well-timed, coming right as Endo shares hit the low of the day. The rumor lifted Endo's stock price slightly.

Allergan is in the process of selling its generic business to Teva, so it makes little sense for Allergan to now turn around and buy Endo, which generates half its revenue from generic drugs.

Allergan is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio.

Endo has lost 58% of its market value this year, in large part because the specialty pharmaceutical business model has hit the skids with the blowup of

Valeant Pharmaceuticals

(VRX)

. Government regulators have also accused drugmakers like Endo of violating antitrust laws by delaying the launch of cheaper, generic drugs into the U.S. market.

Adam Feuerstein writes regularly for TheStreet. In keeping with company editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks, although he owns stock in TheStreet. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. Feuerstein appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.
Noble Energy (NBL) said on Friday that drilling at its 50%-owned Gulf of Mexico Silvergate exploration prospect failed to uncover marketable production and that it will plug and abandon the dry hole and redeploy the rig there to its 38%-owned Katmai oil discovery.

The dry hole is the company's fourth in the last year and a half, making what wouldn't normally be such a big deal -- oil and gas companies drill dry holes all the time -- more of a concern.

According to energy-focused investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. analysts, Noble's other three recent dry holes are the Cheetah prospect announced in September in Cameroon, the Humpback prospect in October in the Falkland Islands and the Madison prospect in the Gulf of Mexico in January. While they said the news is "inconsequential" to Noble's stock valuation, it is, "a hit to company's offshore sentiment, which has already taken a series of blows."

Indeed, the development doesn't take away from the fact that the company -- which is led by former BP executive David Stover -- is considered one of the top independent oil and gas exploration and production companies and is expected to survive the industry downturn.

Piper Jaffray & Co. unit Simmons & Co. International has long counted Noble among its core holdings. Analyst David Kistler said Monday he's adjusting his earnings target for the company lower based on higher operating expenses related to Silvergate. But he added that Noble's ability to expand production this year and next by around 1% (including its $3.9 billion acquisition of Rosetta Resources Inc. last year) while living within cash inflows (including a $200 million divestiture expected in the first half of this year) reinforce his belief that the company's diversified asset base and management of short and long-term projects provide a solid platform to traverse various commodity cycles. "Ultimately, we believe NBL's valuation, balance sheet, significant liquidity and optionality...offer a compelling investment for the long-term (12-month) energy investor," he said.

Noble faces other hurdles too. It's still awaiting a framework for its Leviathan project off the coast of Israel from Israeli government officials (which it expects by year-end) and the sale of part of its 36% working interest in the Tamar natural gas field, according to a April 6 note by Jefferies analyst Jonathan Wolff who visited with the company recently. "We came away with an optimistic view of NBL's outlook," he said.
This article, originally published at 6:04 p.m. on Monday, April 11, 2016, has been updated with market data and settlement details.

Goldman Sachs (GS) agreed to pay $5 billion to settle claims by the U.S. Justice Department that it misled investors about the quality of home loans included in mortgage-backed securities the firm sold before the financial crisis.

The settlement includes a $2.39 billion civil penalty, $1.8 billion in consumer relief and $875 million to resolve claims by other federal regulators and the states of California and Illinois, the Justice Department said in a statement. The amount ranks among the lowest assessed by regulators against Wall Street firms such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) , Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) .

New York-based Goldman originally disclosed the agreement in January, just a week before reporting fourth-quarter earnings that included a charge of $1.8 billion toward the total settlement. Residential mortgage-backed securities, or RMBS's, were a linchpin in the financial crisis since lenders nationwide used them to repackage mortgages of widely varying quality into securities, which were then sold to investors.

That let the lenders record profits while moving the risk of default off their own books and fueled a home-buying boom, expanding the U.S. mortgage market to as much as $15 trillion. When the housing bubble collapsed and high-risk borrowers were unable to make payments, however, the value of the securities plunged, imperiling major financial institutions that owned them. Investment bankLehman Brothers failed, leading to a global credit freeze, and others were forced to take massive bailouts as the government worked to prevent economic collapse.

"This resolution holds Goldman Sachs accountable for its serious misconduct in falsely assuring investors that securities it sold were backed by sound mortgages, when it knew that they were full of mortgages that were likely to fail," Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery said in the statement.

As part of the settlement, Goldman acknowledged telling securities buyers that the loans included in them generally complied with the lender's guidelines, even though the bank knew some of them didn't, and in fact had problems such as low borrower credit scores or potentially overstated incomes.

"We are pleased to put these legacy matters behind us," Michael DuVally, a Goldman spokesman, said in a statement. "Since the financial crisis, we have taken significant steps to strengthen our culture, reinforce our commitment to our clients, and ensure our governance processes are robust."

Goldman Sachs climbed 0.9% to $153.56 a share at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in New York. So far this year, the bank's shares have fallen 15%, a worse decline than either the KBW Bank Index or the S&P 500 Financials Index.

The bank conceded in the settlement that much of the information it received regarding loan originators' business practices was not passed on to investors even though Goldman had made detailed statements to them about a vetting process for lenders that included "ongoing monitoring of loan sellers," the Justice Department said.

The loans in Goldman's mortgage-backed securities were purchased from lenders including New Century Financial, which filed for bankruptcy in 2007; IndyMac Bank, which regulators closed in 2008; Countrywide Home Loans and Fremont Investment & Loan, which was ordered by the FDIC to stop making excessively risky loans in 2007 and filed for bankruptcy in 2008.

Goldman acknowledged that it reviewed Fremont's lending practices in late 2006 and found them to to be "at the aggressive end of market standards," but instead of telling investors, the bank focused on what it called "Fremont's 'commitment to loan quality over volume,'" the Justice Department said.

The firm's deal was part of a broader probe by the Obama administration's RMBS Working Group, formed to review misconduct related to the financial crisis.

The group's investigation previously led to a $13 billion settlement in November 2013 between the Justice Department and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) , which resolved federal and state claims against JPMorgan and two companies it purchased while working with regulators to try to head off the crisis: investment bank Bear Stearns and consumer-lender Washington Mutual.

In August 2014, Justice reached a $16.6 billion settlement with Bank of America that resolved claims involving the Charlotte, N.C.-based company as well as two companies it purchased in the buildup to the crisis, Countrywide and investment bank Merrill Lynch. The agreement included a $5 billion penalty, the largest assessed at the time under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, and a $7 billion consumer relief package.

This February, the Justice Department announced a settlement with Goldman rival Morgan Stanley for $2.6 billion. In that case, Morgan Stanley acknowledged telling investors that its mortgage securities didn't include loans for amounts greater than the value of the property, although the bank actually securitized 9,000 such loans from January 2006 through mid-2007, the Justice Department said.

EXCLUSIVE LOOK INSIDE: Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust buys or sells Bank of America stock? Learn more now.


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FEATURING SAFE FOUNDATION, RETORNO, THE LIVING ROOM & THE SAVING LLIVES COALITION

At risk teens.

A phrase we hear all too often as the number of kids who find themselves struggling with difficult challenges continues to grow with every passing year. With those rising numbers, thankfully, have come numerous agencies to help stem the tide and a fundraising campaign to be held next week will raise much needed monies to support their lifesaving efforts.

The Pomegranate Day of Giving for Youth will be held on Tuesday, April 12th. All funds donated during the 24 hour campaign will be quadrupled in this all or nothing fundraiser with a goal of $2 million to benefit a group of 20 organizations that help at risk teens. While some are dedicated to running dedicated drop in centers, others are dedicated to prevention and educational facilities. Another extremely important component of the equation are recovery and rehabilitation facilities which help those in crisis deal with their issues and then turn the corner so that they can go on to lead healthy and productive lives.

Based in Brooklyn, The SAFE Foundation is an OASAS, New York State licensed, non-profit organization dedicated to treating and preventing drug, alcohol and gambling addictions in the Jewish community. SAFEs drug, alcohol, and gambling outpatient program approaches healing holistically, as addiction therapists and specialists address the patients whole environment, treating family members in conjunction with the patient. Professionals working at SAFE are trained and well-acquainted with Jewish law, practices, and concerns.

SAFE also runs a school prevention program for approximately 10,000 5th though 12th graders, in over 25 yeshivot internationally. In weekly classes throughout the school year, SAFE teachers use a specially formulated curriculum, as well as class discussion, contests, and high-profile speakers, to promote prevention and healthy life skills. The SAFE Parent Program is another division of SAFE dedicated to imparting valuable information and awareness to parents with articles and tips via email blasts, social media posts, printed brochures in synagogues, small home based gatherings, and programs for large audiences.

The Living Room is a division of Our Place with meeting locations in Brooklyn & Monsey, offering young adults throughout the tri-state area who are recovering from addiciton a 12 step recovery community with multiple weekly meetings to allow them to better transition back into mainstream society. Targeting those from Orthodox backgrounds ages 18 to 36, The Living Room has unparalleled success rates as compared to similar national programs, with 82 percent of participants attaining one year of sobriety and 65 percent reaching the five year mark.

In addition to offering social and recreational activities that foster a sense of camaraderie, The Living Room provides follow up support groups, counseling, job placement and vocational training, providing both practical and emotional skills that can help facilitate entry into the job market.

A (501)(c) (3) community organization that works to inform parents and young adults about mental health issues and the dangers of alcohol and substance abuse, the Saving Lives Coalition working with law enforcement agencies, educational professionals , behavioral and healthcare partners and other civic organizations to promote healthy and safe environments for families. A recent partnership with Evolve Treatment Centers gives the Saving Lives Coalition an even wider each, providing cutting edge treatment to teens struggling with addiciton problems and mental health issues. Based in Southern Califonia, the Saving Lives Coalition provides critical prevention programs that are making communities safer for todays youth and their families.

The worlds largest Jewish organization for addiction prevention and treatment, the Israel-based Retorno offers rehab in a glatt kosher facility with daily minyanim and shiurim, with completely separate programs for men, women and youth. Their intensive therapeutic approach, which is combined with a 12 step program, incorporates holistic treatments including horseback riding therapy, animal assisted therapy, DBT, CBT and Bach remedies, as well as various others.

One of the advantages of doing rehab in Israel is that its located far away from a users home environment which can be rife with temptation. Retornos success rate is between 60 and 70 percent. Under the supervision of Social Services and the Ministry of Health in Israel, Retorno offers programs for army veterans with an emphasis on PTSD as well as a special detox program for girls and women ages 14 to 27. Additionally, Retornos prevention programs reach an audience of 30,000 people annually.

Other organizations that are taking part in the Pomegranate Giving Day for Youth include Aish Tamid (Los Angeles), Aliya Center (Crown Heights), Girls Loft (Crown Heights), Aliya Melbourne (Australia), Amudim (Manhattan / Nationwide), Bais Menachem (Wilkes-Barre, PA), BJX (Brooklyn), Project Extreme (Five Towns / Nationwide), Lev Shlomo (Baltimore), Our Place Boys & Our Place Girls (Flatbush), Tekumah & Regesh (Lakewood), Matara (Israel), The Center (Miami) and Torah Youth Center (Cleveland).

Stay tuned at TheYeshivaWorld.com for live coverage, beginning at 2 PM on April 12, 2016.

To visit New York Citys premier Kosher experience or place an online order, visit ThePomPeople.com.

For additional information about the Pomegranate Giving Day for Youth, contact Rabbi Aryeh Young at [email protected] or 516-512-4494.
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

During a recent drug and alcohol abuse awareness campaign in Palapye, Captive Eye Organisation CEO, Percy Mothibi said while marijuana and cocaine were the two most popular drugs among youths, addicts also resorted to other concoctions."When we did our research about drugs which are used in Botswana, we found out that marijuana is the most used, then cocaine. There are other mixtures including human waste and Vim, dust from vehicle exhausts and dust from inside television sets that is also said to be mixed with ARVs," he said.Mmegi reported that Captive Eye's studies found out that the mixture of dry human faeces and Vim, called CAT, is very strong and thus highly addictive."These youths steal their parents or other relative's pills such as ARVs and those taken for diabetes to make their own drugs," Mothibi told a stunned audience."Such drugs are taken through different methods such as injections, smoking or sniffing. Others are put in alcohol."The organisations' research has shown that all manner of drugs are on the increase among youths, being distributed at schools, parties and outings. Mothibi said some youths were even selling their drugs at churches andsetting up "businesses" in worship centres."There are some youths who confessed that they do such. Others said they even sell under their parents' orders. It is very dangerous for parents to use their children in this way, to make money. "Our country is in a very challenging situation in terms of drugs and it's a pity because the majority of users are youth who should be regarded as the country's future leaders."Mothibi said drug addiction was behind trends showing that the majority of patients in mental health institutions in Botswana were youths. Others, he said, had resorted to prostitution to make money.He added that in prisons, youths made up the majority of inmates, with most of the crimes committed under the influence of drugs and alcohol. "From the research that we did from January to February, 81 teenagers between 15 and 20 years fell pregnant and many said they were under the influence of alcohol," Mothibi said."The question is who impregnated those girls and how many of them have HIV? HIV transmission will never end as long as drugs are still used in this country."
The terrorists who carried out the March 22 attacks on the Brussels airport and metro had initially planned an attack on France instead, the Belgian federal prosecutor announced Sunday.

A cell of terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State had largely conceived and executed the Nov. 13 attacks on Paris from the Belgian capital, where many of them were reared. According to the prosecutors office, members of this cell were apparently surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation and decided to attack locally instead.

Despite the speed of that investigation, however, the terrorists  some of whom were known to the Belgian government  were able to kill 32 people and injure hundreds more in an impromptu attack four months after an attack that killed 130 in Paris.

The Brussels attack came four days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, a principal suspect in the logistics behind the Paris assault. Sundays revelations confirm what many suspected: The arrests leading up to the Brussels attacks prompted a quick and desperate terrorist retaliation.

Exact details of the abandoned French attack remain unclear, and prosecutors declined to give further information.

Sundays announcement came two days after Belgian authorities arrested Mohamed Abrini and three other suspects, all of whom were charged with the participating in terrorist murder and the activities of a terrorist group.

Abrini, a 31-year-old Belgian citizen of Moroccan origin, is a link between both the Paris and Brussels attacks, one of many that investigators have uncovered in recent weeks.

Surveillance footage has identified him as the driver of a rented vehicle that transported terrorists back and forth across the French-Belgian border in the days before the Paris attacks. On Saturday, he admitted to police that he was the man in the hat at Brussels Zaventem airport, walking beside two accomplices who detonated suicide bombs March 22 inside the terminal.

Further footage from the morning of the attack shows Abrini walking out of the airport toward the city, where he remained at large until Friday.

His testimony could provide further insight into the network that planned attacks in Paris and Brussels. The extent to which that network remains active is unknown.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  James McAuley
The PA (Palestinian Authority) reports on Sunday morning 2 Nissan that three terrorists on their way to an attack were apprehended, thereby preventing another murderous attack. According to the Reshet Bet Radio report, the three were apprehended on Shabbos morning after being listed as missing for a number of days.

The report states they had an automatic weapon and hand grenades and planned an attack inside Green Line Israel but were intercepted in the Ramallah area by PA security forces. One of the terrorists is a resident of Wallaje located near the capital, the second from the Jenin area and the third the Hebron district.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Likud MKs David Amsalem and Avraham Neguise have worked hard to push the cabinet to approve the aliyah of 1,300 members of the Falash Mura community that remains in Ethiopia. The cabinet recently voted to approve bringing 500 additional Falash Mura but Amsalem and Neguise refused to accept this. They began boycotting votes, making it difficult for the coalition to pass bills. The two faced sanctions but remained adamant until the cabinet changed the number to 1,300 Falash Mura expected to arrive in 2016 and received a commitment the matter will be discussed during the 2017-2018 budgetary talks.

A number of things have been learned since. For one thing. Walla News reports it received a tape recording that documents the MKs plan. They hope to get many members of the Ethiopian community to join Likud because of their efforts on behalf of the Falash Mura and this will put them in a position to demand becoming Interior Minister (Amsellem) and Absorption Minister (Neguise). So it appears they motives are far from pristine and not necessarily the good of the Ethiopian community.

In fact, according to veteran members of the Ethiopian community, those who walked to Israel via Sudan decades ago and their offspring insist the new Falash Mora aliyah that is planned and aliyah of recent years are a scam. They insist the Falash Mura that were serious Jews and compelled to convert have long ago been reunited and these are people who are not only Christians, but missionaries. The reportedly maintain an affiliated with the missionary organization The Church Ministry Among the Jews, Walla News adds.

Israel Radio journalist Tsega Mekalu, who describes himself as traditional and not religious, is outraged and wants to prevent the aliyah of additional Falash Mura explaining they are destroying our community from within. Many members of the community who are dati leumi or self-proclaimed traditional, want to maintain the Jewish integrity o the community and remain adamantly opposed to the aliyah of additional Falash Mura.

Veteran Ethiopians living in Israel for decades and their families explain:

 If these Falash Mura are legitimate as they claim, why werent they and their families with us to walk through Sudan and Addis?

 It is all about money. They are funded by the New Israel Fund, who is happy to bring more missionaries to Israel.

 PM Netanyahu and Likud simply dont care. They too are pleased.

 How dare the Likud decide who to bring. Why are they not consulting with our Chief Rabbi Adani? Why dont they consult with the Chief Rabbis of Israel? Why dont they consult without Kassem religious leader? Because they dont care and they are happy to bring more missionaries to Israel.

 The New Israel Fund is involved and the goal, to destroy Yiddishkheit. For years we maintained our Jewishness with mesirus nefesh only to be destroyed in the State of Israel.

 It stinks! Its all about money. Our children see they live here, speak Hebrew and serve in the army and then marry them. They are goyim and we want no part of them!! Why are they being paid to come on aliyah. The minute they convert they revert back to being active Christians. Speak to any Jewish Agency officials in absorption centers. They can tell you the churches in these centers are active. These people do not want o be Jewish but they want to make us Christians.

According to the Walla News report and other sources gathered by YWN-ISRAEL, there is mounting opposition to the aliyah of additional Falash Mura among veteran Ethiopians, those who emigrated from Ethiopia in the late 1970 and early 1980s.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Jewish communities in large metropolitan cities such as New York, London or Toronto sometimes take for granted having access to Jewish communal resources, kashrus agencies being at the forefront leading up to Pesach. Unfortunately, smaller Jewish communities at times dont get the same access. That is why the Kashruth Council of Canada, better known as COR by their kosher symbol, travelled to Edmonton Alberta Canada recently for the citys first ever pre-pesach community event.

The COR delegation was composed of Rabbi Sholom H. Adler, CORs Kashrus Administrator, Rabbi Dovid Rosen CORs Pesach Specialist and a Rabbinic Coordinator, and Richard Rabkin, CORs Managing Director. At COR we partner with Jewish communities across Canada to act as a resource for all things kosher, said Rabkin. Whether its answering consumer questions, kashering peoples homes, or advocating on behalf of kosher consumers with our elected officials. We at COR feel that all Jewish communities across Canada should have equal access to kashrus resources and that is why we decided to come to Edmonton.

The event was held in a conference room at the West Edmonton Mall, the largest shopping mall in North America and was attended by over 125 people from the Edmonton Jewish community. It received the strong support of local Edmonton rabbis including Rabbi Ari Dreilich, Executive Director of Chabad of Edmonton, Rabbi Daniel Friedman, spiritual leader of Beth Israel Congregation and Rabbi David Laufer, the Director of the Edmonton Kollel.

Edmontonians were treated to a selection of complimentary appetizers followed by a PowerPoint presentation by Rabbi Dovid Rosen outlining the most frequently asked Pesach related questions. The second half of the evening was a seminar demonstrating how a COR mashgiach cleans and checks produce to ensure that it is insect free and how to apply these techniques in the home.

In opening remarks, Rabbi David Laufer of the Edmonton Kollel said, We in Edmonton are fortunate to have a resource like the COR. Not only do they make kosher products more accessible as you can go into any supermarket and find almost any type of kosher certified product on the shelves, but they themselves are accessible, answering our questions via phone, email and text message, and of course now in person. Thank you COR.

In closing remarks, Rabbi Daniel Freidman of the Beth Israel congregation commented, Over my years in the rabbinate I have made an interesting observation: the people who ask me the most kashrus questions are usually the ones with the highest kashrus levels in their kitchens. Kashrus questions come up daily and we should never be afraid to ask. That is why we are so fortunate to have the COR here with us tonight, and to answer our questions throughout the year as well.

The feedback from those in attendance was overwhelmingly positive but the most significant feedback came from Rabbi Friedman two days after the event via a text message. Since Sunday I have already been approached by two people who want to kasher their kitchens and toivel their dishes. Yashar Koach!
Croatias Jewish community confirmed on Monday it will boycott an official Holocaust commemoration to protest the governments alleged inaction to curb the surge of neo-Nazi sentiments in the country.

The Coordinating Committee of the Jewish Communities of Croatia said it will hold its own remembrance at the Nazi-run World War II death camp Jasenovac on April 15, a week before the ceremony that is to be attended by government officials.

Jewish committee officials have accused Croatias new right-wing government of ignoring open public resurgence of anti-Semitism, including pro-Nazi slogans chanted by Croatian fans during a soccer match between Croatia and Israel last month.

Tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Gypsies died in death camps run by the Nazi puppet state of Croatia during WWII. Some 30,000 Jews are estimated to have been slaughtered during the existence of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, most of them in the Jasenovac camp which is known as the Croatian Auschwitz.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic said Croatia should unite over the fundamental values of the society, in this case over the commemoration of the death of the innocent Jasenovac victims.

(AP)
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Monday that Americans have reaped significant benefits from the international architecture put in place after World War II and the United States would be making a serious mistake to retreat from its global leadership role.

In a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations, Lew sought to counter arguments being advanced by Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates that Americans are losing badly in competition with China and other countries in the global economy.

Lew said that the United States needs to embrace new players on the global economic stage and make sure they meet the standards of the trading system that the country helped create.

The worst possible outcome would be to step away from our leadership role and let others fill in behind us, he said.

Lews comments came in advance of global finance meetings later this week. Lew and Federal Reserve Secretary Janet Yellen will hold discussions with the Group of 20 major economies on Friday in advance of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Yellen was scheduled to meet later Monday at the White House with President Barack Obama to give the president an update on the U.S. and global economy.

(AP)
Senate Republican Majority Leader John J. Flanagan today announced he has committed $600,000 in additional funds to local yeshivas and community after-schools programs throughout the Five Towns.

These new resources build on longstanding Senate Republican efforts to ensure every child has a quality education. The newly-enacted budget provides a record level of total education funding, including a $1.5 billion increase over last year and complete elimination of the GEA scheme imposed by Senate Democrats when they were in the majority.

It goes without saying that my colleagues and I believe that every child should have access to a first-class quality education, whether they attend a traditional public school, a charter school, or a yeshiva or other religious school. Senate Majority Leader Flanagan said.

Working together, we have achieved many good things, but we know that the needs are real and they still exist. So today, I am personally here to commit $600,000 so yeshivas and community after-school programs can continue to fulfill their mission and give your kids a proper education, Senator Flanagan continued.

This education grant funding was appropriated as part of the new state budget. These important resources can be used to fund after-school programs.

Flanagan noted that although the district has been without a representative in the State Senate since last May, Republicans have been working to ensure its needs dont go unmet.

I have visited this community many times and spoken with local elected officials and community leaders. I listened and I learned, and reassured them that everything would be ok. My message was simple  until this seat was filled I would be your representative in the State Senate and I would be your voice in Albany , Senator Flanagan said.

Today is a fulfillment of that promise  on behalf of my office and on behalf of our entire Senate Republican Majority, Senator Flanagan concluded.

On behalf of the close to 700 students of Yeshiva of South Shore I am grateful to Senate Majority Leader Flanagan for leading the way on funding for private school education in the state budget, Senator Flanagan also promised to be an advocate for the families in our area. Today he is making good on that commitment and the whole community of the Five Towns is most thankful, Meir Krengel, President, Yeshiva of South Shore, Hewlett, NY

For more information about how to apply for and receive these funds, please contact Senator Flanagans office.

(YWN Desk  NYC)
It is ironic that some of the adults in the GOP who have inveighed against dysfunction brought on by backbencher extremists like the Freedom Caucus and urged pragmatic compromise in the face of criticism from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are now acting more like the all-or-nothing crowd they once denounced. The Wall Street Journal editorial board recounts:

Across the 2011 debt ceiling showdown, the 2013 ObamaCare shutdown that Mr. Cruz engineered, and the various budget deals, anyone who recognized the limits of political possibility with a liberal President was smeared as lacking philosophical conviction. When these gambits inevitably failed, he blamed the establishment for that too.

Fair enough. And we have no bones to pick on this front either: Outflanked by Mr. [Donald] Trump, the Texas Senator let himself be dragged further toward positions that alienate much of the GOP and American mainstream. On immigration he criticized Mr. Trump not for mass deportation but because Mr. Trump suggested he might let some of the deported re-enter legally. But, the rejoinder must be: So what?

Unless there is some other vehicle for getting to a contested convention (i.e. defeating Trump), Cruz would argue that it is time to make one of those pragmatic decisions and vote for him in the remaining primaries. At the convention, we have argued, it is not impossible to come up with an alternative to the three current candidates, but it is unlikely.

Likewise, Carl M. Cannon reminds us: But for many prominent Republicans, having to choose between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump is an exquisite form of torture. Cruzs colleagues find him officious, selfish, and maddening. They doubt his sincerity. They hate how he grandstands. They despise him for impugning the integrity of his own party leaders. Who can quibble with that? And yet, Cruz is the alternative right now to Trump. (But as the July convention draws closer with Cruz having the only chance to catch Trump in the delegate count, the Republican establishment is realizing that it does matter. [Sen. Lindsey] Graham himself endorsed Cruz, one of five former 2016 presidential candidates to do so.)

Mainstream Republicans who put up with attacks on perfectly honorable Republican leaders, with talk radio hosts spinning fiction about how they sold out the base and with holier-than-thou Beltway groups like Heritage Action impugning their conservative credentials, are understandably perturbed. But to insist on some magical solution to their Trump problem other than the only currently available choice (Cruz) would be as self-destructive as the 2013 shutdown.

Ironically, Cruz is now doing what he has decried in the past. Hes talking practicalities, asking for fellow Republicans to think rationally about the race. He told the Republican Jewish Coalition over the weekend: Many of you started with someone else. . . . And one of the things we are working very much to do is welcome everyone who supported someone else, welcome them with open arms. He continued: Sixty-five to 70 percent of Republican recognize nominating Donald Trump will be a disaster and hands the general election to Hillary Clinton. If we can unite the 65-70 percent of Republicans we win. If not we lose. Asked about social issues, he said Tone matters a lot. . . . I am not running to be pastor in chief. He vowed to fight on the terrain of the Little Sisters of the Poor (i.e. Obamacares mandate on contraception)  an issue on which most Americans would be more sympathetic. On gay marriage, he said he favored a diversity of views, namely allowing states to decide. (That ship sailed with the Supreme Court, but Cruz was suggesting that he would fight smart, not in ways that would infuriate a large segment of voters.)

Cruz is now practicing what his former Republican critics preach: He is touting the value of a concrete agenda and speaking in the context of real-world choices. His past and current critics would say this is opportunism, but one mans opportunism is anothers flexibility or pragmatism. Cruz, by necessity, has learned that the inflexible, antagonistic Cruz cannot win a primary, let alone a general election. He has, as the liberals like to say, evolved. His GOP critics are entitled to be skeptical and even annoyed, but by the same token, they should recognize that Cruz is savvy enough to adapt and adjust to changed circumstances. More important, he is the only means of stopping Trump from getting to 1,237 delegates.

While the chances of someone other than Cruz or Trump coming out of the convention as a nominee are slight, as a delegate I would ask, Whove you got in mind? At that point, everyone can take a shot at finagling the rules and winning over the delegates. Until then, everyone will need to get over any (understandable) resentment toward Cruz. Otherwise Trump will be the nominee, and the results will be devastating to Republicans at all levels.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Jennifer Rubin
News / Africa

by Thupeyo Muleya

EIGHTEEN people, most of them Zimbabweans, were seriously injured when three vehicles were involved in a pile up between Beitbridge border post and Musina town in South Africa.Musina police spokesperson Constable Dakalo Ramagweda said the incident occurred around 6AM last Friday along the N1 highway.She said investigations were still in progress, although initial indications were that the accident was caused by an overtaking error."A Toyota Quantum travelling from the border post towards Musina was involved in a head on collision with another commuter omnibus which was travelling from Musina. A few minutes later a speeding Toyota metered taxi which was travelling from Musina rammed into the commuter omnibus."A total of 18 people were injured as a result," she said.Cst Ramagweda said the emergency services and the police rushed the injured to Musina Government Hospital.She said most of the victims suffered multiple body injuries but were yesterday reported to be in a stable condition.A majority of the victims, the police spokesperson said, were Zimbabweans."As police we continue to encourage drivers to always adhere to traffic regulations and not to overtake when they can't see clearly. We believe this accident was a result of human error and was therefore avoidable," said Cst Ramagweda.Last year seven people died near the same spot when a commuter omnibus they were travelling in collided with a haulage truck.A total of 38 Zimbabweans have died in road accidents in Limpopo province in the last 12 months.
Tesco has announced it will accept Brand Match vouchers issued by its rival Sainsbury's until June - two months after the promotion has ended.

Britain's biggest supermarket will hope to steal some of Sainsbury's custom by allowing them to use the Brand Match vouchers issued by its closest rival.

Last week, Sainsbury's announced it was binning the scheme from 27 April. The supermarket's Brand Match strategy was introduced in 2011 and gives shoppers money-off vouchers if they could have bought branded items cheaper at Asda

Until September 2014, the Sainsbury's scheme also gave shoppers money-off vouchers if branded items were cheaper at Tesco.

Brand Guarantee: Tesco has been advertising its own offer via television adverts starring Ruth Jones and Ben Miller

Sainsbury's said it is scrapping the scheme to invest instead in offering lower prices on everyday items such as bread and washing-up liquid.

It added that customers said they want lower regular prices and that this is more important to them than Brand Match.

Tesco also has its own scheme called Brand Guarantee, which was launched in October along with an adverting campaign fronted by small screen stars Ruth Jones and Ben Miller.

This offers an immediate price match at tills without the need for paper coupons. Tesco claims Brand Guarantee ensures customers never pay more for their branded shop when they buy ten or more different products, compared with Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury's.

According to market research firm Kantar World Panel, Tesco had a market share of more than 30 per cent at the end of 2013.

Market share: Tesco is still easily has the biggest share, with Sainsbury's and Asda next on the list

Today Sainsbury's has a 16.4 per cent market share compared to 28.1 per cent at Tesco, according to latest statistics from Kantar World Panel. Meanwhile Asda has a slightly smaller market share at 16.2 per cent.

Tesco, along with Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's, have each slowly had their market share eroded away by discounters such as Aldi and Lidl.

Matt Davies, chief executive of Tesco, said: 'This is a little help for Sainsbury's customers from us at Tesco.

'It also provides the opportunity for Sainsbury's customers to experience Tesco's Brand Guarantee, which we launched in October, and has been universally welcomed by our customers.'

Brand Match: Sainsbury's wrote to customers last week to tell them Brand Match is being scrapped from the end of April

The news from Sainsbury's follows the supermarket's plans announced last month to phase out the 'vast majority' of multi-buy promotions by August, claiming they are 'confusing, create storage challenges and unnecessary waste.'

Tesco also says it is bringing down the price of leading brands and introduced 'simple, more affordable prices on many of the everyday, own label products customers rely on.'

The company also recently launched a range of new brands along with improvements in its core meat, fruit and vegetable lines.

Meanwhile Tesco is set to announce a surprise sales uplift this week as chief executive Dave Lewis gives a bullish appraisal of its prospects.

The supermarket giants management is understood to be increasingly confident that the business is gaining momentum.
British consumers will soon have far less choice if David Dyson has his way.

Dyson, 45, is the mobile phone boss who is seeking to convince competition czars in Brussels that if the UK goes the way of much of the rest of Europe and cuts the number of mobile phone operators from four to three it will actually be better for all of us.

Never mind the fact that if his Hong Kong controlled mobile service Three is combined with 02, it will create a communications colossus with 31million customers and the ability to set prices rather than continue the fight as a nimbler, lower cost challenger.

Tough call: David Dyson, 45, began his commercial life as an auditor at KPMG and is now, as boss of 3, working to push through a merger with o2

In many ways Dyson is an unlikely telecoms tycoon. He began his commercial life as an auditor at KPMG.

But he cultivates the look of the off-the-shelf media executive replete with designer stubble and fashionable open neck shirt.

As might be expected of a numbers person turned techie, he is at his most enthusiastic when talking about gadgets.

The iPad is a brilliant tool and I am just trying out Samsungs latest virtual reality goggles.

When we meet on an elegant terrace of the upmarket Renaissance Hotel at Marylebone in Central London there is a real sense of frustration about the way in which the regulatory process had gone since the 10.3billion telecoms deal was unveiled almost 12 months ago.

It has been travelling along at a fairly pedestrian pace as far as I am concerned, says Dyson.

What really gets his goat is that while his proposed deal is being examined in granular detail by the European Commission, forcing him to come up with all kinds of potential fixes to satisfy concerns, the BT takeover of EE was nodded through by the UKs Competition and Markets Authority with barely a whimper.

It created a goliath of a company with 24billion of turnover, huge assets  mobile, WiFi and broadband.

'Once BT made the move to buy EE it was the catalyst for us to say the market is shifting quite dramatically and unless we do something we are going to be left behind, he argues.

THE BEANCOUNTER WHO BECAME A TECH NERD Family: The 45-year-old is married to Samantha, an accountant, currently working in education. Two children, a boy 14, a girl 15 Hobbies: Road and mountain biking, supporting Manchester United, exploring new technologies Favourite gadget: iPad Movie: The Hangover with Bradley Cooper Books: Likes business orientated books such as Good To Great by Jim Collins Education: Bury Grammar School, read accountancy at University of Cardiff Inspired by: Two uncles who were accountants Career: Joined KPMG and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1993. Moved to KPMG in Hong Kong in 1995. Left in 1998 and joined Hutchison in Hong Kong working for Li Ka Shing, Hong Kongs richest man. He ended up at Three, one of Hutchisons mobile phone ventures. Working Day: An early riser who between 7am and 9am clears emails and maps out rest of his day. From 9am involved in back-to-back meetings. Finds time for a breakfast of Weetabix, muesli or sometimes porridge at local cafe. Uses the BBC app to keep abreast of news as the day progresses. Tends to work through lunch. If he is training for a triathlon will go for a lunchtime swim. Stays in the office until 6.30pm and then home to Marlow to have dinner with the family. Avoids business meetings and dinners in the evening. Spare time: Tries to do one triathlon a year at least which means time in the gym or on his road bike. Relaxes by watching movies and sport on TV. Also enjoys testing new technology.

Dyson's frustration is easy to understand and it is ridiculous that the two biggest UK telecoms deals of the decade should be examined by different competition authorities in London and Brussels.

But it also shows that when companies are faced with competition from a behemoth the inclination is to create their own giant irrespective on the long-term implications for consumer choice and service.

He does, however, have a point. Before EE was bought by BT  which controls almost all the UKs telecoms and broadband infrastructure  it already was the largest mobile provider in the UK with 25million customers.

The second largest was 02 (once part of BT) with 21million-22million customers, followed by Vodafone, Britains mobile phone pioneer, with around 20million.

Three with just 9million accounts was the industry laggard. Contrary to most economic and market theories, Dyson is seeking to demonstrate that fewer players in the market is better than many.

It is a hard case to make at a time when challenger grocers, banks, fashion retailers and no-frills airlines have helped to bring prices down and improve customer experience in the markets in which they operate.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, given the struggle that Three is having with the European Commission, Dyson has not yet been frightened into thinking that Brexit would be a disaster for his company or Britain.

No he answers emphatically when asked if he has a fear of leaving the EU. Not from a business or personal perspective. If he had been asked (which he wasnt) to sign a letter underlying the harm likely to be done by leaving the EU, the Three chief executive would have desisted.

Britains communications regulator Ofcom has concerns about a Three-O2 merger. It has pointed to the Austrian experience arguing that after the number of players in the market came down, prices rose.

Dyson concedes that they did go up but suggests it has nothing to do with mergers and more to do with the auction of new spectrum  essentially a mobile phone signal  by the Vienna authorities.

I think a couple of the operators said they would try and recover some of the financial costs through higher prices, but they never actually put prices up, he claims.

He accepts, however, that where the number of mobile companies have come down  in Germany, Ireland and in Austria  the remedies sought by regulators seek to make sure they can be comfortable that prices wont go up post merger.

In seeking to swing opinion of the public, City and regulators Dyson is making two promises. A better deal for older users and better connections for the whole population.

The feedback the industry has from the older generation is that they are less interested in data than their younger counterparts and if they dont want it, they dont want to pay for it.

The answer from a combined Three-O2 is that they wont have to.

We have proposed a tariff that strips out all the data but allows unlimited voice and text. We are prepared to offer it for 5-a-month, says Dyson.

The other commitment that he is making is to end the frustration of most mobile users about unreliable signals. Analysis by OpenSignal suggests that only 70 per cent of the UKs roads have coverage and just 72 per cent of railways.

He says that by bringing together the combined technical assets of the two enterprises a merged group will be able to offer 90 per cent coverage.

Plans: If Three is combined with 02, it will create a communications colossus with 31million customers and the ability to set prices rather than continue the fight as a nimbler, lower cost challenger

At this point Dyson descends into technical gobbledegook about masts and spectrum. Essentially his claim is that because there will be more masts, and O2 has spectrum that reaches further, the new entity will be able to eliminate many of the blank spots.

The deal would also offer a future route for the new company to the stock market. Three is wholly owned by Hong Kongs richest man Li Ka Shing, one of the largest investors in Britains infrastructure.

The new company will have a broader ownership with the stake of Li Ka Shings Hutchison coming down to 67 per cent and investors including sovereign wealth funds from Canada, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Brazil taking the rest.

Promising to share the benefits with consumers as well as the new owners, Dyson sees massive cost saving opportunities of 4billion over time.

As for the name of the new group, he is still undecided: We could go with one of the brands or go with 03, 0 Cubed or whatever it might be.

'Or you could create a new brand as EE have done [from T-Mobile and Orange]. Or we could run with both of them.

At the moment, however, branding is the least of Hutchison and Threes problems. The European Commission remains a significant hurdle and it may well decide too much mobile power would be concentrated in two few hands.
The UK competition watchdog has joined the chorus of opposition to the 10.3billion tie-up of Three and O2 after its boss urged Brussels to block the deal.

Alex Chisholm, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority, outlined his serious concerns to Margrethe Vestager, the head of the European Commission, who is deciding whether to approve the mobile phone merger.

O2 and Three combined would become the largest mobile firm in the UK, with a customer base of 31million, reducing the number of mobile networks from four down to three.

Competition concerns: The proposed merger between O2 and Three would lead to a 'significant impediment to effective competition' in the UK's mobile network sector, the UK competition watchdog has warned

In his letter Chisholm warned such a move would be a significant impediment to effective competition.

He said: The CMA urges the Commission to act to prevent the long-term damage to the UK mobile telecoms market, and therefore to the interests of UK consumers, that both of our authorities have predicted will result from this merger.

Threes owner, CK Hutchison, has offered a raft of concessions in a bid to get the deal waved through.

These include selling up to 40 per cent of space on its network to Sky and Virgin Media for 3billion, offering to sell a 20 per cent stake in Three and pledging to run O2 as a separate company.

Letter: Alex Chisholm, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority

Canning Fok, boss of Hutchison, has promised Three would invest 5billion in Britains mobile industry, and freeze prices for consumers until 2021, as well as offering cheaper tariffs for pensioners.

But Chisholm said these remedies fall well short of what would be needed to protect competition.

He said the only way for the deal to be approved is if one of the businesses is separated off, either in entirety or by carving out certain operations.

Chisholms comments echo criticisms made by Ofcoms chief executive Sharon White, as well as Richard Lloyd, director of consumer organisation Which?, who have both opposed the deal.

Lloyd said: The CMA is right that this merger, if it is allowed to go ahead, would seriously reduce choice and competition for UK customers in the mobile market.

Which? has also written to the European Commission to set out our concerns. Fewer players in a market rarely leads to better outcomes for consumers.

Virgin Medias boss Tom Mockridge hit back at the CMA, though, and criticised it for causing a dearth of competition after approving an earlier merger between mobile phone operator EE with telecoms giant BT.

Mockridge claimed BT/EE now owns 45 per cent of the total network capacity, known as spectrum, in the UK, including 60 per cent of the fast 4G internet capacity.

Under scrutiny: European regulators have been scrutinising the proposed deal for several months since Three owner Hutchison Whampoa entered into exclusive talks to buy O2 from Spain's Telefonica in January 2015

He said: In comparison Vodafone has 28 per cent of UK spectrum, O2 has 15 per cent, and Three has 12 per cent. This is the very reason it is now difficult to create a new, fourth mobile network operator.

A combined O2/Three would provide a counter balance to the strength of BT/EE, offering an alternative source of capacity to other providers who will drive competition in their own right.

Hutchison said it was very disappointed by the CMAs letter, which it described as an entirely one-sided argument designed to support a preordained outcome.

It described the CMAs letter as astonishing and argued it can have no legitimate status in the merger control process.
News / Local

by Staff Reporter

Ya FM Chairman Munyaradzi Hwengwere has encouraged Masvingo business community to take advantage of Zvishavane's first commercial radio station to promote their business.Masvingo Mirror reported that Hwengwere was speaking at Ya FM business cocktail that was held at Charles Austin Theatre in Masvingo recently."We exist to promote the businesses that are here, so l challenge you to use us and abuse us. Take advantage of us."Zimbabwe is too 'Hararerised' to the extent that most of the people believe that everything revolve around Harare. As Ya FM we have noted that people from remote areas need to be heard as well, so this radio station is a critical voice for the voiceless," said HwengwereYa FM made history by becoming the first regional commercial station to go on air among the eight regional commercial stations which were licensed by Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) in March 2015 following the acceptance of 21 applications.It calls itself the Pulse of the Great Dyke as it focuses on all miners from different communities in the country.It covers areas that encompasses Mberengwa, Mimosa Mine, Murowa Diamond Mine, Unkie Platinum, Gweru and Masvingo on FM Frequency 91.8."We will be opening bureaus in Masvingo and Gweru very soon so we are here to represent you," said Zaine Rance the station's Marketing Manager.The business cocktail was graced by Mayor Hubert Fidze and various companies that included Delta, Inscor Africa, PSMAS and others
News / Local

by Stephen Jakes

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have expressed continued concerns over Itai Dzamara who is still missing 13 months since he was abducted on March 9 2015.In a statement ZLHR said it was 13 months since prominent pro-democracy campaigner Dzamara was abducted and disappeared."ZLHR remains gravely concerned about the continued disappearance of Itai, who disappeared without a trace on Monday 09 March 2015," reads the statement."ZLHR is dismayed by the Zimbabwean authorities' failure to provide any heartening and specific information and probe reports on the status and progress of the investigation into the disappearance of Dzamara since March 2015 when High Court Judge Justice David Mangota ordered Zimbabwe Republic Police and Central Intelligence Organisation to investigate, establish his whereabouts and update his family and lawyers on progress."ZLHR said this has not been fully complied with and they also remain very concerned that probe reports submitted by the ZRP as ordered by the High Court in March 2015 show very little progress if at all."This failure has occurred despite ZRP and the government's claims that the law enforcement agency is an international recognised professional force that has been invited to participate in various missions under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union," reads the statement."It is not enough for the ZRP and government officials to simply proclaim that they are investigating the case considering that Zimbabwe as a nation has a long history of enforced disappearances that stretch back to pre-independence days up to present day scenarios where human rights defenders are enforceably disappeared and their whereabouts just unknown."ZLHR said while it has noted assurances attributed to Vice President and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa that government will leave no stone "unturned" in investigating the disappearance of Dzamara, such statements must not merely be window dressing. Zimbabwe's international legal obligations require it to carry out a prompt investigation and to keep Dzamara's family informed on the progress and status of the investigation."We also decry the failure by Zimbabwean authorities to account for the whereabouts of other victims of enforced disappearances in the country including Paul Chizuze and Patrick Nabanyama, who remain missing since they were abducted and disappeared in 2000 and 2012," reads the statement."The government's protracted failure to resolve the case of Paul, Patrick and Itai's enforced disappearance is a clear dereliction of its national, regional and international obligations, which seriously undermines its attempts to gain credibility as a rights-respecting member of the global family."ZLHR called upon the government to undertake prompt, impartial, and effective investigations into Dzamara, Nabanyama and Chizuze's cases and all other outstanding cases of enforced disappearances and provide effective remedies and reparation to all victims pursuant to its national, regional and international legal obligations."While Zimbabwe's new Constitution contains some progressive provisions particularly section 53 that guarantees freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and section 51 on the right to human dignity, the culture of constitutionalism is still missing among some of our legislators as evidenced by how they continue filibustering each time debate on the issue of enforced disappearances is raised in Parliament," said ZLHR."The walkout by some legislators has thus stalled debate on a motion on the disappearance of Dzamara. Such action is deplorable and is tantamount to dereliction of duty on behalf of the people they claim to represent.With Zimbabwe being a country still traumatised by a history of enforced disappearances dating back from the Gukurahundi atrocities which remain unresolved 36 years after attainment of independence, legislators owe it to the public to seriously consider and debate enforced disappearances, condemn such an archaic practice which can affect anyone, and take action to alleviate the suffering of the families and other concerned citizens."It said to this end, ZLHR hopes that lawmakers, regardless of political allegiance, will do their utmost to reduce unnecessary filibustering."ZLHR calls upon the State to ensure that all persons under its jurisdiction are protected from enforced disappearances and other such violations. On its part, ZLHR will continue confronting perpetrators of enforced disappearances and torture through litigation and other means to end this barbaric practice," ZLHR said."In conclusion, ZLHR urges the government to ratify, domesticate and implement provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances and the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Protocol."
News / Local

by Witness Dingani

QN.

OVERVIEW

ANSWERS

EXAMPLES

HOWEVER



ZIMBABWEAN CONTEXT



QUESTION DEMANDS

Contacts



"Israel prophets were politicians rather than prophets"Examine this view.To what extent are the Zimbabwean prophets act as politicians rather than prophets? (25) pt 8One should understand the key words before attempting the question, this will be demonstrated below.- B.W.Anderson define prophet as someone who communicate the will of God,whilst, J Thompson define prophet as someone who act as a messenger of God.- Politician ,is someone who is involved in politics ,this cannot be denied. Israel prophets were involved in politics this include Moses who is regarded as the father of all prophets and founder of prophecy by Deuteronomist Historians. One will understand that at least all Israel prophets were involved in politics. Israel prophets anointed Kings, advised Kings and e.t.c .This is inline with politics on its self but it doesn't mean that Israel prophets were now politicians. The reason is that ,prophecy and politics cannot be separated.This has been supported by B.W.Anderson page 254 paragraph 2 ,Line 1,5th Edition "prophecy was intimately associated with politics from the very first moment it appeared in Israel".Skelton cited by Masotcha Moyo in his book titled "Prophecy,Profits,Politics"submitted that one cannot separate prophecy from politics. Some have went on to suggest that prophecy and politics is married to each other. Therefore,this means that when a prophet was involved in politics was fulfilling prophetic duties.In other words one is justified to suggest that Israel prophets were involved in politics and they also practised other duties which were not inline with politics.This also means that the statement which regards Israel prophets as politicians is misleading.- The commission of Moses was politically to confront the king and to lead the Israelites to Canaan, this is the reason why he went on to confront Pharaoh,Exodus 5 :1 will explain everything.- Moses was involved in holy wars against Amalakelites.This is supported by Exodus 16&17- The presentation of Laws on itself it's politically. This is demonstrated in Exodus 20 V1.- Prophets like Samuel,Ahijah of Shiloah,Elijah,sons of prophets anointed different Kings- Samuel in 1Samuel 10 v 1 & 1 Samuel 16- Elijah in 1 Kings 19 v 15-16.- son of prophet in 2 Kings 9 v 1-8. The above references will justify the work of the writer.- Ahijah of Shiloh divided Israel using a symbolic action ,this is demonstrated in 1Kings 11 v 29.- The prophets like Gad,Nathan were court prophets ,this is the reason why some scholars have regarded them as civil servants as they were paid by the state. This is indicated in 2 Samuel 24 v 11,2 Samuel 7-12.N.B There are so many prophets we can add. Israel prophets were involved in other roles which were not inline with politics. These roles include the following. - fighting for social justice - fighting for monotheism and Yahwehism - perfoming miracles- You know the other roles ,add themZimbabwean prophets are involved in politics just like Israel prophets. This include:- Wimbo cited by Newsday in 2015 on October claimed that in 1957 predicted that Zimbabwe in 1980 will be led by the President with a name of an angel.- Zionist Church leader John Mandinire cited by Arthur Marara in his book Old testament Questions and Answers claimed that he had prophecies of the nation.- Samuel Mutendi criticised the oppression of the blacks by the whites. - Makandiwa in March 2009 was involved in anti-sanction campaign. - Makandiwa and Angel recorded by ZBC once had meeting with Gono and other leaders over the miracle money issue.- Makandiwa reprimanded for anti-violence during 2008 national elections. - Bishop Manango claimed that he prayed for Zimbabwe soldiers who participated in Congo war of 1997-1999.- Andrew Watuanashe in 2015 ,May 25 cited by ZBC prayed for Africa and advice leaders to empower the youth.- Prophet Madzibaba Zachariah cited by Nehanda Radio in 2015 claimed that he has prayed for so many politicians to win the elections.- Magaya in 2015 ,July cited by local Newspaper in Botswana crusade advice his church was that his dream was to meet Zimbabwean leaders. As much as Zimbabwean prophets are involved in politics, they are also involved in other roles which are not inline with politics. (look the Israel part)We all know how to conclude.- The question demands one to justify the view that Israel prophets were politicians ,but,you will understand that with the writer's angle ,It is invalid to regard them as politicians.- A distinctive candidate should note that the idea of seeing prophets as politicians (leaders) comes from the J Source but the E source sees them as prophets.+263777896159(Whatsapp)Witness Dingani (Facebook page)
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By Bill Parry

A street in Astoria was co-named last week to honor a newspaper that three days later turned 101. The National Herald has served the neighborhoods Greek community since 1915 and is considered to be one of the oldest continually published dailies in the country.

Its a very exciting day for New York Citys Greek- and Cypriot-American community, as we officially rename 30th Street between 37th and 38th avenues National Herald Way, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) said. For over a century, The National Herald has been a beacon of the progressive press, not only connecting Greek- and Cypriot-Americans to news from their home countries, but also assisting needy families here in New York City. The National Herald helps make Astoria one of the best neighborhoods in our city.

The street sign becomes the first in the city to be spelled in the Greek alphabet, added Van Bramer, who sponsored the street co-naming. The newspaper also established the Ethnikos Kyrix Foundation, which operates a charitable fund to assist needy families in the community and supports educational and cultural endeavors spearheading civic projects like the Athens Square cultural space.

Since its founding over 100 years ago, the newspaper has been a dedicated Greek language media outlet and one of the oldest continually published dailies in the United States, City Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) said. The National Herald Foundation has provided charitable services for families in need and has promoted childhood education. Its in-depth coverage of both domestic issues, as well as foreign-policy and Greece-related news, is a vital resource for our community.
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By Bill Parry

In the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks worldwide, state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Flushing), called for passage of their legislation which would implement advanced security measures at transit networks.

During a briefing at Grand Central Terminal Sunday, the two lawmakers pointed to the March 22 Brussels attacks that targeted the subway system and airport, and renewed their push for a state level review of security at all MTA facilities.

One only needs to turn on the television to know that transportation infrastructure is a prime terrorist target, Gianaris said. Allowing anti-terrorism experts to provide input on enhanced security measures will ensure we are providing the maximum protection for those riding our subways and commuter trains.

The proposed legislation would require the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to carry out regular and comprehensive assessments of security on all MTA systems, including the city subways, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North stations. Additional security measures recommended by the review would prevent persons from causing harm through the damage and destruction of the critical infrastructure of the MTA, protecting the public and public transit.

With what happened in Brussels, its obviously brought renewed attention to the vulnerabilities of the subways and transportation infrastructure, Gianaris said. ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombings at the Brussels Airport and the Maelbeek subway station downtown killed 32 people and injured at least 270.

With continuous terrorism threats worldwide, it is important that we utilize available resources to strengthen our transit systems security, Rozic said. The MTA is responsible for moving hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers every day and by bringing in the Department of Homeland Security for a thorough review, we would be taking critical steps to ensure their everyday safety.

Also on Sunday, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) called on DHS to fast-track testing of a detector technology that can identify ISIS go-to explosive, TATP, formally known as triacetone triperoxide. The new explosive detector has proven successful in laboratory settings in sniffing out the highly volatile explosive powder, known as Mother of Satan, but requires more field testing before it can be formally deployed to U.S. airports and train stations.

DHS must get this very promising TATP-sniffing technology on the fast track for testing and final deployment because the stakes are just too high, Schumer said. Recent terror attacks have seen this specific homemade explosive used, and so we cannot waste a second knowing we may have a technology that could detect it down to the molecule. Our airports, train stations and more could be made even safer with this kind of detector and that is why we must do all we can to get this technology out the door and into our transportation hubs.

He is urging the DHS to fast-track testing in the hopes of installing the technology in New York City as soon as possible.
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By Madina Toure

Speaking before supporters from the five boroughs at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, state Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) touted the progress his campaign has made since he first announced his candidacy for the presidency.

Sanders said the opposing camp of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is getting nervous because he has won seven out of the last eight Democratic primaries and was ahead in Wyoming. He has has since won the Wyoming caucus.

He said he has a personal advantage in that he was born and raised in Brooklyn and joked that Queens residents see Brooklyn as a foreign nation.

What has been happening in this campaign is that we began, according to the media and the experts, as a fringe candidacy and it had a lot to do with the views we were bringing forth and a lot of experts said, Who in America would agree with Bernie Sanders that we need a political revolution? he said. Well, it turned out that many millions of people actually did agree with us.

Supporters chanted We love you Bernie! as he left the venue following the rally, holding up signs with the candidates name.

Brooklyn resident Nick Farrow, 45, a graphic artist from England, designs Bernie Sanders T-shirts.

He said about 200 people who were not able to get into the auditorium were sent to an overspill room. But they were surprised when Sanders walked in and gave them a shortened version of his speech.

So were standing in this really small room with about 200 people and who walks out? Bernie Sanders, to talk to us to say, Listen, I apologize that we couldnt get you all in, Farrow said. They put you in this room, but Im going to speak to you guys first and do you a condensed speech, which is a really cool thing to do.

Former President Bill Clinton spoke at the New York Hall of Science Sunday. He spent 15 minutes speaking with people and posing for photos, while Hillary Clinton was a surprise speaker at the Greater Allen AME Cathedral in Jamaica for Sunday morning services.
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By Michael Shain

City Council member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland (D-E. Elmhurst) got on the phone to Hillary Clintons campaign staff last week to make sure she did not skip Queens in the run-up to next weeks New York state primary.

Clinton, who spoke in Jamaica Sunday morning at the Greater Allen AME Church, sent a surrogate instead to a hastily called rally at the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadow Park, her husband Bill Clinton.

The former president talked up Hillarys student loan plan, her foreign policy experience and her pro-immigration record to a crowd of several hundred in the Halls two-story Central Pavilion.

A small group of protesters from a local community group disrupted Clinton briefly, blaming anti-crime laws he signed while he was president for a rise in the rate of incarceration among minorities. After a few minutes, the protesters were escorted out by police without incident.
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News / National

by Staff Reporter

The Deputy Director General of the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) Menard Livingstone Muzariri has died at the age of 56. Muzariri died at St Annes Hospital in Harare early last Sunday from a liver ailment.Muzariri's name remains synonymous with the Gukurahundi massacres in the Matabeleland provinces. Known in CIO circles as a ruthless operator Muzariri, together with army Colonel Perence Shiri (now the Airforce commander) presided over the Gukurahundi Massacres in the Matabeleland and Midlands.Generally he remained out of the public eye and shunned the publicity but he was well known in the security services for his brutality. He committed some of the most serious atrocities during the Gukurahundi Massacres a former CIO operative now based in London told SW Radio Africa on Monday.Muzariri was one of the officers who led public executions, often forcing victims to dig their own graves in front of family and villagers. His CIO operatives, with the help of the 5th Brigade, would routinely round up villagers and march them at gun point to a central place.There they would be forced to sing Shona songs praising ZANU PF, at the same time being beaten with sticks. These gatherings usually ended with public executions,' another source told us. Lately Muzariri was into farming and was a neighbour to Reward Marufu, brother to Grace Mugabe who died last year.Several Government officials, including Vice President Mujuru paid their condolences to the Muzariri family yesterday. VP Mujuru said the liberation war bound them together, creating a relationship that was stronger than "blood relationships".Muzariri is survived by his wife Esther Chiremba and five children. Mourners are gathered at Number 27 Ross Road, Borrowdale, in Harare. Burial arrangements would be announced soon
Airport development adding to economy, jobs in the region

Pittsburgh may always be known as the Steel City, but a wave of new industries are popping up near its airport to redefine business in the region.
Archer County Courthouse

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By Times Record News

A former Archer County justice of the peace was sentenced to federal prison Monday morning.

Joseph Charles Boyle, 64, was sentenced to two years for theft of federal funds, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Boyle was also ordered to pay $133,333.33 in restitution, the total amount of money he stole, embezzled and obtained by fraud from Archer County, the attorneys office said.

Boyle had pleaded guilty to the charges in November, one day after resigning his post as Justice of the Peace for Precinct 2 in Holliday. He was remanded to custody Monday to begin his sentence.

According to documents filed in the case, Boyle was authorized to impose fines and assess fees on people for a variety of violations, such as minor in possession of alcohol, speeding, illegal passing, driving without a valid license and other traffic violations.

From about Jan. 1, through May 5, Boyle stole, embezzled, and obtained by fraud, funds that he collected as payment of fees, fines and penalties, and failed to turn that money over to its rightful owner, Archer County.

Boyle told people who had been cited the fine was a certain amount, obtained payment in that amount, and provided the violator with a receipt. Boyle then kept a portion of the payment.

The complaint said to help facilitate his theft, Boyle often requested violators pay their fines in cash, frequently keeping a portion of the cash and buying a money order to make partial payment to Archer County.

Boyle was a retired guard at the Allred Prison Unit. The FBI and the Texas Rangers investigated the case.
TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Buddy, a black and white border collie mix, enjoys having his ears rubbed while visiting with a resident of Presbyterian Manor Tuesday morning. Buddy is one of several registered therapy dogs which, after specific training, visit nursing homes and assisted living centers to help brighten spirits.

SHARE TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Merrily, a French bulldog, shows how a pet stroller can be used to make a small therapy dog more accessible for petting during a visit to a nursing home or assisted living center. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Mike Wilson puts a therapy dg vest on his Pomeranian, Abby. Abby has been working as a therapy dog for about two years and visit patients at Hospice of Wichita Falls and House of Hope regularly. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Greta Oatman (left) and Anissa Scott got to meet Zoey and Ronnie Davis on Tuesday morning at Presbyterian Manor. Several registered therapy dogs came to visit with the residents and staff. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Dana Goff, an instructor for the Therapy Dog Preparation Class, demonstrates how a small dog can use a stool to bring them to a proper height for visiting with someone seated. Related Photos GALLERY: Therapy Dogs

By Judith McGinnis of the Times Record News

Few things can make people happier than wet noses and warm hearts.

More than 30 therapy dogs, trained at the Therapy Dog Preparation Class at Obedience Training Club of Wichita Falls, bring special moments wherever they go.

"Therapy dogs begin with obedience classes," said Dana Goff, president of OTCWF and head of the therapy dog program. "After they complete training most of them are registered through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs."

It takes a unique canine personality to be a therapy dog. Presbyterian Manor residents were "just tickled" when five, accompanied by handlers came for a visit. All were rescue dogs.

"He's quick to greet people," said Janet Browne, who brought Chudodei, a borzoi (Russian wolfhound) tall enough to make eye contact with someone seated. "Sweet and gentle, he loves everybody."

Shara Humpert, who coordinates therapy dog visits, asked her border collie Buddy to "say his prayers." Buddy stretched out his paws and bowed his head for amazed residents. Now six years old, he was rescued as a pup with a broken leg.

"We encourage learning tricks. Everyone enjoys them," Goff said.

Back at a recent therapy dog preparation class, canine students took part in several behavior exercises. Called on to work in different places and events, they need to grow accustomed to unfamiliar things.

"Some dogs freak out at loud noises or someone who looks funny in a pair of sunglasses. Others aren't comfortable with men in hats," Goff explained with a grin. "Floor buffers can be really tough to get used to."

While instructor Pam Allen got dogs in training accustomed to wheelchairs and walkers, others learned how to handle shouting voices and someone they don't know trying to pick them up.

The command "leave it" addressed the dogs' interest in things that may be on the floor or in a trash can. Tissues, food, empty medication vials. Leaving a treat on the floor repeatedly was a learning tool.

While retrievers and large hounds can visit with someone in a wheelchair from a standing position, smaller dogs need a little help.

Handlers of corgis, terriers and other small breeds often use a portable stool, an easy way to make them available for petting and love. French bulldog Merrily came up to be seated eye level in a stroller made specifically for pets.

"Chihuahuas can sit on somebody's lap," Goff said.

Goff was quick to define the difference between therapy dogs, trained to provide support through loving and entertaining behavior in a number of different places and at events, and service dogs that are in yearslong task training to work for disabled children and adults.

"Therapy dogs bring something special to anyone they visit with and owners who train them," Goff said. "It's rewarding for everyone."
Wichita Falls Police investigate a one-vehicle accident Monday morning on the northbound Lloyd Ruby Overpass that sent all four occupants to the hospital. The wreck happened about 8:00 a.m. and slowed traffic to one lane while emergency personnel worked at the scene. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS

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By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News

A report presented at the Wichita Falls Traffic Safety Commission shows there were 612 total vehicle crashes in the city in first quarter 2016.

During this quarter (January through March), the most crashes were at Kemp and Southwest Parkway with six reported incidents.

For March, the highest number of collisions was at Avenue Q and Kemp Boulevard with four collisions.

Wichita Falls Police Officer Kyle Collier said many of the accidents appear to be related to cars backing up into the street with people coming and going from the Taco Bell restaurant.

There were 175 injuries reported for the quarter, with 43 injuries in March.

Two traffic-related fatalities occurred in March; one involved a motorcycle crash off Highway 79, the other was a male passenger in a two-car collision at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Juarez.

Traffic Superintendent Mark Beauchamp said after numerous accidents at 6th and Austin streets, new features have improved safety at this intersection.

For the first time in several years, the intersection dropped off the top 10 list of high-collision intersections.

Beauchamp said there had been at least five accidents involving city buses being hit in this area.

The last accident was a semi-truck that turned in front of a bus. After reviewing video of incidents and talking to involved parties, Beauchamp said it appears that some drivers are using GPS technology. The driver listening to directions hears, "Turn now," from the GPS, but might fail to make sure it is safe to make the maneuver.

Flexible barriers, known as "shark's teeth," were installed in the yield area at the intersection and the number of accidents has dropped.
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Barbara Reed, Wichita Falls

Shoe is on the other foot

On March 23 a frequent letter writer slammed the Democratic Party, accusing us of cronyism. I immediately thought of Jonathan Paul Lyne. Lyne is the former Republican Party treasurer sentenced to eight years deferred adjudication and a fine of $2,000 after pleading guilty to the charges of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance. These being marijuana, hashish and butane hash oil, all in a drug-free zone. Along with tampering with physical evidence.

First, I wonder if an African-American with identical drug charges against him would have gotten the mild slap on the hand Lyne got. Absolutely not.

Second, I'm wondering if his name and position helped in the deferred adjudication. I'm thinking so.

The position he held in the Republican Party and the deferred adjudication Lyne received, sound like examples of cronyism to me. What does the letter writer think?
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Fred Frederick, Wichita Falls

Too big to fail?

Stocks combine with treasuries and CDs for investments.

Wealthy stock owners benefit when treasuries and CDs drop to zero percent interest. This is because competition is eliminated.

Banks benefit by acquiring loanable funds at little costs.

This is Too Big To Fail Part 2.

The age-old tension of government regulating business or business controlling government. America is not a Christian nation. Unregulated capital prevents this from being so.

The essence of Christianity is the code of human decency. The charitable and humanitarian tendencies to help people less fortunate.

To promote equal opportunity for them.

It is the choice between noblesse oblige and a dog-eat-dog world.

Warren Moeller, Wichita Falls

"Get out of jail" free cards for felons

Terrorists at Gitmo aren't the only prisoners Obama is pardoning. Towards the end of March, 61 more felons were pardoned, making a total of 248 for Obama  more than the previous six presidents combined. Then there are 10,000 more clemency cases pending with Obama stating that "approving them will be a top priority in his remaining days in Office."

Although Obama claims none were "serious offenders" 92 of them (40 percent of all pardoned) were serving life sentences. Almost all were crack dealers who have also committed gun crimes. In addition Obama has approved the release of 46,000 drug traffickers from federal penitentiaries.

Already many of those pardoned have been rearrested  one for triple homicide. Wendell Callahan, 35, allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend's apartment and stabbed her and her two daughters and injured a fourth.

Further, Obama has ordered prosecutors to go easy on new drug offenders  the streets of America are open for business again.

By rewarding thousands of felons with "get out of jail" cards, Obama is threatening public safety. But, "at this point, what difference does it make?" Oops, wrong quote.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A political commentator Godknows Kudzanayi Mashaire has warned Zimbabweans to stop seeing Zanu PF and politicians as Zimbabwe.He said everybody believes in Zimbabwe except Zimbabweans themselves."Zanu-PF is not Zimbabwe, politicians are not Zimbabwe. It is not the government, Zimbabwe is the millions of children in schools who needs our direction, inspiration, support and guidance, whose future depends on our action today," he said. "Zimbabwe is the millions of tons of diamonds, platinum, gold, nickel, tin, asbestos, cobalt, natural gas and the vast fertile lands that perpetually awaits our innovation and craftiness. Leaders come and go, but the nation remains."He said a nation can never be greater than the sum of action of her citizens."Young people of Zimbabwe need to unite to create a system that can pass by the corruption and disdain going on, we are the finest intellectuals on the continent," he said. "The old generation cannot change, it is us the young people who can bring forth a new order of things that can render the old system redundant and that can only be through unity, working together in the spirit of Africa and self pride."The analyst said Africa is waiting for Zimbabweans to organise themselves and help lead a Federal United States of Africa with one military, one passport and one currency backed by the vast natural resources on the continent to provide an alternative to the West, China and Russia."There is no need to be ashamed to be Zimbabwean, this is a challenge to build a new system with our own hands and you should take it," he said.
A stronger economy is good news for workers, offering more employment options. But business leaders are likely to face some daunting HR challenges in 2016 if they haven't already. Those who aren't doing everything they can to keep great employees risk watching them walk out the door.

Our research shows 37 percent of employees  more than one in three  considered pursuing a better job elsewhere in 2015. That figure is an increase over the previous year (35.7 percent). And keep in mind, we're studying organizations that either qualify as Top Workplaces or aspire to get there. These are companies that benefit from employee engagement levels more than double the norm in the U.S.

What makes employees want to stay? When organizations focus on what really matters  connection, alignment and execution. We see it in the WorkplaceDynamics survey comments, like this one from an employee at Community Care Physicians: "I feel part of an organization that has strong leadership and values my individual contribution."

Healthy organizations thrive when people feel connected. Whose responsibility is this? Senior leaders. It is their role to ensure employees understand where the company is going and how it is getting there.

Biggest challenge: Labor

That should be a big concern for employers, because hiring and retention is not getting easier. Companies are citing a skilled labor shortage as their most serious long-term challenge. When the Employer Associations of America asked executives to express their greatest challenges for business growth in their industry, hiring tops the list. That's especially a challenge with unemployment as low as 2.5 percent in some markets. The unemployment rate in the greater Capital Region  at 4.6 percent in February, not seasonally adjusted  is approaching pre-recession levels.

While pay and perks can offer some happiness, they are part of what we consider "Me" factors in workplace engagement. And that's not what earns organizations a place on the Times Union's 2016 Top Workplaces list. What matters more are the "We" factors. With that connection, employees are willing to invest more of themselves. Without it, they are more likely to underperform or leave.

The Times Union's 2016 Top Workplaces show this sense of connection. It's easy for their employees to explain why "I love my job." For example, someone at CAP COM Federal Credit Union said: "I love the values we possess as a company and I feel as though they fit in perfectly with my life and who I am as a person."

Organizational health pays off

Nationwide, organizations that ranked as Top Workplaces by WorkplaceDynamics reported, on average, a 67 percent employee engagement rate, according to our surveys in 2015. That compares with 32 percent employee engagement for all U.S. workers, according to the most recent Gallup poll.

Engaged employees are motivated to do great work, loyal to the organization and recommend the organization to others. Lack of engagement hurts productivity, hiring, retention and it hurts profits.

Those organizations that "got it" a few years ago are well-prepared, while those without a solid retention plan are probably in trouble. Workplace culture and employee engagement are more important than ever. When you combine the "Me" and the "We," you've got the recipe for organizational health to serve up long-term, sustainable performance.

Doug Claffey is chief executive officer of WorkplaceDynamics.
Air National Guard Lt. Col. Janice Zautner of Leeds, Greene County, assumed command of the 109th Medical Group during a ceremony at the Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia.

Zautner assumed command from Col. Douglas Cromack during the ceremony officiated by Col. Shawn Clouthier, 109th Airlift Wing commander.

"I look forward to Lt. Col. Zautner joining my team of group commanders," Clouthier said, according to 109th AW Public Affairs. "She brings an impressive resume with a broad range of professional experiences to the 109th MDG. She will bring a fresh, innovative approach in leading the Medical Group into the future."

Cromack, a 42-year veteran, came to the 109th Medical Group in 2005. The state air surgeon became the 109th MDG commander in November 2014.

"To the 109th Medical Group staff, you've made it easy and possible to keep things going," Cromack said. "For the traditional members of the group, thank you very much. You really represent the whole concept of the citizen soldier, coming in on your weekends and basically raising your hand many years ago to be a member of the Guard."

Zautner started her career in the Air Force in 1983. She joined the New York Air National Guard in 1985 as an Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron technician, then earned her nursing degree and commission in 1992.

Zautner's son, Airman Glenn Zautner, was able to watch the ceremony live on his iPhone. He is attending F-16 Armament Maintenance Technical School at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.

Guard soldiers advance

Mark Deyoe of Schuylerville was promoted to major while serving with the New York Army National Guard's Signal Company, 42nd Infantry Division.

Jason Beck of Clifton Park advanced to chief warrant officer 3 while on duty with Company A, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation.

Michelle Hoegel of Brunswick advanced to sergeant first class while serving with Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Recruiting and Retention Battalion.

Corey Shoemaker of Albany advanced to sergeant first class while serving with Operations Company, 42nd Infantry Division.

Darrick Zwack of Albany was promoted to sergeant first class while assigned to Company B, Recruiting and Retention Battalion.

Adam Russ of Albany advanced to staff sergeant while on duty with the 1108th Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal).

Other soldiers who were promoted include:

Sergeant: Robert Bassett, Greenfield Center, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry; Duane Bechand, Schenectady, 206th Military Police Company; Niki Clark, Hudson, Company B, Recruiting and Retention Battalion; Irvin Dominguez, Porter Corners, Company D, 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry; and Justin Hall, Glens Falls, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 102nd Military Police Battalion.

Specialist: Nicholas Cavanaugh, Clifton Park, Company D, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation; Tyler Littlejohn, Troy, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry; Richard Selva, Valatie, 206th Military Police Company; Jessica Shook, Catskill, 466th Medical Company Area Support; Raya Strout, Coxackie, Headquarters and Support Company, 42nd Infantry Division; Casey Swan, Schuylerville, Company E (Forward Support Company Infantry), 427th Brigade Support Battalion; Alexander Tate, Troy, Signal Company, 42nd Infantry Division; and Kyle Winne, Slingerlands, Signal Company, 42nd Infantry Division.

Aid veterans programs

A Spring Fling Fashion Show will be sponsored by the American Legion Post 1450 Auxiliary at the post at 275 Grooms Road, Halfmoon at noon Saturday, April 16.

Proceeds will benefit veterans and community charities.

A luncheon, raffles, silent auction, door prizes, vendors and more are planned. Fashions will be provided by Christopher Banks and CJ Banks of Colonie Center.

Tickets are $30 each and may be purchased at the post before April 2. For information, contact Kathy Gallucci at 373-9551 or kathygallucci@gmail.com.

210th Armor Association

Former members of the New York Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 210th Armor are invited to a reunion at noon Saturday at The Mill on Round Lake, 2121 Route 9, Round Lake.

For information, contact John Willsey at jwillsfc@aol.com or 496-2669.

News of your troops and units may be sent to Duty Calls, Terry Brown, Times Union, Box 15000, Albany, NY 12212 or brownt@timesunion.com.
Police identified a 30-year-old man fatally shot after he allegedly slashed a Rotterdam police officer with a knife.

Rotterdam police said his name was William Clark.

The police officer injured was treated and released Sunday for head wounds, Lt. Mike Brown of the Rotterdam police said.

Police said they were called to 1061 Roberta Road at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Neighbors said they heard scanner chatter of a domestic dispute between a mother and her son, with the mother saying her son was having a psychotic episode.

Police said Clark slashed at officers with a knife, striking an unidentified officer in the head.

Rotterdam police said an officer fired a service weapon, killing Clark.Steve Marco, who lives several houses down the street, said he saw an officer bleeding from the head outside the home. He also said Clark had just moved in recently.
Paris

The law firm at the center of the Panama offshore accounts scandal routinely usurped the name of the Red Cross and other charities to help obscure the origin of millions of dollars in questionable funds, two newspapers involved in the investigation reported Sunday.

There's no suggestion that the charitable groups had any idea their names were being used in this way. International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Claire Kaplun told The Associated Press on Sunday that the revelation was "a total surprise and something we find extremely shocking."

France's Le Monde and Switzerland's Le Matin Dimanche said Mossack Fonseca created dummy foundations with high-minded names such as the "Faith Foundation" to hold shares in about 500 offshore companies. The foundation's beneficiary was routinely listed as "the Red Cross," a designation which served the dual purposes of hiding the firms' real beneficiaries and of draping them in an "NGO (non-governmental organization) aura," the papers wrote.

Mossack Fonseca didn't immediately return an email seeking comment, but a leaked email cited by the publications appeared to lay out the firm's reasoning.

"Given that banks and financial institutions are today asked to obtain information about economic beneficiaries, it has become difficult for us not to divulge the identity of those of the Faith Foundation's," the email said, according to the papers. "That's why we've implemented this structure designating the 'International Red Cross.' It's easier that way."

Another email cited by the papers suggests Mossack Fonseca deliberately kept the Red Cross in the dark about the maneuver.

"According to Panama law, the beneficiaries of a foundation can be used without knowing it," the email said, according to the papers. "That means the International Red Cross doesn't know about this arrangement."

Kaplun said that using the group's name or logo without its permission is barred by international law
Kiev, Ukraine

Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, the prime minister of Ukraine, announced his resignation Sunday in a surprise move that opened a new period of political uncertainty here.

Yatsenyuk, an economist backed by Ukraine's Western allies, including the United States, came to power two years ago behind the wave of popular anger that culminated with the Maidan street protests, which led to the downfall of President Viktor F. Yanukovych. Yatsenyuk and Petro O. Poroshenko, who became president, emerged as the nation's most prominent political figures.

But the revolution's leaders soon turned on each other. Although authority is supposed to be balanced evenly between the president and the prime minister, Ukraine's Western allies eventually sided with Poroshenko and pushed Yatsenyuk to step aside.

In recent months, both men had been resisting compromises on appointments and were reportedly thwarting corruption investigations into allies, threatening Western aid.

In a video released to television stations on Sunday, Yatsenyuk signaled he would try to smooth over the cracks in the post-Maidan alliance. He said he would support as a candidate for prime minister Vladimir B. Groisman, a member of Poroshenko's political party and the current speaker of the Parliament, and would keep his party in the coalition after leaving office.

"We cannot allow destabilization of the executive branch during a war," he said. "The desire to change one person has blinded politicians and paralyzed their will to bring about real changes in the country."

Slender, cerebral and nicknamed "The Rabbit," Yatsenyuk had become emblematic of Ukraine's impasse after the heady days of the pro-European street movement.

He emerged as a popular figure, but his support largely evaporated because of various scandals and missteps. A political ally, for example, was forced to resign from Parliament after it emerged he was under investigation for money laundering in Switzerland.

The announcement came with a caveat that, in Ukraine's Parliament, there are many procedural tricks that could keep Yatsenyuk in power.
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Albany

Voters on Long Island will soon pick a replacement for a convicted former top lawmaker in a contest that could help give Democrats complete control over New York state government.

Democrat Todd Kaminsky faces Republican Chris McGrath in the April 19 Senate election for the seat long held by ex-Senate Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican convicted last year of using his position to obtain payments and jobs for his son.

The Senate now has 31 Democrats and 31 Republicans  though the Republicans lead the chamber because of a pact with five breakaway Democrats and a sixth who caucuses with the GOP. But a Democratic victory on Long Island would give the Democrats the outright majority, potentially destabilizing the GOP's grip on power.

With every Senate seat up for election this fall, both parties are seizing on the Long Island race as a pivotal skirmish ahead of the fall campaigns.

McGrath, an attorney and former president of the local bar association, said he's counting on voters wanting a Republican-led Senate as a necessary balance to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and the Democratic majority in the state Assembly. He said Democrats, in particular ones from New York City, were a failure when they briefly held the Senate majority several years ago.

"In 2009 and 2010, when the New York City politicians were in charge, they increased taxes by $14 billion and left us with a $10 billion deficit," McGrath said. "If I lose this race, the same exact thing is going to happen."

Kaminsky is a state Assemblyman and a former prosecutor who is running on an anti-corruption platform. He said voters are fed up with a chronic ethics problem that has seen more than 30 lawmakers leave office facing criminal charges or ethics allegations. Skelos was convicted shortly after former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, was himself found guilty of corruption. Silver's old seat is also up for election on April 19.

"This is the first election to come after both leaders were convicted," Kaminsky said. "Corruption has a cost: When Shelly Silver was trying to steer business to his law firm, and Dean Skelos was on the phone trying to get a contract for his son, do you know what they weren't doing? Serving their constituents."

In a sign of the race's wider implications, earlier this week Kaminsky picked up the endorsement of former President Bill Clinton.

Should the Democrats win the seat, it's unlikely to lead to immediate turmoil in the Senate.
News / National

by Nyemudzai Kakore

THERE was drama at Chitungwiza Municipality when a bid by Zanu-PF councillors to pass a no-confidence vote in Mayor Phillip Mutoti for his alleged failure to run the affairs of the municipality was thwarted by MDC-T councillors.MDC-T councillors outnumbered Zanu-PF councillors in the vote. Councillors who were in favour of his ouster wanted Clr Mutoti to immediately step down while his MDC-T counterparts said the accusations were baseless.Clr Mutoti is being accused of failing to run the operations of the municipality and failing to convene a special full council meeting which sought to suspend finance director Mrs Evangelista Machona and human resources manager Mrs Mary Mukonyora.The two are being accused of siphoning more than $200 000 meant for workers' December salaries. Mrs Machona claims to have transferred about $800 000 into the salaries account in December, while the acting chamber secretary, Mrs Mukonyora, claims only $637 000 was deposited.A motion moved by the vice chairman of the finance committee, Clr Charamba Mlambo and seconded by Clr Simbiso Mhike, noted that the mayor, instead of supervising council operations, "he is the one being supervised by the operations of the council". They said Clr Mutoti would remain as councillor as his removal would be determined by Government in accordance with the Urban Councils Act."The finance committee together with the general purpose committee in a joint special meeting on 8th of February 2016, after noticing too many irregularities and variances in the finance and human resources financial reports and statements recommended in the presence of Mayor Mutoti that he, without delay, cause for sitting of a special council meeting to consider bringing in auditors to do their job and give final and constructive advice."As a result and in the best interest of the municipality we therefore pass a vote of no confidence in Mr Mutoti in his capacity as His Worship the Mayor of Chitungwiza municipality," reads the motion.Clr Beaula Jena (MDC-T) said the matter should be resolved amicably as Clr Mutoti had not refused to be corrected if he is in the wrong. Clr Tendai Simon (MDC-T) said: "Clr Mlambo should not write to council that the mayor should step down because he is not the one who appointed him."Town Clerk Mr George Makunde argued that councillors should work in accordance with the Constitution on how mayors are voted out of office.
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Washington

Albany, in the forefront of nanotechnology research, is one of the fastest-growing cities for tech jobs, according to a new book exploring hot spots of innovation across the globe.

"You have GlobalFoundries, which has thousands of employees working in one of the most modern plants in the world," says Antoine van Agtmael, the Dutch-born investor who wrote "The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts Are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation" with Dutch journalist Fred Bakker.

Their book, mentioned in a Brookings Institution panel discussion last week, lists Albany as a leading innovation hub  part of an emerging "brainbelt" in the United States.

More Information To learn more about the Brookings event go to http://www.brookings.edu/events/2016/04/06-rustbelts-global-innovation Smartest Places on Earth presentation 4.6.16 from Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program from See More Collapse

SUNY Polytechnic Institute, with support from state government, has been behind much of the growth of the local semiconductor and nanotechnology sectors, attracting major corporate research centers to its Albany campus that have fueled private sector job growth throughout the Capital Region.

"New York is proud to be home to some of the most sophisticated computer chip research on the planet, and with thousands of scientists and engineers, from Albany to Buffalo, we are growing the industry like never before," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last year. "These strategic investments in nanotechnology, as well as replicating the success in Albany across upstate, have attracted global leaders like Nikon that are bringing private funding and job opportunities to New York."

In February, SUNY Poly and GlobalFoundries, a California computer chip manufacturing firm that employs 3,000 at a factory in Saratoga County, announced a new $500 million program to generate more than 100 jobs developing next generation chip manufacturing technologies.

Last year, German-based engineering and construction company M+W Group said it would expand its U.S. headquarters at SUNY Poly's Albany campus. The company is also partnering with SUNY Poly and Gehrlicher, one of its subsidiaries, on a $105 million solar and energy storage systems construction initiative across the state that's expected to create up to 400 jobs.

"The Americans are not in decline, they are in fact regaining in competitiveness," Agtmael said. Instead of competing with countries like China in the cheap labor market, he argues, smart business innovations should give the U.S. a competitive edge.

"New productivity methods are reinventing old industries," says Agtmael, a former World Bank executive credited with coining the term "emerging markets."

Brainbelts, as the author calls them, are communities that have transformed from old industries to innovative incubators.

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In the industrial Midwest, Akron, Ohio has evolved from a rubber capital to a city focusing on polymer research and development.

And dozens of other U.S. cities and some European communities are in the process of transforming from the "rustbelt"  industrial centers in decline  to a "brainbelt" of design and innovation.

While it sounds good, "the hardest thing is how do we measure that, because it is so organic and so dynamic," Research Triangle Park CEO Bob Geolas said at the Brookings panel, held Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

It is difficult to measure the success, Geolas said, so it's important to look at the broader trend.

Agtmael said the U.S. is no longer hemorrhaging jobs. While the transition in the economy is intimidating, it is also creating more jobs in the high-tech sector. Government and private sector companies must cooperate, he said, to carry out new policies and incentivize people and communities to participate in the transformation.

Xiumei Dong, a technology and business reporter at Medill News Service in Washington, D.C., may be reached at x.dong@u.northwestern.edu.
News / National

by Patrick Chitumba

A 44-YEAR-OLD woman from Shurugwi stunned a court when she claimed that her 26-year-old husband is a Satanist who has a snake that gives him power and riches.Marshal Machona Muzarabani, a barber, had dragged his wife Fillomina Dor Santos to court, accusing her of extortion.Dor Santos told Shurugwi magistrate Evia Matura that Muzarabani fabricated the charges to fix her after she killed his snake.Muzarabani said his wife demanded $800 from him when he asked for his clothes after their separation.He said Dor Santos threatened to kill herself and the couple's two-year-old son to force him to pay.Dor Santos, pleading not guilty to one count of extortion, said: "My husband is falsely incriminating me because I killed his snake. He's a Satanist and after I killed the reptile, he started accusing me of taking away his powers. I attend Prophetic Healing and Deliverance (PHD) Ministries led by Prophet Walter Magaya and through prayers I managed to kill the snake."The magistrate acquitted Dor Santos at the close of the State case due to conflicting evidence.Bertha Bore appeared for the state.Meanwhile, Muzarabani has applied for a peace order against Dor Santos from the same court.Matura is expected to make her ruling on the matter today.In his affidavit, Muzarabani said trouble for the couple started when Dor Santos' child from another relationship stole his R30,000 and fled to South Africa."We had a long standing dispute with my wife after her child some time ago stole my R30,000 and fled to South Africa. Things haven't been normal. My wife accuses me of not sexually satisfying her. This is said everyday and makes me feel inadequate. My wife is much older than me as I'm only 26 years old and she is 44," he said.
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Tom Kennedy is a Donald Trump supporter and so is his 8-year-old grandson. The Burnt Hills elementary school student has been involved in classroom debates and discussion about the presidential race  a phenomenon that Kennedy chalks up to Trump's popularity and the fact that the competitive primary is putting New York state on the electoral map and teaching kids as young as his grandson about the political process.

"I think that's tremendous,'' Kennedy, who planned to see Trump on Monday, said.

Hoosick Falls school Superintendent Ken Facin said a number of students in his Rensselaer County community "feel the Bern" especially since they are heading off to college. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has made the call for free college education a hallmark of his campaign.

On Monday, Sanders spoke at the Washington Avenue Armory, Trump spoke at the Times Union Center and Ohio Gov. John Kasich appeared in North Greenbush at La Salle Institute and the Saratoga Springs City Center.

Facin said the campaign has made politics relevant in the classroom, especially for senior-year civics classes.

"They are absolutely talking about the visits and candidates' platforms,'' he said.

Outside the Times Union Center, Kim Chase of Burnt Hills said she has talked to her children about Trump's swift reactions. "We say, maybe things are a little childish, but that doesn't mean the answer is wrong  it's just the way he presents it."

With her were her daughter, Cheyanne, 17, sons Kory, 14, and Caleb, 12, and husband, Kent.

Cheyanne, a high school senior, has been in a class on government participation.

"Opinions are shared, and it turns from a 15-minute conversation to all class," she said as the family stopped to buy T-shirts.

Rory Lynch and Jacob Giacone, both 18, and Joe Nisiewicz, 17, of Bethlehem High School wanted to experience the scene at the Trump rally.

"We're not necessarily protesting," Lynch said. "Whether or not you agree with him. He's taking the country by storm."

Outside the Sanders rally, Troy resident Shannon Malark, 34, said it's tough to explain to her son Julian Davis, a fourth-grader at School 16, Trump's stances on women, Muslims and immigrants. "Our family's views are that we love everyone, all walks of life," she said. "I have to sit here and try to explain to a 9-year-old that some people see others as less than them."

Julien Shafer, 11, a fifth-grader at the North Warren Central School in Chestertown, said he's heard at home and in school "how negative Trump is."

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Julien's mom, Rachael Shafer, 46, said she's trying to teach her son "the importance of standing up for others." Sanders, she said, epitomizes that value.

At La Salle, Zev Siegfeld, 14, a Shaker High School freshman, said he switched allegiances to Kasich after Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out of the race. "Trump's a little over the top," Siegfeld said.

La Salle Principal Paul Fallon stressed the school is not affiliated with Kasich's campaign, but offered space for his rally.

"We just want to do our patriotic duty,'' Fallon said.

"If I'm a student, I'm thrilled'' a presidential candidate is visiting, he said.

Lindsay Ellis, Danielle Ferrari, Kenneth C. Crowe II and Matt Hamilton contributed.
Minister of State Tom Hayes has announced that 5 million in funding has been awarded to successful projects under the 2014 Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector.

Minister of State Tom Hayes has announced that 5 million in funding has been awarded to successful projects under the 2014 Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector.

The grant aid covers all areas of the horticultural industry. Nine approvals to the value of 315,569 in offers of grant aid under the Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of the Commercial Horticulture Sector 2014 were awarded this week. Three of these approvals are for mushroom farms in Co. Tipperary. These include: Larry English, of Ashwood Farm Ltd., Thurles, (43,640); James Quinn, Golden Vale Mushrooms, Clonmore South, Cahir (49,860): and Mark Foley, Pearl Mushrooms Ltd., Russelstown, Kilmanahan, Clonmel,(44,220). The objectives of the Scheme are to facilitate environmentally friendly practices, to promote the diversification of on-farm activities, to improve the quality of products and to improve working conditions in the sector.

Announcing details of the grants awarded, Minister Hayes said: Since coming to Office last summer, I have been struck by the levels of efficiency, market focus and skill employed by Irish horticultural growers across all strands of this very competitive industry. Emphasising the economic importance of the horticulture sector which contributes 300m to the economy, the Minister continued Notwithstanding the challenges faced, the Irish horticultural sector has great potential for growth, both from a production capacity and an improved competitiveness perspective.
In this time of remembrance for those who fought and died in the Great War an interesting little letter to the Editor, from 1969, surfaced over the weekend which gives an insight into the attitudes of yesteryear.

In this time of remembrance for those who fought and died in the Great War an interesting little letter to the Editor, from 1969, surfaced over the weekend which gives an insight into the attitudes of yesteryear.

The writer, retired Capt. Robert Laver calls on us to remember veteran Dan Grant (originally from Ballingarry and father of Margaret ONeill, Dominic Street) a resident of the British Army houses in Haigs Terrace, Windmill, who had just died.

The Late Dan Grant of Windmill
I agree with the program

I don't agree with the program

I like the idea, but feel the current proposal is too broad

Let me park where I want!

Vote

View Results
News / National

by Tanaka Mrewa

A SUPERVISOR at a bar in Bulawayo died after being hit with a brick by a patron.The patron, who was allegedly drunk and fighting with a security guard, missed his target and struck Belinda Mguni, 28, on the head.Mguni, who was employed at Northside bar in Mahatshula, died at Mpilo Central Hospital four days later.Her attacker, identified only as Themba, allegedly became rowdy after having one too many last Tuesday.Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango said Themba has since been arrested and would appear in court soon.
News / National

by Staff reporter

ZANU-PF Central Committee member Victoria Chitepo who died on Friday will be buried at the National Heroes Acre on Wednesday.Chitepo (88), the widow of national hero and founding Zanu national chairman Advocate Herbert Chitepo, was accorded national heroine status for her colossal contribution to the country before and after Independence.Zanu-PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo yesterday said Chitepo's body would be flown to her rural home in Manicaland province today."We sat down with the family and it requested that her body be taken to Bonda tomorrow morning, where it'll lie in state with relatives paying tribute to her," he said."On Tuesday the body will be taken back to Harare where it'll again lie in state at the family's Mt Pleasant home and we'll lay her to rest on Wednesday morning."Chombo added: "The detailed programme is being worked on by our committees".In his emotional tribute at the Chitepo residence on Saturday, President Robert Mugabe, who reassured the Chitepo family that he would stand by them, described Chitepo as steadfastly loyal. He said after her husband's assassination in 1975, Chitepo remained committed to the liberation struggle and continued to work tirelessly for the party.President Mugabe said Chitepo wanted to attend the Central Committee meeting on Friday but unfortunately she died while in the bathroom the same morning."I'm sure every one of us here has a different story; everyone here has her own story to tell about Mai Chitepo. That story will always have an element of love, an element of her preparedness to assist, (her) charitable disposition, wanting to assist and wanting reconciliation."She never was quarrelsome. No, never! She was never involved in conflicts. She always encouraged harmony, dialogue and togetherness in the party," the President said.More mourners yesterday thronged Chitepo's home in Mt Pleasant, Harare to pay their condolences.Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Christopher Mushohwe described Chitepo as "mother to the Manicaland province" who never looked back even after the death of her husband in 1975."I heard of her death while attending the Zanu-PF) Central Committee meeting on Friday) and I couldn't believe it," he said."I just went outside and drove straight to her house to see for myself. Imagine, she wanted to attend the Zanu-PF Central Committee meeting. This shows how committed she was to the country. She would always attend even our provincial co-ordinating committee meetings. It was rare for her to miss our meetings."Mushohwe said it was sad that Chitepo passed on before the operationalisation of the Chitepo Ideological College."When I was still governor of Manicaland, she would often ask me on the progress of finding land in Mutasa District to establish the college," he said."She wanted to be afforded an opportunity to do projects with youths at the college. We actually discussed this on Wednesday in the Politburo and in my own opinion, it would be a befitting tribute to her if the party was to build that college to honour her."Politburo member and Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said the fact that Chitepo died while preparing to attend the Central Committee meeting showed she was an exceptional revolutionary committed to the struggle and development."Nobody showed commitment in the manner she did," he said. "It's a coincidence that it has happened just after the commemoration of the death of her husband Herbert Chitepo on March 18. We were told by her daughter, Zanele, that she went to her husband's grave to clean and put flowers on it, something that she never used to do. It's like she was going there to say goodbye to him. It was somehow a premonition."Prof Moyo said he first met Victoria Chitepo in Tanzania in 1977 when she was a chief librarian and realised that she was accessible to everyone.Professor George Kahari, a close friend to Advocate Chitepo, said: "She was a woman of character with a lot of understanding of the meaning and significance of fighting for democracy. I worked with her in the Herbert Chitepo Association where I was a member. She didn't brag about being Chitepo's wife. There's a lot that can be said about her. All I can say is she has left a legacy."Born on March 27, 1928 in South Africa, Chitepo was a teacher by profession and married Advocate Chitepo in 1955.During the liberation struggle, inspired by her husband, she organised women to march in protest and co-ordinated care for detainees who were in prisons in places such as Marondera and Sikhombela.At Independence she held several Ministerial positions and was a former Member of Parliament in Manicaland.Chitepo was United Nations' eminent person and special advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali on preparations for the Fourth World Conference on Women (1994-1995).She was appointed a member of the Commonwealth Mission to South Africa in 1993, replacing Justice Simbi Mubako.Chitepo was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy in Tourism and Hospitality Management degree for her contribution to national development by the Midlands State University in 2010.Chitepo is survived by four children and grandchildren.
Since we last wrote about White Summer and their legendary single I Know a Place We Can Love almost an entire year ago theyve been up to a hell of a lot. From national radio play to supporting the likes of DMAs, Holy Holy, Kingswood, The Delta Riggs, Magic Bones, and Harts the guys well a truly cemented the years success with a one-month residency at Sydneys Hotel Steyne sharing the stage with great Australian acts Drunk Mums and Holy Holy.

Theyre now properly kicking off the year with the release of their new EP also titled I Know A Place We Can Love  recorded at Grove Studios with acclaimed producer Burke Reid who has worked with the likes of Courtney Barnett, The Drones, Seekae, and DZ Deathrays. 2016 will see White Summer work with Burke Reid again on their much anticipated debut album, along with tour announcements coming soon.

To celebrate the premiere of the EP the guys have also penned a little track by trak run down of the record which you can check out below. Give the killer EP a stream and if you like what youre hearing be sure to visit the bands Facebook page for more info.

Formulation

Touring Smokescreen we had one final show in Melbourne and we wanted it to be extra special, so we planned a ridiculous light show and decided to open with a very premature version of Formulation. It felt great and the crowd responded well so we all put our heads together and banged up the final version you hear today.

Ode To My A.D.D This track was tough, we jammed it a lifetime ago at Bakehouse studios in Richmond and something never felt quite right about the feel so we kept it on the back burner. Turns out we just needed to make it more bouncy and bang! one of our favourites to play live.

Paradigm

When its 3 in the morning and you cant make anymore noise because you live in a built up area shouldnt stop the magic if you have a crappy electric drum kit on hand and an outdated version of Pro tools. The beat, guitar and vocals all presented them self in the space of 20 minutes with Paradigm and our neighbours were none the wiser.

I Know A Place We Can Love

This was one of the most exciting experiences weve ever had in the studio and one of the most terrifying. Writing this track taught us to trust our instincts and stop talking shit, we were on a very tight time schedule and were feeling the heat. Our producer was cracking the whip and it felt good, so we kept going without looking back. The result was one of our proudest moments of the EP.

Misty Friend

When a band member has a new idea and wants to show you in the back of a panel van you know its going to be good. It was great to see Anthony put his gym membership to good use on this track with the bass line and to talk about bass tunings every practise for the next 6 weeks.

Upcoming Shows

Saturday 16th April 2016

(Record Store Day) @ Vinyl Revival  Melbourne VIC

Sunday 22nd May 2016

Frankies Pizza  Sydney NSW

Friday 27th May 2016

Yah Yahs  Melbourne VIC
The latest edition of The View From Here features the incredibly talented Rabbit Island performing in the basement of iconic continental deli, The Re Store, Leederville.

Rabbit Island is the moniker of West Australian musician, poet and writer Amber Fresh, joined by an ever evolving cast of friends. Here, she is joined by longtime collaborator Nick Allbrook. Sporting two guitars, a piano and an ethereal, angelic voice, Rabbit Island perform a raw and intimate four-song set in the continental delis cozy space.

Captured by local filmmaker, animator and producer Sam Price and produced by RTRFM, the series was recently nominated for Excellence in Digital Media in the 2015 Community Broadcasting Association of Australias Community Radio Awards.

The View From Here short film series launched in November 2014 with support from the Department of Culture and the Arts, and aims to showcase the wellspring of talent in Western Australias music scene, across a variety of genres and locations.

If you like what youre seeing visit rtrfm.com.au/theviewfromhere for more info.
Description: "The DJI PHANTOM 3 taking flight at nIght over the ART DISTRICT near downtown KANSAS CITY. The PHANTOM was launched from HOSPITAL HILL and proceeded north by northwest about 1.3 miles and subsequently returned to its HOME POINT at HOSPITAL HILL."

Tonight we witness EPIC drone footage looking out Kansas City and capturing Downtown streets mostly abandoned after dark despite hundreds of millions worth of subsidy.Somehow a toy train coming up next month is supposed to change all that . . . Anyhoo, check the tech behind the video:And that's a good place to pause for the overnight. Hopefully, more good stuff for the morning update . . .
Progressive Army: Bernie Sanders Wins Missouri After All

"Just like in Nevada, many Hillary Clinton delegates didnt show up to these (district level delegate) meetings and Bernie Sanders was able to snatch more District-Level delegates than what he was supposed to have. Reported delegate allocation by the Missouri Democratic Party shows that 681 delegates (51.4%) were allocated to Bernie Sanders and 644 delegates (48.6%) allocated for Hillary Clinton."

Take this newsyou'd like it but it's burning up social media overnight . . .Deets:The real aftermath either way this turns out . . . Missouri Bernie Sanders supporters are STILL much more motivated than Hillary's higher paid camp andYou decide . . .
News / National

by Ivor Powell

Cape Town - He established hothouses in lawless Somalia, protecting them with a private militia to grow opium poppies, cocaine and other narcotic substances under scientifically controlled conditions.He went to North Korea to source industrial quantities of crystal methamphetamine - which would then be swopped for South American cocaine.He operated a prescription medicines scam that turned over an estimated $300 million a year in the grey areas of the law.He wrote a computer encryption programme that provided the platform for an encryption that continues to be used by Islamic jihadists and which has not been cracked by US law enforcement (see sidebar). He was linked in passing to at least seven murders and, towards the end of his career as a master criminal, operated a hits-for-hire business using former special forces soldiers and Iraq veterans as operatives.It is not an exaggeration to say that, over the past half-decade, Zimbabwean-born South African-Australian citizen Paul Calder le Roux has popped up like a malign algorithm on news and media screens. But his odd and baleful presence has been evident only in glimpses.Last month that began to change - after American journalist Evan Ratliff published the first of what was to be a seven-part series of articles in a "long-form" investigation into the life and crimes of Le Roux.The project has been two years in the making and appears on the website of The Atavist Magazine, co-founded by Ratliff, who is also its chief executive officer.Four parts have been released, with the fifth expected the week after next.Shortly after the start of Ratliff's series, The Australian newspaper began publishing a series of articles and trawling much the same territory, although in less detail.What has emerged, and from bits and pieces carried elsewhere, is a picture of a villain more contemporary maybe than any fiction has yet invented - a Richard Branson or Elon Musk on the dark side.Le Roux first appeared on the radar when he was named in 2011 by the UN's Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group as constituting a threat to peace in the war-torn failed state of Somalia.As reported by the UN, Le Roux had assembled and illegally armed a militia in the badlands of Somalia, in part as a private army for his Somali warlord partners, but also to protect hothouses where he planned to grow narcotic plants, among them opium poppies to be turned into heroin.But, as later became apparent, the Somali adventure was far from Le Roux's first engagement on the wrong side of the law. In the first decade of the new millennium, he ran a huge prescription medicines scam in which instant prescriptions were provided by registered doctors and scheduled medicines dispatched by registered pharmacies.As has been established from debriefings of former employees and associates by journalists and law enforcement, he was also diversifying: buying and selling black market gold and conflict diamonds, looking to secure resources contracts from assorted developing world strongmen, dealing in illegal weapons, and trafficking in narcotic drugs.As early as 2009, a consignment of Indonesian-manufactured assault rifles and ammunition was seized by authorities in the Philippines and traced back to Le Roux.After the captain of the boat on which the weapons were found was murdered, the case against Le Roux - like several others - fell apart.Then, in 2012, Le Roux overreached when he entered into a drug deal with undercover agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), posing as members of a Columbian cocaine syndicate. Le Roux was to source crystal meth (tik) from North Korea and in exchange receive South American cocaine for distribution, particularly in Australia.When he was bust, as Ratliff reports it, Le Roux, after an initial panic, shrugged, admitted it was a fair cop, and offered his services to law enforcement henceforth. This led in 2014 to an entrapment operation on Le Roux's one-time close associate, former US Army sniper Joe Hunter, in which Le Roux - acting undercover for the DEA - contracted Hunter to assemble a hit squad to take out a target who was in fact an agent of the DEA.Other than a recent court appearance in Minnesota, Le Roux has since been off the radar.It's a safe bet that, even when Ratliff's series ends, the story will continue.The Le Roux timeline:1972: Paul Calder le Roux is born in Bulawayo, in (then) Rhodesia. His birth parents are unknown and his given name is recorded as the one by which he will henceforth be known.1984: The family moves to Krugersdorp on the West Rand, where his father works on the mines.1993/4: Moves to London, already precociously skilled in computer programming.1995: Relocates to Australia, following a girlfriend he met in London, whom he marries, gaining citizenship of that country.1997: Releases Encryption for the Masses (E4M), an open-source encryption programme, which later becomes the platform for TrueCrypt.1999 to 2000: Le Roux is divorced and moves back to Europe, marrying a Dutch wife in 2002.2004: TrueCrypt is released anonymously. His employer, SecurStar, which has bought the rights to E4M, accuses him of "stealing" it as the platform for TrueCrypt.Goes into the business of operating call centres in, among other countries, Israel and the Philippines.Launches RX Ltd, the first of what becomes a complex network of companies selling prescription medicines online.2007: Floats a scheme to lease back farm land seized by Robert Mugabea??s Zanu-PF from white farmers in Zimbabwe and turn it to agricultural use. Hires shady Israeli Washington-based lobbyist Ari BenMenashe (a long-range associate of the Zimbabwean president), at a cost of several million dollars, to lobby on his behalf. Hires former US special forces soldier Joe Hunter as his right-hand man in a diverse range of enterprises, including buying and selling gold and diamonds and securing concessions for forestry, mining and other resources in Africa and the Pacific Islands.2008 to 2009: Establishes a presence in lawless Somalia. Here he sets up and arms a 200 to 300-strong militia in partnership with a local warlord, and builds greenhouses with a view to intensive cultivation of opium poppies, cannabis and coca plants.2009: In August a shipment of Indonesian-made assault rifles is seized in the Philippines. The property of La Plata Trading, a company operated by Le Roux, they are covered by an end-user certificate for Mali. The case falls apart after the captain of the boat is murdered in a drive-by shooting in Manila.2011: Le Roux named in a report by the UNa??s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group for "egregious violations" of the internationally sponsored peace report on the Somali operations.2012: In February Le Roux gets snarled in a sting; an undercover operative of the DEA approaches him to set up a factory to manufacture crystal meth (tik) in Liberia, supposedly on behalf of a South American syndicate.Twenty tons of ammonium nitrate along with gold and diamonds are seized by authorities in Hong Kong and Le Rouxa??s associate Dov Shulman is arrested.In September, cocaine shipped out of Ecuador is seized by police, acting on a tip-off, in Australia.In the same month Le Roux is arrested in Liberia, and brought back to the US.In October, crystal meth manufactured at Le Roux's factories in North Korea is seized in Thailand and the Philippines.In November a second yacht loaded with cocaine and sailing for Australia from Ecuador is found grounded and abandoned on a reef in Tonga. Near the end of 2012, co-operating with the DEA, Le Roux orders his hit man Joe Hunter to assemble a new team of seasoned security operatives to protect Le Roux himself and his Colombian partners.In January 2013, Le Roux (as part of a sting operation) contacts former associates in connection with a new shipment of crystal meth, ostensibly from North Korea.April 2013: Le Roux develops the operation through a series of meetings with drug traffickers and shady arms dealers.In May, Le Roux orders Hunter to assemble a squad of hit men to perform a hit on a target who had leaked information to the DEA.In September Hunter and his team of would-be hit men are arrested and brought to the US for debriefing and indictment. Le Roux's wider syndicate is mopped up in a series of international swoops and legal actions initiated.In January 2014, Le Roux pleads guilty in a secret trial to crimes ranging from offences against prescription drug regulations, sanctions-breaking by selling proscribed technologies to Iran, trafficking in illegal drugs, to seven cases of murder and assorted counts of bribery and fraud. It is not reported what sentence was handed down - or whether he was able to enter into some plea bargain.Last month, he appeared to testify in a case brought against one of his former employees in Minnesota.Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Evan Ratliff publishes the first of seven instalments in his series, The Mastermind, on the internet magazine website The Atavist.The Australian newspaper likewise publishes the first of a multi-part expose on that country's adopted son.
ABOUT 1/3RD OF KANSAS CITY'S ARE DESPERATELY IN NEED OF REPAIR AND A LOT OF KANSAS CITY FOUNTAINS WON'T BE TURNED ON ONCE AGAIN THIS YEAR ACCORDING TO KICK-ASS TKC TIPSTERS!!!

Join us at the amphitheater in Theis Park to celebrate the restoration of the five bronze statues by Swedish artist Carl Milles and the return of the dramatic 28-foot waterfall fountain along Brush Creek. Following the ceremony, stick around for lunch as a number of food trucks will be on-site to kick-off a new fundraiser for our city's fountains  the Feast of Fountains.

Fountain Day in Kansas City tomorrow but there's a dirty little secret lurking below the surface that signals increasingly hot water for the city's finances.To wit . . .It gets worse for the so-called. . . Donors aren't living up to expectations and tomorrow they'll turn on the fountains and celebrate cash that doesn't even total 10 grand.And so we advise locals with deep pockets to donate generously and maybe the civic elite can direct some of their cash toward fixing these signature Kansas City structures rather than just donating toward efforts that raise taxes on the working poor.You decide . . .
New Democracy party has submitted a proposal to Parliament that would allow expatriate Greeks to vote in general elections

Greek main opposition New Democracy party has submitted a proposal to Parliament that would allow expatriate Greeks to vote in general elections.

Greeks abroad are a valuable added force that Hellenism needs, especially at this very difficult period our country is going through, said party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is currently in the United States, adding that this integral part of the Greek nation must be given a role to play in its future course.

According to the proposal, Greek nationals residing abroad would be able to vote in parliamentary elections from their place of residence.

Source: ekathimerini.com

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Qatar's Public Works Authority (Ashghal) said work was progressing well on the New Orbital Highway and Truck Route project, with two main lanes set to open for traffic by the end of 2017.



The project is located to the west, north and south of Doha, and will see the construction of around 200 km of new dual carriageway stretching from Mesaieed in the south to west of Al Khor in the north.



The Orbital road will feature 22 main interchanges, including bridges and underpasses, that will connect it to the main roads and expressways of the East-West Corridor Project, Salwa Road, Dukhan Highway, and Al Shamal Road, said a statement from Ashghal.



When complete, the Orbital will provide a swift and efficient highway that will offer better connectivity for Qatar's most important industrial areas, namely Mesaieed, New Hamad Port, Dukhan, Al Khor, and Ras Laffan, eliminating the need to travel through the main residential communities of Al Wakra, Doha, and Al Khor, it stated.



The project is considered to be a vital addition to the road network of Qatar as it will form a free-flowing traffic route connecting the south of Qatar to its north.



Recently, Minister of Municipality and Environment (MME) Mohamed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi visited the construction site of Contract Two and Contract Four of the New Orbital Highway and Truck Route.



Consisting of seven lanes in each direction, the new highway and truck route provides heavy vehicles with their own separate roadway with two truck lanes in each direction, allowing traffic to flow freely and safely along main expressways.



The Orbital will become nationally significant in the movement of people and good around the country. It is designed to manage up to 1,500 heavy goods vehicles (HGV) per hour in each direction; it can cater for general traffic volumes at approximately 8,000 vehicles per hour in each direction.



Major infrastructure improvements will be implemented as part of the project, including a storm water drainage network, treated sewage effluent networks for irrigation, communications networks, street lighting, and ITS (intelligent transportation systems), said Ashghal.



Allowance for the future long-distance rail and freight rail lines has been also accommodated, it stated.



The project will also provide services infrastructure including underpasses for camels, weighing stations, side road parking bays, green landscaping and metal beam guardrails along the road.-TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain-based Manara Developments Company is set to launch a unique range of its properties at the Gulf Property Show 2016, the boutique showcase for real estate and property developments which opens this month in Bahrain.



The event is being organised by Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE) under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, from April 26 to 28 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre.



On the upcoming show, managing director Dr Hasan Al Bastaki said: "Manara's participation as a strategic partner in this real estate event, portrays its commitment to the real estate sector, as this exhibition, which achieved a growth of up to 70 per cent from 2013, is an annual opportunity for industry players, as well as prospective owners to meet and address the industrys latest developments and trends."



Dr Al Bastaki said Manara will exhibit three major residential projects one of which is a mixed-use development Hasabi project offering breathtaking seafront views.



Also at the expo, Manara aims to introduce a new sales phase of its Investment Gateway  Bahrain project that offers opportunities for ownership for Bahraini as well as non-Bahraini companies and individuals, a feature that makes the project, and the kingdom an ideal base for a wide array of light industry and logistical support on both the local and regional level.



Launched two years back, Investment Gateway  Bahrain is a major initiative by the company to encourage and support investments in the kingdom, with a particular focus on foreign investments.



In addition, amongst the projects that will be showcased at the exhibition, include Kenaz Al Bahrain featuring 64 residential units spread over eight four-floor apartment buildings, in addition to Wahati, a subproject of Wahat Al Muharraq that was initially introduced over three phases since 2011, offering a total of 227 villas of various sizes and designs and targeted at middle-income earners.

According to him, the project offers apartments that were specifically designed to meet the requirements of modern Bahraini families while maintaining the common trend towards vertical expansion to address the scarcity of land and thus serving a greater population within the available space and yet meeting the needs and requirements of young Bahraini families.



Dr Al Bastaki said Manara was amongst the first companies to join the partnership with the Ministry of Housing more than two years ago in line with the leaderships directives towards the national social housing strategy.



Through this partnership, Manara extended its support towards the efforts of the Ministry of Housing in providing appropriately priced housing to suit the modern familys needs and achieve social stability.-TradeArabia News Service
Four soldiers in Iran's regular army were killed in Syria, the Tasnim news agency reported on Monday, only a week after Tehran announced the deployment of army commandos to help President Bashar Al Assad in the civil war there.



Tehran is Assad's main regional ally and has provided military and economic support to his fight against rebel groups and Islamic State militants.



To date, most Iranians involved in the Syrian war have been from the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran is believed to have sent hundreds as military advisers.



But an officer in the Iranian army's ground force said last week that commandos from the army's Brigade 65 and other units were sent to Syria as advisers.



"Four of the first military advisors of the Islamic Republic's army...were killed in Syria by takfiri groups," Tasnim reported. Iran refers to the hardline Sunni Islamists as takfiris.



Tasnim has named one of them as Mohsen Qeytaslo, a commando, but has not identfied the rest.



Commenting on the deployment of Brigade 65 to Syria, the commander of ground forces, Brigadier General Hamidreza Pourdastan, said on Monday it was Iran's new strategy to send more advisers to the Syrian war.-Reuters
AccorHotels, a leading international hotel operator, today signed a management agreement with Al-Mohammadia Almotahda  a family-run, Riyadh-based business group  for an upper midscale Novotel Suites in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.



The 196-key property is the fourth project between AccorHotels and Al-Mohammadia Almotahda in Saudi Arabia and will be the first Novotel Suites in the Eastern Province.



Olivier Granet, managing director and chief operating officer of AccorHotels Middle East, said: We are delighted to introduce the Novotel Suites brand in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with our trusted partner Al-Mohammadia Almotahda. We have had the pleasure of working with the group on a number of properties including the first ibis that was introduced to the Kingdom in 2012. I am certain that with our partners expertise in the local real estate market we will create a unique offering for visitors to the Eastern Province.



Novotel Suites is an upper midscale brand built on the concept of contemporary elegance. The suites are modular and flexible so that the space may be adjusted to suit the specific needs of business and leisure travelers.



The development of Novotel Suites Khobar will entail the conversion of an existing serviced apartments building, which will undergo a complete refurbishment in order to reflect Novotel Suites brand standards. The project is expected to be completed by Q1 2018.



Novotel Suites Khobar will be strategically located along King Abdullah Road in close proximity to key attractions such as the Khobar seafront, the Corniche, Bin Jaluwi Park, as well as well-known shopping destinations in the city including Valencia Mall and Al Rashid Mall. The hotel will provide connectivity to Dammam through King Abdullah Road and Prince Turki bin Abdulaziz Road.



Salah Oumouden, vice-president of operations of AccorHotels Saudi Arabia and Egypt, added: Al Khobar continues to be a vital business and leisure hub and we are excited to cater to both segments through Novotel Suites unique layout and features. The new property is the 35th hotel to be under development in the Kingdom and with its addition we will be targeting short and long stay clientele, which is on the rise in the Eastern Province area.



The Novotel Suites Khobar will offer suites in the traditional Novotel Suites layout, bringing additional inter-connecting rooms and features to cater to families. The property will also include an all-day dining restaurant in addition to a lobby lounge. Guests will also be able to enjoy the hotels indoor swimming pool and health club.



As the kingdom works towards its goal of attracting a larger number of tourists and building the infrastructure to support its local tourism industry, it has become an absolute necessity to develop a variety of different offerings for visitors. AccorHotels is committed to providing guests with a diverse range of options that meet our highest international standards, concluded Granet.



AccorHotels currently operates 75 hotels in the Middle East, encompassing close to 20,000 rooms across the luxury and economy segments. The group has another 53 hotels under development in the region, bringing an additional 14,000 rooms to the Middle East. - TradeArabia News Service
News / National

by Staff Reporter

A 24 year old married Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition female worker - Charles Dzokese has made sensational claims that she cheated with her husband's best friend and her boss in a desperate bid to secure a job for her hubby.Dzokese says she dated Beloved Chiweshe and Phillian Zamchiya who is the director at Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.Dzokese's hubby - Mehuli Dube only became aware of the love coalition on her wife just last week.Dube saw his wife WhatsApp messages.The couple has been married for three years.Said Dzokese "Indeed I cheated on Mehluli not that I wanted to but I had no choice, we have been suffering for years now and we have a minor to fend for."I know how hard life can be because at some point I once stayed in the streets and I am an orphan, I only want the best for my son."So when his best friend presented me with the opportunity that he would get my husband a job and his former boss Zamchiya promised to get him something at Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition where he is the director, I jumped at it" she said."Chiweshe knew that I was going out with Zamchiya and we would arrange to meet in town and at times he would come to our home in Zimra Park when Mehluli was away".Dube vowed to make Chiweshe pay and has known him since 2003."I have been Zamchiya's right hand man since last year when he took over the directorship at Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition."
News / National

by Staff reporter

ZANU-PF has expressed grief over the loss of two party cadres, Vivian Mwashita and Chinhamo Chinamano, saying their untimely deaths were a great loss to the nation. Party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo described the two as dedicated liberation war fighters who sacrificed their youth for the cause of the nation.Mwashita (58) died last Friday at Parirenyatwa Hospital. She succumbed to diabetes. She leaves behind three children and six grandchildren. On Chinhamo Chinamano, Khaya Moyo said: "Zanu-PF has learnt with shock and dismay of the untimely death of Chinhamo Chinamano, the son of the late national liberation war heroes, Josiah and Ruth Chinamano."His body was found yesterday in a trench near his home in Old Highfield, Harare. Anyone of adult age in Zimbabwe who never heard of the Chinamano family could never have been part of the liberation struggle."The Chinamanos were a household name who bore the brunt of the liberation struggle with incredible tenacity." Khaya Moyo said unlike his parents, Chinhamo had played a quiet role in the struggle as he always showed visible irritation at settler oppression, suppression and repression since he grew up without his parents who were always either in detention, restriction or in prison."His untimely death is a loss not only to his family but to all revolutionaries of repute who are familiar with the settler oppressive history of this country. May his soul rest in eternal peace," said Khaya Moyo.Chinamano (60) died on Saturday. He is believed to have fallen into the trench on his way home from a local beer hall during the late hours of the day. He survived by his wife, son and grandson. Khaya Moyo said funeral arrangements for the two would be announced in due course.
News / Press Release

by Tendai Biti

Introduction



Output



Liquidity crunch



Food security

Shrinking revenue base



Land invasions

Indigenization

Civil servants

Diamonds

Conclusion

The Zimbabwean economy is grinding to a halt with clear evidence that the economy if fast tracking into deep seated economic recession. It is also evident that Chinamasa and any of the acolytes in ZANU PF have neither the desire nor the ability of turning around this economy.In short they are as carefree and indifferent as they are clueless.The economy requires structural reforms if the country is to move forward. Furthermore the economy needs to carry out structural reforms in order to convince the international community so that its debt relief efforts and be supported.Sadly neither ZAU PF nor Chinamasa has the will or the capacity to carry out such reforms.Reengagement at this particular time with ZANU PF thugs engaged in factional succession fights there is no time for genuine reforms.There is massive shrinkage of the economy since 2013 with the growth rate being minus 1, 8% in 2015 and that of 2016 being minus 3.5%. The outlook period of 2016/2018 will be in the red. Zimbabwe thus finds its self in another unwelcome circle of economic recession hard on the heels of the historic economic meltdown witnessed between 1997 and 2008 a period when Zimbabwe lost 60% of its economy.The massive collapse of output is reflected in the deindustrialization which the economy has faced. Since 2013 100 000 jobs have been lost and 60% of companies operating in 2010 have shut down.With the fall in production there has been reliance on imports with Zimbabwe now becoming a supermarket stocked with foreign products especially from South Africa which is using the weaker Rand as compared to the US dollar being used in Zimbabwe.With the El Nino effect and the slump in the economy, the outlook period for 2016/2018 will be depressing while rendering the country food insecure for the foreseeable future.Land invasions are continuing, the indigenization act has not been repealed and continues to scare investors and the civil service is still infested with thousands of ghost workers. All these factors work towards weakening prospects for economic transformation which Zimbabwe needs.In this regard, the government is dithering whilst the country is burning. This is a government that is in a war with its people.There is also a biting liquidity crunch which has been compounded by the government raiding RTGS balances at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe which has resulted lack of cash at the banks which has forced banks to dip into their Nostro accounts to provide cash for their clients instead of reserving it to pay for imports.The government is raiding these accounts to raise cash so as to support their bloated expenditures such as endless foreign trips for the President and hotel bills for Phelekezela Mphoko.The result of this has been cash shortages, long bank queues and withdrawal limits for clients which has greatly inconvenienced the banking public and further dampened confidence in the banking sector.This financial situation is a perfect recipe for economic collapse as it makes doing business almost impossible without cash yet clients have their monies locked up in their accounts. We are heading towards a Greece like crisis and soon we will be mired in a crisis worse than the collapse of 2008.The food security situation in the country is dire and the clueless ZANU PF regime declared a state of disaster which requires US$1.5 billion but has subsequently failed to provide the necessary resources to avert the catastrophe which has now struck most rural areas.To date over 500 000 cattle have died countrywide due to the drought and vast tracks of cultivated land have become a total write off. Currently, 3.5 million people are in need of urgent food aid yet the government has just coordinate less than US$100 million worth of grain, the bulk of which is being partisanly distributed.This is against the fact that Mugabe has so far spent almost US$20 million on foreign travels including trips to obscure events such as the one in India.According to the latest report of the Famine Early Systems Network (Fewsnet) report, in addition to food shortages accompanied by increased acute malnutrition Zimbabwe is facing various other drought related challenges.These challenges include availability of water for domestic, power generation and agricultural production, critical shortage of grazing pastures and lower than typical means of livelihood for the bulk of the rural population which is subsisting on less than US$1 a day.The sum total of this is that poverty will increase and the economy will invariable shrink with disastrous consequences in the short to medium term.In 2015 the ZIMRA collected a total of 3.5 billion against a target of 3.7 billion representing a short fall of 7% which is a US$250 million shortfall.However, in real terms, the revenue deficit for 2015 is around US$800 million and includes the sum of US$253 million in the form of the supplementary budget for 2015 announced by Chinamasa in the 2016 budget.The remaining amount comes from cost overruns associated with financing further employment cost including the bonus, government vehicles, the ZANU PF Conference and many other dubious transactions.Further to that the government has started the crime of printing money through the issuance of treasury bills that are now clogging the market.According to South African based NKC African Economics, central bank holdings of government debt increased from 843 million in November 2014 to 1.4 billion by November 2015 representing 1.4% increase.This government has been criminally issuing toxic treasury bills with total domestic debt now standing at 6 billion. The continued reliance on toxic treasury bills is a major factor contributing to the current liquidity crisis.The crisis that Zimbabwe is going through has been further worsened by threats made by Robert Mugabe that he wants to drive out the remaining white farmers from their farms. In March, 12 farms were gazetted in Manicaland province. This will once again disrupt production which is way below what is expected.Recently cabinet endorsed the decision by Indigenization Minister, Patrick Zhuwao, which came as a slap on the face of the IMF reengagement exercise which recently approved Zimbabwe's efforts towards normalizing its relations with various international creditors.The IMF judged that Zimbabwe's Staff Monitored Programme, which is essentially a reform programme, has been a success yet it is apparent that ZANU PF was indicating right yet turning left.The PDP in recent months has warned that any effort towards reengaging with Zimbabwe must be based on clear deliverables on the key areas of reform.We further asserted that one such key area of reform was the repealing of the Indigenization and Empowerment Act in its totality as it was just a haven to promote and sustain ZANU PF's patronage and corruption while chasing away crucial investments into the economy.The government payroll is still burden by over 250 000 ghost workers who were recruited ahead of the contested 2013 general election.The government is failing to maintain a primary balance of accounts and is spending more than it's earning using toxic treasury bills to sustain its avid appetite to spend. Recently state resources to the tune of US$500 000 were poured into Robert Mugabe's US$800 000 birthday bash.In all this the government is misdirecting its efforts towards removing genuine and hardworking workers in the education and health sectors. ZANU PF must remove ghost workers in the form of so called youth officers, who are in fact militias deployed to harass citizens.The discovery of diamonds in Chiadzwa and their subsequent exploitation was seen as capable of turning around our national fortunes.However, the sad reality is that 7 years after the commencement of mining operations, Zimbabwe has only received a paltry US$600 million worth of revenue from diamonds and has lost a whopping US$15 billion, according to the man who must give us answers.The admission by Mugabe is an indictment for Mugabe and as the PDP we are very clear that he is no longer fit to govern. If so much money can be looted by companies whom he gave mining licenses and fails to take action it shows that he was a beneficiary of the looting.In our political transition document ARREST, we argue that Mugabe and his cronies are running an extractive political institution driven by the twin dynamics of power and primitive accumulation.In undertaking this, they have enlisted the services of international bandits and mercenaries mainly from the Far East and China. This is the very reason why Mugabe did nothing when we raised the issue of looting of diamonds as way back as 2009.Various mining operations are veiled in secrecy which is a perfect haven for looting. To this day no one knows what other minerals have been looted in areas such as platinum mining in Ngezi and Zvishavane.If investigations can be done we will certainly get shocked at the level to which our minerals have been looted by private companies with the full blessings of Mugabe himself.The 2013 election was characterized by breath taking patronage and large scale vote buying which were certainly paid for by diamond money.In light of Zimbabwe's engagement with the IMF, Zimbabwe must walk the talk and prove that it is a worth partner to engage in reforms.As a sign of goodwill, the people of the land must be given security of tenure, there must be a land audit that will root out serial land owners, government must live within its means and there must be transparency in diamond mining be establishing a Diamonds Act.There is need of parastatal reforms as the over 100 parastatals in the country are instruments of patronage and looting.It is a crime that 79%of the people are living on 0.35c per day, there must be money reserved for the poor.Therefore, as PDP, we are calling for the establishment of the National Transitional Authority (NTA) which will attend to among other issues, maintaining peace and stability, restoring the social contract and reviving the economy.
Opinion / Columnist

Government has doled out $6,4 million for school fees for war veterans' children. "We also have arrears dating back to the third term of 2013, so we are hoping that these will also be paid off," said retired Brigadier-General Walter Tapfumaneyi who is the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for War Vets Welfare Services.Dating back to July 2013; why am I not surprised!The regime has not been paying its bills. It is no secret that the national economy is in total meltdown and government has been struggling to pay the civil servant's wages let alone pay for other essentials like books for schools, drugs for hospitals, school fees for war vets' children, war vets' pension, etc.So Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has managed to find $6,4 million to pay the war vets' children's school fees; excellent! Who will not be paid in time this time? Usually it is either the teachers of the nurses!The war vets will have to wait a while for their pension!What is shocking here is that the war vets are still holding on to President Mugabe's promise of mass prosperity and refuse to see the reality of growing poverty. Worse still, they do not see that the mass poverty is man-made! Of course this is a man-made crisis; President Mugabe himself has admitted the regime has squandered $ 15 billion in Marange diamonds.President Mugabe and his Zanu PF cabal are corrupt and incompetent and if we are serious about about ending the economic meltdown and the grinding poverty the nation is facing right now then it is obvious the regime must go.Ever since President Mugabe paid war vets the $50 000 pay-off in 1998 many of the war vets have taken it upon themselves to deny the people their right to free and fair election and have shamelessly helped President Mugabe impose his no-regime-change ethos. President Mugabe used the war vets in implementing his vote rigging scheme in the July 2013 elections and so he paid the war vets' pension, school fees, etc. to keep them happen. As soon as the elections were over he dumped them just as he has dumped everyone else.The 1998 Z$ 50 000 pay-off to war vets was unplanned but necessary to alleviate the economic hardship; it was a tacit acknowledgment by the regime that its mass prosperity policies were not working. The very fact that the war vets are back asking for more assistance shows the economic situation was not improved but instead has got worse than ever. It is high time both the regime and the war vets accepted Zanu PF has failed to deliver mass prosperity.Ever since 1998 President Mugabe has sought to alleviate the economic suffering of the war vets alone and yet the economic collapse has affected the rest of the population just badly. The people of Zimbabwe have a meaningful say in the governance of the country and therefore demand the restoration of every Zimbabwean's right to free and fair elections as a birth right and as the only basis for good governance and a way out of this economic mess.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will present a preview of recommendations for the 2016-17 hunting and trapping seasons at the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commissions April meeting.

In addition in accordance to the new federal guidelines, the proclamations for the 2016-17 waterfowl and other game bird hunting seasons will be presented with action taken by the commission. In the past, federal guidelines had called for those seasons to be set in September.

The meeting will be held April 15 beginning at 9.a.m. The meeting will be held at the TWRA Ray Bell Building. The public is invited to attend.

Wildlife and Forestry Division Chief Mark Gudlin will provide an overview on the hunting seasons setting process. The commission will also be given a brief summary of the 2015-16 hunting seasons.

An overview will be presented of a potential six year research project with the University of Tennessee to monitor radio-marked wild turkeys during five field seasons. The Tennessee Southeastern Cooperative Wild Turkey Research project would include several counties in southern Middle Tennessee.

The TFWC sets the states annual hunting seasons at its May meeting. The annual hunting and trapping regulations are effective Aug, 1 through July 31.

Taylor Walters, producer for the Tennessee Uncharted television show, will update the commission on the programs latest plans. Production is underway for the third season.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) will host the 2016 Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) workshop June 3-5 in Crossville at the Clyde M. York 4-H Center.

The relaxed atmosphere of the BOW workshop is primarily aimed at women, and is an opportunity for those 18 or older to learn outdoor skills usually associated with hunting and fishing. However, the workshop provides useful for other outdoor pursuits and interests. Workshop participants will have a chance to take a variety of courses over the three days and the classes are taught by experts in their respective fields. There will be special programs in the evenings.

This years workshop offers classes in firearms and firearms safety, successful fishing skills, advanced fishing techniques, all-terrain vehicle operation, basic archery, introduction to paddleboards, boating safety education, outdoor cooking, wild edible foray, beginning fly fishing, nature photography basics, basic canoeing, basic shotgun, survival skills, backyard habitat, map/compass, introduction to muzzleloading, introduction to turkey hunting, introduction to deer hunting, introduction to waterfowl hunting, basic trapping, reading the woods, discover scuba, and stream ecology.

The workshop fee is $200 and includes lodging at the Clyde M. York 4-H Center, meals, T-shirt, and a 2016-17 Tennessee Hunting and Fishing License. Registration is taken on a first-come, first-serve basis. Applications may be obtained from the TWRA website at www.tnwildlife.org, or any TWRA regional office. For more information contact Donald Hosse, Wildlife Education Program Coordinator, at don.hosse@tn.gov or telephone (615) 781-6541.
Lookout Mountain author Gretchen Archer has sold tens of thousands of copies of her Davis Way Crime Caper series, and she is releasing the fifth book Double Knot: A Davis Way Crime Caper on Tuesday. Ms. Archer's first three books (Double Whammy, Double Dip, and Double Strike) are USA Today bestsellers.



The casino-based cozy mystery series received a stamp of approval by New York Times bestselling mystery author Janet Evanovich, who endorsed Double Knot: "Powerfully heartfelt and knock-your-socks-off hilarious. I'm a fan."



Publishers Weekly calls Double Knot "High energy...Davis's smarts, her mad computer skills, and a plucky crew of fellow hostages drive a story full of humor and action, interspersed with moments of surprising emotional depth."



Ms. Archer will be having her book release event at Star Line Books in Chattanooga on Saturday, April 23 from 2-4 p.m.

Review of Double Knot:

Hell is other peopleand Super Secret Spy Davis Way is about to find this out the hard way in Double Knot: A Davis Way Crime Caper (Henery Press, ISBN 9781635110296, Original Trade Paperback, April 12, 2016), by triple USA Today-bestselling author Gretchen Archer.

Our favorite redhead is ready to take to the high seas in The Probability, a new, $500 million casino ship carrying 50 billionaires on its maiden voyage to the Cayman Islands. The Probabilityis partially owned by The Bellissimo Resort & Casino, which is why Davis Way, who is pregnant with twins, has a new mission to be the eight-months-pregnant casino owner Bianca Sanders body double for the ships festivities.



The trip immediately take a turn for the worst when Davis gets locked in a suite with her judgmental mother, who is ignoring the fact that Davis is pregnant with twins; Fantasy, her about-to-be-divorced best friend and co-worker; Jessica, the ships hostess who has a crush on Daviss husband Bradley; Burnsworth, a creepy butler; and Poppy, a maid who appears and disappears eerily fast. Obviously its a system glitch and someone is going to show up to save them all soon Until Davis discovers a note that Jeremy No Hair Coven, the head of security, been kidnapped.



Sit back and settle in, because youre not leaving your suite. Rest assured no harm will come to anyone as long as you follow these simple instructions: Do not attempt to escape or make contact with anyone Not only is escape impossible, you will most assuredly jeopardize everyones welfare if you attempt any overt attention-seeking endeavors. In other words, Mrs. Cole, dont start a fire. Youll burn.



Its now up to Davis and Fantasy to save everyones skins, but finding a way out is proving difficult to find. Minutes turn into hours and hours stretch into days, especially with her mother driving everyone crazy. Can Davis race against the clock to determine why theyre being held and stop the people behind it?



Double Knot is the most exhilarating Davis Way Crime Caper yet as secrets are revealed, antiquities are destroyed, relationships are becoming strainedand theyre running out of clean dishes.



About Gretchen Archer:



Gretchen Archer is a Tennessee housewife who began writing when her daughters, seeking higher educations, left her. She lives on Lookout Mountain with her husband, son, and a Yorkie named Bently. Double Knot is the fifth book in the Davis Way Crime Caper series.
Wednesday, May 4, at 7 p.m. at the Brainerd United Methodist Church is the time set for an important religious forum where three leaders from the religions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity will come together to discuss Rabbi Joshua Sacks book, Not in Gods Name: Confronting Religious Violence.

During this forum people will hear from Basaam Issa, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga, Rabbi Susan Tendler from the BNai Zion Jewish Congregation, as well as Rev. Charles Ensminger of the Harrison United Methodist Church.

All three panelists share the common view that Abrahamic monotheism (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) sees all life as sacred. Believing that all human beings, regardless of color, culture, class or creed, are created in the image and likeness of God, it is the calling of all three religions to live as Father Abraham lived; a man who Rabbi Sacks said, ruled no empire, commanded no army, conquered no territory, performed no miracles and delivered no prophecies. He lived to be a blessing to everyone he met.

Organizers said, "Come and join as our panelists as they discuss Rabbi Sacks book in ways that can help us all rediscover our calling  to be a blessing to the world."
Gurdeep Singh Mann

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 10

Taking a U-turn following the protest by members of the Shaheed Kiranjeet Kaur Adhyapak EGS/AIE/STR Union in Talwandi Sabo today, the police have finally started contemplating cancellation of the FIR No. 84 registered at the Kotwali police station against Dr Jagmal, Kiranjeet Gehri and others.

Though SSP Swapan Sharma claims that the matter will be re-investigated by an SP-level officer and the issue of cancellation of the FIR will be decided only after a week, a letter signed by the Kotwali SHO, however, clearly states that a cancellation report in this regard has been forwarded.

A large number of teachers went atop the water tank situated adjoining the venue of the SAD rally to be held during the Baisakhi Mela on April 13 in Talwandi Sabo.

We went up the water tank at 4 am in protest against our long-pending demands, including regularisation of jobs, cancelling of false registration of a case against our members who were protesting outside the Max Hospital and not getting adequate salaries, said Veerpal Kaur, state committee member of the union.

In view of the strong stand adopted by the union members who refused to come down from the water tank and challenged the police to take action against the teachers, the police finally relented.

Initially, Talwandi Sabo SHO Manoj Kumar arrived at the spot after which Rama SHO Gursher Singh, then DSP Balwinder Singh and finally SSP Swapan Sharma reached the place of protest today.

The SSP verbally assured that the FIR registered against Gehri, Dr Jagmal and all the other students and villagers would be cancelled. But we refused to listen to any verbal promises and sought written statement, said Kuldeep Singh Pabla, another state committee member of the union.

He said the SSP came again after three hours with the letter signed by Kotwali SHO wherein it was mentioned that the alleged accused were not involved in blackmailing or blocking the national highway.

The FIR was registered after relatives of an accident victim accused a doctor at the Max Hospital, Dr Manoj Manjhi of negligence.

The police had booked some of the protesters who were demanding action against the hospital and the accused doctor. The protesters included the deceaseds son, who is a member of the union.

Now, it has been found that the accused had not blocked the national highway but they only occupied a portion of the footpath for protest and their intention was not blackmailing the doctor of the hospital, the letter reads.

The student leaders said apart from the cancellation of the FIR, the SSP also promised arranging of a meeting of teachers with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on April 18 in Chandigarh so that their demands could be taken up with the government.

However, SSP Swapan Sharma said, The issue of cancellation of the FIR will be decided after a week after the investigation is done by an SP-level officer.
Govind Talwalkar

IN the latest 50 files of Netaji, we find that on August 22, 1969, Netaji's nephew, Amiya Nath Bose, MP, suggested to the government, that they should request the Japanese government to supply them all the relevant diplomatic documents and other records regarding the transfer of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the Provisional Government of Free India.

The then Foreign Minister asked our ambassador, in Tokyo, accordingly to communicate with his Japanese counterpart. On May 26, 1970, the Japanese sent a copy of the speech made at the Greater East Asia Conference on May 11, 1943, by General Tojo, the Prime Minister of Japan. In that speech, Tojo declared that his government was ready to transfer, in the near future, Andaman and Nicobar islands to Netaji's Provisional Government of Free India. Netaji, who attended the conference, hailed General Tojo's announcement and said that such a step would strengthen the free India movement. Later, Netaji said that Andaman was British penal colony, its freedom would be the beginning of the Indian revolution just like the storming of the Bastille was the start of the French Revolution.

However, Tojo's announcement did not really start the process of the transfer of Islands. There was a slip between the cup and the lip. Nay, ultimately it proved that there was only an empty cup. Since no diplomatic documents were exchanged at that time, decades later the Japanese government had only a text of a speech of their late Prime Minister, who after the end of the war was hanged as a war criminal. The announcement by Tojo might have induced Netaji to think about the storming of the Bastille, but the hard-core civil and military officials of Japan thought of putting restrictions, which they felt were imperative because of the exigencies of war. So the Imperial General Staff deliberated for three months. M. Sivaram, a Press consultant and the broadcasting chief of Netaji's Provisional Government has noted the outcome of those deliberations in his book, The Road To Delhi, he writes, they did not want their government forced to make any serious commitments. They agreed that Subhas Chandra Bose might form a Provisional Government of Free India and the Japanese government would recognise it, but the instrument of recognition, however, would not be sent to the Privy Council of Japan for ratification.

There was also an understanding that the Free India Government would not press Japan for all the normal rights and privileges of an allied government. Japan would send an ambassador to the Free India Government which should not expect a reciprocal diplomatic representation, in Tokyo. The Free India Government was not to seek diplomatic representation at the capitals of the powers which might recognise it. Bose should not attempt any official contact with any foreign government or any military authorities without the knowledge and approval of the Japanese military authorities. In the publicity campaign, Bose and his Government would have unlimited powers, subject to the approval of the Japanese censors. All these stipulations were conveyed to Bose by Colonel Nagai at Singapore, in September and discussed in detail for about a fortnight.

How was the life under the Japanese? N. Iqbal Singh's The Andaman Story gives the details. The cruelty and torture were unprecedented. Besides, as the imports of almost all things became scarce, the prices went skyrocketing. Ghee was Rs 200 per seer and rice was practically unobtainable.

Politically we find that Netaji went ahead with his plan to strengthen the base and the reach of his Provisional Government. He arrived in Port Blair on December 29, 1943. His objective was to appoint an Indian Chief Commissioner who would be in charge of the administration of Andaman and Nicobar. The Japanese admiral, in charge of the administration, agreeing to the appointment of an Indian Chief Commissioner, told Bose that for cogent strategic reasons there would be no complete handover during the war, but if the Commissioner cooperated a few departments could be transferred. It seems that Netaji neither rejected any of those conditions nor did he say that he would approach General Tojo to get any amendments.

Hugh Toye, in The Springing Tiger, called this transfer of Andaman and Nicobar Islands to Netaji's Provisional Government a "specious fiction". During Netaji's three-day stay, he was always surrounded by the Japanese officials. There was pomp and ceremony but complete lack of enthusiasm in the local populace. Selected Japanese officials and a few Indians accompanied Netaji. One of them was Mushtaq Ali. In the evening, when the Japanese officials were quite high, Mushtaq had the opportunity to whisper into Netaji's ear about the state of affairs in the Andamans. He requested Netaji that during his visit to the Cellular Jail, the next day, he should ask to be shown the sixth wing of the jail. He singled out the case of Diwan Singh and the torture he was subjected to. However, though Netaji visited the Jail, he did not go to the sixth wing. Bose renamed Andaman as Shahid Dweep and Nicobar as Swaraj Dweep. Loganathan, appointed by Bose as the Chief Commissioner, did not have any effective power. He visited Singapore and reported to Netaji about what had happened to Diwan Singh and others and how the Japanese were treating the Provisional Government. Unmindful of the conditions under the Japanese, some people in India continued to believe that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were independent under the Japanese dispensation.

On August 22, 1969, the question of changing the names of Andaman and Nicobar islands to Shahid Dweep and Swaraj Dweep came up. K. R. Ganesh, Deputy Minister, elected from the same constituency, reacting sharply replied that, three-fourths of the island had been completely annihilated by the Japanese fascists. Thousands were thrown in the sea, thousands were decimated and hundreds were jailed. Samar Guha asked whether this happened before or after Netaji. Ganesh categorically replied: My answer is  before, during and afterwards. He then firmly said that the history of the islands did not start in 1943, but in 1857. The name of Andaman is in our soul and we are not going to allow you to change it. Thus, while the independence of Andaman, Nicobar Islands was all Japanese hocus pocus, the assertion of Ganesh had the solid backing of history and the emotions of the people.





The writer is a former Editor of Maharashtra Times. The views expressed are personal
PP Rao

VICE-PRESIDENT Hamid Ansari has raised a fundamental issue concerning our democratic polity and secular State, both basic features of the Constitution. The issue needs to be addressed by Parliament in the next session. The country had suffered from mixing religion with politics before the Partition, and continues to suffer even now. This should end. The Preamble contained the solemn resolve of the people to constitute India into a sovereign, democratic republic and to secure to all citizens Justice, social, economic and political; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all Fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the integrity of the nation. The Constitution prohibits discrimination inter alia on the ground of religion, race or caste against any citizen. Every person has the right to freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of ones religion, and every religious denomination has the freedom to manage its religious affairs. The right of minorities to conserve their language and their culture is assured. They have the right to establish and administer educational institutions. Keeping in view these basic rights, which are enforceable, the Supreme Court had declared that the Constitution was secular. By an amendment in 1979, the word secular was inserted in the Preamble. Those who demand its deletion ought to know that what was latent in the Preamble was made patent by the amendment.

A nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in SR Bommais case declared that secularism was a part of the basic structure of the Constitution and explained its implications. Religion is a matter of personal belief. The State is neither pro, nor anti, any particular religion. It has to provide equal protection to all religions, subject to regulation. Under our Constitution, no political party or organisation can simultaneously be a political and a religious party. The Constitution does not permit mixing religion and State power. The court also dealt with the validity of four proclamations imposing Presidents rule in the States under BJP rule. The BJP had, in its poll manifesto for the UP Assembly elections in 1991, made a promise that if it returned to power, the government would remove Babri Masjid, relocate it and facilitate the construction of Ram temple at the site. Defending Presidents rule, it was contented that the state government, after getting elected, facilitated the demolition of the religious shrine of Muslims with the help of kar sevaks sent from other BJP-ruled states  as revealed in the Governors reports  and this was against secularism. Therefore, Presidents rule had to be imposed. The court accepted this contention and upheld the proclamation.

Following the demolition of the masjid in the presence of top leaders of the party, except Atal Behari Vajpayee, there was an uproar across the country. Senior lawyers, prominent professionals and others organised in Delhi a convention for communal harmony in which retired judges, academicians, journalists and others participated. A committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Justice VR Krishna Iyer to recommend electoral reforms. It made inter alia two recommendations: A party bearing the name of a religion, race or caste, either wholly or partly, shall not be registered as a political party to contest elections. Reasonable time may be given to the existing political parties bearing such names to change their names; and a party which promotes communalism, whether before, during or after elections, or which seeks to fight elections on communal issues, shall be deregistered and disqualified to participate in elections. The signatories to the recommendations included two former judges of the Supreme Court, seven former judges of different High Courts, Dharma Vira, former Governor, Prof Yash Pal, former Chairman, UGC, three former Vice-Chancellors, several professors, eminent journalists, senior lawyers, and leading medical practitioners. Copies of the recommendations were sent to the government, the Election Commission and all MPs. Nothing happened as the MPs were not interested.

There are at least three recognised parties with religious names. Besides there are several other parties with religious names registered with the Election Commission, like the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, the Indian Union Muslim League, the Indian Christian Party, etc. I remember approaching RK Trivedi, Chief Election Commissioner, in a delegation consisting of lawyers and law professors in the early 80s, with a representation to call upon parties with religious names to change their names and amend their certificate of registration. He pleaded his inability saying that only Parliament could do this.

Nani A Phalkivala had said long ago: The moral crisis is writ large on the entire political scene. In the 50s, we had eminent men in public life who were every inch gentlemen. In the 60s, we had many public figures who were every alternate inch gentlemen. Unfortunately, in the 70s, we have an unacceptably large number of politicians who are no inch gentlemen. Rarely do we come across a statesman like Vajpayee who analysed the shortcomings of our democracy in a memorial lecture: The electoral system has been almost totally subverted by money power, muscle power and vote bank considerations of castes and communities. He added that elections were neither free nor fair and made a strong case for reform. In BR Kapurs case, the Supreme Court quoted his speech and drew the attention of the government. During his tenure as Prime Minister, a national commission was constituted, with former CJI MN Venkatachaliah as Chairman, to review the working of the Constitution. In 2002, in its report it emphasised the need for urgent reform, stating: There is increasing criminalisation of politics and of the electoral process. If remedies are not found and implemented speedily, there might remain very little of value to salvage. The recommendations are gathering dust.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, launched by the Prime Minister, is good. It would be meaningful if it includes Swachh Parliament and Swachh State Legislatures and necessary amendments to the election law are undertaken swiftly to ensure that these august Houses consist of selfless representatives. Till now the Constitutional objectives of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity have remained a pious hope.

Growing intolerance and communal tensions witnessed of late are posing a serious threat to communal harmony, peace and stability. Parliament alone has the power of legislation under the Constitution. Courts cannot enter this field. Assertion of public opinion alone can make Parliament act. It is time the voters and the media raise their voice, demanding election reforms to make secular democracy a reality.

The writer is an expert on constitutional law
Ramesh Kumar

PONDERING over the turmoil in JNU and NIT, Srinagar, the unending TV debates reminded me of my student days of 1966-67 at Brijendra Government College, Faridkot, where we were a group of students interested more in creative, social and student issues than academics.

After the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, Justice Gurnam Singh became the Chief Minister of the first Akali government. Giani Zail Singh engineered defections in the Akali Dal and got Lachhman Singh Gill installed as Chief Minister, supported by the Congress. Defections not being the order of the day, Punjab felt betrayed.

Lachhman Singh Gill was scheduled to visit the local BEd training college for laying the foundation stone of a teaching block. Curious to hear the new Chief Minister, we, a group of about 20 students, started from our college on foot for the college, 2 km away. A CID man sitting at a tea stall informed his seniors that a group of students, debating aggressively the change in government, were headed for the venue. A road barrier was quickly set up and we were stopped. After a heated argument, we were detained which we forcefully resisted. The Chief Minister cut short his speech and left the venue through an alternative route. After some time, we were allowed to proceed. When we found that the function was over and he had already left, we felt cheated and out of frustration broke the foundation stone. After pulling down some banners and flags, we returned. In the evening, we got the news that the police was after us. We went underground. It started visiting our college and homes, looking for us. All of us being prominent activists, the atmosphere in the college became tense. The police was putting pressure on the college administration to produce the miscreants.

Prof Pritam Singh, the then principal, understood our creative instincts. Like a father, he stepped in and counselled the administration not to make the incident a state-level issue. It will surely become a sensitive issue if the students are arrested and other students go on strike, he reasoned. He suggested that the foundation stone should be replaced by the college and he should be allowed to handle the problem. The administration accepted his sane advice and the foundation stone was replaced.

We were called by the principal who rebuked us and made us realise the gravity of the situation, saying that it could have ruined our future.

Today, after 50 years, when I look back, I realise that neither of us could have risen to positions of eminence in our respective fields, but for the sagaciousness and generosity of Prof Pritam Singh. It would keep coming back to me when I would guide the misguided young students throughout my career as an academic administrator.

Let the universities live in their glory and grandeur as the temples of learning. The police and politicians have more vital issues to take care of.
Tinsukia (Assam), April 4

Eleven people died and 20 were gravely injured when bullets fired by policemen snapped a high-voltage power line during a violent protest in Pangeree in Assams Tinsukia district on Monday.

Protesters armed with sticks surrounded a police station in the town to demand that some murder suspects be handed over to them to be punished, police said. The protest turned violent when some protesters began to throw stones at policemen, who fired into the air to get the mob under control. Some bullets struck an overhead power supply line, which snapped and electrocuted 10 protesters, killing nine instantly.

District police and central paramilitary forces immediately sent in reinforcements to the township, police said, adding police were current trying to calm the protesters.

Two men and a woman, all of the same family, were kidnapped recently. Although one man escaped, the two that remained were found dead later. Police arrested five people for the murders.  PTI
Here is the Fort Oglethorpe arrest report for April 1-7:

Tyler Adam Warner, 26, of 128 Walker Road, Rossville was arrested April 1 on charges of fugitive from another state and safety belt violation.



Kelly Lynn Rheal, 32, of 400 South College Street, Hixson was arrested April 2 on charges of violation of Georgias controlled substance act, giving false name/false information to police and tag light requirement.



Kimberly Gayle Keller, 29, of 6917 Love Lane, Hixson was arrested April 2 on a charge of violation of Georgias controlled substance act.



Bryan Andrew Bird, 29, of 375 Chloe Drive, Lafayette was arrested April 2 on a charge of giving false name/false information to police.



Charles Robert William Harris, 31, of 1515 Joiner Road, Chattanooga was arrested April 2 on charges of affixing tag to misrepresent, driving while license suspended, no seatbelt and operation of unregistered vehicle.



Jamie Allen Adams, 40, of 111 Beech Street, Rossville was arrested April 2 on charges of driving while license suspended/revoked, suspended registration and no insurance.



Roy Elbert Walden, 31, of 334 McDonald Drive, Rossville was arrested April 2 on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs and stopping or standing in roadway.



James Michael Gass, 27, of 1153 Niles Ferry Road, Madisonville, TN was arrested April 2 for theft by shoplifting.



Joshua Cain Johnson, 28, of 110 Chambers Street, Rossville was arrested April 2 on charges of driving while license suspended and no seatbelt.



Adrian Lee Dunn, 27, of 306 Missionary Avenue, Rossville was arrested April 3 on charges of driving while license suspended/revoked and failure to move over for emergency vehicles.



Timothy Aaron Crowder, 26, of 354 Mission Ridge Road, Rossville was arrested April 3 on charges of driving while license suspended/revoked and tag light violation.



Donna Ray Whaley, 55, of 41 Allison Terrace, Rossville was arrested April 4 on charges of driving while license suspended/revoked and tag light requirement.



Lori Ann Merrill Davis, 46, of 112 Arbor Mill Lane Unit 15, Ringgold was arrested April 4 for violation of Georgias controlled substance act.



John Leonard Toney, 53, of 92 Spencer Street, Ringgold was arrested on charges of possession of dangerous drugs, drugs not in original container, failure to maintain lane, tag light requirements and tail light requirements.



Sheila Marie Woody, 30, of 1 East 11th Apt.

805, Chattanooga was arrested April 4 for disorderly conduct.Jonathan Allen Parker, 21, of 68 Hunnington Road, Rossville was arrested April 4 for public drunkenness.Jeffrey A. Shields, 55, of 71 Robbie Lane, Rossville was arrested April 5 on charges of driving while license suspended, alteration of license plate, following too closely and no insurance.Albert Lee Dawson, 22, of 133 Merrywood Drive, Rossville was arrested April 5 for theft by shoplifting.Donnie Wayne Chambers, 41, of 2 Kent Drive, Rossville was arrested April 5 on charges of driving while license suspended, drugs not in original container, obstruction of officers, possession of schedule IV, theft by shoplifting, outstanding warrant and fugitive from another state.Tina Marie Smolik, 51, of 72 Ernest Drive, Ringgold was arrested April 7 on charges of possession of schedule III, IV & V substances, going inside guardline with weapon, liquor or drugs, and theft by shoplifting.Sarah Lorraine Patten, 49, of 49 American Boulevard, Rossville was arrested April 7 on charges of theft by shoplifting and criminal trespass.Speeding.14License required.1Entering or crossing roadway.1Failure to exercise due care.3Window tint violations.1Driving while license suspended or revoked.9Required position and methods of turning at intersections..1Windshields and windshield wipers..1Failure to move over for emergency vehicles..3Following too closely.8Proof of insurance required.11Use of fighting words, obscene and vulgar language..1Safety belt violations.31Public drunkenness.1Suspended registration7Defective tail lights.3Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.1Removing or affixing license plate with intent to conceal..2Failure to obey traffic control device..1Permitting unlicensed person to drive..2Failure to obey traffic control devices.12License to be carried and exhibited on demand.2Driving in circular or zigzag course/laying drags1Alteration of license plates.2Failure to signal turn or lane change.2Operation of vehicle without current plate.16Instruction permits and temporary licenses.1Unsafe tires..1
Guwahati/ Kolkata, April 11

Violence marked second phase of the keenly contested assembly elections of both Assam and West Bengal as one person was reported killed in clashes between security forces and voters in Assams Sorbhog contituency in Barpeta district.

Assam and West Bengal both recorded 71 per cent voting until 3 pm.

As voting went underway in Assam, an 80-year-old man, identified as Abdul Rashid, was killed during a fight that broke out after some men of the Central Reserve Police Force stationed at Safarkamar polling station in the district told voters to follow line discipline. Two security men and another voter were injured in the scuffle.

Some security men were fired at a polling station in Nagarbera constituency, Additional Chief Election Officer Assam Nitin Khade said.

We received reports about violence in some places. According to preliminary reports, one person died due to lathicharge by the CRPF at a place near Barpeta Road under Sarbhog constituency, he said.

Save for a few incidents, polling was by and large peaceful across the 61 constituencies, he said.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cast his vote in Guwahati at the Dispur Government High School but his wife, Gurcharan Kaur, also a voter of Dispur constituency, but his wife did not.

"I think people of Assam will reward the Congress party for the good work it has done for the people of Assam in last 15 years," said Singh, while walking up to the waiting mediapersons in the school campus.

Asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegation that he had not done anything for Assam when he was the prime minister, Singh said: "I do not want to counter what the prime minister had said about me. But he (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) also knows that what he has said is not true." Strict security measures had been put in place at the Dispur Government High school since Monday morning.

Some 1,04,35,277 voters eligible to cast their ballot in the second phase to decide the fate of some 525 candidates.

Crude bombs mark voting in West Bengal

Election Commission sources here said West Midnapore registered 76 per cent, Bankura over 70.80 per cent and Burdwan nearly 68 per cent polling till 3 PM.

A crude bomb was hurled in Bankura district by unidentified men this morning but there were no casualties.

Two bags carrying bombs were also found in Jamuria district.

Meanwhile, unidentified men were also seen walking about with loaded pistols in their hands.

Earlier in the day, five people were injured in a clash broke out between rivals Communist Party of India (M) and the Trinamool Congress in Jamuria, where one victim is said to be critical.

One of the CPI (M) workers, who got injured in the incident, alleged that three to four workers of the TMC thrashed them with lathis.

They started beating us with lathis. The police did not come as we were being beaten, he said.

Sources in the Election Commission said West Midnapore registered 76 per cent, Bankura over 70.80 per cent and Burdwan nearly 68 per cent polling until 3 pm.

In another incident, a CPI (M) polling agent was hospitalised after being allegedly attacked by TMC workers at a polling booth in Chandrakona.

Some 163 candidates will be contesting in the second phase of one of the most close-watched between the ruling TMC, BJP and the Left-Congress combine candidates.

Those whose fate would be decided on Monday include state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, former WBPCC presdient Manas Bhunia, state minister Malay Ghatak, actor Soham Chakrabarty besides Mishra. Agencies
Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 10

Ahead of the plans of the Congress, for a memorable culmination of BR Ambedkars 125th birth anniversary celebrations at Nagpur tomorrow, Dalits in the party have sent a message of aspiration to their chief Sonia Gandhi.

They want a greater say in affairs of the Congress and a larger space in its organisation. The message emerged from conclaves of The Scheduled Caste Leadership, organised in every state during the year-long commemoration of Ambedkars birth anniversary, the Father of the Indian Constitution.

All suggestions from these leadership conclaves will be discussed at a special session which will be organised along with the AICC session as and when it happens, K Raju, Chairman, Scheduled Caste Cell of Congress said.

Asked what the nature of suggestions was, Raju said principal suggestions related to the need for greater Dalit representation in the party and the need to do more to strengthen their voice.

The sense has been that though the Congress has provided space to Dalits and led their causes, much more needs to be done. Scheduled Caste leaders have asked for greater Dalit representation in the Congress committees, Raju said.

At present, out of 10 Congress general secretaries, one  Mukul Wasnik, is an SC while out of 38 AICC secretaries, only eight are Dalits.

Even when it comes to leadership roles, the Congress has not been able to groom many SC leaders except the notable faces that include the late Babu Jagjivan Ram, his daughter and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, former ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mallikarjun Kharge and Kumari Selja.

The Scheduled Caste Leadership conclaves marked the first step towards grooming future Dalit leaders in the Congress, Raju said.

Recently, the Congress Working Committee acknowledged the need to give a greater say to marginalised sections in party organisation and enhanced the percentage of representation for SCs, STs, OBCs and women from 20 to 50 per cent. These segments otherwise make up 80 per cent of Indias population.

Whether this enhancement is reflected in the reorganisation of the Congress under party vice president Rahul Gandhi  a move pending for long now  remains to be seen.

Meanwhile tomorrow, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi will address a mammoth rally at Nagpur, home to the RSS headquarters, to mark the end of Ambedkar celebrations and attempt to win back their lost Dalit base.
Kollam (Kerala), April 11

A day after 109 persons were killed and 380 injured in a fire incident in Kollam district of Kerala, three cars with explosives were found near the Puttingal Temple.

Owners of the cars have been identified as SS Thushara, Surendran KL and Stalin Almeda.

Earlier on Monday, the police booked six persons, including members of temple managing committee and associates of firework contractors, for attempted murder, among other charges.

Five persons have also been held for questioning but the police did not the reveal the identity of those booked and detained.

The accused were charged under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the IPC and Section 4 of the Explosives Substances Act, the police said.

The crime branch has initiated the investigation by collecting evidence from the mishap spot at the temple complex, ADGP (Crime Branch) S Ananthakrishnan, heading the Crime Branch special investigation team, said here.

More persons will be included as accused after collecting documents and evidence, Ananthakrishnan said.

Among the accused are associates of two contractors, Surendran and Krishnakutty, who conducted the competitive fire works at the temple, situated at Paravoor, a semi-urban area about 60 km from the state capital.

The police said five workers associated with the contractor of the fireworks display have been detained for questioning.

Meanwhile, three more persons succumbed to injuries at different hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram.

At least 383 injured persons are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Kollam and the state capital.

Government medical teams would visit all hospitals where the injured have been admitted to assess the situation, it said.

The devastating fire had engulfed the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi Temple complex near here during an unauthorised display of fireworks early yesterday morning.

The Kerala government had ordered a judicial probe by a retired High Court Judge as also a probe by the Crime Branch.

The tragedy had struck around 3.30 am during a display of fireworks at the temple complex, where thousands of people had gathered to witness it.

The mishap occurred as sparks of the fireworks fell on the storeroom Kambapura and the fire crackers kept there exploded with a deafening noise. The blaze spread quickly trapping devotees within the complex.

No ban on fireworks, says Kerala temple board

Meanwhile, amid growing clamour for ban on temple fireworks display in Kerala in the wake of the Kollam temple tragedy, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages about 1,255 temples in the state, on Monday said it was not for a complete ban on such displays.



TDB president Prayar Goapalakrishnan said the board was against banning the pyrotechnics during temple festivals as they are part of rituals.



But it should be as per the restrictions of government and court orders with sufficient safety measures, he said.



In various temples fireworks display is part of temple rituals and we cannot ban it, he said.



The board has issued an urgent circular to all temples under it, directing that the fireworks display be carried out only in compliance with rules and regulations.



Board member Ajay Tharayil, however, said he was in favour of a total ban on major fireworks.



Meanwhile, Prof M. Kutty, president of the Thiruvambadi Devaswom, one of the organisers of the famous Thrissur Pooram to be held on April 17, said, We will be conducting the festival, observing all legal formalities.



The fireworks festivities cannot be cancelled, he said, adding it was an age-old tradition.



Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had said yesterday that the government could impose regulations on the display of fireworks, but cannot ban them.



In the name of rituals and traditions, we have limitations. We can regulate them (display of fireworks) but not ban them, he said.



Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister A.K. Antony said government should consider the possibility of banning fireworks display in the light of the tragedy.  ANI/PTI
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 10

Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh today dared Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to own the moral responsibility for his government filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India supporting Haryanas stand on the SYL and apologise to the people of Punjab.

Just by saying that your law officer acted on his own, you cannot escape the responsibility since you happen to be the head of the government, Amarinder reminded him, adding: No law officer or counsel acts of his own and he appears in the court after being duly briefed by the government.

He said Kejriwal stood exposed in the matter either way. Either his intentions towards Punjab are not honest or he has no control over what is happening in his government, he remarked.

His characteristic backing out notwithstanding, what his legal counsel stated in the Supreme Court is in strong coherence with what Kejriwal had himself said earlier that all states, including Haryana and Delhi, should get the water, he added.
Washington, April 11

In his final year in office, US President Barack Obama has said failing to prepare for the aftermath of the ousting of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 was the worst mistake of his presidency.

"Probably failing to plan for, the day after, what I think was the right thing to do, in intervening in Libya," Obama told Fox News while answering a series of questions on the highs and lows of his nearly eight years in the White House.

The 2011 US-backed intervention helped topple Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for over 40 years. But after the former Libyan president was killed, Libya plunged into chaos with militias taking over and two rival parliaments and governments forming.

Both Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continue to argue that it was not the removal of Gaddafi that caused the chaos, but the failure to prop up a stable government in the days following.

An ISIS affiliate has since gained a foothold in Libya, and the US has carried out airstrikes against "ISIS camps" as recently as February.

However, it is not the first time Obama has expressed regret over Libya. He told the Atlantic magazine last month the operation went as well as he had hoped, but Libya was now "a mess".

In that interview, he also criticised France and the UK, in particular saying British Prime Minister David Cameron became "distracted" after the intervention.

Obama, 54, said the best day of his presidency was when he passed the healthcare reforms, bringing near-universal medical coverage to Americans.

We sat out on the Truman Balcony with all the staff that had worked so hard on it and I, I knew what it would mean for the families that I'd met who didn't have health care, Obama said.

He also recounted that his worst day in the White House was "the day we travelled up to Newtown after Sandy Hook" when 20 children, mostly first-graders, were killed on December 14, 2012 at an elementary school. He spoke at a local prayer vigil two days later.

As for his biggest accomplishment, Obama said he believes it would be his actions just after taking office following the 2008 recession, "saving the economy from a Great Depression."

Obama, the 44th US President, will demit office on January 20, 2017 after two consecutive four-year terms. He is the first African-American to hold the office.  PTI
Baghdad, April 11

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Baghdad on Monday on an unannounced visit for talks with Iraqi officials on the war against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Le Drian discussed the campaign against the Islamic State, in which France is playing a major role, with President Fuad Masum and parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, their offices said in statements.

He also met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi.

Islamic State claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November last year and there is concern that the jihadists will strike the country again.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has said a jihadist cell that attacked the Brussels airport and a metro station last month, killing 32 people, initially planned to target France.

France is part of a US-led coalition that is carrying out air strikes against the Islamic State and providing training and other assistance to Iraqi and Syrian forces.

According to the French military, France has carried out more than 580 strikes against the Islamic State, destroying over 1,000 targets.

The country carries out 15 per cent of coalition air operations, and it has around 350 soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Le Drian, who arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait where he met his counterpart, will also visit French troops during his trip to Iraq.

The United States has carried out the majority of coalition strikes and has deployed some 3,900 military personnel to the country, including special forces carrying out raids against the Islamic State.

The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained ground with backing from the coalition.

Islamic State still controls significant territory in western Iraq and holds major areas in neighbouring Syria.

Le Drian's visit comes just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed during a trip to Baghdad that the coalition and Iraq would turn up the heat on the Islamic State after the jihadists suffered a string of losses.

But while the jihadists are on the defensive, they are still able to carry out frequent bombings targeting civilians and security forces in government-held areas.

In addition to major security challenges, Iraq has also been hit by an economic crisis caused by slumping oil prices, and political tensions over efforts to replace the current cabinet.

Abadi has called for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics," and presented a list of nominees to parliament last week.  AFP
Seoul, April 11

A colonel from North Koreas military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in a rare senior-level defection, Seoul officials said on Monday.

The announcement came three days after Seoul revealed 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South.

It was the largest group defection since North Koreas young leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported the restaurant is located in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

The colonel worked for the North Korean militarys General Reconnaissance Bureau before defecting to South Korea, according to Seouls Defence Ministry and Unification Ministry. Both ministries refused to provide further details including a motive for the defection.

The reconnaissance agency was believed to be behind two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

There have been occasional reports of lower-level North Korean soldiers defecting but it is unusual for a colonel to flee to the South.

The highest-level North Korean who took asylum in South Korea has been Hwang Jang-yop, a senior ruling Workers Party official who once tutored Kims late dictator father Kim Jong Il.

Hwangs 1997 defection was hailed by many South Koreans as an intelligence bonanza and a clear sign that the Norths political system was inferior to the Souths. Hwang died in 2010.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records. Many defectors have testified they wanted to avoid the Norths harsh political system and poverty.

Defections are a bitter source of contention between the rival Koreas, which are still divided along the worlds most heavily fortified border since the end of the Korean War.

Pyongyang usually accuses Seoul of enticing North Korean citizens to defect, something Seoul denies.  AP
JALALABAD: A Taliban suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed at least 12 army recruits on a bus in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, hours after a similar attack killed two people in the capital Kabul. The latest blast hit a bus in the Sorkh Rud district of Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan. Twelve bodies and at least 38 wounded had been taken to the main hospital in Jalalabad. The number of casualties was expected to rise. Reuters

Hong Kong pro-democracy protester stands trial

Hong Kong: A Hong Kong pro-democracy protester who was allegedly beaten by police in an attack captured by television cameras and beamed around the world stood trial on Monday over allegations he assaulted officers. Political activist Ken Tsang stands accused of splashing liquid on police officers during mass street rallies in 2014, the same night as he was beaten in an attack. AFP

New batch of JF-17 Thunder jets inducted into PAF fleet

Karachi: A fresh batch of 16 upgraded JF-17 Thunder aircraft, jointly developed by China and Pakistan, were on Monday inducted into the Pakistan Air Force, bolstering its tactical and surveillance capabilities. The command flag of the fighter and surveillance aircraft was handed over to Squadron-II of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif. PTI
The Morgantown, W. Va., city council has lost an appeal to regulate traffic along Route 7 in its jurisdiction based on size and weight.

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed an earlier ruling that denied the City of Morgantown the ability to regulate, by municipal ordinance, the weight and size of certain vehicles traveling on W.Va. State Route 7 through the city's downtown.

According to court documents, a local group called Safe Streets Morgantown wanted to prevent heavy truck traffic from using th state road through Morgantowns business district and asked the city council to enact an ordinance prohibiting vehicles exceeding certain weight and size limits.

The city council met with the West Virginia Department of Transportation's Division of Highways to discuss its desire to regulate Route 7 through a city ordinance. However, DOH advised Morgantown that the state legislature had granted the Commissioner of Highways the power to manage and control the use of public highways within the state road system and without the commissioners permission, any regulation would be invalid.

The city council went ahead and enacted an ordinance on Sept 2, 2014 prohibiting the use of a heavy truck with a gross combined declared gross weight of over 26,000 pounds from operating in the citys downtown business district. The exception to the rule was when the use of a large truck was necessary to conduct business at a destination within the business district.

In response to the rule, Nuzum Trucking Company and Preston Contractors filed a complaint challenging Morgantowns heavy truck ordinance, arguing that the regulation was preempted by state law.

The court eventually ruled in favor of the trucking companies, in January 2015. The Morgantown city council appealed the judgment but on April 7, 2016 the district court affirmed the original ruling.

Ultimately, the court would not allow the City of Morgantown to regulate the size or weight of vehicles traveling on Route 7 within the city because it was part of the state road system and was out of their jurisdiction.

A connecting part of the state road system is not under the jurisdiction of a local authority for purposes of regulating anything other than traffic, the court document stated. Therefore, W. Va. Code  17C-17-12 does not authorize a municipality to prohibit the operation of trucks or to impose limitations on the size or weight thereof on a connecting part of the state road system.
Officials from Owasso Public Schools are in cooperation with police after a retired lawman was assaulted Friday in front of the QuickTrip at 86th Street N. and 129th East Avenue.

Owasso Police responded to a report of a physical fight at the convenience store where a crowd of 50 or more older teens and young adults had gathered in a mob to watch the fight, according to a release on the departments Facebook page.

A video that surfaced Friday afternoon clearly shows the fight between two young men and the controversial acts that followed when the elderly man stepped in to break up the fight.

Police determined the man was assaulted after he is seen in the video shoving away one of the two men fighting, and they worked during the weekend to identify the suspects, who officers on the scene said disappeared into the crowds.

One unidentified person shoved the intervening man and another, apparently much younger, punched the older gentleman in the left side of his face.

School officials were in and out of meetings and interviews with law enforcement and students Monday morning working to sort out the incident.

No arrests were made Friday but police did not rule out the possibility of arrests in the days that follow.

Witnesses to the fight have suggested the suspects are either students from Tulsa Public Schools who traveled to Owasso or transfer students from Tulsa that now attend Owasso Schools, the report stated. Many citizens have commented on the ongoing problems near this location during after-school hours.
Memorials Planned For Beloved Chicago Chef Who Died In 15-Car Pileup On The Eisenhower

By Anthony Todd in Food on Apr 11, 2016 2:03PM



Chef Jean-Claude Poilevey. Photo via Facebook.

Chicago's culinary scene is in mourning this week, as news came out on Saturday night that Chef Jean-Claude Poilevey, owner of Le Bouchon and La Sardine, was killed in a massive pileup on the Eisenhower. Polievey was the only person killed.

The Tribune broke the news, and Phil Vettel wrote about the chef, who came to Chicago in the late 60s and helped to define French food in the city. According to Chef Carrie Nahabedian, of Naha, Poilevey was still working service every night at age 71.





We are heart broken. The world lost an incredible man, chef, and friend. https://t.co/0WTI6fa0eO  Le Bouchon (@BouchonChicago) April 9, 2016



Many of us probably had our first taste of French food at places like his now closed La Fontaine on Chicago's north side. We first met Poilevey at Le Bouchon in Wicker Park, a type of bistro typical of the French city of Lyon that focuses on hearty food, conviviality, and a gregarious chef who might frequently be seen in the dining room, chatting with guests, full of joie de vivre, enjoying his life and helping his diners enjoy theirs.

David Hammond, on OakPark.com , wrote a touching piece about the chef and Hammond's many chances to eat his food.

Mourners and friends have left spontaneous offerings at his home and restaurants.

Candles, flowers, notes for Jean-Claude. All evening, people have come by, left things or maybe just stood in the rain, silently. Posted by David Hammond on Sunday, April 10, 2016

Poilevey's restaurants were closed over the weekend, and memorial services are pending. An open-house memorial service is being held at La Sardine, at 111 N. Carpenter St., from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, according to the Tribune.
US comedy Blunt Talk, which features Patrick Stewart as a UK talk host working in America, will screen on Stan next month.

There were early rumours the show was partly-inspired by Piers Morgan. The show, which debuted in the US last August drew mixed reviews.

It also features Jacki Weaver as Blunts producer-manager, Rosalie Winter.

Walter Blunt (Patrick Stewart) is a British import intent on conquering the world of American cable news. Through the platform of his nightly news show, Blunt is on a mission to impart his wisdom and guidance on how Americans should live, think and behave.

Besieged by network bosses, a dysfunctional news staff, numerous ex-wives, children of all ages and his own well-intentioned  but sometimes misguided  decisions, Blunts only support is in the form of the heavy-drinking, devoted manservant he transplanted from the U.K., Harry (Adrian Scarborough) and Rosalie (Jacki Weaver), Blunts tough and motherly producer-manager.

Thursday May 19 on Stan.
The BBC has now revealed more details of its 2016 Christmas special and sixth season, due in 2017.

The Christmas special is currently on location near Cape Town, South Africa.

As previously reported Miranda Hart (Chummy) makes an appearance in the Christmas Special, and returns to Nonnatus House for the next season.

The Christmas Special this year will see Call The Midwife transported to the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Nonnatus House receives an SOS from a tiny mission hospital. Understaffed, underfunded, and with a poor water supply, struggling Hope Clinic is faced with closure. Can our much-loved medics and midwives make a difference to the people whose lives depend upon its work? Far from home and everything familiar, the team are both shaken and exhilarated by the challenges they face  and by the time the mission trip is over, some lives are permanently changed.

Sinead Cusack joins the Christmas Special cast, playing Dr Myra Fitzsimmons who runs the threatened Hope Clinic. Regular cast currently filming near Cape Town are Jenny Agutter (Sister Julienne), Linda Bassett (Nurse Crane), Victoria Yeates (Sister Winifred), Laura Main (Shelagh Turner), Stephen McGann (Dr Turner), Jack Ashton (Tom), Helen George (Trixie), Charlotte Ritchie (Barbara) and Cliff Parisi (Fred).

The sixth series of eight episodes returns to the historic Chatham dockyard, Londons East End, and Call The Midwifes studio base in Chertsey, Surrey.

In season six it is now 1962, and the Nonnatus House team are as committed to caring for the people of Poplar as always. However, the social revolution in the outside world is mirrored by change and challenge much closer to home. As they strive to help mothers and families cope with the demands of childbearing, disability, disease and social prejudice, our beloved medics must make choices  and fight battles  of their own. Series six will see them laugh together, cry together, and pull together, supporting each other as never before.

Pippa Harris, Executive Producer says: With our Christmas Special set against the dramatic backdrop of South Africa, and the return of our beloved Chummy to Poplar, series six is shaping up to be our strongest yet. Its a testament to the great skill of Heidi Thomass writing that the series continues to evolve, whilst maintaining its hugely popular mix of social history, babies, laughter and tears.

Heidi Thomas, creator, writer and executive producer, says: My passion for the world and characters of Call The Midwife grows stronger with each passing year. Every season brings new stories, new challenges and new triumphs  yet each one feels like a return to a much-loved home, and series six will be no exception. As the team settle back into Poplar after their South African adventure, well see them grappling with all the contradictions and opportunities of the early Sixties  the beacon of the pill, the shadow of the Kray twins, the lure of independence and the call to duty. And time and time again, in a age of change and danger, we will be reminded of the simple power of love.

Series six stars Jenny Agutter, Linda Bassett, Miranda Hart, Judy Parfitt, Helen George, Bryony Hannah, Laura Main, Emerald Fennell, Charlotte Ritchie, Victoria Yeates, Kate Lamb, Stephen McGann, Jack Ashton, Ben Caplan, and Cliff Parisi.

In Australia BBC First has aired S5 while ABC is concluding S4.
This week Foreign Correspondent profiles Pino Maniaci, the Sicilian journalist who campaigns daily against the Mafia, defying constant threats to his life.

Journalist Pino Maniaci starts most days with a cigarette and espresso in his favourite cafe in the town of Partinico, near Palermo. Hes well looked after there.

To protect his loyal customer and fellow patrons, the cafe owner has installed expensive bullet-proof windows  with good reason.

Pino Maniaci is a target. Most afternoons on the local TV station he runs with his wife and family, Maniaci names and shames, delivering scoops and rants urging fellow Sicilians to fight the corruption of the Mafia

I want to send a clear message to everyone  protection money must not be paid!  Pino Maniaci

Maniacis car has been burnt and his beloved dogs hanged. Hes been badly beaten up, sustaining a broken leg, broken ribs and broken teeth. These days police escort him to work and watch over his morning editorial meetings at the cafe. He refuses to be intimidated.

This land is beautiful  sun, sea and beautiful architecture. This land is also known all over the world as the land of the mafia  and that #*[email protected] me off!  Pino Maniaci

9.30pm, Tuesday April 12 on ABC.
British chef Rachel Khoo, who featured recently in My Kitchen Rules will co-host Zumbos Just Desserts alongside patissier, Adriano Zumbo.

She will join Zumbo as amateur dessert makers face off for the series title of dessert king or queen. Khoo has also filmed five cooking and travel TV programs in the past four years, including Rachel Khoos Kitchen Notebook: Melbourne, screening on SBS.

Im super excited and looking forward to focusing on what got me into food. Plus I absolutely love desserts, she said.

Ive admired (Adriano Zumbos) work for many years. Hes got an amazing talent for making not only stunning looking desserts but also desserts that taste as good as they look.

Zumbos Just Desserts is produced by the same team as MKR, and airs later this year.
More Chicago Cops Will Be Getting Body Cameras This Year

By Mike Ewing in News on Apr 11, 2016 5:23PM



Washington DC Metropolitan Police Officer Debra Domino wears one of the new 'body-worn cameras' that the city's officers will begin using during a press conference announcing the details of the program September 24, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

City officials say police activity in districts covering one-third of Chicago will be caught on video as early as this summer after a new shipment of police body cameras arrives this week.

Officials announced the expansion of a pilot program using the cameras back in 2014 after the fatal shooting of black teenager Laquan McDonald by white Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke sparked protests and criticism of the police department. There are 450 police body cameras en route to Chicago.

Body cameras represent an important step forward as the work of restoring trust and accountability in the department continues, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement released Sunday.

Worn on the chest or shoulder area, the cameras capture high definition video and audio of officers interactions with the public, including routine calls, traffic stops, and evidence collection. Everyone from the American Civil Liberties Union to the NAACP and police unions endorse their use, although the president of the Fraternal Order of Police expressed some concern to the Tribune over officers private conversations being recorded.

Officials claimed the initial pilot program underway in the Shakespeare Police District drastically reduced the number of citizen complaints against police. City leaders previously pointed to studies from other cities showing complaints dropped as much as 80 percent.

The 450 cameras used in the programs expansion will be worn by officers in the Austin, Wentworth, Deering, Ogden, South Chicago and Gresham police districts.

They play an important role in not just fighting crime, but also in learning from actual encounters with the public, Interim Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson said he and his command staff will wear a body camera as part of the expansion as well. All the cameras were paid for with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice and a matching $1 million from the Mayors Office. Professors with the University of Illinois at Chicagos Center for Research in Law and Justice will measure the programs impact on policing and the perception of police in the community.

In addition to expanding the use of body cameras, officials say every CPD officer will carry a Taser starting June 1, in addition to going through additional training on how to de-escalate situations. The change was announced after it was revealed officers dealing with Laquan McDonald called for a Taser before Jason Van Dyke even arrived on the scene and shot him shortly thereafter.
8:01 a.m., April 5, 2016--Alex Amend, director of digital media at the Southern Poverty Law Center will be featured as the University of Delawares Hate Speech, Free Speech series continues at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 12, in 130 Smith Hall.

The title of Amends talk is From Dylann Roof to @realDonaldTrump: How the Radical Right Spreads Hate Online.

The dark side of the Internet has very real world effects, according to Amend, who notes that Dylann Roof, the alleged terrorist responsible for the Charleston massacre in June 2015, is likely the first violent right-wing extremist to have been radicalized entirely online.

The talk will touch on how the Southern Poverty Law Center monitors the radical right online and how extremist activity poses serious questions around the First Amendment online and for major platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Amend manages the Southern Poverty Law Centers social media and web development. He works closely with the team of the Intelligence Project, which monitors the radical right and contributes to the Hatewatch blog.

Previously, Amend was the associate director of communications for the public policy organization Demos, based in New York City.

He has contributed research and reporting to the books All The Presidents' Bankers by Nomi Prins and Third World America by Arianna Huffington.

Amend is a graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication and in his early career interned with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Talking Points Memo.

The talk is free and open to the public. Those who plan to attend should RSVP.

Contact Jennifer Lambe, Department of Communication, jlambe@udel.edu with any questions.
Former Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk rejected the initiative of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko for cooperation to find a solution to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict two years ago.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said this on the air of Trojka Polish radio.

"During my recent visit to Belarus and conversation with President Lukashenko, I was surprised to learn that Lukashenko offered Prime Minister Tusk cooperation to find a solution to this conflict a few years ago. Indeed, we have found the document of those negotiations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and everything indicates that Tusk did not agree to that peace initiative," Waszczykowski said.

The Polish Foreign Minister added that Poland would not now insist on the change of the Minsk format of negotiations and Warsaws joining the peace talks "until there is a hope that the Minsk Agreements can be fulfilled."

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised a significant contribution to the implementation of the national reforms and the protection of Ukraines independence and security made by Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Ukrinform learned this from the press service of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

"In a telephone conversation, held on April 10, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed the words of respect and gratefulness to Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk for his significant contribution to the implementation of the national reforms and the protection of the independence and security of Ukraine. Merkel thanked the Head of the Ukrainian Government for the partnership, the high level of mutual trust and effective cooperation between Ukraine and Germany," reads the statement.

As noted, Merkel assured Yatsenyuk of the continued support for Ukraine in the national political and economic transformations, the successful implementation of the Minsk Agreements, as well as ensuring the stability and prosperity of Ukraine.

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(This statement is attributable to UNHCR Spokesperson Adrian Edwards)

Yesterday's violence at the Greece-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia border near Eidomeni and the extensive scenes we have all seen of teargas in use are a matter of great worry to UNHCR. It should be too for all who are concerned with Europe's response to the situation of refugees and migrants.

Time and again in recent months we have seen tension unfolding at various European borders, between security forces on the one hand and people fleeing war and in need of help on the other. People get hurt and property is damaged. Harm is done to perceptions of refugees and to Europe's image alike. Everyone loses.

In recent days media and public attention has focused on how the EU-Turkey agreement is being implemented in the Aegean islands and in Turkey. We should not forget the many other refugees and migrants who continue to be affected by the situation, especially the nearly 46,000 on the Greek mainland who arrived before the agreement took effect. At Eidomeni, about 11,000 have been sleeping for many weeks now in the open in dismal conditions, fuelling hopelessness and despair.

UNHCR is ready to support the voluntary transfer of people to sites to be put in place by the Greek Government, including with the necessary services while registration and processing is taking place. This is urgent. In the meantime, in Eidomeni, UNHCR together with the Greek Government, Greek NGOs and other partners are providing food, medical support, help for persons with specific needs, and prevention and response to sexual and gender based violence.

A wider solution - namely to relocate those who may qualify for international protection to other European States - has been agreed for many months. It needs action.

Violence is wrong whatever the circumstances. UNHCR hopes Europe will take the necessary steps now, and we stand ready to help governments further in fulfilling their obligations to refugees.
Mohammad, 27, fled sectarian violence in Iraq. He is one of the Muslims who chose to sleep at the church  the very first time he had ever set foot in a Christian church.  UNHCR/Henrik Hjort

STOCKHOLM, April 11 (UNHCR)  The refugee crisis in Sweden has provoked an outpouring of generosity from Swedes who are giving skills, time and money.

But it has also had the unexpected consequence of bringing two of Sweden's largest Muslim and Christian congregations closer together. Now they are going into business in a unique collaboration to provide accommodation for refugees - which, they hope, could set an example for interfaith cooperation across the world.

The venture will compete with big private companies that have attracted criticism in Swedish media for allegedly making fat profits by providing refugee shelters using money from the state.

"Their professionalism, language skills and understanding of other cultures made the mosque an obvious partner for us," says Olle Carlsson, the vicar of Katarina Church in the heart of Stockholm, which is pursuing the project with the nearby Stockholm Mosque.

"We are small, but we have a unique cooperation with an organization that has a lot of information, and the big asylum companies don't have that."

This is the first time a collaborative project like this has taken place between the two religious communities, says Abdallah Salah, secretary general of the charity Islamic Relief in Sweden, who is working at the mosque to establish the venture with the church.

"I hope we can export this idea to other countries, to show that we have to work together, live together, that we have a future together," Salah says. "We must find methods of cooperation, and we will find them."

The project is the result of four months unprecedented partnership between the church, which regularly has congregations of up to 1,000 people on Sundays, and the mosque, which sees several thousand Muslims stream though its doors each week for Friday prayers. Since September they have teamed up to provide beds for one-third of all the transit refugees who came through Stockholm on their way to other countries.

It began after Carlsson was on holiday in Greece, where he witnessed boats overflowing with desperate people. With thousands arriving at Stockholm's central station every week, it seemed like a natural step to contact the mosque, which is only a few hundred meters away from Katarina Church.

The church established a support group whose Facebook page has grown to over 2,600 people. Refugees would come to the mosque for food and a wash, then go to the church for a bed.

Mohammad, 27, who fled sectarian violence in Baghdad, was one of the Muslims who chose to sleep at the church - the first time he had ever set foot in a Christian church.

"In Stockholm at the station I was met by volunteers with food and water. They asked where would I prefer to go, the mosque or the church? I said the church," Mohammad recalls.

"It was a beautiful feeling. Back home Muslims are not allowed to go to churches. Some refugees came to the church just because they wanted to find out what it was like. They found people respected them, even though they were Christians and we were Muslims."

The welcome he received was overwhelming, Mohammad says. "Everyone was treated like a king at the church, I felt like a real human being for the first time in my life, I wasn't used to it. They were really good people."

However, both religious leaders say they have encountered opposition inside their congregations.

"There is some resistance and concern about this joint organization," Carlsson says. "Some people within our Christian community think we are submissive, but Jesus says 'Put yourself last in line.'" I mean, there is no reason to see this as a matter of prestige."

Critical voices have grown quiet as the project has evolved, he says.

Salah says he has also faced obstacles. "There have been a number of questions within our community, such as: 'How will you manage not to discuss theological issues?'  Some think it's a problem for Muslims to sleep in a Church," he says. "But I think we are managing it really well, I'm convinced this will work out."

The church can play a vital role in helping refugees integrate, Carlsson believes, by offering "a fast line into the Swedish community". "It is essential for the future of this country that we work together," he says.

Muslims and Christians in Sweden have spent 30 years discussing the differences between them, Salah says, and no one has dared to do something as concrete as what the mosque is now doing with the church.

"We need to stop getting hung up on the 10% that separates our religions, and instead focus on the 90% we have in common in our values and our perception of good and evil," he says.

And by working together, each side learns much more about the other, Carlsson adds.

"The whole process is very exciting. Even though I know a little about Islam I still feel very uneducated. But the more time we spend together my understanding increases, and I notice how it affects my family and my colleagues, because there are still many prejudices in Sweden," Carlsson says.

For Mohammad, theological disagreements between the two faiths are far less important than the much-needed support they can give to people like him. "The mosque cooperating with the church to help people - that's what everyone should do," he says.

With the launch of a joint business together, the "romantic phase" of collaboration between church and mosque is over, Carlsson says. And by having an official company structure, with agreed procedures for resolving disputes, there will be no going back to the old days when the two religions only ever spoke to each other about their differences.

Says Carlsson: "We have opened a door that we cannot shut."

By David Crouch in Stockholm
A mother feeds her two youngest children outside their tent in a makeshift camp near Idomeni.  UNHCR/A.Zavallis

GENEVA, April 11 (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency said today it was greatly worried about violence on Sunday at Idomeni on the border of Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia border, including the use of tear gas.

"The extensive scenes we have all seen of teargas in use are a matter of great worry to UNHCR. It should be too for all who are concerned with Europe's response to the situation of refugees and migrants," UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards said in a statement.

"Time and again in recent months we have seen tension unfolding at various European borders, between security forces on the one hand and people fleeing war and in need of help on the other. People get hurt and property is damaged. Harm is done to perceptions of refugees and to Europe's image alike. Everyone loses," he added.

The statement noted that in recent days the media and public attention had focused on how the recent EU-Turkey agreement was being implemented in the Aegean islands and in Turkey and said urged that other refugees and migrants elsewhere were not forgotten.

"We should not forget the many other refugees and migrants who continue to be affected by the situation, especially the nearly 46,000 on the Greek mainland who arrived before the agreement took effect. At Idomeni, about 11,000 have been sleeping for many weeks now in the open in dismal conditions, fuelling hopelessness and despair," he said.

UNHCR says it is ready to support the voluntary transfer of people to sites to be put in place by the Greek Government, including helping with necessary services while registration and processing is taking place.

In the meantime, in Idomeni, UNHCR together with the Greek Government, Greek NGOs and other partners are providing food, medical support, help for persons with specific needs, and prevention and response to sexual and gender based violence.

A wider solution - namely to relocate those who may qualify for international protection to other European States - has been agreed for many months.

"It needs action. Violence is wrong whatever the circumstances. UNHCR hopes Europe will take the necessary steps now, and we stand ready to help governments further in fulfilling their obligations to refugees," Edwards concluded.
Chicago Gun Violence Is Up And Arrests Are Down Following Laquan Scandal

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Apr 11, 2016 10:26PM



Brandon

As if we needed another sign that Chicago's gun violence problem is out of control, the data wizards at FiveThirtyEight have released some troubling findings: gun violence is up in Chicago, yes, but arrests are also downand the trends began last fall, at around the time the city released video footage of a Chicago cop brutally shooting an unarmed black teenager, Laquan McDonald, 16 times.

When the video was released, the fatal shooting had occurred over a year ago, leading many to accuse city government of a cover-up. The police officer who shot McDonald, Jason Van Dyke, was charged with six counts of homicide after the video was made public.

The data analytics blog's analysis shows that Chicago has seen a "significant" drop in arrests since the video release on Nov. 24, in addition to an uptick in violence that marred Chicago's winter and continues into spring. "This suggests a decline in law enforcement activity that may be contributing to the rise in gun crime," write Rob Arthur and Jeff Asher in the FiveThirtyEight piece, published Monday afternoon.

Chicago is on-pace to have one of the bloodiest years it has seen in a while, and while calls for major reforms to Chicago's police force to prevent more police shootings like McDonald's killing are widespread, some are saying the police aren't doing enough to tamp down violence. Interim Police Chief Eddie Johnson and police union reps have hinted that some cops may be making fewer arrests because they are confused or afraid of increased scrutiny on their behavior and performanceparticularly with discussing of police accountability and a Department of Justice investigation into CPD looming. And, after years of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, some are now blaming the "Ferguson effect" for declining arrests, arguing police fear public scrutiny on police brutality and racial profiling.

FiveThirtyEight acknowledges that crime stats can fluctuate a lot, but Chicago's 20 percent increase in violence this year over last year is unlikely to be pure chance. And yes, crime is usually up with the temperature, and Chicago had an unusually warm winterbut that doesn't explain it, either, the writers say.

"The spike in gun violence in Chicago since the end of November, though, is too sharp to be explained by seasonal fluctuations or chance. There have been 175 homicides and approximately 675 nonfatal shooting incidents1 from Dec. 1 through March 31, according to our analysis of city data.2 The 69 percent drop in the nonfatal shooting arrest rate and the 48 percent drop in the homicide arrest rate since the videos release are also too large to be explained by seasonal variation or chance. Even though crime statistics can see a good amount of variation from year to year and from month to month, this spike in gun violence is statistically significant, and the falling arrest numbers suggest real changes in the process of policing in Chicago since the videos release."

The blog offers a thorough analysis of Chicago crime trends, and even compares arrests made in connection to homicides this year versus last year (no surprise, those are down as well) using Chicago's public data portal. The report is thorough and we can't summarize it all, but we recommend taking a look.

Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told FiveThirtyEight that CPD has implemented several new policing measures to slow the shootings since mid-February, and is seeing results. He also attributed the decline in shooting arrests to civilians involved in shootings "not cooperating." Meanwhile, celebrated local journalist Jamie Kalven told FiveThirtyEight that it's unsurprising that individual officers might be altering their policing practices in the wake of the McDonald scandal and other high-profile police shootings.

"There is a genuine lack of clarity about the job description, the parameters of the job, and who will have their back in ambiguous situations, Kalven said.

But there are other factors at play, too; Roseanna Ander, an executive director at the University of Chicago Crime Lab, notes that Illinois's budget crisis has taken a heavy toll on local crime prevention and intervention services.

It's a very troubling outlook. And, the past week aside, the weather's only getting warmer.
6-Year-Old Honored By Chicago Police Last Week Dies From Rare Cancer

By Sarah Gouda in News on Apr 11, 2016 9:36PM



Still from CBS footage

Days after interim Superintendent Eddie Johnson appointed her an honorary member of the Chicago Police Department, Madison Pruitt passed away from rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer that targets muscle tissue. The six-year-old girl, a resident of Auburn Gresham, had been diagnosed with the rare disease last April.

Madison had always dreamed of being a police officer, her family told reporters. Once the Chicago Police Department got wind of that, they set up a ceremony during which she was awarded a badge, uniform, and medal of valor. The ceremony was originally supposed to take place at the Gresham District Department, but when Pruitt became too ill to attend, roughly 75 police officers arrived at her home to celebrate her.

The Sun-Times reports that Johnson told Madison, "You're a brave little girl and you are the reason why we do what we do, you're our hero." She replied that she wanted to be a police officer, "because you get to protect people."

After the moment was captured by Chicago reporters and television cameras, gifts started to pour in to the Gresham District Police Department. A class of fifth graders sent their condolences and people living in places as far away as Algonquin sent dolls and other toys.

Though Pruitt's cancer had gone into remission after rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, it reemerged around the holidays. Her grandmother, Pamlor Nelson, cared for her until the last moments. Members of the Gresham Police Department are now helping Nelson with funeral arrangements.

Nelson spoke lovingly of her granddaughter at the ceremony, according to the Sun-Times. Shes a girly girl. She loves her nails done. She likes to get her hair done," she said. "She loves riding her bike and playing with her cousins."

Chicago police Sgt. Ernest Spradley, who delivered gifts to Madison on Saturday, took the news of her passing hard. "When a little 6-year-old girl says she wants to be police that kind of restores faith, even in our profession, because there are little boys and girls who want to grow up and who want to do what I do because it's a noble profession," Spradley told the Tribune.
Muggers Are Targeting Drunk People In The Loop, Police Warn

By Sarah Gouda in News on Apr 11, 2016 2:40PM



via Don Harder/Flickr

Chicago police have issued a second warning that two muggers have been targeting intoxicated men in the Loop. Three robbery incidents have been reported between the 300 block of South State Street and the 100 block of North Wells Street since March 13, according to the alert, issued April 1 and re-issued again Friday night.

The two suspects are reported to be a 40 to 55 year old black man between 6'0 and 6'03 tall and a 30 to 34 year old black man who is 6'0 tall. In all three of the incidents, the muggers approached drunk men in the street and demanded their cell phones and wallets.

So, next time you're enjoying a happy hour in the Loop, make sure to be aware of your surroundings and report any suspicious behavior. Police suggest that, if you're approached by an assailant, you should to keep calm, dial 9-11, and remain at the scene of the crime until authorities arrive.
14 Of Our Favorite Events In Chicago This Week

There's lots going on this week, including RiRi herselfRihannaat the United Center on Friday.

MONDAY APRIL 11

BENEFIT CONCERT: Local musicians Sunken Ships, Dorian Taj and Ross Dimun & Anthony Rubino are holding a benefit concert for two young girls with Goldenhar Syndrome at Live Wire at 8 p.m. Amber and Jade are the twin daughters of Brandon "Sugarfoot" Thron, a buddy of the bands', and their condition includes numerous birth defects that they've needed many surgeries to correct. All donations at the door will go towards their medical bills.

SPAZ ROCK: Daniel Pujol caught our attention a while ago, and every time we've seen him perform in his band, cleverly named PUJOL, we've walked away sweaty and exhausted. His albums are generally stuffed with spastic, rowdy rockers, and the songs grow even larger in size and sound onstage. Last year's Kisses EP was a bit of a departure for Pujol, mixing spoken word with more languid rockers, so we're curious to see whether any of that material will be adapted for his frenetic live set. PUJOL plays Monday night at The Empty Bottle and the show is free.



TUESDAY APRIL 12

BEER DINNER: Harmony Grill is hosting a New Belgium Beer Dinner on Tuesday as part of the brewerys Craft Beer Residency at Schubas and Lincoln Hall for the month of April. The meal will feature five-courses paired with New Belgiums Shift, Fat Tire, Ranger IPA, 1554 Black Lager, and Blackberry Barley Wine. 6 p.m. Tickets are $50.

URBANBELLY OPEN HOUSE: Wicker Park is invited to say hello to the newest urbanbelly location at their Open House Party from 5 to 9 p.m. It was announced a few months ago that the four-time Michelin awarded Bill Kim restaurant would be taking over the former Pennys Noodles spot under the Damen Blue Line station. Theyll have samples and sips for the offering and special pricing on select menu items from. The first 250 guests will also receive a complimentary gift bag. Free.



WEDNESDAY APRIL 13



The Smart Studios Story shows at CIMMfest for National Record Store Day. Picture courtesy of CIMMfest.

CIMMFEST: The Chicago International Movies & Music Festival returns for its eighth year with five days of screenings, premieres, performances and more. Bands Deer Tick, Taj Mahal Trio and Peter Murphy are among the live music lineup, and be sure to check out the official film of Record Store Day 2016, The Smart Studios Story, plus many more. Festival passes start at $79. Check the CIMM website for information on single event tickets and schedules.

FILM SCREENING: Join the Associate Board of Cinema for a screening of Rushmore at PUBLIC Hotel. The screening series from the presenters of the Chicago International Film Festival shows new classics in a relaxing atmosphere. Tickets are $15 and include free popcorn and two Stella Artois. Proceeds benefit the Boards year-round Education Program.

RESTAURANT POP-UP: New Wicker Park restaurant Pork & Mindy's will have a pop-up inside Mariano's NewCity from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Their staff will be on hand serving up their creative BBQ and sampling their all-natural marinating and dipping sauces.



THURSDAY APRIL 14



Photo via Welcome To Night Vale's Facebook page.

NIGHT VALE LIVE: The creepy podcast Welcome to Night Vale is back in Chicago, this time for a live recording at Harris Theater at 8 p.m. The fictional narrative series follows the strange, spooky events of the mysterious desert town of Night Vale, and has a huge cult following in real life. Tickets start at $27.50.

STARVING ARTIST BENEFIT: Its a night of art and culinary talent at the Chicago Artist Coalitions annual benefit, Starving Artist. Sip cocktails and bid on works from local artists at Venue One from 7 to 11 p.m. On the Chef side, enjoy bites from Michael CotA of Balena; Nathan Sears of Das Radler, Evan Behmer of Mercat a la Planxa and many more. Tickets are $175.

CLASSICAL + ROCK: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra holds a pre-concert conversation with WXRT rock DJ Terri Hemmert theyre calling Classic Encounters. Rock Meets Bach in this lively discussion that spans from Beethoven to Beyonce. Reception begins at 6:30 p.m. with eats and drinks, and concert begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.



FRIDAY APRIL 15



My Body My Buisness by Michelle Pred. Photo courtesy of Weinberg/Newton Gallery.

PRO-CHOICE ART: Weinberg/Newton Gallery opens a new exhibit on Friday with a focus on pro-choice art. Your body is a battleground features sculptures, photographs, paintings and more in an exploration of art moving the feminist and pro-choice movement forward. Opening reception is from 5 to 8 p.m. and the exhibition runs through June 9.

RECORD RELEASE SHOW: Local brother and sister duo White Mystery are always a blast in concert, and Friday they're celebrating a new record release with a rockin live show at Emporium Arcade Bar. Dirty Fences, Archie & the Bunkers and Lifestyles also play. Tickets are $10.

LATIN MUSIC HOUR: Dance your you-know-what off at the Chicago Cultural Center with El Caobo for this edition of Wired Fridays. This Salsa DJ combines Latin music with steppin to heat up the noon hour. Noon to 1 p.m. Free.

RIHANNA: See pop vocal powerhouse Rihanna perform at the United Center at 7:30 p.m. The superstar comes to Chicago on her Anti World Tour. Travis Scott opens. Tickets start at $29.50.
It is estimated that over 73 million couples globally are infertile. Almost half involve a male factor. Standard semen analysis diagnoses only about half of these cases. A new test of sperm function adds important complementary information to the traditional testing model, and may become a new standard of care.

Here, Alexander J. Travis, PhD, Associate Professor at Cornell University, and a principal of a new company, Androvia LifeSciences, explains how an original assay he and colleagues have developed and are bringing to market, may assist couples who are seeking to be parents but have not had success learn why.

Q: Dr. Travis, you and your colleagues have reported that male infertility is a large and escalating problem. How large is the issue?

About 10 to 15% of couples have problems with fertility. Previously, infertility was thought to be a womans health problem. Now we know that in the U.S., about 40% to 50% of infertility involves the male partner. In some other countries, the problem is even higher. This is a problem that is global in nature: there are currently about 73 million infertile couples globally.

Q: What is known about the possible reasons for an increase in cases of male infertility?

There are different ideas as to why the problem of male infertility seems to be growing. A large part of why we are seeing more men present with male infertility is the more recent recognition that infertility is a problem for men too. The burden used to just fall on the female partner: if there was a fertility problem, [only] the woman would receive a workup. But that is not the case today.

Q: Traditional semen analysis addresses only a portion of male infertility cases. You point out the standard analysis of male infertility provides little information about the sperms functional competence. Could you comment further on this shortcoming of current testing and its impacts?

Semen analysis is still the cornerstone of male fertility workups. Men with [defects] in sperm function represent about half of cases of male infertility. Yet, right now, men are only diagnosed after repeated failed attempts at natural conception and at intrauterine insemination. This imposes huge emotional, physical, and financial stresses on couples that are trying to have a child.

Q: I understand that male infertility might not be identified until a man has undergone repeated testing and even then, the answer may be inconclusive.

After semen analysis is done, and assuming the man passes that, couples often tries intrauterine insemination. If his semen analysis remains normal, and [the couple] still has difficulty conceiving after three, four, five cycles of IUI, eventually a diagnosis of idiopathic infertility is made. What is believed is that many of these men actually have defects in sperm function, but theres been no commonly available test to diagnose that.

If we can determine sperm function prior to deciding whether to do IUI or go straight to ICSI, we can spare couples with defects in sperm function the cost and stress of cycles that are likely destined to fail from the outset. And conversely, if men have good sperm function, then those couples can pursue IUI initially. In a nutshell, providing clinicians with key information to help them counsel their patients is what we are aiming to do with the Cap-Score Sperm Function Test.

Q: New research by you and your and your colleagues addresses issues of sperm function, or dysfunction. Could you describe these findings?

In a poster that we presented at the American Society of Andrology recently1 we show data from a group of men who are having difficulty conceiving. A lot of these men have a normal concentration of sperm and sperm motility, but our test of sperm function revealed that close to 40% have a lower ability to capacitate.

A mans sperm may look fine, may swim fine, but if they cant fertilize the egg, sending that couple to repeated cycles of intrauterine insemination is...doomed to fail.

Q: One of your posters details findings that normal ejaculates as defined by the World Health Organization can have abnormal capacitation. Could you define capacitation and how a focus on this function addresses the shortcomings of the current definition and means of addressing male infertility?

Capacitation is essential for conception. Sperm first entering the female reproductive tract cant fertilize an egg. They only acquire the ability to fertilize by responding to stimuli within the female reproductive tract, by a process called capacitation.

Capacitation depends upon several things. The sperm has to be properly made in the testes; and when the sperm gets into the female reproductive tract, they have to be able to detect and respond to different stimuli. The current tests can tell us how many sperm are in a sample; whether they are swimming ok, whether they look ok.

But the Androvia Cap-Score Sperm Function Test will be the only [available] laboratory test that can help determine whether sperm capacitate and can actually fertilize an egg.

Q: You have shown that the Cap-Score greatly enhances the ability to identify cases of idiopathic infertility. Could you describe some of the evidence that has emerged from the work using the Cap-Score, and highlight its clinical potential for addressing male infertility.

A: In one of the posters,2 we compare the Cap-Score results of samples from men who are having difficulty conceiving against the results from a large cohort of men who we know are fertile as their wives are pregnant or they just fathered a child.

Having data from this population of men who have a pregnant wife or who have fathered a child gives us a sense of what normal scores are for fertile men.

By looking at the Cap-Score results from men who are consulting a urologist for semen analysis because they are having difficulty conceiving, we found that a very high percentage of the men who question their own fertility do have reductions in sperm function. The Cap-Score test showed us that 40% or more of men [who are consulting a physician about their fertility] are coming in one or more standard deviations below the mean for the fertile men.

The Androvia Cap-Score Sperm Function Test is the only [available] laboratory test that can help determine whether sperm capacitate and can actually fertilize an egg.

Q: What do you think is the potential role for the Cap-Score in clinical settings where an assessment of male fertility is appropriate?

A: I think it will be a complement to current testing. The Cap-Score Sperm Function test will help to personalize assisted reproduction, in two ways. First, the Cap-Score will give medical professionals and couples the information they need to help them make informed decisions about the best approach for them to take regarding their fertility, whether it be attempting natural conception, IUI, classical IVF, or ICSI.

The second way this assay might help clinicians personalize assisted reproduction is through some research were doing on the timing of capacitation. The presentation that I just gave [at the American Society of Andrology meeting] included data from studies where we showed that the time of capacitation is reproducibly different for different men.3

In some men, repeated semen samples show that [their] sperm capacitate within a few hours. In other men, [capacitation] takes longerup to 24 hours. This information could help to time insemination when performing IUI. Currently, insemination is done based on the predicted time a woman is ovulating. Information on the timing of capacitation will allow clinicians to factor in the time it is going to take for a particular mans sperm to capacitate, so both the sperm and the egg are functional at the same time.

This is important because the peak fertilizing time is relatively short. When a woman ovulates, that egg can only be fertilized within a 12 to 24 hour window. Knowing how long it takes for a particular mans sperm to capacitate will help make sure that the maximum number of sperm are ready to fertilize at that time, too. This kind of personalized medicine approach will allow the clinician to optimize this technique for each particular couple.

We think there are two ways the Cap-Score can potentially be used to personalize assisted reproduction. The first pertains to choosing whether a couple is a good candidate for IUI or whether they should go straight to ICSI. We are very confident about this part and have a lot of data. We are still conducting research on the timing of capacitation in the Androvia lab.

Q: What lines of inquiry are you investigating to build upon these findings?

The timing of capacitation is research in the pipeline. Hopefully, if that research goes well, well be able to provide information that can help clinicians determine not only which form of assisted reproduction to use, but also tailor how they perform that technique to maximize the chance of success for that individual couple.

At this time, the data demonstrate that the Cap-Score Sperm Function Test will allow us to provide objective information to help clinicians who are trying to treat couples having trouble conceiving, and counsel these patients toward the most appropriate form of reproduction thats right for them. Were very excited to see this put into practice.

Ostermeier GC, Cardona C, Moody MA, Simpson AJ, Seaman EK, Travis AJ, Normal ejaculates, as defined by WHO, can have abnormal capacitation. American Society of Andrology annual conference 2016. Poster 138

Travis, AJ, Cardona C, Moody MA, Simpson AJ, Seaman EK, Ostermeier GC, Sperm from fertile men and those seeking fertility exams differ in their ability to capacitate. American Society of Andrology annual conference 2016. Poster 140

Travis, AJ, Cardona C, Moody MA, Simpson AJ, Seaman EK, Ostermeier GC, Consistent Differences Among Men In Capacitation Timing Could Personalize IUI/ART. American Society of Andrology annual conference 2016, Oral presentation 12.
UWs Linda Johnson Honored for Work in Honduras

Linda Johnson enjoys dancing with a resident of Agua Salada, Honduras. She has led a UW project to provide health care to the villagers. Johnson has been a nurse practitioner, educator, logistics coordinator, pharmacist and fundraiser. (UW Photo)

Linda Johnsons continuing efforts to provide medical care to villagers in one of the poorest and most isolated villages in Honduras have earned her the University of Wyomings Faculty Award for Internationalization.

Every year, the UW International Board of Advisors and the International Programs Office recognize individuals who have significantly contributed to internationalization and the promotion of global awareness at the university. A faculty member in the Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing, Johnson has led nearly 20 brigades to provide aid to residents of Agua Salada, Honduras.

The infrastructure in this rural village is often unreliable and, until recently, the Honduras project clinic represented the only modern medical care some villagers received in their entire lives. Johnson has functioned as a nurse practitioner, educator, logistics coordinator, pharmacist and fundraiser.

Our students and professional team members take the physical, emotional and professional challenges of the brigades in stride, Johnson says. Tenting with no toilets, no electricity, bedbugs, chiggers and gastroenteritis -- no problem. In almost 20 trips, I have watched Wyomingites rise to these challenges and provide empathic, culturally competent care to this community.

Brigade members acknowledge that this experience has impacted their personal and professional lives profoundly, says nursing student Marian Sue Kepler.

Even though we were not at school, or in a hospital setting, she still held us to the highest of standards in our care for patients, Kepler says. Professor Johnson truly wants us to be great nurses, no matter where we end up in our nursing careers, and she demonstrated this throughout the entire trip.

A variety of individuals contributed to the success of the Honduras project, but Johnsons leadership has been at the heart of the project.

She has not only endured hardship in a remote area with little infrastructure, but has guided this project to flourish and serve as a model for international relations, says Ann Wislowki, assistant lecturer in the School of Nursing. She assumes her leadership role with cultural competence and humility, relating to people from top to bottom of the organization on all levels. She has served as a role model for the discipline of nursing, and mentoring interdisciplinary students.

The project opens and expands opportunities for UW students to study abroad, says Joe Steiner, UW College of Health Sciences dean. He says many students describe their time working in Honduras as life-changing experiences.

Some of these students receive credit for their current coursework, and the students gain a global perspective, Steiner says. This activity is a significant collaboration with overseas partners to teach and provide service.

While noting the importance of improving lives through more than 6,000 patient encounters, Johnson says instilling a sense of pride and empowerment in the community has been far more fulfilling.

Children are going further in school; dental health has become a priority; and our villagers speak up and impact local politics, she says. We thank all of Agua Salada, which has given more to us than we could ever imagine giving to them.
Police Warn Of Robbers Ripping Phones From Peoples' Hands In The Loop

By Mike Ewing in News on Apr 11, 2016 6:37PM



via Yves Andre/Flickr

Thieves are ripping cell phones and headphones away from unsuspecting people in the Loop, according to a new Chicago police alert.

An alert issued by CPD says at least six separate thefts in March and April targeted people as they walked on sidewalks or waited on CTA platforms near Millennium Park downtown. The robberies happened throughout the day, from 11:40 a.m. to as late as 1:30 a.m., at the following locations:





The 0-100 block of East Randolph Street on March 6 at 1:30 a.m.



The 100 block of N. State Street on March 17 at 7:30 p.m.



The 0-100 block of South Wabash Avenue on March 31 at 10:15 p.m.



The 0-100 block of East Lake Street on April 1 at 9:25 p.m.



The 100 block of North Wabash Avenue on April 4 at 11:40 a.m.



Police describe the thieves as both individuals and groups of boys who look as young as 10. They sneak up behind their victims and sometimes use physical force to take the items away. Police warn everyone to be aware of their surroundings and to immediately report any suspicious activity.
City Will Fund Youth Jobs At Shuttered Northwest Side Bike Shop

By Sarah Gouda in News on Apr 11, 2016 8:50PM



Kymberly Anne via Flickr

The Mayor's Office announced on Sunday that the city will provide over $150,000 in funding to Bikes N' Roses, a Belmont Cragin bike shop that provides youth employment opportunities through the One Summer Chicago program.

Bikes N' Roses was forced to shut down earlier this year after Gov. Bruce Rauner froze the $276,000 typically reserved for the shop as part of the state's ongoing budget impasse. Launched in 2011, the bike shop is a youth employment program run by non-profit organization Communities United and teaches high-school kids how to fix and ride bikes. More importantly, the program keeps youth engaged and learning through the summer months, a time of year often marked by restlessness, languor and upticks in crime. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the funding Monday.

The summer months are when our children need us the most, which is why we must step in when the state will not, he said at a statement. A summer job is more than a paycheck, it provides our children with the right set of values today to help them make the right set of choices tomorrow.

Because of the city's investment, the Belmont Cragin location of Bikes N' Roses will restore 20 year-round jobs and 50 youth-employment opportunities through One Summer Chicago. The shop also has an Albany Park location serves a community of over 2,000 people and employs 15 students who help repair bikes for local cyclists. One Summer Chicago now provides over 25,000 summer employment opportunities for young adults aged 14 to 24this year is set to be the largest yet.

It seems Rahm's commitment to the youth program is meant to send a message to the state government. The Sun-Times reports that, as he stood in front of Bikes N' Roses Belmont Cragin location, he told a group of young bike mechanics that "I would like the state of Illinois to see the kids here as an example to invest in rather than as a way to pull the money and pull the rug from underneath them."

Thankfully, the money provided from the city will keep Bikes N' Roses up and running through the summer and beyond. We spoke with Communities United Board President Diane Limus, who expressed her excitement over the partnership with the mayor's office.

"The program is just so important, because not only do the youth learn the mechanics of fixing bikes, they also learn how to deal with the public, put together a budget, and run a business," she said. "No matter what they do after it really prepares them for the working world."
A once-in-a-lifetime experience for a bride requires a one-of-a-kind dress, and some of these dresses were on display Saturday in Canada's western coastal city of Vancouver at the first-ever South Asian Bridal Fashion Week.

The three-day fashion show and expo, including more than 20 top international designers, has attracted hundreds of local brides from Vancouver's large South Asian community. They're here looking for unique bridal gowns from many top designers, including several from India.

Jai Singh, Bridal Week organizer, told Xinhua on Saturday that a bride nowadays wants everything, because they are more exposed, and know the Western trends as well as the Indian and Chinese trends. So a bride now wants everything in one garment.

South Asian weddings are famously known as massive events. Even in Canada, they can often last several days, involving hundreds -- if not thousands -- of guests.

One local bridal gown-seller, Jas Chauhan, told Xinhua that such events and brides demand a customized dress that won't be replicated or even seen elsewhere.

"You want to be that one of a kind bride. You don't want to be that bride that you know, you walk into a reception five years down the road, maybe a couple months down the road, and you see another bride that has a very similar outfit," Chauhan said.

However, making a South Asian bridal gown is no easy task, said one bridal gown designer, Tina Bhardwaj, who is visiting Vancouver from New Delhi in India. They often require a small army of highly-skilled dress-makers and a lot of patience.

"Everything that you see here is done by hand so it takes much longer than most of the other outfits. So it's hand embroidery on a cart, and there are about six to eight people working on it, and it could go on for two weeks, it could go on for three, it could even take a month, sometimes a month and a half," Bhardwaj said.

And when it comes to the right one-of-a-kind bridal gown, there's really no limit to how much money one can spend, as a unique dress tends to have a unique price.

"So it could be anywhere between like 4,000 to 8,000 CAD (3,080 to 6,160 U.S. dollars), and the sky is the limit," said Bhardwaj. But still these gowns are sold well.
During an NXT live event in Columbia, South Carolina, NXTs newest superstar Shinsuke Nakamura suffered a injury that required a number of staples to the head.

The King of Strong Style was facing off against NXT prospect Manny Andrade before he suffered the injury. Reports from the show noted that as Andrade hit Nakamura with a moonsault, his leg caught Nakamura on the head and cut him open.

The match had to be stopped for a number of minutes while doctors checked on the Japanese superstars condition. Once the match resumed, Nakamura picked up the win not long after and walked back up the ramp on his own volition.

WWEs social media accounts posted a number of photos and videos of Nakamura receiving staples to the cut. Nakamura himself responded on Twitter, tweeting Im okay.

WWE cutting down on Moonsaults

The use of the moonsault in the WWE has been limited in the past few years, with only a number of superstars having permission to use it on a regular basis.

It is a high risk maneuver that can go wrong, even if performed by somebody with years of experience. In the past, it has caused a number of injuries in the WWE with people landing on their necks, suffering concussions and even injuries to their legs.

While fans want to see the death defying stunts and moves like moonsaults, the WWE has correctly limited its use to cut down on the injuries to its superstars.

Lita performs his signature Moonsault. Photo: RobbinRelam Wordpress

Nakamura will be a star for WWE

Injury wont keep Nakamura down for long, hes should be a top star for the WWE. His involvement in NXT is likely to last a few months as he adapts to the WWE style of production on television, in the ring and outside of it.

His win over Sami Zayn at NXT Takeover: Dallas was incredible viewing for fans in the arena and watching live on the WWE Network.

With WWE venturing into Japan with the WWE Network and a number of rumors that they will be holding another few Network specials from the country, propelling Nakamura to the top makes logical sense.

WWE have never really hit on a Japanese star but bringing a number of people in from New Japan Pro Wrestling could see a shift towards WWE building them up.
Exxon Mobil Corp will make a payment of $10.75 million to New York State towards costs on oil spill cleanup. The payment will cover New York Environmental Protection and Spill Compensation fund's costs. New York State has reached an accord that transfers the responsibility of cleanup from tax payers to Exxon Mobil.

The payment is a part of reimbursement to New York State and includes removal costs over petroleum contamination at eight gas stations in addition to oil spill cleanup. Exxon Mobil's reimbursement includes some dating to the 1930s as well. New York Environmental Protection and Spill Compensation fund's costs also include interest at sites of eight gas stations across the State.

Reuters reports that State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced this settlement. DiNapoli says the latest accord will transfer the responsibility of the cleanup from tax payers to the spiller, Exxon Mobil, where it belongs. Exxon Mobil has agreed to assume future remediation activities at four of the sites.



The eight sites, as part of the reimbursement, are Hilltop Service Station in Mahopac, Putnam County, Joe's Country Convenience Store in Campbell Hall, Orange County, Raceway Exxon in Monticello, Sullivan County, and Courtney George Service Station in Albany.

New York officials have entered into an agreement with Exxon Mobil on reimbursing the State's oil spill fund on cleaning up spill over sites at eight gas stations. The fund started making payment for remediation of the oldest of spill locations dating back to 1989 also. Some of the gas stations of Exxon Mobil have been operational right from 1930s and the reimbursement includes these sites as well, according to WIVB.



This apart, Exxon Mobil is facing a regulatory investigation over its Torrance refinery fire accident and its impact on climate change. In 2015, an explosion and fire accident took place at Exxon Mobil Torrange refinery in California. Government officials are seeking more details about climate change from Exxon Mobil.

Attorneys general from Massachusetts and Virgin Islands will join Eric T Schneiderman, New York's attorney general's investigation to find out whether Exxon Mobil lied over decades to its investors and the public about the threat of climate change, as reported by The New York Times.

The company has provided thousands of documents in response to the inquiry. Other sites include Zanella's Market Hill Service in Amsterdam, Montgomery County, Harry's Service Station in Jordan, Onondaga County, Scio Mini Mart in Scio, Allegany County, and Boller's Auto Sales in West Seneca, Erie County.

Legal experts question the practice of Exxon Mobil over decades can be construed as criminal and outside protection of the First Amendment.
Las Vegas Sands will pay a settlement charge of $9 million in order to clear the corruption case over operations in China. SEC's accusations concentrated mainly on the gambling giant's patronage of a basketball team in China, a ferry agreement in Macau and the company's plans to open a business plant in Beijing.

The casino company transmitted over $62 million to a Chinese consultant without proper authorization or documents backing the transfer, leading to SEC's investigation in defiance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The settlement also urges the company to appoint an independent consultant to watch closely its business activities.

In 2010, Steve Jacobs, a former executive of Sands's Chinese operations, alleged the company for a wrongful termination. He claimed that he was dismissed for attempting to stop corrupt business activities in Macau. His allegation set the ground for SEC's investigation whether the casino hub had violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that prevents firms from making personal payments for foreign government officials.

However, Sands denied the accusation saying that Jacob was terminated for genuine reasons. According to SEC, the company has disrupted the country's law, which urges firms to keep proper accounting controls. SEC said that Sands neither confessed nor repudiated the charge.

William Weidner, a previous president of Sands, told THE WALL STREET JOURNAL that he is not involved in any wrongdoings and that he did not supervise lawyers and accountants who controlled payments in the deals. The agency also accused Sands of using a foreign consultant to purchase a property to form a business center in Beijing.

REVIEW-JOURNAL quoted Andrew Ceresney, director of Enforcement Division at SEC, who said that public firms must have proper accounting controls to confirm that expenditures are paid for bone fide services. Sheldon Adelson, chief executive officer of Las Vegas, "We are committed to having a world-class compliance program that builds on the strong policies we already have in place."

According to an analyst at Morgan Stanley, this settlement deal with a fairly small price must be viewed optimistically by shareholders. The report by Morgan Stanley pointed out that most FCPA settlements have ended with a penalty ranging from $10 million to $20 million and in some cases, serious actions have resulted in higher fines.

The analysts surveyed by Zacks Research set a consensus objective price of $50.384 on the stocks of Las Vegas Sands. In addition, analysts covering Las Vegas Sands' shares estimate quarterly earnings to be $0.61 per share, according to BUSINESS STANDARD TRIBUNE. The firm reported earnings of $0.62 per share for the period that ended December 31, 2015.

The settlement deal ended six-year of SEC investigation, which discovered no proof of bribery on behalf of the company. Las Vegas is pleased to have ended the investigation.
European banking regulators are looking into any links between banks and Panama Papers. FINMA, financial watchdog in Switzerland, has cautioned banks to crack down on money laundering. Geneva prosecutor has commenced a criminal enquiry into banks dealing with tax havens in the wake of Panama Papers.

Panama Papers leak has created tremors across the world as they showed how offshore companies are created in tax havens to stash wealth. Mossack Fonseca, Panamanian law firm specializing in setting up offshore companies, is in the global news as its documents over four decades were leaked out. Mossack Fonseca has offices in Zurich and Geneva.

Reuters reports that THE extensive use of global banks in keeping funds of their clients in tax havens and leakage of documents from Mossack Fonseca have triggered investigations by several regulators across the world. Many European banking regulators feel that risks are on the rise and this is the high time to check those malpractices in the banking sector.



After the annual news conference, FINMA Chief Executive Mark Branson said "Do I think we are where we should be in fighting misuse in the financial system? No. We think in some ways the risks in Switzerland have risen, not fallen, and that there is more that can be done. We don't want to see large scandals involving Swiss banks."

Panama Papers leak is taking a toll on every country's banking system. There's been major rejigs at top managements of several European banks. Protests are also increasing in Paris after the Panama Papers leak. The Opposition in Iceland has called for a vote against the entire coalition government following the resignation of Prime Minister. A coalition of media outlets including the Toronto Star has published Panama Papers. The list of top personalities include the Leader of Iceland, President of Ukraine, a senior Chinese politician, popular actors, athletes and close friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by The Star.



With over $2.5 trillion assets, Switzerland is the world's biggest international wealth management center. It has received more wealth from emerging markets. Branson agrees that it's difficult to trace out the origin of assets.

RTE News further adds that ACPR, France financial regulator, has asked French banks to submit all the details pertaining to their transactions with tax havens. BaFin, a German regulator, has also begun probe into any such deals with German banks. Netherlands, Austria are also looking into banks transactions with tax havens.



Britain's Financial Conduct Authority has written letters to 20 banks and other financial institutions asking them to furnish, if any, such deals with Panama Papers. Britain authority gave banks and financial institutions deadline until the 15th of April to furnish if any transactions as leaked out by Panama Papers.

Britain's largest bank, HSBC, has over 2,300 shell companies with Mossack Fonseca, according to International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. However, HSBC ruled out suggestions is used to offshore structures to enable its clients save on taxes.
A San Francisco District Court has rejected the $12.25-million legal case between Lyft and its drivers. The US court ruled that the $12.25 million settlement amount shortchanges drivers as against the total reimbursement value that drivers demanded which stands at $126 million. After the latest judgment, Lyft and attorney of drivers will have to sit back on further discussions.

Drivers are demanding Lyft to treat them as its employees, while the US-based transportation network platform has classified them as independent contractors. Drivers are also demanding for reimbursement for work-related expenses including gasoline and mileage.

Los Angeles Times reports that Judge Vince Chhabria rules that the settlement agreement didn't fall within the range of reasonableness because the value of reimbursement claim itself is over $126 million. The $12.25-million settlement includes payout to drivers and Lyft's terms of service as well. Lyft says it complies with California law governing independent contractors.



Shannon Liss Riordan, attorney for drivers, and Lyft need to resume talks on arriving an amicable solution for both of them. In an email statement, Liss-Riordan said, "We are hopeful this settlement can be improved to meet the judge's concerns. If not, we look forward to taking this case to trial as well."

In case judge Vince Chhabria accepts the terms, contractors who have over 30 hours of driving on Lyft platform will be eligible to get an average amount of $1,000 each. However, they continue to be considered as independent contractors. Chhabria, in February, raised a question whether this is substantial amount to be awarded to the plaintiffs, as reported by Re/code.



Chelsea Wilson, spokeswoman at Lyft, says the company is evaluating next steps. Meanwhile, Labor attorney John Skousen of law firm Fisher & Phillips stated "This case is unique in that there was no admission or finding of liability on Lyft's part and plaintiffs still had the considerable burden to certify and prove their class claims at trial."

ARS Technica further adds that the San Francisco District court opines that drivers were shortchanged by half on their reimbursement claim alone. Drivers had a claim for penalties under Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). The PAGA law allows for private enforcement of state labor laws with state receiving 75 percent of the proceeds.



Some analysts consider that it's not unusual for judges to reject settlement cases unless changes are made. If no settlement is made after further discussions, they may go to trial, opine John Skousen. He doesn't want to be in the plaintiffs' attorney's position, because with class actions, it's all or nothing.

The $12.25 million settlement will give an average payout of $53.02 to part time drivers and $676.19 to full time drivers. This is 50 percent premium to full time drivers' claims.
A top online streaming video site's executive believes that establishing an official music chart can help China become the No.1 music market in the world.

Zhang Dou, the founder and CEO of Yinyuetai.com, and representatives from America's Billboard Magazine, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Universal Music Group, Starsing Disc and the audio and visual department of the China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation, launch an official Chinese Album Chart in Beijing on April 9, 2016. [Photo/ China.org.cn]

Zhang Dou, the founder and CEO of Yinyuetai.com, said he is optimistic when it comes to music industry development though many have said the industry is going downward. "I can predict that China can sell more than 100 million records a year in five years, and become the biggest music market," he said.

Zhang's surprising remarks stunned attendees at a press conference in Beijing on Saturday as China currently sells only 3 to 4 million copies a year. But the executive is confident. "It's simple. Now, album sales have substantially changed in China, from consumption of content to consumption of emotion, and from public consumption to fan-driven consumption," he said.

For example, "in Japan, the market sold more than 120 million records in 2015, 85 percent are bought by fans," Zhang continued, "They buy albums not just for listening but also for supporting their idols. And Japan's Oricon charts let the fans engage in competitive rivalry for their idols, some fan even bought hundreds of records at one time to support their idols."

His stirring predictions also asserted that China's concert ticket prices will be lowered by 50 percent, that only the fans' economic input can save the music industry and that musicians cannot make a good industry.

The executive explained that there are so many problems that cannot be worked out in sensibility and many musicians only have music in their mind, ignoring music consumers' needs and commercial elements.

Zhang and Yinyuetai.com have seen what fans can do and how big the "fan economy" can be from the phenomenal success of a number of new generation idols such Lu Han and TFboys. Therefore, a definitive music chart can help fans track the success of their favorite artists and make competitive and inflammatory references for fans who will economically wrestle for idols which will benefit the whole industry.

Jonathan Serbin, head of Asia for Billboard, echoed Zhang's vision. He explained how Billboard evolved all through the years from one chart launched in 1957 to now having over 250 charts, eventually adding social media statistics to the charts. "In the future, we should still follow the fans and understand how they consume music."

"The developed music markets in the world all have their own authoritative music charts, such as America's Billboard, the UK's official music charts, Japan's Oricon and South Korea's GAON," Zhang said. "But in China, every music platform has its own chart and will not use other platforms' data. We lack a definitive music chart which is universally recognized. The divided status can only result in huge internal friction which will ultimately hurt fans and users' experiences and will not help build a dynamic mechanism for China's music market."

He appealed to all the Chinese music platforms, including his rivals, to unite and join him to establish a credible, transparent and objective music chart. At the press conference on Saturday, he has already had representatives from America's Billboard Magazine, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Universal Music Group, Starsing Disc and the audio and visual department of the China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation on his side to establish a preliminary Chinese Album Chart.

Yinyuetai.com, the biggest Chinese music video site with high-quality streaming and 20 million registered members, has previously collaborated with Billboard to set up Billboard's China chart, joining the Billboard international charts including both Japan and Brazil's charts. The Billboard Hot 100 chart will be published on the Yinyuetai platform.
Wells Fargo & Co. acknowledged of cheating the government into insuring thousands of jeopardizing mortgages lender and agreed to pay the U.S. Department Justice lawsuit $1.2 billion for settlement fees. The lawsuit was filed on Friday in a Manhattan federal court where a claim was also resolved against Kurt Lofrano who is a former Wells Fargo vice president.

The bank conceded certification of thousands of risky home mortgage loans that were qualified for Federal Housing Administration insurance. Several of the said loans were made to families who really are not eligible for them and later lost their homes, according to CNN Money.

"Wells Fargo enjoyed huge profits from its FHA loan business, the government was left holding the bag when the bad loans went bust," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "Today, Wells Fargo, one of the biggest mortgage lenders in the world, has been held responsible for years of reckless underwriting."

The bank also admitted failure of filing timely reports on several thousand loans from 2002 to 2010 that had material defects or were seriously underwritten, which is a process that Lofrano was held accountable for supervising. The Justice Department stated that the shortfalls direct to the major losses for taxpayers when the FHA was forced to pay insurance claims as defective loans sundered.

However, Wells Fargo drew out and its payment is the biggest in FHA history in regards to loan origination violations. The agreement would also resolve an investigation by California federal prosecutors of supposed false loan certifications by American Mortgage Network LLC which was purchased in 2009 by Wells Fargo, the Huffington Post reported.

To continue joining in the FHA loan project, Wells Fargo had to inform the federal government that its loans were dependable enough to be eligible for FHA insurance.

When those loans failed to pay, the federal government will pay the insurance claims and not Wells Fargo. The case was one of several investigations the federal government revealed against large banks after the subprime mortgage crisis, as reported by Fox 13 Now.

On February 3, Wells Fargo mentioned that the settlement on Friday will lessen its formerly reported 2015 profit by $134 million, to account for extra legal expenses. Similar federal lawsuits have been settled by other several lenders including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co, Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America.
The steel industry of China is expected to shrink rapidly, stopping global price fall. The steel industry across the world is fighting the problem of over production as demand weakens in China. In 2015, steel prices slumped owing to the oversupply of the commodity, hurting the profits of steelmakers globally. As a result of this, Tata Steel in India is attempting to sell its UK division, threatening thousands of workforce in the unit.

Managing partner of World Steel Dynamics Peter Marcus said that there will be a shortage in steel production in 2018 when demand picks up in China, the global economy develops resulting in economic protection. The price collapse that happened in the middle of 2015 was a one-time event, which will not be repeated, he added.

According to Marcus, reorganization of the steel industry in China will reduce output by 18% to 705 million tons from the previous year within 2018, aiding exports reduction. However, Marcus did not provide a particular outlook for export volumes that reached 110 million tons in 2015, or over the annual output in Japan.

Meanwhile, China's coil export in December fell as weak as $260 per ton, down from $1,120 in June 2008, Bloomberg quoted Beijing Antaike Information Development. But coil prices recovered to $360 on April 1 following a vast bounce in commodities markets.

Prices are expected to continue in a low tide, with a little streak for recovery ahead of 2018 as the global industry copes with output glut, according to Marcus. He said that hot-rolled coil prices across the world could rise as high as $150 per ton within 2018. The Chinese government wants to trim the country's steel capacity by as high as 150 million tons in the next five years. But, Marcus expects the capacity to drop by 215 million tons to 850 million tons by 2018 end.

Mario Longhi, US Steel's chief has blamed UK and EU for not responding to China's abandoning of cheap steel into global markets. He said that UK had not learned from Tata Steel's decision to sell its UK arm and close them if it fails to find a suitor. Mario told Financial Times, "The Europeans have been more negligent than anybody. For them to be . . . considering granting as a fact market economy status to China where you have all the evidence in place that denies them that right it's just ridiculous."

According to The Economic Times, the UK has urged China to fasten its efforts to reduce steel output, minimizing hurdles in nations like Britain. Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary of Britain, said that the UK is more concerned about the prospect of steel production at Port Talbot and other production spots across the nation.

The global steel industry has been suffering from price fall over the recent period amid overproduction from China. Poor demand coupled with oversupply has impacted the steel prices, similar to crude prices.
Since the beginning of this year, shares of Italian banks have shrunk to nearly half of its value, due to an alarming rate of their bad debts.This force the central bank to prepare a bailout plan.

Bad loans in Italy have accumulated to 359.7 billion ($410.4 billion), which is one-fifth of the total size of the country's economy. With the bad loans at that size, Italy is at the risk of a 4.95 billion ($5.65 billion) bailout to save its banking system. Daily Mail reported that Italian finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan in Rome called a meeting to arrange detail of the bailout plan on Sunday.

Among the bad loans in the Italian banks, the country's third largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena are the worst. With a 50 billion ($57 billion) in bad loans the bank's share has plunged 81% in the past 12 months. In the risk-testing exercise conducted two years ago, the bank was recorded as the worst performer.

Analyst at Hamburg-based investment bank Berenberg Eoin Mullany said that the banking sector in Italy is facing a pivotal moment. He warned that rescue plan that involve depositors will cause a chain reaction that will affect the entire banking system of Europe.

On Monday, the largest banks in Italy will meet the Treasury and Banca D'Italia, the Italian central bank. The meeting will layout the detail plan to set up a government-backed fund to buy bad loans from the banks. The bailout plan is expected to stop the capital shortfall in Italian banks and to appease concerns of Italian banking system.

While precise mandate for the fund will be decided later, but it is possible to include recapitalization of weak banks and buying the non-performing loans. The bank will also be empowered to raise its value in the stock market. According to The Sunday Times, Italian banks advisers also suggested that two banks, Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza, would be forced to raise 2.5 billion ($ 2.8 billion) on the stock market in the coming weeks.

At the same time, Bank of Italy also launched a supervisory inspection in the Milan branch of the Bank of China in regard to the illicit money flows from Italy to China. Reuters reported the probe aims to seek relationship between the Chinese bank and defunct Chinese money transfer operator Money2Money, which dominated the market of Chinese remittance from Italy.

However, Bank of China said the inspection is a routine procedure every three to five years. The bank told Reuters, "Bank of China is providing full cooperation to the Italian Supervisory Authority."

As Italian banks face a 4.95 billion ($5.65 billion) bailout, Banca D'Italia takes all necessary measures to protect its financial system. The central bank will purchase bad loans from the troubled banks and prevent the capital outflow.
India is determined to give its people easier access to banking and financial services. Under the new system, India's population of 1.2 billion, many of whom fell below the poverty line or uneducated, will be able to send digital payments using the country's biometrics system.

The project is a collaboration between India's retail banks, backed by the country's central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The project, called the Unified Payment Interface, is designed to make it easier to transfer and receiving money, as reported by Bloomberg. The transaction will be as easy as exchanging email of text messages.

The digital banking effort will be integrated with India's existing national ID system. The database, called the Aadhar database, was launched by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The system is aiming to collect biometric information such as fingerprints and iris patterns from every person in India. After their biometrics data are collected, the system will generate a unique 12-digit number associated with the data as the person's national ID. The Aadhar is recognized as the world's largest national civil ID program and biometric database.

With the existing biometric database, the banks are confident that they can succeed with the effort. Until the end of March, 999 million people of India already signed up for a number in the Aadhar database. That's about 80 percent of the total population. According to TechinAsia, the government already assured Indian citizens that signing up for Aadhar will not be mandatory. However, the government offers many benefits that could be enjoyed by people who signed up, such as scholarships and subsidies on utilities.

Biometric Update reported that India's DCB bank is the first to introduce banking facilities integrated with the Aadhar biometric information database. The bank has launched Aadhar-based ATM where people can make transactions using their Aadhar ID number instead of a PIN. Transactions can also be initiated by swiping user's identity card at the ATM, and then confirm user's identity with the fingerprint scanner.

According to India's central bank data, there are only about 23 million credit cards active in the country, despite the population of more than a billion. Other data from PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed that more than 233 million Indians have never been to a bank. Moreover, most bank accounts registered in the country have a balance of zero.

With the new banking initiative backed by the central bank, India is pushing forward to give more people financial services. The program will use the country's national biometrics ID system, the Aadhar database, to enable people make banking transactions with just their ID number or ID card.
The participants of LNG market are anxious about the continuous fall in the industry amid oil price recovery. The leading investors, traders, and executives in the LNG industry are expected to meet in Perth, Australia. Liquefied natural gas prices continue its downhill slide despite a 50% surge in Brent oil prices.

The crude prices were helped by expenditure reduction, curbing production that hampered the dumping of the commodity into global markets by major producers. But for LNG industry, where project expenses are higher and consume years to construct, production outstrips demand in the market. According to Jeff Brown, FGE's president, the LNG markets are entering the downside of the price cycle rather than climbing the opposite side in the curve.

Spot LNG dropped to $4.029 a million British thermal units on the Singapore Exchange during the week of April 4, registering the lowest fall since September 2014 and stepping into a fifth straight decline. Meanwhile, Brent recorded its first best quarter for four years, after falling to a record low in the past. The oil industry on Friday climbed to $41.94 per barrel, an increase of 13% from 2016 beginning.

While, oil output depends on projects that require short, medium and long-term time period, LNG projects take a longer time to construct gas factories as well as export terminals, Bloomberg quoted Trevor Sikorski, an expert at Energy Aspects. The US producers have frozen their oil production by nearly 600,000 barrels per day since recording a peak in June.

The International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers said that it expects liquefaction capacity in 2016 to reach around 42 million tons per year. Recently, Australia's Chevron Corp produced its first LNG from the Gorgon project and will contribute a major share to the output. In November Sanford C. Bernstein & Co had anticipated LNG deficit to reach 75 million metric tons a year within 2025, requiring an investment of $250 billion through 2020.

On an average, the price of spot LNG arrival in Japan dropped by 10 cents to $6.80 a million British thermal units (mmBtu) during March, marking the poorest level since two years before, Reuters quoted an official data. While the spot LNG prices in Asia declined to $4 a mmBtu in March hurt by overall poor demand in the region.

According to HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS, Asian LNG for May delivery traded at about $4.20 per million mmBtu, down from $4.30 per mmBtu recorded in the previous week, while LNG for June delivery dropped to $4.00 per mmBtu. Meanwhile, Gorgon LNG project is expected to halt its output for 30 to 60 days due to a mechanical hurdle at its operating site, which prevented a further downward slide in LNG prices.

Japan and South Korea have cut their LNG imports by around 4 million tons in the previous year owing to poor economic condition, increase in demand for alternative fuels and winter. LNG market is hurt by oversupply from producers and poor demand from consumers' world.
India is seeing a massive spike in cash circulation during the election period. The cash with the public has gone up by over Rs 60,000 crore (about $9 billion) around the election time. The country's central bank considered the cash surge "not normal" and is looking into the phenomenon.

Bloomberg elaborated why the surge in the public cash is puzzling. The spike is more than the economy is growing or prices are rising. It has also brought more concern that the massive cash increase may be contributing to a slowdown of rise in bank deposits. In turn, that could add to tight liquidity.

In fact, the bank deposits growth immediately fell below 10 percent, to 9.9 percent, as reported by The Economic Times. The fall represented a point of the country's 53-year low. The drop in bank deposits growth happened after the country's central bank, RBI, analyzed the data that show a 48 percent increase in the currency circulation at Rs 2 trillion for the fortnight ended March 18.

India's central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan stated the bank's concern regarding the cash massive surge. Mr. Rajan addressed the issue after announcing his first monetary policy review of this fiscal year. "Around election time, cash with the public does normally increase. You can guess as to reasons why, we can also guess," he noted.

Furthermore, Mr. Rajan acknowledged that the spike in the cash with the public this time is not normal. "You see some spike in just in the state going to elections, but also in neighbouring states. There is something. We need to understand it better," he added.

One factor that is believed to hugely contribute to the cash surge is connected with the election itself. The chairman of India's Centre for Media Studies N. Bhaskara told Bloomberg that money for votes is a common practice. During the election time, it's typical for politicians to hand out gifts or cash for votes.

Other factors also include huge spendings as legitimate campaign expenses such as paying people to go campaigning, and media advertisings. However, as for now there are only theories, since the country's economists have not come up with a definite explanation.

A report quoted by India Times says that about 60 percent of the electorate would get cash varying from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 from various parties during the election time, according to a top Tamil Nadu government official. For a 5.8 crore voting population, the amount adds up to Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 9,000 crore as gifts just before the polling day.

During the ongoing state elections time in India, the government has noticed a massive surge in the cash with the public. While it's believed that election spending and gifts is the main factor to the cash surge, the country's central bank is looking into the issue for a definite explanation.
Kansas City will no longer have free internet service from Google Fiber. Atlanta will have the same situation where Google Fiber is expected to arrive next; however, the option would still be available in Austin and Provo, Texas. Pricing has not been disclosed yet for other Fiber locations in the future.

Google Fiber will remove its free internet option in Kansas City, where in 2011 Fiber became available substituting it with a $50 per month with 100 Mbps option. The company will still regard current agreements with customers using the free option, and were promised seven years of the service when they signed up. Google will remain offering the free access to Internet for some low-income households, as reported by Mashable.

Google Fiber is one of the company's efforts to supply free internet for low-income customers. The service has the ability to provide internet connection speeds of up to one gigabit per second for both upload and download. There are also reports that Google Fiber has the possibility to be introduced very soon in India. It is already in talks with the IT Ministry to introduce the broadband service which uses optical fiber as part of the Digital India program, according to Hindustan Times.

"We are keen to partner a company like Google in furthering the Digital India plan. Modalities have to be worked out," said an official from IT Ministry.

Google Fiber started in Kansas City with a $70 per month gigabit internet package and a free 5Mbps tier that Fiber offered at no charge. Existing subscribers who opted for the free tier will have continued service and anyone who really is despondent can get hold of Google until the 19th of May to sign up, based on a Gizmodo report.

Google didn't provide any information on the reasons behind the transitions. The old free plan needs a $300 installation fee for the access where well-off or average households can afford. The new $50 per month tier requires no installation cost with a one-year plan and should be affordable to those short on budget.
KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Pastor Chris Miller stands with her dog, Rusty, in her Camarillo home on Thursday. The painting, her favorite, reminds her of her days aboard a ship as a Navy chaplain.

SHARE COURTESY PHOTO A Nov. 11, 1973, story on Pastor Chris Miller in the Oxnard Press-Courier is among the memorabilia saved by Miller, now of Camarillo. COURTESY PHOTO Pastor Chris Miller, of Camarillo, has saved memorabilia from her days in the Navy. This 1980 photograph shows officers and chiefs of X Division administration and personnel on the USS L.Y. Spear while sailing on the Indian Ocean. Miller is at right. KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Pastor Chris Miller poses for a portrait at her home in Camarillo on Thursday. COURTESY PHOTO A 1975 Navy class photograph from Chaplain School in Newport, Rhode Island, shows Pastor Chris Miller (center) wearing a different uniform than the male graduates.

By Jean Moore of the Ventura County Star

All her life, Pastor Chris Miller took on jobs that few or no women had done before.

Back in the early 1970s, she was one of the first female Lutheran ministers in the U.S.

Then, after leaving seminary, she became one of the first female chaplains in the Navy. Later, she became the first female chaplain to go to sea.

Along the way, she found mentors but also faced overt hostility.

"In a way, it's all I've known," Miller said. "I followed the things that interested me and did what I wanted to do. ... I learned you do your job, and are competent at your job, and you go from there. I've always tried to find a relationship that I can use where I am."

Miller, 67, grew up in Ventura County, the oldest child and only daughter of a Navy captain. She graduated from Hueneme High School and California Lutheran University, where she majored in religious studies.

She went on to seminary, where she was one of five women in a class of 105. It was the early '70s, and women weren't allowed to live in any of the three dorms on campus, so they had to live off campus.

"That was because the lay people who contributed to building the dorm would be upset if women lived there," she said. "There was a lot of 'We're still working this out, and we're not sure we want to work it out.'"

Miller had gone to seminary thinking she'd then go to graduate school, get her doctorate and teach biblical studies at either a seminary or university.

But just as she was getting out of seminary, the military was looking for female Lutheran or Episcopal ministers. Miller seemed the ideal choice, having lived in both the military and church worlds.

So she joined the Navy as an officer and went off to chaplain training school, where she was the only female in a class of 38. That's where she encountered her first overt hostility. As she was heading up the stairs to class early in her training, the Navy's senior Lutheran chaplain told her, "You don't belong in this chaplain corps."

She still doesn't know why he said it.

"I don't know if it was because I was female, that I had no pastoral experience, or that I was Lutheran," she said.

That chaplain would go on to figure in her career later.

Meanwhile, Miller persevered for the eight weeks of chaplain school and was posted to Camp Pendleton in San Diego, where she became the first female chaplain to serve with the Marine Corps, a twist because the Navy provides the Marines their chaplains.

There she mostly dealt with young, homesick recruits, who often had grown up in Baptist churches in the rural South and weren't at all familiar with the Lutheran church's more formal liturgy.

So Miller came up with a compromise. The recruits got 20 minutes to sing whatever hymns they chose from the hymnal, including "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and she got the rest of the hour.

"We sang Christmas carols," she said. "I learned quite a few Baptist revival-type hymns."

After the service, a few recruits usually lingered, and she met with them. Often, they were simply homesick.

"They're 18. They're away from home for the first time. They're homesick, and they're not covering it up very well," she said. "I always had Kleenex. I'd tell them, 'Everyone else is homesick, too. They're just covering it up better.'"

Miller went on from Camp Pendleton to serve on a ship at sea, where she was one of six women officers in a crew of 100 officers and about 1,100 enlisted personnel.

Then, when she was scheduled to head out for her second tour at sea, the chaplain who didn't want her in chaplain school reappeared in Miller's life. She was assigned to be chaplain on a ship where the captain and executive officer, both conservative Catholics, clearly didn't want to work with her either.

"I'm their chaplain, and they're not terribly happy," she said.

When Miller returned to the U.S., she got another difficult assignment, paired this time with a chaplain who also did not want to work with her.

"He did not listen to me," she said. "I was immediately cut out of the loop, and I was supposedly responsible for this guy."

She also was working six days a week. She was burned out. And she got another assignment she didn't want, which she attributes to politics in the chaplain corps.

So she transferred to defense intelligence, where she finished her Navy career.

Now Miller lives in her parents' former Camarillo home with two housemates, a dog and four cats. All of the animals are rescues. She jokes that she expects she'll come home one day, and the dog will be missing. The cats, she said, will feign innocence.

"No, we have no idea why the gate is open," she imagines the cats might say. "We have no idea where the dog is."

These days, she welcomes the opportunity to serve again in the ministry. Recently, she worked for a year in a Santa Barbara parish.

"I'm still hoping for more of those experiences," she said. "I still enjoy that work."
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By Manuel Araujo

A man was killed after crashing into a tree near the Sunset Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks Sunday night, officials said.

The Ventura County Fire Department said the driver, described as being 18 to 20 years old, struck the tree near the intersection of East Olsen Road and Calle Contento.

Crews responded to the crash just after 9:30 p.m. to find the driver trapped inside the car, officials from the department said.

After firefighters freed the driver from the car he was taken to Los Robles Hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials said.

The Ventura County Sheriff department said the section of Olsen Road between Sunset Hills Boulevard and Erbes Road would be closed into the night as authorities continued their investigation.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/RTE STILLS LIBRARY The destruction of O'Connell Street in Dublin is shown after the Easter Rising in 1916. Three events in Ventura County this month commemorate the 100th anniversary of the rebellion.

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By Staff Reports

Three events this month are commemorating the 1916 Irish Rising, when a small group of Irish rebels took on the British Empire.

On Thursday at 7 p.m., the Oxnard Film Society will screen "1916 The Irish Rebellion" at the Museum of Ventura County. Narrated by Liam Neeson, this 80-minute documentary produced by the University of Notre Dame tells of the events that took place in Dublin during Easter Week 1916, using archival footage and interviews. The film tells of the central role Irish Americans played in the lead-up to the rebellion.

The event starts at 6 p.m. with live Irish music by the Decker Brothers and Irish balladeer Willie Quinn. An exhibit of artifacts from the 1916 Easter Rising will be on view. After the screening, a question-and-answer session will take place featuring George J. Sandoval, president of the Oxnard Film Society, and Ventura resident John McNally, who recently attended centenary events in Ireland.

Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at www.oxnardfilmsociety.org. General admission is $10, seniors $7. For more information, call 798-0830.

On April 24, the rebellion will be recalled at the very moment it happened 100 years ago  at noon  at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura. Events will include the reading of the proclamation that triggered the rebellion, a performance by an Irish bagpiper and a procession of Irish flags. Participants will include Ventura's Easter Rising Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. The public is welcome.

On April 25, the Oxnard Film Society will sponsor a screening of the movie "Michael Collins" as part of its Monday Night Foreign Film Series that the nonprofit has been presenting since 2007. Made 20 years ago, this telling of the Irish rebellion starring Liam Neeson will be shown at 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Plaza Cinemas 14 in Oxnard. General admission is $10 and seniors are $6.75. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at www.oxnardfilmsociety.org. For more information call 798-0830 or email geosand47@gmail.com.
Children lacking parental love in China's urban fringe areas have started to attract public attention.

Xie Dongmei, who received a camera from a local school to allow her to record her childhood, plays with her friends in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The 14-year-old girl is from a destitute family in the peripheral area of the region.



Dwelling in a simple four-story apartment in Wangjiaqiao Community, Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, the staff at the Hearts for Love Community Service Center has created a dreamland inside a small courtyard for children who have been emotionally neglected throughout their childhood in fringe areas between cities and towns.

With books, magazines, computers, colorful Ping-Pong tables, and clean toilets available at the center, the community service soothes the loneliness of children separated at a young age from the care of their parents.

The service center is a privately-run social organization dedicated to improving the lives of vulnerable groups in society. So far, it has worked for six consecutive years in Wangjiaqiao Community, changing locations several times in the past few years.

Located in Wangjiaqiao Community, an area connecting urban and rural areas, more than half of the community's population comes from migrant families affected by social problems, such as low education, single parenthood, unstable incomes, domestic violence, and abandoned children.

Living conditions in the community can be shocking for newcomers. When social worker Yao Xiuxia met Yuan Yuan for the first time, the four-year-old could not say a single word. His mother abandoned the family immediately after giving birth to Yuan and left the boy with his father; he has to take Yuan to the construction sites where he is temporarily hired or leave alone at home.

After frequent visits to families leaving in the fringe area, social workers estimated that about 60 percent children live in single parent households.

Lan Shuji is the director of the Hearts for Love Community Service Center. Since 2015, after receiving funds from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Li Ka Shing Foundation, her social organization has recruited over 60 university student volunteers and 12 professional social workers to help 42 impoverished families.

At first, their services were met with suspicion by the community's adults and children.

"It was almost impossible to interact with the children," a volunteer recalled.

But despite the initial skepticism from the families, the Hearts for Love Community Service Center eventually won the trust of the local people. They bring necessities to the needy children, offer free lunches, and teach them with basic survival techniques, including how to ride a bike and take public transportation.

Ni Ni, a quiet child in the area, wrote in her diary: "My sister, you are the first person in my life to hug me and give me the feeling of being loved."

A large number of children living in the communities are in need of social help, Yao said. The need is so high that the efforts of social organizations pale in comparison.

"We need to create an environment similar to home for these children, the social worker said. "Although we can't be with them for a lifetime, we can at least bring them some happy moments."
ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Ventura police dispatcher Yesenia Miranda answers a 911 call at the department's communications center in Ventura on Monday.

SHARE ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Ventura Police daytime communications supervisor Cpl. Timm Ferrill (left) and dispatcher Christine Poeschl answer 911 calls at the department's communications center in Ventura on Monday. ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR Ventura Police dispatcher Christine Poeschl answers a 911 call at the department's communications center in Ventura on Monday. Poeschl was recently named the city's dispatcher of the year.

By Cindy Von Quednow of the Ventura County Star

Several Ventura County law enforcement agencies are honoring dispatchers this week as part of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.

The Ventura County Fire Department regional dispatch center team Monday delivered homemade chips and salsa to communication centers across the county.

The center has dispatched nearly 18,500 calls since the beginning of the year, fire officials said.

Battalion Chief Kelly White, who oversees the fire department's communication center, said the job is complex.

"I couldn't do their job," she said.

"You have to be tactically competent, proficient and be able to manage under stress."

White added that it is a treat for dispatchers to be able to visit other communication centers and meet other dispatchers who they communicate with often.

"A lot of them know each other by name and voice, but now they get to meet each other and build relationships better," she said.

The Ventura Police Department Command Center last year answered 213,005 calls, officials there said. Specifically, almost 57,000 of those calls were emergencies, 98 percent of which were answered within 10 seconds.

Public safety dispatchers and supervisors at the Ventura County Sheriff's Office handle more than 360,000 telephone calls, officials said. Those include 105,000 911 calls.

Public safety dispatchers for that agency undergo a testing and background process before being hired. New dispatchers then attend the three-week course certified by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Their training also includes four additional weeks of classroom training and six to 12 months of on-the-job training before being allowed to work independently.

The sheriff's office named Jeremy Kieffer, a technical communications specialist, as their dispatcher of the year.

Kieffer has been working as a dispatcher since 2008 and also trains newly hired dispatchers. He was selected by his peers and supervisors to receive the award, which is presented to outstanding dispatchers for their work and contributions to the public safety of local residents.

Kieffer will be honored at the annual Dispatcher Awards Banquet at CSU Channel Islands on April 17.
TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Hundreds of people gathered to take part in the annual Cesar Chavez march in Oxnard on Sunday afternoon. The demonstrators were marching in support of a state bill to extend overtime pay to farmworkers.

SHARE TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Andrew Rivera holds marches down Cooper Road during the annual Cesar Chavez march in Oxnard on Sunday afternoon. TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Claudia Zamora, left, and Naythan Dekowski, right, prepares to take part in the annual Cesar Chavez march located in Oxnard Sunday afternoon. TROY HARVEY/SPECIAL TO THE STAR United Farm Workers CAUSE, Ventura County farmworkers and community member's march down Cooper Road during the annual Cesar Chavez march in Oxnard on Sunday afternoon. The demonstrators were marching in support of a state bill to extend overtime pay to farmworkers.

By Anne Kallas, Special to The Star

The current presidential race was front and center during the 21st Cesar Chavez march through Oxnard's La Colonia neighborhood Sunday.

At the front of the parade were banners proclaiming "Chavez Si, Trump No!" in bright red type.

According to Javier Gomez, one of the parade organizers, the marchers were invited to show their support for a bill providing overtime pay for farmworkers that is currently working its way through the California State Assembly and for a Ventura County Farmworkers Bill of Rights.

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, who marched at the head of the parade, said the overtime bill for farmworkers is one of a series of bills the state assembly has passed that are "trying to raise up all of the boats."

She explained that such measures as the $15 per hour minimum wage, gender pay equality and increased family leave pay stimulate the economy.

"The overtime bill is another spoke in the wheel of greater opportunity," Jackson said, brushing aside arguments that increased pay hampers businesses. "If we pay more, more money goes back into the economy. We do know that there are people who are not being paid fairly for what they do  farmworkers."

Oxnard School District Superintendent Cesar Morales opened the grounds of Cesar Chavez School to marchers before heading off with the group down Cooper Road to Oxnard Boulevard and back along Colonia Avenue to the school.

Morales explained that "Cesar Chavez is a source of pride for Oxnard. He did a lot of his early work here to promote civil rights. He is a source of pride for the Latino community at a time when the national presidential race has brought about a discriminatory rhetoric. It's time for the community to come together and for Latinos to know they are an extremely strong group."

One of the 800 people in attendance on the sunny Sunday morning was Natalie Avalos, 13.

Avalos said she came out to march "to support farmworkers. Without them most of us wouldn't be here."

Ventura County Supervisor John Zaragoza said the proposed Farmworkers Bill of Rights has yet to come before the Ventura County board of supervisors.

The proposed Farmworkers Bill of Rights would include language that ensures safety at the job site, ends harassment of women, ensures women are not terminated for becoming pregnant and adds bathrooms in the fields, Gomez said.

"We want to balance the bill of rights. We've continued talks with farmworkers and farmers," Zaragoza said before affirming his support of overtime for farmworkers. "Everybody gets overtime. Truck drivers and secretaries can get overtime. Everyone except for farmworkers."

Celine Olague, 14, was dressed in bright yellow to dance as part of the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center's group of young mariachi musicians, which is led by Gomez.

"We are here because Cesar Chavez gave workers rights and we wanted to continue the legacy of what he did," Olague said.

Denis O'Leary, a teacher in the Rio School District and member of the Oxnard School Board, led the parade, directing people to stay to the side of the road as they walked through the busy neighborhood.

He said this year's march seems especially significant because of the current political climate.

"This is the pulse of our community. It's not just Trump  it's the Republican Party. And they're not just against immigrants from Mexico and Latin American. They are against immigrants from around the world," O'Leary said before referring to Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz' call to patrol "Muslim neighborhoods."

"This neighborhood has a history of being watched. But just because the people are quiet doesn't mean they are compliant. They will come out and peacefully protest those who attack them," O'Leary said.
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By Staff Reports

Police were looking for a man armed with a handgun who robbed another man on his way to a rodeo at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, officials said.

The victim was robbed at 1:44 p.m. near Harbor Boulevard and Figueroa Street as he was searching for the entrance to the Ezequiel Pena Rodeo, Ventura police said.

The man was walking when the robber, who was described as being 20 years old with black hair, offered him a ride to the event, police said.

Once the man was inside of the robber's white truck, the robber pulled out a handgun and demanded money, police said.

After the man gave the robber his money, he was allowed out of the robber's truck and the robber drove off, police said.

Anyone with information should call the Ventura Police Department at 805-339-4400.
Star file photo

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By Staff Reports

A sales tax measure, a stormwater project and community access television will be on the agenda when the Midtown Ventura Community Council meets Thursday.

Mayor Erik Nasarenko will discuss the state of the city and a potential sales tax measure the City Council is considering for the November ballot.

Patrick Davidson, executive director of CAPS Media, will give an update on plans for the community access channel.

In addition, Loree Pryce, a city construction and survey manager, and landscape architect Brian Brodersen will give an update on the Green Street stormwater project on Hartman Avenue.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Cooper Hall, adjacent to Grace Church, 65 MacMillan Ave. For more information, visit the council website, midtownventura.org, or call Chair Gregg Mansfield at 276-5135.
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Over the course of Californias current drought, calls to punish farmers or to seize farmers water have become all too familiar. Not only do these calls represent ignorance of California water law, in Ventura County, they are simply out of step with the role farmers are playing to end the water shortage.

Ventura County farmers are working with local groundwater regulators and the cities of Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo to fundamentally change how groundwater is managed. Farmers are serious about achieving substantial cuts to groundwater extraction and are working on concrete plans to alter incentives in ways that create real economic returns to water conservation. Farmers, city representatives and staff of the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency all deserve to be commended.

Ventura Countys unique collaboration between local farmers, cities and regulators has caught the attention of water managers in nearby counties, in Sacramento and as far afield as Kansas. Water managers in these places are looking to Ventura County for leadership as they grapple with their own water shortages. Rather that impugn Ventura County farmers or any other local water users, residents should celebrate the unique work being done on our behalf.

In Fox Canyon, the ratio of agricultural to urban water use is only 2-1, not 4-1 as in much of the state. Recycled water from the Oxnard GREAT Program is already being delivered to farmers for irrigation. Farmers recently proposed that all groundwater wells be monitored with state-of-the-art radio telemetry, a ground-breaking pilot program is already under way. Fox Canyon is on track to finish two years ahead of most other basins in complying with state legislation known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

Matthew Fienup, Ventura


Playboy Playmate Kennedy Summers hosted an unforgettable night of partying at Chateau Nightclub & Rooftop at Paris Las Vegas (Photo credit: Chateau Nightclub & Rooftop).

The model arrived at the club with a group of friends around midnight, looking sexy in a form fitting magenta dress made of lace. Summers mingled with the crowd and took photos with fans before making her way to a lavish VIP booth where she partied with her close friends for the rest of the night under the iconic Eiffel Tower.

Aside from earning the titles of Playboys Miss December 2013 and 2014 Playmate of the Year, Summers can also be seen on the silver screen in her most recent movie, Muck.


Yesterday afternoon (Saturday, April 9), Las Vegas celebrated Nevadas largest and most anticipated craft beer event of the year, Motley Brews sixth annual Great Vegas Festival of Beer (GVFB), with a sold-out crowd of thousands of festival goers taking over the streets of Downtown Las Vegas (Photo credit: Fred Morledge).

Photo credit: Fred Morledge.

Rain and storm clouds could not stop craft beer fans from taking part in the endless flow of more than 400 tasty craft brews from over 110 local, national and international breweries.

Photo credit: Fred Morledge.

A favorite of this years GVFB was PTs Brewing Companys Festival Pale Ale, a guava, mango and pineapple pale ale created by brewmaster Dave Otto as the Official 2016 GVFB Beer. Alongside the official brew, kegs were tapped by breweries from near and far, including newcomers Modern Times Beer, Founders Brewing Co., Vernal Brewing Company, Bootleggers Brewery and the Henderson newcomer Lovelady Brewing alongside all-time favorites Crafthaus Brewery, Big Dogs Brewing Co., Stone Brewing Company, Joseph James Brewing Company, Small Town Brewery and many more.

Photo credit: Fred Morledge.

Mouthwatering cuisine filled the air from the Gastropub, where guests snacked on craft beer-inspired and infused fare, including exceptional dishes from Las Vegas most celebrated culinary masterminds, including Cantina Laredo, D.O.C.G., Dragon Grille, Gals Hot Dogs, Glutton, Good & SLO, Pot Liquor, Sausagefest, Stripchezze, TruckUBarbeque and Urban Turban.

Photo credit: Fred Morledge.

As the afternoon continued, ticketholders brought out their inner child with life-sized pub games inside the Human Arcade, grooved to the beat at the Silent Disco and learned the ins and outs of mixology and the craft beer industry during BrewLogic sessions. One of the biggest surprises at BrewLogic came when the unannounced special guest, Chef Justin Kingsley Hall, surprised the crowd with a stuffed smoked suckling pig on the BrewLogic stage.

The VIP Brewers Lounge offered sampled of exclusive rare pours and dishes such as Naked Cowboy Oyster Shooters prepared by Las Vegas world class chef, Geno Bernardo of Herringbone and Double Cooked Ribs prepared by Stephen LaSala of Searsucker. In addition, MGM hosted the Beerhaus Media Hangout, where media and industry professionals enjoyed tasty treats, including sausages, rotisserie sandwiches, cold drinks and signature Beerhaus brews.

A portion of the proceeds from the event went to the Goodie Two Shoes Foundation and Nevada Craft Brewers Association.


The new Dog Haus Vegas, the latest addition to the celebrated California-based concept known for its gourmet hot dogs, sausages, burgers, and one-of-a-kind creations, has introduced a happy hour menu offered from 3 to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 1 to 4 a.m. nightly (Pictured: Hot Dog Slider).

Dog Haus happy hour includes sliders, fries and tater tots priced at $1.25 each order. The burger sliders are made with Angus beef patties that are topped with caramelized onions, white American cheese and mayo on a grilled Hawaiian roll. Dog sliders, made with an all-beef mini dog on a grilled Hawaiian roll, are topped with bacon and Haus made cheese sauce, and the corn dog sliders are all-beef mini dogs dipped in Dog Haus signature Haus-made root beer batter and then deep fried.
Ryan Leslie from MTVs Real World: Back to New Orleans cast will lead the way as McFaddens Restaurant and Saloon at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino welcomes students back to school with Ryans Rebel Revival on Saturday, August 28.

The Real World party king will bring his skinny jeans and sleek blonde locks to the rowdiest pub in Sin City as he oversees the all-night bash complete with a classic McFaddens competition  the girl-on-girl kissing contest. Leslie will hand-pick the hottest kissing duo of the evening and award the pair with $1,000 cash, courtesy of McFaddens.

McFaddens will warm-up with a pregame-style open bar from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. priced at $10 for both ladies and gents. To ensure no partygoer goes thirsty, McFaddens next open bar special will kick off at 11 p.m. until 1 a.m. with the purchase of a wristband, priced at $10 for ladies and $20 for guys.

The preliminary girl-on-girl kissing contest will be held Thursday, August 26, and the top five pairs selected will move on to the final round on Saturday, August 28.

McFaddens Restaurant and Saloon is open from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 4 p.m. until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. until 4 a.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 702.270.6200 or visit www.McFaddensVegas.com.
Every morning at 8, a machete and a portable speaker in hand, Yu Yangsen and two colleagues leave their work station on foot to inspect a forest farm alongside the Yangtze River.

Yu, the deputy chief of the seven-person station, has worked as a forest ranger for 22 years after inheriting the job from his father. When spring comes and the air dries, the rangers are on high alert for any signs of wildfire.

Workers at the Chongqing Yunyang Yangtze River Shelter-Forest Farm, established in 1964, have planted more than 6,000 hectares of trees along 42 kilometers of riverbank to restore the ecological system on the Yangtze's upper reaches.

The farm, which has 33 rangers at seven stations  each in charge of 200 hectares of forest  is the largest of its kind along the river.

The world's third-longest river, the Yangtze runs for 6,300 kilometers from the glaciers of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau eastward through Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanjing before reaching the East China Sea at Shanghai.

The farm is known as the Leader Farm by the area's residents, as the late Chairman Mao Zedong gave the order to plant more trees there in 1958.

President Xi Jinping attached great importance to restoring the river's ecology. At a meeting earlier this year in Chongqing, he urged officials from provinces along the river to concentrate on ecological restoration and protection, and to avoid large-scale development.

More than 400 million people get their drinking water from the Yangtze, and water security has become a major issue in China's development. However, between 30 billion and 40 billion metric tons of sewage annually is discharged from petrochemical plants on the Yangtze, accounting for more than one-third of the nation's annual discharge.

Excessive deforestation means the foliage coverage rate on the river's upper reaches dropped from 30 percent in the 1950s to only 20 percent in the 1990s, according to the Chongqing Bureau of Forestry. The area of soil erosion increased from 360,0000 square km in the 1950s to 560,0000 square km in the 1980s.

With the river's ecosystem on the verge of collapse, a campaign was launched to protect it. Beijing also drafted a landmark program, to be launched this year, to restore the river's ecosystem.

Yunyang county, 310 km east of Chongqing, has been a vital ecological barrier on the upper reaches of the Yangtze, especially in the Three Gorges Reservoir area.

In 1959, soon after Mao's order to plant more trees, thousands of farmers joined a voluntary tree-planting project. But a lack of scientific guidance meant most of the trees died.

In 1964, the Chongqing forest farm was created to carry out professional forestry work, but funding was insufficient and the rangers were seldom paid.

Manager Sun Ye said: "The rangers used to live in caves and ate only sweet potatoes. They had to plant mushrooms in the forest and took these home as their salary. The early days were really tough."

In 2009, Chongqing launched the Yangtze River Ecological Barrier Construction Project, with Yunyang county one of four pilot areas.

With increased investment, the rangers' working conditions improved. In Yunyang county, the forest coverage rate on the river's banks has reached 70 percent, according to Peng Ming, deputy director of the Yunyang Bureau of Forestry.
By: Dezan Shira & Associates

Draft legislation, published by the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance on March 25th, proposes significant adjustments to business licensing for those seeking to establish and license operations within the country. These changes have the potential to raise fees by as much as three times their current levels and, if approved, could become effective as soon as January 1st of 2017.

The draft, in its current form, outlines progressive fees which correspond to the level of income generated by respective businesses. As with all Vietnamese legislation, fees are quoted in Vietnamese Dong (VND), which traded against the US dollar (USD) at a rate of 22,291:1 as of April 11, 2016. Under the newly proposed guidelines, companies with registered capital in Vietnam would be subject to one of the following fee levels:

VND 3 million (USD 135) : Levied on businesses with charter capital under VND 10 Billion

: Levied on businesses with charter capital under VND 10 Billion VND 5 million (USD 224) : Required when licensing companies with registered capital between VND 10 and 100 billion

: Required when licensing companies with registered capital between VND 10 and 100 billion VND 10 million (USD 448) : Companies with registered capital over VND 100 billion would be required to pay this fee.

RELATED: Pre-Investment, Market Entry Strategy Advisory from Dezan Shira & Associates

In addition to fees listed above, individual business owners with turnover exceeding levels outlined below would also be faced with increased fees. The following fee levels should be noted for those considering starting individual businesses within the country:

VND 1 million (USD 44) : Required for individuals with an annual turnover in excess of VND 300 million

: Required for individuals with an annual turnover in excess of VND 300 million VND 300,000 (USD 12) : Levied on business households with an annual turnover between VND 100 million and VND 300 million

Although fees outlined above are likely to impact the vast majority of foreign investors within the Vietnamese market, certain exceptions have been made. Those meeting any of the following:

Business households with turnover under VND 100 million

Salt-making households

Fisheries

Aquaculture households

Fishery logistics service providers

Outlook for Investment

The proposed changes at present do not represent a significant tax liability for individuals or corporations investing within the Vietnam. Despite this, increases are projected to nearly double the current levels of taxation. Government estimates indicate that revenue from business licensing collections will surpass current levels  currently around VND 1.7 trillion  to reach VND 2.7 trillion.

In the context of a strong national fiscal position, investment friendly reforms, and significant progress on trade negotiations, it is unlikely that the increases represent an effort to discourage investment. A more likely explanation lies in a recent statement by deputy finance minister Vu Thi Mai, who explained that the increases were intended to match the business situation of the last 14 years.

For prospective and ongoing investors in particular, the takeaway from these changes will most likely be confined to an issue of compliance. In this regard, it is of utmost importance that the progress of the proposed changes be followed closely and any adjustment to the decrees fees or implementation date be noted.



About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email vietnam@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. 

Annual Audit and Compliance in Vietnam 2016

In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we address pressing changes to audit procedures in 2016, and provide guidance on how to ensure that compliance tasks are completed in an efficient and effective manner. We highlight the continued convergence of VAS with IFRS, discuss the emergence of e-filing, and provide step-by-step instructions on audit and compliance procedures for Foreign Owned Enterprises (FOEs) as well as Representative Offices (ROs).

Navigating the Vietnam Supply Chain

In this edition of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the advantages of the Vietnamese market over its regional competition and highlight where and how to implement successful investment projects. We examine tariff reduction schedules within the ACFTA and TPP, highlight considerations with regard to rules of origin, and outline the benefits of investing in Vietnams growing economic zones. Finally, we provide expert insight into the issues surrounding the creation of 100 percent Foreign Owned Enterprise in Vietnam.

Tax, Accounting and Audit in Vietnam 2016 (2nd Edition)

This edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam, updated for 2016, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in Vietnam, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate Vietnams complex tax and accounting landscape in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their Vietnam operations.
The municipal Peoples Committee has issued a ban on several activities, including eating and drinking, on the street and the area around the statue of President Ho Chi Minh.

Other actions to be banned include the illegal occupation of roadways and sidewalks, unlawful construction, behaviors that affect order and aesthetics in the area, superstitious activities, and all wrongdoings that compromise public hygiene.

The sale of food and drink, marketing, the vending of other products, and those cultural activities that violate regulations on civilized lifestyle, social security and order, and the prevention of fire and explosion.

In addition, the new rules will forbid the use of loudspeakers, horns, gongs, drums, and whistles, and assembly of people without permission of competent authorities.

The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee has decided to establish a special team to control the situation on the walking street and to directly work with other relevant agencies.

The new regulations will take effect on April 18 and will be enforced directly by authorized units and indirectly with surveillance cameras installed along the street.

The 670-meter long walking street was opened in April 2015 and has become one of the favorite destinations of local people as well as tourists.

The venue attracts many people every night and is even more crowded on the weekend.

According to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters observation on Saturday evening, the street was packed with citizens, mainly young Vietnamese who are high school and college students.

The young people were sitting in groups along the street to enjoy their street foods, of which many were spilled while leftovers and food containers were often left on the ground.

Despite the placement of numerous recycle bins along the road, littering has remained an unsolved issue as it is easy to spot plastic bags, empty water bottles, candy wrappers and others around the planters.

Even after being reminded, many people still throw their trash on the ground, according to a volunteer working on the walking street.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter being greeted by Indian officials on his arrival at Debolim airport in Goa on Sunday.

The U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in India for a three-day trip on Sunday. It is his second visit in less than a year, and a part of efforts by the United States to forge close defense ties with the largest democracy of the world. However, do not be mistaken by the word "democracy," as the actual desire is to make inroads into a huge market of the second largest country, which is looking around to modernize its armed forces by buying the latest weapons, fighter jets, drones and submarines.

There is the construction of a narrative that the U.S. and India share the common threat of China. Due to the history of Indian relations with Beijing, a number of experts and policymakers take it for granted to try to prop it up as bulwark against the perceived Chinese threat. Obviously the Indians are not naive enough to bite at the bait without first considering their own interests.

It might suit India to be shown as a "natural" ally to the West in its anti-China policies, but it would be hard for it to leave the decades old independent policy to deal with different countries at a bilateral level. The relationship between China and India is difficult, but the two sides have done really well over the last decade to manage it for their mutual benefit. As a result, their trade has increased phenomenally and is still rising.

Despite a difficult border and occasional tension, there is no major flare-up and high-level visits take place frequently. President Xi Jinping made a historic trip in 2014 and signed several deals for investment and trade. The core of the ties is intact and moving ahead. However, a few minor bumps cannot be ruled out, such as the recent unsettling scenario of China playing a role to reject India's move to declare Masood Azhar a terrorist (He is a Pakistani national who is believed to be the chief of the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad.). Obviously, India was less than happy.

The United States is quite "bullish" in its relationship with India and is trying to move at a faster pace. However, India is hesitant to commit to any handshake which could deprive it of freedom to adopt a policy as it has been previously engaged in.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
The four primary schools, Nhi Son and Trung Ly in the central province of Thanh Hoa and Tung Chung Pho and Ngai Thau in the northern province of Lao Cai, all received computers, tables, chairs, bookshelves, television screens, books and other study materials in four Honeywell multi-media learning centres.

In 2015, 1,800 students in three schools in Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, and Ho Chi Minh City benefited from the Honeywell Hometown Solutions donation of multi-media learning centres. Over the past year, Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the companys corporate citizenship initiative, has given 3,800 students across Vietnam tools and materials to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Honeywell Hometown Solutions granted $25,000 for the establishment of the learning centres.

At Honeywell, we recognise that a large majority of technical challenges will be solved in the future by the students of today. We are confident that Honeywells support over the last year will help to develop the next generation of leading Vietnamese innovators and scientists, who will have a positive impact in their communities locally and globally, said Brian Davis, vice-president of the Asia Pacific airlines division of Honeywell Aerospace.

Mountainous Underprivileged Students Fund was started in 2011 by Dr Tran Dang Tuan and his partners in Vietnam. Today, the charity supports more than 6,100 students in Vietnam with a growing donor network in Australia, China, Japan, Finland, South Korea, Sweden and the US.

In 2013, Honeywell set up its first regional automation college in Vietnam in partnership with PetroVietnam University to provide training for local engineers and address a talent shortage in the process manufacturing industry.

Since 2013, three Vietnamese middle school teachers received scholarships to attend the Honeywell Educators @ Space Academy programme at the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. With a focus on STEM, the training includes simulated astronaut-style exercises, laboratory and professional development, and space exploration.

Honeywell Hometown Solutions focuses on five areas: family safety and security, housing and shelter, science and math education, humanitarian relief, and habitat and conservation.
A production chain at the Pham Nguyen Confectionery Company Ltd. - VNS Photo

Pham Nguyen said the financing would be used to support rapid growth by increasing production capacity for the company's key brands. It would also help introduce new product categories and expand its distribution network in the country.

"The investment will allow us to reach more Vietnamese customers with our current and upcoming quality products," said Pham Ngoc Thai, the company's chairman.

Founded in 1990, Pham Nguyen is one of the leading companies in the confectionery industry. The company's products are in four key categories of soft cakes, chocolate, biscuits and bread. The company's products are distributed in over 52,000 retail locations and its products are exported to 16 countries and territories.

Mizuho ASEAN Investment LP is a private equity fund advised by Mizuho Asia Partners Pte Ltd, a Singapore-incorporated registered fund management company.

The fund seeks to invest growth capital and nurture promising small- and medium-sized companies in Southeast Asia, in part by leveraging Japanese connections.
In the document, the ministry (MPI) stated that an agreement must be made regarding fee payments between Tan Duc Investment Corporation, the developer of Tan Duc industrial park (IP) and Japans Tango Candy Co. Ltd, a tenant of the park.

The MPI requested that Tan Duc must register its IP fee framework with the Long An Economic Zones Management Authority, showing clear policies on park infrastructure fees that are compliant with Vietnamese laws.

Fees should be collected only after IP developers and their users make an agreement in writing, the MPIs document noted.

The guiding document is favourable towards Tango Candy and several other firms at the IP, such as KSA Polymer, and YSG Apparel, which had their factory entrances blocked by Tan Duc. It is also a useful guideline for other IPs on a national scale.

The dispute between the two companies centred on unpaid infrastructure maintenance fees that Tan Duc asked Tango Candy to pay starting in 2013, at a rate of VND10,018 ($0.45) per square metre per year. The Japanese firm refused to pay, arguing that the rate was exorbitantly high. Two weeks ago, the IP developer went as far as blocking the entrance to Tango Candys factory and even temporarily turned off the electricity and water supply at the plant.

Tan Ducs unscrupulous actions received strong criticism from the public, and may have negatively affected the investment climate and the operation of firms in the IP.

The MPI asked Long An authorities and relevant management agencies to deal with Tan Ducs unprofessional behaviour in order to ameliorate the investment climate.

According to the ministrys message, Tan Duc IP has not complied strictly with the provisions of laws, as it did not register an infrastructure fee framework with the local authorities, and set high fees without first getting written agreements from its tenants. Cases like this must not happen again, read the document, adding that all further negotiations between the two parties should be reported directly to the ministry.

Tan Duc also sent a petition to the government in late March explaining that the infrastructure fee was fairly applied to both foreign and domestic firms within the park.

Vietnamese firms have paid the fees we asked for, while many foreign companies have repeatedly delayed payments for years, said Brent Thomas Beachler, general director of Tan Duc.

Meanwhile, Tango Hirosuke, general director of Tango Candy, wrote to VIR two weeks ago, stating In order to not damage the friendship between Vietnam and Japan, I still hope that we, Tango and Tan Duc, can have legitimate and intelligent discussion and agree to solve this problem as soon as possible.


The burdensome visa policy is currently a barrier to both investment and tourism

Photo: Le Toan

BowerGroupAsia Inc.s managing director Nguyen Viet Ha said one of the many obstacles facing US investors in Vietnam is the governments single-entry, three-month visa policy for American citizens. Many investors often come to Vietnam three or four times a year, meaning that they have to conduct visa procedures on each occasion, creating lots of difficulties for them.

Vietnams increasing of the visa validity for American citizens to one year and with multiple-entry is a very positive move, which can help lead to more US investments and visitors into Vietnam in the time to come, Ha told VIR. BowerGroupAsia Inc. is a US-backed investment consultancy firm, based in Hanoi.

New visa policy

Vietnams National Assembly last week issued a resolution on ratifying a diplomatic note on granting visas between the governments of Vietnam and the US. Under the note, Vietnams government will grant multi-entry, one-year visas to US citizens entering Vietnam for the purposes of attending workshops, travelling, personal affairs, or working with Vietnams organisations and businesses.

Similarly, Vietnamese citizens who wish to enter the US will also be granted multiple-entry, 12-month visas for the same purposes.

According to the resolution, the Vietnamese government and relevant agencies must complete all diplomatic procedures and begin granting multiple-entry, 12-month visas to the Americans as soon as possible.

In his document proposing that the National Assembly ratify the diplomatic note, newly elected State President Tran Dai Quang stated that over the past few years, the US side had asked Vietnam on several occasions to raise the visa validity for US citizens from the existing three months (single entry) to one year (multiple entry).

They say that our visa policy has been causing difficulties for them in terms of obtaining a visa to Vietnam, Quang said. Meanwhile, the US has been granting multiple-entry 12-month temporary business/tourism visas to Vietnamese citizens who want to enter the US.

The thumbs-up

Many National Assembly members have approved of the diplomatic note, saying that it was necessary to raise the American-oriented visas validity, as this would also be favourable for Vietnamese citizens entering the US.

This move will help boost the two countries trade and investment co-operation, said deputy Tran Quoc Khanh representing Hanoi.

The new visa policy will help reduce the costs and time taken for US citizens entering Vietnam, especially for many Vietnamese people who have US nationality and are returning to Vietnam, said deputy Hoang Thanh Tung from the southern province of Soc Trang. The policy would also be suitable within the context of the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership.

Many US firms in Vietnam have also applauded Vietnams new visa policy, saying the multiple-entry one-year visa would enable US investors to save time and costs when entering Vietnam.

Sesto Vecchi, managing partner of US law firm Russin & Vecchi, told VIR that Vietnams decision to issue multiple-entry, one-year visas to Americans is another solid indication of the growing co-operation between Vietnam and the US.

Practically, the policy should immediately increase inbound tourism, and especially return visits. It also sends a valuable signal to American businesspeople, demonstrating Vietnams willingness to continue to ease policies that are seen as restrictive.

Ta Dinh Duc, business manager of US company Intel Security in Vietnam, said that The new visa policy is very good news for US investors, as they will find it more convenient to enter Vietnam.

This sentiment was echoed by a representative from the US-backed maker of Coke in Ho Chi Minh City, who said that Vietnams new visa scheme for US citizens will create fair treatment for entry between the two countries citizens.

During my companys meetings with many other US firms, they suggested that Vietnam apply the same visa programme that the US is applying to Vietnam, otherwise they would not increase their presence in the country, said the source, who declined to be named.

The new visa policy is expected to help Vietnam attract more US investors, who currently have to travel into and out of the country many times to complete procedures for their projects here, he added.

Nguyen Van Tuan, director of a travel company in Hanoi, also expected that the new visa scheme would help his company bring more US tourists into Vietnam.

The number of US tourists tending to stay in Vietnam for more than three months is increasing. In addition to visiting Vietnams tourist spots, they are also seeking business opportunities, Tuan told VIR.

According to Vietnams National Administration of Tourism, last year about 491,300 US tourists visited Vietnam, up 10.7 per cent on-year. The figure touched over 164,700 in this years first quarter, up 14.3 per cent on-year. The tourism body stated that the new visa conditions would help Vietnam attract more US tourists.

Proposal

The US community in Vietnam has asked the Vietnamese government several times to increase the validity period of American-oriented visas from the existing three months to one year.

At the Vietnam Business Forum in Hanoi late last year, a policy dialogue between Vietnams government and the private business community, Sherry Boger, chairwoman of AmCham in Vietnam, asked Vietnams government to extend the business/tourism visas for Americans from the existing three months (single-entry) to one year (multiple-entry).

Under Vietnams existing Law on Entry, Exit, Transit, and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam becoming effective on January 1, 2015, US citizens that plan to visit Vietnam under the equivalent of a US B-1 or B-2 visa will receive visas that have, at most, a three-month period of validity, and a single entry only.

This development has already resulted in significant impediments to business and pleasure travel between Vietnam and the US, and could reduce the large revenues that tourism generates, not to mention the negative impact on the planned development of tourism as one of the five priority industry clusters in Vietnam, Boger said.

However, according to Ha of BowerGroupAsia Inc., in addition to loosening visa policy, Vietnams government should further improve the local business climate. US investors are also concerned over a series of obstructions in Vietnam, such as cumbersome investment procedures, weak infrastructure, and unclear policy in luring foreign direct investment, she stressed.
> Cabinet members vow to foster reforms

Last Thursday, the National Assembly elected Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as the countrys new Prime Minister, with 446 out of 490 votes (90.2 per cent) in favour.

Replacing Nguyen Tan Dung who served as the Prime Minister for nearly a decade, Phuc, 62, will remain in office until 2020.

With the election of Phuc, Vietnam has filled all of its top leadership positions. After Nguyen Phu Trong was re-elected as the countrys Communist Party General Secretary for a second term during the 12th National Party Congress in late January, the National Assembly elected its Vice Chairwoman, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, as Chairwoman on March 31, as well as top-ranking general and Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang as the new State President on April 2.

After the vote, Phuc took the oath of office. He said becoming the Prime Minister was a great honour and also a heavy responsibility that the Party, the state, and the people have given to him. I will do my best to serve my country and people, and work towards the goal of building the Socialist Republic of Vietnam into a prosperous, strong, democratic, fair, and civilised nation.

Phuc stressed that he, together with other cabinet members, would build up a strong, united, efficient, and effective government, undertaking drastic actions to serve the Vietnamese people, and successfully accomplish government tasks under the Constitution and the law.

He also promised that the government and the prime minister would do their utmost to overcome shortcomings and weaknesses in order to achieve all of Vietnams socio-economic development goals, expanding the nations Doi moi and international integration.

The National Assembly has set a target of achieving an annual growth rate of 6.5-7 per cent during 2016-2020, higher than the average annual rate of 5.9 per cent in the 2011-2015 period. The growth rate for 2016 is targeted at 6.7 per cent.

Through 2020, GDP per capita is expected to be $3,200-3,500, higher than last years figure of $2,109.

Focus will be placed on administrative reform, creating a favourable business climate, enhancing democracy, and strengthening discipline in the states administrative apparatus and in society in general, Phuc stressed. Efforts will also be made to further increase effectiveness in our actions against corruption and wastefulness, and to resolutely endeavour to protect national independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.

Phuc also told the media that during his tenure, the government would continue stabilising the macro-economy, beefing up economic growth and administrative reform, and creating more favourable conditions for the development of businesses.

The government will also continue encouraging startups and creative freedom, giving benefits to Vietnams talented people and mobilising its resources for development. The government will also keep working to raise the standard of living for its citizens, while ensuring their safety and security. In the short term, the government will focus on improving conditions for people in areas hit by natural disasters, drought, and saltwater intrusion, as well as ensuring food hygiene and safety.

Many National Assembly members, such as Nguyen Cong Hong representing the southern province of Dong Nai, highly commended Phuc, saying that he had a lot of experience in various positions.

I want that Phuc and the new government will intensify crack-downs on corruption, as he has vowed, Hong said.

Meanwhile, deputy Bui Duc Thu from the northern province of Lai Chau expects Phuc to lead the new government cabinet to separate the regulatory and commercial activities of the state by transforming the role of the state in the economy from a producer to an effective regulator and facilitator.

In the past, the state performed as a regulator, a producer, and a trader. It also engaged directly in economic activities through state-owned enterprises, particularly through large state companies, and indirectly through close links between the state and an exclusive segment of the domestic private sector, Thu said.
Refugees and migrants flee the tear gas as they clash with Macedonian police during a protest to reopen the border near their makeshift camp in the northern Greek border village of Idomeni. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)

IDOMENI, Greece: At least 260 people were hurt on Sunday (Apr 10) when police fired tear gas at migrants as they tried to break through the Greek-Macedonia border, where over 11,000 people are stranded, a charity said.

It was the latest violence to erupt at the flashpoint Idomeni crossing, where huge numbers of migrants and refugees have been camped out since mid-February after Balkan states closed their borders, cutting off access to northern Europe.

Macedonian police accused the crowds of hurling stones and other objects at them in a bid to break down the fence, saying they had used tear gas to protect themselves.

"Two hundred people were treated by our medical unit for breathing problems, 30 for wounds caused by plastic bullets and 30 for other injuries," Achilleas Tzemos of French medical charity Doctors Without Borders told AFP.

The incident, amid the EU's worst migration crisis since World War II, was sparked by fresh rumours that the Idomeni border crossing into Macedonia, largely closed since mid-February, was about to open.

According to a Greek police source, hundreds of migrants had gathered by the fence to demand the border be opened. When they tried to force the barrier, Macedonian police began firing tear gas.

The clashes came as an EU delegation visited Turkey and urged the country to carefully implement a deal under which all migrants arriving at the bloc's borders from Turkey now face being returned there.

At the scene, protesters with their faces covered with scarves or smeared with toothpaste as a makeshift protection against tear gas could be seen hurling rocks at the fence, an AFP correspondent said. Part of the fence appeared to have been torn down.

Others ran for cover as tear gas grenades exploded nearby, sending clouds of gas wafting into the air. Macedonian police, however, denied that anyone had been injured by plastic bullets.

'NOT USING BULLETS'

"We are not using any kind of bullets as they are forbidden by law in Macedonia. We are not using batons as we are on the other side of the fence," spokeswoman Liza Bendevska told AFP. "We are using all allowed chemical means."

Giorgos Kyritsis, a spokesman for Greece's migration coordination agency, however, condemned what he called the "dangerous" and "reprehensible" tactic of using "plastic bullets, tear gas and stun grenades".

Earlier, another Macedonian police spokesman said the mob had hurled stones and other objects at police, injuring three of them, and that they had used tear gas to try and break up the protest.

"A large group of refugees attempted to destroy the razor fence and enter Macedonia. They threw stones, metal things and other objects towards police," spokesman Toni Angelovski said.

Macedonian police had initially told AFP it was Greek police who were responsible, but Angelovski later confirmed they too had begun "using tear gas and all allowable means to protect (themselves) and the border".

"No single migrant managed to cross on Macedonian side, but (the situation) is still tense," he added.

An official at a migrant centre on the Macedonian side of the border said three 500-strong groups of people had tried to breach the barrier in three different places.

SYMBOL OF MISERY

The makeshift encampment at Idomeni, where people are living in squalid and overcrowded conditions, has become a symbol of the misery faced by thousands who have fled war and poverty to reach Europe.

Efforts by the Greek authorities to persuade migrants to leave Idomeni and move to nearby reception centres have not been successful, with many people preferring to stay put in the hope the border will be opened.

Sunday's incident came a day after four women and a child drowned off the Greek island of Samos, in the first deaths in the Aegean Sea since a controversial EU-Turkey deal to stem the flow of refugees took effect three weeks ago.

The EU delegation led by Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency, on Sunday visited Istanbul nearly a week after Greece began shipping migrants back to Turkey under the terms of the agreement.

Meanwhile, at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, where some 4,500 migrants have set up a huge makeshift camp, several hundred people protested against efforts to move them to dedicated reception centres.
Syrians returned to their homes in Palmyra, ten months after fleeing when jihadist seized the city AFP/Louai Beshara

PALMYRA, Syria: Hundreds of displaced Syrian residents of Palmyra returned home Saturday (Apr 9) to inspect their houses for the first time since the Russian-backed army captured it from the Islamic State group two weeks ago.

Ten months after fleeing their famed city the residents arrived on government-run buses from the provincial capital of Homs where they had sought shelter from jihadist rule.

"The first thing I checked in the house was the roof," Khudr Hammoud, a 68-year-old retired civil servant, told AFP, adding that he was relieved that it was still there.

"The walls, the windows and the door are also still there, and that's enough for me to get my family ready to return to Palmyra," he said.

On March 27, the Syrian army recaptured the city and its world famous antiquities, in a major symbolic and strategic coup for President Bashar al-Assad's regime and its key backer Russia.

Once home to 70,000 people, Palmyra has been scarred by Syria's five-year war and retreating jihadists sowed traps around the city.

As Hammoud and the others inspected their homes and gathered personal belongings, Russian sappers could be seen clearing mines and powerful blasts could be heard in the distance.

Many apartment blocks are partially collapsed while others have been totally demolished, AFP journalists said.

In Hammoud's home all the windows have been shattered, and some of the walls, although they are still standing, are riddled with bullets.

A local official told AFP that residents would not be allowed to spend the night in Palmyra until infrastructure is repaired and demining operations are completed.

"There is no water or electricity, and we are continuing to work on demining the surroundings of the city," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"We will need at least three weeks to rehabilitate the city's infrastructure to the extent that residents will be able to spend the night in their homes," he added.

Hammoud said he left his family back in Homs because he did not want them to see the damage and destruction.

But before boarding one of the 25 buses chartered by the authorities he made a dash for his son's room to pick up a toy.

"I promised Abdu that I would bring him the toys he wanted, which he had left in his room," he said.

Palmyra was a key tourist destination before the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011 known for its celebrated ancient ruins, including colonnaded streets and 2,000-year-old temples.

But IS destroyed some of Palmyra's most striking monuments and used the ancient amphitheatre as a venue for public executions.
This is going to be the first time Obama comes to Vietnam during his two terms as US President. According to Minh, the topics to be discussed during his visit are still on the table, but they will all aim at strengthening the relations between the two countries in terms of politics, economics, culture, as well as promoting peace and stability in the region.

The East Sea situation will also be talked about, but the most urgent issue in Vietnam right now is handling the consequences of the war, such as the victims of Agent Orange, Minh said.

President Obama told Minh at the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit, which was held in late March, that he looked forward to visiting Vietnam. With this visit, we can say that the relations between the US and Vietnam will become stronger, he also said.

In the history of VietnameseUS bilateral relations, there have been two US presidents visiting Vietnam. In November 2000, President Bill Clinton visited for the first time after the formal normalisation of the two countries diplomatic relations. Six years later, President George W. Bush paid Vietnam a visit in November.

Many Vietnamese senior leaders have visited the US before. Former Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and former President Nguyen Minh Triet both paid a visit to the US in 2005 and 2007, respectively. In 2013, former President Truong Tan Sang visited the US and signed an announcement to raise the bilateral relations between the two countries to a comprehensive partnership.

Moreover, during their terms, former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and former Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung also visited the US. Newly elected President Tran Dai Quang also had a visit in 2015 to take part in high-level discussions as Vietnamese Minister of Public Security.
Former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta noted that Italy would benefit most from the EVFTA, while speaking on Thursday in Milan. - Photo VNA

This consensus followed a co-operation agreement inked by the two sides in the northern Italian city of Milan on Friday. Under the agreement, ASSOEVI and CCIV would provide businesses in both countries with updated information, legal assistance and market surveys, in a move to help the firms effectively tap into trade and investment opportunities in both countries.

During his speech, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Cao Chinh Thien said he hoped Italy would offer practical assistance to the two countries' businesses in the future.

Further, ASSOEVI chairman Pham Van Hong said the co-operation agreement would create the right conditions for Vietnamese companies operating in Italy, and Italian businesses operating in Viet Nam, especially when the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) takes effect.

Additionally, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta noted that Italy would benefit most from the EVFTA, while speaking on Thursday in Milan.

He further suggested that Italian firms change their business approach by not only focusing on manufacturing products in Viet Nam for export to Europe, but also manufacturing products to sell to consumers in the country.

Gianfelice Rocca, chairman of Assolombarda  the largest territorial association of the entire entrepreneurial system in Italy - agreed that the FTA would bring many benefits to Italian businesses in both Vietnamese and ASEAN markets.
Last December, Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV) was licensed to add more than $600 million to its existing $1.4 billion Samsung Electronics Ho Chi Minh City Complex (SEHC), increasing its total investment capital to over $2 billion. Besides, on March 30, SEV was licensed to implement a $300 million research and development (R&D) centre project in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, increasing Samsungs total investment capital to $15 billion in Vietnam.

Besides, on April 5, LG Display and the Haiphong Peoples Committee signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the former to implement a high-tech, $1.5 billion OLED screen production facility in the northern port citys Trang Due industrial park (IP). It is LGs first overseas OLED production project in the world, as well as the groups second project of such magnitude in Trang Due IP. The 40-hectare factorys construction is expected to start this May.

According to statistics of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), in the first quarter of 2016, Vietnam licensed approximately $4.03 billion in FDI, up 109 per cent on-year, comprising $2.74 billion to 473 newly-registered projects and $1.29 billion in added capital to 203 existing projects. Korea retains its leading position among foreign-invested enterprises investing in Vietnam, with the total capital of $888.6 million, equalling 22 per cent of the total registered FDI sum.

South Korean investors capital inflow is expected to increase in the upcoming time, especially in the sectors of electronics, distribution, retail, property, energy, and textile and garment. Almost all large Korean enterprises doing business in Vietnam at present are on the FORTUNE 500 list, including Samsung, LG, GS, POSCO, Hyundai, KEPCO, and SK, just to name a few. Along with exceptionally large investments, these investors have brought modern technology lines to Vietnam.

Notably, SEV will soon implement the construction of the largest R&D centre in the Southeast Asian region, carving out an eminent position among the corporations 25 R&D centres worldwide, to research and develop high-technology and Samsungs latest products. According to Han Myoung Sup, general director of SEV, Samsung will concentrate its resources to complete the construction on schedule, professing to determination in building a long-term co-operation with Vietnam.

Similarly, the $1.5 billion OLED screen factory in Trang Due IP will bring a series of Korean satellite investors to Vietnam, contributing to developing the domestic supporting industries, once it comes into operation.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, left, poses with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for photographers prior to a meeting in Beijing Saturday, April 9, 2016.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Britain in October 2015 was a resounding success and has laid the groundwork for harmonious bilateral ties, but certain elements of the fine details still need to be thrashed out. As a result, Philip Hammond, the current British foreign secretary, visited Beijing on April 8 on route to Hiroshima for the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting. The atmosphere was cordial; Hammond's comment on the visit, and on his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, was "We are building on the global partnership established during last year's successful state visit by President Xi Jinping, by working together closely on international challenges and strengthening our trade and investment links."

As active examples of this "global partnership," he included the newly inaugurated bilateral dialogues on security and peacekeeping, a new joint research fund to combat the serious problem of antimicrobial resistance, and cooperation on the specific security challenges presented by Syria, Iran and the North Korea.

Since President Xi's state visit, bilateral relations have been warm; the Chinese side spoke of prospects for a new "golden age" of Sino-British relations, and the British government did everything in its power to ensure the success of the visit, which produced a glittering array of commercial agreements. Since then, both sides have worked hard to put flesh on the bones of the framework created at the time of the state visit.

At the end of February, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng came to Britain for the 12th conference of the China-U.K. Joint Economic and Trade Commission, and praised the joint bilateral efforts which "have given rise to a pattern of mutually beneficial, overall, sweeping and multi-level cooperation in economy and trade."

Certainly no one in Britain wishes to see any disruption to this pattern. But there are internal problems in Britain which might threaten the accord with China, and Hammond is intent on averting any such threat; it is always better to avert potential problems at an early stage rather than allow them to grow to a seriously disturbing level.

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illustration photo source vneconomy.vn

Specifically, Vietnamobile JSC has three shareholders namely Hanoi Telecommunication Joint Stock Company, which holds a 50 per cent stake, Hutchison Telecommunications (Vietnam) S.A.R.L, which holds a 49 per cent stake and individual investor Trinh Minh Chau, general director of Hanoi Telecommunication Joint Stock Company, holds a 1 per cent stake.

According to law firm Baker and McKenzie, a JSC is a recognised legal entity under Vietnamese law and shareholders are responsible for the debts and liabilities of the enterprise to the extent of the amount of their contributed capital. A JSC has the right to issue securities in order to raise capital and it may list on a securities exchange. A BCC is a contractual relationship akin to a partnership which does not create a new legal entity but which is licensed to engage in business activities in respect of a specific project in Vietnam.

The total investment capital is $1.248 billion. The project is going to be carried out in 50 years since it received the investment certificate to be issued soon by the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment.

In 2005, Hutchison Telecommunications (Vietnam) S.A.R.L received the investment license from the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam to permit it to engage in business cooperation under a BCC with Hanoi Telecommunication Joint Stock Company to build, operate and develop a mobile telecommunications network in Vietnam. Under the BCC, the business cooperation will develop a CDMA2000 network to provide mobile telecommunications services in Vietnam. The license was granted for the duration of 15 years.

The Vietnamobile network started operation in April 2009. According to data by the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications (MIC), in 2015 the number of 2G and 3G subscribers of Vietnamobile was about 11 million, compared to a total of 120.6 million in Vietnam. It has the 4th biggest market share, behind the three major networks namely Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone, and before GMobile.
Photo by TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Yisel Clavero Perez and her sister Elizabeth rent out rooms in their family home in Cuba using Airbnb.
Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS

Doves fly over the cenotaph dedicated to the victims of the atomic bombing at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry today became the highest-ranking American government official to visit Hiroshima, where 140,000 Japanese died from the first of two atomic bombs dropped by the United States in the closing days of World War II more than 70 years ago. Kerry and the other Group of Seven foreign ministers laid flowers at the park to honor the dead.
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Protesters express their opposition to the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank bailed out Wall Street but not Puerto Rico outside International House in New York, where Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen appeared with former Federal Reserve chairs Ben Bernanke, Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan.
Photo by Associated Press

Protesters against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shout towards Trump supporters near the site of a campaign appearance in Bethpage, N.Y.
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Yemeni fighters loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi wait in their pick-up trucks on a road in the Sirwah area, in Marib province on April 9, 2016. [Xinhua]

A UN-brokered cease-fire went into effect at midnight on Sunday between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the armed rebels of the Shiite Houthi group across seven provinces in the war-torn Arab country, government sources told Xinhua.

The cessation of hostilities began from 2100 GMT on Sunday to the end of Kuwait peace talks between the warring Yemeni sides which are scheduled for April 18 in order to end 282 days of civil war.

The internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Saudi-led Arab coalition announced previously they would honor the cease-fire, but the coalition reserves the right to retaliate and confront any breaches by Houthis on-ground.

Yemen's Foreign Minister Abul-Malik Mekhlafi said "President Hadi ordered leadership of the armed forces across the country to fully abide by the cease-fire."

The Shiite Houthi group and their allies in the capital city Sanaa issued an official declaration that they will respect the cease-fire, according to pro-Houthi media outlets.

The armed confrontations continued between pro-government troops and the Shiite Houthi rebels in the country's southern province of Taiz two hours before the cease-fire took effect.

Less than one hour before the start of the cease-fire, Saudi-led warplanes launched five airstrikes against positions held by Houthis in Serwah area of northern Marib province.

Military sources told Xinhua that army reinforcements loyal to the Shiite Houthi group that was backed by heavy armored vehicles were mobilized to several battlefields hours before the cease-fire.

It's the fourth cease-fire since the Saudi-led coalition began air strikes in March 2015 to support the legitimate government of Yemen's internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Previous cease-fires have failed while negotiations collapsed, but analysts expect a more conducive atmosphere during the Kuwait talks next week.

The impoverished Arab country was plunged into violence in September 2014 when the Shiite Houthi group invaded the country's capital Sanaa, driving President Hadi into exile.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out civil war between pro-government forces and Houthi rebels who were backed by troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, triggering foreign military intervention by Saudi-led coalition that aims to restore the internationally recognized government of Hadi.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians.

The warring forces have failed to reach a political solution to end the ongoing war, but agreed to resume new round of talks next week in Kuwait after their latest UN-sponsored negotiations in Switzerland in December 2015.

The deadlock came after former pro-rebel President Saleh said he would not negotiate with Hadi's government, vowing to "continue fighting to expel the coalition forces out of the Yemeni territories."
Civil Society groups and anti-corruption experts have urged Cambodias government to open an investigation into why Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana was named in the so-called Panama Papers.

The government official is the sole Cambodian to be named so far as appearing in the 11.5 million or so documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Media organizations and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) last week began publishing details from the leak. The revelations have cast light on the shadowy world of offshore finance, by which the worlds wealthy avoid paying tax or dodge scrutiny of their financial affairs.

The ICIJ claimed on its website that Ang Vong Vathana, who has been Cambodias top justice official since 2004, had in 2007 bought $5,000 worth of shares in a now-defunct company called RCD International Limited, based in the British Virgin Islands.

The Justice Ministry quickly denied the veracity of the information, but observers say a full investigation is needed in order to calm the suspicions of the public.

Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, told VOA Khmer on Friday that launching an investigation would show cleanliness from the government.

I think if theres such news, there should be an investigation to clear the name of a government official, said Kol.

It might be a concern for the related institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Unit [ACU], which has the authority since the case is linked to corruption, and also the [Financial Intelligence Unit].

We cant say much for now. Its just that its some news that the people want to have a clear sight of.

Similarly, San Chey, a fellow with the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, told VOA Khmer that an investigation would help restore the credibility of the government, provided that Ang Vong Vathana was found to be clean.

Whats necessary is that law enforcement bodies such the Anti-Corruption Unit should take measures to investigate, Chey said.

Even though theres no one filing a complaint, the matter could affect the dignity and the reputation of Cambodia on the international stage because theres the name of a senior official, namely the justice minister.

Its not just any ministry, its the Justice Ministrythe one that should find justice for the people. Its unfortunate for it to fall into such a scandal.

ACU President Om Yentieng told reporters at a special press conference on Thursday that his staff were working on the issue, but insisted that it did not mean that they would formally investigate.

There is more meaning to the word investigate, he said. There is a piece of information and we have to do research upon its credibility. And well see who to approach next. It is a step-by-step process.

VOA Khmer could not reach Ang Vong Vathana or Justice Ministry officials for comment.

But on Monday last week, the day after the story of the Panama Papers first broke, Justice Ministry spokesman Sorn Sophoan said in a press release that the ICIJs claim about Vong Vathana was false news that made the public confused and affected the dignity of the minister.

San Chey said the ministrys response was slow and unclear, compared with other governments. Some countries have launched broad investigations into whether the Panama Papers expose criminality in their jurisdictions.

In terms of reaction, we all need to understand that the reaction from the Cambodian government was rather late, he said.

Besides Ang Vong Vathana and his spokesman, theres only one press statement rejecting the Panama Papers. However, in Thailand, they take measures immediately. The officials there are investigating the issue because its related to public figures in the country.
Real-estate developers from across Asia are rushing into the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, seeking a share of one of the region's last frontier property markets.

In just a couple of years, the city has become practically unrecognizable from its former low-rise persona, adopting the cluttered mayhem of Thailand's Bangkok.

There is scarcely any sign of town planning or vision, just brand-new or yet-to-be-completed multistory condominiums on practically every inner-city block.

"This year China  mainland China  the demand's going up and a lot of foreigners  Europeans, even Americans  they are actually trying to buy properties here, starting this year," said 30-year-old Canadian developer Sam Yang.

His Chinese firm, Eastland Development, sees Phnom Penh as a potential business hub of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional economic bloc. The firm is building one 23-story apartment complex and one 37-story multipurpose complex in central Phnom Penh.

Legislation in 2010 that allowed foreigners to buy high-rise property paved the way for investors like Yang.

In one district of Phnom Penh alone  Koh Pich  10,000 to 12,000 new units are expected to come on line in the next 18 months.

In the past 12 months, 52 condo developments open to the foreign market have been approved by the city, according to real-estate firm Independent Property Services Cambodia.

It's a dramatic rate of development in a country that still ranks near the bottom of many of the world's development indexes.

The sources of capital for this boom, both on the supply and demand sides, are diverse and, in some cases, questionable.

Suitcases of cash

With an economy dominated by the U.S. dollar and practically no enforcement of anti-money-laundering safeguards, Cambodia's property market is an attractive prospect for those seeking to launder ill-gotten funds.

Last year, the Phnom Penh Post reported that the country's top anti-money laundering agencies had failed to investigate a single case since 2008 and had effectively ceased operations.

The country languishes at 150th out of 168 countries on Transparency International's 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index.

"It's, of course, difficult to tell how much of the sum is out and out illegal, but there is a lot of talk of, you know, sort of suitcases of cash floating around in Cambodia," said PriceWaterhouseCoopers Thailand manager George McLeod. "And for a country that has lax AML, anti-money-laundering enforcement, and issues with corruption, it's obviously quite prone to that."

Money laundering, however, may not be the only opaque reason some foreign investors are looking to Cambodia. In the first nine months of 2015, $500 billion poured in from China following the stock market crash there.

McLeod said investors from the regional giant see Cambodia's property market as an ideal way to convert their yuan to stable U.S. dollars  a trend Independent Property Service's general manager, Grant Fitzgerald, has also observed.

"The flip side of that is a lot of the developers I know are legitimate developers who have done 20 projects in China and they're now looking to expand," he said.

Big allowances

Cambodians tend to live with their extended families, making condos a particularly ill-suited, individualistic form of accommodation for the local market. On top of this, Cambodian banks are notoriously reticent to grant property loans, often requiring at least 100 percent of the value of the property in collateral.

Despite this, most real-estate agents put occupancy rates in the condominiums at a healthy 60 to 70 percent. The major reason for this, they say, is generous housing allowances afforded by NGOs and, increasingly, corporations.

"Its rental fee per person monthly is roughly $1,200 to $1,500  really stable for the last five to eight years, Fitzgerald said. I think that the main reason is that a lot of foreign investors come here, they rent the place by company compensation, or benefit, so that's why it's quite stable.

I don't know any Cambodians that live in condos. I know a lot that have invested in them, but I don't know any that occupy them," Fitzgerald added, laughing when asked how it was that Cambodians could buy property without easy access to credit.

"Well, there's a lot of wealthy people here with money that they've gotten through various devices, whether it be legal or illegal, and they just want to buy property to put it somewhere safe," he said.

New hub of ASEAN?

With the political climate in Bangkok souring, housing prices still hefty in Myanmar and all of Cambodia's neighbors far more susceptible to currency fluctuations, developers such as Yang are keen to promote Phnom Penh as a future regional hub of the ASEAN economic community.

"Given the political instability, the worry of the [Thai] currency, a lot of the medium to lower funds, foreign investment funds, they're actually moving their headquarters from Bangkok to Phnom Penh," he said.

The proposed Pan-Asia Railway Network, which would in theory run a high-speed rail network through Phnom Penh to Vietnam's Ho Chin Minh City, is another development that makes Yang optimistic.

Whether or not demand continues to expand as Yang envisions, McLeod said fears of a market crash on the back of plummeting occupancy is, to some extent, misguided.

"At the extreme end, you could see a lot of high-rises going up that are simply empty because it's seen as just having an investment on your books," he said. "But because there isn't widespread condominium ownership in Cambodia, it may not have a serious effect on housing prices or condominium prices because that market never existed in the first place."
Prominent opposition lawmaker Um Sam An was arrested late on Sunday night in Siem Reap province over comments he made about the border with Vietnam, a government spokesman said on Monday.

Last year, Um Sam An led a group of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) activists to the Vietnamese-Cambodian border and criticized the Cambodian government for using what he said was the wrong map to demarcate the frontier.

He then left for the United States to search for alternative real maps, while CNRP Senator Hong Sok Hour was arrested and charged related to the border issue.

General Khieu Sopheak, spokesman at the Interior Ministry, told VOA Khmer that Um Sam An's comments in 2015 and during his trip to the U.S. were incitement to create chaos in Cambodia and social unrest, and that they were racist against the Vietnamese.

As VOA audiences heard before he was arrested, when he was in Cambodia and in the States, his words were no different from inciting to create social unrest, Gen. Sopheak said.

First, he tried to make people angry about losing land and convince them that the government had used a fake map.

Gen. Sopheak insisted that the government was trying not to repeat the mistakes of Cambodias civil war, which was partly sparked by tension over the countrys border with Vietnam. North Vietnamese Communists and insurgents in the south were at the time fighting United States and using Cambodian territory to do so.

As we all know, he [Um Sam An] used racist words that we were used in 1970, and led to civil war, he said.

In sum, we arrested him, like we did with another accused person, Hong Sok Hour. We are going to send him to the court.

Um Sam An was sent to the court on Monday afternoon for several hours of questioning, before returning to the custody of the Interior Ministrys anti-terrorism and cross-border crime department.

The CNRP on Monday released a statement condemning the arrest as a violation of Cambodias Constitution. Under Article 80 of the charter, members of parliament cannot be arrested in most cases without special permission from the National Assembly.

This arrest constitutes a serious violation of the principal of parliamentary immunity, a principle enshrined in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, read the statement, adding that CNRP is calling for the immediate release of the lawmaker.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann also rejected Gen. Sopheaks description of the lawmakers alleged crimes.

Theres no obvious crime, no offense, he told VOA Khmer. If he [Sam An] claimed his map is correct and the government or ruling party said it is fake, we should have a dialogue. Each party can explain with their references because this is a matter of national interest, not personal interest.

Sovann also questioned law enforcement officials handling of the case, which involved a late-night raid to take Um Sam An into custody. Why do we use these means? It creates a bad practice, he said.

Um Sam An has become well known in recent years for his strong stance over the governments alleged mishandling of the border, but he has a long history of political activism.

He led the pro-democracy Students Movement for Democracy in the 1990s, opposing Prime Minister Hun Sens government on human rights issues and corruption, as well as border issues.

Um Sam An now has American citizenship, having moved to the U.S. in about 2003 to study. He gained a masters degree in management from Cambridge College and resided in Lowell, Massachusetts, home to a large Cambodian-American community.

He returned to Cambodia before the 2013 general election, at which he won his National Assembly seat.

Um Sam Ans detention is the 16th arrest of a CNRP members or activist in less than a year. That figure includes Senator Hong Sok Hour, who was arrested in August before being stripped of his parliamentary immunity.

Gen. Sopheak said the Ministry of Interior will report to the National Assembly about Um Sam Ans crimes, so that they can vote on whether to oppose the arrest or not.

National Assembly spokesman Leng Penglong confirmed that parliament would vote on Tuesday.

We will have a plenary session tomorrow afternoon to vote on his case, Leng Penglong said.

VOA Khmer's Sok Khemara contributed to this report.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he is deeply moved" and "honored to be the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit Hiroshima, Japan, a city devastated after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb near the end of World War II.

He commented at the end of a two-day meeting with other Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers that included a tour of a World War II memorial to victims in Hiroshima.

It was a stunning display, said Kerry, after visiting Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. It is a gut-wrenching display. It tugs at your sensibilities as a human being, he added.

Asked if President Obama will visit Hiroshima when he attends a G-7 leaders summit in Japan in May, Kerry said he hoped that one day the president of the U.S. would be among those who visited the city.

He added that Obama had expressed an interest in visiting but did not know if the presidents schedule would permit during his upcoming trip to Japan.

An overriding theme during the sessions was nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida was asked about recent comments made by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who suggested Japan and South Korea should have nuclear weapons in order to decrease their reliance on the U.S. for protection.

For us to obtain nuclear weapons is completely inconceivable, said the foreign minister.

Later, without specifically mentioning Trump, Kerry said such suggestions by candidates for high office were absurd on their face and ran counter to everything the U.S. has been trying to achieve.

Global security was among the focal points for Kerry and foreign ministers during their two-day meeting, which comes on the heels of recent terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris.

In a joint communique, foreign ministers condemned the attacks and other atrocities committed terrorist groups.

Blatant abuses of human rights and the destruction and disorder being brought by ISIL/Daesh and other terrorist organizations continue to pose a serious threat to local, national, regional and international peace and security, the group said.

The foreign ministers also weighed in on efforts to stabilize Syria through U.N.-facilitated talks on a political transition.

It is vital that all parties to the Cessation, as well as their backers, continue to observe its terms fully and focus negotiations on political transition away from [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assads rule, the group said.

The foreign ministers also discussed North Koreas recent provocations, including its nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

Kerry traveled to Hiroshima from Afghanistan. His week-long tour has also included stops in Iraq and Bahrain.

On Tuesday, he will address a trade group in California. The State Department says he will address "national security opportunities" of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Seven works by the Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudi make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site around Barcelona.

One of those properties is Casa Batllo, a building locally referred to as the House of Bones because of its organic skeletal qualities. It figures prominently in celebrations held April 23 for St. George, the patron saint of Catalonia.

The enormous ceramic dragon curled up on the rooftop, with the towering cross of St. George looming over it, ensures Casa Batllos playful participation in this annual event. Last years sound and light show depicted the convulsive awakening of the snoring dragon.

Legend has it that after St. George slew the dragon to save a princess from its clutches, he plucked a red rose for her from a nearby bush where the dragons red blood was spilled.

Casa Batllo plans to use this part of the legend to dress up the facade of the building with very large red roses for this years festival.

Ruth Alonso, marketing executive for Casa Batllo, said no other color will do as red signifies the blood of the dragon.

It is the Day of the Rose as well," Alonso said. "The tradition is that the boys give a rose to the girl and the girls give a book to the boys.

"It used to be that the girls gave the legend of St. George on a book, but now it is also the Day of the Book because all the big writers they wait until that day to do the launch of the books and they are in the streets signing the books," she added.

In 1904, Gaudi was hired by wealthy textile merchant Josep Batllo to refurbish the house.

Batllo's only instruction to Gaudi was to create a spectacular house that would cast all the others on the street into the shade. And, Gaudi obliged.

The architect lavishly employed his love for nature, using color to enhance the brightness and brilliance of this art nouveau structure.

Gaudi's obsession with light is visible throughout the house. A huge central skylight illuminates the dark blue tiles on the upper floors, which gradually lighten and become completely white on the darker bottom floor.

Alonso said the house emphasizes Gaudis love for rounded shapes. The windows offer the only straight lines.

Rounded walls

The Batllo family came here with their furniture. As you can see in the house, everything is round, even the walls are round. So, the family had a problem that they could not fit the furniture because they had a straight line," she said. "So, Gaudi had to design different kinds of furniture for the family.

Community Manager Pilar Delgado said Batllos wife, Amalia Godo, hated the house and hated Gaudis suggestion that he design special round furniture for women.

Delgado said Godo did not like the curved design of the house, because it made it very difficult to place furniture in the house. "All the walls are curved back, so it is complicated to live here."

Despite Godos disdain for Gaudis design, the architect filled the house with sensuous, rounded, extravagantly sculptured furniture in richly colored woods. Because the house attracts a constant stream of visitors, the furniture has been removed to the National Art Museum of Catalonia and the Musee dOrsay in Paris.

The Batllo family lived on the first floor. The other three floors were rented out to individuals or commercial enterprises.

The dragon, abutted by the cross of St. George, is splayed across the arched rooftop. Its long shape looks menacing because of the creatures upwardly jutting spiny ceramic scales.

Alonso, the marketing executive, said the floor directly below the roof formerly contained laundry rooms and storage areas for the tenants.

The dragon is on the top, but we are like inside the dragon," she said. "There was a clothesline as well and all the people from the different places, they used to go upstairs to dry the clothes together.

PHOTOBLOG: Casa Batllo
Scientists in Brazil have found evidence of a second brain disorder linked to the Zika virus - one with symptoms so similar to multiple sclerosis that some medical personnel initially have difficulty telling them apart.

The new disorder, called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, or ADEM, is identified in an abstract authored by Brazilian scientist Maria Lucia Brito Ferreira. She is set to present her findings at an international meeting of neurological scientists meeting April 15-21 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

ADEM is described as a short-term, intense immune attack on the central nervous system, targeting the brain and spinal cords in patients who have recovered from a range of viral or bacterial infections.

Brazilian news site G1 reported that Ferreira, a neurologist at Restoration Hospital in Recife, Brazil, based her findings on the study of 151 patients who visited the hospital between December 2014 and June 2015.

Ferreira observed the patients who had been infected with arboviruses, which include Zika, dengue and chikungunya. Out of these patients, six were diagnosed with Zika. Five patients reported motor dysfunction, vision problems, and one had cognitive decline.

Zika has already been linked with the autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barre that causes swelling in the brain and spinal cord that damages the myelin, a white protective coating that surrounds never fibers resulting in loss of balance and vision, numbness, and weakness.

Encephalomyelitis, is a serious condition, regardless of etiology. It is more serious than the Guillain-Barre, Ferreira told G1.

Zika is also linked to microcephaly, which causes a spectrum of birth defects, miscarriages and deaths in infants, as well as paralysis in adults. In January, the World Health Organization called the virus an international public health emergency because of its link to microcephaly.

Brazilian officials confirmed more than 940 Zika cases in mothers. The country is investigating another 4,300 suspected cases of microcephaly.

President Barack Obama asked Congress in early February for $1.9 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus.

Reuters reported that at least 13 countries have reported cases of Guillain-Barre linked with outbreaks of Zika. WHO believes Zika is likely the cause.

Scientists have known about Zika since it was discovered in Uganda in 1947.
The parent group that owns British tabloid Daily Mail confirms it is in talks with several other parties to launch a bid for Yahoo, which has been struggling in recent years.

The Daily Mail and General Trust, Daily Mails parent company, which also owns the popular website Elite Daily, said Monday it is in the early stages of launching a potential bid for Yahoo, and is in contact with other potential bidders, but declined to provide names of the other firms.

"We have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders," a spokeswoman for DailyMail.com said in an emailed statement.

The Wall Street Journal, which originally reported the potential sale Sunday, said that half a dozen private equity firms may be involved in financing the DMGT bid. Yahoo set a deadline on April 18 for preliminary bids.

According to the Wall Street Journal, there are two possibilities for the potential DMGT bid.

In the first, Yahoos core web business would be acquired by a private equity firm, while its media and news offerings would be folded into the Daily Mails global online operations. The merged media operation would then form a new company to be run by the Daily Mail.

In the second, the private equity firm would similarly acquire Yahoos entire core web business, but the Mail would just take over the news and media properties, without forming a new company and the DGMT would have a smaller equity stake.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Time Inc. is also considering a partnership with a private equity firm to bid on Yahoo. U.S. telecommunications giant Verizon, which also owns AOL, has also expressed interest in making a bid.

Yahoo, once an internet pioneer with great potential, is still one of the most well-known names on the internet with more than one billion users. But it has struggled to keep up with Google in internet searches and has seen steady losses in advertising revenue.
 Flash

An international conference was held in Beijing on April 11 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations.

The opening session of the international conference is held on the morning of April 11 in Beijing. [Photo by Lin Liyao/China.org.cn]

Su Ge, president of China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), addressed the meeting. "China and the ASEAN initiated dialogue relations in 1991. During the past 25 years, both the world and the region have undergone significant changes. It's so delightful to see that friendly relations between China and ASEAN countries have endured through so many changes and have been continuously reinforced," said Su.

"In the world, there are many things you can choose, but one thing you can't choose is your neighbors. That's why it's very important for us to improve and enhance our already good relationship," Su said. "China and the ASEAN must work together and strengthen at least three pillars -- economy, security, and culture -- in order to inject new momentum into regional cooperation."

Yang Xiuping, secretary-general of the ASEAN-China Center (ACC), said during the opening session that the ASEAN and China are close neighbors and long standing friends.

"Since 1991, mutual political trust has been completely enhanced; the all-dimensional, multi-tier, and wide-ranging cooperation between both sides has borne rich fruits," said Yang. "I believe that ASEAN-China relations have huge potential and will embrace a brighter future."

The two-day conference was co-organized by CIIS, a think tank of China's Foreign Ministry, and the ACC, an inter-governmental organization jointly founded by the governments of the 10 ASEAN member states and China. Participants from China, ASEAN countries, and international organizations attended the meeting and shared their opinions on China-ASEAN relations.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
Prominent opposition lawmaker Um Sam An was arrested late Sunday in Siem Reap province for comments he made about the border with Vietnam, a government spokesman said Monday.

Last year, Sam An led a group of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) activists to the Vietnamese-Cambodian border and criticized the Cambodian government for using what he said was the wrong map to demarcate the frontier. He then left for the United States to search for alternative "real" maps. Another member of the group, CNRP Senator Hong Sok Hour, was arrested on charges related to the border issue.

General Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman at the Interior Ministry, told VOA Khmer that Sam An's comments in 2015 and during his trip to the U.S. were "incitement to create chaos in Cambodia and social unrest," and that they were racist against the Vietnamese.

"As VOA audiences heard before he was arrested, when he was in Cambodia and in the States, his words were no different from inciting to create social unrest," Sopheak said. "First, he tried to make people angry about losing land and convince them that the government had used a fake map."

Sopheak insisted the government is trying not to repeat the mistakes of Cambodia's civil war, which was partly sparked by tensions over the country's border with Vietnam. At the time, North Vietnamese communists and insurgents in the south were using Cambodian territory to fight the United States.

"As we all know, [Sam An] used racist words that were used in 1970, and led to civil war," he said. "In sum, we arrested him, like we did with another accused person, Hong Sok Hour. We are going to send him to the court."

Sam An was sent to court Monday for several hours of questioning, before being returned to custody.

Arrest condemned

The CNRP released a statement Monday condemning the arrest as a violation of Cambodia's Constitution. Under the charter, members of parliament cannot be arrested in most cases without special permission of the National Assembly.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann also rejected Sopheak's description of the lawmaker's alleged crimes.

"There's no obvious crime, no offense," he told VOA Khmer. "If he [Sam An] claimed his map is correct and the government or ruling party said it is fake, we should have a dialogue."

Sovann also questioned law enforcement officials' handling of the case, which involved a late night raid to take Sam An into custody. "Why do we use these means? It creates a bad practice." Sovann said.

History of speaking out

Sam An has become well-known in recent years for his strong stance on the government's alleged mishandling of the border, but he has a long history of political activism. He led the pro-democracy Students' Movement for Democracy in the 1990s, opposing Prime Minister Hun Sen's government on human rights issues and corruption, as well as border issues.

Sam An now has American citizenship, having moved to the U.S. in about 2003 to study. He gained a master's degree in management from Cambridge College and resided in Lowell, Massachusetts  home to a large Cambodian American community. He returned to Cambodia before the 2013 general election, at which time he won his National Assembly seat.

Sam An's detention is the 16th arrest of a CNRP member or activist in less than a year.

Sopheak said the Interior Ministry will report to the National Assembly about Sam An's crimes, so that it can vote on whether to oppose the arrest. National Assembly spokesman Leng Penglong confirmed that parliament will vote Tuesday.
Civil society groups and anti-corruption experts have urged Cambodia's government to open an investigation into why Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana was named in the so-called Panama Papers.

The government official is the sole Cambodian to be named in the 11 million or so documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Media organizations and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) last week began publishing details from the leak  whose revelations have shed light on the shadowy world of offshore finance, by which the world's wealthy can avoid paying taxes or dodge scrutiny of their financial affairs.

The ICIJ claimed on its website that Vong Vathana, who has been Cambodia's top justice official since 2004, had in 2007 bought $5,000 worth of shares in a now-defunct company called RCD International Limited, based in the British Virgin Islands.

The Justice Ministry quickly denied the veracity of the information, but observers say a full investigation is needed in order to calm public suspicions.

Preap Kol, executive director of Transparency International Cambodia, told VOA Khmer on Friday that launching an investigation would show "cleanliness" from the government.

"I think if there's such news, there should be an investigation to clear the name of a government official," Kol said. "It might be a concern for the related institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Unit [ACU], which has the authority since the case is linked to corruption, and also the [Financial Intelligence Unit]. We can't say much for now. It's just that it's some news that the people want to have a clear sight of."

Step-by-step process

Similarly, San Chey, a fellow with the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, told VOA Khmer that an investigation would help restore the credibility of the government, provided that Vong Vathana was found to be "clean."

"What's necessary is that law enforcement bodies such the Anti-Corruption Unit should take measures to investigate," Chey said. "Even though there's no one filing a complaint, the matter could affect the dignity and the reputation of Cambodia on the international stage because there's the name of a senior official, namely the justice minister. It's not just any ministry, it's the Justice Ministry  the one that should find justice for the people. It's unfortunate for it to fall into such a scandal."

ACU President Om Yentieng told reporters at a special news conference Thursday that his staff was "working on" the issue, but insisted that did not mean that they would formally investigate.

"There is more meaning to the word investigate,'" he said. "There is a piece of information and we have to do research upon its credibility. And we'll see who to approach next. It is a step-by-step process."

VOA Khmer could not reach Vong Vathana or Justice Ministry officials for comment.

'False news'

But on Monday last week, the day after the story of the Panama Papers first broke, Justice Ministry spokesman Sorn Sophoan said in a news release that the ICIJ's claim about Vong Vathana was "false news that made the public confused and affected the dignity of the minister."

Chey said the ministry's response was slow and unclear, compared with other governments. Some countries have launched broad investigations into whether the Panama Papers expose criminality in their jurisdictions.

"In terms of reaction, we all need to understand that the reaction from the Cambodian government was rather late," he said.

"Besides Ang Vong Vathana and his spokesman, there's only one press statement rejecting the Panama Papers. However, in Thailand, they take measures immediately. The officials there are investigating the issue because it's related to public figures in the country."
The aboriginal community of Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario has declared a state of emergency after 11 of its members attempted suicide this past weekend. Twenty-eight suicide attempts were reported last month in the Northern-Canadian community of 2,000 people.

Bruce Shisheesh, chief of the community, tweeted Monday that Canadian health authorities were flying in a crisis team of mental health nurses and social workers. Federal agency Health Canada also said it had sent two mental health counselors as part of that unit.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his commitment to improving living conditions for indigenous people, stating the news was "heartbreaking" in a tweet Sunday.

Another Canadian aboriginal community in Manitoba applied for federal aid last month after seeing 140 suicide attempts in just two weeks.

Canadian aboriginals make up about four percent of the country's population and have lower life expectancies and higher levels of poverty than other Canadians. They also have higher rates of violent crime, addiction and incarceration.

According Health Canada, suicide is among the top causes of death for indigenous communities in Canada.

"This is a systemic crisis affecting the region," said Charlie Angus, a member of parliament. "There has just not been a serious response from any level of government until now."
U.S. CIA Director John Brennan says his agency would not use waterboarding against a detainee, even if a future president ordered such interrogation techniques.

"Absolutely, I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again," he said in an interview with NBC News, a portion of which aired Sunday.

Brennan said he would not use the tactics "because this institution needs to endure."

The CIA used a program of harsh interrogations aimed at forcing terror suspects to give up information about possible attacks against the United States in the years following the 2001 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the U.S.

President Barack Obama banned the techniques when he took office in 2009, saying many of them amounted to torture.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said last month he would "use every legal power" to stop terrorists, but would not order the military or others to violate the law. He had earlier supported going "tougher than waterboarding." His closest challenger in the race, Senator Ted Cruz, said in February he would bring back "whatever enhanced interrogation methods" are necessary to keep the country safe.

Brennan's stance has evolved since the Senate released a report in December 2014 criticizing the CIA's use of waterboarding, mock executions, ice baths, sexual threats and other techniques against captured al-Qaida members and other militants. The report said the interrogations failed to produce any life-saving intelligence.

Brennan said after the report's release that he would "defer to future policymakers in future times" on whether the techniques would be used again. He also said the interrogations had, in fact, produced intelligence that helped thwart attack plans and capture terrorists.

Others have defended the program as necessary for national security. Former vice president Dick Cheney, who was in office when then-president George W. Bush authorized the methods, said they kept the country safe from more attacks. Jose Rodriguez, who ran the interrogation program for the CIA, said information obtained through the interrogations helped lead to the capture of the self-proclaimed architect of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Mohammed is one of the remaining detainees at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a facility that Obama wanted to close during his presidency. The U.S. government has tried prosecuting some of the detainees, but legal analysts say that process is complicated because some of the prisoners were subjected to enhanced interrogations that included waterboarding.

Two U.S. Air Force psychologists who designed the CIA's program are also facing a lawsuit filed on behalf of three suspected terrorists who were detained but never charged with crimes. The ACLU brought the suit last October, accusing the psychologists of personally taking part in torture sessions under a program that was "unlawful and its methods barbaric." That case is still moving through the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.
The waters around eastern Indonesia are known as the "Amazon of the Seas," because of their biodiversity. They are home to the world's most diverse coral reefs and the world's largest shark fin industry, responsible for the deaths of more than three million sharks a year.

Shark fishing is the main livelihood in Indonesia's remote island communities. But shark populations have been declining sharply in recent years. That affects not just the fishermen, but also the region's ocean ecosystem and lucrative marine tourism industry.

To protect those interests, conservationists are calling for better fisheries management.

Three years ago, the Raja Ampat regency government established a shark sanctuary around its archipelago off the coast of West Papua. Marine biologist Vanessa Jaiteh, of Murdoch University in Perth, studied the impact of the ban on commercial and artisanal fishing of sharks and reef fish.

Writing in Frontiers in Marine Science she reports the shark population was up to 28 times higher in the No-Take Zones than in areas open to fishing. Reef fish were more abundant, as well.

Jaiteh and her colleagues followed up their study by talking to fishermen, who reported they moved their operations to other fishing grounds or found other means of making a living, including illegally transporting and selling fuel to local communities.

"Some of their self-initiated alternatives involve high personal or environmental risk and are hardly more sustainable than shark finning," Jaiteh said.

The authors conclude no-fishing zones will be effective only if they are part of a broader conservation strategy, which includes legal and sustainable livelihood options for those who make their living in the shark fin trade.
Police in southern India detained five people for questioning in connection with the temple fire in the state of Kerala that killed about 100 people and injured 380 early Sunday.

The massive fire erupted as thousands gathered to witness a fireworks display held as a part of an annual religious festival.

Officials said a shed where a huge quantity of fireworks was stored went up in flames after a spark fell on it, setting off a series of massive explosions and a blaze that spread quickly. The office of the temple authorities was reduced to rubble and part of the temple roof caved in.

A stampede ensued as panic spread and many were injured as they tried to flee the flames.

The tragedy took place a few hours after the fireworks display started near the Puttingal Devi Temple in the coastal town of Paravur in Kollam district, about 70 kilometers from the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram.

Military assisting aid effort

Disaster teams have reached the coastal town. The armed forces are assisting the massive effort to transport the injured and those who have suffered burn injuries to hospitals.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said permission had not been granted for the fireworks display and temple authorities had flouted rules in conducting it.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed to the disaster site with a team of specialist doctors. In a tweet he called the fire at the temple heart-rending and shocking beyond words and said, My thoughts are with families of the deceased and prayers with the injured."

The fireworks display at the temple is a tradition that dates back many decades and is usually a competition between two teams.

Pyrotechnic shows are usually banned at temples in the Kollam district and rules stipulate that fireworks should be stored more than 100 meters away from temples.

The southern Kerala state is dotted with many Hindu temples, and the Puttingal Devi temple was built at a site where locals believe a goddess appeared many centuries ago.
Foreign Ministers from the Group of Seven (G-7) expressed concern in a joint statement issued on Monday over tensions in the East and South China Sea, calling for all states to pursue a peaceful settlement of maritime disputes.

We express our strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions, and urge all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamation, including large scale ones, building outposts, as well as their use for military purposes, said the G-7 Foreign Ministers statement on maritime security.



While the statement did not explicitly name China, who is not a G-7 member, it contained a message viewed as critical of Beijings massive efforts to assert its claims over a string of islands in the South China Sea through new constructions.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the G-7 meeting should not "hype" the South China Sea issue. He said doing so will not help solving the problem, and it will affect regional stability, according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The statement by foreign ministers from seven industrialized countries also urged all states to manage disputes through applicable internationally recognized legal dispute settlement mechanisms, including arbitration.

It came as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to reach a decision soon on a case filed by Manila against Beijing.



In January 2013, the Philippines filed a complaint with the tribunal that handles arbitration, questioning what it called Chinas excessive claim to practically the entire South China Sea. China voiced strong opposition about the case being taken to the international tribunal.

Foreign Ministers from the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan met in Hiroshima to discuss issues  including regional and global security  paving the way next month for Group of Seven leaders summit.
One of the biggest U.S. investment banks, Goldman Sachs, agreed Monday to pay the government $5 billion in penalties for selling financially questionable mortgage-backed securities leading up to the country's financial crisis in 2008.

A Justice Department official, Stuart Delery, said the agreement, "holds Goldman Sachs accountable for its serious misconduct in falsely assuring investors that securities it sold were backed by sound mortgages, when it knew that they were full of mortgages that were likely to fail."

The deal requires the New York company to pay $2.4 billion in civil penalties, $1.8 billion in relief to homeowners hurt by the economic downturn and $875 million to settle other claims. The company admitted it did not share information with investors regarding troubling information it had received about the business practices of the banks that had originated the loans with homeowners.

The penalties against Goldman are the latest of several multi-billion-dollar settlements imposed in the last two years on Wall Street firms for their role in selling investment securities supported by home loans that depended on homeowners continuing to make monthly mortgage payments. The government already settled cases against Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.

As the country's economic downturn worsened in 2008, millions of U.S. workers lost their jobs and many of them their homes when they no longer had the money to repay loans, making worthless many of the securities that the big banks were selling to investors.

Critics of U.S. financial regulators have attacked the monetary settlements against the banks as insufficient accounting for the damage caused by the financial crisis. While the institutions have been penalized, it is believed that only one financial executive has been imprisoned for actions linked to the country's worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression of the 1930's.

The Justice Department is now focusing on individuals and decisions they made, but it is not clear whether any new criminal charges will be filed.
A massive data breach has exposed 55 million Philippine voters to potential fraud and other risks after the entire database of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) was hacked and leaked.

A group called Anonymous Philippines originally hacked and defaced the Comelec website March 27, calling on the government to ensure more security for voting machines to be used in the upcoming May 9 national elections.

Later that same day, a group called LulzSec Pilipinas posted the entire database online.

According to Trend Micro, an information technology security company, the data leak included fingerprints of more than 15.8 million voters, as well as passport numbers and expiration dates of 1.3 million voters residing overseas.

The company claims in its blogpost on the incident that "this leak may turn out as the biggest government-related data breach in history, surpassing the Office of Personnel Management [OPM] hack last 2015 that leaked PII [personally identifiable information], including fingerprints and social security numbers of 20 million US citizens."

It also exceeds the record-breaking hack of the Turkish citizenship database, which left 49 million people vulnerable to cybercrime and identity theft last week.

A Comelec spokesperson reassured the public in March, stating "the database in our website is accessible to the public. There is no sensitive information there. We will be using a different website for the election, especially for results reporting, and that one we are protecting very well."

But Trend Micro claims Comelec's initial response to the hack in late-March drastically downplayed its potential effects.

Anonymous Philippines posted on the Comelec website: "But what happens when the electoral process is mired with questions and controversies? Can the government still guarantee that the sovereignty of the people is upheld?"
Two international relief groups are increasing efforts to help residents of drought-stricken northern Somalia.

UNICEF and the World Food Program say they are providing immediate life-saving humanitarian aid to Somalialand and Puntland, autonomous regions in northwestern and northeastern Somalia.

Drought conditions have prompted the two agencies to offer food, nutrition programs, health services and support, and access to safe water and improved sanitation.

UNICEF and the WFP estimate 385,000 residents need immediate assistance, while another 1.3 million may slide into a crisis if drought conditions persist and assistance is slow to arrive.

UNICEF representative for Somalia Steven Lauwerier said many residents are in dire need of immediate assistance.

"Our concerted efforts are needed now to save the lives of tens of thousands of children and their families, he said. Any delay from the international community will put their lives further at risk."

Four seasons of poor rain in northern Somalia have been exacerbated by El Nino, a cycle of warm and cold temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that is linked to global changes in temperatures and rainfall.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry said the recent reportedly missing North Korean citizens in China were leaving the country with valid passports.

China's Foeign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang says on April 11, 2016 that the recent reportedly missing North Koreans in China left the country with valid papers. [Photo:fmprc.gov.cn]

The 13 North Korean reportedly arrived in South Korea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said investigations show that 13 people with North Korean nationality have left China in a normal way, with valid passports.

"I want to emphasize that these people entered and left China legally, holding valid identification. They are not North Koreans who entered illegally," the spokesman commented during a press briefing on Monday.

"Our position on the issue of illegal North Korean immigrants is clear to all. We always handle the issue according to domestic and international laws and with the spirit of humanitarianism," he added.
In a signal of a revival in ties between India and the Maldives, the president of the Indian Ocean island country committed to what he called an India-first policy on a two-day visit to New Delhi.

During talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom on Monday, the two countries sought to put behind a recent spell of cooler ties. India was seen backing former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed and Chinese influence was perceived to be on the rise in the country that lies along important shipping routes in the Indian Ocean.

Six agreements signed by the two countries include a defense cooperation pact which New Delhi hopes will revive its strategic clout in the Maldives.

Modi underlined New Delhis readiness to protect its interests in the region.

The strong friendship between our two countries is important for peace and security in the entire Indian Ocean. India understands its responsibility as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean, he said.

Saying the two countries share a common perspective, the Maldivian president said that is why the Maldives pursues an India first foreign policy. The security of the Maldives is intimately linked with the security of India.

Last year, Prime Minister Modi canceled a trip to the Maldives amid a downturn in ties over political turmoil triggered by the arrest of former president Nasheed, a pro-India leader ousted in 2012.

Analysts, however, say India was prompted to repair ties with the Maldives government amid concerns over a bid by China to deepen security ties and increase its investments with strategic Indian Ocean countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Beijings investments in infrastructure projects in the archipelago have increased significantly since Yameen took power.

The two countries also agreed to cooperate in counterterrorism amid concerns that there has been a surge in young people from the Maldives leaving for West Asia to join Islamic State.

The Maldivian president said his countrys economy is in distress and opportunities are needed for the desperate and restless youth. Yameen warned that otherwise this part of the world is right open to radicalism, to militant exercises by the youth across the borders.

The Maldivian opposition is unhappy that New Delhi is repairing ties with Yameen, saying India should have reprimanded him over the arrest of Nasheed, who has been convicted on terrorism charges. Campaigners have also been pressing for travel bans and sanctions against top Maldivian officials to press them to restore democracy.

In New Delhi, Yameen lobbied India for support to thwart such moves, saying his government is upholding the rule of law. We look at India for continued support in preventing any unfair, any punitive action by the CMAG (Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group) on the Maldives.
Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces of using unnecessary force while arresting and interrogating Palestinian minors.

A statement by the group also said that arrests of children have increased dramatically since an outbreak of violence erupted in the region in October 2015 that has left over 200 people dead.

Israeli rights group BTselem reported that 415 Palestinian minors are currently being held in Israeli prisons  up from just 193 in September 2015.

"Interviews with children who have been detained, video footage and reports from lawyers reveal that Israeli security forces are using unnecessary force in arresting and detaining children, in some cases beating them, and holding them in unsafe and abusive conditions," Human Rights Watch said in their statement.

The rights group cited figures from BTselem and UNICEF as well as interviewing three young men  one from the West Bank and two from Israel  annexed east Jerusalem. All three minors reported being slapped, hit, kicked or being put in a chokehold upon their arrest.

Majority not informed of legal rights

In a UNICEF report released in February 2015, 171 out of 208 affidavits of Palestinian minors reported being subjected to physical violence during arrest, interrogation, and/or detention."

The report also said that only 163 out of the 208 were informed of their legal rights.

Human Rights Watch said in its report that international and domestic Israeli laws provide special protections for children, including allowing a parent to be present for interrogation. It said two out of their three interviewees were denied this right, and the thirds parents were only allowed in after the interrogation had begun.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told the French news agency AFP that the report was "inaccurate and misleading," stating that "the youths were arrested for being directly involved in terrorist and criminal activity."
The Central Bank of Kenya is cracking down on commercial banks accused of illegal lending practices. Police issued arrest warrants Friday for eight bankers for alleged unethical conduct.



Since becoming governor at Kenyas Central Bank, Patrick Njoroge has led a charge against improper lending practices in the commercial banking sector.



In the past year, the Central Bank has put three commercial institutions under receivership, which means that a government-appointed agency takes over the running of the bank.



The most recent bank targeted was Chase Bank last week. The news caused a run on the bank as people frantically tried to withdraw their money. Chase Bank is currently closed.



The central bank governor sought to reassure Kenyans late Sunday. Njoroge said the Central Bank would provide credit to financial institutions to meet their obligations.



We will avail a facility to any bank or any microfinance institution that comes under liquidity pressures arising from no fault of their own. We will avail this facility for as long as necessary to return stability and confidence to the Kenyan financial sector, said Njoroge.



He said withdrawals from those banks would be limited to $1,000.



In the case of Chase, industry experts say they expect outside investors to buy up shares and bail the bank out.



Businesswoman Caroline Nyokabi is one of the banks more than 55,000 depositers.



Currently we are not able to access it neither are we even able to get it from any other visa ATM machine. It has really affected [me] because seriously we have just gotten our pay and right now we have to depend on other people to get the day going, she said.



Police have issued arrest warrants for two Chase Bank executives and six others from the National Bank of Kenya.



The Central Bank says Chase executives irregularly advanced $200 million to various entities without proper security and beyond the set regulatory limit. Half of this amount went to bank insiders.



Aly-Khan Satchu of the consulting firm Rich Management said the Central Bank will likely come after more banks.



Essentially its going to happen around the tier-three banks because theyve resisted capital increases for many, many years. Theyve basically built banking businesses on wafer-thin capital. Everyone is now focused and they just dont feel comfortable with the types of numbers some of these banks are telling us are the real numbers, said Satchu.



Satchu said the solution is consolidation. There are currently 42 different commercial banks operating in Kenya.
The Taiwan government is accusing China of kidnapping eight Taiwanese citizens after Kenyan authorities deported them to China rather than to Taiwan.

The Nation reported 37 suspects, including 23 Taiwanese, were found not guilty of cyber crime charges Tuesday by a Kenya court and were given 21 days to leave the country.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry says China pressured Kenyan police to put eight of the Taiwanese nationals on to a Chinese jet bound for China on Friday.

Kenyan authorities said the deportation to China was a response to pressure from Beijing.

Taiwans Foreign Ministry demanded an immediate return of the eight people calling their deportation "an uncivilized act of illegal kidnapping and a serious violation of basic human rights.

Taiwan had sent officials from its representative office in South Africa to Kenya to try to deal with the case because it has no office in Kenya, the Foreign Ministry added. It said despite a court order that would have kept the eight Taiwanese in Kenya, Chinese officials obstructed its officials efforts by delaying the court order and preventing Taiwan's representative from reaching the acquitted.

The ministry said by the time Taiwanese officials arrived at the airport, the eight Taiwan citizens had been forcefully taken to a passenger plane of China Southern Airlines and sent to the mainland.

This has not only harmed the fundamental human rights [of the eight], but has hurt Taiwan peoples feeling and severe negative impacts on ties between the two sides, Shih Hui-fen, deputy minister of Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council, said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he needed to further understand the situation when asked about it during a Monday news briefing.

Beijing views Taiwan as a wayward province, to be brought under China's control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after a civil war with the Communists now in control in Beijing.

Only 22 countries recognize Taiwan, with most, including Kenya, having diplomatic relations with Beijing, recognizing its "one China" policy.
The mystery over who controlled a British Virgin Islands-registered company that received $3.5 billion from Malaysia's scandal-tainted state fund 1MDB deepened on Monday when a company in the Middle East with an almost identical name said the BVI firm did not belong to it.

Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS said in a joint statement the BVI firm with an almost identical name, Aabar Investments PJS Ltd, "was not an entity within either corporate group."

They had neither received any payments from the BVI company, which was wound up last June, nor assumed any liabilities on its behalf, the statement said.

A Malaysian parliamentary committee investigating 1MDB said in a report released on Thursday that the Malaysian sovereign fund sent a total of $3.5 billion to "Aabar BVI."

Where money went

What happened to the money after it went to the British Virgin Islands could not be determined, the report said.

The 1MDB fund is solely owned by the Ministry of Finance.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also finance minister, was authorised to sign off on the fund's major transactions, according to the parliamentary report. Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The 1MDB transfers to "Aabar BVI" included about $1.4 billion from a privately placed bond that Goldman Sachs raised in 2012. The 1MDB fund also made payments of $855 million, $993 million and $295 million as security deposits and other guarantees for the bond to the BVI firm, the report said.

In response to IPIC's statement, 1MDB said it was surprised that neither IPIC nor Aabar had any knowledge of payments 1MDB made to Aabar BVI.

The IMDB fund says its records show documentary evidence of the ownership of Aabar BVI and of each payment made. The statement did not say what that ownership was.

It added that legal agreements were negotiated with Khadem Al Qubaisi in his capacity as managing director of IPIC and chairman of Aabar or with Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny, who was CEO of Aabar.

The United Arab Emirates' central bank has ordered a freeze on the assets of Khadem and Mohamed Badawy, banking sources told Reuters last week. The reason for the freeze was unclear.

Corruption probe

Investigators in at least five nations, in addition to Malaysia, are scrutinizing various transactions connected with 1MDB in a wide-ranging money-laundering, fraud and corruption probe.

The U.S. Justice Department has subpoenaed former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner in its probe linked to 1MDB. Leissner helped 1MDB arrange two bonds in May and October 2012, valued at $1.75 billion each, which are also the focus of an inquiry by Luxembourg prosecutors.

Goldman raised a total of $6.5 billion for 1MDB between 2012 and 2013. Goldman has declined comment. Leissner, who could not be reached for comment, has not been charged with any offense.

The Malaysian parliamentary report said 1MDB's senior management withheld crucial information from its executive board and made transactions without its knowledge or approval, resulting in debts amounting to about $11 billion. The 1MDB board collectively offered to resign following the report.

Najib has been fending off allegations he was a beneficiary of 1MDB's funds after about $681 million was deposited into his personal bank account just before a general election in 2013.

Called a gift

Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali said in January the transfer was a gift from Saudi Arabia's royal family and that most of it was returned.

The 1MDB fund has denied any of its funds went to the prime minister. The parliamentary report did not name Najib or link any transaction from 1MDB to his private bank accounts.

Najib said the report showed the opposition's allegations against him were false, but that "action will be taken if any evidence of wrongdoing is found."

Opposition leader Tony Pua, who was part of the parliamentary probe, said "there was no way" the attorney general or the parliamentary inquiry could clear the prime minister of the allegations since billions of dollars that 1MDB sent overseas cannot be traced and investigations into them continue abroad.
A burglar broke into a popular Washington hamburger restaurant recently, but instead of stealing money, he made himself a burger.

The Metropolitan Police Department said the man gained entry to a Five Guys restaurant in the predawn hours on March 18 after following a delivery man. Once the delivery person left, the suspect helped himself to a drink and started to make a burger, reportedly a cheeseburger.

The self service thief didnt seem very worried about getting caught, as one shot from a security camera appears to show the man talking on his cellphone while cooking.

He also took a bottle of water before walking out.

According to The Washington Post, police are offering a $1,000 reward for information about the suspect.
NASA is struggling to revive its fading Kepler space probe, which has entered into a state of emergency more than 120 million kilometers from Earth.

The space agency says its last contact with the aging planet hunter was one week ago. Ground controllers were preparing to direct Kepler toward the center of the Milky Way. It says the probe was showing no signs of distress at that time.

Since then, NASA says Kepler has entered what it calls the "lowest operational mode," and says saving it from oblivion is the Kepler team's top priority.

NASA launched Kepler in 2009 and it has detected more than 1,000 confirmed planets outside our solar system.

Its primary mission to hunt for planets ended in 2012, but despite numerous breakdowns, NASA has always been able to resuscitate Kepler and keep it going.
The recently elected president of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, has named his first cabinet in an effort to bring about reconciliation to his country following years of sectarian violence.

Touadera named both political allies and former rivals to the new government, but left out supporters of the Muslim and Christian militias behind the country's violence, state-owned radio announced Monday.

Three high-ranking jobs in the 23-member cabinet went to candidates who ran against Touadera this year in the first round of presidential elections. All three later offered their support to Touadera in the February runoff vote.

They are Josephe Yakete, who was named defense minister; Jean-Serge Bokassa, who was chosen for interior minister; and Charles Armel Doubane, who will handle foreign affairs.

Touadera's former campaign manager, Simplice Sarandji, will become prime minister, taking over from a transitional government that helped lead the country to this year's presidential elections.

The new cabinet will also include several members who were ministers under the government of former President Francois Bozize.

Touadera, a former math professor, decidedly won the February runoff election with 60 percent of the vote.

Central African Republic was thrown into chaos in early 2013 when Muslim Seleka rebels pushed then-President Bozize from office. Christian militias responded to abuses by the Seleka rebels by attacking Muslims. Nearly one million people were displaced by the violence, which left C.A.R. divided along ethnic and religious lines.
U.S. President Barack Obama will likely ask for contributions to rebuild damaged areas of war-torn Iraq when he speaks with Gulf allies in Riyadh next week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters Monday.

Speaking aboard the USS Blue Ridge during a visit to India, Carter said repairing the destruction that has occurred in Iraq is necessary to making the eventual "defeat" of Islamic State stick.

Thats a global effort in which many countries can make a contribution, Carter told reporters.

Carter said the low price of oil has also made things more difficult for the Iraqi government.

He added the U.S. will continue to provide support to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, as the success of the campaign against IS depends upon political progress as well.

Secretary Carter will meet with defense leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council next week in Riyadh, where they will discuss how to advance the fight against the Islamic State.

Were going to accelerate the military campaign as fast as we can, Carter said.
U.S. President Barack Obama said the worst mistake of his presidency was failing to prepare for the aftermath in Libya after the NATO-led intervention toppled Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, leaving the country in chaos.

Obama reflected on the highs and lows of his two terms in the White House in an interview with Fox News.

He told Fox News' Chris Wallace that his biggest mistake was "probably failing to plan for the day after," but he added that intervening in Libya to protect civilians from the Gadhafi regime was "the right thing to do."

After the Libyan strongman was killed, months after the United States and European nations launched aerial attacks, the Middle Eastern country was left in chaos that continues to this day.

Militias took over with two rival parliaments and governments forming and Libya became a major departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe, helping fuel the continent's immigration crisis.

A United Nations-backed unity government has arrived in the capital Tripoli, but neither of the rival parliaments has so far formally backed the U.N.-brokered accord.

Obama said he views Libya today as a "mess," and told Atlantic magazine in another interview that British Prime Minister David Cameron became "distracted by a range of other things" after the Libyan operation.

Obama also criticized former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for mishandling Libya after Gadhafi's ouster.

Applying lesson

When asked about the president's remarks during Monday's White House briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest quoted Obama's September 2015 speech to the U.N. General Assembly that "our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind."

The White House spokesman said the president has tried to apply the lesson learned in Libya in considering the use of the military in other circumstances.

"Asking the question about what situation will prevail and what sort of commitments from the international community will be required after that military intervention has been ordered by the commander in chief,'' Earnest told reporters.

The press secretary said the president was not trying to make the point that "any specific ally of the United States had utterly failed to follow through on a specific commitment that they had made, but rather that the United States and our broader coalition had not succeeded in mobilizing the necessary resources to bring about the scenario that we would have eventually liked to see."

'Saving economy'

Obama said his biggest accomplishment during his seven-plus years in office was "saving the economy from a great depression," the 2008 and 2009 economic plunge that was the worst in the country since the 1930s.

Millions of workers were laid off, with many of them losing their homes because they no longer had the money to make mortgage payments to banks, but the U.S. economy remains as the world's largest and the jobless rate has returned to its historical norms.

Health care reform

Obama, who leaves office next January, said the best day of his presidency was the 2010 congressional passage of national health care reforms that came to be called Obamacare, changes that have handed health insurance to millions of people who were uninsured or have made it affordable for them to buy policies.

Most Republican opponents of the Democratic president still denounce Obamacare as an overreach of the national government.

They have failed dozens of times in trying to repeal it and have been unable to agree on a plan to replace it.

Obama said the worst day of his presidency was visiting the small Connecticut town of Newtown, two days after the mass shooting at an elementary school there in late 2012, when a gunman killed 20 students and six educators.
More than 80 percent of the water from underground wells in China is not safe for drinking or bathing due to severe water pollution, according to new statistics cited in Chinese media Monday.

The new data showed that 32.9 percent of the 2,103 wells tested received grade 4 for water quality  meaning only fit for industrial use, according to the National Business Daily.

Another 47.3 percent received an even worse grade 5 for water quality.

Farms, factories and households across different regions in China depend on wells as their source of water.

"From my point of view, this shows how water is the biggest environmental issue in China. People in the cities, they see air pollution every day, so it creates huge pressure from the public. But in the cities, people don't see how bad the water pollution is," Dabo Guan, professor at the University of East Anglia in Britain, told the New York Times.

"These latest statistics are an indicator of how bad the underground water quality is. The sources of pollution are widespread and include a lot of agricultures. I think that would be the main source of pollution," Guan said.

Seventy percent of lakes used as a water source, 60 percent of underground water, and 11 percent of water in reservoirs did not meet the country's safety standards, according to statistics from the country's Ministry of Water Resources, and cited by Xia Jun, professor at the Key Laboratory on the Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Digging deeper

But other experts said it is important to note that the study measured water sources close to the surface.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the New York Times that many cities get their water from reservoirs that are hundreds or sometimes thousands of feet deeper.

"Fewer and fewer cities are using the heavily polluted shallow-depth underground waters. Most are digging deep wells for drinking. This is a very important distinction that must be made," he said.

The country's Ministry of Water Resources said 2016 would be a year in which China would promote a set of regulations to better manage water exploitation, China National Radio reported.

Zheng Yuhong, an agricultural resources expert who is a member of China's national legislature, said environmental pollution had become a hot topic in recent years," according to the New York Times.

"But pollution of underground water has virtually been forgotten," Yuhong added.
An official at Portugal's Supreme Court says judges have rejected a former CIA operative's appeal against extradition to Italy to serve a six-year sentence for her part in an extraordinary renditions program.

The official told The Associated Press that Sabrina De Sousa's only remaining recourse is to appeal to Portugal's Constitutional Court, arguing her extradition order is unconstitutional.

De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted in absentia in Italy for the 2003 kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan.

The Portuguese court official spoke on condition of anonymity Monday in accordance with court rules.
In a deal that would have been barred prior to last years nuclear agreement, Russia has begun delivering advanced surface-to-air missiles to Iran, according to state media reports.

Mehr news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari as saying, "Iran had already announced that despite several times of change in time of delivery the deal is on its path of implementation" and "the first phase of the agreement is implemented and the process will continue."

This isnt the first time Russia has tried to sell S-300 missiles to Iran.

Russias initial attempt, in 2007, was canceled because of pressure from Israel and the United States, whose leaders were concerned about Irans nuclear ambitions.

In the spring of 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an end to the deals suspension, and signed a new deal with Iran in November.

Iran will receive an upgraded version of the S-300 missile system under the new deal, which is expected for be fulfilled by the middle of this year.

The S-300 surface-to-air system is one of the most advanced in the world. It can fire several missiles at a time, at various targets up to 150 kilometers away.

The S-300 was first developed in 1979  during the height of the Cold War  but since then has been upgraded multiple times.
The presidents of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan  Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Ilham Aliyev, respectively -- are planning to hold security talks in Baku soon.

While no further details of the planned meeting have been announced, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week in a meeting in Baku that security cooperation in the Caspian Sea region, which he said has become a "corridor" for the "trafficking" of terrorists, will top the meetings agenda.

The announcement of the Putin-Rouhani-Aliyev summit followed a rapid escalation of the frozen conflict between Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which officially is a part of Azerbaijan.

Since the end of separatist war in 1994, the region has de facto been under the control of the local Armenian forces and the Armenian military, and low-level armed clashes have occasionally broken out.

Moscow and Tehran are facilitating the peace talks between the warring sides as Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of violating the cease-fire, reached last week after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Lavrov spoke by telephone.

The United States encouraged Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume peace talks and avoid further escalation.

History of conflict

The fighting that erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh last weekend is the worst outbreak of violence in the history of the conflict. According to The Associated Press, at least 64 people were killed in the fighting.

Since the emergence of the conflict in 1994, Russia has been a key member of the Minsk group, an international body created to provide a road map for peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Minsk group showed little success, and the groups format was gradually marginalized, at least in part due to Moscows attempt to sabotage the efforts, said Paul Goble, an American expert on Russia who served as a U.S. State Department special adviser on Soviet nationality issues and Baltic affairs.

Moscow has been the prime reason why there has been no movement in the Minsk group talks," Goble said. Moscow was happy to keep this low-grade conflict that could be used to Russias benefit.

Despite its public posture of being committed to resolving the conflict, he said, Moscow continues to play a double game, trying to use the recent escalation of violence to its advantage.

Goble believes Russia will desert its current client state, Armenia, as soon as developments allow the Kremlin to claim credit for returning to Azerbaijan what Baku calls its occupied territories.

There is no doubt in my mind that, for Moscow, Azerbaijan is the prize and Armenia is the tool for achieving that, he said, adding that Azerbaijans geopolitical location and rich oil resources are what interest the Kremlin.

IS allegation

On April 4, one day before Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to stop fighting after several days of intense combat, LifeNews, a Russia-based TV station, aired a program alleging that Azeri forces were using Islamic State fighters in the battle in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The report claimed that Azerbaijani IS militants in Syria had crossed Turkish territory to reach Azerbaijan and join the fight against the Armenians in the contested territory.

Azerbaijans Defense Ministry rejected the allegations, charging on April 5 that the LifeNews report was sabotage by Kremlin media aimed at raising questions about Azerbaijans sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability.

The ministry added that any member of a terrorist organization who attempted to enter Azerbaijan for any reason would be prosecuted.

Following the LifeNews report, its TV crew in Azerbaijan was expelled from the country.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry accused the stations employees of having arrived in Azerbaijan without accreditation, reporting false information and staging provocations.

Secular state

While more than 90 percent of Azerbaijans population is Muslim, the countrys constitution declares that it is a secular state, and a 2013 study by the Pew Research Center found that support for basing national laws on the Islamic code of sharia was lower in Azerbaijan than in any other Muslim nation in the region.

Another key factor is that the vast majority of the Azeri Muslims are Shiites, while the IS and other extremist groups consist of Sunni Muslims.

IS considers Shiites not pure Muslims and violently represses Shiites in areas under its controls.

According to the Soufan Group, a New York City-based security consulting firm, 216 Azerbaijani citizens joined IS in Iraq and Syria, 49 of whom returned home. Forty of the latter were reportedly arrested after returning to Azerbaijan.

In an online posting a few months ago, an Azerbaijani IS fighter accused Azerbaijans government of harshly treating practicing Muslims.



We are much criticized in Azerbaijan, the figher said. There is a reason why we came here. The cause is to be found in Azerbaijan itself. We are pressured and not accepted as people. The media speaks against us, calling us Wahhabis. The police shave our beards. Therefore, we decided to go to Syria.

Maxim Shevchenko, a prominent Russian journalist and editor-in-chief of the Caucasus Politics (Kavpolit) news agency, said, The Azeri government is frequently criticized for harsh treatment of religious activists. There is no tolerance towards Islamist extremism."

Station owner denounces Azerbaijan

After the LifeNews TV crew was deported from Azerbaijan, the stations founder and owner Aram Gabrielyanov, a Russian of Armenian extraction, denounced Azerbaijans government via Twitter, calling it a clique of corrupt, stupid politicians, sitting in the pocket of the stupid fascist Erdogan.

Although Gabrielyanov, who is at the helm of a growing media empire in Russia, denies any ties to the Russian government, his loyalty to President Putin is no secret.

In numerous interviews, he has referred to Putin as Papa Natsii  the father of the nation.

In May 2014, Putin recognized Gabrelyanovs contribution to Russias efforts against Ukraine by decorating him with the Order of Honor, which is usually reserved for those who have directly participated in combat.

Some experts say Gabrelyanovs political preferences and apparent participation in the Kremlins information wars cast doubt on the objectivity of LifeNews reporting.

Journalist Shevchenko said the LifeNews report alleging that Azerbaijan is using IS militants in the fight against Armenia is a hideous lie based on gossip.

Still, he praised the bravery of LifeNews journalists in the field. He said they actually provided quality reporting from the both sides of the conflict zone.

Questions news report

Like Shevchenko, Goble questions the veracity of the LifeNews report alleging the involvement of Azeri IS militants in the Nagorno-Karabakh fighting.

I think it was invented, he said, noting that the Azerbaijani government is very careful in making sure that the countrys military and law enforcement is not infected by radicalization.

It is clear that there are people in Moscow who are interested in discrediting Azerbaijan and that was part of it, Goble said.

Two days before the sides reached a cease-fire, an IS-style video appeared on the Internet claiming to show the beheading of an Armenian Yezidi soldier by a person wearing an Azeri military uniform.

In the video, which was posted on VKontakte, a Russian social network similar to Facebook, the person in the uniform is holding what appears to be a head in his hands.

VOA could not verify the veracity of the video. Azerbaijani officials said it was fabricated.

LifeNews, however, said the video supports its claims that IS militants are fighting on the Azeri side in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia have deepened over their cooperation in the Syrian civil war and their concerns over rising Iranian power.

Saudi King Salman arrived in the capital Ankara with an entourage numbering in the hundreds. It is the first visit to Turkey by Salman since being crowned in January 2015.

Relations between the two countries have markedly improved in the past few years.

Visiting scholar of the Carnegie Institute Sinan Ulgen says the two countries' shared objectives over Syria are the main driving force behind deepening relations.

"The Kingdom has supported the agenda of regime change in Syria. Given that Turkey is finding it difficult to get additional support in the region for its objectives in Syria, the relationship with Saudi Arabia has become much more critical," said Ulgen.

Both countries are among the strongest backers of the Syrian opposition, and the conflict is expected to top the agenda of talks between the Saudi king and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace.

The deepening relations have extended to military cooperation with Turkish forces participating in joint exercises in February.

Steps are reportedly expected to be taken in formalize ties with the creation of a high level strategic council.

Economic ties are also on the agenda with a large trade delegation accompanying the Saudi king. Last year bilateral trade was nearly $6 billion.

Until recently Erdogans strong backing of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region has been a point of tension between the countries.

But international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbuls Kadir Has University says the improvement in ties has accelerated following last years death of Saudi King Abdullah.

"Salman decided that the Brotherhood was not as a big enemy as Abdullah made them out to be. So there was some softening there. And I think the Turkish side convinced them there are common interests. And I think Iran just concentrates the minds," said Ozel.

Observers say both leaders are concerned with the growing influence of Iran in the region, which is predicted to continue with the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran.

Tensions are exacerbated by Tehrans strong backing of the Syrian regime.

But Riyadhs strong support of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi remains a thorn in relations with Ankara.

Erdogan strongly backs the deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and is a staunch critic of Sissi. Salman comes to Turkey after visiting Cairo, and observers say improving relations between the Egyptian and Turkish leaders is a priority of his meetings with Erdogan.
Somalia's government on Monday executed a former journalist accused of helping al-Shabab militants kill at least five other journalists in Mogadishu between 2007 and 2011.

Officials and witnesses say a firing squad executed Hassan Hanafi Haji at a police academy in Mogadishu. Haji was extradited from Kenya last year at the request of the Somali government.

Abdulahi Hussein Mohamed, deputy judge of the military court, talked to the media after the execution and said the former journalist had a fair trial and finally faced justice.

"He has been going under court process since earlier 2015. So, now with all the evidences and his confession the justice had been done," Mohamed said.

Haji acted as al-Shabab's liaison officer to the media and pressured journalists to report according to the group's media rules, which included avoiding stories related to military setbacks. He was known to threaten journalists and radio stations if they did not comply.

He later worked for Radio Andalus, al-Shababs official media outlet.

"He tasted the pain he inflicted [on] our colleagues. Justice should not only be done but it must be seen to be done," said a prominent local journalist, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Admitted to involvement, then recanted

Haji was one of the few suspects prosecuted by the Somali government following years of criticism by rights groups who urged the authorities to do more.

The former journalist was captured in Kenya in 2014. In an interview aired on Somalias state TV in February, he admitted to direct involvement in the murder of several journalists and knowledge of other journalists killings.

But last month Haji claimed he made the confessions after being tortured, according to a leaked audio recording of a phone call.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries for media workers. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 25 journalists have been murdered in Somalia since 2007.

Hajis execution comes two days after two other members of al-Shababs militant group were also executed by firing squad for the murder of a journalists killed in a car bomb last year.

Bombing in Mogadishu

On Monday, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack at the local government headquarters in Mogadishu. At least three people were killed and five others were wounded.

"We are behind the governor HQ attack," Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shababs military operations spokesman, told Reuters.

Witnesses said two children were among those killed.

"The explosion was caused by a car loaded with explosives," police officer Ibrahim Mohamed said.

The United Nations mission in Somalia said it "strongly condemns" the attack.

VOA's Somali service contributed to this report
South Korea says a high-ranking North Korean military officer defected to the South last year.

The announcement was made Monday in Seoul by the South's ministries of Defense and Unification, the latter of which handles affairs between the rival Koreas. The unidentified officer is a colonel who worked in North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau, making him the highest-ranked officer known to defect from the authoritarian regime.

The bureau conducts espionage activities against Seoul, including cyberattacks. The agency is also blamed for the 2010 torpedo attack against a South Korean naval ship, killing 46 sailors; an act Pyongyang has denied.

Last year, a North Korean diplomat stationed in an African country defected with his family to the South.

Monday's news of the North Korean colonel's defection comes just days after Seoul revealed that 13 North Koreans working at a state-owned restaurant in a foreign country defected as a group; the largest group defection since 2011.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to the democratic South since the end of the 1950-53 civil war that split the two countries. The numbers have declined since Kim Jong Un took over as leader of the dynastic-run North in 2011.
A three-day referendum for Sudans Darfur region begins Monday despite concerns from the United States that it would not be credible and would also undermine the current peace process.

The vote will determine whether the region will keep its five states or reunite as one entity with a semi-autonomous administration.

Displaced people

An estimated three million people are still displaced due to the Darfur conflict.

In a statement, the US State Department said insecurity in Darfur and inadequate registration of Darfuris residing in internally displaced persons (IDPS) camps prohibit sufficient participation.

But Sudan Information Minister Ahmed Bilal said the referendum is being held at a time when Darfur is enjoying peace. He said Sudan is trying to fulfill its commitment under the Doha peace agreement, signed in 2011 between the Sudanese government and Liberation and Justice Movement rebels.

Everybody knows this is a political commitment from my government towards the Doha peace agreement, and now everything is ready to secure this referendum for three days, he said.

Some of the provisions of the Doha agreement included cessation of all hostilities and a permanent cease-fire; protection of human rights and freedom for civil society groups; and power sharing and administrative status of Darfur; and sharing of wealth.

The agreement said permanent administrative status for Darfur would be determined through a referendum.

US criticism of conditions in Darfur

In a statement issued over the weekend, the State Department said lasting peace in Sudan will only be attained through a political process that addresses the underlying causes of the Darfur conflict, secures a lasting cessation of hostilities, and creates the space for meaningful participation of Darfuri groups and all Sudanese in an inclusive and genuine national dialogue.

Bilal said Darfuris are enthusiastic about the referendum and President Omar al-Bashirs government is committed to fulfilling the terms of the Doha agreement.

In fact actually now, Darfur is in total peace. Darfur now is in a better condition more than any time before. We had anticipated to register about two and a half million people for the referendum, but instead three and a half million have been registered for the referendum. The people there are quite ready and enthusiastic to do this referendum, Bilal said.

He said Sudan kept its promise and held a referendum which eventually led to South Sudan independence.

Rebel demands

Bilal said Darfur rebels are always making unreasonable demands.

They have always said that everything we do has to be stopped until they come to Darfur, and life cannot stop for them to come, Bilal said.

The latest round of fighting in Darfur broke out on January 9 when an unidentified group attacked the village of Mouli and then fled.

In the last two weeks, the UN said about 19,000 displaced persons went to North Darfur and another 15,000 fled to Central Darfur, for a total of 34,000 displaced, many of them are women and children.

However, Bilal said many of the displaced persons have registered to vote. He said many of them met President Omar al-Bashir during his visit last week to the region. And he said Darfur is at peace "with not a single place occupied by the rebels."
Rebel commanders and opposition politicians who have been battling to unseat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for five years say the cessation of hostilities brokered by the U.S. and Russia in February is on the verge of collapse, and they are readying for a regime offensive on Aleppo.

Anti-Assad activists said they have recorded at least 66 breaches of the truce by the Assad regime and Russian forces over the past 48 hours, with nearly 100 people, including seven children and five women, killed in government airstrikes.

The cease-fire may be close to the end of its usefulness for all sides, though, and not just the government.

Bassma Kodmani, one of the rebel negotiators at the Geneva peace talks set to restart later this week, warned Sunday that the last 10 days had "witnessed a serious deterioration, to the point where the cease-fire is about to collapse."

Multiple breaches

Both the government and anti-Assad rebels have blamed each other for breaches of the cease-fire. The regime also has been accused by U.N. officials of blocking international aid from going to some strategic rebel-held towns.

In the past 48 hours there has been a noticeable surge in fighting on all points of the compass, with all the warring parties in the country involved. IS militants retook on Monday a strategically important town in northern Syria that was lost to rebel forces just last week. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-rebel monitoring group, reported that after fierce clashes, al-Rai, close to the border with Turkey, was overrun.

Since the end of March, rebel factions have seized a dozen IS-held villages along the Syrian-Turkish border. According to the Syrian Observatory's director, Rami Abdul Rahman, the lack of air cover from the U.S.-led international coalition was to blame for the rebels failure to hold the town. IS was not included in the cessation of hostilities, which took effect on February 27.

Rebel factions, along with al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, launched offensives Monday in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia, where they seized a hilltop. The coastal province of Latakia is the stronghold of Assads minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. In Hama the rebel focus has been on Syrian government positions in the Sahl al-Ghab plains, east of Latakia. Both sides claimed to have made advances, with regime and Russian warplanes mounting ferocious airstrikes.

Watch video report from VOA's Zlatica Hoke:

In the southern Aleppo countryside regime warplanes launched more than 40 airstrikes, according to political activists, as rebel and al-Nusra fighters made advances around Zitan and Berneh in an attempt to forestall a government offensive on the city of Aleppo itself.

On Sunday, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi told Russian news networks the regime is preparing a major operation to retake the rebel-controlled parts of the city of Aleppo. Syrias one-time commercial capital which has been divided into government and rebel zones since 2012. It was the prospect of a regime siege of the Aleppo rebels that added urgency in February to Western efforts to secure a cessation of hostilities.

We, together with our Russian partners, are preparing for an operation to liberate Aleppo and to block all illegal armed groups which have not joined or have broken the cease-fire deal, al-Halqi was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. Dmitry Sablin, a Russian lawmaker, told RIA news agency Russian aviation will help the Syrian army's ground offensive operation.

Russian offensive

On Monday regime and Russian warplanes mounted several strikes on rebel districts, including al-Salhin, al-Maysar, Baedin, Bani Zaid and al-Shaqif. There also were several regime air-raids on Handarat, al-Mallah, and the Castillo road north of Aleppo  key supply routes for the rebels in Aleppo. Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, in Aleppo there is a real collapse of the truce.

Al-Haiqi was quoted as saying that a successful regime offensive on the rebels in Aleppo would allow government forces to advance to the east toward Islamic State-held territory, and he cited the province of Deir ez-Zor, where on Sunday the U.N.s World Food Program carried out its first ever successful high-altitude airdrop, to deliver 20 tons of food aid.

The upsurge in fighting is adding to the challenges facing the U.N., according to special envoy Staffan de Mistura, who held talks Monday in the Syrian capital.

In a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moalem, de Mistura urged the Assad government to abide by the truce and allow more humanitarian aid access.



We did raise and discuss the importance of protecting and maintaining and supporting the cessation of hostilities, which is, as you know, fragile but is there," de Mistura told reporters in Damascus.

Assad's future

A total breakdown in the cease-fire would auger badly for the resumption of peace talks on Wednesday. There has been little progress made with negotiations so far, with the major stumbling block being the future of President Assad. The rebels insist he has to go and should play no part in any transition government.

With Assads battlefield position strengthened, thanks to Russias military intervention that started in earnest last year, there are no signs of any weakening of support from the regimes foreign allies. A top Iranian official told Iran TV this past weekend that Assad should serve out his term and be allowed to run in a presidential election as any Syrian.

An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had asked "Iran to help so that Bashar Assad leaves. Ali Akbar Velayati said, "We should ask them: What does this have to do with you? Shouldn't the Syrian people decide?



Velayati said for Iran, the Western precondition of Assad going is a red line for us."
Tensions remain high on the Idomeni border crossing a day after Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at hundreds of migrants as they tried to break through a border fence on the Greek side.

Dozens of migrants continued to gather on the Greek side of the fence Monday, but no clashes have been reported.

Medical aid charities said nearly 300 people were treated for injuries after Sunday's flare-up, the majority for breathing problems from the tear gas, and others for wounds caused by rubber bullets.

Macedonian officials said 23 security force members suffered injuries, many from stone-throwing protesters.

Tensions had mounted in the Idomeni camp after rumors had spread that Macedonia would be opening its border.

More than 10,000 migrants and refugees have been stranded at the Idomeni border crossing in northern Greece since mid-February after the Balkan nations closed off access to their borders.

Macedonia and other Balkan countries to its north have also closed their borders, on what was once the busiest migrant route to central Europe.

The European Union has said it will only accept war refugees from Syria and Iraq, as well as those from other countries who are eligible for asylum.
The leadership of Thailands oldest political party, the Democrats, has joined other political groups in opposing a military-backed draft constitution.

The Democrat Partys opposition leaves in doubt an August referendum on the new charter, as it lines up with other political parties in calling for the document to be rejected.

The party leadership, led by former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, openly criticized the new draft charter, calling the document "democracy in retreat."

Abhisit, at a press conference late Sunday, said the draft distorted the democratic will and weakened the peoples power compared with the authority of the state.

He also criticized the draft for depriving people of their right to participate in the political process.

The military government, which came to power in 2014, has called for amendments to a recently completed second draft charter that would include a military appointed 250-member Senate.

This varied from the drafting committees version that called for a 200-member Senate comprised of members elected from organizations and social groups within the country.

Attitude adjustments

Thailands other major political party, the Pheu Thai Party, ousted from power in 2014, has already opposed the draft charter and called for voters to reject it at the August referendum.

Several Pheu Thai Party members have been detained by the military for short periods for so-called attitude-adjustment talks, with the government planning to set up additional camps for further detentions.

Smarn Lertwongrath, a senior Pheu Thai Party member, said he welcomed the Democrat Partys stance on the charter despite the delay in their response.

If you are thinking as Thailand needs democracy to run the country, you have to oppose the draft constitution. The problem is that the Democrats were very slow to oppose it, but anyhow its slow but its better to do that way. They have to do it, Smarn said.

What Khun [honorific] Abhisit says yesterday is good for our country. I think an election with the rule that is not democratic look is not good, he said.

Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha is reported to have attacked politicians who criticize the draft charter.

Prayuth said the military would press ahead with reforms and if successful, he said the political parties may lose popular support.

Next steps unclear

On Monday, the prime minister called for clarification on what will happen if the charter is rejected at the referendum.

Recent public opinion polls have indicated most respondents support the military-backed national legislative assemblys move to add the question of a wider role for the Senate to the August 7 referendum.

Until now, the referendum was simply slated to be a question of support for the new charter alone, with a simple majority determining the outcome.

But Democrat Party member and rights advocate Kraisak Choonhavan said with the major political parties likely to oppose the referendum, the next step in the charter process is unclear.

Why should we get to a referendum when the two biggest parties  in fact, three parties  in all that disagree with this? Its not going forward, Kraisak said. In fact, it is because of that, because its moving backward if you like in the highest law of the land, for that reason were not moving forward at all.

Analysts say in the event of the draft charter being rejected in August the military government may select a previous charter with amendments and without public participation to take the country into the next elections, expected in 2017.

Potential protests ahead

Thai analysts and politicians say concerns are that the military is seeking to extend its period in power amid fears of the military taking a tougher stance towards any criticism of its government.

Already analysts fear a repeat of past crackdowns, such as in 1992, when the military moved to appoint an army general, Suchinda Krayprayoon, to the post of prime minister. The military had seized power in February 1991.

Deadly pro-democracy protests in May 1992 left dozens killed and scores injured and led to Suchinda stepping down under an amnesty after just 47 days in office.

Rights activists warn of potential protests in the months ahead, especially in provincial regions most affected by the military government's determination to move ahead with mega-project developments.

But analysts say the Thai middle class, a driving force in past political protests, remains largely dormant at present, wary after years of political conflict and uncertainties surrounding a slowing economy.
U.S. Treasury chief Jacob Lew called Monday for the United States to maintain its global economic leadership, making sure that emerging economies around the world adhere to the cooperative efforts to resolve crises that have been in place since the end of World War II.

"If we want it to work for the American people, we need to embrace new players on the global economic stage and make sure they meet the standards of the system we created, and that we have a strong say in any new standards," he told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

"The worst possible outcome would be to step away from our leadership role and let others fill in behind us," he added.

Lew said the United States and China, as the world's two largest economies, "have a unique responsibility to work together to advance shared prosperity, maintain a constructive global economic order, and make progress on critical challenges like climate change."

Lew did not mention the current U.S. presidential campaign, in which both the leading Democratic contender, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the Republican front-runner, real estate mogul Donald Trump, have attacked overseas trade deals negotiated by President Barack Obama, who leaves office next January.

But Lew denounced political gridlock in Washington.

"Political brinksmanship led some to question America's capacity to meet this moment of leadership," he said. "The threat of government shutdowns and default heightened global anxieties. And Washington's inability to reach a consensus on domestic priorities such as rebuilding aging infrastructure and reforming the broken business tax code, priorities with bipartisan support, creates unnecessary risks to America's future economic strength."

International cooperation

He said, however, that cooperation among nations across the world "was a major reason that the global financial crisis [in 2008] never turned into a second Great Depression." He said the United States and other countries, coordinating efforts through the group of 20 leading economies and the International Monetary Fund, avoided "the downward spiral of protectionism and predatory ... policies that characterized previous eras. The world's major economies, the United States, the eurozone, Japan, and China, launched simultaneous economic stimulus programs and mobilized financial assistance to vulnerable parts of the global system."

Lew said international cooperation has proved useful to U.S. interests in recent years, including the IMF response to fiscal stress caused by the Ebola epidemic in 2014 and support for Ukraine, following Russia's takeover of Crimea.

"The scale and speed of assistance in both instances would not have been possible if the United States had to act alone or stitch together donor contributions, Lew said.

"The simple fact is that international financial institutions amplify U.S. influence on the global stage."

He said that global compacts forged toward the end of World War II "have produced the greatest gains in living standards in history," quadrupling per capita income since 1950. He said the accords provided "a foundation for mutual economic gains that would not have been achievable by individual countries acting on their own."
Ukraine is looking to create a new coalition government, following Sunday's resignation of embattled Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Yatsenyuk announced his resignation saying he hoped it would give Ukraine a chance to adopt new electoral, constitutional and judicial reforms, as well as join the European Union and NATO.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko expressed confidence a new coalition would be formed and a new prime minister will be selected on Tuesday.

"I expect it will be [Volodymyr] Groysman and I do not want to hide this," said Poroshenko. Groysman is the current parliament speaker.

Yatsenyuk's Cabinet survived a no confidence vote in February, but two parties left the governing coalition for failure to oust him. He has been criticized for Ukraine's worsening economy and the slow pace of reforms.

Early elections could be called if Ukraine lawmakers fail to unite behind a new prime minister, but President Petro Poroshenko has sought to avoid new voting for fear of further destabilizing the country.

Kyiv's forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists for control of two regions in eastern Ukraine for the past two years. To date, the conflict has killed more than 9,000 people. At the same time, Moscow continues to control Ukraine's Crimean peninsula which it annexed in March of 2014.
A cease-fire in Yemen that took effect Monday is generally holding despite what a United Nations spokesman calls "pockets of violence."

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led Arab coalition trying to drive them out agreed on a truce ahead of another round of U.N.-sponsored peace talks set for April 18 in Kuwait.

Much of Monday's fighting was reported in the city of Taiz, with one report saying one person was killed and five wounded.

U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is urging all sides to work to make sure the truce holds.

"Now is the time to step back from the brink," he said Monday.

The truce began overnight with the Yemeni government, the Saudi-led coalition that backs it and the Houthi rebels who seized control of Yemen's capital in late 2014 all pledging to abide by the deal. It comes ahead of peace talks scheduled for April 18 in Kuwait.

Ahmed said there is a real chance for rebuilding in a country that has suffered violence for too long.

"I ask all the parties and the international community to remain steadfast in support for this cessation of hostilities to be a first step in Yemen's return to peace," the envoy said in a statement. "This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed his support Monday morning, tweeting "I welcome start of ceasefire in Yemen." He urged all parties to seize the opportunity to allow humanitarian access and move forward on a political solution.

Like the halt in fighting in Syria, the truce in Yemen also includes pledges for humanitarian access.

A collection of 15 aid groups, including Oxfam, Save the Children and the Danish Refugee Council, called on the international community to fully fund aid and warned of "catastrophic" consequences for Yemenis if the cease-fire breaks down.

"This is a moment of truth for Yemen's civilians," said Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary General Jan Egeland. "A real cease-fire could be the first step towards ending this staggering yet forgotten crisis."

The groups said 2.75 million people have been displaced since the conflict began, and that more than 82 percent of people in Yemen are now reliant on humanitarian aid.

The Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes in March 2015 in defense of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia after the Houthis marched south from Sana'a to the port city of Aden. The airstrikes and ground fighting in Yemen have killed about 6,000 people.

Two U.N. officials called special attention to the situation faced by children in Yemen, saying kids make up one-third of the dead and are playing a more active role in combat.

Leila Zerrougui, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative for children and armed conflict, and Dr. Peter Salama, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, also said attacks on schools and health clinics have become common.

"Taken together, these data represent a disturbing pattern of flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law and the rights of children in Yemen," they said in a joint statement. "These patterns have far-reaching implications for the stability of Yemen and the future of its children."

Both the Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they will adhere to the truce, but respond if attacked.

Fighting was reported in several areas as the hour for the cease-fire approached. One report said at least 20 people were killed.

Several other cease-fires in Yemen have failed and desperate civilians say they hope this one will last.
U.S. forces in Afghanistan are investigating a series of airstrikes last week that some locals say killed more than one dozen civilians.

Defense Department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel James B. Brindle said an investigation is underway.

Initial reports said an airstrike near the town of Nematabad killed a local elder, Hajji Rozuddin, and his bodyguards. Two later strikes killed people who came to collect the bodies.

A former senator from Afghanistans Gomal District, Hajji Muhammad Hasan, told The New York Times that Rozuddin was strongly anti-Taliban - he carried bodyguards because the Taliban were trying to kill him.
U.S. health officials say that the more researchers learn about Zika, the more concerned they are about the neurological effects and long-term complications from the virus.

"Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we thought," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Principal Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat said.

Schuchat joined National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director (NIAID) Dr. Anthony Fauci at Monday's White House press briefing, outlining new findings that show Zika is linked to a broader set of pregnancy complications that go beyond the much-reported microcephaly.

"[Studies show] It has a very strong propensity to destroy tissue, which could explain why besides interfering with the development of a fetus, it might directly attack brain tissue even when the fetus is later on in the period of gestation," Fauci said.

Officials noted concern about the spread of the disease with "hundreds of thousands" of potential cases in Puerto Rico, while calling on Congress to approve a $1.9 billion emergency funding request to fight Zika.

"If we don't get the money that the president has asked for, we are not going to be able to take it to the point where we actually accomplish what we need to do," Fauci said. "We really don't have what we need."

The NIAID director said health officials are doing what they can by transferring funds from other areas.

Redirecting funds

Last week, the White House announced it would redirect $589 million in funds, the majority from existing Ebola resources, to fight the spread of the Zika virus.

Officials are also urging Congress to replenish the redirected funds from the Ebola response.

"We also feel a sense of urgency about Ebola and the global health security agenda. Ebola is still circulating in Liberia and Guinea, and many of the vulnerable countries in Africa are having outbreaks right now," Schuchat said. We have to be, as a country, ready to support response to more than one outbreak at a time."

White House officials have warned that without the funding, the U.S. risks the ability to properly respond to the Zika virus, including delays in mosquito control and surveillance, diagnostic testing and vaccine development.

U.S. numbers

There are at least 672 confirmed cases of Zika in the United States, including 64 pregnant women. One Zika-related case of microcephaly has been confirmed in the state of Hawaii.

Officials say local transmission is currently centered in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. But they believe there will likely be local transmission in the continental United States in the coming months.

"I don't expect there to be large outbreaks in the continental U.S., Schuchat told White House reporters Monday. I can't give a number to how many cases, but I can say that we can't assume that we are not going to have a big problem."

About 40 million people travel yearly between the continental U.S. and Zika-affected countries. The administration says that as of last week, 33 countries and territories in the Americas reported active Zika transmission.

The administration's efforts are focused on Puerto Rico, with 31 personnel from the Centers for Disease Control on the ground and a dengue field office converted to handle the Zika response  including mosquito control and surveillance and the education of pregnant women.

Some 5,000 kits have been distributed to pregnant women in areas where the virus is already spreading, Schuchat says. The kits include insect repellant, information on self-protection, condoms and vouchers for screening materials to keep mosquitoes outside the home.
A 25-year-old American woman appeared in court Monday after being held in Abu Dhabi for seven weeks for allegedly insulting the United Arab Emirates while waiting for a taxi outside the airport.

The unidentified woman told the court she did not know why she was on trial. She has been in custody since February 23.

Government-owned daily The National reported that the women claims she was approached by two men who spoke to her in a manner she did not like. "The men tried to help me. I had another flight to catch at 1:29 am. I refused to engage with them and nothing happened," The National quoted her as saying.

The woman has asked the court to allow her to pay a fine and be released. A verdict is scheduled for May 2, the local paper reports.

Although liberal on many other issues, the UAE has strict laws governing expression. Defamation is treated as a criminal offense and insulting the UAE's leaders or the nation itself often comes with a prison sentence and heavy fine.
The worlds wild tiger population rose for the first time in more than a century, the result of more effective conservation efforts, two wildlife groups said.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Global Tiger Forum report the tiger population has climbed to an estimated 3,890 from a historic low of 3,200 in 2010.

This offers us great hope and shows that we can save species and their habitats when governments, local communities and conservationists work together, said Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International.

The wildlife groups said this is the first time the tiger population has risen since 1900, when an estimated 100,000 tigers roamed the Earth.

More than half of the worlds tiger population is in India, which is home to 2,226 of the endangered cats.

Higher tiger counts have been found in Russia, Bhutan and Nepal.

However, there may be a margin of error in the population counts. Several countries have not surveyed their tiger populations so estimates are based on available information.

Thirteen countries in the world have wild tiger populations. In 2010, they launched a plan to double their numbers by 2022.

The release of the population numbers comes ahead of a three-day meeting Tuesday in New Delhi to discuss conservation efforts.
The Zimbabwean government has ordered a blogger who wrote a report critical of President Robert Mugabe to report to police Tuesday. Press freedom advocates says the summons is just the latest action in a broader government campaign to silence dissent in online media.

The head of the Zimbabwe Media Center, Ernest Mudzengi, and two of his colleagues were summoned by police on Thursday and Friday. The Media Center provides facilities to freelance reporters and runs the web site for the Zimbabwe Sentinel newspaper.

Police questioned Mudzengi for nine hours over a Sentinel article on an alleged plot to bomb a dairy plant owned by the first family. Police have summoned the blogger, Mlondozi Ndlovu, who wrote the piece.

Nhlanhla Ngwenya runs the Zimbabwe office of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, known by its acronym MISA.

The police are now trying to harass the journalists under the pretext that they are investigating a story that they would have carried," said Ngwenya. "Spending hours in a police cell being interrogated on a story which itself happened publicly is chilling enough for any journalist who intends to pursue sensitive stories. For us as MISA, we condemn this practice which is rearing its ugly head in our journalism. And we call upon the authorities to just stop it forthwith as it is sending a chilling effect among media practitioners.

In 2002, Zimbabwe made it illegal to denigrate President Mugabe.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says that just since August, they have assisted 127 people arrested for posts on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The latest case is that of a 46-year-old Zimbabwean whose trial is scheduled to start in late April. The man was arrested after he posted photos of Mugabe on What'sApp that authorities said showed the 92-year leader as frail and incapacitated.

President Mugabe told supporters last week the government is cracking down on what he called abuses on the internet.

Mugabe said his government would be looking into security measures the Chinese government has put in place to stop these online abuses.

Facebook, YouTube and Google are among the web sites blocked in mainland China. Numerous foreign news sites have also been blocked, including VOA. In April, China blocked access to Time magazine and The Economist over articles critical of the Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Zimbabwes Minister of Information, Communication and Technology, Supa Mandiwanzira, has not given details on what controls are coming but he said this weekend that the new measures would not be shallow."
The government is mulling ways of policing internet usage following President Robert Mugabes call that there is need to implement measures to control social media to minimize rampant abuse of the web.

Several people have been arrested for sending or receiving messages and images that are deemed abusive of the president.

Added to this, WhatsApp, a popular instant messaging application, has encrypted its services, meaning that the government cannot snoop into peoples conversation.

Just after landing at the Harare International Airport from Japan recently, Mr. Mugabe applauded the Chinese for putting measures that curb internet abuse.

China is known as the worlds greatest abuser of press freedom and has cracked down heavily on Internet users, banning the use of Twitter and Facebook and replacing it with its own versions.

Information Minister Supa Mandiwanzira said it was only those who abused the media who were afraid of the planned measures.

Well, the government is working out methods of promoting social media by making sure that those who abuse social media are penalized, he said.

He added that government is actually promoting the use of social media and President Mugabe deplored those who abuse it.

Studio 7 also reached the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, Dumisani Muleya, who said the governments plans are misplaced.

Basically, for us it marks an authoritarian agenda reminiscent of old school leadership. We do not need government in that sector. Governments job should be to develop infrastructure so that we have fast broadband Internet, he said.

Muleya noted that it was improper for a government to censor information because people should have the freedom to share information.
President Robert Mugabe orders Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa to release millions of dollars for the education of children of war veterans.

We will take a closer look at moves by the government to censor Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

Striking Zimbabwean doctors return to work after settling their differences with the government.

Zimbabweans, who were left out of the countrys controversial land reform program, say they have not benefited anything from black majority rule.

Zimbabwean son, Brian Nhira, moves on in the The Voice Competition, making it to the coveted "live" rounds.

Stakeholders say Zimbabwe should take a cue from the World Health Organization, which has made diabetes a priority area. Zimbabwe continues to record high incidences and deaths related to the disease as a result of inadequate health service delivery and poor lifestyles.

Stay tuned for these stories and more coming up on Studio 7 at 7:30 pm on 9-0-9 Medium Wave and on the 4-9-3-0, 5-9-4-0 and 1-5-4-6-0 shortwave frequencies. We also broadcast on www.channelzim.net. Please check us out on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.

This evening on Livetalk our hosts Blessing Zulu and Gibbs Dube will be talking with listeners and experts about Zimbabwes health delivery system amid reports that Bona Mugabe, daughter of President Robert Mugabe, is set to give birth in the Middle East and not Zimbabwe. Is she looking for better health facilities in the Middle East? Participate by sending your messages on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318. The number again 001 202 465 0318. Stay tuned!!!!!!

To mark Zimbabwes 36th independence anniversary, Studio 7 will be giving out solar-powered radios for our lucky winners. Simply invite 10 friends to join our VOA Studio 7 Facebook page. Ask them to like our page. Keep their names so we can verify your claim.

We are also be running a daily competition for lucky winners. You only need to answer a simple question about Zimbabwes independence. The question today is: Name three people who were involved in the Lancaster House negotiations. The draw will be conducted April 18th. Dont be left out!!
When Ray Choto got a call inviting him to team up on "one of the biggest data projects ever," the reporter for VOA's Zimbabwe service couldn't resist.

He joined hundreds of other members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in reviewing more than 11.5 million documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Their findings from the so-called Panama Papers began rolling out Sunday, revealing a vast global network of secret offshore tax havens for the privileged and the powerful.

Choto's initial report detailed how Zimbabwe's leading platinum mining company, Zimplats, allegedly funneled managers' salaries through an offshore company, violating the country's exchange control rules. Zimplats' majority shareholder, South Africa's Impala Platinum (Implats), has called for "an urgent investigation."

The documents also showed that Mossack Fonseca clients include 23 people who've been sanctioned for supporting regimes in Zimbabwe, North Korea, Russia, Iran and Syria, Choto reported.

He's also pursuing other leads found through the tedious, exacting process of sorting and reviewing data, looking for patterns, then following up with countless hours of reporting.

Selective group

The VOA reporter is one of 370 journalists, scattered among more than 100 news organizations in roughly 80 countries, working with the Washington-based ICIJ.

The broad collaboration nonetheless is "an exclusive project, not open to any journalist. There's a lot of vetting that has to be done," said Choto, who has been involved with ICIJ since 2001.

ICIJ Director Gerard Ryle told VOA that more than half of the reporters on the project are not ICIJ members, but collaborating with these journalists is a key part of the group's publication strategy.

"In the traditional American nonprofit [journalism] model, you get funding  and at the end of the project you approach a publication partner. I think a better way of doing it is getting the publications involved from the start.  You're able to basically parlay the value of the story to get the resources of all the media partners."

Choto built a reputation for strong investigative work at The Standard in Harare, Zimbabwe. In 1998, the journalist linked some cabinet ministers, police officials and business people to drug rings and money laundering. The following year, he reported that 23 Zimbabwe military members, including some officers, were jailed for conspiring to overthrow longtime dictator Robert Mugabe.

Choto says he and his publisher were arrested and tortured for refusing to divulge the names of military sources.

"I was beaten with wooden planks on my naked body," Choto said, adding that his captors also "would apply electric shocks. The torture was for three days; my editor was held for 10 days."

The two were released after steady publicity from South African media pressured the government to relent. Choto and his editor, Mark Chavunkuka, later were jointly honored with the International Press Freedom award.

Relocating to U.S.

Choto came to the United States in the fall of 2000 as a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. Three years later, he joined Voice of America in Washington. Now 54, he covers breaking news while also continuing investigative work.

Early last year, he collaborated with ICIJ on an investigation into the foreign accounts of international banking giant HSBC. Its Swiss private banking arm "made huge profits by allegedly engaging in shady deals of over $270 million with some Zimbabwean citizens seven years ago, in the process, disadvantaging the poor southern African nation of the much-needed foreign currency," he wrote for VOA.

That story arose from files shared with ICIJ by the French newspaper Le Monde.

ICIJ's Ryle told WIRED that the Panama Papers' document trove represents the biggest leak in history, "about 2,000 times larger than the WikiLeaks state department cables."

The journalists worked in secret on the files  some of them for up to a year  sharing information via secure websites and avoiding email or any other communications that might compromise confidentiality, according to WIRED. Journalists have a proprietary claim on information relating to their own countries, Choto said, and they pass along information they discover that might be useful to a foreign colleague.

His ICIJ colleagues have turned out stories of possible misdeeds. While offshore havens themselves are legal, their lack of transparency makes them attractive for hiding crime and corruption. In Iceland, Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, tendered his resignation Tuesday, a day after angry crowds gathered in Reykjavik to protest what they suspect was an effort to hide assets offshore.

Close associates of Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China also have been linked to the law firm's secretive services.

Choto suspects Zimbabwe residents "are excited in their hearts" about his findings, but he says his homeland "is one of those places where people cannot freely express themselves, to go out and demonstrate  unless you belong to the ruling party.  You've seen people being beaten for demonstrating peacefully."

He continues digging into the Panama Papers. "There are a lot of amazing stories that are still to be told."
Costantino Ceoldo - Pravda : Mr. Meyssan, might you remind our readers how the Syrian crisis started and especially why?

Thierry Meyssan : There are two totally different stories explaining the events in Syria. According to the NATO members, a demonstration in Deraa, in 2011, was hardly repressed and the Arab Spring spirit was diffused in the country. But another version take account of the context. According to this second version, the Congress vote the war against Syria in 2003 (Syria Accountability Act), Colin Powell try to impose the US democratization in 2004 (Tunis summit of the Arab League), the US and Israel killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005 and accused President Lahoud and El-Assad to have organized the crime (UN Mehlis Commission, Special Tribunal for Lebanon), Israel attacked Hezbollah in 2006 hoping be able to continue in Syria, CIA organized a common party for the right wing Syrian opposition and the Muslim Brotherhood in 2007 (The salvation Front), etc. At the end, they organized the Deraa demonstration in the same way that the Maidan one in Ukraine. Talking of this Deraa demonstration, Al-Jazeera testify that young boys were tortured by the police. But never this fact was established. Absolutely never.

Pravda : The petro-monarchies of the Gulf and the same Jordan are heavily involved in the Syrian tragedy but Turkey is the main actor. What was promised to President Erdogan to persuade him to take on this tragic adventure?

Thierry Meyssan : President Erdogan was, during a decade, a moderate ruler. In fact, his country was governed by the US ambassador. But in 2011, a secret treaty was signed with France. According to this document, Turkey engaged in the war against Libya and also in the next war against Syria. France pledge to help Turkey to solve its Kurdish question by creating a new State for them out of the Turkish territory. Note that this idea of creating a so-called Kurdistan in Iraq and Syria and of expelling the Kurds from Turkey in this new State was adopted later by the US. According a map published in September 2013 by the New York Times, two States must be created in Iraq and Syria : Kurdistan and Sunnistan. The Sunnistan was later created by Daesh. The idea of expelling the Kurds is a crime against humanity. But according to President Erdogan, the reals Turks must not be Kurds or Christians.

Pravda : It looks like that the Turkish President really expects the observance of agreements from his Western counterpart. But then who is Erdogan? A shrewd politician, a gaffer expendable at any time or a second-rate poker player sitting at a table of cheaters?

Thierry Meyssan : At the beginning, Erdogan was a gangster in Istanbul streets. Later he entered in Milli Gorus, a small extremist group who wanted to restore the Turkish Caliphate. In 1999, he was arrested and jailed for having call a coup, like Hitler in 1923. Later, he said he quit the Milli Gorus and became a democrat. He founded the AKP and, with the help of the US was elected Prime Minister. After the beginning of the Arab Spring I mean the beginning of the CIA operation to destroy the secular Arab governments and put at power the Muslim Brotherhood he decide to govern by himself. He is now an old fashion dictator: he had built a gigantic palace, he closed the medias of the opposition, his party destroyed the buildings of the opposition parties and he restarted the civil war against the Kurds. According to him, he neutralized 5000 Kurds during the last months.

Pravda : Is the war in Syria also a "family business" for the Erdogans?

Thierry Meyssan : Since the beginning of the war in Syria, the Turkish secret services (MIT) organized the looting of the north of Syria. They stole all the machines tools in Aleppo, the industrial capital of the country. But with Daesh, the Erdogan Family became the main profiteer of this system. I wrote, just after the proclamation of the Caliphate, that Bilal Erdogan, son of the Turkish leader, was the head of the international oil traffic for Daesh. The facts were established long time later by the Russian secret services and presented to the UN Security Council.

Pravda : To what extent Turkey is prepared to go in its confrontation with Russia?

Thierry Meyssan : Turkey had a large and good army. In fact it is the second army by number in NATO. But the Turkish militaries are not opposed to Russia and they are not supporting the Milli Gorus ideas of President Erdogan.

Pravda : What is the future of Erdogan in the case of a, especially glaring, defeat?

Thierry Meyssan : Right now, there is an agreement between Moscow and Washington to save the Turkish people from this dictator who rig the elections. But it is difficult to do without opening new regional war. That is why now, the US and Russia are both delivering weapons to the Kurds against Erdogan. At the same time, Moscow is preparing a big file against Erdogan as a person, and against Turkey as a State. Ambassador Churkin already gave two reports of the Russian secret services to the UN Security Council. The first one deal with the relations between Turkish institutions and the jihadists. The second one is much more aggressive, dealing with the Turkish responsibility inside Al-Qaeda and Daesh.

Pravda : Syria has resisted almost five years to the aggression of Islamist militias. Then about six months ago the intervention of Moscow. In what condition was the Syrian army when the Russian intervention began?

Thierry Meyssan : The Syria army was exhausted. Because of the sanctions, they had no new weapons and ammunitions since 2005. But the jihadists were supported by NATO, the Gulf countries and Turkey. They received the best weapons, daily ammunitions and the most important: satellites images about the Syrian Arab Army. This war was so brutal that the Syrian army had much more losses than in front of Israel. The arrival of Russia was decided in 2012, but the Russian army arrived only at the end of 2015. During 3 years, the Russians prepared incredible new weapons. When they arrived, before it was official, they give modern weapons to the Syrians. Right now the Syrian Arab Army is again a great one and is able to face the jihadists. During the last years it was only a defensive one, trying to protect the citizens. Now it is an offensive one, trying to liberate the land.

Pravda : And now?

Thierry Meyssan : This war will continue until the arrival of new jihadists will be stop. You can kill them, but reinforcements arrive every day through Turkey.

Pravda : What perspectives on the end of the war in your opinion?

Thierry Meyssan : I dont think that the Geneva negotiations will propose a solution. Because the opposition delegation in Geneva is only composed by people chosen by Foreign States with no support inside the county. They hope to be ministers like Chalabi and others became ministers in Iraq in the wallets of US forces. But the war in Syria is not a revolution, it is a war against two models of society for the Middle East. More than 80 percent of the fighters are foreigners. But they received the support of a very small part of the population, about 5 percent of the Syrians. When the US created the jihadists movement, in 1978, they never think that it will became so great and that it will be supported by some Muslims. What is new, is that the jihadist leaders financed by Saudi Arabia had, each of them, 3 women and more than 15 children. Now they are supported by the people who are against the control of fecundity and the modern way of life. It is very strange to see this fight in Syria, a country who give the right of vote and the total equality for women at the same time than Russians, 25 years before the West Europeans.
If you think that the adversaries of Donald Trump are not playing fair when it comes to picking off convention delegates, take a look at this May 2012 Fox News report that shows Ron Paul doing exactly the same thing to Romney. Many of the Libertarian hypocrites who are screaming bloody murder about Trumps delegate losses were cheering four years ago for what they thought was a great victory of the freedom movement. Ron Paul then was picking off delegates in exactly the same way that Ted Cruz is today.

As this 2012 Fox News report reminds us, at this time four years ago supporters of Ron Paul were busy supporting and celebrating Ron Pauls effort to peel off Romney delegates. This includes many of the libertarians now whining about a Big Steal as rival candidates pick off Trump delegates whose loyalty the billionaire has not deigned to cultivate. What Cruz is going to Trump now is about the same thing that Ron Paul was doing to Romney. A neutral online source recalls that:

The Paul campaign pursued a strategy of gathering support from state delegates as opposed to outright winning states. For example, Paul had a strong showing in Romneys home state, Massachusetts, with supporters getting the majority of delegates there (though they are compelled to vote for Romney in the first round), causing a battle between the Paul delegates, the Massachusetts Republican Party, and the Republican National Convention Committee. A similar situation played out in Louisiana, with the Paul campaign initially winning 17 of 30 available delegates before procedural and legal challenges changed the allocation. Paul also managed a delegate win in Nevada, with 88% of delegates supporting him. Paul won 21 of 25 delegates in Iowa. Leading up to the convention, Ron Paul won bound-pluralities of the official delegations from the states of Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, and Oregon (but not the Virgin Islandsdespite winning the popular vote there). During the credentials committee meetings the week prior to the official opening of the convention, the Ron Paul members of the delegations from Louisiana, Maine, and Oregon were disputed (as well as the Ron Paul delegates from Massachusetts), and many of the Ron Paul delegates from those states were unseated. In the end, Ron Paul had bound-pluralities from Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada; however, he additionally had nomination-from-the-floor-pluralities in the states of Oregon and Alaska, plus the territory of the Virgin Islands. Under the 2012 rules, this total of 6 from-the-floor pluralities was sufficient to earn a fifteen-minute speech on national television; the rules were changed at the last minute to require 8 from-the-floor pluralities, and thus Ron Paul did not speak at the convention.

Of course, Ron Pauls goal in 2012 was to get enough delegate votes that he could block Romney from getting the nomination on his own power and thus extort the vice-presidential nomination for his mediocre, racist son Rand. This nepotistic project, which very few of Pauls dupes ever understood, failed because Romney won enough of his own delegates to make it on his own. By this point in 2012, Romney was averaging about 70% of the primary votes, thanks to his accumulated momentum. Trump, by contrast, remains below 40%. Trump is by comparison a very weak candidate who is losing momentum rather than gaining it. This is the reality.

The pro-Paul libertarians, since the collapse of Rand Pauls campaign, have joined the Trump camp in significant numbers. But many of them have been afflicted with amnesia about how energetically they were trying to convert Romney delegates to Pauls version of libertarianism just four years ago. What they then celebrated as the victorious freedom movement on the march has now become an outrage they want to protest in the streets.

Part of the change may have something to do with the bungling managerial ineptitude of the Trump campaign when it comes to fighting for these delegates. Maybe Trump should put his current campaign into Chapter Seven bankruptcy liquidation, notching the fifth bankruptcy in his ramshackle business congeries. But it is unlikely that Trump will acknowledge that he is an abysmal manager who could never direct the US federal government.

Hypocrites for Trump, anyone?
Amandla Stenberg. Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

Amandla Stenberg is best known for her role as Rue in The Hunger Games, and now she might be traveling from that dystopian future back to the 1940s for Amma Asantes new romantic period drama, Where Hands Touch. (We would make a joke about Doc Brown here, but it seems way too irrelevant.) Sternberg is in talks to star in the film about a relationship between a mixed-race German girl and an SS officer in Berlin. Director Amma Asante has been working on the script since before her 2013 film Belle, another rare romantic period drama with a black protagonist. Where Hands Touch will start shooting this summer.
Bravo. Photo: NBC/Getty Images

Following Bruce Springsteens lead, Bryan Adams has now joined in protesting anti-LGBTQ legislation in the South. Adams has announced he is cancelling his April 14 concert in Biloxi, Mississippi, after the state passed the Protecting Freedom of Conscience From Government Discrimination Act (commonly known as the Religious Liberty bill), which would allow businesses, public employees, and faith-based organizations to discriminate based on sexual orientation and transgender identity. In a statement posted to Facebook, Adams says he cannot in good conscience perform in a state where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation and warns that he wont perform again in Mississippi until the bill is repealed. His boycott comes after Springsteen canceled a concert in North Carolina over similar anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Read Adamss full statement below:
At what point do you have to admit that youve grown apart from an old friend and cut ties? This decision is always rough, but it turns out that a ten-year prison stint makes it a bit easier for Jerrod  though reaching this conclusion involves some regression, some cocaine, and a whole lot of familiar Carmichael debate.

In Ex-Con, Jerrods old friend Shawn shows up out of the blue after being released from prison. Jerrod is quick to point out that Shawn isnt a violent criminal; though he was sentenced to 13 years for dealing drugs, he was released early for good behavior. At first, Maxine is a bit hesitant about the whole situation because she doesnt know Shawn. Once Cynthia and Joe show up to take the oppositional opinion against Jerrod, she reverts back to her usual do-gooder self, who believes that Shawn can, and will, change as long as he has the right support. That support comes in the form of Maxine agreeing with Jerrod that Shawn should crash at their apartment rather than in a halfway house where everyone looks like a Batman villain.

Both Cynthia and Joe arent keen on the idea, as theyve always been wary of Shawn and his influence on their son. We learn a few things about Shawn as the episode goes on  he stole from the collection plate at church, he borrowed (i.e., stole) Joes car without asking  and although its nothing thats super dangerous or harmful to those around him, its still reasonable why these parents would be concerned about their child hanging out with him. Of course, Cynthia and Joe would probably have the same Shawn cant change opinion if he were a stranger released from prison, but having him be one of Jerrods good friends helps to give the Carmichael parents a personal stake in the conversation, which brings the debate home to the living room.

Despite Jerrods impassioned defense of Shawn, its not long before the two of them regress into old, questionable behavior. Just minutes after Shawns arrival, they head out for breakfast and dont arrive back until the next morning, both drunk. Jerrods not exactly a charming drunk in his conversation with Maxine as he tries to explain that Shawn needed to blow off some steam and have fun after ten years behind bars. (This scene was actually a little painful to watch, instead of just cringe-y.) He also reveals that Shawn got into a fight  ahem: a scuffle, dust-up, scrum  on his first night out. Whats worse is that the fight was only over a guy stepping on Jerrods Jordans. Maxine reminds Jerrod that what Shawn does in his first two weeks is critical to his success, but her advice doesnt seem to sink in.

What does get Jerrods attention is waking up to find both Maxine and Shawn missing, and neither of them answering their phones. The inclusion of Maxine is important because it wouldnt make sense for Jerrod to wake up and do a 180 on his opinion of Shawn, but its logical  and understandable  that Jerrod begins to worry once he thinks the woman he loves might be in danger. From day one, its been a joke that Maxine is a sheltered, not street-smart character (see: last week, when no one believed that she once got followed in a store; Maxine eventually admitted it was because she was with Nekeisha) and this characterization smartly comes into play in Ex-Con. One of the reasons why Jerrod is so worried is because he knows Maxine has never been in a situation like this. Jerrods reaction also makes clear that he knows Shawn hasnt changed; if he truly believed that Shawn were different, then he wouldnt be so concerned about Maxine. Maybe Jerrod was just in denial about his friend, maybe he didnt want to admit what he knew was true, or maybe he just hoped against hope that he was wrong and Shawn had wised up.

Maxine and Shawn do arrive back safe and sound, but Jerrod isnt stupid. He doesnt believe Shawns story about checking out a job lead, and Shawn casually admits that he asked Maxine for the ride so he could sell cocaine to someone. Shawns defense is that he cant get a good job because hes a felon (his only option: work at McDonalds to save up enough money to buy a crappy car that will allow him to more easily get to work at McDonalds), so he has to keep slinging drugs. If theres one big fault with Ex-Con, its that the episode doesnt devote enough time to exploring this aspect of post-prison life, especially as it pertains to black men. Its a subject that could be rife with topical conversations: How can a black man recently freed from jail thrive in society when most opportunities are yanked away the second anyone learns that he was incarcerated? How does one prepare for life outside of prison? Why do so many people fail to change, then end up right back where they started? (And, yes, the tag reveals that Shawn is back in prison for dealing.) The Carmichael Show doesnt have enough time to provide a nuanced discussion about this subject  honestly, no sitcom can really hash out all of the problems and questions involved  so it concerns itself with something else thats important.

That something else is Jerrod realizing that its time to finally grow out of his friendship with Shawn. Outside of the prison/rehabilitation aspect, Ex-Con also considers when its appropriate to cut toxic people out of your life. In a nice touch, Jerrod comes to this realization through his fear and worry for Maxine. Those few hours she was missing were enough to make Jerrod know that he never wants her  or the rest of his family  to be in danger. If that means cutting out harmful people, then so be it.
Riley Keough as Christine. Photo: KERRY HAYES/Starz

Writer and sex educator Lux Alptraum will be walking through each episode of Starzs The Girlfriend Experience for Vulture, gauging how closely it approximates what its like to be a sex worker, in a series of essays and interviews. Follow along, and read our Girlfriend Experience recaps here.

Nine years ago, I took a cab from my East Village apartment to the Mandarin Oriental, a luxury hotel just off of Central Park South. An escort friend was in town to see a client; with her appointment wrapped up and a fancy hotel room at her disposal for the evening, she figured we might as well have some fun. We invited a few friends over and shot a silly video in the massive bathtub. The next morning, my friend and I enjoyed an $80 room service breakfast, conveniently charged to her clients tab.

We did not call up room service, demand to know the most expensive bottles of wine available, and charge nearly two grand in alcohol to her client. Thats how Starzs The Girlfriend Experience introduces us to the world of, to use the shows term, high-end escorting.

The Girlfriend Experience  a show that, the credits remind us, is suggested by the 2009 film of the same name  is a strange beast. Despite being made seven years after Soderberghs Sasha Grey vehicle, it feels, weirdly, more regressive in its attitude towards sex work. The film sought to draw comparisons between escorting and other service industries: Both Christine and her personal-trainer boyfriend relentlessly market their services, seek out innovative ways to grow their businesses, and navigate tricky client relationships that hover on the border between intimate and professional. In contrast, the show seems determined to double down on the exotic nature of the industry: the fancy hotel rooms, the luxury by proxy, and, yes, the thousands of dollars of liquor you can put on someone elses tab.

But most of that is only hinted at in the shows first episode, which is primarily concerned with establishing the life our protagonist inhabits before getting lured into sex work. Christine Reade is a second-year law student at the fictional Chicago-Burnham Law School. As the episode begins, we see her interviewing for various legal internships; she ultimately lands a coveted placement at corporate law firm Kirkland & Allen, LLP. She shares an apartment with a roommate she seems to despise. Outside of home and work, Christines life seems to solely consist of hanging out with Avery, the fellow law student and secret escort who serves as her entry point in sex work.

Perhaps the strangest thing about this episode is that at no point does Christine seem like a woman who would be drawn to escorting. I dont mean that shes too smart or too driven or that she has other options (many of the sex workers I know are smart, driven, and with plenty of career options). Its more that she seems to completely lack any of the basic skills that are necessary for the job. Escorts who cater to wealthy gentlemen tend to place a great emphasis on being able to blend into expensive environments, something Christine seems incapable of doing even in her straight life. Most notably, shes not very good with people  in most of her interactions throughout the episode, she seems distant, disengaged, and bored. In other words, shes the exact opposite of what a good sex worker needs to be: empathetic and able to connect with other people.

When Christine accompanies Avery back to the palatial home where shes been staying thanks to the generosity of Garrett, her best regular client, the show seems to be setting a lure for Christine: all this  the gorgeous house, the garage full of cars, the seemingly endless space  could be yours, if only youre willing to give in to the siren song of sex for money. When we return to Christines apartment not long after, the contrast is clear. Sex workers dont have to worry about crummy roommates who bring annoying girls home for one-night stands. Sex work can offer a path to financial freedom, which, lets be serious, is a big reason why many people turn to it in real life, along with the flexible hours, the low barrier to entry, and, for some people, a genuine passion for the work.

Of course, all of this is just a setup for the real purpose of the episode: Christines first foray into sex work (or at least sex-work lite). It turns out that Garrett has a friend wholl be joining him for drinks, and Avery needs to find a friend to come with her and even out the boy/girl ratio. Its just drinks, she repeatedly stresses to Christine, and that seems to be enough to win Christine over. When Avery reveals that, while at work, she uses the name Ashley, Christine asks if she can be known as Chelsea. You can be whoever you want to be, Avery replies  and thus a baby escort is born.

One of the things that often comes up in a discussion of high-income escorting is the fact that clients are paying for more than just sex. Women who command fees of thousands of dollars per hour are able to do so because theyre providing far more than just a pretty face and willing vagina. Theyre offering up the experience of being with a classy, educated, and accommodating woman; one whos able to carry on an intellectual conversation, accompany a client to fancy corporate events, and happens to be eager to remind you how attractive, desirable, and virile you are  all while being emotionally present enough to create a genuine sense of connection. (A detail missed by both the show and the movie is that this sort of sex work is one where age can actually be a boon to the provider  both because 22-year-old women are less likely to have the emotional maturity to foster a connection with their clients, and because an older woman is far less likely to raise suspicion as a companion at corporate events.)

Experienced escort Avery provides none of that at drinks, acting less like a classy companion than a petulant goth teen. Shes distant, disengaged, and sometimes bitchy; when Garretts friend Martin asks how Christine and Avery know each other, she blithely responds that they used to date. Martin is clearly unamused, yet when the two girls regroup in the bathroom, Avery is confident enough to insist that he really likes Christine.

She passes her an envelope full of cash. Eying it with disgust, Christine tells Avery she doesnt need it. Its just a gift, Avery insists, reminding her that this is just drinks, that she doesnt need to do anything beyond look pretty and be charming. Christine, of course, takes the envelope, eyes the stack of hundreds inside, and takes a deep breath. Returning to the bar, she suddenly shows interest in Martin. Because, friends, The Girlfriend Experience seems to believe that the only thing required to get a woman to do a total 180 on the issue of sex work is a reminder that sex work can, in fact, result in income.

In the next episode, we see Christine start to fulfill the promise of the shows title  and I check in with a real-life law student/girlfriend-experience provider to get her thoughts.

Now Watch:
This weeks episode, Homeward Bound, is bookended by two scenes of New York homecomings: Shoshannas furious and wounded return to the city, represented by the fish-out-of-water image of her sliding along an airport walkway; and Hannahs hitchhike ride back home, seeing the city through another persons eyes.

Some of Girls strongest moments happen when the characters leave New York City. We saw this with Hannahs visit home, the time she spent in Iowa, Marnies wedding, the infamous beach house, and of course, Shoshannas glorious (and ultimately failed) trip to Japan. Its especially curious to watch Girls play with the intermediary places in this episode. Shoshanna slinks dejectedly back into New York just as Hannah leaves, immediately regrets it, and makes a series of horrible choices trying to get back. As Homeward Bound so correctly suggests, each departure and return to the city is an opportunity to try on new identities and become new people  it literalizes the seriess preoccupation with presentations of the self. And so, it feels remarkably appropriate that Hannah fails so spectacularly at both leaving and coming back.

After Hannahs stunned discovery of Jessa and Adams relationship at the end of Hello Kitty, she finds herself in a house car with Fran, setting off for a three-month road trip through who knows where. The moment they exit the city, Fran and Hannah have inverse reactions: While Fran takes deep breaths and glories in his freedom, Hannah begins to feel the walls of the RV closing in on her, and sticks her head out the window to try to find more space.

What follows are some of Hannahs worst decisions, all lined up one right after another. She breaks up with Fran at a desolate rest area, refuses his offer of a ride home, calls each of her friends to try to get them to pick her up, finally deigns to call Ray, forces a blow job on him (?!) while hes driving her home, causes him to crash the enormous coffee van, and then leaves him by the side of the road so she can hitchhike back to the city.

This cavalcade of disaster is, unquestionably, the result of Hannahs poor behavior. Shes alienated her friends. She continued a relationship she knows she shouldve ended earlier. She has an unbelievable lack of respect for boundaries (especially sexual ones). She acts without thinking. Heck, even Hannahs hitchhiking predicament is just reaping what shes sown; she cant call an Uber because she got kicked off the app for low ratings.

At the start of this chain reaction of poor choices, though, is one decision that is unquestionably right: breaking up with Fran. In spite of her truly unwise way of dumping him, what follows does help explain how it got that bad. Hannah tries desperately to get away from Fran, and he ends up hilariously chasing her round and round through the public restrooms, perpetually ignoring her request that he just stop. Hes nice, sure! A nice guy would never leave his girlfriend locked in a bathroom, and he certainly wouldnt let her just run away into the woods, and then abandon her at a rest stop. But its clear that Frans niceness has become, at least for Hannah, an unbearably oppressive niceness. Hes much, much better at seeming to be a good person than she is. And while his post-breakup explosion isnt exactly unwarranted, neither is it flattering. In a show obsessed with perception and appearance, seeming like a nice guy is a pretty bitter indictment.

So Hannahs free of Fran. Does she know what to do with that freedom once she gets it? Of course not. But as the RV rolls away, her deep, eyes-rolled-back sigh of relief feels honest.

Hannah eventually (and literally) falls into Rays lap because Marnie and Jessa are both otherwise occupied  Marnies recording a demo with Desi to take advantage of their Alex Patsavasgiven opportunity, and Jessas helping Adam hold down the fort at Laird and Carolines place. Marnies story is funny, and elevated somewhat by Lisa Bonets pleasurably obnoxious performance as Desis new love interest/spiritual guide, even though the role feels like a direct import of her character from High Fidelity.

But as far as emotional heft, Marnies laughable band doesnt hold a candle to the situation at Lairds apartment. While trying to track down his sister, Adam arrives to find Laird and Sample (  yes, they are still calling this child Sample) alone in the apartment. Caroline left three days ago to find some pepitas, and its not until Adam finds a note under the fridge that Laird realizes the extent of the damage.

In moments like this one, Girls refusal to play anything straight gets quite tricky. Caroline and Laird (and Sample, for Petes sake) are clearly the butt of jokes. Lairds exhausted, blind subservience to Caroline is meant to be snickered at, and Carolines monstrous maternity is satire, I suppose. We saw this play out last season with Carolines home birth, when the threat of real harm and the sudden existence of a helpless newborn smacked up against Girls ironic detachment. We see it here, again, as Laird reads the letter in which Caroline explains that she worries about hurting her daughter or hurting herself, and has left them. The line between funny and incredibly serious is a slippery one.

To my immense relief, Homeward Bound lands on the side of incredibly serious. After bouncing through some lightly humorous scenes of Jessa trying to help Adam take care of the baby (after Laird flees in dismay), the plot culminates with Jessa screaming in horror as Sample spits up all over her back. Why arent you helping me?! Jessa asks Adam, bewildered. Youre an adult, he replies. Shes a baby. Why do you need more help than a baby? The heavens opened up, and lo, a character on Girls is growing up.

While all this happens (and as Hannah gratefully leaps into a strangers car to hitchhike home), Shoshanna gets a dressing down from Scott, whom she meets in a sushi restaurant. This is clearly just a transition episode for Shosh, setting pieces into place for what her character will do next. Its clear that going back to Scott is not an option. And although she doesnt come off especially well in this scene, her fervent apology to the sushi chef is quite nice.

We end with Hannah in the car with Hector, whose gun in the backseat and generally glowering demeanor cause Hannah to give Marnie a safety call. The fact that Hector is played by Scandals Guillermo Diaz is another nail in the you-in-danger-girl coffin. In the final moments, though  and edited nicely to come right up against Adams surprising demonstration of maturity  the story flips. Hannah realizes that Hectors just trying to run away from a terrible relationship, too. As the city appears in the distance, Hannah sees his sweetly sincere excitement as both startling and affecting.

Its hard to say with any confidence that Hannahs homecoming represents a shift in her mindset. She has behaved in such utterly reprehensible ways that if shed gotten into that car, looked out at the New York skyline, and spontaneously written all of Hamilton, it would still be hard to find sympathy for her. But its possible to read the transition that takes place in Hectors car as one belonging to someone lost, whos found a slightly different way to look at the maze. In order to speak the way she does  in order to encourage Hectors perspective  Hannah has to step outside of her own solipsism for just the tiniest scrap of a moment.

Sure, we shouldnt believe that Hannah will exit that car and retain any of the understanding she stumbled her way into on the drive home. But wouldnt it be nice if she did?
Jealousy has been the prevailing emotional default for Phil since the earliest days of The Last Man on Earth, when he constantly schemed and deceived to get what he wanted. Phil (a.k.a. Tandy, a.k.a. Skidmark) was jealous of Todd for earning Melissas love, resented Phil Miller for being capable and desirable, and often takes umbrage at the mere prospect of other people finding happiness that doesnt directly involve him. He can be petty to pathetic when it comes the joy of others, and nothing brings it out like a shift in attention to someone else. His jealousy always spikes when a new factor  a stranger, a cow, a baby  enters the mix, but the long-awaited arrival of Mike drags Phil into a special sort of hell.

Mikes not just an intimidating new rival in this insular little tribe. Hes not just a foil for Phil; hes the anti-Phil. Their fraternal rivalry is immediately seen with Phils dick-punch greeting, as he channels all his latent negativity into sour grapes over a girl that Phil had called dibs on, but Mike hooked up with anyway. (It was somewhere between making love and boning, to place it on Phils spectrum.) Phil uses that expired slight as a smokescreen for all the resentment he harbors toward Mike, stemming mostly from feelings of inadequacy. Though Mikes not perfect  Phil makes that abundantly, brutally clear when he brings up Mikes plagiarism-related expulsion from college and how he missed their grandmothers death while away on a kayaking trip  hes clearly more intelligent, sensitive, and successful than Phil. Mike instantly ingratiates himself with the group, which isnt hard when hes got such a sexy, tragic backstory and a (mostly) on-pitch rendition of Space Oddity ready to go. Hes an astronaut, and though Phils accusation that he leans on that a little hard may not be entirely unfounded, its easy to see why Phil would be jealous. But his jealousy goes bone-deep, as it can only occur between brothers. In this episode, Phil is plagued by the most maddening feeling in the world: that someone out there is living a better version of your life.

What made Phil Miller an excellent match for then-Tandy was his willingness to play along, to occasionally sink to Tandys level and best him at his own dirty game. (And then, it was up to Phil Miller to have his own crisis of conscience, leading him to undo whatever he had done to Tandy.) Mike also demonstrates that he wont hesitate to dish out as much as he takes, which culminates in a final gag so sublime and meticulously shot that itd be rude to spoil it here. In fact, this episode is pretty heavy on comedy derived from the cameras physicality. Director Claire Scanlon manages to make shooting Will Forte exclusively in profile feel natural enough so as not to ruin the gag shes set up for the final scene, but she really shines as a formalist during Phils terribly misguided performance of We Didnt Start the Fire. She expands the traditional shot/reverse shot to absurdly wide proportions, shooting the comically small amphitheater audience of six from Phils perspective, followed by a ridiculously tiny Phil from the crowds perspective. Dwarfed by their surroundings, both sides of this equation are revealed to be part of a big farce. And isnt that what Phils bid for affection really is?

Meanwhile, Todds starring in an entirely different show, a romantic comedy that takes nothing for granted, operating in a postapocalyptic paradigm free of ground rules. Everyone knows Todds offer to enter a polyamorous four-person relationship with Melissa, Gail, and Erica was a complete disaster (or, in his sheepishly repeated words, a big whiff and misfire), but what this episode presupposes is  maybe it wasnt?

After realizing theyve both got substantial feelings for Todd (and that monogamy may not be the most practical option in a world perilously short on eligible bachelors), Melissa and Gail warm up to the idea of sharing him. Its safe to assume that Gail and Melissas mutual agreement over Todd may now dissipate with the introduction of fresh meat in Malibu, but if the writers intend on traveling down this avenue, it could return the show to its earliest iteration. When Phil really was the last man on Earth with Carol his only company, the show functioned like a bold deconstruction of the rom-com, where an odd couple comes together not just through the power of love, but evolutionary imperatives. Approaching nontraditional relationship structures  which have become increasingly common in everyday life as heteronormative mores break down  could be a potentially revolutionary move for the show. Network television has never really explored polyamory beyond quick throwaway jokes or, more frequently, as the end result of male conniving. Depictions of healthy, mutually desired polyamorous relationships are in lamentably short supply, and who better to buck that trend than The Last Man on Earth, a show thats made no bones about how little it cares for convention. Unlikely as this route may be, itd certainly be an intriguing one.

Of course, Mikes not the first newcomer to the enclave. His arrival pretty much mirrors that of Phil Miller last season: The addition of a capable, eligible man to threaten Phil/Tandy. But this time [dramatic pause] its personal, as decades of simmering tensions threaten to boil over between Phil and his brother. And whats more, the newest resident of Malibu feels no obligation to put up with Tandy, or be polite to him for proprietys sake. Family is family, and while the hippies of Lilo & Stitch might have you believe that means nobody gets left behind or forgotten, those rules no longer apply. In the post-humanity remnants of civilization, it means no b.s. and no holds barred. Phil can lash out all he likes, but he wont be gently chided or simply punished with ostracizing anymore. Now, when Phil feels like trifling, he gets the single worst rebranding since Tandygate, and loses some key facial features.

Assorted Thoughts and Questions:
Photo: Pool/Getty Images

Oh, man, think science is for squares? Not after this week, daddy-o, because starting tonight youll be seeing science through the eyes of Americas exhausted cool dad, President Barack Obama. Whos square now, huh? According to Deadline, President Obama will host the Science Channels DNews segment  which focuses on public health, space, and technology each night this week at 9 p.m. Obamas appearance coincides with Wednesdays White House Science Fair and this weekends USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C. Also each night this week? Neil deGrasse Tyson, watching President Obama from behind a heavy velvet curtain, one eye barely illuminated as he watches Obamas easy swagger; vest soaking wet; trembling with rage and trepidation.
PRESS RELEASE  In conjunction with the special exhibit Fighting for the Right to Fight: African American Experiences in World War II, The National WWII Museum is welcoming an authentic, newly restored P-51D Mustang fighter to Museum grounds, replacing a replica P-51 in US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. The warbird, which is painted in the likeness of the 332nd Fighter Groups Red Tail plane flown by Tuskegee Airman Roscoe Brown, will be unveiled during a special dedication ceremony on April 21.Hosted by ABCs Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts and WWL-TV anchor Sally-Ann Roberts, the ceremony will begin at 6:00 p.m. and feature Tuskegee Airmen George Hardy and Charles McGee. The hosts, whose father Colonel Lawrence Roberts was a Tuskegee Airman, will lead discussions with Hardy and McGee as they share their experiences flying iconic Red Tails and the lasting legacy of Americas first black fighter pilots.

At the dedication event, and throughout the following weekend, visitors will have the opportunity to view the P-51 up close on the ground floor of US Freedom before the plane is suspended from the ceiling. The aircraft, which was restored by Flyboys Aeroworks based at Gillespie Field in San Diego, emerged as a key element of Allied air superiority during World War II. P-51 Mustangs were essential to the Allies gaining control of European airspace, said Tom Czekanski, the Museums senior curator and restoration manager. The P-51 provided US Army Air Forces with a high-performance, high-altitude, long-range fighter that could escort heavy bomber formations to Berlin and back. With American pilots including Tuskegee Airmen at the helm, American forces were able to dramatically reduce the loss of bomber crews, which they had been suffering since the daylight bombing campaign began in 1942.

The success the Tuskegee Airmen achieved in battle became a symbol of bravery and skill, helping refute notions that African Americans were inferior performers in the military, especially in roles requiring advanced training. As the Airmen became well known for their stellar flying record and distinctive aircraft, they were able to begin breaking racial barriers abroad and eventually at home.The Museums P-51 dedication event will be preceded by a free Fighting for the Right to Fight Symposium*, which will include two panel discussions featuring noted historians and veterans focusing on African Americans in the military. The morning panel, featuring John Morrow, PhD, and Dan Haulman, PhD, among others, will examine the evolution of black service members and recognition throughout the 20th century. Afternoon panelists include former Mississippi Governor William Winter, Civil Rights activist Charles Evers, and journalist/statesman Hodding Carter III, who will reflect on how America changed during the Civil Rights Movement after World War II.

The Tuskegee Airmen participating in the dedication ceremony will also share their stories via a free webinar at 12 noon CST on April 21. The webinar will broadcast live in classrooms across the nation, allowing students to hear firsthand accounts of the extraordinary achievements of African Americans during the war, both overseas and on the Home Front. Students will have the opportunity to ask the veterans and Museum educators questions throughout the program.Fighting for the Right to Fight is on display at the Museum through May 30, 2016. Following Memorial Day, the exhibit will embark on a two-year national tour, expanding access and educational opportunities across the country as part of a robust touring-exhibit program sponsored by the New Orleans-based Museum and its partners.

The Museums P-51 Mustang will be suspended from a high ceiling in US Freedom Pavilion on April 25, where it will remain on permanent display with other WWII aircraft. The warbirds restoration was generously supported by the Ricketts Family, including Museum Trustee Todd Ricketts.

About The National WWII Museum

The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American experience in the war that changed the world  why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today  so that future generations will know the price of freedom, and be inspired by what they learn. Dedicated in 2000 as The National D-Day Museum and now designated by Congress as Americas National WWII Museum, it celebrates the American Spirit, the teamwork, optimism, courage and sacrifice of the men and women who fought on the battlefront and served on the Home Front. For more information, call 877-813-3329 or 504-528-1944 or visit nationalww2museum.org.
PRESS RELEASE  Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Les Dyer will share an inside look at what it was like to pilot the worlds fastest, highest-flying manned aircraft, the SR-71, when he speaks at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 16 at the Commemorative Air Force Dixie Wing headquarters in Peachtree City (Museums opens at 9:00 a.m. to the public). The presentation is the second in a monthly aviation series, Living Aviation History Day, sponsored by the Dixie Wing. Dyer was a pilot in the SR-71 program before his retirement in 1989.

The SR-71 Blackbird is one of the most spectacular aircraft ever built. Unofficially, the SR-71 carried many nicknames, including the Habu, SR, Lady in Black, and Sled, but it was best known as Blackbird. The SR-71 was developed as a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft capable of flying at speeds over Mach 3.2 and at 85,000 feet. The first SR-71 entered service in 1966 and was retired in 1990. Some were brought back to service in 1995 and the USAF kept them in operation until 1998. NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California flew the SR-71 from 1991 until its final flight in October 1999. The Blackbird remains the worlds fastest and highest-flying manned aircraft. On its retirement flight from Los Angeles to Washington in 1990, to its final resting place in the Smithsonian Air & Space collection, the plane flew coast to coast in 67 minutes. Piloting the Blackbird was an unforgiving endeavor demanding total concentration. At 85,000 feet and Mach 3, it was almost a religious experience, said one pilot. Nothing had prepared me to fly that fast.

At that speed and altitude, even the best air defense systems had no hope of catching the Blackbird. When anti-aircraft weapons were fired, a warning light glowed on the control panel. That typically would be the last the pilot would see of the attempted attack, as surface-to-air missiles consistently missed wildly, exploding many miles from the intended target. The aircraft delivered on its strategic responsibilities, providing detailed, mission-critical reconnaissance for more than two decades, including the Cold War era. Its legacy as a game-changer long will be remembered in aviation history.

The fee to attend this two-hour Dixie Wing event is $10. Dixie Wing headquarters and museum are at 1200 Echo Ct., Peachtree City, adjoining Atlanta Regional Airport (Falcon Field). Warbird rides in the Dixie Wing aircraft available. For more information, visit www.dixiewing.org.

The Commemorative Air Force is a non-profit organization dedicated to flying and restoring World War II aircraft. Based in Dallas, Texas, the organization has more than 13,000 members and operates a fleet of more than 162 World War II aircraft. www.commemorativeairforce.org
I cant stay home. I move the worlds cargo, declared Rudy Moreno of Los Angeles/Long Beach ILWU longshore Local 13. His words were later memorialized in The Dispatcher, the unions newspaper, in the January 2021 issue dedicated to Moreno and other members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union who had already lost their lives []
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Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V..

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Telefonica, S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services in Europe and Latin America. The company's mobile and related services and products comprise mobile voice, value added, mobile data and Internet, wholesale, corporate, roaming, fixed wireless, and trunking and paging services. Its fixed telecommunication services include PSTN lines; ISDN accesses; public telephone services; local, domestic, and international long-distance and fixed-to-mobile communications; corporate communications; supplementary value-added services; video telephony; intelligent network; and telephony information services, as well as leases and sells handset equipment. The company also provides Internet and broadband multimedia services comprising Internet service provider, portal and network, retail and wholesale broadband access, narrowband switched access, high-speed Internet through fibre to the home, and voice over Internet protocol services. In addition, it offers leased line, virtual private network, fibre optics, web hosting and application, outsourcing and consultancy, desktop, and system integration and professional services. Further, the company offers wholesale services for telecommunication operators, including domestic interconnection and international wholesale services; leased lines for other operators; and local loop leasing services, as well as bit stream services, wholesale line rental accesses, and leased ducts for other operators' fiber deployment. Additionally, it provides video/TV services; smart connectivity and services, and consumer IoT products; financial and other payment, security, cloud computing, advertising, big data, and digital telco experience services; virtual assistants; digital home platforms; and Movistar Home devices. It also offers online telemedicine, home insurance, music streaming, and consumer loan services. The company was incorporated in 1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.
Federal MP Clive Palmer had the final say on major spending decisions at his troubled Queensland Nickel refinery even after stepping down as a director, the ABC's Four Corners program reports.

In an episode to air on Monday night, the program claims Mr Palmer remained heavily involved in multi-million dollar spending decisions despite officially standing down from a formal role with the company following his election to parliament in 2013.

Most of the spending decisions were outlined in emails from Mr Palmer's email alias, Terry Smith, and included an $8 million haulage contract and a $6.3 million mining contract, the program claims.

The MP is facing probes by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Queensland Nickel's administrators into whether he acted as a shadow director before the company ran into trouble.
In April, Turnbull told the Lowy Institute: "This is a time for a very keen focus on our national interest. The costs of standing still are unacceptable." So it is now time for Turnbull as Prime Minister to follow his own injunction. He needs to explain how the swiftly escalating hostility between the US and China can be reversed and a new and more sustainable basis constructed for Asia's future peace and security.

That's a big task, of course, but the first step is pretty simple. He should do what none of his predecessors have done and begin frankly to acknowledge and explain Asia's strategic challenges, and the choices we face in responding to them.

The first step would be to acknowledge the dangerously rising tension between Australia's two most important international partners, and explain its deep origins in the contest for leadership in Asia between an ambitious and rising China and a still-powerful and determined US.

He should say that China's rise has already changed radically the distribution of wealth and power in Asia, and this will most likely continue, even as China's growth slows. And he should explain that this makes major changes in the Asian regional order inevitable: the order under US leadership cannot remain unchanged when the material basis of power in Asia has shifted so much. Our challenge is to manage that change, and we cannot do that if we pretend it's not happening.

He should warn of the consequences if Asia's strategic changes are not managed effectively. The lesson of history from Thucydides onwards is that big shifts in power such as the one through which we are living often lead to truly catastrophic major wars. We cannot manage Asia's transformation effectively if we do not recognise the terrible risks of mismanaging it. This is the lesson of 1914. It is vital for Australia, as well as for everyone else, that a new order should evolve peacefully.
The voters love Gonski. Astonishingly, every educational sector  public, Catholic and Independent  are also in favour. Labor, the Greens, most cross benchers, all state governments (except WA) are gung ho for Gonski. Teachers, principals, parents, teacher-educators, education researchers and unions are passionate about the scheme.

It seems the only people opposed are the federal LNP and a few right wing think tanks. So adamant is their opposition they are refusing to fund the last two years of the scheme although, as yet, we have not heard what they propose instead. There was a moment when it looked like they might be about to dump public education on the states and keep private schools for themselves, but that idea appears to have evaporated (phew!). The pressure on them to change their minds is intense and Labor cannot contain their glee at the prospect of a looming election fought over Gonski funding.

Which begs the question, why is our federal government so against the idea?

The most frequently used argument against Gonski is that we can't afford it. The Treasurer often expresses this by saying the scheme is "unfunded".
It had all the makings of a great movie  the story of Freddie Mercury, lead singer with Queen, and his decadent, fraught and tragic life and death.

But conflict between Ali G actor Sacha Baron Cohen and Queen band-members has continued to bubble, with lead guitarist Brian May now claiming that Baron Cohen had "told untruths" about their negotiations.

Freddie Mercury: a hedonistic lifestyle worthy of a biopic.

The long-awaited biopic, which Baron Cohen officially left in 2013, was to have him playing Mercury. But when creative differences emerged, the split became bitter. And now May has gone on the offensive again, saying that "Sacha became an arse" when he spoke to media about the process.
Veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch has lashed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and senior frontbenchers for making a "captain's call" to oppose a royal commission into the banking sector.

Mr Entsch, one of five government MPs who supports a royal commission into the banking and finance sector, told Fairfax Media on Monday that he was "worried about senior colleagues ruling this out when we have an inquiry under way".

"How can senior members of the government make a captain's call and pre-empt this [parliamentary] inquiry?"
It is understood that homicide detectives have not spoken with Ms Nikat or her relative, Habib Ali, who owns the Perth Street house. A CCTV camera near a footbridge over the creek where Sanaya Sahib's body was found. Credit:Liam Mannix Ms Nikat, 22, said her daughter was snatched from her pram by a stranger as they were walking in Olympic Park about 10am on Saturday. They had been staying at Mr Ali's home, which is less than two kilometres from where the child's body was discovered. Tributes are left where the body of 15-month-old Sanaya Sahib was found in nearby Darebin Creek. Credit:JasonSouth

The property was searched by forensic investigators on Sunday afternoon. Homicide detectives have refused to reveal if CCTV cameras captured the final moments of the 15-month-old's life. A man looks on to the street full of waiting media from his Heidelberg West home. Credit:Jason South Footage could have corroborated her mother's account that the toddler was abducted by a stranger. There are several cameras in the area where the toddler's body was discovered at 2.45am on Sunday, about 10 kilometres north-east of the city centre.

Sanaya Sahib's body was found in Darebin Creek last year. But a Victoria Police spokeswoman refused to make any comment, while a representative of Darebin Council also refused to confirm if the cameras had been operational over the weekend. It is understood councillors - including those on a panel which has been overseeing the installation of the CCTV - were told by police in strict terms not to comment on the status of the cameras. While CCTV had been installed for months, it is believed council was working through the considerable "red tape" that must be addressed regarding privacy, storage of footage, and costs. It is unclear whether this work had been completed, but minutes from an October 5 council meeting suggest they were not operational at that time.

The cameras were installed under the Northland Precinct Action Plan under a partnership between shopping centre management, council and Victoria Police. Council listed the operation of the cameras as a priority for completion before July, but it is believed they have not been discussed at any subsequent council meeting. It is therefore unclear whether "governance documents," which had to be finalised before the system could be operated, have been completed. "The [CCTV] project aims to increase perceptions of safety and reduce crime," the October 5 minutes state. "The location has been chosen due to its isolation, low perceptions of safety, its use as an access route pre and post offending and its potential as a vibrant community space."

On Monday, Mr Ali warned residents in the Heidelberg community to be vigilant. Mr Ali also thanked the family that found Sanaya's body in Darebin Creek, to the rear of Northlands Shopping Centre, in the early hours of Sunday. Speaking to the media outside his home, Mr Ali said: "I would like to tell the neighbours around this area to be very, very careful, especially with the kids  don't go out in parks alone or at night or in the morning. Just be very, very careful". Mr Ali said he wanted the person responsible for his niece's death to be caught as soon as possible. "I appreciate what police are doing, they're doing a very great job and I'm pretty sure they'll come to a quick conclusion and justice will be served," he said.
On Wednesday, China and Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding in order to collaborate on polar science research. Both countries would also bolster their cooperation with regards to polar marine biology, atmospheric research, astronomy, oceanography, geochemistry, geophysics and other related fields.

According to the State Oceanic Administration of China, the MOU was signed by the Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency, Purapha University, National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, Chualalongkorn University and the Polar Research Institute of China.

The MOU is also a result of the discussions between the two countries under the Asian Forum for Polar Science and activities are already on the way for both countries as five Thai scientists joined the Chinese Zhongshan Station and Great Wall Station based in Antarctica to begin research.
The two Australian university students injured in a shooting in New Orleans last week have recovered enough to be moved out of intensive care in a US hospital.

Jake Rovacsek and Toben Clements were shot in the early hours of April 6 after driving from the Bourbon Street tourist strip to the Algiers neighbourhood.

The Kalgoorlie goldfields-based WA School of Mines pair had been in the US for the International Collegiate Mining Competition.

Curtin University Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry said in a statement while both students are still hospitalised, she was very pleased to advise their condition continued to improve.
Cairo: Since King Salman of Saudi Arabia arrived in Cairo on Thursday for a five-day visit, the leader of the oil-rich kingdom has lavished his Egyptian allies with promises of aid and investment.

But this time, instead of writing a blank cheque with little more than a polite "thank you" to show for it, Salman will return home with something more substantial: two islands in the Red Sea.

Egypt's Cabinet announced on Saturday that it was transferring sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir, arid and uninhabited islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, to Saudi Arabia. The Cabinet tried to suggest that the transfer, pending approval from Parliament, merely returned Saudi Arabia's own territory.
New York: Senator Bernie Sanders has continued his squabble with Hillary Clinton over her qualifications to be United States president, saying "something is clearly lacking" in her judgment.

Mr Sanders made the comments during a round of interviews on the Sunday talk shows, during which he was asked whether he thought Mrs Clinton was qualified to be president. Last week, Mr Sanders said Mrs Clinton was unqualified for the position because she voted for the war in Iraq, had a super political action committee that has raised millions from Wall Street, and supported trade agreements that sent US jobs overseas. On Sunday, he continued to criticise Mrs Clinton's ties to special-interest groups and her stances on foreign policy.

"She may have the experience to be president of the United States. No one can argue that," Mr Sanders said on NBC's Meet the Press. "But in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking."
At the invitation of the Director General of Tunisian Customs, Mr. Adel Ben Hassen, WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya visited Tunis on 6 and 7 April 2016 to discuss Customs modernization with Customs management and meet political leaders.

He met with Customs management to discuss the Strategic Plan (2016-2020), to explore the way forward for its implementation and to identify the needs for WCO assistance. Tunisian Customs provided a briefing on its efforts to reduce informal trade and to combat illicit trade and terrorism through a comprehensive reform programme supported by the introduction of new information technology, partnership with trade and human resource development, including enhanced training.

Secretary General Mikuriya was received by the Prime Minister, Mr. Habit Essid, who reaffirmed his strong support for Customs reform and responded positively regarding the use of international standards, including accession to the Revised Kyoto Convention, a prominent role for Customs in the National Committee for Trade Facilitation, Time Release Study and Single Window. He also supported greater investment in human resources.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Slim Chaker, agreed to strengthen the protection of Customs officers on duty, as well as international cooperation in sharing the use of information technology. The Minister of the Public Function, Governance and the Fight against Corruption, Mr. Kamel Ayadi, expressed his interest in learning from Customs experience in improving integrity, and voiced his support for incorporating ethics in Customs organizational reform and the need for more training.

During a visit to the National Customs School, the Secretary General saw firsthand its investment in infrastructure, its evolution in response to the growing security role of Customs with the creation of a commando team against terrorism as well as a motorbike team and enhanced functionality of the canine team. He also supported Tunisias vision to upgrade the Customs School to become an international academy, promoting knowledge-based Customs supported by ethics and professionalism.

There was widespread media coverage of the Secretary General's visit including TV and radio interviews, showing the national interest in enhancing the capacity of Customs to secure and facilitate trade and the revenue function through increased economic competitiveness and security at borders.

Photos:
Female Arab journalist says suicide bombers, jihadists DO represent Islam 11 April, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

DOHA, Qatar (Christian Examiner)  A female Arab journalist has taken the bold step of criticizing those who make excuses for suicide bombers and jihadists and is pointing out what she believes is the root cause of terrorism: Islam.

Nadine Al-Budair, a Muslim herself, said in her April 3 commentary on Saudi TV  produced from Qatar  that the recent bombings in Brussels should make Muslims feel shame and "stop acting as if the terrorists are a rarity."

"Whenever terrorism massacres peaceful civilians, the smart alecks and the hypocrites vie with one another in saying that these people do not represent Islam or the Muslims. Perhaps one of them could tell us who does represent Islam and the Muslims," Al-Budair said, according to a transcript of the segment produced by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Why don't they have the courage to declare that they are the ones who said that jihad is obligatory, and who legalized political wars, using futile and disgraceful exegeses, which permit killing, enslavement, and destruction?

Al-Budair said apologists for the terrorists have for too long claimed that those who commit crimes are outliers, "highway robbers and homeless alcoholics and drug addicts." She pointed to the countries of Europe, where homelessness, drug abuse and alcoholism are problems. Europeans suffering from these things, she said, do not come to the Middle East to blow themselves up or attack others.

She made a similar point last month when she asked the provocative question, "What if Christians were suicide bombers?"

"It is we who blow ourselves up. It is we who blow up others," she said during the April 3 commentary.

"After the abominable Brussels bombings, it's time for us to feel shame and to stop acting as if the terrorists are a rarity. We must admit that they are present everywhere, that their nationality is Arab, and that they adhere to the religion of Islam. We must acknowledge that we are the ones who gave birth to them, and who have made them memorize the teachings of all the Salafi books. We must admit that it is the schools and universities that we establish that told them the others are infidels."

Salafism, from the Arabic as-salaf as-saliheen, is the form of hardline Islam that believes in physical jihad and the "purification" of Islam by the removal of other sects, such as Shia Islam. They focus on the first three generations of Islam that spread the religion by forced conversion and conquest. In the early 1980s, there were only a handful of Salafist terror groups. Now, there are more than 50 worldwide, the largest being the Islamic State.

Al-Budair claims that allowing hardline Muslims to interpret the Quran has been a mistake. They have drawn from it fatwas (edicts to kill infidels or opposing Islamic sects) and have made the Quran "intellectually inaccessible."

Al-Budair believes Muslims should be able to interpret the Quran for themselves.

She concluded her commentary by asking why the sheiks, who now publicly denounce bombings, do not take responsibility for their teachings that created the situation.

"Why don't they have the courage to declare that they are the ones who said that jihad is obligatory, and who legalized political wars, using futile and disgraceful exegeses, which permit killing, enslavement, and destruction?"
50 New Scripture Translations Completed Last Year Contact: Gunnar Magi, Marketing and Brand Manager, Global Mission Team: Partnerships & Communications, United Bible Societies , +3725034980

SWINDON, UK, April 11, 2016 /



Languages are constantly developing so Bible Societies are also committed to revising existing translations and providing new translations, when requested, to help as many people as possible engage with the message of the Bible today. In 2015 this resulted in a further 20 new translations and revisions plus 2 study editions with the potential to reach over 127 million people.



Status of Bible translation at the end of 2015 SWINDON, UK, April 11, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- In 2015 Bible Societies assisted in the completion of translations in 50 languages spoken by nearly 160 million people. 2015 was 'a first' for no fewer than 28 languages, spoken by nearly 33 million people. 11 communities now have their very first full Bible, 6 have a New Testament and 11 communities have their first, or additional, portions of Scripture.Languages are constantly developing so Bible Societies are also committed to revising existing translations and providing new translations, when requested, to help as many people as possible engage with the message of the Bible today. In 2015 this resulted in a further 20 new translations and revisions plus 2 study editions with the potential to reach over 127 million people.

The full Bible is now available in 563 languages spoken by nearly 5.1 billion people and a further 1,334 languages spoken by 658 million people have a New Testament. This leaves 281 million people with only some portions of the Bible and a further 497 million people with no Scripture translated in their language at all.



Sign Languages

Translation into sign languages to serve Deaf communities worldwide is also seeing significant progress. Over 300 million people are estimated to be deaf and 70 million globally have a Sign Language as their first or 'heart' language. There are over 400 unique Sign Languages and yet the New Testament is only available in American Sign Language and this is the largest portion of Sign Language Scripture currently available.

 Ceylon Bible Society published Sign Language selections from Acts

 Hungary and Lithuania produced the first ever drafts of Mark's gospel

 Brazil produced 15 new Bible stories in Sign Language

 The Mexico team completed Luke and Acts

 The ViBi team in Japan completed Exodus, Titus and Ephesians.

Scriptures in Braille



285 million people worldwide are estimated to be visually impaired, of whom 40 million are blind. Significant progress continues to be made in serving these people by providing scriptures in Braille.

 In Sri Lanka Sinhala Braille Bible - 44th language

 In Mexico the first Braille portion in the Purepecha

 Additional portions in Spanish and Armenian

 New version of Dutch Braille Bible

Greater Electronic Scripture Access



The Digital Bible Library (DBL) is central to UBS strategy to make the Bible as widely and easily accessible as possible. By the end of 2015, the DBL contained no fewer than 1,201 Bibles, Testaments and portions in 957 languages. These languages are spoken by over 4.6 billion people. The DBL is owned and maintained by United Bible Societies in partnership with other Bible agencies and with the support of the Every Tribe Every Nation alliance. It makes the Bible accessible by providing Scripture texts to the public through partners such as BibleSearch and YouVersion.



Full report



The full report and the full list of translations completed in 2015 can be found here:



United Bible Societies:

United Bible Societies is a global network of Bible Societies working in over 200 countries and territories across the world. Together, they are the world's biggest translator, publisher and distributor of the Bible. Bible Societies are also active in areas such as HIV/AIDS prevention, trauma healing and literacy. Bible Societies work with all Christian Churches and many international non-governmental organisations. Read more:



Press Contact:

Gunnar Magi

Marketing and Brand Manager

Global Mission Team: Partnerships & Communications

United Bible Societies



Address: Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon, SN5 7PJ, England

Direct Line: +3725034980 The Digital Bible Library (DBL) is central to UBS strategy to make the Bible as widely and easily accessible as possible. By the end of 2015, the DBL contained no fewer than 1,201 Bibles, Testaments and portions in 957 languages. These languages are spoken by over 4.6 billion people. The DBL is owned and maintained by United Bible Societies in partnership with other Bible agencies and with the support of the Every Tribe Every Nation alliance. It makes the Bible accessible by providing Scripture texts to the public through partners such as BibleSearch and YouVersion.The full report and the full list of translations completed in 2015 can be found here: www.unitedbiblesocieties.org/50-new-translations-bible-completed-last-year United Bible Societies:United Bible Societies is a global network of Bible Societies working in over 200 countries and territories across the world. Together, they are the world's biggest translator, publisher and distributor of the Bible. Bible Societies are also active in areas such as HIV/AIDS prevention, trauma healing and literacy. Bible Societies work with all Christian Churches and many international non-governmental organisations. Read more: www.unitedbiblesocieties.org Press Contact:Gunnar MagiMarketing and Brand ManagerGlobal Mission Team: Partnerships & CommunicationsUnited Bible SocietiesAddress: Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon, SN5 7PJ, EnglandDirect Line: +3725034980

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By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 11, 2016 | 07:55 AM | PRYORSBURG, KY

An eastern Kentucky man was arrested Friday in Graves County on methamphetamine charges.

According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to 130 Old Macedonia Church Street in the Pryorsburg community for a reported civil dispute over rental property. Upon arrival, deputies made contact with 39-year-old Brian Brown of Harlan, KY in the front yard.

During an interview and search of Brown, deputies reportedly found a 9mm handgun, marijuana, methamphetamine, and a meth lab in his backpack. Deputies said Brown had equipment and chemicals to make meth and had started the process in what is called a shake and bake method.

Brown was arrested and taken to the Graves County Detention Center. He was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine-firearm enhanced, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and trafficking in meth.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 06, 2016 | 07:06 PM | LA CENTER, KY

The Ballard County Board of Education will hold a special called meeting today from 5:00-6:00 pm in the Ballard Memorial High School cafeteria.

The purpose of the meeting is to hear public feedback about a proposal to move Ballard County Preschool-Headstart from its current location at 455 Olive St. in LaCenter to a wing of Ballard County Elementary School.

The board will use the full hour to hear public comment, and speakers will be limited to five minutes each. There also will be a table set up at the meeting for those who prefer to leave written comments.

Attendees are asked to park behind the school at 3561 Paducah Road and enter through the rear doors. Everyone will be asked to sign in, and indicate if they would like to speak.

For more information about the proposal, please visit the Ballard County Schools page on Facebook, or contact Public Relations Director Julie Thomas at julie.thomas@ballard.kyschools.us, or 270-665-8400, ext. 2011.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 11, 2016 | 12:35 PM | FULTON COUNTY, KY

Police are searching for an escaped Fulton County Detention Center inmate.

At around 7:30 pm Sunday, detention center officials contacted Kentucky State Police, Post 1 about an inmate that walked away from the jail while he was on a work detail.

Police said the escapee, 40-year-old Michael Shane Hunter, of Guston is white, stands 5'7" with short brown hair and hazel or green eyes. Hunter was last seen wearing a black zip-up hoodie, blue jeans, black shoes, and a tan hat. Hunter has an outline tattoo of small "prayer hands" on the right side of his back and an outline tattoo of a sun on his upper left arm.

Police said Hunter is serving time for a theft, fleeing or evading police and flagrant non-support.

Police say he may be headed to the Hardin or Nelson County areas of Kentucky.

KSP is asking anyone who has information about Hunter to contact them at 1-800-222-5555.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
The RSC have announced that a further six shows will transfer to London this year.

Polly Findlay's production of The Alchemist and Maria Aberg's production of Doctor Faustus will both transfer to the RSC's London home the Barbican from 2 September to 1 October this year. The shows will run with the same cast. Aberg's Doctor Faustus will arrive in London following Jamie Lloyd's West End run of the same play which stars Kit Harington and Jenna Russell. In Aberg's, Sandy Grierson and Oliver Ryan decide onstage who will play the roles of Faustus and Mephistophilis randomly each night.

Two shows from the RST Cymbeline - directed by Melly Still - and King Lear - directed by Gregory Doran - also arrive at the Barbican from 31 October. The RSC's productions of Love's Labour's Lost and Much Ado About Nothing which run at Chichester Festival Theatre from 29 September will also transfer to the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 9 December.

The transfers mean that 12 RSC productions will have played in London over the Shakespeare 400 year, joining the four history plays King & Country: Shakespeare's Great Cycle of Kings - which was on earlier in the year - and A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play for the Nation which runs at the Barbican for a week of performances in May. The company's long-running hit Matilda continues to play at the Cambridge Theatre.

The RSC will also be bringing together the much-anticipated Shakespeare Live! show, which will be broadcast from BBC Two on 23 April to celebrate the 400 years since the Bard died.
We're told more and more that we're global' citizens: that the general progress of the world means that arbitrary distinctions like race or nationality stop being important. So somewhere like Britain might be heading for a fairer, more egalitarian society - where anyone can date anyone, for example, and the likes of Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney's duet "Ebony & Ivory" (good message, horrid music) need never be played again. And here in Newham - one of the most multicultural boroughs in London, the UK, Europe - a trip to the theatre seems a nice advert for that.

But on the other hand, what if humans have something intrinsically tribal about them, which makes them keep dividing into groups? Us and them, friends and enemies, hard-working migrants and benefit-scrounging immigrants: Labels shows how quick we all are to discriminate by applying categories to one another. And it uses one man's real-life experiences. Joe Sellman-Leava, 25, would have been called Joe Patel if his father hadn't changed the family name just to get a job - because Patel must have sounded too Indian' to prejudiced employers. As for Joe, sure, he might have been born in Cheltenham, and brought up in Devon, but whether at school or on Tinder, he's always being asked where he's from  no, where he's really from  because of the colour of his skin.

So this one-man show is his personal account of how it feels to be labelled - and how we all do it even if we think we don't, or are a victim of it ourselves. It's smart, contemporary, and very funny. The inspiration was the last general election, and in particular UKIP's flooding of the debate with the subject of immigration. Although you increasingly feel that there's something a bit last year' about Nigel Farage and Ed Miliband, Sellman-Leava's impersonations of them are too good to omit - and anyway, they are crucial contributors within a story that begins with Enoch Powell and the rivers of blood, and ends up at Donald Trump and the Syrian crisis.

Perhaps there is even more that could be made of the lazy language that we all use about that latter story  of the fundamental difference between a refugee, an asylum seeker, and a migrant. But this show, which has been to Australia and will visit the US after this UK tour  is an adaptable piece of theatre which could evolve and evolve to keep up with current affairs. Today, though, in just one hour it covers a lot of ground both as a thoughtful political discussion and as a compelling personal narrative from a talented young raconteur. Oh, and it gets through a lot of sticky labels, too.

Labels runs at Theatre Royal Stratford East until 30 April, and then tours the UK until 29 October.
Humpback whales are nature's crooners. Each winter, they get together off the coast of Madagascar for a good old lung-busting sing-song. Call them school choirs if you will. Or whale voice choirs.

Scientists still don't know why whales sing - still less why their songs are so complex and collective - but we've a good idea about why humans do. That, really, is what Little Bulb are out to explore in this kooky, but infectious, piece of gig theatre. The pun-slinging title gives it away.

For an hour, Clare Beresford and Dominic Conway sing and strum their way through a set-list of whale-related songs - some of their own, and some, like the ethereal Gaelic folk song "Fareweel to Tae Tarwathie", passed down through the years. Imagine an episode of The Really Wild Show crossed with a Barton Hollow gig.

On the surface, it's kind of interesting - a heap big trivia fest set to music. Conway measures out the 16 metres of a humpback and, for a moment, you marvel at this elongated tape measure. Beresford talks you through the intricacies of whalesong: 18-minute long round robins of moans, whoops, creaks and shrieks.

But that's mostly by the by. Deep down, this is about species of song and, as they cycle through a music school of instruments, from mandolins to timpani, each song has its own particular tone and its own mode of expression. Conway picks up an electric guitar to express anger. (He's never seen a whale, you see.) Beresford lets loose her extraordinary, piercing voice on a love song.

If singing is social for us, so it might be for whales. It's possible their brains - in some ways more complex than ours - mean groups can think as one. This, I suspect, is where Little Bulb are driving at and, even if there's an over-reliance on skittish television spoofs that comes out like The Fast Show or Look Around You, this is a small show that asks us to come together, to make fools of ourselves in front of one another and, most of all, to sing in sync. Little Bulb have an irrepressible charm, the sort that keeps a smile on your face throughout, no matter how slight or whimsical their material, and it's that, above all else, that makes Wail work. Sing up, sing loud and sing whale.

Wail runs at Battersea Arts Centre until 23 April.
Hes often cast as nothing short of pure evil, but John Terry has once again defied the less-than-complimentary common consensus by arranging to pay for a young Chelsea fans funeral.

Indeed, according to the Beeb, Terry has donated 1,600 to the family of Blues supporter Tommi Miller, who sadly succumbed to leukaemia last month at the heart-breakingly young age of eight.

Tommi had the chance to meet several of his Chelsea heroes during a visit to Stamford Bridge last year, and made such an impression on Terry that he felt compelled to help cover his funeral costs. The veteran captain also told Cambridge News that he was totally devastated when he heard the awful news.

Terry contacted the Miller family through Instagram, informing a family friend that hed been in contact with the funeral home to settle the bill on their behalf

It may seem a little trite given the tragic circumstances, but fair play to Terry for going above and beyond once again.
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This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  The rifts exposed by the NDPs divisive non-confidence vote in Tom Mulcairs leadership deepened Monday as some New Democrat MPs questioned his intention to stay at the helm until a successor is chosen.

The new divide emerged as shell-shocked MPs returned to the House of Commons, still struggling to absorb the fact that delegates at a weekend convention voted Sunday to send Mulcair packing.

Some MPs welcomed Mulcairs plan to remain leader for up to two years until a replacement is chosen.

Federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair waves to the crowd after his speech during the 2016 NDP Federal Convention in Edmonton Alta, on Sunday, April 10, 2016. New Democrat MPs will return to the House of Commons today after an emotional and divisive weekend that ended up costing Tom Mulcair his job as leader. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

But others doubted that would be palatable to grassroots New Democrats, given that just 48 per cent of convention delegates supported Mulcair continuing as leader; 52 per cent voted to hold a leadership convention to replace him.

In my view, you know, its going to be very difficult for Mr. Mulcair to stay on until our next permanent leader is chosen in a year and a half, said Vancouver MP Don Davies.

We invited Tom to make his case as to why he should lead us and he got 48 per cent and, you know, numbers are real.

The NDP constitution stipulates that a leadership race must be held within a year but the convention voted to extend that to up to two years, although insiders suggest it wont drag on beyond about 18 months.

Davies said hed support Mulcair remaining leader for a significant period of time but not as much as 18 months or more.

Pierre-Luc Dusseault, MP for Sherbrooke, Que., said hes not sure if Mulcair should remain at the helm.

I have not made up my mind yet on this question, he said. It will be a discussion that we will have with the caucus members to see if that would be the ideal situation or if it should be something else.

Montreal MP Alexandre Boulerice said as far as hes concerned, Mulcair can stay as long as he wants. But he suggested the rest of the 44-member NDP caucus may not agree.

What will happen in a year, its impossible to say. It will depend on how comfortable Mr. Mulcair is with doing that job for a while, on how comfortable the caucus is with this too, he said in an interview.

I am convinced that for the coming weeks its an excellent idea, at least until the end of the session in June, its an excellent idea that Mr. Mulcair stays.

Veteran British Columbia MP Peter Julian argued that delegates essentially decided that Mulcair shouldnt be the leader heading into the next election in 2019; they didnt say he should be dumped immediately.

All New Democrats would be gratified to have Mulcair continue to demonstrate the undeniable assets that he possesses as a parliamentarian, he added.

In every case where we have had a leader who is moving on, that leader has stayed in that position until their successor was chosen  In the 40 years Ive been in the party, that is how weve always worked, Julian said.

While MPs debated how long or whether Mulcair should remain leader, there were few indications Monday of who might be prepared to run to replace him.

Boulerice and Julian, both potential contenders, didnt say slam the door on the idea of running for the leadership. Boulerice said he needs time to think it over and discuss the matter with family and colleagues while Julian said he hasnt given it any thought as yet.

But former Halifax MP Megan Leslie said over the weekend that shes shut the door on a potential leadership bid.

And veteran NDP strategist Brian Topp, runner up to Mulcair in 2012 and now chief of staff to Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley, ruled himself out Monday.

I wont be a candidate in the coming leadership race, Topp said in posting to his Facebook page.

With the party deeply divided over Mulcairs leadership and Alberta New Democrats furious about the adoption over the weekend of the principles of the radical, anti-fossil fuel Leap Manifesto, Topp offered some advice for New Democrats as they prepare to embark on a leadership race which could exacerbate those rifts.

Federal politics is about finding the thread that unites the pearls, he wrote. Being a compelling political offer in all regions of the country, in both official languages, is the real issue we all need to be thinking about over the next two years.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON  Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley is condemning the federal partys plan to consider dramatic policy changes that would have huge implications for her energy-reliant province.

Notley, in a legislature news conference Monday, called the energy pieces of the Leap Manifesto thoughtless.

The government of Alberta repudiates the sections of that document that address energy infrastructure, said Notley.

Alberta Minister of Environment and Parks Shannon Phillips responds to a questions during a discussion on the environment at the Progress summit in Ottawa, Friday April 1, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

These ideas will never form any part of policy. They are naive. They are ill-informed. They are tone deaf.

Notley stopped short of saying she would seek to split the Alberta wing of the NDP from its federal counterpart. Instead, she said, Alberta New Democrats will make their points from within the party.

Those people that have that little (manifesto) document in front of them very possibly could have some other documents put in front of them not too long from now, so that the scope and the range and the breadth and the thoughtfulness and the information and the research behind those conversations improves substantially.

The manifesto calls for a radical, accelerated shift to Canadas economy to combat climate change.

It proposes a ban on new infrastructure projects, such as pipelines, tied to increased use of non-renewable energy. It also suggests Canada should get all of its electricity from renewable resources within two decades and be completely off non-renewables by 2050.

On the weekend, delegates to the federal NDP party convention in Edmonton voted to discuss the Leap Manifesto and its policy implications at the constituency level.

Notley has been working to drum up support to get a pipeline built to get Albertas oil to Canadian ports for a better price on the world market.

Low oil prices have decimated Albertas once-rich economy. The province is to table a 2016-17 budget Thursday that will include a $10-billion deficit.

Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips said the manifesto is bad policy that was poorly handled.

The federal party is wrong on this matter, said Phillips. People are feeling pretty disrespected by what just happened here.

You didnt even have anybody  reach out to Alberta before this came to the floor in our capital city.

Deputy premier Sarah Hoffman said that although the manifesto will be debated at the constituency level, I imagine most of those conversations will be rather short in oil-producing provinces, not just (in) Alberta.

Canadas only other NDP premier, Greg Selinger of Manitoba, was asked about the manifesto while campaigning in Winnipeg for a provincial election later this month.

My understanding was they want to take a look at it and, fair enough, we should always be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things, he said.

Notleys government is pursuing what it terms a pragmatic, realistic plan to combat climate change. It is bringing in a broad carbon tax, plans to cap oilsands emissions and is moving to phase out coal-fired electricity generation by 2030.

Opposition politicians of all stripes accused Notley of failing to make the case  even to her own federal party  that Albertas climate plan gives the province, and Canada, more credibility to pursue projects such as pipelines.

This social licence experiment has failed in every single way, said Opposition Wildrose Leader Brian Jean.

Also on the weekend, delegates repudiated the work of leader Thomas Mulcair and voted for a leadership convention.

Notley ruled herself out Monday from seeking that job.
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This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg homicide case is in legal limbo while questions remain about the mental health of the accused killer.

Teklu Tesfamichael Mebrahtu, 35, is charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 stabbing death of his wife, Alche Fsehaye Kidane, 34. She was attacked inside the couples apartment suite at 372 Assiniboine Ave. They had immigrated from Africa only months earlier after being sponsored by a cousin, who lived in Winnipeg.

Mebrahtu appeared Monday in court for what was expected to be the start of a three-day hearing to determine if he is even fit to stand trial. If deemed fit, his lawyers plan to argue he should then be found not criminally responsible due to suffering from a major mental illness at the time.

SUPPLIED PHOTO Alche Fsehaye Kidane, 34, was stabbed to death in her Assiniboine Avenue apartment in 2012. Her husband has been charged with second-degree murder.

However, the matter has now been adjourned because his lawyers need more time to allow their hand-picked expert to review the file and interview the accused. The Crown claims this isnt necessary  they already have three different assessments in their hands that say Mebrahtu is fit to stand trial. The same doctor also concluded he should be found criminally responsible for his actions.

The fitness hearing and trial dates have now been re-scheduled for March 2017.

Im aware this is a very time-sensitive issue, defence lawyer John McAmmond told court while noting it will be five years from the date of offence until the trial begins. He said the urgency is lessened because his client is currently in jail where the Crown wants him to be and not out in the community.

McAmmond said the accused should be in a mental health facility, either by way of being found unfit to stand trial, or by being found NCR of the killing. He said there has been repeatedly difficulty in communicating with his client about the legal process and taking instructions from him.

Mebrahtu was silent in court on Monday, unlike his last appearance a few months ago when he began shouting loudly.

I didnt kill my wife. I didnt kill my wife. I didnt kill my wife, he yelled repeatedly. Canadians are bitches, he later added. There were also several inaudible comments, which mainly seemed directed toward his lawyers.

Few details have been shared publicly in court about what occurred the night of the killing, but lawyers say the only issue here is whether Mebrahtu was of sound enough mind at the time to appreciate his actions were wrong.

www.mikeoncrime.com
Opinion

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This article was published 09/04/2016 (2388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If youre a commercial fisher in Manitoba, theres no such thing as an easy day.

Your job involves placing nets in the water and hoping wild animals swim into them. If the fish show up, youll work very hard removing, sorting and transporting them off the lake. If they dont show up, youll worry about where they went and whether theyll come back.

You contend with variable weather and dangerous conditions on Manitobas largest lakes. You fix old boats on the fly and fret about gasoline, even when the price of oil is low. You watch with unease as the lakes become more turbid, more full of algae and, in some places, occasionally covered with mats of slime. You wonder how youll maintain your equipment once zebra mussels encrust every available flat surface.

KEN GIGLIOTTI / FREE PRESS FILES The Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp., the federal Crown corporation that buys, processes and sells most of the fish caught in Manitoba waters, is without a permanent president heading into the crucial spring season.

Depending on where you fish, you may complain about the price you receive for a whole walleye, sauger or whitefish  especially considering what it costs to ship fish to a processing plant in Winnipeg. You may also complain you cant get enough or even anything for other species, such as carp or white sucker.

These are the basic conditions for Manitobas licensed fishers and hired helpers, who number about 3,000. Some live in the relatively affluent resort and retirement towns on Lake Winnipegs southern basin. Others live in small and isolated indigenous communities, where commercial fishing provides the only reliable source of revenue.

And right now, pretty much all commercial fishers are freaked out or ought to be freaked out for a variety of environmental, regulatory and political reasons.

On the environmental front, Lake Winnipegs ecology is in flux and smaller lakes are undergoing changes, too. The overall catch is OK, but some fish are being caught in different places.

A handful of commercial fishers in Lake Winnipegs northern basin blame the Lake Manitoba-Lake St. Martin emergency channel for sending dirt and debris into Sturgeon Bay, making conditions less hospitable for commercially valuable species. Almost all Lake Winnipeg fishers blame communities upstream for sending the lake nutrients that promote the growth of algae, which clog up nets and deprive the lake of oxygen when they die and decompose.

The conditions on the lake are compounded by environmental concerns raised by people commercial fishers consider outsiders. Late last year, West Coast sustainable-seafood watchdogs urged consumers to boycott fish caught in Manitobas largest lakes on the basis provincial fisheries are among the worst managed in the world.

This infuriates commercial fishers, who argue the primary basis for this assessment  the absence of any systematic measurement of Manitoba fish stocks  is due to the fact the province no longer employs enough fisheries biologists. This is doubly infuriating when the same provincial government turned around and pledged to eco-certify the lakes it essentially gave up monitoring.

Any move to eco-certify Manitobas largest lakes wont work unless commercial fishers are on board. But theres another, even more, pressing concern facing fishers.

The Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp., the federal Crown corporation that buys, processes and sells most of the fish caught in Manitoba waters, is without a permanent president heading into the crucial spring season. (Donald Salkeld was placed on leave in March while Ottawa looks into unspecified allegations made against him.)

At the same time, theres a provincial election campaign underway and the Progressive Conservatives are vowing to give Manitoba fishers the freedom to sell their catch outside of the Crown corporation.

This would be great for fishers capable of marketing on their own, but terrible for the ones who lack this capacity. In this election, commercial fishers face a choice between the NDP they perceive as trying to shove eco-certification down their throats and PCs who could create an entirely different form of market upheaval.

This concerns all Manitobans, and not just because commercial fishing is the only economic activity that matters in some of the provinces most remote communities. After the Great Lakes, Manitobas freshwater fishery is the second-largest on the continent.

It deserves to be managed professionally and funded properly. An entire resource industry has been taken for granted. And that is on what you could call a good day.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 10/04/2016 (2387 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The controversial purchase of a new Gurkha armoured vehicle for the Winnipeg Police Service has yet to be fulfilled.

No date has been set for the arrival of the Winnipeg Police Services new $343,000 armoured vehicle. The plan was for it to arrive this spring. The Gurkha, described by police as a personnel carrier, or rescue vehicle was to help protect officers and the public during armed standoffs and other tactical operations.

In a recent interview with the Free Press amid police budget discussions and the later-allayed possibility of police and cadet layoffs, outgoing police chief Devon Clunis said the armoured vehicle purchase was necessary to protect the police service from being held liable in case an officer or a member of the public was hurt.

SUPPLIED PHOTO Winnipeg police announced the purchase of an armoured vehicle in December 2015. Police chief Devon Clunis has said the police service could be held liable if it didn't have such a vehicle.

All we need is one incident where a vehicle like that could have been of use, and if a civilian or police officer gets injured, we know that now we become liable because we havent given our members the ability to protect themselves or to protect the public, Clunis said.

So that is a purchase that certainly were not going to be apologetic for because I think it was necessary and in terms of a modern policing agency, yes, you have the ability to provide your members with what is required to protect themselves and protect the public, we now become the ones who are liable. So I dont believe that that was a frivolous purchase by any stretch of the imagination.

The police union said the WPS may be concerned about liability because of ramped-up enforcement of the provinces workplace health and safety regulations and reports prompted by other serious incidents, including the June 2014 Moncton RCMP shooting, which recommended police be equipped with more heavy-duty, military-style equipment.

Winnipeg Police Association president Maurice Sabourin said he didnt know of any similar legal action against WPS.

I cant recall any incident where the service has been held liable, but I think in this changing day and age where officers can be sued for not performing their duties, I would think theres going to be an onus on the service to ensure that they provide the equipment the members need to perform their duties, Sabourin said.

The idea of suing a police force because it didnt purchase a specialized piece of equipment doesnt ring accurate to civil litigation lawyer Robert Tapper.

Tapper, who is currently representing a Winnipeg family in their lawsuit against the Attorney General of Canada, the RCMP and the Manitoba Mountie whose service pistol was stolen and used to shoot a 16-year-old girl last fall, said it would be hard to imagine suing police for not having a particular vehicle.

As an inventive type of trial lawyer myself, it would be difficult to imagine a cause of action I could frame that would allege that the police should have redefined their budgeting requirements to have in their possession a vehicle that is not in their present possession.

How can you sue a police department saying you should have had a different type of vehicle? It just doesnt make any sense to me.

In December, the police service announced its plans to purchase the armoured vehicle from Newmarket, Ont.-based Terradyne Armored Vehicles using a fund set aside for vehicle purchases in 2015. Winnipeg is one of the last major cities in Canada to buy an armoured vehicle for its police service, but the purchase wasnt included in the police services capital budget and it surprised the police board, which implemented a policy that all future police purchases worth more than $100,000 must be approved by the board.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
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This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NDP Leader Greg Selinger has accused Tory Leader Brian Pallister of being homophobic.

The latest attack on Pallister, who has high poll numbers heading into the April 19 election, came a day after Selinger tried to force him to release his tax return, suggesting hes hiding something from voters.

At a campaign stop Monday, Selinger accused Pallister of having extreme views on sexual orientation.

When pressed to explain, Selinger said: I think hes homophobic. He has to answer for himself with his view on that matter, Selinger said.

In response, Pallister didnt directly address the accusation, but told reporters, My record speaks for itself, loud and clear.

Pallister said he was advocating for same-sex property rights in the 80s.

Selinger cited the Tory partys decision to vote against anti-bullying legislation in 2013 as evidence Pallister is homophobic.

Bill 18 (The Public Schools Amendment Act) was passed in 2013 amid protest from religious leaders, who argued it violates the religious freedom of schools by forcing them to accept gay-straight alliances. The Tories at the time proposed changes to the bill, including a tighter definition of bullying and voted against it.

Pallister said Monday the NDP used Bill 18 for political ends, rather than to protect children.

They were playing politics with a bill that should have been beyond politics, Pallister said.

The Tory leaders staff prevented reporters from asking more questions and hustled him away to another event.

When Pallisters campaign was asked to provide examples of his record advocating for same-sex property rights, the Progressive Conservative party offered the following: Mr. Pallister has repeatedly stated on the record that not only does he support the process by which decisions on matters of such importance as same-sex marriage are debated in Canadian Parliament, but he accepts and welcomes the decision made by the House of Commons.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS NDP Leader Greg Selinger speaks to the media Monday.

When asked to give further evidence to back up Selingers claim, NDP spokesman Andrew Tod provided several examples of comments Pallister made during a debate on same-sex marriage in 2005 when he was the Conservative member of Parliament for Portage-Lisgar.

Pallister talked about a local pastor who said it was, good that homosexual people were coming out of the closets because those closets would be needed very soon for Christians. That is a fear that many, not solely Christians, in Canadian society have.

In the same debate, Pallister said: Those who support the bill, however well-intentioned, are advocating a significant social experiment.

When asked by The Canadian Press about same-sex marriage in 2015, Pallister said his views had evolved.

Over time, sure it has. And, I mean, the fact is the decisions been made. The fact is what we all want to see is loving relationships supporting  when desired  children, and we want to see strong families, he said.

Asked for her comment on the NDP accusations against Pallister, Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari said theres been a lot of hearsay about what Pallister has said or done in the past.

Mr. Pallister had made comments in the past that would lead some of us to believe that he has issues with Ill leave it at that, she said.

Bokhari said Pallister should have supported the NDPs 2013 anti-bullying law that requires schools to accommodate students who wish to establish anti-bullying clubs, including gay-straight alliances.

She was critical of Selinger for defending NDP candidate Wab Kinew  who is running against her in Fort Rouge  despite homophobic tweets and hip-hop lyrics made in the past.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister leaves a media conference held Monday in Canadian Footwear.

I think for Greg Selinger to stand by a candidate who has said openly very homophobic things, I think I would be more questioning Greg Selingers ability to stand by that candidate.

 files from Nick Martin, Larry Kusch

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The surprise provincial sales tax increase in 2013 sparked a mutiny among some NDP cabinet ministers and came close to ending Greg Selingers party leadership last year.

Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister draws cheers wherever he promises to reduce the PST to seven per cent from eight per cent if his party forms the government April 19.

But a Winnipeg Free Press/CTV telephone poll of 1,000 Manitobans conducted by Probe Research from March 28 to April 4 found the province is split on the PST issue.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS NDP Leader Greg Selinger canvasses with St. Johns candidate Nahanni Fontaine Sunday. 160410 - Sunday, April 10, 2016

Probe president Scott MacKay said a slight majority of Manitobans  48 per cent  support keeping the PST at eight per cent, while 44 per cent want to see it reduced.

MacKay said only two per cent of Manitobans would support a further increase to the PST.

The PST increase was the lightning rod, he said.

It was the moment you could put your finger on something. It came out of the blue. It was a broken promise. When the history books are written about the NDP, the PST will have a whole chapter on it.

But there really isnt a public consensus on this. Even a whole swath of people going to vote Tory say just leave it.

MacKay said 56 per cent of post-secondary graduates and 66 per cent of those planning to vote NDP favour keeping the PST at eight per cent.

He said 55 per cent of those with a Grade 12 education or less, 55 per cent of people planning to vote Tory, and 53 per cent of those planning to vote Liberal said they support returning the PST to seven per cent.

But MacKay said even within Tory ranks, a significant minority  40 per cent  are in favour of keeping the PST where it is.

Some elections are like a referendum, like free trade was in 1988, he said of the pivotal federal election that gave Brian Mulroney a second term as prime minister.

This election doesnt seem to be anything like that. The PST is not that. Its just one of the things.

Chris Lorenc, president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, said while his members are beneficiaries of the increase to the PST because the money helps pave more streets, construct more highways and build other infrastructure, they believe the public has a right to determine the level of the PST.

It really is up to the public to decide their priority and needs, Lorenc said.

When the history books are written about the NDP, the PST will have a whole chapter on it

We advocate the transparency of revenue streams. April 19 is as such a referendum on the current government and what the government elected may choose to do with the PST or any other tax.

Loren Remillard, executive vice-president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, said hes not surprised Manitobans are divided on the PST.

It does validate our view that this issue should have been taken to Manitobans when it was first proposed, Remillard said.

We could have had a much more substantial and meaningful discussion in the community about this. Manitobans are split on this, but we should have discussed this a while back.

Manitobans recognize we do have a significant infrastructure deficit that we can no longer afford to ignore.

Todd MacKay, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said because the poll found only two per cent of Manitobans would support a further increase the PST, hes focusing on the 98 per cent of Manitobans who dont want the PST to increase again.

The problem isnt that the government doesnt have enough money, MacKay said. The problem is it spends more money than it takes in. Even with the PST increase, the deficit went up. The government is still spending too much money.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba is a province defined by its lakes, both great and small. Summer days at the beach, evenings around the campfire, families gathered listening to rain on the cottage roof. Being at the lake brings us together; it defines who we are as people and as a province.

Its alarming, then, to hear increasingly bad news about Manitobas lakes or even worse, to see it for ourselves. Harmful algae blooms continue to grow, resulting in drinking-water advisories, beach closures, and threats to all communities that depend on and enjoy the provinces lakes.

Lake Winnipeg, the 10th-largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, has received international attention for its declining water quality. This underscores the urgency with which Manitobans must act to protect our lakes and the economic, cultural and ecological value they provide.

MIKAELA MacKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Netley-Libau marsh, just off Lake Winnipeg: climate change issues and flooding risks aren't on the provincial election radar.

Luckily, we already have many of the answers in hand.

IISD Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA), a research facility nestled in a corner of northwestern Ontario and headquartered in Winnipeg, is the only place in the world where whole-lake ecosystem studies can be conducted. In this series of lakes and watersheds in northwestern Ontario, experiments on phosphorus loading over the last 50 years have yielded results that have contributed to the reduction of algae blooms in lakes around the world.

While the experiments may be complex, their message is simple: the most effective solution to reduce algae blooms is to restrict, monitor and carefully manage the amount of phosphorus entering lakes.

The phosphorus reaching Lake Winnipeg comes from both urban wastewater and agricultural landscapes in Canada and several U.S. states.

These sources need to be addressed in a co-ordinated and balanced manner. While a larger proportion of phosphorus arrives in the lake from agricultural sources across the watershed, these sources are a greater challenge given the number of jurisdictions and level of co-ordination needed.

An immediate benefit can be derived by improving Winnipegs wastewater treatment system: a concentrated, localized phosphorus source.

Despite the clear need to address phosphorus at Winnipegs wastewater treatment plants, progress has been stalled for more than a decade while Lake Winnipeg continues to suffer. The time for finger-pointing has passed; it is time to roll up our sleeves.

We must usher in a new era of political co-operation, recognizing the urgent and complex challenges threatening Lake Winnipeg require collective investment and action. Provincial and municipal governments must agree upon an immediate course of action, looking to the larger shared goal of a healthy Lake Winnipeg for all Manitobans.

When municipal and provincial governments agree to work together, others will come to the table.

Meaningful improvement in Lake Winnipegs condition will require a sustained collaborative effort from all three levels of government in Canada, the participation of First Nations and co-ordinated action with American neighbours.

Not only is such an effort possible, it has already resolved similar problems in other lakes. ELA research led to policy changes and wastewater treatment upgrades in the 1970s that greatly improved water quality in Lake Erie and other lakes around the world.

And in February 2016, jurisdictions around Lake Erie agreed to achieve a further 40 per cent reduction in phosphorus loading  a commitment that has been called challenging but certainly achievable.

We cannot shy away from similar challenging commitments in Manitoba. We have the opportunity to learn from other jurisdictions, as well as from the world-class research taking place in our backyard. The issues we face are not insurmountable; others have faced them and succeeded.

On April 20, the next provincial government has the opportunity to lead the charge in bringing together municipal, federal and international leaders to generate the collective political will to improve the health of Lake Winnipeg.

Leadership starts at home, but from there it grows. Our provincial commitment will be the gauge against which other levels of government assess the value of their involvement.

Alexis Kanu is executive director of the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.

Scott Higgins is a research scientist with the IISD Experimental Lakes Area.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/04/2016 (2387 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Can anyone easily grasp why school tax bills went up 16.9 per cent in West St. Paul, but only 3.26 per cent in Seven Oaks School Division as a whole?

Party leaders are doing a great job of ignoring the complexities of a $2.25-billion kindergarten-to-Grade-12 public education system that cant be sorted out in 15-second sound bites.

All claims to the contrary, its an inequitable system because the amount of money school divisions spend on children is largely based on the assessed values of property within an arbitrary geographic area; and further inequitable because only a handful of school divisions receives the enormous bounty of the bulk of commercial property assessment, which brings in tens of millions of dollars without adding a single child to that areas classrooms.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES NDP Leader Greg Selinger shares a laugh with Brian O'Leary, superintendent of Seven Oaks School Division, prior to Selinger's announcement of a $50-million investment to public schools in Manitoba last month.

Heard all that on your doorstep from a candidate so far?

West St. Paul is within Seven Oaks School Division, which has one of the proportionally smallest commercial assessment bases in Manitoba, thus placing the overwhelming burden of school property taxes on homeowners.

Which is why Seven Oaks has some of the highest school taxes in the province, while spending less per student than the average.

Mill rates get calculated by taking the amount of money school trustees want to raise and dividing it by the assessment base. If home values in older houses go up by four per cent in the majority of the division, but already highly priced houses soar in value 20 or 25 per cent in a swankier suburb, their share of the tax burden also increases way beyond the 3.26 per cent.

Can we squeeze that into a 15-second sound bite?

Instead, we get NDP Leader Greg Selinger promising to cap parents extra school fees at $100 a child a year.

Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari would make kids exercise daily, though she wont say by how much, or what academic subjects would make way in the timetable. Shed spend $50 million over five years on full-day kindergarten, though she didnt cite any of the studies she says support its benefits, and wouldnt or couldnt say what shed do with the ongoing provincial plan to spend tens of millions of dollars on capping K-3 class sizes at 20 kids by 2017.

It was Liberal Charleswood candidate Paul Brault who said at a debate the media didnt attend that the Liberals would scrap the 2008 moratorium on closing schools, leaving the decisions to trustees. Even when the NDP allowed school closures, there was a lengthy community consultation process that took years.

In post-secondary education, there are various plans to improve student financial aid, bursaries and loans, but nary a word about grants and tuition. Grants add an annual percentage increase; there is no element of per-student funding. And tuition increases are capped at the increase in provincial growth.

Green party Leader James Beddome says a Green government would fund the public school system 100 per cent, with equal per-student spending across Manitoba. Hed replace school property taxes with money from progressive provincial income taxes.

If anyone says the province will fund 100 per cent of public education, or 80 per cent, or any number, ask 100 per cent of what? Would it be $2.25 billion? More? Less? Putting it all under provincial control with no ability to tax locally could produce a profound change in how much is spent locally.

As for equal per-student funding, there is now more provincial money if kids need to ride a school bus, have a special need or want to learn in French.

Serious issues of equity are not coming up, said Seven Oaks superintendent Brian OLeary. Very often in a campaign, theyre trying to communicate things that are very straightforward and easy to communicate. In a 35-day campaign, you might get four or five education announcements, more likely three, that are more symbolic than comprehensive.

Christopher Adams, a political scientist at St. Pauls College, predicted thered be more in the final few days of the campaign that would appeal to middle-class parents.

Its a bread-and-butter sector. Its typical PC territory to talk about the performance of our kids in the three Rs, Adams said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brian Pallister said Monday hes not about to sink to the desperation politics that led NDP Leader Greg Selinger to proudly show his personal tax return to reporters.

Im not going to engage in the style of politics Ive seen in the last 48 hours, Pallister, the Progressive Conservative leader, told reporters Monday. The way Mr. Selinger is conducting himself out of desperation proves hes no Howard Pawley or Gary Doer.

Earlier Monday, Selinger had doubled down on Sundays public release of his tax return by stating he wants to legislate a requirement for all elected officials to publicly file their tax forms. Selinger again called for Pallister to publicly disclose his tax return and finances.

Under the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Conflict of Interest Act, elected officials must disclose their estates, mortgages, stock values, bonds and salary. Selinger said he believes, in the name of transparency, that tax forms should be added to the list.

We have to take things to a new standard, we are seeing what is happening with the so-called Panama Papers around the world and the requirements for people around the world to be more forthcoming, Selinger said.

The leak of the Panama Papers  11.5 million documents from four decades of files from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sets up offshore accounts for clients  has rattled many world leaders, including prime ministers in Iceland and the United Kingdom. Icelanders demanded and got the resignation of their prime minister, whose wife had an offshore account that was revealed by the Panama Papers.

Selinger admitted his tax return wouldnt reveal if he had any offshore accounts, but said he is willing to disclose his investment portfolios, his RRSP accounts and Tax-Free Savings Account investments. He said he has no offshore investments.

When asked if pushing for a tax return unfairly shines the spotlight on Pallisters wealth, Selinger repeated it is about transparency.

Bank account in Costa Rica, but its not a tax haven: Pallister

Pallister said he would not make his personal tax return public, but told media he deplored the use of tax havens.

I always felt it was my responsibility to pay our taxes, all of them, Pallister said.

While he owns stocks and mutual funds as, he pointed out, do many Manitobans, I have never had a tax haven, never will, and deplore the use of them.

Pallister said that he and his wife own a vacation home in Costa Rica. They maintain an account in Costa Rica for local taxes and upkeep; that account currently has about $2,300 in it, and Pallister said he declares the interest on that account as income to the Canada Revenue Agency.

The money in that account is less than half the amount that Manitoba families pay each year because of Selingers broken promises, Pallister said.

The election is about Manitobans tax returns, not Mr. Selingers or mine. Its not about his income, its about what Manitobans make, Pallister said, repeating himself to make sure none of the assembled media missed his point. Its not about his income, its about what Manitobans make.

Bokari cant recall if taxes filed last year

Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari couldnt say with certainty Monday whether she filed a tax form for 2014. The question arose after she provided reporters with 2013 tax information on Sunday.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister steps up to the podium to begin a media news conference Monday in Canadian Footwear.

Bokhari said she provided 2013 income data because the media wanted information instantaneously after an NDP press conference and so I gave you what I had.

Asked if she had a copy of her 2014 filing, she initially said: No, not that I know of, actually.

Pressed further, she said she would have to look into it. I dont know if I filed my taxes. I probably did. I just dont have it on me right now.

Bokhari said she would support legislation to expand disclosure rules for MLAs to include tax returns and offshore holdings.

With files from Larry Kusch

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Conservative Leader Brian Pallister, NDP Leader Greg Selinger and Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari will have their last chance to score the knockout punch and secure votes at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce provincial leadership debate on Thursday.

The Winnipeg Free Press  the debates promotional partner  will livestream the event from the convention centre beginning at 12:15 p.m. Free Press provincial election reporters will be on hand to dissect what the leaders had to say and rate their performances.

Still not sure who to vote for? Heres your last opportunity to see the party flagbearers in action before Manitobans head to the polls on April 19.
Today

The Reedsburg Area Womens Club will meet for a buffet lunch as 11:30 a.m. at Martys Steakhouse, 200 Viking Drive in Reedsburg. A representative from Graintrain will speak to the group. For more information, contact Darcy Swiscz, president, at 464-3295. Call Carol Froh at 464-3116 to check availability.

The Department of Natural Resources and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress will hold a spring hearing and annual county meeting at 7 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County, 1006 Connie Road, Baraboo. Sauk County residents 18 and older will be able to nominate and elect local representatives to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress and express support or non-support for a range of advisory questions on conservation and natural resources management issues. For more information, contact Ken Vertein at 608-356-9061.

Tuesday, April 12

Madison College-Reedsburg campus, 300 Alexander Ave., will hold a coffee and conversation gathering for all veterans from 9-11 a.m. in Room 153.

The Sauk County Retired Educators Association will meet at noon at the Farm Kitchen, S5718 Highway 123, Baraboo. Stephanie Seefeldt will present the program Music Through the Years. For reservations, call Ardell Albers at 524-3839.

Easter Seals Wisconsins Respite Camp will host a spaghetti dinner from 4-7 p.m. at 1550 Waubeek Drive, Wisconsin Dells. The cost is $5 with all proceeds going to the camp. Attendees will be able to tour the camp and learn about the services it provides for children and adults with disabilities.

The Sauk Prairie School District will host the program Stairway to Heroin at 6 p.m. at the Rivers Art Center, 105 Ninth St., Prairie du Sac. Learn how to be a part of the solution to the ever-growing heroin concern in the community. This free event is available to the entire community ages 12 and older. The emcee will be Dannika Lewis from WISC-TV. For more information, contact Susan Baumann-Duren at 608-643-5965 or susan.baumannduren@saukprairieschools.org, call Jody Bruni at 608-355-3290 or jbruni@co.sauk.wi.us. To register, visit www.saukprairie2016stairwaytoheroin.eventbrite.com.

The Ruth Culver Community Library, 540 Water St. in Prairie du Sac, will hold Teen Tuesday: Mystery Night at 6:30 p.m. Teens will take a blind taste test, solve puzzles and go on a scavenger hunt in the library. This event is especially for grades 6-12. Contact Meagan at 643-8318 with questions. For more information, call Meagan at 608-643-8318 or visit www.pdslibrary.org.

The Helping Hands 4H club will hold a meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 505 Broadway St., Baraboo. All are welcome. For more information, call Becky at 608-963-8230.

The Sauk City Public Library, 515 Water St., will hold Writing Circle of Sauk City from 6:30-8:30 p.m. today and every second Tuesday of the month. Meet other writers, share ideas and gain inspiration. For writers of all genres and skill levels. For more information, call 643-8346 or visit www.saukcitylibrary.org.

Wednesday, April 13

The Baraboo Area Senior Center will offer a Free Blood Pressure Screening 9-11 a.m. at the Baraboo Area Senior Center, Room 24, 124 Second St. A Home Health United nurse is available to check blood pressure. For more information call Diane Pillsbury at 608-356-8464.

Js Pub & Grill, 280 Viking Drive in Reedsburg, will host a drawing event by Charcoal Expressions from 6-8 p.m. Light food and drinks are available for purchase. Cost is $30 per person. Register at www.eventbrite.com/e/drawing-event-wine-windows-at-js-pub-and-grill-reedsburg-wi-tickets-22510520573.

Thursday, April 14

Four-year-old and five-year-old kindergarten registration for all children residing in the Baraboo School District will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at East Elementary, 815 Sixth St. Children need to be four and five years of age by Sept. 1 to qualify for 4K and 5K. Proof of birth and immunization history must be presented at the time of registration. Registration materials can be found by calling 608-355-3955 or online at www.baraboo.k12.wi.us/BELC/4belcparents.cfm.

People Helping Peoples Jubilee will host former Packers defensive end and Hall-of-Famer, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila as the keynote speaker from 5-9 p.m. at the Ho-Chunk Convention Center Upper Ballroom, S3214 Highway BD, Baraboo. Tickets for the Jubliee are $50 and can be purchased at WCCU, 1333 South Blvd. and at Cell.Plus, 906 Highway 12, both in Baraboo. For more information, visit www.phpofwisconsin.org.

The Gem City Quilters Club will meet at 6:30 p.m. in Room 18 of the Baraboo Civic Center, 124 Second St. Quilter Donna Opperman will present a demonstration of hand quilting. Supplies will be furnished. Feel free to bring any examples of hand quilted projects. All are Welcome. For more information, call Barbara at 608-356-9137.

The Sauk County Regional Archaeology Program will hold a presentation at 7 p.m. at the Sauk County History Center, 900 Second Ave. in Baraboo. Archaeology Field and Lab Technician, Harley Sorefass will present, Life on the Shoulders of Earth: Archaic Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Patterns in the Driftless Area of Southwestern Wisconsin. Sorefass will discuss the life of prehistoric hunter-gatherers and their utilization of the Driftless area in southwestern Wisconsin and the 2015 archaeological dig at Maple Ridge, North Freedom Township. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Friday, April 15

The Reedsburg Area High School Drama kids will perform their spring production of Rumors by Neil Simon at 7 p.m. today and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday at the CAL Center, 1100 S. Albert Ave. Tickets are $6 and will be available at the door.

Saturday, April 16

The Honey Creek Rod and Gun will hold a merchandise shoot at 10 a.m. at E7412 Highway C, Leland. Lunch and refreshment available. For more information, call Rick at 608-477-0895.

The Tripp Heritage Museums Ochsner Gallery, 565 Water St. in Prairie du Sac, will present Roger A. ShanksFrom the Heart of Lake Wisconsin, the life and art of the village of Merrimacs long-time postmaster from 3-5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Happy hour refreshments will feature Old Postmaster wine, the creative label designed by Shanks himself, Italian soda, and appetizers.

American Legion Post 242 will host a steak feed from 4:30-7 p.m. in its clubhouse at 116 Main St. in LaValle. Cost is $10.

The Sauk City Public Library, 515 Water St., and Playtime Productions of Madison present Childrens Theater: Sleeping Beauty at 7 p.m. at the River Arts Center, 105 Ninth St. in Prairie du Sac. Tickets are not required. For more information, call Jill at 643-8346.

The Reedsburg Area High School Drama kids will perform their spring production of Rumors by Neil Simon at 7 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday at the CAL Center, 1100 S. Albert Ave. Tickets are $6 and will be available at the door.

Devils Lake State Park will host Lawn Chair Bird Watching from 8-10 a.m. Bring a lawn chair and binoculars for this morning bird watch. Meet at the Steinke Basin parking lot.

Sunday, April 17

Wisconsin Womens Health Foundation will hold Every Womans Journal workshop, an introduction to proactive health journaling from 1-3 p.m. at St. Pauls Lutheran Church, 727 Eighth St. in Baraboo. All materials will be provided. To register, call Kristi at 608-356-3230 and leave a message with name and phone number.

The Reedsburg Area High School Drama kids will perform their spring production of Rumors by Neil Simon at 2 p.m. at the CAL Center, 1100 S. Albert Ave. Tickets are $6 and will be available at the door.
Strike continues at Racine Case tractor factory with no clear end in sight

news
WoMin is recruiting

WoMin is recruiting two exciting new regional posts!

WoMin is an emerging women-led, womens rights African alliance working alongside national and regional movements, popular organisations of women and mining-affected communities, and solidarity organisations. They work to expose the impacts of extractivism on peasant and working class women, to counter these destructive trends, and to support organising and movement-building by affected women. Most importantly, they advance an eco-feminist, post-extractivist, women-centred alternative in all of their work.

WoMin is recruiting two new full-time posts based in South Africa, our strong preference, or in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, the DRC, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso or Uganda.

A Communications, Solidarity and Alliance Building Coordinator who will work to strengthen the alliance, its visibility and its contribution to movement-building through deepened intra and extra-alliance communications and exchange; powerful solidarity; greater capacity for documentation, writing and critical analysis; and deepened clarity about the alliance, its purpose and ways of working.

For this role, and over and above the general requirements for every post (see end), they are specifically looking for a woman activist:

With a minimum of 5 years experience in one, or preferably a combination, of the following content areas: extractives, energy, climate, trade, globalisation, infrastructure, land/natural resources, human rights and gender justice

Who is a critical thinker with a history of working with writing as a tool for organising and building solidarity with peoples/womens struggles

Who can build, implement and monitor a communications strategy and annual plans within the secretariat and across the alliance

Who is a strong analytical writer with the ability to design and implement small-scale qualitative research projects in support of our communications and solidarity efforts

With at least 3 to 5 years experience in communications, alliance building, solidarity and/or writing mentorship / support and

Who is comfortable and proficient in a range of social media: FB, twitter, YouTube etc.

A Projects Coordinator - Militarisation and Violence Against Women / Consent and Just Development Alternatives who will work with WoMins allies to build powerful exploratory eighteen month to two-year projects on the mentioned themes. This experience will inform longer-term scaled-up work in partnership with national, regional and international allies. This role is experimental and will require a high level of creativity and dynamism in the incumbent. The position will be implemented alongside research consultants and a full-time intern, and with the support of other WoMin staff with the necessary expertise. Most of the work will be implemented by national allies and so the role is very much one of co-ordination and support.

For this role, we are specifically searching for a woman activist with:

A minimum of five years experience in one of the following content areas: extractives, violence against women, human rights, militarisation / repression / peace work

of the following content areas: extractives, violence against women, human rights, militarisation / repression / peace work At least three to five years experience in programmes/projects development, management and coordination

A proven history of conceptualising, overseeing and managing research projects

The proven ability to write reports, concept notes and proposals, and analytical pieces

Experience in participatory meeting and training methodologies

A minimum two to three-year track record of fundraising and donor management.

WoMins general requirements of all applicants for any post:

An activist who has worked in and navigated the dynamics and politics of complex networks, movements and/or alliances

A person with a history of concrete support to organising and movement-building

A womens rights activist with a proven history of tangible work to advance womens rights

A team player who meets deadlines, is able to problem-solve with others, is open to learning and is able to work with full accountability to peers, alliance members and the WoMin Director.

WoMin is highly committed to recruiting black African women with origins in Southern, East or West Africa. The candidates must be fluent in written and spoken English, and the same fluency in either French or Portuguese would be highly desirable, but is not a requirement for either post.

For more information on WoMin and these exciting new positions, please visit: http://womin.org.za/.

Interested candidates may submit a CV, letter of motivation and contacts for three referees to recruitments@womin.org.za by Friday 29 April 2016. Please clearly indicate which position you are applying for. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Three W&M students awarded prestigious Goldwater Scholarships

2016 Goldwater recipients: (From left) Melissa Guidry, Lyuba Bolkhovitinov, Jessica Joyce and Bernadette Deschaine, all William & Mary juniors, were each recognized by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship Program this year. Photo by Marisa Spyker Photo - of - Hide Caption

William & Mary continued its excellent track record with the Goldwater Scholarship Program this year with three students snagging coveted spots on the list of just over 250 undergraduates nationwide.

Lyuba Bolkhovitinov, Bernadette Deschaine, and Melissa Guidry, all juniors at W&M, were chosen among a pool of 1,150 applicants from 415 colleges and institutions this year. Jessica Joyce 17 received an honorable mention.

The Goldwater Scholarship Program was established in 1986 by Congress to honor the late Senator Barry Goldwater, who served in the U.S. Senate from the 50s through the 80s, and was the Republican presidential candidate in 1964.

The awards are reserved for undergraduate sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the fields of science, math and engineering. The scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500.

Four-year institutions are eligible to nominate up to four students each year. Bolkhovitinov, Deschaine, Guidry, and Joyce all submitted applications this year on the recommendation of their faculty advisors and Lisa Grimes, director of fellowships in the Charles Center. A faculty committee selected them for nomination from a pool of twelve applicants.

Once again, the W&M Goldwater nomination committee has done an excellent job of identifying outstanding candidates," said Grimes. "We are thrilled with this years results. Rising sophomores and juniors interested in applying next year should begin talking to their faculty advisors now.

Since the awards inception, W&M students have performed consistently well. Last year, all four W&M nominees received the scholarship.

Three out of eight of the scholarships granted in the state of Virginia this year were to students at W&M; students from Christopher Newport University, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, Washington and Lee University, and Hampden-Sydney College also received awards.

William & Marys 2016 Goldwater Scholars

Lyuba Bokhovitinov 17, a Monroe Scholar at William & Mary, is from Burke, Virginia. A neuroscience major, she is involved in a developmental neuroscience lab, where she is researching anterior-posterior neural axis plasticity, which has important implications for the treatment of neuronal injury and neurodegenerative diseases in humans. She plans to pursue graduate school. Her advisor is Margaret Saha.

Bernadette Deschaine 17 is a biology major from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. After graduating from William & Mary, where she is a Monroe Scholar, she plans to conduct biomedical research and earn her Ph.D. Long-term, she aims to study the interactions between the human immune system and microorganisms and parasites. She is interested in what shapes different immune responses and how those affect health. Her advisor is Helen Murphy.

Melissa Guidry 17, from Sterling, Virginia, is majoring in physics and applied mathematics. A recipient of the Virginia Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate Research Scholarship, her focus is in the field of quantum optics. She is a participant in the LIGO Science Collaborative, which detected gravitational waves earlier this year, and hopes to one day become a university professor and lead a research group specializing in quantum optics, quantum information, and computational physics. Her advisor is Eugeniy Mikhailov.




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Nuclear plays 'vital' role in UK economy, statistics show

11 April 2016

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The UK's Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) has welcomed new official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which it said shows the "vital contribution nuclear power generation makes to the economy". The statistics, released for the first time and part of the low-carbon and renewable energy data series, show nuclear generation and new build activities contributed 3.5 billion ($5.0 billion) to the economy in 2014, with 15,500 people employed full time.

Last year the ONS launched a new survey collecting data on the Low-Carbon and Renewable Energy (LCRE) economy. The first high-level results were published in December 2015. The ONS said, "in order to produce timely estimates and be responsive to demand for greater detail", this is the second in a series of sector specific articles prior to final results scheduled to be published next month.

In the article providing estimates of activity in the nuclear power sector in 2014, the ONS said that almost a quarter of low-carbon electricity group acquisitions of capital assets were in the nuclear power sector. The sector accounts for a greater proportion of the low-carbon economy in Scotland than in England for both turnover and full-time equivalent employees, it said.

Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: "The nuclear sector has played an important role in keeping the lights on across the UK for over 50 years. These official statistics highlight the continued economic contribution of existing nuclear power generation operations. Significantly, the statistics do not include the level of employment in decommissioning and nuclear supply chain with the NIA's authoritative jobs map putting the level of employment in the UK at 63,500."

Shadow energy minister in the last Parliament and leading the NIA since February, Greatrex added: "While some commentators pit low-carbon technologies against each other, each has a role to play and must work together if the UK is to replace the ageing generation plant, improve security of supply and reduce our carbon emission in line with legally binding targets. To meet the UK's objective of a secure low-carbon generation mix, new nuclear will need to be part of a broad mix for the future."

According to the ONS, in 2014 low-carbon sources generated 132.2 terawatt hours (TWh), which accounted for 39% of UK electricity generation. Low-carbon energy sources are almost evenly split between nuclear (48.4%) and renewable energy sources (51.6%) such as solar photovoltaic, offshore wind, onshore wind, hydro, landfill gas, and other bioenergy. The nuclear power sector generated 64 TWh of electricity.

The nuclear energy sector includes businesses producing electricity, but also those supporting these activities through consultation, production or installation of infrastructure. This also includes operations and maintenance; however, decommissioning and waste processing activities are excluded as their primary purpose is not within the scope of the LCRE economy.

Of the 15,500 FTEs engaging in nuclear power activity in 2014, 30.3% were working in businesses where nuclear power activities were the businesses' primary activity.

The ONS said: "These businesses generated just 8.9% (0.3 billion) of nuclear power sector turnover and were primarily involved in engineering and consultancy activities. These results show that businesses where nuclear power was their primary activity have a relatively high proportion of employment compared with the proportion of turnover generated."

Businesses that operated in the nuclear power sector but not as their primary activity employed 69.7% of nuclear power sector FTE workers and generated 91.1% (3.2 billion) of nuclear power sector turnover. These businesses were predominantly involved in electricity generation but operated in multiple power-generating sectors rather than specialising in nuclear electricity generation, the ONS said.

The majority of employment and turnover for the nuclear sector was in electricity generation by businesses where nuclear power was not their primary activity. This can be contrasted, the ONS said, to the solar photovoltaic sector, where the majority of employment (81.0% of FTE workers) and turnover (51.2%, 1.3 billion) were in businesses where solar activities were their primary activity, most commonly design or installation activities.

The figures also show how the industry is spread across the whole of the UK, with 19% of the sector's turnover and 13% of the workforce, coming from Scotland.

Formerly the Labour MP for the Scottish constituency of Rutherglen and Hamilton West, the NIA's Greatrex, stressed in a recent interview with World Nuclear News that there are a significant number of people employed in the nuclear industry in Scotland.

Noting the recent announcement that the operating period of the Torness nuclear power plant is to be extended, Greatrex said nuclear power will be "part of the mix in Scotland till at least 2030".

"Electricity generation figures for Scotland in the last year show that 75% of it was low-carbon. That was pretty much evenly spread between renewables, including old hydro as well as new and almost all onshore wind and a little bit of solar, and the two generating nuclear power stations," he said. "Whether or not there's any new build in Scotland in the future remains an open question, but it's certainly the case that to help to balance the intermittent low-carbon generation that exists within Scotland, improvements to the grid infrastructure, linking Scotland to England, are as much if not more so about being able to take power south to north when the wind isn't blowing, as it is to be able to take excess renewable generated power north to south when the wind is blowing."

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
IAEA advises on project risks to Ignalina decommissioning

11 April 2016

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Lithuania should plan for potential project risks in the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said. Such planning should ensure that future costs and scheduling "remain realistic".

An aerial photo of the Ignalina plant (Image: INPP)

A five-day, IAEA-led expert mission to the plant reviewed project risks and uncertainties related to the decommissioning of Ignalina's two RBMK-1500 light-water, graphite-moderated reactors, which were permanently shut down in 2004 and 2009, respectively.

The mission - carried out at the invitation of the Lithuanian government - said the operator has "identified risks at both the corporate and individual project level and has taken into consideration the experience of other countries in decommissioning", the IAEA said on 8 April.

However, the four-person team made a number of recommendations and suggestions aimed at strengthening the operator's ability to identify project risks. These include putting in place a baseline cost and schedule for the remainder of the project that provides "sufficient detail and is realistic". It also said the operator should integrate risks into the baseline project and cost schedules, including "a range of possible outcomes". It also said the plant should introduce a formal process of regular reporting against the identified risks.

The team will present its full report to the plant's operator "in the coming weeks", the IAEA said.

The IAEA team leader Patrick O'Sullivan noted, "Any undertaking of this kind involves a series of risks and uncertainties, so it's important to mitigate them wherever possible. Factoring these risks into the planning effort will help ensure realistic future cost estimates."

Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) director general Darius Janulevicius said, "The broad competence and extensive experience of the experts involved in the IAEA mission will support INPP's efforts towards building up an integrated risk management system that works effectively."

"The decommissioning of power units with RBMK-type reactors has allowed INPP to gain unique experience that can be systematized and applied in other nuclear energy projects," Janulevicius added. "INPP has a vision to become an expert on safe and efficient nuclear facility decommissioning and radioactive waste management."

Lithuania agreed to shut down Ignalina 1 and 2 as a condition of its accession to the European Union. The European Commission is providing substantial funding for the project, scheduled to be completed in 2038.

The IAEA said some key decommissioning milestones had recently been reached at Ignalina, including partial dismantlement of the turbine hall and construction of a solid radioactive waste management facility and an interim used fuel storage facility.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
Mentesh Da Silva

By: Mahesh Sarin

A teenager in the United Kingdom, sparked outrage after writing on Facebook that his dead girlfriend is now in a happier place.

19-year-old Mentesh Da Silva of Canterbury, wrote on Facebook, aWas an accident. S**t happens. I know she is happier where she is right now compared to being in Canterbury round all them s**theads.a

The family members of 18-year-old Emily Laker, are outraged by these comments after a judge gave Da Silva a suspended sentenced because he expressed deep remorse of the death of his girlfriend.

However, these comments show that he has no remorse. Da Silva pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving. He was given a suspended sentence.

According to the police investigation, Da Silva killed Laker, after leaving a party and picking her home from a bar. Witnesses at the scene said that Da Silva was speeding before losing control of his car and crashed.

Laker died at the scene while Da Silva was taken to a hospital.

A third passenger suffered minor injuries.
Teeth (illustration)

By: Chan Yuan

(Scroll down for video) A man in Indiana, vowed to hire an attorney to sue a dental clinic after waking up in the dentist chair with no teeth despite being told that only four teeth will be removed.

Donny Grisby of Columbus, said that he went to the White River Dental, after suffering from tooth pain.

He was told that he had an infection and four teeth will be removed, but when he woke up in the dentist chair following the procedure, he was shocked to learn that the doctor pulled out all his teeth.

His wife Amanda, said that after sitting several hours in the waiting room without her husband coming out of the dentist chair, she demanded answers.

She was told that the doctor decided to remove all her husbands teeth. Amanda said that the doctor told her that the infection could have spread if all the teeth were not pulled.

When Donny was wheeled out of the dentistas room, he had blood all over his body. His shirt was stained with blood, and he did not respond.

Amanda called an ambulance, and her husband was taken to the Columbus Regional Hospital. Donny said that he is extremely embarrassed to have no teeth.

He still suffers from blood clots as a result of the procedure.

The couple plans to have an attorney file a malpractice lawsuit.
Pig statue (illustration)

By: Feng Qian

A man was arrested after being accused of kicking a pet pig that was being walked on a leash by a woman outside a coffee shop, police in Indiana said.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said that they have arrested the 61-year-old man, who was not identified, after being accused of kicking the pig outside a Starbucks.

He was booked into jail on an outstanding warrant related to trespassing, and his bail was set at $150.

According to the police, officers responded to a disturbance call outside the Starbucks coffee shop located in the 400 block of Massachusetts Avenue on Sunday afternoon.

Officers who arrived at the scene found that a 61-year-old man sitting on a bench outside the Starbucks. The owner of the pig said that when she walked near the man, he kicked her pet.

The pig was not injured.
Car (illustration)

By: Chan Yuan

A university student was arrested after assaulting a car while he was drunk.

Police were called for an altercation between a man and a Ford Taurus on the Winona State University campus in Minnesota.

Winona police said that at 7:40 p.m., officers found Mikhail Igorevich Belenkiy, 19, of Howard Lake, punching, kicking and screaming at a blue Ford Taurus that was parked on King Street.

When asked about his bizarre behavior, Belenkiy told officers that he was upset with his car because it gave him trouble.

Belenkiy was found to be intoxicated. A breathalyzer test showed that he had a .197 blood alcohol content level.

He was cited for underage consumption of alcohol. In addition, police learned that although Belenkiy has a blue Ford Taurus, the vehicle he assaulted did not belong to him.

Belenkiy caused about $1,886 worth of damage to the car, resulting in a felony charge of first-degree criminal damage to property.
HYAK - A new traffic shift is now in effect near Easton as one of the busiest construction seasons on Interstate 90 between North Bend and Ellensburg winds down for the upcoming winter.
The UK Conservative governments White Paper on education, launched on March 17, has been met with widespread opposition among thousands of teachers across the country.

The White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, is not just a continuation of the right-wing offensive launched against education over the past 20 years. Its central aim is the complete privatisation of state education.

The paper demands that all schools are converted into academieswhich are state funded but privately runby 2022. Along with handing over statutory education fully to the private sector and abolishing local authority control, the wages and conditions of teaching staff will no longer be determined by national contracts and the state will no longer take responsibility for the training of teachers.

The announcement was met with shock and anger by masses of teachers. Within two days, over 140,000 teachers signed a petition of protest. Rallies were held across the country in opposition to the White Paper. The two largest teaching unions, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), which held their national annual conferences immediately following the publication of the White Paper, announced strike ballots and called for industrial action to be held in the summer and autumn terms.

No confidence should be placed in the teaching unions whatsoever! The education system has reached this juncture precisely due to the complicity of the teaching unions with every single attack by both Labour and Conservative governments over the past two decades.

The vast majority of state schools will be forced to join multi-academy trusts, charitable bodies which run chains of schools. There is no evidence that academies have improved pupil performance. Rather, much evidence exists establishing that academies in poorer communities do worse than they did under state control. Over 80 percent of local authority schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majestys Chief Inspector of Education, Childrens Services and Skills, along with the Education Select Committee and the Sutton Trusts Chain Effects report, all demonstrate that academy status not only does not result in higher attainment but that many chains are badly failing their pupils. Several leading figures in the flagship academies are under investigation for financial irregularities as well as corruption charges, and have lost control and been handed over to other academy trusts.

The first academy was created in 2002 under the Labour government. Under the Tory-led coalition with the Liberal Democrats, academies became a significant part of schools provision. When Michael Gove was removed as education secretary in 2014, there were around 4,000 academies, nearly 20 times the number when he took office in 2010. Currently, 59 percent of secondary schools and 17 percent of primary schools are academies. There are only 16,000 schools that are still run by local authorities.

The White Paper will also end the requirement for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), which is a university-accredited teacher training programme involving a year of in-school training. Instead, the decision on whether to accept that a teacher is qualified will be made at the discretion of a head teacher. This could mean teachers working years for low pay before someone in charge of the school budget decides to accept they have qualified. It means that non-teachers can be brought into schools to take classes at the discretion of the head, based on the supposed benefits they bring. In addition, it will impact the international portability of Englands teachers qualifications, which will have no recognised status outside of the country.

The government also intends to remove the requirement for governing bodies to have parent governors. Multi-academy trusts will be allowed to close down the governing bodies of individual schools. Once in a multi-academy trust, there is no way for a school to leave. It will create the conditions where there is no public accountability or scrutiny. All decisions will be made by highly paid chief executives.

The response to this unprecedented assault by the teaching unions has been to promote alliances with the Labour Party and to foster illusions in petitions and protests to pressure the government to stop its policy. The NUT conference was addressed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to rapturous applause. Corbyn, who is a member of the party that first launched the academy agenda, while stating that a Labour government under his leadership would rescind the Conservative governments anti-union laws, did not make any such promises on the abolition of academies.

Labour Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell merely called for a pause. Kevin Courtney, deputy secretary of the NUT and a member of the Socialist Alliance of Teachers stated, We agree with Lucy Powells call for a pause and we intend to work with all possible allies, including, importantly, parents and governors, to seek to defeat this White Paper.

These allies will include leaders of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties in local government, who joined together to urge the government to rethink the proposals. Nicky Morgan, the Conservative Education Secretary, rejected such appeals and made clear in a statement to the NASUWT conference that there is no reverse gear when it comes to our education reforms.

The NASUWT issued an evasive statement declaring that it will carefully consider the proposals.

All of the proposals contained in the White Paper will need to be carefully examined and teachers will expect the Government to avoid rushing into implementation of ill-considered or poor policy ideas which will fail to deliver excellence for all pupils, it declared. The NASUWT would consider industrial action in cases where academies fail to protect conditions of service and advance decent working conditions for members and if they link teachers pay to test results, pupils progress or schools inspection results.

What this means in reality is that there will be no coordinated national opposition to the White Paper, only isolated action against an individual academy schooland then only when teachers anger prevents the unions from suppressing opposition.

The only concern of the unions regarding the White Paper is that they will be left out in the cold. The break-up of national pay structures could impact their negotiating rights with the government and, through this, their privileged positions as enforcers of labour discipline on behalf of the ruling elite.

The White Paper is an historic attack and will set back the education system decades if implemented. It necessitates the political mobilisation of teachers, along with broad sections of the community and students, in opposition to the dismantling of public education. The unions are hostile to such a struggle, as has been demonstrated time and again, year after year. Their fight against the White Paper will only ever go the same way as their fight in defence of public sector pensions or any other attack on teachers: To defeat via the road of betrayal.

Teachers must organise meetings in every school, independently of the unions, to discuss the implications of the governments White Paper and the privatisation agenda, and organise rank-and-file committees in defence of public education. These must form links with other sections of workers, such as the junior doctors who are engaged in a struggle against a work contract meant to pave the way for the further privatisation of health care. The Socialist Equality Party is ready to lead such a fightback.
Thirty years ago mining companies claimed that coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP) or black lung had been eradicated in Australian mines. In the past four months, however, eight Queensland coal miners, most of whom worked in the states Bowen Basin, have been diagnosed with the disease.

The reemergence of black lung is a result of company cost-cutting and the drive to boost production, combined with inadequate ventilation and dust-testing standards and delays in the proper analysis of miners x-rays.

The disease is caused when dust particles accumulate in parts of the lung, causing inflammation and scarring, reducing oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange and overwhelming the organs natural defence mechanisms. Continued dust exposure eventually leads to scleroderma, chronic bronchitis, heart problems, lung failure and a painful death.

There are currently two government inquiries into black lung in Australiaone by the Queensland state government, which will be completed in June, and the other by a federal Senate committee.

Testimony to the Senate hearing last month from black lung victims highlighted the dangerous conditions in which they worked. Percy Verrall, 73, who worked in the industry for 29 years, was the first person diagnosed with black lung in Australia in the past three decades.

Verrall said he was never supplied with masks to protect him from coal dust. I dont want to see any other young blokes in that condition, he said. Its got to be fixed up so theyre not going to get like all the other miners with black lungs. They could finish up just the same way as me, or walking around with an oxygen bottle hooked up to them all the time.

Ian Hiscock, another victim, said mine ventilation was poor and dust-suppression systems constantly blocked up. The dust mitigation is inadequate in the coal mines. In this day and age of technology, a $100 million long haul to use a one inch hose to try and suppress dust is insufficient, he said.

The bane of the coal mine worker at the start of every shift is we always say we want more air, we need more air, and were not getting it, because the act and regs [regulations] say, This is what you need to work to and the companies supply the minimum amount of air. But its not enough.

There is no cure for black lung. The only way to prevent the disease is by minimising exposure to coal dust. This means rigorous and constant testing of mine sites and the use of high-quality ventilation systems and other methods to keep the dust below occupational exposure standards. Workers and retired miners need to be regularly tested for early signs of the disease and provided with adequate medical treatment.

While coal mining has been one of Australias largest export earners, directly employing more than 30,000 workers, the industry has no uniform coal dust standardsguidelines vary from state to state. In addition, there is no nationally-coordinated black lung testing regime and not enough specialised radiologists and qualified respiratory disease experts employed to examine miners legally mandated x-rays.

In Queensland, the allowable level of dust exposure for a single shift is 3 milligrams (mg) per cubic metre of air. In NSW it is 2.5 mg. These standards are well above what is regarded as safe levels in the US and Britain.

The official level in the US is 1.5 mg per cubic metre of air, with mines supposed to be monitored 45 times per month and during 80100 percent production levels. These standards, of course, are rarely followed. Black lung in the US continues to rise and is currently at the highest levels in four decades.

Dust monitoring in Queensland is left to individual mining companies without independent checks. Companies, moreover, are only required to conduct dust monitoring 15 times per month. This can occur during maintenance and slow-production periods, when coal dust is obviously at a minimum.

The Queensland and Senate investigations have focussed on coal mining in Queensland, where underground mining companies have routinely exceeded allowable dust limits.

In the states Bowen Basin, where most of those recently diagnosed with black lung have been employed, Anglo American-owned Grasstree and Grovernor mines and the Brazilian-owned Carborough Downs mine have regularly recorded dust levels above the states safe 3 mg standard.

Evidence presented to the Senate hearing revealed that eight of 10 Queensland coal mines between 2012 and 2015 operated well over the standard, with one recording 6.5 mg. No action was taken by the Queensland or federal governments against any of the mine operators.

All Queensland coal miners have been legally required since 1993 to undergo chest x-rays before employment and at least once every five years after being hired. The x-rays are sent to the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) for review. The department recently admitted, however, that up to 150,000 of these x-rays had not been checked, due to a lack of qualified specialists.

Black lung sufferer Keith Stoddard told a Senate hearing that only one of the seven x-rays taken of his lungs could be located by the DNRM. Shortness of breath forced Stoddard to leave the Grasstree mine six months ago. He sought medical advice and was informed that he only had 50 percent lung function.

Queenslands Department of Natural Resources and Mines director-general James Purtill admitted at the hearing that some of the nominated medical advisorsappointed to provide and examine x-rays and make medical assessments of coal minerswere paid by mining companies.

This alarming admission was underlined by Monash University Professor Malcolm Sim. He said the current medical data was inadequate because a large number of nominated medical advisors were general practitioners, not radiologists, and most were located well away from mine sites.

Others appearing at the hearings included the Anglo American Coal head of safety Mike Oswell, who denied any problem with dust control measures at the companys Bowen Basin mines. The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) submission claimed the current monitoring system was adequate and urged the hearing to be wary of alarmist comments.

A submission from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) called for national dust-monitoring standards and an independent statutory body to publicly name mines that violated dust standards. It also proposed a national black lung health monitoring system for current and former miners, and long-term care and support for those suffering from the disease.

Mining union officials told the media proper examination of miners x-rays by qualified respiratory experts could reveal over 1,000 coal miners suffering from black lung disease.

Notwithstanding CFMEU warnings about black lung, the obvious question is what has been the unions role in allowing the emergence of the working conditions that produce this debilitating and ultimately fatal disease.

In 2014, Andrew Vickers, general secretary of CFMEUs Mining and Energy Division, boasted: The CFMEU has been instrumental in ensuring some of, if not the worlds, best health and safety laws in the coal industry. Indeed, at a time that pneumoconiosisalso known as black lung diseaseis again on the rise, Australia has not had a reported case since the early 1970s.

In fact, the union has been instrumental in undermining health and safety standards in the coal industry. In the name of maintaining international competitiveness, the CFMEU has worked hand in glove with the mining corporations to cut costs and increase productivity. This has involved endorsing and imposing workplace agreements that extended work shifts, increased the use of contractors and part-time labour, and eroded hard-won working conditions, including those related to health and safety.

After rubber-stamping company attacks on jobs and conditions, the CFMEU has decided to call for legislation to combat black lung, in order to deflect attention from its collaboration with the corporations in imposing the very conditions that have produced a resurgence of the disease.

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On Friday, hundreds of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) workers held three rallies across California demanding a better contract with higher pay and benefits, improved safety conditions and a draw-down in the states hiring of non-unionized contract workers to replace Caltrans staff.

Caltrans workers build and maintain highway, bridge, railway and other infrastructure in the state of California. They have been working without a contract for nine months and have endured years of sellout contracts negotiated by the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE).

Caltrans workers unanimously expressed opposition to the Democratic Party-controlled state government, and in particular Governor Jerry Brown who was re-elected in 2010 and 2014 with the support of the IUOE. The union has repeatedly used the fraudulent claim that Brown and the Democrats are the best option available to workers. The IUOE is currently supporting Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, the personification of status quo establishment politics, in the presidential campaign.

The current contract proposal involves slightly higher wages coupled with even higher employee contributions to health care plans and CalPERS, the state retirement fund, resulting in a net decrease in monthly pay. Many of the signs at the rally condemned this.

There has been a media blackout on the struggle of Caltrans workers. The only article published outside three from the WSWS was a 250-word piece by the Sacramento Bee prior to the last rally held in February.

The WSWS spoke with workers at the Sacramento and San Bernardino rallies, distributing copies of the statement, Mobilize the working class to defend Caltrans workers! At both rallies, workers expressed deep anger over the Democrats unrelenting austerity.

In Sacramento, Erik Gonzalez, a lead worker with 17 years, described the horrendous lack of safety precautions provided at Caltrans work sites. He noted caustically, Were on the freeway all day and all we have separating us from death are a few dozen orange rubber cones.

With the widespread use of cell phones, nobodys paying attention while driving anymore. Theres an increased chance that under-trained people will get hurt, Gonzalez said.

When asked about the Brown Administration and the Democratic Party and their relationship with the IUOE, Erik said, Im sure the union has a pocket that the Democrats hands are deep inside of.

When told about the potential strike on California State University (CSU) campuses (which was called off later Friday), Gonzalez commented on the need for the unity of the working class, declaring, Its really unfair that any one piece of the pie is left out. We need to stand tall together. Had we all taken a stand together as state workers at an earlier time, we wouldnt be in negotiations now. It would be worldwide news.

Regarding the IUOE and their role in the negotiations, Gonzalez declared, We need to drop the union and get a different union. Describing the role of the UAW in last years contract negotiations with the Big Three automakers, our reporter argued for the need for the working class more broadly to break with all the unions, which promote nationalism and are tied to the Democratic Party.

Steve Novak, an electrician with five years, attended the rally in Sacramento and spoke with the WSWS.

Novak gave voice to the widespread hostility shared by workers across the US and internationally toward the Democratic Party, declaring, Democrats have failed us for years. I think theyre all crooks myself. If we dont have college degrees, they look at us like peasants. Well pretty soon, the peasants will revolt.

He also highlighted the precarious safety conditions that Caltrans workers face: Were working on the side of the road. There are more Caltrans workers killed every year than CHP [California Highway Patrol] officers, but we dont even have hazard pay. If a truck hits me, Im gone. We cant find guys to work because the conditions and pay are so bad.

Other workers standing with Novak spoke of the numerous carcinogens that Caltrans workers are exposed to on a daily basis, including those found in serpentine aggregate, tar and asphalt. One worker said, Take a look at our safety manual, there are hundreds of carcinogens that we inhale on a daily basis. There are a lot of hazardous materials that the administration doesnt even acknowledge.

When asked about the contract negotiations and the role of the IUOE, Novak commented, Its disgraceful. Were just asking for equal pay.

Another worker stated, I dont know if I trust my union, prompting another to declare, I dont either. A fourth worker noted, We get strong-armed to join the union and they dont do anything to protect us.

Over the course of the past year of negotiations, the IUOE has never called a rally to bring its membership together. Caltrans workers had to take this initiative upon themselves, independently organizing a rally outside the negotiations building in January. This prompted the IUOE to tentatively endorse the second rally of roughly 400 workers in February, while rescheduling the negotiations with the state to another day.

Commenting on the initiative taken by workers, Steve said, This has never happened before. Weve never had unity before. The group of workers were all in agreement on the need to strike. After one declared, Im voting to strike, others agreed, with one jokingly stating, Im ready to eat Top Ramen for a few weeks.

Again, the group expressed skepticism toward their leading union officials, with one worker stating, The union doesnt want us to strike.

Numerous workers at the Sacramento rally expressed hostility to the states hiring of contract workers as a replacement for Caltrans workers. This is the preferred method for the state, because contract workers are non-unionized and therefore more vulnerable to exploitation. Another purpose for hiring contractors instead of increasing Caltrans budget is to divide road maintenance workers into separate entities, hindering the unity of this section of the working class.

San Bernardino

In San Bernardino, the WSWS spoke with Aaron, who again highlighted the life-threatening working conditions. Were rated as one of the top five most dangerous jobs. That should say something about what we deserve right there, he said.

Another worker, Chuck, stated, All were doing now is picking up trash. Were just trash picker-uppers. Everything is a mess. Take a look at the freeways, theyre filthy. I had a good friend of mine who died picking up a dead dog on the highway. He was a good friend who I had worked with for years. They tell us to work through that kind of trauma and we still havent gotten a raise in years.

When told about the potential strike on CSU campuses, Aaron said, I think teachers should be some of the highest paid people. Theyre teaching our youth. Thats a good investment right there, its what keeps people out of poverty. And our education system has gone awry, its terrible. People have to stand up.

Tim, a mechanic, discussed the decline in the real value of wages, noting, We havent had any pay increases in over a decade, because we keep paying more into pensions. Ive got paystubs from 12 years ago, and I make $50 more on my base pay per month than I did then. Thats a $50 a month raise, and the prices of everything else has gone up. Groceries have gone up, rent has gone up, and our pay has not gone up. All we want is a fair wage.
On March 23, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a set of seven consolidated cases, all of which involve institutions that insist on their religious right to prevent employees and students from obtaining birth control.

These cases are part of a reactionary line of Supreme Court jurisprudence based on a tendentious conception of religious liberty, as well as the pseudo-legal doctrine of supposed constitutional rights for corporations. In these cases, the supposed religious liberty of businesses has been invoked in order to undermine the First Amendments Establishment Clause, which asserts the separation of church and state.

In a series of rulings beginning with Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014), the Supreme Court held that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) violated the religious liberty of corporations because it required employers to provide insurance coverage for birth control.

In a provocative ruling in a case known as Wheaton College, decided a few days after Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court held that religious firms could unilaterally refuse to comply with the law. Invoking the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, the Supreme Court decided that filling out a one-page government form to opt out of paying for contraception was too burdensome on the employers alleged religious liberty.

The current set of cases, consolidated under the caption Zubik v. Burwell, were brought on behalf of numerous religiously affiliated individuals and institutions, including Priests for Life, Southern Nazarene University, Geneva College, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, East Texas Baptist University, and Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. David A. Zubik, whose name appears on the caption, is the Roman Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh.

The issue in these cases is whether it violates the religious liberty of the employer for the employees to receive access to birth control, even if the employer does not have to pay for it.

In a series of cowardly maneuvers, the Obama administration added loopholes to the Affordable Care Acts regulatory framework that were designed to placate religious fundamentalists. For example, an organization that qualifies as a religious employer is automatically exempted. This term is defined as churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches, as well as the exclusively religious activities of any religious order.

In addition, existing health care plans that already excluded contraception were exempted from compliance with the law. These concessions by the Obama administration contributed to the legal framework in which the Hobby Lobby decision was issued.

Among the Obama administrations many concessions was an accommodation to religious groups providing that where a business objected to the provision of contraceptives to its employees, the coverage would generally still be provided, at no cost to the employer.

The forces behind the campaign for religious libertywho will not be satisfied until the Bill of Rights is overturned and the United States is transformed into a theocracycontend that this accommodation constitutes government hijacking of their health care plans. In other words, according to the Catholic bishops and religious schools that have challenged this provision, even with the accommodation, it still violates their religious liberty if their employees or students have access to contraception.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Church argued that even if it does not have to provide coverage for contraception, the very act of opting out of the law makes the Church complicit in a process that is sinful and evil.

Of the nine federal appeals courts that have heard these cases, all but one has upheld the accommodation. The Eighth Circuit, however, ruled in favor of the religious organizations. The Eighth Circuit based its ruling on the religious belief and practice, religious mission, and sincerely held religious belief of the employer, as well as the employers belief that contraception constitutes abortion on demand.

Relying on the Wheaton College decision and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, the Eighth Circuit held that even the accommodation process imposes a substantial burden on [the employers] exercise of religion. The Eighth Circuit includes the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

In the March 23 oral arguments before the Supreme Court, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan signaled that they would likely rule in favor of upholding the accommodation.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito indicated that they would side with the religious groups, while the supposed swing justice, Anthony Kennedy, used the word hijack in his questioning, adopting the jargon of the religious fundamentalists. (Justice Clarence Thomas, who generally sided with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was characteristically mute during oral arguments.)

If Kennedy sides with the religious groups, the outcome of the case will have been affected by the unexpected death in February of Scalia, the ideological leader of the far-right bloc on the court. A 4-4 tie vote would leave the status quo ante in place and the split decisions of the appeals courts would remain unresolved.

On March 29, the Supreme Court invited additional briefing on whether a compromise could be reached that would break the apparent deadlock. The Supreme Courtaccepting the argument that religious groups would be complicit in sin if their employees received coverage for birth controlasked the parties to address the issue of whether contraceptive coverage could be provided to petitioners employees, through petitioners insurance companies, without any such notice from petitioners.

According to this compromise, the religious groups would contract to provide health insurance for their employees, and in the course of obtaining such insurance, inform their insurance company that they do not want their health plan to include contraceptive coverage of the type to which they object on religious grounds. Petitioners would have no legal obligation to provide such contraceptive coverage, would not pay for such coverage, and would not be required to submit any separate notice to their insurer, to the federal government, or to their employees. The briefs setting forth the parties positions on the proposed compromise are due April 20.

The campaign for the religious liberty of employers is thoroughly reactionary. As the World Socialist Web Site noted at the time, The Hobby Lobby and Wheaton College decisions herald the return of even more sinister rights of employers. After all, it was once the case that proprietors claimed the right to exclude Jews, or the right to refuse to serve blacks, or the right to refuse to hire or promote women. It is my private property, the proprietor would say, I have the right to do what I want with it.

Last week, the state of Mississippi enacted a sweeping anti-gay law under the guise of protecting religious freedom. Under this flagrantly discriminatory law, both public and private businesses can exercise their religious rights to refuse to provide service to gay people.

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[9 July 2014]
French riot police on Saturday savagely assaulted demonstrators protesting against the Socialist Party (PS) governments austerity policies and the labor law reform of Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri. The decision of the trade union bureaucracy and its political allies in the periphery of the PS to not call workers out on strike alongside protesting high school and university students left the PS free to assault and arrest demonstrators in cities across France.

In Paris, groups of protesters marching from Republic Square to Nation Square via Bastille Square were surrounded by increasing numbers of riot police as they proceeded along the route. The atmosphere on the march was tense, with lawyers from the French Lawyers Union (SAF) handing out leaflets advising demonstrators on how to react if arrested.

Slogans on the marches included, There is plenty of money, its in accounts in Panama, referring to the Panama Papers revelations of financial fraud by international financial elites; and P for putrid, S for swine, down with the PS.

A police helicopter flew above the Paris march and clashes broke out as demonstrators reached Nation Square. Security forces blocked strikers marching behind banners of the Stalinist General Confederation of Labor (CGT) from entering the square while they fired volleys of tear gas and charged students who had already arrived there. Plainclothes police tried to snatch and arrest protesters, who fought the police detachments.

There were at least nine arrests in Paris and 26 across France, and several protesters in Paris were injured, including one woman who was hit in the eye.

In Rennes, where several thousand protesters marched, riot police charged the marchers and fired large quantities of tear gas and stun grenades. Demonstrators set up flaming barricades in areas near the Lices neighborhood, where street fighting occurred. There were reports of firemen coming under fire from birdshot until police charges cleared the area. According to the news program 20 Minutes, 18 people were injured in Rennes, including five with critical wounds such as skull fractures and eye injuries resulting from police baton attacks.

Tens of thousands of people marched in Marseille near the Old Port and in Toulouse, where student protesters joined a demonstration of actors at the Toulouse National Theater (TNT) before occupying Capitole Square.

In all, several hundreds of thousands of people marched in some 200 cities across France against the El Khomri Law and the broader austerity agenda of the European Union, defying the state of emergency imposed by the PS after the November 13 terror attacks in Paris.

The mobilization was notably smaller than the March 31 protest. It followed an earlier protest last Tuesday that was violently attacked by police.

The central political issue facing the protest movement is the absence of a clear perspective for opposing the PS government. Despite broad opposition to Socialist Party President Francois Hollande, Frances most unpopular president since World War II, and widespread support among young people and workers for militant action to oppose him, the youth are being isolated in protests in which they are attacked by hordes of highly-armed riot police.

This is bound up with the fact that the trade union organizations and their pseudo left allies among the political parties in France all called for a vote for Hollande in the 2012 presidential election, and all of them are seeking to block a movement that might bring him down.

At the same time, political forces in the periphery of the PS, including Jean-Luc Melenchons Left Front, various Green officials and members of the New Anti-capitalist Party, are seeking to promote symbolic #NightOnOurFeet protests. These actions involve the occupation of public squares and are modeled on the movements in Athens and Madrid in 2011 that helped bring the Syriza government to power in Greece and establish the Podemos party in Spain. They offer no way forward for workers and seek to divert youth from the task of mobilizing the working class in struggle against the PS and its allies.

The #NightOnOurFeet movement is a means of averting a broader mobilization of workers by staging actions that exclude the mobilization of the working class industrial strength. It also provides an avenue for various political operatives and reactionary forces to gain influence over the broader movement in opposition to the PS and its labor reform.

At the Paris demonstration on Saturday, a World Socialist Web Site reporter spoke to a hotel worker who said there was widespread anger at his workplace over the law, which, he added, was being widely discussed. Nevertheless, he was the only worker from his hotel who turned out to show solidarity with the youth. A few steps away, a political operative who previously had been a member of Melenchons staff told the WSWS of his enthusiasm for the #NightOnOurFeet protests and boasted that he had been at planning meetings where he had seen the prime minister.

Dalil, a high school student at the Paris demonstration who was protesting the law together with several friends, spoke to the WSWS. He said of the labor law, For high school students, for future generations, it will mean that we have even less job security. It is one of the worst things that could happen to us, actually. We already live in a world in crisis. It is already complicated. There is already enormous unemployment among youth and there is no point making things worse. But this law will make things worse.

Dalil also said he opposed the police forces in France and was against the proxy war being waged in Syria by the French government and its NATO allies, including military strikes ostensibly carried out in retaliation for terror attacks in France and Belgium.

The war in Syria, Dalil said, keeps the kettle boiling in areas of conflict, that is, conflicts that have been stoked by the Western powers, and today it has totally exploded in the region. In fact, we keep having aggressive policies that no longer work. And we know they dont work because long-distance bombings kill civilians, and I dont see why we would reply to attacks that claimed 130 lives here by killing 2,000 people over there. It has no meaning.

The WSWS also spoke to Jeremie, an intermittently employed actor, who bitterly attacked the El Khomri law. What a big mess! Its just more power to big business So well always be more in a hurry, with less time for each other and more money for the bosses, who manifestly have enough to put plenty of it away in Panama, he said.

You start realizing that its a type of oligarchy that is emerging, he added. In all the countries its the same.

He expressed deep disillusionment with the PS. I dont even know what the PS means anymore, he said. Because with the PS policy agenda, I have the impression that the guy [President Hollande] took power under a certain label and then told himself, No, in fact the PS is a good tool, but me, the policies I want to carry out are rather right-wing and free-market. We are far away from when he said, If Im elected President I will never and, I would never do this if elected.

Dalil added that the rise of the neo-fascist National Front goes in parallel with the impoverishment of the population. He continued, Id say that each time people have problems to house each other and get food, there is always a fascist who comes along and says, Well, the person responsible for this is that person. It pisses people off, but I think if we dont get better policies, [the rise of the FN] is a real prospect and it will not make anything better.

The WSWS also spoke to two high school students, Marin and Lucas, who were attending the Paris protest and discussed the problems they have seen in the protests.

There is too much violence, there was a lot of rough stuff, and its a problem, they said. There are too many tensions. we try to get involved in the movement anyway, but the problem is that since we are young, we are not so fond of the riot police. Otherwise, it is a movement that is fun because it gathers many people. I have met many people, including meeting people across generations. I met people of all ages.

Marin added, The world took a direction many years ago that had consequences that were not foreseen at the time. There will be a day when it will go too far, and we will look around and say that we should have gone back in time much earlier and changed a lot of things earlier. It comes from war, from a lot of inequality, and sometimes a sense that there is a lot of injustice too.
Lockheed Martin, a premier member of the US military-industrial complex, has announced that it is eager to begin manufacturing its prized fourth-generation fighter jet, the F-16, in India. According to Lockheed Martin India head Phil Shaw, the company is in discussions with New Delhi about producing F-16s in India for both the Indian air force and other militaries.

This offer, which would and could only be made with the approval and encouragement of the Pentagon and the Obama administration, is part of Washingtons concerted campaign to make India a frontline state in its drive to strategically isolate, encircle, and if need be wage war on China.

Shaw told the Chennai-based daily The Hindu last month that Lockheed Martin is in discussions with the US government, the Government of India, and our Indian industry partners about potential new production F-16 aircraft to address Indias fighter recapitalization requirements. Noting that the details of the aircraft and industrial offer would be determined in conjunction with the two governments in question, Shaw added that it could include unprecedented technology sharing or other favorable terms to woo the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In 2012, the US and India signed a Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) aimed at promoting the co-production and co-development of advanced weapon systems. By offering India economic incentives and assistance in developing advanced weaponry, Washington not only hopes to help US companies cash in on the Indian elites massive military modernization program. Even more importantly, it aims to make Indias military interoperable with the US military and dependent on US technology and supplies so as to further integrate it into the USs anti-China pivot.

Modi and his two-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government have dramatically expanded Indias military-security cooperation with the US. This includes giving the go-ahead for a number of DTTI projects, expanding an annual Indo-US naval exercise to include Japan, endorsing the USs provocative anti-China stance on the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and expanding military ties with the USs principal allies in the region, Japan and Australia.

However, the US is pressing India to take further stepssteps that would effectively transform India into a charter member of a US-led, NATO-type alliance in the Indo-Pacific region. Making those US demands public, the head of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, called, in a New Delhi speech last month, for the Indian and US navies to jointly patrol the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including the disputed South China Sea. He also and urged India to join the US, Japan, and Australia in a quadrilateral security dialogue.

Notably, the public offer of F-16 production came in the run-up to US Defense Secretary Ashton Carters three-day visit to New Delhi and Goa this week. Carters visit to Goa will coincide with a visit of the USS Blue Ridge, the command flagship of the US Seventh or Pacific Fleet

In preparation for Carters trip, Pentagon officials visited India and met with Indian officials to discuss Lockheed Martins F-16 offer, as well as one from Boeing regarding co-production of the F/A 18 Super Hornet.

Members of my team, and industry, are right now ... in India looking at the potential co-production of fighter aircraft, Carter told a Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) meeting in New York last week. These conversations, continued Carter, represent the growing enthusiasm of the US-India partnership, and even more than that, its promise. While these negotiations can be difficult and global competition is high, I have no doubt that in the coming years, the United States and India will embark on a landmark co-production agreement that will bring our two countries closer together and make our militaries stronger.

In his CFR address, Carter said he expects many agreements will be inked while he is in India.

The US has been pressing India to sign three foundational military co-operation agreements that have been under discussion for a decade. These include a Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) that would give the US military routine access to Indian ports and air bases for refuel and resupply. In December, a senior Indian official said that the only obstacle to India signing the LSA was whether it would apply in the event the US went to war.

In its article on the Lockheed Martin offer, the Hindu, voicing the calculations of sections of the Indian elite, suggested that it could provide a major boost to India in its military-strategic competition with China and arch-rival Pakistan. The article claimed that India would derive three potential benefits from the Lockheed Martin deal: First, the addition of 90 airplanes in the medium multi-role combat class; second, India emerging as the production source for markets such as Indonesia that are still eying the F-16 as a means to modernize air fighter fleets; and third, India becoming the top maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) hub for the 3,500-plus F-16s in service worldwideincluding those in Pakistan.

The Obama administrations February announcement that it plans to sell eight F-16 fighters to Pakistan triggered a flurry of protests from the Indian political and military-security establishment. Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned US Ambassador Richard Verma to convey Indias displeasure and various op-ed columns cited the sale as evidence that Washington cannot be trusted to uphold Indian interests.

Pakistan, for its part, has been protesting for years that the USs forging of a global strategic partnership with India and lavishing of arms deals and diplomatic favours on New Delhi have overturned the regional balance of power and triggered a South Asian arms race.

Significantly, Lockheed Martin is offering to sell India a more advanced version of the F-16 than that on offer to Pakistan. The Hindu article noted some experts believe the US will never agree to sell the more advanced version to Pakistan for fear that the technology could leak to China.

Both US and Indian strategists are pressing for India to squander more money on armaments in the name of planning for waging a two-front war against Pakistan and China simultaneously.

Ashley Tellis, a senior associate at the misnamed Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has issued a report titled Troubles, they come in Battalions: The Manifest Travails of the Indian Air Force. It urges India to expand its investments in advanced munitions, combat support aircraft, electronic warfare, physical infrastructure, and pilot proficiency, so as to maintain air superiority over its rapidly modernizing rivals, China and Pakistan.

A high-level official in the George W. Bush administration, Tellis played a major role in the negotiation of the Indo-US nuclear accord, an agreement meant to provide tangible proof of Washingtons readiness to build up India as a counterweight to China. While publicly presented as a deal solely about civilian nuclear energy, the Indo-US nuclear accord, by enabling India to trade for advanced nuclear technology and fuel, enables New Delhi to concentrate its indigenous nuclear program on the expansion of its nuclear arsenal.

In a March 15 article for the South Asia Analysis Group, Dr. Subhash Kapila, a prominent member of Indias military-security establishment and former diplomat, charges the previous Congress Party-led government, which presided over massive increases in military spending, of virtual criminal neglect of Indias war-preparedness. At the end of his bellicose rant, Kapila calls for India to build up the war-preparedness of the Indian Armed Forces at optimum levels to face the joint military threat of the China-Pakistan Axis.

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[8 March 2016]
The US Air Force sent B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf Saturday and plans to use them for bombing raids on targets in Iraq and Syria, according to the Pentagon and the US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East. An undisclosed number of bombers will be stationed at Al Udeid air base in Qatar.

This marks the first deployment of B-52s in the Middle East since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when the huge planes delivered more than 40 percent of the bomb tonnage dropped on Iraqi military forces, incinerating hundreds of thousands of soldiers and destroying entrenched armored units.

The B-52 is the archetypal weapon for saturation bombing, used in Vietnam and the Gulf War in massed formations to rain thousands of bombs at a time on targets below. But US commanders claimed the newly deployed bombers would carry smart bombs and engage only in precision battlefield strikes in Syria and Iraq.

A spokesman for the Central Command, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Karns, told Reuters, Accuracy is critically important in this war. He added, Carpet-bombing would not be effective for the operation were in because [ISIS] doesnt mass as large groups. Often they blend into population centers. We always look to minimize civilian casualties.

Contrary to these assurances, thousands of innocent civilians have already been killed since the US began air strikes on ISIS targets in Iraq in August 2014 and in Syria a month later. The only restraint on US operations has been the reluctance of the Obama administration to wipe out a force that has been one of the principal components of the rebels fighting the Assad regime in Syria.

Washington helped to create ISIS in the first place, arming and training radical Islamist fighters to overthrow Assad, many of them redeployed from the US-backed regime-change operation in Libya. It was only when ISIS forces crossed the border into Iraq and began to seize territory, particularly in June 2014, when they overran Mosul, Iraqs third-largest city, and threatened the US puppet regime in Baghdad, that Obama changed course and authorized the air campaign against them.

Press reports suggest that the B-52 deployment is a replacement for the unit of B-1 stealth bombers that conducted much of the bombing in Syria, but were withdrawn in February for maintenance and upgrading. Since then, official figures suggest a sharp drop in the number of US bombs dropped in the Iraq-Syria war, which has reached an eight-month low. The B-1s conducted only 7 percent of the missions against ISIS targets but dropped 40 percent of the bombs, according to General Charles Q. Brown, commander of the US Air Forces Central Command.

Like the B-1, and unlike smaller fighter-bombers, the B-52 has an extensive range that allows it to fly over a target area for up to 12 hours at a time before being forced to return to base for refueling. A single giant warplane weighs over 90 tons and can carry 35 tons of bombs in its payload.

The deployment of the B-52s is undoubtedly connected to US preparations to bolster the planned Iraqi military offensive against Mosul. Clearing operations have already begun against ISIS-held villages some 40 miles south and east of the city, although some of these efforts were abandoned when Iraqi troops panicked and ran, just as they did during the fall of Mosul nearly two years ago.

There are reportedly concerns that when the actual assault begins on Mosul, with Kurdish militia attacking from the north and Iraqi troops from the south, the encircled ISIS forces will seek to break out southward through the Iraqi lines, or even launch their own counteroffensive down the Tigris River in the direction of Baghdad. B-52 bombers would be particularly effective against any conventional massed movement of ISIS troops and armored vehicles.

The heavy bombers will also be used against targets within Syria. CNN reported Friday that Washington was considering deploying 250 additional Special Forces troops in Syria as part of a broader effort to ramp up military operations against ISIS. A major role of Special Forces is to collect targeting information for US air strikes.

The B-52s could have other uses, as General Brown indicated when he declared, The B-52 demonstrates our continued resolve to apply persistent pressure on [ISIS] and defend the region in any future contingency. The last phrase could well refer to Iran, since the whole country is within easy range of B-52s based in Qatar. So are the Caucasus, Ukraine and nearly all of European Russia. (Moscow itself is 2,200 miles from Doha, only one quarter of the 8,800-mile range of the B-52).

The report on the B-52s came one day after US Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as well as Kurdish and Sunni opposition leaders. Kerry came straight from a meeting with Persian Gulf rulers in Bahrain, drawn by the deepening political crisis of the Baghdad regime.

These maneuvers and preparations for a wider war are taking place under a virtual media blackout in the United States. The television networks have generally ignored the escalating conflict in Iraq, and there was no discussion of the movement of the B-52s on any of the Sunday network interview programs, not even on Fox, where President Obama was the guest for the first time in his more than seven years in office.

Obama criticized Texas Senator Ted Cruz, one of the two leading Republican presidential hopefuls, for proposing to carpet-bomb innocent civilians, which Obama described as not a productive approach to defeating terrorism. His Fox interviewer, Chris Wallace, did not point out that Obama had just deployed to the Iraq-Syria war zone an undisclosed number of the planes infamously linked to carpet-bombing.

No questions were asked about the B-52s on the other network interview programs, where the two remaining Democratic presidential contenders, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were interviewed at length.

The only discussion of the Middle East came on CNNs State of the Union broadcast, where Clinton attacked Sanders for his suggestion that Israel had used disproportionate force in its devastating attack on Gaza in 2014, in which some 2,100 Palestinians were killed, including more than 500 women and children.

Sanders responded by reiterating his 100 percent support for the state of Israel and its right to defend itself against Hamas fighters using homemade rockets that did little damage to targets within Israel.

Both Sanders and Clinton have embraced the Obama administrations approach to the war in Iraq and Syria, backing the stepped-up bombing and the deployment of thousands of US ground combat troops in the guise of advisers, trainers and Special Forces.

They have fully participated in the bipartisan conspiracy of silence to exclude from the election campaign any discussion of advanced plans to escalate US military aggression, including preparations for war against China and Russia, until after the November vote.
Workers at the Nexteer Automotive steering components plant in Saginaw, Michigan report widespread harassment and intimidation by management, abetted by the United Auto Workers (UAW), in the wake of their contract battle last year.

More than three months after the UAW shoved through a sellout contract many workers say they still have not received a copy of the agreement. In addition, workers report they have discovered that the contract contains concessions that were not disclosed by the UAW at the time of the ratification vote.

For example, under terms of the new agreement, workers who are laid off no longer get supplemental unemployment benefits that make up a portion of lost wages not covered by state unemployment benefits.

A Nexteer worker who asked not to be identified because of the danger of victimization told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, They have just stopped our third shift for assembly and put them all on first and second. My department, which always works seven days a week, was notified [that there would be] no more overtime except for a few people.

The worker noted, None of the UAW contract agreement is being followed. We also just learned since [the] contract was settled they took away our free life insurance policy and our sub pay. None of this was disclosed to us previously and we still have not received our copy of the contract. Nobody knows whats really in it.

Some 3,350 workers are employed at the Nexteer complex in Saginaw, which was originally owned by General Motors before being spun off to Delphi in 1999. After the Delphi bankruptcy the company was reacquired by GM in 2010 and then sold to Chinese investors from Pacific Century Motors.

Shortly after the UAW barely pushed concessionary agreements past 140,000 workers at Fiat Chrysler, GM and Ford, workers at Nexteer rejected a UAW proposal by 97.5 percent on December 6, 2015. Following the rejection vote the UAW called a strike, but sent workers back to work after less than 24 hours.

The UAW then called a second vote on the basis of a new agreement that was largely patterned after the previously rejected contract. The deal maintained the two-tier wage system, under which new hires start at just $13 per hour, and imposed an inferior health care plan. The agreement also enumerated a long list of infractions for which workers could be disciplined.

The UAW used blatant intimidation tactics to secure ratification of the deal, telling workers that the plant would close if they voted no. Despite this, 39 percent of the workers still rejected it.

Once the contract was settled, Nexteer reported record 2015 earnings. Revenue was up 12.8 percent to $3.36 billion and gross profit increased 29.7 percent to $545 million.

The four-year agreements the UAW reached at Fiat Chrysler, GM and Ford retained the hated two-tier wage and benefit system while providing a miniscule increase for senior workers. The contract also sanctioned the outsourcing of jobs.

The consequences of this betrayal are already evident with Fiat Chryslers announcement it is ending small car production in the US and laying off 1,420 workers in the Detroit area.

It is now clear that the contract voted on by Nexteer workers was not a complete document. Every few days they will send out a letter with new things they have come up with. For example, if you now come into the plant on your day off you get three points, a worker with 10 years at Nexteer told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter.

There is a lot of crazy stuff going on. People are being fired and written up. The UAW is not even trying to get them back.

The worker said many workers were losing their jobs due to the point system established by Nexteer, where workers accumulate marks against their work record for certain infractions. There are a lot of people out now, the worker said. It is mostly for points. If you come back a minute late from break they will give you points. You basically have to cover yourself.

They dont care if youve worked your butt off 12 hours a day, seven days a week, if you wake up late one day, you are fired. Then they put the point sheets up on the bulletin board so everyone can tell. There is no privacy.

Another veteran Nexteer worker told the WSWS she had still not received a copy of the UAW-Nexteer agreement. They keep on saying it is not finished, she said. She reported that workers were only now finding out about certain changes to the contract.

Some of the stuff people voted on they are taking back. They told us attendance would roll over to next year. Now they are saying it does not. We were supposed to have Martin Luther King Day off, but they turned it into a rotating holiday. You cant use it during the week or you wont get time-and-a-half for working Saturday.

The company is doing whatever they want and the UAW lets them. You have to come to work and be quiet. If you are six minutes late they will give you three points, the same as if you missed a whole day.

You have to know what is going on, or you could lose your job. Last month, they hired 100 people. That was in part to replace those that they had fired.

A lot of people have been quitting who are fed up with the changes. The atmosphere has changed. The supervisors are constantly nit-picking with people. They will write you up for anything.

She expressed particular anger at the role of the UAW. You never see a UAW committeeperson. If you call them, they never come back and tell you what is going on with your issue. You have to hound them down. They are not fighting for you.
Australias big four banks and some prominent companies are named in the so-called Panama Papers, along with about 1,000 Australian residents, according to media analyses of the material issued last week by the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Among the Australian entities identified so far are BHP Billiton, the countrys largest resources giant, and Wilson Security, a firm awarded lucrative contracts by the federal government. Also identified are the owner of Hutchison, the Hong Kong-based company that operates ports and telecommunications in Australia, and an heir to the Multiplex construction empire.

These revelations point to the close involvement of the Australian corporate elite in the worldwide schemes employed by transnational corporations and the super-rich, to minimise taxes and avoid scrutiny of their business operations by setting up offshore shell companies.

On an international scale, the 11.5 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca link thousands of individual and corporate entities to tax havens used to conceal profits, hide wealth and evade taxes. They reportedly implicate 140 public officials around the world, including 12 current and former heads of government, as well as 29 billionaires.

So far, no member of Australias political establishment has been exposed. That may be because the ICIJ has released only a fraction of the names of more than 214,000 offshore entities set up by Mossack Fonseca. The ICIJ promises to divulge the names next month, but it does not intend to make the database available to the public. Instead, the ICIJ says it is working through the documents with its media partners to find stories of public interest.

According to the Australian Financial Review, Australias four major banks feature in the files. The newspaper reported that ANZ bank appears in 7,548 documents, reflecting the banks extensive work in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Samoa and Jerseysome of the tax havens where Mossack Fonseca operates.

Of the other three banks, the newspaper said Westpac appears in 995 documents, National Australian Bank in 261 and Commonwealth Bank in 164. This is only a partial view, because Mossack Fonseca is only one of the five biggest law firms known to be involved in the offshore world.

Most of the mentions of Australias banks refer are to clients bank accounts or reference letters written for their clients when they bought a Mossack shell company. In 2013, for example, a Mossack executive reported meeting an ANZ official in Hong Kong who said she would love to assist me to go through with some cases.

Such discussions highlight the key role of banks in the secretive offshore schemes, which all require bank accounts. A bank is meant to only open an account if it knows the name of the companys real owner.

The Australian Financial Review also revealed that five BHP Billiton finance companies were registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and moved billions of dollars through the tax haven, in an operation organised from London. BHP Billiton also used Mossack Fonseca as its BVI agent for companies linked to its diamonds, steel and aluminium businesses.

BHP Billitons use of Mossack Fonsecas services is only part of its tax minimisation strategy. In February, the Australian Financial Review revealed that the company secured $US5.7 billion in tax-free profits from 2006 to 2014 in its Singapore marketing hub. This triggered public anger, but the only result was a top-up tax payment to the Australian Tax Office of $A945 million for the eight years involvedabout a half of the companys bill if the profits had been taxed in Australia.

Mossack Fonseca helped conceal the identities of the directors of Wilson Security, according to last weeks Four Corners program produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporations, one of the ICIJs collaborators. In recent years, Wilson Security has received federal government contracts worth more than $400 million to guard Australias offshore refugee detention camps, the Defence Department and the Tax Office.

The address for Wilson Securitys holding company on a courier envelope was the same address for Mossack Fonsecas headquarters in the BVI. Among the files were the names of Wilsons holding companys original directors, which included a Hong Kong billionaire who had been legally barred from serving as a company director.

The Panama papers also link Tim Roberts, whose Perth-based family founded the construction giant Multiplex, to a string of companies in the BVI. Roberts personal wealth enabled him to order $US293 million worth of aircraft in 2012.

The documents show that Hong Kongs richest man, Li Ka-shing, who runs the global Hutchison conglomerate, is a Mossack Fonseca client. His company Cheung Kong Infrastructure has a major stake in Australias privatised electricity market. This company, or CKI Holdings, is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange but is incorporated in the tax haven of Bermuda.

The Australian Tax Office took two CKI-related companies to court in 2013, arguing that each company owed almost $400 million in back taxes and penalties on their electricity business. But the Tax Office settled the case last year, reportedly for less than one tenth of the original claim. Deputy Tax Commissioner Mark Konza told Four Corners he could not discuss the settlement, because of laws guaranteeing the confidentiality of corporate taxpayers.

This settlement, like the deal the Tax Office struck with BHP Billiton, demonstrates the fraud of the Turnbull governments claims, in response to the Panama Papers, that it is cracking down on multinational tax avoidance. These cases point to the way in which major firms are treated with kid gloves and offered attractive deals that substantially discount their tax liabilities.

The Tax Office announced last week that it was investigating 800 Australian residents named in the Mossack Fonseca files. Yet the outcomes are likely to be similar. The tax legislation is full of loopholes to facilitate tax avoidance by the wealthy elite. Any breaches of the law are treated as minor civil, not criminal, offences.

Treasurer Scott Morrison, who is in charge of the Tax Office, defended the governments record of legislation and action. Without naming a single offender, he claimed that a government crackdown had raised some $400 million in revenues over the last few years. As BHP Billitons activities indicate, this is a drop in the ocean.

Last week Opposition Labor Party leader Bill Shorten put on a show of outrage over the Panama Papers scandal, saying: I think theyre [average Australians] white-hot angry that somehow we see large multinationals shoving their profits into other jurisdictions to pay minimal tax.

But Labors proposals to make multinationals pay their fair share of tax would generate just $1.9 billion over four years, even if implemented. Labor is equally responsible for the rich and powerful being able to evade taxes with impunity. Successive Labor and Coalition governments have facilitated the tax rorts, while repeatedly lowering the corporate tax rates and top income tax rates to try to outbid other countries in attracting foreign investment.

While shielding the financial elites, politicians insist there is no money to pay for public health, education and other essential social services. The wealthy are allowed to minimise and dodge taxes but workers are constantly told they must pay the price and accept deeper austerity.
Macedonian police used extreme violence against refugees attempting to cross the Greek-Macedonian border on Sunday. Refugees at the Idomeni camp in Greece initially gathered peacefully in the morning while a small group attempted to negotiate entry into Macedonia with border police. After the attempts at negotiation failed, Macedonian police repulsed refugees trying to cross the barbed wire fence separating the countries with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades.

One witness, Laura Samira Naude, an official for the charity Lighthouse Relief, told the Independent newspaper she had witnessed horrific scenes. She continued: The police were firing so much tear gas and rubber bullets too. Young babies had to be treated.

The scenes we are seeing are the expected and unavoidable result of thousands being trapped in Idomeni and elsewhere in Greeceabandoned by Europein awful conditions and with little hope of getting protection, said Fotis Filippou of Amnesty International.

The latest police violence is a direct product of the criminal deal struck by the European Union with Turkey, which seeks to completely seal off access to Europe for refugees through the so-called Balkan route. In line with the deal Greece has commenced the forcible deportations of refugees from the Aegean islands to Turkey. At internment camps on the islands of Lesbos and Samos, as well as ports in Chios and Piraeus, violent clashes broke out at the end of last week between desperate refugees and the police. An estimated 52,000 refugees are stranded in Greece and on Greek islands under increasingly intolerable conditions.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has questioned the basis for the deportations carried out so far, but the EU has refused to examine the allegations, which suggest that the deportations to Turkey are in outright violation of the norms of protection for refugees under international law.

The Greek government rushed the new asylum and deportation regulations through parliament last week without undertaking any adequate preparations. As a result, authorities on the ground are overwhelmed with asylum applications. While the EU has ordered hundreds of border guards and police to Greece through the EU border protection agency Frontex, only 20 legal experts and interpreters have arrived to support the review of asylum applications. This confirms that the agreement between the EU and Turkey is first and foremost a police state measure aimed at expelling refugees from Europe as quickly as possible.

The threat of deportation is increasing desperation in the camps. Syrians and Afghans have announced their intention to kill themselves rather than be deported to Turkey, according to the Guardian. Souaob Nouri from Kabul, who is currently being held in the high security camp on Chios, told the newspaper, If they deport us, we will kill ourselves. We will not go back. Another refugee, Akimi, added, We are not terrorists. We are refugees. The conditions here are very bad. There is no water. They hit pregnant women. Why do they treat us like this? All we want is asylum.

Voices are also being raised in the Lesbos camp saying that death would be preferable to being sent back to Turkey. Dozens of refugees there, and in the camp on Samos, have commenced hunger strikes to prevent their deportation. A Pakistani refugee in the Moria camp on Lesbos collapsed and had to be brought to a hospital.

Last Thursday, around 250 refugees broke out of the detention camp on Samos and marched through the streets of the city of Vathy. They demanded to be allowed to travel on to Central Europe rather than being deported to Turkey. A massive police operation was able to bring most of the refugees back to the camp.

An ultimatum was given to the 4,270 refugees struggling to survive in an independently established camp at the port of Piraeus to voluntarily clear the location within two weeks or they would be violently dispersed. In Athens, police also prevented refugees from establishing a protest camp in front of the Greek parliament. Around 40 refugees were arrested by the police, while hundreds more were forcibly brought to the port of Piraeus.

The large-scale, violent police operations have encouraged extreme right-wing groups to take action against refugees and their supporters. On Chios, a mob apparently led by members of the fascist Golden Dawn attacked a camp set up by refugees at the islands port last week after they fled the detention camp. A cafe mainly used by refugee support groups was attacked with stones and petrol bombs.

Along with the EU responsibility for the violent clashes and desperate conditions facing refugees in Greece lies with the pseudo-left-led Syriza government in Athens. It has ruthlessly implemented the EU-Turkey refugee agreement. Refugees are detained and deported en masse, while support groups and volunteers are criminalised. In this process, the Syriza government is relying on military and police special forces, which have close ties to the far-right Golden Dawn.

The German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere has been quick to praise the brutal actions of the security forces. Even if we have to put up with a few weeks of harrowing pictures, our approach is correct, de Maiziere declared last week. He is quite explicit that the terrorisation of refugees is a deliberate policy aimed at deterring others from entering Europe. He is now seeking to use the EU-Turkey deal as a model for further deportation agreements with North African countries.

De Maiziere is responding to the increasing number of refugees seeking to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy. In the first three months of the year, 19,287 refugees were registered there, an increase of 60 percent from the same period last year.

De Maiziere knows very well that refugees are being abused and tortured in North African countries. Refugees lack all protection in Libya, where, as a consequence of the NATO-led war to overthrow the Gaddafi regime, Islamist militias rule. Last week, in the al-Nasr deportation camp near the city of Al Zawyah, five refugees were shot in clashes with security forces and a further 11 were severely injured. In the camp, 1,500 refugees from states like Somalia, Nigeria and Mali are detained, after trying to make the crossing to Italy.

The EU Commissions plans presented last week to reform the asylum system mainly contain proposals for more repression and restrictions against refugees. The media only took notice of the parts of the 20-page document which proposed a system regulating the distribution of refugees throughout the EU in the event that a state is overwhelmed by an influx of refugees.

This measure was aimed at maintaining pressure on states to keep the EUs external borders sealed. Secondly, the EU Commission is seeking to breathe new life into the Dublin system, which makes the state where refugees first enter Europe responsible for the processing of asylum applications. The EU Commission sees the Dublin system as necessary to maintain the Schengen agreement and the free movement of goods and capital throughout Europe.

By contrast, there will be no freedom of movement for refugees in Europe. Refugees and recognised asylum seekers will instead be confined to the state made responsible for them. To this end, enforcement mechanisms are explicitly being considered, covering reductions in social welfare, the removal of refugee status, detention and deportation. In addition, no more permanent residency permits will be provided, but merely temporary authorizations that will be reviewed within five years, a system already practiced in Germany. This will mean that refugees will live in Europe under the constant fear of forced removal and deportation.

In addition, the list of safe countries of origin will be made uniform across the EU to enable asylum applications to be assessed in sped-up procedures, resulting generally in their rejection.
25 Years Ago | 50 Years Ago | 75 Years Ago | 100 Years Ago

25 years ago: Bush reverses neutrality in northern Iraq civil war

On April 16, 1991, President Bush announced that America would belatedly join plans for an imperialist occupation of the northern part of Iraq. Having supported the destruction of the insurrection of the Kurds and repeatedly washing his hands of their fate, Bush reversed the disengagement of US troops and ordered them to begin building camps for Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq.

Just three weeks earlier, White House spokesman Martin Fitzwater announced that the US wouldnt involve itself in the internal conflict in Iraq. The Europeans, however, chose their moment to intervene. Led by the British, French and Germans, the European powers proposed the establishment of imperialist-patrolled encampments to house the Kurds and provide a foothold for the imperialist powers inside Iraq.

Nothing less than the partitioning of Iraq was underway. The political geography was significant. The war ended with American troops stationed in the Kuwaiti region and US bases being developed in Oman and the southern Gulf states. Then the Europeans, adroitly exploiting the Kurdish question and lining up support in Turkey and Iran, moved to position their troops strategically in the northern part of Iraq.

Within weeks of its crushing military victory, US imperialism, to its dismay, saw its aims being thwarted by the nimble footwork of its own allies. The European imperialists also demanded a major role for themselves in any Middle East peace conference to be held in the future, something the United States had so far resisted. Unable to forestall the European initiative and facing the prospect of being shut out of a major territorial carve-up in the northern region, the Bush administration felt obliged to join the plan at the last minute, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

Emboldened by the success of their initiative, the Europeans pressed their advantage. John Major, the British prime minister, explained from the first that the plan for a Kurdish enclave in Iraq, far from being a temporary center for humanitarian aid, would establish British control over major population centers and involve a long commitment for the occupying forces. The British policy even called for the enclave to be sanctioned by the drawing up of legal boundaries.

Perhaps even more assertive, however, was the role of the German imperialists, who did not hesitate to use the genuine public sympathy for the fate of the Kurds to greatly strengthen their strategic position in the region. Under cover of bringing assistance to the refugees on the Turkish border, a massive airlift was initiated by the German military, a use of the Bundeswehr which was unprecedented since the end of World War II.

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50 years ago: Premier Ky agrees to elections in South Vietnam

On April 14, 1966, the military dictatorship in South Vietnam announced that elections to a constituent assembly would be held within three to five months. The move came after weeks of mounting political turmoil.

The opposition, led by the Unified Buddhist Church, demanded the lifting of press restrictions and the legalization of bourgeois political parties. The statement by Premier Nguyen Cao Ky came as Buddhist leaders prepared for a massive demonstration in Saigon.

The crisis of the Vietnamese puppet government caused deep concern in the Johnson administration. The Pentagon reported that the war effort was being slowed down, with South Vietnamese units launching fewer attacks against the National Liberation Front fighters. Workers at the US air base at Danang were refusing to unload American ships, causing a shortage of bombs, reducing by at least one-third the number of air sorties.

The continued repression against religious groups in South Vietnam prompted the first official statement by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil rights organization headed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., calling for the pullout of US troops.

The mildly worded resolution concluded by calling on the government to reassess our position and seriously reexamine the wisdom of prompt withdrawal. The more right-wing elements in the civil rights leadership, such as SCLC Executive Director Andrew Young, continued to oppose any linkage between the fight for civil rights and opposition to the war. Young complained that the statements of King against the war were costing the organization financial contributions. He declared that the SCLC resolution did not signify that the organization would participate in anti-war demonstrations or provide financial support for such activities.

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75 years ago: Stalin clings to the Axis

On April 13, 1941 Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin signed a five-year pact with Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka. The treaty was a cynical horse trade as Stalin recognized Japanese control over Manchukuo (occupied Manchuria), while Japan pledged to respect Soviet control over the Mongolian Peoples Republic. It amounted to an agreement between Moscow and Tokyo to partition Mongolia and North China. To obtain the agreement Stalin relinquished his previous demands over Asian territories, the Chinese Eastern Railway and the use of Pacific ports.

The agreement signified that Japanese imperialism had reached the limit of its claims in the northfor the time beingand was now orienting towards the Dutch Indies, Singapore and ultimately confrontation with US imperialism in the South Pacific over markets, raw materials and cheap labor.

Stalins adherence to the pact was aimed more at appeasing Hitler than Japan, as rumors appeared even in the capitalist press that Hitler would invade the Soviet Union by summer. After the signing of the pact, Stalin groveled before German and Japanese imperialism as he left the Kremlin and for the first time publicly escorted the Japanese mission to the station. Stalin told Matsuoka, We are both Asiatics. Then he sought out the German ambassador and while embracing him said, We must remain friends, and you must do everything to that end! He also embraced the acting German military attache and told him, We will remain friends with youwhatever happens.

Stalin made this public exhibition of bootlicking while he continued to honor trade agreements under his pact with Hitler. The USSR continued to ship large amounts of food and raw materials to Germany even though Hitler had fallen well behind in his commitment to repay Stalin with military and industrial equipment. Meanwhile, German divisions numbering 680,000 troops had massed in Poland in preparation for an attack on the USSR.

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100 years ago: Scottish workers leaders convicted of sedition in Britain

On April 11, 1916, John Maclean, a socialist workers leader in the area of Glasgow, Scotland dubbed Red Clydeside on account of its traditions of industrial and political militancy, was convicted of sedition by British authorities. Maclean was charged under the 1915 Defence of the Realm Act, which provided for sweeping attacks on democratic rights as part of the war effort, following anti-conscription speeches he had delivered earlier in the year. He was sentenced to three years of penal servitude.

Three othersWilliam Gallacher, the chairman of the Clyde Workers Committee (CWC), John Muir, editor of The Worker and Walter Bell, business manager of the Socialist Labour Presswere also convicted on sedition charges. They were each sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. Between March and April 1916, ten CWC shop stewards were convicted of treason and deported to Edinburgh.

Beginning in 1911, Clydeside had been a center of mass strikes, including one involving 11,000 workers producing sewing machines, and widespread rent strikes. Trade union membership grew rapidly in the years immediately preceding and following the outbreak of war in August 1914.

In 1915, the British parliament passed the Munitions of War Act, which brought industrial relations in sectors of the economy involved in war production under the Ministry of Munitions. The move served to illegalize strikes, drive down wages, and prevent struggles for improved conditions. Workers were forbidden from leaving a company involved in war production without the consent of their employer. Prosecutions under the act were met with protests. The Clyde Workers Committee was created as a result of mass opposition to the Act.

The growing unrest in Clydeside and the turn to sedition prosecutions were discussed in the House of Lords on April 11. The Earl of Desart declared, A prosecution for High Treason, which is a very solemn and impressive thing, would awaken the imagination of the workmen throughout the country, and that is really what I have in mind. Making clear that he was calling for a turn to dictatorial forms of rule, he declared, There are moments in the life of a nation when people must for a time sacrifice their most cherished principles, and I am not sure that this is not the time when that must be clearly faced. Other lords noted that the major trade union federations had entered into agreements with the government in support of the draconian wartime industrial relations regime, and claimed that the unrest was the work of a handful of agitators.

Maclean was the most prominent of a layer of revolutionary-minded socialists, who, while lacking a worked-out Marxist perspective, gave expression to the hostility of broad sections of the working class to the war and the associated attacks on the working class.

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This the first of a two-part article on Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union.

On April 10, 1966, a crowd of 8,000 farmworkers and their supporters crossed Tower Bridge in Sacramento, California to mark the last leg of a 340-mile march north from the Southern Central Valley town of Delano. The demonstration was launched by the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) at the behest of its leader, Cesar Chavez, to call attention to an ongoing strike of 2,000 workers against planters in the southern San Joaquin Valley. The marchers walked through 33 cities despite police harassment, and gathered strength and international attention as farmworkers and students joined the march along the way. When marchers reached the state capital, Democratic Governor Pat Brown refused to grant them an audience.

The March to Sacramento took place in the context of the emerging radicalization of the working class, students, and sections of the middle class in the United States and internationally. On March 25, as the marchers walked through the California spring, hundreds of thousands demonstrated in dozens of US cities in the largest protests to date against the US war in Vietnam, which President Lyndon Johnson pledged to intensify in his state of the union address earlier that year. In January, fire bombings organized by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi killed civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer. Not a year had passed since Martin Luther King Jr.s march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and the first major urban riots of the 1960s in Watts, California.

Fifty years have passed since the march brought international attention to the plight of Californias farmworkers, the NFWA (reconstituted in 1972 as the United Farm Workers Union), and Chavez. In the United States, and particularly in its westernmost states, an official myth of Chavez has been cultivated in the years since his death in 1993. He was posthumously granted the Congressional Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1994, and dozens of schools and public buildings today bear his name. Many western states recognize Cesar Chavez Day by closing schools and state offices on March 31, Chavez birthday. He is today celebrated by the ruling class as a model of Catholic asceticism, peaceful protest, and Latino racialism.

Chavez emerged amid a series of militant strikes in the mid-1960s by thousands of farmworkers in Californias San Joaquin, Salinas, and Imperial valleys, as well as Arizona. Picketers defended themselves from sheriffs departments and thugs hired by the growers who beat strikers, sprayed their families with pesticides, and killed several workers in violent confrontations.

Workers repeatedly ignored court injunctions, and wildcat strikes against poverty wages and horrendous working conditions were common. Strikers were typically arrested for speaking in support of the strike movement. On one widely publicized occasion, police officers in Kern County arrested picketers for reading passages from socialist author Jack London and demanded the arrest of London. Much to their disappointment did the police learn that they could not arrest Jack Londonhe had been dead for 50 years!

Chavez was a ruthless negotiator and adept publicist who modeled himself on the politics of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, the mysticism of Mexican mestizo Catholicism, and the legend of the Mexican revolutionary generals Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. The Arizona-born child of Mexican immigrants, Chavez experienced foreclosure when his family lost their small adobe home in the aftermath of the Great Depression of 1929. After moving to California, Cesar Chavez dropped out of school in the seventh grade and began working under backbreaking conditions as a farmworker.

In 1952, while working in a San Jose lumberyard, the 25-year-old Chavez was introduced to Fred Ross, the founder of a Los Angeles-based nonprofit named the Community Service Organization. A close confidant of the anti-communist community organizer Saul Alinsky and his Industrial Areas Foundation, Ross became Chavez tutor, offering him a staff position primarily in charge of registering Mexican-Americans to vote for the Democratic Party.

After discussions with Alinsky and Ross, Chavez moved in 1962 to Delano, a mid-sized town at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, with the aim of establishing community organizations for farmworkers to provide loans, carry out voter registration, and expand access to social programs. As Chavez said at the time in a letter to Ross, Chavez sought to make clear that this is not a union and that we are not involved in strikes.

The agricultural strike wave of the 1960s

In 1965, a strike of Filipino farm workers in Delano forced Chavez to support calls by Mexican workers to honor picket lines and strike. Where previous strikes had been easily defeated by the growers, a considerable fear of unrest spread throughout the ruling class of California. A 1965 newsletter from the California Council of Growers expressed the worry that the civil rights forces have taken over, although they continue to use Chavez and his Farm Workers Association as a front. The lesson to be learned from Delano is that this is not an isolated case; that it will be continued, and that other areas of the state can expect similar efforts as crops are ready.

Edward R. Murrows famous 1960 documentary Harvest of Shame had exposed the backbreaking and deeply impoverished conditions under which 2 to 3 million farmworkers labored, and as the strike continued into 1966, broad sections of the working class began to sympathize with the farmworkers struggle. At the end of 1965, as Chavez emerged as the strikes spokesman, he entered into a formal agreement with the AFL-CIO and UAW President Walter Reuther, who flew to Delano and worked with Chavez to ensure that the explosive struggle of the farmworkers remained within the acceptable framework of contract negotiation.

Chavez doctrine of asceticism, boycott, and fasting developed in a conscious effort to limit the emergence of the class struggle and prevent a social explosion. Chavez proposal to launch a boycott of table grapes in 1965, and his call for a march to Sacramento, were conceived of as alternatives to the possibility of a valley-wide general strike of agricultural workers, a notion that had widespread support among militant workers.

We begin to believe that this is the time for a real movement among farmworkers to begin, Chavez wrote in 1965. And people are beginning to talk about the Movement instead of a strike. Moreover, Chavez saw the explosive character of the CIO movement of the 1930s as a dangerous warning: We dont want to model ourselves on industrial unions; that would be bad. We want to get involved in politics, in voter registration, not just contract negotiation.

Chavez announced the call for a demonstration after a series of Senate hearings that took place in Delano regarding the strike and farmworkers unionization efforts. In attendance at the instigation of Walter Reuther was New Yorks Democratic Senator Robert Kennedy, who subjected growers and local police to intensive questioning and became Chavezs closest collaborator in the Democratic Party.

In part due to widespread support for the plight of farmworkers and in part due to growing militancy and strikes, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters was called in by agribusiness to pre-empt the strike movement. In June 1966, the Teamsters signed eight sellout contracts with growers up and down the San Joaquin valley. When Teamster truck drivers refused to ship scab products, union officials ordered their members off the job and brought scabs to ship the goods.

This campaign marked an initial stage in what became a universal phenomenon: the trade union bureaucracy actively serving as strikebreakers. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Teamsters officials brutally attacked organizers and farmworkers aligned with the United Farm Workers. At times, Teamsters resorted to violence, attacking farmworker pickets as police looked on.

Chavez launched his first fast in 1968 in an attempt to bring under control a wave of strike agitation against company, Teamster and police violence against farmworkers. As strikes spread, workers had solicited the help of plumbers to disable the refrigeration units on freight trains, ensuring food picked by scab laborers would rot before reaching US and world markets. Longshoremen at California ports also refused to handle scab goods after receiving appeals from farmworkers.

After speaking to Chavez as he began fasting in February, one Chavez aide said: The most important thing that he said, in my opinion, was that we as a union and as a movement have aroused the hopes and aspirations of poor people  and we have a duty and responsibility to those people  we cannot by resorting to violence crush their hopes and destroy what we have done.

On March 10, 1968, Chavez heeded medical advice and ended his fast after having requested that Robert Kennedy fly to Delano to mark its conclusion. It was on the flight from Los Angeles that Kennedy told close staff members he would run for president. That same day, Kennedy addressed a rally of thousands of farmworkers and shared bread with Chavez to break the fast.

Two days later, President Johnson was nearly defeated in the New Hampshire Democratic primary as the Tet Offensive caused opposition to the Vietnam War to become a groundswell. On March 16, Kennedy publicly announced his candidacy and requested that Chavez serve as a delegate to the Democratic primary. Chavez agreed and rammed through an official endorsement by the UFW, which played a crucial role in turning out support for Kennedys California primary victory. Six weeks later, Kennedy was shot dead at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Chavez served as a pallbearer at Kennedys funeral.

The strike against Delano growers came to an end in 1970 as the UFW secured a collective bargaining agreement. By the end of the 1970s, the UFW boasted over 50,000 members and exercised considerable control over industry standards for hiring, wages, and conditions. Certain significant gains had been made, like the replacement of short-handled hoes and raised wages. But as Hollis Roberts, one of Californias largest growers, said after signing a UFW contract: I learned to like Chavez and I found that a lot of things we had been told about these people were not true. I had been told they were Communists, and I had been advised never to talk to them in personNow, I dont think we could have been any more wrong.

Chavez sought the support of state government to prop up the unions position. After the 1974 gubernatorial elections, when Democrat Jerry Brown succeeded Republican Ronald Reagan, Chavez formed a close relationship with the Democratic administration. This culminated in the passage in 1975 of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which established a legal framework guaranteeing a position for the UFW officialdom, even as most farmworkers continued to live and work under truly desperate conditions.

In return for this state sponsorship, Chavez and the UFW leadership poured hundreds of thousands of dollars in workers dues money into the California Democratic Party. In two years alone, the UFW contributed $750,000 to campaign committees of Democratic powerbroker and San Francisco Assemblyman Willie Brown.

To be continued
ATLANTA - Attorneys are set to begin sorting through potential jurors for the trial of a Georgia man accused of intentionally leaving his toddler son in a hot SUV to die.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the case of 35-year-old Justin Ross Harris. Police say 22-month-old Cooper died after spending about seven hours in the SUV on a hot day in June 2014.

Harris faces multiple charges, including murder, and has been in jail since the day his son died.

Prosecutors have painted Harris as a man unhappy and unfaithful in his marriage who sought an escape and intentionally left the boy to die. Defense attorneys have called the boy's death a tragic mistake that Harris will have to deal with for the rest of his life.

Harris is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - New details are being released on what led to the arrest of the son of Leon County Commission Chairman Bill Proctor.

According to a Tallahassee Police Department report, Jordan Proctor was pulled over after police said the car he was driving ran a red light at the intersection of Old St. Augustine Road and Railroad Avenue around 9:45 p.m. Friday night.

When talking to Proctor, police said they smelled marijuana coming from the car. Police placed Proctor in handcuffs and searched his car, where they found what they claimed to be a marijuana roach still burning in the center console.

Police also spotted a black backpack in the back of a car, which they noted had a large bulge coming out of it. When they opened it, police said they found a mason jar with a substance which they later tested and believed to be marijuana. According to the report, the bag also contained a set of digital scales and baggies which police said are commonly used to package drugs.

In total, police said they seized 36 grams of marijuana. Proctor was charged with marijuana possession with intent to sell, possession of narcotics equipment, and possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana.

His bond is listed at total of $20,000, court documents showed. However, as of Monday evening he was still in custody at the jail.

This is not Jordan Proctor's first run in with law enforcement. In 2014 he was accused of robbing a Pizza Hut delivery driver at gun point. That case has yet to go to trial. Court records show that he is scheduled for a mental health hearing on April 18th in that case.

Last month, Commissioner Proctor proposed an ordinance would reduce the penalties for possession of marijuana to a civil citation.
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Hashim Thaci, former leader of the Albanian underground movement in Kosovo, was sworn in as the young countrys new President during a ceremony in the capital Pristina on Friday.

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Thaci, 47, formerly served as the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. His election by the Kosovar parliament at the end of February was accompanied by strong protest from opposition parties.

The Kosovar Nationalist opposition is against Thaci's reconciliation policies vis-a-vis Serbia and Kosovo's Serbian minority. They were especially opposed to his decision to grant autonomy to Kosovo's Serbian minority.

Kosovar President Hashim Thaci (Photo: AFP)

In an interview with Ynet, Thaci expressed his hope to be the first President of the Republic of Kosovo to visit Israel. However, Israel has avoided recognizing Kosovo following its unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008, as it might be seen as embracing such a precedence, and have possible inconvenient implications for Israeli-Palestinian relations. Nevertheless, the two countries have warmed to each other over the past two years.

"I am interested in working on developing our relations with Israel, to promote the relations between the citizens of the two nations until the moment that Israel feels comfortable with recognizing us," President Thaci said.





Kosovar President Hashim Thaci being inaugurated as President. (Photo: AFP)

He continued, saying, "All of Israel's allies recognize Kosovo. Yet it's ironic that neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority recognizes our independence. The PA even voted against Kosovo joining UNESCO. I am prepared to help deal with the preconceptions of the case at hand, and work with the Israeli leadership in order to increase our friendly relations. As foreign minister I initiated the establishment of the Kosovar relations office in Israel. I hope to be the first President to visit Israel in order to officially inaugurate this office."

Kosovar children celebrate Kosovo Independence Day. (Photo: Reuters)

Thaci explained that he has visited Israel in the past, when he was the head of the opposition under the Serbian dictatorial regime. "I hope to visit Israel again. Kosovo has a long and historic connection to Israel and with Jews all over the world. In 2003 I even inaugurated a statue in Pristina commemorating all of the Kosovar Jews who were killed in the Holocaust."

Hundreds of Jews were saved from the Nazis by ethnic Albanian Muslims in Kosovo during Wrld War Two.
Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported Monday that representatives from Israel and Egypt have recently met to discuss the maritime borders between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which could be a major topic of concern, following Cairo and Riyadhs recent deal, transferring control over two Islands in the Gulf of Eilat to the Saudis.

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According to the reports, Cairo updated Israel of all developments relating to the new borders. Israeli officials said that the topic is being researched by the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs in order to assess its implications. According to the officials, changes to the peace accords may not be necessary, since the Islands belonged to Saudi Arabia anyway, and Saudi Arabia is committed to the accords.

Saudi King Salman and Egyptian President Al-Sisi. (Photo: EPA)

Egyptian representatives told their Israeli counterparts that the signed agreement includes a commitment by Saudi representatives to respect all of Egypts peace accord obligations to Israel. The Egyptian parliament will have to approve the island deal before it becomes official.

Al-Ahram claimed that parts of the island agreement could require changes to the peace accords with Israel (specifically, changing maritime borders in the region), which would in turn require Knesset approval. According to the newspaper, Israel expressed no reservations about the agreement to Egypt, only asking that thing be done lawfully.
The Likud party has changed. Its not the same old Likud anymore. Its not the Likud that passed Basic Laws assuring human rights, its not the Likud that knew how to combine the nations security interests with the values of democracy and liberalism. People in todays Likud speak a different language, and its terrible. Leaders arent supposed to try and jump through the publics desired hoops, theyre supposed to tell the public whats right. Otherwise its not leadership.

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Defense Minister Yaalon showed leadership. He is responsible for a military body that operates by orders and instructions, and he has power. He needs to protect and back up soldiers, but when one of them does something wrong  they need to face justice. In 1984, after the Bus 300 affair  when Shin Bet Director Avraham Shalom ordered the execution of two terrorists who were apprehended after hijacking a bus  Major General (ret.) Meir Zorea, who investigated the matter, said, You dont build security on lies. And he was no self-righteous lefty, mind you.

Defense Minister Ya'alon. Setting a principled example. (Photo: Shaul Golan)

After the Shin-Bet Director was forced to retire, the entire state seemed to say, We have a moral military, and a military that fights wars well but does so while preserving values. Thats the message our leadership needs to send.

Im certain Yaalon will stick to his guns, in order to mark the limits of what is and is not permitted to soldiers, and to Israeli society at large. We need to protect soldiers who are being sent on tough missions, but that doesnt mean everything is permitted. There are rules. The soldiers are in a difficult position and should be helped, but not by compromising our values. The entire government has to stand by the Defense Minister. Prime Minister Netanyahu should have quickly backed Yaalon up, and certainly should not have spoken on the phone with the parents of the soldier who is suspected of killing the neutralized terrorist. That doesnt look good.

It may be that, following this affair, Yaalon pays a political price. I can testify to that myself, as someone who chose not to compromise my ideals and suffered the consequences. When yure a member of a government and you take part in decisions on such important matters, you have to do whats right. You are the people of Israel. The Defense Minister did the right thing when he defended the IDF and made sure it wouldnt be shown to the world as a military that allows such things to happen  unlike all of those irresponsible politicians who stated, even before the Hebron incident, that a terrorist should not be allowed to leave the scene of an attack alive.

The Hebron incident. A line was crossed. (Photo: AFP)

Yaalon stood for the rule of law and justice, and protected the IDF and its moral image  and in return he fell victim to personal attacks against him.

The attacks on Yaalon are troubling, but the silence of the other ministers is even more so. A leadership needs to lead, not be dragged along. We all saw the soldier shoot the terrorist who was lying on the ground, then go and shake the hand of extreme right-wing activist Baruch Marzel. These sights, along with the racist statements that are heard all of the time  the worst yet being MK Smotrichs call to segregate Jewish and Arab women in labor  are severe, and they put an emphasis on the silence of the ministers, who have abandoned the Defense Minister alone on the battlefield.

Itamar Eicher contributed to the publication of this piece.
A first-of-its-kind accidental discovery of ancient glass kilns at the foot of Mt. Carmel demonstrates that Israel was at the center of the global glass trade during the late Roman period, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday.

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The extraordinary kilns, which are approximately 1,600 years old, are the earliest found in Israel and the missing link for the production and export of glass, Yael Gorin-Rosen, head curator of the Israel Antiquities Authority Glass Department, told Tazpit Press Service (TPS).

The kilns were discovered by chance last summer during construction of a new railway line to the northern city of Haifa, when the on-site archeologist, Abdel Al-Salam Said, noticed peculiar shards of glass and ash. Said immediately halted the construction and called Gorin-Rosen, who quickly arrived at the scene.

Glass shard from early Roman period discovered near Mt. Carmel (Photo: TPS)

Stunned, she uttered a simple Wow, Gorin-Rosen recalled to TPS. I was very, very excited.

The Valley of Acre was renowned for the excellent quality of sand located there, which was highly suitable for the manufacturing of glass she explained. This glass traveled the ancient world, Gorin-Rosen said, noting that vessels made in Israel were discovered at sites in Europe and in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean basin.

Now, for the first time, the kilns have been found where the raw material was manufactured, Gorin-Rosen said.

This is a sensational discovery, said Professor Ian Freestone of the University College London, a specialist in the chemical composition of glass who came to Israel to inspect the new find. It is of great significance for understanding the entire system of the glass trade in antiquity. This is evidence that Israel constituted a production center on an international scale.

The newly discovered kilns contain two compartments, a firebox and a melting chamber, where clean beach sand and salt were inserted and melted together at a temperature of about 1,200 degrees Celsius (or 2,000 Fahrenheit). This produced enormous chunks of glass, some weighing as much as ten tons.

An edict issued by the Roman emperor Diocletian in the early fourth century CE, refers to two kinds of glass: Judean and Alexandrian. The Judean glass, originating from Israel, was a light green color and less expensive than its contemporary Egyptian, Alexandrian counterpart.

Cameron Pearl contributed to this article.
Five Jewish youths were arrested, two of them aged 16 and 17, on suspicion of security offenses against Palestinians, it was released for publication Monday evening.

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One of the boys was arrested a week ago and his detention was extended by a week. Another minor was arrested this morning and his detention was extended by a week. In addition a soldier was arrested. Three of the suspects are brothers.

A week ago another suspect, Schneur Dana, was arrested for burning a Palestinian vehicle, affiliation with criminal activities and involvement in an illegal organization. His detention was prolonged by three days. Another youth, Pinhas Shandorfy, was arrested along with Dana, and is suspected of security offenses. His detention was extended for an additional week for investigation purposes.

Burnt Palestinian car

Attorney Aaron Rose, who is representing several of the suspects, said after the hearing that "I hope that the investigating authorities come to their senses soon and allow a meeting between myself and my clients for advice, a constitutional right that everyone is entitled to."

The father of one of the suspects said that "it was not explained why we could not attend the hearing, and why they do not have permission to see a lawyer. To arrest someone for ten days is not reasonable. Ten days of arrest is something unreasonable. There is a double standard when it comes to those suspected of certain types of offenses.

MK Itzik Shmuli (Zionist Union), chairman of the Knesset lobby against "price tag attacks responded to the arrests stressing that "Israel must deracinate from its midst this scourge of Jewish terrorism directed against innocent people because of their political agenda. The response from the state must be clear and aggressive from the country without a hint of understanding or forgiveness due to circumstances.

Last October a Palestinian vehicle in the village of Beit llu village near Ramallah, was set on fire, and on the wall of a nearby house the words "revenge Heinkin" were sprayed. (Eitan and Na'ama Heinkin were killed by Palestinian terrorists last October -ed.) That same month stones were thrown at Palestinian homes and vehicles.
The first-ever "Maker Bus" - a specially renovated mobile technology lab where the means of production make the most advanced technology in the world available - will pass throughout Israel thanks to the funds donated by Noah Helfstein, an American Bar Mitzvah boy.

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The equipment was purchased thanks to Helfstein, a 13 year-old boy from New York, who worked with UJA-Federation of New Yorks Give a Mitzvah-Do a Mitzvah program and decided to donate all of his Bar-Mitzvah money, $76,000, to bring Do-It-Yourself (DIY) technology to less fortunate Israeli children. Despite his young age, Noah is interested in DIY technology and advanced programming capabilities, and is also the proud owner of a 3D printer that he built himself.

Bar Mitzvah boy Noah Helfstein

"I am very fond of innovative technologies and am connected to them. I chose to donate the money from my bar mitzvah to this project because I wanted to give as many children in Israel the opportunity to experience it," Helfstein said.

Noahs parents, Stacy and Jason Helfstein, agreed: "We are so proud Noah chose to be involved in this bar-mitzvah project and share the same opportunity he was fortunate to have - learning about 3D printing and cutting edge, innovative technology - with the children of Israel."

The 'Maker Bus'

The bus' advanced 3D printer allows the production of almost any object ranging from shoes, furniture, and kitchen equipment to toys and prostheses for the disabled and blind. The boy asked Israel to allow children to become scientists, inventors and developers, to experience what many consider to be the future of manufacturing in Israel and around the world.

The Maker Bus will be revealed on Passover eve and serve as a portable classroom laboratory outfitted with innovative technologies and educational tools. The bus will offer regular weekly courses as well as one-time workshops, and is aimed at vulnerable students ages 8 -15, including ultra-religious Jews and Arab students who reside in outlying, less affluent communities in Israels north and south.

UJA-Federation's Give a Mitzvah-Do a Mitzvah" program enables bar and bat mitzvah students like Noah to put their interests and love for Israel and the Jewish people into action, said Lori Strouch Kolinsky, director of the Manhattan division of UJA-Federation. We are all so inspired by Noah and his incredible project, which will bring technology education to young Israelis and strengthen the relationship between New Yorks Jewish community and Israel.

The Makerbus project is run by XLN, a subsidiary of the Reut Group, and Ofanim.
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

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The state government's Plan for Fairer, Safer Housing program includes a review of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (RTA), which involves submissions from those in the corner for both landlords and tenants.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) spokesperson Paul Bird said there is the possibility of major changes to legislation as a result of the review.

This review could result in changes to the Residential Tenancies Act that could have serious impacts for landlords and how they lease out properties and interact with tenants, REIV spokesperson Paul Bird said.

There are some areas that do need to be addressed, but its important the laws dont lean too heavily either way in favour of tenants or landlords. Thats why we want as many people to make themselves heard as possible, Bird said.

The REIVs call for submissions comes shortly after Victorian government released a list of common issues that have been raised in submissions it has recieved so far.

Those issues include possible areas of change to the RTA that would likely favour both landlords and tenants, including dealing with rental arrears, maintenance and lease length.

One issue released in the findings claimed that many tenants were reluctant to raise maintenance issues due to fears of repercussions such as a raise in their rent.

Leah Calnan, director of Metro Property Management, said she didnt believe that was a widespread issue.

I think the rights a very clear for tenants in regards to maintenance. In the event that they do have a maintenance issue, there is a very clear process for that, Calnan said.

In regards to [tenants] having a fear of a rent review or increase, ultimately that stems around market conditions. A rent increase has to be justified, its not just a property manager or an owner spinning a wheel and targeting a particular tenant, it does need to be in accordance with the market, she said.

One of the major points the review is the possibility of increasing permissible lease length to five or 10 years, and while the government claims the majority of those that have made submissions are in favour of that, Calnan disagrees there is need for extended leases.

I dont think there is a need for long-term leases. When you go out and ask prospective tenants you get the occasional one and that might be one in 500 that is looking for a longer lease, she said.

People do want the flexibility of not being locked into the property for an extended period. We also need to be careful that when we look security of tenure, its not just the tenant that takes that five-year lease; its the landlord as well.

The landlords then locked into potentially reducing their opportunity to sell the property if their circumstances change.

Early submissions also point to people wanting changes to how rental arrears are resolved, with man believing current arrangements are too lenient, something Calnan agrees with.

I think there is an opportunity for the rent arrears and failure to pay rent to come in line with some of the other states. Victoria has a 14-day period, which is really a grace period for tenants to pay the rent.

There are other states that work on a 7-day notice period and I think thats probably more reasonable than a 14-day one.

Numerous submissions received so far also call for a need for better clarity regarding safety issues, such as responsibility for smoke alarms; something Calnan does believe needs to be addressed to benefit all parties.

Theres definitely a need for the Victorian government to clarify responsibility on smoke alarms, carbon monoxide testing, servicing of gas furnaces and heaters and pool fences.

All of that either needs to fall within the Building Act or the Residential Tenancies Act. As property managers its very difficult to enforce an owner to have a smoke alarm serviced when they say to us where is the legislation that says that?
Peter White, chief executive of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA), last week reminded brokers not to provide advice in areas they arent qualified to do so, particulary investing in property.

If you are only a qualified finance broker, act as a broker and do your best to meet your clients needs, White said.

If you also want to assist a client in other areas like property purchasing, get the necessary qualifications and training otherwise you may be at risk of a life changing personal pay out, he said.

White and the FBAA cited a recent case in which a broker was found to have breached his duty of care by the Credit Ombudsman Service and forced to pay more than $115,000. The Ombudsman claimed the broker had given incorrect and unqualified advice.

In addition, the client  who was forced to sell an investment property at a substantial loss  took the legal action against the broker.

Fred Haggar, director of buyers agency Property Search 4U and REBAA NSW representative, said the simple fact of the matter is that brokers dont have the required knowledge to provide advice on investing in property.

I believe mortgage brokers are qualified to assess someones borrowing capacity and their ability to service a loan. Theyre not qualified to tell their customers what to buy or where and when to buy it, Haggar said.

A client might ask Fred, what sort of loan should I take out?, unlike a mortgage broker who might put forward a property, we do not tell the client what is the best loan, whether they should go principal and interest or interest only. We always tell them to go to their bank or their broker because theyre the ones qualified to answer that, he said.

Haggar said he believed the majority of brokers arent doing the wrong thing, though he believes there is a small number who may be acting as a go-between for developers.

There might be some developers, primarily off-plan ones, who might present to the broker about their development and then the broker may choose to present that to the customer, he said.

A very longstanding Sydney client bought three off the plan units last year in Queensland promoted by his mortgage broker and then he called us because he wanted to upgrade his Sydney home with a loan.

His bank advised his borrowing capacity has been greatly diminished because the valuations of his three off plan investments are now less than the 100% of purchase price loans he took out. He overpaid by an incredible amount for the units and in our assessment the market will take six years to catch up with the prices he paid.

While he does believe its only a small number of brokers who operate in areas they shouldnt, Haggar did still have some words of warning for people looking to engage the service of one.

In general terms I dont think the mortgage broking or lending industry are operating outside their territory, though Im flabbergasted when people just go with the first one they come across. I cant believe that they do that without some research, but they do.
PM Ciolos: Romania needs reform of public administration Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos says that Romania cannot get modern and fight corruption efficiently unless it reforms its central and local public administration. "There are lately several question marks about the state's efficiency, about the confidence in the political class and I believe that this is a topic where would all have something to win; that, through this reform of the public administration, by increasing the efficiency, the transparency of the public administration, through the professionalization of the public administration, by clarifying its relationship with politics, we win Citeste articolul mai departe pe ziuanews.ro

Sursa articol: ziuanews.ro

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Last week on my day off from work, I landed up at a friends place to let my hair down at the end of a really hectic week.<br/><br/>It is here that I met this pretty, young lady, a Hotel Management Trainee at The Taj in Delhi, studying in some UK university. She happened to be a friend of my friend.<br/><br/>Very upfront and very talkative, she immediately found out that I work for Zee News, noticing the strap of my office ID hanging from my pocket.<br/><br/>Call it her charm or my chatting prowess; we immediately struck a conversation without any formal introduction.<br/><br/>I would love to pat my back for being a very good listener because within minutes of our meeting, she was telling me about how her fiance proposed her publicly and how embarrassed she was then. And then it happened.<br/><br/>In the middle of the conversation, I casually mentioned how I slipped on stairs just a day before Eid and missed the festivities because of being injured.<br/><br/>Her beautiful eyes spread wide in amusement rather than disbelief as her immediate reaction wasYou dont look like a Muslim.<br/><br/>I must admit that the reaction was purely genuine as after all it is not everyday that she sees a Muslim wearing a Wrangler jeans and T-Shirt, sporting Reebok shoes and talking about Hard Rock , Linkin Park and Chester Bennington, sitting at a Cafe Coffee Day at South Campus of Delhi University.<br/><br/>Though, this was not the first time that somebody reacted like this, it was probably the first time that I tried to find out whether I should be happy or angry at this reaction.<br/><br/>I dont know if it was due to the recent terror incidents or just the bluntness of the girl, but for the first time ever in my life, I bothered to find out whether it is good or bad if I dont look like a Muslim.<br/><br/>Call it a branding, marginalisation or pure stereotypes, but people in general still perceive a common Muslim as the Kurta wearing, beard flaunting and skull cap sporting breed. This inspite of top Bollywood stars being Muslims.<br/><br/>And after the recent terror attacks, a bomb is presumably added to this attire. <br/><br/>So, unknowingly I have become the moderate face of Muslims among my peers, because though I keep fast for the holy month of Ramzaan I dont offer Namaz five times a day and also because I keep saying Alhamdulillah every time I sneeze but dont sport a beard.<br/><br/>Another thing: I just fail to understand that why casual acquaintances start telling me about the other Muslim friend with whom they shared a great rapport, about how they know everything about Ramzaan fasting, Eid, Sewaiyan, some Pir Baba who used to give taweez and how not all the Muslims are terrorists and India seriously requires a secular mindset to completely understand the minority communities, as soon as they realise that I am also a Muslim.<br/><br/>I mean, these things are good but one need not necessarily know all these to become my friend or to strike a chat with me. I think one can talk of any topic of common interest. But these are stereotypes. They are hard to do away with.<br/><br/>I dont know when this stereotype will make way for the real imagery. But till the time it happens, I am happy surprising pretty, young ladies.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was on Sunday unanimously elected president of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) at the party's national executive meet here, is now expected to strengthen the 'Janata Parivar'.

Former chief of the party Sharad Yadav, who headed the organisation for over 10 years and stepped down on April 4, proposed Nitish Kumar's name that was seconded by senior party leader KCTyagi and others.

I think with Nitish Kumar at the helm, the party would grow further, Yadav said.

The JD-U is planning to reach out to like minded parties and leaders and expand the Ajanata parivar, party spokesman Tyagi told IANS after the meeting.

The present government has failed to meet people's expectations. Once again the same political uncertainty is looming as was there before the 2014 elections. Now there is a need for a national political party to emerge, Tyagi told IANS.

So we feel that all like-minded parties should gradually come on a single platform. To this effect, we are already in talks with Ajit Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Babulal Marandi of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik). In future, we would be reaching out to more parties, he added.

Asked whether it was a precursor to a grand alliance of sorts of the Centre-Left parties before the 2019 general election, Tyagi said there are many more smaller battles before the big one.

We would be focussing on the Uttar Pradesh state elections next year. Our endeavour would be to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state, he said.

On the no-love-lost between the JD-U and the BJP after 17 years of coalition, Tyagi said that it was a wise decision to part ways with the BJP.

Dismissing speculations whether it would be too much for the Bihar chief minister to effectively run the organisation and the state government simultaneously, Tyagi said there are too many precedents when leaders effectively headed the party as also the government.

With IANS inputs
New Delhi: A city court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of a man who had hurled a shoe at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at a press conference here last week, saying a strong deterrent is needed for such acts.

Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra denied relief to 28-year-old Ved Prakash, a national general secretary of Aam Aadmi Sena, and sent him to 14 days in judicial custody.

"One may have difference of opinion with someone but one needs to respect the constitutional authority.

"The Chief Minister was elected by the people. I express my displeasure over the act. A strong deterrent is needed for such acts," the magistrate said while pronouncing the order of bail application.

Prakash was produced before the court after expiry of one-day judicial custody. At the outset, the court asked Prakash about his offence.

To this, he said he had carried out a sting operation on alleged irregularities in distribution of CNG stickers at the centres and had informed Delhi government about it, but no action was taken.

He claimed he was angry with Kejriwal for not taking action against those involved in alleged irregularities and that was the reason he hurled the shoe.

The magistrate disapproved his behaviour saying he could have vindicated grievances through legal mechanism.

"Apart from the Chief Minister office, there are other authorities also to hear your grievances. Instead of taking such a blatant step, you should have approached the other authorities," the court said, adding there should be deterrent punishment so that people do not dare to commit such acts.

The bail plea was opposed by the prosecutor who argued that there was evidence to show that the shoe was thrown on the Chief Minister and Prakash should have approached proper authorities with his grievances. He said such incidents are assault on democracy.

During the arguments, advocate Pradeep Rana, who appeared for Prakash, sought bail on the ground that apart from section 353 IPC, which says assault to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, all other provisions invoked on him were bailable.

He argued that the video of the incident showed that shoe was thrown in the air just to grab the attention and there was no intention of hitting the Chief Minister.

Rana said such kind of acts were not acceptable in a democracy and were condemnable. He pleaded that the accused be released on bail as he has been taught a lesson and has remained in jail.

Advocate Bharat Sisodia, who represented complainant M C Maurya, Deputy Director (Press) Directorate of Information and Publicity in Delhi Government, also intervened and argued that the accused should not be granted bail as he has attacked a sovereign government.

He alleged that there was political conspiracy behind the incident and police investigation was required as to how the man had entered the high security zone. Prakash, who was arrested on April 9, had first interrupted Kejriwal when he was briefing reporters at the media centre of Delhi Secretariat about the rollout of the second phase of odd-even scheme and thrown a shoe and a CD of the alleged sting operation at the Chief Minister.

The shoe had not hit Kejriwal as it was quickly deflected by an official standing near the Chief Minister who had continued with his press conference. The attacker was thrashed by AAP volunteers before he was whisked away by the police after the incident. Police had said he is a resident of Begampur in North-West Delhi and was a property dealer.

Prakash had alleged that CNG stickers, which are required for CNG-run cars to get exemption from the restrictions of the odd-even scheme, were being sold for Rs 1,000 each at a CNG station near CGO complex in Lodhi Road and claimed to have done a sting operation about it on April 7. A young woman had earlier thrown ink at Kejriwal at a public rally on January 17 held here to celebrate the success of the first phase of odd-even scheme.
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Government on Monday announced it will start a fresh round of negotiations with the Patel quota agitation leaders from the next week.

Health Minister Nitin Patel, who heads a committee of ministers set up by the Government to negotiate with Patel groups seeking reservation under the OBC category, made the announcement today.

Patel and other ministers today met the Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and handed over a report on roadmap to arrive at a compromise formula with Patel groups including the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) led by Hardik Patel and Sardar Patel Group (SPG) led by Lalji Patel.

Patel later told media persons that Government will try its best to see that the agitation ends as early as possible.

"In our meeting with the CM, it was decided that the committee will now invite the mediators for further discussion. These mediators will be called within a week. We will convey Government's view to them so that they can discuss it with PAAS and SPG leaders," said Patel.

"After our meeting with the mediators we will call PAAS and SPG leaders for discussion."

The Government recently appointed some prominent Patel leaders including the BJP MP Vitthal Radadiya as mediators.

"Apart from the demand of reservation, there were many other demands in the letters given to us by PAAS and SPG, a month ago. The committee discussed all of them at length with the CM today," said Nitin Patel.

SPG chief Lalji Patel handed over a memorandum of 27 demands last month to the CM. The jailed PAAS leader Hardik Patel also sent a 27-point charter to the CM.

Some of the key demands are reservations for Patel community, release of jailed leaders and withdrawal of cases against them, and action against the police officers who allegedly committed atrocities on members of the community during the agitation last year.

Minister Nitin Patel claimed that the leaders also suggested an alternate mechanism if the core demand of reservation was not acceptable.

"Both the organisations also suggested setting up of a 'Patidar Aayog' to take care of the community. This is also an alternative to the reservations and the Government is ready to discuss it," he said.

The Government had already started the process of withdrawing the cases against Patel youths, he claimed.

"Barring three-four cases, we have already started the process to withdraw cases. Several cases are already withdrawn. For last seven months, we have not arrested anyone named in the pending FIRs," said Patel.

About withdrawal of cases against Hardik and his three aides who are still behind the bars in sedition cases, Nitin Patel expressed inability on Government's part.

"These matters are sub-judice as the High Court is hearing their bail applications. So the Government cannot take a stand on these cases at present," the minister said.

SPG has announced a Jail Bharo agitation from April 17.

"As the negotiation process is underway, there is no need to start second round of agitation. It is my humble appeal not to start agitation," said Nitin Patel, when asked about it.

"Some people with political agenda are trying hard to drag the issue till 2017 (Assembly) elections. They are deliberately making statements to stall the negotiations. Both SPG and PAAS should designate their spokespersons, so that people do not get misled by the statements of unauthorized persons," he said.
Chandigarh: The Haryana government on Monday told the Punjab and Haryana high court a section of gang-rape has been added in the FIR registered in the case, as per a media report.

As per a report in Hindustan Times, the sections had been added on the complaint of a Delhi resident who alleged that women were sexually assaulted in Murthal during Jats agitation for reservation.

The government has also reportedly received an anonymous letter alleging gang-rapes, which was provided to the Faridabad commissioner of police by a local news channel.

The Daily reported that the letter has been purportedly written by an NRI woman.

Based on her letter, section 376(D) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was added to the FIR.

The complaint had filed by Bobby Joshi on March 30.

It had been reported in the media that gang-rapes had taken place on February 22.

It had also been alleged that at least 10 women were sexually assaulted by a group of nearly 40 agitators during the agitation on quotas.

At the same time it had been claimed that women had hidden in fields to save themselves and later they were found by their families.

Images of innerwear scattered in the fields were circulated on social media.

Last month, submitting a report, the Haryana government had told the Home Ministry that no such rapes were reported from Sonipat district.

The report had, however, mentioned that some women were 'harassed'.

It had been reported then that as per government sources the report had clearly stated that allegations of sexual harassment of women during Jat agitation was incorrect.

The Haryana government had also said that no eye witness or victim had come forward to lodge complaints.

In February, the government had submitted a preliminary status report before the Punjab and Haryana High Court following investigations into the matter by an three-member all-women special investigation team (SIT) constituted by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's government.

The HC had taken suo motu notice of a media report about the gang-rapes.

(With Agency inputs)
Guwahati/Kolkata: All is set for the second and final phase of assembly elections in Assam and the second part of the first phase in West Bengal on Monday.

In Assam, 61 constituencies covering lower and central parts of the state will go to the polls in this phase, while 31 constituencies will go to vote in West Bengal.

The 31 constituencies are spread over Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Burdwan districts.

The central armed police forces will handle the situation inside the booths, while the state police forces are involved in other jobs like maintaining queues and managing crowds.

Two-phased polling was announced for 126-member Assam assembly; polling in 294 constituencies of West Bengal will be held in six phases.

Nazrul Islam, Rockybul Hussein, Nilmoni Sen Deka from Congress; Himanta Biswa Sarma, Ranjit Kumar Das and Siddhartha Bhattacharya of BJP; AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal; and LDP chief Pradyut Bora are prominent among others candidates whose fate will be decided by over 1 crore 4 lakh electorates in Assam.

The Election Commission has deployed 916 Micro Observers., while 505 polling booths will be covered by web casting system.

All the seats are mainly poised to see a triangular contest between the ruling Trinamul Congress, the BJP and the Left-Congress combine candidates.

Congress' 10-time MLA and former minister Gyan Singh Sohanpal and state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh are locked on Kharagpur Sadar seat, while prominent CPI (M) candidate Surjya Kanta Mishra and Congress leader Manas Bhunia are trying to retain Naraingarh and Sabang seats, respectively.

Pingla, Bishnupur and Asansol Uttar are also the key constituencies as prominent members of the outgoing Mamata cabinet are locked in three-cornered fight.

With ANI inputs
New Delhi: Former French presidentNicolas Sarkozy will visit New Delhi on April 13 during which he would meet Prime MinisterNarendra Modi .

This follows up on their first encounter in Paris in April 2015.

In the course of his stay in Delhi, Sarkozy will pay tribute to the Mahatma at Gandhi Smriti.

He will also have meetings with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Sarkozy will interact with business representatives at a conference organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in partnership with the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI).

Indo-French relations received a boost in 2015 with high level engagements and expansion of the already strong cooperation. Prime Minister Modi paid a landmark visit to France from April 9-12 last year.

Prime Minister Modi and French President Francois Hollande held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2015. They again met in Paris on November 30, 2015 at the Leaders' Event of CoP-21 (21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris.

There has been a significant progress in bilateral relations through regular ministerial and official visits and exchanges in strategic areas of security, defence, nuclear energy, space as well as in other areas of bilateral cooperation like science and technology, culture, education.

France has continued to support India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council and multilateral export control regimes like the NSG, MTCR.
New Delhi: India and Sri Lanka could soon finalise an agreement for building a bridge connecting both the countries, union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

"The project is under consideration, it is under discussion. But nothing has been finalised," Gadkari told journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club here.

He said discussions have been held on the issue with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

The Sri Lankan side is also "interested" in the project, he said, adding that even the Asian Development Bank has made a recommendation to that effect.

Wickremasinghe said in Colombo on March 23 that no formal talks between India and Sri Lanka have started yet on the project.

The issue had figured in Sri Lankan parliament as well.

"The Asian Development Bank is ready to fully finance a bridge building project connecting Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka. The project was also discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart during the latter's recent visit," Gadkari said last year.

Addressing correspondents of foreign media and others on Monday, Gadkari said the first Maritime India Summit 2016 to be inaugurated by PM Modi in Mumbai on April 14 will be a game changer in the development of India's coastal and port infrastructure.

The three-day summit being organised in pursuance of the government's policy of giving prime importance to developing infrastructure is aimed at attracting potential investors to the vast opportunities in the maritime sector.

Representatives and experts from 40 countries, in addition to India, will participate in the summit, where South Korea is the partner country, he said.

Gadkari, who had earlier favoured the Sethu Samundran project, declined to answer any question on the same, saying the model code of conduct is in place in Tamil Nadu in view of the assembly election.


Kiev: In a shocking incident, three Indian students were stabbed by three Ukraine nationals in Uzhgorod Medical College of the country.

Two of the students - Pranav Shaindilya, Ankur Singh - have died, while one - Indrajeet Chauhan - is recuperating in hospital. The incident took place on April 10.

Reacting to the incident, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India, has said, "Our Embassy in Kiev is ascertaining the facts from police, university and local contacts."

Three Indian students in Uzhgorod Medical College in Ukraine were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 a.m. of Sunday, external affirs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said.

He said Pranav Shaindilya, a third year student, and Ankur Singh, a fourth year student, were stabbed fatally. The former belonged to Muzaffarnagar and the latter to Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, a resident of Agra and a third year student, was also stabbed but is recuperating in hospital, Swarup said.

Based on Chauhan's statement, the police apprehended the Ukrainian nationals behind the crime who were trying to cross the Ukrainian border.

Passports and other documents of the three Indian students and a blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the killers.

The embassy has spoken to the families of the deceased, he stated.

All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the bodies to India. The embassy is taking up the matter related to the safety of Indian students strongly with the foreign office of Ukraine.
New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who allegedly organised the pro-Afzal Guru event at the campus on February 9, are likely to be rusticated, a report said on Monday.

The JNU administration is most likely to rusticate the two for 2-5 years, while JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar might be fined with Rs 10,000, according to a CNN-IBN report.

Khalid, Bhattacharya and Kumar were arrested on sedition charges over the Feb 09 event sympathising with Afzal Guru, who was executed for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack case.

They were later released from the Tihar Jail on interim bail for 6 months in sedition case.

A high-level JNU panel had recommended rustication of Kanhaiya, Khalid, Bhattacharya and two other students for their alleged role in a controversial event last month during which purported anti-national slogans were raised.

The committee was formed on February 10 to probe the event organised to protest hanging of Afzal Guru.

Earlier, the varsity had revoked the suspension of eight students after the high-level probe panel submitted its report on the February 9 incident, wherein anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

The administration had then clarified that it hasn't given any clean chit to the students and that the final decision on the matter will be taken after the examination of the report by the Vice-Chancellor.

Apart from Kanhaiya, the eight suspended students included Khalid, Bhattacharya, Ashutosh, Rama Naga, Anant Kumar, Shweta Raj and Aishwarya Adhikari. They were suspended on February 12 for their alleged involvement in organising an event to protest the hanging of the Parliament attack convict on his third death anniversary.
New Delhi: The National Investigative Agency (NIA) on Monday issued a red corner notice against Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three others for conspiring to carry out terror strike on the strategic Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

Earlier, NIA secured a non-bailable arrest warrants against the four JeM terrorists including Azhar.

Apart from Masood, the warrant has also been issued against his brother Asad Rauf, Kashif Jaan and Shahid Latif in connection with the terror attack at the Pathankot airbase.

The court's decision came following the strong evidences presented by the NIA before the court which included entire details about the terrorists, their parents, personal details and addresses, telephonic conversations between the terrorists and the JeM handlers.



An Interpol Red Corner notice is already pending against Azhar for being allegedly involved in the conspiracy behind attacks on Parliament and Jammu and Kashmir state Assembly.

Similarly an Interpol Red Corner Notice is pending against Rauf in connection with the IC-814 hijacking case of 1999.

India had built a strong case for proscribing Azhar as terrorist at the UN but the move was vetoed by China. Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case "did not meet the requirements" of the Security Council.

This is not the first time China has blocked India's bid to get Pakistan-based militant groups and leaders proscribed by the UN.

The UN had banned the JeM in 2001 but India's efforts for slapping sanctions on Azhar after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack also did not fructify as China, that has veto powers, did not allow it apparently at the behest of Pakistan again.
New Delhi: United States Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will arrive in India today on his three-day visit to boost strategic ties between both nations.

Carter, who will be arriving here on the invitation of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, will first visit Goa and then fly to Delhi two days later.

During his visit, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval among others.

Carter on the eve of his visit said India is already a very influential and powerful force in the whole Indo Asia Pacific region, starting with the Indian Ocean.

This is his second trip to India in less than a year and the last in US President Barack Obama's regime.

Carter has said that his trip would be an step in implementing some of the key decisions being taken by President Obama and

Prime Minister Modi in the last two years.

Defence technology, trade initiative and a host of other areas will feature in discussion between both nations.
Kollam: Five people have been detained in connection with the deadly inferno that engulfed the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi Temple complex in Kerala's Kollam district.

Kerala Director General of Police (DGP) TP Senkumar today told news agency ANI that five people have been detained in connection with the fireworks show.

In one of the worst tragedies to hit Kerala, at least 107 people were killed and over 350 injured when an illegal fireworks show set off massive explosions and caused a huge blaze in a Hindu temple on Sunday.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has ordered a judicial probe by a retired High Court Judge along with an investigation by Crime Branch into the tragedy.

While visiting the mishap site and a hospital to see the injured people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the incident as a "dreadful tragedy".

Dazed survivors said the disaster happened when stacks of explosives stored in a building a little away from the 100-year-old temple exploded, apparently after a spark from a firecracker landed on its roof.

The incident occurred just after 3 am amid a dazzling and deafening fireworks display even after the local authorities had declined permission for it. The celebrations had begun Saturday night.

Chandy also announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 10 lakh to kin of each of those killed in fire tragedy, Rs 2 lakh for seriously injured and Rs 50,000 for those with minor injuries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who termed the incident as "heart-rending" and "shocking", announced Rs two lakh each as compensation for the next of the kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 each for the injured. He later flew in here and took stock of the situation and see the injured people.
Kollam: Gross violation of norms and use of banned chemicals led to the Puttingal tragedy, a top explosives official said on Monday as a case of attempt to murder was filed against six persons including temple officials while the Kerala High Court will hear tomorrow the plea for a ban on cracker bursting and fireworks display in temple functions.

Tales of horror continued to pour in as the death toll in fireworks display in Puttingal Devi temple early yesterday morning that went awry rose to 109 while more than 300 people were being treated for injuries.

A case has been registered against six persons, including members of temple managing committee under Section 307 of eh IPC (attempt to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of IPC and under section 4 of Explosives Substances Act.

Besides the members of the temple managing committee, case was also registered against assistants of contractors who held the 'competitive' pyrotechnic display, despite a ban on it by the district administration.

A crime branch probe also began today into the fireworks tragedy.

Sudarshan Kamal, Chief Controller of Explosives, Nagpur, deputed by the Centre to take stock of the situation, told reporters after a visit to the site today that there were gross violations of norms and basic precautions and a ban order were ignored.

"There seems to have been a gross violation of explosives norms", said Kamal, who in charge of monitoring use, storage and licensing of explosives.

"We have come here for investigation on the explosives used for the display", he said, adding banned chemicals were used by the suppliers, who manufactured the crackers and conducted the display.

"Basic precautions had been ignored", he said.

Meanwhile, at least 100 kg of explosive materials have been seized from a storehouse at nearby Attingal, police said.

Besides two cars with some raw materials used for crackers were also recovered by police.

Earlier, the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages about 1,255 temples in the state, said it was not for a complete ban on such fireworks displays.

TDB President Prayar Gopalakrishnan said the board was against banning pyrotechnics during temple festivals as they were part of rituals, but added they should be staged as per restrictions of government and court orders with sufficient safety measures.

As gross 'violation' of rules in the fireworks display came to the fore, none of the 15-member managing committee of the temple, run by a private trust, reacted so far to the deadly mishap. A senior official said they were "absconding".

While the police in its first report stated permission should not be granted, two days later on Apr 8 they changed their stand and this was 'mysterious', she said.

The local people, who are yet to recover from the shock, are slowly preparing to bid adieu to their near ones who perished in the accident.

Bodies which have been identified are being handed over to relatives, officials said.

Poignant scenes were witnessed in hospitals, including the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital (TMCH), where inconsolable relatives were waiting to receive the bodies.

Eight injured persons, who had been under treatment at local hospitals in Kollam, were brought to TMCH early today, health department officials said.

A total of 66 victims, including six women, are undergoing treatment in the ICUs and wards at the TMCH they said, adding that a number of persons were also under observation.

Relatives and friends gathered at the mortuary to receive bodies of their near ones, said they were yet to come to terms with the shock inflicted on them by the unexpected tragedy.

Soman, a 68-year-old daily wage labour, broke into tears when he received the body of his nephew Vinod Kumar, who succumbed to serious injuries suffered in the mishap.

Amid conflicting reports on how the fireworks display was held despite the ban, Kollam District Collector A Shainamol claimed she had denied permission for the fireworks display and said there was no pressure on her to grant or deny permission for this.

"We had issued clear directions to police to ensure that the fireworks programme is not held. I just did my job. There was no pressure on me. Granting or denying permission requires certain procedures. We have sought reports from the police and tehsildhar", she said.

"They have recommended that no permission should be given for the fireworks because of the competitive nature and lack of space among others. But somebody has gone ahead and done this and I have asked this to be investigated", she said.

"Police has to implement the orders of the District Collector and I have asked the Kollam Commissioner for an explanation," Shainmol said.

Additional District Magistrate of Kollam Shanawaz said that the ban order had been violated and it has to be verified who had violated it.

Meanwhile, Justice V Chitambaresh, a judge of the Kerala High Court, moved the court seeking an immediate ban on use of high-decibel explosive crackers in all Kerala temples.

"The time is more than ripe for immediate judicial intervention to stop such man-made tragedies by banning the use of high decibel explosive fire crackers," he said adding his letter could be considered as a PIL.

The 'Devaswom Bench' of the court, which deals with matters related to temples, comprising Justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Anu Sivaraman is likely to consider the matter tomorrow.

Officials of the Crime Branch and personnel from the office of Chief Controller of Explosives collected evidence from the accident spot, situated about 70 km from Thiruvananthapuram.

The toll rose to 109 with three persons succumbing to their injuries while around 300 were still under treatment at various hospitals for burns and other injuries, a release from the Chief Minister's Officer said.

The condition of seven persons admitted to the Medical College Hospital here was serious, state Health Minister VS Sivakumar said.

The accident occurred at the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi Temple complex during an unauthorised display of fireworks early yesterday morning after a spark from a firecracker fell on the storehouse containing crackers, triggering explosions.

Of the deceased, 14 were yet to be identified as the charred bodies made the task difficult, official sources said.
Mumbai: A 'water train' with 10 wagons carrying water for parched Latur in Marathwada region, which is battling the worst drought ever, left from Miraj in western Maharashtra on Monday.

The train is expected to reach Latur later in the day.

The railway wagons meant for supplying water to Latur had reached Miraj from Kota in Rajasthan on Sunday.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said on Sunday that Maharashtra government and railway ministry were working hard to bring relief to people in drought affected region.

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu had said, "50 tank wagons steam cleaned reached Miraj for Latur."

On April 8, one of two goods trains carrying 50 wagons of water for drought-affected areas of Latur departed from Kota workshop for Miraj in Pune division.

The second goods train consisting of 50 wagons is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15, a railway official earlier said.

"As per instructions from the ministry of railways, Kota workshop received two goods trains consisting of 50 tank wagons (BTPN) each for deployment in drought-affected areas of Latur during the summer season and the trips of the trains will be arranged as per the requirement," he said.
New Delhi: A woman Baloch leader has said that Kulbushan Jhadav, arrested by Pakistan on charges of being an Indian spy, is not one because there is no Indian involvement in the restive western province of Balochistan.

"These are all false claims by Pakistan. All lies," Naela Quadri, a prominent Balochistan rights activist, told IANS. She said that Pakistan was engaging in such "blatant lies" to "delegitimize Balochistan's independence movement" and corner India.

Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was arrested last month in Balochistan. Pakistan has alleged that he still serves in the Indian navy and carried a fake Iranian passport to enter the region to launch "subversive activities" in Balochistan that is seeking independence from Islamabad's rule.

Pakistani envoy in India Abdul Basit last week claimed that Jadhav's alleged confession recorded in a video "irrefutably corroborates what Pakistan has been saying all along" that India was stirring unrest and destabilising his country.

But Quadri said "freedom" fighters in her region have been receiving no assistance from India.

"We don't know where Jhadav was arrested from. We have seen no Indian involvement. We don't see them," she said.


New Delhi: It was a big day for SpaceX, when after four failed attempts and years of research, its Falcon 9 rocket booster re-entered Earths atmosphere and lowered itself vertically onto a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean  the companys first successful landing at sea.

Not to mention that this has been done previously, however, it was 12 stories tall and a diameter about the length of Volkswagen Beetle, which rendered the entire procedure challenging.

According to an AFP report, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that the ability to safely land a rocket so it can be used again  as opposed to the traditional method of deploying a new rocket for each launch and allowing used rockets to crash-land in the ocean  will make it cheaper to get to space, and more eco-friendly.

President Barack Obama was also quick to congratulate SpaceX on Friday, after the rocket gracefully alighted on the oceanic landing platform, a drone ship that SpaceX christened Of Course I Still Love You.

Congrats SpaceX on landing a rocket at sea. It's because of innovators like you & NASA that America continues to lead in space exploration.  President Obama (@POTUS) April 8, 2016

Watch the landing of the rocket below!

(Video courtesy: SpaceX)

Since it was founded in 2002, SpaceX, whose name is short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has rapidly become a major player in the American aerospace industry and an important part of NASAs future plans.
Lucknow: The BJP will win 265 of the 404 seats in Uttar Pradesh next year, Keshav Maurya, the party's new state president, said on Monday after arriving here to a grand welcome by supporters.

Enthusiastic party workers mobbed him at the Charbagh railway station as he reached Lucknow by the Shatabdi Express.

Thanking party activists for their support, Maurya exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party would form the next government in Uttar PRadesh. "We will win 265 seats in the 2017 assembly election."

Among those who welcomed him was former state BJP president Laxmikant Bajpayi.

Workers danced to Bollywood tunes and patriotic songs as Maurya emerged from the station and drove to the party office on Vidhan Sabha Marg.

Congress activists, however, protested against Maurya's arrival, accusing him of being the extremist face of the BJP.

Congress leaders said Maurya has been sent to the state by the BJP's leadership to polarise voters.

A BJP spokesman said that on his way to Lucknow, Maurya was also greeted warmly in Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Etawah and Kanpur -- all the places where the Shatabdi halted.

The BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh in 2014, with two other seats going to an ally. The Samajwadi Party won five seats while the Congress got just two. The BSP drew a blank.

In subsequent bye-elections, however, the BJP has suffered ups and downs in the state.


Kabul: At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded Monday when a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghan army recruits near the eastern city of Jalalabad, officials said.

"In the attack, 12 army recruits were killed," said Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar province.

Ministry of Defence spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed the incident and death toll, adding the attacker struck the bus while riding a motorised tricycle.

"The recruits were being transferred from Jalalabad to Kabul," Waziri said, putting the number of injured at 26.

Ehsansullah Shinwari, head of a regional hospital in Nangarhar province, said 38 people were hurt in the bombing.

The attack came days after US Secretary of State John Kerry paid an unannounced visit to Kabul to underscore his support for Afghanistan`s beleaguered unity government and call on Taliban insurgents to resume direct peace talks.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the Taliban, who have been waging a revolt against the government since being toppled from power in 2001, frequently target the military.

The Islamic State group has also gained a foothold in Nangarhar province in recent years.

Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, a spokesman for the US-led military operations in Afghanistan, said in March the group was mainly contained in one district of the province.

Many of them are former Pakistani Taliban fighters who "have changed allegiance to Daesh," Shoffner said, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym.
London: Some of the world`s biggest aid agencies voiced concern on Monday that they may be further exposed to risk from the murky world of offshore finance after the latest release of the Panama Papers showed the name of the Red Cross was falsely used.

The cache of documents revealed how Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca created dummy foundations, with one of its fictitious beneficiaries listed as the "International Red Cross".

The misappropriation of the International Committee of the Red Cross` (ICRC) name was condemned by the Swiss-based agency and other international aid organizations concerned about the reputational risk this may carry for the sector as a whole.

The leaked emails, which first appeared in European newspapers, suggested the law firm used the humanitarian organisation as a cover when facing down demands for information from prying banks and financial institutions.

"It has become difficult to withhold the identity of the beneficiary," one of the alleged emails from an unnamed Mossack Fonseca staffer said.

"This is the reason why we created this structure, that is, appointing the International Red Cross (sic). So it is not complicated," the leaked 2009 email said. The ICRC said it was not previously aware that the name of its organization had been misappropriated and would investigate.

But the leaked emails exposed the risk charities take in accepting private donations, whose origins can sometimes be hard to trace.

An ICRC spokeswoman, Jenny Tobias, said the organization "cannot be 100 percent sure" other private donors do not have links to the Panamanian law firm, as it has "neither the means nor the expertise" to examine each and every fund or trust.

The agency, which depends on the generosity of governments for more than 80 percent of its funding, has a number of due diligence procedures in place for all donations, including anonymous ones, over 100,000 Swiss francs ($105,000), she said.

"We strive to ensure the funds we receive will not contravene our principles of action and jeopardize our humanitarian operations for those most is need," Tobias told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Other aid groups voiced concern about the revelation that the name of the Red Cross had been usurped in shady financial dealings.

"This shocking lack of morals is damaging not only to charities but to the people we work to help in the poorest parts of the world," said Ben Jackson, chief executive of Bond, a network of 450 charitable organizations.

Oxfam said the use of the Red Cross name was "concerning".

"This is another example of why the secrecy and shady practices surrounding tax havens needs to be urgently addressed," an Oxfam spokesman said.

Mossack Fonseca did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the documents regarding the Red Cross first published on Sunday in France`s Le Monde, together with Swiss newspapers, Sonntags Zeitung and Le Matin Dimanche.

Tobias said the ICRC was concerned about the potential impact on the safety of its 1,500-strong global workforce which prides itself on remaining neutral in conflict and disaster zones.

"Trust by all actors is essential to protect its staff and enable its humanitarian action for those most in need," Tobias said.

The name of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also appeared to have been falsely used in Mossack Fonseca paperwork.

The nature conservation organization said it had no knowledge of and had never given consent to the use of its name by "so-called Panamanian foundations".
District of Columbia: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called Sunday for more "balanced" US Middle East policy, deeming Israel`s actions in the 2014 Gaza war "disproportionate."

Asked by CNN`s Jake Tapper why Sanders -- who would be the first Jewish US president -- has adopted a critical position on the issue when "everyone supports whatever Israel wants to do.

"The only way we succeed (in the Middle East) is that if the United States plays the role which is of course we are going to support Israel, but you cannot ignore the needs of the Palestinian people," he said.

Dismissing the relevance of his background, Sanders -- a secular Jew who spent time on an Israeli kibbutz -- said, "I would hope that every person in this country wants to see the misery of never-ending war and conflict ended in the Middle East."

Earlier this month, the Vermont senator criticized Israel`s role during the 2014 Gaza war in a widely read interview with the New York Daily News, saying he believed more than 10,000 innocent people died in the conflict.

Though he admitted to not being sure about the number during the interview and accepted a correction that the figure was actually just over 2,100 people, his statement came under fire from Jewish groups.

Asked about the reaction by CNN, he repeated that Israel`s actions were "disproportionate."

"Israel has 100 percent -- and no one will fight for that principle more strongly than I will -- has the right to live in freedom independently and in security without having to be subjected to terrorist attacks," he said. "But I think that we will not succeed to ever bring peace into that region unless we also treat the Palestinians with dignity and respect."

Israel launched the seven-week conflict in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in response to the group`s firing of rockets into southern Israel.

More than 70 percent of the 2,130 Palestinians killed in the conflict -- which destroyed infrastructure and residential buildings -- were civilians, the United Nations estimates. Israel puts the number at around 50 percent.

"In Gaza right now, poverty, unemployment, their community has been decimated," Sanders said. "You can`t ignore that fact."

"And you can`t just be only concerned about Israel`s needs." he added. "You have to be concerned about the needs of all other people in the region."
Bogota: Colombia has doubled the reward for information leading to the capture of Usuga Clan gang leader Dario Antonio Usuga to nearly $1 million, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Monday.

The Usuga Clan, also called the Urabenos, have ties to Mexico`s Sinaloa cartel and smuggle hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine out of the Andean country each year, according to law enforcement officials.

"We`re on the trail of the leaders of Usuga and its top boss, Otoniel," Santos said, referring to the alias of Usuga. "We`re raising the reward for him to 3 billion pesos, double what it was." He spoke after meeting with security officials.

Experts believe criminal gangs will be the country`s biggest security challenge in the coming years as conflicts with leftist rebels, who also participate in the drug trade, wind down.
Havana: Gilberto Gonzalez learned Russian at a school in Havana at the height of the Cold War when the Soviet Union was Cuba`s closest ally, but 30 years later he`s rusty and remembers little more than, `da,` and `nyet.`

Now, as relations thaw with the United States, Gonzalez wants his children to learn English to grasp opportunities arising from Cuba`s new closeness to the old enemy. He has ordered them to sign up at a private English school in the city.

"It doesn`t matter that it`s expensive, but it is what can open doors now what we are starting a new era," said Gonzalez, a 45-year-old civil engineer who has changed jobs and now works as a taxi driver, earning more.

Teaching English has become a minor boom industry in Havana, with dozens of schools opening in private homes in the wake of President Raul Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama`s December, 2014 agreement to normalize relations.

English has been the most popular second language for many years in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. But the detente has added new impetus and learning the language has won support from the Communist leadership.

"We have to speak English. If you can speak two or three languages, all the better, but English is essential," said Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, No. 2 in the Communist Party and one of the original leaders of the revolution that defeated a pro-American government in 1959.

The government added English to the list of priorities for schools last year, along with Cuban history and Spanish.

The official embrace of English and the prospect of millions of U.S. tourists coming to the Caribbean island once Washington completely removes travel restrictions have led to a surge of teachers and students.

Classes cost between $10 and $30 a month, in a country where the average state salary is just $25. But a growing number of Cubans are enjoying income from private ventures and from money sent by family members overseas.

Not everyone, however, is happy. Teacher Deisy Perez says her informal school in her Havana home has lost customers as more options open up.

"There`s more competition now between the private language schools," said Perez, who has been giving classes for 15 years.

It wasn`t always this way. For a period in the 1970s, learning Russian was mandatory for about a third of secondary school pupils.

But even former President Fidel Castro lamented his decision to focus on Russian when the Soviet Union was Cuba`s closest ally.

"The Russians learned English, the whole world learned English, and we learned Russian," Castro said in televised remarks last year.

(Additional reporting by Nelson Acosta; Edited by Frank Jack Daniel and Dan Grebler)


Dubai: Dubai plans to build a tower that will stand higher than its Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest skyscraper, property developer Emaar said Sunday.

The viewing tower will cost around $1 billion (880 million euros) and will be "a notch" taller than Burj Khalifa, Emaar chairman Mohamed Alabbar told reporters as he revealed details of the project.

But he said that the final height will be announced upon completion, adding that his company would like to present the tower as a "gift to the city before 2020," the year Dubai hosts the world Expo trading fair.

Designed by Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava Valls, the tower will have observation decks, in addition to 18 to 20 mixed-use floors that will host restaurants and a boutique hotel, Alabbar said.

Burj Khalifa is 828 metres (2,700 feet) high and it cost $1.5 billion to build. It was opened in January 2010.

Alabbar described the new structure as an "elegant monument" which would add value to property being developed by the company along the city's creek.

"Many would like to have a view" when considering buying a property, he said.

The tower will be slender, evoking the image of a minaret, and will be anchored to the ground with sturdy cables, Emaar said.

Dubai has established a reputation for building dozens of futuristic skyscrapers, which have transformed its skyline.

Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding is building a tower in Jeddah that is planned to surpass Burj Khalifa, rising more than a kilometre.
Washington: In his final year in office, US President Barack Obama has said that failing to prepare for the aftermath of the ousting of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 was the "worst mistake" of his presidency.

"Probably failing to plan for, the day after, what I think was the right thing to do, in intervening in Libya," Obama told Fox News while answering a series of questions on the highs and lows of his nearly eight years in the White House.

The 2011 US-backed intervention helped topple Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for over 40 years. But after the former Libyan president was killed, Libya plunged into chaos with militias taking over and two rival parliaments and governments forming.

Both Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continue to argue that it was not the removal of Gaddafi that caused the chaos, but rather the failure to prop up a stable government in the days following.

An ISIS affiliate has since gained a foothold in Libya, and the US has carried out airstrikes against "ISIS camps" as recently as February.

However, it is not the first time Obama has expressed regret over Libya. He told the Atlantic magazine last month the operation went as well as he had hoped, but Libya was now "a mess".

In that interview, he also criticised France and the UK, in particular saying British Prime Minister David Cameron became "distracted" after the intervention. Obama, 54, said the best day of his presidency was when he passed the healthcare reforms, bringing near-universal medical coverage to Americans.

"We sat out on the Truman Balcony with all the staff that had worked so hard on it and I, I knew what it would mean for the families that I'd met who didn't have health care," Obama said.

He also recounted that his worst day in the White House was "the day we traveled up to Newtown after Sandy Hook" when 20 children, mostly first-graders, were killed on December 14, 2012 at an elementary school.

He spoke at a local prayer vigil two days later. As for his biggest accomplishment, Obama said he believes it would be his actions just after taking office following the 2008 recession, "saving the economy from a Great Depression." Obama, the 44th US President, will demit office on January 20, 2017 after two consecutive four-year terms. He is the first African American to hold the office.


Baghdad: A rallying cry to Iraqi Sunnis from former President Saddam Hussein`s top surviving aide aims to bolster the old ruling Baath party`s appeal with Sunni Muslims fearing new reprisals by Shi`ite militias, experts said.

They said the video released on Thursday could also contain a message to Iraq`s Shi`ite-led government that former party members might help it fight Islamic State if the Shi`ite militias are kept out of the battle.

The broadcast purportedly featuring Ezzat al-Douri coincided with the anniversary of the fall of Saddam`s Sunni-led rule when US troops stormed Baghdad in 2003. Reuters could not authenticate it but analysts said it seemed genuine judging by his appearance and speech.

Douri, a wiry man with a ginger moustache, evaded capture during the 2003-11 US occupation and Iraqi and US officials accused him of organising an insurgency by minority Sunnis against US troops and the new Shi`ite led authorities in 2005-7.

In a previous audio message, the former top official in Saddam`s secular Baath party urged Sunnis to join those who had "liberated" half the country, referring to Islamic State, which declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.



This time Douri called on the "sons of Iraq ... to rally behind the flag of the Arab coalition led by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to avoid being burnt by the Persian fire."

The latest message follows major gains by the government and its US-led backers against Islamic State and coincides with a push to drive it from Mosul, the largest city in its self-proclaimed caliphate.

"Douri and the Baath have no military importance now, but as Daesh (Islamic State) is weakening, the Baath appears to see a role as part of the Saudi-led alliance against Iran," said Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based security analyst.

The US invasion effectively handed power to Iran`s allies in Iraq`s Shi`ite majority community, and Tehran`s influence became predominant when the American troops pulled out in 2011, leaving the Sunni community feeling marginalised.

That marginalisation and revenge attacks by Shi`ite militias were seen as contributing to the rise of Islamic State.

A Shi`ite militia has declared it will join the fight to drive Islamic State from Mosul, which has stalled: Iraq`s top Sunni official has urged the government not to allow militia to join and Hashimi said Douri appeared to be doing the same.

"The Saudi-led alliance is against Iran and also against Daesh (Islamic State) and by aligning the Baath with the Saudis he is adopting the same position; Douri seems to be saying `My men will be willing to fight Daesh on condition that you keep Irans militias out of Mosul`," Hashimi said.

The clip appeared to show Douri, who would now be 73, close up wearing his old green military uniform. Its tribute to Sunni power Saudi Arabia was a new development because the kingdom was a long-time rival of Saddam who had his own regional ambitions.

Carried on Saudi-owned al-Hadath TV, it was unclear when it was recorded as the only time indication was a reference to the Saudi-led campaign against Yemen`s Iran-backed Houthis which started in March 2015.

Iraqi authorities said in April 2015 that Douri had been killed in a military operation and showed pictures of a body that resembled his. An Iraqi government spokesman did not respond to requests for comment this week.

Sitting behind a desk and wearing glasses in the video, the man appearing to be Douri read a statement from a pile of papers clutched in both hands that blamed the "U.S. administration for everything that Iran is doing in Iraq with its agents, its militias and its security and military services".
Idomeni: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused neighbouring Macedonia on Monday of "shaming" Europe by firing tear gas and rubber bullets at migrants desperately trying to break through a border fence.

Tensions are still running high after Sunday`s violence, which saw 250 refugees and migrants hurt at the flashpoint Idomeni crossing as they tried to force their way into Macedonia.

Another brawl broke out Monday between rival nationalities in which a tent was set on fire, an AFP reporter said.

Tsipras said Macedonian police had used tear gas and rubber bullets Sunday against "people who were clearly not armed and constituted no serious threat".

"This is a great shame for European culture and for countries who want to be part of it," he said, in a jab at Macedonia`s aspirations to join the European Union.

The refugee crisis has piled further pressure on ties between the neighbours already strained by a two-decade dispute over Macedonia`s name.

Athens does not accept its neighbour calling itself Macedonia, claiming a historical right to the name because the heart of Alexander the Great`s ancient kingdom lies in Greece`s northern Macedonia region. The UN`s refugee agency urged the EU to implement a much-delayed scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees to ease pressure on Greece, which has been left with a massive bottleneck of migrants following a series of border closures on the Balkan migrant route.

While a controversial deal between the EU and Turkey is reducing the influx into Greece, more than 11,000 people are stuck at Idomeni.

There are also fears that efforts to shut down the Turkey-Greece route could encourage migrants to attempt to reach Europe via the even more dangerous crossing from Libya to Italy, with the Italian coastguard rescuing 1,850 migrants on Monday.

Sunday`s clashes were the latest unrest to erupt at Idomeni, where grim living conditions have made it a symbol of the misery faced by thousands who have fled war and poverty to reach Europe, many of them refugees fleeing war in Syria and Iraq.

Greek police minister Nikos Toskas warned that violence against migrants could fuel religious extremism.

"Those beaten yesterday are the jihadists of tomorrow if we are not careful," Toskas told Skai radio.

Macedonia has hit back, denying that it used rubber bullets against migrants and accusing Greek police of failing to intervene as around 3,000 people "violently" tried to cross the border, hurling stones and injuring police.

But medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it treated around 30 people for injuries from rubber bullets -- three of them children under 10 -- along with 200 suffering breathing problems and 30 with other injuries. Greek efforts to move the huge crowds from the squalid encampment at Idomeni into nearby reception centres have so far been unsuccessful.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel`s spokesman Steffen Seibert said Berlin was watching developments there "with concern" and urged all states to ensure border security was strictly in line with human rights.

He urged migrants to move into Greece`s official shelters and to stop attempting illegal border crossings, saying this was "not a hopeful option".

The European Commission has also called for the people blocked at Idomeni to be relocated, with spokeswoman Mina Andreeva warning them not to push ahead with "a dangerous and irregular onward journey". Sunday`s violence broke out after Arabic-language leaflets distributed around the camp falsely suggested the border was about to open, prompting Greece to double its police presence in the area.

Tsipras on Monday blamed non-Greek volunteers for "inciting" migrants to storm the fence.

"I am told (some of them) are staying at Gevgelija (on the Macedonian side) and go back and forth," he said.

The clashes have only served to escalate the row between Athens and Skopje.

Countries which display behaviour "incomprehensible and unacceptable to humanity certainly have no place in the EU or NATO," Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said.

"I am referring to (Macedonia) specifically."

Skopje has furiously defended its actions, saying 23 of its border police were injured Sunday and accusing Greek police of failing to lift a finger to stop the migrants.

The Greek government said it had lodged two "very strong protests" with Macedonian authorities.

burs/jph/kjl/mt
Washington: Front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have pushed for big wins on friendlier terrain in the Northeast as they tried to build challenge-proof delegate majorities ahead of their nominating conventions against rivals who won't go away.

Both Trump and Clinton yesterday campaigned in New York ahead of its April 19 primary which offers a large trove of delegates who will select the parties' nominees at their national conventions in July.

Trump is seeking to rebound in his home state after a decisive loss to his main rival, the ultraconservative Texas Sen Ted Cruz, last Tuesday in Wisconsin.

The billionaire real estate developer remains well short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the Republican nomination. His campaign is now focusing on developing a delegate-centred strategy akin to the one that Cruz has pursued for months.

"A more traditional approach is needed and Donald Trump recognises that," Paul Manafort, Trump's new delegate chief, said yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Even so, Trump later in the day complained that the system is "corrupt" and "crooked" and said it's unfair that the person who wins the most votes may not be the nominee.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in a packed airport hangar in Rochester, New York. "We're supposed to be a democracy," he added.

If denied the Republican nomination, he went on to warn, "You're going to have a big problem, folks, because there are people who don't like what's going on."

Clinton, who lost Wyoming on Saturday night to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, is trying to maintain her commanding lead among delegates no matter how many states Sanders wins or how much "momentum" he claims.

Key to her drive is a victory in New York, which she represented in the US Senate. Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, can claim New York as his home state.

After stops in New York City churches, Clinton headed to Baltimore for her first campaign rally in Maryland, where she picked up the endorsement of popular local congressman Elijah Cummings.

Maryland, where Clinton is favoured, holds its primary on April 26 along with Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut.

Clinton's campaign is looking for big wins across the Northeast, in an effort to gain what they've termed an "all but insurmountable" lead in the delegate race.
Beirut: Former Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest since 2011, appealed to President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday for a court hearing where he could show two elections he lost were rigged.

Karroubi, a former speaker of parliament, said in a letter to Rouhani that Iran`s powerful Revolutionary Guard, Basij militia and intelligence ministry falsified the results of the 2005 and 2009 polls that Mahmoud Ahmedinejad won.

He also said Iranian authorities used thugs to attack political critics, embassies and cultural centers. Karroubi and fellow reformist presidential contender Mir Hussein Moussavi, who has also been under house arrest since 2011, have been accused of stoking unrest after the 2009 polls.

But neither of the two figureheads of the country`s "green movement" have been formally charged or had their day in court.

Public criticism of authorities in Iran, particularly from a former insider like Karroubi, is rare.

"The only path is reform and returning to the direction of the law," Karroubi wrote in the letter, where he also said he did not think Rouhani could end his house arrest.

He also said he would accept whatever sentence the court issues.

Rouhani hinted during his 2013 election campaign that he might release the two political prisoners, but has not taken up the issue that has polarised the Islamic Republic and could lead to a showdown with hardliners opposed to him.
Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that his country's missile programme was not up for negotiation with the United States.

"Defence capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran are not negotiable," the Dawn quoted MohamAmad Javad Zarif as saying after a meeting with his Estonian counterpart Marina Kaljurand yesterday.

The Foreign Minister asserted that if Washington was serious about defence issues in the Middle East then it should stop supplying arms to Saudi Arabia and Israel.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had recently said that Washington and its partners were prepared to find new peaceful solutions to the issues Tehran has, but it should first clarify of being prepared to cease provocative ballistic missile launches and tests.

Zarif also hinted that regional US allies were among those quietly supporting the militant Islamic State group.

"The US needs to view regional issues more seriously than raise baseless and threadbare allegations against Iran. Mr Kerry should ask US allies where the Islamic State's arms come from," he said.
Baghdad: The Islamic State group strongholds Raqa and Mosul "must fall" this year, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said during a speech in Baghdad on Monday.

The battles to retake Raqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq are expected to be the most difficult of the war against IS, which holds swathes of territory in both countries.

Le Drian`s remarks are the most specific timetable for the cities` recapture given by a member of the US-led coalition against the jihadists, which has been reluctant to comment on the expected pace of operations.

"Raqa and Mosul must fall in 2016," Le Drian said, calling for making it "the year of a major turning point in our struggle against the so-called Islamic State".

IS claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November last year, and there is concern that the jihadists will strike the country again.

Belgium`s federal prosecutor has said a jihadist cell that attacked Brussels airport and a metro station last month, killing 32 people, initially planned to target France.

Raqa was seized by the jihadists in early 2014, and Mosul was overrun during an IS offensive in June that year.

The fact that both cities still have large civilian populations will complicate efforts to retake them, and the jihadists have had ample time to sow slews of bombs and set up other defences.

Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, the commander of the international operation against IS, has said that Iraqi generals do not think they will be able to recapture Mosul until the end of 2016 or early 2017 at the earliest.

This year "must be the year of the beginning of the end for Daesh", Le Drian said in his speech to Iraqi special forces and French troops, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

But he cautioned that despite having suffered a string of defeats, the jihadists are still a threat."Because it`s cornered, Daesh is more dangerous than ever," he said.

IS is still able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas, as well as mount raids targeting security forces.

"Now that we have regained the upper hand, we must make the most of this dynamic with our partners," said Le Drian, referring to Iraqi and Kurdish forces on the ground in Iraq.

He said the objective was to whittle down IS "resources, its leaders, its capacity for planning attacks on European soil".

Le Drian arrived in Baghdad on Monday for talks on the war against the jihadists, meeting Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi and Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi.

According to the French military, France has carried out more than 580 air strikes against IS, destroying over 1,000 targets, and has around 350 soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Le Drian, who arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait, has already visited some of those troops.

The United States carries out the majority of coalition strikes and has deployed some 3,900 military personnel to the country, including special forces targeting IS with raids.

The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since recaptured significant ground with backing from the coalition, while Syrian forces have also made gains against IS.

Le Drian`s visit comes just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed during a trip to Baghdad that the coalition and Iraq would turn up the heat on IS.

In addition to major security challenges, Iraq has also been hit by an economic crisis caused by slumping oil prices, and political tensions over efforts to replace the current cabinet.

Abadi has called for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics", and presented a list of nominees to parliament last week.

But powerful Iraqi parties and politicians rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds, and lawmakers said the political blocs are nominating other candidates.

Officials have said a vote on new candidates could take place on Tuesday, but the end result may be a variation on the current system of party-affiliated ministers.

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Rome: The Italian coastguard Monday rescued 1,850 migrants in eight operations in the Strait of Sicily, as a wave of boats departing from the Libyan coast intensifies.

Two small boats carrying a total of 740 people were intercepted by the coastguard ship Diciotti, while Italian Navy vessel Cigala Fulgosi came to the aid of two inflatable dinghies with 255 people on board, a coastguard statement said.

A merchant ship was diverted to help another 117 people, while an EU naval force vessel picked up 738 migrants trying to cross on two barges and a small boat.

According to UN refugee agency data at the end of March, some 17,500 people have arrived in Italy since the start of the year.

Two weeks ago nearly 1,600 migrants were rescued in the same area, adding to fears that calmer seas at the onset of spring are encouraging greater numbers of migrants to attempt the perilous crossing after a winter lull.

There are also concerns that European efforts to shut down the migrant sea crossing from Turkey to Greece will encourage more people to attempt the more dangerous Mediterranean passage from Libya to Italy.

lrb/lpt/pdw/kjl


Brussels: The Brussels-based Islamic State jihadists behind the Paris attacks had planned a fresh strike in France but targeted the Belgian capital instead as police closed in, a prosecutor said Sunday.

Belgium`s federal prosecutor also announced that the so-called "man in the hat" Mohamed Abrini, seen in CCTV footage at Brussels airport before the bombings last month, had been charged with "terrorist murders."

Suicide bombers killed 32 people at the airport and a metro station on March 22, and left a trail leading directly to the November attacks in Paris which left 130 dead.

"Numerous elements in the investigation have shown that the terrorist group initially had the intention to strike in France again," the federal prosecutor`s office said in a statement.

"Surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation, they urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels."The prosecutor gave no further details, but the Brussels bombings followed the March 18 arrest of top Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam after four months on the run.

"It`s extra proof of the very high threats to the whole of Europe and to France in particular," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said of the prosecutor`s statement. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve added that France would remain on high alert for the indefinite future.

"We are still facing a high level of threat... It (the work of the police and judiciary) is a long process, it will go on for a long time," he said.

Abrini, who grew up with Abdeslam in the troubled Molenbeek area, was charged Sunday with "participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempts to commit terrorist murders".

On Saturday, the judge leading the Belgian investigation into the Paris carnage had laid the same charges against Abrini, the day after his arrest.

The 31-year-old Belgian of Moroccan origin confessed to being "the man in the hat" who calmly walked away from the devastated Brussels airport departure hall, the prosecutor said Saturday.

He returned on foot to central Brussels, discarding his hat and coat on the way before disappearing into thin air as police launched a fresh public appeal for help.Abrini was a long-time petty criminal who grew up in Molenbeek, home to several other suspects who all share a similar story of getting on the wrong side of the law and becoming radicalised.

One of the Brussels airport bombers, Ibrahim El Bakraoui, left behind what the Belgian authorities described as a "will" on a computer in which he said he felt "hunted" and "I don`t know what to do."

The other airport bomber was Najim Laachraoui whose DNA was found on a suicide vest discovered at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris where 90 people were killed.
Hiroshima: John Kerry and other G7 foreign ministers on Monday were set to make a landmark visit to the memorial site for the world`s first nuclear attack, as a US official ruled out an apology for the World War II atomic bombing that left 140,000 people dead.

Kerry is the first US secretary of state to visit Hiroshima and the highest-ranking administration official ever. In 2008, Nancy Pelosi, the then speaker of the House of Representatives and third in the line of presidential succession, also visited.

Kerry`s trip comes as White House officials say President Barack Obama is considering stopping in the city late next month around the time of the Group of Seven summit to take place in another part of Japan.

Kerry`s unprecedented visit to Hiroshima and speculation that Obama may also come have received wide media attention in Japan and even raised speculation over whether a US apology could be forthcoming.

Kerry and other officials, however, have sought to dispel that expectation.

"My visit to Hiroshima has a very special meaning about the strength of our relationship and the journey we have travelled together since the difficult time of the war," Kerry told Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida on Monday ahead of the visit to the memorial.

He added that the visit "is not about the past, it`s about the present and the future".

Separately, a US official said flatly that Kerry would offer no formal apology.

"If you are asking whether the secretary of state came to Hiroshima to apologise, the answer is no," the State Department official, who asked not to be named, told reporters travelling with Kerry late Sunday.

The first American bomb on August 6, 1945, killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima, including survivors of the explosion who died afterwards from severe radiation exposure. Three days later another blast killed some 74,000 people in Nagasaki. On August 15, then Emperor Hirohito announced Japan`s surrender.

The issue of the bombings is a highly emotive one in both Japan and the United States.

Japan, as the only nation to experience a nuclear attack, emphasises the suffering its people endured. But while publicly calling for the eradication of nuclear weapons it has for decades been a close security ally of Washington under the protection of the US nuclear umbrella.

Many in the US, meanwhile, chafe at the suggestion of an apology, saying that Japan started the war with its attack on Pearl Harbor and argue that the atomic bombings hastened the war`s end, thus preventing greater casualties.

Among other G7 foreign ministers set to visit the memorial are Britain`s Philip Hammond and France`s Jean-Marc Ayrault. It also marks the first time that top diplomats from the two nuclear-armed countries are visiting Hiroshima.

The group journey to the memorial comes as the ministers wrap up their final day of meetings with discussions focused on global hotspot issues including terrorism and other security threats as well as instability in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Hiroshima:

John Kerry on Monday became the first US secretary of state to visit Hiroshima`s atomic bomb memorial, calling it a "stark, harsh, compelling reminder" of the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Kerry, who was accompanied by other G7 foreign ministers, is the highest-ranking US administration official to pay his respects at the spot in Japan where American planes launched the first ever nuclear attack, more than 70 years ago.

His trip comes as White House officials say President Barack Obama is considering a stop in the now-bustling Japanese city late next month around the time of a Group of Seven summit, which is being held in another part of the country.

Kerry`s visit, and speculation that Obama may also go to Hiroshima, prompted some suggestion that Washington might make an official apology over the August 1945 bombing, which killed 140,000 people.

But America`s top diplomat was quick to douse that speculation, and a State Department official flatly ruled out an apology.

"We will revisit the past and honour those who perished, (but) this trip is not about the past," Kerry told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida earlier Monday.

"It`s about the present and the future."

Arriving under tight security, the G7 ministers and the foreign policy chief of the European Union started their visit Monday at a museum that shows the devastating impact of the bombing -- such as survivors` burned clothing and other personal effects.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial," Kerry wrote in the museum`s guest book.

"It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself.

"War must be the last resort -- never the first choice."

The G7 later issued its Hiroshima Declaration that called for a "world without nuclear weapons", as it noted the "immense devastation and human suffering" caused by the wartime atom bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Hundreds of schoolchildren waved G7 nation and EU flags as the group walked to a cenotaph in the leafy park next to the museum.

Kerry and his counterparts laid wreaths at the site, with the ruins of a domed building gutted by the blast in the background.

Later children presented them with necklaces made of paper cranes -- a symbol of peace -- woven in the bright colours of their national flags.

Hiroshima businessman Jun Miura said he hoped Obama would make a trip to the city of 1.2 million next month.

"There are no bad feelings and we`re not angry," the 43-year-old told AFP as he watched the event.

"I want the president to see for himself exactly what happened. I am sure he has seen video of it, and read about it. But you have to come here to see it and contemplate."

For US tourist Jeremy Griffiths, visiting the memorial is a stark reminder of the scale of the damage.

"You can read all you want, but until you are actually at the place (where) it had occurred -- it just changes how you look at it," said the 29-year-old IT programmer from Florida.

Many were killed instantly when the bomb was dropped, creating a firestorm that flattened swathes of the city. Thousands of others died later from radiation exposure.

Three days later, on August 9, 1945, another US atomic bomb exploded over the city of Nagasaki, killing some 74,000 people. On August 15, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan`s surrender, ending World War II.

The issue of the bombings is a highly emotive one in both Japan and the United States.

Japan, as the only nation to have experienced a nuclear attack, emphasises the suffering its people endured. But while publicly calling for the eradication of nuclear weapons, it has for decades been a close security ally of Washington under the protection of the US nuclear umbrella.

Many in the US, meanwhile, chafe at the suggestion of an apology, saying that Japan started the war with its attack on Pearl Harbor and argue that the bombings hastened the war`s end, and prevented more casualties.

Monday`s visit came as the ministers wrapped up their final day of meetings with discussions focused on global hotspot issues including the fight against Islamic State group and other security threats such as North Korea.

Instability in the Middle East and elsewhere was also on the agenda.
Beirut: Lebanon has detained two workers at Beirut airport over alleged contact with "terrorist parties", the country`s ANI news agency said on Sunday.

Airport security on Friday "detained two Lebanese working for one of the airport`s service providers after discovering their involvement in making contact with terrorist parties," ANI said.

A security source confirmed that "two employees were detained", without adding if they were employed directly by the airport or by a service provider.

"One of the two was in possession of a handgun, while traces of explosives were discovered in the car of the other," the source said, without elaborating.

Beirut`s international airport has recently been the centre of a controversy over possible security gaps.

Transport Minister Ghazi Zoaiter said in late March that up to $1.4 million would be needed for "security measures at the airport", but highlighted a "lack of resources".
Luxembourg: Luxembourg offered on Monday to chip in financing to close an ageing French nuclear power plant near its border, saying the tiny nation could be obliterated if the station malfunctioned.

During a press conference with his French counterpart Manuel Valls, Luxembourg`s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said a problem at the Cattenom plant could "wipe the duchy off the map".

"The Cattenom site scares us, there`s no point in hiding it," he said of the plant that has been in operation since the mid-1980s. "Our greatest wish is that Cattenom close."

Luxembourg "would be prepared to make a financial commitment to a project, which would have to be cross-border... at Cattenom that is not nuclear in nature."

Valls -- who was on a one-day visit to the nation of about 500,000 -- said France has pledged to cut its reliance on nuclear energy from more than 75 percent to 50 percent by shutting 24 reactors by 2025.

"Message received," he added.

France has several ageing nuclear power plants that are unsettling its neighbours. Germany demanded last month Paris shutter its oldest station, Fessenheim, which sits near the German and Swiss borders.

Fessenheim houses two 900-megawatt reactors and has been running since 1977. Due to its age activists have long called for it to be permanently closed.

French President Francois Hollande has pledged to shut down the Fessenheim plant by the end of his five-year term in 2017.

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Seoul: Seoul said Monday a North Korean colonel had defected to the South last year in a rare move by a such high-level military official.

The Army colonel had handled spy operations targeting South Korea at the North`s General Bureau of Reconnaissance before arriving in Seoul, South Korea`s Yonhap news agency said.

Unification and defence ministry spokesmen in Seoul confirmed the report but declined to elaborate on details including the official`s name.

"He is the highest-level military official to have ever defected to the South," said a Seoul government official quoted by Yonhap.

"He is believed to have stated details about the bureau`s operations against South Korea to the authorities here," said the unnamed official.

The news came days after Seoul announced that a group of 13 North Koreans working in a state-run restaurant outside the country had defected to the South in a rare mass defection.

The defectors -- one male manager and a dozen women -- arrived in the South Thursday. They had reportedly been working at a restaurant in China`s southeastern port city of Ningbo before coming to the South through a third country in Southeast Asia.

The defections come at a time of elevated military tensions on the divided Korean peninsula.

North Korea has condemned Seoul and Washington for spearheading a sanctions drive at the UN over its nuclear and missile programmes, while also lashing out at annual, large-scale military war games that South Korea and the US kicked off last month.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression in the isolated North, despite risk of imprisonment and torture when caught, and settled in the South.

But the number of defectors -- who once numbered more than 2,000 a year -- has nearly halved since leader Kim Jong-Un took power after the death of his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong-Il in December 2011.

People who still manage to flee in recent years already have families who settled in the South or are relatively well-off and well-connected elites in search of better lives, according to experts and activists helping North Korean defectors.
Panama City: A week after the first revelations from the Panama Papers, the government of Panama was on Monday stepping up a PR blitz to dissociate the country from the expanding scandal.

President Juan Carlos Varela wrote an op-ed for the New York Times newspaper lamenting that "Panama does not deserve to be singled out on an issue that plagues many countries."

Highlighting recent financial transparency reforms by his administration, and the creation of a commission to propose more measures, he said Panama was working to fall in line with international standards on sharing tax information.

But for much of the world, Panama remains entwined with the Panama Papers -- a massive stash of leaked documents from a law firm that revealed how the world`s wealthy, powerful, famous and infamous used offshore companies to stash their assets.

While using such offshore entities is not in itself illegal, the use they are put to may be, if used for tax dodging or money laundering.

The firm, Mossack Fonseca, says it was the victim of a malicious hack.On Monday, Peruvian authorities raided a branch of Mossack Fonseca in Lima, which is located directly across the road from the Panamanian embassy. They said they were looking for evidence Peruvians used the firm for tax avoidance.

The local manager, Monica de Ycaza Clerc, told reporters: "We are going to cooperate with the authorities."

Peruvians linked to the firm include two financiers behind the presidential campaign of Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori. She won a first-round election victory on Sunday and is headed for a run-off poll in June.

El Salvador last week also raided the local office of Mossack Fonseca, hauling away computers and documents.

More swoops can be expected around the world as countries acting on information from the Panama Papers look to see if their wealthy citizens sought to hide money from the tax office.Politicians in some places have come under pressure from the revelations.

In just one week, the following occurred:

-- Iceland`s prime minister was forced to resign

-- Britain`s prime minister dodged questions about his family`s offshore dealing before finally admitting he had profited from one and went on to publish his tax records

-- Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to deflect attention on his entourage as a US plot

-- China`s censors have been working flat out to keep any mention of the Panama Papers out of the media and online forums

In the eye of the storm, Panama is trying to head off international action against its financial services sector, which accounts for seven percent of gross domestic product.

France is leading the charge to get the Central American country put back on an international "black list" of nations that facilitate tax evasion and money laundering.

Varela, the president, said last week that he was dispatching his finance minister to Paris on Tuesday to press home Panama`s willingness to cooperate on sharing tax information.

But French and Panamanian officials said on Monday that the Paris trip was not confirmed and would not be happening as announced.

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Warsaw: Poland marked the sixth anniversary Sunday of the jet crash that killed then president Lech Kaczynski amid louder-than-ever claims it was no accident -- fuelled by his twin brother`s party winning power last year.

"The previous government is responsible for this tragedy, at least morally," Jaroslaw Kaczynski told tens of thousands of Poles gathered outside the presidential palace on Sunday.

The surviving twin heads the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party that won October elections, enabling it to revive a probe into the 2010 air crash in Russia that also killed 95 others.

The party, which had been in opposition for eight years, rejects the previous liberal government`s conclusions that pilot error, poor weather and poor air traffic control were to blame.

Most of those who died when the plane came down in Smolensk, western Russia on April 10, 2010 were senior Polish state officials, including its military chief of staff and central banker.

The delegation was heading for memorial ceremonies in Russia`s Katyn forest for thousands of Polish army officers killed by the Soviet secret police in 1940, a massacre the Kremlin denied until 1990.

The head of the new investigative subcommittee, Waclaw Berczynski, last week reiterated his theory that the Tupolev 154 exploded mid-air, although he offered no proof.

"We can say with great probability, practically with near certainty, that the aircraft broke apart mid-air," he told the Catholic weekly Gosc Niedzielny."The PiS won`t stop engaging in political necrophilia on the victims` graves," Rafal Grupinski, a lawmaker with the liberal opposition party Civic Platform (PO), which was in power at the time of the crash, said Saturday.

Experts from the government of then premier Donald Tusk -- now European Council president -- and Russian investigators have all dismissed assassination theories which surfaced almost immediately after the tragedy.

The new committee has not ruled out exhuming corpses for a fresh round of autopsies, raising doubts over those conducted by Russia just after the crash.

But the main purpose of the probe is to find those responsible.

PiS leaders have accused Tusk of having a hand in the disaster, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, long considered an enemy of Poland by the Polish right.

They have increasingly clamoured for Tusk to stand trial, a call reiterated by Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz on the eve of the anniversary.

The minister, the main proponent of the theory that the crash was a political assassination, said on public television that it was "evident that Tusk should suffer all the consequences of his actions".

Others want a more extreme outcome, including journalist Ewa Stankiewicz, who works for the ultra-nationalist weekly Gazeta Polska.

"Court for Tusk, that is not enough... The death penalty is needed," she said Saturday at a rally organised by the newspaper in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw.Six years on, the aircraft wreckage and the black boxes remain in Russia, as Moscow refuses to return them to Poland before its own judicial investigation is complete.
Washington: Advocates for two African Americans on death row for murder are seeking a reprieve for both men on the grounds their trials were tainted by racial bias, taking their campaigns all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Amnesty International is waging a last-ditch effort to secure a stay for Kenneth Fults, 47, who is due to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday in the southeastern state of Georgia for the murder of a white woman 20 years ago.

Fults was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to shooting Cathy Bounds five times in the back of the head.

But eight years later, an investigator working with his lawyers spoke to a juror in the case, Thomas Buffington, aged 79 at the time, who used a racial slur when referring to Fults.

"Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that`s what that nigger deserved," Buffington, who has since died, told the lawyer under oath.

Georgia`s State Board for Pardons and Paroles was to rule Monday on an appeal for clemency filed by Fults` lawyers in which they highlight allegations of racial bias but also characterize him as intellectually impaired and the product of a violent, neglectful childhood.

Should that fail, his last resort would be an intervention by the Supreme Court, which rejected a previous appeal by his lawyers` last year. His lawyers have asked the court to take up the case again.

The Fults case has drawn relatively little media attention in the United States -- partly because the allegations of bias surfaced long after the trial.

But on April 22 the Supreme Court rules on whether to take up a much higher-profile case -- that of Duane Buck -- which involves similar allegations of racial bias in the trial process.

Buck was sentenced to die in Texas in 1997 for shooting dead his ex-girlfriend and a friend, in front of her children.

His attorneys do not dispute his conviction for the double murder, but they argue that racial considerations entered into his sentencing, infringing his rights under the US Constitution which guarantees the right to an impartial jury.During the 1997 hearing, psychologist Walter Quijano testified that blacks pose a greater risk of "future dangerousness" than whites.

Under Texas law, a person can be sentenced to death only if shown to pose a danger to society and the prosecutor cited this testimony in asking for capital punishment.

"This was a case that did not have an enormous amount of evidence speaking to the question of future dangerousness," said Christina Swarns, litigation director at the legal defense fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"Mr Buck did not have prior convictions for violence, so having this expert in the field saying that because of his race he was going to be dangerous in the future, it clearly had a very profound impact on the jury."

The Supreme Court has intervened once before in Buck`s case, granting a stay hours before his scheduled execution in September 2011.

At the time, several of the justices qualified as "bizarre and objectionable" the testimony of the psychologist, but the court stopped short of agreeing to review the case.The Court`s decision this month whether or not to take up the now-emblematic case comes as the vacancy left by the death of one of its nine justices, Antonin Scalia, has created a likelihood of split 4-4 rulings.

Both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have now published editorials calling for Buck to be granted a new trial.

"A man was sentenced to death at least in part because of his race -- a violation of his constitutional rights," wrote the Los Angeles Times in urging the Supreme Court to grant him a hearing.

Both papers highlighted the fact that other men sentenced to die in cases involving testimony by the same psychologist were granted fresh hearings. But Buck`s death sentence still stands because of a procedural error by his lawyers.

Advocates for Buck also cite strong evidence of prejudice in Harris County, Texas, where he was sentenced and which accounts for nine percent of all capital penalty sentences meted out in the United States.

Studies have shown Harris County prosecutors were three times more likely to seek the death penalty against African Americans than against white defendants between 1992 and 1999. Juries in the county were also more than twice as likely to impose capital punishment on African Americans.

Kate Black, a member of Burk`s defense team, invokes his good conduct during 18 years in jail as a further argument in his favor.

"If Mr Buck is given a new, fair sentencing hearing the jury will see that he has not posed any future danger and has in fact been a model prisoner," she told AFP.

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Al-Nasriya: Two elderly men in chequered headdresses, a Syrian army officer and a Russian colonel sat at a plastic table by a desert road signing sheets of paper.

"In the name of Allah the most merciful" read a Russian translation of the agreement, with the title "Application form to join the cessation of hostilities" printed across the top.

The ceremony -- performed on Saturday in front of the cameras of journalists on a Russian army press tour -- appeared to see the village of Al-Nasriya, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Damascus, become the latest location in Syria to have a local truce agreed between government and opposition groups.

In September, Russia launched a massive military campaign to support long-time ally President Bashar al-Assad.

Since then, Moscow has mediated several local truces. Along with Washington, it also brokered a ceasefire for the whole country, which has largely held since coming into force on February 27.

"Russia is acting as a mediator," said Yury Zrayev, leader of the Russian team overseeing the implementation of the six-week ceasefire around Damascus.

"The signing of an agreement for this territory took a long time to work out and required a huge amount of work," Zrayev told journalists.

"It was good that your arrival coincided with the signing. Even though up until yesterday (Friday) we didn`t know if anyone would show up."

AFP could not independently confirm that the men presented as town elders who signed the agreement -- which also commits the Syrian army to halt hostilities against the village -- really represented the local population. But the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict, said separately that a truce deal was meant to be signed in the area where army positions are some three kilometres from civilian areas.

"I`d like very much to talk about the situation here but they won`t let me," one local man said hurriedly in halting Russian, gesturing towards a Kalashnikov-wielding Syrian soldier who then escorted him away from journalists.

A rebel group in the area -- which the Russian military said attacked a Syrian army base nearby a few days earlier -- does not appear to have signed up to the ceasefire.

Some seven weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin hammered out the truce deal with US President Barack Obama and four weeks since he ordered a partial withdrawal from Syria, Moscow has positioned itself as the key peacemaker on the ground in the war-torn country.

So far Russian forces say some 60 different towns and villages and 50 rebel groups have signed truces with the government forces Moscow backs, halting clashes across swathes of the country.

"If before it was simply about fighting then now our main focus has switched to the peace process," Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told AFP.

Far from the conflict zone, Moscow`s diplomats are also lead players in pushing UN-mediated peace talks between the regime and opposition forces but have fiercely batted away all calls for Assad to step aside.

The Kremlin insists the West just needs to focus on ending a tragic five-year war that has killed more than 270,000 people so attention can then switch fully to tackling the threat of extremist organisations such as the Islamic State group.But critics caution that after shoring up Assad`s crumbling forces with its firepower and battering the opposition, Russia is now trying to freeze the conflict on the ground in Damascus`s favour and avoid getting sucked into a protracted conflict.

On a day-to-day basis, Russian troops in Syria are also meant to be in charge of monitoring the fragile truce -- which has seen daily violations.

Working in coordination with a parallel American centre based 400 kilometres away in the Jordanian capital Amman, Russian forces at Moscow`s Hmeimim air base say they receive calls and information tipping them off about new truce breaches.

Every day they release a tally of the violations -- one day four incidents, another five -- almost uniformly blamed on rebel groups and not government forces.

Over the past week their warnings have grown louder about rising violence around Aleppo where they say Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra -- which like IS is not covered by the ceasefire -- has subsumed rebel groups in areas the US insists are off-limits to bombing.

Such warnings are echoed by Moscow`s allies in the capital Damascus -- despite allegations from opponents that government forces have also breached the truce.

Addressing journalists in a conference room adorned with Assad`s portrait, Syria`s reconciliation minister Ali Haidar blamed the Americans for refusing to agree a system to react to groups that fail to maintain the truce.

"We want the cessation of hostilities to be permanent, not just temporary," he said.

"There are a lot of violations and at any moment it could collapse."
Moscow: There are no plans to storm the Syrian city of Aleppo despite thousands of Al-Nusra militants massing around the city, the Russian military general staff, which is providing air support to the Syrian army, said on Monday.

Fighting between rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and forces loyal to Damascus has flared around Aleppo in recent weeks, threatening a fragile ceasefire in the run-up to the a new round of peace talks on the conflict.

Sergei Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff`s main operations command, said around 9,500 Al-Nusra fighters had gathered to the south-west and north of Aleppo and were planning a large-scale offensive to cut the city off from the Syrian capital of Damascus.

"All actions of the Syrian military and Russian air force are directed at disrupting the plans of Jabhat al-Nusra. No storming of the city of Aleppo is planned," he said.

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaki said on Sunday the Russian air force and Syrian military were preparing a joint operation to take full control of Aleppo from rebel forces. Half of the city, Syria`s largest before the war, has been in rebel hands for years.

Syrian media reported a large build-up of troops and equipment by the Syrian army and its allies around Aleppo on Monday, with the pro-Damascus al-Mayadeen TV station reporting it had seen tanks and rocket launchers heading towards the city.


Beirut: A senior Iranian official for women`s and family affairs has been summoned to court after saying a village near notorious drug smuggling routes where all the men had been executed could turn to contraband to survive.

Shahindokht Molaverdi, vice president for women and family affairs, has been called to answer charges of spreading lies based on a complaint by officials in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, a judiciary spokesman said on Sunday.

The case stems from comments she made in February alleging that all the men in a single village in the province had been executed and their remaining family members needed support because they were all "potential smugglers".

Sistan-Baluchistan province borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan and has long been a shipment route for drugs smuggled from those countries into Iran.

Iranian authorities frequently execute smugglers on drug charges but it was not clear if the men Molaverdi mentioned were put to death for taking part in the illegal trade.

The spokesman did not specify when Molaverdi must appear in court or what sentence she could face if found guilty.
Damascus: The UN peace envoy to Syria said Monday in Damascus that an upcoming round of negotiations in Geneva aimed at ending the country`s five-year war would be "crucially important".

Staffan de Mistura`s comments came as offensives by Syria`s Al-Qaeda affiliate and allied rebels triggered a spike in violence that could endanger the negotiations.

"The Geneva talks` next phase are crucially important because we will be focusing in particular on the political transition, on governance and constitutional principles," de Mistura told reporters after meeting Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.

"We hope and plan to make them constructive and we plan to make them concrete," the envoy said.

Scheduled to resume on Wednesday, the Geneva talks are aimed at ending a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since it erupted in March 2011.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution in December that paved the way for the talks and called for elections in Syria to be held 18 months after a transitional government is agreed.

The fate of President Bashar al-Assad is a major sticking point, however.

While the opposition insists Assad can play no role in a future transitional government, the regime says voters should decide his fate.

According to state news agency SANA, Muallem confirmed the government delegation was ready for the next round of peace talks.

"Muallem reaffirmed in his meeting with de Mistura the Syrian position on the political solution to the crisis and the commitment to Syrian dialogue under Syrian leadership, without pre-conditions," the agency said.

De Mistura said he had also discussed with Muallem a shaky ceasefire in place since February 27.

"We did raise and discuss the importance of protecting and maintaining and supporting the cessation of hostilities which is fragile but is there, and we need to make sure that it continues to be sustained even when there are incidents to be contained," said the envoy, who spoke in English.

The truce, which was brokered by the United States and Russia, does not include areas where the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group and Al-Qaeda`s affiliate Al-Nusra Front are present.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday that Al-Nusra Front and allied militia were pressing offensives around northern, central and coastal Syria.

"Al-Nusra and allied rebel groups are waging three synchronised offensives" on front lines in Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

So far, they have seized a hilltop in Latakia province, the heartland of Assad`s Alawite sect, the group said.

A military source confirmed that an offensive was under way.

"Armed groups are trying to attack some military positions in Latakia and Hama provinces, but they have not succeeded in making any advances," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

IS took back control on Monday of the town of Al-Rai near Turkey that had been captured by rebels last week, according to the Observatory.

"The fact that the rebels could not hold on to Al-Rai shows that it is impossible to maintain an advance against IS without adequate air cover," Abdel Rahman said.

De Mistura and Muallem also discussed humanitarian aid access to besieged areas, the envoy said.

The envoy also hailed the UN World Food Programme`s "promising" first successful airdrop on Sunday on Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, where 200,000 people live under IS siege.

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United Nations: In a departure from 70 years of secrecy, candidates for United Nations secretary-general will this week make campaign-style pitches to the General Assembly as it hopes to influence the private Security Council poll that picks the winner.

The search for a successor to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon - a former South Korean foreign minister who steps down at the end of the 2016 after two five-year terms - has also sparked a push by more than a quarter of UN states for the organization`s first female leader.

While the 15-member Security Council will formally recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly for election as the eighth UN secretary-general later this year, the General Assembly vote has long been seen as a rubber stamp.

The council`s veto powers, the United States, Russia, Britain, China and France, must agree on the nominee. That effectively makes the five veto-power countries kingmakers - or queenmakers.

After changes instituted by the General Assembly last year, the list of candidates is for the first time public with nomination letters and candidate resumes posted online.

In another first, the eight candidates who have so far been nominated will hold town hall meetings with the General Assembly on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They will each pitch their credentials and answer questions in a two-hour session.

On the surface, it is a shift towards democratization of a secretive process controlled by the five veto powers.

But there is no requirement for the five to pay attention to the popularity of candidates with the General Assembly, and the winner could still be selected in a backroom Security Council deal as has been the case for seven decades.

When asked if the meetings could have any influence over the veto-power countries, Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: "It might."

"For us it`s important to hear what others think, and I`m sure they will not be shying away (from) telling us who they like, so it`s going to be an interesting process," said Churkin.

But there will be no vote or informal polls by the General Assembly to signal to the Security Council who the favoured candidates might be.

"Even the biggest of powers need friends and a majority of their friends are actually asking for a much more open process where they get real influence," Mogens Lykketoft, the Danish diplomat who is president of the General Assembly, said in an interview.

Diplomats say that privately Russia has shown no enthusiasm for the new transparency, and it views the town hall meetings as irrelevant. Moscow`s main interest, they said, is ensuring the UN chief comes from Eastern Europe, in line with an informal tradition of rotating the post between regions.

The council will likely hold its first "straw poll" - an informal vote - behind closed doors in July and aims to have a decision by September so the General Assembly can elect the next UN chief in October.

At least 56 countries, led by Colombia, and several civil society groups want the world body`s first female secretary-general since its creation at the end of World War Two. Even US President Barack Obama is being lobbied by a group of senators who want him to push for a woman.
Washington: A US Navy flight officer with knowledge of sensitive American intelligence collection methods faces espionage charges over suspicions he passed secret information to Taiwan and possibly to China, US officials said.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and later became a naturalized US citizen, according to a Navy article profiling him in 2008.

Lin was a flight officer assigned to the Special Projects Patrol Squadron, with experience managing the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft, officials said.

Information about how the US Navy carries out such signals collection operations could be highly valuable to a foreign government.

A heavily redacted Navy charge sheet twice accused the suspect of communicating secret information and three times of attempting to do so "with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation."

The suspect was also accused of engaging in prostitution and adultery.

The document was redacted to blot out Lin`s name and did not identify what foreign country or countries were involved. The US officials said both Taiwan and China were possibly those countries but stressed the investigation was still ongoing.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed that a Navy officer was in custody on espionage charges at Navy Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia but declined to offer additional information.

A US official told Reuters that Lin was apprehended at an airport in Hawaii, possibly while attempting to leave the country. He has been held in pretrial confinement for the past eight months or so, US officials said.

The US Navy profiled Lin in a 2008 article that focused on his naturalization as a U.S. citizen, saying his family left Taiwan when he was 14 and stopped in different countries before coming to America.

"I always dreamt about coming to America, the `promised land,`" he said. "I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland."

The Navy`s article can be seen here: http://1.usa.gov/1SIEJDe

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he was not aware of the details of the case. He did not elaborate. China`s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan`s Defense Ministry said it had no information on the case. Taiwan`s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

Lin enlisted in the Navy in 1999 and held a variety of positions over his 17-year carrier, including working on the staff of an assistant secretary of the Navy from 2012 to 2013. He served on the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Eisenhower from 2009 to 2010.
Hiroshima: The United States is prepared to "ratchet up" pressure on North Korea after its latest provocations but remains open to talks, US Secretary of State John Kerry said today.

"It is still possible we will ratchet up (the pressure) even more depending on the actions of the DPRK (North Korea)," Kerry told reporters after a G7 meeting in Hiroshima.

"But we have made it clear... We are prepared to negotiate a peace treaty" on the Korean peninsula, he said, repeating that such a move would depend on North Korea's denuclearisation.

Kerry had said in February that a denuclearised North Korea could one day enter talks with Washington on a treaty formally ending the Korean War of 1950-53.

The conflict ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty. The US insists that Pyongyang must denuclearise as a condition for talks on a peace pact.

The State Department confirmed in February that Pyongyang had reached out to Washington in a tentative bid to discuss a treaty, but said its January nuclear test had derailed the initiative.

The North said Saturday said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile that would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland.

It was the latest in a series of claims of significant breakthroughs in nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
Washinton: The United States is "very, very concerned" about an increase in Syrian violence just ahead of planned peace talks in Geneva this week, a State Department spokesman said on Monday, blaming Syrian government forces for the escalation in fighting.

"We are very, very concerned about the recent increase in violence and that includes actions that are in contravention of the cessation of hostilities," spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing.

He said Secretary of State John Kerry conveyed the USconcerns in a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Sunday.

"We would say that the vast majority of violations have been on the part of the regime," Toner said when asked who was to blame for violations.

Kerry wanted to make sure that in the next days leading up to peace talks "every extra effort is made in order to sustain and solidify the cessation of hostilities," Toner said.

Washington`s worries come as the Syrian army appeared to send reinforcements to the ancient city of Aleppo, threatening a fragile truce in the run-up to the second round of peace negotiations.

The ceasefire was agreed in February between the United States, which backs Syrian opposition groups, and Russia, which together with Iran supports the Syrian government.

UN-sponsored talks aimed at ending the five-year conflict are meant to resume on Wednesday. The first round made little progress with no sign of compromise over the thorniest issue, the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Toner said the United States wanted to make sure that opposition forces were not attacked as the Syrian army seeks to take Aleppo.

"If they are attacking members of the Syrian opposition who have signed on to the cessation of hostilities, then those are violations of the cessation of hostility," Toner said, adding: "We need greater clarity what is actually planned, who are they targeting."


Aden: A truce aimed at ending more than a year of war in Yemen appeared to be largely holding on Monday, although residents said fighting was still going on in parts of the country.

The UN-brokered ceasefire is meant to precede peace talks in a country that has become the face of rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It seemed to be holding up despite "pockets of violence", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

Artillery fire, gun battles and air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition were reported across Yemen, but a spokesman for the Iranian-allied Houthi movement said on Monday the group would respect the cessation of hostilities.

"We express our condemnation of air strikes and the military advances made in some fronts since this morning," Mohammed Abdel-Salam said in a statement on his Facebook page.

The Houthis said they had set up committees in six provinces to prevent escalation and coordinate aid efforts with the United Nations.

Earlier on Monday, the Yemeni government and its Houthi adversaries blamed each other for violence in the city of Taiz. Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV accused the Houthis of launching a ballistic missile, in violation of the truce.

The Soviet-era Tochka missile was fired into the battle-scarred northern desert province of al-Jawf but was intercepted in mid-air, the network reported.

Residents reported air attacks in support of government forces in the provinces of Taiz, al-Jawf and on the outskirts of Sanaa, the capital.

"There`s continuous shelling in the downtown and the suburbs, and we can hear explosions across the city," said Jameel Abdo Ahmed, a civil servant in the battered frontline city of Taiz. Another resident said: "Nothing`s changed."

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports of continued air strikes.

UN-sponsored peace talks are set to begin on April 18 in Kuwait, bringing together the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government. The Houthis forced the government out of the Sanaa in 2014, in what they called a revolution against corruption.

Saudi Arabia and its allies from the Sunni Muslim Gulf states began a military campaign in March last year to prevent the Houthis and forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the whole country.

The Saudi-led coalition expelled enemy fighters from the southern port city of Aden in July, but Houthi forces continue to hold the capital and tracts of the country, with the help of Saleh loyalists. More than 6,200 Yemenis have been killed in the war.

The Saudis fear the Houthis, who belong to a Shi`ite sect, will spread the influence of Iran, their Shi`ite rival, in the Arabian Peninsula.

The United Nations special envoy for Yemen said a committee of military representatives from both sides would work to make the truce hold.

"Now is the time to step back from the brink," Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.

The truce terms included commitments for unhindered access for relief aid. Nearly half of Yemen`s 22 provinces are on the verge of famine, the UN World Food Programme has said.

The foreign minister in the Saudi-backed government, Abdel Malek al-Mekhlafi, told al-Arabiya TV: "This truce is in its early stages, violations may occur in the beginning, but we hope the next few hours will see more discipline towards the ceasefire."
[Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signs a guest book as he meets with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) at the United Nations (UN) headquarters on March 16, 2016 in New York City / Spencer Platt/Getty Images]



The United Nations (UN) upcoming assembly on drugs, its first in 18 years, comes at a key time for Canada as the countrys opioid crisis worsens and several cities seek to open safe injection sites.

Canada will be going there with the intention of promoting some particular key policy options within that forum, Donald MacPherson, executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, tells Yahoo Canada News. I think theyre going to be promoting the issue that we need to take a public health approach to drugs.



Alongside other countries, Canada is expected to take a more progressive approach to combatting drug use and its associated harms at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, which will run April 19 to 21 at the UN Headquarters in New York City.



Harm reduction is here to stay, MacPherson says. Canadas drug regulation approach is going to grow around the world, as countries start to explore different options.



The governments support of harm reduction and the legalization of cannabis was made clear last month at the latest Session of the Commission of Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, MacPherson says.

The meeting allowed the Liberal government to show how their approach to narcotics and addiction differs from that of the previous Conservative government.

Theyre definitely much clearer on their strategy and a much stronger voice around public health, human rights, harm reduction, MacPherson says.



Under former prime minister Stephen Harper, the government fought to close the Insite supervised injection clinic in Vancouver, despite its recognition as a leader in harm reduction. The government also refused to allow similar clinics to open across the country, even after Insite won a Supreme Court judgement in 2011, allowing it to stay open.

Story continues

The current Liberal government has signalled its support for harm reduction measures several times, even before winning the election last fall. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has voiced his support for safe injection clinics across the country, and the government approved a second Vancouver clinic in January. Clinics in other Canadian cities are in various stages of development.

But a clear position from Canadas government wont necessarily be embraced by other countries attending the UN meeting, MacPherson says.

In the next few years, the UN has a real problem on its hands trying to deal with the lack of consensus on this issue, he says. The New York meeting should be the start of a real discussion on dealing with narcotics, as the UN heads towards developing its next political declaration on the global drug problem in 2019.

The next three years are going to be critical in developing the policies on the ground, MacPherson says.



He hopes the lack of consensus will have the positive effect of sparking new discussions. Surely to god we can start to talk about those things at the UN, but [currently] you cant.
By Luciana Lopez NEW YORK (Reuters) - Defying opinion polls and expert predictions, Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders aims to seize the party's White House nomination from Hillary Clinton's grasp with a last-ditch come-from-behind triumph in California. By far the most populous U.S. state, California is the largest prize of the state-by-state nominating contests, and the vote on June 7 is one of the last before Democrats convene in July to select a nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election. An aggressive schedule of large rallies is planned along with heavy purchases of TV, radio and online advertising in three languages and a "far, far more expensive" campaign effort than in any other state, Sanders campaign sources disclosed. "I think theyre still riding rainbow unicorns if they think theres a path," said Steve Schale, a Florida-based strategist, of Sanders' bid for the White House. California has been a reliable source of campaign funds for Clinton, and opinion polls show her ahead there by as many as 14 percentage points. The statistical analysis media site FiveThirtyEight gives her a 91 percent chance of winning the state primary. The Sanders campaign push aims to net as much as a 10-point win in California, helping him deny the front-running Clinton the 2,383 convention delegates she needs to clinch the nomination and give him the momentum to force a contested convention where he can try to win over the "superdelegates," those not decided by a state nominating contest and free to support anyone, the campaign sources said. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, has eroded Clintons lead in California, according to a Field Poll released on Friday. Clinton led Sanders by only 6 points in that survey, down from a double-digit lead earlier this year. 'BARNSTORM THE PLACE' With California what were going to do is something that (Sanders) really likes to do: Barnstorm the place, said Tad Devine, Sanders' senior adviser, acknowledging Sanders' underdog status against Clinton, the former secretary of state. That means two or three large-scale rallies a day for weeks, possibly starting in late April to target early voters, he said. Such rallies are a sweet spot for the 74-year-old New York-born democratic socialist's firebrand speaking style championing the working class and vowing to erase economic inequality. At a late March event in The Bronx, he drew 18,500 people. Clinton leads in pledged convention delegates - those allocated to candidates on the basis of the state primaries and caucuses - with 1,287 to 1,037 for Sanders. A candidate needs 2,383 delegates to clinch the nomination. California has 475 delegates, to be divided proportionally according to the June 7 primary vote. The Clinton campaign plans to put up a fight. Local and national surrogates will speak out in English and Spanish and staff will beef up offices up and down the West Coast as the California vote nears, her campaign said. We're fighting for every vote by talking to Californians about why Hillary Clinton is the only candidate in this race who will break down the barriers that hold people back and deliver real results, Amanda Renteria, Hillary for America national political director, said in a statement to Reuters. Headed into the June 7 primary, our volunteers and supporters are knocking on doors and hitting the phones to share with friends, family and neighbors Hillary Clinton's plans to create more good-paying jobs in California, keep our streets safe from gun violence, protect our environment, reform our immigration system and ensure all Californians have access to a good education and quality affordable health care. Sanders has won seven of the last eight state nominating battles but faces a potentially rougher road in big states like New York, where Clinton was a U.S. senator and which holds an April 19 primary. 'HUGELY EXPENSIVE' Sanders aims to overcome the edge that Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, has enjoyed with minorities. Larry Cohen, a senior adviser to the campaign, said the campaign aims to match or outdo the 10,000 volunteers it enlisted in New York by drawing on the Labor for Bernie volunteer group, local and national unions and other groups. Well certainly do Spanish-language advertising, Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver said. Devine said that Vietnamese was also part of the plan. The languages are nods to California's large populations of Latino and Asian voters. Weaver compared California to Michigan, where Sanders notched a surprise win in early March after advertising in Arabic to woo the state's heavy concentration of Muslims. The campaign has yet to set a budget for California, but given the state's size, the effort will be hugely expensive - far, far more expensive than any other state that weve done, Weaver said. In California so far, the campaign has raised about $9.8 million from more than 26,000 donors, the most Sanders has received from any one state, according to a Reuters analysis of campaign finance disclosures. Clinton has raked in significant sums also in California. An analysis of campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission indicate her campaign raised $26,687,011.37 from donors in California from the time she entered the race in 2015 until the end of February. (Additional reporting by Grant Smith and Ginger Gibson; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Howard Goller)
Canadian businessmen Salim Alaradi, detained in the United Arab Emirates for 593 days now, will learn his fate May 30.

Alaradi, originally from Libya, was taken from a hotel room in August 2014 and has been in custody ever since.

He had been charged with funding and co-operating with terrorist organizations in Libya, according to Ottawa lawyer Paul Champ, who was hired by the Alaradi family in Canada.

Those charges were dropped in March and Alaradi was instead charged with collecting donations without permission of the appropriate ministry and sending them to a foreign country, Champ previously said.

Alaradi's defence team in the U.A.E. made their closing arguments Monday, according to a news release issued by the family.

The presiding judges have scheduled their final verdict for May 30, the release said.

According to Champ, the businessman manufactures appliances in the U.A.E. and sells them in the Middle East and Africa.

Alaradi's family lives in Windsor, Ont.

UN human rights experts earlier this year demanded that the U.A.E. immediately release Alaradi and other Libyans, including U.S. dual nationals Kamal Ahmed al-Darrat and Mohamed Kamal al-Darrat, who were allegedly subjected to waterboarding, electric shocks and lockups in a freezer over the last year and a half.
Keith Allen Harward, convicted of a 1982 murder and rape in Newport News, Virginia, is seen in an undated picture released by the Virginia Department of Corrections. REUTERS/Virginia Department of Corrections/Handout via Reuters (Reuters)

By Gary Robertseon

RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - Virginia's top court on Thursday ordered the release of a former U.S. sailor who has spent 33 years in prison, because new DNA evidence showed he did not murder a Newport News man and rape the man's wife in 1982.

Keith Allen Harward, 60, was convicted on the basis of testimony by two experts who said they matched his teeth to bite marks found on the rape victim's legs. The reliability of bite marks as evidence in a criminal trial has increasingly come under challenge in recent years.

The decision, by the Virginia State Court, came a day after the state's attorney general, Mark Herring, said he believed Harward was innocent.

"It's just heartbreaking to think that more than half of his life was spent behind bars when he didn't belong there," Herring said. "The Commonwealth can't give him back those years, but we can say that we got it wrong, that we're sorry, and that we're working to make it right."

The DNA found at the scene matched that of Jerry Crotty, who died in an Ohio prison in 2006, Herring said.

Crotty had been a Navy shipmate of Harward's at the time of the murder and rape, according to The Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic that handles cases in which post-conviction DNA testing of evidence can result in conclusive proof of innocence.

(Editing by Scott Malone)
Inuit employees working for the Government of Nunavut make on average $20,000 less than non-Inuit workers, according to a report by the territory's Department of Finance.

The salary discrepancy is a sign more Inuit require further training, says the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

The Public Service Annual Report for 2014/2015 tabled in the winter sitting of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly breaks down the average salaries for 3,400 full-time public servants working for the territory.

The report shows about a $20,000 difference between what an average female Nunavut Land Claims beneficiary earns ($79,480) compared with a non-beneficiary female employee ($99,042).

A beneficiary male ($82,376) earns on average $20,000 less than a non-Inuit male ($102,569).

"There's a huge salary disparity," said NTI president Cathy Towtongie.

"That's why it's crucial for Inuit to gain these skill sets so the salary levels will follow them."

Half of full-time Government of Nunavut employees are beneficiaries, a figure consistent since 2009 according to the report and far short of the territory's goal of reaching a workforce that's 85 per cent Inuit by 2020.

Inuit men are proportionately under-represented, making up less than 12 per cent of the Government of Nunavut workforce, something Towtongie hopes to change.

"How do we target Inuit men who are less employed?" Towtongie said. "That's what we're looking at."

The Makigiaqta Inuit Training Corporation is working on a plan to train, retain and encourage more Inuit to enter the workforce in a territory with a massive unemployment rate.

Unemployment among Inuit in Nunavut was 22.8 per cent in March.

The training corporation is made up of leaders at NTI, the three regional Inuit associations, Nunavut's premier and the territory's minister of education. It was created out of a $255 million settlement agreement between NTI and the federal and territorial governments in 2015.

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"We are all working in unity to ensure Inuit beneficiaries are given opportunities, but at the same time, we don't want to set them up for failure," Towtongie said.

Beneficiary-only jobs

One way to get more Inuit working with the territory is a policy introduced in September 2015 restricting some Nunavut government job postings to beneficiaries only.

"Only those that are enrolled under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement would screen in or have the opportunity to screen in for that particular competition," said Virginia Lloyd, associate deputy minister at Nunavut's Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Lloyd says the territory is also looking at what it can do to fill its 1,141 vacant full-time positions with Inuit employees.

The territory is trying to identify what it can do to bring potential employees into the workforce, part of an Inuit employment plan it's working on putting together this year with NTI and the federal government.

"Knowing that there is a high interest from Inuit to work within the Government of Nunavut is very encouraging and motivational for us to ensure we provide all opportunities," Lloyd said.
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria accused France on Thursday of crossing a "red line" after French newspaper Le Monde published a front-page picture of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika among leaders it said were named in the Panama Papers leaks. The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm have put the offshore wealth of politicians and public figures under worldwide scrutiny. Just days before a visit by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Algeria summoned the French ambassador on Wednesday to complain that French media reports on the issue were a "malicious campaign". Valls starts a two-day visit to Algiers on Saturday to discuss trade ties and investment opportunities. Algeria, an OPEC member, is seeking to diversify its economy away from oil and gas. Algeria fought a war of independence through 1962. Paris has declined to apologize for the colonial past. Interior Minister Nouredine Bedoui on Thursday described the summons as an "appropriate reaction" to the media coverage of Bouteflika. "It is our duty as Algerians not to tolerate harming our symbols and constitutional institutions," the official news agency APS quoted him as saying. "This a red line." Documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca have raised public outrage over how the world's rich and powerful are able to stash wealth and avoid taxes. (Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
By Samia Nakhoul CAIRO (Reuters)- - As the Syria peace talks resume next week, President Bashar al-Assad, backed militarily by Iran and Russia, shows no willingness to compromise, much less step aside to allow a transition Western powers claim is the solution to the conflict. Threatened by rebel advances last year, Assad is now pumped up with confidence after Russian air strikes reversed the tide and enabled his army to recover lost ground from Sunni insurgents as well as the jihadis of Islamic State. While Syria experts doubt he can recapture the whole country without an unlikely full-scale ground intervention by Russia and Iran, they also doubt President Vladimir Putin will force him out - unless there is a clear path to stability, which could take years. Instead, Russias dramatic military intervention last September -- after five years of inconclusive fighting between Assad and fragmented rebel groups mostly from Syrias Sunni majority -- has tilted the balance of power in his favour and given him the upper hand at the talks in Geneva. The main target of the Russian air force bombardment was mainstream and Islamist forces that launched an offensive last summer. Only recently have Russia and Syrian forces taken the fight to Islamic State, notably by recapturing Palmyra, the Graeco-Roman city the jihadis overran last year. The Russian campaign, backed by Irans Revolutionary Guards and Shiite militia such as Lebanons Hezbollah, has for now outmatched the rebels, including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and units supported by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States. REBELS LOSE MOMENTUM Dealing with those groups rather than Islamic State seemed the main aim of Moscow's intervention, analysts say. "The Russian intervention fundamentally reshaped the Syrian conflict," says Kheder Khaddour from the Carnegie Middle East Center. "The momentum of the rebels does not exist any more." Putin, diplomats say, weakened the opposition to coax it into accepting a settlement on Russian and Syrian terms. That does not mean the "transitional authority" sought by the U.S. and its allies, but a government expanded to include elements of the opposition, with Assad at its head for the immediate future. Russia still wants Assad to lead the transition to the elections, while the opposition and its regional allies, including the United States and Europe, insist he should step down. So far no compromises are in sight. "We need things to advance in the coming weeks. If the political process is just about putting a few opposition people in nominal cabinet posts then this isn't going to go very far," said a European diplomat close to the talks.. "If there isn't a political transition the civil war will continue and Islamic State will benefit from it," he said. Fawaz Gerges, author of ISIS: A History, said: "At this point the Russians have the upper hand in dictating a solution. The Americans are playing on Russias playing field." UNCERTAINTY His judgment is underlined by Sergei Lavrov, Russias foreign minister, who boasted in a recent interview that "the Americans understand they can do nothing without Russia. They can no longer solve serious problems on their own". Yet uncertainty surrounds Moscows intentions, after Putin suddenly withdrew part of his forces from Syria last month. That led to speculation among Assad's enemies that Russia was contemplating whether to ditch Assad  an outcome many Syria watchers find highly improbable. "The key issue remains when and if the Russians will act to facilitate this transition. It's unclear, and we get the feeling that the recent talks didn't change much in the Russian position," the European diplomat said. "I don't think the upcoming round will reach any real decisions on the political process, he added. Gerges says the partial pull-back sent a message to the Americans that Russia is a rational and credible force that is interested in a diplomatic settlement. It was also intended as a jolt to Assad, by then so emboldened at the way Russia and Iran had transformed his weak position that he was announcing plans to recapture all of Syria. "The message to the Assad regime was that Russia doesnt play by Assads playbook, it doesnt want to get down in Syrias quagmire (but) wants to cut its losses," Gerges believes. But it is far from clear that Assad interprets these messages the same way. Last month, he dismissed any notion of a transition from the current structure, as agreed by international powers, calling instead for "national unity" solution with some elements of the opposition joining the present government. "The transition period must be under the current constitution, and we will move on to the new constitution after the Syrian people vote for it," Assad told Russia's Sputnik news agency. ASSAD "WILL NOT GO QUIETLY" Faisal al-Yafai, a leading commentator from the United Arab Emirates, says Russia "played its cards in Syria very cleverly, but miscalculated in one aspect". "They assumed that once the (Assad) regime felt secure, it would be more willing to negotiate. In fact, the opposite has happened. "Theres a limit to the pressure that Russia can exert on Assad. Assad absolutely will not go quietly -- and certainly not when there is no real alternative to him, even within the regime," says al-Yafai. Robert Ford, the former U.S. ambassador to Syria and now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, agrees that Russia may not be able to compel Assad to go. The secret police backbone of Assads rule remains intact, he says, and "Assad seems confident again, after his much more sober tone last summer. The Russians may have helped him too much, such that Assad can maintain control of key cities and roads for a long time". Ford also drew attention to the competition over Syria between Russia and Iran, Assads two main allies. Moscows emphasis is on its traditional relations with the Syrian military establishment, while Tehran focusses on the militia network it built with Hezbollah to shore up the regime. Assad is plenty smart to know how to play one country off against the other. I am not even sure Russia would test its heavy pressure capacity against that of Iran in Damascus. The Russians know they might lose", Ford said. Russias involvement in Syria has given it greater insight into the structure of the Assad rule, constructed to intermesh the Assad family and allies from its minority Alawite community with the security services and military command. ASSAD BUOYANT Khaddour from Carnegie says Russia now realises the circumstances for a transition do not yet exist, because removing Assad might unravel the whole power structure. "There is a problem within the regime. It is not capable of producing an alternative to itself internally," says Khaddour, adding the only concession it has made  simply to turn up in Geneva  was the result of Russian pressure. With limits to Russian and Iranian influence on a newly buoyant Assad, few believe the Geneva talks will bring peace. "If the Russians felt it was time for a solution they would have reached an understanding with the Americans to give up on Assad without giving up on the Alawites. The circumstances are not ripe yet for a solution," says Sarkis Naoum, a leading commentator on Syria. The diplomat added: "The fundamental question is still whether the Russians are serious and want this to happen." "Nobody knows what's in their mind and I'm not sure they even know." (Additional reporting by John Irish; Editing by Giles Elgood)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Friday handed over more than 1,100 pages of records to the committee investigating the deaths of U.S. citizens in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, the chairman of the House of Representatives panel said. The records included files from senior employees during the time Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, according to a statement by Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy. "It is deplorable that it took over a year for these records to be produced to our committee, and that our Democrat colleagues never lifted a finger to help us get them," Gowdy, a Republican, said in the statement. Democrats have complained since the investigation began that the panel is a partisan project bent on hurting Clinton's candidacy. (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Chris Reese and Diane Craft)
Admissions

San Mateo College District Automates to Recruit International Students

The Northern California community college district will use Enrollment Rx to streamline its application and admissions processes for prospective international students.

California's San Mateo County Community College District will now use a constituent relationship management (CRM) system from Enrollment Rx to streamline and automate the application process for prospective international students. Built on Salesforce.com, the cloud-based product primarily focuses on digitizing student applicant information and managing communication with those contacts.

With San Mateo's previous system, application and admissions data had to be entered manually, increasing both the need for staff and the potential for error. The new system should free up admissions staff time so they can devote more resources to recruiting international students and better manage third-party entities involved with their recruitment. The 40,000-student district is also implementing a customized self-service portal designed to offer a personalized experience while reducing e-mails and calls to the school.

"We're banking on [the new systems] to completely transform how we engage with international students," said Vice Chancellor Eugene Whitlock.

In addition, staff members at all three of the district's campuses (Canada College in Redwood City, College of San Mateo in San Mateo and Skyline College in San Bruno) will have access to the centralized system for data access, sharing and reporting.
By Amina Ismail and Ahmed Aboulenein CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's announcement during a five-day visit by King Salman that it would transfer two Red Sea islands to its Saudi ally has outraged Egyptians, who took to social media to criticize the move, which now faces a legal challenge. The Egyptian government said in a statement on Saturday that the two countries had signed maritime demarcation accords that put the islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters, a process it said had taken six years. Saudi and Egyptian officials said the islands belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud, asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them. But the accord, which still needs ratification by Egypt's parliament, caused consternation among Egyptians, many who said they were taught in school the islands were theirs. The hashtag "Awad sold his land" trended on Twitter after the announcement, referring to a song about an Egyptian who sold his land, seen as a shameful act. Egypt has struggled to restore economic growth since the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-rule. Saudi Arabia, which opposes the Muslim Brotherhood, has showered Egypt with billions of dollars in aid since general-turned-President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted elected President Mohammed Mursi of the Brotherhood in 2013 and banned the group. That has led many to wonder if Egypt sold the islands. Egyptian comic Basem Yousef, exiled after lampooning successive leaders, compared Sisi on Twitter to a bazaar merchant willing to sell his country and its heritage: "Come closer sir, the island is one billion, the pyramid is two with two statues on top for free." As anger spread on Monday, veteran lawyer Khaled Ali filed a complaint with the administrative court, arguing that according to a 1906 maritime treaty between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, the islands are Egyptian and the move amounts to a transfer of sovereignty. The treaty precedes the founding of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Ali is alleging that the accord violates article 151 of Egypt's constitution, which requires all treaties related to sovereignty to be approved by referendum. The court will hear the case on May 17. RENEWED PRESSURE ON SISI But Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid told Egypt's CBC television channel: "This land is Saudi and Egypt administered it based on a request from the kingdom and this door that spreads doubts, which have no foundation in truth, must be closed." The island issue has put Sisi, who once enjoyed widespread support, under renewed pressure. Once-fawning newspaper editors no longer hide their disappointment as the crackdown on dissent has spread and critics say the government has mishandled a series of crises including the killing of a driver by a policeman in a fare dispute. Five of 11 people who held a protest against the accord in Cairo on Sunday were arrested and later freed, security and judicial sources said. Thousands of people have supported a Facebook campaign calling for protest on Friday "to protect our country." Egypt's state-owned Al Ahram newspaper reported on Monday that Israel had been informed in advance about the treaty, as it is entangled in a 1979 peace deal with Israel. Many Egyptians were upset their government thought of Israel but not them. "Even if Saudi Arabia is entitled to the islands ... to hand them over to Saudi in this way, without consideration for Egyptians, showing no respect for their feelings, presence and even their pride in their nation?" television chat show host Wael El Ebrashy said on Sunday night. "We are all shocked." (Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Peter Cooney)
"Upon the request by the judge, the investigator tried to demonstrate the working of the grenade by pulling something out of it," defence lawyer Abdul Jabbar Lakho told reporters in Karachi (AFP Photo/Luis Robayo) (AFP/File)

The detonator of a hand grenade exploded during a demonstration requested by a judge in a Pakistani anti-terror court on Monday, injuring two people and throwing the judge off his chair.

The dramatic incident, which wounded a policeman and a court assistant, occurred during the trial in the southern city of Karachi of a man accused of being an extortionist and gangster who had carried out several grenade attacks.

Police claimed to have recovered a stash of grenades when they arrested him.

During the course of proceedings Judge Shakil Haider asked police to demonstrate how the device worked, a lawyer told AFP.

"Upon the request by the judge, the investigator tried to demonstrate the working of the grenade by pulling something out of it," defence lawyer Abdul Jabbar Lakho told reporters.

The judge was thrown from his chair by the blast, a witness said.

Senior police official Jamil Ahmed confirmed the incident, adding the part which exploded was the detonator which was thought to have been defused.

The explosive surrounding the detonator had already been made harmless, he said.

"We are investigating as to how the detonator was brought to the court without being defused," Ahmed added.
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - April 11, 2016) - The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "The mesothelioma lawyers we suggest to a US Navy Veteran diagnosed with this rare cancer are very familiar with every conceivable type of US Navy ship as well as US Navy bases, and they can name every US Navy shipyard. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, these are exactly the types of lawyers you want handling a mesothelioma compensation claim. If you are a US Navy Veteran who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, or this is your family member, please call us at 800-714-0303 so we can get a lot more specific about hiring a lawyer. We also want to emphasize the lawyers we suggest make house calls."

The group says, "The bottom line in all of this is simple: if you do not hire one of the nation's top mesothelioma lawyers you will probably be shortchanged on compensation. Mesothelioma lawyers are frequently called 'asbestos attorneys' and when it comes to US Navy ships, there are only a handful of lawyers who repeatedly get the best mesothelioma compensation settlements for their US Navy Veteran or shipyard worker clients. Because the lawyers we suggest have done so many of these types of compensation claims involving US Navy Veterans in every state, a diagnosed US Navy Veteran might find a conversation with one of these mesothelioma legal experts refreshing because they know so much about US Navy ships and asbestos."

The mesothelioma attorney in-home (house call) visit with the diagnosed US Navy Veteran will typically include questions about the following:

How they were exposed to asbestos in the navy

Rank or job on board a US Navy ship

Number of US Navy ships served on

Recalling dates of possible ship overhauls

Possibility of contact information for sailors who served on the ship that can verify the asbestos exposure

Before any US Navy Veteran hires a law firm to advance a mesothelioma compensation claim, please call the Mesothelioma Victims Center at 800-714-0303 for the very best advice. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

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The average age for a diagnosed victim of mesothelioma is 72 years old. This year between 2500, and 3000 US citizens will be diagnosed with mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that is attributable to exposure to asbestos.

High risk work groups for exposure to asbestos include Veterans of the US Navy, power plant workers, shipyard workers, steel mill workers, oil refinery workers, factory workers, plumbers, electricians, welders, pipefitters, miners, auto mechanics, machinists, and construction workers. Typically the exposure to asbestos occurred in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

According to the CDC the states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon.

However, based on the calls the Mesothelioma Victims Center receives a diagnosed victim of mesothelioma could live in any state including New York, Florida, California, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska.

The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "If you call us at 800-714-0303, we will see to it that you have extremely honest advice about all that is involved in obtaining the best possible mesothelioma compensation. We consistently get the best possible financial compensation results for our clients-nationwide. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html

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The shareholders of Polygiene AB (publ), Reg. No. 556692-4287, are hereby invited to attend the annual shareholders meeting to be held on Wednesday 11 May 2016, at 4.00 pm, at Malmo Borshus, Skeppsbron 2, in Malmo. Right to participate and notification Shareholders wishing to participate in the meeting must  partly be listed in the companys share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB as of Wednesday 4 May 2016; and  partly have given a notice of their intent to participate to the company no later than on Wednesday 4 May 2016 by mail to Polygiene AB, Att: Jan Bertilsson, Stadiongatan 65, SE-217 62 Malmo, Sweden, by e-mail to jb@polygiene.com or by telephone to +46 725 58 26 69. The notification should specify the shareholders complete name, personal identity number or company registration number, the number of shares held by the shareholder, address, telephone number during work hours and, when applicable, information on the number of advisors (2 at the most). Trustee registered shares Shareholders, whose shares are trustee-registered through a bank or other trustee must, in order to be entitled to participate in the shareholders meeting, temporarily register their shares in their own name in the companys share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB. Such re-registration of ownership must be implemented no later than as of 4 May 2016. Accordingly, shareholders must well in advance before this date request the trustee thereof. Proxy etc. In case the shareholder should be represented by a proxy, the proxy must bring a written power of attorney, which is dated and duly signed by the shareholder, to the meeting. The validity term of the power of attorney may not be more than one year, unless a longer validity term is specifically stated in the power of attorney (however at the longest five years). If the power of attorney is issued by a legal entity, the representing proxy must also present a valid registration certificate or equivalent document for the legal entity. In order to facilitate the entrance at the meeting, a copy of the power of attorney and other authorization documents should preferably be attached to the shareholders notification to participate in the meeting. A template power of attorney is available at the company website (www.polygiene.com/ir), and will be sent to shareholders who requests it and that states their address. Proposed agenda. 1. Opening of the meeting 2. Election of chairman of the meeting 3. Preparation and approval of the register of voters. 4. Approval of the agenda. 5. Election of one or two persons to confirm the minutes. 6. Determination as to whether the meeting has been duly convened. 7. Address by the CEO. 8. Presentation of the Annual Report and Audit Report. 9. Resolution on: a) adoption on the profit and loss statement and balance sheet; b) distribution of the companys profit according to the adopted balance sheet; and c) discharge from liability for the members of the board and the CEO. 10. Determination of the number of board members, deputies, auditors and deputy auditors. 11. Determination of remuneration for the board members and the auditor. 12. Election of board members and auditor. 13. Instruction and charter for the Nomination Committee 14. Closing of the meeting. Proposed resolutions Item 9 (b): Resolution on distribution of the companys profit according to the adopted balance sheet Available for the annual shareholders meeting is the following retained loss -21,527,095 share premium reserve 51,267,363 net profit for the year 9,171,445 38,911,713 The board proposes that no dividends are paid and that available funds of SEK 38,911,713 are brought forward. Item 10: Determination of the number of board members, deputies, auditors and deputy auditors Shareholders who together represent more than 60 per cent of the shares and votes in the company propose that six ordinary board members without deputies are elected until the end of the next annual shareholders meeting. Further, the board proposes that one registered public audit firm without deputy is elected as the audit firm until the end of the next annual shareholders meeting. Item 11: Determination of remuneration for the board members and the auditor Shareholders who together represents more than 60 per cent of the shares and votes in the company proposes that remuneration to the board shall be paid with SEK 175,000 to the Chairman of the board (unchanged) and with SEK 100,000 to each of the other board members (unchanged). The board proposes that remuneration to the auditor shall be paid in accordance with customary norms and approved invoice. Item 12: Election of board members and auditor Shareholders who together represents more than 60 per cent of the shares and votes in the company proposes that Lennart Holm, Mikael Bluhme, Mats Georgson, Richard Tooby and Jonas Wollin are re-elected as ordinary board members and that Jonas Sjogren is elected as new ordinary board member. Per Palmqvist Morin has declined re-election. Furthermore, it is proposed that Lennart Holm is re -elected as Chairman of the board. Information on the board members who are proposed for re-election can be found in the Annual Report and at www.polygiene.com/ir. Jonas Sjogren, born 1974, has Master of Science degree in Business and Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics. Jonas Sjogren is CEO for Discovery Networks Sweden, with an overall responsibility for the TV and online operations for a number of brands, i.a. Kanal 5, Kanal 9, Kanal 11, Discovery, TLC, ID, Eurosport and Dplay. Jonas has more than 15 years experience, in leading positions, from the media business. The board proposes that Ernst & Young Aktiebolag is re-elected as auditor. Ernst & Young Aktiebolag has informed that Johan Thuresson will continue to be appointed as the responsible auditor. Item 13: Instruction and charter for the Nomination Committee The board proposes that a Nomination Committee shall be appointed before coming election and remuneration and that an instruction and charter shall be adopted in accordance with the following substantial terms. The Nomination Committee shall comprise four members, one representative for each of the three largest shareholders on the last banking day in September who wish to appoint a member and the Chairman of the board. The three largest shareholders in these instructions are the ownership grouped registered shareholders or in another way known shareholders as per the last banking day in September. As soon as possible after the details of the largest shareholders on the final banking day in September are known, the Chairman of the board shall contact the three largest shareholders to find out whether they wish to appoint members of the Nomination Committee. If one or more of the three largest shareholders declines to appoint a member of the Nomination Committee, the Chairman of the board shall offer other major shareholders the opportunity to appoint a member of the Nomination Committee. If such an offer is made, it should be made to the largest shareholders in order (i.e. first to the fourth largest shareholder, then the fifth largest shareholder, and so on). This procedure shall continue until the Nomination Committee comprises four members including the Chairman of the board. At its first meeting, the Nomination Committee shall appoint a Chairman among its members. Information regarding the appointed Nomination Committee shall include the names of the three appointed members, together with the names of the shareholders who have appointed the members, and the information shall be announced no later than six months before the proposed annual shareholders meeting. The Nomination Committees term shall run until such time as a new Nomination Committee has been elected. If there is a change in ownership among the largest shareholders and a shareholder not previously entitled to appoint a member of the Nomination Committee thereby becomes a larger shareholder than one or more of the shareholders who have already appointed a Nomination Committee member, (a new major owner), the Nomination Committee shall, if the new major owner makes a request to appoint a member of the Nomination Committee, decide that the Nomination Committee member who represents the smallest shareholding after the shift should be dismissed and replaced by the member appointed by the new major owner. Should a new major owner wish to appoint a member of the Nomination Committee, the new major owner should notify the Chairman of the Nomination Committee. The notification should contain the name of the person the new major owner appoints as a member of the Nomination Committee. Notwithstanding what has been stated in the foregoing, unless special reasons exists, no changes of the composition of the Nomination Committee shall be made if only marginal changes in voting power has occurred or if the change occurs later than two months before the annual shareholders meeting. If a member who represents a shareholder in the Nomination Committee should leave its assignment prematurely, the Nomination Committee shall without delay request that the shareholder who appointed the member appoint a new member. If no new member is appointed by the shareholder, the Nomination Committee shall offer other major shareholders the opportunity to appoint a member of the Nomination Committee. Such an offer shall be made to the largest shareholders in order (i.e. first to the largest shareholder who has not already appointed a member of the Nomination Committee or who has previously foregone that right, and then to the next largest shareholder who has not already appointed a member of the Nomination Committee or who has previously foregone that right, and so on). This procedure shall continue until the Nomination Committee is complete. The Nomination Committees main responsibility is to submit proposals regarding election of Chairman at the annual shareholders meeting, election of and remuneration for the members of the board, election of and remuneration for the auditor, as well as principles for the appointment of the Nomination Committee and instructions for the Nomination Committee. Duty of disclosure at the annual shareholders' meeting The shareholders are reminded of their right to request information at the shareholders meeting pursuant to chapter 7 section 32 of the Swedish Companies Act (Sw. Aktiebolagslagen (2005:551). Complete proposals The Annual Report and the Audit Report and the complete proposal pursuant to item 13 will be available at the companys office at Stadiongatan 65, SE-217 62 Malmo, Sweden and at the companys website (www.polygiene.com/ir) as from no later than on 20 April 2016, and will also be sent to shareholders who requests it and states their address. Copies of the documents will also be available at the annual shareholders meeting. Number of shares and votes in the company As of the date of this notice to attend the annual shareholders meeting, the total number of shares and votes in the company amounts to 19,316,000. The company does not hold any own shares. ____________________ Malmo in April 2016 Polygiene AB (publ) The Board of Directors The English text is an unofficial translation. In case of any discrepancies between the Swedish text and the English translation, the Swedish text shall prevail. For more information, contact: Christian von Uthmann, CEO, Polygiene Mobile: + 46 (0)70 319 77 21, e-mail: cvu@polygiene.com
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USGS Says Alaska a Hot Spot for Avian Influenza to Enter North America

While no highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses have been found in Alaska, the state is an important area to monitor because of migratory bird flyways from North America and Eurasia that overlap it.

The U.S. Geological Survey has released additional evidence that western Alaska is still a hot spot for avian influenza to enter North America. The new report published in Virology Journal by BioMed Central said that, while no highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses have been found in Alaska, the state is an important area to monitor because of migratory bird flyways from North America and Eurasia that overlap it.

"Our past research in western Alaska has shown that while we have not detected the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, up to 70 percent of the other avian influenza viruses isolated in this area were found to contain genetic material from Eurasia, providing evidence for high levels of intercontinental viral exchange," said Andy Ramey, a scientist with the USGS Alaska Science Center and lead author of the report. "This is because Asian and North American migratory flyways overlap in western Alaska."

According to the USGS April 5 news release, "most strains of avian influenza are not highly pathogenic and cause few signs of disease in infected wild birds. However, in poultry, some low-pathogenic strains can mutate into highly pathogenic avian influenza strains that cause contagious and severe illness or death among poultry, and sometimes among wild birds as well. Past research by the USGS found low pathogenic H9N2 viruses in an Emperor Goose and a Northern Pintail. Both viruses were nearly identical genetically to viruses found in wild bird samples from Lake Dongting, China, and Cheon-su Bay, South Korea."

The H9N2 viruses are not known to infect humans, but similar viruses have caused disease outbreaks in domestic poultry in Asia, Ramey said.

USGS scientists collaborated with colleagues at the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel, Alaska, and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, Georgia to obtain and test bird samples from Alaska Native subsistence hunters in Spring 2015. Hunters provided researchers with over 1,000 swabs from harvested water birds, which are the primary hosts of avian influenza viruses.
OECD head Angel Gurria said on Monday that Panama is "willing to cooperate fully" with his organisation in the wake of a massive leak of financial data that has sent shockwaves around the world.

Gurria told a press conference in Tokyo that Isabel De Saint Malo, vice president of the Central American country, called him last week to express cooperation with the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Panama is scrambling to avert redesignation as a tax haven that facilitates money laundering after the disclosure of offshore dealings of many of the world's wealthy, famous and infamous in the so-called Panama Papers revelations.

The scandal, which has already caused the Icelandic prime minister to resign, came when millions of documents covering nearly 40 years of business were leaked from the archives of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

"I have to say that the vice president of Panama called me last week and she expressed the government is willing to cooperate fully with the OECD," Gurria said.

"My expectation is that this very unfortunate event may trigger a reaction by the government of Panama to fully join the rest of the world in this exercise about transparency," said Gurria, who is OECD secretary-general.

"I think this event will help us to understand that the move towards transparency is not going to stop, that there is no reverse," he said.

His comment comes after the Panamanian vice president, who is also the country's foreign minister, told AFP last week in an exclusive interview that her country will deepen talks with the OECD on sharing tax information.

"We are going to establish technical-level dialogue between Panama and the OECD specifically on exchanging information," she told AFP.
Taiwan accused China Monday of kidnapping eight Taiwanese who had been cleared of criminal charges by a court in Kenya, and angrily demanded their immediate return from the mainland. The alleged abduction -- described by Taiwan's foreign ministry as "illegal" and "uncivilised" -- posed a potential challenge to president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, who takes office next month. Kenyan authorities in November 2014 arrested 28 Taiwanese along with 49 other ethnic Chinese on charges of illegally entering the African state and being involved in an telecoms scam, the foreign ministry said in a statement. A first group of 37 suspects, among them 23 Taiwan citizens, was found not guilty by a Kenyan court on Tuesday last week. But eight of the 23 Taiwanese, were deported to China by Kenyan authorities last Friday due to Chinese pressure, it said. Taiwan has no diplomatic ties with Kenya, which recognises the government in Beijing. Its nearest diplomat is based in the South African capital. The ministry said China used "technical methods" to delay news of the Kenyan court's verdict. "By the time our official rushed to the airport, the eight Taiwan citizens had been forcefully taken to a passenger plane of China Southern Airlines and sent to the mainland," it said. "Officials from the Chinese mainland abducted the eight Taiwan nationals who had been cleared of the charges by a Kenyan court and sent them to the mainland," it said. "The illegal and uncivilised measures have severely infringed upon the fundamental human rights of the eight people." The ministry demanded that the mainland immediately return the eight to Taiwan, and called on Kenyan authorities to free the other 15 acquitted Taiwanese. Asked to comment on the row, China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: "We need to check on the details, but we need to note that the One China policy should be upheld." China still regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, even though Taiwan has ruled itself since 1949. In reply to queries raised in parliament, Shih Hui-fen, deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, said a protest was filed to mainland authorities at Friday midnight. "This has not only harmed the fundamental human rights (of the group), but has hurt Taiwan people's feelings and has severe negative impact on ties between the two sides," Shih said. The incident also angered the China-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which secured a landslide victory over the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party in January. The DPP's Tsai Ing-wen will be inaugurated as president on May 20 to replace the KMT incumbent Ma Jing-Yeou. KMT parliamentarian Ma Wen-chun demanded a more dramatic protest by the government. "More things like this could happen in the future as cross-strait ties face uncertainties," she said, referring to the change of presidency. In 2011 Chinese authorities returned 14 Taiwanese suspected in a major fraud case after the Philippines had deported them to China. That came after nearly four months of efforts to secure their return. Taiwan and the mainland in 2009 signed a joint crime-fighting and judicial assistance agreement amid improving ties. However, many Taiwanese have turned their backs on China as they fear closer ties may erode the island's freedoms.
The United States and its Gulf allies will discuss providing economic aid to oil-rich Iraq, US defence chief Ashton Carter said Monday, as low global crude prices and ongoing conflict batter Baghdad's economy.

Carter was speaking on a trip to India before heading to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia Saturday, where he will attend a Gulf Cooperation Council ministerial meeting ahead of a GCC summit that will include President Barack Obama.

"Economically, it's important that the destruction that has occurred be repaired and we are looking to help the Iraqis with that," the defence secretary told reporters on the deck of the USS Blue Ridge in Mormugao harbour.

His comments follow a surprise visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Iraq last week, where discussions with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi included providing economic support to the war-torn country.

"I know that Secretary Kerry was discussing our efforts with the PM, but that's a global effort in which many countries can make a contribution," said Carter.

"I believe that will be one of the things that the president will want to raise with the Gulf partners when he meets with them at the end of next week: their ability to participate in that economic issue."

He said others included "the issues having to do with oil and the price of oil, that makes it harder for the Iraqi government."

Plummeting global oil prices have hit Iraq hard, and Baghdad said in February oil revenues have sunk to just 15 percent of their value two years ago.

The country faces a huge budget crunch, with the massive cost of running the war against the Islamic State jihadist group and sustained public pressure to deliver better services.

Carter was in India and the Philippines this week for talks on increasing regional defence cooperation, as tensions mount over China's expansionist ambitions in the disputed South China Sea.
BEIJING (Reuters) - Companies from China's violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang signed deals worth about $2 billion with Pakistan this week during a visit to Pakistan by Xinjiang's top official, who sought to cement ties with an important security partner. Pakistan last year agreed energy and infrastructure projects worth $46 billion with China to set up a so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, in a boost to Pakistan's crumbling infrastructure and energy sector. In return, China will get a free trade zone in Pakistan's Gwadar port and access to the Arabian Sea. New Pakistani roads will open up routes for Chinese goods into Europe and the Middle East from landlocked Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan. During a four-day visit to Pakistan, Xinjiang's Communist Party chief Zhang Chunxian met Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, visited Islamabad, Karachi and Gwadar, the official Xinjiang Daily said on Friday. "China and Pakistan have a deep friendship, are good neighbours, friends, brothers and partners," the newspaper cited Zhang as saying. "On this trip, I have deeply felt this friendship and the atmosphere surrounding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor." The $2 billion in agreements covered infrastructure, solar power and logistics, among other projects, signed by companies from Xinjiang with their Pakistan counterparts, the newspaper said, without giving details. China and Pakistan call each other "all-weather friends" and their ties have been underpinned by long-standing wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to hedge against U.S. influence in the region. But China has also long urged Pakistan to weed out what it says are militants from Xinjiang, who are holed up in lawless ethnic Pashtun lands on the Pakistan-Afghan border, home to a mix of groups, including the Taliban and al Qaeda. While meeting Sharif, the two countries agreed to continue working together to fight terrorism, strengthen border controls, maintain regional peace and stability and ensure the economic corridor projects are protected, the newspaper said. Zhang also met Pakistan's military on the trip, it added, without elaborating. Hundreds of people have been killed in unrest in Xinjiang in the last few years. Exiles and rights groups say Chinese controls on the religion and culture of the Muslim Uighur people who call Xinjiang home is largely behind the violence, rather than any well-organised militant groups. China denies any rights abuses in Xinjiang and says its people are free to practice Islam. Zhang visited a mosque in Islamabad, where he "got a deep understanding of Pakistan's religious affairs management", the Xinjiang Daily added. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta GAZA/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has quietly established a constitutional court that analysts say concentrates more power in his hands and may allow him to sideline the Islamist group Hamas in the event of a succession struggle. The nine-member body, which will have supremacy over all lower courts, was created without fanfare by presidential decree on April 3 and will be inaugurated once its ninth member is sworn in at a ceremony on Monday, officials said. Critics say the body is packed with jurists from Abbas's Fatah party and risks deepening Palestinian political divisions. Fatah says it is Abbas's right to create the court, which it says is independent of the 81-year-old president. "Neither the president nor any of the leaders (of Fatah) has a private agenda regarding this issue," said Osama al-Qwasmi, the spokesman for Fatah in the West Bank. "The prime task of the constitutional court is to monitor laws. By the law, it is a completely independent body and we have full confidence in it." Abbas's decision comes at a time of worsening splits between Fatah and Hamas and as questions are raised about what will happen when the president steps down or if he were to die in office without a successor. Abbas took office after the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004, and was elected to a four-year term as president in 2005. But new elections were not held in 2009 and he continues to govern by decree. Parliament has not sat since 2007. In theory, the speaker of parliament, a Hamas member, would take over as president on an interim basis were Abbas to die in office, although Fatah disputes whether that remains constitutional. While Abbas may have the authority to create the court, which is being established 14 years after the Palestinians drafted a basic law, a form of constitution, some analysts see it as a way of circumventing opposition at a critical time. "It's a blatant power grab at a time when he knows he can get away with it," said Grant Rumley, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC. "From Abbas's standpoint, this is his way of both thwarting his rivals in Hamas and securing his Fatah party's hold on the Palestinian Authority once he is gone," Rumley told Reuters. BLOCK ON RIVALS? Palestinian commentators also see the court, whose decisions would be binding on the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, as a means of bolstering presidential authority and marginalising Hamas. All nine members are either Fatah members or seen by Hamas and others as being allied with Fatah. "It is as if you are confiscating everything and putting all the institutions in your hands," said Hani al-Masri, an unaffiliated political analyst based in Ramallah. Hamas, which won Palestinian elections in 2006 and seized control in Gaza a year later, saw itself sidestepped during the swearing-in process. Two of the nine members are from Gaza. Fatah said Hamas prevented them from leaving the territory to be sworn in at a ceremony in the West Bank on April 5. So instead they were sworn in via video link on Sunday. "This is a factional court," said Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas's spokesman, arguing that it gave Abbas the ability to sidestep parliament - if the current one ever sits again - or if a new parliament is eventually elected. Abbas's legal adviser, Hassan al-Awry, said the court was needed in part because parliament's legal status was in question given the lack of elections. "It is not a shame if the constitutional court would debate this issue," he told Reuters, adding that the justices on the court were all legal experts and independent. "We want a judicial reference should such an issue be brought up." Yet Palestinian scholars say the court raises problems. Issam Abdeen, a law professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank, said it would have little check on its authority. "It can be a lethal weapon if misused," he told Reuters, pointing out that Abbas's political opponents, such as Mohammad Dahlan who now lives in exile, have a new hurdle to clear in efforts to mount legal challenges to his authority. Rumley, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, regards the court as a potential barrier to reform. "Rather than reforming his party, preparing for elections, or reactivating the defunct parliament, (Abbas) is creating another judicial body by presidential decree in order to, among other things, approve presidential decrees," he said. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; editing by Luke Baker/Jeremy Gaunt)
The furore following Member of Parliament Denise Phuas statement describing congregations of foreign workers as walking time-bombs reflects Singapores ambivalence towards the presence of foreigners. Representing her constituency of Jalan Besar, Ms Phua had proposed fencing off communal areas to keep foreign workers out, no doubt in response to concerns from local citizens. While our society needs the services of foreign workers, many Singaporeans are uneasy about the impact of their influx on matters ranging from safety to the condition of local culture.

So where do we go from here? To start with, perhaps it would be useful look at the example of the most well-known immigrant society of all  The United States of America.

A hundred years ago, immigrants first arriving at New York City would have disembarked in full view of the Statue of Liberty, a monument that Franklin D. Roosevelt honoured in 1936 as an icon of immigration. Today, 80 years later, aspiring American presidential candidate Donald Trump is able to capitalise on a groundswell of discontent with immigration for his campaign.

How did a nation of immigrants and the richest country in the world end up with this much disdain for something that lies at the foundation of its society?

The truth is (new) immigration has always been an issue among the American public. Recent immigrants have often been looked at as a threat to American values. If this sounds familiar to us in Singapore, that would be because the theme of cultural difference is universal. And, just as ironically, we too are a nation built on immigration.

By now, multiracialism and multiculturalism are no longer radical ideas. Yet many modern societies are struggling with the question of immigration, a perennial issue punctuated by shocks such as terrorism and the influx of refugees. In Singapore, where a nation of millions must live together in a tight space, this question is perhaps even more salient. Can our society handle large numbers of immigrants?

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With the non-resident population making up slightly more than a quarter of the total population, Singaporeans are naturally concerned about the competition for jobs, the erosion of national identity and overcrowding. As the arrest of 27 Bangladeshi workers under the ISA reminds us, there are also concerns about security and the threat of radicalised groups or criminals finding their way into the country.

Most of these problems could be seen as matters of governance, things that can perhaps be left to experts and officials. However, something that our penchant for hard-headed policymaking and planning alone cannot resolve is the issue of Singapores culture and identity. We need to decide as a society what our culture and identity will look like in the coming decades, and this is a process that has no correct answers.

Foreign workers enjoying their break in Little India

Foreign workers enjoying their break in Little India. (Photo: Nicky Loh)

There are three distinct paths that we can go down. One is the American melting pot model of conflict and natural assimilation: There is little or no government intervention and immigrants are left to form self-reliant enclaves. Historically, these groups were often hostile to each other and to the locals, even spawning violent gangs that featured notorious characters such as Al Capone. Only after generations did these groups eventually assimilate into American society, becoming part of the tapestry of American culture with contributions such as Italian American cuisine and common Yiddish loanwords like chutzpah.

This path is the least likely to be deliberately chosen in Singapore due to our size and perceived vulnerability to any social instability or disharmony that might result.

The second way is to define what Singaporean culture and identity are and use them as benchmarks for Singaporeanness in assimilating immigrants. This could be done by returning to classic or mythologised ideas of what it means to be Singaporean or by synthesising those ideas today. There is a tendency for members of the public to engage in this when they treat qualities such as the ability to speak Singlish correctly as identity markers and yardsticks for Singaporeanness. Similarly, when Member of Parliament Darryl David proposed that English proficiency should be a criterion for citizenship, he was essentially advocating the same path.

While it might be the most intuitive method for many Singaporeans, this path is also likely to be exclusionary as it sets a high bar for assimilation for immigrants, many of whom come from cultures that are very different from ours. If integration is a goal, this method might even make the process more difficult.

The third path is to include immigrants culture as part of a new and evolving Singaporean identity. This would entail fusing elements of the different cultures with local Singapore culture to create an inclusive model. For example, local languages and Singlish could expand to include Mainland Chinese, Filipino or Bangladeshi words, while food from the different immigrant communities could be included as staples of local cuisine.

From the perspective of integration, this would be the easiest path as it allows immigrants to retain their identity to some extent and feel a sense of familiarity towards local culture. However, in practice, it would likely encounter difficulties arising from resentment among local Singaporeans, many of whom might feel that the local culture is being watered down.

In the end, the likelihood is no matter how we go about trying to resolve the question of our culture and identity, our approach will end up being an amalgamation of these three paths. Nonetheless, one of them will likely be the dominant path, and that will determine much of what our sense of community and social fabric will be like in the decades to come.

Top photo: Our version of the Statue of Liberty, Shahwaz Beg
Indian giant Tata Steel announced Monday the sale of a major European division employing 4,800 people in Britain and France, as it placed the rest of its loss-making British operation on the market. The British government has been scrambling to find a buyer for Tata's assets -- and save 15,000 jobs -- after the company's shock announcement last month it was selling its British operation due to a global oversupply of steel, cheap imports into Europe, high costs and currency volatility. Britain's Business Secretary Sajid Javid told parliament that the government could co-invest with private sector bidders in a bid to keep Tata Steel's UK assets going. As it kicked off the sale process, Tata Steel said it had agreed to sell its Long Products Europe (LPE) division -- whose chief asset is the Scunthorpe steelworks in eastern England -- to Greybull Capital, a British-based family investment firm. Long products are items such as steel pipes that are sold by length. "This transaction will offer a future for the LPE business and its 4,400 employees in the UK," said Hans Fischer, chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations. Tata Steel is still looking for a buyer for the rest of its British assets including the Port Talbot works on the south Wales coast, Britain's biggest steel plant, which employs 4,000 workers. - UK government could step in - The LPE deal is expected to complete within eight weeks, subject to conditions being met. LPE, which will be renamed British Steel, was sold for a nominal 1 ($1.40, 1.25 euros). Greybull said it is arranging a 400 million investment and financing package as part of the deal. The sale also includes two mills, a port terminal, an engineering workshop and a design consultancy, all in Britain, as well as a mill in northeast France which employs 400 people. After a fortnight of pressure from the opposition, trade unions and the press over the government's handling of the crisis, Javid said the state could get involved in the sale of Tata Steel's remaining UK operations. He said he had been in contact with potential buyers. "This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms," he said, adding that a sale to a private buyer would still be the best way forward. Javid flew to India last week to meet company executives and has said the government will make every effort to secure a serious buyer for the Port Talbot plant and other assets. Tata Steel Europe's group executive director Koushik Chatterjee said he wanted to sell their British assets as a whole rather than splitting up the business. "We will run this process in a credible manner but it is important we don't have a very long, uncertain period for the employees, suppliers and customers," he said. - Welsh plant losing money - Metal processing company Liberty House is looking at the Port Talbot plant, although the group's president Sanjeev Gupta is not keen on taking on its pension and environmental liabilities, and wants relief from high energy prices. Port Talbot is losing 1 million a day in the face of high energy costs and plunging prices caused by a chronic global oversupply of steel and a glut of cheap imports, particularly from China. Greybull partner Marc Meyohas would not be drawn on whether Greybull was interested in buying other parts of Tata Steel's UK assets. Europe as a whole has been hit by the steel crisis. Around 45,000 steel workers rallied across Germany in a day of action dubbed "Steel is the Future", voicing fears over their jobs. The head of US Steel accused Britain and the wider EU of negligence over China dumping cheep steel on world markets. "The Europeans have been more negligent than anybody," Mario Longhi, chief executive of the biggest US steelmaker, told the Financial Times. French economy minster Emmanuel Macron on Monday said Britain was "guilty of condemning the steel industry" by "naively" blocking EU attempts to impose higher tariffs on Chinese steel.
With April 11 marking World Parkinson's Day, here's a roundup of recent research that could lead to promising new treatments to relieve sufferers and improve diagnosis of the disease.

Characterized by the destruction of a specific type of neuron called "dopamine neurons," Parkinson's disease is a degenerative condition that affects almost four million people worldwide. It causes sufferers' movements to slow, as well as leading to tremors, stiffness of the lower limbs, fatigue and depression. Current treatments can control motor symptoms, but these have no effect on the disease's other symptoms and don't stop the degenerative nature of the condition.

Exercise could slow the progression of Parkinson's disease

An American study, published in January in the journal JAMA Neurology, shows that aerobic exercise, such as elliptical training or brisk walking, releases small proteins in the brain which act like fertilizer on a lawn. In fact, exercise has been found to maintain brain connections and prevent the brain shrinkage and aging caused by the disease. To effectively slow the effects of Parkinson's, cardiovascular exercise should be practiced regularly (two to three times a week) and progressively, and should be accompanied by the correct dose of anti-Parkinson's medication (carbidopa-levodopa).

Better sleep could reduce symptoms of the disease

An American study from Temple University in Philadelphia found that pre-existing disruptions to the circadian rhythm (the body's sleep/wake cycle) at the onset of Parkinson's disease could considerably worsen the motor and learning deficits brought on by the condition. The scientists found that disordered exposure to light could actually make the condition worse. From these initial findings, the researchers suggest that rebalancing the circadian rhythm could help reverse brain inflammation and cell death.

New gene identified in early-onset Parkinson's

A new gene -- which goes by the name of VPS13C -- has been linked to a rare and severe form of early-onset Parkinson's disease, recent research has discovered. Some mutations of the gene have been linked to a form of the disease beginning before the age of 40, which shows fast and severe progression. This is characterized by major physical handicap -- leading to the use of a wheelchair after a few years -- and cognitive decline soon leading to dementia.

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Antipsychotics to be avoided

A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that antipsychotic medication could have more negative than positive effects on certain Parkinson's patients. The drugs were found to be linked to higher death rates in certain groups of patients prescribed this kind of medication.

The hope of a new treatment

In April 2014, a team from the Lille University Medical Center in France published positive initial results from a pilot study on the use of deferiprone in Parkinson's patients. When administered in moderate doses, the molecule is capable of redistributing iron from areas of iron accumulation -- a characteristic of the disease -- to deficient zones. Participants in the clinical trial reported improvements to motor symptoms such as slowness of movement, tremor and rigidity. A follow-up European-scale study is currently underway.

A means of injecting neurons into the brain

Researchers from Rutgers University in New Jersey have developed a new technique, outlined in the journal Nature Communications, aiming to improve the survival of neurons injected into the brain -- a technique that was previously not viable. The researchers developed microscopic 3D structures within which converted stem cells could be converted into human neurons. These were then injected into mouse brains.

Tasigna leukemia drug shows promise for Parkinson's

A drug already approved by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agency for the treatment of leukemia has been found to be effective in combatting Parkinson's disease and a form of dementia, according to the results of a small clinical trial presented at a Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago in 2015.

The Nilotinib molecule, produced by Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis and sold under the name Tasigna, showed significant and encouraging changes in toxic proteins in the brain linked to the progression of Parkinson's. Researchers who made the discovery state that this is the first time a treatment has appeared to reverse -- to a greater or lesser extent depending on progression of the disease -- cognitive and motor decline in patients suffering from these neurodegenerative conditions.
Peruvians voted Sunday on whether Keiko Fujimori, daughter of an ex-president jailed for massacres, should become their first female leader in an election marred by alleged vote-buying and deadly attacks. The 40-year-old daughter of former leader Alberto Fujimori survived attempts to ban her from the race and widespread mistrust over her father's legacy to top the opinion polls ahead of the vote. She was expected to win through to a second-round runoff against one of her nearest rivals: ex-prime minister and Wall Street banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, 77, or left-wing lawmaker Veronika Mendoza, 35. Keiko Fujimori started the day by cooking sausages in front of the television cameras at her home as her two daughters, husband and mother sat at the breakfast table. Later she smiled broadly as she cast her vote in the posh Surco district of southern Lima and then struggled with her bodyguards through a mob of television cameras back to her car. Polling officially started at 8:00 am (1300 GMT) and was due to close at 2100 GMT, though some voting stations in Lima opened their doors about an hour late, AFP reporters saw. - Election irregularities - Observers complained that the electoral process was undermined when half the candidates dropped out or were excluded from the running under a tough new electoral law. Fujimori and other leading candidates were accused of wooing voters with gifts. She and Kuczynski were cleared of the charges. Three opinion polls published on Friday showed Fujimori was likely to win about a third of the vote, short of the simple majority needed to win outright. Nine other candidates have either been excluded for irregularities or dropped out for lack of support. One, Gregorio Santos, is running for office from a jail cell where he is detained on corruption charges. The leader of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, said the January electoral reform that allowed the candidates to be excluded risked turning it into a "semi-democratic election." - Attacks before election - Alberto Fujimori's dark decade in power from 1990-2000 lives in the memory of many Peruvians. Now 77, he is in jail for crimes against humanity. The courts held him responsible for the massacre of 25 people he said were terrorists in 1991 and 1992. But many voters love him for crushing the Shining Path communist guerrilla group that carried out attacks and kidnappings. The conflict reared its head on Saturday, when four soldiers transporting electoral material and a civilian were killed in an attack by remnants of Shining Path still hiding in the jungle, officials said. A separate attack injured two more soldiers. "That is why we want more security," said Wilfredo Pena, a 55-year-old caretaker who voted for Kuczynski under cloudy skies at a school in Lima. "We want a change -- safety for citizens and job security." He rejected Keiko Fujimori however "because of the bad experience of the first (Fujimori) government. We do not want more of the same." Eighteen-year-old student Angela Rios, voting for the first time, backed Fujimori. "Hers is the best-organized party. She will strengthen the economy and improve education," Rios said. "You cannot judge a person on what their father did." Officials vowed the attacks would not disrupt the election. They said 50,000 troops would be deployed to guard polling stations. Despite his authoritarian rule, Alberto Fujimori liberalized the economy and oversaw an economic boom. Growth has slowed in recent years under outgoing President Ollanta Humala. Kuczynski has vowed to create jobs by boosting business and growth. Mendoza has promised to strengthen state control over the country's energy reserves. Luis Benavente, head of the polling firm Vox Populi, said voters are "fed up not so much with the economy as with politics, because of corruption." "We have come to a debacle, such deep chaos that the country has to react," he told AFP.
Poland marked the sixth anniversary Sunday of the jet crash that killed then president Lech Kaczynski amid louder-than-ever claims it was no accident -- fuelled by his twin brother's party winning power last year. "The previous government is responsible for this tragedy, at least morally," Jaroslaw Kaczynski told tens of thousands of Poles gathered outside the presidential palace on Sunday. The surviving twin heads the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party that won October elections, enabling it to revive a probe into the 2010 air crash in Russia that also killed 95 others. The party, which had been in opposition for eight years, rejects the previous liberal government's conclusions that pilot error, poor weather and poor air traffic control were to blame. Most of those who died when the plane came down in Smolensk, western Russia on April 10, 2010 were senior Polish state officials, including its military chief of staff and central banker. The delegation was heading for memorial ceremonies in Russia's Katyn forest for thousands of Polish army officers killed by the Soviet secret police in 1940, a massacre the Kremlin denied until 1990. The head of the new investigative subcommittee, Waclaw Berczynski, last week reiterated his theory that the Tupolev 154 exploded mid-air, although he offered no proof. "We can say with great probability, practically with near certainty, that the aircraft broke apart mid-air," he told the Catholic weekly Gosc Niedzielny. - 'Political necrophilia' - "The PiS won't stop engaging in political necrophilia on the victims' graves," Rafal Grupinski, a lawmaker with the liberal opposition party Civic Platform (PO), which was in power at the time of the crash, said Saturday. Experts from the government of then premier Donald Tusk -- now European Council president -- and Russian investigators have all dismissed assassination theories which surfaced almost immediately after the tragedy. The new committee has not ruled out exhuming corpses for a fresh round of autopsies, raising doubts over those conducted by Russia just after the crash. But the main purpose of the probe is to find those responsible. PiS leaders have accused Tusk of having a hand in the disaster, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, long considered an enemy of Poland by the Polish right. They have increasingly clamoured for Tusk to stand trial, a call reiterated by Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz on the eve of the anniversary. The minister, the main proponent of the theory that the crash was a political assassination, said on public television that it was "evident that Tusk should suffer all the consequences of his actions". Others want a more extreme outcome, including journalist Ewa Stankiewicz, who works for the ultra-nationalist weekly Gazeta Polska. "Court for Tusk, that is not enough... The death penalty is needed," she said Saturday at a rally organised by the newspaper in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw. - Conspiracy theories - Six years on, the aircraft wreckage and the black boxes remain in Russia, as Moscow refuses to return them to Poland before its own judicial investigation is complete. This refusal has fuelled conspiracy theories that the crash was a Russian assassination or that there is a Polish-Russian cover-up underway to keep the real cause of the crash secret. The new Polish investigation has yet to offer any proof to back up those theories, stressing instead that its work has only begun. Anniversary ceremonies, prayers and special mass took place across Poland and in Smolensk on Sunday, which the PiS government marked with more solemnity than its predecessors. For the first time a military guard force joined the morning ceremonies in front of the presidential palace. At 8:41 am, the exact time of the accident, Jaroslaw Kaczynski placed a wreath before a portrait of the late presidential couple. President Andrzej Duda later unveiled a commemorative plaque and said: "We owe it to the victims to look into the causes of the disaster." Besides reviving the investigation into the crash, the conservatives have also pushed through several controversial reforms since taking office. The new laws have notably strengthened controls over public media and paralysed Poland's constitutional court, sparking outcry at home and drawing criticism from the European Union, headed by Tusk since December 2014.
The government also announced the launch of an iPREP programme to make tech students more employable after graduation

The government has said aside S$120 million (US$89.1 million) over the next three years to support training efforts in developing infocomm manpower capabilities and address future needs, said Minister for Communications and Information Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, in a speech today at the Committee of Supply Debate.

The impetus for the financing is a projected demand for an additional 30,000 positions in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector by 2020.

As demand far outstrips current supply, and because the landscape is changing so rapidly, it is difficult to meet company needs for skilled manpower without non-Singaporeans entirely, said Ibrahim in the speech.

Also Read: A Singaporean acquisition story you have never heard

The government will work to build up ICT skill-sets through training programmes, internships, mentorship partnerships and certification courses. The skills the government will focus on include software development, data analytics, cybersecurity, as well as network & infrastructure.

In conjunction with the government fund, Ibrahim announced the launch of the Industry Preparation for Pre-Graduates (iPREP) Programme which aims to help the 6,000 or so students on an ICT development track build skills for employability by providing internship and mentorship opportunities.

Ibrahim said he hopes in three years iPREP will add 2,400 people to the talent pool. The programme will work with Singapores institutes of higher learning to try and achieve this goal.

Also, the government will continue the development of the Code@SG movement which exposes children to coding and computational thinking.

For working professionals in Singapore, the government will increase its support Company-led Training programmes (CLTs) which help people without a formal tech education develop important skill-sets.

We will expand our CLT programmes to help more than a thousand professionals each year, compared to 160 today, said Ibrahim in the speech.

Story continues

On a similar note, the Infocomm Development Authoritys (IDA) Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme (CITREP), which aims to help experienced professionals deepen their knowledge, will be expanded to include entry level professionals.

Tech immersion and placement programmes will be ramped up to support Singaporean trainees and especially those with a STEM education background.

Ibrahim also announced partnerships between the TechSkills Accelerator  which was announced at the end of March  and the new Government Technology Agency, Singtel, Mediacorp, ST Electronics, Integrated Health Information Systems, DBS and UOB.

The goal is to make the TechSkills Accelerator a flagship programme for Singapore.

Also Read: LinkedIn launches US$59M data centre in Singapore; first outside of US

Ibrahim wrapped up the speech by saying: We are also ramping up our efforts to grow a strong Singapore Core in the infocomm media and design sectors  sectors that offer good jobs for Singaporeans, and also play an important role in helping to transform the rest of the economy towards an innovation-led growth.



Photo courtesy of Pixabay

The post Singapore government earmarks US$89.1M to boost ICT talent pool appeared first on e27.
AFP News

Pro-Russian authorities on Saturday urged residents in the southern Kherson region, which Moscow claims to have annexed, to leave the main city "immediately" in the face of Kyiv's advancing counter-offensive. It comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 36 rockets overnight in a "massive attack" on Ukraine, following reported strikes on energy infrastructure that resulted in power outages across the country. And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became the latest world leader to reproach Moscow for its talk of using nuclear weapons. Kyiv's forces have been advancing along the west bank of the Dnipro river, towards the Kherson region's eponymous main city. Kherson was the first major city to fall to Moscow's troops, and retaking it would be a major prize in Ukraine's counter-offensive. In recent days, Russia has been moving residents in the region -- which Moscow claims to have annexed in September -- east to Russia, in efforts Kyiv has denounced as "deportations". "Due to the tense situation on the front, the increased danger of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank" of the Dnipro river, the region's pro-Russian authorities announced on social media. A Moscow-installed official in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian news agency Interfax on Saturday that around 25,000 people had made the crossing. Sergiy Khlan, the Ukrainian deputy head of the Kherson region, said Russians were removing property and documents from banks and the passport office as they withdrew. Ukraine's general staff said Moscow's forces had abandoned two more settlements in Kherson and were evacuating medical personnel from a third, accusing them of looting local civilians. - A 'serious threat' - Earlier Saturday, Japan's Kishida denounced Moscow's comments regarding the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict. "Russia's act of threatening the use of nuclear weapons is a serious threat to the peace and security of the international community and absolutely unacceptable," he said. The 77-year period of no nuclear weapons use "must not be ended", said Kishida, speaking in Australia. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Putin has made several thinly veiled threats about his willingness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons. Earlier this month, the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned that the Russian army would be "annihilated" if Russia launched such an attack. Washington has also warned Moscow of "catastrophic" consequences should they use such weapons. Japan is the only country ever to have been hit with nuclear weapons: the US atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, which killed 140,000 people, and the second US bomb on Nagasaki, three days later, which killed 74,000 people. - 'Afraid for our lives' - At a train station in the town of Dzhankoy in the north of Crimea, a peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Kherson residents were boarding a train for southern Russia, an AFP reporter saw Friday. "We are leaving Kherson because heavy shelling started there, we are afraid for our lives," said Valentina Yelkina, a pensioner travelling with her daughter. More than a million households in Ukraine have been left without electricity following Russian strikes on energy facilities across the country, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Saturday. Fresh Russian strikes targeted energy infrastructure in Ukraine's west, the national operator said earlier, with officials in several regions of the war-scarred country reporting power outages as winter approaches. Russians "carried out another missile attack on energy facilities of the main networks of Ukraine's western regions", Ukraine's energy operator Ukrenergo said on social media. "These are vile strikes on critical objects," said Zelensky. "The world can and must stop this terror." Power outages were reported in other parts of the country and local officials repeated calls to reduce energy use. Some parts of Ukraine have already cut their electricity use by up to 20 percent, according to Ukrenergo. "Saturday in Ukraine starts with a barrage of Russian missiles aimed at critical civilian infrastructure," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. He once again urged Kyiv's allies to hasten the delivery of air defence systems. In the Russian Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, at least two civilians were killed in strikes on Saturday, according to the local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Nearly 15,000 people were left without electricity, he added. Russia last week reported a "considerable increase" in Ukrainian fire into its territory, saying attacks had largely concentrated on Belgorod region and neighbouring regions of Bryansk and Kursk. bur-imm/jj/ah
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ukraine has become "very volatile" since Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk resigned, the head of the Council of Europe said on Monday, calling for the swift formation of a new government and speedier progress on reforms. Yatseniuk tendered his resignation on Sunday, opening the way to seeking a more stable government for Ukraine which is struggling with an economic crisis and a conflict with Russia-backed rebels in its eastern regions. "The situation in Ukraine is now very volatile," Thorbjoern Jagland told reporters in Brussels. "It is urgent that they establish a new government and even more urgent that they speed up the reform process." Reforms of Ukraine's judiciary and penal system as well as decentralisation were key to rebuilding public trust, he said. "A new government will have to take this on in a much more impressive way than has been the case until now," he said. Frustrated with cronyism and corruption, Ukrainians took to the streets in 2013-2014 in a pro-European uprising that swept the current leadership to power. Kiev's Soviet-era overlord Moscow annexed Crimea in March 2014, and violence erupted in the industrial east where Russia backs rebels who sought to split from Ukraine. Ukraine's internal troubles have further complicated its path towards deeper integration with the EU, though a senior EU source said the bloc would still offer Ukraine visa-free movement this month, despite a Dutch referendum vote against an EU-Ukraine pact. Two years after the Russian annexation of the Black Sea peninsula, the Council of Europe will present a report on Wednesday on the situation with human rights on the peninsula. Ethnic Ukrainians and Muslim Tatars, who were opposed to the annexation of the peninsula, have found themselves in a vulnerable position as Russia moved to assert its control and quell dissent. The 47-member state Council of Europe is separate from the European Union but works closely with it and mostly has an advisory role. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel and Richard Balmforth)
Washington is ready to "ratchet up" pressure on an increasingly aggressive North Korea, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday, but remains open to negotiations if Pyongyang scraps its nuclear weapon development. North Korea has taken a series of actions this year that have ramped up regional tensions, starting with its fourth underground nuclear test in January. That was followed by the launch of a long-range rocket a month later -- which was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test. In response the UN Security Council slapped its toughest sanctions yet on the secretive state. "I would like to see a few measures we were not able to get into the (Security Council) resolution implemented, depending on what actions the North decides to take," Kerry told reporters after a Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On Saturday North Korea said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile, which it claimed would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland. "So it is still possible we will ratchet up even more depending on the actions" of North Korea, Kerry said. "But we have made it clear... we are prepared to negotiate a peace treaty" on the Korean peninsula. "It all depends on the North making the decision that they will negotiate on denuclearisation. We are waiting for that opportunity." The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice and not a full peace treaty. The US has long insisted that Pyongyang must denuclearise as a condition for talks on a peace pact. The State Department confirmed in February that Pyongyang had reached out to Washington in a tentative bid to discuss a treaty, but said its January nuclear test had derailed the possible talks. - 'Absurd' - Saturday's test was the latest in a series of claims by the North of significant breakthroughs in nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. They included Pyongyangs alleged success in miniaturising a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile. Earlier Monday the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, which suffered the world's first nuclear attack in the closing days of World War II, issued a statement calling for a "world without nuclear weapons". It said North Korea's nuclear ambitions were a key hurdle to achieving that lofty goal. Kerry also took a swipe at North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, saying his actions "stand out as such an aberration against the direction the world wants to go" -- referring to moves aimed at reducing nuclear weapons. "It is also why any suggestion by any candidate for high public office that we should be building more weapons and giving them to a country like (South) Korea or Japan are absurd on their face and run counter to everything that every president, Republican or Democrat alike, has tried to achieve since World War II," he said, apparently referring to Donald Trump. The Republican front-runner for November's presidential election sparked criticism recently by suggesting that he could accept a nuclear-armed Japan and South Korea to counter North Korea.
ZAMBOANGA CITY  Fearing he might bleed to death, a soldier wounded while battling the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan sipped his own blood.

Sgt. Erico Paglinawan of the 44th Infantry Battalion narrated that while waiting for medical help to arrive, he saw blood oozing from a wound in his left chest. Worried about hemorrhage, he began sipping the oozing blood.

Paglinawan disclosed this after his right hand was seen still stained with blood while confined at the Camp Navarro General Hospital in the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom). He was in the hospital along with 50 other soldiers wounded in the fierce gun battle on Saturday in Basilan.

He disclosed that they were pursuing a high-value target when their lead platoon hit a landmine set up by Moroccan bomb expert and jihadist Mohammad Khattab in Barangay Baguindan, Tipo-Tipo town.

The landmine exploded at about 7:55 a.m., immediately killing five soldiers and wounding several others.

The explosion was followed by a volley of gunfire and M203 grenades that filled the soldiers routes with smoke. This vulnerable position led to the wounding of more soldiers, including Lt. Remigio Licena.

Paglinawan said he was wounded after he was hit by direct fire in his i left chest.

I saw blood oozing. I was afraid I might succumb to hemorrhage, so I sipped my blood, Paglinawan said.

He added that despite his wound, he still managed to fight and repel the Abu Sayyaf group from completely obliterating them.

Maj. Filemon Tan Jr., Westmincom spokesman, said despite being wounded, Lt. Licena still managed to fend off his attackers before he died.

It was almost a close-quarters combat since the firefight occurred about 10 meters away, Tan said, citing accounts from the wounded soldiers.

Another wounded soldier, Staff Sgt. Eduardo Capalac, said the attackers were already positioned even before they approached the area.

We were met by several snipers and the attackers were already in C formation as shown by the volley of fire coming from all the sides of our approach, Capalac said.

He said that the hail of bullets mowed down the soldiers even before they could retaliate.  Roel Pareno
Security

School District Chooses Online Training for School Safety

A Colorado school district at the beginning of the current school year implemented a new staff safety and regulatory compliance program that reminds staff members about their training assignments. Adams County School District #14 in Commerce City adopted EmployeeSafe, a suite of programs from PublicSchoolWorks after it was recommended by a job candidate interviewing with the district.

Linda Shamlin, who accepted the position as interim chief human resources officer in the school system, had used the software at a previous district.

"We decided to move to EmployeeSafe because it automatically deploys and reminds employees to complete their assigned training," she said in a press release. "If an employee does not complete their training, not only do I get a report stating this, I can create a personalized discipline letter detailing which courses they missed  all based on the same system."

Shamlin brought up the program during an interview and even showed it to an interviewer. That person presented the idea to the school cabinet, which decided to license the software.

In the current school year district employees had to finish seven online training courses in EmployeeSafe. Now it's in the process of implementing a staff accident management system to streamline the process of reporting staff accidents to the district's Workers' Compensation insurance carrier.

The course library for EmployeeSafe covers emergency management, food safety, hazard assessments and 11 other broad categories, each with multiple training videos, many available in Spanish and French. The system automates the management, notification, tracking and documentation of staff training and incidents. As reports are submitted, the program notifies the appropriate staff to address each safety concern and tracks the report to "completion" and auto-communicates with the submitter through the report resolution.

Among other school customers are Vandalia Butler City Schools in Ohio, Chinook's Edge School Division No. 73 in Alberta and Belle Plaine Unified School District 357 in Kansas.
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(Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged in a TV interview on Thursday that he once had a stake in his late father's offshore trust, which was revealed in the "Panama Papers" leak from a law firm. Cameron told ITV News that he had owned shares in the Panamanian trust, Blairmore, but had sold them in 2010, before becoming prime minister. "We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like 30,000", he told the television channel. "I paid income tax on the dividends. There was a profit on it but it was less than the capital gains tax allowance so I didn't pay capital gains tax," Cameron said. Cameron was expected to publish his tax returns as soon as possible, Sky News said in a tweet. Cameron's late father, Ian, was among tens of thousands of people named in leaked documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca which showed how the world's rich and powerful stash their wealth.. The firm specializes in establishing offshore companies, which could be used to avoid taxes, but there are several legitimate reasons for individuals and corporations to set them up. In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesman for Cameron said that the prime minister, his wife and their children did not benefit from any offshore funds at present. On Wednesday, a spokesman for Cameron said: "There are no offshore funds or trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future." (Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru and James William in London; Editing by Grant McCool)
By Amanda Becker WASHINGTON - Bernie Sanders won the U.S. presidential Democratic nominating contest in Wyoming on Saturday, besting rival Hillary Clinton and adding to a string of recent victories as the two candidates gear up for a crucial matchup in New York. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, has won seven out of the last eight state-level Democratic nominating contests, trying to chip away at Clinton's big lead in the number of delegates needed to secure the party's nomination. Wyoming's 14 Democratic delegates - fewer than any other state - are awarded proportionally based on support from individuals participating in the nominating contest. Early estimates showed that while Sanders won the contest, both he and Clinton would likely receive seven delegates each in the close race, maintaining Clinton's lead overall. Going into Wyoming, Clinton had more than half of the 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination. Sanders trailed her by 250 pledged delegates, those awarded based on the results of the state nominating contests. Clinton's lead widens when superdelegates, Democratic leaders who can decide whom to support at the party's July convention, are included in the tallies. Clinton and Sanders both spent Saturday campaigning in New York, which holds its contest on April 19 and where a total of 291 delegates are up for grabs, more than 10 percent of the tally needed to win the party's nomination. Sanders' wife, Jane Sanders, went onstage where he was speaking at a community college in Queens, a borough of New York City, to alert him to Saturday's victory. "News bulletin - we just won Wyoming!" Sanders said to cheers. Speaking to reporters after the event, Sanders said he believed he had enough momentum to secure the nomination. "We are closing very fast," Sanders said. Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, campaigned in the nearby borough of Brooklyn, where her campaign is based. Clinton represented New York as a U.S. senator and considers the state her home turf. Recent polls have shown Clinton more than 10 points ahead in the state. Tension between the two candidates flared earlier this week in a party race that has typically focussed on policies and not personal attacks. The candidates dialed back their criticism of one another on Friday. In Wyoming's Republican contest last month, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas beat New York billionaire Donald Trump, the party's front-runner. Cruz is trying to block Trump from receiving enough delegates to win the nomination outright, which would lead to a contested convention in July. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that a third of Trump's Republican supporters could consider abandoning the party's candidate if Trump is denied the nomination at a contested convention. (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Leslie Adler, Matthew Lewis and Bill Rigby)
By Gabriela Baczynska and Sara Ledwith BRUSSELS (Reuters) - In early March, Europe's migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos squelched through a muddy refugee camp on Greece's border with Macedonia and peered through the barbed-wire topped fence that stands between tens of thousands of migrants in Greece and richer countries that lie to the north. "By building fences, by deploying barbed wire," he said, "it is not a solution." But Avramopoulos has not always preached that message  and his changing views capture the tangle Europe has got itself into as more than a million migrants and refugees have floated in on Greek waters since the start of 2015. In 2012, when he was Greek minister of defense, Greece built a fence and electronic surveillance system along its border with Turkey. The cement and barbed-wire barrier and nearly 2,000 extra guards were designed to stop a sharp rise in illegal immigrants. The 62-year-old former diplomat was not directly involved in the project. But in 2013 he defended it, telling a news conference the wall had borne fruit. "The entry of illegal immigrants in Greece by this side has almost been eliminated," he said. The official European response to Europe's migrant crisis  championed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel last August  is for member states to pull together and provide shelter for people, especially Syrians, fleeing war or persecution. But in reality, most members have failed to take their quotas of refugees and nearly a dozen have built barricades to try to keep both migrants and refugees out. The bloc is now trying to implement a deal which would see Turkey take back new arrivals. The European Union was founded in the ashes of World War Two, in part on a principle of freedom of movement among member states. But since the fall of the Berlin Wall, European countries have built or started 1,200 km (750 miles) of anti-immigrant fencing at a cost of at least 500 million euros ($570 million), a Reuters analysis of public data shows. That distance is almost 40 percent of the length of America's border with Mexico. Many of these walls separate EU nations from states outside the bloc, but some are between EU states, including members of Europe's passport-free zone. Most of the building was started in 2015. "Wherever there have been large numbers of migrants or refugees trying to enter the EU, this trend has been followed up by a fence," said Irem Arf, a researcher on European Migration at rights group Amnesty International. For governments, fences seem like a simple solution. Building them is perfectly legal and countries have the right to control who enters their territory. Each new fence in Europe has sharply curbed the numbers of irregular immigrants on the route they blocked. For at least one company, fences work. The firm which operates a tunnel between France and Britain says that since a major security upgrade around its French terminal last October, migrants have ceased to cause trouble. "There have been no disruptions to services since mid October 2015, so we can say that the combination of the fence and the additional police presence has been highly effective," Eurotunnel spokesman John Keefe said. But in the short term at least, they have not stopped people trying to come. Instead, they have diverted them, often to longer, more dangerous routes. And rights groups say some fences deny asylum-seekers the chance to seek shelter, even though European law states that everyone has the right to a fair and efficient asylum procedure. Forced to find another way, migrants and refugees often turn to people-smugglers. CROWD CONTROL Greece's border fence was one of the first, and Avramopoulos still defends it. He says Greece built it to divert people towards official crossings where they could apply for asylum. Much of Greece's frontier with Turkey is delineated by a fast-flowing river, the Evros. But there is a 12 km stretch where people used to sneak through on land after making the river crossing in Turkey. "The Evros river is a very dangerous river," Avramopoulos told Reuters in his upper floor office suite in February. "Hundreds of people had lost their lives there." At least 19 people drowned in the Evros in 2010, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Neither the Greek authorities nor Europe's border agency Frontex could provide more data. In practice, rights groups say Greece's barrier  and others including one built by Spain in Morocco  effectively turn everyone away, denying vulnerable people a chance to make their case for protection. This is partly because some new barriers have passport controls like those at an airport. People need travel documents to exit one country and reach the checkpoint of the EU country where they want to seek asylum. Many refugees don't have any papers, so they are automatically blocked. With barriers come security guards, cameras and surveillance equipment, which all make it harder for people to make their asylum cases. Rights groups have documented many reports of border officials beating, abusing, or robbing migrants and refugees before dumping them back where they came from. This approach, known as push-back, has become an intrinsic feature of Europe's external borders, according to Amnesty International. As a solution, some migrants and refugees buy fake papers. Others stow away in vehicles. Or they turn to people-smugglers. Greece's fence had a knock-on effect that continues to ripple through Europe as more countries wall themselves off. More migrants moving through Turkey began to enter Europe across the Bulgarian border, or by sailing to Greece in inflatable dinghies. In the eastern Mediterranean, the International Organization for Migration has recorded more than 1,100 migrant deaths since the start of last year. CULTURAL PURITY The EU refuses to fund fences, saying they don't work. As European Commissioner, Avramopoulos has tried instead to persuade fellow member states to show solidarity by offering homes to 160,000 refugees and migrants, mainly from Greece and Italy. As of March 15, just 937 asylum applicants had been relocated. For Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the idea of quotas is "bordering on insanity." Orban opposes a dilution of Europe's "Christian values" by multicultural immigrants and started building fences along Hungary's borders with Croatia and Serbia in late 2015. Since the ethnic cleansing of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia, Balkan states have been particularly sensitive to the risks of ethnic and religious conflict. Other countries followed Hungary with fences  even if most said they installed them to control the flow of people, rather than to preserve cultural purity. When Austria started a barrier on its border with Slovenia in November 2015, it said it was necessary for crowd management. Then Austria capped the numbers of people it would admit, and how many it would allow through to Germany. By March, all these measures seemed to be having the desired effect: The number of migrants entering Germany from Austria had fallen more than sevenfold. Even so, there were new signs the fences were simply reshaping, rather than closing, the migration routes. The numbers making the perilous crossing from Africa to Italy had increased. Austria said it would add soldiers to defend its border with Italy. The fence Avramopoulos visited last month underlines the risks of such barriers. Built by Macedonia as part of a pact with states further north, it has sealed around 50,000 people into Greece. More than 10,000  a third of them children  are camped in flimsy tents near the fence. Many families have refused to leave the border, waiting instead for it to open, as respiratory infections spread and frustration mounts. "All our values are in danger today," Avramopoulos said. "You can see it here." (Ledwith reported from London; Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald in Brussels, Renee Maltezou in Athens, Tom Miles in Geneva and Himanshu Ojha in London; Edited by Janet Roberts and Simon Robinson)
By Tim Hepher and Gernot Heller PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) - France and Germany have joined Britain in suspending export credit facilities for Airbus jet deliveries, expanding the fallout from a potential corruption probe in Britain, several people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The move follows Britain's decision last week to suspend financing and alert the Serious Fraud Office after Airbus Group said it had found anomalies over the declaration of overseas agents and that it had itself notified the UK authorities. Unusually, it leaves the world's two largest planemakers, Airbus and Boeing , both facing paralysis over government export financing as Congressional delays leave U.S. Export Import bank unable to support Airbus's U.S. rival. In Europe, Airbus draws on financing support for some sales from Britain, France and Germany where its main factories are. The nations typically act in concert, offering guarantees in proportion to the industrial work in each country, but declining to take up the slack whenever one of them refuses to take part. A German economy ministry spokesman confirmed that the financing, provided on its behalf by Allianz unit Euler-Hermes, was no longer available. Berlin is also examining whether the UK episode could have consequences for export credits already awarded, he added. In France, three sources said export guarantees were being withheld for the time being. "Audits are being carried out in the UK and we are waiting for the conclusions for those," a French government official said. Airbus Group declined to add to a previous statement that it was co-operating with export credit agencies and that it expected financing to be resumed in the near future. For now, the market impact is seen as limited as the use of export credits has dwindled to around 6 percent of deliveries from 40 percent at the height of the 2008-10 financial crisis. But the unprecedented halt raises doubt over the financing for some upcoming deliveries, pushing up demand for commercial loans and placing pressure on Airbus to offer bridge financing. "The problem is that deals financed with export credit are usually the tough-to-finance ones, so finding a commercial alternative is not always that simple," a market source said. AGENT FEES AND NAMES The agency which underwrites aircraft exports in Britain has said it will not support Airbus deliveries until it gets assurances about Airbus's current practices on overseas agents. The UK case involves discrepancies over the amount of agents' fees disclosed in applications for export support, or missing names of third parties, in some cases dating back several years, two people familiar with the matter said. A person responsible for overseeing some of the information supplied in export credit applications is no longer with the group, people familiar with the matter said. Airbus Group declined comment. The decision by Airbus to report itself reflects efforts by many aerospace companies to toughen compliance and review their records for past failings after a series of industry scandals. In its just-published annual report, Airbus said a newly centralised compliance team was revising the procedures on hiring consultants and warned investors this may "lead to additional commercial disputes or other consequences". Europe's largest aerospace group says it is co-operating with four existing criminal probes into suspected irregularities in defence or security markets, including a British investigation into a $3.3 billion communications deal with Saudi Arabia and a German probe into the sale of fighter jets to Austria. (Additional reporting by Matthieu Protard, Leigh Thomas,; Editing by Geert De Clercq and David Evans)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has launched dozens of strikes in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, acknowledging for the first time such attacks against suspected arms transfers to Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas. Though formally neutral on Syria's civil war, Israel has frequently pledged to prevent shipments of advanced weaponry to the Iranian-backed group, while stopping short of confirming reports of specific air operations. Visiting Israeli troops in the occupied Golan Heights near the frontier with Syria, Netanyahu said: "We act when we need to act, including here across the border, with dozens of strikes meant to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining game-changing weaponry." Netanyahu did not specify what kind of strikes Israel had conducted in Syria. He also gave no timeframe or other details regarding the strikes. Israel welcomed the cessation of hostilities in Syria in February but has indicated it could still launch attacks there if it sees a threat from Hezbollah, which holds sway over southern Lebanon and whose fighters have been allied with President Bashar al-Assad. Israeli leaders have sought assurances from Russia, which sent forces to Syria last year to help Assad, that it would not allow Iran and Hezbollah to be bolstered by the partial military withdrawal that Moscow announced last month. Israel and Russia have maintained a hotline to prevent any accidental clash between their aircraft over Syrian territory. Hezbollah and Israel last fought a war in 2006 that included rocket strikes inside Israel and an Israeli air and ground offensive in Lebanon. Israeli leaders have said that since that conflict, Hezbollah has built up and improved the range of a rocket arsenal that can now strike deep inside Israel. (Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Gareth Jones)
The Independent

Elon Musk plans to lay off most of Twitters workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report by The Washington Post.Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75% of Twitters employee base of 7,500 workers, according to Thursday's report.If confirmed, the cuts would leave the company with a skeleton crew, according to the Post.The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.San Francisco-based Twitter and a representative for Musk attorney Alex Spiro did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.SEE MORE: What Happens If Elon Musk Buys Twitter?While job cuts have been expected regardless of the sale, the magnitude of Musk's planned cuts are far more extreme than anything Twitter had planned.Musk himself has alluded to the need to cull some of the company's staff in the past, but he hadn't given a specific number - at least not publicly.Already, experts, nonprofits and even Twitter's own staff have warned that pulling back investments on content moderation and data security could hurt Twitter and its users.With as drastic a reduction as Musk may be planning, the platform could quickly become overrun with harmful content and spam.After his initial $44 billion bid in April to buy Twitter, Musk backed out of the deal, contending Twitter misrepresented the number of fake spam bot accounts on its platform.Twitter sued, and a Delaware judge has given both sides until 28 October to work out details.Otherwise, there will be a trial in November.Additional reporting by The Associated Press.
By Chris Scicluna VALLETTA (Reuters) - Several thousand people filled a big square in Malta's capital on Sunday and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat after the leaked Panama Papers said two of his political allies had offshore accounts. "Shame on you, you are shaming Malta, you have lost the moral authority to govern," opposition leader Simon Busuttil said to the applause of protesters. The rally, organised by the opposition outside the prime minister's office, drew no official comment from Muscat. He said on Wednesday that he would take a decision on the future of his two allies when he knows all the facts and on the basis of public sentiment. The Nationalist Party opposition wants the removal of Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the prime minister's Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri. The Panama Papers showed how Mizzi set up a company in Panama and a trust in New Zealand. Mizzi denies wrongdoing and says the arrangements were made to facilitate the management of his family assets, including income from a property in London. He has refused calls to resign and said he is subjecting himself to an independent audit. However, on Thursday he told the ruling Labour Party he is ready for any decision that the prime minister might take. Busuttil said the opposition is also calling for the resignation of Schembri, for having similarly set up a company in Panama and a trust in Panama. Schembri has denied any wrongdoing. He says that he was in business well before he assumed his government role and that he handed over his business management as soon as the government was elected in 2013. The opposition has repeatedly hit out at Mizzi, who handled the government's biggest contracts, including the part-privatisation of the health service, the part-privatisation of energy provider Enemalta and an oil hedging agreement with Azerbaijan. Busuttil said that although the scandal became known in Malta as early as February, Muscat had done nothing about it. Rather, he had promoted Mizzi to deputy leader of the Labour Party. "His inaction is undermining Malta's reputation and endangering its financial services centre," he warned. "How can the prime minister defend Malta's financial services industry in the EU when his fellow minister has a secret company in Panama?" Busuttil asked. The opposition has presented a parliamentary motion of no confidence in the government. The Panama Papers scandal broke a week ago when the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung said it had received 11.5 million leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca showing how offshore companies are used to stash the wealth of the world's elite. The leak quickly led to the resignation of Iceland's prime minister and embroiled British Prime Minister David Cameron in difficulties over offshore investments made by his father. (Reporting by Christopher Scicluna; Editing by Stephen Powell)
hassan alkhdar pharmacy

Only one of Rabe Alkhdar's brothers came back alive from a Syrian prison.

"My mother was wailing by that time," Rabe, a Syrian refugee now living in the US, recalled in an interview with Business Insider late last month.

"She asked Hassan how he could be sure that his brother had died."

He was describing the moment he said his brother Hassan emerged from one of Syrian President Bashar Assad's most infamous prisons, Tadmor, and told his mother that his brother Hameed had been killed inside.

"He told her that after he was beaten and hung, the guards returned the body and threw it on top of Yunus. They left both bodies there for two days. Hassan had to watch his brother lay there dead for two days. We only got Hassan back, and Hameed's death certificate. It's now been three years since we lost him."

Years later, Rabe finds himself 6,000 miles away. After months of harrowing experiences, he sought and found refuge. But in a story typical of the destruction and displacement of the Syrian civil war, Rabe is still waiting to be reunited with his family.

'His name was Yunus'

Two of Rabe's brothers, Hassan and Hameed, were arrested in 2012 for helping to treat protesters injured while demonstrating against the Assad regime, Rabe said. Both had gone to pharmacy school, and they had their own shop in Aleppo where they sold medicine.

Rabe said they were detained for two months in the regime's notorious Tadmor prison in Palmyra, the city that was recently retaken from the Islamic State by Assad's Syrian Arab Army.



Tadmor

Story continues

"One day my brothers were called to treat a victim at his home," Rabe said. "They went to the given address and were trying to do it quietly. They knocked on the door but nobody answered, and they felt that something was wrong. Suddenly they were surrounded by Assad's intelligence forces and were captured."

He continued: "As detainees, they were beaten with batons and cables. The interrogators used braided electrical cords to beat them across their backs and neck, and batons to beat them on the bottom of their feet in Tadmor. The agents promised to release them if my family paid them a ransom, so we paid $9,000 to get both of them back. But Hassan was also forced to make a deal. He had to promise to collect information for the regime about doctors and pharmacists working in Syria's medical aid networks."

Hassan betrayed his captors and fled to Turkey after he was released, Rabe said. But his other brother, Hameed, was killed inside the prison.

"We gave them all the money, and only one of my brothers walked out of Tadmor," Rabe said. "We waited and waited for my other brother. No one came. We looked at Hassan and he could not speak. My mom hurried to hug him, and she begged him to tell her about her other son. Hassan just cried uncontrollably. She insisted for him to tell her right then."

tadmor

He began to explain.

"He told us that while he was in prison, there was a young boy being detained in their cell along with six others. His name was Yunus. Yunus was sick all the time. One day, he suddenly fell to the ground. He got up and stumbled across the cell and fell to the floor again. He lay there on the ground curled in a ball. Yunus seem epileptic."

Hassan said Yunus had been in the prison for a month because his family was poor and couldn't pay for his release. He was not allowed any medication for his condition, and, Hassan recalled, "on that day his health seemed to fail him all together."

"Hassan ran over to the boy. He found him huddled against a stone wall. His face was buried in his arms, which were resting on drawn-up knees. Hameed tried to hold Yunus' head up because he knew that he was about to have another seizure. At first he did not understand anything Yunus was saying. It was as if he were speaking some unknown language. Yunus continued to make his plea, but nothing but gibberish came out."

palmyra recapture

By Hassan's recollection, Hameed sat down on the cement floor with Yunus and held him while he had a seizure.

"Yunus shook so violently that my brother was barely able to protect his body from banging into the cement wall," he said. "His eyes rolled back into his head. Then the guards came."

The guards, Hassan recalled, demanded that Hameed let Yunus go and leave him on the ground. But Hameed refused to leave him by himself. A few moments later Yunus collapsed and lost consciousness.

"The guards grabbed my brother and left this child to suffer alone from his seizure. Within a few long moments Yunus was dead."

Not long after, Hameed was dead, too. After trying to get out of the guards' grip to reach Yunus after he collapsed, Hameed was dragged out of the cell and hanged.

'You will go behind the sun'

"There's a saying in Syria that if you do something wrong, if you defy the government, you will 'go behind the sun,'" Rabe said. "In other words, you will be arrested and then just disappear. No one goes to Assad's prisons without being tortured."

More than half of Syria's population has fled or been killed since the war erupted in March 2011. The vast majority have died simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Barrel bombs dropped by regime helicopters on civilian targets in rebel-held areas have killed more than 20,000 people, mostly civilians, in five years.

Thousands more have been tortured and killed in the regime's prisons, a practice the United Nations deemed "extermination as a crime against humanity."

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh, and Al Qaeda's affiliate group in Syria, known as Jabhat al-Nusra, have also ruled parts of Syria with an iron fist, but far fewer have been killed by the jihadist groups than by the government and its allies.

Members of Rabe's family, scattered across Syria, often found themselves in the crosshairs of the militant groups. His father and his brother Mazen were captured and detained by al-Nusra in November 2013 and released unharmed shortly thereafter, he said. They now live in a village on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Rabe

Rabe said his uncle Ahmad was killed by the Islamic State in March 2013, along with his cousin Hasan. They were charged with treason "for helping infidels move from one area of Aleppo to another" in 2013, Rabe said.

The Free Syrian Army, an umbrella organization made up mostly of moderate rebel groups backed by Western countries, kicked ISIS out of Aleppo later that year, Rabe said. But before the jihadists fled, they killed all of their prisoners.

Still, when asked whom his own family had suffered from more, Rabe was unequivocal.

"Both [ISIS and Assad] are hideous," Rabe said. "But my family suffered most from the regime side."

'I don't know what freedom is'

Rabe's entire family left Syria in the revolution's earlier days, before the refugee crisis began in earnest and it was easier to seek and be granted asylum in neighboring countries.

"By January 2014, my whole family had left Syria. Now they are scattered across Turkey, Jordan, Germany, and the UAE."

Months after the war erupted, Rabe, his wife, and their two young boys fled to Saudi Arabia where Rabe, a trained pharmacist, found work with a company that sent some of its employees to a conference hosted in a different country every year.

Rabe

"I've been to Spain, Austria, South Africa, and Australia for this conference. Last year it was supposed to be in the US, so I got a tourist visa," Rabe said, after providing Business Insider with the relevant documents as proof of his legal status.

The conference was canceled, but he kept his tourist visa  which proved useful when, in January 2015, he lost his job in Saudi Arabia and was unable to renew his pharmacy license.

"My manager in Saudi Arabia was an Assad supporter from Latakia," Rabe said, referring to the hometown of the embattled Syrian president at the center of the war. "And he knew my history  I left Syria in 2011 after participating in a demonstration against the regime, and I continued to protest in front of the Syrian consulate in Jeddah" in Saudi Arabia.

With few options, then, Rabe said he left his family in Saudi Arabia and came to the US using his tourist visa.

"I didn't have any place else to go," Rabe said. "I came here in February [2015], and my only choice was to apply or asylum and try to get my wife and kids here."

Syrian refugee children play near their families residence at Al Zaatari refugee camp, in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria, November 29, 2015. REUTERS/ Muhammad Hamed

In November, President Barack Obama committed to taking in 10,000 refugees from Syria over the course of 2016. It was five times more than the US has permitted in the five years since the war broke out, creating the biggest refugee crisis the world has seen since World War II.

Rabe moved to Washington, D.C. As of this article's publishing, he was still waiting for his and his family's asylum claims to be processed.

He keeps in touch with his family and friends via Whatsapp, and Skype, and Facebook. His Facebook page offers a glimpse into his life before the war  photos of him and his brothers at soccer games, his trips to Sydney and Cape Town, his boys playing with iPads.

Now he uses it to post videos of the war's atrocities and photos of his sons draped in the revolution's flag.

rabe

He is under no illusion that his family will ever be reunited in Aleppo. The war will rage on, he believes, as long as Assad remains in power.

"I cant see an end to this war, and no one is helping to solve the root of the problem, which is Assad," Rabe said. "Assad is the head of the snake."

The embattled president recently said in an interview that he didn't think it would be difficult to form a coalition government with members of the opposition, and that he would call for new elections if that is what the Syrian people wanted.

Rabe laughed at the notion, saying that he had never voted because there is no use in it.

"I dont know what voting is. I dont know what freedom is," he said.

Then, he began to cry.

"Since moving to the US, I've met many Americans who ask me what it was like growing up under that dictatorship. They then say they 'can't imagine' what it must have been like, that they were born free and will die free."

"I've never experienced that," he said, with a sad smile. "I will never experience that."

NOW WATCH: Melania Trump: If you attack my husband 'he will punch back 10 times harder





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Newt Gingrich, the former US presidential candidate who once described private equity as rich people figuring out


For Immediate Release, April 7, 2016 Contacts: Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, +44 131 6232 600, biofuelwatch@ymail.com

Kevin Bundy, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 844-7100 x 313, kbundy@biologicaldiversity.org United Nations Urged to Withdraw Misleading Biofuels Report Error-filled Document Touts Shuttered Plants, Bankrupt Company OAKLAND, Calif. The Center for Biological Diversity and seven other groups today urged the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to withdraw a misleading and inaccurate report on second-generation biofuels  fuels made from wood, grasses or crop residues. In a letter to the U.N. organization, the groups wrote that the report contains so many factual inaccuracies and misleading claims that its conclusion must be withdrawn. The report, which was released in early 2016, concludes these biofuels are a commercial reality and a good investment for developing nations. But as todays letter pointed out, the UNCTAD report includes many serious errors, including a list of second-generation biofuel plants that is actually composed of facilities that have never produced such fuels, have yet to operate successfully, or have stopped operations. One company touted by the report has declared bankruptcy. We are deeply concerned that developing countries governments could be misled by UNCTADs flawed report that claims that second-generation biofuels are commercially viable when current evidence shows that they clearly are not, said Almuth Ernsting, co-director of the United Kingdom-based organization Biofuelwatch. In the worst case, under-resourced countries could end up wasting scarce public funding on technologies which have no track record of working. The U.N.s error-filled biofuels report threatens our climate by pushing a dirty, unproven technology that could undermine truly promising clean-energy sources, said Kevin Bundy, a Center senior attorney. We expect better from the United Nations. The report must be withdrawn. The groups' letter highlights the reports factual inaccuracies. The report claims, for example, that over 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol were produced in the United States in 2014. According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, however, just over 2 million gallons were produced. The report also lists 10 second-generation biofuel production plants with "the highest capacity. Of those 10, however, seven never produced any second-generation fuels; one began production but then shut down three months prior to publication of the report; one continues to be plagued by problems and has yet to operate successfully; and the last never operated successfully and appears to have been shut down. The report also highlights the GreenSky London project announced by British Airways in 2010, which aimed to refine municipal solid waste into aviation fuel using Solenas technology. Solena filed for bankruptcy in the Maryland Bankruptcy Court in October 2015. Following Solenas bankruptcy petition, British Airways officially abandoned the GreenSky London project. Independent research conducted by Biofuelwatch also found at least five commercial-scale second-generation biofuel refineries in the United States which have failed to produce fuels due largely due to problems with the technologies involved. The organizations signing the letter include Biofuelwatch, Center for Biological Conservation, the Center for Biological Diversity, ETC Group, Friends of the Earth U.S., the Global Justice Ecology Project, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and the International Center for Technology Assessment. Documents and additional resources: The groups open letter is available at: http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/unctad-2g-biofuels-report-critique-final/. The UNCTAD Report Second Generation Biofuel Markets: State of Play, Trade and Developing Country Perspectives can be viewed at http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2015d8_en.pdf U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data on total US cellulosic ethanol production (totaling 2.18 milion gallons in 2014) can be viewed at: https://www.epa.gov/fuels-registration-reporting-and-compliance-help/2015-renewable-fuel-standard-data. Further background and independent research from Biofuelwatch can be found in the article Biofuel or Biofraud? The Vast Taxpayer Cost of Failed Cellulosic and Algal Biofuels, Almuth Ernsting, Independent Science News, March 2016, http://www.independentsciencenews.org/environment/biofuel-or-biofraud-the-vast-taxpayer-cost-of-failed-cellulosic-and-algal-biofuels/. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Shopping for car insurance, like many other types of shopping, has largely moved online, a new J.D. Power study finds, but it adds that while consumers shop for insurance online, many still make the actual purchase through an agent.

The study found that 74% of shoppers use insurer websites or aggregators for obtaining quotes and researching information. While nearly half of customers obtain a quote via insurer websites, only 25% actually purchase their policy online; 50% close through an agent and 22% phone a call center.

While many customers want to shop online, they often still want to talk to someone when they buy their insurance to make sure they are getting the right coverage or have questions about their policy answered, said Hoeg. Insurers need to focus on the delicate balance of providing an easy shopping experience while providing product differentiation and professional service.

Rankings

Erie Insurance and Liberty Mutual tied for first place in providing a satisfying purchase experience, each with a score of 853. This marks the fourth consecutive year Erie Insurance has ranked highest in the study.

The Hartford ranks third (850); American Family fourth (845); and Automobile Club Group fifth (840).

Now in its 10th year, the J.D. Power U.S. Insurance Shopping Study measures auto insurance shopping, purchase behavior, and purchase experience satisfaction among customers who recently purchased insurance.

The study found that direct premiums written increased by approximately 4.7% to $199 billion in 2015, with much of that growth coming from new business generated by direct writers.

Direct writers have invested heavily in digital channels to increase the functionality and ease of using their websites, which has clearly created an advantage for direct distribution relative to traditional agency distribution in some respects and has supported agency distribution in others, said Greg Hoeg, vice president of U.S. insurance operations at J.D. Power.

Fewer shoppers

Hoeg said the challenge for insurance companies is that there are fewer consumers shopping around for insurance at the moment. Many companies have kept premiums flat or even lowered them, giving consumers fewer reasons to look for cheaper policies.

In addition, customers who do switch are saving an average of $356 on their annual premiums, less than the $388 in savings for those who switched in 2015.

With more price competition and smaller savings, there simply is not as much motivation for most customers to switch, said Hoeg. Many policyholders see insurance as a price-differentiated commodity, and shoppers are opting to remain with their incumbent insurer as they find the savings offered by competitors is not as great as they had expected, or as much as they saved the last time they switched.

The 2016 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study is based on responses from more than 17,000 shoppers who requested an auto insurance price quote from at least one competitive insurer in the past 9 months and includes more than 50,000 unique customer evaluations of insurers.
Credit unions confused by the in-progress changes to annual privacy notice requirements have a new resource, courtesy of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). CUNA has developed a privacy notice opt-out checklist, a comprehensive resource intended to assist credit unions until the rule is finalized.

Changes to privacy notice requirements were signed into law in December 2015, following a number of years spent by CUNA asking for changes from regulators and members of Congress. CUNA was a strong supporter of the bill that was eventually included as part of the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation Act.

The list, developed by CUNAs Senior Federal Compliance Counsel Colleen Kelly, asks credit unions about sharing of nonpublic personal information with third parties and if those third parties are affiliates of the credit union. The list lays out the requirements for financial institutions that disclose nonpublic personal information with nonaffiliated third parties.

Those institutions are required to:

Provide an initial notice to the member;
Human resource (HR) leaders are continually looking to find the best talent for open positions at their credit unions. But its critical for credit unions to have a strategy in place to find, recruit, and retain those individuals.

And that may mean thinking outside the box and using a new set of techniques instead of traditional methods, Richard Finnegan said during a preconference workshop Sunday at the CUNA HR & Organizational Development Council Conference in Orlando.

Finnegan, CEO of C-Suite Analytics, advised attendees to take four recruiting methods:

1. Use LinkedIn

Use this social media platform to connect with local credit union professionals and join credit union groups. This will give your credit union an easy and free way to connect with prospective employees and send out job announcements.

These are such good tools that are just sitting there for us, Finnegan says.
Farmland values fell in the first quarter of 2016 as weak agricultural commodity markets and EU uncertainty made buyers more picky.

English values of bare arable and pasture land fell 3% in quarter one of this year compared to the last quarter of 2015, to average 8,000, according to data from Knight Frank.

The agent said it was the largest quarterly fall on its farmland index since 2008 when values fell 5% following the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank.

See also: Checklist: What to consider when selling your farmland

However, farmland values were still 32% higher than five years ago and a huge 176% higher than 10 years ago.

EU membership uncertainty

Given the significant issues weighing on the market at the moment, a period of readjustment is perhaps unsurprising, said Andrew Shirley, head of rural research at Knight Frank.

Agricultural commodity prices remain low with little prospect for a strong rebound in the short term, while the potential implications of a UK exit from the EU are adding further uncertainty Andrew Shirley, Knight Frank

Agricultural commodity prices remain low with little prospect for a strong rebound in the short term, while the potential implications of a UK exit from the EU are adding further uncertainty.

But whatever the outcome in June, the company was still seeing strong demand from farmers who were either not reliant on EU subsidy payments or had taken the long-term view that expansion was necessary, said Mr Shirley.

However, Mark McAndrew, head of national farm sales at Strutt & Parker, said that while the upcoming EU referendum had caused uncertainty, with less land coming to the market in recent months, average prices had remained relatively stable.

Many of these sales were agreed before the date of the referendum was announced, however, it does feel like the threat of Brexit is having less of an impact on land values than some commentators had predicted, he said.

He said location was becoming increasingly important in the market where lifestyle buyers and farmers with rollover funds from development land were influential, and that farmers were given closer consideration to whether they should invest in land or not.

Scottish BPS payments impact market

In Scotland, delayed BPS payments were making some buyers more choosy, said James Butler, associate in the companys Edinburgh office.

There is a limited number of buyers for smaller, livestock units, but demand is there for extensive, well-balanced stock farms James Butler, Strutt & Parker

Buyers are being more price sensitive in Scotland due to the delay in their basic payments and poorer commodity prices.

However, prime arable farms remain in short supply and buyers are prepared to pay a premium for quality offerings.

There is a limited number of buyers for smaller, livestock units, but demand is there for extensive, well-balanced stock farms.

Strutt & Parker also released its farmland figures this week, showing a quarterly fall of 3% on the value of English arable land in the first three months of this year.

The average price of arable land in England dipped down to 9,668/acre in quarter one of 2016, said the agent.
Many members of farming families dream of writing a book.

Whether its country memoirs, local history, a Jilly Cooper-style bonkbuster or a high-tech thriller, these nine simple tips can help you turn that dream into a reality

1. Start

Procrastination is the enemy of authors, so dont wait for inspiration.

Every minute you procrastinate is one less minute youre writing.

Once you have something down on paper (or more likely your computer), you have something to edit.

Easier said than done, admittedly, but just try to get going.

See also: Farmers Weekly journalist has novel published by Penguin

2. Write about what you know

Whether your story is about a contemporary forensic pathologist or a 1930s farming family, pick topics and characters you are interested in, inspired by and informed about.

Right now, farming and food are hot topics with the public, so it might just be the perfect time to write that rural-based blockbuster.

3. Get a routine

You might allocate one day every weekend to the task. You might prefer to lock yourself away for a few unbroken weeks at a quiet time every year.

You might even take your iPad with you on the tractor and type for half an hour every lunchtime.

Whats important is finding a routine that works for you and sticking to it.

Farming people are good at multiskilling, so youre already well-placed in this respect.

4. Set targets

Its good to give yourself goals and it makes the task less intimidating if you break it down into manageable chunks.

Can you get a draft of the first chapter done by the end of the month? The first three by Christmas? You could be halfway through it by the time you are lambing next year.

5. Listen to feedback

Show your work to people whose advice you trust and listen to what they say. Be true to your own vision, but take constructive criticism on board.

6. Edit

Then edit again. Then edit again. Then edit again.

7. Be persistent

They say you have to be an optimist to be a farmer, so channel this approach as you battle the odds.

Dont get discouraged when you hit setbacks.

The path to publication will be full of ups and downs.

Those stories of famous writers getting rejected dozens of times before achieving success are true.

8. Draw on your other skills

Publishers and agents like professional people. Youll be more appealing to them if you appreciate the business realities of the book trade.

Meet deadlines, be professional and be a nice person to deal with.

9. Stay positive

Remember why youre doing this. Its because the act of writing is fun (and, of course, because you want Steven Spielberg to snap up the film rights). If he does, youll buy a bigger, better-equipped farm and a holiday home in the Bahamas (in that order). Celebrate your milestones.

Enjoy the ride. Good luck.
Illinois Wesleyan Students to Present at Research Conference

April 8, 2016

The John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference includes numerous poster sessions in CNS.



BLOOMINGTON, Ill. More than 140 students are scheduled to present poster or oral presentations or musical performances April 16 at this years John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference.

Student presenter Lydia Hartlaub 16 is looking forward to being a part of this years conference. I love the idea of showcasing the research that so many really smart people do here, she said.

Its going to smell like burning batteries [in CNS and State Farm Hall] because there is so much brainpower, she quipped. Its going to be fun for me to be among that.

Research projects range from legalities of the Cuban missile crisis quarantine to genetic analyses of newly discovered mycobacteriophages to earnings effects of Chinas one-child policy. Hartlaubs research is a study of international cinema by focusing on five Latino actors. It is an idea sparked by a course she took last semester on Latin American media and film. Conducting her research and writing her paper entirely in Spanish, Hartlaub estimates she has spent about 150 hours on the project this semester.

Mark Nosiglia '17 presents his work at the 2015 John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference.



The conference schedule begins in 9 a.m. with poster presentations in CNS and State Farm Hall. Oral presentations begin at 10 a.m.

University of Oregon Professor Regina Psaki will present the luncheon keynote address. She is Giustina Family Professor of Italian Language and Literature in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Oregon.

Musical performances will also be presented by Illinois Wesleyan students during the luncheon. Afternoon events include presentations by senior art students in the Merwin & Wakeley Galleries.

Established in 1990, the research conference provides an opportunity for students who are pursuing individual research projects to present their work in a public forum. The conference is named for John Wesley Powell, the explorer, geologist and founder of the National Geographic Society. He joined Illinois Wesleyans faculty in 1865. A few years later Powell took IWU students on field expeditions in the West, one of the first expeditions of its kind in American higher education.
Leiser '16 to Receive Google SVA Scholarship

Timothy Leiser '16 won a Google SVA scholarship, which he'll use to attend graduate school next year.

April 8, 2016

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan University student and U.S. Army veteran Timothy Leiser 16 is one of only eight students nationwide to be awarded a Google SVA Scholarships. The $10,000 scholarship sponsored by Google and Student Veterans of America (SVA) is awarded to student veterans pursuing a degree in computer science. The honor includes an invitation to attend Googles Summer Scholars Retreat in June.

Google and the nonprofit SVA created the scholarship in 2012 to support the SVAs mission of providing veterans with the resources, support and advocacy needed to succeed in higher education and throughout their careers. A computer science and sociology double major at Illinois Wesleyan, Leiser will use his scholarship to attend graduate school next year to pursue an MBA.

A native of Mundelein, Ill., Leiser said he was in the last days of sixth grade when Deep Blue, IBMs chess-playing computer, squared off against then-world champion Garry Kasparov. Viewing the match on TV with his father, Leiser watched the computer defeat Kasparov. From that point on, nothing interested me more than computers, Leiser said. Other kids my age went to summer camp, but I went to technology camp.

Leiser first enrolled at Augustana College in 2007, but financial hardship caused him to withdraw. He then enlisted in the U.S. Army and eventually served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. Though my career was much different from my dream of being a software developer for Microsoft or Square Enix, I never once forgot about it, he said. Discharged from the U.S. Army in 2013, Leiser enrolled at Illinois Wesleyan on the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. He has thrived at the University, working as a resident advisor where he developed programs based on his residents interests, backgrounds and academic majors. Hes also worked part time on campus as a technology coordinator and volunteered to design a website for the Action Research Center.

My dream of becoming a software programmer for a Triple A game designer has not vanished, but its evolved, he said. Utilizing both of my majors, I will be able to develop software that will be beneficial to almost any person in the world.
Kentucky Oaks Top 10: Caseys Picks The Kentucky Oaks final preps are finished, excluding the Beaumont, and the list for the Kentucky just became more confused. While Songbird decimated another field, over a sloppy track, she is clearly the favorite for the Kentucky Oaks. However, she will now be the only undefeated filly in the field now that Cathryn Sophia has shown she may be distance challenged. Lets look at the new top ten and how it has shifted.

Songbird (Medaglia dOro  Ivanavinalot, by West Acre; 190 points)  Songbird annihilated yet another field in the Santa Anita Oaks, this time in the slop. All we are wondering now is how much she will win the Kentucky Oaks by and who will get the second place prize. Also, if she does win the Kentucky Oaks, it would also give her stallion a 3rd Kentucky Oaks winner.

Land Over Sea (Bellamy Road  Belle Watling, by Pulpit; 128 points)  With her being now the most accomplished from all of her siblings, which include War Story and Draw Two, Land Over Sea is running around, potentially the second best filly running. She has yet to have an official work since her Grade Two score in the Fair Ground Oaks but is currently jogging. She has been chasing Songbird around California, and once away, broke away and won big. While it flatters Songbird, it also does a lot of good for this filly and her chances in Kentucky.

Terra Promessa (Curlin  Missile Bay, by Yes Its True; 150 points)  Terra Promessa is currently sitting second on the Kentucky Oaks. If she had not finished third in her debut, she would be undefeated. She is not only bred for the additional distance that she will get in the Kentucky Oaks, she is bred to improve with age. She fought hard and dug in to win the Fantasy Stakes and will give her a potential edge if Songbird puts up a fight, which she has never had to before.

Lewis Bay (Bernardini  Summer Raven, by Summer Squall; 130 points)  Never out of the top two in five starts, and heads to the Oaks as a top contender, Lewis Bay looks to continue on to Kentucky to take advantage of the extra distance she will receive. Chad Brown has a chance with this filly, who is bred to run all day. She is likely to arrive at Churchill soon.

Rachels Valentina (Bernardini  Rachel Alexandra, by Medaglia dOro; 48 points)  after a three-year-old debut in a tough race, Rachels Valentina finally jumps back into Kentucky Oaks contention. Her first race since coming in 2nd in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies to Songbird was the Grade One Ashland at Keeneland. After engaging in a dogfight with Cathryn Sophia, Rachels Valentine was narrowly defeated by a neck by longshot Weep No More, who took advantage of the pace scenario. If Rachels Valentina can improve 2nd off the layoff, she could be dangerous to Songbird now that she has a bit more experience, especially when it comes to battling head to head with another filly.

Weep No More (Mineshaft  Crosswinds, by Storm Cat; 100 points)  After taking advantage of a hot pace, Weep No More came into the Grade One Ashland off two straight wins at Tampa, one of which was her maiden score. She has only raced four times but is now on a three race winning streak. If she can get a hot pace in Louisville, I would not discount her for a possibly top three finish.

Taxable (Tapit  Jackpot Joanie, by Giants Causeway; 40 points)  Steve Asmussen is usually present with very hot fillies come Kentucky Oaks day. After going 1-2 in the Fantasy Stakes, Taxable seems to improving at the right time. After running late, she was narrowly defeated by Terra Promessa. If she improves of that, which she likely will, then she could be a real threat in four weeks. She has not been worse than second in three starts.

Mo dAmour (Uncle Mo  Neverthesame, by Scat Daddy; 70 points)  She looks to be getting tired in the Gazelle as Lewis Bay and Royal Obsession took off. If she is distance limited, she could have problems at nine furlongs. However, the track at Aqueduct was very tiring, as we saw from previous races and then the Wood Memorial was a good example of tiring horses. Mo dAmour likely will get another shot in the Kentucky Oaks, and her connections, King of Prussia Stables, are likely thinking, well Princess of Sylmar did not win the Gazelle in her final prep either.

Royal Obsession (Tapit  Rote, but Tiznow; 45 points)  After finishing a good second to Lewis Bay in the Gazelle, Royal Obsession will get her chance against better competition next out. She as a very expensive sales horse, and if she can improve in the Kentucky Oaks, her price will be justified. She is bred to improve with age and experience. Given time, she could prove very good and competitive.

Wonderment (Cosmonaut  A Wonder She It, by Three Wonders; 50 points)  As of now, Wonderment has not been confirmed as a starter for the Kentucky Oaks. She is a small filly who has a lot of growing to do. She trained very impressively on the Keeneland dirt before her Bourbonette Oaks (G3) score at Turfway over the synthetic track. Her stallion was a good turf route runner, and her dam side suggests turf route as well. She has trained well on dirt, and even won on the dirt, but until she wins a major stakes on dirt, her form is questionable and a bit of an unknown.

The Kentucky Oaks is held this year, rain or shine, on May 6 at the famed Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Oaks is also entering its 142nd year, as it is the sister race to the Kentucky Derby. If planning on attending the Oaks, dont forget to wear pink and enjoy an Oaks Lily, the signature drink of the race.
Westfield, MA A potentially damning A potentially damning Endoscope lawsuit accuses the Baystate Noble Hospital located in Westfield, Massachusetts, of putting patient health at risk in what has been described as a preventable situation involving endoscopy equipment. It has also been alleged that hospital officials knew of the issue some three years before affected patients were informed.

According to(4/6/16), the hospital had introduced new endoscopy equipment to the endoscopy department and had placed the new devices into service for the performance of colonoscopies between June 2012 and April 2013.However, according to court records associated with the endoscopic infection lawsuit and thereport that has been carried nationally by the(AP 4/6/16), there were issues with the disinfection and cleaning process that has proven to be an Achilles heel for other endoscopes.In this case, the state Department of Public Health discovered during a routine inspection that only three of the four prongs associated with the new equipment were being properly cleaned and disinfected. The report went further to detail that while the new endoscopes pressed into service during the months between June 2012 and April 2013 featured four prongs, the disinfectant equipment utilized by the hospital was three-pronged.Thus, older disinfecting equipment was being used to clean newer devices. The result, according to plaintiffs, is that the disinfectant solution used as part of the final disinfection process was not getting to the fourth prong.It has been reported that back in January, no fewer than 293 patients were sent a communication from the hospital to inform them about the possibility of potential exposure to hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV.Some 25 of those patients have filed an endoscopic infection lawsuit against the hospital, alleging amongst other claims that the hospital was aware of the potential threat to colonoscopy patients as early as 2013, but failed to divulge the potential infection issue to affected patients until January 2016.A joint reported issued by the Department of Public Health and the Director of Clinical Safety and Risk Management for Baystate Noble concurred the incident was preventable. The medical malpractice lawsuit(s), therefore, assert that had the proper equipment been used for cleaning the endoscopes, the potential infections could have been prevented.Additionally, lawsuits assert that hospital officials could have alerted affected patients sooner - when the problem was first discovered in April 2013 - rather than waiting until 2016.It should be noted that Noble was an independent hospital at the time the potential infections might have taken place. Noble has since been swallowed into the Baystate Health network.The defendant in the endoscope negligence lawsuits released the following statement:We have completed testing for 243 of the 293 patients who were affected. We are still making every reasonable effort to reach and offer testing to the remaining 50 patients who have not been tested yet. To do this, we have mailed two certified letters to their homes and followed up a third time with phone calls. It remains our hope that all 293 patients will get tested, but the decision to do so is solely theirs to make. To date there is no evidence of any transmission of illness from the endoscopes. The safety and privacy of our patients remains our top priority as we move forward in this process.Plaintiffs having filed a surgical infection lawsuit are not satisfied by this position. The infections, to which plaintiffs have been potentially exposed, can be extremely serious.
Legal Help

A $10.75 million fine has been levied against ExxonMobil Corp. and ExxonMobil Oil Corp., in an environmental action brought by New York State. The fine will be paid into the New York Environmental Protection and Spill Compensation Fund (Oil Spill Fund) for oil cleanup at eight locations in New York.The spill sites involved in the case, which were operated as gas stations, are Hilltop Service Station in Mahopac (Putnam County); Joe' Country Convenience Store in Campbell Hall (Orange County); Raceway Exxon in Monticello (Sullivan County); Courtney George Service Station in Albany (Albany County); Zanella' Market Hill Service in Amsterdam (Montgomery County); Harry' Service Station in Jordan (Onondaga County); Scio Mini Mart in Scio (Allegany County); and Boller' Auto Sales in West Seneca (Erie County).According to the joint government agencies perusing the action, headed by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, the settlement transfers the responsibility of the oil spill cleanups from taxpayers to the party responsible.ExxonMobil must also address all future remediation activities at four of the sites that still require cleanup.If you have a similar problem and would like to be contacted by a lawyer at no cost or obligation, please click the link below.
- A civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has issued a 14 days ultimatum to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to investigate named public officers in the leaked Panama Papers

- The organisation made the request in a letter dated April 8, 2016, signed by its executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni

- The leaked Panama Papers revealed how high-ranking Nigerians and their families are increasingly using safe havens and secrecy jurisdictions like Panama to hide their ill-gotten wealth

SERAP wants CCB to probe public officers named in the leaked Panama Papers

The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has received a 14 days ultimatum to go after named public officers in the leaked Panama Papers.

A civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) told the CCB chairman, Sam Saba to investigate the current and immediate past top public officers named in the leaked documents.

The organisations demand was contained in a letter dated April 8, 2016, signed by its executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, a copy obtained by Legit.ng.

READ ALSO: Arms Deal: Jonathan Receives Open Letter From SERAP

The organisation in the letter asked the CCB to probe others who are currently operating or have operated foreign accounts in other safe havens and jurisdictions.

The organisation called on the CCB to where appropriate, refer such officers to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for prosecution.

We would be grateful if the Bureau could begin to take these steps within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then as to the steps the bureau is taking to address the concerns raised in this letter, the registered trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel the bureau to effectively discharge its constitutional and statutory mandates in this instance, the organisation said.

According to the organization, it believes that the Panama Papers have shown the extent to which public officers in the country are concealing their stolen wealth in safe havens and secrecy jurisdictions, contrary to the Code of Conduct for Public Officers which prohibits public officers from maintaining and operating foreign accounts.

SERAP expressed optimism that the CCB will learn from the lessons of the Panama Papers to fight the abuse of the asset declaration requirements and not wait for further international disclosures that may implicate even more public officers in corruption and money laundering.

The organization further argued that except highly placed public officers who use safe havens and secrecy jurisdictions to breach the fundamental requirements of asset declaration are sanctioned, named and shamed, the sincerity of the asset declaration regime as a tool of preventing and combating corruption will continue to be doubted, and Nigerians will continue to witness inadequate transparency and prevalent impunity of corrupt public officers in the country.

SERAP in the letter hopes that bodies like the CCB should use this opportunity and mandate to react swiftly to this international scandal by taking concrete and proactive actions to address the growing breaches of constitutional provisions by top public officers.

The organization stated that these steps would be entirely consistent with the Nigerian 1999 constitution (as amended), the law establishing the bureau, and will meet demands by Nigerians for improvement in transparency regarding asset declarations and sanctions of public officers for breaches.

The letter read in parts: Effective asset declaration regime can play an important role in detecting illicit enrichment and preventing corruption and avoiding the kind of international embarrassment that the Panama Papers represents for Nigeria.

SERAP notes that the aims and objectives of the CCB include the establishment and maintenance of a high standard of morality in the conduct of public business and ensuring that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability.

SERAP notes that provisions on the declaration of assets by public officers in Nigeria are entrenched in the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, contained in Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. These provisions aim to prevent corruption and abuse of office, to ensure transparency in public officers and to prevent high-ranking public officers operating foreign accounts to hide their ill-gotten wealth.

SERAP also notes that acts prohibited by the Code include a public officer putting himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and official responsibilities; holding two posts from which he is being paid from public funds; and operating foreign accounts.

Premium Times which is the only Nigerian medium that participated in the one year investigation reports that the Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5million files from the database of the worlds fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

The documents were obtained from an anonymous source by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ then shared them with a large network of international partners, including the Guardian and the BBC. The documents exposed how corrupt public officers including some from Nigeria can exploit secretive offshore regimes to hide their ill-gotten wealth.

READ ALSO: SERAP to sue CBN and Emefile over secret employment

The national leaders both former and current public officers so far exposed in the Panama Papers comprised the Senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki; Senator David Mark and the former governor of Delta State, chief James Ononefe Ibori, Toyin Saraki as well as T.Y Danjuma. These high-ranking Nigerians and their families are said to be increasingly using safe havens and secrecy jurisdictions like Panama to hide their ill-gotten assets.

Source: Legit.ng
- Martin Onovo, the presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party in the 2015 general election, criticized the federal government led by President Buhari

- According to Onovo, the government is very deceitful and divisive

- He accused Buhari of abusing the laws and the constitution of the country

Martin Onovo, the presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party in the 2015 general election, has criticized the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government describing it as the greatest danger to confront Nigeria since independence".

Speaking during a television programme Politics Today on Channels Television, Onovo said that the federal government is very deceitful and divisive.

Lets remove official issues and deal with fundamentals; this government is the greatest danger that has confronted Nigeria since independence. This government is very, very divisive. Right now, this country is divided along religious and ethnic lines. We dont need that. This government is very deceitful, he said.

Onovo accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of reneging on many of its campaign promises.

As an example, he recalled how the party had promised to create 3 million jobs, but instead there has been millions of job loss.

READ ALSO: God chose President Muhammadu Buhari for Nigeria

If you dont believe it, I have a document titled APC manifesto 2015. The document was signed by John Oyegun, national chairman of the ruling party.

One of the things written there is 3 million jobs every year, but what have we seen? Instead of 3 million new jobs, its millions of job loss. In the document was immediate recruitment of 100,000 police officers, what have we seen? Announcement to recruit 10,000. The document also promised to increase the salaries of five security agencies, but what are we seeing, debt, owing salaries and allowances, even that of soldiers in the north-east. So if that is not deceitful, what is? he wondered.

Onovo also accused President Buhari of abusing the laws and the constitution of the country.

The constitution is very clear about so many issues, one is appointment. The other time a national newspaper published how out of 37 appointments, 30 were given from a section of the country. Now, what is that supposed to be? Look at the security appointment, six major appointments were made, and anybody who is a nationalist would have given one position to each of the geopolitical zones.

READ ALSO: This is change to madness. This is change to poverty  Ex-minister to Buhari

I dont want to go further, because if I give further information that I have, which I can confirm, it can be incisive, so I dont want to give that level of information. Six major security positions were announced and the same sections of the country that were complaining of exclusion and marginalisation were left out, contrary to the constitution of Nigeria. Federal character is very clear; its a constitutional requirement, not a political requirement," he noted.

Speaking about the 2016 budget, Onovo could not say anything good about it.

These things are simple; its not because I belong to the opposition. We have heard a lot of things, we have heard of stolen budget, we have heard of padding, we have heard of missing budget, we heard of re-presentation of the budget. Which scandal have we not heard of? he wondered.

The president received the comprehensive details of 2016 national budget on April 7.

After scrutinizing the budget, it was discovered that the lawmakers removed some major projects like the Calabar-Lagos coastal rail line for which Buhari made a provision of N60 billion.

Source: Legit.ng
- Governor Dickson and Kombowei Benson allegedly refused to swear in lawmakers elected on the platform of the opposition parties

- The PDP dominated parliament reportedly administered oath of office to their members and excluded the other lawmakers who are members of the opposition party

- A group, Bayelsa First Initiative (BFI) has written a protest letter to the leadership of the National Assembly and the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), demanding an end to the impunity happening in Bayelsa state

Governor Seriake Dickson is accused of treating workers and lawmakers badly

Governor Seriake Dickson and Bayelsa state House of Assembly Speaker, Kombowei Benson have been accused of not taking lawmakers, workers plight seriously.

READ ALSO: Sylva cautions Gov Dickson against sponsoring division in APC

The Nation reports that a group of former elected and appointed political office holders known as Bayelsa First Initiative (BFI) blasted the governor and speaker over failure to swear in the lawmakers elected on the platform of opposition parties

The group which is angry over the alleged maltreatment of the three opposition members also accused the governor of colluding with the leadership of the states House of Assembly, led by Benson, to halt the swearing-in of the three lawmakers.

The group gave the names of the affected lawmakers as: Watson Belemote, who was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), representing Brass 2; Gibson Munalayefa of the Labour Party (LP), representing Ogbia 2 as well as Gabriel Ogbara of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ogbia 3.

The court of appeal, sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital gave the lawmakers victory two months ago, but the assemblys leadership, dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), disregarded them and inaugurated their party members, who won rerun in March.

BFI in a protest letter addressed to the leadership of the National Assembly and the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), called on them to stop the impunity.

The groups executive director, chief Nathan Egba condemned the anti-democratic stance of Dickson and Benson, and stated that the governors continued refusal to prevail on the assemblys leadership to swear in the affected opposition party members indicates danger for the state.

Egba, who further noted that the state was setting a bad precedent for future assembly described the governors alleged instruction to his special adviser on treasury matters, Mr Seipulo, to delete over 500 civil servants from government payroll for allegedly supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last governorship, as the worst decision of any governor.

BFI executive director disclosed that the governors policies and statements after his controversial re-election was tearing residents apart.

For instance, do the governor and the Assembly leadership think the people of Brass 2 as well as Ogbia 2 and 3 will be happy with the administration for shutting them out of the legislative process for almost a year?

We call on rulers, non-government organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations, lawyers, particularly the AGF, and that of Bayelsa State as well as the leadership of the National Assembly, to prevail on Governor Dickson and the leadership of the House of Assembly to do the right thing, Egba said.

READ ALSO: Goodluck Jonathan sends Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha home

Meanwhile, Dickson has urged Ijaw people to pray to God to give them another leader like the late former governor chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who was laid to rest on April 9 in his hometown of Amassoma. Dickson gave the advice at St. Peters anglican church in Yenagoa on Sunday, April 10 during the thanksgiving ceremony of the late former governor.

Source: Legit.ng
European logistics gained momentum in 2015 and a number of markets are close to their record levels for transaction volumes. Low interest rates and favourable financing conditions have also stimulated investment. Prime yields contracted significantly reflecting stronger demand in letting & sales and limited prime availability.

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Kungsleden AB has signed a five-year lease agreement with MKS Instruments AB who will lease 551 sqm in the property Vagnslidret 1, also called Isblocket, in the city district Hyllie, Malmo. The agreement means that Kungsleden fills the last vacant office space in the property. Kungsleden took possession of Isblocket

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Triuva has conducted a study examining the general conditions for retail in 548 European cities. The results show that more than 100 regional centres have higher sales indexes and well over 150 have higher centrality indexes than the major cities also examined. For this reason, the European investment manager from

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Segro has selected Barratt London as the residential partner to deliver over 1,000 homes on the former Nestle plant in Hayes in West London. The agreement is subject to planning permission. The regeneration will be a boost for the Capital as it faces the challenge of building more homes to

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The new family of Mahindra electric vehicles are based on a modular architecture and is estimated to have a driving range of over 400 kms
Brazilian researchers from the D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR) and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) have demonstrated the harmful effects of ZIKA virus (ZIKV) in human neural stem cells, neurospheres and brain organoids. Since ZIKV has been gradually established as a direct cause of central nervous system malformations, this study help to elucidate the etiological nature of the recently increasing number of microcephaly cases in Brazil.

This paper will be published online by the journal Science.

Scientists headed by Dr. Stevens Rehen differentiated human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into neural stem cells and into further complex tridimensional structures, known as neurospheres and brain organoids. Neurospheres and brain organoids represent excellent models to investigate developmental neuropathologies, as they can outline, in vitro, several characteristics of the fetal brain formation.

In the present study conducted at IDOR in conjunction with UFRJ, the research team observed that ZIKV infects human-derived iPS neural cells, neurospheres and cerebral organoids causing cell death, malformations and reducing growth by 40%. The researchers also compared these results with the ones generated with Dengue Virus (DENV2). Even though DENV2 infected the cells such as ZIKV, there were no damaging outcomes registered to the neural cells, neurospheres or organoids.

Dr. Patricia Garcez, Assistant Professor at UFRJ and first author of the work, point out that "these unique results may unravel some key features of ZIKV infection in the developing brain."
Also in human-dominated landscapes large carnivores such as brown bears or wolves -so-called top predators- play a crucial role in the regulation of wildlife populations. This is the result of a joint study by scientists of the Leuphana University Luneburg, the Humboldt University Berlin and the Charles Sturt University and the Deakin University (both Australia), which was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The study is one of few that examine the impact of human activities on natural predator-prey relationships of wild animals and the regulation of wildlife populations.

That top predators are important for the regulation of the ecosystem in natural landscapes is well known. With their study, the scientists were able to show that even in human-dominated landscapes predators maintain their important role as regulators of wild populations, notably by reducing the number of herbivores. However, humans also play an important role here through their direct and indirect interventions in the ecosystem. Not only through the transformation of nature by agricultural use but also by hunting humans actively affect wild animal population at all levels of the food pyramid -- usually in a negative way.

For their study, the scientists surveyed the presences of wild animals in a human-dominated region in Transylvania / Romania with the help of camera traps. In addition to top predators such as brown bears and wolves also medium-sized predators such as red foxes and large herbivores such as deer and deer are home here. People and unrestrained dogs act as additional 'predators' in this system.

"The demonstrated strong effects of human activities on wildlife populations at all levels of the food pyramid show how necessary it is to systematically consider people as part of the food pyramid in the future," said Ine Dorresteijn, lead author of the study. "Especially against the background that top predators like wolves increasingly return to human-dominated landscapes, it is important to understand the impact of the simultaneous presence of these predators and of people on the different levels of the food pyramid. Our study makes an important contribution to this."
Poverty in the U.S. is often associated with deprivation, in areas including housing, employment, and education. Now a study co-authored by two MIT researchers has shown, in unprecedented geographic detail, another stark reality: Poor people live shorter lives, too.

More precisely, the study shows that in the U.S., the richest 1 percent of men lives 14.6 years longer on average than the poorest 1 percent of men, while among women in those wealth percentiles, the difference is 10.1 years on average.

This eye-opening gap is also growing rapidly: Over roughly the last 15 years, life expectancy increased by 2.34 years for men and 2.91 years for women who are among the top 5 percent of income earners in America, but by just 0.32 and 0.04 years for men and women in the bottom 5 percent of the income tables.

"When we think about income inequality in the United States, we think that low-income Americans can't afford to purchase the same homes, live in the same neighborhoods, and buy the same goods and services as higher-income Americans," says Michael Stepner, a PhD candidate in MIT's Department of Economics. "But the fact that they can on average expect to have 10 or 15 fewer years of life really demonstrates the level of inequality we've had in the United States."

Stepner and Sarah Abraham, another PhD candidate in MIT's Department of Economics, are among the co-authors of a newly published paper summarizing the study's findings, and have played central roles in a three-year research project establishing the results.

In addition to reporting the size and growth of the income gap, the study finds that the average lifespan varies considerably by region in the U.S. (by as much as 4.5 years), but that the sources of that regional variation are subtle, and, like the aggregate national gap, subject to further investigation.

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"The patterns are not exactly what you might expect," says Abraham, noting that regional variation in longevity does not seem strongly correlated with factors such as access to health care, environmental issues, income inequality, or the job market.

"We don't find those to be as highly correlated with differences in longevity as we find measures of health behavior, such as smoking rates or obesity rates" [to be correlated with lifespan], Abraham observes.

The paper, "The Association between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014," is being published today by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The authors are Raj Chetty, a professor of economics at Stanford University; Stepner and Abraham of MIT, who are the second and third authors on the paper; Shelby Lin, an analyst with McKinsey and Company in New York; Benjamin Scuderi, a predoctorate fellow in Harvard University's Economics Department; Augustin Bergeron, a PhD candidate in Harvard University's Economics Department; Nicholas Turner of the Office of Tax Analysis in the U.S. Department of the Treasury; and David Cutler, a professor of economics at Harvard University.

The geography of mortality

The researchers looked at 1.4 billion anonymized income tax filings from the federal government, and combined that with mortality data from the years 2001 through 2014 from the Social Security Administration. This represents the most complete geographic and demographic landscape of mortality in America.

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Among other things, the growth of the gap in mortality rates -- by nearly three years -- struck the researchers as noteworthy. To put it in perspective, they note that federal health officials estimate that curing all forms of cancer would add three years to the average lifespan.

"That change over the last 15 years is the equivalent of the richest Americans winning the war on cancer," Stepner observes.

At the same time, the researchers are quick to point out that the findings cannot immediately be reduced to simple cause-and-effect explanations. For instance, as social scientists have long observed, it is very hard to say whether having wealth leads to better health -- or if health, on aggregate, is a prerequisite for accumulating wealth. Most likely, the two interact in complex ways, something the study cannot resolve.

"It's a descriptive story," Stepner says of the data.

A new puzzle emerging from the study, the authors note, is that differences in lifespan exist along the entire continuum of wealth in the U.S.; it is not as if, say, the top 10 percent of earners cluster around identical average lifespans.

"As you go up in the income distribution, life expectancy continues to increase, at every point," Stepner says.

And then there are the new geographic patterns in the findings. For instance: Eight of the 10 states with the lowest life expectancies for people in the bottom income quartile form a contiguous belt, curving around from Michigan through Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

So while average lifespans for everyone are lower in some Southern states, the poor do not fare worse in those places than they do in other regions.

"The Deep South is the lowest-income area in America, but when we're looking at life expectancy conditional on having a low income, it's not worse to be poor in the Deep South than it is in other areas of America," Stepner says. "It's just that there are far more poor people living in the South."

Future research: Think local

The researchers say that more analysis on the sources of local variation in lifespans could be among the most fruitful research areas stemming from the current paper. The research team is releasing all the data from the study today as well.

Among the municipalities where low-income people have experienced the greatest increases in lifespan from 2001-2014, for example, are Toms River, New Jersey; Birmingham, Alabama; and Richmond, Virginia. Cities with the largest drops in lifespan among the poor are Tampa and Pensacola, Florida; and Knoxville, Tennessee.

"We're not making any normative statements about what policy should be, but there is a wide dispersion of [results] happening in the U.S.," Abraham says. "That might need to be addressed at a more granular level."

Places with the overall longest lifespans for the poor include New York City, with a chart-topping 81.8 yearsJournal of the American Medical Association on average, as well as a passel of cities in California. The bottom of that list includes Gary, Indiana (77.4 years on average); Las Vegas; and Oklahoma City.

Among the top income earners, people live longest in Salt Lake City (87.8 years on average); Portland, Maine; and Spokane, Washington. The rich have the shortest lives in Las Vegas (84.1 years on average); Gary, Indiana; and Honolulu.

Abraham also observes that the findings could have implications for national policy programs, as well.

"Things like Social Security aren't going to be as redistributive if the richer people are getting paid for 10 more years than the poorer people," she says.

Overall, the researchers say they hope to spark a larger discussion among the research and policy communities.

"We don't have all the answers," Abraham says. "But it's really important to make these statistics widely used so people have an idea of what the magnitude of these problems is, where they might focus their attention, and why this matters."
No creature is so small that he isn't worth rescuing - just ask Rodney, and the brave folks who saved him.

Polk County Government

The pet guinea pig nearly lost his life late last week after a fire broke out in his Florida home. No humans were seriously injured in the blaze, but when first responders from the Polk County Fire Rescue arrived, they knew they had to help little Rodney too. That's when fireman John Williams leapt into action, entering the smoke-filled home to bring him out alive.

Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Scared Pittie Gets So Happy When He Meets This Guy And His Pack Of Dogs

Polk County Government

Once carried to safety, the guinea pig wasn't out of the woods just yet. He'd inhaled so much smoke that he needed emergency oxygen. But the firefighters weren't equipped with masks designed for creatures as small as Rodney. So, they had to improvise.

Polk County Government

"The mask we used for this situation was one for babies/children," a spokesperson from Polk County Fire Rescue told The Dodo. "But our trucks do have a special mask for dogs." Fortunately, their creativity paid off.

Polk County Government

"He is doing good! I'm so incredibly thankful for Polk County Fire Rescue for saving Rodney. They were very nice to him and myself," the guinea pig's owner, Kristi Waller, told The Dodo. "I have the utmost respect for firefighters in the first place, but to see them care so much for something so small because of what he meant to our family was truly moving."
Wells Fargo and other banks are increasingly using technology and online services that reduce the need for traditional tellers. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

When Wells Fargo opened its first high-tech branch three years ago in the Districts NoMa neighborhood, it did away with desks and replaced traditional counters with large touch-screen ATMs.

Also gone from its new location: tellers.

Instead, the 1,000-square-foot branch has a handful of tablet-toting employees to help customers navigate technology to deposit checks, apply for loans or open savings accounts.

Its a model thats being replicated throughout the region, leading to a shift in the number  and types  of employees at area banks.

The number of banks tellers in the region has dropped by nearly half in the past 10 years, from 10,980 in 2005 to 5,990 in 2015, outpacing a 17 percent drop nationally, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall employment in the Washington region rose 7.3 percent in the same period.

Median annual pay for tellers, meanwhile, has risen 35 percent, to $32,250 as tellers are increasingly required to be well-versed in technology.

A recent report by Citigroup estimates that an additional 30 percent of U.S. banking jobs could be eliminated by 2025 as financial firms shutter branches and invest more heavily in technology.

There has been a tremendous change in the mix of bank employees, with a much greater reliance on tech workers, said Bert Ely, a banking industry consultant in Alexandria. Banks are cutting a lot of so-called back-office processing jobs  and that is something that will continue.

Experts say the trend is likely to be magnified in the Washington area, where an influx of young professionals and tech-savvy customers has ushered in a number of high-tech branches that require few employees. Recent bank mergers and branch closings also have contributed to shrinkage in the pool of jobs.

Traffic in branches is down dramatically, said Ronald D. Paul, chief executive of Bethesda-based Eagle Bancorp, the regions largest community bank. You just dont need that many branches anymore.

As a result, the company has closed less-frequented branches and moving others into smaller spaces. It also is adding more high-tech workers, including computer programmers and commercial deposit officers who can help troubleshoot technology, to its ranks.

The number of bank branches in the Washington region has been steadily dropping in recent years. Last year, the area had 1,697 branches, 84 fewer than it did in 2010, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

It was the ATM that started this spiral 25 or 30 years ago, said Stephen Fuller, an economist and senior adviser at George Mason Universitys Center for Regional Analysis. Weve just about replaced the need to have people in those spaces.

Indeed, nearly four in 10 Americans have not visited a bank or credit union branch in at least six months, according to a survey by Bankrate.com, a New York-based personal-finance information company. When customers do stop by the bank, it is generally for financial consultations or to open accounts, not routine transactions, the survey found.

The bank as it is today is becoming more interactional and less transactional, said David M. Glaser, a vice president at District-based National Capital Bank. When people come in, its with a more complex question or to open an account. If they just need to deposit a check  well, they can do that at the ATM.

At PNC, which has done away with tellers at a number of area branches, new hires are as likely to come from a tech company as from another bank, said Todd Barnhart, head of branch distribution.

The way we think about recruiting has changed pretty significantly, he said. Five or 10 years ago, we might have looked at employees at the bank down the street.

Today were looking at people from the Apple store, AT&T store and other tech-centric retailers.

The companys innovation branch in Tenleytown, for example, has six employees, all of whom are trained to help customers with everything from deposits to loan applications.

Were not building branches with teller lines but with places where customers and employees can have meaningful conversations, he said.

Instead of having separate tellers and mortgage officers, its one job, one person, Barnhart said, adding that roughly half of the banks deposits now come through its mobile app or ATMs.

What people are looking for in a bank is much different than it used to be, he said. Employees need to be prepared to answer things like, How do I do this on my mobile phone? or How do I do this online? 

Among Americans with smartphones, 52 percent used mobile banking in 2014, according to a Federal Reserve survey. The vast majority of users  94 percent  use mobile apps to check their account balances, while 61 percent use them to transfer money between their accounts and 51 percent to deposit checks. The median frequency of use was five times a month.

Meanwhile, national bank employment has been falling an average of 2 percent a year since the recession, according to the Citigroup report.

The future of branches in banking is about focusing on advisory and consultation rather than transactions, according to the Citigroup report. Branches and associated staff costs make up about 65 percent of the total retail cost base of a larger bank and a lot of these costs can be removed via automation.

Banks in Scandinavia, Finland and the Netherlands have cut branches by roughly 50 percent from recent peak levels, according to the Citigroup report. If U.S. banks were to take similar measures, they could save as much as $175 billion in costs and add 39 percent to their pretax profit, the report said.

This is all part of a technological evolution that is taking place in banking, Ely said. In this low-interest-rate environment, banks are under great pressure to cut costs, and one of the easiest ways to do that, among other things, is through branch closures and consolidations.
TRANSPORTATION

Bid for huge railroad merger is dropped

Canadian Pacific dropped its roughly $30 billion bid for Norfolk Southern on Monday.

The ill-fated deal would have been the first to test tough rules for railroad mergers that were drafted in 2001. But Canadian Pacifics proposal faced strong opposition from Norfolk Southern, other railroads, politicians and rail customers.

Canadian Pacific dropped the deal before the federal Surface Transportation Board could rule on its proposed structure and before Norfolk Southern shareholders were to vote on whether to support merger talks. The Justice Departments opposition to the deals structure announced Friday may have sealed the decision.

The deal would have created a transcontinental railroad stretching across the eastern United States and Canada that some believed would trigger a wave of railroad mergers.

Canadian Pacific operates railroads in Canada and parts of the Midwest and South. Norfolk Southern of Norfolk, Va., operates railroads on the East Coast and in the Midwest and South. CP first offered to buy Norfolk Southern in November.

With no clear path to a friendly merger at this time, we will turn all of our focus and energy to serving our customers and creating long-term value for CP shareholders, CP chief executive E. Hunter Harrison said.

Norfolk Southern executives said they plan to cut $130 million in costs this year and create more than $650 million in annual cost savings by 2020 while improving service.

We are confident the continued execution of our plan will deliver superior value to all of the companys stakeholders by best positioning Norfolk Southern to succeed, Norfolk Southern said in a statement.

 Associated Press

LABOR

Verizon line workers threaten to strike

Verizon Communications largest labor unions  the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers  have given the company until Wednesday morning to settle contract talks or face a strike.

About 39,000 union members have been working for Verizon without a contract since Aug. 1. The two sides havent been able to agree on issues such as job security, employee transfers and the cost of health benefits.

This is a fight we have to make for our families and for our future, Dennis Trainor, vice president of CWA District One, said. The unions set a deadline of 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Almost all the union workers are employed by Verizons landline business, which has seen annual declines in the number of lines served as well as job cuts. The company has refocused on wireless and mobile video, where it sees more growth and where employees arent in unions and are typically younger.

The company has trained non-union employees to take over operations in the event of a strike, Verizon said.

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L.S. Hiltons Maestra will be one of this years most talked-about novels, simply because of its explicit sex scenes. Its one of the raciest mainstream books published in recent memory. The good news is that the British, Oxford-educated author not only writes well about sex, she writes well about everything. You could cut the sex scenes and Maestra would still be a fascinating novel about a young woman on the make. It just wouldnt be as much fun.

Hiltons publisher compares her character Judith Rashleigh to Patricia Highsmiths Tom Ripley, and both characters do combine amorality with the ever-worsening crimes they commit throughout Europe. But Judith may well be the more interesting character and, although Highsmith was a pioneer in many regards, she could not in her era approach the graphic sex that enlivens Hiltons novel.

[Best mystery books and thrillers of 2015]

We see that a difficult childhood shaped Judiths underlying anger. Her mother drank (a perfectly reasonable response to her life, her daughter says), and she remembers being bullied in school and evicted from their home. But she also discovered museums and a love of art, and worked her way through college. In her 20s, she wins a dreamed-of job in a major London auction house, only to find that her pay is low and her bosses care more about money than about art.

To make ends meet, Judith works evenings in a club where attractive young women persuade rich older men to spend heavily on overpriced champagne. One of her admirers  one of the grossest men I had ever seen  invites her on a vacation to the French Riviera. There, at the glorious Hotel du Cap, she is obliged to service this fool, an indignity that leads to his departure from this life. Judith then sets out for Italy with 9,000 euros in the classic quilted shoulder bag in black with leather-and-gilt handles that her late, unlamented lover had bought her.

Maestra, by British, Oxford-educated L.S. Hilton, is a fascinating novel about a young woman on the make. (Derrick Santini)

In sunny Portofino, a billionaire invites her for a cruise aboard his yacht but proves to be indifferent to sex. Unaccustomed to such treatment, Judith arranges a close encounter  presented in unflinching detail  with the yachts captain. This pattern continues as Judith moves about Europe  rich men, torrid sex and, increasingly, expensive art she obtains by means fair or foul.

At one point, our heroine reflects on the purity of sheer carnal pleasure and the way that sex with a stranger made me feel so free, so untouchable. She adds, Most of it Id liked, and some I hadnt . . . but it was the only real power Id ever had and I wanted to test its limits. Hilton is testing the limits, too, and although some readers will admire the realism she brings to Judiths sex life, others will object to her frequent use of words not often encountered in polite conversation or family newspapers.

Hilton writes about Judiths love of fine art and expensive clothing with the same passion that she lavishes on her orgies and threesomes. She also is eloquent on the glories of Europe. Thus, it couldnt be an accident that the baroque had been invented in Italy. There was just too much beauty here, too many perfect views, too many delicately melded colors in too much startling Mediterranean light.

Hilton also can be quite naughty in other ways. As Judith enters a London party, she notices that hundreds of pasty men in bad suits were crowded around the free bar with the excitement of Mormons let loose in Atlantic City. Or, in a literary vein, Judith acknowledges that one feels less guilty about murdering a man who reads Jeffrey Archer for pleasure.

By then, murder is central to her story  perhaps a few more murders than were absolutely necessary  and soon she is fleeing both the law and Mafia toughs determined to recover a painting she hopes will launch her career as a big-time art dealer. Will Judiths dreams come true, or will her crimes catch up with her? We wont know right away. At least two more of her adventures remain, thanks to the million-dollar, three-book deal Hilton has signed. (A movie is also in the works.) In other words, more mayhem, more art  and certainly more sex  lie ahead for insatiable Judith and for all those consenting adults who will delight in her endless ups and downs.

Anderson reviews mysteries and thrillers for Book World.
All writers at some time think theyre a fraud, that the talent they thought they possessed is just an illusion  probably because, for the majority, it is.

The idea of being a writer attracts a good many shiftless people, Flannery OConnor wrote with merciless accuracy, those who are merely burdened with poetic feelings or afflicted with sensibility.

Its a rare young writer who doesnt wonder if the hell of mediocrity is the only one in which hell reign.

[My Struggle: Book four of Karl Ove Knausgaards monumental memoir]

So it is with Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard, who, in the fifth and penultimate installment of his circuitous autobiography, tackles the success and failure  mostly failure  of his early career. He begins as a 19-year-old student at the Writing Academy in western Norway. Its quite an honor for an ambitious but unaccomplished young man; hell be joining a group of older writers, some already published, in an elite class taught by the countrys leading authors.

(Archipelago Books / )

Life quickly turns sour, for reasons any struggling MFA student will appreciate: Everyone is better than he is, and they let him know it. The would-be writer learns that his style is immature, that his stories (when they arent lifted from elsewhere) are stockpiled with cliches, and that the dream of breaking into the literary pantheon will more likely be attained by his peers.

Whats the problem? he wonders. He already does all the stuff writers do: drinks to excess, smokes, reads the greats, listens to the Cramps, the Smiths and all the other cool bands (there really ought to be a Knausgaard playlist on Spotify) and has sex whenever he doesnt bungle the opportunity. (If the previous volume had an index, Knausgaard, premature ejaculation of, would fill half a page.)

But maybe hes just kidding himself.

Deep down, he says, I was decent and proper, a goody-goody, and, I thought, perhaps that was also why I couldnt write. I wasnt wild enough, not artistic enough, in short, much too normal for my writing to take off.

Over the years, life takes a tailspin, as it often has in the previous volumes. He drinks heavily, cant stay faithful to his sweet-natured girlfriend, develops a hair-trigger temper, turns self-destructive. Worst of all, he watches helplessly as others careers take off  not just that of his brilliant older friend, the poet Espen Stueland, but even less gifted latecomers like his friend Tore Renberg. It was just so unfair, he moans. Why should he, four years younger than me, have the talent and not me?

Hes like a hard drinking Salieri, stumbling through a world where another Mozart is always threatening to jump out at every corner, wielding his latest book.

In each succeeding volume of this one-of-a-kind chronicle, Knausgaard has aimed for nothing less than to discover just who he is, to get to the root of his own particular self. Here, that struggle is intensified, as the idea of being a writer is so woven into his self-conception that failure makes him doubt who he is supposed to be and which direction to take.

I had no future, he writes at one point, not because it existed somewhere else but because I couldnt imagine it. That I might control my future and try to make it turn out the way I wanted was completely beyond my horizon.

This crisis of confidence colors everything he sees; every relationship and friendship becomes some indication of who he is not or of who he could become. From the very first volume, the fear of death has motivated him toward creating this massive life story, and here again he returns to the idea of decline. Taking a job as an orderly at a mental institution, he observes lives that are much more off the rails than his own, with minds that no longer work and bodies that malfunction. Even a friendship with an older employee suddenly becomes a dread sign of whats ahead.

Was he actually me? he wonders. Would I become like him? An ex-student drifting around for years taking shifts until it is too late, all the options are gone and this becomes life?

The limbo that Knausgaard essays in this book is, like so much of his life, particular to him but also highly familiar to everyone else. You could almost call it The Sorrows of Karl Ove, because it approaches that period of youth where the stakes seem enormously high, everything a matter of life and death, and so much time is spent wanting and waiting  for sex, sensation, literary inspiration.

This fifth volume feels more insular than the others, but thats where Knausgaard has always been at his best. The inner life inspires him. Its what gives the sentences their urgency. Hes the rare writer who has made self-absorption work for him.

Rodney Welch frequently writes about books for the Columbia, S.C., Free Times.
Mimi Miller, the narrator and protagonist of Anna Quindlens stunning new novel, Millers Valley, knows her mother is someone special. There are just some people like that, Mimi says. Everyone pays attention to what they say, even if they dont even know them well or like them much.

None of the Millers, male or female, has much real power. But Mimis mother, Miriam, a nurse at the local hospital, has plenty of strength. She raises her three children  Mimi and older brothers Tommy and Eddie  on the shoestring budget from her salary and the fix-it jobs of her husband, Bud. (He also has a few cows and some acres of corn, but its not exactly a working farm).

Their inherited land and much of the rest of Millers Valley lie under threat of flooding because of decades-old engineering miscalculations. As the book begins, 11-year-old Mimi is approached by one of the men who plan to create a new reservoir. These bureaucrats want to relocate the families on several thousand acres and flood their land. For Mimi, its an early lesson that the ground beneath her feet is not solid. She and everyone around her copes with this impending threat differently.

When Bud refuses even to think about taking government money, Miriam realizes she must act to protect her only daughters welfare. That this resolve coincides with Mimis sexual awakening might have caused a terrible break, except that Miriam is already overwhelmed by trying to care for the various members of her family.

The way the story jumps around and collapses time can be disconcerting. Mimi is narrating from old age, and just as the eventual flooding of the farmland jumbles everything in its wake, Mimis mind floods with scenes and moments in a way that makes sense to her but not always to us. For example, she spends a great deal of time talking about her high school love, Steven, but little time describing another man who will be very important to her.

Author Anna Quindlen (Maria Krovatin)

Fortunately, this doesnt distract from the matriarchal theme at the heart of Millers Valley. Miriam pushes her smart daughter to consider college, and other women  a teacher, a doctor a benefactor  will raise Mimi up past the raging waters that swirl in her heart.

Bethanne Patrick is the editor of The Books That Changed My Life: Reflections by 100 Authors, Actors, Musicians and Other Remarkable People.

On Monday at 7 p.m., Anna Quindlen will be in conversation with Connie Schultz at Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-364-1919. politics-prose.com.
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Editor`s Note: Happy birthday to author Beverly Cleary, who turns 103 on April 12. This story was originally published in 2016, to mark her 100th birthday. The headline has been updated. Beverly Cleary has spent her life surrounded by books, but her love of reading had a rocky start. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The Oregon farm girl moved to the city  nearby Portland  as she began first grade. Being in the crowded classroom was a shock.

The teacher was very strict. She had to be because none of us had gone to kindergarten, Cleary said recently by phone from her home in Carmel Valley, California. I was frightened. It was a bad year.

At the end of the year, she was promoted on trial, or with the possibility of repeating the grade if things didnt go well. Luckily, the mood changed in the fall.

My second-grade teacher was so lovely, so kind and so gentle I wasnt afraid of her. I still wasnt very enthusiastic about reading.

Cleary still remembers the day in third grade when she became hooked.

My mother continued to bring library books for my level at home, she said. One Sunday . . . I picked up one. It was The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins.

She flipped through the story about a boy and girl living in Holland, looking at the pictures, and Cleary had a revelation.

I discovered I was reading . . . and enjoying it, she said.

Cleary soon became enthusiastic about books, especially Grimms fairy tales. Later, a school librarian suggested she might someday write childrens books, and the idea was appealing. After college, she became a librarian, a job that kept her in touch with young readers. A boy who wasnt impressed with the books on the shelves sparked an idea for a story.

He said, Where are the books about kids like us?  Cleary said.

At the time, she was trying to write a book about a sensitive girl. No ideas would come. So I started a book about a boy.

She thought back to the boys in her Portland neighborhood, where everybody had a small lawn and there wasnt much traffic. The character Henry Huggins was born. The book, published in 1950, was to be the first of more than 40 that Cleary would write. Many were about Henrys friends  Ribsy the dog, Beezus Quimby and Beezuss little sister, Ramona.

Cleary said she has tried not to play favorites.

I like all of them, or I wouldnt have written about them, she said. But I supposed Ramona was [my favorite] because I was a little girl.

Ramona was a little girl who commanded a lot of attention. She had strong opinions, a terrific imagination and a habit of getting into trouble. Like a young Cleary, Ramona enjoyed reading. Her favorite part of third grade was when students could pull out a book and read silently. Cleary called it D.E.A.R., or Drop Everything and Read.

That idea caught on in schools, and for the past 10 years the authors birthday has been celebrated as Drop Everything and Read Day.

Cleary stopped writing in 1999, but her titles continue to line bookstore and library shelves. She said she thinks thats because kids can relate to the characters.

I think that in many places, childrens lives havent changed that much, she said, noting that some of the outdoor games of her childhood are still popular.

But more important, she said, are the feelings she wrote about  embarrassment at school, loyalty toward a best friend, exasperation at a little sister. Those havent gone away.

And one of the great rewards of Clearys career has been reaching struggling readers, she said.

I always told them if they kept trying they would discover something that they would really enjoy.

Read more from KidsPost:


Don McGahn, left, a top Washington election lawyer, was caught in the spotlight when Donald Trump pulled him up on stage for his New Hampshire primary night party on Feb. 9. (David Goldman/Associated Press)

The night Donald Trump notched his first win as a presidential candidate, he took the stage in New Hampshire between Ivanka and Melania and lit into the special interests that he declared had corrupted Washington  the company town that Trump, marketer extraordinaire, has ruthlessly trashed to the benefit of his own brand.

These are lobbyists, these are people that dont necessarily love our country, said Trump. We have to stop it. We have to stop it.

Over Trumps shoulder, another ruddy-faced man licked his teeth and flattened his lips into a straight line. He appeared out of place on that stage, and he seemed to know it. His face oscillated between forced smiles and blank stares, like Dustin Hoffman at the end of The Graduate.

This would be Donald F. McGahn II, the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, Trumps campaign lawyer and unofficial liaison to the Washington establishment his client was gleefully trashing.

Its possible to read too much into the expressions of the men who stand behind Trump. (Did Chris Christie really feel like a hostage, or is that just what his face always looks like?) And yet one had to wonder what McGahn, who had skillfully outmaneuvered those who had tried to get Trump thrown off the New Hampshire ballot, really felt about his presence in the campaigns antiestablishment tableau.

McGahn is one of the top election lawyers in the country, a job so highly specialized that its practitioners are almost unavoidably Washington insiders by definition. He is credited as one of the people most responsible for loosening regulations on campaign spending, an enabler of the corporate electioneering against which Trump has defined his candidacy. His wife, Shannon McGahn, is staff director for the House Financial Services Committee, a role that makes her a magnet for the very lobbyists that Trump regularly pillories.

As a possible convention fight looms, Trump has attempted to professionalize his campaign, hiring veteran lobbyist Paul Manafort, who wrangled Gerald Fords delegates in 1976. But its been years since Manafort lived full time in the District, and he remains a mystery to the K Street set. That makes McGahn the most entrenched Beltway insider in a campaign run by outsiders who owe their careers to Trump  which means McGahn may have the most to lose by appearing in frame with the candidate as he lobs bombs on the nations capital.

[Inside Trumps inner circle, his staffers are willing to fight for him. Literally.]

The chatter among his fellow Republican operatives hit a fever pitch when McGahn made his onstage debut with Trump. Its one thing to represent him as a lawyer, said one, but why would he lend his visual credibility to Trump in such a way that could damage his reputation for the long term?

Then again, if any member of the establishment would be willing to gamble on a Donald Trump presidency, there are plenty of reasons why it would be Don McGahn.

In the 1980s, a young Donald Trump had his sights set on a different kingdom to conquer.

Atlantic City had recently passed legislation to allow casinos, and Trump wanted a piece of the action. Doing so required a power broker, someone who understood the intricacies of both the law and local political forces. So Trump turned to a portly Irish American lawyer named Patrick McGahn  Paddy to his friends, and Uncle Pat to his nephew Don.

Paddy, the son of a shopkeeper and recipient of three Purple Hearts from the Korean War, was known to have the best professional connections in town, and the high legal fees worthy of them. As Trump gobbled up real estate, Paddy paved the way.

When Trump was seeking city approval to build an employee parking lot at Trump Castle, Paddy threw a party for the mayors wife, inviting about 16 people aboard the Trump Princess yacht and taking them out to a dinner at one of the casinos gourmet restaurants, according to news reports at the time.

When Trump purchased property from two brothers with Mafia ties, he paid double the value, according to Wayne Barretts book, Trump: The Deals and the Downfall, and put the title in the name of Paddys secretary before transferring it to one of his corporate entities.

There was no problem too big or too small for Paddy, who once represented Trump in a fight with a vendor selling hot dogs outside a Trump property. Trump was so appreciative that he named a cocktail lounge for him at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City: Paddys Saloon.

The dealmaker didnt even mind paying top price, according to John R. ODonnell, former president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. In his book, Trumped!, ODonnell recounted the time he complained to his boss about McGahns exorbitant fees.

Jack, Im 13 and 0 with this guy, Trump said. What do you want me to do? He gets things done in this town.

Did Trump recognize a name he could trust when he decided to hire Don McGahn to get things done in This Town? McGahn did not respond to repeated requests for an interview, nor did the Trump campaign.

I got to believe that Trump came to Don because of Pat, thats got to be the connection, said Bill Pascrell III, a lobbyist who worked on behalf of Trump casinos for more than a decade. When Trump needed an election lawyer, I doubt he just Googled good election lawyers. 



McGahn during his tenure as on the Federal Election Commission in April 2013, when he was known for loosening many campaign finance regulations. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Even if he had, he could easily have landed on McGahn. There arent many top-tier election lawyers, and even fewer with a resume as strong as McGahns.

At the FEC, he frustrated campaign finance reform advocates by pushing to minimize government oversight; the commissions top lawyer resigned when McGahn attempted to keep his office from sharing information with federal prosecutors. But he also won praise for opening up many formerly closed-door deliberations. He later moved on to the campaign-finance practice at the law firm Patton Boggs LLP and spent nearly 10 years as counsel for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Currently, he hangs his hat at Jones Day, another high-profile law firm.

Despite McGahns establishment bona fides, he makes a surprisingly good fit with the insurgent candidate.

I could see them getting along, said Jack Deschauer, who worked with McGahn at Patton Boggs. Dons a straight shooter, tells it like it is, and isnt at all stuck up.

Hes always been a bit of an iconoclast. Until recently he kept his hair long, and he still plays bass in an 80s cover band that gigs in Ocean City, Md. While many of his colleagues boast Ivy League diplomas, McGahn got his law degree from Pennsylvanias Widener University. Like Trump, hes something of an outsider no matter how far inside he gets.

[Cable news, a welcoming home for the weary ex-campaign staffer]

But theres another reason McGahn may have been willing to work for Trump.

Shortly after McGahn started at Jones Day he picked up a new client: Aaron Schock, the congressman who was reeling from a scandal involving the misuse of federal funds and has since left office. To this day, according to FEC reports, Schock has still not paid Jones Day the nearly $750,000 he owes them. (Jones Day representatives also did not return calls.)

Getting stiffed by Schock put McGahn in a difficult position with his new law partners, said a Republican strategist who has worked with him. He had this huge hole to fill. And when Trump came along, he was under a lot of pressure by management to fill that hole.

So far, according to FEC reports, Trump has filled nearly $700,000 of that hole.

McGahn mostly has stayed behind the scenes since the New Hampshire rally, but his name has continued to pop up. He organized a meeting between Trump and members of Congress and accompanied the candidate to a recent meeting with the Republican National Committee. Hell be there to help navigate the labyrinthine delegate and convention rules as the nomination fight enters the home stretch. And if Trump ever does decide to lean on outside money, he couldnt have picked a better lawyer to have in his corner.

Its crucial to know all the rules and the laws, so you dont get screwed, said Barry Bennett, a senior strategist for Trump who touches base with McGahn several times a week. No one knows the rules better than Don McGahn, since he wrote most of them.

For a while, McGahns colleagues at Jones Day either didnt know the firm was representing Trump or didnt mind. That changed late last month when McGahn organized a meeting between the candidate and more than a dozen lawmakers at the firms Washington office.

Many current employees just about lost their minds, according to David Lat, a former federal prosecutor who runs the blog Above the Law and closely monitors the chatter within the nations white-shoe legal shops. Last month Lat quoted a number of his Jones Day sources, anonymously, saying that they were deeply embarrassed by the Trump affiliation.

But wait a minute. There are lawyers out there representing perverts, hucksters and neo-Nazis. Is working for Trump really that much worse?

In a sense, says Lat, it could be.

To represent someone in a campaign is almost like being a consigliere to a crime family: You are in-house and working to advance the mission, explained Lat. Its not like representing someone in court against some kind of attack. Its essentially like being an aide to the message.

And Trumps message is a tough one for folks at Jones Day to swallow. The firm favors Republican clients, but its sensibility is moderate. It has many clients in Latin America, where Trumps inflammatory talk on immigration does not play well. Megyn Kelly, the lawyer-turned-Fox News host whom Trump has repeatedly attacked, is one of the firms notable alumni.

Then theres Benjamin Ginsberg, the preeminent election lawyer in the country and McGahns mentor and Jones Day co-worker. Ginsberg, who made his name in 2000 arguing the Republican side in Bush v. Gore, started the election cycle working for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. He now spends much of his time on MSNBC helping explain delegate counts and convention scenarios to a bewildered electorate.

So, Mr. Ginsberg  Is it ethical to go on television and discuss the 2016 election while the GOP front-runner shovels money into your firms coffers? When you outline the convention strategies other candidates might take to wrestle the nomination from Trump, do you not worry about offending your own firms billionaire client?

Nope, says Ginsberg: Thats just not how big law firms work.

We work together, but we also have walls, he said, and Jones Day has built a big, beautiful wall for the presidential election.

Its hard to say whether this explanation will satisfy anyone. These days, many members of the Republican establishment say theres a special place for Republicans who work for Trump.

I think that anybody that is enabling or contemplating Donald Trump represents a betrayal of Republican principles, said Juleanna Glover, who has worked for Jeb Bush and Jon Huntsman. Even fellow election lawyers admit that picking up a client constitutes some kind of endorsement: I would never work for a candidate I dont believe would make a good president, said Trevor Potter, who served as Sen. John McCains campaign counsel.

But dont bet on McGahn getting blacklisted anytime soon, by the establishment or anyone else. Memories are short, and election lawyers are forever. Or, as Ryan Williams, a former Mitt Romney staffer put it: Theyre like accountants or undertakers. Theres always a demand for their profession.
Rep. Donna Edwards talked with supporters before a March candidates forum with Rep. Chris Van Hollen. Both are running in the Democratic primary for Marylands open Senate seat. (Mark Gail/For The Washington Post)

The Democratic primary for Marylands open Senate seat has gotten hotter than a steaming tray of Chesapeake blue crabs. And whats at stake is about much more than the people of Maryland.

The race pits an outspoken 57-year-old African American woman, Rep. Donna F. Edwards, against a progressive 57-year-old white man, Rep. Chris Van Hollen. It raises issues of parity and equality, and the very nature of American legislative representation. Its about race and gender in American politics. Its about a looming question in this election season as Hillary Clinton makes her historic run for the presidency: Do you vote for someone because of gender?

Edwards, who lives in Prince Georges County and represents the 4th Congressional District, is running hard for the seat opening up because of the retirement of the Senates longest-serving woman, Barbara A. Mikulski (D).

And if Edwards wins the Democratic nomination April 26  and then the Senate seat in November (almost a given in deep-blue Maryland)  shed make history as only the second African American woman to serve in the chamber.

Why is this so important?

A new Washington Post poll reveals that voters are split among racial lines when asked to choose between Reps. Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen ahead of the April 26 Maryland Democratic primary. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)

[We desperately need more women judges, so why arent we getting them?]

When she sits there, we all sit there, declared Betsy Simon, 76, right after she met Edwards at the Neighborhoods United annual banquet in West Baltimore on Sunday.

She has lived her life; its like our lives, Simon said. And she knows what we need.

Indeed, the underrepresentation of women in government, especially women of color, is a national disgrace.

Only 31 women have been elected to serve in the Senate. Fourteen other women have been appointed to Senate seats  one for just a single day  to replace their dead husbands.

If anyone were to create a portrait of 100 people representing America, could you imagine having zero black women?

How could a group of mostly white men accurately reflect our nation? Except for Carol Moseley Braun, who served a single term in the 1990s, no African American woman has served in the Senate for 227 years.

Until Edwards became a candidate on fire, Van Hollen seemed like a shoo-in.

Hes a solid, well-liked, progressive Democrat from Montgomery County and has had a good track record in state politics. He even has the backing of two of Marylands most powerful black elected officials: Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and Prince Georges County Executive Rushern L. Baker III.

Van Hollens dedication to working families, public transportation and veterans should show that a guy doesnt have to be a mom, a bus rider or a retired infantryman to represent those people and the issues important to them, right?

Maybe.

But Edwards  thanks in large part to financial and public support from female-fueled backers such as Emilys List  is tied with or even slightly ahead of Van Hollen in the polls.

[Racial split defines Marylands hotly contested Democratic Senate primary ]

And theres something to her growing popularity that goes beyond a legislative accomplishments checklist.

On paper and policy, the two candidates are fairly similar. And both would probably serve Marylands 6 million residents well.

But whats fueling Edwards is something bigger than the states voters.

The countrys 20 million black women are a mighty force in American life, long serving as part of the backbone of their families and communities. They also matter at the polling booth. In 2012, black women voted at a higher rate than any other group, according to a report on women of color by the Center for American Progress.

Edwards would be a voice for them. And, as a woman who raised a child alone while she went to law school, she would be a voice for the nations 10 million single mothers, as well.

Single moms get mentioned a lot in political debates about equal pay, welfare, child care and health care. But how many lawmakers making decisions that affect one of Americas fastest-growing populations have actually been there?

Any single dads in the Senate? Any single moms?

The Senates official historians think that the only single mom to serve in the Senate was the first woman elected, Sen. Hattie Caraway of Arkansas. She had three sons in their 20s when she took over the Senate seat of her late husband, Thaddeus Caraway, in 1931.

The only single dad anyone remembers is the current vice president, Joe Biden, the Democrat from Delaware who served for five years as a single parent after the death of his wife in 1972, according to Daniel S. Holt, assistant historian for the U.S. Senate Historical Office.

Although Edwardss son is 27, her biography as a black single mom is part of the reason why her candidacy is resonating  and why she could upset Van Hollen.

He just doesnt know me, said Katrina Williams-Shelton, 54, a Baltimore teacher.

She couldnt think of a legislative action or position that Van Hollen has taken that runs counter to her interests. Even so, she said, He cant meet my needs if he hasnt been there and doesnt know what my needs are.

Theres a bigger message here. Women nationwide are tired of being underpaid, undervalued, underestimated and underrepresented. And candidates such as Clinton and Edwards exert a powerful appeal on that basis alone.

For African American girls, to see someone who looks like them in that [Senate] seat means everything, explained Glenice Shabazz, 44, who owns and operates seven child-care centers throughout Baltimore.

And for African American women, seeing someone there who knows your struggles, who has lived your struggles, thats powerful, Shabazz said after posing for a selfie with Edwards on Sunday.

Edwards went to food banks while raising a child and earning a law degree. Maybe until youve been there, until you know what thats like, you cant truly know what the needs are.

Im not saying we should vote for her just because shes a woman, said Kim Truehart, 59, a Navy veteran and community activist in Baltimore who is running for City Council president. But Im saying we should vote for her because she brings real diversity.

And all things being equal, why shouldnt women vote to make representation equal  at long last  too?

Twitter: @petulad
Last in a series on Democratic primary candidates in Marylands 8th congressional district. In a crowded field of Democrats hoping to succeed Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), David Anderson bills himself as the least liberal.

The 57-year-old nonprofit executive is the only candidate who favors raising the retirement age for Social Security benefits. His signature issue is a national family policy that would provide tax credits to stay-at-home parents.

Anderson, who has little campaign cash and no endorsements, is focusing his search for votes on the more conservative northern swath of the 8th Congressional District, instead of the densely populated south, where 80 percent of the districts Democrats live.

My values have more in common with the Democratic families and senior citizens in Frederick and Carroll counties than they do with the Montgomery County liberal establishment, said Anderson, who lives just outside the district in Potomac. (If elected, he says, he would move into the district.)

[Anderson is lone dissenting voice in Md. 8 debate]

Lanky and bespectacled, Anderson is something of a civics nerd.

He holds a doctorate degree in philosophy from the University of Michigan, where he wrote his dissertation on the theory behind his family policy. Anderson taught a class at Johns Hopkins University on scandal management, ethics and public policy, and taught political theory at George Washington University. Hes edited papers on civic engagement.

For the past 11 years, he has worked for the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, leading its efforts to raise money from state legislatures to fund student internships in the District.

[5 things to know about Dave Anderson]

Everything Ive done in my career, Anderson said, has been focused on building a stronger American democracy, building more civic participation and coming up with creative policies.

Anderson said hes long wanted to run for office but couldnt balance his $180,000-a-year job with a part-time seat in the Maryland legislature. If elected to Congress, he says, he will quit the Washington Center and serve full-time.





He is a passionate proponent of government-subsidized child care and paid family leave  policies that Democrats have tried for decades to advance, without success.

Anderson wants to link initiatives on child care and family leave with a tax credit for families that have a stay-at-home parent. He says that approach would generate Republican support, despite a price tag he estimates would be at least $100 billion.

[Ambitious paid family leave proposal edges closer to reality in District]

He says his interest in the topic stems from watching his own parents switch off staying home to raise him and his siblings in New Jersey. His mother was a community college instructor, his father a consultant. Andersons own wife left her job at AARP after giving birth to their second child.

This is the key issue that remains from the New Deal to the Great Society, Anderson said. We have dealt with older Americans, we have dealt with poor Americans, we dealt with the health issue . . . the big gap is young, hardworking, middle-class families.

In otherwise sleepy Democratic debates, Anderson has drawn fire for wanting to phase in an increase to the Social Security eligibility age from 62 to 64 for early retirement and from 67 to 69 for full retirement.

Many Democrats say such a move disproportionately hurts poor people in manual-labor jobs and minorities with lower life expectancies.

Anderson say hes open to exempting people in certain occupations and would include modest benefit increases for people currently on Social Security. But he blasts as unrealistic his opponents calls to significantly expand the entitlement program.

Thats something party-line Democrats in Montgomery County say to get votes, he said.


Edwin Ordonez poses for a portrait at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington. Ordonez, an undocumented 18-year-old high school senior from El Salvador, is a superstar student. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post)

Edwin Ordonez was 9 years old when he and his father swam across the Rio Grande and slipped into this country, the final leg of a long and risky journey from their native El Salvador.

Edwin spoke no English, but he was smart, determined and focused on his education. Nine years after arriving in the United States, he is a standout student poised to graduate as valedictorian of the Districts Bell Multicultural High School.

But his impending graduation  and his quest for higher education and a better life  opened another grueling journey in the past six months. Wanting badly to go to college, he applied to 25 schools, including six in the Ivy League, but those applications came with a serious caveat: He didnt know whether hed be able to go, even if accepted. Like many families, his cant afford much tuition, but unlike most other students, hes not eligible for federal loans or grants because of his immigration status.

Its an uncertainty that many undocumented students confront during their senior year in high school as they are crossing over from one world to the next. They are moving from a childhood when they had a right to attend public school, where teachers promised that they could achieve anything with enough hard work, to an adulthood where their legal status stands directly in the way of opportunities, including not just federal student loans but also drivers licenses, certain academic fellowships and jobs.

Its a real whiplash experience. They grow up with all these kinds of messages  if you work hard enough, if you dream boldly enough, if you play by the rules, you can be something, said Roberto Gonzales, an assistant professor of education at Harvard who has studied immigrant youth. Now theyre moving into the really stigmatized category of an undocumented immigrant.

[As immigration resurges, U.S. public schools help children find their footing]

About 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school every year, according to one Urban Institute estimate that is now more than a decade old. No one knows the exact figure because schools are not allowed to collect information on students immigration status.



Ordonez walks the two blocks from his apartment to Bell Multicultural High School on March 15. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post)

These young people and their families have become central figures in the nations political dialogue amid a presidential race that has often focused on immigration policy and featured anti-immigrant rhetoric. Many people believe that the nations 11 million undocumented immigrants are siphoning jobs and resources away from deserving citizens and point out that these immigrants have broken the law and are here illegally.

Edwin and his teachers see him differently: as a young person who did not choose to come to the United States, but who has done his best here, and who has excelled by almost any measure.

Ive made this place my home, Edwin said. If I get sent back, I have nowhere to go.

He refuses to hide his status.

I feel like I shouldnt be afraid, he said. I feel like it makes me who I am.

He has many advocates among his teachers and counselors at school, none more fierce than Joseph Talarico, his English teacher, who calls Edwin a warrior and the most talented student he has taught in his five years at Bell.

Edwin reaffirms my belief in the power of education to transform lives, Talarico wrote in a college recommendation letter. I have never seen a student work harder, and I have never seen a student soar higher.

[Federal immigration actions pose questions for colleges]

Edwin has taken 12 Advanced Placement classes, including calculus and computer science. He has also taken more than a half-dozen college courses. He tutors other immigrant students after school.

His SAT scores are just slightly lower than the average at the nations most selective schools. But Talarico said thats more an artifact of Edwins family income  his mother works at a hair salon, his father at a restaurant, and they didnt have money for a private test-prep course  than his abilities.



Advanced Placement English teacher Joe Talarico meets with Ordonez. (Allison Shelley/For The Washington Post)

His writing is like jazz, full of rhythm, purposeful repetition, and elements of surprise, Talarico wrote in his college recommendation letter for Edwin.

It was Talarico who urged him to aim high  for the big, all-but-impossible-to-get-into schools like the Ivies and Stanford, where admission rates are in the single digits. They are schools with the wherewithal to offer substantial support, financial and otherwise, for students who are lucky enough to get in.

Less-wealthy schools may be easier to get into but are just as out of reach if they cant provide scholarship aid.

[Va. attorney general declares dreamers eligible for in-state tuition]

Talarico said he has had extremely bright undocumented students who have been admitted to selective colleges but were unable to enroll because tuition was unaffordable. This year, one such student has been admitted to Marymount and George Mason universities and has been granted thousands of dollars in scholarships from each school.

But that funding still is not nearly enough to cover the students tuition and living expenses, and she said that if she doesnt secure additional scholarship money, she will probably attend a community college instead, with the hope of transferring to a four-year school later.

The options for many undocumented students are limited if they dont get into a school with a large endowment  often among the nations most-selective schools, Talarico said.

During the past six months, Talarico has spent hours at lunch and after school helping Edwin and other students navigate the college-application process. It can be daunting for any first-generation college student, and especially opaque for undocumented youth, whose status can mean filling out extra forms and taking extra tests.

Edwins father, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid getting in trouble with immigration authorities, said he is grateful for Talaricos help  and proud of his son. Its a lot of things I want for him, Edwins father said. Like every parent, we dont have limits for our family.

Edwin was living with his grandparents in a small village in El Salvador, working on a farm and going to school a few hours a day, when his father told him they were leaving. They traveled to Guatemala and into Mexico, and then walked all night across the desert through a driving rain.

Once in the United States, they made their way to the Washington area, where much of Edwins extended family was living  legally. His mother also was here  where she had given birth to Edwins brother, making him a U.S. citizen  but she had no papers.

When he enrolled in the Districts H.D. Cooke Elementary in 2007, Edwin faced long odds. He was determined to beat them.

I am a fighter, he wrote in his personal essay for college applications. I am an American.

Undocumented immigrants are far less likely than other students to graduate from high school or get a college degree. Those who arrive in this country before age 14 have better chances, but they still fall short of average: 72 percent finish high school, according to a 2009 study by the Pew Hispanic Center, and of those, 61 percent go on to college.

As he learned English, Edwin set out to learn 50 vocabulary words a day. He asked his teachers lots of questions. He dived into James and the Giant Peach and other Roald Dahl classics.

Two years after arriving in the United States, he was scoring advanced on the Districts standardized math and reading tests. By middle school, some of his teachers were telling him and his parents that he could go to any college he wanted if he kept striving.

Other teachers were more blunt, Edwin said. They told him that he might get into a good school but that he would have trouble finding money to pay tuition. Just hearing my hard work might not pay off in the end . . . I felt it wasnt fair, he said.

His classmate and friend Alma Garcia, who also is undocumented, said she was forced to confront that reality this school year, when she saw the stark disparity between tuition at the colleges she was considering and her ability to pay  especially given how few scholarships are open to undocumented students.

Its a big shock wave over you, she said. Its like youre drowning.

Gonzales, the Harvard professor, said that moment of realization knocks many undocumented students off the path they envision for themselves. It really derails their future plans, he said.

Gonzales tracked 150 undocumented youth in Los Angeles for a dozen years in an unprecedented longitudinal study. Of the 79 who went to college, he said, nearly half left before receiving a degree. Even those who received degrees ended up in low-skilled, low-wage jobs  in restaurants, factories and call centers  because their immigration status hindered them in getting professional work.

[Five myths about the dream generation]

The Obama administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy has opened up more opportunities for college graduates. DACA  for which Edwin qualified  offers a work permit and exemption from deportation for immigrants who arrived as children in 2007 or before.

Edwin is proceeding on faith that DACA will continue under the next president, that the skills he hopes to learn in college will lead to a professional job. Enamored of computers ever since he first laid eyes on one when he came to this country, he plans to study computer engineering.

A few days ago, Edwin learned that he might beat the odds, that his dream might be within reach.

He stomached plenty of rejections. But he was accepted at eight schools, including Emory and Williams, which notified him of his acceptance in March  and Georgetown and Princeton, which accepted him when most colleges announce admissions decisions on April 1.

Georgetown said it could not offer any scholarship money to defray the estimated $69,770 annual cost of attendance  an impossible sum for Edwin.

But he won a full scholarship to Emory, and Williams has offered such a generous scholarship that Edwin would have to pay only $1,000 a year.

He is leaning toward Princeton. He loves the sense of possibility it offers. And  although he is waiting for confirmation  he thinks he will be able to afford to go.

Princeton awards full scholarships for room, board and tuition for students like Edwin, whose families earn less than $65,000 a year. If he chooses Princeton, he will pay only $1,130 next year, out of an estimated $63,690 total cost.

A door of opportunity that opens for few students  and very few undocumented students  has opened for him. I feel good, he said.

Talarico, his teacher, responded a bit more ebulliently, shrieking and running across his classroom when Edwin gave him the news. It was fun, Edwin said. I was very happy to see him that happy.
BLOOD DONATIONS

BLOOD DRIVES Monday, 2:30-7:30 p.m., Village at Leesburg, 1603 Village Market Blvd., Suite 100, Leesburg, 800-733-2767; Friday, 2:30-7:30 p.m., St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg, 800-733-2767; April 20, 1:30-7 p.m., Foxcroft School, 22407 Foxhound Lane, Middleburg, 800-733-2767; April 22, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospial Dr., Warrenton, 540-316-3588; April 23, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd., Ashburn, 800-733-2767; April 26, 3-7 p.m. Rust Library, 380 Old Waterford Rd., Leesburg, 866-256-6372.

INOVA BLOOD DONOR CENTER Mondays noon-8 p.m., Tuesdays 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Fridays 6 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sundays noon-4 p.m. Dulles Town Center, 45745 Nokes Blvd., Sterling. 866-256-6372 or inova.org/donateblood.

FIRST AID

FIRST AID/ADULT, INFANT AND CHILD CPR/AED Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Medical Office Building, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $85. Registration required.

HEARING

DISABILITY RESOURCE CENTER Technical assistance through the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and presentations to businesses, civic groups and schools. Third Tuesdays 2-5 p.m., Workplace, 205 Keith St., Warrenton. Call for an appointment, 800-648-6324; TDD, 540-373-5890. Free.

FREE HEARING TESTS Age 18 and older. Mondays-Thursdays 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center, 19465 Deerfield Ave., Suite 201, Lansdowne. 703-858-7620. Registration required.

HEARING LOSS, TINNITUS AND MENIERES SYNDROME SUPPORT For all ages, including parents of children with hearing loss. First Fridays 2 p.m., Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-430-2906.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA RESOURCE CENTER FOR THE DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING Age 18 and older, second Tuesdays 10 a.m., Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 571-258-3400.

HEARING LOSS OUTREACH Free referrals. Fourth Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Loudoun County Workforce Center, 102 Heritage Way, Leesburg; third Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. Free appointments: 703-430-2906 or nvrcloudoun@aol.com.

MENTAL HEALTH

COUNSELING FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE SURVIVORS Provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice. 703-771-9020.

CRISISLINK Suicide and crisis intervention. The organization provides community education, has a volunteer crisis response team and offers CareRing, a daily telephone outreach program for the elderly and disabled. 703-527-6016, volunteer@crisislink.org or crisislink.org.

PIEDMONT CHAPTER, NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS Serves Fauquier, Orange, Madison and Rappahannock counties. Support group, education classes and events for people living with mental illness, plus their family members. First Wednesdays 7-9 p.m. Fauquier Hospital, 500 Hospital Dr., Sycamore Room A, Warrenton. 571-426-8213.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA CHAPTER, NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS A support group, classes and programs for people living with mental illness and their family members. naminorthernvirginia.org.

PREGNANCY, PARENTING

ADOPTIVE FAMILY PRESERVATION Adoptive families discuss common experiences; registration required. Third Tuesdays 12:30-2 p.m. Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd. Call 703-941-9008, Ext. 23, or email jmellerio@umfs.org.

BABY CARE ESSENTIALS April 21, 6-8:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Family Birthing Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $25. Registration required.

BIRTHRIGHT OF LOUDOUN COUNTY Free pregnancy tests, baby clothing, transportation and support throughout pregnancy, 823 S. King St., Leesburg. 703-777-7272.

BOND BETWEEN US Nonprofit group offers support to birth parents when children have been placed for adoption. Fourth Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. Call for location. 703-771-7844.

BREAST-FEEDING SUPPORT Mondays 9:30-10:30 a.m., Fauquier Hospital Family Birthing Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588.

DAD SUPPORT New and expectant fathers share ideas. First Tuesdays 7 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg. 703-858-6360.

FOR THE CHILDRENS SAKE A group for separating or divorcing parents to share advice. Four-hour session weekly. Information : 703-391-8599 or fitsfoundation.org.

LA LECHE LEAGUE Mother-to-mother support and breast-feeding information. 10 a.m. second Wednesdays in Warrenton, 540-351-6103. Third Fridays 10:15-11:45 a.m., call for location, 703-444-7386. Second Fridays 10:15 a.m., Ashburn Library, 43316 Hay Rd., 703-431-3852; Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon, Panera Bread, 43670 Greenway Corp. Dr., Ashburn, email lllashburn@gmail.com. Third Fridays 10:15 a.m., Christ the Redeemer Church, 46833 Harry F. Byrd. Hwy., Sterling, 540-338-4637.

LOUDOUN FATHERHOOD PROGRAM Fathers discuss the joys and challenges of being a parent. Meets every other Saturday for two hours for four months; sponsored by Northern Virginia Family Service. 571-748-2796. Free.

LOUDOUN NURTURING PARENTING PROGRAM Positive parenting techniques; children attend with parents. Registration required. Call 703-771-3973, Ext. 27, or email nurturingprogram@lcsj.org . Free.

MOTHERNET/HEALTHY FAMILIES LOUDOUN Program links first-time parents with medical, social and educational resources to give children a socially and physically healthy start in life. Family support workers meet with participants in homes. English-Spanish translation provided. 703-444-4477, Ext. 217, or inmed.org .

NEW MOTHERS SUPPORT Wednesdays 9:30-11:30 a.m. Inova Loudoun Medical Pavilion, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg, main entrance. Babies welcome. 703-858-6360.

YOUNG PARENT SERVICES Support for teenage parents. Loudoun County Department of Family Social Services, 52 Sycolin Rd., Leesburg. Call for times. 703-771-5375.

ONLINE CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION PROGRAM Inova Loudoun Hospitals Web-based program uses animation, videos and interactive activities to guide users through the basics of childbirth, breast-feeding and caring for newborns. 703-858-6360. thebirthinginn.org/classes.

PARENTING ALONE GROUP For parents of school-age children who have lost a spouse or partner to cancer. Second Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-698-2536 or email jennifer.eckert@inova.org .

PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH SUPPORT Childbirth Solutions Resource Center, 8393 W. Main St., Marshall. 571-344-0438.

SENIORS

EXERCISE EQUIPMENT Weights, treadmills, bikes and a cardio-glide. Instruction provided. Age 55 and older. Weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

EYE CARE LensCrafters staff members will clean glasses and make minor repairs. Second Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 703-430-2397. Free.

FITNESS FOR PEOPLE 55 AND OLDER Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 1-1:45 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 571-258-3400. $36, 12-visit card.

INOVA LOUDOUN MOBILE VAN Blood pressure checks. Second and fourth Tuesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling, 571-258-3280; first Wednesdays 9:30 a.m.-noon, Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039.

LAUGHING YOGA FOR SENIORS I mprove flexibility and balance. Thursdays 9:30-10 :30 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

LOUDOUN ADULT DAY CENTERS For seniors with physical limitations or memory loss, a safe and social environment, therapeutic activities, individualized care and respite for caregivers. Limited transportation. Sliding-scale fees. Weekdays in Leesburg, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., 703-771-5334; Purcellville, 571-258-3402; and Ashburn-Sterling, 571-258-3232.

MEDICARE INFORMATIONAL SEMINAR April 23, 10-11:30 a.m. Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, 20145 Ashbrook Pl., Suite 170, Ashburn. Sponsored by the Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging. 571-258-3414 or email aaamedicare@loudoun.gov. Free; registration required.

SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Senior Center at Cascades. First and third Wednesdays 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280.

SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Sign up in the Leesburg Senior Center lobby. Second and fourth Thursdays 11 a.m.-noon and 12:30-4:30 p.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

SENIOR OUTREACH SERVICES Free and confidential assistance from an Area Agency on Aging Elder case manager. Call for an appointment or sign up at the Carver Center. First and third Mondays, 12:30-5 p.m. Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. 703-737-8741. Free.

ZUMBA GOLD CLASS: For people 55 and older who are learning Zumba for the first time, or those who prefer a lower-impact version. The fitness program combines Latin and international music with dance.Thursdays 11 a.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. 571-258-3280. $12.

TAI CHI Stretching and strengthening movements. Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039. Free.

ZUMBA GOLD CLASS Age 55 and older. Wear rubber-soled shoes and comfortable clothing; bring water and a towel. Tuesdays 11 a.m., Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 p.m. Senior Center of Leesburg, 102 North St. NW, Leesburg. 703-737-8039. $24 per month.

SUPPORT GROUPS

AL-ANON SERVICE CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA A volunteer is available 24 hours with information for spouses, family members and friends of problem drinkers. 703-534-4357 or 877-339-8350. Mondays 8 p.m. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 125 W. Washington St., Middleburg, 540-554-2747; Tuesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg, 877-339-8350; Fridays 8:30 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, 6507 Main St., The Plains, 800-344-2666; Tuesdays 12:15 p.m. Warrenton Church of Christ, Route 29 N., 540-347-7448; Tuesdays 7 p.m. and Saturdays 8:30 p.m. Warrenton Presbyterian Church, 91 Main St., 800-344-2666.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Various meeting times and locations in Loudoun County. 800-208-8649 or 703-876-6166. nvintergroup.org.

ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVER SUPPORT For those who care for people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. Fourth Wednesdays 4-5:30 p.m. The Villa at Suffield Meadows, 6735 Suffield Lane, Warrenton. 540-316-3800.

ALZHEIMERS SUPPORT First Tuesdays 10-11 a.m. Spring Arbor Assisted Living, 237 Fairview St. NW, Leesburg. 540-338-6520.

ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVERS SUPPORT For those caring for people with Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. Second Mondays 7-8:30 p.m. Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-430-9229. galileeumc.org.

ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVER SUPPORT Emotional, educational and social support for family members and friends of people with the disease. Third Saturdays 10 a.m. Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging, 20145 Ashbrook Pl., Ashburn. Call 703-771-5407 or email lesley.katz@loudoun.gov.

ALZHEIMERS SUPPORT First Wednesdays 4 p.m. Leesburg Adult Day Center, 16501 Meadowview Ct., Leesburg. 703-771-5334.

TALK ABOUT CURING AUTISM A nonprofit organization educating and supporting families affected by autism. tacanow.org.

AUTOIMMUNE SUPPORT Last Thursdays 6:30-7:30 p.m. Jackson Building, 209 Gibson St., Leesburg. Email autoimmunesupport@hotmail.com .

BEREAVED PARENT SUPPORT One-on-one counseling is available. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. scsm.tv.

BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT For those experiencing loss because of the death of a loved one. Age 18 and older. Third Mondays 1 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-957-1800.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT Fourth Tuesdays 7-8 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Tower, Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-0588.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT For those with new diagnoses or starting treatment. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT For those who have finished treatment, have had a recurrence or metastatic breast cancer. Register if attending for the first time. Fourth Mondays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8857. Free.

BREAST CANCER SUPPORT ASSISTANCE FUND Loudoun County residents who have received a diagnosis or have undergone treatment in the past 12 months are eligible to apply for financial assistance. Areas included are wigs, bras, puffs and prostheses, mammograms and medical bills, food and help with utilities, rent or mortgage, and transportation costs. The Pink Assistance Fund has been established by the Loudoun Breast Health Network. lbhn.org.

CANCER SUPPORT Oncology nurses, social workers and spiritual care providers offer education and support to patients, families and caregivers. Second Mondays 5:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2273.

CANCER SUPPORT Life with Cancer, for patients, family members and friends. Second Thursdays 7 p.m. Ashburn Presbyterian Church, Room 202, 20962 Ashburn Rd. 703-729-2012. ashburnpresbyterian.org.

CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP Third Saturdays 10 a.m. Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging, 20145 Ashbrook Pl., Ashburn. 703-771-5407. alz.org/nca.

CAREGIVER SUPPORT AND RESOURCE GROUP Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.-noon (no meeting first Wednesdays), Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. scsm.tv.

CARING FOR AGING PARENTS Support group. Confidential. Fourth Wednesdays 7:30 p.m., Family Focus Counseling Service, 20-B John Marshall St., Warrenton. 540-349-4537.

CHADD PARENTS SUPPORT For parents of children with ADD/ADHD. Fourth Sundays 3 p.m. KinderCare, 44051 Ashburn Village Shopping Plaza. chadd.nova loudoun@gmail. com .

CHRONIC ILLNESS SUPPORT Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 a.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministries, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814 or scsm.tv.

COFFEE AND CONVERSATION: Support for those discouraged because of illness, bereavement, caregiving or a loved one in the military. Thursdays 10 a.m.-noon. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814.

COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS For parents who have experienced the death of a child. First Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. St. James Episcopal Church, 14 Cornwall St. NW, Leesburg. 540-882-9707.

CREATING AND CONNECTING Two-hour art therapy and relaxation workshop for cancer patients. Every other month, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-858-8850.

DEPRESSION BIPOLAR SUPPORT ALLIANCE OF WESTERN LOUDOUN Saturdays 3 p.m. Purcellville Library, 220 E. Main St., Carruthers Room. Call 703-431-7160 or email kathy@dbsanca.org.

DROP-IN GRIEF SUPPORT For those coping with a death. Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2 p.m. St. Davids Episcopal Church, 43600 Russell Branch Pkwy., Ashburn. Sponsored by Capital Caring. 703-597-1781.

SUPPORT FOR FAMILIES OVERCOMING DRUG ADDICTION April 21 at 6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-9221 or email cbfolker@yahoo.com.

GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER YOUTH AND PARENT SUPPORT A group in partnership with Metro DC PFLAG. Fourth Sundays 4-6 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Church, 22135 Davis Dr., Sterling. 703-328-6518.

GRIEFSHARE Open to anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one. Tue sdays from 7-8:30 p.m. Purcellville Baptist Church, 601 Yaxley Dr., Purcellville. Call 540-338-0918 or email caring@purbap.org. Workbook, $15.

GRIEFSHARE Nondenominational seminar and support group. Tuesdays 7:30-9 p.m., and Wednesdays, 1-2:30 p.m. Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814. Free.

GRIEF SUPPORT Sponsored by Hospice Support of Fauquier County. Individual counseling available. First and third Thursdays 3:30-5 p.m. Hospice Support Office, 42 N. Fifth St., Warrenton. Registration required. Call 540-347-5922 or email hospicesupport@verizon.net.

GRIEF SUPPORT Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.-noon, Spiritual Care Support Ministry Center, 76 W. Shirley Ave., Warrenton. 540-349-5814.

HOSPICE SUPPORT Free medical-equipment loan facility for Fauquier County residents. Especially needed are donations of wheelchairs, bedside commodes, rolling walkers, electric hospital beds, shower benches and chairs, adult diapers, lift chairs, Ensure and hospital bed mattresses. 540-347-5922.

LOOK GOOD, FEEL BETTER For women undergoing or emerging from cancer treatment. Every other month, 6:45 to 9 p.m. ,Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Call for dates. 703-776-2820. Free.

LOUDOUN CHADD SUPPORT Led by Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Third Thursdays 7 p.m. Leesburg Town Hall, lower-level conference room, 25 W. Market St. 703-669-2445.

LOUDOUN INTERGROUP OF OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS Fellowship and support. For locations and times, call 571-420-2012. oa.org.

LYME DISEASE SUPPORT Fourth Sundays 2-4 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Conference Room A and B, Leesburg. Go to natcaplyme.org or email loudounlymeadvocates@gmail.com.

LYME DISEASE SUPPORT Third Thursdays 7 p.m. Warrenton Church of Christ, 6398 Lee Hwy. Access Road, Warrenton. 540-347-7265 or email lymeinfauquier@gmail.com. Free.

MADD LOUDOUN VICTIM SUPPORT For those who have been affected by drunken driving. Third Wednesdays 7:30 p.m. 210 Wirt St., Leesburg. 540-338-6491.

MAN-TO-MAN CANCER SUPPORT Sponsored by Loudoun Cancer Care Center, for prostate cancer patients and their families. Second Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling. Call 703-858-8857 or email karen.archer@inova.org.

MENOPAUSE SUPPORT Third Thursdays 6:30-9 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg (second floor, Patient Education Room). 703-858-8060.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SUPPORT Saturdays 10:30 a.m. Fauquier Hospital Chestnut Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-349-2826.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SUPPORT Last Sundays 2-4 p.m. Cascades Library, 21030 Whitfield Pl., Potomac Falls. 703-771-4256.

NAR-ANON FAMILY SUPPORT For those affected by loved ones with addiction. Meaningful Mondays, 7-8 p.m., Galilee United Methodist Church, 45425 Winding Rd., Sterling. 703-203-9792; Wisdom Wednesdays 7-8 p.m., St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 37730 St. Francis Ct., Purcellville, 703-606-7125; Serenity Thursdays, 7-8 p.m. Leesburg Presbyterian Church, 207 W. Market St., Leesburg, 703-606-7125.

PARKINSON'S SUPPORT Open to anyone with Parkinson's disease, family members and caregivers. First Tuesdays 1:30-3 p.m. Call for Ashburn location. 571-442-8851.

POST-PARTUM SUPPORT Second and fourth Wednesdays 1-2:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Cornwall Campus, 224 Cornwall St., Leesburg. 703-909-9877. Email lamckeough@gmail.com. Registration required.

REACH TO RECOVERY Home visit program for mastectomy and lumpectomy patients. Temporary prostheses, exercise instruction and encouragement. 703-938-5550.

SEXUAL ASSAULT AND INCEST SURVIVORS GROUP COUNSELING Services provided by Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice and the Loudoun Abused Womens Shelter are free and confidential. 703-771-9020.

SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS EMPOWERMENT SUPPORT Sponsored by Sexual Assault Victims Volunteer Initiative. Child care available with 48-hours notice. Mondays; call for times and locations. 540-349-7720.

SPIRITUAL SUPPORT GROUP For cancer patients, family members and friends. Third Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. 703-858-8850.

STROKE SURVIVORS AND CAREGIVERS SUPPORT Second Wednesdays 11 a.m.-noon, Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second floor, Patient Education Room. 703-858-6667 or robyn.thomson@inova.org.

SUICIDE COUNSELING Third Wednesdays 7-8:30 p.m. Leesburg Town Office, Conference Room 2, lower level, 25 W. Market St., Leesburg. 703-587-1618 or survivorsofsuicidelossleesburg@gmail.com.

WOMENS SUPPORT Sponsored by Services to Abused Families. Tuesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Confidential location. 540-825-8876.

WIDOW AND WIDOWER SUPPORT Third Mondays 11 a.m. Leesburg Senior Center, 102 North St. NW. 703-737-8039.

WOMENS CANCER SUPPORT Woman to Woman, first Wednesdays 6:30-8 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital Radiation Oncology Center, 44035 Riverside Pkwy., Suite 100, Leesburg. Registration required. 703-858-8850.

MISCELLANEOUS

BLOOD PRESSURE SCREENING Wednesday from noon-2 p.m. Fauquier Hospital main lobby, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588.

BRAIN TRAUMA SURVIVORS BROWN BAG LUNCH For survivors and caregivers, first Tuesdays, noon-1:30 p.m. Inova Loudoun Hospital, 44045 Riverside Pkwy., Leesburg, second-floor Patient Education Room. Call 703-737-3150 or email jberg@braininjurysvcs.org. Free.

CHILD DEVELOPMENTAL SCREENINGS For ages 2-5. Children may not be kindergarten-age-eligible. Sponsored by the Loudoun County public schools Child Find Center. 571-252 - 2180.

CHOLESTEROL SCREENINGS Weekdays 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Fauquier Health LIFE Center, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-2640. Registration required. $35.

COFFEE AND COMPASSIONATE CONVERSATION April 19, 10 a.m. Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. Sponsored by Fauquier Aging Together to educate the public about the importance of advance care planning. 540-829-6405 or email dbanks@agingtogether.org.

EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLIES Loudoun residents who are in need can receive a free three-day supply of groceries. Supplies are distributed Mondays through Saturdays by Loudoun Interfaith Relief. 703-777-5911. interfaithrelief.org.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION IN MEDICATION ADVERTISING April 20 at noon, Fauquier Hospital Sycamore Room, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588.

FAUQUIER FREE WALK-IN MEDICAL CLINIC Patients must call Thursdays from 12:30 to 1 p.m. to register for the clinic, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Patients are also seen by appointment Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Fauquier and Rappahannock residents only. Bring proof of address for the first visit. Patients cannot have Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance. Information: 540-347-0394 Tuesdays or Thursdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

FAUQUIER HOSPITAL BISTRO SENIOR SUPPER CLUB Nutritious meals and fellowship for people 55 and older. Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30-6:30 p.m. Fauquier Hospital Bistro on the Hill, 500 Hospital Dr., Warrenton. 540-316-3588. $5.49.

GAMERS UNION FOR TEENS WITH ASPERGERS Youths 12 to 21 interact through gaming; their caregivers meet for networking. Second Tuesdays 6 p.m. Rust Library, 380 Old Waterford Rd., Leesburg. 703-777-0323. Free.

HEROES (Hometown Enabling Relationships, Opportunities and Empowerment through Support) is a program for military families. A trained volunteer provides support to military members and their families, from pre-deployment up to two years post-deployment. Assistance includes financial help, job placement, family care and mental health services. heroescare.org or email caring@purbap.org .

INOVA LOUDOUN HOSPITAL MOBILE HEALTH SERVICES BLOOD PRESSURE SCREENINGS Tuesday 9 a.m.-noon, Senior Center at Cascades, 21060 Whitfield Pl., Sterling; Thursday 10 a.m.-noon, Carver Center, 200 Willie Palmer Way, Purcellville. Information: 703-858-8818 or inova.org/mobilehealth. Free.

LOUDOUN CARES INFORMATION AND REFERRAL HELPLINE Call for help in finding resources for county residents who are dealing with rent eviction, utility cut offs, needed health care, employment and more. 703-669-4636.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN Call for help in resolving complaints related to long-term-care facilities. 703-324-5861.

MOTOR SKILL SCREENINGS Birth to 21 months. First Thursdays, Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center, 19465 Deerfield Ave., Suite 201, Lansdowne. Call for an appointment. 703-858-7620. Free.

ROAD TO RECOVERY, for cancer patients who need rides to appointments. 410-781-6909. Email jen.burdette@cancer.org. Free.

SEVEN LOAVES FOOD PANTRY Individuals and families can receive a three-day supply of food, distributed Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 10 a.m.-noon. 540-687-3489 or sevenloavesmiddleburg.org.

TREE OF LIFE FOOD PANTRY Serving western Loudoun County. Food is delivered Wednesdays and Saturdays. 703-554-3595.

 Compiled by Sandy Mauck

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Former Maryland lieutenant governor Anthony Brown on Monday endorsed the Senate campaign of the congresswoman he hopes to replace in the House.

From her fierce advocacy on domestic violence issues to defending womens rights, Donna has been a champion for Maryland women and their families, Brown said in a statement.

Brown is the first candidate in the Democratic primary for Marylands 4th congressional district, centered in Prince Georges County, to endorse Rep. Donna Edwards, who currently holds the seat. Edwards is in a close race against Rep. Chris Van Hollen, from neighboring Montgomery County, in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D).

[Van Hollen airs first attack ad against Edwards]

Edwards has a rocky relationship with some local politicians. Prince Georges County Executive Rushern Baker III and state senators Joanne C. Benson, Ulysses Currie and Victor R. Ramirez are among those backing Van Hollen.

Its become apparent that the people who know her best are not supporting her, Baker said on a conference call last week organized by the Van Hollen campaign to criticize Edwards.

But polling in the Senate race confirms that Edwards remains popular with constituents, particularly those who plan to vote in the April 26 primary. A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland survey found her leading Van Hollen in Prince Georges County 77 percent to 18 percent.

Edwards has not endorsed a successor. In the primary, Browns chief rivals are former Prince Georges County states attorney Glenn Ivey and state Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk.

Van Hollen, likewise, has not taken a side in the crowded and expensive Democratic primary for his House seat. However, the top candidates running are all supporting him in the Senate race.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) released an ad on April 9 attacking his rival in Marylands Democratic Senate primary, Rep. Donna Edwards, as ineffective. (Van Hollen For Senate)

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is out with a new ad attacking his rival in Marylands Democratic Senate primary, Rep. Donna Edwards, as ineffective.

Edwards was ranked one of the least effective members of Congress... and the least willing to find common ground, the narrator says. The ad then quotes a Washington Post editorial comparing Edwards to Tea Party Republicans.

The ad relies on a ranking from the website InsideGov, which looked at how many bills sponsored by a lawmaker made it through committee in the last Congress.

[Edwards goes on attack against Van Hollen in her first ad]

The ad also cites the Lugar Center Bipartisan Index, which scores members based on the number of bills they introduce that receive co-sponsors from across the aisle as well as the number of bills they sign on to that came from the other party.

The new spot, Van Hollens first attack ad of the campaign, comes in response to one released by Edwards last week accusing the congressman of betraying progressive values.

That ad was the first ad paid for by Edwards herself, who has struggled financially throughout the race but managed to raise over $1 million in the first three months of 2016. However, a super PAC run by the Democratic womens group Emilys List has been airing ads in support of Edwards for months.

In his ad, Van Hollen calls Edwardss attacks false, as he has in debates and forums around the state. Edwards, likewise, has pushed back on his characterization of her as ineffective, saying she has worked across the aisle on the science and transportation committees. In a statement, Edwards spokesman Benjamin Gerdes said the congresswomans campaign was disappointed by Van Hollens negative, personal attacks.

The last debate scheduled between the two candidates will be held at 7 p.m. Monday evening in Silver Spring.

Van Hollen also organized a conference call Friday afternoon in which several of his supporters criticized Edwardss record.

The increased aggression on both sides is a sign of how close this race is two weeks out from the April 26 primary, which will determine the Democratic nominee for the seat held by retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D). A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released last week gave Edwards a statistically insignificant four-point lead in the race.
Maryland Del. Kumar Barve and state Sen. Jamie Raskin, who are Democratic candidates for the 8th Congressional District, participate in a forum on Oct. 1 in Rockville, Md. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post)

Claims in a television ad about Maryland state Sen. Jamie Raskins environmental record dont stand up to scrutiny, according to the fact-checking arm of Ballotpedia, the online election archive.

Raskin, one of nine contenders for the 8th Congressional District Democratic nomination, produced an ad last month asserting that he was the only candidate who had sponsored legislation to protect the environment.

They all talk about climate change, but Sierra Club chooses Jamie Raskin for Congress because only Raskin wrote laws to reduce our carbon footprint and is leading the fight against fracking in Maryland, the spot said.

However, those claims do not square with the legislative record, said an April 7 report by Verbatim, the fact-checking project of Ballotpedia.

[Barve calls out Raskin on ads claiming he is only progressive in race]

Verbatims report was in response to a complaint lodged by one of Raskins opponents. Del. Kumar Barve, former majority leader (2003-14) and now chairman of the House Environment and Transportation Committee, co-sponsored legislation in 2009 and again in the current General Assembly session setting targets for reduction of Maryland greenhouse gas emissions. As committee chairman, he was a key player in the 2015 passage of a two-year moratorium on fracking.

The report also notes that the Sierra Club endorsed both legislators for reelection in 2014. The two lawmakers received 100 percent ratings on the Maryland League of Conservation Voters Environmental Scorecard in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Barves lifetime rating from the group is slightly lower  86 percent to Raskins 98 percent.

Raskin said in a statement Sunday that Barve has an impressive record on environmental issues. But Raskin added that he had pushed for an outright ban on fracking, not a moratorium.

[Del. Kumar Barve looking for surprise win in Md 8th District]

The way to fight fracking is to ban it or, at the very least, to impose strict liability on fracking corporations so they cant escape the costs of paying for damages they cause through contamination of the water table, earthquakes and leaks, Raskin said.

On its Facebook page Sunday, Barves campaign criticized the Sierra Club for endorsing Raskin on claims now proven erroneous.

Shame on Sierra Club, the campaign said. It demanded that the organization force the Raskin campaign take the ads off the air.
Sen. Bobby Zirkin, right, talks to reporters about the status of "Noah's Law" on the last day of the Maryland state legislature on Monday. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

The Maryland General Assembly approved sweeping changes in criminal sentencing policies and adopted broad new police training and accountability procedures Monday, the final day of the states annual legislative session.

Lawmakers hailed both bills as major reforms that would significantly alter how criminals are punished and how the public interacts with police.

Its a meaningful step, Larry Stafford, executive director of Progressive Maryland, said of the police bill, which passed the House and then the Senate with about an hour left until the end of the annual legislative session. There will have to be more steps in the future.

Advocates were disappointed that the bill does not give civilian review boards independent investigative powers. But Stafford said he was pleased with other areas of the bill, including an investment in community policing and tax credits for police officers who live in the communities where they work.

Noahs Law, a widely watched drunken-driving bill involving ignition locks, also received final passage, after languishing for years in the House Judicial Proceedings Committee. But a tax-relief bill championed by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) failed to advance, as did a bill  pushed by progressive groups  that would have required employers to provide paid sick leave.

Rich Leotta and Marcia Goldman, whose son was killed by a drunk driver at a DUI checkpoint in Rockville, demonstrate in Annapolis Saturday to urge passage of the ignition-interlock bill named in his memory. (Brian Witte/AP)

Hogan expressed strong support for both Noahs Law and the criminal-justice bill known as the Justice Reinvestment Act.

[Can criminal justice bill right the wrongs of the war on drugs?]

The sentencing legislation would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, increase penalties for some violent crimes and allow some nonviolent offenders to be released from prison earlier. It also would lower the age at which older inmates can receive geriatric parole and would limit the ability of judges to impose long sentences for probation violations.

The bill, which passed the House and Senate by wide margins, is similar to bills enacted in about two dozen other states in recent years, embraced by both Democrats and Republicans as a way to reduce prison populations and costs and also address long-standing sentencing disparities and injustices.

Its a great bill, said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), an early proponent in Maryland of sentencing reform.

Del. Christopher R. West (R-Baltimore County) said the legislation would bring about a new norm in criminal justice by focusing on dependency treatment, drug counseling, education and job training instead of incarceration. I believe this bill will be regarded as that single piece of legislation passed in 2016 with the most far-reaching consequences, West said. It is a genuinely bipartisan bill.

Del. Patrick L. McDonough (R-Baltimore County), who voted against the legislation, said he was concerned about a lack of treatment slots for those who would be directed to rehabilitation under the measure. He also questioned whether the bill would truly improve public safety. If this bill is flawed, we are going to pay in bloodshed, he said. Were talking about putting more people in a safety net that doesnt exist.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr.(D), gestures to a guest in the balcony during the morning Senate session on the last day of the Maryland state legislature. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Toni Holness, public policy counsel for the ACLU of Maryland, applauded lawmakers for recognizing that being tough on crime has not given us a return on our investment. But she took issue with stiffer penalties for violent crimes that were added to the bill in exchange for doing away with mandatory minimum sentences. Such penalties, she said, run counter to the intention of the bill  to reduce the prison population.

[Police reform bill draws strong praise, sharp criticism]

The police reform bill passed the Senate 45 to 1 and the House 90 to 49. The bill makes broad changes in how officers are hired, trained and disciplined, and allows people to make complaints about police officers anonymously. It is based on recommendations from a legislative work group created last year after the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

The House and Senate had split in recent days over whether the bill should require localities to place civilians on police review boards. The final version of the legislation leaves that up to individual jurisdictions.

A controversial bill to provide a $37.5 million tax credit to Northrup Grumman passed its final legislative hurdle Monday with a 74 to 59 vote in the House.

But the bill to expand the earned income tax credit for the working poor and provide other modest tax relief failed, in part because the House and Senate could not agree on whether to include tax breaks for higher earners.

Both chambers had previously passed tax-relief packages that would lower the burden on middle-income taxpayers while expanding a credit for the working poor, including by extending the benefit to people without children. However, the House last week rejected a Senate provision that would reduce rates on high earners.

We just couldnt reach an agreement, Miller said. They didnt like our high brackets. In other words, we took care of everybody in the state, top to the bottom . . . and the House chose to just cut the income tax for the middle and lower brackets.

Hogan  who campaigned on a platform of reversing tax hikes and reducing fees  said he was disappointed that the tax relief package that passed the Senate failed to make it out of the General Assembly.

This morning all of you and all of us thought we were this close to real meaningful tax relief and unfortunately the Speaker of the House and Senate President dropped the ball and failed to get it done, he said at an early morning news conference after the legislature adjourned. Its very frustrating and disappointing.

[Why Americans overwhelmingly want paid sick leave]

Despite a spurt of momentum early on Monday, lawmakers also did not pass a paid-sick-leave bill that would have made Maryland just the fifth state in the country to require paid time off for employees who are ill. Some lawmakers reportedly floated the idea of tying the sick leave bill to the tax relief package, in hope of generating enough support to pass both. But no formal effort ever materialized.

At Hogans news conference, a radio reporter told the governor that Miller had said Hogan would have vetoed a bill that tied tax cuts to the paid sick leave bill. Hogan dismissed the idea.

Mike Miller doesnt know what hes talking about, the governor said. It sounds like they just couldnt get along with one another, and I had no part in that fight.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) said he remains hopeful that the House and Senate can resolve their differences on tax relief next year. I think thats one of the things we wish we had gotten together more on, Busch said. But there are a lot of issues on the table for that next year . . . I think those issues will resolve next year.

But Miller said there is a possibility the speaker and myself can call the General Assembly into special session for a single day to address both tax relief and sick leave.

Just those two proposals. Limited special ssesion for one day to do those two proposals, he said, They should go together in other words, provide business with a tax cut but at the same time, saying working men and women who are trying hard to make ends meet deserve earned sick leave. Both bodies support it and our people support it.

[New efforts to fight addiction taking shape in Md.]

The Senate gave final legislative approval Monday morning to a bill that would require doctors and pharmacists to use a statewide database to help identify abuse and over-prescribing of painkiller medications. The approved measure, sponsored by Sen. Katherine Klausmeier (D-Baltimore County), aligns with a recommendation made by Hogans heroin and opioid task force.

On Monday night, the House gave final approval to a bill designed to increase voter registration, in part by expanding requirements for state agencies and public colleges to provide opportunities to join the rolls. Lawmakers stripped out language requiring the state to do a one-time automatic registration of eligible voters who are not already enrolled.

The House failed to act on a bill that would have allowed voters to make a decision on whether to legalize daily fantasy sports. Miller said Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D), who was visiting the chamber, should file a lawsuit to ban the games from operating in the state. I know hes capable of handling it, Miller said.

Arelis Hernandez contributed to this report.
Lynne B. Porter could be called the Phil Rizzuto of the Maryland Senate.

But although the late Yankee and 40-year broadcaster for the team was known for his bombastic unpredictability, Porter, 63, is treasured in the august State House chamber for her unflappable calm.

For nearly three decades, Porter has worked as the Senate reading clerk, calling out the name of each bill as it is considered, tallying votes and projecting the legislation under consideration on two electronic screens.

She will walk away from her microphone for the last time at midnight Monday, when she retires from the Department of Legislative Services and the Maryland General Assembly adjourns for the year.

Its hard to believe Ive spent half of my life in the General Assembly, said Porter, who lives in Bowie, in Prince Georges County.

Senate reading clerk Lynn Porter is in the foreground. Senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. is behind and to her right. (Kate Patterson for The Washington Post)

[Md. state employee worked 66 years and never took a sick day]

Before the ceremonial balloons are thrown over the gallery banister, Porter is expected to call the titles and record the votes of bills that, among other things, will offer tax breaks to most Marylanders, change the way prisoners are sentenced and police officers are trained and disciplined, and provide a process for closures of community hospitals.

House Bill 1016, Public Safety Policing Workgroup, Recommendations, Porter announced during a recent session.

Has everyone recorded their vote? Anyone wish to change their vote? Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) asked.

Mr. President, Porter instantly responded. She hit the electronic panel in front of her, where she stands poised for hours each day just a few feet from where Miller is presiding. Those gathered in the chamber heard a chime that indicates the vote has been taken.

Porter keeps up with the fast-pace movement of bills coming across the desk, shifting back and forth from a committee report to a special order calendar to a Message from the House. She is always one step ahead, reading one bill even as she gets ready to post the next one on the screens.

She handles herself with such grace, said Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters (D-Prince Georges). That is one of the most pressure-filled jobs in the Senate. . . . Its a pressure cooker.

[Md. lawmakers could eliminate mandatory minimums on Monday]

Over the years, Porter has called bills that have raised taxes and slashed taxes, increased criminal penalties and lowered them. Legislation that allowed voters to decide to make gambling and same sex-marriage legal  and measures that abolished the death penalty and banned assault weapons  have crossed her desk.

She is hesitant to talk about the history she has witnessed. But she does recall the long filibusters that were once a staple in the Senate. We dont have that as much anymore, Porter said.

Miller hired Porter, who is African American, to be the clerk in 1987, acknowledging that the secretary of the Senates staff  like Millers own staff  at the time lacked diversity. He said he wanted a professional to fill the job, which had been a patronage position before Porter took over.

Porter grew up in Baltimore and attended all-girls Western High School. She received a bachelors degree in political science from Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., and a masters in government from Claremont College in California.

She began her career in state government working for the governor of Illinois in the budget office, then took a job as project manager for the National Governors Association in Washington and worked on a gun-control project with the Ford Foundation. After a few years off when her daughters were born, she was hired by the Department of Legislative Services in Annapolis.

Miller has praised her language skills on the Senate floor (she speaks Russian and French). He calls her a multi-talented person who has a calming influence on the Senate.

When the legislature was not in session, Porter resumed her duties as a research analyst. But each year from mid-January to mid-April, she spent hours a day in the Senate chamber, directing traffic so the legislative process can move along.

Im just a cog in the wheel, Porter said, noting the work of her colleagues who analyze bills, give legal reviews and opinions, print them and proof them while she is at her station. There are lots of people who help bring the work to fruition. Im just the one who has visibility.

In retirement, Porter said, she plans to dote on her 6-month-old grandson and care for her aging parents.

Im just going to enjoy life, she said. But I will miss the Senate.
Richard Leotta holds a poster of his late son, Noah, in front of the statehouse to urge lawmakers to pass "Noah's Law" on the last day of the Maryland state legislature. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

A bill to expand the use of ignition locks for drunk drivers in Maryland was approved in the final hour of the annual legislative session Monday night, giving a measure of solace to the grieving parents of a slain Montgomery County police officer who spent months pushing the bill forward in their sons memory.

Rich Leotta and Marcia Goldman watched anxiously from the House galley as the minutes ticked closer to midnight, hoping lawmakers would take a final vote on the measure named for their son, Noah Leotta, who was struck and killed by a drunk driver at a DUI checkpoint in Rockville.

We needed to find something that would allow us to get through our grief, Leotta said, describing the legislation as his sons legacy. Were still grieving, but at least this helps a little bit. It didnt just help save others lives. It helped save our lives too.

[Letting Noah go: Devastated parents learn to channel their grief]

But safe-driving advocates who were thrilled at the passage Noahs Law were outraged by changes made to another piece of legislation that is also aimed at cracking down on illegal drinking.

Rich Leotta and his wife, Marcia Goldman, in Annapolis. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

That bill, called Alex and Calvins Law after two Thomas S. Wootton High School graduates killed last June, originally mandated jail time and stiffer fines for adults found to have provided alcohol to people who are underage.

But the final version of the bill would levy those fines only if the adults in question knew the underage drinker was going to drive and their subsequent driving resulted in serious injury or death. That version of the bill passed in the final hour of the legislative session Monday night, and will go to Gov. Larry Hogan for his signature.

Unlike tonights passage of Noahs Law, Alex & Calvins law was substantially weakened so as to have any enhanced penalties apply only in the deadliest or near deadliest of teen traffic crashes in Maryland, said Kurt Erickson, president of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program.

Hogan (R) has expressed strong support for Noahs Law, different versions of which had languished in the House Judiciary Committee for years.

This year, the young officers death galvanized law enforcement agencies across the state to lobby for the bill, along with the advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Leottas family.

In response to the outpouring from the community, House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) told Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince Georges) to make sure the bill got a vote in committee.

[Move this bill, House speaker says. And move it quickly.]

In recent days, however, the measure hit a final stumbling block: a proposal to link the legislation with a bill that would allow punitive damages in civil lawsuits involving drunk drivers. The punitive damages measure had stalled in committee earlier in the session, and key delegates balked at the idea of adding it to the ignition-law bill.

By Monday, lawmakers had dropped the idea of combining the two measures, and instead were close to agreeing on a series of amendments to the House version of the bill, which advocates said brought the measure closer to the version that had been passed by the Senate.

The House voted unanimously in favor of the amended bill at about 11:30 p.m., with Leottas relatives looking on. Del. Benjamin F. Kramer (D-Montgomery) introduced the family members after the vote, and lawmakers gave them a standing ovation.

You will always know Noah is still on the job every single time an ignition interlock stops a drunk driver, Kramer told them.

The bill lowers the blood-alcohol level at which ignition locks are required from 0.15 to 0.08. It also requires ignition interlocks for anyone who has failed a breath-alcohol test, not just those who have been convicted of driving under the influence.

Its going to be a stronger bill, Rich Leotta, the father of the slain officer, said after the amendments were added. Its really going to honor Noah. . . . What they did, however they got here, Im happy for it.

The bill that addresses penalties for providing alcohol to people who are underage is named for Calvin Li and Alex Murk, who were killed in the crash last June. The driver of their car, also a recent graduate, had been with them at an underage drinking party in Potomac.

[We felt invincible: Report details deadly wreck]

He pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of vehicular manslaughter. The father of the teen who hosted the party pleaded guilty to two criminal citations for allowing underage drinking at his home and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, the maximum.

During a hearing of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in February, law enforcement officials, advocates and family members of drunken driving victims pleaded with lawmakers to pass the legislation.

David Murk and Paul Li, the fathers of the dead teenagers, gave emotional testimony, with Li telling the committee his heart was shattered in pieces when he went to the morgue to see his sons body.

The committee took the unusual step of voting on the bill before the testimony was finished. It passed unanimously, as members of Murks and Lis families wept.

But lawmakers later added amendments that Erickson said obliterated the bill.

Earlier in the session, the General Assembly this session passed a bill that increases the maximum criminal penalties for repeat impaired drivers who have been convicted once of a drunken driving accident that involved serious injury or death.




One is a longtime crusader for judicial reform in Maryland. One is a Marine-turned-businessman who wants to put people to work. The third is a self-described anti-Federalist who carries a copy of the Constitution in his pocket wherever he goes.

In a congressional district where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 4 to 1, there is little chance that the winner of the April 26 Republican primary will win the general election contest to succeed Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.), who is running for the U.S. Senate.

But the long odds havent dissuaded a few Republicans from seeking their partys nomination in hopes of giving voters another general-election option in the majority-minority jurisdiction.

[Contest to succeed Edwards boils down to three veteran politicians]

Three of the four candidates  two from Prince Georges County and one from Anne Arundel County  offer a political message that bemoans the Democratic monopoly in Maryland and advocates returning the federal government to what they see as its founding principles.

The fourth hopeful, Rob Buck of Severna Park, has not attended candidate forums and did not respond to repeated interview requests.

Entrepreneur David L. Therrien, civic activist George E. McDermott and conservative Robert Broadus have each sought office before, multiple times. They know their chance of beating the Democratic nominee in November is remote, but they see running as an exercise of their political duty.

Victim turned advocate



George McDermott speaks at a 4th Congressional District candidates forum at Bowie State University. (Mark Gail/For The Washington Post)

George E. McDermott, 70, describes a childhood of abject poverty. Orphaned at 13, he started working at a young age and never made it to college.

As an adult, he built a construction business and had a plan to develop the land around the Naylor Road Metro Station in Prince Georges in the mid-1990s.

But in 1995, he lost almost everything. He claims he was duped into signing over his business to a man who was later convicted of bribery and conspiracy in an unrelated case that involved the Baltimore school system.

The Forest Heights grandfather has submitted scores of court filings that testify to his long-standing legal troubles and unsuccessful efforts to hold someone accountable for his loss. In that fight, he said, he has seen up close where the judicial system fails and has become an advocate for reform.

I was born in the land of the free and the home of the brave, and I believe in the system. But I refuse to allow what is happening to our system, he said. The system is rigged.

On secretjustice.com, his website, McDermott has recorded videos, published court documents and blogged about his experiences. This will be his fifth time running for Congress, which he says he does to raise awareness.

Its about going out and telling people whats happening to our country.

Not a typical Republican

David Therrien, 59, of Pasadena is a moderate  and he believes that most other Marylanders are, too. He said he loves his country, served in the military and falls right of center on most issues. His reason for running for Congress, he says, is to fix the economy through his business savvy.

Therrien has had a long and varied career that started with the Marine Corps in 1975 and includes stints with the federal government, including the U.S. Marshals Service. He worked in cryptology, homeland security and law enforcement, and he obtained a law degree.

Looking for a new challenge, Therrien tried business. His technology expertise helped him rise within the Keller Williams real estate company, eventually becoming chairman of the board of his franchise.

As a congressman, Therrien said, he would apply business principles to train and retrain the workforce. In a departure from classic Republican ideology, he said he favors a people first platform that supports a livable wage, paid sick leave, health-care security and policies that help workers succeed: For me, politics is not about party issues, its about people issues.

Therrien said he believes the federal governments primary concern should be creating jobs and opportunity. He is also concerned about immigration, terrorism, military funding and the national debt. If I ever ran my company like this country runs their budget, Id be out of business, he said.

But making the economy work for everyone, he said, would solve many problems.

I joined [the military] to get involved and do my part for God and country because I felt like I owed the country, he said. Here we are now, and Im having the same types of thoughts. Thats why Im running.

A disaffected ex-Democrat



Robert Broadus speaks at a 4th Congressional District candidates forum held at Bowie State University. (Mark Gail/For The Washington Post)

Robert Broadus, 44, used to be a Democrat. His relatives were Democrats. His Prince Georges community was Democratic.

The Iraq War, he says, made him wake up.

He was discouraged by Democratic lawmakers who had voted in favor of a military conflict he saw as unnecessary. As a veteran, he said he understood the sacrifice the country was asking of its service members.

Broadus graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1994 with a degree in political science. After five years in the Navy  which included time on an Israeli kibbutz and on ships wading into war zones  he left military life at the rank of lieutenant in 1999.

Information technology training in the military allowed Broadus to find a job as a computer nerd, he said. Meanwhile, he said his interest in politics grew while he watched the country moving eagerly toward socialism.

His political awakening came to a head in the 2008 presidential election, when he decided to vote for Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who had opposed the war. Broadus also unsuccessfully sought the GOP primary nomination for the 4th Congressional District that year, hoping to face off against then-Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D), who had voted for the war.

I opened my mind up to the Republicans, he said. I never considered them before.

Today, the divorced father of two considers himself an anti-Federalist, a movement that opposes a strong central government. Broaduss top priorities as a member of Congress would be to amend the Constitution, pass religious liberty laws and terminate the personal income tax.

At candidate forums, Broadus usually begins with a history lesson, urging black voters to take up his cause: I am involved in this fight because government doesnt want to leave me alone, he says. Id like people to think about what freedom really is.
D.C. police Monday arrested a man in Friday nights shooting of a 7-year-old girl who authorities said was wounded by a stray bullet as she walked home from dinner with her family in Southeast Washington.

Michael Wiggins, 27, of Southeast, has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm. He could make his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday.

In this particular case, I cant underestimate the amount of people who called in with information, Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said in announcing the arrest at the start of a walk with the mayor and residents along the street where the girl was shot. One of those tips led to closing this case. We believe we have the one shooter who is responsible.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said residents who provided information were fed up with senseless violence and the gunshots theyve heard in their neighborhood, and they drew the line.

Police said the gunfire came from a group of people arguing in the 2900 block of Knox Place SE. One of four bullets fired shattered the rear window of a car and another struck the child in the abdomen. She was in fair condition at Childrens National Medical Center, a spokeswoman said. Newsham said detectives do not know details of the dispute, but he said police had recovered a weapon.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser leads a public safety community walk through a southeast D.C. neighborhood where a 7-year-old girl was shot over the weekend. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

[Girls condition improves after shooting that rattled her neighborhood]

Newsham praised the girls father for quickly grabbing a towel to press against his daughters wound and stopping the bleeding. Its amazing, its remarkable, Newsham said. Its very heroic, and in all likelihood he saved her life.

Arline Mobley, who lives in an apartment along Knox Place, said she saw a family of four walking around the corner and then heard gunshots. She said she watched the family scramble and drag the wounded child into another building for safety.

I heard the shot and I saw them pulling the kid for their lives, Mobley said Monday.

Evette Barnette, 41, was sitting in her ground-floor apartment and told The Washington Post on Sunday that she heard a commotion in the lobby and a man yelling, Stay with me! Stay with me!

She went out to find the girls father cradling his daughter, with the younger brother looking on and screaming, My sister! Barnette said she grabbed a towel from her apartment and gave it to the father, who applied pressure to his daughters torso while they waited for paramedics. She took the 4-year-old brother into her apartment to watch cartoons.

Mobley said she went to the street as they were putting the young victim into an ambulance. I was petrified, she said. I couldnt believe someone shot the child. I heard the mother holler. That is a holler you dont forget.

Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
A police officer who was startled during a late-night burglary call unintentionally shot a man, authorities say.

The man, who was taken to a hospital, is in stable condition after surgery Monday, according to Laurel police. A 15-year-old who fled the scene was also taken to a hospital after officers used a stun gun on him, police said.

The incident occurred at 11:18 p.m. at Indus Food International Market in the 900 block of Fourth Street. Several officers from the police department responded to a call of an alarm at the store, officials said.

When they arrived, the 15-year-old fled on foot but was caught, police said.

The suspect refused police commands to stop, and an officer deployed a [stun gun], according to a statement from the Laurel police.

While a group of officers were detaining the teen, another group entered the store to search the building, police said. The first officer moved his gun from the hand he usually uses to fire his weapon to the other as he was opening a back door when he saw movement in the dark below him, police said.

Hes startled, jumps back a little, and his weapon discharges, striking a 20-year-old man who was lying on some sheet metal stacked up in the drop off, according to the police statement.

Audrey Barnes, a Laurel spokeswoman, said the department is cooperating with the Prince Georges County States Attorneys office, which is investigating the shooting.

A perfect storm of things that can go wrong occurred, leading to the shooting, Barnes said.

Police did not release the name of the man who was shot or the teen but said both face charges in connection with the attempted burglary.

The officer involved is a 17-year-veteran of the department who works on the SWAT team and is a firearms instructor, Barnes said. Police are not naming the officer, and he is on routine paid administrative leave.

The market had been burglarized in November and December with thieves taking $13,000 total, Barnes said. Police are investigating whether this incident is connected to the previous cases, Barnes said.

Officials said the incident is the first police-involved shooting in Laurel since 2003.
In this March 17, 2016, photo, a TSA K-9 handler walks his dog through lines of travelers approaching a security screening checkpoint at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) (Ted S. Warren/AP)

Although terrorists have attacked trains and subway systems in Europe, there is relatively little risk that they will assault similar targets in the United States, according to the nations transportation security chief.

Right now we consider the general risk to be low in the United States domestically against surface transportation, said Peter Neffenger, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Thats freight rail, light rail, metro subway systems, over the road buses and the like.

Hundreds of people have been killed or injured in Europe by terrorists who attacked trains and subways or, in one case in France, mowed down pedestrians with a car. The most recent assault was an explosion aboard a Brussels metro train last month that killed 16 people. The most deadly came in 2004, when 10 explosions on four commuter trains in Madrid killed 192 people an injured about 2,000.

Neffenger, in a conversation with reporters on Friday, said that is unlikely to happen in the United States.

It doesnt mean theres no threat, theres no risk, but its relatively low, he said.

[Brussels airport bombings bring new security measures in U.S.]

Some of his assessment comes from a vast national intelligence network and is classified information, he said, but the rest evolves from common sense or, perhaps, seeing the situation through a terrorists eyes.

We know that there is a huge psychological benefit from the terrorists perspective if you can attack something like the aviation system successfully, because weve put a lot of effort into protecting it, he said.

Terrorists know that any form of attack will show their hand, likely leading to their arrest if they survive the attack.

If youre going to do something, youre going to have to surface yourself in the process of doing so, so I think terror groups, and individuals that want to do harm, want to ensure that if theyre going to expose themselves, they get the maximum return on that exposure, Neffenger said.

That means attacking an airport or airplane, he said, but he was quick to add that TSA works with transit and railroad police, as well as local law enforcement, to protect the non-aviation sector of the transportation system.

I dont know that there would be any way to provide aviation-style security in the public transportation world without changing the entire way we get around, he said. Fortunately, were not seeing credible intelligence threats that tell us that thats an issue for the United States.
Former CIA official Duane R. "Dewey" Clarridge, in camouflage suit, leaves the U.S. Federal Courthouse in 1991 after he was arraigned on charges that he lied to Congress in their investigation of the Iran-contra affair. (Rich Lipski/The Washington Post)

Duane R. Dewey Clarridge, a CIA operative and official of dash, daring and swagger who helped establish and headed the agencys counterterrorism center and also was known for his connection to the Iran-contra affair of the 1980s, died April 9 at his home in Leesburg, Va. He was 83.

The cause was cancer, his family said in a statement.

Over the years, Mr. Clarridges career, replete with secret missions, covert meetings and dealings at the edge of legality embodied much of the activities associated in the popular imagination with the shadow world of intelligence, and its art, craft and mystique.

An Ivy League graduate and hard-line Cold Warrior fond of undercover names such as Dax Lebaron, Mr. Clarridge conjured bold and imaginative schemes  often over gin and cigars  and cut a singular swath in the spy agency. His comfort with big risks, called cowboy instincts by some, brought him admiration by many colleagues. Others hedged their trust.

Robert M. Gates, the former director of central intelligence and defense secretary, once said of Mr. Clarridge: If you have a tough, dangerous job critical to national security, Deweys your man. Hes talented, one of our best operations officers. Just make sure you have a good lawyer at his elbow. Deweys not easy to control.

Mr. Clarridge in 2007. (Mike Wintroath/AP)

Mr. Clarridge made a secret trip to Baghdad in 1986 to try to get Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to surrender a wanted terrorist. While the leftist Sandinista regime ruled Nicaragua in the 1980s, Mr. Clarridge conceived a plan to damage the countrys economy by mining its principal harbor  an act that drew an international outcry and the condemnation of many members of Congress.

For his role in Iran-contra, he showed up for a court hearing with an outer coat made in camouflage pattern. When youre at battle stations, he quipped, you might as well be prepared.

Mr. Clarridge, whose wardrobe consisted of white Italian suits, silk pocket handkerchiefs and other flashy attire, had a pungent way of expressing himself. We will intervene whenever we decide it is in our national security interest to intervene, he said in an interview for a documentary film on CIA operations. And if you dont like it, lump it. Get used to it, world. We are not going to put up with nonsense.

His soldier-of-fortune charisma brought him to the attention of CIA Director William J. Casey, who tapped him in 1981 to run the clandestine branchs Latin America division. At the times, President Ronald Reagan made it a top priority of the agency to counter foreign-sponsored subversion and terrorism.

Mr. Clarridge, a former Rome chief of station, came to the assignment with no knowledge of Spanish. But he seemed to the director the man for the job  neither a fool nor a stickler for rules and regulations, as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tim Weiner described him in his history of the CIA, Legacy of Ashes.

Casey said, Take off a month or two and basically figure out what to do about Central America,  Mr. Clarridge told Weiner. That was the sum total of his approach. And it didnt take rocket science to understand what needed to be done. . . . Make war in Nicaragua and start killing Cubans. This was exactly what Casey wanted to hear and he said, Okay, go ahead and do it. 

During his three years running the Latin America division, he was a top intelligence planner for the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983 following a Marxist coup on that Caribbean nation. But much of his work overseeing Latin America  and, later, clandestine operations in Europe  enmeshed him with the sprawling Iran-contra operation.

Iran-contra designated the conjunction of two controversial initiatives pursued during the Reagan administration. One was to sell arms to Iran to get help in the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. The other was the use of the funds obtained in that clandestine Middle East deal to support the right-wing contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Revelations about Iran-contra resonated for years, and during a special prosecutors investigation, Mr. Clarridge was indicted in 1991 on charges of perjury and making false statements to congressional investigating committees and a presidential review board looking into secret arms shipments to Iran. By then retired for several years, he received a pardon in 1992 from President George H. W. Bush before he could go to trial.

At the time of his indictment, a lawyer who represented him told the Los Angeles Times that he served his country with honor and without reproach for over 30 years.

In 1986, Mr. Clarridge had been a driving force in the creation of what was then called the CIA Counterterrorist Center. The aim of the new center was to address what he recognized as a rapidly growing major threat to national security after a terrorist bombing in 1983 at the U.S. military compound in Beirut left 241 U.S. service members, most of them Marines, dead.

The Counterterrorist Center, with a mandate to preempt, disrupt and defeat terrorists, was considered a radical idea at the time because of its interdisciplinary approach: combining spies with analysts, technical specialists and other national security personnel.

But it was credited with several major successes under Mr. Clarridges leadership. Among them, the center penetrated the Abu Nidal terror organization that had been responsible for a spree of bombings and hijackings throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and severely disrupted its operations. Another victory was the 1987 capture of Fawaz Younis, a Lebanese terrorist and hijacker, with the coordinated help of the FBI, Navy and Justice Department.

A dentists son, Duane Ramsdell Clarridge was born in Nashua, N.H., on April 16, 1932. He graduated in 1953 from Brown University and was recruited to the CIA in 1955 after receiving a masters degree from Columbia Universitys Russian Institute.

When reports about Iran-contra began to circulate publicly, Mr. Clarridge was reprimanded and left the CIA in 1988 along with many colleagues dismayed by the new leadership of William H. Webster, a former federal judge brought in to reform the agency.

Mr. Clarridge went to work for defense contractor General Dynamics and remained involved in Middle East intrigue. After being called in to help free a New York Times reporter kidnapped in 2008 by the Taliban in Afghanistan, he set up a private intelligence network a few years ago that reportedly gathered information from sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mr. Clarridge made front-page news late last year when he was publicly identified as a top adviser on national security and terrorism to retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who was seeking the Republican Party presidential nomination. The former spy told the Times of the candidates grasp of policy, Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East. His blunt comment played a role in sinking Carsons bid.

His first marriage, to Margaret Reynard, ended in divorce. His second wife, Helga Birkmann, died in 2014. Survivors include two children from his first marriage, Ian Clarridge and Cassie Trowbridge; a son from his second marriage, Tarik Clarridge; and five grandchildren.

Mr. Clarridge wrote a blunt memoir, A Spy for All Seasons (1997), co-authored with Digby Diehl, a literary collaborator. He was similarly outspoken in defense of the unorthodox, often unsavory techniques used in the counterterrorism profession.

You have a spy agency because the spy agency is going to break laws overseas, he told The Washington Post in 2005. If you dont want it to do those dastardly things, dont have it. You can have the State Department.
Pregnancy experts, including those at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, recommend that most pregnant women get 30 minutes of exercise a day. If that feels a little onerous, consider new findings out of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston suggesting that love of physical activity may start in the womb.

So maybe women who wont exercise for their own sake will do it for the baby.

The research in question involved mice, not women. A team led by Robert A. Waterland, an assistant professor of pediatrics, nutrition and molecular and human genetics, selected female mice that enjoyed running, according to a press release. (Enjoyed? Did they smile?) Half of them were put in cages with running wheels during pregnancy; the other half had no wheels.

The mice with running wheels voluntarily ran an average of more than six miles a night, decreasing to about two miles late in pregnancy. The offspring of those mothers turned out to be about 50 percent more physically active than those born to mothers that hadnt had the exercise wheel option. And that difference persisted into mouse adulthood.

How does this relate to our own species?

Observational studies of active pregnant women and their babies have reported results consistent with ours, Waterland said. But in the human studies, it wasnt always clear whether active mothers who have active children simply raised their kids to exercise a lot or whether there might have been a genetic predisposition to physical activity. The Baylor scientists were able to correct for those variables.

Our study in a mouse model is important because we can take all those effects out of the equation, Waterland said. I think our results offer a very positive message. If expectant mothers know that exercise is not only good for them but also may offer lifelong benefits for their babies, I think they will be more motivated to get moving.
BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO REPUBLICANS

They may have just gotten a break in one of their toughest Senate races. New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, a popular Democratic governor, is challenging Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) for her seat in November in a race that could decide the fate of the Senate. But Hassan was forced to apologize this week for including a disgraced prep school teacher on her list of supporters after that teacher admitted to sexual misconduct with two students. (Hassan said she didnt know about the misconduct at the time; her husband, then principal of the school, let the teacher quietly retire and later apologized.) The race is still one of the most competitive in the nation, and this could all quickly blow over. But given that eight of the top 10 competitive Senate races are for seats held by Republicans, the GOP will take whatever help it can get this cycle.

BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO DEMOCRATS

Republicans took one more step to a contested convention. After Sen. Ted Cruz

(R-Tex.) beat Donald Trump in Wisconsin last week, it looks likely that the Republican candidates for president will hobble to their nominating convention in July without a nominee. Such a scenario  the first for the party since 1976  would probably set off all sorts of deal-cutting, lobbying and political intrigue among the three candidates to try to get a majority of delegates. A presidential primary doesn't get much more protracted and divisive than that. Hillary Clinton and her supporters are no doubt frustrated that she hasnt wrapped up the nomination yet as Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) continues to win states but stay behind in the delegate count. But compared with what's happening on the Republican side, Clinton's path to the nomination looks like a cake walk.

 Amber Phillips
EUROPE

Migrants clash with Macedonian police

Migrants waged running battles with Macedonian police on Sunday after they were stopped from scaling the border fence with Greece near the town of Idomeni. Aid agencies reported that hundreds of stranded travelers were injured.

Macedonian police used tear gas, stun grenades, plastic bullets and a water cannon to repel the migrants, many of whom responded by throwing rocks over the fence at police.

The aid agency Doctors Without Borders estimated that their medical volunteers on-site treated about 300 people for various injuries.

The clashes began soon after an estimated 500 people gathered at the fence. Many said they were responding to Arabic-language fliers distributed Saturday in the migrant camp urging people to attempt to breach the fence on Sunday morning and go to Macedonia on foot.

A five-member migrant delegation approached Macedonian police to ask whether the border was about to open. When police replied that this was not happening, more than 100 people, including children, tried to scale the fence.

Greece deemed the Macedonian police response excessive but said blame for the Sunday clashes had to be shared with those spreading rumors of border openings.

Many migrants expressed confusion about the situation, unaware that European Union governments support Macedonias decision in early March to block the migrant flow from northern Greece.

 Associated Press

SYRIA

Cease-fire tested by fighting ahead of talks

Government forces and rebels clashed Sunday across northern and western Syria, imperiling a month-long cease-fire ahead of peace talks in Geneva, while airstrikes pounded the Islamic State militant groups de facto capital of Raqqa, killing dozens.

Al-Qaedas Syrian affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, is playing a leading role in the fighting, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.

The fighting follows weeks of sporadic government airstrikes that are testing the durability of a U.S.- and Russia-brokered cease-fire that took effect in late February.

Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State group are excluded from the cease-fire.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Sunday about the need for greater cooperation to strengthen the truce, Russias Foreign Ministry said.

They also expressed support for the efforts of the United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to convene the next round of talks in Geneva this week between the Syrian government and the opposition, Lavrovs office said.

On Sunday, insurgents advanced on Syrian government positions on the periphery of Latakia province in the northwest, a regime stronghold, and battles raged south of the northern city of Aleppo, where opposition forces seized a strategic village eight days ago.

A coalition of Islamist and non-Islamist factions seized the northwestern village of Baydaa, while jihadist groups battled government forces on the Sahl al-Ghab plains, north of the city of Hama.

In the north, the Islamic State launched an offensive along the border with Turkey, seizing two villages near al-Rai, a frontier town it lost Friday to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army.

Airstrikes around Raqqa, the de facto capital of the groups self-styled caliphate, killed dozens of militants and civilians, monitoring groups said.

Syria, Russia and a U.S.-led coalition have been bombing the Islamic State for months. It was unclear who was behind Sundays airstrikes.

 Associated Press

23 dead, 70 hurt in Philippines fighting: Philippine authorities said 23 people were killed and 70 injured in the deadliest encounter this year between soldiers and militants in the nations south. Eighteen soldiers died in the 10-hour clash in Basilan province on Saturday, while five of the fatalities were members of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, including Moroccan national Mohammad Khattab, military spokesman Major Filemon Tan said.

Chads longtime president seeks another term: Chads president, Idriss Deby, faced off against more than a dozen challengers as he seeks another term after more than 25 years in power. The election comes amid mounting international concern about Chads human rights record. Deby, in power since 1990, could face a second round of voting because of the large number of candidates.

One dead in Pakistan earthquake: A powerful earthquake rattled Pakistans capital and other cities, killing one person in the northwest and wounding 30, officials said. A Pakistani official said the magnitude-7.1 quake was centered near neighboring Afghanistans border with Tajikistan. Germanys GFZ Research Center for Geosciences set the quakes magnitude at 6.5. Tremors were felt in Islamabad, the capital, and as far away as the Indian capital, New Delhi.

Hong Kong democracy activist, 19, forms new party: Hong Kong teen activist Joshua Wong unveiled a new political party that plans to field candidates in upcoming elections, marking the next step in the pro-democracy movements evolution in the semiautonomous Chinese region. Wong and other young activists who led pro-democracy protests that gripped Hong Kong in late 2014 said their new party is called Demosisto. Wong is the groups secretary general, although at 19, he is two years too young to run for a seat in the citywide elections for the Legislative Council.

 From news services
PORTUGAL

Ex-CIA officer appeals against extradition

A former CIA operative has lodged an appeal with Portugals Constitutional Court against her extradition to Italy, a court official said Monday.

The appeal is Sabrina De Sousas last-ditch effort to stop being returned to Italy to serve a six-year sentence for her part in the U.S. extraordinary rendition program. The latest appeal came after Portugals Supreme Court rejected an earlier one, according to an official in that court.

The Constitutional Court represents De Sousas only remaining recourse to avoid being sent to Italy.

De Sousa, who was working in Italy under diplomatic cover at the time, faces prison for her role in the 2003 kidnapping in Milan of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, a terrorism suspect who was under surveillance by Italian law enforcement. De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted in absentia in the case, which also implicated Italys secret services.

Extraordinary rendition was part of the U.S. anti-terrorism strategy in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. President Obama ended the program.

After her arrest at Lisbon Airport in October on a European warrant, a lower Lisbon court ruled in January that De Sousa should be turned over to Italy.

De Sousa, who was born in India and holds both U.S. and Portuguese passports, has said she had been living in Portugal and intended to settle there.

Dario Bolognesi, her Italian lawyer, said he is exploring the possibility that Italian President Sergio Mattarella could reduce her sentence so that she would be eligible in Italy to do social services instead of prison time.

 Associated Press

KOREAN PENINSULA

Colonel from North reportedly defects

A colonel from North Koreas military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in an unusual senior-level defection, Seoul officials said Monday.

The announcement came three days after Seoul revealed that 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South. It was the largest group defection since Kim Jong Un, North Koreas leader, took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported that the restaurant is in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

The colonel who defected worked for the North Korean militarys General Reconnaissance Bureau, according to Seouls Defense and Unification ministries.

The Unification Ministry said a North Korean diplomat based in Africa separately defected to South Korea last year. The ministry did not elaborate.

The reconnaissance agency was suspected to be behind two attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

There have been occasional reports of lower-level North Korean soldiers defecting, but it is unusual for a colonel to flee to South Korea.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records.

 Associated Press

Suicide attack kills 12 army recruits in Afghanistan: A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed at least 12 army recruits on a bus in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, hours after a similar attack killed two people in the capital. The recruits were traveling on the outskirts of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangahar province. In the Kabul attack, a bomb ripped through a minibus carrying Education Ministry employees.

Pakistan bans protests in capital after recent unrest: Pakistan

has announced a ban on demonstrations in Islamabad after recent rallies by Islamist extremists led to the destruction of property and forced four days of road closures in the heart of the capital. The move came less than two weeks after tens of thousands of Islamist radicals descended on Islamabad to protest the execution of a former police officer who had assassinated a secular governor over his opposition to the countrys harsh blasphemy laws.

Norways Lutheran Church backs same-sex marriages: Norways Lutheran Church voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriage, becoming the latest in a small but growing number of churches worldwide to do so. At the annual conference of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, 88 delegates out of 115 voted in support of same-sex marriage. Under the new rules, priests who do not want to perform same-sex weddings will be able to object.

Moroccan on trial in Germany over New Year s Eve assault: A 33-year-old Moroccan went on trial in the German city of Dusseldorf on allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman on New Years Eve, one of a string of attacks that night blamed largely on foreigners. The Moroccan, identified only as Toufik M., is accused of being among 15 to 20 men who surrounded the woman and groped her. It is the first sex-assault case related to the New Years Eve attacks to go to trial. Most of the attacks are alleged to have occurred in Cologne, about 30 miles south of Dusseldorf.

U.S. woman faces insult charge in UAE: A 25-year-old American woman appeared in court on misdemeanor charges for allegedly insulting the United Arab Emirates in public while at Abu Dhabi International Airport. A state-owned newspaper reported that the woman has been under arrest since Feb. 23. It said she told the court that she was waiting for a taxi at the airport when two men approached and spoke to her in a manner she did not like. It quoted her as saying that she refused to engage with them and nothing happened. The report did not say whether evidence was presented against her. The UAE has strict laws governing expression.

 From news services
THERE WAS a revealing moment last month in the first debate between Rep. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Donna Edwards, the two main contenders in the high-stakes April 26 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Maryland, whose winner will be the heavy favorite to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. Mr. Van Hollen, respected on Capitol Hill for his legislative savvy, noted that Ms. Edwards had joined scores of conservative Republicans in Congress in opposing a 2011 budget accord that would have averted a catastrophic default on the federal debt, an event that would likely have sent the global economy into a tailspin.

Affecting incredulity, Ms. Edwards, one of the most liberal members of Congress, asked, Does anybody really believe that Im in the tea party?

Well, no. But the question is more interesting than Ms. Edwards may have intended. For in opposing a tough deal that entailed deficit reduction, she did in fact join many ultra-conservative Republicans who believed the spending cuts werent adequate. Her politics may be the mirror image of the tea partys, but Ms. Edwards has been equally hostile to pragmatic compromise.

Unlike Ms. Edwards, for whom bipartisan compromise on critical issues such as deficit reduction is apostasy, Mr. Van Hollen is one of a vanishing breed with the tactical sense and strategic acumen to know how to make Congress work. For voters rightly frustrated with paralysis on Capitol Hill, lawmakers like Mr. Van Hollen are the antidote.

The irony is that in the primary campaign, Ms. Edwards is wearing her intransigence as a badge of honor  and wielding Mr. Van Hollens pragmatism as a cudgel against him.

In her first broadcast TV ad, which began airing in Baltimore last week, Ms. Edwards lights into Mr. Van Hollen for having once suggested hed consider Social Security cuts as part of a grand bargain, along with tax increases, that could finally right-size the nations long-term fiscal imbalance. Note that Mr. Van Hollen didnt actually support Social Security cuts  he voted against them  but he merely said hed keep an open mind about a blueprint for deficit cutting.

In fact, slowing the rate of growth of entitlement programs will have to be a part of any solution to the nations fiscal troubles. A progressive Democrat such as Mr. Van Hollen in the Senate could help ensure that any such changes affect the well-to-do and not the poor. That Ms. Edwards would attack Mr. Van Hollens reality-based thinking makes her a Democratic facsimile of Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican whose doctrinaire conservatism is a recipe for congressional gridlock.

Similarly, Ms. Edwards, whose own legislative record is thin, has also tried to mislead voters in suggesting that Mr. Van Hollen is somehow soft on the gun lobby. In fact, Mr. Van Hollen has been a leading champion of gun safety. In Annapolis, where he served in the state legislature before moving to Congress, he was a key sponsor of a 2000 law requiring mechanical safety locks on handguns sold in Maryland. In Congress, he was the driving force behind a bill to encourage states to require permits and background checks for handgun purchases.

Owing to partisan obstinacy and grandstanding, its become all but impossible to get things done in Washington and easier than ever to take shots at the few lawmakers, such as Mr. Van Hollen, who get their hands dirty seeking genuine ways to turn ideas into law.

No one doubts Ms. Edwardss smarts, and her personal story of overcoming a humble background is inspiring. While she is a fine orator, Mr. Van Hollen is a legislator who can move the ball. That shouldnt be held against him.
Pope Francis blesses the faithfuls from the window of his studio during his Sunday Regina Caeli prayer in St Peters square at the Vatican on April 10. (Andreas Solaro/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

The 2016 election is transforming the religious landscape of American politics.

Its hard to imagine a Democratic presidential candidate receiving a mid-campaign invitation to speak at the Vatican.

But on Friday, Bernie Sanders put out word that on April 15 hell attend a gathering of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Both Sanders and Hillary Clinton, his front-running rival, have regularly praised Pope Francis.

And on the day of Sanderss announcement, Francis released The Joy of Love. The groundbreaking document signaled what can fairly be called a more liberal attitude toward sexuality and the situation of divorced and remarried Catholics.

The pope didnt change church doctrine on gay marriage but was offering another sign that hes pushing the church away from cultural warfare and toward a focus on poverty, economic injustice, immigration and the plight of refugees.

On the Republican side, the conservative evangelical movement is divided over Donald Trumps candidacy. Many of its leaders have denounced him in uncompromising terms they usually reserve for liberal politicians.

One of his toughest critics has been Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Can conservatives really believe that, if elected, Trump would care about protecting the familys place in society when his own life is  unapologetically  what conservatives used to recognize as decadent?, Moore wrote early this year in National Review.

He added: Trumps willingness to ban Muslims, even temporarily, from entering the country simply because of their religious affiliation would make Jefferson spin in his grave.

Such denunciations are good news for Ted Cruz, who began his campaign at Liberty University, an evangelical intellectual bastion, and had hoped to unify evangelical conservatives.

But in primary after primary, Trump has won a large share of self-described born again or evangelical voters, particularly in the South. In the Southern-inflected Super Tuesday contests in March, his showings in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama were exceptionally strong.

Evangelicals made up 77 percent of Alabamas Republican primary electorate, and Trump carried them 43 percent to 22 percent over Cruz. Among non-evangelicals, Trump beat Cruz 41 percent to 18 percent, with roughly a third in this group casting ballots for either Marco Rubio, who has since dropped out, or John Kasich.

Even in defeat in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Trump did about as well among evangelicals (he won 34 percent of their ballots) as among non-evangelicals (36 percent).

In one sense, it is not surprising that the politics of white evangelicals are evolving. Their social issue frame and the most important institutions in their movement were created in the late 1970s and 1980s. But this years developments do suggest, as Elizabeth Bruenig (now of The Post) argued in the New Republic, that the old-fashioned model of reaching evangelicals no longer appears functional.

Robert Jones, chief executive of the Public Religion Research Institute (and with whom I have collaborated), sees many evangelicals now as nostalgia voters. Writing in the Atlantic, he said they are animated less by a checklist of culture war issues or an appeal to shared religious identity and more by an anger and anxiety arising from a sense that the dominant culture is moving away from their values.

A backlash around race, which led many white Southern evangelicals toward the Republicans in the 1960s even before the rise of the religious right, also appears to be at work. It is conjoined with opposition to immigration. And evangelicals, like other Republicans, are split by class and their degree of religious engagement.

Were Cruz to secure the Republican nomination, traditional patterns of white evangelical voting might well reassert themselves.

But with Pope Francis lifting up what can be called social justice Christianity, cliches that religion lives largely on the right end of U.S. politics might finally be overturned.

This view was already flawed, given, for example, the long-standing activism of African American Christians in the politics of economic and racial equity. Clinton especially has been engaged with black churches from the outset of the campaign.

Her own deep commitment to her Methodist faith and its social demands is central to her identity. It could be the key to solving her much-discussed authenticity problem, because faith is a powerfully authentic part of who she is.

In the meantime, a Jewish socialist presidential candidate will head off to the Vatican to make a case about climate change and social justice quite congenial to Franciss outlook.

In todays American politics, religion is working in mysterious ways.

Read more from E.J. Dionnes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Reince Priebus, the beleaguered and balding Republican National Committee chairman, was asked a few days ago about his mane.

How much gray hair do you think youre going to have by December? CNNs Jake Tapper inquired.

Gray is fine, the party boss replied. I just want to make sure I have hair.

Alternatively, he could try a Whig.

This could be the first time in 160 years when a major American political party splits, and Priebus, the young technocrat from Wisconsin brought in to improve the Republicans infrastructure, is in over his head.

The Whigs were essentially undone by their inability to agree on slavery; the attempt to satisfy both sides, with the Compromise of 1850, caused Northern and Southern Whigs to part. Though the current situation is quite different, Republicans are now split by their own moral dilemma: whether to embrace as their nominee a man who stands for isolationism and ethno-nationalism and who disparages women and minorities. Priebus is preaching party unity above morality.

[Lets scrap the GOP and start over]

If the party accepts Trump, it could consign itself to political oblivion by antagonizing women, minority groups and immigrants. If it accepts Ted Cruz instead, it risks a riot by the Trump populists and the loss of all but far-right voters. And if Priebus and his fellow Republicans try to rally around a mainstream figure such as Paul Ryan, they could salvage the party in the long run but would risk alienating the majority of this years GOP voters.

Well, Priebus said in a radio interview Thursday with former Republican senator (and Trump booster) Scott Brown, I havent started pouring Baileys in my cereal yet, but Ive certainly considered it.

In fairness, there is no good option for Priebus now, except perhaps to resign if Trump secures the party nomination. His defenders point out that each time he disagrees with Trump, the criticism only emboldens Trump supporters, as it was likely to do again after Priebus said Monday that the Colorado GOP conventions decision to award all 34 delegates to Cruz was not a crooked deal, as Trump charged.

But Priebus failed to act to stop Trump when he could have, or to coordinate Republicans to clear the field for a mainstream alternative. And now he compounds the damage by sticking with the same moral neutrality and happy talk of GOP unity that allowed the situation to develop.

After the Jan. 14 debate, in which Trump said he would gladly accept the mantle of anger and traded charges with Cruz about their constitutional eligibility for the presidency, Priebus tweeted: Its clear weve got the most well-qualified and diverse field of candidates from any party in history.

[Why Donald Trump wont be elected president]

In the Feb. 13 debate, Trump blamed George W. Bush for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and said Bush lied about Iraqs weapons of mass destruction. Trump, Cruz and Marco Rubio took turns calling one another liars, and Rubio ridiculed Cruzs Spanish skills. Our well-qualified & experienced candidates continue to put forth serious solutions to restore prosperity & strength to America, Priebus tweeted.

And after the March 3 debate, in which Trump spoke about the size of his genitals, Priebus tweeted that Republican candidates are the only ones offering the course correction voters overwhelmingly want.

Priebus sounds like a fortune cookie when he says the impossible is always possible with unity. But unity behind bigotry? My conservative colleague Jennifer Rubin notes that Priebuss position requires moral vapidity.

This all might have turned out differently if Priebus, and other Republicans in positions of responsibility, had turned against Trump sooner. In January, he called the Trump-dominated debates a good thing for our party. He said he was 100 percent sure he could rally the party behind either Trump or Cruz. He has since praised Trump for bringing millions of new voters to our party.

With 4 in 10 Republicans saying they wouldnt get behind Trump in a general election, its clear he would lose the party more votes than he gains. But Priebus is still talking like a fortune cookie. With unity the impossible is possible; with division the possible is impossible, he informed Brown in Thursdays radio interview.

Priebus spoke about the wonder of his role. Its unbelievable to be in the middle of history that will be talked about forever, he said.

But history is unlikely to remember kindly a Republican chairman who turned the party of Lincoln over to a populist demagogue or to an ideologue loathed even by Republican colleagues. Hopefully those twin menaces will be enough to wig out Priebus  before his Republicans get Whigged out.

Twitter: @Milbank

Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Regarding the April 6 Politics & The Nation article Miss. legalizes refusing service to gay couples:

Those who claim that religious freedom allows them to refuse to serve people who do not share their beliefs are, to be polite, hopelessly confused. When the Founding Fathers drafted the First Amendment, they were not trying to protect the right of Puritans, who fled to America to avoid religious persecution, to kill people they identified as witches. Religious liberty advocates surely do not approve of claiming the right of religious liberty to murder people they define as infidels. We do not allow religious liberty to justify child abuse, theft or other criminal acts. Those who would do so have other agendas that they cloak in the sacred to promote their evil ends.

Why do the public and the media encourage this by adopting the language of religious fundamentalists? While I am no constitutional scholar, it is crystal clear that religious freedom as defined by the Constitution is the freedom of worship, not the freedom to falsely (and, some would say, blasphemously) invoke their beliefs to justify blatant acts of discrimination  or worse  in the name of God.

Gerson S. Sher, Washington
The April 6 Metro article One mans tent crusade for gay Christians left out in the cold  focused on the refusal of the United Methodist Church to allow same-sex marriages and gay ministers and contained no mention of this statement in the 2012 Book of Discipline:

Inclusiveness of the Church: The United Methodist Church acknowledges that all persons are of sacred worth. All persons without regard to race, color, national origin, status, or economic condition, shall be eligible to attend its worship services, participate in its programs, receive the sacraments, upon baptism be admitted as baptized members, and upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith, become professing members in any local church in the connection.

All people, but not all behaviors, are welcomed by the church. This is important but sadly overlooked.

Alan Berry, Locust Grove, Va.
From left, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor at this years State of the Union address. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

Who would have predicted that the last true democrats in Washington might be found on the Supreme Court?

As partisanship and jockeying for electoral advantage become all-consuming, Congress refuses to do its job, while the White House reaches perilously toward doing Congresss job as well as its own. The Senate majority and minority leaders no longer work together. President Obama and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan long ago gave up on finding common ground.

When Justice Antonin Scalia died, it seemed a safe bet that the court, too, would fall victim to partisan paralysis.

Already reviled by the left for Bush v. Gore and Citizens United v. FEC, and by the right for not blocking Obamacare, the court instantly rose to the top of the presidential campaign agenda. Candidates boasted of litmus tests for appointing judges that, until recently, no self-respecting politician would have admitted to. The justices found themselves evenly divided and are likely to remain so for a long time  a scenario, if there ever was one, for gridlock and point-scoring.

But so far we have seen the opposite. The justices, Republican- and Democrat-appointed alike, seem determined to insulate their institution as much as possible from the poison flowing through the other two branches. In this brave attempt, they are providing an example of how adults behave in a democracy.

More than 40 people set up camp outside the Supreme Court the day before it hears a case about Texass abortion clinic regulations. They waited in line through the pouring rain for a chance to sit in the courtroom on March 2. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

The first sign came in response to the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Obama wants to give all Americans access to contraception. Catholic employers say doing so offends their faith. Attempts at compromise failed, and the Little Sisters of the Poor ended up pleading their case before the court.

The courts response was, essentially: Seriously? You guys cant work this out? The administration had agreed that the Little Sisters wouldnt have to pay for birth control coverage: The charity only had to certify its unwillingness to do so and provide enough information to allow someone else to offer coverage. The Little Sisters said even providing that information violated their conscience.

In a highly unusual move, the justices declined to rule, as though they couldnt believe they were being asked to issue a major opinion on religious freedom over something so manageable. They ordered the parties to the case to look again for a compromise. Amazingly, all sides of the dispute welcomed the parental intervention.

Last week, in a case that could have riven the country along partisan lines, the justices again found a better way.

Conservatives in Texas had asked them to throw out the rule by which the nation has long apportioned legislative districts  one person, one vote. The challengers said that every district should have not an equal population but an equal number of eligible voters.

As a question of political philosophy, the case was fascinating: Do children merit representation? How about undocumented immigrants, or felons, or people who choose not to register to vote?

But the practical effect was not complicated: A win for the plaintiffs would have been a win for the Republican Party. Maybe it was no surprise, then, that liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion, approving the traditional method of counting.

What was striking, though, was the modesty of her opinion: She wrote that one person, one vote is constitutional, but she did not rule out other methods as unconstitutional. And her opinion was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, making clear that liberals and conservatives on the court can and will work together.

None of this sits well with the poisonmongers, of course. Roberts has been attacked by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, because (before Scalias death) Roberts spoke regretfully of the increasing politicization of the confirmation process. And he has been attacked by the left for refusing to call directly for the Senate to confirm Judge Merrick Garland to the court.

Obama has been attacked by both sides, too: by the right, for daring to nominate a successor to Scalia; by the left, because he declined to treat Scalias death as an opportunity to mobilize the Democratic base by nominating a liberal firebrand. Instead, admirably, he nominated a superbly qualified judge who would be committed to working with colleagues as the justices are doing this spring.

None of this means the court will always find a route to compromise; the next inflammatory decision could come tomorrow, for all I know. The justices disagree profoundly. Roberts, for example, is suspicious of affirmative action because he sees it as allowing the government to discriminate on the basis of race; Justice Sonia Sotomayor will always be reluctant to limit governments ability to help victims of past discrimination.

But while remaining faithful to their core principles, the justices are trying to find a way to make their institution work for the good of the country. Thats the definition of democracy, which so many others have forgotten.

Read more from Fred Hiatts archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
SOME DEGREE of backlash to the Supreme Courts legalization of same-sex marriage was to be expected. That does not excuse the actions of several Southern states over the past few weeks.

North Carolinas leaders approved a law barring cities and towns from offering protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people based on trumped-up fears about transgender people using bathrooms that conform to their gender identity. Transgender people make up a small and often- misunderstood group that poses no risk to bathroom users; those most injured by the bill will be children and teenagers who do not conform to traditional gender norms. And North Carolinas lawmakers used misunderstandings and fears about transgender people to deny basic civil rights protections to gay men and lesbians, too.

Then Mississippi lawmakers passed a bill allowing businesses and government officials to refuse to serve same-sex couples seeking to marry. Particularly galling are the bills protections for government workers who do not want to perform their duties, such as clerks who do not want to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The bill also specifically assures bakers, venue owners, photographers, DJs and others that they can turn away same-sex couples. Lawmakers argue that all they are doing is protecting religious liberty. That is misleading. No one, and certainly not the Supreme Court, is requiring pastors or other religious officials to officiate at same-sex ceremonies. But when businesses enter the public arena, they should expect to serve all customers.

Now Tennessee lawmakers have reopened debate on a bill requiring transgender students to use the bathrooms that accord to the sex they were assigned at birth.

Even as these skirmishes heat up, it is important to keep the big picture in mind. The cause of nondiscrimination has advanced rapidly over the past several years  further and faster than seemed possible only a decade ago. In 2008, politicians of all stripes, including then-Sen. Barack Obama, opposed same-sex marriage, which is now the law of the land. Given the scope of the Supreme Court ruling that established same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the backlash has been relatively muted.

Major corporations have pushed back hard against the raft of new state laws  PayPal in North Carolina, Nissan and Toyota in Mississippi, Alcoa in Tennessee. Corporate pressure persuaded Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) to veto an anti-LGBT bill his legislature sent him. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed an executive order Thursday barring discrimination on the part of state agencies and contractors.

Those pressing for essential civil protections are winning the war. But the battles they lose along the way will cause real harm to real people.
As we approach what may be the first contested GOP convention since 1976, Donald Trump is complaining that Ted Cruz is using crooked shenanigans to win delegates and deny him the Republican presidential nomination. But Cruz is doing exactly what Ronald Reagan did in 76 in his insurgent campaign for the GOP nomination  running a well-organized ground game designed to win every available delegate at state and local conventions across the country. Trumps failure to respond with a ground game of his own could cost him the nomination.

Like Trump today, the Ford team complained about Reagans tactics. As Craig Shirley recounts in his masterful history of the 1976 campaign, Fords chief delegate hunter, James Baker, complained to Time magazine that Fords people were being out hustled by Reagan, declaring These Reagan people dont care; theyre absolutely ruthless. They want all of it. Reagan traveled across the county addressing state and local conventions, and called uncommitted delegates inviting them to private dinners (adding By the way, do you mind if I bring along John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart?).

Unlike Trump today, Ford responded in kind, inviting unbound delegates to the Oval Office and sending operatives to state conventions to flip Reagan delegates to his side. In a handwritten letter recently released by the Jesse Helms Center, Reagan wrote Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)  who had saved his campaign by delivering North Carolina for Reagan  about his frustrations with the Ford teams tactics. Ive never been so disgusted in all my life, Reagan told Helms. In every convention the W.H. gang are there manipulating, trying to get the rules changed, etc. . . . Dont get me wrong, I still think well take him. But Jesse it almost seems as if they are out to win a convention instead of an election.

Ted Cruz is out-hustling Trump. On Saturday, Cruz spoke at Colorados state GOP convention and shut Trump out, winning all 34 of the states pledged delegates. Trump complained: There was no voting. I didnt go out there to make a speech or anything. Well, whose fault is that?

Trump also didnt give a speech in North Dakota, but Cruz did  and won 18 of 25 delegates. In Louisiana, a state Trump won by just 3.6 percentage points, the Wall Street Journal reports that Cruz may wind up with as many as 10 more delegates from the state than Trump. Why? Because Cruz successfully courted the states five unbound delegates and won over five Marco Rubio delegates who became free agents after the senator from Florida suspended his campaign.

This summer's political conventions could get heated  but it certainly wouldn't be the first time. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

By picking up handfuls of delegates in these and other states, and beating Trump in key primaries such as Wisconsin, Cruz hopes to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination on the first ballot. Then Cruz is taking another page out of the Reagan playbook. As Shirley notes, in 76, the Reagan team loaded state delegations with Reagan supporters who although bound on a first ballot at the national convention . . . would be freed to vote their individual preference on any subsequent ballots.

Cruz is similarly working to elect delegates who, while bound to support Trump on a first ballot, will support Cruz on subsequent ballots. In Virginias 9th Congressional District, for example, two of the three delegates elected told The Post that they would vote for Cruz if voting on a GOP nominee goes into multiple rounds. In Georgias Coweta County  which Trump won by 12 percentage points  Cruz supporters won an estimated 90 percent of the countys delegates to the state and district conventions that will choose Georgias delegates at the Republican National Convention. In Michigan, Cruzs campaign believes it has elected its supporters to at least five of the 25 delegate slots pledged to Trump. It has been a similar story in South Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, South Dakota and other states.

There is nothing wrong with this. Cruz is fighting for every available delegate according to the rules, just as Reagan did. And who is Trump to complain? Trump defends his businesses multiple bankruptcies by saying he had simply taken advantage of the laws of the country that are available to all Americans. Well, Cruz is taking advantage of the rules of the state parties that are available to all the candidates.

If Trump cant compete, he has no one to blame but himself. Back in February, after losing Iowa to Cruz, Trump admitted he never realized the importance of building a field organization. But instead of going out and building that field organization, he has done the opposite. Politico reports that Since March, [Trump] has been laying off field staff en masse around the country. Trump brags about how rich he is, but he has run his campaign on the cheap, relying on provocative tweets and his massive advantage in free media to win primaries. Hes now learning that Twitter and free media cant win delegates.

Trump likes to compare himself to Ronald Reagan. Well, if he doesnt stop complaining and start campaigning, he may end up as Reagan did in 76  the runner-up.

Read more from Marc Thiessens archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
The writer is a professor at and past president of Harvard University. He was treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 and an economic adviser to President Obama from 2009 through 2010.

Since the end of World War II, a broad consensus in support of global economic integration as a force for peace and prosperity has been a pillar of the international order. From global trade agreements to the European Union project; from the work of the Bretton Woods institutions to the removal of pervasive capital controls; from the vast expansion in foreign direct investment to major increases in the flow of people across borders, the overall direction has been clear. Driven by domestic economic progress, by technologies such as containerized shipping and the Internet that promote integration, and by legislative changes within countries and international agreements between countries, the world has gotten smaller and more closely connected.

This broad program of global integration has been more successful than could reasonably have been hoped. We have not had a war between major powers. Global standards of living have risen faster than at any point in history. And material progress has coincided with even more rapid progress in combating hunger, empowering women, promoting literacy and extending life. A world that will have more smartphones than adults within a few years is a world in which more is possible for more people than ever before.

Yet a revolt against global integration is underway in the West. The four most prominent candidates for president of the United States  Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz  all oppose the principal free-trade initiative of this period: the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trumps proposals to wall off Mexico, abrogate trade agreements and persecute Muslims are far more popular than he is. The Brexit movement in Britain commands substantial support and could prevail. Whenever any aspect of the E.U. project is submitted to a popular referendum, it fails. Under pressure from a large influx of refugees, the European commitment to open borders appears to be crumbling. In large part because of political constraints, the growth of the international financial institutions has not kept pace with the growth of the global economy.

One substantial part of what is behind the resistance is a lack of knowledge. Everyone who loses a job because a factory moves abroad knows it; many who lose their jobs for local reasons blame globalization. But no one thanks international trade for the fact that their paycheck buys twice as much in clothes, toys and other goods as it otherwise would. Those who succeed as exporters tend to credit their own prowess, not international agreements. So there is certainly a case for our leaders and business communities to educate people about the benefits of global integration. But at this late date, with the trends moving the wrong way, it is hard to be optimistic about such efforts.

The core of the revolt against global integration, though, is not ignorance. It is a sense  unfortunately not wholly unwarranted  that it is a project being carried out by elites for elites, with little consideration for the interests of ordinary people. They see the globalization agenda as being set by large companies that successfully play one country against another. They read the revelations in the Panama Papers and conclude that globalization offers a fortunate few opportunities to avoid taxes and regulations that are not available to everyone else. And they see the kind of disintegration that accompanies global integration as local communities suffer when major employers lose out to foreign competitors.

What will happen going forward? What should happen?

Elites can continue on the current path of pursuing integration projects and defending existing integration, hoping to win enough popular support that their efforts are not thwarted. On the evidence of the U.S. presidential campaign and the Brexit debate, this strategy may have run its course. This will likely result in a hiatus from new global integration efforts and an effort to preserve what is already in place while relying on technology and growth in the developing world to drive any further integration. The historical precedents, notably the period between World Wars I and II, are hardly encouraging about unmanaged globalization succeeding with neither a strong underwriter of the system nor strong global institutions.

Much more promising is this idea: The promotion of global integration can become a bottom-up rather than a top-down project. The emphasis can shift from promoting integration to managing its consequences. This would mean a shift from international trade agreements to international harmonization agreements, whereby issues such as labor rights and environmental protection would be central, while issues related to empowering foreign producers would be secondary. It would also mean devoting as much political capital to the trillions of dollars that escape taxation or evade regulation through cross-border capital flows as we now devote to trade agreements. And it would mean an emphasis on the challenges of middle-class parents everywhere who doubt, but still hope desperately, that their kids can have better lives than they did.
Donald Trump used his first campaign rally in western New York to attack Sen. Ted Cruz for something the Texan happily boasts about: mastering party rules to elect his delegate slates to the Republican National Convention.

Theyre trying to subvert the movement, Trump said to thousands of voters crammed into a frigid airplane hangar Sunday. They cant do it with bodies, so theyre trying to subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans.

The Rochester rally was only Trumps second in the 14-day New York campaign, and his first since Cruz swept Colorados 34 available delegates in a series of conventions. Trumps hastily assembled delegate-chasing operation, which had been optimistic about the state, bumbled through a series of votes and came out empty there.

In an interview Sunday morning on Meet the Press, Trumps newly promoted convention manager, Paul Manafort, accused Cruz of Gestapo tactics. The Cruz campaign, which describes its convention wins as proof of momentum, responded with mockery.

Its no surprise that Trumps team will lash out with falsehoods to distract from their failure, said Cruz communications director Alice Stewart. We have earned our success by working hard to build a superior organization.

A man holds a cutout of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as Trump speaks during a campaign event at an airplane hanger in Rochester, N.Y. Sunday. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

In Rochester, Trumps supporters were seething about the possibility of Trump falling short on delegates and losing the nomination at a brokered convention  a term that drew loud, angry boos when Trumps state co-chairman, Carl Paladino, used it.

They suggest they can take that right away from the American people to choose their leader, Paladino said. How brazen is that? How can someone become so out of touch with the reality of America, the reality that this country has the rule of law?

Trumps supporters alternately said that their candidate would win outright, or that a Trump loss at the convention would destroy their faith in the Republican Party.

If they do that [to] Donald, hell probably run third party, and Ill vote for him, said Mike Rankin, a 67-year old heating and cooling technician.

When he took the stage, Trump recited numbers of job losses in Rochester, naming individual companies that he would hit with a 35 percent tax until they agreed to return and create jobs.

I will bring it back so fast, he promised. Your head will spin.

[The Boston Globes Trump editorial]

Trump seemed to take particular joy in a Boston Globe editorial that took the form of a satirical front page from the first year of a hypothetical  and disastrous  Trump presidency. The mock pages banner headline read DEPORTATIONS TO BEGIN.

They sold it for $1 and now they run editorials telling me what I should be doing, he said.

Trump also talked the audience through his victories over Lyin Ted, an insulting sobriquet that has quickly become a chant. Skipping over Colorado, Trump asked his voters whether it was fair that a candidate who has received millions more votes than Cruz to be deprived of victory. The total before New Yorks April 19 primary, which Trump is heavily favored to win, is about 8.2 million for Trump to 6.3 million for Cruz, in caucuses and primaries.

I go to Louisiana, I win Louisiana, said Trump. Then I find out I get less delegates than Cruz because of some nonsense. I say this to the RNC, and I say it to the Republican Party: Youre going to have a big problem, folks, because the people dont like whats going on.

Trump declared a kind of solidarity with Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate he couldnt care less about, over the lack of respect they seemed to get for winning states.

He wins and wins and wins, and I hear he doesnt have a chance? asked Trump. This is a crooked system, folks. I couldnt care less, but he wins, like me. Ive won twice as much, millions more votes. People who have never voted have come out and voted for Trump. The Republicans are up 70 percent; the Democrats are down 30 percent from four years ago. Every one of those people, if they try to do their little shenanigans, which is politics as usual, every one of those people . . .

Trump, who occasionally and vaguely threatens not to support the partys nominee if he loses and is not respected, then veered off. He bragged about his supporters but implied that they would stay home if he did not win the GOP nomination.

Public polling suggests that New York would be an imperfect test case for Trumps theory. In a Quinnipiac University poll released March 31, both Trump and Cruz lost a hypothetical Empire State election to any Democrat. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton led Trump by 20 points and Cruz by 21 points; the Brooklyn-born Sanders won each matchup, by 24 and 28 points, respectively.

But in Rochester, Trumps supporters said that they disbelieved the polls, and that the swarms around them proved that he could win. Trumps swagger returned as soon as he finished discussing the finer points of delegate selection.

I think we should win before the convention, Trump said. Ive been winning with evangelicals, which is incredible. They dont like liars.

Katie Zezima in Washington contributed to this report.
People take selfies with Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich following lunch at Mike's Deli during a campaign stop April 7, 2016 in New York. (Bryan R. Smith/AP)

After Ohio Gov. John Kasich left and the mozzarella and cold cuts were cleared away, the registered Republicans in Mikes Deli could be counted on one finger. Dave Greco, the manager, had packed the place, and photos of the governor carbo-loading had gone viral. Just as important, Greco had promised Kasich a true Bronx rarity  a Republican vote.

A lot of people think Im for Trump, because Im opinionated, but Kasich is the right man for the job, said Greco. The first question I asked him was: Are you gonna give your delegates to Cruz? And he said, Absolutely not, absolutely not! That was what I wanted to hear.

Kasichs deli visit landed him in New Yorks 15th Congressional District, which ranks as the most Democratic district in the country. Republicans are outnumbered 13 to 1 in this portion of the Bronx. But it still has three delegates to offer, like every other district in New York, which is why both Kasich and rival Ted Cruz campaigned here in recent days in their efforts to stay in the delegate hunt with front-runner Donald Trump.

The day before, Cruz, the firebrand senator from Texas, met with ministers and (unsuccessfully) dodged hecklers at a Chinese-Dominican restaurant.

New Yorks GOP follows a modified winner-take-all formula.If any candidate wins more than 50 percent statewide, he takes all available delegates. If he falls below 50 percent, the second-place finisher is entitled to at least one delegate. The same is true in each congressional district  each of which gets three delegates, regardless of how many Republicans live there.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz speaks to the media at the restaurant Sabrosura 2 on April 6, 2016 in the Bronx. (Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)

That has multiplied the power of Republicans in the 15th District, which packs more people than live in North Dakota into a few square miles between the Harlem River and Westchester Creek. As of 2013, there were just 41,760 registered Republicans in the Bronx, and only 13,468 in the 15th.

[Cruz derided New York values with a sneer, but now he must face New Yorkers]

On election days, it gets worse. In 2012, Mitt Romney won just 3 percent of the 15th Districts vote.Even that was better than the partys quixotic candidate for Congress, a piano tuner named Frank Della Valle, who won just 4,427 votes, or 2.5 percent of the total.

And that was a general election. In the 2012 presidential primary, conducted after Romney had basically wrapped up the nomination, just 1,682 Republican votes were cast in the entire Bronx. Kasich and Cruz, who acknowledge that Trump is ahead statewide, have complemented their Bronx visits with quiet outreach. Only voters who had registered with the party by October 2015 could vote, and it was a matter of working down a short list to find them.

Were getting massively positive earned media, said Kasich strategist John Weaver. Were actively working that market for a variety of reasons; one of thems the number of districts where we think we can get delegates. There are not a lot of Republicans voting there, but the ones who are we have a good shot at keeping or converting.

But in conversations, Bronx Republicans said that Cruzs campaign had done the most to reach them. Cruzs campaign was the only one that reached out to me, Humberto Negron, 38, said after working a shift representing Republicans at the board of elections. They wanted to sort of emphasize their values and their point of views, and that its reflective of the Bronx.

[Trump, pivoting from Wisconsin loss, hits Cruz on New York values]

Next up on the 2016 primary schedule: New York. So we asked, what if the candidates were New York City boroughs? (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

From the outside, though, Cruzs Bronx visit was a debacle. A stop at a charter school was scrapped after students announced a walk-out. Twelve hours before the candidate landed, his campaign called state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., a conservative Democrat whom Cruz had met at a banquet years earlier. Diaz assembled ministers to meet Cruz but couldnt say how many of them were eligible to vote for him.

I didnt ask if you are a Republican or a Democrat or a Conservative, said Diaz. The Conservatives are a party in New York that draws some of the most right-leaning voters. Just the fact that Mr. Cruz gave respect will have a huge influence.

In some cases, Cruz backers have hit a wall of Trump support. Party chairmen in 33 of New Yorks 62 counties, including the Bronxs John Greaney, have endorsed the mogul.

The partys Bronx office had been set up next to a comic book store to reelect Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2009. Since then, it has become monument to lost elections next to a comic book store. Maps of solidly blue districts share wall space with a sign for Joseph J. Savino, a former Bronx GOP chairman whose career peaked with a 22-point defeat in a state Senate race and bottomed out with a bribery conviction.

Bronx GOP Vice Chairman Mike Rendino, like Greaney, sustained lung damage on 9/11. Hed been a firefighter. Rendino ended that career early  he is 41 now  and took up managing a bar near Yankee Stadium. Cruz had reached out to him, too, but it struck him as pablum from the biggest phony in politics.

Their pitch is more negative about Donald Trump than positive about themselves, Rendino said. Look, me and John both need treatment for what happened on 9/11. Cruz voted against the Zadroga [9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization] bill. He voted against Sandy relief. He said, back when he was talking about immigration, that Manhattan is very concerned with its security with the Bronx. You dont think that hurts us here?

Rendino supports Trump  with the caveat that half the crap he says was hurting his campaign.

Rendino was joined in the Bronx office by two activists who have toiled in the area for years trying to expand the party, often in vain. Fred Brown, 80, ran the National Black Republican Council from a part of Manhattan that used to be in the 15th, and was trying to swing the organization behind Trump.

We want Trump to come to the Bronx, Brown said. He has a lot to say about what hes built here.

The Democrats havent done anything for us, said Jose Acolon, 82. They want us to think Donald Trump is anti-immigrant. Well, we know whats going on. We just want to rebuild the Bronx.

It was unclear whether Trump would visit the Bronx before the vote.

Meanwhile, the Cruz and Kasich campaigns were still looking for the handfuls of outnumbered Republicans who could get them delegates.

Joanna Bimonte, 49, was a Cruz supporter whod always been turned off by Trump, and was angered anew when his campaign manager roughly grabbed a female reporters arm and denied doing so.

She was exactly what the Cruz campaign needed in the Bronx  an activist ready to go, ready to use her downtime between college classes to help.

I have to figure out how to do that computer program thing that lets you make calls, she said. Ill do that first. Then Ill drive people to the polls. That cant take too long. I mean, how many Republicans can there be here?
Police filed charges of attempted murder Monday against authorities at a temple in the southern Indian state of Kerala where an unauthorized fireworks display a day earlier sparked a massive, deadly blaze.

More than 100 people were killed and nearly 400 people injured in the freak conflagration, according to state government officials. As frantic families searched for the bodies of missing relatives, authorities warned that the death toll was likely to rise.

The charges, which also included attempted culpable homicide and illegal possession of a large quantity of explosives, have been brought against temple officials  some of whom have fled  and the men who held the license for the fireworks, police said. Five people associated with the fireworks contractor were also detained for questioning.

The Kerala government has ordered a high-level investigation of the tragedy, and on Tuesday, the states high court will hear a petition to ban temple fireworks.

The fire occurred just before dawn Sunday after about 15,000 people had gathered at the Puttingal Devi temple complex in Paravur, on the outskirts of the seaside town of Kollam, to watch the spectacular fireworks display, an annual ritual before the Hindu New Year celebrations this week.





One firecracker fell on a makeshift shed in the temple complex where a large amount of fireworks was stored, triggering a string of explosions, according to police. The blasts blew the roof off one of the temple buildings and damaged other structures nearby. Police said they found three cars containing unexploded fireworks near the temple.

Witnesses said dozens of bodies charred beyond recognition were still lying outside the hospital Monday as people searched for family members.

I saw burnt pieces of human bodies in the plastic bags in the hospital, said Rarish Tankamani Ravindran, a 28-year-old social worker. Doctors were consoling relatives by telling them that DNA tests will be conducted.

A trauma physician in Kollam said that most of the wounded had been hit by a post-explosion blast wind containing splinters, metal pieces and stones. The doctor spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.

The chief minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, said that victims are getting the best medical care.

Officials said they had refused permission for the temple to conduct its competitive fireworks display this year. But temple managers went ahead anyway, assuring officials that they would use a small quantity of fireworks as a token of the tradition.

How it happened, whether they concealed the explosives, how they moved it to this place, these have to be ascertained in the inquiry, V.R. Vinod, a senior district official, told reporters.

A man injured in the fire at the Puttingal Devi temple ties a bandage around the head of another victim at a hospital in nearby Kollam. (Sivaram V/Reuters)

Despite the devastation, many temples and devotees said the annual tradition should continue.

On Monday, a statement from the Travancore Devaswom Board, a body that oversees the activities of hundreds of temples in Kerala, said it will not abide by any government ban on fireworks displays, adding that it is the governments responsibility to ensure public safety.

Gopalan Rajamani, a 59-year-old university employee, said he watched the fireworks for three hours Sunday before going home to sleep. But his 18-year-old nephew was enjoying the display too much and decided to stay.

My nephews entire back was burnt, Rajamani said. This temple is very sacred to my family. I dont want the fireworks display to be banned, but maybe some safety precautions should be maintained.

But for the temples neighbors, the ritual has become a source of growing distress.

An 80-year-old local resident, A. Pankajakshi, had written several letters of complaint to temple and city authorities, prompting them to withhold permission for this years display.

These are not minor fireworks, said Anitha Prakash, Pankajakshis daughter. They go on for eight to nine hours and are so loud it sounds like dynamite.

Prakash said that trophies are given to teams that launch the loudest and most powerful displays.

My mother was born in this town, she said. She understands and respects the temple traditions. But it used to be a small affair back then, lasting an hour or so.

Now, she said, it is out of control and dangerous.

Read more:

From shorts to pants: Indias 91-year old Hindu nationalist group is changing

Indian students called it free speech. The government called it sedition.

Guru Inc.: Indias holy men enter the world of big business

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
This undated photo released on April 9 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watching the test of a new type of intercontinental ballistic rocket engine. (Korean Central News Agency /via AFP/Getty Images)

We dont know what Abraham Lincoln would have made of Barack Obama, since the 16th president died 144 years before the 44th took office.

But never fear. North Koreas propagandists have taken it upon themselves to channel Honest Abe and  surprise, surprise  the report card they give the current leader of the United States is not a good one, especially not when it comes to his policy toward the regime of Kim Jong Un.

North Korea Today, a state publication issued in Pyongyang, has just published a piece titled Advice from Lincoln to Obama, which cites the Emancipation Proclamation and alludes to the Gettysburg Address.

Hi there, Obama. I understand how perplexed you must feel nowadays, but I think this is the time for you to gather your thoughts as a president of a nation, the North Korean voice of Lincoln says.

A thought came to my mind to give you this advice when I saw you standing in front of my portrait deeply engaged in contemplation during your Easter prayer meeting, it says.

1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What life looks like inside North Korea View Photos Scenes from inside the hermit kingdom. Caption Scenes from the hermit kingdom. April 14, 2016 A girl dances ballet at the Mangyongdae Childrens Palace in the Pyongyang suburbs. The large facility, opened in 1989, has hundreds of rooms for various activities, including mathematics, chemistry, computer science, sports, music and dance practice. Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency Wait 1 second to continue.

The piece mocks the current presidents Nobel Peace Prize and notes that seven years ago  not quite four score and seven, but the echo is clear  Obama said in a speech in Prague that he was committed to creating a world without nuclear weapons.

[North Korea unveils homemade engine for missile capable of striking U.S.]

You talked boastfully how you would try your best even though it may seem impossible to realize such a world in your term, but how much progress have you made so far? the piece says. None. Instead of abolishing nuclear weapons, the U.S. has modernized its nuclear arms and conducted the B61-12 nuclear test in Nevada last year.

The advice piece comes at a tricky time in the fraught relationship between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea last year asked to open talks on reaching a peace agreement with the United States but would not commit to abandoning its nuclear weapons program if a deal were reached. The Korean War ended in an armistice, signed by a U.S. Army general representing the U.N. command, so the two Koreas technically remain at war.

Washington rejected the request, which U.S. diplomats viewed as a ruse, saying denuclearization was its primary concern. Then North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test at the beginning of January, triggering international condemnation and rounds of tough sanctions.

[North Korea claims it could wipe out Manhattan with a hydrogen bomb]

Still, Kims regime has continued to bring up the idea of a peace agreement, even as its media outlets broadcast videos showing simulations of North Korean bombs blowing up Washington and publish statements threatening nuclear attacks.

The message took on a different tone with the advice from Lincoln.

If you were going to make the world nuclear free, the process would have to begin in the U.S., where numerous nuclear weapons are deployed domestically and internationally, the piece continues. I said this once when I was alive, but Ill say this once more. The government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth. This is the truth.

[Chemical-weapons drill has one perpetrator in mind: North Korea]

North Korea is that country where the people are the owner, according to North Korea Today. This country will never be toppled by sanctions or economic isolation. There is a reason why the West views our country as a mysteriously powerful country. 

The article refers to Obamas opinion piece in The Washington Post, How we can make our vision of a world without nuclear weapons a reality, ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit on March 31.

I read your letter in the Washington Post, the North Korean article says. You said that there were high hurdles ahead. This is the right assessment, and you are the hurdle.

Even if just for the rest of your term, stop taking the Nobel Committees lofty intentions in vain. If you consider me to represent the foundation and destiny of the United States of America and do not wish to forget me, I hope you take my advice to heart.

Seo reported from Seoul.

Read more:

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
See photos of migrants in Denmark as they seek refuge in Sweden

See photos of migrants in Denmark as they seek refuge in Sweden

Lise Ramslog was out for a barefoot amble on the warm day last September that Europes refugee crisis came to her remote village in southern Denmark.

The 70-year-old grandmother had planned a simple stroll. What she found in her quiet, coastal community were hundreds of exhausted asylum seekers who had arrived on the ferry from Germany only to be stranded without access to public transportation. Some had begun to walk along the highway in desperation.

Ramslog decided on the spot that she would help: She ended up giving two young couples, a small child and a newborn baby a 120-mile ride in her cramped sedan to their destination in Sweden. When we crossed the border, they rejoiced and cried, she recalled.

In another context, Ramslog might be known as a good Samaritan.

But the Danish government has a different term for her: convicted human smuggler.

When an influx of refugees arrived in Denmark from Germany in September, Danish authorities prohibited them from taking public transit. Danish citizens who drove refugees to the Swedish border are now being convicted of human smuggling. (Griff Witte,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

The decision by authorities to prosecute Ramslog  and to charge hundreds of other Danish citizens with a similar crime  is to many here just the latest evidence of a society that, when faced with an unparalleled influx of migrants and refugees, has taken a nasty turn.

In that respect, Denmark has company: Across Europe, a once-tender embrace of those fleeing conflicts on the continents doorstep has evolved into an uncompromising rejection.

[He escaped the Holocaust because of the kindness of strangers. Now hes watching Europe turn refugees like him away.]

Last week, authorities in Greece began sending new arrivals back across the sea to Turkey, as part of a policy intended to permanently close the path via which more than 1 million people sought sanctuary last year.

But as Europe walls itself off, the continent is left to reckon with whats become of its long-

cherished humanitarian beliefs. And to many in Denmark, the chasm between reputation and reality looks particularly gaping.

Were losing respect for the values upon which we built our country and our European Union, said Andreas Kamm, secretary general of the Danish Refugee Council. Its becoming very hard to defend human rights.

This Scandinavian nation of compulsively friendly people is celebrated by U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as a social-welfare utopia, one that was recently judged the worlds happiest place. Ranking high in the countrys pantheon of heroes are those who protected Jews during the Holocaust or who helped the oppressed escape from behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

But when it has come to those fleeing 21st-century conflicts on Europes doorstep, Denmark has gone into overdrive to broadcast its hostility. While Germany continues to welcome asylum seekers, and other European countries such as Sweden held their doors open for as long as they could, Denmark has taken a hard line almost from the beginning.

The government slashed refugees benefits, then advertised the cuts in Lebanese newspapers. It has enabled police to confiscate refugees valuables, including cash and jewelry. And authorities have made it far more difficult for those already here to reunite with their families, upping the wait time from one year to three.

Now ordinary Danes are getting caught up in the crackdown, punished for what many saw as a quintessentially good deed. Im proud of what I did and will never regret having done it, said Ramslog, her gray hair highlighted by plastic pink heart barrettes and her clear blue eyes welling with tears. But I dont want to be known as a criminal.

Huge pressure

Yet thats exactly what she is, following a March conviction. And according to the far-right party that holds the balance of power in the Danish Parliament, its what she deserves, even though the police ordered the state-run railway to begin transporting asylum seekers only days after Ramslog opened her car door and invited them in.

[Denmark passes controversial bill to seize assets and valuables from refugees]

These people broke the law, said Peter Kofod Poulsen, a recently elected member of Parliament from the anti-immigration Danish Peoples Party. Human smuggling is not all right  not if its done by the train company and not if its done by private individuals.

Poulsen, who at 26 is Parliaments third-youngest member, has helped push the countrys weak center-right government to take a less-forgiving line on asylum seekers since the once-fringe DPP surged to second place in elections in June.

The number of refugees taken in by Denmark, he said, should be as close to zero as possible. The alternative, in Poulsens view, is the end of everything Danes hold dear  including low crime rates and high-quality government services. Welcoming Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others fleeing war, he said, is just too burdensome.

This country is falling apart, said Poulsen, who is slim, blond and self-assured. We used to have a safe, monocultural society. Now our welfare state is under huge pressure.

The notion that Denmark cant adequately look out for its own if it is also giving sanctuary to asylum seekers has found wide appeal here. Anti-refugee positions once considered extreme are now embraced by a broad cross section of the countrys politicians.

The hardening of public attitudes has been underway for at least a decade. But a key turning point in popular opinion may have been that day last September when asylum seekers took to the highways to walk.

Many had been blocked a week earlier from leaving Hungary, leading to a bulge in numbers on the migrant trail.

When they arrived in Denmark, on Sept. 7, they were initially barred from using public transportation unless they agreed to be registered  something few were willing to do because they wanted to travel onward to more hospitable destinations, especially Sweden.

When Danes turned on their televisions that day, they saw highways clogged with people in need.

That was an eye-opener for many Danes, said Kasper Moller Hansen, a University of Copenhagen political scientist. They thought, Wow, thats a lot of people. We cant help all of them. 

Instinctual response

Other Danes took a different lesson, jumping in their cars and driving to the small ferry terminal in Rodby to offer asylum seekers a lift.

Lisbeth Zornig, a well-known child-rights activist and author, was in the area and decided she couldnt imagine driving back to Copenhagen with an empty car.

Id never seen people in need that way in Denmark before, she said. They were hungry. They were thirsty. They didnt have anything but the clothes they were wearing.

She opened her minivans doors to a small group of Syrians, and four adults and twin 5-year-old girls hopped in. Two minutes later, they were sleeping in the back seat, she said.

In Copenhagen, her husband, former journalist Mikael Lindholm, served them coffee and cookies, and offered to let them spend the night. But they were eager to get to Sweden, where anxious relatives awaited. He drove them to the train station.

[E.U. strikes deal to return new migrants to Turkey]

Both Zornig and Lindholm were convicted last month of human smuggling  a crime usually associated with greedy profiteers, not humanitarian do-gooders. Each was ordered to pay a fine amounting to about $3,350.

Ramslog had her fine cut in half because shes retired and lives on a small pension. Its still far more than she can afford. Until now, her most serious run-in with the law was a speeding ticket.

She said she responded that September day from instinct, not from any plan. At most, she thought she would drive the refugees, who desperately wanted passage to Sweden, a few miles up the road. But then I kept thinking, Oh, Ill just go a little further,  she recalled.

The baby slept the whole way, pressed tight to her mothers breast. The young boy nibbled on biscuits and sipped apple juice.

Ramslog was still barefoot when, as night fell, she steered her car across the bridge linking Denmark to Sweden. She had no phone and barely enough money to cover the toll.

Thank you! Thank you! her passengers exclaimed when she pulled over to drop them off.

Before they parted, Ramslog dug from her pocket a small charm  a four-leaf clover encased in glass that she had been given to remember her daughter, who died last year.

She pressed it into the boys palm.

May you have better luck, she said.

Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.

Read more:

Theyve escaped war and crossed the sea. Now Europe wants to send them back.

Europes new border fences are derailing migrants but not stopping them

Spring could bring a fresh surge of refugees. But Europe isnt ready for them.

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
A 12-year-old Palestinian girl who was imprisoned after she confessed to planning a stabbing attack in a West Bank settlement will be released early, Israels prison service said Monday, capping a saga that drew attention to the dual legal system in the West Bank.

The case has put Israels military justice system in a tough spot as it deals with a girl who has pleaded guilty to a crime but has not completed the seventh grade. She is thought to be the youngest female Palestinian sent to an Israeli prison.

According to court documents provided by the military, the girl, whose name could not be published because of her age, approached the West Bank settlement of Carmei Tzur on Feb. 9 with a knife hidden under a shirt.

A security guard ordered her to halt, and a resident instructed her to lie on the ground and give up the knife, which she did. An amateur video clip showed the resident asking the girl, who was wearing her school uniform, whether she had come to kill Jews, and she said yes. She later pleaded guilty to attempted manslaughter in a plea bargain and was sentenced to 4 1/ 2 months in prison.

Last week, the girls family appealed to Israeli military and prison officials to release her.

Prison is not a place for a small child, said Abeer Baker, one of her attorneys. If it was a Jewish girl, she wouldnt stay in prison for even one hour because it is forbidden, according to the Israeli law.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war, and Palestinian residents there are subject to a system of military law that can send suspects as young as 12 to prison.

By contrast, Israeli settlers, as well as Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel, are subject to Israeli civil law, which does not allow anyone under 14 to go to prison.

Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after the 1967 war, also are subject to Israeli civil law.

According to Israels prison service, 437 Palestinian minors were in Israeli prisons as of Feb. 29. Of those, 12 were female.

The 12-year-old was the only girl younger than 14, according to the data. In addition, four Palestinian boys under 14 were in Israeli prison.

The incident came amid nearly seven months of violence in which Palestinians have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans in Israel and the West Bank. At least 188 Palestinians have died from Israeli fire. Israel says most were attackers.

The girl came from a village near Hebron, a city that has been a focal point of violence.

Her father, Ismail al-Wawi, said he had worked legally in Israel for 25 years  indicating that he was not considered a security threat. After his daughters arrest, he said, his work permit was revoked.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Monday said he thought everybody, including President Obama, should visit Hiroshima, after completing what he called a gut-wrenching visit to a museum at ground zero in the city where the United States dropped the first atomic bomb, in World War II.

Everyone means everyone, Kerry told reporters after diplomats from seven powerful democracies issued a declaration vowing to work for a safer world free of nuclear weapons. So I hope one day the president of the United States will be among the everyone who should be here.

Kerry said he did not know whether Obama would make a trip to Hiroshima when he visits Japan next month, as the White House is pondering, so he may have to come as an ex-president. But Kerry promised, I will certainly convey to him what I saw here and how important it is at some point that he gets here.

[Obama considers visit to Hiroshima]

Kerry was in Hiroshima for a two-day session with foreign ministers preparing for a meeting next month of the major industrialized nations in the Group of Seven. But their discussions on the crises of the moment were overshadowed by reminders of past horrors. At the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Kerry and his fellow diplomats viewed powerful remnants left by the bomb nicknamed Little Boy: charred tricycles, melted roof tiles, and mannequins with melting skin.

Going through this museum was a reminder of the depth of obligation that every single one of us in public life carries  in fact, every person in position of responsibility carries  to work for peace, Kerry said.

He also took an unprompted swipe at suggestions by Republican presidential contender Donald Trump that Japan and South Korea should get nuclear weapons to defend themselves from aggressive moves by North Korea.

That is also why any suggestion by any candidate for high public office that we should be building more weapons and giving them to countries like Korea or Japan are absurd on their face and run counter to everything every president, Republican and Democrat alike, has tried to achieve since World War II, Kerry said, his voice tinged with anger and disbelief.

[Obamas mixed record on nuclear security]

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida was equally blunt when asked about Trumps suggestion.

For us to attain nuclear weapons is completely inconceivable, he said.

Kerrys final day in Hiroshima was marked by contrasts: sunshine and dark memories, stunned silence and childrens laughter, and, ultimately, a note of optimism.

After spending almost an hour at the museum, Kerry and the foreign ministers laid wreaths of white and pink carnations at a cenotaph that frames an eternal flame and the skeletal ruins of the one dome-shaped building left standing after the August 1945 nuclear blast. They approached the marker past about 800 elementary schoolchildren who cheered and waved flags, in a calculated effort to keep the focus on the future.

The children seemed to lift the spirits of the diplomats after a wrenching hour touring the museums gruesome and poignant exhibits. One minute, they were standing grim-faced at the cenotaph. The next, they smiled and bent over to shake hands or hug the young children who approached them with paper leis. As they talked to the children, their backs to the marker, a brisk wind arose and blew several wreaths off their silver mounts, but they were quickly put back into place and secured.

They were touched and moved and truly impressed and shocked, said Kishida, a Hiroshima native who emotionally described how his fellow diplomats had extended their visit.

The diplomatic lineup at the wreath-laying ceremony presented a strong image of nations once locked in war with each other and now standing as allies. Kerry stood between Kishida and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. They were joined by foreign ministers from Germany, Italy, France and Canada, as well as the European Union.

[North Korea chides Obama for not getting rid of nukes]

Kerry, an optimistic man by nature, said the purpose of his visit was one he hoped North Koreas leader, Kim Jong Un, would heed.

We have built out of the ashes of war and that moment of horror an extraordinary relationship that stands as an example to people all over the world of what can be, Kerry said.

To that end, the diplomats issued four highly detailed joint communiques and declarations reiterating their positions on a wide range of issues and conflicts around the world. They called for nuclear disarmament, beseeched North Korea to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and decried attempts by terrorist groups to obtain chemical weapons and nuclear explosives.

In the Hiroshima Declaration, they addressed the symbolism of meeting in the city nearly 71 years after the end of World War II, a conflict they said unleashed unprecedented horror upon the world.

The effort to ensure a safer world for all, they said, is made more complex by the deteriorating security environment in a number of regions, such as Syria and Ukraine, and, in particular by North Koreas repeated provocations.

[Obama: How to achieve a world without nuclear weapons]

Kerry and other State Department officials stepped delicately around his visit, straddling the ground between an empathetic acknowledgment of the bombs enormous death toll and a focus on the quest for a nuclear-free future.

While we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past, Kerry said before a meeting with Kishida. Its about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built, the friendship that we share, the strength of our alliance, and the strong reminder of the imperative we all have to work for peace for peoples everywhere.
Members of Iraqi government forces celebrate on a tank with a seized Islamic State flag after they retook an area in the village of Mamoura, near Hit, on April 2. (Moadh Al-Dulaimi/AFP/Getty)

Iraqi security forces pushed Islamic State fighters from the western city of Hit on Monday, raising the Iraqi flag over the local municipal building and dealing another blow to the groups weakening self-proclaimed caliphate, authorities here said.

Iraqs Counter-Terrorism Service and Joint Operations Command confirmed that the government was in control of the center of the city, which is located on the Euphrates River in Anbar province, about 100 miles west of Baghdad.

I am now inside the government [headquarters] in Hit, Lt. Gen. Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, commander of Iraqs counterterrorism forces, said by telephone. We defused the booby traps and raised the Iraqi flag. Now I can say, after weve taken this building, that Hit is completely liberated.

He said his forces still needed to clear at least a few neighborhoods where fighting had flared, but he insisted that the occupiers were fleeing.

Pro-government forces had been fighting since March to retake Hit, which was overrun by Islamic State militants in October 2014.





Assadi said more than 11,000 people were evacuated from Hit but that there were still civilians in the city.

The jihadists used improvised explosives and car bombs to slow the advance of Iraqi forces but are now fleeing across the river, Assadi said.

Their bodies are in the streets, Assadi said of the extremists killed in the offensive.

He did not say how many Iraqi troops had died in the assault. Government forces were detaining male residents of the city to conduct security checks and verify their status as civilians.

The operation in Hit is part of a wider government offensive in the western part of Anbar to dislodge the jihadists from key strongholds. U.S. forces are also stationed at the Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar, where they are training Iraqi troops. Iraqi forces recently recaptured the town of Kubbaisa, also in the province. In December, the government retook the Anbar provincial capital, Ramadi, which had been seized in a dramatic Islamic State offensive last spring.

[U.S.-led strikes put financial squeeze on Islamic State]

The United States and Iraq, as well as Syrian government forces and rebels, have all sought to rout the jihadists from some of their most crucial strongholds. But the extremists are fighting back.

Syrian rescue workers and residents help an injured woman following a reported airstrike by government forces on the rebel-held neighborhood of Haydariya in the northern city of Aleppo. (Thaer Mohammed/AFP/Getty)

On Monday, Islamic State militants recaptured from Syrian rebels a key town on Syrias border with Turkey, activists said, just days after the extremists were driven out by the rebels with the help of U.S. and Turkish strikes.

The rebels, fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, had taken the town of Rai, just two miles from the Turkish border, from the Islamic State on Thursday. The operation was hailed as a boost for U.S. and Turkish efforts to oust the Islamic State from Syrian territory along Turkeys frontier.

Farther west along the Syrian-Turkish border, the Turkish army shelled targets in northern Syria on Monday in retaliation for rocket fire that hit the Turkish town of Kilis, wounding at least four people, Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency reported. It said five rockets were fired into Turkey from Syria, but it was not immediately clear which group was responsible.

In March, two Turks, including a 4-year-old boy, were reported killed by rockets fired from Syrian territory controlled by the Islamic State. Last week, two people were wounded when rockets landed near a park in Kilis.

In the Rai area, jihadists managed to infiltrate rebel front lines Monday, routing the Free Syrian Army fighters from the area, the Islamic State said in a statement posted online. The militants also claimed to have captured two antiaircraft guns and stockpiles of weapons left behind by the rebels.

The Syrian rebels had gathered on the orders of their masters, the Americans and the Turks, and with the support of [U.S. and Turkish] airplanes and artillery, the enemies of God controlled the town of al-Rai, the Islamic State statement said.

Then, the soldiers of the caliphate  with help only from God  managed to infiltrate the front lines in Rai, the statement said. God put fear into their hearts and forced the rebels to flee, it said.

[Map: Islamic States suspected inroads in America]

In 2014, the Islamic State declared a caliphate straddling the Syrian and Iraqi borders, with its capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Syrias 500-mile frontier with Turkey has provided the group with crucial supply routes for weapons, fighters and other goods.

Rai is one of last border crossings controlled by the Islamic State, as its militants move to defend its strongholds in both Syria and Iraq.

The United States has pressured Turkey, a fierce opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to move more aggressively against Islamic State positions. Last year, Turkey joined the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State.

The United States has been striking Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria since August 2014.

Last fall, Russia intervened in Syria to boost Assad and has helped the Syrian government retake swaths of territory. On Sunday, Syrias prime minister said Russia would back a government effort to fully recapture Aleppo from rebel forces, according to Russias TASS news agency.

The city, Syrias largest, has been divided into rebel- and government-controlled areas since 2012 and has sustained some of the fiercest fighting in the five-year civil war.

Cunningham reported from Istanbul.

Read more:

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
More than 100 people were killed and nearly 400 injured when a fire swept through a Hindu temple in southern India during an unauthorized fireworks display early Sunday, officials said.

The blaze started when a spark from the fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks being stored at the Puttingal temple complex in the village of Paravoor in Kerala state, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the states top elected official.

Thousands of people had been packed into the complex when a big explosion erupted about 3 a.m., officials said. The blaze spread quickly through the temple and trapped devotees.

Chandy said 102 people died and at least 380 were injured in the disaster.

Most of the deaths occurred when the building where the fireworks were stored collapsed, he told reporters. He said about 60 bodies had been identified.

Fireworks set a blaze at the Puttingal temple complex in the village of Paravoor in Kerala state. (Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)

Krishna Das, a resident of Paravoor, located about 40 miles north of Keralas capital of Thiruvananthapuram, said he had started walking away from the temple as the fireworks display was about to end when he heard a deafening explosion, followed by other blasts.

He said he saw scores of people running away, chased by fire and chunks of concrete and plaster from the temple building. As soon as the first explosion was heard, a power outage hit the complex.

It was complete chaos, Das said. People were screaming in the dark. Ambulance sirens went off, and in the darkness no one knew how to find their way out of the complex.

He said six ambulances had been parked outside the temple complex as a precaution. They were used to rush the injured to hospitals in the nearby cities of Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram.

Local villagers and police pulled out many of the injured from under slabs of concrete.

Television channels broadcast images of huge clouds of white smoke billowing from the temple, as fireworks were still going off in the night sky. Successive explosions from the building storing the fireworks sent huge chunks of concrete flying as far as half a mile, according to resident Jayashree Harikrishnan.

By about 7 a.m., firefighters had brought the blaze under control, officials said. Rescuers sifted through the wreckage in search of survivors, while backhoes cleared the debris and ambulances drove away the injured.

Thousands of anxious relatives went to the temple in search of their loved ones. Many wept and pressed police and rescue workers for information about their family members.

At one of the main hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, senior physician Thomas Mathew said that judging from injuries, a stampede was also likely to have occurred at the temple.

The temple holds a competitive fireworks display every year, with different groups putting on successive light shows for thousands of devotees gathered for the last day of a seven-day festival honoring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali.

This year, however, authorities in Kollam district denied temple officials permission to hold the fireworks display, said A. Shainamol, the districts top official.

They were clearly told that no permission would be given for any kind of fireworks, Shainamol told reporters.

She said permission was denied because of fears that the competing sides would try to outdo one another with more and more fireworks and because the temple gets overcrowded during the festival.

Public displays of fireworks can be conducted only with permission from district officials, Shainamol said.

Chandy, the state chief minister, said that he had appointed a retired judge to investigate the events leading to the fire and that strict action would be taken against those who had ignored rules.

We will be investigating how the orders were flouted and who was responsible for the decision to go ahead with the firework display, Chandy said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew in from New Delhi on Sunday to visit the site. He discussed with Chandy and other Kerala leaders measures that could be taken to help the survivors.

Official said Modi was accompanied by doctors and burn specialists from New Delhi who will stay on to help treat the survivors.
A former Energy Department employee was sentenced to 18 months in prison after offering to help a foreign government infiltrate the agencys computer system to steal nuclear secrets and then attempting an email spear-phishing attack in an FBI sting operation.

Charles Harvey Eccleston, an environmental scientist formerly employed by the department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, pleaded guilty in February to one charge of attempting to damage protected government computers. Eccleston was arrested in March 2015 by Philippine authorities.

Eccleston, 62, a U.S. citizen, was terminated from the NRC in 2010, prosecutors said. In January 2015, they said, he targeted more than 80 Energy Department employees in Washington and at four national nuclear labs with emails containing what he thought were links to malicious websites that, if activated, could infect and damage computers. The FBI said that no malicious code was transferred.

The FBI sting was launched after Eccleston offered in April 2013 to provide an unnamed foreign government with more than 5,000 email addresses of all Energy Department employees for $19,000, or else he would offer the information to China, Iran or Venezuela, according to prosecutors.

Eccleston provided undercover FBI employees with 1,200 publicly available email addresses in exchange for $9,000, which he was ordered to repay, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Ecclestons offense revealed some of the significant risks and the ease with which cyberattacks can be constructed and carried out.

Read more:

Ex-DOE worker in nuclear secrets case pleads guilty to spear-phishing attack

Former Energy Department employee indicted in nuclear secrets case
Residents of Sudans Darfur region began voting Monday on whether to reunite the arid western areas states into one entity, a referendum that Sudan says will settle a contentious issue at the heart of a long-running conflict.

The Sudanese governments decision to split Darfur into three states in 1994 helped fuel discontent that erupted into fighting in 2003  rebels and many from the large Fur tribe said the breakup allowed Khartoum to divide and rule them.

Sudan, which later split Darfur further into five states, has presented this weeks referendum as a major concession. But rebel and opposition groups have cried foul, saying the vote will be rigged and calling on supporters to boycott it.

Students inside El-Fasher University, in the government-controlled capital of North Darfur state, protested the vote, and witnesses said similar rallies were held in at least three refugee camps in Central Darfur state.

Analysts and diplomats say the government opposes a unified Darfur, concerned that it would give the rebels a platform to push for independence  just as the south successfully did in 2011, taking with it most of Sudans oil reserves.

Turnout was strong in the center of El-Fasher, where there was a heavy presence of security forces.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government based in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination and of marginalizing the area.

According to the United Nations, as many as 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur, about 4.4 million people need aid and more than 2.5 million have been displaced.

Although the killings have eased in recent years, the insurgency continues and Khartoum has sharply escalated attacks on rebel groups in the past year.

The two main rebel groups fighting in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army, have called on their followers not to take part in the three-day referendum.

They had called for a political settlement first and have warned that the referendum will lead to more violence.

South Sudan, roughly the same size as a unified Darfur, fought the north through more than two decades of civil war until a 2005 peace deal gave it the right to a referendum on whether to secede.

In 2011, southerners overwhelmingly voted to declare independence, and South Sudan became independent that year, though both countries remain at loggerheads over territorial and other issues, and the South has struggled with a civil war.
During the MTV Movie Awards Captain America star Chris Evans was on hand to debut some new footage from Marvels latest movie, Captain America: Civil War. The new footage featured the Captain, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, and Black Panther taking out a bunch of enemies, and we even caught a glimpse of the villain Crossbones. So now we know the Avengers current lineup.



The scene opened in Lagos, with the group tracking a group of terrorists led by Crossbones who raided a center for infectious diseases. Whatever they are after could become a terrifying bio-weapon that wipes out a lot of people. But this battle in the center of town could do the same. Its hard for the world to keep seeing you as the good guys with so much dust, debris, and fire. The scene helps set up the initial conflict  governments of the world vs. rogue superheroes  that well see more of when Civil War hits theaters on May 6.





Watch Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evan release the Captain America: Civil War trailer:

Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Cynthia LuCiette, on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.


Bryan Adams has canceled a show in Mississippi in a protest to the state's passing of what has been described as the most aggressive anti-LGBT law in America.

The Canadian rocker has scrapped his April 14 date at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi following the signing into law of the "Religious Liberty" bill 1523, the first-of-its-kind law that will allow businesses, individuals, and religiously affiliated organizations to deny service to LGBT people, single mothers, and others who somehow offend an individual's "sincerely held religious belief."

Bruce Springsteen Cancels North Carolina Concert Over Law That 'Attacks LGBT Rights'

In a statement posted to his social media pages, Adams said the law was "incomprehensible" and he "cannot in good conscience perform in a State where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation."

He writes: "Mississippi has passed anti-LGBT 'Religious Liberty' bill 1523. I find it incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against in the state of Mississippi. I cannot in good conscience perform in a State where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation. Therefore I'm cancelling my 14 April show at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Using my voice I stand in solidarity with all my LGBT friends to repeal this extremely discriminatory bill. Hopefully Mississippi will right itself and I can come back and perform for all of my many fans. I look forward to that day." Adams signed off with the hashtag #&lrmstop1523.

Mississippi has passed anti-LGBT 'Religious Liberty' bill 1523. I find it incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being...

Posted by Bryan Adams on Sunday, 10 April 2016

The "Religious Liberty" law was passed last week and will take effect in July.

Adams' political stance is very much in line with that of Bruce Springsteen. The Boss canceled a show in North Carolina on the weekend over the state's controversial "bathroom" law, which dictates which bathrooms transgender people are permitted to use.
Oxygen

A Tampa-area family's long wait for answers about the disappearance of their husband and father has come to an end. The Tallahassee Police Department announced this week that skeletal remains had been found in a wooded area off Apalachee Parkway, a commercial road dotted with strip malls and hotels on the east side of the city. Shortly thereafter, they announced that, with information received from the local medical examiner's office, they had identified the deceased as Jason Winoker, 52, of Lan
By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AbbVie Inc won U.S. regulatory approval on Monday for a new drug to treat patients with a rare type of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a blood cancer. The drug, venetoclax, was approved for patients with a genetic mutation known as 17p gene deletion, which is a marker for a particularly aggressive form of CLL. Patients with the disease survive an average of less than three years following diagnosis. AbbVie developed the drug with Roche Holding AG. It will be marketed by both companies in the United States under the brand name Venclexta, and by AbbVie elsewhere. "Venclexta is the first approved medicine designed to trigger a natural process that helps cells self-destruct," Roche Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sandra Horning said in a statement. The approval came well ahead of the FDA's late June action date for a decision. The FDA granted "breakthrough" designation to the drug last year, allowing it to be reviewed on a speedier schedule than normal. AbbVie said it was also studying the drug in a wider population of patients with CLL, including those without a genetic mutation who have failed previous therapies, and in other blood cancers, including multiple myeloma. Analysts on average estimate the drug could generate peak annual sales of $1.7 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data. CLL is one of the most common types of leukemia in adults, with about 15,000 new cases diagnosed each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Patients with a 17p deletion account for about 10 percent of those with untreated CLL and about 20 percent of those with relapsed CLL. "These patients now have a new, targeted therapy that inhibits a protein involved in keeping tumor cells alive," Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA's oncology division, said in a statement. In a trial of 106 patients with CLL patients with a 17p deletion who had received at least one previous therapy, 80 percent experienced complete or partial remission of their disease. The drug is a pill given once a day. The approval "marks a major milestone for our company," said AbbVie Chief Executive Officer Richard Gonzalez. Venclexta is the first cancer drug that AbbVie developed in-house. Last year the company acquired Pharmacyclics for $21 billion, giving it control over the blood cancer drug Imbruvica. Imbruvica is already approved to treat patients with CLL and those who have a 17p deletion. (Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Kabul (AFP) - A video of an Afghan lawmaker purportedly threatening to cut off a reporter's nose after she asked his views on marital rape has gone viral and sparked widespread condemnation online.

The clip, which has been retweeted more than 4,000 times since it was posted by the VICE website Saturday, highlights the parlous state of women's rights more than 14 years after the fall of the hardline Taliban.

VICE reporter Isobel Yeung is seen questioning Afghan parliamentarian Nazir Ahmad Hanafi about his opposition to the Elimination of Violence Against Women Act.

It was submitted to parliament in 2009 but has yet to be passed due to strong resistance from MPs.

"What if a husband rapes his wife, is that domestic abuse? Should the man be punished or should the woman be punished for that, in your opinion?" she asks Hanafi.

He represents the western city of Herat and is also an Islamic scholar who lectures at various universities and madrassas.

"There is a kind of rape you have and another we have in Islam," he replies. Yeung attempts to press on with another question but is cut off by Hanafi, who tells her: "I think you should stop it now."

He is then seen turning in another direction and says: "Maybe I should give you to an Afghan man to cut your nose off."

Hanafi later denied making the comments in an interview with Radio Free Europe, suggesting the video was fabricated.

"Actually I haven't said such a thing, neither have I behaved in a such a way with anyone," he said.

"This video has been manipulated and made up. Fabricating a video is something normal and everyone can do it."

The clip sparked angry reaction online after being widely shared on Facebook.

User Mohammad Bashir Haidary wrote in Dari: "Dear MP...you have defamed the dignity of the entire Afghan people. May you face the wrath of the Almighy, you are representing the ancient province of Herat."

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Another user, Aminullah Farahi, wrote: "This dirty man knows well that the interview is watched by millions of Easterners and Westerners, and you are representing Islam, is this Islam?"

Gender equality has improved somewhat since a US-led coalition toppled the hardline Taliban regime in 2001, with women -- particularly from cities -- taking up numerous professional jobs and holding more than a quarter of all seats in parliament.

President Ashraf Ghani has also pledged to place women's rights at the top of his agenda, but major challenges remain.

Last year a 27-year-old woman known as Farkhunda was beaten to death in Kabul after being falsely accused of blasphemy, a case that became a symbol of the endemic violence that women still face.
At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded Monday when a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghan army recruits near the eastern city of Jalalabad, officials said.

It came days after US Secretary of State John Kerry paid a visit to Kabul to underscore his support for Afghanistan's beleaguered unity government and call on the insurgent group to resume direct peace talks.

"In the attack, 12 army recruits were killed," said Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar province.

Ministry of Defence spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed the incident and death toll, adding the attacker struck the bus while riding a motorised tricycle.

"The recruits were being transferred from Jalalabad to Kabul," Waziri said, putting the number of injured at 26.

Ehsansullah Shinwari, head of a regional hospital in Nangarhar province, said 38 people were hurt in the bombing.

Speaking from the hospital, Ahmad, who only uses one name, told AFP that his father and two brothers were killed in the attack.

At the site of the blast, bloodied clothes and personal belongings were strewn on the ground around the badly charred remains of the bus.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid later claimed responsiblity on his verified Twitter account. The group have been waging a revolt against the government since being toppled from power in 2001, frequently targeting the military.

They have stepped up their campaign following the 2014 withdrawal of US-led combat troops, winning a number of important military victories including the brief capture of northern Kunduz city last September.

Afghanistan, the US, China and Pakistan in January formed a four-way group to try to jump-start peace talks that were first held in Islamabad last July but fell away after it emerged later that month the Taliban's founder Mullah Omar was dead, leading to infighting within the group.

But the Taliban have refused to return to the negotiating table until their conditions are met, including the departure of 13,000 foreign soldiers who are on a mission to train and advise their Afghan counterparts.

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Omar's successor Mullah Akhtar Mansour meanwhile is seen as rapidly consolidating his authority over dissident factions and has announced he is preparing for "decisive strikes" this spring.

The Syria-headquartered Islamic State group has also gained a foothold in Nangarhar province in recent years.

Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, a spokesman for the US-led military operations in Afghanistan, said in March the group was mainly contained in one district of the province.

Many of them are former Pakistani Taliban fighters who "have changed allegiance to Daesh," Shoffner said, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - There are no plans to storm the Syrian city of Aleppo despite thousands of Al-Nusra militants massing around the city, the Russian military general staff, which is providing air support to the Syrian army, said on Monday. Fighting between rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and forces loyal to Damascus has flared around Aleppo in recent weeks, threatening a fragile ceasefire in the run-up to the a new round of peace talks on the conflict. Sergei Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff's main operations command, said around 9,500 Al-Nusra fighters had gathered to the south-west and north of Aleppo and were planning a large-scale offensive to cut the city off from the Syrian capital of Damascus. "All actions of the Syrian military and Russian air force are directed at disrupting the plans of Jabhat al-Nusra. No storming of the city of Aleppo is planned," he said. Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaki said on Sunday the Russian air force and Syrian military were preparing a joint operation to take full control of Aleppo from rebel forces. Half of the city, Syria's largest before the war, has been in rebel hands for years. Syrian media reported a large build-up of troops and equipment by the Syrian army and its allies around Aleppo on Monday, with the pro-Damascus al-Mayadeen TV station reporting it had seen tanks and rocket launchers heading towards the city. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Luanda (AFP) - A court in Angola on Monday jailed 17 youth activists, including a well-known rapper, for rebellion against President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

The verdicts and sentences, ranging from 2.0 to 8.5 years in prison, were handed down at the end of a lengthy trial in Luanda amid complaints from the Angolan opposition that the process proved the existence of ingrained political repression.

Rapper Luaty Beirao, who went on hunger strike for over a month last year to protest his detention, was given a five-and-a-half year sentence for "rebellion against the president of the republic, criminal association and falsifying documents".

Fellow activist Domingos da Cruz, who was identified by the judge as the "leader" of the group, was handed eight-and-a-half years for planning a coup and for criminal association.

The defendants remained calm as the sentences were read out before being taken away to jail at the judge's orders.

However a member of the public in the court denounced the outcome as "a parody of justice" and was arrested on the spot.

Outside the courtroom 30 protesters yelled "free the youths, arrest dictator Jose Eduardo dos Santos".

The activists insist they are peaceful campaigners for the departure of dos Santos, who has ruled the former Portuguese colony since 1979 and is Africa's second longest-serving leader. They were arrested in June and have always denied the charges against them.

- 'Judge obeyed higher orders' -

Michel Francisco, a lawyer representing 10 of the accused, said he would appeal the convictions.

"Justice has not been done in a transparent way because things have been politicised and the judge only obeyed higher orders coming from the president of the republic," he told reporters.

Rights groups say activists in Angola, Africa's second-largest oil producer, are being increasingly targeted by dos Santos' government.

Amnesty International said the activists should not have been arrested in the first place and described their detention as a "travesty of justice".

Story continues

Human Rights Watch denounced the verdict as "outrageous and ridiculous".

"Angola has once again failed to show that it is committed to respecting human rights values which are protected by their own constitution," HRW's spokeswoman Zenaida Machado told AFP.

"If a judge says that reading a book and meeting to discuss or plan a peaceful protest is a crime, than what would be, in Angola, considered freedom of assembly and protest?" she asked.

During the trial, da Cruz was made to read out, in its entirety. a 183-page book he had written, entitled "Tools to destroy a dictator and avoid a new dictator," which his co-accused were said to be reading when they were arrested.

Only 14 of the defendants were present in court on Monday to hear their fate. Nuno Dala has been on hunger strike since March 10 and has been hospitalised. Two others who had attempted to enter the court carrying law books were refused entry.

On March 11, dos Santos, 73, said he would step down in 2018 but the announcement was received with scepticism following two similar pledges in the past. His current mandate ends at the end of next year.

International media were banned from the court during the trial.
"Antiques" with a declared value of $26 million have been imported to the United States from Syria since 2011, when the civil war there began, according to documents that the U.S. Census Bureau provided to Live Science.

It's not clear what, exactly, the antiques actually are, nor whether the items were illegally brought here or where the money from any sales is going. Their age is also unclear. In most cases the documents say only that they are "antiques" that are more than "100 years old," although occasionally a shipment of coins is identified.

The documents say that the bulk of them are brought to New York City where numerous antiquities dealers, art galleries and auction houses are based. Whether or not the antiques are resold after arriving in New York is unclear. [Photos: See How War Is Damaging Syria's Castles and Landmarks]

The imports are drawing concerns because Syria's archaeological sites have been heavily looted during the war, and some of them now lie in territory controlled by terrorist groups such as the Islamic State group (also called ISIS) and the al-Nusra Front (which is allied with al-Qaida).

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials told Live Science that privacy laws prevent them from releasing documents with more details on the imported goods. They declined to reveal how often shipments of antiques imported from Syria and Iraq are inspected, only saying in a statement that audits are sometimes done.

The documents reveal that "antiques," not oil, are now the largest Syrian export to the United States. The documents also reveal that, since 2011, "antiques" with a declared value of over $12 million have been imported to the United States from Iraq, a country that has been enveloped in the Syrian civil war. [5 Surprising Cultural Facts About Syria]

The bulk of the imports, according to the documents, were sent to New York City, although there were some interesting exceptions. For example, in August 2013, a shipment of Iraqi "antiques," with a declared value of $3.5 million, passed through customs in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The contents of the shipment, the importer and the reason it was sent to Puerto Rico are all unknown. More details about this shipment may be available but privacy laws prevent it from being released.

Story continues

A bill that would curtail the importation of Syrian antiquities to the United States is before Congress, but it is uncertain whether it will pass and be signed by President Barack Obama before the 2016 election.

Syria's civil war has been raging for over five years. During that time, the country's economy has collapsed and is now a haven for several terrorist groups. Looting of the country's archaeological sites is widespread, and the funds from the sale of looted artifacts are used to help finance the purchase of weapons and munitions, according to numerous archaeologists, government officials and media reports.

Mysterious shipments

In a series of blog posts in January and December, Rick St. Hilaire, a lawyer with Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research, raised concerns that some of the "antique"imports could be looted artifacts.

"The data show that there is enough reasonable suspicion to ask questions about what is inside those shipping crates passing into the U.S.," St. Hilaire told Live Science. "While the data does not reveal enough information to tell us key facts we need to know, it certainly tells us that we need to invest the necessary resources to discover exactly what cultural property is coming into the U.S., who is importing it, how many objects are coming in, where exactly is it from and how much is it really worth."

Congressional law and Russian claims

Last year, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., introduced a bill that would curtail imports of antiquities from Syria. The bill has passed through several committees and has been amended heavily. It's uncertain whether Congress will pass the amended bill before the November 2016 election. Shortly after the election a new Congress will take over and the process of putting forward the bill may have to start over. The website govtrack.us gave the bill only a 17 percent chance of passing.

Meanwhile, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations has sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council claiming that the Islamic State group is making between $150 million and $200 million a year from the sale of looted antiquities. The ambassador says that towns in Turkey are being used to smuggle artifacts out of Syria, where they eventually reach buyers on the global market (not just the United States).

The Russian ambassador's claims have not been independently verified. However, the U.S. Department of State agrees that the Islamic State group is making a substantial amount of money through the sale of looted antiquities.

Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced on Monday that Bill Baer will serve as acting associate attorney general, leaving his position as head of the department's Antitrust Division to take the No. 3 post at the department. Baer was considered most likely to replace Stuart Delery, the acting associate attorney general, who announced last week that he will leave on April 17. "From his work at the Federal Trade Commission to his leadership of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, he has demonstrated keen intelligence, strong judgment and consummate skill," Lynch said of Baer in a statement. Lynch did not say whether the Obama administration would seek to confirm Baer through a Senate nomination process. As head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, Baer oversaw such cases as the scheme by Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and others to rig the foreign currency exchange spot market as well as the case against Apple for price-fixing e-books, Lynch said. The Justice Department declined to comment on who would replace Baer in the Antitrust division. (Reporting by Julia Edwards; Editing by Leslie Adler)
By Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters) - The polygamist family featured in the reality television show "Sister Wives" lost its bid to overturn parts of Utah's anti-bigamy law under a federal appeals court ruling issued on Monday.

The case, filed after the show's popularity prompted a criminal investigation into whether star Kody Brown was illegally married to four women, drew international attention and raised questions about whether the state could bar consenting adults from living together as a family.

Polygamy is illegal in all 50 states. But Utah's law is unique in that a person can be found guilty not just for having two legal marriage licenses, but also for cohabiting with another adult in a marriage-like relationship when already legally married to someone else.

Brown is legally married to one of his wives, and "spiritually" married to the others.

In 2013, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups struck down part of the state's law, saying it criminalizes intimate relationships among consenting adults.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit overturned that ruling on Monday. The court said because the Browns had not actually been charged under the law - and the state said it would not prosecute multiple marriage cases unless there were allegations of fraud or criminal activity - the case was moot.

"Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction," the court wrote. "They lack power to decide issues - however important or fiercely contested - that are detached from a live dispute between the parties."

Utah is the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, which abandoned polygamy in 1890 as Utah was seeking statehood. Some sects and breakaway groups, however, follow the early doctrine of plural marriage.

The Brown family and their 17 children are members of the Apostolic United Brethren, a Utah-based church which follows a plural marriage doctrine.

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The family's attorney, legal scholar Jonathan Turley, said in a blog post Monday he would appeal the decision.

"The Brown family is obviously disappointed in the ruling but remains committed to this fight for the protections of religion, speech and privacy in Utah," Turley wrote.

But Utah Federal Solicitor Parker Douglas said the state had a legitimate interest in prosecuting abuses that can arise in polygamous relationships.

Shortly after Waddoups struck down the law, a woman alleged that her polygamous husband had shunned her and planned to "sell" their daughter and a niece, and he was not able to use the bigamy law in prosecution, Douglas said.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Leslie Adler)
This profile is part of TakeParts series highlighting the six winners of the Skoll Foundations Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, announced ahead of the Skoll World Forum, which takes place April 1315. The award distinguishes leaders who are committed to driving large-scale change; each of the awardees organizations receives a $1.25 million investment to scale its work and increase its impact. Jeff Skoll is the founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation and the founder of Participant Media, the parent company of TakePart.

Vivek Marus impressive resumehe is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School and a former clerk for a U.S. Court of Appeals judgecould have easily landed him a cushy position at one of the nations top law firms. But cashing in was never his goal. After college, the Chicago native wasnt sure being a lawyer was in his future at all. He opted instead to spend a year in Kutch, a remote village in western India, learning about the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi before enrolling at Yale.

Lawyering seemed incompatible with the Gandhian perspective, he wrote in his application for the Skoll Foundations 2016 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, which named him one of its six recipients on Monday. Gandhis approach aims for reconciliation and transformation; lawyers seemed to conceive of conflicts in narrow, adversarial terms. And while Gandhi valued the constructive process of building more democratic, more humane institutions, the law seemed reactive: Something bad happens, and then the lawyers would show up.

Instead of dropping out of law school, Maru, now 41, graduated and found his way to Sierra Leone in 2003, just a year after the decade-long civil war ended. The move would change his lifeand how justice is delivered in a number of vulnerable communities.

RELATED: Inside the Group Secretly Helping People Expose Human Rights Violations

I didnt have any blood connection to the place, but I met Abdul Tejan-Cole, who later became the anticorruption commissioner. The war had just ended, there was a huge need to rebuild, and there was also an opportunity to rebuild in a way that made more sense, he tells TakePart. There was kind of a consensus in the country that one of the big reasons people had gone to war in the first place was because of the arbitrariness in governance and administration of justice.

Story continues

According to Maru, several local organizations were interested in creating a better way to help Sierra Leoneans navigate the law, but reproducing a model of Americas legal-aid system wouldnt have worked in the West African nation. There were only 100 lawyers in the country at the time, and out of those, 90 lived in Freetown, the capital. So in the provinces, even a rich person couldnt get a lawyer to represent them, he says.

Maru decided to cofound Timap for Justice with legal colleague Simeon Koroma. Established in 2003, the organization provides free basic legal services in Sierra Leone by training local citizens to become paralegals. While the groups work is ongoing, Maru replicated Timaps innovative model for his next venture, Namati, which applies the same idea on a global scale.

RELATED: Why This Man Is Being Called Americas Nelson Mandela

To date, Namati has trained hundreds of community paralegals in eight countries, including Uganda, the Philippines, Mozambique, and coastal India. So far, these barefoot lawyers, as theyre sometimes called, have been extremely effective, helping 5,000 stateless people in Kenya and Bangladesh attain legal identity documents; taking on nearly 3,000 land rights cases for farmers in Myanmar; and partnering with Mozambiques Ministry of Health to repair breakdowns in the health-care system there.

RELATED: Two Women Are Calling on an Entire Generation to End Gender Violence

What we found is that if those front-line folks are well trained and well supported, they can get a lot done, even in a broken system, Maru says.

Namatis commitment to expanding legal access to local communities caught the attention of the Skoll Foundation, which awarded Marus organization a $1.25 million investment and will help connect him with a community of like-minded peers. For Maru, the award means spreading the word about Namatis work.

One of the things that is extremely powerful about Skoll is the emphasis on storytelling. The work we do can sometimes seem wonky, but its actually so bread-and-buttereveryday people facing life-and-death problems and finding ways to overcome them, Maru says. One of the things Im excited to work with Skoll on is...to reach more people to widen the movement and deepen the public understanding of what this work looks like and why its important.

Visit the Namati website to learn more about the organization and support its work.

Take the Pledge: Support & Stand with Social Entrepreneurs Around the World, Sign Up for the Skoll Foundation Newsletter

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The FBI has abandoned its court battle with Apple for the time being, after figuring out how to hack the San Bernardino iPhone without Apple's help. However, the fight over smartphone encryption is not over, and theres a new proposal that seeks to regulate law enforcement's access to encrypted devices and Internet products.

MUST SEE: 5 free tools that will change the way you watch Netflix

The Senate Intelligence Committees chair Richard Burr and vice-chair Dianne Feinstein are working on the bill, and a discussion draft of the bill began circulating on Thursday, Business Insider reports.

The draft has a few key points that explain how the U.S. government wants to hack legally encrypted iPhones or any other devices. The law would force tech companies to decrypt encrypted data when presented with a court order, and to provide technical assistance required to decode the information. Companies will be offered compensation for their efforts, but the bill does not provide any technical guidance on how companies should do it.

The bill would force tech companies to "provide such information to such government in an intelligible format; or provide such technical assistance as is necessary to obtain such information or data in an intelligible format to achieve the purpose of the court order, when a court order is issued.

A report from Reuters earlier this week said that the White House wont endorse the Feinstein-Burr proposal, but it wont publicly oppose it either.

The proposal has already been met with criticism on social media and from security experts. "Silicon Valley should be embarrassed by its Senator's anti-encryption bill, which would undermine security, innovation, & the tech economy, security researcher Matt Blaze Kevin Bankston wrote.

"It's not hard to see why the White House declined to endorse Feinstein-Burr. They took a complex issue, arrived at the most naive solution, John Hopkins cryptography professor Matthew Green said on Twitter.

Story continues

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This article was originally published on BGR.com
When it comes to solving many of the tattoos on Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander)'s body, the FBI team on Blindspot largely relies on smarty-pants Patterson (Ashley Johnson) to get the job done. In real life however, showrunner Martin Gero and company rely heavily on series consultant David Kwong, a Harvard graduate in the field of the history of magic, a magician, and a crossword puzzlemaker extraordinaire.

In Monday's episode of the NBC series, crosswords and Patterson take center stage in an episode with close ties to Kwong. In it, Patterson picks up from the following week's episode, in which she realized that her ex, David (Joe Dinicol), had left clues for her regarding one of the tattoos in an issue of the New York Times before his death. (The Times released a special crossword penned by Kwong on April 4 to commemorate the event.) The episode also marks the return of Dinicol as David, who was fashioned after Kwong and shares his name.

To find out what's involved in consulting on the show's many tattoos, what crosswords and magic have in common and what it's like to have a character based on you, THR caught up with Kwon.

Have you ever come across another magician/crossword consultant before?

I'm the only one. I kind of put those two together, but that's because I think they're the same thing. All magic tricks are puzzles, and they have a lot in common. Both try to misdirect you and fool you. The only difference is that at the end of a puzzle, you get to find out how it worked. I've had those two passions for a long time, and then I realized I could cross-pollinate them and come up with a fun new experience for people.

How did you make the official switch to consultant?

I worked in development for a while. I was living in L.A., and I was working for production companies, DreamWorks Animation and performing magic on the side. When Now You See Me came along, I was hired to consult on that. So that's what kind of launched me - that was the kick out of the nest, so to speak. All of a sudden I found myself as a full-time magician and leaving behind the day job. But I retained my interest in Hollywood and storytelling, which is how I ended up working on a lot of projects involving illusion and deception and puzzles and secret codes. Blindspot has definitely been one of the most fun of those.

Story continues

Do you find yourself judging films or shows you don't work on now?

Oh sure, of course. First of all, there aren't a ton of movies about magicians and magic and illusion. So I find myself most often judging whether or not the plot twist was concealed or the reveal was concealed. So I look at the mechanics of deception and illusion in storytelling and filmmaking as a whole, whether you can see the surprise ending coming or not.

Is there a balance you have to keep on a show like Blindspot, where viewers have to feel like they can come up with their own theories and not be completely stumped?

Any good show or movie will tease you a little bit with the mechanics and science behind what they're putting together. A good puzzle allows the solver to feel smart while they're doing it. And that's sort of a mantra that comes from Will Shortz, the crossword editor of The New York Times, who was very involved with the stunt in this episode. Your audience wants to feel that they've figured stuff out. They want to feel smart, that they've arrived at the conclusion themselves. They're coveting that "aha" moment.

A fun television show layers the puzzle, gives them just enough that they could figure it out if they were looking in the right place. But if it's misdirected, they haven't been looking yet. Blindspot does a great job of that, and those are the types of movies and television shows that I like to watch. There was a whodunit-type movie in the last five years where you didn't stand a chance as an audience to figure out who had done it. They flashed back and they showed all these things, and you never had a chance. That's not respecting the intelligence of your viewer.

What kind of specific consultation do you give on Blindspot?

It comes together in a lot of different ways. Sometimes they have an idea for a puzzle and they run it by me, and I try to augment it or clean it up. A few times it's good to go, quite frankly. Other times they say, "In this week's episode, the FBI needs to get to this location -- what's a great way that we can hide this tattoo?" The Blindspot team has everything pretty mapped out; they have the big picture worked out and know where they want to go with it, so it's kind of the finer details that I help out with.

Does that mean you have to know the larger game plan in advance too?

My stuff is mostly episodic.... When it comes to a specific crime each week, that's the episodic. But then there is some bigger-picture stuff that we work on too. So it's kind of two different assignments. I was involved very early on. These incredible artists made the tattoos following Martin's vision of where he wanted to go. And then I was given those tattoos and weighed in just about how to change some things that could be great material or data for puzzles.

Monday's episode has magic and puzzle-solving. What's it like to watch your two worlds collide like that?

It's incredibly exciting. I have one goal, and that's to get as many people doing puzzles as possible. I think that's why The New York Times was excited to get involved too, because we're expanding the audience here. We're bringing in a whole new batch of solvers to pick up the newspaper. It was really exciting for me to take something that I'm passionate about and give it a hip, pop culture voice. The crossword puzzle's evolving. It's been around over 100 years now, and my colleagues and I are finding new ways to keep it young and fresh and hip, so I was happy to do my part.

What's it like to have the David character fashioned after you?

I know Martin has said that publicly, so that's not fantasizing here. He's a puzzlemaker and has a fondness for magic. You can see that David and Patterson were always playing games in their apartment and solving the crossword together, and that is all in my world. I'm honored to have that character based on me. And then they killed him!

Blindspot airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC.

Twitter: @amber_dowling
By Mbom Sixtus YAOUNDE, Cameroon (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Harvesting a crop in Cameroon's Far North Region is becoming an increasingly uncertain proposition. Armed conflict between Boko Haram militants and Cameroon's armed forces in the region has made it difficult for some farmers to access their fields, deepening food security, said Felix Gomez, the World Food Programme's country director. At the same time, the region is hosting 75,000 Nigerians who have fled that country's Boko Haram insurgency and 82,000 internally displaced people affected by the spillover of the conflict to Cameroon since 2013, officials say. That has helped feed a food deficit in Cameroon's Far North Region of 132,000 tons, according to a government assessment issued last June. Just as problematic, climate change is gradually rendering the traditional agricultural calendar unreliable, making just getting in a crop hard work, farmers in the region say. "We have been losing our crops and witnessing significant drops in agricultural output for the past 15 years. We no longer master the planting season. Rice cultivation is so delicate that when you miss the planting period slightly, you just have to mourn for your loss," said Ziga Adibe, a farmer in Maga and coordinator of rice grower's initiative in the region. "What we learned from our parents as children is no longer useful," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. To cope, farmers need to try to grow a wider range of crops, including drought-resistant and fast-growing seeds, as well as try new methods of irrigation and rely more on weather forecasts, said Bongkiyung Emmanuel Nyuyki, an expert on meteorology and agriculture with the Department of National Meteorology. But a lack of meteorological stations and people trained to use them means farmers like Adibe are often frustrated by a lack of information they can use, Nyuyki said. The first forecast for the region produced by the National Metrology Center was issued in January, and the second only earlier this April. That forecast predicted very sunny weather and mist episodes (and) few but severe thunderstorms which would result to water stress, waves of heat and risks of meningitis, malaria and conjunctivitis, Nyuyki said. Nyuyki said that, besides relying on the Cameroon meteorological service, farmers could depend on international climate models, which have predicted below-normal rainfall for the 2016 planting season. Such models may not be local and specific enough to help farmers make good decisions, however, international experts warn. Nyuyki said dropping water tables and drying rivers were likely to hurt availability of water for people and cattle this season. "The main agricultural products  maize, groundnuts, millet, sorghum and rice  suffer enormously due to their high dependence on rainfall. The June 15 deadline for (starting) farming has been unreliable with early as well as late onset of the planting season year in and year out," he said. Frequent floods, as rainfall becomes more irregular and intense, also have hit harvests in the region, he said. Adibe, the farmer from Maga, said the changes had led to his rice harvests falling by at least 25 percent over the last 5 years. Gomez, of the WFP, said at least 200,000 people in Cameroon's Far North face acute food insecurity in 2016. Altogether 1.4 million people in the region  about a third of the population  are estimated to face some level of food insecurity, he said. To help combat hunger, WFP is providing food and monthly cash to some people, and distributing agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilisers in collaboration with the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization to help farmers prepare for the coming planting season. But some farmers fear they may not have access to their farmlands due to insecurity emanating from the Boko Haram insurgency in the region. Denise Brown, WFP's regional director for West and Central Africa said in February that more than 5.6 million people in areas affected by Boko Haram violence in Nigeria Cameroon, Chad and Niger are facing hunger this year. Gomez said WFP has been helping Boko Haram refugees and their host communities in Cameroon's Far North since June 2013, and intends to scale up its assistance this year due to increasing demand. (Reporting by Mbom Sixtus; editing by Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate)
By Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's vice president called for a government of national unity in a message that was released on Monday apparently by mistake, further muddying the waters of a political crisis just hours before a crucial decision in President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment case. Vice President Michel Temer's 14-minute audio message sent to members of his own Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) via the Whatsapp messaging app showed that Temer is preparing to take over if Rousseff is soon forced from office. The audio was posted on the website of the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and confirmed to Reuters by Temer's aides as authentic. Aides said it was accidentally released and they quickly sent another message asking legislators to disregard it. Later on Monday, members of a congressional committee are expected to vote in favor of sending Rousseff to trial for breaking Brazil's budget laws in the first major step toward her possible removal from office. The battle over Rousseff's impeachment has polarized the nation of 200 million people and brought the government of Latin America's largest economy to a virtual standstill. While carefully stating his words did not anticipate the outcome of the impeachment process, Temer said in his message: "The big mission going forward is the pacification of our nation, the unification of our country." "We need a government of national salvation and national unity," Temer said in the audio. "We need to unite all the political parties, and all the parties should be ready to collaborate to drag Brazil out of this crisis." Rousseff's aides said they expect a majority of the 65-member committee to recommend that Brazil's first female president be impeached on charges of manipulating budget accounts to boost her reelection prospects in 2014. The government is trying to convince lawmakers to vote against impeachment or abstain when the full lower house of Congress votes on the issue on Sunday by offering government jobs that became vacant when Rousseff's main ally, the PMDB, broke with her two weeks ago. Supporters and opponents of the embattled leftist leader gathered in the capital ahead of Monday's impeachment decision. Bracing for clashes, police erected a 1-km (0.6 mile) long metal fence down the middle of the wide grass esplanade in front of Congress to separate rival demonstrators. If Rousseff's opponents are successful, it would be the first impeachment of a Brazilian president since 1992 when Fernando Collor de Mello faced massive protests for his ouster on corruption charges and resigned on the eve of his conviction by the Senate. "There are sufficient indications to proceed with impeachment," Congressman Jovair Arantes, the committee's rapporteur said about Rousseff's case on Monday. Attorney general Jose Eduardo Cardozo, addressing the raucous committee meeting, said Arantes had not managed to pinpoint a crime by Rousseff and the move to oust her was unconstitutional: "It is absurd to remove a legitimately elected president for an accounting problem." MARGIN OF VICTORY KEY A survey released on Friday by Brasilia-based consultancy ARKO Advice found that 33 of the 65 committee members will vote for impeachment, with 22 against and 10 undecided. The margin of victory will be important in swaying undecided lawmakers in the lower house plenary vote, where recent polls show neither side has guaranteed enough support. Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla, has denied any wrongdoing and rallied the rank and file of her Workers' Party to oppose what she has called a coup against a democratically elected president. But, caught in a political storm fueled by Brazil's worst recession in decades and its biggest ever corruption scandal, Rousseff has lost key coalition allies in Congress. Her mentor and predecessor as president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, himself facing a graft investigation, will lead a big protest in Rio de Janeiro seeking to whip up popular opposition to impeachment at around the time of Monday's committee vote. Rousseff's opponents need 342 votes, or two thirds of the house, to approve impeachment and send the process to the next stage in the upper chamber. If a simple majority of senators then votes in favor of impeachment, Rousseff would be temporarily suspended from office and Temer would become acting president pending a six-month trial in the Senate. (Additional reporting by Brad Brooks; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Alistair Bell)
Brasilia (AFP) - An impeachment committee was due to vote Monday on the fate of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff ahead of a decisive vote in the lower house of Congress on whether she will face trial.

Bad-tempered debate, interrupted by heckling and chanting, filled the committee room in Brasilia while security forces mounted a huge operation outside to separate rival demonstrators expected in the capital later this week.

The committee was due to vote later Monday. The room overflowed with journalists and politicians, most of whom displayed placards reading alternately "Time for impeachment" or "Impeachment without a crime is a coup."

Paulo Pimenta, a deputy with Rousseff's Workers' Party, told AFP that the president expected to lose the committee vote by a margin of about 35-29.

However, the committee vote is non-binding, so focus is concentrated on the crucial lower house vote expected either April 17 or 18. A two-thirds majority in the lower house would send Rousseff's case to the Senate, which would then have the power to put her on trial and ultimately drive her from office.

Rousseff, accused of fiddling accounts to mask the dire state of the government budget during her 2014 re-election, is fighting desperately to ensure enough support among deputies to stop the process.

The latest survey of the 513 deputies in the lower house by Estadao daily on Monday showed 292 in favor, still short of the 342 needed to carry the motion. The count showed 115 opposing impeachment, with 172 required to impose a defeat.

That left the result in the hands of the 106 deputies still undecided or not stating a position.

With Latin America's biggest country gripped by recession, political paralysis and a vast corruption scandal, the stakes are huge and passions on both sides intense.

A barricade was erected along the Esplanade of Ministries in the capital Brasilia to separate opposing protesters that police expect could number as many as 300,000 during the lower house vote.

Story continues

More than 4,000 police and firefighters will be on duty, G1 news site reported, and security Monday was stepped up at Congress, with heavy restrictions on access to the building.

- Poor alternative? -

If the case is taken up by the Senate after being confirmed by the lower house, Rousseff would have to step down for up to 180 days while a trial is held. Her vice president, Michel Temer, who has gone over to the opposition, would take the reins.

Temer would also remain president if a two-thirds majority in the Senate votes to depose Rousseff.

Some in the opposition have declared Rousseff politically dead ever since Temer's PMDB party, the largest in Brazil, quit her ruling coalition and joined the pro-impeachment ranks last month.

However, Rousseff, who was tortured under Brazil's military dictatorship, has fought back, helped by ally and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is overseeing frantic negotiations to build an impeachment-proof coalition.

Rousseff has rock-bottom popularity ratings but as the moment of truth approaches, it has emerged that Brazilians are not much keener on her would-be replacement Temer.

A poll by the respected Datafolha institute on Saturday showed that 61 percent of Brazilians support impeachment, down from 68 percent in mid-March.

However, 58 percent also said they would like to see Temer impeached too.

Controversy erupted Monday with the release -- said by Temer's office to have been accidental -- of a recording in which he practices the speech he'd give if he took over from Rousseff.

Temer adopts a presidential tone, calling for "unification of the country."

Rousseff's Workers' Party called the premature speech evidence of "a brazen coup plot."

- Wild cards -

Several factors could still turn events on their head in this week's countdown to the lower house vote.

One is the Operation Car Wash probe that has revealed a giant corruption network based around state oil company Petrobras.

A Who's Who of Brazilian executives and high-ranking politicians, including many linked closely to Rousseff and Lula, have been prosecuted or investigated. Lula himself has been charged with money laundering.

The government says that the probe has become a political tool to boost the impeachment drive and Rousseff loyalists fear explosive new revelations before the vote.

Another wild card is Lula. An attempt to name him to the government was blocked in the Supreme Court after accusations that he and Rousseff were conspiring to win him ministerial immunity from the Car Wash prosecutors.

The Supreme Court is due to rule in the near future on whether he can formally enter government and the decision would be sure to make waves -- as would new charges or legal action.
Brasilia (AFP) - A tense, divided Brazil held its breath and braced for disturbances on the streets Monday ahead of a vote to decide whether President Dilma Rousseff should face impeachment.

Action was to kick off with a congressional commission's non-binding vote at about 5:00 pm (2000 GMT) on whether to recommend impeachment.

Then on Friday, the full lower house is expected to open debate, with a vote either April 17 or 18 where a two-thirds majority would send Rousseff's case to the Senate. Anything less would allow the former Marxist guerrilla to stay in power.

The commission appears poised to call for Rousseff's impeachment, based on allegations that she fiddled accounts to mask the dire state of the government budget during her 2014 re-election.

However, the lower house vote in a week's time -- when it really matters -- is on a knife edge.

The latest survey of the 513 deputies by Estadao daily on Sunday showed 289 in favor, still short of the 342 needed to carry the motion. The count showed 115 opposing impeachment, with 172 required to impose a defeat.

That left the result in the hands of the 109 deputies still undecided or not stating a position.

With Latin America's biggest country gripped by recession, political paralysis and a vast corruption scandal, the stakes are huge and passions on both sides intense.

A barricade was erected along the Esplanade of Ministries in the capital Brasilia to separate opposing protesters that police expect could number as many as 300,000 during the lower house vote.

More than 4,000 police and firefighters will be on duty, G1 news site reported.

- Shifting ground -

If the case is taken up by the Senate after being confirmed by the lower house, Rousseff would have to step down for up to 180 days while a trial is held. Her vice president, Michel Temer, who has gone over to the opposition, would take the reins.

Temer would also remain president if a two-thirds majority in the Senate votes to depose Rousseff.

Story continues

Some in the opposition have declared Rousseff politically dead ever since Temer's PMDB party, the largest in Brazil, quit her ruling coalition and joined the pro-impeachment ranks last month.

However, Rousseff, who was tortured under Brazil's military dictatorship, has fought back, helped by ally and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is overseeing frantic negotiations to rebuild an impeachment-proof coalition.

Rousseff has rock-bottom popularity ratings but as the moment of truth approaches, Brazilians are looking more closely at Temer, the man who would automatically become president. They do not seem to like what they see.

A poll by the respected Datafolha institute on Saturday showed that 61 percent support impeachment, down from 68 percent in mid-March.

But 58 percent also said they would like to see Temer impeached too.

- Ticking corruption bomb -

Several factors could still turn events on their head in this week's countdown to the lower house vote.

One is the Operation Car Wash probe that has revealed a giant corruption network based around state oil company Petrobras.

A Who's Who of Brazilian executives and high-ranking politicians, including many linked closely to Rousseff and Lula, have been prosecuted or investigated. Lula himself has been charged with money laundering.

The government says that the probe has become a political tool to boost the impeachment drive.

Officials told Estadao last week they fear the crusading lead judge, Sergio Moro, will unleash new arrests or leak testimony to embarrass the president before the vote.

Another wild card is Lula. An attempt to name him to the government was blocked in the Supreme Court after accusations that he and Rousseff were conspiring to win him ministerial immunity from the Car Wash prosecutors.

The Supreme Court is due to rule in the near future on whether he can formally enter government and the decision would be sure to make waves.

Datafolha's poll shows that Lula remains a serious force, polling competitively against his nearest rival if he were to run for the presidency. Temer, meanwhile, would be supported by just one to two percent.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Vice President Michel Temer said on Monday that an audio message that showed him preparing to take over if President Dilma Rousseff is impeached was released by mistake and merely expressed views of his that are already known. Temer told reporters the audio message calling for a government of national unity was aimed for a politicians close to him who had asked if he was prepared to govern in the case that Rousseff were to be impeached. He said the message was mistakenly sent to the wrong group on WhatsApp. (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Diane Craft)
Brasilia (AFP) - The impeachment battle against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has been waged in the streets, in Congress and in the courts.

These key dates track an often complex process that moves forward Monday with a vote in the lower house commission, then a decisive vote in the full lower house a week later.

December 2, 2015

Controversial lower house Speaker Eduardo Cunha formally opens the impeachment saga by accepting a petition from a group of lawyers.

They accuse Rousseff of having illegally juggled government accounts and taking loans in order to mask the depth of government shortfalls during her 2014 re-election.

Meanwhile, many politicians, including Cunha, are snared in criminal corruption probes linked to a vast embezzlement scheme at state oil company Petrobras.

March 16, 2016

The Supreme Court resolves technical issues that had been holding up impeachment proceedings and the battle gets under way.

March 17

The lower house of parliament forms a cross-party commission of 65 members to recommend whether impeachment should go ahead.

April 4

Against a backdrop of regular pro- and anti-Rousseff street protests, Brazil's solicitor general, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, makes final arguments before the commission in the president's defense.

He tells deputies that the charges do not amount to impeachable offenses and that the process is fueled by Cunha's "desire for revenge."

April 11

The commission was to vote on Monday, with only a simple majority needed either way. The commission's rapporteur Jovair Arantes already recommended last week in favor and expectations were that the "yes" side would prevail.

April 17 or 18

The commission vote is non-binding but sets the tone for when the lower house of Congress meets a week later -- expected for either April 17 or 18 -- to issue a decisive ruling.

A two-thirds majority will be required there for an impeachment trial to open in the upper house. Anything less and the matter will be dropped.

If a trial starts in the Senate, then another two-thirds vote will be required for Rousseff to be removed from office. In the meantime, she would have to step aside and Vice President Michel Temer would take over.
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - When she was being tortured under Brazil's military dictatorship, Dilma Rousseff could never have imagined becoming the country's first female president.

But four decades on from those dark days in 1970, when Rousseff belonged to a violent Marxist underground group, she did indeed rise to the top -- only to face impeachment less than a year into her second term.

Proceedings launched last year entered their crucial phase Monday, with a vote recommending impeachment in Congress' lower house committee.

Although non-binding, the decision set the tone for a critical vote in about a week's time in the full house on whether to send Rousseff to trial.

Brazil's 68-year-old "iron lady" has put up a serious fight, trying frantically to repair a coalition left in tatters by the defection of the country's largest party, the PMDB.

The impeachment charges center on her government's allegedly illegal juggling of accounts to cover budget holes.

But momentum is also fueled by anger across Latin America's biggest country over steep recession, corruption and the government's inability to deal with Congress.

Whether that's fair or not, Rousseff has already been condemned by public opinion, her government's popularity plummeting to around 10 percent since her narrow 2014 re-election win against business-world favorite Aecio Neves.

Some critics attack Rousseff for lacking charisma. Others go further, calling her the classic accidental president, a politician who doesn't like politicking.

But as Rousseff herself has pointed out, torture steeled her for tough times.

"I have come up against hugely difficult situations in my life, including attacks which took me to the limit physically," she said. "Nothing knocked me off my stride."

- Cancer battle -

Rousseff came to power in a 2010 election as the handpicked Workers' Party candidate to succeed hugely popular president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Story continues

Whether as Lula's chief of staff or energy minister, she won a reputation for laser-like attention to detail and ability to master the most minute of policy points -- a talent she is said to have carried on into her own cabinet meetings.

Supporters say there's also a warmer side to the leader popularly known by her first name Dilma.

Twice married, Rousseff has a daughter, Paula, from a 30-year relationship with ex-husband, fellow leftist militant Carlos de Araujo.

At Lula's prompting during her reelection campaign she learned to open up a little, for example once confessing to escaping the presidential palace on the back of a friend's Harley-Davidson and cruising through the streets of Brasilia incognito.

"People always say about women in power that they're hard, managerial. But Dilma is a person with a great sense of humor, fun, extremely caring and generous," said Ieda Akselrud de Seixas, who was jailed with Rousseff in the 1970s.

Rousseff also tapped into a national obsession for plastic surgery, getting her teeth whitened, hair redone and lifting wrinkles from her face.

The relatively fresh look was in contrast to the visible toll exacted during her successful battle against lymphatic cancer that was first diagnosed in 2009. At one point, she had to wear a wig to cover hair loss from chemotherapy.

She has since made a complete recovery, doctors say.

- 'High priestess of subversion' -

Born December 14, 1947 to a Brazilian mother and Bulgarian businessman father, Rousseff grew up comfortably middle-class in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte.

She cut her political teeth as a Marxist militant opposed to the 1964-1985 dictatorship and in January 1970 was arrested and sentenced to prison for membership of a group responsible for murders and bank robberies.

Rousseff's actual exploits during her time in the Revolutionary Armed Vanguard Palmares group remain shrouded in rumor, claims, denials and accusations of exaggeration, but most reports agree that she played more a support role than taking part in violence.

Nevertheless, the judge who found her guilty dubbed her the "high priestess of subversion," journalist Ricardo Amaral wrote in a biography. A photo in the book shows a bespectacled Rousseff aged just 22 staring defiantly at the court.

After nearly three years behind bars, during which she says she was subjected to repeated bouts of torture, including electric shocks, Rousseff was released at the end of 1972.

She took a legal political path from then on, helping found the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) in 1979 and eventually switching to Lula's Workers' Party in 2000.

From there, she made rapid progress into the country's most powerful positions.

When Lula was first elected president in 2003, he named Rousseff his energy minister and then, in 2005, his cabinet chief.

As chairwoman of Petrobras from 2003 to 2010, Rousseff was at the tiller of the country's biggest energy company -- a record that has come back to haunt her with the revelation of massive corruption at the firm, although no incidents specifically sticking to her.

Lula, whose own legacy is now threatened by Petrobras-related corruption charges, said he always knew Rousseff was special.

"She came here with her little computer," Lula said after appointing Rousseff to her first cabinet post. "She started to talk and I felt something different in her."
By Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's vice president called for a government of national unity in a message that was released on Monday apparently by mistake, further muddying the waters of a political crisis just hours before a crucial decision in President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment case. Vice President Michel Temer's 14-minute audio message sent to members of his own Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) via the Whatsapp messaging app showed that Temer is preparing to take over if Rousseff is soon forced from office. The audio was posted on the website of the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and confirmed to Reuters by Temer's aides as authentic. Aides said it was accidentally released and they quickly sent another message asking legislators to disregard it. Later on Monday, members of a congressional committee are expected to vote in favour of sending Rousseff to trial for breaking Brazil's budget laws in the first major step towards her possible removal from office. The battle over Rousseff's impeachment has polarized the nation of 200 million people and brought the government of Latin America's largest economy to a virtual standstill. While carefully stating his words did not anticipate the outcome of the impeachment process, Temer said in his message: "The big mission going forward is the pacification of our nation, the unification of our country." "We need a government of national salvation and national unity," Temer said in the audio. "We need to unite all the political parties, and all the parties should be ready to collaborate to drag Brazil out of this crisis." Rousseff's aides said they expect a majority of the 65-member committee to recommend that Brazil's first female president be impeached on charges of manipulating budget accounts to boost her reelection prospects in 2014. The government is trying to convince lawmakers to vote against impeachment or abstain when the full lower house of Congress votes on the issue on Sunday by offering government jobs that became vacant when Rousseff's main ally, the PMDB, broke with her two weeks ago. Supporters and opponents of the embattled leftist leader gathered in the capital ahead of Monday's impeachment decision. Bracing for clashes, police erected a 1-km (0.6 mile) long metal fence down the middle of the wide grass esplanade in front of Congress to separate rival demonstrators. If Rousseff's opponents are successful, it would be the first impeachment of a Brazilian president since 1992 when Fernando Collor de Mello faced massive protests for his ouster on corruption charges and resigned on the eve of his conviction by the Senate. "There are sufficient indications to proceed with impeachment," Congressman Jovair Arantes, the committee's rapporteur said about Rousseff's case on Monday. Attorney general Jose Eduardo Cardozo, addressing the raucous committee meeting, said Arantes had not managed to pinpoint a crime by Rousseff and the move to oust her was unconstitutional: "It is absurd to remove a legitimately elected president for an accounting problem." MARGIN OF VICTORY KEY A survey released on Friday by Brasilia-based consultancy ARKO Advice found that 33 of the 65 committee members will vote for impeachment, with 22 against and 10 undecided. The margin of victory will be important in swaying undecided lawmakers in the lower house plenary vote, where recent polls show neither side has guaranteed enough support. Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla, has denied any wrongdoing and rallied the rank and file of her Workers' Party to oppose what she has called a coup against a democratically elected president. But, caught in a political storm fuelled by Brazil's worst recession in decades and its biggest ever corruption scandal, Rousseff has lost key coalition allies in Congress. Her mentor and predecessor as president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, himself facing a graft investigation, will lead a big protest in Rio de Janeiro seeking to whip up popular opposition to impeachment at around the time of Monday's committee vote. Rousseff's opponents need 342 votes, or two thirds of the house, to approve impeachment and send the process to the next stage in the upper chamber. If a simple majority of senators then votes in favour of impeachment, Rousseff would be temporarily suspended from office and Temer would become acting president pending a six-month trial in the Senate. (Additional reporting by Brad Brooks; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Alistair Bell)
LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne published details of his tax records for 2014/15 on Monday, following the lead of Prime Minister David Cameron who on Sunday made the unprecedented decision to publish how much he earned and how much tax he paid. The disclosures form part of the Conservative government's attempts to draw a line under questions about senior politicians' tax dealings after Cameron's late father was mentioned in the Panama Papers as having set up an offshore fund. The summary showed that Osborne paid 72,210 pounds ($102,971) of tax on a total taxable income of 198,738 pounds. That income was made up of his 120,526 pound salary, 33,562 pounds net rental income and dividend income of 44,647 pounds. (Reporting by William James and Andy Bruce; editing by Stephen Addison)
The early 20th-century British military leader T.E. Lawrence, widely known as "Lawrence of Arabia" for allying with and advising Arab forces fighting against Ottoman Turks, wrote about taking part in a train ambush in Saudi Arabia in 1917 that proved to be a pivotal skirmish during the Arab revolution.

In the decades since Lawrence published the memoir "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" describing his wartime experiences, critics have accused him of exaggerating or even falsifying his participation in certain events. For instance, some biographers have said he embellished his role in the Hallat Ammar train ambush, recognized by historians as a clash that helped define tactics used in modern guerilla warfare.

But now, archaeologists have discovered a piece of evidence that appears to place Lawrence at the scene of the ambush. It's not quite a "smoking gun," but it's the next best thing  a bullet fired from a Colt 1911 automatic pistol, a gun that Lawrence was known to have carried. [Photos: The Oldest Known Evidence of Warfare Unearthed]

A distinctive weapon

That type of gun was unlikely to have been used by anyone else at the ambush, said archaeologist Nicholas Saunders, one of the leaders of the team that investigated the site. Saunders co-directs the Great Arab Revolt Project (GARP), whose members have excavated a number of Arabian Desert locations where key battles were fought during the Arab Revolt between 1916 and 1918.

A Jordanian army escort accompanied Saunders and his team during their work on the ambush site, which lies in a demilitarized zone between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. A metal detector led the researchers to the bullet, Saunders told Live Science in an email.

Though the bullet was clearly different from the hundreds of other expended cartridges at the site, the archaeologists didn't recognize the find's significance right away, Saunders said. Handgun experts on the team conferred with an international network of specialists to identify the bullet as originating from a Colt 1911 automatic pistol, rather than from a rifle or other pistol of British, German or Turkish make that accounted for most of the spent ammunition the researchers found.

Story continues

"It was the only Colt 1911 bullet found at Hallat Ammar," Saunders said, adding that Lawrence was the only person known to carry one of these guns during the ambush.

Another recent find by Saunders' team further bolstered the credibility of Lawrence's Hallat Ammar ambush accounts: a train nameplate that Lawrence took as a souvenir and gave to a friend's family, and which had been lost for nearly 80 years, Saunders said.

Most of the train ambushes led by Lawrence would have happened too quickly to allow him time to safely collect a memento, Saunders said. But the lengthier Hallat Ammar ambush, which involved two locomotives, could have provided Lawrence with the time he needed to remove an engine's plate.

GARP's archaeological efforts, originally slated for three years, have extended for nearly a decade.

"We wanted to understand and investigate the landscape in which modern guerrilla warfare had been 'invented' and to see if it was possible to find archaeological evidence of this," Saunders told Live Science, adding, "We found far more than we originally thought."

Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By Sudarshan Varadhan (Reuters) - A temporary outage hit Business Wire, the press release distribution company owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, on Monday, delaying the release of many company statements including Alcoa Inc's earnings report. Business Wire was down due to a power outage at a third party co-location facility, Chief Operating Officer Richard Deleo said in an emailed statement. The outage was not related to a cyber attack, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Business Wire's feed went down just before the U.S. stock market closed. The last release issued reached Reuters at 3:44 p.m. ET. Deleo said Business Wire's service provider was working to resolve the issue. Alcoa's Chief Executive Klaus-Christian Kleinfeld told CNBC that the glitch at Business Wire had delayed the release of the metal company's quarterly earnings report, which marks the unofficial beginning of earnings season. (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; and Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - The Central African Republic unveiled on Monday its first new government since a peaceful presidential vote in February seen as a step toward reconciliation after years of sectarian violence.

Prime Minister Mathieu Simplice Sarandji's cabinet announced on national radio has 23 members, with none drawn from the Muslim and Christian militias behind the bloodletting sparked by a coup three years ago.

Three candidates who came up short against President Faustin-Archange Touadera, elected in a February 14 run-off vote, are in the cabinet, including Defence Minister Joseph Yakete.

Jean-Serge Bokassa, tapped for interior minister, and Charles Armel Doubane, who will handle foreign affairs, also ran unsuccessfully to lead the war-torn nation.

CAR's most recent episode of bloodletting was sparked by the March 2013 ousting of long-serving president Francois Bozize, a Christian, by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance.

The coup sparked a series of revenge attacks involving Muslim forces and Christian vigilante groups known as "anti-balaka" (anti-machete) militias.

Thousands were slaughtered in the spiral of atrocities that drove about a tenth of the population of 4.8 million to flee their homes.

The new cabinet will also include some familiar faces, with at least three having served under Touadera when he was Bozize's prime minister from 2008-2013.

Among them are: Leopold Mboli-Fatrane, who is responsible for mines in the mineral-rich nation, and Theodore Jousso, transport and civil aviation minister.

Marking a success in CAR's effort to return to normalcy, it was readmitted last week to the African Union, ending a three-year suspension following the 2013 coup.

The bloc lauded CAR for "successfully holding" the elections, which passed off without violence despite widespread fears of unrest.

The violence disrupted farming, transport and public services in one of the world's poorest nations and was so serious that France -- the former colonial power -- launched a military intervention and the UN deployed a peacekeeping force.
By Sharon Bernstein

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California will increase the amount of money new parents can receive through the state's paid family leave program under a bill signed on Monday by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.

The measure, passed last month by the Democratic-controlled state legislature, will increase the amount paid to new parents or people caring for a sick family member to as much as 70 percent of their regular income for the poorest workers, up from 55 percent, beginning in 2018.

Those earning more will also get an increase in payments, to 60 percent from 55 percent. The legislation also eliminates a seven-day waiting period imposed on receiving the benefits.

The program will apply to all parents who take time off from work to bond with a child within one year of birth, adoption or placement as a foster child. It will also provide payments to people who take time to care for seriously ill relatives.

President Barack Obama, a Democrat, welcomed the move by the most populous U.S. state and urged Congress to enact a national paid leave plan.

"This action means more hardworking Californians will have the peace of mind to know that they can take care of a new child or a sick family member," Obama said in a statement. "Yet millions of Americans still dont have access to any form of paid leave."

The California law aims to help more people take family leave, especially poorer Californians who could not afford to stop work if they got only 55 percent of their regular income, according to the bill's author, Jimmy Gomez, a Democratic assembly member.

Money for the program will come through the state's disability insurance system, which is funded from payroll deductions. Costs are projected at up to $587 million annually when it is fully implemented by 2021, but the law expires in 2022, and would have to be reauthorized at that time.

A state analysis showed the Employment Development Department would increase worker contributions by 0.1 percent from 2019 to 2021 to pay for it.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Cambodian opposition member of parliament has been arrested for posting a map on Facebook professing to show that the government had ceded territory to Vietnam to whip up opposition, a government spokesman said on Monday. Cambodia has for centuries fretted about its much bigger neighbours - Vietnam to the east and Thailand to the northwest - encroaching on its territory. The issue remains emotive and many Cambodians are suspicious of both countries. Um Sam An, a member of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested on Sunday in the province of Siem Reap after arriving from overseas, a party colleague and fellow lawmaker said. "He created a fake border map and used it as an incitement to overthrow the government," said government spokesman Phay Siphan. Formal charges would be filed when he appeared before a court. Phay Siphan said he would be charged with forgery and incitement. The opposition in Cambodia has for years accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of ceding land to Vietnam in the hope of turning voters against him. The prime minister, who rose to power in the 1980s as part of a government that was backed by Vietnam, has dismissed the accusations. The government spokesman said Um Sam An had repeatedly posted "fake" border maps on Facebook, accusing the government of ceding land. Tension has been rising in Cambodia as Hun Sen's ruling party and the main opposition CNRP look to a 2018 general election that could be the biggest test of the prime minister's three-decade rule. The CNRP condemned Um Sam An's arrest in statement on Monday. An arrest warrant has been issued for CNRP leader Sam Rainsy on charges of defamation in several different cases. He lives in self-imposed exile. Another CNRP lawmaker, Hong Sok Hour, is in prison awaiting trial on an accusation that he posted on Facebook a fake government pledge to dissolve Cambodia's border with Vietnam. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Robert Birsel)
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A Cambodian opposition member of parliament has been arrested for posting a map on Facebook professing to show that the government had ceded territory to Vietnam to whip up opposition, a government spokesman said on Monday. Cambodia has for centuries fretted about its much bigger neighbors - Vietnam to the east and Thailand to the northwest - encroaching on its territory. The issue remains emotive and many Cambodians are suspicious of both countries. Um Sam An, a member of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested on Sunday in the province of Siem Reap after arriving from overseas, a party colleague and fellow lawmaker said. "He created a fake border map and used it as an incitement to overthrow the government," said government spokesman Phay Siphan. Formal charges would be filed when he appeared before a court. Phay Siphan said he would be charged with forgery and incitement. The opposition in Cambodia has for years accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of ceding land to Vietnam in the hope of turning voters against him. The prime minister, who rose to power in the 1980s as part of a government that was backed by Vietnam, has dismissed the accusations. The government spokesman said Um Sam An had repeatedly posted "fake" border maps on Facebook, accusing the government of ceding land. Tension has been rising in Cambodia as Hun Sen's ruling party and the main opposition CNRP look to a 2018 general election that could be the biggest test of the prime minister's three-decade rule. The CNRP condemned Um Sam An's arrest in statement on Monday. An arrest warrant has been issued for CNRP leader Sam Rainsy on charges of defamation in several different cases. He lives in self-imposed exile. Another CNRP lawmaker, Hong Sok Hour, is in prison awaiting trial on an accusation that he posted on Facebook a fake government pledge to dissolve Cambodia's border with Vietnam. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Robert Birsel)
London (AFP) - Prime Minister David Cameron defended his tax affairs and announced a deal to open up Britain's overseas tax havens on Monday as he confronted critics of his offshore dealings for the first time in parliament.

Cameron this weekend became the first British leader to publish his tax returns after admitting he held shares in his late father's Bahamas-based investment fund, which he sold before he took office in 2010.

"I didn't want anyone to be able to suggest that as prime minister I had any other agendas or vested interests," he told the House of Commons in his first appearance since the Panama Papers put his finances in the spotlight.

Cameron used his statement to announce a new crackdown on tax avoidance and a new agreement with the British Virgin Islands and other tax havens to share information with British law enforcement and tax authorities.

"There's no doubt that in some of these jurisdictions and countries there are some very bad things happening... and that's why we want our authorities to go through everything they can," the prime minister said.

While not illegal, Cameron's offshore dealings risk undermining his efforts to lead international action against tax evasion, which will see him host an anti-corruption summit in London in May.

Cameron admitted he had not handled well the revelations about his father's Blairmore fund following the leak of documents by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

But he rejected the "deeply hurtful and profoundly untrue" suggestion that his father was trying to avoid tax, saying it was a legitimate business to trade in dollar-denominated securities.

And while it was right to "tighten the law and change the culture" to crack down on evasion and aggressive avoidance", Cameron said the government should "defend the right of every British citizen to make money lawfully".

He added: "Aspiration and wealth creation are not somehow dirty words."

Story continues

- Publishing tax returns -

As he stood at the dispatch box, finance minister George Osborne, London mayor Boris Johnson and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also released details of their taxes.

But Cameron rejected calls for all lawmakers to reveal their financial affairs, saying it would be a "very big step".

Currently MPs must only declare shareholdings above A70,000 (87,000 euros, $100,000) on a parliamentary register of interests and do not have to disclose the quantity of some revenues such as rental income.

The prime minister released a tax summary for the past six years and revealed he had received a A200,000 gift from his mother in 2011.

This came after he received A300,000 in his father's will, raising questions over whether the gift was intended to avoid inheritance tax, for which the threshold is A325,000.

Cameron said it was a "natural human instinct" to want to pass on money to your children.

The prime minister and his wife also owned shares his father's fund, which they sold for A31,500.

Labour leader Corbyn accused Cameron of failing to appreciate the public anger over the "scandal of destructive global tax avoidance" revealed by the leak.

"What they have driven home is what many people have increasingly felt -- there is now one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest," he said.

- Clampdown on tax havens -

Cameron announced that Britain's overseas territories had agreed to provide law and tax agencies with full access to information on who owned and benefited from companies.

The agreement, which includes the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Isle of Man and Jersey, although not Guernsey and Anguilla, appears to have been struck in the past few days.

But the Oxfam charity said Cameron "needs to do better than this".

Unless the registry is public "it will be impossible for wider society -- especially people in the world's poorest countries -- to hold businesses and governments to account," it added.

Cameron also announced that legislation to make companies criminally responsible if they fail to stop staff facilitating tax evasion would come into force this year.

The plans, first mooted last year, have been criticised by lawyers and accountants who warn they could criminalise firms who unwittingly break the rules, and could put Britain's financial sector at a disadvantage.

In addition, Cameron said a new taskforce would analyse the Panama Papers "and take rapid action".
Ottawa (AFP) - Canada said Monday it is hiring 100 new auditors to investigate large money transfers to overseas tax havens in hopes of recouping Can$2.6 billion (US$2 billion) in unpaid taxes.

The announcement comes in the wake of the leaked "Panama Papers" that exposed how the wealthy stash their money in offshore havens.

National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier told a press conference that the Canada Revenue Agency would begin by targeting 350 Canadians and 400 companies with holdings in the Isle of Man, and expand their work to three other overseas jurisdictions in May.

The agency noted that Can$860 million (US$666 million) had been transferred from Canada to the British crown dependency in a single year.

"Thanks to the measures announced today, there will be no place in the world that will allow Canadians to take part with impunity in tax evasion strategies and tax avoidance strategies," Lebouthillier said.

"Those who hide income and assets overseas or who conduct tax evasion and avoid paying taxes that they owe will be identified and will pay the consequences of their actions."

Last week, the release of 11.5 million leaked documents from the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca put a worldwide spotlight on tax evasion schemes.

The vast stash of records from Mossack Fonseca was obtained from an anonymous source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with more than 100 media groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The Toronto Star, which is a part of the consortium, has said 350 Canadians are on the list.

Offshore financial dealings are not illegal, though they may be used to hide assets from tax authorities, launder proceeds of criminal activities or conceal misappropriated or politically inconvenient wealth.

Last month, Ottawa earmarked Can$444.4 million (US$344.5 million) over five years for increased policing of tax evasion.

In addition to its focus on tax havens, the Canadian government said it would take a closer look at "high risk" multinationals and accounting firms that promote questionable tax planning strategies.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A vehicle laden with explosives rammed into a gendarmes' base in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast on Monday, wounding several people, a security source said. About 20 ambulances rushed to the scene in the town of Hani, north of the provincial capital of Diyarbakir, the source said. The force of the blast was so strong that windows shattered and buildings around town shook, witnesses said. Southeastern Turkey has been rocked by violence since July when the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) abandoned a two-year ceasefire and the Turkish army launched security operations it says has killed thousands of militants. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
LONDON (Reuters) - Former British drug smuggler Howard Marks who wrote about his exploits in an autobiography "Mr Nice" has died at the age of 70 after suffering from bowel cancer. Marks, who learned of his condition last year, died in the early hours of Sunday at his home near Bridgend in Wales, according to a statement from his publisher Harvill Secker. Marks turned to cannabis trafficking in the 1970s after graduating from Oxford University with a degree in physics. After a series of multi-million pound deals and high-profile court cases, his career in drug smuggling finally came to an end in 1988 when he was caught after a raid on his house in Spain and extradited to the United States. He was sentenced to 25 years in a high-security American prison but released on parole after seven years. In 1996 Marks published his autobiography, which sold over a million copies and was followed later by a film of the same name in which he was played by his friend and fellow Welshman Rhys Ifans. "Mr Nice was above all an adventure story," said his editor at Harvill Secker, Geoff Mulligan. "Around the time of publication a close friend of Howard said to me: 'people are going to think he's made half of this up' but I know he left out half of it." In later life, Marks campaigned for the legalization of cannabis and even stood for parliament in 1997 for the sole purpose of legalizing the drug. A skilled raconteur, he toured a one-man show recounting his experiences on the wrong side of the law and in 2015 published a follow-up to his autobiography called "Mr Smiley: My Last Pill and Testament." He said when he first learned of his cancer last year that he had no regrets about his life. (Reporting by Bethany Rielly; editing by Stephen Addison)
By Mark Weinraub CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago City Council's Finance Committee on Monday approved payments totaling $6.45 million to settle cases involving two black men who died while in police custody. The settlements come as the third-biggest U.S. city's police department faces a federal investigation and racism accusations over the death of black teenager Laquan McDonald. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired his police commissioner in 2015 after protests following the release of a video showing a Chicago police officer shooting 17-year-old McDonald 16 times. Under the settlements, the family of Philip Coleman, who was tasered by police officers while handcuffed in a jail cell in 2012 and later died after being taken to a hospital, will receive $4.95 million. Coleman was dragged motionless out of his cell by the handcuffs. The tasering and dragging were caught on video cameras. The committee also approved $1.5 million for the family of Justin Cook, who died of an asthma attack after being arrested in 2014. The suit claimed that police did not provide appropriate medical attention. The full city council will vote on the settlements on Wednesday. High-profile killings of black men by mainly white police officers in U.S. cities have prompted a national debate and protests about the use of excessive force by police. (Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Andrew Hay)
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia has doubled the reward for information leading to the capture of Usuga Clan gang leader Dario Antonio Usuga to nearly $1 million, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Monday. The Usuga Clan, also called the Urabenos, have ties to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and smuggle hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine out of the Andean country each year, according to law enforcement officials. "We're on the trail of the leaders of Usuga and its top boss, Otoniel," Santos said, referring to the alias of Usuga. "We're raising the reward for him to 3 billion pesos, double what it was." He spoke after meeting with security officials. Experts believe criminal gangs will be the country's biggest security challenge in the coming years as conflicts with leftist rebels, who also participate in the drug trade, wind down. (Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Nigel Hunt and Michael Hogan BOUGHTON UNDER BLEAN, England (Reuters) - Fans of craft beers could soon face higher bar bills as small, independent brewers face a potentially serious shortage of a vital ingredient: hops. Last summer's hot and dry weather blighted the European hop harvest and strong demand for increasingly popular craft beers, which use a lot of hops, is putting small brewers' profit margins under pressure and forcing them to raise their prices. Prices of some hop varieties have risen by up to 50 percent, industry sources say, while industry insiders say others are up to five times more expensive or simply not available. On his farm in Kent, not far from London, Tony Redsell has been growing hops since 1948 and some of the varieties he cultivates, strung along yarns supported by rows of high poles in traditional fashion, are more than 200 years old. He sells most of his hops under contract to small brewers in the United States and his prices have risen by 20 percent in the past three years. Last year the German crop was well down and American growers could not make up the difference, suggesting prices will go up again. "The growth of craft brewing in the United States has boosted demand for English varieties," Redsell told Reuters. "It's a good time to be hop farmer." Most brewers have contracts with hop growers that protect them from sudden price surges, but future supply is at risk. The scarcity may also get worse as multinationals such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller buy up craft brands and ramp up their production. "It's tough for brewers, especially brewers that don't have hop contracts or who were a little late to the contracting game," said Bill Manley, small batch product manager at Californian craft pioneer Sierra Nevada. If you underestimate sales and need more hops, as can happen if a beer suddenly gets popular, he said "you have to go around and knock on doors like a neighbor trying to borrow a cup of sugar". Along with water, malt and yeast, hops are one of the main ingredients of beer. Germany and the United States are the two dominant hop growers, each accounting for one-third of world production. But Germany's harvest shrunk by 27 percent last summer, according to the International Hop Growers' Convention. There were also sharp declines in other European producers such as the Czech Republic and Slovenia. "There has been a considerable tightening of supplies on the European hop market after the major reduction in the 2015 harvest with a sharp increase in prices," said Stephan Barth of German-based global hop merchant the Barth Haas Group. "Europe will need at least an average harvest in 2016 otherwise we could see serious supply shortages," he added. Barth said some hop prices had already shot up by 35 to 50 percent depending on type since last summer. HOP HEAVY Craft beers are produced by small, independent brewers using traditional methods. Popular styles such as India Pale Ale can use six times the volume of hops used in the conventional lagers from which they have taken market share. Rabobank analysts Ciska van den Berg and Francois Sonneville forecast an increase in global beer consumption of around 1 percent in 2016 as drinkers continue to trade up to craft beers. Craft beer accounts for one pint in eight in the United States and is becoming more popular elsewhere, according to Bart Watson, chief economist with the U.S. Brewers Association. "We're seeing small and independent brewers spring up in a variety of locations across the globe. Europe, particularly northern Europe, is one area," Watson said. Rabobank said craft beer had become "a worldwide phenomenon" and would ensure strong demand for hops this year. The world's big brewers, producers of lagers like Budweiser, Miller Lite, Heineken and Coors, do use hops but in smaller amounts than in than craft beers. That may be changing though, as they have been jumping on the craft beer bandwagon by buying small brewers or developing their own craft-like brews. AB InBev "has a policy of long-term contracts and sufficient physical inventories in place to protect against the current shortage for our brewing operations", a spokeswoman said. The company, known for Budweiser and Stella Artois, also owns craft beers including Goose Island, Blue Point and Four Peaks in the United States and Camden Town in Britain. Compared to independent brewers, AB Inbev will have much more clout when it comes to buying hops, potentially further reducing supply for small players. Evin O'Riordain, founder of South London's Kernel Brewery, whose beers include six hop-heavy pale ales, called this "a worry on the horizon" but expressed hope that higher prices would encourage more farmers to grow hops. "If a hop farmer can get a better living out of growing good quality hops, then I think that's positive," he said. Hops often range in price from about $3 per pound to about $25 per pound, but extreme demand can push prices much higher. HOP SWAPS Hops fall into two main categories, alpha, which give beer its bitterness, and aroma, which enhance smell and flavor. Aroma hops are currently either not available or in very tight supply, but ways have been found to help brewers. "By shifting inventories from well stocked breweries to those in need, the hop merchants have been able to balance the market," Barth said. Sierra Nevada, which helped launch the American craft beer movement with its flagship Pale Ale in 1980, said that given the perishability of hops, brewers will often transfer them to other beer outfits if they have more than they need. "Sometimes we'll trade, like 60 empty bourbon barrels for 500 pounds of hops or something like that," Manley said. Small brewers are also making beers that use fewer hops while still retaining their flavor, or substituting less popular but cheaper varieties. Rabobank said high prices would bring an increase in plantings but since it takes three years for a new hop field to reach full yield hop prices will rise further this year. This will not affect mainstream brews, where hops make up at most 2 percent of the price, Barth said. "But craft beers have a higher proportion of hops and so an impact on prices may be seen," he said. Hops grow fast and this leaves them open to disease. On his farm at Boughton under Blean in east Kent, Tony Redsell is keeping a close watch on his increasingly valuable fields. "Virtually every day of the week during May, June, July and August, I will be walking the hop trees," he said. (Writing by Martinne Geller; Graphic by Gustavo Cabrera Cervantes; Editing by Giles Elgood)
(This version of the April 4th story fixes spelling of analyst name in 13th paragraph) By Joshua Franklin ZURICH (Reuters) - On Jan. 19, Credit Suisse Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam contacted the head of the Swiss bank's markets business asking for more details about the fourth-quarter results at the trading division, according to materials seen by Reuters. Two-and-a-half months and nearly $1 billion in write-downs later, investors, analysts and former board members are questioning why Thiam and his finance chief, David Mathers, were caught out by the scale of the division's illiquid trades -- positions that are not easy to sell out of. The write-downs have compounded for Credit Suisse what has already been a tough start to 2016 for all investment banks, with its share price down around 38 percent so far this year, one of the biggest slides of all large European lenders. In January, Thiam, by then just over six months into his job as CEO of Switzerland's second-biggest bank, wondered whether Credit Suisse had gone too big on some trades and addressed the issue with another top executive. "I wonder about the absolute size of our inventory in a number of activities," he told Global Markets head Tim O'Hara on Jan. 25, according to the materials shown to Reuters on condition that no further details would be disclosed. "You and I need to discuss case by case the appropriate inventory levels," Thiam said. Thiam has said he and other senior bank officials were unaware of the size of the positions behind the write-downs but that no trading limits had been breached or trades concealed. In response to Reuters questions about the bank's risk management and the exchange between Thiam and O'Hara, a Credit Suisse spokesman reiterated those comments. "He only learned of the extent of the positions in January and took steps to address the situation," the spokesman said. Thiam and O'Hara declined further comment on Monday. On Feb. 4 the markets division reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of 658 million Swiss francs ($686.35 million) for the quarter, in which Credit Suisse racked up $633 million in write-downs on illiquid trades. A further $346 million in write-downs followed in the first quarter as of March 11, the bank disclosed on March 23. Now Thiam faces questions about the bank's risk controls and oversight by senior management of part of its markets business. "Does it raise concerns? Yes it does," said Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Swiss private bank Vontobel who rates Credit Suisse's stock "hold". Some people familiar with the Zurich-based bank's operations expressed surprise and scepticism that top management could be unaware of such important details. "If the CFO didn't know about it, then sure as hell the chief risk officer would have done, which means everybody would have done," said one former board member of a Credit Suisse investment banking subsidiary. "It's hard to imagine that nobody knew about this stuff." The Credit Suisse spokesman declined to comment on who knew what and when. UGLY DUCKLINGS Around $600 million of the write-downs came from securitised products -- which include collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) -- and distressed credit. CLOs are packages of debt, often corporate loans, which are put together and sold on to investors. They often offer high rates of return but the holders take on most of the risk of loans being defaulted on. Distressed credit involves trading debt of companies that are near or going through bankruptcy, another high-risk high-reward strategy. When he outlined his new strategy for the bank in October, Thiam had referred to securitised products and credit as the "two ugly ducklings". But he said it was not a top priority to tackle businesses such as these that require large amounts of capital when they were generating high returns in Global Markets, one of Credit Suisse's two investment banking divisions. In securitisation Credit Suisse is one of the top three players by revenue, according to Coalition's investment bank league table, which also pegs Credit Suisse as a top-six bank in terms of credit. But by mid-March, Thiam decided to exit distressed credit and European securitised product trading altogether. Thiam told analysts and reporters that Mathers, Chief Financial Officer at Credit Suisse, and many others at the bank had also been unaware of the size of the positions. Looking at the numbers in January, Thiam turned for answers to O'Hara, Global Markets head since an Oct. 21 restructuring, the materials seen by Reuters showed. Thiam wanted to understand the fourth-quarter performance, with a particular focus on December and go over, "day by day if necessary", the activities and risk management decisions taken. After O'Hara sent over a profit and loss statement as well as a risk review, Thiam sought clarification on some leveraged finance deals signed during 2015 which had already posted a cumulative loss of $87 million. He also wanted to better understand the rationale behind Credit Suisse's large presence in U.S. distressed debt trading. "I noted the absolute level of our CLO exposures," Thiam said. "It will be important to ensure that these exposures do not increase going forward and understand their potential impact on Q1 if market conditions do not improve. This last point is actually valid for all the products." O'Hara agreed that inventory was too high, saying Credit Suisse's trading desks were trying to get positions down where they could without disrupting the market. Credit Suisse has reduced its exposure to distressed credit from $2.9 billion at the end of December to $2.1 billion by mid-March, while its U.S. CLO exposure went from $0.8 billion to $0.3 billion. UNWELCOME DISTRACTION Thiam said in March that "a number of people" had paid consequences for him being unaware of these trading positions, and that part of the issue was that trading limits were continuously raised, letting traders take larger positions. Credit Suisse's illiquid investment limit is approved by its risk committee, according to the bank's Organizational Guidelines and Regulations report dated June 2014. Limits for exposures where the risk profile changes more infrequently, as with illiquid investments, are monitored on a monthly basis, the bank said in its 2015 annual report. While Thiam said the problem was in the issue bank's systems and trading limits, Credit Suisse Chairman Urs Rohner offered another explanation, telling a conference there was a problem over how the assets were valued, traded and managed. The write-downs are an unwelcome distraction as Thiam, 53, embarks on Credit Suisse's biggest revamp in a decade. They follow a $2.6 billion settlement and a guilty plea for its private banking having helped wealthy Americans evade tax, in May 2014, more than a year before Thiam, a former Ivory Coast government minister, joined Credit Suisse from British insurer Prudential . Thiam wants to pare back Credit Suisse's investment bank and focus on wealth management. His strategy, which included a new management structure and raising about 6 billion francs in fresh capital, has received a lukewarm response from markets. In March, Credit Suisse announced 800 million Swiss francs in additional cost cuts and plans to shrink its investment bank further. The market welcomed cost cuts but many are still waiting for the turnaround efforts to take hold. (Additional reporting by Michael Shields and Oliver Hirt in Zurich, and Anjuli Davies, Simon Jessop and Alex Chambers in London, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia's new center-right government condemned on Monday the crimes of the country's World War Two Nazi puppet regime after the Jewish and Serbian communities said they would boycott an event this month commemorating concentration camp victims. Representatives of the small Jewish community, minority Serb population and a leading anti-fascism group have said they will not attend an April 22 ceremony in Jasenovac, site of a former concentration camp. They have cited government inaction over incidents including a march where protesters shouted the greeting of the WW2 regime. They say these incidents "downplay and revitalize the Ustashe regime" that controlled the country during the war, and they have decided to organize separate commemoration ceremonies in Jasenovac later this month. In a bid to win their support ahead of the April 22 event, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic met representatives of Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and anti-fascists on Monday, and Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic issued a statement condemning the Ustashe's crimes. "The Croatian government, and I personally, condemn the crimes of the Ustashe regime," he said. "April 22 is a day of remembrance and commemoration to innocent victims of Jasenovac ... I'm sorry that this occasion, instead of paying respect to the victims, is used for politicization that opens new divisions in society. All that not only insults the victims and their families, but also inflicts huge damage on Croatia." Jasenovac, located some 70 km east of Zagreb, is notorious for mass killings of Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats under the Ustashe regime, which ruled the so-called Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945. "The president is concerned about divisions and negative trends visible in society. We're ready for talks on how to start changing the negative trend of playing down the Ustashe ideology and the victims of its regime," said a representative of Croatian Serbs, Milorad Pupovac. The Jewish and Serb communities have also voiced concern over changes to the exhibits at the Jasenovac museum which they say fail to adequately and fully reflect the criminal nature of the Ustashe regime. (Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
After scouring six hospitals and three morgues, N.P. Anoop is no closer to finding his father who was caught in a massive blast and fire at an Indian temple that claimed more than 100 lives.

Like thousands of others, his father had gone on Saturday night to the Hindu temple in southern Kerala state, renowned for its beaches and tranquil backwaters, to see the annual fireworks display.

But in the chaotic hours after the explosion that ripped through the Puttingal Devi complex, the increasingly desperate 32-year-old could find no trace of his father, Vishwanathan, and feared the worst.

"I don't know if he is alive or dead. All I want is to see him, we are ready for the worst but this search is painful," he told AFP after questioning ICU staff at a medical college hospital in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.

"My father had gone to the festival with his friend. We were able to find the body of his friend but have yet to get any information on my father," the weary-looking Anoop said, before heading off to yet another hospital.

At hospitals, morgues and police stations, families are involved in a heartwrenching search for loved ones feared swept up in the blast that tore apart concrete buildings.

But the task is being made more difficult by the fact that some of the more than 100 people killed are unrecognisable.

Local residents reported finding body parts strewn at the complex from the force of the explosion, while others were charred in the fire, in a tragedy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as "shocking beyond words".

- 'We can only pray' -

Some 15 families flocked to Paravur police station, just 100 metres from the temple, to fill out missing person reports and implore officers to help.

"There are 20 unclaimed bodies at the morgues and we suspect some of them (the missing) might be there. But only a DNA test will establish their identities as the bodies are beyond recognition," officer in charge N. Vijayan told AFP.

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At the hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, families move through the corridors, some sobbing, others peeking through glass windows, as overworked doctors and nurses race around them.

Others who found relatives now face an agonising wait as they undergo treatment for serious burn and other injuries.

"We can only pray to God. There is nothing we can do, doctors are doing their best to save him," Ramesh, who only has one name, said of his injured 22-year-old son.

Emergency room doctor Rajesh Kumar said the hospital was initially overwhelmed after the disaster, with victims arriving with head wounds and mangled limbs.

At the temple in Kollam district, witnesses described mass panic after the explosion, thought to have been sparked by a firework that landed on a stockpile of others during the show.

Labourer K. Manayan said thousands of "jubilant people" had been enjoying the lengthy display in the early hours of Sunday morning.

"Everything changed in a moment after a huge thud. There was silence and people were crying for help. It was so powerful that I fell to the ground and in no time people started running over me," he told AFP.

"Some one pulled me towards the side and later took me to hospital."
Paris (AFP) - Scientists said Monday they had found a handful of healthy people each carrying a genetic mutation that should have condemned them to crippling disease or death.

The discovery, made by scanning the genomes of nearly 600,000 normal people, opens up a new approach to finding treatments for cystic fibrosis and dozens of other rare and incurable conditions linked to specific variations in a single gene.

Up to now, medical science assumed that anyone unlucky enough to have one of these so-called Mendelian mutations -- named after the 19th-century founder of modern genetics -- was doomed.

"Most genomic studies focus on finding the cause of a disease, but we see tremendous opportunity in figuring out what keeps people healthy," said Eric Schadt, a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, and a main architect of the study.

"Millions of years of evolution have produced far more protective mechanisms than we currently understand," he said in a statement.

Together with colleagues Stephen Friend and Rong Chen, Schadt led a team of 30 researchers in sifting through data on nearly 900 genes from each person's genome, looking for the telltale mutations leading to any of hundreds of distinct genetic diseases.

A rigorous process of winnowing left them with 13 individuals who had gene variants that would normally result in one of eight debilitating conditions.

Besides cystic fibrosis, which inflicts severe damage on the lungs and the digestive system, these included Pfeiffer syndrome, characterised by a severe deformation of skull bones, and Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, a disorder linked to multiple malformations and intellectual disability.

The results were published in Nature Biotechnology.

"These rare individuals must possess some combination of factors -- genetic or environmental -- that protects them from an otherwise crippling disease," Daniel MacArthur, a genomics researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital who was not involved in the study, commented in the same journal.

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The next step would be to locate enough cases of people who have survived to adulthood despite these genetic flaws to identify -- and eventually duplicate -- these protective mechanisms.

- 'Genetic superheros'-

Until recently, it would have been technically unfeasible to scan hundreds of thousands of human genomes in this manner.

"This study demonstrates the power of using big data to ask new biological questions," said Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of personal genomics company 23andMe, which participated in the project by providing access to data on more than 400,000 of its customers.

In a frustrating twist, however, the researchers were unable to follow up with any of the 13 people found because of limitations in the consent policies they had signed.

Experts commenting on the study said this was a regretable shortcoming that limited the value of the findings and would need to be changed in future research.

"Some of the patients may have had disease that went unreported," said Scott Hebbring, a scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation and a professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Ada Hamosh, clinical director of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, said mutation for cystic fibrosis were so unlikely in healthy people that the results may have stemmed from a "technical error."

The two cases of Pfeiffer syndrome, he added, could have been so mild as to not be detected as such.

But commentators agreed that the idea of scanning large populations to find individuals who are healthy despite carrying gene variants known to cause disease holds great promise.

"Achieving this goal will require incredibly large sample sizes," measured in millions not thousands, said MacArthur.

It will also need what he called "genetic superheros" to step up and dotate their genomic and clinical data so researchers can pick through them.
Lima (AFP) - Keiko Fujimori has vowed to unite Peru after her first-round presidential election victory, but she faces a fierce runoff battle to overcome the divisive legacy of her jailed father.

The 40-year-old conservative candidate claimed a boost from Sunday's vote in her quest to become the first female president of the South American mineral-exporting nation.

But she faces resistance from voters who mistrust her because her father Alberto Fujimori is in jail for corruption and human rights atrocities committed during his 1990-2000 presidency.

The lawmaker and mother of two also faces a challenge from moderate conservative Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, 77, a British- and US-educated former World Bank executive, who has vowed to defeat the "Fujimoristas."

Official results with 89.7 percent of ballots counted on Monday showed Fujimori had 39.48 percent of the vote against 21.38 percent for Kuczynski, known as "PPK."

He beat left-wing contender Veronika Mendoza to win second place.

In the second round on June 5, "Kuczynski will get lots of anti-Fujimorista votes," said Luis Benavente, head of polling agency Vox Populi.

"The second round will be very polarized."

- Fighting for unity -

Keiko Fujimori worked during her campaign to distance herself from her father's authoritarian image. He was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in jail for massacres of supposed terrorists by death squads in 1991 and 1992.

Celebrating her first-round victory with a broad smile on Sunday night, Keiko Fujimori vowed to unite the country.

"Peru wants reconciliation and no more conflict," she said.

"We have to step on the accelerator of growth again so it reaches all the remote villages" of the country, she added.

Strengthening her hand, Keiko's Popular Force party also won a big majority in Peru's single-chamber congress in Sunday's vote.

Her younger brother Kenji scored highly and is seeking to be elected speaker of the chamber.

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With a slick electoral machine that held glittering campaign rallies, Keiko Fujimori had been widely tipped in polls to win Sunday's vote by double digits.

But the balance of power can shift over the coming months. Opinion polls have given a mixed picture of which candidate might win in June.

Latin America analyst Maria Luisa Puig at the Eurasia Group wrote in a note Monday that Fujimori could "win a tight race due to her appeal to poor voters, a sector Kuczynski will struggle to reach."

- Foreign business -

Fujimori and Kuczynski have vowed to strengthen law and order and invest in services for the poor in this country of 30 million people.

Forty percent of Peruvians live at risk of poverty, according to development charity Oxfam.

Economic analysts said foreign investors would be relieved that Mendoza was out of the running since she had vowed to tighten state control of Peru's resources.

The Lima stock exchange surged by 8.5 percent on Monday morning after the election result.

The country has one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America, despite a recent fall in commodity prices. Growth slowed in recent years under outgoing President Ollanta Humala.

Both US-educated, Fujimori and Kuczynski say they are committed to maintaining Peru's economic growth through foreign trade and investment.

"Regardless of who wins, a continuation of current business-friendly economic and investment policies is likely," wrote Puig.

In Lima, 19-year-old student Josue Maravi said he voted for Mendoza and will now back Kuczynski -- not because he likes him, but because he does not trust Keiko Fujimori after her father's rule.

"These two candidates are virtually the same," he said on Monday.

"But I think Peruvians that voted for Mendoza will now vote for PPK, so the Fujimori story does not happen again."
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An animal cruelty investigation into celebrity dog trainer Cesar Millan, known as the "Dog Whisperer," has ended and no charges will be filed, a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said on Monday.

The Department of Animal Care and Control in Los Angeles County launched the investigation after a Feb. 26 episode of the Nat Geo WILD TV series "Cesar 911", in which Millan trains a French bulldog-terrier mix called Simon to co-exist with his owner's pot-bellied pigs after having killed two of them.

On the show, Simon is seen chasing the pig and biting its ear, causing it to bleed.

The investigation by the district attorney was dropped due to "insufficient evidence," said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the office.

Millan's attorney, Brian Klein, said his client cooperated fully with the investigation. "His methods are safe and humane," Klein said by phone.

Millan said in a statement that he was "pleased but not surprised" by the district attorney's decision.

"My team and I are 100 percent dedicated to the proper care of all animals, including the farm pig in this case," Milan said. "I am continuing my work rescuing and rehabilitating even the most difficult problem dogs, which has saved the lives of thousands of animals that otherwise would have been euthanized."

A change.org petition signed by more than 13,000 people called Millan's methods inhumane, saying he "used the pig as a bait for the dog all for 'entertainment' purposes." It asked Nat Geo WILD to cancel his show.

Millan, 46, who found fame through his "Dog Whisperer" TV show that has been broadcast worldwide and who has sold millions of books about his training techniques, said he disagreed that he used the pig as bait to provoke the dog. He added that Simon and the pig "became best friends" and the dog was no longer aggressive to toward pigs.

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In a follow-up segment, which was aired later in the episode, Simon is seen co-existing peacefully with a group of pigs, a chicken and other animals.

The American Humane Society said it received complaints about the episode, and called the incident "abuse" in a statement.

Nat Geo WILD, a unit of 21st Century Fox [NWSNA.UL], rallied around Millan and said that a clip from the episode that was shared online "caused some concern for viewers who did not see or understand the full context of the encounter."

(Reporting by Sara Catania; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alan Crosby)
Donald Trump poses with his family after formally announcing his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination last June. From left: Eric Trump and his wife, Lara; Donald Trump; son Barron; Melania Trump; Vanessa Haydon and her husband, Donald Trump Jr., with children Kia Trump and Donald Trump III; Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner; and Tiffany Trump. (Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

In an appearance on Fox & Friends Monday morning, Donald Trump was asked about the fact that two of his five children, Ivanka and Eric Trump, are not registered to vote as Republicans in their home state of New York. Trump acknowledged this means they will not be able to vote for him in New Yorks Republican presidential primary on April 19.

Records from the New York State Board of Elections show that neither Ivanka Trump nor Eric Trump is enrolled in a political party, a fact that was first reported by Yahoo News on April 4.

They had a long time to register, and they were, you know, unaware of the rules, and they didnt  they didnt register in time. So they feel very, very guilty. They feel very guilty, Donald Trump said. But its fine. I mean, I understand that. I think they have to register a year in advance and they didnt, so Eric and Ivanka, I guess, wont be voting. (Yahoo News found that, in addition to the fact they are not Republicans, both Ivanka and Eric Trump have donated money to Democratic candidates and committees.)

New York election law does not allow voters to change their party affiliation and vote as a member of a new party in the same year. Ivanka and Eric Trump would have needed to enroll as Republicans by October 14, 2015, to participate in the upcoming primary.

Trumps campaign, which is staffed by relative political newcomers, has had some difficulties with rules and processes. At the Colorado State Republican Convention on Saturday, Trumps top rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took all 17 delegates after Trump ran what NBC News described as a disorganized and frustrated campaign plagued by mistakes. Several other states held delegate selection events over the weekend, and Cruz similarly dominated the process.

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Donald Trump with, from left, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., in 2014. (Photo: AP)

Ivanka and Eric Trump have campaigned extensively for their father along with his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is a registered Republican in New York. Trump has two other children, 10-year-old Barron, who is too young to vote, and 22-year-old Tiffany, who has not been as active on the campaign trail. Yahoo News could not find voting records for Tiffany. Ivanka and Eric did not respond to requests for comment about their registration status.

When he discussed Ivanka and Erics inability to back him in the New York primary on Fox & Friends, Trump was asked if he would be cutting off their allowance.

Yes, he quipped. No more allowance.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy officer is in custody at a military prison under charges of espionage, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday.

The officer is being held at the Navy Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia, Earnest said.

He declined to comment on the "substance of the allegations" and referred reporters' questions about allegations of the officer passing sensitive U.S. intelligence and state secrets to other countries to the Department of the Navy.

A U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday that a U.S. Navy officer with access to sensitive U.S. intelligence faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan.

(Reporting by Clarece Polke; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Starting April 1, law schools can begin to require accepted applicants to demonstrate a commitment to enroll. Whether asked to sign an "intent to enroll" form or make a cash seat deposit, some applicants may not be ready to finalize their decision by the pending deadline. Here's what you need to know about committing to multiple programs.

[Weigh a law school's location when deciding where to enroll.]

1. Will law schools know if you commit to more than one program? Yes, although the timeframe for when schools will receive notice may not be immediate. According to the organization's multiple-deposit notification policy, "LSAC provides periodic reports detailing the number of applicants who have submitted seat deposits or commitments at other participating schools."

However, it is not until May 15 that those reports "include the names and LSAC account numbers" for applicants that have made multiple commitments.

Since law schools will ultimately receive this information anyway, it might be advantageous to be transparent and proactively disclose that you've made multiple-commitments. I advise my clients at Stratus Prep to explain to admissions committees the factors that affect your decision-making process.

Maybe you are still waiting for scholarship decisions or have scheduled a campus visit after the deposit deadlines. Perhaps you and your partner want to attend the same law school, but one of you has been waitlisted. If you don't have all the necessary information to make a fully informed choice before committing to a single program, making multiple commitments is reasonable when acting in good faith.

Be aware, however, that law schools prefer to have a definitive response so they can evaluate their wait-lists and assess available scholarship funds. If your available offers are final and you simply cannot make a decision, taking advantage of multiple-seat deposits is frowned upon.

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[Consider these law school scholarships.]

2. Will committing to more than one program jeopardize your enrollment offers? Potentially, yes. You need to be aware of the risks of making multiple seat deposits. Some programs require you to stipulate that you have forfeited enrollment and scholarship offers from other schools when making a seat deposit. Law schools have different policies on this issue, so be sure to carefully review the terms of all your enrollment and scholarship offers before making multiple commitments.

Also note that while the initial deposit or intent to enroll may not have any restrictions on multiple commitments, subsequent deposits may require you to forego other outstanding offers. Policies on refunding deposits may also change the closer you get to the start of your first term.

Practice your lawyering skills and read contract terms and provisions with care. Law schools can revoke admissions offers if applicants fail to abide by their policies.

[Discover 10 ways to get financially ready for law school.]

3. Can you make multiple commitment offers as leverage when negotiating scholarships? Making multiple commitments does allow you to preserve your options as you continue to assess which program is the right fit for you, particularly when financing law school is a major factor in your decision-making process.

Often law schools will have a better a sense of available funds for distribution after seat deposit deadlines, because some applicants who received funding offers will decline to commit. Therefore, barring any policies against multiple deposits, committing to more than one program may enable you to receive money previously allocated elsewhere.

Nonetheless, avoid over committing. You will make a stronger case that you're negotiating in good faith by narrowing your choices to only the top contenders you are seriously considering attending. If law schools are notified that you've committed to several other programs, they may doubt that you are a genuine candidate for enrollment, and subsequently be less willing to recruit you with funding packages.

Have questions about deciding where to enroll? You can reach me at lawadmissionslowdown@usnews.com.
By Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The United States will celebrate Equal Pay Day on April 12. The awareness-raising day has been observed for two decades to mark how long women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year. U.S. government data shows women earn 79 cents for every dollar a man makes for the same work. Below is a list of facts about this symbolic day: WHY EQUAL PAY DAY - A woman in the United States must work about four extra months to earn the same as her male counterpart. - Equal Pay Day was first celebrated in 1996 and originated with the National Committee on Pay Equity. HOW IT IS CELEBRATED - The White House typically issues a presidential proclamation of National Equal Pay Day. - Supporters wear red to illustrate how far women are 'in the red' with their pay. - This year, some will celebrate "unhappy hours," a play on words in reference to bars' practice of happy hour, in places including Houston, Texas and Washington. - In New Hampshire, a handful of businesses such as bakeries and cafes say they will charge women 79 percent of their bill to make up for the pay gap. - Advocates plan rallies across the nation from Chicago to Pittsburgh and New York City. - Activists have planned activities in at least 27 states, according to the American Association of University Women. EQUAL PAY DAY ACROSS MINORITY GROUPS - To emphasize that the pay gap is even bigger for women of color, a coalition of advocates celebrate Equal Pay Days at other times of the year. - Asian American women's Equal Pay Day is observed in March. - For African American women, there is an Equal Pay Day in August. - The Latina Equal Pay Day takes place in October. EQUAL PAY DAY ACROSS THE WORLD Equal Pay Day has caught on across the world. - In Germany, Equal Pay Day was celebrated on March 19. - In Switzerland, it was held on February 24. - In France, Equal Pay Day fell on March 29. - In the United Kingdom, Equal Pay Day was celebrated on March 11. An earlier celebration was held on November 9, 2015, symbolically showing that if women were earning the same as men, they would not be paid for the last two months of the year. (Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
Fendi is celebrating its 90th anniversary with a "haute fourrure" fashion show in Rome.

The luxury Italian house will return to its hometown on July 7 for a one-off catwalk show dedicated to fur, one if its favorite fabrics.

The iconic label first opened its doors on the historic city's Via del Plebiscito in 1926, with the premises serving as a workshop dedicated to the fur and leather goods. Almost a century later the house, now under the creative direction of Karl Lagerfeld, retains an entire internal studio dedicated to working with the controversial material.

"An haute fourrure show in Rome is the best way to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Fendi to express our roots and our DNA while transmitting bold creativity and the unique expertise of fur," said the brand's CEO Pietro Beccari.

The move is a bold one, considering the recent wave of key fashion brands to publicly denounce the use of fur in clothing collections. Animal rights activists, who have been lobbying the industry for years, have been delighted by several high fashion labels readjusting their fur policies over the past year.

Just last month, the Armani Group announced plans to go fur-free this year, beginning with its fall 2016 collections, with designer Giorgio Armani overriding his previous stance on the issue and publicly stating: "I am pleased to announce that the Armani Group has made a firm commitment to abolish the use of animal fur in its collections." Hugo Boss made a similar commitment in the summer of 2015, joining the ranks of fellow fur-free fashion labels Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Stella McCartney.
PARIS (Reuters) - France will seek tougher EU sanctions on people who help to facilitate tax evasion and a G20 blacklist of uncooperative tax havens, the Finance Ministry said on Monday following the Panama Papers leaks. Countries on the blacklist should be subject to "counter-measures coordinated by different states", the ministry said in a statement outlining the issues that Finance Minister Michel Sapin will push at meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the Group of 20 leading economies this week in Washington. Some 96 jurisdictions have committed to automatically exchange tax information with other governments in the next two years, with some traditional offshore centers such as the British Virgin Islands due to start as early adopters next year. Since signing up in principle last year, Panama has rowed back, saying it could not meet all the reporting standards required for automatic sharing. Panama is now the only major financial center among the countries that have not committed to the automatic sharing of tax information with other governments, according to an OECD report last month to G20 finance ministers. Bahrain, Nauru and Vanuatu have also not made such a commitment. France's Finance Ministry said the European Union should play its part in clamping down on tax evasion by looking into imposing sanctions against people who help and encourage it. Frustrated at Panama's lack of cooperation in sharing information on French taxpayers' activities in the country, the ministry also said it would seek to renegotiate a 2011 tax convention with Panama. After last week's revelations about the clients of a Panamanian law firm specialized in setting up shell companies, France put Panama back on its own blacklist of uncooperative tax havens. Panama had been removed from the list after the signing of the 2011 bilateral tax convention. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Michel Rose and Gareth Jones)
By Ursula Scollo and Mitra Taj LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian markets jumped on Monday as results showed two free-market candidates would move on to the second round of the presidential election: Keiko Fujimori, the conservative daughter of a jailed former president, and centrist economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. With 88 percent of votes counted, Fujimori had 39.5 percent support while Kuczynski, 77, a former World Bank economist widely known by his initials 'PPK', had 21.6 percent. Leftist Veronika Mendoza trailed with 18.5 percent. Peru's select stock index <.SPBL25PT> rose nearly 12 percent, its biggest daily gain since 2008. The sol currency closed bidding 2.67 percent stronger at 2.8 per dollar, its strongest rise since 1992. The free-market model that has been in place for 25 years in Peru would be maintained in either a Kuczynski or Fujimori presidency, and their parties look likely to dominate congress. "On paper, both programs are very similar," said Pedro Tuesta, an economist with 4Cast, adding that Kuczynski viewed the use of supply-side economics to boost growth more favorably, something that could increase deficits. Markets had fallen over the past week on concerns about Mendoza, 35, who had called for new central bank management to lower interest rates, the diversion of natural gas exports to the domestic market and a smaller role for the country's key mining sector. Fujimori, whose father Alberto was Peru's authoritarian leader throughout the 1990s, fell far short of the 50 percent of votes needed for outright victory in the first ballot and will probably be vulnerable in the second round vote on June 5. "It's a totally different campaign, but we think it will be easier for us because anti-Fujimori sentiment is very strong and it will be hard for her to shake that off in the short term," said Kuczynski adviser Alfredo Thorne. Despite her lead after Sunday voting, polls have shown opposition to Fujimori has grown since the start of the year, part of the fallout from the electoral board's controversial decision to toss two of her rivals from the race while clearing her of vote-buying allegations. Many who opposed Alberto Fujimori's divisive rule planned to rally behind her rival, whether Kuczynski or Mendoza. The son of European immigrants, Kuczynski is a pro-business economist and a former finance minister but is more moderate on some social issues than Fujimori, 40, and does not have the baggage associated with her last name. "I believe we can return to economic growth of 5 percent per year with a few measures," he said on Monday. Kuczynski said if Congress passed a law to allow older convicts, including the elder Fujimori, to complete their sentences at home, he would sign it if he became president. Keiko Fujimori has said she would drive economic growth forward, as a decade-long mining boom fades, by tapping a rainy-day fund and issuing new debt to fund badly needed infrastructure. She has portrayed herself as the only candidate who would be sufficiently tough on crime. Fujimori's chances in the run-off will depend largely on whether she can distance herself from her father, who was convicted of corruption and human rights abuses tied to a crackdown on leftist insurgents during his 1990-2000 rule. SHINING PATH In a reminder of that bloody conflict, rebels presumed to be remnants of the Shining Path ambushed soldiers sent to safeguard ballots on the eve of the election, leaving at least six dead. Fujimori criticized President Ollanta Humala, a former military officer who defeated Fujimori during her first presidential bid in 2011. "I'm sorry this government had allowed not only crime to advance in the streets but has also permitted Shining Path to keep taking lives and shedding blood in our country," Fujimori said as she celebrated her first-round win. On track to become the world's second-largest copper producer, Peru has enjoyed nearly two decades of uninterrupted economic growth. Despite its vast natural resources, Peru remains largely undeveloped outside its main cities, and many voters say Humala failed to fulfill his promises of reducing inequality of wealth. Presidents are not allowed to run for consecutive terms in Peru. Humala has not endorsed any candidate and criticized the electoral board for disqualifying two of Fujimori's rivals. Julio Guzman was ousted for violating minor electoral procedures and Cesar Acuna for handing out cash while campaigning. Fujimori has promised, if elected, not to use her power to free her father from prison, but she believes the courts will ultimately absolve him. Human rights activists remain wary, and protests on April 5, 24 years after Alberto Fujimori dissolved Congress, drew tens of thousands of Peruvians. An Ipsos opinion poll afterward showed Fujimori would probably lose to Kuczynski by seven points if they faced each other in a run-off. Fujimori's rejection rates also jumped, with 51 percent of Peruvians saying they would "definitely not" vote for her. (Additional reporting by Caroline Stauffer, Marco Aquino and Teresa Cespedes; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Andrew Hay)
By Marco Aquino and Caroline Stauffer LIMA (Reuters) - Keiko Fujimori won the first round of Peru's presidential election on Sunday, though the race to be her opponent in the June run-off was locked in a virtual tie between two contenders, three exit polls showed. Ipsos gave Fujimori 37.8 percent of valid votes, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski 20.9 percent, and Veronika Mendoza 20.3 percent. GfK had similar results, while CPI gave Kuczynski a slightly better advantage, with 19.7 percent to Mendoza's 18.8 percent. Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, would have needed 50 percent for an outright win but was held back by critical voters who have not forgiven the authoritarian rule of her father. Support for the U.S.-educated former congresswoman slipped after tens of thousands protested against her on April 5, 24 years after the elder Fujimori shut Congress with the support of the army. She may struggle to win a runoff vote. Peruvians voted for President Ollanta Humala's successor with their country of 30 million on track to become the world's No. 2 copper producer. However, rising crime is a top concern for voters and many question why poverty persists with such vast mineral wealth. Polls closed at 4p.m. (2100 GMT) Lima time. Partial results, about 20 percent or 30 percent of votes, will be given at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT) and the electoral body says it will finish counting on Monday. A runoff between Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former World Bank economist, and Fujimori would likely ensure Peru's free-market economic model remains intact. Mendoza's late surge in opinion polls in recent weeks has spooked markets. Fujimori has promised to build high-altitude prisons in the Andes to isolate dangerous criminals, and said she would drive economic growth forward at the end of a decade-long mining boom by tapping a rainy day fund and issuing new debt to fund badly needed infrastructure. Kuczynski's supporters danced in the streets with his guinea pig mascot after exit polls were reported. However, in previous elections early results have underrepresented rural areas, where Mendoza and Fujimori have stronger support. SECOND ROUND The most recent Ipsos poll showed Kuczynski would beat Fujimori in a second-round election by seven points, while Mendoza was seen in a statistical tie with her. Fifty-one percent of Peruvians polled told Ipsos they would "definitely not" vote for her. Kuczynski's economic adviser, Alfredo Thorne, said that exit polls showed Kuczynski had stronger support in rural Peru than in 2011, when he struggled to connect with voters outside of Lima during his first presidential bid. Mendoza, who wants to scrap Peru's 1993 constitution and limit mining, thanked her supporters from her home city of Cuzco, once the capital of the Incan empire. "We've shown that we can do politics differently!" she said. Fujimori has vowed to preserve democracy and extend 25 years of free-market policies. Her father, a right-wing populist who is serving a 25-year prison term for human rights abuses and corruption during his 1990-2000 rule, is fondly remembered by some for building rural schools and hospitals and implementing neo-liberal reforms that remain in place. Keiko Fujimori famously became Peru's first lady at 19 when her parents divorced. She says her father is innocent and should be absolved by the courts but has promised not to use her political power to free him from jail or repeat his authoritarian tendencies. "I voted for Keiko because she's not to blame for what her father did," said 41-year-old Carlos Zevallos. "Crimes aren't inherited." The elder Fujimori said his hard-line measures were necessary to defeat the Maoist-inspired Shining Path insurgency. In a reminder of that bloody conflict, rebels presumed to be remnants of the Shining Path on Saturday ambushed soldiers sent to safeguard ballots, leaving at least six dead, authorities said. The head of the Organization of American States mission to Peru, Sergio Abreu, said there had been some isolated delays in voting but that Sunday's election had otherwise been calm. (Additional reporting by Mitra Taj and Teresa Cespedes; Editing by Mary Milliken, Jonathan Oatis and Nick Zieminski)
HIROSHIMA (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies said they strongly opposed provocation in the East and South China Seas, where China is locked in territorial disputes with nations including the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan. In the latest verbal exchange on who controls the vital trade waterways, China said it had not seen the G7 statement, but that countries in the region were seeking to promote stability and that disputes were being "exaggerated". "If the G7 wants to continue playing a major role in the world, it should take an attitude of seeking truth from the facts to handle the issues the international community is most concerned with at the moment," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing. "If the G7 is taken hostage by the selfish interests of certain countries, then this probably won't be beneficial to the G7's influence, role and future development." Earlier on Monday, the G7 foreign ministers said after meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima that they opposed "any intimidating coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions". In an apparent reference to China's territorial spat with the Philippines, the group also called on countries to observe international maritime laws and implement any binding judgments delivered by courts and tribunals. Manila has asked the International Court of Arbitration in the Hague to decide on its dispute with Beijing, which has said it does not recognize the case. A ruling is expected by June. China is building islands on reefs in the South China Sea to bolster its claims. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the waters, that are believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas and through which an estimated $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year. (Reporting by Tim Kelly in TOKYO and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Michael Perry and Mike Collett-White)
By Lianne Back Bananas never last very long -- within a few days of buying them, the rot sets in. But now Israeli scientists have found a way to significantly slow the decomposition down by altering the genes of the fruit. Dr. Haya Friedman, a researcher at Israel's Volcani Institute, also known as the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), told Reuters that the genetically-altered bananas can stay fresh for at least double the time of normal bananas. "You can see here that these are bananas that we changed the expression of the gene and which now the ripening is delayed. Where in control fruits the ripening is still developing as fast and normally. You have to understand that these fruits were picked more than a month ago," she said, pointing at two bunches of bananas on the table in front of her, one is obviously blackened and the second is still freshly-looking yellow." Friedman's research was initially based on previously-known findings in tomatoes. But it took these findings a step further to isolate the specific gene that drives the ageing process in bananas and interrupt its normal function. "Even though there are like 80 genes of the same family, we found the gene that can control, that control the ripening and we were able to show that it's really similar to what is happening in tomato, we can delay the ripening," she said. Volcani Institute is the research arm of Israel's Ministry of Agriculture, where researchers work on practical breakthroughs to help, among other things, Israeli growers better ship their produce all over the world. In this case, their work was focused on ways to extend the shelf life of fresh produce. Lab tests show that the genetic intervention does not harm the bananas' quality or taste, Dr. Friedman said. She now hopes to find ways to commercialize her findings to benefit farmers and wholesalers. More than that, she would like to see her work improve the lives of those living in developing countries, where nutrition is heavily dependent on fresh produce but facilities for cold transportation and storage are scarce. "I think that this discovery will be very useful for developing countries because in developing countries, for the local population... they do not have means of transportation in cold or storage in cold, although the banana should not be stored in cold, but at 12 degrees it can be stored and it can last longer. But they don't have the facilities. So I think a development like this is a great idea for developing countries. They will have food for a longer time."
Berlin (AFP) - Germany said Monday it was reviewing a request by Turkey to prosecute a TV satirist who crudely insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on air, amid a bitter row over free speech.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters that Berlin had received a "note verbale", a formal diplomatic protest, from Ankara asking for "criminal proceedings" against celebrity comedian Jan Boehmermann.

Seibert said officials at the chancellery, foreign ministry and justice ministry would decide after "careful review" in the coming days whether a probe under the rarely enforced section 103 of the criminal code -- insulting organs or representatives of foreign states -- could go forward.

If prosecutors decide to bring charges, they could carry a sentence of up to three years in prison.

German prosecutors last week opened a preliminary probe against Boehmermann, 35, over his so-called "Defamatory Poem", recited with a broad grin on public television, which accused Erdogan of having sex with goats and sheep.

That investigation was based on complaints from several German viewers. However the Turkish government's request gives the affair a far broader diplomatic dimension and puts Merkel in the line of fire.

Seibert stressed Berlin's constitutional commitment to freedom of expression, calling it "non-negotiable".

"This applies, and this is very important to me, regardless of whether the chancellor personally finds something artistically successful or repellent, tasteful or tasteless," he said.

Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin confirmed the complaint to reporters in Ankara.

"This type of insult against a president, against an entire people, has nothing to do with freedom of expression and the press, it is a criminal offence," he said.

During the broadcast on March 31, Boehmermann gleefully admitted the piece flouted Germany's legal limits on free speech and was intended as a provocation.

Story continues

In the German-language rhyme, Boehmermann, seated before the Turkish flag and a portrait of Erdogan, also charges that the Turkish leader loves to "repress minorities, kick Kurds and beat Christians while watching child porn".

Seibert quoted Merkel last week criticising the poem as "deliberately insulting" during a telephone call with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davotoglu, in a move Berlin had hoped would smooth ruffled feathers.

The case comes at an extremely awkward time as Europe, and Germany in particular, are relying on Turkey to implement a pact to curb the influx of migrants setting sail for the EU from Turkey's shores.

German critics have savaged the government's muted response to Turkey's diplomatic protest, accusing Merkel of kowtowing to the Turkish leader.

- 'Crisis of state' -

News website Spiegel Online said the impression had arisen "that Merkel can be blackmailed over the EU-Turkey migrant pact" and said the government now faced a serious dilemma between democratic principles and the letter of an evidently outdated law.

The head of the Turkish community in Germany, Gokay Sofuoglu, blasted the poem as "not satirical but inappropriate and insulting" and demanded an apology from Boehmermann.

The comedian was reacting to Ankara's decision to summon Germany's ambassador in protest last month over a previous satirical song broadcast on German TV which lampooned Erdogan in far tamer language.

The two-minute clip "Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan", set to the tune of a 1980s pop song, takes aim at the Turkish president over his alleged spending excesses and his government's crackdown on civil liberties.

Free speech advocates have rallied around Boehmermann, with his employer, public broadcaster ZDF, saying his show would "continue as planned" although it has removed the offending clip from its website.

And the chief executive of one of Europe's top media companies, Axel Springer AG's Mathias Doepfner, gave Boehmermann his full support, accusing Berlin of hypocrisy for even considering allowing the comedian to be prosecuted.

In an open letter to Boehmermann in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Doepfner defended the poem as a "work of art" intended to "force people to consider how a society deals with satire and -- even more important -- satire intolerance among non-democrats".
Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team will be watching for you today.



Alcoa (AA) is set to unofficially kick off earnings season after the close of trading today with first-quarter results. Analysts are looking for the company's earnings to fall for the third consecutive quarter to $0.02 per share due to slumping aluminum prices. Revenue is also expected to fall from a year ago to $5.14 billion.

Yahoo (YHOO) remains in the spotlight after the owner of British newspaper The Daily Mail confirmed it's considering a bid for the Internet giant. The deadline for potential suitors to place offers for Yahoo's core business is a week from today.

Get the Latest Market Data and New with the Yahoo Finance App



Netflix (NFLX) is in focus this morning, the online streaming giant is raising prices for millions of subscribers by two dollars next month. Those affected by the price boost are customers who were grandfathered into their current rates of $7.99 a month two years ago.



Hatteras Financial (HTS) shares rose sharply in early trading. The real estate investment trust is being bought by rival Annaly Capital Management (NLY) for $1.5 billion in cash and stock. That translates to $15.85 a share.

Hertz (HTZ), the car rental company, lowered its earnings and car rental revenue guidance for the first quarter. The company now expects U.S. car rental revenue to fall 2.5% to 3.5%. Hertz blames the shortfall on excess capacity in the rental car market. Shares of rival Avis (CAR) also fell on the news in early trading.
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chuck Grassley and Merrick Garland go way back, but when the Republican Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and President Barack Obama's U.S. Supreme Court nominee meet for a private breakfast on Tuesday, they will not exactly be sharing fond memories. Two decades ago, Grassley, an Iowa Republican, spearheaded a fight against Garland's nomination to the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Just like now, a Democratic president, in that case Bill Clinton, submitted Garland's nomination to a Republican-controlled Senate. Garland, then a top Justice Department lawyer, was denied a Senate confirmation vote in 1995 and 1996 despite earning bipartisan praise. Finally, in 1997, after Clinton renominated Garland upon winning re-election in 1996, was he confirmed to a seat on the court that was a launching pad to the Supreme Court for Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Clarence Thomas, as well as the late Antonin Scalia. Fast-forward to 2016: Another Democratic president has chosen Garland to replace Scalia only to have Grassley and a Republican Senate maneuver to block the nomination without so much as a Judiciary Committee hearing. "Nothin' against him," the 82-year-old Grassley, who describes himself as "just a farmer from Butler County," told Reuters. Even so, Garland, 63, will sit down with Grassley on Tuesday and be told that once again, his nomination will be put on ice. In 1995 and 1996, Garland was entangled in "what ended up being a 12- or 15-year crusade," Grassley said, to reduce the number of judges on the federal appeals court that Clinton chose him to join. Two decades later, Grassley again offered no criticism of Garland's qualifications. Grassley, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has decided to ignore Garland's nomination in the hope that a Republican will be elected president on Nov. 8 and, after taking office in January, would choose a conservative rather than the centrist Garland. "It's not about him because we're living by the principle 'let the people have a voice,'" Grassley said, referring to the November presidential and congressional elections. Grassley, no stranger to controversy during 35 years in the Senate, has become the target of Democrats' scorn in this Supreme Court drama. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Grassley could go down as both inept and the "most obstructionist" Judiciary Committee chairman in history. Other voices have weighed in against Grassley and his fellow Republicans, with the Des Moines Register newspaper in his home state calling the Garland blockade "un-American." Grassley, facing re-election in November, insists he will not buckle, and called the Register's editorial "hyperbolic rhetoric." In a Senate speech last week, he recounted showdowns dating back to the 1980s when he took on a popular president from his own party, Ronald Reagan, over budget matters. "I am no stranger to political pressure and to strong-arm tactics," Grassley said. Grassley then turned his attention to Roberts, criticizing a speech the chief justice made shortly before Scalia's death about the politicization of the confirmation process and warning Roberts, appointed by Republican George W. Bush, to keep his mouth shut in the Garland fight. "Now that's a political temptation that the chief justice should resist," Grassley said. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Will Dunham)
By Lefteris Karagiannopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - Keen to clear the decks for its lucrative summer tourist season, Greece is trying to clear thousands of migrants out of its biggest port where they are sleeping rough by persuading them that they are better off in organized reception centers. More than 50,000 migrants have been stranded in Greece because of multiple border closures across the Balkans to the north, sealing off a land corridor to wealthy northwestern Europe used by a million people before them fleeing conflict and deprivation in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The port of Piraeus is the main gateway to Greece's Aegean islands beloved of tourists - but also for an annual exodus of Greeks from the mainland to celebrate Orthodox Easter. So Greek officials, anxious not to scare off the travelers' trade so vital to the debt-ridden country's cash-starved treasury, are at pains to stress to migrants camped out there that Piraeus is not a home. To that end, they are circulating a pamphlet, in Piraeus and other areas of Greece with impromptu migrant camps, showing the beaming face of a child, a man using thumb and forefinger to show a loveheart and a boy munching a banana. It reads: "The boards (borders) to other European states are now blocked from all directions and unfortunately there is no hope that they are going to open in the foreseeable future." The pamphlet, published by the Greek coastguard in Arabic, Farsi, English and Greek, is a gentle undertaking to coax migrants to head to organized reception centers. "The Greek people will always be your friend," it adds. Over 4,000 migrants were camped at Piraeus on Monday and over 11,000 at Idomeni, a northern border outpost where Macedonian police fired tear gas to drive back migrants who stormed the border fence in desperation on Sunday. [ID:nL5N17D07U] The response to the pamphlet has been a mix of resignation and suspicion. "I think it will be better at the (reception center). It has to be. I'm tired of this place," said Osama Jamal, a 30-year-old Syrian, as he and members of his family waited to catch a bus out of gritty, bustling Piraeus port. "I'm tired of this place. I have read there are showers there and better accommodation," he told Reuters. Greek authorities laid on buses on Monday to transfer migrants from Piraeus to dockyards northwest of Athens, and there were signs that refugees were on the move. But some were not convinced, fearing they would be essentially jailed in a reception center. Furat Mamo, from the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, said he would rather stay in Piraeus than go to a reception center. "We heard it's very bad. A friend of mine is there and he says it has closed doors, that he needs a special paper to go out," the 24-year-old student said. Mamo and a friend have been living in a passenger terminal at Piraeus for a month, their possessions wrapped in blankets. Authorities say they cannot remain there for much longer. The coastguard leaflet of happy beaming faces urges people not to lose hope, and that people will get free medical care, food and transport if they move on to reception centers. "Do not lose your courage, we stand by you, we love you...! the pamphlet reads. Furat Mamo and his friends at Piraeus were not swayed. "I think all we can do is wait here," he said. (Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
The detonator of a hand grenade exploded during a demonstration requested by a judge in a Pakistani anti-terror court on Monday, injuring two people and throwing the judge off his chair.

The dramatic incident, which wounded a policeman and a court assistant, occurred during the trial in the southern city of Karachi of a man accused of being an extortionist and gangster who had carried out several grenade attacks.

Police claimed to have recovered a stash of grenades when they arrested him.

During the course of proceedings Judge Shakil Haider asked police to demonstrate how the device worked, a lawyer told AFP.

"Upon the request by the judge, the investigator tried to demonstrate the working of the grenade by pulling something out of it," defence lawyer Abdul Jabbar Lakho told reporters.

The judge was thrown from his chair by the blast, a witness said.

Senior police official Jamil Ahmed confirmed the incident, adding the part which exploded was the detonator which was thought to have been defused.

The explosive surrounding the detonator had already been made harmless, he said.

"We are investigating as to how the detonator was brought to the court without being defused," Ahmed added.
Everyone hates sitting in traffic, but navigating through crowded streets and highways is the price many Americans pay for living in dynamic but congested urban areas.

There are a few cities, however, where heavy traffic is relatively rare.

A recently released report by mapping experts TomTom finds that Knoxville, Tennessee, is the city with the lowest traffic levels in the entire world, among the 174 metros it evaluated. Drivers there spend only about 11 extra minutes in their cars due to traffic each day.

Slideshow: 10 Best US Cities for Traffic Congestion

Thats about a quarter of the extra time that drivers in Los Angeles -- the worst U.S. city for traffic and the 10th worldwide -- spend in their cars during peak hours.

Mexico City has the worst traffic on the planet, with drivers there spending nearly an hour fighting traffic every day.

Globally, congestion has increased 13 percent since 2008. Nearly all of the 20 global cities on the list with the lowest traffic levels were located in the United States. After Knoxville, the cities with the next lowest traffic levels were Dayton, Ohio, and Omaha, Nebraska.

Surprisingly, congestion declined in several U.S. cities in 2015, including Las Vegas, Denver, Tucson and St. Louis. While job growth and bad weather in the United States would typically lead to more congestion, TomTom analysts believe that new traffic management policies and infrastructure investment kept traffic levels stable in some parts of the country.

Click here to see the 10 best cities in the U.S. for traffic.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
More than 250 Malaysian schools were closed on Monday due to a heatwave brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon which is severely affecting food production and causing chronic water shortages in many countries.

Authorities ordered schools in the states of Perlis and Pahang to shut after temperatures soared above 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over a 72-hour period, according to local reports.

The education ministry said the decision was made to protect the health of some 100,000 students, the official news agency Bernama reported.

The sweltering heat in Malaysia has reportedly slowed vegetable production, leading to price hikes.

Paddy fields and rubber plantations have been also been affected by the severe temperature rise.

January and February 2016 smashed global temperature records, the World Meteorological Organization said in March, attributing the highs to the "unprecedented" advance of climate change.

Many parts of Asia have been affected by the strong El Nino dry spell which has also hit agriculture in Thailand and the Philippines.

El Nino is triggered by a warming in sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. It can cause unusually heavy rains in some parts of the world and drought in others.

But Malaysia's Meteorological Department said the current heatwave was expected to ease soon.

"The worst is over because the inter-monsoon season started last week and more rain is expected," director-general Che Gayah Ismail told AFP.
Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group strongholds Raqa and Mosul "must fall" this year, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said during a speech in Baghdad on Monday.

The battles to retake Raqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq are expected to be the most difficult of the war against IS, which holds swathes of territory in both countries.

Le Drian's remarks are the most specific timetable for the cities' recapture given by a member of the US-led coalition against the jihadists, which has been reluctant to comment on the expected pace of operations.

"Raqa and Mosul must fall in 2016," Le Drian said, calling for making it "the year of a major turning point in our struggle against the so-called Islamic State".

IS claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November last year, and there is concern that the jihadists will strike the country again.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has said a jihadist cell that attacked Brussels airport and a metro station last month, killing 32 people, initially planned to target France.

Raqa was seized by the jihadists in early 2014, and Mosul was overrun during an IS offensive in June that year.

The fact that both cities still have large civilian populations will complicate efforts to retake them, and the jihadists have had ample time to sow slews of bombs and set up other defences.

Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, the commander of the international operation against IS, has said that Iraqi generals do not think they will be able to recapture Mosul until the end of 2016 or early 2017 at the earliest.

This year "must be the year of the beginning of the end for Daesh", Le Drian said in his speech to Iraqi special forces and French troops, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

But he cautioned that despite having suffered a string of defeats, the jihadists are still a threat.

- 'More dangerous than ever' -

"Because it's cornered, Daesh is more dangerous than ever," he said.

Story continues

IS is still able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas, as well as mount raids targeting security forces.

"Now that we have regained the upper hand, we must make the most of this dynamic with our partners," said Le Drian, referring to Iraqi and Kurdish forces on the ground in Iraq.

He said the objective was to whittle down IS "resources, its leaders, its capacity for planning attacks on European soil".

Le Drian arrived in Baghdad on Monday for talks on the war against the jihadists, meeting Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi and Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi.

According to the French military, France has carried out more than 580 air strikes against IS, destroying over 1,000 targets, and has around 350 soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Le Drian, who arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait, has already visited some of those troops.

The United States carries out the majority of coalition strikes and has deployed some 3,900 military personnel to the country, including special forces targeting IS with raids.

The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since recaptured significant ground with backing from the coalition, while Syrian forces have also made gains against IS.

Le Drian's visit comes just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed during a trip to Baghdad that the coalition and Iraq would turn up the heat on IS.

In addition to major security challenges, Iraq has also been hit by an economic crisis caused by slumping oil prices, and political tensions over efforts to replace the current cabinet.

Abadi has called for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics", and presented a list of nominees to parliament last week.

But powerful Iraqi parties and politicians rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds, and lawmakers said the political blocs are nominating other candidates.

Officials have said a vote on new candidates could take place on Tuesday, but the end result may be a variation on the current system of party-affiliated ministers.
SHANGHAI - - Mainland China's first official Hello Kitty-themed restaurant has opened its doors to customers in Shanghai, serving a variety of food with the famed kitten characters designs. Hello Kitty Bistro Bianco comes after the opening of Hong Kong's official Hello Kitty restaurant last year and the Hello Kitty theme park in Zhejiang province. "As soon as I walked into this restaurant (I thought it) was very cute because, from the decorations to the food, it's all Hello Kitty," customer Liu Jiaqi, 25, said. "They're very cute ... I think the taste of the food is OK, but when you eat it, it's difficult to kill the thing because it really is too cute." Hello Kitty Bistro Bianco opened in late January and is currently still undergoing a trial period".
By Elizabeth Piper and William James LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday he was tightening laws to end tax evasion without deterring "aspiration", hoping to end scrutiny of his personal wealth and restore trust in his leadership. In a charged session in parliament during which one opposition lawmaker was ejected after labeling the prime minister "dodgy Dave", Cameron defended those who want to use money to support their families - something he said his late father had done when he set up an offshore fund revealed by the Panama Papers. But the measures he announced did little to ease some of the criticism of a leader accused by the opposition of being a hypocrite for going after tax evaders in view of his father's fund and for being slow to detail his financial affairs. Cameron sought to underline the difference between illegal tax evasion and legal tax avoidance, trying to address concerns over his leadership, hurt not only by questions about his wealth in the past week but also by divisions in his Conservatives over EU membership. "It is right to tighten the law and change the culture around investment to further outlaw tax evasion and discourage aggressive tax avoidance. But as we do so, we should differentiate between schemes designed to artificially reduce tax and those that are encouraging investment," he said. "Aspiration and wealth creation are not somehow dirty words, they are the key engines of growth and prosperity in our country and we must always support those who want to own shares and make investments to support their families." He said most of Britain's overseas territories, including the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, and Crown Dependencies, like Jersey, would now provide British law enforcement and tax agencies full access to information on beneficial ownership of companies to offer greater transparency. He also said he was introducing legislation this year to make it a criminal offence for companies if they fail to stop employees from instructing clients on ways of evading tax, part of what he called some of the most robust action ever taken by a British government to close tax loopholes. The plan had been announced by finance minister George Osborne in March 2015, but previously the commitment was to introduce the legislation by 2020, Downing Street said. His message was aimed at balancing action to crack down on tax evasion to soothe critics who accuse him of being part of an elite, and to appeal to his own lawmakers, many of whom are against his campaign to keep Britain in the European Union, by underlining that he wanted to inspire wealth creation. "MASTERCLASS IN DISTRACTION" On Thursday, Cameron bowed to pressure and said he had profited from selling his shares in the fund in 2010 and on Sunday he published a summary of his tax records for the past six years. In parliament, he again detailed his financial affairs and pointed to the fact that his finance minister, George Osborne, had also published a summary of his tax affairs. But any hope he might draw a line under the row was short-lived, as the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, accused the prime minister of staging "a masterclass in the art of distraction". "There is now one rule for the super rich and another for the rest. I am honestly not sure ... that the prime minister fully appreciates the anger that is out there over this injustice," he said to shouts of disagreement from Conservative lawmakers. Labour lawmaker Dennis Skinner was forced to leave the chamber when he refused a request by the parliamentary speaker to withdraw his characterization of Cameron as "dodgy Dave". Financial officials questioned the government moves to close loopholes. Some accountants said the move to punish companies could see firms taking responsibility for "rogue employees" and may increase the risk burden on firms doing business in Britain, which is seeing lower levels of investment because of uncertainty over the June 23 referendum on EU membership. "We need to be proportionate and realistic in any new legislation being introduced," said Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of tax at ACCA, a global accounting body based in London. The questions come at a difficult time for Cameron's cabinet of senior ministers, who are split over whether Britain should stay in the European Union and have been criticized for failing to bail out the steel industry. But he found support from some members of his party, who favor leaving the 28-member bloc and have criticized him for taking a leadership role for the "In" campaign. "I think he has behaved entirely properly throughout and I think many of the criticisms - all of the criticisms really - that have been directed against him, have been wrong," Michael Gove, a leading member of the "Out" campaign, told Sky News. (Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan, Huw Jones and Rachel Armstrong; Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by John Stonestreet and Hugh Lawson)
The rock supergroup boasting Alice Cooper, Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Johnny Depp among its members, is embarking on an initial 23-date tour of the US and Europe.

Kicking off on May 24 at the Turning Stone Casino, New York the band is then set to play dates in Portugal, Germany, Sweden and Denmark before returning to the US for 17 further dates throughout July.

However, that's just the start, and more concerts will be announced shortly.

Of the decision to create the group and to embark on a tour, Joe Perry said: "Over the last year we were finally able to wrangle our schedules and the energy just fell into place. Playing with this lineup is like a dream come true. After seeing the reaction at Rock in Rio in front of 100,000 fans, I know this band is going to tear the house down. Hell, I would want to be in the audience to see us rip it up."

Alongside Perry, Cooper and Depp, the touring band will consist of Stone Temple Pilots' Robert DeLeo on bass and Matt Sorum (Guns N' Roses and The Cult) on drums with The Kids' Bruce Witkin on piano, percussion and guitar.

For more information on the tour and to reserve tickets, head to the band's website.
DETROIT (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co <7267.T> is recalling more than 11,000 decade-old Accord sedans, some of them for the fifth time since 2014, after dealers found the Japanese automaker originally had installed the wrong Takata <7312.T> air bag inflators in some cars, Honda said.

Since 2008, Honda has recalled more than 8 million vehicles in the United States with defective Takata inflators that can rupture and spray occupants with hot metal shards. Many of those vehicles have been recalled multiple times for related problems.

Takata declined to comment on Monday on the recall issued late Friday.

This is at least the second time Honda dealers have discovered that the wrong part was installed at the factory. In this case, air bag modules originally designed for South American vehicles were installed on a number of 2004-2007 Accords, Honda said in a statement. Those parts do not comply with U.S. vehicle safety regulations, it said.

Accords from model years 2004 and 2005 have been recalled four other times by Honda, beginning in June 2014, to replace defective Takata inflators. Honda has recalled the 2006-2007 Accords twice in 2015.

In Honda's latest recall notice to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, posted on the agency's website, the automaker noted that a number of dealers said recall repairs could not be completed because the wrong inflators had originally been installed.

Honda has said nine U.S. fatalities are connected to the defective inflators, including the death of a Texas teenager in March in a 2002 Honda Civic.

(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Richard Chang)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Former Illinois Congressman Mel Reynolds was arrested in Atlanta on Monday after he had failed to return to the United States by the end of March as a judge had ordered, a U.S. Marshals spokeswoman and Reynolds' lawyer said.

Reynolds had been in South Africa tending to what he said was a daughters illness, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys office in Chicago said.

U.S. Marshals arrested Reynolds on Monday morning after he landed in Atlanta, where he will face a judge later in the day, his lawyer Richard Kling said.

Reynolds has been plagued by numerous legal troubles over the years. He pleaded not guilty in July to charges of failing to file income tax returns for 2009 through 2012, and Kling said Reynolds is due in federal court in Chicago on May 2 on those charges.

Reynolds was indicted in June and faces up to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the four counts against him. He had previously been convicted for having sex with an underage campaign worker.

A Rhodes scholar and one-time promising star of the Democratic Party, Reynolds was first elected to Congress in 1992.

In August of 1994, he was indicted for having a relationship with a 16-year-old campaign worker but was re-elected in 1994 in his Chicago district without opposition. The case ended with a conviction on sexual assault and child pornography charges in 1995 and Reynolds resigned.

Before his scheduled release from prison in 1997, Reynolds was convicted of bank fraud and misusing campaign funds for personal use and sentenced to serve additional time. He was released in 2001.

Reynolds tried politics again but in 2013 lost a bid for the U.S. House of Representatives seat of Jesse Jackson Jr., who had resigned before pleading guilty to fraud charges.

In 2014, Reynolds ran into legal trouble in Zimbabwe and was charged with possession of pornographic images and videos. The charges were dropped but he pleaded guilty to a visa violation, media reports said.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales; Editing by Dan Grebler)
By Guy Faulconbridge and Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) - Tata Steel agreed to sell one of its main British steelworks to investment firm Greybull Capital for 1 pound on Monday, saving a third of the 15,000 jobs placed in jeopardy by the Indian conglomerate's decision to sell up in Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron has been under pressure to keep the plants open to save jobs after Tata, one of the world's biggest steelmakers, said on March 30 it would sell its loss-making British business. As Tata formally appointed advisers for the sale of its steel assets in Britain, turnaround specialist Greybull Capital LLP said it would buy the Indian company's Long Products Europe division in Scunthorpe, northern England, which employs 4,400. It declined to rule out further purchases of Tata's British steel assets, including its plant at Port Talbot in Wales, while British Business Secretary Sajid Javid said the government would consider jointly investing with a buyer to secure the sale of the Indian group's other UK assets. "I've been in contact with potential buyers, making clear that the government stands ready to help," Javid told parliament. "This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms." The sale to Greybull - for a nominal pound or 1 euro - includes a 400 million pound investment and financing package for the Scunthorpe business, as well as agreements with suppliers and unions on cutting costs. "We're expecting no redundancies going forward, the business plan calls for no redundancies," Greybull co-founder Marc Meyohas told reporters on a conference call. The Greybull deal, which is subject to a ballot by union members, includes two additional mills, an engineering workshop and a design consultancy in Britain, plus a mill in Hayange, in northeast France. The purchase will see the business renamed 'British Steel', in a revival of a historic name last used almost two decades ago. Cameron, already grappling with a divided ruling party ahead of a June 23 referendum on membership of the European Union, has been scrambling to try to find buyers for Tata's steel operations, to save jobs. Britain's eurosceptic media has blamed Brussels for preventing London from taking greater steps to protect the steel industry, while the opposition Labour Party has called on Cameron to do more to save the plants. Tata, which owns iconic brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea, is offloading its British steel operations, citing a global oversupply of steel and cheap imports from China, high costs and weak domestic demand. BRITISH STEEL? The deal for the Scunthorpe plant, which Tata had been trying to sell since 2014 before revealing talks with Greybull were underway in December, is expected to complete in eight weeks subject to certain conditions being met. Greybull, which is not taking on pension liabilities, said about half of the 400 million pound package would come from shareholders of Greybull and half from banks and government loans. "Were expecting the company to be profitable in year one and thats very much the management plan," said Meyohas, who co-founded Greybull in 2008 after 12 years as CEO of technology services company Cityspace. Though the deal is positive for the Scunthorpe workers, there is deep unease in Port Talbot, Britain's biggest steel plant, where 4,000 people could be out of a job if Tata fails to find a buyer. Tata appointed KPMG as adviser on the sale process for its UK assets while Slaughter and May was appointed its legal adviser on the sales. "While very welcome it does not mean that we are out of the woods yet," said Gareth Stace, director of trade association UK Steel. "A long-term investor is needed, in the very short term, for the remainder of the whole of the Tata Steel UK business, including Port Talbot," said Stace. Javid said the government had appointed Ernst and Young to act as its financial advisers on any deal for Tata's other British assets. However, he said that despite government support, he couldn't guarantee there would not be further job losses across the industry. Scunthorpe produces steel mainly used in construction and infrastructure projects, whereas Port Talbot produces slab, hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanised coil which is used in products from cars to washing machines to food cans. Finding buyers for Port Talbot and Tata's other assets, could take some time given the complexity of any deal, including negotiations over everything from pensions liabilities to energy subsidies. Greybull said to date it had been wholly focussed on the Scunthorpe deal, but declined to rule out future interest in the Port Talbot plant. "Whether it's Tata or any other assets, we'll review it as and when is appropriate," Meyohas said. Another potential bidder for the Port Talbot plant is Sanjeev Gupta, the boss of metals trader Liberty House Group. "LOSS-MAKING" Gupta told Reuters on Friday that he was serious about making an offer and had the backing of a group with $7 billion of revenues, hitting back at critics who have questioned his capacity to take on a business dragged down by heavy debt and weak sales. However, much will depend on how much any potential investor is willing to pay to even hope of turning around the business. "It's a loss-making business and a loss-making business is not worth a lot in itself to buy," Gupta said. "It's more of a question of what are the resources required in turning it around." Tata, under former Chairman Ratan Tata, bought its UK steel operations in 2007 by purchasing Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus for $12 billion as a way to access the European market. But the Indian conglomerate, controlled by philanthropic trusts endowed by the Tata family, struggled to turn the steelmaker around. Like competitors such as ArcelorMittal, the world's top steel producer, Tata has been hit by plunging prices due to overcapacity in China, the world's biggest market for the alloy. China said on Monday it wants to work with the rest of the world to find an appropriate resolution to overcapacity in the steel sector, after Britain asked Beijing to hurry up and tackle the problem. Tata Steel is the second-largest steel producer in Europe with a diversified presence across the continent. It has a crude steel production capacity of over 18 million tonnes per annum in Europe, but only 14 mtpa is operational. (Additional reporting by William James, Freya Berry and David Milliken. Editing by Susan Fenton)
London (AFP) - Indian giant Tata Steel announced Monday the sale of a major European division employing 4,800 people in Britain and France, as it placed the rest of its loss-making British operation on the market.

The British government has been scrambling to find a buyer for Tata's assets -- and save 15,000 jobs -- after the company's shock announcement last month it was selling its British operation due to a global oversupply of steel, cheap imports into Europe, high costs and currency volatility.

Britain's Business Secretary Sajid Javid told parliament that the government could co-invest with private sector bidders in a bid to keep Tata Steel's UK assets going.

As it kicked off the sale process, Tata Steel said it had agreed to sell its Long Products Europe (LPE) division -- whose chief asset is the Scunthorpe steelworks in eastern England -- to Greybull Capital, a British-based family investment firm.

Long products are items such as steel pipes that are sold by length.

"This transaction will offer a future for the LPE business and its 4,400 employees in the UK," said Hans Fischer, chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations.

Tata Steel is still looking for a buyer for the rest of its British assets including the Port Talbot works on the south Wales coast, Britain's biggest steel plant, which employs 4,000 workers.

- UK government could step in -

The LPE deal is expected to complete within eight weeks, subject to conditions being met.

LPE, which will be renamed British Steel, was sold for a nominal 1 ($1.40, 1.25 euros). Greybull said it is arranging a 400 million investment and financing package as part of the deal.

The sale also includes two mills, a port terminal, an engineering workshop and a design consultancy, all in Britain, as well as a mill in northeast France which employs 400 people.

After a fortnight of pressure from the opposition, trade unions and the press over the government's handling of the crisis, Javid said the state could get involved in the sale of Tata Steel's remaining UK operations.

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He said he had been in contact with potential buyers.

"This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms," he said, adding that a sale to a private buyer would still be the best way forward.

Javid flew to India last week to meet company executives and has said the government will make every effort to secure a serious buyer for the Port Talbot plant and other assets.

Tata Steel Europe's group executive director Koushik Chatterjee said he wanted to sell their British assets as a whole rather than splitting up the business.

"We will run this process in a credible manner but it is important we don't have a very long, uncertain period for the employees, suppliers and customers," he said.

- Welsh plant losing money -

Metal processing company Liberty House is looking at the Port Talbot plant, although the group's president Sanjeev Gupta is not keen on taking on its pension and environmental liabilities, and wants relief from high energy prices.

Port Talbot is losing 1 million a day in the face of high energy costs and plunging prices caused by a chronic global oversupply of steel and a glut of cheap imports, particularly from China.

Greybull partner Marc Meyohas would not be drawn on whether Greybull was interested in buying other parts of Tata Steel's UK assets.

Europe as a whole has been hit by the steel crisis.

Around 45,000 steel workers rallied across Germany in a day of action dubbed "Steel is the Future", voicing fears over their jobs.

The head of US Steel accused Britain and the wider EU of negligence over China dumping cheep steel on world markets.

"The Europeans have been more negligent than anybody," Mario Longhi, chief executive of the biggest US steelmaker, told the Financial Times.

French economy minster Emmanuel Macron on Monday said Britain was "guilty of condemning the steel industry" by "naively" blocking EU attempts to impose higher tariffs on Chinese steel.
By Saif Hameed and Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament is unlikely to vote on a new cabinet line-up proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in an attempt to curb corruption after lawmakers said on Monday the dominant political blocs would name their own ministerial candidates. Abadi last month presented parliament with a list of 14 names, many of them academics, to free the ministries from the grip of a political class he has accused of using a system of ethnic and sectarian quotas instituted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to amass wealth and influence. But political blocs, unhappy with Abadi's proposal to replace their representatives with unaffiliated technocrats, have opted instead to name substitutes that maintain the current party balance, lawmakers said. Abadi asked parliament on March 31 to accept, reject or modify a line-up which also shrank the cabinet to 16 posts from 22. Lawmakers said they would take up to 10 days to respond. That deadline passed at the weekend without a decision. "There is no agreement on the list," said Abbas al-Bayati, a Shi'ite Muslim MP from the ruling State of Law coalition. "The blocs are trying to find substitutes for their own ministers in the outgoing cabinet who would be technocrats at the same time." Another senior Shi'ite lawmaker said it could take another 10 days or more before parliament votes on a revamped list. "I see no clear response from the political blocs," to Abadi's list, said Hamid al-Mutlaq, a Sunni Muslim MP. At least two of Abadi's candidates, nominated for the posts of finance and oil ministers, have withdrawn their names. The three ministers from the political bloc led by powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has pressed Abadi for weeks to replace party-affiliated ministers with independents, resigned on Monday, citing frustration with the other parties' refusal to give up their posts. A statement from Al-Ahrar said the ministers of water, industry and minerals, and housing and construction would no longer attend cabinet meetings or go to their offices. Iraq's oil minister made a similar move three weeks ago, asking a deputy to carry out his functions. The cabinet reshuffle is part of long-promised anti-corruption measures that Abadi has to deliver on or risk weakening his government as Iraqi forces gear up to try to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting Baghdad on Friday, urged Iraq not to let the political crisis interfere with the fight against the jihadists and voiced unequivocal support for the prime minister. Abadi proposed the new cabinet in part under pressure from the clergy of the Shi'ite majority community and popular discontent at the lack of basic public services in a nation facing economic crisis due to low global oil prices. Sadr, whose opinion holds sway over tens of thousands of followers, agreed to end street protests his supporters had been holding since late February only after Abadi presented his cabinet lineup. MPs close to Sadr have said he would not object to an adjusted line-up as long as the ministers are technocrats and not politicians. Iraq, a major OPEC exporter which sits on one of the world's largest oil reserves, ranks 161 out of 168 on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. (Additional reporting by Kareem Raheem; Editing by Janet Lawrence/Mark Heinrich)
Jerusalem (AFP) - An Israeli colonel has been cleared of any criminal charges after shooting dead a Palestinian teen who stoned his jeep in the West Bank last year, the military said Monday.

A rights group that distributed a video showing the shooting denounced the decision, which comes amid controversy over a separate killing of a Palestinian by an Israeli soldier last month.

Colonel Israel Shomer had been under investigation for the July 3 shooting near Qalandia checkpoint, south of Ramallah, that killed Mohammad Kasba, 17.

The army said at the time Shomer and another soldier had opened fire when the vehicle was damaged "and in response to the imminent danger".

But a video distributed by the B'Tselem human rights group appeared to dispute the claim, showing the shots were fired at Kasba while he seemed to be running away after stoning the jeep.

The army said a Palestinian had thrown a rock through the windshield of Shomer's vehicle and that in response the officer "exited his vehicle and fired into the air and towards the lower extremities of the assailant."

"However, due to the reality of the operational situation, the shots resulted in the death of the assailant," it said in a statement.

"The military advocate general concluded that the shooting of the perpetrator was not criminal and the event does not justify taking legal action against the officer."

B'Tselem condemned the army's decision, which it called "an integral part of the whitewash mechanism which is Israel's military investigative system."

It said the "assertion that the firing was legal, since the officer claimed that he aimed at the youth's legs but missed, clearly indicates the investigative system's willingness to ignore the law and the open-fire regulations."

The decision comes with tensions high over the actions of another Israeli soldier, who was caught on video shooting a Palestinian assailant in the head on March 24 as he lay on the ground wounded and posing no apparent danger.

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B'Tselem also distributed the video in that case in Hebron in the occupied West Bank and it was widely shared online.

The soldier's lawyers say he thought the Palestinian could have been carrying explosives, though he had reportedly already been checked for a suicide belt.

The Palestinian had along with another man stabbed an Israeli solider minutes earlier before being shot and wounded, the army says.

The soldier, whose bullet to the head killed the Palestinian, has been arrested and could face charges of manslaughter.

Top military brass have strongly condemned his actions, though far-right protesters and politicians have called for his release.
VERONA, Italy (Reuters) - Italy and Alibaba hope to boost the share of Italian wine sold on the Chinese e-commerce network 10-fold as part of wider moves to increase Italian wine exports to China where it still lags France and other wine-making peers. In a joint conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Alibaba founder Jack Ma said the aim was to increase the share of Italian wines "from 6 to 60 per cent" of all the bottles it sold on its platform. "Chinese people have a passion for all things Italian. Alibaba wants to be the gateway to China for Italian brands and small businesses," Ma said, speaking at Italy's Vinitaly wine fair in the northern city of Verona. Ma, who is also executive chairman of Alibaba, announced the launch of a Wine and Spirits Festival on Sept. 9, an online event aimed at introducing global wine and spirit brands to Chinese consumers. Italy's reds and whites represent only 5 per cent of Chinese imports, worth an overall 1.8 billion euros ($2 billion), according to a report by think-tank Nomisma. Alibaba's business-to-consumer marketplace Tmall is already host to more than 90 Italian brands. But Italy's wine makers are mainly small and family-owned, making it hard for them to reach out and sell on complex markets like China. Of Italy's 5.4 billion euros of wine exports, only 87 million euros worth go to China. "Italy has lost too many opportunities in the e-commerce sector. The only way for small companies to keep up with global competition is to turn digital," Renzi said. According to Denis Pantini of Nomisma, which publishes the annual Wine Monitor report, out of a total of 55,000 national producers, almost 85 per cent make less than 10,000 bottles. Pantini said Italy hobbles behind other countries, such as France and Australia, due to the fragmented nature of its producers, a lack of any national strategy on exports and high tax duties. "We are still very little known in China where culturally wine is still not perceived as a household habit," Roberto Giannelli, owner of Tuscan winery San Filippo said. (Reporting by Giulia Segreti, editing by Stephen Jewkes and Susan Thomas)
Rome (AFP) - Italy announced the creation of a five-billion-euro ($5.7 billion) fund Monday to take on bad loans and guarantee that weakened banks can be recapitalised, financial news agency Radiocor reported.

Italian banks are currently saddled with some 200 billion euros worth of non-performing loans, Radiocor said, citing the Bank of Italy.

One of the new fund's first actions will be to intervene in the recapitalisation of the Banca Popolare di Vicenza to the tune of 1.75 billion euros from next week, ahead of a similar intervention in the Veneto Banca in June, the agency said.

The decision came after a meeting Monday between finance ministry officials and representatives of major banks and financial institutions.

Shares in Italian banks had closed higher in Milan in anticipation of the decision, with Banco Popolare soaring 10.3 percent and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena jumping 9.8 percent as the market rose 1.25 percent.

Even larger banks like Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit climbed higher, gaining 3.1 percent and 5.1 percent, as the reported plans would ease their burden in guaranteeing the operations in buying shares in smaller banks.

The gains came in marked contrast to the repeated heavy losses suffered by banking stocks since the start of the year.

The European Union and Italy reached an agreement in January on creating a guarantee vehicle to help Italian banks sell bad loans, after the two sides spent more than a year trying to thrash out a solution that did not contravene EU rules on state aid.

Under the plan, the guarantees will be established at market prices and will therefore not be regarded as state aid.
ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, speaking on Monday to a half-empty parliament that had been abandoned by the opposition, defended his flagship constitutional reform, due to be voted on this week. After more than two years in parliament, voting will begin in the lower house on Tuesday on the measure aimed at streamlining the legislative process. Renzi has an ample majority to pass the bill, but he has said he will resign if the law is not definitively approved by Italians in a popular referendum to be held in the autumn. Protesting against the bill with megaphones outside the lower house, the opposition 5-Star Movement said the legislation would eliminate Italy's system of checks and balances. The bill will effectively abolish the upper house Senate by cutting the number of senators by two-thirds, stripping it of its ability to bring down a government and sharply limiting its scope to block legislation. It will also return to Rome some powers now held by the regional governments. "We're coming close to a model of democracy that can make decisions. A democracy that does not decide is the precursor to dictatorship," Renzi said. "Democracy isn't about fleeing the assembly when I realize I don't have the numbers," he said. To guard against handing too much power to any one group after Benito Mussolini's Fascist rule, Italy's 1948 constitution created two parliamentary assemblies with equal powers, making lawmaking cumbersome and slow. "We'll leave the government alone to stomp all over parliamentary democracy," said Renato Brunetta, president of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia lawmakers in the lower house, after announcing his group would abandon the assembly. While protesting against the bill, the 5-Star Movement also called on Renzi to quit over an influence-peddling scandal that led to the resignation of the industry minister last month. Following the scandal, Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) recorded its lowest rating since last summer in a poll published in la Repubblica newspaper on Sunday. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Moviegoers will get a panoramic view of the Enterprise this summer on Cinerama-like Barco Escape theatrical screens.

J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot has closed a deal with digital cinema technology developer Barco whereby Bad Robot, Paramount and Skydance will release a special version of Star Trek Beyond for Barco Escape, a theatrical system aimed at immersing viewers in the experience with three screens stitched together across the front and side walls of a theater. The film, which opens July 22, will be a high-profile release for the young Escape format.

"When you're on the bridge of the Enterprise, you might see additional coverage of the bridge," Bad Robot producer and head of visual effects and post Ben Rosenblatt told The Hollywood Reporter. "Or you might see the Enterprise coming across the screen - and maybe you'll see more and the attacking forces. There are new ships and antagonists that are well suited to the expanded image."

For this version, Bad Robot will be remastering the film, with certain sections of the movie expanding to reach out across the panoramic tri-screen display - "at least 20 minutes, hopefully more," said Rosenblatt.

Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin and J.J. Abrams, who directed the first two films in the franchise reboot, will be leading the creative, which will be a cooperative effort between Bad Robot's in-house VFX unit, Kelvin Optical; the film's lead VFX house, Double Negative; and VFX house Atomic Fiction.

Read More: 'Star Trek' Celebrates Half-Century With Touring Art Exhibit

Since the film already had been shot when the deal was completed, the expansion of the imagery into the side wall screens will be, in some parts, fully CG extensions of the VFX shots. Rosenblatt said some shots will incorporate production footage that wasn't used in the wide-release version, while others would be a combination of production footage modified with VFX.

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"Justin Lin's Star Trek Beyond is an epic adventure - truly larger than life," said Abrams in a statement. "It is especially fitting, then, that we are partnering with Barco to provide an ultra wide-screen immersive experience using their unique Barco Escape format. This premium format dramatically expands the width of the viewing plane, giving filmmakers an innovative new tool with which to tell stories and audiences an enhanced new way to experience cinema."

"In general, on the Bad Robot side, we're very interested in emerging technologies and new formats that offer innovation in the theatrical experience," said Rosenblatt. "We love seeing movies in a theatrical environment. When someone is trying something new that could help the theatrical experience, we want to support it. And Barco Escape is the latest example of something that could transform the way we think about going to the movies in a theater."

Further demonstrating its interest in the format, Abrams, Rosenblatt or another Bad Robot exec will join the Escape advisory board. "We're talking with Barco about creating a short through Bad Robot to really use the capabilities of the format and show it off," Rosenblatt added, noting that it's also considering the format for additional feature releases.

Barco expects to have roughly 50 Escape-equipped theater installations in time for the Star Trek Beyond release. Looking further out, it projects at least 100 by the end of the year, and 3,000 in next three to five years.

Barco Escape's three-screen theater configuration (Photo: Adam Hendershott)

Escape was introduced in 2014 with Twentieth Century Fox's The Maze Runner, which included the expanded tri-screen imagery in seven minutes of the film, at a handful of supported theaters. As part of a multi-year deal with Fox, that was followed by Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which incorporated 20 minutes in the Escape format.

In 2015, Barco announced a development deal with Jerry Bruckheimer, who also sits on the Escape Advisory Board. And earlier this year, it was announced that Scott Waugh, the director behind Act of Valor and Need for Speed, would make a film shot entirely for Barco Escape. A late 2016 release is planned for that untitled movie.

Barco will demonstrate Escape this week at theater-owners convention CinemaCon.
Rick Ross can continue to hustle every day, but he can't sue others who use his signature phrase, according to a federal judge's Friday ruling.

Ross sued uncle-nephew duo LMFAO in 2013, claiming "Party Rock Anthem" infringed on his copyright for "Hustlin'" by use of its lyric "everyday I'm shufflin'."

In her opinion, U.S. District Court judge Kathleen M. Williams says the two years of litigation in this case ended where it should have begun - by asking "was the musical composition 'Hustlin'' validly registered with the Copyright Office, and, if so, do Plaintiffs have an ownership interest in the exclusive right to prepare derivative works for the musical composition 'Hustlin''?"

Williams' answer to both questions is "no."

"Because Plaintiffs do not hold a valid copyright registration and because Plaintiffs have not established either legal or beneficial ownership of the exclusive right to prepare derivative works for 'Hustlin',' Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment is DENIED and this case is DISMISSED," she writes.

This decision isn't shocking, considering Williams previously found the three-word phrase not original enough to be copyrightable for use on merchandise.

In March, Ross was dealt another blow when the U.S. Copyright Office issued a statement that a copyright for "Everyday I'm hustlin'" never should have been issued.

"For reasons that have never been made clear, the musical composition 'Hustlin'' is the subject of three different registrations with the Copyright Office," Williams writes. "It should be noted that the second and third registrations were filed by major, global music corporations. Even the most minimal due diligence, through a basic search of the Register's records (which are easily accessible online), would have revealed these prior registrations."

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Williams says there is undisputed evidence that Ross, and his producers who are also plaintiffs, knew there were competing registrations with inaccuracies and took no steps to fix them.

"Although Plaintiffs have failed to carry their burden of showing proper registration and compliance with the Copyright Act's statutory formalities, registration does not confer copyright, nor can an erroneous registration take it away," Williams writes. "However, the failure to properly register a work will preclude an infringement action predicated on that work. And, while the Court's ruling here does not cancel the registrations, it does bar

Plaintiffs from bringing an infringement action because no valid registration exists."

Ross' attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.
By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - Lawyers in the trial of a Georgia man charged with murder after leaving his toddler son in a car for seven hours during a hot day in June 2014 began their search Monday for jurors who have not formed opinions about his actions. The case involving Justin Ross Harris, 35, has captured wide attention, with prosecutors saying the suburban Atlanta father exchanged nude photos with females as his child was dying. The defense has called 22-month-old Cooper's death a horrible accident. Jury selection began on Monday, and an unusually large pool of more than 500 potential jurors has been called to give lawyers more options. One juror was excused out of 10 who had requested exemptions. The process was set to resume on Tuesday. "One of the big challenges in the case is to find jurors who have not been tainted by prejudicial pretrial publicity," said University of Georgia law professor Ron Carlson. The process could last two weeks, followed by a trial that could take a month. Harris faces a sentence of life in prison if convicted on charges including murder, child cruelty and sexual exploitation involving photos of underage girls. Harris's wife, Leanna, divorced him earlier this year and could testify, prosecutors said. At the funeral for her son, she praised Harris as a wonderful father, local media reported. Harris told police he forgot to drop off his son at day care and discovered the boy dead seven hours later in the car after leaving work on June 18, 2014, when temperatures outside climbed into the 90s (30s C). Prosecutors contend Harris killed his son because he wanted a child-free lifestyle. Harris was having marital and work problems shortly before the boy's death, the lead investigator in the case has said. Hours before Cooper died, prosecutors say the father sat in his office sending lewd online messages to women. "I love my son and all, but we both need escapes," he wrote during the day to a woman who commented about parenting on a message board, an investigator testified at a hearing last October. Last month, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley ruled against defense motions to exclude evidence of Harris's extramarital affairs from the murder trial, saying it could be presented by the prosecution to show possible motive. Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore accused prosecutors of trying to shame Harris with testimony about his affairs. (Editing by Letitia Stein, Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis)
By George Obulutsa NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's central bank will provide a facility to any bank or microfinance institution that faces liquidity problems through no fault of its own, starting on Monday, Governor Patrick Njoroge said on Sunday. Njoroge said the facility, for which he did not give the amount but said had no upper limit, would be available for as long as necessary to provide a sense of calm and reiterated that the financial sector was stable. "From Monday, we will avail a facility to any bank or microfinance institution that comes under liquidity for no fault of its own. We will avail this facility for as long as is necessary," Njoroge told a news conference. Last week, the central bank put Chase Bank Kenya into receivership after its gross non-performing loans rose sharply last year. The mid-sized bank was the third lender to be taken over by the central bank in nine months, fuelling worries over the health of the sector. On Saturday, President Uhuru Kenyatta said he supported central bank Njoroge's actions to protect depositors' money. "We are really dealing with any fear, anxiety that is out there," Njoroge said. (Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Alison Williams)
NAIROBI (Reuters) - KCB Group, Kenya's biggest bank by assets, said on Monday it was open to taking part in consolidation in the banking sector but declined to comment on whether it was pursuing Chase Bank, put into receivership last week. "KCB is open to the potential consolidation in the market but nothing specific has been pinned down," KCB said in a statement to Reuters on Monday. There has been speculation in local media that KCB might be looking to buy Chase Bank, which was taken over by Kenya's central bank last Thursday. This followed a run on Chase's deposits prompted by fears over the mid-sized bank's finances. Analysts said the central bank's action could hasten consolidation in Kenya's banking market. Chase Bank was the third bank to be taken over by the central bank in nine months, causing uncertainty over the health of the sector, where gross non-performing loans rose sharply in volume last year. With 43 commercial banks in Kenya, there have long been expectations of some consolidation. Central bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said on Sunday they were working to get Chase Bank open as soon as possible and that Chase had attracted interest from both local and foreign investors, which he did not name. KCB's chief executive, Joshua Oigara, told Reuters last month they were shopping for a mid-sized bank and they were building up a war chest for a potential deal. "We continue to pursue various options and opportunities and cannot specifically discuss a particular entity," KCB said in its statement on Monday. Chase Bank was ranked the 11th largest lender out of 43 last year, with assets of 120 billion shillings ($1.19 billion), mainly drawn from small and medium firms, which offer better margins than retail and corporate segments. ($1 = 101.0000 Kenyan shillings) (Reporting by Duncan Miriri. Editing by Jane Merriman)
Hiroshima (Japan) (AFP) - John Kerry said Monday he was "deeply moved" by his unprecedented visit to the Hiroshima atomic bomb memorial -- and urged President Barack Obama also to make the trip.

The US secretary of state, who was joined by other G7 foreign ministers, is the highest-ranking administration official to pay respects at the spot where American planes launched the first-ever nuclear attack more than seven decades ago.

Washington officials say Obama is considering a trip to Hiroshima late next month around the time of a Group of Seven summit, which is being held in another part of Japan.

An Obama visit would have huge symbolic importance as the first to Hiroshima by a sitting US president.

"I want to express on a personal level how deeply moved I am" to be the first US secretary of state to visit Hiroshima, Kerry told reporters Monday as he and his G7 counterparts wrapped up two days of talks.

A museum at the memorial site is a "gut-wrenching display that tugs at all your sensibilities as a human being", Kerry said.

About 140,000 people died from the Hiroshima blast on August 6, 1945, or later from severe radiation exposure. The city, a key military installation during the war, was flattened by the massive detonation.

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki followed three days later, killing some 74,000 people. Japan surrendered within a week to end World War II.

"Everyone should visit Hiroshima, and everyone means everyone," Kerry said.

"I hope one day the president of the United States will be among the everyone who is able to come here."

But Kerry declined to comment on the likelihood of an Obama visit.

"Whether or not he can come as president, I don't know," he said.

- 'World without nuclear weapons' -

"That is subject to a very full and complicated schedule that the president has to plan out way ahead of time."

On Monday morning, the G7 ministers and the foreign policy chief of the European Union visited the memorial museum, which shows the devastating impact of the bombing -- such as survivors' burned clothing and other personal effects.

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"It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself," Kerry wrote in the museum's guest book.

The G7 later issued its Hiroshima Declaration that called for a "world without nuclear weapons".

The foreign ministers discussed a range of other issues, from the refugee crisis and war in Syria to North Korea's latest military provocations and conflict-wracked Ukraine.

They pledged to step up the fight against the Islamic State group, while expressing concern about maritime disputes in Asia -- an oblique criticism of China's territorial ambitions.

Earlier Monday, hundreds of schoolchildren waved flags of G7 nations and the EU as the group walked to a cenotaph in the leafy park next to the museum.

Later children presented them with necklaces made of paper cranes -- a symbol of peace -- woven in the bright colours of their national flags.

The ministers laid wreaths at the site, with the ruins of a domed building gutted by the blast in the background.

"There are no bad feelings and we're not angry," 43-year-old Hiroshima businessman Jun Miura told AFP, adding that he hoped Obama would visit the city.

"I want the president to see for himself exactly what happened. I am sure he has seen video of it, and read about it. But you have to come here to see it and contemplate."

For US tourist Jeremy Griffiths, visiting the memorial is a stark reminder of the scale of the damage.

"You can read all you want, but until you are actually at the place (where the bombing) occurred -- it just changes how you look at it," said the 29-year-old IT programmer from Florida.

The bombings are a highly emotive subject in both Japan and the United States.

Japan, as the only nation to have experienced a nuclear attack, emphasises the suffering its people endured.

But while publicly calling for the eradication of nuclear weapons, it has for decades been a close security ally of Washington under the protection of the US nuclear umbrella.

Many in the US, meanwhile, chafe at any suggestion of an apology, saying Japan started the war with its attack on Pearl Harbor and that the bombings hastened the war's end -- preventing more deaths.
Hiroshima (Japan) (AFP) - John Kerry on Monday became the first US secretary of state to visit Hiroshima's revered atomic bomb memorial, calling it a "stark, harsh, compelling reminder" to end the threat of nuclear weapons.

Kerry, who was accompanied by other G7 foreign ministers, is the highest-ranking US administration official to pay his respects at the site of the World War II bombing -- the world's first nuclear attack.

His trip comes as White House officials say President Barack Obama is considering a stop in the now-bustling Japanese city late next month around the time of a Group of Seven summit, which is being held in another part of the country.

Kerry's visit, and speculation that Obama may also go to Hiroshima, prompted suggestions that Washington might make an official apology over the August 1945 bombing, which killed 140,000 people.

America's top diplomat, however, played down that expectation, while a State Department official flatly ruled out an apology.

"My visit to Hiroshima has very special meaning about the strength of our relationship and the journey we have travelled together since the difficult time of the war," Kerry told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida earlier Monday.

"We will revisit the past and honour those who perished, (but) this trip is not about the past; it's about the present and the future."

Arriving under tight security, the G7 ministers and the foreign policy chief of the European Union started their visit at a museum that shows the devastating impact of the bombing -- such as survivors' burned clothing and other personal affects.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial," Kerry wrote in the museum's guest book.

"It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself.

"War must be the last resort -- never the first choice."

Story continues

- 'No bad feelings' -

Hundreds of schoolchildren waved G7 nation and EU flags as the group walked to a cenotaph in the leafy park next to the museum.

Kerry and his counterparts laid wreaths at the site, with the ruins of an iconic domed building gutted by the blast in the background.

Later children presented them with necklaces made of paper cranes -- a sign of peace -- woven in the bright colours of their national flags.

Hiroshima businessman Jun Miura said he hoped Obama would make a trip to the city of 1.2 million next month.

"There are no bad feelings and we're not angry," the 43-year-old told AFP as he watched the event.

"I want the president to see for himself exactly what happened. I am sure he has seen video of it, and read about it. But you have to come here to see it and contemplate."

Many were killed instantly when the bomb was dropped, creating a firestorm that flattened swathes of the city. Thousands of others died later from radiation exposure.

Three days later, on August 9, 1945, another US atomic bomb exploded over the city of Nagasaki, killing some 74,000 people. Less than a week later, on August 15, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender, ending World War II.

The issue of the bombings is a highly emotive one in both Japan and the United States.

Japan, as the only nation to have experienced a nuclear attack, emphasises the suffering its people endured. But while publicly calling for the eradication of nuclear weapons, it has for decades been a close security ally of Washington under the protection of the US nuclear umbrella.

Many in the US, meanwhile, chafe at the suggestion of an apology, saying that Japan started the war with its attack on Pearl Harbor and argue that the bombings hastened the war's end, and prevented more casualties.

Among other G7 foreign ministers visiting the memorial on Monday were Britain's Philip Hammond and France's Jean-Marc Harault -- also the first-ever visit by top diplomats from the two nuclear-armed countries.

Monday's visit comes as the ministers wrap up their final day of meetings with discussions focused on global hotspot issues including terrorism and other security threats as well as instability in the Middle East and elsewhere.
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP)  An emotional John Kerry said Hiroshima's horrible history should teach humanity to avoid conflict and strive to eradicate nuclear weapons as he became the first U.S. secretary of state to tread upon the ground of the world's first atomic bombing.

Kerry's visit Monday to the Japanese city included him touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining park's stone-arched monument, with the exposed steel beams of Hiroshima's iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.

The U.S. attack on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II killed 140,000 people and scarred a generation of Japanese, while thrusting the world into the dangerous Atomic Age. But Kerry hoped his trip would underscore how Washington and Tokyo have forged a deep alliance over the last 71 years and how everyone must ensure that nuclear arms are never used again.

"While we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past," he told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native. "It's about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built, the friendship that we share, the strength of our alliance and the strong reminder of the imperative we all have to work for peace for peoples everywhere."

Kerry's appearance, just footsteps away from Ground Zero, completed an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

No serving U.S. president has visited the site, and it took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend Hiroshima's annual memorial service. Many Americans believe the dropping of atomic bombs here on Aug. 6, 1945, and on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later were justified and hastened the end of the war.

Kerry didn't speak publicly at the ceremony, though he could be seen with his arm around Kishida and whispering in his ear.

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The otherwise somber occasion was lifted by the presence of about 800 Japanese schoolchildren waving flags of the G7 nations, including that of the United States. They cheered as the ministers departed with origami cranes in their national colors around their necks. Kerry was draped in red, white and blue.

Hours afterward, the top American diplomat still seemed to be absorbing all that he saw.

"It is a stunning display, it is a gut-wrenching display," he told reporters of the museum tour, recounting exhibits that showed the bomb, the explosion, the "incredible inferno" and mushroom cloud that enveloped Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. "It tugs at all of your sensibilities as a human being. It reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices of war and what war does to people, to communities, countries, the world."

Kerry urged all world leaders to visit, saying: "I don't see how anyone could forget the images, the evidence, the recreations of what happened."

Japanese survivors' groups have campaigned for decades to bring leaders from the U.S. and other nuclear powers to see Hiroshima's scars as part of a grassroots movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

As Kerry expressed interest, neither Japanese government officials nor survivor groups pressed for the U.S. to apologize. And Kerry didn't say sorry.

"I don't think it is something absolutely necessary when we think of the future of the world and peace for our next generation," Masahiro Arimai, a 71-year-old Hiroshima restaurant owner, said of an apology.

Yoshifumi Sasaki, a 68-year-old, longtime resident, agreed: "We all want understanding."

Both wished for Obama to follow in Kerry's footsteps next month.

The president still hasn't made a decision about visiting Hiroshima and its memorial when he attends a Group of Seven meeting of leaders in central Japan in late May, and Kerry made no promises. During his first year in office, Obama said he would be "honored" to make such a trip.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial," Kerry wrote in the museum's guest book. "It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself."

"War must be the last resort  never the first choice," he added.

Wading into U.S. politics, both Kerry and his Japanese counterpart rejected Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent suggestion that Japan consider developing its own nuclear weapons to defend itself against nuclear-armed North Korea.

Kishida said, "For us to attain nuclear weapons is completely inconceivable."

Kerry called such notions "absurd on their face," contradicting the efforts of every Democratic and Republican president since World War II to prevent wider nuclear proliferation.

Kerry acknowledged that some governments want all nuclear weapons, including those in the U.S. arsenal, destroyed immediately. He described such calls as unrealistic, potentially making the world more dangerous in the short-term by ridding nations of their deterrence against bad actors such as North Korea. Instead, he urged an ordered, methodical process toward the final goal of denuclearization.

"We all know it's not going to happen overnight," Kerry said.

But he said, "We have to get there."

___

Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
Istanbul (AFP) - A man convicted for the murder of a 20-year-old female student, in a case that sparked fury over violence against women in Turkey last year, was on Monday shot dead in prison, the government said.

Minibus driver Ahmet Suphi Altindoken was jailed for life without parole in December 2015 for murdering and attempting to rape Ozgecan Aslan, a crime that triggered nationwide protests.

Ahmet Suphi Altindoken, 27, was hospitalised after the prison attack, however doctors were not able to save him.

Altindoken's father, Necmettin, 51, who was one of two men jailed as accomplices to the murder, was wounded in the attack at the high-security prison in the southern Adana region, said government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus.

"We received the information that the person was badly wounded and then died. And we were made aware that the father was also wounded but his life not in danger," he said after a cabinet meeting.

"To kill anyone in prison -- whoever it is -- is unacceptable. Whatever negligence there has been will be brought to light."

The Dogan news agency reported that he was shot near the heart with a 6.35 millimetre pistol.

Prosecutors from the Adana region have launched an inquiry into the brazen attack which will come as an embarrassment to Turkish judicial authorities.

However the circumstances and who committed the killing inside the prison remain unclear.

- 'Nothing can bring her back' -

"I don't know what happened. Nothing can bring my daughter back. We do not want to talk about this issue," the Hurriyet daily quoted Aslan's mother Songul as saying when asked about the prison attack.

During the trial it was revealed that Aslan had been travelling on Altindoken's minibus, and when all the other passengers had got off he drove to a wood and tried to rape her.

The young woman fought back using pepper spray but Altindoken then bludgeoned and stabbed her to death.

Altindoken's father and friend were found guilty of helping him burn and dispose of the body. The remains were found by police and the three were arrested.

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Lawyers said after the trial that it was public pressure that saw the three men get aggravated life sentences -- the highest punishment in Turkey after it abolished the death penalty in 2002.

This did not however stop many people, including cabinet ministers, from calling for the men to face the death penalty.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who enraged many Turkish women last year by declaring they were not equal to men -- said the guilty deserved "the most severe punishment" after Aslan's killing.

The murder trial was hailed as hugely symbolic in a country where an often-silent wave of violence against women sees hundreds killed at the hands of men, often their husbands, each year.

Killers have frequently been able to secure a reduced sentence by arguing that a woman provoked them, or that their dignity was impugned.

Activists say remarks by government officials about women and how they should be treated leave them exposed to violence.
By Zoe Tabary LONDON (Reuters) - "Girls aren't cut out for a career in science and technology". Belinda Parmar has heard this sentence many times. In Britain, only 13 percent of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce is made up of women  a damning figure for a sector reporting talent shortages. Belinda is the founder of Lady Geek and Little Miss Geek, a campaign which aims to inspire women and girls to become pioneers in technology. Here, she discusses her own experience in the STEM sector, and ways of addressing gender barriers. Q: Why did you found Little Miss Geek and Lady Geek? A: I started Lady Geek after a poor experience in a phone shop, when I wanted to buy a new smartphone. The male sales assistant was 15 years younger than me, thought I knew nothing about technology and made me feel alienated because I didn't know the difference between a terabyte and a megabyte. So I thought "I can't be the only woman in Britain who loves technology and doesn't want to operate in this kind of environment". I did some research and found that a third of all British women feel patronized by the tech industry. I then advised major companies a couple of years ago and asked one of them to speak to some of the women making their products (given that 61 percent of their customers are female). To which they responded "well there's this woman in human resources, or this one who's a personal assistant". That pretty much summed up the problem for me. Q: Although girls perform to the same  if not a higher  level than boys in STEM subjects, a minority go on to pursue or enjoy successful STEM careers. Why is that? A: The perception of people working in tech is one of geeks who can't get girlfriends/boyfriends, which has a huge impact on whether girls decide to pursue a career in STEM. One 10-year-old girl I spoke to told me she'd rather be a garbage collector than work in technology. More than perception though, the gender divide in STEM is due to the tech sector not being inclusive enough, as exemplified by Sir Tim Hunt's recent comments. [Tim Hunt is a Nobel prize-winning scientist who faced a huge backlash after saying that women in laboratories "fall in love with you and when you criticize them, they cry"] Words like these make women feel unwelcome. Q: What can the STEM sector do about this? A: Rather than use feminism as a lobbying group to get people fired, we need to use these examples of sexism to our advantage, to raise awareness of the problem. Think of some of the amazing women working in technology, and get them to explain why they  and we  belong in the sector. Although we have seen a rise in awareness of gender equality issues, this hasn't yet translated into more women going for a STEM career. The number of women working in the tech sector in the UK has even decreased in the past year. Q: And do you see a will from policymakers and businesses globally to address this? A: I do, but initiatives to date to promote gender equality in STEM mostly concern small groups of people, and need to be scaled up to have a bigger impact. As Suw Charman-Anderson [who founded Ada Lovelace Day, to increase women's profile in STEM] puts it, the gender equality agenda needs grassroots action and funding through one central body, so that initiatives can be scaled up and transcend national borders. Q: What can schools  at all levels  do to promote STEM subjects more? A: Education systems need to demystify STEM and make it about real-world issues. There's also a psychological aspect to it: women and teenage girls hate to "fail", even more so publicly. Coding, for instance, is very much about trying over and over again before you find a solution. You have to give women an environment where they can comfortably "fail", so that they persevere in the subject. Regardless of your gender or the topic you're studying, I think schools should focus more on teaching entrepreneurial skills, and less on rote learning. Q: You mentioned a while ago that you were "done with women-only events that don't engage men". How can we do a better job of involving men and boys in the gender equality agenda? Why is it even in their interest to do so? A: I feel that whether we like it or not, men are running the country  they are, for example, heading up 95 percent of FTSE 100 companies. We can't change things unless we involve men in the debate, and yet there's a lot of fear of talking about gender. I work with many male CEOs who tell me "I want to talk about this issue but I just don't have the language". So one of the downfalls, for want of a better word, of feminism is that we've created some kind of bubble of fear around the subject. First we should teach boys and girls empathy skills, which are all about understanding other people and the impact you have on them. Second, I'd encourage boys to pursue typically female gender roles and vice versa, and not stick within the artificial boundaries of their gender. Ultimately we all benefit from gender equality, be it financially, morally or emotionally. (Editing by Ros Russell. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.news.trust.org)
(Reuters) - Michigan state health officials on Monday attributed two more deaths to Legionnaires' disease that may be related to the lead-contaminated drinking water crisis in Flint, bringing the total to 12. The total number of cases in 2014 and 2015 was 91, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. In January, it reported 10 deaths and 87 cases. All of the new cases were identified by MDHHS personnel from hospital testing data that was recently forwarded to the department, it said in a statement. About half of the cases were connected to the water crisis, Michigan officials have said. Flint was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched the source of its tap water from Detroit's system to the Flint River in April 2014 to save money. The city switched back last October after tests found high levels of lead in children's blood samples. The more corrosive water from the river leached more lead from the city pipes than Detroit water did. Lead is a toxic agent that can damage the nervous system. Legionnaires' is a type of pneumonia caused by inhaling mist infected with the bacteria Legionella. The mist may come from air-conditioning units for large buildings, hot tubs or showers. Documents released in February show state officials knew about the Legionnaires' outbreak and its suspected link to water system problems in Flint at least 10 months before a public announcement was made. Michigan auditors are probing the state health agency for its handling of the crisis. (Reporting by Justin Madden in Chicago, Editing by Ben Klayman and Dan Grebler)
Luxembourg (AFP) - Luxembourg offered on Monday to chip in financing to close an ageing French nuclear power plant near its border, saying the tiny nation could be obliterated if the station malfunctioned.

During a press conference with his French counterpart Manuel Valls, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said a problem at the Cattenom plant could "wipe the duchy off the map".

"The Cattenom site scares us, there's no point in hiding it," he said of the plant that has been in operation since the mid-1980s. "Our greatest wish is that Cattenom close."

Luxembourg "would be prepared to make a financial commitment to a project, which would have to be cross-border... at Cattenom that is not nuclear in nature."

Valls -- who was on a one-day visit to the nation of about 500,000 -- said France has pledged to cut its reliance on nuclear energy from more than 75 percent to 50 percent by shutting 24 reactors by 2025.

"Message received," he added.

France has several ageing nuclear power plants that are unsettling its neighbours. Germany demanded last month Paris shutter its oldest station, Fessenheim, which sits near the German and Swiss borders.

Fessenheim houses two 900-megawatt reactors and has been running since 1977. Due to its age activists have long called for it to be permanently closed.

French President Francois Hollande has pledged to shut down the Fessenheim plant by the end of his five-year term in 2017.
(Reuters) - Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has returned to training ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg Paris St Germain at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, the club said on their website (www.mcfc.co.uk). Kompany's campaign has been disrupted by injury and a recurrence of a calf problem has kept the Belgium international on the sidelines for nearly a month. Midfielder David Silva, who missed Saturday's 2-1 Premier League win over West Bromwich Albion due to a persistent ankle injury, has also returned to training. Manuel Pellegrini's men head into the PSG game with a slight advantage after drawing the first leg 2-2 in Paris last week. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Microsoft became on Monday the first major U.S. tech company to say it would transfer users' information to the United States using a new transatlantic commercial data pact and would resolve any disputes with European privacy watchdogs. Data transfers to the United States have been conducted in a legal limbo since October last year when the European Union's top court struck down the Safe Harbour framework that allowed firms to easily move personal data across the Atlantic in compliance with strict EU data transferral rules. EU data protection law bars companies from transferring personal data to countries deemed to have insufficient privacy safeguards, of which the United States is one, unless they set up complex legal structures or use a framework like Safe Harbour. Microsoft said it would sign up to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the new framework that was agreed by Brussels and Washington in February to fill the void left by Safe Harbour and ensure the $260 billion in digital services trade across the Atlantic continues smoothly. "Im pleased to announce today that Microsoft pledges to sign up for the Privacy Shield, and we will put in place new commitments to advance privacy as this instrument is implemented," John Frank, Vice President of EU Government Affairs, wrote in a blog. The U.S. company's endorsement of the Privacy Shield comes amidst criticism of it by privacy groups for failing to address concerns about U.S. surveillance practices and one day before EU data protection regulators sit down for a two-day meeting on whether to endorse it themselves. Revelations by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. government surveillance program sparked outrage in Europe and set in motion the legal challenge that eventually led to the quashing of Safe Harbour. The European Commission, which negotiated the framework on behalf of the EU, has urged companies to comply with decisions from the 28-member bloc's data protection authorities in disputes to help the Privacy Shield survive an expected future court challenge. Companies transferring human resources data will have to submit to the jurisdiction of European regulators, but for other companies it will merely be voluntary. The main enforcers of the framework will be the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The European Commission welcomed Microsoft's announcement, noting that EU individuals were more likely to turn to their national regulator to complain about the handling of their data. "We welcome the fact that companies already commit to using the Privacy Shield and complying with its obligations," said Christian Wigand, a Commission spokesman. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Mark Potter and Susan Thomas)
Berlin (AFP) - Germany put a 33-year-old Moroccan on trial for sexual assault Monday, the first man accused over a spate of such attacks at New Year's celebrations that shocked the country.

The defendant, who entered the Duesseldorf courtroom hiding his face under a blue jacket, allegedly groped a woman while he and 15 to 20 other men encircled and also assaulted her.

The 18-year-old woman told the court of her panic as the man lifted her skirt to touch her buttocks while feeling countless other hands touching her breasts and genital area in a terrifying mob attack.

She said she later identified the defendant from unrelated television footage screened in a "Spiegel TV" news reportage on pickpockets in the city of Duesseldorf.

Germany was appalled by the wave of sexual assaults and other crimes targeting women on New Year's Eve, mainly in Cologne but also in several other cities including Duesseldorf, where police received 118 criminal complaints.

The Cologne attacks in particular -- committed in a crowd of mostly North African men, according to witnesses -- heightened public fears about a mass influx of refugees and migrants.

Right-wing populist groups protested against "rape-fugees" and "sex-jihadists" while condemning the arrival of more than one million asylum seekers last year, the majority from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The court heard that the Moroccan man accused of attacking the woman in Duesseldorf also faces separate unspecified assault and property damage charges, and has four previous theft convictions.

Prosecutor Laura De Bruyn said that "the accused and his accomplices encircled and trapped the young woman and repeatedly touched her breasts, her buttocks but also her genital area".

The man had entered Germany in April 2014 when he filed a request for political asylum which was later rejected, but continued to stay in a shelter for asylum seekers, she said.

"The injured party has said that she was watching a television report in which the defendant gave an interview about a different matter," said De Bruyn.

"She clearly recognised him as the perpetrator and decided to file charges."
Howard Marks, a major British drugs smuggler turned cannabis legalisation campaigner and bestselling author, has died of bowel cancer aged 70, British media reported on Monday.

Marks graduated from Oxford University in the 1960s before embarking on an international criminal career spanning two decades that he described in his bestselling 1996 autobiography "Mr Nice".

He smuggled hashish in the furniture of Pakistani diplomats moving to London and in the music equipment of fictional British pop groups touring the United States and briefly worked for the MI6 spy agency.

In his book he also described doing business with the Trafficante crime family in the United States and using connections with Irish Republican Army paramilitaries in Ireland.

He lived under as many as 43 aliases.

Marks was finally arrested in 1988 and extradited to the United States where he served seven years in prison before being released on parole in 1995.

Marks was a "true modern-day folk hero" who did "so many funny, shocking, illegal things", his publisher friend James Brown told The Guardian newspaper.

After his release, Marks became a campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis and launched a failed bid for a parliamentary seat in the 1997 general election.

He also had a monthly column in the British men's magazine Loaded which was then edited by Brown.

"Smuggling cannabis was a wonderful way of living -- perpetual culture shock, absurd amounts of money, and the comforting knowledge of getting so many people stoned," Marks told The Observer newspaper in an interview last year.

"It's impossible to regret any part of my life when I feel happy and I am happy now, so I don't have any regrets and have not had any for a very long time."
An ancient burial site, including an oddly shaped quartz stone covering the face of one of the newly uncovered human skeletons, has been discovered at the mysterious Plain of Jars, an archaeological site in remote central Laos littered with thousands of stone vessels.

The new findings could help researchers solve the long-standing puzzle of why the stone jars were scattered across this part of Laos.

When it was found, the skull beneath the quartz adornment appeared to be looking through a large hole in the stone, said Dougald OReilly, an archaeologist at the Australian National University (ANU), who led a team of scientists on a joint Laos-Australian expedition to the Plain of Jars in February. [In Photos: Exploring the Mysterious Plain of Jars Site]

"When we excavated it, the skull was actually looking out through that perforation. It was quite interesting, but whether it was done purposefully is difficult to know," OReilly told Live Science.

Ancient burials

The burial site is estimated to be 2,500 years old, and was found when researchers from ANU, Monash University in Australia and the Laos Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism, spent four weeks mapping and excavating the ground around a group of the massive carved stone jars that dot the landscape.

More than 90 jar sites  some with up to 400 stone jars measuring as tall as 10 feet (3 meters) high  are spread across foothills, forests and upland valleys of this remote region.

The members of the Laos-Australian expedition worked at the most accessible site, known as Jar Site 1, located a few miles outside the city of Phonsavan, in Xiangkhoang province in central Laos. The researchers plan to explore a second, more remote jar site next year.

The Laos government hopes to develop Jar Site 1 as an archaeological center and UNESCO World Heritage site, to protect the unique Plain of Jars landscape and to stimulate scholarship and cultural tourism in the area.

Story continues

Mysterious jars

OReilly said the latest expedition was the first major effort by archaeologists since the 1930s to visit the site, in an effort to understand the purpose of the jars and who created them. Since that time, however, some archaeologists have undertaken important work at the Plain of Jars, mainly on their own. [The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]

The latest team of around 11 researchers worked together to compile the first comprehensive scientific study of one of the jar sites, including a GIS (geographic information system) map recording the precise location of each of the jars, stone disks and quartz stone markers scattered over the site.

The largest jars weigh more than 10 tons (9,000 kilograms), and a big part of their mystery is how they got there.

"There are a few well-known quarry sites where the jars were sourced and then brought across the landscape, about 8 to 10 kilometers [5 to 6 miles] to the jar sites," O'Reilly said. "So there's a huge amount of effort involved in moving them  one would have to speculate that elephants must have been involved, given the incredible weight of the jars."

And carving the massive jars would have been no easy task for primitive peoples with iron tools, he added.

"Some of the jars are over 2 meters [6.5 feet] or perhaps even 3 meters [10 feet] in height, and in girth you couldn't get your arms around most of them," O'Reilly said. "And there are variations in the design of the jars: some have larger or smaller openings, some are rectangular, some circular or oval  in some cases you wonder how did they even carve these things?"

The variety of sizes and shapes of the jars has prompted many researchers to theorize about their purpose over the years.

"Its probably likely that they do represent a memorial of some kind, and the variations in the sizes of the jars may indicate that there were differences in status and perhaps a hierarchy in the society that created the jars," O'Reilly said. "You could spend a lot of time theorizing."

Unearthing new mysteries

The burial site with the oddly shaped quartz stone was one of three distinct types of burial sites found at Jar Site 1, the researchers said. [Top 10 Weird Ways We Deal With the Dead]

"This is the first time that this type of interment has been uncovered at the Plain of Jars, but if there is one, there will probably be others," O'Reilly said. "And this burial is also quite interesting because it contained the remains of not one but two individuals: the cranial bones of what's estimated to be an 8-year-old child were found in that burial as well [as an adult skeleton]."

The expedition also uncovered 11 ceramic jars, which are expected to contain "secondary" burials of human bones from which the flesh was removed. A pit filled with bones from several secondary burials and covered with a large limestone block was also found, and the marker stones and stone disks on the ground around the stone jars seemed to correspond to the location of secondary burials, O'Reilly said.

Scientific study of samples and remains from the Plain of Jars site will continue in the laboratory. OReilly said the expedition recovered some human teeth that could provide DNA for testing and clues to the origins of the ancient peoples buried there. But, DNA tends to degrade heavily in the climate conditions of Southeast Asia, so a proper analysis might not be possible, he added. The contents of the ceramic jars excavated from the site will also be carefully examined to confirm if, as the researchers suspect, they hold human remains.

But the Plain of Jars is not giving up all its secrets just yet. Although some archaeologists have proposed that the stone jars were used to decompose bodies before the bones were cleaned for secondary burials, it may be impossible to know for sure.

"This is something you find in various religious practices in different parts of the world, but it's something that needs to be investigated a little further at the Plain of Jars," OReilly said.

One of the biggest problems at the site is that the jars have been exposed to the harsh Southeast Asian climate for more than 2,000 years, making it very difficult for scientists to study and run test on the artifacts.

"Possibly we could look at trying to extract lipids from the stone jars to see if there is any evidence for decomposition of human remains, but the jars have been exposed for so long that it's a bit of a long shot," he said. "So, I fear we probably will never know the true purpose of the large stone jars."

Follow Tom Metcalfe on Twitter @globalbabel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Silicon Valley-based tech developer Lytro is unwrapping a new camera system designed to use light-field technology for visual effects in film and TV production next week at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas. To demonstrate its ability, the company will also premiere a seven-minute short titled Life that was produced using the technology and directed by two-time Oscar-winning production designer and Maleficent helmer Robert Stromberg.

The science of light field dates back to 1846, but in recent years, related imaging technology has steadily advanced and it's shaping up to be a much talked-about topic at NAB this year. With light-field technology, the recording device can effectively capture the color, direction and placement of every ray of light, and what that means for filmmakers is that they can create a 3D model of what the camera is seeing, explained Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal.

Read More: 'Taxi Driver' Oral History: De Niro, Scorsese, Foster, Schrader Spill All on 40th Anniversary

"For the film and TV community, that means they can get shots that previously weren't possible, that defy the laws of physics [i.e. in depth of field]," he said. "Computers and storage and bandwidth have finally caught up to a point that makes it practical, with the level of quality for demanding production."

The Lytro Cinema system consists of the camera, related software and processing and storage to enable light-field production in film and TV. At least for now, the system would work in conjunction with cinema cameras, and would be used for actual takes that would later involve VFX-intensive work. To demonstrate this, Rosenthal said cinematographer David Stump shot Life half on Lytro and half with the Arri Alexa.

Life tells the story of a boy's journey during the WWII era, and Stromberg personally created the matte paintings in the short. The goal was to demonstrate how the Lytro system could fit into a postproduction workflow, with its software that Rosenthal said could can be used as a plug-in with tools such as The Foundry's VFX system Nuke or Adobe's Premiere Pro.

Story continues

Read More: 'Finding Dory' Preview: Hank the Octopus Jumps Into the Pool

The Lytro Cinema system will be available as of NAB on a subscription basis, with packages starting at roughly $125,000 (which would provide enough processing and storage for roughly 100 shots, according to Rosenthal). Separately, Lytro already offers a version of the system aimed at virtual reality production.

Among several other NAB exhibitors focused on this technology is Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, which will show its light-field software plug-ins for The Foundry's widely-used Nuke. Now available, its goal is to provide light-field tools for VFX and postproduction to take advantage of any multicamera array data.

Said Fraunhofer Digital Media Alliance's Siegfried Foessel of the system: "You can use the same processing steps for creating a virtual reality environment that makes the stitching easier." Foessel told The Hollywood Reporter that he's also involved in an ad hoc group looking at light-field presentation. "The goal is to check if there's a need for a common format," he said.

The NAB Show is set to run April 16-21.

Read More: AT&T's New 4K DirecTV Channel Will Tee Off With Masters Tournament
After a few days of turmoil for NASA's primo planet-hunter, the Kepler Space Telescope, engineers have recovered the telescope from emergency mode and it's now safe and sound, NASA announced on April 11.

Kepler has already detected 5,000 planets outside our solar system and confirmed about 1,000 of them. It completed its primary mission back in 2012, and it's been working on an extended mission hunting for more planets and studying young stars and supernovae.

Bu on April 7, when engineers tried to feed the telescope a new set of directions, they unexpectedly discovered Kepler was operating in emergency mode, or EM, Kepler mission manager Charlie Sobeck said in a weekend update. "EM is the lowest operational mode and is fuel-intensive."

NASA didn't Getting the spacecraft out of EM became the top priority.

An illustration of the Kepler space telescope.

On April 10, engineers managed to get the telescope back into a stable state.

"The spacecraft is operating in its lowest fuel-burn mode," Sobeck said in an update.

Now engineers will investigate what made Kepler enter EM in the first place. They'll also perform a full-system check up to see if the telescope is ready to start collecting data again. The test will likely take the rest of the week.

This isn't the first time Kepler has gotten into hot water. It broke down several times during its primary mission between 2009 and 2012, the Guardian reports.

This fix was particularly challenging though, because the spacecraft is about 75 million miles away.

If there's life out there, Kepler could spot it. The telescope has made some incredible discoveries, including what astronomers call Earth's closest "twin" planet, which might be able to support life. Hopefully the telescope pulls through and keeps hunting down celestial objects.

h/t The Guardian
Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly admitted Monday for the first time that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys transporting weapons in Syria destined for the Jewish state's arch-enemy Hezbollah.

It was the first clear public acknowledgement by the Israeli premier that the country had carried out attacks in neighbouring Syria with which it is still officially at war.

In December, Netanyahu told reporters Israel did "everything to prevent weapons, particularly lethal ones, being moved from Syria to Lebanon" where the Shiite Hezbollah is based.

"We occasionally carry out operations in Syria to prevent that country from becoming a front against us," he said at the time, but without elaborating.

Several raids targeting convoys of weapons destined for Hezbollah have been blamed by media in Syria and Lebanon on Israel, where the authorities have been tight-lipped.

But on Monday, while visiting troops on the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights, Netanyahu admitted such attacks had taken place, his office said.

"We act when we have to act, including here, on the other side of the frontier, with dozens of strikes aimed at preventing Hezbollah from obtaining weapons that could alter the balance of power," he said.

Several sources say that Israel, which is officially neutral in the conflict that has raged across Syria since 2011, has launched more than a dozen air strikes there since 2013.

These have mainly targeted the transfer of arms destined for Hezbollah, which has sent forces to Syria to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad's troops against rebels.

In the summer of 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating war in Lebanon that killed nearly 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and about 160 Israelis, mostly troops.
The second season of historical drama, "Marco Polo" will land on Netflix on July 1.

Based on the true story of the 13th century explorer and adventurer, the show is set in the court of Mongolian emperor, Kublai Khan.

Despite being well received, it's taken nearly two years for the second 10-episode season of Marco Polo to land on the video streaming service.

"Marco Polo" stars Lorenzo Richelmy in the title role, alongside Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan.
Yahoo Finance is tracking the stocks youre following, based on your Yahoo Finance ticker searches.

Netflix (NFLX)  The online streaming giant is raising its monthly subscription fees for millions of customers by $2 per month. Those affected by this price boost are customers who were grandfathered into their current rates of $7.99 a month two years ago.

Hertz Global (HTZ)  The company cut its outlook for the first quarter, saying it now expects its U.S. car rental revenue to fall 2.5% to 3.5%. Hertz says Q1 EPS will be lower than expected, but its full-year EBITDA guidance was reaffirmed.

Toll Brothers (TOL)  Barron's is bullish on Toll Brothers, saying its shares are a bargain and that Wall Street is overreacting on concerns of oversupply of new condos in Manhattan and a potential market bust.

Yahoo (YHOO)  The U.K.s Daily Mail is in talks with private-equity firms about a possible bid for Yahoo. The deadline for potential suitors to place offers for Yahoo's core internet business is April 18th.

Alcoa (AA)  The industrial bellwether will kick off earnings season after the bell. Investors are bracing for weak results, with expectations that the biggest drop in earnings will come from energy and materials sectors.

Alphabet (GOOGL)  Pivotal Research Group upgraded the stock to buy from hold citing optimism about upcoming earnings. Analyst Brian Wieser believes shares could jump to $970 within the next 12 months.

Overstock.com (OSTK)  The company said its founder and chief executive Patrick Byrne will take an indefinite personal leave of absence for medical reasons. Byrne, who has been battling stage-4 hepatitis C, recommended the company's general counsel Mitch Edwards take the helm in the interim.

Restaurant Brands International (QSR)  The owner of Tim Hortons and Burger King is in focus after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to outperform from sector perform. The investment firm also lifted its price target on the stock to $48 per share.
By Chijioke Ohuocha LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria expects its non-oil revenues to nearly double this year as Africa's top oil producer seeks to offset a slump in oil revenues, according to a presentation seen by Reuters on Monday. President Muhammadu Buhari plans a record 6.06 trillion naira ($30.6 billion) budget to stimulate Africa's biggest economy, which has been hammered by a fall in oil exports that had made up 70 percent of state income. Funding of the budget with an expected deficit of 2.2 trillion naira has been so far unclear. Detailing its plans, the government expects to generate 3.38 trillion naira ($17 billion) this year from non-oil sources, up 87 percent from 1.81 trillion naira in 2015, the presentation showed. Corporate income tax collection is expected to exceed the 700 billion naira generated last year, while the government also aims to recover stolen Nigerian assets stashed abroad as part of efforts to crack down corruption, it said. The biggest source of revenues this year will come from what the presentation called "independent revenue", without providing further details. President Muhammadu Buhari plans to squeeze informal small traders who make up almost half of GDP, this year to boost tax revenues by 33 percent. On Saturday, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said Nigeria was considering the issue of Chinese Panda or Japanese Samurai bonds to help fund the budget. The government also wants to switch its debt mix so that 40 percent of loans would be from abroad, compared to 16 percent now, the presentation showed. Loan repayments will be stretched. Buhari has asked the United States for help in returning stolen Nigerian assets stashed in U.S. banks. In March, the U.S. said it had frozen more than $458 million of funds that the late military ruler Sani Abacha had stolen. Nigeria has recovered about $1.3 billion of Abacha's money from various European jurisdictions as of last year, with more than a third of that coming from Switzerland. Abacha also held assets in France, Britain and British offshore centers such as Jersey. Nigeria has also held talks with China, the World Bank and other international institutions to get loans to fund his plans to roll out infrastructure projects. ($1 = 198.0000 naira) (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Ulf Laessing and Toby Chopra)
HIROSHIMA (Reuters) - The effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons has been made more complex by North Korea's repeated provocations and by the worsening security environment in Syria and Ukraine, the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers said on Monday. Gathering in the Japanese city of Hiroshima where the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, the ministers also said they found it profoundly deplorable that North Korea had conducted four nuclear tests during the 21st century. "We reaffirm our commitment to seeking a safer world for all and to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons in a way that promotes international stability," they said in a written declaration on nuclear disarmament. "This task is made more complex by the deteriorating security environment in a number of regions, such as Syria and Ukraine, and, in particular by North Koreas repeated provocations." In a separate, detailed statement on the topic, ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States singled out North Korea for sharp criticism. "We condemn in the strongest terms the nuclear test on January 6 and the launch using ballistic missile technology on February 7, March 10 and March 18 conducted by North Korea," the ministers said in their statement. "It is profoundly deplorable that North Korea has conducted four nuclear tests in the 21st century." (Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Robert Birsel)
OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Lutheran Church voted on Monday in favor of allowing same-sex marriage, becoming the latest of a small but growing number of churches worldwide to do so. Last year the French Protestant Church allowed gay marriage blessings, while the U.S. Presbyterian Church approved a change in the wording of its constitution to include same-sex marriage. In a vote at the annual conference of the Norwegian Lutheran Church on Monday 88 delegates out of 115 in total backed same-sex marriage. "Finally we can celebrate love independently of whom one falls in love with," said Gard Sandaker-Nilsen, leader of the Open Public Church, a religious movement within the church that had campaigned to change the rules. Under the new rules, priests who do not want to marry a same-sex couple will still have the right to object. The vote by Norway's Lutheran Church reflects increasingly liberal attitudes in wider Norwegian society to issues such as homosexuality. Norway became the second country in the world after Denmark to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993. The Nordic country of 5.2 million people has allowed civil same-sex marriage since 2009. Some 74 percent of Norwegians were members of the Lutheran Church last year, according to the national statistics agency, but that number has been declining. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Gareth Jones)
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Oakbay Investments is to start talks with South African banks to restore relations after some companies severed links with it amid speculation that its owners, the Gupta family, are wielding undue political influence. Last week, several South African companies, including two major banks, cut ties with Oakbay following allegations over the Gupta family's relationship with President Jacob Zuma. Nazeem Howa, chief executive of Oakbay Investments, a holding company for Gupta businesses in South Africa, said he hoped to convince at least one local bank to re-establish relations. "We will be talking to all four banks this week and assuring them of our governance being in place and the correctness of what we've done," Howa told Bloomberg TV. Oakbay Investments did not immediately respond to Reuters' request to comment on Monday. The local business of accounting firm KPMG has severed ties with Oakbay Resources, citing association risk. Other companies that have severed links with businesses linked to the Gupta family include investment bank Sasfin, Barclays Africa and First National Bank, part of FirstRand. On Friday, Atul Gupta and Varun Gupta resigned as respective chairman and chief executive of Oakbay Resources and Energy, a company that houses the family's mining assets. They were joined by President Jacob Zuma's son Duduzane, who also said he would sell his investment in the business, as part of efforts to restore banking relationships. Shares in Oakbay Resources & Energy dropped 16 percent on Monday, falling sharply for a second straight session after the sudden resignations of its chairman and chief executive. The three Gupta brothers moved to South Africa from India at the end of apartheid in the early 1990s and went on to build a business empire that stretches from technology to the media to mining. President Zuma has denied suggestions the Guptas wield undue political power. The Guptas have also dismissed such reports, saying they are pawns in a political plot to get Zuma out of office. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by James Macharia and Jane Merriman)
By Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) - David Cameron had hoped to focus on campaigning to keep Britain in the EU before a referendum in June, but questions about his wealth, government spending and a steel crisis have blurred the prime minister's message. After four days and four different statements over his late father's inclusion in the "Panama Papers", Cameron said on Thursday he once had a stake in his father's offshore trust and had profited from it, spurring calls for the leader to resign. It is unlikely Cameron will follow Iceland's prime minister and leave office over the documents, which show how the world's rich and powerful stash their wealth, but the blow to his image could hurt his campaign to persuade Britons to stay in the European Union. On Thursday, Cameron used a television interview to admit he had a holding in his late father's Panamanian trust, Blairmore, but had sold it in 2010 before becoming prime minister. "Of course I did own stocks and shares in the past - quite naturally because my father was a stockbroker. I sold them all in 2010, because if I was going to become prime minister I didn't want anyone to say you have other agendas, vested interests," he told ITV television. "We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like 30,000 pounds." ($42,000) He underlined that he had paid tax on the dividends and on the profits, and said his father had left him 300,000 pounds on his death. He also suggested he had not immediately detailed his affairs because he had struggled with the critical coverage of his father, "a man I love and admire and miss every day". Cameron said the unit trust was not set up to avoid tax but to invest in dollar-denominated shares and he also promised to publish his tax returns. RICH There is no indication that he or his father had done anything illegal, but by casting a spotlight on the Eton-educated Cameron's wealth, the admission has fuelled a public perception that his Conservative Party rules to protect the rich while punishing the poorest with its austerity push. Opposition politicians said his initial reluctance to describe his financial connections with his late father after the Panama Papers were leaked on Sunday begged more questions of the leader, who has championed policies to reduce tax avoidance. "Far from being the end of the matter, the questions keep coming," said Tom Watson, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party. "Did the prime minister know that this fund was linked to tax avoidance? If so, when, and if not, why not? Given that he claimed that "sunlight is the best disinfectant", why has it taken six years for this to come to light?" Calls for Cameron to resign trended on Twitter, with one user saying that if "Iceland can do it, I'm bloody sure the UK can too". Others accused him of hypocrisy for having used an offshore unit while calling for an end to tax avoidance. Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson quit his position on Tuesday after the leaked files showed his wife owned an offshore firm with big claims on Iceland's collapsed banks. Government ministers played down any chance of Cameron's removal from power, but the revelations will only fuel growing discontent in his ruling Conservative Party over the leading role he is playing in the campaign to keep Britain in the EU. The June 23 referendum on Britain's EU membership has split the party, with many accusing the prime minister of breaking his promise not to undermine the "Out" campaign by spending 9 million pounds of government money on pamphlets they say are biased in favour of remaining in. Accusations that his government has allowed Britain's steel industry to all but collapse, leaving thousands out of work, have further eroded his public appeal as the leader of the "In" campaign. At a campaign outing on Thursday to rally youngsters to his cause, Cameron was ambushed by students, fielding questions touching on his "personal experience of tax avoidance", his refusal to bail out the steel industry and whether he felt government pamphlets gave the "In" campaign an unfair advantage. Asked whether Cameron was now tarnished, Nick Boles, the skills minister, said that perhaps with hindsight, Cameron should have detailed his financial affairs earlier. "I don't think it has (done damage)," he told BBC radio. "I think people are fair-minded." ($1 = 0.7102 pounds) (Additional reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
By Alexis Akwagyiram LAGOS (Reuters) - Six Turkish members of a cargo ship's crew have been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, a spokesman for the Nigerian navy said on Monday. The crew members of the merchant tanker M/T Puli were abducted some 90 miles from the coast at around 1:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) on Monday, navy spokesman Chris Ezekobe said. "Six crew members were abducted. They included the captain, the chief officer and chief engineer," Ezekobe said. "They were all Turkish." The spokesman said the navy was going to board the vessel to speak to other crew members. Last month, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea agreed to establish combined patrols to bolster security in the Gulf of Guinea. The gulf is a significant source of oil, cocoa and metals for world markets, but pirates pose a threat to shipping companies. They target oil tankers, usually seeking hostages for ransom and fuel to sell. Security analysts say the pirates have emerged from militant groups in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. A lawyer for Kaptanoglu Group, an Istanbul-based shipping company, said the crew members abducted from the M/T Puli included the ship's captain and that those left behind were unharmed, according to the newspaper Hurriyet. The tanker was carrying liquid chemical fuels and was traveling to Cameroon, Hurriyet said, citing the lawyer, Fehmi Ulgener. (Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley, in Istanbul; editing by Larry King)
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron believes it is right for British finance ministers, opposition party finance spokespeople and potential future British leaders to publish their tax return information, his spokeswoman said on Monday. On Sunday, Cameron took the unusual step of publishing his tax records to try to end days of questions about his personal wealth raised by the mention of his late father's offshore fund in the Panama Papers. "When it comes to publishing tax returns, the prime minister has made clear that he was willing to be transparent, that it's right for potential prime ministers to also do so," she said. "The prime minister takes the view that chancellors (finance ministers) and shadow chancellors should show transparency too. But he is not recommending that it should be the same thing for everyone else involved in politics," she said, underlining that Cameron felt those who were in control of the nation's finances should be as transparent as possible. (Reporting by William James, Writing by Kylie MacLellan, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
London (AFP) - British police will soon be able to pierce the secrecy of certain tax havens, Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday, as he sought to defuse pressure over his tax affairs linked to the so-called Panama Papers.

Britain is creating a list that reveals the identities of individuals who benefit from an investment even if it is held in the name of another person.

Cameron told the House of Commons that all British crown dependencies and overseas territories except Anguilla and Guernsey had already signed up to furnish the information.

These include areas such as the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands, which are hot spots of offshore activity.

While information from the so-called register of beneficial ownership will not be made public, it will be available to police and law enforcement agencies in Britain and other countries, Cameron said in a statement to parliament.

"For the first time, UK police and law enforcement will be able to see exactly who really owns and controls every company" incorporated in such places, Cameron said.

"There's no doubt that in some of these jurisdictions and countries there are some very bad things happening... and that's why we want our authorities to go through everything they can."

He did not provide a timetable for rolling out the register.

British charity Oxfam said Cameron "needs to do better than this".

"The prime minister has said that sunlight is the best disinfectant when it comes to corruption," it said in a statement.

Unless the registry is public, "it will be impossible for wider society -- especially people in the world's poorest countries -- to hold businesses and governments to account," it added.

Britain is also pushing for other countries around the world to commit to similar transparency measures.

Next month, Britain's government will host the world's first international anti-corruption summit in London.

Cameron was making his first appearance before MPs since it emerged that he held an investment in a Bahamas-based offshore trust set up by his stockbroker father, a client of the law firm Mossack Fonseca at the heart of the Panama Papers scandal.

Cameron sold the units in the trust before he became prime minister in 2010.
President Barack Obama told Fox News on Sunday what he thought was the worst mistake of his presidency: that his failure to adequately plan for the aftermath of the U.S.-supported overthrow of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 was "probably" his biggest error.

"Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya," Obama told Fox's Chris Wallace.

Obama said he still believes the United States was right to intervene in the conflict. U.S. air strikes, intelligence personnel and logistical support proved crucial to bringing the rebellion against Gadhafi to a close, though the country has remained chaotic since. After the coalition against Gadhafi failed to implement a credible successor to his rule, much of the country has been taken over by various militias and warlords.

The U.S. is still bombing Islamic State training camps in the country, a testament to the ongoing lawlessness in today's Libya, where the terror group controls an estimated 120-mile stretch of territory around the city of Sirte.

UN-appointed Prime Minister Faiez Serraj recently entered the capital of Tripoli, but according to Foreign Policy, has yet to assert his authority beyond restoring order to the city's streets. Serraj must "rebuild Libya's fractured institutions, tame power-hungry militias, win support from partisans of the government in the east, and  last but not least  crush the Islamic State's nascent "caliphate," which Foreign Policy writes is a hefty slate of challenges for any leader.

Obama recently told the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg many of the U.S.' European allies in the conflict had lost interest in Libya after Gadhafi was toppled in 2011, contributing to the "mess" the country remains in.

"So we actually executed this plan as well as I could have expected," Obama told Goldberg. "We got a UN mandate, we built a coalition, it cost us $1 billion  which, when it comes to military operations, is very cheap. We averted large-scale civilian casualties, we prevented what almost surely would have been a prolonged and bloody civil conflict. And despite all that, Libya is a mess ... I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libya's proximity, being invested in the follow-up."

Obama's admission may pose a challenge for former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, widely viewed as the architect of the administration's intervention in Libya in 2011. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has called attention to the Libyan intervention as an example of Clinton's lack of "judgment," while a recent New York Times profile noted her expansive view of when to use U.S. military force "ran aground in a tribal country with no functioning government, rival factions and a staggering quantity of arms."
Over this past weekend, Marvel held several early press screenings for Captain America: Civil War. Although the movie doesn't hit theaters for nearly a month, Marvel allowed critics to share their general reactions.

If you thought moviegoers might have finally reached superhero fatigue, think again  nearly every early review for Civil War has been glowing.

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Here are some of the most positive reactions being passed around on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/KevinMcCarthyTV/status/718679853734559744

https://twitter.com/GermainLussier/status/718679906167574528

https://twitter.com/mikeryan/status/718681525068382208

https://twitter.com/mjsamps/status/718679876111216642

https://twitter.com/colliderfrosty/status/718680450546270208

Although critics weren't able to go into detail about the movie, it sounds like Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther and Tom Holland's Spider-Man are incredibly worthwhile additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

https://twitter.com/colliderfrosty/status/718681418516144128

https://twitter.com/JimVejvoda/status/718691758394228736

https://twitter.com/devincf/status/718679869190582272

https://twitter.com/devincf/status/718680093032251397

https://twitter.com/GermainLussier/status/718680098749042688

Although it will be difficult to compare Civil War to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice when it comes to tone and characters, some critics couldn't help but notice that Civil War tackles many of the same themes as BvS while maintaining a sense of fun and levity. Plus, the audience is invested in these characters, so when they go to war with one another, viewers might actually care about the outcome.

Not everyone loved the movie as much as these critics, but the consensus is overwhelmingly positive. After Avengers: Age of Ultron failed to live up to the lofty expectations of the first Avengers movie, it sounds like Marvel is back on track.

Story continues

Captain America: Civil War hits theaters on May 6th.

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A new trailer for "Harry Potter" spin-off, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", has been released, taking audiences to 1920s New York as "magizoologist" Newt Scamander arrives in the United States. The lead character, who stops off in the city following his travels to find and document magical creatures, is played by Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne. A "magizoologist", in J.K. Rowling's make-believe universe, is somebody who studies magical creatures. The "Fantastic Beasts" story is set in 1926 - decades before Rowling's fictional boy wizard Harry Potter begins his adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The new trailer shows more of the magical adventure and supporting cast members Colin Farrell and Katherine Waterston. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" opens in cinemas worldwide in November.
Queen guitarist Brian May has slammed Sacha Baron Cohen over recent comments the actor made about the long-gestating Freddie Mercury biopic, for which he was initially attached to star.

Talking last month to Howard Stern, Cohen claimed that he walked away from the project he'd been connected to since 2010 after learning that it wasn't to be the "warts and all" retelling he'd been hoping for, and instead would take the story beyond Mercury's death from AIDS complications in 1991 to "see how the band carries on from strength to strength."

But May now suggests that it wasn't the actor's decision to leave the project, attacking him for speaking to the press.

"We had some nice times with Sacha kicking around ideas but he went off and told untruths about what happened," May told The Mail on Sunday. "Why would he go away and say that we didn't want to make a gritty film? Are we the kind of people who have ever ducked from the truth? I don't think so."

No doubt referencing Cohen's recent box-office bomb The Brothers Grimsby, May added: "We decided he wasn't right for the role for very good reasons, which will become apparent if you watch what he's done recently. It's obvious that it wasn't going to work, him playing Freddie. It wouldn't suspend your disbelief."

Underlining the project's still-early status, May said there wasn't a director yet attached and that Ben Whishaw, who was named as Cohen's replacement late last year, hadn't actually been confirmed.

"We're hoping Ben Whishaw will do it," he said. "He's fabulous - a real actor."
The SAG-AFTRA national board approved the recently negotiated commercials agreement, the union announced Sunday, and the new contract will soon be sent to the organization's membership for approval, probably in a week to 10 days. No details of the deal were released.

The contract - likely worth over a billion dollars per year in earnings, although exact figures are not available - is one of the union's largest, and is rivaled only by the TV/theatrical contract. SAG-AFTRA and the bargaining unit representing advertisers and advertising agencies reached agreement on the deal on April 3 after several weeks of negotiation.

"This contract speaks to the livelihood of members today - and in the future," SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris said in a statement. "We look forward to presenting the agreement to the membership for ratification."

David White, the union's national executive director, served as its lead negotiator, while Carteris and New York-based board member Sue Ann Morrow co-chaired the organization's negotiating committee. Other union representatives included co-lead negotiators Ray Rodriguez and Mathis Dunn and senior advisor John McGuire. On the management side, Douglas J. Wood was lead negotiator for the ANA-4A's Joint Policy Committee on Broadcast Talent Union Relations.

Read More: SAG-AFTRA, Ad Industry Reach Tentative Deal on New Commercials Contract

"I congratulate the board on the approval of this agreement," said White. "Our negotiating committee, led by President Carteris and Co-Chair Sue-Anne Morrow, faced very tough issues and, working together, secured an excellent and forward-looking deal for our membership."

The meeting also included remembrances of two of the union's leaders who died last month, then-current SAG-AFTRA president Ken Howard and former SAG president Anna Patty Duke Pearce. The board also voted by acclamation to rename the Membership Services Center in the Los Angeles national headquarters and the Board Room in the New York office in Howard's honor.

Story continues

In other business, White detailed for the board what the union described as "the continued progress towards merging the legacy P&H and H&R plans," i.e., the still-separate SAG pension & health plan and AFTRA health & retirement plan. The union provided no details, however. As The Hollywood Reporter previously reported, an AFTRA plan trustee recently said he expected merger of the two health plans to occur by January 2017.

In addition, SAG-AFTRA secretary-treasurer Jane Austin and chief financial officer Arianna Ozzanto presented the fiscal year 2017 projected budget, indicating that it is expected to yield what the union said was "a larger surplus compared to FY16 budget due to increased revenue."

Carteris was elected president by the union's board on Saturday, after serving as acting president since Howard's death on March 23. The union will be streaming a celebration of Howard's life on Monday starting at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT at sagaftra.org.

Read More: Gabrielle Carteris Elected SAG-AFTRA President
Ankara (AFP) - Saudi King Salman arrived in Turkey on Monday for a visit aimed at tightening increasingly close ties between the two overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim allies, receiving a lavish welcome that underlined the strength of relations.

The 80-year-old king was welcomed at Ankara airport by a delegation personally led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an unusual break from protocol and showing the importance Turkey attatches to the visit.

Television footage showed the king, wearing black sunglasses, serenely descending from the plane with a special escalator rather than steps before being welcomed by Erdogan.

King Salman is expected to hold talks on Tuesday at Erdogan's presidential palace in Ankara expected to focus on the Syrian conflict and the fight against militants.

Salman will then attend the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul on Thursday and Friday after wrapping up talks in the Turkish capital.

Local media reported that he will stay in Ankara in a 450 square-meter (4,850 sq ft) hotel suite, with bullet proof windows reinforced by bomb-resistant cement.

A 300-person Saudi delegation had earlier arrived in Ankara to coordinate the king's accommodation and deal with security issues, the Hurriyet newspaper said.

Five hundred luxurious Mercedes, BMW and Audi cars had been hired for the king's transport in Ankara and Istanbul, it added. The king's personal belongings had all been shipped to Turkey in cargo planes.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey have forged close alliance after their relationship had been damaged by Riyadh's role in the 2013 ousting of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a close ally of Ankara.

Ankara and Riyadh have cooperated closely over the five-year Syrian war. Both back rebels who are seeking to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power and see his exit as essential to ending the war.

In February, Saudi jets arrived at Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to join the air campaign against Islamic State jihadists.

Turkey will take over the OIC's rotating presidency from Egypt at the Istanbul summit, which is seen as a new bid by Erdogan to showcase Turkey's influence in the Islamic world.
By Stoyan Nenov and Ayat Basma IDOMENI, Greece (Reuters) - Scuffles broke out between migrants and Greek police on Monday after dozens tried to push a train carriage along rail tracks leading to Macedonia. The minor trouble came a day after dozens of migrants and refugees were injured in clashes with Macedonian police which the Greek prime minister deplored as "a disgrace for European civilization". More than 10,000 migrants and refugees have been stranded at the Greek border outpost of Idomeni since February after a cascade of border shutdowns across the Balkans closed off their route to central and western Europe. During Monday's scuffles, men stood on top the train carriage shouting and waving the Greek and German flags in protest. Others walked up to the border and waved olive branches at Macedonian soldiers who stood guard on the other side of the razor wire fence. The tension was short lived and bore no resemblance to Sunday when dozens of migrants and refugees were wounded after Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds on the Greek side of the border. Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said that of around 300 people it treated on Sunday more than 30, including children, had injuries caused by rubber bullets. Macedonian authorities would only confirm they had used tear gas and accused Greek police of not intervening to stop the protesters. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras denounced the use of "chemicals, of tear gas, of rubber bullets against people who clearly were not armed, were not a serious threat. "This constitutes a big disgrace for European civilization and for countries who want to become a part of European civilization," he said. Macedonia has been a candidate for accession to the European Union since 2005. In one section of the camp, several dozen rubber bullets and shells from tear gas canisters were spread across a blanket. HUMILIATION One Syrian refugee told Reuters that he and his wife and four children had been treated for the effects of tear gas. "We saved our children from death. If they had died in Syria under the air strikes (it would have been) better than living in this humiliation," said the man, who gave his name as Taha. "We ran away from humiliation. We thought Europe would open its arms for us and treat us with dignity, instead it's been humiliation," he said. Greece has been trying for weeks to convince those stuck at the border to move to camps set up by the government across the country. Most have been reluctant to move, fearing they will forever miss any chance to move on to central and western Europe. Greece's Public Protection Minister Nikos Toskas, a retired major-general who once served at NATO on defense planning, said the government did not intend to let the situation at Idomeni "fester," but would not forcibly remove migrants either. "I've learnt to look a bit into the future," he told Greek TV. "Yesterday's beaten - if we are not careful - could be tomorrow's jihadists and nobody wants that," he said, referring to fears by Europol that refugees and migrants could be vulnerable to radicalisation and targeted by Islamic State recruiters. (Additional reporting by Kole Kasule in Skopje; Writing by Karolina Tagaris in Athens Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A former media officer for the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab was publicly executed by a government firing squad on Monday for ordering the death of six journalists, court officials said. Hassan Hanafi, who arranged news conferences for the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group when the militants controlled the capital Mogadishu, admitted during his trial to personally killing one journalist in Somalia. "Today, the court fulfils the execution of Hassan Hanafi who had killed journalists," Abdullahi Hassan, deputy judge of the court, told reporters at the scene on Monday. A masked Hanafi was tied to a pole before government forces opened fire at an execution field at a police training camp, according to witnesses. Since 1992 a total of 59 journalists have been killed in Somalia, according to industry body, the Committee to Protect Journalists. Al Shabaab seeks to impose its strict version of sharia, Islamic law, in Somalia, where it frequently attacks government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital. The group was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but controls many rural areas in southern Somalia. Hanafi, 30, admitted joining al Shabaab in 2008 when he worked as a journalist for a local broadcaster. He was arrested in neighboring Kenya last year and returned to Somalia for trial. A few days ago, a military court executed two men accused of killing a female reporter employed by the state radio, court officials said. (Reporting by Ismail Taxta and Abdi Sheikh, writing by Wendell Roelf,; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
The Japanese government wants to use grimy fingerprints to learn what tourists buy.

A new system in Japan will let registered tourists pay for products by placing two fingers on a tiny biometric reader, the Telegraph reported. The system will launch this summer in select stores and will automatically deduct taxes from purchases.

Tourists will first register their fingerprints and credit card information in an airport or "convenient public location," according to the Telegraph. From there, they'll be able to use their fleshy digits as currency. The fingerprint system also lets foreign visitors use the biometric reader as an alternative to flashing their passports during hotel check-ins.

This system will allow tourists to finger their way through 300 hot tourist spots in Japan, including souvenir shops, restaurants and hotels.

But remember, convenience sometimes comes at a price. And in this case, the price you pay is your privacy.

The government hopes to use the payment data from these fingerprint systems to analyze what tourists are spending money on during their travels. While the data will allegedly remain anonymous, it still gives the Japanese government information that could help make tourist traps even more ensnaring.

The government claims the data will be used to "create effective tourism management policies," according to the Telegraph. They should probably also use it to tell shops when to load up on porcelain cat figurines, because Americans love that shit.

The objective is to launch the fingerprint system throughout Japan in time for the 2020 Olympics, when hordes of souvenir-happy tourists descend upon the land.

Travelers, go forth, and with the gentle touch of your phalanges, make it rain.
SpaceX was contracted for a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, and in order to cut down on the exorbitant cost of space travel, the aerospace company has been trying to safely land and recover rockets for reuse in future missions. After months of failed attempts, SpaceX finally managed to land a Falcon 9 rocket on a barge in the middle of the sea on Friday afternoon.

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The entire event was streamed live on YouTube, but in case you missed it, SpaceX has released several high quality photos of the launch and the landing:

SpaceX Sea Landing 2

SpaceX Sea Landing 3

SpaceX Sea Landing 4

SpaceX Sea Landing 6

SpaceX Sea Landing 5

SpaceX Sea Landing 7

A stunning sight and an achievement worth celebrating. As if Elon Musk wasn't already having the greatest week ever after securing more than 325,000 Tesla Model 3 reservations, this landing might have cemented it.

One successful landing at sea doesn't mean that the process has been perfected, but it's an extremely encouraging sign for the future of affordable space travel. You can see just how much it means to the employees of SpaceX in the full video from the event below. The launch starts at the 19:00 mark and the landing sequence begins around the 27:20 mark. But be sure to stick around for the celebration shortly after, which might actually have you applauding at your desk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUAydjne5M

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Suicide Squad director David Ayer has taken to social media to push back against a recent rumor that the movie was being reworked via reshoots, calling the speculation "silly."

According to the rumor, which first surfaced via a Birth Movies Death article at the end of last month, Suicide Squad was undergoing reshoots described as adding more humor to the film after the positive response to the lighter tone of the movie's first official trailer.

Ayer's Twitter response, released after the debut of a new trailer for the pic during Sunday's MTV Movie Awards, didn't just deny the rumors; he suggested that the reshoots were the result of Warner Bros. being excited by an early version of the feature.

#SuicideSquad "reshoots for humor" is silly. When a studio loves your movie and asks what else you want, go for it! #ThanksWB #moreaction

- David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) April 11, 2016

Suicide Squad is set to be released Aug. 5.

Read More: MTV Movie Awards: Will Smith, Jared Leto Debut Exclusive 'Suicide Squad' Trailer
Amsterdam (AFP) - With summer approaching, Zika may find its way into virus-carrying mosquitoes in Europe or the United States, disease experts have warned, but any outbreaks are likely to be small and short-lived.

Doctors and scientists attending a major infectious diseases conference in Amsterdam said there was no reason to panic, and the idea of screening travellers was far-fetched.

Zika is borne by the Aedes aegypti mosquito found in Latin America and the Caribbean, regions still in the grip of an outbreak of the virus which has been linked to severe brain damage in babies and rare neurological diseases in adults.

"We have to accept that someday there will be a... traveller coming back from South America with Zika virus in his or her blood and there is a potential risk of starting a transmission," tropical medicine professor Eskild Petersen of Denmark's Aarhus University said Monday.

"I would say that the southern part of the United States and southern Europe are definitely at risk," he told AFP on the conference sidelines.

However, he stressed, the risk should not be exaggerated. "It is a disease which in the vast majority of cases is a mild viral disease."

Rare cases of sexual virus transmission have also been recorded.

- Unknown entity -

The warmer summer months bring with them the peak mosquito season for Europe and the United States after the insects' eggs -- typically found in stagnant water -- hatch.

In Europe, the potential threat comes from a related mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which began to spread in southern Europe about 25 years ago.

Albopictus is not known to have transmitted Zika to humans in the wild, but has been shown capable of doing so in laboratory experiments.

"A real risk for Europe? No, I don't think so," said Jean-Paul Stahl, an infectious diseases expert from the Grenoble University Hospital in France.

"The vector (the mosquito) is in the Mediterranean areas, but we don't have the virus. Not yet."

Story continues

There is a risk of "some little outbreaks" around a single imported case, he added, "but I don't think at this time the virus will resettle in Europe."

The main challenge, according to Petersen, would be to prevent infected blood making its way into blood banks and being given to a patient with low immune protection.

According to Nick Beeching, a senior lecturer on infectious diseases at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, it is hard to predict threat based on the limited data available.

Very little is known about Zika -- how long it may hide out in the human body, the degree of risk of sexual transmission, and the full list of diseases it may cause.

"We think its mostly transmitted by the mosquitos that transmit dengue and similar infections, so we think there is probably not going to be much of a problem in countries where you don't have those mosquitoes," said Beeching.

But "we don't know that for sure."

Studies are ongoing to see if other mosquitoes elsewhere may also transmit the virus.

Petersen said there may also be a risk for Africa, where Zika was first identified in 1947, in Uganda.

If the virus had evolved genetically since then, it could mean that people in tropical Africa -- who may have originally enjoyed Zika immunity -- no longer do.

"The latest report I have seen, it was (Zika) described from the Cape Verde islands, which is halfway between Brazil and Africa," he cautioned.

Screening all travellers from South America was "absolutely impossible" and not the solution, Petersen stressed.

"You have I don't know how many planes from South America to Europe every day. And if people knew that they would be screened they would just take a paracetamol half an hour before landing and they would not report" any fever.
MELBOURNE, April 11 (Reuters) - Former 100 metres freestyle world champion Cate Campbell is carrying a strained wrist through Olympic trials in Adelaide this week after injuring it during an 'aggressive' nap. The 23-year-old, who won gold with Australia's 4 x 100m freestyle team at the 2012 London Games, said she had bent her wrist backwards twice while sleeping, causing damage to a joint. "I am an aggressive napper," Campbell told local media. "I woke up the first time and the wrist was sore then somehow I did it again -- that did it. "More rest should do it a lot of good". Campbell still managed to qualify fastest for the 100m freestyle final at the national trials and will take on her sister Bronte in the decider on Tuesday. The Campbell sisters' rivalry has lit up the women's pool, with the younger Bronte snatching Cate's 100m world title at Kazan last year. The pair became the first Australian siblings to qualify for the same Olympic event at the London Games and will hope to repeat the trick for Rio by finishing in the top two at the South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre on Tuesday. They share an intense but friendly rivalry and Bronte, who qualified third fastest for the final, enjoyed a good-natured dig at her sister's injury woes. "She is pretty talented to be able to injure herself while asleep," Bronte said. "Even when she is not doing anything she is hurting herself." (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Patrick Johnston)
By Angus McDowall and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army was on Monday reported to be sending reinforcements to Aleppo, where renewed fighting is threatening a fragile truce in the run-up to the next round of peace talks. Underlining the conflict's regional dimensions, Iranian media announced the first deaths of members of its regular army in Syria, a week after Tehran said army commandos had been deployed in support of Damascus. Iran's military support has so far mostly been provided by the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps. An eruption of fighting near the ancient city of Aleppo in the last two weeks marks the most serious challenge yet to a "cessation of hostilities" brokered by the United States and Russia with the aim of facilitating peace talks. Pointing to the frayed state of the truce, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is visiting Damascus, that Turkey and Saudi Arabia were behind violations of the deal. He said they had ordered insurgents to stage attacks aimed at foiling planned Geneva talks. There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The two nations have backed the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, providing insurgents with arms and money. Assad is supported militarily by both Iran and Russia. The U.N.-sponsored talks, which resume on Wednesday, aim to end a five-year-old conflict which has killed more than 250,000 people, created the world's worst refugee crisis and allowed for the rise of Islamic State. The first round made little progress, with no sign of compromise over the key issue of Assad's future. Underlining Assad's confidence, the Syrian government is due to hold parliamentary elections in state-held parts of the country on Wednesday. The opposition has called the vote a sham. FIGHTING FOR ALEPPO The fighting near Aleppo has focused around a cluster of towns along the main road to the south. Rebels say the army has also intensified bombing, and Russian warplanes have resumed air strikes in the area. The army has accused rebels of taking part in attacks by the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-linked group, which along with Islamic State was not included in the truce agreement. Russia said on Monday that Nusra was massing around Aleppo ahead of a major offensive. Syria's Prime Minister Wael al-Halaki was quoted on Sunday as saying the government, backed by Russia's air force, was planning an operation to retake Aleppo, but the Russian defense ministry said there were no plans to storm the city. Local media on both sides reported a large build-up of troops and equipment by the Syrian army and its allies around Aleppo, with the pro-Damascus al-Mayadeen TV reporting it had seen tanks and rocket launchers heading towards the city. The government and its allies have mounted major operations against insurgents to the north and south of Aleppo in the six months since Russia began air strikes in support of Assad and cut the most direct supply route to Turkey earlier this year. But rebels still hold territory in and around the city, including its western approaches. The two fiercest fronts in fighting around Aleppo in recent days have been in the towns of Telat al-Eis, Zitan, Zirba and Khan Touman on the main highway south to Damascus, and around the Handarat camp on a main road running north to Turkey. The Aleppo front is one of the areas where Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon's Hezbollah have deployed in support of the army. The Iranian Tasnim news agency said four soldiers in Iran's regular army had been killed in Syria, without saying when or where. "Four of the first military advisers of the Islamic Republic's army ... were killed in Syria by takfiri groups," it said, referring to hardline Sunni Islamists. TRYING TO PROTECT CEASEFIRE Both Damascus and the opposition's High Negotiations Committee have held the other to blame for breaches in the truce, which came into effect on Feb. 27. De Mistura was in Damascus for meetings with senior government officials before traveling on to Iran in an attempt to revive the peace talks after negotiations in March failed to make much progress. The next round will focus on a political transition, de Mistura said. Moualem said the government would be ready to take part. Meanwhile, fighting also erupted between rebels and Islamic State on Monday, as the group reclaimed the town of al-Rai near the border with Turkey, about 50km (30 miles) from Aleppo, only days after it fell to the Turkish-backed rebels. (Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Tom Perry, Peter Millership and Giles Elgood)
By Guy Faulconbridge and Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) - Tata Steel agreed to sell one of its main British steelworks to investment firm Greybull Capital for 1 pound on Monday, saving a third of the 15,000 jobs placed in jeopardy by the Indian conglomerate's decision to sell up in Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron has been under pressure to keep the plants open to save jobs after Tata, one of the world's biggest steelmakers, said on March 30 it would sell its loss-making British business. As Tata formally appointed advisers for the sale of its steel assets in Britain, turnaround specialist Greybull Capital LLP said it would buy the Indian company's Long Products Europe division in Scunthorpe, northern England, which employs 4,400. It declined to rule out further purchases of Tata's British steel assets, including its plant at Port Talbot in Wales, while British Business Secretary Sajid Javid said the government would consider jointly investing with a buyer to secure the sale of the Indian group's other UK assets. "I've been in contact with potential buyers, making clear that the government stands ready to help," Javid told parliament. "This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms." The sale to Greybull - for a nominal pound or 1 euro - includes a 400 million pound ($570 mln) investment and financing package for the Scunthorpe business, as well as agreements with suppliers and unions on cutting costs. "We're expecting no redundancies going forward, the business plan calls for no redundancies," Greybull co-founder Marc Meyohas told reporters on a conference call. The Greybull deal, which is subject to a ballot by union members, includes two additional mills, an engineering workshop and a design consultancy in Britain, plus a mill in Hayange, in northeast France. The purchase will see the business renamed 'British Steel', in a revival of a historic name last used almost two decades ago. Cameron, already grappling with a divided ruling party ahead of a June 23 referendum on membership of the European Union, has been scrambling to try to find buyers for Tata's steel operations, to save jobs. Britain's eurosceptic media has blamed Brussels for preventing London from taking greater steps to protect the steel industry, while the opposition Labour Party has called on Cameron to do more to save the plants. Tata, which owns iconic brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea, is offloading its British steel operations, citing a global oversupply of steel and cheap imports from China, high costs and weak domestic demand. BRITISH STEEL? The deal for the Scunthorpe plant, which Tata had been trying to sell since 2014 before revealing talks with Greybull were underway in December, is expected to complete in eight weeks subject to certain conditions being met. Greybull, which is not taking on pension liabilities, said about half of the 400 million pound package would come from shareholders of Greybull and half from banks and government loans. "Were expecting the company to be profitable in year one and thats very much the management plan," said Meyohas, who co-founded Greybull in 2008 after 12 years as CEO of technology services company Cityspace. Though the deal is positive for the Scunthorpe workers, there is deep unease in Port Talbot, Britain's biggest steel plant, where 4,000 people could be out of a job if Tata fails to find a buyer. Tata appointed KPMG as adviser on the sale process for its UK assets while Slaughter and May was appointed its legal adviser on the sales. "While very welcome it does not mean that we are out of the woods yet," said Gareth Stace, director of trade association UK Steel. "A long-term investor is needed, in the very short term, for the remainder of the whole of the Tata Steel UK business, including Port Talbot," said Stace. Javid said the government had appointed Ernst and Young to act as its financial advisers on any deal for Tata's other British assets. However, he said that despite government support, he couldn't guarantee there would not be further job losses across the industry. Scunthorpe produces steel mainly used in construction and infrastructure projects, whereas Port Talbot produces slab, hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized coil which is used in products from cars to washing machines to food cans. Finding buyers for Port Talbot and Tata's other assets, could take some time given the complexity of any deal, including negotiations over everything from pensions liabilities to energy subsidies. Greybull said to date it had been wholly focused on the Scunthorpe deal, but declined to rule out future interest in the Port Talbot plant. "Whether it's Tata or any other assets, we'll review it as and when is appropriate," Meyohas said. Another potential bidder for the Port Talbot plant is Sanjeev Gupta, the boss of metals trader Liberty House Group. "LOSS-MAKING" Gupta told Reuters on Friday that he was serious about making an offer and had the backing of a group with $7 billion of revenues, hitting back at critics who have questioned his capacity to take on a business dragged down by heavy debt and weak sales. However, much will depend on how much any potential investor is willing to pay to even hope of turning around the business. "It's a loss-making business and a loss-making business is not worth a lot in itself to buy," Gupta said. "It's more of a question of what are the resources required in turning it around." Tata, under former Chairman Ratan Tata, bought its UK steel operations in 2007 by purchasing Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus for $12 billion as a way to access the European market. But the Indian conglomerate, controlled by philanthropic trusts endowed by the Tata family, struggled to turn the steelmaker around. Like competitors such as ArcelorMittal, the world's top steel producer, Tata has been hit by plunging prices due to overcapacity in China, the world's biggest market for the alloy. China said on Monday it wants to work with the rest of the world to find an appropriate resolution to overcapacity in the steel sector, after Britain asked Beijing to hurry up and tackle the problem. Tata Steel is the second-largest steel producer in Europe with a diversified presence across the continent. It has a crude steel production capacity of over 18 million tonnes per annum in Europe, but only 14 mtpa is operational. (Additional reporting by William James, Freya Berry and David Milliken. Editing by Susan Fenton)
New York (AFP) - Tesla Motors is recalling 2,700 Model X sport utility vehicles to fix a locking hinge that could allow third-row seat backs to fold forward, the automaker said Monday.

The recall affects SUVs bought before March 26.

"If a recliner were to slip during a crash, the seat back could move forward," Tesla said in an email to owners of the luxury SUV with gull-wing rear doors.

Tesla said it uncovered the problem prior to the start of deliveries of the Model X in Europe. Similar testing prior to the start of deliveries in North America did not show the problem.

Tesla said customers could still drive their Model X, but to avoid sitting in the third row until the repair is made.

"We recognize that not having the use of your third row seats for the next few weeks will be an inconvenience, but your safety is our primary concern. We assure you that we are building your new seat backs as fast as we can," Tesla said.

The recall comes 10 days after Tesla unveiled its Model 3, an electric vehicle aimed at the mass market.

Pre-orders for the Model 3 hit 325,000 last week in a strong vote of confidence for the California automaker's drive to remake the US auto market.
Ever been to a lecture when an audience member, under guise of asking a question, ends up giving a five-minute monologue that ends, feebly, with What are your thoughts on that? Or in a meeting where that one colleague keeps interrupting with questions that would inevitably get answered if hed just shut up and listen?

Yep, we all have, so often that its time to discard the shibboleth that theres no such thing as a stupid question. We teachers are a fan of saying that, but none of us actually believe it, says Jerry Roberts, a 30-year veteran of the classroom and author of School House Diary: Reflections of a Retired Educator. Though Roberts would never call out a student for asking a stray question. Neither would most of us  we just curl our toes and silently curse the orators of ego for wasting our time. Or maybe thats just me.



Perhaps, we should rework the motto as follows: Theres no such thing as a stupid question so long as it ends in a question mark. The problem is many queries arent queries at all. They are about someone seeking attention or looking to provoke a reaction, says Art Graesser, a University of Memphis psychology professor and Oxford researcher.

And we, at least in part, have teachers to blame for our poor inquiry skills. Kids are naturally curious  why? how? what would happen if?  but educators dont much encourage such intellectual aimlessness. Instead they want kids to know the answers to who, what, when, where  or so-called grill and kill questions. Our school systems have removed curiosity from kids, Graesser says. Its not socially sanctioned to ask the questions that actually matter.

That may be because teachers know they dont have all the answers. Or because they dont want to derail their lesson plans. Graessers prescription for the stupid-question epidemic is that teachers present students with dilemmas that are based in genuine uncertainty, where they can be co-explorers in the search for knowledge.

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That wont necessarily stop stupid questions, of course: They mostly come from blowhards who set their personal agendas before the groups goals. It doesnt occur to them to find the answer on their own time. Its this idea that Im too important to wait to get the answer to my question. I just want someone to help me right away, says Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me.

In such instances, Roberts says its on the presenter to deflect and steer. The best teachers, bosses and parents encourage free thinking, while directing the conversation back online  not always an easy task. But as tempting as it may be to call someone out for an ill-informed or ego-driven question, its never worth the risk of stifling free thinking. If everyone could just get past their social paranoia, we could get somewhere, Graesser says. Meanwhile, I suppose I will keep curling my toes.

We welcome any comments, especially smart ones.

Related Articles
Cree Ballah was told her braids were not the look for Zara [Photo: Cree Ballah]

A 20-year-old Zara employee in Toronto says she is likely to quit her job with the high street giant after being on the receiving end of humiliating treatment over her hairstyle.

Cree Ballah arrived for work with her braided hair pulled back into a ponytail, but before she could busy herself with her retail role she was accosted by a manager who told her she needed to take down the style.

The first manager then returned with a second one and took her outside the shop.

CBC News reports that the two senior employees then tried to fix her before telling her Were not trying to offend you, but were going for a clean professional look with Zara and the hairstyle you have now is not the look for Zara.

Naturally Ballah was offended and humiliated by how she was treated. She left the store and has since filed a complaint with HR.

The 20-year-old explained to CBC how she felt the actions of her colleagues were discriminative against her hair type and ethnicity.

My hair type is also linked to my race, so to me, I felt like it was direct discrimination against my ethnicity in the sense of what comes along with it, said Ballah, who describes herself as bi-racial.

My hair type is out of my control and I try to control it to the best of my ability, which wasnt up to standard for Zara.

Ballah has since met with officials from Zara but was not satisfied with how the matter was handled by them.



Zara has responded publicly to the claims with a statement, saying it engaged directly the employee on this matter and respect the privacy of those discussions. It also stated that it does not tolerate any form of discrimination.

Nor, it adds, does it have a formal policy for the styles in which employees should wear their hair, as long as they look professional.

On the contrary, this has left Zara looking pretty unprofessional.

Law Students Rally Behind a Woman Shamed for Wearing Shorts to Class



Model Sparks Debate About How To Hold A Baby
China has banned three passengers from major airlines for "uncivilised behaviour", state media reported on Monday, as the country seeks to instil manners in its increasingly well-travelled populace.

The three were blacklisted for hitting a checkpoint security officer with a can of milk, attacking airline personnel over a flight delay, and refusing to switch off a tablet PC during a landing, the China Daily newspaper said.

They are the first to be included in a system rolled out by the China Air Transport Association in February, and will be unable to book flights with five of China's biggest airlines for up to two years, it added.

Chinese authorities last year declared 11 types of action "strictly prohibited" on flights and at terminals, including damaging airport security facilities and assaulting crew members, according to the China Daily.

Such behaviour has frequently made headlines in the country with the world's worst track record for flight delays.

In January last year, 25 passengers were held by police for questioning after they fought with crew members over a bad weather delay and opened the emergency exits.

In 2013, an official who missed two flights lost his temper at the boarding counter and went on a rampage, violently destroying two computers and attempting to smash a window with a signboard.

In December 2014, a Chinese woman en route back to China from Thailand threw a cup of noodles full of boiling water at a Thai flight attendant and punched the cabin windows, threatening to jump out, in a dispute that began over seat arrangements.

An editorial in the China Daily on Monday said such blacklisting was "long overdue", and that the first punishments would warn other travellers to "toe the line".

"There is no reason for them to be respected when they do not show enough respect for others," it said.
By Karen Brooks

(Reuters) - The bodies of three people, including a 9-year-old, were found on the southeast Florida coast on Monday after their boat was swamped in rough waters during a Sunday fishing trip, authorities said.

Jayden Jones, 9, his father Fernandez Jones, 51, and Will Bell died after Jones' 24-foot Sea Ray was hit by a tall wave on Sunday morning a few miles from shore near Stuart, Florida, Martin County Sheriff Will Snyder told Reuters. Bell's age was not available.

The lone survivor, Robert Stewart, 45, hung onto the boy for as long as he could before exhaustion and rough seas bested him, Snyder said.

Stewart was rescued Monday morning when he flagged down a Martin County Sheriff's Office helicopter on the beach a few miles from where the group had launched, Snyder said.

The child was still wearing his life jacket when his body was found, Snyder said. The adults' bodies did not have life jackets, but it was not clear if they were wearing them when the boat swamped, he said. Authorities also located the boat nearby.

The four were reported missing around 9:30 p.m. Sunday when they were late returning. The sheriff's office, the U.S. Coast Guard and other entities searched through the night, Coast Guard officials said.

"The seas were not our ally last night," Snyder said.

The surf was rough on Sunday, with eight-foot swells, and the Coast Guard had issued a small-craft advisory, Snyder said.

Stewart told authorities he hung onto the boat, which eventually floated to the beach during the night or early morning, Snyder said.

"He told us that he felt sand beneath his feet, it was dark, he hit the beach line and passed out," he said.

Fernandez Jones was an experienced boater who frequently went deep-sea fishing, Snyder said. "All it takes is one bad wave," he said.

The boat went out a few miles, stopped in 80-foot deep water around 8:30 a.m. local time (ET) and was swamped almost immediately, Snyder said. The elder Jones and Bell held onto the partially submerged boat for hours as it drifted before succumbing to exhaustion or exposure and letting go.

(Reporting by Karen Brooks in Fort Worth, Texas; Editing by Dan Grebler)
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Three people were hurt in central Chile on Monday when a helicopter sent to rescue an injured contractor near Anglo American's Los Bronces mine crashed into the Andes Mountains, the global mining company said in a statement. Anglo American added that it was coordinating a rescue for the downed crew and the injured contractor. Few details regarding the crew's condition were immediately available. "At approximately 16:00 today, a helicopter from the company Suma Air fell to the ground while attending to the rescue of a specialist from the consultancy Geostudios who had suffered a leg fracture while carrying out field studies in the high mountains at the Los Bronces mine," the company said. (Reporting by Antonio de la Jara and Gram Slattery; Writing by Gram Slattery; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
The worlds wild tiger population rose by more than 20 percent from 2010 to 2015the first recorded increase in the big cats numbers in more than a century. Thats good news for an endangered species that has long been reeling from habitat loss, poaching, and wildlife trafficking.

The new findings come from surveys led by officials within the 13 nations that make up the tigers historical rangean area that stretches across Asia from India to eastern Russia, and south to Malaysia and Indonesia. The new numbers were combined with the best tiger population estimates from the International Union for Conservation of Nature to determine that there were 3,890 tigers alive and well in 2015, compared with 3,200 tigers recorded in 2010.

Tiger populations have increased in four countries, with the largest rise coming in India, where official surveys counted 2,226 tigers in 2014 compared with 1,776 in 2011. Other countries that found more tigers roaming within their borders included Russia, Nepal, and Bhutanall of which completed national-level surveys in 2015.

There are 97 percent fewer tigers today than 100 years ago, mostly owing to poaching, deforestation, urban development, and overall habitat loss.

In 2010the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendarleaders from the 13 countries came up with a goal to double the worlds population of tigers to 6,000 by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.

Increased conservation efforts, more land area surveyed, and improved survey techniques are likely responsible for the uptick in tigers recorded, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

RELATED: This Map Shows Where the Remaining Tigers Are in the Wild

But with 2016 marking the halfway point toward the goal of doubling the worlds tiger total, a 20 percent increase leaves them behind pace. At the current rate, tiger populations would hit 4,680 by 2020short of the goal.

For Nilanga Jayasinghe, species conservation specialist at the World Wildlife Fund, the updated figures mark a turning point in the effort.

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For the first time, were seeing an upward trajectory, Jayasinghe said. There are still some areas we have declining populations, and overall we have a long way to go, but we can celebrate this reversing of the downward trend.

The news comes ahead of the third conference between the Tiger Range Countries, scheduled to start in New Delhi on April 12 to discuss ongoing and future tiger conservation strategies.

One of the main topics of discussion will be increasing efforts to curb poaching, which is fueled by the high prices tiger parts fetch in both legal and illegal avenues.

According to the U.K.-based nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency, both captive-bred and wild tigers are still fueling legal and illegal markets in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Nearly all parts of the animals are in high demand: their skins for decorative furniture; their bones to brew tiger bone wine; their meat, which is sold as a delicacy; and their teeth and claws, sold as jewelry.

The EIA and 21 other conservation groups are calling for all countries to commit to ending all demand for tiger parts, prohibiting captive breeding, and phasing out legal tiger trade markets.

It is time for Tiger Range Countries to unite in a commitment to end tiger farming and to end all domestic and international trade in parts and derivatives of tigers from captive facilities, EIA wrote on its website.

Nations with tigers also have to deal with a tiger-human crowding problem. As Asias human population has boomed, people have logged the tigers forest home, pushing the species onto ever-shrinking patches of habitat. The lack of land for tigers to hunt for food has ratcheted up human-tiger conflicts, as the cats end up preying on encroaching farmers livestock.

Weve got to make sure that the source populationswhere they are established and breedinghave habitat that younger tigers can expand into, and corridors they can use to connect populations and expand the gene pool, Jayasinghe said. Thats the next step: getting these countries on board with conserving and protecting potential tiger habitat that they can expand into, and increase the overall population.

Send a Letter: Help Protect Wild Tigers from Illegal Logging Practices

Related stories on TakePart:





 Watch Rescued Tigers Swim for the First Time

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 Missing Lynx: Farmers Worry About Plan to Return Big Cats to Wildlands

Original article from TakePart
MANILA (Reuters) - A tough-talking mayor in the southern Philippines, who has vowed to end corruption and crime, has topped the latest opinion poll and become the new frontrunner in the presidential election campaign ahead of elections in May. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, 71, the only candidate for president from the southern island of Mindanao, has seen a steady rise in support after polling badly early in the campaign. His tough stand on crime has begun to resonate with many Filipinos. In the latest opinion poll, former favorite Senator Grace Poe dropped to second. The May 9 general elections will be closely watched by investors, who fear the political succession in one of Asia's fastest growing economies could derail gains made during President Benigno Aquino's six-year single term. The SWS opinion poll released on Monday found Duterte was the top choice among 27 percent of 1,500 respondents in the March 30 to April 2 survey. "The SWS survey validated Duterte's numbers are rising steadily as evidenced by large crowd attending his political rallies," said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute of Political and Electoral Reforms. "But, elections are still about a month away, so you cannot count the other candidates out. It will be a tight race until the end. It's still anything goes." In the previous SWS opinion poll in early March, Duterte had 21 percent while Poe, abandoned in a church when a baby, had 27 percent in that period. She slid down to second place with 23 percent in the latest poll. Vice President Jejomar Binay remained in third spot with 20 percent, former interior minister Manuel Roxas, who is the president's hand picked successor, was fourth with 18 percent and Senator Miriam Satiago had 3 percentage. "We are grateful that the surveys are now reflecting what we have been witnessing and experiencing on the ground, Peter Tiu Lavina, Dutertes spokesman, said in a statement. In the vice president contest, the only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos has taken a lead with 26 percent after Senator Francis Escudero, who led opinion polls since 2015, dropped seven points to 21 percent. In power since 2010, Aquino is barred by the constitution from seeking a second term. Under his leadership, the Philippines has seen economic growth of more than 6 percent on average, its best five-year record in four decades. About 54 million of a population of 100 million are eligible to vote to choose a president, vice president and more than 18,000 local government executives and lawmakers in the general elections, which take place every six years. (Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Editing by Michael Perry)
Idomeni (Greece) (AFP) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused neighbouring Macedonia on Monday of "shaming" Europe by firing tear gas and rubber bullets at migrants desperately trying to break through a border fence.

Tensions are still running high after Sunday's violence, which saw 250 refugees and migrants hurt at the flashpoint Idomeni crossing as they tried to force their way into Macedonia.

Another brawl broke out Monday between rival nationalities in which a tent was set on fire, an AFP reporter said.

Tsipras said Macedonian police had used tear gas and rubber bullets Sunday against "people who were clearly not armed and constituted no serious threat".

"This is a great shame for European culture and for countries who want to be part of it," he said, in a jab at Macedonia's aspirations to join the European Union.

The refugee crisis has piled further pressure on ties between the neighbours already strained by a two-decade dispute over Macedonia's name.

Athens does not accept its neighbour calling itself Macedonia, claiming a historical right to the name because the heart of Alexander the Great's ancient kingdom lies in Greece's northern Macedonia region.

- Extremism fears -

The UN's refugee agency urged the EU to implement a much-delayed scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees to ease pressure on Greece, which has been left with a massive bottleneck of migrants following a series of border closures on the Balkan migrant route.

While a controversial deal between the EU and Turkey is reducing the influx into Greece, more than 11,000 people are stuck at Idomeni.

There are also fears that efforts to shut down the Turkey-Greece route could encourage migrants to attempt to reach Europe via the even more dangerous crossing from Libya to Italy, with the Italian coastguard rescuing 1,850 migrants on Monday.

Sunday's clashes were the latest unrest to erupt at Idomeni, where grim living conditions have made it a symbol of the misery faced by thousands who have fled war and poverty to reach Europe, many of them refugees fleeing war in Syria and Iraq.

Story continues

Greek police minister Nikos Toskas warned that violence against migrants could fuel religious extremism.

"Those beaten yesterday are the jihadists of tomorrow if we are not careful," Toskas told Skai radio.

Macedonia has hit back, denying that it used rubber bullets against migrants and accusing Greek police of failing to intervene as around 3,000 people "violently" tried to cross the border, hurling stones and injuring police.

But medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it treated around 30 people for injuries from rubber bullets -- three of them children under 10 -- along with 200 suffering breathing problems and 30 with other injuries.

- German concern -

Greek efforts to move the huge crowds from the squalid encampment at Idomeni into nearby reception centres have so far been unsuccessful.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said Berlin was watching developments there "with concern" and urged all states to ensure border security was strictly in line with human rights.

He urged migrants to move into Greece's official shelters and to stop attempting illegal border crossings, saying this was "not a hopeful option".

The European Commission has also called for the people blocked at Idomeni to be relocated, with spokeswoman Mina Andreeva warning them not to push ahead with "a dangerous and irregular onward journey".

- Greek-Macedonia row deepens -

Sunday's violence broke out after Arabic-language leaflets distributed around the camp falsely suggested the border was about to open, prompting Greece to double its police presence in the area.

Tsipras on Monday blamed non-Greek volunteers for "inciting" migrants to storm the fence.

"I am told (some of them) are staying at Gevgelija (on the Macedonian side) and go back and forth," he said.

The clashes have only served to escalate the row between Athens and Skopje.

Countries which display behaviour "incomprehensible and unacceptable to humanity certainly have no place in the EU or NATO," Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said.

"I am referring to (Macedonia) specifically."

Skopje has furiously defended its actions, saying 23 of its border police were injured Sunday and accusing Greek police of failing to lift a finger to stop the migrants.

The Greek government said it had lodged two "very strong protests" with Macedonian authorities.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will not drop its demand for an end to the blockade of Gaza in order to normalize relations with Israel, President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said on Monday. Ibrahim Kalin said no final agreement on a text for mending ties with Israel had yet been reached and that talks would continue in the coming weeks. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday Turkish and Israeli teams had made progress towards finalizing a deal in talks last week. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk and Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
Ankara (AFP) - Turkey's army has launched artillery strikes on positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria after the jihadists recaptured an area near the Turkish border, local media reported Monday.

Turkish artillery fired shells from howitzers positioned on its border region of Kilis against IS targets, the private NTV television reported.

Meanwhile, more than one rocket fired from the Syrian side of the border hit the centre of a Turkish town, a Turkish government official told AFP.

The official did not say who fired the rockets which slammed into the centre of Kilis -- the main town in the province of the same name -- near the Syrian border and left more than four people wounded.

The injured were taken to hospital in ambulances, he said.

The Turkish army's shelling of IS targets comes after the extremists took back control of the town of Al-Rai near Turkey, which rival rebels had captured last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Neither the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front nor IS are included in a truce brokered by the United States and Russia that came into force on February 27.

In February, Turkish artillery had also shelled targets of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire.

But Turkey has not shelled any positions held by Syrian Kurdish fighters inside Syria since the ceasefire was implemented.

Washington has applauded Turkey's role in the anti-IS coalition but US officials on occasion have urged Ankara to do more.
ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish army on Monday shelled sites in northern Syria in response to cross-border rocket fire that hit a Turkish town and wounded several people, a government official said. Artillery from Syria wounded at least four people in the border town of Kilis, security sources said. Media put the figure at five wounded. More than one rocket is believed to have been fired from Syria, landing in Kilis' town center near an emergency services building, the government official said. Turkish howitzers then hit targets in Syria, the official said. It was not immediately clear whether the rockets had come from Syrian territory controlled by Islamic State. Kilis, which is home to large numbers of Syrian refugees, has suffered repeatedly from cross-border shelling. Last week, the Turkish military fired on Islamic State targets in northern Syria in retaliation for a cross-border artillery attack that hit Kilis and wounded three people. In March, Islamic State was blamed for rocket attacks that killed a young children and another person. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun, Humeyra Pamuk and Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Larry King)
SANLIURFA, Turkey (Reuters) - Fighting raged on Monday between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants in southeast Turkey as the cabinet met in the restive region to discuss ways of rebuilding its shattered economy. A car bomb smashed into a military base in Diyarbakir province, killing one soldier and wounding 20 others, just hours after cabinet adjourned in neighboring Sanliurfa, security sources said. The Turkish army said 39 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had been killed in clashes in four towns across the region over the weekend, adding to a death toll that has risen sharply since the collapse of a ceasefire last July. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu chaired the cabinet meeting in the city of Sanliurfa, the first held outside the capital Ankara since 2003. Though located in southeast Turkey, Sanliurfa has so far been largely spared the violence elsewhere in the region. Ministers were due to discuss urban redevelopment plans after months of clashes in towns and cities across the mainly Kurdish southeast. A vehicle laden with explosives rammed into a gendarmes' base in the town of Hani, located north of the provincial capital of Diyarbakir, the security sources said. The force of the blast was so strong that windows shattered and buildings around town shook, witnesses said. Gunfire rang out overnight and smoke rose from neighborhoods in Yuksekova in Hakkari province, which neighbors Iran, security sources said. The army said 20 PKK militants had been killed on Saturday and 19 more on Sunday in the towns of Nusaybin, Sirnak, Silopi and Yuksekova. It did not say whether any members of the military or security forces had also been killed. Thousands of militants and hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed since the PKK resumed its fight against the Turkish state last summer, wrecking a 2-1/2-year ceasefire and peace process. The government has refused to return to the negotiating table and has vowed to "liquidate" the PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK took up arms in 1984. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan and Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Daren Butler, Gareth Jones and Tom Brown)
A standoff between police and a suspect played out in real time for a Twitter executive. (@NathanCHubbard)

People who live in Los Angeles are used to watching police pursuits live on television  they just usually arent able to watch them from their bedroom window.

But that was precisely the case for Nathan Hubbard early Monday, when a SWAT team rolled into his Pacific Palisades neighborhood in pursuit of a male suspect who crashed a stolen car, fired on police and then holed up in his neighbors garage.

Hubbard, a Twitter executive, and his family had just returned home from a family trip from Africa when he heard gunshots outside his daughters window around 2:00 a.m. local time.

And Hubbard promptly began live-tweeting and streaming the standoff on Twitter and Periscope.





Full on police helicopter chase and multiple gunshots in the alley behind my house in Pacific Palisades. Police all over the scene. @LAPDHQ  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

GUYS I PICKED A REALLY BAD NIGHT TO FLY BACK FROM AFRICA AND TAKE AN AMBIEN BEFORE BED  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016



According to Hubbard, he heard a car crash with police helicopters overhead, then two sets of gunshots.





@holyoakmusic car crash sounds w/chopper overhead, then two sets of gun shots, 7-8 in total. Now police have locked down the area searching  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016



Hubbard also posted footage from an outdoor security camera attached to his home of a man believed to be the suspect running up the street.





Here's the video of man running up the street before the police barricade. Camera time is 29 mins slow. @LAPDHQ pic.twitter.com/VseRYnthKY  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Tactical police dogs coming up Lombard now. Seems like they've got him pinned down and are trying to sniff him out.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Another angle of the presumed suspect, now being hunted by police pic.twitter.com/9lXNi6e5Wu  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

SWAT teams approaching the garage  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

LIVE on #Periscope: Police hunting fugitive in palisades. Ere comes the swat team https://t.co/eNNHjWwkb2  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016



According to Hubbard, his neighbors sent him a direct message saying they were not home and were following his Twitter feed for updates.





Story continues

Per police scanner, the suspect is still in the garage and cannot get into the house. They've evacuated the house.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

It appears they are swapping out SWAT teams, probably bringing in gas. All signs indicating he's still holed up about 30 yards from us.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Tactical units repositioning and appear to be about to launch an offensive using gas from alley below. I hope this clown isn't on Twitter.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016



Hubbard even tweeted part of the SWAT teams attempted negotiation with the suspect, whom he said police identified as Carl.





Police now talking to Carl in the garage. Telling him to think about his family and come out with hands up.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

We want to hear your side of the story. It's all a big mistake. Come outside and talk it out. We'll get you some help. Don't make it worse.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Carl don't make this worse than it already is. We know you're in there. Come outside with your hands up. Do it now. We can get you some help  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Telling him they will discuss it face to face, they don't want to hurt him. Repeatedly using his name Carl.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Car alarms keep going off all over the scene. Can't tell if it is strategic or just dudes in tactical gear bumping into them.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Shots fired - sounds like gas  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

That was a loud rapping, possibly battering ram. Followed by telling Carl to come out with hands up. Nobody wants to hurt him.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

LOUD banging on the door of the garage followed by pleas for him to communicate with them and statement that no one wants to hurt him  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

No response from Carl. So you can guess what's coming next.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Okay new team. Loud voice over the microphone threatening gas if he doesn't come out now.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Say they have a warrant and they're coming in if he doesn't come out now.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

LIVE on #Periscope: It's getting tense, let's see what happens in this police chase of the fugitive in Pacific Pali https://t.co/wTRn7AmRio  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016



Hubbard paused to give his neighbors some advice.





@Carlotaatlee @patrickarmijo don't walk the dogs right now. Still very much a live situation.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

SWAT vehicle at the base of the alley teeming with officers. Carl is about to be forcibly removed.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016



At one point, members of the tactical unit outside his window motioned to him to stop filming.

SWAT team is less than happy with the film job, Hubbard told his Periscope audience. Theyre pissed at me for filming this.

But according to Hubbard, his block was mostly locked down.

My kids are loving this as an excuse to potentially not get to school on time, he said.

Hubbard, Twitters head of global media and commerce, even got in a plug for his companys live-streaming app.

I got a feeling Carl is not on Periscope right now, Hubbard said. He should be  everybody should be.





@Jack @adambain I'm gonna be a little late to work this morning, doing a product demo thing right now  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Quick update: tear gas attack launched. Lots of smoke. Swat team still waiting outside. No sign of any movement.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

So apparently the guy is holed up in a car in the garage and so the gas isn't affecting him. Gonna be a while.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

LIVE on #Periscope: About to take the door down. https://t.co/2rwDXJ3958  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016



An LAPD spokesman confirmed to Yahoo News that police were in pursuit of a stolen car when the suspect opened fire and fled on foot.

The tactical team used a battering ram to open the garage door and arrested the man shortly before 8 a.m. And Hubbard caught it all live on Periscope.





Kahrl has been taken into custody thanks to the great work of the @LAPDHQ w/out much of an incident. Watch the Persicope to see it end.  Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) April 11, 2016

Hubbard told Yahoo News that his kids did eventually make it to school.

"Just a couple minutes late," he wrote in a Twitter message.

There was, however, one lingering mystery for Hubbard.




WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Afghanistan issued an emergency warning to U.S. citizens on Monday, saying it had received reports that insurgents are planning attacks targeting the Star Hotel in Kabul. "In response to this potential threat, the U.S. Embassy Kabul is advising American citizens to avoid the Star Hotel and to remain vigilant when visiting hotels in Kabul, especially during large gatherings," the embassy said on Twitter. The warnings follow at least two rockets attacks in the diplomatic zone of Kabul on Saturday just hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held meetings with Afghan government leaders in the capital. The Taliban has stepped up its insurgency since most foreign troops withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, although Kabul has enjoyed a period of relative calm during the harsh winter months. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Paul Simao)
UNITED NATIONS/DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Nations special envoy for Yemen welcomed the start of a tentative truce in the country's year-old conflict on Monday and said peace talks due to start later this month would require difficult compromises for all sides. "Now is the time to step back from the brink," Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement following the start of the U.N.-backed cessation of hostilities at 2100 GMT on Sunday. He said the truce terms included commitments for unhindered access for relief aid to all of Yemen, where the United Nations says hundreds of thousands of children face life-threatening malnutrition and millions lack health care or clean water. "The progress made represents a real opportunity to rebuild a country that has suffered far too much violence for far too long. A positive outcome will require difficult compromises from all sides, courage and determination to reach an agreement. The conflict between the Yemeni government, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, and its Houthi rebel foes has killed more than 6,200 people and triggered a humanitarian crisis in one of the Arab world's poorest countries. The halt in fighting precedes peace talks set to begin on April 18 in Kuwait under U.N. auspices. Ould Cheikh Ahmed said a "de-escalation and coordination committee" of military representatives from both sides would work to make the truce hold. He added that the Kuwait talks would focus on five main areas: withdrawal of militias and armed groups, the handover of heavy weapons to the state, interim security arrangements, the restoration of state institutions and the resumption of inclusive political dialogue, and creation of a special committee for prisoners and detainees. The coalition said in a statement the truce would expire at 12 p.m. local (0900 GMT) of the day following the conclusion of consultations in Kuwait, unless the agreement was extended.The coalition began a military campaign a year ago with the aim of preventing Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen's ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the country. The conflict has caused a humanitarian disaster, aid groups say. Nearly half of Yemen's 22 provinces are on the verge of famine, the U.N. World Food Programme said in March. The UN Children's Fund said late last month that basic services and infrastructure were "on the verge of total collapse," noting attacks on schools, hospitals and the water and sanitation system. It said all sides had used child soldiers. (Reporting by Lou Charbonneau and William Maclean; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
GENEVA (Reuters) - Egypt is closing down domestic non-governmental organizations and putting travel bans on their staff in order to obstruct scrutiny of human rights issues, three independent U.N. human rights investigators said on Monday. U.N. experts Michel Forst, David Kaye and Maina Kiai accused Egypt's government of clamping down on NGOs so that human rights violations such as the use of torture did not come to light. Egypt is failing to provide a safe and enabling environment for civil society in the country, the three said in a statement. They specialize in human rights defense, freedom of expression and freedom of association. The statement cited the Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, which was issued with a closing order on Feb. 17 for carrying out a "medical activity" for which it was not licensed. The center had published reports on torture. "The organization resisted an attempt to forcibly close it on 5 April 2016 and may now be subject to legal proceedings," the statement said. The experts also said staff at NGOs including the Nazra for Feminist Studies and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies had been interrogated and threatened with arrest and prosecution if they did not comply. Others face charges of "receiving foreign funds for illegal purposes" and "working without registration", punishable by fines and life imprisonment, the statement said. Last Thursday, the head of the U.N. International Labour Organisation, Guy Ryder, sent a letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, demanding he revoke a ban on recognition of independent trade unions. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure the application of the international labor conventions on freedom of association that it has freely ratified and which must be respected by all state authorities," Ryder wrote. Sisi came to power in 2013 by ousting Mohamed Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member who was democratically elected after Egyptians revolted against one-man-rule and overthrew Hosni Mubarak after 30 years as president in February 2011. Rights groups have long accused the government of mistreatment, something it has repeatedly denied. The government has said reports of violations are politicized and lacking in objectivity. Human rights groups have blamed Egyptian security forces for torturing Italian student Giulio Regeni, an allegation Cairo has repeatedly denied. His body was discovered on Feb. 3, and Italian officials have ridiculed Egypt's attempts to explain his death. (Reporting by Tom Miles, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
By Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - In a departure from 70 years of secrecy, candidates for United Nations secretary-general will this week make campaign-style pitches to the General Assembly as it hopes to influence the private Security Council poll that picks the winner. The search for a successor to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon - a former South Korean foreign minister who steps down at the end of the 2016 after two five-year terms - has also sparked a push by more than a quarter of U.N. states for the organization's first female leader. While the 15-member Security Council will formally recommend a candidate to the 193-member General Assembly for election as the eighth U.N. secretary-general later this year, the General Assembly vote has long been seen as a rubber stamp. The council's veto powers, the United States, Russia, Britain, China and France, must agree on the nominee. That effectively makes the five veto-power countries kingmakers - or queenmakers. After changes instituted by the General Assembly last year, the list of candidates is for the first time public with nomination letters and candidate resumes posted online. (www.un.org/pga/70/sg/) In another first, the eight candidates who have so far been nominated will hold town hall meetings with the General Assembly on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They will each pitch their credentials and answer questions in a two-hour session. On the surface, it is a shift towards democratization of a secretive process controlled by the five veto powers. But there is no requirement for the five to pay attention to the popularity of candidates with the General Assembly, and the winner could still be selected in a backroom Security Council deal as has been the case for seven decades. When asked if the meetings could have any influence over the veto-power countries, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: "It might." "For us it's important to hear what others think, and I'm sure they will not be shying away (from) telling us who they like, so it's going to be an interesting process," said Churkin. But there will be no vote or informal polls by the General Assembly to signal to the Security Council who the favored candidates might be. "Even the biggest of powers need friends and a majority of their friends are actually asking for a much more open process where they get real influence," Mogens Lykketoft, the Danish diplomat who is president of the General Assembly, said in an interview. HALF OF CANDIDATES ARE WOMEN Diplomats say that privately Russia has shown no enthusiasm for the new transparency, and it views the town hall meetings as irrelevant. Moscow's main interest, they said, is ensuring the U.N. chief comes from Eastern Europe, in line with an informal tradition of rotating the post between regions. The council will likely hold its first "straw poll" - an informal vote - behind closed doors in July and aims to have a decision by September so the General Assembly can elect the next U.N. chief in October. At least 56 countries, led by Colombia, and several civil society groups want the world body's first female secretary-general since its creation at the end of World War Two. Even U.S. President Barack Obama is being lobbied by a group of senators who want him to push for a woman. Half the candidates nominated so far are women: U.N. cultural organization UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria; former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic; Moldova's former Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman; and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who heads the U.N. Development Programme. Also in the race are former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim; Montenegro Foreign Minister Igor Luksic; former Slovenian President Danilo Turk; and former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who is also a former Portuguese prime minister. Since the power to authorize military force or sanctions lies with the Security Council, the U.N. chief has little more than a bully pulpit. Many diplomats say the veto powers prefer a "secretary" rather than a "general". Ban's predecessor Kofi Annan infuriated the United States by calling the 2003 invasion of Iraq illegal. Some diplomats say this led the United States to push for someone more pliable and resulted in the selection of Ban. Some countries want a "general" this time who can clean up the U.N. in the wake of U.S. indictments over a bribery scandal and allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in Central African Republic. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
GENEVA (Reuters) - The food situation for 60,000 civilians trapped in the besieged Iraqi city of Falluja is extremely worrying and likely to deteriorate unless aid gets into the city, the U.N. World Food Programme said on Monday. The Iraqi army, police and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias - backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition - have maintained a near total siege on the Islamic State-held city, which is located 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, since late last year "As the siege continued in Falluja for the third consecutive month, no sign of improvement was recorded in March; food prices remain extremely high, and stocks in shops and households are depleting. In March, the price of wheat was six times more expensive than in December," the report said. "For the third consecutive month, respondents from Hay Alwahda sub-district reported that shops and markets had exhausted all food supplies including wheat, sugar, rice, vegetable oil and lentils," the report said. The report was based on a mobile phone survey conducted in March. But it said reaching respondents had become increasingly difficult and very limited information was available, especially as armed opposition groups had shut down transmitter towers to stop people using mobile phones. "Aid has not reached Falluja since the government recaptured nearby Ramadi in December 2015, with supply routes cut off by Iraqi forces and the armed groups preventing civilians from leaving," the report said. There were reports that people wanting to leave the city and seek safety were unable to do so, it said. Last week a report from New York-based Human Rights Watch said desperate residents were making soup from grass and using ground date seeds to make flour for bread. (Reporting by Tom Miles, editing by Richard Balmforth)
(This version of the story was refiled to fix reference to Gulf in second paragraph) ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is leading a 30-nation maritime exercise across Middle Eastern waters which it says will help protect international trade routes against possible threats, including from Islamic State and al Qaeda. The exercise, which is partly being held in the Gulf, comes as tensions run high between Gulf Arab countries and Iran over its role in the region, including its support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war, for the Houthis in the Yemen conflict and for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The International Mine Countermeasures Exercise (IMCMEX) started on Monday with a symposium in Bahrain where the U.S Navy's Fifth Fleet is based, in part as a bulwark against Iran. Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said on Saturday the exercise was designed to stop militants from causing disruption to shipping as, "we know that they want to disturb trade lines". "This region provides a strong training opportunity for nations worldwide as three of the six major maritime chokepoints in the world are here: the Suez Canal, the Strait of Bab Al Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz," Donegan said. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had praised security cooperation with Bahrain on Thursday during a visit to the Gulf monarchy calling it a "critical security partner". U.S. President Barack Obama will attend a summit in Riyadh on April 21 with the Gulf Cooperation Council states - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain - on Iran's role in the region. (Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Toby Chopra)
By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy flight officer with knowledge of sensitive American intelligence collection methods faces espionage charges over suspicions he passed secret information to Taiwan and possibly to China, U.S. officials said. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, according to a Navy article profiling him in 2008. Lin was a flight officer assigned to the Special Projects Patrol Squadron, with experience managing the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft, officials said. Information about how the U.S. Navy carries out such signals collection operations could be highly valuable to a foreign government. A heavily redacted Navy charge sheet twice accused the suspect of communicating secret information and three times of attempting to do so "with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation." The suspect was also accused of engaging in prostitution and adultery. The document was redacted to blot out Lin's name and did not identify what foreign country or countries were involved. The U.S. officials said both Taiwan and China were possibly those countries but stressed the investigation was still ongoing. White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed that a Navy officer was in custody on espionage charges at Navy Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia but declined to offer additional information. A U.S. official told Reuters that Lin was apprehended at an airport in Hawaii, possibly while attempting to leave the country. He has been held in pretrial confinement for the past eight months or so, U.S. officials said. The U.S. Navy profiled Lin in a 2008 article that focused on his naturalization as a U.S. citizen, saying his family left Taiwan when he was 14 and stopped in different countries before coming to America. "I always dreamt about coming to America, the 'promised land,'" he said. "I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland." The Navy's article can be seen here: http://1.usa.gov/1SIEJDe Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he was not aware of the details of the case. He did not elaborate. China's Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had no information on the case. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry declined to comment. Lin enlisted in the Navy in 1999 and held a variety of positions over his 17-year carrier, including working on the staff of an assistant secretary of the Navy from 2012 to 2013. He served on the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Eisenhower from 2009 to 2010. (Reporting by Phil Stewart, additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing, J.R. Wu in Taipei and Clarece Polke and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry and Jonathan Oatis)
LONDON (Reuters) - Business minister Sajid Javid said on Monday he was unable to promise that there would be no further job losses in the British steel industry, but that the government was doing all it could to protect workers. Tata, one of the world's biggest steelmakers, said on March 30 it was putting its British assets up for sale, citing a global oversupply of steel, high costs, weak domestic demand and a volatile currency. "I would love to stand here today and declare that this crisis is over, to say that not one more job will be lost in Britain's steel industry," Javid said in parliament. "That is not a promise that I, or anyone else in this chamber, can make." He went on to say that the government had consistently done all it could support the industry, and would continue to do so. (Reporting by William James; editing by Stephen Addison)
LONDON (Reuters) - British business minister Sajid Javid said on Monday the government would consider co-investing on commercial terms to secure the sale of Tata's UK steelmaking assets. Tata, one of the world's biggest steelmakers, said on March 30 it was putting its British assets up for sale, citing a global oversupply of steel, high costs, weak domestic demand and a volatile currency. "I've been in contact with potential buyers, making clear that the government stands ready to help," Javid told parliament. "This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms." He said the government had appointed Ernst and Young to act as their financial advisers on any deal. (Reporting by William James; editing by Stephen Addison)
London (AFP) - Britain's finance minister and the head of the main opposition Labour party on Monday released details of their most recent tax returns after days of controversy following the publication of the so-called Panama Papers.

Finance minister George Osborne had a total taxable income of A198,738 (247,900 euros, $283,500) during the 2014/15 financial year, according to a statement from his accountants released by officials.

As well as his salary, this included A44,647 in the form of dividends from a wallpaper and fabrics company founded by his father and A33,562 in rental income from a house in London which he owns with his wife.

Osborne paid income tax of A72,210 for the year. The release stated he had "no offshore interests in shares or anything else".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's tax return showed that he had an additional income of just A1,850 for the year -- most of it payment for giving a lecture -- beyond his parliamentary salary.

Corbyn was, however, fined A100 by tax authorities for filing his tax return late.

Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to publish information on his tax returns over the weekend after admitting he held shares in his late father's investment fund based in the Bahamas.

These were sold before he became prime minister in 2010.

The prime minister on Monday addressed the House of Commons for the first time since the offshore investment scandal broke, in an attempt to reduce the pressure on him over his tax affairs.

He defended his position and announced an agreement with certain tax havens to oblige them to share information with police and law enforcement authorities.

But veteran Labour lawmaker Dennis Skinner was forced to leave the Commons by Speaker John Bercow after calling the prime minister "dodgy Dave".

The Panama Papers have prompted a debate about whether all politicians should be forced to publish their tax returns. This would be a major change in Britain where few have done so until now.

Cameron said he believed that while prime ministers, finance ministers and their opposition counterparts should in future declare details of their tax returns, all MPs should not have to do so.

"We should think carefully before abandoning the taxpayer confidentiality in this House," Cameron added.
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR condemned on Monday the use of tear gas by Macedonian police against refugees on the border with Greece and said such action damaged Europe's image. Dozens of migrants and refugees were wounded on Sunday when Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds on the Greek side of the border, aid workers said, an act Athens called "dangerous and deplorable". "Time and again in recent months we have seen tension unfolding at various European borders, between security forces on the one hand and people fleeing war and in need of help on the other," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said in a statement. "People get hurt and property is damaged. Harm is done to perceptions of refugees and to Europes image alike. Everyone loses." About 11,000 migrants and refugees have been stranded at the Greek border outpost of Idomeni since February after a cascade of border shutdowns across the Balkans closed off their route to central and western Europe. They have been sleeping for many weeks in the open in dismal conditions. Edwards said it was urgent to move people voluntarily to sites being put in place by the Greek government, a process that UNHCR was willing to help with. A wider solution, a plan to relocate 160,000 people across Europe, was agreed many months ago but has still not been put into action, he said. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Washington (AFP) - The United States expressed concern over threats to the ceasefire in Syria on Monday, amid reports that Russian-backed government troops are planning an offensive.

Fighting has increased around the northern city of Aleppo, where a variety of rebel factions are fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

On Sunday, Syria's Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi warned that the regime and its "Russian partners" were readying an offensive to recapture the city.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Secretary of State John Kerry had called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday to express concern.

"We are very, very concerned about the recent increase in violence. And that includes actions we believe are in contravention to the cessation of hostilities," Toner said.

Although the February 27 ceasefire deal has largely held, hardline groups such as the Islamic State, also referred to as Daesh, and the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusra Front are seen as fair game.

Aleppo is home to a variety of rebel forces, however, and Washington is concerned that any Russian-backed assault on Al-Nusra may spread to also target moderate factions.

This in turn could cause the ceasefire to collapse and even derail the UN-mediated political peace process due to resume in Geneva on Wednesday.

"One of the things the secretary stressed very strongly in his phone call yesterday with Foreign Minister Lavrov, is that we need to make certain that we work to determine which fighting group is where," Toner said.

"We've talked about the fact that everybody needs to focus on Nusra and Daesh, but we can't have overlap and we can't have violations against those groups who have bought into the ceasefire or the cessation."
Washington (AFP) - A panel of US experts on Monday recommended taking a daily aspirin as a strategy for preventing heart disease and colorectal cancer in certain people in their 50s and 60s.

The guidelines issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force are specifically aimed at people who face an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but who do not have elevated risks of bleeding, which can be a dangerous side effect of aspirin.

This group of people, aged 50-69, should "consider taking aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer," said the guidelines published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The decision should be made with a doctor, they said.

Low-dose aspirin might be a helpful therapy for people beginning in their 50s "who have a 10 percent or greater 10-year cardiovascular disease risk, are not at increased risk for bleeding, have a life expectancy of at least 10 years, and are willing to take low-dose aspirin daily for at least 10 years."

More research is needed to determine if aspirin could be helpful to those under 50, or to those 70 and older.

Heart disease, cancer or stroke were blamed for over half of all deaths in the United States in 2011, according to the guidelines.

Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and women and a leading cause of cancer death.

The USPSTF said it studied the benefits and risks and found aspirin use "would improve overall quality of life, or reduce illness, for most men and women without elevated bleeding risk when initiated between the ages of 40 and 69 years for lifetime use."
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Monday updated its warning for American citizens planning to travel to Saudi Arabia, less than two weeks before President Barack Obama is due there.

Obama is to visit the oil-rich desert kingdom on April 21 for a tense summit of Saudi Arabia and the other five Gulf Arab states at a time of crisis.

While maintaining a public show of unity with Washington, Saudi officials are privately angry about what they perceive as Obama's outreach to their foe Iran.

And he has been criticized at home and in the Middle East for his reluctance to take tough action against Syria's Bashar al-Assad, allowing Russia to seize the initiative.

Saudi Arabia also faces domestic threats -- and spillover from its war in neighboring Yemen -- as was reflected in the updated State Department travel warning.

"The Department of State urges US citizens to carefully consider the risks of traveling to Saudi Arabia," it said.

"There continue to be reports of threats against US citizens and other Westerners, as well as locations frequented by them."

The statement, which replaces an earlier warning issued in September last year, warns that both Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are planning attacks in the kingdom.

"Possible targets include housing compounds, hotels, restaurants, shopping areas, international schools and other facilities where Westerners congregate," it said.

"Multiple attacks on mosques, as well as places where members of the Shia-Muslim minority gather, have occurred in Saudi Arabia over the past year."

The warning says US officials are banned from going within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Yemen border and urges Americans to stick to hotels and housing compounds.
Washington (AFP) - A decorated US Navy officer faces espionage and other charges after allegedly passing defense secrets to China and Taiwan -- and possibly other nations, a US official said Monday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told AFP the sailor is Lieutenant Commander Edward Chieh-Liang Lin, who has been in the Navy since 1999 and has won several awards including two Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medals.

The Navy declined to confirm his identity, but provided a heavily redacted copy of a charge sheet that outlined four charges against an officer of Lin's rank.

According to that document, the suspect communicated "secret information relating to the national defense to representatives of a foreign government."

The US official said Lin is accused of handing secret information over to China and Taiwan, adding it was possible the investigation could also uncover ties to other countries.

A 2008 Navy article says Lin left his birthplace of Taiwan when he was 14 and eventually became a naturalized US citizen.

A Navy biography shows Lin underwent training as a nuclear specialist between 2000 and 2002, when he was still enlisted.

The charges say the accused was later assigned to the Navy's Commander Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, which gathers intelligence.

The officer is also accused of violating a lawful general order by "wrongfully failing to properly store material classified as secret."

- Prostitution charge -

A third charge alleges he lied about which foreign country he was going to visit while on leave, and he was also alleged to have committed adultery and procured a prostitute, with "such conduct being... of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces."

The Navy declined to provide the name of the accused's attorney, and additional attempts to find his lawyer were not immediately successful.

It was not clear how long Lin faces in prison if convicted, though the alleged offenses are "not capital."

Story continues

Lin appeared before a preliminary Article 32 hearing on Friday, during which a military judge hears initial evidence and then recommends to a commanding admiral whether the case should be referred to a full court-martial.

Lin remains in custody at the naval brig in Chesapeake, Virginia.

The case emerges amid heightened tensions between China and regional neighbors in the South China Sea, where Beijing is building massive military structures including radar systems and an airstrip over reefs and tiny islands.

China claims almost all of the contested sea, which is important for international shipping and is believed to hold valuable mineral and energy deposits.

Neighboring countries and Washington fear China could impose military controls over the entire South China Sea.

The United States also suspects Beijing is conducting cyber attacks on US interests and passing this information to the private sector for commercial gain.
Washington (AFP) - US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew called Monday for the US to maintain its global economic leadership and not cede it to others like China in a tide of protectionist sentiment.

With some US presidential candidates advocating a pullback from the post-World War II Bretton Woods structure that rebuilt the global economic structure guided by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Lew said the next administration needs to remain committed to those principles.

"If we want it to work for the American people, we need to embrace new players on the global economic stage and make sure they meet the standards of the system we created," he said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"The worst possible outcome would be to step away from our leadership role and let others fill in behind us."

Lew argued that the Bretton Woods system, with its focus on increasing cooperation on trade and financial regulation and on fighting poverty, had underpinned a quadrupling of world per capita income since 1950.

"American leadership was essential to the creation of that system and the progress it yielded," he said.

In recent years, the system made possible rapid response through the IMF and World Bank to the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the economic and political crisis in Ukraine.

It also helped make effective US sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea, Lew argued.

The administration of President Barack Obama, now in its final year, has faced persistent resistance in Congress to support for the IMF, cooperation with China, and to two Obama-driven international trade treaties, one spanning the Pacific and another cross-Atlantic deal with the European Union.

A number of the current candidates to replace Obama, led by Republican hopeful Donald Trump, have campaigned on opposition to the trade deals and putting up more barriers to foreign competitors.

Lew argued that the global system does better when the United States is leading, and that institutions like the World Bank and IMF "amplify US influence on the global stage."

In addition, he added, the United States and China, the two largest economies, "have a unique responsibility to work together to advance shared prosperity, maintain a constructive global economic order, and make progress on critical challenges like climate change."
Wall Street is starting off the week with a rally. All three major averages (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) are sharply higher across the board as investors await for first-quarter earnings season to get underway. Meanwhile, oil prices (CLK16.NYM) rebounded ahead of an upcoming meeting of oil-producing countries next Sunday on a potential output freeze.



Alcoa (AA) is set to unofficially kick off earnings season after the close of trading today with first-quarter results. Analysts are looking for the company's earnings to fall for the third consecutive quarter to $0.02 per share due to slumping aluminum prices. Revenue is also expected to fall from a year ago to $5.14 billion.

Obama & Yellen to meet today

President Obama is set to meet with Fed Chair Janet Yellen at 3 p.m. EST today. The meeting is expected to focus on the U.S. economy and Wall Street reform.

Yahoo's British bidder

Yahoo (YHOO) remains in the spotlight after the owner of British newspaper The Daily Mail confirmed it's considering a bid for the Internet giant. The deadline for potential suitors to place offers for Yahoo's core business is a week from today.

Get the Latest Market Data and New with the Yahoo Finance App

Netflix price hike coming



Netflix (NFLX) is in focus this morning, the online streaming giant is raising prices for millions of subscribers by two dollars next month. Those affected by the price boost are customers who were grandfathered into their current rates of $7.99 a month two years ago.



Hatteras Financial (HTS) shares rose sharply in early trading. The real estate investment trust is being bought by rival Annaly Capital Management (NLY) for $1.5 billion in cash and stock. That translates to $15.85 a share.

Hertz warning

Hertz (HTZ), the car rental company, lowered its earnings and car rental revenue guidance for the first quarter. The company now expects U.S. car rental revenue to fall 2.5% to 3.5%. Hertz blames the shortfall on excess capacity in the rental car market. Shares of rival Avis (CAR) also fell on the news in early trading.
North Korea's nuclear defiance will feature prominently during the first day of a major security summit hosted by President Barack Obama in Washington Thursday.

Obama will kick off the nuclear security summit by meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, followed by a separate sit-down with President Xi Jinping of China.

North Korea's threats following the January detonation of a nuclear device and a long-range rocket launch a month later, are expected to feature prominently in both meetings.

The White House wants to keep up pressure on the North Korean regime, increasing the economic and diplomatic cost of ignoring international appeals to mothball its nukes.

"The international community must remain united in the face of North Koreas continued provocations," Obama wrote in an article published on the eve of the summit.

"The additional sanctions recently imposed on Pyongyang by the United Nations Security Council show that violations have consequences."

Obama, Abe and Park are likely to call for the rigorous implementation of those sanctions and discuss the possible deployment of US missile defense systems in the region.

The United States and South Korea have begun discussions on deployment of THAAD -- the Theater High Altitude Area Defense System, a sophisticated missile system.

"I think the three leaders will clearly demonstrate their unity in our commitment and our firm resolve to deter and defend against North Korean aggression," said Dan Kritenbrink, a top Obama advisor on Asia.

Obama will later meet Xi, his only fully-fledged bilateral meeting with the dozens of world leaders coming to Washington.

Obama will also hold what the White House is calling a "brief" meeting with France's President Francois Hollande.

China is seen as key to making sanctions against North Korea bite.

"We've seen China step up in many ways in terms of applying pressure," said Obama foreign policy aide Ben Rhodes, praising the passage of UN sanctions.

Story continues

But Washington believes that China could more forcefully wield its influence over Pyongyang, including encouraging its Stalinist neighbor to tone down destabilizing rhetoric.

Tensions are only expected to rise in advance of a major Communist Party Congress in North Korea in May.

China also has its own concerns about the deployment of THAAD so close to its own territory, fearing it may weaken Chinese capabilities and deepen US influence in the region.

And Obama and Xi are also likely to touch on disputes in the South China Sea, where Beijing has seized contested territory.

Washington fears the islets and atolls may be used for military purposes.

US officials see a steady series of meetings and exchanges between Obama and Xi as vital in limiting disagreements.

"This is where problems get solved and decisions get made," said Kritenbrink.

Obama and Xi are expected to meet again at the G20 in China in September.

- Dirty bomb -

The specter of the Islamic State group obtaining a "dirty bomb" will also loom over the summit, which is the fourth of its kind.

The White House had seen the meetings as elevating the problem of shaky nuclear safeguards from the desks of technocrats to the highest corridors of power.

The meeting comes just days after 32 people were killed and 340 were injured in bombings at Brussels airport and the Belgian capital's metro.

The attacks featured conventional explosives, but two of the suicide bombers -- Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui -- have been linked to 10 hours of video surveillance detailing the comings and goings of a senior Belgian nuclear official.

"Having a portion of the discussion that is focused on counter-ISIL is a decision that was made in January," said Laura Holgate, the National Security Council's senior director for weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and threat reduction. "But it turns out that it is obviously very timely, unfortunately.

"The video footage is of concern," she said, adding, with regard to the Belgian case, that the United States does not "have any information that a broader plot exists."

Few believe IS could develop nuclear weapon, but many fear it could acquire uranium or plutonium and construct a "dirty bomb."

Such a device would not trigger a nuclear explosion but would scatter radioactive material -- with potentially devastating physiological, medical and economic effects.

Nuclear material can be found in small quantities at universities, hospitals and other facilities the world over, often not well secured.

Since the mid-1990s, almost 2,800 incidents of illicit trafficking, "unauthorized possession" or loss of nuclear materials have been recorded in an International Atomic Energy Agency database.

More than fifty heads of state have been invited to attend the summit, but the absence of leaders from Russia, North Korea, Iran and Belarus virtually ensures gaps in the united front.

Rhodes said Russia's decision not to attend at the highest level was a missed opportunity for Moscow, which itself faces significant threats of its own.

"All they're doing is isolating themselves in not participating as they have in the past."

Obama also took a swing at Moscow, using his article to call for Russia to "comply fully with its obligations under the existing Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

"The United States and Russia  which together hold more than 90 percent of the worlds nuclear weapons  should negotiate to reduce our stockpiles further.
The first trailer for Xbox One game "Gears of War 4" traces a father-son legacy for the action franchise's new main character.

Franchise mainstay Marcus Fenix is back -- the tough, gruff squad leader from the first three "Gears of War" games -- but in this first glance at "Gears of War 4," he appears as part of a childhood flashback.

Instead, son JD Fenix takes the mantle of main character for the October 11 Xbox One release, a game which is to take place 25 years after the events of its predecessor.

Continuing a "Gears of War" cinematic tradition of melancholy ballads, near-greyscale palettes and musclebound heroes hounded by aggressive aliens, the "Gears of War 4" trailer also confirms that Marcus and fellow squad member Anya had settled down together, and introduces The Swarm, a new type of enemy scourge upon Earth-like planet Sora.

Away from its fictional world, there have been tectonic shifts in the "Gears of War" franchise since "Gears of War 3" was released in 2011.

Original franchise developer, US-based Epic Games, has refocused on influential game creation suite, the Unreal Engine, since coming under the wing of Chinese tech giant Tencent.

Meanwhile, two more "Gears of War" games have been released.

The first, 2013 franchise prequel "Gears of War: Judgement," came courtesy of Polish studio People Can Fly, part of the "Gears..." effort since the beginning, but better known for its own take on chunky third-person shooters, "Bulletstorm."

The second arrived in 2015 as "Gears of War: Ultimate Edition," the debut's remake also introducing Vancouver-based "Gears of War 4" studio, The Coalition.

Remaking the Xbox 360 hit for Xbox One and, unusually, PC, the package also enticed fans with the promise of early access to the eventual "Gears of War 4" multiplayer beta.

Along with the October release date for "Gears of War 4," we now know its beta will begin April 18 for the Xbox One's "Ultimate Edition" owners, with gates opening to all Xbox Live Gold subscribers from April 25.

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/o3f8VgQ_dqk
Humans today often carry around a small chunk of DNA from Neanderthals, suggesting we interbred with our closest known extinct relatives at some point in our history. So why isn't there more Neanderthal DNA in modern humans?

Turns out, the Y chromosome may have been key in keeping the two lineages apart by creating conditions that might often have led to miscarriages if or when the two got together, researchers now say.

Recent findings suggest that Neanderthals, who lived in Europe and Asia, may have died out about 40,000 years ago.

In 2010, scientists first sequenced the Neanderthal genome. That work revealed that Neanderthals once interbred with ancestors of modern humans  about 1.5 to 2.1 percent of the DNA of anyone outside Africa is Neanderthal in origin. [In Photos: Neanderthal Burials Uncovered]

The last major component of the Neanderthal genome that scientists had not analyzed was the Y chromosome. In modern humans and Neanderthals, the Y chromosome determines if someone is male in sex.

Now researchers have completed the first in-depth analysis of a Neanderthal Y chromosome. They focused on a Neanderthal male found in El Sidron, Spain. Overall, the differences between the Neanderthal and modern human Y chromosomes suggest these lineages diverged almost 590,000 years ago, consistent with previous research.

The Neanderthal Y chromosome was genetically distinct from any seen in modern humans. This suggests that this El Sidron male's lineage is extinct, without any living carriers in modern humans. It remains uncertain how much other Neanderthal Y chromosomes resembled or differed from this one.

Further analysis revealed that genetic mutations might explain why this Neanderthal Y chromosome was lost in modern humans. Three mutations seen on this chromosome generate molecules that can trigger immune responses from women during pregnancy that can lead to miscarriages, and two of these three mutations are unique to Neanderthals.

Story continues

The researchers suggest that such genetic incompatibilities between Neanderthals and modern humans may have helped drive these lineages apart by discouraging interbreeding between them.

"We should pay attention to the potential role of immune incompatibilities in population isolation," study lead author Fernando Mendez, a population geneticist at Stanford University, told Live Science.

In future research, scientists could analyze more Y chromosomes from a variety of male Neanderthals, Mendez said. Lab experiments could then determine the effect of these newfound Neanderthal mutations on interactions between male cells and female immune cells. The result might also confirm the idea that these mutations helped keep Neanderthals and modern humans apart, he added.

Mendez and his colleaguesdetailed their findings in the April 7 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us @livescience, Facebook&Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
With the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, many travelers are left wondering whether heading to Europe is a smart idea. Instead of focusing on securing flights and accommodations overseas this summer, many Americans, in light of the recent U.S. State Department travel alert for Europe, are contemplating staying stateside. And while its easy to understand why travelers are uncertain and anxious about whether they'll be in danger traveling across the pond, the truth is, the continent still feels just as safe and accessible as before the devastating attacks.

In fact, despite the crisis, a number of major European travel companies have seen a spike in bookings this year. For example, popular luxury boutique cruise line Windstar Cruises is seeing record-breaking number of cruise bookings for 2016, with Mediterranean cruise bookings up by 50 percent over the past three weeks compared to the same period last year. And the company has seen an increase in Northern European cruise sales, too, with bookings up by 30 percent this year.

"Our guests are informed travelers," says Joe Duckett, vice president of marketing and sales at Windstar Cruises. "They travel internationally often, which makes them less travel-averse and more tolerant to the volatile nature of travel in our world. They make measured decisions on where they will spend their vacation and are always interested in taking advantage of a good deal. Europe remains a top choice," he adds.

With that in mind, before you write off a trip to Europe because of safety concerns, here are three top reasons to travel across the pond this summer.

[See: 12 Great Destinations in Europe You Can Afford.]

You'll Find a Bargain

During times of uncertainty, prices are often lower since as there are more flights, hotel rooms and restaurant tables to fill. And during the peak summer travel season, the prices in popular locales can be off-putting for the budget-minded traveler. However, because of the current climate, those who want to keep traveling despite recent threats will find a higher opportunity for flight deals and hotel steals. For instance, while round-trip flights to Europe from popular destinations across the U.S. typically cost around $2,000 in the off-season, budget carriers like WOW Air are offering round-trip flights from Washington, District of Columbia, airports to Paris airports starting at $600, including all taxes and fees.

Story continues

There are also plenty of bargain-priced hotels to be found across Europe. But if you decide to plan a European getaway this summer, it's a good idea to work with a reputable travel agent, such as a Virtuoso Travel Advisor, to pull together a low-cost package deal instead of cobbling together plans yourself. The benefit of working with a travel advisor is his extensive industry connections and access to lucrative perks and promotions. Think of it this way: A reputable advisor has a portfolio of clients, so he can easily negotiate on your behalf for the best deal.

[See: The 13 Most Family-Friendly Cities in Europe.]

You Can Keep Your Travel Plans Flexible

If you invest in the right travel insurance policy, you'll have the peace of mind that you can easily pivot your plans if a crisis arises. Hotel rooms, flights and lost luggage are some of the typical items travel insurance can cover. Investing in the right policy for your needs also allows for flexibility should you need to reschedule your trip for a later date without facing a severe financial penalty. Also, much like home or auto insurance, you can easily modify your coverage based on your specific needs, which is especially beneficial if you're concerned about canceling or postponing your trip. For instance, 21 million people have invested in travel insurance with Allianz Global Assistance, which offers policies that cover everything from flight delays to calamities (including terrorism threats). "Whether it's a medical issue or a travel delay, a travel insurance policy from Allianz Global Assistance can provide peace of mind, especially for travel outside the U.S., where many hospitals may request cash payments in the thousands before treatment even begins," says Daniel Durazo, director of communications at Allianz Global Assistance USA.

[See: 10 Cheap Summer Vacation Destinations.]

There Are Lesser-Known Gems Worth Exploring This Year

If you've already visited Rome, Paris and London, there are plenty of off-the-beaten-path European locales worth the trip. For instance, instead of going to Rome or Florence, why not visit Lugano, Switzerland? Located near Lake Cuomo, Italy, Lugano has memorable seafood spots like Grotto San Rocco, beautiful architecture and a mix of Swiss and Italian influences thanks to its unique location near the Italian border. Or instead of going to Paris, why not try Evian-les-Bain, France? The city recently renovated its Hotel Evian Royal, where you'll find a Michelin-stared restaurant and a serene spa. Or, if you really want to get off the grid, a few miles away from the Hotel Evian Resort, you'll find the luxurious Les Lodges Babylone, which features a Michelin-starred chef, gracious hospitality and plenty of charm.
By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City will implement a raft of reforms to combat its high level of homelessness, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday, following a three-month review of the problem. In New York, the United States' largest city, around 58,000 people sleep in shelters each night, representing the largest homeless population for any U.S. metropolitan area, according to the National Alliance to end Homelessness. Nearly half of those homeless are children. The changes announced on Monday are intended to address the issue in four key areas: preventing at-risk residents from losing their homes, moving homeless out of shelters and into permanent housing, improving conditions at shelters and reducing the number of homeless who sleep in the streets. "We know the status quo has not been working," de Blasio said at Bronxworks, a nonprofit that helps impoverished families. "We don't accept that status quo. Today begins a new approach." The number of homeless has more than doubled from around 23,000 two decades ago and has remained stubbornly high, leaving de Blasio's administration open to criticism. New York's large shelter population is in part due to a landmark court case that established a "right to shelter" mandate requiring city authorities to provide housing for those without it. In response, the mayor has proposed spending an additional $66 million dollars to fight the problem, though he said the organizational changes announced on Monday would lead to savings of $38 million to help offset those new costs. The city's Human Resources Administration and Department of Homeless Services will report to a single commissioner and share administrative duties, de Blasio said, eliminating some bureaucratic redundancies. The city will use data analytics to identify at-risk families and increase its use of legal assistance and rental aid to avoid evictions. De Blasio also said the city would conduct more inspections of shelters and crack down on not-for-profit agencies that fail to provide safe and adequate shelters. The New York City police department is already in the process of retraining so-called peace officers who share security responsibility with private guards at the city's more than 250 shelters. The city is also reinstating a dormant program that provided domestic violence services in shelters, after the review found 60 percent of violent episodes in family shelters were due to domestic violence. The issue gained more attention in February, when a homeless woman and two of her young children were stabbed to death at a hotel used by the city to house homeless families. The woman's boyfriend was charged with murder. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Andrew Hay)
By Charlotte Greenfield WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's government on Monday said it would begin a review of its foreign trust laws after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm highlighted vulnerabilities in its legal framework that made it a possible link in international tax avoidance structures. "Ministers decided that in light of the 'Panama Papers' being released last week, it's worth looking at whether the disclosure rules are fit for purpose and whether there are practical improvements we can make," said Finance Minister Bill English in a statement. The Panama Papers showed how offshore companies often tout New Zealand trusts as a secretive way to create a non-taxed vehicle in the South Pacific nation. English said the review would focus on disclosure rules for foreign trusts, including the way information was recorded and exchanges of information with other tax jurisdictions. The Panama Papers, shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with a number of other media outlets, showed that Mexican businessman Juan Armando Hinojosa and Malta's energy minister Konrad Mizzi had been using New Zealand-based foreign trusts, though there was no evidence that either had done anything illegal. New Zealand has long been identified by lawyers and legal experts as offering a trust regime popular with the offshore trust business because its foreign trusts are not subject to tax. The country's tax department recommended in 2014 that there be a review of taxation of foreign trusts. Former PricewaterhouseCoopers chair John Shewan had been asked to conduct the review and would have to report back to the government by June 30. In the initial wake of the Panama Papers release the government initially denied New Zealand might have problems with its trust regimes. "It is ridiculous to suggest that New Zealand is a tax haven, as tax havens thrive on secrecy," said Tax Minister Michael Woodhouse in a statement on April 4. (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Sam Holmes)
By Timothy Gardner and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top health officials expressed heightened concern on Monday about the threat posed to the United States by the Zika virus, saying the mosquito that spreads it is now present in about 30 states and hundreds of thousands of infections could appear in Puerto Rico. At a White House briefing, they stepped up pressure on the Republican-led Congress to pass approximately $1.9 billion in emergency funding for Zika preparedness that the Obama administration requested in February. "Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a deputy director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "And so while we absolutely hope we don't see widespread local transmission in the continental U.S., we need the states to be ready for that," Schuchat added. Zika, linked to numerous cases of the birth defect micocephaly in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in Latin America and the Caribbean. The White House said last week in the absence of the emergency funds it will redirect $589 million, mostly from money already provided by Congress to tackle the Ebola virus, to prepare for Zika before it begins to emerge in the continental United States as the weather warms. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said if Congress does not provide emergency Zika funding, U.S. officials likely would be forced to redirect money currently dedicated for research into malaria, tuberculosis and a universal flu vaccine. "I don't have what I need right now," Fauci said. Hopefully the funding crimp will never reach a point where the stopgap money runs out, but if it does, he said, "we'll have to start raiding other accounts, and very important research in other diseases is going to suffer, and suffer badly." Schuchat said Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species that primarily transmits the virus, is present in about 30 states, rather than 12 as previously thought. In the U.S. territory Puerto Rico, there may be hundreds of thousands of Zika infections and perhaps hundreds of affected babies, she added. Fauci said it appears the first Zika vaccine candidate is on target to enter initial clinical trials in September. Schuchat declined to forecast the number of Zika infections that could occur in the United States. While she said she did not expect large outbreaks in the continental United States, "we can't assume we're not going to have a big problem." Schuchat said Zika is likely to be a problem during much of a pregnancy, not just not just during the first trimester as previously believed. As Brazil prepares to host the Olympic games in August, the CDC has recommended that pregnant women avoid traveling to the country. "We also want people to know that travel to the area may lead to 'silent' infections or infections with symptoms, and that following infections, it's very important to take precautions during sex not to spread the virus," Schuchat said. The World Health Organization has said there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with small heads that can result in developmental problems, as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though proof may take months or years. Brazil said last week it has confirmed more than 1,046 cases of microcephaly, and considers most to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Jeff Mason and Clarece Polk; Editing by Will Dunham)
HARARE (Reuters) - Game wardens in Zimbabwe have killed a black rhino popular with tourists to end its suffering after suspected poachers shot and severely wounded the animal, the wildlife parks' agency said on Monday. Ntombi, whose name is a native Ndebele word for girl, was an eight-year-old female with a 13-month-old calf living in Matopo National Park in western Zimbabwe. The rhino had four bullet wounds in its legs and shoulder after being shot last week, said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, a spokeswoman for Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA). Its horns had been sawn off but were later recovered. Veterinarians from animal conservation group Aware Trust carried out an X-ray that showed Ntombi had "endured unimaginable pain caused by broken legs and open wounds", Washaya-Moyo said. "The animal was very immobile and was unable to walk to access food and water. Because of the seriousness of the wounds the authority had to put the animal to sleep," she said. The ZPWMA is investigating the incident. Wardens are taking care of Ntombi's calf, which was not harmed by the poachers. Buying and selling rhino horn internationally was banned in 1977. In Zimbabwe, killing a rhino carries a mandatory nine-year sentence upon conviction. But rhino horn is prized in Asia for use in traditional remedies and surging demand has led to more poaching. A record 1,305 rhinos were illegally killed in Africa last year. Zimbabwe's black and white rhino population is estimated at just over 800, said Washaya-Moyo. The World Wildlife Fund said in a January report that 50 rhinos had been killed in Zimbabwe in 2015, double the figure for the previous year. "It's been a gut-wrenching weekend ... one of the most difficult things we've had to do," Aware Trust said on its official Facebook page which also showed pictures of Ntombi's injuries. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia and Gareth Jones)
Harare (AFP) - Veterinarians in Zimbabwe put down a rhino that featured on a popular wildlife television series after it was critically wounded in a poaching attempt, a wildlife conservation group said Monday.

The eight-year-old rhinoceros named Ntombi -- "girl" in the Ndebele language -- featured in the "Karina: Wild On Safari" series about four years ago.

The animal sustained wounds on its legs when poachers shot at it last week in Matopos National Park in southern Zimbabwe.

"The severely-wounded Ntombi was euthanised as the vet ruled there was no possibility of saving her. She had lived a week of indescribable agony," the Bhejane Trust said in a statement.

Rangers from the parks department found the wounded rhino after several days of searching through the national park.

"Ntombi had a 13-month calf and we are following up on what has happened to this youngster," the trust said.

Parks and wildlife authorities were not immediately available to comment.

Zimbabwe has been battling wildlife poaching with poachers targeting mainly rhinos and elephants.

Parks authorities say they lack the funds and equipment to carry out extensive patrols and rely on well-wishers and volunteers.

Last month an Italian father and son who lived in Zimbabwe were shot dead by wildlife rangers in an apparent case of mistaken identity while they were helping out on an anti-poaching patrol.
Racist City Employees Are on Notice, and 9 Other Greater Cincinnati News Stories You May Have Missed This Week

Catch up on local government, politics, sports, celeb sightings and Halloween fun.
MONDAY, April 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Older men who receive testosterone-suppressing therapy for prostate cancer may be at increased risk of developing depression, a new, large study suggests.

The findings are based on over 78,000 U.S. men treated for earlier-stage prostate cancer.

Researchers found that among those given hormone-suppressing therapy, 7 percent developed clinical depression in the next few years. That compared with 5 percent of men who did not have the treatment.

The findings do not prove that hormone therapy is to blame. But they do offer "pretty strong evidence" that might be the case, said senior researcher Dr. Paul Nguyen. He is director of prostate brachytherapy at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston.

Nguyen said his team accounted for some other factors that could affect depression risk -- including the severity of a man's cancer, his age and education. And there was still a connection between hormone therapy and depression.

Plus, Nguyen said, the longer the men were on hormone therapy, the higher the risk of depression.

Of men who were treated for six months or less, 6 percent developed depression within three years of their cancer diagnosis. That rose to 8 percent among men who were on hormone therapy for at least a year, the investigators found.

Dr. Mayer Fishman is a medical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center, in Tampa, who has studied the side effects of hormone therapy for prostate cancer. He and his colleagues have found a similar link between the therapy and depression symptoms.

"What I like about this study is that it's large, and it puts a number on the risk," said Fishman, who was not involved in the research.

So while it tells men and their doctors that hormone therapy may contribute to depression, Fishman said, "it also puts the risk in context."

Why would hormone therapy raise a man's likelihood of depression? Nguyen pointed to a few possible reasons.

"It could be a direct effect of reduced testosterone levels on mood," he said. "But there could also be indirect effects."

Some of the physical effects of testosterone suppression -- from sexual dysfunction to hot flashes to weight gain -- may hinder a man's quality of life, Nguyen explained.

Hormone therapy is an option for treating some prostate tumors because testosterone can feed the cancer's growth. At one time, hormone therapy was an automatic choice, according to Nguyen. But that has changed.

"More and more, we've been recognizing that it has harms," Nguyen said. And for many men with earlier-stage prostate cancer, he added, those side effects could outweigh any benefit.

Unlike many other cancers, prostate cancer is often slow-growing and may never progress to the point where it's life-threatening. In fact, men are often diagnosed with "low-risk" prostate cancer -- meaning it's unlikely to spread -- and they can opt to delay getting treatment at all, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Instead, those men can choose "active surveillance," which means they have the cancer regularly monitored to see if it's progressing. Hormone therapy is not a good choice for men with low-risk cancer, Nguyen said.

When men do opt for treatment, surgery and radiation therapy are the main approaches. For those with high-risk prostate cancer, Nguyen said, there is evidence that adding hormone therapy can improve their survival odds.

"High risk" means that the cancer could grow and spread within a few years, according to the NCI. To judge a prostate tumor's risk level, doctors use different measurements -- such as the amount of prostate-specific antigen in a man's blood, and how abnormal (and aggressive) his tumor sample looks under the microscope.

Things get trickier, Nguyen said, when a man has "intermediate-risk" prostate cancer. In those cases, the benefits of hormone therapy are less clear, and would have to be weighed against the risks.

"Our study suggests that psychiatric side effects should be one of the considerations," Nguyen said.

The findings, published online April 11 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, are based on Medicare records for over 78,000 U.S. men treated for prostate cancer between 1992 and 2006. Overall, 43 percent underwent hormone therapy.

Once other factors were taken into account, hormone therapy was tied to a 23 percent increase in the risk of depression, the investigators found.

While all of the study patients were older, both Nguyen and Fishman said the depression likely applies to younger men, too.

Still, Fishman said that the risk should be kept in perspective. "Seven percent of men on hormone therapy became depressed," he said. "Put another way, 93 percent did not."

Plus, Fishman added, depression is treatable if it's detected.

"If we understand that depression is a risk, we can talk about it with patients and they can anticipate it," he said.

"Men, especially older men, are pretty good at not showing their feelings," Fishman added. "So this is a wake-up call for them to speak up. They don't have to suffer in silence."

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on hormone therapy for prostate cancer.
Is Daisy feeling settled in her relationship with Daniel now or does she still struggle with the ghost of Sinead? I think she is feeling set...
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According to Hyderabad-based Twin City Jewelers Association president Satish Agarwal no decision was made by the protesting association members to re-open stores on Monday.

Hyderabad: More than half of Indian jewellers reopened their shops on Monday after keeping them closed for nearly six weeks in protest over the reintroduction of excise duty on gold jewellery.

The resumption in business could boost demand from the worlds second biggest consumer and support global prices trading near their highest in three weeks.

Jewellers are opening shops after the government assured it will simplify implementation of excise duty, said Bachhraj Bamalwa, director at All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.

More than half of jewellery shops are now open. Jewellers went on an indefinite strike at the start of March to protest against the proposed excise tax. Although the national level trade bodies of bullion dealers and jewellers called off the strike on March 19, various regional industry associations decided to maintain it.

We cannot continue to strike indefinitely. Already few artisans have committed suicide due to the business we lost, said Kumar Jain, a Mumbai-based jeweller.

According to Hyderabad-based Twin City Jewelers Association president Satish Agarwal no decision was made by the protesting association members to re-open stores on Monday.

However many jewelers have already open stores with black banners stating " government take back excise duty and many other have reopened their stores even during the protest. Jewellery shops in TN, Kerala and AP opened in March. On Monday, jewellers from West Bengal decided to start operations.
How often you come across a trailer and wonder, Why cant the film just release tomorrow. Thats what happened with Maneesh Sharmas next FAN starring Shah Rukh Khan that got everyone excited. The first teaser of the film gave a glimpse about a journey of a superstar but it was the trailer that made the film hot and buzzing. Till date it has crossed over 16 million views on YOU TUBE.

However there is a lot of mystery about Gauravs character. While they were comparisons drawn to a dated Hollywood film, we can assure our readers that FAN is not even close to that film except that there is a superstar and an obsessed fan. In the trailer when Shah Rukh says Tum nahi ho mere fan, there have been extreme reactions on how a star could talk to his fan in that manner.

But why does Gaurav get such a reaction from Aryan in the film?

Recently, the film was shown to the key members and we have got some information about Gaurav. When asked about this specific scene, a source who saw the film told us, This is one of the most important scenes in the film and it is a very interesting face off. Now after watching the trailer it appears that Aryan is rude to his fan but when you see the film you will understand what Gaurav has done. Gaurav makes a big mistake but doesnt realize it till he is told about it and for him he has done the right thing.

The source refused to divulge any more information that could give away the most guarded secret so far. No wonder the marketing of this film has been very intelligently planned by YRF and have done just the right amount of promotions to keep the excitement alive. FAN is all set for a worldwide release on April 15.
Mumbai: Ever since Karan Johar revealed that the sequel to his Student of the Year is on cards, B-town is rife with speculations surrounding film's star cast.

While Alia, Sidharth and Varun cleared the air by saying that they are not reuniting in the film's sequel, other actors expressed their desire to be part of the franchise.

We earlier told you that Saif Ali Khans daughter Sara and Shahid Kapoors brother Ishaan are in talks with Karan Johar and if all goes as planned, the two will be making their Bollywood debut with SOTY 2.

Now recent buzz reveals that the film will be helmed by I Hate Luv Story and Luv Ka the End director Punit Malhotra. The upcoming film will star Saifs daughter Sara opposite Shahid Kapoors brother Ishaan in a very unusual love story.

Though Karan Johar hasnt yet confirmed the star cast of SOTY 2, Ishaan and Sara are likely to step in Bollywood with this film.

Both Sara and Ishaan have harboured acting ambitions since childhood. Sara, who has graduated from Colombia University, grew up watching her parents leave for shoots every day, whereas Ishaan is worked as an assistant director in Shahid's film 'Udta Punjab'.
After Bollywood actors like Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan voicing for the Hindi version of The Jungle Book recently, joining the list is Varun Dhawan who will lend his voice in the much awaited superhero avenger movie Captain America Civil War. Varun Dhawan has collaborated on the massive summer blockbuster, Marvels Captain America - Civil Wars Hindi language version. For this years most-anticipated and eagerly awaited superhero film, the Studio has got on board versatile actor and youth icon Varun Dhawan to lend his voice for Steve Rogers AKA Cap Am in the Hindi version of the colossal superhero action flick.

When asked Varun on the association with Captain America: Civil War, he said, When Disney India got in touch with me to voice Captain America it tickled a creative box in my head. I have immense respect for voice over artist as it's very difficult job to do. Captain America is a matured and a balanced leader. This is something that I am not. So that made it all the more challenging for me. Captain America Civil War is bigger better and the action is huge. It's a film for kids and adults and the actual moral of the film is something I loved and believed in so I was very happy to voice it. I was blown away by the trailer and that got me very interested to take it up as a challenge. I have seen all the Avenger movies till now and this one definitely takes the Avengers series to a different level. I'm very happy to be part of the Marvel Universe. The film has an amazing connect with kids so that was one of the main reasons for me to do it.

Captain America: Civil War releases in India on May 6 in four languages - English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Watch the trailer here:
Boman Kohinoors dream finally came true when Prince William and Kate Middleton took time out to meet him on their first day in Mumbai. The royal couple invited the 93-year-old owner of the iconic Mumbai restaurant Britannia for a special meeting last evening at the Taj hotel.

We finally have the answer to #WillKatMeetMe? Chef Concierge Satish brought Mr. Kohinoor to meet TRHs. @CNTIndia pic.twitter.com/wci4ILLCBT  The Taj Mahal Palace (@TajMahalMumbai) April 11, 2016

His desire to meet the couple had gained traction online after Conde Nast Traveller featured Kohinoor in a video in which he held up a sign that read #WillKatMeetMe. The hashtag quickly went viral on social media with many people including celebrities retweeting so that his wish could come true.

https://t.co/q7kSEtL702 and just to add to that I hope this landmark and sweet old man is recognised by TRHS! @CNTIndia  Sonam Kapoor (@sonamakapoor) April 9, 2016

Kohinoors cafe, Britannia, Mumbais most famous Parsi cafe displays a large framed photograph of Queen Elizabeth and even a giant cardboard cut-out of a grinning William and Kate, their arms linked. In the past, Kohinoor had also been in the news for having written regular letters to Queen Elizabeth over the years and even received a reply from one of her representatives at Windsor Castle, an official royal residence.

"I met Their Royal Highnesses this evening at the Taj. They were very kind and asked me about my restaurant and my favourite dishes there," Mr Kohinoor told Conde Nast Traveller. "I told them: give my love to the Queen, and to [your] children Prince George and Princess Charlotte, too. I wish I had more time to speak, but I'm thankful for this opportunity," he added.

Here's the viral video that helped Boman Kohinoor to finally get to meet Prince William and Kate:
"It is disgusting. It is wrong  it is not appropriate," says the pregnant woman.

A woman was shocked when she visited a hospital and a porn movie started playing in a waiting room.

Loredana Sueleru is 23 weeks pregnant and went to Northwick Park Hospital in North London as she was suffering from stomach pain.

While Sueleru and her husband Narces were waiting to see the doctor, they noticed the explicit movie playing on the television. Sueleru was shocked to see this and felt disappointed.

It is disgusting. It is wrong  it is not appropriate. We were put in a waiting area of the maternity ward for about 20 minutes where there was porn on the TV. They should be showing videos on how to breastfeed or something, not this," told Sueleru to Daily Star.

She also added that she couldnt see any staff to complain about the issue. Sueleru has no complaints about her medical treatment. The hospital authority have apologised for their mix-up.

We would like to apologise to the couple concerned for the upset caused. This was a genuine error with a digital TV channel having been on which, between 2am and 3am, broadcast material of an adult nature. If our staff had been made aware then they would have changed the channel immediately, said the hospital spokesman.
New Delhi: A 17-year-old girl was allegedly molested by a group of persons, including her minor friend, who offered her a lift from her school in north-east Delhi's Bhajanpura area and then took her to an apartment in Noida.

In her complaint, the girl told police that the incident took place on March 31 but she initially did not disclose it to anyone as the accused had video-recorded the act and threatened her with dire consequences if she reported the matter, a senior police official said on Monday.

On March 31, as she was returning from school, her teenage friend offered her a lift in his car and later some men joined, who forced her to come with them to a flat in Noida and forced themselves upon her.

A case has been registered on the basis of the girl's complaint and some persons have been detained for questioning, the official added.
Bengaluru: The police have arrested a seven-member gang after they allegedly abducted and killed a 23-year-old youth, identified as Madesh, in a moving car over a trivial issue in Subramanyapura police station limits late Saturday.

Police said the assailants abandoned the body near Sarakki Gate early Sunday. The arrested have been identified as Shivakumar, Punith, Bharath, Sachin, Putta, Lokesh, Rajini, all residents of Ganapathi Nagar and were unemployed.

On Saturday around 9.30 pm, Madesh and his brother were having alcoholic drinks at an isolated place near their house in Veereshwaranagar. The prime accused, Shivakumar, who happened to pass by told them not to drink in a public place. An altercation ensued and Madesh hit Shivakumar on his head, police added.

An enraged Shivkumar returned around 11.30 pm along with his friends. They bundled him into a car and took him near Sarakki gate. They repeatedly stabbed him inside the car. The gang members then looked for an isolated place to dump the body. They did so near Eashwari bus stop and fled.

The incident came to light around 3 am on Sunday, when the police upon receiving an alert rushed to the spot and identified the body. Based on a complaint filed by Madeshs brother, the police detained Shivakumar. He confessed to the crime following a detailed questioning. Based on the information provided by him, the other six members were arrested on Sunday morning, police added. Subramanyapura police have registered a case.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has refused to grant pre-arrest bail to a man who, according to police staged a crime to show that some people with whom he was on bad terms had given a contract for his killing. To prove this he had paid money to a youth who ensured his own arrest with a firearm and applicants photo and told the police that he had come to kill the applicant. However, during investigation the police found out the truth and wanted to arrest the applicant to find out from where the firearm was obtained.

The prosecutions case is that on January 22 police constable Sudhir Metkar was on patrolling duty and received information that a person was standing suspiciously opposite a sweet shop that falls under the jurisdiction of Panchvati police station in Nashik. A police team then reached the spot and found out that a youth was indeed standing there and he could not provide a satisfactory answer for his presence and hence the police searched his person. The police found a country-made revolver, live cartridges, a photograph of Vijay Patil, the man whose pre-arrest bail was being heard by the high court, and a chit, on which the name and car number of the applicant was written. The youth told the police that he had been paid to kill the man whose photograph and car number was given to him.

However during the investigation the police found out that in fact Patil had himself hired the juvenile and handed him his own picture and a firearm and asked him to lie to the police, when apprehended, that a Vinayak Chaudhari had engaged him to eliminate Patil.

When Patil realised that the police was after him, he approached the court for anticipatory bail but the sessions court refused to grant him this and he then approached the high court.

Government pleader D.P. Adsule alleged before Justice Revati Mohite-Dere that Patil himself had created false drama in order to falsely implicate his enemies Jagdish Patil and Chaudhari. According to advocate Adsule, the men were involved in a dispute involving Rs 25 lakh; Vijay Patil had written to the inspector general of police alleging that Jagdish Patil and Chaudhari were trying to extort Rs 25 lakh from him while the latter had filed a case of cheating to the tune of Rs 25 lakh against Vijay Patil. The police told the court it needed Vijay Patils custody to find out from where he had obtained firearms. After hearing arguments Justice Mohite-Dere rejected Patils pre-arrest bail plea.
New Delhi: Asserting that it would decide on the right of women to enter the historic Sabarimala shrine on the basis of constitutional principles and not by the prevalent customary practices, the Supreme Court on Monday said "gender justice is endangered".

"We will now only be guided by the rationale under the Constitution. The gravity of this petition is that gender justice is endangered," a three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said.

"Can you deny a woman her right to climb the Mount Everest? The reasons banning anything must be common for all and on the bedrock of the Constitution," the bench, also comprising justices V Gopala Gowda and Kurian Joseph, said. The court was hearing a PIL, filed by Indian Young Lawyers' Association (IYLA), seeking entry of women in the Sabarimala temple.

Read: Why does Sabarimala discriminate against women, when Vedas don't: Supreme Court

At the outset of the two-hour-long hearing, it asked the counsel, supporting the ban, about constitutional principles which support the restraining order of the temple board.

"We will like to understand as to what right they have to forbid a woman from entering the temple, a public place," the bench said, visibly unimpressed with the arguments that the practice has been observed for centuries and much before the Constitution came into being.

The bench said it would examine the question as to whether a public religious place can pass such an order and "whether such a prohibition is permissible under the Constitution".

The customary practices cannot override constitutional values, it said.

"Anyone can worship the God or Goddess structured into idols. I believe in God and want to bow my head, can you say, don't come," it asked the counsel representing the Devaswom Board.

Referring to the prevalent Hindu protocol, the bench said the mother has to be greeted ahead of father, 'Kul Guru' (teacher of the clan) and 'Kul Purohit' (priest of the clan) and hence, women should not be prohibited from entering the temples.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is apparently upset with the draft Bill and has sought major changes to permit only institutions with a certain reputation and experience to set up private universities in the state.

Hyderabad: Private universities will not be a reality in Telangana state, at least for the upcoming academic year (2016-17). The government failed to introduce the Private Universities Bill during the recent Budget session of Assembly and even the state Cabinet is yet to approve the draft Bill.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is apparently upset with the draft Bill and has sought major changes to permit only institutions with a certain reputation and experience to set up private universities in the state.

It has also came to the notice of the government that several existing engineering colleges, which have been running for just over a decade, are now planning to convert themselves into private universities  aiming to escape government control on admissions and fee structure.

Currently, there is massive demand for seats in the top-20 engineering colleges and parents are also willing to pay any amount to get seats in these colleges for their wards. But since these colleges have been regulated by government on fee and admission issues, they are able to offer only 30 per cent seats on their own, which too are under tight scrutiny of the government. The remaining 70 per cent seats are offered under merit quota based on the government-conducted Eamcet.

The college managements also feel that once they convert these colleges into private universities, they will get complete control over admissions leading to profits. The Cabinet was supposed to approve the Bill in February to enable its introduction in the Legislature in March.

But the Bill has been kept pending since then to make certain changes to check misuse of the Private Universities Act. The earlier experiences on allowing private universities in Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh has proven that institutions often misuse the facility and have virtually resorted to sale of degrees.

The TS government wants to take some more time before enacting the Private Universities Act to see that there are no loopholes in the system.The Bill is now expected to be passed during the monsoon or the winter session so that private universities can be permitted from 2017-18 academic year.
Guwahati: The Election Commission of India on Monday filed a FIR against Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for violation of Representation of People Act by holding a press conference during polls.

Holding press conference within 48 hrs of closure of polls is violation which may result into action being taken, the Election Commission said in a statement.

Tarun Gogoi on Monday addressed a press conference despite the directive of the commission not holding it, in what looked like a deliberate attempt to defy the Commission.

The representative of the commission who was present in Hotel Ambrish to convey the directive of the commission told reporters, The commission has asked the chief minister not to hold press conference as election code of conduct is effective on polling day today.

Mr Gogoi who decided to go ahead with his press conference had dared the commission to take action against him if he was violating the rule.

Why cant they give me in writing that under what provision they have stopped me from addressing the press conference? I have been told verbally only, said Mr Gogoi adding, If I am violating the law, let election commission arrest me. I am also a lawyer. They cant stop me from keeping my view.

Mr Gogoi told reporters, If some one is making wild allegation against me, I have every right to clarify it. Himanta Biswa Sarma said that I was making false allegation and referring his wrong speech. I want to clarify that I have the clipping of the Assam Talks news channel where in Mr Sarma said in a public meeting that BJP would plead for making the cut off year for identification and detection of foreigners to 1951 from existing 1971 if voted to power.

Mr Gogoi accused the Election Commission of India being biased and in favour of BJP. Visibly upset Mr Gogoi said that the commission was targeting the Congress candidates only.

They have confined one of our ex-ministers Gautam Bora inside the house whereas it allowed BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma to hold motorcycle rally even after the end of electioneering in the state, said Mr Gogoi refusing to admit that he was having any ego clash with his former colleague and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Gogoi said, Why should I have any ego clash with Himanta Biswa Sarma but he was resorting to propaganda against my government.My fight is with Prime Minister Narendra Modi not Mr Sarma.
The Sultan Bazaar Metro complex is also being built where those who will lose a larger area will be relocated.

Hyderabad: Owners of businesses in Sultan Bazaar have been served notices that 5 to 10 feet of their structures would be demolished as work on the Hyderabad Metro Rail begins in the area.

The owners have been told that they will be compensated for their properties. Soil testing works have been carried out at three sites where the Metro Rail pillar works will be taken up. A total of 10 pillars will be built in Sultan Bazaar.

Mr Govind Rathi of Sultan Bazaar Traders Joint Action committee said the owners and traders were happy that they were not losing a large area of their properties. Everyone has agreed to the set back of 5 to 10 feet. There are 120 properties and the work is going on smoothly, he said.

The 40-feet Sultan Bazaar road is being widened to 65 feet as against the original plan of 100 feet. A senior Metro rail official said, The people are co-operating but we are carrying out most of the work only at night. Being a major business hub, the schedules have been worked out in such a manner that machines are brought at night where there can be no traffic problems.

The hawkers are continuing to operate from the pavements but have been assured that that they will be rehabilitated. The Sultan Bazaar Metro complex is also being built where those who will lose a larger area will be relocated.
New Delhi: India is likely to raise the issue of China blocking its move to get Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammads (JeM) chief Masood Azhar designated as an international terrorist in the United Nations (UN), during the next round of Special Representatives (SR) talks scheduled on April 20 between both the nations.

During the course of the talks, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is expected to raise the issue with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, official sources said. The two-day talks in Beijing, which would be the 19th round of such parleys, will mainly focus on boundary and strategic issues, sources added. Mr Doval will hold talks with Mr Jiechi.
Paravur/Thiruvananthapuram: The authorities of Puttingal Devi temple at Paravur near Varkala have paid the price for ignoring the concerns of an 80-year-old retired school teacher who desperately wanted the authorities to scale down the fireworks.

It was on April 2 that A Pankajakshi, whose house is barely 50 metres from the temple, filed a complaint before the Kollam district collector against the competitive fireworks display. She cited serious health hazards caused by the explosions, especially for the aged and the kids. She had also detailed the damages inflicted on her house during previous years by the fireworks.

Read: Kollam temple fire: Blatant violation of rules reason

Concrete blocks from the shattered shed in which the explosives were kept bombarded her house, badly damaging the drawing room wall. The parapet was rattled, the false ceiling collapsed, and almost all the window panes cracked. The family had a narrow escape as they were in a relatives house nearby during the fireworks.

Read: Heart-rending scenes at Medical College

I am also an ardent devotee and used to offer vedi vazhipadu frequently at this temple. But the competition fireworks display is unbearable," said Pankajakshi.

Pankajakshi, who is now settled in UK with her daughter Anitha and family, o comes down regularly for the festival. Based on her petition, local revenue officials visited the spot on April 3. We learnt that subsequently the competitive fireworks event was banned. Nonetheless, minimum fireworks were allowed. Even yesterday there were no announcements of competition. But the intensity of the fireworks had not lessened and I had to move to another house nearby, she said.

Read: Kollam temple fire: Kerala to tighten fireworks norms

Every year her house suffered damages as the fireworks took place right in front of her house. And each time, the temple authorities assured that they will repair the damages. But nothing was ever done. Though others too are concerned about the high intensity of the fireworks, they are not willing to complain, she said.

Read: Activists seek blanket ban on fireworks across Kerala

Fear could be a reason. On Sunday morning two persons came to our house and one of them harshly threatened us and even said that we all will die here. They even disrupted the free drinking water supply we offered to devotees, Pankajakshi said.

Read: Kerala: Temple firework display is a religion for many
The authorities have not learnt any lessons from the series of firecracker accidents that have killed over 500 people in the state during the last eight years.

ALAPPUZHA: The authorities have not learnt any lessons from the series of firecracker accidents that have killed over 500 people in the state during the last eight years. Nor are they likely to get wiser with the worst-ever fireworks tragedy in Paravur, Kollam, that has claimed the lives of over 100 people and seriously injured over 350.

This is the result of lax rules, ignorance of the local pyrotechnicians on the explosive chemicals, undue influence exerted by politicians in issuing licences and the failure of the government in fully empowering the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) in handling explosive substances.

PESO currently issues licence only for using high explosives in granite quarries unlike in other southern states where it has vast powers. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had informed the Assembly on March 18, 2013 that guidelines had been framed to prevent the functioning of illegal cracker units. But it has been proved that neither the police nor the district administration had taken any steps to monitor them. The contractor in the Paravur incident had stored a huge quantity of powerful firecrackers though the Additional District Magistrate can permit only 15 kg of explosives.

Deccan Chronicle had raised this issue several times, including on January 22 following an explosion at Marad which killed a worker and critically injured another. Mr C.R. Surendranath, retired deputy chief controller of explosives, PESO, says the organisation has had no authority to issue licences for manufacturing units since 2008 after the ADM was authorised to issue the licences. In other states, PESO directly handles the security matters in all manufacturing units.

The ADM can issue licences for only 15 kg of explosives per unit. But the former PESO official feels that the government should scrap this power of the ADM for two reasons: First: The district administration is often pressurised by political and communal interests. Second: Handling explosive matters needs technical expertise. At present the district administration has no technical support to issue a licence. If the power is handed over fully to the PESO, it will monitor the display spot and manufacturing units and seek sketches of display spot, test the power of chemicals and other safety measures, including timing and size of the crackers to issue licence.

Mr V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary, Public Interest Forum, has demanded a blanket ban on fireworks until the central government issues the proposed amended version of the explosive rule 2008 empowering the PESO with full authority to issue such licences.

As per unofficial data, during the past eight years (2006-2014), a total of 463 fireworks disasters have occurred in Kerala killing 510 people, including 352 male workers, 80 women, 33 licensees and 43 laymen. A total of 308 workers were killed in 297 kathina mishaps and 420 mishaps occurred inside fireworks manufacturing sites and 43 at display places.

According to experts, the workers are using potassium chlorate widely for manufacturing crackers as it is cheap and easily available. Potassium chlorate catches fire by friction. The main reason for the mishaps is using unskilled people as pyrotechnicians. No unit in the state has taken proper safety measures as the PESO instructed. Most pyrotechnicians even don't know whether the chemicals are toxic or not. Potassium chlorate is highly toxic. They have also not been taught the ways to dispose of explosives, says retired prof K.R. Janardhanan, an expert. Fireworks are the result of chemical reactions such as oxidation and reduction.
Sources said that many outstation students had even after skipping exams desired to stay put but the authorities did not agree, suspecting this could be a mischief on part of trouble-makers. (Photo: PTI)

Srinagar: The NIT Srinagar was quiet on Monday as examinations for various classes began amid tight security against a backdrop of recent disturbances on the campus.

However, a majority of outstation students skipped the minor exams and began returning home. This came after the Union Human Resources Development Ministry (HRDM) conceded their demand that they would be given an opportunity to write these exams later. Apart from all local students, only a few dozen outstation students, mainly final semester students, sat for the exams, the officials said.

They said these final year students were very keen to write their examination as most of them have already got placement offers in good companies and dont want to let this occasion go.

Registrar, Dr. Fayaz Ahmed Mir, said that about 1,600 outstation students skipped the exams whereas those who chose to appear in these constitute only one percent of the total number of non-local students enrolled at the institute.

About 1,200 outstation students have left the campus for home over past two days and the others are preparing to leave in next couple of days. The Jammu and Kashmir government has offered to facilitate their travel. About four hundred students left on Sunday and 700-800 others today (Monday). The state government facilitated their air or bus travel as per their convenience, said education minister, Syed Naeem Akhter.

Sources said that many outstation students had even after skipping exams desired to stay put but the authorities did not agree, suspecting this could be a mischief on part of trouble-makers.

There was apprehension that their presence on the campus could be exploited by the vested interests to serve their own agenda. We also know some of the students have been swayed by outside forces which are hell bent on to keep the pot boiling, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The outstation students who did not sit for exams blamed it on the tensions set off by recent disturbances. The campus had on April 1 witnessed clashes after Kashmiri students celebrated Indias defeat at the hands of West Indies in ICC Twenty-20 semi final by chanting pro-Pakistan slogans and lightening fireworks. Exasperated by it, the outstation students who outnumber the locals allegedly attacked them, leading to clashes and closure of the campus for students for four days.

On April 5 evening, the outstation students attempted to leave the campus but were confronted by local police which used force, leaving many students injured. The incident evoked outrage across the country and many people took to social networking sites to denounce police action although video footage released by police shows students damaging the institute property and attacking policemen. The Centre rushed a two-member team of HRDM to hold talks with outstation students and asses the overall situation on the campus. Also, CRPF and SSB personnel in strength were deployed on the campus.

The authorities have accepted the protesting students demands of improving infrastructure on the campus including providing them with better amenities including good washrooms, a recreational hall, un-interrupted power supply and communication facilities such as Wi-Fi Internet access. They have also been assured steps would be initiated to improve academic atmosphere on the campus.

As for their security concerns, Deputy Chief Minister, Nirmal Singh, has assured them that they would not be facing any problems as central forces in strength have been deployed on the campus. Responding to the demand that stern action may be taken against the policemen involved in April 5 cane-charge, he told the students that since Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered a time-bound probe into the incidents they should wait for its finding. He assured them that if the inquiry confirms any lapses or dereliction of duty or excessive use of force by the police, we not spare the guilty.

However, the HRDM has rejected outright the outstation students demand that NIT Srinagar be shifted out of Kashmir. It has also said a categorical no to their plea that alternatively campus extension be set up somewhere outside the Valley or migration rules may be relaxed to enable desiring students to move out and get enrolled at convenient NITs elsewhere in the country. The HRDM officials, Mr. Singh and Akhter have had a series of rounds of talks with protesting outstation students past week which yielded positive results, generating hope for complete normalcy returning to the campus soon.

Meanwhile, Congress party general secretary Ambika Soni on Monday while terming as "wrong" the use of force against students by J&K police said a judicial probe should be held to nail the truth behind the disturbances witnessed on the campus recently.

Soni after speaking at a rally of her party workers here told reporters, We want an impartial judicial inquiry which will establish what went wrong on the campus, why it happened and on whose orders did it happen. Without naming PDP-BJP combine, she alleged, The parties which formed the government are playing politics over students. Again without naming Bollywood actor Anupam Kher, she asked What is the need for outsiders to attempt to interfere in the issues of students.

The 61-year-old actor was on Sunday stopped at the Srinagar airport by the Jammu and Kashmir authorities to prevent him from visiting the NIT Srinagar campus. He was sent back to Delhi by next available flight. The officials justified the move saying that Kher accompanied by filmmaker and social activist Ashok Pandit had planned their visit to the institute to meet protesting outstation students at a time when situation was limping back to normal following a series of rounds of talks the State government functionaries and HRDM officials had had with them over the past few days.
Mumbai: A 'water train' with 10 wagons carrying water for parched Latur in Marathwada region, which is battling the worst drought ever, left from Miraj in western Maharashtra on Monday. The train is expected to reach Latur later today.

The railway wagons meant for supplying water to Latur had reached Miraj from Kota in Rajasthan on Sunday.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said yesterday that Maharashtra government and Railway Ministry were working hard to bring relief to people in drought affected region.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had said, "50 Tank Wagons steam cleaned reached Miraj for Latur."

On April 8, one of two goods trains carrying 50 wagons of water for drought-affected areas of Latur departed from Kota workshop for Miraj in Pune division.

The second goods train consisting of 50 wagons is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15, a Railway official earlier said.

"As per instructions from the Ministry of Railways, Kota workshop received two goods trains consisting of 50 tank wagons (BTPN) each for deployment in drought-affected areas of Latur during the summer season and the trips of the trains will be arranged as per the requirement," he said.

The carrying capacity of these wagons is 54,000 litres of waters per wagon.
Hyderabad: Aspirants are hoping that they will secure a berth while ministers are spending anxious moments ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the next few weeks.

It is not clear whether Mr Rao will only move portfolios among ministers or go for a full-scale reshuffle by dropping a few and inducting new faces.

The size of the Cabinet is limited to 18, or 15 per cent of the 120-member Assembly, including the CM. The TRS has almost 80 per cent of MLAs in the 120-member House and the 40-seat Council.

As far as my knowledge goes, he will only reshuffle portfolios, which is a matter of a few minutes. I don't think he will go for a complete overhaul since there are too many aspirants, a senior minister told this newspaper on Sunday.

The same minister admitted that if there was a reshuffle, it would not be undertaken now. He cannot change the portfolios of a few ministers now and later reshuffle the Cabinet, he said.

There is a lot of difference now compared to the time Mr Rao last reshuffled the Cabinet in December 2014 and made a minor change in January 2015.

With Mr Rao having admitted many Telugu Desam MLAs including five-time legislator Errabelli Dayakar Rao into the TRS, aspirations are high among those who defected and among those who were elected on a TRS ticket.

In Warangal district, almost all are senior leaders and no one will be satisfied if a rival is accommodated. Mr Kadiam Srihari and Mr A. Chandulal have been given Cabinet posts while Mr Madhu-sudhana Chary is the Speaker. Mr Rao has a tough choice in picking one among Ms Konda Surekha, Mr Dayakar Rao and Mr D. Vinay Bhaskar and leaving the rest fuming.

Probably this is the only Cabinet that does not have a woman minister. The TRS has, apart from Ms Surekha, Ms Ajmeera Rakha Naik, Ms B. Sobha, Ms Kova Laxmi and Ms Sunitha Reddy. The Chief Minister has been unable to take anyone from this list due to the problem of balancing of district politics.

Apart from these, Mr Rao has previously assured Chief Whip Koppula Eswar and Rasamay Balakishen of Cabinet berths. When the TRS government completes its two years in office on June 2, a lot of pressure will be built by the aspirants for a ministry. Mr Raos balancing act will not be easy.
Hyderabad: In a big disappointment to three lakh employees and 1.80 lakh pensioners, the state government has made it clear that it would not pay in full the 10th Pay Revision Commission arrears, amounting to Rs 5,000 crore, due to financial constraints.

The government has stated that it can pay only half the arrears in cash, and that too in instalments, and the rest will be deposited in the General Provident Fund accounts.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had announced 43 per cent fitment, the highest ever for employees, in February 2015. It was decided to implement the revised salaries from June 2014, when the state was formed. The 10th PRC had recommended only 25 per cent fitment and the employees had never demanded arrears from June 2014.

TNGOs honorary chairman G. Deviprasad, and president Ravinder Reddy recently met Mr Rao and brought the issue to his notice. The CM is said to have made it clear that financial constraints would not permit the government to pay the arrears in cash at one go and asked them to cooperate with the government in this regard.

Following the directions of the CM, the finance department , which calculated the actual burden on government, has put the figure at Rs 5,000 crore. This came as a shocker for the TRS government which thought that the burden would be less than Rs 2,000 crore, when CM announced the salary hike in June 2014.

At one stage, Mr Rao tried in vain to convince the employees to accept bonds in lieu of arrears with a lock-in period of three to five years, but the employees unions strongly opposed this.

The ruling TRS has paid the price for the delay in payment of arrears when all employees unions worked against TNGOs leader Deviprasad, who lost as a TRS candidate in the MLC elections to BJP leader Ramachander Rao last year.

The monthly salary bill has touched Rs 2,600 crore. The annual salary bill crossed Rs 31,000 crore this year as against Rs 24,000 crore last year.
New Delhi: Two Indian students were stabbed to death at a medical college in Ukraine, while another sustained injuries in the attack.

Those who died in the Sunday attack, allegedly carried out by three Ukrainian nationals, have been identified as Pranav Shaindilya from Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, hailing from Agra, was also stabbed and was recuperating in a hospital.

"In an unfortunate event, three Indian students in Uzhgorod Medical College (Ukraine) were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 am in the morning of Sunday, April 10," said External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Shaindilya was a third year student while Singh was a fourth year student at the college.

"Based on his (Chauhan) statement, the police apprehended the Ukrainian nationals who were trying to cross the Ukrainian border. Passports/documents of the three Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the Ukrainian nationals," the MEA spokesman said.

He said Indian Embassy in Kiev was informed of the incident around 11 AM yesterday and it has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts.

"The Embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine," said Swarup.
Hyderabad: Ending speculation that he may opt to contest for the Rajya Sabha polls this time from Andhra Pradesh where the TD-BJP alliance is in power, Union parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said, I will not contest from AP with the support of the Telugu Desam.

Speculation was rife that Mr Venkaiah Naidu, who would be completing a third term in the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in June, may opt for Andhra Pradesh due to his close relations with AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

When contacted, Mr Venkaiah Naidu told DC, The BJP had sufficient strength in Karnataka and the party selected me as candidate thrice from the state. I cannot say whether I will be nominated from Karnataka or from any other state where the BJP has sufficient numbers to send me. The partys Parliamentary Board will take a decision on that. But I am sure, I will not contest from Andhra Pradesh where we do not have numbers and I will need to depend on the support of the Telugu Desam, he said.

I do not want that, my nature is: I should not become a Rajya Sabha member with the support of some other party. Of this, I am hundred per cent sure.

It is not sure whether BJP Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman will seek re-election from AP when her term ends in June. After becoming Union minister of state (independent charge) for commerce in May 2014, she had won a RS bypoll  the vacancy was caused by the death of former AP CM N. Janardhan Reddy  from AP.

Sack Sujana for default, says Congress

APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy on Sunday demanded the dismissal of Union minister of state Y.S. Sujana Chowdary from the Union council of ministers as he was involved in defrauding banks and financial institutions and had a non-bailable warrant issued by the court as well.

Addressing the media here today, Mr Raghuveera Reddy along with party general secretaries Gidugu Rudraraju and Janga Gowtham said that owing to the facts of the cases pending against Mr Chowdary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should not have inducted him into the ministry.

The Congress leaders alleged that Mr Chowdary was picked by Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu for the Rajya Sabha as a quid pro quo for the financial help extended to him.

They said Mr Naidu was aware of Mr Chowdarys allegedly fraudulent deals and still recommended him for the Union ministry. Mr Modi and Mr Naidu allowing Mr Chowdary to continue in the ministers post, only shows the bankruptcy of both the leaders, Mr Raghuveera Reddy said.
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government on Monday informed the Hyderabad High Court that it had accorded sanction to prosecute MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi in alleged hate speech cases pending against him in Nizamabad and Nirmal police stations.

Home department counsel Venugopal told a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao that the Nizamabad police had filed a chargesheet in the case.

Hyderabad HC dismisses plea on Akbar

The state government informed the Hydera-bad High Court that it had accorded sanction to prosecute MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi in alleged hate speech cases. When the bench asked whether the government had sanctioned his prosecution or not, counsel replied in the positive.

The bench then disposed of the petition by city resident Syed Taraq Quadri seeking to direct the police to complete investigation in the FIRs registered against Mr Owaisi in 2013.

The two cases were registered suo motu, one at the Nirmal police station in Adila-bad and another at Nizamabad II Town police station on December 8 and 22, 2012, against Mr Owaisi for alleged hate speech. The police had booked cases under charges of sedition and waging war against the nation.

He was arrested by the Nirmal police fr-om the Gandhi Hos-pital in Hyderabad on January 8, 2013, and was lodged in the Adilabad district jail. He was released on February 16, 2013.
New Delhi: A three-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra, V. Gopala Gowda and Kurian Joseph of the Supreme Court on Monday strongly denounced the religious custom barring the entry of women.

The bench said it will strike a balance between the right to equality and right to religious freedom under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion to every individual.

Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Devaswom Board, said for several centuries traditionally it had been a practice in the temple located in a forest area to restrict the entry of women in the 10-50 age group as the deity, Lord Ayyappa, was a Naisthik brahmachari celibate.

He said male devotees take a vow of celibacy for 42 days, avoid smoking and liquor and walk barefoot through the jungles to perform pooja. Justice Misra asked the counsel: Is it (ban) so intricately fundamental for religion as envisaged by the Constitution? Is spirituality singularly in the domain of men and women? Are women incapable of attaining spirituality?

Senior counsel K.K.. Venugopal argued the tradition has been continuing for centuries and there were several books and research works to support such beliefs. He said that this practice was not discrimination against women.

Senior counsel K. Parasaran, appearing for Nair Society, one of the intervenors, said Sabaraimala was a unique temple where besides Hindus, Christians, Muslims and even foreigners were allowed entry. But as per custom and long tradition, women between 10 and 50 were not allowed as the manifestation of God in this temple was celibate.

He said not only the perceptions of worshippers but what was being worshipped was also important. If a devotee felt he was not worshipping the idol of a brahmachari, he may not go to that temple. In all other Ayyappa temples in Kerala, women are allowed entry without discrimination.

The concept is that the presence of women between 10 and 50 will disturb the penance of Lord Ayyappa. At this juncture, Justice Misra told the counsel: To accept your argument we must constitutionally reconcile that such a prohibition is permissible. What we are saying is can you deny a class of people within a class on biological reasons, and thereby infringe my (women) right to practice religion,

which includes the right to enter temples.

Senior counsel Ravi Prakash Gupa, appearing for the Indian Young Lawyers Association, strongly opposed the ban. He recalled the recent Bombay high court order that allowed the entry of women into the Shani temple, that ended a 400-year tradition, and said judicial intervention was required here too. The arguments will continue on Wednesday.
Justice Misra made it clear that our attempt is not to rationalise religion or prevailing religious practice.

New Delhi: Asserting that it would decide on the right of women to enter the historic Sabarimala shrine on the basis of constitutional principles and not by the prevalent customary practices, the Supreme Court on Monday said gender justice is endangered.

We will now only be guided by the rationale under the Constitution. The gravity of this petition is that gender justice is endangered, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said.

Can you deny a woman her right to climb the Mount Everest? The reasons banning anything must be common for all and on the bedrock of the Constitution, the bench, also comprising justices V. Gopala Gowda and Kurian Joseph, said.

The court was hearing a PIL, filed by Indian Young Lawyers Association (IYLA), seeking entry of women in the Sabarimala temple.

At the outset of the two-hour-long hearing, it asked the counsel, supporting the ban, about constitutional principles which support the restraining order of the temple board. We will like to understand as to what right they have to forbid a woman from entering the temple, a public place, the bench said, visibly unimpressed with the arguments that the practice has been observed for centuries and much before the Constitution came into being. The bench said it would examine the question as to whether a public religious place can pass such an order and whether such a prohibition is permissible under the Constitution.

The customary practices cannot override constitutional values, it said.

Anyone can worship the God or Goddess structured into idols. I believe in God and want to bow my head, can you say, dont come, it asked the counsel representing the Devaswom Board.
A view of a collapsed building after a massive fire broke out during a fireworks display at the Puttingal temple complex in Paravoor village, north of Thiruvananthapuram, southern Kerala. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: Lashing out at police commissioner P. Prakash, district Collector A. Shaina-mol on Monday said the mishap at the Puttingal temple, which claimed 109 lives on Sunday, was due to the negligence of the police and that it was the duty of the police to implement the order, but has failed to do so.

It is childish that the police commissioner has said that the temple authorities had misled the police. In case of a magisterial order, it is not the duty of the judge to go and implement it, but the duty of the police officers concerned to assure that the order is done, she said.

Mr Prakash had earlier claimed that the temple authorities misled him by saying that they had received an oral permission to conduct the event. The district magistrate had ordered not to give permission to conduct competitive fireworks at the temple. The police could have prevented it if they abided by it.

The district administration denied permission based on a report filed by the tahsildar that the event would cause danger to human life, Ms Shainamol said.

The report submitted by the police chief on April 6 had pointed out that the place chosen for conducting fireworks was limited.

The report also recommended to deny permission for the event and based on this an order was issued denying permission for the event. The police gave another report two days later stating that permission could be given for fireworks at the temple.

However, the district administration moved forward with its decision to ban the event after it failed to understand how the situation changed within two days of time, the collector said. The district collector has asked for an explanation from the police on how a new report, correcting the old one, was given.

In New Delhi, the National Human Rights Commission issued notices to the Kerala Chief Secretary and top officials of Kollam district seeking their reports in four weeks.

The Commission, observed that the life of hundreds of people was at risk by such an event organised by the temple authorities who decided to hold fireworks despite having been denied permission.
Lucknow: Forest officials have realised that people wearing colourful clothes are more likely to instigate a tiger attack. Salil Kumar Shukla, divisional forest officer, Bijnore district, said that in the last two years, there have been four tiger attack along the UP-Uttarakhand border and in all cases, the victims were found to be wearing brightly coloured clothes.

We have now directed our staff not to wear such clothes and we will see the results, he said. The forest official cited an incident that took place in 2013 in which a tigress had strayed from Corbett Park and entered into the agricultural fields. While passing through the agricultural fields, the tigress left a trail of terror and 12 human deaths. Most of the victims were wearing bright coloured clothes.

In the attack on Saturday which took place in the Sarpduli range of Corbett National Park, the victim was not wearing the prescribed white and grey uniform, he said. This range merges into Amangarh Forest Reserve that comes under Bijnore district. Amangarh is also a buffer zone of Corbett.

The official said that since all the ranges do not have any physical demarcation, the animals are free to move anywhere in the area. We have issued advisory to all the border villages to stay alert and have increased patrolling in the area, he added.

Woman mauled to death by lion in Gujrat

A 50-year-old woman was mauled to death by a lion at a village in Gujarat's Amreli district near Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, a forest official said on Monday.

The victim, Labuben Solanki, was preyed upon by the lion around midnight while she was sleeping outside the house of a relative whom she had gone to visit in Bharad village in Dhari taluka, Assistant Conservator of Forest (Dhari) M N Muni said.The victim was a relative of one of the labourers who have come here to work at a mango orchard, he said.
New Delhi: Observing that there has been inaction on the part of Delhi Police, the Supre-me Court on Monday indicated that it will consider setting up a special investigation team to probe in-to the assault of JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar when he was produced in the Patiala court on February 17.

A bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and A.M. Sapre did not accept the arguments of senior counsel Ajit Kumar Sinha, appearing for Delhi Police, that no one assaulted Mr Kumar.

Justice Chelameswar told senior counsel, Is this the efficiency of the Delhi Police? You are supposed to prevent the assault and apprehend the intruders. You say the intruders are lawyers. The petitioners are justified in asking for an SIT. We will examine this.

Bhushan: Police were mute spectators

The Supreme Court on Monday indicated that it will consider setting up a SIT to probe into the incidents of assault of JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Kamini Jiswal seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against the three lawyers, Vikram Singh Chouhan, Yashpal Singh and O.P. Sharma and setting up of a SIT to probe into the incidents said the Delhi Police remained as silent spectators when the whole incident happened.

He said even the Registrar General of the Delhi HC had in his report said that an intruder entered the adjoining room of the court hall and assaulted Kanhaiya Kumar.

Citing the report of the six-member advocates panel which visited the Patiala court complex, Mr Bhushan said there is blatant violation of the rule of law and also contempt on the face of the court committed by certain lawyers.

He also drew the attention of the court to a report of the NHRC. I these circumstances, he urged the court to set up an SIT to probe into the incidents of attacks on February 15 and 17 and initiation of contempt against the three lawyers.
Crowds arrive to have a loot at the the defunct airplane that had crashed at Begumpet while it was being transported by road. (DECCAN CHRONICLE)

Hyderabad: Air Indias Central Training Establishment has finally taken a decision to dismantle the aircraft and take it to its premises, an exercise that ought to have been carried in the first instance.

There were no gas cutters or other equipment with Durga Cranes, which was shifting the exercise. It was only after the accident that the company workers began looking for equipment to dismantle the aircraft.

The aircraft will now be dismantled into five parts and transported. Air India officials will assess the situation after the aircraft is dismantled and take a decision," a senior official from Air India said.

Though CTE and Durga Cranes officials refused to give details, sources said the overall cost of dismantling and transporting the aircraft by road works out to nearly Rs 50 lakh. Dismantling of the aircraft continued late into night and it is expected that it would be transported by Monday morning.

Officials deny giving nod to moving aircraft as whole

It was not clear just who gave the permission to transport an entire aircraft by road, Air India CTE director Soman Atul said they had applied to the Ranga Reddy district collector and all permissions were in place from the southern discom, law and order and traffic police. But the district collector said they had only applied, permission was not given.

It is true that the Air India CTE management approached us and we forwarded the application to all the departments concerned seeking their response, Ranga Reddy collector M. Raghunandan Rao said adding that the local tahsildar has been asked to report.

DCP, North Zone, N. Prakash Reddy said they received information only on Saturday about the transporting of the aircraft. ACP (Traffic-I) A. Muthyam Reddy said they were told that permissions were taken at the top level. Discom assistant engineer Suresh said engineers had accompanied the crane.
Security men keep vigil as voters queue up to cast their votes outside a polling centre in Guwahati. (Photo: PTI)

Guwahati: More than 85 per cent voters exercised their franchise in second and final phase of polling in 61 Assembly constituencies in Assam on Monday to decide the fate of 525 candidates in the fray. The office of the chief electoral officer, Assam said teh final figure may go up.

Except a few sporadic incident of violence, the polling was almost incident free all across the state. PTI reported that one person had been killed in a clash.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, representing Assam in the Rajya Sabha since 1991, came from Delhi to cast his ballot at the Dispur Government High School polling booth. His wife Gurcharan Kaur, also a voter of Dispur constituency did not come.

Asked about the BJPs allegation that he had not done anything for Assam when he was the prime minister, Mr Singh said, I do not want to counter what the Prime Minister had said about me. But he (Mr Narendra Modi) also knows that what he has said is not true.

Indian boxer from Assam Shiva Thapa, along with his family members, cast his vote. He said that he took out time from his training schedule.

FIR lodged against tarun Gogoi

An FIR was lodged in Guwahati against Assam CM Tarun Gogoi on Monday under electoral laws on the instructions of the EC for holding a press conference when the second and final phase of assembly polls in the states were on as it could have influenced voters. Deputy EC Sandeep Saxena said that authorities had told Gogoi that holding a press conference before end of poll was not advisable.

189 evms replaced for polls

At least 189 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) malfunctioned on Monday and were replaced during the second and concluding phase of Assembly elections across 61 constituencies in Assam.

EC officials said the number was likely to go up as reports from some remote areas were still coming. The highest number of EVM malfunctioning has been witnessed in Hojai election district.
Hyderabad: AIMIM Floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi on Saturday sought reservations for minorities in software companies like Microsoft and institutions like Indian School of Business etc, since the lands in Manikonda allotted by previous governments to these institutions belonged to the Wakf Board.

He also asked the government to treat minorities on par with SCs and STs and extend all the reservation benefits being provided to them.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly during the debate on TS Budget, Mr Owaisi demanded the the government return 700 acres of unutilised prime Wakf lands in city to the Wakf Board to use them for the development of minorities.

The MLA said constructing new Assembly, Secretariat buildings, new residential and official quarters for the CM, ministers, MLAs, IAS, IPS officials etc should not be the priority of the TRS government. Instead, it should spend maximum funds for the welfare of poor like building 2BHK houses, he said.

The previous TD and Congress governments allotted Wakf lands in the city to various corporates and institutions like Microsoft, ISB etc. We are not saying that they should be removed or disturbed. Let them function as usual. What we are demanding is that a certain percentage of employment in these institutions should be given to minorities, Mr Owaisi said

Among the companies allotted land in Manikonda by the state governments from 2000 onwards were Emaar Properties (550 acres), ISB (260 acres), Lanco Hills Technology Park Pvt Ltd (100 acres), Microsoft (54 acres), Infosys (50 acres), Wipro (30 acres) and Polaris Software (7 acres), the MIM MLA pointed out. Mr Owaisi expressed serious concern over the debt burden of the TS government.

Telangana state already inherited a debt burden of Rs 60,000 crore from undivided AP. Despite this, the government was trying to obtain more and more loans from foreign banks and other financial institutions. Water Grid and 2BHK housing were relying entirely on loans. Now the government is planning to seek over Rs 77,000 crore to develop infrastructure facilities in Hyderabad. Who will give such huge loans? And how can it be repaid, Mr Owaisi asked.

He asked the government to implement proposed salary hike for MLAs only after examining the salaries in other states.
Well might the Bombay high courts Nagpur bench ask  as it did last week  whether India is for Hindus only? The judges were criticising the Nagpur Municipal Corporation for using its AIDS awareness programme to promote a religious agenda. Is it only Hindus who contract AIDS? the judges asked. Our country is suffering from an acute crisis of identity. I wake up every morning to the azaan broadcast from a nearby mosque. I drive past a large gurdwara and a towering cathedral every day. Yet, many Indians cannot accept that their beliefs and customs are not the universal norm. Other countries resolve similar dilemmas in a spirit of civilised give and take. Here, one often feels there isnt even any awareness of other beliefs.

The United States is regarded as a Christian nation but I recall seeing near Pearl Harbour, when we lived in Honolulu, an 80-ft flagpole from which fluttered a massive Stars and Stripes. It had replaced a 65-ft cross that was dismantled when a federal court ruled on a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Jewish War Veterans, that the cross violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

There was a similar controversy over a 37-ft white steel cross erected in 1962 at taxpayers expense at Schofield Barracks which, said the Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church, was a blatant and obvious violation of the First Amendment. When the Army promised to dismantle the cross, the attorney for Hawaii Citizens declared, the action sends a strong message that the wall between state and church stands tall and forbids government from endorsing Christianity in particular over other religions.

Those two rulings justify Jawaharlal Nehrus dismay when Rajendra Prasad as President of India insisted on inaugurating the rebuilt Somnath Temple which Mahmud of Ghazni raided and plundered in 1024. Discussing the controversy the other day, a retired Indian diplomat attributed Nehrus objections to rivalry with Vallabhbhai Patel who had initiated the Somnath project. That explanation only highlighted Indian inability to see matters of state except in personal and political terms to the exclusion of principle. For Nehru, reconstruction of the temple was a symbol of Hindu revivalism with which the government of secular India could not be associated.

The distinction is lost on functionaries like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh general secretary, Bhaiyyaji Joshi, and the organisations spokesperson, Manmohan Vaidya. They recently drew a distinction between rajya (state) and rashtra (nation) to argue that while Vande Mataram is the real national anthem because it belongs to the nation, the constitutionally-mandated officially recognised anthem, Jana Gana Mana belongs to the state.

Reading between the lines of that claim, one discerns the RSS answer to the question the Bombay high courts Nagpur bench asked. The nation (rashtra) being Hindu, the rites and rituals of the state (rajya) must pay obeisance only to the Hindu faith. No wonder Syed Shahabuddin, the diplomat turned Muslim activist, objected to lamps being lit and coconuts smashed at inaugurals.

What appalls me about the RSS demand is the smugness with which it is advanced. A Calcutta stockbroker once told me quite seriously that Hinduisms all-embracing benevolence catered to all other religions as well. Identifying characters and episodes from various Hindu texts that he thought referred to other faiths, he couldnt understand objections to a Hindu rashtra or rajya.

This was the negative aspect of the unity Muhammad Ali Jinnah famously extolled on August 11, 1947, when he said that if Pakistanis worked together in a constructive and egalitarian spirit in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community... will vanish. He identified these differences as the biggest hindrance but for which we would have been free people long long ago.

Jinnah added, No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this. Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. What happened to that dream is another matter for in promoting sectarian dominance Pakistan has been ahead of India. But just as our Research & Analysis Wing is not a mirror image of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence, there is no reason for a government in New Delhi to follow Islamabads precedent in establishing a majoritarian theocracy.

Its worth considering in this year of the 60th anniversary of the worlds first Islamic republic that things might have been different in Pakistan had Jinnah lived. Without his vision, there was no question of ever realising a Pakistan where in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.

Pakistans failure is all the more reason for India to ensure it succeeds. Given its demographic variety, India has much more at stake. Moreover, Indias size, population, economic achievements and potential, geopolitical location and strategic reach hold the promise of an Asia-Pacific role. Whether or not that promise is squandered depends largely on a Prime Minister whose rhetoric inspires hope but who has been slow on delivery.

As President Pranab Mukherjee said in his Arjun Singh memorial lecture last Saturday, Pluralism and tolerance have been the hallmark of our civilisation. This is a core philosophy that must continue undeterred. For, Indias strength lies in her diversity. That last sentence needs revising. Its not only Indias strength, but Indias survival that lies in her diversity.
Foreign secretary S. Jaishankar set off a verbal duel with Pakistan on April 6 at Carnegie Endowments India Centre opening when, after characterising Pakistan in a category by itself, he asserted that India has managed to keep the focus firmly on the issue of terrorism. Pakistans high commissioner Abdul Basit in Delhi reacted publicly that the Indian National Investigating Agencys team could not proceed to Pakistan as reciprocity could not be assumed and, moreover, the dialogue process with India stood suspended. Surprisingly, the Indian ministry of external affairs sought solace in a slightly earlier statement from Islamabad that seemed to keep the door open.

The Modi governments relations with Pakistan have oscillated between dramatic engagement and recriminating exchanges. The current phase commenced with the national security advisers of the two countries meeting early December 2015 in Bangkok. A two-track mechanism was created, by-passing the stand-off over India not having received Sartaj Aziz, the then NSA, disagreeing over the agenda which India wanted terror-centred.

Pakistan reacted by appointing a recently retired corps commander covering Balochistan, Lt. Gen. Naseer Khan Janjua, as NSA. The implication was that if Indian NSA Ajit Doval was terrorism-fixated, theirs would steer it to Indian links to the fifth Baloch uprising, simmering since 2005. On paper, the two-track proposal made sense as the NSAs could grapple with terror while the foreign secretaries could reshape the two-decade-old composite  now renamed comprehensive  dialogue to better reflect current realities, hopefully reviving the peace process. Many issues amongst the eight boxes of the old format were mature for clinching.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved with surprising diplomatic alacrity, stopping in Lahore on Christmas Eve, ostensibly for the wedding of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs grand-daughter. Within days, on January 1, 2016, a well-planned attack was executed by fidayeen of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on the sensitive airbase at Pathankot  perhaps anyway in the works which its sponsors refused to abort.

Pakistan did not, this time, automatically deny trans-border links. Some conflicting reports emerged of action against JeM, including its leader Masood Azhar. Pakistan agreed to send a special investigating team (SIT) to collect evidence. On balance, India, despite serious reservations amongst many, allowed it to visit even the airbase.

However, warning signals existed that all was not right with India-Pakistan relations. Pakistani analysts bandied Mr Dovals warning to Pakistan at the 10th Nani Palkivala Memorial speech in February 2014 that, You may do one Mumbai; you may lose Balochistan. Pakistan had been seeking moral equivalence with India since their complicity in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 was globally acknowledged. Pakistans Army is, however, convinced of Indian aid to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a Taliban splinter that is rabidly anti-Pakistan establishment and Army, and Balochistan insurgency.

The allegations about an Indian hand in terror resumed seriously last year in April 2015 when the Pakistani Army began degrading the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) political machine in Karachi. Conveniently, a BBC report in June 2015 quoted MQM sources confessing to British authorities Indian financial aid to MQM head Altaf Hussein, self-exiled in London.

With 46 per cent of Pakistans area and only five per cent of the population, Balochistan is now undergoing a fifth uprising, exacerbated by the Army killing Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006. The 1971 break-up of Pakistan and Bangladeshs secession triggered the previous serious uprising when President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, under Iranian prodding, dismissed an elected government and started military action. This was because Balochis, speaking a language related to Persian, spill into Afghanistan in the North and Iran in the West. The rise of the Kurds today in West Asia also fires their aspirations. A Brahui minority speaking a Dravidian language is their ally. Balochistan has large known reserves of gas, gold and copper, and perhaps likely reserves of oil and uranium.

Pakistans arrest of an alleged R&AW agent and former naval officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, said to have crossed into Balochistan from Iran, takes what Mr Doval calls defensive offence to a new dimension. Because Indian diplomats have been denied access, it is impossible to confirm how he landed in Balochistan. It is possible he was lured or kidnapped by state or non-state entities before being handed over to Pakistani intelligence. This adds a dangerous new dimension to the terror game Pakistan has played since the 1980s.

Two consequences are self-evident: One, that NSAs must not or be seen as running operations as that blunts their ability to engage Pakistan diplomatically. Two, such stories, real or contrived, will cost India its moral advantage over Pakistan, generally perceived as a nation sponsoring terror. The Chinese may be testing that when thwarting the listing of JeM by the relevant UNSC committee. The Modi government wants terror addressed before meaningful dialogue. The Doval doctrine may have supporters who preach eye-for-an-eye and think this can deter Pakistani sponsors of terror. Let them first reflect on what it cost India in Sri Lanka  the lives of brave soldiers and the assassination of a former Prime Minister.
Some ten years ago, I found myself in a bus in Tunis, North Africa, seated next to Free Software guru and frequent visitor to India, Richard Stallman. We were returning to our respective hotels after the inauguration of the UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). We both wore our conference badges. Unlike me, Stallman had wrapped his badge in aluminum foil. He had discovered that the every badge had a Radio Frequency Identification or RFID chip embedded in it -- and this was his way for thwarting attempts if any, to monitor his movements throughout the 4-day event. Those were days before the Arab Spring and Tunisia was a tightly controlled state.

Today such threats to our privacy have ballooned and every time we opt for more convenience -- like near field tap-and-pay in super markets or mobile-based entry to office or hotel room -- we expose a small chink in our personal armour. Soon, even passports will come embedded with a chip, carrying all our personal data -- and cyber baddies have already figured out ways to extract this information, wirelessly, even as the passport sits snuggly in your backpack or pocket (You can prevent this. See backpack reviewed on this page).It is another matter that some of this snooping is done by governments in the name of security. Web watchdogs like 'The Intercept' have documented tools like XKeyscore, used by official agencies to do "real-time" interception of any individual's internet activity.

In a recent book co-authored by him, entitled the Global Cyber Vulnerability Report, (Springer, 2015) V.S. Subrahmanian, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, US, analyses 20 billion pieces of data provided by Net Security provider Symantec, to reach an alarming conclusion: India, ranks, along with China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, among the world's nations most vulnerable to cyber attacks. His findings are chillingly prescient.

Last month the Indian TV news channel IBN Live revealed that members of the Indian armed forces were the target of a cyber attack where they were encouraged to download an innocuous-looking messaging app with a trail back to Pakistan, called SmeshApp. Once users gave permission to access their contacts and personal information, the app spied on every action and keystroke of the victims. Google pulled out the app once its malicious intention became known.

The Threat Intelligence team of cyber security solutions company, Palo Alto Networks has reported in a recent blog that on Christmas Eve last year, the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, was the object of a targeted attack in the form of an e-mail addressed personally to the ambassador. The mail was in fact a spoof, cleverly crafted to look like a communication from Defence Minister, Manohar Parikkar. The mail had a 6 MB Word attachment entitled "Appreciation_letter.doc". If the recipient opened this attachment, it would have breached the recipient computer's security and installed a downloader software in it -- what is called a 'Trojan'. Vicky Ray, Senior Researcher and co-author of the blog, told me, the malware designed to bypass traditional Net security systems, could capture key strokes, hard disk contents, video and audio files -- every 10 seconds -- and send them to an unknown destination. It is understood, the attack failed -- but the attempt shows how serious matters have become. And not just for governments, but for you and me.

A recent study by Kaspersky Lab finds that 63% of consumers are installing apps on their devices, without reading the license agreement. They simply go through the motions of clicking next and agree, without understanding what they could be signing up to. They may have legally allowed the app to access the personal and private data on mobile devices, from contact information, to photos and location data. Sounds familiar?

An article last week, on security solutions provider ESET's blog, points to a new scam. Facebook users are facing a wave of spam advertisements that are spread via hacked Facebook accounts. Without the owner's consent, they post pictures promoting heavily discounted Ray-Ban sunglasses. When trying to buy them, the victim's payment card details fall into the hands of the crooks.

The threat increases every day. Japan-headquarted Trend Micro's latest Threat Report says Android-based malware has doubled in the last year. Ironically mobile devices today are more in danger as they become 'smarter'. But the same company offers Indians some solace: While English is the favoured language for sending spam (84.1%), Hindi is still safe to communicate crucial data.

And for the billion users worldwide, of WhatsApp, there was more good news. The company has just announced end-to-encryption throughout its network, for all types of messages including texts, videos, and phone calls shared within its app. Now, even the company itself cannot view the contents of your communications! Let's say Jai Ho to that.

Be Cyber savvy!

Lay users: Worried about the degree of risk that you are exposed to when you are online? You can take a quiz to check your level of cyber savviness here.

Organizations: Tech consultants, KPMG in India have just launched Cyber KARE a mobile app that enables an enterprise to perform a self-assessment of its cyber security -- risk and preparedness. Look for the app at GooglePlay

Targus Terminal T-II backpack: Safe from snoopers

Frequent travelers are always vulnerable -- sensitive information on phones, tablets, laptops risk falling into the hands of cyber thieves. These days they don't need to pinch such products the old fashioned way. Wireless hacking allows them to scoop out such information from a distance. Which is why, the new Terminal T-II series of back packs and travel luggage from Targus is an idea whose time has come.

Each bag comes with a special anti RFID compartment, whose wall prevents transfer of information from the contents by any wireless technology in the wide band from 10 MHz to 3 GHz. This covers almost every known technology for unwires snooping -- and you can safely place phone, tablet etc in this special pocket -- and rest easy. The T-II bags come in 3 sizes Essential, Advanced and Premium at Rs 4999, Rs 5999 and Rs 6999. Shubh yatra, surakshit yatra!

- by Anand Parthasarathy, IndiaTechOnline

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
For online privacy advocates who thought that the new encryption feature will check malicious hackers and government intrusion, this is a reason of concern as rogue attackers will still be able to identify the recipient, sender, and even the time stamp.

Mumbai: Ever since Facebook-owned WhatsApp publicized its new end-to-end encryption feature, it has been receiving plaudits from its large global user base but a number of experts have pointed out several ambiguities in the new security feature.

While the on-going encryption clash between Apple and the US Government proved to be an ideal platform for the messaging app to lure in the ovation, there is lot more to it than meets the eye.

Also Read: WhatsApp end-to-end encryption: a boon or bane?

A security engineer and journalist at the Intercept, Micah Lee, pointed out that WhatsApp is encrypted but according to its privacy notice, WhatsApp may (does) retain date and time stamp information associated with successfully delivered messages and the mobile phone numbers involved in a text exchange.

Also Read: WhatsApp could soon get banned in India: Report

Moreover, the messaging app will also collect any other information which it is legally compelled to collect. On the contrary, WhatsApp claimed earlier that no data regarding the chats or any information related to it will be stored on its servers.

Awesome that @WhatsApp is encrypted, but keep in mind it doesn't hide who you're texting https://t.co/i8G61TUo9i pic.twitter.com/PbXN3IF8UJ  Micah Lee (@micahflee) April 5, 2016

WhatsApps privacy notice said: WhatsApp may retain date and time stamp information associated with successfully delivered messages and the mobile phone numbers involved in the messages, as well as any other information which WhatsApp is legally compelled to collect. Files that are sent through the WhatsApp Service will reside on our servers after delivery for a short period of time, but are deleted and stripped of any identifiable information within a short period of time in accordance with our general retention policies.

For online privacy advocates who thought that the new encryption feature will check malicious hackers and government intrusion, this is a reason of concern as rogue attackers will still be able to identify the recipient, sender, and even the time stamp. Also, the government can certainly ask for this information, which the company has to comply with.

WhatsApp is owned by Facebook

While the world-wide messaging apps initiative is a step forward in the field of digital communication, the fact that it is owned by the largest social media networking site raises myriad questions regarding WhatsApps privacy.

In the past, there have been many instances which have proved that Facebook monitors and tracks user data to augment its own offerings, and a 2014 report from the White House clearly hinted that the networking site also shares collected data with the government.

Moreover, you will find numerous articles like this one on the Internet, which draws a clear picture of Facebooks monitoring activities.

Considering the fact that Facebook mines user metadata, it is safe to assume that it will do the same for WhatsApp; thus 100 per cent privacy is unachievable from a users point of view.

A Twitter user by the name YourAnonNews (not known whether related to Anonymous) warned users to not get excited about the end-to-end encryption feature as its parent company is Facebook.

Don't get excited about #WhatsApp encryption, they probably have a backdoor, they're still owned by #Facebook (government contractor)  Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) April 5, 2016

End point security at risk

Another prominent Lebanese hacker Jed Ismael in his private blog described the new end-to-end encryption feature to be vague and explained that the new security feature is still vulnerable when it comes to end point security.

Ismael explained that end-to-end encryption is useless unless the device itself is secure and that is exactly what hackers and cyber-criminals will target.

He pointed out that the encryption feature does not matter if the end point devicesphones, tablets, and computersare not encrypted. Even the most perfectly encrypted platforms communications are as secure as the users devices, and with the rise of new malwares every single day, nobody is safe, Ismael said.

While WhatsApp is responsible for safely carrying the data from one user to the other, it is still not enough to protect end point devices from getting hacked. On the other hand, Apples encryption issue with the FBI was different; the device itself was encrypted rather than any third-party service, making the FBIs job extremely difficult.

In the wake of increased security issues, the step taken by WhatsApp is definitely a step forward in securing digital communication but the question still remains: Is end-to-end encryption possible?

We have also reached out to WhatsApp for a comment and the story will be updated once we get a reply.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
All children including those living in the US illegally must attend school through at least the 8th grade, law says

San Francisco: Immigrant children living in the US without legal status have been blocked from registering for school and accessing the educational services they need, according to a report on school districts in four states by Georgetown University Law Center researchers. Such students have faced long enrollment delays and have been turned away from classrooms as the result of some districts arbitrary interpretations of residency rules and state laws, the researchers said.

All children including those living in the US illegally must attend school through at least the 8th grade or until they turn 16 under compulsory education laws in all 50 states. Many states allow students to enroll beyond that age, according to the Education Commission of the States.

But some districts' elaborate paperwork requirements effectively have kept immigrant youth out of school, while lack of translation and interpretation services have left their families uninformed about the process, the report found.

The Obama administrations efforts to find and deport the tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children and families who arrived during the 2014 surge of illegal crossings have further complicated the situation, prompting some students to avoid school for fear that they will be picked up by authorities, the reports authors said.

US law is clear on this point no child in the United States should be excluded from public education, said Mikaela Harris, a Georgetown law student who co-wrote the study issued by the university's Human Rights Institute and the nonprofit Womens Refugee Commission. That doesnt always play out in practice.

In May 2014, then-Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued joint guidance with the Justice Department reminding districts that a 1982 Supreme Court ruling gives all children the right to enroll in school, regardless of immigration status.

The report, which studied school districts in Florida, New York, Texas and North Carolina, calls for a strengthening of federal outreach to districts unaccustomed to serving newcomer populations and better assurances that educational access continues amid immigration enforcement. Researchers said they had presented their recommendations to the Department of Education.

We remain vigilant about our responsibility to protect the civil rights of all students, including immigrant students, undocumented students and unaccompanied immigrant students, Education Department spokeswoman Dorie Nolt said. We have provided a number of resources to communities in order to do so.

The agency is committed to working with federal agencies and community organizations to address any issues, she added. US Immigration Customs and Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said he had not seen the report so could not comment on it, but said agency policy in general precludes any enforcement activity at schools and other sensitive locations.
London: A Pakistani bomb-making expert linked to the 2008 Mumbai attack is among scores of trained terrorists who slipped into the EU posing as refugees to join the Islamic State's plot to commit atrocities in Europe, a media report here said on Sunday.

Muhammad Usman Ghani, who is linked to the Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terror groups, is being held in Austria on charges of participating in a terrorist organisation, The Sunday Times said. The ISIS "strike team" sent to Europe before last November's Paris attacks included Usman, the veteran bomb-maker from Pakistan.

LeT was behind the Mumbai attack that left 166 people dead. The disclosure come from sources close to a multinational investigation who warn more "large-scale" assaults on European countries, including Britain, are "imminent". Dozens of the ISIS operatives are still at large, the report said.

Usman, 34, and a suspected Algerian ISIS fighter named as Adel Haddadi, 28, have been questioned by Austrian and French authorities after being linked to the terrorist gang that killed 130 people in Paris last November.

Investigators believe both men are part of an unknown number of Isis "strike teams" that used the migrant flow to infiltrate Europe last year. A network of jihadists based on the Continent has provided extensive logistic support, from fake identity documents to safe houses.

Usman and Haddadi arrived on the Greek island of Leros on October 3 on the same boat as two of the Paris suicide bombers, known only by the fake names Ahmad al- Mohammed and Mohammad al-Mahmod. The pair blew themselves up in front of the Stade de France stadium on November 13. All four men had obtained Syrian passports and travelled on a boat carrying 198 people, according to a Greek police report.

Adel Haddadi has been linked to the Paris attacks Usman and Haddadi were travelling under the names Faycal Alaifan and Fozi Brahi. They were arrested by Greek police soon after arriving because their documents showed up on the EU's database of nearly 4,000 passports that had been stolen by Isis.

Greek police released both men on October 28 and allowed them to continue the journey across Europe.

Shortly after the Paris attacks, Usman and Haddadi resurfaced in Austria, applying for asylum at the Asfinag refugee shelter, near Salzburg, in late November.
Istanbul: A Syrian journalist who opposed Islamic State group jihadists was in intensive care on Sunday after being shot in the head by a masked gunman in southern Turkey, reports and activists said.

Mohammed Zaher al-Shurqat was walking down a street in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep close to the Syrian border when he was targeted by the gunman, according to reports.

El-Shurqat worked for a channel called Aleppo Today TV which is strongly opposed to IS jihadists who have taken control of much of Syrias northern Aleppo province.

He was immediately hospitalised and is in intensive care, the Turkish reports said, without giving further details.

According to Ibrahim al-Idelbi, a Syrian activist in Gaziantep, this was the second attempt against Shurqats life in three months.

Idelbi said in Beirut that Shurqat was a rebel commander who had fought President Bashar al-Assads troops and a media activist in his home town, Al-Bab, until IS took over. He became a journalist with Aleppo Today after he moved to Turkey.

Citing a friend who visited Shurqat in hospital in the southern Turkish city, Idelbi said he was still alive.

Another activist, Assaad al-Achi, confirmed the report. When Daesh took control he started a programme on Aleppo Today against Daesh, he said, speaking to AFP via the Internet in English and using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Turkish police have studied security camera footage and interviewed witnesses and believe the shooting was carried out by a member of IS, Dogan added in its report.

Several Syrian journalists who fled the countrys five year civil war use Gaziantep as a base but it has become an increasingly dangerous location from which to report.

A Syrian activist who produced documentaries hostile to the Islamic State group, Naji Jerf, was shot dead in Gaziantep in December in a crime that caused international concern at the end of October, IS claimed responsibility for killing young activist Ibrahim Abdelkader and his friend Fares Hamadi. They were found decapitated in a house in the city of Sanliurfa just east of Gaziantep.
The video footage shows Clarissa flaunting sexy dance moves while thrusting her cleavage into the judge's face. (Photo: YouTube Video Grab)

Sonora, Mexico: A Mexican primary school teacher has been sacked from her job after she was found twerking in a bikini, while on a vacation in California, 400 miles away from her school, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

Carla Clarissa, 24, said that she was forced to resign from her post after parents of the children whom she taught saw the video on the internet.

Clarissa had participated in a dance competition while she was holidaying in California. The video footage shows Clarissa flaunting sexy dance moves while thrusting her cleavage into a judge's face.

Clarissa flaunting sexy moves during a competition. (Photo: YouTube Video Grab)

Clarissa was on an Easter break in San Lucas in California - a popular holiday destination.

She was encouraged by her friends to take part in the dance competition and danced on Daddy Yankee's 'Rompe'. While dancing, Clarrissa was found grinding on top of the judge and thrusting her cleavage into his face.

The video captured by an on-looker was uploaded on internet - only to be viewed by the parents of the children whom she taught.

Primary school teacher sacked over this inappropriate dance:

Slamming Clarissa for her inappropriate dance, nearly 150 people had signed a petition on Change.org demanding her resignation.

During an interview with a media organisation, Clarissa said that, I knew there were mobile phones but I never imagined this would go viral and anyway, I'm not doing anything bad.

It's not something to be afraid of, I'm not naked, I'm not having sex or taking drugs or disrespecting anyone, added Clarissa while defending herself.

An anonymous source said that the organisers of the competition had warned the participants that their performances might get uploaded on the internet.

Although Clarissa was forced to resign, she got overwhelming support on social networking website, Facebook, where people defended her saying that a person's personal and professional lives should be kept separate.

Some even went on to write,"What next! Are we going to fire pregnant women because it's obvious they had sex! What a bunch of hypocrites!"

Reports said that Clarissa's popularity in school led to a disappointment among her students after they discovered that their favourite teacher will no longer teach them.
New York: A Georgia man whose donated sperm was used to create 36 children duped 26 families into believing he was the healthy man he advertised on his sperm-bank profile.

According to Daily News, around 26 families used his sperm  was in fact a con artist covering up his history as a mentally ill convict, according to a new lawsuit from a Canadian couple. The suit says Aggeles, a 39-year-old Georgia resident, swindled the couples who were seeking his seed  and helped conceive 36 children before the truth came out.

It was like a dream turned nightmare in an instant, Angie Collins, an Ontario resident and plaintiff in the suit, told the Toronto Star about the conception con.

But in June 2014, couple Angela Collins and Margaret Elizabeth Hanson of Port Hope, Ontario, discovered Aggeles, whose real name is James Christian Aggeles had schizophrenia and a criminal history that led to him serving time in jail. He was also a college dropout and struggled to hold down jobs.

The couple chose this donor, and his sperm helped conceive their son, born in July 2007. It took seven years for Collins and Hanson to learn the truth about their dream donor  thanks to an email Xytex apparently sent by accident, breaching confidentiality by revealing the identity of Donor 9623.

Allegations against Xytex, which include fraud and negligent misrepresentation, have yet to be proven in court. The company denies any wrongdoing. Xytex lawyer Ted Lavender said the company will vigorously defend itself against any lawsuits.
Islamabad: Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the dreaded Haqqani Network, helped Taliban supremo Mullah Akhtar Mansour win back dissidents and was instrumental in securing top positions for Mullah Omar's son and brother in the Taliban hierarchy, according to a media report.

Sirajuddin, the head of the Haqqani Network and the second-in-command in the Taliban hierarchy, delivered a rare speech at a recent gathering where a top dissident Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir pledged loyalty to Mansour, the Express Tribune reported.

Mullah Zakir, who formerly headed the Taliban's powerful military commission, swore allegiance to Mansour after "some of his conditions were met by Khalifa Sirajuddin Haqqani," a Taliban leader was quoted as saying.

According to one of his letters, Zakir wanted a review of all major Taliban policies such as suicide bombings, peace talks with the Americans and Kabul, the Doha-based political office, Taliban judicial and intelligence systems and the policy on amending the Afghan constitution.

It was Sirajuddin, known as 'Khalifa' among the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, who secured top positions for Mullah Omar's son Mullah Yaqoob and brother Mullah Abdul Manan in the Taliban hierarchy, the report said.

The two had abandoned their opposition to Mullah Mansour months ago, but they had no position in the group until last week when Manan was given membership in the leadership council.

Similarly, Yaqoob has been assigned the task of leading the Taliban's military affairs in 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, the report said.

"With the induction of Mullah Zakir, Yaqoob and Manan in the new Rehbari Shura, or leadership council, Sirajuddin now enjoys a comfortable position in the council because they are considered as his camp members," another Taliban leader was quoted as saying.

Sirajuddin welcomed Zakir's rejoining the Taliban movement, and urged the Taliban to focus on fighting. "It is spring season now. Mujahideen are happily going to the battlefield," he said in his speech to Taliban leaders in reference to the start of the fighting season in the war-torn Afghanistan.

Referring to internal differences, Sirajuddin was quoted as saying, "If we are waging jihad for martyrdom and can live as refugees, we should also accept leadership. There were some misunderstandings, but all leaders are loyal to the system."

Sirajuddin's uncle, Khalilur Rahman Haqqani, a senior member of the Haqqani Network, is also helping in efforts to bring the dissidents back, the report said citing some Taliban sources. Both Sirajuddin and Khalil Haqqani are on the US wanted list and carry huge bounties.
Lahore: A petition demanding that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif be "disqualified" for alleged money laundering and "wilfully concealing" his wealth from the public was admitted by the Lahore High Court today.

After hearing the arguments of petitioner Gohar Nawaz Sindhu, Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Wahid overruled the objection of the government's law officer and allowed him to submit evidence over the alleged presence of two off-shore companies of Prime Minister Sharif.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) adjourned the hearing till April 14.

The petitioner also argued in court that the Prime Minister had lost "moral ground" to hold his office in the wake of the 'Panama Papers' leak that allegedly showed his sons were involved in money laundering and having off-shore companies in the UK.

"After the Prime Minister's son Hussain Nawaz's admission about the existence of their companies outside Pakistan, the Premier should be disqualified. Hussain was a minor when the offshore companies were purchased outside Pakistan in 1993 and 1994 but PM Sharif did not declare these assets before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)," the the petitioner alleged.

"The Premier was also involved in money laundering and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's confessional statement and the confession of the Premier's sons about transfer of money abroad are enough evidence in this regard. PM Sharif has wilfully concealed his wealth from the public thus he cannot hold a public office," he argued.

The petitioner also requested the court to order the National Accountability Bureau to carry out an inquiry into the 'Panama Papers' and fix responsibility.

"The ECP should also be directed to start an inquiry against the Prime Minister for concealing the facts from the public while submitting his nomination papers," the petitioner demanded.
The republic is the best form

of government, if you can keep it

Benjamin Franklin



History and political theory offer a society, seeking a way to coordinate efforts of its members, in order to meet challenges it faces, a number of effective forms of government. One of such forms of government, the most efficient yet requiring constant protection from both bona fide and de dolo malo improvers is the republic.



So, what is the republic? In political theory the republic [lat. rex publica or the commonwealth] entails the harmonic combination and balancing of three political elements, discovered by Plato  people, aristocracy and king (in contrast with modern democracy where the role of the people is nominally increased, but de facto limited), which is achieved through republican principles:



1) the principle of federalism  organization of the state as a federal republic, that includes regions and districts as its parts;

2) the principle of defined rights  all state rights are defined and enumerated in constitutions of the republic, regions and districts, and all rights that are not enumerated in the constitutions belong to citizens;

3) the principle of electoral census  acquiring citizenship is not automatic, but subject to ethnic and religious qualifications, completion a one-year state military or civil service, passing a citizenship exam on state language, state-forming people history, government system of the state as citizenship conditions;

4) the principle of checks and balances  while the primacy of the legislative branch is formally acknowledged (and president or governor does not hold a veto power in relation to the laws of legislature), the state powers are divided vertically and horizontally, so that different state bodies check, balance and control each other (in contrast with modern democracy, where equality of state powers is formally acknowledged, while de facto the role of executive branch is increased), the recall of every state official by simple majority of citizens, two-term limit for every state position to which a citizen can be elected or appointed, non-direct election of the president (elected by the electoral college in conformity with the peoples will expressed in a prior referendum on the candidates), non-direct election of the higher chamber of the legislature, senate (senators are elected by the lower-level assemblies);

5) the principle of peoples representation - requiring the existence of two-chamber legislatures on republican, regional and district level, that represent the interests of citizens, direct submission of bills to legislatures on initiative of citizens, the supremacy of the legislative branch is formally acknowledged, specifically, president or governor does not hold a veto power in relation to the laws of legislature;

6) the principle of permanently aligning interests - requiring the vote of a simple majority of legislators or citizens to elect executive officials, the vote of a qualified (2/3) majority of legislators to adopt laws, and the vote of a qualified (2/3) majority of citizens in a referendum in case of major state issues (something that the citizens of the U. S. and EU countries are currently denied);

7) the principle of supremacy of peoples will  the will of a qualified (2/3) majority of citizens, expressed in the referendum, supersedes all other state legislation, any question proposed to be resolved in the referendum cannot be prevented to be resolved in the referendum;

8) the principle of absolute of freedom of speech  the state bodies of the republic cannot impose any limitations on derivative-natural right to absolute freedom of speech that constitutes inalienable part of the dignity of (wo)man, neither sanction in any way written and spoken words of a (wo)man. Additionally, all state legislation contrary to the derivative -natural right to absolute freedom of speech is null and void and without legal force since the moment of adoption. In fact, the presence of any limitations of derivative-natural right to absolute freedom of speech or any sanctions in retaliation for using derivative-natural right to absolute freedom of speech in the legal system of the state always points out to desire of particular persons or small groups (elites) of the state vainly imagining themselves gods and falling below beasts to usurp state power, or the desire of the majority of citizens of the state vainly imagining themselves gods and falling below beasts to oppress, rob, and eventually eradicate prosperous but unpopular minorities, that as history demonstrates always leads to the destruction of the state and the destruction of the state-forming people;

9) the principle of unity of judicial system  the creation of a unified system of common jurisdiction with all judges electable by majority vote or by lot or confirmed by majority vote, accessible to all citizens, voluntary jurisdiction of specialized courts in peacetime, autonomy of religious courts;

10) the principle of absolute state sovereignty, supremacy in all cases of state legislation over foreign treaties and other legal norms of international law.



In modern conditions the republic is free and strong nation-state, which provides for fast economic development, respects the national and cultural traditions of the state-forming people and protects the political and economic rights of its citizens. The republic is based upon a proposition, that fundamental rights of the people are not and cannot be the result of some rational plan (public agreement in Rousseaus terms), but are the result of a slow organic historical development by trials and errors, in terms of Edmund Burke. The republic rejects the haughty democratic doctrine of some universal values, further expressed in concepts of universal human rights and allegedly universal mechanism of protection of human rights  modern democracy. The modern democracy doctrine in turn serves to justify manipulations that global economic, social and ethnic elites undertake through mass media and the electoral process in order to stay in power in the developed countries and to meddle into the internal affairs of the developing countries to control and pillage their natural, financial and human resources for the benefit of the elites. In free and strong nation-state, the republic, every citizen can influence the political decision-making process or try to win elections, and no one asks him whether he is a democrat or not. Towards developing countries the republic establishes a common standard of judgment  the protection of fundamental rights (Life, Liberty, Property and the Pursuit of Happiness) of the people, who live there, and is looking whether the situation there is improving or not. If the situation is improving, as in Chile of General Pinochet, the republic protects such developing countries from the ventures of democratic thieves, who want to become rich at the expense of the population of developing countries under the guise of protection of human rights or promotion of democracy. In a republican view, the effective methods of protection of peoples rights are developed through slow organic development by trials and errors, while taking into account national and cultural traditions, and not created through some universal rational plan. While the fundamental peoples rights are absolute, the mechanism of their realization and protection depends on historically conditioned national and cultural peculiarities of each nation-state, and no state should impose its mechanism of protection (e.g. modern democracy) on the other state. As George Washington said: Mind your own business, do not interfere into other peoples conflicts, the reasons of which you can never fully understand, lead by example of your behavior, not through force or fraud, develop business relationships with everyone who is ready to accept your friendship. The important republican principles is also neutrality  renunciation of aggressive war; non-participation in international organizations, associations and unions, while at the same time being open to cooperation with all countries on strictly bi-lateral basis; supremacy of national legislation over international law.



The past of the republican political system is the concept of republican values. To them belong:



1) Religion and morals in a religious sphere  which entails a service to God in ones place in the society; love and fulfillment of Gods word, in particular self-restraint and self-improvement; conduct of a godly life, in particular care and support of a family, relatives and other people. The absolute moral value for a republican is human life, and moral is what creates, supports and prolongs human life;

2) The republic in a political sphere  free and strong nation state, which provides for the fast economic development, respects national and cultural traditions of the state-forming people and protects the political and economic rights of its citizens;

3) Nationalism (love to ones people and respect of the national ways of behavior and thinking, reflected in national traditions, culture and language) and patriotism (love to ones land and state) in public life. Based on the concept of state-forming people (the people that is the largest at a particular nation-state, that has created the nation-state and has invested its labor and resources into its development for generations and whose existence is connected to the existence of that nation-state) that is formed primarily by blood (3 of 4 grandparents belonging to the state-forming people), and secondary by soil (incorporation of representatives of the common civilization, legally residing in that nation-state for a at least five years and fulfilling electoral census requirements) nationalism has developed effective principles of organization and direction of the society for the general welfare of all its residents;

4) Free competition, free enterprise and free-market economy in economy. Free enterprise, conceived in the 18th century and full developed in the 19th century, provide for the genuine freedom of economic action for each man without usury and monopolism, characteristic of the colonial capitalism of the beginning of the 20th century, or excessive corruption, government regulation and disrespect of property rights, characteristic of the globalist capitalism of the end of the 20th century, which in turn, as stated by economic science and supported by the experiences of historic development of nation-states, allows for fast elimination of absolute poverty and reduction of absolute poverty among the large masses of people. As economic research demonstrates through the state for its effective functioning cannot be redistributed more than 30% of GDP and the direct government expenditures cannot exceed 15% of GDP, thus the difference should be transferred to People Support Fund in form of an additional tax on the rich. From People Support Fund are subsidized establishment and professional training of the businesses of the poor, which would allow for justice in economic sphere, understood as the principle, that every man should survive and get its share of the created wealth, which leads to the absence of significant social conflicts and prosperity of everyone residing at the territory of the republic. In free-market economy the nation state also assist in creating and supporting new strategic industries, creates economic infrastructure and provides it with different kinds of resources  the preconditions of fast economic growth and development. The free-market economy also entails non-participation in international economic organizations (as WTO) and conduct of independent tariff and currency policies in the national interests;

5) Family values in family life  traditional family roles of husband and wife (man works, woman rears the children); large family (6 and more children); live of a few generations of extended family under one roof with mutual support and care; abstaining from adultery, divorce, mixed-race marriage; control of parents over upbringing, education, medical treatment, values and discipline of their children; moral-strengthening family leisure; homeschool education;

6) Classical education in education. The goal of classical education is ideology-neutral transformation of knowledge and methodology of acquiring knowledge. Classical education teaches a man to differentiate between his views on the subject of discourse and objective facts concerning the subject of discourse. The man who received a classical education would not be affected by the propaganda of modern democracy and market reforms, which aim at peoples feelings, but would take a look on the whole collection facts, and not only on a selected few presented by the democratic media. Its interesting that for the democratic media objective does not mean neutral, e.g. representing the whole specter of views on the subjects: now only those views are presented that correspond to pre-established democratic criteria. Therefore the information, presented by the democratic media, is not reliable under the laws of classical logics, even though they repeatedly deny it, and it is difficult to find the Truth even comparing different news sources. Classical education teaches a man to think rationally e.g. in accordance with the laws of logics, correctly and respectfully conduct a discourse. Classical education also gives student knowledge on the roots of the European civilization through careful study of Greek and Roman civilization. Such a student knows well different types of conflicts, ways of their resolution and consequences of such ways for nothing is new under the Sun. He is also well learned in theories and instruments of ruling a country or a local commonwealth, which makes him a well prepared citizen and patriot, who can enjoy and extend Freedom, for the amount of Freedom in the state is directly proportionate to preparedness and learnedness of its citizens. The feelings of the man, who received a classical education are ennobled by the classical culture, therefore cynicism is much less common in a republic. Such a man comes to the sphere of human action be it economy, law, statesmanship, science, ready and able rationally explore world around him and bring into it something particularly his, new, which makes this world better and different. Such a man however is difficult to manipulate, because he knows the difference between feelings and facts, his head is full of knowledge, not ideology, and for him the modern democracy (or more exactly mob rule) has never been an ideal political system. Therefore the world of the 19th century, where classical education was much more widespread, was freer, richer (15% of the poor vs. 30% nowadays) and better. However the elites dont like such kind of education: because it is difficult, much more difficult to rule over educated, independent, hard-working people who received classical education than over uneducated people seeking pleasures and depending upon a state, who received a humanistic education; thus it is more and more difficult to find a classical educator or educational institution. Unfortunately, only a few people today have a classical education. Classical education is not free from its disadvantages, e.g. some of the youth become restless nihilists and atheists, but overall classical education and modern universalistic or humanistic education create human resources of strikingly different qualities.

Classical education developed into classical science that researches exclusively material world  all objectively existing physical objects and natural events that can be seen with human eye and/or heard with human ear, weighted and measured completely comprehensible by human mind that is able to provide fast scientific and technical progress. Classical science does not research objects and events that cannot be seen with human eye or cannot be heard with human ear, cannot be weighted and cannot be measured, does not waste effort and resources thereupon, as classical scientist rationally discovers with mind material world and acts in the material world.

7) Academism in arts includes classical music and classical art in the High Culture, and peoples or country music and rock-music in mass culture. In High Literature academism is represented by the classical literature, in mass literature by detective stories. Academism promotes the European Ideal of Beauty (the beauty of the mans and womans body, strength of spirit, beauty of nature, describes the Creators deeds and great historical events), inspires men to independent rational thinking and development through hard work and great achievements, identifies the deficiencies of the state, economic and public structure and help to rectify them.



The moral basis for the republic is the ideas of John Locke: justice understood as the single standard of protection of natural and derivative-natural rights, administration of justice, and electoral census (in contrast with the democratic equality, that implies that all men are equal in every sphere of human activity and thus should forcefully equalized by the state without regard to their national and cultural backgrounds, abilities and results); the system of natural rights  defined rights, among which are Life, Liberty, Property and the Pursuit of Happiness are given by God, and man cannot take natural rights or derivative natural rights (the rights that describe the content of natural rights and are largely enumerated in the first 10 Amendments to the U. S. Constitution) away. Only in limited number of cases, when these rights are realized with significant damage upon the corresponding rights of other people or public morals, can the mechanism of realization of natural or derivative natural rights (but not natural or derivative natural rights themselves) be limited and such limitation are thoroughly checked by the courts in accordance with the strict scrutiny standard. As John Locke wrote: A man has defined rights that he obtains not from the state. And a man cannot be denied these rights by the expressed will of the majority or by the decree of the conqueror. The idea that the expressed will of the majority, nor matter how large, establishes what is right or just is as absurd and unacceptable as the idea that what is right or just is established by the edict of the ruler. As the ancient Greeks were seeking the situation where the people and its rulers were subject to the same laws they established, the man slowly and painfully learns that there exist constant and objectively existing laws, which neither rulers nor peoples can change: they can only obey them. The state is just the convenient tool that exists due to the respect towards the Law of the Lord and the natural rights of the people residing therein, granted to them by the Creator of men and universe. Therefore, free and strong nation state  the republic is the mortal enemy of any kind of tyranny or totalitarianism in all of its forms, be it despotism - unlimited rule of one man, or oligarchy  unlimited rule of a group of man, or democracy  unlimited rule of the majority of men. The concept of the rule of law, characteristic of the republican political system, entails that the state is run through adoption of written, unchangeable, strict but just laws, which are based on objective facts and do not contradict to the Law of the Lord and natural rights of men, who reside on the territory of the republic, but instead take their national and cultural traditions into account. Republican laws are obeyed both by common men and rulers. Republican laws are mainly aimed at the protection of the people from external (from other countries, their resident organizations and citizens) and internal (committed by the organizations and citizens of the republic) fraud and coercion. In republic there also exists the concept of the public morale  which protects the national and cultural traditions of the state-forming people, in particular bans child murder (abortions), sexual perversions, cloning, forced euthanasia, forced medical treatment, drugs, prostitution, ***********, limits extra-marriage affairs, divorce, drinking and smoking, strives for the high moral principles of public officials , residing on the territory of the republic (in contrast with modern democracy, where the concept of public morale is destroyed). In order to protect public morale in the republic exist the system of religious courts, which imposes fines and corporal punishment as the punishment for breaking public morale  the more serious cases are transferred into the courts of common jurisdiction. In the republic there exist no censorship, and all points of view are discussed freely, no matter how wild, strange and unusual are they. The protection of public moral and the absence of censorship allow the republic to create the high-quality social infrastructure  the networks of invisible ties in families, local commonwealth and non-government organizations as well as large amounts of high-quality human resources, because the people undertake the necessary capital investment in order to improve their lives while having no need to worry about excessive democratic taxation and persecutions, while refraining from destructive behavior. All this allows the republic to provide for fast economic growth and economic development. However in the republican prosperity there is its main weakness  the prosperous population of the republic wish to weaken the strict republican competition and therefore is less willing to protect the republic and republican values from different democratic improvers and human rights and quality activists, who use such slogans in order to make money. Therefore the republican should be ever vigilant and strictly counteract all such democratic attempts through effective propaganda and law enforcement.



In order to make political decisions in the republic there exist the republican political process, which include a number of stages:



1. There appears a new republican idea, the source of which can be each citizen or organization of the republic.

2. It is determined the administrative level, at which it should be reviewed.

3. Mass media, legislatures and citizens thoroughly discuss its effectiveness, efficiency and correspondence to the state rights at appropriate administrative level and to the natural and derivative natural rights of men.

4. The new republican idea is integrated in the context of the old tried effective behavior, worked out in response to the external stimulus. If a new idea does not give significant visible advantages it is rejected.

5. If there exists the resistance towards the new republican idea, the views of the resisters are carefully and fully listened to. In case, that the appropriate administrative level lacks the power to accept a new or a new idea contradicts the natural or derivative natural rights of man, new idea is immediately rejected, otherwise a reasonably long period of time is given for people, whose interests are touched by the new idea, to effectively change their behavior.



History clearly demonstrates that everywhere where the republic was instituted, it brought peace, prosperity, wealth and happiness with it. In Ancient Greece of the 6 century BC the creation of the republic by Solon led to the unprecedented prosperity of Athens and the whole Greece under Pericles in the mid 5th century BC; in Ancient Rome the creation of the republic in the 5th century BC led to destruction of most enemies of Rome, including the mighty Cartage and to thriving Roman economy, culture and arts. What is interesting that the ancient thinkers understood well the difference between the republic and democracy. For example Roman statesman Cicero, who understood the nature of democracy well, wrote: Without checks and balances of the republic, the king becomes a despot, aristocracy turns into oligarchy, democracy leads to mob rule, chaos and dictatorship, agreeing with other Roman statesman Seneca, who wrote that democracy is bloodier than wars and tyrants. Cicero also understood the nature of a democrat: Under democracy the rules is also an unreasonable and unprincipled man, who obtains the support of the people by giving them riches taken from other people. The creation of the American republic- the moral predecessor of the modern republic, where republican ideals were written into the Declaration of Independence and the second Constitution of the United States of America (where democracy is not mentioned at all, yet the republic and all regions (states) are guaranteed the republican form of government) made the United States in 120 years by the beginning of the 20th century the leader of the world with the highest living standards, population grown by 40 times and territory grown by 5 times. In modern world the examples of such free and strong nation-states - the republics are Singapore, Malaysia and partially Switzerland. As their development experiences demonstrate, in the republic without democracy the state is getting freer and stronger, and people are getting richer.



Thus only in the republic the United States can find the way out of crises and the sure bedrock for prosperity. Even more, the republic creates pre-conditions for increase of American territory over the whole North American continent, which many Americans want, because under the republic there can be created and selected human resources in necessary quantity and with necessary quality.
Public debt, state budget management and low domestic competitiveness are just some of the challenges facing the new government.

Regarding the 2015 public debt of 62.2 percent and government debt of 50.3 percent, head of Cao Bang National Assembly (NA) delegation La Ngoc Thoang told VnExpress that these are some of the significant problems the government needs to solve.

Government debt includes guarantees for many state owned enterprises (SOEs) that are performing ineffectively, Thoang said.

New government officials face huge challenges. Photo by Giang Huy

According to Thoang, high public debt is being compounded by limited state budget collection due to falling oil prices in the past six months and bankrupt enterprises.

The new cabinet needs to develop support policies to maintain business operations so that enterprises can earn more money and contribute more to the state budget.

Over 20,000 enterprises closed in the first three months of the year, and that's not normal. Obviously, this is a great challenge for the government under new Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs administration, the NA deputy from Cao Bang said.

On the other hand, NA deputy from Soc Trang province Tran Khac Tam emphasized that the new government needs to strengthen institutional reforms despite initial successes.

He admitted that streamlined customs and tax procedures have saved hundreds of hours and the improved investment environment is a highlight of these efforts, but complaints about administrative procedures remain rampant.

Institutional reform must be considered the new driving force of economic growth. We cannot afford to slow this process down as other regional countries could leave Vietnam far behind, Tam added.

However, he also expects PM Phuc, who was in charge of Program 30 on administrative reform, to apply his experience to stir activity.

NA delegate Tam, owner of a furniture and equipment corporation, underlined that reinforcing competitiveness in the context of international integration, especially the TPP, is a tough issue the new government will need to confront.

The TPP will put pressure on our economy as one of the weakest members. If we cannot step up and take advantage of it, giant multinational corporations will take their chance and defeat domestic enterprises, Tam said.

Referring to cases of seafood from the Mekong Delta being returned from Europe due to excessive antibiotics, the NA delegate said: Vietnams businesses are spontaneous and unprofessional without the quality to compete with global enterprises in this time of international integration.

He went on to paint a bleak picture of the battle to agree trade commitments and then live up to expectations from foreign countries.

In an exclusive conversation with VnExpress after he was nominated chairman of the Government Office, Mai Tien Dung also said the country's new leaders need to solve issues regarding the economy and domestic competitiveness.

For instance, Samsung has been asking domestic enterprises to produce components for its products for a long time now, but only few accepted Dung said.

According to the head of the Government Office, state authorities will support domestic enterprises in terms of regulations, investment environment and legal framework. However, companies need to take responsibility themselves by improving governance, technology and strategy.

Moreover, the spokesman agreed that budget balancing in the context of high public debt and falling oil prices is difficult, but the PM and his new cabinet will have to do their utmost to solve these difficulties as soon as possible.
The Vietnamese government is working with Australias Department of Agriculture and Water Resources to complete the final procedures to grant an import license for Vietnamese mangos, the country's second fruit after lychees to enter the Australian market.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Australia said they are working on market research and promotions to prepare for the arrival of Vietnamese mangos.

The Vietnamese Farmers Association in Northern Australia, which has already built well-known brands for Vietnamese mangos in the Australian market, such as 'Vina Mango and T.V Farms' and 'Sai Gon Farm', has promised to help Vietnam export and distribute its off-season mangos.

Last year, after 12 years of waiting, Vietnam received approval from Australias Department of Agriculture to export lychees to the Australian market.
The provincial government of Quang Ngai has asked authorities to revoke the investment license of a proposed $2 billion steel project by August due to delays, state-run Bao Dau Tu newspaper said in a report on Monday.

Part of the project site. Photo: Tri Tin.

The Guang Lian Steel project was originally initiated by Taiwanese steel giant Tycoons with a total investment of more than $1 billion in 2006. The E United Group of Taiwan later joined the project and the two Taiwanese enterprises raised the registered investment amount to $3.3 billion. In early 2012, Japan's second largest steelmaker, JFE Group, signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct a feasibility study on the project with E United. But after two years of studies, the Japanese enterprise decided to step aside and E United took over, reducing the investment to $2 billion. Since its groundbreaking ceremony in 2007, the investors have spent about $42 million on constructing facilities such as housing for workers, walls and foundations.

Quang Ngai's provincial government started an inspection on land use and progress of the project after E United announced in July last year they it was unable to finance it. The inspection is part of the provinces efforts to withdraw the investment certificate that was awarded to the project in 2006, Bao Dau Tu said.

E United, however, has surprisingly expressed intentions of returning to the project. The management board of Quang Ngai provinces Dung Quat Economic Zone, where the plant is set to be located, held a meeting with E United officials to discuss the issue last week.

It is still early to say anything [about the Taiwanese companys intentions] because the inspection of the project is underway, a source said.

Leading domestic steelmaker Hoa Phat Group is also interested in building a steel project worth about $2.5 billion in Dung Quat Economic Zone. It is unclear whether Hoa Phat will take over the Guang Lian Steel project or not, but the Vietnamese company in late 2015 asked Quang Ngai to give a final decision on the delayed plant so that Hoa Phat can push forward its own proposal. Quang Ngais provincial government met with Hoa Phat to discuss the latters investment scheme on April 6, Bao Dau Tu said.

Hoa Phat made VND27.869 trillion ($1.23 billion) of sales value in 2015, up 7.8 percent from 2014. Its net profit last year stood at VND3.5 trillion, rising 8 percent year on year.
April 11, 2016 | 12:57 am PT

Vietnam saw a reduction of 15.6 percent in its trade deficit with China in the first quarter of 2016, raising expectations about an ongoing decline for the whole year.

During the first quarter, Vietnam's export value to China was up 8.2 percent year-on-year to $3.9 billion. This was attributed to an increase in key export products; including fruit and vegetables, up 72.8 percent; and telephones and their components, up 77.1 percent.

The country spent $10.4 billion on imports from China, eight percent lower than the same period last year. Export value of some key products were fell with equipment down 13.1 percent and telephones and their components down 18.4 percent.

The positive change is expected to raise annual export value from Vietnam to China to $18.5 billion in 2016, up 7.9 percent from last year, while import value is projected at $46.5 billion, down 6.1 percent. As a result, Vietnam could lower its trade deficit with China by 13.3 percent to $28 billion this year.

Source: VietnamPlus
VnExpress interviews Professor Carl Thayer about the challenges facing Vietnam's new cabinet.

Q- How do you view Vietnam's recent elections and what is your assessment of PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President Tran Dai Quang and NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan?

A- The recent election of new government leaders shows the adjustment of Vietnams one-party system to international integration. In the past almost a year would elapse between a national party congress and elections to the National Assembly. The National Assembly elections were later brought forward to the same year as the national party congress. If recent past precedent had been set there would have been about a five-month lame duck period in which ministers slated for retirement would have still held office. Five months is a very long time to carry out a leadership transition.

All three officials are competent. All have received good endorsements by National Assembly deputies in votes of confidence taken in 2013 and 2014. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan is a star performer. She was very competent as a minister and has legislative experience to perform the role of Chair of the National Assembly and its Standing Committee in an outstanding manner.

Nguyen Xuan Phuc follows Vietnams tradition of electing a senior deputy prime minister to prime minister. He has considerable experience in provincial affairs at the highest level. Phucs approval rating, as measured by the number of confidence votes received, shot up between 2013 and 2014.

Tran Dai Quang has also received solid support in confidence votes from fellow deputies in the National Assembly. In 2014, 86 percent of deputies voted high confidence or confidence in his handling of his ministerial responsibilities. It is clear that his expertise in national security affairs will be needed as state president.

Q- What are their policy priorities?

A- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will have four major challenges: reducing public debt, reforming the banking system to reduce non-performing loans, pushing the equitization of state-owned enterprises, and supporting efforts to reduce corruption.

Nguyen Thi Kim Ngans challenges are more predictable because the legislative program of the National Assembly is comparatively much easier to set than the presidents or prime ministers work plan. Ngans challenges will come after the May elections and the formation of a new government around July.

President Tran Dai Quang will be confronted with two major issues: the East Sea and human rights. The recent trials of bloggers and their convictions are likely to create some problems in relations with the United States, especially as President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit in May.

Q- Is Vietnam going to take a tougher stance on the East Sea issue? How about co-operation with ASEAN members?

A- Vietnamese leaders have already concluded that one of their past shortcomings was being too quiescent in dealing with China on disputes in the East Sea. It is a good sign that Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has been elected member of the Politburo. We can already observe some stiffening of Vietnam's position towards China in arresting a Chinese vessel supplying fuel to fishermen in Vietnamese waters and Vietnams protest at the placement of the HD 981 oil rig in disputed waters in the Gulf of Tonkin.

All of Vietnams top new leaders and new minsters will have to make the rounds of ASEAN countries to get to know their counterparts. Vietnam will continue to lend its strong support to ASEANs centrality in regional affairs and ASEAN integration. When Vietnam was admitted to ASEAN in July 1995, ASEAN accepted Vietnams political system. ASEAN will continue to support Vietnam and its new leaders;

Q - What is Vietnam's direction on relations with the U.S. and China?

A- Vietnams relations with the United States may experience some turbulence as the U.S. conducts its presidential and national elections this November. President Obama will leave a good foundation for future relations. If Hillary Clinton is elected president this will continue. Great difficulties may be expected if Donald Trump becomes president because he is so unpredictable about his policies for Asia. Vietnam may not be the target but it will be affected by the policies Trump carries out with Vietnams neighbors. Finally, the United States has a system of separation of powers. It is unknown at this moment which party will control the House of Representative and which party will control the Senate  or if one party will control both. The U.S. president needs the support of both houses of Congress to be successful.

Q - The country will need to focus on state-owned monopolies and public debt. How competitive do you think Vietnam will be when the TPP takes effect?

A-Vietnam will make reducing public debt and reforming state-owned enterprises a priority. Success will not come easily and will take time. Vested interests will continue to lobby party and government officials for special consideration. Vietnam has shown a very positive attitude towards the TPP. But both U.S. presidential candidates, Clinton and Trump, have criticized it. Without approval by the U.S. Senate there wont be a TPP. Vietnam has to prepare for both the best and worst of these contingencies. If the TPP passes, Vietnam will have to meet its obligations. If the TPP fails, Vietnam will have to reconsider its reform program and the path to proactive international integration.

Q - How will serious issues like corruption be solved? Do you think there will be a turning point?

A- The elimination of corruption will never be completely successful. Vietnam may charge corrupt bankers and speculators to warn other corrupt officials. In the end, however, corruption can only be reduced by the rule of law and the independence of the police, courts and media from outside political influence.

Q -How will new leaders push action on climate change, for example dealing with salt water intrusion in the Mekong Delta?

A- Vietnam was one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to see the potential harm posed by climate change. It has been a high priority for the government. The key is adopting proper mitigation strategies. New strains of rice may have to be developed and popularized to deal with salt water intrusion into the Mekong River. Of course a big problem is the activities of upstream states  China, Laos and Thailand  and their control of water flowing downstream. This can only be tackled on a regional basis with the support of major outside powers.

Q - Will the new leaders give more priorities for overseas Vietnamese?

A- Vietnam has been consistent for quite some time in viewing the Viet Kieu as a special resource that can assist Vietnam in its development. As Vietnam steps up the pace of global integration and moves up the ladder of technology, it will come to rely more on the skills of overseas Vietnamese. The key here is not to have static policies but flexible policies that overcome bottlenecks and encourage Viet Kieu to contribute to Vietnams development.

Q - What are challenges and advantages will Phuc, Quang and Ngan face? How do you view Vietnam's prospects?

A- Prime Minister Phucs major challenges are mainly economic. His major advantages are he has considerable experience at the highest level of government, he has the clear support of deputies in the National Assembly, and he has firm support of members of the party Central Committee.

President Quang has considerable experience in national security. His major challenges will be to adopt to a new and more open role as head of state and develop international relations with his counterparts overseas.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan seems to me to have the easiest job of the three. She has already proven to be extremely competent at what she does and the National Assembly agenda is relatively clear. It is her role to forge consensus among deputies to produce the best legislation they are capable of.

As noted by Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam has a system of collective leadership and individual responsibility. Vietnams key policy documents  the Political Report and the Five-Year Socio-Economic Plan  are a product of a whole-of-government approach with input from special experts and the general public. Vietnams policies in the next five years will reflect this system. Vietnam is in capable hands and its forward trajectory will achieve success. That is the expectation and judgment of the informed members of the international community.
State President Tran Dai Quang on Monday asked the National Assembly to appoint Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Minister of National Defense Ngo Xuan Lich and Minister of Public Security To Lam to the Council for National Defense and Security.

Phuc is expected to become deputy chairman of the council while Ngan, Lich and Lam were nominated as members. The NA will vote to decide on the state presidents nominations later today.

Quang made the recommendations after the NA passed a resolution to allow former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, former NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung and former Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh, to leave their posts on the council on Monday.

Under the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the state president is the commander-in-chief of the Peoples Armed Forces and the ex officio chair of the Council for National Defense and Security. The state president nominates members of the council for the NA's approval.

The NA also relieved several members of the National Election Council of duties and will approve replacements on Monday.
The National Assembly on Monday passed a resolution to appoint Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Minister of National Defense Ngo Xuan Lich and Minister of Public Security To Lam to the Council for National Defense and Security.

Phuc becomes deputy chairman of the council while Ngan, Lich and Lam are members. The NA allowed former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, former NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung and former Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh to leave their posts on the council earlier on Monday.

Under the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the state president is the commander-in-chief of the Peoples Armed Forces and the ex officio chair of the Council for National Defense and Security. The state president nominates members of the council for the NA's approval. If the country is at war, the NA may assign the council special missions and authority, such as declaring a state of emergency and ordering the government, armed forces and foreign affairs forces to safeguard the country.

The NA also approved 13 new members of the National Election Council, which is headed by Chairwoman Ngan, on Monday.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc confirmed he will attend the G7 Summit in Japan late this May during a reception hosted by Japanese Ambassador Fukuda Hiroshi, according to Vietnam News Agency.

Vietnam's newly elected PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Photo: Giang Huy

The G7 Summit will be happening late this May in Japan with the participation of U.S. President Barack Obama and leaders from the U.K., Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

Vietnam will do its best to improve its relationship with Japan in all sectors. Both countries will strengthen communication, cooperation and mutual support at regional as well as international forums for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and in the world, said the PM.

The 42nd G7 Summit will be held in Mie prefecture, Japan. The summit will be a chance for members to address problems concerning the global economy and trade, foreign policy, climate change and energy, development, infrastructure investment, health and issues surrounding women. Vietnam is a guest invitee to this years G7 summit.
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The European Commission has announced that 2.9 million will be redistributed under the EU school scheme to support displaced Ukrainian children.
(Official "General Hospital" Facebook)

Things are heating up in "General Hospital" as Anna (Finola Hughes) teams up with Sonny (Maurice Benard) to track Carlos (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) down in Ecuador. The next question is whether Anna will kill Carlos once she finds him.

It can be remembered that Anna planned to go with Sonny to Ecuador in search of Carlos. However, Paul (Richard Burgi) tried to stop her, leading her to resort to desperate measures. She chloroformed him and then went about to gag and bind him before hurriedly joining Sonny.

Spoilers for "General Hospital" reveal that the pair will find Carlos and a violent confrontation will occur. There are also mentions of gunshots, and although there was no mention of someone getting killed, the spoilers talk about Anna regretting the decisions and actions she has made. This made fans speculate that she could have either hurt Carlos badly or killed him.

Meanwhile, Paul will be able to extricate himself from his situation and tries to find Jordan (Vinessa Antoine). He will tell her about what's going on, a story that Jordan appears not to believe. Moreover, Paul will also contact Julian and reveal some things to him that will leave the latter shocked and surprised.

As for the other characters, Hayden (Rebecca Budig) and Nikolas (Tyler Christopher) continue to play their mind games and try to intimidate each other. According to rumors, she will continue to put pressure on Nikolas this week but he will put up his own fight, not giving in until he gets what he wants from her as well.

Not only does Nikolas have a hard time fighting with Hayden and maintaining control of ELQ, but he will also have problems from Jason (Billy Miller) and Sam (Kelly Monaco) as well. The duo are planning something which seems to be going according to what they have in mind.

All these will have their answers this coming week in "General Hospital."
Sudan has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world. In addition to widespread chronic undernutrition, approximately two million children in Sudan are acutely malnourished. Due to ongoing insecurity and the resultant widespread displacement and reduced access to agricultural lands, high levels of acute food insecurity persist in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile.

To help save lives, reduce food insecurity and stabilize nutrition rates, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced that it has provided nearly $68 million in emergency food assistance to Sudan. Since 2011, USAID has provided over $1 billion in food and nutrition assistance to the people of Sudan.

USAID assistance will reach approximately 2.5 million Sudanese as well as refugees from South Sudan and other neighboring countries. This aid will be delivered through the World Food Program, which will help address the complex emergency arising from conflict, natural disasters, and widespread displacement in Sudan, including those severely affected by the impacts of the weather pattern known as El Nino.

In an effort to address the malnutrition rate in Sudan, which is the third-highest in the world, USAID will provide fortified foods for malnourished children under age five and pregnant or lactating women, emergency school feeding programs and food distributions to the most vulnerable and food-insecure populations.

The strong El Nino drought effects have caused below-average plantings and harvests of staple and cash crops across Sudan, all of which will lead to higher demand for food in 2016. Humanitarian assistance needs will also be higher than usual as the 2016 lean season began in March, two months earlier than usual. The projected number of acutely food-insecure people in Sudan is likely to reach 4.5 million during the peak lean season in 2016.

Protracted conflict inside Sudan and in neighboring countries has increased the number of refugees and internally displaced people suffering from food insecurity in Sudan. Over 360,000 refugees reside in Sudan. Since December 2013, over 190,000 South Sudanese have arrived, fleeing violence in their country. Ongoing fighting in Darfur has displaced a total of 2.6 million people. Another 1.7 million are displaced by conflict in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

As the largest international donor of humanitarian aid in Sudan, the United States is clearly committed to the well-being of the Sudanese people and generously provides needs-based assistance to all accessible areas and populations, including displaced and otherwise conflict-affected people.
Gay rights activists protest in Bogota in 2013. EITAN ABRAMOVICH (AFP)

More information La Corte Constitucional de Colombia avala el matrimonio igualitario

In a landmark ruling, Colombias Constitutional Court has effectively approved same-sex marriage, following approval of adoption by same-sex parents in November.

In a six-to-three vote, judges overturned a proposed ruling that the term marriage could only be applied to unions between men and women. The decision is one of the most socially progressive steps the predominantly Catholic nation has taken.

The judges' decision, which has been hailed by the gay community in Colombia, follows in the footsteps of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, and took the judges weeks of deliberation.

The ruling, which has been hailed by the gay community in Colombia, follows in the footsteps of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil

The Court had already recognized same-sex civil unions, but activists urged the authorities to give gay and lesbian couples the same rights as heterosexual marriages. Chile granted same-sex couples civil partnerships in 2015.

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In 2011, the Court recognized that same-sex couples constituted families and gave Congress a deadline by which to pass a law legalizing gay marriage. After lawmakers failed to pass the measure, the Court allowed at least 50 couples to enter into civil unions, while others opted for contracts which left them in a legal limbo.

Thursdays decision means that despite expected challenges in the courts, notary publics or judges in Colombia can no longer refuse to marry same-sex couples.

English version by Dyane Jean Francois
Former Banesto chairman Mario Conde, during a book launch in 2009. G. Cuevas (EFE)

Spanish police have arrested Mario Conde, the disgraced former chairman of Banesto, charging him with laundering money held in Swiss bank accounts he embezzled from the bank in the 1980s and 1990s back to Spain. On Monday police searched a number of Condes homes in Spain, along with businesses set up by him.

Civil Guard sources say that seven other people have been arrested as part of the operation, among them Condes daughter Alejandra.

Condes arrest comes 23 years after he was exposed for illegal appropriation of Banesto funds and 11 years after he was released from prison

Condes arrest comes 23 years after he was exposed for illegal appropriation of Banesto funds and 11 years after he was released from prison.

The Bank of Spain took over Banesto in 1993 after it almost collapsed, removing Conde from its helm. A 2.7 billion shortfall was eventually discovered on its books, and it was later bought out by Spanish lender Santander.

Conde was initially jailed for embezzling 3.6 million from the bank and sentenced to four years in prison in 1999. He was paroled after 17 months, but was again sent to prison in 2002 after a 36-month-long trial, the longest in Spanish history, for fraud, misappropriation of funds and falsification of public documents in connection with the mismanagement of Banesto during his six years as bank chairman.

The Supreme Court ruled at the time that Conde had not fully accounted for the money he had embezzled, which had allegedly been funneled into a Swiss bank account held by Argentia Trust, among others.

The man once described as Spains Gatsby had allegedly set up a complex web of companies to repatriate the embezzled money

The current investigation, overseen by the High Court and carried out by anti-corruption agents, charges Conde with money laundering and using a false identity. The man once described as Spains Gatsby had allegedly set up a complex web of companies to repatriate the money embezzled from Banesto from Switzerland back into Spain.

Police sources say that over the last decade 68-year-old Conde had so far managed to bring some 10 million into Spain by this means.

They add that among the methods allegedly used by Conde were a series of fake loans between front companies, as well as bogus capital increases, as well as using figureheads, among them his daughter Alejandra.

Anti-corruption agents say that Conde was arrested after traveling to Seville, where he was attending the annual spring fair, and will appear before a High Court judge on Wednesday. They say they have discovered a number of properties belonging to Conde in the province of Seville, as well as in other areas of Spain. He also owns a house in an upscale area of Madrid as well as luxury properties in the Balearics and Galicia.

After being paroled from jail for the first time, in 1999, Conde entered politics, running as an independent in the March 2000 elections.

But he soon found himself under investigation, and was sent to prison again in 2002. He was released from jail in 2005 after serving 11 years of a 20-year sentence. In 2012 he ran for office again, this time in his home region of Galicia. But that same year, the High Court ordered five of his properties, which had been registered in other peoples names, to be embargoed.

He now faces a further prison term, this time for money laundering and using a false identity.

English version by Nick Lyne.
An employee talking to a client at a Madrid fertility clinic. LUIS SEVILLANO

The plan: a vacation on the Spanish coast  or else a tour of Madrid and its landmarks  a visit to the fertility clinic, and hopefully a return home with a baby growing inside.

Spain is a reference in Europe when it comes to assisted reproduction: 40% of all treatments carried out on the continent are performed here, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).

And this trend will keep growing, says this body.

Online messages can reach every corner of the Earth, and have been key in the international development of Spanish clinics Laura Alonso, ProcreaTec Clinic

There are no specific figures for a type of visitor whom Spanish tourism authorities currently classify under Tourism: Other, along with people who come for purposes such as hunting, running or yoga.

Between January and February, there were 7.2 million visitors to Spain, of whom 952,930 fell under this category, which excludes recreational and business tourism.

I am writing to you from a very, very remote town in Australia... begins an email that arrived recently at a Madrid fertility clinic named ProcreaTec.

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Word of mouth works, says Laura Alonso, head of the clinics communications department. And these days, word of mouth takes place online, through messages posted on forums, social media and so on. Those messages can reach every corner of the Earth, and have been key in the international development of Spanish [fertility] clinics.

The center where Alonso works opened in 2008, with the crisis in full swing. Because of falling numbers of Spanish clients, managers were forced to look abroad for new customers. Aided by technology, they have managed to build up a database in which half of their patients hail from other countries.

Between 2014 and 2015 theres been an 18% rise in international [assisted reproduction] cycles, she adds.

The rates are similar at other Spanish clinics, including IVI, the countrys largest such center.

The first contact is usually through email. After chatting with the patient-care team in German, English, Italian or French, the conversation moves on to a video conference.

The couples only show up physically at the end, when the embryos are inserted into the womans uterus.

But someone who is coming all the way from Australia to Spain is not going to stay for just two days, especially not in one of the worlds top tourist destinations, which had over 65 million visitors last year.

People began demanding vacation experiences, explains the ProcreaTec spokeswoman. We dont organize holiday packages ourselves, but we do put patients in touch with tour operators or hotels.

For the first time this year, the International Medical Travel Summit, one of the worlds best-known health tourism gatherings, will be held in Madrid rather than in Britain.

People choose Spain as a reproductive tourism destination because their own countries have legal limitations that do not favor assisted reproduction, says Enrique Criado, who heads the Marbella-based center FIV.

The rise of this kind of tourism can be explained by Spains protective legislation, its good reputation in the field of assisted reproduction, its high success rates and its reasonable prices (between 600 and 6,000 depending on the treatment).

And it all becomes even more attractive if patients are given the chance to combine the treatment with several days of sun and sand.

English version by Susana Urra.
The fighting and atrocities left Aurora Prize founders gravely concerned

Statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh Situation from the Founders of 100 LIVES and the Aurora Prize VARTAN GREGORIAN, NOUBAR AFEYAN, RUBEN VARDANYAN: We, the founders of 100 LIVES and the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, are committed to international peace, human rights, and the right of all people to live a decent and dignified life. The fighting and atrocities of last week have left us gravely concerned for the safety and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and full of grief for the victims. At the same time, these sobering events demonstrate the necessity of bringing together the international community to declare its solidarity for the victims of violence, here and around the world. Later this month, hundreds of international leaders will arrive in Yerevan to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide and, through the Aurora Prize, honor todays humanitarians for risking their lives to save those of others. Over the past week, it has become apparent that, now more than ever, it is necessary to recognize and honor the extraordinary individualsindeed, the heroeswho fight for universal principles and who strive to save lives. Their stories are glimmers of light in times of darkness, and underscore that violence is never the solution. Throughout history, while Armenians have mourned their dead, they have never given up on life. On April 24, the international community will witness a resurgent nation that is proud of its past and determined for its future. We look forward to welcoming these leaders to Yerevan to celebrate the Aurora Prize finalists incredible contributions to the humanitarian cause.
SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

Google Ad

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh

USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens

ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression
SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Google Ad

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

Google Ad

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh

USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens

ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression
Freedom fighter unable to know reason for his arrest (video)

Aghasy Martirosyan, arrested on suspicion of aiding a criminal gang that was in Yerevan in November 2015, has been released after spending four months in custody. Mr Martirosyan says he has been waiting for his release every day. I expected that I shall be acquitted four months ago because I was sure that they had nothing against me. Until today they have not proved my connection with the criminal gang, he told A1+. The freedom fighter started 25-day hunger strike in prison demanding the prison authorities not to violate his rights and to stop the illegal investigation. I simply wanted to understand why I was arrested. I wanted them to present grounds for my arrest. Aghasy Martirosyan was set free after giving a written cognizance not to leave the city. The period of detention was extended twice. But the National Security Service decided not to request for extension for a third time because there were no grounds for his detention, Liana Balyan, the lawyer of Aghasy Martirosyan, told A1+. The lawyer is going to file a petition asking to discontinue the criminal case against her client. On November 25, 2015, Armenias National Security Service (NSS) said that it had uncovered a criminal gang in Yerevan that was planning to carry out a series of serious crimes in Armenia. The NSS said that the group was led by Artour Vardanyan, a citizen of Armenia living overseas, who had arrived in Armenia earlier in 2015. The NSS added it had raided the house where the group was hiding and arrested nine individuals including Vardanyan.
Russian Propaganda in Nagorno Karabakh

The Russian propaganda machine is always distinguished by its so-called operative work. After hostilities were provoked by Azerbaijan on the border with Nagorno Karabakh Republic on April 2, it was expected that the tentacles of Russian propaganda would reach us somehow. And we can say they did reach us. On April 4, the popular Russian LifeNews reported that an Azerbaijani military detachment had returned from Syrian Raqqa (which is considered the administrative center of the Islamic State terrorist group) in order to participate in military actions in Karabagh. The media source mentioned about 50-70 fighters who had reportedly returned to Azerbaijan through Turkey. Tvzvezda and 3mv news websites, which are considered the non-formal militarist portals of Russian propaganda, had also made publications with similar content. Taking into account the specifics of Russian propaganda, we can assume that if the tension in the conflict zone continued, the Russian federal microphones would start to disseminate information on ISIS fighting in Nagorno Karabagh, and this would be accompanied by the remark that the Islamic State is a banned organization in Russia. Such a propaganda method was employed in spreading the misinformation about the rape of a Russian girl by refugees in Berlin. Another similar case was the misinformation about the 3-year old crucified child in the Ukrainian city of Slavyansk. All these reports were broadcast by Russian federal channels and were later denied. The Purpose As it has been mentioned above, whenever the Russian propaganda machine mentions about the Islamic State group, it always underlines that the latter is a banned organization in Russia. And if it is banned, then you can and you should fight it. Just like in Syria, for instance. Nevertheless, in case of Nagorno Karabagh, the deployment of the so-called peacekeepers on the line of contact is more preferable for Russia. In fact, this Russia will ensure its military presence in the conflict zone, take over the control, obtain more levers of blackmail and pressure. In addition to this, Russia pursues another aim in the present stage. During the recent days, the justified anger of the Armenian society was targeted at the fact that Azerbaijan used modern arms purchased from Russia, such as the TOS-1A Sontsepyok system and Smerch multiple rocket launch systems. There is heavy discussion in Armenia regarding the expedience of the so-called partnership with Russia, facts emerge showing that Azerbaijan hasnt even paid Moscow for the aforementioned TOS-1As, people increasingly talk about CSTO losing its reputation. Against the backdrop of Russias current regional policy (which even arouses the anger of traditional pro-Russian people), they find it necessary to divert the public attention on other issues Islamic State, for instance. The hired Islamists who behead soldiers, torture old people and fire at their own retreating soldiers may create more noise than the Russian Smerch MRL systems. Well, that is what the Russian propaganda machine assumes. In reality, the Smerch rockets that have hit Armenian lands speak of yet another failure of Russian propaganda because the propaganda rockets did not explode just like the anti-human arms prohibited by Dublin Convention. Vahe Ghukasyan Union of Informed Citizens
Members of Congress respond to Azerbaijan military offensive in Nagorno Karabakh

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Co-Chairs Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Robert Dold (R-IL) sent letters to President Obama and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs condemning the latest Azerbaijani attacks against Nagorno Karabakh and calling for a suspension of U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan. The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) strongly supports the Armenian Caucus initiative and urges the United States to take a stronger stance against Azerbaijan and towards peaceful negotiations. "We request that you condemn Azerbaijan's aggression, suspend U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan, provide emergency relief aid to Nagorno Karabakh, and send a State Department fact-finding mission to both evaluate the destruction inflicted by Azerbaijan's aggression and assess the humanitarian relief and reconstruction needs of Nagorno Karabakh's affected civilian population," the Pallone-Dold letter reads. Addressed to the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee's Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) and Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY), the Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs expressed their opposition to providing U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan using American tax payer dollars. "We urge the suspension of military aid until its government ceases cross-border attacks, ends its threats of renewed war, and agrees to a settlement of regional conflicts through peaceful means," the letter states. "Rather than providing military aid to Azerbaijan we should be putting pressure on the country to cease its undemocratic policies," the Co-Chairs suggested. The Armenian Caucus letter echoes the Armenian Assembly's April 5 letterto U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Assembly Board of Trustees Co-Chairmen Anthony Barsamian and Van Krikorian urged the U.S. to resume full enforcement of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act. "There can be no U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan unless and until it ceases all military hostilities against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and agrees to a path for a peaceful and just resolution of the conflict. Anything less risks further escalation and full-scale war," Co-Chairs Barsamian and Krikorian stated in the Assembly letter. Several Members of Congress also released statements this week condemning Azerbaijan's military attacks that left over 50 dead, including a 12-year-old Armenian boy and an elderly Armenian couple who were killed execution-style. As of April 7, eleven Members of Congress expressed their concern and released statements on the recent attacks in Karabakh, including Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Robert Dold (R-IL) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Reps. Judy Chu (D-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), and David Valadao (R-CA). Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) also issued a statement on this matter. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) suggested that "U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan be cut off until it ceases its aggression, renounces violence, and commits to a purely peaceful resolution of the conflict." "I will continue to work with my colleagues to provide humanitarian assistance in Nagorno Karabakh and demand the suspension of US military aid to Azerbaijan until its government fully agrees to end cross-border attacks," Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) stated. Prior to the Nuclear Security Summit, Members of Congress encouraged the U.S. to take the opportunity to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and discuss a peaceful resolution for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. "I joined dozens of my Democratic and Republican colleagues in March 2016, calling on President Obama and his administration to work with the two parties in advance of last week's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. to deescalate the ongoing situation," Rep. Napolitano added. Rep. Sherman said he previously urged the U.S. to use the opportunity provided by the summit to advance the peace process in Artsakh. Instead of peace, "it appears that Azerbaijan's President Aliyev launched new attacks against Nagorno Karabakh," he added. Both of the letters, as well as many statements by Members of Congress, point out that Azerbaijan's recent hostilities came almost immediately after meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry. "Despite attending meetings in D.C. with Secretary Kerry and Vice President Biden last week, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev does not appear committed to the peace process and I question his sincerity in trying to reach a resolution," Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA) said. In his statement, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) pointed out that the attacks occurred just hours after Azerbaijan's President returned from meetings in Washington, D.C. with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry. Rep. Schiff urged the Obama Administration and the OSCE Minsk Group to "demand accountability on the part of Azerbaijan and continue to work toward implementing proposals that promote peace." On April 6, the governments of Azerbaijan and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic announced the cessation of hostilities and the Armenian Assembly of America hopes that the cease-fire holds. On March 25, the Assembly submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs where he outlined nine key policy priorities for the Armenian American community in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017. Part of those priorities included full enforcement of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act; advancing the Nagorno Karabakh peace process; and not less than $5 million to Nagorno Karabakh, especially for the Lady Cox Rehabilitation Center.
Cameron vows to change the culture on use of tax havens

Prime Minister David Cameron promised to "tighten the law and change the culture" by cracking down on tax evasion and discouraging "aggressive" tax avoidance on Monday, following the British use of tax havens revealed in the Panama Papers.

GALLERY

British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses employees of Siemens Rail Automation facility in Chippenham, Britain, 02 February 2016. Cameron during his visit promoted his efforts in the Britain-EU relationship.

London (dpa) - Britains tax authority and national crime agency will examine possible tax evasion and money laundering by British companies and individuals identified in leaked documents from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm, Cameron told parliament.But people should "defend the right of every British citizen to make money lawfully," he said, placing his government "at the forefront of international action to tackle the global scourge of aggressive tax avoidance and evasion."Cameron has faced political pressure since his fathers offshore investment company, which legally avoided British taxes by registering in tax havens, was named last week in leaked documents from the Panama Papers.He told parliament he sold his shares in one of his fathers funds in early 2010, shortly before he became prime minister, "because I didnt want any issues about conflict of interest."Cameron has admitted fault for his widely criticized response last week, when he gave a series of brief statements on his links to the Panama Papers rather than a full disclosure."I accept all of the criticisms for not responding more quickly to this issue last week," he said on Monday.Replying to Cameron in parliament, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for a "credible and independent investigation" of tax avoidance through tax havens.Corbyn said Cameron had still "failed to give a full account" of his financial affairs, despite publishing summaries of his tax returns on Sunday, and said the prime ministers handling of the Panama Papers leak showed the public "no longer have trust in him."David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, said earlier that the Panama Papers showed "tax evasion is part of a wider set of international criminality ... together with money laundering, illicit finance and evading sanctions.""The new taskforce announced today will further tighten the screw on those who think they can get away with dodging tax thats due in this country," Gauke said. "Our message is clear: there are no safe havens."Before Mondays announcement, police and tax officers were already investigating 700 "current leads with a link to Panama," the government said.The government will also introduce new legislation to "hold companies who fail to stop their employees facilitating tax evasion criminally liable," Cameron said.Cameron then came under renewed pressure after he published tax summaries on Sunday that show a 200,000-pound (280,000-dollar) gift from his mother. He had previously admitted to having inherited 300,000 from his father and sold shares in his fathers offshore investment fund for some 30,000 pounds.He initially said his fathers registration of offshore funds in tax havens was "a private matter."Cameron then made statements saying that he and his immediate family held no offshore assets and would not benefit from offshore holdings in the future.
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
There is currently no threat of direct seizure from Russia of the funds arrested in France under a lawsuit filed by former Yukos shareholders, a source with knowledge on the matter told Interfax on Monday.

"Because Russia has contested the Paris High Court verdict on the recognition and implementation of the decision made by the Arbitration Court in The Hague on the Yukos case and no final decision has been made on this issue yet, the arrest of the Russian assets in France is an interlocutory injunction measure and does not pose a threat of direct seizure of these funds in favor of the future Yukos shareholders," the source said.
National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz Ukrainy has announced a two-stage tender to select a contractor who will carry out international PR support for the company's activities, in particular in the United States and the Energy Community states.

According to the website of the company, the expected value of the contract is up to UAH 20 million, the term of providing services is one year. Applications from potential participants in the competition are accepted until May 10.

Applicants must have offices in the United States, Belgium, Germany and in at least three countries of the Energy Community. To avoid conflict of interest, a PR company should not provide services to Russian state agencies and Gazprom.

As reported, Naftogaz Ukrainy brings together the largest oil and gas enterprises in the country. The holding is a monopoly in transit and storage of natural gas in underground gas storage facilities, as well as oil transportation through pipelines in the territory of the country.
Six Ukrainian soldiers have been injured in the armed conflict zone in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military said.

"Over the past 24 hours, the hostilities have killed no Ukrainian troops and injured six. In particular, four servicemen were injured as a result of hostile shelling near Avdiyivka, another two as a result of a truck hitting a landmine near Novhorodske," said Oleksandr Motuzianyk, a special operation spokesman for the Ukrainian presidential administration, at a briefing in Kyiv on Sunday.

On the Luhansk direction, the illegal armed groups violated the ceasefire near Schastia and Triokhizbenka, he said.

On the Donetsk direction, the industrial zone of Avdiyivka remains the epicenter of fighting, with hostile shelling continuing non-stop. The enemy has amassed serious forces in Yasynuvata, Mineralne and Yakovlivka, and has attempted, unsuccessfully, to push the frontline to the west.

Provocations took place in Zaitseve, where enemy snipers fired several shots. "In addition, in the area of Zaitseve, which is controlled by the ATO [anti-terrorist operation] forces, the OSCE mission patrol team came under enemy fire," Motuzianyk said.

Near the village of Luhanske separatists fired tank shells against Ukrainian positions. Nor was it quiet at the Donetsk airport. In all, there have been 54 hostile shell attacks on the Donetsk direction in the past 24 hours.

On the Mariupol direction, the enemy violated the ceasefire across the front, but most shell attacks were in Maryinka and Shyrokyne. A civilian was injured in Maryinka. The enemy actively uses mortar launchers concentrated in Dokuchayevsk, Kominternove and Sakhanka. In all, there have been 35 hostile shell attacks on the Mariupol direction in the past 24 hours, (almost all of them this afternoon).

All in all, in the past 24 hours the enemy has launched 91 shell attacks against Ukrainian positions (with one in three involving heavy weapons: mortar launches, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles), Motuzianyk said.
Poroshenko Bloc calls Yatseniuk's resignation "way out of crisis", expects appointment of new Cabinet on Tuesday

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk's statement on his resignation is a way out of the political crisis in Ukraine, it was stated in the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction.

"This is a way out of the crisis. Now we can form a new government and elect a new prime minister," deputy head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Oleksiy Honcharenko said, commenting on Yatseniuk's statement to Interfax-Ukraine.

"On Tuesday, we will vote for Groysman (appointment of incumbent Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Groysman to the post of prime minister). And for the whole composition of government, either," Honcharenko said.

He noted that the incumbent prime minister could have taken this decision before, but welcomed Yatseniuk's intention to resign.

Earlier on Sunday, Arseniy Yatseniuk said that he decided to resign from the post of Ukrainian prime minister. "I've decided to step down from the post of Ukrainian prime minister," he said in the 10 minutes with prime minister program aired on the Ukrainian television stations on Sunday. Yatseniuk said that his statement of resignation would be tabled to the parliament on Tuesday, April 12.
The militants delivered 64 attacks on Ukrainian army positions on Sunday, in particular by use of 82mm and 120mm mortars, the army operation press center reports.

"In all, 16 mortar attacks have been observed in the area held by the Ukrainian Armed Forces," the press center wrote on Facebook.

The militants' 120mm mortars shelled Ukrainian army positions near Troitske and Luhanske in the Donetsk region, and 82mm mortars bombarded Ukrainian army positions near Talakivka, Shyrokyne, Mayorsk and Novoselivka. Ukrainian army positions in the Avdiyivka industrial zone came under attack of both types of mortars.

Ukrainian fortifications near Berdianske were attacked by 122mm tube artillery. The press center reported 35 instances of such gunfire in the aforesaid area.

Also, the militants' air defense launchers, grenade launchers, machineguns, small arms and snipers were firing on Ukrainian strongholds near Opytne, Maryinka, Stanytsia Luhanska, Pavlopil, Zaitseve, Novotroitske, Pisky, Novhorodske and Verkhniotoretske for a long period of time.

The Ukrainian army returned fire seven times on Sunday, the report said.
Convict Nadia Savchenko, who is now in a detention facility in Rostov, has agreed to undergo regular medical checkups and the doctors find her health to be fair, the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) press bureau has reported.

"Yesterday, Nadia Savchenko gave her written consent to undergo regular medical checkups and began receiving supporting therapy," the press bureau said in a report received by Interfax on Monday.

The report says that the results of the medical evaluation show Savchenko's health condition to be fair and that "she is under the dynamic observation of medical workers."

"The next medical evaluation of Nadia Savchenko is scheduled for today. The board of doctors will again evaluate the state of her health on the basis of the results of the evaluation and the clinical and instrumental tests," the press release says.

On March 22, 2016, the Donetsk Court of the Rostov region found Ukrainian servicewoman Nadia Savchenko guilty of involvement in the killing of Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin by a group of people by a previous concert motivated by hatred and enmity and sentenced her to 22 years in a penal colony. The court also found her guilty of attempted murder and illegally crossing the Russian border.

The sentence took effect on April 5. The next day, Savchenko began a dry hunger strike, demanding her immediate return to her homeland.
Militants are attempting to intimidate observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), a press centre of the Ukrainian envoys in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) regarding ceasefire issues and stabilization on the dividing line between the parties.

"A cruel shell attack of the representatives of international observation mission is nothing else as one more attempt of the militants to intimidate the OSCE SMM observers and to make them refuse from offered by Ukrainian JCCC practice of 'mirror patrolling' in those regions of the anti-terrorist area [ATO], where a situation worsens a lot," JCCC press service quotes its press officer Vasyl Labai as saying.

Labai said on April 9 the mission accompanied by Ukrainian envoys from JCCC came under attack near the village of Zaitseve at nearly 13.00.

As reported, the report of OSCE SMM posted on April 9 said that the SMM observers came under attack on the Ukraine-controlled territory of Zaitzeve village (Donetsk region).

None of the mission's members were injured.
Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Groysman, who seeks the post of prime minister, says he has already submitted proposals on the composition of the government under his leadership.

"If the coalition supports my candidacy and the proposals I have submitted and if we discuss specific candidates to specific positions in the ministries today, this government will be effective," Groysman told a meeting of the conciliatory council of the heads of the parliament factions, committees and groups on Monday.
U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden in a telephone talk with Ukrainian Prime Minister, who on the eve announced his intention to resign, thanked Yatseniuk for his partnership during a historic time for Ukraine.

"The Vice President thanked Prime Minister Yatseniuk for his partnership during a historic time for Ukraine. He congratulated the government of Ukraine on its accomplishments over the past two years, in particular on the strides it has made on difficult but necessary economic reforms, the signature of the European Union association agreement, and the work it has done to increase energy independence," according to readout of Biden's call with Yatseniuk.

According to the document posted on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, the leaders agreed these changes must be irreversible and that continued progress is critical to securing a prosperous future for the people Ukraine.

Besides, they agreed on the importance of assembling a new cabinet committed to implementing needed reforms, in particular those recommended by the International Monetary Fund and European Union.

Biden also commended Yatseniuk for his "tireless efforts on behalf of Ukraine" and his intention to remain engaged in the process of pursuing these and other reforms needed to ensure the stability, prosperity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Zakarpattia policemen claim to haveidentified the persons involved in the murder of two Indian students and causing grave body injuries to a third one. Police and border guard troops arrested three suspects not far away from state border.

According to media liaisons office of the National Police of Ukraine in Zakarpattia region, Uzhgorod police and patrol police of Chop border unit arrested two men and a woman as murder suspects.

"All of them are citizens of Zakarpattia region. During an examination of their belongings, three passports belonging to citizens of India and blooded kitchen-knife were been found in their bag," reads the report.

Police opened a criminal case under Article 115, Part 2 of the criminal Code of Ukraine (intent to committee murder for selfish ends). The suspects stole personal belongings of the victims (Ipads, laptop computer). If found guilty the individuals could face life in prison..

As reported, in early hours of April 10 a citizen of Uzhgorod called first aid service reporting that he had found two dead young men in his house and a third one with a grave knife wound. The owner of the house had rented his property to three students from India.
Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel in a phone talk on Sunday thanked Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk on April 11 and thanked him for a remarkable contribution to the implementation of national reforms, the defense of independence and security of Ukraine.

As the government's press service reported, Merkel thanked head of the Ukrainian government for a partnership, a high level of mutual trust and efficient cooperation between Ukraine and Germany in a when running through extreme challenges.

"The chancellor assured Yatseniuk of invariability of a further support of Ukraine over national political and economic transformations, successful implementation of the Minsk Agreements, along provision of stability and prosperity of Ukraine," reads the report.

For his part, Yatseniuk expressed gratitude to Merkel for Germany's support on the way to reforms and highly estimated a key personal role of the chancellor Merkel in consolidating support in the world community in favor of Ukraine, its sovereignty and restoration of territorial integrity, peace and security in the region.
Lavrov: OSCE mission could be more objective about weapons amassment near Donbas contact line

Moscow is expecting the OSCE to be more specific and objective about the amassment of weapons along the line of contact between the conflicting sides in Donbas.

"Alexander Hug, whose work we respect, has tried to make statements which we deem to be not quite objective," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference on Monday.

"In fact, we think that the OSCE mission could be more specific, especially about the amassment of weapons and troops near the contact line," Lavrov said.

"There is multiple evidence that Ukraine has been provoking clashes in order to resume the hostilities on what they hope to be a controllable scale as a way to distract attention from the authorities' inability to meet the Minsk agreements," Lavrov said.
Arrangements on the release of Ukrainian pilot and MP Nadia Savchenko have been cancelled, her sister Vira Savchenko has said.

"While 'politicians' are forming a 'coalition', the agreements about the core European value - that of the human life have been thwarted! Poroshenko, Putin return Nadia to us!" Vira Savchenko wrote on her Facebook page on Monday.

In the comments to Interfax-Ukraine, she clarified that the arrangements for the release of her sister from a Russian prison have failed. "Yes, this is the information I have," Vira Savchenko said citing her own sources.

She accused Ukrainian politicians of trying to use the current situation to gain more popularity, instead of taking real steps for her release.

"Because the first thing that needs to be done is to bring the person home, and then they can promote themselves. Bring her back and then you can show off and take selfies," Vira Savchenko said.
EU concerned by increase in hostilities in Donbas, urges all sides to observe Minsk agreements

The European Union has expressed its concern over the increase in hostilities in Donbas.

"The significant increase of ceasefire violations in Donetsk region represents an unprecedented level of violence since the sides recommitted to the ceasefire in 2015," reads a statement by the spokesperson for EU diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini posted on the website of the EU External Action Service.

The EU urges all sides to take steps to de-escalate the situation and to fully honor their commitments. "A sustainable ceasefire is urgently needed, not least to ensure progress at last in implementing the political obligations from the Minsk agreements. The recent incidents of targeting the OSCE SMM monitors are unacceptable. We call on all sides to refrain from such actions," the statement reads.

The EU continues to support the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the diplomatic efforts within the Normandy format and the trilateral contact group aiming at complete implementation of the Minsk agreements.

"Security on the ground is indispensable for a lasting political solution," the statement reads.
By Zhang Ye and Ma Jingjing (Global Times) 08:21, April 11, 2016

Experts urge product upgrades to drive domestic spending

As government hurried to counter rumors stemming from a newly implemented tax policy on overseas purchases over the weekend, analysts called on authorities to focus on an upgrade in quality instead of tax adjustments if they want to drive China's domestic consumption.

China's Ministry of Finance(MOF) on Sunday denied rumors that the government is imposing taxes on every individual item purchased overseas. The ministry stressed that the country will only collect taxes on personal overseas purchases worth more than 5,000 yuan ($774).

The rumors, which have been circulating on the Chinese Internet over the weekend with pictures showing beauty products scattered on airport floors and luggage being inspected, surfaced after a new tax policy on cross-border e-commerce was implemented on Friday.

The new policy, which raises the tax on low-end overseas merchandise, such as food, baby products and home appliances, while lowering the tax on premium items such as cosmetics, was aimed at putting domestic and foreign products on an equal footing. But analysts said the country should instead improve the quality of domestic products.

"It's hard to help shift the current trend of increasing Chinese outbound expenditures only through taxes," Lu Zhenwang, founder of Shanghai Wanqing Commerce Consulting, told the Global Times Sunday.

On the contrary, the new policy may widen the gap between the prices of the same goods bought at home and abroad, driving Chinese tourists to spend more overseas, said Lu.

As a growing Chinese middle-class travels abroad more frequently, overseas purchases surge. A research note published by the World Travel &Tourism Council shows that Chinese overseas spending has grown by 53 percent to $215 billion in 2015 compared to the previous year, contributing heavily to the growth in global international tourism and travel spending.

"The lack of premium domestic brands and the nations' concerns over food quality are the main reasons for domestic consumer preference for overseas shopping," Guo Shaofen, chief economic analyst at the China International Electronic Commerce Center, told the Global Times Sunday.

Boosting domestic consumption relies on domestic industry upgrades and enhanced product quality, she said.

Impact on e-commerce retailers

Before the adoption of the new tax policy, "domestic cross-border e-commerce retailers such as JD.com and Kaola could import in bulk at lower costs, which gave them an edge over competitors," Liu Dingding, an industry analyst at Beijing-based market consultancy Sootoo, told the Global Times Sunday.

The new policy is expected to reduce the profits enjoyed by cross-border e-commerce retailers as individual consumers who buy goods from the e-commerce platforms valued within the official cap of 2,000 yuan and annual gross transactions below 20,000 yuan will now be slapped with an 11.9 percent value-added tax.

E-commerce retailers previously did not have to pay value-added tax and traditional importers are taxed 17 percent.

Some domestic cross-border e-commerce retailers have reportedly promised to bear the new added taxes themselves. E-commerce platform Kaola announced Thursday that it will absorb the tax on imported milk powder products, which are in demand by domestic consumers, according to news portal 163.com.

Chinese demand for cross-border goods has not only benefited e-commerce marketplace operators but also spurred the development of daigou, or overseas retail agents, and illegal gray-market imports, which Lu said has greatly hit traditional offline retailing.

Analysts said that the new policy would increase daigou's costs and stem illegal imports.

A Hong Kong-based daigou called Rivers told the Global Times Sunday that the biggest change caused by the new tax policy is that "I cannot pass the Chinese mainland customs with as many goods as before," which may lead to price increases.

Cross-border e-commerce retailers and daigou can raise prices to cope with increased costs, but this will make them less popular among consumers and they may get squeezed out of the market, said Lu.

On Sunday, the official Weibo account of the national customs authorities' consumer services also posted a statement saying that besides the 5,000 yuan tax-free limit, individuals can also buy another 3,000 yuan worth of tax-free overseas goods at duty-free shops at domestic airports for personal use, which "is enough for the individual."

Still, it seems insufficient for some consumers like a Shanghai resident surnamed Yuan.

"The 5,000 yuan quota, which was set years ago, is no longer practical and should be increased," Yuan told the Global Times Sunday.
South Korea's Defence Ministry confirmed on Monday that a high-ranking North Korean military intelligence officer, who worked at the North's reconnaissance bureau tasked with carrying out espionage missions against the South, defected to South Korea last year.

"(The North Korean military official's defection) is a fact, but we cannot make public detailed information (about him)," Moon Sang-gyun, a ministry spokesman, said at a regular press briefing, according to Yonhap.
Victoria Beckham is the fashionista's favourite - not to mention the ever stylish mother of four, who seems to prove that women can have it all.

However, a new photo sweeping the web has onlookers wondering if even she was unable to escape the perils of a Photoshop fail.

In a series of stark images for Vogue China that show the designer with minimal make-up pulling bold poses, her Instagram followers have pointed out how one image seems to show a gap where a section of her upper thigh should be.

In her latest photoshoot, Victoria Beckham proved that even she couldn't escape the perils of a Photoshop fail, as Vogue China managed to accidentally remove one of her legs

Victoria posted the shots on her Instagram account yesterday, where they've been liked 152,000 times.

But the image left fans divided as many praised the pictures that see the mother-of-four showing off her lean, toned limbs and impressive flexibility, while others pointed out the 'Photoshop fail'.

In the offending picture, Victoria smoulders into the camera as she poses on her tip toe, holding her other leg close to her body.

But the 41-year-old appeared to be oblivious to the error as she shared the photo with her 9.8million Instagram followers, alongside the caption: 'Loved working on this shoot for @voguechina May issue.

'Thank u [sic] @inezandvinoodh, @wendyrowe, @georgecortina and @shayashual x vb.'

Some fans were quick to point out - what they interpreted as - an editing error.

As she stares seductively at the camera, Victoria appears blissfully unaware that part of her thigh is missing

Taylor_morcom, wrote: 'The pic when she is holding her leg the thigh of her back leg is missing'.

While Lorna_2109 added: 'Bad photoshop', Annahinchliff said: 'Photoshop fail', and Sakuraisme wrote: 'The detached leg tho.'

Friends of the star dismissed the speculation as 'nonsense', while others have said the effect is simply a matter of her skirt flying up at the back.

Estmanning wrote: 'Stunning!! Someone said the thigh of her back leg is missing but it's just her shirt.'

Pitrka added: 'She just have the white pans [sic] and it is look like missing leg [sic], you are silly ;).'

Josephinekent84, wrote: 'Her leg has been 'cut out' she hasn't it's the shorts coming underneath and between her legs.'

Shakyrajclaxton added that the 'Photoshop fail' was clearly just white knickers.

Nevertheless, most agreed that Victoria looked flawless in the rest of the snaps as her hair hung loose and wavy against a range of neutral garments.

And the former Spice Girl showed off her wilder side in bare feet and dramatic poses.

Fans also commented on how well the photos showed her personality.

Juliepurssey, said: 'These pictures make you look soft and stunning! Nice change from the hard exterior we see of you sometimes.'

The black and white images show the mum-of-four demonstrating her impressive flexibility in a range of quirky poses

Most fans agreed that Victoria looked flawless in the rest of the snaps as her effortlessly stylish blowdry swept elegantly against a range of neutral garments

A representative for Victoria Beckham declined to comment.

MailOnline has contacted Vogue China for comment.

But even though she had a bit of fun with the shoot, Victoria still didn't crack a smile.

Victoria has focused on building a fashion empire, ever since leaving British pop group The Spice Girls.

Victoria has focused on building a fashion empire, ever since leaving British pop group The Spice Girls

The former Spice Girl showed off her her wilder side in bare feet. However, she didn't manage to crack a smile

It is normally Victoria's clothes that are shown off in front of the camera, rather than the designer herself

And it seems as though she wants to separate herself entirely from her former singing fame as it has been rumoured that she has also turned down requests to reunite with the Spice Girls, later this year.

It has also been suggested that she has rejected any interviews and appearances to do with the group.

A source told The Mirror: 'She's said no to every single suggestion.

'She's turned down performances, documentary involvement, even requests to be quoted on the anniversary.

'At the moment, her only priority is building the fashion brand.'

This was shown as Victoria recently opened her first boutique in Asia - not long after she opened the door to her 6,000 square feet Dover Street flagship store in London.
HONG KONG, April 11 -- The Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association Information Technology Committee held here Monday a forum on smart city industry development under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Speaking at the forum, Xu Yu, head of Information Development Bureau of the State Internet Information Office, said that building smart cities has become a common choice of many countries and regions against the backdrop and trend of the current information revolution.

"This is an important strategic opportunity for Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong under the Belt and Road Initiative," Xu said, adding the State Internet Information Office has made the cooperation of smart cities building an important part of the enhancement of information technology of the Belt and Road.

To gain fruitful results from building smart cities together, Xu suggested Mainland and Hong Kong to put emphasis on innovation and to seek ties with the strategies and policies related to the Belt and Road Initiative.

He also called for support for the Hong Kong SAR government to develop internet economy, as well as to combine smart cities building with innovation and economic development.

According to Meng Shusen, chairperson of the Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association Information Technology Committee, smart city is a new city development model based on the combination of different networks including the internet, telecommunications network and wireless broadband network, which brings along highly effective smart services.

She said the effective interconnection of information infrastructure is important under the Belt and Road Initiative and the building of smart cities is a hot topic among countries and regions along the Belt and Road.
This thirsty #cheetah fancied a change from its usual drinking hole...and slouched over the edge of a swimming pool to take a sip at Tshukudu Game Lodge near Hodespruit, #SouthAfrica.

Photographer Tracey Jennings, 44, took these shots as she was relaxing at Tshukudu Game Lodge in Hodespruit, South Africa. The lodge is close to the Greater Kruger National Park, home to many big cats and wild animals such as cheetahs.

Cheetahs are the fastest animals on the planet. They have been clocked at 75 miles per hour when chasing their prey. But they are an endangered species, partly because of the loss of much of their habitat.
(Global Times) 11:10, April 11, 2016

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has scrubbed China from his Asia tour which started Sunday, and will only visit India and the Philippines instead. Carter said during a speech Friday that the US is making "enormous investments" in its capabilities.

It remains unclear whether Carter canceled his China visit because of technical reasons or because he intended to send a message. But this is not important. In the China-US military relationship, neither side is seeking favor from the other. In the past, bilateral military communications were lessened or even suspended in line with the ups and downs of the China-US relationship. In most cases, it is the US that is more active in resuming and improving communications.

If Carter canceled his China trip to express his dissatisfaction against China's action in the South China Sea, it only reflects that the US military is becoming less confident, and more sensitive and emotional. The US military is already quite advanced and strong. It seems that the US will never feel at ease until it has absolute military predominance over China. This explains that Washington's China strategy lacks justification. The US is using the South China Sea disputes as an excuse to intervene in the region. Washington's posture in the region is much more aggressive than the South China Sea policy it claims.

Washington cares more about China's rise. Claiming that China is flexing its muscles and wants to write the rules in the South China Sea, the US aims to suppress China.

The South China Sea seems to be becoming a demonstration area of China-US competition. As every single move in the region implies the attitudes and will of the two sides, neither is willing to give in. At least, top US officials have left an impression that the US is moving in this direction.

Given the South China Sea's proximity to China, when Washington imposes additional pressure on the issue, Beijing is at the receiving end. But pulling back is not an option. The US has also demonstrated hesitation as there is disagreement on whether the South China Sea is the right arena to launch a competition with China.

The US is stirring up more regional countries to confront Beijing, and at the same time, it is escalating the situation with US Navy vessels and joint military drills. It is holding all the possibilities of deeper military involvement but not wanting to be part of a war.

In many years to come, as long as China strengthens its presence in the South China Sea and the West Pacific, the US will respond with new military deployments. New strength will not make China feel easy. An ultimate solution will not come until the balance of power between China and the US witnesses a fundamental change in the West Pacific, which will take a long time to realize.

It is a test of China's patience. Many small countries plan to take big powers hostage, but there have been few successful cases in history. Mostly small nations became victims if they entangled themselves into big power competitions. However, China doesn't have to blame smaller nations for Sino-US tensions.
Former senior CPC official in NE China indicted for accepting bribes

BEIJING, April 11 -- Han Xuejian, a former senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has been prosecuted for allegedly accepting bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Monday.

Prosecutors in Liaoyuan City in northeast Jilin Province have informed Han, former member of the standing committee of the CPC Heilongjiang provincial committee and party chief of Daqing City, of his litigation rights and questioned him, according to an SPP statement.

The indictment said Han took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others, accepting a huge amount in bribes.

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced in December 2014 that Han was under investigation for alleged violations of discipline and law.

He was expelled from the CPC and dismissed from public office in April 2015.
Premier Li Keqiang welcomes visiting Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe before holding talks at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

Chinese investment in Sri Lanka will not pose a threat to other countries, including India, according to the island nation's prime minister.

During Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to Beijing, the Sri Lankan government sought more investment despite a compensation claim from a Chinese company involved in a major port project remaining unresolved.

Wickremesinghe, who wrapped up his first visit to China over the weekend, said on Saturday that his government is giving special status to the Colombo Port City project and that the port's profitable future has attracted many Chinese investors.

"The port city and megalopolis is not a threat to anyone. It's an opportunity for everyone to make money," he said.

"We met with many Chinese companies and they are all interested in coming into Sri Lanka," Wickremesinghe said.

The Port City project, contracted to State-owned China Communications Construction Co in 2013 with investment of $1.4 billion, is Sri Lanka's biggest single foreign investment. However, the project was suspended in January last year after the new Sri Lankan government ordered a review.

The Chinese company, which has estimated that the suspension will cause losses of more than $380,000 a day, has sought compensation of $125 million, according to the Sri Lankan government, which has said it cannot pay and wants to negotiate.

On Thursday, Premier Li Keqiang told Wickremesinghe that China will work with Sri Lanka to push for a resumption of the project.

Wickremesinghe said on Saturday that he did not discuss the compensation issue with Chinese leaders during his visit, as he did not think it was a major problem.

He said the port city is a joint venture involving Chinese and Sri Lankan companies, but Indian companies would be welcome to join it. His administration has had discussions on the issue with the Chinese government and Chinese banks.

The port city is part of a plan for a "megalopolis" with a population of 8 million, and there will be more opportunities for infrastructure development by Chinese and other companies, Wickremesinghe said.

"We welcome Chinese investment in areas including tourism, infrastructure and power," he added.

Describing Sri Lanka as the most important country in the Indian Ocean for China's Belt and Road Initiative, Wickremesinghe said his nation is reviving its position as an Indian Ocean hub, which is connected to the China-proposed 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
SYDNEY, Apr. 11 (Peoples Daily Online) -- The Art Gallery of New South Wales opened its new exhibition Tang: treasures from the Silk Road capital on April 9, 2016. This is the first exhibit in Australia to focus on the art of the Tang dynasty.

The exhibit shows the high artistic achievements and rich history of this golden age of China - Tang Empire. The capital city of Tang was Changan (now Xian), which was situated at the start of the famous Silk Road trade route. This cosmopolitan metropolis was renowned as a city of great wealth, cultural diversity and religious devotion.

The exhibition features 135 rare gold, silver, glass and ceramics artifacts, sculptures and mural paintings from the Tang Empire (618-907). Many of them are national treasures of China and some objects have never before been exhibited outside China. These archaeological findings are drawn from 11 museums and cultural institutions in Shaanxi Province, China.

The director of Art Gallery of New South Wales director, Michael Brand, says the Gallery is extremely privileged to host such an extensive range of precious Chinese treasures.

The Deputy Director-General of Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, Guo Xianzeng, says they would like to present more 5000 thousands years of Chinese historical culture to Australian audiences.

Another highlights of the exhibition Tang is the Pure Land: inside the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang, a spectacular interactive installation of one of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Mogao Grottoes.

It allows Australian audience to incorporate appropriate technologies into exhibitions to enhance the experience of visitors viewing art.

The exhibition will be at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until July 10.
Delayed trademark certificate will be issued by end of May, says SAIC

In a statement released on Thursday, the State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC) promised to issue a number of delayed trademark registration certificates by the end of May. Many enterprises and agencies have complained about the delay, which for some has been as long as half a year, saying that it has caused them to lose business.

The processing of a trademark application in China normally takes nine months, including a three-month waiting period after the public announcement. If no disagreements are filed during that period, the certificate is issued one month later.

However, since Aug. 21, 2015, no certificates have been issued by the SAIC. Several trademark application agencies have complained about the nationwide backlog. Without any certificates, online shopping platforms, supermarkets and malls are taking my clients goods off the market, said one employee of a trademark application agency in Beijing.

According to officials with the SAIC, the delay was caused by a counterfeit-proof paper shortage. However, the statement reassures those waiting that the shortage is now resolved: The paper for trademark registration certificates is ready. We have accelerated its printing since March 28. All overdue certificates will be granted to registrants by the end of May.

An intellectual property lawyer who goes by Yu Heng explained that the certificate is meant to minimize risk for sales platforms. Additionally, it is crucial for trademark protection. The SAIC will not process a complaint for trademark violation if a certificate is not presented, Yu explained.

The administration has vowed to streamline its cumbersome trademark application process and improve efficiency to avoid such issues in the future.
Cheng Jun shows Ruirui photos of happy past events on a tablet PC. (Photo/Chongqing Evening News)

Last December, a 12-year-old boy named Ruirui fell from the 10th floor of a building and slipped into a deep coma. His father, Cheng Jun, has stayed by his side and told him stories every single day since the accident. After more than 100 days of treatment, Ruirui has finally regained consciousness.

Cheng's family lives in the Jiangbei district of Chongqing, a city in southwest China. On the morning of Dec. 7, 2015, while Cheng was washing dishes in the kitchen, he heard a loud noise, which he initially believed was a car accident. He then looked outside and saw a boy in a school uniform lying on top of a truck.

Cheng and his wife hurriedly ran downstairs, where their son lay on the truck, covered in blood.

Ruirui was sent to the nearby 324th Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army right away. After a 13-hour operation, Ruirui was still alive and his broken limbs had been reset. However, Ruirui was in a coma, and remained that way for months.

Cheng took good care of Ruirui in the hospital, talking to him about happy family events and playing tape recordings made by his classmates. Cheng and his wife decided that even if Ruirui never woke up, they would never give up on his recovery.

On March 31, Cheng suddenly noticed that Ruirui's eyes were moving in response to a photo in his hand. "I was overwhelmed with joy. Later, Ruirui came around gradually," said Cheng. Though Ruirui still can't speak, he can nod and shake his head. And his parents finally learned that he fell accidently while attempting to grab a red scarf hanging outside the window.

Now, Ruirui can do some rehabilitation exercises in his hospital bed.

Pei Jiaqiang, a doctor at the 324th Hospital, said it is a miracle that Ruirui came out of his coma. The doctor believes Ruirui's family contributed a lot to the boys recovery. "In time, he may even be able to walk. But it is still uncertain whether he can ever return to a 'normal' life," the doctor explained.
With approval from an Argentine trial court, four crew members, including the captain, of the Chinese fishing vessel Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010 left Argentina and returned to China starting on April 7.

The court made its decision not to hold the crew members based largely on statements from the lawyers representing them and video footage provided by the coast guard, according to a press bulletin from the Chinese embassy in Argentina.

On March 14, Argentina's coast guard sank the Lu Yan Yuan Yu 010 fishing boat with 32 crew members on board. Four of the crew members were rescued by the Argentine coast guard, while the remaining 28 were rescued by another Chinese fishing boat nearby. No casualties were reported.

According to Argentine media, the four crew members taken by the coast guard were detained on suspicion of illegal fishing and resisting law enforcement. The case was brought to a local court.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Argentina lodged urgent representations with the Argentine side, demanding that the Argentine side conduct a thorough investigation, inform the Chinese side of the details, ensure the safety and legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese crew, and take effective measures to avoid any repetition of such an incident.

Argentina's Foreign Minister, Susana Malcorra, expressed hope that the incident would not impact bilateral ties between Argentina and China, adding that Argentina would follow all judicial procedures and respect both local and international laws in the case.
Talents that relocate to Shenzhen will soon receive higher subsidies for housing, research, entrepreneurship and more, according to a new government policy released on April 9.

Exceptional talents can now choose between a housing subsidy worth 6 million yuan ($930,000) and a 200-square-meter apartment to live in rent-free for a maximum of 10 years.

Rent subsidies also increased from 4,800 yuan to 10,000 yuan per month for other high-level talents. Those qualified can enjoy the subsidy for up to three years. Newly arrived full-time students at the undergraduate level and above will receive one-time subsidies starting from 15,000 yuan and increasing based on education level.

For newly elected Shenzhen-based members of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, there will be 1 million yuan for research and 6 million yuan in subsidies made available.

Business founders can enjoy a 20 to 50 percent increase in rent allowance, and entrepreneurs with overseas experience are entitled to up to 1 million yuan in initial funding for new projects. Some may even receive up to 5 million yuan for exceptional projects.

Elementary and junior high schools are being encouraged to offer business courses and support entrepreneurship-related activities with subsidies worth up to 1 million yuan.
China on Tuesday expressed strong dissatisfaction after foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) issued a statement that touched upon disputes in the East and South China Seas.

"We urge the G7 member states to honor their commitment of not taking sides on issues involving territorial disputes," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in response to the statement issued by the foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States on Monday after they convened in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Lu said as recovery of the world economy remains weak, the G7 bloc should have focused on global economic governance and cooperation rather than hyping up the disputes.

"China's stance on the East and South China Seas are consistent and clear," said the spokesman, adding that it is completely within China's sovereignty to build structures on some of its Nansha islands and reefs and that there is no problem with freedom of navigation and overflight in the East and South China Seas.

Lu said China is always committed to resolving relevant disputes with countries immediately involved through negotiations in line with international law, on the basis of respecting historical facts, to maintain peace and stability in the seas while resolutely safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.

He reiterated that China will neither accept nor participate in any arbitration illegally forced upon it.

"We urge the G7 member states to fully respect the efforts made by countries in the region, stop making irresponsible remarks and all irresponsible actions, and truly play a constructive role for regional peace and stability," said the spokesman.
Huge numbers of visitors arrived in Japan this year for the traditional sakura (cherry blossom) viewing season. Both Japanese and Chinese tourism agencies are scrambling to offer package tours to cities like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka that are most popular among Chinese tourists. Chinese online tourism service companies anticipated over 500,000 Chinese tourists to visit Japan in late March and early April for the single purpose of viewing cherry blossoms- a 50 percent increase from last year, Guangzhou Daily reported.

The number of Chinese visitors to Japan totaled to about 400,000 in April 2015, more than doubling that of a year earlier, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Ctrip.com International, a major Chinese online tourism service company, projects that the number of Chinese tourists during this years cherry blossom season between March 15 and April 15 would further increase by 150 percent from last year.

The average cost of visiting Japan has exceeded RMB 20,000 (USD 3098), according to the data provided by tourism agencies in Guangzhou Dailys report.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, travelers from China topped the list for 2015, accounting for 4.99 million, more than twice as many from the year before. Of the nearly 3.5 trillion Japanese Yen (over 32.4 billion US Dollars) spent by foreign visitors in Japan during 2015, Chinese tourists accounted for 40.8 percent. In January and February this year, some 970,000 Chinese tourists visited Japan, seeing a 60 percent increase from a year before, according to another report from Japan National Tourism Organization.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) sold $80 million to 21 banks through the auction held by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), SOFAZ said Apr.11.

SOFAZ offered $100 million for sale through the auction.

SOFAZ will continue selling foreign currency through auctions in 2016.

The foreign currency is sold as part of SOFAZ's transfers to the Azerbaijani state budget, which are envisaged to stand at 7.615 billion Azerbaijani manats in 2016.

SOFAZ was established in 1999 with assets of $271 million.

As of January 1, 2016, SOFAZ assets reduced by 9.5 percent compared to 2014 ($37.1 billion) and were estimated at $33.57 billion.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend

Russia calls on the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to follow ceasefire agreements, RIA Novosti quoted the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying Apr. 11.

"We are concerned over the escalation of situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone," said the Russian FM. "We call on the sides to comply with the agreements on an immediate cessation of armed clashes and to prevent the breach of the agreement."

Lavrov also said Moscow is interested in seeing positive developments towards an agreement on the conflict's settlement.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Edited by EA
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Dialogue is necessary for resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter April 11 at the joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

The situation calmed down a little, thanks to Russia's efforts, but, nevertheless, there is a danger of the conflict's escalation, said Burkhalter.

The minister noted that there should be a process of dialogue and negotiation in order to reach a solution on the issues.

This process has not yet been adjusted and it should be dealt with, according to Burkhalter.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be discussed at a meeting of foreign ministers of the countries that are members to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Besides the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the OIC members' FMs will discuss the fight against terrorism, the OIC told Trend Apr. 11.

The 13th OIC Summit will be held Apr. 13-15 in Istanbul, Turkey.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.



Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.



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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.11

Trend:

Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be discussed during the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said the organization's website.

The topic on "The recent and tragic escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" will be discussed during the PACE session to be held Apr.18, said the website.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.11

Trend:

Azerbaijani diaspora has organized a protest action in front of the Armenian embassy in Ukraine in order to expose Yerevan's aggressive policy.

The protest action involved around 400 people.

Protesters were holding posters exposing the aggressive policy of Armenia, and were chanting patriotic slogans.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend:

Ukraine's well-known ICTV has presented a report about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, prepared by its correspondent Taras Korniyuk.

The report stressed that Armenia is an aggressor country, exposing Yerevan's heinous policies to the wide audience of the ICTV in Ukraine.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.



Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend:

The Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be discussed at the plenary session of the European Parliament, to be held in Strasbourg from Apr. 11 through Apr. 14, said the organization on its website.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini is expected to take part in the discussions.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend:

The information spread by Armenians that allegedly Azerbaijani servicemen desecrated the dead bodies of Armenian soldiers is false, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend Apr. 11.

The ministry said there are facts of desecration of the Azerbaijani soldiers' dead bodies by the Armenian servicemen.

"By making such statements, Armenians want to mislead the international community in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, to justify themselves and accuse Azerbaijanis of atrocities," added the Defense Ministry.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Edited by EA
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend:

The UN unconditionally supports the OSCE Minsk Group's efforts for the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, RIA Novosti quoted the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman as saying Apr. 11.

The UN has voiced its single position - unconditional support for the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs' efforts that are solely aimed at peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, added Feltman.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend:

Azerbaijani armed forces proved that they justify the trust of the Azerbaijani people, the country's minister of defense, colonel-general Zakir Hasanov said Apr. 11 at the farewell ceremony for the Azerbaijani servicemen killed during the prevention of Armenian provocations on the contact line of the two countries' troops.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.



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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

"I would like to emphasize that the martyrs will be avenged, and our lands liberated from the occupation," the minister said.

He went on to add that Armenian fascists have been committing crimes, genocide for hundreds of years, and if they aren't stopped, these crimes will continue.

"I would like to note that our martyrs have proved to the whole world that Azerbaijani people are heroic," the minister said. "They have fulfilled their sacred duty."

Hasanov cited the words by Azerbaijani National Leader Heydar Aliyev that every soldier, every officer of the country's army should know that Azerbaijan's territorial integrity must be recovered at any cost.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend:

A delegation led by Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov left for Turkey to participate in a preparatory meeting for the 13th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Foreign Ministry told Trend Apr. 11.

The OIC Summit, titled "Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace", is to be held Apr. 10-15 in Istanbul.

Mammadyarov is expected to deliver a speech during the meeting, as well as have a number of bilateral meetings, according to the ministry.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

A Chinese company plans to build a plant for the production of vegetable oil in Northern Kazakhstan, the country's agriculture ministry reported.

This issue was discussed at a meeting of representatives of the Chinese company with farmers of the region, as well as representatives of the Kazakh agriculture ministry, local authorities of the region, the JSC National Management Holding 'KazAgro' and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs 'Atameken'.

The estimated cost of the project is $58 million. The plant's production capacity will amount to 80,000 tons of vegetable oil per year.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 11

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Iranian companies intend to invest $30 million in Kazakhstan's geological exploration, the Kazakh Ministry for Investments and Development said April 11.

"The representatives of the Kazgeology JSC national exploration company paid a visit to Iran," the ministry said.

"During the visit, Kazgeology's representatives signed agreements on cooperation in the fields of geology and subsoil use with such Iranian investment companies as Ghadir International Industries & Mines Development Company, Sadr Ta'amin Investment Co. and SUNIR (Iran Power & Water Equipment and Services Export Company)," the ministry said.

"The sides intend to jointly implement the projects on searching the solid minerals in the promising areas, their evaluation and attracting investments in Kazakhstan's mineral exploration," the ministry said.

The ministry said that Ghadir International Industries & Mines Development Company is interested in big iron ore, polymetallic and copper deposits.

Sadr Ta'amin Investment Co. (a part of SHASTA group of companies) manages a large number of important metal and nonmetal mining enterprises in Iran and aims to increase value through investment on specialized fields including identifying, discovering, excavating, and producing metal and nonmetal ores.

SUNIR (Iran Power & Water Equipment and Services Export Company) has always been ready to perform technical and engineering services in the forms of contract management, engineering, procurement and construction.

---

Follow the author on Twitter:@E_Kosolapova
Tehran, Iran, April 11

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will visit Iran on April 16, Jaber Ansari, spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said.

"Mogherini will lead a delegation from the EU to discuss economy, tourism, sports, youth, with the Iranian side, Ansari said during a press conference in Tehran on April 11, Trend's correspondent in Tehran reported.

In August 2015, Tehran and six international mediators, including Russia, reached a historic deal on Iranian nuclear program, which was set to ensure the peaceful nature of its nuclear program in exchange for the termination of anti-Iran sanctions, in particular in oil sector.



In mid-January, the sanctions were removed after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verified Tehran's compliance with the nuclear agreement. The move makes it possible for Iran to develop relations in different spheres with the European Union.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend:

Nariman Mannapbekov, who assumed office today as the new Azerbaijan Country Director for the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said he welcomes the opportunity to broaden ADB's support for the country, including in new areas, according to a message posted on the ADB website Apr. 11.

"ADB and Azerbaijan have a strong relationship and I am honored to have the chance to continue our fruitful partnership," said Mannapbekov. "Priorities in ADB's country partnership include transport, energy, water and urban infrastructure. Our goal will be to ensure our effective cooperation with Azerbaijan's Government in these sectors as well as in carrying out its reform agenda."

Mannapbekov, 50, an Uzbek national, has extensive experience in Central and West Asia, where he worked as a senior economist in a number of ADB field offices.

ADB has been assisting Azerbaijan since 1999 with approved loan and grant projects totaling about $2.6 billion, including private sector transactions worth about $738 million, as of end 2015.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.

Established in 1966, ADB is owned by 67 members - 48 from the region.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 5

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

The agreement on oil production "freeze" at the upcoming meeting in Doha is possible, however Iran's position will limit the effectiveness of any deal, Anthony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC believes.

"Because a meeting is planned, a "freeze" agreement is possible. The challenge would then shift to accountability, which history has proven to be difficult. Patience in holding production levels steady will quickly wear thin as Iran continues to gain market share," Headrick told Trend on April 5.

"In the end, the market will likely find any agreement as a mask on an already oversupplied market," he added.

On April 17, major oil producers are expected to meet in Doha to discuss an agreement to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels. In February, representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia discussed possible measures to stabilize the current oil market, including the oil production freeze.

Headrick mentioned that Saudi Arabia has indicated it will not freeze production if major producers, such as Iran, do not participate.

"Even if that stance shifts and Saudi Arabia agrees to freeze production, Iran's stated push to produce at pre-sanction production levels will severely limit the effectiveness of any agreement," Headrick said.

Last week Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that Saudi Arabia will only freeze its oil output if Iran and other major producers do so.

Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in its turn said that Tehran will not join the oil output freeze plan. He said Iran may participate in the talks with fellow OPEC members and Russia in Qatar April 17 without joining their proposal to freeze crude oil production.

The National Iranian Oil Company's CEO Roknoddin Javadi said in March that Iran's oil export has reached 1.8 million barrels per day.

The country's daily output should reach 4 million barrels the next Iranian year (to start March 20), he said, stressing that Iran will continue to increase the export.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 11

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

Iran's oil production could increase to 3.5 million barrel per day (bpd) by the end-3Q16, but further growth in production will require infrastructure investments, analysts of the US JP Morgan bank said in the weekly Oil Market report obtained by Trend.

In the report analysts noted that the recent comments from Saudi Arabia on the Kingdom's unwillingness to freeze its oil output without Iran's participation are in contrast to the market's interpretation of previous comments, where it appeared likely that at least Saudi Arabia may maintain constant production versus their January levels.

"Such a change in strategy would add to uncertainty, and possibly downside risks to oil prices further than we expect," analysts said.

However, they said, outside the obvious issue of whether an agreement being reached without Iran is plausible, another key question is at what level will producers' expect Iranian production to be capped - January'16, current, pre-sanction levels or the reported level by Iranian government. These levels are 2.9 million bpd, 3.2 million bpd, 3.6 million bpd and 4 million bpd.

On April 17, major oil producers are expected to meet in Doha to discuss an agreement to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels.

Earlier Saudi Arabia stated that it will only freeze its oil output if Iran and other major producers do so.

Iran in its turn said that Tehran will not join the oil output freeze plan.

As for Saudi Arabia's contribution to a freeze agreement, even incorporating a constant production profile at 10.2 million bpd for the remainder of 2016, JP Morgan's analysts expect that Saudi Arabian crude oil exports will likely remain unchanged through the course of the year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11



By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:



Azerbaijan will support decisions aimed at stabilizing global oil prices, which will be made during oil-producing countries' meeting on Apr. 17 in Doha, Qatar, Azerbaijan's Energy Ministry told Trend Apr. 11.



Azerbaijan will be represented by the country's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev, according to the ministry.



"The importance of Azerbaijan's participation in oil-producing countries' meeting was emphasized in the invitation letter received by Azerbaijan from Qatar's Energy and Industry Minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada," said the ministry.



Azerbaijan's position is to find ways that will allow stabilizing oil prices on world markets, noted the ministry.



Earlier, Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said that about 20 countries, including Azerbaijan will participate in the meeting.



Previously, a number of oil producing countries expressed readiness to freeze oil output at the level of January. Meanwhile, the total oil output of the OPEC member countries amounted to 32.38 million barrels per day in February 2016, which is by 175,000 barrels per day less than the output in January.



The President of Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev said earlier that Azerbaijan is ready to freeze oil output in 2016 at the level of 2015.



Azerbaijan produced 10.5 million tons of oil in the Q1 of 2016. Currently, the country produces about 0.85 million barrels of oil per day.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.11

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Kazakhstan and Iran have signed a number of agreements in various spheres following the meeting of Kazakhstan-Iran Business Council held in Tehran, read a message from Kazakhstan's Baiterek national management holding Apr.11.

The parties have signed export contracts for supplying agricultural and engineering products to Iran and agreements on the joint implementation of projects in chemical and petrochemical spheres.

One of the major agreements in terms of the volume of investments is the one signed between the Investment Fund of Kazakhstan and Iran's Kaveh Glass Industry Group on constructing a plant for soda ash production in Kazakhstan's Kyzylorda province. The cost of the agreement is $200 million.

Moreover, the parties have inked a large package of agreements on the import and export of agricultural products. A number of Kazakh companies have agreed on exporting meat and grain products.

Kazakhstan's Alageum Electric company inked an agreement with Iran's Niroo Nransfo Co. for supplying transformers and transformer oils to Iran.

Moreover, Kazakhstan's 'Topan' company and Iran's Electro Kavir Co. have agreed to create a joint venture on Iran's territory for further supply of the systems of technological and commercial accounting of hydrocarbons.

The parties also inked an agreement to implement a project for constructing a solar power plant with the capacity of 50 megawatts in Kazakhstan's Almaty province.

Edited by SI

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Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have agreed on flexible tariff policy for further increasing of the rail freight volume, including transit cargos, press service of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC (Kazakhstan railways) said Apr. 11.

The company's head Askar Mamin visited Uzbekistan Apr. 8 and held negotiations with the Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Batyr Zakirov, Uzbek Foreign Economic Relations Minister Elyor Ganiev and the Chairman of the Uzbekistan Railways (O'zbekiston Temir Yo'llari) Achilbay Ramatov.

"The possibility of providing discounts on transit tariffs for the transportation of grain, flour and other agricultural products, cotton, mineral fertilizers, non-ferrous metals and other cargos were considered," said a message on the results of negotiations.

An agreement was reached on supply of the Kazakh producers' railway products to Uzbekistan, delivery volumes and the range of fruit and vegetables from Uzbekistan to the countries of the Customs Union using the logistics infrastructure of Kazakhstan railways were agreed.

Railway administrations of the two countries signed a relevant protocol on the results of the negotiations.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, April 11

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that that the ways to strengthen cooperation in trade and economic, investment, agriculture, transit and transport spheres and cooperation in the sphere of international and regional security were discussed during today's meeting with Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Tehran.

Rouhani added that Tehran and Astana have agreed on a total of 66 documents on cooperation between the two countries.



Addressing a joint press conference with Nazarbayev in Tehran April 11, Rouhani described the documents signed during his Kazakh counterpart's visit as a turning point in ties between the two countries, Iran's IRINN TV channel reported live.



Significant steps have been taken regarding the expansion of ties between two countries with the beginning of cooperation between the central banks of the both countries followed by correspondent ties between banks as well as easing visa requirements for traders from both sides, Rouhani said.



Rouhani added that the sides have also agreed on cooperation in agricultural, mining trade, scientific and cultural sectors.



Ruhani further added that during the talks the sides shared common views on cooperation in oil, gas and petrochemical sectors as well as crude swap.



Iranian president also said that the sides have emphasized on cooperation in transport and railway sectors.



Rouhani added that cooperation in railway sector can contribute for transit between Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and even China.

Iranian president also touched upon cooperation between the two countries regarding the Caspian Sea, saying that topics such as environmental issues, maritime transport and particularly the status of the Caspian Sea status were discussed between the presidents during the talks on April 11.

Finally Rouhani went on to speak about regional issues and called for unity among Muslims Speaking during the upcoming summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.

Nazarbayev is in Tehran at the invitation of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.
Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 13:29)



Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

Trend:

Kyrgyzstan's Prime Minister Temir Sariev announced that he will resign, Sputnik International reported Apr. 11.

"Loud rumors are destroying the stability in society and as the prime minister I am resigning," Sariev said during a Cabinet of Ministers meeting.

His departure signifies the resignation of the entire cabinet, which is expected to fulfil its duties until the formation of a new team.

Sariev explained his decision as directly linked to certain lawmakers "discrediting the government's work, placing their personal interests above those of the public and state."

He named the leader of the Kyrgyzstan Party, Kanatbek Isaev, among such lawmakers and accused him of provoking the cabinet resignation.

"I am ready to resign, but I will fight for my own name and for my credibility. I am asking for a fair and objective investigation," he stressed.

The cabinet scandal erupted following the publication of highway reconstruction procurement inspection results. The commission uncovered violations in the public tender won by a Chinese roads and bridges company.

Sariev demanded the resignation of the minister of transport and communications, who in turn accused the prime minister of lobbying the Chinese company's interests.

Sariev denied the allegations as "insinuations."

Temir Sariev was appointed in the previous parliamentary session in May 2015, and was reappointed to head the cabinet by the majority coalition after the October legislative vote.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Apr. 11

By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:

Turkmenistan's GDP increased by 6.3 percent in January-March 2016, the Turkmen economy and development ministry said Apr. 11.

The GDP growth in the industrial sector amounted to 2.5 percent, construction - 5.7 percent, transport and communication complex - 10 percent, trade - 16.7 percent, agriculture - 5.8 percent, services - 9.5 percent, the statement said.

The average monthly salary in large and medium enterprises of the country has increased by 9.5 percent.

The retail trade turnover volume increased by 17 percent in Turkmenistan for the three months of this year compared to the same period of 2015, the statement said.

During the reporting period, the volume of spent investments through all sources of funds amounted to 7.8 billion Turkmen manats at a growth rate of 5.7 percent compared to the same period of 2015.

Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world's natural gas reserves. At present, it exports gas to China and Iran, according to a British Petroleum (BP) report. At the same time, Russia, a traditional buyer in 2016, has stopped the purchases of the Turkmen gas.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Apr. 11

By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:

Ashgabat has hosted talks with an Iranian delegation led by the country's Deputy Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi, said the message from Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry.

During the talks, the parties focused on the further development of Turkmen-Iranian cooperation in energy, trade and transportation spheres.

Talking about the political cooperation, they emphasized the role of high-level visits. The meeting participants noted that the regular meetings and negotiations at various levels show that Turkmenistan and Iran are interested in developing traditional friendly relations.

During the years of the long-term cooperation, Turkmenistan and Iran implemented a number of large-scale joint projects. The most important project is the Korpeje-Kurt-Kui gas pipeline commissioned in 1996. Iran also purchases electricity from Turkmenistan.

The two countries have built 'Dostluk' (Friendship) border dam and implemented the North-South railway project on the basis of a tripartite agreement signed in 2007 with participation of Turkmenistan, Iran and Kazakhstan.

During the visit of Iranian president to Turkmenistan in March of 2015, the parties agreed to increase the volume of bilateral trade turnover to $60 billion in the next 10 years.

Edited by SI
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, April 11

By Demir Azizov - Trend:

Uzbekistan has lifted the ban on export of fruits, potatoes, melons and grapes by vehicles.

Under the government decree published in local media outlets, Uzbekistan will permit the export of these products by vehicles owned by legal entities and individuals who have a license to carry out international cargo transportation from July 1, 2016.

Uzbekistan's government tasked the agricultural exporters to export the mentioned products only by railways and air transport on Sept.1 of 2015.

Later, the government permitted the export of fruits and vegetables by motor vehicles by legal entities included in the list approved by a special working group till Jan.1 of 2016.

However, this permission was extended till July 1 of 2016.

The fruit and vegetable production in Uzbekistan increased by 6.7 percent in 2015 and stood at 12.6 million tons, melons - 5.9 percent (1.8 million tons), grapes - 11.4 percent (1.56 million tons).

Around 500,000-700,000 tons of this volume is exported.

Edited by SI
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 11

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Iranian oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has expressed hope that the Indian government will support its refineries to increase oil imports from Iran as the international sanctions on the Islamic Republic have already been lifted.

"I am sure that this visit will contribute to expansion of economic ties between the two countries particularly in energy sector," Shana news agency quoted Zanganeh as saying at a meeting with his visiting Indian counterpart, Dharmendra Pradhan, in Tehran.

He added that Iran is interested in luring investment from Indian companies for its oil and gas sector.

The oil minister further touched upon recent talks over cooperating between Delhi and Tehran in Iran's Farzad-B gas field and expressed hope for finalizing the talks in near future.

The field is a rich source of gas and oil condensates situated in southern Iran. A preliminary contract for the exploration and expansion of the field was signed between Iran and a consortium of three Indian companies in 2000. The Indian sides, however, went no further than the exploration phase.

Zanganeh also called on India to invest in Iran's petrochemical projects saying that the country is ready to provide the Indian companies that invest in petrochemical projects with natural gas. The oil minister also voiced Iran's interest in exporting gas to India.

The talks over cooperation in oil and gas projects took place while Delhi has failed to clear its outstanding debt of $6.5 billion to Iran over the past oil purchase.

India's oil imports from Iran fell by about a quarter in 2015 dropping to 220,000 barrels per day as Indian refiners slowed purchases early in the year to keep imports within the limits of international sanctions against Iran, said a January Reuters report.

However, later in May Indian refiners together imported 506,100 bpd oil from Iran, a jump of about 135 percent from February.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 11



By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:



Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev heading a high-ranking delegation has arrived in Tehran on a two-day official visit.



The sides are expected to sign several documents on cooperation, IRNA news agency reported.



On the eve of Nazarbayev's official visit to Tehran Iranian and Kazakh companies signed 44 memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth at $1 billion.



The MoUs were signed between 10 governmental companies and more than 34 private companies from both sides on April 10.



The two presidents are expected to discuss the implementation of agreements reached during Rouhani's visit to Astana in September 2014.



Meanwhile, the ways to strengthen cooperation in trade and economic, investment, agriculture, transit and transport spheres and cooperation in the sphere of international and regional security will also be discussed.
Tehran, Iran, Apr. 11

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Iran has received first shipment of S-300 defense missile system from Russia, Hossein Jaber Ansari, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.

"As we already announced, despite several changes in delivery time, the deal is being implemented, " Jaber Ansari said during a press conference in Tehran on April 11, Trend's correspondent reported.

Iran and Russia have had ups and downs over the S-300 system deal which dates back to 2007. Iran filed a complaint against Russia at the International Court of Arbitration in 2010 as Moscow suspended the delivery of the system under the $800 million-deal due to the international sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program.

However, In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the S-300 delivery ban, shortly after the six world powers and Iran reached a framework nuclear agreement to remove all economic sanctions against Tehran in exchange for guarantees of the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities.
Tehran, Iran, April 11



By Mehdi Sepahvand, Khalid Kazimov - Trend:



Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari has denied the shrinking of ties between Iran and Central Asian countries.



"Iran ties with Central Asia and Caucasus have not shrunken. Iran is in constant engagement with these countries, as witnessed by two trilateral meetings held last week," Jaber Ansari told a press conference in Tehran April 11, Trend's correspondent reported.



Meanwhile, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, heading a high-ranking delegation, arrived in Tehran on a two-day official visit this morning.



Tehran and Astana are expected to sign several documents on cooperation. On the eve of Nazarbayev's official visit to Tehran Iranian and Kazakh companies signed 44 memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth at $1 billion.



The MoUs were signed between 10 governmental companies and more than 34 private companies from both sides on April 10.



Nazarbayev is in Tehran at the invitation of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani. The two presidents are expected to discuss the implementation of agreements reached during Rouhani's visit to Astana in September 2014.



Meanwhile, the ways to strengthen cooperation in trade and economic, investment, agriculture, transit and transport spheres and cooperation in the sphere of international and regional security will also be discussed during Nazarbayev's visit.



In the meantime, Tehran enjoys friendly ties with Caucuses states such as Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iranian and Kazakh officials signed nine memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on the sidelines of a meeting between the visiting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran Apr. 11, Iran's state-run IRINN TV reported.

The signed documents include an MOU for extradition of prisoners, a document for cooperation in the field of plant protection and plant quarantine, a technological cooperation document, a protocol on development of economic cooperation in industry, trade and investment, a long-term plan of cooperation on transport and transit, a cooperation MOU between the central banks of Iran and Kazakhstan, a cooperation MOU between railway authorities of Iran and Kazakhstan, a cooperation protocol between Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and the Kazakhstan Railways, and an MOU between Iran's National Development Fund and Kazakhstan's Baiterek Holding Company.

Heading a high-ranking delegation, Nazarbayev arrived in Tehran Apr. 11 on a two-day official visit.

On the eve of Nazarbayev's official visit to Tehran, Iranian and Kazakh companies signed 44 memorandums of understanding worth $1 billion.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani will visit Turkey in the near future, Turkish Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.

The Iranian president is expected to visit Turkey by end of this week, Kalin said, Turkey's TRT Haber TV reported April 11.

Meanwhile, Iranian head of Iran-Turkey joint economic commission Mahmoud Vaezi said that Rouhani will travel to Istanbul, this week to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit.

Vaezi added that in the 25th meeting of Iran-Turkey joint economic commission held a few days ago in Ankara, it was agreed that President Rouhani during his Turkey visit would allocate a time for reviewing bilateral economic issues.

Tehran and Ankara are intended to raise their bilateral trade to $30 billion per annum.

The trade turnover between the two countries stood at $13.71 billion in 2014 and $9.76 billion in 2015. Although the trade turnover dropped by 29 percent in 2015 compared to the preceding year, many observers believe that the decline came amid global economic crisis ruling out the role of the political disagreements.
Tehran, Iran, Apr. 11

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

The Iranian Army plans to hold four major military exercises during the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20, 2017), said the Commander of the Army's Ground Forces Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, Mehr news agency reported Apr. 11.

He said the first of the four major drills will be held in June in the central Iranian province of Isfahan.

The commander added that 17 specialist-level war games are also on agenda for the current year, which will include missile, engineering, electronic communication, drone, rescue, and other drills.

Pourdastan said the forces he commands will also hold five medical drills during the current year.

Speaking about the Army's new achievements, he said that on Apr. 13, Iran will unveil a new moving laboratory, named NRBC.

A new rifle with a highly advanced goggle will also be unveiled the same day, he added.

Iran's military program has always been a point of concern for world powers, so much so that they often show strong reaction against the country's missile tests, in particular.

But Tehran maintains that its military power is solely defensive and in the service of regional peace.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Iranian Army for the first time has lost its members in clashes in Syria.

Four army members including a commando were killed in Syria, becoming Iranian army's first casualty in the Syrian clashes.

Lt. Mohsen Ghitaslou, who was member of Iran army's elite forces namely "the 65 Nohed Airborne Brigade" is the first Iranian commando who was killed in Syria, ABNA news agency reported April 11.

Earlier in April, Brigadier-General Ali Arasteh, an Iranian Army commander, said that army has deployed a group of its commandos in Syria to provide advisory support for President Bashar al-Assad's army in fight against terrorist groups.

Iranian officials have constantly confirmed that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) provides the Syrian army with advisory support in fight against terrorist groups.

Over the past few years and since the crisis broke out in Syria, tens of the IRGC members have been killed in clashes with "terrorists."

The Islamic Republic views the Syrian regime as its main strategic ally in the region, as well as part of an "axis of resistance" against Israel. Tehran has always expressed support for the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Protests against the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan occurred in the Turkish province of Igdir located on the border with Armenia, the Turkish newspaper 'Gursesgazetesi' reported Apr. 11.

The protests involved more than 3,000 people.

The protesters condemned Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and demanded its immediate withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Seven snipers were killed as a result of special operations held in the southeastern provinces of Turkey, the Turkish TV channel 'Tgrthaber' reported Apr. 11.

The killed militants had close ties with the terrorist organization "Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia" (ASALA), according to the TV channel.

The eliminated snipers took active part in the military operations against Azerbaijan's army in the occupied lands of the country, according to the intelligence agency of Turkey.

The snipers also trained Armenian gangs in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.



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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

A pipeline in the central Turkish province of Eskisehir got damaged as a result of explosion, the Turkish newspaper 'Hurriyet' reported Apr. 11.

Seven people were injured as a result, according to preliminary data.

The explosion took place during the repairs, which was being conducted on one of the central streets of the city of Eskisehir.

Currently, the work is underway to extinguish the fire caused by the explosion.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for immediately depriving a number of MPs from the oppositional Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of their parliamentary immunities, TRT Haber reported Apr. 11.

Erdogan said the presence of the MPs supporting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group in the parliament is unacceptable.

"Politics and supporting terrorism are incompatible," added Erdogan.

Turkey's Justice Ministry appealed to the parliament on Apr. 1 for deprivation of the HDP head Selahattin Demirtas and other HDP MPs of their parliamentary immunities.

Following the Feb. 17 terrorist attack in Ankara, some MPs from the HDP took part in the funeral of the suicide bomber who was a PKK member.

Earlier, Erdogan demanded the parliament to deprive five MPs from the HDP of their parliamentary immunities.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also criticized the HDP's policy in December 2015 and accused its members of having ties with the PKK.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.11

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Turkish army launched a large-scale operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group in the country's Hakkari province Apr.11, said the message from the General Staff of Turkish Armed Forces.

As a result of the operation, 19 PKK members were killed in an hour, said the message.

Earlier, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that over 5,359 PKK members have been eliminated as a result of the operations against this terrorist group since July of 2015. He added that 355 Turkish servicemen were killed during these operations, which will continue until the complete destruction of the PKK.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The UN and the European Union listed the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Edited by SI

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Rockets fired from Syria have struck Turkey's southeastern city of Kilis, injuring 12 people, a local governor has said, according to Anadolu Agency.



Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Governor Suleyman Tapsiz said one person among the injured is in a serious condition.



Tapsiz added that the Turkish military later destroyed the target which fired the projectiles.



According to information from local police, three projectiles landed in a Kilis street on Monday.



A further device struck a house, while another landed in wasteland, injuring two people nearby.



The injured were rushed to a local state hospital.



Police teams have taken security measures around the city.



An Anadolu Agency reporter observed that the windows of cars and houses were broken as a result of the impacts.
China Securities Regulatory Commission manages the IPO offered by firms such as Huatai Securities, which raised $4.5 billion last year. (Photo : Reuters)

Huatai Securities Co. Ltd. is planning to acquire AssetMark Inc., a U.S. asset management software maker, in an $800-million deal, which could be the biggest Chinese investment in the U.S. financial district since Anbang Insurance Group Co. signed in November a $1.6-billion deal to acquire Fidelity & Guaranty Life, China Daily reported.



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As China's largest brokerage by trading volume, Huatai has raised $4.5 billion after pricing its initial public offering last year, which made Hong Kong the world's top listing venue.



The Shanghai-listed company has reportedly offered 1.4 billion new shares at HK$20.68 to HK$24.80 per share to be able to raise HK$34.72 billion ($4.5 billion).



People privy to the matter said that aside from Huatai, other private equity firms, which include a Chinese buyout firm, are also interested in AssetMark. The sources added that the winner in the bidding process will be announced this month.



According to the report, neither AssetMark nor Huatai disclosed any detail about the sale process, which is confidential, sources said.



Based in Concord, California, AssetMark provides asset management software to investment managers, broker dealers and investors, and manages more than $28.5 billion collectively on its platforms.



AssetMark was sold by parent company Genworth Financial in Sept. 2013 to a partnership of two private equity firms, Aquiline Capital Partners and Genstar Capital.



The two private equity firms acquired Genworth's wealth management business in a deal worth $412.5 million, which also included another separate investment management business named Altegris.



In 2015, Genstar and Aquiline partnered again to purchase Ascensus Inc., a technology provider to retirement and college savings plans, from JC Flowers & Co.



Together with Anbang, JC Flowers was part of the consortium which tried to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. for about $14 billion last month.



The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment has approved Anbang's deal for insurance company Fidelity & Guaranty.


The Nu, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, is China's remaining undamned river that flows through Yunnan Province. (Photo : http://tour-trip.org)

The Nu River, located in a remote pocket of southwestern China near the Myanmar border, is facing the threat of being turned into a giant dam by a state-owned hydropower company, according to an article by The Christian Science Monitor (CSM).



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Officials say that the Nu, the last natural river in the country, is the solution to the country's growing demands for electricity.



Environmentalists and activists are hopeful, however, that the Chinese government will have a change of heart. According to them, the current government is more respectful of the environment, the CSM reported.



"It is clear this government has more environmental caution," said Ma Jun, an ecology warrior from Beijing. "It is paying more attention to environmental protection," with efforts to curb carbon emissions and air pollution as evidence.



The Nu, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, is China's remaining undamned river that flows through Yunnan Province. The region as a whole has been described by the United Nations as an area of "rich biodiversity in China and maybe the most biologically diverse temperate region on earth."



Animals such as the rare red panda and the white-speckled laughingthrush have been sighted in the region.



Its huge energy potential, however, has made it hot among the eyes of numerous hydropower companies for the past several years. Initial plans to build 13 dams in the Nu have already been shut down by the government back in 2004.



Huadian, the state-owned hydropower giant, as well as the Chinese government, have yet to confirm with the law-required environmental impact assessment. Should the project continue, environmentalists fear the destruction of the river ecology.



"It will not be good for us," said Xiong Xiangnan, a local farmer who makes a living on the side by selling fish he caught from the river. "Dams will pollute the river and hurt the fish."



By building a dam, Xiong and many others like him "will lose our farmland and our terraces."



Local farms aren't the only ones that will benefit should the dams be canceled. Even farmers from as far as Myanmar and Thailand, who rely on the Salween, will be benefited.


The U.S. Navy officer is accused of sharing confidential information to China and Taiwan. (Photo : Getty Images)

A Taiwan-born naval flight officer with an extensive intelligence background was accused of espionage for allegedly sharing classified information to China.



According to the Washington Post, Navy officer Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin faced preliminary investigations on Friday for accusations of two cases of espionage and three for attempted espionage as well as prostitution.



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Citing "a heavily redacted charge sheet" from the Navy, the Washington Post reported that Lin allegedly shared secret information with China and Taiwan.



Who Is Lieutenant Commander Lin?



Lin's identity was initially not revealed by the service, something that is usually not done with other officers facing a preliminary "Article 32" hearing.



According to Navy spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, the identity of the officer in question cannot be disclosed at the time "out of consideration for the service member's privacy."



However, another officer who shared Lin's name with the condition of anonymity confirmed that the suspect was indeed Lt. Cmdr. Lin.



According to USNI, Lin was a signals intelligence specialist assigned to man the Lockheed Martin EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance aircraft.



According to the Washington Post, he had also been part of the Patrol and Reconnaissance Group located in Norfolk.



Apparently, the team he belongs to runs some of the Navy's patrol aircraft responsible for gathering intelligence, giving him access to so much information gathered via spyplanes such as the P-8A Poseidon and P-3C Orion as well as the MQ-4C Triton surveillance drone.



Lin is a Taiwanese who became a naturalized U.S. citizen after his family left Taiwan and migrated to the U.S. back when he was still 14 years old, per a 2008 Navy release on his naturalization ceremony.



"I always dreamt about coming to America, the 'promised land.' I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland," he said at the time of his naturalization.



Sources also told USNI that the accused Navy officer was fluent in Mandarin, a main language in China.



The Charges



According to the charges sheet from the Navy, the officer in question is accused of sharing highly sensitive information with China and Taiwan "with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation."



According to Reuters, U.S. officials revealed that the suspect is accused of communicating with the foreign country twice and attempted three more times to share confidential information.



Aside from that, he is believed to have been involved in hiring a prostitute, committing adultery, and lying about his whereabouts to the U.S. government when he actually traveled overseas.



While U.S. officials believe that Lin shared information with both China and Taiwan, they emphasized that the probe is still ongoing and nothing is certain yet.



Meanwhile, Taiwan told Reuters that they have no information about Lin's case and declined to make any statement about it, while China had not made any comments on the matter as of press time.






Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Photo : Getty Images)

An Internet and social media-tracking website revealed the extent of Chinas censorship as the countrys Great Firewall blocked two major media outlets due to their commentaries on Chinese President Xi Jinping.



According to the New York Times, GreatFire.org identified The Economist's website and mobile application to have been completely blocked from being accessed in the country since April 2 and remained restricted from access to those in China at about 78 percent.



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Sharing the news over Twitter, the website said it was The Economist's cover with the text "Beware of the Cult of Xi" that got them blocked from being accessed in China for the first time.



Aside from the website and the mobile app, several WeChat accounts managed by the outlet were also suspended.



In the same manner, Great Fire also showed suspicious activity when netizens tried to access Time magazine online that featured the Chinese president's tightening control over the country's politics.



The magazine's cover, which was shared by Twitter user Tom Phillips, featured President Xi's images juxtaposed over the image of the founding father and first chairman of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong.



"He has retreated into the world of Mao: personality cults, plaudits to the state sector and diatribes against foreigners supposedly intent on destroying China," Time writer Hannah Beech wrote.



Xi's crackdown on government and private personalities in line with his anti-corruption campaign was featured by the media outlets, both of which cited how the Chinese president also embarked on making sure that local and foreign media remain in line with his campaign.



According to The Economist's Beijing Bureau Chief John Parker, the censorship was unexpected because he believes that he acted appropriately when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed their "displeasure" about the article.



"The Economist Group," the outlet's umbrella company, as well as its consulting arm, "The Economist Intelligence Unit," were both still operational as of press time.


The suspension of work in Colombo Port City may soon be lifted as Premier Li Keqiang told visiting Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will work for the resumption of the project. (Photo : Reuters)

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has dispelled issues that the Chinese investment in Sri Lanka poses a threat to other countries, such as India, China Daily reported.



The Sri Lankan prime minister made this pronouncement during his visit to Beijing, in which he sought more Chinese investment for the country, while the issue of compensation claim from a Chinese company involved in a major port project is still unresolved.



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As he ended his first visit to China on Saturday, April 9, Wickremesinghe said that a special status was given by his government to the Colombo Port City project and that many Chinese investors have been attracted by the port's profitable future.



"The port city and megalopolis is not a threat to anyone. It's an opportunity for everyone to make money," Wickremesinghe said.



"We met with many Chinese companies and they are all interested in coming into Sri Lanka," the Sri Lankan leader added.



In 2013, Sri Lanka has contracted the state-owned China Communications Construction Co. with investment of $1.4 billion for the construction of the Port City project, the biggest single foreign investment in the country. But in January last year, the new Sri Lankan government ordered a review and the project was suspended.



It was estimated that the suspension has caused the Chinese company losses of more than $380,000 a day, to which it sought compensation of $125 million. The Sri Lankan government said it is willing to negotiate as it cannot pay the amount.



Premier Li Keqiang told Wickremesinghe on Thursday, April 7, that it will work with Sri Lanka for the resumption of the project.



Wickremesinghe said that he did not think the compensation was a major problem, that is why he did not discuss it with Chinese leaders during his visit.



The Sri Lankan leader said that he would welcome Indian companies in the port project, although he said that it is a joint venture between Chinese and Sri Lankan companies, adding that they have discussed the issue with the Chinese government and Chinese banks.



Chinese and other companies have more opportunities for infrastructure development in the port city, which is being planned to become a "megalopolis" with a population of eight million, Wickremesinghe said.



"We welcome Chinese investment in areas including tourism, infrastructure and power," he added.



The Sri Lakan leader said that they are regaining the country's position as an Indian Ocean hub, in connection with the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road proposed by China.


The announcment of a joint Egyptian-Saudi technical maritime border re-drawing decision came as part of a bundle of political and economic agreements signed during the current visit to Cairo by Saudi King Salman bin Abdelaziz

Egypt's acknowledgement that the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir  long believed to be under Egyptian sovereignty  fall within regional Saudi maritime waters triggered a huge wave of controversy and confusion.

Egypt's cabinet said the agreement concerning the islands would be presented to the House of Representatives for legal and constitutional considerations and later ratification should it be voted for. The agreement allows Egypt to use shared Red Sea waters for excavation of natural resources, which would benefit the Egyptian economy, according to the statement.

Much as the cabinet statement sounds optimistic, it did not go down well publicly, with political parties among many doubters questioning the constitutionality of the decision, while other voices backed the Egyptian stance.

"This kind of agreements aren't signed all of a sudden without talks," said Medhat El-Zahed, a senior member of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party. "Discussions must've taken place beforehand, then why weren't they announced to the public ahead of the agreement?"

The cabinet statement said that the determination that the two islands fall within Saudi regional waters is the culmination of a six-year process of studies and eleven rounds of negotiations between the two sides.

"The borders of Egypt have been historically stable and are not [changeable] for compliments even if the reason was the economic crisis," El-Zahed added while speaking to Al-Ahram's Arabic site. "Article 151 of the Egyptian constitution has to be invoked."

Egypt has been suffering a steeply deteriorating economy since the 2011 uprising, which toppled longstanding president Hosni Mubarak, and the political disturbance that came in the years to follow. Egypt has been receiving considerable financial aid from Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, over the past two years.

Article 151 of the Egyptian constitution, which critics say was violated by the agreement, stipulates that redrawing national boarders has to be through a public referendum, as well as a parliament vote and presidential ratification..

Moreover, former head of Egypt's military operations authority Abdel-Moniem Said, asserted that both islands are considered Egyptian territories.

"Both islands belong to Egypt and we used to secure them with forces " Said said in statements to Al-Aassema television channel. "Also historically they always were Egyptian islands," he added.

Tiran and Sanafir islands lie at the south entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba in the north part of the Red Sea.

Among the agreements reached between the Egyptian and the Saudi sides was establishing a bridge over the Red Sea that separates Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The bridge will reportedly connect with both Islands.

It is not clear if the acknowledgment of Saudi sovereignty over the two Islands is related to the technical maritime border drawing.

"The anger over dropping two Islands Tiran and Sanafir has to turn from condemnation and ruling into a clear popular demand," rights lawyer Khaled Ali said on his Facebook page, suggesting that people call for freezing the agreement until it is put in a referendum.

On social media a considerable amount of anger was expressed by Egyptians, some of whom shared an audio of late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser warning of any violations of the Tiran waters, which he said are under full Egyptian sovereignty.

Others activists shared a picture of a map of the Red Sea taken from an elementary school book, according to which both Tiran and Sanafir are part of Egypt, with an Arabic hashtag that reads both islands trending in Egypt.

A Facebook page that drew the attention of thousands of users calls on all Egyptians to support a lawsuit that will be filed by lawyers Tarek El-Awady and Malek Adly to revoke the agreement.

Khaled Ali also filed a legal compalint against the decission.

However, former independent MP Amr Hamzawy on Twitter said that despite "the lack of transparency, the statement of the cabinet was accurate." He said it refers to the presidential decree number 27 in 1990 determining regional Egyptian maritime waters.

Hamzawy stressed the decree indeed excluded both islands.

"The [cabinet] statement is also accurate in referring to notifying the United Nations with the drawing of Egyptian maritime waters in 1990 and not claiming sovereignty over the two islands."

Similarly, Mohsen Hamdy, a former military general who used to be a member of an Egyptian committee which negotiated with Israel over reclaiming the northern Sinai city of Taba in the early 1980s, confirmed to Al-Masry Al-Youm daily that the two islands "belong to the Saudis 100 percent."

"The two islands are considered Saudi territory according to telegrams, documents and correspondence between both countries which lasted for many years," Hamdy said.

Hamdy explained that Egypt had sent troops to secure the two islands in the mid-1950s upon Saudi request at a time when the kingdom wanted to protect them from Israeli invasion.

That said, some social media users circulated an old news story published by the New York Times in January 1982 which mentions the former, and adds that following the 1979 peace treaty and after Egypt reclaimed the majority of the Sinai peninsula which was occupied by Israel in 1967, Saudi Crown Prince Fahd said that he would ask the Egyptian authorities to return the islands to Saudi sovereignty.

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Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will receive Cypriot parliament speaker Yannakis Omirou on Monday, who is visiting Egypt with a delegation at the invitation of his Egyptian counterpart Ali Abdel Al, state news agency MENA reported.

The meeting will tackle regional and international affairs of common interest.

The first European parliamentary speaker to visit Egypt since the Egyptian House of Representatives convened in January will sign a memorandum of understanding with his Egyptian counterpart on behalf of both parliaments.

Shoukry will also meet with Pierre Krahenbuhl, the general-commissioner of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near Easr (UNRWA), to discuss cooperation between Egypt and the UNRWA as well as the situation of Palestinian refugees.





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Italian ambassador departed Cairo on Sunday for consultations over the murder of Giulio Regeni

Italy's ambassador to Egypt left Cairo on Sunday, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported, two days after Italy said it would recall its envoy for consultations because Egypt had failed to provide evidence needed to solve the murder of an Italian student in Cairo.

Ambassador Maurizio Massari was recalled by Italy for " urgent evaluation" of what steps are necessary to identify the truth behind the "barbaric murder of Giulio Regeni", Italy's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Egyptian officials met with Italian prosecutors in Rome on Thursday and Friday, to provide the latest findings in the investigation into the case, which has strained ties between the otherwise two close allies.

Italy was not satisfied with the evidence offered by Egypt, especially after Cairo refused to share phone records from the area where Regeni lived, Cairo's assistant public prosecutor said, saying the request for records was unconstitutional and unlawful.

The PhD student, who was in Cairo conducting research on independent trade unions, went missing on 25 January. His body was found, bearing signs of severe torture, by a roadside on the outskirts of the capital nine days later.

Egypt has vigorously denied claims that security forces were involved in Regeni's murder.

Egyptian police said in March they had discovered Regeni's passport and other items following a shootout with a criminal gang whose members had been all killed.

The developments have been dismissed by Italian officials who believe there is no evidence to directly link the gang to Regeni's killing

Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentilon was quoted in media reports Sunday as saying that his country would be studying what necessary steps to take in the matter.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had said Italy would not settle for what he called a "convenient truth."

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Former Egyptian agriculture minister Salah Helal was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Cairo court on Monday for corruption.

Helal was accused of accepting bribes from businessman Ayman El-Gameel, one of the other defendants in the case, in return for smoothing over legal procedures for the latter to buy 2,500 feddans of land in Wadi El-Natroun, about 100km northwest of Cairo.

Some of the bribes came in the form of EGP 8.25 million worth of residential property in Cairo's 6 October city, membership of a sporting club worth 140,000, clothes and mobile phones, the court said.

The judge on Monday also ordered Helal, who was arrested in September shortly after he resigned as minister amid news of the corruption charges, to pay a EGP 1 million (approx. $113,000) fine.

The case provoked steep criticism of the cabinet of then-prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab, and a few days following Helals resignation the rest of the government tendered their resignations.

Helal's advisor Mohey El-Din El-Saied, who was also convicted in the case, also received a 10-year jail term and was ordered to pay an EGP 500,000 (approximately $56,000) fine.

El-Gameel, who paid the bribe, along with another defendant who played mediator, were acquitted in return for "admitting" their crime, pursuant to Egypt's penal code.

Judge Osama El-Rasheedy, however, criticised that part of the law as providing "a licence to [spread] corruption amongst state employees and [offer] immunity to [that] category of criminals."

Monday's sentences can still be appealed before Egypt's Court of Cassation.

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In 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty that brought to an end to the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and guaranteed Israeli ships safe passage through the Gulfs of Aqaba and Suez.

The Gulf of Aqaba, which lies between Saudi Arabia and Egypt's Sinai, also includes the Straits of Tiran, where the small islands of Tiran and Sanafir are located, securing the entrance to the gulf. These two islands have become the subject of a controversy in recent days after Egypt announced a deal with Saudi Arabia that acknowledges they fall within Saudi waters.

While much of the public debate in Egypt has been focused on whether the islands, which have been claimed by both Saudi Arabia and Egypt at different times, belong to one or the other, the effect the announcement will have on the peace treaty with Israel has yet to be widely discussed.

The two islands lie in Sinai's Zone C, according to the peace treaty, and accordingly were among those areas to be patrolled temporarily by international forces. An Egyptian military presence is prohibited in these areas, according to the treaty.

In 1982, Israel asked Egypt to allow the international forces securing both islands to remain, after Saudi Crown Prince Fahd said that he would ask the Egyptian authorities to return the islands to Saudi sovereignty following the peace treaty. The Saudi request was never met, and the two islands remained under Egyptian supervision.

Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have officially diplomatic relations. But Mohamed bin Salman, the deputy crown prince and defence minister, has written a letter to Prime Minister Sherif Ismail stating that the two islands will still be manned by international forces while under Saudi supervision.

On Monday, Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the Egyptian authorities had shared that information with their Israeli counterparts. The newspaper reported that if the Israeli government acknowledges the Egyptian-Saudi deal, the Knesset must endorse it.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubier told Egyptian journalists on Sunday that although there will never be any deals sealed with Israel until the Palestinian crisis is resolved, Riyadh respects Egypt's peace treaty with Israel and it will never negotiate with Tel Aviv over the permanent presence of the international forces on the two islands.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday that his state respected the peace treaty with Egypt, vowing that "the peace status with Egypt is stronger than any time before despite all the ongoing challenges which are facing both states" and describing the bilateral relationship as an important prerequisite for national security for both countries."

However, official sources told Israeli radio that the issue is being studied by a team of legal and judicial experts afflicted with the Israeli foreign ministry, and the government will announce its stance on the issue when it receives the experts' feedback.

Internally, Egypt's decision to hand over the two islands has caused controversy, with some political figures questioning the constitutionality of the decision, while other voices backed the Egyptian stance to return the islands to the Saudi government.

The Egyptian government says that its decision comes after a six-year process of studies and eleven rounds of negotiations between officials and experts from Cairo and Riyadh.

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The FM said that although Saudi Arabia is committed to international treaties involving the two islands, it will have no contact with Israel over the formerly Israeli-occupied islands

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir said that there would be "no direct relationship" between his country and Israel following Egypt's handing over of two Red Sea islands  the formerly Israeli-occupied Tiran and Sanafir  to Saudi Arabia.

In an interview with TV presenter Lamis El-Hadeedi on the CBC TV channel, Al-Jubair affirmed that there will be no contact between Saudi Arabia and Israel regarding the Islands.

"The islands are Saudi, they were occupied by Israel and then returned to Egypt, which has handed them back to us," Al-Jubeir said.

However, he stressed that Saudi Arabia is committed to international treaties involving the two islands, pointing to the 1979 peace treaty signed by Egypt and Israel, which includes the islands.

"There are agreements and commitments that Egypt has agreed to regarding these islands, and Saudi Arabia is abiding by these commitments without having a relationship or communication with Israel," Al-Jubeir said.

'The Islands were always Saudi'

The CBC interview with Al-Jubeir came shortly after an Egyptian cabinet announcement on Saturday that control of the islands would be given to Saudi Arabia.

The statement said that the decision was the culmination of a six-year process involving studies and 11 rounds of negotiations between the two countries.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed a number of political and economic agreements during a five-day visit to Cairo by King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz, including a maritime border demarcation agreement, with the Saudi foreign minister describing the current relationship between the two countries as "special."

The agreement triggered a huge wave of controversy and confusion, with two conflicting camps within Egypt arguing over the rightful ownership of the islands.

Opponents of the agreement reject arguments made by the Egyptian cabinet and the Saudi leadership that the two islands fall within Saudi maritime waters, insisting that both islands are Egyptian.

The decision is yet to be presented to the Egyptian parliament for discussion and ratification.

"The islands were always Saudi and I dont think anyone in Egypt doubts that," Al-Jubeir said. "Talk about drawing up the borders has been going on for decades, and now the decision has been made in a way that satisfies both sides."

When asked why Saudi Arabia decided to seek a resolution of this issue at this time, the Saudi foreign minister said: "Every country wants to [resolve its border disputes] with other [countries], even Egypt drew up its borders with Cyprus. Saudi Arabia wants to draw up its borders with its neighbours."

He said that Saudi Arabia has a history of settling border issues with neighbouring countries, citing similar situations in the late 20th century involving Iraq, Qatar, the UAE, Oman and Yemen.

"Saudi Arabia seeks to resolve its border issues so things are clear between us and our neighbours in a way that serves the interests of all sides," he added.

He said talks over the islands have been ongoing since the time of Egypt's King Farouk and Saudi Arabia's King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, including negotiations in the last 10 years.

Red Sea bridge

El-Jubeir refuted reports that the recently-announced Red Sea bridge connecting the Asian and African continents would be constructed by Saudi Arabia in return for the border demarcation agreement.

"There have always been talks about the bridge, and now a decision has been made to have a final say on this [issue]," Al-Jubeir said, while stressing on the impact the bridge would have in terms of economy, society and politics.

He described the planned construction of the bridge as "a historical step in connecting Asia and Africa and Saudi Arabia with Egypt."

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said the bridge would be named after Saudi Arabia's King Salman.

Egyptian-Saudi positions on Syria and Yemen do not conflict

Saudi foreign minister Al-Jubeir also refuted claims that Egypt and Saudi Arabia had opposing foreign policy positions on the war-torn Syria and Yemen.

"There is no contradiction in opinions, our goals are one in all issues. However, there might be a difference [in opinion] on how to reach these goals," he said.

On Syria, Al-Jubeir said that Saudi Arabia and Egypt want a peaceful solution to the Syrian civil conflict to be reached by the Syrian people, and which includes the protection of Syrian unity and sovereignty.

"We both do not want the division of Syria," he said.

Al-Jubeir also said that Egypt was the first to join the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen against Houthi rebels in March 2015, adding that Egypt was among the first countries to stress the importance of the return of state legitimacy in Yemen.

Egyptian relationship with Turkey and Qatar

When asked about how he sees the relationship between Egypt and Turkey, Al-Jubeir said that he believes both countries are important and have influence over the region.

"We hope that they can resolve any conflict between them through dialogue," he added.

El-Jubeir also gave his take on Egyptian-Qatari relations, saying that Saudi Arabia was willing to act as a mediator if both "brothers" asked.

"I think there is already a connection between the two countries, as well as attempts to converge viewpoints. I predict and wish that they are able to get over their conflict that I do not think is as deep as claimed by analysts," he added.

On the Muslim Brotherhood

When asked by El-Hadidi about whether Saudi Arabia considers the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, Al-Jubeir said that the country considers any group that calls for violence or kills innocent people a terrorist group.

The Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt and deemed by authorities a terror group.

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A number of MPs have requested the government provide parliament with all documents related to a new maritime border deal handing over two Red Sea islands to the Gulf nation

Egypt's parliament  the House of Representatives  is soon expected to review a new technical deal aimed at drawing the maritime borders between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The deal, which leaves the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir within the regional waters of Saudi Arabia, has left MPs divided.

While some MPs agree that the two islands are historically part of Saudi Arabia's regional waters, others say the deal must be put to a public referendum.

On Monday, a number of MPs said the new Egypt-Saudi deal must be presented to parliament "very soon."

"[The deal] must also be corroborated with all the historical documents and maps showing that the two Islands are in fact part of Saudi territory," said MP Tarek El-Khouli.

El-Khouli, in an urgent statement to prime minister Sherif Ismail, said "it will be highly embarrassing for parliament to approve a deal without having all the complete and adequate information about it."

"We must get all the reports made by the committees that demarcated the new maritime borders between Egypt and Saudi Arabia," he said.

El-Khouli said Article 151 of the new constitution states that international agreements signed by the president of the republic must be ratified by parliament in order to be valid and effective.

MP Anwar El-Sadat also told reporters that a special committee must be formed by parliament to review the new deal between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

"This committee must obtain all the necessary documents related to Egypt's eastern borders since 1906 and the letters exchanged between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the two islands since 1990," said El-Sadat.

Meanwhile, MPs and other leading officials affiliated with the Egyptian Social Democratic Party said they would collect signatures from ordinary citizens calling for rejecting the new deal with Saudi Arabia.

In an official statement, the party said the two Red Sea islands have been part of Egypt's regional waters since 1800, or one year after French leader Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt.

"The two islands have been on all the maps of Egypt since that date," the party said in a statement.

The statement also argued that Article 151 of the constitution is clear that all international agreements related to "sovereignty issues" must be put to a public referendum.

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Iran will allow the United Nations to inspect a Yemen-bound aid ship at the regional UN hub in Djibouti, Tehran's deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday, offering a chance to avert a showdown with Saudi-led forces.

Earlier in the day, the Iran Shahed's captain had said the ship was due to enter the Bab al-Mandeb strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, bypassing Djibouti on the Horn of Africa and heading for the Yemeni port of Hodaida.

"We have decided to dock our ship in Djibouti so the United Nations inspection protocol can take place," Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

Iran backs the dominant Houthi militia in Yemen's civil war while Saudi Arabia, Tehran's regional arch-rival, sees the Houthis as a threat and is leading air strikes on them to try to roll back their advances and reinstate Yemen's exiled president.

Iran has said the ship is carrying humanitarian aid for Yemeni civilians. Hodaida's port is under Houthi control.

The Saudi-led coalition controls the waters around Yemen and has enforced inspections on all shipments entering the country. It was not clear whether Saudi forces would allow the Iran Shahed to dock in Yemen even after a UN inspection.

Abdollahian said Iran would send a flight to Djibouti on Thursday, also containing aid for Yemen, in a further signal that Tehran might begin to channel all aid through the U.N. hub.

The Saudi-led coalition blocked Tehran's previous attempts to fly aid directly into Yemen's capital Sanaa, on one occasion bombing the runway to prevent an Iranian flight from landing.

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Russia has sent the first part of its S-300 air defence missile system to Iran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency on Monday.

Russia says it canceled a contract to deliver S-300s, among the world's most capable air defence systems, to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West. But President Vladimir Putin lifted that self-imposed ban in April 2015 following an interim nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Israel strongly opposes the supply of the system to Iran.

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The Gulf kingdom of Bahrain on Monday published a list of 68 Islamist militant groups it classified as "terrorist", the state news agency BNA said.

Lebanon's Shia Hezbollah movement, already branded as "terrorist" by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League, topped the list approved by Bahrain's cabinet, BNA said.

Also on the list was Al-Qaeda and its branches in Yemen and North Africa, as well as Al-Nusra Front in Syria and the Islamic State group (IS group).

Nigeria's Boko Haram, Egypt's Islamic Jihad and Al-Murabitoun in Mali are also on the list.

Also included are the little-known Al-Ashtar Brigades and Resistance Brigades, as well as the clandestine February 14 Coalition, all believed to be Shiite groups in Bahrain.

A similar list already issued by the United Arab Emirates includes 83 groups.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are all partners in the US-led coalition that is bombing IS group militants in Syria and Iraq.

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The Islamic State group strongholds Raqa and Mosul "must fall" this year, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said during a speech in Baghdad on Monday.

The battles to retake Raqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq are expected to be the most difficult of the war against IS group, which holds swathes of territory in both countries.

Le Drian's remarks are the most specific timetable for the cities' recapture given by a member of the US-led coalition against the Islamist militants, which has been reluctant to comment on the expected pace of operations.

"Raqa and Mosul must fall in 2016," Le Drian said, calling for making it "the year of a major turning point in our struggle against the so-called Islamic State".

IS group claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November last year, and there is concern that the Islamist militants will strike the country again.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has said an Islamist militant cell that attacked Brussels airport and a metro station last month, killing 32 people, initially planned to target France.

Raqa was seized by the Islamist militants in early 2014, and Mosul was overrun during an IS group offensive in June that year.

The fact that both cities still have large civilian populations will complicate efforts to retake them, and the Islamist militants have had ample time to sow slews of bombs and set up other defences.

Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, the commander of the international operation against IS group, has said that Iraqi generals do not think they will be able to recapture Mosul until the end of 2016 or early 2017 at the earliest.

This year "must be the year of the beginning of the end for Daesh", Le Drian said in his speech to Iraqi special forces and French troops, using an Arabic acronym for IS group.

But he cautioned that despite having suffered a string of defeats, the Islamist militants are still a threat.

"Because it's cornered, Daesh is more dangerous than ever," he said.

IS group is still able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas, as well as mount raids targeting security forces.

Le Drian arrived in Baghdad on Monday for talks on the war against the Islamist militants, meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi and Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi.

According to the French military, France has carried out more than 580 strikes against IS group, destroying over 1,000 targets, and has around 350 soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Le Drian, who arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait, has already visited some of those troops.

The United States carries out the majority of coalition strikes and has deployed some 3,900 military personnel to the country, including special forces targeting IS with raids.

The militant group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since recaptured significant ground with backing from the coalition, while Syrian forces have also made gains against IS group.

Le Drian's visit comes just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed during a trip to Baghdad that the coalition and Iraq would turn up the heat on IS group.

In addition to major security challenges, Iraq has also been hit by an economic crisis caused by slumping oil prices, and political tensions over efforts to replace the current cabinet.

Abadi has called for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics", and presented a list of nominees to parliament last week.

But powerful Iraqi parties and politicians rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds, and lawmakers said the political blocs are nominating other candidates.

Officials have said a vote on new candidates could take place on Tuesday, but the end result may be a variation on the current system of party-affiliated ministers.

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Food companies buoyed the Saudi stock market on Sunday after better than expected results from the region's largest dairy food producer while a visit by the king of Saudi Arabia to Egypt failed to lift the Cairo bourse.

The Saudi index advanced 1.4 percent after dairy producer Almarai reported a slight rise in first-quarter net profit in a challenging market. Almarai's shares rose by 3.6 percent, helping the food sector to a 4.2 percent gain.

Savola, which has a 36.5 percent stake in Almarai, jumped 6 percent to 44.10 riyals and is Riyadh-based NCB Capital's top pick in the sector.

Shares in Jarir Marketing, one of the kingdom's largest retailers by market value, shrugged off a 29.5 percent drop in first-quarter net profit and gained 2.4 percent to 117.75 riyals.

Riyad Capital rates Jarir a "buy", with a target price of 189 riyals, citing its attractive dividend yield as a factor in its rating.

Construction and engineering contractor Alkhodari edged up 0.4 percent after it booked a 15 million riyal ($4 million) profit from the sale of some of its equipment last week. The revenue will be reflected in the second quarter.

The petrochemical sector was another strong performer, spurred by Friday's rebound in oil prices, with Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) climbing 2 percent.

In Cairo, Egypt's main index EGX30 fell 1 percent, with investor caution prevailing despite the visit by Saudi King Salman.

"There are no direct indications yet of grants, aid or central bank deposits by the Saudis to Egypt," said Allen Sandeep, head of research at Cairo's Naeem Brokerage, adding that the market resumed the correction that began after Egypt's mid-March currency devaluation.

Bourse data showed that local and foreign traders were net sellers on Sunday, while non-Egyptian Arab investors were net buyers.

King Salman said Sunday during a "historic" address before the Egyptian parliament that Riyadh and Cairo have agreed to set up a "free trade zone" in the Sinai Peninsula.

Out of 163 stocks traded for the day, 51 saw gains and 82 went down.

Market bellwether Commercial International Bank (CIB) declined 1.28 percent to register EGP 39.18 per share.

The country's leading listed investment bank EFG Hermes dropped 0.92 percent to close at EGP 9.71 per share.

Telecom Egypt rose 0.60 percent to be sold at EGP 8.40 per share.



* This story has been edited by Ahram Online.

* An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the share price of EFG Hermes as EGP 4.16. We regret the error.

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The municipal authorities had ordered the evacuation of the building for demolition due to safety reasons after a partial collapse

A visit by an official on Sunday to the Townhouse Gallery has put on hold a decision announced yesterday by municipal authorities to demolish the building that houses the popular gallery, according to Townhouse Gallery's Facebook page.

This morning, the Townhouse building was visited by the National Organisation for Urban Harmony (NOUH), who has halted the demolition of the building, read the Facebook statement.

"Procedures will now begin to study its future as a listed building. We would like to thank every person who was involved in the events of yesterday for their immense support and energy that helped make this happen."

The building housing Cairo's Townhouse Gallery had partially collapsed 6 April, prompting the district authority and the police to order the evacuation of the building for demolition on today 10 April.

Yasser Gerab, the Townhouses director for outreach, told Ahram Online that an official had visited the area this morning and informed residents and shop owners that the demolition would not take place.

According to Gerab, the official announced the addition of a wood structure to support to the rest of the building until a new report is drafted by engineering experts examining the possibility of restoration.

The details of the action plan are still not clear. We still don't know whether the Townhouse should proceed to form this committee of experts itself, or whether the municipal authorities will take care of that, Gerab added.

Gerab said they were grateful to Soheir Hawas, NOUH's consultant and a member of its board of directors, who supported us despite being out of Egypt.

According to the Cairo Urban Initiatives Platform (CUIP), NOUH "aims at applying the values of beauty to the exterior image of buildings, urban and monumental spaces, the bases of visual texture of cities and villages and all the civilized areas of the country including the new urban societies."

Once the report is drafted by engineering experts, NOUH "could help us by sending a recommendation to the municipal authority to restore the building," Gerab added.

He also said that the building's owner has been very supportive, adding that she wasnt pushing towards the demolition and extended authority to a lawyer who will represent the building's residents and shop owners and try to secure a restoration of the building.

For the past 17 years, the four-floor downtown Cairo edifice housed the Townhouse Gallery, a highly respected Cairo art space and a frontrunner in Egypts independent cultural movement.

While the Townhouse Gallery occupies four apartments in the block, the building is also home to families living in four other apartments while its ground floor houses a car mechanic and spare parts shop.

"The part of the building that collapsed includes one of the Townhouse Gallery spaces and administrative offices," Gerab clarified earlier.

For the time being the Townhouse will have to relocate to the space beside Rawabet Theatre, located in the gallery's vicinity.

"We expect our activities to be affected for some time, but definitely we will be back with a strong programme soon," Gerab explained.

The building's partial collapse comes some months after the Townhouse Gallery was closed by the authorities for several weeks.

At the end of December 2015, officials from the local municipality, the Censorship Authority and the Tax Authority closed the Townhouse Gallery after inspections reportedly showed administrative irregularities.

The gallery reopened mid-February.

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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(Beijing)  A city commercial bank has found that more than 780 million yuan worth of bills of exchange stored in its vaults have gone missing, the latest in a string of scandals that shed light on the country's booming bills market which until recently has been little supervised.

The Bank of Tianjin, which went public in Hong Kong on March 30, announced on April 8 that police in Shanghai had opened an investigation into a "risk event at a branch in Shanghai. Some 786 million yuan worth of bills of exchange were involved, it said.

A person close to the probe said the bills were bought by the bank under a repurchase agreement. A number of bank employees who handled the bills had turned themselves in to police, the source said.

It is unclear what they did and what charges they may face.

The scandal resembles one uncovered in January at the Beijing branch of the Agricultural Bank of China. The country's third-largest lender by assets found that it lost nearly 4 billion yuan worth of bills of exchange.

At least two employees of Agricultural Bank have been detained by police on suspicion they sold the bills for cash and used most of the proceeds to buy stocks.

Investigators have found that the bills the Bank of Tianjin lost were sold through a bills agency to Zhejiang Chouzhou Commercial Bank, a city commercial bank in the eastern province of Zhejiang, several people close to the matter said. One said this bank acted as only an intermediary.

The scam surfaced as the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) cracks down on misappropriations and illegal trading involving bills of exchange, a certificate of payments that a bank has promised to make on behalf of a client. It is a short-term financing tool and can be traded among banks and sold for cash.

As the growth of traditional, long-term loans slows, demand for bills of financing has soared. The central bank reported a 56.9 percent increase in the total value of bills of exchange from 2014 to the end of last year, but regulation has not grown accordingly, leaving the market vague and prone to exploitation.

The proliferation of firms that act as go-betweens linking buyers and sellers of the bills has made supervision more difficult.

These firms, acting like a financial institution but without the license, have "detached from their supposed role of providing basic information services and embedded themselves deep in the whole financial market, bringing tremendous risks, a CBRC official said. "It is time we clean these bills agencies up.

(Written by Wang Yuqian)
(Beijing)  A company-authorized dealer of baby formula has been linked to a ring making selling knockoff baby milk powder, a case that one analyst says highlights problems with government supervision of the industry.

Police in Shanghai detained the dealer and eight other people from December 9, 2015, to January 7 this year on suspicion they produced and sold knockoff milk powder products, an official with a food-safety office under the cabinet said at a news conference in the capital on April 9.

Acting on a tip-off from Abbott Laboratories Ltd. in September 2015, police found more than 20,000 empty containers of that brand and 65,000 sets of labeling materials, said Ma Chunliang, head of an investigation team from the State Council's food-safety office.

The dealer was also authorized by Beingmate Baby & Child Food Co. Ltd., which is based in the eastern city of Hangzhou, Ma said. He bought a cheaper variety of Beingmate baby formula for 30 yuan per 405 gram container from August 2014 to May 2015, then repackaged it in fake containers of a more expensive Beingmate product.

The knockoff products were sold to retailers in Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan, and in Hefei, in the eastern province of Anhui, for 140 yuan for a 1,000 gram container.

The ring made 1.6 million yuan by selling 11,000 containers of knockoff Beingmate milk powder. Ma did not say whether the retailers were aware the products were fakes.

Ma also said that the same dealer purchased several brands of baby formula, including New Zealand's Vitacare, for 70 to 80 yuan per container and fake Abbott containers from two manufacturers, Ma said. He then distributed the knockoff goods to retailers in the central provinces of Henan and Hubei and eastern province of Jiangsu for 160 yuan per container.

The retailers who uncovered the knockoffs destroyed thousands of containers and police found others, but some 3,300 packages are unaccounted for, Ma said.

Tests of the products show they met national standards, Ma said, though calcium levels were lower than the manufacturer promised consumers.

Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott's subsidiary in China, said in a statement on April 9 that it reported the case to police in September 2015 after it found problems with a line of its products.

The company said that police told it to remain silent on the matter while they investigated.

It is well-known that authorized dealers and wholesalers have been involved in repackaging knockoff milk powder, a dairy company employee who asked not to be named said.

Song Liang, an independent industry analyst in Beijing, said that the scandal exposed problems with the oversight of dealers, wholesalers and retailers. He said that a computer system to allow authorities to track baby formula from producers to consumers is still not complete eight years after the dairy industry was hit by a major scandal.

In 2008, dairy products were found to be tainted with a chemical called melamine, a problem authorities said resulted in the deaths of six infants. Some 300,000 babies were made ill.

(Rewritten by Li Rongde)
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders won Saturday's Democratic caucus in the Western state of Wyoming, but even in victory he failed to gain ground on his rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the race to become U.S. president.

Sanders won 56 percent of the vote. Democratic Party rules left each candidate with seven of Wyoming's 14 delegates. The win was the eighth in the past nine contests for Sanders, who has pointed to the streak as a sign of momentum for his campaign.

But he will need to win by much bigger margins under the proportionate delegate system in order to catch Clinton and win the Democratic nomination for president.

Clinton finished Saturday ahead 1,287-1,037 from state voting and has another roughly 500 so-called super delegates pledging to back her. Sanders will try to continue his streak on April 19 when delegate-rich New York holds its primary. Clinton holds a double-digit lead in polls there, and will be looking for a win to push her closer to clinching the nomination.

Republicans will also compete in New York, the home state of businessman Donald Trump who leads the race for the party's nomination.

Trump also has a big lead in polls, with some putting him 30 points ahead of Ohio Governor John Kasich and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Global security, the refugee crisis and political instability were focal points for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other Group of Seven foreign ministers, who have wrapped up their first day of talks in Japan.

Their two-day meeting is under way in Hiroshima, a city devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb near the end of World War Two. Kerry is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the city.

In an interview with a Hiroshima newspaper Chugoku Shimbun, Kerry said most global threats to international peace require collective action.

"Gatherings, such as this one are important opportunities to help us address urgent international political and security concerns and to speak with one, clear voice on concrete actions needed," he said.

The Group of Seven industrialized countries also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

In addition to terrorism, the group is expected to discuss maritime security in the South China Sea and recent nuclear and ballistic missile provocations from North Korea.

On the sidelines of talks on Monday, Kerry and other foreign ministers will visit Peace Memorial Park, a World War Two memorial.

The U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which led to the end of the war. The bombing resulted in the deaths of about 140,000 people.

Three days later, the U.S. dropped a second bomb on the port city of Nagasaki, killing about 70,000 people.
About 100 people died and hundreds of others were injured in a massive fire that broke out at a temple in the southern Indian state of Kerala early Sunday where thousands had gathered to witness a fireworks display being held as a part of an annual religious festival. The tragedy took place around 3 a.m. -- a few hours after the fireworks display started near the Puttingal Devi Temple in the coastal town of Paravur in Kollam district, about 70 kilometers from the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram. Officials said a shed where a huge quantity of fireworks was stored went up in flames after a spark fell on it, setting off a series of massive explosions and a blaze that spread quickly.

People gather around a damaged section of a temple after a fire broke out at a temple in Kollam in the southern state of Kerala, India on April 10, 2016. /Reuters

The office of the temple authorities was reduced to rubble and part of the temple roof also caved in. Huge plumes of smoke billowed into the night sky. A stampede ensued as panic spread and many were injured as they tried to flee the flames. Disaster teams have reached the coastal town. The armed forces are assisting the massive effort to transport the injured and those who have suffered burn injuries to hospitals. Naval spokesman D.K. Sharma told VOA that helicopters and three naval ships have been dispatched to take the injured to bigger towns in the state. "The helicopters will be used to establish the air bridge between Kollam and Trivandurum, and once the casualties reach Trivandrum, (colonial name for Thiruvananthapuram), they will be airlifted to Cochin. The ships have already reached with medical equipment, medical assistance, doctors, the specialists," Sharma told VOA.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said permission had not been granted for the fireworks display and temple authorities had flouted rules in conducting it. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi headed to the disaster site with a team of specialist doctors. In a tweet Modi called the fire at the temple "heart-rending and shocking beyond words" and said "My thoughts are with families of the deceased and prayers with the injured." After surveying the scene of the disaster, Chandy said the focus is on treating those who are injured and have suffered burns. "About 300 persons are admitted to different hospitals. Sufficient medical facilities are available here and we are giving the best medical care to all the persons," he told reporters. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the central government will assist the state government in rescue operations. "As soon as we came to know about the fire, the teams have been alerted," Singh said. An investigation has been ordered into the tragic blaze. The fireworks display at the temple is a tradition that dates back many decades and is usually a competition between two teams. Pyrotechnic shows are usually banned at temples in the Kollam district and rules stipulate that fireworks should be stored more than 100 meters away from temples. The southern Kerala state is dotted with many Hindu temples, and the Puttingal Devi temple was built at a site where locals believe a goddess appeared many centuries ago.
The ministry published statements from the 13 saying their reasons for fleeing to Seoul included that they had lost faith in the North Korean system after recent tougher international sanctions or were impressed by South Korean democracy.

The 12 women and one man were earning hard currency for the North Korean regime in the Chinese city of Ningbo, Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told reporters.

Thirteen North Koreans have defected from a restaurant in China to South Korea, officials here said Friday.

The restaurant in Ningbo where they worked opened late last year as a joint venture with a Chinese company and had a total staff of about 18 -- 15 women and three male supervisors.

A Foreign Ministry official here said the defectors acted under their own steam. They had to hatch an elaborate plan since North Korean overseas workers are tightly supervised by agents of the state.

Their identities were not published, but an informed source said they probably managed to get out because the manager and supervising agent were in on the plan.

It is likely that the workers were disgruntled because they failed to meet the increased currency payments demanded by the regime in Pyongyang.

China appears to have tacitly aided the North Koreans since it usually takes around a month for defectors to make their way from China to South Korea. Unlike most defectors, the 13 had been legally working in China with proper visas and were not at risk of being deported while they made their way across China to a southern border.

But it is rare for ordinary North Koreans to board a foreign airline, which suggests that Chinese authorities looked the other way when they boarded a flight to Seoul.
Each restaurant hands over around $300,000 a year to the regime, so they are de facto fronts for the state to generate funds for the nuclear and other weapons programs.

Around 90 of them are in China, nine in Russia, seven in Cambodia and four in Vietnam. Their number has increased recently as various North Korean agencies competed to raise foreign currency after Kim Jong-un came to power.

North Korea operates around 130 restaurants around the world and earns around US$40 million a year from those businesses each year, intelligence agencies estimate.

North Korean authorities usually select staff from among the children and relatives of party or military officials. They are usually young women with training in dancing and music.

One high-ranking North Korean official who defected to South Korea said, "The workers are chosen among the children or relatives of families in good standing because they are believed to be less vulnerable to being influenced by the outside world."

But as demand for pretty young women increased, they have been drawn from a wider pool with less emphasis on family background.

They work under strict surveillance just like other North Koreans laborers abroad, living in collective accommodation and prevented from traveling freely in their host country. If they do leave their quarters they must travel in groups of three or four and are not allowed to use mobile phones.

They earn anywhere between $150 and $500 a month depending on how well they can dance and play an instrument. They also get tips, so their income is relatively high by North Korean standards, which makes the positions a dream job for many young people.
Samgyetang, or chicken soup with ginseng, could soon be joining the list of popular Korean dishes in China, now that Beijing has approved imports of the instant variety.

The dish is also expected to get a boost from the KBS TV series "Descendants of the Sun," a smash hit in China, as one episode featured a scene in which characters were seen enjoying the soup.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said on Sunday that 11 companies had registered with the Chinese government to start exporting instant samgyetang before June.

The government has been trying to gain entry into the Chinese market for samgyetang since 2006, but Beijing banned it because it classifies ginseng as a medicinal herb.

But a breakthrough came last year at a meeting between President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who promised to allow imports of kimchi, rice and samgyetang. The two sides have spent more than six months ironing out the details in order to get exports rolling.
The turnout for early voting for Wednesday's general elections was a record 12.2 percent.

The National Election Commission said Sunday that over 5.1 million out of some 42.1 million eligible voters cast their ballot in advance on Friday and Saturday.

The figure is 0.7 percentage point higher than the 11.5 percent in the regional elections in 2014, when early voting was first introduced on a nationwide basis.

Early voting started with smaller scale elections -- the by-elections in the first half of 2013 -- and has since taken place seven times.

Turnout in early voting has steadily increased, and based on turnout this time the NEC predicts overall turnout to be just under 60 percent. Turnout in the last general elections in 2012 was 54.2 percent.
Centre Pompidou in Paris, Europe's biggest modern art museum, will open a pop-up space in Seoul in March next year.

The man in charge will be Seo Soon-ju, who is known for his successful planning of large-scale exhibitions of Picasso, Monet and Gauguin.

"We got the proposal from the Centre Pompidou two years ago and started preparing, and we recently confirmed the opening date in March next year," Seo told the Chosun Ilbo on Sunday.

"Prior to the official opening, we will hold other special exhibitions including a collection of some 100 works owned by Pompidou such as Picasso, Chagall, Kandinsky, and Matisse."
GM Korea is in trouble after posting its biggest net loss ever last year at nearly W1 trillion mainly due to a sharp fall in exports (US$1=W1,153).

Exports account for 80 percent of the company's sales.

GM Korea on Sunday said sales in 2015 dropped by 7.6 percent from the previous year to W11.94 trillion. That meant an operating loss of W594.4 billion, four times more than a year ago, and net loss up 2.8 times at W986.8 billion.

A solid performance in the domestic market, where sales surged nearly W50 billion from 2014 to W2.55 trillion, failed to plug the void created by an unprecedented plunge in overseas sales of over W1 trillion to W9.4 trillion.

"Last year's lackluster sales stem from one-off costs from the pullout of Chevrolet from the Russian market and steady increase in labor and marketing costs," a GM spokesman said.

GM Korea has been the local unit of U.S. General Motors since the buyout of Daewoo Motor in 2002. GM holds 77 percent of the shares and the Korea Development Bank 17 percent.
Five detained as death toll in India's temple fire rises to 112

2016-04-11 15:45

The site of the Puttingal Devi temple fire is seen in the southern Indian state Kerala, on April 10, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

NEW DELHI -- The Indian police detained five people on Monday in connection with Sunday's temple fire in the southern state of Kerala as the death toll rose to 112 with two more persons succumbing to their injuries overnight. "A criminal case has been registered against 40 people, including office-bearers of the Puttingal temple board in the state's Kollam district, for going ahead with a fireworks display without any government permission. Five of the accused have been detained," a police official said. "A manhunt has been launched to nab all those responsible for the fire which broke out during a fireworks display near the temple. Some of the key accused are absconding and police teams have been despatched to various places to arrest them," said the official. Meanwhile, the death toll in the tragedy rose to 112 on Monday morning, with two more critically injured persons succumbing to their injuries. The death toll may further go up as many of those 350 injured are battling for their lives at various hospitals across Kerala," the official said. The fire started around 3 a.m. local time on Sunday during the fireworks display at a ground next to the Puttingal temple. According to officials, a spark had actually ignited a stack of fireworks, triggering the fire. "It was a spark from the crackers being burst that fell into the stack of crackers kept on ground, leading to the fire," another official said. Such was the impact of the fire that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the inferno was "heart-rending and shocking", and went to Kerala to meet the injured in a special Indian Air Force flight, along with a team of 15 specialist doctors from the national capital. "Fire at the temple in Kollam is heart-rending and shocking beyond words. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased and prayers with the injured," Modi tweeted and announced a compensation of 4,000 US dollars for the families of each of the deceased.
FTA upgrade on agenda in New Zealand PM's visit to China

2016-04-11 15:01

WELLINGTON, April 11 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Monday he will lead a high-level business delegation to China next week and look to upgrade the bilateral free trade agreement.

The delegation would visit Beijing, where Key would hold meetings with Chinese leaders, as well as Xi'an and Shanghai, during the April 17-22 visit.

"Along with a broad range of topics, I look forward to continuing discussions with them on an upgrade of the China New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed eight years ago this month," Key said.

"Since this time, two-way trade between New Zealand and China has more than doubled, reaching almost 19 billion NZ dollars (12.96 billion U.S. dollars). An FTA upgrade would allow us to modernise the agreement and ensure it continues to drive our relationship forward."

China was a key destination for our goods exports and an important consumer of New Zealand services, Key said.

"The visit provides an opportunity to strengthen our relationship and showcase New Zealand's creativity, innovation, and high-tech credentials," he said.

In Beijing, Key would also address students at the prestigious Tsinghua University and meet with senior Chinese business leaders.

Key will hold official meetings with senior provincial and city leaders in the major centers of Xi'an and Shanghai.

In his first visit to Xi'an, capital of western China's Shannxi province, he would support New Zealand business and cultural links with Xi'an, and visit the city's international trade and logistics hub, part of China's Belt and Road initiative.

Key would also help to promote New Zealand's creative industries by attending the launch of the New Zealand Film Festival in Shanghai.

Key would be accompanied by Trade Minister Todd McClay and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.
The VCs have been asked to put in their papers before 11.30 am on Monday, October 24.
Teachers complain about outdated textbooks

VietNamNet Bridge - Teachers and students still have to use textbooks which contain outdated and inaccurate information.

Teachers and students still have to use textbooks which contain outdated and inaccurate information.



Nguyen Tan Ngu Le, a teacher at Le Quy Don High School in HCM City, thinks geography textbooks are the most outdated.The textbook for 12th graders says Vietnams annual income per capita is $500 and that Vietnam is a low income country. The figure should be over $1,000, and Vietnam is now low middle-income country.The Vietnamese population has reached 91 million, but the textbook says 84 million, the figure of 10 years ago.Also according to Le, the textbook says that the population has been increasing rapidly and Vietnam has young population. The General Department of Population & Family Planning has affirmed that Vietnam has entered the golden population period.The textbook for 11th graders, when mentioning developed economies, does not include China which has surpassed other countries to become the second largest economy in the world.Tran Van Quang, a geography teacher of Tran Dai Nghia High School in HCM City, noted that it is necessary to change textbooks as soon as possible. A lot of hydropower plants have been built, while Atlas still says Son La, Ban Ve, Xe Xan 3, Sre Pok 3, 4 are under the construction.The textbook for 12th graders says Vietnam has five international airports, while in fact, the current figure is 11.Why dont teachers update information themselves and provide updated statistics to students? Le said teachers and students are told to stick to textbooks which are mandatory.Even if teachers want to update information, they cannot find reliable information sources. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) does not specify which sources of information teachers need to refer to. As a result, teachers seek information from different sources.Vu Duy Sau, a parent in HCM City, complained that his daughter was having difficulties with lessons about fowl breeding.I dont understand why primary school students in cities need to learn how to breed fowls, he said. Since students cannot practice the fowl breeding, they cannot understand the lesson."Saus daughter, a fifth grader, has to learn how to take care of pregnant women, and about Type A hepatitis and encephalitis. But they do not learn about more common diseases such as short-sightedness or mumps.As a result, some students even went to school though they had mumps, Sau said.Do Ngoc Thong, a senior official of MOET, though admitting that textbooks show outdated statistics, said that textbooks cannot recompiled every year.

Tien Phong




#COVID-19 New COVID-19 cases post sharp on-week rise amid resurgence woes South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 30,000 for the fifth consecutive day Sunday, but the daily count recorded a sharp hike from the previous week amid rising concerns ove...

#illegal gambling China-based online gambling ring busted; 20 arrested Law-enforcement authorities here said Sunday they have busted an online gambling ring based in China for illicit operations in South Korea, worth a total of 5.7 trillion won (US$3....
The one thing we took from all nine seasons of Scrubs is that there never has been a TV bromance as strong as JD and Turk, and we never want there to be. The two had their ups and downs but there's no denying that they really were the two best friends... that anyone ever had.

And... they're bessies in real life too! The show may have ended six years ago but the pair have remained good friends, meeting up over the weekend in Cabo to celebrate Zach Braff's 41st birthday.

Here's the pair frolicking in the water together.

While here's Braff posing in a towel with his face all over it, which we can only hope and assume was a gift from Faison.

Both Braff and Faison also met up with fellow co-stars Christa Miller (Jordan) and John McGinley (Dr. Cox) over the Easter too.

N'aww.

Now let's take a moment to remember the epic Guy-Love that was JD and Turk...
Phosphorus giant Wengfu stamping footprint overseas Updated: 2016-04-11 09:18 By Zhu Wenqian(China Daily)

He Guangliang (in the middle with glasses), chairman of Wengfu Group, works with his company staff in the central control room of the phosphorus processing project in Saudi Arabia.[Provided to China Daily] Phosphorus giant Wengfu expands by exploiting business presented by the Belt and Road Initiative

Guizhou-based Wengfu (Group) Co Ltd, a State-owned enterprise dealing in phosphorus and chemicals, is pressing ahead with its expansion in the Middle East, in its bid to utilize opportunities presented by China's Belt and Road Initiative.

The company was founded in the 1990s, and has since mastered phosphorus mining technology, which helps it in extracting 95 percent of phosphorus out of phosphate ore after removing impurities.

The technology also helps lower Wengfu's costs and raises the recovery rate at production.

In 2007, using its advanced technology and management experience, Wengfu outplayed many big enterprises in Europe and the United States to win the bid for the then world's largest mineral processing project in Saudi Arabia.

From 2008 to 2015, Wengfu signed several contracts with Saudi Arabian companies, and the total contract amount reached $550 million. Over the seven-year period, Wengfu earned a profit of 878 million yuan ($135 million).

Jin Gang, assistant general manager and senior economist at Wengfu, said Saudi Arabia appeared rich in natural resources like phosphorus, petroleum reserves and natural gas. The country is keen on achieving high and rapid growth, but lack advanced technologies to process its natural resources.

"Wengfu is mainly responsible for technology and management guidance in Saudi Arabia, and local firms send their own workers," Jin said.

Wengfu, he said, has also driven the growth of other related equipment enterprises in China, and helped them to expand overseas by taking their assistance in the operations of the phosphorus project in Saudi Arabia.

The country, located in the heart of the Persian Gulf and along the Silk Road, has significant resources and rising demand for modern resource-processing technology, he said.

Jin further said the country boasts a culture that is different from China's. Adapting to it and mingling with locals is not easy. West Asian countries have sound, strict legal systems, and it is essential for the Wengfu staff to obey the local laws, respect social customs and the Islamic faith, he said.

He Guangliang (second from right), chairman of Wengfu Group, talks with a Saudi Arabian businessman on the site of the operation and maintenance of phosphorus processing project in Saudi Arabia.[Provided to China Daily]

Besides, the tough local natural conditions and big temperature difference between day and night have posed challenges to Chinese workers, he said.

In the past, China lacked phosphorus resources and could not exploit technologies, leading to reliance on imports from the US. But Wengfu learned and innovated on its own, eventually developing China's own technologies.

Now the company boasts key national laboratories and work stations for post-doctoral researchers. It has become a technology- and export-oriented enterprise, and owns thousands of related patents.

"Back in 2007 and 2008, Wengfu suffered a loss in its domestic operations because of the (global) financial crisis. The Saudi Arabia project, which took around two years to complete, helped save the company through intellectual property exports," Jin said.

Wang Jiangping, deputy director general at the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and former deputy governor of Guizhou, said: "It is impossible for all industrial sectors in Guizhou to rank at the top of the world. However, some companies such as Wengfu Group can lead world markets through technological innovation and brand-building."

Saudi Arabia is not the only overseas market for Wengfu. The introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative provides significant growth potential for dozens of countries along the route to integrate with the global economy.

Wengfu has grabbed the opportunities to carry out cooperation projects with many companies in the West Asian and African markets, including Oman, Jordan, Iran, Tunisia, Kenya and Kazakhstan.

Currently, in Jordan, a local company plans to cooperate with China Minmetals Corp in Chongqing, and produce high-end phosphorus and potassium fertilizer by utilizing its rich phosphorus and potassium resources. Wengfu will serve as the consultant, and work on a feasibility study for project design.

"The project in Saudi Arabia helped a lot of our staff to gain valuable experience in overseas project management and engineering construction. This paved the way for our further expansion in other markets," Jin said.
Asian businesspeople ride China's 'Belt and Road' Updated: 2016-04-11 09:21 (Xinhua)

An employee operates a packaging machine as sacks of Charoen Pokphand Foods Pcl's (CP Foods) Royal Umbrella-brand rice move along a conveyor at the company's processing plant in Nakhon Luang, Ayutthaya province, Thailand.[Photo/Agencies] New rail project to lower time and cost of Thailand's rice exports to China

Boonyong is looking forward to lower transport costs when a rail network connecting China and Thailand gets completed. Currently, his rice products are delivered by road and sea which takes about three and five days respectively.

With the recent implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Thailand launched an 845-km railway project linking the Thai capital Bangkok with the northeastern city of Nong Khai near Laos, part of a Pan-Asia railway network, in late 2015. The project will be connected to the China-Laos railway which connects Laos with the vast railway system in China.

"It will only take us around 18 hours to send rice to China by train, with the freight cost lowered to about one third of that of road or sea transport," said Boonyong, a Thai businessman who sells rice to China at an annual profit of over 50 million yuan ($7.68 million).

Many Asian business people are placing high hopes on the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to strengthen ties with countries in central and south Asia, the Middle East and east Europe through infrastructure and communication links.

The initiative ranked first among mechanisms that power Asia's trade and investment, according to a report released at the ongoing Boao Forum in south China's Hainan province.

The "2016 Asian Economy Forward-looking Indicator" was based on a survey targeting some 1,000 Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs, media experts, economists and government officials.

When attending the sub-forum "Dialogue of Asian Civilizations" at Boao, former Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also highlighted the cooperation opportunities the Belt and Road Initiative had brought to his country and to regions along the routes.

The Belt and Road was proposed by China in 2013 as a trade and infrastructure network. It will connect Asia to Europe and Africa through the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Over the past few years, China has been pushing forward the initiative, and progress has been made in such areas as infrastructure and financial architecture.

For instance, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, initiated in 2013 and part of the Silk Road Economic Belt, aims at creating a 3,000-km economic corridor, a planned network of roads, railways and energy infrastructure, between the ports of Gwadar in Pakistan and Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Pakistani businessman Shah Hussain has been importing China-made mobile phones from Xinjiang and selling them in his hometown Gilgit. Like many of his Pakistani counterparts, his business has benefited from the construction of the corridor.

Chinese mobile phones are popular with the locals for their affordable prices and long battery life, he said, adding that imports have been safer and more convenient in recent years with the improvement of roads connecting the two countries.

Speaking at a press conference last month, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said more than 70 countries and international organizations have expressed interest in the Belt and Road Initiative, and over 30 countries have signed agreements with China to jointly build it.
After a year in the red, companies to be back in black Updated: 2016-04-11 09:23 By Wu Yiyao in Shanghai(China Daily)

More than 60 percent or 587 of the 2,852 listed companies with A shares have released positive forecasts for their first-quarterJanuary-Marchresults.

Of them, 366 expect positive profit growth. Emerging industries are expected to outperform other sectors.

Companies engaged in telecommunications, electrical ware, mechanical goods, software, information services, special equipment, biochemicals and pharmaceuticals are among the fastest-growing, according to data from China Securities News.

Analysts said A-share companies' forecasts show recovering fundamentals, particularly rising industrial profits and wider profit margins.

Gao Ting, head of China strategy at UBS Securities, said non-financial A-share companies' net profit growth is highly correlated with industrial profit growth.

"If this correlation continues, combined with the rise in the PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) in March, non-financial A-share companies' earnings growth could improve in the first quarter of 2016," said Gao.

He further said January-February industrial profits rose 4.8 percent year-on-year, an improvement which reversed the losses posted in 2015.

Revenue from the main business of companies rose 1 percent year-on-year on higher profit margins, which also boosted their profits.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, manufacturing PMI in March was 50.2, the first time it surpassed 50 since last July.

The sub-index measuring production stood at 52.3 in March, up 2.1 points from February, while that for new orders settled at 51.4, up 2.8 points, which will likely ease market concerns about deflation in upstream industries.

Researchers said they expect some A-share companies in traditional sectors, which posted losses in the past quarters, to be back in the black in the first quarter amid a recovering economic climate, particularly in the agricultural sector and the steel industry.

A research report of Changjiang Securities said some companies that are focused on poultry, livestock and processing, may benefit from rising food prices and falling cost of animal feed.

So, a wider profit margin will help them to partially offset losses of the past quarters.

The research note said the steelmakers' situation has been improving as a number of A-share companies forecast positive profits for the first quarter. Given the recovery in steel prices since February, gross profits in the sector are expected to improve significantly.

A research note of Haitong Securities Co Ltd said reduction in inventories of real estate developers in the first- and second-tier cities, and growing sales revenues, have helped boost profits in the sector.
Vast opportunities in China-Nigeria economic cooperation: Nigerian president Updated: 2016-04-11 11:02 (Xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec 4, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua]

ABUJA - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has described the enormous potential in China-Nigeria economic and trade cooperation as an opportunity his country can't afford to lose in development.

Buhari, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to his state visit to China starting Monday, said Nigeria and China enjoy vast opportunities in cooperation in such fields as agriculture, mining, electric power generation, and railway and road construction.

The Nigerian leader expressed his country's genuine wishes to further strengthen the Nigeria-China ties. China has the technical and financial capacity and the experience of development while retaining the goodwill to help Nigeria, said Buhari.

"So, really, this is an opportunity Nigeria cannot afford to lose," the president told Xinhua at the Presidential Palace.

On trade and economic ties, Buhari said his government remains committed to contracts signed by its predecessor with Chinese firms on railway, roads and hydroelectric dam projects.

In spite of being the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria is still badly in need of these projects, which China, as the world's second-largest economy, has the capacity to undertake, said the president.

Nigeria has been an economy largely relying on oil export while spending its foreign currency reserve heavily on rice and grain imports. Buhari said his country stands ready to expand the development of industries, especially in manufacturing and textile industries and speed up infrastructure construction, which presents huge opportunities for both China and Nigeria.

"The opportunities that present themselves for us ... are virtually limitless," he said.

On the concern of employment, Buhari said 62 percent of the Nigerian population is under the age of 35 and the jobless rate among this group is very high.

The best way to tackle unemployment is to develop agriculture and the mining industry, which China has the capacity to help, said the president. Some Chinese enterprises have already been involved in the mining industry in Nigeria's northern provinces, he noted.

Buhari is scheduled to pay his first state visit to China from Monday to Friday. Born in Daura in northern Nigeria on Dec 17, 1942, he won the presidential elections in March 2015, and was sworn in two months later.
COSCO's acquisition of Greek Piraeus Port to further contribute to local economy Updated: 2016-04-11 11:02 (Xinhua)

BEIJING - China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, China's State-run shipping giant, entered into a deal with Greece's privatization fund HRADF on Friday to take over a 67-percent stake in the European nation's main port of Piraeus.

Under the deal, COSCO, the fourth-largest container shipping firm and second-largest port operator in the world, will pay the cash-strapped country 368.5 million euros ($418.8 million), and also promises to invest another 350 million euros ($398.9 million) over the next decade in infrastructure work at the port.

The agreement was signed by HRADF chief Stergios Pitsiorlas and COSCO Hong Kong CFO Feng Jinhua in the presence of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, China COSCO Shipping Chairman Xu Lirong and Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zou Xiaoli at the office of the Greek Prime Minister.

COSCO's vision for Piraeus

According to Lloyd's List, a British daily covering maritime industries, Piraeus ranks third in port volume in the Mediterranean and is among the top 10 in Europe.

However, trapped in Greece's longstanding debt crisis, the Piraeus port had fallen into a mess with ships and containers piling up.

In 2008, COSCO won a container operation project for Piraeus port to manage Pier II and Pier III of Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) for 35 years. In 2015, the port's capacity rose to 3 million containers, a dramatic increase from 685,000 in 2010.

By 2020, PCT officials expect that Piraeus' cargo handling capacity will reach some 6.3 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit) per year, making Piraeus the largest port in terminal capacity in the Mediterranean.

The Chinese enterprise has also created over 1,000 jobs for local people over the last two years. Among the incessant strikes around the country, workers at the port have never held a strike.

These have said that COSCO "has always been committed to harmonious development in Greece and to promote a win-win situation for all parties," said China COSCO Shipping Chairman Xu at Friday's deal-signing ceremony.

In five years of operation, COSCO aims to make the Piraeus port the south gate of the China-Europe land-sea express to speed up transportation between China and Europe, said Xu.

COSCO's vision to turn Piraeus into a leading international transit hub for products and services from Asia to Europe has already attracted other major multinationals at the port, which are cooperating with PCT to distribute their products in the region.

Greek officials, local business bodies and experts have repeatedly stressed that new investments in Piraeus will further boost the port's role as a key transit hub for products in the Mediterranean, create much-needed jobs in the recession-hit country, and breathe new life into the ailing economy by attracting more investors.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Friday that the agreement offers an important opportunity for the two countries to develop a growth path that can benefit both countries.

"The agreement sends a strong message to the global economic community for the recovery of the Greek economy," he added.

Typical project under Belt and Road Initiative

As a matter of fact, COSCO's investment in Piraeus is the first major Chinese investment in Greece.

China and Greece deem the construction of the port as a typical project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, which includes the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.

China and Greece have made the year 2015 the "China-Greece Maritime Cooperation Year" during a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in July 2014.

Xi said during his visit that China would like to further enhance its comprehensive strategic partnership with Greece and make the country "an important bridgehead and transit point" for China-Europe cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative.

The two countries' collaboration at the port in recent years has been praised by officials of both sides, the local business community and experts as a great success story in bilateral ties in difficult times for Greece amid the acute debt crisis that broke out in late 2009.

Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zou stressed that confidence, mutual trust and cooperation are needed for the recovery of Greece, China and the global economy.

"As long as we work together we believe the port of Piraeus, Greece, China and the whole region will have a better future," he said.

Multiple benefits for Greek economy

Studies by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), one of Greece's leading think tanks, and other Greek and foreign experts have shown that COSCO's development plan for the port will bring additional long-term revenues of 5.1 billion euros per year to the Greek economy and add some 125,000 jobs until the new concession agreement expires in 2052.

IOBE experts expect that the privatization of Piraeus port will generate half a billion euros in investments by other entrepreneurs in the first five years, according to a survey released by the Greek institution.

"The privatization can play a catalytic role in the port's development, sending a strong signal to international markets that Greece is a safe and attractive investment destination," the IOBE survey concluded.

Ioannis Tzoannos, an economics professor and former general secretary of the Greek shipping ministry, said COSCO's acquisition of the Piraeus port is a "win-win situation despite what skeptics say."

He expects that COSCO's further investment in the port will generate more investments in the Greek economy and will benefit both sides.

"I believe it is a positive development for the Greek economy, a key parameter in the Maritime Silk Road which enhances the strategic importance of Piraeus," he said.

The sea and the shipping industry were and remain the key elements in the development of bilateral relations, and the Maritime Silk Road opened routes for trade, cultural contacts and stronger cooperation in more fields, Tzoannos said.

Similarly, Christos Staikos, chairman of Enterprise Greece, a Greek investment promotion body, noted that Greece is important in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, saying China is becoming one of the main strategic partners of Greece on its road to recovery.

"All these factors create a stable framework for the further improvement of bilateral trade and business cooperation," he said.
More Spaniards turn to TCM to improve health Updated: 2016-04-11 11:10 (Xinhua)

Some European businessmen inspect traditional Chinese medicine products of a drug store in Guangzhou. An increasing number of Spaniards choose TCM to improve their health. [Provided to China Daily]

More and more Spaniards have begun to choose traditional Chinese medicine and see its positive effects on their health. Spain was among the first in Europe to promote Chinese medicine, its education and healthcare. As time went by, more Spaniards chose Chinese medicine to improve their health.

Liliana Acosta was an acupuncture doctor at Neijing School in the Spanish capital of Madrid. She told Xinhua that Chinese medicine "is starting to become known" and people have realized that "it has very positive effects."

Chinese medicine sees the body as an energetic system in dynamic balance. When balance and harmony are maintained, people enjoy good health. If there is imbalance, disharmony and diseases occur.

Angeles Jimenez, also an acupuncture doctor at Neijing School, explained to Xinhua that "an energetic imbalance will lead to symptomatology. We try to recover this energetic imbalance."

Asuncion Perez is a 64-year-old nurse who has accepted acupuncture for two years. She told Xinhua she had a positive experience.

"I was born with a problem in my hips, and received an operation when I was four. I have been doing acupuncture for two years since I was 55," said Perez. Later, she got another operation done.

After two months of acupuncture, Perez felt her pain relieved and she started to sleep better. "My acupuncture doctor told me that I had to undergo an operation and I finally did, but acupuncture helped reduce my pain and made me rest better."

Perez believed that Western medicine and Chinese medicine can be complementary, saying "there are diseases that cannot be healed, neither of them (Chinese and Western medicine) can produce miracles."

Doctor Acosta commented that Chinese medicine competes with Western medicine in some aspects because the former "is economical for the patients, it does not generate so much expense, and has no adverse effects or side effects."

When the 12th World Congress of Chinese Medicine was held in Spain's northeastern city of Barcelona last September, the organizers of the meeting pointed out that the number of European patients following Chinese medicine has surpassed 5 million every year.

The development of Chinese medicine has been at an advanced level in South Europe (Spain, Italy and Portugal), considering the large number of clinics, practitioners, and related education, training and research institutions.
Britain and China must join to solve steel crisis, ambassador says Updated: 2016-04-11 20:36 (chinadaily.com.cn)

Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming talks about the 13th Five-Year Plan at a recent interview on March 6, 2015. [Photo/ fmprc.gov.cn]

Recently, the UKs steel industry has been dogged by news of closures or sell-offs, with thousands of jobs at risk.

This is a sad story: the pioneer of the modern steel industry  once the worlds factory, churning out almost half of global steel production in the latter half of the 19th century  is shrinking and bogged down in difficulties.

However, it is regrettable that some people in Britain blame China for what is happening in the British steel industry and accuse China of dumping steels in Britain and pricing local companies out of the steel market.

Making China the scapegoat only misleads the public and contributes nothing to the solution of the problem.

As Chinese Ambassador, I believe it is my duty to share with the British public what I see as the multiple reasons behind the sluggishness in Britains steel industry.

First of all, the shrinking steel sector tallies with the general trend in advanced economies where traditional manufacturing has been replaced by a modern services and financial sector. Sheffields transformation from a steel-making city to a sport and education hub is a case in point.

Second, in the post-financial crisis era, recovery stays weak and demand remains scarce in most of the economies. Steel overcapacity thus becomes an acute issue worldwide and steelmakers, wherever they are, face similar difficulties. The UK is not alone. Steel companies in Europe, China and beyond are all trapped in the same predicament.

Third, the price of steel production, including energy, labour and environmental costs, is rather high here in the UK. In face of fierce global competition, British companies in general are less competitive and less profitable in the field of ordinary and low-end steel production.

Steel imported from China, amounts of which are very limited, has little to do with the predicament of the UKs steel industry. In both volume and value, steel from China makes up only a fraction of the UKs total steel imports.

In 2015, for example, of the UKs 6.66m tons of imports, only 11pc, or 760,000 tons, were from China. If put in value, that was $457m, only 7.6pc of the $5.98bn total.

Moreover, steel products from China are mostly low value-added, such as ordinary steel rods and plates, which Britain no longer makes and would have to import from other countries anyway.

Therefore, imports from China have no impact upon the British steel market. On the contrary, by importing steels from China, the auto, machinery, construction and other British industries have effectively lowered their costs and increased their profit margin. And imports from China are not dumping, as some claim. The Chinese steel manufacturers have followed market rules strictly when exporting to Britain.

Like their British counterparts, steelmakers in China are also in difficulty.

But unlike in Britain, the situation in China is even more serious and challenging. Over the past three years, China has reduced steel capacity by 90m tons. In 2015, for the first time in nearly 30 years, Chinas crude steel production fell by 2.3pc year on year. In the coming five years, China is going to cut its crude steel capacity by 100m-150m tons.

This new round of reductions will result in several million lay-offs and relocations of steelworkers, far outnumbering those in the UK.

So, both China and the UK have huge challenges on our way ahead  to reform and revitalise our respective steel sectors, and to provide help and support to those workers who might lose their jobs.

The Chinese and UK governments have maintained close contact on the steel issue. In late February, the China-UK Joint Economic and Trade Commission had a special discussion on this matter.

Over the weekend, during Foreign Secretary Philip Hammonds visit to China, the two governments had an in-depth exchange of views over the steel issue.

Here in the UK, I have spoken on many occasions and shared Chinas position with British people from different sectors of industry.

I am pleased that China and the UK share the consensus that protectionism is not the solution, as it is retrogressive, goes against market rules and serves the long-term interest of neither side.

Both sides believe that there should be closer dialogue and co-operation between our governments. Working with, rather than against, each other is the only way leading to a solution.

Overcapacity in the steel industry is a global problem. It therefore calls for a global solution with stronger communication and co-operation among all steelmakers worldwide, who have the joint responsibility to uphold the order of steel trade and promote the sound development of the global steel industry.

For China and the UK, 2016 is the opening year of the Golden Era, in which dialogue, co-operation, mutual benefit and common development constitute the prevailing mainstream.

In September, world leaders will gather in Hangzhou in China for the G20 Summit, which will focus on ways to withstand the global downward pressure, to find innovative growth models and to enhance international trade and investment.

It is my hope and belief that China and the UK will work together to strengthen dialogue, break through the current difficulties and create a sustainable future for the steel industries of both countries.

Liu Xiaoming is the Chinese Ambassador to the UK.


The early morning blast almost completely destroyed the police headquarters in the southeastern Turkish town of Cizre, just north of the Syrian border and close to northwestern Iraq (AFP Photo/Yasin Akgul) (AFP/File)

Beirut (AFP) - A pregnant woman and three children were among 18 civilians killed when Syrian rebels shelled a Kurdish neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said Wednesday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 70 people, including 30 children, were also wounded in Tuesday's attack, adding that the shelling was a violation of a ceasefire agreement.

"A major shelling attack on Tuesday has left 18 civilians dead, including three children and two women, a pregnant one and an elderly one," according to the Observatory.

The attack targeted the majority-Kurdish neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsud, where some 50,000 residents are caught in the crossfire of regime-held districts and those controlled by rebels.

"This is a very clear violation of the ceasefire" in place in Syria since February 27, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Rebels including Ahrar al-Sham, which is allied to Al-Qaeda in Syria, kept up Wednesday their shelling of Sheikh Maqsud which overlooks regime-held areas, said the Observatory.

Abdel Rahman said the rebels want to take the neighbourhood because it would allow them to have "a launching pad for attacks" on government forces.

Aleppo became a divided city in 2012 after a rebel onslaught was met with resistance by the army.

Kurds represent about 15 percent of Syria's population and have tried to avoid confrontation with the regime or non-jihadist rebels since war broke out in 2011.

But the rise of the Islamic State group, which has seized large swaths of the war-torn country, has seen the Kurds lead the fight against the jihadists in parts of Syria.

On March 17, Kurdish parties, including the powerful Democratic Union Party (PYD) and their allies, announced the creation of a "federal system" in northern Syria.

The announcement was heavily criticised by Syria's opposition, who have vowed to use "all the political and military force" at their disposal to fight it.

Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests but has since morphed into a multi-front war drawing in regional powers.
U.S. stock indexes looked set to open higher on Monday, when earnings season will kick off with numbers from industrial bellwether Alcoa (NYSE: AA).



With expectations low for earnings season, the major U.S. averages declined by more than 1 percent last week, marking the worst performance since February.

"The technical tone is weakening as the earnings season begins in earnest and during earnings season, companies which are among the featured equity buyers are sidelined," BBH strategists led by Marc Chandler said in a note on Sunday.

Alcoa will hold a conference call at 5 p.m. ET on Monday.

No major economic news is due during the day.

U.S. stock index futures and European shares were boosted as crude oil prices (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) recovered from session lows early on Monday. Oil prices are in focus ahead of an upcoming meeting of oil-producing countries in Qatar at the weekend that could see output levels frozen.

Stocks to watch during Wall Street trade include Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), after the Wall Street Journal cited sources saying the Daily Mail & General Trust (London Stock Exchange: DMGT-GB) was in talks with private equity firms for a possible bid.

The newspaper also said that Yahoo had spoken to other bidders, including Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), CBS (NYSE: CBS) and InterActiveCorp.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) will be the first Dow-listed stock to report this week, on Wednesday.

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Will Bank of America's 1Q16 Earnings Boost Its Stock?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Bank of Americas capital position

Bank of Americas (BAC) capital position is expected to remain strong in 1Q16, but its credit quality may deteriorate due to bad energy loans.

Tier I Capital is the measure of a banks financial strength from a regulators point of view. Its the ratio of a banks equity capital to its risk-weighted assets.

Bank of Americas capital position at the end of 4Q15, as measured by the Tier I Capital Ratio under Basel III norms, has remained constant at 12.9%. Its Common Equity Tier 1 Capital Ratio was 11.6% at the end of the quarter.

Credit quality remains strong

The companys non-performing loans (or NPLs) in the consumer segment fell by $532 million from 3Q15 to $12.8 billion, driven by consumer real estate NPL sales. In the commercial segment, NPLs were higher at $1.2 billion.

Credit quality was strong during the quarter, as the annualized charge-off rate remained low at 0.5%, complemented by a fall in non-performing assets. The charge-off rate included commercial losses of 0.17% and consumer losses of 0.84%.

Charge-off rates are defined as the flow of a banks net charge-offs (gross charge-offs minus recoveries) during a quarter divided by the average level of its loans.

Investors seeking exposure to US banks could invest in the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) or the Vanguard Financials ETF (VFH). Large banks such as Wells Fargo (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), and Citigroup (C) are well represented in their these funds portfolios.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - April 11, 2016) - The Besen Group, an international management consulting practice to the mobile data industry headquartered in the Washington DC area, with representatives in Paris and Tokyo, announced today its CEO Alex Besen will be a featured presenter at WiFi Now USA 2016 in Washington DC on April 20th at 9am at the Sheraton Tysons Hotel.

For registration, please visit http://wifinowevents.com/usa/.

Title: How can cable operators launch a successful MVNO

Abstract: About The Besen Group LLC

VoWiFi and The US MVNO market

Strategies for Multi-System Operators (MSOs)

Comcast MVNO Case Study

"Wireless will be the main of source of revenue for cable operators in the years ahead," said Alex Besen, Founder and CEO of The Besen Group LLC. "Cable operators must have a compelling wireless service offering in order to attract new subscribers and retain their current subscribers based on various mobile wholesale business models. Our Comcast MVNO case study is based on a full MVNO, Wi-Fi and mobile advertising business models to launch their wireless services successfully."

Besen was quoted in Bloomberg, Boston Business Journal, Business News Americas, Business Week, Chicago Tribune, Computer World, FierceWireless, Hurriyet, Information Week, Le Journal du Net, Los Angeles Times, MIT Technology Review, New York Times, RCR Wireless, Red Herring, SNL Kagan, Telephony Online, The Kansas City Star, The Prepaid Press, The Seattle Times, The Washington Post, Triangle Business Journal, USA Today and Wireless Week.

About The Besen Group (www.thebesengroup.com)

The Besen Group is an international management consulting practice to the mobile industry headquartered in the Washington DC area, with representatives in Paris and Tokyo. Its mission is to provide mobile players with tools, knowledge, and services enabling them to perform optimally in their mobile environment. The Besen Group's competitive edge is based on practical experience with mobile operators, mobile vendors, and a mobile data laboratory.
The City of London financial district is seen from Primrose Hill, April 10, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville

By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain leaving the European Union could give fledgling financial technology companies an immediate shot in the arm but deprive them of expansion later on, industry officials said on Monday.

The idea is that Brexit, as a vote to leave is known, could be a problem for traditional banking, providing some opportunity for the new firms.

Britain has sought to lead the way in fostering financial technology - such as platforms that allow individuals to lend small sums to businesses or smartphone apps for payments - to "disrupt" the dominant, big banks on the high street.

The sector - known as fintech - employs over 60,000 people with revenues of 6.6 billion pounds ($9.40 billion) in 2015, still tiny compared with the overall financial services sector.

No fintech company is big enough yet to need a European market, Rhydian Lewis, founder and chief executive of lending platform RateSetter, told an Innovate Finance conference.

That means, "Brexit might discombobulate the incumbents for a number of years, allowing fintech to move into that space," he said.

Imran Gulamhuseinwala, a partner at consultants EY, agreed. "Anything that puts innovation further down the list (for traditional firms) creates more breathing room for fintech."

But he added that a market larger than Britain would be needed longer term for the fledgling companies to "scale up".

Emily Reid, a lawyer at Hogan Lovells, said Brexit would deprive fintech of potential access to a large market at a time when the UK regulatory regime was still challenging.

"It won't take any of the regulatory burden away. I can't see any upside," Reid said.

UK financial services minister Harriett Baldwin told the 1,400 delegates crammed into the financial district's ancient Guildhall that the government would step up efforts to foster fintech.

A new information hub would make it easier for start-ups to find legal and accounting services, and a government agency will build "fintech bridges" for them to expand internationally, Baldwin said.

($1 = 0.7023 pounds)

(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
By Nina Chestney

LONDON (Reuters) - Investing in renewable energy in Britain has become difficult because changes in government policy have created too much uncertainty for investors, the chief executive of insurance firm Legal & General Group (LGEN.L) said on Monday.

"We have invested in onshore wind and solar and we are looking at further investments. But in the last 15 years, Britain has had too many energy ministers and too many changes in policy so we are not as successful in energy as we have been in pensions," Nigel Wilson told Reuters in an interview.

Legal & General has 746 billion pounds in assets under management and has a target of spending 15 billion pounds on UK infrastructure, including housing, transport and clean energy. As part of that programme, it has invested 6.3 billion pounds to date.

For renewable energy, Legal & General committed to fund up to 47.5 percent of a 250 million euro (200 million pounds) onshore wind fund at the end of last year.

The fund aims to build up to 270 megawatts in onshore wind capacity, enough to generate power up to 170,000 homes across Britain and Ireland.

However, the fund is still in development because of uncertainties around UK energy policy, Wilson said on the sidelines of a climate change investment event hosted by Newton Investment Management.

Britain aims to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 to 80 percent below 1990 levels but also needs to invest about 100 billion pounds to replace ageing nuclear and coal plants.

Over the past year, the British government has changed many energy policies to rein in costs, including scrapping support for onshore wind farms and reducing subsidies for other renewable energy technologies.

However, investors and lawmakers have warned that in the long term, costs will rise because energy projects such as gas-fired power plants, nuclear plants and wind farms can take years to build and have high up-front costs.

For example, the cost of EDF's (EDF.PA) proposed 18 billion pound Hinkley Point C nuclear power project in southwest England has escalated since it was first announced in 2013 and a final investment decision repeatedly delayed as EDF struggled to find partners and financing.

Story continues

"We think Hinkley Point C is a total waste of money. The noise around Hinkley creates confusion in the marketplace. (The government) should take it off the table and move to more sensible solutions," Wilson said.

Last month, Prime Minister David Cameron's spokeswoman said the government continued to fully support the Hinkley Point C project.

(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
Canadian musican Bryan Adams is best known for his global hits "(Everything I Do) I Do it For You," and "Summer of '69" (AFP Photo/Samuel Kubani) (AFP)

Montreal (AFP) - Canadian singer Bryan Adams has cancelled an upcoming show in Mississippi to protest a controversial law that opponents say discriminates against gay and transgender people, his website said Monday.

The 56-year-old rocker was scheduled to perform at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on April 14.

Adams said in a statement that he "cannot in good conscience perform in a state where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation."

He also joined activists in calling for the state to repeal the "extremely discriminatory" law.

The measure, signed last week by Republican Governor Phil Bryant and set to take effect July 1, allows officials and businesses to deny marriage-related services to gay people or refuse to employ them if they feel it would violate their religious beliefs.

Similar measures have popped up in other states since the US Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the nation in June 2015.

Adams' announcement comes days after Bruce Springsteen cancelled a gig in North Carolina to protest a new law there that prohibits local governments in the southern state from acting to stop discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people in public facilities and restrooms.

Springsteen had been due to perform in Greensboro, North Carolina this past Sunday as part of a sold-out arena tour revisiting his classic 1980 album "The River."

He said cancelling the show was "the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards."

Major corporations with operations in Mississippi and North Carolina have urged state leaders to overturn the laws, saying they impact recruitment and diminish the ability to draw tourism and new business.
China Releases March Data on Foreign Reserves and Service Sector

SSE Composite Index

The SSE (Shanghai Stock Exchange) Composite Index was nearly flat from March 31, 2016, to April 7, 2016, and ended at 3,008.4 on April 7. This came ahead of the next days expiration of the three-month ban on large shareholders from selling more than 1% of a companys total shares. Investors became worried about the selling pressure on the Market ahead of the bans expiration. The CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission) implemented the ban on large shareholders after Chinas equity market crashed in June 2015. The ban was extended for three months on January 7.

Chinese forex regulator is buying up stocks

Chinas State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, through its wholly owned subsidiary Wutongshu Investment Platform Company, is investing in Chinas stock market. SAFE is controlled by the Peoples Bank of China, or PBoC, and manages Chinas $3.2 trillion in foreign reserves.

Wutongshu, along with its two other ventures, Beijing Fengshan Investments and Beijing Kunteng Investments, had taken a major stake worth 27 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) in Bank of China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co., Bank of Communications Co., and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 4Q15. The reason that SAFE is buying stocks is unknown, but it is speculated that the PBoC wants to increase its influence on the Market after last summers crash.

db x-trackers Harvest FTSE China A-H 50 Index UCITS ETF

Deutsche Asset Management launched the db x-trackers Harvest FTSE China A-H 50 Index UCITS ETF (AH50) in Europe on March 30. It trades on the London Stock Exchange and the Deutsche Borse. The ETF intends to profit from the price differences for stocks that sell both on the mainland and in Hong Kong. It is made up of the 50 largest Chinese companies that trade on both markets, but it includes only those stocks that sell for the lowest price.

Returns of China-focused mutual funds

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From March 31, 2016, to April 7, 2016, the Oberweis China Opportunities Fund (OBCHX) posted a return of 1.0%, while the Templeton China World Fund (TCWAX), the Matthews China Fund Investor Class (MCHFX), and the Guinness Atkinson China and Hong Kong Fund (ICHKX) fell 1.4%, 2.0%, and 2.4%, respectively.

The Eaton Vance Greater China Growth Fund Class A (EVCGX) was the worst performer for the same period, falling 3.2%.

In the Chinese ADR (American depository receipt) market for the same period, NetEase (NTES) rose 0.9%, while Baidu (BIDU) and Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) fell 4.4% and 1.8%, respectively. The aforementioned mutual funds are invested in these companies.

In the next article in this series, well look at Chinas foreign exchange reserves.

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China's Premier Li Keqiang speaks at the opening ceremony of Boao Forum in Boao, Hainan Province, China, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/China Daily

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy has showed more positive signs but downward pressures still persisted, Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday, vowing to take steps to deal with overcapacity.

The government will push forward "supply-side reforms" while keeping economic growth within a reasonable range, Li was quoted by state television as telling provincial and municipal officials.

"There are more positive factors in economic operations, but the downward pressure remains relatively big, Li said.

We cannot ignore risks in some sectors.

The government would ensure the launch of investment projects in a timely manner to help underpin growth, Li said.

The government will quicken reforms to eliminate outdated capacity in coal and steel sectors and use "market-based" debt-to-equity swaps to help lower firms' debt levels.

China's economy has seen positive changes since the start of this year, the head of the statistics bureau said in remarks published on Monday.

Li said last week China's economic indicators showed signs of improvement in the first quarter.

The government is due to release key economic data, including first-quarter economic growth, next week.

China's economic growth slowed to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, its weakest since the financial crisis that began in 2007 and 2008.

(Reporting by China Monitoring Desk and Kevin Yao; Editing by Robert Birsel)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's online censorship system protects national security and does not discriminate against foreign companies, the country's internet regulator said, after the United States labeled the blocking of websites by Beijing a trade barrier. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) wrote in an annual report that over the past year China's web censorship has worsened, presenting a significant burden to foreign firms and internet users. China has long operated the world's most sophisticated online censorship mechanism, widely known outside the country as the Great Firewall, though USTR had not listed it as a trade impediment since 2013, when Xi Jinping became China's president. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said that its online censorship did not target specific countries or violate its trade commitments. "The aim of the internet security inspection system is to guarantee the security and controllability of information technology products and services, safeguard user information security, and strengthen market and user confidence," CAC said in a fax to Reuters late on Friday. "China scrupulously abides by World Trade Organization principles and its accession protocols, protects foreign enterprises' lawful interests according to law, and creates a fair market environment for them," the regulator said. Censorship is mainly related to products and services that involve "national security", it said. Under Xi, the government has implemented an unprecedented tightening of internet controls and sought to codify the policy within the law. The websites for Google's services, Facebook and Twitter , and many top global news websites are inaccessible in China. Officials say web controls help maintain social stability and security amid threats such as terrorism. An editorial in the Global Times, an influential state-run tabloid, said history will judge the Great Firewall positively as it will give China time to develop "soft power and strength" in the face of "Western opinion's interference". "China has achieved this - it can communicate with the outside world, meanwhile, Western opinions cannot easily penetrate as ideological tools," the newspaper said on Monday. According to data from the anti-censorship group GreatFire.org, almost a quarter of the hundreds of thousands of web pages, domains, encrypted sites, online searches and IP addresses that it monitors in China were blocked as of early April. That was up from 14 percent at the time Xi assumed the presidency. Foreign business lobbies complain that Chinese internet restrictions go beyond inconvenience and actually limit business competitiveness. A 2016 survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China showed 79 percent of its members reported a negative impact on business due to internet censorship. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
PARIS (Reuters) - The euro zone's most pressing reform is to set up a new institution with a finance minister to coordinate national fiscal and economic policies, ECB governing council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Monday.

Pointing to studies suggesting that shoddy coordination has cost the currency bloc 2-5 percent of economic output in recent years, Villeroy said the euro zone had two years to change and that Britain's referendum on its EU membership was no excuse to stall.

France and Germany have pledged to make proposals on reform of the euro zone before the end of the year, though not before Britain's June 23 referendum on whether to remain or leave the European Union.

Villeroy said the new minister would be tasked with forging a strategy for getting the euro zone onto a path to faster growth and keeping countries on that path.

In a proposal that could weaken the grip of governments on their own national agenda, the minister would propose reforms and policy stances for countries that would be approved by a simple majority among euro zone finance ministers.

The minister would also be in charge of a proposed convergence fund that could be used to finance infrastructure or refugee settlement and which could be a precursor to a joint euro zone budget further down the line.

"My view is that we should leave the door open to further integration for countries that are willing and ready to consider it," Villeroy said at a conference at the Bank of France where he is also governor.

"Yet the most urgently needed part of EMU (economic and monetary union) reform is to set up a strong institution, led by a euro area finance minister," he added.

Villeroy said the new finance minister could have a term of five years and would both chair the Eurogroup of finance ministers and be a member of the European Commission, thus representing the euro zone on the international stage.

However, he acknowledged the changes would require a new EU treaty, a negotiation process that has never come easily in the past for EU member states.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Gareth Jones)
(This version of the April 4th story fixes spelling of analyst name in 13th paragraph)

By Joshua Franklin

ZURICH (Reuters) - On Jan. 19, Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam contacted the head of the Swiss bank's markets business asking for more details about the fourth-quarter results at the trading division, according to materials seen by Reuters.

Two-and-a-half months and nearly $1 billion in write-downs later, investors, analysts and former board members are questioning why Thiam and his finance chief, David Mathers, were caught out by the scale of the division's illiquid trades -- positions that are not easy to sell out of.

The write-downs have compounded for Credit Suisse what has already been a tough start to 2016 for all investment banks, with its share price down around 38 percent so far this year, one of the biggest slides of all large European lenders.

In January, Thiam, by then just over six months into his job as CEO of Switzerland's second-biggest bank, wondered whether Credit Suisse had gone too big on some trades and addressed the issue with another top executive.

"I wonder about the absolute size of our inventory in a number of activities," he told Global Markets head Tim O'Hara on Jan. 25, according to the materials shown to Reuters on condition that no further details would be disclosed.

"You and I need to discuss case by case the appropriate inventory levels," Thiam said.

Thiam has said he and other senior bank officials were unaware of the size of the positions behind the write-downs but that no trading limits had been breached or trades concealed.

In response to Reuters questions about the bank's risk management and the exchange between Thiam and O'Hara, a Credit Suisse spokesman reiterated those comments.

"He only learned of the extent of the positions in January and took steps to address the situation," the spokesman said.

Thiam and O'Hara declined further comment on Monday.

On Feb. 4 the markets division reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of 658 million Swiss francs ($686.35 million) for the quarter, in which Credit Suisse racked up $633 million in write-downs on illiquid trades. A further $346 million in write-downs followed in the first quarter as of March 11, the bank disclosed on March 23.

Story continues

Now Thiam faces questions about the bank's risk controls and oversight by senior management of part of its markets business.

"Does it raise concerns? Yes it does," said Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Swiss private bank Vontobel who rates Credit Suisse's stock "hold".

Some people familiar with the Zurich-based bank's operations expressed surprise and scepticism that top management could be unaware of such important details.

"If the CFO didn't know about it, then sure as hell the chief risk officer would have done, which means everybody would have done," said one former board member of a Credit Suisse investment banking subsidiary. "It's hard to imagine that nobody knew about this stuff."

The Credit Suisse spokesman declined to comment on who knew what and when.

UGLY DUCKLINGS

Around $600 million of the write-downs came from securitised products -- which include collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) -- and distressed credit.

CLOs are packages of debt, often corporate loans, which are put together and sold on to investors. They often offer high rates of return but the holders take on most of the risk of loans being defaulted on. Distressed credit involves trading debt of companies that are near or going through bankruptcy, another high-risk high-reward strategy.

When he outlined his new strategy for the bank in October, Thiam had referred to securitised products and credit as the "two ugly ducklings".

But he said it was not a top priority to tackle businesses such as these that require large amounts of capital when they were generating high returns in Global Markets, one of Credit Suisse's two investment banking divisions.

In securitisation Credit Suisse is one of the top three players by revenue, according to Coalition's investment bank league table, which also pegs Credit Suisse as a top-six bank in terms of credit.

But by mid-March, Thiam decided to exit distressed credit and European securitised product trading altogether.

Thiam told analysts and reporters that Mathers, Chief Financial Officer at Credit Suisse, and many others at the bank had also been unaware of the size of the positions.

Looking at the numbers in January, Thiam turned for answers to O'Hara, Global Markets head since an Oct. 21 restructuring, the materials seen by Reuters showed.

Thiam wanted to understand the fourth-quarter performance, with a particular focus on December and go over, "day by day if necessary", the activities and risk management decisions taken.

After O'Hara sent over a profit and loss statement as well as a risk review, Thiam sought clarification on some leveraged finance deals signed during 2015 which had already posted a cumulative loss of $87 million. He also wanted to better understand the rationale behind Credit Suisse's large presence in U.S. distressed debt trading.

"I noted the absolute level of our CLO exposures," Thiam said. "It will be important to ensure that these exposures do not increase going forward and understand their potential impact on Q1 if market conditions do not improve. This last point is actually valid for all the products."

O'Hara agreed that inventory was too high, saying Credit Suisse's trading desks were trying to get positions down where they could without disrupting the market.

Credit Suisse has reduced its exposure to distressed credit from $2.9 billion at the end of December to $2.1 billion by mid-March, while its U.S. CLO exposure went from $0.8 billion to $0.3 billion.

UNWELCOME DISTRACTION

Thiam said in March that "a number of people" had paid consequences for him being unaware of these trading positions, and that part of the issue was that trading limits were continuously raised, letting traders take larger positions.

Credit Suisse's illiquid investment limit is approved by its risk committee, according to the bank's Organizational Guidelines and Regulations report dated June 2014.

Limits for exposures where the risk profile changes more infrequently, as with illiquid investments, are monitored on a monthly basis, the bank said in its 2015 annual report.

While Thiam said the problem was in the issue bank's systems and trading limits, Credit Suisse Chairman Urs Rohner offered another explanation, telling a conference there was a problem over how the assets were valued, traded and managed.

The write-downs are an unwelcome distraction as Thiam, 53, embarks on Credit Suisse's biggest revamp in a decade.

They follow a $2.6 billion settlement and a guilty plea for its private banking having helped wealthy Americans evade tax, in May 2014, more than a year before Thiam, a former Ivory Coast government minister, joined Credit Suisse from British insurer Prudential (PRU.L).

Thiam wants to pare back Credit Suisse's investment bank and focus on wealth management. His strategy, which included a new management structure and raising about 6 billion francs in fresh capital, has received a lukewarm response from markets.

In March, Credit Suisse announced 800 million Swiss francs in additional cost cuts and plans to shrink its investment bank further. The market welcomed cost cuts but many are still waiting for the turnaround efforts to take hold.

(Additional reporting by Michael Shields and Oliver Hirt in Zurich, and Anjuli Davies, Simon Jessop and Alex Chambers in London, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
(This version of the story has been refiled to fix the spelling of the analyst's name in the 13th paragraph.) By Joshua Franklin ZURICH (Reuters) - On Jan. 19, Credit Suisse Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam contacted the head of the Swiss bank's markets business asking for more details about the fourth-quarter results at the trading division, according to materials seen by Reuters. Two-and-a-half months and nearly $1 billion in write-downs later, investors, analysts and former board members are questioning why Thiam and his finance chief, David Mathers, were caught out by the scale of the division's illiquid trades -- positions that are not easy to sell out of. The write-downs have compounded for Credit Suisse what has already been a tough start to 2016 for all investment banks, with its share price down around 38 percent so far this year, one of the biggest slides of all large European lenders. In January, Thiam, by then just over six months into his job as CEO of Switzerland's second-biggest bank, wondered whether Credit Suisse had gone too big on some trades and addressed the issue with another top executive. "I wonder about the absolute size of our inventory in a number of activities," he told Global Markets head Tim O'Hara on Jan. 25, according to the materials shown to Reuters on condition that no further details would be disclosed. "You and I need to discuss case by case the appropriate inventory levels," Thiam said. Thiam has said he and other senior bank officials were unaware of the size of the positions behind the write-downs but that no trading limits had been breached or trades concealed. In response to Reuters questions about the bank's risk management and the exchange between Thiam and O'Hara, a Credit Suisse spokesman reiterated those comments. "He only learned of the extent of the positions in January and took steps to address the situation," the spokesman said. Thiam and O'Hara declined further comment on Monday. On Feb. 4 the markets division reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of 658 million Swiss francs ($686.35 million) for the quarter, in which Credit Suisse racked up $633 million in write-downs on illiquid trades. A further $346 million in write-downs followed in the first quarter as of March 11, the bank disclosed on March 23. Now Thiam faces questions about the bank's risk controls and oversight by senior management of part of its markets business. "Does it raise concerns? Yes it does," said Andreas Venditti, an analyst at Swiss private bank Vontobel who rates Credit Suisse's stock "hold". Some people familiar with the Zurich-based bank's operations expressed surprise and scepticism that top management could be unaware of such important details. "If the CFO didn't know about it, then sure as hell the chief risk officer would have done, which means everybody would have done," said one former board member of a Credit Suisse investment banking subsidiary. "It's hard to imagine that nobody knew about this stuff." The Credit Suisse spokesman declined to comment on who knew what and when. UGLY DUCKLINGS Around $600 million of the write-downs came from securitised products -- which include collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) -- and distressed credit. CLOs are packages of debt, often corporate loans, which are put together and sold on to investors. They often offer high rates of return but the holders take on most of the risk of loans being defaulted on. Distressed credit involves trading debt of companies that are near or going through bankruptcy, another high-risk high-reward strategy. When he outlined his new strategy for the bank in October, Thiam had referred to securitised products and credit as the "two ugly ducklings". But he said it was not a top priority to tackle businesses such as these that require large amounts of capital when they were generating high returns in Global Markets, one of Credit Suisse's two investment banking divisions. In securitisation Credit Suisse is one of the top three players by revenue, according to Coalition's investment bank league table, which also pegs Credit Suisse as a top-six bank in terms of credit. But by mid-March, Thiam decided to exit distressed credit and European securitised product trading altogether. Thiam told analysts and reporters that Mathers, Chief Financial Officer at Credit Suisse, and many others at the bank had also been unaware of the size of the positions. Looking at the numbers in January, Thiam turned for answers to O'Hara, Global Markets head since an Oct. 21 restructuring, the materials seen by Reuters showed. Thiam wanted to understand the fourth-quarter performance, with a particular focus on December and go over, "day by day if necessary", the activities and risk management decisions taken. After O'Hara sent over a profit and loss statement as well as a risk review, Thiam sought clarification on some leveraged finance deals signed during 2015 which had already posted a cumulative loss of $87 million. He also wanted to better understand the rationale behind Credit Suisse's large presence in U.S. distressed debt trading. "I noted the absolute level of our CLO exposures," Thiam said. "It will be important to ensure that these exposures do not increase going forward and understand their potential impact on Q1 if market conditions do not improve. This last point is actually valid for all the products." O'Hara agreed that inventory was too high, saying Credit Suisse's trading desks were trying to get positions down where they could without disrupting the market. Credit Suisse has reduced its exposure to distressed credit from $2.9 billion at the end of December to $2.1 billion by mid-March, while its U.S. CLO exposure went from $0.8 billion to $0.3 billion. UNWELCOME DISTRACTION Thiam said in March that "a number of people" had paid consequences for him being unaware of these trading positions, and that part of the issue was that trading limits were continuously raised, letting traders take larger positions. Credit Suisse's illiquid investment limit is approved by its risk committee, according to the bank's Organizational Guidelines and Regulations report dated June 2014. Limits for exposures where the risk profile changes more infrequently, as with illiquid investments, are monitored on a monthly basis, the bank said in its 2015 annual report. While Thiam said the problem was in the issue bank's systems and trading limits, Credit Suisse Chairman Urs Rohner offered another explanation, telling a conference there was a problem over how the assets were valued, traded and managed. The write-downs are an unwelcome distraction as Thiam, 53, embarks on Credit Suisse's biggest revamp in a decade. They follow a $2.6 billion settlement and a guilty plea for its private banking having helped wealthy Americans evade tax, in May 2014, more than a year before Thiam, a former Ivory Coast government minister, joined Credit Suisse from British insurer Prudential . Thiam wants to pare back Credit Suisse's investment bank and focus on wealth management. His strategy, which included a new management structure and raising about 6 billion francs in fresh capital, has received a lukewarm response from markets. In March, Credit Suisse announced 800 million Swiss francs in additional cost cuts and plans to shrink its investment bank further. The market welcomed cost cuts but many are still waiting for the turnaround efforts to take hold. (Additional reporting by Michael Shields and Oliver Hirt in Zurich, and Anjuli Davies, Simon Jessop and Alex Chambers in London, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brent crude prices touched a four-month high on Monday in a rally fuelled by strong markets across commodities, ahead of a meeting of oil producers in Doha next Sunday aimed at freezing current output levels. The market received a small boost ahead of the settlement as a U.S. government forecast released on Monday said U.S. shale oil production is expected to fall for a seventh month in a row in May. After hitting the highest level since Dec. 7 early in the day, Brent crude futures , the global benchmark, settled up 89 cents, or 2.12 percent at $42.83 a barrel. U.S. crude futures settled up 64 cents, or 1.6 percent, at $40.36 a barrel. Still, the market is grappling with downside risk ahead of the Doha talks, said John Kilduff at Again Capital Management. "The market is nervous ahead of this meeting on Sunday," Kilduff said. "There's big event risk, because if it falls apart like the last OPEC meeting did, the prices are going to get punished." So far, 15 oil-producing countries have officially confirmed that they will attend the meeting in Doha. The market is having difficulty maintaining a higher price because of a storage overhang, said Gene McGillian, senior analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "We're still above 9 million barrels of U.S. production, and of course there's a massive overhang in storage that you can't get around," McGillian said. U.S. commercial crude oil inventories likely rose last week, while refined product stockpiles probably fell, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday. [EIA/S] Data from energy information provider Genscape at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) suggested the United States will have a smaller-than-expected draw on stockpiles this week, according to market participants. Prices are likely to remain in a range of $36 to $42, McGillian said. Oil was also caught in a generally bullish pattern of trading across commodities. "All commodities are going up. It could be (investors) buying into dips every now and then as people are looking for opportunities to get long," said Abhishek Deshpande, commodity strategist at Natixis in London. Gold prices also touched their highest level in almost three weeks, while silver and platinum were up more than 2 percent. A weaker U.S. dollar <.DXY> gave impetus to buyers as commodities priced in the currency became cheaper to purchase. Oil traders continue to place hopes on the oil producers' meeting to prop up crude prices that have been severely depressed by a global supply glut. But analysts at Goldman Sachs, who expect oil to average $35 a barrel in the second quarter, cautioned that the outcome of the Qatar meeting could prove bearish for the market. Last week, many oil market speculators agreed with a more bearish outlook as data from the InterContinentalExchange (ICE) showed that net long positions on Brent had been cut to 355,225 contracts in the week to April 5. However, analysts are forecasting firmer demand for oil over the longer term. Researchers at Bernstein expect global oil demand to increase at a mean annual rate of 1.4 percent between 2016 and 2020, compared with annual growth of 1.1 percent over the past decade. Famed oil bull Andy Hall said in a letter viewed by Reuters on Monday that the market had turned in favour of the bulls. Hall rebutted the widely held view that oil prices will struggle to rise above $45 a barrel and will not rebalance before 2017. He suggested that a massive retrenchment and cancellation of projects will uphold a bullish view. (Reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York; Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Karolin Schaps in London; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Mostafa Suleiman (R), Egypt's assistant state prosecutor, speaks to the press in the capital Cairo on April 9, 2016, on the subject of the murder of student Giulio Regeni (AFP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed)

Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's assistant state prosecutor said on Saturday Italy had demanded thousands of phone records to investigate the murder of student Giulio Regeni in Cairo, charging that the request was unconstitutional.

Mostafa Suleiman told a press conference that Italian investigators had made the demand during an inconclusive meeting in Rome last week that prompted Italy on Friday to recall its ambassador from Cairo.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, meanwhile, told his Italian counterpart that recalling the ambassador "raised question marks" in light of what he said was Egypt's cooperation in the probe.

Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD student, was in Egypt researching labour unions when he disappeared on January 25.

His badly mutilated body was found more than a week later by the side of a road.

Suleiman said Italian investigators asked for records of "all subscribers in areas in where (Regeni) lived, where he disappeared and where his body was found", Suleiman said, adding the number could even reach a million.

"This demand conflicts with and violates the Egyptian constitution, and would constitute a crime," he said.

Suleiman added that the Italian investigators "conditioned further judicial cooperation on this demand" but the Egyptian delegation in Rome flatly refused.

Rome announced it was recalling its ambassador over lack of progress in the probe into Regeni's brutal murder.

Suleiman said that the Italian investigators also demanded CCTV footage that had been automatically deleted by then, but Egypt made inquiries and found that a program could be purchased that might have retrieved it.

He said they asked Italy for help but the matter was "still under study".

- 'Get the truth' -

A foreign ministry statement said Shoukri had called his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni on Saturday and described to him the extent of Egypt's cooperation.

Story continues

"The foreign minister told his Italian counterpart that this approach raised question marks about the goals of these decisions," the statement said of the ambassador's recall.

Italian officials suspect the student was killed by elements in the Egyptian security services. Their Egyptian counterparts have maintained that there is no basis for such claims.

Egypt's presentation of a theory that a criminal gang murdered him was greeted with outraged scepticism in Italy and has helped fuel public anger over the case, putting intense pressure on Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to be seen to be getting tough with Cairo.

"Italy has undertaken a commitment with the Regeni family... that we would stop only once we get the truth," Renzi said.

The withdrawal of Rome's ambassador is unlikely to satisfy those who are demanding that Renzi send a strong signal of Italy's anger over the case to Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Renzi has a close relationship with Sisi which has helped to generate hugely valuable business contracts for Italian companies, particularly in the energy sector.

Italy is also counting on Egyptian cooperation if and when it leads an international peacekeeping force into Libya to try to stabilise its former north African colony.

Media coverage of the Regeni case has served as a focus for other disappearances and rights abuses in Egypt.

In terms of action, Italy's options are limited.

Moves under consideration include a warning to its citizens against travel to Egypt, but the Regeni case has already caused a slump in visitor numbers from Italy.

Rome is also considering asking for support from its European Union partners to try to put pressure on the Egyptian government over the case.
By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, April 11 (Reuters) - The Peruvian and Brazilian currencies shot to their highest in months on Monday as traders hoped that political uncertainty in both countries could soon give way to a market-friendly policy agenda.

The Peruvian sol jumped more than 2 percent to a six-month high as leftist presidential candidate Veronika Mendoza seemed set to miss out on a second-round vote. The country's select stock index headed for its biggest daily gain since 2008.

Peru's stocks and currency had suffered in the run-up to the election as traders feared that Mendoza's rise in opinion polls could spell the demise of the free-market model pursued by Peruvian governments for a quarter century.

Instead, conservative Keiko Fujimori will likely face off with investor darling Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, which should yield little surprising in terms of economic policy.

"(The runoff) is widely regarded as the market's preferred outcome, with both candidates pledging to maintain pro-business policies, unlike Mendoza, whose populist rhetoric and recent surge in the polls had generated market anxiety," J.P. Morgan economist Franco Uccelli wrote in a client note.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian real extended its rally for a second day to an eight-month peak before a congressional committee was set to vote on President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment after market close.

A majority decision for the leftist President's ouster would pave the way for a vote on the House floor as soon as this week.

Local media polls have generally shown increasing lawmaker support for an impeachment, boosting the country's stocks and currency. Many traders believe a change in government would lay the groundwork for an investment recovery in the recession-mired economy.

"This week carries a promise of high stakes," said Correparti brokerage trader Ricardo Gomes da Silva.

Shares of BM&FBovespa SA rose about 0.5 percent after it agreed to buy rival Cetip SA Mercados Organizados , creating Latin America's largest bourse with a market value of almost 12 billion reais ($3.4 billion).

Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Tito Labarta lowered recommendation on BM&FBovespa shares to "hold", saying the acquisition makes "makes strategic sense, but outperformance limits upside." Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1605 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 825.49 1.06 2.86 MSCI LatAm 2151.05 2.45 14.74 Brazil Bovespa 50629.95 0.67 16.79 Mexico IPC 44996.68 0.31 4.70 Chile IPSA 3919.78 -0.18 6.51 Chile IGPA 19226.41 -0.15 5.92 Argentina MerVal 12360.17 1.13 5.87 Colombia IGBC 9864.26 0.63 15.41 Venezuela IBC 15189.02 -0.08 4.12 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.5170 2.22 12.23 Mexico peso 17.6435 0.77 -2.34 Chile peso 680.5 0.34 4.29 Colombia peso 3060 1.12 3.57 Peru sol 3.2916 2.32 3.72 Argentina peso (interbank) 14.5100 -0.14 -10.53 Argentina peso (parallel) 14.87 0.27 -4.03 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; Additional reporting by Paula Arend Laier; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Meredith Mazzilli)
A piggybank painted in the colours of the Greek flag with a 20 euro banknote in it's slot, stands amongst various euro coins in this picture illustration taken in Berlin, Germany June 30, 2015. REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski/Files

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Greece and international lenders made progress over the weekend in talks on the Greek bailout reforms but negotiations are still ongoing, the European Commission said on Monday.

"Progress has been made over the weekend. Talks are continuing in Athens today," a Commission spokeswoman told reporters in Brussels.

The Commission also said that euro zone government lenders, grouped in the euro zone bailout fund, stuck to their demand that Greece must reach a primary surplus of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2018.

The International Monetary Fund, which also lent money to Greece, has suggested a lower primary surplus in 2018 would have been more realistic and could work if the euro zone offered Greece more debt relief.

"Our aim remains to conclude the review as soon as possible," the Commission spokeswoman added.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Gabriela Baczynska)
(Repeats story published on Friday with no change to text)

By Tim Hepher and Gernot Heller

PARIS/BERLIN, April 8 (Reuters) - France and Germany have joined Britain in suspending export credit facilities for Airbus jet deliveries, expanding the fallout from a potential corruption probe in Britain, several people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The move follows Britain's decision last week to suspend financing and alert the Serious Fraud Office after Airbus Group said it had found anomalies over the declaration of overseas agents and that it had itself notified the UK authorities.

Unusually, it leaves the world's two largest planemakers, Airbus and Boeing, both facing paralysis over government export financing as Congressional delays leave U.S. Export Import bank unable to support Airbus's U.S. rival.

In Europe, Airbus draws on financing support for some sales from Britain, France and Germany where its main factories are.

The nations typically act in concert, offering guarantees in proportion to the industrial work in each country, but declining to take up the slack whenever one of them refuses to take part.

A German economy ministry spokesman confirmed that the financing, provided on its behalf by Allianz unit Euler-Hermes, was no longer available.

Berlin is also examining whether the UK episode could have consequences for export credits already awarded, he added.

In France, three sources said export guarantees were being withheld for the time being.

"Audits are being carried out in the UK and we are waiting for the conclusions for those," a French government official said.

Airbus Group declined to add to a previous statement that it was co-operating with export credit agencies and that it expected financing to be resumed in the near future.

For now, the market impact is seen as limited as the use of export credits has dwindled to around 6 percent of deliveries from 40 percent at the height of the 2008-10 financial crisis.

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But the unprecedented halt raises doubt over the financing for some upcoming deliveries, pushing up demand for commercial loans and placing pressure on Airbus to offer bridge financing.

"The problem is that deals financed with export credit are usually the tough-to-finance ones, so finding a commercial alternative is not always that simple," a market source said.

AGENT FEES AND NAMES

The agency which underwrites aircraft exports in Britain has said it will not support Airbus deliveries until it gets assurances about Airbus's current practices on overseas agents.

The UK case involves discrepancies over the amount of agents' fees disclosed in applications for export support, or missing names of third parties, in some cases dating back several years, two people familiar with the matter said.

A person responsible for overseeing some of the information supplied in export credit applications is no longer with the group, people familiar with the matter said. Airbus Group declined comment.

The decision by Airbus to report itself reflects efforts by many aerospace companies to toughen compliance and review their records for past failings after a series of industry scandals.

In its just-published annual report, Airbus said a newly centralised compliance team was revising the procedures on hiring consultants and warned investors this may "lead to additional commercial disputes or other consequences".

Europe's largest aerospace group says it is co-operating with four existing criminal probes into suspected irregularities in defence or security markets, including a British investigation into a $3.3 billion communications deal with Saudi Arabia and a German probe into the sale of fighter jets to Austria.

(Additional reporting by Matthieu Protard, Leigh Thomas,; Editing by Geert De Clercq and David Evans)
BERLIN, April 11 (Reuters) - A discussion in Germany about the effectiveness of the European Central Bank's monetary policy is legitimate, a spokesman for the Finance Ministry said on Monday.

"In this country - and not only in this country - in Europe and internationally there is a discussion about monetary policy and its effectiveness which must take place," Martin Jaeger told a regular government news conference.

Jaeger said this should not be confused with an attempt to directly influence the ECB's monetary policy and said Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble believed the central bank's independence was of the utmost importance.

He added that he expected Schaeuble to speak with ECB President Mario Draghi this week in Washington on the sidelines of an International Monetary Fund meeting.

(Reporting by Caroline Copley and Thorsten Severin; Editing by Paul Carrel)
Steel workers of Germany's industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG and IG Metall union members demonstrate for higher wages in Duisburg, Germany April 11, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's biggest trade union, IG Metall, rejected a wage offer on Monday for workers in the metals and electrics sector in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the country's industrial heartland, and threatened strikes from late April.

Companies in the sector offered a wage increase of 1.2 percent, which IG Metall said comprised a one-time payment of 0.3 percent and another 0.9 percent over 12 months.

That was well below IG Metall's demand for wage increases of 5 percent for 3.8 million metals and electrics sector workers after the German economy grew by 1.7 percent last year.

"This is not an offer, this is a provocation for all of IG Metall," Knut Giesler, the union's regional leader for NRW, said.

(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Michelle Martin)
By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund expects to complete negotiations with Sri Lanka for a three-year loan programme in the next two weeks, a visiting IMF mission said on Monday.

Sri Lanka has requested an IMF loan to help weather a looming balance of payments crisis.

Ratings agency Fitch downgraded its sovereign rating by a notch last month before Standard and Poor's revised its outlook to negative spurred by a ballooning fiscal deficit, rising foreign debt and sluggish growth prospects.

The IMF said it made significant progress in the talks.

"Program discussions will continue in Washington D.C... with an objective of concluding a staff-level agreement with the authorities, subject to approval by IMF management and executive board ... in the next two weeks," it said in a statement.

Todd Schneider, the mission head, said Sri Lanka's proposed economic programme aims to achieve high and sustained level of economic growth and restore discipline to macro economic and financial policies.

The IMF did not elaborate on the amount of the loan.

He said Sri Lanka's reform agenda included raising government revenue, strengthening public financial management, state enterprise reforms, and structural reforms to enable a more outward looking economy.

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Nick Macfie)
A farmer removes dried grass from his rice field against the backdrop of pre-monsoon clouds on the outskirts of Ahmedabad June 13, 2013. REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's annual monsoon rains are likely to be above average, the country's only private weather forecaster said on Monday, snapping two straight years of drought that cut farm output and farmers' income.

The July to September monsoon delivers nearly 70 percent of annual rains and waters half of India's farmlands that lack irrigation facilities.

Monsoon rains are expected to be 105 percent above a long-term average, with a 35 percent probability of above average rainfall, Skymet said in a statement.

The El Nino effect is likely to wane after monsoon hits the southern Kerala coast by the end of May, the statement said.

El Nino, or warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, can lead to scorching weather conditions across Asia and east Africa, but heavy rains and floods in South America.

India's west coast and central parts will get good rains, Skymet said, bringing in relief for farmers and policy makers, who are struggling with droughts and severe water scarcity in some regions.

Above average monsoon rains play a key role in boosting demand for an array of consumer goods, as 70 percent of India's 1.3 billion people live in villages.

Agriculture accounts for about 14 percent of India's $2 trillion economy, Asia's third-biggest, but it supports two-thirds of Indian's population.

State-run India Meteorological Department is expected to issue its forecast for this year's monsoon rains soon.

Separately, Farm Secretary Shobhana K. Pattanayak said current climatic conditions indicate that El Nino is gradually fading and giving way to La Nina, indicating bountiful rains this year.

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal and Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath and Susan Thomas)
(Refiles to fix style in headline for Q1)

By Bernadette Christina Munthe

JAKARTA, April 8 (Reuters) - Indonesia's average daily crude output climbed in the first quarter to about 835,000 barrels per day (bpd), an energy ministry official said on Friday, as a result of a long-awaited production increase at Exxon Mobil Corp's Cepu block.

Throughout 2015, Indonesia's average daily output was 786,000 bpd, government data presented on Friday showed.

Natural gas output in the first quarter was at 8,219 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), compared with an average daily output of 8,078 mmscfd in 2015.

"The Cepu production facility is already full, and the production-sharing contract holders are maintaining output levels," Oil and Gas Director General Wiratmadja Puja told Reuters by text, when asked about the increase in daily crude output levels.

The Banyu Urip project in the Cepu block in East Java province is operated in partnership with state energy company Pertamina and was expected to reach peak output of 165,000 bpd in January.

Output from Banyu Urip is crucial to Indonesia's long-term efforts to meet rising domestic oil demand as production declines at its ageing fields.

Yet, Exxon has faced a host of problems and setbacks developing Cepu, Indonesia's biggest oil and gas find in the last decade, including a worker dispute that slashed output in August.

Crude output from Cepu more than tripled throughout 2015 from around 40,000 bpd in 2014, hitting around 130,000 bpd in December when Exxon commenced operation of the project's central processing facility.

"Once full field production levels are safely reached, the project will represent approximately 20 percent of Indonesia's 2016 annual oil production target," Exxon said in a statement.

(Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
(Adds resignation accepted by president, background)

BISHKEK, April 11 (Reuters) - Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariyev and his cabinet resigned on Monday after a parliamentary commission accused it of corruption, a move highlighting tensions between different factions of President Almazbek Atambayev's supporters.

"Squabbles, rumours and gossip have upset the balance within the government," Sariyev told a cabinet meeting open to the media. "The government's work has stalled at such a difficult time."

A commission set up by the ex-Soviet republic's parliament said last week the government had broken the law, accusing it of having rigged a $100 million road construction tender to ensure it was given to a Chinese firm that lacked the required license.

Sariyev, who has denied any wrongdoing, had asked Atambayev to sack Transport Minister Argynbek Malabayev, but the president has refused to do so, saying the prime minister had not provided clear legal grounds for a dismissal.

On Monday, Atambayev accepted Sariyev's resignation, which automatically triggered the resignation of the whole cabinet.

Sariyev, 52, has run the Central Asian nation's government since last May, at the time when its economy has come under pressure from the recession in Russia and slowdowns in other neighbouring countries such as China and Kazakhstan.

Sariyev had also pledged to resolve a long-standing dispute over profit-sharing with Canada's Centerra Gold, which operates Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan's biggest gold mine and its economic backbone. But the sides have not reached any agreement yet.

Social Democrats closely linked to Atambayev head up a coalition that dominates the parliament and also includes the Kyrgyzstan, Onuguu-Progress and Ata Meken parties. Sariyev's party, Akshumkar, does not have seats in the parliament.

The coalition, which controls 80 out of 120 seats in the legislature, now needs to pick a new premier within 15 days.

Unlike its autocratic Central Asian neighbours, Kyrgyzstan has a relatively powerful parliament while limiting presidential powers. Two Kyrgyz presidents have been toppled by violent protests.

(Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
The propaganda poster is one of the most iconic in the People's Republic of China. Based on a painting by Liu Chunhua commissioned during the Cultural Revolution, it marks the moment in 1922 when Mao Zedong and other young communists helped organize a historic strike among miners in China's coal country. The poster, called Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan, shows a youthful man striding forward with socialist purpose to save the downtrodden masses. Even now, the image symbolizes the People's Republic's revolutionary zeal, much like the image of George Washington crossing the Delaware evokes the struggle for American independence.

Today, coal is still unearthed from the same hills of Jiangxi province. The city of Pingxiang, which includes the Anyuan district of Mao fame, is home to eight state-run coal mines. But only three are operational; the rest are victims of a global coal glut and a slackening Chinese economy. Thousands of idled miners were offered little more than $70 a month in salary earlier this year, on top of a series of wage cuts last year. Inspired by the Great Strike of 1922, hundreds of miners rallied on Feb. 29 and March 1--a dangerous action in a nation where mass movements can lead to mass arrests. "We wanted to say that this money is not even enough for food," says one protestor, Zhong Yifeng. "How can you survive on such little money?"

Even though participants said they only held up signs peacefully, armed police were dispatched to break up the protest. (On its website, Pingxiang Mining Industry Group acknowledged that workers had gathered at its offices to "express their mass demands.") Several protesters were injured in scuffles, say participants. But the miners are not cowed. If compensation isn't increased significantly, some Pingxiang miners are considering more drastic means. "We may go petition in Beijing, shouting 'we must eat to survive' in Tiananmen Square," says Xiao Bin, another miner who took part in the protests. "It's dangerous, but it's just like Mao's Anyuan strike, when the workers carried out revolution."

Story continues

Strikes are illegal in today's China, as are any independent unions outside the party structure. Mass protests are also taboo. For decades, security forces, employed by a ruling Communist Party obsessed with maintaining social stability, made sure to break up any incipient labor movement. But with China's economy slowing after years of double-digit growth, the nation's workers see little option apart from taking to the streets -- even at the risk of arrest.

Social unrest has spread nationwide. In the nation's south, the cradle of China's export-led economy, rarely a day goes by without workers at private factories engaging in civil action. High-profile labor activists have been thrown in jail. State-sector laborers, who contribute around 40% of China's industrial output, have also raised protest signs, particularly in the nation's northeastern rust belt. In just one example last month, thousands of state coal miners in a city on the Chinese-Russian border, rallied in March after the provincial governor incorrectly announced in Beijing that they had been paid their back wages. Overall, 2,774 strikes and protests erupted across the country last year, more than double the figure for 2014, according to the China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based watchdog.

Labor discontent is particularly acute in the state-run coal and steel industries. In February, state planners said China would shed 1.8 million jobs from these two sectors, which are notoriously inefficient and indebted. Reforms designed to tackle China's worrisome overcapacity aren't a bad thing, especially when President Xi Jinping's government has, in general, tightened the state's hold on the economy rather than loosening it and promoting private enterprise. But unlike the 1990s, when 30 million Chinese lost their state-sector employment, it's not clear how China's slowing economy will absorb this new wave of laid-off workers.

Earlier this month, Pingxiang Mining Industry Group finally gave miners $125 in backpay for the month of February. That's better than $70 but still less than half of what workers once earned. The local public security bureau has posted signs warning those in the mining industry to "maintain social order" and "secure stability" in the mines. On its own website, Pingxiang Mining noted that, in the weeks since the protest, authorities "took many measures to maintain harmony and stability in the mines [including sending] capable people with arms to patrol around the key areas, collecting information on instability and solving conflicts and disputes." (TIME was unable to get comment from Pingxiang Mining since no one answered their phones.)

Like hundreds of cities across interior China, Pingxiang is undergoing a building boom that underscores the nation's growing income gap. On the outskirts of this coal town, miners live in unheated, cement-block shantytowns. Coal miner Xiao, 37, is the third generation of his family to work the mines. His grandfather died in a mining accident, his father of occupational lung disease. He has a Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan poster decorating his Spartan home, where tap water runs black when it runs at all.

But elsewhere in Pingxiang, local officials have constructed grandiose, mostly empty museums that are being touted as integral to a red tourism trail dedicated to China's communist history. An outdoor movie studio, built by a coal boss, takes up prime real estate, even if locals say it has never attracted a single film or TV crew. Downtown, new luxury residences have sprouted, with glittering chandeliers and gilded fixtures. In a poster affixed to one such residential tower, a local real-estate company uses an iconic image in an advertisement. It's a famous portrait but it's not of a certain Anyuan strike organizer. Instead, Uncle Sam, that embodiment of American patriotism, looms over a city made famous by Chairman Mao.

--with reporting by Yang Siqi/Pingxiang

This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 11, 2016 / Laguna Blends Inc. (CSE:LAG) (LAGBF) (Frankfurt: LB6A.F) (the "Company" or "Laguna") is pleased to announce it has started beta testing Laguna World with independent affiliates. Laguna will be gathering affiliate input to ensure Laguna provides the best possible marketing and communication tools. Laguna World is now live and available for all Laguna affiliates.

Laguna is the first network marketing company to use exciting virtual, 3D technology to enable affiliates to train, recruit and drive sales by utilizing a simple interactive, voice conferencing platform. Laguna will offer opportunity meetings, training and customer support in Laguna World.

Mr. Charles Carleton, head technical consultant to Laguna World, said, "During the first phase of Laguna World, the Company will receive valuable feedback and technical data. Laguna is the network marketing leader with innovative technology and will continually strive to innovate and implement new technologies. Network marketing companies have not kept up-to-date with technology, therefore positioning Laguna as an incredible business opportunity."

Mr. Charles Carleton has 20 years' experience in Technology and Entrepreneurship. He has worked both for large corporations and small start-ups and is at ease in both worlds. A solid technical and analytical background coupled with good overall business acumen has enabled him to effectively work across all departments which compose a successful business.

Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Mr. Charles Carleton obtained his BSC cum lade in Experimental Physics from York University in Toronto. He headed west and spent the next 15 years in the tech industry out in California between Silicon Valley, San Francisco and San Diego as an employee for Microsoft, Allied Signal and Honeywell. He also started some of his own software companies during that time. One of which was partnered with Skype in their very early existence (when they were only seven guys working out of an office over a bar in Estonia) and contributed in designing and building their original Platform and API.

Story continues

Mr. Stuart Gray, Laguna's President and CEO, said, "Laguna Blends is very excited to launch the first phase of Laguna World. By receiving feedback from direct sales / network marketing experts, Laguna World will be able to provide the best possible service to our independent affiliates."

Laguna recently announced the introduction of "Pro369", Laguna's hemp protein, instant, functional beverage product. The first product category that Laguna has introduced are unique, instant, functional beverage products that contain hemp protein, omegas, ginseng and other efficacious ingredients.



About Laguna Blends Inc.

Laguna is a network marketing company that generates retail sales through independent affiliates. Affiliates utilize tools and technology that enable them to build an international business from their own home or anywhere else in the world. This technology replaces the need for expensive travel and hotel meetings.



The Company is currently focused on the nutritional health benefits derived from hemp. Laguna's first product category as an entry to market are functional beverage products that contain hemp and other efficacious ingredients. Laguna's initial products to market are the following:



"Caffe" is an instant, "just add water" hot coffee beverage that is infused with both whey and hemp protein. With 2 grams of protein in every serving, our proprietary product packs a powerful protein punch. Caffe, contains Instant coffee, whey protein hydrolysate, hemp protein, natural flavors.

"Pro369" is a single serving, "on-the-go," plant based, instant, hemp protein that is served cold and comes in 4 delicious flavors. Pro369 is water soluble and can be directly mixed in water, added to milk, almond milk or coconut milk. Pro369 can also be blended in a shake or smoothie. Pro369 is also a source of Omegas, 3, 6 and 9 and contains ginseng.

Laguna Blends has been granted approval from Health Canada for four powdered flavours: Pro369 Chocolate Banana, Mixed Berry and Vanilla Caramel and Tropical Powder. Pro369 contains Hemp protein, natural flavors, stevia, and American ginseng.

The Minister of Health from Health Canada has granted Laguna a product license along with a Natural Product Number ("NPN") for all four of the Pro369 Flavours. They are all listed under the same NPN.

i. A source of protein that helps build and repair body tissues.

ii. Source of amino acids involved in muscle protein synthesis.

iii. Assists in the building of lean muscle.

iv. An adaptogen to help maintain a healthy immune system.

v. Supportive therapy for the promotion of healthy glucose levels.



Hemp has long been recognized by the health and nutrition industry as a super food, cited in many publications as a balanced source of all ingredients required to achieve health and wellness.

HempOmega

HempOmega is an environmentally sustainable, vegetarian source of Omegas 3 and 6 that boasts a superior nutrient profile. A water soluble, homogenous, powdered ingredient, it can be easily integrated and/or manipulated, with no unpleasant taste or chemical contamination - opening up entirely new product formulation opportunities. Hemp Omega's greater ability to endure the digestive process delivers unmatched bioavailability, thereby maximizing its potential health benefits.

The Company sells its products through its independent affiliates in the USA and Canada.

HempOmega is a Trademark owned by Naturally Splendid Enterprises, Ltd. and is used under license by Laguna Blends Inc.



ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Stuart Gray"

President, Chief Executive Officer,

FOR INVESTOR RELATIONS INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

QualityStocks

Scottsdale, Arizona

www.QualityStocks.com

480.374.1336 Office

ir@lagunablends.com

www.lagunablends.com

www.lagunaworld.com

Join Us On Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/LagunaBlends/

Twitter: @LagunaBlends

Forward-Looking Information:

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to statements regarding the Company's business, products and future plans including, without limitation, statements regarding use of proceeds, the expected launch date for the Company's business, its product offerings and plans for sales and marketing. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Such forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance and developments to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risks that the Company's products and plan will vary from those stated in this news release and the Company may not be able to carry out its business plans as expected. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation, and does not intend, to update any forward looking statements or forward-looking information in this news release. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release.

SOURCE: Laguna Blends Inc.
FORT WASHINGTON, PA--(Marketwired - April 11, 2016) -

Please note: This release includes expanded quotations, updating and clarifying a previous version issued by NCCN on April 7, 2016.

The next President of the United States will face multiple challenges in managing the nation's health care and, in particular, cancer care -- most notably how to pay for therapeutic innovations on the horizon and ensure patients have access to them.

Whether and how a new administration will tackle these issues was the subject of the roundtable, "Emerging Issues in Oncology: Cancer Care in an Election Year," held during the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 21st Annual Conference on April 1, 2016.

Moderators Kavita Patel, MD, MSHS, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Marc Samuels, JD, MPH, Founder & CEO of ADVI, led the lively morning discussion. Panelists included Cybele Bjorklund, MHS, Distinguished Visitor/Senior Fellow, Georgetown University; Lanhee J. Chen, PhD, David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; Elizabeth J. Fowler, PhD, JD, Vice President, Global Health Policy, Johnson & Johnson[1]; and Scott Gottlieb, MD, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute.

Dr. Patel opened the session, attended by more than 1,000 oncology professionals, by asking how America is succeeding and not succeeding in the delivery of health care.

The Challenge to Align Incentives

The effort to align incentives among patients, providers, and payers in order to deliver the right care at the right time remains a challenge, but we are making progress, said Ms. Bjorklund, the former Democratic Staff Director for the Health Subcommittee of the House Committee on Ways and Means, who played a leading role in the creation and enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

But such discussions are likely to remain rhetorical, said Dr. Chen, a veteran of four presidential campaigns, the most recent, Senator Marco Rubio's.

Story continues

"People in the public policy environment are sick of talking about health care," Dr. Chen said.

All issues are viewed through the lens of cost, he added, and cost is still a big problem politically and on the ground. On a more optimistic note, policy makers do realize there is life in health care beyond the ACA. One key issue, he noted, is the structure of bureaucratic organizations and whether they are ready to handle the innovation coming out of the private sector.

Dr. Fowler, who served as special assistant to the president for Healthcare and Economic policy at the National Economic Council, was chief health counsel to the Senate Finance Committee chair where she developed the Senate version of health reform. She pointed to accomplishments of the ACA -- that 20 million Americans are newly covered, the proportion of uninsured is below 10%, the rate of health care spending has slowed, and the ACA's payment changes are encouraging collaboration and innovation in delivery. Dr. Fowler said she is worried about cost sharing and the high out-of-pocket burden patients are asked to bear.

Dr. Gottlieb, a clinical assistant professor at the New York University School of Medicine and former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director of Medical Policy Development, voiced concern that introducing new technologies has become prohibitively expensive and that consolidation in the health care industry driven by payment reform is creating local monopolies that will reduce productivity and drive up prices. On the consumer side, he said, accommodations to insurance companies and a narrowing of the providers network and drug formularies have left consumers underinsured for drugs.

On the other hand, the pace of translation of new therapies has sped up in recent years thanks to technology. The use of monoclonal antibodies developed in 1970 took 30 years to translate to patents. "Now we're seeing ten-year journeys. That's something to be optimistic about," Dr. Gottlieb said.

The Path to Innovation

Innovation, Dr. Patel argued, is not going to come from the top down, but from primary care physicians, who are the lowest paid physicians in the system but responsible for millions in spending. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) were a good foundation, she said, but a new, more flexible model needs to evolve. She added that her practice is seeing more patients who have never had care before, and are ill, some diagnosed with cancer, needing multiple services. "I've become a gatekeeper to be the point of care, but I'm measured in a fee-for-service way."

"We've imposed one model because of the way Washington operates. We've foreclosed innovation," Dr. Gottlieb said.

Merely consolidating providers isn't going to give rise to innovation in healthcare delivery. Rather, innovation in delivery is typically the result of new start-up ventures, often backed by venture capital. This is the example of many of the great innovations in healthcare services, such as home infusion services, outpatient dialysis, and skilled nursing facilities, all of which were concepts developed by entrepreneurs. Dr. Gottlieb said, adding that venture capital is instead going to IT start-ups, that are less capital intensive, rather than new facilities-based start-ups.

There will be increasing pressure on reimbursement and on how academic medical centers integrate with other parts of the economy. We don't realize how much of a role we have given government in driving innovation, Dr. Chen said.

"We keep looking for the sweet spot between capitation and fee-for-service," Ms. Bjorklund said, pointing to their respective incentives to undertreat and overtreat. "Assigning accountability and measuring clinical care to right-size everyone in the system is an elusive goal, but everyone is trying. The system is in flux, but the status quo is indefensible," she said. A balance of public and private sector innovation can drive better public policy, she noted, but, "We always need to proceed thoughtfully with large-scale changes to Medicare to ensure we don't upset a critical program providing coverage to nearly 50 million people."

Medicare Part B: A Good Deal?

Marc Samuels led the second part of the panel with a discussion around the controversial proposed payment changes to Medicare Part B that would reduce add-on payments to drugs' Average Sales Price (ASP) to 2.5% from today's 6%, while adding a flat fee per drug per day. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) claims that this model would deincentivize physicians from prescribing higher-priced drugs.

Ms. Bjorklund explained that the demo is proposed under the authority of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), which was created under the ACA as a framework for testing and expanding new payment and delivery system reform ideas, as long as those ideas maintained access and quality and either maintained or decreased spending. If these goals are met, a proposal can be expanded and made permanent without congressional action.

"I think the Medicare Part B demo will be a campaign issue," Dr. Chen said earlier in the panel. "What is the appropriate role of government in setting payment policy and influencing the kind of care that patients receive?"

The discussion then turned to medical breakthroughs in cancer and whether the U.S. health care system -- which costs as much as the GNP of the world's fourth largest economy -- has the capacity to deliver new therapies to the patients who need them.

Our country wants a system that rewards quality, outcomes, innovation, and patient access, Dr. Fowler said, but there are impediments: "We're moving toward a value-based world, but we have a system built on a fee-for-service chassis." Another challenge, she added, are the data systems used by the FDA and by IT systems, which keep doctors and hospitals from seeing outcomes. "We need to the tackle the system collectively."

Ms. Bjorklund said that the fear of how data would be used is hampering the sharing of data: "In the U.S., there's so much fear around good data and how it can be used. We need to move away from a fear of 'rationing' and be looking at it as an opportunity to drive better outcomes, getting the right care to the right patient in the right setting at the right time."

The Pundits Make Predictions

The panel closed with Mr. Samuels asking panelists to predict which of the presidential candidates will win the election and what the effect might be on health care policy.

Dr. Patel ventured a prediction that Hillary Clinton will be the victor and that Americans will see tweaks to the current health care system in IT, meaningful use, and drug pricing. She advised looking at the CAP reports to see where a Clinton administration would focus their efforts.

Dr. Gottlieb predicted that Donald Trump would lose momentum following a loss in Wisconsin and that Ted Cruz will emerge from a brokered Republican Convention. After that, it'll be a very close election, he said.

"If Trump doesn't get to 1,237 delegates before the convention, I don't see how he can be the nominee," said Dr. Chen, adding that Sen. Cruz would be in a good position to win, but it could be someone else as well. "I do think we're headed to an open convention."

"I think Clinton will prevail," Ms. Bjorklund said. If she wins, Ms. Bjorklund said, Clinton may face a Democratic Senate but probably a strongly Republican House, and there is likely to be continued gridlock on health care issues. However, if they end up in a protracted budget or deficit reduction negotiation, it could open the door with Speaker Paul Ryan for a lot of discussions, she said.

If a Republican wins, she added, "The rhetoric around the ACA has been so toxic on repeal and replace, they'd have to at least go through the motions of repeal, which entails taking health care away from millions of people and upsetting one-sixth of our economy. Now what?"

For more coverage of the NCCN 21st Annual Conference, visit NCCN.org/news.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 of the world's leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT.

Clinicians, visit NCCN.org. Patients and caregivers, visit NCCN.org/patients. Media, visit NCCN.org/news.

[1] Dr. Fowler's comments during the NCCN panel do not reflect the opinion of Johnson & Johnson.

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North Korean soldiers look towards South Korea across the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, which has worked as a buffer between the two countries since 1953 (AFP Photo/)

Seoul (AFP) - South Korea said Monday a North Korean colonel in charge of spy operations had defected to the South, along with a diplomat and three family members.

The army colonel had handled espionage targeting South Korea at the North's General Bureau of Reconnaissance before arriving in Seoul last year, the South's Yonhap news agency said.

Unification and defence ministry spokesmen in Seoul confirmed the report but declined to give details such as the officer's name and exact date of defection.

"He is the highest-level military official to have ever defected to the South," said a government official quoted by Yonhap.

The officer is believed to have given details about the bureau's operations against South Korea to authorities in Seoul, the unidentified official said.

The unification ministry spokesman also confirmed a report by Dong-A Ilbo daily on Monday that a North Korean diplomat posted in an African nation had defected to Seoul last May with three family members.

The news came days after Seoul announced that a group of 13 North Koreans working in a state-run restaurant outside the country had fled to the South in a rare mass defection.

The group -- one male manager and a dozen women -- arrived in the South Thursday. They had reportedly been working at a restaurant in China's southeastern port city of Ningbo before coming to the South through a third country in Southeast Asia.

Seoul rarely confirms defections by North Koreans, especially senior officials, citing the potential threat to their safety. It also does not want to damage diplomatic relations with the countries through which they travel.

China is the North's sole major ally. Pyongyang reportedly has often lodged protests with transit nations used by defectors en route to Seoul.

The highly unusual disclosures prompted Seoul's main opposition party to accuse the government of trying to rally support among conservatives before Wednesday's parliamentary election.

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The vote for the 300-seat national assembly is seen as a referendum on the policies of President Park Geun-Hye and her ruling conservative Saenuri Party.

The unification and defence ministries denied political motives, saying the disclosures were made in the public interest.

In the past some defections were made public only after months of questioning and with the approval of the person concerned.

This was out of consideration for the safety of their families in the North, said Cheong Seong-Chang of Seoul's Sejong Institute think tank.

"I can't help viewing these extremely rare disclosures... as attempts to influence the election," he said.

The revelations came at a time of heightened military tensions on the divided Korean peninsula.

North Korea has condemned Seoul and Washington for spearheading a sanctions drive at the United Nations over its nuclear and missile programmes.

It has also issued nuclear threats in response to annual large-scale military exercises which South Korea and the US began last month.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression in their country despite the risk of imprisonment and torture if caught, and settled in the South.

But the number of defectors -- who once numbered more than 2,000 a year -- has nearly halved since Kim Jong-Un took power in the North after the death of his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong-Il in December 2011.

Those who still manage to flee in recent years already have families settled in the South or are relatively well-off and well-connected members of the elite in search of better lives, according to experts and activists.

The highest-ranking North Korean defector to come to the South was Hwang Jang-Yop, the North's main ideologue and former tutor to Kim Jong-Il. He made a high-profile defection via the South Korean embassy in Beijing in 1997 and died in Seoul in 2010.
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who is leading the Democratic campaign against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, has said that none of the emails sent over her private server were classified at the time (AFP Photo/Kena Betancur) (AFP/File)

Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama said Sunday that the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state is taking place without political interference.

The controversy over the Democratic presidential frontrunner's management of her official correspondence as US top diplomat from 2009 to 2013 has provided a staple Republican line of attack during the campaign for the White House.

"I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department or the FBI, not just in this case but in any case. Period," Obama told Fox News Sunday.

"I do not talk to the attorney general about pending investigations," he added. "I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations."

Asked by journalist Chris Wallace whether Clinton would be treated differently were she to win the Democratic nomination, Obama said, "How many times do I have to say it, Chris? Guaranteed."

Obama, who leaves office in January, restated his view that although Clinton in her own words had shown a degree of "carelessness" over her official emails at the State Department, "she has not jeopardized America's national security."

Calling on the former first lady's critics to "keep this in perspective," he said she had done "an outstanding job" during her four years as secretary of state.

Clinton, who is leading the Democratic campaign against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, has said that none of the emails sent over her private server were classified at the time.

She has handed the State Department 52,000 pages of documents relating to her correspondence.

Asked whether the FBI probe has reached its final stages, director James Comey told reporters earlier this week that the agency feels no pressure to wrap up its proceedings before the Democratic convention in July.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters. In a Fox News interview, President Obama said this was the worst mistake of his presidency.

President Barack Obama believes that the biggest mistake of his presidency was not having a plan for Libya after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

In a Fox News Sunday interview, Obama was asked what he believed was the worst misstep during his time in the White House.

"Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya," he said.

Obama said in The Atlantic's April cover story that the lack of preparation for a post-Gadhafi Libya contributed to the country's current "mess."



Since a NATO-backed revolt ousted Gadhafi, Libya has slipped deeper into turmoil , with two rival governments and a range of armed factions locked in a struggle for control of the OPEC state and its oil wealth.



In the chaos, Islamic State militants have grown in strength, taking over the city of Sirte and launching attacks on oilfields.

 Reuters contributed to this report.

Read the full interview transcript on Fox News.





More From CNBC


The status on-going federal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons use of a personal email server has begun to bubble up again, less than 10 days before the critical New York primary.

The issue removed the veneer of inevitability from Clintons bid to be the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee last summer and gave rise to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Clintons email scandal had largely fallen off the public radar in recent months as conservative watchdog groups fought to get more emails from Clinton and her top aides released. The Justice Department had assigned more than 50 agents to the investigation to try to recover the servers data, even though Clinton claimed the device has been wiped clean.

Related: Facing Democratic Fury, Sanders Walks Back His Attack on Clinton

The topic was spiraling toward becoming an Inside the Beltway story before it came roaring back Sunday when President Obama said his former top diplomat has displayed carelessness in arranging the homebrew set-up, and vowed that Justice and FBI will not protect the Democratic frontrunner.

I can guarantee that, the president said in interview with Fox News Sunday, his first with the show since entering the Oval Office in 2009. I can guarantee that, not because I give Attorney General Lynch a directive, that is institutionally how we have always operated. I do not talk to the Attorney General about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations.

I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department, or the FBI, not just in this case, but in any case, Obama added. Full stop. Period.

The presidents full-throated defense of neutrality is likely to backfire, though. Many Republicans already believe that even if Clinton is found to have broken the law, Obamas Justice Department would not prosecute her and thats why the GOP must win the White House this November.

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Related: Heres the Big Risk Sanders and Clinton Are Taking as They Trade Insults

Several Republican contenders pledged to continue the investigation into Clintons email server and pursue charges against her.

Absolutely, yes, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said last month during an interview with Fox News Hannity.

On Sunday, Obama repeated his belief that Clinton's personal email use "has not jeopardized Americas national security," even though they contained classified information.

"Now, what Ive also said is that  and she has acknowledged  that theres a carelessness, in terms of managing e-mails, that she has owned, and she recognizes, he added.

Related: Sanderss Great Society Plan Could Add $15 Trillion to the Debt

As for the investigation itself, FBI chief James Comey has said his agency wants to do a thorough job and is no rush to wrap up the inquiry before the Democratic National Convention this summer.

Obviously, Clintons camp would like the investigation to end sooner rather than later, removing a key distraction and alleviating a key concern going into the general election (aside from the ongoing House investigation into the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya).

Clinton campaign chair John Podesta was asked about the timing of the investigation on ABCs This Week, and if, as a practical political matter it needed to be finished before Democrats convene the week of July 25th.

Look, that's up to Mr. Comey, it's not in our control. She offered last summer to be interviewed, if that's what they like, if that's what they wanted, he said. If they want to talk to her, they can talk to her. But they haven't asked for that.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
A woman walks past election posters in Molenbeek, one of the Brussels nineteen communes October 5, 2006.

A man with a bushy beard and round belly is thought to have radicalized a network of young people in a Belgian neighborhood that's notorious for being a center of jihadist activity.

He's become known as the "Santa Claus of jihad," and Belgium's federal prosecutor says he has "perverted an entire generation of youngsters," The New York Times reports.

The 42-year-old Moroccan man, Khalid Zerkani, reportedly has connections to the terrorists who carried out recent attacks in Paris and Brussels. AFP called him a "central figure in the jihadist super-cell behind the attacks." He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in July for participating in the activities of a terrorist organization, according to The Times.

Zerkani seemed to target vulnerable young people for radicalization, introducing them to a violent interpretation of Islam. The Washington Post characterized these young terror recruits as "a new breed of jihadists" that blur "the line between organized crime and Islamist extremism."

These recruits often have criminal backgrounds and lawbreaking experience that proves useful in funding and carrying out attacks. Zerkani's gang relied on petty crimes like theft to help finance his radicalization ring, which provided money to recruits who wanted to go fight in Syria for groups like ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh).

Zerkani's recruits are known to rob tourists and steal luggage to fund the "Islamist cause," according to The Post.

"Many of them live lives as hoodlums, had an epiphany, and turned religious, but these connections to criminality are not meant to disappear," Peter Neumann, a radicalization expert at King's College London, told The Post.

Zerkani's brand of extremism is known as "gangster Islam," a way of life that marries criminal activity to a radical ideology. Unlike many Al Qaeda recruits, who were known to be pious, fundamentalist Islamists, Zerkani's recruits aren't typically well-versed in Islam.

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Hind Fraihi, who wrote a book on Molenbeek, the Brussels neighborhood where Zerkani was based, told The Times that ISIS attracts "bandits and gangsters because it needs them for their knowledge of guns, safe houses and the underground scene."

Whereas other fundamentalist extremists might have had a hard time attracting young people to a way of life that required them to turn away from alcohol and partying, Zerkani convinced his recruits that "past criminal convictions were not an obstacle to the Islamic cause, but a vital foundation," according to the Times.

And since Molenbeek has been struggling with crime for years, there was no shortage of young people for Zerkani to target.

Zerkani "did not lecture these recruits on arcane theological justifications for violence ... but instead used a few crude religious ideas to give legitimacy to the criminal path they had already chosen," The Times wrote.

He often targeted immigrants who shared his Moroccan heritage and drew them closer to him by cutting them off from their families and other social ties in Belgium, according to Belgian prosecutors. Officials have tied him to 30 to 40 people who have left Belgium to fight in the Middle East, The Post said.

Young people with immigrant backgrounds as well as a criminal history make particularly easy targets for Zerkani, because they're more likely to feel isolated from the rest of Belgian society.

One such young man in his 20s  Farid, the son of Moroccan immigrants  said many young Muslims in Molenbeek feel hopeless and struggle to find opportunities for work in an area with high unemployment rates.

"We are revolting against this state and this society that never accepted us as Belgian," he told The Post. "We are revolting against our parents and also their countries of origin. "I dont feel Belgian. I dont feel Moroccan. I think of myself as a Muslim."

NOW WATCH: A hair surgeon explains what's going on with Trump's hair





More From Business Insider


A female employee fills the tank of a car at a petrol station in Cairo, Egypt, February 24, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is to provide Egypt with 700,000 tonnes of petroleum products a month under a $23 billion (16 billion pounds) deal over five years between Saudi Aramco and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp, an EGPC official said on Monday.

"The Saudi Fund for Development will pay Aramco for the petroleum products directly, and receive in return the amount from Egypt in instalments," the source told Reuters.

The deal is part of financial support for Egypt announced during a visit this month by Saudi Arabia's King Salman.

It also highlights a change in strategy by Saudi Arabia to focus more on financial support for Egypt that will also provide Saudi Arabia with a return on its investment.

Egypt will get financing for the products but will have to repay the money.

Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf oil producers, has pumped billions of dollars, including grants, into Egypt's flagging economy since the toppling of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

Low oil prices have contributed to Saudi Arabia's change of approach.

Under the 700,000-tonne monthly supply deal, Saudi Aramco will provide Egypt with 400,000 tonnes of gas oil, 200,000 tonnes of benzene and 100,000 tonnes of Mazut, the source said.

The financing for the petroleum and petroleum products will have an interest rate of 2 percent and will be repaid over 15 years, the source said.

(Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Asma Alsharif. Editing by Jane Merriman)
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) welcomes Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud upon his arrival at Esenboga Airport in Ankara, on April 11, 2016 (AFP Photo/Adem Altan) (AFP/File)

Ankara (AFP) - Saudi King Salman arrived in Turkey on Monday for a visit aimed at tightening increasingly close ties between the two overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim allies, receiving a lavish welcome that underlined the strength of relations.

The 80-year-old king was welcomed at Ankara airport by a delegation personally led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an unusual break from protocol and showing the importance Turkey attatches to the visit.

Television footage showed the king, wearing black sunglasses, serenely descending from the plane with a special escalator rather than steps before being welcomed by Erdogan.

King Salman is expected to hold talks on Tuesday at Erdogan's presidential palace in Ankara expected to focus on the Syrian conflict and the fight against militants.

Salman will then attend the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul on Thursday and Friday after wrapping up talks in the Turkish capital.

Local media reported that he will stay in Ankara in a 450 square-meter (4,850 sq ft) hotel suite, with bullet proof windows reinforced by bomb-resistant cement.

A 300-person Saudi delegation had earlier arrived in Ankara to coordinate the king's accommodation and deal with security issues, the Hurriyet newspaper said.

Five hundred luxurious Mercedes, BMW and Audi cars had been hired for the king's transport in Ankara and Istanbul, it added. The king's personal belongings had all been shipped to Turkey in cargo planes.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey have forged close alliance after their relationship had been damaged by Riyadh's role in the 2013 ousting of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a close ally of Ankara.

Ankara and Riyadh have cooperated closely over the five-year Syrian war. Both back rebels who are seeking to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power and see his exit as essential to ending the war.

In February, Saudi jets arrived at Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to join the air campaign against Islamic State jihadists.

Turkey will take over the OIC's rotating presidency from Egypt at the Istanbul summit, which is seen as a new bid by Erdogan to showcase Turkey's influence in the Islamic world.
USN party supporters chant slogans on the last day of campaigning for the presidential election in Balbala on April 6, 2016 (AFP Photo/Houssein I Hersi)

Djibouti (AFP) - Voters in Djibouti went to the polls on Friday, with iron-fisted ruler Ismail Omar Guelleh expected to extend his 17-year rule in the strategic African nation courted by world powers.

Voting was calm but slow through the morning and early afternoon, after some opposition parties called a boycott, as they have done in previous elections.

Six candidates are vying for the presidency in the tiny Horn of Africa country, whose location at the gateway to the Red Sea has attracted powers such as the United States, France and China as a prime location for military bases.

Guelleh is the clear frontrunner, predicted to win a fourth election victory in the former French colony against a fractured opposition.

Results are expected as early as Friday evening from the election in which 187,000 people -- around a fifth of the population -- are eligible to vote.

Looking relaxed and smiling, the head of state cast his vote in the centre of Djibouti City accompanied by his wife.

"I'm very confident", he said. "I think the vote will go well."

Voter Wihib Rageh, a 46-year-old technician, said he backed Guelleh, shrugging off his already-long tenure.

"Time doesn't count. What counts is what the person does. The main thing is to build the country," he said.

- 'We need change' -

But in the dilapidated district of Balbala, a group of young jobless people disagreed as they watched voters head to a polling station.

"I'm not voting, I'd rather stay at home," said one.

"We need something different," said Hussein, who -- like some 60 percent of Djibouti's population -- is unemployed.

Several opposition candidates complained that their representatives had been turned away from a number of polling stations.

"We demand that the government fix this and organise transparent, free, fair and just elections," independent candidate Jama Abderahaman Djama told AFP.

With a population of 875,000 people, Djibouti is little more than a port with a country attached, but it has leveraged its position on one of the world's busiest shipping routes.

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It is home to Washington's only permanent base in Africa, which is used for operations in Yemen -- just across the Gulf of Aden -- as well as the fight against the Islamist Shebab in Somalia and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

- Opposition complaints -

Guelleh, 68, and his Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP) face a divided opposition with his two main opponents, Mohamed Daoud Chehem and Omar Elmi Khaireh, both claiming to represent the Union for National Salvation opposition coalition.

The seven-party opposition alliance was founded in 2013 but has failed to agree on a single candidate, while three of the member parties have boycotted the poll.

Guelleh won the last election in 2011 with 80 percent of the vote, after parliament changed the constitution to clear the way for a third, and now a likely fourth, term.

Following parliamentary elections in 2013 which Guelleh's UMP won with 49 percent of the vote sparking furious opposition claims of fraud, rival parties demanded the creation of an independent electoral commission -- which has never happened.

Opposition groups have complained of curbs on freedom of assembly ahead of the vote while rights groups have denounced political repression and crackdowns on basic freedoms.

This week a BBC team was detained, interrogated and then expelled after interviewing an opposition leader.

Djibouti has launched major infrastructure projects aimed at turning it into a regional hub for trade and services, using money largely borrowed from China, which is planning to build a military base there.

Despite the investment and perky economic growth, four out of five people live in poverty.
Can you move 1,200 miles just to lower your taxes? Well, David Tepper can, and it may save him hundreds of millions of dollars.

Tepper is the founder of hedge fund Appaloosa Management, and hes worth more than $10 billion, according to Forbes. He ran his firm out of New Jersey for years, but recently moved the operation to Miami Beach. The top income tax rate in New Jersey is nearly 9%. In Florida, the top rate is 0. Tepper will save so much money that New Jersey finance officials worry that the tax revenue lost to his move could blow a hole in the state budget.

Connecticut lost a couple of billionaires as wellbusinessmen Thomas Peterffy and C. Dean Metropoulos, who also decamped for Florida recently. Their departure lowered Connecticuts billionaire count from 15 to 13. The Nutmeg State is also losing longtime corporate citizen General Electric (GE) to Boston, a move GE made after Connecticut passed big tax hikes. Florida Gov. Rick Scott even invited Yale University to ditch New Haven and relocate to the Sunshine State, to avoid a new tax some Connecticut lawmakers wanted to impose on the schools endowment. That bill failed to pass, and Yale says it is staying put (for now).

Tax dodges available to the wealthy  but usually, not to the rest of us  have become a sore spot among Americans growing weary of crony capitalism. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders draws roars of approval when he calls for a sharp tax hike on the wealthy. Republican Donald Trump vows to end certain tax breaks that, he says, allow hedge-fund managers to get away with murder. The Obama administration recently cracked down on corporations that try to avoid paying U.S. taxes through inversions, and the Panama Papers scandal, while snaring few Americans, stoked global outrage over the worlds fat cats setting up secret, tax-free accounts far from home.



A simpler tax haven

But theres a simpler kind of tax haven: States with low or no income taxes, which increasingly seem to be drawing 1 percenters from the finance industry. Unlike many types of work that must be done on-site, investing firms can be run from just about anywhere, as long as a major airport is nearby. The wealthy have always sought to minimize their tax bills, but one new factor may be a tax rule the IRS recently clarified to indicate that certain offshore holdings of hedge funds must be repatriated by the end of 2017  with earnings taxed. Repatriating such funds to a state with no personal income tax could save millions compared with the relatively high rates in the Northeast, California and a few other states.

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Anybody can do the math. On $10 million earned in New Jersey, taxed at the top rate of 8.97%, the state tax alone would be $897,000not including federal taxes. The tax on the same $10 million would be $882,000 in New York and $670,000 in Connecticut. In Florida it would be nothing. Florida raises taxes in other ways, through sales taxes and a lot of excise taxes, but that puts more of a burden on the middle class -- and less on the wealthy -- than in other states with progressively higher taxes on income.

That has made Florida a magnet for tax minimizers able to come on down. At least 29 hedge funds opened in Florida in 2015, many of them run by Wall Street departees. Locals talk of a new Manhattan forming in south Florida. Groups such as the Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association, formed in 2013, tout the fact that Florida levies no tax on incomes, estates or certain types of corporations -- which happen to be the kind most hedge funds and private-equity firms are structured as. Gov. Scott, for his part, aggressively recruits corporations to his business-friendly state. Florida does have a corporate tax rate of 5.5%, but that, too, is relatively low compared with 9% in New Jersey, 7.1% in New York, 9% in Connecticut and 8.84% in California.

The path from high-tax northern states to low-tax southern ones is well-trod by now. Annual data on state-to-state moves gathered by United Van Lines shows that New Jersey, which has the fifth-highest state income tax rate in the nation, also has the highest portion of people moving out. New York, with the eighth-highest income tax rate, is No. 2 for departures. Florida, with no income tax, has the largest portion of in-bound movers. Five other states with no state income tax  Nevada, Texas, Washington, South Dakota and Wyoming  also had a net inflow in 2015. (Alaska has no state income tax, but it wasnt included in the United survey.)

Puerto Rico is the latest municipality to lure 1 percenters with generous tax breaks. A set of laws passed in 2008 taxes certain businesses that move to Puerto Rico at a flat 4% rate, while offering huge reductions in many types of investment income for people who can prove they spend at least 183 nights on the island. Hedge-fund giant John Paulson is investing at least $1.5 billion in development in Puerto Rico, while holding seminars for investors and businesspeople touting the islands virtues as a tax haven. Paulson says he may move there himself, joining more than 1,000 wealthy emigres who made the same move in recent years.

You dont necessarily need $1 billion to move to a tax haven. But if you do, youve got a powerful incentive to find one  and the resources to get there.

Rick Newmans latest book is Liberty for All: A Manifesto for Reclaiming Financial and Political Freedom. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.
Turkish police forces use watercanon to disperse demonstrators during a march in memory of the victims of the Roboski strike, on December 28, 2015 in Ankara (AFP Photo/Adem Altan) (AFP/File)

Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish police have smashed a cell of Kurdish militants in a usually tranquil region between Istanbul and Ankara who had hoarded explosives, guns and suicide vests, the Dogan news agency reported Sunday.

Police in the Bolu province east of Istanbul, said they had detained seven members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as part of an investigation into plans for a suicide attack.

The arrests come three days after Bolu police killed two suspected PKK members in an unusual raid in the province which is about half-way between Turkey's biggest city Istanbul and the capital Ankara, and far from the Kurdish-dominated southeast.

Police uncovered two pistols, four homemade explosive devices, two Kalashnikovs, C4 plastic explosives and two suicide vests, the Dogan news agency reported.

The haul comes with Turkey on a knife's edge after four militant attacks that have killed 79 people this year alone in Istanbul and Ankara.

The two bombings in Ankara were claimed by a group calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a radical splinter group of the PKK which has which has fought a decades-long insurrection against the Turkish state.

Those in Istanbul have been blamed on the Islamic State group.

Since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire with the PKK last year, Turkish government forces have been waging a blistering military campaign against the group in the southeast of the country.

Three weeks after the most recent attack in Istanbul, which left four dead and dozens injured, the United States and Israel have issued emergency travel warnings to their citizens in the past two days.

The US embassy warned of "credible threats to tourist areas, in particular to public squares and docks in Istanbul and Antalya."

Meanwhile, Israel urged its citizens to avoid Turkey or "leave as soon as possible", citing an imminent risk of an attack.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday lashed out at the west for backing Syrian Kurdish militia group the PYD in the fight against IS, which Turkey says is linked to the PKK -- which the US and EU consider a terrorist group.

"They are appendages of the same body ... If you do not see that the PYD is a terror organisation that means that you do not see the Ankara attack as a terror attack," Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul.

"Is the fight with terrorism not supposed to be a common struggle?"
LONDON (Reuters) - Business minister Sajid Javid said on Monday he was unable to promise that there would be no further job losses in the British steel industry, but that the government was doing all it could to protect workers.

Tata, one of the world's biggest steelmakers, said on March 30 it was putting its British assets up for sale, citing a global oversupply of steel, high costs, weak domestic demand and a volatile currency.

"I would love to stand here today and declare that this crisis is over, to say that not one more job will be lost in Britain's steel industry," Javid said in parliament. "That is not a promise that I, or anyone else in this chamber, can make."

He went on to say that the government had consistently done all it could support the industry, and would continue to do so.

(Reporting by William James; editing by Stephen Addison)
Women use their mobile phones outside an O2 shop in Loughborough, central England January 23, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Staples

(Reuters) - UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has expressed serious concerns about the proposed merger between Hutchison 3G UK and Telefonica UK and called for the European Commission to prevent "long-term damage" to the UK mobile telecoms market.

The proposed merger is likely to lead to increased prices and/or a reduction in the quality offered to UK consumers, CMA Chief Executive Alex Chisholm told the European Commission's Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. (http://bit.ly/1SYPxji)

European Union antitrust regulators launched a full in-depth investigation in October into Hutchison Whampoa's 10.3 billion-pound bid for British mobile operator O2 on Friday, concerned that the deal may push up prices.

The potential deal would make Li Ka-shing's Hutchison, which operates the Three UK mobile network, the top mobile operator in Britain.

"It is clear that the remedies offered fall well short of what would be required to meet the relevant legal standard, as detailed in our case submissions," the CMA said, adding that the only available option for the EU was a prohibition if the suggested remedies are not enacted.

On Monday the CMA suggested that the companies divest either the Three Mobile or O2 mobile network business completely or allow for carve-outs from the divested business.

Hutchison said it was "very disappointed" the CMA had intervened, adding that it could have "no legitimate" status in the process.

"It is of no surprise that the CMA opposes the merger," it said in a statement.

"It always has, and so has (British regulator) Ofcom. But it is for the Commission to assess any competition concerns, on the basis of the facts and proposed remedies."

Hutchison said the remedies it had proposed -- including striking deals for other operators to rent more than 40 percent of the combined network capacity -- went far beyond remedies accepted in previous deals in the sector in Europe.

It said the CMA's suggestion that either the Three Mobile or the O2 network should be divested was a "red herring" that would undermine the whole rationale behind the merger.

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"There is no taker for such a remedy," it said.

Spain's Telefonica said in March 2015 that it had finalised a deal to sell its British mobile business O2 to Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa.

(Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Ed Osmond)
The Affordable Care Act suffered another jolt late last week with the news that UnitedHealth Group, the nations largest health insurer, was making good on its threat to pull out of Obamacare, beginning with its operations in Georgia and Arkansas.

UnitedHealth roiled the market last November when it revealed that it was considering exiting Obamacare after incurring hundreds of millions of dollars in losses related to ACA business. Then UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley confessed to investors meeting in New York in December that the company should have stayed out of the program a little longer to better gauge its profitability potential.

UnitedHealth CEO: Joining Obamacare Was a Bad Decision

The company had cautiously tiptoed into the market in January 2015 after sitting out the first full year of Obamacare operations in 2014. It was for us a bad decision, Hemsley admitted to his investors. In retrospect, we should have stayed out longer.

So it wasnt a huge surprise on Friday when UnitedHealth spokesperson Tyler Mason confirmed to The Washington Post that the company, indeed, was pulling out of Georgia and Arkansas, two relatively small states that proved to be highly unprofitable terrain for the company.

This development is troubling, especially if it UnitedHealth pulls out of other bigger states, or if other major insurers such as Aetna and Anthem follow suit. But experts have cautioned not to make too much of UnitedHealths flight from the market. While it is one of the largest insurers on the national scene, UnitedHealth nonetheless is a bit player in Obamacare and holds a much smaller market share than other rivals like Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

In Georgia, for example, UnitedHealth last year had a market share of only 4.47 percent of the health maintenance operation ACA business, according to the Los Angeles Times, while Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and Humana together claimed 90 percent of the overall market. Although detailed figures for Arkansas were not available, presumably it is a similar story there.

Story continues

Related: Obamacares Bait and Switch Has Left Consumers Scrambling in 2016

United Health and Aetna both reported losses last year after the companies badly underestimated the cost of providing health care insurance to many individuals who turned out to be older and sicker than they had anticipated. UnitedHealth generally enrolled consumers with better health than the overall exchange population, according to Hemsley, but it still lost money.

UnitedHealth declined to speculate on Friday whether it would discontinue its Obamacare operations in other states, although it seems likely that more closures will follow. United Health is among dozens of insurers that sell coverage to millions of Americans in marketplaces established by the states or the federal government that provide federal subsidies to low-income people.

As with any new market, we expect changes and adjustments in the early years with issuers both entering and exiting states, Aaron Albright, a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which operates Obamacare, told the Washington Post. The marketplace is a reliable source of coverage for millions of Americans with a robust number of plan choices.

Related: Uninsured Rate Hits New Low, but Obamacares Still a Hot Potato

UnitedHealths decision to pull back in Georgia and Arkansas beginning next year comes just days after a new Gallup survey documented a sharp decline in the rate of Americans who are still without coverage. Despite its rocky performance during its first two full years of operation  including higher than anticipated premiums and copayments and lower enrollments than projected  the ACA, along with expanded Medicare, clearly has been a boon for the nations uninsured.

About 12.7 million people enrolled in Obamacare this year, including about 587,800 in Georgia and 73,600 in Arkansas, according to government figures. U.S. uninsured rate fell nearly one percentage point to 11 percent during the first three months of this year. That marked the lowest uninsured rate in eight years, according to Gallup.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
US Secretary of State John Kerry answers questions following the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Hiroshima, on April 11, 2016 (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

Hiroshima (Japan) (AFP) - Washington is ready to "ratchet up" pressure on an increasingly aggressive North Korea, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday, but remains open to negotiations if Pyongyang scraps its nuclear weapon development.

North Korea has taken a series of actions this year that have ramped up regional tensions, starting with its fourth underground nuclear test in January.

That was followed by the launch of a long-range rocket a month later -- which was widely seen as a disguised ballistic missile test.

In response the UN Security Council slapped its toughest sanctions yet on the secretive state.

"I would like to see a few measures we were not able to get into the (Security Council) resolution implemented, depending on what actions the North decides to take," Kerry told reporters after a Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

On Saturday North Korea said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile, which it claimed would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland.

"So it is still possible we will ratchet up even more depending on the actions" of North Korea, Kerry said.

"But we have made it clear... we are prepared to negotiate a peace treaty" on the Korean peninsula.

"It all depends on the North making the decision that they will negotiate on denuclearisation. We are waiting for that opportunity."

The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice and not a full peace treaty. The US has long insisted that Pyongyang must denuclearise as a condition for talks on a peace pact.

The State Department confirmed in February that Pyongyang had reached out to Washington in a tentative bid to discuss a treaty, but said its January nuclear test had derailed the possible talks.

- 'Absurd' -

Saturday's test was the latest in a series of claims by the North of significant breakthroughs in nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

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They included Pyongyangs alleged success in miniaturising a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile.

Earlier Monday the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, which suffered the world's first nuclear attack in the closing days of World War II, issued a statement calling for a "world without nuclear weapons".

It said North Korea's nuclear ambitions were a key hurdle to achieving that lofty goal.

Kerry also took a swipe at North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, saying his actions "stand out as such an aberration against the direction the world wants to go" -- referring to moves aimed at reducing nuclear weapons.

"It is also why any suggestion by any candidate for high public office that we should be building more weapons and giving them to a country like (South) Korea or Japan are absurd on their face and run counter to everything that every president, Republican or Democrat alike, has tried to achieve since World War II," he said, apparently referring to Donald Trump.

The Republican front-runner for November's presidential election sparked criticism recently by suggesting that he could accept a nuclear-armed Japan and South Korea to counter North Korea.
(Adds details on contract talks, Verizon comment, quotes from union representative)

By Malathi Nayak

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc's wireline employees will go on strike starting Wednesday after reaching an impasse in talks over a new contract, union officials said on Monday.

Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represent over 37,000 employees of the wireline business, which includes FiOS Internet, telephone and TV services.

Unless Verizon reconsiders its stance on unsettled issues, wireline workers will stage the walkout starting at 6 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, CWA President Chris Shelton said on a media call.

"Verizon has forced us there ... Nobody wants to go on strike," Shelton said. "It's a hardship for our members and our families, it's a hardship for customers."

Verizon and the unions, which represent Verizon workers from states such as Massachusetts, Virginia, New York and Rhode Island, have been in talks over the company's plans to cut healthcare and pension-related benefits over a three-year period since June. Wireline workers have been working out of contract since the last agreeement expired in August.

While a compromise on healthcare plans has been reached, dispute over offshoring call center jobs and pensions still remain, union representatives said.

"We've tried to work with union leaders to reach a deal," said Marc Reed, Verizon's chief administrative officer, said in a company statement

The company said it is fully prepared to serve its customers in the event of a strike.

During the last round of contract negotiations in 2011 also led to a strike.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
A Verizon logo is seen during the International CTIA WIRELESS Conference & Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana May 9, 2012. REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Files

By Malathi Nayak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc's wireline employees will go on strike starting Wednesday after reaching an impasse in talks over a new contract, union officials said on Monday.

Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represent over 37,000 employees of the wireline business, which includes FiOS Internet, telephone and TV services.

Unless Verizon reconsiders its stance on unsettled issues, wireline workers will stage the walkout starting at 6 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, CWA President Chris Shelton said on a media call.

"Verizon has forced us there ... Nobody wants to go on strike," Shelton said. "It's a hardship for our members and our families, it's a hardship for customers."

Verizon and the unions, which represent Verizon workers from states such as Massachusetts, Virginia, New York and Rhode Island, have been in talks over the company's plans to cut healthcare and pension-related benefits over a three-year period since June. Wireline workers have been working out of contract since the last agreement expired in August.

While a compromise on healthcare plans has been reached, dispute over offshoring call center jobs and pensions still remain, union representatives said.

Weve tried to work with union leaders to reach a deal, said Marc Reed, Verizons chief administrative officer, said in a company statement

The company said it is fully prepared to serve its customers in the event of a strike.

During the last round of contract negotiations in 2011 also led to a strike.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Hakan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Volvo, smiles during an interview with Reuters after attending a panel discussion about self-driving cars at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, April 7, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

By Norihiko Shirouzu

BEIJING (Reuters) - Volvo aims to launch an experiment involving self-driving cars in China in which up to 100 such cars could be deployed, the Swedish automaker said on Thursday.

The company laid out its vision for China at an event in Beijing, with Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson telling Reuters the company is targeting 10 percent year-on-year sales growth this year for the market here.

The planned autonomous drive experiment will see local drivers test the cars on public roads in everyday conditions, and will be conducted in limited driving situations such as on express roads and highways, company executives told Reuters.

"I think we need to build up (consumer) trust in the technology," Samuelsson said. "So you have to bring it out and demonstrate it."

The move is part of the Swedish company's efforts to take advantage of the pledges central government policymakers in China, the world's biggest auto market, have made to embrace futuristic technologies such as self-driving cars.

Volvo, wholly owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co [GEELY.UL], is currently scouting for a city that could provide the necessary permissions, regulations and infrastructure to allow the experiment to go ahead, the company said.

"It has to be a big city where there are lots of consumers... wasting an hour a day in the cars (sitting in traffic)," Samuelsson said. "That's I think realistically where this function can be sold commercially."

The automaker did not say by when it hopes to conduct the tests nor did it detail the costs of the experiment.

The self-driving cars that Volvo is envisioning will be like normal cars that alert the driver when autopilot mode can be activated, on freeways or in specific zones such as gated neighborhoods or industrial parks, giving the driver the option to maintain or relinquish control, Samuelsson said.

Driverless cars that are voice controlled without steering wheels and can drive anywhere under any conditions will not become a reality in the foreseeable future, he said.

Story continues

SALES TARGET

By calling on cities in China to sign up to participate in the program, Volvo wants to send a message to the Chinese government to "step up to the plate" to make good its often "strident" pledges of commitment to autonomous driving technology made in recent months, a Volvo executive familiar with the planned experiment said ahead of the event.

The China experiment will be patterned after Volvo's own similarly-set-up testing program in the Swedish city of Gothenburg that aims to start deploying self-drive test cars next year.

"What we're doing is giving these cars to people and using real people as our data set, so the information they generate will help us implement the technology," said the executive who declined to be named because he is not authorized to share details of the plans before they are officially announced.

Besides Volvo, Tesla, Mercedes, Audi (VOWG_p.DE) and Alphabet Inc's Google are among those developing self-driving vehicles.

Samuelsson told Reuters that the company aims to sell 200,000 units in Asia Pacific by 2020, one quarter of its planned global sales, with China accounting for the bulk. The automaker sold nearly 82,000 cars in China last year.

Growing sales in China has become key to Volvo's revitalization strategy since Geely purchased the troubled Swedish automaker in 2010.

(Reporting By Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
* Developing East Asia Pacific 2016 growth seen at 6.3 pct

* Growth forecast for 2016 lowered from 6.4 pct in October

* World Bank keeps 2016 China growth view steady at 6.7 pct

* Growth seen picking up in Indonesia, Philippines in 2016

* Malaysia, Thailand expected to see slowdown in growth

SINGAPORE, April 11 (Reuters) - The World Bank trimmed its 2016 and 2017 economic growth forecasts for developing East Asia and Pacific, and said the outlook was clouded by risks such as uncertainty over China's growth prospects, financial market volatility and further falls in commodity prices.

The Washington-based lender now expects the developing East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region, which includes China, to grow 6.3 percent in 2016 and 6.2 percent in 2017, slowing from 6.5 percent growth in 2015.

Its previous forecast in October was 6.4 percent growth in 2016 and 6.3 percent in 2017.

The expected slowdown in the region is mainly due to the continued moderation of growth in China, which is likely to see growth slow to 6.7 percent in 2016 and 6.5 percent in 2017, from 6.9 percent in 2015, the bank said. The growth forecasts for China were unchanged from October.

"The fundamentally positive base case for growth and poverty reduction in the region is subject to elevated risks," the World Bank said in its latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update report on Monday.

Possible risks include a weaker-than-expected recovery in high-income economies, a faster-than-expected slowdown in China, as well as increases in financial market volatility that could cause monetary conditions to tighten and have adverse effects on the real economy, the bank said.

"In particular, vulnerabilities created by the interplay between high levels of indebtedness, price deflation, and slowing growth in China bear close monitoring, as do corporate and financial sector vulnerabilities across much of the region."

A further fall in commodity prices would have a negative impact on major commodity exporters and reduce the space for public spending and investment, the bank added.

Story continues

Growth in Malaysia was likely to come in at 4.4 percent in 2016 and 4.5 percent in 2017, down from 5.0 percent in 2015, as weaker demand from China and low commodity prices constrain growth and public spending, the bank said.

Growth in Thailand was seen at 2.5 percent in 2016 and 2.6 percent in 2017, down from 2.8 percent in 2015, with weaker external demand and policy uncertainty likely to weigh on private investment.

Indonesia is likely to see growth accelerate to 5.1 percent in 2016 and 5.3 percent in 2017, from 4.8 percent in 2015, despite low commodity prices and headwinds to external demand.

"However, this outlook is contingent on the implementation of an ambitious public investment programme, and the success of recent reforms to reduce red tape and uncertainty for private investors," the bank said, regarding Indonesia.

Growth is expected to firm in the Philippines to 6.4 percent in 2016 from 5.8 percent in 2015, on the back of accelerated implementation of the existing pipeline of public-private partnership projects, and spending related to the May 2016 presidential election, the bank said.

(Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Eric Meijer)
TAIPEI, TAIWAN--(Marketwired - Apr 10, 2016) - Taiwan International Fastener Show (TIFS), the third-largest in the world and the second-largest in Asia, takes place from Monday, April 11 to Wednesday, April 13 at the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center. With 402 exhibitors in 1002 booths, the show's scale will set a new record and draw nearly 1,900 International professional buyers in hopes of generating soaring sales in the fastener industry.

Organized by the Bureau of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, co-organized by the Kaohsiung City Government, the TIFS is carried out by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Taiwan Industrial Fastener Institute (TIFI). The show consists of four main sections: the Fastener Products Area; the Machine, Material, Mold and Hand Tool Area; the Foreign Companies Area and the Cross-Strait Area. Mostly exporting fasteners for industrial use and automotive fasteners, Taiwan has been actively making a transition in the past decade to produce products with higher value, such as those in aerospace, the medical field, the railway sector and more.

In the Fastener Products Area, there is Chun Yu, a representative manufacturer that focuses on special automotive fasteners (i.e. for suspension systems) and railway fastening. It has also made great progress in developing lightweight titanium screws for the aerospace industry and high-end automobile fasteners and assembly. San Shing Fastech supplies nuts to OEM manufacturers of international automobile brands, with Benz and BMW as its main clients. Sumeeko Industries is a Tier-1 supplier to Tesla Motors and General Motors, providing automotive fasteners for shock absorbers, chassis systems, the interior, sheet metal, exhaust pipes and more. National Aerospace Fasteners is known as one of the leading aerospace engine fastener manufacturers, along with three other companies; Alcoa Fastening Systems and Rings Aerospace, Bristol Industries and SPS Technologies.

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Toward the end of last year, San Shing Fastech and Ying Ming Industry both obtained orders for trial productions at Boeing. This opportunity will truly assist them in entering the markets of fasteners for elemental aircraft components and aircraft interiors in the future. Anchor Fasteners Industrial, as the largest supplier of automotive and electronic rivets, rivet nuts and anchor bolts, has already successfully broken into the dental implant industry. Other prominent Taiwanese exhibitors that will attend the exhibition include the top furniture fastener manufacturer Zyh Yin Enterprise -- who will have a grand-sized booth, Ray Fu Enterprise, Taikyu, Sheh Fung Screws, Tycoons Group, Unitech Products, Fang Sheng Screw, Chong Cheng Fastener, Homn Reen Eneterprise, Hwa Hsing Screw Industry, Sheh Kai Precision, Lu Chu Shin Yee Works and others.

The Machine, Material, Mold and Hand Tool Area will on the other hand display the future trends of fastener manufacturing equipment: larger in scale and a higher level of accuracy. One of the most reputable exhibitors attending the event is Chun Zu Machinery Industry with its signature brand "Lion," displaying its developments in multi-operational cold-forging machinery. Hosting manufacturers from all aspects of the fastener production process to allow foreign buyers access to everything they need in one place will be such remarkable companies as Jern Yao Enterprise, Nufast Logistics, Ching Chan Optical Technology, Wen Yang Machinery and more. To allow the show to be more globalized, an area for foreign companies has been incorporated for the first time with booths for Japan, the U.S., Austria, Italy, India, China and other countries.

Furthermore, a Global Fastener Leader Summit will be held on the first day of the three-day show, gathering professionals from around the globe to make up a list of strong line-up speakers, which will include Dr. Volker Lederer from the European Fastener Distributor Association (EFDA), Marc Strandquist from the National Fastener Distributors Association (NFDA) in the U.S., Dr. Gian Marco Dal Pane from the Italian Union of Fastener Distributors (UDIB) and Taiwan's TIFI chairman Anchor Chang. All speakers promise to give enlightening speeches on future trends in the industry and ways to tackle current challenges the industry faces. A sum of over 300 representatives from the 16 regions of Taiwan, the U.S., Germany, Italy, the UK, Canada, India, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and more, have signed up for the summit. All talks will be broadcast live on the event's official site.

The 60 plus overseas offices of TAITRA have invited worldwide constituents from the fastener industry to participate in this year's show, where up until now, over 1,800 foreign buyers have registered on the official site of TIFS. Thirty four of these buyers, from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy and other countries, come from companies that have an annual turnover of more than US$ 100 million. Altogether, with two buyer groups from Italy and India, a total of 1,900 buyers are expected to visit the show. This bustling biannual event also anticipates increased revenue for local businesses near the venue. Kaohsiung's star-rated hotels, such as the Grand Hi Lai Hotel and the 85 Sky Tower Hotel, have exceeded a 90 percent room-booking rate.

For more information, please visit www.FastenerTaiwan.com.tw or check out the show's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/FastenerTaiwan

To join Global Fastener Leaders Summit LIVE, visit: https://goo.gl/LmjdU3

About TAITRA

Founded in 1970 to promote foreign trade, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) is the foremost non-profit trade promotion organization in Taiwan.

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Taipei, April 11 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Monday that it is still checking the whereabouts of eight Taiwan nationals who were sent to China from Kenya three days ago after they were acquitted of phone fraud in Nairobi, although all were charged with illegal entry.
les good comments:Martin B. | April 13, 2016 8:20 PM | ReplyTalk about pissing on the graves of the fallen. There was a race for the bomb that the Americans won by a whisker. Given the monstrosity that was the Japanese Empire with the countless beyond describable atrocities it committed to literally murder and rape its' enemies into total submission deserved much more punishment than the two nukes dished out. The Japanese had no respect for any life not born under the Rising Sun. The bombs were the easy way out for the Asian monster.DrD | April 13, 2016 8:23 PM | ReplyThe man ought to tour Nanjing and speak to some of the survivors of the Japanese occupation if there are any. My brother worked with a colleague who used to say that had it not been for the A-bomb he would have died in a Japanese concentration/work camp. War is nasty business. What ever it takes to finish it . . .biffjr. | April 13, 2016 8:48 PM | ReplyOnly the most ignorant would argue that using the atomic bomb was unnecessary. The Japanese were quite prepared to defend their homeland to the last man even though the war could very well have been extended for months or perhaps years. The country would have been ravaged from one end to the other and the deaths, both military and civilian would have been astronomical. If the Russians had invaded from the north, the war might have been shortened but it would have been much nastier. One only has to look at how ferociously the Japanese defended conquered islands like Guadalcanal and Tarawa. One can only imagine how they would have reacted to an invasion of the Japanese homeland.Of course those who are ignorant of history and argue against the use of the bomb have probably never heard of Iwo Jima or Okinawa and the unspeakable bloodshed that resulted to take and hold these islands.cgh replied to comment from Martin B. April 13, 2016 9:24 PM | ReplyIt wasn't won by a whisker, Martin. From examining the remains of the German and Japanese nuclear programs immediately after the war (yes, Japan had a nuclear weapons program), it became very clear that neither of their programs were going to produce an explosive device any time soon. They had neither the resources, the materials or the technology to produce a bomb. And all of that's a very good thing.Biffy, leftist historians have been trying to rewrite the history of nuclear weapons in WW2 for more than 50 years. What they resist is the understanding that, absent nuclear weapons, there would have had to be a conventional invasion of Japan causing millions of casualties. It was precisely the ghastly experiences on Iwo Jima and Okinawa which led Truman to understand that, however reluctant he was, he had no alternative. Those two were the key. By 1945, Japan had lost the war, and they knew it from their own records. But Okinawa showed that Japan would not surrender to any conventional assault. The Joint Chiefs estimate for the human cost of Operation Downfall was horrific, from 30,000 to 300,000 US fatal casualties, with Japanese casualties running into the millions.
Under the couch is a good place for those mid range time capsules..."They live" and some guitar picks, and damned if there wasn't a non-screw beer cap from a molson golden under mine...( I used the bottle to play slide guitar )Back to the thread:All these Military types, like the branch mentioned in the OP have to justify their budgets, which explains why Guantanamo takes in innocents and turns out ( turned ) terrorists..."Air Force Moves to Replenish Bomb Stockpile Drained by ISIS Fight""Most Guantanamo detainees are innocent: ex-Bush official"(the CBC... yeah I know, "state sponsored media"...but whats a delver to do?)Say, is this the same Air farts that keeps resupplying El CIA duH?"Israeli Bombers over Syria: Al Qaedas Air Force"(ooops, not supposed to talk about that, we are in canada the bastion of free speech... so sorry)"U.S. accidentally delivered weapons to the Islamic State by airdrop, militants say"(Accidentaly? ..like that hospital in Afghanistan turned out to be....not!)What do you know?...from the washingmachington ( spin cycle) Post ...Isis's propaganda armGeez, no wonder the Russians did so well, so fast...they were actually fighting the enemy.PS:"Killer robots are being built......A new form of self-autonomous weaponry will now be able to identify targets and have the capability to shoot without any human intervention."Out with old, and in with the new...Make no mistake, we peeps are the old
Curious Cdn said: I just Googled Progtards because I'd never seen the term, before. Anyway, here is an useage from the 'Net, man ...



Mayor Bloomberg would be a fine example of a progtard.



THAT bad, eh? Is that like a Billionaire who can read and write, as well Dude?



One thing is for sure, America ain't gonna elect no Progtards, no siree. Click to expand...

Bloomberg isn't a progtard, let alone a fine example of one.Crybullies are one example of progtards. Basically, to be a progtard is to be a progressive simply for the sake progressivism, not for any altruistic reasons, just because it's "the thing to be", for now. Progtards believe that ALL of the world's ills and faults can be laid squarely on Whitey. Progtards are the left-wing equivalent of the old "moral majority" in the US during the 80s and part of the 90s. Except progtards are even dumber. They think violence and bullying are appropriate methods of getting their message across, which isn't very progressive now, is it. Despite being "progressive", progtards arebelievers in policing ALL speech and censoring that which they disapprove of. In other words, "progressivism" through fascism.If you want to see a FINE example of a progtard, look no further than professor Melissa Click.Oh yeah, speaking of "neighbourhoods", my wife was reading earlier that a bunch of the "refugees" were dropped off in the Kitchener/Waterloo and Cambridge area. Not all of them went to the cities though. A few hundred were spread around in what are essentially Mennonite areas, not to mention the K/W area being one of Ontario's primary pig farming and pork processing regions.That could be real interesting.
Just like your family or a small business, the State of Nebraska sets priorities when we balance our budget. These priorities must be carefully considered because state government cannot simply borrow money to fund programming like the federal government. A few weeks ago, I shared some of the principles guiding my work with the Legislature to balance the budget. Balancing the budget and holding the line on spending this session were two of my top priorities, because the state was facing a $124 million shortfall due to slow growth in tax receipts. I am happy to report that we have, for the second year in a row, balanced the budget, constrained spending, and set important spending priorities while addressing the budget shortfall.

In January, I introduced a set of budget adjustments that served as the framework for the budget bills recently approved by the Appropriations Committee and the full Legislature. While I have concerns about several changes made by the Legislature, I applaud senators for meeting the 3.5 percent spending target I set. This rate of growth is almost half of the previous biennium. Constraining spending is the key to how we provide tax relief. Keeping the rate of growth in government below the rate of growth in tax revenue will allow the Legislature and I to continue to work on providing much-needed tax relief for hardworking Nebraskans in the coming years.

The concerns I have about the adjustments the Legislature made include some items that expand non-critical services, replace lost federal funds, or attempt to advantage certain organizations. For example, the Appropriations Committee added $1 million for community colleges at a time when they have increased taxes by almost 13 percent a year for the last decade. Furthermore, they also replaced lost federal funds for the ACE Scholarship Program with state dollars. As worthy as this program may be, I oppose replacing lost federal dollars with state dollars. Moreover, the Legislature also included intent language in their adjustments to appropriate an additional $5 million for the Cultural Preservation Endowment Fund in the coming years. With sales tax receipts declining, I question whether this is a funding priority, especially considering the Legislature has increased this endowment 60 percent in the last eight years. None of these are urgent funding issues, especially in the middle of a budget cycle when addressing a budget shortfall.

This summer, I will have the opportunity to start putting together the budget for the next biennium, and I will work to address some of my concerns in the budget I will propose in January 2017. In this next budget, I will continue to work to control the size and scope of state government by targeting a low budget growth rate.

In the mid-biennium adjustments, the Legislature and I worked together to address a couple of urgent priorities for our state in the mid-biennium budget adjustments. Appropriations Chairman Heath Mello and I successfully secured $13 million to fix levies near Offutt Air Force base. This is a critical investment in the future of one of our states largest employers, and demonstrates to the Air Force that Nebraska is committed to the future of the base. The Air Force has been considering whether to invest in resurfacing the runway at the air base, which hinges on levy repair. Additionally, the budget bills also included $26 million to expand our community corrections facilities and reentry programming in Lincoln. This investment is the next step in reforming corrections, and ensuring that we reduce the number of repeat offenders in our states prisons.

While we have completed our work on the budget, there is still much to be done in the final days of the legislative session. With only a handful of days left, I encourage Nebraskans to remain engaged in the discussions about important bills still under consideration including property tax relief, infrastructure, and immigration policy. If you want to weigh in on any bill, you can find information about how to contact your senator at www.NebraskaLegislature.gov. To reach my office, you can call 402-471-2244, email pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov, or follow me on Twitter @GovRicketts and at facebook.com/GovernorPeteRicketts.
The World Travel Awards Africa & Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony 2016 was hosted by Diamonds La Gemma dellest on the northern tip of Zanzibar, Tanzania, with hundreds of industry leaders in attendance.

Air Seychelles has taken the title of Indian Ocean's Leading Airline, Kenya Airways, recognised as Africas Leading Airline and Africas Leading Airline  Business Class, while Serena Hotels was honoured with the title of Africa's Leading Hotel Brand.

Transcorp Hilton Abuja took the title of Africa's Leading Business Hotel, while Indian Ocean's Leading Destination went to the Maldives.

Guests at the ceremony were wowed by leading entertainers from around the world, including Italian opera sensation laria Della Bidia and contortionist Erika Lemay, while the night was hosted by African film sensation Abby Plaatjies and Tanzanian radio personality Taji George Liundi.

Andrew Cook, General Manager, Diamonds La Gemma dell'Est, said: Hosting the World Travel Awards Africa & Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony 2016 has been one of the proudest moments in the resorts history.

It has been a great opportunity and endorsement for all the members of the hospitality industry here in Zanzibar to showcase our offerings and reaffirm our country as a fast developing tourism destination."

A full list of the winners from the World Travel Awards Africa & Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony can be seen here.
In an open letter to Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, the U.S. senator for Minnesota, Al Franken, has called for the company to be transparent with Rift customers about how it intends to use the "sensitive" location, personal, and sharing data its currently harvesting.

Franken notes that, in addition to collecting information willingly handed over by consumers, Oculus is also gathering up data relating to their location and physical movements; data that can be shared with other companies that are within the family of related companies that Oculus is a part of.

The senator is also concerned by Oculus privacy statement, which suggests the company may share "de-idenfitied or aggregated with others for any purpose, and is keen to hear precisely how the Facebook-owned virtual reality outfit intends to protect and use consumer data.

"When done appropriately, the collection, storage, and sharing of personal information may enhance consumers virtual reality experience, but we must ensure that Americans very sensitive information is protected," wrote Franken.

"Consumers must be able to make informed decisions about whether and with whom then share such sensitive information [] however, questions remain regarding Oculus data collection of certain types of information and its relationships with third parties."

Franken wants Iribe to answer six questions to prove the validity of Oculus' data collecting, sharing, and retention habits, and is expecting a response no later than May 13.

You can read the letter in full by clicking right here.
At least two explosions have been reported in Kabul's diplomatic area, shortly after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry left the Afghan capital following an unannounced visit during which he called on the Taliban to restart direct peace talks with the government.

"A rocket landed near a girls' school, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said late on April 9. There are no casualties."

Gunshots were also heard at the time of the explosions.

No groups have claimed responsibility for the assault, but Taliban insurgents had previously attacked official and foreign targets in the city.

"We call on the Taliban to enter into a peace process, a legitimate process that brings an end to violence," Kerry earlier said at a joint press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Ghani said they all hoped the Taliban would engage in peace talks and craft "a legitimate process that brings an end to violence."

The calls came as the Taliban has refused to hold negotiations until preconditions it has set, including the withdrawal of foreign troops, are met.

A four-nation group has been trying to set up direct peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

The so-called Quadrilateral Coordination Group -- which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and the United States  expected a meeting between the Taliban and the Afghan government in March.

Kerry's visit to Kabul, which was not announced publicly beforehand, came amid growing political infighting in the national unity government headed by President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

Kerry told reporters on April 9 that the Washington-brokered agreement that created the national unity government has no set expiry date despite widespread expectations it would end in September.

"In no way does the agreement itself have some particular termination," Kerry said in the joint conference with Ghani.

The national unity government agreement was widely expected to end before parliamentary elections due to take place in October.

However, many observers believe that vote will have to be postponed until next spring because promised electoral reforms have not been implemented.

Under the agreement, Abdullah's role as chief executive was to segue into a prime ministerial role after the parliamentary elections. The accord was brokered by Kerry after disputed presidential election in 2014, in which both Ghani and Abdullah claimed victory amid mutual charges of widespread fraud.

Kerry also said on April 9 that President Barack Obama will be guided by the views of U.S. commanders on the ground in taking any new decisions regarding reductions in the number of American troops in the country.

The United States currently has about 9,800 soldiers in Afghanistan. They have been officially limited to a training and advisory role since the end of their combat mission in 2014.

The number of troops had been scheduled to be almost halved to 5,500 by the start of 2017.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP






Deerfield Beach, FL, April 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zion Research has published a new report titled Microscopy Devices (Scanning Probe Microscopes, Electron Microscopes, Optical Microscopes, and Others) Market for Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Semiconductors, Material Sciences and Others Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2014  2020. According to the report, global demand for microscopy devices market was valued at USD 6.0 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach USD 9.00 billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 7.0% between 2015 and 2020.

Microscopy devices are the equipments that are used for examining the objects that are too tiny for the naked eye. These devices are classified in various types and have distinct use according to their types. They are especially used for analysis and for generating images. They have wide range of applications includes research department, medical sector, sciences, nanotechnology, etc.

Browse the full "Microscopy Devices (Scanning Probe Microscopes, Electron Microscopes, Optical Microscopes, and Others) Market for Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Semiconductors, Material Sciences and Others Applications: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast, 2014  2020" report at http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/microscopy-devices-market-z52509



The major driving factor for microscopy devices market is robust increase in universal financial support for nanotechnology industry. Ongoing research & development and introduction of new technologies in the field of microscopy devices are expected to provide future growth opportunity to industry participants. Moreover, the growing R&D expenditure and soaring usage rates of drug discovery and growth are contributing to the semiconductor application segment for elevating the market share. The growth of the electronic and renewable energy industries is also expected to drive the sales of microscopy devices in semiconductors within the forecast period.

Optical microscopes lead the microscopy device market and accounted over 35% share of the overall market revenue generated in 2014. The increasing demand for digital devices in the sectors of material science, medicines and life sciences is projected to boost the growth of this segment over the forecast period. The optical microscope is sub-segmented as inverted microscope, stereo microscope, phase contrast, fluorescence microscope, confocal microscope and near field scanning. Electron microscopes was the second highest product segment in 2014 and it also includes segment like scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes. However, it is also expected to exhibit rapid growth throughout the years to come.

Browse 29 Market Tables and 41 Figures spread through 70 Pages and an in-depth TOC on Microscopy Devices Market - Global Size, Shares, Trends, Segment & Forecast to 2020

Get Sample Research Report at http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/microscopy-devices-market-z52509#RequestSample



Semiconductors, life sciences, nanotechnology, material sciences are the key products involved in the microscopy devices market. Life sciences applications segment was the largest segment of global microscopy devices market and accounted for more than 30% share of the entire market in 2014. Semiconductor segment was the second highest region of the microscopy device market is expected to grow at a rising CAGR within the forecast period.

Asia-Pacific was the dominating region in the global market of microscopy devices and accounted for over 40% share of the total market in 2014. However, it also expected to continue this trend till the end of 2020 due to the rising industrialization and the increase in nanotechnology associated R&D investments are propelling the increase of this region. Japan is the market that leads in this region while developing countries such as China and India are anticipating as the emerging market during the forecast period.

Some of the key player for globe microscopy market includes Carl Zeiss, Danish Micro Engineering A/S Olympus, Bruker Corporation, FEI Company, JEOL Company, Cameca SAS, Hitachi High Tech, and NT-MDT amongst others.

Related Published Reports:

Home Healthcare Market: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-home-healthcare-market-z38958



http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-home-healthcare-market-z38958 Fluoroscopy and Mobile C-Arms Market: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/fluoroscopy-and-mobile-c-arms-market-35585



http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/fluoroscopy-and-mobile-c-arms-market-35585 Depression Drug Market: http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/depression-drug-market-z53043



This report segments the global microscopy devices market as follows:

Microscopy Devices Market: Product Segment Analysis

Scanning probes microscopes Scanning tunneling microscopes Atomic force microscopes

Electron microscopes Transmission microscopes Scanning electron microscopes

Optical microscopes Inverted microscopes Stereomicroscope Phase contrast microscope Fluorescence microscope Confocal scanning microscope Near field scanning microscope Other optical microscopes

Others

Microscopy Devices Market: Application Segment Analysis

Nanotechnology

Life sciences

Semiconductors

Material sciences

Others

Microscopy Devices Market: Regional Segment Analysis

North America U.S.

Europe Germany UK France

Asia Pacific China Japan India

Latin America Brazil

Middle East & Africa

Browse Press Release at http://www.marketresearchstore.com/news/global-microscopy-devices-market-197



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Market Research Store is a market intelligence company providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Market Research Store experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants uses proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.

Each Market Research Store syndicated research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food and beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports strive to serve the overall research requirement of clients.

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PASCAGOULA, Miss., April 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division announced today that Richard Schenk, vice president of program management, will retire on July 1 after 33 years of service. He will be succeeded by Kari Wilkinson, effective May 23. Ingalls also announced that Mike Duthu has been promoted to vice president, business development, effective immediately.



Richard has made significant contributions to our past, current and future business objectives, and we owe him our gratitude and thanks, Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Cuccias said. He has excelled in everything he has done at Ingallsfrom his leadership and experience to his professionalism and loyaltyand is truly a shipbuilder in every sense of the word.

Wilkinson will be responsible for all program execution, financial performance and solicitations of the portfolio of ships built by Ingalls. She is currently the ship program manager for the amphibious transport dock John P. Murtha (LPD 26). She will report directly to Cuccias.

Kari is extremely dedicated and brings 20 years of shipbuilding experience to this position, Cuccias said. I look forward to working with her on a daily basis to broaden our scope of building quality ships for our military as affordably as possible.

Wilkinson began her career with Ingalls in 1996 as an associate naval architect after graduating from the University of Michigan with a bachelors degree in naval architecture and marine engineering. She has advanced through several positions of increased responsibility and has worked closely with engineering, operations and supply chain management, including a rotational assignment as the director of sector administration, reporting directly to the company president. In 2007, she became a ship program manager with the LPD program, where she was responsible for all aspects of three ship programs at Ingalls, including LPD 26.

Duthu will be responsible for coordinating Ingalls capture team activities and managing all business development activities, including bids and proposals. This includes working with the HII and Ingalls customer relations team to optimize business development activities with the companys Navy and Coast Guard customers. He has more than 25 years of experience at Ingalls, having worked in engineering, business development and programs management. He earned a bachelors degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from the University of New Orleans and an MBA from the University of Southern Mississippi. He most recently served as the director of business development. In his new role, he will report to Tim Farrell, vice president of business development and strategy.

Photos accompanying this release are available at: http://newsroom.huntingtoningalls.com/releases/schenk-wilkinson-duthu.

Huntington Ingalls Industries is Americas largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of engineering, manufacturing and management services to the nuclear energy, oil and gas markets. For more than a century, HIIs Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs nearly 36,000 people operating both domestically and internationally. For more information, visit:


NEW YORK, April 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP:



To: All persons or entities who held shares of Blount International, Inc. (Blount International) (NYSE:BLT) at the close of business on March 4, 2016. You are hereby notified that a securities class action lawsuit has been commenced in the USDC for the District of Oregon, Portland Division. To get more information go to:

http://www.zlk.com/pslra/blount-international-inc

or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.

The complaint alleges that Blount International violated securities laws by issuing materials in connection with the sale of the Company to P2 Capital Partners LLC and American Securities LLC which contained material misrepresentations and omitted material information. In particular, the complaint alleges that the Proxy Statement filed in relation to the merger fails to disclose information about the Companys financial projections as they existed earlier in the process leading up to the Buyout, thus misrepresenting and omitting information which Blount shareholders are legally entitled to in order to make a sufficiently informed vote regarding the proposed merger.

If you suffered a loss in Blount International you have until June 10, 2016 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesnt require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. The firms attorneys have extensive expertise and experience representing investors in securities litigation, and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Fudge wrote:

Hi ,

Hope you guys are doing well . Below is a snapshot of my profile and it would be very kind if you guys could evaluate my chances of getting into ISB , NUS and Oxford/Cambridge for the coming year (2017 Batch)

Age : 26

Gender : Male

Education : X 72.5% CBSE

Xll 75% Tamil Nadu State Board

Note - gave my 12th as a private candidate as was detained in my 11th in school . didn't want to waste a year , so just went on to write my 12th as a private candidate .

B.com , university of madras , 6.2 CGPA

CFA , Charter holder



Work Ex :

May 2010 - Jul 2011 - Family Business

Jul 2011 - Dec 2013 - Bed ridden for 6months and limping around for the rest of the time due to a back injury . this was a defining moment in my life . I realized I loved finance and loved trading in the market . while at home , I was trading the markets with a small capital . had a 112% return in 1 year (started with a capital of 25,000INR) and in Dec 2013 , I gave my CFA level 1 exam and cleared it .

June 2014 - Feb 2015 - worked as an associate at a mid-market IB in Chennai .

Worked on total of 3 M&A deals .

7 Valuations of conglomerate and private companies .

Feb 2015 - June 2015 - took a break for CFA level 2 preparations

June 2015 - Present - Senior Equity Analyst at a mid-sized firm which does research on the US stocks and sells the reports to its US based clients



Extra Curricular :

2014 - Alumni Representative / Board of Study Committee member for my college

2015 May - Formed an NGO , where we treat injuered animals like stray dogs , cats etc ..

We provide them shelter till they recover and raise money to operate them or treat them .

We have treated till date over 4 dogs and 2 cats . Also , we had treated 5 other dogs before forming the NGO (not sure if

this would be counted ) .

Reason we started the NGO ? 1. it was costing us 4000 - 7000 INR to treat per animal and having a registered NGO would/could

help us raising funds .

2. It would help us attract other youngsters too who could give us a hand and help more aniamls

2015 July - Formed a partnership firm/fund , where a few of my friends invested and asked me to trade it for them . My performance is comparable to well renowned Hedge funds , but my capital is on the lower side . (below 5,00,000 INR). My employer is fine with this .



I would like to your your views on :

1. My Chances of getting into one of the above Bschools . Expecting to score 680-700 based on my mocks



Looking forward to your reply ,

Hey dude,Very good to hear from you.You have an interesting profile and a very good story of self-discovery with progress throughout, which is excellent. On the other hand, I think that some of the schools (Oxbridge and ISB too) will be tough. You have two major work gaps, a low GPA, and are working for a mid-size firm, all of which will make things more tough.If you got a stellar GMAT (we're talking 750+) then that could be a game-changer, but in the meanwhile in order to keep things realistic my suggestion would be that you start looking into other lower-ranked options. Look at schools where the average GMAT will be around 670 (for starters) and once I know a bit more about you and your goals I can also advise you further on school selection.It'll be easier to do so with a real GMAT score though,All the best,Jon
After it was announced that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 14th, everyone's next question was, "How can I score a ticket?" We've received a dozens desperate emails or IRL queries from potential voters wondering how they can get in. But the sad truth is that the debate is pretty restricted... sort of.

The debate is invite-only, with each campaign receiving a certain number of tickets, and we imagine they will be given to donors and campaign surrogates. However, there's a sidedoor approach.

We called the NY State Democratic Committee today, and a woman who answered told us that she could take down our name, phone number and email, and that they would eventually contact the lucky few that would get tickets. So give (212) 725-8825 a ring and see what they tell you.

We'll keep you posted about debate watching parties. And, of course, you can watch it on CNN at 9 p.m. EST.
Sometimes people can't handle the truth, especially when it's about their own bigotry! A Congressman from North Carolina is slamming Bruce Springsteen for canceling a concert, after The Boss objected to the state's awful, discriminatory law against the LGBT community.

On Friday, The Boss announced that he could no longer hold a concert in Greensboro on Sunday, noting, "As we also know, North Carolina has just passed HB2, which the media are referring to as the bathroom law. HB2  known officially as the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act  dictates which bathrooms transgender people are permitted to use. Just as important, the law also attacks the rights of LGBT citizens to sue when their human rights are violated in the workplace. No other group of North Carolinians faces such a burden."

He explained, "To my mind, its an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress... Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry  which is happening as I write  is one of them. It is the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards."

Rep. Mark Walker, a freshman Republican who represents Greensboro, complained to the Hollywood Reporter, "Bruce is known to be on the radical left, and he's got every right to be so, but I consider this a bully tactic. It's like when a kid gets upset and says he's going to take his ball and go home."

North Carolina's House Bill 2 (or "HB2") is the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (PDF), which prohibits local governments from passing laws allowing transgender individuals from using public restrooms associated with their gender identity. Walker claims he's on the right side, "I choose to stand with our sheriffs, who support this bill, which doesn't target the LGBTQ community; it targets imposters. It's a little crazy to think sexual predators wouldn't be devious enough to pull something off if they were free to go into any bathroom they want."

Walker also threatened to become a Belieber, because Justin Bieber has an upcoming concert in North Carolina, "I've never been a Bieber fan, but I might have to go. Maybe artists who weren't 'born to run' deserve a little bit more support."

E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt further explained why Springsteen and the rest of the band agreed to cancel the show, "We just felt the issue was just too important. This really vile and evil discrimination is starting to spread state to state and we thought we better take a stand right now and catch it early and maybe try and stop it. At least set some kind of example for others.

It's believed about $100,000 in net revenue was lost due to the canceled concert.
On a Saturday in March, I was standing on 147th Place in Jamaica, Queens, asking Stella to tell me about Merle Hoffman.

Stella isn't her real name, it's a street name she uses so that she doesn't get doxxed by protesters screaming at her as she escorts young women safely into one of the largest, licensed abortion clinics in New York State. Choices (previously named Flushing Women's Medical Center) was America's first ambulatory abortion center, and was founded by Merle Hoffman in the early 1970stwo years before the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalized abortion nationally.

The now 70-year-old Hoffman is, according to Stella, "one of the most inspirational feminist leaders in America. What shes done for womens healthcare and access to healthcare has been really incredible. And just the sheer force of will that shes had to have to get things done with all the obstacles that she was faced with is really quite incredible. They really laid the path, Merle and her colleagues, and its our job to take it to the next place. I feel like thats our job, now."



(Video by Jessica Leibowitz/Gothamist)

The clinic has existed for 45 years, but has only been at this address for three. It's had regular protesters since the doors opened"Our protesters are fairly steady here," Stella tells me, "it's the same couple of churches that come out and target Choices. The past few weeks we did get a few new people, however, which is alarming."

The protesters are mostly from the Church at the Rock in Brooklyn, and their leader is Pastor K.W. Griepp, who seems to loosely organize the group, which takes shifts, before departing. (Griepp declined to comment for this story.) These shifts consist of following and shouting at women who walk into the clinic (and often shouting at no one in particular), holding up giant posters of aborted fetuses, and handing out brochures. I approached two older women, standing near a pick-up truck adorned with anti-abortion poster boards, one of whom told me she was Griepp's wife. I asked her if I could see the brochure she was holding.

"No," she told me, "These are only for men."

On bold letters on the cover, the brochure states: "For Men." Online, I learned some of what it said inside: "You need not be powerless or confused. If the people at the abortion clinic make you feel that way, walk out. Don't be pushed." It aims to tell the men that they are already fathers, and they now have a decision to make: do they want to kill their child?

"They like to preach to us and tell us that were baby killers," Stella, who began as an escort three years ago, tells me. "Theres one protester in particular that likes to pick on new people; hell shove his little rubber fetus into peoples faces even though they tell him to leave them alone; hell tell them that hell leave them alone if they take off their vest." The escorts can all be identified by the safety vests they wear.

Protesters were hesitant to speak with me or Gothamist videographer Jessica Leibowitz, asking us immediately if we were pro-choice or ever had abortions ourselves. Some wouldn't speak with us at all, and quieted down if we came around with the video camera.

One woman who declined to give her name, told us, "Im here protesting the fact that children are being killed. My church stands for the children. Were a voice for the unborn children. I come because I know that this is not right. It wasnt right back in the '40s and '50s, and its not right today."

Now in her 70s, she opened up and told us she had more than one abortion, back "when it was illegal. You werent supposed to do it. It was taboo. And then they justified it by mans little sinful heart. [They] said, 'Oh, now its okay.' I don't think it's right. I used to, [but then] I killed my own kid. And that has a devastating effect on you. It's not good to kill in any shape, form, or matter. I know Im forgiven, but I should not have done it. Just because I did it didnt make it right. And when other people do it, its just not right, this is a human being trying to survive just like you and me."

The scene is polarizing, and quiet at times, with protesters standing across from escorts from 7 a.m. on. The second shifters are "a lot less chill," Stella says, and often disregard the FACE law. "Theres a 15-foot buffer zone, so protesters are not allowed to follow and harass patients within 15 feet of the clinic. They dont seem to care. And unfortunately the police in the neighborhood dont patrol and when weve had to call the police they say, 'Well we didnt see it so we cant do anything about it.' Even though we have it on video camera, even though we have witnesses, they dont take an active approach. When we called the cops a couple weeks ago and they got here, they talked to us about the First amendment. These protesters have rights and thats important but theres also a law and it says that you cant follow or harass people within fifteen feet of the door."

They keep calling the cops, however, so that they have the violations on record. Stella tells me, "We need those in positions of authority to know that theyre regularly violating the law, and hopefully people in power can take some action."

There are typically around ten escorts spread out around Choices, who work under a buddy system. Protesters will follow any woman entering, screaming louder and louder as they get closer to the door, where another set of escorts adds an extra shield. (Once inside, everything is soundproofed.) There's also a security guard and video cameras set up, but the escorts remain the most prominent and active form of security for these women. "It can be rough. It can be rough out here," Stella says, recalling being pushed by one particularly aggressive protester. "Thick skin is the number-one requirement. The protesters will say things to escorts that are really quite disturbing."

Choices is a female-owned and operated clinic offering a full range of care, and they provide services on a sliding scale, also taking Medicaid (which many places do not). The protesters are there to protest abortions, but Stella tells me that they believe "anyone patronizing the clinic is killing babies, whether or not youre here for abortion care. Your money is supporting abortion, so, theyre against you."

In her 2012 book, Intimate Wars, Merle Hoffman wrote: "On some very basic level, I understand those antis who protest outside Choices. And I respect them for acting on their beliefseven if I will do everything in my power, and put my life on the line, to ensure they are defeated."
Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $5 billion to stave off prosecution for deceitfully packaging bad mortgages and selling them to investors for tens of billions of dollars leading up to the financial crisis.

The bank agreed to a set of facts [PDF] laid out by the Department of Justice which details how Goldman Sachs employees knew what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway. If only they knew. Goldmans head of due diligence wrote in one email, after an employee in a different department sent them a report praising the soundness of the loans.

Of the $5 billion, $670 million will go to New York State$480 million in consumer relief and $190 million in cash. Goldman Sachs is the last major American bank to settle with the government over the subprime lending crisis.

The settlement does not include any criminal penalties; the words illegal or wrongdoing or fired or terminated are not included in the language. The New York Attorney General, based on its investigation, believes that there is an evidentiary basis for potential legal claims by the NYAG against Goldman Sachs. The bank agrees.

"We are pleased to put these legacy matters behind us, Goldman Sachs wrote in a statement. Since the financial crisis, we have taken significant steps to strengthen our culture, reinforce our commitment to our clients, and ensure our governance processes are robust."

In 2010, Goldman Sachs paid a $550 million settlement to the SEC to avoid prosecution for their role in profiting off of toxic mortgages, and in 2009 the bank paid $60 million more to Massachusetts.

In 2015, Goldman Sachs listed $86.73 billion in equity.
While Governor Cuomo continues to punt on funding the MTA's long-overdue 2015-2019 Capital Plan, a group of transit advocates is calling on the city to establish a half-price MetroCard program for the City's working poorabout 800,000 New Yorkers, excluding seniors and the disabled, who live at or below the federal poverty threshold, or $11,880 for a single adult. Under the proposed plan, a single ride would cost about $1.35; riders who purchase monthly cards could save up to $700 per year.

"Because the MTA is cash-strapped, we're saying that it makes sense for the program to be run by the city," said Riders Alliance member Rebecca Bailin on Monday. "If we're helping folks with housing and food, why not help them with this basic necessity?"

Similar programs have been established in Seattle and San Francisco, for residents who make up to 200% of the poverty threshold set by the federal government.

A joint study [PDF] released in conjunction with the campaign by the Riders Alliance and the Community Service Societya nonprofit that advocates for low-income New Yorkersfound that more than a quarter of low-income, working New Yorkers were unable to afford subway or bus fare at least once in 2015. Leslie, a single mother from Harlem who makes about $17,000 per year, told survey collectors that she often encourages her 14-year-old son to slide under the turnstile, and skips her substitute teaching gigs when she doesn't have enough cash for a single ride.

Advocates argue that the reduced-fare options already in place exclude the city's most cash-strapped commuters. For example, many employers are required to offer a tax deduction for commuting expensesa benefit for New Yorkers with full-time jobs, primarily middle- and upper-class. Reductions for the elderly and disabled exclude many of the working poor, and monthly unlimited passes offer savings for those who can afford putting up $116.50 at once at the beginning of the month.

Based on the percentage of low-income New Yorkers in NYC who use food stamps, the advocates estimate that about 361,000 residents would opt into the reduced-fare program, at a cost of about $194 million per year. If the City raised the eligibility threshold to 130% of the federal poverty levelthe threshold that determines food stamp eligibilitymore than a million New Yorkers would qualify, at a cost of about $265 million per year.

If the Human Resources Administration were to administer the program, advocates argue that the cost would be offset by about $48 millionfunding already set aside for reduced-fare MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers in certain qualified job training programs.

More affordable fares might also reduce turnstile-jumping. According to the Police Reform Organizing Project, the NYPD made 29,000 arrests for fare beating in 2015more than any other type of arrest.

Lisa Schreibersdorf, Executive Director of Brooklyn Defender Services, said in a statement that her firm sees thousands of clients annually who have been arrested for fare beating. "The vast majority of people arrested for this offense are Black or Latino," she said. "Many are detained on Rikers Island at a cost of about $500 per day simply because they might not be able to afford a $2.75 subway fare."

The MTA did not immediately responded to a request for comment on the plan, which has the support of both Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Letitia James. The agency has recently balked at proposals that it argues would cut deeply into annual revenues, including a free shuttle bus to LaGuardia Airport and a $2.75 MetroNorth fare within NYC limits. The latter proposal was rejected on the grounds that it would cost the MTA about $70 million per year.

A spokeswoman for the Mayor's office in a statement that, "The Riders Alliance and the Community Service Society have put together an interesting proposal, and we look forward to reviewing the report in greater detail."
Now that millennials are old enough to potentially purchase homes, the media (and corporations) have turned their attention to Generation Z, an elusive group of...teens? middle schoolers...? who grew up with the internet and have something called "yik yak" that I don't quite understand. The rise of Gen Zkids born between 1995 and 2010is a relief to Millennials, who have spent the last decade or so serving as the Trend Piece's punching bagnow it's time to turn our attention to a new generation! And these new targets are reportedly unfamiliar with electronic mail, or "e-mail."

According to the Wall Street Journal, today's teens are so used to communicating via text message, G-chat or Facebook chat that they consider it a "rite of passage" to send an email. The way I first perceived email was, it was something my parents did for work, a senior at GWU told the paper; a junior at the University of Maryland told the WSJ he thinks he's "more of an adult" now that he uses email, and a senior at University of Antwerp in Belgium said she would "never even think of emailing my friends, they would just react super weird."

It's strange to think that email as a form of non-professional communication could go the way of the handwritten letter, since for a lot of us, email feels relatively new. Not that long ago, AIM and email were revolutionary. Now we have a bajillion ways to contact one another, and though I certainly use my personal email to make plans and coordinate with my friends, there are many random product pitches and Google Alerts for "millennial surveys" (which my boss made me set) cluttering my inbox that I can understand preferring to stick with something more immediate and personal like a text message. The WSJ also points out that emailers are more prone to gaffes like hitting "reply-all" or making typos, the latter of which is more forgivable during quick chat communication, so maybe the kids are right to poo-poo it.

All of this is to say, of course, that this new generation will soon Have Its Day, and technology is moving so fast that our communication and office habits might be rendered passe faster than those of the generations before us. Is email already dead? Certainly not, but it might not be the worst thing if it got phased out in the long run. Just ask Amy Pascal!


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Harry Potter is inarguably (I WILL TAKE NO ARGUMENTS) one of the greatest book series of all time, but as much fun as it was to watch J.K. Rowling unfurl her wizarding world, it would have been nice to get a glimpse at the magical communities a little closer to home. ENTER, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, a spinoff film inspired by Rowling's book of the same name. It's not a Harry Potter book, per se, but it is set in Harry's world, and this one takes place in New York. American witches and wizards, oh my!

Rowling wrote the screenplay, which follows the adventures of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), whose name you likely remember from Harry's Hogwarts textbook lists from the days of yore. About 70 years before Harry's adventures begin, Scamander heads to New York for a meeting with an official at the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Scamander brings some fantastical beasts with him and they escape, wreaking havoc all over town:

Filming took place in London, sadly, but at least the trailer looks exciting, and you can't help but get all tingly when the Harry Potter movie theme kicks in. Note that Fantastic Beasts, which will be released in November, is expected to be a trilogy, because how else are the studios supposed to milk all those licensing dollars?
Business

Australias inflation expected to peak towards end of year: Official

Australias treasurer has warned that inflation in the country is expected to peak towards the end of the year and it will persist for a little bit longer because of the impact of the natural disasters and energy prices.
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For All U of U Health Patients & Visitors
BILLINGS  Ross Robertson was a standout football player at Capital High School in 2003.

The team was ranked No. 1 and undefeated as it headed to the state championship. In an upset no one saw coming, Capital lost to eighth-ranked Flathead.

Even with the loss, Robertson was named the top outside lineman in the Western AA All-Conference, and recruiters said he could play football at any Montana university he wanted.

Then, life started unraveling for Robertson. His mind was betraying him. In 2005, he was arrested in Yellowstone County for felony attempted armed robbery and criminal endangerment.

Two years after being named an all-state player, Robertson was spending Christmas in jail. And it got worse from there.

Robertson would eventually become a forensic patient at the Montana State Hospital before being bused 20 miles to the state prison in Deer Lodge.

Forensic patient is the designation for those committed to the state hospital for a criminal offense. Rather than being in the custody of the Department of Corrections, forensic patients are looked after by the Montana State Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Forensic patients are also referred to as guilty but mentally ill. At the state hospital, at least seven full-time psychiatrists are available to treat a population of about 200 patients.

At the state prison, there are just three psychiatrists serving a varying percentage of the prisons more than 1,500 inmates. And those psychiatrists arent at the prison. They communicate with prisoners through video conferencing.

Reasons for being transferred from the hospital in Warm Springs to the prison in Deer Lodge vary, from a patient whose mental condition stabilizes to a patient who is a danger to staff or other patients.

The transfers are made without a hearing. Patients are not allowed to confront their accusers. A court ruling designating someone mentally ill isnt enough to keep them housed in a mental health hospital.

Since 2011, at least 17 patients have been transferred out of their court-ordered mental health commitment and into prison. Only eight prisoners are listed on state records as being transferred to the hospital between 2011 and 2015, five of them more than once.

Transfers are reviewed by the Montana State Hospital Review board. Since 1998, the board has only denied two transfers out of the hospital to the prison. One of those patients, after being originally declined, was later accepted and transferred to the prison.

Disability Rights Montana filed a lawsuit on behalf of four forensic patients, though it was dropped March 31. The lawsuit  filed against the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Director Richard Opper, and Montana State Hospital Administrator John Glueckert  alleges patients are being denied due process in the transfers.

Former Montana State Prison Director of Mental Health Jill Buck said in an email quoted in the lawsuit, the director of DPHHS wants to clear out as many GBMIs that they can  which means they will come here. They heard we have the bed space so they want to fill us up!

Guilty-but-mentally-ill patients transferred to the prison system are subjected to conditions that pose an atypical and significant hardship because the prison does not provide proper care to the mentally ill and subjects them to conditions that exacerbate their illness, the suit alleges.

In 2015, a bill was proposed in the Montana Legislature that would establish a hearing process in which the patients could make their case.

After passing both the House and the Senate, Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed the Senate bill.

Bullock said the bill gave GBMI inmates special rights after they have already received full due process of law when they were found guilty, sentenced and had the right to appeal.

Sen. Roger Webb, R-Billings, who sponsored the bill, plans to reintroduce it during the next legislative session.

From star to prisoner

Robertsons Capital football coach, Mark Samson, said Robertson loved every aspect of the game.

Five-foot-10 and a little over 200 pounds, Robertson was large for high school, partly because he loved the weight room.

When Samson moved on to the University of Montana-Northern in Havre, he tried to recruit Robertson to play for him there. Then Samson started hearing about how Robertson wasnt behaving like the kid he remembered.

Robertson was beginning to display symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, and while he graduated high school, he attended college for less than a year.

In a way, Robinsons diagnosis was terminal. The National Institute of Mental Health only talks of a better future for schizophrenics, not of a cure. There was not a lot of hope for the boy who won best smile in his high school yearbook.

Schizophrenia typically shows itself for men at about age 21 and the symptoms can be overwhelming. People with schizophrenia report hearing voices, believe others are out to get them and fear people are controlling their mind, according to NIMH. They can become agitated, their fear sometimes making them violent and unpredictable. Ten percent of people with schizophrenia will die by suicide.

The crime

On Dec. 25, 2005, at about 10 p.m., Robertson walked into a Billings Zip Trip carrying a gun. The clerk had stepped into the bathroom. Another customer called police when Robertson walked behind the counter, attempted to open the cash register without success and then left. Billings Police chased Robertson, who drove the wheels of his vehicle to the rims after police flattened his tires.

Judge Susan Watters, a Yellowstone County District Court Judge, sentenced Robertson to 15 years with the Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Robertsons lawyer, Kelly Varnes, called him one of the most mentally ill clients he had ever represented.

After sentencing, Robertson bounced between the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs and a few community rehabilitation centers before returning to the hospital. On Jan. 10, 2012, he was told by a nurse at the hospital that he had to wear a gray T-shirt identifying him as a forensic patient.

Robertson refused. Video surveillance showed Robinson push the nurse. She fell backward over a chair and landed hard on her head. She suffered a stroke and has not returned to work at the hospital.

Robertson was transferred to the prison. A year later, he was charged with felony aggravated assault against the nurse. By the time that charge was made, Robertson was overcome by his symptoms.

Other transfers

Robertson was not one of the patients Disability Rights Montana Inc. included in its lawsuit. The accounts shared in the lawsuit however, match accounts given by Robertson about mental health care in prison.

James Lee Larson, 52, has a criminal record going back to his teens. Like Robertson, he was incarcerated fairly young and has continued to accumulate charges for burglary, theft and criminal possession of drugs, according to the Department of Corrections.

Larson was one of the four inmates named in the lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Montana. The nonprofit groups suit is being heard by U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon. Special Assistant attorneys general Francis Clinch and Paulette Kohman are representing the Department of Public Health and Human Services in the case.

Larson was committed to the Montana State Hospital for 15 years in 2006. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and resided in the State Hospitals Residential Care Unit, where staff described him as polite, friendly, cooperative, according to the lawsuit.

He was transferred to the forensic wing of the hospital after staff began to suspect he was stealing another patients jewelry. The Forensic Review Board, which reviews any potential transfers, recommended in 2007 that Larson be transferred to the prison because his mental health had stabilized. It was about this time that Buck emailed prison staff, telling them the Montana State Hospital was looking to clear out some forensic patients.

Larson learned of his transfer the day it took place and was not given reasonable notice, according to the suit. His attorney was not notified, and he was not given a chance to speak to the review board. At no point was Larson given any opportunity to prevent or appeal his transfer, the suit claims. At the time, the hospital employed one staff psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Edwards. He left the prison in 2014.

Edwards discontinued Larsons anti-psychotic medications after their second meeting in 2012. Larson began to have hallucinations and disorganized thoughts, according to the suit. In 2014, he still was suffering from paranoia.

James Matthew Patrick has an IQ of 78, considered far below normal intelligence. The 35-year-old was the second prisoner named in the lawsuit. Patrick was convicted in 2002 of sexual intercourse without consent. He was placed into the custody of the Department of Public Health and Human Services at the Montana State Hospital. Patrick resided at the less-restrictive group home on the hospital campus and participated in required group therapy.

After the hospital failed to get Patrick transferred into a community group home in 2007, he was told he was being transferred to the prison. Two different reasons were given by staff for Patricks transfer. The first that he was not complying with treatment. When the forensic review board approved the transfer, they wrote he has achieved maximum hospital benefit, the suit states.

I saw two prison guards and was taken to them, Patrick said of the day he was being transferred. They strip-searched me and put me in chains and shackles. I did not know that I was going to prison until I was put into the van.

Patrick has spent more than three years in solitary confinement since being transferred to the prison. He has banged his head until it bled on his cell door, demanding real food as opposed to the Nutraloaf given to him by the prison staff as punishment for his bizarre and disruptive behavior, according to the lawsuit.

Justin Thomas Bear, 23, was found guilty of criminal endangerment in 2013. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and remanded to the custody of DPHHS and placed at the State Hospital. He was there for about six months, and staff members instructed him to work toward being reclassified as a less dangerous patient. Staff members encouraged him all the way up to his transfer to the Montana State Prison. Bear had no knowledge his transfer was to take place. Once at the prison, he was taken off his medication, according to the suit.

Shaun Duncan Morrison, 33, was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder. He suffers from self-harm impulses and has cut himself on numerous occasions, resulting in hospitalization and life-threatening blood loss. He has bitten through his own stitches.

In 2006, the forensic review board recommended Morrison be transferred to prison because he had shown no overt indications of mental disease or defect. The interim DPHHS director at that time wrote that Morrison was in need of long term behavior management in a more secure environment that can better protect him from the everyday items he uses to harm himself with, according to the lawsuit.

Morrison and Patrick both spent time in the Prisons mental health treatment unit. Morrison created a treatment planning worksheet with the prisons mental health staff that included a request for homework so he could keep his mind busy. He also asked that mental health staff be there to talk to him when he began having problems, according to the lawsuit.

Instead, Morrison was placed in solitary confinement to prevent self-harm. In July 2011, he told prison staff he had been in locked housing for way too long and was worried about doing something stupid.

In August 2011, Morrison murdered another prisoner. He was sentenced to the Department of Corrections for life without the possibility of parole, according to the lawsuit.

The Montana State Prison has three psychiatrists who provide telepsych services to offenders, Department of Corrections Communications Director Judy Beck said. Telepsych refers to the use of video conferencing to hold psychiatric clinics. The prison has a psychiatric nurse practitioner who is on-site two days per week.

The prison system does not have electronic medical records; there are only hard copy files at the prison. Beck said she cant confirm the number of mental health patients at the Montana State Prison because the prison doesnt have a clear definition for mental illness and it is something they are working on.

If you included personality disorders, it would be over 90 percent of our population, Beck said. If you included substance abuse issues, that would also be well over 90 percent of our population.

The prison has two open full-time psychiatrist positions advertised, but had received no applicants as of March 30.

Robertson deteriorates

A written statement from Robertsons attorney to the Montana Supreme Court supporting the dismissal of aggravated assault charges against Robertson described his increased mental deterioration in the Montana State Prison.

Robertson had stopped showering by October 2013.

Showering is more sinful than bathing, he told guards when they attempted to get him out of his cell.

He was ordered to transfer back to the Montana State Hospital on Jan. 10, 2014. He returned to the hospital on Jan. 22, 2014. The district court ordered the charges of aggravated assault dismissed due to a delay in a mental health evaluation of Robertson to stand trial.

On Dec. 8, 2015, Supreme Court Judge Patricia Cotter reversed the third district courts ruling, and charges of aggravated assault were reinstated against Robertson.

The Deer Lodge-Anaconda District Court is proceeding with charges against Robertson for the aggravated assault he committed against the Montana State Hospital nurse.

Robertson was released on Dec. 24, 2015, from the Montana State Hospital and into a secure rehabilitation and after-care facility in Missoula County. He is under the custody of probation and parole and is serving the last five years of his sentence.

His future placement and treatment options remain unclear.

Future legislation

Bullock said he stands by his veto of the bill and reiterated how few transfers there are between the two institutions.

It certainly looks like the current protections of the transfers are adequate, Bullock said.

The transfer cases Bullock said he looked at included people who had committed sex crimes and homicides, very violent crimes, Bullock said.

While his administration wants those people to get treatment, it shouldnt be at the cost of safety for the staff members or other patients at the hospital.

There are patients who are found not guilty due to their mental illness, and those patients cant be transferred out of the Montana State Hospital, Bullock said.

People have to remember that patients found guilty but mentally ill, are still guilty, Bullock said.

New hospital resources

As of February 2016, Montana State Hospital forensic patients have moved into the new Forensic Mental Health Treatment Facility at Galen, according to spokesman for the Department of Public Health and Human Services, Jon Ebelt.

Prior to the Forensic Mental Health Treatment Facility, as many as 60 forensic patients were being treated at the Montana State Hospital D Wing which was built for 32 patients.

That created an overcrowding situation and put the safety of both patients and the staff at risk every day, Ebelt said.

There were 44 forensic patients there as of the start of April. There are 81 employees who work at this new facility. The 2015 Legislature appropriated $4 million for personnel and to operate the facility. A total of 55 new staff members were hired at this new facility.

The new facility allows for single occupant rooms and enables separation or segregation of different types of forensic clients.

The opening of the Forensic Mental Health Treatment Facility has alleviated overcrowding issues and improved safety and security, Ebelt said.

Patients need to feel safe in order to receive treatment, Ebelt said. When you crowd people, there is a level of irritability. By improving safety, the new facility will allow us to improve security and treatment.

This article has been updated to reflect that the lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Montana against the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services had been dropped.
From food for health to food for the mind  theres a week of activities in Helena celebrating children and families.

While some groups are providing meals for children, others are reading books and gifting them.

Helena High School senior Abby Jones is spearheading a food drive all week at Helena High School to collect items for the school food locker.

One in five kids in Montana suffer childhood hunger, Jones said. And the number is one in seven in Helena.

Jones, a member of the Governor and First Lady Bullocks Youth Leadership Council, said the group has been working on ending childhood hunger. Shes been planning this weeks activities since November.

Jones knows theres a need.

Thirty kids at Helena High School use the food locker in the counseling office to grab items for meals, she said. And 40 students take home food for the weekend.

Typically the meals are non-perishable things like canned soup, cereals and ramen soup.

Growing up in East Helena, Jones saw schoolmates who were dealing with hunger, she said, but at that time she didnt recognize the signs.

She and a group of HHS students are volunteering Tuesday and Thursday afternoon this week to help at Gods Love with whatever tasks are needed, including food preparation.

And on Wednesday theyre going to Helena Food Share, to help with repacking food, working in the garden, repairing a garden shed and painting a mural on it.

Also this week, Drew Briggs, an eighth grader at Helena Middle School has organized a food drive at that school.

According to the governors office, one in three clients of Helena Food Share is a child under the age of 18, and Helena Food Share distributes nearly 1,100 Kid Packs every week of the academic year to the areas elementary schools for kids to take home on weekends.

On today, its GoBlue Day. People will be wearing blue to show support for strengthening families and preventing child abuse, said Trina Filan of United Way of Lewis and Clark County, which is just one of many partners putting together this weeks events.

On Tuesday, from 9 to 11 a.m., its Reading & Resources in the Capitol Rotunda.

Governor Steve Bullock, Sheriff Leo Dutton and other local officials will be reading books to children. Theres also a resource fair, sharing information about community resources available to families.

Two thousand books will be distributed free at the Capitol and local preschools and childcare centers, said Filan.

Its also a good time to learn about Lewis & Clark Librarys 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program  to encourage parents to read to their young children. (See a full list of reading activities in breakout).

Down the road at Heritage Food Store in East Helena, there are signs about healthy foods, healthy brains and child literacy, said Filan.

Wear Orange Wednesday is a day to raise awareness about the fight against childhood hunger, with youth-led food drives.

Also, Sodexo, the food service company for the school district, will be providing lunches to all students at no cost on Wednesday.

Thursday is Child Care Provider Appreciation, with an ice cream social for childcare providers, preschool teachers and K-2 teachers.

The event is 6-8 p.m. at ExplorationWorks. RSVP to Child Care Partnerships at 443-4608.

Purple UP Day, Friday April 15, is for military kids and families, said Filan. There are 6,800 military kids in Montana. Later in the month is the Military Child Ball on April 23 at Fort Harrison from 6-8 p.m. Its a daddy-daughter, mommy-son celebration! Its only for people who are in the military.

This weeks activities coincide with National Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month activities taking place across Montana in April. Local events kicked off Friday with a Pinwheels for Prevention Parade at Jefferson School.

Pinwheels for Prevention is a national public awareness campaign built around the symbol of the pinwheel  a happy and uplifting symbol of childhood. It conveys the message that every child deserves the chance to be raised in a healthy, safe, and nurturing environment.

Thousands of blue pinwheels have been planted on the Capitols front lawn and around Helena.

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services reports that it completed 8,900 investigations of child abuse and neglect involving nearly 13,000 children during the 2015 fiscal year. And the number of children in foster care is continuing to climb, with 3,126 children in foster care as of March. This is the highest number of kids in care in over the past 16 years.

Partners for this week of events: include Early Childhood Coalition of the Greater Helena Area, the Montana Childrens Trust Fund, No Kid Hungry Montana, the Montana Association of the Education of Young Children: Helena Chapter, the Montana National Guards Child and Youth Program, Rocky Mountain Development Council, Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies: the Montana Coalition, the Lewis & Clark Library, Grandstreet Theatre, local artist Kelly Anne Dalton, the YMCA, United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area, Heritage Food Store in East Helena and more than 20 downtown businesses.
WASHINGTON  Woe is Brazil. As the summer Olympics approach in August, Latin Americas largest country  with a population of 206 million and an economy that is 40 percent of the regions total  is caught in a harsh slump and faces a political crisis that could result in its president being impeached. How did this happen? What does it mean?

A decade ago, Brazil was a poster child for emerging market countries whose surging economies would ultimately make them wealthy nations. Remember BRIC. The acronym stood for Brazil, Russia, India, China, which were the anointed leaders. From 2004 to 2008, Brazils economy averaged growth of almost 5 percent a year, reports the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

No more.

Economist Rafael Amiel of IHS, a consulting company, reports that the economy has been shrinking since 2014 and that he expects cumulative decline of gross domestic product  total output  to be 8.5 percent. Thats roughly twice the GDP drop (4.2 percent) the United States suffered in the Great Recession. Brazils national unemployment rate has risen from 6.7 percent in mid-2014 to 9.5 percent at the end of 2015. It will probably go higher.

Some of the slump stems from the collapse of commodity prices. Brazil is a major exporter of raw materials, including iron ore, soybeans, oil and coffee. But the bigger part of the story is macroeconomic mismanagement, says Monica de Bolle, a Brazilian economist at the Peterson Institute, a think tank.

To bolster the re-election of President Dilma Rousseff in 2014  the allegation goes  credit was kept cheap, and government spending and deficits expanded. Now those policies have been reversed to check the adverse side effects. The budget deficit, which had been running 2 percent to 3 percent of GDP, ballooned to 10 percent in 2015. Inflation reached nearly 11 percent last year, says the rating agency Moodys. Interest rates have been raised and spending squeezed.

The accusation against Rousseff  the grounds for impeachment  is that she hid the run-up of the budget deficit through various gimmicks. She denies it. A yes vote in Congress lower house would trigger a Senate trial, unless she resigns. Compounding public outrage is a vast scandal involving Petrobras, the national oil company. It has estimated the cost of bribes and rigged construction bids at $3 billion. Dozens of executives and public officials have been implicated. In March, 3 million or more Brazilians demonstrated to protest the Petrobras scandal and Rousseff.

No one knows where this mix of economic disappointment and political disillusion is leading. One hopeful possibility is that Brazils casual tolerance of graft may be fading, speculates Paulo Sotero, a veteran Brazilian journalist who now heads the Brazilian Institute in Washington. He cites one poll in which nine of 10 Brazilians want the Petrobras prosecutions to continue even if they hurt the economy.

A change of attitude toward corruption [may be] underway, he writes. The passivity that was once expected of law enforcement officials ... is a thing of the past.

But for now, political and economic dysfunction feed on each other. Political turmoil saps confidence, which weakens the economy and deepens political discontent. Businesses are delaying investment, even of replacing worn-out equipment, says economist Amiel of IHS.

Changing economic policy will be difficult. As in the United States, reducing big budget deficits is unpopular. Many Brazilians retire by 55, says de Bolle; social securitys eligibility age should be raised to 65. Much social spending is uncontrolled, because the constitution requires that it increase with inflation or tax collections. These restrictions should be relaxed, she says. Similarly, the role of state banks  which flood the economy with subsidized credit  should be curbed.

What Brazil teaches is that the promise of emerging market countries was often wishful thinking. The presumption was that these countries, especially the BRICs, would inexorably narrow the gap with advanced societies. They would adopt known technologies, expand their education systems and improve local management. What got lost in this simplistic vision was the impact of national differences  of values, institutions, politics, policies  on smooth economic growth.

With details changed, Brazils experience mirrors whats happened in China and many emerging-market countries. Contrary to hopes after the 2008-09 financial crisis, these countries have not been sufficiently dynamic to serve as a locomotive for the rest of the world, replacing advanced nations. Brazil is important in its own right. But it is also part of the larger story of why the world economy has struggled.
As outfitters on the Smith River, we are privileged to make a good living helping others experience what many consider to be the greatest combination of floating, fly fishing and camping in the lower 48 states. Around 7,000 people take this 60-mile scenic journey annually with the hope of connecting to a part of Montana that is still wild. We have collectively employed hundreds of guides and other staff to help make that happen.

Several of us have dedicated more than 20 years to the Smith River and had clients return again and again. Watching the seasons change on the river opens peoples eyes to how special and yet how fragile the watershed is. So along with the privilege of working on the Smith, there is a responsibility to leave the river healthier than we found it.

Thats why we are concerned with the copper mine Tintina Resources is proposing on the upper part of Sheep Creek in the Smith River watershed. We appreciate the benefits of responsible mining, but this mine is unlikely to leave the river better off. All mineral extraction has environmental risks, but in this case, the ore deposits thread through sulfide-rich rock, which produces acid and dissolved metals that would be deadly for fish in Sheep Creek and the Smith River. We have not seen enough evidence to believe that this mine would avoid these problems.

We understand risk as a part of our business. But floating the Smith River, where the towering canyon walls overwhelm the senses, we keep asking the same question: How can we risk putting all of this in jeopardy? The answer is We cant.

We are deeply worried that state regulatory agencies will be unable to catch problems before they turn into disasters. Usually, environmental disasters can be traced back to a government agency that has done too little too late. This has been the recent track record of both the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department on Natural Resources Conservation when it comes to protecting our river resources. Does DEQ have the financial resources and the technological expertise to closely monitor and regulate this mine? How much manpower can they devote to this mine? And what would they do when the mine either pollutes or diminishes the groundwater in an area that is already water-limited?

We believe the Smith River is the queen of Montanas spectacular river network. This river exhibits more of what Montana is about than any other stream in our state. It requires the confidence and self-reliance of every floater to negotiate 60 miles in any combination of wind, rain, snow and heat that Montana can produce. The Smith River is where Montanans bring their families to impart the values, virtues and ethics of conserving the natural world. This is still our last best place.

Economists have determined that fishing on the Smith River alone contributes at least $7 million annually for Montanas economy, and that doesnt include other recreational, agricultural and tax benefits it generates. These are indefinitely sustainable dollars, and they benefit real people and real jobs that would be lost if the river is degraded. Add in the cost taxpayers might have to foot to clean up a big spill or keep wastes from leaking in the future, and it becomes a high price to pay. Unfortunately, the citizens of Montana will assume all the risk, while the corporate boardrooms of Tintinas owners in Perth, Australia, and New York City reap the rewards.

We encourage other people concerned with this mine proposal to check out the litany of unanswered questions and concerns we raise at www.smithriverwatch.org.
We need to be reminded of our blessings. The Smith River country is one such blessing. My great-grandfather, Tom Gordon, was a frequent fly fisherman on the Smith River in the early decades of the 1900s.

His daughter, my grandmother Jean (Gordon) Dunning, spent much time on the Anderson Ranch with her best friend Betty Anderson. I had roots in the Smith River country long before I married into a family with a cabin on the Smith built in the '60s. My husband and I have owned that cabin for 40 years, over which time we raised our children and spent every summer with both sets of Great Falls grandparents. We now live in Montana full time and are greatly alarmed at the possibility of a mine (proposing many as yet untested methods and techniques) which drains into the Smith and Missouri rivers.

Thanks to the DEQ for requesting information absent from the Black Butte Mine permit. All should be concerned and take time to learn the facts. Meagher commissioners need to look at tax dollars generated by property owners on the Smith and the decreased property value when the river dies. They continue to present an infomercial for Tintina and are not responding to Montana Smith River taxpayers. Our family and many others will begin documenting our precious river and surrounding landscape this year with photographs and well water tests of mineral content; Tintina is only required to test the water in Sheep Creek. We will also continue work to educate the public and defeat this mine proposal.

Lezlie Pearce-Hopper

Helena
The Statement of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic

On April 10, in accordance with the arrangement reached earlier, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, carried out the exchange of bodies of the deceased between the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan near the Bash Karvend settlement.

The bodies of 18 servicemen of the NKR Defense Army, fallen as a result of the large scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in April 2-5, were transferred to the NKR side during the exchange.

At the presence of the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the NKR State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons registered that all bodies of the deceased transferred by the Azerbaijani side had signs of torture and mutilation.

Those acts, being a flagrant manifestation of inhumanity, run counter to the laws and customs of war and are in grave violation of the international humanitarian law, in particular, the Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (1949), Geneva Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1949) and the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I).

The Karabakh side will seek to ensure that such behavior of the Azerbaijani side is condemned in strongest terms by the international community and the specialized agencies, and those responsible are brought into account.
On April 11, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met Jeffrey D. Feltman, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, who is paying a visit to Yerevan.



Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia presented to the UN Under-Secretary-General the consequences of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in early April, attaching importance to the unequivocal position of the international community on the impermissibility of military actions.

The UN Under-Secretary-General expressed deep concern for the escalation of the situation in the conflict-zone, emphasizing that the UN has expressed its joint position, i.e. unconditional support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' efforts for exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.



Developments unfolded in the Middle East, migration crisis were on the agenda of the meeting.



The sides discussed issues of Armenia's involvement in the United Nations, effective projects implemented in Armenia by the United Nations Development Programme.



Following the meeting, a number of documents on cooperation in different areas of the Republic of Armenia and the United Nations for the forthcoming 4 years were signed (Country Program Action Plan /CPAP/ between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the United Nations Development Program 2016 to 2020; Country Program Action Plan /CPAP/ between The Government of Armenia and United Nations Population Fund 2016-2020; Country Program Action Plan between The Government of Armenia and United Nations Children's Fund 2016-2020).

Photo (from left): UN Resident Coordinator, Minister Nalbandian
Funding Rural Fire and Rescue Programs on the Anniversary of Heroic Borger Grandmothers Death

The rural fire departments of Cactus, Dimmitt, Spearman, and Wellington are the recipients of grants commemorating the 10th anniversary of Kathy Ryans death, a heroic women who lost her life in 2006 attempting to rescue her elderly neighbors. The $40,000 in distributions, announced today at a press conference at the Amarillo Area Foundation, will support continuing fire and rescue training in rural areas.



This is the first time the Kathy Ryan Rural and Fire Rescue Fund has conducted a grant cycle. Pam Ayers, Ryans daughter, believes the 10th anniversary of her mothers death was the perfect time to distribute resources so widely. Our fire and rescue personnel in the rural Texas Panhandle do, every day, what Mom did on March 12, 2006. Without an abundance of resources and training opportunities, they rush to our aid in times of our worst need. Mom was their staunch supporter all her life, and we feel it's fitting to support them in her name, Ayers states.



According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the relative risk of death in a fire for people living in the South is higher than the risk of populations living in other regions of the country. Moreover, adults age 80 to 84 have the highest risk of fire death; those 85 and older are at the greatest risk of fire injury. Ryan bravely lost her own life protecting the most vulnerable of populations, her elderly neighbors.



Cactus will receive funding from the Kathy RyanElias Macias Jacquez Designated Fund for Cactus Volunteer Fire Department for firefighting training and general fire safety awareness.



Dimmitt will also receive funds for general training support and development from the Kathy Ryan Rural and Fire Rescue Fund. Spearman and Wellington have respectively requested capital support grants for bunker gear and wildfire shelters.



The Kathy Ryan Rural and Fire Rescue Fund has also helped support the construction of the Top of Texas Rural Fire Academy in Canadian, Texas. The Academy was constructed from funds supplied by the Kathy Ryan Rural and Fire Rescue Fund and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Kathy Ryan Rural and Fire Rescue Fund is a donor advised fund of the Amarillo Area Foundation. If you are interested in donating to this fund, which benefits all rural fire departments in the top 26 counties of the Panhandle, contact Kasey Long, Director of Development, at kasey@aaf-hf.org or 806-376-4521. Or, you can go online and donate at www.amarilloareafoundation.org.



If you are interested in learning more about fire safety and prevention please visit www.usfa.fema.gov.



If you are interested in getting involved in fire safety trainings, courses, and community wide efforts in the Texas Panhandle please visit http://www.redcross.org/local/northtexas/locations/panhandle.



In honor of Kathy Ryan, please continue the conversations about fire safety in your local communities.








United States to host World Tunnel Congress in 2016



On June 5, 2013, the World Tunnel Congress (WTC) and the 39th General Assembly of the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association (ITA) in Geneva, Switzerland, announced that the United States has won the bid to host the World Tunnel Congress in 2016 in San Francisco, CA. WTC 2016 will be held in conjunction with the North American Tunneling Conference (NAT) on April 22-28, 2016.



The new President of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) will be elected during its 42nd General Assembly (April 27th, 2016).



2.500 PEOPLE EXPECTED AT THE TOP ATTENDED TUNNELLING CONFERENCE IN THE WORLD: Tunnelling professionals and engineers, infrastructure companies, public authorities, exhibitors.



350 TECHNICAL PAPERS AND POSTERS on the latest tunnelling innovations, products, projects and topics.



The UCA of SME is an informative, interactive community of engineers, contractors, owners and government agents with a professional interest in the underground construction industry. Coupled with the NAT, which has also built a reputation for itself as a conference that provides quality programming along with information on various issues related to underground construction and tunneling, the 2016 WTC will be the premier source for networking opportunities and exchange of state-of-the-art technology from experts around the world.







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After lead-tainted drinking water in Flint, Michigan, exploded into a public health emergency last year, Lake Mills residents grew more vocal in their concerns about tests that have repeatedly found the toxic metal in their water.

Even small amounts can accumulate in the body to cause irreversible brain damage, slowed growth and, in rare cases, death, federal officials say. Children face the highest risk, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says there is no safe blood lead level in children.

Lake Mills plans to take new steps in its efforts to protect residents from lead after initially underestimating the number of lead water pipes buried in the ground, and exceeding federal lead limits more often than any other Wisconsin water system with ongoing problems.

The city of about 5,800 residents 30 miles east of Madison offers just one example of how the costly and difficult-to-solve problem of lead-tainted drinking water goes far beyond the extreme case of Flint, where the citys entire water system was declared unsafe.

An Associated Press analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data found that nearly 1,400 water systems serving 3.6 million Americans have exceeded the federal lead standard at least once since Jan. 1, 2013. The affected systems are large and small, public and private, and include 278 that are operated by schools and day care centers in 42 states.

In Wisconsin, 64 water systems exceeded limits in that period. The systems include municipal utilities in Stoughton, Neenah and Racine; schools such as Rock County Christian in Janesville, Woods in Lake Geneva, and THINK Academy charter near Wisconsin Rapids; and state facilities including prisons and the Veterans Home at King, the data show.

Lake Mills is one of nine water systems that last year found enough lead to exceed the federal action limit, the EPA data show.

To be under the limit, 90 percent of water samples must have lead concentrations under 15 parts per billion.

In Lake Mills, 90 percent with the lowest concentrations ranged higher than 10 times that much  160 parts per billion. The worst of the samples, which were gathered from taps in 40 homes last fall, tested at 870 parts per billion, said water utility superintendent Paul Hermanson.

City put on notice

In February, the state Department of Natural Resources put the city on notice that the test results violated safe drinking water rules and ordered it to do more public education and take other steps designed to give residents greater opportunities to replace lead pipes.

Hermanson said the most significant action will be increased efforts to publicize recommendations aimed at reducing exposure  primarily running a tap for up to two minutes before drinking it or cooking with it.

The city will send a letter annually to water customers and may conduct a public meeting or place an announcement on the city television station or website, he said.

In the notice of violation, the DNR also told the city to give residents 45 days notice before it replaces publicly owned lead water pipes so they have a better opportunity to decide if they want to pay from $1,800 to $3,300 to replace pipes on their property, Hermanson said.

But city manager Steve Wilke said he didnt believe the 45-day notice would make much difference based on how many property owners have chosen to do the work on the 29 occasions when the city tore up a street, found lead pipe and replaced the city-owned portion of it in recent years.

I know of three that have replaced the service line on their property, said Wilke, who has been with the city since 2000. Most of the time when we have given them the option they have not wanted to do it.

In one case when the city replaced its end of the pipe, but the resident didnt, the lead levels in the house spiked in tests taken shortly after the work was done, probably because the construction work shook loose corrosion that usually prevents water from coming in contact with the interior surface of the lead pipe, Wilke said.

Water systems like Lake Mills add chemicals to water supplies to ensure the protective corrosion forms and flush water through pipes to remove material that can come loose and carry lead to the tap. Lead can leach from pipes and fittings in homes.

The DNR has required Lake Mills to replace about three lead pipes annually, Wilke said. The number is based on a rule requiring 7 percent of a communitys lead pipes to be replaced each year if too much lead is reaching homes, Wilke said.

However, the 7 percent is being applied to an initial estimate that the city had 37 lead pipes among service lines for its roughly 3,800 customers. Wilke and Hermanson said the estimate was established before they worked for the city.

Homes built before the EPA banned lead pipes and solder in 1986 are most at risk. Hermanson said he didnt know how many Lake Mills homes were built before that year, but there are far more than 37.

In conjunction with road repair projects, the city is preparing to remove lead pipes that supply water to an estimated 150 homes in older neighborhoods at a cost that could reach $675,000 over the next four years. The city will be checking customers water meters to find faulty ones over the next three years and will also look for lead pipes and fixtures, Hermanson said.

But theres no indication that the city will accelerate the costly replacement of the lead pipes it finds, he said.

Nobody had been able to prove that it accomplishes what it is meant to accomplish if the residents dont do their portion of the pipe and their indoor fixtures, Hermanson said.

Madison pipes replaced

Madison may be the only community in the country that has eliminated its worst risks by replacing all lead service pipes. An 11-year, $15.5 million project replaced 8,000 lead service pipes.

The city provided grants to homeowners to help them cover the costs of mandatory removal of the portions of the pipes on their properties.

Madison officials said the cost was high but so was the benefit in terms of health, especially for children. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control reduced by half its standard for lead levels in the blood that are considered high.

Abigail Cantor, a consultant whose tests sparked the Madison program, said the biology and chemistry of water in lakes, rivers and underground aquifers varies greatly.

The waters makeup is affected by different purification methods, storage time, temperature and materials that have accumulated in pipes for decades. The result can be great unpredictability about what comes out of the tap, including short-term spikes in lead in many systems, Cantor said.

Removal of lead pipes is a crucial first step everyone should take, Cantor said.

Flushing water mains is a good practice to remove manganese scales that can absorb and concentrate lead in water and then release it, sending it to the tap, Cantor said. But done incorrectly, flushing can cause lead spikes, she said.

She recommends that homeowners have their water tested if they are concerned about lead.
The Pentagons mission in this unsettled world is to ensure that anyone who starts a conflict with us will regret doing so.

That was the pointed message Defense Secretary Ash Carter had for members of the Senate Armed Services Committee at a March 17 hearing at which he urged Congress to approve a $583 billion defense budget for next fiscal year and to block sequestration cuts mandated by the 2011 Budget Control Act.

Carter said the Pentagon was requesting 50 percent more money for the fight against Islamic State, which he warned was metastasizing in Africa and Afghanistan, far from its core territory in Iraq and Syria. He said strategists concluded more must also be done to address the challenges posed by Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

Not only did Carters message resonate with senators, some said he should have asked for even more money. I contend we are in the most threatened condition weve ever been in as a nation, said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma. I feel wistful for the days of the Cold War.

But this sympathy for the Pentagons budget straits cant be reconciled with the behavior of lawmakers who see military spending as akin to pork. This predilection is on display on two fronts.

The first lies in the near-reflexive hostility that elected officials have to closing unneeded military facilities in their home states. In a 2004 analysis, the Pentagon estimated it had 24 percent more facilities than it needed. But the Base Realignment and Closure process, known as BRAC, is routinely stymied by political pressure  justified by bizarre arguments from politicians that they know more about whats needed for national security than the Joint Chiefs of Staffs.

In 2005, for example, an aide to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger argued that the Pentagon failed to grasp the unique strategic value of Californias military bases.

Now we have a fresh example. The Army concluded last year it made sense to shut a brigade with 2,600 soldiers at the Elmendorf-Richardson base in Anchorage. But last month, facing pressure from Alaskas congressional delegation, the Army changed its mind. Politico reports this is likely to energize opponents of plans to close Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Fort Benning in Georgia, and Ford Hood and Fort Bliss in Texas.

Thats bad, but another congressional habit may be worse: foisting weapon systems on the Pentagon that it doesnt want.

In 2012, Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno told Congress that as the military sought to be more light and flexible, it didnt need any more tanks. Congress paid for $183 million worth anyway. Lawmakers have also overruled the Pentagon in buying aircraft for the Air Force and ships for the Navy.

Enough is enough. We think the time has come for an idea floated by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, to give military leaders a much bigger say in procurement.

We force stuff on you all that we know you dont want, Manchin told military brass last year.

Maybe this is just pork politics as usual. But its hard to defend that when the Pentagon is pleading for funding to help defend us.
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-11 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Europe needs to leave behind austerity policies, PM Tsipras says [02] National Bank's chairman presents policy priorities [03] US envoy Pearce: I'm impressed by the Greek people's generosity [04] 53,117 identified refugees and migrants in Greece on Monday [05] Refugees and migrants arrivals on Greek islands at low levels [01] Europe needs to leave behind austerity policies, PM Tsipras says "We believe that Europe needs to leave behind the austerity policies," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday posted on Twitter during a meeting with Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa at Maximos Mansion. "We seek a democratic, progressive Europe with social justice and social cohesion," he added."We are facing a multi-faceted crisis in the economy, security and migration," Tsipras said on Monday while welcoming his Portuguese. "Therefore I believe that all these difficulties force us to move ahead in order to promote an alternative agenda," he stated. [02] National Bank's chairman presents policy priorities Preserving and enhancing solvency and profitability of National Bank and the Group, developing new markets, products and services and funding the real economy, investing in IT, new technologies and human resources along with further upgrading corporate governance systems, were the main priorities of National Bank Group, Luca Katseli, the bank's chairman told the annual meeting of the bank's executives on Monday. Referring to the funding of the Greek economy, Katseli focused on a programme -to be announced soon- to fund small- and medium-sized enterprises "Chain Value", a new innovative funding tool for all enterprises included in production chain value, starting with the shipbuilding sector. Leonidas Fragiadakis, chief executive of National Bank, addressing the meeting, said that 2016 will be a profitable year for National Bank and said that a voluntary exit programme will begin in the summer. Our aim is not just the exit of workers but new hirings as well to promote new ideas, Fragiadakis said. He reiterated that the bank's strategic plan focused on improving productivity, portfolio quality, raising revenue and digital upgrade. [03] US envoy Pearce: I'm impressed by the Greek people's generosity The US mission to Athens and the 409 Contracting Support Brigade(CSB)of the US Army donated on April 7-8 essential humanitarian supplies for migrants and refugees in Greece on behalf of the US Government Beds, sleeping bags, blankets and other material were offered to the First Reception Service of the Greek Republic for distribution to refugees camps throughout the country. "This latest donation demonstrates the US government's commitment to helping Greece address the emergency needs of migrants and refugees, and comes on top of last week's announcement of our additional 20 million US dollars contribution to UNHCR and other groups caring for migrants in the region." said US Ambassador to Greece David Pearce and added, "We have been impressed by the generosity of the Greek people who, even in the midst of the severe economic crisis, have offered food, shelter, and medicine to those in need." Major La'Tasha Watson, the Chief of Contracting for the 409th CSB said, "It's so deeply gratifying to be part of the process  to be able to help people. When I saw the news of the sheer number of individuals, leaving everything behind, I knew I wanted to be part of the relief effort." "We've had immense support in this endeavour, from U.S. officials stateside, U.S. European Command, to the Hellenic National Defense General Staff  everyone wants to help," noted Colonel Jay Gardner of the Office of Defense Cooperation in Greece. Colonel Gardner added that U.S. authorities are also coordinating delivery of other items from excess property stocks. [04] 53,117 identified refugees and migrants in Greece on Monday 53,117 refugees and migrants were on the Greek territory on Monday among them 18 new arrivals recorded in the last 24 hours. According to the Refugee Crisis Management Coordination Body's figures, 29,429 of the refugees are in northern Greece, 11,194 of them are in Idomeni camp, 14,387 are hosted in the region of Attica (4,510 at Piraeus port), 6,976 on the Greek islands and 2,325 are hosted in different areas in Central Greece. [05] Refugees and migrants arrivals on Greek islands at low levels Refugees and migrants arrivals on the Greek island remained at low levels in the last three days. Despite the excellent weather conditions prevailing in the area, only 176 arrivals were recorded from Friday to early Monday. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-11 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras: FYROM police stance towards refugees in Idomeni is shameful [02] President Pavlopoulos criticizes Fyrom authorities during meeting with Portuguese PM [03] Government extends ban on sale of NPLs until May 15 [04] Greek police in Lesvos started examining asylum applications on Sunday [05] Wage employment in private sector up in March [01] PM Tsipras: FYROM police stance towards refugees in Idomeni is shameful The first joint front against austerity policies and in favour of adopting alternative policies in the EU was formed by the governments of Greece and Portugal on Monday, following a joint admission by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Portuguese counterpart AntAnio Costa that the memorandums didn't provide the solutions to the countries' problems. The two leaders met in Athens to discuss economic, political and refugee issues, as well as the need to have more solidarity in the EU and form a wider front of progressive forces which will promote alternative policies in the region. Speaking during a joint press conference after the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, Tsipras asked for the July agreement on Greece's economic program to be implemented, warning that he will not accept conditions on starting a talk on debt relief, as the deal didn't include any conditions. He said once talks on debt start, they will lead to some conclusion. The premier then continued by taking a jab at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying that despite admitting its mistake on the Greek program, it insists on its mistake, but at some time "we must get serious". He then said the Greek economy is outperforming its projected targets and insinuated that there might be some sides that do not want the first program review to conclude, so as to avoid starting debt relief talks. Commenting also on the economy, Costa said the adjustment program implemented in his country left behind serious problems, such as a jump in public debt from 97 pct of GDP to 130 pct, poverty, unemployment and social problems. Answering questions on the refugee crisis, the Portuguese prime minister said his country will welcome a significant number of refugees from Greece. Tsipras publically thanked him for the move and noted that Portugal, a country with a small population and economic problems is welcoming refugees, while other countries with better economies are refusing to take them in. Costa urged the EU to rise to the occasion and not allow the entire burden of the refugee crisis to fall on one country like Greece, because this is a European problem. Commenting on the joint declaration signed by the two leaders, Tsipras emphasized the common targets highlighted for a change of policy in the EU and on the need to end austerity policies. The only divergence between the two countries, the Greek premier noted, is on the issue of debt relief, with Portugal openly being against cutting it, while the Greek side believes it is unsustainable. Asked about the incident in Idomeni during the weekend when protesting refugees and migrants were pushed back by FYROM border police with teargas and rubber bullets, Tsipras said that Idomeni is and continues to constitute an embarrassment for European culture, adding the cause of the situation in the makeshift camp is the unilateral actions of some countries who decided to close the borders. He then stressed that this is a situation that cannot be changed and that the government is doing all it can to convince all these people that they have to move to organized facilities. Tsipras also said that in this effort, apart from the objective difficulties, the government has to deal with some NGOs which are doing the opposite job by trying to convince those people to remain there, regardless of the fact that this move poses enormous risks, as it appears that these NGOs are more concerned with receiving funding, rather than helping. Asked about Sunday's clashes in Idomeni, the prime minister said they constitute a "double provocation" because they were encouraged by some "solidarity volunteers", representatives of NGOs, some of whom are foreign nationals and don't live in the country. The second provocation, he said, is the stance of FYROM authorities, who responded with teargas and rubber bullets against people who were clearly unarmed, which constitutes a great shame for European civilization and for the countries who want to become part of this civilization. "I expect European authorities, international organizations and the UNCHR to say something on what happened yesterday," he added. [02] President Pavlopoulos criticizes Fyrom authorities during meeting with Portuguese PM Countries that adopt unacceptable behaviours in terms of humanity, such as FYROM's behaviour against refugees on Sunday, do not have place either in the European Union or in the NATO, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos on Monday said during his meeting with visiting Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa. Moreover, Pavlopoulos referred to the need for further strengthening the EU institutions in order to support a real European intergration that will put an end to the huge democratic deficit observed lately in the European Union. Pavlopoulos noted that the very essence of the European Union is not the currency but the human being and characterised the refugees issue a problem of existence for the European Union. He said that we must behave to refugees with humanism and solidarity adding that phobic syndroms do not have place in Europe. The Greek president referred to the need for the agreement between EU and Turkey to be implemented as well as to the need the conflict in Syria to end. On terrorism, he stated: "Terrorists and particularly ISIS jihadists are the representatives of a new barbarism and commit crimes against humanity and that is how they must be treated." Addressing the Portuguese prime minister, he noted that Greece and Portugal have much in common adding that they are two countries with clear European orientation that can contribute in the European Union's future. On his part, Costa thanked Pavlopoulos for the warm reception and expressed his country's will for a closer cooperation between the two countries while on the refugees issue he stated that beyond everything it is a humanitarian crisis and estimated that EU should focus on the refugees protection adding that Greece can't bear the burden by itself and it must be allocated to all the European state members. Costa made a special reference to solidarity, noting that the closing of the borders does not constitute a solution and expressed Portugal's readiness over the relocation of refugees. He pointed out that 2,000 positions are available in Portuguese universities for young people that want to continue their studies. He stated that he clearly supports the monetary integration in EU and he pointed out the need to invest in growth and to proceed with a structural reform of the eurozone. [03] Government extends ban on sale of NPLs until May 15 The Greek government extended on Monday the current ban on selling non-performing loans (NPLs) to funds until May 15 through an amendment tabled by the economy ministry to parliament. According to the amendment, banks are not allowed to sell NPLs which mortgage the main residence, consumer loans and those of small and medium-sized businesses. The move was taken to allow the government more time to formulate the relevant legislation which is currently being debated with Greece's lenders. The amendment also extends for two more months (until June 30) a relevant law passed by the previous government until a new framework is prepared to reform the debts of small businesses and professionals to the banks. [04] Greek police in Lesvos started examining asylum applications on Sunday Greek authorities started examining asylum applications at Moria's hotspot on the island of Lesvos, adding that almost all refugees and migrants who arrived on the island after March 20 have submitted applications, police said. Speaking to public broadcaster ERT, Brigadier general Zacharoula Tsirigoti, the head of Greece's immigration police, said about 3,500 refugees and migrants are currently in Moria and have all submitted an application. Out of those people, about 700 vulnerable groups have been transferred to the municipality's accommodation center in Kara Tepe, while only 15 people have said they want to return to Turkey. Tsirigoti also said the asylum service has been strengthened by an additional 46 officers from Brussels and Athens and its aim is to examine 50 applications per day. She added that Syrians will be returned by plane to Adana in Turkey where Turkish authorities have set up a refugee center. She also said the readmission procedure will stop during Pope Francis' visit and resume when he leaves the island. [05] Wage employment in private sector up in March Wage employment in the private sector grew in March as the hiring/dismissal balance showed a surplus of 29,351 job positions, official data showed on Monday. A monthly report by "Ergani", the IT system of the Labor ministry, said that new hirings totaled 149,028 in March, while dismissals amounted to 119,677. On an annual basis, the hiring/dismissal balance showed a surplus of 7,038 job positions. In an announcement, Ergani said that the March performance was positive for the fourth successive year and it was the highest performance in March since 2001. In the January-March period, new hirings totaled 377,876 and dismissals amounted to 344,042, for a surplus of 33,834 new jobs, the second highest quarterly performance since 2001. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
By Mark Rhoads -

Yesterday a presidential candidate from New York tweeted his outrage that a candidate from Texas was able to win all the GOP delegates from Colorado by visiting and working hard in that state.

The New York candidate complained that Colorado had changed their rules for choosing delegates.

DUH.

They changed them in public eights months ago -- in August 2015 -- and the New Yorker only just woke up to the new rules? This is the same New Yorker who bragged he could learn all he needed to know about nuclear missiles in 90 minutes but he cannot keep up on the rules of each state party that affect his campaign directly?
Amid controversies in NIT, Srinagar, on Tuesday, April 12, the valley was closed down completely in a move to protest against the problems faced by Kashmiri students. All the schools, shops, colleges and private offices in the valley were completely shut.

By India Today Web Desk: Amid controversies in NIT, Srinagar, on Tuesday, April 12, the valley was closed down completely in a move to protest against the problems faced by Kashmiri students.

All the schools, shops, colleges and private offices in the valley were completely shut.

In addition, Hari Singh High Street, Lal Chowk and Kara Nagar that are important business centres in the Kashmir were also closed down.

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According to sources, the separatist leaders, Syed Ali Geelani, JKLF chief Yasin Malik, Hurriyat factions' chairmen Mirwaiz Umar called for a shutdown.

As per police statements, most of the separatists leaders have been house arrested.

While calling for a complete strike, the JKLF chief Yasin Malik said, "These attacks by the government-backed Hindu nationalists on Kashmiri students have alarmed the Kashmiri nation. If these attacks are not stopped immediately, Kashmiris will have no choice but to launch a full- fledged protest against it."

Since the start of controversies, it has been noticed that this protest has affected not only the normal life of the students, but also their education.

(Read: NIT Srinagar: Answer scripts likely get checked by external examiners )



Few days back, the board of Governors (BoG) agreed on considering the demand for external evaluation.

On the other hand, non-Kashmir students on Sunday boycotted the examination even after getting an option to appear for it.

This decision came after members from various student organisations belonging from fields like architecture, IT, among others tried to enter the college premises in order to stand with non-local students.

In the final examinations at NIT, Srinagar that started from Monday, it is seen that over 200 students have chosen to take these exams later.

As per the ministry, the number is expected to go up till 300.

According to sources, the Human Resource Ministry (HRD) has requested the principal, but the decision will rest in the hands of BoG and Senate.

The joint secretary of the ministry, Shashi Prakash Goyal will also be attending the meeting at the campus.

As the Senate is the top decision-making body of the university, the sources have also said that the BoG is also capable and authorised for taking decision in this regard.

This demand has come into light after local students said that they fear of being discriminated by the resident professors of the institute.

(Read: Students group clashes over India's T20 defeat forces authorities to shut down Srinagar NIT )

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Also, few days back, these local students also demanded their transfer to other NIT institute, however, the centre rejected their demand.

Moreover, the HRD ministry is in the process of sending some of the best faculty members from IIT-NIT system to the institute.

While speaking on this issue, a senior official said, "We are also looking at introducing evaluation of final exam answer scripts from external examiners across all 31 NITs. The details are being worked out."







Check out how Twitterities have commented on this issue:

Check: HRD Minister Smriti Irani plans to set students' class performance as a criteria for teachers' promotion

Click here to get more education news.

Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here.



--- ENDS ---
11 people were killed and 12 others sustained injuries when a high voltage cable fell on them during police firing in Assam's Tinsukia.

Army personnel trying to control the situation after a high voltage cable fell on a group of protesters in Pengiri in Assam's Tinsukia district.

By India Today Web Desk: At least 11 people were killed and 12 others sustained injuries when a high voltage cable fell on them during police firing in Pengeree area of Tinsukia district today.

Police had to open fire when protestors pelted stones and tried to storm Pangeree police station. The protesters, who were armed with matchets and sticks, were demanding that those arrested in connection with the killing of two persons in the area three days ago be handed over to them.

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The irate mob pelted stones at the police station building damaging glass windows. The police then fired in the air to disperse the crowd. Bullets hit an overhead high power electric wire which snapped.

The wire fell on the protesters electrocuting several of them. Nine of them died on the spot and one died at Tinsukia Civil Hospital. Another person died on way to Assam Medical College Hospital in neighbouring Dibrugarh district.

Three days ago a man, his son and daughter-in-law were abducted by unidentified persons at Pangeree area and while the son escaped from the kidnappers, the bodies of two others were recovered later. Five people have been arrested in connection with the crime.

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Passports and documents of the three Indian students along with a blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the Ukrainian nationals.

Murders of two Indian students and attempted murder of the third in Ukraine (Photo:news.pn)

By India Today Web Desk: In an unfortunate event, three Indian students of Uzhgorod Medical College in Ukraine were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 am on Sunday morning.

While Pranav Shaindilya and Ankur Singh lost their lives in the incident, the third victim Indrajeet Singh Chauhan is recuperating in the hospital.

Based on Chauhan's statement, the police apprehended the Ukrainian nationals who were trying to cross the border. Passports and documents of the three Indian students along with a blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the Ukrainian nationals.

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The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that it has spoken to the families of the students and is taking all necessary actions to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India.

"The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine," the MEA said.

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Amid sporadic clashes and police firing, the assembly polls of the Assam and West Bengal witnessed high voter turnout where an estimated 82.21 per cent and 79.51 per cent of the voters cast their votes today.

Voters wait in a queue to cast votes at a polling station during the state assembly elections in Kharagpur, West Bengal. (Photo: PTI)

By India Today Web Desk: Amid sporadic clashes and police firing, the assembly polls of the Assam and West Bengal witnessed high voter turnout where an estimated 82.21 per cent and 79.51 per cent of the voters cast their votes today.

In West Bengal, where Trinomool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is seeking a second term in office, an estimated 79.51 per cent voters cast their ballots in 31 seats with 84.71 per cent in West Midnapore, 78.87 per cent in Bankura and 75.12 per cent in Burdwan.



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In Assam, an 80-year-old voter died in a scuffle between CRPF personnel and the locals over forming a queue at a polling station in Sorbhog seat in Barpeta district, officials said. Three others, including a CRPF Assistant Commandant and a constable were also injured in the incident.

Security personnel open fired to end a protest at at Chaygaon in Kamrup district after a CRPF constable misbehaved with a pregnant voter who re-entered a polling station to pick up her child whom she had inadvertently forgotten to carry while leaving after casting her vote.

The CRPF team deployed in the polling station was replaced after the incident, the district superintendent of police Prasanta Saikia said.

Long queues were seen outside polling booths since early morning and prominent among those who cast their vote was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Rajya Sabha member of the Congress from the state since 1991. There were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some polling centres but the machines were replaced immediately, election office said.

Prominent among those whose fate will be decided in the second phase include cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Nazrul Islam of Congress, AGP leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and BJP national spokesman Sidhartha Bhattacharya. Also in the fray is former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who revolted against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and later joined BJP last year.

There are 525 candidates in the fray.

Congress, which under Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is seeking a fourth straight term in power, has fielded 57 candidates, BJP 35, its allies AGP 19 and BPF 10, AIDUF 47, CPI-M nine and CPI five.

65 of the state's 126 seats had gone to polls on April 4.

- With inputs from PTI

Also read:

Assam polls: 189 EVMs replaced during final phase



Violence reported from several constituencies in Bengal

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 10 (PTI) The country was today left shocked and saddened as it woke up to the massive temple tragedy in Kerala, with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other leaders and prominent personalities joining the people in mourning the loss of lives in the fire incident.

"Fire at temple in Kollam is heartrending and shocking beyond words. My thoughts are with families of the deceased and prayers with the injured," Modi, who visited Kollam, said in a tweet.

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President Pranab Mukerjee also conveyed "heartfelt condolences on loss of lives in Kerala temple fire".

Praying for the departed souls and well being of the injured, Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked Kerala government to ensure ample and immediate relief measures while party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi decided to visit Kollam.

Modi said he spoke to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for those seriously injured.

While ordering a judicial probe, Chandy also announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 10 lakh to kin of each of those killed in fire tragedy and Rs 2 lakh for seriously injured.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, BJP Chief Amit Shah, chief ministers, governors and leaders of various parties expressed grief over the tragedy.

"Very sad news from Kerala. My deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. Prayers for those injured," West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted.

"Saddened by the Kerala temple fire tragedy. My heartfelt condolences to families of the deceased and prayers with those injured," her Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar said on Twitter.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said his thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. "God be with them in this hour of darkness & despair," he tweeted.

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad too expressed grief at the Kollam temple fire incident saying, "heart goes out for the victims and families".

"Very sad to hear such tragic news. Prayers with all victims," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet.

At least 100 people were killed and nearly 400 injured in a major fire that broke out in Puttingal Devi Temple complex packed with thousands of people near Kollam in Kerala at about 3 AM today during a display of fireworks for which there was no permission from the authorities.

Bollywood too was shaken by the tragedy with filmmaker Shekhar Kapur appealing for control over fire works.

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"People go to pray and celebrate life. Come away in wake of death and tragedy #fireworks getting dangerous and must must be controlled #Kollam."

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan retweeted emergency helpline numbers following the tragedy.

John Abraham said, "Devastated knowing about the innocent lives lost at the #Kollam fire, my condolences to their families & prayers for all the injured!"

Actress Dia Mirza blamed the tragedy on negligence.

"When tragedies are struck by human apathy and negligence it makes it so much more painful...so many innocent lives lost. Gutted. #Kollam."

"Heart goes out to all who lost a loved one in #KollamTempleFire.. deepest condolences. Hope lessons will be learned re firework safety (sic)," actor-director Farhan Akhtar said. PTI TEAM RT

--- ENDS ---
The royal couple is expected to arrive in Agra on 16th April to visit the Taj Mahal.

By Siraj Qureshi: Agra administration has decided not to allow any Syrian, Iraqi or Turkish citizens to stay in the city till the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton are in town.

The royal couple is expected to arrive in Agra on 16th April to visit the Taj Mahal and get some pictures taken at the Diana bench.

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In preparations for their visit, the Agra administration has issued verbal instructions to all hotel owners in Agra to refrain from hosting any citizens of Syria, Iraq or Turkey till 17th April, in order to prevent any ISIS terrorists from attempting anything against the Prince.

A local hotelier told India Today that a team of British security agencies visited Agra recently and discussed the security arrangements for the royal couple and following their recommendations, the administration issued these notices to the local hotels and guest houses.

The hotels have also been asked to inform if any citizen from the notified countries tries to check in during the alert period.

Requesting anonymity, he said that hoteliers have been asked to scan the passports of all tourists and if any tourist from these countries tries to check in, the tourists are to be told that the hotel is full and there is no room.

He said that similar notification had been issued before the visit of US President Barack Obama, but while Obama didn't visit Agra, the hotels lost a great deal of business in the form of refused vacancies.

Additional District Magistrate (Protocol) V.S. Mishra said that the security of the royal couple is the foremost priority of the Agra administration and it cannot be played with just for the sake of some lost business in the hotels. .

He added that it is yet to be decided whether the Taj Mahal will be completely closed or just parts of it will be cordoned off for the Duke and Duchess.

He said that the matter was being discussed with the ASI officials and hopefully, the tourists will not be inconvenienced during the royal visit.

Also read:

Kate Middleton and Prince William's India Tour: Shah Rukh to Aishwarya, B-Town stars to attend royal dinner

Royal tour 2016: India welcomes Kate Middleton and Prince William



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: London, Apr 10 (PTI) Cairn India has full indemnity from its former promoter Cairn Energy of UK against levy of any tax for past deeds, including the two-year old Rs 20,495 crore retrospective tax demand, its new owner Anil Agarwal has said.

Cairn India was in April 2014 slapped with a tax demand of Rs 20,495 crore for failing to deduct withholding tax on alleged capital gains made by its erstwhile parent company, Cairn Energy in 2006-07 when it reorganised India business.

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Agarwals Vedanta Group acquired Cairn India in 2011 and in the sale purchase agreement Cairn Energy has indemnified it from any tax liability for past years, he told PTI in an interview here.

"Our tax demand is purely on the basis of tax demand on the principal company, that is Cairn Energy. We have absolutely nothing to do with retrospective tax. It is between them (Cairn Energy and Income Tax Department)," Agarwal said.

The tax notice on Cairn India came three months after Income Tax Department using retrospective tax legislation slapped Rs 10,247 crore tax notice on Cairn Energy in January 2014. In February this year, the department issued a final assessment order seeking over Rs 29,000 crore in tax from Cairn Energy including Rs 18,800 crore in interest.

"I have full indemnity from that company (Cairn Energy) on the tax demand," said Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Group.

Explaining the rationale for tax demand notice on Cairn India when the capital gains were allegedly made by its erstwhile promoter, Cairn Energy, Agarwal said "the government probably as a precaution got to us."

"They wanted to be sure that if something goes wrong there, they have something here," he said. "It is not a liability at all for Cairn India nor are we party to it. It is purely of Cairn Energy."

Cairn India had moved Delhi High Court against the tax demand n April last year and the next date of hearing is April 18.

The tax demand was in respect of Cairn UK Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Cairn Energy Plc, transferring shares of Cairn India Holdings Ltd to Cairn India as part of an internal group reorganization in 2006-07, resulting in Rs 24,503.50 crore of capital gains, preceding an initial public offering (IPO) of shares by Cairn India.

Cairn India had also slapped an arbitration notice under the UK-India Investment Treaty but arbitrators or judges to decide on the tax case havent been appointed yet.

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"Just notice has been exchanged. Notice has gone. We are still looking at what happens to Cairn Energy," he said alluding to separate arbitration initiated by the British firm against the tax demand.

Asked if Cairn Energy should accept the government offer to settle the case by paying the principal tax amount with interest and penalties being waived off, Agarwal said, "it is for them to decide."

"Government is keen to settle the dispute. I hope something comes out. As far as we are concerned, our company is not the one which has defaulted," he added. PTI ANZ ABK ABM

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) Central Council for Research in homoeopathy (CCRH), an autonomous research body under the government, has signed two pacts with institutions of higher education of Canada and Armenia for cooperation in the field of Homoeopathy.

The two MoUs were signed between CCRH and College of Homoeopaths of Ontario in Canada and Yerevan State Medical University in Armenia during the two-day International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day organized here.

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"CCRH has signed two MoUs with institutions of higher education of Canada and Armenia," an official statement said.

Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik said that Homoeopathy has taken major scientific leaps in the past and its body of evidence is growing by the day.

Naik during the valedictory session expressed hope that signing of these MoUs was only the beginning and many such bilateral cooperations will be agreed upon in the times to come.

CCRH was established as an autonomous organisation in 1978 under the department of AYUSH.

A session each on challenges in education in Homoeopathy in India and global scenario of education in Homoeopathy was conducted where panelists discussed about the concerns and challenges in education in homoeopathy and how there could be standardisation of education.

Another session on drug validation and drug development explored the therapeutic potential of nosodes (homoeopathic drugs prepared from disease material) and discussed the idea of reinventing nosodes.

The speakers of the session on harmonisation of pharmacopoeias and drug laws brought up many vital issues like regulation of homoeopathic medicines worldwide, need for a common international pharmacopoeia, pharmacopoeial standards on homoeopathic drugs amongst others.

Biomolecular research in homoeopathy was another session at the convention while there were many presentation on topics ranging from homeo-genomic approach towards personalized therapy of cancer, hypertension and oxidative stress parameters of kidney. (MORE) PTI TDS RG

--- ENDS ---
The second round of the first phase of polling for 31 constituencies spread over three districts in the state began at 7 am today.

Police recovers two bags with crude bombs in Asansol(left) and unidentified gunman spotted in Sonamukhi, assembly constituency(right) (Photo:ANI)

By India Today Web Desk: Sporadic violence erupted on the phase 1B of Assembly polls in West Bengal today, where over 70 lakh voters will decide the fate of 163 candidates in the state.

Earlier today, Trinamool Congress workers created ruckus by attacking Communist Party India (Marxist) workers at polling booth in Jamuria. Subsequently, the CPI (M) polling agent who sustained injuries was hospitalised.

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Violence was also reported in West Midnapore and Burdwan district. While a Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker was attacked by the Congress and the Left Front supporters in West Midnapore, an unidentified person carrying a country made gun was spotted in the Sonamukhi Assembly constituency.

Furthermore, police recovered two bags with crude bombs in Asansol's Jamuria.

The second round of the first phase of polling for 31 constituencies spread over three districts in the state began at 7 am today. As many as 8,465 polling stations have been set up to facilitate the process.

--- ENDS ---
The Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages about 1,255 temples in Kerala, has rejected demands to ban use of firecrackers during festivals.

People stand next to empty fire cracker shells inside the compound of a temple after a fire broke out at the temple in Kollam. Photo: Reuters

By India Today Web Desk: Over 100 people were killed and nearly 400 injured in a devastating fire triggered by a firecracker show at a temple in Kerala's Kollam yesterday. However, the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages about 1,255 temples in Kerala, has rejected demands to ban use of firecrackers during festivals.

"Democratic systems should not intervene in matters of religion. Religion and its traditions came much before Constitution was in place. Even if court allows women in Sabarimala, how many would go?" said Devaswom Board president Prayar Goapalakrishnan.

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"In various temples fireworks display is part of temple rituals and we cannot ban it", he added.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had said yesterday that the government could impose regulations on the display of fireworks, but cannot ban them.

"In the name of rituals and traditions, we have limitations. We can regulate them (display of fireworks) but not ban them", he said.

A devastating fire had engulfed the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi Temple complex in Kollam during an unauthorised display of fireworks on Sunday, leaving 109 dead.

The incident has come at a time when parties are busy campaigning for election on 141 Assembly seats in Kerala. The state will vote on May 16.

Also read:

Kollam temple authorities and Kerala CM opposes total ban on firework displays

Kerala tragedy: 5 detained, Puttingal Devi temple management absconding

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Harbhajan Singh and Geeta Basra, who tied the knot in October last year, are reportedly expecting their first child. Rumours of Geeta Basra's pregnancy started doing the rounds after the actor was spotted in baggy clothes and sneakers during the opening ceremony of the Indian Premier League 9 (IPL 9).

ALSO READ: Narendra Modi, Virat Kohli attend Harbhajan Singh-Geeta Basra's star-studded reception

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A report in the Times of India has quoted a friend of the couple as confirming the news. Basra, who hails from London, is to fly off to the UK soon to be with her parents.

All the speculation began when Geeta was snapped with Bhajji at the IPL opening ceremony on Friday (April 8). Curious onlookers couldn't but avoid noticing the actor's baby bump.

Geeta Basra and Harbhajan Singh during the IPL 9 opening ceremony. Photo: Yogen Shah

Harbhajan and Geeta will soon welcome a new member into their family. The couple tied the knot in October 2015, after dating for five years. The couple's reception party saw the who's who from both the cricket fraternity and Bollywood in attendance.

Geeta Basra at the IPL 9 opening ceremony. Photo: Milind Shelte, India Today

Geeta Basra joins the list of a few other celeb couples who too are supposedly starting their families. While Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput are apparently expecting their first child, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh are expecting their second.



--- ENDS ---
The extremists who struck Brussels last month and killed 32 people initially planned to launch a second assault on France in the wake of the November attacks in Paris, authorities said Sunday.

By AP: The extremists who struck Brussels last month and killed 32 people initially planned to launch a second assault on France in the wake of the November attacks in Paris, authorities said Sunday.

But the perpetrators were "surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation" and decided to rush an attack on Brussels instead of going back to France, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. It didn't provide any details on the initial French plot or its targets.

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Both France and Belgium warned it was no time to relax despite the recent spate of arrests.

"It's fresh proof of the very real threat that weighs on all of Europe, and on France in particular," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.

Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens said it amounted to "a dirty war" when more attacks could be expected in Belgium, France or beyond.

"Once the intention is there, the place of execution is rather secondary," Geens told VRT network. "If we secure one place, another target opens up."

Two suicide bombers killed 16 people at Brussels Airport on March 22. A subsequent explosion at Brussels' Maelbeek subway station killed another 16 people the same morning. Investigators have found links between the cell behind those attacks and the group that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13.

Sunday's statement provides confirmation of what many had suspected: the series of raids and arrests in the week leading up to the Brussels attacks - including the capture of key Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam - pushed the killers to action.

A laptop seized from a garbage can on a street outside the suicide bombers last known address contained a message purportedly from Ibrahim El Bakraoui, who blew himself up in the airport attack, that indicated he was expecting to be arrested imminently following the arrest of Abdeslam.

In it, prosecutors said El Bakraoui wrote that he felt "in a hurry," and "no longer knowing what to do," and "being hunted from everywhere" - all indications they might have looked for a speedier attack than initially planned.

Belgian police detained four men in Brussels raids over the weekend who were charged with participating in "terrorist murders" and the "activities of a terrorist group" in relation to the Brussels attacks. One of them, Mohamed Abrini, has also been charged in relation to the Paris attacks, prosecutors said.

Abrini has acknowledged being the "man in the hat" spotted alongside the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport, officials said. Surveillance footage has also placed him in the convoy with the attackers who headed to Paris ahead of the Nov. 13 massacre.

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Abrini was a childhood friend of Brussels brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks, and he had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the Paris attackers' ringleader who died in a French police raid shortly afterward. Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in the Paris bombings while Salah Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on March 18 - four days before the attacks there - after a four-month manhunt.

Geens insisted people should not get their hopes up too much.

"We can hope that the cell around Abdeslam and Abbaoud is just about caught but we should not believe it. In any case we need to remain very alert and new cells can pop up at any moment. The facts have already taught us that," Geens said.

"It is a dirty war which is unpleasant for France, for Belgium, or for the other nations in western Europe, because no one is immune," Geens said. Valls said the news was one more reason to remain attentive to the threat of extremism in France.

"We won't relax our vigilance," he told reporters in Algiers, where he is on an official visit.

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The other suspects charged over the weekend were identified as Osama Krayem, who left the Swedish city of Malmo to fight in Syria and was described by one relative as having been "brainwashed." Also charged were Herve B. M., a Rwandan national, and Bilal E. M.

The past couple of days' developments represent a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been repeatedly criticized for bungling the bombings investigation. Despite the progress, Brussels remains under the second-highest terror alert, meaning an attack is still considered likely.

In a separate development, Brussels' STIB transport network announced that 12 stations closed since the attacks would reopen on Monday. Eighteen of the capital's 69 stations will remain closed until further notice, including Maelbeek.

Also read:

Brussels, Paris attacks key suspects detained in Belgium

Brussels blasts: Belgium begins hunt for 'man in hat'



--- ENDS ---
The Haryana police has come under massive fire from the Punjab and Haryana High Court for suppressing facts in the alleged Murthal gangrape case.

Activists shout slogans outside the Haryana Bhawan in New Delhi demanding a probe into the rapes and sexual assaults in Murthal.

By India Today Web Desk: The Haryana government which earlier had denied that no incident of rape took place in the state during the nine-day Jat agitation on Monday told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it is investigating two complaints filed by rape victims.

The admission by the Haryana government came up during hearing of a case by the high court on Monday.

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Submitting a report by way of an affidavit filed by Inspector General of Police, South Range-cum-incharge, Special Investigation Team (SIT), Mamta Singh said, the state police has included section 376-D (rape) of the Indian Penal Code to the FIR No. 118 registered on March 30 this year regarding the incidents at along National Highway No. 1 (NH-1) near Murthal in Haryana's Sonipat district.

The section (of rape) has been included on the basis of complaint of Delhi resident Bobby Joshi that women were allegedly sexually assaulted by the agitators. The state government said that it had received anonymous letters alleging that the rapes took place.

Reportedly, an Australian woman, a college student and a resident of a prominent east Delhi locality have come forward admitting sexual assault.

Meanwhile, a Chandigarh based NGO, Haryana Human Rights has said it will file a contempt petition against former SIT chief Dr Rajshree as she misled the court and the media.

In February this year, the Haryana government had told the high court that no such incidents of rape or molestation were reported from Sonipat district during the Jat agitation. The government had submitted a status report in the high court in this regard.

The preliminary status report was submitted following investigations into the mass gangrape allegations by an all-women SIT constituted by the Haryana government. The SIT report said that no victim of the alleged mass gangrape or molestation had come forward to complain.

--- ENDS ---
Cyber criminals are targeting companies by sending them a malicious link via email, which helps them to get access to data of the firms, eventually leading them to unlocking valuable information and holding it ransom.

By Shashank Shekhar: A Delhi-based pharmaceutical company may have to defreeze its computer data as hackers have seized control of computers and network using malicious 'ransomware' and are demanding $1.5 lakh in bitcoins (internet money) to unlock its data.

The company has not approached the police but has taken help from a private cyber security firm to secure the data. According to an official related to the case, cyber criminals targeted the company by sending a malicious link via email, which helped them get access of company's data, eventually leading them to unlock valuable information.

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"All the files have been encrypted and we could see it stored in the system but not access it. The minute we click on any file, it opens a decrypt browser, which asks for money. The hacker, who has taken over the system is demanding $1.5 lakh to release the company's data. If we don't pay the amount they are threatening to double the amount," said a senior company official, adding that the computer network has their clients' data as well as the company's sensitive documents. Cyber security experts claim that cases of Cyber extortions and 'Ransomware' has increased by many fold, wherein hackers using malicious software deny users access to their computers or files until they pay a ransom.

MAIL TODAY recently reported that hackers demanded $500 from East Delhibased businessman Prateek Sachdeva to get access to 500 GB of his company's data, personal pictures and videos stored in his laptop, which was locked using ransomware. Sachdeva was not left with a choice but to format his computer, thereby losing all the data. In such cases, most of the leading companies resort to paying money to cyber criminals.

Hackers spread these malware using social engineering tricks, especially via email attachments. Once infected, the malware gets installed and scans the hard disk for documents. It then encrypts these files, converting them into an unreadable form. Each time the victim tries to open a file, a pop-up message demands a ransom according to the profile and worth of the victim, for the private key to decrypt files.

The message also displays a time limit within which the payment must be made or the entire data on system is destroyed.

"Such cases are increasing at a fast pace and in most cases the victims do not come forward with complaints because they use non-licenced software. They also try to avoid the police as they fear negative impact and litigation by their clients for breach of privacy," Additional Superintendent of Police, UP-STF, Triveni Singh said.

However Singh said most of the companies are paying the ransom amount but there is never any guarantee that access to the locked data will be regained. "In the cases we have investigated, we found that they were being operated by organised gangs. Indian youths are also involved. Proxy servers are used for such attacks to show different foreign locations to confuse the investigators. These attackers track their potential targets on social media and other top sites and attack crucial persons in the organisation to get access of the computer network," Singh said. Another senior officer of central security agency confirmed that despite frequent cases of ransomware, no gang has been arrested in India so far due to lack of cyber infrastructure and there have been no transfers of real money as in most of these cases, online money(bitcoins) was used.

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"Ransomware is the biggest threat corporate India is facing today. Some companies are under regular cyber attack. They fear their business will get affected so they make budgetary provisions for international hackers," said cyber expert, advocate Prashant Mali.

Also Read:

Cyber crimes: Cops to rope in schools

Delhi sees rise in cyber crime cases, police on backfoot



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) Ramping up defence cooperation with Maldives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today promised the archipelago nation all possible help, including development of ports, training and capacity building of its armed forces besides supply of equipment and maritime surveillance.

Following delegation-level talks between Modi and visiting Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, both countries agreed on an action plan for the critical sector as the Prime Minister pitched India as "net security provider" in the Indian Ocean Region.

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Modi said it is in Indias strategic interest to have a stable and secure Maldives and that its challenges are Indias concerns.

Reiterating Indias role as a "net security provider" in the Indian Ocean, Modi asserted that the country is ready to protect its strategic interests in this region.

On his part, Yameen said his country pursues an "India first" foreign policy and described it as "most important friend" of Maldives.

After the talks, an "Action Plan" for defence cooperation was signed which envisages institutional mechanism at the level of the Defence Secretaries to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation.

It includes development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance.

It reflects the shared strategic and security interests of the two countries in the Indian Ocean region.

In the talks it was also agreed that India will set up a police academy, build the Defence Ministry building of Maldives besides speeding up infrastructure projects relating to security.

The development comes at a time when the Chinese are increasing their footprint in the Maldives.

China is funding several infrastructure projects across the Maldives.

The Maldivian governments electoral pledges, like building a bridge between capital Male and the airport island of Hulhule and development of its main international airport, also hinges on soft loans being considered by Beijing. MORE PTI SAP VMN

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) A defence cooperation pact and five other agreements to expand bilateral ties were inked between India and Maldives today after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the archipelago nation Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom held talks including ways to combat terrorism and radicalisation.

During the deliberations, India assured Maldives it was ready to protect its strategic interests in the region and would extend all possible assistance, including in maritime sphere and capacity building of armed forces, as part of an action plan in the defence sector.

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India has also decided to speed up infrastructure projects like development of ports in the country where China was trying to expand its foothold. The other agreements signed were in the fields of taxation, tourism, space research and conservation.

"It is an important day in the history of cooperation between India and Maldives," the Prime Minister said at a joint press interaction with Yameen, listing outcomes of the talks.

The Prime Minister said threat of cross border terrorism, challenge of radicalisation and overall security scenario in the Indian Ocean region were discussed and both sides agreed to step up cooperation in these areas.

"We are conscious of security needs of Maldives; President Yameen agreed that Maldives will be sensitive to our strategic and security interests. It is clear that the contours of India-Maldives relations are defined by our shared strategic, security, economic and developmental goals," Modi said.

Modi also said it is in Indias strategic interest to have a stable and secure Maldives and that its challenges are Indias concerns.

On his part, Yameen said his country pursues an "India first" foreign policy and described it as most important friend of Maldives.

Talking about SAARC, the Maldivian President said both Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will have to play key role in realising true potential of the region.

"The prompt implementation of a concrete action plan in the defence sector will strengthen our defence cooperation. Development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance will be its main elements," the Prime Minister said.

He said India understands its role as a "net security provider" in the Indian Ocean and was ready to protect its strategic interests in this region.

"President Yameen and I are aware of the growing dangers of cross border terrorism and radicalisation in South Asia. Information exchanges between security agencies and training and capacity building of Maldives Police and security forces is important part of our security cooperation," he said.

Modi said India India is ready to partner Maldives in its ambitious iHaven project.

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The iHaven project is one of the most important projects in President Yameens economic vision, and is being developed under the new laws of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The project has six main goals, including developing an airport, a harbour, bunkering services, real estate, shopping malls, and resorts in the atoll. MORE PTI MPB SK

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 11(PTI) Moving forward after a spell of unease in ties, India and Maldives today inked six pacts including a key one on expanding defence cooperation as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the island nation Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom held wide-ranging talks on a range of key issues.

Combating terrorism and radicalisation, enhancing Indias involvement in major infrastructure projects like development of ports and Special Economic Zones in Maldives figured prominently in the talks but the central focus was on defence and security ties.

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Listing details of the outcome of the deliberations, Modi, at a joint press interaction with Yameen, said India "understands its responsibility as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region and India is fully ready to protect its military interest in this part of the globe."

Relations between India and Maldives hit a rough patch after Modi had cancelled a trip to that country last year following the arrest former president Mohamed Nasheed. There has been apprehension in the establishment here about Chinas growing involvement in the Indian Ocean region and in Maldives.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Maldives in October last year, in a bid to improve ties with the strategically located country, where China has been trying to expand influence.

The Prime Minister, without elaborating, said a concrete action plan for stepping up defence cooperation has been arrived at whose early implementation will significantly strengthen the ties.

"It is an important day in the history of cooperation between India and Maldives," Modi said, asserting that contours of the ties between the two countries "is defined by engament in military, defence and economic speheres."

Modi also said it is in Indias strategic interest to have a stable and secure Maldives and that its challenges are Indias concerns.

"We are conscious of security needs of Maldives. President Yameen agreed that Maldives will be sensitive to our strategic and security interests. It is clear that the contours of India-Maldives relations are defined by our shared strategic, security, economic and developmental goals," Modi said.

On his part, Yameen said his country pursues an "India first" foreign policy and described it as most important friend of Maldives.

The Action Plan on defence envisages an institutional mechanism at the level of the Defence Secretaries to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation.

In the talks it was agreed that India will set up a police academy, build the Defence Ministry building of Maldives besides speeding up infrastructure projects relating to security. India will also extend all possible assistance to the island nation, including in maritime sphere and capacity building of armed forces. MORE PTI MPB VMN

--- ENDS ---

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By PTI: Mumbai, Apr 11 (PTI) Jewellers in Maharashtra have called off their strike temporarily, from April 14 to 24. "We are meeting the Union Minister Piyush Goyal tomorrow in Delhi with our demands, which include paying additional one per cent additional tax on VAT instead of excise duty, no maintenance of extra register keeping details of each items, no additional tax on remake of old jewellery and no inspection of manufacturing and retail units.

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"For this we have temporarily halted the strike in the state from April 14 to 24," Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Suvarnakar Federation President Fatechand Ranka told PTI here. He said if the demands were not met, the jewellers in the state will resume the strike. In Maharashtra, jewellery sales everyday go up to Rs 250 rore, which doubles on festive occasions like Gudi Padwa, the Marathi new year. Jewellers across the country are on indefinite strike since March 2, against the Budget proposal to levy 1 per cen tax. Over 300 associations comprising over 3 lakh manufacturers, retainers, wholesalers, artisans among others, participated in the stir across the country. As an alternative to the excise duty, the jewellers said the government can increase the customs duty by 1-2 per cent. PTI SM KRK RCJ

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the temple and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those injured.

Onlookers gather near the temple site where tragedy struck during an unauthorised display of fireworks.

By India Today Web Desk: A day after a massive fire at Puttingal Devi temple in Kerala claimed over 100 lives and left 380 people injured, five people in connection with the fireworks show have been detained by the police. A massive manhunt is on for the temple president and secretary, who have gone underground since the tragedy struck.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the temple on Sunday and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those injured.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi too, visited the temple, located 60 km from Thiruvananthapuram.

Officials say 10,000-15,000 people were present at a ground next to the temple in Paravur watching fireworks during a festival to honor Goddess Kali when the fire started. A spark during the fireworks ignited a stack of firecrackers stored in a nearby two-storey building and led to an explosion, witnesses have said. The impact brought down the building around which people had gathered. Within minutes, huge flames engulfed the temple.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's office confirmed that they had not granted permission to the temple authorities to store or use crackers in the premises. District collector Shaina Mol also had denied permission for using fireworks. But despite the lack of permission, the fireworks were conducted in the run up to the Malayalam new year, Vishu, on April 14.

Chandy said the situation was "unprecedented and alarming". "Rescue operation at the mishap spot is over... The next main focus of the government is to provide best treatment to the injured," he said.

The Chief Minister has announced Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the kin of each of those killed in the fire.

Reportedly, the Devaswom Board building in the temple premises have also been completely destroyed.

"The normal practice is to store the high potency crackers in the building and from there it's taken to the place where their is light. A spark from a live cracker landed in the building that stored these massive crackers," Kunjumon, a local believer, said.

A police case has been registered against the temple authorities and a judicial probe has been ordered.

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By India Today Web Desk: Rescue officials sifted through the Puttingal Devi temple in Kerala's Kollam district where at least 108 people died when an unauthorised fireworks display went horribly wrong and swept through the premise packed with thousands of people for a religious festival. Five people have been detained in connection with the tragedy, while the temple authorities are absconding.

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As the election-bound state deals with the massive tragedy, India Today asks the following questions:

1. Was communal slur directed at Kollam district officials?

In Kollam, both the Additional District Magistrate A Shanavas and District Collector A Shainamol are Muslims. It is now being alleged that the two were bullied and threatened for opposing the fireworks, even as nearly all the levels of the local administration had recommended the denial of permission for it.

2. Did Kollam politicians put pressure on district police to allow fireworks?

The temple holds a competitive fireworks show every year, with different groups putting on displays for thousands gathered for the end of a seven-day festival honoring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of goddess Kali. While the district officials banned the fireworks a day before the tragedy, local politicians are believed to have forced the police to allow the event keeping their voters in mind.

3. Did organisers lie about having secured verbal permission?

It is also being alleged that the organisers lied about having the required permission for the late-night fireworks. "Just before the event, they said they had got the permission. When police demanded a written order, they refused to show it and started the show," a police official is quoted as telling the Indian Express.

4. Did the fire safety department and the police turn a blind eye to the violation of rules?

Even if it is accepted that the organisers lied about having the permission to hold the fireworks, why did the officials and the cops did not follow the safety protocols when the event was scheduled to be attended by thousands of devotees?

ALSO READ



Kerala tragedy: PM Modi extends help to victims of Kollam's temple fire

5 things to know about the Kerala fireworks tragedyKerala temple tragedy: Army, Air Force, Navy pitch in with aid



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By PTI: Guwahati, Apr 11 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said large voter turnout in the just concluded Assembly polls in the state is a "good sign" of democracy.

"The large scale popular participation is an indicative of the peoples interests for shaping their own destiny which is one of the tenets of healthy democracy," the Chief Minister said in a statement here.

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Large voters turn-out indicates growing consciousness among the people in the state, Gogoi said and thanked the people for their spontaneous participation in the electoral process.

He also attributed the large turnout to a "sound and changed" academic atmosphere and development of education scenario in the state in the last 15 years.

The Chief Minister also acknowledged the role of media for growing voter turn-out in the state in the just ended Assembly elections.

An estimated 82.21 per cent polling was recorded in Assam, Election Commission sources said in Delhi. PTI DG DKB DIP

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Jail term of up to six months for inappropriately touching or misbehaving with a bar dancer and hefty fine for violating licence norms are some of the key provisions of a landmark Bill passed today in Maharashtra Legislative Council with an aim to regulate dance bars.

By PTI: Jail term of up to six months for inappropriately touching or misbehaving with a bar dancer and hefty fine for violating licence norms are some of the key provisions of a landmark Bill passed today in Maharashtra Legislative Council with an aim to regulate dance bars.

The Bill, which sets the stage for reopening of dance bars after more than a decade, and comes post a recent Supreme Court verdict, was passed in the Upper House by voice vote with Deputy Chairman Vasant Dawkhare in Chair.

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The Bill was piloted by Leader of the House and Minister for Revenue Eknath Khadse.

The legislation seeks to prohibit "obscene" dances (dances which have sexual connotations, sexual gestures, actions which hint at sexual intercourse during a performance) in hotels, restaurants, bar rooms and other establishments.

It lays down guidelines to "protect the dignity and safety of women in such places with a view to prevent their exploitation".

Any person seeking a licence under the new law to open dance bars in hotels, restaurants and bar rooms will have to provide conducive working condition for women employees and take adequate steps for their protection.

Besides, the owner will have to ensure adequate security of people visiting such a place. Dance bar licence will not be issued for places which already have permission for discotheque and orchestra.

The owner/manager of such an establishment, if found violating the licence conditions, shall face a jail term of up to 5 years or Rs 25 lakh fine or both. If he continues to violate the norms, a fine of Rs 25,000 will slapped per day.

A patron cannot misbehave with the dancer or touch her inappropriately. Violating this rule shall invite a jail term of up to 6 months or Rs 50,000 fine or both.

The owner/manager will not let dancers perform any "obscene" dance and shall ensure no woman is sexually exploited. If found guilty, such a person shall invite a jail sentence of 3 years or Rs 10 lakh fine or both.

Further, if the person continues to commit the same crime, each day a fine of Rs 10,000 shall be imposed.

According to the legislation, a patron will not be allowed to throw coins, currency notes or any object that are monetary in nature on the dance floor.

The Bill is expected to be introduced in the Assembly tomorrow, and going by the all-round support it received in the Council, a smooth sailing is likely in the Lower House too.



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These Muslim girls belong to separate families but are united in their faith for the goddess.

By Siraj Qureshi: At a time when communal tension is almost an everyday event, a group of young Muslim girls near Agra are setting up an example of social harmony by observing the traditional nine-day fast during the Navratri festival.

The residents of village Gohra in Bah Tehsil, about 70 km from Agra, these Muslim girls belong to separate families but are united in their faith for the goddess. Moreover, their families have no objection to the girls observing the customary fast or worshipping the deity during the Navratras.

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Naseefa, Sapna, Mahak and Khushbu have been on fast since Friday and claim that their faith in Islam does not clash with their love for the goddess.

Talking to India Today, 10-year-old Khushbu says her family observes the customs of both the religions and they celebrate Diwali and Eid with equal vigour. Her mother Haseena is also a devotee of the goddess and regularly visits the temple along with the Hindu women.

Jainuddin, a local resident, says there has been no communal incident between the Hindus and the Muslims of the village and they have always lived in complete harmony. "If anyone tries to do politics in the name of religion, he is thrown out of the village," he says.

Social activist Deep Sharma says Agra has a culture of communal harmony which was postulated by Emperor Akbar as 'Sulh-e-Kul'. "While it is not denied that there have been some communal incidents in Agra, overall, the way the people of this city have set aside their differences immediately after those incidents and hugged each-other, cannot be seen elsewhere," he says.

"This is partly because Agra was one of the first cities in the country where the Mughal dynasty took roots and the first order of business for the Mughals was to integrate themselves with the local Hindu population. As a result, the culture of co-existence has been there for centuries and such examples of cross-religion devotion can be seen in a lot of villages even now," Sharma concludes.

Also read:

What is Navratri? What do these nine days of festivities mean?



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The decision regarding girls not to wear jeans and tight clothes, was taken at a panchayat held in Bawli village.

Panchayat at Bawli has decided to boycott the families of girls who wear jeans and tight clothes. Photo for representation

By India Today Web Desk: A village panchayat in Uttar Pradesh has decided to banish the families of girls who wear "jeans and tight clothes".

The decision of disallowing girls to wear jeans and tight clothes, was taken at a panchayat held in Bawli village.

"Despite warning, if any girl is found wearing such clothes, her family would be boycotted," village head's husband Omveer said, PTI reported.

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The panchayat also asked villagers to pledge not to give or take dowry and opposed playing of DJs in marriages. It also condemned female foeticide.

Any family which does not adhere to these decisions would be banished from the society, he added.

The Panchayat has also said that no one should attend "Terhvi" (a ceremony to mark the final day of mourning after death) and have food at the ceremony.

ALSO READ: Dowry demand can cost you in this Uttar Pradesh village



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By India Today Web Desk: A Mumbai court has summoned Rahul Raj Singh, who's an accused in Pratyusha Banerjee mysterious death case. The court in Andheri has asked the actor-producer to be present on May 13.

Rahul Raj Singh was Pratyusha's companion; he is also accused of duping another film actress Kesha Khambati.

Meanwhile, Rahul's doctors have said that his health condition has improved and if the court directs or the police want, he can be shifted to a government hospital. He's being counselled by a psychiatrist. Doctors have also said that he may be discharged in a day or two. Rahul is booked for abetment to Pratyusha's suicide.

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Also read: 18 things Pratyusha Banerjee's parents revealed about her relationship with Rahul Raj Singh



In another update, on Monday, Rahul approached the Bombay High Court seeking pre-arrest bail. On April 7, a Mumbai sessions court had rejected Rahul's anticipatory bail application, following which the producer filed a plea in the high court.

On April 1, 24-year-old Pratyusha, who shot to fame for her role as Anandi in Balika Vadhu, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat in suburban Goregaon in western Indian state of Maharastra. Two days later, a case under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC was registered against Rahul following a complaint lodged by the actress's parents.

See pics: TV celebs at Pratyusha Banerjee's prayer meet



Rahul, in his anticipatory bail application, claimed that Pratyusha's parents did not make any allegation against him in their first statement to police.

He said they filed the FIR against him after two days of the suicide incident, as they got influenced by certain people who were against Pratyusha's relations with him (Rahul). Rahul said Pratyusha had not left behind any suicide note blaming him for her death, and also that there were no marks on her body other than the ligature wound.

(With inputs from PTI)



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With women being allowed to worship in the inner sanctum of the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, a leading religious leader said the step will lead to more rapes.

By India Today Web Desk: Two days after the court allowed the entry of women in a temple in Maharashtra, a leading religious leader today said the step will lead to more rapes and other forms of violence against women.

With women being allowed to worship in the inner sanctum of the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, the Shankaracharya of Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati said that this would increase rapes.

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"Women entered Shani temple's inner sanctum. The women are worshipping Shani in the temple. By doing so, Shani's eyes would fall on women and this would result in increase of rape incidents," the 94-year-old seer told news agency ANI.

Following a Bombay High Court order, the Shani Shingnapur temple trust last week broke a 400-year tradition and announced that both men and women will henceforth be allowed to enter the inner sanctum and offer their prayers.

The Bhumata Brigade Brigade led by activist Trupti Desai offered prayers at the sanctum sanctorum of the temple following the decision.

In another controversial statement, the Swami also blamed the worship of Shirdi Sai Baba as the cause for drought in parts of Maharashtra. Shankaracharya, who is on a 15-day visit to Haridwar, termed the worship of Sai Baba as "inauspicious".

"Calamity strikes where those unworthy of worship are worshipped," the seer said. He added that "such places suffer drought, flood, death or fear, and Maharashtra is facing all of these".

ALSO READ | Sai Baba's worship causing Maharashtra drought, says Shankaracharya



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By PTI: Mumbai, Apr 11 (PTI) ReNew Power Ventures has crossed 1,000 MW mark of installed capacity from its renewable energy sources across the country.

The companys total capacity from wind energy now stands at 880 MW, while the solars share is around 180 MW.

"With the government coming up with policies and clarity on solar power front, we see a huge opportunity in this segment. Though, currently, the share of solar in our portfolio is less, we expect that to grow in the next couple of years," companys Chairman and CEO Sumant Sinha told PTI here.

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He said the company already has a pipeline of 1,400 MW of projects, including solar and wind, which it expects to execute in the next 12-18 months.

"Of this 1,400 MW, 1,100 MW are solar projects and the balance from wind energy. With the government expected to invite bids for another 20,000 MW in the next 18 months, we see a clear visibility of adding more projects in our portfolio over the period," he said.

Speaking about the scope in wind energy, Sinha said the sector is witnessing a slowdown currently and with the generation based incentive (GBI) expected to be done away with, the government will have to think hard to revive the sector, even as it has set a target of 60,000 MW of wind capacity by 2022.

ReNew Power, backed by investors like Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Asian Development Bank and Global Environment Fund has projects in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.

"We already have funds for the projects under execution. For the pipeline, we will raise as and when required depending on the project. We have also secured a USD 250 million line of long-term credit from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the US government, for funding solar projects," he said about the companys fund-raising plans. PTI PSK NRB ANU BAS

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After months of mud-slinging, Karisma Kapoor and Sunjay Kapur have decided to reach an amicable decision. Karisma's father Randhir Kapoor isn't too happy and calls it a sad moment for his family.

By India Today Web Desk: Karisma Kapoor and Sunjay Kapur divorce battle made it to the headlines ever since the estranged couple decided to part ways in 2010. But it was only in 2014 that the two filed for divorce under mutual consent. However, Karisma's U-turn in 2015 made heads turn. The 41-year-old actor withdrew her consent for financial reasons and since then there has been no respite for the two families. However, after months of mud-slinging, the two have decided to reach an amicable decision.

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ALSO READ: Karisma Kapoor wins the custody of her children

ALSO READ: Sunjay Kapur getting threat calls from underworld?



While the custody of their kids has been granted to Karisma, father Sunjay has got the visitation rights. But Karisma's father Randhir Kapoor isn't too happy. In an interview to Times of India, the veteran actor was quoted as saying, "I don't know if it is a good or a bad thing, but it is certainly a sad moment for our family. The only silver lining in this is that the children will spend most part of the year with us."

He added, "Karisma has been through a rough time in the last few years. It has been emotionally draining for her. So, I hope the verdict offers her some respite."

Karisma and Sunjay reached an agreement on modalities for separation before the Supreme Court recently. The Dil Toh Pagal Hai actor has won the custody battle, which has been the major bone of contention between the estranged couple. However, Sunjay has been granted the visitation rights. The couple has two kids- Samiera and Kiaan.

It has been further reported that a house in Mumbai owned by Sunjay's family has been given to Karisma. Moreover, the monthly interest from bonds of Rs 14 crore bought by Sunjay for their children will be used to pay their expenses.

Sanjay and Karisma tied the knot in 2003, but things turned sour between the two quite soon. However, the two tried to work out things for a few years, however, Karisma moved out of Sunjay's house in 2010 and permanently shifted base to Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Karisma is reportedly dating Sandeep Toshniwal and rumours are rife that Sunjay is in a relationship with Priya Sachdev.



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It might look like a scene straight out of the famous Tom Hanks movie Cast Away... but it is not. These three men used the giant 'HELP 'sign trick from the movie and the US Navy plane rescued them from a deserted island.

By India Today Web Desk: Being stranded on a deserted island in the year 2016 might sound ridiculous.

But despite all the technology it is still a possibility and is exactly what happened to three men who were marooned on an uninhabited Island in the Pacific ocean.

In an official Facebook post the US Coast Guard explained the grueling chain of events, "After a large wave reportedly swamped their skiff, these men swam nearly 2 miles at night. Upon arrival to the island they built the help sign and waited for rescue."



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They said, "The men were located by a Navy P-8A aircrew Thursday in a search designed and coordinated by Coast Guard search and rescue controllers at Sector Guam. Once sighted, the information was relayed back to the family in Chuuk who launched another vessel to the island and mariners were recovered arriving safely to Pulap.

The men spent three excruciating days on the unidentified Fanadik Island in the Pacific ocean. This tiny island is one of the 600 islands that are part of the Federated States of Micronesia.

It might look like a scene straight out of the famous Tom Hanks movie Cast Away. Take a bow for these three men who used the classic 'HELP' sign trick from the movie and saved themselves from being stranded in a remote Pacific island.

A scene from the movie Castaway starring Tom Hanks A scene from the movie Castaway starring Tom Hanks

In the Facebook post the Coast Guards also lauded the ingenuity of the unidentified men for building the sign and being prepared with life jackets.

Thank heavens they took their inspiration from the movie Cast Away and not from the series Lost !

This isn't the set of Castaway...Through efforts by the Coast Guard and the Navy's U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. 7th Fleet,...Posted by U.S. Coast Guard Hawaii Pacific on Saturday, 9 April 2016

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93-year-old Boman Kohinoor, a self-proclaimed biggest fan of the British royal family, met Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton in an out-of-schedule meeting. Seems like they did leave one Kohinoor in India!

By India Today Web Desk: It was a dream come true for 93-year-old fan of the British Royal Family when the royal couple met him in an out-of-schedule meeting at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.

Boman Kohinoor, the owner of Mumbai's Britannia restaurant, claims to be the biggest fan of the British Royal Family. And well he has got so many things to prove it. From a signed letter from the Queen Elizabeth to a framed life-sized cut-out of the Queen, that was sent to him around the time of the 75th jubilee celebrations of the British Monarch,

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And how did the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton got to know about this loyal fan?

Conde Nast Traveller India spoke to Kohinoor and posted a video story on Facebook wherein he articulates his love and admiration for the Queen and the Royal Family. The video where he flaunts a letter signed by Queen Elizabeth II, a life-sized cut-out of the Queen and a cut-out of Will and Kate has received more than 2000 shares.





When the British left #India, they left their biggest, and maybe oldest, fan behind. Boman Kohinoor, 93, is the owner of...Posted by Cond Nast Traveller India on Thursday, April 7, 2016

The William and Kate cut-out was given to the old fan by some British tourists.

Such is the power of social media that it helped Kohinoor meet William and Kate in Mumbai during their first official visit to India. The meeting had no mention in the itinerary of the royal couple but Boman did manage to finally meet them.

"I met The Royal Highness this evening at the Taj. They were very kind and asked me about my restaurant and my favourite dishes there," Kohinoor told Conde Nast Traveller.



"Give my love to the Queen, and to [your] children Prince George and Princess Charlotte, too", added the kind man.





We finally have the answer to #WillKatMeetMe? Chef Concierge Satish brought Mr. Kohinoor to meet TRHs. @CNTIndia pic.twitter.com/wci4ILLCBT The Taj Mahal Palace (@TajMahalMumbai) April 11, 2016

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By India Today Web Desk: "I think a woman looks better when she runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally." That's what the President of Venezuela said.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's unconventional way of cutting down on grooming appliances to curb the ongoing electricity crisis is not going down well with the residents of the country.

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Also read: Banish bad hair days with this awesome rescue plan



As Venezuela is facing an electricity crisis, Nicolas has recommended women to reduce hairdryer use to "special occasions" only.



"I always think a woman looks better when she just runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally. It's just an idea I have," said the President.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Picture courtesy: Reuters

Advising women to stop using hairdryers because they look better natural is another thing, but not using a hair dryer because there is an energy crisis going on is a whole other thing. Obviously then, a lot of people are not buying the president's argument, especially women, who were quick to complain that the energy problem had been foretold a decade ago, and no adequate measures were taken. And things, like not blow-drying the hair, are not going to help, as the problem is far worse now.

A woman from Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, told Al Jazeera, "If the President thinks that not blow drying our hair is going to help then the problem is far worse than we thought."

Also read: Hair looks for the summer season and how to get them right





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MASTERPIX was launched in US in 2014 and has been recognised by an industry expert for its archival quality prints.

By Priya Pathak: Corning -- yes, the same company that makes the Gorilla Glass for your phones -- doesn't want people to print photos on paper. It wants them to print the images on the glass. The company on Monday announced the launch of MASTERPIX fine glass prints, featuring Corning Gorilla Glass, for the Indian market.

The company said that the MASTERPIX prints are scratch-resistant and stain-resistant glass prints made of thin, durable Gorilla Glass. The prints are made using UV-cured inks. MASTERPIX was launched in US in 2014 and has been recognised by an industry expert for its archival quality prints.

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"We are excited to launch MASTERPIX in India," said Amit Bansal, president, Corning India. "Consumers in the region can now have stunning photographs that will last more than a lifetime printed on optically clear, stain-resistant Gorilla Glass."

"Gorilla Glass was initially used as a cover glass to help protect electronic devices," said Pradeepak Malvai, commercial director, New Emerging Business, Corning India. "Now we use it to preserve your most cherished photographs. MASTERPIX is another example of Corning pursuing a new market for an existing product."

The company claims that unlike the other, the photos are not just printed on glass. Instead the photos are ink-jet printed using ultraviolet-cured (UV-cured) specialty inks onto the Gorilla Glass. The four-layer process to create a MASTERPIX print begins with a primer that adheres to the back surface of the Gorilla Glass. Next, the image is printed using UV-cured inks onto that primed layer. Next, white ink is printed on the image layer for opacity and finally an anti-splinter film is applied to protect the inks from scratches and better hold the glass together in the event of breakage.

MASTERPIX prints come in six different sizes ranging from 4 inches by 6 inches to 55 inches by 48 inches, and two glass finishes - glossy and matte.

To get their photos on the MASTERPIX, consumers will have to visit the company website. On the site, they will have to upload the image that they want printed, will have to choose the size and the make the payment. the smallest size -- 4 x 6 -- costs Rs 629 while the largest -- 48 x 55 -- costs Rs 51,099. Once the order has been completed, Corning will print the image and send courier it to the consumer.



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The Collective Rights Management Directive was implemented yesterday, giving rightsholders greater control and oversight over the Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) organisations responsible for licensing and royalty distribution.





Royalties to be tamed but not just domestic

The new Directive, which aims to harmonise aspects of the way CMOs work and create a more transparent framework, is part of the wider Europe 2020 Strategy for a strong Digital Single Market. It is hoped to improve control of rights by rightsholders, payment of royalties in a timely, accurate manner, decision making and all-round transparency.





Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister for Intellectual Property, said:

" This is great news for UK rights holders who deserve to be paid accurately and promptly for their work. I am certain that the increased oversight and transparency offered to artists will improve the standards of collective management organisations across Europe, and make the entire process run more smoothly. It is right that artists have more choice over who manages their work and how they do it".

For more see the press release

and the text of the Directive,

.





European Intellectual Property Teachers' Network (EIPTN Ltd) are holding their ninth annual workshop on July 4th and 5th at State University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia Bulgaria, EIPTN is multi-disciplinary, and aims to bring together IP teachers from across Europe to exchange ideas on best practice in intellectual property teaching and learning activities, with support from the European Patent Academy of the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Academy of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). To participate in the workshop and discuss best practice in IP teaching with a presentation or poster, submissions can be made here and the are holding their ninth annual workshop on July 4th and 5th at State University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia Bulgaria,

deadline is 29th Apri l.





4th Annual Tel Aviv University Workshop for Junior Scholars - call for papers. The Tel Aviv University (TAU) Workshop invites submissions from junior scholars of IP with the theme of "Law in a Changing Society". The workshop itself is taking place on 21st-23rd November and the deadline for abstracts is May 16th . Find the call for papers with more information here





Intellectual Property Law Committee (ILPC) vacancies. Katfriend Mark Anderson has alerted us to an opportunity at t

he ILPC of the Law Society of England and Wales. It is open to IP experts with an appetite for influencing the development of law and policy at the national and international level. There are four vacancies, offering an interesting and diverse workload. More information about the positions can be found on the IP Draughts blog

and applications can be made

.

Oxfirst Ltd webinar series: Patent Valuation. This Friday 15th April,

Dr. Ednando Silva

, Founder and Managing Director of RoyaltyStat

& Dr. Roya Ghafele, Director of Oxfirst are presenting a webinar about the determination of a patent's value. You can register here

Could eavesdropping be the new download?

3D Printers can be 'pirated' by audio recording. According to research published in Science Magazine ( According to research published in Science Magazine ( here , and summarised here ), it is possible to copy a 3D printed product with up to 92% accuracy simply by precisely recording the printer noises. This seems to be just one more concern to add to the growing list of uncertainties surrounding IP and 3D printing, on which see more here and here
Federal prosecutors said Friday that the indictment against 31-year-old Maysam P. and 33-year-old Saied R. was filed March 22 at a Berlin court. The two mens full names werent given in keeping with German privacy rules.

Prosecutors say both men once belonged to the opposition group known as the Peoples Mujahedin of Iran, or MEK.

However, they say that Maysam P. was working by January 2013 and Saied R. by August 2014 for an Iranian intelligence service and that they were tasked with obtaining information on members of the MEK and its National Council of Resistance arm in Germany and other European Union countries, the AP said.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a statement on Saturday identified the two men as Maysam Panahi and Saied Rahmani.

The NCRIs statement said that the Iranian Resistance had announced on October 28: Panahi and his accomplices were expelled from Camp Liberty since April 2012. They subsequently went to Mohajer Hotel in Baghdad that is under the control of the Iranian regimes Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) and the terrorist Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Qods Force.

The statement added: Following the disclosure about the MOIS spies last October, the MOIS compelled its operatives to write numerous articles and letters for propaganda purposes and to impose pressure on the German judiciary to try to thwart referral of the agents files to court and the subsequent trapping of other MOIS operatives. The websites affiliated with the MOIS and its agents ludicrously wrote that the arrest of Panahi is due to the enticement of some factions and currents within the German security apparatus and judiciary and it is PMOIs newest scheme to frighten other PMOI [MEK] members. They wrote to the German Federal Prosecutor that the fictitious allegation of espionage and passing on of information to the regime and security threat against Panahi is fabricated by the PMOI and that he is one of the thousands of PMOI victims They tag anyone even slightly opposing this organization as a MOIS agent. This absurd rhetoric shows the regimes fear of the disclosure of its espionage network and operatives and its conspiracies against the Iranian Resistance.

Germanys intelligence services, especially the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, have repeatedly emphasized in the past that MOIS activities in Germany target the PMOI and NCRI. It has stated that the MOIS has a systematic mandate to collect information on the activities of this organization and to infiltrate the PMOI and NCRI.

The MOIS tries to discredit the PMOI and NCRI through propaganda activities. Acquiring information on PMOI members, especially members that have left Iraq for Europe, is a focal point of the espionage and surveillance activities of the Iranian regime.

The NCRI welcomed the fact that German prosecutor has brought the case of espionage targeting PMOI and NCRI to justice and calls on the German government and relevant officials to disclose and make public the details of the case of espionage and illegal activities of the Iranian regime and its agents in Germany. This is an imperative step to prevent these criminal activities.

The Iranian Resistance also strongly warns of the perils of the presence of MOIS agents in European countries and the United States for the security of Iranian refugees. In particular it urges Germany and other EU member states to implement the April 1997 decision of the EU Council to try, punish and expel the intelligence agents and operatives of the religious fascism ruling Iran.
[April 11, 2016] MCW Solutions and WeWork Take 'Working from Home' to a Whole New Level

ASHBURN, Va., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MCW Solutions (MCW), a leading technology systems integrator, has successfully completed the audiovisual, security and teledata for phase one of WeWork's co-living brandWeLive--in Crystal City, Virginia. Although almost a year in the making for MCW, WeLive has been the growing brainchild of WeWork founders, Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann, since the beginning. "Phase 1 of WeLive: Crystal City has successfully launched thanks to [the MCW] team," said Mark Bardolf, head IT engineer on the Crystal City project. "Members are moving in and already love what [MCW has] done. It was so great to execute the beginning of this plan alongside the best minds in the business." The WeLive venture applies the WeWork model to housing, offering a fully furnished and digitally connecte community of like-minded people. The building features top-of-the-line audiovisual equipment and network infrastructure for 24 studio apartments as well as the community kitchen and living room, all of which are connected through an app that keeps residents informed of what's happening around them. And of course, it has been secured to the nines with access control and intrusion detection throughout.



"This project has been an interesting take on integrating technology into a multi-family buildingsomething we have been doing for more than a decade," commented Ghattas Hajjo, co-founder and principal at MCW. "We're really excited to be a part of the big things that WeWork is doing and can't wait to see what's in store for the future." For more information, visit www.mcwsolutions.com or www.wework.com

About MCW Solutions, LLC Headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, MCW is a global provider of cost effective, innovative and reliable IT services and solutions in support of managed IT, network infrastructure, security and surveillance systems, audiovisual applications, automation and control systems. A respected industry leader, MCW has experienced double-digit growth since 2003 and continues to add to its list of high profile clientele. Media Contact

Rachel Baehr, 571-207-7109; [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mcw-solutions-and-wework-take-working-from-home-to-a-whole-new-level-300248538.html SOURCE MCW Solutions

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[April 11, 2016] 2016 Class of Dell Scholars Announced and Recipients Follow in Footsteps of 3,065 Other Low-Income Students Graduating College at a Rate Nearly 4x National Average

AUSTIN, Texas, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation announced its 13th class of Dell Scholars, providing 350 low-income, determined students the support they need to be successful in college. A new report sites that Dell Scholars are 25 percent more likely to earn their bachelor's degrees four to six years after high school graduation as compared to students with the same socio-economic backgrounds. To date, The Dell Scholars Program has supported a total of 1,401 Dell Scholars to college graduation. Established in 2004, the Dell Scholars Program may serve as an important model for how to improve college success for low-income, first-generation students. The program is achieving these high graduation rates through a wide range of support services including both financial assistance and counseling to students. "It's amazing to see how our learnings from 12 years of working with these determined, hard-working students is paying off," said Janet Mountain, executive director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. "My hope is that other scholarship programs incorporate this level of support for students to make an even greater impact." Each Dell Scholar receives $20,000, totaling $68.3 million in scholarships over the 12 years. The program also provides each student with essential technology, such as a laptop and textbook credits to further decrease the cost of college. While financial support is critical, the other issues that arise can also derail students and cause them to drop out of college before graduation. Navigating rigorous coursework, learning how to live away from home and managing time effectively are just a few of the challenges students face once they get to campus. Those pressures can have real consequences. Up to 75 percent of all college drop-out decisions among historically underrepresented students are non-academic in nature, according to a 2012 report by the National College Acces Network and Institute for Higher Education Policy.



To support students through these challenges, the Dell Scholars Program has developed an extensive onboarding process that aims at identifying potential obstacles students might face once they arrive on campus. As soon as Dell Scholars are selected, the program begins to work with them to establish a customized college success plan helping them identify and plan for any potential challenges. By providing support so early in the process, the program helps students avoid "melting" away during the summer between the end of high school and beginning of college, commonly referred to as summer melt. "We continue to push the envelope by regularly innovating to help students get to and through college," Oscar Sweeten-Lopez, Portfolio Director of the Dell Scholars Program, said. "We'll do what it takes until we see graduation rates at 100 percent. That's our promise to these students."

Additionally, Dell Scholars receive a private scholar networking community, resources, and mentoring to ensure they have the support they need to achieve their college degrees. Scholars become part of a support network for each other that is made up of themselves, their schools, families, peers and a dedicated Dell Scholar team at the Michael & Susan Dell foundation. For a complete listing of the class of 2016 Dell Scholars, go to www.dellscholars.org. Follow their stories on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/DellScholarsProgram. Tweet this: Welcome @DellScholars class of 2016! See a list of new scholars here: http://www.dellscholars.org/scholars/ #MoreThanDollarsForScholars About the Dell Scholars Program The Dell Scholars Program is a college completion program unique in the type of students it supports and how it fosters those students on their path to a college degree. An initiative of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Dell Scholars Program provides its students with resources and mentoring beyond initial financial assistance to ensure they have the support they need to obtain a bachelor's degree. Follow us on Twitter. About the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (www.msdf.org) is dedicated to improving the lives of children living in urban poverty around the world. Headquartered in Austin, TX with satellite office in New Delhi, India and Cape Town, South Africa, the Dell family foundation funds programs that foster high-quality public education and childhood wellness, and improve the economic stability of families living in poverty. The foundation has committed more than $1.2 billion to global children's issues and community initiatives to date. Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2016-class-of-dell-scholars-announced-and-recipients-follow-in-footsteps-of-3065-other-low-income-students-graduating-college-at-a-rate-nearly-4x-national-average-300248819.html SOURCE Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

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PRINCETON, N.J. -- One of history's most important battles happened here on a field you can walk across in less than half the 45 or so minutes the battle lasted. If George Washington's audacity on Jan. 3, 1777, had not reversed the patriots' retreat and routed the advancing British, the American Revolution might have been extinguished.

Yet such is America's neglect of some places that sustain its defining memories, the portion of the field over which Washington's nation-saving charge passed is being bulldozed to make way for houses for faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS).

In December 1776, the Revolution was failing. Britain had sent to America 36,000 troops -- at that point, the largest European expeditionary force ever -- to crush the rebellion before a French intervention on America's behalf. Washington had been driven from Brooklyn Heights, then from Manhattan, then out of New York. The nation barely existed as he retreated across New Jersey, into Pennsylvania.

But from there, on Christmas night, he crossed the Delaware River ice floes for a successful 45-minute (at most) attack on Britain's Hessian mercenaries at Trenton. This was Washington's first victory; he had not been at Lexington, Concord or Bunker Hill. Trenton would, however, have been merely an evanescent triumph, were it not for what happened 10 days later.

On Jan. 2, 1777, British Gen. Charles Cornwallis began marching 5,500 troops from Princeton to attack Washington's slightly outnumbered forces at Trenton. Washington, leaving a few hundred soldiers to tend fires that tricked Cornwallis into thinking the patriot army was encamped, made a stealthy 14-mile night march to attack three British regiments remaining at Princeton. They collided on this field.

The most lethal weapons in this war were bayonets. The British had them. Few Americans did, and they beat a panicked retreat from the advancing steel. By his personal bravery, Washington reversed this and led a charge. An unusually tall man sitting on a large white horse, he was a clear target riding as close to British lines as first base is to home plate. Biographer Ron Chernow writes that, at Princeton, Washington was a "warrior in the antique sense. The 18th-century battlefield was a compact space, its cramped contours defined by the short range of muskets and bayonet charges, giving generals a chance to inspire by their immediate presence."

When the Redcoats ran, the British aura of invincibility and the strategy of "securing territory and handing out pardons" (Chernow) were shattered. And the drift of American opinion toward defeatism halted.

In his four-volume biography of Washington, James Thomas Flexner said: "The British historian George Trevelyan was to write concerning Trenton: 'It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world.' But such would not have been the result if Washington had not gone on to overwhelm Princeton."

This ground, on which patriots' blood puddled on that 20-degree morning, has been scandalously neglected by New Jersey. Now it is being vandalized by the Institute for Advance Study, which has spurned a $4.5 million purchase offer -- more than $1 million above the appraised value -- from the invaluable Civil War Trust, which is expanding its preservation activities to Revolutionary War sites.

In today's academia there are many scholars against scholarship, including historians hostile to history -- postmodernists who think the past is merely a social construct reflecting the present's preoccupations, or power structures, or something. They partake of academia's preference for a multicultural future of diluted, if not extinguished, nationhood, and they dislike commemorating history made by white men with guns. The IAS engaged a historian who wrote a report clotted with today's impenetrable academic patois. He says we should not "fetishize space," and he drapes disparaging quotation marks around the words "hallowed ground."

The nation owes much to the IAS, which supported Albert Einstein, physicist Robert Oppenheimer and the diplomat and historian George F. Kennan. It is especially disheartening that a distinguished institution of scholars is indifferent to preserving a historic site that can nourish national identity.

The battle to save this battlefield, one of the nation's most significant and most neglected sites, is not yet lost. The government in today's Trenton, and in the city named for the man who won the 1777 battle, should assist the Civil War Trust.
Owner Wes McGuirk says his 125-pound pet, Kora, probably ran up the tree Saturday in Louisville in pursuit of a raccoon or squirrel after surmounting a 5-foot-tall fence. McGuirk says he found her on a limb about 20 feet up when he returned home from Omaha. His efforts to get her down failed, so he called for help from firefighters.
Some of us like to eat our way across the state, discovering restaurants in the towns we visit. Here are 10 spots you might want to check out 
CALEDONIA  When it comes to water, Todd Dombrowksi is doing well with his well, thank you very much.

The longtime village resident doesnt need  and certainly doesnt want  water from Caledonia, even though the village has started to install water and sewer lines right in front of his house on Highway K.

I have fantastic water right now, said Dombrowksi, who grew up in Union Grove and moved to Caledonia 22 years ago. I dont even use a filter in my house. I dont want water that has been sitting in pipes for who knows how long.

Dombrowski is one of five homeowners on Highway K, along with nine other landowners, who are being charged a total of $1.3 million for water and sewer lines being installed from Highway V to Adams Road near Interstate 94.

The project will cost a total of $3.8 million. The sewer line will cost $2.9 million, while the water line will cost $800,000. Landowners will collectively pay $625,000 toward the sewer cost and $604,054 for the water line project.

The village has levied assessments on 14 parcels and will have a public hearing on the matter at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the East Side Community Center, 6156 Douglas Ave.

Dombrowski said he intends to be at the hearing to voice his opposition.

None of the homeowners want this. We didnt ask for it, he said. They keep telling us this is good for the town. Why doesnt the town pay for it?

Aiding development

The homeowners will each pay $30,357 for the project, and have 20 years to pay, unless they sell their property earlier than that, said Village Administrator Tom Christensen.

The village is requiring homeowners to connect to the sewer lines immediately, he said. They have the choice to get village water, but the 20-year payment window dwindles each year they dont get it, he said.

Other landowners who have mostly farmland will pay assessments between $18,557 and $211,000, based on acreage.

We are trying to make this as reasonable as possible for people, Christensen said. We recognize that these are large bills.

The water and sewer will provide almost immediate benefits to a 187-acre business park project announced last week. The development includes an 84-acre parcel of land owned by Harold Deback, which would have incurred a $533,424 assessment. WisPark, the property buyer, is paying that, Christensen said.

The village held an informational session with parcel owners several months ago, Christensen said. I think most of the people understood, he said. I dont think they were happy with it.

Dombrowski still isnt. I think they are doing things to hard working, tax-paying people that they dont want to do, he said. We, as Americans, should have an option to do something or not.

Worse, work on the project started last month. Dombrowski sees the work every day and feels powerless. Its irritating, he said. Im not against progress. You will always see new things happening. I just dont like being forced to do something you dont really want to do.

Christensen said he doesnt believe these assessments will trigger the heated contention that occurred recently in Mount Pleasant.

In late March, Mount Pleasant Village trustees approved special assessments for water and sewer lines along Highway V, affecting more than 60 homeowners and costs reaching thousands of dollars per parcel.

Some residents vocally opposed the project and have threatened legal action against the village. The issue sparked several residents to run for the Village Board against incumbents who voted for the project. Two challengers won seats in the April 5 election.

Caledonia itself went through the assessment process last December, charging landowners along Highway V for water lines. That plan affected only eight properties and totalled about $478,000.

Editor's note: The Journal Times learned Monday that the hearing has been postponed until Wednesday, April 27.
Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

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For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.
US election 2016: Sanders beats Clinton in Wyoming caucuses

Bernie Sanders has won the latest stage in the battle for the Democratic nomination in the US presidential poll by securing victory in Wyoming.
19 med schools operating without registration: MoH

Nearly two dozen hospitals run by private medical colleges are operating without registration, keeping them outside the purview of the Ministry of Health (MoH) which is mandated to regulate health facilities.
50 houses of a single VDC destroyed

At least 50 houses including animal sheds were destroyed by fire that started on Saturday at Bhuwaneshwori, Sindhupalchok. The fire also destroyed drinking water pipe at Bhuwaneshwori VDC 1, 7 and 8.
Aid agreement begins in Dhading

Amidst protest of the VDC secretaries, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) on Sunday reached an agreement with the earthquake victims for rebuilding houses destroyed at Marpaka remote village in Dhading district.
Gurkha Development Bank downgraded into finance company

Five years after the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) declared it crisis-ridden, Gurkha Development Bank has been downgraded into a finance company.
Alisha Sijapati is an arts and culture reporter at The Kathmandu Post, primarily covering human interest stories. She is intrigued by history, culture and films. Before joining the Post in 2015, she worked as a journalist for The Himalayan Times and ECS Media.
KMC plans to phase out slaughterhouses in Valley

Authorities are planning to phase out abattoirs in Kathmandu in favour of importing packaged meat from outside the Valley as there are no more places to dump slaughterhouse wastes.
Liam Neeson honoured at Irish Film and Television Awards

Ballymena actor Liam Neeson has been honoured at the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs).
Morcha, some janajati groups agree to launch joint protests

Madhesi parties and some Janajati groups have agreed to forge a tactical alliance ahead of a nationwide protest they have planned to stage this month-end.
MoU signed to curb money laundering, terrorist financing

The Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DoMLI) and Metropolitan Police Crime Division of Nepal Police signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Monday to coordinate effectively to control money laundering and terrorist financing activities in the country.
NA aircraft averts disaster in Jumla

A Nepal Airlines aircraft (Twin Otter with call sign 9N-ABU) averted a disaster at Jumla airport on Monday.
Nepali migrant worker dies in Qatar

A Nepali migrant worker who arrived in Qatar five years to earn money for making ends meet has died.
Obama admits Libya was worst mistake

US President Barack Obama has said failing to prepare for the aftermath of the ousting of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi was the worst mistake of his presidency.
One dead, 55 injured in bus accident

A person died and 55 others were injured when a passenger bus met with an accident at Jaleshwor, the district headquarters of Mahottari, on Monday morning.
One injured in Morang explosion

A person was seriously injured in an explosion at Buddhanagar VDC-5 of Morang district on Monday. Police is yet to determine the explosives.
Panel seeks explanation from Tourism Ministry

The Parliamentary Internat-ional Relations and Labour Committee on Sunday directed the Tourism Ministry to furnish an acceptable explanation for the delay in acquiring Chinese aircraft.
Police beat up journo

The Federation of Nepali Journalists, the Photojournalists Club and the Online Journalists Association have denounced the attack on a journalist by Nepal Police while covering a protest programme in Singha Durbar on Sunday.
Taj re-enters Nepal with luxury lodge

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Indias most celebrated luxury hotel chain, has re-entered Nepal after a gap of more than a decade with a luxury safari lodge in Chitwan.
Theres a dirty nexus between businessmen and politicians

The Panama Papers, an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of Panama-based Mossack Fonseca, one of the worlds biggest offshore law firms, have revealed the myriad ways in which the rich were exploiting secretive offshore tax regimes.
Government has set April 30th as the deadline for registration of all civilians with licensed firearms to ease monitoring and visibility.

Addressing a news conference at the Uganda Media Center this afternoon, State Minister for Internal Affairs, Amb. James Baba has called on all people with fire arms to have them registered at either the Police Headquarters in Naguru or Kibuli CIID Offices.

The minister also says the registration is in line with the state mandate of protecting its citizens whose lives and property stand threatened by illegal arms.

He also revealed that currently the Police is believed to possess slightly above 40,000 guns, while the Uganda Prisons Services has only 6,000 guns, all in addition to the un-disclosed number of arms in the hands of the military.

Story By Moses Kyeyune
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leadership in Kasese district has disassociated itself from demands for formation of the alleged Yiira republic and vowed not to be part of what they have called a mischievous scheme.

This position was revealed last evening by the LC V Chairman-elect Geoffrey Sibendire Bigogo at a meeting between the FDC leadership and President Yoweri Museveni at Mweya Safari Lodge.

This follows reports of a scheme by the Bayiira of Uganda and those in the Democratic Republic of Congo to break away from their nations and form their own State called Yiira.

Geoffrey Bigogo denied those allegations, pledging to work together with the NRM government to bring about peace and development in Kasese district in particular and Uganda as a whole.

Meanwhile, President Yoweri Museveni has asked the leaders of Kasese district to preach peace and ignore people giving them false hopes for creation of the so-called Yiira Republic.

The president who has been in area to seek a solution to the Rwenzori clashes that have so far claimed 45, has appealed to the people of Kasese to embrace peace and shun those sounding war drums.

While meeting Kasese district NRM leaders at Mweya Safari Lodge, Museveni emphasized that it is impossible to annex any part of Uganda.

He added that it was false for anyone behind the creation of the so-called Yiira republic to base it on the allegation that their people are marginalized, especially in Uganda.
Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebel leader and Chairman of its High Command Joseph Kony is calling for the immediate re-opening of unconditional peace talks with the Government of Uganda.

In a press statement issued by the LRA Special Peace Envoy Brig. Okello Mission, Kony says this will help in resolving the conflict between the two sides.

He says the peace talks will be hosted by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, and mediated by the same government and the Legislative Assembly of the East African Community as well as the United States Government, the United Nations, the Government of the Republic of Sudan and the African Union.

Kony also re-affirms his commitment, to the talks, requesting the relevant UN agencies and the European Union and its member states, and the East African Legislative Assembly to facilitate this peace process.

To expedite the process leading to the re-opening of the talks, Kony has asked for a confidence-building and consultative meeting at an undisclosed location with among others; the Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, Daniel F. Kidega, Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly and Rev. John Baptist Odama, Archbishop of Gulu Catholic Diocese.

The others are His Highness Onen David Achana II, Paramount Chief of the Acholi, Mr. Kidega Quinto, newly appointed Chairman of LRA Peace Team, a representative of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, A representative of the Government of the Republic of Sudan, a representative of the United Nations, Members of the LRA Peace Team, led by Brig. Okello Mission, the LRA Special Peace Envoy.

The delegation will be led by Brig. Okello Mission.

The statement reads in part General Kony therefore urges the people of Uganda and the international community at large to welcome and support this process for the ultimate benefit of Uganda and the countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High near 75F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 56F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
ST. PAUL  State lawmakers in St. Paul are once again pushing to expand firework sales in Minnesota.

Rep. Jason Rarick is pushing a bill that would allow people to buy things like firecrackers and bottle rockets about five weeks out of the year. The measure stops short of legalizing more explosive items like M80s.

The Pine City Republican said Monday Minnesota residents are already using the illegal fireworks anyway. He says Minnesota companies and the state are losing millions to border states by prohibiting larger fireworks.

Rarick's measure would allow local governments to decide whether they want to allow more firework sales. It was up for a vote in the House Monday.

Gov. Mark Dayton last week said he would veto it.
One of the most insidious tax loopholes out there just got a little smaller. But President Barack Obama, who announced the change last week with much fanfare, didnt go nearly far enough: The tax code itself, not just its loopholes, is what needs fixing.

Its hard to overstate just how bad the U.S. corporate tax code is. Imagine it was designed by foreign saboteurs  and prepare to be impressed by their ingenuity.

It taxes profits at 35 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. This excessive rate applies to a base riddled with exemptions and exceptions. U.S. companies pay taxes on their non-U.S. earnings, but only when the money is brought home, thus creating an incentive to park profits abroad. In these and other ways, the system manages to combine maximum economic damage with relatively meager revenue collection.

To avoid this tax, some U.S. companies have bought smaller foreign firms and switched their residence for tax purposes overseas. These are the so-called inversions that new Treasury rules are intended to block. They may have already had an effect, with Pfizers termination of its $160 billion takeover of Allergan.

A sensible tax system would eliminate the incentives both for inversions and for parking income abroad. Actions like the administrations shouldnt be confused with reform.

In fact, they make the code even more complicated when it desperately needs to be simpler. By relying on executive discretion rather than legislation, they make the system less predictable. Worst of all, they leave in place the excessive basic rate, from which so many other problems flow.

There are two basic approaches to fixing the system. The less radical option would be to set a lower, internationally competitive tax rate and then apply it to a broader, simpler base. Merely doing that would help a lot. However, where international companies are concerned, efficient taxation also requires much closer cooperation among governments. This would be easier if the U.S., like almost all other governments, were to adopt a territorial system, which taxes profits according to where theyre earned, not according to where the company resides.

The more radical option would be to abolish corporate taxes altogether, and treat business income as just another form of personal income  taxing it not at the company level, but as ordinary income when passed on to investors. This approach may seem far-fetched, but its worth considering.

One of its biggest advantages is that it would bring progressivity to corporate taxes. Taxing corporate income as personal income would lower the rate paid by ordinary taxpayers and (assuming revenue neutrality) raise the rate paid by the rich. A fair tax system is one thats moderately progressive: Abolishing the corporate tax would serve that purpose.

Obama needs to settle on one of these approaches. The first is closer to what his administration has already proposed, and even has some appeal in the Republican-controlled Congress. Now all the administration needs to do is pursue the cause with the same zeal it brings to criticizing businesses for lawfully trying to reduce their tax liabilities.
Aussie writer John Pilger says the term public relations was coined by Woodrow Wilson friend Edward Bernays. In Propaganda (1928), Bernays defines PR, including World War Is, as an invisible government which is the true ruling power in our country thanks to the intelligent manipulation of the masses. But British Prime Minister David Lloyd George said if the people knew what World War I was about, theyd have stopped it soon. One Bernays PR success was persuading liberated women to smoke in public with headlines lauding cigarettes as torches of freedom.

Pilger adds that Vice President Dick Cheney precipitated 50 years of war by promoting illegal tortures, inciting hatred from radical Muslims, thus recent attacks in Brussels and Paris by ISIS. It doesnt help that America has 740 military bases in 63 countries, with U.S. military personnel present many other places, too. Unfortunately, America is a global empire whose troops bleed real blood in too many conflicts they should not have to fight.

The arrest, trial and punishment of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden could have won real justice for 9/11/01s attacks on New York better than two wars and his apparent murder by U.S. Navy Seals in 2011. The list of Americas false war premises and dubious aims is long. And if Iraqs Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s, he apparently got rid of them before UN inspections; also, he seems to have had nothing to do with 9/11. But Saddam was hanged for earlier crimes, possibly because hed once been an ally to U.S. leaders whod be embarrassed by investigation of those connections.

Gen. David Patraeus said even the Afghan War was a war of perception conducted via media. Keenly truthful British journalist James Cameron, after visiting Hanoi in 1965 (Britain wasnt at war), wrote in Here Is Your Enemy: If we who are meant to find out what (western leaders are often) up to, if we dont report what we find, if we dont speak up, whos going to stop the whole bloody business happening again? The North Vietnamese were human beings, like Shakespeares Shylock, the Jewish money lender who pleads, If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? Input Muslim, Vietnamese or Christian for Jewish, and its still true.

The dubious Arab Spring of 2011 led to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafis murder. Gaddafi had been forgiven his role in downing Pan Am Flight 103 over 1988 Scotland, when he admitted Libyan responsibility and paid victims families $2.7 billion in 2002, halted terrorists training in Libya, and stopped his nuclear and chemical weapons programs. Due to regional chaos after Gaddafis and bin Ladens deaths, ISIS gained footholds in Libya, Syria and Iraq. And as much as it would be nice to elect the first U.S. woman president, if Mrs. Clinton is that president, she should learn to negotiate a peace treaty or two, something not done on her watch as secretary of state.

Journalists who are American war stenographers dont aid peace efforts by stoking war sentiments. Mother Teresa tucked into many of the personal letters she sent me from 1989-1996 St. Franciss Prayer for Peace. I remember from childhood Rev. John Pauls (soon after, bishop here) reciting that prayer each dawn on the radios Angelus. Its not a foregone conclusion Islamism, Judaism and Christianity should be at war forever. Jesus offers good, realizable paths to peace, not ways to destroy it via extremism from many religions, including some extreme Christians.
Last June, Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law a new buffer initiative aimed at enhancing protection of Minnesotas waters. The buffer initiative will help protect the states water resources from erosion and runoff pollution by establishing roughly 110,000 acres of buffer along waterways while providing flexibility and technical support to landowners for installation and maintenance.

In Houston County, all waterways designated as public waters by the DNR will be required to be buffered. At a minimum, these waterways will have an average of 50 feet with a minimum of 30 feet of buffer planted to perennial vegetation directly adjacent to the waterway. These buffers are slated to be installed by Nov. 1, 2017.

The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) is requesting public comment and information on the development of orders, guidance and procedures to support the implementation of the Buffer Initiative. These comments will help BWSR give direction to agencies such as Root River SWCD and Houston County, in as far as the implementation of such things as technical requirements and enforcement of the initiative.

Some questions being asked include, What methodologies should be considered for determining if a buffer meets the 50-foot average requirement?Or, The width of a buffer must be measured from the top or crown of the bank. Where there is not defined bank, measurement must be from the edge of the normal water level. How should the top of the bank be delineated/determined? And, How should the normal water level be delineated/determined?

An announcement on the state register announces the public comment period. Specific questions and more information on this request for public comment are available on the BWSR Buffer website at www.bwsr.state.mn.us/buffer/. Comments will be accepted through May 4 and will be considered as implementation of the Buffer Initiative develops. Comments may be submitted via email to buffers.bwsr@state.mn.us or by U.S. mail to: David Weirens  Assistant Director for Programs and Policy, Board of Soil and Water Resources, 520 Lafayette Rd., St. Paul, MN 55155.

For more information, contact Bob Scanlan of the Root River SWCD at 507-724-5261 ext. 3.


Human rights organizations are supporting the latest international measures aimed at restricting North Koreas nuclear program.

Yet the economic sanctions could make life more difficult for many North Koreans who already live in poverty.

Phil Robertson is with Human Rights Watch, a non-profit rights group.

I think that the whole idea of pressure on North Korea is something that is important because it actually makes the government recognize that it can no longer live outside international law...

Robertson is deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch.

Sanctions and human rights linked

The United Nations Security Council adopted the latest sanctions after North Korea tested a long-range rocket in February 2016. One month earlier, North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test.

The sanctions set up trade and financial restrictions on North Korea to cut off financing to its nuclear and missile programs.

But the U.N. measure failed to identify a 2014 U.N. resolution to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. It also ignored a U.N. human rights report that documented abuses, including political prisons, killings, enslavement, torture and rape.

The human rights measure has not been brought to a vote in the Security Council because North Korean allies China and Russia would veto it.

The United States and China worked together on developing the international sanctions. China most likely opposed bringing attention to the human rights violations because of criticism of its own rights record.

When the Council approved the sanctions on March 2, Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, did link the two issues.

She accused North Korea of caring more about expanding its nuclear weapons program than growing its children.

The U.S. recently announced new sanctions against North Korea. They note the Norths human rights abuses as justification for the punitive measures.

Humanitarian consequences of sanctions

Some human rights advocates argue that humanitarian hardships caused by the sanctions are unavoidable. They say international action is needed to pressure the North Korean leadership to end its repressive ways.

Choi Yong-sang is with the Network for North Korean Human Rights in Seoul.

He said, The sanctions from the international community will have an economic impact on North Koreans, but on the other hand the North Korean regime will clearly feel the impact as well.

The new U.N. measures could affect many North Koreans. Workers in the mining industry will likely suffer from the U.N. ban on the export of North Korean minerals.

There are, however, humanitarian exceptions in the resolution that permit the trade of coal and iron not linked to government organizations.

There are also restrictions that ban North Korean banking activity and identify a number of individuals and organizations linked to the Norths nuclear program. These restrictions could have a chilling effect on possible donors and investors.

The U.S. unilateral sanctions could target anyone connected to the North Korean labor export program that earns billions of dollars. Most of that money reportedly goes to the North Korean government.

In February, South Korea closed the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The move put over 54,000 North Korean employees out of work.

Yet the U.N. resolution states that it is not intended to have adverse humanitarian consequences for the civilian population of the DPRK.

A possible food shortage remains a major concern

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported in February that the North Korean people are already suffering a significant food shortage.

The FAO said North Korea needs 440,000 tons of food from overseas this year. Yet international donors have only provided 17,600 tons so far.

North Koreas state media recently warned that the sanctions may cause another arduous march. That expression refers to the famine in the 1990s that is said to have killed over 3 million people.

Most private South Korean aid programs for the North have been suspended because of the recent sanctions and tensions between the two sides.

The Eugene Bell Foundation provides tuberculosis medicines to North Koreans. The group was blocked last month from bringing medicines to the North because of new South Korean unilateral sanctions. South Korea, however, did later make exceptions for humanitarian aid, and the medications did get through.

Human rights activists support providing aid to innocent people in North Korea. These people are caught in the middle of the international dispute.

But in the past, North Korea accepted the aid and used it for political purposes. Many countries, including the United States and South Korea, suspended assistance programs years ago.

Phil Robertson has called for a close watch of aid.

Our view on humanitarian aid is that we dont agree to have restrictions on humanitarian aid and we do support, for instance, support for food aid and other basic humanitarian materials for North Korea, but we believe also that these need to be strictly monitored.

Yet Choi Yong-sang says it is unclear if finding out how aid is given out is possible.

If the international community can closely inspect the distribution process, it can assist the people without helping the regime, but we are not sure if North Korea would accept such a condition.

The growth of private markets could ease the effects of the sanctions for many North Koreans. Since the 1990s, the people have become less dependent on the Communist government for their daily needs.

But as the tighter sanctions are enforced, the more likely it is that ordinary North Koreans will experience greater economic pain than the leadership in Pyongyang.

Im Mario Ritter.

Brian Padden reported this story for VOANews.com. Mario Ritter adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Do sanctions work? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments and post on our Facebook page, thank you.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

adopt  v. to agree to, to accept

punitive  adj. as punishment

advocate  n. someone who speaks for another, someone who supports a person, group or cause

unilateral adj. describing action taken by only one side

significant adj. important, notable

arduous  adj. very difficult, very hard

sanction - n. a threatened punishment for disobeying a rule or law

impact - n. effect; result

DPRK - abbreviation short for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
John Kerry said he was deeply moved" and "honored to visit Hiroshima, Japan on Monday.

United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. An estimated 140,000 people died in that bombing.

The meeting included a tour of a World War II memorial to victims in Hiroshima.

It was a stunning display, said Kerry, after visiting Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

It is a gut-wrenching display. It tugs at your sensibilities as a human being," he added.

Speaking of the U.S. alliance with Japan, Kerry said, My visit to Hiroshima has a very special meaning about the strength of the relationship and the journey we have traveled together since the difficult time of the war.

The secretary of state was asked if President (Barack) Obama will visit Hiroshima when he attends a G-7 leaders summit in Japan in May. Kerry said he hoped that one day the president of the U.S. would be among those who visited the city.

He added that Obama had expressed an interest in visiting, but did not know if the presidents schedule would permit it during his upcoming trip to Japan.

Nuclear proliferation and disarmament however were important themes during discussions.

Kerry commented at the end of a two-day meeting with other Group of Seven, or G7, foreign ministers. He was joined by foreign ministers from Germany, Italy, Britain, Canada, France as well as Japan.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida hosted the ministers meeting. He was asked if Japan would seek its own nuclear weapons as suggested by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Kishida answered, For us to obtain nuclear weapons is completely inconceivable.

The foreign ministers released a joint declaration in Japan calling for a world without nuclear weapons.

The so-called Hiroshima Declaration discussed the security situations in Syria and Ukraine. It also noted North Korea's repeated violations of bans on its nuclear and missile tests.

On Sunday, the seven ministers discussed issues including the regional problems posed by China's increasing presence in the South China Sea. They also discussed North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

Pam Dockins and Victor Beattie reported this story for VOANews.com. Mario Ritter adapted their reports for Learning English. Kathleen Struck edited the story.

Have you been to Hiroshima? Do you know its history? Please leave a Comment below this story and post on our Facebook page, thank you.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

gut-wrenching  adj. causing great emotional pain

tug v. to pull with force

nuclear proliferation n. the rapid increase in the number of nuclear weapons

theme n. a main subject that is discussed or written about

inconceivable  adj. something that cannot be imagined


For the second time in two years, all eight Ivy League schools have offered admission to a teenager from Nigeria.

Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna is in her final year at Elmont High School in Long Island, New York. She is at the top of their game, academically speaking. Few Americans are able to get accepted into every one of the Ivy League schools.

The eight are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University.



In addition, the teenager was accepted at four other schools in the United States. They are Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The 17-year old is valedictorian of her high school class. She has a grade point average of 101.6.

In a press release, Uwamanzu-Nna credits her success to the ideals of the town of Elmont, New York, her supportive parents and her teachers. She said she is elated and thankful.

Last year, Harold Ekeh from Elmont Memorial High was accepted for admission at all eight Ivy League schools. He chose to attend Yale University after having a total of 13 schools to choose from.

Ekeh was born in Nigeria and came to the United States when he was 8 years old. Uwamanzu-Nna is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants.

She was a finalist in the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search for her research on cement. Researchers say her findings could help prevent underwater oil rigs from breaking apart.

She plans to seek a science-related study program in college.

Uwamanzu-Nna has yet to make a decision on what school she will attend. But with her admission to 12 schools guaranteed, the decision is sure to be a difficult one.

Im Marsha James.

VOANews.com reported this story. Marsha James adapted the story for Learning English. Additional information for her report came from CNN and Fox News. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section and on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

at the top of game  idiom. doing ones best; doing the best one can do

academically  adj. relating to to education and scholarship

valedictorian  n. the student who has the highest grades in a graduating class and who give a speech at graduation ceremonies

elated  adj. very happy and excited


This is Whats Trending Today.

The Boston Globe is one of the most famous newspapers in the United States. On Sunday, The Globe made news when it published a special front page. The special page was dated one year in the future. It had a series of reports about what might happen if businessman Donald Trump is elected president.

The page was not the first page of the newspaper. It was the first page of a section called Ideas, home to commentary and criticism.

The newspaper published articles with names including, Deportations to Begin, Markets Sink as Trade War Looms, and Bank Glitch Halts Border Wall Work.

The articles were designed to get Americans thinking about what might happen if Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election. The stories were The Boston Globes predictions of what might happen a year from now during a Trump presidency.

The Globe is one of the most respected newspapers in the country. It was in the news for its investigative reporting in 2002 about the abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergymen.

The series won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, the top award for U.S. journalism. The story about the investigation was turned into the movie Spotlight. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture earlier this year.

On Sunday, the newspapers editors explained in an opinion piece why they put together the special front page. They said the stories take Donald Trump at his word. They said the articles are predictions of what might happen if Trump acted on his campaign promises.

One story said the leading measure of U.S. stock prices would drop almost 7,000 points in only three weeks if Trump ordered taxes on imports from Mexico and China.

Another story lists all the ways his plan to expel over 11 million illegal immigrants would harm life in the United States. It said the deportation plan would cost $400 billion and require more than 900,000 immigration control agents.

Those were the big stories. There were smaller stories, too.

One story noted Trumps comment last year about killing family members of fighters with the self-declared Islamic State group. It predicted that U.S. soldiers would question an order to kill the family members of terror suspects.

Thousands of people posted messages on The Globes Facebook page.

One person wrote, Well, if the goal of this was to fuel the Trump fire of support... The Globe will have accomplished that!

Another wrote: Thank you to the editorial staff at The Boston Globe. Wake up, America.

Donald Trump was unhappy with the newspapers creation.

Did you see that story? he asked. The whole front page  they made up a story, they pretended Trump is the president, and they made up the whole front page. Its a make-believe story, which is really no different from the whole paper. I mean, the whole thing is made up. And I think theyre having a big backlash on that one.

And Thats Whats Trending Today

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

What is your prediction for what the United States will be like if Donald Trump becomes president? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

glitch  n. an unexpected and usually minor problem

loom  v. to appear in a large, strange, or frightening form often in a sudden way

journalism  n. the activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio

editor  n. a person whose job is to edit something

article  n. a piece of writing about a particular subject that is included in a magazine or newspaper

deport  v. to force (a person who is not a citizen) to leave a country

pretend  v. to act as if something is true when it is not true

backlash  n. a strong public reaction against something

section  n. a part of a newspaper, play or book
On most days, Pahlaj Nihalani deserves to be on every list of lampoon-worthy individuals in this country. He is, after all, a man with a track record of both stupidity and mediocrity, who does not deserve to be chairperson of Indias Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Nihalanis statements, directives and actions since he took over that job have been bizarre, to say the least. He is the guy who released that slavishly obsequious short film this year with kids hailing a divine-looking Modi Kaaka as he meditates silently on a rock. This is a man whose filmography as a producer is exemplified by Andaz (1994) in which, after much orgasmic writhing about in a bed, Juhi Chawla springs up to prance around a human-sized train set while she sings to Anil Kapoor: Yeh maal gaadi, tu dhakka laga / Garam ho gaya injun iska / Tu dhakka deta jaa (This is a goods train / give it a push / The engine is hot / keep pushing it).

As you listen to these deliciously crass lyrics and watch the hero occasionally cup the heroines derriere in his hands, while they intersperse the suggestive thrusting of their crotches with the thrusting of their bottoms towards each other, it is hard not to feel utter contempt for Nihalani.

How can a reasonable human being not agree that he got the CBFC chiefs job solely because of his well-known devotion to Modi Kaaka and the RSS?

This, perhaps, is why so many people gave in to the temptation to mock him for his recent declaration that Disneys The Jungle Book is a scary film meriting a UA certification. When his interview was published in DNA a few days back, the social media erupted in a storm of bemusement, amusement and ridicule.

This was before the films release, and before even press previews had been held in India, so most of those commenting had not seen the film. Their reaction clearly stemmed from the fact that Rudyard Kiplings books on which the film is based are widely seen as childrens classics.

Besides, the international screen versions best known in India  the 1967 Disney animated feature and the Japanese TV series aired on Doordarshan in the 1990s  were carefree romps through a forest, packed though they were with multiple messages. For those with memories of both still fresh in their minds, CBFCs decision regarding the new Hollywood film must have seemed like yet another obvious Nihalani-ism.

It is not.

And so in the matter of The Jungle Book, critics of Nihalani would do well to take a deep breath, count to ten, step back from their reflex actions and read this.

After all, liberalism means acepting that sometimes the wrong person could be right. The thing about art is that every retelling is an interpretation. And director Jon Favreaus take on this beloved story is far more adult and grave than you might expect, with its chills further enhanced by the use of 3D. When the tiger Shere Khan first pounces on Mowgli and the panther Bagheera rises to the boys defence, the CGI is so good, the action so swift and the beasts so menacing, that it is truly a frightening moment, one of quite a few in this film. It almost feels as though Shere Khan is headed for a viewers throat.

So in this particular instance, as it turns out, we should heed Nihalanis words. Within the constraints placed even on liberals by the Indian film censorship system, UA is the most apt rating for this film. It is a different matter that Nihalani aint no liberal.

The more important point here is that the rules in India do not offer a more viable rating option to even the most open-minded advocates of creative freedom. The controversy over The Jungle Book could be a perfect starting point for a renewed debate on the absurdity of Indias film censorship system per se, a discussion that will get lost if we busy ourselves with laughing at Nihalani who, for a change here, has said and done what most liberals would be driven to say and do after seeing this film.

Forget him for an instant. Let us concern ourselves primarily with our cinema and our children. First, it is a measure of the widely prevalent public view of the CBFC that it is popularly known as the Censor Board although the word censor has officially not been in the name since 1983.

You cannot blame the public for this misconception. CBFC, after all, is a statutory body that is legally permitted to regulate even what Indian adults can see by demanding cuts in A-rated films.

Second, CBFC provisions for film ratings are too limited in number. They need to be expanded, keeping in mind, among other things, that under-18s are not a homogeneous lot. At the moment, Indias film ratings system assumes, for instance, that the maturity levels of 17-year-olds and 13-year-olds are the same.

The present rating options in India are as follows:

U  for unrestricted public exhibition.

UA  unrestricted public exhibition subject to parental guidance for those under 12.

A  for adults only.

S  restricted to specialised audiences such as doctors or scientists.

Compare this to the better developed, though certainly not flawless, options used by CARA, The Classification and Rating Administration in the US:

G  general.

PG  parental guidance is recommended since the film may contain some material parents may consider inappropriate for their children.

PG-13  parents are strongly advised to investigate the film before letting under-13s watch it.

R  under-17s not allowed unless accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.

NC-17  persons who are 17 and below are not allowed.

CARA is not a statutory body. Filmmakers voluntarily submit their works to CARA because theatres  spurred by public opinion perhaps  prefer such films. The agency in turn offers an explanation for the rating granted to each film. Producers are expected to prominently feature the rating and the reasoning on their publicity material. The idea is to help parents while they decide whether or not to let their children watch a particular film.

The Jungle Book, for example, has received a PG rating in the US with this addendum: Rated PG for some sequences of scary action and peril. Parents who permit their kids to regularly view CSI or Game of Thrones on TV are very likely to consider The Jungle Book childs play, but others may differ. The point is, well-meaning, responsible mothers and fathers may have different standards but they are all being provided with valuable details which they can use to make an informed decision in the best interests of their wards.

In contrast, here in India, UA is an umbrella that covers the entire swathe of ratings from PG to R in the US, without giving any specifics. What exactly does it mean? Does a particular film that has been given a UA contain implied violence or graphic bloodshed? Does it feature fleeting scenes of physical intimacy between characters or explicit sex? On a scale of 1-10, how fearsome is it?

What is a parent to make of the rating for The Jungle Book when you consider some of the other films that have been rated UA in India since Nihalani was appointed to the CBFC in January 2015? These include the Hindi film Kapoor & Sons which contained no violence, no scares, no sex, some very brief kissing and a vague allusion to a characters sexual orientation through a conversation. The innocence of Kapoor & Sons has been equated in the same year with the extreme violence in the same film industrys Jai Gangaajal and Ghayal Once Again, both of which also got UA ratings.

Over the years, long before Nihalani entered the picture, members of Indias film censorship system have displayed a conviction that it is better to expose minors to gruesome violence, crude sexual innuendo especially through the medium of song and dance, rape jokes and the trivialisation of sexual harassment on screen than to show them a mere reference to actual sex or let them become aware of even the existence of homosexuality. In 2014, for instance, the Hindi film Kick received a UA rating although the hero (played by Salman Khan) harasses the heroine in various scenes epitomised by one in which he laughingly lifts her skirt with his teeth, she is shown displaying her annoyance but a few seconds later merrily joins him in a song n dance routine. Apparently we do not mind our kids growing up with politician Sharad Yadavs attitude that stalking is a legitimate form of courtship.

In 2015, the Telugu film Bahubali was rated UA despite the hero being a stalker who assaults the heroine, an act of violence viewers are urged to accept unquestioningly since it is romanticised through beautiful music and choreography. On the other hand, Chauranga  a film in the Khortha dialect of Maithili  was rated A for a love-making scene in which the woman was a willing partner (the director was also asked to make cuts).

The CBFC alone is not the problem. In fact, the Indian censorship system is far more complex than the public realises. The first level of the rating process involves examining committees (ECs) at centres across India that watch, discuss and certify films. The Board is called in only when filmmakers contest the rating awarded to their film or cuts demanded by an EC.

In theory, the Central Government is supposed to choose eminent persons to be members of the CBFC and take their advice on the constitution of ECs since even a liberal Board can be weighed down by narrow-minded or cinema-illiterate ECs. This was a serious issue that insiders tell us hampered the work of the previous CBFC headed by Leela Samson  arguably one of the most liberal Boards the country has seen. In any case, successive governments have usually casually doled out CBFC and EC appointments as political favours, often to questionable individuals.

The only reason why the present CBFC has been singled out for particular criticism is that it marks an all-time low in terms of the artistic qualifications of its members and its chief.

Film ratings bodies in civilised nations should serve not as nannies for grown-ups but as guiding lights for parents. However, with the kind of powers bestowed on Indias CBFC, members of the central organisation and the ECs usually end up seeing themselves as guardians of the countrys collective morality. Their personal conservatism, their misogyny, casteism, homophobia and other prejudices then get reflected in their rating choices and scissoring tendencies.

The free rein given to the CBFC has resulted in a randomness that has been the biggest cause of clashes between Indias film industries and the Board for decades. This randomness has, not surprisingly, peaked under the present Board.

In December 2015, for instance, the Hindi-English film Angry Indian Goddesses was rated A but director Pan Nalin was still compelled to mute every single expletive used and the word sarkar (government) from a conversation in which the heroines discuss government interference in the private lives of citizens. In addition, he had to blur pictures of Hindu goddesses referenced by the film to celebrate woman power. That same week, characters in Hate Story 3 used the F-word and its variants seven times through the film  fucking idiot, who the fuck are you?, Im not a fucking coward and so on  without being subjected to beeps. This was in addition to their plentiful bedroom romps.

Nihalani certainly has a lot to answer for, even if he is on solid ground in the matter of The Jungle Book.

The larger problem that he represents though, will not go away merely by removing him. What is desperately needed is a complete overhaul of the system that governs the CBFC, an exercise that must be helmed by liberals with a deep understanding of the arts.

By focusing completely on Nihalani, well-meaning film buffs are reducing this entire discussion to a debate over an individual. Frankly, their single-mindedness suits those who appointed him.

Because this is what leads to people jumping the gun and passing judgment on his comments about The Jungle Book even before they saw the film. And because even if he is fired, the regulations will not change with the person, and while the government is most likely to replace him with another conservative, the fact is that even ultra-liberals on previous CBFCs have faced ridiculous systemic constraints.

It is tempting to mock the ever-mockable Pahlaj Nihalani over The Jungle Book, but if you really care about cinema, please concede that he is not off the mark in this case. Deride him when he deserves it, but let us focus first and foremost on our system of censorship instead.
Mumbai: Television producer and actor Rahul Raj Singh, accused of abetting the suicide of his actress girlfriend Pratyusha Banerjee, approached the Bombay High Court seeking pre-arrest bail on Monday.

On 7 April, a sessions court in Mumbai had rejected Rahul's anticipatory bail application, following which he filed a plea in the high court.

Rahul's bail plea is likely to be heard tomorrow.

On 1 April, 24-year-old Pratyusha, who shot to fame for her role as Anandi in hit TV series Balika Vadhu, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat in Goregaon.

Two days later, a case under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC was registered against Rahul following a complaint lodged by the actress's parents.

Rahul, in his anticipatory bail application, claimed that Pratyusha's parents did not make any allegation against him in their first statement to police.

He said they filed the FIR against him after two days of the suicide incident, as they got influenced by certain people who were against Pratyusha's relations with him (Rahul).

Rahul said Pratyusha had not left behind any suicide note blaming him for her death, and also that there were no marks on her body other than the ligature wound.

In the meantime, news report said that Rahul  who had been hospitalised since 3 April after he complained of chest pain  was "improving". It is expected that he will be discharged from hospital in two days' time.
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel on Monday said its mobile commerce subsidiary, Airtel M Commerce Services, has received payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India.

"We are pleased to inform you that Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited has been granted payments bank licence from Reserve Bank of India on April 11, 2016," Airtel said in a regulatory filing.

RBI in August last had given in-principle to the company, which operates under brand name of Airtel Money, along with 10 others, including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone m-pesa, Department of Posts, for starting operations as a payments bank.

The Payments Bank will be set up as a differentiated bank and shall confine its activities to acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services, Internet banking and other specified services, as per RBI notification.

Payments Banks will initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh per individual customer. They will be allowed to issue ATM/debit cards as also other prepaid payment instruments, but not the credit cards.

These banks can also distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products like mutual funds and insurance products. They will not be allowed to undertake lending services and non resident Indians will not be allowed to open accounts.
The Reserve Bank of Indias latest annual study of state budgets, based on budget estimates of 201516, will invite a wetoldyouso chorus from critics of the award of the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) and the governments acceptance of it.

Thats because the RBI study shows that states have cut back on social sector spending in 201516, the first year of the award period (20152020). Social sector spending as percentage of GDP came down from 7.9 percent in the revised estimates (RE) of 201415 to 7.4 percent in the budget estimates (BE). As a percentage of total expenditure, it came down from 45 percent to 44.6 percent.

In line with the FFCs award, the central government had increased the share of states in central taxes  which are unconditional transfers  from 32 percent to 42 percent. But there was a simultaneous cutback in the conditional transfers in the form of grants for specific schemes and programmes initiated and managed by the centre. Eight centrally sponsored schemes that were funded by the central government were delinked from central support while the funding pattern on some other central sector schemes was changed, with the states being told to foot a larger portion of the bill than earlier.

Critics warned that this would have adverse consequences for development spending in states, since there would be no check on how untied transfers were used and that states would cut back on productive spending when faced with fiscal constraints.

Sure, that seems to have happened. The RBI study shows that total central transfers to states fell by 0.3 percent of GDP between 201415 RE and 201516 BE. While states receipts in the form of share in central taxes increased 32.6 percent, the receipts through grants from the centre fell 11.8 percent during this period. This obviously had an impact on spending patterns, with a fall in both revenue expenditure and capital expenditure as percentage to GDP.

The consolidated revenue expenditureGDP ratio of state governments fell from 14.6 percent of GDP to 13.9, mainly, the report notes, due to lower growth in its development component. The report flags the cut in revenue expenditure for sectors like housing, urban and rural development, soil and water conservation, irrigation and flood control, while simultaneously committed expenditure shows an increase, primarily on account of pensions.

Capital expenditure also has slowed down, from 2.9 percent of GDP to 2.8 percent. The report rues the absolute decline in capital outlay on services like family welfare, water supply and sanitation, housing, food storage and warehousing, among other things. Now it can be argued that these are aggregate figures and may not take into account the fact that individual states may have different priorities, that one state may have cut the spending in, say, housing, because that was not a huge problem for it and used that money to up spending in say, education, because it was way behind other states in this.

That is a valid line to take. But when one finds that even at an aggregate level, growth in

spending on nutrition has been near stagnant (1.6 percent) and its share in expenditure in social services has fallen, then it is a source of worry. India can hardly be said to have won the nutrition battle decisively for states to compress expenditure on this head. But does that mean the FFC report was wrong to give more untied funds, and for the central government to accept it? No, it doesnt.

Pick up any finance commission report and go through comments of state governments. Its a common refrain: give us more untied transfers; free us from the tyranny of specific purpose grants (money to be used for specific schemes often in line with rigid onesize-fitsall guidelines drawn up in Delhi); since the bulk of social sector spending is in the states, give us the freedom to determine our priorities and design our programmes. It doesnt matter if they are big states or small states, states ruled by parties in power at the centre or by those in the opposition; on this one point, there has always been a rare unanimity.

The FFC report notes: The States have, therefore, suggested that the funds transferred by the Union Government for expenditure on State subjects through various Centrally sponsored schemes should be subsumed under the funds transferred through vertical devolution. The States have emphasised that there is a need to enhance the existing level of formulabased fiscal transfers, with such transfers conforming to the principles recommended by the Finance Commission.

The FFC did what earlier finance commissions hesitated to. It gave them more non-discretionary unconditional funds in the form of higher tax devolution. This obviously had to be accompanied by a reduction in tied transfers  the conditional funds or specific purpose grants. Could the central government have not accepted these recommendations? It could not have.

The government has been giving the impression that it has been extremely large-hearted in giving states such a huge increase in tax devolution, but the fact is no government ever has dared to reject any finance commissions recommendations with regard to tax devolution. The reports are public documents and it would have set off a huge centrestate tussle if the award was rejected or modified. This government, too, had to do the same.

But having got a higher share of nondiscretionary funds, states cannot now ask for an increase in tied funds as well. The FFC and the central government have treated them as responsible adults who dont need someone looking over their shoulder all the time. It is now up to them to behave responsibly and reprioritise expenditures in a way that maximises growth and welfare. Or they need to accept what critics of the FFC award imply  that states cannot be trusted with more fiscal and policy autonomy and that the centre needs to keep a tight rein on them. Are they willing to concede this point?

The RBI report exposes the double standards of states on another issue as well. They have demanded and got more fiscal and policy autonomy from the centre, through successive finance commission awards. But their own record in giving the same autonomy to local bodies by implementing awards of state finance commissions (SFCs) has been abysmal. The RBI report says: SFCs were mandated to address the mismatch between the allocation of financial powers and responsibilities between the state governments and local bodies. After two decades of formation, this objective remain unfulfilled.

States have been tardy in setting up SFCs, giving them the required information or implementing their awards. A table in the report shows that in some states the implementation of the SFC award has been delayed by more than two years; there is no information on implementation in the case of several. The message from the RBI report is clear  states want to have their cake and eat it too, without sharing with their subordinate governments. This is clearly unsustainable.
New Delhi: FMCG major Nestle on Monday said its popular Maggi has cleared tests conducted by Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) under the directive of Supreme Court, reiterating that its instant noodles brand is safe for consumption.

"CFTRI has submitted analysis reports on Maggi noodles to the Supreme Court. We have been provided with a copy of the reports. We are happy that all 29 samples tested by CFTRI are clear," Nestle India said in a statement.

The reports state that lead levels for all samples are within permissible limits, it added.

"All 29 samples of Maggi Noodles, (the initial 13 and subsequent 16 samples), were collected by the relevant authorities following due process and then directly submitted to CFTRI," Nestle India said.

The second batch of 16 samples were tested not only for lead and taste enhancer MSG, but also for other safety parameters like metal contaminants, crop contaminants, toxic substances that are applicable to instant noodles as a proprietary food.

"Every single sample was found compliant," the company said.

The Supreme Court on December 16 last year, ordered testing of samples of Maggi noodles in Mysore laboratory after the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) had directed that it be done in Chennai.

The apex court had passed the December order after noting that both the Centre and Nestle India had agreed that Mysore was well equipped with all tests and being a referral notified laboratory, and sample should be sent there.

"We strongly re-iterate that Maggi Noodles has always been safe for consumption as demonstrated by tests carried out in independent accredited laboratories," it said, adding the tests included several other national food authorities including the USA, UK, Singapore and Australia, among others.

Nestle India said CFTRI has clarified that glutamic acid can be due to presence of ingredients like tomatoes, cheese, hydrolyzed plant protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein. It has further stated that there are no analytical methods to distinguish between naturally present glutamic acid and additive MSG.

Nestle India further said the CFTRI has clarified that the additive MSG is allowed to be added to selected food commodities (seasoning for Noodles is one of them) under Good Manufacturing Practices basis proper label declarations as per 'Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011'.

"We wish to emphasise that health and safety of our consumers is our highest priority and we never compromise on the safety, compliance or quality of our products or services," the company added.

In June 2015, FSSAI had banned Maggi noodles, saying the product was "unsafe and hazardous" for consumption after finding lead levels beyond permissible limits.

Nestle had relaunched Maggi noodles in the market on 9 November, 2015 after fulfilling conditions set by Bombay High Court which lifted ban imposed by FSSAI and Maharashtra FDA, which banned the product citing excessive lead content and MSG.

With the CFTRI report in place, Nestle India said it is working diligently to re-introduce more variants very soon.
Days after a landmark victory for women at Shani Shingnapur temple, the entry of women in Sabarimala temple is being challenged once again with the Supreme Court on Monday asking lawyers representing the Sabarimala Temple Trust if tradition was greater than the Constitution.

The SC further questioned the temple's right to forbid women from worshiping, while examining the PIL which challenged the ban on entry of women aged 10-50 at the temple, reported The News Minute.

The SC bench consisting of Justices Dipak Misra, Pinaki Chandra Ghose and NV Ramana asserted that the case must be argued in accordance with the Constitution, said a report in Zee News.

Reports also said that the SC observed that anyone can worship God, he is omnipresent.

The SC said that the judgement, irrespective of what it will be, will be in accordance with the law.

Earlier, the SC had said, Is spirituality only for men? Are women incapable of spirituality? The court had given temple officials six weeks to respond. According to NDTV report, Justice Deepak Mishra said, "Can we constitutionally reconcile with the idea that women can't be allowed in sanctum sanctorum... Can a woman be denied permission to climb Mount Everest?"

Hearing a PIL filed by Indian Young Lawyers' Association, on 11 January, the Supreme Court had questioned the tradition of banning entry of women of menstrual age group in the temple. It had asked the Kerala government whether it was sure that women have not entered the temple premises in the last 1,500 years.

The bench had also observed that it was a public temple and everyone needed to have "the right to access".

At best, there can be a religious restrictions and not a general restriction, the apex court had said.

Senior advocate KK Venugopal, appearing for the Travancore Devaswom Board, had said women, who have not attained menopause, cannot preserve the purity during the 41-day religious journey to the temple, located on a hilltop.

The Kerala government had on 6 February told the apex court that banning entry of women of menstrual age in historic Sabarimala temple in the state, is a "matter of religion" and it is duty bound to "protect the right to practice the religion of these devotees".

In an affidavit, the state government said that the administration of the temple vests with the Travancore Devaswom Board under the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act and the decision of the priests is final in the matter of worship.

However, Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma favoured the entry of women in Sabarimala temple. "The government is of the opinion that there should be no discrimination in all religious places on (the basis of) caste and gender," he said on 9 February.

With inputs from PTI
Kollam: After scouring six hospitals and three morgues, NP Anoop is no closer to finding his father who was caught in a massive blast and fire at an Indian temple that claimed more than 100 lives.

Like thousands of others, his father had gone on Saturday night to the Hindu temple in southern Kerala state, renowned for its beaches and tranquil backwaters, to see the annual fireworks display.

But in the chaotic hours after the explosion that ripped through the Puttingal Devi complex, the increasingly desperate 32-year-old could find no trace of his father, Vishwanathan, and feared the worst.

"I don't know if he is alive or dead. All I want is to see him, we are ready for the worst but this search is painful," he told AFP after questioning ICU staff at a medical college hospital in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.

"My father had gone to the festival with his friend. We were able to find the body of his friend but have yet to get any information on my father," the weary-looking Anoop said, before heading off to yet another hospital.

At hospitals, morgues and police stations, families are involved in a heart wrenching search for loved ones feared swept up in the blast that tore apart concrete buildings.

But the task is being made more difficult by the fact that some of the more than 100 people killed are unrecognisable.

Local residents reported finding body parts strewn at the complex from the force of the explosion, while others were charred in the fire, in a tragedy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as "shocking beyond words".

'We can only pray'

Some 15 families flocked to Paravur police station, just 100 metres from the temple, to fill out missing person reports and implore officers to help.

"There are 20 unclaimed bodies at the morgues and we suspect some of them (the missing) might be there. But only a DNA test will establish their identities as the bodies are beyond recognition," officer in charge N Vijayan told AFP.

At the hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, families move through the corridors, some sobbing, others peeking through glass windows, as overworked doctors and nurses race around them.

Others who found relatives now face an agonising wait as they undergo treatment for serious burn and other injuries.

"We can only pray to God. There is nothing we can do, doctors are doing their best to save him," Ramesh, who only has one name, said of his injured 22-year-old son.

Emergency room doctor Rajesh Kumar said the hospital was initially overwhelmed after the disaster, with victims arriving with head wounds and mangled limbs.

At the temple in Kollam district, witnesses described mass panic after the explosion, thought to have been sparked by a firework that landed on a stockpile of others during the show.

Labourer, K Manayan said thousands of "jubilant people" had been enjoying the lengthy display in the early hours of Sunday morning.

"Everything changed in a moment after a huge thud. There was silence and people were crying for help. It was so powerful that I fell to the ground and in no time people started running over me," he told AFP.

"Some one pulled me towards the side and later took me to hospital."
On Monday, the Maharashtra Cabinet approved a bill on dance bars, permitting their reopening, albeit with certain restrictions on their functioning. According to a report by Zee News, the bill is likely to be tabled in the state Assembly on Tuesday.

According to a report by NewsX, some of the restrictions placed by the cabinet are: not allowing these establishments inside residential buildings, maintaining a minimum distance of at least one km from schools and places of worship, prohibiting alcohol in bar rooms and an attempt to put in place a check on vulgarity.

The bill has also put in place guidelines on the clothing of women performing in dance bars. It prohibits sexually suggestive dance moves and obscenity.

The Maharashtra government issued certain guidelines for dance bar owners to issue identity cards and arrange for pick and drop for the dance bar workers and issued an order for imposing fine of Rs 50,000 and a jail sentence for those in the audience who touched the dance performers.

The state had initially proposed to place CCTVs in dance bars. Defending the rule in the Supreme Court, the government had said that the cameras would help to maintain the dignity of the dancers and provide them with a sense of security, as reported by The Hindu. The government had pointed out that most of the dancers are from the poor strata of society and that most of them entered the profession out of compulsion. However, the judges hearing the case were not convinced by the government's contentions.

This was not the only occasion on which the Supreme Court turned the Maharashtra government's arguments on dance bars. In February 2016, a division bench had described the stipulation restriction the number of dancers to four as absurd. The state government had asked hotel owners to preserve CCTV footage for 30 days, as reported by The Times of India.

History of dance bars in Maharashtra

Dance bars have a long and convoluted history in Maharashtra, and have been the subject of much controversy in the past decade. Bars that hosted dancing performances first came up in the early 1980s. The first such establishments came up in the town of Khalapur, a town between Mumbai and Pune, according to IANS. With the rise of the underworld in the 1980s and 1990s, dance bars acquired a reputation for being sites which provided tip-offs for the police from informers, as pointed in an article in Caravan.

According to an earlier report by Firstpost, in 2005, the then Maharashtra home minister RR Patil first imposed a ban on dance bars, saying that they corrupt the younger generation and threaten the cultural fabric of the country.

However, the three-star and five-star establishments were exempted from the restriction.

This discrepancy, which created a separate class of three-star and five-star establishments, did not pass the judicial test. The Bombay High Court had observed, The object of the legislation was prohibition of dances which were obscene or vulgar That being the object, can the restriction be said to be in the interest of the general public? Women can still dance in the exempted establishments, women can still participate in tamashas and laavnis. Women can still work as waiters or any other allied jobs in the prohibited establishments.

On 12 April 2006, the Bombay HC went on to quash the ban, declaring the provision as unconstitutional saying that it is against Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution (which deals with the freedom to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business). However, the Maharashtra government obtained a stay on the order, which meant that the dance bars still remained shut.

The next judicial verdict on the issue came on 16 July, 2013, when the Supreme Court upheld the Bombay High Court's judgment.

The government failed to convince the Supreme Court that its restriction on dance bars was legally valid (see The Indian Express report here.) and it seemed that dance bars would become a part of the city's night life again. However, there were more difficulties in the way, as dance bar owners found it difficult to get back permission to run their establishments. As reported by The Times of India, as many as 40 licences needed to open a dance bar in Mumbai. With such steep requirements, it was no wonder that the Supreme Court's order did not exactly open the floodgates for dance bar permissions.

Meanwhile, the court's verdict did not deter the Maharashtra government. Subsequent to the apex court's order, the Maharashtra government passed an amendment to the Maharashtra Police Act on 13 June 2014. This law addressed the discrepancy between the rules for three-star hotels and five-star hotels, and put the same restrictions for both categories. However, the restriction did not extend to family parties in pubs and discotheques, or to orchestras, according to a report in The Times of India.



However, the government had to face yet another roadblock. The Supreme Court stepped in and stayed the amendment to the Maharashtra Police Act related to dance bars.

The Morality debate

The dance bar issue has various moral and immoral repercussions for the community. Explaining the difference between sex work and trafficking for sex, The Wire argued that people engaged in work that involves performing sexual acts does not always mean that they have been exploited.

The government has been pursuing the issue under the fear that women are being exploited. In fact, according to the report in The Wire, it is working on a legislation to ban dance bars in a way that it is not rendered unconstitutional. But a blanket rule to impose a ban could do more harm than good, because according to a recent research, women are in the business of dance bars, either because of their economic conditions, or because they like the profession over manual labour.

According to a report by The Hindu, the ban had left nearly 75,000 women unemployed, who then flooded into other sectors like domestic work, rag picking, factory work, shops, etc.

Given the long-drawn legal battle on this issue that has ensued between the judiciary and the Maharashtra government, it would appear that the final word has not been spoken yet.
Mumbai: Jail term of up to six months for inappropriately touching or misbehaving with a bar dancer and hefty fine for violating licence norms are some of the key provisions of a landmark Bill passed on Monday in Maharashtra Legislative Council with an aim to regulate dance bars.

The Bill, which sets the stage for reopening of dance bars after more than a decade, and comes post a recent Supreme Court verdict, was passed in the Upper House by voice vote with Deputy Chairman Vasant Dawkhare in Chair.

The Bill was piloted by Leader of the House and Minister for Revenue Eknath Khadse.

The legislation seeks to prohibit "obscene" dances (dances which have sexual connotations, sexual gestures, actions which hint at sexual intercourse during a performance) in hotels, restaurants, bar rooms and other establishments.

It lays down guidelines to "protect the dignity and safety of women in such places with a view to prevent their exploitation".

Any person seeking a licence under the new law to open dance bars in hotels, restaurants and bar rooms will have to provide conducive working condition for women employees and take adequate steps for their protection.

Besides, the owner will have to ensure adequate security of people visiting such a place. Dance bar licence will not be issued for places which already have permission for discotheque and orchestra.

The owner/manager of such an establishment, if found violating the licence conditions, shall face a jail term of up to 5 years or Rs 25 lakh fine or both. If he continues to violate the norms, a fine of Rs 25,000 will slapped per day.

A patron cannot misbehave with the dancer or touch her inappropriately. Violating this rule shall invite a jail term of up to 6 months or Rs 50,000 fine or both.

The owner/manager will not let dancers perform any "obscene" dance and shall ensure no woman is sexually exploited.

If found guilty, such a person shall invite a jail sentence of 3 years or Rs 10 lakh fine or both.

Further, if the person continues to commit the same crime, each day a fine of Rs 10,000 shall be imposed.

According to the legislation, a patron will not be allowed to throw coins, currency notes or any object that are monetary in nature on the dance floor.

The Bill is expected to be introduced in the Assembly on Tuesday, and going by the all-round support it received in the Council, a smooth sailing is likely in the Lower House too.

In October last year, the Supreme Court lifted the ban imposed on dance bars in Maharashtra. The original ban came into effect in 2005 when Congress-NCP Government was in power and the move had received support from all political parties.

The ban on dance bars, once inseparable part of Mumbai's night life, was later challenged in the apex court by hotel and restaurant owners which operated these centres.

After the last year's SC verdict, the BJP-Shiv Sena Government formed a 25-member committee with legislators from all parties to deliberate on the issue and make suggestions.

Announcing the ban, the then Home Minister R R Patil had said, "the Government considers that such performance in an indecent manner is derogatory to the dignity of women and is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals."
Thiruvananthapuram: The fireworks display at Thrissur Pooram will be staged this year too, but with increased restrictions in view of the fireworks tragedy at Paravoor near Kollam on Sunday.

The Thrissur Pooram is a tourist attraction besides being an important event for devotees. For years, pyrotechnics has been part of the Pooram, one of the biggest annual spectacles in Kerala. It is not only the traditionalists but even the residents of Thrissur say they would not want it to be abandoned.

Thrissur District Collector V Ratheesan held discussion with members of Pooram Coordination Committee on Monday before granting permission to hold the fireworks display. The fireworks are organised annually on a competitive basis between Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu temples and the Collector has imposed the restriction that more than 2000 kg of explosives should not be used by either party. A number of safety measures also will also have to be taken.

Competitive fireworks are not generally permitted by the authorities. This was why the fireworks display at the Paravoor Puttingal temple was banned by the Additional District Magistrate. That the temple defied his order showed the clout the temple managing committee of the private Devaswom enjoyed when it comes to organisation of the annual Meenabharani festival. They know that it is a crowd puller.

Except for people living close to the temple, most people of the locality demand it. Politicians and cultural leaders cannot ignore the demand. The popularity of the festival and earnings of the temple will go down if the fireworks display is not held. The business community lobbies for it.

Kerala has seen about 40 fireworks related accidents during the last 50 years. But that has not deterred the organisers. However, the tide seems to be changing. Many leaders are now seeking a ban on fireworks at places of worship. Congress leader AK Antony has called for a rethinking on the issue.

Two prominent community leaders, G Sukumaran Nair of Nair Service Society and Vellappally Natesan of SNDP Yogam (Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, an influential religious group) have called for restraint. Patron of Tantri Vidya Peedam Akeeramon Kalidasan Bhattathiripad is reported to have said that a temple should not be a venue for competitive fireworks. Swami Prakashanda of Sivagiri Mutt has also spoken against fireworks in temples.

President of Travancore Devaswom Board Prayar Goplakrishnan stated  Temples under the Board would stick to the rules. Permission has been granted to use explosives in temples only for ritualistic purposes, he said.

The Orthodox and Catholic Church in Kerala have proposed stoppage of fireworks displays in feasts in churches under them. President of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council Baselios Cleemis Cardinal Thottunkal announced  Fireworks in connection with feasts, if being conducted in any area, should be discontinued. Catholicos Baselios Marthoma Poulose II also urged churches under him to avoid fireworks. Archbishop Soosapakian of Latin Catholic Church said that fireworks would be banned in churches under him.

As the mix of politics, elections and religion becomes more putrid, the losers are the devotees, who lose their lives in the midst of such thoughtless celebration and prayer.
Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will perform the ground-breaking ceremony of Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial in the Arabian Sea in May, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday.

"Since the area of the 'Shiv Smarak' (the project) is small, the timing of 'bhoomipujan' (ground-breaking ceremony) will be decided keeping in mind the low tide," the Chief Minister said at a gathering in Mumbai after inaugurating the project office and emergency management plan cell for the memorial.

"Besides due to a shortage of space the programme will be a short affair and the function will be held on a large scale at some other place," he added.

"Shivaji Maharaj himself loved discipline and planning and thus the work of the memorial will proceed at a fast space and will be completed within a stipulated time," he said.

Noting that his government could get all the permissions which were pending since the last 15 years, in just 12 months, Fadnavis assured that all the work will be completed as planned.

"As announced we are committed to build this grand memorial in 40 months and the project consultant has been appointed already," the CM added.

Vinayak Mete, Chairman of the Shiv Smarak committee, who was also present, said the first tender will be floated in the first week of May and the 'bhoomipujan' will be performed in the first half of May itself.

"I urge the CM to seek the appointment of the Prime Minister at the earliest," he added.

In its Budget, the Maharashtra government had recently announced Rs 100 crore for the construction of the memorial dedicated to the Maratha warrior king and has set a target of 2019 to complete the project.
The triple rebuffs earlier this month need to be taken very seriously. Once we are done pillorying the prime minister and the national security advisor for having tried to engage with Pakistan, serious questions need to be asked about where all this is heading. My sense is that the portents are very negative.

First, China exercised its United Nations veto to defend Masood Azhar (one of the three who was released from jail when an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked to Kandahar by Pakistanis in 1999). Then, a Pakistani investigation team which had visited Pathankot let it be known that it thinks the Pathankot attack at the end of December was staged by Indian agencies. And to cap that, Pakistans High Commissioner announced that the Indo-Pakistan peace talks were off.

This is uncharacteristic. For the longest time, Pakistan has gone to great lengths to complain before the international community that India is not willing to negotiate. It is India that has called off negotiations in the past, citing terrorism or bad faith on Pakistans part.

Perhaps it is time to read the three successive rebuffs along with some other trends that have been unfolding. The most dangerous of these trends is Pakistans huge thrust in the production of tactical nuclear weapons  weapons, that is, that are meant to be used on the battle field, rather than as deterrents. Pakistans stepped-up production has swiftly advanced its position in the ranks of owners of nuclear weapons. The Washington Post reported last August that Pakistan could have the worlds third largest nuclear stockpile in a decade. For what sort of battles could its tactical nuclear weapons be meant?

While Indias strategic planners might feel secure with regard to a conventional armed forces face-off between the two countries, the use of nuclear weapons would change the matrix. Not only that, a couple of other factors are in play which could change the matrix to Indias disadvantage. One unsettling trend is the upsurge in militant encounters in Kashmir. Not only have the number of young Kashmiri militants increased, there has been a quantum leap in public support for them. Particularly in 1947 and 1965, Pakistani intruders did not find the sort of public support they had expected on the ground in Kashmir.

A third pertinent trend is the repeated incursions into Indian territory of Chinese troops in the Ladakh area over the past few years. It has happened several times since the Beijing Olympics got over. For a while, China stopped recognizing the Indian passports of residents of Jammu and Kashmir. China does not take such major steps without clear long-term objectives.

So it would be foolhardy to brush aside Chinas announcement that it considers that it has a stake at the negotiating table for the resolution of the Kashmir issue. It has after all taken over large territories in the state for its road, rail and other projects. These are of vital economic interest for China. Indias strategic thinkers tend to be ostrich-like with regard to Sino-Pakistani coordination, despite the fact that General Musharraf chose to be in Beijing during the early part of the Kargil war. It is a mistake to think that Pakistan is under the influence of the US. Its real mentor is China. In its turn, Pakistan has been of great value to China.

Chinas promise to invest $46 billion in areas under Pakistan not only signifies the strengthening of the relationship. It has also changed the India-Pakistan matrix, for Pakistan has become far more buoyant on the economic front over the past few months than it has been for several years.

Perhaps some of these factors contributed to bringing the recent peace process into being. It got going in December after the two prime ministers met briefly in Paris, but it was not sparked by a sudden moment of Parisian bonhomie. The path towards rapprochement had been carefully laid for at least a couple of months before that. Pressure from the US had played a part.

Prime Minister Modis stopover in Lahore and Raiwind on the way back from Kabul on 25 December was also not simply an off-the-cuff goodwill gesture on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs birthday (and his grand-daughters wedding). According to those in the know, a lot of planning preceded it.

Given the hard line the Modi government had taken since the summer of 2014, it must have had good reason to change tack. The series of attacks in the Jammu and north Punjab regions, including daring attacks at police stations at Samba and Gurdaspur, must surely have figured in the governments calculations.

Looking back, the Modi government would have done well to have engaged purposefully with Pakistan soon after it came to power in the summer of 2014. It had a position of strength then. Once India had taken a hard-line position, agreeing to talk to Pakistan in the wake of those attacks was a mistaken strategy. Pakistans security establishment was bound to read it as their success at scaring India.

General Musharraf had similarly misread Mr Vajpayees Lahore visit to the extent that he stepped up militancy, including suicide attacks  until the Indian Army massed at the border in December 2011. Musharraf backed down in January, and finally came round to negotiations in January 2004 since Vajpayee continued his peace initiatives with unflagging perseverance.

In light of what has happened over the past couple of weeks, one must praise Narasimha Raos masterful strategy in the early 1990s. He simply ignored Pakistan throughout his five years in office. Working on home ground, he ended the Punjab militancy quite early in that period. Kashmir too was controlled to a large extent, even though Pakistan steadily increased the intensity of war-by-other-means until at least 1994.

Of course, switching to the Rao strategy would make no sense at this stage. Pakistans recent negativity has already been determined by Indias peaceable initiatives over the past six or seven months. Now, in response to its openly hard-knuckled stance, Indias security establishment needs to prepare for the unexpected  and for an even greater concert in the strategies and tactics of Pakistan and China.
New Delhi: CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury has said Arjun Singh never forgave him for the left party's decision of not allowing Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister during the United Front days.

Yechury said that Singh played an important role in the formation of the United Front which came to power after the defeat of the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the confidence vote.

While, H D Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister, "Arjun Singhji, probably never forgave me for the decision by taken CPI(M) central committee in not allowing Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister of India", Yechury said.

In a piece titled 'The honour of being a colleague' brought out by the Arjun Singh Sadbhavana Foundation started by the departed leader's wife Saroj Kumari, the CPI(M) General Secretary paid glowing tributes to Singh.

Yechury said as Human Resource Development minister at the Centre in 2004 the re-establishment of the secular democratic character and content of the Indian educational system was an "audacious task that he undertook admirably".

The article is published in 'Sadbhavana', a souvenir brought out recently by the foundation, also has pieces from leaders across the political hue.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit hailed Singh as one of the tallest leaders of twentieth century India. She said his split with the governance of P V Narsimha Rao was based on principles and "not on his desire for self aggrandizement".

Sharad Pawar, who had been on the opposite side of Singh in the Congress during the Narsimha Rao days and also during UPA tenure, also hailed the departed leader's contribution not only to Madhya Pradesh and Congress but also on the national political scenario.

BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Sudarlal Patwa described Singh as "my close friend".

He narrated an incident when he had invited Singh as chief guest on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay. "First he hesitated a bit, but then he accepted the invitation and in the speech he criticised in a gentle manner too. He had to face much criticism for participating in the function. I pay my respects to him," said Patwa.

Patwa recalled that in the state Assembly both were known as staunch opponents but outside as close friends. "We had close ties," he said.
Mumbai: Launching a scathing attack on Shiv Sena-BJP ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), NCP leader Kiran Pawaskar on Monday demanded that the civic body be booked for "culpable homicide" in connection with the recent fires at the Deonar dumping ground.

He also demanded that government order probe into all garbage dumping contracts awarded in last 15 years by the BMC.

Initiating a debate on a motion (moved by the Opposition) in the State Legislative Council on Deonar dumping ground, Pawaskar said, "while BMC shows that daily 9,000-10,000 metric tonnes of garbage is dumped there, experts claim that only 6,000-7,000 metric tonnes is dumped."

He added that if Rs 250-400 per tonne is paid for dumping garbage then Rs 9 lakh is being paid in excess to contractors.

Pawaskar sought to know where this percentage of money goes.

"A criminal case should be filed against the concerned BMC officials for failing to take action against the contractors," he said.

He disclosed that between 2006-09, Global Environment Company Ltd which was given contract on BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) basis was supposed to have constructed a compost treatment plant in Deonar dumping ground.

But in the last seven years the company did nothing more than landfilling.

"Yet no action was taken on the contractor by the BMC," he alleged.

Pawaskar further said the BMC has deposited Rs 40,000 crore revenue earned through taxes in fixed deposits.

He added that out of the Rs 417 crore for 2015-16 meant for garbage disposal only 20 per cent has been utilised. Now this money is being used for dousing Deonar fires.

A criminal case should be filed against BMC and its officials (under section 302 of IPC) for Deonar fire and also to recover the excess of money paid to contractors, he said.

Commenting on filling roads, he said Rs 350 crore was allocated towards it within last two years and all the money has been spent. Now additional allocation of Rs 109 crore is needed for works in 2016.
Jammu: Attacking BJP, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) on Monday, accused the party of forsaking "nationalistic agenda" and held a rally demanding "justice for Jammu".

"There is discrimination against Jammu at all fronts. Since BJP came to power in alliance with PDP, it has forsaken its so-called nationalistic agenda and surrendered all issues of Jammu region it once championed," JKNPP Chairman Harsh Dev Singh alleged.

Demanding the quashing of FIR against non-local students of NIT, Singh said that by taking action against students who hoisted the national flag, the BJP-PDP government has "exposed its anti-national stand".

"It is highly shameful that the students who hoisted the national flag in NIT campus were beaten to pulp by police, and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh of BJP justified it by saying it was a mild lathicharge," he alleged.

Raising slogans like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Tirangay ka apman nai sahega Hindustan' (India will not tolerate the insult of national flag), JKNPP activists held the rally that started from Panjtirthi and culminated at Gandhi Nagar in Jammu city.

Hitting out at BJP for forging alliance with PDP, Singh said, "BJP should come clean on what concessions its national leaders have offered to PDP for coming together after a stalemate of almost three months."

"BJP, which fought the polls on the plank of giving the state a Hindu Chief Minister, abrogation of Article 370 and more powers to the armed forces fighting terrorism, joined hands with a party which is against all this," Singh claimed.
Chennai: Hours after DMK treasurer M K Stalin invited Makkal DMDK to meet party chief Karunanidhi, the breakaway group of the Vijayakanth-led party on Monday extended unconditional support to them.

Makkal DMDK was founded on Sunday by expelled functionaries of DMDK, who supported an alliance with DMK opposing the party's tie-up with People's Welfare Front.

On Sunday, after Makkal DMDK top leader V C Chandrakumar said that his outfit members would call on DMK leadership if they were invited, Stalin on Monday said that party chief Karunanidhi was ready to meet them.

Following this, Makkal DMDK functionaries led by Chandrakumar called on both Stalin and Karunanidhi. Later, speaking to reporters, Chandrakumar said that they offered unconditional support to DMK.

"We did not make any demand that we should be given a specified number of seats. Makkal DMDK is extending unconditional support to the DMK," he said.

"We would like to fight polls and for that purpose, whatever may be the number of seats that we may be given, we are ready to work with DMK and we have extended our unconditional support," he said.

Chandrakumar was the propaganda secretary of DMDK before he was expelled from the party and he was also the party whip in the outgoing Assembly.

Along with others, he had revolted the decision to tie-up with PWF and had also alleged that DMDK founder Vijayakant's wife Premalatha was calling the shots vis-a-vis in party, a charge stoutly denied by her.
India must resist the pressure to be a part of USs China containment policy in any direct manner and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar must tell this to US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter in unequivocal terms.

However, India also cant afford to overlook the deteriorating security scenario in its neighbourhood. If that calls for enhancing defence and security ties with the US, India mustnt shy away. India needs to have a policy to deter the China-Pakistan axis that hurts its interests.

Against this background, Carters three-day visit to Indiatoday is the second dayis important. The Pentagon chief is in India with a central agenda. That is to persuade India to align the governments Look Asia policy to USs Asia pivot.

In simple terms it means asking India to join US in competing with and containing China in Asia Pacific. It's a pressure on India to partner US against China in the contentious South China Sea, which now China claims as its own entirely. The challenge before India is how to make US alive to Indias interests in the Indian Ocean while looking to partner US outside its immediate area of interests.

Its a tough balancing act that India needs to perform while working closely with the US and enhancing defence and security ties with it to safeguard its core interests.

In the balancing act, India has done well to reject USs proposal to jointly patrol the South China Sea for now. But the proposal is still on the table. India too has its interest in ensuring freedom of navigation in international waterways including in South China Sea because of its close collaboration, for instance, with Vietnam in oil exploration.

India can take heart that the US now openly talks about having de-hyphenated India and Pakistan in its South Asia policy approach. Thats what India has been pressing for long.

But saying that Pakistan is a minor distraction in US-India entente is closing eyes for hard realities India is faced with on its western border. Before his departure for India, Carter spelt out his agenda saying that the US was looking for collaborating with India at a much larger geostrategic level than South Asia.

India doesnt like de-hyphenation with Pakistan but its neither in a position to play ball in South China Sea nor has any deep strategic interests to be a player in Asia Pacific. Indias strategic interests lie in working closely with the US to deter China-Pakistan from any adventurous act.

Modis Pakistan outreach hasnt paid dividends; the Chinas handshake has turned out to be cold and frosty.

Nobody believes Pakistan is going to give up playing the terror card as an instrument of its India policy. China is increasingly seen putting its weight behind Pakistan to stifle Indias geopolitical ambition and interests. Pakistan-China axis against Indias security interests has become more manifest and brazen than ever in recent past.

Its in the context of India being boxed in from two sides that the narrative of Indias need to look to US has acquired urgency. Added to that is Prime Minister Narendra Modis ambition to accord India its rightful place in Asia and the region. Developing close partnership with the US is seen as a necessary condition for Indias rise.

However, India must not lose sight of considerable risk that goes with India jumping on US bandwagon to realise its strategic ambition. India also must take into account the ground realities India is faced with in its neighbourhood.

The ground reality is that China has emerged as a world economic and military power. That China sets aside all international norms and protocols, including nuclear, to help Pakistan against core interests of India. Despite all its efforts India has failed to persuade US to look at the danger the China-Pakistan axis poses for India. The reason is US has its own interests in not only putting up but encouraging China-Pakistan cooperation in sorting out the regional issues such as Afghanistan.

While ignoring Indias interests in its own neighbourhood, the US has been working on engaging India into larger geopolitical area in Asia Pacific region, where US has its core interests to protect while India has few.

If India gets involved in US-China rivalries in Asia Pacific, it will have to be prepared to face joint patrol of Pakistan-China navies in its backyard in the Indian Ocean. But the fact is that even if India plays coy and refrains from collaborating with USs China containment policy, China will not stop propping up Pakistan against India.

Is India prepared to pursue a tit-for-tat policy against China? Does India have the economic and military muscle? Modi must take into account all these factors before signing any agreement with the US that will alter Indias ability to engage with China on its own merit, that will push India in a confrontational situation against China and that will hurt its geopolitical interests.

China is a like a proverbial elephant in the room India cant ignore. It has to face up to it. And that calls for close collaboration with US in defence and security matters while not being seen as a pawn on US-China chessboard.
Hilton Worldwide's (NYSE: HLT) Hampton by Hilton brand, the global mid-priced hotel that serves value-conscious and quality-driven travelers around the world, today announced the opening of its newest property, Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Stillwater West. The 88-room hotel joins the Hampton by Hilton family of more than 2,000 Hampton by Hilton, Hampton Inn by Hilton and Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton hotels. It is located at 615 South Country Club Road and is managed by Anish Hotel Group.

The new hotel serves as a competitive option for those traveling to Stillwater to visit Oklahoma State University. Additionally, Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Stillwater West is conveniently located near local favorites, Eskimo Joe's and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.

"Whether guests are visiting Stillwater to cheer on Oklahoma State or sightseeing, we are eagerly anticipating their arrival," said Reggie Richardson, general manager. "Travelers will experience true Hamptonality - friendly and thoughtful customer service - resulting in a memorable stay."

The hotel provides guests a fresh start to each day with On the House hot breakfast which includes eggs, oatmeal and waffles. In addition, the hotel provides Hampton's On the RunTM Breakfast Bags filled with an energy bar, muffins, apples, water and mints for those guests on the go, available Monday through Friday.

Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Stillwater West also offers amenities, such as free Wi-Fi, a 24-hour business center with complimentary printing, an outdoor pool, an 800 square foot meeting space and a fitness center. Each guestroom includes high-quality amenities, including the brand's signature Clean and fresh Hampton bed, LCD TV, microwave, refrigerator and coffeemaker. Inviting suites are also available, offering additional space and a comfortable sleeper sofa.

Designed as an extension of the guestroom with a variety of seating and lighting options, the new hotel features the Perfect Mix Lobby. Within the lobby guests can find Suite Shop, a food and beverage shop filled with snacks, toiletries, local merchandise and drinks for purchase. Each guest is guaranteed to be satisfied with every stay, or they don't pay, and that's the 100% Hampton Guarantee.

Hampton by Hilton team members proudly exhibit a unique culture described as Hamptonality. This term describes each hotel's approach to friendly customer service and anticipation of guests' needs and providing travelers with helpful suggestions about area attractions, historical facts and fun things to do around town. Additionally, hotels are infused with local photography and artwork, highlighting each property's connection and support to its own community.

Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Stillwater West participates in Hilton HHonors, the only hotel loyalty program that allows members to earn Points & Miles on the same stay and No Blackout Dates on reward stays. HHonors members always get our lowest price with our Best Price Guarantee, along with HHonors Points, digital check-in and no booking fees only when they book directly through Hilton. For more information or to make reservations, please visit Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Stillwater West or call +1 405 332 5575.

Read more about Hampton by Hilton at www.hampton.com and news.hampton.com.

About Hilton

Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 18 world-class brands comprising more than 6,800 properties and more than 1 million rooms, in 122 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its founding vision to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality, Hilton has welcomed more than 3 billion guests in its more than 100-year history, earned a top spot on the 2021 World's Best Workplaces list and been recognized as a global leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for five consecutive years. In 2021, in addition to opening more than one hotel a day, Hilton introduced several industry-leading technology enhancements to improve the guest experience, including Digital Key Share, automated complimentary room upgrades and the ability to book confirmed connecting rooms. Through the award-winning guest loyalty program Hilton Honors, the nearly 128 million members who book directly with Hilton can earn Points for hotel stays and experiences money can't buy. With the free Hilton Honors app, guests can book their stay, select their room, check in, unlock their door with a Digital Key and check out, all from their smartphone. Visit newsroom.hilton.com for more information, and connect with Hilton on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Jennifer Hughes

Director, Brand Public Relations - Hilton Worldwide

+1 901 374 6518

Hilton
Scandic Hotels, the largest hotel operator in the Nordics, has signed a lease agreement with ATP to take over the operation of one of Copenhagen's most popular hotels and conference centers  the existing Radisson Blu Falconer  from October 1, 2018. The hotel is strategically located in the district of Frederiksberg in central Copenhagen and among other services offers a conference center that accommodates events for up to 3,000 people. In connection with the takeover, the hotel will change name to Scandic Falconer.

 Copenhagen is among the world's most popular conference destinations. With our new Scandic Falconer, we are further strengthening our offering in the Danish hotel and conference market, says Frank Fiskers, President & CEO of Scandic Hotels Group.

 Through the extensive renovation and extension, the hotel will reach its full potential and in combination with our popular and strong customer concept, our vision is to create an exciting new conference hotel, says Jens Mathiesen, Country Managing Director for Scandic in Denmark.

From the beginning of 2017, the hotel will be closed to undergo a complete renovation and the extension of approximately 140 rooms with extensive meeting and event space by the property owner ATP (Arbejdsmakedets Tillgspension) in partnership with Scandic.

The transaction is subject to the revised plan for the area as well as building permits.

About Scandic Hotels Group

Scandic is the largest hotel company in the Nordic countries with more than 280 hotels, in operation and under development, in more than 130 destinations. The company is the leader when it comes to integrating sustainability in all operations and its award-winning Design for All concept ensures that Scandic hotels are accessible to everyone. Well loved by guests and employees, the Scandic Friends loyalty program is the largest in the Nordic hotel industry and the company is one of the most attractive employers in the region. Scandic Hotels is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. www.scandichotelsgroup.com

Ann-Charlotte Johansson

VP Group Communication & IR, Scandic Hotels

+46 721 80 22 44

Scandic
Wesfarmers is cracking down on compliance across its stable after finding that about 10 Target staff pumped up the chain's earnings by almost 40 per cent by colluding with suppliers to book extra rebates in return for promises of higher prices.

Four senior Target executives have either resigned or been sacked over the accounting scandal and more could go as Wesfarmers managing director Richard Goyder seeks to reassure investors and regulators that the collusion was an isolated event and not a sign of deeper cultural and compliance problems at Australia's largest retailer.

"We've taken this very, very seriously," Mr Goyder told journalists on Monday after releasing the findings of a two-week investigation into the accounting scandal, which was first revealed by The Australian Financial Review's Chanticleer column.

"While the amount is not material the actions and the reputation damage are," Mr Goyder said. "There is no excuse for this conduct."
As police pulled up to Bankstown Hospital on Saturday afternoon, they were expecting to find a man, still alive, but with a gunshot wound to his face.

But they drove into the emergency bay and found another car with two panicked mates and a bloodied passenger.

As officers approached the car they spotted 32-year-old Safwan Charbaji's lifeless body in the front seat.

After the door was opened a handful of unspent bullets tumbled out of the dead man's lap and onto the concrete.
The son of China's late reformist leader Hu Yaobang on Monday rejected news media reports that he used his fathers Beijing address when registering an offshore company in 2003, threatening to sue any media outlets that continue reporting on allegations disclosed in the so-called "Panama Papers."

Hu Dehua told Hong Kong media he has nothing to hide. Calling registration of his British Virgin Islands-based entity Fortalent International Holdings "above board," he said the company was created in his own name and with his own passport.

"I came back and checked the registration documents, and I can assure you the registered address is not what they reported as 'General Secretary Hu Yaobang's courtyard residence,'" he told VOA's Mandarin Service Monday, referring to his familys home address in Beijing where Hu Yaobang lived while leading China's Communist Party.

In order to protect his family's reputation, Hu said he is reserving the right to challenge in court false assertions by news media outlets.

The media and news agencies who make up this lie must come up with evidence, or I will reserve my legal rights, because their reports have seriously insulted and vilified the former general secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee and myself," he said. "They must be held responsible for the serious consequences of their mistakes and they must make a public apology and provide a satisfactory compensation."

Hu also quoted Hong Kong reporters who called him the first and only Chinese who dared to make a loud response to allegations of possibly illicit offshore investments. "The fact is, any normal Chinese, even foreigners, can register a company in Hong Kong," the city in which he was living when he founded the offshore company. "I believe that is their right, and that includes me.

Taboo topic

From relatives of the founding father of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong, to current leader Xi Jinping, the massive data leak from a Panamanian firm has revealed that offshore holdings are common among the families of China's ruling elite. Among the more than 11 million documents are details about the offshore holdings of relatives of at least nine current and former Politburo Standing Committee members, a powerful political body in China.

While having an offshore company is not illegal, such offshore businesses can be used to launder money and evade taxes. Massive wealth accumulated by the families of Chinas ruling party members has long been a big concern in China, but also a topic on which discussion is tightly controlled.

In recent weeks, China has stepped up censorship of any online coverage or conversation about the Panama Papers, which were disclosed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). That group says the documents show banks, law firms and other offshore players often fail to follow legal requirements to make sure their clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging or political corruption.

Chinese censors have been deleting social media threads about the leaks, and Panama is now one of the most censored words on the Chinese internet.

Corruption crackdown

The massive leak comes amid President Xi's high-profile campaign against corrupt officials, in which he has publicized some prosecutions in state media as evidence that the Communist Party is serious about punishing graft. Some critics say Xi's crackdown, which has netted more than 30,000 people, is merely a convenient way for political leaders to banish their enemies.

The ICIJ says its analysis of leaked records indicates that by the end of 2015, Mossack Fonseca  the law firm at the center of the document dump  was collecting fees for more than 16,300 offshore companies from China and Hong Kong, accounting for 29 percent of its business worldwide. Hong Kong is the companys busiest office in the world.
Ukraine has become "very volatile" since Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk resigned, the head of the Council of Europe said on Monday, calling for the swift formation of a new government and speedier progress on reforms.

Yatseniuk tendered his resignation on Sunday, opening the way to seeking a more stable government for Ukraine which is struggling with an economic crisis and a conflict with Russia-backed rebels in its eastern regions.

"The situation in Ukraine is now very volatile," Thorbjoern Jagland told reporters in Brussels. "It is urgent that they establish a new government and even more urgent that they speed up the reform process."

Reforms of Ukraine's judiciary and penal system as well as decentralization were key to rebuilding public trust, he said.

"A new government will have to take this on in a much more impressive way than has been the case until now," he said.

Frustrated with cronyism and corruption, Ukrainians took to the streets in 2013-2014 in a pro-European uprising that swept the current leadership to power.

Kyiv's Soviet-era overlord Moscow annexed Crimea in March 2014, and violence erupted in the industrial east where Russia backs rebels who sought to split from Ukraine.

Ukraine's internal troubles have further complicated its path towards deeper integration with the EU, though a senior EU source said the bloc would still offer Ukraine visa-free movement this month, despite a Dutch referendum vote against an EU-Ukraine pact.

Two years after the Russian annexation of the Black Sea peninsula, the Council of Europe will present a report on Wednesday on the situation with human rights on the peninsula.

Ethnic Ukrainians and Muslim Tatars, who were opposed to the annexation of the peninsula, have found themselves in a vulnerable position as Russia moved to assert its control and quell dissent.

The 47-member state Council of Europe is separate from the European Union but works closely with it and mostly has an advisory role.
The United States is "very very concerned" about the increased fighting in Syria ahead of more peace talks and blames the Assad military for the violence.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the violence contravenes the cessation of hostilities signed in February ahead of the next round of talks to start Wednesday in Geneva.

Toner said Monday that Secretary of State John Kerry wants to make sure "every extra effort is made in order to sustain and solidify the cessation of hostilities."

Syrian forces signed the temporary cease-fire with several opposition groups, but not with Islamic State or Nusra Front.

The United States and United Nations are worried that Syrian government assaults on the extremists could spread to opposition forces that are part of the cessation of hostilities.

Toner said more clarity is needed on exactly what the Syrian army has planned and who it is targeting.

The U.N. peace envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, says this week's talks in Geneva are "crucially important" because they will focus on a political transition - a major issue that has held up any true progress in ending the five years of civil war.

The United States has called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a murderer who kills his own people and says he cannot be a part of Syria's future.

Russia has said only Syrian people can make that decision.
The online non-governmental organization (NGO) Our Land, Our Plan presented a petition to the Chief Executives Office yesterday as part of a call to Save Coloane, relating specifically to the residential project planned for Coloane Hill.

The petition, signed by 6,877 people, includes six demands addressed to the Chief Executive. They request that the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau of Macao (DSSOPT) halt the issuing of the building permit for the project, and they further ask for the public release of all environmental impact assessment reports, so as to disclose the decision-making process and rationale for relaxing the height limit imposed by the government.

Besides our hopes that the DSSOPT will not issue the license, we look forward to the Chief Executive enabling the decision to be officially discussed through the Urban Planning Committee, said Amy Sio, member of Our Land, Our Plan. Otherwise, Macaus resources will become private-owned property, or the government will stop the issue, leaving it with unanswered questions.

Nonetheless, there have also been doubts hovering over the planning of the environmental impact assessment report. According to Amy Sio, the first criterion for assessing a given location is suitability: How is it possible that, in light of the first criterion, a non-suitable location still allows a project to be continued? she questioned.

Sio admitted that the letter carries the purpose of coercing Chui Sai On to use his discretionary rights to halt the project. She argued that the residents who signed the letter are mainly concerned about the environment in Macau, thus clarifying that people do not oppose the citys development. As to further initiatives, she revealed that there are organizations considering a referendum on this issue.

According to Sio, the Save Coloane campaign will continue throughout April, having already been available at three locations, namely the Red Market, Avenida Horta e Costa and Rua do Campo. The movement has been supported by 10 local NGO groups, including New Macau Association, Macao Youth Dynamics, Macao Community Development Initiative, Global Village Association, Our Land, Our Plan, along with five other environmental protection organizations.

Our Land, Our Plan is an online organization focusing on the development of the city, on urban planning, and on a better relationship between man and [the] land, according to Scott Chiang, president of New Macau Association. Staff reporter
Three Irish greyhounds have been imported to Macaus Yat Yuen Canidrome, reports The Sunday Times, despite the fact that the Irish Department of Agriculture has previously refused the Irish Greyhound Board a permit to export the dogs to China due to animal welfare concerns.

The newspaper says that, according to eyewitnesses familiar with Irish greyhound ear-markings, the names of the dogs raced at the Canidrome match those of animals registered with the Irish Greyhound Board.

Albano Martins, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals (Macau), or Anima, said that the Irish greyhounds  the first of their kind in the MSAR  may be an attempt to determine whether Ireland can fill a supply vacuum.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporations 7.30 revealed in December that approximately 30 underperforming dogs are killed each month at the Canidrome, where as many as 800 are housed in often unsanitary conditions.

The alleged maltreatment exposed during the investigation led to Australian airline Qantas canceling its freight services for the export of greyhounds to Asia.
For the first time in the 70-year history of the United Nations, all the member states will get a chance to question the candidates for Secretary-General, in a move to make the usually secret selection process for the worlds top diplomatic post more transparent.

Last year, the U.N. General Assembly responded to the strong demand from many countries that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moons successor be chosen in a more open process, unanimously adopting a resolution allowing public hearings on how candidates would respond to global crises and run the U.N.s far-flung bureaucracy.

The secretary-general is chosen by the 193-member General Assembly on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council, according to the U.N. Charter.

In practice, this has meant that the councils five permanent members  the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France  have veto power over the candidates. That will not change in deciding whom to recommend to succeed Ban, whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31.

But General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft said in a recent interview that the two-

hour public discussions with each of the eight current candidates, starting tomorrow, are potentially game-changing.

If a leading candidate emerges and a critical number of countries rally around him  or, in what would be a first, her  I think it will be very difficult, and probably not possible, for the Security Council to come up with quite a different candidate, he said.

If the race is unclear, however, then the Security Council will have a more deciding influence, Lykketoft said.

The resolution adopted last September stresses the need for gender and geographical balance while meeting the highest possible requirements.

By tradition, the job of secretary-general has rotated among regions. East European nations, including Russia, argue that they have never had a secretary-general and it is their turn. There has also never been a woman secretary-general and many countries support the idea of the first female U.N. chief.

The resolution invited all countries to consider presenting women as candidates, but also stressed that the candidate must be highly competent.

There are currently four women and four men who have thrown their hats in the ring  six from Eastern Europe, one from Western Europe and one from the Asia-Pacific region.

They are: former Macedonian Foreign Minister Srgjan Kerim; former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pucic; former Montenegro Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister Igor Luksic; former Slovenian President Danilo Turk; UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova from Bulgaria; former Moldovan Foreign Minister Natalia Gherman; former U.N. refugee chief and ex-Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres; and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who heads the U.N. Development Program.

Im sure more candidates will be coming, thats for sure, Lykketoft said, but how many, I dont know.

There is no deadline for jumping into the race, but diplomats said the Security Council is expected to hold its first straw poll on the candidates in late July. The 15 council members will vote encourage

or discourage on each candidate and the result will be made public.

Two women mentioned in U.N. corridors as possible strong late entries are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, though she reportedly isnt very keen on the job, and Kristalina Georgieva, another Bulgarian who is the European Commissions budget chief and a former top official at the World Bank.

The concentration of power in the five permanent members known as the P-5 often has produced U.N. chiefs with the appearance, some observers have said, of being more secretary than general.

Natalie Samarasinghe, executive director of the United Nations Association-UK and one of the founders of the 1 for 7 Billion campaign for reform in the secretary-general selection process, said that throughout the U.N.s history the Security Council concern has always been, whos not going to rock the boat, and whos going to cause the least trouble for us.

That dynamic has changed somewhat with the new, more open selection process, which is going to be impossible for the Security Council to completely ignore, she said.

Britains U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, who encouraged more credible candidates to enter the race, said the interviews will be very important in the final decision.

If a candidate does well in the hearings then clearly that is going to increase the prospects of Security Council members encouraging them through the process, he said.

Russias U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin was more cautious, saying the hearings might influence the P-5s decision.

For us its important that the next secretary-general enjoy the broadest possible support among members of the United Nations, he said.

Ukraines U.N. Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, a council member, called it a very useful exercise, although with many, many unclear questions of what will be the outcome, and what will be the final platform to judge the qualities of each of eight candidates.

The 1 for 7 Billion campaign, which Samarasinghe said is supported by 750 non-governmental organizations worldwide, is also calling for a single longer term to give the next secretary-general more independence from the major powers.

Lykketoft said the Nonaligned Movement, which represents over 100 developing countries, supports the idea but he doesnt know whether they will push for a General Assembly resolution on a single term, possibly seven years.

The interviews will continue through Thursday. Lykketoft said they will be followed by a second round for expected new candidates.

Secretary-General Ban is staying away from the hearings but is delighted they are happening, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday.

Asked whether the U.N. chief had any advice for the candidates ahead of the hearings, Dujarric said that Ban always recalls the advice a middle school teacher in South Korea gave him: Keep your feet firmly on the ground and your head in the clouds. By Edith M. Lederer, AP
In an article that appears under a new section of the cabinet of the Chief Executives (CE) website entitled Words of the Chief Executive, CE Chui Sai On has outlined five measures that he believes will help Macau consolidate its unique position and support Chinas development.

Returning from Chinas NPC and CPPCC sessions last month and sharing his findings, Chui said that the development of the country would help drive Macaus stability and prosperity. Furthermore, in reference to Beijings Belt and Road initiative, he noted that the city was capable of enhancing and consolidating its own role in national strategic development.

The Chief Executive suggested that the implementation of Macaus role within the countrys Five-Year Development Plan and the promotion of the territorys Centre and Platform policies as part of the Belt and Road initiative would be essential in driving the MSARs stability and prosperity.

In terms of Macau, the CE stressed the importance of developing social support for young people and improving the citys social welfare. Strengthening the effectiveness of governance in Macau was also deemed important and that included boosting interdepartmental cooperation in the public sector and the promotion of anti-corruption measures.

The final element contributing to Macaus stability and prosperity, according to Chuis article, is full compliance with Chinas Constitution and Macaus Basic Law. As per the information released by the Government Information Bureau, the Chief Executive neither expanded on this point, nor clarified how it would promote prosperity in the MSAR.

chui at the al on april 22

Chief Executive Chui Sai On will attend a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly (AL) on April 22 and answer legislators questions on government policy and social issues. The CE attends plenary sessions at the AL in April and August each year.
Wynn Macau last week organized what the company has termed an experiential day, offering team members an introductory preview of the soon-to-open resort, Wynn Palace. The activity, which was held over three consecutive days, allowed participants to visit the exhibition area and to learn about the facilities that the new property will offer.

According to a statement from the company, around 3,000 team members from the gaming division attended across the three days. Some of these team members will be transferring to the new resort once it opens, which is expected to happen some time in the second half of this year.

Last week, Steve Wynn told investors that the Wynn Palace opening, originally slated for June, might be delayed until August. We were thinking of August 8 for the opening, Wynn said during a presentation in Las Vegas.

grand hyatt presented with macaus best mice hotel award

The Grand Hyatt Macau was named the Best Meetings and Conventions Hotel in Macau at the 9th Annual TTG China Travel Awards 2016 ceremony, which was held in Shanghai last week.

The hotel has been responding to high demand for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) events in the Asia-Pacific region and in China, representatives wrote in a statement. They added that the hotel has been pioneering innovative new technologies to improve its MICE offerings in terms of creativity and sophistication.

Grand Hyatt Macau has been focusing on every aspect of our services to ensure that we provide signature experiences and moments of more at each touch point, said Paul Kwok, General Manager of Grand Hyatt Macau upon accepting the accolade on April 7. Were thrilled to receive this recognition from our industry partners and guests, he added.

The prestigious TTG China Travel Awards honor excellence in the travel industry in the Greater China region as voted by travel industry professionals and guests.
The University of Saint Joseph held its annual Open Day at the Saint Joseph Seminary Campus on Saturday, welcoming nearly 700 guests and prospective students with various booths and activities.

This year, the event featured a 3D Corner in the Students Exhibition Room allowing participants to go on a 3D virtual tour of the USJ Green Campus, and shuttle buses were arranged to take guests to the campus under construction at Ilha Verde.

The rector of the University of Saint Joseph, Fr Peter Stilwell, is hopeful to move onto the new campus by the upcoming school year.

Hsin Chong, the construction company, gave us a very detailed list of dates of when they will finish each part of the campus, and they are still proposing to have it ready and approved [] by the end of July. So that would mean that during the summer months we will be able to do some moving, says the rector.

He also added that the moving would still depend on when the construction company finally hands the campus over to the university.

In regards to university programs, the institution will launch its bachelor courses in Fashion Design, Portuguese and Chinese Language and Culture in September, as well as a Masters degree in Communication and Media.

We are aiming for 200 students, says Fr Stilwell. We are [influenced by] the competition from other higher educational institutions, dependent on the quality of what we provide and [dependent on] the people being happy with what theyre getting in USJ.

The rector claimed that one third of the institutions students are international, suggesting that around 300 students are from different parts of the world.

The university also revealed that the central government is reviewing its measures for enrolling mainland students at Hong Kong and Macau universities.

We were informed by Beijing that theyve looked at our case carefully [] We in fact thought that we were going to have the green light, then we got a letter from the Macau government, [] which said that the central government was reviewing the criteria for enrolment of mainland students to higher education institutions in Hong Kong and Macau.

However, Stilwell said that the school is still looking to attract mainland students, despite the proposal to enroll 60 students from China having been rejected. He added that serving international students is the institutions niche in Macaus higher education market and that the university is looking to attract more foreign students.

Moreover, the Bishop of Macau, Stephen Lee, admits that he is still unaware of the reasons behind the rejected proposal but hopes that there will be more opportunities for students from mainland China and other countries to come and study, as the university aims to become more international. Staff reporter
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wont say sorry for Americas atomic bombing of Hiroshima when he visits a revered memorial.

A U.S. official traveling with Kerry ruled out an apology ahead of todays tour with other foreign ministers of the Peace Memorial Park and Museum in the city where 140,000 Japanese died from the first of two atomic bombs dropped by the U.S. in the closing days of World War II more than 70 years ago.

Kerry, who will be the most senior American government official to have stopped by, planned to lay flowers, and was expected to express the sorrow that all feel upon reflection about the bombing  the first use of a nuclear weapon against an enemy in history.

The official said Kerry intended to use the occasion to promote President Barack Obamas vision of a nuclear-free world and the need to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The official previewed Kerrys plans on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to publicly discuss them before the event.

Obama has yet to decide whether he might visit Hiroshima and the memorial when he attends a Group of Seven meeting of leaders in central Japan in late May, according to the official.

The president said in an interview during his first year in office that he would be honored to travel to Hiroshima.

For many years, top U.S. officials avoided going to Hiroshima because of political sensitivities. Many Americans believe the dropping of atomic bombs in August 1945 were justified and hastened the end of the war.

Japanese survivors groups have campaigned for decades to bring top officials from the U.S. and other nuclear weapon states to see Hiroshimas scars as part of a grassroots movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

No serving U.S. president has visited the site. It took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend Hiroshimas annual memorial service, and six more years to win Kerrys visit.

The U.S. official said Japan didnt seek an apology from Kerry, and that neither side is looking in to reopen the question of blame for the various atrocities of the war.

Instead, he said both countries wanted the event to show the strong ties they developed since peace in 1945 and their shared efforts to promote a peaceful world.

The museum includes harrowing images of the destruction and shocking exhibits, including the torn clothing of children who perished and skin, fingernails, deformed tongues and other horrible examples of the exposure to the blast and its residual radiation.

Some explanations mounted on the wall, however, dont align with the views of all historians and experts in the United States or elsewhere.

For example, one suggests that the United States used the weapon in part to justify the extraordinary costs of the Manhattan Project to develop it. Disagreements over motivations and possible justification rage among historians, ethicists and others to this day. Bradley Klapper, Hiroshima, AP
A massive fire broke out during a fireworks display in a Hindu temple in south India yesterday, killing more than 100 people and injuring at least 200 others, officials said.

The fire started when a spark from the unauthorized fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks that were being stored at the Puttingal temple complex in Paravoor village, a few hours north of Keralas state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the states top elected official.

Thousands had been packed into the temple complex when a big explosion erupted around 3 a.m., officials said. The blaze then spread quickly through the temple, trapping devotees within.

Most of the 102 people died when the building where the fireworks were stored collapsed, Chandy told reporters at the temple complex.

Local TV channels broadcast images of huge clouds of white smoke billowing from the temple, as fireworks were still going off in the night sky. Successive explosions from the building storing the fireworks sent huge chunks of concrete flying as far as a kilometer, according to resident Jayashree Harikrishnan.

The temple holds a competitive fireworks display every year, with different groups putting on successive light shows for thousands of devotees gathered for the last day of a seven-day festival honoring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali.

This year, district authorities denied permission for the fireworks display, Chief Minister Chandy said.

The states High Court had earlier mandated that fireworks must be stored more than 100 meters from temples  orders that were flouted at the Paravoor temple, said Loknath Behera, a top police official.

We will be investigating how the orders were flouted and who was responsible for the decision to go ahead with the firework display, Chandy said.

Krishna Das, a resident of Paravoor village, said he had started walking away from the temple as the fireworks display was about to end when a deafening explosion followed by a series of blasts went off.

I had been in the temple just a few minutes before watching the fireworks, Das said. He said he saw scores of people running away, chased by fire and chunks of concrete and plaster from the temple building.

Das said as soon as the first explosion was heard, a power outage hit the complex.

It was complete chaos. People were screaming in the dark. Ambulance sirens went off, and in the darkness no one knew how to find their way out of the complex, he said.

He said that six ambulances had been parked outside the temple complex as a precaution. They were used to rush the injured to hospitals in the nearby cities of Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram.

Local villagers and police pulled out many of the injured from under slabs of concrete.

Many of the buildings within a kilometer of the temple were damaged with cracks in the walls or broken window panes from the impact of the explosion, Das said.

By morning, firefighters had brought the blaze under control, officials said. Rescuers sifted through the wreckage in search of survivors, while backhoes cleared the debris and ambulances drove away the injured.

As day broke, thousands of anxious relatives reached the temple in search of their loved ones. Many wept and pressed police officials and rescue workers for information on their family members.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by doctors, was flying to Kerala to meet with the survivors and victims families.

At one of the main hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, senior physician Thomas Mathew said that judging from injuries, a stampede was also likely to have occurred at the temple.

There were few women or children among the injured. Most were men, Mathew said. Anna Mathews, India, AP
Macau Orchestra has collaborated with French pianist Alexandre Tharaud for its upcoming concert entitled The Great Pianist: Alexandre Tharaud and Macau Orchestra.

Alexandre Tharaud, acclaimed as a modern poet of the piano, became well known as an outstanding pianist following the release of the French film Amour  winner of the Palm dOr at the 65th Cannes Film Festival in 2012 and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2013.

The pianist, who has recorded over 20 albums, has also won a series of awards including first prize at the Maria Canals International Music Competition of Barcelona and second prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.

With his unique music style and skilled technical performances, Tharaud has been described by the Washington Post as a pianist of brilliant thought and action.

According to a statement issued by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Tharaud and the orchestra will collaborate in a performance of Edvard Griegs Piano Concerto in A minor. The program also features the delicate Symphony No. 8 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

The concert will be held on June 5 in the grand auditorium of the Macau Cultural Centre.
The attackers who struck Brussels on March 22 initially planned to launch a second assault on France, Belgiums Federal Prosecution Office said yesterday.

But the perpetrators were surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation and decided to rush an attack on Brussels instead, the office said in a statement. It didnt provide any details on the initial plot or its targets and the office couldnt immediately be reached for further comment.

Two suicide bombers killed 16 people at Brussels Airport on March 22. A subsequent explosion at Brussels Maelbeek subway station killed another 16 people the same morning. Investigators have found intimate links between the cell behind those attacks and the group that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13.

Yesterdays statement provides confirmation of what many have suspected: the series of raids and arrests in the week leading up to the Brussels attacks  including the capture of key Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam  pushed the killers to action.

Belgian police detained four men in Brussels raids over the weekend who were charged with participating in terrorist murders and the activities of a terrorist group in relation to the Brussels attacks. One of them, Mohamed Abrini, has also been charged in relation to the Paris attacks, prosecutors said.

Abrini has acknowledged being the man in the hat spotted alongside the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport, officials said. Surveillance footage has also placed him in the convoy with the attackers who headed to Paris ahead of the Nov. 13 massacre.

Abrini was a childhood friend of Brussels brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks, and he had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the Paris attackers ringleader who died in a French police raid shortly afterward. Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in the Paris bombings while Salah Abdeslam was arrested in Brussels on March 18  four days before the attacks there  after a four-month manhunt.

The other suspects charged over the weekend were identified as Osama Krayem, who left the Swedish city of Malmo to fight in Syria and was described by one relative as having been brainwashed. Also charged were Herve B. M., a Rwandan national, and Bilal E. M.

The past couple of days developments represent a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been repeatedly criticized for bungling the bombings investigation. Despite the progress, Brussels remains under the second-highest terror alert, meaning an attack is still considered likely.

There are perhaps other cells that are still active on our territory, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon told RTL television on Saturday.

In a separate development, Brussels STIB transport network announced that 12 stations closed since the attacks would reopen today. Eighteen of the capitals 69 stations will remain closed until further notice, including Maelbeek. Raphael Satter, Paris, AP
Vietnam demanded Friday that China remove an oil exploration rig from an area of the South China Sea where their border is still being demarcated, and said Beijings unilateral actions were complicating regional tensions.

The oil rig was at the center of a standoff between the countries in 2014 when Chinaparked it near the Paracel islands, which Vietnam claims as its exclusive economic zone. The incident sparked deadly riots in Vietnam.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said China has moved the oil rig into an area in the Gulf of Tonkin where the countries are negotiating the demarcation of their sea border.

Vietnam resolutely opposes and demands that China abandon drilling plans and immediately withdraw the Hai Duong 981 oil rig from this area, and that it not take additional unilateral actions that further complicate the situation in the South China Sea, Binh said in a statement, referring to the oil rig by its Vietnamese name.

Vietnam lodged a protest with the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi, he said.

Binh also said Chinas operation of a new lighthouse on one of the seven artificial islands it has recently constructed in the South China Sea was illegal and invalid.

Rejecting Vietnams demands, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the oil rig is conducting standard exploratory activities within waters under Chinas undisputed jurisdiction.

We hope the parties concerned can see this objectively and rationally, Hong told reporters at a regularly scheduled news briefing.

Hong also said the operation of the lighthouse on Subi Reef is a matter falling within Chinas sovereignty.

The lighthouse is intended to better fulfill Chinas international responsibilities and obligations and provide more public facilities to the regional countries, so as to maintain freedom and safety of navigation in the South China Sea, Hong said.

The relocation of the Chinese oil rig last Sunday came just days before Vietnams legislature swore in new Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who has vowed to defend Vietnamese sovereignty. AP
The Lisbon stock exchange suspended trading in shares in Banco Portugues do Investimento as the market awaited details yesterday of a takeover agreement between the banks Spanish and Angolan shareholders.

Spains Caixabank, S.A., which owns 44 percent of the Portuguese bank, has for more than a year been negotiating to buy the 18.6 percent stake held by Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos after European banking authorities ordered Portugals second-largest listed bank to lower its exposure to Angola.

Banco BPI, as the bank is known, said in a statement yesterday its two major shareholders had clinched a deal, with details being made public in coming days.

Caixabank is widely expected to launch a bid for other BPI shares it doesnt own in the latest move toward consolidation in the Iberian banking sector, which is being encouraged by European supervisors keen to strengthen the industry. The International Monetary Fund said this month the Portuguese banking sector is hobbled by low profitability and poor asset quality.

Dos Santos is a daughter of longtime Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and is one of Africas most successful businesswomen. Analysts predict she will get a controlling stake in Banco de Fomento Angola, where BPI has a 50.1 percent stake.

BPIs announcement came on the last day of a deadline from the European Central Bank to reduce its Angolan bank assets. The ECB regards Angolan banking supervision as poor. AP
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou called for peace in Asias contested waters on Saturday as he visited a small island in the East ChinaSea, one of his last symbolic foreign policy moves before leaving office next month.

Mas visit to Pengjia, about 56 kilometers north of Taiwan proper, was his administrations second propaganda trip to an island in three weeks. It came four years after Ma last visited Pengjia to propose a plan to address territorial disputes among China, Taiwan and Japan over the nearby chain known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyutai in Chinese.

During his eight years as president, Ma has sought to carve out Taiwans position as a mediator in the regions numerous territorial disputes while asserting its own claims, even though it has been locked in a decades-long standoff with Beijing, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province.

Pengjia, considered the northernmost part of Taiwans territory, is not contested and is home to about 40 residents, a weather station and coast guard facilities. It lies some 120 kilometers west of the Japanese-controlled Senkakus, which are hotly disputed by China, in particular. Taiwan also claims the islands, although its conflict with Japan has been considerably less heated, with the two sides reaching fishing agreements in 2013.

After arriving by helicopter Saturday, Ma unveiled a monument to maritime peace at a ceremony and commemorated the fishing deal he had signed with Japan.

I hope that we will be able to have peaceful cross-strait relations with China, and we can find peace in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, Ma said. In war there are no winners.

Political observers in Taiwan said the island visit represents a symbolic stroke before Ma steps down from the presidency on May 20, when Tsai Ing-wen will be sworn in as Taiwans new leader.

Ma Ying-jeou wanted to [maintain] his legacy over these issues, said Kaocheng Wang, dean of the College of International Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei, Taiwans capital. I think he personally thought that is a successful policy to both claim our sovereignty, to safeguard our sovereignty and also to boost his popularity.

In January, Ma flew to Taiping Island in the South China Seas intensely contested Spratly group to demonstrate that Taiping is a self-supporting island entitled to an exclusive economic zone rather than a rock, as the Philippines claims in an international lawsuit.

Washington, a crucial ally of Taiwan, called that trip extremely unhelpful to efforts to maintain stability in a region widely considered a potential military flashpoint.

In March, Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Bruce Linghu led two dozen journalists on another trip to Taiping.

While Taiping is the largest naturally occurring island in the Spratlys, it has been dwarfed by man-made features created by China by piling sand atop coral reefs and topping them with lighthouses, airstrips, harbors and other infrastructure. Johnson Lai, Pengjia Islet, AP
HONG KONG Revelers dressed up as Donald Trump and several movie characters as they watched Fiji clinch its 16th title at Hong Kongs biggest annual social event, the Rugby Sevens. Fiji beat New Zealand by 21 points to 7 yesterday in the final match of the three-day event.

JAPAN Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries are meeting in the western Japanese city of Hiroshima until today.

BELGIUM The extremists who struck Brussels last month and killed 32 people initially planned to launch a second assault on France in the wake of the November attacks in Paris, authorities said yesterday.

PHILIPPINE authorities said 23 people were killed and 70 injured in the deadliest encounter between soldiers and militants in the nations south this year.

Eighteen soldiers died in the 10-hour clash in Basilan province on Saturday, while five of the fatalities were members of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

TURKEYs state-run news agency says a Syrian journalist has been seriously wounded in an attack in Turkey  the latest victim of a series of assaults against Syrian journalists in the country.

PAKISTANI opposition leader Imran Khan yesterday called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign over documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm that he said indicate that the premiers sons own several offshore companies.

AUSTRALIA A state has ordered a review of how radicalized prisoners are managed after a teenage inmate reportedly carved an Islamic State motto on his army veteran cellmates forehead, officials said yesterday.

EL SALVADOR For nearly a week late last month, a modicum of peace appeared to have settled over El Salvador. After the countrys leading criminal gangs called a unilateral truce, violent crime suddenly plunged, and the homicide rate fell to around nine a day.

SOMALIA A car bomb killed four people when it detonated outside a restaurant in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, police said. Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked militant group, has waged an insurgency in the Horn of Africa nation since 2006 in a bid to impose a strict version of Islamic law.
BOISE  An Idaho teen has been sentenced to spend the next 20 years in an adult prison, forcing correction officials to look across the country to find a safe place for the 16-year-old to do his time.

Eldon Samuel III was just 14 when he shot to death his drug-addicted father and then shot, stabbed and hacked to death his autistic younger brother in their northern Idaho home.

Last week, 1st District Judge Benjamin Simpson sentenced him to spend the next two decades in prison, starting immediately. But federal laws prohibit minors from being held within sight or sound of adult prison inmates.

Currently, the only way for Idaho prisons to meet those standards is to place the teen in solitary confinement.

Thats got Idaho Department of Correction officials scrambling to find a solution.

We need to keep him separate from our adult offenders, and unfortunately there are no other juveniles in our system, said Ashley Dowell, the departments deputy chief of prisons.

The solution will likely be an out-of-state prison, Dowell said. Minors arent unheard of in Idaho prisons, but havent been a significant portion of the states prison population for decades.

Today, there is just one other minor under IDOC jurisdiction  a 17-year-old girl who is on probation. Another juvenile is serving a blended sentence and is expected to be transferred to an adult facility at age 18.

Samuel has already done time in solitary. He spent more than three months in a 9-foot by 12-foot holding cell in a Kootenai County Jail when he was first charged.

Experts believe extended solitary confinement amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho intervened on Samuels behalf, asking the court to move him to juvenile detention.

Eventually, a judge agreed and sent Samuel to a local detention facility until his trial was complete.

The teen is returning to solitary for at least the next several days, however, as he undergoes the same receiving and diagnostic process that all state prison inmates go through.

ACLU-Idaho spokesman Leo Morales said his organization is watching Samuels case closely.

What this raises again is a serious issue with regards to our prisons in this state, an issue with how our judges sentence juveniles. We know that solitary confinement is really cruel and unusual, particularly for juveniles, Morales said.

IDOC research analyst Sean Falconer said in an email that the vast majority of people who came under IDOC custody as juveniles were sentenced to either probation or a so-called rider program, where they serve a few months in prison before they are evaluated for possible early probation.

Falconer said there are currently 218 adults who came under IDOC jurisdiction as juveniles, including 86 inmates currently serving prison terms.

Juveniles are also a rarity in adult prisons nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Justices Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that there are roughly 1,200 youths held in adult state prison facilities, according to a 2013 report. Thats less than a tenth of a percent of all inmates.

And that number has been dropped dramatically over the past several years: Nearly 4,000 juveniles were held in state prisons in 2000.

Florida, New York, Georgia, Connecticut and Michigan currently have the highest numbers, according to the BJS report.

In Idaho, juveniles charged with certain felonies are automatically tried as adults. But those that are sentenced are often given blended sentences, serving time in a juvenile detention center until they become of age and can be transferred to an adult prison.

During Samuels sentencing hearing, Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams urged the judge to allow the teen to stay in juvenile detention for now, moving him to a prison when he turns 19 or 21.

Adams cited Samuels traumatized upbringing: His father was abusive, both children were neglected and Samuel was in charge of caring for his autistic brother. His father also believed that a zombie apocalypse was imminent, and tried to train Samuel to fight off the monsters in case of a doomsday event, according to court testimony.

However, the judge noted the seriousness of the crime. Samuels younger brother tried to hide under a bed, but Samuel found him and shot, stabbed and hacked the child with a machete more than 100 times.

The judge said he wasnt comfortable having the teen housed with other juvenile offenders, opting instead to house him in adult prison for the entirety of his sentence.
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Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is on the verge of becoming a major force in Yemen with the possibility of expanding its area of control following reports that the extremist group is controlling the southeastern port city of Mukalla with a population of around 500,000 habitants.

AQAP strengthened its hold on the city after most Yemeni security agents joined the battle against the Houthis.

The group depends on the lucrative illegal oil trade and charges on port transactions to fund its operations.

Government officials and local traders estimated that the group earned around $100million from looting the central banks branch in the city and millions more from extorting the national oil company. The taxation of goods and fuel passing through the port earns it around $2 million per day.

The financial power is expected to revitalize the capabilities of AQAP. A US counter-terrorism official stated that the group is the most potent affiliate of al-Qaeda and its bomb-making expertise and long standing ambitions to carry out attacks using novel or complex tactics underscore threat.

AQAP controls a coastline of around 600km and a senior Yemeni government official said the ongoing war provided a suitable environment for the expansion of al Qaeda and it had acquired very large quantities of sophisticated and advanced weapons from military bases in the south making it stronger and dangerous.

Request by AQAP for the Hadi government to provide it with documents to sell crude oil was turned down with government officials claiming it will be equivalent to a de facto legitimacy. AQAP proposed that the government would keep 75% of the profit.
Hamas has accused forces of the Palestinian Authority (PA) of collaborating with Israel to crackdown on those planning to launch attacks on the Jewish state.

The allegations coincided with Prime Minister Netanyahu stating that a significant decline of attacks on Israeli has been registered recently after six months.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri claimed that the cooperation between the PA and Israel in arresting three fighters Saturday is a serious escalation in the coordination between them.

The arrested fighters are allegedly planning a large scale terror attack against Israeli interests. It is unclear if their arrest on Saturday led to the cancellation of a planned unity conference in Gaza by Hamas after its security forces raided the hall. The organizers accused Hamas of limiting public freedom in Gaza.

Hamas recently came under criticism from Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to ex-Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, in an article urging the mosque preachers of the group to live the bitter reality and stop deluding people that we are living in a reality of a utopia.

He said conditions have worsened in Gaza under Hamas with a bleak future as he noted that we have waited for 10 years to see the virtuous city that the group promised when it forced Fatah out. Hamas believes in a resistance approach to attain Palestines statehood and independence.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting told ministers that security forces have reached a significant decline in curbing attacks on Israelis and Palestinians are feeling that escalation was pointless.

Violence has left 200 Palestinians and 28 Israelis dead since October.
The ceasefire in Yemen ahead of the April 10 talks in Kuwait commenced and United Nations special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh called on the international community to be supportive of it.

He stressed that the critical, urgent and much needed ceasefire could be a first step in Yemens return to peace because enough lives have been lost.

The ceasefire will allow access to relief aid. Humanitarian organizations in the country estimate that more than 82% of the population is dependent on aid while 2.75million people are displaced. A coalition of 15 aid groups has warned of catastrophic consequences if the ceasefire fails but the Saudi-led coalition has stated that the cessation of hostilities will expire at 12p.m. local of the day following the conclusion of consultations in Kuwait; unless extended.

Talks will be centered on the withdrawal of militias and armed groups, the handover of heavy weapons to the state, interim security arrangements, the restoration of state institutions and the resumption of inclusive political dialogue, and creation of a special committee for prisoners and detainees.

The UN Special Envoy noted that a positive outcome will require difficult compromises from all sides, courage and determination to reach an agreement.

There are reports of the ceasefire already being violated but there are hopes that it will continue. Now is the time to step back from the brink the special envoy stated remarking that the progress made represents a real opportunity to rebuild a country that has suffered far too much violence for far too long.

The Saudi-led military coalition stated that its mission is to reinstate Hadi as the legitimate president of Yemen but the Houthi Movement has been resisting its military campaign for more than a year.
The US-Russia negotiated ceasefire is on the verge of collapsing as confrontations between government and rebel forces increase in Aleppo.

Damascus intends to liberate Aleppo from illegal armed groups, said Syrias Prime Minister Wael al-Halaki during talks with a delegation of Russian lawmakers.

His statement comes ahead of another round of negotiations with the rebel forces scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Geneva.

The Prime Minister said the operation will be done together with our Russian partners against all illegal armed groups which have not joined or have broken the ceasefire deal while Dmitry Sablin, a member of the Russian upper house of parliament, said their air force will help Syrian forces ground offensive operation.

The ceasefire has been the longest respected agreement in Syria since it began on February 27 amid numerous violations. However, it could soon be sidelined after a member of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Bassama Kodmani said over the last 10 days, we have seen a very serious deterioration and the ceasefire is about to collapse.

The ceasefire does not include al-Nusra, al Qaedas affiliate in Syria, and ISIS.

Information minister Omaran al Zoubi said the governments planned operations in Aleppo were not violating the ceasefire because its al-Nusra Fronts operating ground together with its allies. He said the operations would be on a large-scale and continuous.

It seems as if the operation might have already begun as Mohamed Rasheed, media officer of Jaysh al-Nasr rebel group, stated that the airstrikes are now roughly back to what they were. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that at least 16 pro-regime fighters and 19 members of Al-Nusra Front and allied rebel groups have been killed over the weekend in Aleppo.
The long awaited delivery of the S-300 air defense systems to Iran by Russia reached a major step after Tehran confirmed on Monday that it has received the first shipment and expects others to follow.

Western states and Israel had objected to supplying Iran with the system, considered as one of the most reliable in the world, prompting Moscow to cancel in 2010 the $800 million contract agreement it signed with Iran in 2007.

President Vladmir Putin lifted the ban in April last year ending Irans $4 billion compensation lawsuit against Russia in the Geneva Arbitration Court.

Spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry Hussein Jaber Ansari stated that regardless of some obstacles in the past concerning the agreement which is now on the stage of completion, the country has received the first batch of this equipment (S-300) and the delivery of the next batch will continue in the future. The announcement ended speculations over when the system will be delivered.

Vladmir Kozhin, an adviser to president Putin, stated last year in July that the systems being sent to Iran will be modern and upgraded to meet Irans specific needs. Neighboring countries have been concerned about Irans military intention in the region and several Gulf States have accused Tehran of wanting to destabilize them.

Commander Pourdastan of Irans Army Ground Force announced on Monday that his forces will stage dozens of drills this year; the first of which will be a war game on May 23.

The S-300 surface-to-air missiles can neutralize aerial targets such as helicopters, warplanes and cruise or ballistic missiles. The system will be used to boost Irans locally developed arsenal.
Water levels at Kariba dam that straddles the Zambian and Zimbabwean border dropped to 17 percent compared to the 32 percent during the same period in 2015, the authority in charge of the worlds largest man-made reservoir said on Sunday.

Poor rainfall and overuse of water by Zambia and Zimbabwe, the southern African countries that share the reservoir, have caused its levels to drop, with electricity generation already reduced by more than half.

The El Nino climate phenomenon rated as one of the strongest since 1950 has reduced precipitation in the dams catchment areas and disrupted crop production in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Flows of the Zambezi River that feeds the dam were lower since January, according to Zambezi River Authority (ZRA.)

In January, the dams water levels dropped to as low as 11% due to erratic rains received this past rainy season, forcing ZRA to reduce water allocation for energy generation to both Zimbabwe and Zambia.

In Zimbabwe, a proposed 49% hike in electricity prices by Zimbabwes state-owned power utility, Zesa Holdings Pvt Ltd., has been rejected as unaffordable by industry bodies representing farmers, miners and manufacturers in the southern African nation.

In Zambia, the current power crisis has seen the government ordering major mining companies and other large electricity consumers to reduce consumption by up to 25 percent.
The United Nations is set to select a new secretary general at the end of 2016 as current leader Ban Ki-moons term runs out.

For the first time in the organizations 70-year history, the candidates vying for the position will make their pitch for the job to world governments.

From this week on, all the UN member states will get a chance to question the candidates, in a move to make the usually secret selection process for the worlds top diplomatic post more transparent.

Eight candidates are in the race to succeed Ban Ki- moon in January 2017.

We have decided collectively to open up the race, French Ambassador Francois Delattre said of the new selection process.

The hearings are important and new, and I do plan to attend to listen to each of the candidates, Delattre said

The secretary general is chosen by the 193-member General Assembly on the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council, according to the U.N. Charter.

By tradition, the job of secretary general has rotated among regions. East European nations, including Russia, argue that they have never had a secretary general and that it is now their turn.

There has also never been a woman secretary general and many countries support the idea of the first female U.N. chief.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is paying as of Sunday a week-long working visit to China to seek greater support from Beijing for the development of Nigerias infrastructure.

According to the presidential spokesman Femi Adesina, specific infrastructure sectors such as power, roads, railways, aviation, water supply and housing will receive special attention during the visit.

Talks will also focus on ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in line with Nigeria governments agenda for rapid diversification of the economy, according to local media reports.

The visit will highlight by the signing of several agreements and memoranda of understanding meant to boost trade and economic relations between Africas largest economy and China.

The President will also open a China-Nigeria Business/Investment Forum in Beijing and meet with members of the Nigerian Community in China before returning to Abuja next weekend.

Nigeria wants to raise about $5 billion abroad to cover part of its 2016 budget deficit, projected to hit $15 billion due to heavy infrastructure spending at a time the slump in global oil prices has slashed its export revenues.

Buhari, who was elected in March 2015 on a promise to fix the West African countrys problems, wants to turn around the economy by investing in power plants and transport, ending a development paralysis under his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan.
Eligible South Africans still have a chance to register at their voting stations as the final registration kicked off this weekend.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) last week revealed that at least nine million South Africans, eligible to vote, are not registered.

According to IECs chief Mosotho Moepya, there are 25.6 million registered voters on its system and its hoping more people will take the opportunity to register during this final registration.

The IEC said it has trained thousands of officials to operate the stations across the rainbow nation to ensure that people are registered.

Last week, South African president Jacob Zuma announced that local government elections will be held on August 3.

The president encouraged all South Africans who are eligible to vote, in particular the youth who would be voting for the first time, to register for the local elections.

This years election is seen as the most hotly contested in the country.

The voters will elect provincial officials, metropolitan and local municipal councils and mayors.
Electron micrograph of microparticles found in the supernatant of a freshly prepared red blood cell unit. Microparticles ranged from 50-600 nm in diameter, with many around 200 nm. Credit: Blood Systems Research Institute. Adapted from Danesh et al., Blood 123:687-96 (2014).

Scientists from Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco, California, and Canadian Blood Services' Centre for Innovation lab in Edmonton, Alberta, report for the first time that specific red blood cell manufacturing methods may be less damaging to cells than others. This finding could help reduce adverse reactions in transfusion recipients and may impact the future of how blood is collected in North America and around the world.

By comparing red blood cells collected at the organizations' respective blood donation centers in the US and Canada, the researchers looked at the levels of microparticles and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) present in blood that can indicate cellular damage. Studying red blood cell units manufactured using nine different processes, the scientists observed clear differences in the extent of damage across the nine methods. The findings appear in Vox Sanguinis online and will be printed in an upcoming issue.

"Based on Dr. Jason Acker's prior work, we knew that red blood cells can be damaged to varying degrees depending on the manufacturing method. We then wondered if we could detect damage-associated molecular patterns, known as DAMPs, in the red cell products, as evidenced by microparticle counts and mtDNA levels," explains Dr. Sonia Bakkour. Dr. Bakkour, lead researcher and staff scientist in the molecular transfusion lab at Blood Systems Research Institute, presented the team's preliminary findings at the AABB annual meeting last October.

"Our study showed that those molecular patterns are present and that their levels and composition are different based on the red cell manufacturing process, that is, the process and materials used to collect or prepare red cells for transfusion. This tells us that some manufacturing processes cause less damage to the red blood cells than others."

"Working with the American team at Blood Systems Research Institute was key to this research because of the wide variations in blood manufacturing processes present in the US," explains Dr. Jason Acker, senior development scientist with Canadian Blood Services' Centre for Innovation. "In countries like Canada, where there is a national blood service, manufacturing methods are largely standardized, so it is difficult to compare various methods. But blood collection in the US is characterized by dozens of independent blood centers that use a variety of available manufacturing processes. The Americans provided the variations we needed to measure red cell damage and to ascertain whether it can be attributed to different manufacturing methods."

This new research also debunks the long-held belief that higher levels of DAMPs are associated with longer lengths of time red blood cell units are stored prior to transfusion. The findings show the increased levels are related to the manufacturing method, rather than the storage method. However, the researchers have not yet isolated the specific causes of the variations in mtDNA and microparticle counts.

"There must be more testing of the apheresis collections equipment, blood bags, leukoreduction filters and other variations in manufacturing methods to determine what single element or combination of elements in the various red blood cell manufacturing processes result in high levels of DAMPs and why," emphasizes Dr. Michael Busch, senior vice president and co-director of Blood Systems Research Institute.

"We also need to understand how mitochondrial DAMPs are involved in adverse reactions to red blood cell transfusions," elaborates Bakkour. "Some recently published studies on platelet components link high levels of mitochondrial DAMPs to adverse transfusion reactions. We need to see if DAMPs have similar adverse effects on recipients of red blood cell transfusions."

"We think that our research could lead to finding 'the best' way to manufacture red blood cells," predicts Acker. "It's clear now that manufacturing methods matter. We and our respective research sponsorsHealth Canada, US National Institutes for Health, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute are keen to explore what's in the blood bag or in the filters or in the tubing, for example, that can be minimized or eliminated, improving the outcome in patients who receive blood transfusions."

Explore further Prevention of sickle cell disease progression in adult mice

Provided by Canadian Blood Services
Jessica Yoest, a senior majoring in communication arts and sciences and one of Clara Cohen's research assistants, demonstrates how to use the eye-tracking device. Credit: Rachel Garman

For Clara Cohen, language is all about patterns. The postdoctoral psychology researcher has been interested in linguistic patterns since she was an undergraduate learning Russian, and now, thanks to advances in technology, she can study patterns in language as they occur in real time.

Through the Center for Language Science and the Language and Bilingualism Lab in the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, Cohen is using an eye-tracking device to examine the subtle differences between how English and bilingual speakers process singular and plural nouns.

Although only a small faction of the larger scope of linguistics research, Cohen's study could potentially unlock new information about how language is processed across the globe, with possible benefits for those with dyslexia and even Apple's computerized personal assistant, Siri.

Cohen suggests that for English speakers, determining whether or not a noun is plural might actually occur before a person even hears the "s" at the end of the word. In fact, there are subtle cues in the duration of singular and plural words that could help a listener predict plurality.

"One pattern that people will have heard throughout their lives as they speak English is that before a plural suffix, the stem of a noun is a little bit shorter," Cohen said. "So 'cats' with a suffix sounds shorter than 'cat.'"

A sample image of what study participants see while using the eye tracker.

Although English speakers have developed this fine-tuned language processing, speakers of many other languages, like Spanish, might not need to pay attention to subtle changes in duration since the article before a noun indicates whether it's singular or plural (e.g., el for singular or los for plural).

To test how quickly English and non-English speakers process plurality, Cohen monitors study participants with an eye-tracking device. The device works by shining a harmless and invisible infrared light on the subject's eye. Based on the position of the light's reflection, the attached optical video sensor uses an algorithm to determine the direction and duration of a subject's gaze.

For the purposes of the study, Cohen is interested in where a subject's eye travels while listening to a speaker say a sentence with either singular or plural words.

Study participants sit in a soundproof room and watch a computer screen while wearing headphones and resting their heads on a chin rest (similar to one you'd find at the eye doctor). Four images appear on the screena seal, a bun, a bunny and a herd of seals. Cohen's voice comes on through the headphones: "The man looked at the seals."

As the participant's eyes look toward the image of the seals, the reflection of the infrared light gives the sensor real-time information on how fast the participant processed the sentence.

According to Cohen, these precise calculations wouldn't be possible without advances in technology.

A computer in the lab lets Cohen calibrate the eye tracker for each participant. Credit: Rachel Garman

"Before we had eye trackers, the way we would interpret how people understood a sentence is by giving them a question like, 'Is the last noun in this sentence singular or plural?' And then we'd play them a sentence and have them press a button for yes or no," Cohen said. "Based on how fast they pressed the button, we could determine whether the sentence was easier or harder to process."

Examining language through these older methods provides less informative data, as these yes-or-no questions are unable to capture information in real time.

"So by determining where someone is looking as a sentence unfolds over time, we can determine at what point they figured out what was being asked of them," Cohen said.

The experiments conducted here at Penn State are only part of the puzzlein May, Cohen will travel to Tarragona, Spain, on a National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research (PIRE) grant to recreate the study with monolingual and bilingual Spanish participants.

"Everyone who I'll be working with in Spain has taken English in high school, but the monolinguals haven't used it since and the bilinguals still use it," Cohen said. "I'm going to be looking at whether the monolinguals are insensitive to this duration difference in Spanish. For the bilinguals, I'm interested in how quickly they can shift their awareness of cues."

Although Cohen's study may only be a small piece of linguistics research, there are a variety of benefits that could come from the results.

Aside from changing the way foreign languages are understood and taught, a possible implication is improving how automatic speech recognition systemslike Siriprocess language.

"Simply knowing that you have this pattern of durational differences depending on whether or not there's a suffix can help automatic speech recognition systems say, 'This sound is a little bit longer than I expected and there's a suffix, therefore, it must be a verb and not a noun,' Cohen said. "So this understanding of patterns of pronunciation can help improve the accuracy of automatic speech recognition."

And for those with auditory processing disordera condition often found in those with dyslexia, which hinders a person's ability to hear subtle changes in pitch and duration of soundsCohen's results could eventually lead to changes in how the disorder is managed.

"Understanding exactly how important durational variation is in speech, whatever language you're speaking, might help people with these types of auditory processing disorders better manage the effects on their lives."

But for Cohen, one of the greatest personal benefits of the study is the thrill of uncovering more patterns in language.

"Learning a foreign language has its own rules and principles," Cohen said. "It doesn't have to be a mystery."

Explore further Speaking two languages for the price of one
Patients and companions at the Cholera Treatment Center in Haiti, April 2015. Credit: Andres Martinez Casares

On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, killing thousands of people and displacing millions more.

Ten months later the country was stricken with an outbreak of cholera, a deadly diarrheal disease. Though the number of cholera cases has decreased from a peak of approximately 25,000 cases per month, it is likely that thousands of people are still falling ill with the disease.

Moreover, there are now worrying signs that cholera has transitioned from an outbreak to an endemic disease. This means that cholera could join the list of infectious diseases that regularly occur in Haiti.

My colleagues and I at the University of Florida have developed mathematical models to help understand cholera transmission in Haiti and provide insights into how it might be stopped. Unless drinking water and sanitation infrastructure are improved, cholera could remain in Haiti indefinitely, an unwelcome development for the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

What is cholera?

Cholera is a waterborne disease, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. People become infected when they consume food or water contaminated by this pathogen. Once ingested, the bacteria colonize the small intestine, releasing a toxin that disrupts the movement of water.

Vibrio cholerae. Credit: Tom Kirn, Ron Taylor, Louisa Howard, Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility, via Wikimedia Commons

The results are devastating: acute, watery diarrhea that can result in the loss of one liter of fluid per hour and death by dehydration in less than a day. However, lifesaving treatment in the form of oral rehydration salts, a simple mixture of electrolytes and water, can prevent death in up to 80 percent of cases.

Though largely a forgotten disease in most developed countries, cholera was once a major source of illness and death. Before the advent of modern water and sanitation practices, cholera was found in much of the world and remains endemic in Bangladesh, India and parts of Africa. It is estimated that 1 to 4 million people become infected per year worldwide, and between 28,000 and 140,000 will die from this disease.

The earthquake created ideal conditions for water-borne diseases

After the earthquake in Haiti, millions of people were living in temporary camps without access to improved water or sewage systems, and crowded into very unhygienic circumstances. These are ideal conditions for the transmission of cholera.

In October 2010, a cluster of cholera cases was detected along the Artibonite River, the longest and most important waterway in Haiti. The cases were traced back to a tributary of the river, bordered by a garrison of Nepalese soldiers that were sent by the United Nations (U.N.) to help keep the peace in the aftermath of the earthquake. Like the majority of people infected with cholera, the soldiers were asymptomatic and unaware that they carried the bacteria.

The garrison discharged untreated sewage directly into a river that many people were relying on for drinking water. Once the river was contaminated, the spread of cholera was explosive.

By December 2010, cholera had spread throughout all 10 departments of Haiti, causing over 100,000 cases and thousands of deaths.

The outbreak continued to grow

In the year that followed, over 350,000 cases were reported, making Haiti the scene of the largest national cholera outbreak in recent history. The international community was, once again, mobilized to help Haiti with this new crisis.

By early 2014 it seemed as if the cholera epidemic was coming under control. The number of cases dropped to approximately 200 cases per week, with signs that the increase in access to cholera treatment centers, along with interventions in sanitation and hygiene, were working.

After a few consecutive weeks during the summer of 2014 when no new cholera cases were reported in Haiti, it appeared that the epidemic was finally finished and the international community started to close many of the cholera treatment centers in Haiti.

Cholera returns  and lingers

But in the fall of 2014, cholera transmission returned at a rate of around 2,000 cases per week and remains elevated at approximately 1,000 cases per week. Perhaps the disease returned because fewer treatment centers were available for those infected to receive treatment. Or maybe the acquired immunity in people who survived the infection started to wane.

However, it is also possible that the underlying dynamics of cholera transmission in Haiti had changed. Cholera is transmitted via two main routes. The first is person-to-person transmission within households by food, water or surfaces directly contaminated by fecal material from infected people. The second is environment-to-person transmission from the consumption of surface water that contains free-living populations of the bacteria in the absence of fecal contamination.

Cholera outbreaks and epidemics are typically characterized by person-to-person transmission. But if the causative bacterium, V. cholerae, has established reservoirs in the environment, then the disease may have become endemic.

Epidemiologists often use mathematical models to predict the course that outbreaks will take. For cholera, these models typically incorporate the number of people who have acquired temporary immunity after being infected and how long the bacterium can survive in the environment. Most models of cholera outbreaks assume that V. cholerae only survives in the environment for up to a few weeks and then dies.

Based on this reasoning, if all of the active cases can be treated and enough time passes for the V. cholerae in the environment to become noninfectious, no new infections occur and the epidemic will become extinct. This is likely why cholera treatment centers began to close when the cases approached zero.

However, given the right conditions, such as the warm tropical waters of Haiti, V. cholerae originally shed in the feces of cholera patients can survive for months or years in surface water. Environmental reservoirs of V. cholera can lead to recurrent seasonal outbreaks even after years without reported cases. This natural phenomenon is commonly observed in countries such as India or Bangladesh, where cholera remains endemic.

A growing body of evidence now suggests that this has happened in Haiti. My research group at the University of Florida noticed that despite a decrease in cholera cases in the summer of 2014, the isolation frequency of V. cholerae in the surface waters of the Ouest Department, Haiti's largest administrative area, was actually increasing. This suggested that reservoirs had been established and cholera could have gained a permanent foothold in Haiti.

Can Haiti eliminate cholera?

If V. cholerae has established reservoirs in the environment, what will it take for Haiti to stop cholera transmission? We developed a new model to shed some light on this.

Like traditional models for cholera transmission, we considered the number of people who have acquired temporary immunity because they survived the infection. But instead of assuming that V. cholerae decays in the environment after a few weeks, our model assumes that it can not only survive for prolonged periods, but can proliferate in response to environmental factors.

Combined with information about recent pilot vaccinations trials in Haiti, we can estimate the effects that these interventions, as well as any improvements to drinking water and sanitation, will have.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence that sanitation systems or access to clean drinking water have improved in Haiti since 2010. Given these conditions, we believe that mass vaccination with oral cholera vaccines might be the only intervention available to stop transmission of the disease.

We are currently investigating how many people would need to be vaccinated, how quickly oral cholera vaccines would need to be administered and how effective the vaccine would need to be in order to halt cholera transmission in Haiti. Our preliminary results suggest that controlling cholera transmission with oral vaccines could be possible in Haiti, but would require significant financial and logistical support from the international community.

The World Health Organization considers cholera endemic in countries that have had confirmed cases in three of the last five years. By that definition cholera is now endemic in Haiti. The question is, how long will it remain that way?

Explore further UN: Haiti has more cholera than any other nation

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
An improvement project in Lothian is boosting uptake of food and vitamin vouchers for low income pregnant women in the area.

The scheme has seen a 13% rise in eligible women receiving vouchers in Lothian compared with an 8% decline for the rest of Scotland.

The full results are published in BMJ Quality Improvement Reports today - an open access forum to help clinicians share improvement ideas.

Healthy Start is a UK wide food and vitamin voucher scheme for low income pregnant women and families. But across the UK, at least 25% of eligible women and children miss out on vouchers, and that figure has remained static for many years.

So a team at NHS Lothian set out to increase uptake receiving vouchers in the area by December 2015. Using an improvement model, they identified ways to improve documentation, sign up, and referral.

Comparing average figures for January-June 2014 and March-August 2015, there was a 13.3% rise in voucher receipt in Lothian (increase from 313 to 355 women), versus an 8.4% decline for the rest of Scotland (fall from 1688 to 1546 women).

The scheme has also increased the number of women referred for welfare rights advice, boosting family budgets by an average of 4,500.

This improvement project "has had a measurable impact on pregnant women across Lothian," conclude the authors. "Our findings have relevance across the UK, particularly at a time of worsening finances for many families," they add.

The team, led by Graham Mackenzie, a Consultant in Public Health, will present their project at the BMJ/IHI International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare next week (12-15 April 2016), in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Explore further Electronic cards to make WIC easier to use

More information: Increasing Healthy Start food and vitamin voucher uptake for low income pregnant women, Quality Improvement Reports, qir.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136  uality.u210506.w4243 Increasing Healthy Start food and vitamin voucher uptake for low income pregnant women,
In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, listens to a question from his caseworker during a meeting in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

When pondering how to keep low-level drug offenders out of jail, officials in Albany, New York, faced a challenge: How could they pay for a case manager to coax addicts onto the straight and narrow, sometimes by tracking them down on the streets?

The money turned up in a previously untapped source: President Barack Obama's health care law, which by expanding Medicaid in some states has made repeat drug offenders eligible for coverage, including many who are homeless or mentally ill and have never been covered before.

The idea could make the joint federal and state health insurance program for the poor into a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system. Advocates hope to prove that the concept works, possibly paving the way for more cities to try it as an alternative to the drug war.

Many repeat drug offenders are "precisely the population Medicaid expansion was designed to cover," said Gabriel Sayegh, co-founder of the Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice, an advocacy group that aims to reduce incarceration rates and promote drug war alternatives. "Down the road, we see a path for case management and many other services to be supported by Medicaid."

The notion of using Medicaid to steer people away from jails and into services that offer housing, job training and mental-health or substance-abuse treatment comes at a crucial time for the criminal-justice reform movement. Incarceration numbers are making headlines. States are legalizing marijuana, and police departments hammered over questionable shootings are trying to reconnect with the public they serve.

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, right, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, talks with Chris Cates, left, his caseworker, during a meeting in Seattle as a container for discarded needles sits nearby. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

"This shows the community we're willing to try different things," said Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox. "This just makes all the sense in the world."

Albany's efforts and others have been based on a highly touted Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD. Launched in 2011, it aims to keep people out of prison by focusing on those who use a disproportionate share of public resources by repeatedly getting arrested or seeking care at emergency rooms.

Instead of booking those addicts or prostitutes into jail, police contact program employees, who meet with the offenders and try to enlist them in social services. That can mean getting them a pair of shoes or a bus pass to help keep appointments; buying them groceries until they obtain food stamps; providing short-term housing or even paying for yoga, art supplies, utility bills or college classeswhatever the person needs.

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, left, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, goes shopping for groceries with Chris Cates, right, his caseworker, in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Unlike in drug courts, participants are not kicked out or threatened with jail time if they relapse.

"They know we're out there struggling," said Jerald Brooks, one of the original participants in LEAD. "Sooner or later, you start to do a little better."

Following a White House summit about Seattle's program last summer, dozens of cities are considering whether to follow suit. Santa Fe, New Mexico, launched its version in 2014. Albany began its pilot program this month, and Baltimore, Atlanta and Fayetteville, North Carolina, are expected to launch versions next year.

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, right, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, talks with Chris Cates, left, his caseworker, in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Medicaid "makes it not crazy-expensive to do this," said Lisa Daugaard, director of Seattle's Public Defender Association and a top proponent of LEAD.

In cooperation with the Katal Center, Seattle's program just opened an office to guide other jurisdictions through the process.

Evaluations in Seattle have shown that LEAD participants were up to 60 percent less likely to be arrested than a control group. The program also saves money on criminal-justice costs, but it still takes money to start such programs.

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, left, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, goes shopping for groceries and personal-care items with Chris Cates, right, his caseworker, in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Before the Affordable Care Act, low-income adults with no children living at home were largely shut out of Medicaid. The law expanded Medicaid to cover people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or nearly $16,400 for a single person.

So far, 31 states plus Washington, D.C., have taken advantage of it. The federal government pays a much bigger share of the cost of covering the new enrollees than for groups traditionally covered by the program.

Some programs around the country have been enrolling inmates in Medicaid just as they leave prison. More than 112,000 were signed up by January 2015, many of them single men being covered for the first time, according to a Johns Hopkins University study published in December.

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, right, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, walks down a sidewalk to go shopping for groceries with Chris Cates, left, his caseworker, in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Medicaid expansion remains a highly politicized issue, and 19 states have rejected it.

Among them is Georgia. That leaves Atlanta in tougher shape as it plans to launch a LEAD program next year, said Xochitl Bervera, co-director of Atlanta's Racial Justice Action Center.

Instead of relying on Medicaid, the city is trying to arrange a combination of county, private and possibly federal money to supplement a $200,000 grant from billionaire George Soros' Open Society Institute, which has provided similar LEAD startup grants to several other cities.

Because many people who would benefit from behavioral health services were not previously covered, there was little incentive for providers to offer services in many areas, including Atlanta. Medicaid's expansion could remedy that, she said.

"The case managers are one piece, but then you need in-house drug treatment for some people and mental health care for others," she said. "We just don't have enough here."

Explore further More former inmates getting Medicaid under Obamacare, study finds

More information: LEAD National Support Bureau: LEAD National Support Bureau: www.leadbureau.org/

 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
(HealthDay)Extended-release (ER) niacin is associated with progressive and reversible thrombocytopenia, according to a letter to the editor published online March 25 in the American Journal of Hematology.

Casey O' Connell, M.D., from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues describe four male patients (average age, 68.8 years) who were on niacin-ER for 20 months to nine years. All four patients developed progressive thrombocytopenia.

The researchers found that platelets recovered quickly after cessation of niacin-ER, with improvement noted within a month of cessation in all four patients. Based on criteria to determine the level of evidence for a causal association, three patients were found to have a "probable" association and one a "definite" association. The patients were on niacin-ER daily for 59 months, on average, at a median dose of 2,250 mg. Platelets recovered by an average of 91.5  109/L, with a mean time to response of 136 days. In two of the four patients who were anemic as well as thrombocytopenic, there was a marked improvement in hemoglobin upon discontinuation of niacin-ER.

"In conclusion, Niacin-ER is known to cause reversible thrombocytopenia, but this effect may be insidious and severe and can be accompanied by reversible anemia, both of which may be easily overlooked in patients with multiple medical conditions and concomitant medications," the authors write.

Copyright  2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
People who 'flourish' are resilient and have the mental capacity needed to survive in our competitive society. They are not only happier, but they are also more productive, are less often absent from work and have a lower risk of developing mental disorders. Recently, a population study from the Trimbos Institute showed that around two-thirds of Dutch adults are currently not flourishing. Professor Bohlmeijer, professor of mental health: "The results of a nationwide experimental study conducted by the University of Twente now shows that we can achieve a lasting increase in the number of people who are flourishing by giving them a self-help course based on positive psychology." This is one of the first intervention studies worldwide in the field of 'flourishing'.

The study, which was conducted by the University of Twente, examined 275 participants, none of them were flourishing. Over a period of nine weeks, 137 participants worked through a self-help book entitled This is your life, experience the effects of positive psychology (of which Professor Bohlmeijer is co-author). The participants were also able to contact a trainee psychologist by e-mail. By the end of the course, 30% of them were flourishing and 9 months after the course that figure had risen to 34%. Of the 138 people in the control group, who did not participate in the course, only 12% were flourishing at the end of the study. There was a large and significant difference of overall well-being between the two groups, with those who had received the course being much better off. The participants also had significantly fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety at the end of the study period compared with the control group. The effects of the positive psychology course lasted until at least 9 months after the end of the course.

Positive relationships

PhD student Marijke Schotanus-Dijkstra, supervisor of the study: "The course addressed many themes, such as positive emotions, using strengths and optimism. However, one interesting finding was that the theme of positive relationships seems to have contributed most to the effectiveness of the course." An important caveat of this study is that the participants were mainly higher educated. The selection of the participants and the used methods have likely contributed to this caveat. The participants were also motivated to develop themselves as individuals. Bohlmeijer: "The next step is to conduct a similar study among people with lower levels of education."

The research was based on the work of a leading researcher in positive psychology  the American sociologist Corey Keyes. He developed a classification model for well-being analogous with the classification of psychological symptoms. 'Flourishing' occurs when people experience a high level of emotional, psychological and social well-being. This means that they often experience positive emotions, they function well as individuals, and they feel connected with and have confidence in society. Keyes' research shows that flourishing is beneficial for individuals but also for society as a whole.

The results of the study will be presented at the national Conference on Positive Psychology which will take place on 15th April.

Explore further Positive mental health boosts lifespan, study finds
via @Jacquiecharles

There's little doubt that Haiti's off-again, on again presidential runoff elections, scheduled for April 24, is headed for a third delay.

But that's not stopping three South Florida Haitian-American physicians, and pals of former Haitian president Michel Martelly, from hosting a fundraiser on behalf of his favored candidate, Jovenel Moise.

Drs. Rudolph Moise, Reginald Pereira and Joseph Fanfan are hosting a cocktail reception fundraiser from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Moise's North Miami medical office, 655 NW 119th St. Minimum suggested donation? $1,000.

Official results put Jovenel Moise in the runoff against second-place finisher Jude Celestin. But Celestin, the former head of the state construction agency, immediately dismissed the results as "a ridiculous farce."

A Washington-based think tank, the Haiti Democracy Project, told journalists in Port-au-Prince last week that it found the Oct. 25 presidential first round to be generally fair and free of fraud. The group, which had teamed up with the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians last year, had 208 electoral observers at polling stations.

Local Haitian observer groups, which alleged the raced was tainted by widespread vote-rigging in Moise's favor, had 1,640 observers. Moise has denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, the former head of an Organization of American States special mission to Haiti earlier this year has come out in favor of verifying the votes. Ambassador Ronald Sanders told the Miami Herald on Friday that the only way for the international community to avoid a deepening political crisis in Haiti is for it to support a vote verification process. Several foreign embassies, led by the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, are opposed to any kind of recount or scientific assessment of the vote and are urging Haiti's interim government to quickly resume its interrupted electoral process.

--JACQUELINE CHARLES
@ByKristenMClark

Democrat Patrick Murphy is continuing his streak of sizable fundraising in his bid for Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat.

The congressman from Jupiter announced today that he'd raised $2 million in the first three months of 2016, entering April with $5.6 million in cash on hand.

Murphy's campaign -- which has had significant support from establishment donors who typically give four-figure contributions -- noted that more than 85 percent of the contributions raised in the first quarter were under $200.

Murphy's primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, is more often the one to emphasize support from small-dollar donors. Grayson has not released his first-quarter numbers yet.

Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Ponte Vedra Beach, was the first of the crowded crop of Senate candidates to announce his quarterly fundraising. DeSantis announced last week that he'd raked in $1.1 million between January and March and had $3.2 million in cash on hand.

The other four Republican candidates have yet to release numbers. They are: U.S. Rep. David Jolly of Indian Shores, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera of Miami, Orlando businessman Todd Wilcox and Sarasota home-builder Carlos Beruff.

First-quarter campaign finance reports are due to the Federal Election Commission on April 15.

Heading into 2016, Murphy had maintained a wide lead in fundraising over all other candidates. Murphy's campaign said today it has raised nearly $8.2 million to date.



Opening 2016 with this kind of milestone is a sign that our campaign has strong grassroots support across Florida and will have the resources to win in August and in November, Murphy campaign manager Josh Wolf said in a statement.

Murphy's latest fundraising numbers do not include dollars raised through "Floridians for a Strong Middle Class," a super PAC that's also raising money in support of Murphy's Senate run but is prohibited from coordinating with his official campaign. Super PACs are not bound by the $2,700-per-race cap on individual contributions -- as candidate's campaign committees are. "Floridians for a Strong Middle Class" hasn't announced its quarterly fundraising intake yet.

Photo credit: Walter Michot / Miami Herald
Gov. Rick Scott had no authority to suspend a political appointee from office without providing any evidence of malfeasance, a circuit judge ruled Monday.

The decision by Broward Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips represents a defeat for Scott and for a top adviser, Melinda Miguel, who had urged the governor to suspend David Di Pietro and Darryl Wright, a second member of the board of the North Broward Hospital District. The system operates under the business name Broward Health and is one of the largest tax-supported health systems in the U.S.

The judge quashed Scott's executive order and demanded that the suspended official be returned to office. Di Pietro, 36, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and Republican fund-raiser, said Scott had no authority to suspend him without providing a factual basis.

I am pleased and gratified at the judges ruling, Di Pietro said in a statement. The order is vindication of my service at Broward Health ... I am proud of my record of fighting corruption at Broward Health, and with my reinstatement, I intend to continue to champion multiple transparency and accountability reforms.

In her seven-page order, the judge wote: The Florida Constitution and Florida Statutes demand that a suspension of any elected or appointed official shall specify facts sufficient to advise both the officer and the Senate as to the charges made or the basis of the suspension.

Miguel had accused Di Pietro of malfeasance by supporting the hiring of an outside law firm to represent the board during Miguel's review of the hospital district's operations. That review began six days after the district's chief executive officer committed suicide on Jan. 23. Miguel sent Scott a letter on March 18 in which she said the suspensions would send a strong message to the Broward Health employees that interference, retaliation and malfeasance will not be tolerated.
via @learyreports

WASHINGTON -- $235 million.

Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio burned through that much cash before joining the heap of failed 2016 presidential candidates, an astounding figure even in the big-money era.

But more important, the Floridians pushed new boundaries of campaign finance, setting examples likely to be copied by other candidates while leaving behind a string of complaints from watchdog groups contending laws were broken.

They are pilgrims on the path to destroying the campaign finance system, said Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, an advocacy group that filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission, the IRS and the Justice Department.

For months, Bush insisted he was not a candidate while traveling the country to collect millions for a super PAC. The undeclared status allowed Bush to work closely with Right to Rise and take in unlimited donations instead of the $2,700 individual contribution limit his campaign faced.

By the time Bush announced, he had amassed most of his $100 million shock and awe war chest.

Rubio benefitted from a nonprofit that also collected huge donations  at least $16 million  and financed TV ads in early nominating states. The tax-exempt group provided donors with the cloak of anonymity, injecting untraceable dark money into the political discourse.

He took the outside-money world from unlimited contributions to unlimited secret contributions and created a very dangerous precedent, Wertheimer said.

More here.
Montana Federal District Court Judge Dana Christensen issued an order last week reversing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services decision to not list the wolverine on the Endangered Species List. While it was a clear victory for imperiled wolverines, the ruling holds significant implications for a broad spectrum of plants and animals increasingly driven toward extinction by global climate change.

In his precisely written 85-page order, Christensen outlined in detail the science that supports giving Endangered Species Act protections to the tiny population of perhaps 300 rare and elusive wolverines that still exist in the contiguous United States.

Basically, Christensen pointed to in-depth studies that created maps showing the diminishing areas where deep spring snows still exist overlaid with known wolverine populations. Deep spring snowpack is critical to wolverine reproduction since females build extensively-tunneled dens in the snow to protect their offspring and safely hide their food.

Due to global climate change, which is bringing higher temperatures and shorter winters to the Rocky Mountains, the available habitat for wolverines, like the snowpack itself, is shrinking to the point where projections show two-thirds of acceptable wolverine denning habitat could disappear entirely by 2085.

Given the evidence, its no surprise that the Fish and Wildlife Services own scientists found that wolverines were warranted for Endangered Species Act listing in 2013. What was surprising was the decision, by the agencys Regional Director Noreen Walsh, to overturn her own scientists, claiming the climate models were too vague to accurately predict the ongoing loss of suitable denning habitat.

Where Christensens order gets real interesting, however, is the contention that the reversal of the decision to list wolverines was the result of immense political pressure exerted by politicians and state wildlife agencies. Indeed, Montanas Gov. Steve Bullock, as well as his Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, did all they could to prevent the listing and then hailed it as a great achievement. This unfortunate turn of events followed closely on the heels of another lawsuit attempting to halt trapping of wolverines in Montana, which Bullock and his wildlife agency tried to continue, unbelievably saying killing wolverines was critical to preserving Montanas trapping heritage.

Of course, political manipulation and denial of science-based decisions is nothing new to Montanans or across the nations political spectrum. Congress, which is thick with climate change deniers, routinely threatens federal agency budgets over proposed endangered species listings. Unfortunately, the same thing is happening at the state level and is often abetted by governors all too willing to sacrifice species at the altar of continued resource extraction.

But as climate change kicks in faster and with far more impacts than predicted, its getting harder and harder to deny the impact mankind is having on the myriad other species that share the planet with us. Corals are bleaching, the sea is acidifying, ice caps are melting, rivers and lakes are warming and becoming eutrophic, Glacier National Parks glaciers are disappearing, and mankinds global effects ripple outward to plants and animals worldwide. Yet politicians and their pals in commerce continue their inane policies despite the evidence of environmental destruction that continues to mount daily.

The good news is that Judge Christensens order pulls back the sheets on this dirty little collusion of politics and commerce and requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to move quickly to follow the recommendations of its own scientists and issue a new rule to extend Endangered Species Act protections to wolverines.

Its conceivable that, barring a federal appeals court overturning Christensen, the nation may finally see positive movement to protect the many other species now threatened with extinction by global climate change. The iconic polar bears, for instance, which are finding it increasingly difficult to survive due to the loss of sea ice. Or closer to home, the tiny aquatic flies that only live in the icy glacial meltwaters of Glacier National Park and that will go extinct when the glaciers disappear. Or the snow-loving lynx, whose habitat has been mercilessly logged already and faces plans to continue that destruction from both federal and state governments.

Indeed, its no secret that scientists have already dubbed our ongoing devastation of the environment as Earths sixth great extinction event. But in the face of widespread political interference in science-based decision-making, Christensens ruling offers a ray of hope that maybe, just maybe, law and science may yet prevail and restore some semblance of the responsibility that current politicians and their administrations must have to future generations.
KALISPELL (AP)  A Kalispell man has been sentenced to 100 years in prison after he was found guilty in a retrial of raping an 11-year-old girl.

Jason Dean Franks on Thursday was sentenced for the assault that occurred nearly a decade ago. He had previously been convicted in 2012 of the same crime but the Montana Supreme Court reversed the conviction in 2014, ruling that prosecutors had gone too far by talking about a separate molestation charge at trial.

Franks was previously convicted of sexual assault in 1992 and was acquitted in a molestation case involving a 5-year-old in the 2000s.

At his sentencing, Franks, who says he is innocent of all charges, said it would be best if he received life in prison so he can't be accused of assault again.
Ms. Gordon-Reed was responding to a critical essay by Lyra D. Monteiro, in the journal The Public Historian, arguing that the shows multiethnic casting obscures the almost complete lack of identifiable African-American characters, making the countrys founding seem like an all-white affair.

Its an amazing piece of theater, but it concerns me that people are seeing it as a piece of history, Ms. Monteiro, an assistant professor of history at Rutgers University, Newark, said in an interview.

The founders, she added, really didnt want to create the country we actually live in today.

Ms. Gordon-Reed  who is credited with breaking down the resistance among historians to the claim that Thomas Jefferson had a sexual relationship with Sally Hemings  wrote in her response that she shared some of Ms. Monteiros qualms, even as she loved the musical and listened to the cast album every day.

Imagine Hamilton with white actors, she wrote. Would the rosy view of the founding era grate?

Historians are generally not reluctant to call out the supposed sins of popularizers. When Steven Spielbergs Lincoln arrived in 2012, a number of prominent scholars blasted it for promoting a great man view of history and neglecting the role African-Americans played in their own emancipation.

While the most recent critiques of Hamilton have focused on race, some scholars have also noted that its an odd moment for the public to embrace an unabashed elitist who liked big banks, mistrusted the masses and at one point called for a monarchal presidency and a Senate that served for life.

Alexander Hamilton was more a man for the 1 percent than the 99 percent, said Sean Wilentz, a professor at Princeton and the author of The Politicians and the Egalitarians, to be published in May.
In the year since Pakistani investigators raided Axact, a Karachi-based software company accused of raking in hundreds of millions of dollars with a vast Internet degree scam, Pakistani and American investigators have been busy dismantling its operations.

Fourteen Axact employees, including the chief executive, await trial on charges of fraud, extortion and money laundering. Bank accounts in Pakistan and the United States have been frozen. Investigators have uncovered a tangled web of corporate entities  dozens of shell companies and associates, from Caribbean tax havens to others in Delaware, Dubai and Singapore  used to funnel illicit earnings back to Pakistan.

New details suggest that Axacts fraud empire, already considered one of the biggest Internet scams on record, is bigger than initially imagined. Over the past decade, Axact took money from at least 215,000 people in 197 countries  one-third of them from the United States. Sales agents wielded threats and false promises and impersonated government officials, earning the company at least $89 million in its final year of operation.

Those findings stem from financial and customer records, company registrations, sworn testimony, communications between Pakistani and American officials, and hundreds of hours of taped phone conversations filed in court. The records have been made available to The New York Times in the months since a Times article detailing the companys scheme prompted police raids and the collapse not just of Axact, but also of the companys new national news channel, Bol.
Mr. Douglas said he was drawn to the novel, which he first read shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, because it was one of the first to deal with modern terrorism, only the details of which have been updated. The cable is the first manifestation of the network, the thing that now defines us, he said. And so it seemed disturbingly prescient that the film, which had its premiere in Brussels last year, was playing there when the Paris attacks shook Europe in November.

In an interview last week during a stop in New York, Mr. Douglas said that such a convergence of art and events was not completely unexpected because the film, like many of his recent works, focuses on years in the 1970s in which certain world orders  and the Western-dominated narrative driving them  were beginning to break apart. Former colonies were forging their own destinies. Long-stable cultures were melding and clashing. Globalization, which was to bring progress but also inequality and paroxysms of violence, was gaining speed. And the effects of all these upheavals are still unfolding before us, in ways difficult to predict.

This might be about whats happening to these people in Portugal in the 1970s, he said, but its really about whats happening right now.

Mr. Douglas was born in Vancouver  his father was a neurologist, and his mother an administrator  and as an African-Canadian in a city with a tiny black population, he came to an early awareness of the complex and sometimes insidious interplay of race, culture and power. In conversation, he dislikes questions about his own biography  he doesnt even much like to have his picture taken  but his work has often been a mirror of the influences of his native city and upbringing.
LONDON  The Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper and website, confirmed on Monday that it had discussed with other investors a potential bid for assets of Yahoo.

The announcement by the media company came about a week ahead of a deadline for buyers to submit first round offers for Yahoos core assets.

Given the success of DailyMail.com and Elite Daily, we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders, a DailyMail.com spokeswoman said. Discussions are at a very early stage and there is no certainty that any transaction will take place.
LONDON  When officials from OPEC, Russia and some other oil-producing countries meet this weekend in Doha, Qatar, to discuss freezing petroleum production at current levels, the sessions significance might have more to do with style than substance.

The fact is that the two biggest players at the meeting  Saudi Arabia and Russia  are already pumping virtually flat out. They have little room to increase production even if they wanted to.

But signals the two countries have sent recently, indicating they would rather discuss cooperation than continue cutthroat competition, have buoyed oil prices well above their lows in mid-January, when the Brent crude international benchmark dipped below $30 a barrel. On Monday Brent crude was trading above $41.

Analysts, oil buyers and speculators will be watching the Doha meeting mainly to see whether the 13 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia show signs of being able to cooperate enough to exercise market discipline  and maybe even to cut production at some point, if necessary, to bolster oil prices.
DUNEDIN, New Zealand  Only a keen-eyed observer can spot the rare yellow-eyed penguin in the impenetrable forest hills that hug New Zealands South Island beaches.

Native to this region, the birds mostly lurk under a canopy of thick shrubs, trees and branches, dashing for hiding places as soon as a human approaches.

Incredibly shy, the yellow-eyed penguin is truly odd. Measuring about 65 centimeters, or just over two feet tall, with striking yellow eyes and a yellow band across its head, it is the rarest species of penguin, nesting in the forest and returning to it. It is also severely endangered.

Despite various measures deployed in recent years to protect this penguins flocks, the outlook remains bleak. On average, only 18 of 100 penguin chicks survive their first year at sea. A decade ago, the population was estimated at 6,000. Today conservationists reckon that only 2,000 yellow-eyed penguins are alive.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif.  Thanks in part to El Nino, snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is greater than it has been in years. With the winter snowfall season winding down, California officials said that the pack peaked two weeks ago at 87 percent of the long-term average.

Thats far better than last year, when it was just 5 percent of normal and Gov. Jerry Brown announced restrictions on water use after four years of severe drought. But the drought is still far from over, especially in Southern California, where El Nino did not bring many major storms.

Despite the better news this year, there are plenty of worrying signs about the Sierra snowpack, which provides about 30 percent of the water Californians use after it melts and flows into rivers and reservoirs, according to the state Department of Water Resources.
PHILADELPHIA  People with lip rings, dreadlocks and tattoos; multitudes of clean-cut types; longhaired men clutching copies of the Marxist magazine Socialist Appeal or the Sartre play No Exit; black women intrigued by college-debt relief; gay and transgender supporters; young women in burlappy wear normally seen in Bali; and at least one older guy who said that until recently he had been a Republican.

All stood in line for hours outside the arena at Temple University for a chance to hear Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the 74-year-old self-described socialist who has put up a far more robust challenge to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination than just about anyone expected.

There is a palpable ferocity to their support. They tend to portray themselves less as Democrats fighting for their candidate than as part of a movement of the young and connected fighting to address the gap between the countrys ideals and its realities.

They say they prize authenticity and consistency. In interviews, none expressed a willingness to vote for Mrs. Clinton in the general election if she defeats Mr. Sanders for the nomination.
Mr. Cs lawyer, Huang Sha, said he was able to establish a labor relationship at the hearing on Monday even though no contract had been signed, because Mr. C had kept a recording of his conversation with Ms. Jin from when he was fired and because the company had admitted to the hiring at a mediation session in late March.

The reason they provided for firing Mr. C, which was his gender expression, is not included in the list of reasons for dismissal in Chinas labor law, Mr. Huang said.

Mr. C has asked for a weeks wages and an extra months salary, which would total about 2,000 renminbi, or about $300, Mr. Huang said. Mr. C said he was also hoping that the company would offer a written apology, although a labor arbitration panel does not have the power to order that. Mr. C said he planned to bring the case to court if the company refused to apologize.

Mr. Huang said although the company said it had dismissed Mr. C for incompetence, it provided no evidence to support this assertion. He said the company also said Mr. C had failed to wear its uniform, but later said uniforms were provided only to employees who had completed their probation periods.

A woman who answered the phone at Ms. Jins office on Monday afternoon said that Ms. Jin had gone out and that it was unclear when she would return.

Mr. C, a journalism graduate who has run a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender support group for nine years, said he had heard of job discrimination but had never expected to experience it.

Before the job at Ciming, he said, he had interned at a television station and worked for an insurance company and in direct sales without encountering any prejudice. But his dismissal from Ciming shattered his self-esteem, he said, and he began volunteering information about his transgender identity in job interviews to avoid later misunderstandings.
Mr. Zerkani, a Moroccan who became a Belgian resident in 2002, moved on the fringes of Mr. Ayachis milieu but did not attract close attention, people in his neighborhood said. While the Islamic Center had championed an ascetic and rigid form of Islam that had only modest appeal to young people who liked to drink alcohol and carouse at night, Mr. Zerkani, Belgian investigators said, was able to bridge the divide by channeling the criminal energies of young delinquents.

Image Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Molenbeek resident who the authorities say commanded the November attacks in Paris, was believed to have been an associate of Mr. Zerkani. Credit... via Agence France-Presse  Getty Images

Among these Zerkani recruits, the investigators said, were Mr. Abaaoud, who was killed a few days after the Paris attacks when French police officers stormed his hide-out, and Salah Abdeslam, a former drug dealer and onetime bar owner suspected of being an architect of the Paris attacks, who was captured in Molenbeek last month after four months on the run.

Mr. Zerkani was born in Zenata, an area of northern Morocco inhabited by the countrys often rebellious Berber-speaking minority, and spent time in Spain and the Netherlands before moving to Belgium when he was 28. In Brussels, his associates included supporters of the Shabab, a militant group in Somalia affiliated with Al Qaeda. Belgian investigators say he shoplifted and committed other petty crimes before becoming a prolific recruiter for the Islamic State.

A senior Belgian terrorism investigator, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to do otherwise, said that it was not clear how Mr. Zerkani had become a trusted operator for the Islamic State and its predecessors, and that the extent of his involvement with people connected to plots was only now coming into focus.

One theory is that Mr. Zerkani was recommended to the militant groups leadership in Syria by Fatima Aberkan, a friend of the wife of the Qaeda militant who killed Mr. Massoud, the Afghan warlord. In the 2015 trial that featured Mr. Zerkani, a Belgian court sentenced Ms. Aberkan to five years in prison for participation in a terrorist organization; she and five of her children, three sons and two daughters, have spent time in Syria with the Islamic State, prosecutors said.

There is no record of Mr. Zerkani traveling to Syria. But prosecutors said that at least 18 people he was in regular contact with went there to fight between mid-2012 and 2014.
CELLE, Germany  An immigrant from Iran, Mehdi Hushmand was a beloved high school science teacher known for his devotion, and for going out of his way to help settle some of Germanys newer immigrants  the more than one million migrants and refugees who arrived en masse last year.

So it was a big deal here in Celle when Mr. Hushmand was found bludgeoned to death in the basement of his home in February. But the shock was bigger still when the prime suspect turned out to be a recently arrived migrant from Afghanistan whom he had befriended.

News of the murder and the still murky motive behind it have unsettled this orderly town of about 70,000 in the German heartland near Hanover, with its quaint timbered buildings and proud history as an ancestral home of the Windsor nobles who became Britains royal family.

But it has also tapped into Germanys larger, naggingly uncomfortable relationship with migration  its sometimes strange and unfamiliar story lines, its quiet successes and potential perils  at a moment when the country is struggling to integrate its new arrivals.
BERLIN  Germanys comics love President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Or at least to make fun of him mercilessly. And for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, that is no laughing matter.

Having struck a deal with Mr. Erdogan in March to stop the flow of migrants trying to reach Europe, she and all the European Union now depend on him to follow through.

Since that deal, Mr. Erdogans combination of tough-mindedness and thin skin  demonstrated in his repeated crackdowns on media critics at home  has proved irresistible to his critics in Germany, not least its comics.

A few weeks ago, a video by the comedy show extra3 caused a stir for its satire of Mr. Erdogan, prompting Ankara to call in the German ambassador for a dressing down. This time, the satire and the dispute have reached another level, handing Ms. Merkel a tough diplomatic tangle and a dilemma over the limits of free speech.
The Portuguese Supreme Court has upheld a decision to extradite to Italy a former C.I.A. officer who was convicted in absentia in connection with the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003, as the administration of George W. Bush ordered renditions after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The former officer, Sabrina De Sousa, is a dual American and Portuguese citizen who has denied wrongdoing or involvement in the kidnapping, which took place while she worked undercover for the C.I.A. as a diplomat in Milan.

Her lawyer, Manuel Magalhaes e Silva, said on Monday that he would appeal the decision to the Constitutional Court. The appeal, he said, would be based on the fact that there is no certainty his client will get a retrial in Italy, while the Portuguese Constitution guarantees a retrial in cases where the verdict is rendered in absentia.

Ms. De Sousa was briefly detained at a Lisbon airport in October after a European arrest warrant was issued. She was later released, after her passport was confiscated, pending a review of her case by the courts.
Ella Knowles Haskell must have been an amazing woman. Shes one of the few women with an entry in the 1,500-page inappropriately named Progressive Men of the State of Montana.

Best remembered as the first woman lawyer in Montana, Ella Knowles was confronted in the 1880s not only with prejudice and outright laughter at the idea of a female lawyer but also by an actual Montana state law that prevented women from practicing law. She worked successfully to repeal that law and was admitted to the Montana bar December 26, 1889, when she was 29 years old.

But she was a lawyer with no clients. She sought work in Helena as a collection agent but found no takers until one man sarcastically suggested that she go collect the three umbrellas he had loaned out. She did  and when she returned with the umbrellas, she charged a fee of fifty cents. Impressed, the businessman was soon giving her all his legal business. Her first real case, in Helena in 1891, was in defense of a Chinese client who sued a black restaurant owner for back wages of $5. Knowles won, but her fee is not recorded.

In 1892, the Populist Party nominated her for state Attorney General, the first woman in the United States to run for that office in any state. She narrowly lost the race to Henri Haskell, who then appointed her Assistant Attorney General, and married her in 1895. She was the first woman in America to argue (and win) a case before the United States Supreme Court.

The Haskells divorced about 1901, with Henri moving to Glendive and Ella relocating to Butte, where many of her cases focused on mining. She lived alone in an apartment in the Napton Building on Granite Street and maintained her law office in the Masonic Temple on Park, later in the Silver Bow Block at Granite and Hamilton. In addition to her work as an attorney, she was also a delegate to the International Mining Congress and Montanas first female notary public. She had become active in the womens suffrage movement, serving as the Montana Equal Suffrage Association president in 1896.

Knowles had come to Montana from her native New Hampshire in 1888, seeking a better climate following a bout with tuberculosis, and her accomplishments are all the more impressive given her ongoing poor health. In 1910, she embarked on a recuperative seven-month trip around the world, which included her attendance at a march of 25,000 suffragettes in London, accompanied by 60 bands and culminating in a mass meeting at the Victoria and Albert Hall.

Ella Knowles gave a lantern-slide presentation on her world trip in the Butte Library Auditorium in December 1910. The tour, intended to improve her health, seems to have done the opposite. She died in her apartment at the Napton on January 27, 1911, at 50 years of age.
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WILTON, Iowa  Congressman Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, will continue his tour of small Internet Service Providers (ISP) across the state on Monday, April 11. Loebsack will meet with owners and operators of small ISPs to discuss bipartisan legislation that he helped pass in the House, the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act. This legislation seeks to promote broadband deployment by extending the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) exemption from its enhanced transparency rules for small ISPs for 5 years. Media are invited to attend.

At noon, Loebsack will be at WTC Communications, 810 W. Fifth St. in Wilton.

At 1:30 p.m., he will be at Wiele Chevrolet, 1497 Highway 6 in West Liberty, then at 2 p.m. visit Big Imprint, 111 W. Third St. in West Liberty.

The Small Business Broadband Deployment Act unanimously passed the full House of Representatives by a vote of 411-0 earlier this year. Loebsack helped drafted this legislation along with the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committees Communications and Technology Subcommittee, Greg Walden, R-Oregon.
NICHOLS, Iowa  Authorities are looking for whoever crashed a stolen pickup truck into a creek in Muscatine County on Monday.

The call came in at 12:25 p.m. that a silver pickup truck was in the water just off the Wapsi bridge on Iowa Highway 22 about 1.5 miles east of Nichols.

West Liberty Police Department and the Muscatine County Sheriff's Office responded to the call. When authorities arrived, it wasn't clear whether anyone was in the truck as water was up to the seats. The passenger-side window was busted out.

By 2 p.m. the truck was out of the water and they searched the vehicle. No one was inside.

A deputy searched the woods near the bridge that passes over Wapsinonoc Creek that is an off-shoot of the Cedar River.

With a crumpled front end, debris on the opposite bank and the broken window, Slight said the suspect is likely injured.

"You would think as hard as that vehicle went in that there's somebody injured some place," Slight said.

Chief Deputy Ardyth Slight said the truck was reported stolen between April 8 and 9 in West Liberty.

There is no information available about the suspect at this time.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Muscatine County Sheriff's Office at 563-263-6055.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  Muscatine firefighters will be investigating the cause of a house fire Monday morning.

At 1:47 p.m. Sunday, Muscatine Joint Communications Center (MUSCOM) received a 911 call of a house on fire at the 400 block of Jackson Street in Muscatine, according to a press release from the Muscatine Fire Department.

Upon arrival, fire crews found fire and smoke coming from the back side of the house, according the press release.

One person was home when the fire started and escaped injury. One firefighter was taken to the hospital, treated and released after falling off a ladder, according to Muscatine Fire Marshal Mike Hartman.

The fire attack began immediately. Containment of the fire was hampered by building construction, including wall and roof coverings, the press release stated.

Crews planned to remain on site through the night watching for hot spots. At about 6:30 p.m., Hartman told the Journal that he planned to wait until morning to begin the investigation because it would be safer than at night.

The home will likely be a complete loss. Due to the injury and the extent of the fire loss, contact was made with the Iowa State Fire Marshal and they have offered their assistance, the press release stated.

Hartman said Red Cross has been notified to help the resident, who planned to stay at a friend's house Sunday night.

The Muscatine Fire Department was assisted by the Muscatine Police Department. Fruitland and Wilton fire departments responded to provide additional staffing. Approximately 33 fire fighters responded.

 Kevin M. Smith, Muscatine Journal
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 []
Eskom is ramping up efforts to improve its finances, with new agreements with defaulting municipalities and improved revenue collection from prepaid meters in Soweto.

Its been a year since Eskom started its tough stance against municipalities that had stacked up a total municipal arrears debt greater than 30 days of R4.6bn by 31 March 2015.

Eskom CEO Brian Molefe was seconded to the power utility in April last year and quickly changed the companys nice-guy attitude to defaulters, while at the same time trying to end the need for load shedding.

Almost to the day last year, Eskom announced plans to interrupt bulk electricity supply to the top 20 defaulting municipalities (affecting 3.8 million people) across the country, forcing them to pay.

Within a month, it reached payment agreements with 10 out of 20 defaulting municipalities. Numerous threats  and at times implementation  of blackouts have been made since then to ensure other municipalities come to the party.

On Sunday, Eskom announced it had reached principle agreements with three municipalities in Mpumalanga, Chief Albert Luthuli, Mkhondo and Thaba Chweu local municipalities.

Eskom will continue to engage the remaining four municipalities (Goven Mbeki, Lekwa, Emakhazeni and Nkomazi local municipalities) and we are confident that the parties will reach reasonable repayment agreements, it said.However, should the agreements not be concluded within the week, Eskom will continue with the disconnection process.

Eskom is also finalising discussions with eMalahleni Local Municipality and we remain positive that an agreement will be concluded very soon.

Eskom also got tough on its Soweto customers last year, pushing for the implementation of smart meters and cutting down on illegal connections that cost the utility R2bn a year in lost revenue.

Last week Eskom said had it collected R33.63m in revenue from split prepaid meters in Soweto between July 2014 up to 28 February 2016.

Eksom said it had installed over 40 000 split prepaid meters and converted over 13 000 to prepaid mode.

The power utility has also attempted to improve its finances through an increase in overall electricity prices, but has been prevented by energy regulator Nersa to up the rate too excessively.

Last month, Nersa approved a 9.4% electricity price increase for Eskom for the 2016 to 2017 financial year, rejecting Eskoms claim for a higher tariff increase to compensate the utility for unbudgeted costs of diesel incurred during the 2013 to 2014 financial year.

Molefe disagreed with the Nersa decision, saying that yet again Nersas decision does not address the question of Eskoms continued financial sustainability.

We note with concern the decision on OCGTs (open-cycle gas turbines), which will guide Eskoms operations in the future in terms of balancing the energy supply and demand in a bid to avoid load shedding, said Molefe.

Government funding helped Eskom post a 22% increase in net profit for the six months ended 30 September 2015. This was helped by R60bn in government loans, which was converted to equity, and an additional R10bn equity injection.

Fin24

More on Eskom

Outa not done with Eskom over price hikes

Court case to stop Eskom price hike dismissed
CareerJunction has released its 2016 Salary Review, which shows that engineers, IT professionals, and financial experts earn the most money [Read: South African salaries in 2016].

The CareerJunction Salary Review has been compiled for South African job seekers and the recruitment industry, providing an overview of salaries in the country.

It contains current salary information based on salary offerings on the CareerJunction website for job postings between October 2015 and February 2016.

The list below provides an overview of the top-earning careers in SA, based on the report.

It should be noted that the salaries below are based on those of skilled professionals, and exclude senior and management positions.

Mining Engineer  up to R63,095 per month

To become a mining engineer, a BEng or BSc in Mining Engineering is recommended.

Technical and Business Architecture (IT)  up to R56,477 per month

For this profession, a BSc in IT or Computer Science is advised.

Structural Engineering  up to R49,742 per month

To become a structural engineer, a BEng or BSc in Structural Engineering is recommended.

Mechanical Engineer  up to R49,439 per month

A BEng or BSc in Mechanical Engineering will help you land a job as a mechanical engineer.

Electrical Engineer  up to R46,446 per month

For this career, a BEng or BSc in Electrical Engineering is a must.

Chartered Accounting  up to R46,425 per month

To become a chartered accountant, you need a BCom accounting degree and a Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) or equivalent qualification.

After your university qualifications, you are required to pass two qualifying examinations administered by SAICA  the Initial Test of Competence, and the Assessment of Professional Competence.

Taxation Expert  up to R44,038 per month

To enter the field, a BCompt in Taxation will be of value.

Industrial Engineering  up to R44,024 per month

For this career, a BEng or BSc in Industrial Engineering is advised.

Systems Analyst (IT)  up to R42,532 per month

To build a career in this field, a BSc in Information Technology or Information Systems will be an advantage.

Civil Engineering  up to R42,153 per month

For this career, a BEng or BSc in Civil Engineering is needed.

Management Accountant  up to R42,096 per month

To enter the field, a BCom degree in Management Accounting is a good start.

Business Analyst (IT)  up to R41,726 per month

A relevant BCom degree or related Business Analysis qualification is advised.

More on salaries

2016 IT salaries in South Africa  how much people really earn

South African software developer salaries ranked best in the world

10 tech skills which will give you a big salary


PAUL ONGILI OWINO cantagarously known as Babu Owino, Born in the slums of kondele, kisumo county (Date of Birth withheld for security reasons). He was born in a very Humble Background where they only used to eat manna.

From a very tender age he showed a lot of Resilience & Diligence.

He didnt play with mud with his fellow kids, instead, he performed caesarian birth to expectant cows and Dragons, He is rumoured to have Killed Lwanda Magere.

Driven with the allure for a better future, he walked bear foot from Kisumu to Nairobi, through the Valley of the shadow of Death in search of greener pastures.

Babu was later on admitted to join the prestigious prondugus University of Nairobi, Which is Located South of The Kalahari Desert and North of the River Limpopo to do a degree in Bsci(Actuarial science), where he was both the Student and The Lecturer.

In 2012 He was Elected as the president of SONU (STUDENT ORGANIZATION OF NAIROBI UNIVERSITY,) Which is the 3rd Biggest Political Party after ODM & JAP.

Babu was a student of outstanding & Photosynthetic character, He never attended any classes, but used to read telepathically via osmosis, Before any Test, he used to pray Facing Lake Victoria and the Answers appeared to him Mysteriously, thus he graduated with a 1st class Honours.

His Regime is driven by the 3 Fundamental Rules:

1: A comrade is always right!

2: A comrade is Never Wrong

3: Refer to the first two

Comrades are indeed endangered species in this era we live in. I remember back at the time when i was first admitted to the university to do a degree in Martial arts, i was wallowing in mediocrity, in the so called woodley Estates (Prefabs), when suddenly a very gigantic snake, humongous, very Verminous approximately 7 centimetres cascaded on my path, Babu owino suddenly appeared from Thin air, chanted 3 loud war cries, and the snake started trembling vehemently in fear, it stood there transfixed to the ground and Perplexed as Babu did his Jujitsu moves. He grabbed the snake by its tail, as the slithering serpent sweated profusely, Babu tombstoned the snake 3 times on the murram, just as it was about to escape, marooned by fear, babu ended its life with a Pedigree ? ?

TELO IKAO OKMI NGATO

# iAmKlassik

-By DON SANTO/Facebook.com
During the 2016 ACM Awards Party for a Cause in Las Vegas, Lee Brice gave a military widow the surprise of a lifetime.

An F-16 pilot, Troy Gilbert, was killed in action on November 27, 2006. Before being deployed to Iraq, he traded in his old truck to provide his family with a more reliable vehicle. Eventually the family sold the new truck, as well, to put more money in their pockets while Gilbert was overseas.

Gilberts wife, Ginger Gurley Gilbert Ravella, explained that Brices song, I Drive Your Truck, brought back memories of her husband and made her wish that they had his truck in their possession. However, it wasnt the newer vehicle she wanted. It was the one he traded in 2006.

Years later when Lees song came out, it wasnt the new truck I wished we still had. It was the old one. The one that belonged to Troys dad first, the one Troy drove for years, the one I knew our sons, Boston and Greyson, would get a kick out of.

Brice caught wind of Ravellas dream to get the old truck back, and with the help of his team and Ravellas friends, the 1992 Chevy Silverado 1500 was found. Brice bought the truck, had it shipped to Las Vegas for Party for a Cause, and presented it to Ravella and her family in front of the country music crowd.

In addition to gifting Ravella with the truck, Brice performed his hit song and presented Folds of Honor with a $40,000.00 donation. Brice shared:

Im so happy that we were able to locate this truck because it meant so much to Ginger and her family. Troy paid the ultimate price in service to our country and Im grateful we got to show our appreciation in a small way, comparatively, this weekend.

Watch the surprise presentation of Gilberts truck to his family here:
UK defense secretary holds phone talk with Russia counterpart

US to attempt set Russia oil price cap above $60 per barrel?

Russia, Turkey defense ministers confer about Ukraine situation

Armenia official: Terms for buying, building houses for those displaced from Artsakh have improved

Saudi Arabia forum set to draw American business leaders despite existing tensions

Iran plans to increase natural gas exports to Turkey

Iran army ground forces holding exercise in West Azarbaijan Province

Sovereignty renunciation to be punished in Armenia with 12-15 years of imprisonment, as per justice ministry draft

2 pilots killed in Russia fighter jet crash

Russia, France defense ministers discuss Ukraine

Fighter jet crashes into house in Russias Irkutsk

150 residents of 3 Karabakh settlements handed over to Azerbaijan get compensation certificates

Rishi Sunak confirms UK premier bid

Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson hold talks

Biden slammed for 'scary' long pause during interview

Elite US troops conducting exercises on Ukraine border

Iran MP: Military exercises on Azerbaijan border are decisive response to Israel

Xi Jinping elected Communist Party of China Central Committee general secretary

Armenia envoy presents credentials to Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency chair

Hungary to approve by years end Sweden, Finland petitions to join NATO

US researchers debunk main theory for origin of life

Iranian MP: Iran will conduct military exercises wherever it deems necessary

Finnish delegation to visit Ankara to discuss NATO membership

Social media giants are likely to oppose Turkey's new law

Pastor steals $900,000 to buy stocks and car in U.S.

Lithuanian President Nauseda is named most popular politician in country

Charles III will embark on longest tour of world in history of royal family

Deputy Director of Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS: Baku's goal is that Karabakh has no Armenian population

Hurricane Roslyn in Pacific Ocean intensifies to third category

Italy's new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, begins forming government

U.S. Treasury Department records budget deficit of over $429 billion in September

Why does Baku need aggravation on border with Armenia? Skakov assesses likelihood of new aggression

Iranian Foreign Minister: I had important meeting with Pashinyan in Armenia

Johnson spotted in economy class on flight from Dominican Republic to Britain

Armenian PM and European Parliament Resident Rapporteur for Armenia discuss Karabakh situation

Authorities in Kherson urge residents to immediately leave city

Russian expert: Baku's attempts to open corridor by force will cause negative response not only from IRI or Russian

Telegraph: Britain to send about 60 old tanks to NATO base in Germany for exercises

Artak Beglaryan: You will see me in new position

Netanyahu: Iran nuclear deal could bring Russia 'hundreds of billions'

Russia and Turkey begin to develop gas hub project

PM Pashinyan discusses agenda of bilateral relations with Iranian FM

Anna Hakobyan meets Armenians in Paris

Sargsyan: Recognition of Artsakh people's right for self-determination must be reflected in legal documents

Italy's first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, sworn in

Private jet goes missing off coast of Costa Rica

Times of India: India tests nuclear-capable Agni Prime missile

Spiegel: German Foreign Minister and Defense Minister ask to allocate 2.2 billion for military aid to Kiev

Deputy PM of Armenia and Head of Sharjah Heritage Institute discuss strengthening of Armenian-Emirati relations

Biden allows participation in U.S. presidential election in 2024

Secretary of Security Council of Armenia and representatives of AIISA discuss security issues

Kakhovka reservoir increases water discharges in case of possible destruction of HPP

Pashinian's spouse: Yesterday at Elysee Palace I was received by dear Brigitte Macron

At least 15 people killed in bus-truck collision in India

Explosion at Uzbek Defense Ministry depot injures 16 people

Armenian NA Speaker receives Iranian FM: Tehran opposes obstacles on border with friendly Armenia

President Harutyunyan receives group of members of Union of Artsakh Reserve Officers NGO

Newspaper: Armenia restores diplomatic ties with Hungary?

China hit by 5.5 magnitude earthquake

Armenian Defense Ministry denies Azerbaijani report on shelling, calling it disinformation

Blinken: Moscow is not interested in stopping aggression against Ukraine

Japan and U.S. will hold joint military exercises

France withdraws from Energy Charter Treaty

CNN: White House is in talks with Elon Musk to create satellite Internet service Starlink in Iran

Baku outraged by Iran's statements and frightened by IRGC military exercises

Who are main beneficiaries of 'Zangezur' corridor?: Another anonymous article by 'Haykakan Zhamanak' newspaper

Ankara decides to stand up for Riyadh amid deteriorating relations between Saudi Arabia and U.S.

French Foreign Minister considers it vital to keep lines of communication with Russia open

Pentagon refuses to give details of conversation between Austin and Shoigu

Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin: Head of Caucasus Muslims Department again made slanderous and false statements

Erdogan denies using chemical weapons against Kurds and threatens those who dare to talk about it

Saudi Arabia and China will strengthen their ties in energy sector

Governor of Gegharkunik province receives representatives of OSCE fact-finding mission

Penny Mordaunt runs for Prime Minister of Great Britain

Sweden expects ratification of NATO membership application by Hungary and Turkey to be completed soon

European Union will allocate 1.5 billion euros per month to Kiev in 2023

An Israeli-built flight school opened in Greece

Russian Railways is negotiating with Azerbaijan and Iran to launch the Rasht-Astara route

Overchuk: Construction of road through Meghri, whose sovereignty is not in question, depends on Armenia's position

Armenian Defense Minister's working visit to India is over

Hungary will not agree to limit prices for imported gas

Iranian Foreign Minister: Iran considers Armenia one of most important transit countries

Naribekyan participates in meeting of secretaries general of PACE parliaments

Delegation from United Arab Emirates visits Armenia at invitation of head of MONKS: Two agreements signed

Dollar, euro drop in Armenia

Iran consul general in Armenias Kapan: We do not accept any change of borders

Baza: Mobile military registration and enlistment offices will be removed on Russian-Georgian border

Iranian Consul: Countries of region do not need presence of foreign armed forces

Armenia FM: Iran consulate general in Kapan will be important for regional security

Iranian Consul General advises Kapan residents not to worry anymore: Iran is here for Armenian people

FM reaffirms Armenia plan to open consulate general in Irans Tabriz

Turkey to open consulate in occupied Armenian Shushi city of Artsakh

Turkish Ministry of Finance: Ankara can buy Russian oil without Western funding

Armenia Security Council chief briefs European Parliament rapporteur on recent Azerbaijan military aggression

British bookmakers name favorite for post of prime minister

Erdogan: Armenia-Azerbaijan relations progress will contribute to Armenia-Turkey relations normalization

Iranian Consulate General opens in Kapan

Erdogan: Turkey is looking for alternative to American F-16 fighters

Iran consul general: We are here for Armenian people

Turkey FM slams OSCE decision to send needs assessment mission to Armenia
YEREVAN.  Azerbaijan submitted the proposal to cease fire along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact, and it did this by petitioning to the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation.

Movses Hakobyan, Deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, told the aforementioned to RFE/RL Armenian service.

And we will state this time as well that the Armenian soldier once again forced a ceasefire to the adversary, he noted.

He stated that Azerbaijan began to prepare for war after the signing of the ceasefire agreement in 1994, and it became more actively engaged in this in the seven to eight years, when Aliyev junior came to power.

In his words, the Armenian side, however, had foreseen this move of Azerbaijan and taken appropriate measures.

Their [i.e. the Azerbaijani armed forces] intention to reach all the way to [the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) capital city of] Stepanakert is from the field of dreams because Azerbaijan knows very well that it will fight where there is a [Karabakh] soldier for every piece of land, and fighting the adversary, he will never give that opportunity, Hakobyan said. Our defense is multilayered, and the adversary realized this during these [most recent military] actions.

In his words, Armenian army is strong and prepared, and this was proved by the Armenian sides successes during the four-day war along the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact.

Our youth, the army, proved that they are the children of the [Armenian] guys who crafted victory in [19]94, and passed [it] on to them, he added. I believe the adversary drew conclusions from all this, and if it again tries to attack on Artsakh in this way, it will get a more severe response.
The President of Austria, Heinz Fischer, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the Prime Ministers of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, and Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, are among leading personalities due to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) during its spring session on April 18-22.

The delegates will discuss situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Current affairs debate: The recent and tragic escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is scheduled for the first day of the session.

The refugee and migrant crisis in Europe will be on the agenda, with debates on a stronger European response to the Syrian refugee crisis, the human rights of refugees and migrants in the Western Balkans and the new challenge posed by forced migration.

Other items on the agenda include debates on assessing the impact of measures to improve womens political representation (with the participation of Elena Boschi, Italian Minister for Constitutional Reforms and Relations with Parliament), preventing the radicalisation of children, humanitarian concerns with regard to people captured during the war in Ukraine, the handling of international public health emergencies, and the fight against antisemitism in Europe. There has also been a request for an urgent debate on The Savchenko case.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Daniel Mitov, will address the Assembly in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, will present his annual activity report 2015. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjrn Jagland, will answer questions from parliamentarians.

The Assembly will also be evaluating the partnership for democracy in respect of the Palestinian National Council.

The Assembly will decide its final agenda on the opening day of the session.
YEREVAN.  Even though the arms trade market is an open market for Armenia, there are some political restrictions linked to export control, Davit Tonoyan, the First Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia, told RFE/RL Armenian service.

He noted this commenting on President Serzh Sargsyans recent statement that the Armenian army is combating with weapons from the 1980s, whereas the Azerbaijani army arsenal is much more modern.

There is a gentlemens agreement on not supplying military products to a conflict region, Tonoyan said. [But] its natural that, stemming by necessity, the [respective arms] purchases are made in the countries which dont have these restrictions.

Our [i.e. the Armenian sides] weapon of the [19]80s neutralized this [Azerbaijani] threat; that is, it forced the adversary to back up from its original intentions.

And Israel also offered to Armenia the same [military] products [which it sold to Azerbaijan]. () [But] there was no need for it [by the Armenian side] because we gave other solutions to this, and as you can see, these weapons dont work so successfully.

Two very major strategic documents are drawn up [by the Armenian side]. They are the Armed Forces Development Plan, and the Arms and Military Equipment Development Plan (). And the development plan envisions acquiring contemporary, most modern weapons () every year.
The European Peoples Party (EPP) Women Executive Board session and a seminar on women in leadership positions were held in Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic.

Chairperson of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia Womens Council, National Assembly (NA) Vice President Hermine Naghdalyan, represented Armenia in these events.

At the session, Naghdalyan invited her European women political party colleagues on Azerbaijans large-scale military actions along its Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh, in early April.

She provided the EPP member women information materials, photographs, and international press coverage attesting to the atrocities which the Azerbaijani soldiers committed during this aggression.

The Armenian parliament deputy speaker noted that this aggression was accompanied by gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law

Hermine Naghdalyan stressed that the calls for the establishment of peace cannot be effective unless they are addressed to Azerbaijan, the one that has provoked these military actions, and they express a clear assessment.

She added that Azerbaijan constantly violates the ceasefire agreement that has been reached, and expressed the hope that the women representatives of the leading European political parties will convey her concerns to their countries.

Also, vice president of the Armenian NA had separate talks with all EPP member countries women members of the European Parliament.
YEREVAN. - Second ex-president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, is not going to meet with current President Serzh Sargsyan.

To the question of Tert.am correspondent on whether the second president is also planning to have a meeting similar to the one which took place between Serzh Sargsyan and first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan on April 9, Kocharyan said: I dont plan to initiate such a meeting. In light of the developments and considering the experience obtained at high cost, currently its much more important to immediately solve the issue of providing the army with modern equipment and quickly adapt the military and tactical readiness of the staff to the new condition.

According to Kocharyan, the meeting of the current and former presidents is unlikely to have somehow impacted the solution of these practical priority issues.

Its encouraging that the Armenian society once again showed that it is able to unite against aggression in case of serious external danger. [But] Its also apparent that the patriotic potential doubles when it is based on modern combat-ready army and efficiently operating state institutions, Kocharyan said.

On April 9, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan upon the latters initiative. The talks which lasted for about an hour exclusively related to the latest developments on the Karabakh-Azerbaijani Line of Contact, future developments expected in the negotiation process aimed at Karabakh conflict settlement, as well as the necessity of intra-national unification against those challenges. The meeting took place in Levon Ter-Petrosyans house.
The recent fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region displaced several hundreds of people, mostly women, children and older people, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) is calling on all parties to ensure their rights are respected and protected, UNHCR said in a statement.

The statement says the conflict left more than 1 million people displaced while hundreds of thousands are still waiting for solutions to their plight.

UNHCR is alarmed at the renewal of conflict, which left dozens of people dead and has again resulted in displacement of civilians, some of whom have told UNHCR that they have been displaced several times over the last two decades.

Affected populations have fled to areas within Nagorno-Karabakh as well as into Armenia and to safer locations inside Azerbaijan. Access to the affected populations is severely limited, making it impossible to make an accurate assessment of the number of forcibly displaced, but the refugee agency has been monitoring the displacement as best it can and has identified vulnerable groups.

UNHCR has received disturbing reports of civilian casualties, destruction of housing and infrastructure, as well as limitations on the freedom of movement of those seeking to escape from the conflict zone. Hundreds of people were displaced and thousands affected. UNHCR is urging all sides to respect the rights of people to flee to safety and to receive protection.

The agency has offered to help the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan respond to the humanitarian needs of the newly displaced and has asked for access to this vulnerable population. UNHCR has since 1992 been assisting and working with people displaced by the earlier conflict, the statement reads.
STEPANAKERT. - The resumption of military actions by Azerbaijan didnt come as a surprise. Turkey had to move the combat theatre to another place, and apparently had to choose Azerbaijan for this purpose.

MP and Major General of the Karabakh National Assembly (NA) Vitaly Balasanyan said the aforementioned on Public Television of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This didnt come as a surprise to us, since Azerbaijan had begun preparing for war since the moment of signing the ceasefire agreement on 12 May 1994. The signing of this agreement was a serious political mistake for us. This was followed by the information disseminated by the Azerbaijani media outlets, events in Turkey and Middle East. It should have been clear to us that Turkey would move the combat theatre to another place, and this could be only Azerbaijan, Turkeys shelter in the Caucasus. We should have felt this earlier. We should have analyzed the developments, Balasanyan said.

In the night of April 2, when Azerbaijan unleashed its aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, the general headed for the 4th line of defense which led furious fighting without any losses. According to the general, only two soldiers sustained minor injuries.

Azerbaijan should understand that the issue cannot be solved through military means. The World War III has started long ago, but no superpower confesses that it has started, Balasanyan stressed.

In his words, on the first day the main attack was directed against Aghdam, and then in the southern and northern directions. The goal of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces was to breach defenses in the center and separate two parts of the Defense Army from each other, the general noted. But they didnt manage to do this, he added.

The Karabakh Defense Army managed to retaliate on time and open aimed fire.

According to the MP, the Azerbaijani side suffered colossal losses and failed the offensive operations, despite leading a literate battle. Currently the Azerbaijani Army is more improved. Im sure they were seriously prepared, and werent weak tactically: one shouldnt downplay them. Our task is to mobilize in the shortest period possible and deploy in order to come into positions. The adversary supposed that we wouldnt be able to come into our positions after the rocket and artillery bombardment. All the roads along the frontline came under fire. This wasnt an illiterate fight from their side. Moreover, it was easy for them to attack, since they had drones and could watch the fight from above, the general said.

But why didnt the Azerbaijani army achieve success? Because there are few people in the Azerbaijani army who are ready to struggle for their homeland. The lowest echelon of the Azerbaijani army is constantly oppressed. We can see what is happening at their hungry and thirsty posts. We can see this both from the air and from our posts. Not every soldier there is ready to stand till the end. Im sure that at least 80 percent of the Azerbaijani soldiers dont consider it as their homeland, he said.

The general also added that they saw the Azerbaijani militaries shoot their fleeing soldiers.
YEREVAN. - The Armenian side will thoroughly inform their PACE colleagues on the crimes committed by Azerbaijan.

Member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, Naira Zohrabyan, told the aforementioned to Armenian News  NEWS.am correspondent.

In her words, the Armenian delegation has sent the package on the topic to all the political groups, as well as Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.

We have directed them the documents at our disposal, which suggest the tortures and cruelties committed by Azerbaijan. Its already a fact that the 18 soldiers, whose bodies were transferred by the Azerbaijani side yesterday, had been subjected to unspeakable tortures, Zohrabyan noted.

In her words, the facts are so evident that the international community will qualify them as war crimes unless they decide to be partial from the beginning.

The Armenian delegation is also going to raise the issue on the objectivity of the PACE President Pedro Agramunt at the session to be held on April 18.

One shouldnt forget that the office of the PACE President is run by Pedro Agramunt, who performs the obligations of Aliyevs spokesperson. We should give assessment to Agramunts strict announcements, Zohrabyan said, adding that she is personally going to raise that issue.

The escalation of situation in Karabakh conflict zone has been included in the agenda of PACEs spring session.
WASHINGTON, DC  On April 8, 59 Armenian American organizations urged President Obama to forcefully condemn Azerbaijans aggression and called for the U.S. to lead the way for peace and long-term regional stability in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

The Armenian American Community to President Obama reads:

Dear Mr. President:

Armenian Americans from across our nation ask you, in light of the worst Azerbaijani attacks since the 1994 Nagorno Karabakh cease-fire, to forcefully condemn Azerbaijans aggression and  in light of Bakus reckless initiation of hostilities only hours after meeting in Washington, DC with senior members of your Administration  call for principled American leadership for peace and long-term regional stability.

In view of the renewed hostilities by Azerbaijan, which undermine our nations regional interests, and taking into consideration President Aliyevs open threats to continue and further expand aggression against Nagorno Karabakh, we express our full support for the courageous efforts of the people and governments of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh to protect their citizens and encourage the U.S. government to support the self-defense of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. We commend, as well, the formal recognition of the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic by the U.S. states of California, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. President Aliyevs actions, which represent a direct challenge to U.S. leadership for a negotiated resolution and grave threat to the peace of the entire region, require a strong American response.

In the interest of peace, we call upon you to immediately stop all military aid to Azerbaijan, and enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act. We also encourage you to work with Armenia and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic on the deployment of gunfire locator and other monitoring systems on the Nagorno Karabakh side of the line-of-contact and the Armenian side of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.

Mr. President, in keeping with the humanitarian spirit of the American people, we urge you to immediately send emergency relief aid to Nagorno Karabakh, including medical equipment and other urgently-needed relief supplies. We are reminded, during this dark time, that it was the generosity of the American people, through the noble work of USAID, that helped rebuild Martakert and Martuni following Bakus 1991-94 aggression, two of the same communities that have come under heavy Azerbaijani fire.

In closing, we encourage you to send a multi-agency fact-finding mission  led by our Department of State  to thoroughly investigate serious reports of Azerbaijani war crimes and other violations of the Hague Convention, to look into allegations that Azerbaijan has engaged ISIS fighters, to evaluate the destruction inflicted by Azerbaijans aggression, and to assess the humanitarian relief and reconstruction needs of Nagorno Karabakhs civilian population.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

The letter has been sent on behalf of All-Armenian Student Association, American-Armenian Legion, Americans for Artsakh, Apostolic Exarchate for Armenian Catholics, Armenia Artsakh Fund, Armenia Fund, Armenia Tree Project, etc.
I fell into the wine trade by accident back in 1972 after reading history at London University which at the end of the 1960-s had a flourishing students wine society. Basically it was an excuse for a weekly party, but something rubbed off, as after completely a secretarial course, I applied for a job with a large mail order wine merchant, The Wine Society, and they offered me a glass of champagne at the interview, as well as the job!The first I heard about the trip to Georgia was a conversation with Lisa Granik, who was behind this trip, at our annual champagne party. And I was very interested as I first visited Georgia in 2006 to judge for your first ever wine competition, but sadly the logistics of the visit did not allow us to visit any wine producers.Enormously valuable and enriching. Ive been involved with wine for over 40 years and a Master of Wine since 1979, and it is wonderful to go somewhere, where there is something new to discover, I had very little experience of wine produced inand as for all your unpronounceable grape varieties And so I will be writing about it all as much as I can. The tasting at the research station was definitely a highlight, as was the Alaverdi monastery.The history of Georgia is fascinating. I think Georgia will be seen as a small niche producer, making some very special and individual wines. You have been large producers under the Soviets, but I certainly do not see that as your role today.In a nutshell, your unpronounceable grape varieties. You will probably have to concentrate on the more memorable names, like Saperavi. And the next stage is the export market in Western Europe and the United States.I thought the best of thewines were absolutely delicious, and original and distinctive. There is a lovely fragrance about Saperavi fromand the white wines may be an acquired taste, but I think I am acquiring it! I certainly intend to buy some Georgian wines in London.We had a memorable visit to the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi. What a wonderful collection of gold, and then the wine artefacts. What a privilege to see some antique grape pips and thein which wine was made 8000 years ago. And if culture includes cuisine, we enjoyed a delicious range of your national dishes. The hospitality was so warm and generous.Keep up the good work!
14:32

Is gratitude the best reward for honesty? Read this story and tell us...





A 26-year-old engineer from Kendrapara whose monthly earning is about Rs 20,000 has set an example by returning Rs 1.40 lakh to a man who had lost it, for which he was felicitated by his village.





"Honesty is not dead. The act of honesty for which I got back the money leads me to believe that there are still good souls in the world. The boy gave me back the money which I was carrying for treatment of my ailing mother-in-law, who is suffering from kidney ailments", said Shatrughna Moharana, a petty shop owner in Niali area of Cuttack district.





"Rs 1.4 lakh was a huge sum for me. With great difficulty, I had arranged the sum from personal savings and partly from borrowing. On March 26, I lost the bag carrying the cash near sector-9 CDA in Cuttack", Moharana said.





Annada Prasana Ojha, a local resident of Derabish in Kendrapara district and posted as an engineer with a Cement Company in Cuttack, said he was on a motor bike and spotted the bag containing money lying unattended on the road.





"I was little scared initially but decided to wait with the hope to return it to its claimant. I stayed back for a half-an-hour but nobody turned up. Later I unzipped the bag and found hundred currency notes of Rs 1,000 denomination and 40 notes of Rs 500 denomination. While searching the bag, I found a bundle of prescriptions and medical bills. I could locate the man who had lost the money from one of the cell phone numbers from a medical bill, Ojha, who draws a monthly salary of Rs 22,000 from the private company said.





"The owner of the money bag broke down and sobbed like a child after I handed over the money. He blessed me and wished me success in life. That was worth more than the wads of currency notes", he concluded. Overwhelmed over his honesty, locals organised a function at Derabish to felicitate the Good Samaritan.





"He was not in favour of this felicitation function. But we decided to felicitate him so that others could draw inspiration from him", said Rabindra Samal, who presided over the function.
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NEW DELHI: Idea Cellular has selected Nokia to provide the technology for its 4GIdea Cellular has selected Nokia to provide the technology for its 4G LTE rollout in three of its key regional circles -- Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, a company statement said here on Monday.

"With Nokia's Single RAN (radio access network) site solution, Idea Cellular will be able to optimize its investments and deliver a superior mobile broadband experience, with faster speeds and better smartphone performance for its subscribers," the statement said.

Idea Cellular, Managing Director, Himanshu Kapania said: "We were looking for a solution which can support multiple radio technologies simultaneously on a single platform. We found it in Nokia's Single RAN solution, complimented by its energy-efficient and flexible site solutions. Our excellent partnership with Nokia now enters a new phase as we launch 4G LTE services to bring a superior experience to our customers".

Under the agreement, Idea Cellular will deploy Nokia's Single RAN technology, which enables simultaneous 2G, 3G and 4G operation on one platform.

Nokia will also support the modernization and expansion of Idea Cellular's core network and operational support systems to support the 4G LTE rollout, along with professional services for network deployment, network planning and optimization, system integration and supervisory managed services support, the statement said.

"As Idea Cellular's preferred technology partner in 2G, 3G, and now in 4G, we will continue to support them by providing new technologies and capabilities for superior network quality. Nokia's global experience in deploying 4G LTE networks will enable Idea Cellular to deliver an enhanced customer experience across its circles," Sandeep Girotra, head of India market, Nokia.

LTE rollout in three of its key regional circles -- Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, a company statement said here on Monday.

"With Nokia's Single RAN (radio access network) site solution, Idea Cellular will be able to optimize its investments and deliver a superior mobile broadband experience, with faster speeds and better smartphone performance for its subscribers," the statement said.

Idea Cellular, Managing Director, Himanshu Kapania said: "We were looking for a solution which can support multiple radio technologies simultaneously on a single platform. We found it in Nokia's Single RAN solution, complimented by its energy-efficient and flexible site solutions. Our excellent partnership with Nokia now enters a new phase as we launch 4G LTE services to bring a superior experience to our customers".

Under the agreement, Idea Cellular will deploy Nokia's Single RAN technology, which enables simultaneous 2G, 3G and 4G operation on one platform.

Nokia will also support the modernization and expansion of Idea Cellular's core network and operational support systems to support the 4G LTE rollout, along with professional services for network deployment, network planning and optimization, system integration and supervisory managed services support, the statement said.

"As Idea Cellular's preferred technology partner in 2G, 3G, and now in 4G, we will continue to support them by providing new technologies and capabilities for superior network quality. Nokia's global experience in deploying 4G LTE networks will enable Idea Cellular to deliver an enhanced customer experience across its circles," Sandeep Girotra, head of India market, Nokia.

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NEW YORK: An Indian-origin scientist's proposal has been selected for NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme -- an initiative that invests in transformative architectures through the development of pioneering technologies.

Ratnakumar Bugga from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is among 13 other researchers who will be awarded nearly $100,000 for nine months to support the initial definition and analysis of their concepts, the US space agency said in a statement on Saturday.

If the basic feasibility studies are successful, awardees can apply for phase-two awards, valued up to $500,000 for two additional years of concept development.

Bugga's concept is titled "Venus Interior Probe Using In-situ Power and Propulsion."

The India-born scientist who has PhD in electrochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, is currently involved in the development of low temperature lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and in the ultra-low temperature Li primary batteries for Mars probes.

He leads a task force responsible for demonstrating the technology readiness of lithium-ion batteries for Mars missions.

Bugga was the task manager for the Mars Exploration Rover Thermal, Rover and Lander batteries.

Other selected concepts include a proposal for reprogramming micro-organisms that could use the Martian environment to recycle and print electronics and a two-dimensional spacecraft with ultra-thin subsystems that may wrap around space debris to enable de-orbiting.

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WASHINGTON: NASA's Kepler spacecraft, that hunts for Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, has gone into emergency mode some 75 million miles from Earth, the US space agency said. During a scheduled contact on April 7, mission operations engineers discovered that the Kepler spacecraft was in Emergency Mode (EM).

EM is the lowest operational mode and is fuel intensive. Recovering from EM is the team's priority at this time, NASA said. Initial indications are that Kepler entered EM before mission operations began the manoeuvre to orient the spacecraft to point towards the centre of the Milky Way for the K2 mission's microlensing observing campaign, officials said.

The spacecraft is nearly 75 million miles from Earth, making the communication slow, they said. Even at the speed of light, it takes 13 minutes for a signal to travel to the spacecraft and back. The last regular contact with the spacecraft was on April 4. The spacecraft was operating as expected.

Kepler completed its prime mission in 2012, detecting nearly 5,000 exoplanets, of which, more than 1,000 have been confirmed. In 2014 the Kepler spacecraft began a new mission called K2. In this extended mission, K2 continues the search for exoplanets while introducing new research opportunities to study young stars, supernovae and many other astronomical objects.

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NEW DELHI: Telecom operator Telenor India, which positions itself as the most affordable network, expects to have 4G services ready in six circles by the end of this fiscal year.

"As we speak, we have already swapped 7,000 mobile sites. They are LTE ready. Based on this transformation we have started offering LTE in Varanasi. We expect entire network will be upgraded by end of this financial year," Telenor India chief executive officer Sharad Mehrotra told PTI.

The company has awarded a Rs 1,240-crore contract to Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei for modernising all its 25,000 mobile base station in six telecom circles where it operates.

Telenor provides mobile services in the circles UP (West), UP (East), Bihar (including Jharkhand), Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), Maharashtra and Gujarat. Together, these circles account for more than 50 per cent of India's population.

The company has permit for Assam but is yet to start its services.

Mr Mehrotra said 30 per cent Telenor customers are using data and rest are using voice.

"No doubt future is of high speed but at same time first time data users that are trying to experiment with internet on network like Telenor. We have our own target segment. As customer evolves they expect higher service. In future we have to have high speed data play. We are looking at spectrum auction very closely," Mr Mehrotra said.

According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Telenor had 7.24 lakh mobile subscribers at the end of January and was among top five telecom operators in terms of new subscriber addition.

He said the firm is working to build up digital products that its offers to customers as it ramps up network.

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Geography, income play roles in life expectancy, new Stanford research shows

Stanford economist Raj Chetty found that the link between income and life expectancy varies from one area to another within the United States. The gap between the country's rich and poor widened during the 2000s.

Steve Castillo In a new study, Stanford economist Raj Chetty found that the link between income and life expectancy varies from one area to another within the United States.

In the ultimate measure of health  how long you live  it makes a big difference where you live. Especially if you are poor.

Men in the bottom 5 percent of the income distribution who live in New York, New York, can expect to live 5 years longer than men with comparable incomes in Gary, Indiana, according to a new study led by Stanford economist Raj Chetty.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to examine how the link between income and life expectancy varies from one area to another within the United States.

"These are really enormous differences across places," said Chetty, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

To place a 5-year life expectancy disparity in perspective, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that life expectancy in the United States would increase by just over three years if cancer was eliminated as a cause of death.

"You can think of the fact that there is a 5-year gap between Gary and New York as if low-income people in New York don't get cancer at all while people in Gary do," Chetty said.

The rich live longer

The researchers used anonymous data on deaths from the Social Security Administration and more than 1.4 billion individual tax records from 1999 to 2014 to obtain more precise estimates than any previous research on the differences in life expectancies among income groups in the United States.

Being richer was associated with living longer at every level of the income distribution. And the gap between the richest 1 percent and the bottom 1 percent in the nation was vast. At 40, the richest men could expect to live to 87 while the bottom 1 percent had a life expectancy of just above 72  equal to the average in a developing country like Sudan.

Women had longer life expectancies than men, but the gap between genders narrowed substantially at higher income levels. Women at the top of the income distribution could expect to live close to 89. The life expectancy of women at the bottom was 79 years  a 10-year gap equivalent to the drop in longevity associated with a lifetime of smoking.

Moreover, inequality in life expectancy between the rich and poor in the United States widened during the 2000s. High-income people gained about 3 years of life expectancy while the poorest saw little to no improvement from 2001 to 2014. But this statistic masked broad differences at the local level. In places like Birmingham, Alabama, the poor were gaining just as much in life expectancy as the rich overall (3 years over the period). But in other cities such as Tampa, Florida, the life expectancy of the poor was actually decreasing over the 2000s.

"We find very large differences across areas for the poor but very small differences across areas for the rich. Where you live matters much more if you are poor than if you are rich," Chetty said.

After taking into account differences in life expectancy that stem from ethnic and racial composition, the researchers found that some of the lowest levels of life expectancy for the poor were in the industrial Midwest.

Eight of the 10 states with the lowest levels of life expectancy for the poor formed a geographic belt from Michigan to Kansas, encompassing Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. In contrast, the poor had significantly longer life expectancies in California, New York and Vermont.

Differences in health behaviors seem to play a more important role in Chetty's findings than measures of health care coverage and access to medical care.

"The places with shorter life expectancy tend to be places with higher rates of smoking, higher rates of obesity and lower rates of exercise," Chetty said.

Local levels of income inequality and residential segregation by income did not seem to be associated with differences in health among the poor. Instead, measures of affluence, larger fractions of college graduates, higher share of immigrants and greater government expenditures were strongly linked with longer life expectancy for the poor. The researchers found that poor people tend to live particularly long in cities like San Francisco and New York, which have high costs of living and highly educated populations.

"We don't know exactly why that is, but what I find striking is that the results go against the view that the poor do better in cities that are more affordable with less inequality," Chetty said.

It may be that these cities are often the first to enact public health policies such as smoking bans, restrictions on trans fats or imposing taxes on sugary drinks  moves that affect the health of the poor as well as the rich.

It is also possible that people are influenced by others' good habits. If there are more people around you who are exercising and eating well, you may spend less time sitting on the couch eating junk food.

Improving health

The results of the study imply that the relationship between income and health is not set in stone and that there is significant room to improve the health of the poor by focusing on the issue at the local level. Health behaviors and why they vary from one area to another seem to be a particularly promising area for future research.

"There is a lot discussion about inequality and health in the U.S. as a whole but I think that conversation should be occurring at the local level," Chetty said.

The study's findings also have implications for national policies like Social Security and Medicare. The fact that the rich have longer lifespans than the poor means that low-income people are paying into the system for a long time but don't get to enjoy the benefits as long. This is particularly important to discussions of raising the retirement age.

"If we think about a policy like indexing the retirement age to life expectancy, we need to think hard about which life expectancy we are talking about. If we just use average life expectancy in the U.S., we are going to essentially start hurting the poor, especially in certain areas  like Detroit  relative to the rich," Chetty said.

The study was co-authored with Michael Stepner (MIT), Sarah Abraham (MIT), Shelby Lin (McKinsey and Co.), Bejamin Scuderi (Harvard), Nicholas Turner (Office of Tax Analysis, U.S. Treasury), Augustin Bergeron (Harvard) and David Cutler (Harvard).

The study was funded in part by grants from the U.S. Social Security Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Smith Richardson Foundation and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

Media Contact

Rebecca Toseland, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research: (617) 495-0464, toseland@stanford.edu

Adam Gorlick, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research: (650) 724-0614, agorlick@stanford.edu

Clifton Parker, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-0224, cbparker@stanford.edu
[April 11, 2016] TMC & Gulf Pearl Announce Partnership & Leading Blockchain Conference Program

By TMC Industry heavy weights join forces to deliver in-depth sessions at Las Vegas Event NORWALK, Conn.-April 11, 2016- TMC (News - Alert) and Gulf Pearl Ltd. announced today their partnership in developing The Blockchain Event conference program, held July 18-21, 2016, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Blockchain Event is directed at entrepreneurs, executives, product managers and developers of both established enterprises and innovative startups who are interested in learning how the Blockchain, one of the most important information technology inventions of our time, can lead to a mass transformation in industry - both its opportunities and threats.



Gulf Pearl's CEO, Shidan Gouran states, "Blockchain technologies and Crypto 2.0 are quantum leaps in the evolution of the Internet; these technologies won't just impact the financial industry but rather redefine, at a fundamental level, the role of service and commerce platforms in virtually every industry. We are very excited to present and explore these technologies with some of the brightest thought leaders at The Blockchain Event." The Blockchain Event features a robust exhibit floor, powerful keynotes, unique sessions, networking opportunities and much more. The conference program includes 3 tracks, All Bout Blockchains, Web 3.0 and Blockchain Developers. A certification will be provided to all attendees of the developer track who successfully complete the hands-on tutorials.

The Conference Program Includes: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - All About Blockchains 9:00AM - Blockchain 101

9:30AM - MoIP (Money over IP)

10:30AM - P2P, Securitization & The Future of Banking

11:30AM - Blockchains & Supply Chains

1:00PM - Regulation & Compliance

2:00PM - VC Perspectives

3:00PM - Session or Special Presentation TBA

4:00PM - Exhibit Hall Grand Opening Reception Wednesday, July 20, 2016 - Web 3.0 8:30AM - DAPP 101

9:00AM - The Distributed Web

9:30AM - The Future of eCommerce

10:30AM - Session or Special Presentation TBA

11:00AM - Session or Special Presentation TBA

12:00PM - Exhibit Hall Opens

1:30PM - Crypto 2.0

2:00PM - Applications to Mass Media & Communications

3:00PM - Enterprise Perspectives

4:00PM - IDEA Showcase Startup Event Thursday, July 21, 2016 - Blockchain Developer 8:30AM - Blockchain 102

9:30AM - Tutorial: Build Your Own Blackchain Network on IBM (News - Alert) Bluemix

10:00AM - Tutorial: Build a DAPP with Ethereum and IPFS on Microsoft Azure

10:30AM - Securing Blockchain Applications

10:30AM- Exhibit Hall Opens "The hands on training, education and insight from industry leaders featured at the Blockchain event will help professionals of all types gain the expertise they need to succeed in the future," said Rich Tehrani (News - Alert), TMC CEO and conference chairman. "Companies from across industries will attend to develop new business relationships, grow existing partnerships and adopt more intelligent strategies." Registration for the Blockchain Event is now open. For more information, contact Frank Coppola at 203-852-6800 x131. For media registration, contact Jessica Seabrook. Companies interested in exhibiting, sponsorship or advertising packages should contact Maureen Gambino at 203-852-6800 x109 or Joe Fabiano at 203-852-6800 x132. For the latest Blockchain Event news, updates and information, follow the event on Twitter (News - Alert) at @BlockchainEvent. About TMC

Global buyers rely on TMC's content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. This presents branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities for vendors/sellers. TMC's Marketplaces: Unique, turnkey Online Communities boost search results, establish market validation, elevate brands and thought leadership, whil,e minimizing ad-blocking.

Custom Lead Programs uncover sales opportunities and build databases.

In-Person and Online Events boost brands, enhance thought leadership and generate leads.

Publications, Display Advertising and Newsletters bolster brand reputations.

Custom Content provides expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts.

Comprehensive Event and Road Show Management Services help companies meet potential clients and generate leads face-to-face. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com. About Gulf Pearl Ltd Gulf Pearl Ltd is an end-to-end product development and technology consulting firm with deep expertise in the telecommunications, media, energy management and consumer electronics industries. Media and Analyst Contact: Jessica Seabrook Marketing Director 203.852.6800 ext.170 [email protected]





Edited by Stefania Viscusi



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Penn State architectural engineer named UF's next DCP dean

An architectural engineer at Pennsylvania State University has been named the next dean of the University of Floridas College of Design, Construction and Planning.

Chimay Anumba, a professor and head of Penn States department of architectural engineering, will assume his new position effective August 1. He succeeds Christopher Silver.

Anumbas research interests are in the fields of construction engineering and management, advanced engineering informatics, collaborative approaches to project delivery, knowledge management, integrated systems and distributed communications.

Professor Anumbas international reputation combined with his highly regarded leadership ability make him an ideal fit for the College of Design, Construction and Planning, UF Provost Joe Glover said. His expertise lies in areas that involve some of the most pressing issues in both developed and developing nations today.

Anumba has served as head of the department for the past eight years. Before that, he was director of the Centre for Innovative and Collaborative Engineering and director of research in the department of civil and building engineering at Loughborough University in England.

He has won numerous recognitions/awards for his work including an honorary doctorate from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands for outstanding scientific contributions to building and construction engineering. In July 2012, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (the UKs National Academy of Engineering). He also has been a visiting professor/scholar at more than 10 universities in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa  including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, UF and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Anumba received his doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, his doctor of science from Loughborough University, also in the United Kingdom, for outstanding and sustained original contributions to construction engineering and informatics, and his bachelors degree from the University of Jos in Nigeria.

The College of Design, Construction and Planning at UF is very well positioned to be a national and global leader in proffering creative solutions to the major challenges facing the built and natural environment  urbanization, water, energy, climate change, resilient buildings and infrastructure, etc. Anumba said. I look forward to working with the highly talented faculty, students, staff and alumni to move the College to this next level of leadership.
"These are all false claims by Pakistan. All lies," Naela Quadri, a prominent Balochistan rights activist, told IANS. She said that Pakistan was engaging in such "blatant lies" to "delegitimize Balochistan's independence movement" and corner India.

Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was arrested last month in Balochistan. Pakistan has alleged that he still serves in the Indian navy and carried a fake Iranian passport to enter the region to launch "subversive activities" in Balochistan that is seeking independence from Islamabad's rule.

Pakistani envoy in India Abdul Basit last week claimed that Jadhav's alleged confession recorded in a video "irrefutably corroborates what Pakistan has been saying all along" that India was stirring unrest and destabilising his country.

But Quadri said "freedom" fighters in her region have been receiving no assistance from India.

"We don't know where Jhadav was arrested from. We have seen no Indian involvement. We don't see them," she said.

--Indo-Asian News Service sar/rn

( 213 Words)

2016-04-11-18:09:33 (IANS)
The President of the Republic of Maldives, H.E. Mr. Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom calling on the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on April 11, 2016, read the caption under a picture showing the two leaders in conversation on the Rashtrapati Bhavan website.

Earlier on Monday, Yameen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held delegation-level bilateral talks following which India and Maldives exchanged six agreements, including ones on cooperation in defence and space research.

President Yameen started the day by holding a meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who called on him.

--Indo-Asian News Service ab/dg

( 141 Words)

2016-04-11-19:51:37 (IANS)
"Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif calls PM @narendramodi, conveys condolences on #KollamFire tragedy in Kerala," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

In response, Prime Minister Modi thanked Sharif and also 'expressed his deep condolences on the loss of life and damage due to quake in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa', Swarup said.

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Government of Pakistan in a statement expressed deep condolences on the tragedy and wished early recovery to all the injured people.

"The people and the government of Pakistan express their deep condolences on the loss of precious lives, resulting from fire breakout in the temple in South Kerala, India. Our sympathies are with the bereaved families. We wish early recovery to all injured people," the statement said.

At least 105 people were charred to death in a fire accident at Puttingal temple during a festival at Paravur in Kollam district early this morning. 350 people have been injured and admitted to various hospitals.

Earlier, at least three people were killed in Buner area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province after an earthquake an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck South Asia. (ANI)
"Kate and I would like to offer all condolences to all those affected by the terrible fire at the temple in Kollam. I know all of you in this room will join us in the sentiments," Prince William said at the Bollywood gala night at the iconic Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai.

The royal couple attended a glittering reception alongside some of the biggest names in business and Bollywood like Shahrukh Khan and Aishwariya Rai Bachchan.

At least 105 people were charred to death in a fire accident at Puttingal temple during a festival at Paravur in Kollam district early on Sunday morning. More than 350 people have been injured and admitted to various hospitals. (ANI)
Expressing concern at the growing influence of castes during a programme here on Sunday, Naidu lamented that the caste influence had grown to such a level that it was spoiling the social harmony and peace in the entire nation.

He questioned the virtue by which people were objecting to recite Vandemataram.

The Union Minister said some people claim that they were the inheritors of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, but they object to chant 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' slogan.

Naidu, also used the occasion to heap praise on the decision of Maharashtra Government to allow women in the Shani Shingnapur temple located in Ahmednagar district. (ANI)
Elaborate arrangements have been made at Kaziranga, the famed National Park in Assam, to make the visit of British Royal couple Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, a memorable one.The Royal Couple will pay a two-day visit starting from tomorrow to the state on the eve of spring festival Rongali Bihu.The Royal couple is expected to arrive at Tezpur airport at noon on April 12, and will be escorted to Kaziranga, which is nearly 90 minuets drive from the airport, said a senior official of the park. The Royal Couple would be ferried to Difflo River Lodge adjacent to the Kaziranga National Park for their two-night stay.After reaching Kaziranga, the Royal couple will have a glimpse of local cultural dance of Bihu that will be performed by professional troupes.On April 13, Prince William and Princess Catherine will undertake a Jeep Safari in the Western Range of Bagori for two hours and will interact with senior officers of the park.Kaziranga National Park is famous for one horned Rhino which is a Schedule 1 wild animal under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972. Prince William and Princess Catherine will also have a glimpse of wild animals getting rehabilitation and treatment which were rescued during floods and other anthropological situations. The Royal Couple will be served with Assamese cuisine during their visit to the state. Meanwhile, the banned ULFA (Independent) in statement, has welcomed the visit of the Royal couple and hoped that their visit to Kaziranga may be a turning point to save the rhinoceros whose plight in the habitat is a matter of great concern. UNI ABI PR 1046 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-677373.Xml
TNCC President E V K S Elangovan today said dissident leaders of the former Union Minister G K Vasan-led Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) would soon rejoin the Congress and the party would not seek additional seats from the DMK to accommodate them. Talking to reporters after calling on DMK President M Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence, he said whether it was former MP Viswanathan or senior leader Peter Alphonse, who had expressed displeasure over Vasan's decision to align with the DMDK-People's Welfare Front (PWF) for the May 16 Assembly polls,all those who had left the party and joined the TMC were welcome to re-join the Congress. ''It will be a home coming for them'', he added. While Mr Viswanathan had quit the TMC, Mr Alphonse and another dissident leader S R Balasubramoniam were mulling resigning from the party. ''However, there will be no place for Vasan as he had held alliance talks with the 'communal' BJP'', theTNCC Chief added. Mr Elangovan said there would be no change in the seat sharing deal with the DMK to accommodate TMC dissidents re-joining the Congress and if they seek a ticket to contest the polls. ''The seat sharing deal with the DMK had already been finalised. The Congress (which was allotted 41 seats) will not seek additional seats from the DMK if the TMC dissident leaders, rejoin the parent party and seek ticket'', he said. Mr Elangovan also hailed the DMK's manifesto released by Mr Karunanidhi last night and said it was free from any freebies and contained several good schemes like implementation of prohibition and slashing the prices of aavin milk by Rs seven a litre. UNI GV 1144 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-677448.Xml
As many as 12 hardcore militants of banned outfit National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and 18 others of their family members have surrendered yesterday before Border Security Force (BSF) in North Tripura. They have deposited two Self Loading Rifles (SLR) including one automatic, an AK 47 rifles, one INSUS rifles and one G-3 rifles along with 191 bullets of SLR, 89 bullets for each AK 47 rifles and INSUS riles during surrender, official said. They have been shifted to the interrogation cell of police special branch at night, home department officials stated here today adding that besides interrogation the police was also ensuring food and health care to make them comfortable for extracting information. Describing the reason of surrender, the militants said the outfit has been facing a serious shortage of food and resources in the hideouts in the Chittagong hill tracts of south Bangladesh, which compelled to join in mainstream. "There was a constant persuasion from the respective families to leave the jungle life and harness the fruits of development. We had dreamt to make Tripura as tribal state but now the people of our families and communities rejected it rather insisted to get the benefits of social welfare programs and rehabilitation packages," said Laxmanjoy Tripura, one of the surrenderees. He however, pointed out that support base in Bangladesh has also reduced substantially. Except certain interior starches of Chittagong hill track, militant does not have any presence in Dhaka and other cities and urban areas what they used to get. Moreover, wire fencing work across 6.5 km stretch in eastern border of Tripura, which was used as corridor for militants' movement between India and Bangladesh, has now going to be completed shortly. Once fencing in the stretch completed there are no scope even to meet the family members across the border that also insisted to surrender, Laxmanjoy added. BSF officials said the surrendres had come to Sewarampara BOP in Kanchanpur of North Tripura yesterday from Bangladesh hideouts and their family members residing in India joined them in the BSF camp before surrender. NLFT is the major surrender after the outfit engaged in a peace talks with centre and two rounds of talk was held but failed to yield any headway, as the government refused to accept certain demands of the outfit. The surrender has been possible after a long effort and constant motivation by the security agencies. The intelligence networks of the state police and other security and intelligence agencies are constantly working on every movement of NLFT (BM) cadres and monitoring minutest developments in this regard, especially those related to lower cadres, who are not happy with the senior command of NLFT (BM), attributed police. The surrendered militants were identified as Halongsa Tripura, Laxmanjoy Tripura, Tarun Mohan Tripura, Mritumjoy Tripura, Debsingh Reang, Mojoiram Reang, Kusum Tripura, Binoy Tripura, Khushirai Reang, Unaram Reang, Jatanjoy Reang and Bijay Debbarma.All of them are listed extremists and involved in several attacks and abduction. However, BSF officials added, "The frequent joint operations by the Bangladesh Army and Border Guard Bangladesh in Rangamati and Khagrachari districts (in mountainous southeastern Bangladesh) are also creating a huge problem for the outfit for hiding and free movement."UNI BB KK PR NS1113 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-677347.Xml
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today called on visiting Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who arrived here yesterday on a two-day visit. Meeting with Ms Swaraj was the first official engagement of President Yameen in the capital. The Maldivian President is today holding talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and later in the day he will meet President Pranab Mukherjee. Ms Swaraj had visited Maldives twice since assuming charge of her officefirst in 2014 and then last year in October, when she chaired the meeting of the India-Maldives joint Commission held after a gap of 15 years .President Yameen is accompanied by his Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Dr Mohamed Shainee and three members of the Maldivian Parliament.UNI NAZ PR 1247 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-677526.Xml
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has expressed her grief over the death of more than hundred people in the worst-ever fire cracker explosion at Puttingal temple in Paravur of Kollam district yesterday. In her message to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Ms Gandhi said "I write to you in this hour of devastating tragedy that has taken more than a hundred lives and about 350 injured to reiterate my grief and concern. The Congress party, as indeed the entire nation, stands with the people of Kerala today." "I am certain, that as discussed with you earlier over phone, the Government of Kerala is ensuring all possible relief measures in terms of medical treatment, emergency protocols and compensation." "Providing medical relief, financial assistance and bringing the guilty to book immediately will, I am sure, be a priority, and will be ensured without delay," the Congress President said. "I pray for the peace of the departed souls and the well-being and speedy recovery of the injured."UNI DS CS 1330 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-677586.Xml
Police said here that two motorcycle-borne criminals intercepted the retired teacher Madhusudan Thakur near vegetable market at Lohar Patti when he was going to his residence after withdrawing the amount from a branch of State Bank of India.

Later, the miscreants looted the bag containing the cash and made good their escape on gun point.

Mr Thakur, a resident of Sukhsena village in Purnea district had retired from a government school in Kishanganj.

A massive manhunt has been launched to nab desperadoes.UNI XC DH KK PR SB VN1425

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-677658.Xml
In a major development into the Pathankot attack, a red corner notice is set to be issued against Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three others after a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mohali issued arrest warrants against four suspects of the terror group. According to NIA sources, JeM suspects Kashif Jan and Shahid Latif were involved in the Pathankot attack and played an instrumental role as trainers in the terror outfit. Masood Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf, Jan and Latif are being touted as the main culprits into the deadly attack on Indian Air Force Base. Earlier, the NIA had also secured non-bailable arrest warrants against the four JeM terrorists. The special court issued the arrest warrant after weighing the evidence presented by the NIA. During the meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart on April 18 in Moscow, India is likely to take up the issue of China blocking its call to ban Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar at the United Nations. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "India is in constant touch with China on the matter. The issue has already been taken up at high level. There cannot be two sets of rules for judging terrorists." China stopped the UN sanctions committee from designating Masood Azhar as a terrorist, stating that the case did not meet requirements of the Security Council. China maintains that designation of any individual as terrorist by the UN is a serious issue, and, therefore, there was a need for more evidence from India for better understanding to ban JeM chief. (ANI)
India's Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) has inked two MoUs with institutions of higher education of Canada and Armenia during two-day international convention on World Homoeopathy Day organised at Vigyan Bhavan here.The Memorandum of Understandings were between between CCRH and College of Homeopaths of Ontario, Canada and between CCRH and Yerevan State Medical University, Armenia.Delivering valedictory address, Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik complimented the steps taken towards international cooperation during the convention, as it saw the signing of two MoUs in the field of education and research in homoeopathy. He hoped that signing of these MoUs was only the beginning and many such bilateral cooperations would be agreed upon in the times to come. He remarked that with research becoming a prime concern in homoeopathy, many more international collaborations are possible and highly recommended.Greeting the people of India on the occasion of World Homoeopathy Day yesterday, he appreciated that homoeopathy had taken major scientific leaps in the past and its body of evidence was growing by the day.The second day of the convention began with a session dedicated to the founder of homoeopathy Dr Christian Samuel Hahnemann. Speakers of the session on harmonisation of pharmacopoeias and drug laws brought up many vital issues like regulation of homoeopathic medicines worldwide, need for a common international pharmacopoeia, pharmacopoeial standards on homoeopathic drugs vis-a-vis drug regulations and need for upgrading specifications of plant raw materials in homoeopathic pharmacy. Another session on drug validation and drug development explored the therapeutic potential of nosodes (homoeopathic drugs prepared from disease material) and discussed the idea of reinventing nosodes, by way of their preparation and application in clinical field. The session was chaired by Dr Martien Brands from Netherlands while biomolecular research in homoeopathy was another session at the convention, chaired by Dr Anisur Rahman Khuda-Bukhsh, an official statement here said. Panelists at another session discussed about the concerns and challenges in global and Indian scenario of education in homoeopathy and how there could be standardisation of education for accredited curriculum for education in homoeopathy.UNI SD SW SB 1527 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0005-677811.Xml
The Indhiya SuthanthiraPoratta Thiagigal and Vaarisugal Welfare Association(Indian Freedom Fighters and their wards association) today pledged its support to the ruling AIADMK in the May 16 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. A decision to this effect was taken at the State General council meeting of the Associationheld here last evening, Mr R Kanakavel Kamaraj,Association National President and grandson of K Kamaraj, told reporters here. They said they had decided to support theAIADMK as the government led by Ms J Jayalalithaahas initiated several welfare measures for thefreedom rights and their wards. He said Ms Jayalalithaa had increased thepension for freedom fighters from Rs 7,000 toRs 11,000, family pension from Rs 3,500 to Rs 5,500, medical allowances for freedom fighters and their wards from Rs 100 to Rs 500,and also honoured freedom fighters like SubramaniaSiva, Vaanjinathan by constructing memorials for them. Taking these into account, the association hasdecided to extend its support to the AIADMK, Mr Kanakavel Kamaraj said.UNI GV 1450 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-677785.Xml
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Dr Raghuram Rajan today cautioned the public against any fictitious e-mails in his or the central bank's name demanding money and asked people not to fall prey to such frauds. At launch of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, Dr Rajan said ''Let me emphasise that Reserve Bank never sends out e-mails asking for payments. We have about USD 360 billion worth of foreign exchange reserves and we also have about Rs 8 lakh crore of government bonds. We really don't need your money,''. In the past, there have been instances of people getting fake e-mails in the name of the RBI or the central bank Governor promising high returns and winning lottery. The fraudsters initially ask potential victims to deposit small sums of money for processing fees or transaction fees. The victims are asked to deposit the money in a specified account in a bank. ''So, if you get an e-mail from me saying you won a competition or a lottery and I am going to send you Rs 50 lakh but please send Rs 20,000 as transaction cost, just junk that e-mail. We do not send out money and we don't also ask for your money,'' the Governor said. Dr Rajan today launched UPI that will empower users to perform instant push and pull transactions seamlessly. He said the country has the most sophisticated public payment infrastructure in the world which can be accessed by anybody who enters the system. UNI JS NV SM1426 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-677725.Xml
The Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) signed two memoranda of understanding with institutions of higher education of Canada and Armenia during two day International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day organized at Vigyan Bhawan here. These MOUs were signed between CCRH and College of Homeopaths of Ontario, Canada and another between CCRH and the Yerevan State Medical University, Armenia. Speaking on the occasion, Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for AYUSH, said homoeopathy has taken major scientific leaps in the past and its body of evidence is growing by the day. Complimenting the CCRH for taking steps towards international cooperation in homeopathy education and research, Naik said that he saw the signing of the two MoUs as the beginning of many such bilateral cooperations in times to come. The second day of International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day began with a session dedicated to the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr. Christian Samuel Hahnemann. A floral tribute was paid to the legendary figure by the chairs and discussants of the panel. A session each on challenges in education in homoeopathy in India and the global scenario of education in homoeopathy was held. The panelists discussed the concerns and challenges in the global and Indian scenario of education in homoeopathy and how there could be standardization of education for accredited curriculum for education in homoeopathy. Another session on drug validation and drug development explored the therapeutic potential of nosodes (homoeopathic drugs prepared from disease material) and discussed the idea of reinventing nosodes, by way of their preparation and application in clinical field. This session was chaired by Dr. Martien Brands from Netherland, Dr. Isaac Golden from Australia and Dr. Laxmikanta Nanda from India. Dr. S.M. Singh, Dr. J.D. Daryani and Dr. Anil Khurana were the discussants. The speakers of the session on harmonization of pharmacopoeias and drug laws brought up many vital issues like regulation of homoeopathic medicines worldwide, need for a common international pharmacopoeia, pharmacopoeial standards on homoeopathic drugs vis-a-vis drug regulations and need for upgrading specifications of plant raw materials in homoeopathic pharmacy. Biomolecular research in homoeopathy was another session at the convention, which was chaired by Dr. Anisur Rahman Khuda-Bukhsh, Prof. (Dr.) Carla Holandino Quaresma (Brazil)and Prof.(Dr.) Kanjaksha Ghosh. Dr. Surender Singh and Dr. Anil Khurana were the discussants. After elaborate presentation on basic research updates by Dr. Peter Fisher, Editor, international journal - Homeopathy, presentation on topics ranging from homeo-genomic approach towards personalized therapy of cancer, hypertension and oxidative stress parameters of kidney by modulating enzyme hypertnsive rat model, anti heat shock effect of Cantharis 200 transported from one plant to another through capillary water, to protective role of Rhus toxicodendron 6c on cells of primary cell culture in relation to dengue virus infection and molecular level correlation between probable homoeopathic medicines and bio-samples of patients. Besides these, there were several presentations on clinical research including latest research updates, and role of Homoeopathy in malaria, dengue, natural disasters, brain injuries, chronic ear infection, sciatica etc. (ANI)
Maharashtra Cabinet today finally approved the dance bar bill with certain checks that would restrict bars to function fully. The decision comes a month after the Supreme Court cleared the decks for the issuance of dance bar licences to hotels and restaurants in Mumbai as it modified the conditions for the permit and dropped the insistence on installation of CCTV cameras at restaurants and dance performance area. The new law restrictions include not allowing these establishments to function inside residential buildings, maintaining a minimum distance of at least one kilometer from schools and places of worship, prohibiting alcohol in bar rooms, and placing a check on vulgarity. The bill, however, strictly prohibits vulgarity and clearly mentions that the dance moves should not be sexually suggestive and half-clothed women to be considered obscene. The Government in the bill has tried to put a check on the dress the dancers wear and the dance moves they perform. Earlier this year, Maharashtra government had also issued certain guidelines for dance bar owners to issue identity cards and arrange for pick and drop for the dance bar workers. The Government had previously issued an order which imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 and jail if the dance performers were touched by anybody in the audience. Following the Cabinet approval it will now be tabled before both the house of the Assembly as per the rule, the sources in the state government said. More UNI-AAA DS 1649 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0177-678014.Xml
India and Maldives today inked some key agreements, including ones on defence and security, after formal talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, indicating a reset of their ties that had come under strain recently even as China went on to extend its foot print in the India Ocean archipelago. Both the leader vowed to fight terrorism and religious extremism and radicalisation of youth. In a media statement after the signing of agreement, Mr Gayoom said Maldives' security was linked with India, while Mr Modi said Maldives' concern about its security, prosperity and stability were an equal concerns of New Delhi. They said they had a detailed discussion on all bilateral matters. The Maldivian President said his country was following ''India First'' Foreign Policy. While Mr Modi said, ''Neighbours First'' was the pivot of India's diplomacy. Mr Modi said, "India understands its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean and is ready to protect its strategic interest in the region." "The prompt implementation of a concrete action plan in the defence sector will strengthen our security cooperation,'' he said. The main elements of the security cooperation will be development of ports, training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance. He also said Mr Gayoom was alive to the menace of cross border terrorism in South Asia and That was why they had decided that agencies of both the countries would exchange information to combat the problem. Mr Modi said the Maldivian President apprised him of the political and institutional reforms in his country and said India welcomes all such measures as would strengthen the citizens' rights. Mr Gayoom made a strong plea to India to prevent any ''punitive action'' against Maldives in the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) . The CMAG will this month be reviewing progress on several key demands including talks with Opposition parties, release of Opposition leaders. Mr Modi had last year dropped Maldives from his tour of the India ocean countries as the as former President Mohamed Nasheed, considered very close to India, remained in jail.More UNI NAZ/PRA SW SB 1718 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-678074.Xml
Minister of State for Health and Medical Education Asiya Naqash today visited Government Medical College Jammu and inquired about the health care facilities being provided to the Doda road accident victims. The Minister was accompanied by Medical Superintendent of GMC and other officers concerned.She had directed the hospital authorities to provide best medicare and facilities to the patients for their early recovery. Six people were dead and 55 injured when overloaded bus plunged into gorge near Bidwan area in Doda district.UNI NS SP DS SB 1857 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0177-678476.Xml
Odisha Congress today decided to organise a massive demonstration in the state capital here on April 26 demanding ouster of Food supply and Consumer Affairs Minister Sanjaya Das Burma for his alleged involvement in the chit fund scam. The decision to organise a protest demonstration was taken at a high level meeting chaired by PCC president Prasad Harichandan in presence of several senior leaders of party including former union Minister Srikant Jena and party senior leader L B Mohapatra. Mr Harichandan said Mr Das Burma has lost the moral right to continue in office in the wake of CBI probing the chit fund scam issuing notice to him in connection with the details of the Pajero vehicles owned by him. Senior Congress leader L B Mophapatra had alleged that the Pajero vehicles used by the minister was gifted by the chit fund company which the minister had denied. The Congress chief said Mr Burma should step down from the post to allow for a free and fair investigation in to his link with the chit fund scam. Both the Congress and BJP have been demanding Burma's resignation after the CBI probing the mega scam in the state issued a notice to him on April 4 last. The minister, instead of appearing before the CBI, deputed a team of lawyers on April 8 to submit the documents sought by the CBI. Meanwhile, BJP national executive committee member Bijay Mahapatra launched a scathing attack on the CBI for protecting the ministers, ruling party leaders and other influential persons allegedly involved in the chit fund scam. He dubbed the recent notice issued to the BJD minister after two years of investigation into the chit fund scam as nothing but meant to protect the minister and hoodwink people of the state. Mr Mohapatra said there is a deliberate delay in investigating certain aspects.The CBI,he said, had merely accepted reports of the state Crime Branch which had overlooked the involvement of the ruling party leaders while investigating the case earlier. The state BJP here held a protest demonstration yesterday demanding the resignation of Mr Burma accusing him of owning at least five companies in the name of his relatives in which chit fund money has been invested. BJP vice-president Sameer Mohanty alleged that Mr Das Burma's family had taken over a media company whose owner was arrested in connection with the chit fund scam.He demanded a thorough investigation by the CBI into it. UNI DP PL DJK GC1823 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-678142.Xml
Expressing India's commitment to supporting Maldives in every way, including in building its capacity and infrastructure, President Pranab Mukherjee today said India, as the largest democracy, will continue to extend all support for the strengthening of democratic institutions in Maldives. Welcoming Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who called on him at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President said relations between India and Maldives have grown over the centuries substantially, building on the people to people relations that the two countries share. ''India is committed to its policy of supporting Maldives in every way including in building the capacity and infrastructure of Maldives. India as the largest democracy will continue to extend all support for the strengthening of democratic institutions in Maldives,''the President said. The President said India and Maldives are natural partners in the Indian Ocean region. Welcoming Mr Gayoom to India, the President said ''India attaches high importance to its 'neighbours first' policy. Within that Maldives has a place of privilege. India also appreciates the 'India first' policy of Maldives''. The President said relations between India and Maldives have grown over the centuries substantially, building on the people to people relations that the two countries share. Reciprocating the President's sentiments, the Maldivian President said the Government of Maldives is firmly committed to its 'India First' Policy. He said India was the only foreign country he has visited more than once and this was his third visit in two years. He said the two countries were bound by strong civilidational and cultural links. UNI AR RSA 2030 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-678765.Xml
Tata Motors announced the commercial launch of its cool new hatchback, the TIAGO with cutting edge design, technology and driving dynamics to create new segment benchmarks in the industry. At a starting price of INR 3.37 lakhs, ex-showroom, Kolkata, for the Revotron 1.2L (petrol) variant and INR 4.14 Lakhs, ex-showroom, Kolkata, for the Revotorq 1.05L (diesel) variant, the TIAGO will be available for sale, across the country in over 597 Tata Motors sales outlets, from today. Tata Motors will also take its customer service engagements to the next level with the launch of Tata Motors | Service Connect, a new customer application for TIAGO customers, to make the post-purchase experience easy and stay connected with them at all times for a hassle-free service experience. Besides providing free pick-up and drop service, Tata Motors Service will also offer loaner cars for repair services if it requires the car to be at workshop overnight. Speaking at the launch, Mr Guenter Butschek, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Tata Motors, said, "The TIAGO reflects our passion and commitment to bring exciting, technology driven cars into the market. Class leading features, advanced driving dynamics, outstanding fuel efficiency, offers a great value for a contemporary, young car." According to Mr Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, "The TIAGO is the first car to be launched under our Made Of Great campaign and the first to embody our new IMAPCT Design language. This globally bench marked car, represents the next big leap in our transformation journey. We are confident that TIAGO's strong and distinct character will make it stand out in this highly popular but immensely competitive segment."UNI BM DJK RSA SB2048 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-678523.Xml
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today embarked on a five-day visit to France and Germany where he will have discussions on wide range of bilateral cooperation including a semi-high speed project, station redevelopment agreement and other projects in the field of rail sector.According to an official statement here, during his visit to France, Mr Prabhu will meet Alaon Vidalies, French Minister of State for Transport, Marine Affairs and fisheries and discuss bilateral cooperation programmes and address the Emerging Market Forum in Paris. He would discuss on increasing the speeds of the 245 km Delhi-Chandigarh section from 110kmph to 200 kmph. Besides, cooperation on station redevelopment of Ambala and Ludhiana stations based on French experience would also be discussed.Mr Prabhu would also discuss with SNFC officials on future cooperation programmes. During his visit to Germany from April 13 to 15, Mr Prabhu would meet with German Federal Minister for Transportation and Digital Infrastructure and discuss cooperation between Germany and India in the field of Rail sector, the statement said. These include German expertise in the field of high speed rail, speed raising of existing routes, station development, multi modal logistics terminal and automobile logistics. Feasibility study of one corridor for High Speed Rail as per German model is under discussion with German side the statement added.UNI RBE CJ RSA 2245 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-678930.Xml
Governor of Nagaland & Assam P B Acharya today expressed his deep shock and dismay at the tragic incident of a devastating fire that engulfed the 100 year old Puttingal Devi temple complex near Kollam in Kerala, about 70 kms from Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. More than 106 people lost their lives and nearly 400 hundred people were injured in the tragedy. In a condolence message, Mr Acharya said that the tragic incident occurred around 0330 hrs during the display of fireworks at the temple complex. The fireworks, for which, incidentally, no permission was given by the revenue and police officials, had started at midnight as part of an annual festival and thousands of people had gathered to witness it. The tragedy struck when sparks of the fireworks fell on the storeroom, 'Kambapura' and the firecrackers stored in it exploded with a deafening noise. The Governor has expressed his deep sorrow that such a heart-rendering incident should have occurred at a temple where the devotees had gone to offer their prayers in a pious frame of mind and witness an annual religious festival. The Governor conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family members of those who lost their lives and has prayed to the almighty for heavenly peace of the departed souls. He has also wished early recovery of those injured. Mr Acharya has donated Rs 50, 000 from his salary towards the Kerala Chief Minister's relief fund to help out in the tragedy. He has appealed to the people of Nagaland in particular and to the people of the Northeast in general to contribute liberally to the Kerala CM's relief fund at this tragic hour. The people of Nagaland can also send their donations to the Governor for onward transmission to the Kerala CM's relief vund, the message said. UNI AS AKM RSA AN2242 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-678607.Xml
It was black Monday for Bihar as criminals unleashed terror across the state by committing various sorts of crimes including murder and loot.While an under trial prisoner was killed inside the civil court in Muzaffarpur, outlaws gunned down a medicine trader in the state capital. In another incident, desperadoes looted Rs 6.5 lakh from a retired teacher in Kishanganj district. In one more criminal incident, outlaws looted Rs 2.50 lakh from a merchant trader in Vaishali district.In a shocking incident, an under trial prisoner was shot dead by outlaws inside civil court premises in Muzaffarpur this morning. Two motorcycle borne criminals shot at the prisoner injuring him seriously inside the civil court premises when he was being brought from Central Jail for production in a murder case. The injured prisoner, Suraj died on way to hospital.In another criminal incident, unidentified miscreants shot dead a medicine trader Anil Kumar on B M Das road under Pirbahore police station in the state capital.The businessman in critical condition was rushed to Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) where he was declared brought dead. In one more unlawful activity, unidentified criminals looted Rs 6.5 lakh from a retired teacher when he was going to his residence after withdrawing the amount from a bank under Town police station area in Kishanganj district today. Two motorcycle borne criminals intercepted the retired teacher Madhusudan Thakur near vegetable market at Lohar Patti when he was going to his residence after withdrawing the amount from a branch of State Bank of India. Later, desperadoes looted the bag containing the cash and made good their escape on gun point.In another incident, criminals looted Rs 2.50 lakh from the employee of a cloth merchant near Yadav chowk under Town police station in Vaishali district. Suman Kumar, the employee of cloth merchant Dharamveer Gupta, was going to deposit the cash in a bank branch when he was intercepted by two motorcycle borne criminals. Later, they made good their escape after looting Rs 2.5 lakh from him. An FIR had been lodged with the police station concerned in this connection. UNI DH AKM RSA SB2242 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-678657.Xml
A Nigerian national has been arrested by the city police for allegedly possessing 500 gm of MD powder worth around Rs 12.50 lakh at Bonkode village in Navi Mumbai. Acting on a tip-off, a team of city Crime Branch raided a place on the Mumbra-Panvel road and nabbed him late last night, police said today.Police recovered 500 gm of MD powder worth around Rs 12.50 lakh from his possession.The arrested accused, Okoi Sipran Chinnas (30), was originally from Lagos of Nigeria and stayed in Navi Mumbai without any valid passport, police said.He has been charged under sections 8 and 33 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NPDS) Act, sources added. UNI XR SS RSA SB2342 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-678953.Xml
The descendants of the people who were brought to Andaman and Nicobar Islands before 1942, known as Pre-42 locals, are now demanding sizeable representation of the community in Andaman Lt. Governor's advisory committee.One of the oldest associations of local residents, Andaman's Local Born Association (LBA) had organised a Massive Conference at Port Blair yesterday to discuss various issues relating to the Pre-1942 community of these islands.During the conference the president of Local Born Association, Dr Prem Kishan has demanding atleast 50 per cent of sizeable representation of the community in Andaman Lt Governor's advisory committee."During the time of Chief Commissioners local born people used to have sizeable representation in Chief Commissioner's advisory committee but today there is no such representation. Pre-42 community will not be able to highlight their problems until and unless there is good representation of the community in Andaman Lt Governor's advisory committee," he said.According to leaflets distributed by LBA, the main agenda of this Conference were Participation of pre-1942 Communities in the Administration of A&N Islands, implementation of Shekher Singh Commission's recommendation as per the direction of Supreme court specially Inner line permit system in A&N Islands; allotment of land in favour of pre-1942 communities in these Islands and extending ownership right on the land holding of the pre-1942 community instead of tenancy.Recognition and allotment of excess land in possession of pre-1942 Community pertaining to the period pre-1942 as well as per 1978; Cancellation of acquisition of land acquired by the A&N Admn. In lieu of tsunami compensation, Cancellation of acquisition of plantations of Co-operative Societies of the pre-1942 Communities allotted to them prior to independence by the British Government for their livelihood; Preference in all appointment to the pre-1942 Communities. Issue of Andaman Nativity Certificate to pre-1942 Communities instead of local Certificate; Declaration the name of late Sher Ali as freedom fighter and payment of compensation from Japanese Govt. to all pre-1942 Communities of A&N Islands.UNI SKR RSA SB2325 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-678592.Xml
Meanwhile, hundreds of families returned to their homes in the provincial capital city of Ramadi after it was freed from IS militant control, Xinhua quoted security sources as saying.

Security forces and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters fought fierce battles against IS terrorists as part of their offensive campaign aiming to drive out IS terrorists from the town of Heet, 160 km west of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The troops gained more ground in Heet as they took control of the Al-Qal'a and Ummal districts, the source said without giving further details concerning casualties.

However, fierce street fighting continued in Heet, supported by the US-led coalition and Iraqi aircrafts in order to eradicate remaining IS-controlled districts from IS terrorists in the western parts of the town, the source added.

Six soldiers were killed and 13 others were injured during one incident, as eight landmines exploded whilst an army convoy was passing through Hamam Street in central Heet, destroying four military vehicles as well, the source said.

--Indo-Asian News Service sku/

( 215 Words)

2016-04-11-05:59:29 (IANS)
The heavy explosion took place in Bagrami area, targeting the education ministry workers.

A police official confirmed that the explosive device was planted in a bus carrying Ministry of Education workers and was detonated in Bagram area, reports Khaama Press.

Today's blast comes two days after Kabul city was hit by rocket attack which did not incur any casualties.

Meanwhile, no group including the Taliban militants have claimed responsibility behind the incident so far. (ANI)
Members of Canada's left-leaning New Democratic Party voted to oust their leader, Thomas Mulcair, six months after the party suffered a resounding defeat in a general election it had initially been favored to win.Delegates at a party gathering in Edmonton, Alberta, voted 52 per cent for a convention to choose a new leader. Mulcair, 61, said he would step down as head of the party, but not until a replacement is named. The New Democrats voted to hold a leadership convention in two years.The next Canadian election is not expected until 2019.The party's constitution stipulated that Mulcair needed a simple majority to stave off a leadership vote, and he had said he would consider a higher threshold of 70 per cent. Sunday's results fell short of either target.Mulcair's party lost more than half its seats and fell to third place in the election last October. In a speech before the vote, Mulcair took responsibility for the defeat, but urged party members to "keep standing with me."Mulcair led in opinion polls when the election campaign started. His party, with the second most seats in the House of Commons, had been the official opposition to the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.But the center-left Liberals, who started the race in third place, rode a late surge to a majority victory under the charismatic leadership of Justin Trudeau, who went on to become prime minister.During the campaign, Mulcair promised to balance the budget if elected in a bid to bolster the party's economic credentials, but the stand alienated many grassroots supporters who wanted change after nearly a decade of Conservative austerity.Trudeau's Liberals outflanked the New Democrats on the left, advocating deficit spending to spur the faltering economy.Mulcair, who became NDP leader in 2012, said he would remain as the member of parliament for his Montreal electoral district. REUTERS JW0510 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-677268.Xml
British Prime Minister David Cameron took the unusual step today of publishing his tax records to try to end days of questions about his personal wealth raised by the mention of his late father's offshore fund in the Panama Papers.Cameron's initial reluctance to admit he had benefited from the fund caused a furore, compounding his problems when he faces a huge political fight to persuade Britons to vote to stay in the European Union in a June 23 referendum.The EU issue has split his Conservative Party, while the government has also been going through a tough patch over a senior minister's resignation, a u-turn on welfare cuts and accusations it is failing to protect Britain's steel industry.After saying on Saturday that could have handled the fallout from the Panama disclosures better, Cameron released a summary of his tax records for the past six years.But any hope that would draw a line under the row was short-lived, as the main Sunday newspapers zeroed in on a gift of 200,000 pounds ( 282,500 dollars) Cameron received from his mother in 2011, suggesting it may be a way of avoiding inheritance tax.A source at Cameron's Downing Street office said the suggestion was inaccurate.Cameron is one of dozens of politicians around the world who have been hit by the leak of 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that detail the creation of more than 200,000 companies in offshore tax havens.Cameron will make a statement about tax policy to parliament today to try to regain the upper hand.Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused him of misleading the public by issuing what Corbyn described as four "weasel-worded" statements in as many days before finally admitting that he had benefited from his father's fund.Some politicians campaigning for Britain to vote to stay in the EU in June's referendum are concerned that the damage to Cameron is bad for their side, as he had previously been considered the best advocate for an "In" vote."The scandals over David Cameron's finances ... may tip the decision further towards 'Leave'," said former Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Gordon Wilson on Sunday.Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader and first minister of Scotland's devolved government, published her latest tax return on Sunday, adding to pressure for greater transparency by politicians.'UNSAVOURY' ATTACKSCameron is not accused of having done anything illegal, and the fact that he is a wealthy man is nothing new.But the past week has been damaging because the drip-drip of carefully worded statements before the fuller disclosure created the impression he may have had something to hide."He's not behaved improperly in any way and he's gone further than any prime minister previously in publishing these tax returns," Conservative minister Dominic Raab told Sky News television, accusing Cameron's Labour critics of "unsavoury" personal attacks and comparing them to "hyenas".Cameron announced a new taskforce on tax evasion would be led by the tax authority, HMRC, and the National Crime Agency.The Guardian newspaper reported later that HMRC boss Edward Troup's former employer, London-based law firm Simmons and Simmons, had counted Cameron's father's fund among its clients.The Guardian made no suggestion of wrongdoing by Troup or Simmons and Simmons. HMRC said Troup had never had any dealings with Mossack Fonseca or advised any of its clients named so far. It added that any HMRC officers with a potential conflict of interest would exclude themselves from a relevant investigation.Bookmakers William Hill said they had cut their odds on Cameron resigning as prime minister this year to 2/1, compared with 16/1 when he won the last general election last May.Cameron said on Thursday his father's investment trust was not set up to avoid tax but to invest in dollar-denominated shares. He said he had paid all taxes due on his own investment, which was worth about 30,000 pounds when he sold it in 2010.But Cameron stands accused of hypocrisy after portraying his government as being in the forefront of global efforts to crack down on offshore tax havens. A comment he made in 2012 about a famous comedian's legal tax avoidance scheme being "morally wrong" has been widely quoted by media.The documents disclosed by Downing Street on Sunday, from RNS Chartered Accountants, show Cameron paid tax of 75,898 pounds on income of 200,307 pounds in the 2014-2015 financial year, the most recent one included. ( 1 dollar= 0.7080 pounds) REUTERS JW PR0525 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-677273.Xml
A Canadian aboriginal community of 2,000 people has declared a state of emergency after 11 of its members tried to take their own lives on Saturday night, national media reported.CTV News reported yesterday that the remote northern community of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario experienced an additional 28 suicide attempts last month. More than 100 people in the community have attempted suicide since last September, and one person died, according to CTV.Charlie Angus, the local member of parliament, told the Canadian Press it was part of a "rolling nightmare" of more and more suicide attempts among young people throughout the winter.The Canadian Press said the regional First Nations government was sending a crisis response unit to the community following the declaration. The Health Canada federal agency said in a statement it sent two mental health counselors as part of that unit.The First Nation's band office could not be immediately reached for comment.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter: "The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. We'll continue to work to improve living conditions for all Indigenous peoples."Another Canadian aboriginal community in the western province of Manitoba appealed for federal aid last month, citing six suicides in two months and 140 suicide attempts in two weeks.Canada's 1.4 million aboriginals, who make up about 4 per cent of the country's population, have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy than other Canadians and are more often victims of violent crime, addiction and incarceration.The problems plaguing remote indigenous communities gained prominence in January when a gunman killed four people in La Loche, Saskatchewan. REUTERS JW PR0645 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-677282.Xml
John Kerry today became the first US secretary of state to visit Hiroshima's atomic bomb museum commemorating victims of the 1945 US nuclear attack, highlighting a possible historic visit by President Barack Obama next month.A senior US official said yesterday that Kerry would not offer an apology for the United States' use of the atomic bomb when he joined his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on the visit, which takes place on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers' meeting in the western Japanese city that was once obliterated by US atomic bombing.It is also the first visit by foreign ministers from Britain and France, two other nuclear powers among G7 nations."I will be pleased to visit later today the Peace Memorial Park ... in a moment that I hope will underscore to the world the importance of peace and the importance of strong allies working together to make the world safer and, ultimately, we hope to be able to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction," Kerry said at the start of a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, host for the meeting and lawmaker from a Hiroshima district."And while we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past. It's about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built," Kerry added.A US warplane dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, setting the city ablaze and killing 140,000 people by the end of the year. The United States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9. Japan surrendered six days later.Hiroshima's suffering is vividly displayed at the museum, including victims' charred and torn clothes, a tricycle ridden by a three-year old boy who died from the blast and statues of the victims, their flesh melting from their arms.Kerry's trip could pave the way for an unprecedented visit to Hiroshima by a sitting US president when Obama attends the annual G7 leaders summit in another Japanese city next month.A visit could be controversial in America if it were viewed as an apology. A majority of Americans still view the bombings as justified to end the war and save US lives, while the vast majority of Japanese believe it was not justified.While saying the White House has not yet decided, the senior US official said Obama has shown he is willing to do controversial things such as visiting Havana last month.Hopes for Obama's visit to Hiroshima were raised after his April 2009 speech in Prague calling for a world without nuclear weapons. He later said that he would be honoured to visit the two nuclear-attacked cities.The G7 foreign ministers' trip to the museum and memorial is part of Japan's effort to send a strong nuclear disarmament message from Hiroshima, the world's first city to suffer atomic bombing.Kishida said the ministers will discuss anti-terrorism steps, maritime security and issues related to North Korea, Ukraine and the Middle East.REUTERS JW PM0803 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-677289.Xml
A Canadian aboriginal community of 2,000 people declared a state of emergency on Saturday after 11 of its members tried taking their own lives this month and 28 tried to do so in March, according to a document provided by a local politician.The declaration was signed by Chief Bruce Shisheesh of the remote northern community of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario. It was provided to Reuters Sunday night by the member of parliament for the area, Charlie Angus, who said in an interview, "This is a systemic crisis affecting the communities.""There's just not been a serious response from any level of government until now," he said.Canada's 1.4 million aboriginals, who make up about 4 percent of the country's population, have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy than other Canadians and are more often victims of violent crime, addiction and incarceration.The Canadian Press reported the regional First Nations government was sending a crisis response unit to the community following the declaration on Saturday. The Health Canada federal agency said in a statement it sent two mental health counselors as part of that unit.Shisheesh and the First Nation's band office could not be immediately reached for comment.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter: "The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. We'll continue to work to improve living conditions for all indigenous peoples."Another Canadian aboriginal community in the western province of Manitoba appealed for federal aid last month, citing six suicides in two months and 140 suicide attempts in two weeks.The problems plaguing remote indigenous communities gained prominence in January when a gunman killed four people in La Loche, Saskatchewan.REUTERS PR 0855 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-677298.Xml
US presidential candidate Donald Trump is leading his rivals for the Republican nomination by over 20 points in the upcoming primary contests of New York and Pennsylvania, latest polls haverevealed. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also leads her primary opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, by double-digits in both states, according to the polls released on Sunday by Fox News. The New York primaries are scheduled for April 10 and Pennsylvania on April 26. The New York Fox News poll showed Trump poised to cross the 50 percent statewide threshold needed to capture all of New York's statewide Republican delegates. Trump would need to win a majority of votes in all of the state's 27 congressional districts to clinch New York's full 95-delegate slate. Trump has 54 percent of support to fellow Republican hopefuls Ohio Governor John Kasich's 22 percent and Texas Senator Ted Cruz's 15 percent, according to the Fox News survey of likely New York Republican primary voters. Trump has a similar lead in Pennsylvania where he clinches 48% to Kasich's 22 percent and Cruz's 20 percent, according to the Fox poll of likely Republican primary voters in Pennsylvania. After suffering through a string of recent defeats, Clinton appears poised to recapture her momentum in New York and Pennsylvania where she leads Sanders by 16 and 11 percentage points, respectively, in the Fox News polling. In New York, Clinton leads Sanders 53 percent to 37 percent; and in Pennsylvania, she tops him 49 percent to 38 percent. While both Clinton and Trump are playing up their home state ties ahead of the New York primary, the former New York senator would trounce the New York real estate developer by 16 points in a general election match-up, according to the poll. Trump would also lose to Brooklyn-born Sanders by 19 points based on the survey of New York voters. The New York poll surveyed 1,403 New York voters between April 4-7. For Democrats, 801 likely primary voters were polled for a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points; for Republicans, 602 likely primary voters were surveyed for a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points. The Pennsylvania poll surveyed 1,607 Pennsylvania voters between April 4-7. For both Democrats and Republicans, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. --Indo-Asian News Service ksk/vm ( 402 Words) 2016-04-11-12:41:28 (IANS)
The blockade has been enforced alongside a prevailing strike that they began since April 4, reports The Daily Star.

They blocked the Khulna-Jessore highway this morning.

The blockade has also been enforced on the Khulna-Jessore rail route causing distress to numerous passengers.

The five-point demand includes payment of dues of last eight weeks and dearness allowance.

A work stoppage since April 4 has caused a production deficit of nearly a thousand metric tonnes which has a market value of eight crore. (ANI)
Responsibility for the 2010 plane crash that killed Poland's president Lech Kaczynski along with 95 other people lay with the then government of Donald Tusk, the late president's twin brother and leader of the current ruling party said at an event to commemorate the disaster.The plane crash in Russia, which also killed the president's wife, the central bank chief and several military top brass, led to bitter political divisions in Poland, after initially uniting the nation in grief.Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party and a former prime minister himself, took aim at Tusk, who is now president of the Council of Europe, saying guilt and punishment needed to be apportioned before forgiveness could be offered."One wanted to kill our memory, as one was afraid of it. Because someone was responsible for the tragedy, at least in moral terms, irrespectively of what were its reasons," Kaczynski said in a speech marking the sixth anniversary of the crash."The former government was responsible for that. Not Ms Kopacz government of course, but Donald Tusk's government".Tusk was Poland's prime minister when the crash happened, and he was succeeded by his protege, Ewa Kopacz.A government inquiry into the crash had blamed pilot error. But the new government, led by Kaczynski's party, which came to power in October, has said an onboard explosion could have caused the crash.Jaroslaw Kaczynski has long accused Tusk of being indirectly responsible for the crash, which, in his view, was at least partially a result of the government's negligence.Earlier in the day, President Andrzej Duda addressed thousands of Poles gathered in front of the presidency to commemorate the crash.Duda appealed to Poles to forgive each other and reconcile over political divisions, but speaking later in the evening at the same venue, Kaczynski gave a stern response."Forgiveness is necessary but, but forgiveness after admitting guilt and administering proper punishment. This is what we need," Kaczynski said.REUTERS SHS PM1210 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-677483.Xml
Two people were killed and seven wounded when a mini-bus carrying workers from Afghanistan's Ministry of Education was hit by a bomb blast in the capital today, the ministry said.A roadside bomb blew up the bus while it was carrying workers to their offices in Kabul's eastern Bagrami district, the ministry said."The education ministry asks security forces to bring perpetrators to justice as soon as possible," it said in a statement.Few other details were available and there was no claim of responsibility.Government workers and members of the security forces are often targeted by insurgent groups, including the Taliban, who are seeking to topple the US-backed government in Kabul.The Taliban have stepped up their insurgency since most foreign troops withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, although Kabul has enjoyed a period of relative calm during the harsh winter months.That lull in violence was expected to end soon with the Taliban poised to launch their annual spring offensive.Six people were killed by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle in Parwan district, northwest of Kabul, last week. On February 22, a Taliban suicide bomber killed 14 people and wounded 11 at a clinic in the same district.Afghanistan's precarious security was underlined late on Saturday when at least two rockets hit the diplomatic zone in Kabul only hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry had held meetings with Afghan government leaders in the capital.No injuries were reported.REUTERS SHS PM1405 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-677671.Xml
The announcement came after several parliament members accused Sariyev's cabinet of corruption.

"I will fight until my innocence is proved," Sariyev told the meeting, adding that he will demand an objective investigation into the case.

Sariyev was sworn in as prime minister in May 2015, two weeks after his predecessor, Joomart Otorbayev, stepped down.

--Indo-Asian News Service py/dg

( 91 Words)

2016-04-11-17:51:32 (IANS)
Top climate scientists will launch a study this week of how hard it would be to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), although many of them fear it might be too late to reach that level.The world's average surface temperatures reached 1C (1.8F) above pre-industrial times in a record-hot 2015. They will rise by 3C (3.6F) or more by 2100 if current trends continue, many projections show.A 195-nation climate summit in Paris in December asked the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for a report in 2018 on limiting warming to just 1.5C. The IPCC began a three-day meeting in Nairobi on Monday to consider how to do that."Do we know how? No. It is definitely a moon shot," Christiana Figueres, the U.N.'s climate chief, said at a conference in London on Monday.Paris set a goal of limiting average surface temperatures to "well below" 2C while "pursuing efforts" for 1.5C. Documents prepared for the Nairobi meeting say scientific literature about 1.5C is thin.Many scientists have barely focused on the 1.5C goal, reckoning it would require unrealistically deep cuts in emissions. Experts say the IPCC will comply with the Paris request, with misgivings."I don't seek how they can say 'No'," David Victor, a professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego, told Reuters. "But I don't see how they say 'Yes' with a straight face."Some IPCC studies suggest 1.5C will be feasible if the world develops low-cost technologies later this century to extract greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.Many poor nations, fearing melting ice that will raise sea levels and swamp their coasts, campaign for "1.5 to stay alive"."My concern is that the 2018 report may have lots of information about how hard it will be to achieve 1.5C, and relatively little about the benefits," Myles Allen, a professor at Oxford University, told Reuters.He noted that countries pushing hardest for the 1.5C limit, including small, low-lying island states such as the Marshall Islands or the Maldives, wanted to stress the advantages.Limiting warming to 1.5C rather than 2C would limit, for instance, sea level rise, the melt of Arctic sea ice, damage to coral reefs and the acidification of the oceans, according to IPCC studiesREUTERS CJ SB2136 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-678833.Xml
France will seek tougher EU sanctions on people who help to facilitate tax evasion and a G20 blacklist of uncooperative tax havens, the Finance Ministry said today following the Panama Papers leaks.Countries on the blacklist should be subject to "counter-measures coordinated by different states", the ministry said in a statement outlining the issues that Finance Minister Michel Sapin will push at meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the Group of 20 leading economies this week in Washington.Some 96 jurisdictions have committed to automatically exchange tax information with other governments in the next two years, with some traditional offshore centres such as the British Virgin Islands due to start as early adopters next year.Since signing up in principle last year, Panama has rowed back, saying it could not meet all the reporting standards required for automatic sharing.Panama is now the only major financial centre among the countries that have not committed to the automatic sharing of tax information with other governments, according to an OECD report last month to G20 finance ministers. Bahrain, Nauru and Vanuatu have also not made such a commitment.France's Finance Ministry said the European Union should play its part in clamping down on tax evasion by looking into imposing sanctions against people who help and encourage it.Frustrated at Panama's lack of cooperation in sharing information on French taxpayers' activities in the country, the ministry also said it would seek to renegotiate a 2011 tax convention with Panama.After last week's revelations about the clients of a Panamanian law firm specialised in setting up shell companies, France put Panama back on its own blacklist of uncooperative tax havens. Panama had been removed from the list after the signing of the 2011 bilateral tax convention.REUTERS CJ SB2314 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-678944.Xml
Man shot dead in bar

Sunil Jaisarie,33, of Torrib Trace, New Grant died instantly after he was shot to his right eye.

According to police reports at about 1.35pm Jaisarie and a group of friends were liming at the Rainbow Recreational Club, along Garth Trace, Princes Town when the incident occurred. Reports said that Jaisarie had only stopped by the bar a few minutes when a lone gunman entered the bar and announced a hold up. Reports said that the man who was not masked ordered patrons to place all their valuables on a table. Eyewitness told police officers that when patrons placed cash, jewelry and other personal items on the table, they were ordered to face a wall inside the bar. The bandit then put the items into a bag. The report said that before the bandit fled the scene he fired a single shot. Jaisarie was shot and collapsed and died. The shooter then made good his escape on foot in the direction of the Princes Town area, police said. Yesterday family members stood in horror as they cried openly as undertakers removed Jaisarie s body from inside the bar. He just came for a drink. He just stopped at the bar with friends for a drink. He did not know that would have been the end of his life, wept Jaisaries sister Abbyeen, 35.
Police thwart robbery scheme

Newsday was told that two Fridays ago, the young woman was given an undisclosed amount of money and sent to a bank to deposit it. However, just as she got to the bank, it is alleged that she was taken hostage by a group of men. The men dropped her off at a nearby beach, and absconded with the company vehicle and a quantity of cash .

A report was made to the Couva police, and Sgts Ramsubhag and Mohammed of the Couva CID responded, After an investigation, police officers were led to believe that the young woman was involved in the robbery .

After searches were conducted, the vehicle was recovered, and the young woman was arrested and charged .

Speaking to the owner of the hardware store, Newsday was told that the woman was employed with the hardware for about four months. She had previously worked there a year before .

The owner expressed shock after being told that his employee was part of a plot to rob him .

I dont understand why people do these kinds of things, said the owner. She was just a poor girl from Couva that I tried to help. This has left me in shock, but I have to thank the police for their hard work. If it werent for them I would not have known the kind of person that she was. The woman is expected to appear before a Sangre Grande Magistrate today .
Man fined $17,000, banned from driving

Diop, who presided over the Traffic Court, fined Anthony Ackee $17,000, in total, and disqualified him from driving for the next three years with immediate effect.

The charges against Ackee, of La Romaine, is that he drove a car without lights, breached a traffic sign, and failed a breathalyser test.

Ackee reappeared on the charges before Diop and pleaded guilty to all eight offences.

Court prosecutor Sgt Raymond Dookhoo recalled that at about 11.44 pm, on February 22, Constable Sujeet Ramcharan was on mobile patrol along Cipero Street, San Fernando, where he observed a motorist driving a green car without any lighted headlamps. The officer attempted to stop the car by means of a front stop signal and his flash-light. But the driver, Ackee, failed to stop and instead sped off, causing the officer to scamper out of the road. The court heard the officer gave chase in a marked police vehicle when on reaching the intersection of Cipero and Rushworth Streets, where there is a No Right Turn sign, he saw the motorist make an illegal turn. The chase continued along Todd and Farah Streets before police intercepted the car. When the police asked Ackee for his drivers permit, he said he did not have one. Police had to physically remove Ackee from the vehicle. He also failed three breathalyser tests and Ramcharan subsequently charged him with the offences.

The magistrate, having heard the prosecutions case, remarked it was fortunate no one died or was seriously injured during the incident.

Diop reprimanded and discharged Ackee for failing to provide a drivers permit to police.

On the charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, the magistrate fined him $10,000 to be paid within a month or in default serve three years in prison. She also disqualified him from driving for three years. The magistrate fined him $4,000 for driving in a dangerous manner or in default serve four months in prison. She fined him $500 each for failing to comply with police, breaching a traffic sign, driving without two lighted headlamps and driving without a drivers permit. Attorney Maurissa Bubb represented Ackee.
Woman still in custody

The victim, Davidson Roach, of Oilfield Road, Los Bajos was stabbed once to the neck at his Los Bajos home last Thursday. He was pronounced dead on arrival to the Siparia District Health Facility for treatment. The incident reportedly occurred in front of a six-year-old girl who was found crying on the steps by a friend who had rushed to Roachs assistance.

According to a police report, at about 8 am on Thursday, officers at the Siparia Police Station were contacted by nurses of the Siparia Health Facility who informed them of a situation in which the victim of a stabbing incident had succumbed to his wounds. The alleged weapon described as a $5 kitchen knife sold on the streets has since been seized by police. The incident occurred hours after the victim had received a photoshopped image of himself on his cell phone that showed him with an apple on his head which was surrounded by six knives and a Chinese chopper. His hands were bound in front of him.
Zoo chimp gets own TV

Zoo guests who have visited Sudi in this new area are pleasantly surprised when they find her watching television with great interest.

President of the Zoological Society of Trinidad and Tobago, Gupte Lutchmedial explained that as a highly intelligent animal, he saw the need for mental stimulation for Sudi, and what better than a television where she can see movements and hear sounds.

Sudis favourite programme is the News and she can be seen avidly looking on at the television when she chooses to do so, said Lutchmedial.

When asked about companionship for Sudi, Lutchmedial indicated that the Zoo is expecting six chimpanzees soon and these animals will be comfortably housed in this enclosure as well. For now though, Sudi has lots of distractions keeping her occupied besides the television, chief among which, is a daily visit from her human friend, Betti Gellizeau.

Gellizeau has been a friend of the Zoo for well over a decade, developing a special bond with the chimpanzees and today visits Sudi every day.

Knowing the history of Sudi where she was initially cross-fostered by a couple, then brought in to the Toronto Metro Zoo when she became too strong to handle and at four years old sent to the Trinidad Zoo, I wanted to give her the comfort of human companionship, Gellizeau said.

This chimpanzee has always had strong bonds with the humans she interacted with and I know that she looks forward to my visits and to the edible and non-edible enrichment items I bring her, she added.

Lutchmedial had words of appreciation for Gellizeaus interest in the welfare of Sudi and confirmed that this interaction is part of a supervised intervention. We pride ourselves in placing the welfare of our animals first and work closely with Ms Gellizeau to ensure conformity with the Zoos standard operating procedures, explained Lutchmedial.

But putting back the spotlight on Sudi, observing her in her new enclosure is a delight for Zoo guests.

Not only can she open her own drinks and choose between bottle and cup, straw or no straw, but now spends time taking notes of her favourite news items.
Abdulah says fiscal measures resemble IMF recommendations

Some of the measures which the Minister of Finance has announced are measures that the IMF would recommend to the government, Abdulah told reporters during a press conference on the mid-year budget review at the partys St Joseph road headquarters, San Fernando yesterday.

Now lets understand and be very clear, we are not at the IMFs doorstep now, countries only go to the IMF for balance of payment support, thats when you have no more foreign exchange to buy your basic needs for your citizens and for your economy. You go when you have no US dollars, no hard currency in the Central Bank, and because you are borrowing from the IMF, it imposes conditions upon your borrowing, Abdulah explained.

He said such harsh conditionalities would include a cutting back on government employment, cutting wages, privatising, selling out state assets, cutting back on publicly funded health care and publicly funded education. We are not there, where we are, once a country belongs to the IMF, we are a member country of the IMF, the IMF does an annual assessment of the state of your country, which is known as the article 4 recommendations, and what the Minister of Finance would be doing and has done, is begin to implement which the IMF would recommend as being good fiscal management of the governments resources and of the economy, he said.

Abdulah continued: And other economists, and we ourselves would challenge some of those recommendations because we challenge the theory and the assumptions about the IMF makes about how the economy works. He cited fellow CARICOM nation, Jamaica, as an example saying that nation had been on an IMF programme since the 1970s and were still in an economic crisis. Abdulah also took issue with the increase on diesel fuel without the requisite public consultations saying the burden of adjustment had once again fallen on the shoulders of the working class and the poor.

With the second increase in diesel within six months, what is going to happen again is that we are likely to see transportation costs going up, but transportation may go up not in proportion to the actual cost of diesel and the cost of doing business, he said, adding, diesel cost went up by 15 percent so we are going to put up the cost by 15 percent, when really diesel cost may have only been a fraction, much less than 15 percent of the cost of doing business. The Minister of Finance has put at risk working people, senior citizens, the poor, and the vulnerable in terms of significantly rising prices, Abdulah said.

He said the party was also against the sale of Republic Bank shares as well as that of insurance giant, Clico, saying this would signal a return to the 1970s era when financial institutions were owned by foreign banking institutions.

A major concern that we have is the announcement to sell Republic Bank shares which Clico and or CL Financial own and also to sell Clico, as an insurance company, Abdulah said, adding, we reject that, we oppose that totally as a number of us has opposed the sale of RBTT shares to RBC. What they are going to do is open the door to foreign financial institutions to buy out Republic and to buy out Clico, and what that would mean is we are going to return to the pre 1970 period where the entire financial private sector or a very significant part of the financial sector is owned by foreign capital, he added.

Everything is wrong with the sale of Clico and with the sale of Republic Bank shares and therefore we are opposing it and the MSJ will campaign strenuously against that sale, he added.

And regarding online shopping, he said citizens had to shift the culture of consumption from foreign products to locally produced items.

We have a real problem in Trinidad and Tobago and its not limited to online shopping, it related to the whole culture in this country, we have to shift the culture of consumption very rapidly and drastically, he said, It is our consumption in the mall, for food out of foreign restaurant chains, motor cars, it is as though new are earning $100 oil and $5 MMBtu, we are not earning that, we are earning $30 oil and $2 MMBtu gas. We need to have a whole effort at buying local we need to buy things locally, all school feeding should be on the basis of local foods from local farmers, and there should be taxes on imported food items, he said, adding there was an urgent need for a prices council to ensure that merchants are not overcharging consumers.
Ramesh blasts government on high murder rate

I have not seen a passion by the government to deal with the crime problem, Maharaj said, adding, you cannot deal with this crime problem unless you take steps to have a proper running police service and if it is that the police service has rotten eggs within the police, there should be particular units of the police service after you check all the relevant international intelligence and get appropriate units to detect the crime. Maharaj was speaking to reporters following a meeting jointly hosted by the civil society group, Democracy Watch and MSJ political leader, David Abdulah, at the Couva/ Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce conference hall, Camden road, Couva last Thursday evening.

He recalled that the Dr Keith Rowley Administration had been elected on an anti-crime platform and wondered aloud whether they had a crime plan to deal with the spike in serious crime especially murder.

I ask aloud to the new government of Trinidad and Tobago, where is the crime plan that you have to deal with the crime problem, Maharaj said, adding, they told the population, they condemned the Partnership and they told the population elect us in government and we going to make you safer, we have not been made safer and we have to talk about this. He said while resources should be spent on fixing the justice system, also noted that significant sums of money had been spent on the Ministry of National Security with any measurable success in the crime detection rate.

And I do not understand why it is the government spent so much money on national security but you cannot catch the criminals, he said, adding, we do not have at this time a DNA bank in Trinidad and Tobago to be able to match DNA on the scene of a crime, to be able to identify the person who commit the crime. We are spending all this money on crime and you cannot catch the criminals. Look at, for example, how many prison officers were murdered and we have not been able to catch anyone of the persons who killed them, Maharaj said.

He continued: How many people have been killed in Trinidad and Tobago, look at the murders, look at the crime and all of this mid-year review can be totally useless to the population unless the people are put first. Maharaj pointed out that during the 1996-2001 Basdeo Panday Administration, the government had been able to assist the police service in detecting crime with the assistance of international agencies.

The crimes can be detected, as a matter of fact we did that, from 1996 to 2001, Trinidad and Tobago was like the wild West, when I became the attorney general, we said we going to catch the criminals, we were going to lock them up, we were going to prosecute them and we were going to execute them or jail them, he said.

And we did that, it can be done, but what it needs, it needs a Minister of National Security working and it needs an Attorney General working and it needs a plan, and the plan must be if the man commits the crime, you will be able to catch him and right now you do not have proper forensic, we spending money in forensic but we do not have it, for some reason it is not being done, he added.

The government has surrendered to the criminals already, they have surrendered, they have in effect said, they cannot do anything, they cannot carry out the death sentence, the last government did it, the present government has done it and the people are suffering, he added.

Addressing the weekly police media briefing on Wednesday, acting Supt Zamsheed Mohammed of the Homicide Bureau said the detection rate was 17.8 percent between August 2014 and March 2015, but for the same months in late 2015 up to last month, the figure was a low 8.6 percent.
Imbert: Mittal paid pension plan

Asked if the Government would provide relief to workers given reports that they are not to receive pensions, Imbert said, On behalf of the Minister of Labour (Jennifer Baptiste- Primus), I wish to clarify certain misconceptions and misinformation that is in the public domain regarding the pension plan for ArcelorMittal workers. Imbert said the company gave him assurances in relation to the matter.

ArcelorMittal told me that they were fully up to date and that they have paid all required contributions to the pension plan, Imbert said. I took the precaution of assigning a senior officer of the Ministry of Finance to speak to the trustees of the plan, speak to the company which is managing the plan and I am advised that in a meeting between the union and the trustees the union was assured that Mittal had made all required payments to the plan. The minister continued, What is required now is an actuarial valuation. Because actuarial valuations are done on a biannual basis and it is not normal to do one on an emergency basis but it is required now. I am told that this valuation will take three to four months to complete.
PM attending $600 fund raiser

Tickets for the fund raiser cost $600 each.

Rowley is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Diego Martin West. On his Facebook page, there is a posting of a gold ticket for the event entitled Cocktails on the Hill which is scheduled to take place on April 30 from 6 pm to 10 pm.

The venue for the event is the Haynes Residence at 16 Manning Street in Diego Martin.

The ticket invites the purchaser to spend an evening with Rowley to raise funds for the restoration of the PNMs Balisier House headquarters.

Following a PNM General Council meeting on September 19, 2015, party chairman Franklin Khan said Rowley will donate his entire first months salary to the Balisier Building Project Fund. The Prime Ministers salary is $48,000. In addition, the Prime Minister receives $7,500 duty allowance and $5,550 transport allowance.

He also gets a $36,000 cash travel grant, and a maximum motor vehicle loan for $350,000 at six percent interest, as well as a motor repair loan of $20,000 at six percent. Khan indicated at that time that the restoration of Balisier House should begin sometime this year.

Former prime minister (now Opposition Leader) Kamla Persad- Bissessar donated ten percent of her monthly salary to the Childrens Life Fund while government ministers in the former Peoples Partnership administration donated five percent of their salary to the Fund.

In his address to the nation last December, Rowley said that as a symbolic gesture of the willingness of members of his administration to share in the necessary adjustments to be taken in the current economic scenario, from January and for the next two years, we will each donate five percent of our salary to a selected charity, NGO or sporting body of our choice. On May 2, Rowley leaves the country to attend the Caribbean Energy Security Conferfence in Washington DC om May 3 and 4. The Conference is hosted by US Vice President Joe Biden.

Rowley will deliver the keynote address at a function at Medgar Evers College in New York on May 5. The Prime Minister will meet with BP CEO Bob Dudley in London on May 7 and then leave the following day for an official visit to Ghana from May 8 to 11.

While in Ghana, Rowley is expected to hold bilateral talks with Ghanian President John Dramani Mahama on several energy matters. Rowley returns to London on May 12 to attend an anti-corruption conference being hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron. Rowley is also due to hold talks in London with anti-corruption officials on May 13. The Prime Minister is due to return home on May 14.
Camille signs loan contract

The signing took place last Friday at Morenos office at Bridgewater Hall in Nassau, in the Bahamas.

Robinson-Regis was in the Bahamas last week to attend the 57th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the IDB and the 31st Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC).

At the signing of the loan contract, Robinson-Regis said the strengthening of the SEW , provides us with a dual opportunity to both increase our competitive advantage and productivity. She added that it also helps to decrease inefficiencies which is important to boost the competitiveness of this countrys economy and ease of training is., one sure way to build our national capacity. Through the loan, the countrys trade facilitation environment will be updated bringing it to world class standards, reducing time and cost of imports and exports.

In a statement, the Planning Ministry anticipated the loan will produce a positive impact on revenue, the competitiveness of the private sector, while fulfilling the countrys commitments under the WTO-Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), and the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union (EPA).

In addtion, the ministry said this project will extend this countrys leadership in this area and will make possible initial interoperability with other countries such as Costa Rica and the Pacific Alliance Countries.

The SEW , was conceptualised and launched under the former Patrick Manning administration, then continued by the former Peoples Partneship government.
Pro-abortion California law enforcement officials raid home of filmmaker and journalist who exposed Planned Parenthood baby chop shop practices

Investigators with the California Department of Justice on Tuesday raided the home of David Daleiden, the anti-abortion activist behind a series of undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood, the activist said.

(Article by Doug Owen, republished from //www.blacklistednews.com/California_authorities_raid_home_of_anti-Planned_Parenthood_videographer/50282/0/38/38/Y/M.html)

Authorities seized a laptop and multiple hard drives from his Orange County apartment, Daleiden said in an email. The equipment contained all of the video Daleiden had filmed as part of his 30-month project, including some very damning footage that has yet to be released to the public, he said.

A spokeswoman for California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) said she could not comment on an ongoing investigation. But the raid confirms that California is among the states looking into possible criminal activity on the part of Daleiden and his organization, the Center for Medical Progress, which have been the center of controversy since releasing videos purporting to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sells fetal tissue for a profit.

Planned Parenthood has denied the allegations, and numerous state investigations have so far turned up no evidence of wrongdoing by the group. However, a Houston grand jury earlier this year indicted Daleiden in connection with fake drivers licenses he used to gain access to Planned Parenthood facilities and abortion provider conferences.

Read more at: //www.blacklistednews.com/California_authorities_raid_home_of_anti-Planned_Parenthood_videographer/50282/0/38/38/Y/M.html

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Massive fire and explosion during public display of fireworks at Puttingal Temple

Kollam District, Kerala, Mon, 11 Apr 2016 NI Wire

Massive fire and explosion during public display of fireworks at Puttingal Temple, Kollam District, Kerala.

A massive fire and explosion occurred during public display of fireworks at Puttingal Temple, Kollam District, Kerala at about 3.00 AM on 10.04.2016. As per the preliminary reports, 84 people have died and over 250 sustained injuries.

The accident occurred during display of fireworks. Prima facie, from pictures seen on TV news channels, it was observed that large quantity of fireworks items were used for the public display. It is mandatory to obtain a licence in Form LE-6 under Explosives Rules 2008 from District Magistrate for public Display of fireworks.

As per the Hon'ble Supreme Court's directive Fireworks should be used only upto 10 pm. and as per as per Ministry of Environment and Forests Notification no. G.S.R. 682 (E) dated 05/10/1999 the noise level of cracker should not exceed 125 dB.

Necessary advisory have been issued from time to time by Petroleum & Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), Ernakulam to all District Magistrates for grant of licences in Form LE-6 under Explosives Rules 2008 and safety measures to be taken.

Following officials from PESO are visiting the accident site to assist the district administration in finding out the cause of accident and to suggest measures to prevent recurrence of similar incidents in future.

Dr. S. Kamal Chief Controller of Explosives, Nagpur, Dr. A. K. Yadav Jt. Chief Controller of Explosives, South Circle, Chennai, Shri R. Venugopal, Dy. Chief Controller of Explosives, Hyderabad, Shri Thiagarajan, Controller of Explosives, Sivakasi T.N. and Shri S. Kandasamy, Dy. Controller of Explosives, Ernakulam.

Source: PIB
A team of innovators from Canada and Mexico have successfully tested a low cost, environmentally-friendly way of destroying the eggs of the mosquito genus that spreads dengue, and likely spreading the Zika virus.

The system includes an innovative Canadian-designed trap called an ovillanta, created from two 50 cm sections of an old car tire, fashioned into a mouth-like shape, with a fluid release valve at the bottom.

Inside the lower tire cavity, a milk-based, non-toxic solution developed at Sudburys Laurentian University lures mosquitoes. Inserted to float in the artificial pond is a wooden or paper strip on which the female insect lays her eggs. The strip is removed twice weekly, analyzed for monitoring purposes, and the eggs destroyed using fire or ethanol.

The solution, which now includes mosquito pheromone (the female insects chemical perfume that helps others identify a safe breeding site), is then drained, filtered, and recycled back into the tire. The pheromone concentrates over time, making the ovillanta even more attractive for mosquitoes.

During the 10-month study, the team collected and destroyed over 18,100 Aedes eggs per month using 84 ovillantas in seven neighbourhoods of the town of Sayaxche (population 15,000), almost seven times the roughly 2,700 eggs collected monthly using 84 standard traps in the same study areas.

A tantalizing but anecdotal observation was that there were no new cases of dengue reported as originating in the ovillanta study test area, a community that would normally anticipate two or three dozen cases in that timeframe.

Targeting mosquito eggs using the ovillanta, Dr. Ulibarri says, is one third as expensive as trying to destroy larvae in natural ponds and only 20% the cost of targeting adult insects with pesticides, which also harm bats, dragonflies and the mosquitoes other natural predators.

An ovillanta is created from two 50 cm sections of an old car tire, fashioned into a mouth-like shape, with a fluid release valve at the bottom. CREDIT Daniel Pinelo

F1000Research Zika and Arbovirus Outbreaks channel

Key to the overall system is an online training program to strengthen the mosquito control expertise of local health workers, coupled with a community engagement strategy that involves households in the regular maintenance of their ovillanta.

The community members collect the egg-laden strips of paper or wood from the ovillanta and pass them to the health workers, who conduct the monitoring and destruction using fire or ethanol.

The Aedes genus of mosquito  the principal genus that transmits Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses  has proven extremely difficult to control using other strategies, according to the World Health Organization.

A female, with a natural lifespan of up to three months, can start to reproduce in one week. Pesticide-resistance, dwindling resources, and an increase in mosquito-friendly environments have thwarted traditional methods of controlling the insects rapid spread.

SOURCES  Eurekalert, F1000Research Zika and Arbovirus Outbreaks channel
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...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND NORTHWEST IOWA... * Affected Area...In Iowa, Monona county. In Nebraska, Knox, Cedar, Thurston, Antelope, Pierce, Wayne, Boone, Madison, Stanton, Cuming, Burt, Platte, Colfax, Dodge, Butler, Saunders, Seward, Lancaster, Saline, Jefferson and Gage counties. * Winds...South 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 55 mph. * Relative Humidity...As low as 22 percent. * Impacts...Any fires that ignite may spread rapidly and exhibit extreme fire behavior. Use extreme caution if engaging in any activities that could start a fire. Outdoor burning is not advisable. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. &&
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King Salman maiden visit to Egypt since his enthronement was highlighted by the establishment of a multi-billion investment fund alongside other investment agreements including an economic free-zone in the Sinai.

Egypt has often turned towards Gulf States for support but it seems that the oil-rich kingdom is changing its strategy by adopting an investment approach instead of the grants and aids it usually offered.

The Saudi-Egyptian investment fund with a capital of 60billion riyals is set up by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and its entities and the Egyptian government and its entities, reported the Egyptian TV.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund, one of the institutions spearheading the diversification of Saudi economy abroad, signed an agreement with Egypts International Cooperation ministry to establish an economic free zone in Sinai.

The agreements also include a memorandum of understanding between Saudi Aramco and Egypts Arab Petroleum Pipelines Company SUMED. Other private sectors signed investment agreements worth $590million.

To further tighten the links between the two countries, King Salman announced plans to build a bridge across the Red Sea without going into details.

A statement from the Egyptian presidency stated that the volatile Sinai region will benefit from an industrial zone worth $3.3billion, a $2.2billion 2250 Megawatt electricity plant, agricultural projects and housing complexes.
UN special envoy for Libya Martin Kobler commended the meeting which took place in Cairo between President of the House of Representatives (HoR) Agila Saleh and senior House officials, including First Vice President Emhamed Shoeib and Second Vice President Ihmeid Houma stressing that the Tobruk-based parliament is a major player in consolidating the authority of the contested Government of National Accord (GNA.)

The Tobruk-based parliament has failed to vote on the approval of the Libyan Political Agreement that led to the establishment of the Presidency Council and the formation of a unity government.

Kobler urged the HoR to hold a vote of confidence on the unity government because a positive endorsement by the House will be key to facilitating a peaceful and orderly transfer of executive authority.

The parliament has already failed to vote on the matter eight times but Kobler reminded lawmakers that the parliament remains central to the political process and to the implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement without any doubt. He wants the parliament to meet in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the GNA continues to be confined at the naval base in Tripoli and there are still concerns about how it would impose its authority as the Tripoli-based National Salvation Government continues to term it as an illegal body.

The standoff could worsen after the Islamic State in Libya threatened that it would attack Tripoli in a battle against the Crusaders Government.

Reports monitored on al-Wasat stated that Abu-Abdullah al-Masri, head of the Islamic Court in ISIS controlled Sirte, told a gathering at a mosque that they will burn Tripoli. He warned that methods such as Enghemasien would be used; a practice of attacking with light arms and detonating a suicide belt when out of ammunition.
Moroccan and American servicemen will organize their joint annual military exercise African Lion from April 18 to 27 in southern Morocco, according to press reports.

This military drill seeks to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nations tactics, techniques and procedures. It involves various types of training including command post, live-fire and maneuvering, peace keeping operations, an intelligence capacity building seminar, aerial refueling/low-level flight training, as well as medical and dental assistance projects.

The years exercise will be conducted with the goal to establish a Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) while performing exercises that meet Peace Operations under UN mandated processes and procedures.

Forces from Germany, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Tunisia, Mauritania and Senegal will also take part in the exercise. The 2015 African Lion was conducted last May in Agadir and included American combat equipment, such as amphibious assault vehicles.

Moroccan forces have carried out lately a month-long operational training in Sennybridge, South Wales, with the Royal Gibraltar Regiment (RG.)

The RG continued its close relationship with the Moroccan Armed Forces at Exercise Jebel Tarik, and invited members of the Forces Armees Royale (FAR) to join. A week before deployment to Sennybridge, 20 FAR personnel arrived in Gibraltar and underwent pre-deployment training.

It is good to work with foreign troops, particularly the Moroccans, given the fact we have been working with them for over 15 years now, said Chief Instructor Sgt Joshua Whitaker.

These opportunities allow us to share ideas on best practices and enable the RG to continue developing its special relationship that has been in place for such a long time. The FAR troops were highly motivated and competent soldiers that engaged with us instantly and became fully integrated with the company from the outset, he stressed.
Several stakeholders, including the European Union, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) among others have committed to extend Morocco millions of Euros as a contribution to the organization of the World Climate Conference (COP22,) to be hosted by the Kingdom in Marrakech next November.

The pledges were made Monday at a meeting held in Rabat by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in cooperation with the COP22 steering committee.

The EU announced it will provide 7 million, 2 million immediately and an additional 5 million later on as negotiations are still underway to mobilize the sum, the UNDP will provide 2 million, while IFADs contribution will amount to 450,000.

During the meeting, Morocco called for mobilizing the necessary funds to ensure the success of the upcoming global event, which is, as Put by Minister of Economy and Finance, Mohamed Boussaid, not a Morocco event but an event of all the countries of the world.

All the participants, including delegates of diplomatic missions in Morocco and of donor countries and organizations, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the USAID, the Islamic Development Bank and other institutions have expressed readiness to help organizing the COP22.

The organization of COP22 will cost some 100 million.

During the meeting, the Steering Committee announced that the Headquarters Agreement between the United Nations and Morocco will be concluded by mid-May in Bonn.

The Committee also said that the contract for the construction of the COP22 Bab Ighli village, which will have daily peaks of 25,000 to 30,000 visitors, will be formalized this week with Capital Event group.

The company to monitor the event technical aspects will also be officially designated this week, said the Steering Committee which announced the launch of its website, logo, and the official inauguration of its headquarters in Rabat.

COP22 is to launch on April 22 a petition for the enforcement of the COP21 agreement.

The petition will be launched in New York with the start of the ratification of the Paris agreement, according to the organizing committee. The agreement will enter into force after it is ratified by 55 countries, including 55% which emit greenhouse gases.

The Rabat meeting was preceded last week by a coordination meeting that gathered in Paris the presidents of COP21 and COP22, namely Frances Minister of Ecology, Energy and Sustainable Development, Segolene Royal, and Moroccos Foreign Minister, Salaheddine Mezouar.
Californias usually an afterthought in presidential primaries. Sanders is hoping this years an exception. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

For the first time in decades (with the exception of 2008, when the state moved its traditional June presidential primary up to February), Californias late presidential primary is going to matter, perhaps in both parties. Its looking less and less likely that Donald Trump is going to reach the 1,237 delegates he needs for the Republican nomination before June 7, and California may well confirm that the GOP is heading toward a contested convention. On the Democratic side, its less likely that Bernie Sanders will be within striking distance of Hillary Clintons lead in pledged delegates by June 7 (and edging her in pledged delegates is the only way he can chip away significantly at her giant lead in superdelegates and thus overall delegates). If he is, the gains he seems to be making on Clinton in California need to turn into a big and steady trend in his favor.

The highly respected Field Poll issued a new survey of the Democratic presidential contest Friday, and it showed the 11-point (46-35) lead Clinton enjoyed at years end declining to 6 points (47-41) today.

Before digging into the findings, its important to understand some peculiarities about the California primary.

First of all, Democrats, but not Republicans, have decided to open their process to independents this year. Thats of obvious importance to Bernie Sanders. According to Field, a little over a fourth of Democratic-likely voters will be independents  a group Sanders has been winning by a large margin.

Second of all, California is a state with relatively heavy voting by mail, driven in part by the option of permanent voting-by-mail registration; those who so register automatically receive a ballot about a month from the election so long as they keep voting. In the 2014 statewide primary, 69 percent of votes were cast by mail. This means the campaign in California will begin much earlier than June.

And third of all, the presidential primary will coincide with the states top-two primary for all non-presidential offices. Instituted by a ballot initiative in 2010, the top-two system abolished party primaries for non-presidential contests altogether, substituting a jungle primary where everyone competes for two spots in the November general election. Unlike Louisianas version of the jungle primary, a majority in the first round does not enable a candidate to avoid the second. As intended, the system has produced some two-Democrat and two-Republican general-election contests that reward candidates who can win crossover votes. But against its proponents expectations, top-two, so far at least, has not boosted primary turnout; in June 2014, turnout dropped to an all-time low of 25 percent.

It also seems Republican voters are more likely than Democrats to show up in the top-two system. There have been some fears that the GOP presidential primary will accentuate this tendency, thanks to the hype surrounding the Trump/Cruz contest. For that reason, even some Clinton supporters may hope for a tight presidential race to get Democrats out.

On the other hand, the marquee non-presidential race in California, the contest to choose a successor to Senator Barbara Boxer, is looking like an all-Democratic affair featuring Attorney General Kamala Harris, a San Franciscobased African-American woman, and Representative Loretta Sanchez, a Los Angelesbased Latina. In theory, high primary turnout should enable Republicans to sneak a candidate into the general election, but so far, their candidates are too numerous and too obscure to challenge the Democrats. One much-discussed scenario is that Sanchez, long associated with centrist New Democrats, could beat the more rigorously liberal Harris in November by appealing to business groups and Republicans.

For the purposes of June 7, though, its not clear whether this or other down-ballot races will have any effect on the presidential contest. Both Sanchez and Harris have endorsed Clinton, who, according to the Field Poll, is leading both in San Francisco and in L.A. County.

The most interesting numbers in the Field Poll involve both demography and geography. It shows HRC leading Sanders among Latinos by a spare 49-42 margin, and among African-Americans by a much stronger, but hardly Mississippi-level, 64-25. Sanders gets his customarily massive 77 percent among under-30 voters, though his margin among independents is a lower-than-usual ten points (49-39). The two candidates are running near-even in the more affluent and (usually) more politically mobilized coastal counties, and much of HRCs statewide lead is from inland counties. If California is going to wind up feeling the Bern, it will probably emanate from the heart of the Left Coast. The question we cannot answer right now is whether it would matter if he narrowly won.

California has, on occasion, offered a late protest vote against putative Democratic nominees, going for Ted Kennedy in 1980 and Gary Hart in 1984. Thats part of the states late-primary legacy of not really having a say about presidential nominations. As a California voter, I can tell you theres a sense of excitement about the presidential contest in the Golden State thats been missing for a quite awhile. Well soon see if its long gone or going strong by June 7.
If theres one thing Obama has learned, its that planning is essential. Photo: Joshua Lott/2016 Getty Images

Being president for almost eight years means Barack Obama has had ample time to reflect on what went well and what went wrong during his time in office, and on Sunday, he shared his self-evaluation with Fox News. Asked what he thought his worst mistake was as president, Obama said it was the lack of planning after the fall of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

Failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya was probably his biggest regret as president, Obama told Foxs Chris Wallace.

Following the U.S.-led coalitions intervention, Libya has spiraled into chaos, and its not the first time Obama has expressed his regrets about the situation there. Earlier this month he told The Atlantic that, despite the fact that the plan went as well as [he] could have expected, Libya is still a mess, which he attributed to flimsy allies and the extent of tribal division in the country.

Today that mess involves hundreds of missing anti-aircraft missiles that disappeared shortly after Qaddafis downfall, warring governmental factions, and an influx of migrants for which Libya is nowhere near prepared to deal with. The chaos has allowed ISIS to gain a foothold in the country, and U.S. intelligence forces say at least some of the missiles are probably in ISIS custody.

Thats a lesson I now apply when were asked to intervene militarily, Obama said. Do we have a plan for the day after?
Lets make a deal. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

On the question of policy development, as in so many other respects, the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump stands alone.

Anyone trying to engage the candidate and his staffers on this matter does not get a lot of encouragement. When my colleague Gabriel Sherman recently asked the candidate about his policy plans, Trump dismissively noted that hes got policy on my website, as though he bought it off the shelf  which could well be true.

In February, after Trump dropped sketchy hints about his approach to replacing Obamacare in several candidate debates, inquiring minds wanted to know where he was getting his health-care ideas. His National co-chairman and policy advisor Sam Clovis, sometimes identified as his policy director (though rarely mentioned in media discussions), told Politico the campaign wouldnt name names:

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.

Last week, veteran New York Times health-policy reporter Robert Pear and colleague Maggie Haberman, having spoken to a variety of Republican wonks who described Trumps health plan as an incoherent mismash, approached the Donalds people again for elucidation, and again Sam Clovis was sent out to deal with it. Two months later, Clovis still declined to name any advisers.

But his remarks on policy specifics are particularly revealing and important. When asked if Mr. Trumps plan would insure all those who have gained coverage under the health law, Clovis said: That might be correct, but we really dont know that. A lot of it depends on what initiatives we can get through Congress.

Thats right, the campaign seems to figure all policy specifics are premature until Trump takes office and sits down with Republicans  and Democrats  on the Hill:

[Clovis] said that Mr. Trump would have a detailed, comprehensive plan to replace the law if Congress repealed it, and he added that any replacement must be bipartisan 

What makes those comments (and others like them from Trump himself talking about deal-cutting with Congress) so remarkable and explosive from a GOP front-runner is that the party has been hoping and planning to avoid deal-making or bipartisanship at all costs if it takes the White House. In the first days of a new Republican administration, the plan has been to cram absolutely everything the right wants on major domestic-policy topics  with health care high on the list  into a budget-reconciliation bill (which, because it deals money, cannot be filibustered) and whip it through Congress to be signed immediately by the president. That was, in fact, the plan that would have been implemented had Mitt Romney won in 2012. Certainly that vision does not include any sitting down and talking with congressional Democrats about what they want, no sirree  any more than congressional Republicans were interested in working with Barack Obama on his own health-reform proposal, which they opposed from long, long before Day One.

Super-lobbyist Grover Norquist famously summed up what the party and its interest groups ultimately want in a president four years ago:

All we have to do is replace Obama  We are not auditioning for [a] fearless leader. We dont need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget  We just need a president to sign this stuff. We dont need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate. [] Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared.

And this is a significant, if under-discussed, reason Republicans are worried about Trump, not just as a nominee, but as a president: Trump is telling the whole world right now that hes going to figure out most of his policies after hes elected. And theres not even some policy apparatus or kitchen cabinet Republicans can look to or spy on to figure out where a Trump administration might go. Sam Clovis is by all accounts a pretty smart cookie, but hes not Erasmus.

Who knows if any advisers would fill all those policy offices in the White House and the Old Executive Office Building in a Trump administration? Nothing about Donald Trump or his campaign suggests he will suddenly rely on the Republican Establishment or its many advisers for help; if he valued those kind of credentials, he would not have filled the top echelon of his campaign with people like Corey Lewandowski and Hope Hicks, who wouldnt have made it to a second interview with a conventional GOP operation.

And thus, there is a scenario which may lead some veteran Republicans to decide that if Trump is the nominee, they are better off if he loses. After all, with the Democratic lease on the White House extended another four years, theyd almost certainly have another fine midterm election in 2018 and then manage the next presidential election properly, producing a candidate willing to carry out the well-established conservative-policy agenda that pretty much everyone other than Trump agrees upon. All their dreams would just be put on hold for four years.

But if Trump wins and proceeds to work out his policies with an invisible and perhaps imaginary group of advisers and via negotiations with Democrats, who knows what irreversible abominations might emerge, what unmendable cleavages in the GOP might open up?
Photo: Handout/2016 US Navy

A U.S. Navy officer working in intelligence gathering has been charged with multiple counts of espionage including communicating secret information and passing secrets to a foreign government, Reuters reports.

If it turns out Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin is a spy, it sounds like he was a good one. Lin, who was born in Taiwan but became a naturalized U.S. citizen when he moved to America with his family at 14, worked his way up the ranks of the U.S. Navy where he ultimately put his fluent Mandarin to good use working in the Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, which oversees intelligence gathering.

Although the nature of his alleged crimes is still unclear, Lin has been charged with two counts of espionage, three counts of attempted espionage, and five counts of communicating defense information. Its also unclear which country he was passing secrets to, if in fact he was passing secrets, although multiple sources suggest it was China.

Hes also been charged with adultery and engaging in prostitution, because apparently thats something the Navy can charge you with. Unsurprisingly, both the Chinese and Taiwanese governments have declined to comment on Lins case.
BP is facing a revolt from its shareholders over the salary of its CEO Bob Dudley.

Dudleys salary jumped 20 percent in 2015 to $19.6 million, the same year in which BP reported a record loss of $6.4 billion and laid off more than 5,000 workers. His rising salary has been met with opposition from shareholders because it is not only unseemly, but also because the raise is not connected to the companys negative performance. "We consider the pay of the CEO to be simply too high, and particularly so in a year when the company suffered a record loss of $6.4 billion in 2015. Even so his pay went up by 20 percent," wrote shareholder advisory group ShareSoc, pressings its members to vote against the companys proposed salaries. Related: How The Oil Crisis Has Impacted Military Spending

Last week, other shareholder groups voiced their opposition to Dudleys salary. This proposed increase is both unreasonable and insensitive. In a year in which BP has reported its worst ever annual loss, it has decided to sharply boost Mr Dudleys remuneration, Ashley Hamilton Claxton of Royal London Asset Management said. We will be voting against this proposal. While we acknowledge BP has had to weather a turbulent period for oil markets, we strongly believe that executive remuneration should remain tied to performance. Other groups, such as Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, agree. Related: Crude Charging Higher Ahead Of Big Week

BP has a set of metrics that help inform its executive salaries, and the board says the pay is justified. "BP's performance surpassed the board's expectations on almost all of the measures that determine remuneration - and the outcome reflects this," a BP spokesman told Reuters last Friday.

In addition to the salary, BP and other top executives receive a pension, with the company paying around 35 percent of their salaries, another area of concern for shareholder groups.

BP has been hard hit by the downturn in oil prices and the costs stemming from the catastrophic oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
In January 2016, the Russian media reported that Russias gas giant, Gazprom, had discontinued all purchases of natural gas from Turkmenistan and was not planning to resume imports any time soon. This information was later confirmed in a company statement released in mid-March, containing some revelatory details about what had led to a sudden rift between Gazprom and its Turkmenistani counterpart, state-owned Turkmengas. Gazprom had previously sought to alter the contractual price of natural gas it had been buying from the Central Asian country, given that its own gas deliveries to Europe, whose price is tethered to the price of crude oil, have been significantly discounted since the middle of 2014. According to media reports, the 2010 contract between Gazprom and Turkmengas settled on a price of $240 per thousand cubic meters, but the Russian gas firm had already attempted to modify the previous arrangement as early as 2008 (Lenta.ru, March 15; Interfax, January 9; RIA Novosti, January 8).

In January of last year, Gazprom said it would no longer pay the 2010 price for gas imports from Turkmenistan, because it was incurring losses stemming from a growing discrepancy between what it owed to its suppliers and what it was paid by its primary clients in Europe. This unilateral move led, in June, to Turkmengas hurling public accusations at the Russian gas giant in the government press. The conflict took on a new turn in July 2015 when Gazprom lodged a lawsuit with the International Court of Arbitration in Stockholm. The Russian company asked the Court to review the price with a view to imposing a lower tariff on the Turkmenistani side. It has not been reported since then whether the case was dropped following the open-ended stoppage of imports, but the truth is that Turkmenistan has effectively lost its second-largest customer, behind the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) (Kommersant, July 27, 2015; Vedomosti.ru, July 26, 2015; Gazeta.ru, July 8, 2015).



Related: The Wireless Tech That Will Transform The Energy Industry

Relations between Gazprom and Turkmengas have never been easy. In April 2009, a major explosion occurred at the Central AsiaCenter gas pipeline, which was built in Soviet times and has since been used by Russia to buy gas from Turkmenistan. A few days earlier, Turkmenistans President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov was visiting Moscow where he was supposed to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the Vladimir Putin administration. The proposed accord regarded the Russian-backed construction of the EastWest pipeline aiming to pump gas from southeastern Turkmenistan to the Caspian shore in the countrys west. However, the Turkmenistani leader refused to add his signature because of Russias insistence on an interconnection with its own pipeline infrastructure. Back in Ashgabat, Berdimuhamedov announced an international tender to collect bids for pipeline engineering, although the authorities had previously planned to pick a Russian government contractor (Easttime.ru, April 22, 2009; Fergananews.com, Lenta.ru, April 9, 2009).

The flow of gas in the pipeline linking Turkmenistan to Russia was restored only in January 2010. At the time, government officials in Ashgabat openly speculated that Gazprom could have been behind the incident since the explosion was likely caused by a sudden drop in pressure, presumably orchestrated by Russian engineers. Yet, another reason for Moscows growing dissatisfaction with Turkmenistani energy politics has been Ashgabats rapid rapprochement with China. In December 2009, the Central AsiaChina gas pipeline was commissioned, delivering natural gas from Turkmenistan and later, starting in August 2010, neighboring Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan over to Chinas Xinjiang Province (Xinhua, December 22, 2009; Centrasia.ru, Newsru.com, April 10, 2009).



Related: Why You Shouldnt Fear Another Drop In Oil Prices

As per the CNPC data, China imported a total of 121 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from Turkmenistan between the launch of the pipeline, in late 2009, and November 2015. Meanwhile, gas purchases by Gazprom declined from 42.6 bcm in 2007, when Russia was still Turkmenistans largest energy partner, to less than 4 bcm last year. In early 2015, a senior Gazprom representative, Alexander Medvedev, warned that imports from Central Asia might ease altogether, with Turkmenistan being the first local supplier to feel the pinchto be followed shortly by Uzbekistan. Therefore, China has quickly replaced Russia as the main buyer of Turkmenistani gas. In 2015, Turkmengas accounted for over 81 percent of all gas exports to China by pipeline and for almost 44 percent of aggregate piped and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, BPs Statistical Review of World Energy shows (Bp.com, April 5; Gazprom.ru, January 18; Cnpc.com.cn, November 16, 2015).

The government of President Berdymukhamedov is currently actively pursuing two export diversification options in order to avoid the overreliance on China as a source of export revenue. The Trans-Caspian pipeline was first proposed in the 1990s and aims to supply Turkmenistani gas across the Caspian to Azerbaijan, where it could be fed into the sprawling export infrastructure consisting of three back-to-back pipelines, of which twothe Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) in Turkey and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in Greece, Albania and Italyhave yet to be built. The project is strongly supported by Azerbaijan, Turkey and the European Union, which wants to diminish its structural dependence on Gazprom, especially in light of a drastic deterioration in Russian-EU relations following the formers annexation of Crimea in March 2014. The major difficulty is that both Russia and Iran oppose the construction of an underwater pipeline in the Caspian before the legal status of the sea is fully ascertained, and this could still take years to materialize (Haqqin.az, June 10, 2015; Rg.ru, June 9, 2015; Turkmenistan.ru, October 18, 2011).



Related: Oil Stages Comeback On Bullish EIA Data

The second option being pursued by Ashgabat is the TurkmenistanAfghanistanPakistanIndia (TAPI) pipeline, whose total throughput capacity should reach 33 bcm a year by the time its construction endssometime between 2019 and 2020, if all goes according to plan. Turkmenistan broke ground for TAPI in December 2015, following years of uncertainty during which no foreign oil and gas company, such as the U.S. based ExxonMobil and Chevron or Frances Total, had agreed to join the project because of Ashgabats reluctance to allow production sharing at its lucrative onshore deposits. Another sizeable challenge is the security situation in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban and other radical groups have been stepping up attacks on local governments and the remainder of Western coalition forces (Regnum.ru, February 18; Oilgas.gov.tm, December 18, 2015). While Turkmenistan is likely to continue the work to diversify its hydrocarbon sales, it will also have to look beyond the pure export agenda and seek to modernize its economy, which certainly requires a fair dose of democratization and market liberalization (see EDM, March 15).

By George Voloshin via Jamestown.org

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Iran is exploring options to construct a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility, which it plans to use for exporting natural gas to Europe. The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is in talks with an unnamed Norwegian company to build the facility at the Iranian ports, according to Ali Kardor, Vice President of investment and finance at NOIC.

Though the NOIC official did not name the Norwegian company, sources told Natural Gas Europe that Norways Golar LNG is possibly negotiating the deal. Golar is likely to send a ship to study the project and undertake similar projects at other Iranian ports and build the infrastructure to commence gas exports by 2017. Related: Struggle For Libyas Oil Wealth Reaches Climax

The FLNG facility is a new technology where the whole operation of production, liquefaction, storage and transfer of the natural gas is done at sea by a floating platform located offshore. The whole facility is built in one-quarter of the area needed for conventional LNG projects, while still maintaining high safety standards.

The technology has numerous environmental and economic advantages. It avoids the expensive construction of large pipelines and other onshore infrastructure, and it also provides access to several unviable offshore projects.

The gas from the natural gas field is transferred to the FLNG, where it is liquefied at -162? C, thereby compressing the volume by 600 times.

The liquefied gas is then stored in the hull of the FLNG and transferred to carrier ships, which take them to their desired destination.



Related: Why You Shouldnt Fear Another Drop In Oil Prices

By constructing FLNG facilities, Iran is laying down a long-term plan, wherein, once the facility is commissioned, it will only need to arrange for carrier ships without worrying about any pipeline-related disruptionspipelines that are often a target of rebels and terrorists. It will also have the flexibility to export the liquefied gas to various places instead of being bound by the fixed pipeline territories.

Iran had to scrap three LNG ProjectsIran LNG, Pars LNG and Persian LNG due to issues associated with the US-led sanctions, reports presstv.ir.

Iran has been planning the FLNG platform for a while. The first hints about it were given back in October 2015 by NOIC chief Rokneddin Javadi. Similarly, NOIC Managing Director Alireza Kameli had indicated that Golar will most likely build the FLNG setup, which will be operational within two years of the date of the agreement.



Related: Oil Stages Comeback On Bullish EIA Data

Back in February, Golar CEO Gary Smith had discussed two projects, one in West Africa and the other in the Middle East; however, he had not divulged any further details.

Nevertheless, investors should wait for a confirmation of the deal, because earlier reports of talks with France and Belgium for erecting the FLNG facility did not materialise.

However, one thing is certain: Iran is exploring the FLNG route aggressively to start exporting as early as 2017 or 2018. If Iran manages to ink a deal, it could expand at a fast pace, meeting their goal of becoming one of the leading LNG suppliers in the world. After all, it has the second largest proven natural gas resource in the world after Russia.

By Rakesh Upadhyay for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
This series originally ran in April 2016 for Milwaukee Day, but in honor of Milwaukee's birthday, we're re-running it to highlight the 21 people, moments and ideas that have defined Milwaukee and continue to shape the city. This is part 1 of 4. Happy birthday, MKE!

1. The first people of Milwaukee: 10,500 BCE-1795

While there is evidence of pre-Paleo people living in Southeastern Wisconsin as far back as 12,500 years ago, the first recorded inhabitants of what is now Milwaukee came to the area in the late 17th Century. They represented the Menominee, Fox, Mascouten, Sauk, Potawatomi and Ojibwe tribes, all Algonquin-speaking tribes.

A century later, European settlers arrived, and in 1795, Jacque Vieau was the first to establish a permanent home in the area. While most of the American Indians were eventually forced out of the area, some have remained, the largest group from the Potawatomi tribe. Their influence on modern Milwaukee can be seen in the Indian Summer Festival, the Indian Community School and the popular Potawatomi Hotel and Casino. And, of course, we owe the name of our city to the Algonquin people.

Thanks to "Wayne's World" and Alice Cooper, we all know that Milwaukee, or "Mill-e-wah-que," is an Algonquin word for "the good land." Ask an historian or entomologist, and they'll most likely confirm that Cooper was correct. Other accepted meanings are "gathering place by the water" or "beautiful or pleasant lands." Whatever the exact meaning, the word was always spoken and not written down until European settlers arrived. Early on, it was spelled "Melleoiki" and later evolved into the contemporary spelling.

2. From fur trading to first class city: 1795

The first permanent edifice in Milwaukee was established by Jacques Vieau, a Montreal born French-Canadian fur trader who arrived in what would become Milwaukee Green Bay. Milwaukee became his summer home as he set up several more trading posts throughout Wisconsin. The location of his home, the first home in the city, is marked by a monument in Mitchell Park. It's hard to imagine a time when Milwaukee was a quiet, grassy outpost with a population of one.

3. The founders of Milwaukee: 1818-1837

In 1818, Jacques Vieau hired Solomon Juneau to work at his trading post and, in settling Juneautown shortly thereafter, became the man of Milwaukee's firsts. He built the first store, the first inn and sold plots of land to newcomers. He created the Milwaukee Sentinel, the oldest continuously operating business in Wisconsin, as well as became the city's first mayor and first postmaster. He also married Vieau's first daughter, Josette, who is considered the "Founding Mother of Milwaukee." His home sat in the spot where the Mitchell Building now stands.

George H. Walker arrived in Milwaukee in 1834 and founded the settlement of Walker's Point, where he also ran a fur trading post. He had a varied political career, which included stints as mayor in 1851 and 1853. He was also responsible for breaking ground on the city's first street car in 1859.

Byron Kilbourn was a surveyor when he founded Kilbourntown in 1837. His political career was varied and he served as mayor in 1848 as well as 1854. In between his mayoral stints, he became involved in the railroad industry. Kilbourn's history is fraught with conflict, being one of the key figures in Milwaukee's Bridge Wars and being accused of mismanagement and fraud of the Milwaukee and Mississippi railroad. Kilbourn also founded what became known as West Bend and the Wisconsin Dells.

Solomon Juneau, George H. Walker, and Byron Kilbourn came together to found the city of Milwaukee.

4. City rivalries culminate in the Bridge Wars: 1845

Milwaukees sectionalism is older than even the city itself. In the 1840s, Juneau, Kilbourn and Walker (but predominantly the first two) were striving to expand their settlements at the expense of the others and seeking to increase influence over their competitors. The Milwaukee River was a divide  literally and figuratively  between the East Side (Juneautown) and the West Side (Kilbourntown).

East Siders, sequestered between the river and the lake, desired access to the outside world, but the aggressively partisan Kilbourn wanted to restrict such access in an attempt to make Juneautown dependent on  and eventually incorporated by  his West Side. But not only was the river a channel of contention, it was also really inconvenient to cross.

Prior to 1840, you either had to row yourself from one side to the other or take a ferry or county shuttle. That year, the Wisconsin legislature ordered Milwaukee County to build a "good and substantial drawbridge," and despite the West Sides opposition, a bridge was built at Chestnut Street (now Juneau Avenue). It proved so advantageous that three more were constructed  at Spring Street (Wisconsin Avenue) in 1842 and at Oneida (Wells Street) and Walkers Point (Water Street) in 1844.

The West Siders, particularly Kilbourn, resented the bridges, viewing them as a threat to their control on travel and trade with the interior. On May 7, 1845, a board-meeting resolution by Kilbourn to remove the west end of the Chestnut Street span was dismissed by the other trustees; the next day, Kilbourntowns end of the bridge had been dropped into the river. An East Side mob gathered and incredulity turned to incense. The village board called a meeting that evening on May 8 and, without a West Side quorum, made it illegal to "cut, remove or damage" any bridges, under the penalty of a $50 fine and five days in jail.

For two weeks, the hostility simmered, but on May 19, it turned to violence. A band of East Siders destroyed the Spring Street bridge and attempted to chop down the Menomonee River bridge, which connected Kilbourntown to Chicago. They were met with resistance by West Siders, some armed with guns, and a skirmish ensued, resulting in a couple of people being "considerably injured," according to the Milwaukee Sentinel.

After bloodshed and a small-scale civil war, the town collectively seemed to shake its head and snap back to reality, realizing Milwaukee needed access and cooperation, rather than isolation and opposition, to grow and prosper. Neither East nor West Side won the Bridge War of 1845, but Milwaukee emerged victorious as a group of citizens came together on December 3 of that year to work on a number of civic issues. Among those was forming a committee that would ultimately draft a City Charter and unite the three sects.

5. Milwaukee city charter: 1835-1846

The first Milwaukee election was held in 1835, but it wasn't until 1846 that the three-town rivalry cooled down enough to officially incorporate. Milwaukee officially becomes a city on Jan. 31, 1846 and would eventually be home to nearly 600,000 residents that span 96.1 square miles along 10.2 miles of lakefront shoreline by way of 1450.5 miles of streets.

Part 2 - Immigration and industry




Many observers around the world would agree with the US Secretary of State's choice of words. But not for the meaning of horror he apparently intended. The sight of Kerry and other G7 foreign ministers laying wreaths at a memorial to the victims of that atomic holocaust was indeed "gut-wrenching" -- considering the hypocrisy, deceit and criminal use of weapons of mass destruction by the US.

The G7 ministers then issued a joint Hiroshima statement which purports to call for a world free from nuclear weapons.

Now it is being mooted that US President Barack Obama may make a visit to Hiroshima next month during another G7 summit for world leaders. He would be the first sitting US president to ever do so, and the event, it is said, would underline a speech he made in Prague in 2009 during his first year in office when Obama called then for a world free from nuclear weapons. For that speech, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Oddly enough, perhaps, seven years on, Obama has done nothing to reduce the US stockpile of some 1,500 nuclear warheads. In fact, last year the president committed Washington to a three-decade upgrade of its arsenal which will cost some $330 billion per decade -- or $1 trillion all told.

In typical "mixed signal" fashion -- a euphemism for lying -- the Obama administration is talking out of one side of its mouth about nuclear-weapons-free world, while out of the other side it is giving orders for a massive, unprecedented rearmament.

The nuclear arsenal upgrade ordered under Obama includes replacing plutonium cores in warheads, modifying tail-fins of bombs and developing a range of so-called mini-nukes, as well as hypersonic missiles that would enable first-strike potential.

So when Obama's foreign minister, John Kerry, laid a wreath at the memorial for the Hiroshima bomb victims and talked about "working for world peace" it is enough to make a sane person reach for the sick bag -- given that his government and any subsequent one in Washington has no intention of disarming its power to destroy the planet.



As a signatory to the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty , the US -- as with all signatories -- is obligated to completely disarm. Nearly 50 years on, far from disarming, it is assiduously rearming, in flagrant violation of treaty commitment. Since the US is the first nation to develop these monstrous weapons and actually use them, the moral burden is on the US to begin disarmament.

Walking alongside Kerry at the Hiroshima memorial was British foreign minister Philip Hammond, who also donned a suitably solemn face. Yet, only last year, Hammond announced that his government would consider re-installing American nuclear weapons on British soil -- allegedly to defend Europe from Russian aggression. "Aggression" that the Americans and British have done so much to exaggerate, nay fabricate, for geopolitical reasons. So much for making the world safe from nuclear weapons!

One gets the distinct impression that Kerry's visit to Hiroshima -- followed possibly by Obama -- is all a cynical public relations exercise to burnish the international image of the world's biggest warmongering rogue state as somehow a nation of peaceful intent.

The reality of wanton US belligerence, and that of its lackeys like Britain, is so egregious that they need to cover it up with flowers and superficial emotions supposedly dedicated to A-bomb victims.



A couple of further discordant signs of American raw, criminal power: on the same weekend that Kerry flew to Japan, the US air force reportedly moved a fleet of B-52 bombers to Qatar in the Persian Gulf. These nuclear-capable aircraft are a later generation of the B-29 which dropped the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August, 1945, respectively, killing some 200,000 people, mainly civilians.





The B-52s assigned to Qatar are being prepared for bombing missions in Iraq and Syria, allegedly against terror groups, which the US in fact created in the first place to topple foreign regimes that it disapproves of. There is no indication that the B-52s sent to Qatar at the weekend are fitted with nuclear warheads. That is not the point.

Rather the point is that while a high US official emotively talks about world peace at a memorial where America air power obliterated whole populations, at the very same time this same country is moving nuclear-capable aircraft to carry out bombing missions in foreign nations -- all with the cavalier ease as if it has a divine right to do so. Bombing foreign countries at will is the exceptional American arrogance.

Another gut-wrenching anomaly about Kerry's diplomatic theatrics in Hiroshima is that Washington said that it would not be issuing an apology over the A-bombings. The official narrative in Washington and among many ordinary Americans is that the bombings were necessary to end the Pacific War in 1945. Those officials claims have been extensively debunked by historians as bogus. The US simply wanted to demonstrate to the world and the Soviet Union in particular its immense new power. It was an act of state terrorism, as argued in a previous column.

But even if Washington is permitted to peddle its risible distortion of history, what is exceedingly chilling is that it refuses to apologize for such a barbarous act of mass extermination. Even if the US believes in its claim about swiftly bringing an end to the Pacific War, one would think that at least from a moral, humane point of view an expression of remorse for wiping out so many Japanese lives would still be appropriate.

Alas, no. The absence of apology is a clear message that Washington thinks it had the right to drop the bombs and, moreover, continues to have the right to use weapons of mass destruction. This is consonant with the doctrine of "pre-emptive first strike" that US administrations, including Obama's, reserve.

American politics has always been prone to double-dealing and conceited deception. But the Obama administration has taken the black arts to a whole new level.

Waxing lyrical about a nuclear free world, and picking up a Nobel laureate in the process, the Obama administration is actually moving towards developing more sophisticated nuclear weapons and making a world war more likely.



US foreign policies of antagonizing Russia and China over trumped-up disputes, commensurate with reckless military posturing towards both nuclear powers, are an integral part of the inherent aggression that underpins American power.
Reprinted from Capitol Hill Blue

Republican presidential wannabe and class clown Donald Trump is a pompous, vulgar, obscenity-spouting liar who grunts and waves his arms like a phony "professional" wrestler, inflames domestic tensions and scares the hell out of just about anyone with common sense or an IQ above that of an average plant.

He is also the leading candidate to capture the GOP nomination for President at the party's convention in Cleveland unless remaining Republicans who put love of country above self-promotion and nonsense can find a way to stop him.

Sadly, and ironically, the candidate the party is embracing to try to stop Trump is just as big a threat to the party and country -- rabid right-winger Ted Cruz.

Trump's laughable campaign slogan is "Make America Great Again," which may be the sickest joke of all in a Presidential campaign that seems more like a bad trip on acid.

Donald Trump does not give a damn about America or its needs. The only thing he wants to "make great" is his overwhelming ego. He's a carnival barker with a national stage, a madman with thousands of people filming his antics and posting his madness on social media.

Trump gets headlines with a long discounted claim that he saw television clips of "thousands and thousands" of New Jersey Muslims celebrating the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11. Yet he can't produce a single second of such clips because none ever existed. When challenged, he claims a "media conspiracy" is concealing them or perhaps destroyed them all.

He lies so often that fact-checking services around the globe work easily disprove his wild-eyed claims but his followers also don't give a damn about America or the truth.

Exit polls in various primaries around the nation this year say the majority of voters for Trump are racists, unemployed and/or poor. Few have college degrees. He is the poster boy of America's white trash.

Some say Trump is the first Presidential candidate to thrive via the Internet. His primary form of communication to his throng is Twitter and his posts provide constant fodder for media reports. He posts constant lies as well as revealing photos of Fox news personality Megan Kelly and unflattering ones of Heidi Cruz, wife of opponent Ted.

He is a master of using social media to spread misinformation and lies. Not surprisingly, the World Wide Web is also the venue of choice by hate groups, which explains why the flock to Trump. He is openly endorsed by white supremacists, Nazi groups, religious extremists and militia groups. Like them, Trump encourages violence, not rational or thoughtful debate. He tells his followers to "whip their ass" if anyone protests.

Trump's primary support comes from those who hate, those who are racists and bigots and those who view intolerance as a virtue.

They have risen from their bunkers, their single wide trailers and other hidden holes to find sudden and unreal hope from a self-promoting billionaire in thousand dollar suits and a Ukrainian-born wife who poses naked for magazines and presents a perfect stereotype of a "trophy wife."

The American Dream?

Nah. A pathetic and frightening American nightmare.
Reprinted from Paul Craig Roberts Website

Currently, Washington is conducting operations against Latin American presidents who tried to represent their own peoples instead of American business interests and Washington's foreign policy. Washington is trying to unseat and indict President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, President Evo Morales in Bolivia, President Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and President Dilma Rousseff in Brazil. Washington has succeeded in getting the president of Argentina, Chistina Kirchner, out of office, and is now seeking to have her indicted. To round off its attack on Brazil's reformist political party, Washington is orchestrating crimes with which to tar and indict Rousseff's predecesor, Lula da Silva.

Everyone on Washington's Latin American list of people to be destroyed is a far better person than anyone in Washington. Washington's Latin American targets have far more integrity, are tainted with far less corruption, and are far more committed to those who voted for them than anyone in Washington.

The danger that these reformers face is due to their innocence. They naively believe in good will between classes. They think that the rich elites, who are well connected to Washington, and that Washington itself, will accept democratic outcomes.

They believe this despite the fact that Washington, using the Spanish elite that Hugo Chavez left unmolested, overthrew Chavez. Chavez had to be rescued from Venezuela's Spanish elite, who are agents of the CIA , by the Venzuelan people and military, who secured Chavez's release and reinstatement before Washington's Spanish elites could kill him.

Chavez, being a man of good will, did not exact retribution against the Spanish elites who cooperated with the CIA to overthrow him. Consequently, the elites are now working with the CIA to overthrow Chevez's successor, who lacks Chavez's charisma.

Lenin did not make this mistake. Lenin made his power stick by eliminating unreliable elements.

So did Pol Pot.

Pol Pot is regarded in the West as some crazed figure who emptied entire cities and turned the inhabitants into piles of bones and skulls. He is seen as a madman, but he was just a good Marxist. He understood that if he left the elites and the bureaucracies that served them in place, his revolution was history. The elites would use their media and Washington's money to overturn the people's revolution.

The complete and total inability of Washington to accept democratic outcomes in Latin America means that unless Latin America has a Lenin or Pol Pot in its future, Latin America can forget about existing independently of Washington's control and exploitation by US corporations. America's Latin American colony will continue to be ruled by Washington, Wall Street, and American corporate interests. Latin American governments will represent Washington, not the peoples of Latin America.

In the online journal, Strategic Culture Foundation, Nil Nikandrov provides a view of how Washington operates against those who do not accept Washington's control.
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29 Pages Revealed: Corruption, Crime and Cover-up Of 9/11 First and foremost, here is what you need to know when you listen to any member of our government state that the newly released 29 pages are no smoking gun -- THEY ARE LYING. Sunday, July 17, 2016First and foremost, here is what you need to know when you listen to any member of our government state that the newly released 29 pages are no smoking gun -- THEY ARE LYING.

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Uproar Over the 28 Pages: The Saudi/CIA Connection? Why would any laudable historian (who Zelikow professes to be) base an official accounting of the worst terrorist attack since Pearl Harbor on the bogus ramblings of a detained, tortured terrorist? That's why anything and everything that comes out of Zelikow's mouth should be questioned for its veracity -- and motive. Monday, May 2, 2016Why would any laudable historian (who Zelikow professes to be) base an official accounting of the worst terrorist attack since Pearl Harbor on the bogus ramblings of a detained, tortured terrorist? That's why anything and everything that comes out of Zelikow's mouth should be questioned for its veracity -- and motive.

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9/11 Commission Did Not Exonerate Saudis The time has come to clarify some inaccuracies and misleading statements being made in the media regarding the 28 pages, the 9/11 attacks, the investigation of the 9/11 attacks, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Tuesday, April 26, 2016The time has come to clarify some inaccuracies and misleading statements being made in the media regarding the 28 pages, the 9/11 attacks, the investigation of the 9/11 attacks, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

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Heck, What's a Little Extortion Among Friends? U.S.-Saudi Relations When did the U.S. government start taking orders from foreign nations? Did I miss something? Have we become a foreign territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Did Saudi Arabia somehow become a branch of the U.S. government with sway over the President, Congress, and the Judiciary? Sunday, April 17, 2016When did the U.S. government start taking orders from foreign nations? Did I miss something? Have we become a foreign territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? Did Saudi Arabia somehow become a branch of the U.S. government with sway over the President, Congress, and the Judiciary?

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Obama of Arabia Obama of ArabiaWhy does President Obama think it's okay for 15 Arabs (and four of their friends) to come into our country, hijack our planes, crash them into our buildings, and brutally kill 3,000 innocent people? Because those 15 Arabs were Saudis, that's why. And, Saudis are special. Saudis are apparently allowed to get away with murder -- or at least the financing of it. Sunday, April 10, 2016Obama of ArabiaWhy does President Obama think it's okay for 15 Arabs (and four of their friends) to come into our country, hijack our planes, crash them into our buildings, and brutally kill 3,000 innocent people? Because those 15 Arabs were Saudis, that's why. And, Saudis are special. Saudis are apparently allowed to get away with murder -- or at least the financing of it.

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Hacking the Saudis This month's Vanity Fair article written by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, "The Kingdom and the Towers" details strong, credible allegations directly connecting Saudi financing to the 9/11 attacks. In fact, there are too many alarming, damning bits of information to adequately highlight here. Then, question why, 10 years later, neither congress nor the DOJ are willin to investigate Saudi complicity in the 9/11 attacks Saturday, July 16, 2011This month's Vanity Fair article written by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, "The Kingdom and the Towers" details strong, credible allegations directly connecting Saudi financing to the 9/11 attacks. In fact, there are too many alarming, damning bits of information to adequately highlight here. Then, question why, 10 years later, neither congress nor the DOJ are willin to investigate Saudi complicity in the 9/11 attacks

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9/11: Where Barack Obama and Condi Rice Sound Alarmingly Alike The point is that when it comes to the "predictability" of the 9/11 attacks, it is fairly well known and accepted that the attacks were entirely predictable -- indeed, their very predictability is why our government (wrongfully or rightfully) spent millions of dollars overhauling, upgrading, and re-shuffling our entire intelligence apparatus post-9/11 -- because the attacks should have been prevented. Friday, April 4, 2008The point is that when it comes to the "predictability" of the 9/11 attacks, it is fairly well known and accepted that the attacks were entirely predictable -- indeed, their very predictability is why our government (wrongfully or rightfully) spent millions of dollars overhauling, upgrading, and re-shuffling our entire intelligence apparatus post-9/11 -- because the attacks should have been prevented.

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The Ringing Red Phone and The Runaway Train what's the difference in how they'd react at 3:00 AM? Friday, March 7, 2008what's the difference in how they'd react at 3:00 AM?
Imran Khan gave live address to a nation 11 April, 2016



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Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry

Woke Bingo ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday, in a live address to the nation from his Bani Gala residence here, demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs government form an inquiry commission led by the Chief Justice of Pakistan to probe the premier and his family following the startling revelations made in the Panama data leaks.



The commission should also include white-collar-crime experts and an audit firm that follows the trail of money to determine where it leads, Imran added.



The PTI chief said he will give the government time till Apr 24  his party's 20th foundation day  to take appropriate action, after which he will announce a future course of action.



We give you time till Apr 24 to form a commission on these lines. If the rest of the world is investigating, we will give them the opportunity to take action. I will come out with a future course of action on Apr 24.



The PTI chief threatened a protest sit-in outside the Sharif family residence in Raiwind, if the government did not take steps to form the commission.



This is the time to stand up. I promise my countrymen that I will not step back this time. The dharna had to be abandoned because of an incident [the Army Public School attack] but I promise my countrymen I will not back down this time. If need be we will go to Raiwind and stage sit-ins there.



Presenting a charge sheet against the premier including accusations of corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and perjury, Imran Khan demanded that Nawaz Sharif resign as the prime minister of Pakistan.



Given the seriousness of these allegations, Nawaz Sharif has lost the moral authority to rule.



They [the government] are not talking about the serious allegations against them but have taken to attacking Shaukat Khanum hospital. Will our institutions silently observe all of this? Where is the FBR, the FIA, NAB?



On Friday, in a letter sent by the PTI secretariat to PTVs secretary of information, the PTI chairman requested state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) to make arrangements for his live address to the nation on Sunday night.



Imran justified his use of the same forum the government earlier used to spread disinformation regarding Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre.



Since the Panama Leaks have come to the fore, the prime minister, the information minister and various MNAs of the ruling PML-N have used PTV's network to spread disinformation amongst the masses regarding Shaukat Khanum Hospital, the letter had claimed.



The letter justified Imran Khan's right to use the station's platform, saying the television network runs solely on taxpayers' money, which makes PTV a network of each and every Pakistani citizen.



Following Imran Khans press conference in Peshawar after the Panama data leak  in which he accused the Sharif family of 'amassing wealth through corruption'  the governments team took the fight to the PTI chief when they accused him of losing an investment of nearly $18 million, allegedly made from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust (SKMT) funds.



The five-member panel, which was led by Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, included CADD Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Privatisation Commission Chairman Mohammad Zubair and MNAs Daniyal Aziz and Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha



Brandishing documents regarding SKMT finances, Rashid claimed that an investment of $28m was made from the trusts funds, but it was later discovered that the property was worth around $10m. This, he said, was no secret because it was mentioned in financial statements for the years 2010 and 2014.



Daniyal Aziz alleged Imtiaz Hydari, chairman of SKMTs investment committee, was also the CEO, executive vice chairman and board director of HBG Holdings Ltd  the Dubai-based company through which the money was invested.



Ruling out the possibility of the prime ministers resignation, the information minister said that the Panama Papers had only made certain private information public, but raised no questions about the Sharif family, unlike the case of the Icelandic prime minister, who had to step down.



He also taunted Imran Khan, saying that since the PTI was losing political space, it was trying to achieve political gains by lying to the people.



The government, he said, was always ready to present itself for accountability, adding that this was the second judicial commission they had formed since coming to power.



The Panama Papers, a global investigation into the sprawling, secretive industry of offshore that the worlds rich and powerful use to hide assets and skirt rules by setting up front companies in far-flung jurisdictions, jolted the whole world last week.



Based on a trove of more than 11 million leaked files, the investigation exposes a cast of characters who use offshore companies for a plethora of reasons.



According to documents available on the ICIJ website, PM Nawaz Sharifs children Mariam, Hasan and Hussain were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies.



Mariam is described as the owner of British Virgin Islands-based firms Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited, incorporated in 1994 and 1993.



On one of the documents released by ICIJ, the address listed for Nielsen Enterprises is Saroor Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The document, dated June 2012, describes Mariam Safdar as the beneficial owner.



According to ICIJ, Hussain and Mariam signed a document dated June 2007 that was part of a series of transactions in which Deutsche Bank Geneva lent up to $13.8 million to Nescoll, Nielsen and another company, with their London properties as collateral.



In July 2014, the two companies were transferred to another agent.



Hasan Nawaz Sharif is described as the sole director of Hangon Property Holdings Limited incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in February 2007, which acquired Liberia-based firm Cascon Holdings Establishment Limited for about $11.2 million in August 2007.



In response to the uproar caused by the revelations, the PM announced a high-level judicial commission will be formed to probe his family for wrongdoing.
An image of the deep radio map covering the ELAIS-N1 region, with aligned galaxy jets. The image on the left has white circles around the aligned galaxies; the image on the right is without the circles. Credit: Prof. Russ Taylor

Deep radio imaging by researchers in the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape, in South Africa, has revealed that supermassive black holes in a region of the distant universe are all spinning out radio jets in the same direction  most likely a result of primordial mass fluctuations in the early universe. The astronomers publish their results in a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The new result is the discovery  for the first time  of an alignment of the jets of galaxies over a large volume of space, a finding made possible by a three-year deep radio imaging survey of the radio waves coming from a region called ELAIS-N1 using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT).

The jets are produced by the supermassive black holes at the centres of these galaxies, and the only way for this alignment to exist is if supermassive black holes are all spinning in the same direction, says Prof Andrew Russ Taylor, joint UWC/UCT SKA Chair, Director of the recently-launched Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy, and principal author of the Monthly Notices study.

"Since these black holes don't know about each other, or have any way of exchanging information or influencing each other directly over such vast scales, this spin alignment must have occurred during the formation of the galaxies in the early universe," he notes.

This implies that there is a coherent spin in the structure of this volume of space that was formed from the primordial mass fluctuations that seeded the creation of the large-scale structure of the universe.

With study co-author  and UCT PhD student currently working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, New Mexico, USA  Preshanth Jagannathan, the team discovered the alignment after the initial image had been made. Within the large-scale structure, there were regions where the spin axes of galaxies lined up.

The finding wasn't planned for: the initial investigation was to explore the faintest radio sources in the universe, using the best available telescopes  a first view into the kind of universe that will be revealed by the South African MeerKAT radio telescope and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world's most powerful radio telescope and one of the biggest scientific instruments ever devised.

Earlier observational studies had previously detected deviations from uniformity (so-called isotropy) in the orientations of galaxies. But these sensitive radio images offer a first opportunity to use jets to reveal alignments of galaxies on physical scales of up to 100 Mpc. And measurements from the total intensity radio emission of galaxy jets have the advantage of not being affected by effects such as scattering, extinction and Faraday Radiation, which may be an issue for other studies.

The presence of alignments and certain preferred orientations can shed light on the orientation and evolution of the galaxies, in relation to large-scale structures, and the motions in the primordial matter fluctuations that gave rise to the structure of the Universe.

So what could these large-scale environmental influences during galaxy formation or evolution have been? There are several options: cosmic magnetic fields; fields associated with exotic particles (axions); and cosmic strings are only some of the possible candidates that could create an alignment in galaxies even on scales larger than galaxy clusters.

The authors go on to note it would be interesting to compare this with predictions of angular momentum structure from universe simulations.

UWC Prof Romeel Dave, SARChI Chair in Cosmology with Multi-Wavelength Data, who leads a team developing plans for universe simulations that could explore the growth of large-scale structure from a theoretical perspective, agrees: "This is not obviously expected based on our current understanding of cosmology. It's a bizarre finding."

It's a mystery, and it's going to take a while for technology and theory alike to catch up.

Such projects are already in the planning stages; the SKA for example, and its precursor telescopes, the South African MeerKAT array and the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP).

"GMRT is one of the largest and most sensitive radio telescope arrays in the world," notes Prof Taylor, "but we really need MeerKAT to make the very sensitive maps, over a very large area and with great detail, that will be necessary to differentiate between possible explanations. It opens up a whole new research area for these instruments, which will probe as deeply into the and as far back as we can go  it's going to be an exciting time to be an astronomer."

A large-scale spin distribution has never been predicted by theories  and an unknown phenomenon like this presents a challenge that theories about the origins of the universe need to account for, and an opportunity to find out more about the way the cosmos works.

"We're beginning to understand how the large-scale structure of the universe came about, starting from the Big Bang and growing as a result of disturbances in the early universe, to what we have today," says Prof Taylor, "and that helps us explore what the universe of tomorrow will be like."

Explore further Image: Computer simulation of a supermassive black hole
In this October 2012 photo, Jim Davis kayaks through waters flooding Bowen's Wharf after Superstorm Sandy in historic Newport, R.I. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. (Dave Hansen/Newport Daily News via AP)

With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. Some sites and artifacts could become submerged.

Scientists, historic preservationists, architects and public officials are meeting this week in Newport, Rhode Islandone of the threatened areasto discuss the problem, how to adapt to rising seas and preserve historic structures.

"Any coastal town that has significant historic properties is going to be facing the challenge of protecting those properties from increased water and storm activity," said Margot Nishimura, of the Newport Restoration Foundation, the nonprofit group hosting the conference.

Federal authorities have encouraged people to elevate structures in low-lying areas, but that poses challenges in dense neighborhoods of centuries-old homes built around central brick chimneys, Nishimura said, especially ones where preservationists are trying to keep the character intact.

Many of the most threatened sites in North America lie along the East Coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and southern Maine, where the rate of sea level rise is among the fastest in the world, said Adam Markham, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a speaker at the conference.

In this Nov. 30, 2012 file photo, the Statue of Liberty stands beyond parts of a brick walkway damaged in Superstorm Sandy on Liberty Island in New York. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport, R.I., this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

"We're actually not going to be able to save everything," he said.

A look at some of the historic areas and cultural sites that are under threat from rising sea levels:

___

STATUE OF LIBERTY AND ELLIS ISLAND

Situated in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are some of New York's most important tourist attractions.

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy submerged most of the low-elevation Liberty and Ellis islands. After the storm, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France in 1886, was closed for eight months. Ellis Island, the entry point for about 12 million immigrants to the United States from 1892 to 1954, remained closed for nearly a year.

A report by the National Park Service looked at how several parks would be threatened by 1 meter, or around 3 feet, of sea level rise. It found $1.51 billion worth of assets at the Statue of Liberty National Monument were highly exposed to sea level rise.

___

In this June 14, 2006 file photo, people walk along a street in the historic section of coastal Annapolis, Md. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport, R.I., this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. (AP Photo/Chris Gardner, File)

HISTORIC BOSTON

Much of historic Boston is along the water and is at risk due to sea level rise, including Faneuil Hall, the market building known as the "Cradle of Liberty," and parts of the Freedom Trail, a walking trail that links historic sites around the city.

Boston has seen a growing number of flooding events in recent years, up from two annually in the 1970s to an average of 11 annually between 2009 and 2013, according to a 2014 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. If sea levels rise by 5 inches, the group reported, the number of floods is projected to grow to 31 annually. If seas rise by 11 inches, the number of flooding events is projected to rise to 72 per year.

___

NEWPORT

The Point neighborhood in the Rhode Island resort town has one of the highest concentrations of Colonial houses in the United States, and it sits 4 feet above mean sea level. Tidal flooding is already occurring in the neighborhood, and that is expected to increase as sea levels rise, Nishimura said. The smell of sea water already permeates the basement of some homes.

___

ANNAPOLIS

In this Feb. 22, 2007 file photo, Faneuil Hall, right, one of the sites on Boston's Freedom Trail, sits among buildings on an evening in downtown in Boston. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport, R.I., this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

Maryland's capital, on Chesapeake Bay, boasts the nation's largest concentration of 18th-century brick buildings. The city briefly served as the nation's capital in the post-Revolutionary War period, and the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war, was ratified there. The city is also home to the U.S. Naval Academy.

The city already sees tidal flooding dozens of times a year, and scientists have predicted number could rise to hundreds annually in the next 30 years.

___

JAMESTOWN

Established in 1607, it is the first permanent English colony in North America. It sits along the tidal James River in Virginia, and most of the settlement is less than 3 feet above sea level. A large part of the settlement has already eroded because of wave action, Markham said. Storms have also damaged the site, including Hurricane Isabel in 2003, which flooded nearly 1 million artifacts. A rising water table at the site also poses a threat to archaeological remains, Markham said.

He called the loss of archaeological artifacts "an urgent problem" along the U.S. coastline.

___

HAWAII

Reports by the National Park Service and others have found that rising sea level rises threaten archaeological sites at various historic places in Hawaii. Those include ancient fish ponds at Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site and a "Great Wall" at a sacred site in Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. It is considered the best-preserved such wall in Hawaii.

___

INTERNATIONAL SITES

Dozens of UNESCO World Heritage Sites are under threat from sea level rise, according to a 2014 report by climate scientists Ben Marzeion, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, and Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute in Germany.

Among those are: the Tower of London; Robben Island in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years; Venice, Italy, and its lagoon; Mont-Saint-Michel, home to an abbey built atop a rocky islet in France; the Kasbah of Algiers, Algeria; the historic district of Old Quebec, Canada; Old Havana in Cuba; and archaeological areas of Pompeii, Italy, and Carthage in Tunisia.

The authors wrote that their findings indicate that "fundamental decisions with regard to mankind's cultural heritage are required."

Explore further Climate change endangers historic US landmarks

 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A collaborative research team has found humanoid robotics and computer avatars could help rehabilitate people suffering from social disorders such as schizophrenia or social phobia. It is thanks to the theory of similarity, which suggests that it is easier to interact socially with someone who looks, behaves or moves like us.

Researchers from the University of Bristol, in collaboration with colleagues at the Universities of Exeter, Montpellier and Naples Federico II, have developed a system to enable a robot or computer avatar to interact with a patient whilst playing a version of the mirror game, in which two players try to copy each other's motion whilst playing with coloured balls that can move horizontally on a string.

The paper, part of the EU-funded AlterEgo project, is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Initially the avatar is like an alter ego, created to look and move like the patient to enhance his or her feelings of attachment. Over time the avatar is slowly altered to become less similar, therefore helping with social rehabilitation.

The results show that players sharing similar movement features, or motor signature, interact and co-ordinate better. This can be used for rehabilitation of patients with serious social disorders as an avatar can be created to act like an alter ego, programmed to look and move like the patient to enhance his or her feelings of attachment.

Mario di Bernardo, Professor of Nonlinear Systems and Control from the Department of Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol, said: "It is very challenging to build an avatar that is intelligent enough to synchronise its motion with a human player, but our initial results are very exciting."

The research used the principles of dynamical systems and feedback control theory to embed the avatar with enough 'intelligence' to synchronise and respond to the motion of the human player.

The researchers now wish to build on the technology and set-up multiple human-machine interaction for social rehabilitation and make groups of people and avatars interact with each other to perform joint tasks together.

Explore further Using avatars and robots to treat social disorders

More information: Piotr Sowinski et al. Dynamic similarity promotes interpersonal coordination in joint action, Journal of The Royal Society Interface (2016). Journal information: Journal of the Royal Society Interface Piotr Sowinski et al. Dynamic similarity promotes interpersonal coordination in joint action,(2016). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2015.1093
Following a hybrid competitive strategy leads to superior financial performance in the internationalisation of high-technology companies, shows a new Finnish study in the field of marketing. The study challenges the traditional viewpoint according to which companies can successfully go international by adhering to a single competitive strategy alone.

The study by Professor of International Business Mika Gabrielsson from the University of Eastern Finland, Senior Researcher Tomi Seppala from Aalto University and Professor of Marketing Peter Gabrielsson from the University of Vaasa was published in the April issue of Industrial Marketing Management.

The study used empirical data to analyse companies' implementation of a hybrid competitive strategy and their achievement of financial profitability while internationalising in the high-technology market. The study analysed the competitive strategies of 259 Finnish and Swedish companies.

Earlier studies in the field of marketing research have proposed inconclusive viewpoints relating to the conditions that are suitable for multinational companies to realise a hybrid competitive strategy. This new study now shows that the realisation of a hybrid competitive strategy is dependent on the globalisation stage and key resources of the company. Furthermore, a hybrid strategy observes environmental factors and creates the preconditions for internationalising companies to achieve the best possible financial performance.

The Finnish study challenges the theory by Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School Professor and consultant, according to which a company should adhere to a single competitive strategy, either differentiation or cost leadership, when going international.

Professor Gabrielsson is excited about these novel results.

"Globalisation and the specific conditions of the home markets of the firms have received too little attention in the strategy work. Particularly dangerous it is for a firm originating from a small country to rely on the American research, books, and consultants who approach this question from a large country perspective," he says.

Explore further Researchers show how companies can synchronize digital strategies and investments

More information: Mika Gabrielsson et al. Realizing a hybrid competitive strategy and achieving superior financial performance while internationalizing in the high-technology market, Industrial Marketing Management (2016). Mika Gabrielsson et al. Realizing a hybrid competitive strategy and achieving superior financial performance while internationalizing in the high-technology market,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.07.001
Kevin Chamberlain, a research professor in the UW Department of Geology and Geophysics, is co-author of a paper that appears online in Nature Geoscience today (April 11). The paper highlights a technique that he helped develop to test pre-Pangea continental reconstructions. Here, Chamberlain poses with a mass spectrometer and holds a piece of a mafic dike, or black rock, which cuts through white, or granitic, rock (also pictured) that represents continental crust. Credit: University of Wyoming

A University of Wyoming researcher contributed to a paper that has apparently solved an age-old riddle of how constituent continents were arranged in two Precambrian supercontinentsthen known as Nuna-Columbia and Rodinia. It's a finding that may have future economic implications for mining companies.

Specifically, the article describes a technique Kevin Chamberlain, a UW research professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and other researchers used to test reconstructions of ancient continents. The paper argues that the rocks or crust now exposed in southern Siberia were once connected to northern North America for nearly a quarter of the Earth's history. Those two continental blocks now form the cores of the modern continents of Asia and North America.

Chamberlain was co-author of the paper, titled "Long-Lived Connection between Southern Siberia and Northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic," that appeared in today's (April 11) online issue of Nature Geoscience. The monthly multi-disciplinary journal focuses on bringing together top-quality research across the entire spectrum of the Earth sciences, along with relevant work in related areas. The journal's content reflects all the disciplines within the geosciences, encompassing field work, modeling and theoretical studies.

"The article highlights a technique that our project has been using to test pre-Pangea or ancient continental reconstructions," Chamberlain says. "We have been using the ages, orientations and paleo-magnetic characteristics of short-lived (1 million to 10 million years in duration) igneous, mafic dike swarms as piercing points to determine nearest-neighbor continents in the past."

Mafic dikes are dark-colored rocks or minerals that are in a dike formation, which is a sheet of rock that formed in a fracture in a pre-existing rock body. Chamberlain says mafic dikes, like those studied in the paper, can be found in Wyoming. Mafic dikes in the state include the black vein that can be seen in Mount Moran in the Teton Range; the black, horizontal band on the east face of Medicine Bow Peak; and those that crisscross the Granitic Mountains in central Wyoming.

Using labs at UW and UCLA, Chamberlain says his role in the project was to determine the magmatic ages of numerous mafic dikes through uranium-lead radiometric dating. He was one of four geochronology labs on the team and the only one based in the United States.

The linear dikes from these igneous events (large igneous provinces, or LIPs) are relatively narrow, roughly 100 meters or less, but can be 1,000 to 1,500 kilometers in length. They erupt in a radial pattern.

During later rifting, the continents broke into fragments, which later combined into subsequent new continents, such as our modern-day seven continents.

"There may have been four or five cycles of supercontinent formation," Chamberlain says.

Each continental fragment preserves a dike swarm record, he explains. By comparing the temporal records called bar codes (since a plot of dike date vs. time looks like a bar code) of older fragments known as cratons (the cores of modern continents), Chamberlain says he was able to test whether the cratons were close enough to share LIP dike swarms. He adds the research team also can determine when the two cratons joined, as well as when they split apart.

"In this new study, we believe that northern Laurentia (North America) and southern Siberia were joined for nearly 1.2 billion years from 1.9 billion years ago to 700 million years ago," he says. "Geologists are like detectives. It seems like we come to the crime scene after the fact and put together the pieces."

This finding disproves previous constructions of Nuna-Columbia and Rodinia, and establishes new arrangements of the continental blocks within them, he says.

The project determined the ages of nearly 250 mafic dikes worldwide, a number Chamberlain says is large enough to build a database comparison between all of the older continental fragments from roughly 500 million years ago to 2,700 million years ago. The research group also worked on more recent LIPsabout 400 million to 100 million years agowhich have importance for oil and gas exploration, and hydrocarbon maturation models.

A consortium of mining companies funded the research project for five years. Their reasoning: That the continental reconstructions for times when major, known metal deposits formed would be useful for prospecting new finds on the conjugate continents, Chamberlain says. These new deposits may be buried under hundreds of meters of younger rock. So, by establishing which continents were next to the known deposits when they formed, the hope is that additional minerals may be found in the future.

"A lot of the major metal deposits in the earth formed in the early part of Earth's history," Chamberlain says.

A print version of the paper is scheduled to appear in the May issue of Nature Geoscience.

Explore further Ancient rocks of Tetons formed by continental collisions

More information: R. E. Ernst et al. Long-lived connection between southern Siberia and northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic, Nature Geoscience (2016). Journal information: Nature Geoscience R. E. Ernst et al. Long-lived connection between southern Siberia and northern Laurentia in the Proterozoic,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2700
A new study in Gender & Society by sociologist Dawn M. Dow of Syracuse University's Maxwell School reveals how middle-class African American mothers parent young sons differently than their white counterparts -- via 'bias-preparation' strategies -- to navigate the 'Thug' image and vulnerabilities of African American masculinity. Credit: Sheray Oliver

Middle-class African American mothers must parent differently than their white counterparts. African American middle-class mothers bear the added weight of preparing their childrenparticularly their sonsto navigate "gendered racism," or discrimination based on both race and gender, from a very young age. This is according to a new research study published in the April 2016 issue of Gender & Society, a top-ranked journal in Gender Studies and Sociology. While there has been anecdotal evidence regarding the phenomenon, this is the first rigorous analysis of what has been colloquially referred to as "The Talk" or the "Black Man's Code," a set of socially circumscribed rules black boys and men feel compelled to follow to protect themselves from suspicion, criminalization as "thugs," and harmregardless of class status. It provides more evidence that the phenomenon is widespread, and gives deeper insights regarding the nature of the problem and the role of mothers in addressing it.

"Although the mothers in this study are middle- and upper-middle-class African Americans with more resources than lower-income mothers, this status provides their sons with little protection from gender and racial stereotyping," says study author Dawn Marie Dow, assistant professor of sociology at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. "Participants believe that both race and gender trump class, and that the broader society associates poverty, crime, and undereducation with being an African American boy."

Drawing on 60 interviews of middle- and upper-middle class African American mothers, the study, titled, "The Deadly Challenges of Raising African American Boys: Navigating the Controlling Image of the 'Thug'," outlines "bias-preparation" strategies mothers use to address the challenges their sons will face in a society that often criminalizes the bodies of African American boys and men. Importantly, Dow's study confirms that these mothers are not able to turn to middle-class safety nets in the same way as their white counterparts. While most middle-class white families are depicted as feeling some level of security in their regular interactions with teachers, police officers, and the general public, the African American mothers in Dow's study saw teachers as potential tyrants, police officers as potential predators, and the general public as a potential threat to their sons' safety, survival, and emotional well-being.

One participant shared a common experience of her mothers' group, "With our sons, we talk about how we can prepare them or teach them about how to deal with a society. . . where black men are held to a different standard than others. What do we have to do to make sure teachers don't have preconceived ideas that stop [our sons] from learning because they believe little brown boys are rambunctious, or little brown boys are hitting more than Caucasian boys?" Another study participant expressed concern about the toll these negative interactions would have on her son's self esteem stating, "Each time a black boy has a racially charged interaction with a police officer, a teacher, or a shop owner, those experiences will gradually start to eat at his self-worth and damage his spirit. He might become so damaged he starts to believe and enact the person he is expected to be, rather than who he truly is as a person."

Dow's research describes a number of parenting strategies mothers employ to navigate the negative stereotype of the "thug" and teach their sons how to navigate their expression of masculinity, race, and class:

Exposing their sons to a variety of settings that differ by race, class, and gender, helping them cultivate the ability to shift seamlessly between different communities. Examples of this include shuttling sons to different recreational and educational activities in neighborhoods with African Americans of varied economic backgrounds, teaching them about the history of African American men, and exposing them to African American men who express healthy versions of masculinity.

Managing their sons' daily interactions to exclude exposure to gendered racism. Here, mothers seek out neighborhoods to live in with adequate resources, which are often predominantly white neighborhoods, but where their sons will not face racist assumptions of lower class status and criminality, and instead be seen as "good, middle-class kids."

Managing their sons' emotional expressions and physical appearance. This includes encouraging their sons to restrain expressions of anger, frustration, or even excitement to mitigate views that they are aggressive or violent, and even having them practice yoga, meditation, and karate in preparation for emotional restraint in daily interactions. It also includes teaching their sons to monitor the way they dress so they will be viewed as middle-class kids and not "thugs" or criminals. Some mothers even present their sons with hypothetical scenarios, such as being pulled over by the police, and instruct their son how to react.

Dow says her research underscores several parenting challenges. She explains, "despite feeling that it is unfair that their sons have to conform to stricter standards, mothers also feel they must encourage them to adhere to them to remain safe. These mothers live with the daily tension of having to teach their sons individual strategies of survival under racist and gendered norms, while also teaching them how to challenge those norms."

Explore further Mothers nurture emotions in girls over boys, new study finds
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Elavon Extends Relationship With Costco Canada, Offers Payment Processing To Canadian members

TORONTO  April 5, 2016 Elavon, a leading global payments provider and subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), has signed a multi-year agreement with leading membership club Costco Wholesale Canada to extend its business relationship offering payment processing services to Costco members in Canada. Elavon has offered its preferred payment processing program to Costco Canada members since 2005.

Elavon has delivered exceptional value and service to Canadian members by offering popular payment processing options and business products, said Louis-Martin Caron, director of Costco Services in Canada.

Elavon and Costco Canadas business agreement serves many Costco members in all types of small businesses. Elavons easy-to-use solutions suit various environments and needs, allowing Costco members to better serve their customers. Benefits for Costco Canada members using Elavon solutions include preferred pricing, dedicated sales professionals and 247 bilingual customer service.

The Elavon and Costco Canada relationship has benefitted Canadian businesses for over a decade. The strength of our relationship comes from our shared goal, which is to provide the best service possible for our customers at prices that make sense for their business, said Mia Huntington, general manager of Elavon in Canada. Working together, Costco and Elavon will continue to provide products and services to ensure members can focus on growing their business.

Other POS news:
Strong Results in Worldpay-Georgia Tech FinTech Initiative

8 startups in program have already raised $16.8 million in funding

ATLANTA (April, 11, 2016)  A year after launching an accelerator program focused on helping entrepreneurs in Georgias growing financial technology (FinTech) sector succeed, the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech is working with a portfolio of 20 innovative startups  including 8 which have already raised more than $16.8 million in funding.

The ATDC FinTech Program was created through a $1 million gift Georgia Tech received from Worldpay, the global payments technology company.

A year into building this program with Worldpay, we are already seeing some spectacular results, said Michelangelo Ho, the ATDC FinTech catalyst. One example is the Technology Association of Georgia naming three of our companies  Split, Freeing Returns and aFundia  as the top three FinTech startups in Georgia for 2016. Another is Hitachi Capital America announcing it would give up to $100 million to fund the mid-market supply chain through another one of our program companies, TradeRocket, which provides working capital to this segment.

Companies participating in the ATDC FinTech Program receive many business incubator benefits, including access to early customers, capital, and campus resources. In addition, senior Worldpay executives advise on payments integration into their software and applications, as well as consult on effective go-to-market strategies.

Groundfloor is another company participating in the ATDC FinTech Program that serves as the bridge between real estate development projects and individuals who want to pool their money together to fund loans to property developers.

The camaraderie and staff at ATDC have been an important element of our companys evolution since joining the Signature program over a year ago, said Brian Dally, co-founder and CEO of Groundfloor. Since then weve doubled the size of our team and tripled our business, thanks in no small measure to the constructive environment and resources here. Were big supporters.

Added Jen Bonnett, acting general manager of ATDC, Our mission at ATDC is to help entrepreneurs launch and build successful technology companies in Georgia. With that, we look at industries and sectors such as FinTech that are growing the Georgia economy, attracting new investment to the state, creating new jobs, and bringing new solutions to the marketplace.

The FinTech focus at ATDC and partnership with Worldpay adds another element to Atlantas growing reputation as a global FinTech capital. Some 60 percent of FinTech companies are based in metro Atlanta and 70 percent of the $5.3 trillion in annual U.S. card spending is processed through Georgias transaction alley, according the American Transaction Processors Coalition.

We are pleased with the progress of the program in its first year and excited about its future because of the next-generation of financial technology being created by the companies here, said Worldpay US Chief Marketing Officer Sarah Arvin. As leaders in modern money and through this partnership with the ATDC, were committed to helping more disruptors disrupt and get to market faster.

About Worldpay

Worldpay is a leading payments company with global reach. We provide an extensive range of technology-led payment products and services to over 400,000 customers, enabling their businesses to grow and prosper. We manage the increasing complexity of the payments landscape for our customers, allowing them to accept the widest range of payment types around the world. Using our network and technology, we are able to process payments from geographies covering 99 percent of global GDP, across 146 countries and 126 currencies. We help our customers to accept more than 300 different payment types.

For more information, visit www.worldpay.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter @Worldpay US.

About ATDC:

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) is one of the longest-running and largest university-based startup incubators in the country. Founded in 1980, ATDC has graduated more than 160 companies from its ATDC Signature program. To date, those companies have attracted roughly $2 billion in investments. The ATDC Financial Technology (FinTech) Program powered by Worldpay US was established in 2015 to attract and accelerate entrepreneurs and startups in that sector from across the state. ATDC, which also has programs in Savannah, Athens, and Augusta, is a unit of the Enterprise Innovation Institute, the chief economic development arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology. For additional information about ATDC and the ATDC FinTech Program, visit atdc.org/fintech/.



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A refugee holds the message "Thank You EU for closing the border during protest in the border between Greece-Macedonia. (Photo: Antara)

In Afghanistan, conflict and violence have been on the rise, while job opportunities have decreased.

These factors have had an impact on illegal immigration, and human trafficking to Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Despite the dangers, data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees shows that more than 160,000 people have migrated to Europe in the last year, many from war-torn Syria.

In Afghanistan, a country where thousands are also fleeing, reporter Mudassah Shah meets some young Afghans, and the agents behind the illegal trade.

Its early morning in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan. Haroon Sarwari, 17, and Manzoor Ali, 18, are wearing their backpacks and walking fast to get a taxi to reach to Kabul on time.

They are close friends and planning to travel to Europe illegally, with the help of an agent.

Haroons cousins managed to get to Germany three months before, so his father supports the plan.

My father sold a few of his cows and also borrowed some money from his friends to send me to Europe, explains Haroon, He has already finalized the rate with an agent who has the responsibility to take me to Europe.

But Haroons father Sarwar Khan says it has been a tough decision.

Children are part of the body and soul but I was compelled to make the decision. The security situation in the country is not good and there is no source of jobs, he says, The agent told me that Haroon would reach Europe in about three months because the roads are very dangerous.

Haroon and Manzoor are energetic, happy and anxious during the 3 hour-long drive from Jalalabad to Kabul. They talk all way long only about what their life in Germany will be like.

They say they will take any job, from washing dishes to cleaning toilets, but they never once mention the hardships they might endure, or how risky the journey there will be.

Later that afternoon in the capital, Kabul, hundreds of Afghans, mostly young people, are queuing for their electronic passports.

A survey in December 2015, conducted jointly by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA) and the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, or AREU, found that poverty, insecurity and unemployment are the main reasons driving Afghan youth to immigrate illegally.

The Afghan government recently announced that 250,000 Afghans have been registered as refugees in developed countries.

Dr. Sayed Mahdi Mosawi is a senior researcher with the AREU.

One of the common points that we have found during our research is that people who go illegally cross borders endure extreme difficult situations from both human trafficking agents and the police, he explains, Police severely beat and punish illegal immigrants and even in some cases kill them.

Some 16 million Afghans are fit for work but only about 3 million have jobs. Mahdi says more jobs would encourage young Afghans to stay at home.

In Kabul its not that hard to find an agent to arrange illegal passage.

But its not cheap. Agents charge between 5-12 thousand US dollars, depending on the routes and destination countries.

Different European countries have different rates and personal relations with agents can also reduce the rates.

Ramin Jan is an agent.

I met him on a roadside in Jalalabad city, where he asked to remain anonymous. Hes still young, not yet 30, and he tells me the going rates of smuggling.

To get to England, he says is the most expensive, about $12,000 US dollars. He also explains how the illegal, people trafficking networks operate.

We have a network of agents. We take people from western Afghanistan to Iran and then to Turkey. Our main duty is to hand over our people to an agent in Turkey who are then responsible for further traveling and taking them to European countries, he says.

Initially, it was hard to find even five people to take them to Europe while now a group of 25 to 30 people are always ready in a month to take them to Europe, he adds.

Sharifa Omeris son was killed in Iran eight months ago on their way to Europe via Turkey. She could not forget when her son was shot dead in front when they were running from border police.

Time has stopped since then, she says.

And the journey wasnt worth the risk.

I wish I never allowed him to leave the country, that I had stopped him by force so I would not have lost him, she says.

Despite the lack of jobs, the government is urging Afghan youth to stay at home and has vowed to crack down on people smuggling.




Concerns are growing over the frequent harassment, intimidation and arrest of journalists in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

According to the Editors guild of India, both state and non-state actors are targeting journalists for reporting the truth.

As Bismillah Geelani reports, several reporters and activists have been forced to flee the area in recent weeks.

Malini Subramaniam is a freelance journalist from the southern city of Hyderabad.

She has been covering what she saw as a gap in reportage on the Maoist insurgency, from its hotbed  the central state of Chattisgarh.

But within just a few months on the job, she learned the hard way why there was not much talk about it.

Ever since I began reporting, from January onwards, threats began to mount on me. I was being questioned by a vigilante group called Samajik Ekta Munch  about whom I have never written. That was later on followed by visits by police asking me where I live, how I work, why do I work and why do I write certain things, she explains.

But the harassment didnt stop there.

This ultimately resulted in throwing stones in my house and getting my landlord to evict me, she says, all because of the fact that I was bringing out news that the police did not want me to report about.

Shalini Gera, a human rights lawyer who was working in the area until recently, has a similar story.

First there were just anonymous police complaints against us, they were frivolous complaints but the police diligently followed up on them and harassed us, says Gera, Then there was this vigilante group that took out press conferences against us and basically carried on a campaign of vilification, called us all kinds of names, conducted rallies against us and burnt our effigies in the market place.

Chhattisgarh has been one of the strongholds of Indias Maoist movement.

Maoist rebels claim to be fighting for the rights of tribal people and rural poor.

They have a strong support base across the tribal belt and operate in nearly 200 of Indias 600 districts.

The government has launched several military operations to flush them out over the years, but hasnt achieved much.

Human rights activists like Gera say police have been targeting tribal communities in the name of fighting Maoists, sometimes known as Naxalities.

We were raising questions that were uncomfortable for the policeabout fake encounters, about mass sexual violence, she says, And basically anybody who is raising these questions, who is questioning what the polices strategy in these areas is when it comes to the anti-Naxal operations, is being either silenced by general intimidation or threats, or is being forced out of the area, or being put into jails.

In recent weeks about half a dozen journalists have been forced to leave the area and at least 4 others have been detained on charges of supporting the Maoists.

To analyst Shivam Vij, there is more to the harsh crackdown than meets the eye.

It is a deliberate attempt to have a war without a witness to make sure that there are no outsiders looking at what is really happening. It is not just about the Maoists, it is not about who you support, it is about just being allowed to see what is happening in my country, argues Vij.

Vij says there are also concerns a new government offensive might be in the works  one it would prefer was omitted from the headlines.

But government spokesperson Gopal Krishan Agarwal denies it is cracking down on journalists.

The Maoists have unleashed terror on such a large scale and if there is fear it is not only for journalists, he says, it is for the general public and the security forces as well. Everybody in the state is living with fear.

Yet Vinod Verma, a member of the Editors Guild of India, is not convinced.

Verma headed a team of senior journalists who recently concluded a fact-finding visit to the area.

Journalists in Chattisgarh, he says, are forced to take on of three sides. First, he says are the pro-vigilante and government reporters.

Then there is not so pro-government journalists, these are people who want to do their job honestly but are not able to do so because of the pressure, he says, Then there are those who want to bring out the truth and this has earned them the title of being pro-Maoist from the government.

Despite a government decision to form a committee to investigate the grievances, analysts like Shivam Vij arent hopeful anything will change.

The Maoists say your constitution is not being implemented, your democracy is fake, you dont really have the freedom of speech that you claim, and you dont really have the equality that you claim. Now by throwing out human rights activists and journalists you are just proving them right, says Vij.

The National Human Rights Commission and the Press Council of India have also expressed serious concerns about the threats journalists are facing in Chattisgarh.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has pledged to crackdown on terrorism, following a suicide attack that killed 72 people in Lahore on Easter Sunday.

The tragic incident has raised serious questions about the success of Pakistans counter-terrorism strategy, and what political factors might be at play.

Asia Calling correspondent Naeem Sahoutara travelled to Lahore too find out more.

Seven-year-old Shina Ahmed lies in a bed at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center in Lahore.

Her uncles had taken her to the park to play, she tells me, when all of sudden there was a loud explosion... She doesnt remember much more after that.

The blast at Gulshan Iqbal Park killed 72 people, including Danish Masihs sister.

We were sitting at the canteen, he recalls, I had just gone outside the park to find my other relatives, who were also coming to join us. There I heard a big bang, when I turned back there was big spark of fire and many dead bodies on the ground.

Masihs family had come to the park after attending mass on Easter Sunday. His elder sister died on the spot, while another sister is fighting for her life in intensive care.

Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group recently pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which is working to deepen its roots in South Asia.

The militant group said it was targeting Christians, but most of the victims were Muslim  like housewife Zulekha Yaqoob.

We did not know that it was Easter. We were at the swings when the bomb blast occurred. My intestines came out of my stomach, I tied them myself with my veil as I took my young daughter to the hospital, explains Yaqoob.

Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took to the airwaves nationwide following the attack  vowing to continue an ongoing military offensive.

Im addressing you to reiterate the resolve that we are counting each drop of blood of our martyrs. This is being paid out and we will pay out till the end, he said, Weve seen such terrorism in Ankara, Istanbul and Paris even. The enemy of humanity has crossed the limits of humanity and territories.

The army launched an offensive against Taliban militants in the mountainous region of North Waziristan, after they massacred 134 schoolchildren in Peshawar in December 2014.

The government has also devised a 20-point National Action Plan, known as the NAP, to tackle terrorism, its financers, and to crack down on religious hate speech.

But many say the plan is yet to be fully implemented.

Zehra Yousuf, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, says there are many aspects of the National Action Plan that are yet to be implemented.

Particularly, those aspects that were the responsibility of the civilian government, we see, you know, very little progress has been made, she says, Whenever the organization of the Madrassas or Madaris protests the government backs down. So we see a lack of political will there.

There are around 8,000 private madrassas, or Islamic boarding schools in Pakistan  and most operate without any government monitoring.

Almost half of the countrys madrassas are found in the eastern province of Punjab, which is also the home state of the prime minister.

PM Nawaz Sharif has been accused of inaction against hardline teachings at religious schools  a move critics say ensures his public support in the state.

Sharmila Farooqui, from the opposition, the Pakistan Peoples Party, says her party has been demanding the NAP be implemented in Punjab for years.

The governments spokesperson used to make fun of us saying we were just trying to hide our own wrongdoings. But now, again, the same thing has happened, children and women have been martyred, she says.

Zehra Yousuf from the rights commission says there are also strong financial and personal links between extremists in Waziristan and Punjab.

But that has not stopped some politicians, such as the former Punjab home minister, Rana Sanaullah, from courting extremists.

There are certain instances, there was even footage, at one time, of Rana Sanaullah going around with the representatives of the religious extremist groups in his campaign, says Yousuf.

Under the NAP the army has set-up special military courts to conduct speedy trials in terrorism-related cases, and many have been sentenced to death.

Last year, more than 326 prisoners were hanged on the gallows, according to Amnesty International.

But activists argue that executions wont solve the problem, that the education system also needs reform.

Even the textbooks you see contain a lot of discriminatory material, you know, Hindus and Christians are show in a bad light and Muslims are glorified, she explains, Woman not covering her head is shown as bad woman. So, there is lot of material that distorts the young minds.

While paramilitary forces are now cracking down in Punjab, the thornier challenge will be in changing mindsets across the country.




READ MORE: Vienna City Fire Expired fire extinguishers partly to blame for blaze

The Fire service found the fire extinguishers in Odo Rice and Mr. Biggs to be in faulty condition as well as electrical wirings and fire sensors.

We will be going back to Mr. Biggs and Odo Rice today to find out whether they have complied with the directive we gave last Friday.when we go there and these things are not functioning or they have not repaired them, we will revoke their fire certificate.

This will also mean they have flouted the fire regulations Act as such, we will arrange for their conviction. Ebenezer Simpson, Regional Fire Officer, says.

Meanwhile management of Grand View Hotel, located in Accra central, have a week to correct an obstruction to its entrance to allow accessibility in case of an emergency.
According to him, there is no cost-effectiveness in the energy sector and that businesses are being made to pay for power at all cost.

"Government must look at solving the energy problem for businesses and people to live, but not solve the problem for people to die or be pushed into poverty, he added.

Ndoum added that the energy sector will collapse if the financial part does not march with the technical part.

Energy is not just a technical issue of generating power; its a managerial and financial issue as well. If the financial part doesnt match with the technical part, the whole energy sector and economy will collapse."

On plans to establish a coal plant in Ghana, Ndoum maintained that while other countries are moving away from coal to renewable energy such as solar, Ghana is "embracing a dangerous item like coal."
In a short speech, she expressed the facility's gratitude to the bank, while pleading for more of such donations.

She disclosed that UT Bank is a friend of the facility and has been visiting them with various donations over the years.

Members of the Corporate Affairs department of UT Bank, who donated the clothes on behalf of the bank said the gesture was part of its CSR activities to help the needy in our society.

According to them, the hospital is one of the many institutions that the bank supports.

They expressed hope that the donation will be enjoyed by the intended recipients.

On Wednesday, 6 April, UT Bank made a similar donation to Shekinah Home operated by Light Outreach located at Dawa in Greater Accra.

The home houses orphans and street children, some of whom are eventually reunited with their respective families.

Both donations are part of the bank's CSR activities under its foundation, UT Cares Foundation.
The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service Jacob Kor at a news conference indicated that this will among the numerous antidotes help in ending the increasing spate of examination leakages in the country.

He promised that the service will do all it can to end the seemingly annual menace but warned headteachers who may be neck-deep in the practice that they will not be spared if caught.

Should there be any examination malpractice at a centre and its detected that head will lose his or her position. And that is not all, after losing your position; you will be put before the sanhedrin to answer.

Three people including the Headmaster of Ascension Senior High School in the Ashanti region were arrested on April 8, 2016 in connection with the recent examination malpractices which have recently bedeviled the country.

The two others are a female Literature Teacher of the same school and a student. According to West African Examination Council (WAEC) officials, the trio attempted to sneak answers to candidates who were writing the Literature paper and were nabbed.
A video posted on YouTube shows an unnamed America woman cock a rifle and state I hereby denounce the effects that social media have on my children, their disobedience and their disrespect.

She then fires at an iPhone that is sitting on a tree stump, blowing it to pieces, then yells for another phone to be set up.

A man behind the filming shows the destroyed phones, and the woman tells him to film the children.

The three children, appearing to be teens, presumably hers, stand by watching.

There is a lot of cussing, hidden by bleeps through the video.

I refuse to be cursed, I refuse to be disobeyed, I take back my role as your parent, she says while holding the gun looking at the children.

Done with shooting the phones, she then raises a sledgehammer above the phones, saying my children's lives are more important to me than any electronic on this earth.

"I refuse to have them be influenced in negative ways, contacting people they don't know, being involved in drama they don't need to be in and getting in trouble at school for having their phones out.
Im not sure whether were able to tap into the West African Gas pipeline but this is not a political affair, because it affects everybody. I guess if the NPP, CPP, NDP, PPP, PNC, were in power, what we are discussing today will not be different," he told Accra-based TV3.

Parts of the country have been experiencing interruption to electricity supply since the start of last week.

Chairman of the Load Management Committee William Amuna, had explained that the intermittent disruptions have occurred due to challenges in generation resulting from continuing absence of natural gas supply due to the extension of the maintenance works on the FPSO and persistent under-delivery of gas from Nigeria.

This has created suspicion among the populace that Ghana could fall back into the regime of 'dumsor', in spite of assurances by President John Mahama in his state of the nation address that his government had overcome the four-year old crisis following a fairly stable power supply since January.

However, Mr. Jantuah said even though government is responsible for finding a solution to the problem, It doesnt benefit anyone to politicize it."

He added that the Ministry of Power must release information on the power situation to Ghanaians on a regular basis.
The Ghanaian Times Newspaper reports that the targeted asserts of the convict include Night Angels Enterprise on the Dzorwulu Motoway, six different bank accounts of the Nayele with Fidelity Bank have already been confiscated.Deputy Executive Secretary of the Narcotic Control Board in-charge of Enforcement and Control Richard Nii Lante Blankson told the Ghanaian Times Newspaper that NACOB is taking steps to serve Nayele with the Court ruling.

RELATED: Cocaine saga Nayele's money confiscated by UK CustomsThe 33 year old Ghanaian/Austrian who pleaded guilty to carrying 12 kilos of cocaine to the United Kingdom was sentenced on her own plea by the Isleworth Crown Court in London in January 2015. The sentence was discounted because of her early guilty plea.Prosecutors said the cocaine carried by Nayele had a purity of 78% and a street value of 1.872 million Pounds. The prosecutors told the court Nayele had $23,000 and an additional 6,000 Pounds in her handbag when she was arrested.The money was payment for her courier services.According to the prosecutors, Nayele Ametefe was carting the cocaine to South America.

RELATED: Nayele Ametefes family Fight Narcotics Control Board Over PropertiesHer travel itinerary, the court was told indicated that she was leaving the United Kingdom two days after her arrival, for the Dominican Republic.The 12 kilograms of cocaine was, therefore, not meant to be consumed in the UK.
According to him, the attacks planned to take place at public gatherings will happen on a Thursday, Friday or a Saturday in April 2016.

But Ghana police in a statement have assured the public that it will collaborate with other security agencies to put in place measures to avert any possible terror attacks.

All the requisite operational strategies, including intelligence gathering and tactical deployment of personnel have been unfolded to nib any breach of the peace in the bud, the police said in a statement.

They also called for the co-operation of the general public in the fight against the scourge of terrorism and other violent crimes.
In an interview with Pulse Business, Executive Director of the chamber said government is no longer justified in keeping the Emergency Energy Tariffs, especially when international prices of oil on the world market have begun to rebound from their earlier slump.

All we are saying is that the windfall is gone. And a closer look at the world market prices today shows that they have began to rebound. Government told Ghanaians that the Emergency Energy Tariffs were imposed in order to take advantage of the massive slump in prices at the time. That slump is over, so the taxes must go.

At the time government introduced the Emergency Energy Sector Levies, international fuel prices had plummeted to $30 a barrel from $55 in the second quarter of 2015. The prices have, however, currently rebounded to 40 dollars.

As at the time they were introduced, the Emergency Energy Sector Levies were to help in paying off debts owed by the states energy providers, namely Electricity Company of Ghana, Volta River Authority and the Tema Oil Refinery.
According to him, such a move will not be ideal for the country's democratic process.

There has been concerns by groups such as the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), Movement for Change (MFC) and Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) over the inability of the EC to compile a new voters' register ahead of the November polls, as the groups argue the current one is bloated.

A five-member panel was later set up by the Electoral Commission to conduct public hearings over the demands for a new voter register.

But, the EC, in a response said the committee "finds the arguments for a new register unconvincing and therefore does not recommend the replacement of the current voters register."

The decision did not go down well with some opposition groups, who have subsequently held series of demonstrations to drum home the need for a new voter register. Others have also raised eyebrows about the readiness of the EC to conduct the November polls.

However, Justice VCRAC Crabbe has said the recent attacks on the EC would only spell doom for the country's democracy under which the Commission was instituted.

"...If we destroy the Electoral Commission, what is there for us to use, so that we have the democracy that we all want in this country. And therefore I would stress that we have to be very careful so that we don't destroy the very institution which we would use in order to come to power," he told GBC.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission has assured Ghanaians that it will ensure credible polls this November as it has began implementing some recommended reforms agreed upon by the Supreme Court and other stakeholders.
I am seeing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday  if I may say Thursday  because these evil people they are very funny. Anything can just happen. You will be very shocked to see what will happen, because when the prayer is going in this direction they [attackers] change to [another] direction, TB Joshua said in a live sermon on Sunday April 10 aired on the Emmanuel TV channel.

I see Thursday, Friday. Pray for these two nations  Nigeria and Ghana  over gathering in any way; over attack. I am seeing attack and that will be in a foreign way. The attack will come not in a local way. So please open your lips and pray for these two nations for protection, he added.

Pastor TB Joshua's prophecy comes days after Ghana's national security issued an alert of an imminent terror attack on the country.
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Was it not two weekends that a blogger was in a war of words with Wizkid? Was it not two weekends that they tried to shame him for reportedly leasing his cars and renting his mansion? Brothers and sisters it was this same month that they said he had been evicted out of his mansion.

Read more: Wizkid to headline Essence Music Festival

See how the Lord has protected Wizkid from the shame they wanted to throw on him. On April 5, 2016 the hottest rapper in the world Drakefeatured Wizkid on his latest single One Dance also featuring Kyla. The song is a single off Drakes next album .

In one day Wizkid turned into a national hero and everyone forgot about his clash with Linda Ikeji. His feature with Drake is monumental not only for his career but for Nigerian music as well. This is huge and this big news for any blogger in Nigeria.

Unfortunately our Banana Island blogging blogger must have missed the big story the day it happened. Wizkids grouse with Linda Ikeji is that she never writes anything good about him. When the collabo with Drake came out Linda Ikeji did not put it up on her blog and the beef became obvious. I think she made a huge blunder by not doing this. If she had posted the news it would have vindicated her and people would have believed that she has nothing against Wizkid.

Now Wizkid has been vindicated. Its clear now that Linda Ikeji has a grouse with the pop star. Yes it is her blog and she can write whatever she likes but I think the best option for her is not to write on Wizkid or any other celeb she does not like instead of writing only about the negatives. There must be some sort of balance, blog or no blog.

As for Wizzy he comes out as the victor of his recent fight with Linda Ikeji. Yes his rant was childish and petty but with the Drake collabo and international record labels hot on his heels he is the man of the hour.
BPI, Portugal's second-largest listed bank, said in a short statement its two main shareholders "today successfully finalised their negotiations to find a solution to the breach of the large exposures limit" in Angola, and that they informed the European Central Bank and the Bank of Portugal of their deal.

Sunday was the deadline for BPI bank to get rid of its risky Angolan assets before new European rules kick in requiring banks to fully provision for such holdings.

BPI did not provide any details of the deal, saying they would be disclosed in the coming days.

Sources close to the process told Reuters that the deal called for Caixabank to buy dos Santos' 18.6 percent stake in BPI. Caixabank is already BPI's largest shareholder with a stake of 44 percent.

Dos Santos, Africa's richest woman according to Forbes, is the daughter of Angola's long-serving president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, and has various investments in Portugal.

An initial outline of the deal also envisaged that Unitel, the Angolan telecoms firm dos Santos controls jointly with state oil company Sonangol, would acquire a controlling stake in BPI's Angolan unit BFA, but one source said the final agreement was more complex as it now involved the listing of BFA shares.

Under the deal, BFA is to be listed on the Euronext Lisbon bourse, while Caixabank will have to launch a full takeover bid for the remainder of BPI, sources said.

BPI holds a 50.1 percent stake in Angolan bank BFA, while Unitel owns the other 49.9 percent.
The man left the people of his Macheke village shocked after he reportedly forced his two sons, Elton 7, and Stallion, 12, to drink termite poison before drinking the remainder of the poison himself in an apparent triple suicide, at his residence at Plot 4, Village 12 in Wenimbe, Macheke.

The three were pronounced dead on arrival at Marondera Hospital.

According to reports, Tambanda had a domestic dispute with his wife and after a heated verbal exchange, it is reported that Tambandas wife left the homestead to an unknown destination but before she got back, Tambanda had forced his sons to drink the poisonous substance before drinking it himself.
Kime, who was arraigned on a one count charge, had reportedly stormed the home of the deceased, Mallum Hajjami at Kimeri village in Magumeri Local Government Area of the state, in the wee hours of the morning and killing the husband of his ex-wife.

The charge sheet read to Kime went as follow:

That you, Bunu Ali Kime, male of Ali Kimeri village of Magumeri, on or about 26th November, 2015, at about 0200 hours, at Ali Kimeri village which is within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, caused the death of one Mallum Hajjami.

You shot him with a dane gun on his right leg and began hitting him repeatedly on the head using the butt of the dane gun with the knowledge that death will be the probable consequence of your act and that you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 221 (b) of the Penal Code Cap 102 Laws of Borno State.

Kime, who denied the charge, insisted that the deceased married his ex-wife, which, according to him, was provocative.
Nwibo was said to butchered his 60-year-old step mother, Mrs. Otubo Nwibo, because she reportedly refused to allow him access to his late father's property while the reason for Mkpuma killing his brother is still yet to be ascertained by the police.

It was gathered that in the Alibaruhu incident, Nwibo had severed the head of his step mother with a machete following an argument.

A resident of the area, Paulinus Ikwuruma, said the late woman had invited men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to arrest the suspect after he had threatened to kill her following an earlier disagreement.

On sighting the NSCDC men, Nwibo dashed out of his room with a machete and swooped on the officials who managed to escape.

He then turned his attention to his step mother and descended on her.

Simon and his step mother have been at logger heads for sometime and when Simon sighted his stepmother and two NSCDC men she invited, he picked up his machete and started chasing them.

The two NSCDC officials ran took to the heels while his aged stepmother could not run fast. He cut the woman with the machete until she died.

The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP George Okafor, described the incident as horrible, saying the suspect resisted arrest but was over-powered by the police.

It was around 1700 hours on March 23 that Paulinus Ikwuruma reported to the police that Simon Nwibo, aged 32 unlawfully killed his fathers wife, Mrs. Otubo Nwibo, of about 60 years, with a machete.
The State Command posted on its Facebook wall that the suspect who were also involved in the kidnap, rape and murder of one Mrs Igila Sunday of Ohigha village on January 7, 2016, were arrested at Ohigha in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area and in Diobu, Port Harcourt, the state capital..

In the statement, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, said the gang has confessed to killing the man of God.

The suspects confessed to the allegations of the victims after which they raped, strangulated her and buried her corpse in shallow grave at Ogbosi.

The gang also confessed to have been responsible for the kidnapping of Pastor Chukwu Ekere of same Ohigha community and killed him for the simple reason that the man of God disturbed them with his preaching of repentance and also for urging them to shun their nefarious activities and accept God.
This is contained in the statement by the chairman, senate committee on media and public affairs Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi.

He said: While the executive is mandated to prepare and lay before the national assembly a proposed budget detailing projects to be executed, it should be made clear that the responsibility and power of appropriation lies with the national assembly.

If the presidency expects us to return the budget proposal to them without any adjustments, then some people must be living in a different era and probably have not come to terms with democracy.

We make bold to say, however, that the said Lagos-Calabar rail project was not included in the budget proposal presented to the national assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari and we challenge anyone who has any evidence to the contrary to present such to Nigerians.

Since the beginning of the 2016 budget process, it is clear that the national assembly has suffered all manners of falsehood, deliberate distortion of facts, and outright blackmail, deliberately aimed at poisoning the minds of the people against the institution of the national assembly.

We have endured this with equanimity in the overall interest of Nigerians. Even when the original submission was surreptitiously swapped and we ended up having two versions of the budget, which was almost incomprehensible and heavily padded in a manner that betrays lack of coordination and gross incompetence, we refused to play to the gallery and instead helped the executive to manage the hugely embarrassing situation it has brought upon itself; but enough is enough.

This latest antics of this particular minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is reckless, uncalled for and dangerously divisive. Apart from setting the people of the southern part of the country against their northern compatriots, it potentially sets the people against their lawmakers from the concerned constituencies and sets the lawmakers against themselves.

This manner of reprehensible mischief has no place in a democracy. We hereby demand from Mr. Amaechi a publicly tendered apology if he is not able to show evidence that the Lagos-Calabar road project was included in the budget. Otherwise, he should resign forthwith.

Finally, by the provision of Section 81 (4) (a) and (b) of the constitution, the President is allowed to sign the budget and kick-start the implementation of the other areas that constitute over 90 percent of the budget where there is agreement between both arms, even as we engage ourselves to resolve the contentious areas, if there were any. We therefore maintain that even this contrived discrepancies are not sufficient excuse not to sign the budget into law.

We therefore urge President Buhari to sign the 2016 budget without any further delay. For every additional day that the president withholds his assent from the bill, the hardship in the land, which is already becoming intolerable for the masses of our people gets even more complicated. Certainly, as primary representatives of the people we shall not vacate our responsibility and watch the people continue to suffer unduly.

Earlier, the Presidency had cried foul that the national assembly removed the provision made for the Calabar-Lagos Coastal Railway in the 2016 budget.
There are strong indications that President Buhari loyalists are strategizing to stop former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who has commenced consultation on whether or not he should contest for the 2019 Presidential election.

The faction loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari is championed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, David Babachir Lawal, while that of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is led by the state governor, Mohammed Jubrilla Bindow.

Recall that the crises commenced following the former acting APC Chairman in Adamawa State, Shuaibu Yamusa who was earlier sacked by the Adamawa State governor, died in Kano. Not only that, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abba Jimeta and the APC Chairman of Yola South local government, Hon. Salihu Baba Ahmed were reported to have exchanged blows during a meeting at Atiku's house in February.

Babachir Lawal, who is leading the Buharis camp, is a staunch supporter of the President and has been with him right from the All Nigeria Peoples' Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) days. He has the support of all serving Senators from the State.

Bindow, who is also championing Atikus camp, has been with the former Vice President in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a little stay in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Bindow also has the support of many members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly and other appointees in the state.

Pulse gathered that other strong politicians in the state like former Minister of State for Defence, AlhajiAbdulrahman Adamu and the pioneer National Vice Chairman of the APC in charge of North East who brought former Governor Murtala Nyako, Atiku Abubakar and Governor Bindow to the party in Adamawa State, Dr Umar Duhu are still on the sidelines.

Both Duhu and the former Minister, Adamu are just quiet, watching events as they unfold. But some say that Dr Umar Duhu who is been favoured to return as the National Vice Chairman of the APC in charge of the North East following the appointment of Babachir as SGF, could stem the crises if given the opportunity to serve.

Since their inauguration, the three senators, Ahmed Abubakar Mu'allayidi (Adamawa South), Sen. BintaGarba Masi (Adamawa North), son of former governor of the state, Murtala Nyako, Abdul'aziz Nyako (Adamawa Central) have distanced themselves from the governor and the activities of his government.

This is contrary to what was experienced under the past administrations in the state, a politician in the state, Bala Isa told Pulse on Monday, April 11, 2016.

Pulse gathered that some politicians in the state loyal to the senators and Buhari have been converging on Abuja to keep them inform about happening in the state.

Also, some chieftains of the party, Abdulrahman Adamu and Dr Umar Duhu, when contacted separately, wont want to comment on the issue.
According to Vanguard, the two were prohibited over their anti-Biafra position and their recent alliance with the APC.

Report said Nwodo, a former national chairman of the PDP, and Wogu had on Sunday, April 10, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) at a meeting of the party's south-east geopolitical zone.

At the meeting, while receiving the defectors, the national vice-chairman and convener of the meeting, Emma Eneukwu called of MASSOB to abandon the Biafra struggle and join in building a united Nigeria.

We call on the groups agitating for separation from a united Nigeria, particularly, the IPOB and MASSOB to re-think and abandon the idea and join the other tribes in building a formidable united Nigeria where all Nigerians will be equally treated in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Eneukwu said.

Nwodo, who spoke on Monday, April 11, in Abuja, however denied defecting to the APC. He acknowledged that the situation in the PDP has become embarrassing and unexciting, but insisted he has chosen to remain in the party.
The president made the comments while speaking to Chinese news agency, Xinhua, before embarking on an official trip to China.

China has the technical and financial capacity and the experience of development while retaining the goodwill to help Nigeria. So, really, this is an opportunity Nigeria cannot afford to lose, Buhari said.

In spite of being the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria is still badly in need of these projects, which China, as the worlds second-largest economy, has the capacity to undertake.

The opportunities that present themselves for us  are virtually limitless, he said, adding that 62 percent of the Nigerian population is under the age of 35 and the jobless rate among this group is very high.

The best way to tackle unemployment is to develop agriculture and the mining industry, which China has the capacity to help. Some Chinese enterprises have already been involved in the mining industry in Nigerias northern provinces, he added.

Buhari left Nigeria for China on Sunday, April 10, 2016, to sign off on a loan facility previously negotiated by Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun.

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Bakare spoke on Sunday, April 10, 2016, during a special sit-out of the Bring Back Our Girls group in Abuja, Vanguard reports.

The whole nation has failed these children. Parents, families and friends of our dear daughters, I am here today not just to speak to you, but to speak to the nation and to the world as one of you," he said.

I'm here as a father burdened by the captivity of our daughters, and I am here as a friend. I am here to express our frustrations and to speak of our undying hope as we wait expectantly for the return of our dear Chibok girls.

We are not unmindful that the Nigerian state failed to provide security for our daughters as they gathered to write final examinations despite prior intelligence reports that suggested they were in danger.

It is most severely injurious to see that the fate of our daughters has been frequently politicized. Rather than rise to the occasion as stakeholders and custodians of the security and welfare of the citizens of this nation, political parties and politicians have paid lip service, using our pain and plight of our daughters to score cheap political points.

We are not convinced that the matter of our daughters has been given the needed thoughtfulness. We do not believe that those who are in a position to act have taken sufficient actions towards addressing the issue or even towards claiming our anxiety as waiting parents.

We do not believe those concerned have taken sufficient actions concerning the rescue of these girls", he said, expressing optimism that the girls would be rescued even as he prayed God to see to that.

We believe that they are still alive, at least no evidence, satellite evidence that they are in a mass grave. We believe they are alive. It remains a scar on the soul of this nation until these girls are brought back, he added.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has denied reports that Boko Haram recently demanded a ransom of $50 million in exchange for the girls.

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Mohammed gave the apology on Sunday, April 10, 2016, while speaking on Channels TVs Sunday Politics.

I have said it on many fora that the government is keenly aware of the hardship and difficulties Nigerians have gone through in the last couple of weeks and we do empathize with them, he said.

Not only do we empathize with them but we appreciate their perseverance and we have also been working round the clock to ensure that we are able to bring the situation back to normal.

As from tomorrow we are going to deploy 1,300 trucks of all over Nigeria to ensure that the fuel situation gets much better.

We empathize with Nigerians, we salute their courage and perseverance and I want to assure them that the change they voted for is real, that change will come and that all the challenges we are facing today are very temporary, he added.

Mohammed also said that the federal government plans to build modular refineries in the country.

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The group accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of subtly laying a foundation for the former Presidents arrest.

The youth body also condemned EFCCs arrest of Goodluck Jonathans cousin, Mr. Robert Azibaola, over an alleged $40m fraud.

Punch reports that the IYC President, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, said They have arrested almost all our people. Azibaola was arrested by the EFCC and we are calling on the EFCC to stop persecuting him further and charge him to court if there are issues.

They detained him for a long time, forcing him to make statements to indict former President Jonathan. Azibaola is a businessman, a contractor, and has the right, like every other Nigerian, to get contracts. Why will the Niger Delta case be a different one?

He also said We noticed that the same way they persecuted Alamieyeseigha has continued. After Goodluck Jonathan, our people who contributed to that administration, are being persecuted by this government.

The recent one is the ploy to arrest Goodluck Jonathan, which is unfolding every day. This must stop. Goodluck Jonathan is the most performing President that Nigeria has ever had. We are proud of him.

Everyday, there is a calculated attempt to whittle down the achievements of former President Jonathan. We call on Nigerians to mount pressure on the government to focus on leading Nigeria right rather than looking for ways to bring down the achievements of Jonathan.

Buhari should please focus on governance rather than persecution of people who have added value. We are not happy about it and today, we use Alamieyeseighas death as a point of contact. The world has seen that from Alamieyeseigha, it has trickled down to all the Niger Delta people, Eradiri said.

undefinedwho is reportedly a cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

See Pulse Gallery below.
Kalu is is expected to appear in court on May 16, 2016.

The EFCC, in the charges filed against Kalu in 2008, alleged that he was involved in money laundering and illegal diversion of public funds to the tune of N5.6 billion between 1999 and 2007.

The ex-governor was first arraigned in 2007 but his trial was stalled over the years following court cases instituted by him, challenging the charges leveled against him by the EFCC.
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana also called for the trial of all public office holders indicted in the document.

SERAP also frowned at the practice where public office holders maintain foreign accounts, in breach of the code of conduct for such offices.

The group also gave the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), a 14 day ultimatum to commence a probe on those indicted by the document.

SERAP Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni said We would be grateful if the bureau could begin to take these steps within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter.

If we have not heard from you by then as to the steps the bureau is taking to address the concerns raised in this letter, the Registered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel the bureau to effectively discharge its constitutional and statutory mandates in this instance.

He said SERAP also believes that bodies like the Code of Conduct Bureau should now seize the opportunity and use its mandate to react to this international scandal by taking concrete and proactive steps to address increasing breaches of constitutional provisions by high-ranking public officers.

This action will be entirely consistent with the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), the law establishing the bureau, and will meet demands by Nigerians for improvement in transparency regarding asset declaration and sanctions of public officers for breaches.

A Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca which specialises in setting up shell companies in tax havens for individuals and businesses, has been in the centre of the scandal involving a leak of confidential documents containing names of the firms clients.

The scandal has now been dubbed Panama Papers.

Nigerians who were named in the documents include former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, former Senate President, David Mark and wife of Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Toyin Saraki.

undefinedand former Senate President, David Mark have both denied having any dealings with Mossack Fonseca.

Watch video below.
Sani further described the bill as a draconian decree, which had no place in a democratic society, according to Daily Post.

Its painful to receive this merit award when majority of Nigerians are still expecting good governance. Nigerians are facing lots of challenges and we the elected leaders cannot continue to give them excuses, he said.

They did not elect us to lament, they didnt elect us to give them excuses. We were elected to give them good governance. Im not the kind of person that will see black and say its white. Whether we are in the same party or not, I will not see wrong and say its right.

I did that during the military era and I will continue to tell the truth even now. Nigerians spent hours under the sun to vote for us and so we must not fail them. We must do what the people want and not what we want as leaders because they voted for us.

This is why we say the proposed religious bill in Kaduna State is absolutely wrong and we will not accept anybody to licence any preacher because people have the right to practice their religion as enshrined in the constitution.

Nobody can violate the constitution because freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution. We are also calling on the state governor not to over tax the people because they have suffered a lot under the 16 years of PDP, he added.

Sani had earlier also criticized El-Rufai for implementing anti-people policies.

The preaching regulation bill seeks to implement a system whereby only licensed preachers are allowed to preach with defaulters being liable to a fine of N200,000 or imprisonment for two years or both.

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The EFCC had instituted before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court a 40-count charge of alleged fraud against Tompolo. Charged along with him are Patrick Akpobolokemi, Global West Vessel, Odimiri Electrical Ltd, Kime Engozu. Boloboere Ltd, Rex Elem, Destre Ltd, Gregory Mbonu and Capt Warrendi Enisuoh.

While the trial judge, on Jan. 14, issued a warrant for Tompolos arrest for his failure to appear in court to answer to the criminal charges, the defendant, however, on Jan. 27, filed an application to set aside the said warrant of arrest.Buba on Feb. 8 dismissed Tompolos application after his counsel, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa and his EFCC counterpart had argued the said application.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Tompolo again filed a fresh application at the Federal High Court, urging it to issue an order halting his trial.

Among other prayers being sought include the nullification of certain sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which he said affected his constitutional rights.

The respondents in the new suit are: The Attorney-General of the Federation, The EFCC, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff and the Chief of Air Staff.

Tompolo is contending that Sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act are invalid and unconstitutional, in so far as they seek to prevent the court from exercising jurisdiction to hear objections to a criminal charge.

In the new suit with No. FHC/L/CS/499/2016, Tompolo is seeking the following reliefs, from the Court:

"A declaration that Section 221 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, is void to the extent that it seeks to be an absolute bar to any objection to a criminal charge or information, already filed, especially Charge No. FHC/L/553C/2015.

"A declaration that Section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 is void to the extent that it seeks to be an absolute bar to an application for a stay of proceedings pending appeal to a higher court, in relation to a criminal charge.

"A declaration that the respondents are not entitled to rely upon Sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 in the prosecution of any criminal charge or information, already filed, especially Charge No. FHC/L/553C/2015.

"A declaration that the respondents are not entitled to file, initiate, prosecute or in any other manner pursue any criminal charge or information, against the applicant, in any manner that will constitute a flagrant violation of his right to fair hearing.

"An injunction restraining the respondents whether by themselves or by their servants, agents or privies, from filing or further filing, prosecuting or further prosecuting, any criminal charge or information against the applicant.
Vanguard reports that the President did not like some of the changes which the lawmakers made to the 2016 budget, with regards to the removal of funds meant for major national projects.

He asked the National Assembly to take back the 2016 budget and add the important projects which they removed.

A source who spoke to Vanguard said Buhari reviewed the 2016 budget with the leadership of the National Assembly and expressed his concern about some major changes to the cost of some projects the Federal Government had earmarked.

Reports say Buhari was concerned about the transfer of funds meant for the financing of infrastructural development, agriculture and socio-economic development, to what he termed non-essential areas.

Reports say the ministers also blamed the lawmakers for distorting the budget.

Meanwhile, there are indications that Buhari might sign the 2016 budget and send in a supplementary budget that will accommodate the projects that were removed by the lawmakers.

See Pulse Gallery below.
Punch reports that Baraje said Nigerians are not happy with the APC, and called on the Buhari led administration to address the sufferings of the people.

He also advised the party not to repeat the mistakes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Baraje said I belong to the group that is not very satisfied with the performance of the party; not only because the Senate President is having a very serious political issue, but because there are other cases and instances where we are not happy with the performance of our party.

He also said I am not a prophet of doom, neither am I a political prostitute. Are you happy going to queue up for up to two to three hours? Are you happy that electricity is not functioning well and people sleep in darkness?

What we are saying is that majority of Nigerians are not happy and we need to make them happy.

Majority of Nigerians are suffering and we need to make our impact felt by addressing the suffering of the masses.

Baraje said, The PDP made me. I was the National Secretary and later become the National Chairman of the PDP. I made my mark. If I have to be grateful to any political party, I think, it is the PDP.

So, if I can leave that party, then you will know that the party had gone contrary seriously against my principles of life.

If I can leave the PDP because of impunity, lack of respect for the rule of law; then do I want to continue in another party that way? But it has not got to that level. That is why we are sounding a note of warning that gradually some of these problems are creeping into the APC. And we must warn ourselves.

Many Nigerians, on social media, constantly express their anger and frustration at the current situation of the country.

Alhaji Kawu Baraje once served as the acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

See Pulse Gallery below.
Mark said for the party to return to power in 2019, it must not make the same mistake again.

Speaking at a meeting with PDP members on Monday, April 11, in Otukpo, Benue State, ahead of the party's convention, Mark stressed the need for repositioning if the party would stand a chance to win in the next general election.

We must come to terms with reality that PDP lost the last general election because of over bearing tendencies of some leaders who imposed candidates on the people.

It is inevitable that we must change from the old ways and allow the will of the people prevail. Unfolding events clearly show that the PDP is the party for the people. But we must not take them for granted by forcing unpopular candidates on the people.

The coast is clear that the PDP has the road map for peace, unity and development of Nigeria. Nigerians now know the difference, he said.

He advised that popular candidates be put forward to drive the ship of the party ahead of the next general elections.

Mark expressed confidence in the PDP's potentials to regain power in 2019 if party faithful agree to work together in one accord.
Jonathan made the comment on Friday, April 8, 2016, while receiving the 2016 Vanguard Personality of the Year.

The former president, who was represented by ex-Minister of State for Works, Dayo Adeyeye, also said that he would continue with his good works in the country.

He says I should tell everybody that he is not yet finished with his good works in Nigeria, he has left office but he is not tired Adeyeye said.

Jonathans statement is both confusing and amusing because its not clear which good works hes referring to.

The former president definitely deserves praise for conceding defeat to successor, Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, but this alone cannot be said to amount to good works especially considering the amount of destruction the Jonathan administration unleashed in Nigeria.

Jonathan and his officials repeatedly embarrassed Nigeria and made the country a laughing stock before the world.

The over 200 Chibok girls were abducted during the Jonathan administration, but the presidents first reaction was denial and then later false reports of a rescue were released.

Jonathan and his cohorts also shamelessly attempted to ride to re-election on the hashtag created to bring awareness to the girls abduction.

The most prominent legacy of the Jonathan administration was wanton corruption and looting of public funds.

According to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, corruption under Jonathans administration was carried out with no attempt or intention to cover it up.

The corrupt try to take money under the table. Under Jonathans government, it is done so openly, with records, El-Rufai told the New York Times in 2015.

People actually document the diversion of funds. You just wonder, what is wrong with them, he added.

Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi also told American news channel, PBS News hour that Nigeria was losing about 1 billion dollars a month to corruption during Jonathans tenure.

In Nigeria, there is no accountability at all and that is why I think Nigerias corruption is worse than corruption in most parts of the world. It is the worst type of corruption, its stealing, Sanusi said.

Frankly, I think a billion dollars under Jonathan a month was about what we were losing, he added.

Jonathan suspended Sanusi in February 2014 after the latter alleged that billions of dollars in oil revenue had gone missing.

Also, former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki is currently being tried for supervising the laundering of $2 billion dollars in public funds. Most of the money was allegedly spent on attempts to secure a second term for Jonathan.

In light of all this, and even more, Jonathan cannot claim to have done any good works for Nigeria.

Jonathans concession was the right thing to do, and one should not expect too much praise for doing the right thing, but since this right thing is rare in Africa, we praise Jonathan and will continue to praise him for doing it.

However, this does not mean that the former president can sweep all the wrong which went on under his watch under the rug like it never happened.

The Jonathan administration brought Nigeria to its knees and almost finished the country, this is what we remember and always will.
Odigie-Oyegun said Baraje would have asked the party leadership about its plans to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians instead of playing to the gallery.

The APC party chairman said We are working on a solution in the medium term; short term, yes we can make the fuel queues disappear but we dont want the problem to re-occur and to do that, you have to work out a solution that will be long-lasting.

If people want to play to the gallery they are at liberty to do so, they know why they are doing what they are doing.

He also chided Baraje for threatening to leave the party, saying it was too early for such a decision.

Odigie-Oyegun also said At the moment, we know these problems (power outages and fuel queues) are there because it is a case of corruption fighting back.

We are not resting on our oars; we are working hard and very soon all these problems will be over. Nigerians will certainly win this battle.

Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose recently described the government of President Muhammadu Buhari as a one chance bus.

President Buhari has also assured Nigerians that they have not entered a one chance bus, adding that the one chance drivers have been driven out of town.

See Pulse Gallery below.
On Saturday, April 11, students staged a protest over the death of their colleague, who was allegedly hit by a reckless commercial motorcyclist in the town on Friday night.

Acting Registrar of the institution, Mr. Sunday Ayeerun stated that the institution has also suspended ongoing examinations and directed all students to vacate the campus and halls of residence immediately.

A statement signed by Ayeerun added that the students would be informed when to resume for the completion of their examination at a later date.

The school management also advised parents and guardians to take note of the latest development.
The event was held to help educate and engage tech bloggers on Visas role in promoting secure electronic payments. The forum featured an informative two hour session with Visa Country Manager, Ade Ashaye, as he provided insight into the evolution, benefit and potential future of the Nigerian financial cards industry.

Speaking at the event, Ashaye said, Technology continues to transform payments, and is changing the way consumers, pay and get paid. The transformation has however created a ripple effect across the payment ecosystem. Fraud Mitigation through global chip adoption continues to put pressure on card-not-present fraud  driving the use of authentication and token technologies.

Data protection, data devaluation, responsible innovation, and fraud prevention are the four major measures being used by Visa to track and mitigate against fraudulent acts, Ashaye explained.

Nita Omanga, Director of Risk SSA at Visa also joined the discourse via a hangout call and she explained several risk management concepts such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and its workings to the enthusiastic bloggers and media personnel.

The event which had bloggers from popular tech and IT websites present availed learning and networking opportunities.
In the latest verbal exchange on who controls the vital trade waterways, China said it had not seen the G7 statement, but that countries in the region were seeking to promote stability and that disputes were being "exaggerated".

"If the G7 wants to continue playing a major role in the world, it should take an attitude of seeking truth from the facts to handle the issues the international community is most concerned with at the moment," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.

Earlier on Monday, the G7 foreign ministers said after meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima that they opposed "any intimidating coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions".

In an apparent reference to China's territorial spat with the Philippines, the group also called on countries to observe international maritime laws and implement any binding judgments delivered by courts and tribunals.

Manila has asked the International Court of Arbitration in the Hague to decide on its dispute with Beijing, which has said it does not recognise the case. A ruling is expected by June.
Kenya's attorney-general said in January it was considering a request from Beijing to extradite 76 Chinese charged with cyber crime in Kenya for trial in their homeland.

Yet China pressured Kenyan police to put eight of the Taiwanese nationals on to a Chinese jet bound for China on Friday, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said. It did not say how they were taken.

"This is an uncivilized act of illegal kidnapping and a serious violation of basic human rights," the ministry said in a statement, adding it was demanding the immediate return of the eight.

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which distrusts China, also weighed in on the issue, demanding China "repatriate our people and guarantee their legal rights".

China views Taiwan as a wayward province, to be brought under Beijing's control, by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after a civil war with the Communists now in control in Beijing.

Only 22 countries recognise Taiwan, with most, including Kenya, having diplomatic relations with Beijing, recognising its "one China" policy.

Taiwan had sent officials from its representative office in South Africa to Kenya to try to deal with the case as it has no office in Kenya, the Foreign Ministry added.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office, which oversees relations with Taiwan, did not respond to a request for comment, and neither did China's Ministry of Public Security.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he needed to "further understand" the situation, when asked during a regular news briefing on Monday.

"But in principle, countries which follow the 'one China' principle are worthy of approval," he added, without elaborating.

Kenyan government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Ties between Taiwan and China rapidly improved after the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou took power in 2008 as Taiwan president and signed a series of landmark trade and business deals.

But China has looked on with suspicion at Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen and her independence-leaning DPP won presidential and parliamentary elections in January.
Strategic Behavioral Health LLC will try again in July to get state approval to build a 72-bed psychiatric hospital in Bettendorf, the company's president said Monday.

Iowa's State Health Facilities Council deadlocked, 2-2, on the company's request in February.

Jim Shaheen, Strategic's president, said Monday there has been a "groundswell" of people in the community asking it to try again.

"We've had numerous people reach out to us in support of the project," he said.

The Memphis-based company's plans to build in the Quad-Cities have run into opposition from the area's two largest hospitals, Genesis Health System and UnityPoint Trinity. Both presented arguments against the plan at the five-member health facilities council's meeting in February. But because one member of the council was not present for the meeting, there was no vote to break the tie.

The health facilities council will meet on July 7.

Strategic has proposed building the $14 million hospital at Tanglefoot Lane and Golden Valley Drive. It has argued this area's behavioral health needs are not being met, and its additional beds and services could co-exist with current providers while reducing wait times and bringing a more consistent level of service.

Genesis and Trinity have said their ongoing plans to expand behavioral health services are sufficient to meet community needs and the addition of Strategic would undermine them.

"We continue to oppose the application ... as being not in the best interests of the people of the region," Ken Croken, vice president of communications, marketing and advocacy at Genesis, said Monday. He added that the hospital has continued to accelerate its plans and recently hired another psychiatrist to join its hospital-based staff.

The debate over the proposed for-profit hospital has resulted in an intensive campaign on both sides to gain support from area governments, health care providers and community groups. The February hearing lasted in Ankeny most of the day and filled a hearing room, with many of the people from the Quad-Cities, including the families of those with behavioral health issues.

The state of Iowa requires that companies seeking to build health care facilities get a Certificate of Need. The process is aimed at holding down costs and eliminating duplication of health care services.

Shortly after the deadlocked vote, which prevented permission from being granted, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad criticized the process in an appearance in the Quad-Cities.
Russian TV anchor appeals recovery of $970k debt for Marussia sportcar

MOSCOW, April 11 (RAPSI)  Russian TV anchor Nikolai Fomenko has appealed recovery of nearly 65 million rubles ($970,000) in debt to a bank that gave him a credit for research and development of Marussia sportcar project, press-secretary of the Tverskoy District Court in Moscow told RAPSI on Monday.

Another defendant in this case along with Fomenko is a co-owner of Marussia Motors company, Anton Kolesnikov. Both men were earlier ordered to pay about 65 million rubles to Bank Otkritie (formerly known as Petrocommerce bank).

In 2007, Fomenko founded Marussia Motors company, specializing on production of supercars. In 2014, the company went bankrupt.

In 2011, the bank gave a 60-million ruble credit ($895,000) to Fomenko for development of Marussia supercar. Kolesnikov was listed as guarantor in this deal.

Fomenko claims that while there was a credit deal, he did not receive any money and that signature under the document is not his. He also claims that he was outside Russia when the deal was made. According to the courts expertise, Fomenkos signature is genuine.
Russian senator proposes to criminalize insults of the official anthem

MOSCOW, April 11 (RAPSI)  A senator from Russia's Federation Council proposed to introduce criminal liability for insulting the national anthem of Russia, RIA Novosti reported on Monday.

Liability for insulting the anthem may be introduced for public performance of its distorted version.

Last week Russian authorities began an investigation of incident in Sevastopol where the original text of Russias anthem was substituted with a distorted version. Local media reported appearance of such text during the performance of the anthem on April 11 in Sevastopol Centre for Culture and Art.

According to senator Vadim Tulpanov, punishment for insulting the state anthem must be severely harshened. The Article 70 of Russian Constitution proclaims that coat of arms, flag and anthem have similar status as official symbols of Russian Federation. However, while there is a criminal liability for insulting coat of arms and flag, including potential one year sentence in prison, there are no such measures to protect the anthem. Current administrative punishments for insulting the anthem include fines of 3,000 rubles ($44.7) for a person, 7,000 rubles for officials ($104.4) and 150,000 ($2,238) rubles for organizations.

Tulpanov added that the Supreme Court of Russia has already approved introduction of criminal liability for insulting the official anthem, but insisted on defined terms for inappropriate performance of the anthem.

Of course, no citizen will be arrested for bad musical sense or not knowing the anthems words, Tulpanov added.
Attackers on police station in southern Russia identified

Context Criminal case opened over attack on police station in southern Russia

MOSCOW, April 11, (RAPSI)  Three gunmen killed in an armed attack on a police station in Stavropol region in southern Russia, which occurred on Monday, have been identified, TASS news agency reported, citing undisclosed sources in the Investigative Committee.

"Thanks to prompt cooperation of investigators of the Russian Investigative Committee and operatives of the regional police and Federal Security Service (FSB) departments the three men who staged today's attack on the administrative police building of the Novoselitsky district and later blew themselves up have been identified," the Investigative Committee said. The men were identified as Zaur Akayev, born in 1983, Ramazan Khaibulayev, born in 1991, and Isai Abdulatipov, born in 1996.

Akayev, Khaibulayev and Abdulatipov tried to smash on Monday in the police station using hand grenades. Policemen in the building opened return fire, and the attackers set off some explosive devices killing themselves.

No police officers or civilians were killed in the attack. However, technical damage was done to the police station and cars parked nearby, an Investigative Committees statement released today says.

Earlier in the day, the Russias Investigative Committee had informed that a criminal case was opened over an attempt on lives of law enforcement officers in relation to the attack.

Rapid deployment units, security forces, law and order agencies, and bomb-disposal experts have been reportedly put on high alert.

After the attack had been reported, nearby schools and hospitals were evacuated. Additional security measures were introduced across the region, news agencies quoted Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov as saying.

It remains unknown whether or not the attackers were members of an Islamic State (IS), an organization prohibited in Russia. IS has vowed revenge after Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria last September. In November, a Russian passenger jet was blown up over Egypt by a bomb planted by an Islamic State affiliate. In December, the IS has claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Derbent, a city in the North Caucacus republic of Dagestan.
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Here are the Halloween and fall events happening in Salina

As people in Salina get ready for fall, there are several events happening on Halloween and the days before it.
 "Dont Just Get Kids Off the Sex Offender Registry. Abolish It" | Main | Has anyone calculated trial rates  or other notable features  of 248 offenders getting Obama commutations? 

This new local story, headlined "In Pa. and elsewhere, death penalty is dying a slow death," tells a capital tale that has grown old in the Keystone State. Here is how the article gets started:

The crime was horrific: LaQuanta Chapman fatally shot his teenage neighbor, then dismembered him with a chainsaw. The Chester County District Attorney's Office promised it would seek the death penalty  and it delivered.

Chapman was sent to death row in December 2012. But he remains very much alive, and two weeks ago the state Supreme Court reversed his death sentence, citing prosecutorial error. Chapman is just the latest example of a death-row inmate spared execution.

In fact, no one has been executed in Pennsylvania since Philadelphia torturer-murderer Gary Heidnik in 1999. And he requested it. He is one of only three prisoners put to death since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

In Pennsylvania and in other states around the nation, the death penalty  once a hot-button political issue  has been dying a quiet death. Experts cite a variety a reasons, including a general decline in crime nationwide that has turned voters' attentions elsewhere.

District attorneys and other law enforcement officials continue to advocate for it, but as a political issue, it has all but disappeared. "Let's face it, how many people actually get put to death?" said G. Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College, calling the death penalty "virtually nonoperative" in Pennsylvania. "In many states, it's a dead letter."

Gov. Wolf last year imposed a moratorium on executions pending a bipartisan committee's report on the commonwealth's use of capital punishment. The report, more than two years overdue, is looking at costs, fairness, effectiveness, alternatives, public opinion, and other issues.

The committee, formed in 2011 during Gov. Tom Corbett's administration, has been collecting data with Pennsylvania State University's Justice Center for Research, which has just begun to analyze the information. The basis for the center's death-penalty analysis will be 1,106 first-degree murder cases completed between 2000 and 2010, said Jeff Ulmer, a Pennsylvania State University professor working on the analysis.

The committee's report should follow before the end of the year, said Glenn Pasewicz, executive director of the state commission that oversees the committee. Richard Long, executive director of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, which supports the death penalty, said the report needs to come out as soon as possible.

The moratorium, he said, "becomes less and less temporary with every day that passes." State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf (R., Bucks), one of the leaders of the state task force, stressed the need for it to be thorough. "I think it's going to be a landmark review of the death penalty, certainly in Pennsylvania, maybe nationally," he said.

The American Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System are among the groups that have criticized the inequality of Pennsylvania's capital punishment system and have urged changes. About 150 death sentences and capital convictions in the state have been overturned in the post-conviction process, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit anti-capital punishment group. Of those, 120 have had new sentences imposed.

But juries continue to issue death sentences. Pennsylvania has 180 people on death row, the fifth largest number in the country. The 178 men and two women are housed in three state correctional institutions.
 The many challenges of a fully nuanced understanding of the Clintons, crime, punishment and the 1994 Crime Bill | Main | Detailing the desuetude of the death penalty in Pennsylvania 

April 10, 2016

"Dont Just Get Kids Off the Sex Offender Registry. Abolish It"

A helpful reader alerted me to this article which has the title I have used for the title of this post. I think these excerpts captures some the themes of this lengthy article:

A focus on the juvenile sex offender  or any juvenile offender  has potential upsides. It invites audiences to see a whole person and a complex situation and to empathize with the person who has done, or been accused of doing, harm. The invocation of childhood, and its suggestion of innocence by reason of immaturity, can spread sympathy more widely to whole communities harmed by the carceral state, particularly when kids are secondary victims of parental incarceration and systemic civil death or disenfranchisement. Coverage of the JSO often unpacks the category of sex offender  pointing out that it includes convictions for sexting, public urination and consensual sex between minors, as well as violent rape and the abuse of children; it can expose the uniquely harsh treatment of all these people by the U.S. criminal justice system and the public. These stories point to the youthful offender as collateral damage in a regime of indiscriminate and ever-escalating penalties.... But there are also significant downsides to campaigns that construct children as exceptional and different from adults. The public may just as easily be left feeling that adults who break the law are bad and deserve all they get  or that guilty people do not deserve fairness or sympathy. This gives legislators a rationale for trading off youth-friendly criminal justice policies for harder adult penalties, as recently happened when New Mexico legalized sexting between teens but increased penalties for people 18 and older sexting with people under 18. Not just adults but some youth can be penalized by the focus on children. Call the person who breaks the law a child, and theres a danger that any young person not demonstrably childlike will end up prosecuted as an adult. Exclusive focus on the young offender  rather than a rejection of the entire sex offender regime  avoids the larger, less politically popular truth. Sex offender registries are harmful to kids and to adults, says Emily Horowitz, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, and a board member of the National Center for Reason & Justice, which works for sensible child-protective policies and against unjust sex laws. No evidence exists that they prevent sex crimes either by juvenile offenders or adult offenders. Such a strategy can invite a wider range of supporters, but it also can mean inadvertent acceptance or even endorsement of policies that are antagonist to justice for wider groups, if not for everyone. For instance, [Center on Youth Registration Reform] (CYRR) is collaborating with Eli Lehrer, of the free-market think tank R Street; he is also a signatory of the conservative Right on Crime initiative. Flagged on the CYRR site is an article by Lehrer, published this winter in National Affairs, that argues for taking kids off the registry. But the piece also concludes that ending the registries would be unwise and suggests theyd be really good with a few sensible tweaks. Lehrer also proposes hardening policies  such as serious penalties for child pornography possession and the expanded use of civil commitment  that data reveal to be arbitrary or ineffective and many regard as gross violations of constitutional and human rights.

April 10, 2016 at 05:07 PM | Permalink

Comments

Can you actually provide a reference showing that there are people listed for public urination?

I examined this after seeing it claimed about Texas but when I dug into the facts it turned out to not be the case. Certainly there were people subject to various parole/probation conditions normally associated with sex offenders (my understanding further being that the 5th circuit later ruled that these people were being subjected to those conditions illegally). However, on the specific point of the registry I was unable to substantiate the claim for charges of public urination.

I simply wonder whether this is a point that gets repeated for rhetorical effect without examining whether it is actually true, or if there are indeed states where such acts get people listed.

(The definitions for TX can be found at http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CR/htm/CR.62.htm the closest to simple public urination is indecent exposure, but that has additional proof element required)

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Apr 10, 2016 7:07:43 PM

SH:

What a stupid question! Do your own work to prop up a POS House of Cards!

Posted by: albeed | Apr 10, 2016 7:47:45 PM

Some time ago there was a kid that had consensal oral sex with his 16 yr old girl friend.

Kid was 17 or 18 roughly. It took a federal judge to get him out of prison.

Yes abolish juvinille sex off registers.

Also there needs to be a better definition of what a sex offender is. Some guy who takes a whiz in a park and gets turned in, isnot a sex offender. Especially if there is a bar next door and it was 11:00 at night and the park has been closed for 4 hrs. Get real.



Posted by: MidWestGuy | Apr 10, 2016 7:50:24 PM

albeed ,

A single positive example (if someone has one, and indeed it would only take one) would be far easier than going through every U.S. jurisdiction and demonstrating that such an offense does not in fact land someone on the registry.

I only examined TX in particular after GFB repeated this claim (again, without citing to a specific person) in one of his posts a long while back. Failing there being such a specific example I do not see how pointing out that such offenses do not actually land people on the registry is in any way stupid.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Apr 10, 2016 10:42:32 PM

In a related aspect. The Dennis Hastert case compels me to favor a lie detector test being required for all politicians. They would be asked if they ever were perps against children. Impose this on priests too. If they fail the test then investigate.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Apr 10, 2016 10:56:04 PM

Doing a search of the title, found this: http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/08/dont-just-get-kids-off-the-sex-offender-registry-abolish-it/ which cites this:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/14/when-kids-are-accused-of-sex-crimes

I then did a search of "public urination and sex offender" and there were some hits. For instance: http://www.menshealth.com/guy-wisdom/you-might-be-sex-offender-and-not-know-it

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/08/mapped_sex_offender_registry_laws_on_statutory_rape_public_urination_and.html

The last one has a map. Texas is not included for public urination.





Posted by: Joe | Apr 10, 2016 10:56:15 PM

Reading the slate piece, though the introductory story turned out well I doubt you would find many people who would agree the basic fact pattern (an 18 year old and 14 year old)should not be criminal. Romeo/Juliet laws are one thing but that is a heck of an age gap.

The slate article specifically names Michigan but does not provide a case name and I have been unable to substantiate the claim by looking through the Michigan statute (the Michigan Compiled Laws site is much more of a mess than the Texas site, not providing either links or simple names to cross-referenced statutes .

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Apr 10, 2016 11:56:55 PM

I think you'd find a decent number of people who would question two high school students having sex being a criminal act. The guy just turned 18; that's a senior in high school, maybe even a junior in the guy was left back. 14 can be a someone in 9th grade.

http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/criminal-law/violent_crimes/romeo-and-juliet-law.htm

And, it isn't just illegal -- the concern is a sex offender registry.

There's a map -- it's not just Michigan; that's just mentioned in the main text. But, I did a Google search again, this time "Michigan public urination and sex offender registry." Again, various things came up. One early link:

http://www.lawrefs.com/urinating-in-public-michigan/

Notes the law is somewhat unclear but basically turns on what specific crime you are charged with when caught. But, even the reference to "indecent exposure" cited before can be a fairly trivial offense if it isn't merely a misdemeanor or such but being required to be on a sex registry. If someone is drunk and urinate in public, it is not farfetched that they would fall in between the cracks here in one of these states.

The map on the Slate piece cites HRW as a source, leading me here:

https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/09/11/no-easy-answers/sex-offender-laws-us

(FN109 lists statutes)

Anyway, the point is that these laws draw in people who the average person probably doesn't think "sex offender." OTOH, if two high school students having sex seems serious to you, ymmv.

Posted by: Joe | Apr 11, 2016 1:22:43 AM

In Kentucky, we have recently had a horrible situation where a 15 year old boy was prosecuted and convicted in juvenile court for statutory rape, for having consensual sex with his 13 year old girl friend. The boy's young defense lawyer (3 years out of law school) made an unconditional guilty plea for the boy. Upon conviction, the boy was placed on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry for life. He was removed from his parents' home and placed in a state juvenile facility.

In Kentucky, the age of consent is 16. The girl was not charged with statutory rape (or any other crime), although she had engaged in the exact same conduct. Although there are 2 years of difference in their ages, the young couple are only one grade apart at the same school, where they had been dating for 2 years before they decided to explore sex together. Their trysts occurred at the girl's house, when she invited the boy over for sex while her parents were away. Many lawyers believe that there was no crime at all, since both participants are younger than the age of consent, 16. Kentucky's statutory rape statute implies, but does not expressly say, that one of the participants must be 16 or older, and the other 15 or younger.

The defendant's conviction in juvenile court was affirmed on direct appeal. His application for discretionary review was denied by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. The Kentucky Supreme Court granted discretionary review. The case was briefed, and oral argument was held in February 2015. In it's March 17, 2016 opinion, the Supreme Court vacated and remanded to the Circuit Court to dismiss the appeal. See, "B.H., a child under eighteen v. Commonwealth of Kentucky", No. 2013-SC-000254-DG (Ky. March 17, 2016)(slip opinion). The concurring opinion by Justice Cunningham makes powerful arguments about why this boy is not guilty of any crime, or, if he is, then so is the 13-year old girl, who was not prosecuted. He plainly would like to reach the merits of the case, but cannot do so, because of the unconditional guilty plea below. Under Kentucky law, the defendant's unconditional guilty plea waived his right to file any appeal at all. This defendant (now 20 years old) is stuck on a Sex Offender registry for life, unless some attorney will step forward to file a Motion for Habeas Corppus (a Civil Rule 11.42 Motion, under Kentucky practice), based upon ineffective assistance of counsel at plea bargaining (failure to make a conditional plea, to preserve issues for appeal). This case cries out for redress and justice.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Apr 11, 2016 9:42:34 AM

The term "sex offender" gets thrown around too easily.

Sexual predators, those who intentionally hunt and carry out violent sexual acts against someone else, are far different from the 17 and 18 yr olds dating and fooling around in the back seat of a car or the 25 yr old who downloads adult porn from a p2p website and unwittingly finds kiddy porn thrown in.

Until we end the "lets paint everyone with a broad paintbrush" mentality, nothing will change.

The registry serves no purpose. Offenders serve lengthy sentences and then continue to be penalized by a registry that prevents them from finding housing, a job and relationships, etc. There is no empirical evidence that it keeps anyone "safer". If anything, the registry puts those on it as well as their families at risk of vigilantes who buy into the government's BS about who's a sex offender.





Posted by: kat | Apr 11, 2016 10:07:24 AM

The hysteria of a particular crime which is not totally defined is in itself a crime. It has been noticed that sexual crimes are the hardest to defend against, look at the IMF leader that was accused of raping a chambermaid. They could not have gotten him out any other way!

It is also the easiest money for the "Justice system" in which they use the emotions of the jury members instead of the facts. Prosecutors are lazy, fail to investigate and fail to show evidence.

Common sense is out the window when a elementary child kisses another elementary child and it is called "sexual assault". Where are the teachers who are supposed to teach, where is the principal (we used to be sent to the principal's office if there was any misconduct), and what are the parents doing to teach their children right from wrong?

Teenagers used to be teenagers and had to be taught right from wrong or suffer the consequences - now they are sexual predators.

Best of all, our Court System that goes along with this nonsense must be ignorant!

Posted by: LC in Texas | Apr 11, 2016 6:20:32 PM

couldn't agree more with LC's sentiment especially his last sentence

Posted by: life is not for wimps | Apr 12, 2016 8:04:34 PM

Yes i am totally agreed with this article

Posted by: dewandari | Apr 22, 2016 4:06:33 AM

Post a comment
 Has anyone calculated trial rates  or other notable features  of 248 offenders getting Obama commutations? | Main | "The Battle Against Prison for Kids" 

This local article from the Big Easy reports on notable efforts by a local judge to make sure it is no longer easy for public officials to ignore the problem of inadequate funding of public defenders to represent indigent criminal defendants. The article is headlined "New Orleans judge orders release of seven inmates charged with serious felonies because of lack of money for defense, but men will remain jailed pending an appeal," and here are the basic details:

In a potentially blockbuster ruling, an Orleans Parish judge on Friday ordered seven indigent inmates released from jail because of a lack of state money for attorneys to represent them amid a squeeze on public defense funding in New Orleans and across Louisiana.

However, Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter stayed his order, which also included a suspension of the mens prosecutions, pending an appeal from District Attorney Leon Cannizzaros office. Assistant District Attorney David Pipes told Hunter an appeal is coming, and Hunter gave him 10 days. The seven men will remain behind bars pending the outcome of that appeal.

All of them face serious felony charges  including murder, armed robbery and aggravated rape  and all have been deemed indigent. Most have spent more than a year behind bars, going months without legal help on their cases, attorneys said.

Hunter ruled that the lack of state funding for the seven mens defense violated their Sixth Amendment rights and that the resulting uncertainty on when their cases might move forward warrants their release. The defendants constitutional rights are not contingent on budget demands, waiting lists and the failure of the Legislature to adequately fund indigent defense, Hunter wrote in his 11-page ruling, portions of which he read from the bench.

We are now faced with a fundamental question, not only in New Orleans but across Louisiana: What kind of criminal justice system do we want? One based on fairness or injustice, equality or prejudice, efficiency or chaos, right or wrong?

A spokesman for Cannizzaros office said the district attorney believes that releasing defendants charged with serious acts of violence poses a clear and present danger to public safety, and he intends to appeal the ruling. Spokesman Christopher Bowman added, It appears that the judges ruling declares that a legislative act  namely the most recent budget  violates the Louisiana Constitution.

Tulane Law School professor Pam Metzger, who is representing all seven in their bid for release, said she was thrilled that the judge appreciates the extraordinary constitutional obligations of providing poor people with counsel and due process of law. She said she was disappointed that Hunter stayed his ruling but that attorneys would continue pressing to free the men.

In addition to Metzger, each of the men has an attorney appointed by Hunter. But in his ruling, Hunter said the appointment of private attorneys without any state money available for early witness and defendant interviews, filing motions and strategizing makes a mockery of the Sixth Amendment right to the effective assistance of counsel.

Hunter was following directions laid out in a 2005 Louisiana Supreme Court decision on when judges can halt prosecutions because of a lack of adequate indigent defense funds. The court said a judge can stop a case until he or she determines that appropriate funding is likely to be available. The absence of a date certain when that money will come, Hunter found, also violates the right to due process guaranteed in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Louisiana Constitutions edict for the Legislature to provide for a uniform system for securing and compensating qualified counsel for indigents....

Chief Public Defender Derwyn Buntons office had turned away the seven cases, citing a severe budget shortfall, bloated workloads and the loss of several experienced attorneys in his office.

Hunter, who has taken drastic measures during past funding shortfalls at the Public Defenders Office  he ordered the release of several inmates after Hurricane Katrina  doled out the seven mens cases to private attorneys, who promptly sought a halt to the prosecutions and the mens release. They said they cant do any work on the cases unless they get money to pay for investigators and other expenses.

Hunters ruling came after a series of hearings in his courtroom that began in November with testimony from Bunton and Jay Dixon, who heads the Louisiana Public Defender Board, among others. They testified that indigent defense in Louisiana is facing a crisis because of a system in which local offices are funded largely through fines and fees leveled on criminal defendants, mostly for traffic violations. Those revenues have slid steadily over the past several years, in some parishes more than others. All told, almost a dozen district public defenders across the state have instituted austerity programs.

In New Orleans, that has meant a hiring freeze since last summer and, beginning in January, a refusal by Buntons office to accept appointments in serious felony cases  now at 110 and counting  because of a lack of experienced attorneys to handle them, according to Bunton. Obviously, the charges involved in these cases are really serious, so I do think folks should be concerned about public safety, Bunton said Friday. We wouldnt need to be in this position if (the state) provided the resources that are necessary under the constitution. You can only prosecute as fast as you can defend, and if you cant defend, you cant prosecute....

The defenders funding troubles may be getting even worse. In Baton Rouge, lawmakers grappling with the states deep budget morass have threatened deep cuts in the $33 million in annual state funding that has supplemented local revenue, making up about a third of the overall funding for indigent defense across the state. The Louisiana Supreme Court has in the past endorsed a halt to prosecutions until adequate funding becomes available. But it has stopped short of ordering action by the Legislature.

At a recent hearing, Metzger described an abject state of financial crisis. There is no money to fund these defenses. ... The cause of the delay rests entirely with the state. The Legislature has been on notice not simply for weeks or months or years but for decades.

In a legal filing last week, however, Cannizzaros office described the private attorneys seeking to be relieved from the cases as bent on nothing less than anarchy by pressing for the defendants release and a halt to their prosecutions, while hoping for a paycheck at the expense of justice. They are seeking to bring down a system they disagree with rather than protecting the rights of those individuals this court has appointed them to represent, Pipes wrote.

A statement from Mayor Mitch Landrieu called Hunters ruling a miscarriage of justice on all sides and urged the judge for the sake of the victims and their families to reconsider putting alleged murderers back on the streets, like Darrian Franklin.

The state needs to live up to its obligation by fully funding the public defender, and the judge should continue to work on getting the State to appropriately fund its responsibilities, the statement read.
 New Orleans judge threatening to turn public defender funding crisis into a public safety problem | Main | Taking a close look at the prosecutor dealing with Miller and Montgomery on the ground in Philly 

April 11, 2016

"The Battle Against Prison for Kids"

The title of this post is the headline of this new article from The Nation. The piece's subtitle is "Were feeding children into a system that breaks them," and here is how it gets started:

For as long as youth prisons have existed in the United States, so too has the pretense that there are no youth prisons. Early 19th-century reformers who sought to remove children from the harsh adult penal system established new institutions specifically for the detention of youths. They didnt call them prisons, but Houses of Refuge, dedicated to the discipline and reform of newly coined group, juvenile delinquents. Founded with ostensibly laudable intent, the institutions were overcrowded fortresses, riddled with abuse, serving to institutionalize strict social control over poor and immigrant communities. That is, they were prisons. And so began the unending march of euphemisms, in which childrens prisons have been known by any other name  residential treatment facilities, youth camps, youth-development centers, to name a few  exposing juveniles to many the same cruelties and racial discriminations of the adult prison system. In the two centuries since its formal birth, the juvenile-justice system has changed radically, while youth prisons have hardly changed at all. Its as if the clock on reform stopped in the turn-of-the-century Progressive Era and has only recently started shakily ticking again. Last year, before the election spectacle swallowed the news cycle whole, juvenile-justice reform made headlines as a keystone in President Obamas legacy-construction efforts. Overdue political action from state houses has gained serious ground in removing youths from adult prisons. On any given day, 10,000 juveniles are housed in adult facilities, where they are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted than in juvenile institutions (a monstrous statistic, especially considering the prevalence of sexual abuse in youth facilities). The necessity of getting kids out of our shameful adult system cannot be overstated. Its a limited achievement, though. And even as more and more youth prisons close, we must be vigilant against alternatives that press the same oppressive, discriminatory stigmas of criminality and delinquency onto kids outside prison walls.

April 11, 2016 at 03:34 PM | Permalink

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Amazing Doug that you uncritically pass along the "kids" moniker--yeah, maybe the 12 year olds in Wisconsin are kids, but 17 year old thugs with a long rap sheet--"kids" is a misnomer.

Posted by: federalist | Apr 11, 2016 5:24:44 PM

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In a move that is certain to anger homeless advocates even further  in a year when conspicuous homelessness has become a primary topic of debate in SF  Mayor Ed Lee announced this weekend a renewed crackdown on homeless encampments citywide. Lee is using as an excuse Thursday's shooting of 45-year-old Luis Gongora at one encampment on Shotwell Street, noting reports that Gongora was armed with a kitchen knife, and suggesting that many more residents of homeless camps might have weapons.

As Lee tells the Chron's Matier & Ross, "Its not just that people do not feel safe around the camps  they arent safe." Adding, "When it comes to public safety, Im not going to compromise with these camps."

Witnesses have offered conflicting accounts of Gongora's fatal shooting by police, with most agreeing that he was carrying a knife, but some saying that he was not threatening police at the time he was shot.

Now, police, public health, and public works officials are going to identify "hot spots" among the camps and clear them out one by one, with the hot spots going first, the way they did on Division Street in late February and early March. The intent, says Mayor Lee, is to clear the camps as more shelter beds become available, however it remains to be seen where these beds will come from. At the moment, there are just 20 empty beds at the temporary Pier 80 shelter, and 93 more are expected to come online soon.

Lee stresses that no one was arrested when approximately 250 people's tents were forcibly removed from Division Street, but some homeless have complained of having their belongings confiscated by the Department of Public Works. DPW says that all belongings are "bagged and tagged" and removed to a storage facility on Cesar Chavez, but the troubles that people have retrieving things from there has been reported on for several years.

The safety issue cited by the city in the past, with regard to the camps, was not weapons but human waste and discarded needles.

It is also unclear how many physical camps will be targeted for clearing.

This all comes after Supervisor David Campos, an outspoken critic of the mayor's actions surrounding the homeless, declared a citywide shelter crisis. The move was intended to allow the city to seek federal assistance in helping to address the homelessness problem, as it would in a natural disaster.

Campos weighed in on the new crackdown, telling the Chronicle, "What we saw on Division Street is that many of the people living there just moved somewhere else. I wouldnt be surprised if the camp on Shotwell had moved there from Division Street. We keep moving them because there are not enough places for them to go."

Related: First Video Surfaces Of SFPD Firing On Homeless Man Within 30 Seconds Of Exiting Squad Cars
In a reaction that will surprise no one who has ever been or met a college-aged person, Stanford University students are expressing vigorous opposition to a proposal that seeks to curb on-campus alcohol abuse by banning booze in undergraduate dorms.

In an email sent to students last month, as CBS 5 reports, Stanford president John L. Hennessy "explained there were too many instances of undergraduates over-drinking, and that hard alcohol has been connected to many problems, including sexual assault."

The timing of the email coincided with the conviction of Brock Turner, a Stanford swim team star accused of publicly sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman in 2015.

In his email, Hennessy proposed a hard alcohol ban for undergraduate housing. And students responded with joy, saying the ban is a great idea! Ha ha just kidding, they think the idea blows.

In an on-campus vote Friday, students opposed any change to the school's current policy, which allows on-campus drinking "as long as we keep the doors open," sophomore Cole Simmons, a Theta Delta Chi fraternity member, told CBS 5.

I think youre kidding yourself if you think that kids arent going to buy hard alcohol, senior Myles Keating, another Theta Delta Chi frat member said.

Its absolutely right that were discussing sexual assault and discussing alcohol use and making sure that its healthy and happy but an outright ban is taking a law-enforcement approach to what is really a medical problem.

A Stanford spokesperson contacted by SFist declined comment on the possible ban, and said that they administration is "still collecting student feedback" before determining if tighter booze regulations are the way to go.

For Simmons' part, he's certain that a ban will make things worse, not better.

If theres a ban on hard alcohol then people are going to have it anyway, Simmons told CBS 5.

At a lot of other schools, talking to my friends, theyre kind of scared of their RAs; theyre scared their RAs are going to take their alcohol and pour them down the sinks and so they always do it with a closed door, trying to chug all their hard alcohol or beer before the RA could get to them.
SIOUX CITY | Its Sioux City Relays week, one of the biggest track and field meets in the state of Iowa that will take place at Olsen Stadium this weekend.

The 2015 running of the Relays drew over 1,000 competitors ranging from elementary to middle school to high school and college athletes racing in, on and around the bright red track on the Morningside College campus.

The 52nd running of the Relays, which begin on Friday, features a bevy of individual standouts that have already stamped themselves as medal-contenders for Mays state meets in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

West junior sprinter Khenadi Jones enters the week ranked third in Iowas 100-meter dash with a season-best of 12.34. Jones finished sixth in the Drake Relays (all classes) 100 and followed that with a third place finish in the 4A state meet century race.

Jones also enters the week with a 200-meter best of 25.84, good for fourth in the state in an event not offered on the Drake Relays schedule for preps.

Speaking of Drake Relays, qualifying opportunities end on Thursday, April 21 for a meet that has a three-day run on the bright blue oval April 28-30.

Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central senior Kiana Phelps is the top-ranked thrower, both shot put and discus, in the state. She has a personal best of 48-7 in the shot put which ranks third on the states all-time charts while her person best of 179-7 in the discus from her sophomore year is the all-time best in the event.

She is already a three-time Drake Relays and state meet champion in the discus and will get a chance to win the Sioux City Relays titles in both throwing events on Saturday after missing out last spring when the events were canceled due to rain.

Phelps younger brother Nick, just a sophomore, owns the top shot put effort in Iowa with a personal best of 60-11.5.

OA-BCIG high jumper Cody Durbin enters the week ranked second in the high jump with a 6-8 clearance while Hinton senior Blake Vande Hoef is tied for third with a 6-7 effort to his credit.

Sergeant Bluff-Luton sprinters Matt George and Brady Wall rank among the states leaders in the 100-meter dash while East sprinter Dom Flemister has a personal best of 22.34 clocking in the 200 that ranks second in the 200.

Sioux Central senior Kenzie Keune, the defending state 1A champion in the 100 hurdles, has a season-best of 15.32 that ranks fourth in Iowa heading into this week. Keune appears solid for a Drake Relays berth, where the Northwestern College recruit, finished seventh as a junior.

Elk Point-Jefferson senior Josie Heeren eclipsed the Huskies Invitational record in the 1,600 with a 5:26.36 during last weeks meet, edging out Dakota Valley junior Marisa Schulz who ran 5:27.86.
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
In public rail transport a certain scope of regulation as well as liberalisation is needed.

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PRIVATE rail carriers have begun offering new services and lower fares. But while the state claims that it wants to liberalise the sector even more, protectionist measures for the state carrier are slowing growth for private operators.

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In public rail transport a certain scope of regulation as well as liberalisation is needed, Desana Mertinkova, editor-in-chief of the Zeleznicna Revue magazine, told The Slovak Spectator. Without the first one it is impossible, for example, to keep network-wide transport services or fares. Without the second one the pressure to increase the quality of services and reduce operating costs is lacking.

In Slovakia subsidised passenger rail transport carried out by private carriers accounts for just 3 percent of the total, compared with about 25 percent in Germany. The entry of a private carrier on the 230-km Bratislava to Banska Bystrica route would boost that to 4-5 percent, according to Mertinkova.

The Transport Ministry wants more private carriers, but only in the system with a completely interconnected timetable of long-distance, inter-regional and suburban railways.

The state always considers bids of alternative carriers from the viewpoint of benefits favouring passengers, Transport Ministry spokesman Martin Kona told The Slovak Spectator.

However, RegioJet, a private company, accuses the state of warping the liberalised environment via free trains for selected groups of passengers, weak progress in competitions and interference in transport markets.

The government is trying to create some national carriers, RegioJet spokesman Ales Ondruj told The Slovak Spectator. That will bring a tremendous burden for taxpayers and more warping of the markets.

In terms of liberalisation, Lubomir Palcak of the Research Institute of Transport (VUD) sees a difference between subsidised transportation and commercial carriers that take business risks. Real liberalisation pertains only to the latter, he said.

Mertinkova believes that because of the lack of room private carriers have in subsidised transport, they try to establish themselves in commercial rail transport, even though the state has created the worst conditions within the European Union. She points to the launch of free train transport for students and pensioners on subsidised trains. As a consequence RegioJet has lost one half of its potential passengers on the Bratislava-Kosice route.

Private carriers Arriva, Leo Express and RegioJet together run commercially about 1.2 million rail kilometres annually. The subsidised trains of ZSSK and RegioJet have a total of 32.5 million rail kilometres, of which the latter accounts for 1.2 million rail kilometres.

Commercial and supported lines

The international line between Prague and Kosice is handled by RegioJet, Pendolino of the Czech state-owned company Ceske drahy and Leo Express, which recently responded to an increase in passengers by adding two other trains.

Passengers can travel in both directions with us twice a day, morning and evening, Petra Valentova, head of marketing of Leo Express, told The Slovak Spectator.

Prague is also linked with Trencin as of early March thanks to Arriva trains owned by Deutsche Bahn. A couple of trains travel from Prague through Olomouc, Uherske Hradiste and Vlarsky priesmyk mountain pass on Saturday morning and back on Sunday afternoon.

Arriva has introduced to Povazie region a comfortable connection by train with the capital and university cities in Czech Republic, according to Laszlo Ivan, managing director for Slovakia of Arriva.

Travelling by bus on reconstructed Czech highway D1 is like a bet in roulette  sometimes you go without a problem, other times you stand for dozens of minutes in traffic jams, Ivan told The Slovak Spectator.

Other options come with a tender for subsidised railway linking Bratislava with Banska Bystrica announced in the fall, which could include all private companies operating on the market as well as to state companies ZSSK, Ceske drahy and Austrias OBB. The Transport Ministry is assessing competitive biddings, Kona said.

Palcak emphasised that the whole network would be more liberalised from the end of 2019 thanks to the planned fourth railway package.

All carriers should be able to offer competitive services or services in the public interest via public procurement, Palcak said.

End of the InterCity era

The fight for customers between ZSSK and RegioJet on the main linkage Bratislava to Kosice erupted into cancellation of commercial but state-owned InterCity (IC) trains. Such routes have reportedly lost some 3.5 million since their introduction.

Streams of travellers between the two largest cities do not allow reliable nor sustainable existence of a commercial train in a sparsely populated country, said Kona.

Mertinkova said that IC trains run on a commercial risk because of the unwillingness to subsidise more lines.

The government followed entry of RegioJet by a number of measures to protect its business, Mertinkova said, this created the worst conditions in the European Union for commercial business.

The ministry, in cooperation with ZSSK, responded by strengthening selected express trains on the strongest days of the week, said Kona.

Palcak pointed to lower capacity of RegioJet trains by about a thousand seats.

Despite the existence of long-distance and regional express trains by ZSSK, there could be seen a certain fall in quality of transportation from the perspective of supply, Palcak said.

Though RegioJet would like to expand its trains serving peak periods to up to 13 carriages, passengers so far can only use 10 carriages.

Railway operator ZSR is blocking access to a platform in Bratislava which allows such long trains, wrote Radim Jancura, RegioJet director, in a press release.

RegioJet has added a new, more expensive ticket during peak periods.

We sell tickets in three price categories depending on the utilisation of the line, wrote Jancura.

In the future, IC trains may come back under certain circumstances, according to Kona.

Each carrier has the responsibility to provide and improve its services to the travelling public, Kona said.

In these terms, Ondruj pointed out that state-owned commercial trains must make money on their own, cannot be cross-financed by subsidised trains and cannot harm other carriers by price dumping  or operating at a loss to drive competition out of business.

These legal policies are valid anywhere in the European Union and cannot be modified in any way, Ondruj said.

Mertinkova stressed that cancellation and restoration of IC trains will not solve anything, adding that it is essential to set clear and fair rules that will not benefit any particular carrier and will not change whenever it is convenient for politicians or state business.

Attracting customers

ZSSK carried more than 57 million passengers in 2015, an increase of about 21 percent from 2014. Some 42.9 percent travelled free of charge. Similarly, a number of passengers who used the subsidised Bratislava to Komarno line operated by RegioJet rose by 32 percent to 2.43 million, according to VUD statistics.

The significant increase in customers probably relates to free tickets for students and pensioners, Palcak said.

In terms of increased interest in rail transport, Palcak suggests raising capacity, having more convenient scheduling on selected sections and a guaranteed interconnection time of trains of higher and lower categories.

The time position must respect real needs of customers including accuracy, reliability and, last but not least, cleanliness, Palcak said.
The average speed on the Bratislava - Banska Bystrica route is only 68 kilometres per hour.

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THOUSANDS of people take the train between Kosice and the capital each week, with the ride lasting almost six hours. However, Kosice is a mere 445 kilometres away from Bratislava on rails, thus the train travels about 75 kilometres an hour on average.

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Passengers between Bratislava and Banska Bystrica are even worse off: the route, slightly longer than half of the above-mentioned, takes three-and-a-half hours; meaning this is only 68 kilometres an hour on average.

Both the Chinese fast trains and European ones (e.g. TGV in France) are much faster. The difference is caused, among other things, by the poor state of railway infrastructure in Slovakia, Pavol Kravec, former head of the rail carrier ZSSK, told the Sme daily.

The country started modernising and increasing the speed on rails between Bratislava and Kosice more than 10 years ago, but trains will run quicker no sooner than in 2020. And even then, it will be 160 km/hour at the most  and in some sections, like between Zilina and Kosice, the speed will reach only 120 km/hour. The slowest section is between Bratislava and Banska Bystrica; along some stretches the route offers a maximum speed of 80 km/h. Moreover, this route is not even planned to be modernised.

The Economy Ministry plans rather to invest in the hyper-fast route  Hyperloop  between Bratislava and the Austrian capital, Vienna.

The construction of a Hyperloop is cheaper than the construction of a fast route, said Miriam Ziakova, ministry spokesperson, adding that a potential arrival of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies means a different viewpoint  innovations and technologies.

On the other hand, Ondrej Matej, head of the Institute for Transport and Economy and an adviser to former prime minister Iveta Radicova, opined that it seems like a waste of time to deal with such a project when Slovakia does not have enough finances to complete the elementary road network and to secure good-quality railway infrastructure at a 21st century level.
New Transport Minister Brecely cited lack of trust in former director of National Highway Company.

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New Transport Minister Roman Brecely (Siet/Network) dismissed National Highway Company (NDS) director Milan Gajdos on April 8 because a contract was signed for the construction of the Blatne D1 motorway intersection (Bratislava Region) worth 23.3 million without his knowledge only one day after he had been installed in office.

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The NDS director has lost my personal trust, minister Brecely said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Any state contracts signed shortly before or after election rightfully result in a lack of trust. The signing of this contract one day after I assumed the office of minister, without reporting this to me in any way, is unacceptable to me in managerial and human terms.

Meanwhile, economist Robert Auxt (18th on Siets slate in the general election) has been commissioned to direct NDS on an interim basis until a more permanent director is hired through a selection process.
Measures to halt migration flows approved by the European Union in mid-March have started working, said Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak following his visits to Greece and Turkey.

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Foreign and European Affairs MInister Lajcak, a Smer nominee, stated on April 10 that efforts to resolve the migration crisis are moving to a brand new stage. He visited Greece and Turkey along with his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders, who was representing the EUs presiding country, as well as the foreign affairs ministers of France, Italy, Malta and Portugal.

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We had a chance to assess the situation jointly on the spot three weeks after the adoption of key European decisions linked to tackling the migration crisis, Lajcak told the TASR newswire.

During their stay in Athens, the ministers held talks with Greek officials and visited a migrant reception centre in Eleonas, a suburb of the Greek capital. According to the ministers, protection of the EUs external borders has already been improved, stricter controls relating to people entering the EU have been introduced and conditions have started to be created that will allow for a normal asylum process and the legal arrival of refugees who need protection.

The goal of the visit to Greece was to show solidarity on the migration crisis, particularly in covering humanitarian needs stemming from the arrival and presence of thousands of migrants, and in strengthening capacities for conducting asylum procedures and a return policy, the minister further said. He also said that Greece has managed to build a comprehensive system of migrant registration and reception centres in a short time. Our role as European partners is to help them to work fully and in a sustainable manner, Lajcak stated.

The Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will follow the current Dutch one in the second half of this year, will continue the work that has already been started in this field. This is a Europe wide issue, and it will also be on our presidential desk. It will be one of the main issues and priorities, he stressed.

On April 8 and 9, the ministers met with Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, members of the Greek government and officials who cooperate on handling the migration crisis in the country, as well as with representatives of international and non-governmental organisations that are helping out in Greece, the SITA newswire wrote.

Following his visit to Athens, Lajcak took part in talks with Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Minister for European Affairs Volkan Bozkir in Instanbul. The three discussed meeting the EU-Turkey agreement on returning and relocating migrants, as well as issues concerning Turkeys EU accession process. Following the talks, Lajcak said that Slovakia views Turkey as a key partner in resolving the migration crisis and that it is pushing for the strategic political dialogue with Ankara to be strengthened.
The Slovak-wide Human Rights Olympic Games saw the finals taking place between April 6 and 8 in Modra, near Bratislava.

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Three students of secondary schools received the main prizes  from among 62 participants from all over Slovakia, based on their written and oral presentations.

The finalists said, as quoted by the Pravda daily, that they acknowledge the necessity to discuss human rights at schools, and not just in lessons of civic education. Two days of thinking, discussing human rights, freedom, and responsibility, brought forward three winners: from among 19 students who chose human rights as their topic, Petra Deverova of the Secondary Grammar School of Ludovit Stur in Trencin won the main prize and 300. The girl, who wants to become a teacher (of Slovak and French) was surprised and noted she would like to discuss human rights even in Slovak language classes. She also wants to promote gender equality and fight against stereotypes, Pravda wrote on April 9.

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Patrik Dzavoronok of the Secondary Grammar School in Svidnik placed second, who opined that human rights are not focused on enough, and that they should be discussed in several subjects.

Third place went to Lenka Bartikova of the Secondary Vocational Construction School in Liptovsky Mikulas, who could not attend the finals in person, however.

Apart from discussions, participants also wrote essays on human rights and these three winners were selected based on their performance; all three will be gradually published in the daily.
In four years time, if this government makes it through the whole term, people must feel that they live better, not based on rankings, but based on their satisfaction with work and reward.

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Its not proper to talk about it, its not nice to hear about it, and its even worse to see it. We have never considered poverty to be a source of virtue and it has never been the aim of anyones life, with the exception of some religious orders. So we started telling ourselves that poverty actually does not exist, that there are only people who are not capable of taking care of themselves, who mostly just drink booze and live in rural incest, who are not interested in society but rather in their cable TV. Thats what they can pay for, satellite plates on every house, but if they should go to work - no way.

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Its the lowest group, people that we wrote off, whom we send a couple dozen of euros monthly. We want them to at best leave us alone, or at worst to stop feeling sorry for themselves and behave like adults because we, kids from good families and with capital, have surely had the same chances as they had, coming from decimated homes, with no chance to escape from the fate of failure.

We are sick

If one person feels useless, they make a good literary character. When hundreds of thousands fall into feeling useless, fiction is over and revolt begins. We have seen its distant contours a month ago. And now, what do we do, how can we prevent it so that in four years they do not hang us all, because the situation in Europe is favourable to these mental walks; the calling for blood resonates, global gorillas from Panama Papers created a legitimate impression that politics is one global conspiracy apartment where citizens are but a side effect of evolution, where the only thing that works are tax returns, provisions, and all those stupid words that make us sick by now, just like when we hear about thieves and oligarchs, so sick that we no longer perceive it, so sick like a hangover you cant get rid of, so sick that youd rather die than hear those loathsome words again, like when your migraine wouldnt pass even with intravenous drips, even with sleep.

And the plan is this. In four years the ruling parties want to build roads, to attract to the bucolic Slovak village Mercedes, Tesla, and technology companies and to consolidate the so-called standard political scene. But who knows very well what hides behind a consolidation of a standard political scene, how the standard political scene gets braced, how the loyalty is built in districts and regions, who all takes part in that consolidation and why.

And that will be the plan to save Slovakia from the outbreak of the revolt of the poor, the rabble, the uneducated, the families who have been listening since the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire about how the situation is improving, how the horse-tram and hyperloop are coming.

But that wont be enough. Capitalism, along with democracy, has one key function in society. And that is not guaranteeing the annual income of a health insurer amounting to a slave trader from the golden age of colonialism. The rate of redistributed wealth must always be higher than the social injustice that it produces, which is no problem in advanced countries, because no system is capable of producing prosperity the way that capitalism is. If it doesnt work, people stop believing in their own abilities and transfer their anger onto the whole of society.

What is it that we want?

Why is it not enough to build roads and save all that we have neglected - excluding live discussions and interest for politics from schools, not party politics but politics as a social issue; not supporting interest in media among university students, perhaps by contributing to subscriptions the way it is in some western-European countries; and resigning to not building prosperity.

It sounds obscene, but loyalty to democracy and interest in society are closely connected with the living standard in western Europe. The awareness that we live in society is connected with the standard of living. Being moderate and thinking is connected with the standard of living. But society is ceasing to believe that politicians have the means to create conditions for a fundamental improvement in the standard of living. Its the same blabber all the time, and nonsense proposals without any long-term concept and without the answers to the question of what kind of country we want to live in. Most of us know what it is we dont want, but its much more complicated to agree what it is that we as a society should want.

We complain that people are indifferent and uneducated, that they have abandoned or despise politicians, but that is natural. In our Christic understanding of politics and our mystic pinning of hopes on concrete persons, we got rid of faith in society. We do not believe in our own power, the ability to differentiate and live so that politics is not a trauma but a compromise for all, so that nobody feels excommunicated and betrayed.

Last chance

The way to achieving that is to build prosperity even at the price of increased fogyism. People must believe that Slovakia is their country, for them, and that the power comes from us. If ruling parties do not wake up and fail to offer a clear programme for the road to prosperity and restoration of faith in society, they will consolidate their idea of standard parties in vain.

In four years, if this government makes it through the whole term, people must feel that they live better, not based on rankings, but based on their satisfaction with work and reward, content with the way Slovakia changes.

We can see it coming in the worst possible time, when the classic political system is falling apart, when new technologies form society more than parties, when Europe, our totem of stability, is on the edge of big quakes and the browns have risen from their graves. Those are even more reasons to work now, for it is the last chance so to speak, to save our honour, so that we can tell ourselves that we have done all we could, that we have heard the anger and turned it into ecologic energy, thanks to which we have saved Slovakia from ourselves.

Michal Havran is a theologian, editor-in-chief of jetotak.sk. This opinion piece was first published in the Sme daily on April 7.
In coffee, solving the business puzzle is an ongoing challenge. When a growing industry confronts the reality that the break-even point on selling four dollar, or higher, cups of coffee can beshall we saydifficult for everyone involved, whats the best way to retain quality while staying solvent in a rich persons rent market like New York City? Many would argue its through mixed-vertical businesses, which is why its increasingly common to get a cappuccino and a haircut, or a motorcycle, or a surfboard, at the same time in this town.

Last time Sprudge checked in with Stand Coffee, owners Bryan Hasho and Daniel Zettner were making pour-over coffee at a portable bar in the back of a, well, sort of grotty bao shop in the East Village. A year and several pop-ups later, the operations gone all digital-world, in the form of a long-term brick-and-mortar coffee bar curated by Smorgasburg and located in the three-story Samsung Experience Store in the citys Meatpacking District. You heard me.

The Samsung Experience Store experience is hard enough to comprehend even without a first-rate coffee shop. The glassy, multilevel complex serves as one part event space, one part Genius Bar, and all parts marketing splash. Theres a virtual-reality roller coaster, an Instagram-integrated art installation, stadium seating to watch live or livestreamed musical performances, a 50s-modern seating lounge, free Wi-Fi, several work-ready tables with chargers, consultants on hand to help you repair (or custom engrave) your Samsung phone, and a test kitchen. It has its own running club. And, on the mezzanine level, a coffee bar with all the trimmings, stocked with multiple artisan roasters and a rotating array of small bites from the Smorgasburg roster. Coffee and food are, incidentally, the only things you can actually buy in the building. This is not your typical coffee shop, thats for sure.

I think people are going to have to make some compromises on what [they feel] a conventional coffee shop is, Hasho told me over a cappuccino and breakfast burrito on a rainy spring morning.

The third place is really niceit is. That works, and that has value, but I think were going to hit a point where youre gonna have to consider whether you value that or the product more, Hasho continued, crediting mixed-concept spaces with creating opportunities for coffee companies that might otherwise have to compromise on quality and cost.

In doing what we do, it allows us to offer products and experiment with products that people with their own shops are just not going to be able to do, explained Hasho. And the test kitchen is cool because April Bloomfield will just show up and start cooking things.

For a young coffee company like Stand to go from tearing down a pour-over cart each afternoon and throwing it into a double-parked van on 14th Street straight to pulling shots in a multimillion-dollar space next to the High Linethis is not a thing that happens without huge investment capital or clever partnerships.

Smorgasburgs Eric [Demby] came to us with the idea, Hasho explained. Its always been obvious to me that, because of the way the wholesale functionality of a coffee shop works, we could do a pretty great Smorgasburg experience in an environment that allowed for more than one retailer. Samsung came to Smorgasburg, and they came to us, and weve been working alongside each other.

What that partnership looks likeif you can shift your eyes away from the people bouncing along in vibrating chairs and wearing VR goggles for a momentis this: a sleek, long bar, Synesso Cyncra gleaming atop it next to the full pink-and-gold-sunset spectrum of Dough donuts. Cookies from Rubyzaar (dont snooze on the chocolate-mint) complete the sweets category, and further down the line one can avail oneself of Zia Green Chile Company breakfast burritos, Big Mozz sandwiches, and other rotating savories. Coffeesoffered as filter as well as espressocome from NYC roasters Lofted, Cafe Grumpy, and Cafe Integral, and can also be enjoyed in espresso tonic, cold brew, and Arnold Palmer form. Should you also need to pick up some small-batch olive oil, salsas, or Brooklyn-crafted chocolaterest assured, this is a Smorgasburg outpost, and you will not be left wanting.

But for a couple of guys so recently pouring coffee at art fairs and handing out hand-screened T-shirts, is the move a sellout?

No, says Hasho. He pauses. Well, thats for other people to judge. For me, selling out is about changing your product and what you do, not where you do it. They havent asked us to compromise at all, says Hasho of the Smorgasburg/Samsung agreement. Beyond maintaining their standards of coffee quality, Hasho is quick to point out that Stands business modelin which every barista splits 5 percent of sales on every shiftremains unaltered as well.

In the same way that we dont really pay rent and we like incentives to be aligned with our landlords, by the same token, we like those incentives to be aligned with our staff, so our staffs happy when its busy, Hasho said.

Besides the Samsung space, Stand has continued its pop-up circuit (including slinging coffee for Good Morning America concerts at Summerstage) and has also been operating daytime coffee service inside Williamsburgs Black Tree restaurant. We love it [there] for some of the same reasons we love it here, says Hasho. We have a partner there who helps us with a menu that is frankly better than a coffee shop can do on its own.

So for now, whether youre brunching in Williamsburg, watching live music in Central Park, or getting your name engraved on a smartphone in the Meatpacking District, you can trust that someone at Stand is looking out for your diversified, cross-cultural coffee experience to be truly superlative.
After receiving the text, Clegg realized the boy was in desperate need and immediately called Tanya Freedman, a member of the London-based agency Help Refugees.

Freedman in turn alerted police. The police managed to track the location of a lorry truck filled with refugees and immediately went to Leicester Forest East service station.

"I had Ahmad's number and the first thing they did was find an interpreter who spoke Pashto to talk to him. They called him and immediately realized it was an emergency and they were able to put a trace of his cellphone and find out he was in a lorry in Leicestershire," Freedman said, as cited by RT.

When the UK police arrived they found 15 refugees, including the boy, who were all fortunately alive.

"I think it's extraordinary that a 7-year-old boy knew his life was in danger and had the presence of mind to know what to do and give the right information and save himself and the others in the truck," Freedman from Help Refugees Agency said, commenting on the extraordinary ingenuity.

Fourteen refugees discovered in a lorry truck were arrested for entering Britain illegally. The 7-year-old Ahmad was placed into protective custody, the police said.
The Indian Government has reaffirmed that it will continue to regulate the price of cotton seeds. This has further dampened the ambitions of US-based agrochemical giant Monsanto of increasing its footprint in the country.

Arguing that price regulation had become imperative to the welfare of distressed farmers, Indian Agriculture Minister Mr. Radha Mohan Singh has warned Monsanto against profiteering prices of Bt cotton seeds. Anyone's monopoly should not be allowed. Technology should be used for the welfare of farmers.

Companies like Monsanto should not be allowed to exploit farmers just because they have technology. Be it a seed or pharmaceutical company, we should see to it that there is no monopoly. We will keep regulating the price of seeds and medicines."
Citing RBI's report on remittances, Indian Industries' apex body, ASSOCHAM (Associate Chambers of Commerce and Industry) partially dismissed the revelations made in the Panama Papers.

ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr. D. S. Rawat said, "Instead of seeing all the remittances abroad with a needle of suspicion in the context of the so-called Panama Papers, we must realize a fair amount of liberal foreign exchange regime is in operation and which is how it should be. Let Panama Papers noise not drown out legal overseas transactions."

The reports pointed out that in 2014-15 alone, as much as $1.32 billion was remitted out of India legally under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). As per the LRS an Indian resident is free to remit money abroad for a list of activities within a set limit.
According to police and local authorities, a speeding truck carrying fertilizers hit a mini truck with tomatoes; as a result tomatoes got mixed with chemicals. Shortly after, a buffalo herd moved to the accident site and ate the toxic tomatoes.

The owners of the animals blocked the road in protest for hours until the local authorities assured them that they would be compensated, Pakistani media said.

Rahim Yar Khan is one of the major agricultural districts of Pakistan's Punjab Province.
Vice-President of Fosun, Liang Xinjun, said he was pleased with the results of agreement and hopes to bring Ahava into the Chinese market.

Chinese companies and corporations have been active in the Israeli market over the last few years. In 2011, China National Chemical Corporation acquired Adama, which produces pesticides, for a price of $2.4 billion and in 2015 the Chinese company Bright Food acquired a controlling stake in Israel's largest producer Tnuva, which is heavily involved in dairy goods.

In addition, China is already world's largest importer of cosmetics and health products based on minerals from the Dead Sea.

Experts believe that China's geopolitical presence in Israel will only continue to grow. In particularly, due to the construction of the state-owned China Harbor seaport of Ashdod on the Mediterranean Sea.

The country's first private port will not appear before 2021. The project cost is estimated at over one billion dollars. The purpose of the project is to connect Ashdod with Israeli southern city of Eilat and transport goods to Europe, bypassing the Suez Canal.
The B-52s assigned to Qatar are being prepared for bombing missions in Iraq and Syria, allegedly against terror groups, which the US in fact created in the first place to topple foreign regimes that is disapproves of. There is no indication that the B-52s sent to Qatar at the weekend are fitted with nuclear warheads. That is not the point.

Rather the point is that while a high US official emotively talks about world peace at a memorial where America air power obliterated whole populations, at the very same time this same country is moving nuclear-capable aircraft to carry out bombing missions in foreign nations  all with the cavalier ease as if it has a divine right to do so. Bombing foreign countries at will is the exceptional American arrogance.

Another gut-wrenching anomaly about Kerrys diplomatic theatrics in Hiroshima is that Washington said that it would not be issuing an apology over the A-bombings. The official narrative in Washington and among many ordinary Americans is that the bombings were necessary to end the Pacific War in 1945. Those officials claims have been extensively debunked by historians as bogus. The US simply wanted to demonstrate to the world and the Soviet Union in particular its immense new power. It was an act of state terrorism, as argued in a previous column.

But even if Washington is permitted to peddle its risible distortion of history, what is exceedingly chilling is that it refuses to apologize for such a barbarous act of mass extermination. Even if the US believes in its claim about swiftly bringing an end to the Pacific War, one would think that at least from a moral, humane point of view an expression of remorse for wiping out so many Japanese lives would still be appropriate.

Alas, no. The absence of apology is a clear message that Washington thinks it had the right to drop the bombs and, moreover, continues to have the right to use weapons of mass destruction. This is consonant with the doctrine of pre-emptive first strike that US administrations, including Obamas, reserve.

American politics has always been prone to double-dealing and conceited deception. But the Obama administration has taken the black arts to a whole new level.
However, it was a great signal for politicians that they are falling down on their jobs, the columnist wrote. Two years have passed since February 2014, marked by sympathetic media coverage of Ukraine's "Revolution of Dignity" and the country's attempts to improve its economy in accordance with Europe's standards. The fact that only about 12 percent of Dutch voters supported "the fledgling pro-European democracy" speaks for itself, Bershidsky wrote.

The columnist cited Mustafa Nayyem, a pro-European Ukrainian legislator elected on Poroshenko's party ticket in 2014, who said that the outcome of the referendum was "a personal indictment of Petro Poroshenko" who partnered with the "elite" and the oligarchs, instead of turning to the civil society and "the new generation".

The referendum "may well be one of the final blows to [Poroshenko's] ability to hold on to power," Bershidsky predicted.

"Poroshenko and his team have only themselves to blame for wasting the best two-year window Ukraine has ever had to prove that its European aspirations and its adherence to European values are for real. In spectacular fashion, they have managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory," the journalist wrote, adding that once there's a new administration, it will have hard time winning the European public's credit.
Earlier in the day the Azerbaijani Defense Ministrys press service reported Armenian Armed Forces had violated the ceasefire along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh 117 times over the last 24 hours.

On April 5, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a bilateral ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, which came into force at noon on the same day.

Azerbaijan does not recognize the ethnically Armenian self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and considers the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army to be a part of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

On April 2, Armenia and Azerbaijan declared a dramatic escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Baku and Yerevan traded blame for breaching the truce in the conflict and reported heavy fighting in the area.
"Since the papers have been released, he [Cameron] has been delaying, he's changed the story multiple times; he started off claiming it was a private matter, he then moved on to say that he owned no shares, he then moved on to say that he wouldn't own shares in the future until we found out on Thursday that he has invested in an offshore unit trust.

"He hasn't handled the situation particularly well and people haven't responded particularly well to the way he's dealt with it."

Situation is 'Poisonous'

As a result of the revelations, and the PM's subsequent handling of the situation, some opposition MPs have called for Cameron to resign from office, while thousands of protesters took to the streets of London over the weekend, calling on the PM to stand down.

Despite the pressure on the prime minister, Mr Khan told Sputnik the chances of the prime minister standing down were slim.

"He didn't declare his interest, he has misled the country, but the chances of him actually resigning are very very small. He's not standing for re-election in 2020, he's told us that he will stand down before the next general election. He hasn't lost the support of his own MPs  his party still back him, so the chances are that he'll just ignore the calls for his resignation.

"The situation is very poisonous, his reputation has been tarnished, however the reputation of his party haven't, so if he clings onto power, this situation won't have an effect on the general election and that's what he'll be hoping."

Public Upset at the Hypocrisy

While Cameron may survive as PM in the short-term, this "poisonous" situation has unleashed a deep-seated anger brewing inside British society, according to Khan, who says the public's response has been very clear.

"People took to the streets of London to call for his resignation  people aren't happy with it. Where most of the country have been struggling with austerity and have faced cuts, the top one percent have been avoiding paying tax and avoiding paying back into the system," Khan told Sputnik.

"People aren't happy with a) the way David Cameron has handled the situation and b) the hypocrisy of the situation itself. We found out earlier this week that he actually intervened to oppose beneficiaries of offshore trusts from being named in proposed EU money laundering laws. This is at the same time as him claiming that he's going to be hosting an anti-corruption summit and taking extra steps to tackle tax evasion. The rhetoric is saying one thing, and he's behaving in completely the opposite way.

"The entire country has been misled and the country isn't happy about it."

And while the PM faced a public grilling by MPs in the House of Commons on Monday, Khan says the prime minister's former skills as public relations (PR) consultant are coming into play.

"It's very important to understand the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance. He's putting a policy forward to tackle tax evasion, but what he did himself was tax avoidance  two very different things, and again trying to divert attention away from himself."
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik)  Earlier this month, warring parties in Yemens civil war agreed to a pause in fighting starting Sunday and to begin peace talks to end the two-year conflict on April 18 in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The initially negotiated truce was postponed for a day and came into effect on Monday midnight.

"The United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed welcomes the start of cessation of hostilities that began at midnight, 10 April 2016. He urges all parties to work to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is fully respected, and creates a conducive environment for the peace talks scheduled to resume in Kuwait on 18 April," the UN said in a statement issued Sunday (EDT time zone, Monday GMT).

The envoy recalled that both Houthi rebels with their accomplices and the Yemeni government had committed to adhering to the Terms and Conditions for the cessation of hostilities, and asked the parties and the international community to "remain steadfast in support for this cessation of hostilities to be a first step in Yemens return to peace."
Chemical weapons had previously been deployed by rebels groups in Aleppo. In early March, the YPG stated that Syrian opposition fighters belonging to the Ahrar ash-Sham Islamist group shelled the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood using white (or yellow) phosphorus munitions.

Nevertheless, it is hard to where the militants are getting their weapons from, he added. However, it is known that the primary sources of the weapons are coming from "rat lines that originate with Saudi Arabia and Qatar."

"Turkey is facilitating the delivery of these weapons. So, these countries have played an important role in arming these groups," he said.

Those countries have intensified their support, including with chemical weapons, to the militants because they want to reduce Irans growing influence in the region, Johnson added.

Furthermore, Jaysh al-Islam now has a seat at the negotiating table in the Syrian peace talks. According to Johnson, this situation is unacceptable.

"It should eliminate them from the process. You cannot allow a group that is waging active chemical warfare to sit at the table and be treated as if they are civilized, because this is uncivilized conduct," he said.

Ali Rizk, expert on Middle East affairs, assumed that the chemical attack in Aleppo may be an "attempt to sabotage peace talks in Geneva."

There has been a disagreement during the talks about the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad. While the government delegation opposes the precondition that Assad steps down, the opposing groups insist on his resignation.

According to the analyst, Jaysh al-Islams attack could be an attempt to fuel escalation in Syria and undermine the ceasefire.
Long-range strategic bombers were used against Daesh during the Russian air campaign in Syria. Russia engaged Tu-160 White Swan nuclear missile-carrying bombers alongside Tu-22M3 long-range bombers in the operation.

The deployment of US long-range missile-carrying bombers may be aimed not only against Daesh, Vladimir Sotnikov, a fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Gazeta.ru.

This may also serve a signal to Russia because those bombers can easily reach the Russian borders from their deployment facility, he explained.

Alongside with the Russian Tu-95 Bear, the B-52 is the record-holder in flight distance among combat aircraft.

He assumed that the US would deploy two or three B-52 bombers to the region.

"There is the point where American and Russian interests collide. Washington will continue to pursue its national interest in the Middle East, including building up its military presence in the Middle East. It is a strategic region, rich with natural resources," Sotnikov said.

Despite the current volatility in the global oil market, the US does not want to use their oil reserves, this is why it is important for Washington to keep the Middle East under control, the expert suggested.

Sotnikov also said that the US was watching closely the Russian air campaign in Syria, including the use of strategic bombers and cruise missiles.
He noted that sadly in the past Gaziantep Museum and other museums hired employees with a criminal past behind them- in particular, those that were engaged in smuggling.

Thirdly we should not forget about the power structure of the police, gendarmerie, which here, as well as throughout Turkey, one way or another are related to smuggling activities. These three factors in combination provide an understanding of why Gaziantep is such an attractive place for smugglers selling historical artifacts.

Talking about whether any measures were taken by the state to combat the illicit trade in antiquities, Eyup Ai, who serves as an expert on legal claims related to the theft of the objects of cultural heritage, said that despite their efforts and reports regarding the situation in the area, there has not been any tangible effect.

The laws are not respected and that concerns not only the antiques. Over the last year or two through the Turkish border the large scale smuggling of people, vehicles, weapons and other items, not to mention the cross-border terrorists has been going on. The situation on the border was and still is so uncontrollable that from Syria to Turkey one can bring anything one wants.

Stressing as to why it is particularly Gaziantep that has become the main smuggling point, the archaeologist said that that is because there is an already well-established infrastructure, with bureaucrats at various levels and representatives of security agencies such as businessmen and traders all involved deeply in the illegal business.
On the other hand, the United States is working to develop an approach that would reflect the importance of developing strategic cooperation with Turkey in connection with the Syrian crisis. In Turkish-American relations currently there are a lot of sharp angles, in addition to freedom of speech and democracy, we cannot forget about the Syrian Kurds and the active strengthening of the positions of Kurdish YPG self-defense units that Ankara perceives as a serious threat.

Talking about how the US cannot lose Turkey as a strategic partner, the analyst said that considering the present circumstances where Syrian authorities have such forces as Russia, Iran and Hezbollah on their side, the US cannot afford to lose Turkey.

Meanwhile, between the official Damascus and Rojave, the area where most of the Kurds reside, it is possible that convergence will occur. The peculiarity of the present moment is complete unpredictability. It is impossible to predict who will create a union against a common enemy. However, if the center of stability forms and one of them is controlled by the Kurds, neither America, Russia nor Europe would want to give up maintaining allied relations with it. In this case, Turkey will have to build its policy taking into account this factor, the analyst pointed out.

As for America's criticism of the anti-democratic internal policy of Ankara, I think that it will continue in the future. Moreover, Obama's statement, in which he openly spoke about the unacceptability of the actions of the Turkish authorities that violate freedom of expression in the country, is likely to entail an even greater wave of criticism from Europe, Idiz said.

The pressure on the Turkish government in this regard will continue, both outside and inside. Inside the country there is also increasing dissatisfaction with the policy guidance, especially in regard to the legal proceedings against Jan Erdem Dundar and Gul, the analyst concluded.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Bruun-Hanssen argued that "reprioritization" against national training in favor of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercises and an increased presence in the Arctic "put the whole apparatus under pressure."

"Demand for our capacities has increased over the past year. Todays defense is not sustainable within the financial framework," Bruun-Hanssen said in a report to Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide broadcasted on national television and translated by The Local news outlet.

Military spokesman Eystein Kvarving named a long-term plan to prepare for a military attack on Norway was "the most important thing for the Norwegian Armed Forces."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter seeks to discuss cooperation with Russia in various areas, particularly peacebuilding, he said Monday kicking off a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

"I came here with two goals  first objective is to discuss bilateral cooperation, to review what is functioning well and what can be improved. And the second objective is the politics of peace and what we can do to resolve the conflicts, a lot of work is required for that. We need to discuss what each of us can contribute to international peace," Burkhalter said.

The sides plan to discuss issues of bilateral cooperation and international agenda with the specific focus on strengthening European security, according to Lavrov.
McGovern added that the Panama Papers, the biggest offshore leak in history, demonstrates a "complete lack of standards on the part of Western media."

He said that it was a big mistake made by the leaker to hand the papers over to the corporate media, instead of giving them to independent journalists.

"It seems the Western press has lost all sense of fairness. This would be humorous if it werent so serious. It seems even if Vladimir Putin was seen walking on water, the report in the Western media would come out as 'Putin doesnt know how to swim,'" McGovern noted.

Annie Machon, a former MI5 agent, shared the opinion, saying that there is always a 'certain agenda' behind what is presented in those publications.

Machon added that the journalist who broke the story concerning the Panama Papers leaks lost control of the story as they tried to maximize its impact.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Switzerland's neutrality in the east Ukrainian crisis puts it in a position to mediate the conflict in order to bridge the gap between all parties involved, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter said Monday.

"The vision of Switzerland is not that of the Kremlin or that of Ukraine. It is the vision of the Swiss government. Switzerland believes we can play a role of the bridge, andwe are able to discuss the conflict situation with everyone," Burkhalter said after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Burkhalter said it was important to look for a solution instead of playing a blame game. He admitted there were differences between Moscow and Bern on the issue but underscored the importance of finding a way out of the Ukrainian crisis together.
Last May the prime minister announced he wants to build a wall on the entire 2,400-km border with Russia. The project was initially named the "Wall," but Yatsenyuk later renamed it to the "European Wall." The prime minister wanted the wall on the border between Russia and Ukraine to be the system of defensive fences, equipped with watchtowers.

According to the initial plan, the project had to finished by 2018 and cost 4-billion hryvnia ($160-million). However, the project seems to be all talk and no walk  out of the 2,400-km wall only 270-km is currently finished.

Flowers Start Parliament Brawl

In December 2015, while Yatsenyuk was speaking in front of Verkhovna Rada deputies, a man from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc (the political party led by President Petro Poroshenko) came up to Yatsenyuk, gave him the bouquet of flowers and tried to physically carry the prime minister out of the platform, interrupting his speech.

A brawl immediately ensued, as Ukrainian politicians are often ready to settle political differences using their fists.

To his credit, during the brawl the prime minister didn't let go of the bouquet.

"It's all good. There are many idiots here," Yatsenyuk later commented on the situation.

History Lessons From Yatsenyuk

While visiting Germany in 2015, Yatsenyuk tried to "impress" the Germans with his knowledge of World War II history. In a cringe-worthy interview with the German TV channel ARD, the Ukrainian prime minister claimed that the Soviet Union invaded Nazi Germany, not vice versa.

"All of us still clearly remember the Soviet invasion of Ukraine and Germany. Nobody has the right to re-write the results of the Second World War," Yatsenyuk said.

Hero of Ukraine Award Goes to WWII-Era Genocide Perpetrators

In April 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill crafted by Yatsenyuk which changed the legal status of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the ultra-nationalist paramilitary organizations led by Stepan Bandera, awarding their fighters with the Hero of Ukraine titles.

It is worth noting that during World War II, OUN and UPA carried out large-scale genocide against Polish and Jewish populations living in Ukraine. As many as 100,000 Polish civilians are said to be massacred by the Ukrainian nationalists in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.

Debt? Forget it, Not Paying
Several months ago, the fate of Arseniy Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister was hanging by a thread, but after the recent parliamentary vote his government still managed to remain in power, the newspaper's Moscow correspondent Anna-Lena Lauren wrote

Now, he suddenly announced that he would voluntarily leave his post in order to better promote reforms in Ukraine. This statement, according to Lauren, "is senseless, if not ridiculous."

Earlier, Yatsenyuk said that destabilization in Ukraine is "inevitable", if a new government is not formed.
He also noted that the United States will work with the new government to finalize a planned loan guarantee.

Like other agreements reached in 2013 and 2015, Toner explained, the loan guarantee will depend on the Ukrainian governments progress in implementing key steps in an economic reform program.

The conditions will reinforce adherence to a new IMF program as well as other steps needed to restore accountability, counter corruption, strengthen the rule of law and governance and ensure a stronger social safety net.

Toner stressed that it is the responsibility of the entire Ukrainian government to continue to implement political and economic reforms.

US Hopes Yatsenyuks Successor to Continue Needed Reforms in Ukraine

The United States hopes that the successor of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will continue to make commitments to economic reforms in Ukraine amid his departure, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said during a press briefing on Monday.

"The people of Ukraine and the nation of Ukraine is enduring quite a lot, the United States will continue to stand with them and support them as they endure these challenges," Earnest stated. "[B]ut that also means the government of Ukraine will need to follow through on the critical economic reforms and we're hopeful that the commitment to implementing those reforms will continue in the mind of Mr. Yatsenyuk's successor."

On Sunday, Yatsenyuk announced his resignation effective on April 12 amid the ongoing parliamentary crisis in the country.

Earnest praised Yatsenyuks work, noting that he played an important role in managing the country in a time of turmoil and was an "important partner" to the United States.

"We are pleased that he has indicated that he will remain on to ensure a smooth transition to his successor."

Yatsenyuks resignation comes as the Ukrainian government has been in a state of turmoil since early February when the countrys economic development minister resigned over the slow pace of change and widespread government corruption.

Five other ministers initially also resigned, but later rowed back on their intention to quit.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko  On April 1, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov discussed the prospects of cooperating in the fight against Daesh with senior EU officials  Pedro Serrano, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service, and Gilles de Kerchove, EU Coordinator on anti-terrorism.

"It was indeed a very fruitful discussion, exchanging views and comparing our plans and methods. It was agreed that this dialogue will be continued. They agreed to have a next meeting, but the date has not been set yet," Chizhov said in English.

The envoy added that anti-terrorism is definitely an area where the EU and Russian interests coincide.
A member majority of the Ottawa regional professional equine harness racing community, the National Capital Harness Horse Association (NCRHHA) attended the annual awards dinner and ceremony, which was held in the Banquet Room of the Rideau Carleton Raceway.

It was a spectacular evening of great food, camaraderie and tales of horsemanship and achievements. Hosted by John Macmillan (who is the executive director of the NCRHHA) and Jean Larose (general manager of Rideau Carleton Raceway), the regions better equines and equine professionals were cheered as they were acclaimed by their peers (photos will be posted on NCRHHAs webpage in the immediate future).

Mares of the Year, Out Of The Hat (7 yo), and Windsong Lisa (4 yo) took home the Trotter and Pacer of 2015 honours during the NCRHHA/RCR annual awards banquet, which was held Friday, April 1, in Ottawa, Ont. On the boys side of the equation, What A Rush (5 yo gelding) and Doing Some Damage (7 yo gelding) equalled the honour of the girls results.

A $500 donation was made to the Pavilion Food Bank, Ottawa and another $500 donation to TROtt Therapeutic Riding Association of Ottawa-Carleton on behalf of the National Capital Region Harness Horse Association and the Rideau Carleton Raceway.

(NCRHHA)
The deadline for the New Jersey Sire Stakes, Green Acres and Standardbred Development Funds second sustaining payments is rapidly approaching.

Owners of horses that are eligible to any of the above-mentioned programs are reminded that payments must be postmarked by April 15.

The NJSS Premier Division will be contested exclusively again at the Meadowlands Racetrack in 2016, starting in May for three-year-olds and in July for two-year-olds. The Green Acres Division, which will only be contested for three-year-olds in 2017, will begin on August 26 at Freehold Raceway. Once again this year, the NJSS rule is that the Green Acres Program is limited to horses that have earned less than $25,000 in New Jersey Sire Stakes Premier Division earnings during the current calendar year.

For 2016 two-year-olds the Green Acres Division is being replaced by a new series  the New Jersey Standardbred Development Fund. The SDF is open to all horses sired by a New Jersey-based stallion as well as the offspring of mares who have resided in New Jersey for a minimum of 150 days, regardless of where the sire stands. Previous registration of the mare while she is in foal and nomination are required to establish eligibility. The first SDF race will be held on September 23 at Freehold Raceway, the location of all races in the series.

The NJSS Premier Divisions second sustaining payment remains $500 for both two-year-olds and three-year-olds. The Green Acres Division payment for three-year-olds also remains $150. $150 is also the amount of the second sustaining fee for two-year-olds that are eligible to the Standardbred Development Fund.

Owners of yearlings sired by New Jersey based stallions or yearlings of dams who were previously registered with the Standardbred Development Fund must nominate by May 15. Forms for all of these payments may be obtained at newjerseysirestakes.com.

(NJSS)
tech2 News Staff

After the Priv, BlackBerry plans to launch two new Android smartphones this year. In an interview with The National, CEO John Chen said BlackBerry plans to launch new Android phones this year, but didn't disclose any time frame.

According to the report, Chen has said that one smartphone will sport a full touchscreen and the other will come with a QWERTY keyboard. In terms of specs, nothing else was mentioned. He further added that the phones will be priced around $300 to $400, which translates to roughly Rs 20,000 to Rs 26,000. This means, the company plans to launch new mid-range devices.

He also spoke about Priv and how it was "too high-end product" for the enterprise and that's the reason why it has received a recent price cut. So, the price is slashed to $649 from $699. Priv was launched in India at Rs 62,990, and it is now listed at Rs 57,990 on Amazon.

Blackberry recently announced to have sold 600,000 handsets during the past three months till March end, which was lower than 850,000 units predicted by analysts. However, there is no word on how many Priv units were sold. Priv remained in a really tight spot because it had more cons than pros even though the pros are really good. It did not appeal to BlackBerry fans, thanks to badly implemented Hub, average keypad and not so thumb friendly interface like on previous BlackBerry devices. Read the complete Priv review to know more.
Pranjal Kshirsagar

After the revolution that the invention of the steam engine brought in, there was an even bigger one with the invention of electricity. More recently, IT and cloud computing ushered in the third one. The fourth revolution, says Microsoft, is Data.

In tune with Microsoft's focus on data is its recently launched SQL Server 2016. The data platform is born-of-the-cloud, aimed at equipping businesses with advanced predictive analytics capabilities. SQL 2016 supports encrypted query processing capabilities for advanced analytics, machine learning, mobile business intelligence, and data integration. Microsoft claims that it is the worlds only relational database to be born cloud-first with the majority of features first deployed and tested on Azure. It adds that SQL Server 2016 is powered by cloud capabilities that enable its customers to deploy hybrid architectures that partition data workloads across on-premises and cloud-based systems to help customers gradually move to the cloud, increase agility of their processes and save costs.

A subtle but noteworthy change that we saw when the product was released was the fact that Microsoft stepped up to freely embrace Linux by making the SQL Server 2016 capabilities available on the open source platform too. Microsoft's Server and Cloud Director Srikanth Karnakota adds, "After Satya Nadella has stepped in, there has been a big shift in the company culture  a marked focus on customer obsession. The real idea is not going after the Linux market. The customers have been asking for it and with SQL Server 2016, we have achieved that. Customers are already running SQL servers and Linux environments and running MySQL queries, but when they want to run advanced analytics, predictive intelligence or machine learning, they need to look at re-engineering their entire setup, which is not very feasible most of the times. This is where we thought of putting SQL running on Linux - and help make it the most logical choice for companies."

One can expect more from the Microsoft-Linux relationship going forward too. As Karnakota explains, "If you were to look at our cloud stack, we run possibly every distribution of Linux on it. So we are really open to these kind of partnerships. A bulk of our revenue, almost 90 percent, comes through partnerships. At every level we are looking possible integrations, how we can open up and, in the end, give the customers what they are looking for."

With this release, Microsoft is also gunning in for competitors very aggressively. The company wasn't shy of putting on its official website its offers for free licenses for Oracle customers moving to Microsoft and its claims about the significant cost savings that Oracle customers would see once they move to Microsoft. "We are confident of bringing Oracle customers on board - we are almost 1/10th the price of Oracle. We have pre-built analytics, predictive analytics, data warehousing, business intelligence, ETL capabilities built into the database that significantly cuts the TCO for the customer," justifies Karnakota.

Karnakota says that the product will be available for general availability in June this year, certain Microsoft customers like HDFC Bank, for instance, has already started using some of the preview features. The bank is effectively using it to predict churn  it can predict which customers are going to churn in say, the next month, and can they do proactive upsells or cross sells to retain those customers.

This launch is the epicentre of out entire data platform story, he adds. Data is already being touted as a revolution, almost 90 percent of the data we see today was created in the last two years. So, all these decades of our IT existence has created only 10 percent of it. The volume expected to go up to 94 percent in the next two years. Every time you are connected to the Internet you are inputting data or receiving data. Data from sensors and wearables is only exploding the data further. With cloud, all that data is collected at various points in the network and volume of data has truly gotten to the Big Data stage where unstructured and Structured data sets are merging together. And you need specialised systems to take care of it all -- this is where we believe SQL Server 2016 fits in. The economics of storing data also shifts when the volume and velocity with which data is growing exponentially. Companies can't afford to store them on expensive SAN based systems, the cloud is essential. SQL 2016 took its birth in cloud, so it's that much more deeply connected to the cloud."
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The parent company of the British newspaper, the Daily Mail, is in talks with several private equity firms about a possible bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Daily Mail & General Trust PLCs potential bid could take one of two forms, according to the report, citing people familiar with the matter. In one scenario, a private-equity partner would acquire Yahoos core web business, with the Mail taking over the news and media properties.

In the other scenario, the private-equity firm would acquire Yahoos core web business and merge its media and news properties with the Mails online operations. The merged units would form a new company that would be run by the Mail and give a larger equity stake to the Mails parent company than under the first scenario, according to the Wall Street Journal report.

Bids for Yahoo are due on April 18.

Time Inc is also considering partnering with a private equity firm on a bid for Yahoo's core Internet assets, Reuters reported earlier this month.

A recent report claimed that Alphabets Google unit is also mulling a bid for Yahoos core business. Verizon Communications is also said to be ready to make a bid for Yahoos web business, and hopes to make a merger more successful by also making an offer for a stake in Yahoos Japan subsidiary.

Reuters
tech2 News Staff

Idea Cellular has selected Nokia to provide the technology for its 4G LTE rollout in three of its key regional circles  Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. With Nokias lean and flexible Single RAN site solution, Idea Cellular will be able to optimise its investments and deliver a superior mobile broadband experience, with faster speeds and better smartphone performance for its subscribers, says the company.

Under the agreement, Idea Cellular will deploy Nokias Single RAN technology, which enables simultaneous 2G/3G/4G operation on one platform. Nokia will also support the modernisation and expansion of Idea Cellulars core network and operational support systems to support the 4G LTE rollout, along with professional services for network deployment, network planning and optimisation, system integration and supervisory managed services support.

Furthermore, Nokia will enable Idea Cellular to modernise and expand its current 2G and 3G radio access networks and core network infrastructure, spread across six 2G circles and four 3G circles where Nokia equipment has been deployed in Idea Cellulars network.

Products and services to be delivered by Nokia include Network Planning and Optimisation, Systems Integration and Network Implementation services to ensure high network quality and a swift rollout. Nokia will also provide Supervisory Managed Services for training and knowledge transfer to Idea Cellulars operations team. Idea Cellular will also utilise Nokias Evolved Packet Core, Subscriber Data Management Platform, Self Organising Networks software and NetAct.

Himanshu Kapania, Managing Director, Idea Cellular, said, We were looking for a solution which can support multiple radio technologies simultaneously on a single platform. We found it in Nokias Single RAN solution, complimented by its energy-efficient and flexible site solutions. Our excellent partnership with Nokia now enters a new phase as we launch 4G LTE services to bring a superior experience to our customers.

Sandeep Girotra, head of India Market, Nokia, As Idea Cellulars preferred technology partner in 2G, 3G, and now in 4G, we will continue to support them by providing new technologies and capabilities for superior network quality. Nokias global experience in deploying 4G LTE networks will enable Idea Cellular to deliver an enhanced customer experience across its circles.
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A U.S. magistrate judge in Boston ordered Apple Inc to assist law enforcement officers in examining the iPhone of an alleged gang member, according to a Feb. 1 court filing unsealed on Friday that is no longer binding.

"Reasonable technical assistance consists of, to the extent possible, extracting data from the device, copying the data from the device onto an external hard drive or other storage medium and returning the aforementioned storage medium to law enforcement," U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler wrote before a similar case in San Bernardino drew worldwide attention to law enforcement efforts to get around iPhone encryption.

As in the San Bernardino case, where the U.S. Justice Department sought access to a phone used by a gunman who fatally shot 14 people in December, Apple objected to the Boston order, an employee briefed on the matter said. The FBI has since said it has figured out a secret method for unlocking the model of iPhone in California.

The Justice Department withdrew the San Bernardino case and has not made an additional move in the Boston matter, though Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said that it could.

"Apple has represented that they were unable and unwilling to comply with the courts order, and no decision has been made by the government on whether to seek additional orders compelling Apples assistance, Pierce said.

Reuters
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The U.S. Justice Department on Friday said it would keep fighting to force Apple Inc to open an iPhone in a New York drug case, continuing its controversial effort to require Apple and other tech companies to help law enforcement authorities circumvent encryption.

Just two weeks ago, the government dropped its effort to require Apple to crack an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the December attacks in San Bernardino, California, saying it had unlocked the phone without Apple's help.

Some observers thought the government would back away from the New York case too, since the suspect has already pleaded guilty. But in a letter filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, the Justice Department said, "The government continues to require Apple's assistance in accessing the data that it is authorized to search by warrant."

An Apple attorney said Friday the company was disappointed but not surprised that the government would continue to fight in New York after giving up in California.

He said the appeal belied the FBI's claim that the San Bernardino case was about a single phone and the need to stop future terror acts.

Apple, with the strong support of most of the technology industry, argues that requiring it to circumvent the encryption in its own products would inevitability open the door for hackers and foreign spies and undermine security for everyone. The company has said it is willing to take the issue to the Supreme Court.

The phones in the two cases have different security features, with the New York phone running an earlier version of the iPhone operating software. The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, who is leading the battle against Apple, said Thursday that the method used on the San Bernardino phone would not work on other models.

But the New York phone is much easier for Apple to break into. Apple has acknowledged it could get data from the drug dealer's phone without crafting special software, as it would have had to do with the San Bernardino phone.

Apple helped law enforcement with earlier iPhones on some 70 occasions, according to court documents, and it objected to the order in the New York case only after it was invited to do so last fall by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein.

Since then, Apple has declined to comply with such orders without a fight, a person close to the company said. In a case that came to light Friday, a Boston judge had ordered Apple to cooperate in a gang case. Apple also objected there, and the Justice Department said it has not yet decided whether to push again to force its assistance.

In a ruling issued on Feb. 29, Orenstein came down firmly on Apple's side, rejecting the idea that an old law known as the All Writs Act gave judges the power to order Apple's help. That judge, Apple and the FBI have all said the balance between encryption and law enforcement access should be struck by Congress, and one such proposal is nearing formal introduction by the leaders of the Senate intelligence committee.

The Justice Department announcement Friday, however, showed it will continue to fight in the courts as well.

Jill Bronfman, director of the Privacy and Technology Project at University of California Hastings College of the Law, questioned whether the facts involved in the New York case would make a strong test case over encryption. While extracting data from the phone in the New York case would be an easier technical feat for Apple, the facts in the case are far less compelling, she said.

If you want to do a balancing test and youve got terrorism on one side of the scale, thats a very heavy weight, she said. Well see how the request is balanced when we have drugs on the other side.

Apple is scheduled to file papers in opposition of the Justice Department's appeal by April 15.

In its appeal, the Apple lawyer said the company would try the same thing it was planning in California: demanding that government show it had tried all possible alternative means of getting into the phone.

That could force the FBI to reveal closely held details of its efforts to break into phones.

Federal law enforcement officials declined to say whether they were looking into having third parties unlock the phone in the New York case.

The phone in the Brooklyn case belonged to Jun Feng, who has pleaded guilty to participation in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy. The Justice Department is seeking to unlock Feng's phone to find other conspirators.

Reuters
tech2 News Staff

At a launch event in Mumbai, Vivo unveiled the Vivo V3 at a price of Rs 17, 980 while the Vivo V3 Max is priced at Rs 23,980. The smartphone are said to launch "soon" in India. No details regarding availability were shared. Vivo also announced actor Ranveer Singh as its brand ambassador.

In terms of specifications, the Vivo V3 features a 5-inch display along with an Snapdragon 616 processor, paired with 3GB RAM. It includes an internal storage of 32GB and can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The smartphone comes equipped with a 13MP rear camera with dual LED flash and PDAF along with an 8MP front facing camera.

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/717285498910334976?lang=en

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/717284519649390593?lang=en

Running Android 5.1 Lollipop based FunTouch OS 2.5, the device includes connectivity features such as 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. A 2,550mAh battery completes the package.

On the other hand, the V3 Max features a 5.5-inch full HD display. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor paired with 4GB RAM. The smartphone includes an internal storage of 32GB which can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card.

The smartphone comes equipped with a 13MP rear camera with dual LED flash and PDAF along with an 8MP front facing camera. It runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with FunTouch OS 2.5 on top and connectivity features include 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. A 3,000mAh battery completes the package. Both devices also feature a fingerprint sensor.

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/717279282402357248?lang=en

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/717288282602749953?lang=en

Commenting on the launch, Alex Feng, CEO of Vivo India said, "It gives me immense pleasure to announce the launch of our innovation, the V3 and V3 Max for the Indian market. The V series designed with creativity and equipped with state of art technology will be a landmark for Vivo India. India remains our prime focus and the launch of these models is a testimony of our commitment to cater to the ever growing demand of meticulous customers in India and worldwide. The V3 and V3 Max offer an unbeatable proposition of cutting edge technology, impressive looks and Hi-Fi music quality in the industry."
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By Asheeta Regidi

WhatsApp introduced end-to-end encryption for all its services today. This means that all user calls, texts, video, images and other files sent can only be viewed by the intended recipient, and no one, not even WhatsApp itself, can access this data. This guarantee of user privacy creates new concerns for the government.

WhatsApp will now find it impossible to comply with government requests for data, since WhatsApp itself will not have the decryption key. In effect, WhatsApp is doing exactly what Apple did in the Apple vs FBI battle; its preventing government access to data, but on a much larger scale. While Apple restricted access to users of iPhones only, now practically every user of WhatsApp on any device is protected. 51% of all users of internet messaging services in India use WhatsApp, with a total number of over 70 million users (Source: TRAIs OTT Consultation Paper, dated March 2015). WhatsApp has now prevented government access to the messages and calls of at least 70 million Indian users.

No encryption requirements are applicable on OTTs like WhatsApp

Telecom service providers and internet service providers, like Airtel and Vodafone, have to obtain a license from the Department of Telecommunications in order to be able to provide such services in India. This license includes several restrictions, including license fees, ensuring emergency services, confidentiality of customer information and requirements for lawful interception, monitoring and the security of the network. These include encryption requirements.

For example, the License Agreement for Provision of Internet Service (Including Internet Telephony) for internet service providers (like Reliance and Airtel), permits the usage of up to 40-bit encryption. To employ a higher encryption standard, permission will have to be acquired and a decryption key deposited with the Telecom Authority.

Apps like WhatsApp, Skype and Viber are, however, neither telecom service providers nor internet service providers. These are known as Over-The-Top Services, or OTTs. Currently, OTTs are not regulated and as such, there are no encryption requirements, nor are there any other requirements in the name of security which these have to comply with.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India came out with an OTT Consultation Paper in 2015. Discussions on the paper are closed, but TRAI is yet to issue regulations on the matter. In the absence of any regulations at present, its clear that WhatsApps new end-to-end encryption policy is perfectly legal, even though it presents a new dilemma for the government.

Impact of end-to-end encryption on proposed regulatory system

Other countries have adopted various approaches to resolve the issue of OTT services. For example, in France, Skype was made to register as a telecom operator. In Germany, Voice-Over-IP is subject to the same requirements as other telecom services because of the technology neutral approach of its Telecommunications Act. In China, VOIP calls have a separate regulatory system under the head of voice based calls. These systems will make voice-over-IP subject to the same security requirements as telecom providers. For the most part however, OTT services are unregulated abroad as well.

In a detailed discussion on the issue in TRAIs OTT Consultation Paper, TRAI notes that OTT services circumvent all regulatory requirements by providing services which are otherwise available only through a license. It has suggested the classification of OTT services either as a communication service provider or an application service provider, and to impose similar regulatory requirements as on telecom service providers.

The proposed licensing requirements include enabling lawful interception. It can be assumed that the provisions will be along the lines of those imposed on telecom regulatory requirements. Given that a 40-bit encryption system is a much lower standard than that used by WhatsApp and also considering that WhatsApp doesnt even possess the decryption key for deposition with the relevant authority, it remains to be seen how the government will gain access to WhatsApp messages.

Liability of WhatsApp to comply with decryption directions under IT Act

WhatsApp, being an intermediary, is expected to comply with directions to intercept, monitor and decrypt information issued under Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Complying with such a direction will now be impossible for WhatsApp in view of its end-to-end encryption. Even before the introduction of this, since WhatsApp is not a company based in India, it may have been able to refuse to comply with such directions. In fact, compliance by such companies in regard to data requests from the Indian government has been reported to be very low.

Indias now withdrawn draft encryption policy took the first step towards overcoming these problems and obtaining access. It required service providers, from both India and abroad, which are using encryption technology, to enter into agreements with India in order to be able to provide such services. One essential requirement of these agreements was to comply with data requests as and when theyre made by the government. This will include any interception, monitoring and decryption requests made under Section 69 of the IT Act. Though it was later clarified that WhatsApp is not within the purview of this policy, this indicates the route that may be taken by the government to obtain access. If WhatsApp refuses to comply with such a regime, that would make WhatsApp illegal in India.

End-to-end encryption is not without its drawbacks. The high, unbreachable level of security and privacy available is in favour of users and against governments. It will make such systems the favorite for illegal activities as well. For example, tracing voice calls made by terrorists using Voice-Over-IP is extremely difficult because of its routing over fake networks. The issue raised in the Apple vs FBI case was also the same, whether an individual users privacy can be compromised in favour of the larger public interest. A balance between the two is needed, maintaining user privacy and allowing interception for lawful purposes is required.

The author is a lawyer with a specialisation in cyber laws and has co-authored books on the subject.
Just in from the Brazil Toy Fair that just happened to be going on the same weekend as BotCon. We have a surprise with the Transformers Platinum Edition Rise of Rodimus Prime boxed set. This is an interesting one with Hasbro including the Titanium Rodimus Prime figure mold and his Matrix of Leadership, along with the Universe 2.0 Galvatron figure mold. It will be interesting to see if Hasbro re-issues Rodimus Prime with die-cast parts or plastic. Read on for the gallery and translated report from Transformers Dioramas.

As we said earlier of 05 to April 8, 2016, it was the 33rd edition of ABRIN , largest toy fair in Latin America and the team Transformers Dioramas - Brazilian Fansite was present on site to check the news to come to Brazil in 2016. As usual the Hasbro once again brought a huge stand to present the news scheduled to be released in the Brazilian market this year.

The Transformers line was divided into two distinct parts, one aimed at children and one for young people / collector, although this distinction has not been notoriously planned but occurred accidentally because of the arrangement of the figures. Giving figures forecast to continue to be launched in Brazil, we will then have to lines geared for collectors: Transformers: Generations [Combiner Wars] , Transformers: Generations [Titan Returns] , Transformers: Generations [Platinum Edition] and Transformers: Generations [Cyber Battalion] .

Although not entirely, some waves line TRANSFORMERS: GENERATIONS [COMBINER WARS] will continue to be brought to Brazil at random, but there was no sign of the most coveted figures released in 2015, as the Voyager Class Sky Linx or Leader Class Starscream / thundercracker , for example. According to what we see any of these figures may suddenly appear on the shelf of a store, but it does not mean an equal distribution throughout the country. Unfortunately, with the launch of TRANSFORMERS: GENERATIONS [TITAN RETURNS] , the Hasbro leaves background all previous lines directed to collectors, but the good news is that some box special sets will arrive on a large scale here, as the sets Transformers: Generations [Combiner Wars] Superion / Menasor (G2) and the acclaimed Fun Built Bot September Transformers: Generations [Combiner Wars] - Victorion formed by fembots Pyra Magna, Stormclash, Skyburst, dustup, Jumpstream and Rust Dust , this last one repaint / retool figure Transformers: Generations [Combiner Wars] Groove .
G7 Hiroshima declaration calls for `world without nuclear weapons`

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, offers a wreath with other G7 foreign ministers at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan on Monday.

AFP, Hiroshima :US Secretary of State John Kerry and G7 foreign ministers today called for a "world without nuclear weapons", citing North Korea's sabre-rattling as a key challenge to achieving that goal."We reaffirm our commitment to seeking a safer world for all and to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons in a way that promotes international stability," the group said in their "Hiroshima Declaration", after a landmark visit to the Japanese city's atomic bomb memorial."This task is made more complex by the deteriorating security environment in a number of regions, such as Syria and Ukraine, and, in particular by North Korea's repeated provocations," it added.On Saturday, Pyongyang said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland.It was the latest in a series of claims by North Korea of significant breakthroughs in both its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.The G7 statement came as ministers wrap up their final day of meetings with discussions focused on global hotspot issues including terrorism and other security threats as well as instability in the Middle East, and the refugee crisis.John Kerry on Monday called his visit to a memorial to victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack on Hiroshima "gut-wrenching" and said it was a reminder of the need to pursue a world free of nuclear weapons.The first U.S. secretary of state to visit Hiroshima, Kerry said President Barack Obama also wanted to travel to the city in southern Japan but he did not know whether the leader's complex schedule would allow him to do so when he visits the country for a Group of Seven (G7) summit in May.Kerry toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum, whose haunting displays include photographs of badly burned victims, the tattered and stained clothes they wore and statues depicting them with flesh melting from their limbs."It is a stunning display. It is a gut-wrenching display," he said. "It is a reminder of the depth of the obligation everyone of us in public life carries ... to create and pursue a world free from nuclear weapons," he told a news conference.After the tour by Kerry and his fellow G7 foreign ministers, the group issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to building a world without nuclear arms but said the push had been made more complex by North Korea's repeated "provocations" and by worsening security in Syria and Ukraine.The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States laid white wreaths at a cenotaph to the victims of the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing, which reduced the city to ashes and killed some 140,000 people by the end of that year.While he is not the highest-ranking U.S. official to have toured the museum and memorial park, a distinction that belongs to then-U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in 2008, Kerry is the most senior executive branch official to visit.
Syrian jihadists push offensives, threaten truce

AFP, Beirut :

Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate and allied rebels pushed offensives around northern, central and coastal Syria on Monday, triggering a spike in violence that could threaten a truce ahead of peace talks, a monitoring group said.

The Islamic State (IS) group also took back control of the town of Al-Rai near Turkey, which rival rebels had captured last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Neither the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front nor IS are included in a truce brokered by the United States and Russia that came into force on February 27.

But the fact that rebels are fighting alongside Al-Nusra in such a broad offensive, while regime forces push back, has sparked concerns over the durability of the shaky truce.

"Al-Nusra and allied rebel groups are waging three synchronised offensives" on front lines in Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

So far, they have seized a hilltop in Latakia province, the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, the group said.

"This is the offensive that Al-Nusra warned it would carry out several weeks ago," Abdel Rahman said. He was referring to a threat issued by the jihadist group when President Vladimir Putin, a key backer of Assad's regime, announced the partial pullout of Russian troops from Syria last month.

Meanwhile, Islamic State militants took back a stronghold in Syria near the border with Turkey on Monday, four days after losing it to a grouping of rebels, a monitoring group said. The ultra-hardline Islamist group seized the town of al-Rai from factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, part of months of back-and-forth fighting in northern Aleppo province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Islamic State has declared a cross-border Islamic caliphate in Syria and neighboring Iraq and is also battling other insurgent groups caught up in Syria's civil war, some of them backed by Turkey and Western powers.
2 electrocuted in Chittagong

UNB, Chittagong :

A woman and a young man were killed due to electrocution at Bothatia Nagpara village in Lohagara upazila on Sunday night. The deceased were identified as Rita Rani Devi, 29, wife of Bhashu Debnath of the village, and Ashutosh Debnath, 26, son of Sushil Debnath and brother of Bhashu.

Mohammad Shahjahan, officer-in-charge of Lohagara Police Station, said Ashutosh was repairing an electric line at his house around 8pm keeping the main switch off.

At one stage Ashutosh was electrocuted as his mother turned on the main switch accidentally.

Later, Rita Rani was also electrocuted as she tried to save Ashutosh. The duo were rushed to a private clinic in the upazila where doctors declared them dead.
Southeast Bank declares 15pc cash dividend

Economic Reporter :

The 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Southeast Bank Ltd. held in the city on Monday, according to a press release.

Bank's Directors, Sponsors, Managing Director of the Bank and large number of Shareholders attended the meeting. Alamgir Kabir, FCA, Chairman of the Bank, presided over the meeting.

The Bank earned an operating profit of BDT 8,034.27 million in 2015 (consolidated). As on 31st December, 2015 Bank's total deposits amounted to BDT 210,431.09 million, its total assets reached Tk.260,718.03 million, Earning Per Share (EPS) was Tk.3.35 (consolidated), Net Asset Value per share was Tk.29.67 (consolidated) and Net Operating Cash Flow per share was Tk.3.85 (consolidated). The Price Earning Ratio of the Bank was 5.27 times in 2015.

The Capital and Reserves of the Bank soared to a record high of BDT 28,481.63 million as on 31st December 2015. The Bank maintained a capital adequacy ratio at 11.52 percent (consolidated) as on 31st December 2015 against requirement of 10 percent set by Bangladesh Bank.

Credit Rating Information and Services Limited (CRISL) rated the Bank AA (Double A) for the long term and ST-2 for the short term based on the financial statements of the Bank for the year 2014. Their rating for the long term remains valid up to 22nd June, 2016.

In the 21st Annual General Meeting, the shareholders by their unanimous votes approved 15% Cash Dividend to the shareholders and the financial statements of the Bank for the year 2015. They also elected Directors and approved appointment of external auditors for the year 2016.
Truths about the migrants in Europe

Rayhan Ahmed Topader :

When you're facing the world's biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War, it helps to have a sober debate about how to respond. But to do that, you need facts and data - two things that the British migration debate has lacked this summer. Theresa May got the ball rolling when she claimed on Radio 4 that the vast majority of migrants to Europe are Africans travelling for economic reasons. The media has followed suit, one example being the Daily Mail's unsubstantiated recent assertion that seven in 10 migrants at Calais will reach the UK. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond this week not only repeated May's claims about African economic migrants, but portrayed them as marauders who would soon hasten the collapse of European civilisation. Hammond, like many people, could do with some actual statistics about the migration crisis.

Here are 10 of the key ones: 62%: Far from being propelled by economic migrants, this crisis is mostly about refugees. The assumption by the likes of Hammond, May and others is that the majority of those trying to reach Europe are fleeing poverty, which is not considered by the international community as a good enough reason to move to another country. Whereas in fact, by the end of July, 62% of those who had reached Europe by boat this year were from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan, according to figures compiled by the UN. These are countries torn apart by war, dictatorial oppression, and religious extremism  and, in Syria's case, all three. Their citizens almost always have the legal right to refuge in Europe. And if you add to the mix those coming from Darfur, Iraq, Somalia, and some parts of Nigeria  then the total proportion of migrants likely to qualify for asylum rises to well over 70%. 1%: If you read the British press, you'd think that Calais was the major battleground of the European migrant crisis, and that Britain was the holy grail of its protagonists. In reality, the migrants at Calais account for as little as 1% of those who have arrived in Europe so far this year. Estimates suggest that between 2,000-5,000 migrants have reached Calais, which is between 1% and 2.5% of the more than 200,000 who have landed in Italy and Greece. Just as importantly, there is no evidence to suggest that as many as seven in 10 have reached Britain after arriving in Calais.

The Daily Mail admitted this several paragraphs into its article. 0. 027%: Hammond said that the migrants would speed the collapse of the European social order. In reality, the number of migrants to have arrived so far this year (200,000) is so minuscule that it constitutes just 0.027% of Europe's total population of 740 million. The world's wealthiest continent can easily handle such a comparatively small influx.

There are countries with social infrastructure at breaking point because of the refugee crisis  but they aren't in Europe. The most obvious example is Lebanon, which houses 1.2 million Syrian refugees within a total population of roughly 4.5 million. To put that in context, a country that is more than 100 times smaller than the EU has already taken in more than 50 times as many refugees as the EU will even consider resettling in the future. Lebanon has a refugee crisis. Europe and, in particular, Britain  does not.

36.95: Many claim that Britain is a coveted destination for migrants because of its generous benefits system. Aside from the reality that most migrants have little prior knowledge of the exact nature of each European country's asylum system, it is not true that the UK is particularly beneficent. Each asylum seeker in Britain gets a meagre 36.95 to live on (and they are not usually allowed to work to supplement this sum). In France, whose policies are supposedly driving up the numbers at Calais, migrants actually receive substantially more.

According to the Asylum Information Database, asylum seekers in France receive up to 56.62 a week. Germany and Sweden  the two most popular migrant destinations  pay out 35.21 and 36.84 a week respectively, only fractionally less than Britain. 50%: In the dog-whistle rhetoric of Hammond and Theresa May, the archetypal contemporary migrant in Europe is from Africa.

But again, that's not true. This year, according to UN figures, 50% alone are from two non-African countries: Syria (38%) and Afghanistan (12%). When migrants from Pakistan, Iraq and Iran are added into the equation, it becomes clear that the number of African migrants is significantly less than half. Even so, as discussed above, many of them  especially those from Eritrea, Darfur, and Somalia  have legitimate claims to refugee status.

Royal Marines with migrants rescued off the Libyan coast in June. The EU opted to suspend full-scale maritime rescue operations in the Mediterranean in the belief that their presence was encouraging more migrants to risk the sea journey from Libya to Europe. In reality, people kept on coming. In fact, there was a 4% year-on-year increase during the months that the rescue missions were on hiatus. Over 27,800 tried the journey in 2015, or died in the attempt, until operations were reinstated in May, according to figures from the International Organisation for Migration. Only 26,740 tried it in 2014.

The disparity suggests that migrants were either unaware of the rescue operations in the first place, or simply unbothered by their suspension  a thesis borne out by my own interviews. I don't think that even if they decided to bomb migrant boats it would change peoples' decision to go," said Abu Jana, a Syrian I met as he was planning to make the sea voyage earlier this year.

Swarms, floods and marauders: The toxic metaphors of the migration debate: Contrary to the perception of the UK as the high altar of immigration, it is not a particularly major magnet for refugees. In 2014, just 25,870 people sought asylum in the UK, and only 10,050 were accepted. Germany (97275), France (68500), Sweden (39,905) and Italy (35,180) were all far more affected.

When the ratings are calculated as a proportion to population size, the UK slips even further down the table  behind Belgium, Holland and Austria. If the ratings were calculated on 2015 rates, then even impoverished Greece would rise above the UK in the table. Just as tellingly, the UK has welcomed just 187 Syrians through legal mechanisms at the last count.

Turkey has around 1.6 million. 11bn: Hammond and David Cameron argue that the solution to migration is to increase deportations. They believe this will save Britain money, as less cash will be spent on paying each asylum seeker 36.95 per week. However, this strategy ignores the cost of deportations  whose alleged financial cost could rival that of the asylum seekers' benefits bill.

According to a series of investigations by the website The Migrant Files, as many as 11bn have been spent on repatriating migrants to their countries of origin since 2000.

A further billion has been blown on Europe-wide coordination efforts to secure European borders  money that could have been spent on integrating migrants into European society.

Despite the hysteria, the number of refugees in the UK has actually fallen by 76,439 since 2011.That's according to Britain's Refugee Council, which crunched the numbers gleaned from UN data and found that the number of refugees in the UK fell from 193,600 to 117,161 in the past four years. By comparison, the proportion of refugees housed by developing countries in the past 10 years has risen, according to the UN, from 70% to 86%. Britain could be doing far more.



(Rayhan Ahmed Topader writes from London, UK)
Who is police and who is not  that is the question

THIS daily has reported that some "fake detectives" on Saturday snatched Tk 700,000 from a businessman at gun point in broad-daylight at the Dhaka University campus. The miscreants, introducing themselves as DB personnel intercepted the victim, searched his bag, took away the sum and ran away from the spot riding on motorbikes. Assaulting businessmen in broad-daylight in the University campus where police and detectives remain vigilant round the clock makes us worry about the law and order situation. While the University is all set to celebrate the first day of Bengali New Year 1423 haunted by the last years savagery, the campus is supposed to be more secured but the incident of snatching indicates a lapse of security. It is the responsibility of law enforcers to prove their innocence in crimes committed in their names or take responsibilities for their failure in ensuring that the campus is safe. Police are for catching thieves, but some police are becoming thieves themselves. The high number of allegations of criminal activities against police should be disturbing for police administration, not only for the prevailing crime situation in the country. But unfortunately the police authorities do not appear to be concerned. The idea is everybody else is making money illegally, so police are not an island. But the result is the people are increasingly becoming helpless before the criminals and this should worry everybody responsible.
Officials confirm use of bamboo in Chuadanga building

Our Correspondent :

Officials of the Chuadanga district administration on Monday confirmed that bamboo sticks were being used as alternative to iron rod in the construction of a government-funded building in the district.

Damurhuda Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Faridur Rahman submitted a written statement to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Chuadanga in this regard.

In his statement, UNO said media reports on the issue are true.

Beside, the district administration also formed a three-member probe body to investigate the matter.

Abdur Razzak, additional deputy commissioner (ADC-rev), will lead the committee.

Another team led by a deputy secretary of the Ministry of Agricultural reached Chuadanga yesterday to investigate the matter.

The committee will re-check the report that has been submitted by a three-member committee headed by Soumen Shaha, director of Biological Research Wing of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Dhaka.

Sources said the Soumen Shaha's committee submitted the report to the ministry on Monday.

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) of Chuadanga last year got a Tk 2.41 crore fund to build the two-storey Biological Research Centre and Lab in Darshana under Damurhuda upazila. Joy Construction Ltd of Dhaka is constructing the building.

So far, 65 percent work has been done and the building was scheduled to be handed over to the DAE in June.

Recently, some local youths came to know about some "gross anomalies" in the work.

They visited the building Thursday noon and asked the workers about the materials used in construction of walls and outside louvers. But the workers refused to say anything.

Later local people forced the workers to break a louver. The bamboo sticks soon became visible.


BNP again calls for nat'l unity

Fakhrul claims 500 party men killed in AL's regime

Staff Reporter :BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has once again called for forging national unity to restore democracy in the country.He made the call at a discussion held at the Institution of Engineer, Bangladesh (IEB) in the city on Monday. The discussion was arranged by the Bengali daily-Amardesh Family- on its Acting Editor Mahmudur Rahman's three years in jail and closing the daily.Former Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Dr Emazuddin Ahmed chaired the programme, while Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury of Gonoswasthya Kendra, former Pro-Vice chancellor of DU Prof Dr AFM Yusuf Haider, DU professor Dr Mahbub Ullah, BNP leaders Dr AZM Zahid Hossain and ANH Akter Hossain addressed it, among others. Mirza Fakhrul said that all patriotic parties, individuals and communities should get united, ignoring divisions to retrieve rights of people such as voting rights, freedom of speech by bringing democracy back in the country.Pointing out 'misrule and misdeeds of the government', he said that the people of Bangladesh are awakening against the government. "Now we need to build national unity by forgetting every differences," he said. The BNP leader claimed that at least 500 leaders and activists of his party were killed during the Awami League's regime, while about 4,50,000 party men were sued in several cases. "Even after the situation, we are not frustrated. We hope that the misrule and misdeeds of the regime will end once," he said. Mirza Fakhrul demanded immediate and unconditional release of Mahmudur Rahman and re-opening Daily Amardesh. Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury said that there is no democracy in the BNP. "If the BNP practices of democracy, why Mirza Fakhrul could not be elected? BNP should resporte in its party at first, " he said. Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury also criticised the ruling government for its 'autocratic regime', and said that the downfall of the autocratic regime will be ensured soon. In his presidential speech, Dr Emazuddin Ahmed said that the democracy was killed in the country.
Wong for quick return of BB fund as per law

World Bank asks Manila to include casino in 'dirty money law'

Kim Wong - one of the central figures in the $81-million money laundering scandal - has questioned the move of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to directly turn over to the Bangladeshi government the funds he had surrendered as a casino junket operator, saying that any turnover should be done in accordance with Philippine laws.In a letter to Senate Blue Ribbon committee chair Teofisto Guingona III, Wong's lawyers, Inocencio Ferrer Jr. and Kristoffer James Purisima, called AMLC's stand "fundamentally erroneous, procedurally infirm and grossly contrary to law." AMLC originally wanted Wong to issue a waiver and directly return to Bangladesh $4.63 million and P38.28 million that he turned over to the agency for safekeeping. But upon prodding by Guingona and Juan Ponce Enrile last week, AMLC changed its tune and decided to follow its own rules.Wong has said that he has no objections to returning the money to its rightful owners, but said that - upon the advise of his counsels - any turnover should be in accordance with Philippine laws.Wong, owner of the Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company Limited, earlier said the funds were abandoned by his junket agent Gao Shuhua at Solaire Resort and Casino and Midas Casinos where the stolen money from the Bangladeshi government was supposedly funnelled. The money forms part of the $81-million stash, which was allegedly stolen by cyber thieves and found its way to four accounts in Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation's Jupiter branch, and later transferred by money remittance firm Philrem Services Corp. to various casinos and junket operators. Citing Section 12 and 17 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA), Wong's lawyers said that "before any money or property can be turned-over and/or delivered to its rightful owner, AMLC should file before a court a verified ex parte petition for forfeiture." Specifically, the law requires the filing of an action for civil forfeiture in accordance with the Rules of Court. "Thus, to allow the direct turnover of said funds to the People's Republic of Bangladesh without judicial intervention would be a direct violation of the provisions of said law," the lawyers stressed.Meanwhile, the World Bank has said Philippines must make sure casinos are covered by anti-money laundering legislation on Monday it joined calls for the government to better regulate its gambling industry after stolen millions from Bangladesh found their way to Manila.A Philippine panel is trying to fathom how $81 million hacked in February from the New York Federal Reserve account of Bangladesh's central bank wound up with two casinos and a junket operator in the Philippines in one of the biggest cyber heists in history. The government has since recovered part of the stolen money."Reforms should be made, for instance, in making sure that casinos are included (in the anti-money laundering law)," World Bank lead economist Rogier van den Brink told reporters in Manila. "...Loopholes must be closed." The enactment of the anti-money laundering law in 2001 was a good start, van den Brink said, but the Philippines must "keep reforming it so that you are sure these untoward effects will not materialise".In February 2013, the Philippines was up against a deadline to amend its Anti-Money Laundering Act and get itself off the "grey list" of a global watchdog, and lawmakers were arguing over whether to include casinos under the legislation. They decided not to. World Bank senior country economist Karl Kendrick Chua also reiterated the bank's recommendation to ease the Philippines' bank secrecy laws to help combat money laundering and identify tax evaders.
Gas price hike not acceptable

If implemented, it will rock market: Experts

Anisul Islam Noor :Although the revenue generated by gas distribution companies is still higher than their expenses, they have sent proposal to the BERC again for gas price hike, say experts.They said the living cost of people will be increased if the proposed gas price hike is implemented. It would also have a chain effect on the prices of products and thereby decrease the purchasing power of people."I don't see any reason behind this proposal. It is unacceptable. We need to move away from the ad-hoc price adjustment system to a pricing policy that is transparent, predictable and market-based," Prof. Shamsul Alam told The New Nation on Monday.The gas distribution entities have already submitted their proposal to raise gas price by 87.66 on an average to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) recently.The business people are also concerned as the transport and production cost would be raised higher level if the proposed price is implemented. At the same time, a serious pressure might also be created both at local and global markets of Bangladeshi goods.Six gas distribution entities have submitted a uniform proposal raising the household gas price at Tk 1100 for single burner ovens and Tk 1200 for double burner ovens against the existing prices of Tk 600 and Tk 650 respectively.The distribution entities have asked the BERC to increase the per unit price of CNG from the existing Tk. 27 per unit to Tk. 49.50, thereby marking an 83 per cent increase.For electricity producers, the gas distributors have proposed to increase the per unit price by 63 per cent from Tk. 2.82 to Tk. 4.60. For captive power producers, the proposed increase is by 130 per cent from Tk. 8.36 to Tk. 19.26.The other proposed increases are for fertilizer (from Tk. 2.58 to Tk. 4.41 per unit ), industry (from Tk. 6.74 to Tk. 10.95 per unit ), commercial users (from Tk. 11.36 to Tk. 19.50 per unit), and household meter-based users (from Tk. 7 to Tk. 16.80 per unit).BERC Commissioner Dr Salim Mahmud told The New nation that they have received the proposal for increasing gas prices. "We have received the proposal. However, it doesn't mean that the prices will be increased," he said, adding that the prices will be adjusted through public hearings.Mashiur Rahman, Managing Director of Titash Gas Distribution Company Ltd said reporter that they have submitted a proposal to the BERC for increasing gas prices. He said that the company is paying a hefty amount as wage payments to its employees because of the new pay scale. Nizamul Hasan, Managing Director of Bakhrabad Gas Distribution Company Ltd, said that they have submitted a uniform proposal to increase gas prices. "The government will decide whether or not to increase the price. We have just submitted our proposal," he added.About the proposed gas price hike, Dr M Tamim, a professor of the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Engineering Department of BUET, said that gas is under-priced in Bangladesh. "I have long been saying that the gas price for household ovens should be over Tk.1,000. A look at the neighboring countries will make it evident that we're providing gas to households at the cheapest possible price," he added.M Tamim said that the gas reserves of the country are dwindling fast. "The gas supply should be prioritized now," he noted, adding that the government should think twice before giving new gas connections to non-productive sectors.On the other hand, Prof. Shamsul Alam, Energy Advisor of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said that the proposal for increasing gas prices is not logical. "This is unacceptable from the legal point of view," he said, adding that the hike would have a chain effect on the prices of products and thereby decrease the purchasing power of the people."The revenue generated by gas distribution companies is still higher than their expenses. I don't see any reason behind this proposal. We need to move away from the ad-hoc price adjustment system to a pricing policy that is transparent, predictable and market-based," he observed.The government had increased the prices of gas by an average of 27.56 per cent from September 1 last year.
Lamar White Jr. made a name for himself exposing political hypocrisy and speaking truth to power as a frequent-blogging law student and grad student. Now he's doing it professionally.White announced

Lamar White Jr. made a name for himself exposing political hypocrisy and speaking truth to power as a frequent-blogging law student and grad student. Now he's doing it professionally.

White announced Monday the founding and launch of Imagine Louisiana Communications, a Baton Rouge-based consulting and political communications firm. White is parlaying a decade of political blogging on his popular website, CenLamar - the name is a reference to his upbringing in CenLa, or central Louisiana, a la Alexandria - into a business venture that will aid political candidates, municipalities, nonprofits, government agencies and others navigate policy, conduct campaign research and connect with voters.

As we ramp up, we hope to bring others on board, White says. Already, even before our launch, we have received several resumes from qualified policy researchers and inquiries from multiple candidates and lawmakers. There seems to be a real appetite and need for this type of service. We have already hired two research interns, which will be announced later this week.

White has rubbed shoulders with numerous Democratic luminaries including the two candidates seeking the presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. His public support as a law student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 2014 for Texas state senator and then-gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis earned the ire of the right for all the wrong, superficial reasons. But when you have famed Democratic political operative James Carville in your corner, doors will surely open.

There's an old saying in politics about 'knowing where the bones are buried.' Lamar knows that in Louisiana, sometimes the bones are buried and sometimes they're above ground. We need folks like him to hold our politics and our politicians accountable, Carville says in a press release touting the new company. White co-founded the company with Cayman Clevenger of New Orleans, a longtime strategist for Republican campaigns and fellow SMU law school alumnus who will serve as Imagine Louisiana's executive vice president and chief of staff.

Clevenger and White at their graduation from SMU Law.

Others, including former elected officials, mentors and peers in the political press have been equally effusive.

Research is the most critical component of any campaign. If you are running for political office, leading a public affairs campaign or just trying to learn how to be more effective on a particular issue, it starts with the building block of investigative research, Bradley Beychok, the Louisiana-born political operative and president of Media Matters, writes. Lamar White has shown that with dogged research skills, colorful writing and a keen ability to sniff out nuggets of truth, you can be quite an effective operative.

There are few people in Louisiana who can get to the heart of a policy matter faster  and describe it with more clarity and vision  than Lamar White, says LSU professor and Times-Picayune columnist Robert Mann, who once served as an aide to Sen. Russell Long, Sen. John Breaux, and Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Lamar not only knows policy; he also has an uncanny instinct for Louisiana politics. He is one of the brightest and most creative minds in the Louisiana political world today.

Jerry Ceppos, the dean of LSU's Manship School of Mass Communications, agrees: Lamar has done some of the most important recent journalism in Louisiana without a staff or libel lawyers to back him up.

That work includes breaking the story on U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise's appearance at a white supremacist rally  a story that made national headlines  along with ground-breaking research and stories about U.S. Sens. David Vitter and Bill Cassidy. Since the launch of CenLamar nearly a decade ago, White has posted some 2,000 original articles and attracted nearly 2 million visitors to the site.

Full disclosure: White's writing has appeared fairly regularly at theind.com for the last few years; he's broken bread and raised a glass on several occasions with IND staff and Co-Publishers Steve and Cherry Fisher May. We wish him the best in his new venture. To the extent his political writing will taper off as his professional duties escalate, consumers of Louisiana politics will be the worse for his absence. Go get 'em, Lamar!

Visit Imagine Louisiana's website by clicking here.
Crowley hospital will hold its 2nd annual Charitable Gala on Friday, April 15, at the Grand Opera House of the South.

Acadia General Hospital will hold its 2nd annual Charitable Gala on Friday, April 15, at the Grand Opera House of the South. This years theme is Once Upon a Time.

"The purpose of the event is to engage members of the community and to raise awareness and capital for AGHs new emergency room, says Cian Robinson, executive director of Lafayette General Foundation, in a release about the fundraiser.

Guests will enjoy an evening of dining, dancing and live music by Louisiana Red. A silent and live auction has been planned with Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle serving as guest auctioneer for the evening.

Additionally, the gala will recognize and celebrate the Acadia General medical staff.

Lafayette General Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Lafayette General Health, is assisting with AGHs charity fund-raising efforts. At the inaugural gala, American Legion Post 15 presented a $350,000 gift to kick-off the campaign, and last years gala generated $71,000. This years goal is to exceed the proceeds raised in 2015.

Elder Outreach is the presenting sponsor of the gala, says Robinson. Other sponsors contributing $2,500 and above include Home Bank, Coding Services Group, Bank of Commerce, Carmichaels Pharmacy & Medical Equipment, Compass Health, First National Bank, Lamm Family Care, Schumacher Group, Cardiovascular Institute of the South, Nursing Specialties, IMA Consulting and St. Martin Bank.

Tickets for the 2016 gala are $150 each, and dress is black-tie optional. To learn more, contact the foundation office at 337-289-8954 or visit LGH.org/foundation.
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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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.
CHICAGO  Frustrated by a state budget impasse stretching into its 10th month, rank and file Illinois lawmakers are meeting in bipartisan groups to discuss potential solutions.

Illinois Republicans offer new plan to fund social services SPRINGFIELD  Republican leaders in the Illinois General Assembly on Thursday announced a pl

Some legislators spoke about their efforts Monday at a forum hosted by The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, saying the goal is to present plans to legislative leaders in hopes of resolving the stalemate between Democrats who control the Legislature and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

State Reps. William Davis, a Homewood Democrat, and Republican Robert Pritchard of Hinckley said they recently attended a lawmaker gathering in suburban Chicago to discuss tactics. Aside from noting revenue and reforms are in the mix, they declined to discuss specific proposals because they're in the initial phases.

"Sure, there's an element of frustration, there's also an element of realism," Pritchard said after the forum. "We're seeing the leaders aren't willing to come together. We're feeling the pressure from our constituents so we want to do something about it."

But the legislators face a tough road in trying to convince Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan, who haven't met with Rauner in months over a budget deal for the fiscal year that began in July. Democrats want Rauner to sign off on a tax increase, but Rauner first wants "structural reforms." Democrats refuse, saying those plans  like changes to collective bargaining  hurt working families.

Illinois budget crisis affecting fuel cleanup SPRINGFIELD  Federal regulators have warned Illinois to resume paying companies that wrench

Meanwhile, the state's fiscal problems continue to grow, something none of the eight lawmakers participating in the forum disputed. Because of court orders and other mandates, Illinois is spending without a budget at rates both sides say is unsustainable. The state comptroller's office has said the backlog of unpaid bills could reach $10 billion by the end of June.

Still lawmakers, due in Springfield Tuesday, are convinced their efforts help.

At least five separate groups have been meeting to discuss the budget. Four have sought guidance from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a progressive Chicago-based government accountability group, according to executive director Ralph Martire.

Also state Sen. Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat, said she's part of a bipartisan and bicameral group that's met "off and on" for some time.

"It will take rank and file folks coming together," she said during the forum. "It's a strategy that can be effective."
SPRINGFIELD  The Illinois Department of Public Health has proposed new rules that would require parents who have religious objections to vaccinations to provide a special document to their childrens schools or child care facilities each year.

The department has proposed the rules to implement a law the General Assembly approved last year that created a certificate of religious exemption for children whose parents dont want them to be vaccinated for religious reasons.

Parents refusing vaccines for kids need doctor's signature SPRINGFIELD  Parents in Illinois citing religious objections in refusing to have their chil

The law requires that a health care provider who has performed a childs examination sign the certificate after reviewing with a parent or guardian the benefits of vaccination and the health risks to the student and to the community of the communicable diseases for which immunization is required. Under the law, the certificate must be submitted to the school before the child enters kindergarten, sixth grade or ninth grade.

But the departments proposed rules go further, which has drawn the ire of vaccine opponents, about 20 of whom testified Monday at a public hearing in Springfield.

Opponents say the proposed rules are the departments attempt to override state law and would violate their religious freedom.

I dont want it to supersede or change the law, Virginia Crystal Greenwald, a mother and grandmother from Bloomington, said after testifying at the hearing. I feel like were being bullied and harassed.

In addition to her concerns about the departments proposed rules, Greenwald said she doesnt like that the law itself leaves it up to local school officials to determine the validity of someones religious objection. Greenwald said her objections to vaccination are based on the Bible.

New vaccine required in Illinois for students entering 6th, 12th grades Beginning this school year, children and teens entering grades sixth and 12th grades will ha

William Rademacher, a Bloomington chiropractor, also testified against the rules.

Rademacher said its an onerous requirement for religious objectors to get a form signed by a medical professional each year.

He also said health care providers should be required to provide parents with information about the risks associated with vaccinations.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that while there are some risks, they mainly include mild side effects such as redness and swelling at the injection site.

On the other hand, many vaccine-preventable disease symptoms can be serious, or even deadly, according to the CDCs website.

Southern Illinois sees shocking rise of Hepatitis C Cases of Hepatitis C -- a blood borne virus that attacks the liver and is spread via shared 

In addition to requiring a new certificate each year for school, the Department of Public Healths proposed rules would require parents to submit certificates for children in preschool or child care programs, regardless of whether theyre public, private or parochial.

The law says that objections dont have to be based on the tenets of any organized religion, but general philosophical or moral reluctance ... does not provide a sufficient basis for an exception.

The department will hold another hearing Monday in Wheaton and will then consider the testimony before submitting its final version to the General Assemblys Joint Committee on Administrative Rules for approval, spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said.
An Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce committee has reopened the search for a new leader of the organization after the first round of interviews failed to produce a hire.

The initial search was closed, OCCC Chairman Josh Ridley said. No hire was made and were continuing with our efforts to find the right candidate.

Ridley said the chamber is once again accepting applications and resumes for the presidential position.

Current President Dede Cook is retiring from the organization May 26 and moving to St. Augustine, Florida.

Were committed to a deliberate process to ensure that we adequately fill the vacancy, Ridley said. Obviously, wed like to fill that vacancy as quickly as we can, but the committee will take as much time as necessary to hire a president who will best serve the needs of the chamber and the Orangeburg community as a whole.

The chamber received nine applications and conducted the first round of interviews without settling on a candidate.

The position will remain open until a candidate has been hired, Ridley said. The interview process will begin upon receipt of resumes from qualified applicants.

Ridley has said the chamber wants the new president to be able to spend time with Cook to ensure a seamless transition.

Cook served the chamber for 7-1/2 years in two separate stints leading the organization.

A nine-member search committee has been formed to find a replacement.

The committee is made up of the chambers chairman, chairman-elect, five board vice presidents and two chamber members not on the board.

Ridley has said the search committee will be looking for an individual with fundraising and project management experience, and with great communication and networking skills.
My parents originally named me Victory Japan because my slightly premature birth resulted from mom and dad dancing in the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, on the night of Aug. 16, 1945  the day after the United States won its last war. Seventy years is a lifetime by the Biblical standard of our allotted three score and 10 years. Go back to 1945 and subtract 70 and you are two years away from the end of Reconstruction.

In my lifetime, Republicans blamed Democrats for losing China to communists and not winning in Korea, while Democrats blamed Republicans for losing Vietnam and want to blame the GOP for losing Iraq. In this heated and increasingly bizarre presidential campaign season, with the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Who lost Iraq? has become a key issue. Predictably, Democrats blame former President George W. Bush while Republicans blame current President Barack Obama.

It was Bush who on Dec. 14, 2008, as he was about to leave office, signed a Status of Forces Agreement that stated, All the United States Forces shall be withdrawn from all Iraqi territory no later than December 31, 2011. While former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her book, No Higher Honor, claims there was an understanding with then-Iraqi President Nouri Maliki that a residual force might remain, it seems Maliki later reneged. Bush left it to Obama to negotiate a new understanding.

Leon Panetta, one of Obamas secretaries of defense, claims in his book, Worthy Fights, that Maliki insisted a new agreement providing immunity from Iraqi prosecution of U.S. forces would never be accepted by the Iraqi parliament. Perhaps Maliki preferred chaos and Iranian domination to a tough political fight in his own parliament. Panetta wrote, To my frustration the White House coordinated the negotiations but never really led them. Obama satisfied the documentation, blamed Bush, and withdrew the troops.

Its a moot point since the Obama administration is losing the entire Middle East and Afghanistan to an Iranian-Russian axis. Meanwhile, the United States, a nation of 330 million people, has politically devolved into a democratic mob choosing between a bombastic business mogul, a former secretary of state who may be indicted or inaugurated, and a self-declared socialist who honeymooned in the USSR. The question shouldnt be Who lost Iraq? It should be Who is losing the Middle East and Afghanistan? Beyond that, the larger questions are Who are we and what have we become as a people and a nation? After all, we elected Barack Obama  twice.

The unmitigated evil ISIS does is meant to intimidate its co-religionists, terrify Christians and Jews, and enslave entire nations. It also issues from the mainstream of Saudi Wahhabism, a form of Islam that originated in 18th century Arabia. Millions adhere to it and mean to foist it on the Judeo-Christian West from Eastern and Western Europe and on to North and South America.

It is partially our fault that a ridiculous confluence of political progressivism and Eastern religious fundamentalism threatens the existence of Western society. During the last quarter century, many Christians and Jews in Europe and North America abandoned their religious faith for a postmodern philosophy spawned by leftist academic, religious and political elites who reject notions of definitive truth and absolutes like good and evil. Believing in little to nothing invites those who fervently embrace a cause, no matter how ill-informed or intellectually bankrupt, to attack and destroy us.

When Obama, former President Bill Clinton, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders refuse to recognize the evil inherent in Salafist Islam, they empower al-Qaeda and ISIS. We, as a people, have weakened our own academic and religious institutions and by extension our body politic by not acknowledging evil for what it is. Consequently, we are confused to the point that we cannot or will not act to destroy the very real threats we face.

The political debates  regardless of parties  are illustrative. Republicans insult and snipe at each other over ridiculous issues like who can or cannot speak Spanish, while Democrats spew bilge about America being a society of racists and homophobic bigots unwelcoming to immigrants and refugees. When political debate devolves to candidates campaigning for the American presidency by performing skits on Saturday Night Live, its clear we are a confused people who lost not only Iraq but also are about to lose ourselves to a postmodern world of our own making.

Forget who lost Iraq? Its gone. From Libya to Afghanistan, the Russians and Iranians are filling a vacuum created by the feckless foreign policies of the past eight years.
/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

More and more tourists are choosing Azerbaijan as a travel destination, and experts believe this sector can turn into the core direction for Azerbaijan's economic growth thanks to the extensive tourism potential of the country.



Azerbaijan with mix of modernity and historicity continues to be in focus of millions of foreigners despite the global economic crisis. Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev, addressing the opening ceremony of the 15th International Tourism Exhibition, noted that the country will welcome more foreign tourists in 2016 compared to last year.

The country is expected to be visited by many tourists from Russia, Iran, and Persian Gulf countries this summer.

Garayevs recent visits to Qatar and Kuwait promises to increase the flow of Arab tourists, who already regard Azerbaijan as one of their favorite destinations.

All of their media wrote about the tourism potential of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan Airlines has already discussed the organization of direct flights. Therefore, we expect a large influx of visitors from the Gulf countries, he said.

Alongside eastern tourists, the Land of Fire also attracts visitors from western countries. The minister said the latest data shows that the number of European tourists coming to Azerbaijan increased by 15-20 percent.



Noting that over 250 tourist companies are operating in Azerbaijan, Garayev added that the number of tourists rose by five times during past 10 years.



Touching upon prices in tourism sector, he added that a10-day holiday in Azerbaijan costs around 250 manats ($164), what is affordable and is a result of strong competition in the tourism sector of Azerbaijan, according to the minister.

The minister emphasized that tourism occupies one of the key places in the state policy, and the state has already reached success in certain projects and is going to realize a new tourism strategy that is already in the agenda of the Parliament.

Garayev also spoke about obstacles faced in the tourism sector, pointing to insufficient number of facilities for tourists.

Despite their number increased in recent years reaching 570, this is not enough. The flow of tourists is growing.

Most of tourists coming to Azerbaijan in recent years live in homes of villagers, who rent out their houses. For this purpose we have developed a special program, where we are conducting special training for owners of homes that provide services, and teach them to ensure quality and safe services, he said.

Another problem that foreign tourists faced while visiting Azerbaijan during the Novruz holiday was lack of the currency exchange points, which simply defies logic, according to the minister.

The currency exchange points and banks in Azerbaijan, as throughout the world, have to work during holidays, he said.

The minister said that the new bill "On Tourism", targeting to improve the national tourism, which is being discussed, will eliminate such facts.

"Every company, state-owned enterprises, ministries, will carry out the necessary work for the organization of high-level tourist trips, he assured.

Meanwhile, Culture and Tourism Ministry Tourism Department Head, Mahir Gahramanov announced that a state tourist registry for tourism enterprises is planned to be opened in accordance with the law.

Gahramanov said that activities of tourism enterprises, which to be included in the State Register and receive a certificate of compliance, will be deemed under an appropriate law.

He added its also planned to introduce compulsory certification for hotels, which is now carried out voluntarily.

"We are planning the introduction of compulsory certification as a reservation control mechanisms. But it just a proposal and the discussion is underway," Gahramnov said.
/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Armenian Armed Forces continue to violate the truce on the contact line of troops in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region despite the achieved agreement on ceasefire.

Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported that the enemy broke the ceasefire 117 times over the last 24 hours.

Armenian armed forces, located in Armenia's Berkaber village of Ijevan region, Mosesgekh village of Berd region, nameless hills of Krasnoselsk region subjected to fire the positions of Azerbaijani armed forces located in nameless hills and Gizilhajili village of Gazakh region, Agdam village in Tovuz region and nameless hills of Gadabay region.

The ceasefire was violated in Gulustan village in Goranboy region, Chilaburt, Yarimja villages in Tartar region, Shikhlar, Javahirli, Sarijali, Kangarli, Novruzlu, Shuraabad, Garagashli, Yusifjanli and Marzili villages in Aghdam region, Kuropatkino village in Khojavand region, Garakhanbayli, Horadiz, Gorgan, Ashagi Seyidahmadli villages in Fuzuli region, Mehdili village of Jabrayil region, as well as nameless hills in Goygol, Goranboy, Khojavand, Fuzuli and Jabrayil regions.

In view of the operational situation, the Azerbaijani military units inflicted 120 strikes on enemy positions.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijani Armed Forces have proved that they justify Azerbaijani peoples confidence.

Zakir Hasanov, Azerbaijans Defense Minister made the remark at the farewell ceremony with the Azerbaijani servicemen  Murad Mirzayev, Tabriz Musazade, Urfan Valizade and Bakir Ismayilov - killed while preventing the Armenian provocations on the contact line of troops.

"I would like to emphasize that the martyrs will be avenged, while our lands will be liberated from occupation, the minister stressed.

Over hundreds of years, Armenian fascists have been committing crimes and genocide, and if not prevented, it will continue like that, Hasanov added.

"I want to note that our martyrs have proved the world that the people of Azerbaijan are the heroic people. They have fulfilled their sacred duty, the minister noted.

Hasanov further cited the words of national leader Heydar Aliyev, saying that every soldier, every officer of the Azerbaijani army should know that Azerbaijan's territorial integrity must be recovered at any cost.

Azerbaijans servicemen Tabriz Musazade, Urfan Velizade, Bakir Ismayilov and Murad Mirzayev were killed on April 2, as a result of Armenian armed units provocations. Their bodies were handed over to the Azerbaijani side on April 10. After the farewell ceremony, they will be buried at the second Alley of Honor.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.
/By Azernews/

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev chaired the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the results of socio-economic development in the first quarter of 2016 and the future tasks on April 9.

The agenda of the meeting covered a number of issues, including the recent tensions on the line of contact of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Armed Forces, as well as Azerbaijan's political, economic and social achievements in the reported period.

President Aliyev, addressing the event, said that Armenian armed provocation committed against Azerbaijan earlier this month was foiled, and the enemy was given a fitting rebuff.

"Azerbaijan was able to protect its lands, and to further strengthen the military position. This bloody clash once again showed that Armenia continues its occupation policy, does not want peace and is trying to disrupt the negotiation process," he said.

Armenian Armed Forces, which continue to violate the truce on the contact line of troops in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region despite the achieved agreement on ceasefire, aims to keep the status quo unchanged. The three co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group  Russia, the U.S. and France, have repeatedly announced that the existing status quo is unacceptable and must be changed. However, unfortunately, Armenia ignores it.

The Karabakh conflict can be resolved only within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and this is supported by state-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

"I know that this year the co-chairing countries have put forward new proposals to continue negotiations. During my visit to the U.S., the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was widely debated with the political leadership of the United States. They noted that they support the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," President Aliyev said. "All the co-chairing countries - the U.S., Russia, and France support the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. There is no country in the world, except Armenia, which would not support our territorial integrity. Obviously, the possible positive dynamics in the negotiations has led Armenia to commit this provocation."

Despite Armenia's provocations, Azerbaijan will always protect its lands. And Azerbaijan will never allow a second Armenian state to appear on its lands. Azerbaijan has always stated that it is in favor of peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Azerbaijan's president pointed out that following the bloody clashes, the international community expressed concern over the issue and heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries issued statements, calling for a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

We have repeatedly stated that we want a peaceful, political settlement of the problem. We just want to find a solution to the problem. We declare that we are committed to the negotiation process," President Aliyev stated.

The president voiced hope that the long-lasting negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict lead to the settlement of the problem.

"The solution of the problem is very simple - Armenian Armed Forces must leave the occupied lands, Azerbaijani citizens must return to their native lands, and after this, peace and security can be established in the region. As for the principle of self-determination of peoples, this principle should not violate the territorial integrity of countries, and these expressions are reflected in the Helsinki Final Act. All conflicts must be resolved within the territorial integrity of the countries," President Aliyev said.

Azerbaijan, as a leading country in the South Caucasus region, has set the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as its primary goal. President Aliyev believes that the stronger becomes Azerbaijan in political, economic and in other fields, the closer it will be to the solution of the conflict.

"We must further accelerate the dynamics of our development. Sustainable development in Azerbaijan should continue. The progress made in recent years in economic and political spheres, indicate that we are on the right track," he noted.

In the first quarter of 2016, Azerbaijan conducted very active foreign policy. In this period, President Aliyev made a number of official and working visits abroad. He attended the Davos Economic Forum, the Munich Security Conference, and the London Conference on "Support for Syria and the region." The head of state also made visits to the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Turkey, and the U.S.

The geography of these visits shows that Azerbaijan pursues very active and multifaceted foreign policy, and the number of its friends is growing year by year. Azerbaijan cooperates with the world countries based on mutual respect and interests.

The president went on to add that the international community is showing more confidence in Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan is known as a very reliable partner, and it plays a stabilizing role in the region," President Aliyev believes. "I want once again note that the international community treats Azerbaijan with great respect and sympathy."

Azerbaijan is a core part of new formats of regional cooperation, such as Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia, Azerbaijan-Iran-Turkey, Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, as well as Azerbaijan-Turkey-Turkmenistan.

"All these tripartite initiatives are very important for ensuring security and deepening cooperation in the region," President Aliyev said.

The current year is expected to remember for deep economic reforms. In this regard, the government took decisive economic measures in the first quarter of 2016.

Azerbaijan has made very serious decisions towards improving the business environment, increasing export potential, attracting foreign investments to Azerbaijan, and increasing local production.

"I want to say that further measures will be taken regarding financial discipline and transparency," President Aliyev said. "The whole economic and financial sector of Azerbaijan, based on the experience of leading countries, should be developed based on the most advanced principles. First of all, it is necessary to improve the control mechanisms, transparency must be fully ensured."

President Aliyev believes that Azerbaijan's revenues will increase despite the fact that oil prices have fallen sharply and are still at a very low level.

"This, of course, will have a serious impact on our revenues. However, I believe that we will be able to successfully get out of this situation thanks to the development of non-oil sector," he added.

He also expressed confidence that Azerbaijan's GDP will increase within a year. Azerbaijan already achieved a 5-percent growth in the non-oil sector of the national economy.

"The growth of the non-oil industry for more than five percent gives good hope for more rapid development of the non-oil sector in Azerbaijan. Today, the non-oil sector constitutes a major part of the economy of Azerbaijan. We have achieved this and in the future, of course, we should try to make the non-oil sector to have more weight in our export," President Aliyev stressed.

Azerbaijan also achieved creating 37,000 new jobs, including 31,000 permanent jobs in the first quarter of 2016. In order to keep the unemployment rate at a low level, the head of state made a decision to create new jobs at the state-owned companies, and government agencies.

"Opening such number of jobs in the first quarter, of course, targets the social protection of people," President Aliyev stated. "Social policy has always been and will be a priority. The steps taken in the first quarter, once again show that Azerbaijan is a social state. A citizen of Azerbaijan is in the center of our policy. Interests of citizens of Azerbaijan are above all for us. All economic reforms, our successful oil and gas policy are aimed at the people to live better."

Several facts also show that Azerbaijan pays special attention to the social protection of population. In particular, despite the ongoing financial and economic crisis in the world, Azerbaijan was one of few countries that have overcome the crisis with minimal losses.

The salaries and pensions increased by 10 percent this year in the country despite the decrease of oil prices by 3-4 times.

President Aliyev further stressed the necessity of realizing large-scale projects in the field of regional development. He said that about 2 billion manats ($1.3 billion) will be required to implement the planned projects.

"Part of these funds should be provided through the preferential loans from the state, and a part - at the expense of entrepreneurs. Anyway, we have put such a goal. We must try to achieve this goal. Thus, the investments, which will be made in the economy of the country, in the non-oil sector, will contribute to further recovery, creating new jobs, and we will have new export products," he said.

Speaking about the works done for establishment of the international transport corridors, President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan conducted active works towards the establishment of the North-South transport corridor.

"The main condition for the establishment of this corridor is the Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia trilateral cooperation," he said. "I can say that there is a general agreement. This transport corridor is very necessary for us both in economic terms and in terms of security and tourism. Thus, we will offer other major countries our transit opportunities, and the treasury, the budget of Azerbaijan will receive huge economic benefits from it. Because it will not only speed up the existing and potential trade between the three countries, but at the same time Pakistan, India, the north European countries will be joined via this corridor, and the volume of cargoes passing through our territory, will increase significantly."

Azerbaijan also conducted active work towards the establishment of the East-West transport corridor. Azerbaijan is working in a tripartite format - Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey for implementation of this project.

"My visit to Georgia at the end of last year and the visit to Turkey this year were very useful for the establishment of this corridor," President Aliyev said. "Azerbaijan is again in the center of two corridors. If we did not have very positive relations, based on friendship and partnership, with neighboring countries, none of these projects would be implemented. I have always said that relations with neighbors are very important for us. We have no problems with any of the neighboring countries, except Armenia. On the contrary, our relations with our neighbors are expanding day by day, and they become stronger, which is the main condition for security and stability, and economic development and cooperation."

Azerbaijan's relations are successfully developing with all countries and international organizations. In the first quarter of 2016, two vice-presidents of the European Commission visited Azerbaijan. Energy, political and economic issues, security issues, and others were high on the agenda of their talks with Azerbaijan's officials.

Also, Azerbaijan's participation in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington is an important indicator of respect to the country. This international event was attended by more than 50 countries, including Azerbaijan.

"If we consider that Azerbaijan is not a nuclear power, there is no nuclear power station and nuclear industry in Azerbaijan, the invitation of Azerbaijan to this prestigious event is a manifestation of respect to us by the government, the president of the U.S. and reflects our role in this region. Azerbaijan is a reliable partner in prevention of illicit traffic of nuclear materials," President Aliyev said.

During President Aliyev's visit to the U.S., the two countries had very good, fruitful and sincere talks. These negotiations once again showed that the ties between Baku and Washington are very important for both sides.

Another important event in the first quarter was the second Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor held in Baku. The leading role of Azerbaijan in this sphere was once again marked in the adopted declaration.

Speaking about this major project, President Aliyev noted that Implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor is underway on schedule, necessary investments are being made.

"Coordination between the countries and companies are at a high level. I am sure that this strategic project will be implemented in a timely manner," President Aliyev said.

Baku also hosted the IV Global Baku Forum, which was attended by representatives from more than 50 countries, current and former heads of state and government. This Forum, which has become one of the leading international forums of the world, is the ideal platform for discussions.

"Holding these forums in Baku, of course, multiplies our value," President Aliyev said. "At the end of this month, the VII Global Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations will be held in Baku. I believe that it is the result of the successes achieved in Azerbaijan in the field of multiculturalism, inter-civilization dialogue. This year was declared the Year of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan. The progress made in this field, are highly appreciated by the international community."

Thus, despite the ongoing financial and economic crisis and decrease of Azerbaijan's revenues, the country has reduced the risks to a minimum thanks to very operational steps, deep economic reforms and wise foreign policy.

In his closing remarks, President Aliyev set very important tasks before the relevant ministries.

He instructed all the ministers to work hard in order to accomplish the tasks set before them, and to achieve further development of the Azerbaijani economy and better living conditions of the population.

President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan will continue its path of successful development.

"First and foremost, we must pay more attention to the army building," he noted. Today, the Azerbaijani army is among the strongest armies in the world both for its material and technical equipment, and in terms of combat capability. We live in a state of war. Our lands are under occupation. Of course, in this case, more attention should be paid, is paid and will be paid to building of the army."

The head of state believes that in order to achieve the successful building of the army, Azerbaijan's economy should grow even faster.

The president voiced belief that Azerbaijan will attract even greater amounts of foreign investment. In order to attract foreign investment, legal framework, transparent economic and financial system, as well as the rule of law must be ensured, he explained.

President Aliyev further said that the rapid development of non-oil sector should be provided in the future. It is necessary to create new jobs, new production areas, and production areas of export orientation.

"The program of construction of social housing will be presented to the public in the near future. This is a new initiative. In some countries, this practice is being applied. We are studying and studied positive practices. There is a great need and demand in it," President Aliyev said. "The construction of social housing will be started in all cities, regional centers with an aim to reduce unemployment in the regions and solve the housing problems of low-income population with limited material possibilities."

The Azerbaijani president also said that this year over 40 rural road projects will be implemented. Some 250 million manats ($164 million) will be allocated for this purpose.

He also stressed the necessity to accelerate the implementation of works for establishing Alat international sea trade port.

"It is important to continue environmental measures. In recent years, huge amount of work has been done both in Baku and in the regions of the country in this regard," the president added.

President Aliyev also pointed to the necessity of developing the agricultural sector.

"The development of agriculture has always been a priority for us, and its value has increased even more in the current conditions. We must further accelerate the export of agricultural products," he said. Food security has always been a priority for us, and remains a priority today. This allows us to provide ourselves with our own products, high quality and clean products, to reduce dependence on imports."

He stressed that Azerbaijan should achieve rapid development in cotton breeding, sericulture, tobacco cultivation and tea growing, as well as viticulture.
/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Moscow has once again called on the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to follow ceasefire agreements.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a statement during a joint press conference with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter on April 11.

"We are concerned over the escalation of situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone," Lavrov stressed. "We call on the sides to comply with the agreements on an immediate cessation of armed clashes and to prevent the breach of the agreement."

Moscow is interested in seeing positive developments towards an agreement on the settlement of the conflict, he added.

Burkhalter, in turn, stressed that a dialogue is needed to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, adding that this process has not yet been adjusted and it should be dealt with.

The situation calmed down a little, thanks to Russia's efforts, but, nevertheless, there is a danger of the escalation of the conflict, the Swiss foreign minister stressed.

Earlier, Lavrov and John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, applauded the ceasefire between the parties to the long lasting conflict.

"The heads of the foreign departments welcomed the agreement reached on a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed to contribute to the normalization of the situation in the region", Russia's Foreign Ministry reported on April 10.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be discussed at the plenary session of the European Parliament, to be held in Strasbourg from Apr. 11 through Apr. 14, said the organization on its website.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini is expected to take part in the discussions.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
The information spread by Armenians that allegedly Azerbaijani servicemen desecrated the dead bodies of Armenian soldiers is false, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend Apr. 11.

The ministry said there are facts of desecration of the Azerbaijani soldiers' dead bodies by the Armenian servicemen.

"By making such statements, Armenians want to mislead the international community in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, to justify themselves and accuse Azerbaijanis of atrocities," added the Defense Ministry.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
/By Azernews/

By Fatma Babayeva

Irans power and water equipment and services export company SUNIR signed a contract with Kazakhstans Eurasia Invest Group in Tehran recently.

SUNIR will build one wind and two thermal plants in Kazakhstan in 18 months, Bahman Salehi, the CEO of the company told on the sidelines of Iran-Kazakhstan Business Council meeting in Tehran, IRNA reported.

The contract value amounts to $600 million. The planned wind power station will have 50 megawatts capacity and thermal power plants 250 megawatts in accordance with the agreement, Salehi added. The wind plant will be built on the Kazakh coast of the Caspian Sea, and the other two on the Silk Road- in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan.

The CEO also mentioned that it was decided that SUNIR will cooperate with Kazakhstan in various sphere such as water supply and sewerage system, construction of gas pipeline, road development and mining in Kazakhstan. The parties expressed their desire to sign a memorandum of understanding in these areas.

Kazakhstan expressed strong incentives to expand trade ties and vowed to provide Iranian traders with any permit they may need to start business in Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Minister for Investments and Development, Asset Issekeshev earlier noted that 900 Iranian companies are currently active in different fields in Kazakhstan, particularly in chemical industries, Tehran Times reported.

Kazakhstan's Statistic Agency revealed that the countrys power generation was 91 billion kilowatt hour for 2013 and 98 billion kilowatt hour for 2014.

The country hopes to increase electricity production to 150 billion kilowatt hour by 2030.

About 70 percent of electricity has been produced in coal fired power station in Kazakhstan. The rest has been generated from oil, natural gas and hydro resources.

Kazakhstans power generation industry has experienced hard post-Soviet transformation period. The production and consumption of electricity fell significantly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

However, power generation rose again in 2010s. 14 electricity generation projects have been included in the countrys industrial program and eight were completed.

More than 80 per cent of electric power generation has been privatized in Kazakhstan. The government does not regulate prices for electricity, and consumers are free to choose their own providers (currently there are 15 licensed electricity traders).

The country also has plans for renewable development and nuclear plant.
By Fatma Babayeva

Kazakhstan has yet to decide whether to participate in the Doha meeting, which will bring together the world's major oil powers on April 17 in effort to support oil prices.

The country's energy ministry confirmed Trend news agency about receiving an invitation for the event in the Qatari capital, but abstained to make any comment about Kazakhstan's decision in this regard.

The next meeting between the OPEC members and countries outside the cartel in Doha is expected to develop a mechanism to freeze crude production to the level of January 2016 that will actually allow making prices rise for the second half of the year.

If oil producers can freeze oil output , it is expected to balance demand and supply of oil in the market and make oil prices rise again.

Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said sharp freezing of oil production in the country is not on the agenda, but the country plans to reduce the crude production for technical reasons in 2016. Kazakhstan plans to produce less than previous years, extracting 74 million tons of oil in 2016 compared to 79.46 million tons of oil in 2015.

For now Kazakhstan could keep the current level of production stable based on the technical capabilities and geological conditions of the oil and gas fields, the ministry added.

Earlier, Vladimir Shkolnik, former Energy Minister of Kazakhstan, said that Kazakhstan plans to compensate the reduction of oil production in the country by opening the Kashagan field in the market in the future.

The launch of Kashagan field is scheduled for autumn 2016, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).

The commercial production of 75,000 barrels of oil from the Kashagan field will be realized in 1.5 months after its commencement.

According to BP Statistical review of world energy for 2015, Kazakhstan held 1.8 percent of the world's total proved oil reserves and 1.9 percent of the world's total oil production.

Russia and Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest oil producers, together with Qatar and Venezuela have agreed to freeze production at January levels in Doha on February 16. The states set a goal to maintain average production at the level of January 2016, but there was a condition if other producers will join this initiative as well.

Previously, Saudi Arabian Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that his country would not agree to the deal without similar action on the part of Iran.

At the same time, Tehran has repeatedly stated that it intends to increase the volume of oil production in order to regain the market share that it lost after the imposition of sanctions against it.

Countries like Ecuador, Algeria, Nigeria, Oman and Kuwait have already expressed their willingness to join to the act of freezing oil production.
UAE, represented by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), recently signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and tax evasion on income with Jordan.



The agreement aims to enhance joint cooperation in economic and tax fields, and encourage investment activities and trade exchange between both countries. The signing ceremony took place alongside the Joint Annual Meeting of the Arab Financial Institutions, which was held recently in Bahrain.



The agreement was signed by Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, and Omar Zuhair Abdelfattah Malhas, Jordanian Minister of Finance.



Al Tayer stressed the importance of signing similar agreements to enhance the investment environment and develop trade relations between the two countries. He also highlighted that the agreement on tax exemption for air transport between the two parties will remain in effect.



The Ministry continues to strengthen the UAEs relations with different countries across the globe, and expand its network of agreements on the avoidance of double taxation and tax evasion on income, due to their role in protecting and encouraging investment on a global level. The Ministry also works on establishing direct communication with prominent Emirati investors abroad as well as local airlines to discuss prominent ways to protect and encourage investment within the country, said Al Tayer.



The agreement with the Kingdom of Jordan is an addition to a series of agreements and economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries. This is considered as an example of joint Arab economic work, and is reflected in the growth witnessed through trade and investment exchange between countries, he added.



The UAE signed a number of agreements with Jordan, including the encouragement and protection of investment agreement in 2009. The agreement aims to encourage Emirati and Jordanian businessmen to invest in both countries by providing them with the necessary foundations to motivate and increase trade and investment activities.  TradeArabia News Service
Major developers from the UAE and abroad are launching a number of high-profile projects comprising hospitality, retail, and commercial entities when Cityscape Abu Dhabi opens tomorrow (April 12).



Running for the 10th consecutive year, Abu Dhabis most prominent real estate showcase, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, is set to welcome more than 90 exhibitors to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec).



A selection of exhibitors have prepared special offers for Cityscape Abu Dhabi visitors, such as Asteco Property Management, UAE, and Trafalgar Properties, UK, both of which are offering one-off discounts for the event.



Jerry Oates, the general manager at Asteco Abu Dhabi said: "Our offering at Cityscape Abu Dhabi this year encapsulates a number of projects in highly attractive locations with a range of pricing options designed to appeal to every type of investors."



Cityscape Abu Dhabi investors will be offered two of Astecos residential projects at The Palm, Dubai: Anantara Residence and Dukes Oceania with 10 and 15 per cent guaranteed return on investment (ROI) for three and five years, respectively.



Oats added: Whether its someone looking to get their foot on the real estate ladder with an entry-level investment of Dh480,000 ($130,697) for those looking to add to their investment portfolios with a multi-million-dirham penthouse, offering excellent ROI potential.



Trafalgar Properties, meanwhile, will offer four different projects at discounted rates across the UK, including 100 units within its London-based Royal Wharf apartment buildings complex which will be available with a 15 per cent markdown exclusively to Cityscape Abu Dhabi investors.



Trafalgar Properties has a close relationship with developers in the UK and the investors dont necessarily need to go to Britain as we have a local legal support to help them in finalising the transaction until the handover of the keys, said Sid Syed, UK residential director at Trafalgar Properties.



Carlo Schembri, exhibition manager of Cityscape Abu Dhabi at Informa Exhibitions, the organisers of Cityscape Abu Dhabi, said: All indications in the run-up to the show have been pointing towards an incredibly busy, profitable opening day and were expecting a significant number of transactions to take place on the show floor.



As well as a number of projects offered at preferential rates, a highlight of the show will be the Abu Dhabi Market Overview Forum, which will give those in attendance insight into the emirates latest trends and initiatives, including future developments and newly implemented new real estate regulations.



Jointly organised with JLL and supported by Masdar City, the half-day forum runs on the opening day and will provide delegates exclusive access to the JLLs 2016 first quarter Abu Dhabi Real Estate Overview report.



Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about and invest in a socially responsible project, promoted by Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), a volunteer organisation focusing on humanitarian work in countries affected by conflict and poverty.



ERC will showcase its brand new community project called Emirates City in Socotra Island, Yemen, including low-cost homes, hospitals, mosques and schools in the hopes of attracting potential investors who wish to contribute to their cause of helping thousands of homeless people in their strife-torn country.



Eagle Hills has announced that it will run a new Instagram competition giving visitors the chance to win an exclusive trip to Jordan, Morocco, or Belgrade. We will be offering visitors to our stand the chance to win a free three-day trip for two people to one of our destinations and a number of gifts through an interactive social media competition, said Low Ping, CEO at Eagle Hills.



The contest will run during Cityscape Abu Dhabi opening hours, closing at 3:30pm on April 14.



A number of major developers in the UAE are present at the event this year, with market leaders including Aldar Properties, Al Qudra, Bloom Properties, Eshraq Properties, Masdar City, Manazel, Mubadala Real Estate and Infrastructure, Reem Developers, Tamouh, Tourism and Development Investment Company (TDIC) and Wahat Al Zaweya, showcasing their latest portfolio to regional and international investors.-TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Health Authority has opened a dedicated Parkinsons clinic at Rashid Hospital in Dubai, UAE, one of the hospitals run by the Authority to mark World Parkinsons Day.



Dr Abubaker Al Madani, head of neurology department at Rashid Hospital, said: At the moment the clinic will be held twice a month and if we see an increase in demand we will extend it to more days. The aim of the clinic is to provide comprehensive care for Parkinsons patients. Presently we have 300 patients with the disease who will benefit from the introduction of this clinic.



Parkinsons disease is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) and leads to chronic and progressive movement disorder. Parkinsons could later lead to mental illness, problems in thinking, dementia and depression. It affects middle-aged and elderly persons mostly above the age of 50 years.



It is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimers. According to Parkinsons Disease Foundation an estimated seven to 10 million people worldwide are living with the disease.



Al Madani said that the disease mainly affects the elderly and since the symptoms develop slowly, often, the disease is diagnosed in the later stages. The disease is a degenerative disease and therefore early detection is vital to slow its progression and ensure patients can have the best quality of life possible. However, since there is no specific test to diagnose the disease and since the symptoms take a while to develop, often the disease is diagnosed in the later stages, he explained.



In the beginning, patients experience tremors that are barely noticeable. As the disease progresses, patients face slowing of movement, walking difficulties, imbalance, expressionless face, softness in speech, anxiety, depression and sleep disturbance. Our message to the community is that such symptoms should not be taken lightly and immediate neurological opinion is necessary to aid in early detection and treatment.



Dr Yasmin Kamal, senior specialist neurologist at Rashid Hospital said that patients experience loss in mobility because in Parkinsons disease neurons, which are vital, nerve cells in the brain, malfunction and die. Neurons produce a chemical dopamine that sends messages to the part of the brain that controls movement and coordination. Without dopamine, the patient is unable to control movement normally.



Dr Kamal said the primary causes of Parkinsons include genetic predisposition and possibly environmental factors. Secondary causes that can increase the risk of developing the disease include head trauma or injuries, strokes, brain infections, acute toxicity, endocrinal and metabolic diseases including liver and kidney disease.



There is no cure for the disease but comprehensive treatment greatly reduces the symptoms and prolongs the progression of the disease, Dr Kamal said.



The hospital is also planning to begin a Parkinsons support group to help patients and their families cope with the disease.



To mark the occasion of World Parkinsons Day 2016, the department will hold an awareness program at the reception of Rashid Hospital on the April 13 and doctors will be present to address queries.  TradeArabia News Service
The autonomous vehicle technology will revolutionise the GCC region's transport sector, and the region needs to be prepared in terms of road infrastructure, legal framework and regulations to support such technologies, said experts.



The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), a leading transport consultancy and research firm, pointed out that there is a continuing global growth in the autonomous vehicles market, which is reflected in the growing number of manufacturers exploring the technology.



According to the companys senior executives, despite the skyrocketing number of manufacturers, no self-driving cars have been made available to the public. However, industry analysts have expressed confidence that by the year 2020, self-driving cars would then be publicly available.



As such, authorities in the region have already started to study the development of this new technology. The move represents the region's preparation for autonomous vehicle technology -- which also includes the development of road infrastructure and encouraging manufacturers to create the appropriate environment for the introduction of driverless vehicles.



The growing popularity of autonomous vehicle technology, combined with its potential as a safer and more secure means of transport, suggests that this new technology will eventually revolutionize the regions transport segment, said Akin Adamson, TRLs Middle East director.



TRL has over 50 years of experience in vehicle automation. So, it is well positioned to aid policymakers, government authorities and customers in this process by developing a program of activities, legal framework and regulations that can accommodate and support autonomous vehicles.



One of the companys latest endeavours is the Greenwich Automated Transport Environment (GATEway) project, a GBP8 million ($11.3 million) project funded by Innovate UK and Industry. TRL is leading the project which will investigate public perception, reaction and engagement with a range of different types of automated vehicles.



As part of the project, three British companies are working in collaboration to develop new iconic automated pods for public trials this summer. Using entirely British engineering and software capabilities, Westfield Sportscars, Heathrow Enterprises and Oxbotica will develop pods capable of operating fully autonomously and safely on the streets of London in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.



The three companies, all of which recently joined the GATEway project as consortium members, will be working together to develop the existing Ultra PODS currently in service at the UKs Heathrow Airport. Operating at Terminal 5 for nearly five years, these pods have already carried 1.5m passengers and completed 3m kilometres of fully automated operation. Led by Westfield Sportcars, these pods will now be adapted to navigate the streets of Greenwich without the need for dedicated tracks.



The shuttle trial, which is one of three automated vehicle tests within the GATEway project, will investigate public acceptance of automated shuttle vehicles within the urban mobility landscape. Other trials set to take place in the project include autonomous valet parking and automated deliveries.



Last year, Dubai announced that the latest technologies in the field of smart mobility solutions will be considered for use in Expo 2020, said George Zakhem, programme manager, TRL - UAE.



Further the announcement highlighted, the emirate is now pioneering efforts in the region to be the first to map out a strategy and plan on how to utilize autonomous vehicle (driverless car) technology on to the emirate's road networks. The GATEway project is an exciting leap forward for the UK and TRL is very honoured to be leading this UK consortium and is also well positioned in bringing such initiatives and best practices to the GCC region, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
With the Middle East having a 40 per cent share of global gas reserves, more networking connectivity is needed to maximise the utilisation value of such gas resources, said a top official.



Developing the gas sector requires thorough collaboration between national oil companies (NOC) and their international counterparts (IOC) as Partners in Success for overall sustainability, added Mohammad Husain, president and CEO of Equate Petrochemical Company, Kuwaits first international joint-venture in this industry.



Such development entails overall adaptation, preparing for the new era, resilience, understanding future energy mix, high reliability, ensuring environmental excellence, pricing structure, innovative solutions, cost effective technology, suitable regulations, as well as having the qualified human capital, Husain explained, speaking at Kuwait Oil & Gas Summit 2016.



Currently, the oil market is facing price fluctuations due to increased supplies. Although the market is currently progressing, we are still dealing with changes. Naturally, as a major market, China is critical to maintain stability. Along the same lines, the oil producers meeting in Doha will have a direct impact on matters, he noted.



Husain added: In terms of Equates upcoming projects, we are continuing the execution of our 2020 Strategy and are currently looking as far as 2025. At the same time, to optimize the added-value, Equate is continuing the integration of its new subsidiary MEGlobal which we acquired at the end of 2015.



Sponsored by Equate, Kuwait Oil & Gas Summit 2016 is held during 11-12 April with the participation of several senior officials from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and subsidiaries, as well as other oil, gas, petrochemical, scientific and academic organizations from around the world.  TradeArabia News Service
Mena countries can double or even triple the rate of adoption of digital payments by creating new payment infrastructure and introducing regulations to promote digital commerce, a report said.



A modern payment infrastructure has the potential to create new and sustainable revenue streams for commercial banks in the region, according to the report, titled Doubling Digital Payments in Mena from global consulting and technology firm Booz Allen Hamilton.



The report recommends that in the face of a slowing global economy, regional central banks adopt a more strategic approach to regulatory policymaking in order to realize the full potential of the digital economy in the Mena region.



For banks in Mena, its either keep up with the digital focus of consumer payment habits, or risk becoming irrelevant, said Lutfi Zakhour, senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena and co-author of the report. Decreasing reliance on cash and addressing the growing challenges related to retail payments should be top priorities for central and commercial banks if they are to unlock the benefits derived from the creation of an inclusive digital economy.



Just 6 percent of current retail payments by volume in Bahrain are made digitally, compared with 42 percent in the UK and 75 percent in Sweden.



The digital economy has the potential to unlock economic growth, stimulate the e-commerce industry and generate new, sustainable revenue streams for commercial banks right across Mena, Zakhour said.



At a time of economic slowdown and tightened liquidity, financial services institutions can stimulate robust and organic growth by adopting a more proactive approach to the new global payment reality, said Charles Habak, principal at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena and co-author of the report. The focus must remain on champion solutions  tailored payment models that are viable and can be scaled up in the region.



The report identifies key recommendations for central and commercial banks in the region, such as introducing digital payment regulations, enhancing retail operations, collaborating on design and infrastructure, establishing an inclusive governance system, promoting pragmatic financial inclusion, balancing cooperation and competition, developing new products to meet consumer demand, building healthy consortia to increase market strength and partnering with FinTech start-ups.



For Mena Central Banks



1. Introduce digital payment regulations: In order to drive innovation and competition, regulators need to issue new digital payment directives, including licensing and authorization, capital and safeguarding, governance, limits and compliance. This will accelerate growth and offer greater consumer protection while efficiently balancing an effective market uptake and overall payment stability.



2. Enhance or carve out retail payments operations: Mena central banks should consider speeding up innovation and enhancing quality of service in their retail payment operations through performance-enhancement programs or carve-outs of their payment operations via wholly owned entities or public-private partnerships.



3. Collaboratively design and roll out infrastructure: Collaboration with other banks and stakeholders is key to building new retail payments infrastructure. The design should initially be owned and incubated by business functions, focusing largely on providing safe, secure and convenient services to end users.



4. Establish ecosystem-engaging governance: Mena central banks need to set up a governance structure that includes industry stakeholders such as banks, entrepreneurs and SMEs, technology players and other key corporations to ensure continuous evolution in the ecosystem.



5. Promote pragmatic financial inclusion: Initiatives such as wage protection systems have created considerable opportunities to extend financial services beyond basic payroll and accounting. Looking past commercial obligations and risk averseness, and working to achieve lower costs is the first step towards financial inclusion. Mena central banks should work closely with commercial banks and other financial institutions to reassess segments with true potential and volume for digital transactions as a starting point, and help identify suitable and cost-efficient offerings that can effectively cater to their needs.



For Mena Commercial Banks



1. Engage with central banks to roll out a modern central infrastructure: Commercial banks need to work proactively with central banks, or through consortia, to co-design and roll out a modern central infrastructure and digital payments platform. They should also seek to collaborate with technology players, telecommunication providers, payment aggregators and national identity authorities to capitalize on growing technology disruptions and increase revenue streams with more compelling market offerings.



2. Establish the right balance between bank cooperation and competition: Commercial banks in the region need to commit to governance structures that strike the difficult balance between collaboration and competition with their peers. Healthy competition is a key driver of innovation.



3. Develop new products and services to match consumer demands: To compete with regional and international technology players, commercial banks need to design and roll out innovative products and services to match evolving consumer needs. Governance, cooperation, speed, modernization and strength of organizational links are central components of launching these new products and services.



4. Build healthy consortia to increase competitiveness and market strength: Commercial banks should look to the capabilities of non-bank stakeholders for niche areas of new bank products and services. Similarly, technology players can extend infrastructure; telecommunication providers can help strengthen communication security, promotion, and distribution; payment aggregators can provide SMEs with integrated e-commerce and e-payment platforms; and national identity authorities can bolster customer authentication services to enhance the overall value proposition of banks.



5. Partner with and incubate FinTech start-ups: To stay ahead of the curve, banks need to build more agility into how IT innovations are adopted. By partnering with or contributing to the incubation of FinTech start-ups, banks can offer more competitive products and services while incurring less upfront costs. If executed properly, these partnerships can marry the resilience and compliance of bank-based models with the innovation and entrepreneurship of start-ups, creating compelling offerings that will create new channels of revenue.  TradeArabia News Service
A new luxury concept is set to open in Dubai this month with the debut of Billionnaire Mansion, a unique lifestyle destination.



Located in the Taj Hotel in Business Bay, Italian businessman Flavio Briatore will bring his world-renowned Billionaire Life concept to the UAE emirate on April 15, aiming to provide the 'nightlife experience of Porto Cervo' and 'dance floors reminiscent of Bodrum, Istanbul and Malindi Beach' to partygoers of Dubai.



The new venue will feature the renowned Japanese restaurant Sumosan, Billionaire Grill Italian restaurant, lounge bar, nightclub, karaoke room, outdoor terrace and shisha bar.



Guests can enjoy a rustic yet refined Italian cuisine at the Billionaire Grill whilst those who prefer a Japanese cuisine can savour delectable sushi from the world renowned Sumosan.



Furthermore, The vine draped terrace is the optimum setting to relax al fresco with friends or loved ones and enjoy excellent concoctions right from the bar.



The Mediterranean style terrace transforms into a chic, post-dinner hangout for those wanting to add a few more hours to their evening. - TradeArabia News Service
Ramada Downtown Dubai will be exhibiting at the annual Arabian Travel Market this month to seek new markets and boost its presence among GCC travellers.



With the increasing room inventory in Dubai, the hotel will highlight its competitive rates and its key location in the emirate.



The property aims to tap new partners from India, China, and East Europe, as well as the corporate segment, to enhance its current nationality mix, which is led by the GCC travellers, mainly from Saudi Arabia.



Samir Arora, general manager of Ramada Downtown Dubai, said: We have to be extra bullish given the tougher competition in our area, and we are confident that our products are well-suited to the needs of the market. We again expect fruitful results this year in terms of our signing new deals and gaining new insights on the latest hospitality trends.



Arabian Travel Market 2016 will run from April 25 to 28 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Ramada Downtown Dubai will exhibit as part of R Hotels, its owning and management company. - TradeArabia News Service
The St Regis Abu Dhabi will open its majestic Abu Dhabi Suite, claimed to be the world's highest suspended hotel suite, for an exclusive brunch journey that explores the bedrooms, cinema, spa and two-floor majlis.



The suite spans between the UAE capital's Nation Towers on the 48th and 49th floors.



The journey, exclusively for 50 diners on the last Friday of each month, will commence in the hotel's grand Reception Hall where guests are met by one of the hotel's butlers who will escort them to the Abu Dhabi Suite's private elevator.



Upon arrival at the Abu Dhabi Suite, guests will be free to explore the 1,120-sq-m suite, which retails at Dh150,000++ ($40,826.3++) per night.



Journeying through the suite, guests will discover exquisite culinary delights in each room; from a cinema full of candy, a dedicated cheese and dessert room, a caviar ice-bar, an oyster room, roaming chef stations and of course, a private bar equipped with the hotel's top mixologists.



For a break between tasting, guests can sojourn to the suite's private spa for shoulder massages by therapists from the hotel's Remede Spa and for the ladies, manicures by the hotel's Sisters Beauty Lounge.



Brunch in the Clouds is exclusively for adults over 21 years and is available at

Dh400++ ($108.8++) per person or Dh650++ ($176.9++) with bubbly per person.



Moustafa Sakr, general manager of The St. Regis Abu Dhabi, said: "Since opening, there has been a lot of curiosity about the suite. Brunch in the Clouds allows us to engage more with our local community and to let them see the suite for themselves. We also want to highlight the hotel's genuine unassuming service and the culinary skill of our chefs. We see this as a powerful opportunity for people to really understand our passion for luxury and for hospitality."



The first Brunch in the Clouds will take place on April 29, followed by subsequent brunches on Friday May 27, Friday July 29 and Friday August 26 (Brunch in the Clouds will not take place in June due to Ramadan). - TradeArabia News Service
A series of immigration-related bills proposed in the Legislature have again spurred protests and threats by immigrant-rights groups to resume an Arizona boycott.

And Arizona is not alone. Amid the national rhetoric regarding immigrants, bills are cropping up across several states.

By the end of 2015, the number of enacted legislation dealing with immigration jumped by 26 percent with 216 laws, compared with 171 in 2014, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported.

Nationwide, terrorist attacks or violent crimes committed by immigrants have contributed to this type of legislation, said Ann Morse, the program director for the Immigration Policy Project at the National Conference of State Legislatures, which supports and analyzes state legislatures.

But the laws often do not address the nuanced issues involved, she said.

Some presidential hopefuls feed on these fears to strengthen their political platforms, said Isabel Garcia, a local attorney and human-rights activist with Coalicion de Derechos Humanos.

Republicans nationwide are emboldened to use the immigration issue to motivate their base of support, said Roberto Reveles, founder and president of the coalition Somos America.

Some of the bills introduced this session would withhold money from sanctuary cities, require mandatory maximum sentencing for undocumented immigrants and bar state resources from being used to resettle refugees.

As the legislative session winds to a close, some bills are unlikely to pass, such as those penalizing sanctuary cities and restricting funds for refugees. But a few could still make their way to Gov. Doug Ducey. On March 30, Ducey signed the first of these measures into law: HB 2451, a bill that prevents some prisoners with deportation orders from being released to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before completing their sentence.

A week later, Somos America announced that it would consider resuming the Boycott Arizona campaign that started six years ago in response to SB 1070, Arizonas 2010 immigration-enforcement law.

Our record shows that when we focus on a campaign, we are successful, as we were with the previous boycott, Reveles said.

The previous boycott ended up hurting the Arizona state economy, with multi-million dollars of losses, especially the hospitality industry.

Back then, Arizonas business community wrote to the Legislature asking it to leave immigration reform to the federal government, and eventually the Supreme Court struck down much of the law, though some provisions remain.

After the controversy surrounding SB 1070, the Legislature has largely avoided bills targeting Arizonas unauthorized population. However, this session has seen an uptick.

Lawmakers proposing the bills say the laws have nothing to do with national trends, but are in response to the concerns of their constituents.

Republican state Sen. Steve Smith sponsored SB 1377, which would require undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes to serve mandatory sentences and make them ineligible for parole, probation or early release. It passed the Senate in February and is currently in the House.

He introduced the bill in response to the murder of 21-year-old Grant Ronnebeck by a convicted felon who was in the U.S. illegally but had been released on probation, he said.

Opponents say that increasing penalties for people based solely on their citizenship violates federal immigration law.

The bill is not targeting Mexican immigrants, Smith said, but people from any country who are in the U.S. illegally.

Before assuming the motivation is racism, he said, people should think about how this affects victims and their families. Its anti-illegal. Not anti-immigrant.
OPINION: "As a parent and teacher, I know the best way to address discord is to listen first and establish trust. As a neighborhood leader, I know how to work through differences by treating people with dignity and respect. As a mathematics teacher, I always taught my students that there is more than one way to solve problems," writes Theresa Riel, a candidate for the District 2 seat on the Pima Community College Governing Board.
PHOENIX  Calling it little more than a pretext, the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona is demanding House Speaker David Gowan rescind his policy of requiring extensive background checks of reporters before restoring their access to the floor.

In a letter late Friday, Daniel Barr, attorney for the association of reporters, media organizations and others, said the screening was proposed following a protest March 28 in the House gallery and an incident two days later when three women associated with the Puente Human Rights Movement chained themselves to the front door of the Executive Tower.

Barr pointed out that neither incident involved news reporters, nor did they occur on the House floor.

Simply put, Mr. Speaker, no one is fooled by what is going on here, Barr wrote.

He said if there were safety concerns at the Capitol, similar measures would have been taken at the Senate and separate Executive Tower.

There would also be real law enforcement agencies involved, including those that regularly conduct background checks, Barr wrote. The House Security Office is not such an agency.

There was no immediate response from Stephanie Grisham, the publicist for Gowan and the House Republican majority.

The House reconvenes at 1:30 p.m. Monday, with no sign that Gowan intends to rescind or alter the policy.

No reporter has agreed to the checks, which cover not just criminal matters but also allow House staff to check civil issues, driving records and even prior addresses. That has left reporters to cover the House from the gallery where they no longer have access to lawmakers before or after the floor session to question them about their legislation or statements.

David Bodney, representing several media outlets, said he is hoping to confer with the House attorney early Monday to see if a resolution is possible.

Barr told Capitol Media Services that the House, by virtue of its position as a separate branch of government, may have some leeway in setting its own rules.

But what it cannot do, he said, is craft a policy designed to punish one reporter. And he said the evidence shows Gowans actions are due to his displeasure with Hank Stephenson, the Arizona Capitol Times reporter who found a record of Gowans extensive travel outside his Southeast Arizona legislative district. Grisham has defended that, saying Gowan is the speaker of the entire state.

But the records show the in-state travel was largely in the 1st Congressional District where Gowan is a candidate. He also tweeted out pictures of some campaign meetings on days where he had sought reimbursement for out-of-town travel.

Gowan subsequently reimbursed the state more than $12,000, calling the billings errors and nothing more.

The new policy does more than demand reporters submit to the background checks.

It also sets out offenses that would automatically disqualify a reporter from floor access, a list that includes a conviction for trespass. And Stephenson has such a 2014 conviction for the Class 2 misdemeanor, the result of a bar fight in Wickenburg.

More telling, said Barr, is that this is the third attempt to deny floor privileges to Stephenson.

Capitol Times editor Jim Small said the first incident came four hours after the story was first published, when Grisham revoked access to the media gallery for all of the papers reporters.

A month later, a House attorney claimed rude and inappropriate conduct by Stephenson, including a consistent lack of decorum, that he types on his computer during the daily prayer and that he was overly aggressive in questioning elected officials.

Small said the House backed down both times after the papers attorneys interceded.
Get out your crayons and paper, kids. It's time to learn to draw another 2016 candidate who you won't have to draw again after the next round of primaries.
Syria

Cease-fire strained

by renewed fighting

Government forces and rebels clashed Sunday across northern and western Syria, imperiling a monthlong cease-fire ahead of peace talks in Geneva, while airstrikes pounded the Islamic State groups de facto capital of Raqqa, killing dozens.

Al-Qaidas Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, is playing a leading role on the side of the insurgents, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group with a network of informers inside Syria.

Observatory head Rami Abdurrahman said fighting was intensifying around the northern city of Aleppo.

India

Fireworks accident

at temple kills 110

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM  The Hindu temple in southern India was packed with thousands for a religious festival early Sunday when the fireworks began  an unauthorized pyrotechnic display that went horribly wrong.

Explosions and a massive fire swept rapidly through the Puttingal temple complex about 3 a.m. in the village of Paravoor, killing 110 people and injuring 380 others, officials said.

GREECE

Police repel migrants; hundreds are injured

IDOMENI  Migrants waged running battles with Macedonian police Sunday after they were stopped from scaling the border fence with Greece near the border town of Idomeni. Aid agencies reported that hundreds of stranded travelers were injured.

Macedonian police used tear gas, stun grenades, plastic bullets and a water cannon to repel the migrants, many of whom responded by throwing rocks over the fence at police.

More than 50,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece after Balkan countries closed their borders to the massive flow of refugees pouring into Europe. Around 11,000 remain camped out at the border with Macedonia, ignoring instructions from the government to move to organized shelters as they hold out hopes for reaching Western Europe.

Clashes continued in the afternoon as migrant groups twice tried to overwhelm Macedonian border security.

Peru

Runoff seems likely in presidential race

LIMA  The daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori looked headed to victory in the first round of Perus presidential election Sunday and will likely face a former World Bank economist in a June runoff, preliminary results indicated.

With 20 percent of the ballots counted late Sunday, Fujimori had 38 percent of the vote. Investor-favorite Pedro Kuczynski had just under 26 percent, while leftist congresswoman Veronika Mendoza, who had made a late surge in pre-election polls, was running third with 16 percent.

Full results might not be available until Monday, but supporters of the 77-year-old Kuczynski celebrated in the streets outside his campaign headquarters after two unofficial quick counts indicated he would edge out Mendoza for the right to face off with Fujimori on June 5.

Japan

Kerry visits bomb site

HIROSHIMA  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshimas atomic bombing on Monday, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after United States used the weapon for the first time in history and killed 140,000 Japanese.

Kerry became the most senior American official to travel to city, touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining parks stone-arched monument.
Help India!

By TCN News,

Hyderabad: Madrassa students wearing hard hat along with traditional topi (skull cap) handling heavy machinery, it is not an ordinary scene, but when it comes to the new age charitable projects of SEED nothing is traditional and nothing is ordinary.

Support TwoCircles



This new project of Support for Educational and Economic Development (SEED), a US based aid group, aims to knock down many vices and stereotypes of Indian Muslims in one blow.

In partnership with Hyderabad based Ashraful Madaris Educational Society, SEED has launched its ambitious vocational training institute National Institute of Technical Training aiming to provide vocational training leading to employment opportunities for unemployed and undereducated poor youth.

The whole idea behind this technical institute is to help unemployed and undereducated Muslim youth to get decent jobs so they can live a life of dignity, said Syed Mazheruddin Hussaini, Executive Director of SEED.

This institute is strategically located at Pahadishareef road near Shaheen Nagar, one of the fastest growing stretches but at the same time consist of most distressed Muslim localities in Hyderabad. Here at roadside it is a common site of children and teenagers alike indulging in menial jobs.

The institute was inaugurated on March 6, 2016 by M. J. Akbar, Director Minority Welfare Department of Telengana State. Dirasath Qureshi, Vice President of SEED (USA) and a resident of Chicago (USA) also attended the ceremony.

At the inauguration ceremony of the institute Hussaini said, It is better to do hard work than begging. Hard work opens new avenues. He also shared his strong belief that, Indian Muslim community should stand on its own feet, community has enough resources for self support and the only challenge is to channelize those untapped resources.

Dr. M.M. Anwar, President of Ashraf ul Madaris Educational Society said poor and unemployed young Muslims are easily getting lured towards anti-social activities. He pleaded, Community as a whole need to ponder over and address this issue, and NITT here is a minute but effective step towards addressing this socio-economic problem.

Hussaini said that the plan is to target school dropouts and Madrassa students to provide them with technical skills so they can get decent jobs in the market.  NITT will try to provide moral education also in order to make them responsible and good human beings.

According to Hussaini establishing technical institute was a storming task but the main challenge will be to reach out to the deserving. He said, Enrollment of students from Muslim dominated poor localities is a huge challenge as most of the school dropout teenagers are involved in unorganized labor, in order to support their families. For those teenagers at present the earnings will be sufficient for survival but they dont realize in future as their needs will increase they will still be stuck with low-pay jobs, then the vicious cycle of backwardness, crime and persecution continues.

So to attract the students for enrollment SEED has come up with a wise plan to provide stipend in the form of travel and stationary allowance of Rs. 200 per week (Rupees 800 per month) for the duration of whole course period. The plan seems to have worked out well as in the first week itself NITT witnessed 56 enrollments of teenagers from socio-economically deprived background.

Like 16 year old Abdul Hadi, a madrassa drop out who has now enrolled in automobile mechanics course at NITT. As most of the teenagers of his locality in Shaheen nagar he wasnt lucky enough to have a formal education, he is under pressure to earn some money to support his family. Hadi said he joined NITT with a hope that technical education will prepare him and will give him an edge to compete for jobs in the organized sector.

Before NITT was established under-educated youngsters like Hadi were facing enormous troubles for getting vocational training, as all the vocational technical institutes in the state has a rider of a compulsory matriculation certificate in order to get an admission.

Now what keeps NITT different from the rest of the Vocational Training Institutes is, apart from offering hassle free admission and incentive allowance, the mandatory matriculation certificate is removed from admission process there by encouraging many young school dropouts to enroll.

But at the same time to fill the void of formal education, NITT will also offer free tuition to students to encourage them to appear for matriculation examination.

Currently NITT is offering three vocational courses  Electrician (Appliance repair) & Refrigerator and Air conditioning with academic period of 6 months. The third main course of the NITT is Automobile Mechanics with tenure of one academic year. At the end of the course passing out trainees will be given Certificate approved by Government.

NITT also has a media room to make the students apt with modern day technological progress. Media room is having a 46 inch screen connected to internet which will provide visual classes on current trends in technology market especially in Automobile industry.

And when the first batch of students from NITT will be ready to compete in the technical market, they wont need to worry about the capital and logistics support. According to SEED, it is planning to cap the role of venture capitalist to support passing out students in their business plans, This way we will promote entrepreneurship and help transform NITT from just a technical institute to technology incubator, Hussaini said.

SEED is hopeful that NITT will create a benchmark in galvanizing community resources to create solutions for the tribulations of Indian Muslim community.
One of the many consequences that globalization has created, was greater uniformity in the way it does business.

It's not news to anyone that the speed with which information flows and are assimilated very quickly put companies and businesses on an equal footing.

In addition, plenty of funds for good projects is undeniable and brings further potential equity between small, medium and large businesses.

Innovation today is the standard of tomorrow. then the question remains: What maintains, in fact, a competitive advantage?

If access to technology guarantee innovation, Microsoft always have the best products to offer.

What was missing then, for these examples come true. He missed develop human capital.

The homogeneity that the information revolution provides us, heterogeneity is found only in people.

Are the people who decide what to do with all the resources available to them.

We are we, within our own complexity, make decisions, create relationships and make the link between potential and reality.

Extracting then the full potential of individuals, who form a company?

The answer is not only not unanimous, but I believe a lot in the following three pillars:

1) ALIGNMENT OF OBJECTIVES AND MOTIVATION

People motivated yield much more. And nothing better for motivation than having personal goals and aligned professionals.

An individual who knows and believes in the mission of your company, create a connection to it.

More than that: if he knows that the company understands and is aligned with the personal goals of it, the connection is even stronger.

This sharing of views and values is fundamental for a durable two-way relationship.

2) QUALITIES ASSESSMENT AND TRAINING

More common than feel unexploited, it is not to know or what are our real strengths - let alone you communicate them.

The problem is that it is essential for any professional relationship. Why it is important that our qualities are constantly evaluated not only by the company but by ourselves. This makes it easier to develop what we have better and direct our capacity for what it will do, in fact, the difference

3) HABIT OF EXCELLENCE

The habit is the most effective way to fix a behavior.

Do something out of habit means that it is so ingrained that we do not know why we do it. It is basically to react to a situation expecting an always reward (eg, smoking can be a reaction to stress, that is to reward the momentary relaxation).

Therefore, creating situations and certain rewards, we can encourage positive habits (such as quality control, security and even innovation) that lead us to excellence more often. Create the habit of high performance is essential to be more efficient.

These three "pillars" are far from being the only solution to the complex corporate world we live in today, and perhaps one day, human capital is only one supporting the competitive advantage of companies.
Jack Kent Takes Down the GPPT Leeds Main Event for $40,000

April 11 2016 Matthew Pitt Editor

The partypoker Grand Prix Poker Tour (GPPT) headed to Elland Road stadium, the home of Leeds United, this weekend for the latest leg of its 2016 tour. Players had the chance to turn a $109 investment into a much more meaningful sum, which is exactly what Jack Kent did as he was crowned the GPPT Leeds champion, an accolade that came with a $40,000 cash prize.

GPPT Leeds final table results

Place Player Prize 1 Jack Kent $40,000 2 Richard Evans $24,000 3 Aaron Armstrong $16,000 4 Nigel Ventre $12,000 5 Daniel Oakley $9,000 6 Fabiano Ozelame $6,930 7 Waheed Ashraf $5,350 8 James Redmond $4,000 9 Nathan Farnaby $3,000

A total of 198 players progressed to Day 2, the final day, of the $250,000 guaranteed Main Event, and all eyes were on a certain Nathan Farnaby, who only a few weeks ago had won the GPPT Newcastle Main Event at St. James Park.

Farnaby navigated his way to the final table, but was the first player eliminated from it when he three-bet shoved over the top of a Daniel Oakley raise with , and Oakley called with . The board ran without a king or jack in sight, busting Farnaby in ninth place.

James Redmond was the next player to fall, his losing a coinflip against the of Richard Evans, before Dusk Till Dawn regular Waheed Wadey Ashrafs were cracked by the of Evans after the five community cards ran .

Six-handed play ended with the elimination of Fabiano Ozelame, whose ran straight into the powerhouse that is of Aaron Armstrong.

Armstrong then sent Oakley to the sidelines when his improved to a pair of tens on the flop to beat Oakleys , and Evans held against Nigel Ventres to leave only three players in contention for the title of champion.

Those three became two when Armstrong limped in from the small blind, Evans checked in the big blind, and both players checked the arrival of the flop. Armstrong led for 1,000,000 on the turn only to see Evans raise all-in. Armstrong shrugged before calling off his stack with for a pair of sixes, and was ahead of Evans , but only until the landed on the river to improve Evans to a straight.

Evans went into the heads-up battle with Kent holding a substantial chip lead, but Kent won several early pots and himself became a dominant chip leader. The final hand of the GPPT Leeds Main Event saw Kent raise to 1,800,000 with , Evans raise all-in for 6,000,000 with , and Kent call. The flop missed Kent, but he had a plethora of outs, one of which was the that appeared on the turn. A river card bust Evans in second place, leaving Kent to be crowned the GPPT Leeds Main Event champion.

Qualify for GPPT Glasgow at partypoker

Next up for the GPPT is a trip to Scotlands national stadium, Hampden Park, where another $250,000 guaranteed Main Event is scheduled. Online legs begin on May 8 at partypoker, with the live Day 1s commencing on May 14.

Qualifiers are available at partypoker now for as little as $0.01, and if you download partypoker via UK & Ireland PokerNews, and enter the bonus code UKPNEWS when making your first deposit, partypoker will match your deposit amount 100% up to 250.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
WPT National Tour Returns To Spain and Portugal with Multi-Venue Events

April 11 2016 Jason Glatzer

In partnership with the Multi-Venue Series (MVS), the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced its return to the Iberian Peninsula with a series of WPT National Tour main events hosted simultaneously at three different venues.

Each set of events features a 750 buy-in and allow players to compete at three different venues in Spain and Portugal before roughly seven percent of the field will compete at a single location.

The first WPT National Tour Iberia in Season XIV begins May 12-15 at Gran Casino Madrid, Casino Espinho, and Casino Barcelona. Surviving players, who will already be in the money, will then compete in Madrid to play on May 21-22 until a winner is declared.

Casino Gran Madrid Deputy Director Paula Arriaga expressed the casino's excitement about hosting the first Grand Final of the WPT National Tour Iberia.

"We are delighted that Casino Gran Madrid has been selected to host the first Grand Final of the MVS Presents: WPT National Iberia Main Event," Arriaga shared when WPT announced the poker festival. "We are proud to work closely with three strong partners in the WPT, Multi-Venue Series, and BRAVO on this exciting project."

The multi-venue poker festival will be returning a few months later with a similar structure with players once again competing at the same three casinos from Oct. 13-16 before grouping together to complete the tournament in Espinho from Oct. 22-23.

A third-edition of the WPT National Tour Iberia is planned to take place in January with this time the final destination taking place in Barcelona.

Hemance Blum, Head of WPT Europe, expressed the high hopes the poker tour has with its partnership with MVS and its return to Spain and Portugal.

"The introduction of the MVS Presents: WPT National Iberia Main Event is a testament to the World Poker Tour's constant evolution, and the innovative partnerships the WPT has secured worldwide," Blum explained. "We have already experienced great success in Spain with both the WPT Main and National Tours, and we look forward to our first-ever event in Portugal as we bond together these two emerging markets to generate a massive prize pool for our players."

Understandably MVS is also thrilled about partnering with WPT with Neil Barrett, Managing Director at LivingItLovingIt, the inventor of the MVS, explaining why an event at multiple locations is more optimal for players when compared to taking place at a single venue.

"We have listened to the needs of poker players for live events and the constant feedback received was that players have to choose their events carefully to manage their bankrolls," Barrett commented in the WPT announcement of the three events. "This format allows the players to select the nearest casino to them for the early stages of the tournament, reducing travel costs, and then move to the final host casino only when they are well into the money, which will cover the cost. Its a tricky tournament to manage operationally, but the combination of BRAVOs technical capabilities and WPTs expert tournament direction makes this historic, groundbreaking event possible."

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!

Sharelines The World Poker Tour announced its return to the Iberian Peninsula with a series of WPT National Tour main events.

The WPT National Tour heads to Iberia with multi-venue events in Spain and Portugal.
Birch Finalizes Purchase of Select Primus Assets

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By Michael Guta

Contributing Writer By Michael GutaContributing Writer

Birch Communications provides voice, cloud, network, IT and mobile services to small, mid-sized, enterprise and wholesale businesses throughout North America. As the company celebrates its 20 years in business, it has been expanding market share into new territories by making key acquisition of telecommunications service providers. The latest purchase is the select assets and customers of Primus Telecommunications (News - Alert) Canada Inc. and its affiliates, Primus.





Birch announced in March of 2016 it would be buying these assets. At that time, Christopher Ramsey, Senior Vice President and Chief Sales Officer at Birch, said, "Our ability to attract new customers, particularly enterprise customers, has just grown exponentially. We look forward to leveraging our growth on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border."

According to Birch, this is its first international asset expansion and it will now have access to the more than 250,000 businesses and consumers throughout Canada that are part of Primus, Canada's largest independent, full-service telecommunications and cloud service provider.

In addition to its customers in Canada, Primus also has presence in the U.S. providing home VoIP services under the Lingo brand. Because both companies provide complementary product portfolios, such as broadband internet, cloud-hosted PBX (News - Alert), dedicated data access, local phone, long distance and a variety of wholesale solutions, they will be able to give their customers more choices and better price points.

Since 2010, Birch has acquired several companies and expanded its infrastructure across the U.S. This includes the purchase of American Fiber Network, Freedom Communications USA, and CloseCall America in September of 2010. It went on to buy Acutel of Texas, AstroTel, dpiTeleconnect, DayStar Communications, Covista Communications, Cbeyond (News - Alert) and others.

These acquisitions were in part or whole composed of strategic assets, customers, and infrastructure, which allowed Birch to continue expanding its telecommunication services to more customers.

Vincent Oddo, President and CEO at Birch, said, "Primus is a great strategic fit as we work toward our goal of growing our service footprint to international markets. As a whole, our entire customer base will benefit from Birch's new, larger territory reach and robust product offerings."

Birch is growing at a robust rate, and most of this growth is made through the key acquisitions the company has made throughout the years. However, unlike some companies that seem to have a difficulty in fully integrating their solution with the business they purchase, Birch seems to have the right recipe to make it work. The company continues to deliver enterprise-grade offerings to businesses of all sizes along with award winning customer service as it continues to grow.
Netia Turns to BroadSoft to Launch 'New Netia' Cloud-Based UC Solution

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By Steve Anderson

Contributing Writer By Steve AndersonContributing Writer

Cloud-based unified communications (UC) systems don't just spring up out of thin air. They require a great deal of development and effort to bring about. Sometimes that development can get a little simpler by turning to an established product line for some of the basic framework; recently, Netia did just that by turning to BroadSoft (News - Alert)'s BroadSoft UC-One software to drive its expansion.





BroadSoft UC-One represents an upgrade to Netia's hosted private branch exchange, which means business customers can get a whole new UC solution that isn't static, but can grow with the company's need. Now known as New Netia (News - Alert), the service brings together a wide array of services available at a flat rate. Users get access to video calling, file sharingincluding desktop sharinga slate of mobile-specific tools and several new voice features. Better yet, Netia can now operate to bring users to cloud UC whether said users are working with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) already or are still on public switched telephone network (PSTN) operations. There's not even a need to change phone numbers.

Netia's director of product and marketing for the business-to-business (B2B) sector, Marcin Kotlarski, offered further detail: BroadSoft is a key part of our cloud strategy to meet rising customer expectations, giving us the ideal platform for business communication service innovation at a time when demand for cloud UC is increasing. By working with a cloud communication and collaboration market leader, Netia is positioned as the first Polish operator with a disruptive offering that simplifies adoption of unified communication.

Netia is working hard to keep its offering fresh in the midst of a cycle that's hurting a lot of businesses. By helping businesses not only today with an array of useful new communications tools but also tomorrow by offering scalable options to improve or cut back on the system as the need requires, the end result is a system that offers better longevity. It's not likely to be rendered obsolete or useless in the immediate future, and that gives companies something of an assurance when making a purchase with Netia. In a time when assurances are few and far between, companies working with Netia may well also buy a little peace of mind in communications.

Netia's new offering is valuable, and it might not have come aboutor at least not so rapidlywithout BroadSoft's solutions offering a little underpinning. Netia might well be able to ride this development out pretty far, and BroadSoft is likely already working on the basic functions of the next big UC advance as we speak.

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Edited by Maurice Nagle
Foresun to buy LatAm beef processing units Updated: 2016-04-11 10:56 By Emma Gonzalez in Beijing(China Daily USA)

Chinese meat processor Foresun Group has agreed to buy three beef slaughterhouses and a livestock confinement unit in Argentina from Brazilian meatpacker Margrif Global Foods SA for $75 million.

Under the agreement, Black Bamboo Enterprises, a subsidiary of Foresun, will take over three meatpacking facilities in the towns of Hughes, Vivorata and Unquillo, all located in the central part of Argentina, Margrif announced in a regulatory filing.

The confinement unit, based in Monte Ralo, is also in the same area.

Foresun, headquartered in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province, has already made an initial payment of $34 million to gain control over the facility in Hughes, with the remainder to be paid within 12 months of delivery of the other units.

In the past few years, the appetite for red meat in China has continued to accelerate, thanks to changing eating habits, higher disposable incomes and growing urbanization.

China is expected to consume 7.4 million metric tons of red meat in 2016, according to a report by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

Meanwhile, Chinese beef imports are forecast to reach 600,000 tons in 2016, 20 percent year-on-year growth.

The high demand for red meat is prompting Chinese companies to look abroad to secure production facilities.

"The Chinese government encourages outbound investment in overseas plants of agricultural products," noted Neil Wang, global partner and China president of the consulting firm Frost and Sullivan.

"This can provide China with more control over the supply chains for food imports."

Only a few countries can export beef to China due to various health restrictions. They include Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

Although Australia continues to dominate the Chinese beef market, countries in Latin America are quickly expanding their share, thanks to cheaper cuts in greater quantities.

"China is especially looking at Latin America to lower its dependence on a limited number of suppliers," said Aurelia Britsch, a senior commodity analyst at Business Monitor International. "These large suppliers of cheap meat cuts will probably make large inroads into China's beef market and pose a clear threat to Australian exports over the medium term."

Last year, China became the top importer of Argentine beef products, with 36 percent of the total exports being sold to the Asian country, according to Aacrea, Argentina's association of meat producers.

Zhu Wenqian in Beijing and Zhou Huiying in Harbin contributed to this story.

emmagonzalez@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 04/11/2016 page2)
Former senior CPC official in NE China indicted for accepting bribes Updated: 2016-04-11 11:58 (Xinhua)

BEIJING - Han Xuejian, a former senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, has been prosecuted for allegedly accepting bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Monday.

Prosecutors in Liaoyuan city in Northeast Jilin province have informed Han, former member of the standing committee of the CPC Heilongjiang provincial committee and party chief of Daqing city, of his litigation rights and questioned him, according to an SPP statement.
One hundred years of solitude continues Updated: 2016-04-11 08:31 By OP Rana(China Daily)

He would have been just a month over 89 today. But he died about two years ago, leaving the world of literature poorer. True, he hadn't written anything in the last 10 years of his life, but so long as he was alive we could expect another masterpiece at any time.

Although his first book (a novella) took shape more than six decades ago, he had to wait about a dozen years before seeing his literary fortunes finally smile. Along with the literary giant Jorge Luis Borges and the Mexican magician Juan Rulfo, he changed the landscape of Latin American, nay world, literature.

More than a decade after his path-breaking novel, he was honored with the highest literary prize in the world. And by the time he walked up to receive it, he was prepared to tell his and Latin America's story in yet another novel way.

He began his acceptance speech by citing Florentine navigator Antonio Pigafetta, "who went with Magellan on his first voyage around the world" and wrote a "strictly accurate account" of his "passage through our southern lands of America" that "nonetheless resembles a venture into fantasy". He said Pigafetta had recorded seeing "hogs with navels on their haunches, clawless birds whose hens laid eggs on the backs of their mates, and others still, resembling tongueless pelicans, with beaks like spoons". He added that Pigafetta "wrote of having seen a misbegotten creature with the head and ears of a mule, a camel's body, the legs of a deer and the whinny of a horse".

The ignorance of the elites of the enlightened world, which is no longer limited to Europe and ironically also includes the northern part of the New World, seems to persist. Pigafetta, to be honest, cannot be faulted for not recognizing the "strange, exotic, misbegotten" animals and birds he saw in Latin America, for he had not even heard about, let alone seen, any of them before setting foot in the New World.

But today, when no land is left uncharted, how can anyone, European and American leaders included, plead ignorance? How can we explain the pervading ignorance about China in these postmodern times? Or how can we pretend to be ignorant of the reality that is the Middle East, especially because the region that as we see it now is the making of the West?

Why do we pretend the refugee crisis in Europe was not anticipated? What else did we expect from the invasion of Iraq and interventions in Libya and Syria? Certainly not democratic societies.

The refugees in Europe, as the wizard of magic realism said, are seeking a "new utopia of life, where no one will be able to decide for others how they die, where love will prove true and happiness be possible, and where races condemned to one hundred years of solitude will have, at last and forever, a second opportunity on earth".

When will the cries of children, wails of helpless women and silent pains of desperate men be heard?
Deng biopic opens film festival Updated: 2016-04-11 10:56 By May Zhou in Houston(China Daily USA)

The Compact Density of Stone, a 2015 biographical film about Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, was premiered on opening night at Panorama China as part of the 49th annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival on April 8.

Among the VIP guests on hand was Chinese Consul General Li Qiangmin.

The film tells of Deng's experiences when he was sent to rural Jiangxi province in Southeast China in 1968 to work as a factory worker. His son was imprisoned, tortured and became paralyzed.

Chinese actor Lu Qi (center) gets a red carpet treatment at the opening night of Houston International Film Festival last Friday along with organizer Dan Qi (left) and Ray Jiang (second from left), chairman of Panorama China. May Zhou / China Daily

After the Lin Biao incident of 1971, Deng revisited the city of Ruijin where he had led the locals in the 1930s. That experience convinced Deng that only reforms and economic development would improve China.

Lu Qi, who played Deng, and a few other actors in the film, attended the opening screening.

"There is not much conflict in this film, it's more about what Deng was thinking at that period of his life," Lu said. "He witnessed the hardships that people were going through. It affirmed his conviction that change was necessary to help people out of poverty. It led to the reform we saw later after he regained power."

"A film about a Chinese political figure being selected for the WorldFest means we have created a piece of good art," Lu added. "I am greatly honored to be nominated for best actor."

Actress Lily Chen Foster and her husband Charles Foster, who met Lu Qi years ago in China, also attended the opening night.

"I am very happy to see that the film festival is showcasing China," she said. "The films will give the audience opportunity not only to know more about Chinese film but also to know about all aspects of Chinese life.

"As a former actress, I feel it's my obligation to promote this event. This provides a great opportunity for the audience to meet the directors and actors, to ask them questions. I hope to see more Chinese films come to the US in the future," she said.

Charles Foster, who met Deng Xiaoping when he visited Houston in 1979, said he has always been fascinated by modern China history.

"I thought the characters of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping were realistic in the film. I enjoyed it. The story is universal, it's about survival, coming back against all odds. Deng led China into the modern world, in my view he's the greatest man in China's modern history," Foster said.

Ray Jiang, chairman of Panorama China, said that more than 60 Chinese films were submitted and 20 were selected to enter the film festival to reflect Chinese minorities, culture and life.

"This is the first year we are presenting Chinese films on such a large scale. It provides a great opportunity for Chinese films to be gain a wider audience," said Jiang.

Chinese actors Lu Yan, Wang Zhili, Lu Liping as well as director Lu Chuan will join the film festival before it concludes on April 17, according to organizers.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 04/11/2016 page2)
Envoy looks to objective Mideast role Updated: 2016-04-11 08:31 By Zhang Yunbi in Beijing and Chris Peterson in London(China Daily)

New appointment part of increasing involvement by China on world stage

Xie Xiaoyan, who has been involved in talks over the Iran nuclear situation and South Sudan, has just embarked on a demanding new mission - as China's first special envoy on the Syrian issue.

The 62-year-old, whose appointment was confirmed on March 29, said the post is a sign of China's greater involvement in resolving the issue and its willingness to contribute "wisdom and solutions".

Veteran diplomats said the increasing number of envoys comes from China's expanding involvement in global issues - including Syria - and its increasing national interests.

"It's because China upholds an objective and fair stance on the Syria issue that there are increasing calls from the international community for the Chinese to play a greater role," Xie said over the weekend.

Beijing has had a constant role in global efforts to tackle the Syria issue, communicating with both the Syrian government and the opposition to boost peace talks.

Xie takes his new title at a time when "special envoy diplomacy" is playing an increasing role in China's foreign affairs. The country now has at least six special envoys or representatives working on hot issues.

The United Nations and the United States have also appointed envoys - Staffan de Mistura and Michael Ratney respectively - to tackle the Syria issue, which has flared for five years.

Gong Xiaosheng, special envoy on the Middle East issue, said there are five hot spots in the region and that the Syria issue is "of great complexity".

Liu Guijin, a former special representative on African affairs, said, "The number of China's special envoys will continue to rise. China is increasingly proactive in being part of major global affairs."

Bill Jones with Executive Intelligence Review, a weekly US magazine, said US special envoys are often appointed "only for the duration of the 'crisis' or 'situation' for which he or she has been assigned".

"Because of their designation, special envoys can often bypass ordinary diplomatic channels and confer directly with the secretary (of state) or with the White House, possibly even the president, on the matter for which he or she has been assigned responsibility," he said.

Jonathan Cristol, a fellow at the World Policy Institute, said special envoys "can be a very useful tool" for China to safeguard its global interests, and it is hoped that such envoys will "have wide-ranging personal relationships with multiple actors".

Allan Fong and Amy He in the US and Wang Xu in Beijing contributed to this story.

Contact the writers through zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Timeline

1956: China's "special envoy diplomacy" initiated as Vice-Premier He Long attends Iskander Mirza's inauguration as Pakistani president.

1984: Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Qian Qichen participates in the fourth round of governmental consultations between China and the Soviet Union as a special envoy. This heralds a new era for the position of envoy, from one of largely ceremonial activities, to one of enhanced responsibilities involving bilateral negotiations.

1991: Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Fuchang, as special envoy, visits several countries in the Middle East and expresses China's basic position on the Gulf War. This sees the role evolve from bilateral to regional and global issues.

September 2002: Government appoints Wang Shijie as its first special envoy on the Middle East issue.

March 2016: Government appoints Xie Xiaoyan as special envoy on the Syrian issue, marking greater significance for the role.

Chinese diplomats build global experience

Most Chinese diplomats assigned as envoys on a specific issue or region have a wealth of experience and knowledge.

Wu Dawei, 70, the country's special representative on Korean Peninsula affairs, was appointed in 2010, shortly after finishing his previous job as vice-minister of foreign affairs.

Hemay be one of China's busiest envoys, especially since February when nuclear tests by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea led to an escalation of tensions.

He has embarked on at least three overseas trips since February, to Pyongyang, Seoul and Japan, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Liu Guijin, a former special representative on African affairs, said unlike Foreign Ministry spokesmen and women, who usually state positions concisely, envoys are expected to "elaborate and explain China's stance in their own words".

"Some reporters from the West have an in-depth understanding of a certain issue. So you have no choice but to learn more and make full preparations if you are to answer their questions smoothly," he said.

Liu Guijin (left) inspects a food distribution project in Darfur, Sudan, in May 2007. Shao Jie / Xinhua

(China Daily USA 04/11/2016 page1)
Looking beautiful vs feeling healthy Updated: 2016-04-09 09:11 By Li Fangchao(China Daily)

For a perfect woman's body, there seems to be a new "standard": iPhone 6 legs and 100-yuan wrists.

Six women working for a company reportedly coined the term iPhone 6 legs. It means placing the 13.8-centimeter-long iPhone 6 horizontally on a woman's knees, and only if it covers both knees can she be said to have iPhone 6 legs. The term 100-yuan wrist refers to wrapping a woman's wrist with a 100-yuan note. If the banknote encircles the wrist, she has a 100-yuan wrist.

The so-called beauty standard has gone viral online. A rough search of hashtag #iPhone 6 legs on Sina Weibo, a popular micro-blogging site in China, threw up hundreds of thousands of posts from young girls gleefully displaying their slim legs for their "success" or with despairing looks for their failure to meet the "standard".

A series of bizarre standards for a perfect figure have emerged in recent years. Previous crazes include having "abdominal muscles like the edge of a vest" (majia xian), "taking a hand around the back and touching the navel", "placing coins in the hollows of collarbones" and "tucking a pencil beneath breasts".

A very recent trend had thousands of young women posting photos of them posing with a piece of A4 paper held vertically in front of their waists to show how slim they were. A waist that the 21-cm wide A4 sheet covers is considered ideal.

The pursuit of beauty (or a beautiful figure) is not new. Legend has it that Zhao Feiyan, an empress during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), weighed so little that she could "dance on a man's palm". Zhao's petite figure became the model for maids in the palace and some even starved to death to look like her.

During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), however, things were different. Yang Yuhuan, a famous imperial concubine, was famed for her beauty, yet she had a buxom figure. So plump, curvaceous women became the rage.
Students' talents rewarded Updated: 2016-04-11 10:56 By Lia Zhu in San Francisco(China Daily USA)

A total of 227 K-12 students in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California received awards for their Chinese language skills on April 8 at the 12th Chinese Bridge Cup Contest.

The contest, which attracted more than 900 participants, was organized by the Confucius Institute at San Francisco State University and San Francisco Unified School District and held on March 12-13 at Roosevelt Middle School in San Francisco.

The participants, divided into five age groups, competed in six categories, including Chinese calligraphy, Chinese painting, poem recital and the most challenging - Chinese composition.

William Bogdan, a 17-year-old student at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, won first prize in poetry recital at the 12th Chinese Bridge Contest held in San Francisco on March 12-13. Lia Zhu / China Daily Matthew Silberman from Princeton University performs a talent show during the 15th Chinese Bridge Chinese proficiency competition for college students at China Institute in New York on April 9. Provided to China Daily

"Chinese characters are so fascinating because they are both pictographic and ideographic," said Chinese Consul General Luo Linquan at a reception held on April 8 at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco for the award-winning students, their families and teachers, as well as judges and volunteers.

"I'm very glad that so many of you have the opportunity to experience the glamour of Chinese characters and Chinese culture," he told the guests.

The Chinese Bridge Cup has been held annually for 12 years since it was first launched in 2005 to provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate their linguistic and cultural talent as well as showcase their interest and achievement in learning Chinese language and culture.

The first contest had only 200 participants competing in three categories of painting, calligraphy and Chinese poetry recital. This year, 33 students won first prizes, 47 took seconds, 62 were awarded thirds and 85 got Excellence Awards.

William Bogdan, a 17-year-old student at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, was a first-prize winner in the poem recital category for non-native speakers. He told China Daily (in fluent Chinese) that he had been learning Chinese for 10 years since he attended a Chinese immersion school, and the Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory also offered Chinese classes.

"My parents thought that China's economy was growing so fast that by the time I was in high school and college, I could have so many opportunities if I learned Mandarin," said Bogdan, who has visited China three times. "I am considering becoming a diplomat and being able to go over to China and speak Mandarin could be very helpful."

Michelle Ahl, a second grader at Brittain Acres Elementary School in San Carlos, was another winner for poetry recital. It's the third Chinese Bridge award for the 8-year-old who is half Chinese and half American.

"My dream is to become a cultural angel between China and the US," she said in Chinese. "I hope to spread Chinese culture through folk dancing and playing Chinese music."

China's development and growth have spurred the world's enthusiasm to learn its language, and the environment for overseas Chinese learners is now better than ever, said Luo.

"Last September, President Obama announced an initiative to see 1 million American students studying Chinese by 2020, which means more support for Chinese learners in the US as well as greater potential for the Chinese Bridge Contest," he said.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 04/11/2016 page2)
Victimhood should not be hyped up amid reflection on Hiroshima tragedy Updated: 2016-04-11 16:51 (Xinhua)

BEIJING - As Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers lamented on Monday in Hiroshima the victims of US nuclear bombs in World War II, the event should serve as a reminder that the reflection on the tragedy should focus more on its root cause than Japan's much-trumpeted victimhood.

Upon the invitation of Japan, which has ceaselessly emphasized its identity as the sole victim of nuclear bombs, US Secretary of State John Kerry, together with his six other colleagues, made a landmark tour to the Peace Memorial Park, but had ruled out an apology ahead of the visit.

While reflecting on the Hiroshima tragedy, Tokyo could not evade the fact that the root cause of the US bombing, which claimed over 100,000 lives, lies in Japan's militaristic aggression and brutal violence against other countries.

Therefore, it is Tokyo's lasting moral obligation to let that notorious chapter known by every citizen of the country and make compensations and apologies fair and square to the affected individuals and facilities, not just in Japan but also in other stricken nations.

On the other hand, Tokyo's attempt to take the Hiroshima meeting to renew the West's reprimand for Pyongyang's nuclear program will only escalate the simmering tension in the region and provocate more tit-for-tat responses from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Speaking from a broader spectrum, the current Korean deadlock is the bitter legacy of decades of the West's distrust, animosity and confrontation wrought by its ingrained Cold War mentality.

It is no coincidence that most of the world's current hotspots and disturbances should be attributed to the West's biased policies.

Decades have passed since the end of the Cold War. But the world is far from tranquility. The recurrence of hostility and confrontation between countries with different ideologies and national conditions is alarming, bringing havoc to the international order.

For instance, the West-dominated G8 has expelled Russia from the group, and engaged in conflicts with it, directly or indirectly, politically or economically.

Ukraine and Syria, topics on the "big foreign policy agenda" of this meeting as Kerry tweeted, have both fallen victim fundamentally to such obstinate enmity wrought by the West's unmatchable confidence of its ideology and institution and disregard of others.

With so many bitter fruits in hand and an increasingly diversified world ahead, it is high time that the West discard its outdated mentality that favors confrontation over compromise, and unilateralism over multipolarization.

After all, a stable international order needs the participation of all relevant stakeholders. Otherwise, an exclusive and arrogant mind will only waltz up the G7 mechanism into a cul-de-sac, still less the settlement of issues its members have pursued.

And that is something worth retrospection by G7 foreign ministers, and G7 leaders who will meet in Japan next month.

Expectations are high that Western policymakers attending the G7 meeting could reaffirm their sincere commitment to the enhancement of dialogue and removal of misunderstanding and distrust with other nations, so as to promote world peace and stability and wipe out the root cause of the Hiroshima tragedy.

Only in that sense can the Hiroshima meeting fit Kerry's definition of the gathering that "is not about the past," but "about the present and the future."
Int'l organizations pledge financial support to COP22 Updated: 2016-04-12 04:11 (Xinhua)

RABAT -- The European Union, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) pledged on Monday to provide financial support for the World Climate Conference (COP22), scheduled for November in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.

Representatives of the EU, UNDP and IFAD pledged to provide financial aid to ensure the success of this global event during a meeting organized by Morocco's Ministry of Economy and Finance in cooperation with the COP22 steering committee.

The EU will provide two million euros in support for the organization of COP22 and negotiations are underway to mobilize an additional five million euros, said the EU representative at the meeting.

The UNDP will provide two million dollars, while the IFAD's contribution will reach 450,000 dollars.
Japan's hijacking of G7 meeting to meddle in South China Sea issues unjustified, harmful Updated: 2016-04-12 04:34 (Xinhua)

HIROSHIMA -- Once again Japan hijacked the multilateral Group of Seven (G7) platform to serve its own purposes and to meddle in South China Sea affairs in an unwanted attempt to "contain" China, which is not only unjustified and unhelpful for resolving disputes, but also harmful to regional stability.

The two-day G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting closed on Monday with four joint statements issued by the member countries, one of which is about maritime security. The statement expressed "concerns over the situation in the East and South China Seas" and opposed "any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions".

The document is a result of the "consistent efforts" of the Japanese government, which, as host country, seized the meeting for its own agenda and unilaterally hyped up the South China Sea issue, despite the fact that none of the G7 members are relevant parties to the issue.

It is not the first time for Japan to attempt to take advantage of this multilateral framework to contain China. Last year, Japan pushed its unilateral agenda through a similar document on maritime security in the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Lubeck.

In the statement, Japan referred to protection of navigational freedom as an excuse for its meddling, and deliberately ignored the fact that China has repeatedly confirmed its commitment to maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight in the East and South China Seas.

Japan also paid no heed to China's efforts and tireless contribution to regional stability, despite the fact that the Chinese Foreign Ministry has reiterated China's commitment to solving maritime disputes through negotiations and consultation, directly with concerned parties on the basis of respect for historical facts and international law, so as to jointly safeguard the peace and stability in relevant waters, and for the betterment of security in the broader region.

What the Japanese government did is definitely not in the interests of the region, but only to stir up perceived regional tensions. Behind it is Japan's thinly veiled masterplan to drive wedges between China and other regional players and to draw western countries into an erroneous debate to contain China.

Japan also attempted to divert China's attention and resources from the East China Sea by interfering with disputes in the South China Sea.

Yet despite Japan's hyping of what it has dubbed a "China threat" and general smearing of China's peaceful advancements, in many people's eyes, including locals here, Japan itself is a potential threat to and sower of discord in the region, with its rise of ultra right-wing forces and attempts to revise the pacifistic Constitution and rewrite and undo decades of globally revered pacifism.

Morita, a university student, said in a protest here last Sunday that the Japanese government tried to forge a peace-loving image when hosting the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Hiroshima. But he believed what the government was ostensibly doing, such as forcing the security bills through parliament despite the atomic bombing survivors' protests and against majority of public opinion, was not peace-loving and was, visibly, against the people's will.

"The security bills that came to effect on March 29 made Japan a country that could start wars. Besides this, Japan recently strengthened its military alliance with the United States and South Korea. These are actions that could drag Japan into wars." said Yasuhiro Ikkanda, another protester and advocate of Japan adhering to its constitutionally-mandated pacifist values.

It was and now is high time for Japan to listen to the voices of its people and to reflect on its policies regarding regional security and its relationship with China, a former friend and monumental economic associate.
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HA NOI Viet Nam News - Thang Long GTC has officially asked to buy 65 per cent of Vindemia SAS - a Frances Casino Group subsidiary.

It is a joint venture registered as Big C Thang Long International Trade and Supermarket Service Company.

Big C Thang Long International Trade and Supermarket Service Company Limited is a joint venture company with two members, of which 35 per cent shares belongs to Thang Long GTC, while the remaining are owned by the Casino Group.

Being the joint venture partner, Thang Long GTC is the first Vietnamese business to make an active move in the competition to buy shares currently owned by the Casino Group. If the offer is accepted by Casino Group, Big C Thang Long International Trade and Supermarket Service Company Limited will be a 100 per cent locally-funded retail business.

The Casino Group is expected to respond positively before the end of this month. After 18 years in Viet Nam, the brand Big C is considered a leading retailer with a chain of 32 supermarkets throughout the country. This includes five supermarkets now successfully operating in Ha Noi owned by Big C Thang Long International Trade and Supermarket Service Company Limited.  VNS
A conner of HCM City.  VNA/VNS Photo Hioang Hai

HCM CITY Viet Nam News - HCM City has asked the World Bank to consider providing loans for green transport and flood prevention projects in fiscal year 2016.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of HCM Citys Peoples Committee, said the World Bank (WB) should also continue to send experts to work with the HCM City Department of Finance to fully work out the outline of this years Development Policy Loan Programme.

Phong and representatives from other agencies on Tuesday received a delegation from the WB led by the banks country director for Viet Nam Victoria Kwakwa.

Kwakwa said the delegations visit aimed to prepare for the loan programme with total funds of US$50-150 million, which will give top priority to the citys green transport development and flood-prevention projects.

Through the loan programme, the WB will help HCM City to build environmentally friendly transport works.

The first bus rapid transit (BRT) project, which is under implementation, matched well with the citys development plan, she said.

But the citys tramway project would be ineffective because of the huge capital demand for site clearance and construction, so the WB will reconsider financing the project, she added.

She praised the progress of flood prevention projects and said she hoped that site clearance and resettlement would not interfere with peoples daily lives.

She said the city, when carrying out WB-funded projects, should ensure that the work should not disrupt the lives of residents.

Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said the city would work with the ministries of Planning and Investment and Finance to seek approval of the programmes agenda and implementation.

Local authorities want the BRT project to meet residents travel demand and reduce traffic jams. The urban planning and flood-prevention projects are designed to improve the living environment for citizens.

However, the citys financial resources are limited, so assistance by WB and others such as the Asian Development Bank are needed for the projects implementation.

Local authorities have pledged to resettle residents who have to move, look after their employment and childrens education, and provide them with capital assistance to start new businesses.

So far, 3,141 out of 3,212 households have handed over their land for flood-prevention projects. The remaining 71 households have refused to move.

The WB recently confirmed a package of US$239 million from the banks International Development Association (IDA) and $46 million from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to implement the second phase of the Coastal Cities Environmental Sanitation Project.

The project will be implemented from 2016 to 2020 in the central province of Quang Binh, Binh inh, Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan.  VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nams lenders are gathering speed, posting the second-highest growth by country in this years ranking of the top 100 banks in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Global financial affairs magazine The Banker of news organisation The Financial Times made the announcement in an online report this month.

The largest increase in the ranking goes to Cambodia, which grew by 30.4 per cent, although it has only one lender  Acleda Bank  recognised on the list. Cambodia also accounts for only 0.1 per cent of the total assets in the ranking, down from 0.19 per cent the year before.

Vietnamese banks  19 of which made the ranking  grew their assets by the second-highest amount, 15.66 per cent, and although they still contribute a relatively small share of the total assets in the ranking, 7.46 per cent, they are up from 6.21 per cent in the previous year.

The ranking remains dominated by Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, which jointly hold nearly three-quarters of the total assets.

However, growth does not necessarily translate into profitability, the report said.

With an aggregate return on assets (ROA) of 0.8 per cent and return on capital (ROC) of 12.19 per cent, Viet Nam is placed at the tail-end of the ASEAN ranking for returns.

Instead, as has often been the case in the past, the champion in that category is Indonesia, which boasts an ROA of 2.7 per cent and ROC of 25.31 per cent.

Viet Nams banks stood out in terms of asset growth, with Viet Nam Prosperity Bank coming out on top with a 35.02 per cent increase, followed by local competitors Sai Gon Commercial Bank and Shinhan Bank Viet Nam, which expanded by 34.22 per cent and 33.32 per cent, respectively.

The countrys banks look to be poised to continue this rise. In addition to robust growth and stability, banking penetration remains among the lowest in the region. Only 30.86 per cent of the population aged 15 or over had a bank account in 2014 in a country of 91 million people.

However, as Vietnamese banks expanded their operations, they did not raise capital at a corresponding pace. Vietnamese banks registered a meagre 4.54 per cent uptick in Tier 1 capital, the lowest ranking among the countries measured.

Although the local banks are among the least profitable in the ranking, the situation is improving, with Viet Nam showing a six per cent increase in pre-tax profits, a larger hike than for any other country except Singapore, where profits increased by 10.91 per cent.

Another notable growth story comes from the Philippines, which showed the largest asset growth in last years ranking. Local balance sheets grew by an impressive 13.59 per cent, the highest after Viet Nam and Cambodia, but more slowly than the year before when the countrys banks recorded a 21.26 per cent expansion.

East West Banking Corp and Land Bank Philippines contributed the best performances, with their assets growing by 31.7 per cent and 23.21 per cent, respectively. However, as in the case of Viet Nam, asset growth did not mean a major increase in the capital base, as the aggregate Tier 1 capital growth by Filipino banks amounted to 6.53 per cent.

Indonesias institutions dominate the returns tables, with Bank Rakyat Indonesia boasting the highest ROA and ROC in the ranking, at 3.85 per cent and 37.58 per cent, respectively. Bank of Central Asia followed on its heels, coming second for both ROA and ROC, with 3.75 per cent and 32.22 per cent, respectively.

Overall, six of the top 10 banks for the highest ROA and five of the top 10 banks for the highest ROC are Indonesian.

Indonesian lenders managed these high profits while simultaneously posting the highest Tier 1 capital increase in the ranking. For all Indonesian banks in the ranking, Tier 1 capital grew by 11.93 per cent, more than in any other country bar Cambodia, where the single lender, Acleda Bank, increased its capital base by 22.29 per cent.

Still, "Viet Nam is on its way to becoming a heavyweight presence in Southeast Asia, with the top ranking for asset growth," The Bankers data editor Matthew Karwacki wrote in the report.  VNS
HCM CITY Viet Nam News - The Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) is actively handling the issue of bad debts caused by a former senior official, who was jailed for his role in a multi-million dollar scandal.

ACB General Director o Minh Toan made the statement at a shareholders meeting in HCM City on Friday, when asked about the issue.

Nguyen uc Kien, who was the former co-founder of the bank and one of the top banking tycoons in Viet Nam, was sentenced to 30 years in jail in 2014 for fraud, tax evasion, illegal trade and deliberate wrongdoing causing serious consequences.

Toan said the bad loans of some companies run by Kien totalled nearly VN5.8 trillion (US$257.8 million) as of December 31, 2015. This year, ACB plans to recover VN2 trillion out of this total amount.

Toan said the bad loans were guaranteed with mortgages and some real estate shares, and the ACB would have to find ways to sell these assets for debt recovery although the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) had adopted a mechanism for settling soured loans.

Nguyen Van Dung, the head of the HCM City banking supervision department, said that following the mechanism given by the authorities for a lender facing problems arising from the past, ACB would have four to five years to fully handle the debts.

"However, the ACB must have high determination in establishing provisional funds and stepping up debt recovery," he told VnExpress online.

Toan said that the ACB would establish a provisional fund worth VN1.5 trillion against non-performing assets in 2016, with VN1 trillion to be used as a provision for Kien-related loans. As many as VN200 billion has already been established in the first quarter.

Besides the case involving Kien, Toan told shareholders that the ACB was making progress in restructuring its deposits at two nationalised banks, Viet Nam Construction Bank (VNCB) and Global Petrol Bank (GP.Bank).

The deposits at VNCB are worth VN400 billion and the amount at GP.Bank is VN772 billion. The SBV acquired both ailing banks last year, at a price of zero ong per share.

At Fridays meeting, Julian Fong Loong Choon, who represented a 15 per cent stake of Standard Chartered Bank in ACB, petitioned for his resignation.

The representative said Standard Chartered assigned him to help ACB train its human resources over the last few years, and he had completed his mission as staff conditions had basically stabilised at the local bank.

He affirmed that Standard Chartered would continue to be a strategic partner with sustained investments at ACB.

With regard to this years business plans, ACB Chairman Tran Huy Hung said the banks charter capital was expected to be increased from VN9.4 trillion to VN10.3 trillion, by paying dividend in shares at a rate of 10 per cent, with retained profits.

An increase in equity was needed for the bank to ensure capital security, enhance financial capacity, extend lending limits and cope with market fluctuations, he said.

This year, the bank plans to reach more than VN1.5 trillion in pre-tax profits, an increase of 14 per cent over last year, on a deposit and lending growth rate of about 18 per cent. Its total assets are also expected to rise by 18 per cent year-on-year at VN237 trillion in 2016.

In 2015, the banks pre-tax profits grew by eight per cent year-on-year at VN1.3 trillion and its total assets were up 12 per cent year-on-year at VN201.5 trillion. Its deposit and lending growth rates were 13 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, with the bad debt ratio falling to 1.3 per cent from the 2.2 per recorded at the end of 2014.  VNS
MILAN Viet Nam News - The Association of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs in Italy (ASSOEVI) and the Italy  Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce (CCIV) will work together to expand bilateral co-operation between Vietnamese and Italian businesses.

This consensus followed a co-operation agreement inked by the two sides in the northern Italian city of Milan on Friday. Under the agreement, ASSOEVI and CCIV would provide businesses in both countries with updated information, legal assistance and market surveys, in a move to help the firms effectively tap into trade and investment opportunities in both countries.

During his speech, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Cao Chinh Thien said he hoped Italy would offer practical assistance to the two countries businesses in the future.

Further, ASSOEVI chairman Pham Van Hong said the co-operation agreement would create the right conditions for Vietnamese companies operating in Italy, and Italian businesses operating in Viet Nam, especially when the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) takes effect.

Additionally, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta noted that Italy would benefit most from the EVFTA, while speaking on Thursday in Milan.

He further suggested that Italian firms change their business approach by not only focusing on manufacturing products in Viet Nam for export to Europe, but also manufacturing products to sell to consumers in the country.

Gianfelice Rocca, chairman of Assolombarda  the largest territorial association of the entire entrepreneurial system in Italy - agreed that the FTA would bring many benefits to Italian businesses in both Vietnamese and ASEAN markets.

Also, Italian companies should travel more to Viet Nam to learn more about the market and their partners, he said, emphasising the importance of building necessary legal frameworks for trade and investment.

Ambassador Cao Chinh Thien praised the enormous potentials for the two nations firms to co-operate further.

Viet Nam is considered an attractive business destination and a trustworthy trade partner, which would make it easier for Vietnamese and Italian firms to do business, he said.

Last year, two-way trade hit US$4.3 billion. Viet Nam is currently Italys largest trading partner in ASEAN.  VNS
A production chain at the Pham Nguyen Confectionery Company Ltd.  VNS Photo

HCM CITY Viet Nam News - A Japanese institutional investor, Mizuho ASEAN Investment LP, has invested US$9.3 million in Pham Nguyen Confectionery Company Ltd.

Pham Nguyen said the financing would be used to support rapid growth by increasing production capacity for the companys key brands. It would also help introduce new product categories and expand its distribution network in the country.

The investment will allow us to reach more Vietnamese customers with our current and upcoming quality products, said Pham Ngoc Thai, the companys chairman.

Founded in 1990, Pham Nguyen is one of the leading companies in the confectionery industry. The companys products are in four key categories of soft cakes, chocolate, biscuits and bread. The companys products are distributed in over 52,000 retail locations and its products are exported to 16 countries and territories.

Mizuho ASEAN Investment LP is a private equity fund advised by Mizuho Asia Partners Pte Ltd, a Singapore-incorporated registered fund management company.

The fund seeks to invest growth capital and nurture promising small- and medium-sized companies in Southeast Asia, in part by leveraging Japanese connections.  VNS
HA NOI  Implementing environmental commitments under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be a big challenge for Viet Nam in the near future.

The commitments encompass protecting the ozone layer, preserving the marine environment from ship pollution, boosting biodiversity conservation, combating with wildlife trafficking, developing a low-emissions economy, and sustainably managing fisheries.

Phan Tuan Hung, deputy head of Legal Affairs Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, spoke about these issues yesterday at a workshop organised by the ministry and by the US Embassy in Ha Noi.

During the workshop, Deputy Minister Tran Hong Ha said implementing TPPs environmental commitments would prove a big challenge for Viet Nam because the countrys economic development was at the lowest level of the 12 countries which signed the TPP.

Environmental commitments under TPP are much larger and stricter than for any other trade greement Viet Nam has ever signed, according to Ha. The commitments contain many objectives managed by a range of ministries, such as natural resources and environment, agriculture and rural development, and transport.

Viet Nam and eleven other countries signed the TPP in Auckland, New Zealand on February 2 this year, making Viet Nam a full member of the biggest multilateral free trade zone, together with economic world powers like the US, Japan and Singapore.

Recommendations for implementation

Heidi Stockhaus, an expert of the environment ministrys Legal Affairs Department, recommended that Viet Nam choose a representative for the Environment Committee, to oversee implementation of TPP environmental commitments.

Stockhaus also suggested establishing a consulting mechanism, to advise on implementation and to identify areas of priority for cooperation.

Talking with local media on the sidelines of the workshop, the president of the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen The Chinh, said Viet Nam should review all policies to meet TPP environmental commitments.

If shortcomings were found in the legal documentation systems, they needed to be fixed in order to implement the commitments, he said.

Hung, deputy head of Legal Affairs Department, said the Law on Biodiversity and the Law on Forest Protection would be improved, in compliance with TPP environmental commitments.

Hung also asked the country to develop a plan to enforce environmental laws and to compile a roadmap for their implementation.

The workshop offered participants a chance to discuss ways to accomplish these commitments after the TPP is ratified in the country. As scheduled, the Government will propose that the National Assembly ratify TPP in July.

TPPs Environmental Cooperation Framework for Parties

TPP is the first free trade agreement in the world to dedicate one chapter to environmental commitments. The move demonstrates the importance of environmental protection in trading activities and sustainable development these days.

According to Emily Dougherty from the Office of the US Trade Representative, the Asia-Pacific region faces an array of environmental challenges - including wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, illegal fishing, and marine pollution  which threaten human health, habitat and biodiversity.

It is hoped that these challenges can all be tackled by creating enforceable commitments to deal with a range of environmental issues and transnational challenges. Developing closer cooperation among TPP governments - to address transnational threats, to police environmental crimes, and to help lower-income countries - is also needed.

The TPPs environmental cooperation framework is designed as follows: Cooperation may occur on a bilateral or multilateral basis between Parties, and may include non-Parties and non-governmental bodies. Each Party designates national contact points to coordinate cooperative activities, share its cooperation priorities, and propose activities related to implementation of the TPPs Chapter 20.

Parties discuss and review cooperative activities through the Environment Committee established under the chapter. The Parties may periodically evaluate the necessity of designating an entity to provide administrative and operational support for cooperative activities.  VNS
by Bach Lien

HA NOI - A new photo exhibition in the capital invites the public to visit Viet Nam in the 1980s, as seen through the eyes of a French journalist.

An exhibition is underway of more than 100 photos taken by Michel Blanchard, bureau chief of AFP news in Ha Noi from 1981 to 1983.

Even after he finished his two-year assignment in Viet Nam, he continued to visit the country for over ten years as a writer of travel guides, which became among the first books describing the region after the war.

The photos witness the important transitional period of Viet Nam, from a subsidised economy to the renewal period starting in 1986. Moreover, the exhibition is a unique opportunity for the Vietnamese to savor the nostalgia before the great transformation of the 1990s took place, as well as the economic boom that followed.

During his stay in Ha Noi, for a weekend or vacation, Blanchard often travelled by bicycle through the streets of the capital and captured in his lens the daily life of local people. Not being a professional photographer, taking pictures became one of his lifes passionate hobbies.

He was touched and impressed by the simple beauty of the landscapes and the kindnesses displayed by people during that time.

He began to take photos of Phung Khac Khoan Street, where he worked during his stay in Ha Noi. He also captured on film the scenes and people of different streets in the city, as well as various regions he visited in Viet Nam from the north to the south, prior to the countrys opening to foreign tourists.

From those trips, I discovered a mysterious and simple Viet Nam full of charm and kindness, which kept its traditions while developing day after day following the war. The country kept inspiring me and surprising me, Blanchard said.

Very different from the Ha Noi of today, which has so many motorbikes and cars on the streets, the citys people in the 1980s used to travel by bicycles and trams.

 I remember in Ha Noi at that time that there were only some tea shops, and there often was not electricity. I met children who studied their lessons under the light of a street lamp I have never forgotten this image. I regret my not being able to capture that moment, he said.

A child, little Phong, who was captured in a photo in 1983 playing with a bucket of water on a hot summer day in front of his house, was also present at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

Phong, now a 35 year-old father of a son, was happy to see his photo, which has become a precious record of his life, since his family could not afford a camera during those years. He has often met with Blanchard when he returned to visit the city.

Experts and the public who viewed the photos on display were highly impressed.

The great value of photography is to make an instant into an eternity. We should respect those works because it is part of the history which was written by images. They can help younger generations to understand the countrys past, historian Duong Trung Quoc said.

Blanchard recalled that he was given his first camera when he was 14 years old, and he has always loved taking pictures.

I first came to work in Viet Nam in June 1981. This country remains a marvelous subject for me, a loving feeling that has never stopped. Everything attracted me: people, landscapes, simple jobs, architecture and light.

Viet Nam, at that time, was very beautiful. Each time I took a picture, I was sure to have a good photo. The inhabitants always had smiles on their faces, he recalled.

When I again look at some photos, I even remember the smells in the air. I have a great number of photos of Viet Nam, more than photos of any other country, he said.

Blanchard worked as an AFP journalist from 1976 to 2006. After that, he began writing for a tourism daily newspaper, Le Quotidien du Toursime, and is a member of the Travel Journalist Association.

Before the opening ceremony, Blanchard also held a conference about the life of a press correspondent in Ha Noi in the 1980s.

The exhibition remains open until April 30 at lEspace, the French Cultural Centre, located at 24 Trang Tien Street. VNS
MARIB, Yemen  All sides in Yemens year-long war pledged to honour a UN-brokered ceasefire that took effect at midnight on Sunday, adding to cautious optimism ahead of new talks to reach a lasting peace deal.

The chief of staff of forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi confirmed "the ceasefire has taken effect" at midnight (2100 GMT), despite deadly clashes in regions around the capital Sanaa in the lead up to the deadline.

Fighting over the past year has killed thousands, displaced 2.4 million, and drawn in Yemens neighbours, but there are renewed hopes that the new ceasefire will form the cornerstone of a long-lasting peace deal that can be hammered out between the countrys warring parties from April 18 in Kuwait.

General Mohamed Ali al-Makdashi told reporters that "we are going to respect it... unless the Huthi rebels violate it".

Three earlier attempts at ceasefires collapsed after a Saudi-led coalition in March last year began air strikes to support the Hadi government and push back the Zaidi Shiite Huthis who overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 before advancing to other regions.

Chaos and misery have ruled the Arabian Peninsula country since, while pressure has built for an end to the violence.

The Iran-backed Huthis, along with allied troops loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, sent the United Nations a letter committing to "cease land, sea and air military operations" throughout Yemen, according to a communique carried by the rebel-run Saba news agency.

Foreign Minister Abdel Malek al-Mekhlafi said Hadis government had also given "guarantees to the UN that it will maintain the truce".

UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed welcomed the ceasefire and called on all parties to respect it.

"I ask all the parties and the international community to remain steadfast in support for this cessation of hostilities to be a first step in Yemens return to peace," he said. "This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives."

In contrast to previous ceasefire attempts, some Huthi leaders met with loyalist troops on a joint committee to make sure both sides comply with the truce, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri said.

"And they will monitor all the personnel on the ground, to not violate the ceasefire," he said.

In the lead-up to the truce, fighting raged in regions outside Sanaa, while the rebel-held city itself, which has been regularly bombed by coalition warplanes, was quiet.

Rebels and their allies exchanged mortar and artillery fire with pro-Hadi forces in Sarwah region of Marib province east of Sanaa, an AFP correspondent said.

A pro-Hadi commander in Sarwah, Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Hasan, said that four of his men were killed in the shelling.

Coalition aircraft also carried out air strikes to stop rebels seeking to retake a military base from pro-government forces, military sources said, while further north, coalition jets struck Huthi positions in Jawf province, according to the rebels.

There were also clashes in Nihm northeast of Sanaa, witnesses said.  AFP
HA NOI  The Vietnamese Government will continue to increase co-operation with the World Bank, especially in coping with climate change and saltwater intrusion, improving public administration and the investment climate, and fighting corruption.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who was sworn in on Thursday, made the remarks Saturday at a Ha Noi reception for Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Director in Viet Nam.

Viet Nam appreciated the support and consultation of the World Bank in general, and of Country Director Victoria Kwakwa in particular, and regarded the bank as a reliable partner and great friend of the country, the Prime Minister said.

The Government leader suggested the two sides increase the exchange of information to improve collaboration and efficiency.

For her part, Victoria Kwakwa congratulated Phuc on his election as Prime Minister and on the National Assembly approval of the new Cabinet members.

She affirmed that the World Bank attached importance to its co-operative ties with Viet Nam and hoped the new Prime Minister would work to elevate bilateral co-operation to new heights.

The official noted that the bank was keen to co-operate with the Vietnamese Government in coping with climate change, developing the private economic sector, and enhancing the Governments accountability and anti-corruption measures.

She expressed her deep concern over the severe ongoing drought and saltwater intrusion in the Central Highlands and Mekong Delta. She also said that the bank had been supporting Viet Nam in dealing with these issues, so that the country could adapt more effectively to climate change and mitigate related damages.

As for the development of the private economic sector, Kwakwa advised the Vietnamese Government to step up institutional reform and create an equal footing for all types of businesses, thus helping them connect with global value chains. These steps will prove especially useful now, while the country negotiates in preparation for joining a number of international free trade agreement initiatives.

The bank was willing to provide financial and advisory expertise and support for Viet Nam to develop its private economic sector, she added.

First guest

Prime Minister Phuc met Japanese Ambassador Fukada Hiroshi  the first guest of the new government  during a reception in Ha Noi on Saturday.

The leader informed his guest that the Vietnamese National Assembly approved the appointment of 21 Cabinet members, on the morning of the same day.

He assured the ambassador that he and his cabinet members would attend the extended G7 Summit in Japan this May, at the invitation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Phuc expressed hope that during the event, Japan would hold bilateral meetings with Viet Nam to extensively discuss ways to boost the Viet Nam  Japan strategic partnership.

During the reception, Phuc also called for increased dialogue and mutual support at regional and global forums, for the sake of peace, stability, co-operation, and development in the region and the world.

The ambassador hopes that the Vietnamese and Japanese Prime Ministers will hold talks to strengthen economic ties on the sidelines, during the expanded G7 event.

Sympathising with the Vietnamese Government and people over the serious impacts of disasters, especially serious saltwater intrusion in the central, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta regions, Ambassador Fukada Hiroshi said the Japanese government wanted to help Viet Nam improve its ability to deal with extreme weather phenomena.

Japan was also keen on collaborating with Viet Nam to improve public administration management and the business climate, he said. He added that both sides were preparing for an investment promotion forum in Ha Noi.  VNS
Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh.  VNA/VNS Photo An ang

HA NOI Viet Nam News -  The National Assembly voted to approve the Prime Ministers appointment of 21 cabinet positions, including three Deputy Prime Ministers for five-year terms, during the ongoing  and last  11th session of the 13th legislature in Ha Noi.

Expressing their view on the new posts on the sidelines of the NA meeting on Saturday, the three new Deputy Prime Ministers, 18 others ministers and cabinet members said they were honoured to be selected as cabinet members and vowed to do their best to fulfil their tasks in the new term.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung said that as an assistant of the Prime Minister, he would focus on lifting barriers in production for domestic business enterprises and local people.

In addition, Dung, who previously led the Ministry of Construction, said he will improve the investment environment as a way to promote financial sources from all domestic and international economic sectors for socio-economic development.

Dung said he will focus on economic restructuring aiming at creating high-quality industrial and agricultural products prevailing in both domestic and world competition.

This would give the Vietnamese economy a boost and help it to widely and deeply integrate into the world economy, said Dung.

Sharing his view on the new post, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, who was former chief judge of the Supreme Peoples Court, said he would use his experience in the legislative sector  particularly in the prevention and fight against crime  to help the cabinet find effective measures against crime and ensure social order and political security.

As a cabinet member with the highest votes of 463, newly elected Minister-Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs o Van Chien said he would continue to complete policies on socio-economic development in mountainous and ethnic minority regions, including a boost in investment for poverty eradication, health care and education measures.

NA deputies have expressed hope that the new Government will build on past successes and issue timely policies for socio-economic development.

They made the statement on the sidelines of the NAs 11th session in Ha Noi, which approved the appointment of three Deputy Prime Ministers and 18 ministers and Cabinet members on Saturday.

Deputy Bui Thi An, representing Ha Nois constituents, said several ministries and sectors made breakthroughs in the past tenure, especially the Transport Ministry.

Apart from ramping up infrastructure, the ministry emphasised personnel work by holding open examinations to choose the best candidates for managerial positions in its departments and agencies, she said.

In a separate matter, she raised concern over the smuggling and trading of counterfeit and low-quality goods, as well as poisonous and banned substances, and called upon the Government to annually assess each sectors performance in a transparent manner.

Lawmaker Tran Ngoc Vinh from the northern port city of Hai Phong said the new PM and other Government members should be more active in driving the economy forward.

The Government must devise solutions to achieve the goals set in the last tenure while continuing to make forecasts and issue specific measures, he said.

The NA on Saturday approved the revised Law on Signing, Joining and Implementing International Treaties as well as resolutions on adjusting land use plans through 2020 and the national land use plan for 2016-2020 (last phase).

The same day, the NA also adopted a resolution ratifying the diplomatic note on the visa agreement between Viet Nam and the US.

NEC vice chairs, members discharged

Chairwoman of the National Election Council (NEC) Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan presented a proposal on relieving several NEC Vice Chairs and members from their duties during the 13th NA yesterday.

The 21 member NEC was established at the 13th NAs 10th session, including one chair, four vice chairs and 16 members.

The proposal named two vice chairs - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan - and 12 members for release.

President Tran ai Quang later presented a report asking for the discharge of former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung from the position as Vice Chairman of the Council of National Defence and Security.

He also proposed relieving former NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung and former Minister of National Defence Phung Quang Thanh from their duties as members of the Council.

Lawmakers then discussed in groups the proposals of release.

The NA will continue working today.  VNS
Foreign Minister spokesman Le Hai Binh.  File Photo

HA NOI Viet Nam News - Viet Nam was deeply saddened after receiving the news that an explosion occurred yesterday killing at least 100 and injuring many others in Indias Kerala state, said Foreign Minister spokesman Le Hai Binh.

The spokesman expressed his sorrow yesterday when asked about Viet Nams reaction to the deadly incident, the result of a fireworks explosion that ripped through a Hindu temple in southern India while thousands of devotees watched the show during a religious festival.

Binh also said Viet Nam would like to share its hope that the Government and people of India, as well as the families of the victims, can overcome their grief.

Binh said that immediately after learning about the incident, the Foreign Ministry instructed the Embassy of Viet Nam in India to determine whether there were any Vietnamese victims.

The Vietnamese Embassy in India reported that no information suggests that Vietnamese citizens were killed or injured.

Also yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh sent condolences to Sushma Swaraj, the Indian Foreign Minister.  VNS
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has detained 23 Vietnamese fishermen on charges of illegally fishing in the waters off of Terengganu and Pahang states. Photo New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR  The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has detained 23 Vietnamese fishermen on charges of illegally fishing in the waters off of Terengganu and Pahang states.

They were detained during two round-ups called Operation Perkasa Timur and Operation Marikh, about two hours after they were first spotted by the agencys patrol craft on Friday, the New Straits Time quoted MMEA Eastern regional Director Khoo Teng Chuan as saying.

The MMEA seized two fishing vessels along with 450kg of fish and squid.

Khoo said the two vessels were seized on their way back to Viet Nam with their catches.

None of the Vietnamese nationals had travel documents. They were brought to shore for further investigation.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia has sent a diplomatic note and contacted relevant authorities to learn more about the case.

Fishing boats seized in Thai waters

Thailands Naval Zone 2 force seized three Vietnamese fishing ships with 33 fishermen onboard for illegally entering and fishing on its territorial waters, the local Thai Rath newspaper reported.

The ships were seized offshore Nakhon Si Thammarat Province in southern Thailand on Friday night. They are now being detained in Songkhla Province.

A source in Songkhla said three boat captains went on trial on Saturday morning. Crewmembers will have to give testimony over allegations that they were forced onto these ships.

Also stopped was a Thai vessel with 14 people aboard that carried 30,000 litres of oil to feed the Vietnamese ships.

Since the beginning of 2016, the Naval Zone 2 force has stopped 17 Vietnamese ships involved in illegal fishing.

Earlier this week, the Thai navy said they detained another five Vietnamese vessels for illegally fishing in Thailands exclusive economic zone.

Speaking at a press conference at the Sattahip military port in the southern Chonburi Province on Thursday, Rear Admiral Watson Booneung said the ships carrying 37 fishermen were seized off Thailands Trat coastal province, which borders Cambodia.

Crewmembers said they were fishermen from the southern province of Ca Mau who left their hometown on March 27 and had their boats seized on April 5.

The area where they were arrested is near the location where five Vietnamese boats with 47 fishermen onboard were captured on April 3.

Watson Booneung revealed that the Thai navy seized a total of 11 boats with 102 Vietnamese fishermen onboard for illegal fishing in Thai waters April 3-7. VNS
People practises to evacuate the disabled during disaster in Central Quang Tri Province.  VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY The US Government will continue to provide disaster relief grants to help Viet Nam respond to the severe drought and saltwater intrusion affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the southern provinces and Central Highlands, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced last Friday.

On March 25, US Ambassador Ted Osius declared a disaster due to the effects of the drought in Viet Nam, Consul General Rena Bitter said in HCM City.

She added that this status would allow the US to provide support to Viet Nam through the Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC), which has been actively co-ordinating relief efforts.

With this assistance, VNRC will provide safe drinking water and water storage containers to those most affected and will carry out promotional activities to enhance the awareness of sanitation and hygiene.

Since the end of 2015, Viet Nam has experienced higher temperatures and below average rainfall, which has led to severe drought and saltwater intrusion, resulting in significant damage and threats to national agricultural production and peoples livelihoods.

According to a report from the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, the number of households experiencing water shortage is very high, especially in areas like Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces.

Moreover, many schools, health care stations, hotels and factories are experiencing water shortages.

Since 2000, USAID, through the Office of the US Foreign Disaster Assistance, has provided about US$12 million in disaster response, preparedness and risk reduction assistance in Viet Nam.

USAID programs have reached more than one million people in nearly 150 communities with disaster preparedness services.

USAID-supported disaster relief efforts are closely co-ordinated with the Government of Viet Nams relief efforts. VNS
Scene of a fire in Tan Binh District, HCM City. In the first three months of the year, 121 fires, three-fourth of the number during the same period last year, occurred, injuring nine people in the city.  Photo tienphong.vn

HCM City  In the first three months of the year, 121 fires, three-fourth of the number during the same period last year, occurred, injuring nine people.

The fires caused damages estimated at VN54 billion (US$2.5 million), a reduction of VN272 billion ($12.5 million) over the same period last year. However, 28 cases were not included in the estimate.

The main cause of fires in HCM City is carelessness by users, accounting for 80 per cent of the total cases, Colonel Tran Thanh Chau, deputy director of the city Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting, said at a press conference held on Friday.

He said there were no explosions during the period but warned against indiscriminate burning of vegetation and garbage, which has caused many major fires, especially during hot weather.

During the period, there were 403 fires caused by burning of vegetation and garbage, an increase of 56 per cent compared to last year.

Firefighters rescued nine people and discovered the bodies of 11 people who had died during fires in 27 rescue events, a reduction of 14 over the same period last year.

The department also conducted fire-prevention investigations at 18,245 organisations, enterprises, apartments and residential areas. They found that half of them were at risk of explosions or fires.

Inspectors found 1,914 violations and handed out 1,703 fines totalling VN1.9 billion ($85,000).

The department has organised 2,137 firefighting and prevention training courses for nearly 43,000 people, and held 82 specialised training courses for 4,658 of 8,000 members of 461 new local fire-fighting and prevention 461 teams.

More than 3,700 fire-fighting rehearsals were organised, and education about fire-prevention was widely promoted in mass media.  VNS
LAM ONG (VNS)  The Project Management Board No.1 has proposed the Ministry of Transport should increase funding for the Tan Phu-Bao Loc Expressway in the Central Highland province of Lam ong.

In the proposal sent to the ministry, the management board said the Tan Phu-Bao Loc Expressway was part of the Dau Giay-Lien Khuong Highway. The board urged the ministry to allocate more than VN14.3 trillion (US$641 million) from the Japanese governments official development assistance (ODA) fund to build the expressway.

The expressway is 66 kilometres long and 17 metres wide, accommodating four lanes with a designed speed of 100kph.

As planned, the projects total investment capital is more than VN17.2 trillion ($771 million). Of which, over VN14.3 trillion ($641 million) will come from the ODA fund, while the rest comes from the Vietnamese government.

The results of the management boards survey showed that there were currently some 7,240 cars running on National Highway 20, the main highway connecting ong Nai and Lam ong Province.

The flow of vehicles is too heavy for the route, even though the highway has been repaired and upgraded many times. The Tan Phu-Bao Loc section was the most dangerous part, with slopes creating a hazard for road users.

The management board said it would complete the report on the feasibility of the project and send it to the ministry by the second quarter of this year if it received approval for the extra funding.

It also said the Japan International Cooperation Agency had initially shown interest in the project.  VNS
HAI DUONG (VNS)  The Peoples Committee of the northern province of Hai Duong has requested a reduction in the fee for container trucks using Highway No 5 and Ha Noi-Hai Phong Highway.

The request was received by the ministries of transport and finance and the Viet Nam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company (VIDIFI).

According to Nguyen Anh Cuong, deputy chairman of the provincial committee, many vehicles, especially container trucks, are now running on Road 391 to avoid paying high fees at two toll stations on the highways.

This has led to Road 391 being overburdened and has affected traffic safety, local residents lives on both sides of the road and the design of the road bed, he said.

To deal with the situation, the committee has suggested the ministries and VIDIFI reduce their fee for vehicles with a capacity of 40 feet or more running on the highways.

The suggestion aims to minimise the burden on Road 391, ensure traffic safety on that route, improve traffic flow and enhance the usage efficiency of Highway No. 5 and Ha Noi-Hai Phong Highway.

Earlier, VIDIFI had asked the transport ministry to approve a temporary fee reduction of 35 per cent for trucks weighing more than 18 tonnes and for 40-foot container trucks.

After 2016, based on traffic flow, VIDIFI will report to the ministry on the issue of adjusting fees for 40-foot container trucks.

Also, on May 5, Pha Lai toll station on Highway No 18 in the northern province of Quang Ninh will halt operations, the Viet Nam Road Administration said.  VNS
HCM CITY (VNS)  HCM Citys Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department has asked the city authority to purchase a firefighting helicopter worth VN1 trillion (US$44.8 million) to tackle high-rise fires in the city.

Tran Thanh Chau, deputy director of the department, said the purchase of such a helicopter was necessary to stamp out fires in high-rise buildings and areas that could not be accessed by fire trucks.

Currently, fire trucks are equipped with ladders measuring 72 metres, equivalent to the 18th storey of a high-rise building.

Chau said the helicopter was among the modern equipment needed by the city to improve firefighting activities and ensure peoples safety.

The proposal has received a great deal of opposition from experts.

Colonel Nguyen The Tu, former head of the Firefighting Prevention and Control University, said many countries have used helicopters for fighting fires in forests and for rescue work.

With high-rise buildings, helicopters can only rescue people stranded on the roof but cannot stamp out fires as they do not have a container for carrying water.

Tu said some countries, such as Australia and Indonesia, had a firefighting helicopter equipped with a water container with a capacity of 4-5cu.m., but it was mainly used to stamp out fires in forests or in low-storey buildings in residential areas.

No country in the world uses helicopters for fighting fires in high-rise buildings. It doesnt work, he said.

Tu said Viet Nam currently had no specific plans to use helicopters to stamp out fires in high-rise buildings. In HCM City, where residences are crowded together and many houses are located far from the main road, smaller-sized firefighting equipment was effective.

Ngo Van Xiem, former deputy head of the university, said that apart from the cost of the helicopter, the city would have to spend money on parking spots, hiring a pilot, and on maintenance work for the vehicle.

It will be a big waste, he said, adding that this amount of money should be used to upgrade regular firefighting equipment.

Experts said the city should carefully reconsider the plan to buy helicopters due to its ineffectiveness and high cost.

Figures from the department showed that some 1,650 accidents occured last year because of fires, explosions and rescue events, with eight deaths and 46 injuries recorded.  VNS
India and China will hold next round of (SR) talks on April 20 during, which NSA Ajit Doval is expected to raise the issue of China blocking move to get Pakistan-based JeM Chief Masood Azhar designated as terrorist.

The two-day talks in Beijing, 19th round of such parleys, will focus on boundary and strategic issues, official sources said here today.

Doval, who is the SR for Sino-India boundary talks, will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi. He is also expected to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

At the 19th round of SR talks, the two sides are expected to review the status of the situation on the border and ways to maintain peace and tranquility there, the sources said.

"We want to move forward," a senior official said here about the ties with China.

The talks are taking place in the backdrop of China blocking at the UN India's move to get JeM chief designated as terrorist. Doval is expected to raise this issue with Yang.

Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case "did not meet the requirements" of the Security Council.

This round of SR talks was earlier scheduled to be held in January but was postponed because of Pathankot terror attack on January 1.

The last round of talks was held in March last year after which it was reported that Doval and Yang "exchanged in depth their opinions on the boundary issue" and made "strategic communications" on bilateral ties as well as and regional issues of common interest.

The SR talks are designed not only to address the boundary question but also to facilitate exchange of views on subjects of common interest in regional and international developments.

The two countries share a 4,057 km long border on which they have differences of perception.

China says the border dispute is confined only to 2,000 kms mostly in Arunachal Pradesh whereas India asserts that the dispute covered the western side of the border spanning to about 4,000 kms, especially the Aksai Chin area annexed by China in 1962 war.
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Waterloo

Karmelle Sharrdai McGee, 29, of 218 Clay St., was arrested March 29 on Logan Avenue for second-offense operating while intoxicated and driving while suspended following a traffic stop.

Theresa Davis, 45, of 105 Madison St., was arrested March 28 at 1975 Franklin St. for simple assault. She allegedly hit a cashier at Rays Super Value.

Tara Lynn Gregory, 46, of 1936 Howard Ave., was arrested March 28 at 618 E. Eighth St. for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and violation of the drug tax stamp act. Police found more than 50 grams of meth while searching a home at 215 1/2 E. Fifth St. on Jan. 8.

James Smith, 50, of 309 Franklin St., was arrested March 28 at his home for serious domestic assault. He allegedly assaulted Tamika Lumpkin, 33.

Jeffrey Scott Kinkade, 45, of Hazleton, was arrested March 30 at the Isle Hotel Casino for second-degree burglary and credit card forgery. He allegedly took $120 in cash and a credit card from a home at 833 Belle St. while the residents were sleeping March 27 and attempted to withdraw money using the credit card.

Burglaries: Eric Norelius reported the theft of an xBox, controller and video game during a burglary to his home at 610 W. First St. on April 5. William Nottger reported the theft of a TV, PlayStation and laptop computer during a burglary to his home at 850 Porter Drive on March 14.

Amber Nicole Long, 22, of 320 Riehl St., was arrested April 1 in the 1300 block of Franklin Street and charged with first-offense operating while intoxicated.

Delaney David Seales, 40, of 3137 Burton Ave., was arrested April 1 at 218 Mulberry St. and charged with serious domestic assault. He allegedly assaulted his girlfriend, Ameerah Ball.

Martavis Lee Smith, 23, of 135 Unity Square Drive, was arrested April 1 at home and charged with simple domestic assault. He allegedly assaulted his girlfriend, Renisha Davis.

Bruce Alan Helms, 55, and his son, Jared Lee Helms, 30, both of 814 Fairview Ave., were both arrested March 31 at home. Bruce Helms was charged with simple domestic assault and Jared Helms was charged with serious domestic assault. They allegedly assaulted each other.

Ronald Lee Kisner Jr., 49, of 310 East Sixth St., was arrested March 31 at 204 Colfax Drive and charged with credit card fraud.

Brian Dana Vaughn Jr., 33, of 512 Courtland St., was arrested March 31 at 905 Franklin St. and charged with first-degree burglary and seven counts of violating a no-contact order.

Alexander Daivon Neal, 13, was arrested March 30 at 1505 Logan Ave. and charged with second-degree robbery. He allegedly stole from a student at his school.

Karmella Sharrdai McGee, 29, of 218 Clay St., was arrested March 29 on Logan Avenue for second-offense operating while intoxicated and driving while suspended following a traffic stop.

Jennifer Anne Spencer, 33, of 1013 Broadway St., was arrested March 29 at the police station for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and violation of the drug tax stamp act. Officers with the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Force allegedly found meth and scales while searching her home March 16.

Daniel Joseph Rigdon, 23, of 143 French St., was arrested March 21 on LaPorte Road for first-offense operating while intoxicated following a traffic stop.

Walter Eugene Smith Jr., 21, of 736 Hope Ave., was arrested March 21 at the police station for simple assault and violation of a no-contact order. He allegedly assaulted Noelle Meyer.

Jamie Irene Billington, 21, of 5461 Foulk Road, was arrested March 19 at 125 Sherwood Court for child endangerment. She was allegedly smoking marijuana in a home with children ages 2 and 3 months, and officers found marijuana accessible to the children.

Peter Allen Carr Jr., 51, of 1210 Columbia St., was arrested March 19 in the 4000 block of University Avenue for third-degree theft and public intoxication. He allegedly took items from Hy-Vee supermarket.

Douglas James Dewald, 45, of Normal, Ill., was arrested March 19 on Black Hawk Road for first-offense operating while intoxicated following a traffic stop.

Daniss Tamar Jenkins, 37, of 312 Boston Ave., was arrested March 19 in the 500 block of Riehl Street for first-offense operating while intoxicated, felony eluding, driving while suspended and possession of cocaine following a chase that ended when he struck a parked truck. Officers found cocaine on the vehicles seat and floor.

Hunter Dean Robert Wason, 22, of Fairbank, was arrested March 19 on Broadway Street for first-offense operating while intoxicated.

Dung Kim Nguyen, 32, of 1267 Ravenwood Road, was arrested March 18 at the police station for child endangerment. She allegedly left a her 7-year-old son alone in their apartment.

Christopher Michael Reiter, 44, of 1126 Leavitt St., was arrested March 18 at 3315 Ryan St. for assault. Details werent available.

Shaun Patrick Rodgers, 38, of 215 Fowler St., was arrested March 15 on Conger Street for second-degree burglary. He allegedly entered 1929 Franklin St. and threatened to kill the resident March 2.

Jesse James Bowser, 24, of 103 Dixie Circle, was arrested March 14 at 501 Archer Ave. for submitting false information to the sex offender registry. He allegedly lived in a home with children against his residency restrictions.

Corey Edward Gardner, 31, of 1505 Starview Drive, Cedar Falls, was arrested March 14 at the police station for first-offense operating while intoxicated in connection with a February 21 traffic stop.

Monue Forkpayea Geimah, 28, of 424 Locust St., was arrested March 14 at 89 Franklin St. for second-degree burglary and fifth-degree criminal mischief. He allegedly entered 1007 Bishop Ave., took a TV and an xBox and dumped baby formula.

Yvonne Marie Lara, 27, of 403 Fowler St., was arrested March 14 at 1515 Lafayette St. for simple assault, harassment, fifth-degree criminal mischief and interference. She alleged spit on a probation officer and inside a patrol car.

Darius McCullough, 20, of Naperville, Ill., was arrested March 14 at 2060 Crossroads Blvd. for serious domestic assault and interference. He allegedly assaulted LaDajia Greer.

Janice Elizabeth Johnson, 59 of 136 Bertch Ave., was arrested March 12 in the 1500 block of West Fourth Street for third-degree theft. She allegedly took $34 worth of items from Dollar General on West Fifth Street.

Shwebik Myat Tu, 27, of 415 E. 10th St., was arrested March 12 on LaPorte Road for first-offense operating while intoxicated following a traffic stop.

Reginald Thelmore Ross, 30, of 425 Denver St., was arrested March 12 at 504 Riehl St. for third-degree theft. He allegedly took $78 worth of items from Scheels on March 3.

Tvnotis Tshaiis Gully, 23, of 1813 W. Eighth St., was arrested March 10 at the police station for assault. He allegedly assaulted Tvonshai Gully.

Mateo Perez Salucio, 28, of 1725 Columbia St., No. 202, was arrested March 9 on Lane Street for first-offense operating while intoxicated following a traffic stop.

Thefts: Dan Anderson reported the theft of his cell phone from the parking lot at 2060 Crossroads Blvd. on April 2. Julie Young reported the theft of a baby stroller from her deck located at 6 Toland Ave. on April 2. Edwin Rus reported the theft of a welder and a welding helmet during a burglary to his garage at 2944 Independence Ave. on March 24.Marvin Richardson reported the theft of a 9mm handgun from his home at 136 Smith St. on April 5.

Vandalism: Decotis Bolden reported vandalism to his Toyota Corolla parked in the 1000 block of West 5th St. on April 1. Ron Plum reported vandalism to his Bounder RV parked at 1207 Longfellow Ave. between March 25 and April 2.

Fraud: Melissa Welch reported she was the victim of wire fraud on April 2.

Cedar Falls

Police Log

John Eldin Hand II, 36, of 2208 Grand Blvd., was arrested Feb. 26 at 414 Barnett Drive for third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools. He was allegedly found inside the home on Barnett Drive where his ex-wife lived.

Shaunte Decwon Hart, 35, of 401 Oliver St., Waterloo, was arrested Feb. 14 at 500 Center St. for third-degree theft. He allegedly took two bottles of liquor from Hy-Vee on Flammang Drive in Waterloo on Feb. 12.

Damon Ryan Morgan, 26, of Waterloo, was arrested Feb. 14 at Fifth and Washington streets for second-offense operating while intoxicated following a traffic stop.

Daniel Nelson McNelly, 52, of Waterloo, was arrested Feb. 14 at 525 Brandilynn Blvd. for third-degree theft and providing false identification information. He allegedly took $203 worth of items from Wal-Mart.

Tyler Wade Eidell, 22, of Waterloo, was arrested March 20 at 401 Main St. for simple assault, public intoxication and possession of marijuana. He allegedly assaulted security guards at Voodoo Lounge.

Julie Lynne Schoeman, 54, of Cedar Falls, was arrested March 18 at the police station for first-offense operating while intoxicated in connection with a March 1 traffic stop.

Eddie Bennie Dotson III, 30, of 1315 Brenton Drive, was arrested March 14 at his home for aggravated domestic assault and driving while suspended. He allegedly assaulted Jennifer Johnson.

Austin Carl Meyer, 22, of Sumner, was arrested March 14 at 2515 Main St. for first-offense operating while intoxicated.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 10, 2016 | 10:55 AM | PADUCAH, KY

A Paducah man faces DUI and criminal mischief charges, after crashing his vehicle into the side of a local business early Sunday morning.

McCracken County Sheriff's deputies responded at around 2:30 am to a crash at 3709 Clarks River Road. Deputies said 35-year-old Jessie Young, of Paducah was driving west on Clarks River Road when he fell asleep, ran off the road and crashed into Papa John's Pizza.

Young was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.

Young was charged with, DUI, criminal mischief and failure to maintain insurance.
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Today the pressing news in Russia is the S-300 air defense missile systems that Iran wants delivered by Russia. Iran is even saying (according to TV station 1) that they can sue in the International court of law to get the contracted S-300 air defense missile systems.

We all know that Israel and the USA have tried and are putting pressure on Russia not to deliver these state of the art air defense missiles

With all the hoopla about Israel wanting to attack Iran and trying to get permission from Obama to overfly Iraq, the installment of these Russian S-300s would virtually assure Iran of a unbeatable defense to Israel attack.

Why is the S-300 air defense so important to Iran?

Well look at what Wikipedia says:

The S-300 is also capable of destroying ballistic missile targets, and is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently fielded. Its radars have the ability to simultaneously track up to 100 targets while engaging up to 12. S-300 deployment time is five minutes. The S-300 missiles are sealed rounds and require no maintenance over their lifetime. An evolved version of the S-300 system is the S-400 (NATO reporting name SA-21), that entered service in 2004. (Link)

This would allow Iran to virtually mop up the air on Israel jets that attack the nuclear sites in Iran

So while Iran is being lambasted with reports from Western press that Israel wants the OK from Obama to attack and get Americas help.

Iran needs that protection and now! (Israel says threat of attack on Iran, no bluff  If no crippling sanctions are introduced by Christmas, Israel will strike, Sneh said. If we are left alone, we will act alone. )

Should Russia send the contracted S-300 air defense missiles to Iran?

Windows to Russia!

comments always welcome.
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.

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Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice

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Betway:

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Coral Casino:

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN, April 11, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Magento 2 is the next-generation version of the widely-used Magento eCommerce platform. It was unveiled to public in Q4 of 2015.



Aitoc Software LLC is an old-time Magento extensions market player with offices in the U.S. and Belarus. The company started building for Magento 2 as early as Q4 of 2015.



By Q1 of 2016, Aitoc released two flagship Magento 2 extensions: Review Booster and Pre-Orders. Today, the developer's hall of pride has gotten bigger by two more M2-compatible plugins: Advanced Permissions and Abandoned Cart Alerts Pro.



On Abandoned Cart Alerts Pro for Magento 2



"Shopping cart abandonment is a phenomenon that plagues the majority of eCommerce websites, although site owners may not realize it", says Anton Romanenko, Aitoc CPO.



"According to a Baymard Institute research, over 68% of online carts get abandoned", continues Anton. "Our Abandoned Cart Alerts Pro solution for Magento 2 empowers business owners to bring back people who left their carts with targeted, just-on-time emails dispatched automatically".



Full information about Abandoned Cart Alerts Pro for Magento 2 is available at https://www.aitoc.com/en/magento_2_abandoned_cart_alerts_pro.html



On Advanced Permissions for Magento 2



The Advanced Permissions extension for Magento 1.x Aitoc released back in 2009 was a tremendous hit. The plugin has been on the company's best-sellers list for years.



The Magento 2 incarnation of Advanced Permissions preserves the plugin's core features:



- the admin can limit panel access by Websites

- the admin can block access by Store View or Category

- the admin can prevent panel users from deleting products.



Aitoc plans to keep enriching and improving Advanced Permissions for Magento 2 over time.



April Special - 30% Off Aitoc M2 Apps



To reward early-adopters who are already trying out Magento 2, Aitoc offers 30% off its M2-compatible extensions till the end of this month. One can apply M2EARLYBIRD coupon at checkout to buy the plugins at 30% off.



About Aitoc



Aitoc offers time-tested Magento 1.x and 2.x extensions and services. The company was founded in 2001 and has since helped over 10,000 businesses in 100+ countries achieve Commerce excellence.



# # #
Our UHMW and PTFE films are particularly well-suited for applications in the hose, belt and automotive profile industries

NARRAGANSETT, RI, April 11, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- DeWAL Industries Inc., a leading manufacturer of high-performance polymer films, will exhibit at Hannover Messe 2016, a major international industrial technology trade fair held in Germany.



DeWAL will highlight its core product lines - PTFE and UHMW films - in the North American Pavilion, Hall 4, Booth E38-7, for the full length of the show, April 25-29.



"Hannover Messe is a great venue where DeWAL can reach out to expand into new markets with our original core products," said Warren DiClemente of the 42-year-old Rhode Island-based company.



"Our UHMW and PTFE films are particularly well-suited for applications in the hose, belt and automotive profile industries," he said. The films can be used as an additional layer in rubber products, providing a non-stick finish for belts, and as an inner coating for hoses, extending the lifespan of those products.



"We're especially looking forward to meeting with large manufacturers in Industrial and Automotive markets," DiClemente said.



According to Hannover Messe organizers, the annual trade show is expected to attract 200,000 visitors from 70 countries and encompassing every type of manufacturing.



The United States' role as the partner country co-hosting Hannover Messe 2016 increased DeWAL's interest in exhibiting at this year's show, DiClemente said. U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are both expected to attend the trade fair.



Contact DeWAL now to request an appointment to meet at Hannover Messe or to learn more about how the company's industry-leading PTFE and UHMW films can make a difference in your products.



About DeWAL Industries Inc.

Founded in 1974 to process PTFE resin into best-of-class films, DeWAL has expanded its product offerings to include skived UHMW films and tapes, as well as pressure-sensitive tape and specialty products like Dynaglide(R) low-friction, wear-reduction coatings and tapes. The company serves leading manufacturers in major industries, including automotive, oil and gas, electrical/electronic and aerospace. Visit dewal.com to learn more.



# # #
Apr 11, 2016 | By Kira

A 5-day-old baby boy was rushed to the St. Petersburg State Paediatric University Hospital in Russia with a life-threatening congenital heart defect known as Taussig-Bing malformation. The rare and complex condition requires specialized patient information to understand and plan the surgery, however due to the complexity of this case, the standard CT scans were not detailed enough to allow the surgeons to confidently prepare and execute a plan.

They thus turned to 3D printing technology, provided by Swiss startup 3D Medical Printing AG, to create a patient-specific 3D printed heart model. Not only did the 3D printed heart serve as a pre-operational guide in two separate surgeries, but it also helped the babys understandably anxious parents fully understand their childs condition and become more involved in his medical care.

In Taussig-Bing malformation, rather than the aorta being connected to the left ventricle, both the aorta and the pulmonary artery are connected to the right ventricle. In addition, the baby, born in August 2015, showed signs of an aortic arch obstruction.

A variety of operations have been used to manage such patients with double-outlet right ventricle and subpulmonary ventricular septal defect, explained Dr. Sergey Marchenko, the assigned surgeon. However, he continued, hospital mortality is still high.

Under normal circumstances, doctors would study the patients intracardiac and extracardiac flow using standard echo and computed tomography (CT) scans. However, these traditional medical imaging technologies have their limitations.

Before the surgery, there was a discrepancy in clinical pictures and echocardiography, explained Dr. Marchenko. Despite of the good visualization by echo, it was difficult to understand particular pattern of mixing of the oxygenated and non-oxygenated blood inside of the heart.

Due to this discrepancy, the doctors were not comfortable moving forward with the procedure until a clearer picture could be obtained.

As we have seen in the past, 3D printed medical models are invaluable, life-saving tools in precisely these circumstances. A physical, three-dimensional model showing the exact positions of arteries, muscles and other anatomical features provides doctors the most complete image possible, and allows them to practice and plan the exact surgical procedure before the patient even enters the operating theatre.

Entering an operating room for a complex case having full understanding of all the steps of operation is the main advantage of 3D printing, said Dr. Marchenko. A 3D model is the only option in such a case to clarify the pattern of flow inside the heart and enhance visualization in order to plan for the most appropriate surgical approach.

3D Medical Printing AG, a Swiss startup headed by CEO Frank Ehrsam provided the 3D printed heart model. Using this patient-specific, 3D printed guide, alongside the echo and CT scans, the surgeons confidently decided to reconstruct the arch, remove the coarctation, and postpone the intracardiac operation. A second surgery when the child was 6 months old was also successfully performed using information from the 3D printed model.

Beyond helping the doctors confidently plan and execute the operation, the 3D printed model also gave the babys parents invaluable insight into their childs condition, giving them the confidence they needed to get through the emotionally trying procedure.

The 3D printed heart model allowed the surgeons to explain the babys condition and their plan, said the father. By seeing the model and understanding what needed to be done and why, in two surgeries I have become as confident as the surgical team. 3D model allowed me to understand and support the doctors in their decision-making. Despite two surgeries, finally our son recovered completely. Thanks to the heart team, baby is on his way to a healthy life!

This heart-warming case study is just the latest example of how 3D printed medical solutions are already saving lives. In the past, 3D printed medical models have been used to save a 6-month-old girl with a brain tumor, and a 9-month-old baby in China, and these are really just the beginning.

According to Dr. Paul Vogt, specialist in cardiac and thoracic vascular surgery at the Heart Vascular Center in Zurich, 3D printing in the medical field is the absolute way forward: After the successful result, its hard to imagine entering an operating room for another complex case without the aid of a 3D printed model. Its definitely going to be standard of care in the future.

3D Medical Printing AG has said that they will continue to collaborate with the St. Petersburg State paediatric University to further develop 3D neonatal cardiac surgery solutions, one of the most difficult areas in cardiovascular medicine.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Apr 11, 2016 | By Alec

Throughout the twentieth century, the military has been one of the main drivers behind scientific, engineering and medical developments, so its hardly surprising that the military is now also one of the main beneficiaries of 3D printing technology. As you might know, the US military  just like other significant powers in the world  is readily adopting 3D printing technology, for anything from drones to rocket engines and missile systems. But in a new report from the Cato Institute, written by a former U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, the military should also keep a very close eye on threats created through 3D printing technology, which has the power to fundamentally change warfare.

The Cato Institute, of course, is a US libertarian think tank based in Washington and backed by the Koch brothers. Though sometimes criticized for their unwillingness to accept change, their report by retired Marine infantry officer T.X. Hammes is in fact all about change. Hammes is an expert of asymmetrical warfare, the type of war in which small powers (like the Taliban) fight a military giant by avoiding their enemys strengths altogether and only striking their weaknesses.

In his report, entitled Technologies Converge and Power Diffuses, he argues that terrorists and small enemy states can create an unprecedented range of military threats abroad and inside the US, using inexpensive technologies such 3D printing, nanotechnology drones, and artificial intelligence. The convergence of these new and improving technologies is creating a massive increase in capabilities available to smaller and smaller political entitiesextending even to the individual. This increase provides smaller powers with capabilities that used to be the preserve of major powers. Moreover, these small, smart, and cheap weapons based on land, sea, or air may be able to dominate combat, he writes.

In response to these changes, the US will need to change their national strategies, procurement plans, force structure, and force posture. The diffusion of power will also greatly complicate U.S. responses to various crises, reduce its ability to influence events with military force, and should require policymakers and military planners to thoughtfully consider future policies and strategy, he says.

Of course it is sensible for any military force to adjust to and accommodate technological changes, but 3D printing is a serious game changer, Hammes argues. It can be used to 3D print anything from military-purpose drones that are ready to fly, and even seaborne or land-crawling drones that can attack from any side. Even explosion-based penetrators can be 3D printed: copper discs that are turned into tank-destroying weapons by harnessing explosive power. 3D printers, he argues, could easily be carried and set up near a battlefield, unlike existing military factories.

Now our desktop 3D printers arent exactly suitable for those kinds of creations yet, but 3D printing technology is improving at a staggering rate and is creating new possibilities constantly. The global explosion of additive manufacturing means it is virtually impossible to provide an up-to-date list of materials that can be 3D printed. [] Additive manufacturing has gone from being able to make only a few prototypes to being able to produce products in large quantities, he argues. At the same time, additive manufacturing is dramatically increasing the complexity of objects it can produce while simultaneously improving speed and precision. Recent technological developments suggest that industry will be able to increase 3D printing speeds by a factor of a hundred, with a goal of a thousand fold increase. And with technology prices decreasing constantly, how long will it take, Hammes wonders, for insurgents to set up a small factory to 3D print swarms of military drones?

Combine that with other upcoming technologies, such as small satellites and nanoexplosives (smaller, devastating explosions packed into kamikaze drones), and its obvious that this could become a serious threat in the near future. Some of the newest drones can already stay in the skies for up to 40 hours  long enough to travel from one continent to the next and possibly threatening US civilians. Many states, and even insurgent or terrorist groups, will be able to project force at intercontinental range. Very long-range drone aircraft and submersibles provide the capability to strike air and sea ports of debarkationand perhaps even embarkation. The United States will no longer project power anywhere in the world with impunity. This will create major political problems in sustaining a U.S. military campaign both domestically and internationally, Hammes argues.

Hammes thus paints us a very grim picture. What will happen to the safety of US allies, when a cheap 3D printed drone can threaten a tank? But of course its a two-way street. Like so many of its NATO and Asian allies, the US is already extensively looking into 3D printing, and how to combat it. Missile systems specifically designed to shoot down drones are already being developed. But thanks to the internet, theres no such thing as complete military dominance anymore, Hammes argues. The proliferation of these capabilities will greatly complicate U.S. responses to various crises and will reduce our ability to influence events with military force. [] The Department of Defense needs to run rigorous experiments to understand the character of such a conflict, he concludes.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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John Galt wrote at 4/15/2016 1:03:37 AM:Good the USGOV has lost its moral authority and it's monopoly on power needs to be destroyedJoris Peels wrote at 4/11/2016 4:13:22 PM:I wrote an article on 3D printed drone swarms and why we need to think about 3D printing and war: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3d-printed-drone-swarms-future-war-joris-peels






Partnership with SE Asian Retail Giant

Jakarta, April 11, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Story-i Limited ( ASX:SRY ) is pleased to announce the opening of two additional Apple stores. These stores expand Story-i's retail network in Indonesia to 18 locations in line with the Company's retail strategy in Indonesia.



The Company has recently entered into a relationship with Courts in Indonesia to open an initial two stores within their large format Courts Megastores in Jakarta. Courts is a leading retailer in Southeast Asia with an established footprint of more than 70 locations across Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. In addition to the two stores in Jakarta, Story-i will open two further stores within Courts outlets this quarter.



Like Story-i, Courts is progressing an aggressive growth strategy to establish a major retail presence in Indonesia, with a developed pipeline of up to 20 large format stores. As part of this roll out, Courts are currently driving a major marketing strategy which includes a store-wide, cash back promotion on sales that has been extended to cover Story-i stores within Courts Megastores.



Story-i CEO Yulius Halim commented, "The opportunity to be part of the Courts rollout in Indonesia gives Story-i a unique opportunity to establish a presence in prime locations in major cities, a geography beyond the Company's existing strategy. The two prominent Jakarta store locations significantly increase our retail visibility in the nation's capital and complement the 16 existing stores throughout Indonesia. This network provides the all-important physical infrastructure for device sales and servicing that underpins our bourgeoning ecommerce business in Indonesia's fast growing online marketplace."



In addition to increased store presence through the Courts network, Story-i has been awarded the IT service centre point for the Courts Megastore complexes. This agreement further strengthens the partnership between Courts and Story-i and will provide a convenient nodal point for our existing customer network and valuable exposure to customer traffic within the Megastores.





About Story-I Ltd





Story-i Ltd (ASX:SRY); Singapore incorporated Story-I Pte Ltd operates 14 Apple and related stores in Indonesia through its 95% owned subsidiary PT Inetindo Infocom. The Indonesian operations are structured with Story-i branded stores retailing Apple products and accessories, iConnect retailing Samsung and Lenovo phones, computers and lifestyle accessories, and GeekZone providing software, equipment servicing and apps.

Story-i is an Apple Authorised Reseller and GeekZone is an Apple Authorised Service Provider, both located in Indonesia. Story-i is leveraged to the strongly growing affluent consumer population in Indonesia. This demographic shift and the well documented propensity towards mobile phones, personal computers and associated lifestyle accessories underpins the strong demand for Story-i's products. Story-i is following an aggressive growth strategy by organically growing store locations strongly while at the same time greatly extending its consumer reach with its recently launched online and application strategy.
Exact Macola, provider of ERP and business software with headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, recently announced the details of its community service programs to fight hunger both locally in Ohio and across the Americas.

The company has provided financial support, volunteerism and product donations to food banks across the country since 2015 in order to better serve their communities. This year, Macola will be participating in the Empty Bowls Project - an international grassroots effort that raises money and awareness on ending hunger issues.

Macola is also behind the Macola Fights Hunger initiative in Central Ohio, which sees Macola employees, friends and family donating to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank on behalf of the company.

"Our employees, partners and customers are passionate about fighting hunger in the Americas," said Alison Forsythe, managing director of Macola, in a statement. "For that reason, we have galvanized our resources with corporate philanthropy and employee volunteerism to support various programs that reflect this commitment."

Earlier this year, Macola kicked off its participation in the Empty Bowls Project by painting bowls to auction off at various events throughout the year. The organization's largest auction will be at their annual customer conference, Exact Macola Evolve, set for April 19-22 in Atlanta, GA, with all proceeds going towards the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Exact Macola Evolve 2016 will focus on trends and disruptions in the manufacturing and distribution markets, aims to provide attendees -- C-level executives, consultants, business management, IT professionals and daily users of Exact Macola solutions -- with new tools and ideas to accelerate company growth, transform their businesses and positively impact bottom lines.

For more on Macola's community service efforts, or to donate to the Macola Fights Hunger initiative, head to theirsite here.
Accountants can play an important role in deterring human trafficking and smuggling.

The United Nations estimated in 2005 that human trafficking generated approximately $32 billion a year in revenue, while the International Labor Organization estimated that 2.4 million people throughout the world are lured into forced labor. The figures are probably even higher now. Financial institutions have played a key role in detecting human trafficking, and accountants working with financial institutions can help them spot some of the telltale patterns to combat human trafficking.

Human trafficking is often tied to a lot of other types of crime, said Micah Willbrand, an anti-money laundering and financial crimes expert at the technology company NICE Actimize, where he is global director of product marketing of AML. When a crime is committed, and law enforcement comes in and requests an investigation of the materials around the money thats being passed, oftentimes financial institutions and investigators arent looking for a human trafficking element. We have the technology and some rules set up that can be used to identify additional follow-on types of activities.

Victims of human trafficking and smuggling are frequently some of the most vulnerable in society.

Theyre often fairly uneducated and quite poor, and dont understand what theyre getting into, a lot of the time because theyre tricked, said Willbrand. This has a tremendous social impact that criminal elements use to manipulate and guide these individuals to engage in various other types of crimes. Theres often a high correlation between trafficking and smuggling with other crimes. If you can start to identify human trafficking and smuggling rings, it will have a knock-on effect to help eliminate other crimes.

He pointed to several indicators of human trafficking. Often youre looking at anomalies in cash intensive businesses which you wouldnt expect to be cash intensive businesses, said Willbrand. A common one thats given by a lot of law enforcement investigators is hotels. A hotel often should be a credit card type of business. Most of the receipts should be in credit cards. If youre seeing the vast majority of deposits coming in cash, then theres probably something else going on there. It could be prostitution rings. It could be bribery and corruption. There could be lots of other things. But if youre seeing anomalies in what you would expect in the behavior of a corporation, thats one simple indicator that you can look at.

People sharing the same hotel address and mobile phone number can be additional indicators. Often you will have people who register their addresses at hotels, said Willbrand. If youre seeing that people have common addresses and are sharing mobile phone numbers and things like that, and depositing a lot of cash, then something is going on.

Human trafficking can also be spotted from a geographic and demographic perspective. The vast majority of trafficked individuals tend to be young individuals, said Willbrand. When you talk about sex trafficking, that tends to be young women between the ages of 18 and 24. When you talk about debt bondage and involuntary servitudemodern-day slaverythat tends to be men working in farm fields or working in manufacturing. Often they come from areas where you would expect people to be trafficked from: India, Eastern Asia, Central America and South America. Theyre sending money back from the U.S., back to Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela, Peru, wherever. From a geographic perspective, if youre noticing a lot of cash deposits and the money being sent by 20-year-old women to Bulgaria who have the same address, then thats probably an indicator of something going wrong there.

Accountants with a keen eye can spot this type of illicit activity, particularly if they are involved in fraud investigations, forensic accounting and anti-money laundering. Last week, PricewaterhouseCoopers announced a partnership with NICE Actimize to provide consulting services and technology to help organizations deter financial crimes such as money laundering, terrorism financing, rogue trading and fraud.

Willbrand pointed out that the federal government has stepped up its enforcement in recent years of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, a law that dates back to 1977. Part of that is U.S. institutions cannot willfully or naively ignore obvious indicators of human trafficking or smuggling, he said.

Other types of businesses also have to make sure their suppliers are not exploiting trafficked or smuggled individuals. It could be an internal accounting red flag, if youre looking from a procurement perspective and saying this is the lowest bid, but its lower by 20 percent over everyone else, said Willbrand. Do we have enough information on the labor that theyre using to fulfill this contract? Do we know enough about the supply chain? Are they certifying that the individuals they use are not trafficked and are not smuggled? You have these requirements under FCPA.

Willbrand has written a blog post about using anti-money technology to combat human trafficking.

The Dodd-Frank Act also has requirements about the sourcing of so-called conflict minerals, such as gold and tungsten that could be used to finance warfare in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other parts of Africa.

You have to know your supply chain, said Willbrand. You have to know who youre working with. You cant just go with the lowest bid, especially in countries where you might expect this type of activity to occur.
IMGCAP(1)]For years, the conversation around XBRL and data-based reporting was theoretical. Though the SEC began requiring companies to report financial statements as data in XBRL format in 2009 (in addition to document versions), theres been no dramatic evolution in how we think about financial reporting and analysis.

Of course, this isnt true for every company. Those that invested in comprehensive processes for taking full advantage of structured data have seen their efforts pay off, with internal management reaping the benefits of more streamlined processes, and data aggregators, analysts and investors beginning to realize the benefits of more timely data for incisive analysis.

At the same time, companies lacking the experience or will to make an investment in structured data skate by without truly committing to the format, submitting XBRL data to the SEC that fulfills the bare-minimum structural requirements and often contains so many errors and inconsistencies as to render it largely useless in terms of analysis.

But the days of taking structured data requirements lightly are now history.

Two weeks ago, policymakers, regulators, financial experts, and tech leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., at the Data Coalitions Financial Data Summit, and one thing was clear: technological and implementation hurdles will no longer be a valid excuse for low-quality structured data filings.

Were now in a mature market. After evaluating three main topics discussed at the summit, its time to dispel the myth that no one is looking at your structured data.

Real-Time Analysis: After seven years of collecting financial results in a structured data format, the SEC now has a critical mass of dataover 120 million data elementsin place. With this foundation, the agency has begun to significantly expand its use of structured data in everyday analysis, in both the Corporation Finance and Enforcement divisions, replacing manual processes with automated analysis in real time.

However, this newly increased use of structured data is only as effective and reliable as the data companies provide. So as regulators identify errors and other issues that slow down their work, we expect them to ramp up efforts to require that companies fix these errors to streamline the process and enable deeper, more dependable automated analysis. For example, at the Financial Data Summit, the SEC unveiled a new staff observation advising filers to carefully evaluate, and where possible eliminate, their use of custom axis tags, which make it more difficult for investors and others to compare data.

Shareholder Demand: Its no secret that financial services professionals are constantly looking for tools and information that can help them provide deeper and more meaningful analysis to their customers.

Tom Lind, the global head of financial regulatory solutions at Thomson Reuters, spoke on a panel with representatives from the SEC and FDIC. He was unequivocal about the financial communitys existing use of structured data and the high demand for more and better data moving forward.

According to Lind, investors are already using structured data today and want more. The potential for automating analysis is hugeand the only reason this isnt happening more widely is due to the errors and inconsistencies that are pervasive in the data.

And its not just Thomson Reuters. Bloomberg and S&P Capital IQ have representatives on the XBRL US Data Quality Committee, which was formed by market leaders, such as Merrill, Vintage (a division of PR Newswire) and Workiva in conjunction with XBRL US. The Data Quality Committee provides freely available guidance and open source validation rules to prevent or detect errors or inconsistencies that have hindered the use of XBRL data filed with the SEC. With this level of interest from the financial and investing community, pressure is rising on companies to produce usable data, so that investors can more readily analyze company financial results.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: There are companies and policymakers who believe that structured data requirements place an undue burden on public companies, particularly smaller companies.

In separate sessions at the Financial Data Summit, Dick Berner, director of the Office of Financial Research at the Treasury Department, and Justin Stekervetz, associate director of strategy and standards in the Office of Financial Research, both made it clear that an advancement of this magnitudemodernizing the way companies report their financial resultsrequires a certain investment.

However, recent analysis proves that anecdotal costs for reporting high-quality structured data are outdated and overstated, and over time, benefits far outweigh the costs of the investment.

According to a study by Forrester Consulting, putting a well-thought-out process in place to both report and use structured data can provide a quick return on the investment. Public companies of all sizes have begun to realize this benefit.

Following the Financial Data Summit, companies should understand that, far from being overlooked, structured data is now an important analytical tool for the SEC. As a result, the SEC is particularly concerned about qualitynot as a gotcha tactic to make life harder for public companiesbut in order to make its efforts at regulating capital markets and protecting investors more effective and efficient.

Its fair to assume that the governments use of structured data will only increase. Government agency representatives at the Summit discussed in great detail the Financial Data Act, which would require all federal financial agencies to adopt a non-proprietary data standard on all of the information they collect. They all had an obvious desire to increase the use of structured data.

Theres no need to see this as a burden. In fact the increased interest in structured data from the government and investors highlights the increased payoff for doing it right. Software applications to create and consume XBRL data have matured over the past few years, and companies like Workiva (whose customers accounted for 50 percent of the XBRL facts filed in 10-Q and 10-K reports with the SEC in Q1 of 2016) are making the process seamless. As we transition into the modern world of financial reporting where automation and transparency are the norm, its critical that your company isnt left behind.

Mike Starr is vice president of governmental and regulatory affairs at Workiva Inc.
A long-awaited regulation from the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 requires companies to disclose the ratio of the CEOs compensation to the median pay of employees and could prove to be effective in restraining the growth of CEO pay, according to a new study.

Enforcement of Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act is scheduled to begin next January, and it may help discourage companies from excessive compensation for their top executives. The study appears in the spring issue of the Journal of Management Accounting Research, published by the American Accounting Association. A pair of researchers, Khim Kelly of the University of Waterloo and Jean Lin Seow of Singapore Management University, pointed to the failure of current regulations that seek to curb pay excesses by requiring companies to disclose executive-compensation levels and explain how they were arrived at. Adding CEO-to-employee pay ratios to the disclosure mix, the new research suggests, is likely to be significantly more effective than the current requirements.

Incrementally disclosing a higher-than-industry pay ratio (versus disclosing only higher-than-industry CEO pay) significantly decreases perceived CEO pay fairness...and has a significant indirect negative effect on perceived investment potential, they wrote.

Companies are concerned about whether investors, employees and the public perceive their CEO pay and employee pay to be fair, they pointed out. They believe pay-ratio disclosures may be better than current CEO pay disclosures at shaming companies into restraining CEO pay.

Whereas CEO-to-employee pay ratios in the largest U.S. companies were about 20-1 50 years ago and about 80-1 years ago, estimates nowadays range from about 200-1 to 300-1, said Kelly. It stands to reason that confronting investors with ratios approaching these will make an impression, and our research suggests it does.

The finding came from an experiment in which MBA students were asked to make judgments about a hypothetical company. Those to whom high CEO-to-employee pay ratios were disclosed were significantly more likely than others to regard the CEOs pay as unfair. The more unfair they perceived the pay disparity to be the less likely they were to view the firm as a worthy investment. This finding is noteworthy, the professors believe, because one of the criticisms leveled against Section 953(b) is that it engenders overreach by the SEC, requiring it to meddle in issues of income inequality instead of sticking to its intended job of protecting investors.

Here were men and women with an average of six years work experience and a fair degree of sophistication about business and accounting, and clearly disclosure of a lopsided CEO-to-employee pay ratio turned out to be relevant to an investment decision, said Kelly. Actually it would be surprising if it didnt. As a recent nationwide survey conducted by Stanford University suggests, the whole issue of CEO pay is in bad odor. Seventy-four percent of the respondents to that survey said CEOs were overpaid relative to the average worker; yet, ironically, when asked what they believed the pay of Fortune 500 CEOs to be, they vastly underestimated the amount. In this climate of opinion, how could perceiving the CEO-to-employee pay ratio as unfair not be relevant to investment decisions?"

Further research by Kelly and Seow has led to another intriguing finding from a similar experiment, this one involving 100 MBA students who were asked to assess a hypothetical company in the restaurant industry. In the words of that study, pay-ratio disclosures, even when they reveal less extreme CEO-to-employee pay multiples that are comparable to those in peer companies, can result in negative perceptions of CEO pay fairness and workplace climate that indirectly reduce perceived investment potential of companies.

High CEO-to-employee pay ratios, whether 100-1 or 200-1, clearly made a special impression on the participants in our experiments, said Kelly. It seems eminently plausible that high ratios will also impress actual investors, with concomitant effects on companies, when they stare out from proxy statements.
Intex Technologies, Indias leading mobile handset and consumer durables brand has announced another senior level executive appointment of Mr. Pramuch Goel as the Chief Communications Officer. In this role, he will be responsible for leading and providing strategic direction to the corporate communications function across all the business verticals and group companies. He will also be responsible for managing the brand image for Gujarat Lions, the IPL team owned by the company.

Speaking on the appointment, Mr. Keshav Bansal, Director - Intex Technologies and Owner - Gujarat Lions, said, I am pleased to welcome Pramuch to the Intex family. He brings with him extensive industry experience, which will help us tremendously in furthering our fast growing brand. I am sure that Pramuch will help develop our reputation capital at all levels and for multiple audience sets concurrently. I wish him all the best in his new innings with us.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Pramuch Goel, Chief Communications Officer, Intex Technologies, said, Intex is one of the fastest growing mobile handset and consumer durable brands in India that has created a strong presence in the market. With the acquisition of the Gujarat Lions IPL team, the brand is poised to reach the next level in terms of consumer connect and engagement. Intex is already an established brand, and my endeavor would be to contribute to its growth and enhancement. I am quite excited to be a part of this dynamic team.

Pramuch has close to two decades of enriched and diverse experience in marketing and communications, and has previously worked with leading global organizations such as Samsung Electronics, Cisco Systems, IBM, Quark Inc. and Old World Hospitality.
Lava International, a leading player in the mobile handset industry, has brought on board Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador. The partnership comes at a time when Lava is at the cusp of its next level of growth with its increasing market share in the Indian mobile handset industry. A recent report by Counterpoint Research based on the Q4 2015 (Oct-Dec) performance of the handset manufacturers report mentions Lava International as the fastest growing Indian smartphone brand globally in 2015.

Dhoni will be the new face of Lavas multi-channel marketing campaign as well as brand engagement activities. Through this association, Lava aims to strengthen its brand identity as the most trusted and reliable mobile handset brand in the Indian mobile handset industry. This association will further build upon the recent industry recognition Lava has received in respect to its product quality and after sales service.

Solomon Wheeler, Vice President & Head - Marketing & Communication, Lava International, said, This announcement is a milestone in Lavas growth story. We are very proud and privileged to be associated with MS Dhoni. Lava stands for reliability which stems from integrity, passion for excellence and innovation/ adaptability, core values of the organisation. Dhoni epitomises reliability and Lava values both as a person and a sportsman. Hence, there was a natural connect between both the great brands which resulted in this association. Bringing him on board strengthens our resolve to offer trusted and reliable products and services to all our consumers at all times.

Speaking of his association, Dhoni said, Lava embodies the values, the ideas and the direction that every Indian brand must take in the 21st century. In a highly competitive mobile handset market, Lava stems out as a brand that differentiates itself through a compelling story, a commitment to stay relevant and high quality products and services. I am very happy to associate with Lava and look forward to working with them closely.

Founded in 2009, Lava International has become one of the fastest growing mobile handset companies in India. It achieved revenues of $1.2 billion in FY 2014-15, registering more than 100 per cent growth over FY 2013-14.
Day 3 of Goafest 2016 kick-started with addresses by Shobhaa De, author, columnist and social commentator; Carter Murray, Worldwide CEO, FCB; and Jean Lin, Global CEO, Isobar.

Carter Murray came up with a case-study and greater insights studded presentation on Surviving and Thriving in the Times of Intense Change. Murray presented some interesting numbers regarding the use of digital media. Some of the brilliant numbers that came from his session were  90 per cent of the Internet will soon be video based; there are 69 trillion web addresses, 4 million apps, 3+ billion searches a day. 15 per cent of it has never been asked before in Google search. For Amazon, 0.1 per cent second delay is 1 per cent drop in sales. The average person looks at their mobile phone 150 times a day.

According to him, change is happening, but instead of freaking out and trying to incorporate every change, the marketing community needs to believe in their instincts and data. He also added, I dont think weve cracked how to use data. Most marketers use data for only 6 per cent of decisions. For everything else, they believe in intuition. Use data real time, understand, gather insights. Data is waiting for its Scorcese, he said, adding, Analytical and instinctive leadership are both required, but we need to use data for more decision making.

Carter noted, When you start looking at a marketing brief, think better. Different doesnt always have value  better does. He added that agencies could make great ads by embracing the changes happening around us. For clients and agencies, its about how you bring ideas and creativity together, he added. While stating that we forget to listen, Murray asserted, Our survival is on listening.

What matters and the key to surviving and thriving is talent, he further said.

Murray concluded his presentation with a quote by Mark Twain on India: India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.
The Board of Directors of TV Today Network in its meeting held on April 8, 2016, inter alia has approved the execution of investment agreement and letter agreement with Today Merchandise Pvt Ltd (TMPL), Living Media India Ltd (LMIL), and Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL). The Board also approved a promoter promotion agreement with TMPL, whereby TV Today Network would be providing advertising and promotional services to TMPL of Rs 2.5 crore per annum for a period of five years.

In consideration of providing the promoter promotion advertisement support, TV Today Network shall be issued compulsory convertible debentures (CCDs) of TMPL worth Rs 12.5 crore. Such CCDs can be converted into equity shares after the expiry of five years from the date Zee has invested in TMPL.

As per the arrangement, TV Today Network is required to provide promoter promotion support to TMPL by way of advertising, which is to be provided within a period of five years from the date Zee invests in TMPL, and the support in each year (within the five years period) is limited to Rs 2.5 crore. Living Media will provide advertisement support of Rs 37.5 crore over five years to TMPL and Zee will invest Rs 153.53 crore over a period of four years through equity shares and CCDs.

Zee shall initially, by June 2016, acquire 49 per cent equity stake by investing approximately Rs 36.87 crore by subscribing to equity shares of TMPL, at par

Subsequently, Zee shall increase its stake, by investing up to Rs 116.6 crore over a period of four years, by subscribing to any security convertible into equity shares of TMPL, at par value in such a manner that upon conversion, the shareholding of Zee shall be 80 per cent of fully diluted capital of TMPL.
ZenithOptimedia India has been appointed as the media partner of Percept H for media duties for part of Toyotas vehicle range in India, such as Innova, Corolla Altis & Fortuner and Camry Hybrid

ZenithOptimedia already handles Toyota across China, Europe and the US markets. The business will be handled out of ZenithOptimedias Bangalore office.

Hari Krishnan, Managing Director, ZenithOptimedia says, It is a matter of pride for us to collaborate with Percept H for Toyota media requirements. The competitive nature of the market calls for innovative media approach. By deploying our Live ROI tools we will amplify Toyotas communication and support their powerful launch and growth plans in India.
Airmen help South Korea, US Soldiers enhance search, recovery techniques

Firefighters from the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron assisted Joint Security Area service members with rescue tools and safety precautions during a joint exercise April 8 at Camp Bonifas.



South Korea and U.S. Army Soldiers practiced search and recovery techniques after a simulated aircraft crash north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.



This exercise is to show that our Soldiers have the skills necessary to extract and treat casualties from the aircraft and to get to that aircraft safely to an area that is potentially mined or has unexploded ordnance, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Christopher Nyland, the United Nations Command Security Battalion commander.



Every month, the United Nations Command exercises their right to train in accordance to the Korean Armistice Agreement. During this iteration, the security battalion called upon the Osan Air Base fire prevention flight for assistance.



They have been helping us make sure we have the right tools in our toolkit  and to train these Soldiers and our leaders on how to gain entry into a crashed aircraft, Nyland said. They were able to join us on this exercise and provide their observations and critique on how well were using these lessons and applying them in a tactical scenario. Weve really opened our aperture on how to utilize these tools thanks to them.



The exercise incorporated a wooden structure to simulate a downed helicopter with injured troops. Security battalion Soldiers used their new equipment including a circular saw and Jaws of Life to enter the aircraft safely and without further injuring the individuals inside.



In a perfect world, a downed helicopter will land straight down, but oftentimes that is not the case, said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Andrews, a 51st CES fire prevention crew chief. Were here to ensure theyre able to work around situations like this to save lives. Our big part of this exercise is making sure these Soldiers are able to safely enter the downed aircraft and extricate patients for medical help.



Im glad we were able to come out and train with the Army, Andrews continued. Especially coming up to Camp Bonifas, where the threat is real. Helping them out with this certainly shows the strong alliance we have here.



The Osan fire prevention team plans to continue participation in exercises with the JSA Security Battalion to ensure the peace and stability on the Korea Peninsula.
Get your purple on to recognize military children

Time to get your purple on, America.



April 15 is Purple Up! day, a time for Americans to show their support for military families. Department of Defense Education Activity schools will celebrate the event April 20 because of spring recess.



Its to build awareness for the needs of military families, said Barbara A. Thompson, the director of DODs Office of Family Readiness Policy.



This is not a DOD program, but a grassroots effort that began in 2011 as a way to honor the sacrifices military children make every day for the nation. According to the 4-H Military Partnerships website, 4-H clubs in New Hampshire developed the Purple Up! for Military Kids initiative while working with children of deployed guardsmen and reservists, and they saw Purple Up! as a way to build awareness in their communities.



Its grown like wildfire across the United States and now DOD has embraced it, too, Thompson said.



The 4-H went with purple because it is the color that symbolizes all branches of the military. It is a combination of Army green, Marine red, and Coast Guard, Air Force and Navy blue, according to the 4-H. The goal of Purple Up! is for military youth to actually see the support in their school, youth groups and the community.


Rice nominated to become next Air National Guard director

Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced April 5 that President Barack Obama has nominated Maj. Gen. L. Scott Rice for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment as director of the Air National Guard.



Rice was commissioned in 1980 through the ROTC at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Following graduate school, he attended pilot training at Reese Air Force Base, Texas, receiving the pilot badge in 1982 and later serving in England where he flew the F-111 Aardvark.



Rice joined the Massachusetts Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Wing in 1989 to fly the A-10 Thunderbolt II. He then served as squadron commander, operations group commander, wing commander and Air National Guard commander.



He mobilized numerous times since 1995, including deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait and Iraq. He also served as the commander of Air Force forces for exercise Eastern Falcon in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, where he supervised F-16 Fighting Falcon units deployed to Kuwait in 2004, to Jordan and Oman in 2005, and to Pakistan in 2006.



Rice is currently serving as the adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard at Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts. He also serves on the Massachusetts Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force as well as secretary of the Adjutants General Association of the U.S.


Air Force approves RPA initiatives

The Air Force recently approved two initiatives for the remotely piloted aircraft career field. First, eight RPA reconnaissance squadrons will be redesignated as attack squadrons. Second, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III authorized RPA aircrews to log combat time when flying an aircraft within designated hostile airspace, regardless of the aircrew's physical location.



The changes were two of many recommendations that emerged as part of Air Combat Command's Culture and Process Improvement Program, which seeks to address a number of issues affecting operations and the morale and welfare of Airmen across the RPA enterprise.



"The Airmen who perform this essential mission do a phenomenal job, but we learned from the RPA pilots, sensor operators and their leaders that these Airmen are under significant stress from an unrelenting pace of operations, said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James. CPIP was established to help stabilize the RPA enterprise. These policy changes are steps toward addressing issues highlighted by RPA operators in the field."



The redesignation will affect the names, but not the core missions of RPA squadrons at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico; Whiteman AFB, Missouri; and Creech AFB, Nevada. These units, consisting of approximately 600 officers and 700 enlisted Airmen, will continue to provide real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to commanders, close air support to ground troops, and post-operation battle damage assessment to senior leaders.



Previously, squadrons consisting of MQ-9 Reaper aircraft were designated attack squadrons, while squadrons of MQ-1 Predator aircraft were designated reconnaissance squadrons. The redesignation anticipates the Air Force's ongoing transition to an all MQ-9 fleet and acknowledges the capability of these units to support military operations that can include strikes against targets. The cost of the redesignation is minimal, mostly affecting signs, stationary and other local items that display the unit's name or emblem.



"Aerial warfare continues to evolve. Our great RPA Airmen are leading that change. They are in the fight every day," Welsh said. "These policy changes recognize the burdens they bear in providing combat effects for joint warfighters around the world."



Since their first employment over the Balkans, Air Force RPAs have been in high demand, according to Air Force senior leaders. This has led to rapid expansion of both the number of squadrons and the number of operators.



Unique organizational structures and names evolved during this time, and the Air Force is now taking steps to standardize operations and improve conditions for operators.



The RPA mission "is instrumental to achieving decision advantage against our enemies, is an indispensable asset to our national security, and is the backbone to the success of our fights in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and other areas combating extremism and terrorism," Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of ACC, said March 16 in his testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. "The Air Force is fully invested in continuing to achieve sustainability of this enterprise."



The Air Force reduced the number of combat lines to 60, from 65 in 2015. They also increased incentive retention pay for pilots to $25,000, matching incentive pay for rated pilots in other airframes.



ACC is expanding the training pipeline for operators, creating a more robust force and decreasing the current operational tempo. A combat operations-to-dwell ratio of 2:1 will provide Airmen predictable schedules, improve work-life balance, enable further professional development, offer increased training opportunities, and ultimately improve readiness, according to Col. Jeffry Long, ACC's director of CPIP.
Two Indian students at a medical college in Ukraine were on Sunday stabbed to death while another sustained injuries in the attack.

Those who died in the Sunday attack allegedly carried out by three Ukrainian nationals have been identified as Pranav Shaindilya from Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, hailing from Agra, was also stabbed and was recuperating in a hospital.

Third year student Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, a resident of Agra, survived the stabbing and is recuperating in a hospital.

Based on his statement, the police apprehended the Ukrainian nationals who were trying to cross the Ukrainian border. Passports/documents of the three Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the Ukrainian nationals, said Vikas Swarup, the external affairs ministry spokesperson.

The Indian embassy in Kiev, which was informed of the incident at around 11 am the same day, has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts, Swarup added.

The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine, the MEA said.

The embassy has spoken to the families of the deceased, he stated.

All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the bodies to India. The embassy is taking up the matter related to the safety of Indian students strongly with the foreign office of Ukraine.

The police has also recovered 3 passports of citizens of India, the blood-stained kitchen knife and stolen belongings of the student.
The BJP-led Government in Maharashtra today told the legislative Assembly that it would conduct in-depth inquiry into a `fixed deposit scam which allegedly took place during the previous Congress-NCP regime.

Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil said while replying to a calling attention notice by BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar that an in-depth probe will be initiated against the officials involved in the scam.

Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said fresh norms will be put in place for the state-run corporations regarding the fixed deposits.

Bhatkhalkar said that several of these corporations deposited crores of rupees with a single bank through a person, a hotelier, who claimed he was from that bank. The hotelier told the bank, in turn, that he represented these corporations.

He then gave the corporations duplicate deposit receipts and misappropriated the funds, Bhatkhalkar said.

All this would not have been possible without the help of corporation officials and their role should be probed, he said.

In 2014, the Economic Offences Wing arrested this hotelier who, along with others, had duped government agencies including MMRDA, Mahatma Phule Backward Class Development Corporation Limited, Maharashtra Tourism Developmental Authority (MTDC), Agriculture Produce Market Authority (APMC), etc., he said.
At least nine people were arrested by the Chinese authorities in a recent milk powder scandal, which involved selling and production of fake baby formula under Similac and Beingmate brands.

Chinas Food Safety Commission under the State Council yesterday said that that Shanghai Police had transferred the arrested six to judicial organs for prosecution and was hunting for another suspect, reports Xinhua.

The probe was initiated by the Shanghai Police after it received reports in September.

The police have arrested nine suspects and seized about 1,000 cans of milk powder, over 20,000 empty cans and 65,000 fake

Similac trademarks since December 9, 2015 to January 7, 2016.

The fake products had been sold into four provinces, including Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Hubei, according to deputy director of the Shanghai food safety office, Yan Zuqiang.

Food safety standard in the country became a sensitive issue after customers trust in baby formula products eroded following the 2008 case in which six infants died for consuming baby milk tainted by melamine.
Nowadays, politicians are politicizing the patriotism. Till few days ago, irrespective of any political parties, leaders were attacking RSS and BJP for distributing nationalists and anti-national certificates. Thackeray brothers who disapproved RSS chief comments on nationalism, however, support him on Bharat Mata ki Jai controversy when it becomes political tool. They have no difference when they have to acquire political mileage from any issue.

Raj Thackeray slammed the Owaisi brothers (Asaduddin and Akbaruddin) while addressing a Gudi Padwa rally of his party at Shivaji Park. Raj also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of betraying the trust and dared the Shiv Sena to quit the BJP-led government which, he claimed, wasnt giving due credit to the Uddhav Thackeray-led party. Alleging that the Asaduddin Owaisi and Akbaruddin Owaisi are financed by the BJP, Thackeray dared him to come to Maharashtra. He will put a knife on their throats. He challenged Asaduddin Owaisi on his remark that he would not chant Bharat Mata ki Jai even if a knife is put to his throat. Wonder, if Owaisi visits Mumbai then, will Thackeray dare to do what he said? Moreover if Raj Thackeray thinks he is a true patriot then why to wait for him to come to Mumbai, he should go in his den and perform the act. We know that, Thackerays have no existence beyond Maharashtras borders. No one care for their stunts. They have no face beyond this state. Even in Maharashtra, their popularities are coming down because of their aggressive nature.

When younger brother utilizing on opportunities then how can elder brother and rival remain silent. The Sena also took potshots at Fadnavis for going soft on the slogan issue after taking an aggressive stand at a public meeting in Nashik. Referring to Owaisi, the Shiv Sena sought to know from the Chief Minister as to where his guts have vanished and why he did not book the AIMIM leader for sedition. However, as a common resident of the state, I want to ask the Thackeray brothers, why they had not dared to lodge a case against Owaisi? Why only the verbal attacks, from the political stage? If you have issues with Owaisi brothers then file a sedition case against them. They have no guts to fight on border but to scream and entertain people and spread hatred. Both the brothers need to perform instead of shouting. They have not contributed in the development of Maharashtra.

Whereas Fadnavis, gave clarification that whether or not he remains the CM, he will keep chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai and blamed the media for only focusing on a part of his speech made at Nashik where he had said that those who refuse to chant the slogan have no right to stay in this country.

Baba Ramdev, is another freebooter, whenever there is some controversy, he pokes his nose for cheap publicity. He veiled attack on Owaisi  I respect law, else would have cut the heads of those who dont say Bharat Mata Ki Jai. If he thinks, he is such a patriotic then why to care about going jail, cut the throat. I wonder how he failed to cure his sick brain through YOGA? It is science of body and soul. A person, who cannot control his own anger, cannot be a Yoga Guru. Yoga has nothing to do with religion and politics. It takes one to a supreme reality of spirituality. A yoga guru is naturally born. He should not have trace of ego. No guru calls himself a guru but people call them.

On one hand, right wingers are making noise over Bharat Mata ki Jai, whereas on the other side, leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi is saying, we are heading into an age of darkness. On this issue, AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan was also suspended from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the remaining duration of the ongoing budget session after he said during a debate that he would not say Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

Against the backdrop of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwats suggestion that the new generation needs to be taught to chant slogans hailing Mother India, Owaisi said that he wont chant slogan of Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Bhagwats comments came against the backdrop of the row over alleged anti-India sloganeering in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on February 9.

Kanhaiya, who is out on conditional bail in a case of sedition, said at an event that they say, nation is everything; you have to chant Bharat Mata ki Jai. So, I thought when I will be married, I will suggest my wife to bear the name Bharat Mata ki Jai. I will also name my children as Bharat Mata ki Jai and change my name also as Bharat Mata ki Jai. So, when my children will go to school and teachers will ask them their parents names, they will reply Bharat Mata ki Jai. This way, they will get free education and they will not have to pay fees.

When everyone was making a statement and playing politics, amidst a charged debate over patriotism and chanting of Bharat Mata ki Jai, LK Advani became show stopper by saying the controversy over the slogan is meaningless. This is a meaningless controversy (yeh ek vyarth vivad hai) .The issue escalated into a political slugfest with the Shiv Sena, BJP and other parties slamming the Hyderabad MP over his stand. While, the Madhya Pradesh Assembly passed a censure motion condemning Owaisi.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
Russian news agencies say three militants tried to attack a police station in southern Russian and all were killed or blew themselves up.

The reports, citing regional police, said no police officers or civilians were killed in the attacks this morning in the town of Novoselitskoye in the Stavropol region.

The identity of the militants was not yet clear.

The Stavropol region is close to the North Caucasus, where an Islamic insurgency has simmered for years. In Dagestan, the centre of the insurgency, many of the bombings and attacks have targeted police and other officials.

Dagestan also has proved to be a fertile recruiting ground for the Islamic State group, with hundreds estimated to have travelled to Syria to join IS forces there.
The Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for implementation of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions to MBBS, BDS and post-graduate courses in all medical colleges, while also setting aside its earlier order.

Hearing a review petition on NEET, the top court said it will hear the case afresh on validity of the common entrance test. Till the matter is decided NEET can be implemented, the top court said.

The Supreme Court had, in June 2013, had ruled that the Medical Council of India (MCI)s notification for holding common entrance tests for MBBS, BDS and post-graduate medical courses as invalid. A three-judge bench by a 2:1 verdict held that the notification was against the Constitution.

The three-judge bench at that time was led by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir with Justice Vikramjit Sen and Justice AR Dave. CJI Kabir and Justice Sen had shared their views that the NEET would violate the autonomous identities of the private institutions, and institutions that administer their own tests. CET also disregards the constitutional rights of minorities to establish and run their own schools.

After the 2013 decision, the MCI opposed the verdict and moved for a review of the verdict which has led to this particular development.

It was not only the court but students from different parts of the country had taken to the streets against the proposal of implementing CET.

But after three years, SC decided to rule against its previous verdict. But, this does not entail that NEET will be the sole entrance test as there will a fresh hearing about implementing Common Entrance Test or CET and its validity. The apex court ruled that till the matter of CET, and its validity is not decided upon, NEET can be implemented.
US presidential candidate Donald Trump is leading his rivals for the Republican nomination by over 20 points in the upcoming primary contests of New York and Pennsylvania, latest polls have revealed.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also leads her primary opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, by double-digits in both states, according to the polls released on Sunday by Fox News.

The New York primaries are scheduled for April 10 and Pennsylvania on April 26.

The New York Fox News poll showed Trump poised to cross the 50 percent statewide threshold needed to capture all of New Yorks statewide Republican delegates. Trump would need to win a majority of votes in all of the states 27 congressional districts to clinch New Yorks full 95-delegate slate.

Trump has 54 percent of support to fellow Republican hopefuls Ohio Governor John Kasichs 22 percent and Texas Senator Ted Cruzs 15 percent, according to the Fox News survey of likely New York Republican primary voters.

Trump has a similar lead in Pennsylvania where he clinches 48% to Kasichs 22 percent and Cruzs 20 percent, according to the Fox poll of likely Republican primary voters in Pennsylvania.

After suffering through a string of recent defeats, Clinton appears poised to recapture her momentum in New York and Pennsylvania where she leads Sanders by 16 and 11 percentage points, respectively, in the Fox News polling.

In New York, Clinton leads Sanders 53 percent to 37 percent; and in Pennsylvania, she tops him 49 percent to 38 percent.

While both Clinton and Trump are playing up their home state ties ahead of the New York primary, the former New York senator would trounce the New York real estate developer by 16 points in a general election match-up, according to the poll.

Trump would also lose to Brooklyn-born Sanders by 19 points based on the survey of New York voters.

The New York poll surveyed 1,403 New York voters between April 4-7. For Democrats, 801 likely primary voters were polled for a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points; for Republicans, 602 likely primary voters were surveyed for a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points.

The Pennsylvania poll surveyed 1,607 Pennsylvania voters between April 4-7. For both Democrats and Republicans, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
WASHINGTON, April 11, 2016 - More than 200 farm groups and food companies came together Monday to deliver a letter to congressional leaders, urging approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The TPP is critical to the livelihood of the U.S. food and agriculture sector because it will create conditions that encourage economic growth and increased employment in rural areas and throughout the supply chain, the diverse coalition of groups and companies such as the Illinois Soybean Association, the National Potato Council, the Ohio AgriBusiness Association and Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. said in the letter.

Lawmakers are increasingly torn over supporting the TPP, especially as anti-trade-deal rhetoric grows on the campaign trail from both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. But the potential gains from TPP  and the potential losses from even delaying ratification  are too great not to approve it, the agricultural groups and companies wrote. The letter was addressed to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Democratic counterpart Harry Reid.

Still, Ryan doesnt believe theres enough support now for the TPP, a spokeswoman told Agri-Pulse. The Wisconsin Republican recently told some U.S. business leaders that the chance of Congress passing TPP in a lame duck session is virtually nonexistent. A Hill aide on Friday said that Ryan believes that at present, the votes arent there.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said last week he was aware of the strong opposition to the TPP on Capitol Hill, but said he was working hard to show the benefits of the deal to lawmakers.

The signers of the letter quoted a prediction from the Peterson Institute for International Economics that says delaying TPP for a year could cost U.S. producers $94 billion.

With net farm income at its lowest level since 2002, the costs of inaction are too high for us to ignore, the groups and companies wrote. We must act now.

The National Pork Producers Council said Monday it believes the 12-country TPP deal could be the biggest commercial opportunity ever for U.S. pork producers.

The National Cattlemens Beef Association is equally as committed to getting Congress to approve the TPP.

Japan, a TPP member and the largest market for U.S. beef, has the potential to become even larger once the trade deal is ratified, according to NCBA. But right now U.S. beef is losing that growth opportunity to Australia, which already has a bilateral deal with Japan.

On April 1, Australian beef producers got a tax break on beef exports to Japan and we paid for it in lost sales, NCBA President Tracy Brunner said in a statement released Monday. We know Japanese consumers want U.S. beef, but just like domestic consumers, they make their buying decision based on price and appearance. Until we level the playing field through TPP, U.S. beef is going to be at an economic disadvantage in Japan.

Following trade? We cover it on Agri-Pulse. Sign up today for a four-week free trial subscription.





Overall, the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates the TPP could increase net farm income by $4.4 billion annually.

National Association of State Departments of Agriculture President Greg Ibach joined the chorus of pro-TPP voices Monday, saying, TPP will open the door to increased farm income for farmers, ranchers, and value-added food producers of all sizes and production methods. This is an opportunity which Congress cannot ignore.

Beyond just reducing tariffs, provisions in the TPP would foster transparency on biotech grain approval and prevent lengthy delivery delays when low levels of unwanted biotech traits are detected in shipments, the National Grain and Feed Association said Monday.

#30

For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
WASHINGTON, April 11, 2016 - Texas sorghum growers will be allowed to use Dow AgroSciences Transform WG to control sugarcane aphid on up to 3 million acres under an emergency exemption granted by EPA.

In November, EPA canceled the registration of sulfoxaflor, the active ingredient in the insecticide, after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the agency had not adequately studied the impact of the chemical on honeybees. The next month, the Texas Department of Agriculture requested use of Transform WG under Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

In authorizing the emergency use, EPA imposed new restrictions designed to prevent exposure to bees. For example, growers will not be allowed to apply Transform WG from three days prior to bloom to seed set.





In addition, in order to minimize spray drift and potential exposure of bees when foraging on plants that are next to treated fields, applications are prohibited above wind speeds of 10 miles per hour and  must be made with medium to course spray nozzles, EPAs letter to TDA said.

The label must contain the following Environmental Hazards Statement:

This product is highly toxic to bees exposed through contact during spraying and while spray droplets are still wet. This product may be toxic to bees exposed to treated foliage for up to 3 hours following application. Toxicity is reduced when spray droplets are dry. Risks to pollinators from contact with pesticide spray or residues can be minimized when applications are made before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. local time or when the temperature is below 55 degrees Fahrenheit at the site of application.

The authorization is valid for one year. EPA said that because this marks the third year TDA has received a Section 18 exemption, this use is eligible for  streamlined review.

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The National Sorghum Producers (NSP) and the Texas Grain Sorghum Association applauded the decision.

The availability of Transform WG is crucial to helping sorghum farmers combat the sugarcane aphid, NSP CEO Tim Lust said. We thank the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their approval of this important crop protection tool, which augments industry efforts to develop better management practices and resources to meet this unprecedented challenge.

Texas sorghum farmers are now better equipped to control the sugarcane aphid and prevent yield loss while making a profit, Wayne Cleveland, executive director of the Texas Grain Sorghum Association, said. Thank you to all the Texas sorghum producers who commented during the application process and the Texas Department of Agriculture for their work to make this announcement possible.

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The House, which is back this week following its two-week Easter recess, will take a historic step by voting on the Global Food Security Act, which would provide the first statutory authorization for the Obamas $1-billion-a-year Feed the Future initiative. The bill has been languishing for nearly a year since it emerged from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Senate, meanwhile, will continue work on a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. Representatives of the biofuel industry are still hoping Senate leaders will agree to attach extensions of tax benefits that expire at the end of the year.

The measures include the $1-a-gallon tax credit for biodiesel and a $1.01 credit for cellulosic biofuels. This may very well be the only chance for an extension this year, said Ben Evans of the National Biodiesel Board.

The fiscal 2017 appropriations bills are likely to dominate lawmakers attention in both chambers over the coming weeks with Congress facing an abbreviated calendar ahead of the presidential nominating conventions in July.

The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee will vote Wednesday on its bill that funds USDA, FDA and the CFTC. The Energy-Water spending bill, which funds Army Corps of Engineers spending bill is set for approval the same day by subcommittees in both the House and Senate.

The big question for the appropriations process is how many of the spending bills reach the House and Senate floor and, if they do, how many amendments will be allowed?

Farm groups have been concerned that there will be attempts to cut crop insurance and other programs. Last month, 254 groups representing a broad agriculture, conservation, and nutrition interests signed a letter, arguing that lawmakers shouldn't touch any of the titles in the 2014 farm bill.

Its critical that we not open up what was a finely tuned, balanced (farm) bill, and have folks decide to come in and pick and choose individual things they like or dont like, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow, said at a Consumer Federation of America conference last week.

Stabenow will be closely watched as her committee debates the CFTC reauthorization bill on Thursday. A source familiar with the draft bill says that Roberts has omitted several contentious provisions that were in a bill that the House passed last year, including a requirement that the CFTC analyze the costs and benefits of all new rules.

However, the source said the bill wouldnt provide increased funding for the commission, which has been a key demand of Stabenows. She told Agri-Pulse last week that a funding boost for the agency was critical from my standpoint.

Roberts said last week he was trying to make the bill acceptable to Democrats. Theres all sorts of things that we could do, that we would like to do, but we also know that we have to get it done.

The Feed the Future bill (HR 1567) that the House is scheduled to consider Tuesday would authorize the program for only one year, but it could be easily extended by the next Congress and would ensure that the initiative lives beyond the Obama presidency. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a two-year authorization of Feed the Future last month.

Feed the Future, which is designed to improve food production and nutrition in 19 target countries, was first developed during the George W. Bush administration, but the spending has never been formally authorized by law. The initiative has been compared to Bushs widely effective anti-AIDS plan known as PEPFAR.

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The House and Senate bills would both establish objectives and requirements for Feed the Future as well as mandate detailed reporting on its impact.

Also this week, the National Cattlemens Beef Association, the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau, and CropLife America, which represents the pesticide industry, both have major meetings in Washington.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, who will be speaking to the NCBA legislative conference on Wednesday, plans to talk up the Trans-Pacific Partnership at a time when the trade deal is coming under constant criticism from Donald Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the presidential campaign.

Despite that criticism, Froman expressed confidence at the Export-Import Bank conference on Friday that Congress would approve the TPP this year. USTR is working with lawmakers to draw up the necessary legislation in preparation, he said.

Heres a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere:

Monday, April 11

National 4-H conference, through Thursday, National 4-H Conference Center. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaks to group Monday.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is in London for TTIP negotiations with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom

4 p.m. - USDA releases Crop Progress report.

Tuesday, April 12

National Cattlemens Beef Association legislative conference, through Thursday, Hyatt Regency.

The Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau hosts their legislative summit.

9 a.m. - National Academy of Sciences Roundtable on Obesity Solutions: The Role of Business in Multi-Sector Obesity Solutions: Working Together for Positive Change, 2102 Constitution Ave. NW.

10:30 a.m. - Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee hearing with CFTC Chairman Timothy Assad and Mary Jo White, chairwoman of the Securities Exchange Commission, 138 Dirksen.

11:15 a.m. - Vilsack speaks to The Atlantics Summit on Mental Health and Addiction, 1777 F St. NW.

2:30 p.m. - House Agriculture subcommittee hearing for 4-H member presentation, The importance of agriculture in the United States, 1300 Longworth.

2:30 p.m. - Senate Environment and Public Works subcommittee hearing on American Small Businesses Perspectives on Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Actions, 406 Dirksen.

Wednesday, April 13

CropLife America spring conference, though Thursday, Renaissance Capital View Hotel, Arlington, Va.

American Coalition for Ethanol annual fly-in, through Thursday.

NCBA conference.

Froman speaks to NCBA and the National Council of Textile Organizations.

10 a.m. - House Agriculture Committee hearing on Energy and the Rural Economy: The Impacts of Oil and Gas Production, 1300 Longworth.

10:15 a.m. - House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on the Ozone Standards Implementation Act (HR 4775), 2322 Rayburn.

1 p.m. - House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on Empowering States and Western Water Users through Regulatory and Administrative Reform, 1334 Longworth.

1:30 p.m. - House Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee markup of fiscal 2017 bill for the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, 2362-B Rayburn.

2:30 p.m. - Senate Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee markup of its FY17 bill, 124 Dirksen.

4 p.m. - House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee markup of FY17 bill for USDA FDA and CFTC, 2362-A Rayburn.

Thursday, April 14

CropLife America conference.

NCBA conference.

8:30 a.m. - USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.

10 a.m. - House Agriculture committee hearing on the rural economy, 1300 Longworth.

10 a.m. - Senate Agriculture Committee markup of CFTC reauthorization bill, 328A Russell.

10:30 a.m. - Senate Appropriations Committee markup of FY17 Energy-Water bill, 106 Dirksen.

2 p.m. - House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing on the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, 1100 Longworth.

Friday, April 15

Vilsack speaks on rural opportunity at the Clinton Library and Political Institute, Little Rock, Ark.

10 a.m. - House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, speaks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on tax reform and other issues before his committee, 1615 H St. NW.

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Iraq Is Turning Saddam Hussein's Palace Into a Museum

Saddam's former palace in Basra boasts a heart-shaped lake and extensive grounds. Officials are now turning it into a museum. ( Essam Al-Sundai/AFP/Getty Images) BASRA, Iraq -- Mahdi al-Musawi has a problem. His construction company is rushing to complete work on Iraq's newest and most ambitious museum, which is slated to open by September. But above the main door, carved in sweeping Arabic calligraphy in beautiful wood, is the name of former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein and the soubriquet "Prince of Arabs." "Politicians will be here for the dedication," al-Musawi says, eyeing the elaborate script. "They won't be happy with this." Iraqi officials, however, are confident that converting one of Saddam's former palaces into a museum--the first museum to open in the country in decades--will help spark a cultural revival in Basra, a southern port city and the country's second largest and fastest growing urban center. From Saddam to Sumerians Given that ISIS forces have devastated much of the heritage in Iraq's north, opening a new museum might seem a quixotic venture. While the forces of the Islamic State are far from Basra, reminders of the conflict are close at hand. A Shiite militia group based in trailers just down the street occasionally threatens to requisition the palace, al-Musawi says. And the elaborate structure still bears the scars of several car bombs from when it served as a British Army mess hall after the 2003 invasion. But in recent years, political stability, an influx of people from the beleaguered north, and a growing oil business just beyond the city limits have turned Basra into a boomtown, making it a prime location for a new cultural attraction. "When the British left in 2008, I suggested that the central government turn the palace over to us," says Qahtan al-Abeed, director of the Basra section of Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. Winning central government approval took two years. The Basra government then agreed to fund $3 million of the $3.5 million project. A United Kingdom charity called the Friends of Basrah Museum collected donations to cover the difference, mostly from oil companies, and the British Museum is providing free curatorial support. A Collection Behind Steel Doors When complete, the museum will include four halls that display artifacts from ancient Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, and Islamic periods of Iraq's long history. "The whole museum will have 3,500 to 4,000 objects" drawn from the vast storage rooms of Baghdad's Iraq Museum and displayed in more than one hundred cases, al-Abeed says. Mindful of the 2003 looting of the Iraq Museum, al-Abeed ordered thick steel doors installed at the entrance to each gallery that can be quickly sealed. But he says security must be balanced by openness. "We want a very modern museum that does more than display objects," he says. "We want to bring in people for all kinds of art and cultural activities, including training courses and professional meetings." None of this can happen just yet, as the Basra government hasn't put up its share of the renovation costs. "Like anything else in Iraq, it is difficult to achieve the simplest task," says Lamia Al-Gailani Werr, a trustee of the Friends of Basrah and an Iraqi who lives in London. The committee suggested that al-Abeed open one gallery as soon as possible, to encourage the government to support the effort. He hopes to do so by September. Werr praises al-Abeed for his tenacity in pushing forward the museum. But his ambitious vision for Basra, where he was born but fled during the time of Saddam Hussein, extends beyond the renovated palace. One of the World's Largest Archaeological Sites Basra has a rich and varied history that al-Abeed wants to bring to the world's attention, and not only through a museum. Famed as the home of the legendary Sinbad, the city was founded in A.D. 636 and became an important and wealthy port central to Indian Ocean trade as well as an intellectual and artistic center. The original city site, called Zubair, now lies just outside modern Basra. The massive archaeological site covers more than 1,200 acres (486 hectares) and is one of the largest and least explored in the world. The area remained mostly uninhabited until the 1990s, when Saddam turned over some of the land for construction of factories. "I sued and the courts asked 17 factories to leave," al-Abeed says. Twenty factories remain in the otherwise barren area. He says he has received death threats for his actions, forcing him to move out of his family home and into a more secure compound. With Basra expanding and land prices skyrocketing, al-Abeed's organization is under intense pressure to prove that significant archaeological remains cover the site, so that it won't be further developed and the history can be protected. "We have obvious structures everywhere, including walls and small domes," said Ali Almayahi, a geophysicist at the University of Basra who is leading an effort to map the site using ground-penetrating radar. In one trench, al-Abeed said his team found pottery, glass, and other material dating to Abbassid times, from the eighth to the 13th centuries A.D. But he is in a race against time as new highways spring up around and through the site. Rescuing Old Basra In late medieval times, the city shifted north in order to follow the changing course of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. At the heart of modern bustling Basra, north of the museum site, lies a quiet neighborhood with hundreds of century-old mansions with intricate wooden grillwork along stone-lined canals with graceful arched bridges, interspersed with old churches and mosques. Today the canals are dry and choked with trash, the bridges crumbling, and the once elegant homes are rapidly disintegrating. But a few structures have been rehabilitated and are home to a growing number of arts organizations. On a recent morning, artists at a cooperative were preparing an exhibition of modernist sculpture. It's a remarkable sight in a city that just a few years ago saw frequent clashes of competing militias. Down the street is the Basra Cultural Palace, based in a large 19th-century home built by a Jewish merchant. "We just had a painting exhibit from Kuwait, and a writing conference for women," said the director, Hussain al-Mothater. Al-Abeed sees the rehabilitation of the old quarter as his most challenging and long-term task. "The buildings are in bad condition, and people are pulling them down," he says. "We want to make this a heritage area with hotels and restaurants and a heritage museum, but being sure that people still live here," he added. "We want to make this like Granada in Spain, but this is a 15- to 20-year project." He is taking steps to list the area as a World Heritage site under UNESCO. That vision might seem as fantastic as one of Sinbad's tales, but al-Abeed is relentlessly optimistic. "Most people from Basra came here recently from the countryside, and they have no idea of culture. You have to first lay the foundation. And I want to help my country."
April 9, 2016

Iraqi Shiite alliance collapses

US Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on April 8-9 to offer support for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who finds himself increasingly isolated among Iraqs Shiite political and clerical leadership.

In response to popular demands for reforms, including a challenge from resurgent Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Abadi submitted a proposal for a streamlined technocratic Cabinet on March 31, which Iraqs Council of Representatives, or parliament, was to consider by April 12. Iraqi politicians across the political spectrum, including in the Shiite alliance, claim that Abadi did not consult political leaders and groups in making these selections. Abadis list faces steep resistance in the parliament, and even if it passes and the prime minister gets a reprieve, the pressure will be even greater on him to produce results.

Ali Mamouri analyzed the breakdown in consensus among Iraqs Shiite parties, which have until now been organized under the Iraqi National Alliance grouping. In July 2015, widespread popular protests broke out demanding reform, accountability and improved services. The demonstrations were originally neither sectarian nor religious, but they have since been co-opted by Sadr, who has re-emerged as a formidable political rival to Abadi and other Iraqi National Alliance leaders, as described by Adnan Abu Zeed.

Abadis failures to enact reforms, deliver services and build meaningful political alliances has led to his alienation from the religious leadership in Najaf, which has refrained from its previous statements of support for the government. As Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani stepped back from the political fray, Sadr and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki intensified their bids to replace Abadi. Sadr has also rejected Irans mediation and is seeking to ride a nationalist wave of resentment against both American and Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs.

As Mamouri explained, Political differences among Shiite parties and currents themselves have moved from disputes among politicians to the street  diplomatic language has changed to direct threats. Sadr called for massive sit-ins in front of the Green Zone, to protest against corruption and government performance. He even embarrassed his Shiite rivals within the alliance. These sit-ins started March 18 and have expanded. Remarkably, Sadr threatened to break into the Green Zone in case the government did not fulfill its demand to replace the current government with a technocrat government. In contrast, the State of Law Coalition [led by Maliki], which represents a majority within the Shiite alliance, issued a strongly worded statement March 16, saying Sadrs call for protests is illegal and unconstitutional. The statement ended with a warning, or even a threat, that weapons will be faced with weapons, and men will be faced with men. The people, the country, particularly areas that Islamic State [IS] gangs failed to destroy, would be the biggest loser. Resorting to the street is a mistake that will end up destroying the country and community.

Mohammed Salih reported that Abadis reform initiative has also deepened divisions between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government. The Kurdish parties in the Iraqi parliament  the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Gorran and Komal  have buried the hatchet over differences in Erbil to mostly band together in opposition to Abadis efforts, which they claim do not accurately take into account Kurdish interests. Nizar Saleem Numan Doski, Abadi's nominee for minister of oil, has said he will not accept the nomination if he does not have the support of Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi parliament.



Mamouri concluded, All this reveals that the Shiite alliance has lost its political dynamics to resolve differences. The Shiite forces have moved their internal dispute outside the Shiite circles. Besides, traditional forces such as the highest Shiite authority and Iran have failed to mediate and limit the dispute based on common sectarian foundations.

Erdogan cant deliver on PKK

Kadri Gursel this week explained why we should not expect even a cease-fire, let alone a political settlement, in the Turkish governments war against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

According to Gursel, Erdogans bid for an empowered, more authoritarian presidential system is linked directly to the increasingly costly civil war. Erdogan assured the Turkish electorate in November that he and the Justice and Development Party were best positioned to deal with the PKK terror threat.

But now, Gursel wrote, Erdogan finds he cannot deliver his promised solution. The terror threat shows no sign of easing, and the number of combat deaths increases daily. Erdogan is trying to persuade the public to accept the security forces' fatalities by constantly invoking the significance of martyrdom in Islam. He never misses an opportunity to emphasize how the PKK is suffering disproportionate casualties.

Gursel continued, Erdogan will submit to the parliament a draft constitution that calls for an authoritarian presidency. If the draft goes through parliament, we will have a constitutional referendum. If not, Erdogans game plan calls once again for early elections. While passing through these phases, Erdogan cannot reach an accord with the PKK without risking the nationalist votes he badly needs. He would also jeopardize his plan to keep the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party below the 10% vote threshold in an early election. Because of all this, one must accept the reality that Turkey will continue to live in a civil war environment of great risks. As long as the war rages, the cost of a potential political settlement will continue to rise, regardless of whether Erdogan attains his ideal presidency  which actually means a dictatorship.

Turkey intensifies fight against Islamic State

Free Syrian Army forces, backed by Turkish artillery and US airstrikes, reported victories over the Islamic State (IS) in Rai, Syria, this week, a sign that Erdogan is feeling the pressure to finally step up in the fight against the terrorist group.

Fehim Tastekin reported that the United States has rejected Erdogans direct appeal for the United States to back off its support of the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in favor of Turkish-backed units, perhaps accompanied by Turkish troops, which would likely provoke an escalatory intervention from Russia. The United States still considers the Syrian Defense Forces, made up primarily of Kurdish YPG units, as well as some Arab and Turkmen fighters, as the most effective group battling IS.

Nonetheless, the United States urgently seeks a victory of its own following the Russian- and Iranian-backed liberation of Palmyra by Syrian government forces, which may be poised to make a major assault to retake Aleppo. On that score, the United States would likely welcome Turkish military coordination against IS, as seemed to happen in Rai.

Nonetheless, Turkeys adamant opposition to Syrian Kurdish autonomy foreshadows more, not less, trouble ahead and a likely increasing divergence in US and Turkish Syria policies. Tastekin concluded, IS infiltration of Turkey through the 60-mile border gap, the role of those infiltrators in terror operations in Europe and the relocation of some of them to Libya have made Ankaras game-spoiler attitude unbearable. Washington, which has promised Ankara there wont be a Kurdish corridor, feels it has to do something. Americans dont think Ankaras demands that Arab tribes should be separated from the YPG are workable. Washington isn't in favor of US air support to Turkish-supported forces on the ground, which would then be allowed to control the Menbic-Jarablus line. We will now wait and see how the United States  squeezed between its NATO ally Turkey and the Kurds, who are achieving results with their organizational and operational capacity  will make do with interim formulas.

Egyptian journalists fight back

Shahira Amin this week described a growing backlash against the Egyptian governments targeting and detention of journalists.

Egyptian officials have repeatedly rebutted claims that journalists are being targeted as part of the crackdown on dissent, insisting that there are no journalists behind bars for their work, Amin wrote. Until recently, much of the Egyptian media and the majority of Egyptians had also rejected international criticism of the restrictions on the media in Egypt, perceiving the criticism as part of the foreign conspiracy to destroy Egypt.

But the Egyptian governments actions against independent journalists have finally worn down the official denials. There has been an almost abrupt turnabout with more journalists  including regime loyalists and those who had previously practiced self-censorship  becoming increasingly vocal in their criticism of the muzzling of journalists through intimidation tactics and the unfair detention of writers and researchers, Amin explained. The string of prosecution of writers, researchers and activists, the travel bans imposed on several human rights defenders and the escalating crackdown on civil society organizations have all combined to cause the major shift in public opinion and the change in the tone of the media. Add to the above the restrictive anti-protest and anti-terrorism laws stifling freedom of assembly and expression and the repeated media blackouts on issues of public concern. Hence, it is not surprising that there was an angry eruption at the prospect of yet another journalist being convicted. The regime clearly has not learned the lesson from [former President Hosni] Mubaraks unplugging of the Internet during the 2011 uprising  a move that fueled the anger against the former dictator, leading to his ultimate overthrow.
April 11, 2016

Turkey's largest private bank, Isbank, increasingly has become a government target the last few years, increasing the perception of growing political oppression of the nation's banking sector.

Established in 1924 by the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Isbank has been under intense criticism by pro-government media since 2012. The latest attack, in January, came from Yigit Bulut, a key adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Bulut openly said that the government must seize the bank.

The debate on Isbank revolves mainly around its partnership structure. Because of Ataturks will, 28% of the shares of Isbank belong to the main opposition party, the Republican Peoples Party (CHP). Isbank is often drawn into heated political debate because of its partnership structure. Bulut, in a discussion on state television, said, The CHP can't have an organic relationship within the bank. The bank must immediately be returned to the people and become a public bank.

Bulut's comments stunned the markets, and the shares of Isbank lost approximately 5% of their value the next day. Isbank's management team was also shocked; there had been earlier calls to expropriate the bank, but this was the first direct statement by a senior official close to the president. A week later, Erdogan received a letter signed by Ersin Ozince, the chairman of the board of directors, and Adnan Bali, the general manager of Isbank. According to information obtained by Al-Monitor, the letter emphasized the deep-rooted history of the bank and expressed discontent with Bulut's statements.

Ozince told Al-Monitor, I do not wish to say anything specifically on this issue. But he did not deny sending the letter to the president. Ozince hinted that further steps had been taken, saying, We are taking all possible corporate actions. Our field of operations is within the jurisdiction of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency and the Capital Markets Board. Turkey is a state of law  necessary actions must be taken. We are taking the necessary legal action. Ozince added that Turkeys legal process is slow, and therefore lacks deterrence; if need be, action also can be initiated in the international legal arena.

Although the bank has become a target for Erdogans associates, Ozince does not believe that the president personally is targeting Isbank. I dont think that the issue is about the president. Isbank achieved its strong status in the era of the Justice and Development Party [AKP] government after 2001. During Mr. Erdogans term as prime minister, the market value of Isbank went up to $25 billion. Our business grew solidly during the AKP government and [the rule of] Erdogan. We have received and still receive the support of our government, especially regarding the foreign and domestic investments of the Sisecam Group [a giant glassworks subsidiary of Isbank]. Mr. Erdogan personally opened many of our facilities, Ozince said. I believe that these allegations are malicious and intentional and aim at adversely affecting our banking operations. They may think that we have nobody who cares but we are the bank with the largest popular base. The shareholding structure of Isbank is diversified  40% of the shares belong to a foundation of the employees, while 28% belong to the CHP and 32% are publicly traded.

The first indication of the intentions to seize the bank came from Fuat Avni, a Twitter user who became famous in 2015 because of his sensational insider tweets that were generally accurate. According to Avni's tweet, the government wanted to confiscate the shares of the CHP on charges of corrupt practices. Shortly before these tweets, in February 2015, 63% of the shares of Bank Asya were impounded by the government. Bank Asya was known as being close to the Fethullah Gulen movement; Gulen is a US-based preacher who earlier had been a close ally of Erdogan. In May 2015, the bank was completely seized. The same year, the publicly traded company Koza-Ipek Group, known for being close to the Gulen movement, was seized. The battle between Erdogan and Gulen started with corruption and bribery operations against AKP officials on Dec. 17 and Dec. 25, 2013, which were said to be staged by state prosecutors and police officers close to the Gulen movement.

The CHP, despite owning 28% of the shares of Isbank, does not receive an income from these shares. The dividends accrued to the CHP shares go to the Turkish Language Society and Turkish Historical Society as per Ataturk's will.

Ozince explained that both the banking regulations and the law on political parties do not allow the CHP to make money from its shares, saying, The CHP only has a representative function. Any further allegations or perception management efforts are illegal [under Turkey's finance laws].

Allegations against Ozince and Isbank are not confined to the CHP shares. The pro-AKP daily Yeni Safak has claimed that Cumhuriyet journalist Can Dundar was illegally given a loan with 0% interest. Dundar is on trial in a case involving news stories that Turkey was providing arms to jihadi groups in Syria. Some other media claimed Ozinces salary was $10 million.

Ozince rebutted the reports on illegal loans, and said the total salaries of all the board members of Isbank do not add up to even $1 million.

Finally, Ozince is also accused in an investigation involving Petrol Ofisi, which Isbank had a stake in. The trial is related to alleged fuel smuggling by Petrol Ofisi between 2001 and 2007, and the court has been asked to impose a 23-year prison term on Ozince, who had been part of the company's management at the time. At the same trial, Aydin Dogan, the chairman of Dogan Holding  the largest media group in Turkey, which is involved in an acrimonious dispute with the government  is accused of being the leader of a crime organization. Isbank sold 50% of its Petrol Ofisi shares to the Dogan Group in 2005.

The continuing dispute and negative reporting that recently have gained momentum have had an adverse impact on the share performance of Isbank. Although the Istanbul Stock Exchange 100 Index has increased by 14% since the beginning of 2016, Isbank shares have taken a loss of more than 1%. Ozince said, While they are discrediting Isbank, they are violating the rights of domestic and international investors, noting that more than 100 foreign investors have continued to trade the bank's public shares.

The accusations and news stories on Isbank have impaired expectations for the banking sector, just as when Bank Asya was in the headlines.

Atilla Yesilada, a Global Source analyst, told Al-Monitor, Pressure on Isbank has risks that cannot be compared with others. Formerly seized banks or companies were relatively small. However, Isbank is a mammoth mainstream company. Seizing this company will completely alter the perception of foreign investment in Turkey. Turkey will become [President Vladimir] Putins Russia.

According to Yesilada, the governments increasing need for loans may be behind the increasing pressure on Isbank. He added, Turkey has mega-investment projects and we are having difficulties in finding foreign credit for them. These mega projects are mainly funded by public banks that are at the limits of their capacity to extend credit. This could be the reason behind their craving to get their hands on the balance sheet of Isbank.
April 11, 2016

This year, the coming of spring has not brightened the lives of people in Turkey's southeastern towns, where violence continues. The coming of spring means heavy winter conditions and melting snow are replaced by green trees and many rainy, foggy days. It also means a probable increase and expansion of clashes.

The milder meteorological conditions will allow the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to become more mobile. With improved logistics support, the PKK could integrate its urban units, which have been operating independently, and transform them into a regional force and escalate fighting. Security forces, which are aware of these realities, are frantically preparing.

Security officials in Ankara expect multiple, simultaneous PKK operations on the ground or actions in the cities at the end of April. Ankara has reacted by increasing the number of special operations teams trained in urban warfare, appropriate vehicles and weaponry.

Al-Monitor has learned from its sources in Ankara that one extraordinary step taken was to shorten the training periods of police special operations teams. Gendarmerie special operations teams in the region that today total 12,500 will be boosted to at least 20,000. Police special operations teams that today have 7,800 personnel will be increased to 20,000.

The Turkish Armed forces (TSK) also appear to be making similar redeployments and changes. For example, infantry brigades at Bingol, Sarikamis, Tatvan and Denizli have been transformed entirely to commando brigades. These four brigades, made up of 20,000 professional and specially trained soldiers, have been deployed to critical areas of Tunceli, Bingol, Agri, Hakkari, Sirnak and Mardin. Two commando battalions have been temporarily redeployed from Cyprus to defend some permanent bases in the region.

The TSKs increasing need for manpower this spring to set up permanent regional bases may force it to stray from its established principle of fielding only professional troops in anti-terror operations and not using conscripts.

In short, Turkish security forces are planning to double their presence in the region to sustain their control of towns and to dominate the rural terrain.

The PKK is also active, reinforcing its mountain units. Turkish intelligence has reports that the PKK may shift its operations to the calmer Van region and rural areas to ease the pressure it is currently under in Nusaybin, Sirnak and Yuksekova, and to launch attacks in western cities. The PKK, which appears to have learned well from the first wave of combat in Silopi, Cizre, Idil and Sur, is hunting tanks and armored vehicles using snipers, planting roadside bombs and digging tunnels.

In the past two weeks, about 50 security personnel have lost their lives in Nusaybin, a scene of heavy clashes. Normally a town of 90,000, its population is now down to 30,000. In this town, which abuts the Syrian border across from the Kurdish town of Qamishli, there are wide avenues and four- and five-story concrete buildings, unlike in Cizre, Sur and Silopi, where there are mostly narrow streets with trenches dug and barricades backed by roadside bombs.

In Nusaybin, clashes take place mostly inside buildings. The PKK, which has prepared well and deployed experienced units, plants explosives at the foundations of buildings likely to be searched by security forces and sets them off by remote control. Reports say there are about 300 PKK militants from its rural units in Nusaybin, in addition to 700-800 local Civil Defense Units militants.

In six neighborhoods of Nusaybin where operations continue, security forces have identified about 200 buildings the PKK uses for safe houses, medical stations, ammunition storage and supply warehouses. After many personnel lost their lives in building collapses, the security forces are now considering the use of heavy fire from a distance to demolish all those buildings in the six neighborhoods, after first evacuating civilians.

If necessary, we should think of totally evacuating the places, which are not anymore habitable anyway, and pulverize them from a distance. We should totally raze these locations and rebuild them, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said recently. We wont sacrifice even a finger of our police and soldiers for all the piles of concrete and iron there. We are sustaining martyrs because of this.

According to security experts quoted by Turkish media, what is happening in Nusaybin is not a classic terror operation, so the buildings the PKK is using for combat purposes should be collectively flattened by heavy-caliber fire from a distance.

As the clashes and casualties in Nusaybin have become a main agenda item recently, Turkey has devised a new strategy to handle the problems in that town. After reports of coordination discord between the governor of Mardin province and security units on the ground, the authority for operational decisions in the town was transferred from the civilian decision-makers to the military, which means consolidating intelligence and decisions to a single military command. For the first time since July 22, when the clashes began, command and control in Nusaybin will be exclusively in the hands of senior military officers.

Al-Monitor consulted technical experts who said it wont be easy to destroy the concrete-and-steel structures with tank and 155-mm artillery fire from a distance. These experts, who spoke with us on the condition of anonymity, said one option is to use penetration ammunition similar to laser-guided, 2,000-pound MK-84 ammunition fired from planes. Another option would be to use concentrated barrages of 203-mm artillery. The last option would be to send in armored bulldozers protected by tanks. Given the sharp increase in public sensitivity and the political pressure exerted from Ankara, security forces may have to make a decision soon.

Nusaybin may well be the harbinger of a new phase of wider and more violent clashes in the spring. The use of tanks, heavy armor, antitank weapons, snipers and roadside bombs are amplifying, increasing the destruction. Turning over the decision-making to the military could mean even the use of combat planes might be on the agenda.

No wonder, then, that the coming spring isn't bringing the usual joy and happiness, but more fear and anguish in the region.
April 11, 2016

WASHINGTON  The United States and United Nations strongly welcomed a Yemen cessation of hostilities that went into effect early April 11, and urged all the warring parties to find a political resolution to the year-old conflict at UN-brokered peace talks set to start in Kuwait on April 18.

We encourage all parties to attend [the peace talks in Kuwait] and engage in good faith to find a sustainable way forward, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told journalists at a press briefing April 11. The only way forward is a political one.

"This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives," UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement April 11.

The truce is critical to enable humanitarian aid to be distributed to the Yemeni people, some 80% of whom now require humanitarian aid to survive, Toner said.

Even amid reports of violations in its first day, the nationwide truce went into effect after there had been a notable reduction of violence in Yemen in recent weeks, following quiet Saudi-Houthi negotiations on reducing violence on the Yemeni-Saudi border, US officials told Al-Monitor. The tentative progress on resolving the Yemen conflict comes as US President Barack Obama is due to travel to Saudi Arabia for consultations with Saudi and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders next week, on April 21.

The level of violence is significantly below where it has been over the last year, a senior US official, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor on April 8. The situation, particularly on the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen  has been much quieter.

We have certainly encouraged  steps forward by the parties themselves to de-escalate the conflict and get back to peace talks, the US official said.

Low-key contacts between the Saudis and Houthi rebels appear to have had a breakthrough in recent weeks, leading to a partial cease-fire on the Saudi-Yemeni border. Such de-escalatory steps helped make way for the effort to relaunch the peace talks and try to expand to a nationwide cease-fire.

The US official indicated that that there have been very low-key contacts between the two for quite some time, going to the beginning of the coalition campaign, making reference to the Saudi-led coalition war in Yemen. Earlier this spring, it began to bear fruit.

Secretary of State John Kerry was informed by the Saudis of apparent progress and had hopes that the Yemen conflict would be winding down when he traveled to the kingdom March 12, at the conclusion of a major Saudi-hosted Northern Thunder military exercise in Hafar al-Batin, officials said.

When the secretary was in Hafar al-Batin (Saudi Arabia)  last month, for the first time,  the pieces were just beginning to fall in place at that moment for renewed Yemeni peace talks, the source said. He got a full debrief from the Saudis at that time.

Kerry alluded to quiet progress toward ending the Yemeni conflict after meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and his advisers on the sidelines of the military exercise, held at the King Khalid Military City base, 500 kilometers (310 miles) northeast of Riyadh.

We discussed Yemen, where we have agreed to work even more closely together in the next days to explore the possibilities of the political solution, and we both agree that it would be desirable to see if we can find a similar approach as we did in Syria to try to get a cease-fire, Kerry said after meeting with Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan on March 12. So were going to continue to work on that quietly, and we have a team of people who are going to continue to be working together to that effect.

US officials said they were cautiously optimistic about prospects for progress at the Yemen peace talks set to start in Kuwait next week; they will be convened by Cheikh Ahmed and his UN team.

Cheikh Ahmed is reasonably optimistic that, in fact, he will be able to have a serious way forward this time, and that hopefully there will be, as a result of this round of talks, an agreement on getting to political transition, a way forward, the US official said.

Yemen expert Adam Baron said that the latest peace effort is more hopeful than earlier rounds, but that it was still very fragile and could be quickly reversed.

There are signs [of] much more of a willingness to entertain the possibility of things moving from the military track to the political track this time, Baron told Al-Monitor in a phone interview from Lebanon on April 11. But it is very fragile. It is riding on the cease-fire [holding] and how the Kuwait talks go.

Any de-escalation can get reversed in a second, and if reversed, we will see a flare-up worse than before, Baron said. But this time [may be] a tentative opportunity for things to be moving in the right direction.
WAAY.JPG

Huntsville television station WAAY has been sold to a partnership that includes the owners of another Huntsville station, according to an industry report today. The original owners say they are leaving the television business.

Under the agreement reported by television news website TVNewsCheck, Calkins Media is selling Raycom Media two Calkins Florida stations and American Spirit Media the Huntsville station WAAY.

The website said WAAY will "presumably be operated in tandem with Raycom's NBC affiliate in Huntsville, WAFF." WAAY management did not immediately return a call for comment.
State and local leaders welcomed a full house Monday for the ribbon cutting of the Alabama Robotics Technology Park, a three-phase, $73 million project in Tanner.

An architectural rendering of Phase III of the Alabama Robotics Technology Park. (Courtesy)

The final phase of RTP, a 52,000-square-foot Integration, Entrepreneurial and Paint/Dispense Training Center, broke ground in October 2014. The building across from Calhoun Community College represents a $9 million investment and should be in full operation by late summer.

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said the vision started in 2007-2008 with Alabama Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary and AIDT Director Ed Castille and former Gov. Bob Riley. With help from local government agencies and the state's two-year college system, Orr said the project quickly became a reality.

"It started as you heard with something that no one else in the world has," he said. "And we in the state of Alabama are very fortunate to have that."

Phase I, which opened in November 2010 as the Robotic Maintenance Training Center, is a 60,000-square-foot facility where technicians are trained in industrial safety, robotics and programmable logic control systems. Phase II, the Advanced Technology Research and Development Center, is a 43,000-square-foot building dedicated to the research, development and testing of automation and robotics for industries, military projects and space exploration.

The third phase will allow Alabama businesses to introduce new technologies into their manufacturing process through trouble-shooting, product integration and training. Smaller companies will also use the site to develop their businesses with robotics and automotive technology.

The Paint/Dispense Technology segment will provide manual paint spraying and robotic dispense training to automotive and other companies throughout the state.

The Robotic Maintenance Training Center opened the same year Gov. Robert Bentley was first elected to office. Bentley said his administration has honored its commitment to make the full vision for RTP possible.

"This fits in extremely well with what I've been putting into place with our Accelerate Alabama plan," he said. "The recruitment of jobs, the retention of companies and helping them to grow, and then the innovation and entrepreneurship, which will help companies develop out of ideas."

The three-part educational, training, R&D and entrepreneurial robotics park completes the state's mission to provide a highly-skilled workforce for automation and robotics, assist public and private entities in developing new robotics systems and technologies, and promote the creation, growth and expansion of companies.

RTP is a collaboration between the state of Alabama, Alabama Community College System, Department of Commerce, AIDT and robotics industry leaders across the U.S. Brooks Kracke, president and CEO of North Alabama Industrial Development Association, said RTP will be an economic development recruiting tool for the entire state.

"It's truly a unique opportunity," he said. "Companies coming in here that we're working with to improve this area can't believe that we have this type of facility."

After competing in a bid process, Huntsville-based Consolidated Construction was selected as the general contractor for phase III of the project. Architecture and engineering firm Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood of Birmingham was the designer.
It's baffling that Mumford & Sons still find time to play Birmingham, Alabama; they, one of the biggest rock bands in the world, and it, just the 43rd largest media market in the United States, a city usually skipped over by touring acts of their stature for neighboring Atlanta and Nashville.

But they do.

Formally a quartet, the British folk act returned to the Magic City on Sunday evening for the first time since playing Oak Mountain Ampitheatre on September 9, 2013. This time, they took folk rock to the spacious rafters of Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

And maybe that's why they do. Because at the heart of Mumford & Sons is still a folk band. Sure, they plugged in on last year's Wilder Mind, and maybe that was largely out of necessity for growth, but two-thirds of their catalog is still comprised of songs that don't require a drummer. And what Mumford & Sons has most succeeded at is making every venue feel intimate. And perhaps that intimacy feels more attainable in cities more humble. Maybe Birmingham is an allegory for the band's ambition.

They're currently the biggest arena folk act in the world, and they may be the biggest arena folk act of all time. They gave Birmingham 100 more minutes of their time on Sunday.

Legacy Arena was "sold out," but not the kind of sold out where tickets were unavailable. A single could be found here or there on Ticketmaster hours before the show and plenty of people were hoping to unload tickets that they couldn't use at face value. But empty seats were hard to find as the band kicked off their 19-song set with "Snake Eyes" at 8:18 p.m., a stunningly early start which was, likely, deliberate.

[See more photos from the show on the BJCC's Facebook page.]

"It's good to be back in Alabama, baby," Marcus Mumford said at the opener's conclusion. "I know it's a Sunday night, but let's just, for a couple of hours, pretend it's a Friday night, shall we?"

He kept talk to a minimum, but recalled his quip five songs later by shouting, "How's your Friday night, Birmingham?"

The band changed instruments a lot. And Marcus found himself singing from behind the drum kit on more than one occasion. The band also invited opener Blake Mills onstage to play guitar a few times, among them, a performance of "Awake My Soul."

Keyboardist Ben Lovett took control of the microphone late in the set to share, "Roll Tide, Alabama. I've been living in this part of the country for a little while, and people from Alabama want you to know they're from Alabama. They only want to talk about Alabama. There must be something special about this place."

It preceded a parade of hits. "The Cave." "Ditmas." During the latter, Mumford ran into the audience. But he didn't just run to the edge of a barrier and offer the forced, uncomfortable gesture of shaking a fan's hand - he ran. He ran to the back of the arena, stage left. He ran up the stairs to the middle concourse entry. He ran back down the stairs and toward the floor crowd, stage right. And he ran back to the stage.

That was before a quick set break which saw the band take to a smaller stage at the back of the arena for two songs: "Timshel" and "Cold Arms," with only acoustic guitars.

So it felt strange, a folk act - however large it may be - selling floor seats as General Admission, as much of the rest of the arena remained seated. But it had to be that way, because Mumford & Sons authentically ensures that their audience feels involved. It's their finest achievement - making venues like Oak Mountain Amphitheatre and Legacy Arena feel like club shows. By running to the back of the audience. By setting up the second stage in the back of the venue. By playing against a relatively stripped backdrop and lowering the lights. Few bands have ever made this work, and it's remarkable to see it accomplished with humility and grace. If Mumford's reaction was as authentic as his efforts were to execute that intimacy, it won't be the last time that the band sees Birmingham.

"It's the best Sunday night I've had in a while," he told the audience before the band's final two encore numbers, "I Will Wait" and "The Wolf." "It completely blows our mind that we can come this far away from home and feel so at home. Thank you."

SETLIST: Snake Eyes - Little Lion Man - Below My Feet - Wilder Mind - Lover of the Light - Tompkins Square Park - Believe - Broken Crown - Monster - Awake My Soul - The Cave - Ditmas - Dustbowl Dance - B STAGE - Timshel - Cold Arms - ENCORE BREAK - Hot Gates - I'm on Fire [Bruce Springsteen cover] - I Will Wait - The Wolf
Sherill Clontz.jpg

United Methodist Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, center, head of the North Alabama Conference, has released a list of new ministerial appointments for 2016. At left, Cheaha District Superintendent and parliamentarian Sherill Clontz, left, will be one of those moving. Clontz has been assigned as the new pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

(Greg Garrison/AL.com)

More than 50 ministers in the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church are getting new assignments effective in June.

North Alabama Conference Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett and the Cabinet released a list on Sunday of the following full-time appointment changes.

These appointments, along with part-time appointments to be announced later, will be finalized during the annual meeting of the North Alabama Annual Conference at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville on June 5-7, 2016. Clergy will move to their new appointments on Wednesday, June 22.

The Rev. Bill Etheridge, currently pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Huntsville, will move to become pastor of Trussville First United Methodist church.

Among those who will be on the move are the Rev. Sherill Clontz, Cheaha district superintendent, who will take over as pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Mark Lacey will be the new pastor at St. Mark United Methodist Church.

First United Methodist Church of Trussville will be getting a new pastor. The Rev. Mark Lacey will move from there to St. Mark United Methodist Church. The Rev. Bill Etheridge will be the new pastor in Trussville.

The Rev. Clinton Hubbard will be superintendent of the Cheaha district.

Two new district superintendents were named: The Rev. Clinton Hubbard Jr. will become the Superintendent of the Cheaha District. He will continue to serve in the role of Executive Director of Ethnic Ministries.

The Rev. Rick Owen will be the new Superintendent of the Central District. He currently serves as Senior Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville.

The Rev. R.G. Lyons will be joining the staff of First United Methodist Church of Birmingham as pastor of faith development.

The Rev. Rick Owen will be the superintendent of the Central District.

The Rev. Todd Henderson will be the new pastor at First United Methodist Church of Cullman.

Here is a full list below:

DISTRICT CHARGE NOMINATIONS CE: ATEM: District Superintendent Rick Owen CE: Birmingham First Pastor of Faith Development R.G. Lyons CE: Bluff Park Associate / New Service John Carl Hastings CE: Crumly Chapel Deb Epley CE: Cullman First Todd Henderson CE: Cullman First Associate Jaime Pangman CE: Cullman First Hispanic Ministry Raul Dominguez CE: Graysville / Adamsville Jeff Lyles CE: New Beginnings Dedric Cowser CE: St. Andrews Chuck Worley CH: ATEM: District Superintendent / Executive Director of Ethnic Ministries Clinton Hubbard, Jr. ATEM: Program Director of Ethnic Ministries TBD CH: Anniston First Dale Clem CH: Leeds First Jonathon Todd CH: Ohatchee / Ragan Chapel Cheryl Blankenship CH: Oxford First David Allison CH: Pell City First Associate Angela Teel CH: Trussville First Bill Etheridge ML: Asbury Taylor Gallman ML: Centre First Jeff Davis ML: Gadsden First Associate Tyler Woodham ML: Guntersville First Associate / House Churches Keith Monk ML: New Oregon Ian Conerly ML: Rainbow City First Brandon Harris ML: Sweet Home Troy Walker ML: Trinity / Robertson Chapel Rock Stone NE: Aldersgate Sherill Clontz NE: Crosswinds Harvest Ben James NE: Lacey's Spring Will Etheridge NE: Latham Associate Matt Jones NE: Monte Sano John Mullaney NE: Trinity Mitchell Williams NE: Trinity Hispanic Ministry Lucy Morales NE: Trinity Hispanic Ministry Hur Morales NW: Elkmont Thom Porter NW: Greenhill Jerry Hastings NW: Green's Chapel / Milner's Chapel Mike Samuels NW: Moulton First Stephen Benefield NW: New Church Morgan County Chris Stallings NW: Tanner Stephen Fincher NW: Wesley Chapel Joe Riddle SC: ATEM: Executive Director of United Counseling Monica Harbarger SC: Alabaster First Associate Arthur Harrison SC: Avondale Malinda Weaver SC: Calera First Gene Lankford SC: Canterbury Associate Tori Hastings SC: Church of Reconciler Associate Adam Burns SC: Irondale David Holmes SE: Alexander City First John Verciglio SE: Chapel Hill / Fredonia / Sweet Home Wally Armstrong SE: Fairfax Mark Woodruff SE: Kellyton Chapel / St. Thomas-New Community Emmanuel Afful SE: Lanett First Reid Turner SE: Roanoke First Chris Martin SE: Shawmut Leslie Hand SE: Trinity / Alexander City Mike Densmore SW: Druid Hills/Holt Sarah Smoot SW: Macedonia / ABIDE Nancy Cole SW: St. Mark Mark Lacey SW: Tabernacle / Forest Rickey Green SW: Tuscaloosa First Associate Jesse Tosten ATEM: Executive Director of Healthy Church Bob Alford

North Alabama Conference Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett and the Cabinet announce the following full-time appointment changes to take effect in June 2016.

These appointments, along with part-time appointments to be announced later, will be fixed during the 2016 North Alabama Annual Conference, which will gather at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville on June 5-7, 2016. Clergy will move to their new appointments on Wednesday, June 22. For more information, check out the website of the North Alabama Conference.



DISTRICT CHARGE NOMINATIONS CE: ATEM: District Superintendent Rick Owen CE: Birmingham First Pastor of Faith Development R.G. Lyons CE: Bluff Park Associate / New Service John Carl Hastings CE: Crumly Chapel Deb Epley CE: Cullman First Todd Henderson CE: Cullman First Associate Jaime Pangman CE: Cullman First Hispanic Ministry Raul Dominguez CE: Graysville / Adamsville Jeff Lyles CE: New Beginnings Dedric Cowser CE: St. Andrews Chuck Worley CH: ATEM: District Superintendent / Executive Director of Ethnic Ministries Clinton Hubbard, Jr. ATEM: Program Director of Ethnic Ministries TBD CH: Anniston First Dale Clem CH: Leeds First Jonathon Todd CH: Ohatchee / Ragan Chapel Cheryl Blankenship CH: Oxford First David Allison CH: Pell City First Associate Angela Teel CH: Trussville First Bill Etheridge ML: Asbury Taylor Gallman ML: Centre First Jeff Davis ML: Gadsden First Associate Tyler Woodham ML: Guntersville First Associate / House Churches Keith Monk ML: New Oregon Ian Conerly ML: Rainbow City First Brandon Harris ML: Sweet Home Troy Walker ML: Trinity / Robertson Chapel Rock Stone NE: Aldersgate Sherill Clontz NE: Crosswinds Harvest Ben James NE: Lacey's Spring Will Etheridge NE: Latham Associate Matt Jones NE: Monte Sano John Mullaney NE: Trinity Mitchell Williams NE: Trinity Hispanic Ministry Lucy Morales NE: Trinity Hispanic Ministry Hur Morales NW: Elkmont Thom Porter NW: Greenhill Jerry Hastings NW: Green's Chapel / Milner's Chapel Mike Samuels NW: Moulton First Stephen Benefield NW: New Church Morgan County Chris Stallings NW: Tanner Stephen Fincher NW: Wesley Chapel Joe Riddle SC: ATEM: Executive Director of United Counseling Monica Harbarger SC: Alabaster First Associate Arthur Harrison SC: Avondale Malinda Weaver SC: Calera First Gene Lankford SC: Canterbury Associate Tori Hastings SC: Church of Reconciler Associate Adam Burns SC: Irondale David Holmes SE: Alexander City First John Verciglio SE: Chapel Hill / Fredonia / Sweet Home Wally Armstrong SE: Fairfax Mark Woodruff SE: Kellyton Chapel / St. Thomas-New Community Emmanuel Afful SE: Lanett First Reid Turner SE: Roanoke First Chris Martin SE: Shawmut Leslie Hand SE: Trinity / Alexander City Mike Densmore SW: Druid Hills/Holt Sarah Smoot SW: Macedonia / ABIDE Nancy Cole SW: St. Mark Mark Lacey SW: Tabernacle / Forest Rickey Green SW: Tuscaloosa First Associate Jesse Tosten ATEM: Executive Director of Healthy Church Bob Alford

- See more at: http://www.umcna.org/postdetail/4339386#sthash.C4e7SRlN.dpuf
An Etowah County judge today dropped charges against a Rainbow City police officer who was arrested in January on sodomy charges.

District Judge Will Clay dismissed charges against Chase Jenkins, who resigned from Rainbow City police after his arrest.

Following the hearing, Jenkins' estranged wife Melisa Anne Jenkins, 42, was arrested on charges of perjury and falsely reporting an incident. She was later released on $16,500 bond from the Etowah County Detention Center, according to jail logs.

According to court documents, the charges were dismissed after submission of documents by Jenkins' attorney and by the Etowah County District Attorney's Office. Jenkins previously held the rank of captain with the Rainbow City department.

In a statement through his attorney, Jenkins thanked his friends and supporters for their encouragement since his arrest.

"Words cannot describe the feeling I have being exonerated on these charges," he said. "I have been innocent of these charges from day number one and I'm glad it's over. It's hard to describe the feelings of loneliness and despair that you have when you are facing felony charges on a crime you didn't commit."

Jenkins' attorney, James Shelnutt, said "the justice system got it right."

"We put in a lot of hard work and conducted an intensive investigation into this case and it paid off," Shelnutt said.

Jenkins said he intends on returning to his career in law enforcement, feeling it has made him "a better and more understanding police officer."

"I know, for sure, that it will cause me to take those extra steps to make sure I'm not putting an innocent person in jail," he said. "I wouldn't want anyone to go through what I've gone through."
A fatal shooting in Lilburn, Georgia, stemmed from a shoplifting incident at a local Wal-Mart.

Officers responded to a call of a shooting at the Wal-Mart around 9 p.m., located on 4004 Lawrenceville Highway. They found the victim, an employee of the store, fatally shot in the lobby.

Police said the suspect was attempting to shoplift three flat-screen televisions when the employee approached him.

The suspect then pulled out a .380 caliber pistol and killed the employee.

Authorities have asked for the public's help in locating the suspect. He is described as a dark-skin black male, having a medium build, with short hair or a bald head. He was wearing a blue dress shirt and dark colored pants at the time of the homicide.

He got in the passenger seat of a burgundy car and left the scene.

Anyone with information about the crime or the suspect, call Investigator Belcher at 770-921-2211.
A Georgia death row inmate scheduled to die Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to stop his execution to consider his claim that his death sentence is unconstitutional because one of the jurors who imposed it was motivated by racial prejudice.

This is the second time Kenneth Fults has asked the Supreme Court to consider this issue. His lawyers argue in a court filing that the fundamental issues in this claim are "strikingly similar" to those in a case the high court earlier this week agreed to hear.

Fults, 47, is scheduled to be put to death by an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to killing Cathy Bounds by shooting her in the head five times in January 1996, and a jury sentenced him to death.

During jury selection for Fults' trial in 1997, juror Thomas Buffington, who was white, told the judge and lawyers on both sides that he felt no racial prejudice.

An investigator working with Fults' lawyers eight years later spoke to Buffington about his jury service. Buffington, who was 79 at the time of the interview and has since died, twice used a racial slur when talking about Fults, who is black.

"Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that's what that (N-word) deserved," Buffington said, according to the signed, April 12, 2005 affidavit in the court record.

State and federal courts have consistently declined to consider evidence that racial bias deprived Fults of a fair trial, largely for procedural reasons having to do with when in the post-conviction process Fults' lawyers raised this issue.

The Supreme Court in October rejected Fults' appeal of a federal appeals court denial on this matter. Fults' lawyers are now asking the Supreme Court to take up the issue directly, not as an appeal. They argue that because of procedural bars, no court has considered the merit of their arguments and that those arguments deserve consideration.

Fults' lawyers point out that the high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from a Hispanic man in Colorado who says he did not have a fair trial because a juror made offensive comments about Mexicans.

The difference in that case is that the juror made his comments during jury deliberations and two other jurors quickly told the defendant's lawyers about them. In contrast, Buffington's comments were made years later at a point when the appeals process was already well underway.

Fults' lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to temporarily halt his execution until it agrees to hear the merits of his case or until the court reaches a decision in the Colorado case.

Fults requested a last meal consisting of a t-bone steak, baked potato with butter, brown rice, and apple juice.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office arrested a Florida man found with a passport and credit cards belonging to a missing Gulf Shores, Ala. boater, according to arrest reports. Michael Paul Rodgers, 36, tried to use 62-year-old James Bradley Gunther's passport and other identification to obtain a Louisiana driver's license, according to a Sheriff's Office arrest report.

But the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Escambia County Sherriff's Office have been searching for Gunther since relatives reported him missing on Tuesday (April 5).

Family members hadn't heard from Gunther since April 2 when he set out on his 48-foot boat, the Reliant, on a trip from Gulf Shores to Port St. Joe, Fla., the Coast Guard said. Crews searched 1,173 square miles of water for two days before the Reliant was found anchored near Ft. McRee, Fla., located between Perdido Key and Pensacola Beach, about 25 miles away from Gulf Shores.

Gunther was not on board. Neither was the small, white dinghy normally tied to the boat. The Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday, and the FBI began investigating, according to AL.com

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office also got involved Thursday, aiding the Escambia Sheriff's Office's missing persons investigation, according to the arrest report.

Authorities learned that someone spent more than $600 on Gunther's credit cards. A card was also used to pay for a room at a hotel in the 1100 block of Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey Friday (April 8), the report said. The man booked the room under the name Tim Allan.

Lt. Timothy Murphy of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office took "Allan," later identified as Rodgers, into custody and asked him for identification. Rodgers handed over Gunther's passport, the arrest report said. Rodgers refused to answer any questions when asked why he had Gunther's passport, the report said.

Murphy discovered that Rodgers tried to use Gunther's passport and Alabama driver's license to obtain a Louisiana driver's license, the report said. He demanded to be released when told he was under arrest. Detectives had to restrain Rodgers, the report said.

Murphy booked Rodgers, of Milton, Fla., with access device fraud, identity theft valued between $500 and $999, resisting arrest by refusing to provide identification and resisting arrest by force or violence.

No information was available Monday about how Rodgers got hold of Gunther's property or whereabouts of the missing boater. Requests for comment from the Escambia County Sheriff's Office and the FBI had not been returned as of Monday evening.

Rodgers was still being held Monday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna on a $30,500 bond on the charges related to his arrest. But Rodgers is also being held without bond as a fugitive from another jurisdiction.
A United States Navy officer has been charged with espionage after being accused of passing on sensitive state secrets, Reuters reported yesterday.

An anonymous source identified the official as Lt. Commander Edward Lin. Lin was born in Taiwan and became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

While in the Navy, he was assigned to the Patrol and Reconnaissance Group headquarters, which oversees intelligence operations.

A Navy article about Lin said that he left Taiwan with his family at the age of 14. When he came to America, he believed in the "American Dream."

"I always dreamt about coming to America, the promised land...I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland."

He said that his family went through the naturalization process to better their lives.

According to a charge sheet obtained by Reuters, Lin has been accused two times of passing on secret information and three times of attempting to do the same thing.

He has also been charged of being involved with prostitution and adultery.

The U.S. official that spoke to the news source said that, while the investigation is ongoing, authorities believe China and Taiwan received the secret information.

Both countries foreign ministries offices declined to comment.
The National Rifle Association is calling on its members to urge Alabama lawmakers to support a bill that concealed weapons in vehicles without a permit.

NRA's Institute for Legislative Action said the measure would allow someone to "exercise their fundamental right to self-defense within their home or in their vehicle" without "government-imposed time delays and taxes."

"If an individual can lawfully own and possess a firearm, they should not have restrictions placed on their ability to exercise their fundamental right to self-defense outside of their home and in their vehicle," said Catherine Mortensen, NRA spokesperson.

Introduced by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, the Senate passed the bill last week. The measure would allow people to keep a gun in their car without a permit, a change from current law that requires handguns in vehicles to be unloaded and locked away out of reach unless the owner has a concealed carry permit. Allen argued a person's vehicle is an extension of someone's home and shouldn't be subject to a different set of laws. The bill would not allow anyone currently prohibited from possessing a concealed firearm to carry one in their vehicle.

Law enforcement opposes the measure on the ground it would make traffic stops more dangerous for police.

In a post on its website, the NRA directs people to a link that allows them to contact their Alabama legislator.
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Kirk Fordice made history in Mississippi politics.

Elected as the state's 60th governor in 1991, Fordice was the first Republican to lead Mississippi since Reconstruction. He easily won reelection to his second term in 1995, earning the reputation as a colorful yet capable leader who wasn't afraid to court controversy.

But then sex scandals - similar in some ways to those swirling around Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley - ended up dominating his final years in office.

The first hint of an issue with Fordice came in 1996. The governor, then 62, was driving home alone from Memphis when his car left the highway, struck several trees and then flipped in the air before landing with a crash and catching fire. The governor suffered a broken back and shoulder bone, cracked ribs, a collapsed lung and a bruised heart.

Shortly after the wreck, reports surfaced that on the night of the accident Fordice was seen in Memphis dining and holding hands with a woman who was not his wife. The First Lady, Pat Fordice, issued a statement saying she was not aware of any marital difficulties and had no intention of leaving the governor. The couple had four children and 11 grandchildren.

The controversy continued to swirl around Fordice, who later claimed he had amnesia about the day. Then, in 1999, rumors surfaced again and this time, there was plenty of evidence to prove the governor's extramarital activities.

Fordice and a woman, later identified as his junior high sweetheart Ann Creson of Memphis, were spotted at the airport arriving home from a trip to Paris. Mississippi Highway Patrol officers met them at the airport to provide security, the Los Angeles Times reported, even as fellow passengers snapped pictures of the governor and his girlfriend. And remember that wreck outside of Memphis? Creson was later identified as the governor's dining companion on that night.

That airport incident was followed by an infamous encounter with a television reporter in which Fordice told WLBT-TV's Bert Case he was going to "whip his ass" if he continued to ask questions about his behavior. Case had previously confronted Fordice about his new $300,000 home as well as a beach condo in Gulf Shores - both acquisitions his wife said she knew nothing about.

Fordice - who had publicly chastised then-president Bill Clinton for his own sexual indiscretions - was later pictured walking his dog with a gun strapped to his hip.

The entire incident was embarrassing to Mississippians, as David Sansing, a retired history professor at the University of Mississippi said at the time.

"It wasn't paranoia, it was just macho. I heard people say, 'He didn't have to wear a gun.' But someone said, 'If Mrs. Fordice is really as upset as they say she is, maybe that's the reason.' "

The standoff between the Fordices continued for some time, with both refusing to leave the governor's mansion and firing volleys back and forth via their respective attorneys. Mrs. Fordice later released perhaps the most damming statement of all, apologizing "to the people of this state for being a partner in a marriage that has become a source of embarrassment."

The national media pounced on the story that had all the elements of a Southern Gothic romance, dubbing Fordice "the Love Gov," a name that's also been given to Bentley after the Alabama governor admitted to an improper relationship with advisor Rebekah Caldwell Mason.

It took until December 1999 - just a month before Fordice was to leave office and five months after his highly publicized Paris trip- for the first couple to reach a divorce settlement. The Fordices cited irreconcilable differences in their no-fault divorce petition to end their marriage of 44 years. The case and the property settlement between the two were sealed.

Mississippians sick of the scandal promptly elected Democratic Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who counted among his supporters famed author John Grisham.

''After eight years of Kirk Fordice, we ought to be really thankful that we're going to get somebody who's a decent person,'' Grisham said in 2000. ''Right now Jesse Ventura would look good or Hulk Hogan or anybody would look good.''

Meanwhile, in January 2000 - 16 days after his divorce was finalized - Fordice married Creson, whose own husband had died the previous year. But those hoping for a fairy tale ending to the scandal were disappointed - Fordice and Creson divorced within two years. Then, less than a year later, Fordice announced he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia. He died Sept. 7, 2004 in Jackson, Mississippi.

Press reports said his former wife, Pat, was by his side.

Pat Fordice died July 12, 2007. She is buried next to her former husband.
President Obama said the worst mistake of his presidency was failing to anticipate what would happen in Libya after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi.

Speaking to Fox News Chris Wallace on Sunday, Obama said he believes intervening in Libya was the "right thing to do" but concedes the U.S. should have had better plans in place to deal with the aftermath.

When asked what the worst mistake of his presidency was, Obama replied:

"Probably failing to plan for the day after, what I think was the right thing to do, in intervening in Libya," Obama replied.

A U.S.-led coalition launched air strikes in 2011 designed to protect Libyan civilians in the wake of uprisings in the country. Libya soon fell into chaos, with Gaddafi killed by rioters and the Islamic State making inroads in the country.

In September 2012, the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed when militants stormed the consulate in Beghazi, Libya.

Obama said the greatest accomplishment in office was "saving the economy from the great depression" and the best day was when he signed the legislation paving the way for healthcare reforms. The worst day, he added, was the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The visit marked Obama's first appearance on "Fox News Sunday" as president.
A woman on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list was arrested in Mexico over the weekend, NBC News reported.

Brenda Delgado, 33, was wanted on a capital murder charge. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, she planned a murder-for-hire plot to kill the new girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend.

Dr. Kendra Hatcher, 35, was killed last September when she was shot to death in a parking deck outside of her Dallas apartment.

The FBI's website said that Delgado was jealous of Hatcher and that the new girlfriend had recently been introduced to Delgado's ex-boyfriend's parents.

NBC reported that Delgado also hired one woman to be a getaway driver after the killing, and paid her $500. That woman is also charged with capital murder.

Another accomplice was manipulated with drugs, allegedly from Delgado's "cartel connections," the news station reported.

Delgado had been running from authorities for six months and was considered to be armed and dangerous.

The FBI was offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to her arrest.
Tyler Perry

Entertainer, actor and comedian Tyler Perry will deliver the keynote speech during the 2016 spring commencement at Tuskegee University. (Photo courtesy Tuskegee University)

Entertainer, actor and comedian Tyler Perry will deliver the keynote speech during the 2016 spring commencement at Tuskegee University.

More than 500 students are set to graduate on May 7 at 10 a.m. in the Gen. Daniel "Chappie" James Arena.

Previous keynote addresses have been delivered by First Lady Michelle Obama, actress and director Phylicia Rashad.

Tuskegee University President Brian Johnson said the school is thrilled to welcome Perry to campus for the ceremony.

"Similar to Mrs. Michelle Obama's spring 2015 commencement address at Tuskegee, the university is certain that Mr. Perry will leave an indelible mark upon our graduates for the rest of their lives," Johnson said in a news release. "Furthermore, Mr. Perry's global contributions to film, media, service, philanthropy, and the arts embody a significant piece of the university's trajectory seen in the recent board of trustees adopted strategic plan, and a recent $500,000 gift from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation to establish a new music and performing arts program to assist the university in putting the 'A' in STEM."

Perry was born into a childhood of poverty and abuse in New Orleans.

His long journey to stardom began with a daily diary of letters written to himself that ultimately spawned a musical called "I Know I've Been Changed." In 1992, he spent his life savings to stage the play but was unsuccessful. In 1998, a promoter booked the play for a limited run and the musical moved to Atlanta's Fox Theatre.

Perry has since created dozens of films, plays, books and television shows, many featuring the famous Madea character. His movies include "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," "Madea's Family Reunion," and "Why Did I Get Married?"

He now owns a studio in Atlanta and maintains a presence in civil rights causes and charities that help the homeless. In 2010, he pledged $1 million from The Tyler Perry Foundation to help rebuild after an earthquake devastated Haiti.

For more information about Tuskegee University's spring commencement, visit tuskegee.edu. A live video stream also will be available the day of the event.
UM Press Conference Tim Smith.jpg

The chair of the University of Mobile Board of Trustees, Fred Wilson, speaks at a press conference announcing the selection of a new president for the university. At left is the outgoing president, Mark Foley. At right are the school's incoming leader, Timothy L. Smith, and his wife, Penney. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com)

Timothy L. Smith, a leader with a background in academia and medicine, has been named the new president of the University of Mobile, becoming the fourth person to hold that title.

Smith follows Mark Foley, who has led the university since 1998. Foley announced last fall that he planned to retire this spring. According to information provided by the university, a 10-member committee, aided by an outside firm, held a nationwide search that drew 38 applications. Six finalists were interviewed, with Smith emerging as the unanimous selection.

Timothy L. Smith speaks after being officially introduced as the fourth president of the University of Mobile on Monday, April 11, 2016. Smith will step into the job in mid-May. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com)

A UM news release on the process identifies Smith, 52, as the provost of Anderson University in South Carolina and the former dean of the School of Nursing at Union University in Tennessee. According to the UM statement, "Smith holds a Ph.D. in leadership and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies, both from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; a PhD. in nursing (anesthesia) from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Graduate College; a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, College of Nursing; a diploma in nurse anesthesia from the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine; a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Memphis State University, and a diploma in nursing from Baptist Memorial Hospital School of Nursing."

The University of Mobile does have a nursing program, currently producing 30 to 40 graduates per year. In remarks after his introduction, however, Smith stressed that it would not be his sole focus. "We will examine that program," he said in response to questions. "I will say that's one of many."

His broad priorities, Smith said, are to continue UM's theological emphasis; to conduct a thorough review of its programs, looking for opportunities to "continue to broaden the horizons academically;" and to extend UM's network of community partnerships. That third goal affects everything from fundraising, to making sure that students have plenty of internship opportunities, to approaching companies such as Airbus to see how the university's programs can address their workforce needs, he said.

Smith praised Foley's leadership, and repeatedly emphasized his appreciation of the university's role as a "Christ-centered academic institution."

The university, known until 1993 as Mobile College, is affiliated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention and has an enrollment of more than 1,500 students and more than 200 full-time faculty and staff. Among other programs it is known for its Center for Performing Arts, with programs in which students travel nationally and internationally performing with nearly two dozen concert ensembles.

The chair of UM's Board of Trustees, Fred Wilson, said that Smith "will be a president for every constituency of the university."

Later, introducing Smith to an assembly of students, faculty and staff, Wilson said it wasn't the search committee's job to create a president or impose its will on the process. "The heart of the search committee was that we would find the next president, that God had already chosen, for the University of Mobile," he said.

At the same occasion, Foley offered a good-natured look ahead to the day he takes office.

"One other thing before we leave," Foley said. "Dr. Smith will assume responsibilities as president on May 16. That is Monday after our graduation. So you have to be nice to me until that morning. And [then] you can, you know, say stuff." As the audience laughed, Foley continued: "My administration will run until that morning, we will officially change hands, I'll give him the key, I'll be the one with the smile on my face."

Foley went on to offer a blessing to his successor.

Terry Harbin, chair of the search committee, said in a UM news release that Smith was the right man for the job in more ways than one.

"He is unbelievably well-qualified through his academic preparation," Harbin said. "Secondly, he has practical experience. He has done in other places what we need done at the University of Mobile. And thirdly, he has demonstrated humility. A man who has accomplished what he has accomplished in life to come in and be a down-to-earth, Christ-centered servant is amazing," said Harbin.

Smith's wife Penney, is a healthcare administrator consultant, according to information provided by UM. The Smiths have two children: Daughter Ashley Wainscott, 24, of Tennessee and son Blake Smith, 21, an engineering student at Clemson University.

This story was updated at 6:10 p.m. with additional detail and video.
Rep. Craig Ford, House Minority Leader

By Rep. Craig Ford, a Democrat from Gadsden and the Minority Leader in the Alabama House of Representatives

Last week was disheartening for the State of Alabama. The news of Gov. Bentley's relationship with Rebekah Caldwell Mason has embarrassed our state on a national level, and become a distraction for the Legislature at a time when legislators need to be focused on solving the state's problems.

Nobody rejoices in seeing another person's downfall, and I certainly didn't rejoice in calling on Gov. Bentley to step down from office. But this ugly mess proves a point that needs to be made.

People have been vilified these last six years because they had a "D" in front of their name. There have been several good pieces of legislation that have never been allowed to be brought up for a vote in the Legislature just because a Democrat was the one who sponsored the bill. The lottery is a perfect example of this.

When the Republicans took over the state government, they promised that they were going to be the party of ethics; that they were going to clean up Montgomery and lead us like Moses to the Promised Land.

They made promises that they simply have not kept.

Now the former highest-ranking law enforcement officer in Alabama has been accused by the man who hired him of "possible misuse of funds." Never mind that an independent audit conducted by the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts and released just last month found no discrepancies or mismanagement of any kind.

The governor's accusations not only cost Secretary Collier his position as the head of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, but also cost five career law enforcement officers their jobs. Those officers and Secretary Collier should be reinstated to their former positions immediately.

The governor has also been accused of misusing state resources to facilitate and then cover up his relationship with Rebekah Mason. There needs to be an investigation into those accusations, and to determine if he obstructed justice when he ordered Secretary Collier not to cooperate with the Attorney General's investigation.

Let us not forget that this is the same governor who once said that if you are not a Christian, "you are not my brother."

As a Democrat, I want everyone to be my brother. But Democrats feel like the Republicans over the last six years have been the party of judgment, and the Bible says in Matthew 7:1, "Judge not lest ye be judged."

When you point one finger, you have three more pointing back at you. When you judge others, you become hypocritical. And so a governor who serves as a deacon and Sunday school teacher in his church ends up coming forward and admitting he has had an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer.

What we have seen is a mask; it is a charade. Just because that name on the ballot has an "R" next to it does not mean that person is a saint, and just because the other name on the ballot has a "D" next to it does not mean that person is a villain or on their way to Hell.

I have heard and read where some people have said you can't be a Democrat and be a Christian, too. Trust me, I know that I am not perfect. But I also know that I believe in the One who was. I think I will let Him be the judge on that matter.

We should judge political candidates by who they are. We should judge them by what they do and what they stand for. You should always vote for your values and your principles. But if this mess in Montgomery has taught us anything, it's that you can't assume that just because a person is a Republican they share your values. We have to look past the party labels and look at who is actually on the ballot.

Let's move past this attitude of, "if you're a Republican then you're a saint and if you're a Democrat then you're a sinner."
rocket launch

United Launch Alliance Atlas V. (NASA photo)

Major General Bob Dees, U.S. Army, Retired

By Major General Bob Dees, U.S. Army, Retired, he was vice director for operational plans and interoperability for the Department of Defense, and a senior military leader in the Pacific, Middle East, Europe and United States

One area of undisputed American leadership is our military's space program - providing our troops with a qualitative edge over every other army in the world. Our spy satellites can read a car's license plate from hundreds of miles in the sky. Our military's GPS system allows our aircraft and missiles to strike targets with unmatched precision and swiftly directs reinforcements to assist when soldiers are pinned down. These space-based technologies, and so many others, are essential to the accomplishment of United States' national security objectives at home and abroad.

Our defense and intelligence communities have long recognized that ensuring access to the high ground of space is a key component of our national security policy. Over the last 10 years, the cornerstone of this program has been the Atlas V rocket, and its Russian-made RD-180 engine component. Time and time again they have completed every tasked national security mission on time and within budget.

Unfortunately some members in Congress are currently putting this key component of America's space leadership at risk for reasons that are well intentioned but dangerously shortsighted.

In the late 50s and early 60s the emerging Cold War's battle front included the "space race" with the Russians, and eventually a victorious "American on the moon," largely successful because of U.S. heavy lift rocket technology. At the end of the Cold War, our military worried about Russia selling rocket and missile technology to rogue nations. National security leadership at the time encouraged American rocket makers to partner with Russian firms to prevent this from happening. As part of this effort to mitigate the risk of highly sensitive technology falling into the wrong hands, Russian-made RD-180 engines were paired with American made Atlas III rockets.

Since 2006, United Launch Alliance (ULA) has used this same Russian-made engine on its Atlas V rocket, providing a reliable and affordable option to deliver military payloads to space. During that time, the RD-180 engine has never failed on launch, completing 106 missions with 100 percent success.

Upon Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014, Congress determined that buying Russian engines would be seen as condoning their blatant aggression. They barred ULA from buying new RD-180 engines after an initial allotment was used up, and further directed the Air Force to develop a new American rocket engine to take its place.

The Air Force, ULA and Congress all agree on the need to transition from the RD-180 to an American alternative. It has become clear, however, that the initial allotment of RD-180s Congress approved will not be enough to bridge the gap until an American made alternative engine is ready for launch. Top Air Force leadership has testified to Congress that a new rocket engine would take between six and eight years to develop and test, given that the design of intricate space launch systems requires rockets that are built specifically around an engine.

When some in Congress recently pressured the Air Force to speed up the timeline, demanding that the new engine be ready by 2019, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James testified, "It's a risky proposition." Put simply, it is unlikely that we will have enough RD-180 engines to support our military satellite launch requirements until an American rocket and engine can be developed. If this projected RD-180 shortfall is not corrected, the security and affordability of our military's access to space will be in jeopardy.

Congressional prohibition of the purchase of additional RD-180 engines has two further serious consequences: 1) Essentially eliminates the RD-180 powered Atlas V rocket from competition and bidding on four of the eight types of national security satellite launches, violating existing policy, requiring multiple providers for U.S. military space launches, and 2) Significantly increases the cost to launch our heaviest national security satellites without the Atlas V rocket. The only current alternative rocket, the Delta IV, costs as much as 4 times more to launch than an Atlas V rocket. This is a decision that Senator Jeff Sessions said would "incur more costs than is reasonably necessary."

Fortunately for our troops and our nation's overall security, leaders in Congress including Senator Richard Shelby have assessed this complex scenario and are promoting a plan that carefully manages the risks and timing to move us beyond Russian-made engines. They are strongly convinced that using RD-180 engines for an interim period while American companies design, test, and certify alternatives is critical to insuring our military's essential access to space.

We should heed the wise advice from those who seek to move us beyond this unhealthy dependency on Russian technology without jeopardizing national security in the process.
casket_among_the_woods_by_goferart-d73yw0b.jpg

(File photo/Gulflive.com)

Jeff Rowes, an attorney with the nonprofit Institute for Justice

By Jeff Rowes and Renee Flaherty, attorneys with the nonprofit Institute for Justice, which represents Shelia Champion

Huntsville is famous for high-tech companies that make rockets fly faster and farther. But one revolutionary entrepreneur is going low-tech. Shelia Champion has opened a "green" cemetery called The Good Earth in Hazel Green, Alabama, where people will be laid to rest in a wild, untended forest. Remains may not be embalmed, and they will be buried in biodegradable caskets or shrouds.

Unfortunately Alabama law has turned Shelia into a criminal. As part of her business, she wants to sell inexpensive caskets and shrouds that her cemetery will accept. But Alabama permits only state-licensed funeral directors to sell funeral merchandise. If Shelia were to sell one of her caskets--made of either cardboard or untreated wood--she would face up to a year in jail. Yes, Shelia could go to jail for selling a cardboard box.

Her desire to sell simple caskets has put this unassuming grandmother at the center of one of the most important unsettled constitutional questions in the country: Can the government pass laws just to make industry insiders rich?

This law has nothing to do with protecting the public. A casket is just a box and a shroud is just a piece of fabric. Outside of Alabama, there is a thriving retail market for caskets, and even big box stores like Costco sell them.

Renee Flaherty, an attorney with the nonprofit Institute for Justice

Alabama funeral directors have done here what special interests too often do: Get laws passed that restrict competition and drive up prices for consumers. Funerals are big business. The average funeral now costs $8,000-$10,000. Rocket scientists might be amused to learn that a Texas company will send ashes into orbit for less than what it would cost to bury them on earth. And the casket is usually the biggest expense, which makes Shelia's innovation such a threat.

The funeral industry has a long history of conspiring against consumers using its government-granted monopoly. Traditionally, funeral homes would not itemize prices, would not disclose prices, would charge for goods and services without consent, and would force consumers to buy everything in a bundled package. Thirty years ago, the Federal Trade Commission put a small dent in the monopoly by forcing funeral homes to allow families to use caskets that they acquire from someone else.

But the FTC unwisely left it open to states to determine who gets to sell caskets. And so, to make sure that a funeral-home cash register rings every time someone dies, Alabama lets only Alabama funeral directors sell them. Economists estimate that laws like this drive up the cost of funerals by hundreds of dollars, which, of course, is exactly the point.

Not only are sales restrictions terrible policy, they also violate Shelia's constitutional right to earn an honest living free of unreasonable government interference. That is why she filed suit last week in federal court in Huntsville to vindicate her economic liberty and that of every American entrepreneur.

In recent years, four out of five federal courts to consider casket-sales restrictions have struck them down as unconstitutional. In 2013, for example, the monks of Saint Joseph Abbey in Louisiana won the right to sell their handmade caskets to the public.

The only court to uphold such a law did so by ruling that it is actually permissible for the government to pass laws that do nothing but harm the public and enrich politically connected insiders, describing this as the "favored pastime of state and local governments." That wrongheaded decision recently led another federal court to agree that the government may restrict the economic liberty of entrepreneurs and consumers just to shower special interests with a windfall.

This fundamental disagreement among the federal courts has set up an eventual showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over whether special-interest legislation with no public benefit is a legitimate use of government power.

Like special interests everywhere, Alabama funeral directors treat the law as something of the funeral directors, for the funeral directors, and by the funeral directors. Shelia Champion is ready to go all the way to the Supreme Court to make sure that liberty does not perish.
The textile town of Tirupur came up with real solutions to save their industry and their polluted land.

Tirupur, India  R Gopalakrishnan cuts an unassuming figure as the chairman of a $88.4m textile manufacturing and export firm. In his small cabin in the textile town of Tirupur in southern India, he wears a plain T-shirt, trousers, and flip-flops.

Affable, with a ready smile and a slight lisp, his demeanour belies the determination and sharpness of mind which have made him one of the biggest innovators in Indias textile industry.

The son of a farmer  who left his parched land behind in 1945 to find work in Tirupurs nascent textile industry  Gopalakrishnan, 56, remains true to his roots. The mild-mannered businessman has seen the Indian economy grow by leaps and bounds and has been part of that story.

In the 1970s, Tirupur, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, became a budding town as Gujarati settlers in the area established a smattering of dyeing units. By the mid-1980s, orders for export began to trickle in. When the Indian government ushered in economic reforms and liberalisation in the 1990s, Tirupurs fortunes began to blossom.

It is now known as the Manchester of India, and contributes to 75 percent of Indias textile exports, in a country that is the worlds second largest exporter of textiles after China.

Poisoned farmland

As profits poured in, farmers took to dyeing and textile manufacturing with enthusiasm and the area began to show signs of the environmental impact of the industry.

India established the Pollution Control Board (PCB) in 1982 to monitor and curb air, land and water pollution brought on by its booming textile industry and the Tirupur branch of the PBC was in place by the early 1990s.

No one knew that we were harming the environment and ruining farm lands as the textile industry grew, Gopalakrishnan said. No one had imagined that the coloured dyes we were releasing into the drains and rivers would destroy farmland around the area.

Neither, in fact, did officials at the PCB.

The PCB issued orders in 1996 to the textile units to remove colour from the effluents before discharging it into the rivers. The rationale behind this order was that there was simply something unnatural and wrong about the river water turning bluish-green and sometimes even red.

At the time, the solution seemed simple: remove the colour and the problem would be solved. So companies complied.

No one realised that other chemicals in the water, apart from the colouring agents, were causing harm to crops and marine life.

Four years later, the PBC issued another order: companies could no longer discharge the colour-stripped water, but had to store it on their land. To comply with this new rule, the companies filled large swaths of their land with the polluted wastewater, destroying the soil and groundwater. Still, many other companies continued to release effluents into the nearby Noyyal River.

By 2004, the PCB had begun to ask factories to implement zero liquid discharge. It was clear that pollution control standards were here to stay.

A few businessmen such as Gopalakrishnan and Nachimuthu Chandran, 62, the owner of another large textile firm, searched for practical solutions to accommodate the new regulations without compromising profits.

We tied up with companies to research and make biodegradable alternative chemicals instead of the banned hard chemicals that were in vogue, Chandran said. We also set up R&D [research and development] teams within our company to find solutions for zero liquid discharge.

Dead crops, dead fish

By then, though, farmers around Tirupur were wringing their hands in distress. Their coconut, plantain, paddy and turmeric crops were dying, destroyed by the chemical-laced water from the Noyyal. Vast stretches of land around a radius of 20km from Tirupur were barren  red earth dotted with shrubs.

In the mid-2000s the Noyyal became a terrifying sight: tonnes of dead fish floated belly-up, killed by the toxic effluents. Farmers in the area began protesting, demanding a curb on the intense pollution that was claiming their livelihood.

Gopalakrishnan, meanwhile, had begun hiring consultants to research wastewater treatment methods and pollution control.

We spent a lot of money on research and experimentation, he said. Especially once we realised that agricultural fields were getting destroyed, we redoubled our efforts.

The textile industry was at risk, but Gopalakrishnan also empathised with the farmers turmoil. My fathers life, emotions, everything was tied in with his land. They feed us, he said. I had to find a solution somehow.

After the 1990s boom came the bust. By 2009, hit by the global recession, Tirupurs exports slumped. In 2011, the second blow came: the Madras High Court decreed that all dyeing units in Tirupur, the backbone of the textile industry, must shut down until zero wastewater seepage was achieved. Overnight, all the factories closed.

The efforts of Gopalakrishnans team had yielded results as they came up with three stages of treatment of the polluting dyes  the biological stage (where bacteria eat the dye), reverse osmosis and evaporation.

With the permission of the court, his was the first unit to restart operations in Tirupur just 10 days after the shutdown, while hundreds of units remained at a standstill. His effluent treatment plant was a remarkable product of South Indian jugaad  meaning innovation in Hindi.

Simultaneously, Chandrans team had also been experimenting with dye-consuming bacteria, spending $740,000 on the project.

We built trickling towers to grow seven or eight different micro-organisms, Chandran explained. We did not expect such results. They were amazing; the microbes ate away all the undesirable chemicals and dye, he told.

We had expected 30 percent reduction in chemicals, but we got 90 percent reduction.

Treating effluents with the help of jugaad

When one team tasted success, the method and results were immediately shared with other textile makers. Many in the textile community said they felt they had to take care of one another otherwise no one could survive.

Problems in the process were exhaustively discussed and possible solutions were tried.

Following the zero-discharge directive, Tirupur became an experimentation hub for pollution control techniques for a number of years until the textile makers achieved results that accommodated the new regulations.

Once the bacterial stage was fixed, these entrepreneurs moved on to the next stage, reverse osmosis, which is a water purification method used in desalination plants that removes many contaminants from water by pushing it through a semipermeable membrane, allowing only the clean water to pass through.

But there they faced some unexpected problems: the membranes would choke due to the high amount of contaminants and therefore werent efficient or durable.

A year later, after exhaustive brainstorming, Gopalakrishnan hit upon the solution of using antiscalant and ultra-filtration to lengthen the life of the membranes, gradually succeeding in extending the life from two weeks, to nine months, then to three years.

The next step in the process was to gradually reduce the chemical concentration in the effluents and recover the salt used in the dyes. A serendipitous discovery by Gopalakrishnan led to manufacturers switching to sodium chloride instead of sodium sulphite in their dyeing process  sodium chloride or common salt now could be recovered in totality from the effluents and then reused.

Enormous amounts of power were needed to run an evaporator to dry out the salt which was then recycled. In 2008 and 2009, Gopalakrishnan simply did not have access to that amount of power, so he used firewood to heat the evaporation chamber. Twenty tonnes of wood a day was burned to finish the last stage of the complex purification process.

We did not know about coal or where to get it from, Gopalakrishnan said.

In 2009, someone found out that we could import coal from Indonesia. So we stopped using wood. But the boiler had to be changed when we switched from wood to coal  that cost another 500 million rupees [$7m], he said. Today, he uses 10 metric tonnes of coal each day to heat the boiler.

We make rain

Entrepreneurs like Gopalakrishnan and Chandran shared technical know-how and the results of their trial and error with other, smaller textile manufacturers.

Smaller units could not afford a separate effluent treatment plant for themselves, so shared plants were then proposed, with around 30 small units directing their effluents into one such plant, obtained primarily through government loans and subsidies. In 2014, the industry properly began to pick up again.

Today, Tirupur is demanding a green tag from the Indian government so that their textiles may have a better market abroad. Tirupurs clients range from the big garment lines such as Calvin Klein, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger and others, to the low-cost domestic market. Ministerial delegations from the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and other countries have taken an interest in Tirupurs effluent treatment plants.

Tirupur saves 100 million litres of water each day thanks to the effluent treatment plants, which ensure 92 percent efficiency in cutting pollution.

In a sense, we make rain, smiles the genial Gopalakrishnan, as he looks out on to open fields near his office.

Follow Sandhya Ravishankar on Twitter @sandhyaravishan
For the poorest of the poor, prohibitive costs bar even bigger waves of asylum seekers bound for Europe.

Kabul, Afghanistan  Hamidullah takes a moment to consider his surroundings after asking a young man to fetch him some drinking water.

Oh, what clean water we had in Kunduz, the 35-year-old said of his hometown, which lies near the Tajik border. What clean air.

Here, everything is so polluted. We are surrounded by rubbish, he said. Look at how were living.

The here Hamidullah refers to is one of the newer camps created by the countrys internally displaced people, most of whom have fled other provinces due to fighting and instability.

On the outskirts of this city of roughly 3.7 million people are several such camps  mud huts and tattered tents held together by ropes and plastic bags, connected by narrow pathways with gutters running through them. There are 50 or so camps for the internally displaced near Kabul, varying in size from just a handful of families to several hundred.

If people could afford to pay human smugglers the $3,000 it takes to make it to Greece  with possibly more than one attempt required  the numbers of Afghans leaving for Europe would be exponentially higher. According to the International Organization for Migration, some 200,000 Afghans applied for refugee status in European countries last year.

And according to the United Nations refugee agency, UHNCR, there are roughly one million internally displaced people, or IDPs, in the country, which has a population of 30 million.

The majority of the IDPs are very poor and could never afford to flee to Europe, said Mans Nyberg, UNHCRs senior external relations officer for Afghanistan. The majority of them are so poor that they are living in slums outside the cities.

Hamidullahs camp is one of the newer ones, formed when violence returned to Kunduz. It was ultimately captured by the Taliban in September. A group of about 50 families from the area have been eking out an existence at this camp ever since.

Asadullah, 40, a day labourer in Kunduz, looks for odd jobs in Kabul, earning between $1 and $2 a day stitching shoes. For him, paying a smuggler to seek asylum elsewhere is out of the question.

Save money? What money? Theres no money to save, he said.

Our only option is to go across the border into Pakistan only to be caught and brought back to the border, he said, adding that if he could afford to leave, he would. However, he didnt want to feel beholden to a foreign country.

Ones own land is always best, he said. But many Afghans have taken their chances by heading to the porous border.

Rights groups have highlighted the difficulties faced by Afghan refugees in Pakistan, a country that struggles with its own IDP crisis with more than 4.3 million people displaced due to fighting in tribal areas.

With no option of leaving the country and with little mobility within, many of the displaced feel trapped in their situation.

Id rather die here than go back

Some indicated that they would prefer to go back home if the security situation would allow it.

The official line, however, is that with few exceptions, things are stabilising.

We have problems in the mentioned provinces [Helmand, Kunduz, Ghazni and Nangahar], but recently we had some good achievements against ISIS [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] in Nangahar. We have dozens of ongoing military operations in Kunduz, Helmand and other vulnerable areas, said Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs.

The situation is getting better day by day.

According to the UN, 2015 was Afghanistans deadliest year since the 2001 invasion by US forces, with more than 11,000 civilians killed and wounded. One in four of these casualties was a child, and one out of 10 was a woman.

In the case of the Taliban attack in Kunduz, no one was safe.

They killed my wife and two children, said Asadullah.

He had left his family behind in Kunduz  a common move by men in places where there is an increase in Taliban activity. He had hoped the group would leave the woman and two young children, ages four and eight, alone.

But they werent spared during one of the Talibans raids, he said, and all three were killed.

The UNHCRs Nyberg said that the security situation is preventing people from returning to their homes. There are refugees in Pakistan who are going back to their homes in and around Kunduz, he said. We have an information programme telling people that some places are not safe to go back to, but if they want to go back, its up to them.

At a larger settlement for displaced people, Charcha camp, also in Ghambar, things are more organised. While a dozen people gather in a tent to talk, a small group dominates the conversation.

Call me  Toofan, said one of them, declining to use his real name. A former poppy farmer from the Taliban-dominated southern province of Helmand, Toofan, 45, has lived in this camp on government land for eight years.

Theres such insecurity  theres nowhere to work, nowhere to go, no way to live, he said. If theres security, of course we want to go back to Helmand. But right now, Id rather die here than go back, he added.

For some, even a short visit is out of the question.

We cant even go back to see where our family members are buried, said Hamidullah.

Freeloaders

Not only is paying a smuggler to leave the country out of the question for the displaced, so are many of the basic necessities, they said.

Although the World Food Programme said it distributes electronic food vouchers to some 4,500 displaced families in the Kabul area, in some cases, they are far too poor to feed themselves.

The average daily wage for the few who can find work is no more than $2 a day; a dollar will buy 10 pieces of bread and nothing else.



READ MORE: The plight of rejected Afghan asylum seekers

In Kunduz, I had a house; now its in ruins. Our neighbours were killed. We left with nothing but our lives, said Mohammad Musa, 60, who arrived in January with his family of six.

Now some days, I can barely find dried bread to eat. Our children are weak with hunger, he said.

There are small children everywhere. Four-year-old Afarin sits close to her mother, Farzaneh, who recalls how her three-month-old daughter died in an attack on their house.

Her name was Arezoo, said Farzaneh, who has hopes for a better life for Afarin and her two brothers. I want my children to go to school and have clothes  a future where they can work, she said.

While NGOs run schools and clinics in the camps, residents complain that the government does little to help, other than offering some wood for stoves during the winter.

Were from this land  from this country . The government should ask us if we need food. In order to live, we need oil, rice, bread, said Hamidullah, who is at the camp with his wife and five children.

We spend our daily earnings on food. We used to get regular food supplies but havent for two years, Toofan added.

The men in the tent said that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who recently expressed a lack of sympathy for Afghan migrants, visited the camp prior to his election in 2014 and promised help, but Toofan and the others said he hasnt delivered on this promise.

Ghanis deputy spokesman, Syed Zafar Hashemi, refused to comment on the subject and suggested contacting the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) instead.

A ministry spokesman emphatically disputed the claims made by the displaced families.

They get regular aid from UNHCR, said Islamuddin Jurat, who also denied that corruption played any part in preventing aid from reaching the displaced.

The UNHCR said it does not distribute food aid to displaced families in Kabul, but does so in other areas. Still, Jurat said, They get help, but some are not even IDPs.

Some are real IDPs  but many are freeloaders who make no effort to find work, he added.

Mher Khoda Sabar, MoRRs director of IDPs and emergency, said that the jobless situation isnt just a problem with the IDPs; its a national problem.

He added that a small percentage of people in the mix who are not real IDPs, are people who have lost their jobs and their homes  some are basically nomads.

Sabar said that his ministry is in the process of designing a plan for the displaced in the Kabul area, proposing to move them into more permanent housing.

But the perception at the Kabul camps, accurate or not, is that theyve largely been abandoned by the government. So, its not surprising that anyone who can leave, does.

Our kids go out every day looking for work and still come back jobless, said Musa.

Why shouldnt the young leave to find work and a future?
The inequalities and oligarchies of the West have eroded the civic purpose on which liberal democracies are rooted.

John Bell is Director of the Middle East Programme at the Toledo International Centre for Peace in Madrid. He is a former UN and Canadian diplomat, and served as Political Adviser to the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General for southern Lebanon and adviser to the Canadian government.

Recently, historian Peter Frankopan predicted that the Silk Road of Central Asia will symbolise the centre of our future and a return to history.

His statement stands in stark contrast to Francis Fukuyamas 1989 essay The End of History that, after the fall of the Soviet Union, proclaimed the liberal order as the inevitable choice across the world. Sooner or later, Fukuyama said, liberal democracy would end up the steady state across the world.

Some may be surprised to learn that Fukuyama also warned about the dangerous consequences of that development, the arrival of the Last Man, a term he borrowed from Friedrich Nietzche. This is a state of deadening apathy that comes from a lack of challenge in the flat and boring world of successful liberal democracies.





He predicted that humans would then seek excitement and meaning in high-risk activities such as danger sports, international relations and business entrepreneurship.

State of alienation

Ironically, we may have achieved that state of alienation with neither the end of history nor the victory of liberal democracies, and we can thank the spread of social media for that.

Peter Frankopan points in another direction completely. Instead of the end, he says we have the return of history in the form of the dynamic authoritarian states of Eurasia.

Russia, China and Iran are the most salient examples, and they are bound together through the a resurgence of the famous Silk Road that bridges east and west through Central Asia, the very crossroads of civilisation.

ALSO READ: Regional common market would solve Afghanistans woes

Indeed, a millennium ago, Central Asia was as fertile in the arts, sciences, pluralism, and philosophy as Italy during the Renaissance.

A millennium ago, Central Asia was as fertile in the arts, sciences, pluralism and philosophy as Italy during the Renaissance... by

It was the profound intellectual hinterland of Islamic civilisation. The return of history is the return to that axis of exchange and interchange, even if the Eurasian nations involved are hallmarked by traditions of royal courts, ie authoritarian systems rather than democracies.

Liberal democracy may indeed be in decline, in the West and beyond, partly overcome by its partner in crime and development, global capitalism.

The previously constructive tensions between the public and private sectors in the West are melting away in the face of globalised capital and currency flows.

The inequalities and oligarchies that have grown in the West have eroded civic purpose, an idea in which liberal democracies are fundamentally rooted.

Threatening times ahead

Meanwhile, the nations of Eurasia aim to provide security alongside economic dynamism  cash and safety are a winning formula for many citizens.

What the West offers  liberties and predictable institutions  may no longer be as attractive in the tough and threatening times ahead. Right or wrong, the simpler model of strong leader, security and economic growth, all bound together by national pride and fervour, may win out. Frankopan may have a point.

Yet, at the end of the day, both Fukuyama and Frankopan may be wrong. What we could be facing may be neither the end, nor the return of history, but its reinvention from unlikely places.

Russia, China and Iran will face considerable challenges in ensuring economic growth and a steady supply of natural resources for their citizens. Indeed, Russia and China are already in economic competition in Central Asia, and guess who has the upper hand there?

Similarly, Iran is still up to its neck in Middle Eastern geopolitics and it may not easily extract itself from those tortures.

The return of history may not be as smooth as it seems; competition in Eurasia may end up fiercer and more conflicted than the gentle passing caravans of the Silk Road.

ALSO READ: A new Silk Road made from steel

The idea that Central Asia will become again the heart of the world is an attractive one. But, we may need to look elsewhere for our best best for the future, places that, due to circumstance and history, may have better luck at navigating the difficult times ahead.

As examples, what about Latin America and India? The former has the advantage of a massive resource base, a proportionally small population, and enough elements of the old liberal order, without its stagnation, to ease the way forward.

Vast rogue spaceship

India, on the other hand, sticks out of Eurasia like a vast rogue spaceship. It is part of the Asian equation yet distinctly apart. But its advantage is not location, and certainly not demographics, but its inherent and implicit pluralism.

As Sirdar Aqbar Ali Shah, an Indian-Afghan author and diplomat, once remarked: The secularism of India is not rooted in modern Western concepts of materialism or atheism, but in the immemorial concept that the next man has as much right to his inner experiences as I.

It will be those areas of the world that do not repeat the past, whether Eurasian or Western, and that reach more deeply into our creative vaults that will most succeed. by

In place of the inevitable rigidities of authoritarianism, and the irony of a West today simultaneously unequal and over-regulated, India and Latin America may, each in their own way, deliver creativity and flexibility of mind. These are the key ingredients for us to meet our new and enormous challenges.

They may combine just enough order, alongside some creative disorder, and just enough liberality of spirit to catalyse the discovery of truly new and effective solutions.

Indeed, it will be those areas of the world that do not repeat the past, whether Eurasian or Western, and that reach more deeply into our creative vaults that will most succeed. It may be time to think beyond the northern hemisphere as driver, towards the south, and then to stretch the mind even further.

Beyond all these comparisons, there may be another place also at play. A large space where the old liberal order and the new authoritarians stare at each ardently but, for now, at a safe distance. And that is the Pacific Ocean.

Maybe the future heart of the world will metaphorically be that vast body of water that covers 30.5 percent of the earths surface area, rather than any land, even the richness of the Asian steppe.

The end and return of history meet across the Pacific in an invisible faultline, suggesting the potential for both creative and destructive tension. Who knows what interesting things may develop there over the coming time? And maybe it is also a hint that, in the future, there will be no single land that is the heart of the world.

John Bell is director of the Middle East programme at the Toledo International Centre for Peace in Madrid. He is a former UN and Canadian diplomat and served as political adviser to the personal representative of the UN secretary-general for southern Lebanon and adviser to the Canadian government.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Attawapiskat First Nation call for national strategy to combat staggering rates of attempted suicide in community.

Toronto, Canada  A remote Indigenous community in Canada has declared a state of emergency after 11 residents tried to take their own lives in a single day over the weekend.

Local leaders in Attawapiskat First Nation, in northern Ontario, said on Monday that 11 people attempted to commit suicide on Saturday alone.

We recognise that there are serious and long-standing issues of mental health and addiction in some First Nations communities by Maryse Durette

Attawapiskat has been waiting [for help] since [October], Attawapiskat Chief Bruce Shisheesh tweeted on Monday.

Shisheesh said a health crisis team, including mental health nurses and social workers, were being flown into Attawapiskat, an isolated community of about 2,000 residents on the banks of James Bay.

The community also witnessed 26 suicide attempts in March and 86 since September, resulting in at least one death, according to a spokeswoman for Canadas health minister.

Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, the organisation representing First Nations peoples across Canada, called for a national strategy to address the high suicide rates countrywide.

He also requested more government investments to support First Nations communities.

The situation in Attawapiskat is sadly felt by far too many First Nations across the country, Bellegarde said in a statement on Monday. We need a sustained commitment to address long-standing issues that lead to hopelessness among our peoples, particularly the youth.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the news out of Attawapiskat was heartbreaking.

The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. We'll continue to work to improve living conditions for all Indigenous peoples.  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) April 10, 2016

Health Canada sent two mental health counsellors to Attawapiskat with a local crisis response unit, spokeswoman Maryse Durette told Al Jazeera on Monday morning.

We recognise that there are serious and long-standing issues of mental health and addiction in some First Nations communities, Durette said in an email.

Health Canada has spent $340,860 on mental health and wellness programmes and $9,750 on the National Aboriginal Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy in Attawapiskat, Durette said.

Since 2009, about 600 children and youth in First Nations communities west of James Bay have thought

about or tried to commit suicide, according to testimonies compiled by the local Mushkegowuk Council.

New Democratic Party critic for indigenous affairs and parliamentary member Charlie Angus called the situation a national catastrophe.

If it was declared in any other community, it would have an immediate response, Angus told The Canadian Press news agency. Ive lost count of the states of emergency in the James Bay region since I was elected.

Volcano ready to erupt

Last month, another First Nations community declared a state of emergency over a recent spike in suicides and suicide attempts.

Six people committed suicide in Pimicikamak Cree Nation (Cross Lake) in northern Manitoba over three month, and 140 others attempted suicide in two weeks alone.

It was like a volcano ready to erupt, and we dont know how to deal with that lava flowing down, Cross Lake band councillor Donnie McKay told Al Jazeera last month.

Suicide and self-inflicted injuries are the leading causes of death among First Nations youths and adults under the age of 44, according to Canadas Centre for Suicide Prevention.

Experts say that the high suicide rates are related to long-standing issues affecting First Nations, including widespread poverty, high unemployment rates, trauma from Canadas residential school system, and systemic racism, among others.
Darfur voters are divided on whether or not the referendum is a priority concern.

Nyala, Sudan  A three-day referendum on the permanent administrative status of Darfur began on Monday amid fears of voter apathy.

Darfur is currently divided into five states. Voters will decide this week whether the area should go back to being one region, as it was until 1994.

The referendum takes place in 1,400 centres across the 62 localities making up the five states that the region of Darfur is currently divided into: North Darfur, South Darfur, East Darfur, West Darfur and Central Darfur.

More than 3.5 million people registered for the referendum. According to the Darfur Referendum Commission, only people who are 18 years and older, and have been residents of Darfur for three months or more, can vote.

On Sunday, Nyala, the second most populous city in Sudan and the largest in Darfur, was visited by the Darfur Referendum Commission for a final review on how preparations were going.

All the necessary preparations have been made and the referendum is supported by the local leaders, and we anticipate a smooth process, said Sidig al-Zain, the head of South Darfurs Referendum Commission.

The conflict in Darfur has already cost as many as 300,000 lives. That estimate includes the many who died from malnutrition during the worst years of violence.

More than 2.5 million people were driven from their homes.

WATCH: Will the Darfur referendum be credible?

The Darfur administrative referendum is a provision of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) that was finalised at the All Darfur Stakeholders Conference held in June, 2011.

I don't see the importance of whether Darfur stays divided into states or returns to the one region; it is just not a priority concern now. by Gasm Alseed Hamad, student

Both the government of Sudan and the Liberation and Justice Movement signed a protocol agreement committing themselves to the document that is now the framework for the comprehensive peace process in Darfur.

The referendum is supposed to determine the permanent administrative status of Darfur by offering two options: the creation of a Darfur Region composed of the States of Darfur, or the retention of the status quo states system.

According to the DDPD, in either case, the character of Darfur, as defined by cultural and historical traditions and ties, shall be respected.

Last week, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir visited all five states. In Nyala, he said he expected a high turnout that reaffirms the DDPD and the peace process in Darfur  a view that was not shared by some Darfur residents.

I have not registered for the referendum, Hawa Idriss, a 38-year-old mother of three from al-Wadi neighbourhood in Nyala, told Al Jazeera. I cannot afford to leave my work for these things. Whats going to change?

Mohammed Burma, a student, is a registered voter and intends to cast a ballot in the referendum.

I will support the states option. I believe it is better, or maybe only because were accustomed to it now, he said.

Meanwhile, the South Darfur State Police said they had deployed more uniformed and plainclothed officers to secure the referendum process. Cars toured Nyala neighbourhoods on the eve of the referendum, urging citizens to participate.

I dont see the importance of whether Darfur stays divided into states or returns to the one region; it is just not a priority concern now, said Gasm Alseed Hamad, a student.

Haytham Mohammedin, a researcher at the University of Nyala, concurred. The funds can be used to support development, the building of hospitals, roads, and schools, Mohammedin told Al Jazeera.

He explained that if it had to be changed, the one-region option was better. The more states there are, the more spending we have on the state and local government levels. Streamlining spending frees up more possibilities of development, which can then lead to better prospects of peace.

The one-region option, he added, will also end the conflict over administrative borders among the current Darfur states. In the one-region scenario, there will be no need for the many conflicts we see today over resources.

On Sunday, Federal Minister of Media Ahmed Bilal Osman said that the choice is now with the people of Darfur.

The government renews its commitment to abide by either of the options the people of Darfur decide on Monday when they go to the ballot, he said.
Egypt announces that the strategically-important islands of Tiran and Sanafir are in Saudi territorial waters.

Moves by the Egyptian government to hand two strategic Red Sea islands over to Saudi Arabia have drawn angry reaction from opposition figures.

An Egyptian cabinet announcement said that technical work on the two countries maritime boundary had shown that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir were within Saudi territorial waters.

The statement came while Saudi Arabias King Salman was in Cairo for a five-day visit.

The Saudi leader on Sunday addressed the Egyptian parliament, where he received a thunderous welcome with repeated applause and standing ovations.

Riyadh has given significant financial and diplomatic backing to Egypt since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi  then head of the armed forces  toppled then president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Tiran and Sanafir are at the southern entry to the Gulf of Aqaba, where both Israel and Jordan maintain important ports.

Legal claims

Sisis sole opponent in the 2014 presidential elections, Hamdeen Sabahi, denounced the planned handover, saying it went against the Egyptian constitution, which prohibits ceding any territory.

Sisi and Salman should withdraw an agreement signed on Friday on steps to define maritime boundaries, so as to avoid any impression that Saudi Arabia was exploiting Egypts need, Sabahi wrote on Facebook .

Five people were arrested when they attempted to stage a protest in central Cairo against the handover, according to the Cairo-based Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights.

Prominent lawyer and veteran rights activist, Khaled Ali, said that he would file a court case against the proposed handover.

In a post on Facebook , he called on legal experts, historians and geographers to help him research the case.

The government explained the move by saying the islands had been temporarily protected by Egyptian forces following a request by Saudi Arabias then-king Abdul-Aziz in 1950.

But opponents of the move said that a 1906 treaty signed by Britain and the Ottoman Empire, marking the border between Egypt and Ottoman-held Arabia, had put the islands in Egyptian territory.
Special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed says now is time to step back from the brink and rebuild the war-torn country.

The United Nations special envoy has called the ceasefire in Yemen a first step in Yemens return to peace, as the truce in place since Sunday midnight seems to be mostly holding.

Forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the Shia Houthi rebels who drove his government out of the capital, and the Arab-led coalition that intervened in Yemen last year all pledged to honour the truce after it took effect.

This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UNs special envoy for Yemen, said in a statement on Monday.

Previous efforts to stop the fighting in Yemen  which has left more than 6,000 dead and forced more than two million people from their homes  have collapsed amid mutual recriminations.

Sporadic clashes and exchange of gunfire, however, were reported in other parts of the country, including the besieged city of Taiz where one person was killed and five wounded in shelling.

Residents of Taiz, which has been under the control of rebels for over a year, blamed the Houthis for the overnight random shelling.

Ahmed urged all parties to work to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is fully respected.

He added that preparations were under way for Kuwait peace talks scheduled to be held on April 18, which are to focus on key issues such as withdrawal of militias and armed groups, handover of heavy weapons and resumption of an all-inclusive political dialogue.

Al-Qaeda gains influence

The coalition intervened last year in March to push out Houthis, who are backed by the Iran and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The conflict in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation has ruined large parts of the country and raised Middle East tensions.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the powerful Yemeni branch of the armed network, has taken advantage of the conflict to seize territory and gain influence.

General Mohamed Ali al-Makdashi, the chief of staff for Hadis forces, said early on Monday the ceasefire was largely holding despite some violations by rebels.

The truce has not collapsed and we hope the rebels end their attacks and respect the ceasefire, he said, alleging breaches in several areas including the cities of Taiz, in southwestern Yemen, and Marib, east of Sanaa.

Hadi forces accused Houthis of 25 truce violations around Taiz, while the rebels said in a statement that there was at least one coalition air strike in Taiz province, and accused loyalists of being behind 33 truce violations north and east of Sanaa, as well as in the south.

A committee comprising representatives from both sides will work to ensure the ceasefire is respected.

Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri earlier described the violations as minor.

It is the first day and we should be patient, the top Saudi officer told AFP news agency. Day by day, it will be better.

No bombings in Sanaa

An AFP photographer in Sanaa said the rebel-held capital has not been targeted by coalition warplanes since Sunday.

The Western-backed Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher also played down violations, saying that the truce seems good, adding after meeting the UN envoy in Riyadh that we want a durable peace.

Now is the time to step back from the brink, the UN envoy Ahmed said.

The progress made represents a real opportunity to rebuild a country that has suffered far too much violence for far too long.

The Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014. As the rebels advanced into other areas, Hadi and other officials fled first to the main southern city of Aden and eventually to Riyadh.

A coalition of mainly Sunni Arab allies launched air strikes in March last year against the Houthis and later sent ground troops to support pro-government forces.

The loyalists have since managed to reclaim large parts of the south, establishing a temporary capital in Aden, but have failed to dislodge the Houthis from Sanaa and other key areas.
Daughter of jailed former president wins 38 percent of vote, partial results show, as runoff planned for June 5.

Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of an ex-president jailed for massacres, has won the first round of voting in Perus presidential election, partial results showed.

Fujimori won 38 percent of votes in line with exit polls, with one fifth of votes counted, the electoral body said. Rival Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had 24.5 percent.

Since Fujimori fell short of 50 percent, though, she must now face Kuczynski in a runoff on June 5.

Fujimori had earlier celebrated victory as unofficial surveys showed her far in the lead.

Voters are demanding change. This is a great responsibility, which we are going to honour, she told cheering supporters.

READ MORE: Perus history of forced sterilisation overshadows vote

Peru wants reconciliation and no more conflict. We invite all Peruvians on June 5 to opt for change and for the future, because the future of Peru is on the way.

Observers complained that the electoral process was undermined when half the candidates dropped out or were excluded from running under a tough new electoral law.

Keiko survived attempts to ban her from the race amid mistrust over her fathers legacy.

She and other leading candidates were accused of wooing voters with gifts. Both she and Kuczynski were cleared of the charges.

A dark decade





But centrist candidate Julio Guzman, previously second in the polls, was banned from running for irregularities in the candidate selection process.

Eight other candidates were similarly excluded or dropped out through lack of support.

WATCH: An election shake-up

European Union observers said they saw no serious incidents during voting, though some polling stations opened late.

Alberto Fujimoris dark decade in power from 1990-2000 lives in the memory of many Peruvians.

Now 77, he is serving a 25-year jail sentence for crimes against humanity. The courts held him responsible for the massacre of 25 people he said were terrorists in 1991 and 1992.

But many voters love him for crushing the Shining Path armed group that carried out attacks and kidnappings.
Police arrest employees of fireworks manufacturer after huge blaze kills at least 108 people and injured almost 400.

Indian police said they have arrested five people after a fireworks display at a temple sparked a fire that killed at least 108 people in one of the worst accidents ever seen at a religious festival.

Thousands of people were gathered at the temple at Kollam in the southern state of Kerala on Sunday for the pyrotechnic show to mark the start of the Hindu year when sparks ignited a cache of fireworks stored on the grounds.

A police officer, Anantha Krishnan, said the five taken into custody on Monday were employees of a fireworks manufacturer who ran the show at the Puttingal Devi temple.

The district administration said it had not given permission for the fireworks display following complaints of noise and pollution.

Read more: Massive fire in crowded India temple kills scores

The head of the manufacturing company was injured, one of 380 people who were in hospitals across the state with burns as well as injuries caused by flying concrete and debris.

Police had not been able to reach members of the temple management, Krishnan said.

Al Jazeeras Divya Gopalan, reporting from Delhi, said daily celebrations were being held in the country to mark the Hindu festival.

Some of the celebrations take place without the authorities permission and without taking into consideration safety measures, which is what happened [on Sunday], she said.

Kerala is studded with temples managed by rich and powerful trusts that often flout local regulations. Each year temples hold fireworks displays, often competing to stage the most spectacular ones, with judges who decide the winners.

On Monday, grieving relatives of the victims were scouring the temple grounds for possessions of their loved ones among the shoes, handbags and other articles strewn in a pile of debris and a puddle, dark red with blood.





The scale of the tragedy has prompted demands that fireworks shows be banned at crowded places in Kerala.

The chief of the state unit of the Indian Medical Association, AV Jayakrishna, said he planned to file a petition before the Kerala High Court on Monday, curbing the use of fireworks.

Such has been the outrage across the nation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Kollam within hours with a team of doctors.

Opposition politicians led by Rahul Gandhi also visited the temple site, demanding a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire which took place amid a state election to choose a new assembly.

Modi has faced public criticism for failing to respond quickly to disasters such as the floods in Chennai late last year. Large parts of the city were under water for days before government help arrived.

But Modis Bharatiya Janata Party said he was focused on the task in hand.

Fires and stampedes are not uncommon at temples and during religious occasions, often because of poor security arrangements and lax safety standards.

Earlier this month, a flyover being built in the eastern city of Kolkata collapsed killing more than 20 people, raising questions regarding safety measures.
Police arrest dozens as about 500 people hold sit-in outside US Congress to highlight corporate influence in politics.

Washington DC  Police in Washington DC have arrested dozens of protesters who were staging a sit-in outside the US Congress meant to raise awareness about corporate influence in American politics.

The day began with a rally of about 500 people in US capital as part of a series of actions around Democracy Spring, a reference to the Arab Spring protests of 2011 that upended the Egyptian government and saw similar anti-government protests across North Africa and the Middle East.

Right now, we have a campaign finance system that is dominated by money, Kaja Rebane, 38, a Wisconsin graduate student, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, told Al Jazeera.

It makes it very hard for regular Americans to be heard.

Many, like Rebane, cited the 2010 US Supreme Court decision on campaign financing, popularly referred to as Citizens United.

That decision recognised that corporations and unions could spend unlimited cash indirectly on campaigns and has since led to an unprecedented amount of money in US elections. Some analysts believe upwards of $5bn could be spent during the 2016 US election.

Ray Lewis, a retired Philadelphia police captain, who was arrested in New York City during the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011, agreed with many people in attendance that the US Congress is largely to blame for what he believes is a corrupt political system.

I am trying to bring this message of democracy to mainstream, white America, said Lewis, a white man, wearing his police uniform.

Minorities know the truth. White America does not. Theyre living in this dream world.

Police lined the steps of the main US Capitol building as protesters approached. Officers warned of arrests, asking those who did not want to be detained to step outside a security perimeter.

About 200 people refused to leave. At press time, US Capitol police did not have an official number of arrests.
Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati says allowing women into temple in Maharashtra will lead to more rapes.

Hindu religious leader Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati has caused an outcry in India after saying that entry of women into the Shani temple in Maharashtra state will lead to more crimes such as rapes.

Commenting on the recent entry of women into a temple in western Maharashtra state, Shankaracharya, 94, said on Sunday that women should not feel triumphant about visiting the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra.

They should stop all the drum beating about what they have done. Worshipping Shani will bring ill luck to them and give rise to crimes against them like rape, he was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper on Sunday.

Womens groups and activists decried the comment, describing the statement as patriarchal and against the dignity of women.

Society is not going to tolerate this. Women will struggle against such mindset, Jagmati Sangwan, general secretary of All India Democratic Womens Association (AIDWA), told Al Jazeera by phone on Monday.

Last week, Maharashtra High Court struck down a 400-year-old ban on the entry of women into Shani Shingnapur temple on the ground that women cannot be discriminated on basis of their gender.

Patriarchal mindset

Many commentators on social media expressed outrage and mocked the Swami for his comments.

Well done, Swamiji. You've given us a God to blame for a crime as awful as rape. What better than a divine scapegoat https://t.co/M52PkBt06q  Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) April 11, 2016

Fundamentalist religious leaders feel that religious places are the domain of men, Sangwan said from Indian capital, New Delhi.

Not only religious places, patriarchal mindset in the society needs to be attacked, which believes that women are inferior and as a result cannot be allowed equal rights, she said.

Rights groups have been fighting a similar ban on the entry of women to a famous Muslim shrine, Haji Ali Dargah, in Mumbai city.

The latest controversy comes days after Shankaracharya said that worshipping of an Indian guru known as Sai Baba has caused drought in Maharashtra state. The states Latur district is suffering an acute water crisis, triggering water riots in some places.

Calling for strong action, Sangwan said that the statement is a disobedience to Maharashtra High Court as well as the Maharashtra State Assembly, which supported equal rights for women and their entry into temples.

The AIDWA general secretary called for tough laws to safeguard dignity of women.

We have actually submitted a memorandum to law ministry that people holding responsible positions, ie religious, social or political, should face action if they attack equality of women, their dignity and equal rights.
Iran Foreign Ministry confirms receipt of S-300 long-range, surface-to-air missile as part of first batch of the deal.

Iran has received a batch of S-300 long-range, surface-to-air missile systems from Russia, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has said.

In a recorded statement broadcast on state television on Monday, Jaber Ansari, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told a news conference that the first phase of this [delayed] contract has been implemented.

The first batch of Russias S-300 air defence missile systems has arrived in Iran, he was quoted as saying.

Ansari was replying to reporters questions about videos on social media showing what appeared to be parts of an S-300 missile system on trucks in northern Iran.

In February, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that Moscow planned to soon send its first delivery of S-300 missile systems to Tehran.

That report said the systems would be transported from the southern Russian city of Astrakhan via a direct water route through the Caspian Sea to Iran.

Russia and Iran signed a contract to deliver several S-300 missile systems in 2007, but Moscow cancelled the deal because of United Nations sanctions against supplying weapons to the Islamic republic.

RIA Novosti reported that the deal had been worth about $900m.

Last year, Iran reached an international agreement on regulating its nuclear programme to remove sanctions, and Russian President Vladimir Putin then signed a decree to allow his country to sell weapons to

Iran.
International Crisis Group says criminal justice system is politicised and dysfunctional, a claim that Dhaka denies.

Bangladeshs criminal justice system is so politicised that it is undermining rather than buttressing the rule of law, according to a report by the International Crisis Group, which was immediately rejected as biased by the government.

The report, Political Conflict, Extremism and Criminal Justice, said that in the last few years of the Awami League rule, law enforcement authorities have concentrated their efforts on targeting the opposition rather than curbing criminality.

Years of partisan recruitment, promotions and postings have polarised these institutions to the point that officials no longer conceal their allegiances by ICG report

As a result, prisons are overburdened by mass arrests of opposition leaders and activists, and the judiciary, perceived as partisan, is losing credibility, the report, published on Monday, said.

The result is a justice system that swings between two extremes: woefully slow and dysfunctional for ordinary cases and speedy, undermining due process, in politically charged ones, the Brussels-based organisation said.

WATCH: Is Bangladesh becoming a one-party state?

It said that the legal environment created opportunities for what it called extremist outfits to regroup, manifested in the killings of secular bloggers and foreigners and attacks on sectarian and religious minorities in 2015.

Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, the prime ministers press secretary, dismissed the report, saying that the findings were biased and motivated rather than being objective. These are rash comments, without showing any basic facts  What the report says does not reflect the actual reality.

As to saying that the law enforcing agencies are concentrating on the opposition rather than criminals, I dont think that it can give any specific facts or they have done any survey that can justify such a comment, Chowdhury said.

Only recently, the largest opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party could hold their national council very openly with the government and law enforcement cooperation, and they did not face any problems.

Brutal state response

The report placed the conflict between the current governing party, the Awami League and the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party  which it says has reached new heights  at the heart of the crisis within the country.

In January 2014, after the Awami League finished a five-year term in office, opposition parties boycotted the national elections, allowing the party, under Sheikh Hasina to remain in power.

By September 2014, some 24,000 opposition BNP leaders and activists had been charged in some 500 cases, including acting Secretary General Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, two joint secretaries general and several standing committee members, the report said.

READ MORE: Bangladesh court upholds Islam as religion of the state

In an attempt to force new elections, the BNP and its Jamaat-e-Islami ally marked the anniversary of the disputed 2014 elections with indiscriminately violent strikes and traffic blockades, which were matched brutally by the state.

The political conflict between the AL and BNP has resulted in high levels of violence and a brutal state response, the report said.

The governments excesses against political opponents and critics include enforced disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings.

The report said that even though the opposition has now re-entered the political mainstream, the government continued to deny the it legitimate avenues for participation and dissent.

ICG called on the government to accept legitimate political opposition and dissent.
Nadeem Nawara was killed in May 2014 during a Nakba Day protest outside of Israels Ofer Prison.

Ramallah, occupied West Bank  Two years after his 17-year-old sons death, Siam Nawara hopes for justice.

Nadim Nawara was killed on May 15, 2014, during a Nakba Day protest outside of Israels Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

Siam and his lawyer have fought through several court postponements during the past two years, but the case is finally expected to move forward on Monday.

It has been difficult to get to this point, but we are confident in our case, and we are confident that this court date will finally come to fruition, Siams lawyer, Firas Easli, told Al Jazeera.

Over the past two years, Siam has navigated Israels military court system while launching his own campaign to get the case heard.

Israeli forces initially alleged that they had only shot rubber-coated steel bullets during the incident, suggesting that the live rounds that killed Nadim and 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Thahr must have come from Palestinian gunmen.

The Abu Thahr family refused an autopsy, leading to the closure of Muhammads case, but Siam has been working with several NGOs in the occupied West Bank and Israel to try to prove that Israeli forces fatally shot his son.

After CCTV footage, lined up with news footage of the protest, was released, Siam felt he had enough evidence to challenge Israels original statement that the bullet that killed Nadim had not come from Israeli forces.

READ MORE: West Bank shooting  Israel does whatever it wants

Israeli authorities initially claimed that the footage had been forged or edited misleadingly  a claim that was challenged by several human rights groups  but last May, they detained border police officer Ben Deri in the case. He was later released on house arrest.

I think the Israeli government wants the case dropped, so they keep coming up with excuses to put it off, Siam told Al Jazeera from his small apartment in Ramallah. It has been two years, and I am no closer to getting justice for my sons death than I was when he was killed.

Sceptical over what he may achieve through the Israeli justice system, Siam has been campaigning tirelessly, hoping for international pressure to help advance his case. Last summer, he spent three months in the United States, meeting with Congress members, United Nations officials and other NGOs to garner support.

Siams living room has been turned into a memorial, with plaques, posters and paintings of his dead son taking up most of the wall and counter space. He has a Facebook page,YouTube channel, crowd-funding site and newsletter dedicated to Nadim.

I think the Israeli government wants the case dropped, so they keep coming up with excuses to put it off. It has been two years, and I am no closer to getting justice for my son's death than I was when he was killed. by Siam Nawara, father of Nadim Siam

Both his advocacy work and legal fees have put financial strains on his family, prompting Siam to sell two businesses, his car, and possibly his home next.

Nothing is more important than justice for Nadim. Everything else is replaceable, but my sons life cannot be replaced, he said.

Defence for Children International (DCI) has taken an active interest in Nadims case, helping to create a 3D re-enactment of the shooting that pinpoints the suspected shooter. A DCI investigation found that while the gun carried by the suspect had an attachment designed for rubber-coated steel bullets, it could also have shot live rounds.

I know none of this can bring my son back, Siam said. That is not my goal. My goal is to show these soldiers that they will be held accountable for killing our youth. I want to be sure I did everything in my power to make sure another family is not going through what I am going through.

A lawyer for Deri could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

OPINION: In Palestine and Israel, there are no clashes

Since 2000, Israeli forces have killed more than 8,800 Palestinians, including at least 1,895 minors, according to UN documentation. While rights groups have found many deaths to be extrajudicial killings, Israeli prosecution of its own forces is rare.

Between 2000 and 2013, only five percent of investigations initiated by Israels internal Military Police Criminal Investigations Division resulted in indictment, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights and legal advocacy group. Since 2013, the number has dropped further, to 1.4 percent.

Amid recent unrest in Israel and the occupied West Bank, the Israeli militarys actions have come under international scrutiny. In total, 206 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces and civilians since last October, compared with 28 Israelis.

The best thing that Palestinians can do is continue to capture these moments on camera, Easli said. The only non-refutable evidence Palestinians can depend on is [capturing] the incident on film, like that shooting a few weeks ago in Hebron.

The Israeli soldier in the Hebron case, accused of shooting dead an injured Palestinian, has since been detained, and an investigation into the shooting launched.

Additional reporting by Abed al-Qaisi
UN will also independently verify allegations by people that those killed in Paktika attack were civilians.

The NATO-led mission in Afghanistan has confirmed that the United States military will investigate into the US drone strikes in southeastern Afghanistan that killed 17 people last week.

Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, spokesman for the US-led coalition, told Al Jazeera on Monday, that they will conduct an investigation into the air strikes carried out in the Paktika province.

Currently there is no evidence of civilian casualties, however, we are conducting a thorough investigation into the strikes, Cleveland, who is part of the Operation Resolute Support, said.

READ MORE: Families of Afghan Killed in US drone raids seek probe

Relatives and tribal elders demanded an investigation on Saturday claiming that the air strikes hit civilians not members of armed groups.

However, Afghan officials told Al Jazeera that the people killed in the attack had links to the Taliban.

A day after the demand for the investigation, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan confirmed to Al Jazeera that the reports would be investigated.

UNAMA is verifying the facts around reports of 17 civilians killed and we will publish findings when available, Dominic Medley, a UNAMA spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

We look into civilian casualties across Afghanistan, but for this specific case, we have just started off verifying the facts and the report will take a while to have accurate findings.

READ MORE: Portrait of an Afghan drone victim

Mohammed Hassan Ghazizada, a former senator from Paktika province, told Al Jazeera that investigations will prove the innocence of the people killed in the attack.

All these people were innocent, I know their families personally and I am also aware of what happened during the attack. This investigation will help them [US forces] confess their mistake.

Increase in ariel attacks

Afghan soldiers and police have struggled to contain an escalating insurgency after they took over the combat role on the US withdrawal of forces. About 9,800 US troops left in Afghanistan are focusing on counterterrorism operations across the country.

After the withdrawal of most of the US-led international forces from Afghanistan, the US militarys reliance on aerial attacks has increased, Dawood Azami, a regional analyst told Al Jazeera.

They dont have enough ground forces and both the Afghan and foreign forces are already overstretched. Aerial attacks, whether by manned or unmanned aircraft, have at times resulted in what is usually called collateral damage.

Nearly two months after the Taliban appointed Mullah Akhtar Mansoor as its leader, the armed group has captured new territories in northern and eastern Afghanistan.

READ MORE: Taliban fight kills 15 security troops in Afghanistan

If fighting intensifies, which it seems like it will during this fighting season, the USs reliance on air power will most likely be even greater this year, Azami added.

US Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Saturday and called on the Taliban to re-engage in peace talks dormant for almost a year.

However, Ghazizada believes peace wont exist in the country if innocent people are getting killed every day.

On one side they are negotiating with the Taliban and on the other side they are conducting air strikes to kill them. Why are they attempting to negotiating with them? he said.

Afghanistan wont see peace if in the name of war against terror innocent people are dying.

Follow Shereena Qazi on Twitter @shereenaqazi
Intense spell of hot and dry weather brought on by El Nino hits food and water supplies across parts of SE Asia.

Much of Southeast Asia continues to struggle with unusually hot and dry weather which has been brought on by the current El Nino.

Food production has been badly affected and there have been chronic water shortages across the region.

Temperatures in Malaysia soared above 37C on Monday, prompting more than 250 schools to close. The countrys capital, Kuala Lumpur, rarely sees highs vary beyond 32C or 33C throughout the entire year.

This led local authorities to order schools in the states of Perlis and Pahang to shut temporarily. The education ministry told the news agency Bernama that the decision was made to protect the health of around 100,000 pupils.

Last month, the World Meteorological Organisation announced that temperatures in the first two months of 2016 had soared to new highs after a year that broke all previous records by a wide margin.

They warn that the alarming and unprecedented rate of climate change was sending a powerful message to world leaders.

The sweltering heat has slowed vegetable production. Paddy fields and rubber production have also been affected by the severe temperature rise.

Many parts of Asia have been affected by the strong El Nino dry spell which has also hit agriculture in Thailand and the Philippines. Meanwhile Vietnam remains in the grip of its worst drought in a century.

It is hoped that the worst is now over. April is usually the wettest month and according to Malaysias Meteorological Departments director-general, Che Gayah Ismail, the worst is over because the inter-monsoon season started last week and more rain is expected.

Additional reporting by Al Jazeeras Everton Fox
Hassan Hanafi was accused of being involved in the assassination of five journalists between 2007 and 2011.

Somalia has executed a journalist accused of helping members of al-Shabab kill at least five journalists in the capital.

Hassan Hanafi, who was captured in neighbouring Kenya in 2014, was executed on Monday morning by a firing squad in Mogadishu after his appeal at a military court failed.

Hanafi was accused of helping fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group identify possible targets in the journalism community between 2007 and 2011.

From 2009 to 2011 he worked for Radio Andalus, al-Shababs official mouthpiece.

In an interview aired on Somalia state TV in February, Hanafi admitted ordering the murder of several journalists.

But in an audio recording of a phone call leaked last month Hanafi appeared to claim he made the confessions after being tortured.

READ MORE: Shafana, the journalist who believed in Somalia

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists more than 25 journalists have been killed in the Horn of Africa country since 2007.

Al-Shabab, which is seeking to overthrow the countrys Western-backed government, was pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011 by government troops backed by an African Union force.

It continues to carry out suicide attacks and targeted assassinations in south and central parts of the country, and it has also conducted major attacks in Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda, which all contribute troops to the African Union effort.
The four suicide bombers were the only ones killed in the blasts and no one else was wounded, police say.

Four suicide bombers carried out explosions in a village in Russias Stavropol region, close to the North Caucasus, police said.

Three of the suicide bombers were killed by the blasts, one was shot and killed, Russias state news agency TASS reported on Monday. No one else was hurt in the attacks.

Three militants were killed as they attempted to attack the police station. The regional Interior Ministry also confirmed that civilians and law enforcement officers were not hurt, TASS reported.

The incident has all characteristics of a terrorist attack, TASS said, adding that the attackers have not been identified yet.

Shooting at the building

We were holding a meeting in the morning when five explosions went off, Sergei Karamyshev, a senior police officer in the village of Novoselitskoye in the southern Stavropol region, told AFP news agency.

Three people blew themselves up after an officer on duty at the entrance blocked the door to the building, Karamyshev said.

He said that in all there were five explosions: the three suicide bombers and one grenade, but that the cause of the fifth blast was not immediately known.

A spokeswoman for police in the Stavropol region said one of the attackers had died by detonating an explosive device, while two others were killed by return fire.

They were shooting at the building, Natalya Tyncherova told AFP, adding that the exact number of attackers was still unclear.

The city is located in the northern tip of Russias North Caucasus Mountains, where authorities have struggled with homegrown armed groups for decades.

In December, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Derbent, a city in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan with an ancient citadel that is popular with tourists.
Lobby group says UN has failed to investigate alleged crimes committed by peacekeepers and is unable to be impartial.

The United Nations is not in a position to investigate claims of sexual abuse committed by its own peacekeepers and must step aside to allow the law to take it course, a lobby group has said.

The call on Monday by Paula Donovan, co-director of the Code Blue Campaign to End Impunity for Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by UN Peacekeepers, came as pressure mounted on the UN after a series of allegations against its troops in the Central African Republic.

Donovan said it was untenable for the UN to investigate itself on such sensitive matters.

We are saying that the UN should excuse itself in the law enforcement in assessing the crimes and in determining who should hold responsibility and be accountable for those crimes, Donovan, who is also a director at the AIDS-Free World NGO, said in a media briefing broadcast over the internet.

This is a conflict of interest and [the UN] needs to remove itself from the criminal side and focus entirely on the care of victims and allow the appropriate law enforcement officials to do their job.

Dark allegations

The UN has been in the spotlight for the past year after scores of allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers, especially those based in CAR.

As recently as March, it said it learned of 108 new sexual abuse cases in CAR.

According to a US-based pressure group, three girls in CAR alleged that they had been tied up and forced to have sex with a dog by a French military commander in 2014.

Donovan said that, considering the UN had failed to deal with the issue, the onus was now on member states to create an independent and impartial body made up of prosecutors and judges to monitor and rule on these crimes.

READ MORE: Sickening sex abuse alleged in CAR by UN peacekeepers

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said he would disagree respectfully with Ms Donovan.

Speaking at a briefing on Monday, Dujarric said his colleagues at UNICEF and other agencies who are dealing with this issue, know how to do their jobs  I dont think anyone is trying to bury these cases and trying to make them go away.

Between March 2013 and late 2015, CAR was divided by communal violence. After a Muslim-led rebel group, Seleka, took over the capital Bangui in a coup, they launched attacks on the Christian community.

Reprisals from vigilante Christian groups forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes as the country became locked in a cycle of violence.

There has been much less violence during the past five months, with Bangui protected by UN peacekeeping forces. But the operation has been marred by a dark sequence of allegations of sexual abuse levelled at its troops.

Trauma and damage

In January, the Independent Review Panel on UN Response to Allegations of Sexual Abuse by Foreign Military Forces in CAR released a report condemning the UN for failing to respond to allegations of child abuse against peacekeepers.

Also speaking during the press briefing on Monday, Yasmin Sooka, one of the authors of the report, said the UN had yet to implement measures that approached the issue from a serial perspective.

Sooka said the UN had very little expertise in offering support to victims or even in carrying out investigations.

She added that the process was still marred by incessant secrecy and there was little regard for the rights of victims.

One agency told us about a young girl taken to the French military and told identify from this group of men who the perpetrator is, Sooka said.

You can imagine in that kind of context, the kind of trauma and damage but also the long-term repurcussions and possible victimisation and stigmatisation.

Follow Azad Essa on Twitter .


Blaze in central India also seriously injures four others who are battling for their lives in hospital.

A fire at a fireworks factory in central India has killed at least 15 people and seriously injured four others, police have said.

The blaze started at a manufacturing plant in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh state when workers were making firecrackers, police officer Kishore Gurjar told the Associated Press news agency.

The four injured workers were battling for their lives in a hospital, Gurjar said.

Local media reports said the death toll was expected to rise.

Police have said the cause of the fire was not immediately known and was being investigated.

There are fatal accidents nearly every year in India as people work in makeshift factories, often employing children in the absence of proper safety standards.

India has a huge demand for firecrackers, which are used in religious festivals and weddings.

Factories start producing crackers months before the nations biggest Hindu festival, Diwali, or Festival of Lights, when people set off fireworks in celebration.
Editors note: This is part one of an ongoing series on sexual assault survivors. See Tuesdays paper for more profiles on survivors.

For the past three weeks, Erin Smith has been afraid to walk alone at night.

Shell put away her headphones, call a friend and scan for strangers.

It has become a routine for the 21-year-old UF psychology senior ever since her sense of safety was stolen, taken by a stranger near UFs Levin College of Law when he sexually assaulted her.

Now, Smith is a survivor of sexual assault  one of many on UFs campus and at universities across the nation. She knew, as many people do, that students of all races, genders and sexual orientations become survivors every semester  she just never thought she would be one.

Everyone thinks it could never happen to them, Smith said. But the truth is, it could happen to anyone.

  

Three weeks ago, it was a stranger.

But the first time Smith was sexually assaulted at UF more than three years ago, it was at the hands of someone she knew  a predator she never expected.

While sexual assault is not a legal charge, its a term preferred by survivors and advocates to encompass any nonconsensual sexual physical contact as well as forced intercourse.

In the 26 cases reported to University Police since 2006 in which the survivor gave details about his or her attacker, 23 survivors were assaulted by someone they knew. Only three survivors were assaulted by a stranger, and in four additional reports, the survivor declined to give details and file a report.

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In 90 percent of campus sexual assaults, the perpetrator is someone the survivor

knows, according to a research report by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Now a student ambassador for UPDs Office of Victim Services, Smith is aware of these statistics and is familiar with the typical elements of assault, as well as expectations of consent. But at the time, it didnt seem real.

For a really long time I didnt actually consider that a sexual assault, she said.

It would be a year before she could speak about the first time.

But the second time, it was a matter of days before Smith shared her story with her supervisor, UF victim advocate Annie Carper.

Carper helps anyone who has been assaulted or has been the victim of a crime. In the last year, about 250 students have sought help from the Office of Victim Services.

The office will be hiring a third victim advocate in the next year to help more survivors.

We know that theres a population of people that are not currently being served, Carper said.

While in college, one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Out of UFs Student Body of 50,000, there are about 23,000 male and 27,000 female students: Statistically, about 5,400 women and 1,400 men will have been sexually assaulted by the time they leave UF.

But more than 90 percent of survivors on campuses throughout the U.S. will not report the assault, according to the center.

Carper said survivors can struggle to grasp what theyve been through.

Especially when its at the hands of somebody you may know or have previously cared about, she said.

  

Very few people believed Twi Hall.

Hall, whose pronouns are they and them, said they were abused for a year by a female friend, often on the Plaza of the Americas.

But because Halls assigned birth gender is male, few believed them.

According to a national report conducted by the White House, 46 percent of bisexual women have been sexually assaulted, compared to 17 percent of heterosexual women and 13 percent of lesbians.

About 12 percent of gay and 13 percent of bisexual men are sexually assaulted, according to the report. More than 25 percent of transgender people become survivors of sexual assault after they turn 13, according to the report.

The mental and physical abuse still haunts Hall eight years later: anxiety perpetuated by others refusal to acknowledge their attack.

Very few people believed me, the 26-year-old said. Most of the people who did believe me didnt think it mattered or that it was a big deal. Its impossible to escape the part that gender plays in what happens when someone assigned female assaults and abuses someone assigned male.

  

There is no stereotype for a person who commits sexual assault.

Its far less about demographics, whether its fraternity males or upper-class individuals, Carper said. Its much more a pattern of behavior.

When sexual abuse happens within relationships, its about power, Carper said.

For perpetrators who are in relationships with those they abuse, this involves intimidation and threats of physical and economic violence, and it has negative affects on their partners other relationships and academic life.

Physical violence, sexual violence and abuse of all kinds is not actually about the sex, she said. Its not actually about hitting somebody. Its absolutely about what maintains power and control.

Hall said the relationship with their attacker was not a romance, but a nightmare.

For the life of me, I actually cant tell if she likes sex or not, Hall said. I think it was about power.

And often, Carper said, one forced act of dominance isnt enough.

More than half of perpetrators will commit 5.8 rapes on average, according to a study done by David Lisak, a nationally recognized forensic consultant and former associate psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Its a far smaller population committing a far larger number of acts of sexual battery rather than a bunch of people just making a random mistake, Carper said.

  

For Carper, the attacks on her clients are never random.

Thematically, its absolutely a very strategic, malicious act, she said.

Those malicious acts still haunt Hall and still cripple Smiths self-described badass persona.

But with each day, they are getting better, stronger and sharing their stories.

They dont define me, Smith said. And Im not going to let them.

@k_newberg

knewberg@alligator.org

WHO TO CONTACT

Victims Advocate

A Victims Advocate is available 24 hours a day by calling UPDs Dispatch Center at 352-392-1111. During business hours, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Advocates can be contacted directly at 352-392-5648. You can email Victim Advocates at annekcarper@ufl.edu and nphineas@ufl.edu

U Matter We Care

You can confidentially and anonymously reach out to the Dean of Students Office U Matter We Care team about students who may need help at umatter@ufl.edu

STRIVE

STRIVE peer educators are available to hold open nonjudgmental forums for discussion of issues related to sexual violence. You can contact them at 352-392-1575 or visit their website at gatorwell.ufsa.ufl.edu/strive.

UF LGBT Affairs

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Affairs provides education, advocacy, and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and straight-allied students, staff, and faculty at the University of Florida. You can reach the University of Florida LGBT Office at 352-392-1261 or email lbh@multicultural.ufl.edu.

Medical Care

The University of Florida Student Health Care Center leads, collaborates, and excels in the provision of comprehensive services through wellness promotion and compassionate and accessible care. The Student Health Care Center also has a Womens Health Care Clinic that is a nurse practitioner-run clinic with a female focus. The clinic includes but is not limited to services such as counseling on contraceptive options, sexually transmitted disease/infection (STD/STI) prevention, sexuality and other womens health, screening, diagnosis and treatment of STDs/STIs, breast exams and instruction in self-examination, pap smears and routine pelvic exams and pregnancy testing.

Counseling Services

The University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center has professional counselors and therapists on staff and offers individual or group counseling dealing with any form of sexual exploitation or other issues related to victimization. All counseling services are free and confidential. The center has an excellent referral system should your needs be better met by a different agency or program. You can reach the University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center at:

3190 Radio Road

(352) 392-1575

www.counsel.ufl.edu/cwc
Alumni traveled back to Gainesville on Friday to be honored at the 10th Outstanding Young Alumni Awards.

In Emerson Hall, about 100 UF faculty and family watched as 21 UF alumni received awards for success in their respective fields. Among those honored were an actor from an upcoming Netflix series, a public relations manager for McDonalds and a senior managing director for Teach for America.

UFs colleges and the Division of Student Affairs nominated the alumni. Last year, UF awarded about 23 alumni.

Joseph Wilson, one of two alumni nominated by the Division of Student Affairs, said the division nominated him for his work advocating for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education in low-income communities as well as partnering with LGBTQ+ organizations.

Wilson said he was honored to be included with the other successful alumni.

I felt incredibly humbled, the 31-year-old said.

While at UF, Wilson was a Lombardi Scholar, a J. Wayne Reitz Scholar and an honors ambassador. He graduated from UF in 2007 with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and went to Arizona to teach high school science for Teach for America.

Now, he said he directs about 3,500 math, science and computer science teachers across 53 regions of the U.S. for Teach for America.

The experience of teaching really informed my life-long passion of STEM education, he said. I wanted to be able to use engineering for good.

He said he enjoyed networking with other successful alumni. Some worked with the same people he did.

I felt like it was two degrees of separation,he said.

UFs College of the Arts nominated Usman Ally, an actor who is currently filming a recurring role on the upcoming first season of Netflixs A Series of Unfortunate Events. He has previously acted in the plays The Jungle Book and The Invisible Hand, along with playing a recurring role in the television show Madam Secretary and guest roles in Castle and Person of Interest.

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Ally, who graduated from UF in 2007 with a masters degree in fine arts, said coming back to UF felt like being part of a community. Seeing his old professors reminded him of his college days.

Those are people that shape the beginnings of your career in some ways, he said. I feel very fortunate to be back.

While walking around UF, he said he wasnt surprised to see the same scooters students used almost 10 years ago.

That hasnt changed at all, the 33-year-old said.

@k_newberg

knewberg@alligator.org
The green lawn beside the University Auditorium will house three 12-foot-tall whistles.

The Periplanomenos Whistles, a series of outdoor musical sculptures, are being installed on the east side of the auditorium. The Office of the Provosts Creative Campus Committee paid about $20,000 for the sculptures through a grant, said Rotem Tamir, the artist and a visiting assistant professor of sculpture.

The sculptures are built out of virgin bald cypress  an extinct wood that can withstand Floridas humidity. Tamir, an Israeli artist, will paint the wooden whistles to represent three extinct species of birds: the ivory-billed woodpecker, the passenger pigeon and the Carolina parakeet.

They went extinct around the same time as the virgin bald cypress swamps, she said. The whistles will each be carved out of a single trunk of the tree. To play each musical sculpture, students will step onto the base of the sculpture.

The sculptures are similar to oversized recorders, but without finger holes, she said. Two of them make a single pitch, while the third will play two pitches  one from the top half and the other from the bottom half.

Students can play the third instrument by moving their hand over a large hole in the side, she said.

Bryan Yeager, UFs public arts coordinator, said he assisted Tamir in planning the installation of the sculptures. He worked with the UFs Physical Plant Division and UFs Environmental Health and Safety Division to ensure the artwork is safe and installed correctly.

The musical sculptures will be demonstrated April 20 at 5 p.m. by Kristen Stoner, a UF associate professor of flute, and the UF Flute Studio. Stoner said UF students will play short pieces that she composed specifically for the sculptures unveiling.

To create some of the pieces, Stoner said she drew upon nature and bird calls because of the sculptures bird theme.

She said she researched the bird calls of those species and the calls of other species that live in modern cypress swamps to incorporate into the pieces.

Stoner said she thinks the University Auditorium is a perfect location for the sculptures.

Its a very peaceful space, and the beautiful sculptural installation will fit very well there, she said.

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Tamir said she wanted to make playful sculptures. She started working on the installations about a year ago.

Playing is valuable in order to deeply understand something, she said.
Hours before Fridays Orange & Blue Debut, three men snuck into the Gators locker room and tried to steal two jerseys, according to University Police reports.

At about 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jeremy Bruce Agee, 24, of Ocala; Stephen Paul Collazo, 35, of Gainesville; and Reagan Harrison Dean, 21, of Ocala, snuck inside the locker room at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, according to the reports.

Once inside, the men grabbed two jerseys valued at about $200 each, according to the reports.

It is unknown how the men entered the area or which jerseys they took.

However, before they could escape with the souvenirs, UPD noticed the men on surveillance cameras and arrested the would-be thieves, according to the reports.

About 20 minutes after the break-in, the men were in handcuffs, according to the reports.

Police arrested all three on felony charges of burglary and grand theft.

Authorities took them to the Alachua County Jail, where they were each released Saturday on $10,000 bonds.

None of the men are affiliated with the university, UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes wrote in an email.

As of press time, the men could not be reached for comment.

@martindvassolo

mvassolo@alligator.org

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The Matheson History Museum is currently demolishing the former Melting Pot building and will start constructing a new space by June.

The space, located at 418 E. University Ave., will serve as storage for the museum, allowing it to better care for its collections, said Rebecca Fitzsimmons, the curator and archivist for the museum.

The archive and library spaces will be much larger and equipped with compact shelving units, which will vastly expand the available storage space for the growing collection, she said.

A small display will showcase the buildings history, including stained glass windows that previously adorned The Melting Pot, she said.

The building was originally constructed as the Gainesville Gospel Tabernacle Church and was later used as an antique store, Fitzsimmons said.

Moving the archives will clear an existing space, she said, which will later include extended exhibitions, an interactive area for children and a meeting hall for public use.

Fitzsimmons said the Florida Department of State awarded the museum a $300,000 Historic Preservation Grant in 2015, helping to transform the restaurant space, which had been vacant for five years.

Matthew King, a 20-year-old UF industrial and systems engineering sophomore, said he enjoys learning about the history of Gainesville, citing The Long Road to Freedom, a popular exhibit that closed March 25 after the museum extended it for a week past its original closing date.

King said increased space for information and artifacts will encourage more guests to visit the museum.

The bigger the exhibit, the more attention it will receive, he said.

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If civility isnt dead in 2016, its pretty close to being put in the ground.

In case you havent heard, the Internet was in a tizzy over the video of a woman verbally berating our governor in a Gainesville Starbucks.

The videos title, Governor Scott gets an earful, is an apt description of what took place.

The video features every aspect of a truly great viral political disagreement: We have an embattled elected official. We have an activist who is a self-described anarchist with an agenda  an internet debacle. Mix in a hot-button issue, say womens reproductive rights and throw in a no-no word or two, and you have a recipe for a trending topic.

Before the video begins, Gov. Scott and former Lake Worth City Commissioner Cara Jennings were discussing a recent reproductive bill Scott signed into law.

Jennings inquired why Scott signed the bill and was offered a typical politician reaction, which is unsurprising because Scott is, in fact, a politician.

According to The New York Daily News, Jennings became enraged  which is always a good way to engage in political debate  when she said Planned Parenthood would suffer under the bill  and Scott told her to just stop by the county health clinic if she needed help.

And, like in any political conversation, one party decided to throw a tantrum and become incredibly uncivil.

Jennings proceeded to say, uncivilly, Youre an a--hole. You dont care about working people. You should be ashamed to show your face around here.

Additionally, Jennings also behaved rudely toward one of Scotts staff members who tried to intervene. Why not? She seems very tolerant.

Scott meekly parried Jennings verbal assault by saying he created a million jobs. Jennings, undeterred, responded, Great! Who here has a great job? Or is looking forward to finishing school? You really feel like you have a job coming up?

Scott then left the Starbucks without a coffee in hand.

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And perhaps in an incredibly predictable and tone-deaf turn, Jennings later said peoples reactions have been generally positive because across the board people support Planned Parenthood  a delusional debacle.

I felt bad for Scott because he probably deals with incivility like this daily. He probably has a tough time going out to dinner in public with his family or vacationing in the state without a Jennings trolling and antagonizing him. Is Scott supposed to stand there, take the insults and only fight back with I created a million jobs?

And I thought to myself, if President Obama or Bill Nelson or Debbie Wasserman Schultz  politicians I have fundamental disagreements with  walked into a Starbucks, would I scream my head off and throw sixth-grader insults their way? Of course not.

The political process needs dialogue, not shouting matches. Like so many other political stories, this one degraded what politics is supposed to be: a conversation about how we are to live with and benefit one another.

If I want to watch people being uncivil, I can turn on the news. I dont want to see this in my own backyard and feel embarrassed.

I have some choice words to say about the event and the players in this production, but I have enough self-control not to say them. Perhaps others can learn to do the same.

Michael Beato is a UF political science senior. His column appears on Mondays.
Bathrooms: For some, theyre a sanctuary of privacy from incessantly annoying roommates. For others, they inspire a frantic cleaning spree before an unexpected visit from mom and dad. But for those in the transgender community, bathrooms represent civil struggle.

On March 23, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed an anti-bathroom bill blocking transgender individuals from using public bathrooms that do not correspond with their biological sex. Now aside from the other discriminatory provisions of North Carolinas bill, we at the Alligator want to highlight this specific bathroom position for a moment.

Overwhelmingly, though not exclusively, its Republican legislators who support anti-bathroom legislation. But is this issue really that conservative?

Kaeley Triller Haver, a columnist for The Federalist, argued not all transgender people are predators, but the costs of not having such bathroom protections are too high: There are countless deviant men in this world who will pretend to be transgender as a means of gaining access to the people they want to exploit, namely women and children.

We acknowledge these concerns: The prevalence of child sexual abuse in our society is deplorable and must be combated. But are transgender people using the wrong bathrooms really the right targets? We hear cases of men dressing as women to watch, harass and violate other women in the bathroom, acts that are undeniably criminal. But this is no way equivalent to transgender bathroom usage.

The evidence speaks for itself: A comprehensive Media Matters for America study interviewed police departments and state commissions from 12 different states that prohibit transgender discrimination in public accommodations  such as bathrooms  and there were no reported cases of bathroom assaults from transgender people or rising sex crimes.

So then why do we see such stark opposition to transgender rights? Why was the North Carolina act introduced, passed and then signed by the governor in less than 12 hours? Its all about politics. Plain and simple. Look no further than the Republican Gov. McCrory himself. In 2015, he vetoed a bill regarding same-sex marriage discrimination. Why is it now, in 2016, we see the sudden change of heart in McCrory? Perhaps its because hes up for re-election this November and needs support from his voter base to clear his polling gap.

Again, we ask: Is this anti-bathroom position truly conservative? Weve already established how party leaders prioritize their personal agendas. How about conservative principles, such as fiscal responsibility?

Well, from businesses such as PayPal and Google Ventures threatening to cancel all new investments in North Carolina based on the new laws discriminatory provisions, the state is projected at losing millions. How can such a policy be of the conservative camp when its entirely fiscally irresponsible?

Thats because this bathroom issue and LGBTQ+ rights arent really liberal versus conservative issues in principle. Weve been sold this notion of the PC left-wingers infringing on family values, but at the end of the day, this issue is bipartisan and concerns constitutionality and civil rights. Fifty years ago, it was those dangerous African-Americans. Now, were at the next step of progress.

Before were Republicans or Democrats, were Americans, and its our duty to stand together to protect civil rights. So to transgender public accommodations discrimination, or bathroom rights, we say let transgender people have their pee in the same way everyone wants their Wi-Fi, and let the stream flow fast and free.

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           2005     ..        
NEW YORK, NY  April 11, 2016  Angola Capital Investments (ACI), a leading international investment firm headquartered in Angola, made a substantial donation to Shine on Sierra Leone (SOSL) to help improve healthcare in the country. SOSL is a non-profit organization that raises awareness for the needs of Sierra Leone and creates programs to promote self-sufficient communities and rich cultural experiences.



Sierra Leone was greatly affected by the Ebola outbreak that began in 2014. Because of the generous donation of ACI, SOSL was able to initiate an Ebola response program in the Bongema Village. SOSL set up sanitation stations, engaged in door-to-door education and dialogue, and trained 50 Community Health Care Workers (CHWs) in partnership with Dr. Dan Kelly, an infectious disease specialist. The donation also directly supported 67 children who were orphaned by the virus. Since the SOSL program was initiated, there have been no reported cases of Ebola in the village.



We are very happy our donation could make such a difference to the people effected by Ebola in the Bongema Village said CEO Zandre Campos. Our support of Shine on Sierra Leone began because we both want to create sustainable businesses and economies throughout Africa.



ACI also supports the Shine on Family Support Program, EXCEL. EXCEL trains local social workers and provides educational and psychosocial support services. The program specifically supports orphans and vulnerable children affected by the Ebola virus. Psychosocial support services are provided so that the virus does not define the future of the children who were effected.



ACI invests in many non-profit organizations and companies in the energy, transportation, hospitality, healthcare and real estate sectors.




AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank

Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War

The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool

She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold

In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners

By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him

But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63

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AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum

OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World

COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground

ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words

BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance

A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum

OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008

HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground

BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum

WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground

FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World

POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day

FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance

YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum

THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground

OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies:

WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama

PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words

TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day

THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum

THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies

AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance

CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida

SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World

PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground

VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day

REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies

FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum

SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies

ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008

AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World

STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special

SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum

TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt.  Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground

IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008

CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies

WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto

DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance

I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE]
U.S. bank regulators are expected soon to issue a proposed rule to implement the Basel Committee's "net stable funding ratio" standard, or NSFR. The NSFR  a measure of banks' longer-term funding stability  will mark the end of a six-year odyssey of international regulatory reform colloquially referred to as "Basel III." (Work on Basel IV is already well underway.) The proposal will surely include a vast array of details about what the agencies propose, which will receive careful scrutiny. But before wading into these weeds, it may be worth asking a more fundamental question: Six years later, is the net stable funding ratio still necessary?

For those who don't live and breathe regulatory acronyms, the NSFR is a liquidity standard that was intended to ensure that banks have sufficiently stable funding over a one-year time horizon. It began as a relatively simple concept: a bank's available funding sources over a one-year period should be sufficient to cover the liquidity profile of its assets and off-balance-sheet exposures over the same horizon. (In Basel-speak, a bank's "available stable funding" should be equal to or greater than its "required stable funding.")

From the beginning, the NSFR has always been something of a neglected stepchild of the Basel III framework, frequently relegated to the regulatory backburner while the Basel Committee prioritized a host of other post-crisis capital and liquidity standards. And the NSFR had another dubious distinction  its main purpose was to redress adverse consequences expected to arise from another more esteemed part of Basel III, the "liquidity coverage ratio," or LCR. The LCR (quite sensibly) requires banks to have sufficient liquid assets to survive a 30-day liquidity crunch  that is, an inventory of sufficiently liquid assets to fund a 30-day run assuming very little access to credit.

The LCR was a direct response to the instability of short-term funding that markets experienced during the crisis. The worry, though, was that, if left unchecked, the LCR might create a "cliff effect" of funding stability on the 31st day and beyond because banks could structure their liabilities so that they had every chance of surviving 30 days but practically no chance of surviving thereafter. A second worry was that the LCR did not do much to reduce the liquidity risks of so-called "matched books" of repurchase transactions, a form of short-term wholesale funding that has been of concern to regulators. (I'll leave the debate about the merits of that concern for another day.) The NSFR was viewed as a way to address those risks.

But there's good reason to wonder, more than a half-decade later, whether the NSFR's utility hasn't been eclipsed by other events  at least in the U.S. Over that period, U.S. regulators have put in place a wide range of measures aimed at liquidity risk in banking, including the very same risks that are the NSFR's raison d'etre. These measures include not only implementation of a more stringent version of the LCR in the United States, compared with the Basel standard, but also new rules requiring banks to conduct, on at least a monthly basis, at least three forms of liquidity stress tests across overnight, 30-day, 90-day and one-year horizons. For the largest banks, these tests are complemented by the Federal Reserve's own supervisory liquidity stress testing program, the "Comprehensive Liquidity Assessment and Review."

These post-crisis reforms have been accompanied by additional measures that target short-term wholesale funding risks at banks, the most notable of which is the capital surcharge applicable to "global systemically important banks." A key component of the surcharge is a bank's reliance on short-term funding. These aggressive U.S. measures go to the very heart of the cliff effect and matched-book repo concerns that worried the Basel Committee. Taken collectively, they present a compelling case that the steps already taken are sufficient to resolve  and indeed, resolve with substantial redundancy  the very concerns that led to the NSFR.

It may be that the law of inertia applies to regulation: a rule in motion tends to stay in motion. But it is also true that there is no law or treaty  or anything in Dodd-Frank  requiring that Basel Committee standards be adopted in the United States.

Of course, one might argue that liquidity risk is a significant enough disease to be cured multiple times, particularly if there is no cost in doing so. But compliance with the NSFR would, in fact, come with significant costs, constraining credit extension and curtailing the economic growth that lending so crucially supports by restricting the maturity transformation that is core to what banks do. Furthermore, even as the need for the NSFR has been reduced or even eliminated, the Basel Committee has spent the last six years making the NSFR more and more complicated. As is often the case when international standards are negotiated, the simple concept behind the NSFR has been translated over that period into a rule of substantial technical complexity. As currently drafted, it would effectively require a bank to translate its entire balance sheet into a single ratio. The denominator uses a formula with 23 categories of assets and other exposures each assigned one of eight "required stable funding" factors. The numerator is built from 11 categories of funding assigned one of five "available stable funding" factors.

When the U.S. version of the NSFR proposal comes out, it's likely that many of us will quickly focus on the fine print, quibbling over the RSF factor for this or that asset. But we shouldn't miss the opportunity to reflect on whether the concerns that gave rise to the NSFR still remain today.

Jeremy R. Newell is executive managing director, head of regulatory affairs and general counsel of The Clearing House Association.
Boston Private Financial Holdings appointed its bank president, George Schwartz, to the newly created position of chief executive of its private banking group.

The $7.3 billion-asset company said Schwartz will be responsible in his new role for the overall strategic direction of the group, including deposit and cash management, residential mortgage and commercial lending.

Schwartz will remain president of Boston Private Bank & Trust and will report to Clayton Deutsch, the bank's chief executive and the holding company's president and chief executive.

Schwartz joined Boston Private in 1998 and has also been the company's chief operating officer and treasurer.

Additionally, Boston Private named James Brown and Torrance Childs co-presidents of its private banking group, reporting to Schwartz, and Childs was named to the board of Boston Private Bank & Trust. Brown will retain his current position as head of the bank's commercial banking group and Childs will also retain his position as national director of deposit management.

The promotions are the latest move among Boston Private's executive ranks. Deutsch was appointed CEO of Boston Private Bank & Trust in December, after he stepped down as president of the holding company in April. Deutsch re-assumed the position of holding company president in December, when Mark Thompson retired.

Boston Private is scheduled to report first-quarter results on April 20.
Today, the surest way to establish your respectability bona fides is to denounce this seasons Republican primary process. Better still, if you have children, claim you will not even let them watch the debates.

The respective campaigns are vulgar, crass, sleazy, and dishonest, not to mention, of course, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic.

Every meeting I have, everywhere, people are asking what is happening with the United States, What are you doing to yourselves? Secretary of State John Kerry told MSNBC on Tuesday.

I'm getting questions constantly from foreign leaders about some of the wackier suggestions that are being made, echoed President Barack Obama. I have to emphasize that it's not just Trump's proposals. You are also hearing concerns about Cruz's proposals.

The operative word about the primaries among the naysayers is one that Kerry uses frequently, embarrassing. The Republicans are embarrassing themselves before the nation and embarrassing the nation before the world.

Hogwash.

This year, the Republicans have defied their own party mandarins, the high priests of political correctness, and a complicit and corrupt media to stage the most exciting and energetic primary process since they nominated underdog Abraham Lincoln on the third ballot during a tumultuous Chicago convention.

This insurgency caught Washington fully off guard. Mitt Romneys decision to forgo a third try at the White House has settled the question of whether the 2016 GOP presidential field has a front-runner, opined the Washington Post in January, 2015, bestowing a coveted status on former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

Republicans have a tradition of picking an anointed one early, the Post continued. That establishment candidate almost always ends up with the nomination. The Post had a point. The establishment had managed to nominate its chosen candidate in the seven soporific elections previous to this one.

In flyover country, however, all you had to do was talk to any ordinary group of Republicans or Tea Party people to know Jeb Bush did not have a prayer. Neither did Chris Christie, John Kasich, or any other candidate with the blessing of the establishment.

As was becoming clear to anyone paying real attention, the Republican establishment may have access to money and to the media, but it had nothing resembling a constituency. When Reince -- who names their kid that? -- Priebus talked, no one listened.

In a June 10, 2015 column, I wrote, The Republican nominee for president will be that candidate who best learns that there is no future in apologizing. This was a week before Trump declared. I did not even know he was running.

Ten months later, after Jeb Bushs 100-million-plus endowment netted him four delegates, his backers are forced to choose between the two candidates least inclined to submit to the increasingly fascist Democratic thought police or their Republican capos.

Bush campaign manager Mike Murphy pretty well captures the establishment take on Donald Trump. "I'd rather cut my arm off than vote for that jerk, said Murphy, who is no keener on Ted Cruz. "It's a choice between Trump, who is terrible for the country, and Cruz, who is terrible for the party. He's too smart for his act, said Murphy of Cruz, and he's probably pissed that a bigger con man showed up."

Embarrassed by their respective failures, the political establishment and the media refuse to credit the outcome to this point for what it is: an unprecedented triumph of the Democratic process.

Distracted by all the internecine sniping, not even the supporters of Trump or Cruz appreciate what they have accomplished. They have winnowed an extremely strong Republican field to its two least apologetic candidates: one a hugely successful entrepreneur willing to risk his fortune and reputation to advance critical ideas; the second, the most coherent and consistent constitutional conservative since Ronald Reagan and perhaps the smartest Republican candidate since Teddy Roosevelt.

Are both candidates flawed? Of course they are. If either succeeds in keeping the hopelessly corrupt and relentlessly dishonest Democratic frontrunner out of the White House, however, he deserves a spot on Rushmore just for doing that. No major party has ever knowingly nominated a candidate as profoundly flawed as Ms. Clinton.

Speaking of Rushmore, Murphy, like most other pundits, makes an elemental historical misjudgment. I think if you got the Founding Fathers, says Murphy, brought them back to life, and said, 'What do you think of all this?' [they'd say], 'What a bunch of whiners.

In fact, the real Founding Fathers would be more inclined to say, Hey, just like old times. A useful corrective to Murphys historical myopia is Ron Chernows masterful book, Alexander Hamilton.

In an encouraging cultural turn, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda read Chernows thousand-page tome on vacation and turned it into a smart, engaging musical that is now the hottest ticket on Broadway. Who knows? With enough class trips, young New Yorkers may even learn who fought in the Revolutionary War.

The first treasury secretary and the chief author of the Federalist Papers, Hamilton made his share of enemies. John Adams called him the bastard brat of a Scottish pedlar. As a sign of things to come, Adams and Hamilton belonged to the same party.

The media of the day smoked out an affair in which the married Hamilton had been engaged. Adams did not approve, claiming Hamilton had a superabundance of secretions which he could not find whores enough to draw off.

Indeed, Adams could make Donald Trump blush. He called the revolutionary Tom Paine, for instance, a mongrel between a pig and a puppy, begotten by a wild boar on a bitch wolf.

With the exception of George Washington, all the major Founding Fathers engaged in wicked mockery of their political rivals, either directly or through proxies like the notorious James Callender, who, writes Chernow, made a career of spewing venom. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison hammered relentlessly on Hamilton. Hamilton, a bare-knuckled polemicist, hammered right back.

In 1804, Aaron Burr, had been denounced publicly by his political opponents for deflowering virgins, breaking up marriages through adultery, forcing women into prostitution, accepting bribes, fornicating with slaves, [and] looting the estates of legal clients. Most of these charges, if not all, were true.

Hamilton made the mistake of accusing Burr of something even more despicable, quite possibly of committing incest with his daughter. That was too much even for Burr. Although then the vice-president of the United States, he shot and killed Hamilton in a duel.

Whats happening in this primary is just a distillation of whats been happening in their party for more than a decade, said Obama of the Republicans uncivil tone. No, uncivil is when you shoot your opponents, not when you tweet about them.

In citing the fierce language used by the Founders, Chernow was not demeaning them. As he notes, The intellectual caliber of the leading figures surpassed that of any future leadership in American history. What Hamilton alone accomplished in setting up the nations financial infrastructure makes ones head spin.

As to why the Founders animosity towards one another has seldom been exceeded, Chernow offers what should be a self-evident explanation: Both sides believed the future of the country was at stake.

Today, after eight years of Obama, only one side believes the future of the country is at stake. And Republicans dont just believe it. They know it is. So as they say at construction sites, Please excuse our dust.
Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN), the same racist and anti-Semitic hate group that played a central role in the 1995 arson of Freddy's Fashion Mart, enjoys touting its association with key figures in the Democratic Party. Here is the NAN's press release from 2008, emphasis mine:

Over 3000 delegates from across the country attended National Action Network's 9th annual convention from April 18-21 as well as five of the major Democratic presidential candidatesSenator (s) Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Governor Bill Richardson, and Congressman Denis Kucinich  and other political leaders including Congressman Charlie Rangel, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, Reverend Jesse Jackson, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and many more were all on hand as Reverend Sharpton's organization hosted the event at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers.

The press release includes endorsements of Sharpton by the current and prospective Democratic occupants of the White House:

Senator Hillary Clinton (NY): "I have enjoyed a long and positive relationship with Reverend Al Sharpton and National Action Network, and I don't ever remember saying "no" to them and I intend to remain their partner in civil rights as I clean the dirt from under the carpet in the oval office when I am elected President" Senator Barack Obama (Ill): "Reverend Sharpton is a voice for the voiceless, and a voice for the dispossessed. What National Action Network has done is so important to change America, and it must be changed from the bottom up."

The National Action Network certainly changed Harlem by encouraging a deranged individual to burn a Jewish-owned store while yelling racist and anti-Semitic epithets such as "bloodsucking Jews," "don't give the Jew bastard a dime," "burn the Jew store down," "cracker lover," "make that white cracker suffer," and "white interloper," the last one from Sharpton personally. Perhaps deadly racist violence is part of what Barack Obama calls hope and change, and his promotion of Black Lives Matter ("Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon") reinforces this perception, but I digress.

Sharpton Called Explicitly for the Murder of "Pigs" and "Crackers"

The same National Action Network press release adds, "Join Us As We Protest Sexism, Racism And Homophobia In Music," which is quite a statement from an individual who describes gay people as "Greek homos" and "punk faggots." Another video has recently surfaced in which Al Sharpton incites his audience at Kean University to kill police officers and Caucasians, and "police officers" and "Caucasians" are not the words he uses.

I don't believe in marching! I believe in offing the pigs! Well, they got pigs out here! You ain't offed one of them! I'll off the man. Well, off him! Plenty of crackers walking around here tonight!

The context of the latter statement appears to be Sharpton's contempt for people in his audience who expressed a desire to kill white people but could not work up enough nerve to do it.

To put this in perspective, even the repugnant Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke never has gone so far as to encourage the murder of black people. "Duke also reformed the organization, promoting nonviolence and legality[.]  Duke told The Daily Telegraph he left the Klan in 1980 because he disliked its associations with violence and could not stop the members of other Klan chapters from doing 'stupid or violent things.'" Sharpton, in contrast to Duke, has been involved in at least two incidents of fatal racist and anti-Semitic violence: the Crown Heights riots and the arson of Freddy's Fashion Mart. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are therefore promoting, legitimizing, and mainstreaming a worse hate-monger than David Duke.

We must also recall Sharpton's central role in the Tawana Brawley scandal, after which he was found guilty of defamation. "The jury found Sharpton liable for making seven defamatory statements about Pagones, Maddox for two and Mason for one." Sharpton's associates Alton Maddox and Vernon Mason also had disciplinary action taken against their licenses to practice law. Let us also recall Sharpton's role in the Duke Lacrosse scandal, which rightly cost Mike Nifong his license to practice law.

Sharpton has also referred to Jews as "diamond merchants," and he defended his remarks ("What racist stuff?") about a "white interloper" by saying it referred to only one Jew. He is also on record as referring to Chinese-Americans as "Chinamen."

Hillary and Bernie Don't Want White, Jewish, Asian, Gay, or Police Votes

The fact that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are openly courting, legitimizing, and mainstreaming this hate-monger shows quite clearly that they do not want the vote of any "cracker," "bloodsucking Jew," "white interloper," "diamond merchant," "Chinaman," "Greek homo," "punk faggot," or "pig." They do not even want the vote of any middle-class black person who is outraged by the implication that somebody like Sharpton can deliver his or her vote  that is, the implication that he or she is the African-American counterpart of the kind of white trash whose votes David Duke can deliver.

It might, in fact, be instructive to edit a Clinton or Sanders ad to alternate between the candidate's statements and Sharpton's "I believe in offing the pigs," "Greek homos," "plenty of crackers walking around here tonight," and "punk faggots." Photos of Clinton or Sanders side by side with Sharpton must be included to ensure that white people, LGBT people, Jews, law enforcement officers, Asians, and self-respecting African-Americans know what the Democratic candidates really think of them. If we want to appreciate the potential destructive power of such a modified ad, we need look only to this gem from 1965. Even though the Democrats aired it only once, it was sufficient to hand the White House to Lyndon B. Johnson.

In the meantime, every reader can do his or her part to deny the November election to whichever candidate the Democrats nominate. Colonel Paul Linebarger warned in Psychological Warfare that bundles of leaflets that fail to disperse make little impression on the Propaganda Man (the person we seek to persuade) unless they land on his head. Information that stays at American Thinker will similarly do little harm to the Obama wing of the Democratic Party because nobody here is going to vote for Clinton or Sanders anyway.

Call Clinton and Sanders out for their association with a prominent racist, anti-Semite, cop hater, and homophobe at every opportunity in letters to the editor, social media, and talk radio.

William A. Levinson is the author of several books on business management including content on organizational psychology, as well as manufacturing productivity and quality.
Theres no denying that the left is on a political mission to tap into the grievances of a small percentage of the population where, by levying pain on mainstream America, liberals can cultivate a lopsided form of equity.

Case in point, remember back in 2010 when Barack Obama destroyed a healthcare system that 86.6% of the insured were more than satisfied with? That was done on behalf of the 13.4% without coverage.

Now, everywhere one turns; similar sorts of lopsided equity are being increasingly implemented.

Take for instance Obama leveling the inclusive playing field with a porous border. That attempt at social engineering has subjected a once sovereign nation to an all out life-threatening invasion.

As a result, sanctuary cities teem with dangerous illegal felons, Americans have died unnecessarily, and public school classrooms have been flooded with unaccompanied minors, some of whom have infected our children with deadly foreign pathogens.

Much to the delight of liberals, every day, jobs are lost to illegals and property owners dictated to as neighborhoods are being resettled with ISIS-infiltrated Syrian refugees brought to America via Obamas surge operation.

In the name of thoughtfulness toward minorities, fear of offending some overly sensitive protected class has bestowed upon cultural diversity a power that has usurped the constitutional right to free expression.

And thats not the worst of it.

Religious freedom is eroding as Islam is given deference over the nations foundational Judeo-Christian tenets. The reality of that forfeiture intensifies when taxpayers, who are largely pro-life, are forced to fund abortion on demand, and Christian bakers and photographers pay penalties for refusing to provide wedding services to same-sex couples.

Lets not forget that these are the same progressives who manipulate thought and opinion by elevating illegals to immigrant status, and doing so while referring to living human beings, growing within the womb as clumps of cells. These misleading actions, words, and ideas are how the marginal have managed to gain despotic dominance over the majority.

A prime example of how the minority dominates the majority happens when liberals foster the idea that gender fluidity determines which public restroom members of the LGBTQQIAP2S community should have permission to use.

In other words, if liberals have their way, a new level of tolerance will be realized by sharing a public bathroom with every manner of sexually confused individual.

Despite a handful of open-minded heterosexuals, who wouldnt mind sharing a urinal cake with Chaz Bono, or tinkling while Caitlyn Jenner eavesdrops, the goal to establish gender-neutral bathrooms will likely have to be accomplished under public duress.

Put another way, most women would rather not have an Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alike in the adjoining stall and most men would probably feel more comfortable if Ellen DeGeneres werent milling around the latrine.

Nonetheless, the topic is so volatile that rock star Bruce Springsteen canceled a concert in North Carolina. Seems the Boss believes that those who Walk Like a Man, if they so desire, should also be allowed to pee like woman -- which is exactly what happens in the in the newly-installed White House gender-neutral restroom.

The state law that the Boss opposes is the one that bars people from choosing a bathroom on criteria other than having XY or XX chromosomes. Until further notice, North Carolina law maintains that current apparatus determines where one urinates, not the equipment one hopes to someday acquire.

Nonetheless, in response to what the left interprets as toilet discrimination, and in keeping with their desire to impose bizarre edicts on the majority, in a number of U.S. states restroom legislation is being considered to address what liberals view as a form of prejudice against those whose sexual proclivity results in bathroom bias.

So, once again 0.3% of the U.S. population, this time, those that identify as transgenders, have managed to initiate a controversy that has the potential to eventually impact 99.7% of the American citizenry, most of whom probably prefer using gender precise restrooms.

Similar to ObamaCare, same-sex marriage, abortion on demand, and refugee resettlement, who uses what bathroom is just another in a long list of unpleasant impositions the tyrannical minority plans to use to browbeat the majority into submission.

This is no joke because whats at stake here is whether having a penis or a vagina still determines which bathroom an individual uses, and whether, as the American College of Pediatrics maintain, Facts -- not ideology -- determine reality.

Thats why, whether Americans are comfortable with the direction were heading in or not, at the expense of the majority, power hungry liberals continue to enable the entitlement attitude of those who perceive themselves as sexual minorities.

As a result of those efforts, it is possible that while a Rachel Maddow-type dominates the boys room sink, next door, in the ladies room, a mortified girl may soon be witnessing a man powdering his Adams apple and adjusting his pantyhose.

This is where were at, folks.

With an eye firmly fixed on our Second Amendment rights, leftism has not so subtly seeped into every area of our lives.

The American majority is subjugated, conquered, and oppressed. The immoral minority rules and tells America how to think, what to say, how much money we can keep, and even dictates which lightbulbs and what doctor we have permission to use.

The inviolability of our property rights has been subverted, our borders shattered, and our senses legally dulled. Enemy soldiers are being imported to overthrow us, millions of acres of our lands have been seized, the First Amendment suppressed, and, above all, the sanctity and sanity of American life greatly diminished.

Face it; every day this nation is nudged ever closer to the precipice progressives have been industriously molding for decades. And as part of that progression, tolerant children will soon be sharing restrooms with transgenders, pansexuals, and amorous biromantics.

Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com
Always, the liberal wants to change the laws so that he is not obliged to change his habits. "I dont believe you change hearts," Hillary Clinton said to a Black Lives Matter delegation during her 2016 presidential campaign. "I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate."

It is the new liberal message, spoken to a few but intended as an instruction to the Democratic Party: You do not change hearts; rather, you acquire power through any means available, and then you change the system. The liberal mind, cosmopolitan to the end, can imagine no higher form of governance than the European models: socialist regimes dreaming of taxes, bound irretrievably into unsustainable entitlement programs; coalition governments divided by uncompromising ideologies, distracted by intriguing factions, forever chasing after small matters of politics, unable to provide for the defense of their citizens and bending in supplication for the wealth and favor of Evil.

"In every government on earth," wrote Thomas Jefferson, "is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate, and improve. Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone." The Founders of our nation represented the genius of human thought in the maturity of its moral purpose. We are nourished in the currents of a historical expansion of intelligence and creativity made possible by fundamental law and a Bill of Rights, a continually restorative enactment of justice beyond the expression of those first principles of government. But this observation is lost on the progressive movement, for which the American Constitution is not a foundation of law on which to build a prosperous and self-governing society, but rather an impediment and hazard to its social justice program.

Progressive elements in the party of Democrats have long understood that by circumventing the Constitution through executive orders and administrative regulations that have the effect of law, they can lead society into a settled acceptance of unpopular State actions. Any reasonable person might suppose that an enlightened self-interest would sufficiently deter an immoderate faction from so unwisely angering the people that they would vote its leadership out of office. Nevertheless, due to the combining interferences of successful vote farming tactics and the misinforming power of the media, the new liberal order has cast aside that necessary concern for popular consent.

Progressivism is not about consent -- it is about rule. This is the wrong argument and the wrong action to carry into the 21st Century. It is a violation of the common trust, an intrusion of exclusive, radical interests upon settled law and upon the vital institutions of civilized life. It would open the American system to all the entrenched socialized ills of the European.

Progressivism is not an end; it is rather a means of habituating the people to rule by bureaucratic authority. It is an activist and proselytizing force, a process not of reformation but of unremembering, of unbuilding, and undoing. It is the soul of deconstruction, emphasizing that the language of justice is unreliable and open to continual interpretation and suggestion. It would innovate upon the American Constitution until its words dissolved in a cauldron of political expediency. Its scripture embodies a perpetual dissatisfaction with truth, with moral understanding, with principles of established order, limit, and clarity. As a political declaration, the new liberal doctrine of power is a necessary precursor to authoritarian rule, to self-appointed government, to the tyranny of an elite political class, to oligarchy -- to socialism -- not yet the thing itself, though immune to none of its evils, but serving as a pathfinder, a leveler, and maker of footholds. Its own testament erases meaning and value as it redefines the terms of social contract.

The liberal speaks in a new Orwellian language. He tells us that injustice is stronger than justice; and his interference with the democratic process has now rid the Democratic Party of its moderate voices. The intellectual desire to engage in dialectic -- an instrument of reason by which we may understand both sides of an argument -- is forfeit to tribal hatreds. Any appeal to reason is now the mark of cowardice. Any attempt to reconcile differences with the conservative opposition is the action of treason. A readiness to shut down debate, to violate the free speech and assembly of opposing groups on college campuses and in many other social environments is proof of ones oath and loyalty to the emerging extremist movement. Political correctness is the new social contract. Collective salvation is the new secular order of acceptable truth. The determination to believe ones own lies is a perfect measure of commitment to the progressive cause of social justice. INGSOC revisionism emerges on the American left in the radical newspeak of SOCJUS: Error is Progress, Subsistence is Growth, and Weakness is Strength.

Social justice represents, in modern culture, a wave of moral inversion -- a means of justifying bad behavior with good intentions. Rather than repairing social inequities, progressive doctrine simply provides centralized government the means of further harvesting the fruits of inequality for political gain. The new liberal farmer gathers no crop in solving the problem. If the nations poor and disadvantaged were able to shake off their dependency on federal entitlement programs and to enjoy prosperity through opportunities hitherto denied them by liberal oppressions, there would no longer be a Democratic Party.

Progressive doctrine is fundamentally an argument incompatible with the principles of limited government and constitutional order. The tactical force of neoliberal planning works unilaterally to diminish or to withdraw the American citizens inalienable right of consent to the actions of government and to their irreversible consequences. The new liberal order is the product of elitist inbreeding, compounded by many recessive traits of reason and made legitimate by force. Its scripture involves a subversion of the democratic process. If its votaries insist that social justice for a few is not possible without claims upon the civil liberties of all persons, there can be no basis of consent. There is no significant distinction between the new lefts desire to impose its ideology upon the American people and the Islamic States desire to impose its doctrine upon the Muslim world. It is a matter only of degree: the former represents Error in its first character -- the latter in its last.
In a slap at Donald Trump, who has said he will waterboard terrorist suspects if he's elected, CIA director John Brennan told NBC News that the agency would not conduct interrogations using controversial techniques.

"I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure," he said. Brennan later added that he would "not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again."

President Barack Obama banned waterboarding shortly after taking office in 2009. However, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly promised that he would revive the practice if elected.

At a Republican debate in New Hampshire this past February, Trump said he would "bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding", an interrogation technique in which a detainee is made to feel that he is drowning.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's greatest rival for the GOP nomination, said at that same debate that he would not make "widespread use" of the practice, but added that he did not believe the practice amounted to torture.

In December 2014, Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report claiming the interrogation methods used by the CIA in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were "brutal and far worse" than the agency had represented to lawmakers.

The report alleged that the agency had tortured several suspected Al Qaeda detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia. CIA officials claimed at the time that the interrogation methods produced valuable and actionable intelligence, including information that led U.S. forces to the whereabouts of Usama bin Laden in 2011.

That assessment was echoed by Brennan himself in his response to the report, which read in part, "The intelligence gained from the program was critical to our understanding of Al Qaeda and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day."

However, during his confirmation hearings to be CIA director in February 2013, Brennan said the intelligence committee's report "raises serious questions about the information that I was given" about the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques.
As the anger of many Americans continues to rise over the progressively lax enfocement at the border, illegal aliens make a mockery of American law while Border Patrol agents, under orders from DHS, stand by helplessly.

The latest outrage reported by the president of the National Border Patrol Council involves illegals swimming the Rio Grande river. Despite the fact that they are soaking wet, unless the border agents catch them climbing out of the river, they are being ordered to process and release them immediately.

Washington Times:

We have apprehended illegal aliens just north of the border who are still soaking wet from crossing the river. If they claim, as increasingly they are doing, that they have been here since January 1, 2014, we will process and then release them, Mr. Judd said in written testimony following up on questions from a hearing earlier this year. They are still wet from the river and miles from any civilization and on their word alone we release them unless we physically saw them cross the river, he said. This policy de facto creates an open border with Mexico for any illegal alien who wants to claim that they were here before 2014. The Jan. 1, 2014, date is not set in law, but rather is part of President Obamas enforcement priorities he laid out in November of that year, designed to carve most illegal immigrants out of any fear of deportation. In memos requested by Mr. Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said long-time illegal immigrants were to be given lower priority in favor of recent border-crossers, and those with gang ties or who have amassed serious criminal records in addition to their immigration violations. Mr. Judd and other enforcement advocates say illegal immigrants have learned to game the system, automatically claiming they arrived before 2014. Agents say theyve been told they have to take illegal immigrants word for it.

Is there nothing to be done? Congress proposes; the president disposes. Obama is interpreting immigration law according to his own lights, and previous court cases have granted him wide discretion when it comes to prosecuting immigration scofflaws. Many argue that the president's actions violate congressional intent and, hence, the Constitution. But until the Supreme Court says otherwise, the president is free to interpret the law any way he chooses.

It's an intolerable position to be in. Congress can't sue because it has no standing. The current Supreme Court case on the president's interpretation of immigration law could resolve the issue in favor of the states who are suing, given the 4-4 split, which would uphold lower court rulings that have judged Obama's actions unconstitutional. But until SCOTUS hands down its ruling, the border will be as unguarded as it is today.
A controversy about 28 redacted pages from the 9/11 report that has been simmering for years is coming to the fore again as President Obama prepares to visit Saudi Arabia.

At issue is a classified section of the report that it has long been believed details involvement by the Saudi Arabian government in the attack on America on September 11, 2001. President Obama has promised 9/11 families twice that he would declassify the documents but has failed to follow through.

What could be in those documents that could be so explosive?

Daily Beast:

Former Florida senator Bob Graham chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee and co-chaired the joint congressional committee that looked into the attacks. He told 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft, I think it is implausible to believe that 19 people, most of whom didnt speak English, most of whom had never been in the United States before, many of whom didnt have a high school education, couldve carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States. An exchange between Kroft and Graham goes to the heart of the dispute. You believe that support came from Saudi Arabia? Kroft asks. Substantially, Graham replies. And when we say, The Saudis, you mean the governmentrich people in the country? Charities? All of the above, Graham replies. It has long been the Saudi position that support for the hijackers did not come from the government, and the congressional report contained a line that seemed to exonerate the government. Its not an exoneration, says former senator Bob Kerrey, a member of the 9/11 Commission who has filed an affidavit in support of a lawsuit brought by the 9/11 families seeking redress from the Saudi government for the loss of their loved ones. The families dont want another 9/11 anniversary to pass without fully understanding the complicity that led to the attacks. By turning its media megaphone on the impasse, 60 Minutes showed viewers the extraordinary range of high profile former officials on both sides of the political aisle who wish to see this matter resolved. Porter Goss, who co-chaired the congressional inquiry with Graham and then became CIA director under President Bush, recounted asking then FBI Director Robert Mueller why the 28 pages were classified and basically being told, Because we said so. Withholding them during the Bush years made a certain amount of sense because the attacks were still so fresh, and the Bush family had long-standing close ties with the Saudi royal family. Making those pages public would be embarrassing. Obama has more freedom to make a decision based on national security considerations, but he may bereluctant to strain U.S. ties with the kingdom further.

Who might be implicated if the documents are released? It has long been thought that some high-ranking royals in the kingdom participated in the plot. There is also speculation that a faction in Saudi intelligence played a role in the attack. The Saudi leadership may see a strategic advantage in maintaining a close relationship with the U.S., but there are many elements of Saudi society who view the U.S. as a puppetmaster pulling the strings of the king and his advisers. It is easy to imagine them participating in the plot, given Osama bin Laden's ties to the kingdom.

The fact that President Obama has so far refused to release the material suggests that there is genuine fear in the intellgience community that the revelations would so severely rock the foundations of the royal family that it could topple the monarchy. While the Saudis present a stable, peaceful face to the world, underneath that facade is a myriad of players jockeying for power, destabilizing the regime.

This is exactly what the Wahhabi clerics desire. They wish to establish an even more restrictive Sunni theocracy along the lines of Iran's Shia government. There may be lower-ranking royals willing to help them achieve that. Nothing would please them more than to see those documents released, which is one possible reason why both Bush and Obama have be reluctant to declassify the material.

Whatever those documents contain, a good case can be made that they should be released, and let the chips fall where they may in Saudi Arabia.
President Obama told Fox News host Chris Wallace that the worst mistake of his presidency was the lack of a plan for Libya after Gaddafi was overthrown.

Bloomberg:

Probably failing to plan for the day after, Obama said in the session, which was taped at the University of Chicago on April 7. He added that intervening in Libya was the right thing to do. The Libya operation and its chaotic aftermath has been resurrected in the 2016 presidential campaign. Thats in part because of the increasing presence of the Islamic State there, and U.S. airstrikes to disrupt its operation. Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, as Obamas secretary of state, strongly supported the intervention. In a 2011 interview with CBS News when still secretary, Clinton said of Qaddafi, We came. We saw. He died. At a March 7 town hall meeting, Clinton said what has happened since then is deeply regrettable. There have been forces coming from the outside, internal squabbles that have led to the instability that has given terrorist groups, including ISIS, a foothold in some parts of Libya. I think its fair to say, however, if there had not been an intervention we would be looking at something much more resembling Syria now, than what we faced in Libya, she said in March.

What's better about Libya compared to Syria? Both countries are failed states. Both harbor numerous terror groups, including the Islamic State. Both have seen failed efforts by the U.S. and European countries to broker any kind of peace.

If Clinton is claiming a that Libya is in better shape than Syria, I'd hate to live off the difference.

As for Obama's claim that a lack of Libya planning was his worst mistake, for once, he's telling the truth. Not only is Libya a mess, but Gaddafi's huge stockpile of small and medium arms ended up in the hands of Islamist militias in Syria, dramatically increasing the violence of that conflict. As for future threats to the U.S. at home and abroad, it's hard to argue that the monumental failure in Libya didn't contribute to placing Americans and America in danger.

And as further evidence that we will be suffering the consequences of Obama's incompetence for years to come, we are about to take in 100,000 refugees from Syria and other war-torn nations like Libya. No one in the U.S. government can credibly make the case that none of those potential refugees is a terrorist, so Americans will bear the brunt of the Obama/Clinton "mistake" in Libya for years to come.
Interviewed by Chris Wallace of Fox News (transcript here, video embedded below), President Obama pulled down the blindfold on Lady Justice and signaled that there was no crime at all when Hillary Clinton set up an unsecured private server and left classified information vulnerable to hacking by the worlds intelligence services. He also created a new category of classification: top secret top secret as opposed to mere top secret, which he averred to Chris Wallace might be information that could be gleaned from public sources.

All in all, it was a remarkable performance, in which the president of the United States in effect told the Justice Department not to prosecute Hillary Clinton. There was plenty of boilerplate contending that he was not doing so:

WALLACE: Since then, weve learned that over 2,000 of her e-mails contained classified material, 22 of the e-mails had top-secret information. Can you still say flatly that she did not jeopardize Americas secrets? OBAMA: Ive got to be careful because, as you know, there have been investigations, there are hearings, Congress is looking at this. And I havent been sorting through each and every aspect of this.

But that doesnt stop him from sweeping conclusions:

Heres what I know: Hillary Clinton was an outstanding Secretary of State. She would never intentionally put America in any kind of jeopardy.

The standard of the law requires gross negligence, not intentionality, but who cares about details like that?

And what I also know, because I handle a lot of classified information, is that there are -- theres classified, and then theres classified. Theres stuff that is really top secret top secret, and theres stuff that is being presented to the president or the secretary of state, that you might not want on the transom, or going out over the wire, but is basically stuff that you could get in open source.

But the State Department, which did review the emails and was sorting through each and every aspect of this, concluded:

... several dozen emails contained classified information, including some now determined to contain information at the top secret/S.A.P. level. That designation refers to special access programs, which are among the governments most closely guarded secrets.

And:

 formally deemed any of Clintons emails classified at that level, reserved for information that can cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if disclosed.

But the president of the United States is on record that this is piddling stuff. Loretta Lynch, head of the Justice Department, serves at his pleasure. In a blatant example of "whom are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?," he claims:

"I can guarantee ... I can guarantee that not because I give Attorney General [Loretta] Lynch a directive, that is institutionally how we have always operated," Obama said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. "I do not talk to the Attorney General about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations. We have a strict line and always have maintained it. I guarantee it." "I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department or the FBI, not just in this case but in any case --.period," he added. "Nobody gets treated differently when it comes to the Justice Department because nobody is above the law."

Nope. The fix is in. If the FBI makes a criminal referral, and Lynch declines to prosecute, we are headed for a crisis that will echo Watergate.

Side note: The left has a new tactic for minimizing misdeeds that are inconvenient for it to confront. Naming the issue once is now a way of trivializing it. Only when repeated is it real. Thus, we need to worry about only top secret top secret or, as Whoopi Goldberg put it, rape rape.

Of course, none of this applies to conservatives.

Video of the complete interview:
Early last month, I wrote a blog post about how big GOP donors would eventually swallow their reservations about Donald Trump and support him in the general election.

But the way the race has progressed  the bitterness, the divisiveness, the name-calling and insults  the attitude of Republican mega-moneymen may be changing. Some are apparently so dispirited at recent polls showing both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz being thrashed by a Democrat in the general election that they plan to sit out the presidential race and concentrate instead on keeping the House in Republican hands.

Politico:

On Friday morning, during a meeting of the groups board, Arthur Finkelstein, an iconic Republican strategist who has advised numerous politicians over the past four decades, presented polling data that showed Donald Trump sitting at historically low approval numbers among American Jews, according to three attendees who described the off-the-record meeting. Ted Cruz, despite an aggressive recent push to court Jews, fared little better. Following the nearly 30-minute presentation, the group turned to a discussion about whats next in the race. While some in the room spoke in favor of Cruz, others expressed reservations about his prospects in the general election. Trump, meanwhile, had little support: Not one person volunteered to raise money for him if he were the nominee. Over the course of the weekend, some of the partys disappointed and most sought-after contributors said they may be done with the 2016 race. Mel Sembler, a Florida real estate executive and former U.S. ambassador, said that after helping to bankroll Jeb Bushs campaign, he had turned his attention to defeating a local medical-marijuana initiative. Thats my focus for the rest of this year, he said. Easily the biggest holdout, though, is Adelson. Despite spending more than $100 million on the 2012 campaign  some of it on former House Speaker Newt Gingrichs unsuccessful primary effort that year  the 82-year-old mogul has yet to pick a favorite 2016 candidate. His advisers say that he will not endorse anyone until the Republican nomination is decided, at the earliest. Adelson, an unpredictable and enigmatic figure who is the 22nd richest person in the world, has offered few hints about how hell try to influence the campaign. While the RJC spring meeting is traditionally a celebration of Adelson, with politicians of all stripes venturing to the Venetian to pay homage, this years was different. On Thursday evening, Adelson hosted some of the organizations top officials at his palatial mansion. While former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussed how fractured parties can unite, Adelson listened but said little, according to three people who were present. And on Friday, rather than preside over the deliberations, Adelson and his wife, Miriam, departed for a wedding.

It's true Trump hasn't had to spend much money, given his titanic advantage with free media. But he has kept his spending in check at the expense of building a national campaign. Hillary Clinton will raise and spend more than a billion dollars in an effort to win the presidency. Can Trump  or Cruz  match that figure?

Not without several of those moneymen, who are seriously examining their options for 2016. It's too early to say whether the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency wouldn't change many of those gentlemen's minds about contributing. But it should worry the entire Republican party that the guts of its financial infrastructure is questioning whether contributing to the party's nominee is worth it.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump found themselves in the middle of an abortion debate. Frankly, it's impossible to talk about abortion without both sides unleashing the political equivalent of nuclear weapons, as Camille Paglia wrote this week:

The real issue is that U.S. politics have been entangled and strangled for far too long by the rote histrionics of the abortion wars, which have raged since Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that defined abortion as a womans constitutional right under the 14th Amendment. While I am firmly pro-choice and support unrestricted access to abortion, I have been disturbed and repelled for decades by the way reproductive rights have become an ideological tool ruthlessly exploited by my own party, the Democrats, to inflame passions, raise money, and drive voting. This mercenary process began with the Senate confirmation hearings for three Supreme Court candidates nominated by Republican presidents: Robert Bork in 1987, David Souter in 1990, and Clarence Thomas in 1991. (Bork was rejected, while Souter and Thomas were approved.) Those hearings became freak shows of feminist fanaticism, culminating in the elevation to martyr status of Anita Hill, whose charges of sexual harassment against Thomas still seem to me flimsy and overblown (and effectively neutralized by Hills following Thomas to another job). Abortion was the not-so-hidden motivation of the Democratic operatives who pushed a reluctant Hill forward and fanned the flames in the then monochromatically liberal mainstream media. It was that flagrant abuse of the Senate confirmation process that sparked the meteoric rise of conservative talk radio, led by Rush Limbaugh, who provided an alternative voice in what was then (pre-Web) a homogenized media universe.

Miss Paglia is right about the problem. However, she fails to prescribe the solution  overturning Roe v. Wade so that state legislatures can debate and compromise their way to an abortion answer that most people can live with. For example, I don't believe in abortion. At the same time, I'd be a lot more comfortable if a legislature, rather than a judge, would have legalized abortion.

By the way, that's what most countries have done! They've legalized abortion but put limits on when it can happen  before the first trimester for example.

Roe v. Wade was the worst of all outcomes, as evidenced by the divisions that do not go away. David Brooks wrote about this during the Alito hearings of 2005:

Justice Harry Blackmun did more inadvertent damage to our democracy than any other 20th-century American. When he and his Supreme Court colleagues issued the Roe v. Wade decision, they set off a cycle of political viciousness and counter-viciousness that has poisoned public life ever since, and now threatens to destroy the Senate as we know it. When Blackmun wrote the Roe decision, it took the abortion issue out of the legislatures and put it into the courts. If it had remained in the legislatures, we would have seen a series of state-by-state compromises reflecting the views of the centrist majority that's always existed on this issue. These legislative compromises wouldn't have pleased everyone, but would have been regarded as legitimate. Yes, Miss Paglia is right that our politics is ugly, in large part because of Roe v Wade. I'm not suggesting that an abortion debate in a state legislature would have been pretty but the ultimate decision would have had the legitimacy that Roe v Wade never had. At the very least, the losers would have had the opportunity to organize and fight back in the next election or legislative term.

Miss Paglia took a step in the right direction. Now she needs to call for the overturning of Roe v. Wade so that we can find an abortion solution that she and I can be happy with.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
While Google continues to remain the single largest company within the Alphabet fold, there are numerous other businesses that the company is involved in, and one of them happens to be the Gigabit internet service called Fiber. For those unaware of the tech giants high-speed broadband service, Google Fiber started commercial operations in the Kansas City metropolitan area back in 2011, and has since expanded to only a couple of other locations around the country, including Provo, UT and Austin, TX. While Google has been slow to roll out its service to more areas around the country, the company has already announced plans to take its Gigabit FTTH (Fiber to the Home) services to at least seven other locations including, but not limited to, Atlanta, GA; San Antonio, TX; San Francisco, CA and Huntsville, AL.

While Google is toying around with the idea of taking its high-speed broadband services to more locations around the country, people in at least one existing Fiber city has lost out on a pretty compelling deal the company had been offering in at least three of the markets its currently operating in. According to reports this weekend, Google will be making a significant change to how its prices its Fiber services in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The company will reportedly no longer offer the free broadband option that allowed subscribers to pay a one-time construction fee of $300 or 12 payments of $25 each over the period of one year and get seven years of free 5 Mbps broadband without having to pay any further monthly charges. It isnt immediately known whether Google intends to implement the policy in other locations as well.

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While no reasons have been attributed to Googles impending move, a company spokesperson is understood to have confirmed the report, meaning from now on, new subscribers in Kansas City will no longer be able to sign up for the free broadband scheme. Although, those who have already signed up will continue to receive their free services for the duration of the contract. Instead of the free tier, Google has added a new 100 Mbps option at $50 per month, and the Gigabit option will continue to be offered at $70 per month. One important point to note here is that Google says it is committed to its stance of wiring low-income neighborhoods free of charge, so qualifying families will continue to receive broadband for free or at just $10 per month (plus taxes) thanks to an initiative from the federal government last year.
South Korean electronics major, LG Electronics, has announced that it expects its operating profits for Q1, 2016 to be 66% higher on a YoY basis, boosted by a favorable exchange rate and a healthy growth in its consumer electronics business, even as display panel prices kept falling amidst growing competition. The company, however says that it expects its overall revenues during the quarter to fall 4.5% YoY to 13.4 trillion won ($1.17 billion), partly due to lower operating costs. According to an official filing with the South Korean regulators on Monday, LG Electronics said that it expects a profit of 505 billion won ($441 million) in the first three months of this year, which would be a significant improvement over an average estimate of 408 billion won ($356 million) from an earlier Reuters survey of 25 analysts.

The company is slated to announce its first quarter results officially later this month and if the audited results do match up to LGs claims, the numbers would mean that the past quarter was its best in terms of overall profitability since Q2, 2014. One important thing to note here is that the companys mobile devices unit is still not expected to turn profitable this quarter, given the massive marketing spend on the recently-launched LG G5. However, analysts are hopeful that the latest premium smartphone from LG Electronics will be a success for the company, which will then add to its bottom-line in the forthcoming quarters.

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LG Corporation is one of the three largest and best-known conglomerates headquartered in South Korea, alongside the likes of Samsung and Hyundai. The group has a number of varied business interests ranging from insurance to telecom and chemicals to electronics. However, the most well-known LG Corp. unit outside of South Korea is unquestionably its consumer electronics unit which designs, manufactures and markets devices ranging from televisions to refrigerators and smartphones to microwave ovens. LGs electronics unit also happens to be one of the most reputable manufacturers of display panels meant for televisions, computer monitors and smartphones. While its smartphone business is yet to reach the same heights as that of its fellow South Korean rival, Samsung Electronics, the company will be hoping that its latest premium handset will be a hot commodity among consumers this year thanks to its unique modular design and high-end hardware.
Last week, we reported that the roll out of Android 6.0 Marshmallow would be hitting the LG V10 beginning this Monday (which is today). And right on schedule, the Marshmallow update is now available. While Marshmallow did release last October on the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, it looks like many carrier devices are just getting their updates now. With the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge on T-Mobile getting the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update today as well.

As is normal with large updates to LG devices, the update is available over-the-air, but also via the LG Bridge app which you can download from LGs website. The LG Bridge app will have you install the latest version of Android on the LG V10, by having it connected to your computer. Its actually a pretty simple process, just make sure you follow it step by step, and in a short while youll have Android 6.0 Marshmallow on your LG V10. Of course, if you dont want to go through all of that to get Marshmallow, you can just wait for the update to hit your device, which should be happening at some point this week. On T-Mobiles software update page on their site, they list the Marshmallow update for the LG V10 as approved and rolling out. But in when looking for a changelog, it has not been updated. So it looks like we should see that change in a few hours (or even minutes).

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Those that might be wondering whats new in Marshmallow, well quite a bit. The big features are Doze and Now on Tap. With Google Now on Tap, you can access Google Now from virtually anywhere in the OS. Just press and hold the home button and you have Google Now available to you. This is especially useful if you have a package from Amazon that shipped. Simply highlight the tracking number and Google Now on Tap will give you a shortcut to the carrier thats going to deliver your package. All without having to search yourself. With Doze, youll get a much better standby experience on the battery for your device. Seeing as Doze lets your phone go into a deep sleep when youre not using it. Especially useful on tablets, but also great on smartphones.

Head on over to Settings > About Phone > System Updates and pull down the update for the LG V10 today!
When Nintendo first announced that they would be exploring the idea of launching games and apps on mobile platforms, the gaming world was understandably intrigued. While big names like Sony and Microsoft have had games and apps available on Android and iOS for some time now, Nintendo has been infamously stubborn, up until now that is. Miitomo, the Android app that channels the popular Mii avatars that first debuted with the Wii back in 2006, has helped to put Nintendo on the mobile map and has even gone towards boosting their bottom line a little bit. This is just the first of a handful of apps and games planned for mobile platforms, and it already looks like a successful launch.

It was first launched in Japan  as with pretty much everything else from Nintendo  but its been available in the US and elsewhere for almost a week now. Despite this short time frame, its reckoned that Miitomo has already surpassed 1.6 Million downloads, according to tracking firm Sensor Tower. The Google Play Store lists Miitomo in the 1 Million to 5 Million downloads category, which is fairly vague to say the least. Regardless of which metric is more accurate or useful, the new Miitomo app is off to a great start from Nintendo, and should it continue to prove popular it could help Nintendo wake up to the opportunity that mobile platforms like Android have to offer their users.

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Another of Nintendos upcoming games is Pokemon Go and theres word from Nintendo themselves that select franchises and characters will make the move over to mobile in due course. Sony has seemingly taken a similar step recently as well, but theres little known about what Nintendos staunch rival has in the works for the mobile world, especially after the failure that was PlayStation Mobile. Big name publishers have already been pushing franchises on mobile for some time now, such as EAs FIFA franchise and Square-Enixs Final Fantasy games from yesteryear. Now, Nintendo is fashionably late to the party, but the Japanese brand has an almost Disney-class set of characters and brand on offer, so were sure Miitomo will surpass that 5 Million download barrier in no time.
Netflix has long been a popular service for streaming video content, but compared to services like Showtime or HBO, it hasnt been offering original programming for the nearly the same length of time. In fact, HBO has generally been the unrivaled king at the top of the hill when it comes to original programming that you cant find anywhere else. Netflix has been dabbling in original programming for more than a few years now though and its been catching up in terms of popularity. More than just gaining popularity, a new survey about streaming media services put out by Morgan Stanley today showcases that the original shows coming from Netflix are now considered better than that of the content coming from HBO.

Although HBOs Game of Thrones is likely to be a chart topper out of single shows that is hard to beat, when it comes to the overall scope of whats on offer, Netflix seems to be winning out. The survey shows Netflix had increased its standing to the number one spot with a 29% share of the surveyed population which thinks they produce the best original content. Netflix was followed by HBO with 18%, Hulu, Showtime, and Amazon had somewhere around 4%-5%, with Starz ranking last at about 2% popularity for original shows.

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The survey from Morgan Stanley is the sixth annual survey which ranks non-cable and premium channels for original programming in the streaming services market, and the survey included only U.S. adults at a total number of 2,501 people. Netflix has been focusing heavily on putting out as much original content as they can, and will continue to focus on original content for 2016 with 31 original shows and over 600 total hours of original programming that will be available across the length of the year. Alongside showing Netflix is now the most popular streaming service for its original shows, it also displayed that about 45% Netflix subscribers are keeping their memberships going not because of the library of movies and other TV series, but because of the original programming. Coming up in May, Netflix plans to introduce a new data saver feature which will help members watch even more of these shows without taking away as much of their data. Netflix memberships are also sure to rise thanks to the promotion that Samsung ran, offering up three months of Netflix for free for those who purchased the Samsung Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge.
Over the past five to ten years it has become crystal clear that patents are where not only a lot of money is hold up, but where the future of a firm may lie. Some of the biggest firms all over the world know this only too well, and in the case of Apple and Samsung, patents that pre-date the smartphone have been used to argue over who copied who in terms of design. Samsung suffered not only financial losses as a result of their battles with Samsung, but no doubt a bruised ego, too. It seems as though Samsung has taken this lesson to heart however, as the South Korean firm is now filing more patents than they ever have done, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) puts them at the top spot for 2015, filing more patents than anyone else.

Its important to remember that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) only saw Samsung join in 2014, but even so in the report from 2015 Samsung is credited as filing 1,132 different design patents. This figure eclipses the second place holder  who might come as a surprise as being the Swatch group  with just 532 filings. Rounding out the top three was Fonkel with 438 different filings. As mentioned, Samsung only joined the WIPO in 2014, along with the rest of South Korea which ranked a respectable fourth place in terms of overall rankings by country. The top three places went to Germany, Switzerland and France which filed 3,453, 3,316 and 1,317 filings each, respectively.

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This is perhaps another great example of Samsung look ahead to the future, but it also just goes to show how many patents a company of Samsungs size can file in just a single year. After all, Samsung is not just all about their smartphone business, and find success in household appliances as well as many other areas of technology. Filing the right patents is not only essentially to protecting your own intellectual property, but can  as the likes of Microsoft and Apple have proven  lead to some extra income further down the line through licensing or high-profile court cases in the extreme.
Manchester United got Van Gaal and Spurs get to dream

Does Louis Van Gaal regret turning down Spurs in 2014? The challenge was bigger for me at Manchester United and shall always be bigger, says Van Gaal. Im sorry for Tottenham but Manchester United is a bigger club.

Spurs fans celebrating a rare 3-0 win over Van Gaals Man United must be gutted. They could have had hammer-headed Van Gaal and his ego instead of young Mauricio Pochettino and his vision.

Of course, Van Gaal was not boasting about Manchester United. He was put on the spot by a journalist. The Dutchman soon turned on the reporter. It is a little bit pathetic you asked that, he sniped. Its easy to ask that but, ok, you enjoy yourself.

Van Gaal then added: Can we finish fourth? Yes, because we have 18 points available. Its more difficult than before the match, thats for sure. Everybody can lose to everybody else. We are still in the race.

How far United have fallen to be in the race for fourth. They are, says the Times, clueless. Their capitulation more akin to the Spurs of old.

Spurs, meanwhile, can dream of winning the title for the first time since President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.

Can they do it? Yes.

Tottenham have scored the most goals and conceded the fewest in the Premier League this season. Six teams have achieved that in the Premier League era. Five times  Manchester United in 2001 and 2008, Arsenal in 2004, Chelsea in 2006 and Manchester City in 2012  that team won the title. On the other occasion, United finished second in 1998.

Anorak

Posted: 11th, April 2016 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports, Spurs Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Verona, April 11 - Italy beats France when it comes to wine, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday while visiting the 50th edition of the Vinitaly wine fair in Verona.

"Our wine is better than French wine," Renzi said.

Renzi said that when he told French President Francois Hollande the same thing, Hollande replied "ours is more expensive".

"Game, set, match to him," Renzi joked about the traditional rivalry with France, which was outstripped by Italy in 2015 as the world's biggest producer of wine.

Italy harvested the equivalent of 48.8 million hectoliters of wine, up 13% on the previous year, while French vintners harvested 46.45 million, down 1% on 2014.

During his visit to the exhibition, the premier told ANSA that Italy's goal is to reach 50 billion euros in food and wine exports by 2020, up from 36.9 billion today.


Tunis summit to support Libyan national unity gov't 12/4 To decide priorities for international assistance

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, APRIL 11 - Tunis will on Tuesday host an international conference of ''high-ranking officials'' to support the Libyan national unity government.



Representatives from about 40 Western and Arab countries will take part, as well as 15 financial institutions and regional and international organizations, according to a statement issued by the Tunisian foreign ministry, which noted that the event will serve as a chance to reaffirm Tunisia's support for the Libyan national unity government at all levels to respond to the Libyan populations aspirations in terms of the security, stability and dignity of the country. The conference, organized under the aegis of the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Tunis-headquartered British embassy in Libya, will help to identify priorities for international assistance to Libya and coordinate the mostly humanitarian and economic aid requested by the national unity government under Fayez Al-Sarraj. (ANSAmed).




ROME - The UAE firm Emaar Properties has presented a project in Dubai for the tallest skyscraper in the world, which would be higher than the current holder of the title, the Burj Khalifa.



Reports were from local media. The firm, which also built the Burj Khalifa, aims to complete the building before the Dubai World Expo in 2020. The skyscraper will be located in a residential area with shops along a 6-kilometer stretch yet to be built. It will have a panoramic platform and 20 levels set aside entirely for restaurants and hotels, though Emaar has not yet said how tall it will be. ''The height will be announced when we inaugurate the tower.



However, i will be slightly taller than the Buj Khalifa,'' Emmar chief Mohamed Alabbar said.



Inaugurated in 2010 and built at a cost of 1.5 billion dollars, the Burj Khalifa is one of Dubai's attractions: over 14 million tourists visited in 2015 alone. The new skyscraper, which will be called 'The Tower' and which is expected to cost one billion dollars, was designed by the naturalized Swiss architect of Spanish origins Santiago Calatrava Valls, who also built the World Trade Center subway stop. The design was inspired by the shapes of a lily and a minaret. The UAE and Saudi Arabia seem to be competing to see who can build the tallest skyscraper. Jeddah will inaugurate the tallest building in the world by 2019, which will include residential areas, offices and hotels.




Turkey refuses deal w/Israel unless it lifts Gaza blockade After progress announced towards normalization of relations

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, APRIL 11 - Turkey will not drop its demand for an end to the blockade of Gaza in order to normalize relations with Israel, President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Monday.



''What is happening in Gaza is unacceptable. The Israeli occupation must end,'' he said. Turkey's foreign ministry had on Friday issued a statement after the latest round of talks with Israeli envoys in London, saying that the agreement would be finalized in the next meeting, ''which will be called soon''. (ANSAmed).




Italy-Tunisia business forum in Tunis 8-9/5 Gov't officials-enterprise delegation for investment

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, APRIL 11 - As announced by Foreign Undersecretary Vincenzo Amendola during a recent visit to the Tunisian capital, an Italian business mission to the country will be conducted on May 8-9. Taking part will be the employers association Confindustria, the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), the Italian Banking Association (ABI) and other bodies working for internationalization. The aim is to explore business opportunities offered by the Tunisian market as concerns trade as well as industrial partnerships and investment. The mission, accompanied by a large government delegation, is under the patronage of the economic development and foreign affairs ministries. Italy is currently Tunisia's second top investor and second top trade partner of Tunisia. Trade last year totalled about 5.5 billion euros, and over 800 Italian enterprises are working in the country. Emerging sectors in Tunisia - which could offer new, significant opportunities for Italian enterprises - include: renewable energy development, waste valorization and disposal and water treatment. (ANSAmed).




Jordan: Tlc Orange records a 62% drop in annual profit

(ANSAmed) - AMMAN, APRIL 11 - Jordan telecommunication giant Orange has recorded a drop of 62% in annual profit, to net around $22 million during 2015 fiscal year, company records showed on Monday.



Total revenues before taxes and operation cost of 2015 reached up to $476 million, which represent a drop of %2.1 compared to the results of 2014, company records showed.



The low profit turn-over has been attributed to increased operation costs including high frequency rates enforced by the government, renewing the aging network and a drop in number of subscribers in fixed lines, company officials said. Company officials also said the rise in electricity bill and rising taxation contributed to the decline in their revenues.



The company will start distributing share profits to its stakeholders on May 5, according to Orange chief executive officer Raslan Deiranya.



Orange has recently announced it was reducing its capital by $93 million and plans to distribute the surplus cash to stakeholders later this year. (ANSAmed).




LONDON - At least 21 Christians were killed by Islamic State fighters in the Syrian city of Al-Qaryatain before it was retaken last week by regime and allied troops backed by Russian air support, the BBC reported on Monday. The head of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, told the BBC that some had been killed as they were trying to escape and others when they broke the terms of their ''dhimmi contracts'', which which require them to submit to the rule of Islam.

The city had been retaken early last week. The patriarch said that almost 300 Christians had remained in the city after it was taken by ISIS in August 2015. Some managed to escape while others died trying and others - the patriarch said based on accounts from people in the city - had been killed for refusing the rules of their ''dhimmi contracts'', which impose restrictions and require them to pay a tax in exchange for ''protection''. The patriarch said that at least three women were among those killed and noted that warnings had come that ISIS planned to sell Christian girls into slavery.



Some Christians are currently missing and feared dead. Al-Qaryatayn has in the months since it was taken by ISIS suffered serious damage, including the destruction of a 1,500-year-old Christian monastery.

Syrian regime 'open to peace talks without pre-conditions' on Assad's future role

BEIRUT - Syria on Monday reiterated its position of being open to talks with opposition groups ''without pre-conditions'', Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem said in receiving UN envoy Staffan De Mistura in Damascus on Monday.

An upcoming round of negotiations in Geneva aimed at ending the country's five-year war is scheduled to resume this week. The talks are expected to resume following an initial round last month in the Swiss city in which the parties involved spoke individually to De Mistura but without direct contact between them. The UN envoy last week expressed the hope that the latest round would concentrate on the beginning of an actual political transition.

The central issue remains the role that President Bashar Al-Assad will have in the transition, with opposition groups demanding that he leave and the government refusing to discuss the matter. ''Al-Moallem affirmed that the Syrian people are confident in their right to decide their future and the inevitability of their victory over ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and, other terrorist organizations which continue to breach the cessation of hostilities agreement under directives from their sponsors in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and others,'' the government-run news agency SANA reported. .

Y36/
Migrants: rights 'cannot be expropriated', says court chief 'Italian constitution based on rights even for the weakest'

(ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 11 - Constitutional Court chief Paolo Grossi said Monday that the Italian constitution provides right to even the weakest in society that cannot be expropriated.



The comment came in response to a question about the current situation concerning migrants in Europe.



Grossi, who has handed down many rulings on immigrant rights, underscored that the question must be raised as to ''whether or not this social state is threatened by an economics-centered vision coming from Europe. What defense can the Italian judicial system - based on certain values - have compared with overly economics-based positions in a Europe that perhaps has an inherent defect, that of being born as a market? We must preserve the signs of a constitutional identity wherever we find them.'' (ANSAmed).




Seselj barred from entering Kosovo after ICTY acquittal Serbian ultra-nationalist 'persona non-grata' in Croatia

(ANSAmed) - PRISTINA, APRIL 11 - Kosovo authorities have declared the Serbian ultra-nationalist Vojislav Seselj persona non-grata and barred him from entering the country. Seselj was unexpectedly acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on March 31.



He was found not guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Kosovo's Minister of Foreign Affairs Petrit Selimi said that ''Seselj's entry is not allowed for reasons that are tragically clear for the thousands of victims of his lethal words and deeds in the Balkans''.



Croatia also barred Seselj from entering the country after his acquittal. (ANSAmed).




Syrian regime 'open to peace talks without pre-conditions' On Assad's future role; foreign minister meets with UN envoy

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, APRIL 11 - Syria on Monday reiterated its position of being open to talks with opposition groups ''without pre-conditions'', Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem said in receiving UN envoy Staffan De Mistura in Damascus on Monday.



An upcoming round of negotiations in Geneva aimed at ending the country's five-year war is scheduled to resume this week. The talks are expected to resume following an initial round last month in the Swiss city in which the parties involved spoke individually to De Mistura but without direct contact between them. The UN envoy last week expressed the hope that the latest round would concentrate on the beginning of an actual political transition. The central issue remains the role that President Bashar Al-Assad will have in the transition, with opposition groups demanding that he leave and the government refusing to discuss the matter. ''Al-Moallem affirmed that the Syrian people are confident in their right to decide their future and the inevitability of their victory over ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and, other terrorist organizations which continue to breach the cessation of hostilities agreement under directives from their sponsors in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and others,'' the government-run news agency SANA reported. (ANSAmed).




TUNIS - Tunis will on Tuesday host an international conference of ''high-ranking officials'' to support the Libyan national unity government.

Representatives from about 40 Western and Arab countries will take part, as well as 15 financial institutions and regional and international organizations, according to a statement issued by the Tunisian foreign ministry, which noted that the event will serve as a chance to reaffirm Tunisia's support for the Libyan national unity government at all levels to respond to the Libyan populations aspirations in terms of the security, stability and dignity of the country.

The conference, organized under the aegis of the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Tunis-headquartered British embassy in Libya, will help to identify priorities for international assistance to Libya and coordinate the mostly humanitarian and economic aid requested by the national unity government under Fayez Al-Sarraj.


Mihai Gadea read during the Tuesday's edition of the show Daily summary, an open letter to the public opinion in Romania, but also to the head of DNA Laura Codruta Kovesi in which he draws attention to how some are trying to silence journalists and the media in general .

The content of the letter:

Wednesday, April 6, 2016, the Court of Appeal will hear the appeal in the case in which the head of DNA Laura Kovesi asked for the huge amount of 1,000,000 lei in moral damages, because during a telecast, some journalists asked questions and issued opinions absolutely normal in a democratic society to a public event commented by the entire press.

We were forced in the appearance before judge Crina Buricea from the Bucharest Court , to pay damages of 250,000 (about 60,000 euros), a colossal sum which the applicant Laura Kovesi could not justify. She admitted before the court that she cannot bring evidence in support of her damages claim. She has filed no document to prove the damages, but she was granted damages payment in an amount equivalent to that of an apartment in the capital, the highest amount ever paid in a press case file.

This was a mock trial. Judge Crina Buricea could not indicate in the sentence the evidence by which the applicant has proved our deed wrongful. Against us, a simple inspection report by SCM was used that Laura Kovesi had her reputation defended from comments published in all the media in June 2014 on the complaints made to against her and the president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice Livia Stanciu, by the inmate Sandu Anghel.

The whole sentence is but a transposition of the SCM Inspection Report for the defense of the reputation of Mrs Kovesi, a civil penalty sentence, in a court action in which our defenses did not matter, only what was written in that report. SCM is responsible by law to determine whether journalists are guilty and the SCM Inspection materials about the press are issued unilaterally, in all cases without hearing the journalists accused of having impaired the independence of the judiciary.

We note before the public that journalists are no longer judged on the evidence presented in court, but on inspection reports produced by SCM - which does not have the task of establishing liability of individuals and cannot be delivered by res judicata - when it comes to m such as the head of DNA Laura Kovesi.

We appealed against the unjust sentence in the first trial. In the first hearing of 03/23/2016 our judging was forced as urgent after we were absolutely rejected all defense evidence required.

Even the records of the trial held at the Bucharest Court  with which we intend to prove that Laura Kovesi said in the courtroom that she cannot prove that she has suffered injury - we were denied access to them, as we have been refused access to the same records all the while case was at the Bucharest Court. We have been virtually been banned access to personal files.

What fair trial can we expect in the appeal ,when no evidence has been admitted to the file and all the support documents we submitted were rejected? The journalists were ordered to pay damages even those who made no statement against applicant Kovesi.

It came as a huge surprise to see after the trial ended that one of the judges in the judges panel who rejecte all our evidence, judge Andreea Doris Tomescu used to be a DNA prosecutor and she became judge by the endorsement given by SCM, whose member used to be the applicant Laura Kovesi, during the time she served as prosecutor general.

Judge Andreea Doris Tomescu did not understand to recuse herself although it is common knowledge that the applicant Laura Kovesi, as head of DNA, attacked 2015 with an appeal for anulement the final sentence for the acquittal of Mariana Rarinca, on the grounds tha one of the appeal judes was in incompatibility for the mere fact that three years before the acquittal sentence was ruled she ha had a contradictory talk during a SCM meeting with the injured party Livia Stanciu.

The appeal for annulment was admissible in the Rarinca case on grounds of incompatibility of the judge, the reason stated, but here a case in which the head of DNA is the applicant, it is normal to undergo trial before a former DNA prosecutor whom she endorsed as a judge.





Obviously, we cannot hope for a fair trial, given that the issue of our innocence is not supported by evidence in the file, but by who judges us, justice becomes a lottery in which you have the chance or the bad luck to come across certain judges.

This open letter aims to signal a warning to the society about the way we believe we are harassed in courts by the head of DNA Laura Kovesi without taking into consideration as evidence the defense materials we have submitted nor the appearance of a fair trial.





Signed by,

Mihai Gadea

Radu Tudor

Bianca Nae

Mugur Ciuvica

Razvan Savaliuc








There is information about the Romanians who hid their wealth in tax havens. The Panama Papers scandal features the names of Romanians like: Frank Timis, Ion Sturza or Iacubov Cornelius.

The Panama Papers belong to one of the strongest companies in the world of law, Mossack Fonseca in Panama. The company is one of the greatest creators of front companies and off-shore structures to hide the true beneficiaries and their property.

The documents covered by these revelations - which were analyzed by over 370 journalists from 78 countries - belong to Mossack Fonseca, a powerful law firm of legal services, headquartered in Panama with subsidiaries in over 35 countries. According to the Rise Project site, over a hundred Romanians hid their wealth in tax havens.

A first name that stands out is that of Romanian billionaire Frank Timis, who would be behind the ownership structure of Rafo refinery. The business initiator of the Rosia Montana business used a company founded in Bahamas by lawyers Mossack Fonseca, to start a business in Romania in 1997.

The papers also feature the name of Iacobov Cornelius, sentenced to seven years imprisonment in the case of prejudicing the refinery.

Another name on the list with hidden accounts is businessmen Benjamin Steinmetz . With a fortune of over two billion dollars, he is considered the richest man in Israel, and he raised his fortune helped by Romanians.

The National Journal writes Tuesday that a Romanian lawyer has worked with the famous law firm Mossack Fonseca. Ernest-Virgil Popovici is a highly influential practitioner involved in market privatization, investment, real estate developments and IT was one of the toughest clients of the law firm Mossak Fonseka. The company is one of the biggest creators of front companies and offshore structures that hide the true beneficiaries and their property.

WHO ARE THE ROMANIANS IN THE PANAMA PAPERS

Frank Timis

- initiator of the Rosia Montana business

- involved in scandals such as the Matser-Tender business, the PETROM privatization, the RAFO-VGBdeal and the Regal Petroleum deal

- he was declared the richest Romanian in 2011, with a wealth estimated at over 1 billion euro

- he had several deals in the mining business Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso

Ion Sturza

- former prime minister of the Republic of Moldova

- in 2002, together with the Rompetrol group, he set up the Rompetrol Moldova company

- in 2009, he set up the Fribourg Capital Investment Fund

- he had an estimate wealth of 90-95 million euros

Corneliu Iacubov

- ex politician and businessman

- finally sentenced to serve seven years in prison in the bankruptcy case of the Rafo Onesti refinery




The general prosecutors announce the reopening of the investigations in the Revolution case file: Documents have not been declassified





Acting General Prosecutor of Romania, Bogdan Licu, announced Tuesday afternoon, in a press statement that he has asked to reopen the prosecution proceedings in the case file of the '89 Revolution.

Bogdan Licu criticized how the events of 1989 were investigated before, showing that there were samples and supporting documents from several institutions of the Romanian state that have not been presented before the court.

"The way the investigation was conducted does not comply with the European Court of Human Rights. Searches are to be conducted on the count of genocide because there are reliable clues to that effect since the offenses of murder and murder in the first degree have become imprescriptible " said Bogdan Licu.

However, interim attorney general also said that although "prosecutors conducted a large number of procedural actions in the case", they "have not made use of a great deal of information".

"They did not take any approach to declassify the documents from the senatorial committee hearings under the circumstances were thousands of hearings were conducted in this committee, and despite the fact that SRI compiled a comprehensive document, it is not in the file of the criminal investigation nor is there any indication that any approach was taken to have it obtained, "said the acting Attorney general

According to him, most of the hearings that were conducted in this case were "synthetic and formal" and "shooters have not been identified". He also said that the ammunition that was used was not identified, nor were the weapons used to fire with.




Tokes Laszlo does not give up the "Star of Romania" and asks Klaus Iohannis to reconsider the title withdrawing





MEP Laszlo Tokes said Monday in Oradea, that he asks President Klaus Iohannis to reconsider the decision to withdraw the Order 'Star of Romania', announcing that he has applied for international protection.

"I submitted a preliminary complaint to Klaus Iohannis to review his decision on the withdrawal of my distinction. I have my strong arguments. For example, the order may be withdrawn as a result of actions committed. I have not committed any violation against the decoration Star of Romania and the reason for my awarding, namely my role in the 1989 revolution, cannot be disputed, "said Tokes, in a press conference, according to stiripesurse.ro.

MEP Tokes said that the Bucharest Court rejected his complaint filed against Colonel Filip Teodorescu, one of the former leaders of the Security, and Ioan Talpes, former director of SIE, whom he called 'traitors' and 'foreign spies' in a television program.

More on stiripesurse.ro.






In a statement, Gulf Air , said it strongly denies rumours circulating via social media that one of its planes collided with a Kuwait Airways aircraft on the Kuwait airport runway Reports and videos claiming to portray such events are erroneous. The airlines six-times daily Bahrain-Kuwait service is operating as per the airlines schedule, the statement said.

The airline would like to reiterate its ongoing commitment to the safety, protection and comfort of our passengers and employees.

An Arabian Aerospace analyst said the image was "merely an illusion created as one aircraft landing passed behind another that was holding at an intersection."


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The news first denounced by the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II. The killings date back to the time of the siege of the town and in the following weeks. Fr. Michel: "Ongoing negotiations to free the hostages, but the situation is confusing." Uncertainty over their fate. The militia reported to have tried to sell the Christian women as slaves.



Homs (AsiaNews) - The Christian victims in the hands of the Islamic state were killed at the time of the "siege" of Al-Qaryatayn and "weeks after" the seizure of power of the jihadists. This is what is denounced to AsiaNews by Fr. Michel Noman, a priest in Homs. His diocese is home to the town that was recently freed by the Syrian army with the help of Russian air raids.

Yesterday in an interview with the BBC, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II said that at least 21 Christians were killed by Islamic State (IS) in al-Qaryatayn (central Syria); some of them were killed in an escape attempt; others killed for refusing to convert to Islam. The victims include three women.



Fr. Michel adds that there is still "a group of Christians in the hands of the Islamic State. There are ongoing behind the scenes negotiations  he continues - to try to free them, but the situation is complicated. We do not even know for sure if they are still alive, or dead. " The priest also stresses that "it is difficult" to understand why the jihadists have killed the Christians, perhaps "because they put up opposition, or for other reasons. Things are getting confused with the IS".

Al-Qaryatayn ( "The two villages" in Arabic) is located in the governorate of Homs, in central Syria, a country battered by five years of civil war that has caused 260 thousand deaths and millions of refugees. In August, the militias of the Islamic State conquered the area, causing serious damage to the monastery of Mar Elian, an ancient building of the Christian tradition, which houses the relics of this saint who was martyred by the Romans for not having renounced his faith.



The monastery, demolished with bulldozers by jihadists who posted images of the destruction online, had long been under the guidance of Fr. Jacques Mourad, a priest of the Syrian Catholic Church, who was kidnapped and held for months by the IS militias. In recent days, a Christian delegation visited the area, telling AsiaNews of a "total devastation" with damage everywhere, "in the church, the monastery, the center" for visitors and pilgrims.

In the words of the Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, the 300 Christians left in the city after the capture of Daesh [Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, ed] were immediately subjected to abuse and violence by the jihadists. Those who tried to escape, or would not convert to Islam or submit to the rules of the "Caliphate" were killed.

The militiamen also reportedly attempted to sell the Christian girls as "slaves"; according to some sources, there are Christians missing, but hopes of finding them alive are almost nil.



Al-Qaryatayn, which once had 30 thousand inhabitants, of which a thousand Christians, has long been a symbol of religious coexistence although today it is a ghost town, the shops destroyed, buildings damaged or collapsed under the intense fighting. According to legend with the arrival of the Arabs in the region in the sixth century A.D. one of the two most important families of the city converted to Islam, while the other remained Christian, with the aim to protect each other from external attacks. Today the area is considered a strategic hub of Homs province and is rich in subsoil deposits.
by Nirmala Carvalho

The archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences told AsiaNews that the apostolic exhortation endorses the social doctrine of the Church in continuity with the teachings of his predecessors. It is an important invitation to the laity and consecrated persons, who must study it to get a positive impact for their ministry.

Mumbai (AsiaNews)  Card Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, spoke to AsiaNews about Amoris Laetitia.

For the prelate, the apostolic exhortation "is a precious gift for our Church, as well as families and society in Asia, especially since it comes in this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

The document, which weaves together the deliberations of the two Synods on the family celebrated in 2014 and 2015, "endorses the social doctrine of the Church in continuity with the magisterium of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Under no circumstances does it represent a break with Catholic teaching.

It is also an invitation to apply the medicine of mercy and tenderness, by promoting an inclusive pastoral ministry that seeks out those who live on the margins.

For the cardinal, who holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Urbaniana University and a diploma in jurisprudence from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Amoris laetitia outlines clearly that marriage is joy, and blessing, a gift from God. Indeed, the Holy Father speaks of the beauty and the integrity of this sacrament.

Citing Pauls First Epistle to the Corinthians, the pontiff notes that love is more than a mere feeling (n. 94), but is instead a wilful commitment to embark on a definite path by addressing challenging things - being patient, putting aside envy and rivalry, caring about each other . . ."

In Asia, "families are traditionally very united. It is heartening that the pope connects family concerns with social concerns. He argues that families can only flourish if our societies are set up to support them.

It is essential that the Church in Asia get into the heart of this document. Bishops and priests can have a positive impact on our pastoral approach.

I would like to see our seminarians study this document, and undergo a change in mind-set and heart. Including rather than excluding is the heart of Jesus - a gift for Asia and India."
by Joseph Mahmoud

At least 350 young people take part in a meeting with the leader of the Chaldean Church. His Beatitude mentioned the consecrated life as a choice, urging young people to respond to the need of those who suffer. The Patriarchate slammed trafficking in Christian refugees, called for the liberation of jihadi-controlled areas to allow the return of displaced people.

Baghdad (AsiaNews)  Chaldean Patriarch Mar Raphael Louis Sako I met a group of young people in Baghdad over the weekend at the Hindyia Club as part of Easter activities.

In his address, the prelate told his audience that they are called to be "courageous witnesses" of their faith, because this is "your vocation and mission.

In his message to young Christians in the capital and the country, but also sent to AsiaNews for a wider audience, His Beatitude called on them to think seriously about consecrating your life to God through the priesthood and religious orders, or in consecrated life, adding, Your Church in Iraq is suffering and needs you.

The gathering took place last Friday (8 April), and saw the participation of the Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad, Mgr Basilios Yaldo, Fr Amer Gammo, Fr Meyassar Behnam, Fr Majid Maqdassi and Sister Ghufran, who worked hard to organise the meeting focused on spiritual and cultural education.

The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martin, and his secretary Mgr George were among the guests in addition to the Auxiliary Bishop Shleimon Warduni, as well as many of Iraqi priests, nuns and around 350 young people from different Baghdad parishes.

Addressing the youth, His Beatitude said that they represent the future of the Church and society: for this reason, it is important that they grow up the right way.

At the same time, they must maintain the faith, hope, determination, persistence and ability to cooperate." They must also prepare themselves for the environment where they work, building a mindful and strong personality grounded on truth and love to reach maturity through full understanding, analysing and consulting.

Stressing the need for full "harmony and healthy integration" between what they have inside and the outside, Patriarch Sako urged the young men and women to "educate yourselves with an open-minded general education, and not be trapped in a culture of gossip, suspicion, and rumours.

Set yourself a major goal, and work hard to achieve it, the head of the Chaldean Church explained, with a clear vision, confidence, and wisdom.

Finally, His Beatitude mentioned the importance of daily participation in the life of the Church and the constant bearing witness to the faith through listening to the word of God, prayer and participation in Church activities.

Meanwhile, the Chaldean Patriarchate released a statement to clarify the Church's position on the "deportation" of Christian refugees and the exodus taking place in the community.

Stressing the great work accomplished for the displaced from Mosul and the Nineveh plain, Mar Sako and the bishops called for international, regional and Iraqi cooperation" to free Iraqi territory held by the Islamic State group in order to allow families to return to their homes.

At a recent meeting of the Chaldean Church in Ankawa (Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan) on 5 April, the patriarch and bishops examined the refugee situation, calling on priests and clergymen not to get involved in plans that promote the flight of Christians.

Whilst respecting the responsible decisions of the people and their choices to emigrate following the civil and legal ways that protect their lives, the prelates slammed all those individuals and non-clerical groups who are misusing this tragic situation for economic, political, and media interests.
The ceasefire between the parties, mediated by the United Nations, enters into force today. Later this month peace talks will be held in Kuwait. Yesterday, 20 people died in crossfire. The conflict has killed more than 6,200 people, at least two million displaced people. Risk of "humanitarian catastrophe" in the country.

Sanaa (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Saudi-led coalition supporting government forces in Yemen and the Houthi rebels are both determined to "respect" the ceasefire, mediated by the United Nations, which comes into effect from today. Official sources and a spokesman for the coalition of Shiite rebels, close to Iran, have confirmed the entry into force of the ceasefire.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 6,200 people have been killed and at least two million displaced in a year of fighting. The United Nations warns of a strong risk of "humanitarian catastrophe" in Yemen.

International diplomacy is stepping up efforts to find a hard-won agreement between the parties. By the end of April it peace talks are slated to begin, to be held in Kuwait.



The UN special envoy in Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed welcomed the respite calling it "critical, urgent and very necessary". "Yemen - he added - cannot cope with the loss of more lives." In the context of the ceasefire, the Parties undertake to allow the entry of humanitarian aid and supplies to the most vulnerable areas.

Responding to an appeal by President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, the Saudi coalition claims to "respect the cease-fire", while reserving "the right to respond" to any rebel attacks.

Only yesterday, a few hours after the entry into force of the ceasefire, 20 people died in the crossfire between the parties.



Since January 2015, Yemen has been the scene of a bloody civil war pitting the countrys Sunni leadership, backed by Saudi Arabia, against Shia Houthi rebels, close to Iran.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels in an attempt to free the capital For Saudi Arabia, the Houthis, who are allied to forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are militarily supported by Iran, a charge the latter angrily rejects.

Groups linked to al Qaeda and jihadist militias linked to the Islamic State group are active in the country, which adds to the spiral of violence and terror.
Malaysian aviation authorities imposed a three-month suspension on the carrier for contravening civil aviation regulations. Launched in December, Rayani requires Muslim female crewmembers to wear the hijab, offers only halal food, and bans alcohol.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Malaysias Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) suspended the countrys first Sharia-compliant airline company.

"Rayani Air has been suspended for three months," said DCA director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman because "They contravened civil aviation regulations.

Launched in December 2015, the company requires Muslim flight crewmembers to wear the hijab whilst non-Muslim crew are forbidden from wearing revealing clothing. In-flight meals are completely halal and alcohol consumption is strictly banned.

In recent weeks, however, the carrier, which operates two Boeing 737-400s, has drawn increasing criticism from passengers and the government due to last-minute delays and cancellations. Its pilots have also gone on strike, further damaging its image.

The company on Monday said in a Facebook post that it was working hard to "to solve our internal matters and get Rayani back on track".

Malaysias Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai tweeted on Saturday that the DCA would conduct a safety audit before allowing the airline to fly again.

The "DCA will undertake a full administration and safety audit to determine if Rayani is 'fit' for AOC (aviation operating certificate) after serving provisional suspension," he wrote.

Liow also expressed disappointment at Rayani's conduct despite previous warnings over "poor procedures and service level".

The suspension comes two years after Malaysia faced twin aviation disasters.

In March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing disappeared over the Indian Ocean with the loss of all 239 people on board.

A few month later, in July 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border, in a missile strike, killing 298 passengers and crew.
by Sumon Corraya

The victim was attacked in her own home. Her screams attracted the attention of her husband, who prevented her murder. The four rapists are local thugs, well-known land grabbers. Police refuse to file the case until after local elections (not scheduled for many months). For Catholic activist, "This is totally immoral. For her, police are working for the criminals and violating human rights.

Khagrachhari (AsiaNews)  The wife of Rev Sushil Jibon Talukdar was raped by four known land grabbers. As a result of her screams, the clergyman was able to rush to the scene and prevent her murder.

The attack took place in the victims home in the village of Boronala, Khagrachhari district, a hilly area in south-eastern Bangladesh. When her husband went to file a report at the Mahalchori police station, they refused to register the case against the rapists, he told AsiaNews. Instead, They told us that they would do something only after the local government elections.*

The attack took place last Friday (8 April). The victim was alone at home when four men broke in and raped her.

Her husband, who was working in nearby fields with other people, said that he arrived just in time. The four brutes were attacking my wife and trying to kill her. But we heard her cries and saved her. Her clothes were all torn up."

The couple are members of Immanuel Baptist Church (Protestant) in Boronala to which they converted in 2002.

"We just want justice for my beloved wife, said the pastor, who informed local Church leaders and some activists. He and his wife have also received death threats.

Rosaline Costa, a Catholic activist, offered help to the victim. "I strongly condemn the attack and rape, she told AsiaNews. As members of a minority, they have become victims.

The police refused to file the complaint, saying that they would consult the victim after local elections, months from now. That is totally unethical.

In so doing, they are working for the criminals and violating human rights. I condemn the attitude of the local police".

Violence against Bangladeshs Christian community has been increasing. In a country of 152 million people with a Muslim majority (89.8 per cent), Christians represent only 0.2 per cent of the population. Hindus are 9.1 per cent. Both have been the subject of various attacks and land grabs.

Experts point out that the reason is not so much religious as economic. Given the high cost of land, some resort to grabbing land by various means from minorities to avoid paying the full price.

* Union Councils (or Union Parishads) are the lowest rural administrative government level in Bangladesh.
Allen & Overy has promoted 21 lawyers to its partnership with effect from May 1, 2016. Seven of the new partners are in the Asia Pacific region, there are six each from London and Europe and one each in Africa and North America. Twenty-nine percent are women.The new Asia-Pacific partners are: Matthew Hodgson (Litigation) andRichard Woodworth (Banking) in Hong Kong; Goran Galic (Corporate) in Perth; Andrew Battison (Litigation) and Alun Evans (Corporate) in Singapore; and James Abbott (Banking) in Sydney.Wayne Ma has joined DLA Piper in Shanghai from Paul Hastings where he was a partner since 2013. Ma is a real estate lawyer and his addition to the team brings the firms Shanghai headcount to 6 partners and 16 lawyers in total.A judge in New Orleans has ordered that 7 men remanded while awaiting trial for violent crimes must be freed as they could not be represented by lawyers because the states defenders had no money. Some of the men have been held for more than a year.Judge Arthur Hunter agreed with a private attorney that either the state must provide public defenders or compensate private lawyers who had been hired to represent the men.The men are not able to fund their own legal representation and Judge Hunter agreed that not having legal counsel violates their constitutional rights. CityLab.com reports that the New Orleans district attorney is to appeal the judges ruling, which could potentially affect the plight of hundreds of other defendants awaiting trial but without access to lawyers.
Baker & McKenzie partner Aleisa Crepin tells Australasian Lawyer how she ended up lawyering.



What made you decide to become a lawyer?

In high school, I was a keen debater and public speaker. I loved writing and to have a good debate. By the end of high school, I was convinced it was the career for me. A short stint of work experience with a criminal barrister had me hooked - although I've never practised in criminal law.



How long have you worked at Baker & McKenzie and what brought you to this position?

I have been at Baker & McKenzie for just over 12 months. The Brisbane office of Baker & McKenzie opened shortly before that. The opportunity to join a top quality global firm and to help build the new office was too good an opportunity to pass up.



Whats the strangest case youve ever worked on/been involved with?

I specialise in construction disputes. As you can imagine, that regularly involves some fairly robust and interesting personalities. There is never a dull moment in my work day!



If you could invite three people for dinner, dead or alive and excluding family and friends, who would they be and why?

Jimmy Fallon because I love to have a good laugh, Dame Quentin Bryce because she is such an inspirational woman, and Frank Sinatra for his music and stories.



Youre based in Brisbane  wheres the best place to go for a drink and/or dinner after work?

My current favourite is Public. Otherwise, you can't go past the myriad of restaurants and bars at Southbank.



Whats the best piece of advice (work or personal) youve ever been given?

Always back yourself, and keep your feet on the ground.



Do you have any hobbies/interests outside of work?

I enjoy spending time with my family and friends whenever I get the chance.



Complete this sentence: If I wasnt a lawyer, I would be

A detective or forensic scientist.



What do you think will be single biggest issue facing the legal space in Australia in 2016?

Differentiating yourself in the tight legal market, and delivering high quality legal services using innovative fee arrangements.



If you had Malcom Turnbulls job for one day, what would you do?

Legislate for marriage equality.



What do you love about your job?

I have the pleasure of working with some incredibly intelligent and commercially savvy lawyers in the construction team. They're a great bunch to work with. Also, being able to pick up the phone and speak to a specialist lawyer in just about any particular area of law somewhere in the firm when the matter requires it. Baker & McKenzie is great like that.



What would you change about your job right now if you could?

I would like to have more time in the day to spend mentoring junior staff. I really love doing that and seeing them progress in their careers.


Partner and innovation head Andrew Cunningham said the firm has seen a strong demand for contract lawyers. The idea is that hiring a flexible lawyer from MinterEllison gives a quality guarantee.Clients and market feedback tells us that there is increasingly a need for high quality lawyers to work temporarily in-house  but they need to be of the highest quality and able to hit the ground running, Cunningham said.The lawyers we place with clients through Flex are connected to and integrated with MinterEllison's elite capability and knowhow, and this gives clients the confidence to embrace agile staffing.Last weeks launch of Flex followed a six month pilot program, placing lawyers within businesses in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, while developing a pool of talent. The firm said this model attracts a growing number of lawyers who are looking for flexible work.Flex has attracted a new pool of talented lawyers at all levels who enjoy the flexibility and variety of work you get on temporary engagements, Cunningham said.The firm already has a pool of lawyer to draw from, dedicated to contract assignments, with varying levels of experience, from former GCs to junior lawyers.We are very focussed on building a deep innovation capability and culture at MinterEllison. Flex is part of a broader agenda to innovate in the services we offer, how we execute those services, and how we price them, said Cunningham.There is a lot of disruption in the legal market. The challenge is to not just embrace new agile models for solving legal problems but to make these sustainable solutions that maintain the high levels of quality that clients expect.
Almost a third of lawyers are not confident about having enough money for their retirement and seemingly do not expect it to funded from their legal career. Thats the finding of a survey of lawyers by Bower Private Clients who asked 101 lawyers about their retirement plans.The top plan (44 per cent) was for property to provide a retirement income, either from releasing equity in their home or renting out property. The research shows that even high earning lawyers may lack pension plans and other investments necessary to maintain their standard of living post-retirement.Chambers & Partners held its annual Asia-Pacific Awards in Singapore on Friday 8April and named Ashurst as Australian Firm of the Year. The awards recognise a law firm's pre-eminence in key countries and also reflect notable achievements over the past 12 months including outstanding work, impressive strategic growth and excellence in client service.Olswang has promoted two lawyers to its international partnership including one of its Singapore IP team. TMT and sourcing specialist Matt Pollins is now a partner; he advises clients from start-ups to global multinational corporations and governments on business and law in Asia. Also promoted is London-based Joel Vertes.A poll of lawyers has revealed the best novel to be written about the legal profession. The US survey by recruiters Robert Half found that 46 per cent named To Kill a Mockingbird as the best legal page-turner. The Harper Lee book, written more than 50 years ago, easily surpassed Charles Dickens Bleak House which was second on 8 per cent; and John Grishams The Firm and Scott Turows Presumed Innocent which tied in third place.
Concept scooter targets women; features wings made to translucent plastic that fold down over the side panels.

Yamaha Motor Co has showcased its 04GEN scooter design concept model at the Vietnam motorcycle show 2016, which was held in Ho Chi Minh City from April 7-10. The show was the first two-wheeler expo held in Vietnam.

The 04GENs design is based on Yamahas RUN-WAY concept, which is aimed at women buyers who seek an image of dignified elegance and grace. 'RUN' stands for 'Revolutionary, Unique, Noble'. Compared to regular scooter body structures, which hide the frame with exterior parts, the 04GEN only covers the frame with semi-transparent exterior parts. For instance, the scooter features a unique a pair of translucent wings, like that of a dragonfly that fold down over the side panels  though they apparently have no function. The feature many have been incorporated to infuse a sense of lightness to the body.

The concept aims to make a contrast between the old and the new by using authentic real leather and innovative semi-transparent resin. Also, 04GEN indicates that it is the fourth concept by the company to use transparent materials as a design feature.

This is the fifth GEN design concept in Yamahas series. The 01GEN in 2014 was a crossover motorcycle with two wheels at the front; the 02GEN was an alluring electrically power-assisted wheelchair, also in 2014, and in 2015 the 03GEN, mobility enhanced by optional colours, materials. The next was the TRICITY. The 04GEN takes off from there.

Production details have not been revealed yet, and it's unlikely to see the concept in India anytime soon.
And while that kind of speed can easily get you jailed in the US, over in Europe things are different. We are, of course, referring to the German Autobahn and its derestricted area that allows any driver to verify the maximum velocity of his or her ride.In this case, we're dealing with a Sublime Green Challenger Hellcat - for the record, you can't have this color for the 2016 model year. The driver hit the Autobahn on a Sunday, making his way through traffic as he attempted to see how high his speedometer can jump.Despite frequent interruptions from other drivers who failed to reach the slow lane in time, the 707-pony muscle machine managed to climb to 189 mph (304 km/h). And while the car proved stable under heavy braking, we wish the driver would learn how to handle a steering wheel."Traffic was a little more than I anticipated for a Sunday. In lieu of this, I was unable to go faster than the title articulates....even though I could've if given a clear path," the driver explains in the YouTube description of the video.In case you're reading this on the Old Continent and are wondering what you have to do in order to grab one, we have to explain that turning to the gray market is mandatory.While in its home country this SRT machine comes with an MSRP of $59,995, in Europe you'll have to pay around 86,000 for it. At least that's the price tuner Geiger Cars is asking for one of these demonic felines. Even so, the Hellcat keeps a strong bang-for-buck aura, so while it won't become as popular as it is back home, it will certainly get plenty of attention.
The name is more than self-explanatory: Ducati is putting together a training program that aims to turn the students into riders with better skills for tackling the unwelcoming terrain. We already told you about the "Enduro class" when we announced the details of the track-focused Ducati rider training academy , but things are now on the move.Mimicking the way the initial Ducati Riding Experience events are set up, the Enduro section will also welcome all types of riders, from off-road novices to the most experienced. The students will be divided into small groups, based on their experience and riding skills.Unlike in other DRE sessions that offer multiple bikes according to the students' level, the DRE Enduro is a Multistrada 1200 Enduro-only training program.This particularity might be a slightly exclusive one, considering that shorter riders might be intimidated by the new Ducati maxi-enduro machine, or simply find it too big and heavy for them. This is why we believe that paying a visit to the nearest Ducati dealer that carries the Multistrada 1200 Enduro would be a wise thing. If you're not sure how suitable this bike is for you, getting a close-up experience beforehand could sort things out.The Ducati DRE Enduro will take place on the grounds of Castello di Nipozzano, a fort 30 km (19 miles) from Florence, on the estate of the Marquis of Frescobaldi. Qualified instructors, headed by former Paris-Dakar rider Beppe Gualini, will carry out theoretical and practical sessions over a total of 36 hours.June 3-4, 2016June 4-5, 2016July 15-16, 2016July 16-17, 2016September 2-3, 2016September 3-4, 2016September 16-17, 2016September 17-18, 2016.For pricing and availability, you should check out the Ducati DRE Enduro official site or drop a line at [email protected]
EV

All of the vehicles are affected by the campaign (the cars built before March 26, 2016 are involved), which has to do with the locking hinge that allows the third-row seats to fold forward. The Palo Alto automaker explains the issue has been discovered during internal testing - the company had conducted 15 tests for the US market, with no issue arising.However, with the company preparing to introduce the Model X in Europe, a new test was performed (the conditions are not entirely identical). This has led to the voluntary action, with no injuries related to the problem having been reported.The latches in question, as well as the third-row seats altogether, come from Australian supplier Futuris (Tesla builds the rest of the seats), which will cover the financial side of the recall.We're talking about three latches, one per seat, with all of them set to be replaced on the 2,700 units affected. Still, themaker will continue its relationship with Futuris, which will provide the new recliner, as well as potential future products for Tesla.Tesla expects the replacement parts to be ready over the next five weeks. And while the Model X doesn't even need a recall by US standards (technically speaking), the carmaker is asking owners not to use the third-row seats until a dealer replaces the seat backs.If you own a Model X and want to dig deeper into the matter, feel free to contact Tesla Motors at 844-248-3752 or by email (you can check out the address in the text below, which is the email sent to Model X customers).
The chief executive of Good2Go Auto Insurance Company has written letters to leaders of American auto manufacturers asking them to eliminate technological distractions from new vehicles.

Joe DeLago told Body Shop Business that automakers are encouraging distracted driving by creating dashboards with smartphone features and Wi-Fi capability. Distracted driving remains a major contributor to auto accidents in the U.S.

"As manufacturers continue to cater to Millennials, they're adding more and more technology to vehicles," DeLago said. "These connected vehicles are drawing drivers away from the ultimate task: driving. Auto manufacturers need to eliminate distractions rather than adding to the problem."
Photo of Mazda CX-5 courtesy of Mazda.

Mazda Motor Corp. is recalling 578 2013-2016 model-year vehicles, including Mazda2 and CX-5 models, so dealers can address a defect that might result in a loss of steering control, the automaker said.

The recall covers 2013-2014 Mazda2, 2016 CX-3, 2014-2016 CX-5 and 2013-2015 CX-9 vehicles. Mazda said it has filed a safety defect report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Under certain conditions of under-torque detection, the automatic tightening system may not tighten the front strut assembly lower mounting nuts and bolts to the proper torque specification, Mazda explained. A separation of the front strut and steering knuckle can cause significant loss of steering control and increase crash risk.

Mazda, however, pointed out that it isnt aware of any related accidents or injuries.

To fix the problem, dealers will inspect the torque condition of all front strut lower mounting nuts and bolts and correct them as needed. There will be no charge for this service.
The century-old car business model is being revolutionized by Tesla Motors, but the company is not enjoying a ride free of any challenges.

After the record pre-orders in just one week, Tesla's brand strength has been compared with the biggest name in consumer technology, Apple. Every Tesla car model that rolls off the production line seems to be as hot as a new iPhone. Given Tesla's high-tech products and Silicon Valley roots, it's tempting to infer an Apple-like future for the automaker, according to The Verge.

Tesla's ability to collect pre-orders doesn't mean the company is free of facing challenges and it does not guarantee its survival in the long run. There are major differences between the consumer electronics business and the car business.

The most fundamental difference between Apple and Tesla is the fact that the vast majority of Apple products are contract-manufactured and not built by the company itself. Compared to modern cars, consumer electronics are relatively simple to manufacture.

Rather than the manufacturing process itself, the quality of electronics products is determined by design, software and materials. The quality of assembling is more important in the auto industry because a car is far more physically complex than any electronic device.

One of the challenges Tesla Motors faces is figuring out how to deliver an increasing production of Model 3, to answer the very high-demand and fulfill all the pre-orders.

The vehicle maker needs to figure out how to grow from a luxury electric vehicles niche maker to a mass producer, according to USA Today. It is still unclear if Tesla will choose to contract with an established automaker or supplier or do all the manufacturing at its Fremont, California, assembly plant.

Among the issues faced by Tesla if choosing to keep the production in California is finding enough skilled labor. The California Bay area is more well-known for its skilled software engineers than for manufacturing workers.

Despite such a great volume of pre-orders for the Tesla Model 3, another challenge will be how to sell its cars. Tesla's network of service and retail centers spreads in just 24 states and encompasses now fewer than 100 locations. This sales model might work for luxury cars but not for Model 3.
In honor of National Military Appreciation Month, General Motors has recently announced its offer of expanding the discount program to the country's dedicated servicemen, MSN reported.

The military discount program, which would benefit up to 21 million veterans (including their spouses), is also going to be available for those in reserve, active duty, and the National Guard. Thousands of dollars in savings are expected for new purchases of different GM models. These can be anywhere between a new Chevrolet, Buick, or GMC vehicles.

Also, up to $1,700 off can be enjoyed through purchase of a 2015 last-gen Camaro SS as well as a $3,000 discount can be taken off a Chevy Silverado All Star. In addition to the huge price offs, other General Motors incentives can be combined with those military discounts. Some models not included in the gift-giving deal would be the Cadillacs, Corvette Z06, Chevy Cruse, and the base Colorado, to name a few, according to the publication.

GM not only recognizes the brave efforts of the country's servicemen; the company has been supporting the U.S. military way back since 1917.

"These brave men and women have done so much for our country," according to Steve Hill, General Motors' vice-president of U.S. sales and service. "Making sure all veterans can take advantage of our military discount to celebrate Military Appreciation Month is one small way we can express our gratitude."

Nowadays, the company has employed and helped the newest batches of veterans who have returned home. Together with national partner "Hiring Our Heroes", GM has collaborated with military advocates and employers in strengthening the campaign for jobs. Around half a million veterans have already benefited with GM's partnership with these employers for jobs post-retirement since 2012.

General Motors received one of the "Best for Vets" employers' award by the Military Times this 2016.
Deutsche Post, the German postal service, announced a plan to build its own electric delivery vans, called the Streetscooter.

The first Streetscooter models are expected to come off the production lines later this year, according to the Europe Online Magazine. Deutsche Post will gradually replace with the Streetscooter its fleet of 30,000 delivery vans.

The Streetscooter company was founded in 2010 as an offshoot from RWTH University. The start-up is located in the border city of Aachen. A year and a half ago Deutsche Post took over the company with the aim of using its know-how to design and build electric vehicles for postal deliveries.

The first 2,000 electric vans will be manufactured in 2016. For the beginning, Deutsche Post will use the vehicles for its own delivery fleet but in the long term the company also plans to market the Streetscooter.

Juergen Gerdes, manager of the postal service's parcel division, declared that there have been enquiries from interested potential customers about the Streetscooter. However, at the moment Deutsche Post needs all the production capacity for itself.

Gerdes added that in the development of the new electric vehicles, letter and parcel deliverers were closely involved. Deutsche Post has a clear vision on how the Streetscooter "should be optimally supplied for deliveries." The electric delivery van features a much larger storage area adapted to the needs of the delivery personnel.

Deutsche Post compares itself to electric car pioneer Tesla. With its in-house developed electric vehicle, the German postal service can build aggressively priced tools for business customers, same as Tesla builds high-value cars for private customers. Delivery vehicles are viewed as ideal applications for electric cars, because they travel predictable routes over short distances.

According to the Green Car Reports, Deutsche Post already tested a group of 50 prototype vehicles in 2013. These electric cars feature a lithium-ion battery pack that allows for a range of 74 miles. Their 40-horsepower electric motors provide a top speed of 52 mph.
Swift Fuels has signed a deal with global aviation fuel wholesaler Avfuel Corporation to distribute its 94 MON unleaded aviation fuel. The company announced the deal Friday during Sun n Fun and says the deal is a framework agreement to serve as a template allowing equitable distribution processes amongst the major avgas distributors for Swift 94 MON Avgas, and any future avgas replacements. Avfuel has 600 branded FBOs in the U.S. and distributes to more than 3,000 FBOs worldwide. Swift wants its fuel to have the widest distribution possible to keep prices competitive and ensure fair access to the fuel. Swift Fuels appreciates the passion, foresight and objectivity of the team at Avfuel to help us craft an equitable process considering the market dynamics of the top North American avgas distributors, thereby allowing our unleaded fuel to be deployed safely, fairly and cost-effectively, said Chris DAcosta, CEO of Swift Fuels. We believe this will help streamline our supply-chain planning and execution leading to the availability of more Swift unleaded avgas to strategic markets in the months ahead.

For Avfuels part, the company said the agreement ensures the most competitive price and greatest availability, resulting in a positive outcome for the industry, according to Marci Ammerman, the companys VP of marketing. The fuel was announced at AirVenture 2015 and its a drop-in replacement for 100 LL that uses the same base materials as regular avgas. The fuel is already approved by STC for hundreds of engines and airframes. The 94 octane fuel is suitable for more than half the piston aircraft flying and will get some cash flow going for Swift, whose 102 octane fuel for higher performance engines is one of two fuels (Shell makes the other one) to go on to Phase 2 testing of the FAAs Piston Aircraft Fuel Initiative. That testing wont be done until 2018.
Michel Gordillo, of Spain, was scheduled to talk at Sun n Fun this week about his adventures flying an RV-8 around the world, via both North and South Poles  but the intrepid pilots plans were derailed by border-crossing bureaucracy. Gordillos team said that when he arrived at the Mexico/U.S. border, Gordillo did as he was told  he crossed the border in Texas on foot to get his passport stamped, then returned to Mexico to his airplane. However, when he landed in Texas, another official said that procedure had been incorrect, and refused to allow Gordillo into the U.S.

The planned route

It is a very hard moment for Sky Polaris, Gordillo told his online followers. Sorry, guys! Gordillos team said the amended plan was for him to overfly Florida and land at Freeport, Bahamas, and spend the night. He then will continue on to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and fly across the North Pole into Europe. So because of this small inconsequential issue, Michel missed Sun n Fun, missed seeing friends, giving interviews, etc., etc., Don Pearsall, a spokesman for the global flight, told AVweb. This is a plan that has been in the works for years.
A Denver man was injured Friday when he lost control of his jetpack. Nick Macomber was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries when he fell from about 20 feet to an asphalt parking lot. Macomber is vice president of Jetpack International, which has developed a hydrogen peroxide-fueled device that will keep a man airborne for about 30 seconds. He was testing the jetpack, CEO of the company Troy Widgery told local media. Hed made some recent changes. He had some control issues.

Jetpack International flies the device at exhibitions and its sometimes used in commercial promotions. Samsung recently used it to introduce its new phone in Ireland. A police photo showed the taped-off parking lot with the jetpack lying in a pool of water and the remnants of foam after the fire department response.
The FAA will hold public meetings May 3 and May 4 in Georgia on the proposed rewrite of Part 23 airworthiness standards for normal, utility, acrobatic and commuter category aircraft. The meetings will be held from 8 a.m. to no later than 5 p.m. on each day at the International Convention Center in College Park, Georgia. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the rewrite was issued March 14 and the comment period ends May 13 so this will be the last opportunity for direct comment on the wide-ranging document. The purpose of the public meetings is for the FAA to discuss the NPRM, hear the publics questions, address any confusion, and obtain information relevant to the final rule under consideration, the notice on the Federal Register reads. The FAA will consider comments made at the public meetings before making a final decision on issuance of the final rule.

In general, the rewrite moves aircraft certification to a performance- and risk-based regime, replacing the strict prescriptive design requirements standards that have guided aircraft airworthiness for most of the last 100 years. The FAA expects the new rules to maintain safety at least at the level of current rules but give aircraft manufacturers and suppliers streamlined access to new technology, especially the kind of gear that improves safety. The new rules are also expected to make it cheaper and easier to certify aircraft, thus expanding the product selection on the market. Senior brass from the FAA will be on hand at the Georgia meetings.
11 April 2016 10:56 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

Armenian Armed Forces continue to violate the truce on the contact line of troops in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region despite the achieved agreement on ceasefire.

Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported that the enemy broke the ceasefire 117 times over the last 24 hours.

Armenian armed forces, located in Armenia's Berkaber village of Ijevan region, Mosesgekh village of Berd region, nameless hills of Krasnoselsk region subjected to fire the positions of Azerbaijani armed forces located in nameless hills and Gizilhajili village of Gazakh region, Agdam village in Tovuz region and nameless hills of Gadabay region.

The ceasefire was violated in Gulustan village in Goranboy region, Chilaburt, Yarimja villages in Tartar region, Shikhlar, Javahirli, Sarijali, Kangarli, Novruzlu, Shuraabad, Garagashli, Yusifjanli and Marzili villages in Aghdam region, Kuropatkino village in Khojavand region, Garakhanbayli, Horadiz, Gorgan, Ashagi Seyidahmadli villages in Fuzuli region, Mehdili village of Jabrayil region, as well as nameless hills in Goygol, Goranboy, Khojavand, Fuzuli and Jabrayil regions.

In view of the operational situation, the Azerbaijani military units inflicted 120 strikes on enemy positions.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

--

Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
11 April 2016 12:21 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

The parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have retrieved the bodies of the military personnel left on the battlefield in accordance with the agreement, which was reached through the mediation of relevant international organizations.

Azerbaijans State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People carried out the process through the mediation of OSCE representatives and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on April 10.

ICRC also supported two previous operations that were held on April 8 and 9. These operations took place following an agreement between the sides and in coordination with the OSCE as well.

"Our priority is to help the families of those missing in action and who are still do not know the fate of their loved ones," said Patrick Vial, Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. "It was also important for the sides to have the bodies returned and so provide answers for the families."

The ICRC has been present in the region since 1992 in relation to the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As the conflict escalated on 2 April, the ICRC offered its services to respond to the humanitarian needs and to act as a neutral intermediary between the sides.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on April 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides.

However, despite the agreement, Armenian Armed Forces continue to violate ceasefire on the contact line of troops. Azerbaijans State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People said the enemy also violated the ceasefire during the process of exchanging the bodies of the military personnel.

--

Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
11 April 2016 16:40 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

Moscow has once again called on the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to follow ceasefire agreements.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a statement during a joint press conference with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter on April 11.

"We are concerned over the escalation of situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone," Lavrov stressed. "We call on the sides to comply with the agreements on an immediate cessation of armed clashes and to prevent the breach of the agreement."

Moscow is interested in seeing positive developments towards an agreement on the settlement of the conflict, he added.

Burkhalter, in turn, stressed that a dialogue is needed to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, adding that this process has not yet been adjusted and it should be dealt with.

The situation calmed down a little, thanks to Russia's efforts, but, nevertheless, there is a danger of the escalation of the conflict, the Swiss foreign minister stressed.

Earlier, Lavrov and John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, applauded the ceasefire between the parties to the long lasting conflict.

"The heads of the foreign departments welcomed the agreement reached on a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed to contribute to the normalization of the situation in the region", Russia's Foreign Ministry reported on April 10.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

--

Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
11 April 2016 10:20 (UTC+04:00)

Protests against the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan took place in the Turkish province of Igdir located on the border with Armenia, the Turkish newspaper 'Gursesgazetesi' reported April 11.

The protests involved more than 3,000 people.

The protesters condemned Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and demanded its immediate withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
11 April 2016 18:36 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev chaired the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the results of socio-economic development in the first quarter of 2016 and the future tasks on April 9.

The agenda of the meeting covered a number of issues, including the recent tensions on the line of contact of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Armed Forces, as well as Azerbaijan's political, economic and social achievements in the reported period.

President Aliyev, addressing the event, said that Armenian armed provocation committed against Azerbaijan earlier this month was foiled, and the enemy was given a fitting rebuff.

"Azerbaijan was able to protect its lands, and to further strengthen the military position. This bloody clash once again showed that Armenia continues its occupation policy, does not want peace and is trying to disrupt the negotiation process," he said.

Armenian Armed Forces, which continue to violate the truce on the contact line of troops in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region despite the achieved agreement on ceasefire, aims to keep the status quo unchanged. The three co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group  Russia, the U.S. and France, have repeatedly announced that the existing status quo is unacceptable and must be changed. However, unfortunately, Armenia ignores it.

The Karabakh conflict can be resolved only within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and this is supported by state-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

"I know that this year the co-chairing countries have put forward new proposals to continue negotiations. During my visit to the U.S., the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was widely debated with the political leadership of the United States. They noted that they support the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," President Aliyev said. "All the co-chairing countries - the U.S., Russia, and France support the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. There is no country in the world, except Armenia, which would not support our territorial integrity. Obviously, the possible positive dynamics in the negotiations has led Armenia to commit this provocation."

Despite Armenia's provocations, Azerbaijan will always protect its lands. And Azerbaijan will never allow a second Armenian state to appear on its lands. Azerbaijan has always stated that it is in favor of peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Azerbaijan's president pointed out that following the bloody clashes, the international community expressed concern over the issue and heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries issued statements, calling for a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

We have repeatedly stated that we want a peaceful, political settlement of the problem. We just want to find a solution to the problem. We declare that we are committed to the negotiation process," President Aliyev stated.

The president voiced hope that the long-lasting negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict lead to the settlement of the problem.

"The solution of the problem is very simple - Armenian Armed Forces must leave the occupied lands, Azerbaijani citizens must return to their native lands, and after this, peace and security can be established in the region. As for the principle of self-determination of peoples, this principle should not violate the territorial integrity of countries, and these expressions are reflected in the Helsinki Final Act. All conflicts must be resolved within the territorial integrity of the countries," President Aliyev said.

Azerbaijan, as a leading country in the South Caucasus region, has set the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as its primary goal. President Aliyev believes that the stronger becomes Azerbaijan in political, economic and in other fields, the closer it will be to the solution of the conflict.

"We must further accelerate the dynamics of our development. Sustainable development in Azerbaijan should continue. The progress made in recent years in economic and political spheres, indicate that we are on the right track," he noted.

In the first quarter of 2016, Azerbaijan conducted very active foreign policy. In this period, President Aliyev made a number of official and working visits abroad. He attended the Davos Economic Forum, the Munich Security Conference, and the London Conference on "Support for Syria and the region." The head of state also made visits to the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Turkey, and the U.S.

The geography of these visits shows that Azerbaijan pursues very active and multifaceted foreign policy, and the number of its friends is growing year by year. Azerbaijan cooperates with the world countries based on mutual respect and interests.

The president went on to add that the international community is showing more confidence in Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan is known as a very reliable partner, and it plays a stabilizing role in the region," President Aliyev believes. "I want once again note that the international community treats Azerbaijan with great respect and sympathy."

Azerbaijan is a core part of new formats of regional cooperation, such as Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia, Azerbaijan-Iran-Turkey, Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, as well as Azerbaijan-Turkey-Turkmenistan.

"All these tripartite initiatives are very important for ensuring security and deepening cooperation in the region," President Aliyev said.

The current year is expected to remember for deep economic reforms. In this regard, the government took decisive economic measures in the first quarter of 2016.

Azerbaijan has made very serious decisions towards improving the business environment, increasing export potential, attracting foreign investments to Azerbaijan, and increasing local production.

"I want to say that further measures will be taken regarding financial discipline and transparency," President Aliyev said. "The whole economic and financial sector of Azerbaijan, based on the experience of leading countries, should be developed based on the most advanced principles. First of all, it is necessary to improve the control mechanisms, transparency must be fully ensured."

President Aliyev believes that Azerbaijan's revenues will increase despite the fact that oil prices have fallen sharply and are still at a very low level.

"This, of course, will have a serious impact on our revenues. However, I believe that we will be able to successfully get out of this situation thanks to the development of non-oil sector," he added.

He also expressed confidence that Azerbaijan's GDP will increase within a year. Azerbaijan already achieved a 5-percent growth in the non-oil sector of the national economy.

"The growth of the non-oil industry for more than five percent gives good hope for more rapid development of the non-oil sector in Azerbaijan. Today, the non-oil sector constitutes a major part of the economy of Azerbaijan. We have achieved this and in the future, of course, we should try to make the non-oil sector to have more weight in our export," President Aliyev stressed.

Azerbaijan also achieved creating 37,000 new jobs, including 31,000 permanent jobs in the first quarter of 2016. In order to keep the unemployment rate at a low level, the head of state made a decision to create new jobs at the state-owned companies, and government agencies.

"Opening such number of jobs in the first quarter, of course, targets the social protection of people," President Aliyev stated. "Social policy has always been and will be a priority. The steps taken in the first quarter, once again show that Azerbaijan is a social state. A citizen of Azerbaijan is in the center of our policy. Interests of citizens of Azerbaijan are above all for us. All economic reforms, our successful oil and gas policy are aimed at the people to live better."

Several facts also show that Azerbaijan pays special attention to the social protection of population. In particular, despite the ongoing financial and economic crisis in the world, Azerbaijan was one of few countries that have overcome the crisis with minimal losses.

The salaries and pensions increased by 10 percent this year in the country despite the decrease of oil prices by 3-4 times.

President Aliyev further stressed the necessity of realizing large-scale projects in the field of regional development. He said that about 2 billion manats ($1.3 billion) will be required to implement the planned projects.

"Part of these funds should be provided through the preferential loans from the state, and a part - at the expense of entrepreneurs. Anyway, we have put such a goal. We must try to achieve this goal. Thus, the investments, which will be made in the economy of the country, in the non-oil sector, will contribute to further recovery, creating new jobs, and we will have new export products," he said.

Speaking about the works done for establishment of the international transport corridors, President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan conducted active works towards the establishment of the North-South transport corridor.

"The main condition for the establishment of this corridor is the Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia trilateral cooperation," he said. "I can say that there is a general agreement. This transport corridor is very necessary for us both in economic terms and in terms of security and tourism. Thus, we will offer other major countries our transit opportunities, and the treasury, the budget of Azerbaijan will receive huge economic benefits from it. Because it will not only speed up the existing and potential trade between the three countries, but at the same time Pakistan, India, the north European countries will be joined via this corridor, and the volume of cargoes passing through our territory, will increase significantly."

Azerbaijan also conducted active work towards the establishment of the East-West transport corridor. Azerbaijan is working in a tripartite format - Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey for implementation of this project.

"My visit to Georgia at the end of last year and the visit to Turkey this year were very useful for the establishment of this corridor," President Aliyev said. "Azerbaijan is again in the center of two corridors. If we did not have very positive relations, based on friendship and partnership, with neighboring countries, none of these projects would be implemented. I have always said that relations with neighbors are very important for us. We have no problems with any of the neighboring countries, except Armenia. On the contrary, our relations with our neighbors are expanding day by day, and they become stronger, which is the main condition for security and stability, and economic development and cooperation."

Azerbaijan's relations are successfully developing with all countries and international organizations. In the first quarter of 2016, two vice-presidents of the European Commission visited Azerbaijan. Energy, political and economic issues, security issues, and others were high on the agenda of their talks with Azerbaijan's officials.

Also, Azerbaijan's participation in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington is an important indicator of respect to the country. This international event was attended by more than 50 countries, including Azerbaijan.

"If we consider that Azerbaijan is not a nuclear power, there is no nuclear power station and nuclear industry in Azerbaijan, the invitation of Azerbaijan to this prestigious event is a manifestation of respect to us by the government, the president of the U.S. and reflects our role in this region. Azerbaijan is a reliable partner in prevention of illicit traffic of nuclear materials," President Aliyev said.

During President Aliyev's visit to the U.S., the two countries had very good, fruitful and sincere talks. These negotiations once again showed that the ties between Baku and Washington are very important for both sides.

Another important event in the first quarter was the second Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor held in Baku. The leading role of Azerbaijan in this sphere was once again marked in the adopted declaration.

Speaking about this major project, President Aliyev noted that Implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor is underway on schedule, necessary investments are being made.

"Coordination between the countries and companies are at a high level. I am sure that this strategic project will be implemented in a timely manner," President Aliyev said.

Baku also hosted the IV Global Baku Forum, which was attended by representatives from more than 50 countries, current and former heads of state and government. This Forum, which has become one of the leading international forums of the world, is the ideal platform for discussions.

"Holding these forums in Baku, of course, multiplies our value," President Aliyev said. "At the end of this month, the VII Global Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations will be held in Baku. I believe that it is the result of the successes achieved in Azerbaijan in the field of multiculturalism, inter-civilization dialogue. This year was declared the Year of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan. The progress made in this field, are highly appreciated by the international community."

Thus, despite the ongoing financial and economic crisis and decrease of Azerbaijan's revenues, the country has reduced the risks to a minimum thanks to very operational steps, deep economic reforms and wise foreign policy.

In his closing remarks, President Aliyev set very important tasks before the relevant ministries.

He instructed all the ministers to work hard in order to accomplish the tasks set before them, and to achieve further development of the Azerbaijani economy and better living conditions of the population.

President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan will continue its path of successful development.

"First and foremost, we must pay more attention to the army building," he noted. Today, the Azerbaijani army is among the strongest armies in the world both for its material and technical equipment, and in terms of combat capability. We live in a state of war. Our lands are under occupation. Of course, in this case, more attention should be paid, is paid and will be paid to building of the army."

The head of state believes that in order to achieve the successful building of the army, Azerbaijan's economy should grow even faster.

The president voiced belief that Azerbaijan will attract even greater amounts of foreign investment. In order to attract foreign investment, legal framework, transparent economic and financial system, as well as the rule of law must be ensured, he explained.

President Aliyev further said that the rapid development of non-oil sector should be provided in the future. It is necessary to create new jobs, new production areas, and production areas of export orientation.

"The program of construction of social housing will be presented to the public in the near future. This is a new initiative. In some countries, this practice is being applied. We are studying and studied positive practices. There is a great need and demand in it," President Aliyev said. "The construction of social housing will be started in all cities, regional centers with an aim to reduce unemployment in the regions and solve the housing problems of low-income population with limited material possibilities."

The Azerbaijani president also said that this year over 40 rural road projects will be implemented. Some 250 million manats ($164 million) will be allocated for this purpose.

He also stressed the necessity to accelerate the implementation of works for establishing Alat international sea trade port.

"It is important to continue environmental measures. In recent years, huge amount of work has been done both in Baku and in the regions of the country in this regard," the president added.

President Aliyev also pointed to the necessity of developing the agricultural sector.

"The development of agriculture has always been a priority for us, and its value has increased even more in the current conditions. We must further accelerate the export of agricultural products," he said. Food security has always been a priority for us, and remains a priority today. This allows us to provide ourselves with our own products, high quality and clean products, to reduce dependence on imports."

He stressed that Azerbaijan should achieve rapid development in cotton breeding, sericulture, tobacco cultivation and tea growing, as well as viticulture.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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11 April 2016 14:16 (UTC+04:00)

A group of Azerbaijanis has held a rally in front of the UN headquarters in New York to protest against the recent armed provocations of Armenia on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops.

The protesters chanted different slogans such as Justice for Karabakh!, Motherland we are with You!, Armenia is occupant!.

The protestors condemned the violations of ceasefire killing the civilians by Armenian Armed Forces.

Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.

A precarious cease-fire was signed in 1994. However, the Armenian forces committed armistice breaches on the frontline almost every day.

The OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, proceeding talks based on the renewed Madrid principles. The statements promising a sincere contribution to the peaceful resolution of the conflict have become frequent, but declarative in essence. The very attitude broke confidence in success of the mediators representing the U.S., Russia and France.

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11 April 2016 15:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijani Armed Forces have proved that they justify Azerbaijani peoples confidence.

Zakir Hasanov, Azerbaijans Defense Minister made the remark at the farewell ceremony with the Azerbaijani servicemen  Murad Mirzayev, Tabriz Musazade, Urfan Valizade and Bakir Ismayilov - killed while preventing the Armenian provocations on the contact line of troops.

"I would like to emphasize that the martyrs will be avenged, while our lands will be liberated from occupation, the minister stressed.

Over hundreds of years, Armenian fascists have been committing crimes and genocide, and if not prevented, it will continue like that, Hasanov added.

"I want to note that our martyrs have proved the world that the people of Azerbaijan are the heroic people. They have fulfilled their sacred duty, the minister noted.

Hasanov further cited the words of national leader Heydar Aliyev, saying that every soldier, every officer of the Azerbaijani army should know that Azerbaijan's territorial integrity must be recovered at any cost.

Azerbaijans servicemen Tabriz Musazade, Urfan Velizade, Bakir Ismayilov and Murad Mirzayev were killed on April 2, as a result of Armenian armed units provocations. Their bodies were handed over to the Azerbaijani side on April 10. After the farewell ceremony, they will be buried at the second Alley of Honor.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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11 April 2016 15:58 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan Airlines ,AZAL, announced about the launch of regular flights from Ganja to Nakhchivan from May 15.

Direct Ganja-Nakhchivan-Ganja flights will be operated four times a week -- on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Departure from Ganja International Airport - at 12:55, arrival at Nakhchivan International Airport - at 14:25. Departure from Nakhchivan - at 15:05, arrival in Ganja - at 16:40.

Flight time is 1.5 hours, which is due to the fact that the flight is operated bypassing the conflict zone and passes over safe territories.

Tariff Council of Azerbaijan, which regulates the cost of passenger traffic in the country, set the price of the ticket in the amount of 60 manat.

The flights will be operated by comfortable Embraer E-190 airplanes.

Tickets will be booked on the website of the company www.azal.az and purchased at AZAL sales offices. For more information, please contact: (+994 12) 598-88-80; *8880. e-mail: [email protected]

Azerbaijan Airlines is a major air carrier and one of the leaders of the aviation community of CIS countries. AZAL with the newest airplane fleets, consisting of 25 airplanes, does not have a single old plane.

The total route network of AZAL, one of the aviation community leaders in the CIS area, includes 40 destinations in 19 countries.

Being an important member of the International Civil Aviation Organization Council, for its services AZAL received a prestigious "4 Stars" from the leader in air transport research, the world-famous British consulting company Skytrax last June.
11 April 2016 17:14 (UTC+04:00)

The Asian Development Bank has appointed Nariman Mannapbekov the new country director for Azerbaijan.

Mannapbekov welcomed the opportunity to broaden ADBs support for the country including the provision of support in new areas in the near future, the ADB Baku office reports.

ADB and Azerbaijan have a strong relationship and I am honored to have the chance to continue our fruitful partnership, he said.

ADBs current country partnership strategy prioritizes support in transport, energy, water and urban infrastructure, and our goal will be to ensure our effective cooperation with Azerbaijans Government in these priority sectors as well as in carrying its reform agenda.

As Azerbaijans economy faces some challenges the government is moving away from a dependence on hydrocarbons as a major source of revenue. The Azerbaijan 2020 Development Concept provides a framework for the countrys transition to a knowledge-based economy, which entails improving infrastructure, making social development more inclusive by reducing regional economic disparities, promoting good governance, and improving the climate for private sector growth. ADB supports the governments policies and strategies to diversify the economy, and to develop a knowledge-based economy.

Mannapbekov, aged 50, an Uzbek national, has extensive experience in Central and West Asia where he worked as a senior economist in a number of ADBs resident missions. Before joining ADB, he held a number of government positions in Uzbekistan, including Counsellor on Foreign Economic Affairs to the Minister of Finance, and Assistant to the Prime Minister on international financial and economic issues. He has a Bachelors degree from the Institute of National Economy and Masters degree from the Institute of Economy of the Academy of Sciences, Uzbekistan.

ADB has been assisting the Government of Azerbaijan since 1999 with approved loan and grant projects totaling about $2.6 billion, including private sector transactions worth about $738 million, as of end 2015.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members  48 from the region.

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11 April 2016 18:00 (UTC+04:00)

The 2nd European Union - Azerbaijani Business Summit will be held at the ADA University in Baku on May 18. The European and Azerbaijan businesses will meet to investigate the business opportunities in Azerbaijan and to establish business partnerships.

Following the official opening ceremony, four panels addressing promising sectors of the Azerbaijani economy, will be organized:

1) Opportunities in the agriculture and agro-food sector

2) Opportunities in transport and logistics

3) Opportunities in the tourism sector

4) How to do business in Azerbaijan

Relevant public organizations, national and international institutions and experts, government and company representatives will be invited to attend the Business Summit to engage in debate and to offer relevant information to participants.

This event is providing you with an excellent opportunity to showcase your company and promote your business. After the panels, B2B meetings will be held between EU and Azerbaijani companies.



Do not miss the chance of taking the advantage of B2B discussions to develop business opportunities, to find out new projects and to expand your network of business contacts and competent partners!

The participation in Business Summit is now open for registration. Please contact Julia Egel ([email protected]) for more information and registration for the event.
11 April 2016 12:37 (UTC+04:00)

Personnel of Baku City Circuit together with volunteers and marshals of the 2016 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe took part in a tree-planting initiative organized in Dostlug Park, located in Bakus Sabail district on April 9.

Official Ambassadors for the inaugural Formula 1 race in Azerbaijan were also in attendance, lending their support to the cause while planting trees. Ambassadors included Tunzala Aghayeva, the famous composer and Honored Artist of Azerbaijan as well as Rahim Aliyev, well known as the voice of Formula 1 in Azerbaijan.



The event was organized under the slogan "Lets speed up the green-up and saw the successful planting of 500 pine and cypress trees which are best suited for the climate of the Absheron Peninsula.



The purpose of the initiative was to contribute to the development of Bakus environment through expanding city green spaces, as well as to increase ecological awareness among BCC team members.



Irana Ahmedova, BCC Head of Human Resources, noted that all event participants were involved in greening up Baku as one team and with enthusiasm. She added: "Almost two months prior to the day when Baku will host the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe, 250 Baku City Circuit employees, volunteers and marshals came together to improve the environment of our capital city. As each person plants a couple trees, they commit create a better environment for future generations to come!"

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11 April 2016 17:45 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

The energy policy of Azerbaijan, which has turned into one of the main guarantors of Europes energy security, recorded important achievements and milestones of historical significance in the first quarter of 2016.

Energy Minister Natig Aliyev announced about this at the Cabinet meeting chaired by President Aliyev.

The minister said that work done to implement the Southern Gas Corridor project is of significant importance as this project, which joins gas infrastructure of the Caspian region to the European markets, will change the energy map of the region and further enhance the role of Azerbaijan in the diversification of energy corridors, ensuring energy security of Europe.

Remembering the second meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor held in Baku on February 29, Aliyev said that it was one of the significant events held in Azerbaijan's energy sector in the first quarter of 2016.

He believes that such meetings are important in terms of political discussion of the project, joint review of the problems arising during its implementation, as well as search for appropriate solutions.

"Participation of delegations of the leading states and international financial institutions at the second meeting of the Advisory Council is an indication of global value given to the Southern Gas Corridor, on the one hand, and the international interest in it, on the other hand," Aliyev noted.

The minister further pointed to participation of the vice-presidents of the European Commission - Federica Mogherini and Maros Sefcovic, as well as the Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs of the U.S. State Department, Amos Hochstein at this meeting, saying that it not only demonstrates the international and transnational essence of Southern Gas Corridor, but is regarded as a great attention of the international power centers to the relations with Azerbaijan.

This meeting also showed that Azerbaijan plays a crucial role in the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project, and enjoys a great prestige in the regional and global scale as a serious economic and political partner.

The results of this meeting once again demonstrated complete coincidence of interests of Azerbaijan and the European Commission on the Southern Gas Corridor project.

Minister Aliyev further said that an important part of the work on the Shah Deniz-2 and expansion of the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline projects, which are important parts of the Southern Gas Corridor project, has been completed ahead of schedule.

"Currently, work on the project is underway apace, large-scale measures are being conducted in all construction and industrial zones of the country, including at the Sangachal terminal, construction site near Baku, Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory and along the pipeline route," he noted. "Also, top units and support blocks of the platform are being installed in industrial zones. Some 66 percent of the work towards receiving the primary gas has already been implemented."

In the first quarter of 2016, work within the framework of the project on expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline continued successfully along the route of the pipeline in the territories of Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Speaking about the Trans-Anatolian pipeline project designed to bring Azerbaijani gas to Turkey, Aliyev said that construction works started in March 2015 and continues without interruption.

"Pipes have been delivered to the construction site and welding works have been started. So far, more than 20 percent of total work on construction of TANAP has been completed," he said.

Touching upon the Trans-Adriatic pipeline, which will join TANAP and bring Azerbaijani gas to final consumers, Aliyev said that the European Commission has included this project in the list of 33 priority energy security projects serving for common interests.

Today the Southern Gas Corridor is among the European Commissions priority energy projects, which aims at diversifying the EU gas supply sources and routes.

This project envisages the transportation of the gas extracted at the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea. Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will make a 3,500 kilometer journey from the Caspian Sea into Europe. This requires upgrading the existing infrastructure and the development of a chain of new pipelines.

The existing South Caucasus Pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, while TANAP will transport Shah Deniz gas across Turkey to TAP, which will take gas through Greece and Albania into Italy.

The first gas supplies through the corridor to Georgia and Turkey are given a target date of late 2018. Gas deliveries to Europe are expected just over a year after the first gas is produced offshore in Azerbaijan.

Aliyev also revealed Azerbaijan's oil and gas production figures for the first quarter of 2016. He said that the South Caucasus nation produced 10.5 million tons of oil compared to the projected 9.9 million tons.

Some 82 percent of crude oil was extracted from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of oil and gas fields, and the Shah Deniz field. During this period, some 8.9 million tons of oil was exported.

Also, Azerbaijan produced 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas in the first three months of 2016, and this figure exceeds gas production forecast by 197 million cubic meters.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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11 April 2016 10:37 (UTC+04:00)

The agreement on oil production "freeze" at the upcoming meeting in Doha is possible, however Iran's position will limit the effectiveness of any deal, Anthony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC believes.

"Because a meeting is planned, a "freeze" agreement is possible. The challenge would then shift to accountability, which history has proven to be difficult. Patience in holding production levels steady will quickly wear thin as Iran continues to gain market share," Headrick told Trend on April 5.

"In the end, the market will likely find any agreement as a mask on an already oversupplied market," he added.

On April 17, major oil producers are expected to meet in Doha to discuss an agreement to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels. In February, representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia discussed possible measures to stabilize the current oil market, including the oil production freeze.

Headrick mentioned that Saudi Arabia has indicated it will not freeze production if major producers, such as Iran, do not participate.

"Even if that stance shifts and Saudi Arabia agrees to freeze production, Iran's stated push to produce at pre-sanction production levels will severely limit the effectiveness of any agreement," Headrick said.

Last week Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that Saudi Arabia will only freeze its oil output if Iran and other major producers do so.

Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in its turn said that Tehran will not join the oil output freeze plan. He said Iran may participate in the talks with fellow OPEC members and Russia in Qatar April 17 without joining their proposal to freeze crude oil production.

The National Iranian Oil Company's CEO Roknoddin Javadi said in March that Iran's oil export has reached 1.8 million barrels per day.

The country's daily output should reach 4 million barrels the next Iranian year (to start March 20), he said, stressing that Iran will continue to increase the export.

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11 April 2016 11:14 (UTC+04:00)

A Chinese company plans to build a plant for the production of vegetable oil in Northern Kazakhstan, the country's agriculture ministry reported.

This issue was discussed at a meeting of representatives of the Chinese company with farmers of the region, as well as representatives of the Kazakh agriculture ministry, local authorities of the region, the JSC National Management Holding 'KazAgro' and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs 'Atameken'.

The estimated cost of the project is $58 million. The plant's production capacity will amount to 80,000 tons of vegetable oil per year.

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11 April 2016 12:54 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

Irans power and water equipment and services export company SUNIR signed a contract with Kazakhstans Eurasia Invest Group in Tehran recently.

SUNIR will build one wind and two thermal plants in Kazakhstan in 18 months, Bahman Salehi, the CEO of the company told on the sidelines of Iran-Kazakhstan Business Council meeting in Tehran, IRNA reported.

The contract value amounts to $600 million. The planned wind power station will have 50 megawatts capacity and thermal power plants 250 megawatts in accordance with the agreement, Salehi added. The wind plant will be built on the Kazakh coast of the Caspian Sea, and the other two on the Silk Road- in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan.

The CEO also mentioned that it was decided that SUNIR will cooperate with Kazakhstan in various sphere such as water supply and sewerage system, construction of gas pipeline, road development and mining in Kazakhstan. The parties expressed their desire to sign a memorandum of understanding in these areas.

Kazakhstan expressed strong incentives to expand trade ties and vowed to provide Iranian traders with any permit they may need to start business in Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Minister for Investments and Development, Asset Issekeshev earlier noted that 900 Iranian companies are currently active in different fields in Kazakhstan, particularly in chemical industries, Tehran Times reported.

Kazakhstan's Statistic Agency revealed that the countrys power generation was 91 billion kilowatt hour for 2013 and 98 billion kilowatt hour for 2014.

The country hopes to increase electricity production to 150 billion kilowatt hour by 2030.

About 70 percent of electricity has been produced in coal fired power station in Kazakhstan. The rest has been generated from oil, natural gas and hydro resources.

Kazakhstans power generation industry has experienced hard post-Soviet transformation period. The production and consumption of electricity fell significantly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

However, power generation rose again in 2010s. 14 electricity generation projects have been included in the countrys industrial program and eight were completed.

More than 80 per cent of electric power generation has been privatized in Kazakhstan. The government does not regulate prices for electricity, and consumers are free to choose their own providers (currently there are 15 licensed electricity traders).

The country also has plans for renewable development and nuclear plant.

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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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11 April 2016 18:35 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

Kazakhstan has yet to decide whether to participate in the Doha meeting, which will bring together the world's major oil powers on April 17 in effort to support oil prices.

The country's energy ministry confirmed Trend news agency about receiving an invitation for the event in the Qatari capital, but abstained to make any comment about Kazakhstan's decision in this regard.

The next meeting between the OPEC members and countries outside the cartel in Doha is expected to develop a mechanism to freeze crude production to the level of January 2016 that will actually allow making prices rise for the second half of the year.

If oil producers can freeze oil output , it is expected to balance demand and supply of oil in the market and make oil prices rise again.

Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said sharp freezing of oil production in the country is not on the agenda, but the country plans to reduce the crude production for technical reasons in 2016. Kazakhstan plans to produce less than previous years, extracting 74 million tons of oil in 2016 compared to 79.46 million tons of oil in 2015.

For now Kazakhstan could keep the current level of production stable based on the technical capabilities and geological conditions of the oil and gas fields, the ministry added.

Earlier, Vladimir Shkolnik, former Energy Minister of Kazakhstan, said that Kazakhstan plans to compensate the reduction of oil production in the country by opening the Kashagan field in the market in the future.

The launch of Kashagan field is scheduled for autumn 2016, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).

The commercial production of 75,000 barrels of oil from the Kashagan field will be realized in 1.5 months after its commencement.

According to BP Statistical review of world energy for 2015, Kazakhstan held 1.8 percent of the world's total proved oil reserves and 1.9 percent of the world's total oil production.

Russia and Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest oil producers, together with Qatar and Venezuela have agreed to freeze production at January levels in Doha on February 16. The states set a goal to maintain average production at the level of January 2016, but there was a condition if other producers will join this initiative as well.

Previously, Saudi Arabian Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that his country would not agree to the deal without similar action on the part of Iran.

At the same time, Tehran has repeatedly stated that it intends to increase the volume of oil production in order to regain the market share that it lost after the imposition of sanctions against it.

Countries like Ecuador, Algeria, Nigeria, Oman and Kuwait have already expressed their willingness to join to the act of freezing oil production.

---

Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
11 April 2016 16:47 (UTC+04:00)

Turkish army launched a large-scale operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group in the country's Hakkari province on April 11, the General Staff of Turkish Armed Forces reported.

As a result of the operation, 19 PKK members were killed in an hour, said the message.

Earlier, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that over 5,359 PKK members have been eliminated as a result of the operations against this terrorist group since July of 2015. He added that 355 Turkish servicemen were killed during these operations, which will continue until the complete destruction of the PKK.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The UN and the European Union listed the PKK as a terrorist organization.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
11 April 2016 17:08 (UTC+04:00)

Uzbekistan has lifted the ban on export of fruits, potatoes, melons and grapes by vehicles.

Under the government decree published in local media outlets, Uzbekistan will permit the export of these products by vehicles owned by legal entities and individuals who have a license to carry out international cargo transportation from July 1, 2016.

Uzbekistan's government tasked the agricultural exporters to export the mentioned products only by railways and air transport on Sept.1 of 2015.

Later, the government permitted the export of fruits and vegetables by motor vehicles by legal entities included in the list approved by a special working group till Jan.1 of 2016.

However, this permission was extended till July 1 of 2016.

The fruit and vegetable production in Uzbekistan increased by 6.7 percent in 2015 and stood at 12.6 million tons, melons - 5.9 percent (1.8 million tons), grapes - 11.4 percent (1.56 million tons).

Around 500,000-700,000 tons of this volume is exported.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
11 April 2016 10:54 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

More and more tourists are choosing Azerbaijan as a travel destination, and experts believe this sector can turn into the core direction for Azerbaijan's economic growth thanks to the extensive tourism potential of the country.



Azerbaijan with mix of modernity and historicity continues to be in focus of millions of foreigners despite the global economic crisis. Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev, addressing the opening ceremony of the 15th International Tourism Exhibition, noted that the country will welcome more foreign tourists in 2016 compared to last year.

The country is expected to be visited by many tourists from Russia, Iran, and Persian Gulf countries this summer.

Garayevs recent visits to Qatar and Kuwait promises to increase the flow of Arab tourists, who already regard Azerbaijan as one of their favorite destinations.

All of their media wrote about the tourism potential of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan Airlines has already discussed the organization of direct flights. Therefore, we expect a large influx of visitors from the Gulf countries, he said.

Alongside eastern tourists, the Land of Fire also attracts visitors from western countries. The minister said the latest data shows that the number of European tourists coming to Azerbaijan increased by 15-20 percent.



Noting that over 250 tourist companies are operating in Azerbaijan, Garayev added that the number of tourists rose by five times during past 10 years.



Touching upon prices in tourism sector, he added that a10-day holiday in Azerbaijan costs around 250 manats ($164), what is affordable and is a result of strong competition in the tourism sector of Azerbaijan, according to the minister.

The minister emphasized that tourism occupies one of the key places in the state policy, and the state has already reached success in certain projects and is going to realize a new tourism strategy that is already in the agenda of the Parliament.

Garayev also spoke about obstacles faced in the tourism sector, pointing to insufficient number of facilities for tourists.

Despite their number increased in recent years reaching 570, this is not enough. The flow of tourists is growing.

Most of tourists coming to Azerbaijan in recent years live in homes of villagers, who rent out their houses. For this purpose we have developed a special program, where we are conducting special training for owners of homes that provide services, and teach them to ensure quality and safe services, he said.

Another problem that foreign tourists faced while visiting Azerbaijan during the Novruz holiday was lack of the currency exchange points, which simply defies logic, according to the minister.

The currency exchange points and banks in Azerbaijan, as throughout the world, have to work during holidays, he said.

The minister said that the new bill "On Tourism", targeting to improve the national tourism, which is being discussed, will eliminate such facts.

"Every company, state-owned enterprises, ministries, will carry out the necessary work for the organization of high-level tourist trips, he assured.

Meanwhile, Culture and Tourism Ministry Tourism Department Head, Mahir Gahramanov announced that a state tourist registry for tourism enterprises is planned to be opened in accordance with the law.

Gahramanov said that activities of tourism enterprises, which to be included in the State Register and receive a certificate of compliance, will be deemed under an appropriate law.

He added its also planned to introduce compulsory certification for hotels, which is now carried out voluntarily.

"We are planning the introduction of compulsory certification as a reservation control mechanisms. But it just a proposal and the discussion is underway," Gahramnov said.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
 

       3.0 (      -       -         ): editor [at] bahrainmirror.com
A Leicestershire accountant has narrowly avoided jail after stealing more than 26,000 from cafe chain Delifrance.

The company, which has its UK headquarters in Wigston, Leicestershire, employed financial accountant Emma Hoy in 2012.

Over a three-year period, she then made illegal payments into her own bank account, using the log in details of a colleague.

Hoy paid herself 26,680 in total, into a bank account under the name of her partner.

She made up fictitious business names based on her partners surname, and then got the payments countersigned by other employees, who had no way of knowing the payees were made up.

At Leicester Crown Court last week, Hoy was told by Judge Ebraham Mooncey said: "Im thoroughly disappointed you could behave in the manner you did.

For the sake of your two sons you will not get the custodial sentence which you richly deserve."

He told Hoy to continue paying Delifrance back, which she has been doing for the past three months.

Trust to repay

Mooncey said: "Its a huge amount of money and Im going to trust you to repay Delifrance."

Hoy, who pleaded guilty to fraud, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. She was also given 12 months supervision by the probation service and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work.
Dr. Pepe Talks About Medical Imaging in Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Dr. Jose Riva Palacio (Dr. Pepe) is one of the most respected radiologists in the area. He was born in Mexico City, grew up in Cuernavaca, and attended Medical School in Mexico City.

After graduation, he was an active air evacuation crew member for a non-profit Mexican foundation for children who were burn victims, accompanying them on flights to the United States for Treatment.

As part of Healthcare Resources Puerto Vallarta's 'Hot Topics' program, Dr. Pepe will present 'Medical Imaging for Dummies' at 9:30 am on Tuesday April 12, 2016 at Hospital San Javier Marina. This program will cover all aspects of medical imaging, what is available in the Banderas Bay area, the pros and cons of various studies, and much more!

You'd be surprised what you DON'T know about imaging! Expand your own knowledge and be informed! Afterwards, take a tour and see the imaging equipment. Be sure to bring your list of questions for Dr. Pepe to answer.

This is a NO CHARGE event, but reservations are required. pamela(at)healthcareresourcespv.com TODAY!
GAP: Passenger Traffic Increase in 12 Mexican Airports

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico - Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V. recently announced preliminary terminal passenger traffic figures for the month of March 2016, compared to traffic figures for March 2015.

During March 2016, total terminal passengers increased 17.9% in the 13 airports, compared to the same period of the previous year. Domestic passenger traffic presented a 25.1% increase, while international passenger traffic increased 10.1%.

Based on passenger traffic during the first quarter and forecasted traffic considering offered seats figures provided by airlines for the remainder of the year, GAP expects an annual increase in passenger volume between 10% and 11% for 2016.

The following items are highlights from traffic results for the month of March:

Quarter Growth: Passenger traffic grew 17.8% in 1Q16 compared to 1Q15, due to an increase of 1.52 million in available seats stemming from Volaris and Interjets fleet growth. Secondly, GAP reported one extra day in February as it was a leap year, which generated an additional 1% of traffic. Lastly, the Easter holiday took place in March, resulting in a 3.7% increase in passenger traffic; whereas in 2015, Easter fell in April.

Seats and Load Factor: In March 2016, GAP registered a 15.4% increase in the number of seats compared to March 2015. Load factor grew 1.1% compared to last year, reaching 83.5 percent.





In the last 12 months, the airport reached 10.1 million passengers, becoming the third Mexican airport in the history to surpass 10 million passengers. In March, Aeromexico opened its route to Los Monchis, while VivaAerobus resumed its route to Tijuana with two daily flights. During the Easter holiday, frequencies increased to destinations such as Cancun and Los Angeles.

Puerto Vallarta: Domestic traffic grew 22.4% due to an increase of 6 thousand domestic seats by Volaris and 4 thousand by Aeromexico. International traffic increased in the number of seats offered by Southwest and United by 27 thousand and 12 thousand, respectively.

Los Cabos: Continues to show significant improvement in passenger load factor. This indicator increased from 77.6% in March 2015 to 85.7% in March 2016. Hotel infrastructure in Los Cabos is at its best; at the beginning of March the Ministry of Tourism recorded 11,730 available rooms in 4 and 5 star hotels. In March, Volaris opened a route from Toluca to Los Cabos and AereoCalafia opened a route from the Bajio region.

Tijuana: Continues to strengthen its growth rate, which is the highest year-to-date in 2016 among the 10 largest airports in the country. In March, available seats increased 39.9% compared to last year. Volaris is the airline that contributes the most to this growth with 76.2%. The airport continues to position itself as the most efficient option for passengers traveling to the United States, due to its competitive rates and the recent opening of the Cross Border Xpress This cross-border bridge registered market penetration of 19.2% of Tijuana airport total passengers in March, reaching 97,084 users crossing the border via this bridge.

Montego Bay: Passenger traffic increased 3.6% during March. Delta and United Airlines contributed the most to the increase in offered seats, with 9 thousand and 4 thousand additional seats, respectively. Meanwhile, the charter flight market continues to be the main growth driver, increasing 19.1% during the month.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V. (GAP) operates 12 airports throughout Mexicos Pacific region, including the major cities of Guadalajara and Tijuana, the four tourist destinations of Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, La Paz and Manzanillo, and six other mid-sized cities: Hermosillo, Guanajuato, Morelia, Aguascalientes, Mexicali and Los Mochis. In February 2006, GAP's shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "PAC" and on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "GAP." In April 2015 GAP acquired 100% of Desarrollo de Concesiones Aeroportuarias, S.L., which owns a majority stake of MJ Airports Limited, a company operating the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Original article
Securities America has paid more than $15 million in an SEC case and settlements with the fraud victims of Hector May and his daughter, Vania May Bell.
Sept. 15, 2022

Even though some states have decriminalized or legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, under federal law, Marijuana remains an illegal Schedule I Controlled Substance, with a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use.
Stepping into Ed Tooleys house is like stepping back in time.

Welcome to Titanic, he said, opening up a bedroom door.

Tooley has spent the last 15 years turning his extra bedroom into a 20th century stateroom. He used pictures of the Titanic and of its sister ship the Queen Mary to make it as authentic as possible.

I stayed on the Queen Mary in California, thats a sister ship, and it just made me feel like I should start a Titanic room.

The Queen Mary is permanently moored off the coast of California and is now a hotel.

Tooleys room has wooden bed, desk and other wood furniture. Theres a wash basin mounted on the wall, not connected to any plumbing. Thats how it wouldve been on the ship, Tooley said. Many items are replicas, but some are authentic. He has an extra copy of one of the dinner menus and locks meant for the ships additional voyages.

Tooley has pieces of coal salvaged from the sunken ship, and a tea cup also found in the wreckage. He even has suitcases and a baby carriage from the era.

Just to give it a bit of authenticity, he said.

The room is a way for Tooley to honor those lost at sea 104 years ago.

I just felt it, Tooley said. All those people who perished need to be remembered and to me, this is a monument to them.
A missing 17-year-old kayaker was found alive late Sunday night.

Multiple agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, had been searching Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs since around 7 p.m.

According to Tarpon Springs Deputy Fire Chief Scott Young, a Coast Guard helicopter spotted the missing teen, Karlin ONeill, off the coast around 10:15 p.m.

"She's in good condition as far as we can tell, so we're just relieved that we found her," Young said. "She was in the kayak waving her arms when the Coast Guard helicopter saw an object, so she was alert enough to be waving."

Young said the teen and her mother were kayaking toward Anclote Key but somehow became separated. The mother made it to the destination, but her daughter didn't.

That's when authorities were alerted.

ONeill said she was kayaking behind her family when a boat sped by her.

"There was a wake from a boat and the way the wave hit me, I went right off the wake and it hit me perfectly that I almost tipped my kayak, ONeill said. I saved the kayak, but I lost the paddle."



Without her paddle, ONeill drifted farther towards the Gulf for eight hours. She said she tried to use her flip flops as paddles, but it didnt work.



Once night came I got scared because I didnt think they would be able to find me, ONeill said.



When it got cold, ONeill used the two lifejackets she had on the kayak; she wore one while she wrapped the other around her legs. She said she remained optimistic someone would find her.

"Finding someone in the water is like finding a needle in a haystack, Petty Officer Jake Garbrecht said. Garbrecht was the rescue swimmer inside the Coast Guard helicopter that searched for ONeill.



The rescue team used night vision goggles and thermal cameras to search for ONeill in the dark. They spotted her about four miles off the coast of Tarpon Springs.



At first it didnt look like she knew we were there, not sure if it was because she was hypothermic at the time or not, but as we got closer she started waving her arms frantically and it was obvious she was in distress, Garbrecht said.



I didnt think they would be able to see me, but their lights shone on me barely, so thats when I really started waving my arms hoping they would notice, ONeill said.



Minutes later a rescue boat pulled ONeill to safety.



"The survivor did everything right. She stayed with the kayak, she had her life jacket on, Lt. Frank Cheske said. She luckily had water on board and didnt attempt to swim to shore."



"I think what helped me the most is that I stayed calm, ONeill said. I knew someone eventually would find me."

U.S. Coast Guard video of kayaker rescue
Two high school girls from Miami who went missing during a weekend trip with their school to Kissimmee and were later found have been reunited with their families.



Brocha Katz and Rivka Moshe were reported missing Saturday at approximately 8 p.m. from the Caribe Cove Resort located at 9000 Treasure Trove Lane in Kissimmee.



The two 16-year-old girls were found in a heavily wooded area, next their resort. The Osceola County Sheriffs Office searched for the missing teens on the ground and in the air.



And it wasnt just local law enforcement looking for them.

I saw at least hundreds of volunteers come out, said Moshe Drebin a volunteer from Miami.

People part of the Jewish community in South Florida traveled all the way over here to help in these search efforts-- be it through prayer or by passing out flyers.

When anyone in the Jewish community gets affected in a negative or even a positive way, we all come together, Drebin added.

Brocha Katz and Rivkah Moshe were staying at The Caribe Cove Resort for a retreat. The girls were not carrying their cell phones because it was a religious function, when it is believed that they wandered into the woods and got lost.

The rescue efforts took hours because the two girls were stuck in a wooded area. Search and rescue workers had to cut down on brush and make their way through a forested and swamp-like land.

Rabbi Yosef Konikov the director of Chabad of South Orlando was there when the girls were found.

As soon as they were told that it was them they came out cheering and there were people dancing. It was beautiful to see the unity and the concern from people who never met these people, Rabbi Konikov said.

The girls were checked out by paramedics and taken to the hospital as a precaution. Were told they appear to be in good health and only sustained minor scratches.
The SpaceX rocket that landed on a floating barge in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday could arrive back in Central Florida as early as Monday.

For the first time, SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on the barge about nine minutes after its launch.

Once the first-stage booster arrives in Port Canaveral, SpaceX plans to test fire the rocket engines 10 times and prepare it for another launch. That launch could happen as soon as June.

Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and founder, said reusing rockets will drive down the cost of launches.

"It's a really good milestone for spaceflight, you know," he said. "I think it's another step toward the stars. In order for us to really open up access to space, we've got to achieve full and rapid reusability."

While the first-stage booster was making its way back to Earth, the second stage of the rocket propelled a Dragon cargo capsule to orbit.

The spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday morning. It brought about 7,000 pounds of supplies to the space station.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module was in the Dragons trunk. It will be installed at the end of the week. It will inflate and become an extra room for astronauts.

A record-tying six vehicles were at the International Space Station on Sunday morning after the Dragon was officially captured.
Seaside, Oregon Coast Revelations: Ten Fun Facts You Did Not Know

Updated Periodically

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Seaside, Oregon)  Ancient ruin-like structures, odd objects, serious secrets about the beach, wild elements of nature, surprising science and some unique history. There's so much more to the north Oregon coast town of Seaside than meets the eye, one that's been a tourism pull for families for generations. You find so much if you dig just a little below the surface. (Photo: the cove is part living history).

So, we've done some of that digging for you.

Cove Area Grew in the '80s. One really striking fact about Seaside and its geologic history is that the cove area at the southern was much shorter before the early 80s. It wound up gaining about 300 feet of beach when a massive landslide came off Tillamook Head and caused bundles of boulders to pool up the water for a few years. Eventually, sand filled in those areas, creating the long stretch between the Avenue U access and the tide.

Mysterious Pipe at Waters Edge. You may have sometimes noticed an old pipe sticking up out of the sand around the tide line, and perhaps wondered what it is. This is an interesting bit of living history in Seaside: it's the intake pipe for Seaside Aquarium. This brings the fresh ocean water into the nearly 80-year-old attraction, and much of the same pipe below the sand was used all the way back in the 1920s when the building was a natatorium (a heated salt water bath).





What's in a Seaside Street Name (and Below the Streets). You may notice that Highway 101 in Seaside sometimes has street signs calling it Roosevelt  and not Highway 101. This is a leftover from when the entire highway along the Oregon coast was called the Roosevelt Coast Military Highway as it was first being constructed in the '20s (named after Teddy Roosevelt, not his cousin). Before it was finished in the '30s, it was named the Oregon Beach Highway, but has changed names and nicknames at least twice since then.

Broadway Avenue is now the main drag through downtown, but when it was first constructed around 1900 it was called Shell Avenue. Historians believe many of the streets along the Oregon coast with this name are believed to have been initially built by using the shell middens from ancient tribes who lived in the area. This practice  considered ghastly now  made building roads easier then, but it also meant raiding piles of artifacts and maybe even burial sites. This means it's possible there are native remains buried beneath Broadway today.

World War II Military Bunker Atop Tillamook Head. Take about a mile and a half hike from Cannon Beach's Ecola State Park  or a little over length from Seaside  and you'll run into an old bunker from World War II. This ancient construct once housed a radar station on top of Tillamook Head.

What's viewable now is a largely moss-covered concrete structure, with a few squarish concrete blocks on top containing slats. Clearly for guard lookout purposes, they look as if they could've also accommodated machine guns.

Inside, the bunker has several rooms  apparently still fairly well kept. There are some areas with notches in the concrete which probably served as tracks for large movable items on platforms.

There is no entrance to the bunker, however. You'll have to admire it from outside.





Brown Waves. Periodically, the town is host to a host of brown waves. Sometimes, they're even kind of globby, black and sludgy in spots. Don't be alarmed  it's a good thing. Although it freaks out tourists because they think it's pollution. In fact, it's huge amounts of phytoplankton: what's called a phytoplankton bloom. Conditions in the Seaside, Gearhart and Warrenton areas are sometimes more conducive to growing gobs of these microorganisms. When you get enough, they turn the surf brown or even sludgy in certain patches.





More Whole Sand Dollars Found Here. A very little known fact is that the northernmost edge of Seaside and the southern part of Gearhart (around the Necanicum River) are where you can find more whole sand dollars than anywhere else on the Oregon coast. This has to do with so many nutrients in that area that they simply thrive (the same nutrients feed the brown wave-inducing phytoplankton) and the fact very few people are here to pick them clean.

Aside from that, exactly why so many sand dollars end up here is a bit of a mystery.





Lewis and Clark Works Replica. Sometimes known as a salt cairn. From January to February 1806, one group from Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery went to the beaches of Seaside and boiled sea water for salt. The site is considered to be the exact spot by historians. Look for Lewis & Clark Way to find the replica of the boiling structure.





Ferris Wheel. Believe it or not, Seaside used to have a Ferris wheel. Sounds crazy in a coastal environment such as this, doesn't it? For one thing, it wasn't that tall  not quite 50 feet high. Secondly, it did not operate in anything but seasons of calmer weather. What isn't known, however, is how they tied it down during windier days and big storms.

The Ferris wheel was part of Gayway Park, which ran from 1953 until the early 80s. This little amusement park stood a tad west of where the little choo-choo train ride is now on Broadway and included a small rollercoaster and other bits of fun.

Bird Feeding Frenzies at the Necanicum. Periodically, spring brings huge rushes of baitfish like anchovies or herring to this part of the north Oregon coast, and sometimes they flood into the Necanicum River. Then, you often have this wild display of a bird feeding frenzy as they swarm the river, gobbling up the fish. There can be a hundred of them, easily. Pelicans are known for actually herding the baitfish into groups so they can be swallowed more easily in greater numbers.

Seaside's Rock 'n Roll History. In the '60s, there was an all age music venue called the Pypo Club that was rather legendary in the then-growing Pacific Northwest music scene. In a town this small, some big names played it, including Paul Revere and the Raiders, Gene Vincent and of course The Kingsmen. Three decades before Seattle and Portland really exploded in the national scene with its indie rockers, the Pybo was above a skating rink and natatorium for a time. Then by the mid sixties it had moved a couple blocks north. Oregon Coast Lodgings for this - Where to eat - Maps and Virtual Tours

More About Seaside, Oregon hotels, lodging.....

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"Weather permitting" might be the two most important words for anyone who wants to get outdoors to work or play.

Rain chances build into the picture from Monday through Wednesday as a cold front moves toward Southeast Texas and stalls off the coast.

No severe storms are expected, but some locations could see more than an inch of rain, said Roger Erickson, the weather service's warning coordinator meteorologist.

It could result in minor river flooding in the Deweyville area, hit hard by the Toledo Bend flood into the Sabine River a month ago.

That's also not great news for Village Creek State Park, struggling to reopen all its trails and campgrounds after the third-worst flood in its 22-year history, said park superintendent Jerry Rashall.

Half of the park is still closed because of the flooding from Village Creek's tributaries after the torrential rain of March 8-11 dumped an estimated 18 inches at Toledo Bend but also inundated large areas to the west.

Much of Beaumont and Jefferson County were spared the worst of it, but the massive storm that curled around Beaumont produced rapid flooding and erosion.

"We had a few inches to several feet of water," Rashall said.

None of the park's major buildings were flooded, though cabins and the pavilion did. Half of the park's roads were closed for almost a month recently reopened.

Campsites that are served by water and electricity are open and were booked all through this month, Rashall said.

Walk-in campsites are still closed.

Ordinarily, in such good spring weather, the park would have about double its usual number of visitors, Rashall said.

Two of eight miles of trails are open. The water receded enough for park employees to check the rest of the trails.

The canoe launch is open, he said.

Village Creek rose to 23.39 feet because of this year's flood, he said.

In October 1994, it got 25.5 feet and in October 2006, it got 28.3 feet.

Rashall said he expects all of the park's facilities will be open by mid-summer.

While the reservoirs at Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend are full and open for recreation, the mouths of the Neches and Sabine rivers that drain into Sabine Lake have carried tons of debris into the shallow estuary, which also is still almost all fresh water, said Carey Gelpi, ecosystem team leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlie Department's coastal fisheries program in Port Arthur.

"It's still dangerous for boating," he said. "I wouldn't recommend it."

He said the TPWD research vessel in the lake got a bent propeller because of a submerged log. Fiberglass-hulled vessels are particularly at risk because slamming into debris could easily rip a hole in them, he said.

In Beaumont, the city's parks are in good shape, which provides people with access to exercise opportunities, cited as a shortcoming in a report released this week about Jefferson County's well-being.

The exercise opportunities don't refer exclusively to expensive gym memberships but also to open-air parks with amenities for exercise on them.

Beaumont has about 30 parks, ranging from little pocket parks in neighborhoods to larger community parks and a regional park like Tyrrell Park, at which the city will build a boardwalk into Cattail Marsh to attract birders looking to observe migratory species.

Outdoor recreation isn't confined to full-contact exertion.

The Big Thicket Association offers its Neches River Adventures boat trip aboard its Ivory Bill vessel, which cruises up the Neches River from Riverfront Park each Saturday from March through November for floating class on the local environment, said Bruce Walker, the association's executive director.

With a recently announced sale of the city-owned marina, where the Ivory Bill is docked, the tours' future has yet to be determined.

The tour took aboard more than 2,000 students from nine school districts and six private schools for 39 days' worth of outdoor classes, Walker said.

The Ivory Bill ran 56 private charters and public tours that brought another 2,000 visitors into the Beaumont unit of the Big Thicket in 10-Mile Bayou, he said.

DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach
The House of Representatives passed a Republican-sponsored bill, the Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act, that would make it easier for hospitals to merge, removing roadblocks from antitrust challenges, according to a Crain's Detroit report.

Here are six key notes:

1. The American Hospital Association supports the bill which "removes a deterrent to hospital integration and realignment, which is essential for success in the changing healthcare landscape." The SMARTER Act would align the U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission process for challenging mergers, according to the report.

2. The SMARTER Act changes the litigation process, litigating the Justice Department challenges in federal court and eliminating the FTC's administrative hearings. The FTC would instead work through merger challenges only through the courts.

3. The AHA maintains some hospitals decide not to undergo lawful mergers due to the expense associated with potential litigation.

2. The FTC currently must prove a preliminary injunction is in the public interest while the Justice Department proves a "substantial likelihood" of winning an injunction blocking the deal while merger challenges are litigated.

5. The bill's opponents reject the elimination of the FTC's hearing power; the FTC has been successful in challenging hospital mergers in the recent past, according to the report. The FTC's administrative process has helped shape merger policy in the United States.

6. Its unlikely President Barack Obama will sign the bill, even if it passes the Senate, but it could have a chance under the next president if Republicans win in November.
Here are seven updates:

Tenet names Howard Hacker SVP, COO

Tenet Healthcare appointed Howard Hacker as senior vice president and COO. As COO, Mr. Hacker will lead the company's ethics and compliance programs, which Tenet's Quality, Compliance and Ethics Program Charter established.

University of Michigan officials present plans to build ASC

Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan and University of Michigan Health System officials provided the Brighton City (Mich.) Council a detailed presentation about plans to construct an ASC. U of M's 313,000-square-foot ambulatory facility will offer more than 40 medical specialties and will have ample space for expansion.

Medical Consultants partners with IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital

Muncie, Ind.-based Medical Consultants is teaming up with IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, also in Muncie. Medical Consultants will continue offering multispecialty care and procedures at its outpatient surgery center. The agreement is effective Oct. 1.

North Carolina public hearing set on Kernersville ASC

On May 12, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will host a public hearing on Novant Health's certificate-of-need application to open an ambulatory surgery center in Kernersville. On March 15, Novant Health submitted a request to move two of its operating rooms from Winston-Salem to Kernersville.

Cerner faces overtime lawsuit

With nearly 17,000 employees, Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner is facing a class action lawsuit due to lack of overtime pay. In the suit, two former Cerner employees claim the company miscalculated overtime pay for potentially thousands of workers. Cerner faced a similar overtime lawsuit in 2007, but the case did not move forward as a class action lawsuit.

Overbilling costs Medicare $40B each year

A new report claims improper payments cost Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services nearly $40 billion annually. Louisiana has the highest overfilling rate (19.4 percent), followed by Texas (17.3 percent) and Alabama (14.3 percent).

Texas hospital OR staff recorded mocking sedated patient

A Houston patient opted to record her hernia surgery after her physician was rude to her when she scheduled the procedure. The patient hid an audio record in her hair, which recorded the surgeon saying the patient was "a handful" and that he feels sorry for her husband.

More healthcare news:

8 key staffing issues for ASCs & how to fix them

North Carolina public hearing set on Kernersville ASC  4 things to know

Going digital: 2 ASCs that recently installed EHRs
Colusa (Calif.) Regional Medical Center is having difficulty making payroll until it is slated to close April 22.

Colusa Regional Interim CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer Wayne Allen told employees in late March that the hospital and its three clinics were closing. In a letter to staff on Thursday, Mr. Allen told employees they would be receiving their paychecks a week late, according to the Appeal-Democrat.

"We were not able to meet payroll today  Friday  and that was communicated to our employees yesterday in writing," Mr. Allen told the Appeal-Democrat. "There were some of our Medicare and medical payments that did not come through as expected."

Colusa Regional employees were also told they would not immediately receive payouts for accrued paid time off. Mr. Allen told the Appeal-Democrat staff will probably receive their payouts over the next 60 to 90 days.

The hospital is also about a month and a half behind on paying payroll taxes.

"That's not at all acceptable practice  either one of them  and it's one of the reasons we're in closure mode," Mr. Allen told the Appeal-Democrat. "I can appreciate (the employees') anger and their frustration  people work because they need the money. It's terrible that it happened, but we can't go down to the bank and get a loan for the money, and I'm not going to allow people to sign checks if they are going to get sent to the bank and bounce."

More articles on healthcare finance:



South Dakota hospital set to lose Medicare status

California companies take on Sutter Health over cost of care

5 healthcare CFOs in the headlines
CMS announced a new primary care initiative Monday designed to improve primary care by helping practices transition to value-based care models.

Here are 13 things to know about the new initiative.

1. The five-year model, Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+), builds on the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative launched in late 2012.

2. CPC+ focuses on five key functions: access and continuity; care management, comprehensiveness and coordination; patient and caregiver engagement; and planned care and population health. According to CMS, the CPC+ model will help primary care practices work with hospitals and other clinicians, including specialists, to provide more coordinated care.

3. Under the CPC+ initiative, CMS will partner with commercial insurers and state Medicaid agencies to provide monthly care management fees based on beneficiary risk tiers.

4. PCP practices will participate in one of two CPC+ tracks. Practices in both tracks will receive upfront incentive payments that they will either keep or repay based on their performance on utilization and quality metrics. Practices in both tracks will also receive data on cost and utilization.

5. In Track 1, CMS will pay practices an average monthly care management fee of $15 per beneficiary in addition to the fee-for-service payments under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. They're also eligible for a performance-based incentive payment of $2.50 per beneficiary per month.

6. Practices in Track 2 will provide more comprehensive services for patients with complex medical and behavioral health needs than those in Track 1. Practices in Track 2 will receive an average monthly care management fee of $28 per beneficiary.

7. Instead of receiving full Medicare fee-for-service payments for evaluation and management services, practices in Track 2 will receive a hybrid of reduced Medicare fee-for-service payments and upfront comprehensive primary care payments. "The hybrid payment design will allow greater flexibility in how practices deliver care outside of the traditional fee-for-service encounter," according to CMS.

8. Track 2 practices are also eligible for a performance-based incentive payment of $4 per beneficiary per month.

9. CPC+ has a significant focus on health IT, and practices in Track 2 must submit a letter of support from their health IT vendors that outline the vendors' commitment to supporting their practices in reaching the goals of the CPC+ initiative.

10. The CPC+ model will be implemented in January 2017 in up to 20 regions and will encompass more than 20,000 physicians and clinicians.

11. CMS will select regions for CPC+ where there is significant interest from multiple payers to support practices' participation in the model. CMS said it will enter into a memorandum of understanding with selected payer partners to document a shared commitment to align on payment, data sharing and quality metrics.

12. Regarding the CPC+ model, American Medical Association President Steven J. Stack, MD, said, "The American Medical Association has urged CMS to adopt several of these improvements as it designed the next generation of advanced primary care models. This new model holds promise for patients, and we look forward to working with CMS on its continued refinement and implementation."

13. CMS will accept payer proposals to partner in CPC+ from April 15 through June 1. Once the regions are selected, CMS will accept practice applications from July 15 through September 1.

More articles on healthcare finance:

South Dakota hospital set to lose Medicare status

California companies take on Sutter Health over cost of care

5 healthcare CFOs in the headlines
Cancer physicians want Medicare to pull back a pilot testing ways to pay for chemotherapy and other expensive drugs, such as those that treat macular degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease, according to a report in the Star Tribune.

Under the pilot, Medicare would pay physicians a flat fee for each day a drug is administered, plus a 2.5 percent add on. A control group would continue to receive current rates, which pays physicians the average sales price of the drug plus a 6 percent add-on, according to the report.

The idea behind the experiment is to see if the current policy incentivizes physicians to use more costly drugs, according to the report. Some find it insulting that Medicare wants to see if cancer physicians are gaming the system to make more money from more expensive drugs.

Opponents say there are not many low-cost cancer drug alternatives and it will not address the issue. Some also say it will limit where patients are able to receive treatment because smaller, physician-owned practices may not be able to afford costs of treatments under the proposed payment scheme, according to the report. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley (R) has already received 70 letters in opposition of the policy, according to the report.

However, others, like primary care physicians and consumer groups, see it as a positive thing, according to the report.

More articles on integration and physician issues:

Envision Healthcare acquires Michigan emergency medicine group

Medical Consultants to join IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital

UA Phoenix medical school names interim dean
Grand Island, Neb.-based CHI Health St. Francis has had to turn patients away due to its limited nursing staff, according to The Grand Island Independent.

If the hospital's nurses are out sick or on maternity leave, it has to divert patients to local hospitals, according to the report. "The diversion issue is really hard for all of us," Beth Bartlett, CHI St. Francis vice president for patient care services told The Grand Island Independent. She noted, however, that this nurse shortage goes beyond St. Francis. The hospital recently had to call four hospitals before it could divert two patients, according to the report.

Ms. Bartlett said CHI Health St. Francis has to divert patients to keep safety in mind, and part of that is making sure ample nursing staff is available to care for patients. If a patient arrives in an emergency condition, the hospital stabilizes the patient before diversion, if necessary, according to the report.

The area is already "overbedded," she told The Grand Island Independent, and the issue stems from its small workforce. Adding another hospital to the mix would just divide the workforce, she said, according to the report.

More articles on integration and physician issues:

Envision Healthcare acquires Michigan emergency medicine group

Medical Consultants to join IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital

UA Phoenix medical school names interim dean
Eastern Niagara Health System in Lockport, N.Y., and Buffalo, N.Y.-based Kaleida Health have inked an affiliation agreement, which will allow the systems to work together on physician recruitment, clinical education, supply chain and IT enhancement.

Each system's board of directors has approved the agreement.

"Our partnership with Kaleida Health will be a great benefit to the eastern Niagara community and our efforts to preserve local healthcare," said Eastern Niagara Hospital Board Chairman George V.C. Muscato. "This partnership will be advantageous to the hospital as we make efforts to jointly recruit new physicians and specialists to the area, further clinical education, and implement new programs."

Kaleida Health President and CEO Jody Lomeo also expressed excitement about the partnership.

"This is an incredible opportunity to do what's best for the community and the patients that we serve together in Niagara County and across Western New York," he said.

More articles on healthcare industry transactions:



Prime gets final approval to take over bankrupt NJ hospital

Tenet seeks extension on Desert Regional Medical Center lease

Health insurer UCare to merge with Fairview Health Services
Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna is being courted by other cities, according to the Hartford Courant.

Despite reports and documents claiming Boston and other cities have approached Aetna about a headquarters relocation, the insurer has declined to comment specifically on the issue. "We remain headquartered in Hartford, and we're committed to our employees here, who are an important part of our future," said Aetna spokesman T.J. Crawford, according to the Boston Business Journal.

However, in January, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said the insurer has "made a commitment to only one community as the location for the most important part of our business, and that's Louisville," the headquarters of Humana.

Approximately 6,000 of the insurer's 50,000 employees work in Connecticut.

Meanwhile, Connecticut officials are attempting to convince the insurance giant to stay. "We're going to work very hard [to ensure] that Aetna remains a large presence here in the state," said Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith, according to the report. "We definitely want them to remain headquartered here."

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin agreed, claiming he has "been in regular contact with Aetna's leadership, including meeting with CEO Mark Bertolini," according to the report.

This isn't the first time a Connecticut company has been persuaded out of the state. In January, Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric announced it was moving its headquarters to Boston, according to The Wall Street Journal.
As the overhaul of the surgical program continues, Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, Fla., has suspended operations at the kidney transplant center at its Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, according to News-Press.

Transplants involving live kidney donors have been on hold at GCMC for nearly a year after a patient died while donating a kidney to his father. The center was placed on probation by United Network for Organ Sharing after the incident. Now, no kidney transplants  including those from recently deceased donors  will be performed at the hospital.

The decision to halt all kidney transplant operations will affect 259 patients on the kidney waiting list. Transplants are predicted to begin again in one to three months, but transplants involving live donors are not likely to resume until the fall at the earliest.

Lynsey Biondi, MD, the new director of the GCMC's transplant program, told News-Press, "I understand that it is an emotional thing, and we're sorry for that, but I honestly believe this is for the best interests of the patients, to keep them safe until we rebuild this team."

Some on the transplant list are reportedly being referred to other Florida transplant programs like those in Tampa and Miami, while others will have to wait out the shutdown. The hospital's kidney transplant center is the only one in its region, according to GCMC's website.

In accordance with the requirements set by regulators, Lee Memorial will now assume complete control of the transplant program. Previously, private practice physicians have collaborated with the health system to oversee surgeries in the center. Future operations at the new transplant center will feature only employees of the health system. The total cost of rebuilding the program will reportedly hit the $4 million mark.

Gordon Burtch, MD, the transplant center's former surgical director and one of the program's founding physicians, cut ties with the center two weeks ago. Dr. Burtch told News-Press, "I just don't have any faith in the direction that the program is going...as far as I know, there's nobody in the Lee Memorial administrative leadership position that has any transplant experience. And yet, for the last year and a half, they've been making all the transplant decisions."

More articles on quality:

CMS 5-star hospitals have lower mortality and readmission rates, study finds

Care quality and clinical outcomes vary considerably for colonoscopies

HackensackUMC partners with Uber to provide outpatient medical transportation
The following hospitals and health systems shared plans to hire workers in the last month, starting with the most recent.

1. Porter Regional Hospital to hire 35 workers: 5 things to know

Porter Regional Hospital in Valparaiso, Ind., is hiring for about 35 positions. The hospital is hiring for various positions, including nurses and medical technologists. A job fair was scheduled for April 7 at the hospital.

2. University of Cincinnati Medical Center to hire 500 workers: 3 things to know

The University of Cincinnati Medical Center plans to hire nearly 200 nurses and almost 300 therapists and technologists to fill newly created jobs.Hiring the 500 workers would increase the size of the organization's workforce by about 9 percent, according to a Cincinnati Business Courier report. A job fair was scheduled for March 31 at UC Medical Center.

3. Munson Medical to hire 200 employees

As of March 17, Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Mich., was looking to fill more than 200 open positions, including entry level positions such as billing representatives, medical and nursing assistants.

More articles on workforce and labor management:

After 2 employee deaths, St. Joseph trains staff to identify domestic violence

3 staffing metrics every hospital should monitor

A snapshot of healthcare jobs in 2015
The Competition and Markets Authority said the merger of O2 and Three would not be in the interests of consumers

Britain's competition watchdog has called on European regulators to effectively block the merger of mobile phone giants Three and O2 amid fears it will cause "long-term damage" to UK consumers.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has written to the European Commission (EU) to say the 10.3 billion merger would be a "significant impediment to effective competition" in the UK mobile phone market.

European regulators have been studying the deal for several months since Three owner CK Hutchison of Hong Kong entered into exclusive talks to buy O2 from Spain's Telefonica in January 2015.

The deadline for the EC to make its ruling on the deal is May 19, although regulators close to the process say a decision may come before that.

The CMA said the merger would cut the country's four major mobile phone players from four to three, which would not be in the interests of consumer competition.

However, CK Hutchison said it was "very disappointed" about the CMA's letter.

It added: " It is no surprise that CMA opposes the merger. It always has, and so has Ofcom. But it is for the Commission to assess any competition concerns, on the basis of the facts and proposed remedies."

The four major networks in the UK are Vodafone, Three, 02 and EE.

CMA chief executive Alex Chisholm said in the letter that the appropriate action in this case "is the divestment - to an appropriate buyer approved by the Commission - of either the Three or O2 mobile network businesses, in entirety, or possibly allowing for limited 'carve-outs' from the divested business".

This would in effect mean that CK Hutchison would have to sell all, or most, of one of the two networks, negating the point of the merger to create a larger business.

O2 has around 28.5% of the UK market, but a merger with Three's share of just over 8% would see it climb to become the biggest operator in the UK.

The CMA cleared the 12.5 billion sale of EE to telecoms giant BT in January, creating a combination that will have around 35 million mobile, broadband, and TV customers.

The deal saw BT re-enter the mobile market, but the CMA said that deal was not likely to harm competition in the industry.

The executive director of consumer watchdog Which? Richard Lloyd said: "The CMA is right that this merger, if it is allowed to go ahead, would seriously reduce choice and competition for UK customers in the mobile market.

"Which? has also written to the European Commission to set out our concerns."

However, telecoms and TV firm Virgin Media argued that three bigger firms had a better chance of competing with EE, now that it has been bought by BT.

Virgin Media claims that the BT/EE merger now controls almost half of the UK spectrum available to mobile phone firms in this country.

Virgin Media chief executive Tom Mockridge said: "Less than three months ago the CMA approved the merger of BT/EE, without remedies, despite concerns that this concentrated too much valuable spectrum in the hands of one provider.

"This is the very reason it is now difficult to create a new, fourth mobile network operator.

"A combined O2/Three would provide a counter balance to the strength of BT/EE, offering an alternative source of capacity to other providers who will drive competition in their own right."
Northern Ireland business is making the most of uncertainty around the EU referendum with output at an 18-month high, according to a major survey today.

The Ulster Bank purchasing managers' index (PMI) said the province enjoyed the fastest growing rate of business activity of any UK region during March.

The services sector - everything from law firms to restaurants - was especially buoyant, the survey said.

However, manufacturers reported only marginal growth during the month and was the only sector shedding jobs.

But overall, companies had closed the first quarter of the year "on a high", with employment and new orders growing. And far from slowing business activity, Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said uncertainty around June 23's EU referendum - and the fall in sterling's value it had prompted - was in fact presenting opportunities for Northern Ireland firms.

"The marked depreciation in sterling over the last four months, linked to uncertainty with the outcome from the forthcoming EU referendum, has provided a significant and unexpected tailwind for local exporters and retailers sensitive to cross-border footfall.

"Given Northern Ireland's reliance on the Republic of Ireland economy, the combination of strong growth in the Irish Republic coupled with a competitive sterling/euro exchange rate have presented many firms with very favourable conditions.

"It is noted that local firms also increased their staffing levels in March for the 14th month in a row."

And Northern Ireland's economy was no longer the poor relation to other UK nations, Mr Ramsey said.

In fact, output and employment growth here outperformed the rest of the UK throughout the whole quarter - but Mr Ramsey added: "It is worth remembering that the local economy is playing catch-up with its UK counterparts following a sustained period of under-performance."

He said the services and retail sectors were "star performers" with both reporting a revving-up in output, orders and jobs during March. New orders were increasing in the services sector at the fastest rate in nearly two years - while retail could claim the steepest jobs growth.

But shops were engaged in close competition, with prices being reduced at their fastest rate in seven years.

Mr Ramsey added: "Outside of services and retail, construction firms remain in expansion mode.

"However, the rate of growth in output, orders and employment has eased."

But the struggles continued for manufacturing. Last year Michelin announced it was withdrawing completely from Northern Ireland, due to high energy prices and cheap Chinese tyre imports. And there was no improvement in March.

"Output was flat ... although there was a modest pick-up in manufacturing orders. However, manufacturing continues to report job losses, the only sector to do so, with March representing the seventh successive month of employment declines," he added.
Eddie Redmayne stars in the movie, set in the same fictional world as Harry Potter

New footage has been released from the upcoming Harry Potter spin-off movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne, who stars as Newt Scamander in the film, introduced the new trailer at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles.

After emerging from a suitcase on stage, the British actor said: "Myself and the rest of the cast had such an astounding time getting to leap back into the world of JK Rowling's imagination.

"And I'm properly excited to share with you just a wee glimpse of what's in store this November."

The film is based on JK Rowling's 2001 book, which is set in the Harry Potter universe, and is the first in a planned trilogy.

The opening scenes of the trailer show Redmayne's character arriving in 1920s New York by boat, while a voice can be heard saying: "You're an interesting man, Mr Scamander. Just like your suitcase, I think there's more to you than meets the eye.

"Kicked out of Hogwarts for danger to human life with a beast. Yet one of your teachers argued strongly against your expulsion. I wonder what makes Albus Dumbledore so fond of you, Mr Scamander?"

Various scenes from the film include Redmayne turning a switch on his suitcase to read "Muggle worthy", and Colin Farrell, whose character Percival Graves is set with the task of tracking down Newt Scamander, firing a wand.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is due for release in November.
Apprentice winner Leah Totton was all smiles during a romantic break here with new boyfriend Mark Wright at the weekend

Apprentice winner Leah Totton was all smiles during a romantic break here with new boyfriend Mark Wright at the weekend

Apprentice winner Leah Totton was all smiles during a romantic break here with new boyfriend Mark Wright at the weekend

Apprentice winner Leah Totton was all smiles during a romantic break here with new boyfriend Mark Wright at the weekend.

The glamorous couple spent the weekend exploring Leah's home city of Londonderry and the scenic Antrim coast, as well as posting loved-up snaps on social media.

The pair enjoyed romantic meals in Derry's Exchange Restaurant and the Ramore wine bar in Portrush.

London-based beauty expert Leah flew home to open a new Women's Aid facility in Derry. It provides accommodation for victims of sexual and domestic abuse, and incorporates a coffee shop and a women's history project.

The latter is of special interest to Leah, who has spoken out on women's issues in the past and takes a keen interest in Northern Ireland politics.

She is thought to have used the trip home to introduce fellow Apprentice winner Mark to her parents Trevor and Lorraine.

Over the weekend she posted a number of stunning scenic photographs of the Antrim coast on Twitter and Instagram. On Saturday she tweeted a picture of herself cuddled up with Mark in the Ramada Hotel Portrush and wrote: "Weekend in Northern Ireland #noplacelikehome".

Yesterday she tweeted: "Amazing meal in @RamorePortrush last night now exploring the Antrim coast."

She later uploaded a photograph of the coastline with the caption: "The most beautiful country in the world."

Australian entrepreneur Wright also appeared to be enjoying his romantic break. He uploaded a number of photographs of himself and Leah and gushed on Twitter: "Amazing weekend in #northernireland."

The couple were introduced to each other last year by Apprentice boss Lord Sugar, who recommended Wright (26) for the visual marketing of Dr Leah's beauty clinics after he won The Apprentice in 2015.

Dr Leah claimed the Apprentice crown in 2013 with a plan to launch a 'Botox empire' of cosmetic clinics.

Her win resulted in Lord Sugar parting with 250,000 to invest in the business.
Branagh in Much Ado About Nothing

Sir Kenneth Branagh (pictured) will star alongside Sir John Hurt in The Entertainer at The Garrick

Stage and screen legend Sir Kenneth Branagh will take part in a Q&A in Belfast which will be beamed live across the UK as part of hundreds of special events marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

The Belfast-born actor and director's Q&A live and in person will be beamed live to more than 70 UK-wide cinemas from the Queen's Film Theatre following a special screening of Henry V.

The event is to coincide with the quatercentenary of Shakespeare's death on Saturday April 23.

Three hundred special screenings and events celebrating the impact of the playwright's life, work and legacy on cinema will take place across the UK beginning in April.

The QFT have said the Branagh Q&A will take place in May and tickets are set to go on sale next week.

Branagh, a patron of Film London's own Shakespeare on Screen initiative said: Its a real privilege to be returning with Henry V  the first Shakespeare feature I directed, to the Queens Film Theatre in my home city, as part of this wonderful celebration of Shakespeares life, work and legacy on screen.

"The fact that Film London has organised the event to be beamed live to cinemas across the UK is particularly exciting.

The BFI: Shakespeare on Film project led by Film Hub London will see multiplexes, independent cinemas, film clubs, pop-ups and community venues the length and breadth of the UK enticing audiences with a broad range of must-see filmic interpretations of Shakespeares work and special events featuring leading cinematic lights.

From the Branagh Q&A to screenings in castles to silent films set to bold new scores from leading contemporary artists, BFI Presents: Shakespeare on Film promises a series of big screen revelations that will entertain everyone from bard aficionados to casual cinemagoers.

Adrian Wootton, Chief Executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, said: Shakespeare might have been a man of the theatre but his work offers endless possibilities to film-makers.

"Somehow the power of his stories, characters, his all too human resonant and relevant themes of power, politics, family, romance, tragic conflict and joyous comedy, manages to transcend barriers of time and the English language such that specific cultural settings can be interpreted by filmmaking artists, in all different kinds of locations, contexts and languages.

"I am hugely grateful to the BFI and FAN for working in partnership with Film London to deliver this wealth of Shakespeare programming and activity around the whole of the UK.

Highlights from the BFI Presents: Shakespeare on Film programme

Across the UK: Henry V screening + Kenneth Branagh Q&A (Broadcast live to Cinemas). Taking place at Belfasts Queens Film Theatre, the Q&A and film will be beamed live to 70+ cinemas across the UK. (Film London in partnership with Queens Film Theatre, supported by Pinewood Studios in association with Park Circus). This event forms part of Film Londons international Shakespeare on Screen programme. Preceding the event, through his role as Into Film Northern Ireland Ambassador, Kenneth will also take part in a special educational event for young audiences in partnership with Into Film, which is supported by the BFI through Lottery funding.

At multiple UK venues: Live Cinema UK presents Shakespeare Re:Scored, wherein renowned contemporary artists provide specially-commissioned scores to Play On! Shakespeare in Silent Film, a new compilation from the BFI National Archive. (Film Hub North).

Glasgow: An exploration of the Scottish play courtesy of Glasgow Film Theatre, with a series of outdoor screenings showcasing, amongst others, the Shakespeare interpretations of Roman Polanski and Orson Welles (Film Hub Scotland).

Wales: Chapter partner with the British Council for family-friendly screenings, cult selections and discussions with academics and experts to examine Shakespeares relationship with Wales, while Pontio offer a unique one-off cinematic experience of Macbeth (1964) in Welsh from the BBC archive. (Film Hub Wales).

Birmingham: A sideways look at the bard as part of the tenth Flatpack Film Festival, incorporating spoken-word, animation and artists film (Film Hub South West & West Midlands).

Nottingham: A selection of must-see cinematic classics at Broadway Cinema, Nottingham (Film Hub Central East).

Sheffield: Sheffields Showroom Cinema presents a specially curated season of the finest Shakespeare on film, including an adult education programme (Film Hub North).

Lancashire: Aunty Social CICs incorporation of a filmic strand into the popular Fylde Coast Shakespeare Festival, which sees Shakespearian events taking place across the region in venues that range from piers to pubs (Film Hub North West Central).

Berkshire: South Hill Parks Shakespeare Un/Told, which offers a week-long programme of multimedia events exploring the playwrights work and legacy (Film Hub South East).

London: Shakespeares Sister, an exploration of gender  both behind and in front of the camera  courtesy of Curzon. This discussion will include filmmakers, academics and the brains behind the Bechdel Test Fest (Film Hub London).
Kat and Alfie Moon are heading to Ireland for an EastEnders spin-off (BBC/PA)

An all-Irish cast will join EastEnders's Kat and Alfie Moon in their spin-off drama series Redwater, the BBC has said.

Set in a fictional village in Ireland, the six-part adventure has been created by outgoing executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins.

Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace, Alfie and Kat respectively, will appear alongside Downton Abbey's Maria Doyle Kennedy Lost's Fionnula Flanagan, and Ian McElhinney from Game Of Thrones.

Redwater's ensemble also includes Shameless star Angeline Ball, Brooklyn's Peter Campion and The Tunnel's Stanley Townsend.

The cast is rounded out by Oisin Stack, Stephen Hogan, Susan Ateh, Ian Toner and Ebony O'Toole-Acheampong.

London-born Wallace, 44, said: "I walked into the drama read-through to a table full of wonderful Irish actors and it was thrilling.

"They all made me feel so very welcome as we started to read the first script. It's going to be a roller coaster."

Richie, 52, said: "Wow! What an honour to be in this unbelievable drama and working alongside some of Ireland's finest actors.

"At the moment it's a whirlwind so I'm just getting into the new scripts, which are electric."

Talking about Redwater, Flanagan said: "This is a fascinating character, full of secrets, deceit and manipulation. My favourite!"

The Dublin-born actress, who has starred in three Star Trek spin-off TV series, added: "It's a wonderful story which will keep you guessing forever and ever.

"Great writing and a fabulous director."

Redwater is a picturesque Irish harbour village, a quiet rural idyll by the sea where the Kelly and Dolan families have lived for generations.

When Kat and Alfie Moon arrive in search of her long-lost son, Kat's quest for the truth uncovers secrets the village of Redwater would rather were left buried at sea.

The BBC One series, produced by Casualty's Vicky Wharton, will be broadcast in 2017.

Helmed by multi-award-winning Danish director Jesper Nielsen, of Borgen fame, it has been scripted by EastEnders writers including Life On Mars creator Matthew Graham, Casualty's Julie Dixon, Holby City's Lauren Klee and Death In Paradise's Matthew Barry.

Treadwell-Collins hailed Redwater as "very special", while Nielsen pointed to "echoes of a Shakespearean drama".

"It was our intention from the start to create a new contemporary ensemble drama set in Ireland and we are so thrilled and lucky to have such a talented team on board for Redwater," Treadwell-Collins said.

"It is testament to the quality of Jesper, Matthew and the other writers, as well as the producer Vicky's tenacity that we have assembled such a high calibre of cast and crew to join Shane and Jessie in such a beautiful setting. We all know that we are creating something that is going to be very special."

Nielsen said: "We have a really important and fantastic story to tell. About how one woman's search for a lost child opens Pandora's box; revealing the terrible lies and secrets in the little village of Redwater.

"A story about how the strong bonds of love in a family can hold everything together, and yet at the same time - destroy everything. It has echoes of a Shakespearean drama, told in a rich cinematic style, loaded with humour and suspense. I cannot wait to start the shooting and see the characters coming to life."

Filming begins next week in Ireland.
Parents need to fully appreciate the many positives of the hi-tech world before they can address its real or perceived threats, the author of a new parenting guide explains to Lisa Salmon.

Many parents bemoan their children's obsession with digital technology and yearn for the 'good old days' when kids used to play outside and sometimes get bored.

But have you ever stopped to think that the positives of this new digital world might actually outweigh the negatives, for both parents and children?

In their new book Parents And Digital Technology, parenting expert Suzie Hayman and psychologist John Coleman point out that as well as many perceived, and some real, threats from children becoming immersed in the digital world, there are numerous benefits that can enhance young people's lives.

"Part of the solution is to grasp the positives and help your children to benefit from those, while also saying, 'These are the rules'," says Hayman.

"We hear about the nasty side of the internet - the trolling and the bullying - but what you don't hear about is the number of times an unhappy young person goes on a social media site and gets sympathy and suggestions on how to make it better."

POSITIVES

Digital benefits include:

Keeping in touch.

Gaming: while the drawbacks may be that young people get obsessed and neglect other aspects of their life, the upside is that games, unlike watching television, are active and demand a response - thinking, reacting, and finding solutions. Games require skills and expertise that can have dramatically positive results in young people's lives, says Hayman. "So many of us are turning our back on games and saying they're a waste of time. But our kids are actually learning very good things from them and we should be harnessing that," she adds.

Education: digital devices can be used at school to release creativity, sustain interest and provide intellectual challenge.

Reducing boredom: according to the Office for National Statistics, half the number of girls under 18 become pregnant now than did 25 years ago. Over the same period, consumption of illegal drugs has also halved, teenagers drink a third less alcohol and most don't smoke. "Why did young people drink, smoke, have sex?" asks Hayman. "Mostly, because they were bored and it was either something to do or part of something to do - hanging out with equally bored friends. Instead, they now reach for a screen." She does, however, point out that never getting bored can also be destructive, potentially leading to young people growing up never having to use their imaginations or work at finding something to do.

PERCEIVED VS ACTUAL THREATS

Access to pornography and violence.

Selfies and sexting potentially fuelling anxiety and confusion.

Cyberbullying: a survey by the charity Family Lives found 43% of 11 to 16-year-olds had been bullied on social networks.

Family life: parents often worry about the way social media and the internet have taken over family life.

Health issues: these include long periods spent on devices, little exercise and increased consumption of junk food. Plus, a large study by Public Health England concluded that children who spent more than four hours a day in front of the television or a computer screen were more likely to develop anxiety or depression.

In contrast to the above, Hayman and Coleman suggest the main, real threats are actually:

Addiction.

Cyber-bullying.

"I do think that when you look at the anxieties - and there are plenty, including things that are absolutely awful, like cyber-bullying - it shows that parents need to know so much more and have conversations about digital technology," says Hayman. "Just putting blocks and filters on gadgets won't work because kids will get round them, and such blocks don't give you the opportunity to discuss what's wrong with the digital world."

TERRIFIC TRIO

Hayman stresses that to maximise the digital world's potential, parents basically need three things: knowledge, understanding and skills.

The knowledge and skills are to be aware of what children are encountering on the internet and help them manage it safely and positively. The understanding is of the positives and the negatives of digital technology and negotiating rules and sanctions.

Rules can include limiting screen time. The authors say the consensus is to aim for:

0-2 years of age - never.

3-5 years - no more than one hour a day.

6-18 years - no more than two hours a day.

However, Hayman points out that as older children may also need to do homework on the internet, a two-hour restriction may sometimes be unworkable.

RULES

Hayman and Coleman suggest that the general household digital rules should be:

Everyone turns off all technology when they get home for a period, and at mealtimes.

Meals should be eaten at a table, not from laps in front of screens.

Don't let screens be the only entertainment or source of knowledge at home. Read books and enjoy other activities.

Allow 'check-in times' to social media in the evening for everyone, at an agreed time, for a specific time. Have something definite to move on to afterwards.

Time online comes out of an agreed limit for the day.

"Rules need to be what suits you and your family. They need to apply to everybody in the house," says Hayman.

Parents and Digital Technology is published by Routledge, 12.99

Ask the expert

Q: I've just had a baby and have started getting backache, particularly when I pick her up. As I can't avoid picking my baby up, what are the best ways to manage the problem?

A: British Chiropractic Association chiropractor Rishi Loatey says: "Becoming a parent brings significant lifestyle changes, which can contribute to the onset of back and neck pain. Lifting and carrying children is a common contributor to back pain, and recent British Chiropractic Association research found nearly two-thirds of parents believed this was the reason their back pain had increased since having children.

"There are a number of simple steps parents can take to avoid placing unnecessary strain on their spines.

"Always lift with your spine straight and bend your knees to avoid leaning, stretching or bending.

"Try to limit the amount you have to bend down or reach up when lifting your child. For example, adjust the seat of your child's high chair or lower the side rail of the cot before you lift them out of it.

"When carrying your child, hold them as close to your centre of gravity as possible. Avoid carrying your child on your hip too much, as this can cause your spine to twist.

"Alternating sides when feeding will also prevent you from placing an uneven load on your spine, which over time may lead to back pain."

Kitted out

Robo Modelling Kit

Children can make Robo Crew wind-up characters plus a Max the Superdog model with soft air-drying clay modelled around the wind-up mechanism. Includes four wind-up mechanisms, 12 packs of coloured modelling clay and a guide. Suitable from six years. 11.99, www.galttoys.com

Buttonbag Lion First Sewing Kit

Ideal for little fingers, with no cutting and big pre-cut holes, these kits are designed to teach children the basic principles of sewing as they quickly and easily make a colourful lion. The kit has two plastic safety needles, sticky-back googly eyes, toy stuffing, and six colours of embroidery thread. Suitable from four yeas. 10, www.buttonbag.co.uk

Make Your Own system

Snap the spheres together, paint the planets with glow-in-the-dark paint and watch them orbit the sun. Kit includes a set of planets, stand and rotating arms, glow-in-the-dark paint, brush, sandpaper, and instructions. Suitable from four years. 15, www.nhmshop.co.uk
Helena Bereen has an unusual role in new film I Am Belfast, in which her character embodies the changing city. She tells Una Brankin how visiting her daughter meant missing the premiere of the critically acclaimed movie, which is currently showing at the QFT.

Veteran actress Helena Bereen dominated the screen at last night's much-anticipated premiere of I Am Belfast, feted by the Hollywood Reporter as a "charmingly off-beat tribute to a big hearted city".

But the Killinchy-based actress wasn't there alongside writer-director Mark Cousins to receive the heaps of praise for her surreal role as a 10,000-year-old woman who embodies Belfast down through the centuries.

Thousands of miles away, in Dubai, Helena was on doctor's orders not to fly home until tomorrow at the earliest.

"I came to Dubai for a week in March - my daughter Siobhan lives in Qatar - but I fell and broke my ribs," she explains. "I developed a pneumothorax and wasn't allowed to travel unfortunately. I'm old - but certainly not 10,000. I'm hoping to fly back on Tuesday."

Raised in Cullybackey, Helena has appeared in many memorable roles in films such as Mo, The Hunger, starring Michael Fassbender, and Terry George's Oscar-winning short film The Shore - parts which helped land her the star-turn in I Am Belfast. The dreamlike sequences of the film were written and directed by Cousins and scored by local superstar music producer/DJ David Holmes while the movie was actually being shot in the city in 2014.

Belfast-born Cousins, former presenter of BBC2's Moviedrome and Scene By Scene, wanted to show how female Belfast is.

As he told me in an interview in 2014: "I imagined a film about Belfast told by one of the old ladies I knew when I was growing up, the ones who knew everything and could handle fire coals without tongs and wore nylon overalls all the time - women who seemed to come from the dream time."

For the writer, Helena, a grandmother-of-one, fits the role perfectly. The charismatic actress worked as a nurse in the Royal Victoria Hospital during the Troubles, witnessing much horror, and the tears she sheds on screen at the McGurk's Bar bomb victims' memorial are real. The UVF killed 15 people and maimed many others in the 1971 explosion in Belfast. Among those killed were Philomena and Maria McGurk, wife and 12-year-old daughter of pub owner Patrick McGurk, who was seriously injured along with his three sons.

Shortly after the attack, McGurk appeared on television calling for no retaliation. "It doesn't matter who planted the bomb," he said. "What's done can't be undone. I've been trying to keep bitterness out of it."

Helena recalls: "Patrick McGurk's generosity of spirit after the atrocity in his bar would move mountains. I didn't need any other motivation for that scene.

"I loved and empathised with the script. Making this film was one of, if not the best, acting experiences of my career.

"Mark and myself clicked. We had the same idea as to who represents the spirit of Belfast. Incidentally, the film was named I Am Belfast way before the atrocities throughout the world, such as the attack in Paris which coined 'Je Suis Charlie'.

"And, I must say that David Holmes' musical score is also really beautiful," the actress adds.

I Am Belfast's producer Chris Martin said in a recent interview that he knew Helena was ideal for the role when she walked into the audition dressed for the part, having obviously done her homework after reading the 10-page treatment.

In preparing to shoot the film, Cousins walked every street in Belfast so that he could look at it with fresh eyes, which gave him a new appreciation of it.

He says: "When you know somewhere and you see only bits of it appearing in the media - in this case, the war aspect has been appearing in the media for 20, 30 years now - it's the other, the less easily defined, bits like the colour, the sound and the humour, the femaleness, the disjointedness, that you want to try and get into a film about it."

Cousins cites his inspirations for his approach as Soviet cinema, popular song, and the storytelling of his grandmothers, and grandmothers everywhere. I Am Belfast recalls films like Terence Davies' Of Time And The City and Patrick Keiller's London And Robinson In Space; getting deep into the heart of a place to bring something different to our understanding of it. Both political and romantic, not drama and not quite documentary, I Am Belfast offers a new and passionate portrayal of this inspirational city. It reminds us all how deeply the essence of our home towns can remain within us, even when we have left them and they continue to change in our absence.

Helena (right) lives in Co Down with her partner Derek McGimpsey but gets her unusual surname from her former husband, psychiatrist Dr Fred Bereen, the former clinical director of St Brigid's Hospital, Ardee, who died in 2009.

Her sister, Betty, still lives in Cullybackey. Another sister, Mandy, lives in Paris.

"In I Am Belfast, the city is a mother, grandmother, carer, friend and listener," says Helena. "I trained as a nurse in the Royal in the Sixties and, on reflection, my greatest role has been that as a mum. I have three children - Marc and Conor live in Dublin and run a fab restaurant called Coppinger Row.

"My daughter Siobhan, who lives in Qatar, is an art psychotherapist. She takes after her dad Freddy, who was a psychiatrist, and I have a wonderful grandchild, Leon, who lives in Brazil."

One of Helena's biggest fans, Cousins said in a recent interview that he's angered by Hollywood being only interested in women when they are young and sexy. "Older women are so absent from cinema and it is a disgrace, because they have so much to offer and share with us," he says. "Helena was the only woman I could imagine playing Belfast. Older people have wisdom and experience that is hard won and so valuable."

Watching the actress's impressive show-reel online, it's obvious what the writer-director saw in her.

One particularly dramatic clip from Hunger shows her as a zombie-like resident of a nursing home, covered in blood when a gunman bursts in and shoots her visiting son in front of her.

"Hunger was an amazing experience. Something that stands out for me is the fact that every time I didn't get it right, the nursing home walls had to be repainted (with blood)," she recalls.

"And what Mark said about me and other older actors, I treasure.

"I have played mothers and grandmothers from both sides of our community. There are no differences."

Helena will appear in The Immaculate Misconception, showing in the QFT on April 14, and The Devil's Doorway, which premieres in London on April 20. I Am Belfast runs in the QFT until Thursday

I Am Belfast is on release by the British Film Institute (BFI) in selected cinemas UK-wide, including Belfast's QFT, and on the BFI Player, followed by a DVD/Blu-ray release on June 20

A dreamlike exploration

Old and wise, serene and graceful, the 10,000-year-old character played by Helena Bereen in I Am Belfast guides the unseen director (Cousins) around the streets on an emotional journey through the rich, complex and often tragic history of Northern Ireland's capital.

The leisurely, dreamlike exploration takes in the outstanding natural beauty of the coastline, poetic observations, anecdotes and factual recollections - with shockingly detailed revelations about aspects of the Troubles.

Stunning colour cinematography by Christopher Doyle (In the Mood For Love, 2046) and archival clips from peacetime and times of violent conflict are accompanied by a powerful soundtrack by local DJ and composer David Holmes (Ocean's Eleven, '71, Hunger), who was scoring the film during shooting.

Among the real people that contribute to this very female take on the city are old friends Rosie and Maud, who steal the scene with hilarious expletive-ridden banter and outrageously flirty come-ons to the director. In a dramatised sequence, a street procession to 'the funeral of the last bigot' sets poetry in motion as the city's darker elements are put to rest.
Aerial shot of the 107-acre site off the Movilla Road in Newtownards

A close up of one of the types of properties planned

Artists impression of how the houses might look

Northern Ireland is set to get its biggest housing development in 10 years as part of a 200m project in Co Down.

Carryduff firm Fraser Houses hopes to build 1,000 properties off the Movilla Road in Newtownards.

The Rivenwood development is expected to create around 500 jobs and will take around 10 to 12 years to finish.

The 'New England' style properties on a 107-acre site east of the Co Down town are priced between 132,000 and 192,000.

It's the second major housing development announced in recent months after Lagan Homes said it would be building 550 family houses in two locations in Bangor.

Estate agent Simon Brien, who will sell the homes, said the news was an indicator of a strengthening market. Prices crashed by as much as 60% as the downturn took hold from the end of 2007.

Mr Brien said his company had seen an increase in sales of around 25% year-on-year and a rise in average prices of between seven and 8%.

He said: "We are seeing a lot more confidence in the market, when people are buying they are not worried about prices going down. Areas like Lisburn, east Belfast and North Down have been particularly strong. Rent is going up but mortgages have stayed quite low so couples who had previously been put off buying are now finding it to be more attractive, so I expect that the homes will be very popular."

John Armstrong, managing director of the Construction Employers' Federation (CEF), welcomed the new development but said even more new houses were needed to avoid another property bubble.

He said: "No one wants to return to the likes of 2007 but unless we build more we simply will not meet demand."

The Northern Ireland housing market hit the doldrums in 2008 when prices plummeted.

They slumped by up to 60% after 2007's peak of an average price of 240,400, according to Ulster University's house price index.

They started to pick up again around 2013 and the average house price is now 154,685, according to the university's index.

The CEF has said that between 7,600 and 11,300 houses are needed every year in Northern Ireland to replace existing housing and cope with market demand. However, last year, just over 3,200 new homes were registered here, and that was up 30% on the year before.

Alan Fraser of Fraser Houses said the development would create around 500 jobs.

"Demand for property in Northern Ireland is increasing and confidence in the market is on the rise. Rivenwood will not only bring a range of unique and stylish homes to a desirable location in north Down, it will create an estimated 500 jobs and support a wide range of local industry-related companies," he said.

"The houses are designed to appeal to all demographics, whether first time buyers, families, retired couples - there's a range of homes to suit all tastes and requirements.

"The New England style has a fresh new look and adds a touch of class to these homes which are in an ideal location only minutes from Newtownards town centre, yet on the edge of open countryside."

Planning permission has already been granted for the first 100 homes and building will begin this summer.

The first sales release is expected next month with the first houses to be completed in December 2016.
A leader of a community group has hit out after police officers raided a local facility in a north Antrim village in a search for terrorist weapons and explosives.

Anti-terror police were also looking for paramilitary paraphernalia when they searched the Community House in Bushmills.

The PSNI later issued a statement saying it had uncovered a quantity of suspected counterfeit cigarettes in the raid.

Derwyn Brewster, chairman of the Bushmills Residents and Environmental Forum, which is based in the Community House, said the raid yesterday morning in the Dundarave estate had damaged relationships between locals and police.

Mr Brewster told the Belfast Telegraph police arrived after 9.30am with a "search warrant under the Terrorism Act looking for guns and explosives and paramilitary regalia".

He claimed the premises were closed and the PSNI phoned treasurer Leanne Abernethy and told her she had 10 minutes to get down to the property or else "they were going to put the door in".

"First of all they went in with an explosives dog to search for explosives and then a full search team went in and lifted every floorboard and every carpet and searched the place," said Mr Brewster.

"There was quite a bit of damage done.

"The carpets were stuck down and I don't know if we can re-stick them.

"They never found any guns, explosives or paramilitary regalia.

"They took out a bag of cigarettes they found in the sitting room, which belonged to somebody.

"It wasn't very many."

Asked who owned the suspected counterfeit cigarettes, he said: "The Community House is used by a dozen different groups."

He claimed the police action had caused anger throughtout the estate.

"We are looking for answers," he said.

"The PSNI actually funds that Community House for different programmes and the PSNI regularly meets in it for meetings with community representatives, and we can't understand why this has happened."

Mr Brewster is a member of the Loyalist Communities Council, which was set up last year with the backing of the UDA and UVF in a bid to connect loyalism to civic society.

He claimed the community's relationship with the police was "not very good at the minute".

"The community is in shock, they are angry," he said.

"A full search on a Sunday under the Terrorism Act at the Community House doesn't make sense.

"Whoever gave the order to do this would need to go and get their head examined.

"There are church groups, youths groups, National Trust and even the PSNI had outreach in there when they closed Bushmills police station.

"There is all this talk of two-tier policing at the minute and I think it is just another attack on the unionist community.

"We don't understand, don't know why they would do this on a Community House.

"Surely people can just lift the phone and say: 'I believe such and such is in such and such a place?'"

"I don't know - it is police intelligence?

"It is away up the left, totally wrong."

Mr Brewster and Ms Abernethy posed for a photograph with a copy of the police warrant.

It showed that officers were there to look for "firearms, any paramilitary paraphernalia, offensive weapons".

PSNI Chief Inspector Mark McClarence added: "Police carried out a planned search at premises in the Dundarave area of Bushmills on Sunday.

"A quantity of suspected counterfeit cigarettes were seized.

"Enquiries are ongoing."
The funeral of Laura Marshall at St Peters Church in Lurgan yesterday

Family and friends have paid their final respects to a dental nurse found murdered in Co Armagh.

Laura Marshall's body was found in her flat in Victoria Street in Lurgan on April 3.

Yesterday hundreds of mourners attended the 31-year-old woman's funeral at St Peter's Church in the town.

Among them was high-profile dissident republican Colin Duffy.

He was with Ms Marshall's uncle Sam Marshall when he was murdered by the UVF in 1990 while leaving Lurgan police station.

Ms Marshall was buried in St Colman's Cemetery after Requiem Mass.

Her mother Annette, who lives in Leigh-on-Sea in England, paid tribute to her daughter online.

She posted on Facebook: "My dear Laura, justice will be served now."

She described whoever killed her daughter as an "evil monster".

She added: "Your granny is waiting for you with open arms and you will be the brightest star in the sky now that will light up the world. I wish I could turn the clock back but me and you will meet again someday and start all over again. But for now every time I look to the sky and see that bright star, I will know that it is you looking down and saying 'What about ya, you old goat', as you always called me.

"And I would tell you off, but right now, I wouldn't mind it all.

"Goodbye for now... Sweet dreams xxx."

Ms Marshall's boyfriend Gary O'Dowd (36) appeared in court last week charged with her murder.

A PSNI detective said officers had found a "violent scene" in the bathroom, which was destroyed, with a pool of blood on the floor. Mr O'Dowd denies any involvement.

A keen traveller, Ms Marshall backpacked around the USA and Australia, describing it as "the best thing I have ever, ever, ever done in my life".

It wasn't long after she returned home from Australia that she wanted to go travelling again.

Despite her desire to leave Ireland, Ms Marshall loved her job as a dental nurse with Dental Excellence.
Michaella McCollum is living with an archbishop and his wife

Drugs mule Michaella McCollum will spend her parole period in Peru in a homely apartment that also houses an Irish-American archbishop and his wife.

The fifth-floor apartment in Lima is home to Archbishop Sean Walsh, who has been assisting the drug smuggler since she was in prison.

The Catholic priest has stepped up to help her meet the terms of her parole.

"It was an easy decision to offer my place and the job to her," he said.

"I knew she needed to have a formal offer of employment which I made, and an address to live at, which I was also able to give her." As part of her parole conditions, the Tyrone woman will need to work during her four years in the south American country, where she was convicted in 2013 for attempting to smuggle 1.5m worth of cocaine into Europe.

She will now work as a lay missionary alongside the priest both in an office in the apartment and in the Eastern Lima Catholic Church.

Her new home is based in the trendy Milaflores district in the city and is within walking distance of a number of amenities which she will be able to enjoy after more than two years behind bars.

During her imprisonment she was forced to share a cell with 30 criminals but in her new flat Michaella will have her own room and bathroom.

"While it's not a very big apartment, we do have a lot of room and will be able to offer Michaella her own space and a comfortable place to live," Archbishop Walsh told the Sunday Life.

"We are looking forward to working with her and having her stay with us at home."

The bishop, who has grown-up children, said that he is looking forward to working alongside the criminal, who he says has turned her life around.

"My wife and I are treating her like one of the family," he said. McCollum is already enjoying her freedom and has been snapped taking selfies in a coffee shop which she visited with her mum over the weekend.

The conditions of her newly-granted parole dictate that the 23-year-old must stay in the country for the remainder of her six-year and eight-month sentence - of which she has served less than half in jail.

Scottish woman Melissa Reid remains locked up in Peru for her part in the smuggling operation.
Flowers left at the scene for Lesley-Ann McCarragher aged 19, who died after a hit and run in Armagh on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker

A passer-by stops to look at the floral tributes yesterday

Lesley-Ann McCarragher (19) from Armagh died in the early hours of Sunday morning following an hit and run incident on the Monaghan Road in Armagh on Saturday afternoon.

A teenager accused of killing a 19-year-old girl in a hit-and-run has been remanded in custody until he hands over his mobile phone to police.

The 17-year-old appeared before Newry Magistrate's Court on Monday charged with causing the death of Lesley-ann McCarragher through dangerous driving following the incident in Co Armagh on Saturday.

Ms McCarragher was struck by a car while jogging on the Monaghan Road close to her Co Armagh family home.

Read More

A detective sergeant told the court that the car involved in the collision had been bought the previous day by the defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

However, the defendant told police that he had sold the car to two men 45 minutes before the incident.

The court also heard that the youth had refused to hand over his mobile phone to police. Officers believe he had contacted the previous owner of the car asking her to say she had sold the car to "foreigners".

The District Judge told the teenager that he would not release him on bail until he surrendered his phone.

"No phone, no bail," he told him.

The teenager's lawyer said that a family member was going to locate the phone and hand it in to officers.

The judge said the boy could be released on bail as soon as police were in possession of his phone.
The father of a young woman who was murdered by her violent ex-boyfriend has joined demands for a new law in Northern Ireland to better protect victims of domestic abuse.

Following the brutal death of his daughter Clare Wood in 2009, retired prison officer Michael Brown successfully campaigned in England and Wales for a disclosure scheme - known as 'Clare's Law' - that allows women to find out if their partners have an abusive past.

Pressure is growing on Stormont to introduce similar legislation in Northern Ireland, where the PSNI responds to a domestic incident every 19 minutes.

Mr Brown warned without the legislation there was currently nothing to prevent dangerous serial perpetrators of domestic violence from targeting new victims.

Clare was strangled and set on fire by her ex-boyfriend George Appleton at her home in Salford, Manchester.

Appleton had a history of domestic violence - but Miss Wood (36) was unaware of it.

"After Clare died I just dedicated myself to getting the law changed. I had never realised the extent of the problem of domestic violence until Clare was killed. Up to 120 women are killed by their partners every year. That floored me," said Mr Brown.

"The disclosure scheme was too late for Clare but her death could now save lives through the scheme. It's a nonsense that the scheme is not available in Northern Ireland."

The scheme would allow the police to disclose information on request about a partner's previous history of domestic violence or violent acts. Last year six murders in Northern Ireland had a domestic abuse link, the charity Women's Aid revealed.

Mr Brown is now throwing his weight behind a campaign by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) for the introduction of a scheme in the province.

A motion calling for the implementation of Clare's Law in Northern Ireland is to be brought forward at the ICTU conference in Derry on Wednesday.

"The women in Northern Ireland deserve better. If Clare's Law is introduced, and it even just saves one girl, then I think it would be worth it," he said.

"For every girl killed there are grieving parents, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters. It leaves an awful mess behind," said Mr Brown.

The West Yorkshire man said he was convinced Clare would still be alive had she known about the past of her ex-boyfriend, whose earlier crimes had included the knifepoint abduction of a partner.

Mr Brown said: "I never took to George, but I didn't know the extent of what my lass was going through until after her death.

"I remember when I found out she was dead. I was leaving work and was handing in my keys when I was told there was a phone call for me.

A lady identified herself as a detective sergeant and said they had found my daughter's body.

"I didn't set out to get my daughter's name in lights. I just saw that perpetrators were hiding behind data protection, causing havoc moving from family to family. It was a nonsense.

"My lass was everything you could ask for in a daughter.

"I couldn't help her, but hopefully Clare's Law can help other women."

Less than a year after its introduction in England and Wales the scheme was used 1,300 times.

Clare never know of partner's violent past

Mother-of-one Clare Wood was strangled and set on fire by her violent and obsessive ex-boyfriend George Appleton.

The 36-year-old from Salford met Appleton (40) on an internet dating site.

She was unaware he had an appalling record of violence against women, including repeated instances of harassment and stalking. He had kidnapped one former girlfriend at knifepoint.

In the months before her murder in February 2009 Miss Woods had repeatedly contacted Greater Manchester Police claiming Appleton had caused criminal damage, harassed, threatened to kill and sexually assaulted her.
The Titanic Museum is on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast's Titanic Quarter

The Royal Mail is encouraging people to dig out old letters for a new social history project.

The company, which is celebrating its 500th anniversary, hopes to unearth some untold stories around key events from the people who lived through them.

Two letters from passengers on board the ill-fated Titanic have already been submitted.

They include a note from Esther Hart and her seven-year-old daughter, Eva penned just hours before the ship hit sank in April 1912.

In it Mrs Hart said they expected to arrive in New York early because of the speed at which the ship was travelling. It was found in the pocket of a coat belonging to her husband who drowned in the tragedy.

Another letter from assistant surgeon Dr John Simpson to his mother, dated April 11 1912, describes how he was settling in well into his larger than expected cabin accommodation.

It was was brought ashore at Cobh, County Cork, the Titanic's last stop.

Tim Husbands, chief executive of the Titanic Belfast museum, said: "With both our Dr Simpson and Esther Hart letters, we see the we see first-hand the impact of the written word over our visitors, bringing the Titanic's story to life in a very real and emotive way.

"These letters are treasured artefacts and are of vast historical significance. They captivate our guests' imagination as well as compliment the modern technology in our galleries."

The idea for the campaign came after a Royal Mail staff member found a letter from their grandfather who, aged 17, fought aboard HMS Iron Duke during the First World War.

Archivists are particularly keen to receive documents about family; the role of women; love and friendships; travel; personal achievements and moments in history.

Letters which touch on the impact of conflict, emigration and immigration are also welcome as are notes from or about famous people and popular culture.

Letters from centuries ago to the present day will be accepted.

David Gold, head of public affairs at Royal Mail, said: "Personal letters such as the letters written on the Titanic come from the heart and as a result, often tell us details that aren't included in official documents. Our hope is that the letters and postcards people find will help us build a picture of how life really was for communities throughout the ages - warts and all."

Lucy Worsley, TV historian, and chief curator with Historic Royal Palaces, said she was looking forward to reading all of the submissions.

She said: "'One of the best bits of my work as a historian is unfolding a manuscript that no one has read in decades, if not centuries. Every aspect of doing it is a thrill, from deciphering the handwriting, right down to the fact that old documents have their own special unique smell.

"Of course, lots of the nationally important documents in our archives up and down Britain relate to nationally important events, like the Industrial Revolution or the abolition of slavery. But often legal or official documents miss out the human stories, how people were feeling about the great issues of the day. That's something you get best from personal letters."

Letters can be uploaded online through the web address https://letters.royalmailgroup.com. Alternatively, a photocopy can also be sent to Freepost Letters of our Lives.
Police in Newtownabbey are investigating a suspicious approach after a man offered children crisps to get into his van.

The incident happened in Burnside near Ballyclare on Saturday evening.

Inspector Ian Lockyer said: It was reported that sometime around 8.15pm as a group of children were walking towards the Kellburn estate, a man in a van pulled up beside them and asked them to do a job for him and asked them to get into the back of his van and get crisps.

"Two other children then came over and the man reportedly asked them could they help or did they have to go home. The children did not enter the van and they left the area. None of the children were physically assaulted.

The man is described as being between 40/50 years old, of stocky build, approximately 62/63 or taller, bald with grey hair at the sides and wearing a navy long jacket and navy work trousers.

I would ask the man to contact police as they may be able to help us with our enquiries. Police enquiries into the incident are ongoing but I would appeal to anyone with any information on this incident to contact police in Newtownabbey on the non-emergency number 101 or anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Police are at the scene.

Two people had to be rescued from their cars after a serious Co Down crash.

The two-vehicle crash happened on the Ballywalter Road just outside Greyabbey on Monday morning.

Emergency services attended the scene.

Two people were found trapped in the cars and rescued.

They were later taken to hospital and their condition was described as stable.
PSNI bosses have issued a warning after an officer unwittingly tried to buy a car from a dissident republican terror suspect

PSNI bosses have issued a warning after an officer unwittingly tried to buy a car from a dissident republican terror suspect.

The officer put his life at serious risk when he shared his personal details with the car's owner during the sale of the vehicle, the Belfast Telegraph has learned.

And he blew his identity as a PSNI officer when he showed his police warrant card at a vehicle checkpoint while test driving the car with the terror suspect.

Following the incident a force-wide warning was issued reminding all officers to be security conscious.

An email warned them not to produce their warrant card in front of anyone they don't know.

"He was test driving a car with the car's owner when they were stopped at a VCP (vehicle check point)," a police source said.

"The officer produced his warrant card. It later transpired that the car's owner was a dissident republican suspect.

"It could have been a very costly mistake."

PSNI Inspector Mark Hamilton said safety advice is routinely given to officers and staff.

"Police officers and staff are routinely given advice regarding their personal security and any identified potential risks.

"This is nothing new. It is a continuous and ongoing necessity in the face of the current severe threat from dissident republican terrorists," he said.

Last month police bosses admitted they were "deeply concerned" by the current threat from dissident republicans.

Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said there were dissident republican groupings who wanted to mark the Easter Rising anniversary in an "entirely sinister way".

He added that the groups want to "kill police officers, prison officers or soldiers".

And Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr said they were concerned by the numbers involved in dissident organisations and their increasing capabilities.

Mr Kerr said the police are preventing or disrupting three or four planned or attempted attacks for every one that takes place.

He said there are "several hundred active dissident republicans" who are led by a small group of people with "significant terrorist experience". Those individuals were previously members of the Provisional IRA.

His warnings came following the murder of prison officer Adrian Ismay. Mr Ismay was seriously injured when a bomb exploded under his van at Hillsborough Drive, off the Woodstock Road on March 4.

The father of three died 11 days later. Police said a post-mortem examination showed he died as a "direct result of the injuries" of the bomb. The dissident republican group widely referred to as the 'New IRA' said it carried out the attack.

A 45-year-old man, Christopher Alphonsos Robinson, of Aspen Park in Dunmurry, has been charged with Mr Ismay's murder.

In November police officers had a lucky escape following a gun attack on their patrol car in west Belfast. A number of shots struck the passenger side of the police car that was parked at Rossnareen Avenue.

In June a bomb was found under a police officer's car in Eglinton, near Londonderry.
The woman's friends in the public gallery appeared shocked at the sentencing.

A woman who stole 60 worth of meat from a Co Antrim grocery store has been jailed for two months.

Laura Nicholl, 23, was ordered to serve a month behind bars for the raid on a Spar outlet in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim.

A judge at Belfast Magistrates' Court also imposed a further month of a previously suspended sentence for an earlier theft.

Nicholl, of Rosebrook Grove in Carrickfergus, stole the meat products from the shop at Middle Road on March 15.

CCTV footage is believed to have identified her at the scene.

She pleaded guilty to the theft at her first court appearance on the charge on Monday.

In a plea for leniency, a defence lawyer stressed the early admission.

But District Judge Fiona Bagnall pointed to Nicholl's previous convictions and how other efforts to stop her offending had failed.

The total two-month sentence she passed included part of a suspended term imposed less than two months ago.

As Nicholl was led to the cells her friends in the public gallery appeared shocked at the outcome.
Mary and Ian Cameron watch son David make a speech during the 2010 election campaign

Panama Papers: David Cameron told ITV News "I don't have anything to hide". Photo: ITV News

First Minister Arlene Foster said she would publish her 2014/15 tax return as soon as she received it from her accountant

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt's tax return for the 2014/15 financial year.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt's tax return for the 2014/15 financial year.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt's tax return for the 2014/15 financial year.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt's tax return for the 2014/15 financial year.

Mike Nesbitt has released his tax returns in the wake of the Panama Papers controversy.

The UUP leader made the documents available after First Minister Arlene Foster said she would publish hers as soon as possible.

The publication comes in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal which has called into question Prime Minister David Cameron's tax affairs.

Read More

Over the weekend Scotland's First Minister revealed she would publish her tax returns.

Click through the pictures to read Mr Nesbitt's return.

Read More

The papers show the Strangford MLA earned 52,754 in the 2014/15 financial year and paid 10,698.60 in tax.

They also show that the UUP leader spent 69,238 in office costs and expenditure.
Sam Hallam leaving the Court of Appeal in London with his mother Wendy

Two men who spent years behind bars before their convictions were overturned have lost the latest round of their legal battle for ''miscarriage of justice'' compensation.

Sam Hallam, who was convicted of murder, and Victor Nealon, who was found guilty of attempted rape, suffered a defeat at the High Court last year.

But they took their cases to the Court of Appeal. On Monday, three judges in London dismissed their human rights challenges.

Mr Hallam, now 28, from east London, served more than seven years after he was sentenced to life as a teenager following his conviction at the Old Bailey in 2005 of the murder of a trainee chef.

Mr Nealon, 54, who is originally from Dublin, was given a life sentence after his trial at Hereford Crown Court and served 17 years in jail - 10 more than the seven-year minimum term - after he persisted in asserting he was innocent.

They were both set free after appeal judges ruled that fresh evidence made their convictions unsafe, but each had applications for compensation rejected by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

Mr Hallam's conviction was quashed in 2012. Former postman Mr Nealon, who was convicted in 1997 of the attempted rape of a woman in Redditch, Worcestershire, won his appeal in December 2013.

At the High Court, they asked two judges to rule that UK law is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) because it wrongly restricts compensation in ''miscarriage of justice'' cases.

Lawyers argued on their behalf that the Criminal Justice Act 1988, which governs compensation payments, was amended in 2014 in a way that violated Article 6 (2) of the ECHR because it required a person seeking an award to prove they were innocent.

Applicants for compensation now have to satisfy the Justice Secretary that "a new or newly-discovered fact shows beyond reasonable doubt" that they did not commit the offences for which they were jailed.

Lord Justice Burnett, announcing the High Court's decision last June, ruled that the law "does not require the applicant for compensation to prove his innocence".

He said: "It is the link between the new fact and the applicant's innocence of which the Secretary of State must be satisfied before he is required to pay compensation under the 1988 Act, not his innocence in a wider or general sense."

Mr Hallam and Mr Nealon challenged the High Court's findings at the Court of Appeal last month in proceedings before Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson, Sir Brian Leveson and Lord Justice Hamblen.

The three judges were asked to rule that the lower court "erred in law" when reaching its decision, but on Monday they announced that both appeals were dismissed.

The judges also refused permission to appeal to the UK's highest court, but it is still open to the men to apply directly to the Supreme Court in a bid to take their cases further.
The cobalt blue earrings were by Indian jewellers Amrapali

Kate has won plaudits for her fashion choices so far during the trip

Kate's hair was starting to show the effects of Mumbai's humidity

Kate wore a light summer dress by Indian designer Anita Dongre on a visit to a water tank in Mumbai

The Duke of Cambridge played it safe and smart in a navy suit and royal blue tie

The full skirt fell to just below her knees

The dress had an on-trend Peter Pan collar and two breast pockets

Kate wore her hair down in bouncy waves

The Duchess of Cambridge wore a striking cream dress as she arrived at a meeting with young entrepreneurs in Mumbai

The Duchess of Cambridge stunned in a striking cream dress as she arrived at a meeting with young entrepreneurs in Mumbai on Monday.

On the second day of the royal tour in India, Kate's dress was designed by Emilia Wickstead - a designer she has favoured on a foreign tour before.

On the couple's trip to New Zealand in 2014 she wore one of the New Zealand-born, London-based designer's outfits - a blue pleated dress - to a Dunedin church service.

The full skirt of the dress - which also had an on-trend Peter Pan collar and two breast pockets - fell just below her knees.

She paired the demure piece with nude heels and a matching clutch bag.

The Duke of Cambridge played it safe and smart in a navy suit and royal blue tie.

On the first day of the tour on Sunday, Kate impressed in the fashion stakes by combining her loyalty to British designers with inspiration from her host country.
MPs are protected from from libel laws when they speak in the House of Commons.

An MP is reportedly planning to break the Court of Appeal injunction preventing the naming of the famous couple involved in an extramarital celebrity threesome scandal.

It would be the first time a politician has used the protection of parliamentary privilege to out a well-known individual since Ryan Giggs was named as the footballer involved in an alleged affair by a Liberal Democrat MP.

On Sunday, a Scottish newspaper published the identities of the couple in what it described as a protest against the legal row. The publication itself cannot be named for legal reasons.

Speaking to the London Daily Telegraph, one MP reportedly said he was considering naming the couple because of concerns a judge-made law was inhibiting free speech.

Judges found that the right to private and family life of the couple, who have children and were identified as PJS and YMA, outweighed the public interest in the publication of an interview with one of the people allegedly involved in the threesome.

They overturned a High Court judges ruling that the newspaper was entitled to correct the public image the couple had created through the media.

It means the couples identity still cannot be published in England and Wales, though they have been named in Scotland, the US and extensively online through international outlets and social media.

The Scottish paper said it was revealing the identities because there is no legal reason not to publish in Scotland what has been banned in England and Wales.

An editorial read: Their big secret is no secret at all. America knows. The internet knows. The whole world knows. So now Scotland knows. And so we should.

It did not name the couple online.

John Hemming, the MP who acted to name Giggs five years ago, told the Telegraph: It's absurd trying to hold back the flow of information in the digital age by using a court order that can only go as far as Hadrian's Wall.

And Philip Davies MP, a Commons justice select committee member, called the situation an absolute farce.

I don't think celebrities who use the media to secure positive media coverage when it suits them should be able to use the law of the land to prevent coverage they do not like, he said.

While the appeal court judgement prohibits naming the couple, it does not prevent reporting of some of the details stemming from the Sun on Sundays allegations.

Lord Justice Jackson, one of the Court of Appeal judges, said: In 2007 or 2008 the claimant [PJS] met AB. There is a conflict of evidence as to whether they met through a mutual friend or on Facebook. [PJS] and AB had occasional sexual encounters starting in 2009.

AB already had a partner, CD. In a text message exchange on 15 December 2011, the claimant asked if CD was up for a three-way. AB said that CD was. Accordingly, the three met for a three-way sexual encounter which they duly carried out. After that encounter, the sexual relationship between the claimant and AB came to an end, but they remained friends.

AB and CD approached the Sun around early January 2016, after which the newspapers lawyers contacted PJS, who began legal proceedings.
The President of Venezuela has urged women to stop using hairdryers and offered alternative styling tips as the countrys energy crisis continues.

Nicolas Maduro has announced a decree giving state employees Fridays off for two months as part of measures to offset a crippling electricity shortage.

He urged his compatriots to increase other efforts to save power, including cutting appliance use and raising the temperature on air conditioning units.

Recommending that women reduce hairdryer use to special occasions, Mr Maduro added: I always think a woman looks better when she just runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally. It's just an idea I have."

He also called on Venezuelans to make small changes to their routines, including embracing the tropical heat and hanging clothes out to dry instead of using tumble dryers.

Not everyone welcomed the advice, with one Caracas resident telling Al Jazeera: "If the President thinks that not blowdrying our hair is going to help, then the problem is far worse than we thought."

The government has declared Fridays a non-working day for the public sector for the next 60 days as the economic and energy crisis combine to cause food shortages and long supermarket queues.

Around 70 per cent of Venezuelas electricity comes from a hydroelectric plant at the Guri Dam, which holds back the Caroni River in the south-eastern state of Bolivar.

Officials have been warning for weeks that the water level behind it has fallen to near its minimum operating level, meaning it may soon have to be shut down entirely.

Mr Maduros socialist administration blames the crisis on a drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon and acts of sabotage by its opponents, but experts say rationing could have been prevented by investment in maintenance and in the construction of thermoelectric plants.

The Presidents emergency measures sparked ridicule from critics, who have predicted an acute recession.

"Just because Maduro doesn't work Monday to Friday, Saturday or Sunday, doesn't mean we Venezuelans are like that, said opposition politician Maria Corina Machado.

"What we want is to keep working, and for you, Maduro, to go."

His rambling and sometimes expletive-laden late-night speeches have irked many Venezuelans struggling to make ends meet and desperate for a solution to the crisis.

The South American nation has grappled with blackouts for years, including one that took Mr Maduro himself by surprise as he delivered a national address on live television.

Caracas occasionally shuts down because of citywide losses of power and some rural areas are living mostly in the dark.

Mr Maduro gave workers a full week off in March to save electricity, and cut the hours of more than 100 shopping centres across the country in the previous month.

Together with other measures, he hopes to reduce electricity consumption by at least 20 per cent.

His predecessor, Hugo Chavez, promised to solve the problem in 2010, but little has improved.

Other Latin American countries are also grappling with the drought, though still working normal weeks.

Juan Manuel Santo, the President of Colombia, has been urging citizens to cut back on power consumption to avoid rationing, while the Panama Canal is imposing restrictions on ships as it struggles with low water levels.

Source Independent
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says the way the United States chooses party nominees for president is "corrupt" and "crooked" as he faces a possible contested convention that he risks losing.

Speaking in New York, Mr Trump argued that the person who wins the most votes in the state-by-state primary process should automatically be the party's nominee.

Mr Trump compared his woes to those of Bernie Sanders, who is winning states but is still far behind Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the race for delegates that decide party nominations.

Mr Trump predicted that he would clinch the nomination before the convention in July. "We should have won it a long time ago," he said.

The billionaire and reality television star is coming to terms with the political reality of candidates chasing delegates ahead of their nominating convention, and now he is shifting to develop a strategy like the one rival Ted Cruz has been pursuing for months.

Mr Cruz's ground operation is months ahead in some states when it comes to securing friendly delegates.

"A more traditional approach is needed, and Donald Trump recognises that," Paul Manafort, Trump's new delegate chief, said.

"The key, especially for uncommitted delegates, is the electability question," Mr Manafort added.

Mr Trump still has a narrow path to nailing down the Republican nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, but he has little room for error. He would need to win nearly 60% of all the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. So far, he is winning about 45%.
Domestic abuse is one of those subjects that is too often hidden because of its very nature

Domestic abuse is one of those subjects that is too often hidden because of its very nature.

It is therefore a most positive step that the father of a young woman who was killed by her violent former boyfriend has joined timely demands for a new law which could give more and better protection to victims of domestic abuse in Northern Ireland.

Retired prison officer Michael Brown, whose daughter Clare Wood was brutally murdered in 2009, dedicated himself to an ultimately successful campaign in England and Wales for the introduction of a disclosure law.

Appropriately known as Clare's Law, it enables women to find out if their partners have an abusive past.

Clare was strangled and set alight by her former boyfriend, who had a history of domestic violence, but she had not been aware of this.

It is right that pressure is growing on Stormont to have similar legislation enacted here, where the police respond to a domestic incident every 19 minutes.

This is shocking in itself, but so is the revelation from charity Women's Aid that six murders in the province last year were linked to domestic abuse.

Mr Brown, who has lived through the personal agony of losing his daughter, has underlined that without similar legislation in Northern Ireland there is nothing to protect women here against serial perpetrators of domestic violence. Mr Brown has rightly said that women here "deserve better".

Northern Ireland is lagging behind the rest of the UK in this respect, which so often seems the case.

In February Justice Minister David Ford launched a public consultation to consider the potential introduction of a domestic violence disclosure scheme.

But more urgency on this matter is now needed.

A motion calling for the implementation of Clare's Law in Northern Ireland is to be brought forward at the ICTU conference in Londonderry on Wednesday.

It is imperative that our politicians from all parties will do something about it.

Mr Brown, who is backing the campaign, has told this newspaper that it is "a nonsense" the scheme is not available here.

It is very hard to disagree with him.
At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise globallyfrom the Middle East to Europe to college campusesthere is also a lot of good news for pro Israel supporters.

Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is nearing three million members, a staggering number. CUFI has deluxe programs, ranging from church seminars to campus chapters successfully fighting BDS.

I recently saw that one of the groups now-famed Nights to Honor Israel was held in Columbus, Georgia. For me, one of the more interesting outcomes is the fact that the event saw several denominations coming together; there was even a prayer led by a United Methodist minister! This is good news, indeed.

Ive been involved in activism for Israel for more than 20 years, and I believe CUFI hasnt even hit their stride yet. The organization is surging, and Im convinced the best is yet to come. The leadership is savvy, committed, and most of all, imbued with real character.

The Columbus Night to Honor Israel is a signal of things to come. Even with the difficulties Israel must deal with, her friends like CUFI ensure the Jews will never stand alone again.
Mahfuz Anam (center), editor and publisher of The Daily Star, Bangladeshs leading English newspaper, walks from a court in Rangpur district after posting bail, March 1, 2016.

The High Court ordered a three-month freeze Monday on scores of defamation and sedition lawsuits against the editor of Bangladeshs leading English newspaper, giving the government until July to persuade the judges about the legality of proceeding with these cases.

The court put a stay on 72 of 83 criminal defamation and sedition cases brought by ruling party leaders and supporters against Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, his lawyer told BenarNews.

Separately, a Bangladeshi free press advocate hailed the courts order.

I see staying the cases against Mahfuz Anam and the rule on the government as a positive development in protecting the journalists from legal proceedings, A.H.M. Bazlur Rahman, CEO of the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, told BenarNews.

I am hopeful that the court will give its decision to uphold the freedom of expression enshrined in our constitution, he added.

The suits were filed in courts across the country after Anam admitted in a TV interview in February that his paper ran unverified articles in 2007, which were fed by the military and smeared politicians with corruption allegations.

The reports led to arrests of prominent politicians, including Sheikh Hasina, the current prime minister, and Khaleda Zia, now the leader of the opposition, when Bangladesh was ruled by a military-backed caretaker government.

My client, Mahfuz Anam, has been facing a total of 83 cases [66 defamation and 17 sedition cases]. He has got bail in 10 cases from courts in different parts of the country, attorney Chaitanya Chandra Halder told Benar.

We moved in the High Court against [72 of the cases] and the court today stayed the proceedings of the cases for three months, Halder said.

However, there is an outstanding defamation case against Anam, which was filed in the southeastern district of Coxs Bazar and in which Anam has yet to secure bail, the lawyer added.

Mahfuz Anam will fight the Coxs Bazar case legally, Halder said.

Then the court will decide, possibly in three months, whether the 72 cases should continue or be rejected, said lawyer Halder.

If convicted of charges related to sedition, Anam could be sentenced to three years to life in prison, and he could face up to two years in prison if found guilty of defamation, according to the countrys criminal code.

Biggest mistake

After Anam admitted on a TV talk-show that he had made the biggest mistake of his journalistic career by publishing unsubstantiated reports fed to The Daily Star by military intelligence officials, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the prime ministers son, called for Anams arrest for having published false stories about his mother nine years ago.

Later in February, Hasina followed suit by calling for prosecuting Anam and Matiur Rahman, editor of the Daily Stars sister newspaper, the Bengali-language Prothom Alo, which also allegedly published military-fed content in 2007.

Rahman has not yet been charged or named in any related suits.

We will send the governments reply to the court when the hearing will take place, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told BenarNews, referring to Mondays court order and an upcoming hearing in July. We have yet to get any directive from the government on this issue.


For Immediate Release, April 11, 2016 Contact: Brett Hartl, Center for Biological Diversity, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org Lawsuit Demands Feds Release Documents on Decision to Abandon Red Wolf Recovery As Few as 45 Survive in North Carolina RALEIGH, N.C. The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today under the Freedom of Information Act requesting that the agency hand over public records that explain why it pulled the plug on the red wolf recovery program. Early last fall the Center requested public records related to the Services decision. In the seven months that followed, the Service has sent a total of only eight documents to the Center, and continues to ignore the Freedom of Information Acts mandated deadlines. The Services bunker mentality has put the last few red wolves in the wild on the chopping block, and has made a mockery of every citizens right to know how our government makes decisions, said Brett Hartl, endangered species policy director at the Center. The Services obstinate behavior is a telling indicator of just how political its actions have been in this disgraceful attempt to kill off a historic recovery program and condemn red wolves to captivity. The red wolf is now one of the worlds most endangered carnivores, with as few as 45 wolves remaining in the wild. The species was declared endangered in 1973 and, in a final attempt to save it, 17 wild red wolves were captured for captive breeding. Wolf releases began in North Carolinas Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in 1987. The population grew to more than 130 wolves in the wild as recently as 2012, but has now declined by 50 percent following the Services recent actions to curtail the program. We dont know why the Service eliminated the recovery program coordinator position, or why it stopped offering rewards for information on poaching cases, or why it ended its highly successful pup-fostering program, said Hartl. The Service is using every stalling tactic in the book to let the red wolf program wither and die, and its refusal to turn over any documents keeps all of us in the dark about whats going on. In the wake of political pressure from North Carolina and anti-wildlife individuals, the Fish and Wildlife Service has stopped virtually all aspects of the recovery program for red wolves and is conducting a feasibility review as a pretext to further dismantle the program. The Service eliminated the programs recovery coordinator in 2014 and stopped the introduction of new red wolves into the wild in July 2015. The agency ended its coyote-sterilization program to prevent hybrid animals from harming the red wolfs gene pool, curtailed law-enforcement investigations of wolf deaths, and stopped offering rewards to the public to help bring poachers to justice. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Imperial Logistics chief business development officer, Cobus Rossouw revealed that Imperial Cold Logistics' investment in a new, state-of-the-art cold storage warehouse enables improved service levels, turnaround times and supports clients' growth strategies by meeting the demand for sought-after chilled, frozen and super frozen storage space.

Cobus Rossouw

The Imperial Logistics group companys new 25,500m warehouse was developed at a cost of R160-million. The project was undertaken by Imperial company Resolve Capacity, and was an expansive and challenging extension and retrofit of an existing ambient warehouse, Rossouw explains. Situated in Linbro Park, Johannesburg, it is now one of the largest cold storage facilities in Africa, housing 37,000 pallets, operating 24/7 and offering flexible chambers that can be used for chilled, frozen and super frozen products, depending on clients requirements.

We offer both bulk (long term) and secondary (short term) storage. This effectively means that we are delivering a one stop service to our clients, thereby minimising their concerns and enabling them to optimise their service to customers, in order to gain a competitive edge, he states.

The warehouse

Expanding on the warehouse design, Rossouw says that it boasts six high-density storage areas, two standard racking chambers ranging from -20 to -30 Celsius and receiving and dispatch areas at either +2 or -8 Celsius. Excellent space utilisation and high pallet density has been achieved through the use of mobile and static racking systems. The optimisation of space is crucial due to the high cost of refrigeration storage, and we can achieve 2.2 pallets per m, he stresses.

The facility has successfully completed the Food Safety Audit (FSA) - achieving a score in excess of 93%. This international accreditation further affirms the excellence of our food supply chain capabilities.

Imperial cold storage warehouse

Sustainability is also a key feature of this new warehouse, and the facility incorporates numerous green initiatives, including water harvesting from condensation, rainwater harvesting, and a water treatment plant. In addition, the warehouse includes a low cost and highly efficient ammonia refrigeration plant, which capitalises on ammonias benefits as a natural, green refrigerant gas, Rossouw says. Low energy, high-efficiency light fittings, and occupation activated lighting also form part of the facilitys green design.

Another significant feature of the warehouse is its high-tech security system, which includes full CCTV camera surveillance throughout the facility, monitored by dedicated personnel.

This new warehouse is enabling Imperial to drive the competitiveness of client McCain, with whom a new contract encompasses the warehousing and distribution of some 190,000 tons of frozen vegetables annually, Rossouw notes. Other Imperial clients benefiting from the new facility include poultry producer Astral; frozen dough manufacturer Goosebumps; Iqlaas Foods, which is the home of frozen foods brands Penny Wise, Pastry Pride, McBean and Florida; and Lancewood cheeses. We are delighted to be able to strengthen and expand our partnerships with our clients with the addition of this world class cold storage solution to our service offering, Rossouw concludes.
Bread prices are expected to rise at least 10% as a result of the 34% increase in the import duty on wheat announced by the Treasury on Friday.

 Rene van den Berg  123RF.com

The increase excludes the effect of the recent rises in electricity and fuel costs that are also expected to affect bread production. Bread is a staple food for poor households already struggling against increases in the cost of food due to the extended drought, which has plagued the agricultural sector. It is for this reason that the Treasury has been reluctant to grant Grain SAs application for a wheat tariff increase, which it lodged with the International Trade Administration Commission in December.

The government could also face the political consequences of raising the price of a staple food in an election year.

After waiting over three months without any outcome, Grain SA sent a lawyers letter to the Treasury to demand that the automatic wheat formula be implemented.

The Treasury and Grain SA officials met on Tuesday last week, but Grain SA officials were not satisfied with the outcome and lodged an urgent application in the High Court the following day for the tariff increase to be announced. Grain SA applied for a higher tariff on the basis of the fall in the global wheat price. The Treasury then announced the tariff increase from R911.20/ tonne to R1,224.31/tonne, which will apply for the rest of this year.

But the Treasury is concerned about the effect of the automatic tariff formula on the price of bread and other staple food and has asked Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies to institute an urgent review of it, and to later review the formulas for sugar and maize as well.

University of the Free State department of agricultural economics head Johan Willemse estimated on Sunday that bread prices would rise by at least 10% due to the tariff hike. He noted that SA imported about 60% of its wheat requirements and because of the drought would have to import an estimated 2.2-million tonnes in the year to end-October, with the local crop estimated to be about 1.5-million tonnes.

He said that several years ago a reference price for wheat was established at $294/tonne. When the global wheat price fell below this price on a moving average basis, the difference was made up by adjusting the wheat tariff upwards. As there was a surplus of global wheat, the price had dropped, providing the basis for Grain SAs application for the tariff hike to bring the price of imported maize to $294/tonne.

Willemse said the reference price system had been introduced to encourage farmers to grow more wheat and to save SA from having to import the grain.
CAPE TOWN: Bread prices are expected to rise at least 10% as a result of the 34% increase in the import duty on wheat announced by the Treasury on Friday.

Security via pixabay

Application for wheat tariff increase

The increase excludes the effect of the recent rises in electricity and fuel costs that are also expected to affect bread production. Bread is a staple food for poor households already struggling with increases in the cost of food due to the extended drought, which has plagued the agricultural sector. It is for this reason that the Treasury has been reluctant to grant Grain SA's application for a wheat tariff increase, which it lodged with the International Trade Administration Commission in December.

The government could also face the political consequences of raising the price of a staple food in an election year.

After waiting over three months without any outcome, Grain SA sent a lawyer's letter to the Treasury to demand that the automatic wheat formula be implemented.

The Treasury and Grain SA officials met on Tuesday last week, but Grain SA officials were not satisfied with the outcome and lodged an urgent application in the High Court the following day for the tariff increase to be announced. Grain SA applied for a higher tariff on the basis of the fall in the global wheat price. The Treasury then announced the tariff increase from R911.20/ tonne to R1,224.31/tonne, which will apply for the rest of this year.

But the Treasury is concerned about the effect of the automatic tariff formula on the price of bread and other staple food and has asked Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies to institute an urgent review of it, and to later review the formulas for sugar and maize as well.

Reference price

University of the Free State department of agricultural economics head Johan Willemse estimated yesterday that bread prices would rise by at least 10% due to the tariff hike. He noted that SA imported about 60% of its wheat requirements and because of the drought would have to import an estimated 2.2-million tonnes in the year to end-October, with the local crop estimated to be about 1.5-million tonnes.

He said that several years ago a reference price for wheat was established at 294/tonne. When the global wheat price fell below this price on a moving average basis, the difference was made up by adjusting the wheat tariff upwards. As there was a surplus of global wheat, the price had dropped, providing the basis for Grain SA's application for the tariff hike to bring the price of imported maize to $294/tonne.

Willemse said the reference price system had been introduced to encourage farmers to grow more wheat and to save SA from having to import the grain.

Source: Business Day
Roman's Pizza has received the Brand Builder of the Year Award at the Franchise Association of South Africa's (FASA) Awards for Excellence in Franchising. This award recognises a brand by its popularity with the public through effective marketing and advertising campaigns.

The accolade is testament to the brands consistent focus on delivering a top quality experience at every touch point of our business, said Bonnie Cooper, CMO of Romans Pizza. Having FASA acknowledge us with this extraordinary award is humbling, but well deserved by all the franchisees who make this business a winner at every turn.

Emphasis on excellence

This emphasis on excellence is what allows Romans Pizza to remain a popular and profitable brand, with some of the busiest pizzerias in the country. According to CEO John Nicolakakis, Romans Pizza is an excellent opportunity for a passionate prospective business owner. We select our franchisees and sites very carefully as they become part of the Romans Pizza family. It is an energetic, driven and focussed brand that, at heart, is about delivering tasty food at a good price to South African families. Franchisees need to buy into this vision and work towards it wholeheartedly, and this award confirms that, over and over again.

With stores opening across the country on an almost weekly basis and a strategy that includes rolling out the brand across the African continent, the Romans Pizza success story is set to continue being award-winning and pizza lovers only option when it comes to great variety, fresh produce. It is a value-for-money brand.

For franchise opportunities contact az.oc.azzipsnamor@ofni or go to www.romanspizza.co.za/franchising for more information.
We are living in an interesting time, with so much focus on our country's President, his past and current actions, and the company he keeps. Since the furore that erupted over his ties with the Gupta family, we have seen KPMG, Sasfin, Absa and FNB decide to cut ties with the Gupta family-owned businesses - no doubt at considerable financial loss.

But this gives rise to several questions: how many other South African companies are aligned to the Guptas, and should they also fire their client? The financial implications are, presumably, huge, and I am confident that there are many boardroom discussion being held this week on this very topic. There are companies who are hoping the noise will quieten down and that no one will notice that they do work for the Guptas, and then there are some who couldnt care about the association and will continue with business as usual.

Brand reputation is something that no board or leadership team should take lightly. It impacts not only which clients want you as their service or product provider, but a strong brand also acts as a powerful magnet to potential employees, and it is one of the things that makes current employees stay. I am sure that the staff at KPMG are quite pleased that management decided to sever ties with the Guptas.

In terms of reputation management, resigning from the Gupta family business accounts is the right thing to do. Yet I cant help feeling that its all a bit opportunistic. Would these companies have fired this particular client if there had been no public outcry? And while they might be lauded for taking a stand now, did they really do their homework before they accepted the work? Should they have accepted work from Oakbay and other Gupta companies in the first place?

A companys values are also a key attraction when looking for new staff. Employees connect with a companys values  they get us out of bed every morning. If there is a misalignment, we will lose key people. Most companies proudly display their values statements in public areas and make a big thing of their values among their staff. But are their values aligned to their business practices?

I also wonder about past scandals which have rocked companies. How many companies cut their business ties with Shaik-owned companies when Zuma and his relationship with Shabir Shaik were under the spotlight all those years ago? And then what about those companies engaged in practices, either at home or abroad, that violate human or animal rights, for example? Do the management teams of service and product providers actively investigate the business practices of their clients and potential clients, and, if they find something dodgy, do they decline to take that client on? Or do they fire the current client when something that goes against their own company values and which, if publicised could affect their own brand reputation? Or do they just cross fingers and hope no one will make an association?

Yes, business is in business for profit. But it takes years for a company to recover from a reputation crisis and the financial costs can be considerable  think of PR costs, the cost of losing good people and having to hire and retrain new people, as well as the cost of losing clients who decide they dont want to be associated to your company because of the company you keep. Not to mention simply doing the right thing, morally and ethically.

It is time for businesses to put their money where their mouth is and actively work towards living their values, not just paying lip service. Dont be afraid to have those boardroom conversations around the type of clients you want associated with your brand  and be brave and say no if you believe they are not the company you want to keep.
Construction of the new hotel school facilities is underway. The principal agents and architects, Botaki & Associates (PTY) LTD recently handed over various construction sites to various contractors to begin setting up shop for the R70 million project which is to commence at the Taung Hotel School and Convention Centre in Taung.

Thato Mogotsi of Botaki & Associates handing over construction sites to various contractors

Setting the tone during the construction sites hand over briefing session with all relevant parties involved, Head of North West Department of Tourism, Adv. Neo Sephoti emphasized to contractors that no shoddy work will be accepted and that the provincial government expects a quality infrastructure which will still be standing and in good condition for years to come.

These are public funds and as a department and the people of this province, we will not compromise on quality. We will insist on regular quality checks because if anything does not meet the required quality standards it will impact on us as a government, not the contractors, Sephoti said.

Local first

Sephoti also urged contractors to first consider using local labourers before employing people from outside the area. She said that the provincial government wants to improve the lives of people in rural towns through the socio-economic promotion of villages, townships and small "dorpies" (VSTD) whereby a certain expenditure of any project in the province must be spent in that particular village, township or small "dorpies".

In order for this to be realized, we really need to urge you as contractors to use local labour and spend as much money as possible locally so that, through this project, you can assist us in ensuring that there is visible, viable and sustainable socio-economic impact in the area of Taung and its surrounding small rural dorpie of the North West Province, she said.

Developing a world-class hotel school

Deputy rector of the institution, Herman Phetlhe said that he was excited that this project has finally started. He said that the project will see the Taung Hotel School and Convention Centre being transformed into a world-class academy with world class facilities which will enable the institution to cater for more students from anywhere in the world.

I am overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation because this culminates provincial governments intentions of making Taung Hotel School and Convention Centre one of the most sought-after hotel schools in the country with the best possible facilities. Upon completion, the new infrastructure which includes a new gate house, double storey students residences, ten lecture halls, two dining halls and two students demonstration kitchens. This will allow us to grow our market in recruiting more students and also help us in expanding our scope of theoretical and practical work. Students will also be able to enjoy a conducive learning environment which is what is needed to stimulate young minds, Phetlhe said.
WASHINGTON: The World Bank on Thursday, 7 April, said it would increase funding for renewable energy and other projects aimed at reducing the effects of climate change in developing countries, including a plan.

The plan - which follows the landmark UN climate conference that yielded the Paris Agreement in December - calls for funding projects that would add 30GW of renewable energy to the global grid, which would power 150-million homes with renewable energy, by 2020, the organisation said in a statement.

It also proposes "climate-smart" agriculture investment for at least 40 countries, and bringing early warning systems to 100-million people.

"Following the Paris climate agreement, we must now take bold action to protect our planet for future generations.

"We are moving urgently to help countries make major transitions to increase sources of renewable energy, decrease high-carbon energy sources, develop green transport systems, and build sustainable, livable cities for growing urban populations," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in the statement.

Among its other proposals, plan calls for quadrupling funding over five years to make transport systems more resilient to climate change.

The International Finance Corporation - a branch of the World Bank Group that serves the private sector - plans to expand its climate investments from the current $2.2bn a year to a goal of $3.5bn a year to help finance the plan.

In addition to its own financing, the World Bank also plans to direct $25bn in commercial financing for clean energy over the next five years, the statement said.

Source: AFP
South African non-profit organisation The Clothing Bank has won the 2016 Schwab Foundation's Social Entrepreneur of the Year award.

The NPO uses excess stock from large enterprises to transform the lives of unemployed mothers trapped in a cycle of poverty.

Every year, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship  the sister organisation of the World Economic Forum - considers thousands of nominations from around the world. This year only 11 organisations, including The Clothing Bank (TCB), were deemed to have met the criteria for the prestigious award.

Said Katherine Milligan, director and head of the Schwab Foundation: Social entrepreneurs are crucial to the global conversation about inclusive growth; they are innovators who use market forces and business discipline to provide solutions for local problems and improve the lives of low-income and marginalised people.

Successful social entrepreneurship

Speaking at a function in Cape Town to celebrate the award, Dr Francois Bonnici, director, Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship UCTs Graduate School of Business, said The Clothing Bank was a very powerful example of successful social entrepreneurship.

The Clothing Bank has clearly demonstrated that we can use business models effectively in working on key social challenges, and has shown leadership in the sector by focusing on measuring how their work improves the lives of the people they serve. The initiative is an outstanding benchmark and role model for many social entrepreneurs in South Africa, he added.

In the six years since its establishment by Tracey Chambers and Tracey Gilmore, and using excess stock donated by local retailers, TCB has trained over 1135 women to establish micro-enterprises. Collectively, these women have generated profits of over R38m at an average of R4100 per month each.

Major sponsors

We are extremely grateful for the support and encouragement of our major sponsors: our retail partners Woolworths, Edcon, Pick n Pay Clothing, Mr Price and Clicks as well as the Jobs Fund, the IDC, Old Mutual Foundation and the European Union. The success of our projects, and the difference we are able to make to the lives of so many families would not be possible without their ongoing, generous support. The award from the Schwab Foundation is an acknowledgement of this, Chambers, CEO of The Clothing Bank, said.

They have recognised that poverty is far more than a lack of money and that our programmes are designed to eradicate poverty in a sustainable way, said Chambers.

The money the women earn through their micro-enterprises is used to feed, clothe and educate their families, as well as to stimulate other township businesses.

Sustainable business owners

But according to Chambers, its the so-called soft skills training and support provided to the women over the two years they spend on TCBs programme that transforms the women from necessity entrepreneurs into sustainable business owners.

Using the Poverty Spotlight Tools 50 indicators as a measure of poverty, we have seen our women who start on our programme with hardly any poverty indicators in the green, end the programme with around 45 green indicators and only one  living in a high-crime environment  still red, she said.

In addition, within one year of joining the programme, their debt levels reduce by 63%, savings increase from very little to an average of R1951 each with 93% of women saving. 73% report a significant influence on their children who are doing better at school. 83% have hope for their childrens future and 51% say relationships have improved with many having had the courage to overcome abusive relationships.
The assumption is that anybody who is named in the Panama Papers is culpable in some way. That's not necessarily the case, says Ettiene Retief, chairperson of the National Tax and SARS Stakeholders Committee at the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA).

 Dirk De Keyser 123RF.com

The leaking of information relating to secret offshore accounts and companies from the files of a Panamanian law firmnow known as the Panama Papershas already occupied many column inches in the media, mostly focusing on the famous names implicated.

Financial secrecy more elusive

Having offshore accounts, funds or companies is not in and of itself illegal, provided the correct taxes are being paid and properly disclosed, all necessary permissions have been obtained from the Reserve Bank or similar regulations, says Retief.

The real implication of this leak, which comes on the heels of the HSBC Swiss leak last year, is that secrecy pertaining to your financial affairs is increasingly elusive. More than ever, individuals and companies need to assume that their financial affairs are going to come under scrutiny. Leaks will continue to occur and, more important still, revenue authorities around the world are sharing information about taxpayers. In todays digital, connected world, information access is the great leveller.

Common Reporting Standard on its way

The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, also known as the Common Reporting Standard, was endorsed by the G20 in 2014. South Africa is one of a group of early adopters of this standard, which means that from 2017, SARS will be sharing information about accounts held in its jurisdiction by foreign nationals, and receiving similar information about accounts held by South Africans overseas.

Ninety-six countries have committed to implement this information-sharing framework. South Africa has already concluded information sharing agreements with many other jurisdictions.

Information sharing between governments in this manner, says Retief, will make it increasingly difficult to avoid scrutiny by tax authorities. And even if information about questionable transactions is successfully hidden, the greater prevalence of leaks makes such information increasingly vulnerable.

Shrouded in anonymity

Retief notes that while structuring ones financial affairs to avoid paying excessive tax is perfectly legal (within the letter of the law), trying to evade paying tax is both illegal and unethical, and in some cases even fraud.

The trouble is that offshore accounts and companies shrouded in anonymity and complexity lend themselves to tax evasion, either by individuals seeking to hide money from the tax authorities, to harder ill-gotten gains, terrorist activities, or by companies seeking to reduce the corporate tax they are due to pay.

Corporate tax evasion

Corporate tax evasion via base erosion and profit shifting has become a particular concern over the past several years, and has seen several high-profile corporates revealed to have been paying very low taxes through the use of tax havens and complex multinational structures.

Retief explains that this is done by routing transactions through shell companies located in various jurisdictions with favourable tax regimes, or jurisdictions that have strong secrecy, and in some cases little to no disclosure required in those jurisdictions.

In each jurisdiction, high charges are made for non-existent services, or greatly inflated values are levied in order to reduce the ultimate profit reflected in the country where the transaction actually took place, and where it should properly be taxed.

Great ingenuity is used to make these routes as meandering as possible in order to make obtaining proof hard, which is why confidential accounts and anonymous companies are so popular.

The real significance of the Panama Papers

The tax authorities can deem this kind of financial manoeuvring to be tax evasion if nothing of value is added within each jurisdiction or where there is a lack of economic substancebut they first have to know that the activity is going on.

Getting the information is critical, says Retief. Thats why the real significance of the Panama Papers is that information is increasingly hard to conceal. One should structure ones financial and tax affairs accordingly. There are many legitimate reasons why companies and individuals would like to have offshore accounts and companies, but their confidentiality is no longer guaranteed.

The minister of finance introduced a voluntary disclosure programme that will be initiated later this year to allow individuals and companies to come clean with regards tax and exchange control contraventions.
Aloha! Howzit! Welcome aboard your flight from Canada to Honolulu, via Cape Town.

If you are Canadian you can be excused for being confused. If you are South African, especially a Capetonian, you can be excused for being even more confused by confused Canadians asking you where the beautiful Hanauma Bay can be found.

Canadians last week were quick to rush to book their summer holiday and cash in on cheap flights to Hawaii. Driving the rush of many was a breathtaking photograph.

Appearing in newspapers across that country, albeit briefly, was a photograph of a young woman gripped in the throes of a seven-day holiday, arms outstretched, standing on a low rock wall overlooking a beautiful bay - Hout Bay.

Hout Bay was - for 24 hours - marketed as Hawaii by the international travel agency, Flight Centre.

Advertised by the company's Canadian office, the advert appeared in newspapers, on posters in the company's in shop windows and on the internet, bemusing many, especially South African expats living in Canada.

Aaron Stubbings, Flight Centre Canada's retail marketing leader, said the error was an "honest mistake". "It was purely a human mistake that wasn't caught prior to approval. The image was incorrectly filed.

"As soon as it was noticed by someone who recognised it was an error, we corrected it everywhere possible and all new advertisements coming out to promote this Hawaii promotion will have the correct Hawaii image."

The faux pas left many South African expats living in Vancouver laughing a little, especially as it appeared beneath a damning article on how President Jacob Zuma survived an impeachment bid, with some wondering if it was a delayed April Fool's joke.

Source: The Times
The Grand Parade in Cape Town was transformed into a drifting racetrack this past Sunday for the first DriftCity event.

The exhibition gathered petrolheads and motorsport junkies to witness local drifters showcase their skills as they competed on a technical course combining speed, smoke, angle and timing. Judges included national drifting judge Brenton Gregory, Ernest Page and European drift champion Steve Biagioni.

The event brought together two motorsport genres, namely drifting and gymkhana. Drifting is basically a spectator-friendly sport where guys physically push the cars to their limit. They try to get their cars as sideways as possible and create as much smoke as possible to actually score points ... Gymkhana is slightly different where they will go around a set course and compete for time. So whoever finishes a course in the quickest amount of time, wins, organiser Jason Williams told eNCA.

According to IOL, organiser Gary Stockenstroom says it is to be the first of many events to come as it's been a dream they've had for years.

View the below video for more of the action.
As a luminary in the world of architecture, Zaha Hadid, who died on March 31, was a celebrity whose name, face and buildings are known by millions.

But the grief felt by women architects is on a different, intimate scale. With Hadids passing, we have lost a role model in a field that has few others.

That is not to say that there are not a great many accomplished and inspiring women in architecture. But none have achieved Hadids prominence  as, indeed, have few male architects. Against all odds, and a great deal of prejudice, she broke one glass ceiling after another, no mean feat when that glass was as hard and thick as concrete.

Her buildings redefined our ideas of what was possible, from the bursting energy of the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, Germany to the undulating angles of the Guangzhou Opera House in China.

Hadid, in 2014, became the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Two years later, she became the first woman awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal in her own right.

As I explore in my new book Where Are the Women Architects?, role models are deeply important. Having a personal relationship with a role model is not necessary; an effective role model may be a prominent figure in the profession or even a historical one. Role models boost self-esteem by countering negative stereotypes that cast doubt on a persons abilities to perform well in the profession. They increase motivation for career advancement and success. And they foster a sense of identification with a field, combating alienation.

For these reasons, the scarcity of female role models in architecture can be profoundly damaging. A recent Equity by Design report examined the reasons that women drop out of architecture. Almost one-third of female respondents who had left the profession gave the lack of role models as the deciding factor.

Given that architecture has a tremendous attrition problem  despite comprising nearly half of all architecture students, women represent less than 20 percent of licensed practitioners  we could ill afford to lose our most prominent female role model.

Our response, however, should not be Who will be the next Zaha?

There was one Zaha, and there will always only be one Zaha.

Instead, the architecture profession needs to focus on removing the formidable barriers that continue to keep women from rising to the top. And the media, too, has a vitally important role to play in paying attention to the outstanding work being done by women architects around the world. Journalists might also reflect on how they treated Hadid herself, who for every positive line written about her seemed to attract another two that cast doubt on her work or integrity.

For mixed in with the grief at Hadids loss is also anger among women architects who, no matter how they felt about her work, could empathize with the hostile reactions that, too often, seemed to come her way.

Hadid's fluid new Cultural Centre for Azerbaijan. Image source: www.mymodernmet.com

After Hadid won the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architectural journalists who might have been expected to laud her achievement instead commented negatively on her looks, clothes, ability to speak English and her talent and worthiness as a laureate. No other Pritzker Prize winner had been subjected to such a belligerent press response.

The New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp referred to her as a big, raucous peasant woman whose earthier appetites leaned toward eating lamb testicles over reading books. Guardian reporter Stuart Jeffries suggested that the price of her global travels and successes was to be single and miserable. Edwin Heathcote of the Financial Times rudely asked her if she deserved the prize.

That Hadid rose above it, fought back, and even walked out of interviews may have been perceived by some as diva-like. But to many women in architecture, her toughness was about a refusal to be dismissed. And that meant a lot.

We are currently in the midst of a grassroots movement in architecture, led by many young women and men, demanding that the profession become more diverse and egalitarian.

Hadid had, in recent years, become outspoken on the professional difficulties she faced as a woman, and she had an authority and platform to speak about discrimination that wont be easily replaced.

She leaves, as part of her great legacy to female architects around the world, a duty to carry that light forward for the next generation of women who, like Hadid, will fight for  and, I hope, find  their place in architecture.


The tasting panel of US-based The International Wine Review featured Nederburg's 2014 Ingenuity White as one of South Africa's top-rated white blends. Wines had to achieve a score of at least 91 points to make it onto the list.

Nederburg Ingenuity White

Intrigued by South Africa's "rich offerings of white blends" and also old vine whites and reds, the publication set out to identify "exemplary wines" for its readership of sommeliers, retailers, and wine enthusiasts. The International Wine Review has been tracking the local wine industry since 2012 and for its March 2016 report, assembled a panel that included two Masters of Wine and an on-consumption specialist, as well as editor, Don Winkler and publisher, Mike Potashnik.

Awarded wine

They praised the Ingenuity White's well-integrated oak and described it as having a "very attractive vanilla-tinged, lemon cream nose leading to a full, round mouth feel", adding that "the flavours are rich and varied showing notes of ripe citrus with light herbal notes, finishing on a chalky mineral note."

Led by Sauvignon blanc, the eight-way Ingenuity blend includes Semillon, Chardonnay, Chenin blanc, Viognier, Viura, Verdelho and Gewurztraminer.

The 2014 vintage also earned a five-star rating in the Platter's South African Wine Guide, highlighted for its "intense floral and fruity notes and vibrant freshness, depth and impeccable balance".

Nederburg was recently ranked as one of the world's most admired wine brands by the UK-based Drinks International. The 50 brands identified were selected by 200 wine professionals, including over 30 Masters of Wine.

In South Africa, the 2014 vintage of Ingenuity White is available from the farm in Paarl, specialty wine shops, and selected restaurants, as well as Vinoteque.

In the US, Nederburg is represented by the Terlato Wine Group that accounts for 20% of the country's wines retailing for US$20 and more.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges in federal court against a company known as Servergy Inc which counted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as one of its promoters.

While Servegy faces allegations that the company straight-up lied to investors about the quality of their products, Paxton is accused of raising money for the company without disclosing that he received a commission for it.

From the SEC's press release:

Also charged in the SECs complaint is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a former member of the companys board of directors for allegedly recruiting investors while hiding they were being compensated to promote the companys stock. [...] While serving in the Texas House of Representatives, Paxton allegedly reached an agreement with [William E. Mapp] to promote Servergy to prospective investors in return for shares of Servergy stock. According to the SECs complaint, Paxton raised $840,000 in investor funds for Servergy and received 100,000 shares of stock in return, but never disclosed his commissions to prospective investors while recruiting them.

While Paxton faces these fresh civil charges filed by the SEC in federal court, the Texas attorney general is already facing criminal charges for his role with the company.

A grand jury indicted Paxton last summer on criminal felony charges for securities fraud and failing to register with the Texas state securities board.
WASHINGTON  The Conroe Industrial Development Corporation in Texas has paid a penalty and agreed to redeem bonds under the Internal Revenue Service's voluntary closing agreement program (VCAP) to settle a tax violation relating to bonds it issued in 2008 and refunded in 2012.

CIDC disclosed the VCAP settlement in an event notice posted on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA system. The CIDC, a nonprofit development corporation operating under the supervision of the Conroe, Texas City Council, uses revenue from a one-half cent city sales tax to provide funding to attract business and develop and acquire property.

It first requested the VCAP settlement in February 2015 after a review it conducted led to questions about the tax-exempt status of its 2008 sales tax revenue bonds and 2012 sales tax revenue and refunding bonds.

The corporation issued $15 million of sales tax revenue bonds in 2008 to finance the acquisition of property and the development of a technology park. It issued $25.4 million of sales tax revenue and refunding bonds in 2012 to refund the outstanding 2008 bonds.

The Deison Technology Park, named after R. A. "Mickey" Deison, who was chairman of the CIDC from March 31, 2008 to March 31, 2014, is a 248-acre park near the Lone Star Executive Airport, nearly 46 miles north of House. Designed by planning and management firm Burditt as an integrated technology business community, current plans call for the development of a 75,000 square foot office facility within the park.

CIDC reported to the IRS, according to an event notice filed in February 2015, that, because of the sale of properties purchased with proceeds of the 2008 bonds and the outstanding 2012 bonds, they were potentially used in the business of a "nongovernmental person", or private party, effectively jeopardizing their tax-exempt status.

The receipt of proceeds from the property sales could result in more than 10% of the debt service on the bonds as being secured by an interest in or payments of the properties, further adding to concerns met the private use and payments tests for being private-activity bonds.

Bonds become private-activity bonds if more than 10% of the proceeds are used by a private party and more than 10% of the debt service is paid or secured by a private party.

CIDC and the IRS entered into a closing agreement on final determination covering specific matters on March 31 of this year, according to the event notice filed Thursday.

CIDC has agreed to redeem on Sept. 1, 2022 $8.4 million principal amount of the 2012 bonds maturing on and after Sept. 1, 2022. It also paid an amount to the Treasury Dept. that was unspecified in the event notice. A lawyer involved in the settlement was unable to provide the amount at press time.

In exchange for the issuer's payment of the penalty and offer to redeem the bonds, the IRS agreed interest on both the 2008 and 2012 bonds will remain tax-exempt. The 2008 bonds have all matured or been redeemed, while the 2012 bonds were scheduled to mature in 2032, according to the event notice filed in 2015.

The refunding bonds were underwritten by Coastal Securities, Wells Fargo Securities, and Southwest Securities. Bond counsel was Winstead in San Antonio. Underwriters' counsel was Bracewell & Giuliani in Houston.

Meanwhile, the Davis County Community School District in Iowa is under audit by the IRS for $9.7 million of school infrastructure sales, services and use tax revenue bonds it issued in 2009.

The school district disclosed the audit in an event notice posted on EMMA after receiving a letter from the IRS about the audit on March 28.

The bonds were used to finance the construction of a new high school in Bloomfield and other construction projects.

The issuer said the IRS told it that it has "no reason to believe that your debt issuance fails to comply with any of the applicable tax requirements."

School district officials said they are cooperating in the examination.

"The district believes that the bonds complied with all applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and the district is cooperating with the IRS in its examination of the bonds," they said in the event notice.

Underwriters for the bonds were Piper Jaffray, D.A. Davidson & Co., Northland Securities and Bernardi Securities. Ahlers & Cooney in Des Moines, Iowa was bond counsel.


An unrelated file photo

MOSCOW (BNS): The Russian Aerospace Forces will receive the sixth set of S-400 Triumph air defence missile system by year end, according to the Ministry of Defence.



A news report by TASS quoting the MoD said, delivery of one more regimental set of the S-400 Triumph air defence missile system is being planned for the Aerospace Forces in the Moscow region by the end of the current year.



The Aerospace Forces currently have in service four air defence missile regiments armed with the S-400 Triumph air defence missile systems. In addition, a set of the S-400 Triumph system has been delivered to the Aerospace Forces' educational establishments, the report said.



The S-400 Triumph is Russia's newest long-range anti-aircraft missile system designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles.



The weapon system can reportedly carry three different types of missiles. The S-400 has a range of 400 km. China is the first international customer to buy the most advanced medium-and long-range anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, it added.


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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Roughly 100 people filled the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium on Sunday to pay tribute to former Brandon East NDP MLA Len Evans.

Throughout the two-hour memorial service, colleagues, friends and family shared stories about a proud democratic socialist, a dedicated family man and an avid accordionist. Joining the podium onstage was a table set with a flickering candle, a glass of red wine and an accordion waiting to be squeezed.

Leonard Salusbury Evans was born in Transcona on Aug. 19, 1929, and passed away on Jan. 2, 2016, after suffering a heart attack.

Bruce Bumstead/The Brandon Sun Former premier and Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Gary Doer reflects on his memory of Len Evans during Sundays memorial service for the long-serving MLA at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium. Evans was known as one of Manitobas kindest MLAs.

Former ambassador to the United States Gary Doer and former attorney general Al Mackling made the trip to Brandon to share stories about their comrade. Messages were also read from friends and co-workers who could not attend the service in person, including former governor general Edward Schreyer and NDP Leader Greg Selinger.

Brandon East NDP incumbent Drew Caldwell acted as master of ceremonies and it was obvious during his opening address that a provincial election is only a week away.

In between outlining the many triumphs of Evans 30-year career in the legislature, Caldwell spoke about his partys ongoing contributions to Brandon and Manitoba and took digs at the Progressive Conservatives.

Caldwell first met Evans as a member of a Brandon University students group concerned with the policies of Sterling Lyons Conservative government.

History seems to repeat itself, but as part of his policy initiatives (Lyon) introduce a sweeping program of massive provincial cuts, he said from the podium.

Caldwell also spoke fondly of the mentor he succeeded in Brandon East in 1999.

Len was the most generous, thoughtful, kind, dedicated, spirited and principled politician I have ever met, Caldwell said. He was a man that we could all aspire to and measure our own work as politicians against.

Doer shared his impressions of Evans as a hard-working cabinet member who always stood by the people he represented. The former premier also lauded Evans economic and social justice work as a minister in the cabinets of premiers Schreyer and Howard Pawley.

Bruce Bumstead/Brandon Sun Len Evans children  Brenda, Janet and Randy  remember their fathers life during Sundays memorial service for the longtime Brandon East NDP MLA at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium.

It reflected the dimensions of character and skill of the man that he was able to carry both economic and social portfolios with two successive premiers in a very, very credible way, Doer said.

Doer also spoke about Evans opposition of the Meech Lake Accord and the infrastructure built in Brandon during his reign. Evans was also apparently not one to get his feathers ruffled.

Len was very calm, a lot of people get very agitated when theres a negative story in the press or when somebodys catching an unfortunate grenade during question period  he was always extremely calm, I only saw him upset twice, Doer said.

Evans children, Randy, Janet and Brenda, shared touching memories about the politicians hobbies and personality.

Evans got his first taste of politics as a high school student involved in with the Winnipeg chapter of Canadas first socialist party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. During university, he started his first band.

It was during these years that he formed the Len Evans Band, which played at socials, weddings and dances  earning, on average, $8 a night, Janet said, adding that her father met his future wife, Alice, at such an event.

Janet says the family spent 15 years moving around the country before settling in Brandon when Evans got a job as an economics professor at BU.

While Alice was looking forward to a quieter life in the Wheat City, it wasnt long before Evans got involved in local politics and won the Brandon East seat in 1969.

Bruce Bumstead/Brandon Sun Brandon East NDP incumbent candidate Drew Caldwell gives opening remarks at the memorial service for Len Evans at the WMCA on Sunday.

When dad entered the political arena, the whole family was thrust into the fray, Janet said.

The busy politician was also a dedicated patriarch, according to Brenda.

As a dad, he was a loving father and openly expressed his affection for us. He often said he would be happy if we never ever left home, Brenda said, adding that he loved giving presents and had a sweet tooth.

Brenda also spoke about Evans inspirational love of their mother  which was evident when Alice fell ill and passed away in June last year.

He had difficulty coming to terms with her death  dad was heartbroken. Perhaps therefore its not surprising that we lost our father so soon after our mother passed away, Brenda said.

Evans grandson Devon, spoke about staying with his grandparents in Winnipeg while he attended college  his favourite memories include taking care of their cat Rusty and staying up late with Evans and Alice.

My first fall in Winnipeg  I learned that they were both night owls. I didnt expect that my grandparents would stay up later than a college-aged kid on a nightly basis, Devon said, adding that he admire his grandfathers dedication to community after retirement. He accomplished so much in his lifetime  yet he always remained grounded.

The memorial service ended with a video presentation chronicling Evans life and a moment of silence.

File photo In this October 2010 photo, Len Evans speaks as his wife Alice looks on during the official unveiling of the Len Evans Centre for Trades and Technology at Assiniboine Community Colleges North Hill campus. At Sundays memorial service, Evans daughter Brenda said her father was heartbroken when Alice died last June.

As the crowd filtered out of the auditorium, the upbeat inhale and exhale of an accordion wafted through the WMCAs foyer.

The family has set up a scholarship fund in memory of Evans at BU.

Donations for the Len Evans scholarship fund are being accepted at the university. Cheques should be made payable to Brandon University Foundation and can be sent to the Brandon University Foundation at 270 18th Street, Brandon MB, R7A 6A9.

 ewasney@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @evawasney
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This article was published 11/04/2016 (2386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a lengthy meeting on Friday night, Brandon University Students Union has penned a letter to students regarding last weeks sexual assault controversy.

BUSUs vice-president internal and president-elect, Nick Brown, says the previous weeks events dominated the discussion during the regularly scheduled council meeting.

Our regular business took half an hour and then we spent another three (hours) talking about this week, Brown said.

Last Tuesday, university administrators admitted it was wrong to use a behavioural contract in a September 2015 case of alleged sexual assault involving two BU students.

During Fridays meeting, council heard a presentation from We Believe Survivors, the group that publicized the contract, and members were invited to share their thoughts and ask questions about the situation.

There was a very healthy discussion there, Brown said, adding that the group decided a letter in support of students was how they wanted to respond.

The letter was sent to media and members of BUs administration on Saturday afternoon.

A portion of the letter reads: We wholeheartedly believe that no victim, survivor or affected individual of sexual assault should ever feel silenced  We believe all students, with any situation or issue that comes through our doors.

BUSU has been involved with this particular sexual assault case since last fall when the alleged victim came to Brown with concerns the behavioural contract was not going to be nullified by administration.

Brown made a phone call to Tom Brophy, BUs registrar and associate vice-president of student services and enrolment management, who then confirmed that it would voided.

Fridays meeting also included a lengthy discussion about the administrations reaction to the situation.

BUSU doesnt blame the current administration for the creation of this policy and procedure, Brown said. From out digging this policy was created somewhere in the early 2000s.

Brown says BUSU is looking forward to being involved with the universitys yet-to-be-formed sexual assault advisory committee.

Eight members of the 18-20 person committee will be students from campus groups such as the Womens Collective, LGBT Collective and Aboriginal Student Council.

 ewasney@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @evawasney
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After an increasing number of young people attempted to take their lives in a remote northern Ontario First Nation last week, the chief and council have declared a state of emergency.

The suicide epidemic in Attawapiskat started in the fall, when a number of people tried to kill themselves, said Jackie Hookimaw, a resident of First Nation on James Bay.

Hookimaws great niece Sheridan took her own life in October. She was 13 years old. Hookimaw said Sheridan had a big heart, but she was plagued with multiple health conditions and was bullied at school.

A tattered Canadian flag flies over a building in Attawapiskat, Ont., on November 29, 2011. A remote northern Ontario First Nation has declared a state of emergency after numerous suicide attempts this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

More recently, Hookimaw said, she was at the communitys hospital where she saw a number of teenage girls being treated after purposely overdosing on drugs. As she was leaving, a man came in for treatment. Later, she would learn that he, too, had tried to take his own life.

The Attawapiskat First Nation, which has been plagued by suicides for decades, is home to about 2,000 people, and Hookimaw said the community needs more resources.

She said the latest round of youth suicide attempts started with Sheridans death.

Sheridans peers were grieving, Hookimaw said. They didnt have the support they needed to manage their grief, so they tried to end their lives, she said.

Theres different layers of grief, she said. Theres normal grief, when somebody dies from illness or old age. And theres complicated grief, where theres severe trauma, like when somebody commits suicide.

Charlie Angus, the MP for the area and NDP indigenous affairs critic, said northern communities arent given the resources to deal with complicated grief.

When a young person tries to commit suicide in any suburban school, they send in the resources, they send in the emergency team. Theres a standard protocol for response. The northern communities are left on their own, he said. We dont have the mental health service dollars. We dont have the resources.

He said its been a rolling nightmare of more and more suicide attempts among young people throughout the winter.

They didnt think it could get any worse than it was in March, he said. But April brought even more attempts.

Its that situation that led the Attawapiskat chief and council to declare a state of emergency on Saturday.

The designation has meant that a Nishnawbe Aski Nation crisis response unit is being sent to the community.

On Twitter, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the news from Attawapiskat heartbreaking.

Well continue to work to improve living conditions for all indigenous peoples, Trudeau tweeted.

The federal and Ontario health ministers said the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority hospital was immediately flying in a crisis team, including mental health nurses and social workers.

We will be providing additional health-care experts as needed and we have contacted the ministry of children and youth services about providing emergency life-promotion supports, Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins said in a release.

Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said in a statement that improving the wellness of indigenous peoples will require a focus on improving the socio-economic conditions they face.

I have worked with the province to set up a joint action table so that federal and provincial governments can work together, hand-in-hand with First Nations leadership, to find concrete solutions, Philpott said.

Hoskins said Ontario has asked Ottawa to accelerate the work of the action table and will be identifying additional community programming that can help give people hope in this terrible time.

Angus said that the work of grief counselling often gets left to untrained community members who are dealing with their own grief.

Its the local cops, its the local teachers, its parents, he said.

And now, Hookimaw said, some of the youth are taking healing into their own hands.

Youth from Attawapiskat and neighbouring communities held a healing walk last week to create awareness, she said.

They said, We will not give up, because our youth are killing themselves  We will not be defeated.'

Follow @ColeyT on Twitter.
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GATINEAU, Que.  Canadians may want fast Internet access everywhere in the country but that doesnt mean it will be guaranteed by Canadas telecom regulator.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission chairman Jean-Pierre Blais says any speed or service level his agency finds ideal wont automatically mean regulatory action to ensure its accessible to everyone.

Blais opened exhaustive hearings Monday into whether high-speed Internet access should be a basic service and what that could mean. But he said it will be up to participants to demonstrate why the CRTC should act and why market forces are not enough to ensure the publics need for Internet services is being met.

CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais takes part in an interview in Gatineau, Que. on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. The country's telecom regulator says there are no guarantees it will enforce minimum Internet speeds and service levels across Canada, even if it comes up with new target levels.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

As it is crucial not to confuse wants with needs, the CRTC is asking parties to take a fact-based and objective approach to these discussions, Blais said in an opening statement to the hearings.

Since 2011, basic telecommunications services in Canada have been defined by the CRTC as touch-tone phone service, low-speed Internet, access to long distance, directory assistance, enhanced calling and privacy protection features, emergency services and voice mail.

The regulator also mandates that Canadians be provided with a printed version of their local phone book on request.

By the beginning of last year, 96 per cent of Canadians had access to the Internet at download speeds of at least 5 megabits per second, according to the CRTC.

About four per cent of the population  still hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses  had no access at those speeds.

Many cannot afford it, say advocacy groups.

A study released in February by ACORN Canada indicated many low-income Canadians are forced to choose between Internet services and putting food on the table or paying the rent.

The Internet plays an important role in the everyday lives of low-income earners, said the study.

The high costs of obtaining high-speed home Internet connections can lead to unnecessary hardship, said the organization, which represents low- and moderate-income families and claims 70,000 members in nine cities.

The group wants the CRTC to mandate $10-per-month high-speed home Internet for families and individuals living below Statistics Canadas low income threshold, which in 2013 was set at $20,933 for an individual and $41,866 for a family of four, after taxes.

Some of the countrys Internet service providers already offer service for $9.99 per month, on a limited basis, to low-income households.

Rogers Communications, Compugen and Microsoft Canada began offering the cut-rate high-speed Internet service in 2013 to some Toronto Community Housing units and Rogers since expanded availability to other parts of its service area.

Before the hearings began, the CRTC received more than 26,000 comments from individuals and businesses concerned about access to telecom services. More than 30,000 Canadians also answered a questionnaire on the subject.

The federal governments recent budget included money to improve the availability of broadband Internet in isolated communities.

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OTTAWA  Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion says Canada can help kickstart the worlds stalled nuclear disarmament efforts by pushing for tougher controls to prevent terrorists from building a nuclear weapon.

Dion joined his G7 counterparts on Monday in calling for a renewed effort towards nuclear disarmament after visiting the atomic-bombed Japanese city of Hiroshima.

But the minister also appeared to express frustration at what many see as the glacial pace of nuclear disarmament efforts.

G7 foreign ministers, from left, E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, Britain's Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault stand together after placing wreaths at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Monday, April 11, 2016. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)

Its a challenge because over the last 20 years, its stalled, Dion said in an interview from Tokyo, adding that theres been no major progress on ridding the world of nuclear weapons in that time.

Dion said Canada will focus on the growing international effort to revive the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, or FMCT. It has been more than half a century since the United Nations embarked on creating the treaty, which would control the spread of nuclear materials.

What I think we should do, very strongly, is focus on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, he said. Its the one that is the least difficult to reach.

Im not saying its easy.

Canada picked up the ball on the treaty in 2012, sponsoring a resolution at the UN General Assembly establishing a commission of experts to push for its creation.

The proposed treaty would outlaw the production of the highly-enriched uranium and plutonium, the key ingredients for building a bomb. Earlier this month, Canada pledged $42 million towards the global effort to protect fissile materials at the Washington summit hosted by President Barack Obama, where the need to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring bomb making materials was a hot topic.

Paul Meyer, a retired diplomat and former Canadian disarmament ambassador, said Canadas past actions supporting FMCT efforts leave it uniquely positioned to be the champion among like-minded states to make sorely needed progress.

There is a real need to move from talking points to negotiating points on the FMCT if the global non-proliferation and disarmament regime is to retain credibility.

Otherwise, Mondays G7 declaration was filled with stale slogans and lacked any concrete plan of action, said Meyer.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a global umbrella group for hundreds of organizations, said it is not helpful that the G7s nuclear powers  the United States, Britain and France  are not taking part in a United Nations conference to be held next month in Geneva that will look at creating new laws around nuclear weapons.

The G7 countries should join the majority of governments that recognize this and participate in the process to prohibit nuclear weapons, the groups executive director Beatrice Fihn, said in a statement.

Dion and his fellow ministers joined U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Hiroshima since the Second World War, when the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb there, eventually killing 140,000 people.

Mr. Kerry showed a lot of dignity, a lot of respect, for the consequences, for the victims, said Dion.

Of course I thought about the victims. But my colleague the minister of foreign affairs of Japan said at the outset, this visit is not about the past, its about the future.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said the G7 declaration would reinvigorate nuclear non-proliferation efforts, which have waned.

Kishida said it was significant that the G7 ministers saw the reality of the atomic bombing, at the Hiroshima memorial.

The museum the G7 ministers visited graphically displays the effects of the American blasts on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, including torn childrens clothing and the deformities caused by radiation. Kerry called it gut wrenching.

The G7 communique condemned North Koreas recent nuclear tests and missile launches.

Dion said it was a positive step to see China support new sanctions against North Korea, but said the country needs to exert more of its influence to convince the North Korean regime and their leader to stop threatening the world.

The G7 ministers also condemned the recent terror attacks in Belgium, Turkey, Nigeria, Pakistan and Ivory Coast.
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CALGARY  A dispute between a former Alberta politician and his ex-wife that erupted during last years provincial election campaign has flared up again following their divorce.

Former justice minister Jonathan Denis  accused by his former spouse of kneeing her in the face, tampering with brakes on her car and throwing temper tantrums  released emails on the weekend that he said came from the woman and finally clear his name.

The two identical emails released by Denis, sent last month with Palmers name and email address, said she regrets the steps she took against her former husband.

Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis comments on the Auditor General's August 2014 Special Duty Report on the Expenses of the Office of Premier Redford and Alberta?s Air Transportation Services Program, in Edmonton, Alberta on Thursday Aug 7, 2014. The ex-wife of Denis has withdrawn serious allegations she made against him as their marriage broke down. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Jonathan Denis has never intentionally harmed me and I have never known him to use or possess illegal drugs, said the emails. I withdraw all allegations that I have made against Jonathan Denis about abuse or otherwise.

Breanna Palmer said Monday that she did not write the emails.

These are fabricated documents, Palmer wrote in an email to The Canadian Press. Her message came from the same email address indicated on the documents released by Denis.

A spokesman for Denis, who was never charged with a crime in the dispute, said Denis was not going to comment on Palmers denial.

Hes just going to let those statements stand, said Morten Paulsen.

The scandal started last May, days before the election, when former premier Jim Prentice asked Denis to resign from cabinet because of a legal dispute with his wife.

A judge later lifted a publication ban that had kept details of the dispute under wraps.

Palmer, a model and former beauty queen, had complained that Denis ripped a TV out of a wall and a seat off a toilet as their relationship eroded.

She also alleged that he kneed her in the nose when she went to kiss him in bed. She said her car was broken into twice and her clutch and brakes were damaged. She further said Deniss mother once locked her in the couples home.

Palmer also claimed Denis used the drug lithium for mental-health issues.

The judge ruled that while Palmer had real anxieties, there was no reasonable fear of family violence. He removed an emergency protection order she had previously been granted against Denis and his mother.

The next day, the Progressive Conservatives lost the election and Denis lost his seat in Calgary.

Their marital squabble remained out of the public eye until this year.

In arguing over legal costs related to the emergency protection order, Denis and his mother claimed Palmers allegations were meant to hurt him during the election campaign and make Palmer money.

Denis and his mother argued that Palmer sought an extremely large payment of money from Denis to make the matter go away,' a judge summed up in January.

They claim that a tentative settlement was reached, but that Palmer changed her mind and rejected it, refusing to entertain other offers.

The judge ruled that he couldnt speculate on Palmers motives and ordered both sides to pay their own costs.

On Sunday, public relations firm Paulsen Group released a statement from Denis that said the couples divorce was finalized on April 1 and he was finally able to release two emails from her retracting last years allegations.

These allegations were serious, and they caused me harm. I am glad that the truth has prevailed, Denis wrote.

Palmer said in an email that she may have more to say in the future.

 By Chris Purdy in Edmonton
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WINNIPEG  NDP Leader Greg Selinger called his Progressive Conservative opponent homophobic and demanded to see his tax returns Monday  actions that one political analyst said are signs of increasing desperation with eight days left to go in the Manitoba election campaign.

Selinger, whose governing New Democrats are trailing far behind the Tories, criticized Brian Pallister for voting against a law in 2013 that requires schools to allow gay-straight alliances set up by students.

I think hes homophobic. He has to answer for himself for his views on that matter.

Selinger had called a news conference to accuse Pallister of promising cuts to government services that amount to attacks on working people. He also called on Pallister to release his income tax returns to show whether he has used offshore tax havens.

Selinger admitted he had no evidence to suggest that Pallister has tried to escape paying taxes, but he thought the air should be cleared in light of the so-called Panama Papers  a leak of 11.5 million records from a Panamanian law firm which shed light on international efforts to use offshore tax havens.

Its a question of transparency and accountability for where you put your money and whether you pay your fair share (in taxes).

Selinger is ratcheting up his attack to stop NDP support from bleeding further, according to Paul Thomas, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Manitoba. The NDP dropped in opinion polls after raising the provincial sales tax in 2013 and have registered 20 points or more back of the Tories in recent surveys.

It is all about a defensive strategy at this point, of trying to mobilize their base and limit the number of seats that are lost, Thomas said.

Realistic people in the backroom must be telling the premier and leader of the New Democratic Party that this is not about winning any election, this is about minimizing the size of the political setback that were going to face on April 19.

Pallister responded Monday by saying he has paid all his taxes and has supported same-sex rights for decades.

I was advocating for same-sex property rights for gay couples in the 80s, so I dont think I need anything but my record to stand by my attitude toward tolerance.

The Tories opposed the anti-bullying law on a number of grounds, including that it might infringe on the religious rights of private schools. The party also said the law was too vague because it included hurting someones feelings in its definition of bullying.

Pallister said Selinger was engaging in personal attacks instead of debating policy.

I dont believe in that kind of politics  and Im not going to start now.

Pallister has been on the offensive for most of the campaign by holding news conferences and highlighting candidates in constituencies he hopes to take from the NDP.

Selinger has held almost all of his public campaign events in constituencies his party already holds and hopes to keep.
Opinion

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WINNIPEG  There is a shortage of indigenous teachers in Manitoba. This is an issue all political parties in the election campaign should address.

The Indigenous Teacher Education Coalition asserts employing more indigenous teachers is central to the push to improve academic outcomes for Manitobas indigenous students.

The need for more indigenous teachers was identified in the Manitoba auditor generals 2016 report Improving Educational Outcomes for Kindergarten to Grade 12 Aboriginal Students and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, which focused on the need for an increase in indigenous knowledge and teaching methods in public schools in order to eliminate the educational gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students.

A 2013 survey of aboriginal teachers found a total of 14,539 were employed in provincial schools in Manitoba, and 1,313 (nine per cent) self-identify as having indigenous ancestry. The auditor generals report indicates the gap between the percentage of teachers and students who self-identify as having indigenous ancestry has grown in Manitoba from 2006 to 2013.

The coalition has developed a five-point plan to increase the number of indigenous bachelor of education graduates. The next provincial government should:

1. Set a goal of graduating 200 indigenous bachelor of education students per year for the next 10 years in order that the teachers working in schools better reflect the growing indigenous student population. (Presently, some 50 to 75 graduate in Manitoba each year.) The province should also make the commitment to provide an annual report to update the public on progress made regarding the implementation of this initiative.

2. Establish an indigenous teacher education task force to develop a five-year action plan to increase the number of indigenous bachelor

of education graduates in the province of Manitoba. The plan should be ready by

Dec. 31.

3. Establish internship programs for indigenous high school students who may be interested in becoming teachers. Elements of this program could include after-school and summer jobs working with children, job shadowing and mentorships with practising teachers and university-exposure initiatives.

4. Establish stepping-stone programs to bachelor of education programs with colleges and community-based training programs. These programs could provide training and employment opportunities for indigenous parents in their childrens schools as teacher assistants, parent/child centre workers and early childhood educators. Over the years, this has been a proven strategy to expand the level of interest and required preparation for individuals to enter into post-secondary education.

5. Work with local school divisions to set benchmarks for developing a teacher workforce that reflects the indigenous student population of the province or school district, rather than the equity benchmark of the overall population of the province or school district.

No one stakeholder can meet the challenge of increasing the number of indigenous bachelor of education graduates in the province. The education faculties will need to work with community partners to increase the pool of indigenous people interested in becoming teachers through internship and laddering programs. Local school divisions will need to work with the faculties to help indigenous graduates find jobs. A new approach to employment equity will require the involvement of teacher unions.

The coalition is calling upon the Manitoba political party leaders to commit during this election campaign to increase the number of indigenous teachers. Addressing the shortage of indigenous teachers is central to eliminating the educational gap between indigenous and non-indigenous students in our province.

 Kathy Mallett was the first indigenous woman elected as a school trustee in Winnipeg and is a recipient of the Order of Manitoba for her leadership work in the indigenous community. Her column was also published by the Winnipeg Free Press.
The total value of Irish beef exports to the US was only 6m during the first quarter of this year.

Up to 700 tonnes of beef were exported to the country, it lifted its ban on importing beef from Ireland over a year ago.

When the decision to allow Irish producers to sell into the US market was made, acting Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said that Ireland could sell up to 20,000 tonnes to the US and that this trade would be worth 100m per year to the Irish beef industry.

The current agreement only allows the sale of high-value steak cuts, in this industry Irish meat faces stiff competition from US firms.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture described the start to the year as "strong" adding that it comes after improved performance through 2015.

"The department remains engaged with the US authorities to allow for the extension of exports to include manufacturing beef," she added, Irish producers are keen to see the rules changed to allow the export of Irish minced beef to the US.

The Department of Agriculture has negotiated a deal for Irish beef to be sold into the massive Chinese market, but it has not been given the final green light almost a year after Chinese leaders signalled that they will end the embargo.

"On China, the department is working closely with the Chinese authorities to finalise the remaining technical steps to allow trade of Irish beef to China to commence," the spokesperson added.

Chinese officials registered their disappointment earlier in this month when Ireland voted to support a US motion condemning China's human rights record at the UN.
Birthdays when you're living overseas can be a bit tough as you're missing your friends and family.

So we're sure that Corkman Dave O'Callaghan appreciated this surprise visit on his 30th birthday from his best friend, Noel Whelan.
Relief teachers who are members of the ASTI say they are finding themselves impacted because of the union's opposition to the new Junior Cert cycle.

Members of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) are barred from taking part in training for the new programme.
Irish Water has pleaded guilty to polluting a Co Louth stream after a malfunction at a sewage treatment plant led to a discharge which turned water grey.

However, they have been given a chance to avoid a criminal record after Judge John O'Neill ordered the utility to donate 2,000 to charity.

Irish Water was prosecuted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to ensure sewage waste from a water treatment plant at Tinure in Co Louth did not cause pollution.

Prosecution solicitor Maeve Larkin told Judge O'Neill at Dublin District Court that the offence can result in a conviction with a maximum 5,000 fine.

EPA inspector Dermot Burke told the court that on June 4 last he went to the treatment plant and verified that discharge from the facility went into a fast flowing stream which is a tributary of the White River.

He said he saw a grey-coloured discharge going into the stream. Mr Burke could see sewage fungus in the water which is normally an indicator of pollution.

The court heard that 50 metres downstream from the point where the sewage waste entered, the water was still grey.

Photos of the pollution and the area were handed in to Judge O'Neill.

Samples were taken and analysed to measure biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and ammonia levels in the water. Mr Burke explained high BOD means less oxygen for plant and water life.

There should be no more than 1.5 mgs of BOD per litre in the water but on the day he took samples downstream of the discharge, the level was 10mgs per litre.

A high rate of ammonia can be poisonous to fish, he also said. There should be 0.065 mg per litre in the water but on the day he took samples there was was 2.4mgs of ammonia per litre, 36 times the concentration of what should be in water.

Ten metres upstream the the levels were below the required standard.

Mr Burke agreed with defence counsel Eoghan Cole that an electrical fault had caused a two pumps, one of which was a back-up, to go offline.

The EPA inspector also agreed that he gave Irish Water directions about what they should have done. Testing continued and after two weeks the water returned to its previous excellent levels, the judge was told.

Mr Cole asked the court to note that Irish Water has no prior criminal convictions and taxpayers would not be bearing the cost of the prosecution.

He suggested that imposing a fine would result in the transfer of money from one State bank account to another.

Judge O'Neill noted there was no environmental damage or fish kill and Irish Water co-operated fully.

He said it was low on the scale of such incidents and that he noted Irish Water would be paying the EPA's costs.

He ordered Irish Water to give 2,000 to the Merchant Quay Ireland which helps people affected by homelessness and drug abuse problems.

He adjourned the case until May 5 and said he would strike out the case if the money has been paid.
Two men who spent years behind bars before their convictions were overturned have lost the latest round of their legal battle for ''miscarriage of justice'' compensation.

Sam Hallam, who was convicted of murder, and Dublin man Victor Nealon, who was found guilty of attempted rape, suffered a defeat at the British High Court last year.

Today, three Court of Appeal judges in London dismissed their human rights challenges.

They were both set free after appeal judges ruled that fresh evidence made their convictions unsafe, but each had applications for compensation rejected by the British Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

1/2 Victor Nealon spent 17 yrs in prison before his conviction was quashed. https://t.co/vxxvHh6iLT pic.twitter.com/mibOq1AmkJ  CLARE SAMBROOK (@CLARESAMBROOK) November 29, 2014

Mr Hallam's conviction was quashed in 2012. Former postman Mr Nealon, who was convicted in 1997 of the attempted rape of a woman in Redditch, Worcestershire, won his appeal in December 2013.

Mr Nealon, 54, was given a life sentence after his trial at Hereford Crown Court and served 17 years in jail - 10 more than the seven-year minimum term - after he persisted in asserting he was innocent.

Mr Hallam, now 28, from east London, served more than seven years after he was sentenced to life as a teenager following his conviction at the Old Bailey in 2005 of the murder of a trainee chef.

At the British High Court, they asked two judges to rule that UK law is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) because it wrongly restricts compensation in ''miscarriage of justice'' cases.

Lawyers argued on their behalf that the Criminal Justice Act 1988, which governs compensation payments, was amended in 2014 in a way that violated Article 6 (2) of the ECHR because it required a person seeking an award to prove they were innocent.

Applicants for compensation now have to satisfy the British Justice Secretary that "a new or newly-discovered fact shows beyond reasonable doubt" that they did not commit the offences for which they were jailed.

Lord Justice Burnett, announcing the High Court's decision last June, ruled that the law "does not require the applicant for compensation to prove his innocence".

He said: "It is the link between the new fact and the applicant's innocence of which the Secretary of State must be satisfied before he is required to pay compensation under the 1988 Act, not his innocence in a wider or general sense."

Mr Hallam and Mr Nealon challenged the High Court's findings at the Court of Appeal last month in proceedings before Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson, Brian Leveson and Lord Justice Hamblen.

The three judges were asked to rule that the lower court "erred in law" when reaching its decision, but on Monday they announced that both appeals were dismissed.

The judges also refused permission to appeal to the UK's highest court, but it is still open to the men to apply directly to the British Supreme Court in a bid to take their cases further.

The two men had asked the judges for a declaration that the statutory definition of "miscarriage of justice" which came into effect in 2014 is "incompatible" with human rights laws relating to the presumption of innocence.

The definition is that "there has been a miscarriage of justice in relation to a person convicted of a criminal offence in England and Wales ... if and only if the new or newly discovered fact shows beyond reasonable doubt that the person did not commit the offence".

Lord Dyson said Mr Hallam and Mr Nealon argued that this was incompatible "because it requires an applicant for compensation to prove his innocence and thereby necessarily call into question the correctness of the acquittal".

But rejecting their case, the judge said an applicant was "not required to prove his innocence generally".

He added: "The key issue for the purpose of establishing eligibility for compensation ... is the effect of the new or newly discovered fact which led to the conviction being quashed."

Lord Dyson said in a written ruling: "The Secretary of State is only required to look at whether the new or newly discovered fact (and nothing else) shows beyond reasonable doubt that the person did not commit the offence."

He pointed out: "The fact that the Secretary of State is not persuaded beyond reasonable doubt by a new or newly discovered fact that an applicant is innocent does not entail that the Secretary of State casts doubt on his innocence generally.

"He is merely saying that the applicant's innocence has not been proved by the new or newly discovered fact."

Innocence "was presumed in all cases where a person is applying for compensation" when a conviction had been quashed.

The criteria "do not cast doubt on the innocence of an applicant whose conviction has been quashed", he said.
A senior accountant for Anglo Irish Bank has told the trial of four former senior bankers that it wasn't a good moment for him when the bank's auditors contacted him in 2009 about the accounting treatment of a billion-euro deal.

Four men are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by setting up a 7.2bn circular transaction scheme to bolster Anglo's 2008 balance sheet.

Peter Fitzpatrick (aged 63) of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin, John Bowe (aged 52) from Glasnevin, Dublin, Willie McAteer (aged 65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary and Denis Casey (aged 56), from Raheny, Dublin have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions between March 1 and September 30, 2008.

On day 46 of the trial, Ciaran Cunningham, who was senior manager with Anglo's Treasury Finance department, continued giving evidence about his department team's role in putting together the bank's balance sheet and final year accounts.

The jury has heard that Anglo's treatment of the 7.2bn deal was disputed later by ILP.

The dispute centres around the financial practices of settling net or netting, which would link the loans from Anglo to the deposits placed by ILP with Anglo.

The evidence is that ILP insisted before the transactions took place that they would be netted.

They did this in order to protect ILP in the event of Anglo closing down and their liquidators going after Anglo's debtors, the trial heard.

In a telephone call on October 1, 2008, Anglo traders in the bank's Treasury section discussed how they could treat the deals from the previous month.

The jury heard that Mr Cunningham was brought into the conference call to advise the traders. He told them: I think itd be our preference to show them grossed, to be honest.

Settling the transactions gross would mean the 7.2bn in short term deposits from ILP could be included in the bank's balance sheet figure for customer deposits, which is what ultimately happened.

Mr Cunningham told the traders: The risk is if we do settle them net, we could be forced to net them in the accounts. Thatd be a bit of a disaster

He told Una Ni Raifeartaigh SC, prosecuting, that by disaster he was referring to the fact that the intention of the transactions was balance sheet management and that netting them would have failed to achieve this.

Michael O'Higgins SC, for ILP's former CEO Denis Casey, put it to the witness that after ILP released a press release in February outlining their version of the transactions Anglo's auditors contacted Ciaran McArdle, the main trader behind the deals.

Counsel said Mr McArdle told the auditors the transactions were settled net. The auditors then contacted him, presumably hopping, Mr O'Higgins said.

Mr Cunningham then got on to Mr McArdle who confirmed the deals were settled net.

Counsel put it to the witness: That must have been a pretty awful moment. The ground would have opened up. That's a moment you're never going to forget.

Mr Cunningham agreed, saying: It's wasn't a good moment.

The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.
A woman has been jailed for four years for the neglect and cruelty of seven of her children in the west of Ireland between 2006 and 2011.

Before handing down sentence, Judge Karen OConnor described the atmosphere of fear and brutality she created.

The 39-year-old kept her bowed throughout and made very little reaction as she was being led away.

Her former partner, and father to two of her children, will soon be sentenced after admitting to five counts of assault and neglect.

Update 6.29pm: Her former partner was handed a fully suspended sentence.

It has been three months since the woman, aged 39, was convicted on 29 charges of cruelty and neglect.

During her trial last January, the court heard distressing details of how she used to subject her children to regular beatings with leather belts and wooden back-scratchers.

She used to pour washing-up liquid down the throats of two of her sons and would leave them in the care of strangers for days while she went drinking.

They often went without food. Neighbours used to feed them and buy them clothes.

Her eldest daughter described being held underwater after using bad language.

On another occasion, her mother banged her head against a counter because she had dyed her hair.

The childrens Victim Impact Statements were read out last week.

They described feelings of abandonment, inadequacy and fear.

One of her sons said he didnt think his life was worth living when he was aged seven.

He said he felt like a punching bag.
The number of calls to the Samaritans helpline has more than doubled since the phone number became free.

The charity has answered 1.2 million calls for help since the service became free of charge two years ago.
Ukip's leader in the North has said foreign doctors should be deported over a parking fine.

David McNarry said his party would bring in a draconian crackdown on criminality by kicking foreigners out of the country for traffic offences including speeding.

He also said: "We can't have Isis running our country."

Mr McNarry was challenged over the hard-line attitude in an interview on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show.

Presenter Stephen Nolan gave him the scenario of a Polish surgeon who overstays his half hour parking and gets a ticket.

The host said deporting a paediatrician could mean a child's life is lost.

"It's a crime," Mr McNarry said.

"He has broken the law."

Mr McNarry defended his stance: "It's called claiming back your country.

"Come on, you're being extremely emotional about the whole thing, and being nonsensical.

"First of all it has to be a crime that has been endorsed by the court. You've just gone overboard.

"I'm playing along with you Stephen because you're being... absolutely silly as usual. All this emotional claptrap that you come off with, really, people have had enough of it.

"We need our country back. We need to be running our own affairs. We are capable of doing it.

"We have a great opportunity in Northern Ireland, a marvellous opportunity in Northern Ireland to keep going as we have been going.

"Let's stand up for ourselves and give ourselves a break.

"It's a great time to be hospitable and nice to everyone else when you have your own house in order.

"There's too many gaps in our own house at the moment and people really are aware of that.

"We can't have Isis running our country."

Mr McNarry is leading Ukip's campaign for 13 seats in the Stormont Assembly elections in May although he is not standing himself.

The 67-year-old former Ulster Unionist has led the party in Northern Ireland since 2013.
People who attack the elderly will serve a mandatory prison sentence under an SDLP government in the North, leader Colum Eastwood has pledged.

More than a dozen pensioners became victims of crime every day in Northern Ireland and conviction rates can be as low as 4%, the party said.

The nationalists launched their manifesto for next month's Northern Ireland Assembly elections in Dungannon and vowed to crack down on criminals targeting the elderly.

It said: "The SDLP believes that there can be no room for leniency when dealing with those who carry out attacks against older people and pledge to support the introduction of mandatory prison terms for all those convicted of such attacks.

"The SDLP believes that we cannot continue to allow a situation where these crimes and the fear of these crimes destroy the safety, health and well being of our older population."

Anybody committing an offence while drunk would have to do community service or be put behind bars.

It is estimated that each year 18,000 people are victims of alcohol-related violent crime and that one in five crimes in Northern Ireland has alcohol as a contributing factor. Almost two thirds of street violence offences involved alcohol, according to the manifesto.

"Those who cause fear, inflict violence and commit crimes fuelled by alcohol must feel the full force of the law.

"Any person convicted of an offence where alcohol is an aggravating factor must serve at least a community service order if not a prison sentence.

"Suspended sentences for alcohol-related crimes are no longer acceptable."
The union representing striking Luas workers will meet employers Transdev this afternoon.

It comes after Siptu last week served notice for further strike action on six days later this month and in May.

Luas workers have already held eight days of industrial action, following stoppages in February and March as well as earlier this month.

A further 48-hour stoppage is scheduled for April 23 and 24.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has branded The Boston Globe "stupid" and "worthless" in response to a satirical front page printed by the newspaper which lampoons the notion of a Trump presidency.

The fake front page is dated April 9 2017, and its main story is about Mr Trump calling for deportations.

Another article mentions work being halted on a wall at the Mexican border.

There is also a short item about the backlash Mr Trump received after tweeting a photo of a new dog he named "Madame Peng," after China's first lady Peng Liyuan.

In an editorial, the Globe called the satire "an exercise in taking a man at his word".

Speaking on the campaign trail in Rochester, New York, Mr Trump called it a "totally dishonest story".

Back on the campaign trail, front-runners Hillary Clinton and Mr Trump pushed for big wins on friendlier terrain in the north-east.

Both are attempting to build challenge-proof delegate majorities ahead of their nominating conventions, as they battle resilient rivals.

Both Mr Trump and Mrs Clinton campaigned in New York ahead of its April 19 primary which offers a large trove of delegates who will select the parties' nominees at their national conventions in July.

Mr Trump is seeking to rebound in his home state after a decisive loss to his main rival, the ultraconservative Texas senator Ted Cruz, last Tuesday in Wisconsin.

The billionaire real estate developer remains well short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the Republican nomination.

His campaign is now focusing on developing a delegate-centred strategy akin to the one that Cruz has pursued for months.

"A more traditional approach is needed and Donald Trump recognises that," Paul Manafort, Mr Trump's new delegate chief, told NBC.

Even so, Mr Trump complained that the system is "corrupt" and "crooked" and said it is unfair that the person who wins the most votes may not be the nominee.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Mr Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in a packed airport hangar in Rochester, New York.

"We're supposed to be a democracy," he added.

He went on to warn that, if he is denied the Republican nomination: "You're going to have a big problem, folks, because there are people who don't like what's going on."

Mrs Clinton, who lost Wyoming on Saturday night to Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, is trying to maintain her commanding lead among delegates no matter how many states Sanders wins - or how much "momentum" he claims.

Key to her drive is a victory in New York, which she represented in the US senate. Mr Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, can claim New York as his home state.

After stops in New York City churches, Mrs Clinton headed to Baltimore for her first campaign rally in Maryland, where she picked up the endorsement of popular local congressman Elijah Cummings.

Maryland, where Mrs Clinton is favoured, holds its primary on April 26 along with Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut.

Mrs Clinton's campaign is looking for big wins across the north-east, in an effort to gain what they have termed an "all but insurmountable" lead in the delegate race.

"I was honoured to serve as your senator for eight years. I worked hard with so many leaders," Mrs Clinton told parishioners at Greater Allen Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens on Sunday morning.

"I'm now running for president to continue the work we've done all those years."

Mr Sanders, who trails Mrs Clinton by hundreds of delegates, is pointing to statewide wins in seven of the last eight state contests.

But his latest victory in Wyoming did nothing to help him in the delegate chase, as both Mr Sanders and Mrs Clinton got seven delegates.

Mr Sanders noted that the contest has moved from the conservative South - "Not a stronghold for me" - into states like New York, Pennsylvania and California where he expects to do well.

Mrs Clinton has 1,287 delegates based on primaries and caucuses, compared to Mr Sanders' 1,037. When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 1,756, or 74% of the number needed to clinch the nomination. Mr Sanders has 1,068.

On the Republican side, Mr Trump continued to try to catch up to Cruz's ground operation, which is months ahead and trying to eat into Trump's home state support in conservative pockets of New York.

Mr Manafort said the Cruz campaign was using a "scorched earth" approach in which "they don't care about the party. If they don't get what they want, they blow it up".

For Ohio Gov. John Kasich, it's about winning enough delegates to keep all candidates from locking up a majority of delegates, thereby forcing a contested convention. And that means sowing doubts about the effect that a Trump or Cruz nomination would have on the party.

He said there is "great concern" not just about how each would represent the Republican Party, but about the prospect of a blowout loss up and down the ticket in November.

"We would lose seats all the way from the statehouse to the courthouse", he said - meaning races all down the ballot.

Mr Trump still has a narrow path to nailing down the Republican nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, but he has little room for error. He would need to win nearly 60% of all the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. So far, he is winning about 45%.
Only 18 refugees have entered Greece by sea over the past 24 hours, a week after a European Union deal to deport new arrivals back to Turkey came into effect.

However, more than 53,000 remained stranded in Greece, through which more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa have passed since the beginning of 2015 - heading to more prosperous European countries.
A 33-year-old Moroccan has gone on trial in Duesseldorf on allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman on New Year's Eve.

The alleged assault was one of a string of attacks that night blamed largely on foreigners that fuelled a nationwide debate over immigration policies.
The number of tigers in the wild have increased for the first time after decades of decline, conservationists have said.

A new global estimate based on the best available data suggests there are at least 3,890 wild tigers in the world, an increase on the previous figure of "as few as 3,200" in 2010.

Wildlife charity WWF said the figures, compiled from International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) data and the latest national tiger surveys by some countries, were the first time in tiger conservation history that global numbers have increased.

The boost is down to increases in tiger populations in India, Russia, Nepal and Bhutan, better surveys and enhanced protection of the species, WWF said.

The rise has been announced ahead of a key meeting in India on tiger conservation at the half way point in a 12-year "Tx2" plan, by countries where tigers are or have been found, to double numbers of the species by 2022.

But WWF said more needed to be done to protect the endangered species.

Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, said: "For the first time after decades of constant decline, tiger numbers are on the rise.

"This offers us great hope and shows that we can save species and their habitats when governments, local communities and conservationists work together."

Michael Baltzer, leader of WWF's Tx2 tiger initiative, called for a strong action plan for the next six years by countries with tigers.

"The global decline has been halted but there is still no safe place for tigers.

"South East Asia, in particular, is at imminent risk of losing its tigers if these governments do not take action immediately."

WWF wants to see those countries which have not met their commitment to update their population figures by 2016 based on national surveys to do so.

Countries need to know their tiger populations and the threats they face, such as poaching for skins and body parts and loss of their habitat, in order to protect them, the charity argues.

Ahead of the summit, other environmental groups have called on countries to commit to ending "tiger farming" for their skins and parts for medicine, which they say stimulates demand for such products and puts more poaching pressure on wild tigers.

Meanwhile, tribal people's rights organisation Survival International has accused authorities in India of forcibly moving indigenous people from their homes in areas designated as tiger reserves.

ends

Hollywood star and environmental campaigner Leonardo DiCaprio, who created the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and is a member of the WWF board, said: "Tigers are some of the most vital and beloved animals on Earth.

"With our partners at WWF, my foundation has supported major efforts to double the number of tigers in the wild.

"In Nepal, our efforts have produced one of the greatest areas of progress in tiger conservation, which is helping drive this global increase in population.

"I am so proud that our collective efforts have begun to make progress toward our goal, but there is still so much to be done.

"I am optimistic about what can be achieved when governments, communities, conservationists and private foundations like ours come together to tackle global challenges."
Only 18 refugees and migrants have entered Greece by sea over the past 24 hours, a week after a European Union deal to deport new arrivals back to Turkey came into effect.

However, more than 53,000 remained stranded in Greece, through which more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa have passed since the beginning of 2015 - heading to more prosperous European countries.
Up to 9,000 pupils in Edinburgh are being told to stay at home over concerns about the safety of a number of buildings at 17 schools.

Officials say serious issues have been discovered following storm damage to one primary school in January.
KARACHI: Gold prices on Friday lost some value on the local market, traders said. They dropped by Rs500 to Rs147400...
TOKYO: Japan intervened in the foreign exchange market on Friday to buy yen for the second time in a month after the...
LONDON: Liz Truss came to 10 Downing Street vowing to be a disruptor. She U-turned on almost everything else, but...
The ACT government could take four months to respond formally to a damning Auditor-General's report into Calvary Hospital's irregular financial reports.

Health Minister Simon Corbell said Legislative Assembly processes allowed a considered response to the auditor's findings and the government would work closely with the Little Company of Mary to respond to all of the auditor's recommendations.

Attorney-General Simon Corbell said it was clearly unrealistic to expect children who were just finding their feet as adults to come forward and pursue a civil claim for abuse. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

On Friday, Auditor-General Maxine Cooper issued a report that detailed falsification of financial statements back to October 2012, with irregularities reaching as high as $9 million between 2012 and 2014.

Dr Cooper said the financial mismanagement was a "major concern" and made eight substantial recommendations to the ACT government.
Facebook is still the king of social media for Canberrans who are using Twitter less and Instagram more than two years ago, according to a new survey commissioned for local advertising agency 2B.

Disturbingly, perhaps, a whopping nearly 70 per cent of us admit to using emojis and most Canberrans think memes are actually pretty funny.

Canberrans love Facebook. Twitter? Not so much.

And we can't go past a good LOL, our most popular acronym/abbreviation. Although a well-placed WTF is up there too. We're apparently totes over using totes.

If you want to keep friends, don't send them game requests, with the survey revealing that's the most annoying thing about using social media.
A man accused of firing shots at a home in Gowrie last year has lost a bid for bail, after police expressed fears he may try to exert influence on witnesses if released.

Harley Dean Stott, 23, was charged following a year-long investigation into the drive-by shooting in February last year.

Four adults and two children were inside the home at the time, police say, and either bullet or glass fragments caused injuries to one person.

The ACT Magistrates Court heard on Monday that a friend of Stott's had allegedly owed a drug debt to a woman who lived in the home. The woman took jewellery from Stott's friend as security for the debt, according to police.

Police allege that Stott went to the home on behalf of his friend to "secure the return of the jewellery".
The last day of production at Orange's Electrolux factory. Credit:Jude Keogh "I'm just fearful for Australian manufacturing." Mr O'Kane will leave Orange at the weekend to head production at the Electrolux plant in Thailand. Workers' signatures on the last fridge to roll off the production line at the Electrolux plant in Orange. Credit:Jude Keogh On Friday, the 300 employees remaining at the factory began signing the back panel of the final upright model refrigerator to come off the production line.

On Monday, the honour of the final signature went to the factory's longest-serving employee Steve Brakenridge, who started at the factory 46 years ago as a toolmaking apprentice. The Queen at the Electrolux factory in Orange during her visit to Australia in 1970. Credit:Orange & District Historical Society Mr Brakenridge will continue to work until December to oversee the distribution of the remaining stock of refrigerators stored at the factory. "I've had a great working life here and I will go into retirement when I leave here," he said. "As part of my job I was able to do a lot of study and moved into a supervising role as supply chain manager.

"This place was like a little town when I started, a real working class environment. You could get anything from a haircut at lunchtime to putting a bet on the horses. "I will miss this place, but not the 5am starts." Cr Davis told the workers remaining at the factor the contribution of the factory and its workers to Orange's economy should never be underestimated. "There are so many houses built in Orange that are a result of someone working at Electrolux or having a family member work here," Cr Davis said. "I wish you all well: those who are looking for a new job or those who are retiring."

On Monday the company hosted a farewell lunch for the 200 departing production employees before they walk out the gates for the last time. Historian Liz Edwards, who has worked closely with Electrolux to record the site's history, said it was the factory and Orange that provided a haven for people escaping war-torn Europe following World War II. "So many migrants were able to make a new life for themselves and their families, send their children to school here and prosper in the community," she said. Orange's deputy mayor Chris Gryllis worked at the plant in the mid-1960s and said the town was losing the backbone of its economy and could take years to recover. "Every second house in Orange would be associated with this factory in some way or another," Mr Gryllis said.

"Those of us who knew the factory have a sentimental attachment to it." The Electrolux plant has employed about 40,000 people since it opened as a small arms factory in 1942. At its peak, it employed 2000 people. Mr Gryllis is confident those left unemployed would eventually find jobs elsewhere if given the right training. He said Orange had the economic resilience to deal with the blow.

"We've seen other factories, not as big, closing down," he said. "We have the orchards, the wine, the food. "We have become to some extent the nerve centre of the mining industry, so we're travelling quite well as a regional city." But the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said the former employees' prospects of finding long-term work were slim. "They've had a number of other key closures in the region and the economy in that area has just been laid to waste," the union's NSW secretary Tim Ayres said.
An Australian company that contracts to major miners BHP Billiton and Anglo American looks set to be wound up, in the latest failure to hit the struggling resources services sector.

The Australian Tax Office has applied to wind up Gold Coast mining contractor Civil Australia Holdings, with a court hearing into the process scheduled for April 22.

A contractor to BHP Billiton's Queensland coal mines has collapsed. Credit:Brendan Esposito

Workers for Civil Australia have been thrown into limbo by the collapse and some are claiming to have have worked unpaid shifts for the contractor at Anglo's Callide thermal coal mine in Queensland.

Civil Australia is also known to have worked at BHP and Mitsubishi's newest coking coal mines in the Bowen Basin, Caval Ridge and Daunia, but is believed to be no longer working there.
"Being present in the workplace and making better decisions has a lot to do with our business fundamentals.

Encouraging your staff to get more sleep can be a boon to your business, said Mark Bertolini, chief executive officer of Connecticut-based health insurance company Aetna.

A US businessman has begun paying his workers to sleep in.

Mark Bertolini, chief executive officer of Aetna.

"If [our staff] can prove they get 20 nights of sleep for seven hours or more in a row, we will give them $US25 a night, up $US500 a year," said Mr Bertolini, who uses the wireless activity tracker Fitbit to monitor his employees' sleep levels.

"You can't be prepared if you're half-asleep," he said, citing research that better sleep can lead to bigger profits.

Working in collaboration with Duke University, Mr Bertolini said he had seen "69 minutes more a month of [worker] productivity on the part of us just investing in wellness and mindfulness".

World leaders have often prided themselves on their lack of sleep. Winston Churchill is said to have slept only five hours a night. Margaret Thatcher got four hours a night; former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said he needs only two hours.
Despite their name, the Panama Papers are not mainly about Panama. They are not even primarily concerned with Panamanian companies.

The more than 11 million documents, illegally hacked and released last week relating to previously undisclosed "offshore" corporations, is roiling the world with revelations of the vulnerability for rampant abuse of legal financial structures by the wealthy.

They are unfairly called the Panama Papers because this particular trove of documents came from a single law firm based in Panama. However, the problem of tax evasion is a global one.
In developing these positions, the lord mayor said the council widely consulted. Unfortunately, we never heard from Moore or anyone from the City of Sydney on this issue. If they did bother to make contact, our industry would have highlighted that in the year to September 2015, Sydney had 9.2 million domestic overnight visitors and 3.1 million international visitors. The majority of these visitors live in places where purchasing a bottle of wine for a late BYO meal or on the way home after a show is a way of life. They can't do this in Sydney because of the current statewide 10pm closing time for bottleshops and liquor stores. It's hardly the type of restriction you would expect in a sophisticated global city.

Specifically, the City of Sydney is pushing for a 12-month trial exemption from the 1.30am lockout for "well managed premises and live music and performance venues", as well a softening of the 3am last drinks rule. However, it wants the 10pm closing time for bottleshops and liquor stores to remain in place.

The Australian Liquor Stores Association wants City of Sydney liquor stores and bottleshops to be able to trade until midnight on up to 12 occasions a year. Credit:Tamara Voninski

The principal reason for this is the inconsistency in the reasons the City of Sydney is giving for adopting policy positions in relation to late-night liquor trading, as outlined in its submission to the Callinan Review of the liquor laws and by the lord mayor in her Herald article on April 4.

It's difficult to work out if the City of Sydney  led by lord mayor Clover Moore  is genuine in developing a late-night economic policy which reinforces Sydney's status as a global city catering for interstate and overseas visitors.

Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the City of Sydney is the lack of evidence it has for maintaining the 10pm restriction on bottleshops and liquor stores. It claims the practice of pre-fuelling, which could even mean a pre-dinner drink in another venue or in a private environment before going out, is the reason for having this position. In short, Moore seems happy for restrictions on other liquor licensees to be relaxed, while maintaining a hard line on retail liquor licensees on little more than a hunch. She is also seemingly ignoring the growing impact of illicit drugs.

Before the anti-alcohol lobby takes aim, the Australian Liquor Stores Association is not trying to deny excessive consumption of alcohol is an issue. It is for a small minority of people. This is why we support government interventions which are evidence-based, rather than measures that do not simply place more economic pressure on liquor retailers through draconian legislation, regulation and other forms of "red tape".

Driving cultural change to promote responsible consumption of alcohol  educating Australians that drinking to get drunk is no longer acceptable  as well as taking positive steps to minimise the access to alcoholic beverages by minors are important. This is why our industry has introduced the highly successful "ID-25" campaign where anyone trying to buy alcohol in a retail liquor store will be asked for identification of they look under 25 years old and "Don't Buy It For Them" encourages adults to rethink before buying alcohol beverages on behalf of a minor.

The retail liquor industry, like the community, also supports a targeted approach from the police and greater penalties for anyone who goes out with the intent of inflicting harm on others. It's also why our industry supported the removal of consumption of alcohol beverages as an excuse for criminal and anti-social behaviour in NSW and is encouraging remaining jurisdictions to adjust their legislation.

It's for all of these reasons the retail liquor industry is advocating for operators of liquor stores and bottleshops to be able to trade until midnight on up to 12 occasions a year and, should demand warrant it, individual stores should be able to apply to trade beyond 10pm on more than 12 occasions a year.
When Calvary Public Hospital chief executive Ray Dennis resigned in August 2014 he cited the development of "a true collaborative partnership between ourselves and the ACT government" as one of the highlights of his nearly 5 years in the job. This piece of boilerplate now appears eerily prophetic after Friday's ACT Audit Office report on the hospital's financial affairs and its relationship with the ACT government.

The audit found Calvary Health Care staff and executives had engaged in "inappropriate financial practices" in 2013-14, including falsely reporting the receipt of $8.89 million in ACT government funding so as to disguise a $9.5 million loss. ACT Auditor-General Maxine Cooper said the fiddling of financial arrangements under the Calvary Network Agreement were improbable and should have been picked up earlier.

Questions about Calvary Hospital's financial management remain unanswered. Credit:Jay Cronan

It's not known for certain when Calvary's financial "performance" came to the ACT government's attention, but it seems to have been on or about the time of Mr Dennis' resignation. That's when the Health Directorate's director-general wrote to Dr Cooper's office outlining concerns about financial and performance reporting. The government was almost certainly in the loop when Calvary's chief financial officer, Wayne Armistead, resigned a month later.

Yet, on October 10, when Calvary announced a $4.9 million loss (attributed to a budget overrun), then chief minister Katy Gallagher was reported to be confident that the steps taken by the Little Company of Mary Healthcare (which runs Calvary) to investigate were appropriate. LCM Healthcare's national chief executive, Mark Doran, was also of the view that it was a minor hiccup, telling media that Calvary's partnership with the government and its relationship with ACT Health remained strong.
Major Allied operation begins

"The biggest Allied operation of the Vietnam war has been launched in the country's central provinces  Operation Toan Thang (Complete Victory) involved 70,000 American, Australian, New Zealand, Thai and South Vietnamese troops." The First Australian Task Force will be operating in a 50-mile wide zone in Phuoc Tuy province. US planes flew 131 bombing missions over North Vietnam yesterday.

Members of 102nd Field Battery, Royal Australian Artillery, and 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, receive communion, Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, 1968. Credit:Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial.

Wahine disaster

"At least 50 people drowned when the New Zealand ship Wahine overturned and sank in Wellington Harbour," the Herald reported. "It is feared the final death toll from the 744 people aboard will be over 150. As "bodies were washed on to the black sand of the harbour bays  the 8944-ton Wahine sank before the eyes of horrified watchers on shore." It was not known how many people were still missing in the icy waters.
In one message, Ms Faulkner told Chapman: "They are saying the plan is crazy risky. And they don't think it will work. What do you think?" Program in jeopardy: 60 Minutes may be the sacrifice after fallout from the child snatch story by reporter Tara Brown. Credit:Nine Network Mr Chapman responded: "No offence, but I don't think they are qualified to comment given how this current job has gone." He tells her his contacts "are adamant it's solid". "Ok. Well please keep talking to them. Keep on their back. Explain why it's solid." Sally Faulkner with her children, Lahala and Noah. Credit:Facebook

Who the "they" refers to is not specified, but a short time later Chapman is being asked to "please call 60 again". In the lengthy exchange, Mr Chapman also asks at one stage: "Did 60 Minutes film it all? Do the Lebanese authorities have the footage? Need to know what evidence is against you." Ms Faulkner responds: "Yes. And no they do not have the footage." The 29-year-old, a former air hostess, had travelled to Beirut to try to recover her two children Lahala, 6, and Noah, 4, from their father, Ms Faulkner's ex-husband Ali Elamine, a Beirut surf business owner. Mr Elamine was alleged to have failed to return their children to Australia as promised after a holiday in Lebanon.

On Wednesday Lebanon time, a car containing employees of CARI and Ms Faulkner had cruised to a stop near a bus stop in South Beirut where Mr Elamine's mother and a nanny were walking the two young children. Two CARI agents got out of the the car and grabbed the children from the arms of their grandmother and another woman, while a third passenger appeared to be video recording the snatch, according to grainy security camera video captured by a CCTV camera at a nearby shop. When one of the women appeared to fight back, she was violently pushed away from the vehicle, which then sped off. Inside the car Ms Faulkner was reunited with her children and dropped off at another location. But when it quickly emerged that the crew and the child recovery agents had been arrested, Ms Faulkner sent her first panicked text to Chapman who immediately replied: "OK, how can I help." That was shortly followed by a second: "I heard what's happened." Ms Faulkner then texted back: "Some of the team have been arrested."

"Are you OK?" Mr Chapman replied. "I'm in a safe house right now." Mr Chapman asked again if she was "sure you're safe?" She said yes, "But we can't stay here for long. The kids want to leave for Australia now but I can't get them out." She goes on to reveal authorities had "stopped the boat operation", a reference to a yacht that had been moored off the coast to extract her and the children.

She then asked Mr Chapman if there was a "way out through Syria", before noting "they say we took them (the children) using guns and hit her (grandmother) in the head. We didn't even touch the grandmother." When Mr Chapman says Syria is too dangerous because of Islamic State, she asks: "Is there another way?" Mr Chapman says he will find out and then asks who else got arrested and Ms Faulkner reveals Adam had been "pulled in for questioning" and the "60 Minutes crew are here too and they are in a bit of shit also". The 'Adam' is believed to be Adam Whittington, the head of CARI, a former Australian soldier and UK metropolitan police officer who has UK citizenship. Mr Chapman soon texts back offering an avenue for escape to Cyprus - saying a water extraction is the safest way to go. Ms Faulkner confirms she can get to a boat "within a day".

When Mr Chapman tells Ms Faulkner boat and extraction would cost 75,000, Ms Faulkner asks: "Is there anyway your team could do the recovery and get the money later. I know 60 will pay up if it means I don't do the rest of the story and I get out". Mr Chapman says "they may want some sort of deposit or guarantee from 60 or yourself". Eventually, Mr Chapman tells Ms Faulkner he has some bad news. "Sorry Sally, not getting far with them. They keep saying they will get back to me but they don't." Mr Chapman also told her the chances of payment were nil. "60 refusing to pay for the boat. They're relying on (Foreign Minister Julie) Bishop to get them out."
Springsteen cancels North Carolina concert Bryan Adams has followed Bruce Springsteen's lead by scrapping a concert in the US in protest over a state's anti-LGTB laws. The Canadian rocker, who toured Australia last month, has cancelled his performance at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on April 14. Bryan Adams performing at the 2015 AFL Grand Final. Credit:Scott Barbour In a statement posted on social media and his website, Adams said he found the discrimination of bill 1523 "incomprehensible".

"I cannot in good conscience perform in a state where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation," he said. The bill, which passed earlier this month and comes into force on July 1, permits religious groups and businesses to refuse service to gay couples. "Hopefully Mississippi will right itself and I can come back and perform for all of my many fans," Adams said. "I look forward to that day." Adams' decision comes just days after Bruce Springsteen cancelled his show on April 10 at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina in protest over laws which ban transgender people from using public bathrooms that don't match their sex at birth.
Glasgow-based performance-maker Nic Green's Trilogy was the runaway hit of the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009 and while its heavy deployment of nudity might have helped with word-of-mouth, it's not mere titillation that has seen audiences themselves stripping off by the hundreds for the joyous mass dance that closes the work's first section.

The piece is a celebration of women's bodies in all their forms, along with their thoughts, hopes and accomplishments, and will arrive at Melbourne's Arts House in North Melbourne this June.

Naked ambition: Nic Green is looking for performers for her show Trilogy. Credit:Will Potts

In the lead-up Green is calling for female volunteers to appear in the work, with no restrictions on appearance or ability beyond an availability for rehearsals and performances from June 9.

artshouse.com.au
The Nine Network 60 Minutes TV crew and Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner are expected to face a judge in Lebanon tonight over their involvement in the alleged abduction and recovery of Ms Faulkner's two children.

Over the weekend, Lebanese authorities split up the detained Australians, sending Ms Faulkner and 60 Minutes star reporter Tara Brown to a female-only detention centre and the male members of the TV crew to another detention centre.

Tara Brown and the 60 Minutes crew were detained in Lebanon. Credit:Channel Nine

Nine's European correspondent Tom Steinfort told the Today show that Channel Nine had hired a well-respected Lebanese criminal lawyer to represent its staff members at their first hearing tonight.
Wanted: women to strip off for Nic Green's Trilogy at Arts House

Glasgow-based performance-maker Nic Green's Trilogy was the runaway hit of the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009 and while its heavy deployment of nudity might have helped with word-of-mouth, it's not mere titillation that has seen audiences themselves stripping off by the hundreds for the joyous mass dance that closes the work's first section.

Naked ambition: Nic Green is looking for performers for his show Trilogy. Credit:Will Potts

The piece is a celebration of women's bodies in all their forms, along with their thoughts, hopes and accomplishments, and will arrive at Melbourne's Arts House in North Melbourne this June.

In the lead-up Green is calling for female volunteers to appear in the work, with no restrictions on appearance or ability beyond an availability for rehearsals and performances from June 9.
More than a quarter of Australia's largest public companies have no rules preventing their staff paying small bribes, known as "facilitation payments", to help their business in foreign countries that allow such transactions.

A survey conducted by the Uniting Church found 27 members of the ASX 100 tolerate payments that grease the wheels of business in overseas markets, as the Law Council of Australia claimed "much could be done to improve the effectiveness of Australian sanctions against the bribery of foreign public officials".

"It should not be assumed that bribery of foreign public officials involving Australian corporations or persons who are Australian citizens or residents does not take place," the Law Council said in its submission to the Senate inquiry into foreign bribery.

"Australia's enforcement record lags [behind] that of comparable Western countries. Australia is not adequately meeting its international obligations in this area.
Coalition unity over a banking royal commission is cracking, with eight government MPs now backing an inquiry or saying it should be considered, Malcolm Turnbull under attack for a "captain's call" and legal experts questioning whether corporate regulator ASIC has adequate powers.

On Monday veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch said he was "worried about senior colleagues ruling this out when we have a [parliamentary] inquiry under way".



"How can senior members of the government make a captain's call and pre-empt this [parliamentary] inquiry?" asked Mr Entsch, a supporter of Mr Turnbull in the September spill motion.

"It's all very well to say banks have learnt from their mistakes and they will be nicer moving forward, but what about the sins of the past?"
East Timor has called in the United Nations to help resolve its bitter dispute with Australia over a permanent sea border in the oil-rich Timor Sea.

The tiny nation on Monday informed Australia that it would trigger conciliation proceedings under the UN's Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) where the merits of a new boundary and where it should lie will be considered by a panel of five experts.

Protesters in Dili last month demanded that Australia negotiate over the Timor Sea boundary. Credit:Wayne Lovell, Timor Photography

The move was sharply criticised by the Australian government, with a spokesperson for foreign minister Julie Bishop saying it contravened previous agreements between the two nations.

Last month, there were mass protests in Dili over the unresolved maritime border, with more than 10,000 people rallying outside the Australian embassy in the Timorese capital.
The United States vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Paul Selva, has called it "The Terminator conundrum".

That is, should we empower machines to kill? It's a question the Pentagon is already grappling with as drone technology improves. And with Canberra defence chiefs keen to acquire armed drones, confirmed by the recent White Paper, Australia is also dipping its toe in this tricky ethical terrain.

Anticipating Australia's purchase of armed drones by the start of next decade, the US firm General Atomics, which makes the famed Predator drone, opened an office in Canberra in November.

The market dominance of the Predator  and its latest version known as the Reaper  is overwhelming, with 60 to 70 of these remotely piloted aircraft in the sky at any moment. They have been the Obama administration's weapon of choice in the war against Islamic extremists in the Middle East, and have been bought by Britain, France and Spain.
It followed a 2010 election undertaking, when Labor committed $20 million to study the feasibility of high speed rail. That report concluded the line could be profitable, but would require a substantially taxpayer-funded investment of $114 billion in construction costs. Former infrastructure and transport minister Anthony Albanese releases a report examining high-speed rail in 2013. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Rewind just a little further to 1998, and it was John Howard himself who ventured down those time-honoured tracks, commissioning the Speedrail Consortium to submit a detailed proposal for a $3.5 billion link between Sydney and Canberra. It was wiped away when the government could not be satisfied the project could be financed without subsidies. As the Greens' Adam Bandt observed on Monday: "High Speed Rail seems to be the train that only ever runs in election years." The Simpsons watch on as Springfield's monorail is built.

Of course, the saga goes back much further. It was the dawn of the optimistic 1980s when the Institution of Engineers first lobbed the grenade of high speed rail into Australian politics. Three years later, the CSIRO proposed the Very Fast Train - a 350km/h bullet train based on the French TGV. It would have linked Sydney to Melbourne in about three hours and cost $2.5 billion in 1984 money. For a while, it looked as though the VFT might actually leave the station. There were joint ventures, reports, conferences and protests. There were also thought bubbles, with alternative technologies including magnetic levitation and a tilt train coming under consideration. Bob Hawke's government eventually rejected a proposal to allow tax concessions for investors in the project, and the consortium of infrastructure-builders folds in 1991. Light rail announcements produce good headlines but little action. This time around, the government has a different and more innovative approach. Mr Turnbull has previously spoken at length about the virtues of value capture infrastructure - an investment instrument in you use the increased land values that arise from a piece of infrastructure to finance its construction. The Australian, which reported the government's high speed rail plans on Monday, described value capture as a "radical new" funding approach. But it is neither, having been used regularly in the US and other countries for decades.

Indeed, in an ABC radio interview last month, Mr Turnbull explained that 19th century railroad projects were "in effect property deals" because they boosted the value of surrounding land. "This is increasingly what is being done again in the United States," he said. "In a sense it's back to the future because people are really remembering that what good transport infrastructure does is transform the amenity and hence the value of real estate." Professor of Urban Policy at the University of Sydney, Ed Blakely, said while value capture would not fund the entire cost of a high speed rail line, it could be used to finance land acquisition for stations, the stations themselves and the construction of apartments and other amenities at major junctions. He rated the chance of the project actually coming to fruition as "better than 50 per cent" because of the added incentive provided by the proposed Badgerys Creek airport. "I think you have to do it," Professor Blakely said. "I think if we press on this thing when we have the second airport it'll get done, because it actually reinforces what we're doing there."
1. Questions over 60 Minutes conduct

Nine won't say, or deny, that it paid for the child-snatch operation which has landed its presenter Tara Brown and her crew in jail in Lebanon. Australian diplomats are working round-the-clock on the case, while at home serious questions are being raised about the network's ethics.

The Australian journalists are gaining international coverage as the number of days without word on their fate grow.
All your experience to date might have been in snaffling rental properties from hoards of other applicants  you do everything to convince them you're uber-intelligent, successful and flush. For goodness sake, agents say, keep these things to yourself when purchasing property and downplay the worth of any existing property you have to sell. It translates to a vendor as "we're on a golden ticket here" and you could well end up paying more.

4. Wait for auction

Bidding early has become much more popular in the boom, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, as buyers seek to get in first. But agents are upfront in saying you have to "pay a premium" for the vendor to give up the opportunity for a competitive auction. They also report that, at auction, buyers generally bid what they were earlier prepared to pay anyway. For these reasons in still-hot areas such as beachside Sydney, some agents send 90 per cent of their properties to auction. Across the country, the Real Estate Institute of Australia says the average is 30 per cent. Regardless of the market, a pre-auction bid carries the highest risk of buyer's remorse: you will never know what might have happened if it had gone to auction and you'll have to live with that. The key if you decide instead to go head-to-head at an emotionally charged auction is not to breach your upper limit (see breakout). Auctions are short; mortgages are looong.

5. Combat fake offers

Fierce demand for a property? Other bidders about to snap it out from under you? Prove it! It's a common real estate tactic to say this and make you feel pressured to put forward your best offer there and then. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission considers it misleading or deceptive conduct to make up other offers, but you'll rarely know. Agents say the most effective way to ensure you don't miss out is to make an unconditional offer  furnish a signed contract and deposit cheque  reflecting what you are prepared to pay; even if this is less than a rival unconditional offer, it is extremely difficult for a vendor to pass up certainty. As one said: "A bird in the hand and all that." It also nicely transfers the fear of missing out  FOMO  you may be feeling, to the vendor. They might not see a profit that high again.
Foreign embassies in Canberra are thumbing their noses at the Australian government's pleas to pay fines clocked up by overseas diplomats hooning around the capital.

Fairfax reported on Monday that staff at foreign embassies were using diplomatic immunity to escape punishment for serious offences, including leading police on car chases through Canberra streets and high-range drink-driving offences.

But the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has told foreign governments that it does not consider traffic offences to be covered by diplomatic immunity and has called on embassies to pay their fines.
Australia's most senior public servants have called for freedom of information laws to be amended to conceal sensitive advice to ministers from public scrutiny.

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Martin Parkinson and Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd outlined their vision at an industry event on Monday, claiming it would strengthen government policy.

Dr Martin Parkinson believes the FOI act does not afford sufficient protection to public servants. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"The FOI act does not afford sufficient protection to public servants," Dr Parkinson said.

"As leaders we need to use exemptions appropriately, but I would support going further and advocating for changes to FOI laws to protect the deliberative process."
Sydney's most controversial council paid more than $130,000 in consultancy fees to a former senior staff member accused of receiving similar payments for no known reason in a multi-million dollar corruption inquiry.

The fees collected by Peter Fitzgerald bring together two of Sydney's most notorious councils: Botany Bay, the subject of an ongoing ICAC inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of millions in ratepayer funds; and the home of colourful developer-politician Salim Mehajer, Auburn Council.

Mr Fitzgerald, a long-standing senior Labor figure in local government, acted as general manager to both councils.

The ICAC inquiry into the affairs of Botany Bay Council has heard a number of allegations against Mr Fitzgerald, including that for about a decade during his tenure he received monthly $8400 payments via a firm called "Bloggs Consulting" that had done no known legitimate work for that council. Mr Fitzgerald has denied this in evidence before the inquiry.
A Sydney council has had its merger case against Local Government Minister Paul Toole dismissed from court.

Botany Bay Council launched proceedings in the Land and Environment Court in a bid to have its alternative merger considered in the crop of proposals set to go before the Boundaries Commission.

The greyhound ban is weighing heavily on Deputy Premier Troy Grant, left, and Premier Mike Baird. Credit:Dallas Kilponen

The state government has proposed Botany Bay merge with Rockdale, but the council instead wants to extend its boundaries to take in parts of Randwick, Sydney, Marrickville and Rockdale.

Following in the footsteps of Warringah Council on the Northern Beaches, Botany Bay made the alternative submission under section 218E of the Local Government Act.
Mike Baird is refusing to guarantee the continued provision of cultural or community facilities at the site of the Powerhouse Museum, after nominating a new venue for the museum on the banks of the Parramatta River.

Standing across the river from the planned new museum site, an old David Jones car park, the Premier said on Monday that the Parramatta facility would open in 2022 and become Australia's answer to the Smithsonian, the iconic US museum system.

He also responded to critics of his proposal to shutter and sell the existing Powerhouse to help pay for the move west.
A Sydney businessman accused of striking a deal with members of the Obeid family to rig a NSW government tender for coal exploration licences has told the Federal Court that "rumour" and "scuttlebutt" were rife in the coal industry and the department overseeing the tender was "not the most watertight of institutions".

But John McGuigan, who is being pursued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for alleged cartel conduct with Moses and Paul Obeid, said he did not have direct contacts inside the government or the bureaucracy.

John McGuigan and his son James leave the Federal Court in Sydney. Credit:Louise Kennerley

The ACCC alleges Mr McGuigan and his business associate, Richard Poole, entered into a deal in 2009 for an Obeid-linked company to pull out of the bidding process for two coal exploration licences to pave the way for their own company, Cascade Coal, to win the tender.

Mr McGuigan's son James, a former employee of Mr Poole's boutique investment firm and Cascade Coal, is also being targeted by the ACCC. All the men deny any wrongdoing.
NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott says he has been unable find any evidence that a prisoner who was allegedly attacked by an Islamic State supporter at a jail on the NSW Mid North Coast was an Australian Army veteran.

The 40-year-old man's radicalised cell mate, Bourhan Hraichie, 18, allegedly used a sharp object to carve "e4e" into his head inside the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre in Kempsey last week. The slogan was an apparent reference to the terrorist group's "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" mantra.

NSW Corrective Services Minister David Elliott. Credit:Tim Hunter

The radicalised teenager also allegedly placed a towel over the victim's face and poured boiling water over him, and allegedly broke the older man's sternum.

It was reported that the injured man was a former Toowoomba-based army officer who had served in East Timor, and who was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
Staff numbers in NSW Premier Mike Baird's office have hit a record high since the Coalition came to government in 2011, with 32 advisers and assistants now employed.

Mr Baird's office also employs a record number of staff on the highest public service salary band, with 10 earning between $152,983 and $291,215.

The total annual salary bill for staff in the Premier's office is now as high as $5.6 million.

This compares with a salary bill as high as $3.9 million in December 2010 in the office of then premier Kristina Keneally before the change of government.
Two men have been rushed to hospital after being stabbed in the car park of a pub Sydney's west on Monday night in what police believe to be a targeted attack.

Police were called to Berala Hotel on Woodburn Road where they found two men with stab wounds.

One man had been stabbed in the back, and the other in one of his legs, police said.

They were taken to Westmead Hospital.

The man who was stabbed in the back is understood to be in a serious condition, police said.
The Forensic Crash Unit continues to investigate.

The male driver of the truck, 55, was not hurt in the accident.

A man has died after a bicycle and truck collided in Acacia Ridge.

Police confirmed the 29-year-old man had died at the scene.

A cyclist has died after a collision with a truck at Acacia Ridge, in Brisbane's south.

EARLIER

A cyclist has been seriously injured in a collision with a truck in Brisbane's south.

Police and paramedics rushed to the corner of Paradise and Learoyd roads in Acacia Ridge after the crash about 9.40am.

Police said it appeared the man's bike had collided with a truck.

Paramedics were on scene but hadn't taken the man to hospital.
The Queensland government will continue to pursue "fake Tahitian prince" Joel Morehu-Barlow for millions of dollars, even if he can't pay.

Morehu-Barlow, who is serving a 14-year jail term for fraud after he stole $16.6 million from the state's health department, will owe the state $8.5 million by the time he is eligible for parole later this year, The Australian reports.

Joel Morehu-Barlow. Credit:Queensland Police Service

"Clearly it is important that we do pursue him for money - it is money that is owed to Queenslanders," Acting Premier Jackie Trad said on Monday when asked whether it was worth trying to recoup the money, given Morehu-Barlow's inability to pay.

AAP
A man has been charged over the death of his partner in Far North Queensland.

He is the fourth man to be charged in connection with the death of a partner in Queensland this month.

The 46-year-old from Pormpuraaw, on the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula, was not charged with murder but was due to appear in Cairns Magistrates Court on Monday on one count of acts intended to maim, disfigure or disable.

Police responded to a reported assault on Yalu Street in the remote town just after 6.30am Saturday and found the woman dead.
A man has been stabbed in the stomach in a far north Queensland town.

Family members took the victim, 29, to the Mossman hospital on Sunday night and he was later airlifted to Cairns Base Hospital.

A man has been airlifted to Cairns Base Hospital with stomach injuries.

A 26-year-old man, believed to be known to the injured man, has been charged with grievous bodily harm and will face the Cairns Magistrates Court on Monday.

AAP
A female sex offender will be subject to normal parole arrangements after a court dismissed the Attorney-General's bid to have her declared a dangerous sexual offender.

Jan-Maree Dunlop, 55, was jailed in 2002 for helping her then-husband rape a 10-year-old girl in Gladstone.

Jan-Maree Dunlop was jailed over the rape of a 10-year-old girl. Credit:File/iStock

Justice David Jackson on Monday dismissed an application to limit Dunlop's parole under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act after the Brisbane Supreme Court heard forensic psychiatrist Dr Michael Beech placed her risk of reoffending between one and three per cent, despite her persisting dependent personality disorder.

AAP
The Gabba's past and future councillors have reacted with dismay over a Queensland Heritage Council decision not to list three Highgate Hill homes set for demolition by developers.

But both insisted the fault laid squarely with the Brisbane City Council and not the state government body.

The Queensland Heritage Council met on Monday morning and decided the homes did not meet the threshold for state heritage protection, which needed to demonstrate a state significance.

They could have been added to Brisbane City Council's own heritage register, which had a more localised threshold, but the council did not recognise the houses on its pre-1911 property overlay.
An attempt to extradite Queensland's so-called Postcard Bandit Brenden Abbott to Western Australia on his release from a Brisbane jail is perplexing, his lawyers say.

Abbott, 53, was last month granted parole and was on Monday transferred from the Woodford Correctional Centre to the Brisbane Correctional Centre at Wacol in preparation for his release.

That is likely to happen early on Tuesday morning, when his lawyer Brendan Nyst anticipates Abbott will be immediately re-arrested and taken to the Brisbane watch house for an extradition hearing.

West Australian Police have confirmed they will seek his extradition so that he can face the remainder of his sentence there for various crimes, including breaking out of jail.
Protests over the insensitive naming of her restaurant Uncle Ho might be the least of restaurateur Anna Demirbek's problems.

The Swedish-born owner had more than 100 protesters outside her restaurant on Sunday prompting her to change the name to Uncle Bia Hoi, in reference to the Vietnamese street food they sell, on Monday.

She also claimed to have received death threats and threats to burn down the restaurant forcing her to keep it closed on Sunday.

But problems within the venue, which is just weeks old, began well before that.
A repeat child sex offender in Queensland has been told he could be sent to jail if he breaches his suspended sentence again.

Corey David Jamieson was given a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence in August 2014 for indecently treating a 12-year-old and a 10-year-old, including filming and taking photos of them.

Corey David Jamieson was convicted of filming and taking photos a 12-year-old and a 10-year-old. Credit:Louie Douvis

Jamieson appeared in Brisbane's District Court on Monday for breaching that suspended sentence by failing to file a report and possessing a bong.

Judge Paul Smith extended Jamieson's suspended sentence to three years.
A deadly fungal virus is pushing seven Australian native frogs, including two Queensland species, to the point of extinction with top frog disease experts calling for immediate funding to save these precious amphibians.

Scientists from across the country have called for $15 million dollars in funding over a five year period in order to curb and manage the effects of the chytrid fungus (chytridiomycosis), which has already wiped out six native frog species since it was discovered in Queensland in the late 70s.

Queensland frogs threatened by deadly fungus: Litoria lorica is the Armoured Mist frog.

The team of 15 scientists said better management practices such as genetically modifying threatened frog species or relocating the more adaptable species were avenues that needed to be explored.

The findings were published in the Wildlife Research journal on Monday and targeted those species with populations already small and in decline.
Acting Premier Jackie Trad said it was clear Mr McVeigh had his "attention set on Canberra" and should resign immediately.

Toowoomba South MP John McVeigh is under pressure to quit State Parliament after he was preselected for the LNP to run in the federal seat of Groom. Credit:Harrison Saragossi

Mr McVeigh, who was agriculture minister in the Newman government, was preselected to replace outgoing former Abbott government minister Ian Macfarlane on the ballot paper in the safe LNP seat on Saturday.

Liberal National Party MP John McVeigh has come under pressure from Labor to quit as the state member for Toowoomba South following his preselection for the federal seat of Groom.

"It's really up to him to make the decision to resign and resign soon," she said.

"I think it's important that people understand he's still attracting a wage for being a state member of Parliament, while quite clearly he's clocked out of that arena."

Mr McVeigh said he would speak to the LNP's parliamentary leader, Lawrence Springborg, about the timing of his resignation when Mr Springborg returned from overseas.

"In the meantime, as I was two days ago, I'm flat out serving the people of Toowoomba South as their representative in Queensland Parliament," he said in a written statement.

"I've been formally advised by the Clerk of the Parliament that I would need to stand down by the time a federal election is called.
An electrician has cut free a "blue" man he found pinned between a mower and a beam at a Brisbane service station.

The man was taken to hospital in a stable condition after becoming trapped on Monday morning.

The man, in his mid 20s, was driving the mower when he became pinned after the machine crashed into a fence that backed onto a train line at Deagon Caltex, in Brisbane's north.

Sebastian Caltabiano pulled into the service station, pulled around the back and noticed the mower up against the fence.
Imagine a world without bees. Food production chains would falter and some crops such as almonds, which rely on bee pollination, would fail entirely. It is after all, the birds and the bees that keep things ticking over.

But now researchers have discovered the only known place on the planet to exist without pollinating birds and bees. And it's in Australian territory.

Researchers Adrian Dyer (left) with Mani Shrestha with a bee enjoying some sugar. Credit:Eddie Jim

Remote Macquarie Island, halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica, has provided scientists with the first glimpse of a world without nectar-seeking birds or bees. And, assuming you're into colourful flowers, it's not pretty.
Two bandits, one brandishing an axe and the other a meat cleaver, terrorised staff as they robbed service stations in Melbourne's south-east on Friday.

Police are hunting the men who they believe forced the front glass door of a Eumemmerring service station open just before 3am.

The men threatened staff with an axe and meat cleaver. Credit:Victoria Police

The men demanded cash and cigarettes, which were handed over to them, before fleeing from the Princes Highway into Doveton Avenue.

Police believe the same men robbed another service station an hour earlier on North Road in Murrumbeena.
Every year on Anzac Day, Australians tell brave stories about loved ones who have fought in war, and this year, Kathy Xue can tell her story.

Ms Xue, of Vermont South, will be among the first Chinese group to take part in Melbourne's Anzac Day march.

Ruth Zhai, Kathy Xue and Qifang Wang and other descendants of Chinese World War II veterans will march on Anzac Day for the first time. Credit:Penny Stephens

More than 30 relatives of Chinese soldiers who fought the Japanese in World War II were expected to walk behind their banner to the Shrine on April 25.

Ms Xue, 60, said her late father, Xiao Ping, suffered chronic pain for decades after sustaining bullet wounds to his back in the battle for FoMiaoLing village in Shanxi province in September 1941.
failure to provide good government, with the council so dysfunctional it was unable to work together in the city's best interests

failure to develop a long-term strategic plan for the city

failure to respond properly to the Halliday report Parliament will be asked to dismiss the council until the 2020 October elections, and an administrator appointed for four-and-a-half years. It will leave Geelong without a mayor and councillors for an entire local government term. Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons and fellow Geelong councillors will be dismissed by the Andrews government on Tuesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen A damning review of Geelong council's workplace culture, completed by Ms Halliday last year, found significant concerns about conflicts of interest and bullying behaviour by several councillors. A survey of staff found one in four had been bullied and almost a third had witnessed bullying.

Ms Hutchins said the report she would table in Parliament on Tuesday outlined "serious governance failures, among other issues, leaving the government no choice but to dismiss the council". "It is not a decision that has been taken lightly," she said. "The people of Geelong deserve better. The city is too important for it to be run by a dysfunctional council that is simply unable to work together." One of Darryn Lyons' fellow councillors, Lindsay Ellis, said he did not support the mayor. "Darryn Lyons has been great for Geelong. But for governance, he's been bloody hopeless,"Cr Ellis told radio station 3AW.

However, he said the state government had an agenda to sack the council, regardless of what the commission had found. He said the direct election of a mayor in Geelong had been a failed experiment. Geelong will be the sixth Victorian council to be sacked since the Kennett government amalgamated more than 200 Victorian councils to 79 in the 1990s. The others were Wangaratta, sacked in 2013, Brimbank in 2009, Glen Eira in 2005, and Nillumbik and Darebin in 1998. Prominent Geelong businessman Frank Costa says the city's council has reaped what it sowed.

The former Geelong Football Club president said he wasn't surprised at news the Andrews government would move to sack the council on Tuesday. "The stories that have been coming out about the council's performance over recent times have certainly warranted a very strong investigation," he said. "There's an old saying 'he shall reap what ye shall sow'." Mr Costa said having the council under an administrator until 2020 was a good idea and hoped it meant a rate rise of 3.5 per cent would not go ahead. "A strong administration will sort this out so we can actually run the business of council in such a way that you don't need to charge anymore for rates," he said. Mr Costa called outgoing mayor Darryn Lyons a "colourful character" who "probably operated a little differently to the average person".

Former mayor Keith Fagg, who was also yet to read the report, said the sacking was "disappointing" for Geelong. "But from now we can only look to the future," he said. Cr Lyons did not answer phone calls from Fairfax Media on Monday night. Councillor Jan Farrell said she had no comment. The local government sector railed against the sacking. The Victorian Local Governance Association's president, Sebastian Klein, said the proposed sacking "made an absolute mockery of due process".
Two men created and sold fake paintings by famous Australian artist Brett Whiteley for more than $3.6 million, a court has heard.

Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher, when outlining the Crown case to the jury on Monday against art dealer Peter Gant and fine art restorer Mohamed Aman Siddique, said the pair had allegedly been involved in a joint criminal enterprise.

Blue Lavender Bay was sold for $2.5 million to Sydney Swans chairman Andrew Pridham in 2007.

Justice Croucher said Mr Siddique was accused of creating three paintings - Blue Lavender Bay, Orange Lavender Bay and Through the Window - in the style of Brett Whiteley, who died in 1992.

The judge said the Crown claimed Mr Gant then passed the artworks off to unsuspecting buyers as original 1988 Brett Whiteley paintings.
The married lover of a man accused of murdering his parents at the family farm near Wangaratta has told how he confessed to the killings the next day over a beer at a Geelong pub.

Jacinta Emselle told the Supreme Court on Monday that Ian Thomas had a strange smirk on his face and appeared to be extremely calm and cold when she met him at the Cremorne hotel.

Ian Thomas arriving at the Supreme Court. Credit:Joe Armao

Ms Emselle said Mr Thomas was sitting in the pub drinking a beer and reading the paper when he told her, "Let's just say my parents are no longer with us".

She claimed that after telling Mr Thomas he had to be joking, he just smiled.
One side of the page asked students whether they believed in sex before marriage and what tips they would give a friend who was thinking of losing their virginity.

The controversy unfolded on the last day of term one at St Francis Xavier College in Berwick, where year 9 students were called into the hall and told they could not leave until they had thrown a page of the textbook in the bin.

A Melbourne Catholic school has censored a health workbook, ordering students to destroy a page referring to premarital sex and homosexuality.

It also asked students when they thought it was appropriate to start having sex.

It included a photo of two men hugging and smiling, and listed different sexual preferences including heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality and asexuality.

"While categories help in discussing sexual identity, research suggests that sexuality occurs on a continuum and can be fluid for many people," the textbook said.

It also posed a number of questions about sexual relationships including "how much physical contact will I have?", "will I have sexual intercourse?" and "will I use protection?".
Mystery surrounds the dumping of farm animals inside a horse float outside a Fremantle school on Sunday night.

Police were called to the float left outside a car park of the Fremantle Primary School on Stevens Street at 12.30am and found three sheep, ducks, geese and rabbits.

Animals were dumped in a horse float outside a Fremantle school. Credit:ABC News Perth

Police said the animals appeared to have been abandoned without food or water.

The RSPCA is investigating.
Staff at Perth Zoo are mourning the loss of African lion Nelson, after the 13-year-old succumbed to pneumonia.

Nelson was born in the UK and arrived in Perth, along with his litter brother Mandela, in 2007.

Popular Perth Zoo lion, Nelson, has died after contracting a serious infection. Credit:Derek Smith

Nelson had been treated for pneumonia since January, but deteriorated in recent days, with further tests revealing an aggressive renal abscess, Perth Zoo said in a statement.

"Nelson was showing signs of a serious infection, and his prognosis for recovery was poor. Sadly, the difficult decision was made to end his suffering," the statement read.
"Obama's failure to acknowledge the hand-in-glove relationship between his policy proposal and the politics of selling a healthcare overhaul to the country, cost his party both chambers of Congress and more than 900 state legislative seats " A demonstrator in support of US President Barack Obama's healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, after the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to save Obamacare tax subsidies in 2015. Credit:Bloomberg With Obama's end in sight, there's a madness in the mistakes lists  the Campaign for Working Families still touts its 100 Mistakes, Misstatements and Missteps in Obama's First 100 days. A Huffpost Politics blogger showed remarkable restraint at the end of last year, by confining himself to Obama's 2 Mistakes That Lost the Country and left-leaning publication Alternet.org addressed just The 10 Obama Policies and Failures That Make Us Angry. But it's the strategic failure in the attempt to sell Obamacare that will inform history's judgment of this President, particularly in foreign policy  a lot of good ideas that were misunderstood because they were badly sold. And as the world awaits a new US presidency, anxiety will rise and fall according to signals from the Republican and Democrat candidates on any departures from eight years of foreign policy that will be bundled up as The Obama Doctrine. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in 2011.

They'll be watchful in the Middle East and in Ukraine, where projections of US power and strength are essential in regional power dynamics; in Australia too  where a small army of armchair generals pines for the sight of some modern-day MacArthur sailing into the South China Sea for a bit of biffo with the Chinese. Harvard professor in international relations Stephen Walt ticks off Obama successes  an improving US image in the world; well managed relations with China, despite the US "pivot to Asia"; conclusion of and management to date of the Iran nuclear deal; the thaw with Cuba; and advances on nuclear security and climate change. But, writing in Foreign Policy, Walt then smacks Obama down for "a sizeable number of depressing failures". Afghanistan: Obama agonised in his first year, before agreeing to send 60,000 extra troops in a surge that was to be "temporary" and would turn the Taliban tide  but today the Taliban controls more territory than at any time since the US invasion in 2001. Obama was warned the policy would fail  and it did.

Israel-Palestine: Obama was well-intentioned, [did someone say naive?], but all he got was serial humiliations  Israeli settlements expanded, Gaza kept getting pummeled; moderate Palestinians were discredited; Hamas grew stronger; and the two-state solution that, nominally at least, was the policy keystone of the Clinton, Bush and Obama White Houses, now is dead.

Arab Spring: Not successful. Obama helped to push Hosni Mubarak out in Cairo and backed the new elected government of Mohamed Morsi, but then turned a blind eye when a military coup installed General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the region's newest thuggish dictator which, pretty well, was the end of the campaign for change in a region in desperate need of reform.

Russia: Low marks here too  Washington's mistake was in openly siding with demonstrators seeking to oust Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych without considering how Russia might respond to such a blatant intervention in its sphere of influence. Walt writes: "It pains me to say so, but the Middle East will be in even worse shape when [Obama] leaves office than it was when he arrived. The US is not solely responsible for this unfortunate trend, but our repeated meddling sowed additional chaos and alienated both friends and foes alike."

And in this Walt returns to that failure of politics, more than policy that underpinned the President's Obamacare venture. Writing about Obama's belief that the Middle East is of declining importance to the US and that Asia is rising, he says: "But Obama never shared his overarching vision with the rest of us, and he never openly stated that some parts of the world lay outside the sphere of vital US interests and were therefore not worth sending Americans to fight and die for. "Instead of laying out a hierarchy of interests and explaining the logic behind his thinking, Obama's public utterances mostly echoed and reinforced the familiar tropes of US liberal hegemony." And for all that, for Obama to fix on the failure to nurture or install stability in post-Gaddafi Libya has a certain Obamian logic. It is the professor in the President talking here  after the shocking repercussions for Washington in the bungled invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which were instigated by Obama's predecessor in office; it was incredibly daft to go into Libya without the kind of day-after plan that Obama had berated the Beagle Boys gang in the Bush White House, for not devising ahead of invading.
CTV News reported on Sunday that there were an additional 28 suicide attempts last month in the remote northern community of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario.

The remains of a Canadian flag fly over a building in Attawapiskat, a community plagued by suicides in Canada. Credit:The Canadian Press/AP

Toronto: A Canadian aboriginal community of 2000 people has declared a state of emergency after 11 members tried to take their own lives on Saturday night.

More than 100 people in the community had attempted suicide since last September, and one person had died, CTV reported.

A fire burns to thaw the frozen ground so a grave can be dug for one of the mass shooting victims in La Loche, Saskatchewan, in January. Credit:AP

Charlie Angus, the local member of parliament, told The Canadian Press it was part of a "rolling nightmare" of more and more suicide attempts among young people throughout the winter.

The Canadian Press said the regional First Nations government was sending a crisis response unit to the community.

Federal agency Health Canada said it had sent two mental health counsellors as part of that unit.
A plane ended up making an unscheduled landing after a passenger became "agitated" over a lack of cheese and crackers.

The transatlantic flight was en route from Rome to Chicago when the captain made the decision to touch down in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

A lack of cheese and crackers made a United Airlines passenger snap, court told. Credit:AFR

The head flight attendant on the United Airlines Boeing 777 claimed passenger Jeremiah Mathis Thede had become increasingly agitated after not being given a snack, chasing one staff member down the aisle and threatening a fellow passenger.

Irish broadcaster RTE reported how Sheila Wire, who has 43 years' service with United Airlines, was the first witness called as Thede's trial began at Antrim Crown Court in Ireland.
Tensions have been rising at migrant camps and gathering places across Greece, where more than 52,000 migrants are trapped after Balkan countries closed their borders two months ago to stem a growing flood of asylum seekers. More than 1 million migrants entered Europe last year, prompting European politicians to radically shift their immigration policy in a bid to shut the doors to large numbers of newcomers.

Greek television showed migrants running from clouds of tear gas and falling to the ground as the wind blew toxic fumes into the encampment, where more than 12,000 people, mostly women and children, have been stuck for more than a month amid hopes that the border would reopen.

Athens: Macedonian police used tear gas and rubber bullets Sunday to disperse hundreds of migrants who tried to break through a border fence in a large refugee camp in the northern Greek town of Idomeni, the latest in a series of increasingly frequent uprisings by migrants stuck in Greece after countries sealed the main route they had been using to get to Germany.

A migrant carries his daughter during a protest at the northern Greek border town of Idomeni, on Sunday. Credit:AP

Since an European Union deal with Turkey to stem Europe's migrant crisis went into effect on March 20, requiring mass deportations of migrants who arrived from Turkey after that date, tensions have intensified. At camps on Greek islands, deportations of migrants who crossed illegally from Turkey after the March 20 deadline began last week, setting off a wave of anxiety among migrants who fear they may be among those facing a return to Turkey or, at least, stuck in Greece for the foreseeable future.

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday in a trip aimed at highlighting the plight of migrants and offering a gesture of solidarity to those in a "difficult, dramatic situation," the Vatican announced last week.

The clashes in Idomeni, which follow several confrontations there in the last month, come as members of the Greek far-right party Golden Dawn have begun marching in several areas around Greece where migrants are camped or massed at informal gathering points.

The group, whose main leaders were arrested in 2013 on charges of leading a criminal organisation, had been largely silent since the migrant crisis took hold. Yet in recent days its leaders, who had since been released from custody, said the party was planning numerous protests around the country against what they warn is the "Islamisation of Greece" by Muslim asylum seekers coming mainly from Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Bangkok: To help combat the carnage on Thailand's roads during this week's traditional Thai New Year holiday celebration, Thai authorities are going gory: Drink-drivers and repeat traffic offenders can be sent to work in hospital morgues to see the fruits of their irresponsibility.

Casual attitudes toward road safety give Thailand the second-worst record in the world for traffic fatalities, and health and safety experts fear the situation may be getting worse.

Tourists and Thai residents take part in a city-wide water fight during Thai New Year celebrations in Chiang Mai in 2014. Sometimes revellers get out of hand. Credit:Getty

Anurak Amornpetchsathaporn, director of the emergency response for the Bureau of Public Health, says a court-approved stint cleaning up and transporting bodies in hospital morgues should bring home the pain to reckless drivers in a way that community service such as tidying up parks has failed to do.

AP
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

Leading aggregator Vow Financial has appointed an ex- PLAN Australia BDM to manage its Queensland broker network.David Stewart has been appointed Vows new Queensland state manager. He has over 25 years experience in the finance industry with various roles across major banks, credit unions and aggregators.Most recently, he held the role of senior business development manager (QLD) with PLAN Australia for over four years.As an ex-broker himself, Vow general manager Leighton King says Stewart is an important addition to strengthen the aggregators Queensland diversification.David brings a great deal of experience to the network and is strongly committed to helping each broker drive business growth in their communities. Beyond working in financial services for many years, he ran his own mortgage broking business which helps him understands the needs and pressures our brokers face every day, King said.Queensland is a big focus area for Vow this year with room for greater penetration in the area. Working closely with David, we believe we can build up our Queensland network and continue to provide the current brokers the best support in the market.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

The landlord is declaring bankruptcy, but the tenants are declaring it moral bankruptcy.

The operators of an imperiled Williamsburg senior and day-care center say they were days from settling a years-long legal battle over the ownership of their building last Friday, when the landlord unexpectedly filed Chapter 11 papers  a blatant attempt to buy more time so he can sell to developer instead, the centers supporters claim.

They want to delay out of greed, to build condos, said Assemblyman Joe Lentol (DGreenpoint), who has been working with other local officials and activists to save the 42-year-old Swinging Sixties Senior Center and Small World Day Care on Ainslie Street.

The community groups that run the center have been trying to buy the building since late 2013, when the previous owner instead sold to property mogul Harry Einhorn, who then slapped the tenants with eviction notices that Christmas Eve.

It has since kept the ouster tied up in court  where it is arguing Einhorns purchase was a sham, because the previous owner had agreed to offer it and the city first dibs on any sale  while local pols worked to negotiate a way to buy it back.

And a Swinging Sixties supporter says the landlord seemed to be finally coming the table a few weeks ago, when the various parties met at City Hall and offered Einhorn $8.8 million for the building  almost twice the $4.5 million he paid for it.

But instead of an answer, he responded with the bankruptcy papers, which reject the city and community groups claim to the property and state that they are intended to establish ownership once and for all.

The bankruptcy also puts a stay on the case until it is resolved, which Swinging Sixties supporters claim is really a last-ditch effort to keep control of the building.

This is clearly a delaying tactic, said Jan Peterson, a member of the Conselyea Street Block Association, which operates the centers programs alongside housing advocacy group St. Nicks Alliance.

Einhorns lawyer did not return this papers requests for comment, but told Crains  which first reported on the bankruptcy  that the city has been bullying his client into selling a building that is really worth $14 million, and that he is being unfairly vilified over the previous landlords actions.

The community groups lawyers will now try to get the stay removed so the case can continue.

In the meantime, Lentol is also trying to force Einhorn to sell via eminent domain, on the grounds that the property was built with a substantial injection of taxpayer funds with the specific goal of serving the public, so the government has a responsibility to save it.

The state Senate rejected his first bill, and Gov. Cuomo vetoed his second, but Lentol says he will redraft the proposal again and try a third time.
latest news

October 3, 2022

Dee Gambit

Hundreds  if not thousands  of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month  your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ...
Journal supplement points out disparities among African-American, white smokers

Gary Giovino, professor and chair of community health and health behavior at UB, co-edited a special supplement to the April issue of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

That the decline has stalled in the last 22 years is, to me, very sad news. I think it's about the industry working really hard to keep this market. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  The percentage of African-American high school seniors who smoke has changed very little over the past two decades. In fact, the percentages in 2014 and 1992 are statistically the same.

Thats among the findings presented in a supplement to the April issue of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Smoking among African-American high schoolers had been on a downward trend before stagnating in 1992, when 8.7 percent of African-American high school seniors smoked; the figure in 2014 was 9 percent.

That the decline has stalled in the last 22 years is, to me, very sad news. I think its about the industry working really hard to keep this market, said Gary A. Giovino, a University at Buffalo professor of community health and health behavior who served as co-editor of the supplement with Phillip Gardiner of the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, University of California Office of the President.

Bridgette E. Garrett, associate director for health equity, and Italia V. Rolle, lead epidemiologist, from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Office on Smoking and Health, which sponsored this special supplement, also contributed to the editorial process.

Giovino previously served as guest editor for an issue of the journal Preventive Medicine, and contributed to the Surgeon Generals 1998 report on tobacco use among racial and ethnic minority groups.

The supplement  titled Critical Examination of Factors Related to the Smoking Trajectory among African-American Youth and Young Adults  also presents new findings on smoking among African-American inmates.

We always knew that could be an issue, but this is the first time weve ever had data on it, said Giovino, PhD, MS, who also chairs the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior in UBs School of Public Health and Health Professions.

The major surveys that measure tobacco use are not distributed in prisons.

When you factor in the number of African-American inmates, the smoking prevalence estimate for adults goes up by one percentage point  not one percent, but one percentage point, which is a big deal, said Giovino, who previously worked for the Office on Smoking and Health at the CDC.

Papers in the supplement also address these issues:

African-American adult smokers are less likely than white smokers to quit as they get older.

African-Americans who started smoking as young adults are less likely to quit than African-Americans who started at younger ages, and are less likely to quit than whites in general.

African-American young adults are more likely to take up smoking than white young adults, but they still smoke at lower rates than white young adults because their rates of smoking as adolescents were so much lower than among whites.

African-American teens are less likely than their white peers to begin smoking as adolescents in part because of protective factors such as parental opposition and differential price sensitivity. African-American youth appear to be more responsive to price increases than whites.

Among African-Americans, smoking deaths occur at the same rate among those who started smoking early and those who began when they were older. However, in whites, those who take up smoking later in life experience lower mortality than those who started earlier.

The findings point to the need for better efforts to prevent African-Americans from taking up smoking at an older age.

Even though African-Americans start smoking later in life, they still die disproportionately from tobacco related diseases compared to their white counterparts, said Gardiner. This information has been known for some time and calls upon all of us to redouble our efforts to allocate greater resources for prevention and cessation in the African-American community.

Giovino and Gardiner co-authored a commentary in the supplement that, among other points, outlines a need for the FDA to ban menthol cigarettes, which are favored by blacks and marketed more heavily in African-American neighborhoods.

The predatory marketing of menthol and other candy flavored tobacco products to African-Americans over the past 50 years is a tragedy, adds Gardiner. More than 80 percent of black smokers use these products. A major step in fighting smoking health disparities would be for the FDA to ban the use of menthol in tobacco products.

The supplement includes a literature review on smoking cessation among African-American and white smokers authored by Jessica A. Kulak, MPH, MS, a PhD student in UBs Department of Community Health and Health Behavior.
African film expert to discuss the work of the Father of African cinema

I think the issues that Sembene addresses are issues that were facing now when we look at Africa and other parts of the world.

BUFFALO, N.Y.  Francoise Pfaff, a Fulbright scholar and pioneer of African American film studies, will visit the University at Buffalo at 2 p.m. on April 19 to discuss the life and career of Ousmane Sembene (1932-2007), the writer and film director who the Los Angeles Times called, the father of African cinema.

Her talk, Maids, Wives and Women Warriors: Gender relations in the works of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, in 107 Capen Hall on the universitys North Campus, is free and open to the public. A reception will immediately follow at 4:30 p.m.

The lecture will include clips and film stills from Sembenes most influential works.

Sembene uses forceful portrayals of African women to challenge patriarchy at both the domestic and national levels, says Pfaff. He stresses the resourcefulness and resilience of African women, as well as their activism as agents for social change.

Pfaff, a professor emerita at Howard University is the author of three books on African cinema and is the recipient of several awards for her achievements as a teacher, translator, lecturer and writer.

Sembenes success opened doors and paved the way for generations of independent cineastes from Africa and the Black Diaspora, she says.

Today, in fact, the Nigerian film industry, often referred to as Nollywood, is the second largest film industry by volume in the world (ahead of Hollywood and behind Bollywood), according to Fortune Magazine.

Pfaff met Sembene in the late 1970s when he visited Howard University. She soon started to incorporate his novels and films into her courses and later received a grant to conduct research in Senegal. Her interviews there with Sembene resulted in the book, The Cinema of Ousmane Sembene: A Pioneer of African Cinema (1984), the first about an African filmmaker written in English.

I enjoy using his didactic approach to film as a pedagogical tool, and my students consistently develop a more realistic perception of the continent, says Pfaff.

Sembenes career began as a novelist, but he turned to cinema not long after writing his 1960 masterpiece, Gods Bits of Wood.

Already established as one of Africas greatest writers, Sembenes film work sprang from Senegals independence era. His filmography, beginning in 1963, touches five decades and has been noted for an authenticity that helped dismantle Western screen portrayals of Africans.

African cinema has presented multifaceted views  by Africans, on Africa  that are in sharp contrast to stereotypical, monolithic, otherizing Hollywood and European depictions, says Pfaff.

I create to talk to my people, my country, Sembene told Londons Guardian newspaper in 2005. The priority is that my people can understand me. Africa needs to see its own reflection. A society progresses by asking questions of itself, so I want to be an artist who questions his people.

Prior to 1960, French colonial authorities prohibited Africans from making their own movies. Sembenes entry into the medium was a personal artistic shift that took him from page to screen, while simultaneously creating the African film industry.

He was committed to social justice, says Lillian S. Williams, associate professor in UBs Department of Transnational Studies, who established the endowed lectureship, now in its second year, in the former Department of African American Studies, now a program within the Department of Transnational Studies.

I think the issues that Sembene addresses are issues that were facing now when we look at Africa and other parts of the world.

It was Pfaffs scholarship that helped place African film in context and brought the work of noted filmmakers, including Sembene, into a wider public view, according to Williams, who was a Howard faculty member with Pfaff in the mid-1980s before coming to UB.

Sembenes films help us to better understand a culture, says Williams.

Its a body of work that Pfaff says uses a blend of art and politics.

Rather than purvey Utopian dreams about the continent, his works project cinema as a night school to present a wide range of real cultural, political and economic issues that have affected his country and other African nations, she says.

Sembene is also the subject of recent film work.

The documentary Sembene!, co-directed by Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman, premiered last year at the Sundance Film Festival and also played at the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.
H+H UK has announced the appointment of Calum Forsyth as managing director. He will succeed Mark Oliver who leaves the company after being at the helm for over eight years.

Mr Forsyth, who was most recently chief executive officer at IAC Acoustics, and previously group managing director for the Wavin Groups South West Europe operations, will lead H+Hs business in the UK from 1 May, 2016. He will also be a member of the H+H Group sales and marketing management team actively participating in improving processes and performance.

Mr Forsyth brings with him 25 years of experience in the construction sector in the UK and Europe. Commenting on his new role, he said: I am excited to be joining H+H to build on the strong legacy that the H+H management team have created under Marks leadership.

The business has been through a major turnaround to become the clear market leader and a very successful business. Through my experience I believe I can bring further value to H+H UK and build on its success.

Michael Andersen, group chief executive officer, added: We welcome Calum to the H+H Group to lead our UK business into its next phase of development, which will include upgrading our Borough Green plant to make it the most advanced aircrete facility in the UK. With the countrys homebuilding sector continuing to grow, this is an exciting time for H+H.
5 changes to you, your seafood and the Shore from warming Atlantic

The warming Atlantic is beginning to cause a unique set of changes for fishermen, albeit subtly. They have to adjust to catch new kinds of sea life.
The cumulative worldwide sales of Suzuki Motor Corporation's compact car Swift crossed five million units this month, 11 years and five months after the launch of its world strategic model.

Since its launch in 2004, the Swift has brought innovative changes to Suzuki's car-making, earning high appraisal for its sporty, stylish, and fun to drive character. The Swift has won Suzuki various car of the year awards in Japan and in other countries. The Swift is currently produced in seven countries worldwide including in India and Japan. Launched here in 2005, the Swift steadily increased its sales in line with the market expansion due to economic growth, and with the addition of diesel variants and sedans. The Swift accounts for about 30 percent (430,000 units) of the annual sales of Suzuki in India.

India accounts for 54% of the total 5 million Swifts sold worldwide, while Europe makes up 17% of the market and Japan 10%. Maruti Suzuki has sold 2.7 million Swift and Swift DZires in India so far. It is also the only car brand in India that has swept Car of the Year Awards, twice over, once when it was launched (2005) and again when the full model change was introduced in 2011. In its latest avatar, launched in October 2014, Swift Diesel saw a 10 per cent increase in fuel efficiency while Swift Petrol improved by 9.6 per cent. Swift DZire, launched in 2008, is India's best-selling sedan for the last three years. It has been a category leader since launch and has helped Maruti Suzuki strengthen its presence in the entry sedan segment.

Like Swift, Swift DZire is popular for its sporty, contemporary styling, performance, superior comfort and convenience features. Swift DZire (Diesel) delivers a mileage of 26.59 Km/l.

Source : BS Motoring
French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen, which has unveiled its Push to Pass growth strategy for 2016-2021, plans to enter into a partnership deal in India in two years and launch a product by 2021. The French automaker aims to meet customers mobility needs, under its new plan, by anticipating changes in car usage patterns. Driven by evolving customer expectations, the plan will transform the company in order to unleash its full potential, capitalising also on the efficiency, operational excellence and agility demonstrated during the "Back in the Race" plan. Based on our financial reconstruction, we will launch a global product and technology offensive, said Carlos Tavares, chairman of the managing board. Now more agile, we are ready to shift paradigms by anticipating changes in car usage patterns. Our digital transformation will make the PSA Group a company connected to its customers. With Push to Pass, we will ensure PSA profitable organic growth. Tavares said the group plans to launch 17 products globally by 2021. The French auto major was the first international company to have entered India after the opening up of the economy in the early 1990s. However, its partnership with Premier Automobiles  which saw the local production of its 309 sedan  soured following labour problems. Peugeot shut down its India operations in 1997. Over the past few years, it made yet another attempt to enter India, but failed to do so.

Source : BS Motoring
Tourists had a harrowing time in Goa on Monday, as the powerful taxi operators lobby went on a strike, demanding a ban on rent-a-cab firms. Thousands of tourists were stranded at the Dabolim airport and at railway stations and bus stands across the state in the absence of taxis and auto-rickshaws. The entrenched taxi operators lobby in Goa has for years resisted any efforts at regulation and tourists often complain of having been forced to pay extortionate rates for even short distances. Attempts by fleet operators and radio cab services in the past were stonewalled by the taxi operators unions. Even taxi-hailing firms like Uber and Ola face problems in introducing services in the state. The state government threatened the operators that they would take action against them under the Essential Service Management Act, but the unions have defied the authorities. Goas economy is heavily dependent on the tourist traffic. While the inflow of foreign tourists has trickled down with the onset of the summer months, April and May see a large number of domestic tourists visiting the state.

Source : BS Motoring
Harsh Mathur, 13-year-old, was grinning from ear to ear as he manoeuvred his model aircraft through the obstacles successfully. A seventh standard student, he has already beaten 33 teams from premier institutes to be in the finals of the National Aeromodelling Competition.

wants to identify and support training of hundreds of talented youngsters like Harsh to fuel its growth in India. The American giant is organising this competition in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) to promote interest in aviation design and technology. As aerospace becomes a sunrise sector in India, is looking to invest in developing skills.

It is developing relationship with academic institutes and governments skills training initiatives to develop talent supply chain. If you want to create a globally competitive aerospace industry in India, you need skilled workers. At present, there is a deficiency of talent as aviation is relatively new industry in



India. We have to make frontline teams ready, said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India.

Recently, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had accepted there was a mismatch between the skills in demand and the talent available.

One step that the company is taking is to develop a strong partnership with IITs. The best way is to energise young people. It is about getting them interested in aerospace. Even by flying such a small plane, they understand aerodynamics, fluid mechanics and programming. All this leads to skill building, Kumar said. Boeing will start hiring from campuses in near future as it looks to double its strength in India by 2020.

Beside this, the manufacturer of jetliners is looking to expand its collaboration with the governments Skill India scheme. We have recently tied up with Tata Advanced Materials and Nettur Technical Training Foundation for a skill development programme. The first batch that graduated has been working on F-18 and F-15 jets, as well as Chinook and Apache helicopters. Such things build credibility of Indian supply chain, Kumar added.

According to P V M Rao, coordinator of IIT-Delhis innovation centre, this is win-win proposition for both industry and academia. Earlier, IIT-Delhi had an aeromodelling club and it used to be a hobby. Now, credits are given to students for their performance. Such initiatives help in building relationships. In future, we will ask Boeing to partner with our projects, he said.
Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Monday that the government would not allow seed companies such as US biotechnology major Monsanto to exploit Indian farmers. The government would continue to regulate seed prices in the interest of growers, he added.

The ministers comments sparked off a sell in Monsanto India shares in the stock markets and the scrip closed at Rs 1,571.50 a share, down 2.61 per cent from the previous close.

Mahyco Monsanto Biotech Ltd (MMBL) is a joint venture between Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co. Ltd and Monsanto Holdings Pvt Ltd. It licenses seed technology to companies, which, in turn, market their hybrid seeds.

The Centre had in December 2015 issued an order to control cotton seed prices, including trait or royalty value, effective from 2016-17 crop year (July-June). Last month, the government for the first time fixed a uniform price of Rs 800 a packet for Bt cotton seed, including a small royalty of Rs 49  a move that will benefit farmers, but hit the Indian business of Monsanto. Monsanto is a good company but you cannot loot farmers and charge arbitrarily. Be it seed or pharma, we will continue to regulate prices, Singh said, while addressing a two-day kharif conference here on Monday.

Last month, Monsanto had warned it would re-evaluate its presence in India and hold back new technology if the government cuts trait fee of Bt cotton seeds. MMBL challenged the governments seed control order in the Delhi High Court in December. MMBL has sub-licenced Bt cotton seed technology since 2002 to various domestic seed companies.

Farmers bought Bt cotton seeds in the price range of Rs 830-1,000 per packet (450 gram) across the country in the 2015-16 season. Meanwhile, fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India has also launched a probe against MMBL for its alleged abuse of market dominance.
Top hotel chains are waking up to the competition from online travel portals as more travellers move to online booking.

Online travel agencies or OTAs like MakeMyTrip and Yatra usually charge a 10-12 per cent commission from hotels on every accommodation booked.

We want more online bookings to come through our own channels, where the cost is lower. We are spending money to ramp up the associated technologies. Pricing is never a challenge. We guarantee the best price if one books directly with us, said Chinmai Sharma, chief revenue officer at Taj Hotels.

The 113-year Taj Hotels (pictured), run by Indian Hotels, recently launched its own mobile booking website. The firm is also working on introducing an app.

The hotel chain with revenues of Rs 2,000 crore in 2014-15 receives approximately 25 per cent of its bookings online. The bulk of that is routed through OTAs.

Kapil Chopra, president at the Oberoi Group of Hotels, said the company would make direct bookings attractive through privilege points and complimentary wi-fi. Our direct online booking is growing faster and we are now working to roll out an app as well, he said.

The share of online hotel bookings in the country is estimated to have more than doubled to 15 per cent in 2015 from a mere six per cent in 2014. Experts see this growing to 40-50 per cent in three years.

Two leading domestic online travel portals, MakeMyTrip and Ibibo, have raised a sizeable $430 million ($250 million by Ibibo and $180 million by MakeMyTrip) in the last quarter. The lions share of the money will be spent on strengthening technology.

These companies also offer steep discounts, a regular feature in the online travel space. At the same time, investments are taking place in improving the mobile platform and apps to offer greater convenience.

Since hotel rooms are a perishable commodity with a seasonality element, OTAs become important. However, the most efficient in terms of bottom line is our own channel, said Raj Rana, chief executive officer (South Asia) at Carlson Rezidor, which operates hotels under brands like Radisson and Park Plaza.

Since the market is fragmented, you need a platform for customers with various options, said Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and chief executive officer at online travel portal Yatra.
National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) will constitute a joint task force for the proposed smelter cum gas based power plant at Chabahar free trade zone.

The task force to consist of senior project executives of Nalco, Iranian Aluminium Company (IRALCO) and officials from Iran's industries ministry, is expected to submit its report in three months.

"The project would help to use low cost energy available in Iran for conversion of its alumina, presently exported to international markets, to aluminium. The aluminium products from the joint venture company are expected to be highly cost competitive combining the advantages of low cost alumina and low cost Iranian energy", said TK Chand, chairman cum managing director, . Read more from our special coverage on "NALCO" Nalco share buyback delayed to 2016-17

Nalco to invest Rs 900 crore in Kakrapar Atomic Power plant

Hindalco, Nalco to get price hike room after customs duty hike by government

Chand is in Iran as part of the Indian business delegation, led by Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas.

During this visit, Chand held discussions with deputy minister of industry, Iran government, chairman of IMIDRO and top officials of the Iran government and other aluminium .

Based on the report submitted by the task force, the ownership pattern, project financing, long-term supply of gas and other aspects of the proposed smelter project would be decided. A team from IMIDRO is likely to visit Nalco shortly.

Nalco is exploring possibilities to set up a greenfield smelter at a location where energy is available at competitive price. Nalco has shortlisted Iran, Indonesia and Oman as possible locations for the overseas smelter.
The Vedanta groups oil production dropped only four per cent in 2015-16 while its power sales increased 23 per cent.

The average gross production in 2015-16 was 203,703 boepd (barrels of oil equivalent per day), four per cent lower than FY15 on account of lower production from Rajasthan and offshore assets, Vedanta informed stock exchanges on Monday. The Rajasthan production declined three per cent owing to reservoir underperformance at Bhagyam.

However, the group said an excellent performance by Mangala enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and contribution from Aishwariya infill programme partly made up for the decline.

Our Mangala EOR project is on track and producing results as per expectations. Prudent reservoir management practices helped us reduce the impact of natural decline in our offshore assets, it added.

Gas production from the Raageshwari Deep Gas field in Rajasthan raised to an average rate of 27 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mscfd) in 2015-16 from 16 mscfd in 2014-15, surpassing the companys guidance of 25 mscfd for 2015-16.

The company is reviewing the carrying value of its assets and long-term price assumptions in light of the recent weakness in commodity prices, primarily at oil & gas assets.

Owing to the increase in capacity at Talwandi Sabo Power Limited and Bharat Aluminum, the companys total power sales increased to 12,121 million units in 2015-16 from 9,859 million units in 2014-15. Vedantas production of saleable iron ore increased eight times in 2015-16 to 5.2 million tonnes (mt). Production was only 0.6 mt in 2014-15.

The Budget for FY17 had announced the removal of the export duty on low-grade grade iron ore (from 10 per cent earlier). We are engaged with the respective state governments for enhancing mining cap in Goa and Karnataka, the company said.

Vedantas aluminum production in 2015-16 rose by five per cent to 0.92 mt. Similarly, copper cathode production was up six per cent to 0.38 mt in 2015-16.
Tata Steel, the country's largest steel producer, has sold its 4.5-million-tonne long product Scunthorpe steel plant to UK-based investment firm Greybull Capital.

"The signing of the deal has taken place at about 11 am London time today and we trade unions welcome this news," Harish Patel, national officer (metals and foundary) of Unite told Business Standard today.

The unit has 4,500 direct employees and about 16,000 indirect employees, informed Harish.

Tata Steel was earlier in talks with the Klesh Group for the sale of this unit. However, the deal did not go through after almost a year's of due diligence carried out by the German company.

"The UK government has lent full support to this sale and has also offered Greybull with guarantee loans. However, the company has responded to the government saying that as of now, it does not need these loans and can manage without this additional support," informed Patel.

This long-product division of Tata Steel is a profitable one without the two small units of Scotland which were recently taken over by the Scotland-government. This plant makes rail tracks for the railways in UK and its products finds wide applications in the construction segment mainly bridges, towers and highways.

Apart this unit, Tata Steel has also put its 10 million tonne UK-business for sale as it intends to lower its cash drain which has been eating up into its margins significantly for quite some time now.
Tata Steel, the countrys largest steel producer, has signed an agreement to sell the loss-making 4.5-million tonne (mt) long-product Scunthorpe steel plant in Britain to UK-based investment firm Greybull Capital for a nominal consideration, with the latter taking assets and relevant liabilities.

The deal is expected to be completed within eight weeks, subject to certain conditions being met, including transfer of contracts, certain government approvals and the satisfactory completion of financing arrangements, Tata Steel and Greybull Capital said in separate statements.

As part of the deal, Greybull is arranging 400 million investment and financing package for its new business and will approach banks and shareholders to fund this working capital and future investments at the plant, it said.

ALSO READ: UK Fraud Office probes Tata Steel

To be renamed British Steel, the plant will continue to be run by the existing management and implement the plan they have drawn up to return the company to profitability, Greybull said.

As agreement to reset the cost base of the business has been reached with key suppliers and importantly, trade unions, we believe these vital changes will make British Steel competitive, said the company.

Meanwhile, the search for a permanent chief executive officer (CEO) has started and an appointment will be made in due course, said Greybull.

The plant employs 4,800 people with about 4,400 in the UK and the rest in France.

The signing of the deal has taken place at about 11 am London time and we trade unions welcome this news, Harish Patel, national officer (metals and foundary) of Unite told Business Standard.

The long-product division makes rail tracks and its products find wide application in the construction segment mainly in the making of bridges, towers and highways.

Brokerages said the move is positive for Tata Steel as it would arrest the cash burn via capex and eliminate Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and ammortisation) loss from its unit in its books.

The cash burn will surely reduce but what liability will get transferred to Greybull remains to be seen. The Ebitda loss and capex will be off Tata Steel's books," said Abhisar Jain, senior analyst with Centrum Brokerage.

Tata Steel officials were not immediately available for comment. Calls made to the company went unanswered.

Pension liability is one of the biggest issues at the the companys European operations and Tata Steel has given no clarity on the same even in its release.

Given the losses this plant was making, selling the unit for a nominal amount could mean an amount as small as 25-50 million, said an analyst with a local brokerage on condition of anonymity.

Apart from the Scunthorpe steel plant, Tata Steel has also put its 5.5 mt (excluding Scunthorpe steel plant) UK-business for sale as it intends to lower its cash drain, which has been eating into its margins significantly.

Separately, the company has revealed the appointment of advisors for the sale process of its UK business. It has engaged the services of KPMG for the sale process of Tata Steel UK, while Slaughter and May will be legal advisors, it said.

It is the intention of Tata Steel Europe to run a thorough, but expedited sale process by reaching out to a wide universe of potential investors globally. The formal process began on Monday with the despatch of the Summary Information Memorandum to potential investors, it said.

KPMG and Slaughter and May had also advised Tata Steel UK on the successful divestment process of Longs Steel UK, a subsidiary.

With Tata Steel's European operations getting sold-off part by part, what would remain with the company is the 6.5-7 mt of Netherlands operations which is currently Ebitda positive for the company. Clearly, Tata Steel's dream to be among the top producers in the world is in shambles. Its acquisition of Corus in 2007 had positioned it as the fifth largest steel producer in the world, making it the largest acquisition by an Indian company and second largest in the industry after Mittal Steel's acquisition of Arcelor. The $12 billion acquisition had taken Tata Steel's total capacity to 23 mt from about seven mt.

The UK government may decide to co-invest with a buyer to help save jobs at Tata Steel's loss-making Port Talbot steelworks in Wales, UK business secretary Sajid Javid said on Monday.

"I've been in contact with potential buyers, making clear that the government stands ready to help. This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms," Javid told the House of Commons.

TATA STEEL UK LONG-PRODUCT DIVISION
In a setback to mining mogul Anil Agarwal, the government on Monday said he can merge subsidiary Cairn India with his flagship firm Vedanta Ltd only after paying for the shares the Income Tax Department has attached following the Rs 10,247-crore tax dispute. A top government official said the merger can go ahead if the 9.8 per cent shareholding of Cairn Energy attached by the income tax (I-T) department is paid for or an equivalent bank guarantee is furnished or approval is given for issue of fresh shares.

Vedanta Group had in 2011 acquired Cairn India from its British promoters, Cairn Energy Plc, and last year proposed to merge the cash-rich firm with BSE-listed Vedanta Ltd. However, a tax demand on both Cairn Energy Plc and Cairn India under a retrospective legislation is now posing as a hurdle to the merger. Clarifying on the issue, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said, The only constraint in this case could be that the shares of Cairn Energy in Cairn India cannot be alienated without the permission of the Government of India... However, the merger can take place subject to the law of land once this issue of attachment is resolved. Under the Section 281 of the I-T Act, you cannot dispose of shares without permission of the Tax Department.

Read more from our special coverage on "VEDANTA-CAIRN MERGER" Vedanta-Cairn merger could be a test of minority shareholders strength

The I-T Department, using the retrospective tax legislation, had issued a Rs 10,247-crore tax notice to Cairn Energy in January 2014. In February this year, the department issued a final assessment order seeking over Rs 29,000 crore in tax from Cairn Energy, including Rs 18,800 crore in interest.

In an emailed response to Business Standard, a Vedanta spokesperson said, We have spoken to the revenue secretary and he has clarified that the government is not against merger. This is a commercial matter. The government said it does not want to come in the way of business and there is no such proposal not to allow merger of Cairn India with Vedanta Limited. Government is concerned with protecting share of Cairn Energy Plc, which is attached currently.



In a statement issued last month, Cairn Plc made it clear that any tax recovery by the Indian government would be limited to about Rs 3,216 crore ($477.5 million) assets of its subsidiary Cairn UK Holdings Ltd (CUHL). The company had said it strongly contested the attempt to retrospectively tax the group for an internal restructuring. The total assets of CUHL have a current value of $477.5 million (comprising principally the groups 9.8 per cent shareholding in Cairn India) and any recovery by the Indian authorities would be limited to such assets, it stated.

The Union finance ministry issued a tax notice to Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy Plc for additional Rs 18,800 crore interest to be paid against Rs 10,200 crore tax demand made on the company two years back. The interest amount is 84 per cent higher than the original demand, almost doubling the tax liability.

CUHL, a direct subsidiary of Cairn Energy PLC, received the assessment order from the income tax department relating to the intra-group restructuring undertaken in 2006, prior to the initial public offer of Cairn India. The order was sent just days before the Union Budget cited a retrospective amendment to the tax law introduced in 2012 by the UPA government.

On whether the tax liability can have an impact on the merger since it is on the now minority shareholder, a senior tax lawyer said, It is absolutely absurd for the government to stop the merger due to tax liability issue. The merged entity  which would be situated in India only  would obviously have the liability and it can resolve the dispute later with the government as it deems fit.



Another lawyer, who handles mergers and acquisitions said, mergers need approval of the high court. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has an internal mechanism through which it asks the Income Tax Departments opinions too. So, the tax department may tell High Court (via MCA) that this merger is against the national interest as it would lead to tax evasion. That is one way to put a spanner in this merger.



The government has also been stopping mergers or acquisitions by telling the company that it would not provide further approvals or licenses for exploration etc. Company generally buckles under pressure, as it knows that the merged entity will face immense challenges from the government itself, said the lawyer.

Third way with the tax department is to file an impleadment application before the high court.

If such an application is accepted by the high court, then tax department would also become an interested party in the merger case between two . The tax departments arguments would also be heard. This method is not generally used by department, but who knows, in such matter which involves thousands of crores, the department may use this too, the lawyer added.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley offered dispute resolution to the company saying the scheme was subject to the concerned company agreeing to withdraw any pending case lying in any court or tribunal or any proceeding for arbitration, mediation etc. under bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements (BIPA). Cairn Plc has already initiated international arbitration proceedings under BIPA and has claimed full compensation for the $1 billion erosion in shareholder value, Simon Thomson, chief executive, Cairn Energy PLC said in his post-result statement. The company has alleged that the Indian government expropriated its property without adequate and just compensation, denied fair and equitable treatment in respect of its investments and restricted Cairns right to freely transfer funds in connection with its investment.

Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Group had acquired Cairn India from its British promoters, Cairn Energy Plc, in 2011. Last year, it announced Cairn Indias merger with BSE-listed Vedanta Ltd. It expects to complete the merger by June this year.
As India's telecom market consolidates and the next wave of growth shifts to data traffic, smaller players like Telenor India are looking at options like spectrum trading and mergers.

The company offers services in six circles and holds liberalised 1800 MHz spectrum that can be used to deploy any technology.

According to people in the know, Telenor is looking to increase its spectrum holdings through sharing. It is also in talks with state-run BSNL for an intra-circle roaming pact.

An exit option will be the last resort for a company that has invested $3 billion in India. When asked whether Telenor planned to exit India, a company spokesperson said, "We cannot comment on speculation."



In its fourth-quarter results presentation, Telenor Group Chief Executive Officer Sigve Brekke said, "The future of our Indian operation will depend on additional spectrum. There is an auction coming up and we look at that as an opportunity. If we cannot justify a return on spectrum prices, we will have to consider all other alternatives."



The government plans to conduct another round of spectrum auction in July-August. Operators, including Telenor, have expressed concern over the high reserve price for the 700 MHz band, which is considered good for 4G services.

Telenor is looking to launch 4G services within six months. Depending on the response to a pilot project in Varanasi launched recently, the company could launch 4G services in eight cities.

The 4G testing is being done in the 1.4 MHz band with a new technology called narrow band LTE. This is a short-term solution and the company will need more spectrum to deliver data services to its 52 million users.

Telenor India CEO Sharad Mehrotra had said in an interview to Business Standard in March the company was evaluating options to increase its presence in the mass market segment.

Telenor has positioned itself as a mass market player in the six circles it offers services in. It also holds a licence in Assam but is yet to launch services there.

Last October, it signed a deal with Huawei to make its network future ready. It is also the only telecom operator to offer compensation for dropped calls.

IN A NUTSHELL
Five people have been detailed in a firecracker accident case at the Paravur Puttingal temple in Kollam district, Kerala, in which at least 106 people were killed and 383 injured.A case has also been filed against the fireworks contractor, as the crime branch takes over the investigation.The explosion occurred as crackers and explosives kept in a storage house caught fire after a live cracker fell on the pile. The tremors of the loud explosion that followed were reportedly felt up to one-a-and-half km away. A large portion of the crackers were used before the explosion. Otherwise, more might have been killed.According to reports, Rs 8.4 lakh worth of crackers were ordered for a fireworks display at the temple, which is a competition between people from two areas in the region. The fireworks were in violation of the orders of the district authorities, reports said.The injured were taken to the Kollam district hospital, Thiruvananthapuram medical college, and other private hospitals.Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and other ministers rushed to the spot.

Later, after a special Cabinet meeting, Chandy announced a judicial probe under a retired judge as well as a Crime Branch investigation. He also announced Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia relief to the families of those killed, a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to those with serious injuries, and Rs 50,000 to those with minor injuries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the accident site along with Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, later met the injured in the hospitals. He announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia for the families of the dead and Rs 50,000 to the injured. The state government said it would take care of the treatment of those injured. The armed forces pitched in with helicopters, aircraft, ships and medical teams.

One team of the Disaster Response Force comprising 50 personnel including doctors, pharmacists and nursing staff have left for Kollam, said officials. A team of senior doctors and specialists with expertise in handling burn injuries from the All India Institute of Medical Science, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital have been flown in from Delhi, said Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, who also visited the injured in the hospitals. Businessman M A Yousuf Ali said he would provide Rs 1 lakh to families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
Two Indian students at a medical college in Ukraine were stabbed to death while another sustained injuries in the attack on Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday.

"I am sorry two Indian students Pranav Shandilya of Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh (Ghaziabad) were stabbed to death in Ukraine on April 10. Inderjeet Singh Chauhan (Agra) is recuperating in hospital," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted. She said based on the statement of Chauhan, the police have apprehended Ukraine nationals while they were trying to cross the Ukraine border.



I am sorry two Indian students Pranav Shandilya Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh (Ghaziabad) were stabbed to death in Ukraine on 10.4.2016./1  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 11, 2016

Inderjeet Singh Chauhan (Agra) is recuperating in hospital. /2  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 11, 2016

Read more from our special coverage on "UKRAINE" Two Indian medical students stabbed to death in Ukraine, 1 injured

Based on his statement, the police have apprehended Ukraine nationals while they were trying to cross the Ukraine border. /3  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 11, 2016

Our Embassy is in touch with authorities and monitoring the case. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families. We promise them all help./4  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 11, 2016

"Passports/documents of the Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered" from them, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. "Our Embassy is in touch with authorities and monitoring the case. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families. We promise them all help," the minister said.

The three, students of the Uzhgorod Medical College in Ukraine, were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 am on Sunday morning. Shaindilya was a third year student while Singh was a fourth year student at the college.

"The Embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine," said Swarup.
The central governments move to launch an e-bid portal, through which power distribution companies (discoms) can procure electricity for the short-term, will bring down transaction costs and attract more participants to the sector, say experts. Through the portal, to be launched on Tuesday, discoms can procure power for one day to a year. The portal will be managed by MSTC Ltd.

Union power minister Piyush Goyal is slated to meet power secretaries of all states on Tuesday for a review, where the e-bid portal and the document for the governments Power For All scheme will likely be released. Managing directors of all discoms will also participate through video-conferencing.

Bilateral trade constitutes half the entire short-term market in volume. But, over the years, its prices have remained 25-30 per cent higher than the exchange prices. The platform will offer more transparency and standardisation can lower transaction costs and attract more participants, said Kameswara Rao, partner (grid) at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

According to him, improving transparency is desirable but actual tariff reduction might be modest. This is because, unlike on the exchange, bilateral procurement is more tailored to local needs, and suppliers offer credit. Also, one-third of bilateral trade is between state-owned discoms, where pricing is less elastic. According to a recent report by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, of the total electricity generation, 9,215 million units (MUs), or 10 per cent, was transacted through the short-term market. This comprised 4,700 MUs through bilateral trade (through traders and term-ahead contracts on power exchanges and directly between distribution companies), followed by 2,863 MUs through day-ahead collective transactions on power exchanges, and 1,652 MUs through the deviation settlement mechanism (DSM).

Of the total short-term transactions, bilateral procurement constitutes 51 per cent (36.53 per cent through traders and term-ahead contracts on power exchanges and 14.47 per cent directly between distribution companies), followed by 31.07 per cent through day-ahead collective transactions on power exchanges and 17.92 per cent through DSM. A Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company official said discoms would now able to get real-time information about producers and suppliers. The e-bid portal will also help discoms to strike a deal at the competitive rate.



Debasish Mishra, consulting partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, said short-term purchases by discoms are usually mutually negotiated with suppliers, within a price cap pre-approved by the state electricity regulatory commission. This is a welcome move to bring in transparency in procurement of short-term power. This makes the entire power procurement  day-ahead, short-term, medium-term, and long-term  transparent and competitive.



Mishra, however, cautioned that transmission availability has to be factored in while defining eligible sources that can participate in these bids.
With a Budget outlay of Rs 500 crore, the government would soon start the tendering process of allocating rural business process outsourcing (BPO) centres, sources in the know said. These rural are expected to start by June 2017.According to officials, around 190 new with a combined seating capacity of 125,000 employees (per shift) would come up in the rural areas.The rural BPO initiative is a flagship programme of the government under the Digital India scheme. India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) to incentivise setting up of BPO/ITeS (IT-enabled services) operations across the country, particularly in digitally deficit areas, for creating employment opportunities via information technology (IT) and balanced growth of IT/ITeS sector in each state, said a senior official.Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad recently said the government had approved IBPS for promoting of BPO/ITeS operations across the country with an outlay of Rs 493 crore.According to a Nasscom report, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Kolkata and Jaipur along with Bhubaneswar, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh and Indore are fast emerging as new destinations for business process management (BPM), another name for BPO.These cities have made their way to the BPM sector map owing to their excellent infrastructure, including cheaper real estate, cost competitiveness, availability of talent and conducive business environment, it said.The BPM sector is now $23.3 billion, up from $3.2 billion a decade ago.

It employs 956,000 people, of which around 186,000 have been added over the past four years, according to Nasscom. Seven states, including West Bengal, Odisha and Himachal Pradesh, have proposed their own model for setting up broadband networks under the Centres ambitious National Optical Fibre Network project. Government officials said other than Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal, a chunk of call centres would come up in Assam, Manipur and Tripura. A major part of this scheme will help generate more jobs in the northeastern region. In the first phase itself, around 30,000 new jobs would be created, the official added.

Steps taken for BPO revolution

1. Govt to offer subsidy of up to 50% of capital expenditure or Rs 1 lakh/seat, whichever is lower.

2. Target to set up 45,000 seats in the next two-three years.

3. Scheme outlay to be about Rs 500 crore, valid till March 31, 2017.

4. New BPO destinations - Ahmedabad, Kochi, Bhubaneshwar, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh and Indore.
The IT Ministry on Monday directed e-commerce firms, including Amazon, Flipkart and Ebay to maintain privacy of buyers on their marketplaces by telling merchants not to collect Aadhaar information.

Collection of Aadhaar information is a breach of privacy of individuals, and is punishable by law under the Aadhaar Act. The ministry did not, however, outline how this information could be misused or if it could give rise to any security risks.

"Collecting such information or unauthorized printing of Aadhaar card or aiding such persons in any manner may amount to a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment under Indian Penal Code," statement issued by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology read.

The statement also claimed that entities were fleecing unsuspecting people by charging up to Rs 200 to get their Aadhaar cards printed.

It also advised the public not to share their Aadhaar information with unauthorised persons as it was a breach of their privacy.

Flipkart and Amazon did not respond to queries about the same.
The World Bank said on Monday it expects its non-market rate lending to top $43 billion in the current fiscal year as developing countries face economic headwinds, bringing its total for the past four years to more than $150 billion.

The multilateral lender said its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA) divisions are on pace to exceed the combined $42.4 billion reached in the fiscal year ended July 1, 2015.

IBRD lending in fiscal 2016 will exceed $25 billion, compared with $23.5 billion in fiscal 2015. A decade ago, the IBRD lent about $14 billion, but peaked at $44 billion in fiscal 2010 as the financial crisis stoked demand from middle-income countries.

"We are in a global economy where growth is expected to remain weak, so it is critically important that the World Bank play our traditional role of helping developing countries accelerate growth," World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.

In February, the World Bank signed a deal with Peru for $2.5 billion in credit lines to help the Andean copper and gold exporter cope with lower global commodity prices and budget pressures. The bank is also in talks with oil exporter Nigeria on loans tied to policy reforms.

Kim said World Bank lending was "highly complementary" to the International Monetary Fund's role as the main international crisis lender.

"The use of these types of loans are important because the Bank is basically signaling to the financial markets that a country's actions are technically solid, the country will follow through on these commitments and the reforms will help and not hurt the poor and vulnerable," Kim said.
Politically, it is difficult terrain, but the revenue gained by taxing agricultural income could provide a significant boost to the finances of the states. ( is a subject on which the state legislates; hence taxation of agricultural income falls within the ambit of the states.)



In 2007-08 alone, taxing agricultural income on a par with other incomes would have yielded revenue of around Rs 50,000 crore, according to Kavita Rao and D P Sengupta, economists at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. To put this figure in perspective, this amount, which was equivalent to 1.2 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, would have boosted state revenues by roughly 19 per cent.

Farmers are a huge vote bank. Bowing to this political compulsion, governments don't dare touch this contentious subject for fear of being seen as anti-farmer. Instances of farmer suicides only weaken their resolve. But there are reasonable arguments to be made for taxing agricultural income.

For one, agricultural incomes can be taxed without hurting farmers who have borne the brunt of agrarian distress. This is because even if agricultural income is subject to income tax, a substantial section of the farmers - the small and marginal ones - will remain outside the tax net simply because their incomes are likely to be below the basic exemption limit of Rs 250,000 per annum that is extended to all taxpayers in India.

Widening the net

But just how many large farmers could potentially be brought under the tax net? Data from the India Human Development survey 2011-12, which is jointly carried out by the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland, shows that roughly 10.5 per cent of households own land in excess of 5 hectares.

Of these households, roughly a third own a motorcycle or a scooter, 7 per cent own a washing machine, while another 6 per cent own a car. The logic of exempting them from taxes is difficult to rationalise. Bringing these households into the tax ambit would help significantly to widen the tax base.

Two, under the current system, even companies investing in the agricultural sector are exempt from paying taxes. In their study, Rao and Sengupta had estimated that over 50 companies reported agricultural incomes of over Rs 100 crore in 2009-10, with their total agricultural income amounting to Rs 31,313 crore.

TO TAX OR NOT TO TAX Under the current system, even companies investing in the agricultural sector are exempt from taxes

In 2014-15, the National Highway Authority of India acquired 6,733 hectares of land at Rs 1.35 crore per hectare, creating upto that many crorepatis

If land transfers are brought under the tax net, the number of crorepatis in India would shoot up significantly

Bringing such incomes under the ambit of taxes would also close routes used by individuals to evade taxes

This figure, while significant, may well be an underestimate. As many companies are likely to have integrated operations, their actual agricultural income may either be undisclosed or underestimated. For example, any company that produces cotton and uses it to produce yarn or fabric, is not likely to report the same as income from cotton. Thus by taxing agriculture, the corporate sector that has been heavily investing in would also be brought under the tax ambit, significantly boosting state revenues.

Three, as tax exemptions to the sector provide an easy avenue for evading and avoiding taxes, taxing agricultural incomes would plug this loophole. The scope through this route is immense. According to news reports, the total amount of agricultural income declared by taxpayers in returns filed up to November for exemption in the assessment year 2014-15 stood at a staggering Rs 9,338 crore.

Four, the same logic of exempting agricultural income has been extended to income from transfer of land. This deprives the state of a lucrative revenue stream from land sales. According to a circular issued by the department of land resources in the Union ministry of rural development, there is no tax liability on the transfer of agricultural rural lands. Urban agricultural land is also exempt from taxation if the land was used for agricultural purposes during two years immediately preceding the date of transfer. Thus under the current system, despite a sharp increase in land prices where even single land deals can turn individuals crorepatis overnight, the state cannot levy taxes on them.

Crorepatis in the making

Consider this: in 2014-15, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is reported to have acquired 6,733 hectares of land at an average compensation of Rs 1.35 crore per hectares; thus, NHAI alone would have ended up creating up to 6,733 crorepatis (the actual number of crorepatis is likely to be lower as some farmers and other landowners may have sold more than 1 hectare). In 2015-16 NHAI had planned to acquire 10,000 hectares.

And this is just one arm of the government. The total land acquired across the country is likely to have been of a much higher magnitude. Land transfers alone would have created thousands of crorepatis overnight. Yet, most of them would not have been taxed.

If all these transactions were brought under the tax net, the number of crorepati households in the country would have shot up sharply, as opposed to the mere 10,000 increase from 53,017 in 2013 to 63,589 in 2014, according to Kotak Institutional Equities.

The case for taxing agricultural incomes, as economists point out, is based on the principle of fairness. Individuals earning above a particular threshold should be taxed, irrespective of their source of income. If fact, various committees, such as the one on taxation headed by K N Raj in 1975 and more recently the Parthasarathi Shome-led Tax Administration Reform Commission, have recommended taxing large farmers.

By bringing the sector within the tax ambit, not only will the tax base be widened, but the route used by individuals to evade taxes would also be closed.
As second phase voting concluded on Monday at 5 pm, it finally ringed the curtains down on assembly polls in Assam. Altogether, the fates of 525 candidates were sealed in various electronic voting machines across 61 constituencies, spread across central and lower Assam.



High voter turnout was again witnessed in the second phase poll. As per preliminary estimates of the election commission, the state witnessed a high voter turnout of 82 per cent. The turnout too was around 82 per cent in the first phase.
The polling for the remaining 61 seats of Assam, in nearly half of which Muslims are a determining factor, concluded today with a whopping 82% turnout until 6 pm.
Just a month away for polling for the Tamil Nadu assembly election, the two dravidian parties ruling the state for nearly half a century now have promised that they would work towards total prohibition. So whichever party comes to power after May 16, it is clear the state would become no liquor state, but the question is how revenue of around Rs 27,000 crore, which is coming out of liquor sales, will be compensated.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK Supermo J Jayalalithaa said that if her party is voted back to power, step by step prohibition will be implemented.

"Full prohibition is not possible in one signature or overnight. It will be implemented in stages," she said. The strategy would be first reducing the timing of the shops and reducing number of shops and bars, said Jayalalithaa.

AIADMK's main rival DMK also promised full prohibition immediately and said employees of Tasmac, which is in charge of wholesale liquor sales in the state, will be given alternate jobs.

Without giving details on how the party is planning to compensate the revenue loss, DMK's Supermo Karunanidhi said his party will take appropriate measures to compensate the revenue loss.

Tasmac turnover grew from Rs 139.41 crore in 1983-84 to over Rs 27,000 crore now. There are about 6800 Tasmac outlets across the state.

In 1983, Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) was instituted to monopolise wholesale trade of Indian Made Foreign Liquor and that facilitated cost-effective excise duty collection.

In 1937, prohibition was introduced by C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) in Salem and in phases it was implemented in other parts of the state. But in 1971, DMK dovernment headed by Karunanidhi withdrew the total prohibition. Karunanidhi said it was due bleak economic situation and the shops were closed in 1974, after which, he alleged, that the alchoholic beverages shops were opened by AIADMK government in 1981.

Jayalalithaa said in the past five years sales has been coming down which is a sign of state started going towards full prohibition. She noted, sales of IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Spirits) during DMK's period increased by 109 per cent to 4.78 crore boxes and beer sales which was around 1.32 crore boxes in 2005-06 has increased to 2.86 crore 2010-11, during DMK regime.

In the past five years the sales dropped to around 2.31 crore

Will complete prohibition possible?

Political and economists, who tracks the state, said it is impossible, considering revenue from liquor amounting to over 20-25 per cent of the State's Own Tax Revenue every year.

How they will adjust the revenue gap and how they will be funding Government's welfare and freebies schemes, they questioned.

It may noted, DMK's manifesto did not had much of electronics freebies. The party which was the first one to introduce the freebies concept by offering free television sets to voters, this time said it will give free mobile sets, for the poor. It also said free 3G/4G will be given to students.

"Both the parties do not have real intention to bring in prohibition.

If they are going to stop liquor sales, they may have to borrow an additional Rs 25,000 crore to execute all those freebies," said M R Venkatesh, a Chartered Accountant and an expert in economic policy related matters. Both the parties have not really put their thoughts into the idea and meagerly proclaims prohibition out of competitive spirit, he added.

The ruling AIADMK has been distributing free mixies, grinders, fans, cows, goats and others for the past five years. Over the last decade, successive governments in the State have spent nearly $2 billion (Rs 11,561 crore) on just three freebie schemes - colour television sets, laptops and household appliances.

Tamil Nadu's outstanding debt in 2014-15 was Rs 1,81,036 crore and this is expected to increase to Rs 2,11,483 crore. When the AIADMK took charge State debt was Rs 1,01,349 crore. One of the reasons is various freebies and subsidy programme, alleges some political parties.

"Closure of Tasmac shops will result in loss of income to the level of thousands of crore of rupees to state, which would force the government to suspend several of its welfare measures," said an official. He added, the fact that there is not much scope left for further imposing of taxes.

Venkatesh said that it does not mean that prohibition cannot be implemented, and he believes that it has to be brought in and reminded that the State of Gujarat is revenue surplus even after prohibition, regardless whether their policies are good or not. However, it means cutting down expenditure in all means and stopping various freebies.

Tamil Nadu has projected a revenue surplus of Rs 664.06 crore for 2014-15, but reported a revenue deficit of Rs 6,407.56 crore. While the projection for 2015-16 was a revenue surplus of Rs 783.43 crore, the revised estimates shows a revenue deficit of Rs 9,481.14 crore. For 2016-17, the projection is revenue surplus of Rs 311.45 crore, while the budget estimates is a revenue deficit of Rs 9,154.78 crore,

The other problem, according to experts, in implementing total prohibition could lead to illicit liquor. Duplicate liquor will be sold in black,which may even cause health hazards to the public and it will damage the ruling party.

Political critics also alleges that many of the distilleries are owned by politicians and over Rs 3,500 crore worth of liquor, are supplied by these distilleries.

He questioned if suspension of freebies, expenditure optimisation, industrialisation gets further boost and other measures can be carried out, then there is a feasibility. But at the current environment none of this are possible.
Country's largest service provider Bharti Airtel today said its mobile commerce subsidiary, Airtel M Commerce Services, had received payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India.

"We are pleased to inform you that Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited has been granted payments bank licence from Reserve Bank of India on April 11, 2016," Airtel said in a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

In August last year, RBI had given in-principle to the company, which operates under brand name of Airtel Money, along with 10 others, including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Vodafone m-pesa, Department of Posts, for payments bank. Read more from our special coverage on "PAYMENTS BANKS" Odisha govt for payments banks to open branches in un-banked areas

In February this year, Kotak Mahindra Bank signed an agreement to pick 19.9 per cent stake for Rs 98.38 crore in Airtel M Commerce Services.

The companies, which received in-principle approval from RBI in August, will have to make their banks operational by March 2017.

Through Airtel Money, the company offers ticketing, mobile and DTH recharges, utility bill payments, online shopping, money transfer services. It also has business correspondent tie-up with Axis Bank and provides business to business payment collection services at present.

The Payments Bank will be set up as a differentiated bank and shall confine its activities to acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services, Internet banking and other specified services, as per RBI notification.

Payments Banks will initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh per individual customer.

They will be allowed to issue ATM/debit cards as also other prepaid payment instruments, but not the credit cards. These banks can also distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products like mutual funds and insurance products.

Also, they will not be allowed to undertake lending services and non-resident Indians will not be allowed to open accounts.
Amid debate over huge write-off of loans by public sector (PSBs), recoveries by lenders has been very sluggish, in some cases almost one-third of the amount written off, The Indian Express reported on Monday, citing reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application. In fact, the number falls to 13% of the total bad loans in some cases



State Bank of India (SBI), the countrys largest lender, wrote off over Rs 41,641 crore between FY06 and FY15. However, it recovered only Rs 11,566 crore during this period  just 27% of the total bad loans, the report said.

In the last three years, the lenders write-offs jumped nearly four times as it declared loans worth Rs 30,231 crore as NPAs. The recoveries corresponding to that were just at Rs 4,927 crore or 16% of the bad loan.

Meanwhile, Bank of India faced a shortfall of Rs 14,000 crore in recovery, as it wrote off Rs 41,361 crore since 2009  a figure that could be higher than SBI if considered for a 10-year period.

SBI and Bank of India wrote-off nearly Rs 83,000 crore in the last ten years, whereas, for 14 other PSBs, the number stood at Rs 44,850 crore.

Some like Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank and UCO Bank did not provide information, stating that they were exempted from the ambit of RTI.

Write-offs by came into spotlight when a report by the newspaper stated that PSBs had written off nearly Rs 1,14,000 crore in the last three years, prompting the Supreme Court to seek a list of defaulters, owing more than Rs 500 crore, from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The court is likely to hear the matter again on April 12. It will take up RBIs plea to keep the names on this list confidential.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold, net of purchase, $3.34 billion in February in the market, data showed.

In January, RBIs net sales were $30 million. In the exchange traded futures segment, the central banks net sales position was $970 million.

In January, RBI had bought and sold an equivalent amount, making its net position nil. The activities in February indicated RBIs efforts to strengthen the rupee.

Forwards contract maturing within three months to a year was a net short of $5.4 billion.

RBIs long position, or dollar purchase was at $19.8 billion, and short position, or dollar sales were at $25.21 billion, indicating the central banks preparedness to honour Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) or FCNR (B) deposits worth about $27 billion maturing in September.
Central Council for Research in homoeopathy (CCRH) has signed two MOUs with institutions of higher education of Canada and Armenia. These MOUs between CCRH and College of Homeopaths of Ontario, Canada and another between CCRH and Yerevan State Medical University, Armenia, were signed during two day International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day organized at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. .

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Shri Shripad Yesso Naik, Honble Minister of State (IC) for AYUSH in his valedictory address greeted the people of India on the occasion of World Homoeopathy Day and appreciated that Homoeopathy has taken major scientific leaps in the past and its body of evidence is growing by the day. The Minister also complimented the steps taken towards international cooperation during the convention, as it saw the signing of two MoUs in the field of education and research in Homoeopathy. Sh. Naik expressed his hope signing of these MoUs was only the beginning and many such bilateral cooperations will be agreed upon in the times to come. He remarked that with research becoming a prime concern in Homoeopathy, many more international collaborations are possible and highly recommended. .

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The second day of International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day began with a session dedicated to the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr. Christian Samuel Hahnemann. A floral tribute was paid to the legendary figure by the chairs and discussants of the panel Dr. Renzo Galassi, President, Liga Medicorum Homoeopathica Internationalis (LMHI) (Italy), Dr. Gustavo Alberto Cataldi, LMHI (Argentina), Dr. Amarilys Cesar (Brazil), Dr. Altunay Soylemez Agaoglu (Turkey), Dr. S.P.S. Bakshi, National Vice President, LMHI (India), Dr. Nandini Sharma, Chairperson WHD (India), Dr. Sandeep Kaila, Secretary WHD (India), Dr. Ramjee Singh, President, Central Council of Homoeopathy CCH (Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India), Dr. Arun Bhasme, Vice President, CCH (India), Dr. Bhaskar Bhatt, President, HMAI (India), Dr. K.K. Juneja, Chairman, Delhi Board (India), Dr. M.A. Rao, President, Indian Institute of Homoeopathic Physicians, Dr. M.G. Oomen, Founder National President, Indian Homoeopathic Medical Association. Dr. Raj K. Manchanda, Director General, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy. .

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A session each on challenges in education in Homoeopathy in India and global scenario of education in Homoeopathy were chaired by Dr. Ramjee Singh, Dr. Arun Bhasme, Dr. Srivatsan and Dr. Lalit Verma, while Dr. A.K. Seth, Dr. Rajat Chattopadhyaya, Dr. S.K. Tiwari, Dr. Manilal S., Dr. Arvind Kothe, Dr. Munir Ahmed, Dr. Leopold Drexler (Austria), Dr. Gustavo Alberto Cataldi (Argentina), Dr. Mohammed Ashrafur Rahman (Bangladesh), Dr. Danny Pillai (South Africa), Dr. M.P. Arya (India) and Dr. M.K. Sahani (India) were in the discussant panel. The panelists discussed about the concerns and challenges in global and Indian scenario of education in homoeopathy and how there could be standardization of education for accredited curriculum for education in Homoeopathy. .

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Another session on drug validation and drug development explored the therapeutic potential of nosodes (homoeopathic drugs prepared from disease material) and discussed the idea of reinventing nosodes, by way of their preparation and application in clinical field. This session was chaired by Dr. Martien Brands from Netherland, Dr. Isaac Golden from Australia and Dr. Laxmikanta Nanda from India. Dr. S.M. Singh, Dr. J.D. Daryani and Dr. Anil Khurana were the discussants. .

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The speakers of the session on harmonization of pharmacopoeias and drug laws brought up many vital issues like regulation of homoeopathic medicines worldwide, need for a common international pharmacopoeia, pharmacopoeial standards on homoeopathic drugs vis-?-vis drug regulations and need for upgrading specifications of plant raw materials in homoeopathic pharmacy. .

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Biomolecular research in homoeopathy was another session at the convention, which was chaired by Dr. Anisur Rahman Khuda-Bukhsh, Prof. (Dr.) Carla Holandino Quaresma (Brazil) and Prof.(Dr.) Kanjaksha Ghosh. Dr. Surender Singh and Dr. Anil Khurana were the discussants. After elaborate presentation on basic research updates by Dr. Peter Fisher, Editor, international journal Homeopathy, presentation on topics ranging from homeo-genomic approach towards personalized therapy of cancer, hypertension and oxidative stress parameters of kidney by modulating enzyme hypertnsive rat model, anti heat shock effect of Cantharis 200 transported from one plant to another through capillary water, to protective role of Rhus toxicodendron 6c on cells of primary cell culture in relation to dengue virus infection and molecular level correlation between probable homoeopathic medicines and bio-samples of patients. .

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Besides these, there were several presentations on clinical research including latest research updates, and role of Homoeopathy in malaria, dengue, natural disasters, brain injuries, chronic ear infection, sciatica etc. .

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SK ?
The announcement on Sunday that the plotters of last month' s terror attacks had originally intended to hit Paris again only heightened the concern among police and intelligence agencies that shadowy Islamic State networks could unleash new attacks at any time, not only in France and Belgium but in other European capitals.

As intelligence experts and officials took stock of what they have learned since the November 13 assaults in and around Paris, which killed 130 people, several things have come into focus. The scale of the Islamic State' s operations in Europe are still not known, but they appear to be larger and more layered than investigators at first realized; if the Paris and attacks are any model, the plotters will rely on local criminal networks in addition to committed extremists.

Even as the United States, its allies and Russia have killed leaders of the Islamic State, and have rolled back some of the extremist organization' s gains on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State appears to be posing a largely hidden and lethal threat across much of Europe.

When Belgian prosecutors announced that Mohamed Abrini, one of the men arrested on Friday, had confessed to being the mysterious third man in the Airport bombing, it seemed to mark a rare victory for Belgian law enforcement, which has struggled to track down extremists. But it also was a reminder of the ease with which the Islamic State' s operatives move across borders and the shifting roles that suspects play: According to prosecutors, Abrini was a logistician in the Paris attacks but was meant to be a bomber in the Brussels attack - except that his bomb failed to explode.

There are almost certainly similar cells that are active in non-French-speaking countries and that have not yet surfaced. Britain, Germany and Italy are thought to be high on the list of Islamic State targets.

It adds up to a long road ahead in Europe for law enforcement and intelligence agencies but also for citizens who are having to learn to adapt to an array of new security precautions and more intrusive surveillance, especially in public places.

"We are not finished yet with the job of finding everyone who is in this big network of Paris and Brussels," said Jean-Charles Brisard, the head of the French Center for the Analysis of Terrorism in Paris. "Every time progress is made, we add another few people to the list of people we are looking for."



It is sobering to look at the number of people believed to have some connection to the Paris and Brussels attacks: 36 are suspected of being active participants to varying degrees in organizing or carrying them out. Of those, 13 are dead, and most of the rest are in custody.

A handful have been released but are subject to conditions, like daily check-ins at a police station.

are probably lying low or on the run. What worries investigators is that many of the participants in the Paris-Brussels network were recruited by a preacher in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, Khalid Zerkani. He was tried twice in Belgium, accused of recruiting more than 50 young men to join the fight in Syria and helping to finance their journey to the Middle East.

2016 The New York Times News Service
The wealthiest Americans can expect to live at least a decade longer than the poorest-and that gap, as with income inequality, is growing ever wider. New research in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows top earning Americans gained 2 to 3 years of life expectancy between 2001 and 2014, while those at the bottom gained little or nothing. Plenty of research has already shown that health and wealth are intertwined, and that they generally improve in tandem as you move up the income scale. But this year, wildly divergent incomes among Americans and the vanishing middle ...
The general perception about market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is that of a strict watchdog, ever ready to haul errant corporates, intermediaries or other entities off the street. There is another side to Sebi, however - one that it is working hard to project. Over the past year or so the regulator has invested significantly to shed its dour policeman-like image and portray itself more as a friendly neighbourhood protector with an ear out for the smallest investor.

The 'har investor ki taqat' campaign being aggressively pursued across all media is driven by the need to reach out to small investors from small towns who are particularly vulnerable to ponzi schemes. The regulator is particularly keen to drive home the point after recent stock market debacles such as the Sarada scandal. The campaign is also meant to increase the risk taking appetite among investors in small towns and thereby deepen the equity markets in the country.

" reaches out to investors through mass media with various messages, which are aimed at spreading awareness against unregistered collective investment schemes (CIS)/ponzi schemes and spreading information related to the grievance redress mechanism," said a spokesperson. The campaign, being currently handled by advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), was launched about three years back. According to B Ramanathan, managing partner, O&M Mumbai and Calcutta, "The aim is to educate investors and tell them that there is an entity out there protecting their interests." The larger objective, he says, is to increase retail participation in the equity market.

The agency has done five advertisements so far (across print, radio and television) and has deliberately infused humour to get its point across. The ads aim to change common perception about the regulator and make it more approachable to the community of investors across the country.

This is not the first time that a regulatory institution has reached out to the masses. In 2010, RBI had roped in IBD, a subsidiary of advertising agency Percept-Hakuhodo for a campaign meant to educate people about banking practices while enunciating its role as a central bank. However, it was a limited campaign and quite restrictive in its appeal says Harish Bijoor, a brand consultant. seems to have done a better job thus far, he says.

Ramanathan says the agency plans to do another four to five ads in the next one and a half years. "While Sebi deals with different entities such as corporates, brokers and stocks exchanges; our focus is the investor," he says. Sebi claims that there has been a surge in the number of phone calls to its toll free helpline about unregistered CIS and ponzi schemes since the ads have begun. While no formal studies have been done yet, O&M says it has received good word-of-mouth feedback.

Designing such a campaign is a challenge however. "A regulator warning investors with a list of dos and don'ts can create blind spots for consumers. The biggest challenge is not to make it boring," says Ramanathan. "So we decided to make it light and engaging, without making it frivolous as money is a serious subject."



A regulator is generally seen as a dictatorial entity, which helps keep scamsters at bay but it can work negatively when it comes to the common man. "While Sebi is a regulator, it is working in the interest of investors and these campaigns are a good way of conveying this and softening its image among investors," says Bijoor. He said that the current campaign is a generation one campaign, where the focus is to simply build awareness. "In India investor awareness is low and investment for most translates to returns - the 'kitna milega' mindset. Sebi is cautioning investors against greed," he says.

Since the launch of the campaign in December 2012, Sebi has done more than 50,000 TVCs, 1.5 lakh radio spots and over 3,100 insertions in various print editions across states. Further, around 28 crore bulk SMSs have been sent cautioning investors against ponzi schemes and unregistered investment schemes. The campaign has been in Hindi, English and 11 regional languages. About 70 per cent of the campaign budget has been spent on TVCs but the regulator did not disclose the exact spends for its overall branding and initiatives.

Sebi's brand building efforts have met with approval from most stakeholders. "Investor education messages via television and radio ensure a better reach to the less-informed group of investors, which is important since they are more likely to be influenced by false promises and misrepresentations made by unregulated intermediaries and middleman," said Tejesh Chitlangi, partner, IC Legal, a securities law firm. Thus far, Sebi's campaign has covered CIS and ponzi schemes. It has also informed investors about the workings of mutual funds, ASBA (Applications Supported by Blocked Amount) and its own grievance redressal mechanism. As the communication gets more aggressive in the next few months, investors must hope that the brand will live up to its image.
Global investors are pinning hopes on the Asian market (excluding Japan) to provide the best return on equity in 2016.

An investor sentiment survey conducted by Credit Suisse last week showed around 37% opting for Asia ex-Japan as the region most likely to outperform this year. Around 28% opted for the US and 24% for Europe, down from 45% last year. Only five% chose Japan.

Last year, investors had bet on Europe to be the best-performing region. However, it delivered minus five% (in dollar terms). The US market was the best performer, with nearly 25%.



Only 16% of the respondents in the previous survey had said the US, when asked "Which region do you expect to provide the greatest upside for equity investors?".

Investors have modest expectations for 2016. Around 43% expect flattish market growth. Nearly 40% said Asia ex-Japan could deliver between 10 and 20% return. And, 15% expect the market to be down by more than 10% in 2016.

The 19th Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference took place on April 5-8 and the investment bank had surveyed about 320 entities from 15 countries.
Shares of breweries & distilleries companies were under pressure and fallen by up to 8% on the bourses on concerns of liquor bans.

Among the individual stocks, Empee Distilleries dipped 8% to Rs 58 on the BSE. Pioneer Distilleries and Globus Spirits are locked in lower circuit of 5% each at Rs 149 and Rs 63, respectively on the BSE, with no buyers seen on the counters.

United Breweries (Rs 782) and United Spirits (Rs 2,240) too down 5% each.
Havells India, Grasim Industries, Biocon, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel have touched their respective 52-week highs on the BSE after S&P BSE Sensex rallied more than one percent today.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed 348 points higher at 25,022, after hitting high of 25,050 during intra-day trade. It rallied more than 500 points from intra-day low of 24,523.

Kiri Industries, Kakatiya Cement Sugar & Industries, Bodal Chemicals, Sagar Cements, KG Denim, Swaraj Engines, Parry Sugars, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers (GNFC) are among others from the total 60 stocks that hit 52-week highs on the BSE.

Havells India surged 5% to Rs 350, also its record high on the BSE. The sock of an electrical consumer production and power distribution equipment manufacturer has outperformed the market by gaining 11% in past four trading sessions following an upgrade of its bank facilities by CARE Ratings.

Havells India on April 5, said CARE has upgraded its rating on long-term bank facilities to CARE AAA from CARE AA+. Instruments with AAA rating have the highest degree of safety for timely servicing of financial obligations and carry lowest credit risk. CARE, however, retained its rating of A1+ on its short-term loan, implying very high degree of safety.

Kiri Industries hit a high of Rs 211, extending its over 100% surge in past eight trading sessions. Since March 29, in nine trading sessions, the stock zoomed 154% from Rs 83.

Kiri Industries, the specialty chemicals manufacture, on April 5 said that there has been a sudden dramatic change in the market situation of Dyes Intermediate especially H-acid and vinyl sulphone due to closure of a leading manufacturing plant in China. The company had also executed settlement agreement and committed to settle and repay majority of the balance debt during the current financial year 2016-17.

Sagar Cement touched a 52-week high of Rs 604, finally settled 7% higher at Rs 569 on the BSE. The stock rallied over 30% in past two trading sessions after the company recorded a strong production and sales in the month of March 2016.

The company in release said that cement production jumped 42% to 200,000 MTS in March 2016 compared with 140,480 MTS in March 2015. Total sales for the month increased 16% to 197,583 MTS against 170,410 MTS in March 2015.
Reliance Capital-anchored Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) on Monday announced it plans to re-launch the exchange in two months, following the successful completion of its rights issue, which was fully subscribed by stakeholders.

The exchange was contemplating a rights issue for long and it was supposed to increase its net worth to meet regulatory criteria. The board of directors of ICEX, in a meeting held in Mumbai on Monday, took on record that the ICEX rights issue has been fully subscribed at 100 per cent premium to face value, valuing the exchange at Rs 250 crore, the exchange said.

The exchange would start its operations in June, subject to regulatory approvals. The initial focus of ICEX will be non-agri products  such as precious metals and crude  and offerings will be expanded to other commodities in due course.

The exchange discontinued operations in 2014 as the commodity transaction tax, imposed in July 2013, had badly impacted its volumes. According to regulations, if a commodity exchanges operations remain suspended for 12 months, the regulator can issue a show-cause notice and cancel its licence. Earlier, commodity regulator Forward Markets Commission had sent ICEX such a notice.

We are thankful to the promoters and other investors for fully subscribing to ICEXs maiden rights issue and providing the required capital to re-launch the exchange. This subscription is a testimony of promoters faith in the future and immense growth prospect of the commodities exchange business in India said Ashok Sinha, chairman (designate), ICEX.

The exchange has a strong base of diverse shareholders  including MMTC, Indian Potash, Kribhco, and IDFC Bank  with Reliance Capital, a part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, being the largest shareholder. MMTC had recently reduced its stake from 26 per cent to 15 per cent, to meet regulatory requirements.

ICEX has a strong team, technology platform, risk processes and infrastructure in place. It will now be seeking necessary regulatory approvals for re-launching the Exchange by June.

We will endeavour to discover prices on our platform that will be used as reference prices globally. ICEX will focus on providing commodity value chain participants with neutral, secure and transparent trade mechanisms and help them in formulating quality parameters and trade regulations, in conformity with the regulatory framework, said Sinha.
has dipped 1.4% to Rs 1,151, extending its 3% decline in past two trading sessions on the BSE, after Aberdeen Asset Management Asia reduced its stake in the company by selling 5.626 million shares via open market.

said that Aberdeen Asset Management Asia sold 5.626 million equity shares representing 0.24% stake through open market sale on April 7.

Post transaction, Aberdeen Asset Management Asia, on behalf of funds advised/managed, declined to 3.04% from 3.29% earlier. The name of the buyers not ascertained.

The stock has corrected nearly 8% from its all-time high of Rs 1,250 touched on April 4 in intra-day trade as compared to 3% decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Meanwhile, the board of directors of will meet on Friday, April 15, to consider the audited financial results of the company for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2016.

At 10:45 am, the stock was down 0.62% at Rs 1,160 on the BSE. A combined 572,609 shares changed hands in the counter on the BSE and NSE.
A poor start to the equity in calendar year 2016 has not only dampened investor sentiment, but also kept companies away from raising funds via the qualified institutional placement (QIP) route.

is a process by which listed companies can raise funds through the issue of securities to qualified institutional buyers.

Suprajit Engineering is the only company that has raised Rs 150 crore through in the first quarter (January-March) of 2016  the lowest since the December 2013 quarter when a single company used the route to raise Rs 67 crore. This means funding through QIP in March has hit a nine-quarter low.

During the previous corresponding quarter, 13 companies had raised Rs 4,857 crore though QIP route, while five firms mobilised Rs 1,780 crore in the October-December 2015 quarter. As many as 32 firms had raised Rs 19,065 crore in 2015 and 33 companies raised Rs 31,685 crore in 2014, according to data from Prime Database.

Analysts attribute the lack of fund-raising to volatile market conditions in the first two months of 2016. The were volatile in the first two months of 2016. Barring the last one month (March), the reacted to the developments at the global level thus far in the new calendar year. The conditions have not been conducive for investors to take a decisive view  both from an issuance and investment perspectives, said Dhananjay Sinha, head of institutional research at Emkay Global Financial Services.

Despite the weak start and choppy markets, analysts expect the QIP issuance to gain momentum in 2016.

In terms of process, it takes two-three months for the companies to tap the markets for funds. The market crash in January and February had put off a lot of investors, including those who wanted to raise funds. While the markets crashed 10 per cent, some individual stocks corrected 50 per cent as well. However, I expect this to improve in the second quarter (of 2016) on the back of a market recovery in March, says G Chokkalingam, founder and managing director, Equinomics Research & Advisory. For companies to raise money via the QIP route, a lot will depend on the overall sentiment in the secondary market, where investors purchase securities from other investors, rather than from issuing companies themselves. A buoyant sentiment in the longer run will augur well, they say. In the immediate term, the road ahead will depend on how the earnings pan out.

The Nifty may be range-bound between 7,300 and 7,500, assuming a 10 per cent uptick in earnings growth, but the overall sentiment will remain volatile. As a result, the markets will continue to pose a challenge for those who want to come out with fresh issuance even through the QIP route, says Sinha of Emkay.

Chokkalingam, however, does not see any negative stress points for the markets in the immediate term, given the positive forecast for the monsoon and good inflow of funds in March. Although I am bullish on the markets from a short-term perspective and believe that there can still be a five-10 per cent upside, one needs to watch the global developments in case the investment horizon is six-12 months. I dont think the March quarter corporate results will give a big surprise to the markets, adds Chokkalingam.
Small and medium enterprise (SME) platforms of both BSE and NSE have opened doors for . Cashing in on the trend of SMEs raising capital through such platforms, have joined the bandwagon by offering services similar to national level merchant bankers for listing SMEs on platforms.

What has worked in their favour, say regional merchant bankers, is that being a local it has become increasingly easy for them to convince the otherwise reluctant SMEs in their region to raise capital through such platforms. As of now these merchant bankers provide services such as advisory, branding and valuations, fund raising through PE and merger and acquisition. While IPO segment is relatively new for them, small lead managers are confident of entering the IPO market.

"To be a regional player is our strength as our reach and knowledge about local SMEs is more and we understand the need better than any others. This makes it easy to convince regional companies about SME platforms," said Munjal Shah, senior manager ? merchant banking at Monarch Networth Capital. Munjal added that with SME IPOs gaining traction, regional merchant banking firms like Monarch have been focusing on strengthening their team in order to serve better their SME clients.

Earlier, or lead managers were not offering IPO related services due to lack of experience and confidence in providing these services. But after knowledge sharing by exchanges and others, several local merchant bankers have started SME IPO services in Gujarat, Maharashtra and other southern Indian states.

According to Ravi Varanasi, head business development at NSE, gradually several regional lead managers from states like Gujarat and Maharashtra, among other states, are getting active for SME IPO.

"The whole scene has changed in last two years.

Their reach may be limited but local merchant bankers are as capable as some of the big merchant bankers," said Varanasi. However, industry experts said that while there is potential for local merchant bankers, IPO related services being regulatory matter, there are certain risks involved.

"As merchant bankers, regional players have similar experience and IPO market may open new avenues for them. However, challenges revolving around regulatory issues remain post IPOs," said B Madhuprasad, chairman of Association of Investment Bankers of India. As on date, 15 small companies have been listed on NSE Emerge. At BSE SME Platform, over 120 companies have been listed so far.
At least 26 Taliban insurgents were killed and 10 other injured in a military operation in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province.

The operation took place yesterday and was launched in Dasht-e-Archi, Chahardara districts and Kunduz city.

Military officials said that weapons were recovered during the operation and the operation was ongoing, report Tolo news.

Dasht-e-Archi and Chahardar are insecure districts in the province which has been frequently targeted by Taliban insurgents. The military group has also targeted security forces' outposts in the past.
The All India United Democratic Fund (AIUDF) has ruled out all possibilities of joining forces with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam, where Assembly Polls are currently underway.

"We are anti-Congress and anti-BJP. Therefore, there is no question of going along with the BJP. However, we believe that the Congress is a secular party. We will see after the elections what happens. But we cannot go directly with the Congress.We do not have any hopes from them," AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal told ANI after casting his vote here.

He, however, distanced himself from the 'Acche Din' slogan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he has not fulfilled the promises he made during the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

"His 'Acche Din' have turned into 'Bure Din' (bad days).we want that a stable government should be formed in the state," he said.

The AIUDF chief urged the electorate to turn in large numbers and exercise their right to vote.

"This festival of voting is like Eid for the republic India. It is above any caste, religion or creed. No one should sit in their homes and should cast their votes. They should exercise their right to vote," he said.

"They should believe that this election would bring a significant change in Assam where it becomes free from all the wrong doings and the corruption. The atmosphere will turn pleasant. And Acche din would surely come," he added.

Meanwhile, peaceful polling is currently underway for the second and final phase of the assembly polls in Assam.

According to reports, both Congress and AIUDF are eyeing the Muslim majority votes in many districts, especially areas like Lahorighat, Hojai, Dhubri which are dominated by the Muslim community, as it could be a decisive factor.

Most of seats are likely to witness triangular fight between BJP - Asom Gana Parishad- BPF alliance, AIUDF and Congress-UPP combination.

While BJP has put candidates in 35 assemblies, its ally Asom Gana Parishad will contest in 19 seats and BPF will vie in 10 seats.

Congress and its ally UPP are contesting all 61 seats and AIUDF candidates are in the race for 47 seats.
New Delhi, April 11 (ANI): #UnitedByDonts party, a campaign aimed at safety and empowerment of Indian women, was recently held at Nehru Park here.

The campaign, which was organised by the United Colors of Benetton on Saturday, echoes the brand's commitment to India as a strategically important market. Promoting gender equality and women's safety as the priority for India, Benetton is executing key elements of its global sustainability roadmap, the Women Empowerment Program, a long-term sustainability program aimed at supporting the empowerment of women worldwide eventually.

Right from the very beginning, many 'don'ts' are imposed on women in an attempt to keep them safe, however, those 'don'ts' are not really helping anyone from crime against women. In order to fight against such 'don'ts', where women are told in the name of safety, Benetton have initiated this first of its kind campaign in India, supported by audience from all walks of life.

"Today we are here with a cause or a mission which is women empowerment. This is the agenda which is driven by our global head office. With this agenda, the idea is to look at the various channels which women in our country are facing and work towards them in a positive way. Create awareness of the issue which women are facing today and work as an enabler. We want to create a lot of positive thoughts around the mind of the citizens in our country, so that issues pertaining to women are address," Sundeep Chugh, the CEO of Benetton India Pvt. Ltd, said while speaking about the campaign.

Musics lovers had an amazing treat at the event with performances by well-known bands, including Delhi Indie Project-Dilli Wala Band and Shillong Chamber Choir. Known for their an eclectic mix of Sufi, Indie, Folk and Punjabi that meets with western notes of Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Latin Music, Delhi Indie Project presented an assemblage of sounds which make sure that you dance your weekday blues away.

Shillong Chamber Choir, one of India's finest choirs, mesmerized the audience with a rendition of old Indian classics like ''Ye Dosti'' and many more western notes.

Hosted by Mini Mathur, the event witnessed a positive vibe from the audience.

Neeti Palta, a well-known woman stand-up comedian, enthralled the audience with a fun-filled evening.

"It's lovely to be part of something that empowers a group in society that is undermining so much in our country. Initiatives like this tell them to be themselves. Tell them to do the right thing and that is so important. Once the instinct in the men's dominating changes, then that is true women empowerment," William, one of the choir members from Shillong Chamber Choir, said.

'A campaign like this that Benetton has started UnitedbyDont's which actually works towards creating a better atmosphere for women, works on gender equality, works on creating a safe environment for women so that women don't have to hear so many don'ts. It's been too long that women had been tiptoe around. It's a high time we took a step to create an environment which is generally everybody wanted to see a better life, a better environment, a better situation and safety for women in this country," Mini Mathur said.
New Delhi, Apr.11 (ANI): The Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) signed two memoranda of understanding with institutions of higher education of Canada and Armenia during two day International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day organized at Vigyan Bhawan here.

These MOUs were signed between CCRH and College of Homeopaths of Ontario, Canada and another between CCRH and the Yerevan State Medical University, Armenia.

Speaking on the occasion, Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for AYUSH, said homoeopathy has taken major scientific leaps in the past and its body of evidence is growing by the day.

Complimenting the CCRH for taking steps towards international cooperation in homeopathy education and research, Naik said that he saw the signing of the two MoUs as the beginning of many such bilateral cooperations in times to come.

The second day of International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day began with a session dedicated to the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr. Christian Samuel Hahnemann. A floral tribute was paid to the legendary figure by the chairs and discussants of the panel.

A session each on challenges in education in homoeopathy in India and the global scenario of education in homoeopathy was held. The panelists discussed the concerns and challenges in the global and Indian scenario of education in homoeopathy and how there could be standardization of education for accredited curriculum for education in homoeopathy.

Another session on drug validation and drug development explored the therapeutic potential of nosodes (homoeopathic drugs prepared from disease material) and discussed the idea of reinventing nosodes, by way of their preparation and application in clinical field. This session was chaired by Dr. Martien Brands from Netherland, Dr. Isaac Golden from Australia and Dr. Laxmikanta Nanda from India. Dr. S.M. Singh, Dr. J.D. Daryani and Dr. Anil Khurana were the discussants.

The speakers of the session on harmonization of pharmacopoeias and drug laws brought up many vital issues like regulation of homoeopathic medicines worldwide, need for a common international pharmacopoeia, pharmacopoeial standards on homoeopathic drugs vis-a-vis drug regulations and need for upgrading specifications of plant raw materials in homoeopathic pharmacy.

Biomolecular research in homoeopathy was another session at the convention, which was chaired by Dr. Anisur Rahman Khuda-Bukhsh, Prof. (Dr.) Carla Holandino Quaresma (Brazil) and Prof.(Dr.) Kanjaksha Ghosh. Dr. Surender Singh and Dr. Anil Khurana were the discussants.

After elaborate presentation on basic research updates by Dr. Peter Fisher, Editor, international journal - Homeopathy, presentation on topics ranging from homeo-genomic approach towards personalized therapy of cancer, hypertension and oxidative stress parameters of kidney by modulating enzyme hypertnsive rat model, anti heat shock effect of Cantharis 200 transported from one plant to another through capillary water, to protective role of Rhus toxicodendron 6c on cells of primary cell culture in relation to dengue virus infection and molecular level correlation between probable homoeopathic medicines and bio-samples of patients.

Besides these, there were several presentations on clinical research including latest research updates, and role of Homoeopathy in malaria, dengue, natural disasters, brain injuries, chronic ear infection, sciatica etc.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge launched the Tech Rocketship Awards 2016-17 at a GREAT for Collaboration event for young entrepreneurs. The awards aim to identify and support some of India's best and brightest start-ups, helping them to grow and internationalise their businesses.

Now in its third year, the Tech Rocketship Awards - an initiative by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in India - provides top Indian start-ups with expert business advice and support from leading professional services companies in the UK. This year the competition gets bigger and better: the ten most promising start-ups from the competition will win a week-long business trip to the UK. There they will meet venture capitalists, experienced industry leaders and entrepreneurs who will provide them with guidance on how to establish a firm footing abroad - starting with the UK.

At the official launch of the Tech Rocketship awards, Kumar Iyer, British Deputy High Commissioner Mumbai and Director General of UK Trade and Investment in India said:

"We are delighted to have the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge launch the Tech Rocketship Awards today. We're looking for the next batch of leading Indian entrepreneurs that will probably change the world through their technology. Some of the young entrepreneurs Their Royal Highnesses met today already have some truly amazing innovations.

At the awards launch The Duke and Duchess were highly impressed by the ideas, innovations and energy of all the young entrepreneurs they interacted with. The Duke and Duchess tried out a few letters on a Braille learning machine designed by Sanskriti Dawle, co-founder of Project Mudra and a winner of Tech Rocketship Awards. They were invited to view and try out a simulator of a Mahindra Formula E racing car, an example of UK-India technology collaboration. They also met Chris Sheldrick, Founder of What3Words, who partner with Indian social enterprise Pollinate to bring lighting to less privileged areas in Indian cities.

The launch of the awards by Their Royal Highnesses was followed by a pitching session where four young entrepreneurs showcased their innovations to a panel comprised of business leaders and icons of the entrepreneurial world. The panellists were Anand Mahindra; T.V. Mohandas Pai, of Aarin Capital; Saurabh Srivastava of the Indian Angel Network and young entrepreneur Shradha Sharma of YourStory a leading tech media platform. The event was hosted by Social, a hub for innovators and entrepreneurs during the day and a restaurant in the evening.

Mr. Mahindra said: "The UK is a hotbed of technology and we need to deploy that know-how in India. The Tech Rocketship Awards is exactly the platform that can give young Indian entrepreneurs access to the UK's prowess in this sphere. Mahindra group drives various initiatives to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship both within and outside Mahindra and we are creating a start-up ecosystem that allows it to leverage its strengths and create value for entrepreneurs. I am looking forward to judging the entries for the competition this year."

The awards are a GREAT for Collaboration initiative, aiming to link up fast growing Indian companies with potential UK Venture Capital and finance opportunities. The launch coincides with a delegation of UK Venture Capitalists to India.

Applications are open to entrepreneurs under 40 in India who have been operating a company created from the year 2000 onwards. One winner will be selected from each of five categories - Cleantech, EdTech, Fintech, Medtech and smart manufacturing - and a further five winners will be selected in the 'Judges Awards' section, from any sector. The winners will be announced at the -UK-India Technology Summit in New Delhi, in November 2016.

The UK provides an excellent platform for Indian companies to grow their businesses overseas, with world leading financial and professional services and a burgeoning technology sector.
Ten railway wagons with five lakh liters of water left from Miraj Junction railway station for Latur in Marathwada region on Monday.

On April 8, one of two goods trains carrying 50 wagons of water for drought-affected areas of Latur departed from Kota workshop for Miraj in Pune division.

The locals in the drought-hit Latur District of Maharashtra are forced to travel long distances for water, as it is experiencing an unprecedented water scarcity this summer.

According to the villagers, the administration sends limited water tankers to the village. The villagers either have to buy water or get them from the nearby farm. The women of the village have to bring water from across two kilometres. The villagers spent almost the whole day sourcing water.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier said that the state government and the railway ministry were working hard to bring relief to people in drought-affected region.
A policeman and a court staffer were injured when a hand grenade exploded inside the courtroom of an anti-terrorism court in Karachi on Monday.

The grenade exploded when an investigation officer was presenting it as case property, The Express Tribune quoted sources as saying.

The grenade had not been defused before bringing it to the court, the sources added.

Further details are awaited.
India and Maldives on Monday signed six agreements in different sectors including avoidance of double taxation, conservation and restoration of ancient mosque, tourism and defence.

The agreements were signed after comprehensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom at the Hyderabad House here.

The two sides inked a pact for avoidance of double taxation of income derived from International Air Transport. The agreement seeks to avoid double taxation of income derived from international air transport.

Both sides signed an agreement for the exchange of information with respect to taxes. The agreement envisages mutual assistance for exchange of information that is relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws concerning taxes covered by the Agreement. It also includes exchange of information relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation and prosecution of tax matters.

India and Maldives signed a bilateral agreement related to Orbit Frequency Coordination of "South Asia Satellite" proposed at 48oE. The agreement shall be used for the purpose of performing intersystem orbit-frequency coordination for the operation of 'South Asia Satellite'; and fulfilling ITU level regulatory requirements and obtaining international level protection/recognition for the 'South Asia Satellite'.

Both sides entered into an MoU for cooperation in the area of conservation and restoration of ancient mosques and joint research and exploratory surveys in Maldives. The MoU proposes to undertake conservation and restoration of ancient mosques and other historical monuments in Maldives. Detailed proposals for such projects will be developed by Archaeological Survey of India and Department of Heritage, Maldives.

India and Maldives also signed an MoU on cooperation in the field of tourism. The MoU envisages cooperation in areas of tourism including expansion of bilateral cooperation; exchange of information and data related to tourism; encouraging cooperation between tourism stakeholders including hotels and tour operators; establishing exchange programmes for cooperation in Human Resource Development; investment in the tourism and hospitality sectors; exchanging visits of tour operators/media/opinion makers for promotion of two way tourism; exchange of experience in the areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management; participation in travel fairs/exhibitions in each other's country; and promoting safe, honourable and sustainable tourism.

The two nations signed an action plan for defence cooperation. Action plan is in the context of defence cooperation being an important component of the India-Maldives bilateral relationship and the shared strategic and security interests of the two countries in the Indian Ocean region. The action plan envisages an institutional mechanism at the level of the Defence Secretaries to further bilateral defence cooperation.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that his country's missile programme was not up for negotiation with the United States.

"Defence capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran are not negotiable," the Dawn quoted Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying after a meeting with his Estonian counterpart Marina Kaljurand yesterday.

The Foreign Minister asserted that if Washington was serious about defence issues in the Middle East then it should stop supplying arms to Saudi Arabia and Israel.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had recently said that Washington and its partners were prepared to find new peaceful solutions to the issues Tehran has, but it should first clarify of being prepared to cease provocative ballistic missile launches and tests.

Zarif also hinted that regional US allies were among those quietly supporting the militant Islamic State group.

"The US needs to view regional issues more seriously than raise baseless and threadbare allegations against Iran. Mr Kerry should ask US allies where the Islamic State's arms come from," he said.
Islamic State (IS) militant group recaptured control of a northern town of Al Rai along Syria's border with Turkey on Monday, days after losing it to rebel forces and allied militants.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has claimed that the militant group captured Al Rai early on Monday morning after intense fighting for the frontier town, report Dawn.

Rami Abdurrahman, the Observatory's chief said Islamic State fighters also captured six villages near Al Rai. The militant group had lost the town last after Thursday after an offensive by rebels in which militant groups including Al Qaeda's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front allied with them.

Recapturing of Al Rai, which is strategically located on the border with Turkey, serving as access point to supply lines, shows the group's capability of launching counterattacks.

Recently, Islamic State has lost wide areas in Iraq and Syria including historic central town of Palmyra.
Jake Llyod aka Anakin Skywalker of 'Star Wars

The 27-year-old actor has been behind bars since June for taking cops on a chase that exceeded speeds of 100 mph, reports TMZ.com.

According to his mom Lisa, authorities reached the conclusion that he needed help more than punishment because he suffers from schizophrenia and hence this move has been taken.

Lisa says she spoke with the 'Unhook the Stars' star last week and can already see an improvement in his personality.

Reportedly, there is no timetable for his release. His family wants him to take his time to get healthy.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday visited the Hiroshima peace park, becoming the senior most US official to visit the site, more than 70 years after the city was devastated by the world's first atomic bombing.

Kerry laid a wreath at the cenotaph for the victims of the bombing. However, he did not offer an apology for the bombing, which killed around 1,40,000 Japanese.

The US Secretary of State's move may preclude a visit to the memorial by President Barack Obama next month during the G-7 Summit on May 26 and 27 in Japan.

"Everyone in the should see and feel the power of this memorial. It is a . harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all of our effort to avoid war itself. War must be the last resort - never the first choice," Kerry wrote in the guest book for the Hiroshima Peace memorial Museum, reports Guardian.

Prior to his visit, Kerry expressed hope to underscore to the the importance of peace and the importance of strong allies to help make the safer.

Kerry was in Hiroshima for the G-7 Foreign Ministers Meeting, where visiting diplomats have agreed to work in fighting terrorism.
The Constitutional Council (CC) has recommended senior-most Justice Sushila Karki as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Karki will be the country's first female chief of the judiciary, reports The Himalayan Times.

A meeting of the Constitutional Council, which was deferred earlier in the absence of Speaker Onsari Gharti, took the decision in the evening with her consent.

Karki will take charge once the President appoints her after the CC nod.

Karki's nomination is considered yet another milestone in women's leadership in the state mechanism.

Karki is known for her zero tolerance against corruption in the judiciary.
The Kerala Chief Medical Officer (CMO) on Monday confirmed that death toll in the tragic fire incident at the Puttingal temple in Kollam district has risen to 109.

Confirming this to ANI, he also said that 383 people have been injured in the devastating fire.

Meanwhile, a seven-member team led by Chief Controller Explosives Sudarshan Kamal is inspecting the site of temple fire tragedy.

Chandrakumar, the Circle Inspector of the Paravur Police Station, confirmed reports that the organisers of the event were denied permission for open display of fireworks.

"We have experts and they will be starting the enquiry. Apart from that the magisterial enquiry would be headed by the district collector and that is what I am associated with. That enquiry has to submit its report within five days," Chandrakumar told ANI.

"It is correct that we have denied permission for fireworks open display. Despite the fact the programme was conducted. That is what we have to enquire how they conducted it, how did they conceal the explosives, how they moved to this place and other things as well are to be ascertained," he added.

Earlier today, five people were detained in connection with the deadly inferno.

"Five people have been detained in connection with the fireworks show," Kerala Director General of Police (DGP) T.P. Senkumar told ANI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took stock of the inferno yesterday, sought a detailed report from the state administration as to how the fire broke out and caused damage to life and property on such a large scale.

after taking stock of the situation in Kollam, Prime Minister Modi said that he had assured Chief Minister Oommen Chandy of complete aid from the Centre and added that assistance would be provided if the serious patients need to be shifted to Mumbai or New Delhi for further treatment.

"The incident that happened today is extremely saddening. Nobody can imagine that death can come in such a manner. So many people have been severely injured that too on such a large scale. I visited the site of the incident today, went to the hospitals where the injured have been admitted and also spoke to the Chief Minister," Prime Minister Modi told the media outside the burns intensive unit of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.

A team of 15 burn specialist doctors from All India Institute of Medical Science and other hospitals from Delhi accompanied the Prime Minister to Kollam.

Preliminary inquiries by the police revealed that sparks from an ignited high-intensity pyrotechnic display spread to a storehouse (Kambapura) adjoining the temple, where a large cache of explosives was stored, resulting in a massive blast.
In the backdrop of screaming headlines on the 'Panama Papers' and some prominent Indian entities and individuals figuring among them, as much as USD 1.32 billion (about Rs. 9,000 crore) was remitted out of India in a perfectly legal way under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), apex industry body ASSOCHAM stated today.

Of USD 1.32 billion remitted by individual residents in the fiscal 2014-15, the maximum remittance took place under the gift head (USD403 million), followed by 'Studies abroad' (USD 277.1 million) and 'Maintenance of close relatives' (USD 174 million). Investment in equity/debt amounted to USD 195.5 million, according to the RBI data accessed by the ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau.

"Instead of seeing all the remittances abroad with a needle of suspicion in the context of the so-called Panama Papers, we must realize a fair amount of liberal foreign exchange regime is in operation and which is how it should be," ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said.

He said, "Let us not pre-judge the outcome of the investigations being done by a multi-agency government team. It would certainly find out what is permissible and what is not."

As per the Master Circular of the RBI, investment under the LRS is permitted in several activities including acquisition of shares or debt instruments, immovable property outside India, up to USD 2,50,000 per year, without prior approval of the central bank. Moreover, remittances under the scheme can be consolidated in respect of family members subject to individual family members complying with its terms and conditions.

Besides, resident individuals can set up Joint Ventures (JV)/Wholly Owned Subsidiaries (WOS) outside India for bonafide activities within the overall limit of USD 2,50,000.

Under the RBI scheme authorized dealers may freely allow remittances by resident individuals up to USD 2,50,000 per financial year (April-March) for any permitted current or capital account transactions or a combination of both.

Since some reports suggested how money was remitted abroad for acquisition of expensive paintings etc, it must be noted that the LRS eminently allows such a proposition. According to the RBI Master Circular, "Remittances under the Scheme can be used for purchasing objects of art."

A resident individual can invest in units of mutual funds, venture capital funds, unrated debt securities, promissory notes etc. under this scheme. Further, the resident can invest in such securities out of the bank account opened abroad under the Scheme.
It seems Madonna has struck some custody deal with Guy Ritchie with regard to their son Rocco.

Ritchie recently dropped Rocco off to visit her at her home in London, reports TMZ.com.

The 57-year-old pop star flew to England a few days ago, which initially seemed a business trip, but it now appears that she and the 47-year-old filmmaker followed the judge's orders and came up with some sort of visitation arrangement.

The 15-year-old has been living with his father in London since December 1 after bailing on the 'Like a Prayer' hit-maker's tour. He says he wants to live with his dad, and Madonna had been fighting that tooth and nail.
At least one person was killed while 40 others injured when a passenger bus met with an accident in Jaleshwor of Mahottari on Monday.

The District Police Office of Mahottari said the deceased is yet to be identified.

Police Inspector Rabindra Khanal informed that among the 40 injured, seven are critical and are receiving medical attention at the Janakpur Zonal Hospital, Janakpurdham.

The police suspect that high speed of the vehicle might be the cause of the accident.

Further details are yet to be ascertained.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kisan Morcha will organize a meeting of farmers in New Delhi today to highlight the NDA government's initiatives for them.

BJP Chief Amit Shah will inaugurate the event and Unions Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and his deputy Sanjeev Baliyan will also address the meet.

Earlier, the party had organized such farmers' rallies in Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka in February.

BJP Kisan Morcha President Vijaypal Singh Tomar said that the government has decided to help double the income of farmers by 2022 and the Union budget this year has also put focus on pro-farmer schemes and maximum thrust on the farm sector.

Kisan morcha has branded the new crop insurance scheme of the NDA government as a 'historic' step.
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will visit New Delhi on April 13 during which he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This follows up on their first encounter in Paris in April 2015.

In the course of his stay in Delhi, Sarkozy will pay tribute to the Mahatma at Gandhi Smriti.

He will also have meetings with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Sarkozy will interact with business representatives at a conference organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in partnership with the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI).

Indo-French relations received a boost in 2015 with high level engagements and expansion of the already strong cooperation. Prime Minister Modi paid a landmark visit to France from April 9-12 last year.

Prime Minister Modi and French President Francois Hollande held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2015. They again met in Paris on November 30, 2015 at the Leaders' Event of CoP-21 (21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris.

There has been a significant progress in bilateral relations through regular ministerial and official visits and exchanges in strategic areas of security, defence, nuclear energy, space as well as in other areas of bilateral cooperation like science and technology, culture, education.

France has continued to support India's permanent membership of the UN Security Council and multilateral export control regimes like the NSG, MTCR.
Despite challenges in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the polio virus is still endemic, the Health Organisation (WHO) is confident that polio could be eradicated within 12 months.

"We absolutely need to keep the pressure up, but we think we could reach the point where we have truly interrupted the transmission at the end of the year or the end of the low season [winter] next year," Guardian quoted WHO's director of polio eradication Michel Zaffran as saying.

If wiped out, the polio virus will become the only second human-hosted virus to be eradicated since smallpox ended in 1980.

Just nine cases of the virus have been recorded this year so far, two in Afghanistan and seven in Pakistan.

"It is going to be an extraordinary achievement. This has been an ongoing effort since 1988. We started with 150 countries and we are now just down to two countries and nine cases [so far this year]," said Zaffran.

Ever since the global polio eradication initiative started in 1988, thousands of children from across the were saved from wild polio virus that paralysed them.

The WHO has been concentrating in key areas known to be reservoirs for the virus, Karachi city in Pakistan and two cross-border corridors, around Quetta Block and in the Peshawar district.

However, Zaffran asserted that 32 out of 47 districts in Afghanistan were under the control of anti-government forces that have been prioritised for vaccination and surveillance.
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton on Sunday offered their condolences over the devastating inferno in Kerala's Kollam district which charred around 105 people.

"Kate and I would like to offer all condolences to all those affected by the terrible fire at the temple in Kollam. I know all of you in this room will join us in the sentiments," Prince William said at the Bollywood gala night at the iconic Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai.

The royal couple attended a glittering reception alongside some of the biggest names in business and Bollywood like Shahrukh Khan and Aishwariya Rai Bachchan.

At least 105 people were charred to death in a fire accident at Puttingal temple during a festival at Paravur in Kollam district early on Sunday morning. More than 350 people have been injured and admitted to various hospitals.
With women being allowed to worship in the inner sanctum of the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, the Shankaracharya of Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati on Monday said that this would result in increase of rape incidents.

"Women entered Shani temple's inner sanctum. The women are worshipping Shani in the temple. By doing so, Shani's eyes would fall on women and this would result in increase of rape incidents," Swaroopanand Saraswati said.

Bowing to the Bombay High Court order, the temple trust had last week broke the 400 years tradition and announced that both men and women will henceforth be allowed to enter the inner sanctum and offer their prayers.

The Bhumata Brigade cadres led by Trupti Desai offered prayers at the sanctum sanctorum of the temple following the decision.
Asserting that India's economic development is incomplete without the progress of its neighbours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said a stable and secure Maldives is in New Delhi's strategic interest.

Prime Minister Modi said progress, security and economic development is at the core of India-Maldives relations.

The Prime Minister, who held talks with visiting Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom at the Hyderabad House here, said India is conscious of the security needs of Maldives, adding the island nation will be sensitive to its strategic and security interests.

He said India understands its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean and is ready to protect its strategic interests in this region.

The Prime Minister also called for cooperation between the security agencies of both countries to tackle the menace of rising radicalisation of youth and terrorism.

The Maldives President in his statement said India is his country's most important friend, adding ties between the two nations are based in civilizational roots.

He said that efforts are being made to improve country's economy.

India and Maldives today signed six agreements in different sectors, including avoidance of double taxation, conservation and restoration of ancient mosque, tourism and defence.

As close and friendly neighbours, India and Maldives share ethnic, linguistic, cultural, religious and commercial links steeped in antiquity and enjoy cordial and multidimensional relations. India was among the first to recognise Maldives after its independence in 1965 and to establish diplomatic relations with the country. India established its mission at Male in 1972.

Bilateral relations have been nurtured and strengthened by regular contacts at all levels.

India and Maldives have consistently supported each other in multilateral fora such as the UN, the Commonwealth, the NAM and the SAARC.
The Shankaracharya of Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth, Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, on Monday made yet another controversial comment, saying that worshipping the 'unworthy' Sai Baba is the reason for the present drought-like situation in Maharashtra.

"Sai is not worthy of worshipping. People are putting the idols of Hanuman and Ganesh on the legs of Sai and this is happening extensively in Maharashtra. Wherever these kinds of things take place, such calamities take place," said Swaroopanand Saraswati.

"The result of this has caused this havoc in Maharashtra. Sai Baba is revered in Maharashtra especially Shirdi. That's why drought has occurred. Worshipping Sai would not give relief to situations like this. Sai worshipping should be stopped and instead Ganesh should be worshipped," he added.

Shankaracharya had earlier in 2014 disapproved Sai Baba's worship and asked the Hindus to remove his photographs and idols from temples.
Disney's 'The Jungle Book' made a terrific business in the opening weekend, after its release on April 8, marking it to be the second highest Box-Office collection after Akshay kumar starrer 'Airlift.'

According to movie critic Taran Adarsh, the movie "had 33.89 percent growth on Saturday over Friday and 64.42 percent growth on Sunday over Friday."

"#TheJungleBook emerges 2nd BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND of 2016, after #Airlift. Fri 10.09 cr, Sat 13.51 cr, Sun 16.59 cr. Total: ? 40.19 cr nett," tweeted Adarsh.

"The terrific biz of #TheJungleBook proves that strong content + smart marketing can work wonders at the BO," his other tweet said.

"#TheJungleBook continues its REMARKABLE run. Witnesses SPLENDID growth on Sun. All set to cross ? 50 cr mark on weekdays itself...," he added.

Viewers loved each and every single frame of the movie and they were all praises for Neel Sethi, the child actor who played Mowgli and were moved by the never-before-seen special effects.

Since people in India are very closely associated with the wildlife chronicle, The Jungle Book looks all set to rake in massive moolah in the days to come.
At least three Indian students studying in Uzhgorod Medical College were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals on Sunday.

Two students Pranav Shaindilya, hailing from Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar city and Ankur Singh from Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad city succumbed to their injuries while the third Indrajeet Singh Chauhan from Uttar Pradesh's Agra city is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Based on Chauhan's statement, the police have apprehended the Ukrainian nationals, who were trying to cross the Ukrainian border.

The police have reportedly also recovered passports and documents of the three Indian students and blood-stained knife from the fleeing students.

Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Indian embassy in Kiev has been informed about the incident.

"Our Embassy in Kiev was informed of this incident around 1100 hrs on 10 April 2016, and has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts," Swarup said.

"The Embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine," he added.
At least two government employees of the Ministry of Education (MoE) were killed and five others injured in a roadside mine blast in Kabul on Monday.

MoE spokesman Mujib Mehrdad said that the incident took place in Bagrami district of Kabul when a staff bus of the ministry hit a roadside mine, reports Tolo news.

Mehrdad , however, did not provide any further details.

No group, including the Taliban militants, has claimed responsibility for the incident so far.

Today's blast comes two days after Kabul city was hit by rocket attack which did not incur any casualties.
US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Olson, has urged Islamabad to influence and bring the Taliban to the negotiation table using its leverage.

"Pakistan has been a very good partner on peace process issues. We encourage Pakistan to use its leverage and influence to help bring Taliban to the table [of negotiations]," Olson told Tolo news in an interview yesterday.

Highlighting the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meetings and recent efforts made are a step forward in bringing peace and development to the country, Olson asserted that Islamabad was critical to the peace process.

"I think Pakistan is critical to the peace process and we commend the approach that both the government of Afghanistan and the government of Pakistan have taken to come together on peace issues," he added.

Olson, who has been Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan for the past six months, assured Washington's support in bringing peace in Afghanistan.

"The United States is committed to an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process. All the members of the quad, including Afghanistan have signaled that they are prepared to enter the peace process without any pre-conditions, but unfortunately, the Taliban have not taken up the offer to come to the table," he said.

His statement comes in wake of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday where the latter asserted his government's commitment in fulfilling its promises and leaving no stone unturned in bringing peace in his country.
With the polling currently underway for the second part of the assembly polls in West Bengal, violence has already hit the elections despite the heavy security deployed in the state.

A crude bomb was hurled in Bankura district by unidentified men this morning but there were no casualties and two bags carrying bombs were also found in Jamuria district.

Meanwhile, unidentified men were also seen walking about with loaded pistols in their hands.

Earlier, five people were injured after a clash broke out between the CPI (M) and the TMC workers in Jamuria, where one victim is said to be critical.

One of the CPI (M) workers, who got injured in the incident, alleged that three to four workers of the TMC thrashed them with lathis.

"They started beating us with lathis. The police did not come as we were being beaten," he said.

In another incident, a CPI (M) polling agent was hospitalised after being allegedly attacked by TMC workers at a polling booth in Chandrakona.

Meanwhile, voters were seen queuing up in long lines from the wee hours, showing their eagerness to cast their votes in the state, which is undergoing polls for its 31 constituencies in the polls.

A total of 163 candidates, including 21 women, are contesting in 31 seats of West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan districts.

All the seats are mainly poised for a triangular contest between the ruling Trinamul Congress, BJP and the Left-Congress combine candidates.

BJP and TMC have put up candidates on all the 31 seats. The CPI-M candidates are contesting on 19 leaving one seat each for CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc and 8 for Congress.

Congress' ten time nonagenarian MLA and former minister Gyan Singh Sohanpal and state BJP chief Dilip Kumar Ghosh are locked on Kharagpur Sadar seat while prominent CPI-M candidate Surjya Kanta Mishra and Congress leader Manas Bhunia are trying to retain Naraingarh and Sabang seats, respectively.

Pingla, Bishnupur and Asansol Uttar are also among the key constituencies in this round of polling as three members of the outgoing Mamata cabinet are locked in three-cornered fight.

In all, 350 companies of Central security forces have been deployed to ensure peaceful, free and fair voting. State Additional CEO Dibyendu Sarkar said that Central forces have been deployed at all the polling stations to ensure free and fair polling.

The local police will maintain the voters' queues outside the booths. Interstate borders along the three districts have been sealed and aerial surveillance started as parts of the constituencies, spread in Paschim Medinipur and Bankura have been categorized as very sensitive from the security angle.

Online monitoring through mobile van mounted live feeding cameras and CCTVs will be done by the Election Commission. Several model polling stations and all women poling centres have been arranged for convenience of the voters.
The second part of the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls witnessed a voter turnout of 59.78% till 1 p.m. on Monday.

The turnout by the voters in the state was 20% till 9 a.m.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called on the voters from both Assam and West Bengal to cast their votes in large numbers.

"Requesting all those voting in Assam & West Bengal today to cast their vote in large numbers," the Prime Minister tweeted today.

Meanwhile, voters were seen queuing up in long lines from the wee hours, showing their eagerness to cast their votes.
Loans sanctioned by these Banks & FIs for RE Projects are 18.63% of Commitments Made at RE-Invest 2015

40 Banks & Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) have sanctioned an amount of Rs 71,201.54 crore to finance the various renewable energy projects and disbursed Rs 29,529.57 crore against the sanctioned amount since February 2015 till 21 March 2016. This a part of commitment made by them during RE-INVEST 2015.

In RE-INVEST 2015, 40 major Banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) [Public, Private Sector Banks &NBFCs and Foreign Banks operating in India] committed to provide debt funding to Renewable Energy Projects aggregating to over 78.75 GW during the span of next five years. Loans sanctioned by these Banks & FIs for RE projects are 18.63% of commitments made.

The commitments made by country's Banks & NBFCs to finance RE projects and agreements with Foreign Banks& FIs to provide low cost and on long term funding are expected to boost the growth of the Indian renewable energy sector.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had organized First Renewable Energy Global Investor Meet and Expo (RE-INVEST 2015) from 15-17 February 2015 in New Delhi. RE-INVEST 2015 saw RE capacity commitments of over 283 GW from stakeholders. Further, there was commitment of over 62 GW of manufacturing of RE equipment in India.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy have been getting monthly status reports on achievements made so far by the Banks &NBFCs who have given commitments to finance RE bankable projects.

The Government has set an ambitious target of 175 GW of Renewable Energy capacities by 2022. Achieving this target require capital outlay of US $ 160 billion including equity of US $ 40 billion. In addition, huge investment is required for transmission; up-gradation of infrastructure in order to utilize power generated though Renewable Energy sources. As such Banks & NBFCs have to play a major role to provide low cost and long term financing for these projects.

Over the last few years some private banks in India have signed deals with development banks to provide loans at concessional rates. The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is also providing loans at low rates following its recent agreements with banks like KfW, AFD, Nordic Investment Bank, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

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Telecom major Bharti Airtel said it will pay Rs 3500 crore to acquire rights to use 4G spectrum of Aircel in eight telecom circles. Bharti Airtel and its subsidiary, Bharti Hexacom, have on 8 April 2016 entered into a definitive agreements with Aircel and its subsidiaries Dishnet Wireless and Aircel Cellular (together Aircel) to acquire rights to use 20 megahertz (MHz) 2300 Band 4G TD spectrum for eight circles namely, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai); Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam, North East, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa at an aggregate consideration of Rs 3500 crore. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 8 April 2016.

The spectrum was allotted to Aircel and Dishnet by the Government of India, Ministry of Communication & IT, Department of Telecommunication (DoT) and is valid upto 20 September 2030. The transfer of the right to use for the circles of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa is subject to the revision of spectrum caps with the upcoming auction to be conducted by DoT. With the above acquisition, Bharti Airtel will become pan India 4G operator. The closing of the transaction is subject to satisfaction of the standard conditions as are normal to such transactions, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

Tata Steel announced after market hours on Friday, 8 April 2016, that it completed the year ended March 2016 with an overall increase in production and sales volumes. The year registered its best ever performance in hot metal, crude steel, saleable steel production and total sales. Hot Metal production rose 1.42% to 27.14 lakh tonnes in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. Crude Steel production rose 4.88% to 25.60 lakh tonnes in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. Saleable Steel production rose 6.57% to 25.46 lakh tonnes in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015.

Infosys will be watched. Aberdeen Asset Management Asia has reduced its shareholding in Infosys by selling 56.26 lakh shares, or 0.24% equity, in the IT major on 7 April 2016. Aberdeen Asset Management Asia now holds 7.01 crore shares, or 3.04% stake in Infosys. The disclosure was made after market hours on Friday, 8 April 2016.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries announced on Saturday, 9 April 2016, that one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has received approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its non-steroid drug BromSite used to treat inflammation and prevent pain in patients undergoing cataract surgery.

Rupa & Company announced after market hours on Friday, 8 April 2016, that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Oban Fashions, on 7 April 2016, entered into a definitive license agreement with French Connection to develop, manufacture and sell innerwear and related products with the brand name 'FCUK' in India.

Bannari Amman Sugars announced on Saturday, 9 April 2016, that its board will meet on 25 April 2016 to consider a proposal to take over Madras Sugars by way of amalgamation.

Narayana Hrudayalaya announced on Saturday, 9 April 2016, that it commenced operations at its newest hospital "Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital" in Katra at Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir on 8 April 2016.

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Central Council for Research in homoeopathy (CCRH) has signed two MOUs with institutions of higher education of Canada and Armenia.

These MOUs between CCRH and College of Homeopaths of Ontario, Canada and another between CCRH and Yerevan State Medical University, Armenia, were signed during two day International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day.

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The farmers have worked hard and produced enough food grains in spite of adverse circumstances- Shri Singh

Union Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that government is taking concrete steps to remove debt problems of the farmers. He further said that Government has increased Agricultural Credit target Rs. 9 lakh crore for the year 2016-17 to bring the farmers within institutional fold. He added that government is taking long term measures to remove the problems of the farmers.

Shri Singh observed that inspite of a severe loss to the crops owing to unseasonable rainfall, hailstorm and other natural calamities, the whole food grain production which was 252.02 million tons in 2014-15 as per second advance estimate (15 February 2016), it has been increased to 253.16 million tones on 2015-16. He said that, the government has to double the farmers income in the next five years as is announced in the budget 2016-17. Hon'ble Prime Minister has suggested 7 points to achieve the target.

Increase in Production: The Government has increased budgetary provision in irrigation sector. Government aims at 'more crop per drop'. Government policy is focused on water preservation and irrigation. Government is working hard to increase the productions of other crops along-with paddy and oilseeds.

More income less input: We can get higher productivity from the seeds when it get right amount of nutrients from the soil. Soil health card scheme can help in this regard. We are providing useful information to the farmers. In this programme, farmers will invest less and get more. It is necessary to regularize the cost of farming and to maintain the productivity of crops. Soil health promotion programme has been initiated for the preservation of soil health.

Government has decided last year to produce only neem coated urea so that plants get nutrients easily. Rs 20,000 per acre are being provided to the farmers to encourage them to adopt organic farming.

To increase the income of farmers by reducing their marketing expenditure: A national agriculture market is being set up for electronic trading. In this programme, 585 agriculture mandis of India will be connected to each other. The farmers will get maximum price of their crops and the interference of mediators will be reduced to a greater extent. Direct foreign investment is also being encouraged in this field.

Agriculture risk security: Under Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana, the farmers will be benefited on account of natural calamities like storms, earthquake and cyclone etc.

To reduce post-production losses production: The government of India has promoted region based strategy according to the climatic diversity of every state and region by implementing unified Horticulture Development Mission so as to develop horticulture sector as a whole. Under this mission, the government aims to promote technical setup, extension of area under horticulture crops, post-harvest management, processing and marketing etc. India ranks second on global scenario in horticultural crops after China.

Value addition: Government is promoting processed food industry so as to make value addition in agricultural products. Not only this, but government is also chalking out its programme through different schemes to increase the production of fruits and vegetables and its processing with assistance of Ministry of Food Processing Industry. The government aims to increase it to 25% by 2025 in comparison of 10% in existing scenario.

Auxiliary Activities: With Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision, this task will be executed partly through livestock, dairy, poultry, bee keeping, agriculture ponds and fisheries. Simultaneously, the efforts are being made to increase the income of farmers by planting trees in fields and installing solar panels there.

Shri Singh informed that to increase availability of seeds in north east states, National Seeds Corporation had asked Govt of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar to provide land to establish production centres. West Bengal and Jharkhand have given land and it is hoped that Bihar will do the same. Minister also said that to establish an institution like Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar were requested to provide land. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have given land and it is hoped that Bihar will provide the land for the same.

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Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in compliance with the Supreme Court directions dated 13 May 2015 has constituted a three member committee to address the issues related to Content Regulation in Government Advertising. The committee would be chaired by Shri B. B. Tandon, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India and members of the committee includes Shri Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV and President of the Broadcasters Association and Shri Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director, South Asia, Ogilvy & Mather.

The three member committee was selected by a three member panel constituted by Ministry of I&B after obtaining advice from Ministry of Law & Justice. The selection panel for constitution of the Committee was headed by Justice (Retd.) Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, Chairman, Press Council of India. The Terms of Reference of the Committee has been prepared by Ministry of I&B in consultation with Ministry of Law and Justice which includes the structure, functions and powers, duties and responsibilities of the Committee.

Supreme Court had directed to constitute the body for ironing out the creases that are bound to show from time to time in implementation of the judgement of Apex Court on Content Regulation of Government Advertising.

As per the Terms of Reference, the Committee would, inter-alia, address complaints from the general public of violation on the implementation of the guidelines set out by Hon'ble Supreme Court. The Committee would also take suo motu cognizance of any violation / deviation of the guidelines of Hon'ble Supreme Court and recommend corrective action to the Ministry /Department. The Committee may recommend suitable changes to the Supreme Court guidelines to deal with new circumstances and situations that may arise from time to time, without making major policy changes within the policy direction of Supreme Court. The Committee shall not be bound by any legal rules of evidence and may follow such procedure that appears to it to be fair and proper for swift settlement of grievances. For all decisions of the Committee, the view of majority would prevail.

The tenure of the members would be initially for a period of two years which shall be extendable by one year at a time, but overall extension should not be more than two times. The Committee would be operational from Delhi and Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity would facilitate day to day functioning of the Committee.

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Need to invest $4 bn in PPP mode to combat cyber crime

India's expenditure only on security could reach $1 billion (bn) by 2019 assuming if Centre spends even 10 per cent of its budget of $1 bn allocated for AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) and Smart Cities Mission, according to a recent ASSOCHAM-Mahindra SSG joint study.

India needs to at least $4 bn in public-private partnership (PPP) mode to address cybercrime related challenges at both individual and organisational levels including cyber sexual harassment, cyber bullying, information theft, defacing website, inflicting servers with viruses and others, noted the study titled 'New Age Crime' conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) jointly with Mahindra SSG.

The investment amount of $4 billion could be spread across upgrading technology, training cyber professionals, counselling of victims, creating cyber cells and others.

With a view to increase the level of security across the country, India must spend at least $15 per citizen on homeland and border security on public-private partnership basis with total expenditure amounting to $15 billion (bn) by 2019, suggested the ASSOCHAM-Mahindra SSG study.

This will compliment India's existing scheme of insurance for every citizen, as it would be a proactive step, it added.

United States of America (USA) had incurred losses worth $3 trillion during 9/11 attacks while Al-Qaeda had spend only about $0.5 million for executing its plan. As such, post 9/11 the US increased its expenditure on security. It had allocated $1,900 per citizen for its 318 million people with a total budget of $602 bn in 2015.

The study added that India, which has experienced similar issues in the past, would be able to evolve further if it followed in the footsteps of countries like the USA.

Highlighting the huge dearth of cyber security professionals in India, the study has suggested for moving some existing resources in technology space working for government to lead cyber security projects. This way government projects will have some stability in this space.

It also emphasised upon the need for a pragmatic approach for securing people, data and processes.

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Infosys fell 1.10% to Rs 1,154.50 at 10:02 IST on BSE after Aberdeen Asset Management Asia pared its stake in the company.

The disclosure was made after market hours on Friday, 8 April 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 59.66 points or 0.24% at 24,614.18.

On BSE, so far 27,000 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 6.99 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,167 and a low of Rs 1,153 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,249.90 on 4 April 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 932.55 on 10 July 2015.

Aberdeen Asset Management Asia has reduced its shareholding in Infosys by selling 56.26 lakh shares, or 0.24% equity, in the IT major on 7 April 2016. Aberdeen Asset Management Asia now holds 7.01 crore shares, or 3.04% stake in Infosys.

Infosys will announce its Q4 March 2016 result on 15 April 2016. The company's consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rose 2% to Rs 3465 crore on 1.7% increase in revenue to Rs 15902 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q2 September 2015.

Infosys is a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions.

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Hands over Toll Plaza and project facilities to NHAI

MEP Infrastructure Developers announced that one of the Company's Subsidiary viz MEP Chennai Bypass Toll Road ("SPV and/or Concessionaire") had entered into the concession agreement with National Highways Authority of India ("NHAI") on 14 January 2013 for Operation and Maintenance of Chennai Bypass section from Km 0.00 to Km 32.600 in the State of Tamil Nadu on OMT basis -OMT package No NHAI/OMT/ Pkg 15/2011. The Commercial Operation Date (COD) for the Project was achieved on 14 May 2013.

Post COD, during the operating period, various disputes arose on account of mainly evasion of toll and fee rule notification, between the Concessionaire and Authority. Under the orders of the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi, both the Concessionaire & Authority were directed to amicably settle the disputes. As a part of the amicable settlement Independent Engineer has evaluated the claims made by the Concessionaire from time to time. However, final settlement on the same is yet to conclude.

As part of the settlement, the Concessionaire, has handed over the Project Facilities & the Toll Plaza's to the NHAI from 09 April 2016 at 00.00 hours. The Settlement of claims will be dealt as per the provisions of the Concession Agreement.

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The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), under Ministry of Science & Technology, has entered into a license agreement with M/s Ramashree Chemicals, Bhopal for commercialisation of Test kit for Microbiological Quality of Drinking Water developed by Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior, DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India.

The company plans to take this technology across the country through a network of dealers. The kit has been licensed to more than 20 companies in India so far and is useful to ascertain the quality of drinking water especially in developing countries.

The kit is used for detection of H2S producing organism in drinking water, which are present along with coliforms. Waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera, diarrhoea and jaundice are caused by polluted water supply.

It is an inexpensive, reliable and convenient method of testing in field conditions and is approved by World Health Organization (WHO). The initiative of NRDC aids the Make in India Mission of the Government of India.

The formal license agreement was signed by CMD, NRDC Dr. H. Purushotham, and General Manager, M/s Ramashree Chemicals Shri V K Joshi.

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Rupa & Company was locked at 20% upper circuit at Rs 329.40 at 09:54 on BSE, after the company's wholly-owned subsidiary entered into a definitive license agreement with French Connection.

The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 8 April 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 29.86 points or 0.12% at 24,643.98

On BSE, so far 19,405 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 2,669 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit as high of Rs 329.40 and a low of Rs 305.10 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 451.30 on 1 June 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 201.10 on 8 May 2015. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 8 April 2016, gaining 4.57% compared with 0.06% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 7.95% as against Sensex's 1.04% fall.

The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 7.95 crore. Face value per share is Re 1.

Rupa & Company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Oban Fashions, had on 7 April 2016, entered into a definitive license agreement with French Connection to develop, manufacture, market and sell innerwear and related products with the brand name 'FCUK' in India.

Rupa & Company's net profit rose 78.4% to Rs 14.09 crore on 27.2% growth in net sales to Rs 225.41 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014.

Rupa & Company is a leading undergarments manufacturer and a leading hosiery and knitwear company in India

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On 08 April 2016

Scooters India announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 08 April 2016, had noted the appointment of Vinita Srivastava, Director, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India as Chairman & Managing Director, SIL vice Rajesh Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India w.e.f. 23 February 2016.

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Outcome of board meeting of Swelect Energy Systems

Swelect Energy Systems announced that the Company participated in KREDL Solar Power Project announced by Karnataka Government recently. Under the DCR Category eligible for Karnataka based Solar Module manufacturers, the Company submitted the bid and won a 10 MW Solar Power project.

The Board of Directors at their meeting held on 11 April 2016 have approved the proposal of acquiring 100% equity share capital of SWELECT Power Systems (SPSPL) at Face Value for utilizing the said Company (SPSPL) as SPV for the above 10 MW Project from execution to operation and maintenance and passed necessary resolutions accordingly

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Shareholders of the TAPI Pipeline Company (TPCL) signed an Investment Agreement witnessed by petroleum ministers and senior government officials of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and senior Asian Development Bank (ADB) officials. The TAPI pipeline will pave the way for the delivery of sustainable natural gas supplies to India.

The Investment Agreement provides an initial budget of over $200 million to fund the next phase of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline. This includes funding for detailed engineering and route surveys, environmental and social safeguard studies, and procurement and financing activities, to enable a final investment decision, after which construction can begin. Construction is estimated to take up to 3 years.

TAPI is a partnership that will bring about economic integration and prosperity in the region. It will not only provide a long-term and sustainable gas supply to India but also allow the country to improve its energy supply mix, said K.

D. Tripathi, Secretary of India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

TPCL will build, own, and operate the TAPI pipeline, which once completed, will transport up to 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Turkmenistan for the next 30 years. The pipeline stretches about 1,600 kilometers from the Afghan/Turkmen border to the Pakistan/Indian border

TAPI exemplifies ADB's key role in promoting regional cooperation and integration over the past 20 years. It will unlock economic opportunities, transform infrastructure, diversify the energy market for Turkmenistan, and enhance energy security for the region, said Sean O'Sullivan, Director General of ADB's Central and West Asia Department.

Acting as TAPI secretariat since 2003 and as transaction advisor since 2013, ADB has been instrumental in the progress of the TAPI pipeline to date. In the latter role, ADB helped establish TPCL, select Turkmengaz as consortium leader, and finalize the Shareholders and Investment Agreements.

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Twelve guerrillas of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have surrendered to the police along with their arms and ammunition, a police officer said here on Monday.

"Ten NLFT militants along with their two associates fled their Bangladeshi hideout last week and crossed over to Tripura before surrendering to the superintendent of police (special branch) Arindam Nath on Sunday in Tripura's border village Bhandarima," the officer said.

The militants were accompanied by 20 family members, including eight children, he said.

The militants were brought here late Sunday night and were being interrogated by police and intelligence officials, he said.

They also surrendered one self-loading rifle and an AK-47 rifle, six loaded magazines, three China-made grenades and a large cache of ammunition and sharp weapons.

Border Security Force (BSF) officials were present during the surrender of the NLFT militants.

The NLFT was currently short of funds and the condition of the lower rank cadres was miserable, BSF's Deputy Commandant Lakshya Mehta said in a statement.

"The frequent joint operations by the Bangladesh Army and Border Guard Bangladesh in Rangamati and Khagrachari districts (in mountainous southeastern Bangladesh) are also creating a huge problem for the outfit in hiding and free movement," Mehta said.

He said the surrender was a big jolt for the NLFT especially at a time when the outfit is plagued by a funds crunch, disillusioned cadres and frequent rifts.

Members of NLFT and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) undergo arms training in hideouts and covert camps in various parts of Bangladesh, which shares an 856 km border with Tripura.

Banned in 1997 by the central government, the two outfits advocate secession of Tripura from India. However, ATTF has become almost defunct due to the surrender of most of its cadres.

Tripura and union home ministry officials held two rounds of talks last year with the NLFT after the rebel group expressed willingness to hold peace parleys.
A total of 22 Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists were killed on Sunday during clashes and bomb attacks in Iraq's western province of Anbar, according to security sources.

Meanwhile, hundreds of families returned to their homes in the provincial capital city of Ramadi after it was freed from control, Xinhua quoted security sources as saying.

Security forces and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal fighters fought fierce battles against terrorists as part of their offensive campaign aiming to drive out fighters of the terrorist organisation from the town of Heet, 160 kilometres west of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Read more from our special coverage on "ISIS"

The troops gained more ground in Heet as they took control of the Al-Qal'a and Ummal districts, the source said without giving further details concerning casualties.

However, fierce street fighting continued in Heet, supported by the US-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft in order to liberate remaining ISIS-controlled districts from in the western parts of the town, the source added.

Six soldiers were killed and 13 were injured during one incident, as eight landmines exploded whilst an army convoy was passing through Hamam Street in central Heet, destroying four military vehicles as well, the source said.
At least 27 militants were killed in air strikes in Kunduz and Nangarhar province of Afghanistan over the past two days, official sources said on Monday.

At least 16 militants were killed in a series of air strikes conducted against Taliban hideouts in northern Kunduz province on Monday, Xinhua quoted a security official as saying.

Air strikes were conducted against Islamic State loyalist in Achin district of the eastern Nangarhar province which left 11 people killed on Sunday, the official said.

The security forces backed by NATO-led Resolute Support troops also captured 10 Taliban fighters including group commander Mullah Dad Gul in Kunduz on Monday, the official added.

Taliban militants who have been fighting the government forces are yet to make comment.

Dasht-e-Archi and the neighbouring Chardara and Imam Sahib districts have been regarded as Taliban hotbed in the northern Kunduz province.
Actor Abhishek Bachchan, who will celebrate the ninth anniversary of his marriage to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, says the one thing he really loves about his wife is her "unconditional" love.

Abhishek, who has scored nine million fans on Twitter, was treating his fans and well-wishers to a Question and Answer session on the website, when a user asked him about that one best thing he adores about the former beauty queen.

"She loves unconditionally," the "Paa" star replied.

Abhishek married Aishwarya in 2007 and together, they have a daughter named Aaradhya, who was born in November 2011.

Another user asked the "Refugee" star about his debut in southern cinema. Abhishek replied: "I would love to."
Notwithstanding the sweltering heat, 60 percent of the nearly 70 lakh voters turned out till 1 p.m. on Monday to cast their ballot in 31 constituencies in the second part of the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls.

However, the opposition parties accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of resorting to widespread violence.

Groups of people, said to be Trinamool Congress activists, staged angry demonstrations against CPI-M state secretary and candidate from Narayangarh constituency Surjya Kanta Mishra when he visited some of the booths on receiving complaints of electoral malpractices.

Polling began at 7 a.m. in the 31 constituencies, of which 13 are in West Midnapore and nine each in Bankura and Burdwan districts.

The scorching heat accounted for a casualty. Polling officer Parimal Barui at booth no.295 in Pandaveshwar of Burdwan district collapsed and died of suspected sun stroke.

"Till 1 p.m., 59.78 percent polling was recorded. The turnout is 65 percent in West Midnapore, 57.60 percent in Bankura and 56.74 percent in Burdwan," said an Election Commission (EC) official.

The EC received over 1,100 complaints from across the three districts regarding voter intimidation, violence and Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctioning.

"Around 950 of the complaints have been redressed so far. Many of them were found to be baseless. We are looking into all aspects," said the official.

Mishra alleged incidents of violence occurred across the three districts.

"There have been incidents in Jamuria, Pandaveswar and Raniganj (Burdwan), Patrasayer (Bankura) and Keshpur and Garbeta (West Midnapore), but the people have withstood against all these intimidating tactics," said Mishra.

"I don't have any trust in the police or the administration, but I trust the EC and the people," he said.

Several incidents of violence were reported, with the Left Front, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging the polls were far from peaceful and fair.

Several crude bombs kept in a bag were seized from near a booth in Jamuria of Burdwan district.

A Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) polling agent had to be hospitalised after he was attacked at a polling booth in Chandrakona of West Midnapore.

"Since last night (Sunday), Trinamool goons have been on the prowl, intimidating voters and attacking polling agents. Such is the condition that we are not getting polling agents. There has been widespread violence, voter intimidation, polling is far from peaceful in Sabang," said Congress leader and former minister Manas Bhunia.

Tension prevailed in Bankura's Sonamukhi where a CPI-M polling agent was attacked and masked men, armed with bamboos and cane, were seen roaming around.

Opposition leaders also claimed central security forces were absent in many of the booths.

Bengali actor Soham Chakraborty, who is the Trinamool candidate from Barjora in Bankura, claimed he was prevented from entering a booth by security personnel.

"I am the candidate from here and despite carrying an identity card, I was prevented for no reason. I have informed the party leadership about this," said Soham.

An electorate of nearly 70 lakh (69,79,788), including 33,68,311 females and 50 from the third gender, are eligible to choose their representatives from 163 candidates -- 21 of them women -- across 8,465 polling stations including two auxiliary stations.

The Trinamool, the Left Front-Congress combine and the BJP are locking horns in all the seats.

Among the Left Front constituents, the CPI-M has put up 19 candidates, the CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party, All India Forward Bloc and the Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) in one each. The Congress is in the race in eight constituencies.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Shiv Sena have also fielded a number of candidates.

In the 2011 assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress had bagged 17 and its then ally Congress got three seats. The Left Front, then in power, won the remaining 11.

Apart from Mishra and Bhunia, star candidates include state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and 91-year-old Congress nominee Gyan Singh Sohanpal (both from Kharagpur Sadar).

Voters in 18 constituencies -- six in West Midnapore, nine in Purulia and three in Bankura -- exercised their franchise on the first polling day on April 4. That was part one of the first phase.

Polling for the remaining phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5.
Braving the sweltering heat and oppressive humidity, people turned out in huge numbers on Monday to exercise their right to franchise in the West Bengal assembly polls in 31 constituencies, amid reports of sporadic violence and intimidation.

The opposition parties accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of resorting to widespread violence during the day, when the second part of the first phase of the assembly election took place covering 13 constituencies in West Midnapore and nine each in Bankura and Burdwan districts.

According to Election Commission officials, between 75 and close to 85 percent polling was seen in the three districts till 5 p.m. However, till 8 p.m., the officials could not provide the final overall percentage.

"In West Midnapore, the percentage was 84.71, Bankura recorded 78.87, and Burdwan 75.12," the officials said.

A polling official, Parimal Barui, deputed to a booth in Pandabeshwar of Burdwan district, fell ill on Sunday night and died on Monday, the EC said.

At least 13 people were injured in a clash between political rivals at Jamuria of Burdwan district. "Three-four people have been detained," said a police officer.

An Election Commission official said in Delhi that orders have been given for lodging an FIR against Trinamool legislator Mohammed Sohrab Ali, for entering a polling booth.

Ali was not nominated by the Trinamool as a candidate this time, as he was given a two-year jail term by a court last year in a theft case.

An EC official here said no one was arrested anywhere for any poll-related offences, and there were no incidents of booth capturing.

"We have also not received complaints of any serious offences," the official said.

But the Left Front, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the polls were far from peaceful and fair.

Several crude bombs kept in a bag were seized from near a booth in Jamuria, while a Communist Party of India-Marxist polling agent had to be hospitalised after he was attacked at a polling booth in Chandrakona.

Tension prevailed in Bankura's Sonamukhi where a CPI-M polling agent was attacked and masked men, armed with bamboos and cane, were seen roaming around.

Locals, said to be Trinamool Congress activists, staged angry demonstrations against CPI-M state secretary and candidate from Narayangarh constituency of West Midnapore Surjya Kanta Mishra when he visited some of the booths on receiving complaints of electoral malpractices.

Pointing fingers at the Trinamool, the Left Front said the EC failed in its responsibility to protect people's democratic rights.

"There has been booth capturing and false voting across the constituencies. Our polling agents were assaulted, abducted and driven away, voters intimidated and our complaints regarding all that went un-redressed," said Left Front chairman Biman Bose.

He alleged that 150 booths were captured in Keshpur constituency, 30 in Garbeta and over 20 booths in Chadrakona.

Congress candidate from Sabong in West Midnapore district Manas Bhunia alleged that Trinamool "goons" looted votes in some parts of the constituency.

In Delhi, the Congress moved the Election Commission alleging malpractices in some constituencies and sought "protective measures" from the poll panel.

Union minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo said: "Today there have been sporadic violence, but with every phase, the Trinamool's terror would increase. So we would urge the EC to enhance its supervisions and observation to ensure the polls are free and fair."

An electorate of nearly 70 lakh (69,79,788), including 33,68,311 females and 50 from the third gender, were eligible to choose their representatives from 163 candidates -- 21 of them women -- across 8,465 polling stations including two auxiliary stations.

The Trinamool, the Left Front-Congress combine and the BJP are locking horns in all the seats.

In the 2011 assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress had bagged 17 and its then ally Congress got three seats. The Left Front, then in power, won the remaining 11.

Voters in 18 constituencies -- six in West Midnapore, nine in Purulia and three in Bankura -- exercised their franchise on the first polling day on April 4.

Polling for the remaining phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5.
Amid sweltering heat and allegations of violence polling for the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls in 31 constituencies picked up with over 38 percent turnout recorded in the first four hours on Monday.

Polling began at 7 a.m. in the 31 constituencies, of which 13 are in West Midnapore and nine each in Bankura and Burdwan districts.

Besides allegations of sporadic violence, the scorching heat accounted for a casualty when polling officer Parimal Barui at booth number 295 in Pandavehwar in Burdwan district collapsed and died of suspected sun stroke.

"In the first four hours, 38.65 percent polling was recorded. The turnout in West Midnapore is 48 percent, 32.51 percent in Bankura and 35.45 percent in Burdwan," said an Election Commission (EC) official.

The EC received over 500 complaints from across the three districts including of voter intimidation, violence and Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctioning.

Several incidents of violence were reported with the Left Front, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging the polls to be far from being peaceful and fair.

Several crude bombs kept in a bag were seized from near a booth in Jamuria in Asansol in Burdwan district. A Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) polling agent had to be hospitalised after being attacked at a polling booth in Chandrakona in West Midnapore.

"Since last night, Trinamool goons have been on the prowl, intimidating voters and attacking polling agents. Such is the condition that we are not getting polling agents. There has been widespread violence, voter intimidation, polling is far from peaceful in Sabang," Congress leader and former state minister Manas Bhuniya said.

CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra too said voters were being prevented from entering booths in his constituency Narayangarh.

Mishra, also the leader of opposition, faced angry demonstrations from residents while visiting some of the booths in his constituency.

Tension prevailed in Bankura's Sonamukhi where a CPI-M polling agent was attacked and masked men, armed with bamboos and cane, were seen roaming around.

Opposition leaders also claimed central security forces were absent in many of the booths.

Bengali actor and Trinamool candidate from Barjora in Bankura, Soham Chakraborty, claimed he was prevented from entering a booth by security personnel.

"I am the candidate from here and despite carrying an identity card, I was prevented for no reason. I have informed the party leadership about this," said Sohom.

An electorate of nearly 70 lakh (69,79,788), including 33,68,311 females and 50 third genders, are eligible to choose their representatives from 163 candidates. Twenty one of the contestants are women.

Voting is being held across 8,465 polling stations including two auxiliary stations amid high security.

The Trinamool, the Left Front-Congress combine and the BJP are locking horns on all the seats.

Among the LF constituents, the CPI-M has put up 19 candidates, followed by the Communist Party of India (CPI), Revolutionary Socialist Party, All India Forward Bloc and the Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) in one each. The Congress is in the race in eight constituencies.

Other outfits like Bahujan Samaj party and the Shiv Sena have also fielded a number of candidates.

In the 2011 assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress had bagged 17 and its then ally Congress bagged three seats. The Left Front, then in power, won the remaining 11.

The star candidates in this round include CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra (Narayangarh), state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh (Kharagpur Sadar), former Pradesh Congress president Manas Bhunia (Sabang) and 91-year-old Congress nominee Gyan Singh Sohanpal (Kharagpur Sadar).

Voters in 18 constituencies -- six in West Midnapore, nine in Purulia and three in Bankura -- exercised their franchise on the first polling day on April 4. That was part one of the first phase.

Polling for the remaining phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5.
The BJP will win 265 of the 404 seats in Uttar Pradesh next year, Keshav Maurya, the party's new state president, said on Monday after arriving here to a grand welcome by supporters.

Enthusiastic party workers mobbed him at the Charbagh railway station as he reached Lucknow by the Shatabdi Express.

Thanking party activists for their support, Maurya exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party would form the next government in Uttar PRadesh. "We will win 265 seats in the 2017 assembly election."

Among those who welcomed him was former state BJP president Laxmikant Bajpayi.

Workers danced to Bollywood tunes and patriotic songs as Maurya emerged from the station and drove to the party office on Vidhan Sabha Marg.

Congress activists, however, protested against Maurya's arrival, accusing him of being the extremist face of the BJP.

Congress leaders said Maurya has been sent to the state by the BJP's leadership to polarise voters.

A BJP spokesman said that on his way to Lucknow, Maurya was also greeted warmly in Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Etawah and Kanpur -- all the places where the Shatabdi halted.

The BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh in 2014, with two other seats going to an ally. The Samajwadi Party won five seats while the Congress got just two. The BSP drew a blank.

In subsequent bye-elections, however, the BJP has suffered ups and downs in the state.
The International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) on Monday appealed to the Centre to declare a national holiday on Ashoka Jayanti -- the birth anniversary of Emperor Ashoka -- on April 14.

IBC secretary general Lama Lobzang said they would pass a formal resolution at a cultural function in Delhi on April 14.

Lobzang said Emperor Ashoka was the tallest figure in India's history and yet there was no day to celebrate his legacy.

"All major symbols of our country's governance contain symbols related to Ashoka. For example, our national emblem Ashoka Chakra. To honour his immense contribution to the Indian ethos, we hope that the Indian government will take note and celebrate the historic day," he added.

He said the Bihar government had already declared Ashoka Jayanti a public holiday in the state.

"The cultural event to be held in Delhi on Ashoka Jayanti will be attended by union ministers Upendra Kushwaha and Kiren Rijiju, apart from many national and international personalities," he said.
The Indian government on Monday said that it will not allow the Cairn India-Vedanta Ltd. merger unless the former's over Rs.10,200 crore retrospective tax issue is settled.

"Cairn-Vedanta merger cannot be allowed unless the tax liability is settled. Cairn will have to first settle the tax liability," a senior official told reporters here.

"Government will notify time limit for settling retrospective cases under settlement window announced in budget. It will be a time-bound window. Notification will come after passage of the Finance Bill by mid-May," he said, adding the government continues to follow the judicial process in both the Cairn and telecom major Vodafone cases.

The IT department notice was issued on February 4 before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech on February 29 made a one-time offer to waive interest and penalty if companies paid the principal amount to settle the retrospective tax disputes.

The Anil Agarwal-led natural resources firm Vedanta Ltd. received approvals last September from both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the NSE on the company's proposal to merge with its hydrocarbons subsidiary Cairn India.

Merging Cairn India with itself would provide Vedanta access to the oil explorer's cash and help reduce its debt burden. Vedanta took majority control of Cairn India for $8.67 billion in 2011 and holds 59.9 percent in the latter through its various units.

Meanwhile, British oil major Cairn Energy has called for an annual general meeting of shareholders on May 12 in London to approve, among other things, the proposal to dispose of its 9.82 percent residual stake in Cairn India.

"One of the resolutions seeks approval of the renewal of the existing authority (renewed at last year's AGM held on 14 May 2015) to dispose of all or part of the Group's residual interest in Cairn India," the company said on its website.

The proposal comes against the backdrop of the retrospective tax demand of Rs.29,000 crore from the Indian tax department Cairn has received, on alleged capital gains the company made in a 2006 reorganisation of its India business.

"The aggregate amount of Rs.29,000 crore excludes any applicable penalty, which may also be applied to the final assessment (potentially up to 100 percent of the final assessment order, excluding interest)," Cairn said, adding the amount comprises final assessment of Rs.10,200 crore plus interest back dated to 2007 of up to Rs.18,800 crore.

Asserting that it would contest the assessment proceedings, it said it was pursuing its right to appeal against the order under the Indian law on the retrospective tax and penalty, besides protecting its assets from any legal action.

"The total assets of the Cairn subsidiary against which the tax authorities are seeking to pursue a tax claim are $477 million (including principally the group's near 10 percent shareholding in Cairn India Ltd.) and any recovery by the Indian authorities would be limited to such assets," Cairn said last month.
The Congress on Monday expelled its senior leader Jagmeet Brar - who had recently commented that the AAP was gaining ground in Punjab -- from the party's primary membership.

Congress general secretary and in-charge for Punjab affairs Shakeel Ahmed announced Brar's expulsion.

"He has been expelled for anti-party activities. His actions and statements were against the party and its leaders," Ahmed said.

The expelled leader had been attacking the Congress leadership in Punjab. He said recently that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was making gains in Punjab.

Party leaders had urged the Congress high command to sack Brar.

Brar is a senior leader of the party from Punjab and won the Faridkot parliamentary seat in 1992 and 1999.

He had defeated Sukhbir Singh Badal, now the Punjab deputy chief minister and ruling Shiromani Akali Dal president, in the 1999 Lok Sabha election from Faridkot.

Brar was also a member of the Congress Working Committee earlier.

Brar was suspended from the Congress in August 2014 after his outburst against senior central leaders over the 2014 Lok Sabha debacle. He quit the Congress in January last year.

A senior leader from the politically dominant Malwa belt (south of river Sutlej), Brar was suspended after he said that the Congress brass must go on a sabbatical after the Lok Sabha election rout.

There was strong speculation that Brar may join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But he was taken back into the Congress later last year.

The Congress is facing an uphill task in the run-up to the assembly polls in Punjab.

It is pitted against the ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance, which has been in power since 2007 in Punjab, as well as the AAP, which is emerging as a strong third force in the state.

Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal ruled out the possibility of Brar being accommodated in the Akali Dal.

"He is a misguided missile," Badal told reporters in Amritsar.

Punjab will see assembly polls in February next year.
India and the Maldives on Monday signed six agreements in the fields of defence, tourism, taxation, space research, and conservation of mosques following delegation-level bilateral talks led by Prime Minister narendra Modi and visiting Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom here.

One agreement seeks to avoid double taxation of income derived from international air transport.

Another agreement envisages mutual assistance for exchange of information that is relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws concerning taxes covered by the agreement.

"It also includes exchange of information relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation and prosecution of tax matters," the external affairs ministry said in a statement.

The two sides also signed an agreement on an action plan for defence cooperation.

"The action plan is in the context of defence cooperation being an important component of the India-Maldives bilateral relationship and the shared strategic and security interests of the two countries in the Indian Ocean region," the statement said.

"The action plan envisages an institutional mechanism at the level of the defence secretaries to further bilateral defence cooperation."

Another agreement related to orbit frequency coordination of the proposed South Asia Satellite at 48 degrees east.

"The agreement shall be used for the purpose of performing intersystem orbit-frequency coordination for the operation of South Asia Satellite; and fulfilling ITU level regulatory requirements and obtaining international level protection/recognition for the South Asia Satellite," the ministry statement said.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) envisages cooperation in the area of tourism.

This includes expansion of bilateral cooperation, exchange of information and data related to tourism, encouraging cooperation between tourism stakeholders including hotels and tour operators, establishing exchange programmes for cooperation in human resource development, investment in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

It also provides for exchanging visits of tour operators, media and opinion makers for promotion of two-way tourism, exchange of experience in the areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management, participation in travel fairs and exhibitions in each other's country and and promotion of safe, honourable and sustainable tourism.

The sixth agreement is on cooperation in the conservation and restoration of ancient mosques and joint research and exploratory surveys in the Maldives.

"

"The MoU proposes to undertake conservation and restoration of ancient mosques and other historical monuments in Maldives. Detailed proposals for such projects will be developed by Archaeological Survey of India and Department of Heritage, Maldive"," the statement said.
Days after women winning right to enter the Shani temple in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court on Monday asked what right the Sabrimala temple trust had to forbid women from entering the Kerala temple and if this bar was constitutionally permissible.

"What right do they (Sabrimala temple trust) have to forbid the women not to enter any part of the temple," asked a bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice N.V.Ramana. "You tell us if this prohibition is constitutionally permissible."

As senior counsel K. Prasaran, appearing for one of the parties to the litigation, said that "religion is not rationalised, it has to be accepted", the bench retorted: "We will go by rational dimension that is the constitution."

In another observation, the court said, "You have sculpted God in an idol" and can you say who can come to worship it.

Telling that "gender discrimination in such matter was unacceptable", the court said that even if the majoritarian view of 30 lakh people was on one side, it will examine the constitutional validity of the issue.

In a number of posers to senior counsel appearing for the Sabrimala Trust, the Devaswom Board and others defending the tradition of not permitting the women between the age group of 10 to 50 years into the temple, the court asked if temple trust could prohibit the women from climbing Mount Everest.

The court posers came in the course of the hearing of a plea by Indian Young Lawyers Association and others questioning the ban on the entry of women in the age group of 10-50 into the temple.

Appearing for the Devaswom Board that manages the Sabrimala temple, senior counsel K.K.Venugopal said: "You can't look at the issue from the angle of worshipers alone. It has to be seen from the point of the God being worshiped."

He said that the deity in the Sabrimala temple was in a state of celibacy and no women of this age group can be permitted inside the temple as the deity was in a particular state where women are not permitted to come before it.

The court will continue with the hearing on April 13.
The European Union (EU) has expressed its "deepest condolences" over the death of over 110 people in a fire tragedy in a temple in Kerala.

A spokesperson for the EU foreign policy chief said in a statement that "the accident (on Sunday) caused a human tragedy.

"We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the injured. Our thoughts are with the affected families," the statement added.

More than 110 people were killed and over 350 injured, many seriously, when a huge quantity of firecrackers stored in building went off at a Devi temple in Paravur town in Kollam district in Kerala.
Former French President will visit India on April 13 and hold a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This follows up on their first meeting in Paris in April 2015, according to a statement issued by the French embassy here.

It said Sarkozy will also have meetings with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh besides paying tribute to the Mahatma at Gandhi Smriti during his stay in Delhi.

The visit comes in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris in November last year that left 130 people dead.

During his presidency from May 2007 to May 2012, Sarkozy came twice on bilateral visits to India, including as the chief guest for the Republic Day parade in 2008.

Sarkozy will interact with business representatives at a conference organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), in partnership with the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ifcci) in the morning of April 13.
The Federation of All India Farmers Associations (FAIFA) on Monday urged cigarette companies to resume production following new rule for pictorial warnings on all tobacco products.

Tobacco crop worth approximately Rs.1,200 crore was lying unsold in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh due to shutdown of production by leading cigarette companies after the government mandated 85 percent package area of tobacco products to be covered with pictorial warnings from April 1, the association said.

"Farmers have taken loans of Rs.700 crore, which will be at high risk if the situation continues to linger," an association statement said.

Many cigarette firms stopped production after the new rule was enforced, citing ambiguity.

The government decision came even after a parliamentary committee recommended that the pictorial warnings be brought down to 50 percent from 85 percent of package surface area, saying the latter will be too harsh on the tobacco industry.

The farmers have been providing Flue-Cured Virginia tobacco to cigarette companies till now, used in cigarette manufacturing.

The association said the crisis has come at the worst time for growers as it is the peak season for them to sell tobacco crop.

"Already, Indian farmers are facing severe challenges of water crisis and expensive credit etc. The ongoing tobacco industry closure will leave a big hole in the farmers' pockets," said FAIFA president B.V. Javare Gowda.

India earns Rs.6,000 crore from tobacco exports every year.
As many as 1.3 million hectares of forest cover in Nepal has been destroyed by wild fires within a fortnight, officials said on Monday.

The home ministry said at least two people have been killed and huge loss to private properties reported from many parts of the country.

Forest fires were more concentrated in the southern Terai districts of the Himalayan country, destroying flora and fauna on hundreds of hectares of land and posing significant threat to human settlements.

Eighty percent of the forest fires in Nepal are recorded in April and May. On Sunday, a record number of forest fires were reported in the country.

On Monday, Nepal army and police personnel were unable to control a massive fire in Rupandehi district.

The Nepalese ministry of forests and soil conservation's forests department digector General Resham Dangi told IANS that fire has played havoc in the Terai region, where dense forest covers the Chure area and some districts like Mahottari, Argakhanchi, Sindhuli, Bardiya, Dhanusha and others between Terai and Chure.

"The fire situation is out of control. If prolonged dry conditions continue in the absence of rains, we are likely to experience a state of emergency in the coming days," Dangi said.

The worst affected is Sindhuli, whose 40 percent forest cover has been reduced to ashes.

Forests in Sindhuli, Argakhanchi, Rupandehi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Bardiya and Dang have been ravaged by fires in the past week, department officials said. The satellite imagery showed that 457 forests across the country were affected by fires, they added.

Even the National Human Rights Commission has brought to the government notice the forest fires across the country, calling for increased surveillance and deployment of adequate fire-fighting equipment and other logistics to minimise damage to forests and property of the area's people.

Forest officials warned of more forest fires in coming days since April is the peak summer month in the Himalayan nation.

Every year, forest fires destroy hundreds of hectares of forests and cause huge economic loss in the country.

Nepal came up with a forest fire management strategy in 2011 but failed to formulate a suitable action plan to implement it on the ground.

At the community forestry level, only 67 of the total 19,000 community forestry user groups across the country are equipped with fire-fighting tools and the training required to mitigate the risks.

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki on Monday hailed a recent court ruling against incumbent President Jacob Zuma on his home upgrade case.

The court ruled on March 31 that Zuma violated the constitution by ignoring the public protector's request for him to repay part of the state money lavished on security upgrades at his private home in Nkandla, Xinhua reported.

Mbeki called the judgment a "critical contribution" to the evolution of South Africa's democracy.

The failure to observe the fundamental values of South Africa's constitution threatens the survival of the country's democracy, Mbeki said.

The ruling has prompted calls from outside and within the ruling African National Congress for Zuma to resign.

"This decision has evoked much understandable and inevitable political discussion and activity in our country, which has included calls for the immediate removal of the president of the republic," Mbeki said.

Zuma has said he would abide by the ruling and repay the money.
The government on Monday asserted that no one would be allowed to exploit farmers and made it clear that it has the right and powers to regulate prices of items like cotton "whenever required".

"We will continue to regulate prices of seeds and other products whenever required," Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh said addressing a kharif conference here.

The observations are significant as the central government for the first time recently fixed a uniform price of Rs.800 per packet for Bt cotton seed.

Radha Mohan Singh on March 9 said there was "no uniformity" in pricing of Bt cotton seeds across the country and the government therefore intervened and issued a Cotton Seed Price (Control) Order to fix a uniform price of Bt cotton seed in 2015 "for the benefit of farmers".

As a matter of policy, the government is, however, not against Bt cotton or GM crops even as both the BJP's election manifesto in 2014 and the Rashtriya Sawemsewak Sangh (RSS) has from time to time said GM food will not be allowed without full scientific evaluation.

Government sources also maintained on Monday that just owing to patent rights and "knowledge", big companies and MNCs cannot be allowed to "charge whatever price because they have the know how".

In this context, the agriculture minister said the government was committed to help farmers increase their income "by reducing their marketing expenditure".

"A national agriculture market is being set up for electronic trading. In this programme, 585 agriculture mandis of India will be connected to each other. The farmers will get maximum price of their crops," Radha Mohan Singh said, adding that foreign investment will also be encouraged on this.

The efforts would minimise the "interference of mediators to a greater extent", he said.

The agriculture minister also said the government was taking concrete steps to remove debt problems of farmers.

The government has increased agricultural credit target Rs.9 lakh crore for the year 2016-17 to bring the farmers within institutional fold, he added.

Concerned that whitefly and bollworm attack could harm Bt cotton crop yields, the central government last week said henceforth it would promote native cotton varieties in states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

The decision to encourage cultivation of indigenous cotton was taken by Radha Mohan Singh after he and ministry officials held a detailed meeting here.
After denying outright any incidents of rapes during the violent Jat agitation in February this year, the Haryana government on Monday admitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court that there could be a possibility that rapes could have happened then.

The admission by the Haryana government came up during hearing of a case by the high court here on Monday.

Submitting a report by way of an affidavit filed by Inspector General of Police, South Range-cum-incharge, Special Investigation Team (SIT),Mamta Singh, the state police has include section 376-D (rape) of the Indian Penal Code to the FIR No. 118 registered on March 30 this year regarding the incidents at along National Highway No. 1 (NH-1) near Murthal in Haryana's Sonipat district.

The section (of rape) has been included on the basis of complaint of Delhi resident Bobby Joshi that women were allegedly sexually assaulted by the agitators. The state government said that it had received anonymous letters alleging that the rapes took place.

In February this year, the Haryana government had emphatically told the high court that no such incidents of rape or molestation were reported from Sonipat district during the Jat agitation. The government had submitted a status report in the high court in this regard.

The preliminary status report was submitted following investigations into the mass gang-rape allegations by an all-women SIT constituted by the Haryana government. The SIT report said that no victim of the alleged mass gang rape or molestation had come forward to complain.

The high court, taking suo moto notice of the reports in the media about the mass gang rapes, had asked the Haryana government and police to submit a status report.

It had appointed lawyer Anupam Gupta as amicus curie in the matter.

The high court on Monday also questioned the Manohar Lal Khattar government on the appointment of the Parkash Singh Committee to look into the incidents of violence during the Jat agitation, asking it to clarify its constitutional and legal status.

At least 30 people were killed and over 320 injured in the nine-day long Jat agitation for reservation.
Moving to cement ties after a period of unease, India and the Maldives on Monday inked six agreements, including on defence cooperation, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen here and affirmed that the strategic Indian Ocean archipelago nation is among India's closest partners.

In his media statement after bilateral talks with Yameen, Modi said: "The Maldives is among India's closest partners. The stability and security of the Maldives are in the strategic interest of India."

He said he and President Yameen discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as terrorism.

"We are united by ancient cultural links, strong people-to-people ties and the tides of the Indian ocean," he said.

"India understands its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean and is ready to protect its strategic interests in this region."

He said the prompt implementation of a concrete action plan in the defence sector would strengthen security cooperation between the two countries.

Modi said that development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance would be the main elements of the security cooperation.

He also said that India was ready to be partner for the Maldives in its iHaven project, one of the most important projects in President Yameen's economic vision, and is being developed under the new laws of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The project has six main goals, which are to develop an airport, a harbour, bunkering services, real estate, shopping malls, and resorts on an atoll.

India and the Maldives exchanged six agreements in the fields of taxation, tourism, space research, defence and conservation of mosques following Monday's talks.

"President Yameen and I are aware of the growing dangers of cross-border terrorism and radicalisation in South Asia," Modi said, adding: "Information exchange between security agencies and training and capacity building of Maldives Police and security forces is an important part of our security cooperation.".

Modi also said that the South Asian satellite proposed by India would help the Maldives in the fields of education, health and tourism.

He said the agreement on cooperation in the tourism sector would boost people-to-people ties.

The agreement on conservation of ancient mosques in the Maldives would strengthen cultural ties, he said.

"We welcome the Third Maldives Investment Forum that will take place in India and which will boost our trade and investment relations," Modi said.

"President Yameen, India is a well-wisher and will match steps with the Maldives in its journey towards progress," he stated.

On his part, Yameen said that India was the most important friend of the Maldives.

"India is the most important friend of the Maldives. Relations between the Maldives and India are based on the cherished principles of mutual respect...That is why the Maldives pursues an India first foreign policy," he said.

Relations between India and the Maldives had cooled off following the incarceration of former president Mohamed Nasheed, who is viewed as a friend of India. India has also been uneasy of the growing closeness between the Maldives and China and Beijing's increasing investments in that country, including an estimated $800 million development of Male airport by a Chinese company.

India's GMR, which had bagged the initial contract to develop Male airport, was thrown out in 2013, adding to tension in ties.

Modi had also skipped making a visit to the archipelago nation in 2015.

However, both sides have been moving to mend ties. In December last year, India shipped shiploads of water to Male after a fire destroyed the generator of its biggest water treatment plant.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Male in October last year for the India-Maldives Joint Commission meeting, which was held after 15 years. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar visited the country in January this year.

Earlier on Monday, Sushma Swaraj called on President Yameen in his first engagement of the day in the city.

Yameen also met President Pranab Mukherjee before departing from India on Monday evening.

Yameen had earlier come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended Prime Minister Modi's swearing-in in May 2014.

India and the Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year.

This year, Maldivian ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement.
India and Sri Lanka could soon finalise an agreement for building a bridge connecting both the countries, union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

"The project is under consideration, it is under discussion. But nothing has been finalised," Gadkari told journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club here.

He said discussions have been held on the issue with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

The Sri Lankan side is also "interested" in the project, he said, adding that even the Asian Development Bank has made a recommendation to that effect.

Wickremasinghe said in Colombo on March 23 that no formal talks between India and Sri Lanka have started yet on the project.

The issue had figured in Sri Lankan parliament as well.

"The Asian Development Bank is ready to fully finance a bridge building project connecting Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka. The project was also discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart during the latter's recent visit," Gadkari said last year.

Addressing correspondents of foreign media and others on Monday, Gadkari said the first Maritime India Summit 2016 to be inaugurated by Modi in Mumbai on April 14 will be a game changer in the development of India's coastal and port infrastructure.

The three-day summit being organised in pursuance of the government's policy of giving prime importance to developing infrastructure is aimed at attracting potential investors to the vast opportunities in the maritime sector.

Representatives and experts from 40 countries, in addition to India, will participate in the summit, where South Korea is the partner country, he said.

Gadkari, who had earlier favoured the Sethu Samundran project, declined to answer any question on the same, saying the model code of conduct is in place in Tamil Nadu in view of the assembly election.
Iran and Russia have signed a new deal on the delivery of S-300 missile defence system and it is in the process of implementation, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said here on Monday.

"The first stage of the new contract has been implemented and we hope that, based on the new plan, the contract will be completed in its due time," Xinhua quoted Jaber Ansari as saying in response to a question of whether Iran has received the first batch of S-300 equipment in its northern port city of Anzali.

Earlier on Monday, some media outlets quoted Iranian spokesman as saying that Iran has received the first batch of the equipment pertaining to the missile system.

However, Jaber Ansari later criticised as inaccurate media reports about his remarks on the S-300 issue, saying that he was referring instead to "the implementation of the first stage of the new deal".

Jaber Ansari did not elaborate on what is being implemented about the new contract.

In March, RIA Novosti news agency reported that Russia would hand over the first batch of the S-300 defence missile systems to Iran in August or September.

Russia and Iran signed a $800 million contract in 2007, according to which Moscow would supply Tehran with five S-300 missile systems.

In September 2010, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev cancelled the contract in line with a UN Security Council resolution, which banned such deals with Iran.

In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban as Iran withdrew a lawsuit against Russia over the cancellation.

The S-300 is regarded as one of the most potent air defence systems.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel has carried out "dozens" of attacks in Syria to prevent weapons transfers to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

This was the most explicit statement Netanyahu, who visited a practice of reserve military soldiers in northern Israel's Golan Heights, had made in regards to airstrikes conducted in recent years against convoys allegedly carrying weapons in Syria, which Israel did not officially acknowledge in the past, Xinhua reported.

"We operate when we need to operate, as well as just over here across the border," Netanyahu told Israeli soldiers and journalists on Monday, pointing towards the direction of Syria.

"We have acted with dozens of attacks in order to prevent Hezbollah from receiving game-changing weapons," Netanyahu said.

Israel conquered and annexed the Israeli Golan Heights from Syria following the 1967 Mideast War.

Israel claims Iran and its proxies in Syria are providing weapons to Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia militant organisation situated in southern Lebanon, against which Israel had fought a war in 2006.

The attacks against convoys carrying weapons in Syria were connected to Israel by international media outlets, but Israel did not officially acknowledge these attacks.

Israeli officials only said they will operate "when and where" they see fit in order to defense Israel's security interests.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley leaves for the US on Tuesday on a 10-day visit to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, followed by a UN session on the drugs problem, and an interaction with American investors.

Briefing reporters about the finance minister's visit, an official source said that Jaitley is also likely to have a meeting with US administration officials.

The IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings will also be attended by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

After the first leg of his tour, Jaitley will reach New York on April 17, where he will address a Special Session of the UN on the World Drug Problem on April 19.

Jaitley will also hold meetings with the American business community and investors there, the source added.

The Indian government had in March presented in parliament a supplementary demand of grant of Rs.69,575 crore towards increasing India's quota in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will allow increased voting rights for the country at the IMF.

"After taking into account additional receipts of Rs.52,181.60 crore by issue of securities, monetising Rs.17,393.87 crore through India's SDR (special drawing rights) holding with RBI and saving of Rs.2,618.94 crore available in the revenue section of the grant, this supplementary will not entail cash outgo," said the supplementary demands for grants moved by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The IMF's historic quota and governance reforms, had for the first time placed four emerging market countries -- Brazil, China, India, and Russia -- among its 10 largest members in January this year after being approved by the US Congress in 2015.

They had been approved by the IMF's Board of Governors in December 2010.

The reforms, pending for long, also increase the financial strength of the IMF, by doubling its permanent capital resources to SDR 477 billion (about $659 billion) from about SDR 238.5 billion (about $329 billion).

Other top 10 members of the 188-nation agency include the US, Japan, and four big European countries -- France, Germany, Italy and Britain.

The reforms represent a major step toward better reflecting in the institution's governance structure the increasing role of dynamic emerging markets and developing countries, the IMF has said.

Currently, India has voting rights of 2.34 percent. In terms of quota, the country has a share of 2.44 percent.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Tuesday leave for a 10-day visit to the US to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, a UN session on the drugs problem, and an interaction with American investors, said an official statement.

Jaitley will leave on Tuesday evening on an official visit to the US and arrive in Washington early morning on April 13, said a finance ministry statement.

The IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings will also be attended by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

In the first leg of his US visit, Jaitley on April 13 will address the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - on "Steering India Towards Growth", it said.

"On April 14, Jaitley will hold one to one meeting with his US counterpart, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, which would be followed by the 6th Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue between India and US," the statement said.

Jaitley will also meet National Development Bank's board of governors and BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors, it said.

On April 15, he will participate in the G-20 session for finance ministers and central bank governors. Thereafter, he will participate in the event to honor the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for nurturing the World Bank-United Nations partnership.

After the first leg of his tour, Jaitley will reach New York on April 17, where he will address a Special Session of the UN on the World Drug Problem on April 19.

He will address an Asia Society Event on the topic "Make In India-The New Deal" and also hold meeting with long-term funds and pension funds on "Invest in India", the statement said.

Jaitley is also proposed to participate in the Institutional Investors Meet in New York before leaving for India on April 20.
The Japanese government on Monday began the trial of a drone home delivery service in the city of Chiba, supposedly the first of its kind in an urban area.

The drones ferried merchandise, including bottles of wine and milk cartons between several points in the city where the country's law restricting the use of drones does not apply, EFE news reported citing Kyodo agency.

They successfully landed in parks, commercial facilities and even on the roof of a residential building without any damage to the goods.

In the next stage, the drones will transport packages from Tokyo Bay to Chiba, a distance of 10 km, with the aim of developing technology to ensure stable flight during rain and strong winds, and to set up a traffic control system for drones.

Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, tech firm NEC and Aeon supermarket chain, among other companies, are counting on the service to become operational in 2020 when Tokyo will host the Olympic Games.

The government also seeks to implement a system to deliver medicines to isolated areas by 2018, for which it will need to approve a new law to regulate the routes and merchandise permitted for transport planes or drones.

did not have specific laws regarding drones till September last year when a drone with radioactive material was found on the roof of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's house.

The current Civil Aeronautics Law bans drones from flying over crowded residential areas or around airports without government permission.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday urged the people here to save water and send it to drought-hit Latur city in Maharashtra.

"Severe water crisis in Latur. We all should help. Are all Delhiites ready to save some water daily to send it for our people in Latur," Kejriwal asked in a tweet.

Latur, with a population of over five lakhs, is a city in the Marathwada region.
Two more victims of the Kerala temple fire tragedy died here on Monday morning, taking the death toll to 112, doctors and officials said.

Two middle aged youths succumbed to their injuries at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital where 124 people are still being treated, doctors said.

The condition of nine others continued to be serious, a doctor said.

The pre-dawn Sunday tragedy at the Puttingal Devi temple in the coastal town of Paravur in Kollam district, about 60 km from here, also left more than 350 people injured, some critically.

A team of medical professionals who arrived from Delhi has split into two. One group has been attached to the Kollam district hospital while the other group is at the state-run hospital here.

At Kollam, senior officials of the health department and the Delhi team took stock of the treatment procedures and decided that there was no need to shift any of the patients out of the district.

The Delhi team will visit all the hospitals in Kollam to assess the condition of the patients.

Fourteen bodies at Kollam and four in Thiruvananthapuram are yet to be identified.

The Kerala government on Monday decided to open a temporary medical outpost at the temple premises. It will function for a week.

The tragedy occurred at about 3.30 a.m. on Sunday when a spark from an firecracker landed on a building where a huge quantity of powerful firecrackers were stored, setting off massive explosions and a fireball that brought down the structure, witnesses said.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has announced a judicial probe and an investigation by the Crime Branch of Kerala Police into the tragedy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the site on Sunday.

Police in Paravur have registered a case against 20 people, including the

temple committee members and the contractor, his son and their workmen who

organised the fireworks display.

Meanwhile, Gopan, who visited the temple with four friends to witness the fireworks display, returned to the venue on Monday with his left hand in a sling and told the media that two of his friends were missing.

"We went to all the hospitals and they are not to be found. Nor have they reached their homes. And there is no response on their mobiles," said a distraught Gopan.
US Secretary of State John Kerry became the first top US diplomat to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and museum on Monday.

Kerry offered flowers at the cenotaph inside the park in a move that could pave the way for a possible visit by US President Barack Obama during G7 summit next month, The Japan Times reported.

In a visit that will be closely analysed by Tokyo, Kerry visited the site of the US atomic bombing with other G7 foreign ministers.

Ahead of trip, Kerry told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida that he had been looking forward to the visit.

US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy also said that Washington understands Hiroshima is a special place for Kishida, a third-generation lower house lawmaker who represents the city.

It remained unclear what G7 foreign ministers spoke about in the museum as only official photographers were allowed there, a sign that could mean Tokyo is wary of public reaction among the nuclear powers, especially in the US.

Kerry would not apologise for the bombing, a US official travelling with Kerry, said.

A majority of Americans still believe the use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 71 years ago was justified, according to a Pew Research Centre survey last year.

A visit to the atomic bomb sites is crucial for Kishida, as Tokyo works to build momentum for a potential visit by Obama during the G7 summit scheduled for May 26 and 27 in Japan.

Kishida has repeatedly voiced his hopes that world leaders visit Hiroshima to experience the reality of the atomic bombings.

The Washington Post has reported that Obama, winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his vision of a nuclear weapons-free world, was considering a Hiroshima visit in May, citing aides to the US president.

A US diplomatic cable released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks revealed that Tokyo had rejected the idea of an Obama visit to Hiroshima in September 2009.

Meanwhile, G7 foreign ministers are expected to adopt a communique and three other statements to conclude the two-day meeting on Monday.

"I'm hoping that we can create momentum for a world free of nuclear weapons by agreeing on issues of nuclear disarmament among the nuclear powers and the non-nuclear powers among the G-7 nations, and send a message to the world," Kishida said at the end of first day of meetings on Sunday.

Kishida said there was a heated debate over the North Korean nuclear issue at the final session on Sunday.

The foreign ministers are expected to send a strong message against escalating provocations by North Korea, which conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by the launch of a long-range satellite, which many saw as a cover for a long-range missile.
Police detained Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena president Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga on Monday outside the NIT here when he tried to enter the campus.

"Bagga and his two associates were detained by the Jammu and Kashmir Police while they were trying to enter the National Institute of Technology here," a senior police officer told IANS.

Reports said Bagga, who reached outside the NIT in Hazratbal area, wanted to enter the NIT campus to unfurl the Tricolour and show solidarity with the striking outstation students.

Bollywood actor Anupam Kher was on Sunday detained at the airport here to prevent him from visiting the troubled NIT campus. He was later put on a Delhi-bound flight.
Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Temir Sariyev verbally tendered his resignation at a cabinet meeting on Monday, Xinhua cited the government press service as saying.

The announcement came after several parliament members accused Sariyev's cabinet of corruption.

"I will fight until my innocence is proved," Sariyev told the meeting, adding that he will demand an objective investigation into the case.

Sariyev was sworn in as prime minister in May 2015, two weeks after his predecessor, Joomart Otorbayev, stepped down.
Malaysian former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is under four separate police investigations for offenses including his recent call for foreign intervention in Malaysia's domestic affairs.

Some of the investigations into the alleged offenses, including sedition, have concluded, said Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar.

Khalid confirmed one of the offenses Mahathir was being investigated over was sedition, but did not elaborate on the rest of the charges, EFE news reported on Monday.

The former prime minister told The Weekend Australian newspaper in an interview published on Saturday that without foreign interference and external pressure, there was little hope that current Prime Minister Najib Razak, under fire for the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, would step down.

In response, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the former premier should not allow foreigners to get involved in the country's internal affairs, adding he was going politically "berserk", reported The Star Online on Sunday.

The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Veterans Club has also called for action against the former prime minister for his comments, saying he had cast aside his principles, Bernama news agency reported on Sunday.

"Clearly he has double standards. He did not want foreign interference during his time, but he himself is working to get the foreign powers to bring Najib down," said UMNO Veterans Club Secretary Datuk Mustapha Yaakub about the former UMNO president.

Mahathir is leading a "Save Malaysia" movement calling for the embattled head of state to step down, and has recently filed suit against Najib alleging corruption and "misfeasance and breach of fiduciaries" in public office, over the 1MDB scandal that broke out in June last year.

Najib, who denied accusations in foreign media that he had received $681 million from the state investment fund, claiming the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family, was absolved of all charges by the public prosecutor in January.
Referring to India's Neighbourhood First policy, Prime Minister on Monday said that the security and stability of the Maldives are in the interest of India.

"The Maldives is among India's closest partners," Modi said while addressing the media after holding bilateral delegation-level talks with visiting Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom over a working lunch in New Delhi.

"The stability and security of the Maldives are in the interest of India," he said.

The prime minister's statement comes in the face of China's growing influence and investments in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation.

India and the Maldives exchanged six agreements in the fields of taxation, tourism, space research, defence and conservation of mosques following Monday's talks.

Referring to India's Neighbourhood First foreign policy, Modi said he and President Yameen discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations.

"India understands its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean and is ready to protect its strategic interests in this region," Modi said.

"The prompt implementation of a concrete action plan in the defence sector will strengthen our security cooperation," he said.

The prime minister said that development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance would be the main elements of the security cooperation.

"President Yameen and I are aware of the growing dangers of cross-border terrorism and radicalisation in South Asia," he said.

"Information exchange between security agencies and training and capacity building of Maldives Police and security forces is an important part of our security cooperation."

Modi also said that the South Asian Satellite proposed by India would help the Maldives in the fields of education, health and tourism.

He said the agreement on cooperation in the tourism sector would boost people-to-people ties.

The agreement on conservation of ancient mosques in the Maldives would strengthen cultural ties, he said.

"President Yameen, India is a well-wisher and will match steps with the Maldives in its journey towards progress," the prime minister said.

On his part, President Yameen said that India was the most important friend of the Maldives.

"Our ties are based on civilisational roots," he said.

"Our security is intimately linked with India's security."

Earlier on Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on President Yameen in his first engagement of the day in the city.

Yameen is also scheduled to call on President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening before departing from India.

Yameen had earlier come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended Prime Minister Modi's swearing-in in May 2014.

Though India and the Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year and the two countries historically enjoy a close relationship, Yameen's visit assumes significance because of New Delhi's discomfiture over China's increasing investments and influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Sushma Swaraj visited the Maldives in November 2014 and again in October 2015 for the India-Maldives Joint Commission meeting, which was held after 15 years.

This year, Maldivian ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom over a working lunch here on Monday.

"Doing more with Maldives. PM @narendramodi hosts a working lunch for President Gayoom at Hyderabad House," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Earlier on Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on President Yameen in the latter's first engagement of the day.

Yameen is also scheduled to call on President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening before departing from India.

Yameen had earlier come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended the Modi government's swearing-in in May 2014.

Though India and Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year and the two countries historically enjoy a close relationship, Yameen's visit assumes significance because of New Delhi's discomfiture over China's increasing investments and influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Sushma Swaraj visited Maldives in November 2014 and again in October 2015 for the India-Maldives joint commission meeting, which was held after 15 years.

This year, ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement.

India has sought to deepen its relations with the Yameen dispensation following the unease in ties that had crept in after New Delhi was seen backing former president Mohamed Nasheed. India had voiced concern over his prolonged incarceration, and Prime Minister Modi had also cancelled a visit to Male earlier.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid tributes to social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule on his 190th birth anniversary.

"Mahatma Phule was a stalwart ahead of his time, who gave voice to the marginalised and sought to end their suffering. Tributes on his jayanti", Modi tweeted.

In another tweet, the prime minister said the country should work on Phule's ideas to create a 'harmonious' society.

"Inspired by Mahatma Phule's ideals, let us collectively work to create an equal and harmonious society where the role of education is pivotal," he tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday welcomed Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom here ahead of bilateral talks with the Indian Ocean archipelago nation.

"Advancing the goal of Neighbourhood First. PM welcomes President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom at Hyderabad House," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Earlier on Monday, External Affairs Minister called on President Yameen in tbe latter's first engagement of the day.

Yameen is also scheduled to call on President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening before departing from India.

Yameen had come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended the Modi government's swearing-in in May 2014.

Though India and Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year and the two countries historically enjoyed a close relationship, Yameen's visit assumes significance because of New Delhi's discomfiture over China's increasing investments and influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Sushma Swaraj visited Maldives in November 2014 and again in October 2015 for the India-Maldives joint commission meeting, which was held after 15 years.

This year, ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement.

India has sought to deepen its relations with the Yameen dispensation following unease in ties that had crept in after New Delhi was seen backing former president Mohamed Nasheed. India had voiced concern over his prolonged incarceration, and Prime Minister Modi had also cancelled a visit to Male earlier.
Parliamentarians from Congress and BJP on Monday called for inner party reforms that allow greater expression of individual views on various crucial issues rather than being subject to strict party whips.

"When a party takes a collective decision to support or oppose some issue, I have seen many MPs some of whom much elder to me caught in a dilemma to go ahead with it," said Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in his address at a seminar for legislative reforms organised by NGO, PRS Research foundation.

He added that party whips restrict people from expressing their individual opinions on many crucial issues, noting "such whips are not in practice in many democracies around the world".

His Lok Sabha colleague Varun Gandhi, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), spoke on similar views, asserting that MPs should not be forced to adhere the party lines and must be allowed to express their opinions on the issues they wish to raise.

"So if I have to distinguish myself from somebody like Sakshi Mahraj in my party, how could I possibly do so as there are whips on every single legislation that comes in.

"Let's say I wanted to support Dr. Tharoor's legislation which was on decriminalisation of homosexuality, but I was told there is a party dictate on that and you must obey it. So I didn't express myself as I did not show up to vote. I thought it was a small way to express my solidarity with those people," Gandhi said in his brief speech at the event.

He also asserted that excellence of MPs need to be rewarded by the people as that "will only help in raising their standards and having fruitful discussions on issues which are of urgent importance".

"There was a time in India when excellence was rewarded. We have followed a long way since then. So if we follow the trajectory without passing any judgement, the constituency that was represented by Maulana (Abdul Kalam) Azad once after the delimitation became Rampur and over the period of time was represented by Jaya Prada. And Pandit Nehru's constituency was lately represented by Atiq Ahmad who has 60 or 70 murder cases registered against him," he said, referring to depletion in standards of politicians over the years.

He noted a normal MP has not much liberty or freedom to express his views on an stringent issue within the party system and within the parliamentary framework.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi stressed that parliament's functioning should not be disrupted as it provides the government an easy escape route.

"Parliament should be used to debate and discuss peoples' issues. Disrupting it from carrying out its functions is a cardinal crime. Opposition gives an easy escape route to the government as most of the ministers are scared to speak on real issues concerning our country," he said.

"The house does not belong to the BJP or the Congress. It is property of the people. So the issues, concerns and grievances of the people must be addressed," he said, adding it doesn't function for more than 90 days which is "too less a time discuss real issues".

Owaisi also advocated certain technical changes in parliamentary procedures like calling attention motions, short duration discussions and selection of questions for question hour so that individual MPs, irrespective of their party affiliations, can get more time to flag issues concerning their constituency and people of the country at large.
Newly appointed president of Uttar Pradesh BJP Keshav Maurya, who arrived here on Monday to a grand welcome by supporters and party workers, said the party would win 265 seats in the 404-member state assembly polls next year.

He was mobbed by enthusiastic party workers at the Charbagh railway station after reaching here on the Shatabdi Express.

Thanking party workers for their support, Maurya exuded confidence that the next government in the state would be of the BJP. "We will win 265 seats in the 2017 state polls."

Among others welcoming him at the railway station was former state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Laxmikant Bajpayi.

Workers danced to Bollywood tunes and patriotic songs as the new party president emerged from the station and began his drive to the party office on Vidhan Sabha Marg.

Congressmen, however, protested Maurya's arrival, accusing him of being the extremist face of the BJP.

Congress leaders said Maurya has been sent to the state by the BJP's national leadership to divide the state and polarise voters.

BJP spokesman Manoj Mishra said on his way to Lucknow, Maurya was also accorded a grand welcome in Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Tundla, Etawah and Kanpur.
A woman Baloch leader has said that Kulbushan Jhadav, arrested by Pakistan on charges of being an Indian spy, is not one because there is no Indian involvement in the restive western province of Balochistan.

"These are all false claims by Pakistan. All lies," Naela Quadri, a prominent Balochistan rights activist, told IANS. She said that Pakistan was engaging in such "blatant lies" to "delegitimize Balochistan's independence movement" and corner India.

Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was arrested last month in Balochistan. Pakistan has alleged that he still serves in the Indian navy and carried a fake Iranian passport to enter the region to launch "subversive activities" in Balochistan that is seeking independence from Islamabad's rule.

Pakistani envoy in India Abdul Basit last week claimed that Jadhav's alleged confession recorded in a video "irrefutably corroborates what Pakistan has been saying all along" that India was stirring unrest and destabilising his country.

But Quadri said "freedom" fighters in her region have been receiving no assistance from India.

"We don't know where Jhadav was arrested from. We have seen no Indian involvement. We don't see them," she said.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived at the Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka on Monday.

Carter, who is on a three-day visit to India, was briefed here by Flag Officer (Karwar) Rear Admiral R.J. Nadkarni on Project Seabird, the first phase of construction of the base.

Parrikar and Carter will be holding a joint press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, officials said.

Prior to Carter's visit, the US under secretary (administration) had also visited India and held discussions on various bilateral issues including defence technology and trade initiatives.

A statement from the US embassy ahead of Carter's visit had said Carter will advance the US' growing security where the country is developing new partnerships and modernising a long-standing alliance with India.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday visited the Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka.

Carter, who is on a three-day visit to India, was briefed here by Flag Officer (Karwar) Rear Admiral R.J. Nadkarni on Project Seabird, the first phase of construction of the base.

The US defense Secretary also went on board the Indian Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Carter, who arrived in Goa on Sunday, visited the Manguesh temple and the tomb of St. Francis at the Basilica Bom Jesus situated in Old Goa area.

Parrikar accompanied Carter and later hosted dinner for him.

Parrikar also gifted Carter a model of HMS Minden, a ship built in a Mumbai dockyard where the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written on board by Francis Scott Key, a Baltimore author and lawyer who was held captive in 1814 by the British.

Parrikar and Carter will be holding a joint press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, officials said.

Prior to Carter's visit, the US under secretary (administration) had also visited India and held discussions on various bilateral issues, including defence technology and trade initiatives.

A statement from the US embassy ahead of Carter's visit said he (Carter) will advance the US's growing security where the country is developing new partnerships and modernising a long-standing alliance with India.
A group of pirates attacked a Turkish oil tanker sailing near the Nigerian coast and abducted six members of the crew, including the captain.

The identities or motivation of the pirates, who attacked the Malta-flagged Puli oil tanker, remained yet unknown, Turkish TV channel NTV reported on Monday.

The tanker was owned by Turkish shipping company Kaptanoglu, EFE news reported citing the channel.

The Puli tanker was coming from Gabon and in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast last Thursday before travelling to Nigeria, according to official data from International Maritime Traffic.
CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, who is contesting from Narayangarh assembly constituency in West Bengal, on Monday said polling there was "overall peaceful", with the Trinamool Congress failing to capture any of the booths.

"The elections were overall peaceful. There was trouble in some areas, but there were no major incidents. People have voted ignoring terror and intimidation," Mishra, who is a doctor, told news channel Kolkata TV.

Mishra, who has been winning in the constituency under West Midnapore district since 1991, said it was his presence in the area that foiled the Trinamool's plans to "loot votes" and so they got angry and staged demonstrations when he went to some of the booths.

"Over the past five years since the 2011 assembly polls,, none of the elections there was free and fair. They (Trinamool) looted votes, there was false voting. This time they couldn't do it.

"I had said earlier that I will be there in the constituency from the night before polling. I did that. Their plans failed. So they were angry. The media was also there," said Mishra, who is regarded as the "face" of the Left Front-Congress poll tie-up.

He said polling could go up to close to 90 percent at Narayangarh.

Asked about the role of the central forces, Mishra said he could not feel their presence on Sunday night, but saw them stationed in the booths on Monday.

On allegations that the central forces did not patrol in the villages, he said: "Yesterday (Sunday), I didn't see them patrolling. But today (Monday), I was told in one area voters were obstructed, but they removed the trouble-makers."

Earlier in the day, Mishra told the media that he had lodged complaints with the poll panel about electoral malpractices in 23 booths of the constituency.

"We had complained to the chief electoral officer about electoral malpractices and terrorisation in 23 booths. We have not seen such violence since 1977. After I complained, the number of troubled booths have come down to four," Mishra said.

He exhorted people to stay calm and vote.

"This is the Trinamool's culture. This is a sign of disappointment and defeat. Don't get swayed," he said at the CPI-M office in Belda of West Midnapore district.

Describing the Left Front-Congress tie-up as a people's alliance, the CPI-M politburo member said "it will win everywhere".

"It is the people's alliance. Those who have come under attack over the past five years, have played the main role in forming the alliance. The parties and leaders have also played some part, but overall, this alliance has got its strength from the people's desires."
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday embarked on a two-nation tour of France and Germany to further a semi-high speed train project, station redevelopment agreement and other projects.

Scheduled to visit France on April 11-12, Prabhu will meet French Transport Minister Alaon Vidalies and discuss the jointly funded project to increase the speed of trains on the Delhi-Chandigarh route from the current 110 km per hour to 200 km per hour with SNCF of France, an official statement said.

He will also discuss redevelopment of Ambala and Ludhiana stations based on French experience.

Prabhu will visit Germany from April 13 to 15 and meet officials there to discuss cooperation in various technologies of the rail sector, the statement added.
An interaction with anti-poaching staff and a visit to an animal rehabilitation centre are being lined up for Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, during their visit to the Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The royal couple will arrive in Tezpur, some 90 minutes' drive from Kaziranga, on Tuesday evening, and will be received by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

They will be taken to the Difflo River Lodge adjacent to the national park, famed for its one-horned rhinoceros, for their two-night stay.

"The next morning (Wednesday), they will be taken to the Bagori range where they will be shown photographs of the park," M. Ali, director of the Kaziranga National Park, told IANS over phone from Kohora in Assam.

"Thereafter, they will embark on a one-and-half hours' jeep safari to see the fauna inhabiting the park," he said.

The weather is expected to be warm, as it normally is in April in this part of the country.

After the safari, the royal couple will interact with the park's frontline anti-poaching staff at a place called Dimoli, according to the park director.

The royal couple will then go to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) under the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and visit a centre for treatment of captive elephants named after British conservationist Mark Shand. He was the brand ambassador of the park till time of his death in April 2014.

There they will interact with veterinary doctors of the centre.

During their stay in the park, the royal couple will be presented with a cultural programme, including Bihu and Jhumur dances, by the residents of two local villages.

As the visit comes on the eve of the state's biggest festival, Bohag Bihu, Prince William and Kate will also be treated to Assamese delicacies like pithas (rice cakes) and laroos (sweet balls) among other dishes.

The royal couple will leave for Bhutan on Thursday.

Apart from being world famous for the successful conservation of the one-horned rhinoceros, Kaziranga is also believed to be the most densely habited tiger region in the world.

Kaziranga is also home to the Asiatic wild buffalo, swamp deer, sambar, hog deer and over 500 species of birds.

Preliminary notification of Kaziranga as a reserve forest was issued in 1950.

It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1950 and a national park in 1974.

In 1985, the park was declared as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The year 2005 marked the centenary year of the successful biodiversity conservation of the Kaziranga National Park.

(Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in)
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, on Monday visited Gandhi Smriti here and paid tributes at the 'Martyr's Column' -- the spot where Mahatma Gandhi fell to an assassin's bullets in 1948.

The British royals arrived at the Gandhi Smriti on Tees January Road after laying a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti - dedicated to the 'Unknown Soldier' - at India Gate.

Mahatma Gandhi lived at the complex for 144 days before he was assassinated there on January 30, 1948.

The couple visited the museum at Gandhi Smriti, which houses articles related to the Father of the Nation.

According to a British High Commission official, the couple asked several questions about the spinning wheel that Mahatma Gandhi used and is put on display there.

They were also inquisitive about Mahatma Gandhi's statue at the complex's entrance, and were told it was a symbol of peace.

Inscribed on the bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the company of a boy and a girl is his famous quote: 'My life is my message.'

The Duke and the Duchess also met around 30 schoolchildren, who sang 'bhajans' that gave the message of peace, as propagated by Gandhi.

On Sunday, the royal couple attended a welcome charity dinner hosted by the British High Commission in Mumbai.

The high-profile dinner was attended by the Who's Who of Bollywood, who rolled out the red carpet for the royal couple.

Prince William and Kate are scheduled to have lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
The meteoric rise and an equally dramatic fall of Rajat Gupta -- the former head of McKinsey who was charged in the largest insider trading case in the US -- will be captured in a memoir to be published by Juggernaut Books.

"Candid, compelling and poignant, Gupta's book promises to be an extraordinary human story -- of a man who had it all before he lost everything," the publishing house said in a statement about the top corporate advisor, who was released last month after serving 19 months in US prisons.

"His memoir tells the story of his meteoric rise, and an equally dramatic fall and the lessons he learned from this journey -- from the hardships of his childhood to his unprecedented success in corporate America and his years in prison," the statement said.

Gupta, now living in his Manhattan home, himself recollected what he went through.

"My life has had many ups and downs and in this book I want to talk about my struggles and how I've found solace, strength. How do you act without attachment. Help others without expectation. And forgive without bitterness." he was quoted as saying in the statement.

"How do you maintain peace and dignity in the most difficult circumstances. These questions permeate all of our lives. I hope the youth in particular will benefit from the learning in my journey," he said rather candidly.

Gupta, who was convicted in June 2012 for leaking tips to hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, was released on January 5 this year from Federal Medical Centre Devens, a federal correctional facility in Ayer, Massachusetts, 64 km from Boston.

He then completed his final two-month sentence at his apartment in New York City.

His publisher's statement said for nine years he ran the world's most influential consultancy and was considered a leading mind in business strategy. He also led many social initiatives, such as the Indian School of Business and the Public Health Foundation of India.

He also chaired the advisory board of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others.

"After a high-profile and lengthy trial in 2012 he was found guilty and sentenced to two years in jail. He served his jail time, which included periods of solitary confinement, and was released in 2016," the statement said.

"Throughout this time, Gupta has maintained his innocence and his appeal to vacate his conviction is still pending before the US Court of Appeals."

As regards Juggernaut Books, it aims to give authors digital and physical platforms. Its authors include Arundhati Roy, William Dalrymple, Prashant Kishor, Twinkle Khanna, Sunny Leone, Rujuta Diwekar, Husain Haqqani, Svetlana Alexievich, and Rajdeep Sardesai.
Veteran Actor Rishi Kapoor has wished a "speedy recovery" to Abhishek Bachchan, who is suffering from a slipped disc.

"Abhishek Bachchan, heard you have a slipped disc? Speedy recovery. We need you back in the saddle. Much love," Rishi tweeted.

Abhishek, who shared the silver screen with the veteran actor in Umesh Shukla's "All Is Well", "thanked" Rishi for his well wishes.

"Thank you so much. Will come for dinner as soon as I can move around. That too on the saddle," Abhishek replied.

Abhishek has reportedly been diagnosed with a slipped disc due to extensive travelling and has been advised to take medication and bed rest.

On the work front, the "Yuva" star has two films in his kitty -- "Housefull 3" and "Hera Pheri 3".
Sajad Lone, a senior minister in Jammu and Kashmir's PDP-BJP government, on Monday skipped the first state cabinet meeting here chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti after she was sworn in April 4.

Allotted the portfolio of social welfare department and apparently dissatisfied over this, Lone had submitted his resignation to the chief minister. It has so far not been accepted by her.

Lone, who got elected to the state legislative assembly from the Handwara constituency in 2014, was given a cabinet berth in the Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government as a BJP nominee.

He held the animal husbandry department portfolio in Mufti Muhammad Sayeed government that lasted for 10 months till Sayeed passed away in New Delhi on January 7.
Iraqi security forces on Sunday launched an offensive to flush out Islamic State (IS) terrorists from a Shia Turkoman village in the country's northern province of Kirkuk, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

The troops and allied paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, advanced in the morning toward Basheer village from the north and the west, Xinhua quoted a source as saying.

Heavy clashes erupted in and around the village, some 220 km north of Baghdad, the source said.

So far, the troops have made slow progress due to large number of roadside bombs leading to the IS-held village, the source said, adding that the roadside bombs killed four Hashd Shaabi members and wounded 22 others.

Meanwhile, IS terrorists also pushed a booby-trapped military truck and a tanker truck loaded with explosives to attack the positions of Hashd Shaabi members, leaving six of them killed and 28 others wounded, the source said.

The clashes continued into the night as the terrorists sustained heavy casualties among their fighters and vehicles, the source added.

Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni paramilitary tribal units have been battling IS terrorits to repossess control of large territories in northern and western Iraq, seized by the IS since June 2014.
Smoking and viral infections can lower the effectiveness of drugs taken to treat chronic lung diseases, say Australian researchers.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the collective name for lung diseases including emphysema, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive airways disease.

The findings showed that the effectiveness of a commonly used COPD symptom-reliever medication gets reduced owing to cigarette smoke exposure and influenza A infection in an animal model of the respiratory disease.

"There is a clear need for new therapies that can overcome the limitations of current drugs used to treat COPD and associated flare-ups," said senior study author Ross Vlahos from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

Smoking is currently the main cause of COPD as it alters immunity and can increase a patient's susceptibility to infection which can worsen symptoms and cause flare-ups.

People suffering from COPD have difficulties breathing, mainly due to the airflow becoming obstructed, persistent production of phlegm and frequent chest infections.

In animal models, the team found that lung tissues exposed to cigarette smoke and viral infection were less responsive to the drug than tissues those were not.

The research, published in the Portland Press journal Clinical Science, suggests a need for new drugs to treat COPD patients in these categories and a model can be used to test new medications.

"We can then design alternative, more efficacious agents to help treat people with COPD, especially during a viral exacerbation," said lead study author Chantal Donovan from Monash University in Victoria, Australia.
Sony India on Monday launched an innovative A68 A-mount camera featuring 4D focus for amateur photographers to shoot pictures more creatively.

The 24 MP A68 camera delivers extraordinary auto focus (AF) performance under any shooting conditions ranging from lighting as low as exposure value (EV) 2 -- an area where other cameras struggle, the company said in a statement.

The 4D FOCUS technology ensures fast, accurate tracking autofocus with 79 AF points, with Sony's Translucent Mirror Technology to deliver constant AF tracking at up to 8 frames per second (fps) continuous shooting.

With Translucent Mirror Technology, users can enjoy non-stop continuous autofocus that effortlessly tracks moving subjects for crisp, professional looking footage.

The phase detection system uses no less than 79 autofocus detection points including 15 cross points, plus a dedicated F2.8 AF sensor point for dimly-lit scenes.

This helps users shoot fast, wide area AF with predictive tracking that locks faithfully onto fast-moving subjects.

The full HD movies feature use the efficient "XAVC Sv" format for high-bit rate recordings at up to 50 megabits per second (Mbps) with fine detail and low noise.

The 2.7-type LCD monitor tilts up to 135 degrees upwards or 55 degrees downwards for comfortable composition from a wide variety of shooting angles.

"Serious photo lovers will value the backlit top display that allows quick confirmation of camera settings, whether you're shooting handheld or on a tripod," the company said in a statement.

The model ILCA-68/BQ IN5 (Body only) is available at Rs.55,990 while ILCA-68K/BQ IN5 (with SAL1855) model can be purchased at Rs.59,990.

The high-end ILCA-68M/BQ IN5 (SAL18135) model is available for Rs.85,990.
South Korean and US naval forces on Monday launched an 11-day joint maritime drill along the southern coast of the Korean peninsula.

The exercise, which will run until April 21, aims to improve joint preparation for search and rescue operations, as well as several submarine missions, a South Korean Naval Forces spokesman said.

The US navy will be commanding the 3,300-tonne rescue ship USNS Safeguard as well as 15 divers in the mock search and rescue, EFE news reported.

South Korea has deployed the 3,500-tonne Tongyeong rescue ship with 12 specialists from a rescue unit on board, the spokesman added.

Members of the joint naval forces will conduct deep sea diving and submarine drills to improve their coordination for rescue operations in both peace and wartime.

The exercise forms part of the Foal Eagle that began in March.

The annual Korea-US Foal Eagle and Key Resolve joint exercise this year involves 17,000 American and 300,000 South Korean soldiers - the largest one to date.

North Korea, in response to the drills that it considers an invasion threat, has made threats and fired short-range and medium-range missiles in recent weeks.

The tension on the Korean peninsula has escalated since January when Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test and later launched a long-range rocket with ballistic missile technology.
A Baloch woman leader and rights activist has accused Pakistan of "genocide" in Balochistan and says India must support the "freedom movement" in the restive province for its own "strategic interests" as an "antidote for the Pakistan-China anti-India coalition".

Naela Quadri, 50, said she was here to make a "conscience awakening call" to the government and people of India who helped liberate East Pakistan from Islamabad in 1971 to help it become an independent Bangladesh.

"It is not only for us. An independent Balochistan is the only antidote for Pakistan-China anti-India coalition," Quadri, a Harvard graduate and a champion of Baloch rights, told IANS in an interview.

The Balochistan Independence Movement leader made a passionate plea to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get involved in the "freedom movement" of the sprawling western region which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

"India has to take a stand, not only against gross human rights violations in the neighbourhood but also because its strategic interests are involved," said Quadri, who also heads the World Baloch Women's Forum and campaigns for Baloch people's rights worldwide. She was once jailed in Pakistan.

Pakistan has been accusing India of stoking trouble in Balochistan, which is the size of France and is rich in gas, gold and copper reserves. It is also home to massive untapped sources of oil and uranium. Angry over Pakistan's exploitation of the resources and alleged repressive rule, Balochis have so far launched five armed insurgencies since the territory, a princely state under the British, was annexed by Islamabad in 1948.

She accused Pakistan of resorting to "genocide" in Balochistan in response to the "political, democratic and secular" freedom struggle.

"They have killed some 200,000 Balochis in the last decade. The Pakistan Army has participated in enforced disappearance of 25,000 people including men and women," she said.

"They are using all the eight UN indicators of genocide including dehumanization, polarization, extermination and denial."

Recalling the May 28, 1998 Pakistan nuclear tests, Quadri said the army "illegally" used Balochistan for testing its atomic weapons that it got from China. "They have hid the weapons in Balochistan.

"The Balochs are facing all this in isolation and loneliness. No country has come to our help. Not India, so far.

"India is not what it was in 1971 (when Bangladesh was liberated). You had a strong headed and brave leader in Indira Gandhi. She was determined and had a tough foreign policy to deal with Pakistan.

"Unfortunately, the case is different now."

She hoped that Prime Minister Modi would come off "as strong as Gandhi" to help Balochistan win its freedom.

"Modi has a popular mandate and I am sure Indian people would support the Balochistan initiative," said Quadri, an activist since her childhood.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at sarwar.k@ians.in)
After a decade-long gap, India's Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces has made a fresh foray in Nepal's tourism industry and will manage a new high-end luxury resort in Chitwan, a popular destination for jungle safari in western Nepal.

Taj, a well-known luxury hotel chain, has signed a management contract with Chaudhary Group (CG) Hotels and Resorts for Meghauli Serai Jungle Lodge, a venture of Nepal's first billionaire Binod Kumar Chaudhary, which has already started its operations.

Under the group's luxury brand Taj Safaris, Meghauli Serai Jungle Lodge is focused towards serving the upper end of the market.

The resort offers 30 guest rooms, including 13 standard rooms, 16 independent villas with private plunge pools, and the Rapti Mahal presidential suites.

The resort offers elephant safaris, jeep safari, jungle walk, walk through a local Tharu village showcasing traditional village life and canoeing on the Rapti river. Meghauli Serai has incorporated local hues into its design and operations.

The new property, spread over three hectares and built with an investment outlay of Rs.700 million on the banks of the Rapti river, commenced operations on April 1.

Rohit Khosla, senior vice president, operations, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, said: "We are delighted to extend the legendary Taj hospitality to guests in Nepal. The Taj group has a pioneering reputation for creating destinations and we are very proud to present the latest Taj Safaris' Meghauli Serai Jungle Lodge at Chitwan National Park. We are committed to adding value to the community and the region."

With overwhelming response from foreign travellers since its opening, the company expects to break even within the first year of operation.

As an introductory offer, the resort has been charging $250-$300 per night for standard rooms and independent villas.

After the promotional scheme ends, the resort has set three price categories "$500 per night for standard rooms, $700 for independent villas and $1,500 per night for presidential suite" beginning from autumn this year.

Taj Safaris is the creator of India's first luxury wildlife travel circuit in Madhya Pradesh.

"The first luxury wildlife travel circuit in Madhya Pradesh has shown a great result. When the opportunity came to set up this wildlife travel in Meghauli Chitwan, we thought it was the right place to be," said Kirti Dhingra, director of Public Relations, Luxury of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.

"In fact, this is our second foray into Nepal and we are thinking it could be a huge success."

Taj Group had dissociated itself from Hotel Annapurna in Kathmandu in 2004 on security grounds.

The year 2015 had not been good for Nepal's tourism industry and some investors still see risks in this sector -- but Taj is optimistic.

"Tourism is building back in Nepal after what it had gone through last year. We see an upward trend in the industry. The hospitality industry here will thrive in a cycle of accelerating growth," said Dhingra.
Security measures were beefed up on Koh Samui island on Monday for the Songkran festival, when a large number of travellers are expected to visit the popular spot in Thailand.

Koh Samui marine police said security measures were being taken not only on Koh Samui and the nearby Koh Pa-ngan islands off Surat Thani province in Thailand, but also on the shores where a dozen boats ferry passengers to the islands at a 30-minute interval, Xinhua reported.

"We've stepped up measures for the safety of all visitors to Koh Samui and Koh Pa-ngan, especially during the approaching Songkran holiday. While the ferry boats have been assured of good working condition, we're seeing to it that suspicious-looking persons, vehicles or any cargoes on board will be thoroughly examined and put away," said the police.

All the ferry boats, speed boats and scooters as well as crew members were thoroughly checked for safety reasons, with life jackets and life boats being readily available on board, the police said.

The owners and operators of hotels, resort units, restaurants and other accommodations on the tourist islands have made preparations to help the authorities in coping with possibilities of any untoward incident, according to the head of the local marine police.

In addition to the major tourist destinations in Thailand, Phuket island and Thai archipelagos in the Andaman Sea are also attracting a large number of visitors during the water-splashing festival.
After four long years, 15 countries where tigers still roam free will come together on Tuesday to participate in the 'Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation' during which the latest tiger census will be presented.

The three-day conference, which will see conservation experts, ministers and senior officials from 15 Tiger Range countries gather together, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

"The prime minister will inaugurate the Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation. More than 700 tiger experts and other stakeholders are gathering to discuss the issues related to tiger conservation," union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a statement.

At the conference, the tiger countries will submit the updated census on the big, striped cats, as per the recommendation of the 2nd Stocktaking Conference to Review Implementation of the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP) in 2014 in Dhaka.

The conference is being hosted at the 'mid-way' of the "Global Tiger Summit" resolution adopted by 13 tiger range countries in 2010 at St. Petersburg, Russia, which was to double the tiger population by 2022 -- 'The Year of Tiger' as per Chinese calender.

India has also hiked the budget for Project Tiger to Rs.380 crore, Javadekar said. This is around Rs.240 crore more than the last budgetary allocation, a record hike.

"We have allotted Rs.380.00 crore to the Project Tiger in the current fiscal year, which is an all-time high and indicates that the Government of India is committed to the conservation of our national animal," said Javadekar.

Representatives from the earlier 13 Tiger Range Countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand and Vietnam as well as the two new ones of Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan will be participating. The two new countries gained entry for the Snow Leopard.

While several Tiger Range Countries like India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan have registered an increase in tiger population, the status of tiger remains 'endangered', and has declined to 'non-viable' level in some range countries, a cause for concern. India is home to 70 percent of the world's tigers.

As per 2014 census, India had 2,226 tigers in 2014, which was 800 more than 2006. The country had 1,411 tigers in 2006, with 1,706 recorded four years later in 2010. Russia and Indonesia with 433 and 371 tigers respectively, have also recorded a hike in tiger population. China has just seven tigers left, according to data.

The Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation (AMCTC) is a part of Global Tiger Summit which was hosted at St. Petersburg, Russia in 2010.

The first AMCTC was hosted in 2010 at Thailand and the second in 2012 in Bhutan.
A 45-year-old man, known in police circles as 'topiwala Charles Sobhraj', who was adept at cheating truck drivers visiting Delhi, has been nabbed. He was involved in over 100 cases of cheating, robbery and theft, police said on Monday.

Kapil Anand was arrested on Sunday from Mundka in west Delhi on a tip-off. Police were on his trail for a long time, but he would always give them the slip. Anand, who belongs to Rohini, comes from a middle class society.

"We have succeeded in nabbing the extra-clever accused who posed a challenge as 'topiwala' and had become infamous for robbing, cheating and committing thefts on truck drivers coming from other states," Deputy Commissioner of Police Pushpendra Kumar said.

"He had become a challenge to the police staff and committed many crimes in the outer and west districts of Delhi. Anand had admitted that even he could not remember the exact numbers, but may have committed more than hundred such offences over the last three years," the officer said.

Anand's arrest led us to solve over 18 such crimes committed by him in Nihal Vihar, Mundka, Nangloi, Ranhola and Mangol Puri areas in west Delhi, he added.

His modus operandi was to win the confidence of truck drivers arriving from other states and robbing them of their money.

He used to come in a car, wearing a white cap, and used to lure the truck drivers with offering them return loads from Delhi to other places, the officer said.

"After taking the drivers in his confidence he used to cheat them of their money by way of assuring safe custody. When some drivers refused to hand over the money under his custody he used to threaten them by brandishing a weapon and leave them at isolated places," the officer said.

"By committing such crimes regularly he became infamous as 'Topiwala Sobhraj'," the officer said.

The real Charles Sobhraj, also known as the Bikini Killer, is a French serial killer of Vietnamese and Indian origin, who preyed on Western tourists throughout Southeast Asia during the 1970s.

In his revelation to police, Anand said he started his transport business in partnership in 2007 at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar in Delhi.

"Anand's partner had mismanaged the business and he suffered huge loss. He belongs to middle class society, and was under pressure to maintain his status, but he could not get any suitable job or manage a business to meet the family requirements.

"He knew that drivers coming from other states had no knowledge of the exact addresses in the outskirts of Delhi. Hence he devised a way to accomplish his dream of becoming rich by robbing poor and innocent truck drivers of their money," the officer said.
US presidential candidate is leading his rivals for the Republican nomination by over 20 points in the upcoming primary contests of New York and Pennsylvania, latest polls haverevealed.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton also leads her primary opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, by double-digits in both states, according to the polls released on Sunday by Fox News.

The New York primaries are scheduled for April 10 and Pennsylvania on April 26.

The New York Fox News poll showed Trump poised to cross the 50% statewide threshold needed to capture all of New York's statewide Republican delegates. Trump would need to win a majority of votes in all of the state's 27 congressional districts to clinch New York's full 95-delegate slate.

Trump has 54% of support to fellow Republican hopefuls Ohio Governor John Kasich's 22% and Texas Senator Ted Cruz's 15%, according to the Fox News survey of likely New York Republican primary voters.

Trump has a similar lead in Pennsylvania where he clinches 48% to Kasich's 22% and Cruz's 20%, according to the Fox poll of likely Republican primary voters in Pennsylvania.

After suffering through a string of recent defeats, Clinton appears poised to recapture her momentum in New York and Pennsylvania where she leads Sanders by 16 and 11 percentage points, respectively, in the Fox News polling.

In New York, Clinton leads Sanders 53% to 37%; and in Pennsylvania, she tops him 49% to 38%.

While both Clinton and Trump are playing up their home state ties ahead of the New York primary, the former New York senator would trounce the New York real estate developer by 16 points in a general election match-up, according to the poll.

Trump would also lose to Brooklyn-born Sanders by 19 points based on the survey of New York voters.

The New York poll surveyed 1,403 New York voters between April 4-7. For Democrats, 801 likely primary voters were polled for a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points; for Republicans, 602 likely primary voters were surveyed for a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points.

The Pennsylvania poll surveyed 1,607 Pennsylvania voters between April 4-7. For both Democrats and Republicans, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
At least two militants were killed on Monday as they tried to attack a police station in Russia's Stavropol region.

"Two militants who attempted to attack the Novoselitsky police station were liquidated today (Monday)," Tass news agency quoted Russian interior ministry as saying.

No civilian or police official was killed or injured in the attack, the ministry said.

According to the ministry, one of the militants was killed at the police station's checkpoint, and the other blew himself up.
That the UAE has remained an oasis of peace despite turmoil in many countries of the region is a clear indication that its anti-terror measures are effective, strong and on absolutely right track, a leading daily said on Monday.

"The UAE has taken a firm and principled stand against all forms and manifestations of terrorism, regardless of their motivation and justification, wherever, whenever and committed by whosoever," The Gulf Today said in an editorial.

"As Obaid Salem Saeed Al Za'abi, UAE Permanent Representative to the UN, rightly stressed at the Geneva Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism, the country has been in the forefront of states that adopted a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism and extremism through three main dimensions: legislative, religious and cultural, and media and social work," the paper went on to say.

"The remarkable role played by Sawab Centre, a joint initiative by the UAE and US to fight Islamic State's extremist ideology online, also deserves special mention. The Sawab Centre effectively campaigns on its Twitter and Instagram pages that violent and radical actions by extremists bear no relation whatsoever to the real teachings of Islam and the practices of Muslims," it said.

"The world increasingly recognises the fact that global partnership is the best way to defeat violent extremism. A dynamic, multi-dimensional response from the community is the best way to address the threat of violent extremism."

"In this, the UAE deserves special credit for its highly successful and co-ordinated efforts along with the global community in addressing the deadly menace of extremism," concluded the daily.
US doctors, including an Indian American doctor reported the first case of a human patient whose severely damaged oesophagus was reconstructed using commercially available stents and skin tissues.

After the 24-year-old man was paralysed in a car crash seven years ago, doctors struggled to repair his disrupted oesophagus.

Despite several surgeries, the defect in the oesophagus was too large to repair and it was resulting in life-threatening infection, the physicians noted in the paper published in the journal in The Lancet.

The team of doctors decided to try a technique previously tested only in animals, to reconstruct the upper oesophagus with stents and skin tissue approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

"This is a first in human operation and one that we undertook as a life-saving measure once we had exhausted all other options available to us and the patient," Kulwinder Dua, professor at Medical College of Wisconsin in the US.

The doctors used metal stents as a non-biological scaffold and a regenerative tissue matrix from donated human skin to rebuild a full-thickness five cm defect in the oesophagus of the patient.

They inserted an endoscope containing a wire through the man's stomach and up through what remained of his oesophagus, leading to his mouth.

Guided by the wire, they then inserted three stents to recreate the structure of the oesophagus and covered it with skin tissue.

The tissue was then sprayed with a gel made from the patient's own blood, which contained natural substances to attract stem cells.

Although the doctors wanted to remove the stents about three months after the surgery, the patient refused, fearing he would not be able to eat and drink; he was also worried about possible scarring.

Nearly four years later, doctors removed the stents after the man had trouble swallowing when a problem arose with the lower stent.

One year after that, doctors examined the man's oesophagus and found that all five layers of the oesophagus had regrown, closely resembling a normal one.

The patient now does not need a feeding tube and also has not reported any other complications.

Swallowing tests showed full recovery and functioning was also established with oesophageal muscles able to propel water and liquid along the oesophagus into the stomach in both upright and 45 degrees sitting positions.

"The approach we used is novel because we used commercially available products which are already approved for use in the human body and hence didn't require complex tissue engineering," Dua explained.

The research including animal studies and clinical trials, are now needed to investigate whether the technique can be reproduced and used in other similar cases.

"The use of this procedure in routine clinical care is still a long way off as it requires rigorous assessment in large animal studies and phase one and two clinical trials," Dua stated.

The oesophagus is a hollow muscular tube that connects the mouth to the stomach carrying food and liquids.
Actor Varun Dhawan will lend his voice for Steve Rogers aka Captain America in the Hindi version of "Captain America: Civil War".

Disney India and Varun have collaborated on the Hindi language version, read a statement.

Asked about his association with the project, the actor said: "When Disney India got in touch with me to voice 'Captain America' it tickled a creative box in my head. I have immense respect for voice-over artists as it's a very difficult job to do."

He said that "Captain America" is a "matured and a balanced leader", which he "is not".

"That made it all the more challenging for me. 'Captain America: Civil War' is bigger, better and the action is huge. It's a film for kids and adults and the actual moral of the film is something I loved and believed in, so I was very happy to voice it. I was blown away by the trailer and that got me very interested to take it up as a challenge," the "Badlapur" actor said.

In the past, Varun played the main lead in Disney India's homegrown dance film "ABCD 2". The film was a sequel of 2013's hit film "ABCD: Any Body Can Dance".

Amrita Pandey, vice president - studios, Disney India, said: "During 'ABCD 2', we have seen what a huge draw Varun has with younger audience and kids. This made him our obvious and first choice for voicing Captain America in the latest Marvel tentpole."

"We believe his charisma and his huge fan following is just what we need to take 'Captain America: Civil War' to a wider Hindi audience," Pandey added.

"Captain America: Civil War" releases in India on May 6 in four languages -- English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday reiterated its demand for a legislation in parliament for building the in Ayodhya.

"We are very clear that there is only one way of building the Ram mandir in Ayodhya and that is through legislation," VHP working president Pravin Togadia said here.

He asked the government to call a joint sitting of parliament to muster the required numbers for passing the law. But he did not set a timeframe for it.

"Modi-ji has assured us that Ram mandir would be built in Ayodhya and I am sure he would keep his promise. It is a matter of time," he said.
The number of tigers in the wild has risen for the first time in 100 years, marking a major turning point in the big cat's plight against poaching and habitat loss.

Figures collated from national surveys conducted in tiger range states and from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), estimate the number of tigers living in the wild to be around 3,890.

That is up almost 700 animals from the 2010 figure, which estimated their numbers at 3,200, ABC reported.

Current tiger estimates across Asia are: 2,226 tigers in India, 433 in Russian Siberia, 371 in Indonesia, 250 in Malaysia, 198 in Nepal, 189 in Thailand, 106 in Bangladesh, 103 in Bhutan, more than seven in China, less than five in Vietnam, two tigers in Laos, and none in Cambodia. Data on tigers in Myanmar was not available.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Australia's national manager for the species, Darren Grover welcomed the news, saying it was the first increase since the turn of the 20th century.

"That's great news. It's the first positive trend for wild tiger populations in more than 100 years," he said.

In 1900, approximately 100,000 tigers were estimated to be living in the wild.

"In those 100 years or so, we've lost around 97 percent of wild tigers," Grover said.

A WWF background document said the increase was likely the result of major changes made in India, Russia, Nepal and Bhutan, including improved survey techniques and ramped up conservation efforts.

But despite the increase, Grover said there was still a long way to go before tiger range states reached their goal of doubling the number in the wild by 2022.

In 2011, about 14 countries from across the tiger range, which extends from India across South Asia and to Far East Russia, got together in St. Petersburg in Russia and agreed to the Tx2 target.

"They took 3,200 as the number at that time, so that would mean they are aiming for a wild tiger population of around 6,400 by 2022," Grover said.

"We're on the way towards that target. We're obviously making progress, but there is still quite some way to go."

Grover said some countries, such as Malaysia, China and Thailand, were holding back efforts by failing to conduct habitat surveys.

"There is some information available on how many tigers remain in those countries, but until we do those accurate surveys, we won't know for sure," he said.

"The good thing is, most of those countries have committed to doing those surveys over the next year or so, so that will enlighten us to a more accurate figure and hopefully show that that overall number is increasing further."

He said in the meantime, tourists needed to be aware of the overseas practices threatening tigers in the wild.

"While loss of habitat has been a major reason for the decline in tiger numbers, the illegal poaching of tiger and the use of products in traditional medicines is also a major factor behind the decline in tiger populations," he said.

"We really urge people who are going to these countries, if you're in markets and you are seeing what are claimed to be tiger products, don't purchase them."

"As we like to say, there's only one place where those tiger products should be, and that's in a tiger."
A ceasefire between the Yemeni government and Shia Houthi group largely held on Monday, the first day of an almost two-week-long UN-backed truce, despite minor violations, providing hopes to about 25 million people facing imminent threats of famine.

The Shia Houthi rebel group and its allies loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who now control the capital city of Sanaa, agreed to halt hostilities on Saturday, but said they would fight back if under attack, Xinhua reported.

So, too, did Saudi Arabia and its allies of embattled Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government fighting for restoring power from Shia Houthis.

The truce began on Sunday midnight and is scheduled to last till the end of peace talks in Kuwait that are set to begin on April 18 between the warring Yemeni sides, in efforts sponsored by the UN to end a year of deadly war.

Several violations were reported by the Shia rebels over the truce's first 24 hours, including "continuing" air raids from the Saudi-led coalition against Sanaa and other cities.

Also, several violations were recorded by Saudi-backed government forces in the southern province of Taiz and northern provinces of Al-Jouf and Marib.

In the capital Sanaa, residents said they heard loud sounds of fighter jets crossing the sky just three hours after the cease-fire officially went into effect, and that coalition warplanes continued flying over Sanaa till early Monday morning.

Early Monday, pro-Houthi media outlets reported a first airstrike on Nihm, on the eastern outskirts of Sanaa, targeting the house of Houthi loyalist leader Sheikh Ahmed Sabir. Residents in Nihm confirmed the airstrike.

Another three airstrikes targeted a Houthi gathering in Salah area, and the hills of Al-Sallal and Al-Jasha in the east of the southern city of Taiz, according to Houthi media and residents there. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the airstrikes.

On the other side, the Saudi-backed Yemeni government reported a first civilian killed in a Houthi rebel shelling in the first hours of the truce in Birarah area in Taiz.

Government forces also reported the killing of one of its soldiers in rebel shelling against Usaifirah area in the north of Taiz. Medical officials confirmed both deaths.

In the northern desert province of Al-Jouf, residents reported sporadic clashes in three districts of Al-Mutoon, Al-Masloob and Al-Ghail district. Both the Houthi rebel group and Saudi-backed government forces traded accusations of breaching the cease-fire.

However, pro-government media outlets reported that the government forces stormed and controlled Al-Masloob district Monday afternoon after Houthi rebel breached the truce in the area early morning.

Sporadic clashes were also reported between the rebels and government forces in Bayhan area in the province of Shabwa. Both sides accused each other of breaching the cease-fire.

In the afternoon, Houthi media reported other Saudi-led airstrikes and said they targeted Al-Sad area in the southern province of al-Bayda, and the areas of Asilan and Almatup in the province of Shabwa, as well as other air raids against the areas of Jahmalia, Thabat and Dhabab in the southern province of Taiz.

Official Saba news agency, which is under Houthi rebel control, quoted a military spokesman as saying that "the Saudi aggression and their mercenaries have yet to commit to the truce that has officially been agreed upon and declared by the United Nations."

More than 6,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes in Yemen since armed Houthi rebels seized the capital city of Sanna in September 2014, driving President Hadi into exile.

Previous cease-fires and negotiations between the warring parties in the country only temporarily curbed violence but failed to produce any progress toward peace.

However, some analysts say they see a more conducive atmosphere for the Kuwait talks next week.
Ashton Carter is in India again for his third visit in a year as America's defence secretary. He is one of an apparently inexhaustible stream of US officials making frequent pilgrimages to India to participate in an incredible 80 dialogues under way between the two countries. Last month, Delhi hosted Admiral Harry Harris - the chief of US Pacific Command (USPACOM), a domain that in his words "stretches from Bollywood to Hollywood" - who expansively looked forward to the day when "American and Indian Navy vessels steaming together will become a common and welcome sight throughout Indo-Asia-Pacific waters." A couple of days later, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar subjected Harris' proposal to a dose of reality, observing testily that the question of joint patrolling did not arise. (The Indian Navy has never carried out joint patrols with a foreign navy. However, it routinely carries out "coordinated patrols" with the navies of maritime neighbours, each one's ships and aircraft remaining on their respective sides of the International Maritime Boundary Line.)



Undeterred by India's standoffishness, an American congressman, George Holding (a Republican from North Carolina) has introduced a Bill in the House of Representatives entitled the "US-India Defense Technology and Partnership Act". If passed by the US Congress (which is packed with India-huggers), this will write the defence relationship into US law, formalising our status as "a major partner of the United States". President Barack Obama's administration has nurtured the US-India relationship, instituting the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and establishing an "India Rapid Reaction Cell" in the Pentagon to deal with bureaucratic hurdles. The new legislation seeks to write these ad hoc measures into US law so that subsequent administrations inherit these structures. The Bill also notes, somewhat controversially: "The [US] President is encouraged to coordinate with India on an annual basis to develop military contingency plans for addressing threats to mutual security interests of both countries."




CK Hutchison's 9.25 billion pound ($13.2 billion) bid for Telefonica's O2 UK mobile operator is battling serious static. Britain's competition authority strongly opposed the deal in an April 11 letter to European trustbuster-in-chief Margrethe Vestager. Ultimately, though, Brussels will make the final call - and national competition authorities' objections failed to stop recent consolidation in Ireland, Germany and Austria.

Hutchison and Telefonica's foremost challenge is to show how a fourth UK mobile operator of stature could be fashioned from the bits they are forced to spin off. The question for the trustbusters is how much spectrum the merger partners would grant it and whether it might be able to buy any more than the 20 per cent of Hutchison's British mobile unit that the Asian company says is on offer.

Other headaches raised by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority include the pair's tangled joint ventures. Hutchison's UK operator, Three, has a 50:50 partnership with EE, whose takeover by BT was approved in January to create the largest national player. O2, meanwhile, has joint ventures with second-largest operator Vodafone, as well as with supermarket chain Tesco for its Tesco Mobile offering. The deal with Vodafone includes sharing of infrastructure, which would make it expensive to exit.

Vestager will look to the effect on the UK consumer. Moving from four dominant mobile operators to three, as would happen in the UK after a Three/O2 tie-up, may not always hurt the consumer. Research, admittedly commissioned by Hutchison, suggests unit prices actually fell in Austria after such consolidation. The same happened in Germany, according to HSBC analysts. Although total bills may sometimes rise, customers could simply be using more data as services improve. And Citi research suggests that Hutchison's acquisition may raise prices in the UK by as little as one per cent, assuming Tesco Mobile becomes fully independent.

Still, Li Ka-shing, the Asian tycoon behind Hutchison, is far from home and dry. Lower unit prices might just be down to the bits hived off by the merging parties, rather than the hike in infrastructure investment that telcos claim. Three and O2 will thus have to argue that the costs of exiting or rejigging joint ventures won't be passed on. But making a really convincing case entails undercutting their deal's attractions.
As recently as 2005, you could search for writings by women on their creative lives that mapped their younger selves too and come up near empty-handed.
The standard debate that dominates the public discourse as US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in India on his third visit since assuming office is whether India's "pivot" towards the world's lone superpower is prudent foreign policy. The terms of the discussion are anachronistic and impractical. Given today's geo-political realities, it makes more sense to consider how optimally India's security and strategic interests are served if it were to sign the three agreements that the US establishment considers the foundation of a closer defence relationship. The fact that the Indian defence establishment has shown qualified enthusiasm for the "foundational" pacts and that the US has demonstrated a willingness to meet some of these reservations suggests that the misgivings of "capitulation" to US interests are misplaced.
Police today seized 1.1 tonne red sandalwood seized from three vehicles and arrested four suspected smugglers near P P Kunta check post on outskirts of Badvel town here.

Police seized 52 logs of red sanders. The arrested persons, identified as T Venkateswara Reddy, Shaikh Naveed, Shaikh Sajid and Shaikh Aleef alias Arif, are suspected to have links with red sanders smugglers based in Nepal, Rajasthan and Haryana, Kadapa superintendent of police Naveen Gulati said.

Among the accused, Reddy had six cases pending against him, he said.

Police impounded two cars and a mini truck used for transporting the red sanders, the officer said.

The smugglers were supplying the red sandalwood to Nepal-based smugglers and also have links in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, Gulati said.

Explaining the modus operandi, he said the accused used to transport the logs through containers in the guise of parcels to Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan and Delhi.

They used to send the logs to China through Nepal after hiding them in godowns situated near Nepal border, Gulati said.

Kadapa police, in a joint operation with the Anti-Red Sanders Special Task Force, had on April 5 seized 2.2 tonne of smuggled red sanders, worth Rs 1 crore, from a town bordering Nepal in Bihar and brought the logs to Kadapa, he said.
At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded today when a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghan army recruits near the eastern city of Jalalabad, officials said.

"In the attack, 12 army recruits were killed and 38 others were wounded," said Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar province.

Ehsansullah Shinwari, head of a regional hospital in the province, confirmed the attack but put the death toll at 13.
At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded today when a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghan army recruits near the eastern city of Jalalabad, officials said.

It came days after US Secretary of State John Kerry paid a visit to Kabul to underscore his support for Afghanistan's beleaguered unity government and call on the insurgent group to resume direct peace talks.

"In the attack, 12 army recruits were killed," said Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar province.

Ministry of Defence spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed the incident and death toll, adding the attacker struck the bus while riding a motorised tricycle.

"The recruits were being transferred from Jalalabad to Kabul," Waziri said, putting the number of injured at 26.

Ehsansullah Shinwari, head of a regional hospital in Nangarhar province, said 38 people were hurt in the bombing.

Speaking from the hospital, Ahmad, who only uses one name, told AFP that his father and two brothers were killed in the attack.

At the site of the blast, bloodied clothes and personal belongings were strewn on the ground around the badly charred remains of the bus.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid later claimed responsiblity on his verified Twitter account. The group have been waging a revolt against the government since being toppled from power in 2001, frequently targeting the military.

They have stepped up their campaign following the 2014 withdrawal of US-led combat troops, winning a number of important military victories including the brief capture of northern Kunduz city last September.

Afghanistan, the US, China and Pakistan in January formed a four-way group to try to jump-start peace talks that were first held in Islamabad last July but fell away after it emerged later that month the Taliban's founder Mullah Omar was dead, leading to infighting within the group.

But the Taliban have refused to return to the negotiating table until their conditions are met, including the departure of 13,000 foreign soldiers who are on a mission to train and advise their Afghan counterparts.

Omar's successor Mullah Akhtar Mansour meanwhile is seen as rapidly consolidating his authority over dissident factions and has announced he is preparing for "decisive strikes" this spring.

The Syria-headquartered Islamic State group has also gained a foothold in Nangarhar province in recent years.

Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, a spokesman for the US-led military operations in Afghanistan, said in March the group was mainly contained in one district of the province.

Many of them are former Pakistani Taliban fighters who "have changed allegiance to Daesh," Shoffner said, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym.
Twelve insurgents of the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) surrendered before the police at Sewarampara in North Tripura district, police said today.

The ultras surrendered yesterday and deposited two SLR, one AK-47 rifle, one Insus riffle, one G-3 rifle, two grenades, 369 live cartridges and some documents, SP (Police Control) Uttam Bhaumik said.

They surrendered before SP (Special Branch) Arindam Nath in presence of BSF officials, he further said.

Bhaumik said twelve tribal youths also returned along with the ultras, who fled from the base camp with arms and ammunition.

The tribal youths were forcibly taken to the NLFT base camp at Sapchhari under Rangamati district in Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) of neighbouring Bangladesh.
China has banned three passengers from flying with major airlines for "reckless behaviour" as authorities attempted to impart good behaviour among Chinese fliers, state media reported today.

Three people have been fined and placed on a no-fly list since the China Air Transport Association introduced the national system in February.

The identities of the offenders were not made public.

The bans were handed out for reckless behaviour on board a flight or at an airport - refusing to switch off a tablet PC while landing, hitting a checkpoint security officer with a milk can and attacking airline personnel over a flight delay, the China Daily quoted authorities as saying.

The punishment means the three passengers can not book flights on five major airlines, including Air China, China Southern and China Eastern, which together operate about 80 per cent of routes in and out of China, for one to two years, depending on the severity of their offence, the report said.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China last year laid out 11 kinds of behaviour strictly prohibited on flights and at terminals, including creating disturbances at check-in counters, damaging airport security facilities and intimidating or assaulting crew members.

In December last year, a Chinese woman poured boiling water over a female flight attendant and punched the cabin windows on an AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Nanjing, Jiangsu province, due to a dispute over seating arrangements.

On January 10 last year, police removed 25 passengers from a plane in Kunming, Yunnan province, after they quarrelled with flight crew and opened emergency exits after growing angry over delays caused by bad weather.
The Pentagon has allowed three more Sikhs to serve in US armed forces while maintaining their articles of faith like keeping a beard and wearing a turban, in the fourth such approval in less than a month, bringing cheer to the Sikh community in the US.

The landmark decision, taken on Friday but made public only today, comes days after the soldiers filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defence (DoD) seeking to serve in the US armed forces without being forced to compromise with their articles of faith.

Two have been accommodated in the Army National Guard, and one in the US Army Reserve, a media release said.

Arjan Singh Ghotra, 17, has been accommodated to serve in the Virginia Army National Guard and will continue his service while attending George Mason University this year.

"I will proudly wear my articles of faith with my military uniform," he said.

"I am excited and honoured to have the opportunity to serve my country as an observant Sikh in the Virginia National Guard," Ghotra said.

Kanwar Singh has been accommodated with the Massachusetts Army National Guard, while Harpal Singh, a California telecommunications engineering specialist, has been accommodated to serve with the US Army Reserve through a programme available for non-US citizens with critical foreign language skills.

All three are scheduled to attend basic combat training with their respective units this May, according to the release.

On March 31, 28-year-old Sikh-American decorated combat veteran Captain Simratpal Singh became the first active duty Sikh soldier to receive approval to maintain his articles of faith while actively serving in the US Army.

"We commend the US Department of Defence for its decision to allow these soldiers to serve with their religious turbans and beards," said Sikh Coalition legal director Harsimran Kaur.

Sikhs observe five articles of faith - Kesh (uncut hair), Kara (a steel bracelet), Kangha (a wooden comb), Kachera (cotton underwear) and Kirpan (steel sword).
Three police officials, including two posted at a district vigilance wing, allegedly picked up two Delhi University students and tried to extort Rs 10 lakh from them threatening to frame them in a narcotics case.

One of the accused officials, identified as head constable Raj Singh, has been arrested and his associates -- assistant sub-inspector Mukesh, head constable Harjinder, and one Vipin - are still at large, a senior police official said.

While Singh posted in south-west area is presently attending Police Training School for a course, the other two officials are posted in the vigilance wing of Delhi Police's west district. All three of them have been "dismissed" from service.

The three officials allegedly picked up two students - who are both pursuing bachelor's course from a prominent college under the University of Delhi - from Janakpuri area. They demanded Rs 10 lakh from the students threatening to implicate them in a case under NDPS Act, the official said.

The students paid the officials Rs 28,000 and told them that they would soon pay another installment of Rs 50,000 in a few hours. But it won't be possible for them to pay the entire demanded amount.

Last evening, Singh and Vikas (an associate of the trio) came to south Delhi's Satya Niketan area to negotiate with the students. During the meeting near a Gurudwara there, two persons known to the students happened to be passing by. They enquired about the matter and the students told them everything, the official said.

A scuffle broke out at the spot, during which Vikas fled but the men overpowered Singh and brought him to the police station in the university's South Campus area.

"After investigation, a case of extortion and criminal conspiracy was registered," DCP (South) Ishwar Singh said. While Singh has been arrested, efforts are on to nab the other accused, he said.

Last week, three Delhi Police constables, including one posted in the Special Cell, were arrested under charge of extortion. The trio allegedly tried to extort Rs 20 lakh from the owner of a flat after barging into its premises in southwest Delhi's Dwarka area.
Over 70 per cent votes were cast till 3 PM in the second and final phase of polling in 61 Assembly constituencies of Assam today to decide the fate of 525 contestants.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, representing Assam in Rajya Sabha since 1991, came from Delhi to cast his ballot at Dispur Government High School here.

Indian boxer from Assam Shiva Thapa along with his family members cast his vote. He said he had come here from his ongoing training outside Assam as participating in the democratic process "is a big responsibility for each one of us and all should come out to vote".

Many of the voters stood in queues since 3 AM at all the 12,699 polling stations where polling is being held to be among the first five when booths opened at 7 AM. The district election administrations will felicitate them with medals to encourage voting.

Though polling was by and large peaceful, an incident of firing in the air by CPRF took place at a polling station at Chaygaon in Kamrup district.

The firing took place following protests over a force personnel allegedly "misbehaving" with a pregnant voter to prevent her from returning to the booth after casting vote to pick up her child whom she had left behind.

The entire team of CRPF deployed in the polling station was replaced after the incident, the district superintendent of police Prasanta Saikia said.

In Barpeta district one person died and three others, including two CRPF personnel, were injured in a clash between the central force and voters at Safarkumar polling station in Sorbhog constituency over forming a queue for casting vote.

A scuffle had broken out when the CRPF personnel asked voters to stand in a queue, which led to arguments and jostling, district election officials said.

In the scuffle four persons were injured including an 80-year old voter, a CRPF Assistant Commandant and constable Amarjeet. They were rushed to Barpeta Medical College Hospital where the octogenarian was declared dead.

Voting in both the polling stations, however, continued uninterrupted, the election office sources said.

There were also reports of malfunctioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in some polling centres across middle and lower Assam and they were replaced immediately, election office said.
Assam witnessed 78.09 per cent voter turnout in the second and last phase of polling for 61 constituencies at 5 pm today amid reports of violence at some places.

The final percentage would, however, be available late in the evening as voters already inside the 12,699 polling stations spread across middle and lower Assam will be allowed to cast their ballots, Election Office sources said.

CRPF fired in the air at a polling station at Chaygaon in Kamrup district following a public agitation over a jawan of the Central force allegedly "misbehaving" with a pregnant voter to prevent her from going back to the booth after casting her vote. She had reportedly left her child behind.

Following this the entire CRPF team deployed in the polling station was replaced, Kamrup Superintendent of police Prasanta Saikia said.

In Barpeta district one person was killed and three others, including two CRPF personnel, were injured in a clash between the Central force and voters at a polling station in Sorbhog constituency over forming a queue for casting vote.

A scuffle had broken out at Safarkumar polling station when the CRPF personnel asked voters to stand in queue properly, which led to arguments and jostling, district election officials said.

In the scuffle an 80-year old voter, another voter and a CRPF Assistant Commandant and a constable Amarjeet were injured. They were rushed to Barpeta Medical College Hospital where the octogenarian was declared dead.

Voting in both the polling stations, however, continued uninterrupted, the election office sources said.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who represented Assam in the Rajya Sabha for 15 years came from Delhi to cast his ballot at Dispur Government High School here.

Prominent among the 525 contestants in the fray today are ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Nazrul Islam from Congress, AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and BJP national spokesman Sidhartha Bhattacharya.

Former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who had led a dissidence movement against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and joined BJP last year also tested his electoral fate today.
A record 85 per cent of the electorate voted today in the second and final phase of Assembly elections for 61 seats in Assam which was trouble- free barring a clash in Barpeta.

One person was killed and three others were injured in a clash between security forces and voters at Barpeta, while CRPF fired in the air following 'misbehaviour' by a man in uniform with a pregnant woman in Kamrup district.

"As per the reports received till 5 PM, 82.02 per cent of voting had taken place. However, as a large number of voters were still standing in queue at 5 PM, the final polling percentage is likely to go to approximately 85 per cent," the Election Department said in a statement.

The first phase of polling in the state on April 4 had witnessed an 82.20 per cent voter turnout in 65 of the 126 Assembly constituencies spread across upper Assam, two hill districts and Barak Valley.

"The voters have responded enthusiastically to the appeal of the Election Commission of India and have registered a record turnout. The CEO, Assam has expressed his gratitude to the voters," the statement said.

The authorities have recommended re-polling at Kachugaon ME School under Gossaigaon constituency "due to technical problem", it said adding the authorities replaced 191 EVMs though there were no interruptions to the exercise.

In Barpeta, one person was killed and three others, including two CRPF personnel, were injured following a clash between the central force and voters in Sorbhog constituency over forming a queue for casting vote, the statement said.

In another incident, CRPF fired in the air at a polling station at Chaygaon in Kamrup district following agitation by people after a jawan of the central force allegedly "misbehaved" with a pregnant voter.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represented Assam in the Rajya Sabha for 15 years, came from Delhi to cast his vote at the Dispur Government High School here.

Ace boxer Shiva Thapa came along with his family to cast his vote.

The electoral fate of cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Nazrul Islam from Congress, former Chief Minister and AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and BJP national spokesman Sidhartha Bhattacharya were sealed today.

Former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who led a dissidence movement against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi before joining BJP in 2015, is also in the fray in this phase.

For the first time, a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine was introduced in 10 constituencies, including all those in Guwahati.
After joining hands with Twitter, Election Commission today announced its partnership with Facebook to reach out to 31 per cent of the electorate in Tamil Nadu and achieve 100 per cent turnout.

Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni and Director of Public Policy (India, South and Central Asia), Facebook, Ankhi Das in a joint press conference announced the partnership.

Lakhoni said this was part of the Commission's 'Tamil Nadu 100 per cent' (100 per cent in registration, voting and honesty-ethical voting) initiative for the May 16 polls.

The move comes after EC's tie-up with Twitter last month to give a fillip to its #TN100percent campaign.

Stating that her company was delighted to partner with EC, Das said from May 15 onwards Facebook users will see feed reminders with informational links about their polling stations.

Such messages will remind and ask them to vote, she added.

She also said out of the 15 million electors added to rolls in Tamil Nadu during the last five years, 14 million of them were in the age group of 18 to 29. "Our joint awareness campaign will help achieve EC's goal of 100 per cent voter turnout."



The social networking website said it was in talks with Kerala as well.

Replying to a query, she said, "we are in talks with election authorities in other states. We have arrangement in Puducherry, we are in talks with Kerala, but we are yet to formalise the arrangement."



"I think Tamil Nadu is the first state in terms of being so forward leaning (in partnering with Facebook)."



CEO said, "Roughly there are 1.8 crore Facebook users in Tamil Nadu and approximately 5.79 crore voters, so it (Facebook users) accounts to about 31 per cent."



"So voters who are in Facebook will get reminders through one partnership and that is something really outstanding," he said.

To another question, he said,"my vote is not for sale (campaign) from April 14 will automatically get promoted on Facebook and celebrity videos, discussions and competitions will all be featured in our Facebook page.

On announcing results on FB, CEO Lakhoni said "election



results can be announced live on Facebook, they are for it, we are also okay with it, we can reach so many people."



He said poll results were of interest not only to residents of the state, where it was held but also to those living elsewhere.

Responding to a question on poll-related ads on social media, he said the Commission has begun sending notices to those who had posted poll-related advertisements in social media without taking permission.

Stating that election is "run through Model Code," he said social media advertisement also needed certification before it was put out online.

"We have already started giving notices to people saying you have put out advertisements without permission and we will be watching," he said.

"If people are not taking certification, we have two teams that are watching and we are integrating another company which is putting together anything on TN elections and that will come to us," he said adding the firm will be made known soon.

There are instructions that any form of promotion that went on electronic media must be certified and he reiterated that "we are and will be watching."



He further said, the Madras High Court, a few days ago, in an interim order had banned putting up flex-boards, and hoardings on foot-paths, roadsides and road margins.

"Based on HC order, we have sent circulars to district collectors that now onwards they cannot grant permission for hoardings in specified locations."



CEO said the court has banned all kinds of hoarding, including political.

He, however, said parties may put up such propaganda materials in the venue of rallies and public meetings.

On unaccounted cash, he said out of the Rs 21.8 crore cash seized in the state by the Commission, Rs.16.2 crore has been released to its owners on production of supporting documents, he added.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said voice for liquor ban has started to rise in other states and pointed at the two major political contenders in Tamil Nadu - AIADMK and DMK announcing a ban on alcohol after the state Assembly elections there.

"The announcement of AIADMK and DMK reflects how fast the concept of Bihar going for total prohibition is spreading in other regions," Kumar told reporters after his weekly 'Janata Ke Darbar mein Mukhya Mantri' programme.

Kumar, who declared Bihar a total dry state last week, said states like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, sharing borders with Bihar and who were enjoying a jump in sales of alcohol after prohibition in Bihar, would soon face similar demand against alcohol from their people.

The Bihar Chief minister, who announced total prohibition after a cabinet meeting last Tuesday, rubbished the decision playing "havoc" on tourism and hospitality sectors in the state.

He also trashed pleas of hotel and restaurant owners that the ban has hit their business and would be a big deterrent to people coming to Bihar.

"They mean to say people used to visit them only for boozing?" Kumar asked adding, "Everybody knows that foreign tourists visit Bihar mainly out of respect for Buddhist holy places in the state. Others come to perform 'pind daan' of their ancestors... Will they stop coming to Bihar after the ban on alcohol?"



Coming down heavily against the argument placed by some hotel and bar-cum-restaurant owners coming out against total prohibition, Kumar said his decision on prohibition was taken after much thought and could not be changed.

"You can understand that I ordered the ban on liquor in one stroke of pen without caring loss of revenue of Rs 5,000 crore annually generated out of it," he said.

In reply to a question about media reports on the death of four habitual drunkards so far in de-addiction centres after the ban, Kumar said he lamented such tragedy.

He said the state government would pay compensation to the family in such incidents of loss of life in de-addiction centres.
Ajmera Realty plans to develop 10,000 affordable homes in the next 10 years in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

This is part of the commitment made under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the developers' association MHCI-CREDAI with the Maharashtra government for developing one lakh affordable houses, the company said in a statement.

"Following the MoU, we have pledged to contribute to this initiative by developing 10,000 affordable homes by 2026," said Dhaval Ajmera, Director, Ajmera Realty.

The company will focus on areas like Kalyan, Ulhasnagar and Khardi and have projects starting at just Rs 10 lakh.

The project will have 1 RK, 1-2 BHK homes, it added.
Eight years after its establishment, Ambedkar University in the national capital is set to have its first student union election following repetitive demands from the student community.

The first elected union will also draft a constitution which will be accepted and followed by its successor office bearers.

"There were constant demands from the students for having an elected body to raise their demands. The administration gave a nod to it this year and the first elections will be held on April 18," a member of the election committee told PTI.

"We have 40 programmes in total and one representative each will be elected. The elected members will then vote for the central panel. The union will also work on drafting a constitution to be followed by the elected body," he added.

The filing of nominations for the elections began on April 7 and will be on till April 13. The election committee will scrutinise the nominations and declare a list of the valid applications on April 16.

The varsity will go to polls on April 18 and the results will be declared the same night.

BR Ambdekar University, which was established by Delhi Government in 2008 is a state funded university with a student strength of 1800. The university offers various undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral programmes.
CBI has arrested another Pune police officer in connection with his alleged role in the conspiracy behind the murder of RTI activist Satish Shetty six years back.

Assistant Police Inspector Namdev Sukhdev Kauthale, posted with local Crime Branch, was arrested by CBI in connection with the murder of the activist.

He was taken into custody after his alleged role surfaced during the questioning of B R Andhalkar, the then police inspector also with local crime branch, who was arrested on April 6 for allegedly conspiring with others in the murder of Shetty on January 13, 2010.

CBI, which had initially closed the case, decided to reopen it after the agency recovered certain documents, indicative of possible missing evidence in the murder case, from a builder whose offices and residence were searched in January, 2015 in a separate case registered in November, 2014 against a builder.

Shetty was murdered by unidentified assailants when he had stepped out of his house for morning walk at Talegaon Dabhade town in Pune district. The unidentified men had attacked him with swords.

A year before he was killed, Shetty had reportedly lodged a complaint with Pune police's crime branch about an alleged land scam involving IRB chairman Virendra Mhaiskar.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said his government was committed to the welfare of Backward Classes (BCs) in the state and has taken up several programmes for their benefit.

The TDP-BJP government has allocated a hefty sum of Rs 8,832 crore in the current fiscal to take up welfare programmes for the uplift of BCs, he said here.

This shows the government's commitment for the wellbeing of deprived sections of society, the Chief Minister maintained.

He was speaking at a function organised by the state government to celebrate legendary social reformer Jyotiba Phule's 190th birth anniversary.

Naidu said the state was establishing constituency-wise industrial clusters to help the youth from BCs become entrepreneurs. At present, the State has 175 Assembly constituencies and the number will go up to 225 in future.

He stated the Government has allocated 100 acres in the heart of Visakhapatnam to build a 'health city'.

Naidu said he had urged Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya to enhance the number of beds in the proposed super-speciality ESI Hospital in the city from 300 to 500, and the latter has agreed to do so.

He said the Centre has decided to establishment ESI hospitals in Vizianagaram district and Kakinada in East Godavari district.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah naidu said the Centre has launched a health insurance Scheme for the poor in the country.
A Pune civil court today asked an activist, who has filed an application seeking to restrain the JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar from visiting Pune on April 14, to explain what right he (the activist) has to move the court.

Judge S R Yadav asked the applicant Hemant Patil to explain his 'locus standi' (right to move the court in a particular case) and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow, said his lawyer Wajid Khan.

Patil contends that Kumar's visit may create a law and order problem as he may give inflammatory speeches and a Delhi court, while giving Kumar bail in the sedition case, had restrained him from giving speeches for six months.

Kumar has accepted an invitation by a joint group of students from the city-based Ranade Institute of Journalism, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and the Fergusson College to visit and speak in Pune.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury has said Arjun Singh never forgave him for the left party's decision of not allowing Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister during the United Front days.

Yechury said that Singh played an important role in the formation of the United Front which came to power after the defeat of the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the confidence vote.

While, H D Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister, "Arjun Singhji, probably never forgave me for the decision by taken CPI(M) central committee in not allowing Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister of India", Yechury said.

In a piece titled 'The honour of being a colleague' brought out by the Arjun Singh Sadbhavana Foundation started by the departed leader's wife Saroj Kumari, the CPI(M) General Secretary paid glowing tributes to Singh.

Yechury said as Human Resource Development minister at the Centre in 2004 the re-establishment of the secular democratic character and content of the Indian educational system was an "audacious task that he undertook admirably".

The article is published in 'Sadbhavana', a souvenir brought out recently by the foundation, also has pieces from leaders across the political hue.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit hailed Singh as one of the tallest leaders of twentieth century India. She said his split with the governance of P V Narsimha Rao was based on principles and "not on his desire for self aggrandizement".

Sharad Pawar, who had been on the opposite side of Singh in the Congress during the Narsimha Rao days and also during UPA tenure, also hailed the departed leader's contribution not only to Madhya Pradesh and Congress but also on the national political scenario.

BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Sudarlal Patwa described Singh as "my close friend".

He narrated an incident when he had invited Singh as chief guest on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay. "First he hesitated a bit, but then he accepted the invitation and in the speech he criticised in a gentle manner too. He had to face much criticism for participating in the function. I pay my respects to him," said Patwa.

Patwa recalled that in the state Assembly both were known as staunch opponents but outside as close friends. "We had close ties," he said.

Senior Congress leader A K Antony said Arjun Singhji as



Human Resource Development minister made more enemies owing to his farsighted planning and loyalty to the party.

Antony said Singh was known for his courage of conviction, commitment to secularism and crusaded against divisive and communal politics.

As HRD minister in his first tenure Singh did transform the education system to a more relevant level by introducing many changes to bring it to international standards, former Defence Minister said.

"In his second tenure as minister of HRD he made many enemies owing to his farsighted planning and loyalty to the party (which even affected his health) but he never compromised on his principles and worked relentlessly for the benefit of the poor and minorities," Antony said.

He also cited an incident in which former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi had entrusted Arjun Singh and him to speak to Lal Thanhawla, the then Chief Minister of Mizoram to resolve the insurgency in the State.

"After several rounds of talk with Shri Laldenga, the insurgent leader, the Mizoram Peace Accord was signed and peace was brought to the State. Lal Thanhawla had to step down as Chief Minister and Laldenga was sworn in as new Chief Minister.

"This was only possible because of the tact, diplomatic skills and insight of Arjun Singh ji. This was a landmark achievement of the times for which I will always remember him," Antony said.
The second part of phase one of West Bengal Assembly polls for 31 seats, where the future of top state opposition leaders is at stake, began this morning.

An alliance of Left Front and Congress have put up a tough fight against Trinamool Congress which aspires to come to power for a consecutive second term.

Altogether 163 candidates, including 21 women, are in the fray in those 31 seats of West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan districts.

Around 70 lakh people are eligible to cast their votes between 7 a.m and 6 p.m.

Electorate in Bankura and Burdwan districts will have a tough time fighting the scorching sun as the districts are reeling under heatwave conditions with temperatures soearing above 40 degree Celsius.

Provisions for shade and drinking water have been made in many polling booths.

A multi-tier security system including two helicopters, quick response teams and flying squads has also been made.

The Election Commission has not provided information about critical polling booths and also refused to specify the number of companies of security forces deployed.

The Central Armed Police Forces have been mandated the responsibility of handling situation inside the booths, while the state police forces are involved in other jobs like maintaining queues and managing crowd.

Nearly 1,500 micro-observers, 23 general observers and over 36,600 polling personnel have been deployed in this phase.

Polling is being held at 8,465 polling stations amid tight security.

Of the about 70 lakh voters in this phase 33.6 lakh are women and 50 belong to the third gender.

Five more phases of polling will be held in the state till May 5.

Repoll in two booths of Bankura and West Midnapore districts, where polling was held in the first part of the first phase poll on April 4, is also being held today.

Besides TMC and the Left-Congress alliance, the BJP, which has only one MLA in the outgoing Assembly, has also fielded candidates from all the seats in the hope of making it a triangular fight.

Five-time CPI-M MLA from Narayangarh and Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, senior state Congress leader Manas Bhuniya from Sabang are among the major candidates in this phase.

91-year-old Gyan Singh Sohanpal, the senior most member in the Assembly, is in the fray again from Kharagpur Sadar seat where he is pitted against BJP state president Dilip Ghosh.
An Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Tax Department (CTD) and his staff were injured after they were allegedly attacked with bricks by traders when they were asked to pay taxes.

The incident happened on Saturday night on Naujheel Bajna Road when Ashok Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of CTD asked the traders, transporting two wheat-laden trucks to Delhi without valid papers, to pay taxes.

The traders attacked the officer and his staff with bricks and broke the window panes of his official car.

Kamlesh Yadav Joint, Commissioner Commercial Tax (flying squad) accused the police of inaction and being mute spectators to the crime, saying that Kumar had call records to prove he had called police for help from the spot.

"The police team from Bajna police outpost, instead of taking action against law breakers, remained stationary about 500 metres away and did not come to the rescue of the commercial taxes team, in spite of repeated requests from Ashok Kumar," Yadav alleged.

An FIR has been registered against 25 persons including seven named (from Bajna), for brick-batting, obstructing official work, damaging official vehicle and making deadly attack on the team, at Naujheel police station," he said.

However, the Superintendent of police refuted the allegations.

"Had the officer asked for help from any senior police officer of the district, they would have certainly extended help in time," SP (rural) Arun Kumar Singh said.
Austrian prosecutors said today they are probing a possible link between a Pakistani held in Salzburg in connection with last November's terror assaults in Paris and the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.

"Leads pointing to this are being looked into," prosecutors in Salzburg said, adding however that the identity of the Pakistani suspect, who has been in custody since December in the western Austrian city, has not been confirmed.

"Wide-ranging investigations on this question, among others, are ongoing, although the public prosecutors' office has been waiting for information on this from Pakistan since December 2015," they said in a statement.

A source in Paris and the Sunday Times said that the man is thought to be a bomb maker for Pakistani extremist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

India holds Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), allegedly linked to Al-Qaeda, responsible for the 2008 Mumbai assault that killed 166 people. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is blamed for a string of high-profile attacks in recent years.

The 34-year-old was arrested in Austria in December along with an Algerian.

French investigators suspect that the Islamic State (IS) group, which claimed responsibility for the Paris bombings as well as attacks in Brussels on March 22, sent both men to Europe to carry out attacks.

Austrian authorities said in February that they are believed to have been in the same boat bringing around 200 migrants to Greece as two men involved in the Paris atrocities.

While those involved in the attacks were able to travel onwards, the pair were held up by Greek authorities for 25 days because they were carrying fake Syrian passports.

They then arrived in Salzburg at the end of November -- after the Paris killings -- and Austrian police arrested them at a centre for migrants on December 10.

A senior security official in Pakistan told AFP he had no information.

"We are in completely in the dark about such a person... Who he is, his identity and his affiliations," the official said.
Bangladesh is closing its notorious 18th-century prison where sensational political killings over decades have targeted people on both sides of the South Asian country's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

The government wants to reopen the old, dilapidated Dhaka Central Jail as a museum to its tumultuous past, while giving its inmates better accommodations on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital. The new jail will have an uninterrupted power supply, a 200-bed hospital and a job training center.

"Such initiatives will help criminals change their way of living and their thinking as well as motivate them to return to normal life," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said yesterday as she opened the new jailhouse on the capital's outskirts.

The Dhaka Central Jail, with architectural marks that reflect Mughal and British histories, has been chronically overcrowded. It now has about 8,000 inmates, though it was built to accommodate just 2,600. Inmates live in cramped, unsanitary conditions.

Authorities plan to move the inmates to the new facility over the next month. "We will do it slowly, as security is an issue that needs to be taken care of very carefully," said Col. Fazlul Kabir, additional inspector general of police (prisons).

Bangladesh was born in 1971 through a bloody nine-month war. The war broke out after military rulers in Pakistan, then West Pakistan, refused to hand over power to majority Bengali politicians led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina's father, after his party won most seats in a 1970 election.

Rahman was confined to Dhaka Central Jail numerous times before he became Bangladesh's founding leader. Many Communist politicians were also jailed, as were intellectuals who were involved in the nationalist movement.

"During the long political career of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, this central jail was his second home," Forman Ali, a former jail superintendent, wrote in a newspaper article on Saturday.

Bangabandhu is an honorary title meaning "Friend of Bengal" given to him in a massive rally in Dhaka following his release from jail in 1969 in a politically motivated sedition case.
There will be "unprecedented" security for this week's Bengali New Year festivities which hardline clerics have branded "un-Islamic", Bangladesh police announced today, as the country faces rising religious violence.

Police said thousands of officers would be deployed for the annual street parade to celebrate the new year on April 14 that traditionally sees hundreds of thousands of revellers swarm through the capital.

"We want people to celebrate the festival safely. Therefore, we have taken unprecedented steps to prevent any mishaps," Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson Maruf Hossain Sorder told AFP.

Open-air evening concerts, normally held at Dhaka University and the main Ramna Park, have been banned as part of the stepped up security arrangements.

"We're erecting nine security watch towers at the festival venues in an effort to prevent any untoward incident," Sorder said.

Masks, commonly worn during the new year parades, are banned this year for security reasons, along with plastic vuvuzela horns to reduce noise pollution, the home minister said last week.

Sorder said police have also launched a stepped up hunt for Islamic militants as Muslim-majority Bangladesh reels from deadly attacks on religious minorities and foreigners in recent months.

The government has blamed the attacks on home-grown Islamic militants, rejecting claims of responsibility from the Islamic State group as well as Al-Qaeda.

Several foreigners were murdered last year, while minority Sufi and Shiite Muslims, Christians and Hindus were also targeted in a series of deadly attacks.

An activist, who posted against Islam on Facebook, was killed last week, the latest in a series of murders of secular bloggers and a publisher.

Police did not say if Bangladesh was facing any specific threat during the new year, but in 2001 a bomb blast in the Ramna park killed 10 people. Eight Islamist militants were later sentenced to death for the attack.

Ahead of this year's festival, a group of clerics has asked the government not to promote the festival, calling it "un-Islamic and Haram (forbidden)" according to mass-circulated Bengali daily Prothom Alo.

A long-running political crisis in the majority Sunni Muslim but officially secular country has radicalised opponents of the government and analysts say Islamist extremists pose a growing danger.
Andhra Pradesh Brahmin Welfare Corporation chairman IVR Krishnarao today said the Brahmin community should become politically active to achieve its all-round development.

Krishnarao today attended as chief guest the Bhoomi Puja ceremony of Brahmin community hall at Kannayya Kapu Nagar here.

Andhra Pradesh was the first state in the country to constitute a corporation for the welfare of Brahmin community, he noted and asked the community to avail of its schemes.

Temple priesthood had become a religious slavery and the endowment department should take steps to provide Rs 5,000 monthly allowance to the temple priests, he said.
Britain's Hindu population has been embracing suburban life in search of bigger homes and better schools, according to a new book.

According to'People and Places:A 21st century atlas of the UK' authored by Danny Dorling and Bethan Thomas, the large majority of Hindus in Britain are of Indian-origin and tend to be an aspirational community that feel more at home in the suburbs.

More than one in four people living in the northwest London suburb of Harrow are Hindu while in Redbridge, northeast London, the figure is about one in six.

Figures show that the biggest increases in the Hindu population between 2001 and 2011 were in Harrow and Brent in north London, Hillingdon in west London, Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire and Watford in Hertfordshire.

There were also increases in other outlying areas like Welwyn and Hatfield in South Buckinghamshire, Hertsmere in Hertfordshire, Epsom and Ewell in Surrey and Windsor and Maidenhead.

Sundip Meghani, a solicitor, told 'The Times' in reference to the findings, that the "Hindu community is aspirational and educational attainment is a big deal."



"The Gujarati mentality is one in which you make your home wherever you land, and you make a damn good go of it, ensuring your kids and grandchildren do even better," Meghani said.

"There are a number of things that are absolutely crucial to Hindu Gujarati. One is family and not just immediate family but cousins, aunts and uncles. At the same time a huge priority is education and academic success and then achieving affluence and a decent lifestyle. The importance of family means they will never move too far away from relatives," he said.

The number of British people identifying themselves as Hindu rose from 0.6 million in 2001 to 0.8 million in 2011, according to the last census data used by the book released last month.

Harrow and Brent in London and the city of Leicester were identified as the top three locations where Hindus are based in greatest concentrations.
Dreams do come true. Ask 93-year-old Boman Kohinoor, whose lifelong dream was to meet the members of British royal family and host them at his restaurant.

Known for his love for Queen Elizabeth and the royal family, the owner of Mumbai's famous Britannia restaurant, the 'Britannia Uncle', as he is popularly called, had been excited about the royal visit to the city.

His dream was to serve them his famous 'berry pulav'.

The dream was partially fulfilled as he finally met the British Royal family here last evening.

Kohinoor was invited by Prince William and Kate Middleton who are visiting Mumbai for an out-of-schedule meeting at The Taj Mahal Palace hotel.

"I met their Royal Highnesses last evening at the Taj. They were very kind and asked me about my restaurant and my favourite dishes there," Kohinoor said.

"They asked me if I could cook. I said no, but I serve my customers well. I told them: give my love to the Queen, and to your children Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

The meeting happened after a video clip, in which Kohinoor calls himself "the Royal family's fan number 1", went viral and caught the attention of British Deputy High Commission, an official said.
An Indian-origin British MP has expressed condolences over a massive fire tragedy at a Kerala temple that left more than 100 people dead and over 350 injured.

Virendra Sharma, who is also the Chair of the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group, expressed his deep condolences and shock over the temple tragedy in a message.

"I was shocked and saddened by the . My thoughts are with the families of people who died or injured in the disaster," the 69-year-old British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing Southall, said yesterday.

At least 106 people were killed and 383 injured in a devastating fire that engulfed the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi Temple complex near Kollam during an unauthorised display of fireworks yesterday.

The tragedy struck around 3.30 AM during display of fireworks at the temple complex, which is around 70 kms from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
With the Tatas agreeing to sell its Scunthorpe steel plant in the UK to investment firm Greybull for a nominal one pound, the storied 'British Steel' name will be back in the now-ailing industry.

Way back in 1967, 14 major steel producers in Britain had come together to form British Steel Corporation (BSC) as part of nationalisation efforts to reshape a vital industry after years of insufficient capital investment.

After suffering huge losses and facing labour troubles for years, followed by closure of several plants, BSC made a significant turnaround in 1980s. The government subsequently announced privatisation of BSC in 1987 and its assets were transferred to a newly-created company named 'British Steel' a year later.

British Steel then merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens in 1999 to form Corus, which emerged over the years as a major global player in the steel industry and was eventually acquired by Indian conglomerate Tata group in a USD 14-billion deal in 2007 after a long-drawn takeover battle with Brazil's CSN.

The Tatas, however, kept struggling to revive the business and have been now forced to sell the entire portfolio, within a decade of acquiring it, amid a major crisis in the British steel industry currently under way.

Tata Steel today announced selling its Long Products Europe business unit, known as Scunthorpe steel plant, to investment firm Greybull Capital for a "nominal" amount. This business employs 4,800 people -- 4,400 in the UK and 400 in France.

On the buyout of Corus, the then Tata group chairman Ratan Tata had said the deal was "a defining moment".

Now, faced with deteriorating financial performance, the group has decided to sell its UK steel business.

Recently, Ratan Tata reportedly remarked that its UK business is underinvested and overmanned.
Pop star Bryan Adams has cancelled a concert scheduled for April 14 in Mississippi, US, to protest a new state law that critics describe as discriminatory.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant last week signed a controversial "religious freedom" bill that critics and business interests in the state say is discriminatory against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Taking to his Instagram post, Adams, 56, announced the cancellation of his performance, reported Fox .

"Mississippi has passed anti-LGBT 'Religious Liberty' bill 1523. I find it incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against in the state of Mississippi.

"I cannot in good conscience perform in a State where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation. Therefore I'm cancelling my 14 April show at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Using my voice I stand in solidarity with all my LGBT friends to repeal this extremely discriminatory bill," he wrote.

Adams added he hopes the state will "right itself" soon.

"Hopefully Mississippi will right itself and I can come back and perform for all of my many fans. I look forward to that day. Stop1523," the post read.

Bryant had said he signed the bill into law "to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organisations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government."



Mississippi's law is part of a wave of legislation seen as "anti gay" that has prompted corporations and individuals to use their economic muscle in protest.

Bruce Springsteen, for example, has cancelled a show in North Carolina to stand in "solidarity" with those protesting a similar law in that state.
A Naxal was today arrested after he got injured in a gun-fight with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, police said.

The Naxal was allegedly involved in blowing up a security forces vehicle near Mailwada on March 30 in Kuakonda area in which seven CRPF men were killed.

"The skirmish took place in the forests of Kankipara under Kuakonda police station limits between a joint team of security forces and rebels," Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap told PTI.

A composite squad of district force, District Reserve Group (DRG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and it elite wing-Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) were carrying out a search operation to the interiors of Kuakonda, located around 450 km away from here, the SP said.

While security forces were cordoning off Kankipara, a group of ultras opened fire on them following which they launched the retaliatory attack.

However, the Maoists soon fled taking the cover of dense forests, he said.

Later during searching, a male Naxal was found injured at the spot, Kashyap said adding that a muzzle loading gun besides Maoist-related materials was also recovered from there.

The injured cadre Kartam Pandu - an active military platoon member of Maoist in the region, was admitted to the district hospital, he said.

Police said investigations are underway.
In a setback to mining mogul Anil Agarwal, the government today said he can merge subsidiary Cairn India with his flagship firm Vedanta Ltd only after paying for the shares the Income Tax Department has attached following the Rs 10,247-crore tax dispute.

A top government official said the merger can go ahead if the 9.8 per cent shareholding of Cairn Energy attached by the I-T Department is paid for or an equivalent bank guarantee is furnished or approval is given for issue of fresh shares.

Agarwal's Vedanta Group had in 2011 acquired Cairn India from its British promoters, Cairn Energy Plc, and last year proposed to merge the cash-rich firm with BSE-listed Vedanta Ltd. However, a tax demand on both Cairn Energy Plc and Cairn India under a retrospective legislation is now posing as a hurdle to the merger.

Clarifying on the issue, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said, "The only constraint in this case could be that the shares of Cairn Energy in Cairn India cannot be alienated without the permission of the Government of India."



"However, the merger can take place subject to the law of land once this issue of attachment is resolved... Under the Section 281 of the I-T Act, you cannot dispose of shares without permission of the Tax Department."



The I-T Department using the retrospective tax legislation had issued a Rs 10,247-crore tax notice to Cairn Energy in January 2014. In February this year, the department issued a final assessment order seeking over Rs 29,000 crore in tax from Cairn Energy, including Rs 18,800 crore in interest.

To ensure compliance, it had in April 2014 also slapped a tax demand of Rs 20,495 crore on Cairn India, half of it being interest, for failing to deduct withholding tax on alleged capital gains made by its erstwhile parent company, Cairn Energy in 2006-07 when it reorganised India business.

Cairn Energy still holds 9.8 per cent take in Cairn India, but these shares have been frozen by the I-T Department.

The official said the merger of Cairn India with Vedanta can go ahead if the shares attached are paid for.

Cairn Energy's shareholding of 9.82 per cent at today's closing price of Rs 151.55 is worth Rs 2,790.42 crore.

"Cairn Energy can't sell shareholding in Cairn India unless attached assets are released," the official said.

Agarwal's Cairn India moved the Delhi High Court against the tax demand in April last year and the next date of hearing is April 18. Cairn Energy, on the other hand, has initiated an arbitration against the tax demand, saying no tax is due on an internal business reorganisation.

On the government's offer to settle retrospective tax cases if the companies concerned paid the principal tax amount after interest and penalties are waived off, the official said it is up to companies to come forward to settle tax liability.

"The government will notify time limit for settling retrospective cases under the settlement window announced in the Budget," he said, adding that the government continues to follow the judicial process in Cairn as well as Vodafone cases.

The one-time settlement offer "will be a time-bound window. Notification to come after passage of the Finance Bill by mid-May," he said.

The tax demand was in respect of Cairn UK Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Cairn Energy Plc, transferring shares of Cairn India Holdings Ltd to Cairn India as part of an internal group reorganization in 2006-07, resulting in Rs 24,503.50 crore of capital gains, preceding an initial public offering (IPO) of shares by Cairn India.

(REOPENS DCM 108)



A Vedanta spokesperson later said: "We have spoken to the Revenue Secretary and he has clarified that the government is not against merger. This is a commercial matter. The government has said it does not want to come in the way of business and there is no such proposal not to allow merger of Cairn India with Vedanta Limited.

"The government is concerned with protecting 9.5 per cent share of Cairn Energy Plc, which is attached currently.
In a setback to mining mogul Anil Agarwal, the government today said it will not allow him to merge subsidiary with his flagship firm Vedanta Ltd unless the Rs 10,247 crore tax issue is settled.

"Cairn-Vedanta merger cannot be allowed unless the tax liability is settled," a top government official said here.

Agarwal's Vedanta Group had in 2011 acquired from its British promoters, Cairn Energy plc, and last year proposed to merge the cash-rich firm with BSE-listed Vedanta Ltd. However, a tax demand on both Cairn Energy plc and under a retrospective legislation is now hindering the merger.

"Cairn will have to first settle the tax liability," the official told reporters.

The Income Tax Department using retrospective tax legislation had slapped a Rs 10,247 crore tax notice on Cairn Energy in January 2014. In February this year, the department issued a final assessment order seeking over Rs 29,000 crore in tax from Cairn Energy including Rs 18,800 crore in interest.

To ensure compliance, it had in April 2014 also slapped Cairn India with a tax demand of Rs 20,495 crore, half of it being interest, for failing to deduct withholding tax on alleged capital gains made by its erstwhile parent company, Cairn Energy in 2006-07 when it reorganised India business.

Cairn Energy still holds 9.8% take in Cairn India but these shares have been frozen by the I-T Department.

"Cairn Energy can't sell shareholding in Cairn India as assets are attached," the official said. "Cairn will have to first to settle the tax liability."



Agarwal's Cairn India moved Delhi High Court against the tax demand in April last year and the next date of hearing is April 18. Cairn Energy on the other hand has initiated an arbitration against the tax demand saying no tax was due on an internal business reorganisation.

On the government offer to settle the retrospective tax cases if the concerned paid the principal tax amount after interest and penalties are waived off, the official said it was up to the to come forward to settle tax liability.

"Government will notify time limit for settling retrospective cases under settlement window announced in budget," he said adding government continues to follow the judicial process in Cairn as well as Vodafone case.

The one-time settlement offer "will be a time bound window. Notification to come after passage of Finance Bill by mid May," he said.

The tax demand was in respect of Cairn UK Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Cairn Energy Plc, transferring shares of Cairn India Holdings Ltd to Cairn India as part of an internal group reorganization in 2006-07, resulting in Rs 24,503.50 crore of capital gains, preceding an initial public offering (IPO) of shares by Cairn India.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today said he will "formally apologise" for Canada's refusal to allow entry to Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 immigrants, mostly Sikhs, from India in 1914 due to "discriminatory laws of the time".

Speaking at the Baisakhi celebration in Ottawa, Trudeau said that the Komagata Maru's passengers were seeking refuge and better lives, "like millions of immigrants to Canada since".

"With so much to contribute to their new home, they chose Canada. And we failed them utterly," the prime minister said, adding that the passengers were refused entry to Canada due to "discriminatory laws of the time".

"As a nation, we should never forget the prejudice suffered by the Sikh community at the hands of the Canadian government of the day. We should not and we will not," Trudeau said at the Gurdwara Sahib Ottawa Sikh Society.

He further said that he will "formally apologise" on May 18 in the House of Commons, 102 years after the infamous incident, Toronto Star reported.

The Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, carrying 376 immigrants, mostly Sikhs, from India was denied entry by the Canadian government in May 1914 and was forced to return to India.

Two months later, the ship arrived in Calcutta where British soldiers fired upon the disembarking passengers in which 19 people died.

A painful chapter in the history of Sikhs in Canada, the incident also highlighted the discriminatory immigration policies Canada had followed against Asian immigrants in the 19th century.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper did apologise for the incident at a public event in British Columbia in 2008, but the Sikh- Canadians were demanding a formal statement in the Parliament.

Trudeau-led Liberal Party, which has four Sikh ministers in the cabinet, has promised a formal apology during the election campaign last year.
China today expressed condolences over a massive fireworks tragedy at a temple in Kerala that left over 100 people dead and nearly 400 others injured.

"We express our condolences to the victim and sincere sympathies to the bereaved families. We hope that the injured have a speedy recovery," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing here today.

At least 109 people were killed and 383 others injured in the explosion yesterday at the Puttingal Devi Temple near Kollam sparked by a stray firework.

Lu said there was no information about injury of any Chinese citizen in the incident.
China hopes to finalise an agreement soon with Sri Lanka on the changes made to the controversy-hit USD 1.5 billion Colombo Port City project, including converting it into a joint venture.

"You may have noticed that the cabinet in Sri Lanka has passed a report and cleared the way for the resumption of the port project," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing here today.

Lu was responding to questions on Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe's remarks at the end of his four-day visit here on April 9.

"We hope that the two sides can reach an agreement on an early date and the project can be resumed," Lu said.

"The cooperation between the two sides is based on equality and mutual trust. We hope Sri Lanka will proceed on the basis of long-term interests and the interest of the people and cooperate with China on expanding on mutually beneficial cooperation," he said.

Wickramasinghe, whose government had withheld the project for a year, has finally approved it with some changes.

The agreement for the project to be built by a Chinese firm was reached during previous Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. It was halted over concerns related to its environmental impact.

The Lanka government had earlier expressed serious reservations over the clause in the agreement to hand over 20 hectares of land to the China Communication Construction Company on freehold basis with complete rights.

The project had created disquiet in India over the growing Chinese presence in Sri Lanka.

The changes included making it a joint venture of the 230 hectare landfill project with a Lankan company, modifying the free land holding clause of to 99 years lease. The project has also been designated as a financial hub.

Wickramasinghe discussed the changes with Chinese leaders during his last week's visit here.

About Lanka's proposal to swap USD 8 billion Chinese loans with equity by acquiring stakes in Lankan companies, Lu said the two sides are exploring ways to cooperate.

"During the visit, the two sides discussed how to expand cooperation with equality and mutual benefits including cooperation on investment and infrastructure building. Sri Lankan Prime Minister welcomed China's investment in infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka. The two sides are exploring ways to cooperate. We will release relevant information in due course," he added.
Weighed down by falling petroleum prices and slowdown of Chinese economy, oil giant Co suffered a 67% slump in profits, the worst in about 15 years and ending up with a liability of $162 billion.

Among all non-financial A-share companies, State-owned Co topped the list with 1.05 trillion yuan ($162.8 billion) liability, official media reported on Monday.

State-run Securities Daily recorded the liability despite bringing down its debt ratio to 43.8% from 45.2% a year ago after slashing total debts by 3.5% last year.

obtained regulatory approval in December to issue no more than 40 billion yuan worth of corporate bonds, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The thirst for liquidity came as oil reported a weaker year due to nosediving oil price.

Brent crude, the benchmark for more than half the world's oil, plunged 48% last year.

The Chinese economy too weakened as it slowed down to 6.9% last year with forecast of further decline this year.

PetroChina reported a 67% slump in net profit to 35.5 billion yuan, marking its worst performance since 1999, according to the company's annual report.

The other mainland-listed oil magnet Sinopec reported a 32.1% decrease in net profit to 32.2 billion yuan, state-run China Daily reported.

Cost management has gained increasing attention, with PetroChina planning a 23%, or 155.7 billion yuan, cut on capital expenditure, said the Securities Daily quoting management sources.

Oil giants are also eyeing enhanced ownership reform to keep lean, analysts said.

PetroChina sold remaining natural gas reserves under its Xinjiang, Southwest, Huabei, Dagang, Liaohe and Changqing subsidiaries to local petroleum administrations for 3.51 billion yuan.

The company reported a 26.7% decrease in cash flow from operating activities to 261.31 billion yuan and a 25.8% slump in cash flow from investment activities.
Front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have pushed for big wins on friendlier terrain in the Northeast as they tried to build challenge-proof delegate majorities ahead of their nominating conventions against rivals who won't go away.

Both Trump and Clinton yesterday campaigned in New York ahead of its April 19 primary which offers a large trove of delegates who will select the parties' nominees at their national conventions in July.

Trump is seeking to rebound in his home state after a decisive loss to his main rival, the ultraconservative Texas Sen Ted Cruz, last Tuesday in Wisconsin.

The billionaire real estate developer remains well short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the Republican nomination. His campaign is now focusing on developing a delegate-centred strategy akin to the one that Cruz has pursued for months.

"A more traditional approach is needed and Donald Trump recognises that," Paul Manafort, Trump's new delegate chief, said yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press."



Even so, Trump later in the day complained that the system is "corrupt" and "crooked" and said it's unfair that the person who wins the most votes may not be the nominee.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in a packed airport hangar in Rochester, New York. "We're supposed to be a democracy," he added.

If denied the Republican nomination, he went on to warn, "You're going to have a big problem, folks, because there are people who don't like what's going on."



Clinton, who lost Wyoming on Saturday night to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, is trying to maintain her commanding lead among delegates no matter how many states Sanders wins or how much "momentum" he claims. Key to her drive is a victory in New York, which she represented in the US Senate. Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, can claim New York as his home state.

After stops in New York City churches, Clinton headed to Baltimore for her first campaign rally in Maryland, where she picked up the endorsement of popular local congressman Elijah Cummings.

Maryland, where Clinton is favoured, holds its primary on April 26 along with Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut.

Clinton's campaign is looking for big wins across the Northeast, in an effort to gain what they've termed an "all but insurmountable" lead in the delegate race.
Congress today demanded a judicial inquiry into the unrest at NIT here to ascertain whether any political party was behind the clashes between local and outstation students.

"Our party demands a fair and fearless judicial inquiry. We want to know whether any political party is playing politics here. We do not want that politics be involved in the issues of students. Students may have differences but they are to be resolved amicably," Congress general secretary Ambika Soni told reporters here.

On reports that some students from Kashmir were being targeted outside the state, Soni said Congress was totally against such incidents as students have the right to study anywhere in the country.

"That should not happen. Our government (UPA) had facilitated the admission of Kashmiri students in various medical colleges across the country on humanitarian grounds. Why would we want them to face any hardships?



"Every student, whether in Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Punjab or Bengal, has a right under the Indian Constitution to study wherever he or she wants. Why should there be any misbehavior with them? We are totally against that," she said.

The Congress leader said the people of the state should be "cautious as only opportunism and compromises can be expected from the PDP-BJP coalition."



"We will never let the state of J-K get disintegrated because all three regions are part of this state and we have never fallen victim to slogans of dividing the state.

"But when two parties, which are opposite to each other and have no ideological match, form a coalition, they do so just for the sake of power. What will you expect from them except opportunism and compromises and people need to be cautious," she said.

Asked what are the expectations of the party from the states where assembly elections are taking place, Soni said, "See how they (BJP) fared in Bihar. We were in power for 15 years in Delhi and it was impossible for us to retain power after 15 years, but they only got 3. AAP took all.

"They (BJP) are raising slogans of Congress-free India, let them win elections. Let them win elections and defeat Congress. Though we have less MPs in the Parliament, they are still making it difficult for them (BJP) and stopping them from doing wrong," she said.

"Similarly, I want the Congress party to become the voice of the people and stand as watch guard here. We will prepare ourselves in every district to fight for the rights of the people.
Congress today sought to make light of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's remarks that it will "not have many reasons to celebrate" when the details come out in the case relating to Indians parking their money in tax haven Panama.

"FM seems to insinuate #PanamaPapers will now be manufactured in Delhi by dirty tricks Deptt. Of BJP/Govt. Frustration let's cat out of bag? (sic)" party spokesman Manish Tewari said on Twitter.

Another party spokesman Sanjay Jha also took a dig at the Finance Minister.

"Mr Jaitley says, Congress won't celebrate when #panamapapers details come out. But right now famous names exposed have only BJP links, Sir", he said in a tweet.

"Modi Sarkar is promoting #FairAndLovely scheme, that's why they go blue in the face when talking of #panamapapers and black money (sic)", he said in another tweet.

As a multi-agency probe continues into leaked 'Panama Papers' showing alleged offshore tax haven holdings of Indians, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had yesterday said "Congress will not have many reasons to celebrate" when the details come out in this case.

He had also asserted that the probe is being done in a "very impartial" way and rejected demands from Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that he should "recuse" himself from the matter.

Congress and AAP have targeted Jaitley on the Panama Papers issue and demanded a judicial probe into the allegations about some Indians setting up offshore entities in a tax haven and asking him to "recuse" from dealing with the matter, saying a fair probe was otherwise not possible.
A Delhi court has awarded Rs 17 lakh compensation to the kin of a 29-year-old man who died in a road mishap here in 2011.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, presided by Manish Gupta directed Bharti Axa General Insurance Company Ltd, the insurer of the offending vehicle, to pay a compensation of Rs 17,08,900 to the family of Kosar, a Muzaffarnagar native.

"From the overall facts and circumstances and evidence on record it is clear that the accident in question occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle which caused death of Kosar. The present issue is disposed off accordingly in favour of petitioners," the MACT judge said.

Kosar was working as a driver of a truck which met with an accident while they were on the Swaroop Nagar flyover at GTK road.

The offending vehicle which was going ahead of Kosar's truck suddenly applied brakes, without any indication, resulting in collision and death of Kosar.

"Since no evidence has been led on behalf of respondents (vehicle driver and owner), the liability to pay the entire award amount to petitioners is of insurance company," the tribunal said.

The tribunal awarded the compensation of Rs 17,08,900 to the family of Kosar, comprising his wife, four minor children and his father, after considering the loss and care for the minor children, loss of dependency and other factors.
CRPF personnel fired in the air at a polling station to disperse a group of voters agitating over alleged misbehaviour of a jawan of the central force with a pregnant woman in Kamrup district today.

The incident occurred when a woman after casting her vote wanted to go back inside again to pick up her child left behind at the Nityasar Khula Bazar LP School polling centre, Superintendent of Police Prasanta Saikia said.

As a CRPF jawan tried to prevent the woman from going inside, other voters got agitated triggering a disorderly situation following which the CRPF fired in the air, he said.

Following the incident, the entire team of CRPF deployed in the polling station has been replaced by another team, the SP said.

Later the situation was brought under control with voting continuing, Saikia said.

Though the locals claimed four persons were injured when they ran helter skelter during the firing, Saikia said nobody was injured.
The war-scarred Sudanese region of Darfur voted today in a referendum on its future status despite international criticism and a boycott by rebel groups.

Despite ongoing unrest in areas, President Omar al-Bashir -- wanted on war crimes charges related to the 13-year conflict -- has insisted voting go ahead on whether to unite Darfur's five states into a single region or maintain the status quo.

A united Darfur with greater autonomy has long been a demand of ethnic minority insurgents battling the Sudanese government since 2003, but they have boycotted the referendum, saying it is unfair.

The United States has also voiced concerns, warning that "if held under current rules and conditions, a referendum on Darfur cannot be considered a credible expression of the will of the people".

Voting got underway at 9:00 am (0600 GMT), with a slow early trickle of people coming to cast their ballots at polling stations guarded by armed police and decorated with posters urging a strong showing.

"All polling centres in Darfur's five states opened and no centre has encountered any difficulties," said Omar Ali Jomaa, head of the referendum electoral commission.

"It is too early to assess the turnout."



The state's governor Abduwahid Yousif voted early at a small school serving as a polling station in an area mostly inhabited by government employees.

In its sunny courtyard, a line of around 100 women in brightly coloured headscarves waited in the early morning to vote inside classrooms temporarily transformed into voting booths.

At another polling station in a camp for the displaced on the edge of the town, resident Fathiya Adam Hassan had just voted.

"I voted for a single region, I want one region to solve Darfur's problems," the 38-year-old said outside the booth.

Searching for her name on a list of registered voters outside the health centre where voting was taking place, Samia Haroun said she supported a five-state system, the choice favoured the ruling National Congress Party.

"I want the five states, I want that choice to win," she said.

At other locations, only a handful of residents came to vote in the first hours of the referendum.

Darfur was a single region until 1994 when the government split it into three states, adding another two in 2012, claiming it would make local government more efficient.

The vast western region has been mired in conflict since 2003 when ethnic minority insurgents rebelled against Bashir's Arab-dominated government over claims they were marginalising them.

Rebels have long demanded a return to the single-region system but say current unrest and the high number of people in camps for the displaced mean the vote will not be fair and are boycotting.
A weekend guerrilla attack targeting soldiers on the eve of Peru's presidential elections killed 10 people, authorities said today, raising an earlier toll.

The army said in a statement that eight soldiers and two civilians were killed in Saturday's attack in the jungles of central Peru.

The earlier death toll of seven rose after forces found the bodies of soldiers who had previously been reported as missing.

The army said guerrillas attacked a military convoy that was transporting election material and forces tasked with guarding polling places in the central Junin region.

Authorities blamed remnants of the Shining Path communist guerrilla group, which was largely crushed in the 1990s, but still has members hiding in the jungle.

The army said attackers first struck at Hatun Asha, located in a jungle zone considered a stronghold of the guerrillas and a major coca-producing area.

In a second attack, they targeted a military ship on the Apurimac River in the south, wounding two soldiers, authorities said.

President Ollanta Humala condemned the "demented" violence.

"Terrorism and those who collude with it have no place in our society or in our family," he said on Saturday.

Some 23 million Peruvians voted Sunday for a new president and members of congress.

Conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori topped the ballot and must face a runoff vote against her center-right rival Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Keiko Fujimori's father Alberto Fujimori waged a fierce conflict against the Shining Path when he was president from 1990 to 2000.

Around 69,000 people were killed between 1980 and 2000 in the conflict with the Shining Path, according to the country's Truth and Reconciliation commission.
Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has inked a pact with Australian premium cafe chain Di Bella Coffee to deliver its coffee blends in Mumbai.

"We are excited to associate with a global premium cafe chain like Di Bella Coffee... This tie-up is another validation of our success in facilitating the delivery business of global brands in India," Swiggy Co-Founder Nandan Reddy said.

Under the agreement, Di Bella Coffee will leverage Swiggy's delivery service to reach out to a larger customer base in Mumbai.

*************



ShudhBuy.Com to offer Patanjali Ayurved products * Online grocery store ShudhBuy.Com has joined hands with Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved to offer a range of herbomineral products.

It will offer over 400 herbomineral Patanjali products on its online platform, the company said in a statement.

"We are delighted to associate with an esteemed brand - Patanjali. The ideology behind this profound association is to offer unadulterated and the best-in-class products to consumers," ShudhBuy.Com Founder Deepak Choudhary said.

*************



PressPlay TV appoints Rajesh Vashista as CTO * Over-the-Top (OTT) service provider PressPlay TV today announced appointment of Rajesh Vashista as the CTO.

Vashista will lead PressPlay TV's technology thrust and will be responsible for driving innovations in apps/products and processes.

*************



Manna Foods ropes in Ravichandran Ashwin as Brand Ambassador * Health products manufacturer Manna Foods has roped in ace Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin as its Global Brand Ambassador.

"As a home-grown brand built with traditional value and ethics, our natural choice was Ashwin who represents the underlying brand values. The association is also at the time when we are on an aggressive expansion phase," said Isak Nazar, Managing Director, Manna Foods.

*************



Meru Cabs launches service in Tirupati, AP * Meru Cabs today announced the launch of its service in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh (AP).

Meru, which aims to expand its operations in Tier-II and Tier-III cities this year, is looking to cater a large number of devotees and tourists, who come to Tirupati.

Toshiba Johnson Elevators bags order for 40 lifts from DLF



* Toshiba Johnson Elevators (India) today said it has bagged an order of 40 elevators from realty major DLF for a luxury housing project in Gurgaon.

The company, an affiliate firm of Toshiba Corporation, did not disclose the value of the contract.

Toshiba Johnson Elevators India PVT Ltd (TJEI) announced "receiving a 40 units order of elevators including eight units of three meters per second high speed elevators from DLF for its luxury condominium project - The Camellias."



**************



NCDEX's subsidiary NICR gets ASCI affiliation for training * NCDEX Institute of Commodity Markets and Research (NICR) has received affiliation from Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) for its training.

NICR is a 100 per cent subsidiary of the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).

The ASCI affiliation is given to training institutions set up by private companies to meet the skilled manpower requirement for in-house needs or for the sector.

**************



Tata Capital partners Biz2Credit for finance to small biz * Tata Capital today said it has tied up with Biz2Credit for making finance available to small businesses.

"Tata Capital, the flagship financial services company of the USD 108 billion Tata Group, today announced a partnership with Biz2Credit, a leading online resource for small business finance," the company said in a statement.

Through this tie-up, Tata Capital will utilise the acquisition channels on Biz2Credit's small business lending marketplace in India, thereby making finance available to thousands of small and mid-sized companies in the country, it said.

Tata Capital will gain access to a full range of Biz2Credit's offerings including data and risk analytics.

**************



Swelect Energy get board's nod to but 100% stake in solar SPV * Swelect Energy Systems today said its board of director have approved the acquisition of 100 per cent equity in a special purpose vehicle SPSPL, which will implement a 10 MW solar project in Karnataka.

"The company participated in KREDL Solar Power Project announced by Karnataka government recently. Under the DCR category eligible for Karnataka-based Solar Module manufacturers, the company submitted the bid and won a 10 MW Solar Power project," the company informed BSE.

FOA Growthtech launches Dazzletoday for trade show exhibitors



* FOA Growthtech today launched a new solution, Dazzletoday for trade show exhibitors.

The cloud-based app is a verticalised SaaS solution that gives B2B marketers the ability to manage trade show participation seamlessly and with ease, the company said in a statement.

**************



Indus Towers appoints Hemant Kumar Ruia as CFO * Telecom infrastructure major Indus Towers today announced the appointment of former Reliance Retail executive Hemant Kumar Ruia as Chief Financial Officer.

"I am very happy to announce that Hemant joins the leadership team at Indus. I am confident that Hemant will scale greater heights and further strengthen the strong foundation of the company with his knowledge and experience," Indus Towers CEO Bimal Dayal said in a statement.

Earlier, Ruia worked with Reliance Retail Limited, where he was designated as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and played the role of business partner across various brands like Reliance Retail - Reliance Fresh, Digital, Jewellery, Trends, Footwear and Reliance Markets.

**************



S Ravindran takes charge as Chairman of KVGB * Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank, today said S Ravindran has taken charge as Chairman.

Ravindran carries with him rich banking experience of 32 years, and has worked in different states of the country in various capacities, the bank said in a statement.

It further said he was heading the Mumbai Region of Syndicate Bank before joining as the Chairman of KVGB.

At present, the KVGB has business of more than Rs 20,600 crore with a branch network of 611.

* * * * * *



NLC bags award for corporate excellence * State-run Neyveli Lignite Corporation today bagged the SCOPE Corporate Excellence Award for its contribution to the corporate sector.

Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Chairman, Sarat Kumar Acharya received the award from President Pranab Mukherjee at a function in the presence of Heavy Industries Minister Anant G Geete, among others in New Delhi, a company statement said.

The award, which includes a gold trophy and a citation, was in recognition to the contribution of NLC to Corporate world, it added.

L&T Infra Debt Fund to raise Rs 50 crore



* L&T Infra Debt Fund today said it will raise up to Rs 50 crore by issuing debentures on private placement.

The company intends to issue secured, redeemable, non-convertible bonds of the face value of Rs 25 lakh each, amounting to Rs 10 crore with an option to retain over-subscription upto Rs 40 crore on private placement basis," it said in a BSE filing today.

L&T Infra Debt Fund is an infrastructure debt fund and is regulated by the RBI. An arm of L&T Infra Finance, it provides finance towards long term debt to infrastructure projects in the country.

******



G M Pens International launches new brand Rorito. * Chennai-based G M Pens International has launched a new brand Rorito.

It has entered the market with a product range including categories like ball pens, retractable range, CD and DVD markers, permanent markers, highlighters, correction pens, white board markers, fountain pens, kwikStik (glue stick) and quicky (lead pencils).

Sachin Tendulkar will be the brand ambassador of the new brand.

******



Usha International to expand its distribution network * Consumer durable firm Usha International has announced expansion of its distribution network in India.

As part of that the company is integrating modern trade and e-commerce channels with its existing network for a significant increase.

Usha will also soon start selling exclusive products through leading e-tailing platforms. With this move, Usha would be consolidating its retail business including modern trade, ecommerce, regional retail, company-owned showrooms and Usha joy stores in India.

Usha International Vice President-Retail Head Kapil Kohli said, "Usha is aiming for a 30 per cent growth in retail business by ensuring product display management, focus on sell-out and experiential marketing".

******



Sobha Group to hold roadshows to market luxury property * Sobha Group will hold roadshow in five cities Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Cochin and Ahmedabad between May 14-15, 2016 to market its luxury property 'Sobha Hartland' at Dubai.

The project has eight million sq. Ft of developable area, Sobha group said in a statement.
A regional discussion regarding the e-Courts Project held in the Chandigarh Judicial Academy here in which liberal funding by the government for e-court projects was stressed for the benefit of public.

Justice Madan B Lokur, Judge, Supreme Court of India & Incharge, e-committee Supreme Court of India presided over the



Discussion and Judges of Computer Committees from four High Courts were also present during this occasion, said an official release.

During the discussion, it was decided that since the entire e-Courts Project is set for the benefit of public, therefore, it be widely publicized informing public about availability of various services for exercising their rights.

Justice Madan B Lokur emphasized that High Court and State Government should work in corroborating manner as e-Courts Project not only makes Court work convenient for general public but also saves crores of rupees of state exchequer.

Liberal funding of e-Court Projects was stated to be in the interest of State, Judiciary and people of India, said the release.

Justice Rajesh Bindal, Chairman, Computer Committee presented various Citizens Centric Services initiated Punjab and Haryana High Court.

It was informed that all the decided cases lying in the record room of Punjab and Haryana High Court have been digitalized.

This digitalization exercise resulted in scanning of 15.90 crores pages along with disposal of 225 tones of waste papers generating revenue of Rs 22,00,000 from sale of said waste papers and more importantly freeing valuable space of 15,000 square feet.

An official spokesman of Punjab & Haryana High Court said that E-Committee, Supreme Court of India in consultation with Central Government came up with computerization project "e-Courts Phase-I" having total outlay of Rs 900 crore out of which Rs 700 crores were spent.

It was explained by Judge Incharge, e-committee informed that purpose of Phase-I was to computerize Subordinate Courts in the country with aim to bring about transparency, accountability and speedy disposal of cases by sharing case information with the litigants and advocates.

E-Courts Phase-I Project has culminated in National Judicial Data Grid whereupon, as on date, 2.30 crore pending cases and 2.70 crore decided cases are available.

The Spokesman said that expansion in judiciary resulting in recruitment of new judicial officers, resulted in setting up of new Courts required expansion of computerization programme.

E-Committee has extended e-Court programme to Phase-II with total budget outlay of 1670 crore out of which 200 crore have been released for the purchase of hardware in the year 2015-16, spokesman said.

Demonstration of e-Filing module enabling the advocates and litigants to file cases online 24x7 as per their convenience from their home by paying Court fee online was also demonstrated by member Secretary e-committee.

E-filing software is likely to be launched for general public in the month of August, 2016, spokesman said.
Shares of realty major DLF today settled with gains of nearly 2 per cent after the company initiated the process to sell promoters' 40 per cent stake in the rental arm, a deal estimated at Rs 12,000-14,000 crore.

Trimming the early gains, shares of the company closed at Rs 120.55 on BSE, witnessing a rise of 1.77 per cent over the previous close. During the day, the stock surged by over 3 per cent to trade at Rs 122.40.

On NSE, the shares closed at Rs 120.50, also registering a surge of 1.77 per cent. The scrip touched an intra-day high of 122.45 on the exchange.

A total of 1.55 crore shares of the company were traded today on the exchanges.

According to sources, DLF's bankers have circulated the information memorandum to 18-20 global institutional investors which are keen to purchase the 40 per cent stake of promoters.

DLF had in October announced that its promoters will sell their stake in the DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL), which holds the bulk of office and retail complexes.

The realty firm would continue to own remaining 60 per cent stake in DCCDL.

Blackstone, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Brookefield, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Qatar Investment Authority are among the prospective buyers, sources said.

As per the memorandum, DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL) has about 25-26 million sq ft of leased commercial space with an annual rental income of about Rs 2,250 crore.

DCCDL also has 20 million sq ft of future development potential, sources said.

The equity value of this transaction is pegged at Rs 12,000-14,000 crore, sources said. Promoters -- KP Singh and family -- will re-invest a significant part of the amount realised from sale into DLF.

DLF has appointed JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley as merchant bankers for this deal. It has also roped in Pricewaterhouse Coopers as tax consultant and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas as law firm to help execute this deal.
Shares of realty major DLF today climbed over 3 per cent after the company initiated the process to sell promoters' 40 per cent stake in the rental arm, a deal estimated at Rs 12,000-14,000 crore.

Shares of the firm were trading at Rs 122.40 on BSE, up by 3.33 per cent over the previous close.

On NSE, the stock surged 3.42 per cent to trade at Rs 122.45.

DLF had in October announced that its promoters will sell their stake in the DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL),which holds the bulk of office and retail complexes.

The realty firm would continue to own remaining 60 per cent stake in DCCDL.

According to sources, DLF's bankers have circulated the information memorandum to 18-20 global institutional investors that are keen to purchase this stake.

Blackstone, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Brookefield, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Qatar Investment Authority are among the prospective buyers, they added.
Voters of a leprosy colony in Bankura district of West Bengal today exercised their franchise freely as a polling booth was marked exclusively for them inside a hospital where doctors turned into polling personnel.

As part of a special drive by the Election Commission to ensure voting by all sections of the society in large numbers, a model polling booth was set up inside Gauripur Leprosy Hospital situated at Kalyanpur, one of the oldest leprosy hospitals in India.

The booth has 320 voters registered in the roll, who are either leprosy patients or belong to a leprosy-afflicted family.

"It is a model polling booth which has all facilities like electric-run vehicles to bring voters who have difficulties in walking. Inside the booth we have arranged wheelchairs for them," local block development officer Suprabhat Chatterjee told PTI from Bankura.

For leprosy patients admitted in the hospital, the entire process to exercise their fundamental democratic right this assembly election was very easy as they just had to be carried to another room by the hospital staff.

Another district official said since the hospital staff and doctors were involved in the polling process, there was no question of any discrimination against the voters.

Although the disease does not spread through touch, leprosy patients are forced to live in colonies even after getting cured.

India accounts for more than half of leprosy cases reported worldwide. In 2013-14, the Union health ministry estimated that 1.27 lakh new cases were reported.

States like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and the union territory of Dadar and Nagar Haveli are among the worst affected.
Egypt's oldest secular university has granted King Salman of Saudi Arabia an honorary doctorate for his "unique services" to Arabs and Muslims.

Cairo University bestowed the honour on the Saudi ruler today, the fifth day of a visit clouded by opposition to Cairo's intention to hand over control of two strategic Red Sea islands to Riyadh.

The kingdom has pledged billions of dollars in aid and investment to Egypt. But activists and some experts have condemned plans to transfer sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, with some calling it a sell-off.

Egypt's government says the islands belong to Saudi Arabia, and that Riyadh asked Egypt to take charge of their security in 1950 because it feared an attack by Israel.
The head of US Steel has accused Britain and the wider European Union of negligence over China dumping cheep steel on world markets.

"The Europeans have been more negligent than anybody," Mario Longhi, chief executive of the biggest steelmaker in the United States, said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper published today.

"For them to be... Considering granting as a fact market economy status to China where you have all the evidence in place that denies them that right it's just ridiculous."



Cheap imports into Europe from China have been blamed by India's Tata Steel as a major reason for its decision to sell its assets in Britain.
Various teams constituted by Delhi Government to review the admission status of seats under the EWS and DG category today conducted random inspections in schools across the national capital.

The teams visited schools to check if admission has been granted as per the admission list submitted by the school.

"Twenty-four teams comprising three members each visited schools to check if schools have actually admitted all the students mentioned in the database. The officials also called up parents of the students who were in the list but were not admitted," an official said.

Identifying over 300 schools as "defaulters" for not sharing the status of admissions under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Disadvantaged Group (DG) category, the Directorate of Education (DoE) had last week decided to conduct random inspections in private schools.

The nursery admission process began from January 1 and was to conclude by March 31. Since the schools are yet to complete the process under the first list of draw of lots, the admissions have stretched beyond the stipulated time.

According to DoE officials, the second draw of lots will be conducted once the department is aware of the status of vacant seats.

In February, about 26,600 entry level seats in private schools were alloted through computerised draws under the EWS category, an experiment introduced by Delhi government for the first time.

DoE had received over 73,059 applications for admissions to nursery, UKG and Class 1 against the total numbers of 28,193 seats.
Former army chief Gen. (retd) JJ Singh was today conferred with the highest French civilian distinction, Officer of the Legion of Honour.

Singh was chosen for the honour in recognition of his "stellar role" in modernising the Indian Army and initiating robust exchanges between the Indian and French armies leading to "unprecedented" levels of cooperation and inter- operability and creation of enduring ties and promotion of mutual understanding between the two countries, the French Embassy said here.

'Officier de l'Ordre national de la Legion d'Honneur' is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients.

Singh was conferred the honour by French Ambassador to India, Francois Richier.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy and holder of a master's degree in Defence Science, Singh was commissioned into the 9th Maratha Light Infantry on August 2, 1964.

In January, 2003, he was appointed as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) and took over as Army Commander - Western Command in January, 2004.

On January 31, 2005, Singh assumed the office of Chief of Army Staff.

In 2007, he also held the appointment of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee of the three forces.

Working tirelessly for the enhancement of military cooperation between the Indian and French armies, he led an inter-services delegation to France that year.

It was during his tenure that he mooted the idea of holding joint army exercises at the level already existing between the two countries' air forces (Garuda) and navies (Varuna).

"It was thus that the 'Shakti' inter-army exercise later came into being in 2011," the statement said.

In 2009, he was invited as the Guest of Honour for the French National Day military parade in Paris in which an Indian Army contingent took part for the first time.

After his retirement in September 2007, Singh served as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh from 2008 to 2013.
In his final year in office, US President Barack Obama has said that failing to prepare for the aftermath of the ousting of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 was the "worst mistake" of his presidency.

"Probably failing to plan for, the day after, what I think was the right thing to do, in intervening in Libya," Obama told Fox while answering a series of questions on the highs and lows of his nearly eight years in the White House.

The 2011 US-backed intervention helped topple Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for over 40 years. But after the former Libyan president was killed, Libya plunged into chaos with militias taking over and two rival parliaments and governments forming.

Both Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continue to argue that it was not the removal of Gaddafi that caused the chaos, but rather the failure to prop up a stable government in the days following.

An ISIS affiliate has since gained a foothold in Libya, and the US has carried out airstrikes against "ISIS camps" as recently as February.

However, it is not the first time Obama has expressed regret over Libya. He told the Atlantic magazine last month the operation went as well as he had hoped, but Libya was now "a mess".

In that interview, he also criticised France and the UK, in particular saying British Prime Minister David Cameron became "distracted" after the intervention.

Obama, 54, said the best day of his presidency was when he passed the healthcare reforms, bringing near-universal medical coverage to Americans.

"We sat out on the Truman Balcony with all the staff that had worked so hard on it and I, I knew what it would mean for the families that I'd met who didn't have health care," Obama said.

He also recounted that his worst day in the White House was "the day we traveled up to Newtown after Sandy Hook" when 20 children, mostly first-graders, were killed on December 14, 2012 at an elementary school. He spoke at a local prayer vigil two days later.

As for his biggest accomplishment, Obama said he believes it would be his actions just after taking office following the 2008 recession, "saving the economy from a Great Depression."



Obama, the 44th US President, will demit office on January 20, 2017 after two consecutive four-year terms. He is the first African American to hold the office.
A fire broke out today at a dumping ground in Mulund area here, civic officials said.

The blaze erupted at around 1.12 PM and five water tankers, one bulldozer and two water engines were deployed to douse the flames, officials of the Disaster Control department of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai said.

The fire, which is yet to be put-out, was seen in certain areas of the dumping ground spread across a vast area, they said.

On March 20, fire had broken out at the Mulund and Deonar dumping grounds in the mega-polis.

(REOPENS DEL9)



Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi condoled the loss of



lives in the fire tragedy.

"Very sad to learn that a fire in a garment factory in Sahibabad has claimed many lives.My thoughts & prayers are with the bereaved families", he tweeted.
The first dog cafe in the US has been opened here in a bid to encourage dog adoption in the country.

'The Dog Cafe', which is opened in Los Angeles, allows people to have a cup of coffee or tea by paying USD 10 for an hour to spend time with dogs which are up for adoption after they were rescued and rehabilitated by cafe owner Sarah Wolfgang and her staff.

The cafe, which was opened here last week, aims to "revolutionise dog adoption by reinventing the way people connect with rescues," the LA Weekly reported.

"The Dog Cafe's mission is simple. We want to provide a second chance for shelter dogs that are often overlooked and for people to come in and cuddle with our pooches even if they aren't interested in adopting." Wolfgang said.

"It offers a comfortable and fun space for humans and dogs to hang out with each other, away from overcrowded shelters, which can provoke fear and aggression in perfectly adoptable pups," the company said in a statement.

It focuses on rescuing dogs who have been at the shelter the longest due to health or behavioral issues and are at the highest risk of being euthanized, it added.

Wolfgang said that visitors are not allowed to bring their own dogs to the cafe due to lack of city approval, but the staff is willing to coordinate meetings between dogs outside the property.

"Working with rescue groups both locally and in Seoul, Korea, the Dog Cafe will be stocked with dozens of dogs up for adoption, who are able to roam around freely and hang with potential adopters in an environment that is very unlike a high-stress animal shelter," she added.

There are over 77.8 million dogs in the US of which approximately 1.4 million dogs are adopted every year.
Security personnel from at least five major forces have launched 'Operation Hill Vijay' to root out Left Wing Extremists from the Parasnath hills in Jharkhand's Giridih district.

"Personnel from the CRPF, Jharkhand Jaguar, CoBRA, Jharkhand Armed Police and district police from Dhanbad and Giridih are involved in the 'Operation Hill Vijay' to drive Maoists out of the hills," Deputy Inspector General of Police (Hazaribagh) Upendra Kumar said.

Commando Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA) are a specialised force which has been raised by the CRPF for jungle combat, while the Jharkhand Jaguar are a Special Task Force for eradication of extremist activities in the state.

Launched a few days ago, Kumar said, the anti-Maoist operation would continue till the rebels were rooted out of the hills, as had been done in Saranda forests in West Singhbhum district.
A Mumbai-bound flier was today held at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here for allegedly stealing 5,800 Canadian Dollars from the bag of a fellow passenger.

The incident occurred at around 1230 AM at the airport when a passenger, identified by the CISF as Rajesh Kapoor, arrived at the terminal building to travel to Mumbai and during security check he stealthily "removed" 5,800 Canadian Dollars (about Rs 2.98 lakh) from the laptop bag of another flier identified as J S Sarao travelling to Hong Kong.

They said Kapoor then quickly moved towards the boarding gates and also changed his dress to avoid detection as security personnel had sensed his suspicious movements.

"Further, on the pretext of forgetting bag at transit area he (Kapoor) tried to run away from terminal but he was chased and caught by CISF constable Sarvesh Kumar Yadav at arrival alighting point," they said.

Kapoor, they said was later handed over to Delhi Police along with the foreign currency.
Four persons were killed and another was injured when their car capsized after a tyre burst at Nakkerarvayal in this district today, police said.

Police said five persons from Nattusalai in Pattukottai were returning in the car after attending a temple festival at Northanmali here when one of its tyres burst.

The driver lost control of the vehicle and it overturned, killing three men on the spot. Another man succumbed to injuries while being rushed to the government hospital here.

A 38-year old man who was seriously injured had been admitted to the hospital, where his condition was stated to be critical, police added.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Baghdad today on an unannounced visit for talks with Iraqi officials on the war against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Le Drian discussed the campaign against IS, in which France is playing a major role, with President Fuad Masum and parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, their offices said in statements.

He also met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi.

IS claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November last year and there is concern that the jihadists will strike the country again.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has said a jihadist cell that attacked the Brussels airport and a metro station last month, killing 32 people, initially planned to target France.

France is part of a US-led coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS and providing training and other assistance to Iraqi and Syrian forces.

According to the French military, France has carried out more than 580 strikes against IS, destroying over 1,000 targets.

The country carries out 15 percent of coalition air operations, and it has around 350 soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Le Drian, who arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait where he met his counterpart, will also visit French troops during his trip to Iraq.

The United States has carried out the majority of coalition strikes and has deployed some 3,900 military personnel to the country, including special forces carrying out raids against IS.

The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained ground with backing from the coalition.

IS still controls significant territory in western Iraq and holds major areas in neighbouring Syria.

Le Drian's visit comes just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed during a trip to Baghdad that the coalition and Iraq would turn up the heat on IS after the jihadists suffered a string of losses.

But while the jihadists are on the defensive, they are still able to carry out frequent bombings targeting civilians and security forces in government-held areas.

In addition to major security challenges, Iraq has also been hit by an economic crisis caused by slumping oil prices, and political tensions over efforts to replace the current cabinet.

Abadi has called for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics," and presented a list of nominees to parliament last week.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Baghdad today on an unannounced visit for talks with Iraqi officials on the war against the Islamic State group.

Le Drian discussed the campaign against IS, in which France is playing a major role, with President Fuad Masum and parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, their offices said in statements.

IS claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November last year and there is concern that the jihadists will strike the country again.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has said that a jihadist cell that attacked the Brussels airport and a metro station last month, killing 32 people, initially planned to target France.

France is part of a US-led coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS and providing training and other assistance to Iraqi and Syrian forces.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained ground with backing from the coalition.

The jihadists still control significant territory in western Iraq and hold major areas in neighbouring Syria.

His visit comes just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed during a trip to Baghdad that the coalition and Iraq would turn up the heat on IS after the jihadists suffered a string of losses.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers today called for a "world without nuclear weapons", citing North Korea's sabre-rattling as a key challenge to achieving that goal.

"We reaffirm our commitment to seeking a safer world for all and to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons in a way that promotes stability," the group said in their "Hiroshima Declaration", after a landmark visit to the Japanese city's atomic bomb memorial.

"This task is made more complex by the deteriorating security environment in a number of regions, such as Syria and Ukraine, and, in particular by North Korea's repeated provocations," it added.

On Saturday, Pyongyang said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland.

It was the latest in a series of claims by North Korea of significant breakthroughs in both its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

The statement came as ministers wrap up their final day of meetings with discussions focused on global hotspot issues including terrorism and other security threats as well as instability in the Middle East, and the refugee crisis.
Six people were today injured in lathicharge by police to clear the Bareilly highway blocked by agitators following the death of a 17-year-old girl in Alhaganj area here.

Angoori was hit by a speeding tractor this morning after she fell from the bicycle she was riding on, police said, adding the girl died on-the-spot prompting angry protests by people in the area.

The protesters blocked the traffic on the Bareilly highway for over two hours following which police resorted to lathicharge in which six persons were injured.

An FIR has been lodged in connection with the accident and an investigation is on, police said.
Rebel Congress MLAs of Uttarakhand, who were disqualified by the Assembly Speaker after their revolt against former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, today told the High Court that that going against the state government was not tantamount to going against the party.

During a hearing on a petition by the rebel Congress MLAs challenging their disqualification, the MLAs' senior lawyer Dinesh Dwiwedi, arguing on behalf of the petitioners before Justice U C Dhyani of the high court in Nainital, said that going against the state government was not tantamount to going against the party and hence their disqualification under the anti-defection law was not correct.

Nageshwar Rao, who was part of the panel of counsel for the rebel legislators, said the disqualified MLAs had neither quit the party they belonged to nor joined another, then what could be the ground for their disqualification as members of the state Assembly.

Senior Supreme Court Lawyer Kapil Sibal will argue on behalf of the Speaker before the bench tomorrow. Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal had disqualified nine rebel Congress MLAs, including former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, from the Assembly on March 27.

A political crisis had erupted in Uttarakhand on March 18 when nine MLAs of the Congress had alligned with BJP to demand a division of votes on an approporpation bill over on the state's annual budget.

The turn of events after that had led to imposition of President's rule in the state.

Only six of the nine disqualified MLAs have gone to court challenging the Speaker's action.
Gujarat Government today announced it will start a fresh round of negotiations with the Patel quota agitation leaders from the next week.

Health Minister Nitin Patel, who heads a committee of ministers set up by the Government to negotiate with Patel groups seeking reservation under the OBC category, made the announcement today.

Patel and other ministers today met the Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and handed over a report on roadmap to arrive at a compromise formula with Patel groups including the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) led by Hardik Patel and Sardar Patel Group (SPG) led by Lalji Patel.

Patel later told media persons that Government will try its best to see that the agitation ends as early as possible.

"In our meeting with the CM, it was decided that the committee will now invite the mediators for further discussion. These mediators will be called within a week. We will convey Government's view to them so that they can discuss it with PAAS and SPG leaders," said Patel.

"After our meeting with the mediators we will call PAAS and SPG leaders for discussion."



The Government recently appointed some prominent Patel leaders including the BJP MP Vitthal Radadiya as mediators.

"Apart from the demand of reservation, there were many other demands in the letters given to us by PAAS and SPG, a month ago. The committee discussed all of them at length with the CM today," said Nitin Patel.

SPG chief Lalji Patel handed over a memorandum of 27 demands last month to the CM. The jailed PAAS leader Hardik Patel also sent a 27-point charter to the CM.

Some of the key demands are reservations for Patel community, release of jailed leaders and withdrawal of cases against them, and action against the police officers who allegedly committed atrocities on members of the community during the agitation last year.

(Reopens BOM 25)



Minister Nitin Patel claimed that the leaders also suggested an alternate mechanism if the core demand of reservation was not acceptable.

"Both the organisations also suggested setting up of a 'Patidar Aayog' to take care of the community. This is also an alternative to the reservations and the Government is ready to discuss it," he said.

The Government had already started the process of withdrawing the cases against Patel youths, he claimed.

"Barring three-four cases, we have already started the process to withdraw cases. Several cases are already withdrawn. For last seven months, we have not arrested anyone named in the pending FIRs," said Patel.

About withdrawal of cases against Hardik and his three aides who are still behind the bars in sedition cases, Nitin Patel expressed inability on Government's part.

"These matters are sub-judice as the High Court is hearing their bail applications. So the Government cannot take a stand on these cases at present," the minister said.

SPG has announced a Jail Bharo agitation from April 17.

"As the negotiation process is underway, there is no need to start second round of agitation. It is my humble appeal not to start agitation," said Nitin Patel, when asked about it.

"Some people with political agenda are trying hard to drag the issue till 2017 (Assembly) elections. They are deliberately making statements to stall the negotiations. Both SPG and PAAS should designate their spokespersons, so that people do not get misled by the statements of unauthorized persons," he said.
Opposition leader in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta today met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and sought resumption of services of 2500 contractual teachers who were recently terminated.

Gupta along with other BJP MLAs Om Prakash Sharma and Jagdish Pradhan, also participated in a teachers' protest outside the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"These teachers were recruited years ago under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and were recently served termination notice. They were informed by the Delhi government that they were disengaged due to non-continuation of the posts by HRD Ministry," Gupta said during his address to the protesters.

"It is highly motivated and mischievous to say that the central government had done away with their services. Subsequent to termination of the services of contractual teachers under the schemem nearly 2.5 lakhs students are being denied education," he claimed.

The opposition leaders submitted a memorandum to Jung, asking that he should impress upon the Delhi government to resume the services of 2,500 teachers under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan without any further delay.

"LG gave a patient hearing to the leaders and assured to look into the matter," Delhi BJP said in a statement.

DelhI BJP President Satish Upadhyay alleged the Kejriwal government is "lingering" the matter of guest teachers because it intends to "replace" them with its party volunteers as "adhoc teachers".

"In its two budgets, Kejriwal government has done a lot of self-glorification for providing proper educational setup and funds for Delhi. Government is selling dreams of filling large number of vacancies of teachers in schools, but is not even prepared to talk and absorb the existing guest teachers.

Upadhyay and other party leaders including Srikant Sharma, Siddharthan, Manoj Tiwari, meanwhile, organised a prayer meeting at Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place for victims of the tragic incident at Putingal Temple in Kerala.
Filmmaker Guy Ritchie was seen dropping son Rocco at Madonna's London home after a judge urged the feuding parents to end their custody battle.

The exes have been locked in a bitter feud over the custody of their 15-year-old son since December.

But it looks like the battle is now over as Rocco spent around two hours at the Queen of Pop's home, reported Daily Mirror.

Ritchie, 47, was spotted pulling up outside Madonna's plush pad before Rocco, dressed in a green jumper and purple trousers, stepped inside.

Last month, a High Court judge in London urged Madonna, 57, and Ritchie to try to settle the four-month battle over their son and focus on enjoying what is left of Rocco's "precious" childhood.

The judge warned the pair that "summer does not last forever" - and said their child would "very quickly" become an adult.

He pleaded with them to resolve their differences in a ruling on the latest stage of litigation following a hearing in the Family Division.

And he ruled that Madonna could halt legal action in England - and allow a judge in New York to make decisions.

Madonna arrived in the UK last week to be reunited with her son after bringing her international Rebel Heart tour to an end.
HBO is facing a backlash for working with Manny Pacquiao following his controversial anti-gay remarks.

The Filipino world champion professional boxer, who's a part-time evangelical pastor, said back in February that homosexuals were "worse than animals," reported Aceshowbiz.

Following Manny's remarks, the network issued a statement, saying it "deplored" his behaviour, but would go ahead with April 9's pay-per-view Manny bout with Timothy Bradley Jr, adding HBO had "an obligation to both fighters."



But HBO, which has a reputation for airing landmark programs about the LGBT community, including "Angels in America" and "The Normal Heart", is urged to make a decision on whether to keep its contract with Manny.

Senior network sources told that HBO suits are hoping to avoid the issue after Manny said in January that he would retire after the Bradley fight. However, the network will face a tough decision if Manny joins a long list of legendary boxers who swiftly come out of retirement for another big payday.

On Tuesday, Manny's promoter Bob Arum said that they're considering a match against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.

Following his anti-gay remarks, Nike ended its eight-year endorsement deal with Manny. LGBT leaders were recently organising a press conference calling for a boycott of Manny's Saturday pay-per-view broadcast and asking HBO to cut ties with him unless he issues a public apology for the remarks.

Responding to HBO's indecision, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Community Pride Center Floyd Rumohr said, "HBO are hedging their bets. It's understandable, but disappointing. If they could follow Nike's lead, why the ambiguity? Let's make a decision and move on."



While HBO declined to comment on the issue, sources say the network is "keeping its options open" about continuing to work with Manny despite the backlash.
Alleging that despite a case is



pending before Supreme Court, farmers of Karnataka conducted bhoomi pooja for construction of dams, a farmers association has approached the Madras High Court to direct the police to grant permission to it to conduct a dharna onApril 12.

Justice R Subbaiah adjourned case to April 12 after directing the Additional Government Pleader P Sanjay Gandhi to get instructions from the government on a petition by Cauvery Vivasaigal Sangam of Thiruvarur.

The Sangam has proposed to conduct a dharna against the construction Megathadu and Rasimanal dams by the Karnataka at Jujuwadi near Hosur-Bangaluru high way which was rejected by the police.

The sangam submitted that they had already filed cases in Supreme Court against the Karnataka government's move and seeking to implement the Cauvery Tribunal Award.

They also sought constitution of Cauvery Water Management Board, Cauvery Water Regulatory Authority.

The sangam submitted that the case was first adjourned by the Supreme Court on March 28, 2016 as per the request of Karnataka government and again to third week of July 2016.
More than a year-and-a-half after it signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government, Ltd (HMCL) has submitted plans to begin production at its proposed plant in Chittoor district of the state.

According to the plan, the two-wheeler giant will commence production of 5 lakh units (per annum) in the first phase by December 2018 with an investment of Rs 800 crore, a state government's order said on Sunday.

It will add another 5 lakh units to its production capacity in the second phase by December 2020, and an additional 8 lakh units in the third phase by December 2023 with an investment of Rs 800 crore for both the phases, state's Industries Secretary M Girija Shankar said in the order.

HMCL will provide employment to 1,500 people in the first phase and another 3,500 in the subsequent phases.

The company had signed a MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government in September 2014 for setting up a two-wheeler manufacturing facility at Madannapalem in Chittoor district.

The plant would come up close to the existing Sri City SEZ.

This was the first major project in the manufacturing sector that the N Chandrababu Naidu government succeeded in attracting to the state post bifurcation (of the state in 2014).

HMCL informed the government in a letter on March 31 that the upcoming plant would be state-of-the-art and deploying robotics, cutting edge manufacturing technology and green building technology and it would be made a manufacturing hub for two-wheelers for east and south Asia.

HMCL also promised an investment of another Rs 1,600 crore for development of ancillary units that could create direct and indirect employment for 15,000 people.

In addition to this, employment for 2,000 people would be created by the supply chain partners in Phase-I and would go up to 6,500 at the final stage of expansion, the firm said.

The state government also agreed to allocate another 200 acres of land within a radius of 25-35 kms of the mother plant for the proposed ancillary units, that are expected to commence production in the first phase by December 2019 with an investment of Rs 400 crore.

Another Rs 600 crore each would be invested for the next two phases by December 2021 and 2024, respectively, HMCL had informed.

The state government accepted the request of HMCL to permit it to diversify its manufacturing activity into three-wheelers, electrical vehicles, aerospace and defence and technology relating to green-tech through joint ventures and business associates, the Industries Secretary said.
West Bengal today reported a 79.51 per cent turnout in part two of the first phase of Assembly elections while Assam saw 82.02 per cent in its second and final phase of the polls which Election Commission said was "very peaceful".

EC said the voting figures are based on text messages sent to Nirvachan Sadan here by poll officials in the two states at 5 PM. The final figures would be higher as people were still waiting in queues to cast votes when the officials sent their texts, it said.

With the final figures still to come in, election officials refused to term the turnout in Assam today a 'historic' or 'record' one.

Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said there was "no violence, injury or death" inside any polling station in the two states.

In West Bengal, there was information of "sporadic" clashes between workers of different political parties. In Jamuria, two sacks containing crude bombs were found 2km away from a



polling station but no untoward incident was reported.

In Raniganj's booth number 50, a candidate and her husband entered a polling station leading to disciplinary action against the presiding officer and FIR against those who violated the rules, he said.

In Assam's Barpeta, there was a clash between CRPF jawans and locals who pelted stones at the former. The CRPF personnel had to resort to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd.

A 19-year-old boy, Abdul Rashid, died of injuries in the hospital and EC is verifying whether he received injuries during the melee or in the action by security men. A magisterial probe has been ordered by EC into the circumstances leading to the teenager's death.

Saxena said that in the 2011 Assembly polls in Assam, the voter turn-out in the 61 Assembly seats, which went to poll today, was 76.05 per cent while it was 80.21 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the same constituencies. The Assam Assembly has a total of 126 seats.

For the 2011 Assembly polls in West Bengal, the turnout in 31 of the 294 seats, which went to elections today, was 83.72 per cent while in the 2014 general elections it was 83.39 per cent.

Responding to posers, Saxena said that "in our assessment, the election today was very peaceful".
High voter turnout was recorded in the assembly polls in Assam and West Bengal where an estimated 79 per cent and 75 per cent of the voters cast their ballots today till around 4:30 pm amid sporadic clashes and police firing that resulted in the death of an elderly voter.

In Assam, where balloting was held in 61 constituencies in the second and final phase, an 80-year-old voter died in a scuffle between CRPF personnel and the locals over forming a queue at a polling station in Sorbhog seat in Barpeta district, officials said. Three others, including a CRPF Assistant Commandant and a constable were also injured in the incident.

Security personnel fired in the air to quell a protest at at Chaygaon in Kamrup district after a CRPF constable allegedly "misbehaved" with a pregnant voter who re-entered a polling station to pick up her child whom she had inadvertently forgotten to carry while leaving after casting her vote.

The entire team of CRPF deployed in the polling station was replaced after the incident, the district superintendent of police Prasanta Saikia said.

Long queues were seen outside polling booths since early morning and prominent among those who cast their vote was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Rajya Sabha member of the Congress from the state since 1991. Singh came to Guwahati from Delhi to cast his ballot at Dispur Government High School.

There were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some polling centres but the machines were replaced immediately, election office said.

Prominent among those whose fate will be decided in the second phase include cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Nazrul Islam of Congress, AGP leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and BJP national spokesman Sidhartha Bhattacharya. Also in the fray is former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who revolted against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and later joined BJP last year.

There are 525 candidates in the fray.

Congress, which under Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is seeking a fourth straight term in power, has fielded 57 candidates, BJP 35, its allies AGP 19 and BPF 10, AIDUF 47, CPI-M nine and CPI five.

65 of the state's 126 seats had gone to polls on April 4.

In West Bengal, where TMC leader Mamata Banerjee is seeking a second term in office, an estimated 75 per cent voters cast their ballots till around 4:30 pm in 31 seats where voting was held in the second part of the first phase of poll.

Braving the blazing sun, people lined up at polling



stations since early morning.

Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from polling booths in Jamuria constituency in Burdwan. A CPI(M) agent was injured after he was allegedly beaten up by Trinamool Congress workers and prevented from entering a polling booth, though TMC denied the allegation. Two bags containing bombs were found near a polling booth in Jamuria by police.

A scuffle broke out between TMC and CPI(M) supporters at Narayangarh in West Midnapore district after the Left party's state secretary and Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, who is contesting from the constituency faced demonstration by ruling party workers.

Polling was interrupted for some time at a booth in Pandaveswar constituency in Burdwan district when a polling officer Parimal Bauri died of heart attack. Voting resumed after another officer took charge.

There were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some places but those were replaced.

Prominent among those whose fate would be decided in today's polling included state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, former WBPCC president Manas Bhunia, state minister Malay Ghatak, actor Soham Chakrabarty besides Surjya Kanta Mishra. Mishra.

Altogether 163 candidates, including 21 women, are in the fray from 31 seats in West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan districts.

The ruling TMC, Left-Congress alliance and BJP, which has only one MLA in the outgoing Assembly, have fielded their nominees for all the seats.
The Hindu Mahasabha had played a key role in the independence struggle and had lost around 72,000 members during the movement, Akhila Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (BHM) national president Chandra Prakash Kaushik said here today.

Kaushik claimed that the Mahasabha could create fear in the British through their struggle.

The organisation lost 72,000 members in the struggle and 64,000 members were imprisoned, he told reporters here.

ABHM vice-president of the Sabha Rajesh Ranjan, who was also present, said the objective of the organisation was to protect the ancient Hindu culture and not to chase people of other religions out of the country.

He said they had no connection with the RSS at present due to differences on ideology.

Ambika Nayak has been elected as the new state president of ABHM and Shravan Kumar was chosen as vice president, he said.
Two days after 4,500 doctors in Maharashtra withdrew their indefinite strike, the dean of Government-run J J Hospital here today urged the Bombay High Court to hear him before passing an order setting up a grievances committee to probe allegations against him.

The doctors, demanding the transfer of dean Dr T P Lahane, had struck work last week on a call given by Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) which had protested against his decision to disallow resident doctors from performing operations in theatres.

The court was hearing a petition filed by activist Afak Mandaviya challenging the doctors' strike saying that patients were facing inconvenience and some of them died as there was no one to provide medical help in emergency cases.

When the petition came up for hearing today, advocate Jagtap Shekhar told the bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka that he was appearing for Lahane and his client wanted the high court to hear him before passing an order.

The bench told the petitioner that it would hear Lahane before passing an order and asked him to implead the hospital dean as a respondent in the petition. The matter was deferred until tomorrow.

The petition had earlier sought immediate withdrawal of the strike by doctors as patients were put to hardship and ran the risk of losing their lives because of non-availability of medical services due to the agitation.

It was agreed by the parties on April 9 that former Chief Justice Mohit Shah or Justice (Retd) D K Deshmukh would be part of the grievances redressal committee probing the allegations against Lahane.

During the hearing today before another bench led by Justice Abhay Oka, MARD submitted that they were objecting to the two names which were shortlisted on April 9.

The bench reprimanded MARD for changing their stance and said "you were present in the court on Saturday (April 9) when these names were discussed and had also agreed to them...We will not tolerate that you have a grievance now...You cannot dictate terms to the court.

On April 9, the judges had asked MARD to call off their



strike forthwith in public interest so that patients do not suffer. Accordingly, the strike was called off on the same day.

The bench also questioned the doctors and MARD for going on an indefinite strike without approaching the grievance redressal mechanism.

The resident doctors of JJ's Ophthalmology department had complained of mental harassment by Lahane who is also the head of the department.

In a letter to the state Medical Education Minister and the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), MARD doctors at J J Hospital have sought Lahane's transfer with immediate effect.

The high court had on April 9 asked Maharashtra government to ensure that the doctors, who had gone on stike, are not victimised and that they got their stipend during the agitation period.

To this, MARD replied that they had not approached the grievance redressal mechanism because T P Lahane, against whom they were protesting, was part of the grievance redressal mechanism committee.

The doctors said they wanted an independent committee to hear their grievances and suggested the name of retired Chief Justice Mohit Shah or Retd Justice D K Deshmukh to chair the committee.

However, today they objected to the two retired Judges from being part of the grievances committee, following which the high court warned them against indulging in such practices.

Meanwhile, the court has asked the high court registry to find out whether the two judges would be available for conducting a probe into allegations against Lahane.

The matter would be heard tomorrow.
India is keen to set up a port in Bangladesh and a high-level committee will be sent to the neighbouring country in this regard, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said.

"We are exploring the opportunity to set up a port in Bangladesh and further strengthen our ties. We have sent a committee to Bangladesh in this connection," Union Road Transport and Shipping Minister today said.

The Payra port in Patuakhali district of Bangladesh will be another major milestone between the nations, Gadkari said, addressing the media at Foreign Correspondents Club here.

He, however, said a final decision will be taken after the recommendations from the committee, and investment proposals will be finalised only after that.

The external affairs ministries of both sides have already held a preliminary round of talks for the port development and a delegation from the shipping ministry under a joint secretary will be visiting Bangladesh next week to study the site and prepare a detailed project report, he said.

Gadkari said finer details, including investment requirements, will be worked out after the committee's recommendations.

A senior official said the proposal is to set up a port at Payra in Bangladesh and a detailed project report is ready.

About Chabahar port in Iran, he said India is eyeing investments there and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is on a visit to Iran with a high-level delegation, including road transport and highways ministry officials.

Gadkari had earlier said India is looking at an investment of Rs 2 lakh crore at Chabahar port in Iran in various infrastructure projects and the investments will depend on the outcome of the negotiations on gas price as Iran has offered to supply natural gas at USD 2.95 while India wants rates to be lowered.

India has already pledged to invest about USD 85 million in developing the strategic port off Iran's south-eastern coast, which would provide India a sea-land access route to Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.

Gadkari said that during the recent summit of heads of African nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had expressed keenness that India should join hands with African nations for building roads and ports there.

In reply to a query, Gadkari said India is keen to beef up its ties with China too.
Ramping up defence cooperation with Maldives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today promised the archipelago nation all possible help, including development of ports, training and capacity building of its armed forces besides supply of equipment and maritime surveillance.

Following delegation-level talks between Modi and visiting Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, both countries agreed on an action plan for the critical sector as the Prime Minister pitched India as "net security provider" in the Indian Ocean Region.

Modi said it is in India's strategic interest to have a stable and secure Maldives and that its challenges are India's concerns.

Reiterating India's role as a "net security provider" in the Indian Ocean, Modi asserted that the country is ready to protect its strategic interests in this region.

On his part, Yameen said his country pursues an "India first" foreign policy and described it as "most important friend" of Maldives.

After the talks, an "Action Plan" for defence cooperation was signed which envisages institutional mechanism at the level of the Defence Secretaries to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation.

It includes development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance.

It reflects the shared strategic and security interests of the two countries in the Indian Ocean region.

In the talks it was also agreed that India will set up a police academy, build the Defence Ministry building of Maldives besides speeding up infrastructure projects relating to security.

The development comes at a time when the Chinese are increasing their footprint in the Maldives.

China is funding several infrastructure projects across the Maldives.

The Maldivian government's electoral pledges, like building a bridge between capital Male and the airport island of Hulhule and development of its main international airport, also hinges on soft loans being considered by Beijing.
An Indian national who was languishing at a Lahore jail for more than 20 years on spying charges died here today under mysterious circumstances.

Kirpal Singh, 50, had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested.

He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

"Kirpal Singh was found dead at his cell in early hours of Monday at Kot Lakhpat Jail," an official of Kot Lakhpat Jail told PTI.

He said the body of Kirpal has been shifted to the Jinah Hospital Lahore for autopsy.

A judicial magistrate was also called who recorded the statements of some prisoners about the death of Kirpal, the official said.

To a question about the death of Kirpal by torture, he said: "The inmates of the jail near to Kirpal stated that he complained about pain in his chest and died instantly."



Kot Lakhpath Jail police station head Nafees Ahmed told PTI that the jail authorities had called police to shift the body to the dead house.

"Apparently, it seems the Indian prisoner died of natural death. However, autopsy will tell the exact cause of death," he said.

Ill-fated Kirpal from Gurdaspur has reportedly been acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted because of unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said that the family couldn't raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

Earlier, in last week of April, 2013, Indian prisoner on death row Sarabjit Singh was brutally attacked and murdered by his fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Both accused - Muhammad Muddasar and Amir Tamba also condemned prisoners - are facing trial of his murder at the jail.

Sarabjit was arrested on charges of conducting four bomb blasts in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore that killed 14 bystanders in 1990. He was sentenced to death.
An Indian-origin man has died after his throat was slashed on the street near his home in west London as a result of what has been described by some witnesses as a "petty row over a few pounds".

Sahil Roy, 28, was pronounced dead near his housing estate in Isleworth last evening after emergency crew attempted to save his life for over an hour.

A Metropolitan Police statement said: "A murder investigation has been launched following the death of a man in Isleworth. Police were called at 4.05 PM (UK time) on Sunday to Summerwood Road in Isleworth following reports of man suffering from a stab injury.

"Officers, the London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance attended. The man, believed to be aged in his late 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene at 5.18pm.

"A post-mortem examination will be held in due course. Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command (HMCC) are investigating."



A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held at a south London police station, the police confirmed.

Roy is said to have been pushed to the ground and stabbed in the neck before his attackers fled.

Witnesses and friends told the 'Evening Standard' how the victim's mother sobbed by his side as she cradled him while he lay in the road.

His younger brother also came down from the flat Sahil shared with his family near the scene of the crime.

One witness told the newspaper: "I just saw his mother with him in the road crying, holding his neck and head as he lay there in the road bleeding. It really was terrible."



Larissa Maher, a friend of Roy's, said: "He was an easily approachable person. He was really lovely. He wouldn't say boo to a ghost. We have a lot of bad people on the estate, but he wasn't one of them and you wouldn't expect it to be him.

"A lot of people on the estate are in tears. It's very hard for people. A lot of people came out to pay their respects which shows how much people loved him.

"His brother came down and saw it as well, he must be going through hell. You can't feel safe around here. People just need to not carry knives around.
The first budget session of the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir led by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will commence on May 25 in Srinagar, the summer capital of the state.

"The New Budget session of our government will began from May 25 in Srinagar", Spokesman of Jammu and Kashmir government and state Education Minister Naeem Akhtar told reporters here after conclusion of first cabinet meeting of Mehbooba Mufti government today.

Mufti decided to request the Governor to summon and address the joint session of the state Legislature May 25 at 11 am at Srinagar in terms of section 53 of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir,he said.

Governor N N Vohra had already approved vote on account for the first quarter of the current fiscal.
File photo of late J&K CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, whom the new scheme is named after

government launched on Monday the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Food Entitlement Scheme (MMSFES) to supplement the National Food Security Act in the state.

This was announced by Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar, at a press conference after the maiden meeting of the new state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti here this afternoon.

"The government headed by Mehbooba Mufti is committed to protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens as was envisioned by Mufti Sahab," he said.

Akhtar said under the scheme, all those persons who are covered under the state's public distribution system, will get additional 5 kg of ration per person in addition to 5 kg of ration they are entitled to get under NFSA.

He said the additional quota of ration under MMSFSES would be provided to the consumers at the subsidised rate of Rs 13 per kg for atta (flour) and Rs 15 per kg for rice.

Akhtar said the cabinet also approved release of Dearness Allowance at 6% of pay, raising the total Dearness Allowance of the state government employees from 113% to 119%, with effect from 1st July, 2015.

He said the arrears on account of additional instalment from July, 2015, to 31st March, 2016, shall be credited to the individual GPF accounts of the employees and shall form part of the monthly salary from April, 2016 onwards.

The Cabinet also approved the revision in Temporary Move Allowance from existing rate of Rs 1,500 per month to Rs 2,000 per month, with effect from 1 April, 2016.
Jammu and Kashmir government has set up four Ministerial panels including a panel of Group of Ministers (GoM) to fastrack the implementation of Agenda of Alliance of the BJP-PDP government in the state.

Three other panels of GoMs have been set up to advise on economic, Infrastructure and Human resources development.

"The State Cabinet, which met under chairperson ship of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, has constituted a Group of Ministers headed by Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh to fast track the implementation of Agenda of Alliance", state Education Minister Naeem Akhtar told reporters after the first Cabinet meeting here today.

The five-member GoM for the Agenda of Alliance includes Public Works Department (PWD) Minister A R Veeri, Industries and Commerce Minister CP Ganga, Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu and Forest Minister Lal Singh, and is headed by Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, Akhtar said.

"They will identify what is to be done where and take it up with the Government of India and they have been directed by the cabinet to fast track the proposals with regard to Agenda of Alliance (AoA)", he said.

The agenda of the alliance was formulated between between the coalition partners, PDP and BJP last year, he said adding that it is to be implemented by the Centre and state government both.

"There is a need for taking sectoral initiatives. We talk about the smart city (for J&K).. It is to be put into paper and proposal is to be generated and taken up with Government of India, like wise other sectors included Power, paying the rent (of lands and buildings occupied by security forces).. etc", Akhtar said.

"Wherever there is an involvement of Government of India and Government of J&K, a GoM has been setup by cabinet for sectoral initiatives on AoA", he said.

Akhtar said three panels of GoMs have also been setup to discuss new ideas and generate proposal on state's socio-economic advancement and development.

The Group of Ministers on economic development will have the Finance, Tourism, Industries and Commerce and Agriculture and Rural development Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Another group of Ministers would be on infrastructure developments in the state and third group would be on human resources, skill development and social sector, he added.
Hitting back at Union Ministers and DMK chief M Karunanidhi for flaying her regime on the central scheme UDAY, AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today said it will benefit only private power generating companies and banks but not people of her state.

Addressing a rally here to canvas votes for her party nominees for the May 16 assembly polls, she said although private players had the capability to produce adequate electricity, power cuts still persisted in many states as government power generation corporations were making loss.

As a result they could neither repay bank loans nor could purchase power even as private firms were also unable to repay debts as they could not function in full steam, she said in her first election rally outside Chennai after launching the campaign on Saturday last.

"Therefore, there is a situation of banks declaring these (loans) as Non-Performing Assets. This scheme (UDAY) was devised on the basis of state governments sharing the debt burden of discoms so that they can once again get bank loans.

"That is why, this scheme will be beneficial to private firms and banks, but will only affect Tamil Nadu government and its people," she said.

The Chief Minister was responding to criticism by Union Ministers for Power and Environment, Piyush Goyal and Prakash Javadekar, respectively, for not adopting Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY).

Her arch rival Karunanidhi had also sought her response on the matter.

Jayalalithaa said though the state government could float Financial Bonds to mop up funds, FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) guidelines in this regard could be "relaxed" only for two years, which she said, would make it impossible to get bank loans from the successive year.

"As a result no development schemes can be implemented. Therefore, I had stated that the FRBM relaxation including repayment should be extended to 15 years, and that Centre should subsidise a part of the debt burden of discoms accepted by the state government," she said.

Further, quarterly revision of power tariff under UDAY was "unacceptable," she said.

On Karunanidhi seeking her response to Javadekar's charge that the state was protecting those pilfering power, she said he had got the Union Minister wrong.

Javadekar had said there was loss due to lack of power meters, she said adding, that it was wrong to say there was pilferage since only agricultural pump sets and huts lacked meters.

"If Karunanidhi doesn't accept this, he has to explain whether he is charging the farmers and those living in huts with pilfering electricity," she said.

"Karunanidhi is well aware that his party is not going to



win the elections. That is why he demands for accepting a scheme that proposes quarterly power tariff revision," Jayalalithaa said.

On Goyal's "Jayalalithaa is inaccessible" remark, seconded by his cabinet colleagues Javadekar and Pon Radhakrishnan, she referred to her Finance Minister O Panneerselvam detailing out, datewise, her meetings with various Central Ministers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Further, Union Minister M Venkiah Naidu had said that he had no problem meeting me and this is the right response" to the charge that she is inaccessible, she said.

On Javadekar's contention that only Tamil Nadu was yet to respond on the Kasturirangan report on Western Ghats, she said her colleague and Electricity Minister Natham R Viswanathan had made it clear that many of the recommendations were "against" the people living there and that the state had sought time till May to make its submission.

Reiterating her assurance for staggered implementation of prohibition, she trained her guns on Karunanidhi, saying he lacked the locus standi to talk about the issue as he had relaxed the dry law in 1971.

Introducing her party candidates for 13 Assembly constituencies in the three districts of Cuddalore, Ariyalur and Perambalur, Jayalalithaa sought votes for her performance in various sectors including social welfare and infrastructure.
Gold traders, jewellers and artisans continued their indefinite for yet another day on Monday, in protest against the proposed 1% excise duty on non-silver jewellery.

Most jewellery shops and establishments in the country, including in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai wore a deserted look for the 41st day.

They have been on since March 2 after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget announced one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.

However, jewellery showrooms in Tamil Nadu were open for regular trading.

To address jewellers' issues, the government has constituted a panel under former chief economic advisor Ashok Lahiri.

The sub-committee will look into issues related to the compliance procedure for the excise duty, including records to be maintained, forms to be filled, operating procedures and other relevant aspects.

The government, in the Budget for 2016-17, had proposed 1 per cent excise duty on jewellery without input credit or 12.5 per cent with input tax credit on jewellery excluding silver other than those studded with diamonds and precious stones.
A joint task force has been set up by Nalco and Iranian industries ministry to deliberate on the proposed smelter and gas-based power plant in Chabahar Free Trade Zone.

The task force, comprising senior project, operations and marketing executives of Nalco, Directors of Ministry of Industries, Government of Iran and senior executives of Iranian Aluminium Company, is given three months to submit its report, a NALCO release said here today.

"The project would help Nalco to use low-cost energy available in Iran for conversion of its alumina, presently exported to international markets, to aluminium," it said, quoting Nalco's CMD Tapan Kumar Chand.

Chand is in Iran as part of an Indian business delegation, led by Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. During this visit, Chand held discussions with Iran's Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines & Trade, Chairman of IMIDRO and top Iranian officials and other aluminium companies.

Based on the report, ownership pattern, project financing, long-term supply of gas and other aspects would be decided. A team from IMIDRO is likely to visit NALCO shortly, the release said.

Chand thanked Pradhan for his initiative in taking up NALCO's proposal including gas pricing, long term supply of gas and allotment of land in Chabahar at the highest level of Iranian Government.
Use of high decibel fire crackers must be banned at all Kerala temples, a senior Kerala High Court Judge suggested today, seeking immediate judicial intervention by the court to stop "man-made" tragedies like Kollam mishap.

In a letter to Registrar General of the high court, Justice V Chitambaresh said, "The time is more than ripe for immediate judicial intervention to stop such man-made tragedies by banning the use of high decibel explosive fire crackers."



The 'Devaswom Bench' comprising Justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Anu Sivaraman will consider the petition tomorrow afternoon.

Justice Chitambaresh said, "The right to profess, practice and propagate the religion of one's choice under Article 25 of the Constitution of India does not take in the freedom to use dangerous crackers."



"Pyrotechnics display using 'Amittu', 'Gundu', 'Kathinavedi' etc have to be banned and at best only low decibel Chinese-type crackers can be permitted for display," he said.

He urged the Registrar General to place his letter before Devaswom bench and consider if it could be treated as a Public Interest Litigation and appropriate interim orders passed. The Judge said the fireworks tragedy at Puttingal Devi Temple at Paravur in Kollam has left more than 100 people dead besides injuring and disabling scores apart from causing damage to property.

"This is not an isolated incident and statistics reveal that more than 500 people have been burnt alive in similar festivals and celebrations across the state. "The existing laws like Explosives Act and the Rules framed thereunder or the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) are often honoured by its breach by the organisers," he said. Noting that the Supreme Court has come down heavily on bull taming sport 'Jallikkattu' in the name of religious celebrations, Justice Chitambaresh asked, "then why not fireworks which consume human lives"?



He said the deafening noise and widespread pollution caused by fireworks adds to the woes and miseries of numerous citizens living in the vicinity.

"Palakkad district tops the list for such man-made tragedies and I cannot turn a blind eye to this senseless celebrations in temples, churches and mosques," the Judge said in the letter.

The Judge's plea come amid growing calls for banning fireworks display in the wake of Kerala's worst-ever fireworks tragedy which killed 109 and injured 383 in the wee hours on Sunday.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was "deeply moved" by his visit today to the Hiroshima atomic bomb memorial - and expressed hope that President Barack Obama would go there too.

"I want to express on a personal level how deeply honoured I am, how deeply moved I am" to be the first US secretary of state to visit the memorial, he told reporters after his visit during a G7 meeting in the Japanese city.

He described the memorial as "extraordinary" and called it a "gut-wrenching display that tugs at all your sensibilities as a human being".

Kerry was the highest-ranking US administration official to pay respects at the spot where American planes launched the world's first nuclear attack, in 1945.

About 140,000 people died from the blast or later from severe radiation exposure.

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki followed three days later and Japan surrendered within a week, ending World War II.

"Everyone should visit Hiroshima, and everyone means everyone," Kerry said.

"I hope one day the president of the United States will be among the everyone who is able to come here," he added.

But he declined to elaborate on whether such a visit - it would be a first by a sitting US president - was likely.

"Whether or not he can come as president, I don't know. That is subject to a very full and complicated schedule that the president has to plan out way ahead of time."



White House officials have said Obama is considering making a stop in Hiroshima during a planned visit to Japan next month for a G7 summit.

Kerry visited the memorial with other Group of Seven foreign ministers who were wrapping up a two-day meeting in Hiroshima to prepare for the summit.

That meeting will take place in a different region of the country. But speculation has risen that Obama, who has called for a world free of nuclear weapons, could journey to Hiroshima.
The United States is prepared to "ratchet up" pressure on North Korea after its latest provocations but remains open to talks, US Secretary of State John Kerry said today.

"It is still possible we will ratchet up (the pressure) even more depending on the actions of the DPRK (North Korea)," Kerry told reporters after a G7 meeting in Hiroshima.

"But we have made it clear... We are prepared to negotiate a peace treaty" on the Korean peninsula, he said, repeating that such a move would depend on North Korea's denuclearisation.

Kerry had said in February that a denuclearised North Korea could one day enter talks with Washington on a treaty formally ending the Korean War of 1950-53.

The conflict ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty. The US insists that Pyongyang must denuclearise as a condition for talks on a peace pact.

The State Department confirmed in February that Pyongyang had reached out to Washington in a tentative bid to discuss a treaty, but said its January nuclear test had derailed the initiative.

The North said Saturday said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile that would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland.

It was the latest in a series of claims of significant breakthroughs in nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived at the memorial to Hiroshima's atomic bombing, becoming the most senior American official to visit the site.

Kerry arrived with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialised nations today.

They are taking a tour of the Peace Memorial Park and Museum in the city where 140,000 Japanese died from the first of two atomic bombs the US dropped in 1945, in the final days of World War II.
Leaflets, authored by former chief of a Pakistan-based extremist Islamic group, calling for the killing of members of minority Ahmadi Muslims have been found in a south London mosque, according to a media report.

The leaflets demanding death for heretics were distributed to worshippers at the Stockwell Green mosque, which was being used by Khatm-e-Nubuwwat (KN) extremist group which targets Ahmadi Muslims, the BBC discovered.

Authored by Yusuf Ludhianvi and written in English, the leaflets were also found arranged in piles on a desk next to a shoe-rack, the usual place to display literature in mosques.

The group held its annual conference at the mosque last year and gave that address on website as its overseas office.

The leaflets called Ahmadis "apostates" and said that "they deserved to die".

A mosque trustee said he had never seen the leaflets before and suggested they were fake or left there maliciously.

"We have not published any pamphlet of that kind. This is nothing to do with our mosque. Someone might have put it there and taken from there with malicious intentions,"said Toaha Qureshi, a trustee in the mosque.

Referring to sectarian attacks on Ahmadis in Pakistan, he said, "Whatever happened in Pakistan, that has got nothing to do with me or with the Stockwell mosque. What we are saying is Stockwell mosque is an independent organisation. It does not take a dictation by anybody else."



The constitution of Pakistan bans members of the Ahmadi sect from referring to themselves as Muslims.

Khatm-e-Nubuwwat has never been implicated in an attack but has been criticised by Human Rights Watch for encouraging violence towards members of the minority sect.

The killing of an Ahmadi shopkeeper Asad Shah in Glasgow last month was described by police as "religiously prejudiced".

Tanveer Ahmed, the 32-year-old who is accused of his murder, said he killed Shah because he allegedly disrespected Islam.
Kyrgyzstan's Prime Minister Temir Sariyev quit on today over corruption allegations involving a road-building contract won by a Chinese company.

Sariyev, who had been in power for less than a year, stepped down while denying claims he had a vested interest in a USD 100 million tender to build a highway in the ex-Soviet country's eastern Issyk Kul province.

"During the most difficult times I fought for my principles. But rumours and presumptions have a negative impact on the work of the government," Sariyev told the parliament.

"Stability in society is what I value most," he added.

A parliamentary commission investigating the tender won by Chinese firm Long Hai called for Sariyev's resignation after meeting at the weekend.

Sariyev was the fifth prime minister in as many years in the Russia-alligned country, which has experienced two revolutions since independence from the USSR.

Under current President Almazbek Atambayev, who is constitutionally restricted to a single six-year term ending in 2017, no premier has served longer than 18 months.

Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and is strongly dependent on remittances sent home by migrants working in Russia.

The national economy has taken a sharp hit from the collapse of the Russian ruble that has affected its own national currency, the som, and slowed production at the country's Kumtor gold mine, one of the country's biggest assets.
Libya's coastguard today rescued 155 migrants east of Tripoli who had been trying to reach Europe by boat, an official said.

"We were told that a boat with people of African nationalities on board was in trouble off Ghout Rumman," coastguard Colonel Ashraf al-Badri said, adding that the information came from fishermen.

"We found the boat and rescued the migrants," he added, standing among the migrants in Tripoli's port.

Badri said the vessel had been carrying about 115 people from Mali and other African states.

UN refugee agency staff gave them clothes and food, as well as first aid to some, as buses arrived to take them to detention centres in Tripoli.

Libya has long been a stepping stone for migrants seeking a better life in Europe, with Italy some 300 kilometres away across the Mediterranean.

Smugglers have stepped up their lucrative business in the chaos that has followed the 2011 ouster of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

In late March, the Italian coastguard said it had rescued nearly 1,500 migrants, including many women and children, in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya in just two days.
Drug major Lupin and Novartis Healthcare have inked a co-marketing agreement under which Lupin will market Novartis' inhaler, used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, under the brand name Loftair in India.

As part of the pact, Lupin would be using its own specialty field force to promote Loftair inhaler.

Novartis will continue to market Indacaterol/ Glycopyrronium 110mcg/ 50mcg inhaler under its brand name Sequadra through its own sales force, Lupin said in a statement.

"We are confident that this partnership for Loftair will enable us to further consolidate and strengthen our market leadership within the Indian COPD, Anti-Asthma, Inhalation therapy segments," Lupin India Region Formulations Group President Shakti Chakraborty said.

The company had earlier entered into a similar agreement with Novartis to market asthma drug Onbrez.

According to IMS sales data, Lupin is ranked second with 12.4 per cent market share of the overall anti-asthma segment within the Indian pharmaceutical market.

Lupin shares today ended at Rs 1,517.50 apiece on the BSE, down 1.51 per cent from previous close.
Security in Malaysia has been beefed up after reports that two Turks of Uighur descent, suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in Thailand, are trying to enter the country.

Malaysian police are on high alert after the reports, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said here.

Security has been beefed up at entry points in the country that shares a land border with Thailand.

"We have alerted our officers at entry points and are closely monitoring them," Khalid said.

Media reports yesterday quoted Governor of the Thai province of Surat Thani, Wongsiri Promchana, as saying that he was informed of the two men's recent departure for neighbouring Malaysia by Phuket Immigration Office.

However, Wongsiri did not mention the exact date the two Uighurs left Thailand and whether they used the land or air route to reach Malaysia.

A few months back, a military court in Thailand charged two ethnic Uighur Chinese men with carrying out a bombing at the hugely popular Erawan Brahma temple here in August last year that left 20 people dead and more than 120 injured.

The two suspects, however, had denied the charges.

The blast at the temple was one of the deadliest acts of violence in Bangkok in decades.
Malaysia today launched a probe against 90-year-old former premier Mahathir Mohamad under sedition act for allegedly trying to bring in "foreign interference" in the country to oust beleaguered Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar said four investigation papers have been submitted to the Attorney-General but no decision had been made yet.

Mahathir, who was premier for 22 years before he stepped down,has denied calling for foreign interference in the domestic affairs of the country in a bid to oust Najib.

"I did not ask any foreign governments to interfere. I said that all the means to redress in this country has been shut down by Najib. So, I will tell the foreign press about that," the outspoken leader said.

"If they want to investigate, let them investigate. I've already been under investigation twice. They've investigated and arrested all my friends and as if that was not enough, the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) have been after them too," Mahathir was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

Mahathir, who has been campaigning to oust Najib, was asked to respond to a statement by Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak who expressed alarm at Mahathir's alleged suggestion that foreign intervention was allowed to bring down the Prime Minister.

Salleh said Mahathir had said that there was little hope that Najib would step down without outside pressure.

Mahathir said that he normally did not like foreign interference in Malaysian affairs "but our avenues for redress have been closed completely".

Najib has faced sustained pressure to resign since last year over the scandal surrounding state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), amid allegations that funds worth USD 680 million from 1MDB had been channelled into his private accounts.

Najib maintained that he has not used the funds for personal gain, and has since been cleared of any criminal offence or corruption.
A man was today apprehended for carrying an empty pistol magazine at a Delhi Metro station here.

Officials said the incident took place at the Vidhansabha Metro station at around 5 PM when a commuter, identified as Santosh K (26), arrived to board a train.

An old empty magazine used to hold pistol bullets was detected in his baggage by CISF security personnel, they said.

Santosh was later handed over to Delhi Police which is ascertaining the reasons behind his carrying the weapon attachment.
Work in district courts resumed today as the Mathura Bar Association called off their six-day old strike.

A delegation of the Mathura Bar Association will meet the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court and request him to expedite the case in connection with the unauthorised possession of a government land by the followers of a religious leader, president of Mathura Bar Association, Indra Kumar Vashistha said.

"We would also request the Chief Justice to direct state government to provide heavy force and set a time limit for vacating the land," Vashistha said.

The association went on strike on April 5 after more than a dozen people, including Tehsil staff, advocates and litigants, were injured in an attack allegedly by followers of a religious leader here.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) has added an addendum to its existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) to extend strategic co-operation.

Dalian Commodity Exchange has been ranked 8 in trading volume among global derivatives exchanges in 2015.

The exchanges aim to continue facilitating potential collaboration in areas such as sharing of knowledge, research, experiences and others, which is expected to result in opening up of new avenues of mutual cooperation between them, MCX said in a statement here.

"We are pleased to strengthen our association with the DCE. As China and India are among world's top commodity consuming and producing nations as well as two largest Asian economies, this alliance will surely go a long way in creating more efficient markets in the Asian region benefiting each other," MCX President and Whole Time Director P K Singhal, said.

"We look forward to a long standing and gratifying partnership with DCE, he added.

"MCX and Dalian Commodity Exchange have maintained a close relationship and communication since the MoU was signed in 2013. We believe that both exchanges are able to achieve further success based on the two countries' development of economy," DCE Executive Vice President Zhu Lihong said.

MCX and DCE will continue to interact with each other on a deeper level in the fields of mutual concern in the future, Lihong added.
Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government as "God's gift to India" even as he claimed that in the 10 years of the Congress-led UPA rule, welfare of farmers had remained restricted to "mere slogans".

"After Independence, no government has come to power that worries so much about the future of the country. In a way, to the people of the country, the Modi government and the Prime Minister are a God's gift," Singh said at a farmers conclave organised by BJP's Kisan cell.

Last month, another Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had also called the Prime Minister God's gift to India".

In a veiled attack on the Congress leadership, Singh said, "There are some leaders who talk about the welfare of farmers. Some write it down and they read out aloud though they can't tell 'arhar' shrub from another plant."



He asked why the parties had not taken measures like making crop insurance norms farmer friendly, which the Modi regime has done now.

In his around 70 minute-long speech, Singh dwelt on various initiatives being undertaken by the Modi government ranging from crop insurance scheme to soil health cards, use of mobile apps and electronic trading platforms for farmers among others.

He said the amount disbursed as relief to framers under the Modi govermenthas also increased.

Emphasising on the importance of disseminating correct information to farmers, he said, "There are some people, a party in this country, which does nothing, still talks big. For us, to do and then not speak would not be good.

(Reopens DEL33)



Singh said the roles of the Centre and states are defined and in many cases, funds are released by the Centre which are then disbursed by the states.

"At times, questions are raised over this disbursement in states. For instance in Uttar Pradesh...That people who paid bribes got relief or particular sections were favoured," he said adding no sensitive government can do so.

Singh said in areas like health, education and farming, it is the states that disburse the funds.

He said the vision of leaders like Mahatama Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale was of developing the country's villages.

With the Modi government at the helm, the vision of Gandhi, Tilak and Patel is being realised, the Agriculture Minister said.

Singh also lauded the work done by the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said that had it not come to power, villages in India would not have seen pucca roads.
With diabetes affecting over 10 crore of the Indian population, metropolises like Mumbai and Delhi national capital region lead in the maximum number of diabetes-related health insurance claims in the country according to a survey.

7.8 per cent of the 131 crore people in the country are diabetic with the disease having claimed over two lakh lives till now, according to World Health Organisation (WHO), which focussed on diabetes for this this years's World Health Day on April 7.

"Diabetes rarely makes headlines, and yet it will be the world's seventh largest killer by 2030 unless intense and focused efforts are made by governments, communities and individuals," says Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of WHO South-East Asia.

Diabetes, a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces, has often been considered to be a lifestyle disorder, with the affluent urban population being most prone to it.

While a WHO report noted rise in diabetes patients in the country, a data aggregation of some of the leading private health insurance companies suggested a rise in diabetes related health claims. The data also raised concern over such claimants belonging to the age group below 25 years.

Diabetes becomes serious when patients become hyperglycemic and have to undergo costly surgeries such as diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy and diabetic foot treatement.

A report by ICICI Lombard shows that while most of the diabetes-related health insurance claims were previously made by people over the age of 60 years, over the last few years youths under the age of 25 have also become claimants to such health covers.

The firm received 7,915 such claims between 2011-2015 across all age groups.

A year by year data of the claims handled by the insurance firm says 4,140 senior citizens since 2011 have claimed insurance cover for diabetes while the same figure among youth till the age of 25 remained at 235. The same numbers for people in the age group of 26-45 and 46-60 stood at 1,564 and 3,433, respectively, it said.
A fresh batch of 16 upgraded JF-17 Thunder aircraft, jointly developed by China and Pakistan, were today inducted into the Pakistan Air Force, bolstering its tactical and surveillance capabilities.

The command flag of the fighter and surveillance aircraft was handed over to Squadron-II of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra.

Chief ofAirStaffAir Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said the addition of the JF-17 aircraft built at Kamra airbase with the support of China would strengthen the tactical and surveillance capabilities of the PAF.

He said PAF is well prepared to fight any threat against the state. The PAF has been assisting the ground troops in operation Zarb-e-Azb as well, Aman said.

During the ceremony, Asif spoke about the role played by China in the "success" of the JF-17 programme.

PAC Kamra is responsible for the maintenance of all PAF operational assets.

The PAF completed its target of producing 16 JF-17 Thunder aircraft for the year 2015 and the ceremony today marked their induction into the force.

Aman also expressed Pakistan's resolve to produce up to 24 jets in 2016.

The JF-17 Thunder is a single-engine multi-role fighter jet that was jointly developed by China and Pakistan.

Development of the aircraft started in 1999 and the maiden flight was conducted in 2003.

The upgraded models which were added to the PAF fleet today have advanced avionics, air-to-air refuelling capability, data link, enhanced electronic warfare capability and enhanced load carrying ability.
NIA today arrested an alleged fake currency smuggler from Sealdah railway station in Kolkata who is said to be the mastermind of a gang busted by the agency last year.

The arrest was made as National Investigation Agency was investigating a case after two persons were held on May 12 last year from Sujapur in West Bengal and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) with face value of Rs nine lakh and about 800 grams of opium were recovered from them.

The smuggler, Alam Sekh, who was arrested this morning, is an alleged key player along with another accused Jahirul Sk and used to collect fake currency notes from smugglers in Bangladesh at the rate of Rs 18,000 for FICN of Rs one lakh face value, it said.

The agency alleged that he used to forward the fake notes to one Amerul Sk, already arrested by NIA, who acted as a carrier for another absconding FICN dealer for further circulation in different states.

Alam had been absconding for the last 4-5 months. He has been produced before NIA Special Court and remanded in 12 days police custody with NIA.

The two smugglers who were arrested last year -- Sunesh Kumar Sharma of Haryana and Rajan Chopra alias Rajen Kumar of Punjab -- have already been charge-sheeted in the case.
National Investigation Agency today arrested a youth from Sealdah station here for his involvement in a case of smuggling and circulation of FICN last year.

Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths arrested Alam Sekh (24) alias Bhodu, a resident of Daulatpur in Malda this morning near Sealdah railway station, an NIA release said.

The agency was investigating into last May's case of FICN recovery in Malda district's Kaliachak where two persons - Sunesh Kumar Sharma of Haryana and Rajan Chopra alias Rajen Kumar of Punjab - were arrested, it said.

Two other persons Jahirul Sekh and Amerul Sekh were also arrested later by the NIA for their involvement.

Initial probe revealed that Alam, who was absconding for the last five months, was a key player in the racket.

Alam was remanded to 12 days in police custody for custodial examination, after being produced before an NIA Special Court



Jahirul used to collect FICN from smugglers from Bangladesh at a rate of Rs 18,000 (genuine Indian currency) for fake notes with face-value of Rs one lakh, the release said.

The probe revealed that Jahirul would forward it to Amerul, who acted as a carrier of the FICN for further circulation in different states in India.

FICN with a face value of Rs 9 lakh and about 800 gm of opium were recovered from Sujapur in the Kaliachak Police station limits last May.

NIA has already chargesheeted Chopra and Sharma under sections 489C, 120B of the IPC, section 18 of the NDPS Act and section 16 of UA(P) Act.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the 2015 murder of two BJP leaders in Bharuch, today moved a Special Court here seeking the remand of three accused in the case lodged in Sabarmati Jail.

In its application, the central agency sought three-day custody of the accused Nasir Khan Pathan, Abdul Salim Ghanchi and Shoaib Zoaid who are among 12 persons arrested in the case.

The Special Court, presided by Principal Judge P B Desai, fixed April 13 for hearing the plea.

The NIA lawyer told the Court that the anti-terror agency needs the custody of the trio, who are under judicial remand, for questioning and to ferret out more details about the case.

The agency is probing the murder of two BJP leaders Shirish Bangali and Pragnesh Mistry.

Bangali was a former President of Bharuch district BJP unit while Mistry was General Secretary of local branch of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the saffron outfit.

Both were shot dead by assailants in Bharuch, about 190km from here, on November 2 last year.

The NIA was handed over the case after Gujarat Police probe showed that the duo were murdered to avenge riots in Mumbai and Gujarat in 1993 and 2002 respectively.

"Javed Patel alias Javed Chikna, who as per information received is at present settled in Karachi, Pakistan, had sent the names of three persons, that is Shirish Bangali, Advocate Modi and Viral Desai to his younger brother, Abid Patel (an arrested accused) by using whatsApp in October 2015. It was decided that Bangali would be the first target," says the charge sheet.

Chikna, a member of Dawood Ibrahim gang, has been shown as an absconding accused. He is also wanted in the 2003 Mumbai blasts case.

The charge sheet has been filed against Saiyed Imran, Zuheb Ansari, Inayat Patel, Mohmad Yunus, Haider Ali, Nissarbhai Sheikh, Mohsin Khan Pathan, Mohmed Altaf Shaikh, Abid Patel and Abdul Salim Ghanchi. They have been charged under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IPC sections such as 302 (murder) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), Arms Act and Gujarat Police Act.
A 30-year-old Nigerian national was arrested for allegedly possessing a banned drug in Navi Mumbai, police said today.

Okoi Sipran Chinnas, hailing from Lagos, was held from Bonkode village on Panvel-Mumbra Road last night following a tip-off that he was in possession of a drug suspected to be MD Powder, police PRO Gajanan Kabdule said.

500 gm of the banned drug, worth Rs 12.50 lakh, was seized from him, Kadbule said, adding, Chinnas wanted to sell the contraband in Mumbra township near Thane.

Further probe revealed that Chinnas was staying in Navi Mumbai without any valid passport.

He has been booked under relevant sections of NPDS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act.
An activist of National Naga



Council (NNC) was arrested by a combined team of Bishnupur District Police Commando Gorkha Rifles, the police said today.

Two 9 mm pistols, one magazine loaded with three rounds and a receipt book of the outfit were seized from the arrested person.

The activist was identified as 28-year-old Dinesh Gonmei.
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly today witnessed noisy scenes, with a vociferous opposition protesting the alleged assault on a Congress MLA by a BJP councillor in Gondia.

"Since the BJP-led government came to power, their cadres have become so much emboldened that they have now started assaulting even legislators. The BJP-led government must make a statement on the assault," Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Girish Bapat said the government was not justifying the attack on the Congress MLA.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Assembly that six teams have been formed to nab the BJP councillor who allegedly assaulted the MLA.

Raising the issue in the Lower House, NCP leader Jayant Patil said BJP made a person having criminal cases against him a co-opted councillor in Gondia.

"This shows the depth to which the party has fallen, compared to the lofty heights during Vajpayee era," he said and reminded the government that former BJYM leader Ganesh Pandey, accused of molesting a female party colleague, is yet to be arrested.

Congress MLA from Gondia Gopaldas Agrawal sustained injures on his nose, eyes and cheeks after being allegedly assaulted by BJP councillor Shiv Sharma and his accomplice on Saturday evening.

The legislator's son, Vishal, too was allegedly assaulted by Sharma.

The incident took place when Agrawal, Chairman of the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), was addressing a press conference at a hotel about development works done by him.

When it was nearing conclusion, Sharma, a nominated BJP councillor of Gondia Municipal Council, entered along with a youth and without saying a word, approached Agrawal.

When the Congress MLA asked him about his purpose, Sharma and his accomplice allegedly started hitting him and his son and tore their clothes. Agrawal's bodyguard was outside the hotel when the incident took place.

Making a statement in the Assembly, Fadnavis said the police inspector responsible for the alleged assault on a former NCP MLA and party workers at Satana in Nashik district on April 8 will be transferred.
Supreme Court today said there was nothing wrong with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directive to restrict the entry of petrol-run vehicles in the eco-sensitive Rohtang Pass area and the order was in the interest of ecology and environment.

A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur refused to grant any immediate relief to the taxi operators union which has challenged the NGT order restricting entry to 500 petrol vehicles only on the 13,050 feet pass.

The apex court, however, sought the assistance of Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar in assessing various orders of the NGT as the counsel for the taxi operators union alleged that some orders are not in sync with the previous ones.

The counsel, Vibha Dutt Makhija, further said the subsequent orders are being made without clarifying the status of earlier orders which are a bit conflicting.

At the outset of the brief hearing, the bench said, "You can't deny the fact there is vehicular pollution is affecting the environment in Rohtang. Roads are narrow and (higher) traffic will cause further complications. People can't go there to see black snow. What is wrong with the NGT order? It is in the interest of ecology and environment. You go to a place for enjoying the beauty of the place.

"You (Solicitor General) look into all the orders passed by NGT. Every third day NGT is passing orders. We want to know what do they have in mind. These orders may be well-meaning and righteous orders. You look into them and give us an idea about it," a bench also comprising Justices R Banumathi and U U Lalit said.

The matter is now listed for hearing on April 25.

The observations came during the hearing of a plea by Him-Aanchal Taxi Operators Union challenging NGT's December 11, 2015 order which allows a total of only 500 petrol vehicles to go up to Rohtang every day.

At the outset, Makhija sought relaxation of restrictions on vehicles to allow more taxis to go up to the high-altitude mountain pass.

The counsel for taxi operators said that a cap on entry



of vehicles would hit them hard on account of peak tourism season.

She further alleged that the state government was trying to create a "monopoly" by allowing only government CNG buses in the area.

When the bench asked whether there was any study on how vehicular pollution is affecting the ecology of the area, she replied, "no scientific study with regard to pollution has been carried out. There are mere presumptions. There cannot be complete halt to our activity."



On December 11 last year, the NGT had directed that only 500 vehicles, taxi and private cars, would be permitted to go to Rohtang Pass, after conceding the demands of the state and local residents that their revenue and livelihood was being affected.

Rohtang is a 13,050 feet high mountain pass on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around 51 km from Manali and acts as the gateway to the remote district of Lahaul and Spiti from the picturesque Kullu Valley.
Crude prices dipped today following last week's gains, as traders looked ahead to an upcoming meeting of oil majors they hope will lead to output limits.

Around 1145 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May added $1.39 to $38.65 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for June delivery won $1.33 to $40.76 a barrel compared with Friday's close.

The oil market had rebounded last week on supportive US figures, with both contracts winning eight percent or more in value.

Data showing US stockpiles and output had seen a surprise fall provided some much needed impetus, with a fall in the number of rigs drilling also providing strong support.

Dealers are keenly awaiting the next stockpiles report due Wednesday hoping for a further fall, which would indicate a pick-up in demand.

However, the key focus is now on the April 17 meeting in Doha, where most of the world's top producers led by Russia and Saudi Arabia will discuss global oversupply.

A chronic worldwide supply glut sent oil prices collapsing by three quarters between August 2014 and February this year.

"There are clearly increased hopes again that the meeting of oil producers in Doha next Sunday will produce a substantial result after all," said Commerzbank analyst Cartsten Fritsch in a research note to clients.

"The Russian oil minister for instance continues to hope for an agreement on production caps.

"We are sceptical about this... There is thus a risk of a price correction if the market is disappointed by the outcome of the meeting."



While there is a growing expectation the Doha meeting will see signatories agree to a production freeze at January 2016 levels, analysts remain uncertain of the long-term impact of such a deal.
Pakistan's ailing flag carrier PIA would be converted into a public limited company after parliament today unanimously passed a bill, weeks after the government wrangled with the opposition and employees over privatisation of the airline.

The House passed the bill smoothly as the government and opposition lawmakers reached a consensus on April 6 at a meeting of 10-member special committee constituted by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to settle the issue amicably.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the main concern about future of PIA employees had been addressed and none of them will be laid off.

Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid stated that all demands of opposition had been accepted.

The joint sitting of the parliament was convened last month to decide the fate of Pakistan International Airline but government had to adjourn it after serious differences with the opposition propped up over the bill.

PIA has been running into losses for years and the government says it is not possible to turn it around with the current system of management.

Privatisation of loss-making enterprises like the PIA was part of the 2013 IMF bailout package that was aimed at stabilising Pakistan's economy.

After conversion of PIA into public limited company, the government plan to bring in new investment and transform its administration to private investors.

The bill was earlier passed by the National Assembly in January but the opposition-controlled Senate rejected it.

There was major opposition to privatise PIA and bloody clashes occurred between police and PIA employees' trade unions when the government announced the privatisation plan.

The protest turned violent when two PIA workers were shot dead in clashes with security forces outside the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi in January



The government plans to split PIA into two companies and sell the control of its core business to a global airline.

Other two bills adopted today included those about emigration and civil servants.
A Parliamentary panel today sought written response of state governments to a Bill that seeks to guard against claims of succession or transfer of 'enemy' properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars.

It also voiced displeasure over states not sending senior officials before it to present their views on the measure.

The Select Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav, which is examining Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, has called Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi besides experts and stakeholders before it tomorrow to hear their views on the key bill.

The panel had called Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Delhi for today's meeting.

Most of the states had sent junior officers while some sent only their Resident Commissioners based in Delhi. Panel members took strong objection to this as it was also found that most of the officials were not well-prepared on the issue.

While the representative from Tamil Nadu cited upcoming Assembly elections as a reason for the Chief Secretary not being able to make it to the panel meeting, the UP representative sought more time to get the state government's view on the bill.

"We had called Chief Secretaries of these states to tell us about the existence of enemy properties in their states as well as the view point of the respective state governments on the enemy property bill. However, most officials came uninformed, which led to consternation among panel members," sources said.

The panel Chairman has now decided to call another meeting on April 19, making it clear that the Chief Secretaries or Revenue Secretaries of the states should be present



At its first meeting on March 28, the panel had asked the government to explain what kind of laws exist in Pakistan and Bangladesh to deal with similar issues as officials from the Home and Law ministries had briefed it on the measure.

Utpal Chakraborty, Custodian of Enemy Properties for India, and senior officers from the Home Ministry and Law Ministry had appeared before the panel then making a detailed representation on the measure.

The central government had designated some properties belonging to nationals of Pakistan and China as "enemy properties" during the 1962, 1965 and 1971 conflicts. It vested these properties in the 'Custodian of Enemy Property for India', an office instituted under the central government.

The 1968 Act regulates these enemy properties, and lists the powers of the Custodian.

The Upper House had on March 15 adopted a motion for referring the Bill, which seeks to amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968, and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, as passed by Lok Sabha, to the select committee.

The panel has been tasked to scrutinise the Bill and submit its report in the opening week of the next Parliament session which begins from April 25.
Members of a Parliamentary panel today voiced displeasure over states not sending senior officials to present their views on a Bill that seeks to guard against claims of succession or transfer of 'enemy' properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China.

The Select Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav which is examining Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, has called another meeting tomorrow in which it will hear the views of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi besides experts and stakeholders on the provisions of the Bill.

The panel had called Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Delhi for today's meeting.

Most of the states had sent junior officers. Some sent only their Resident Commissioners based in Delhi. Panel members took strong objection to it as it was also found that most of the officials were not well-prepared on the issue.

"We had called Chief Secretaries of these states to tell us about the existence of enemy properties in their states as well as the view point of the respective state governments on the enemy property bill. However, most officials came uninformed, which led to consternation among panel members," a source said.

Taking it into view, the panel Chairman decided to call another meeting on April 19, making it clear that the Chief Secretaries or Revenue Secretaries of the states should be attending it.

In its first meeting on March 28, the panel had asked the government to explain what kind of laws exist in Pakistan and Bangladesh to deal with similar issues as officials from the Home and Law ministries had briefed it on the measure.

The panel has been asked to carry out detailed scrutiny of the measure that seeks to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars and amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968.

The central government had designated some properties belonging to nationals of Pakistan and China as "enemy properties" during the 1962, 1965 and 1971 conflicts. It vested these properties in the 'Custodian of Enemy Property for India', an office instituted under the central government.

The 1968 Act regulates these enemy properties, and lists the powers of the Custodian.

The panel has been tasked to scrutinise the Bill and submit its report in the opening week of the Parliament session which begins from April 25.

The first meeting of the panel on March 28 had seen a detailed presentation about the Bill, when Utpal Chakraborty, Custodian of Enemy Properties for India, and senior officers from the Home Ministry and Law Ministry appeared before the panel.
Expressing dismay over the performance of Election Commission and the central forces during the polls in West Bengal today, Opposition parties alleged "match fixing" between BJP and TMC, that helped the ruling party to let loose a reign of terror.

The Trinamool Congress however refuted the allegations and said people have voted in favour of the developmental model of TMC.

"In some places people have voted freely and fairly. In some places people couldn't do so because of the reign of terror let loose by TMC goons. The central forces and the Election Commission were mute spectators," West Bengal Left Front Chairman Biman Bose said. I



He said the central forces were "inactive" due to the "match fixing."



"The match fixing between BJP and TMC is clear from today's inactiveness of the central forces and Election Commission. We have written to Election Commission of India and urged it to take necessary steps. Although people could vote freely in some places by defeating the reign of terror but many booths in Keshpur, Garbeta, Sabang, Pingla and many other places were captured and rigged," Bose said.

TMC Vice-President Mukul Roy said the allegations agaisnt his party are baseless and the people have voted in a free and fair manner in favour of the developmental model of TMC.

"The polls have been free and fair. And the huge turnout proves people's vote in favour of the developmental model of TMC and Mamata Banerjee. I am waiting for the resignation of CPI(M) state Secretary after his party loses the poll. They are crying about rigging as they are preparing escape routes as they will lose the polls," Roy told reporters.

WBPCC President Adhir Chowdhury too came down heavily on the functioning of the Election Commission.

"Polling today had been reduced to a farce and Congress will seek repoll. The central force sent for the poll duty are not working properly. Votes were looted at Sabang and Kulti.

"This is a new game of Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee.

This is a election to take away the rights of the masses," Chowdhury said.

"We have seen how terror was unleashed today. We are meeting the EC tomorrow in New Delhi and will request it t take stern action," BJP National Secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said.

A CPI(M) agent was allegedly beaten up by TMC workers and obstructed from entering a polling booth, while bombs were found in two bags near another booth in Jamuria constituency in Burdwan district where polling was held today.

A police official said two CPI(M) agents were obstructed from entering booth numbers 76 and 77 of Jamuria seat, just as polling began at 7 am. One of the agents sustained head injury after he was beaten up allegedly by TMC workers.

Over 75 per cent votes were cast during the day in part two of the first phase polling in 31 constituencies in West Bengal spread over three districts, EC sources said.
A senior PDP leader today joined National Conference along with 40 of his associates, saying it was the only party that can "steer" Jammu and Kashmir to peace and prosperity.

"National Conference is the only party that can guarantee unity of Jammu and Kashmir and steer the state to peace, progress and prosperity," Riyaz Ahmed Zargar of Bhalesa in erstwhile Doda district said after joining the party this morning at a function here attended by National Conference leader Dr Farooq Abdullah.

Welcoming Zargar and his associates into the party fold, Abdullah said NC was a "mass movement" which has stood with the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh during their most testing times.

The induction of public-spirited activists will strengthen the party at the grassroots level, he said.

Abdullah urged NC cadre to intensify their mass contact programme and highlight the problems faced by the people at the appropriate forums.
A petition demanding that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif be "disqualified" for alleged money laundering and "wilfully concealing" his wealth from the public was admitted by the Lahore High Court today.

After hearing the arguments of petitioner Gohar Nawaz Sindhu, Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Wahid overruled the objection of the government's law officer and allowed him to submit evidence over the alleged presence of two off-shore companies of Prime Minister Sharif.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) adjourned the hearing till April 14.

The petitioner also argued in court that the Prime Minister had lost "moral ground" to hold his office in the wake of the 'Panama Papers' leak that allegedly showed his sons were involved in money laundering and having off-shore companies in the UK.

"After the Prime Minister's son Hussain Nawaz's admission about the existence of their companies outside Pakistan, the Premier should be disqualified. Hussain was a minor when the offshore companies were purchased outside Pakistan in 1993 and 1994 but PM Sharif did not declare these assets before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)," the the petitioner alleged.

"The Premier was also involved in money laundering and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's confessional statement and the confession of the Premier's sons about transfer of money abroad are enough evidence in this regard. PM Sharif has wilfully concealed his wealth from the public thus he cannot hold a public office," he argued.

The petitioner also requested the court to order the National Accountability Bureau to carry out an inquiry into the 'Panama Papers' and fix responsibility.

"The ECP should also be directed to start an inquiry against the Prime Minister for concealing the facts from the public while submitting his nomination papers," the petitioner demanded.
The Philippine military says eight more Abu Sayyaf extremists have died and a top militant commander has been wounded as troops pressed a major offensive following the killings of 18 soldiers in fierce fighting over the weekend.

Regional military spokesman Maj Filemon Tan says four Abu Sayyaf gunmen who were wounded in battle Saturday later died and four others were killed in fresh fighting today on Basilan island.

Tan says a ruthless Abu Sayyaf commander, Puruji Indama, has been seriously wounded in the head either by gun or artillery fire. Indama has been linked to deadly bomb attacks, kidnappings and beheadings of Filipino marines.

Daylong fighting in the outskirts of Basilan's Tipo Tipo town left 18 soldiers dead Saturday in the military's largest single-day combat loss so far this year.
A policeman was today injured during an exchange of fire between police personnel and alleged abductors of a man who they had gone to rescue on Ludhiana-Ferozepur road here.

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner of Police Dhurman Nimbley said a police team was in search of a man, identified as Robin, who was abducted last night near Bhai Bala chowk here.

Acting on a tip off, police accosted the abductors in the parking lot of a wedding hall here, following which they opened fire.

Head Constable Daljit Singh received a bullet injury in the firing and was admitted to a hospital, where his condition is stated to be stable, police said.

The police managed to free Robin after a counter attack, they said.

One of the abductors, identified as Amandeep Singh from Patiala, was apprehended, said the DCP.

His accomplices, who managed to escape, have also been identified and a hunt is on for them.
President Pranab Mukherjee will arrive here for a two-day visit on April 15 to take part in a programme 'Retreat of Supreme Court Judges' at the National Judicial Academy (NJA).

Mukherjee will inaugurate the programme at NJA which will see participation of all the judges of Supreme Court including the Chief Justice of India, T S Thakur, an official release said today.

"All arrangements are being made for the Presidential visit on April 15-16," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Bhopal, Raman Singh Sikarwar told PTI today.

The President will arrive here in late afternoon on April 15 and leave for New Delhi in the noon of April 16. He will stay at the Madhya Pradesh Raj Bhawan.

MP Chief Secretary, Antony DeSa recently reviewed preparations for the Presidential visit in a meeting which was attended by top officials of the state and Army.

Meanwhile, in view of the President's visit, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) is making all efforts to beautify the roads on which Mukherjee's cavalcade will move.
An undertrial prisoner was today shot dead by unidentified assailants in the district court premises here, police said.

Suraj was shot at from a close range when he was being escorted towards a court room for appearance in a murder case, an officer said, adding that he died on the spot.

The unidentified assailants sped away on a motorcycle, he said.
Realty and infrastructure consultant REPL will form a join venture with China based- Beijing Jian Investment & Development (Group) Company to work in the areas like urban planning and smart city projects.

Rudrabhishek Enterprises Pvt Ltd (REPL) and Beijing Jian Investment & Development (Group) Company have signed an MoU to set up a Joint Venture company in India for working together in the area of urban planning with the help of Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools and Big data services.

The would also work for application of BIM technology in implementation of Smart City projects, REPL said in a statement.

They will also explore potential investment opportunities in Real Estate & Infrastructure sectors in India.

REPL has recently collaborated with Bhopal Municipals Corporation (BMC) to develop a Smart City Plan for Bhopal in consortium with PWC.

Pradeep Misra, CMD of REPL, said: "This association assumes greater importance in the context that the REPL's Smart City plan for Bhopal has recently been selected among top 20 in India".

The Chinese firm has the advanced competencies in providing services for smart cities, he added.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that equips architecture, engineering, and construction to more efficiently plan, design, construct, and manage buildings & infrastructure.

Through BIM, the construction is virtually built and documented completely in the system, before it takes shape on ground. This gives higher efficiency in terms of time and cost saving. Application of BIM platform is still at nascent stage in India.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) workers today demonstrated before the District Cane office here over the alleged delay in payment of dues to sugar cane farmers by the state government and sugar mill owners.

"In Meerut alone, farmers have unpaid dues of over Rs 1,700 crore because of which they are compelled to commit suicide but the state government and mill owners have turned a blind eye towards them," said senior RLD leader Rajkumar Sangvan.

He said "Either the mill owners pay their outstanding dues on time or they should be sent to jail if the demands of the farmers of are not met".

Sangvan demanded that the government stop recovering the loans taken by farmers till they are paid their dues for the sugar cane produce.
Unidentified men allegedly stole more than Rs five lakh from the car of a doctor near Chatikara here, police said today.

The doctor in his complaint has said that he had kept Rs 5.40 lakh in the back seat of his car.

He had halted at Chatikara to check the engine of his car when he found that money was missing, police added.
Five days after arresting a retired police officer in the 2010 murder case of Pune-based RTI activist Satish Shetty, the CBI has arrested another former police sub inspector (PSI) in connection with the case.

The accused, Namdev Kauthale, who was a sub-inspector with local crime branch (LCB), when the murder took place in January 2010, was arrested by the central probe agency late last evening, a CBI officer said.

Kauthale was subordinate to B R Andhalkar, a police inspector with LCB at the time of Shetty's murder and who was arrested on April 6 by the CBI. Kauthale had retired as Assistant police inspector (API) in 2013.

"Kauthale was arrested by CBI late last evening and was produced before a local court here today that remanded him in CBI custody till April 16," investigating officer of the central probe agency, Vijay Kumar Shukla, said.

Andhalkar is the first suspect arrested in the case since CBI reopened the case in early 2015. Andhalkar was part of the Shetty murder case investigation, which had led to the arrest of some suspects.

Citing the same reasons on which Andhalkar's remand was sought, CBI argued in the court that complicity of the accused (Kauthale) emerged during further investigation and his custodial interrogation is necessary to "unearth" the larger conspiracy behind murder.

According to CBI, Andhalkar was arrested after it had emerged that he had allegedly "conspired with others and fabricated and manipulated evidence to shield the real conspirators and killers".

Shetty was murdered in Pune by unidentified assailants when he had stepped out of his house for morning walk at Talegaon Dabhade town in Pune district on January 13, 2010. He had been attacked with swords.

A year before he was killed, Shetty had reportedly lodged a complaint with Pune police about an alleged land scam involving IRB chairman Virendra Mhaiskar.

After filing a closure report in local court in August 2014 saying that it could not find any prosecutable evidence against the suspects, CBI in early 2015 reopened the probe in view of new evidence recovered in searches in Pune and Mumbai.

The CBI had carried out the searches at 21 locations to probe allegations of land grabbing along the Mumbai-Pune Highway on the directions of the Bombay High Court. The case had been reopened following the searches.
South African President Jacob Zuma today conveyed his condolences following the deadly fire at a Kerala temple that killed over 100 people.

At least 106 people were killed and 383 others injured in the explosion yesterday at the Puttingal Devi Temple near Kollam sparked by a stray firework.

"Our thoughts are with the people of India in the aftermath of the catastrophic explosion and blaze at the Puttingal Devi Temple in Kerala State.

"On behalf of the Government and people of South Africa, I send my deepest condolences to the Government of India and to everyone affected, particularly to the families and friends of those killed and injured in the explosion at the temple," Zuma said in a message.
A colonel from North Korea's military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in a rare senior- level defection, Seoul officials said today.

The announcement came three days after Seoul revealed 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South.

It was the largest group defection since North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported the restaurant is located in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

The colonel worked for the North Korean military's General Reconnaissance Bureau before defecting to South Korea, according to Seoul's Defence Ministry and Unification Ministry. Both ministries refused to provide further details including a motive for the defection.

The reconnaissance agency was believed to be behind two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

There have been occasional reports of lower-level North Korean soldiers defecting but it is unusual for a colonel to flee to the South.

The highest-level North Korean who took asylum in South Korea has been Hwang Jang-yop, a senior ruling Workers' Party official who once tutored Kim's late dictator father Kim Jong Il.

Hwang's 1997 defection was hailed by many South Koreans as an intelligence bonanza and a clear sign that the North's political system was inferior to the South's. Hwang died in 2010.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records. Many defectors have testified they wanted to avoid the North's harsh political system and poverty.

Defections are a bitter source of contention between the rival Koreas, which are still divided along the world's most heavily fortified border since the end of the Korean War. Pyongyang usually accuses Seoul of enticing North Korean citizens to defect, something Seoul denies.
A car bomb attack has hit a military police station in a mainly Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey, wounding several people, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The agency said "terrorists" affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, carried out the bombing in the town of Hani in the Diyarbakir region late yesterday.

Ambulances took wounded victims to the Diyarbakir Military Hospital, but the agency did not indicate how many people were hurt.

The private Dogan agency said some nearby buildings were damaged by the blast.

Turkey's southeast has witnessed a surge in violence since July when a fragile peace process between the state and Kurdish militants collapsed.

The military has carried out sweeping operations in the southeast, including in Diyarbakir, to flush out fighters linked to the outlawed PKK.

Turkey and its allies consider the PKK, which fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, a terrorist organisation.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today expressed hope that work on the memorial of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji would be completed in stipulated time.

"We got all the permissions which were pending since 15 years, in just 12 months and all the work will be completed in stipulated time," he said while inaugurating the Project office and Emergency Management Plan Cell for the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial in Arabian sea.

As announced we are committed to build this grand memorial in 40 months, the chief minister said, adding a project consultant is also being appointed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would perform 'Bhumipujan' for this memorial soon, he said.
The Narendra Modi government today came under a double-barrel attack from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi over "manifold rise in unrest among students", on the home turf of RSS here.

Addressing a rally to mark culmination of the year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar at Kasturchand Park here, Sonia asserted the legacy of the dalit icon for Congress and tore into RSS over reservation.

"The right-wing outfit is bent upon to destroy the democratic values, disturb secular fabric and alter Indian Constitution authored by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

"RSS wants to crush reservation for the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, OBCs and minorities which is guaranteed to them by Constitution," she said.

In an apparent reference to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Sonia said Sangh is posing a "great threat' to the reservation system when it talks against it.

Seeking to blunt BJP's efforts to 'appropriate' legacy of Ambedkar, Sonia said, "Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his dues by appointing him as chairman of the Draft Committee of Constitution.

"Congress will leave no stone unturned to save the democratic values and secular fabric being destroyed by some forces. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to give protection to these factors".

Focusing her speech mainly on issue of reservation, the combative Congress chief said the Narendra Modi government is set to discriminate against women at Panchayati level by depriving them from enjoying power in their villages.

"In Haryana and Rajasthan, the BJP-ruled governments are contemplating to bring legislation asking for certain education level for contestants," she said.

Sonia said this will deprive about 80 per cent of dalit women from contesting Panchayati elections.

"The Congress regime brought the mid-day meal scheme for the children, which was a social revolution as dreamt by Ambedkar. Ambedkar received good support from the then Congress stalwarts like Jawahralal Nehru and Sardar Valabhbhai Patel," she said.

Targeting Modi, she said BJP government is "destabilising the democratically-elected Congress governments in Uttarkhand and Arunchal Pradesh".

"The students' unrest has grown manifold under the current Modi government in the country. Congress has a moral responsibility and constitutional duty to protect the backward community, dalits, minorities and the under-privileged ones and party will not fail in it..Congress has been doing this for more than 60 years," she added.

Earlier in the day, Sonia and Rahul visited memorial of Ambedkar at Deekshabhoomi here where the dalit icon had embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956.
A majority of states have agreed in-principle on a uniform policy for rolling out telecom infrastructure across the country, which will help improve the turnaround time in laying networks and lower its cost.

According to sources, all states except Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Kerala, participated in a meeting called by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and chaired by Telecom Secretary J S Deepak over a uniform policy for rolling out telecom infrastructure.

The proposed policy, if finalised, will help expeditious roll out of telecom infrastructure as well as improve quality of service, reduce call drops as well as cost of setting up networks.

"Assam and Kerala could not participate because of elections in the state. All states have agreed to a uniform rule for Right of Way permission on government land and premises specially in a time bound manner," an official who attended the meet told PTI.

The DoT has written to the states and various central government ministries and departments proposing new rules that would be applicable uniformly across the country and sought their comments by April 20.

The delay in providing Right of Way (RoW) permissions and the high RoW charges impedes the development of telecom infrastructure. RoW permission is required for rolling out telecom infrastructure like laying telecom cable network both underground and overground, installing mobile towers etc.

The new rules proposes that authorities involve in granting RoW permit will have to grant permission within 60 days should decide on the application. In case of rejection of the application, the concerned authority should record reason in writing, as per the proposal.

Telecom companies often blame local authorities in the states for creating unnecessary hurdles in roll-out of telecom infrastructure, specially in granting RoW permission.

Most of the complaints have been made regarding abnormally high price for RoW as well as different levies or fee imposed by various authorities other than charges prescribed under telecom licences. In some cases, the charges have been as high as Rs 7 crore per kilometre for laying underground cables.

"Some states felt that they should be paid for use of the government land but they were informed that since telecom is a critical infrastructure there should be no levy for using government's land and premises except reinstatement charges," the official said.

The states, however, will be free to make their own rules in case of use of private property, the official said.

The DoT in draft rules has proposed that concerned authorities should also not impose any fee, charge, lease rental, licence fee other than the expense that authorities will be incurring as consequence of the proposed work.

Idea, which is in talks with rival Vodafone for a merger,



said it was "forced to reduce" its voice rates on sequential quarterly basis by 10.6 per cent to 29.6 paise per minute from 33.1 paise in the July-September 2016 and drop in mobile data rates by 15.2 per cent to 15.9 paise per megabyte compared to 18.7 paise.

"Despite an unprecedented outgoing voice rate fall, the lure of free offerings resulted in lower than normal volume elasticity with the quarterly sequential voice minutes growing only by 7.3 per cent to 210 billion minutes (compared to 195.5 billion minutes in second quarter of 2016-17), that too led by double digit growth in incoming call volume," Idea said.

Also, the higher blended voice realisation rate fall was also an outcome of the "tsunami of minutes" terminating on Idea's network from the new operator, resulting in overall higher ratio of subsidised incoming minutes recovered at below cost IUC settlement rates.

Idea, for the first time, witnessed a decline of 5.5 million mobile data customers on sequential quarter basis with overall mobile data subscriber (2G,3G and 4G) base receding to 48.6 million from 54.1 million in second quarter of 2016-17.

Its net debt stood at Rs 49,140 crore at the end of December 2016, including a larger proportion of this debt from DoT under 'Deferred payment obligation' for spectrum acquired in last four spectrum auctions.

Idea's capital expenditure was Rs 2,000 crore, excluding forex and interest capitalisation, in the reported quarter, partially funded by cash profit of Rs 1,230 crore.

RComm too reported decline of 10.5 per cent in revenue realisation from voice calls despite minutes of usage going up on its network by 4.3 per cent to 102.1 billion minutes compared with the previous quarter.

RComm reported a decline of 0.6 per cent average revenue per user to Rs 154 and drop of 10 per cent in data traffic on its network as against the previous quarter.
Seeking to reject any "impression" that its chief Subrata Roy wanted to go abroad before incarceration, embattled Sahara group today said he returned to the country on being summoned and later did not leave the country even after the Supreme Court's permission.

Objecting to Sebi lawyer Arvind Datar's comments about Roy having sought permission to go abroad weeks before being jailed, Sahara's Counsel Gautam Awasthi said that his statement "tends to mislead by creating an impression as if 'Saharasri' Subrata Roy Sahara wanted to go abroad before incarceration".

Roy is referred to as 'Saharasri' in his group, which has been engaged in a long-drawn battle with the markets regulator Sebi over collection of funds totalling nearly Rs 25,000 crore from an estimated three crore investors through certain bonds named OFCDs (Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures).

Delivering a lecture on 'Sahara vs Sebi' case here on Friday last, Datar said the Supreme Court had asked Roy not to leave the country when the issue related to a Mumbai property came up during one of the hearings.

"Before the Supreme Court asked him (Roy) to appear, he filed an application to say that he wanted to leave India... He said he wanted to leave India to meet Bill Clinton and Tony Blair for business discussion. It is on record," Datar said.

He also said that the court's order on March 4, 2014, had come as a surprise.

"I don't know what happened. The court called the court marshal and sent him to jail. It just happened, it was so abrupt. He was asked to come to court and I thought they may ask him to do something," Datar had said.

Reacting strongly to Datar's comments, Awasthi said, "The fact however is that, 'Saharasri' was abroad and immediately returned to the country on being summoned. In November, 2013, the Supreme Court had restrained 'Saharasri' and other directors from leaving the country without permission.

"It is very important to state that subsequently Saharasri was granted permission by Supreme Court to travel abroad for two weeks, yet he did not go abroad.

The Group also claimed that in 2012 itself it had repaid



to 95 per cent of its Investors but "nobody believed that".

"But now Sebi in their fourth all-India advertisement through around 144 publications has clearly said that this is the last chance esteemed Investors to lodge their claims with Sebi seeking refund," the statement added.

It further said the refund and repayment demand from investors in the past 43 months together has been just about Rs 104 crore, whereas the regulator has already got Sahara's Rs 13,700 crore (after taking into account interest earned).

"Above all, we have to pay Rs 5,300 crore (including bank guarantee of Rs 5,000 crore) more to get the bail of Chairman and two directors. Also Sebi is holding land asset worth around Rs 40,000 crore.

"So, Sahara is giving security of Rs 59,000 crore for only around 104 crore repayment to public to be done by Sebi ever," the statement said.

The Group said it "did everything as per law prevailing at that time" and Sebi should have rather lodged case against three Registrars of Companies under Ministry of Corporate Affairs who gave "written permission" for the OFCD business.

"For continuously 7-8 years, RoCs took our balance sheets etc, received the submission of prospectus, did dozens of inspections and investigations. We filed our return every year with registrar of companies etc," it added.
Three suicide bombers blew themselves today up as they tried to storm a police station in the usually-peaceful region of southern Russia, police said.

No other casualties were reported in the incident which took place in Novoselitskoye village in the southern Stavropol region.

"We were holding a meeting in the morning when five explosions went off," Sergei Karamyshev, a senior local police official, told AFP.

"Three people blew themselves up after an officer on duty at the entrance blocked the door to the building," he said.

He said three of the explosions were caused by the suicide bombers, while a fourth was caused by a grenade while the source of the fifth blast was not immediately clear.

There was no immediate information on the identities of the bombers.

Russia's North Caucasus has been gripped by nearly daily violence for years due to a simmering Islamist insurgency there but attacks in southern Russia are extremely rare.

A regional police spokeswoman, however, said only one of the attackers had detonated an explosive charge while the other two assailants were killed by "return fire."



"They were shooting at the building," Natalya Tyncherova told AFP, adding that the exact number of assailants was still unclear.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said efforts were under way "to understand what was behind" the attack, which is likely to be seen as a blow to the Kremlin's prestige.

"Was this a terrorist threat or gangsters? Without knowing the circumstances it is hard to say," he told reporters during a conference call.

Regional investigators declined immediate comment.

The attack took place after the Syrian army backed by Russian forces secured a hugely-symbolic victory over Islamic State jihadists in Palmyra and is preparing to retake control of the northern city of Aleppo from rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

IS has vowed revenge after Putin launched a bombing campaign in Syria last September.

In December, IS militants claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Derbent, a city in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan with an ancient citadel that is popular with tourists.
Tata-owned Taj Group has entered Nepal's tourism sector as it has taken up management of a high-end luxury resort in Chitwan National Park.

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces has tied up with Chaudhary Group's CG Hotels and Resorts owned by Nepalese billionaire Binod Chaudhary to start the Meghauli Safari resort.

The international standard jungle resort has been opened in the vicinity of thefamous Chitwan National Park wildlife sanctuary with CG Hotels investing USD 7 million in the project which started operations on April 1.

"We have brought Meghauli Safari into operation with the hope that Nepal can attract high class international visitors," said Rahul Chaudhary, CEO, CG Hotels and Resorts.

Chitwan, situated 150 kms southwest of Kathmandu, is Nepal's leading tiger reserve where rare and endangered wildlife including one-horned rhinos, crocodiles and dolphins are found.
Tata Steel today kickstarted the sale process for its cash-guzzling UK business with divestment of Long Products Europe business unit to investment firm Greybull Capital for a "nominal" amount.

The embattled steelmaker also appointed KPMG LLC as process advisors as well as Slaughter and May as the legal advisors for "thorough, but expedited sale" of the entire shareholding in its subsidiary Tata Steel UK.

Tata Steel UK today announced "signing of an agreement to sell its Long Products Europe business to family investment office, Greybull Capital.

"Sale for a nominal consideration, would be in exchange for Greybull Capital taking on the whole of the business, including assets and relevant liabilities, and securing an appropriate funding package."



The deal would be completed once a number of outstanding conditions have been resolved, including transfer of contracts, certain government approvals and the satisfactory completion of financing arrangements, it added.

The Long Products Europe business employs 4,800 people -- 4,400 in the UK and 400 in France.

On the sales process, it said following the advice from the Tata Steel Board to evaluate all options for the portfolio review of Tata Steel UK, the Board of Tata Steel Europe at its meeting held on March 31, 2016 reviewed several options.

Keeping in view the interest of all stakeholders, the Board (Tata Steel Europe) has "decided to commence the process of divestment of its entire shareholding in its subsidiary Tata Steel UK.
Three youths including two girls were today killed when the motorcycle they were riding collided head-on with a Hyva truck in Korba district of Chhattisgarh, police said.

The accident took place near Malgaon barrier under Dipka police station limits when the victims were heading for Dipka from their native place Rampur, Darri city superintendent of police D R Porte said. The truck was coming opposite direction.

The victims were identified as Mukesh Markam (25), Sangeeta God (18) and Laxmi Patel (19).

The truck driver fled from the spot with his vehicle. Police are conducting further probe.
Two Indian students at a medical college in Ukraine were stabbed to death while another sustained injuries in the attack even as the police have apprehended some Ukraine nationals in the case.

"I am sorry two Indian students Pranav Shandilya of Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh (Ghaziabad) were stabbed to death in Ukraine on April 10. Inderjeet Singh Chauhan (Agra) is recuperating in hospital," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

She said based on the statement of Chauhan, the police have apprehended Ukraine nationals while they were trying to cross the Ukraine border. "Passports/ documents of the Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered" from them, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

"Our Embassy is in touch with authorities and monitoring the case. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families. We promise them all help," the minister said.

The students, who were from Uzhgorod Medical College (Ukraine), were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 AM in the morning of Sunday, yesterday, Swarup said.

Shaindilya was a third year student while Singh was a fourth year student at the college.

He said Indian Embassy in Kiev was informed of the incident around 11 AM yesterday and it has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts.

"The Embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine," said Swarup.
Three women militants linked with outlawed Pakistani Taliban and involved in facilitating terror attacks in Punjab province were arrested today along with suicide jackets and hand grenades.

The arrests took place in Sargodha district during counter terrorism operations.

"During a raid in the Bypass Sem Nala area, some 150 kilometers from Lahore, the CTD officials were shot at by two attackers. The CTD officials fired back in self-defence. The attackers fled and three women suspects were arrested while trying to escape," the police said in a statement.

The militants were members of banned Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, it said.

"Initial interrogation revealed that they facilitated some terror attacks in the province," the officials said.

The women disclosed the identities and addresses of their accomplices. Special teams have been constituted and dispatched to arrest the other militants named by them, Radio Pakistan reported.

Two suicide jackets and three hand grenades from the possession of the lady terrorists, it said.
A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates a major tiger conservation meeting, wildlife groups on Monday said that for the first time, there has been an increase in the number of wildcats worldwide after decades of decline with India having more than half of these.

"The number of wild has been revised to 3,890, based on the best available data," said WWF and the Global Tiger Forum.

They said that this updated minimum figure, compiled from International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) data and the latest tiger surveys, indicates an increase on the 2010 estimate of "as few as 3,200".

Read more from our special coverage on "TIGERS"

This increase, they said, can be attributed to multiple factors, including increases in tiger populations in India, Russia, Nepal and Bhutan, improved surveys and enhanced protection.

The report comes a day before the prime minister inaugurates the third Asia Ministerial Conference on tiger conservation where tiger range countries will discuss key issues, including anti-poaching strategies.

"For the first time after decades of constant decline, tiger numbers are on the rise. This offers us great hope and shows that we can save species and their habitats when governments, local communities and conservationists work together," said Marco Lambertini, director general, WWF International.

The conference is the latest step in the Global Tiger Initiative process that began with the Tiger Summit in Russia in 2010 where governments agreed to the Tx2 goal to double wild tiger numbers by 2022.

While India's tiger count stands at 2,226 according to the latest survey, Russia holds the second highest number of wildcats at 433. Indonesia has 371 while Malaysia 250. Nepal, Thailand, Bangladesh and Bhutan have 198, 189, 106 and 103 each, according to the data compiled by the wildlife groups.

Other countries which have tigers are Myanmar, China and Laos.

In 2014, tiger range governments agreed to announce a new global tiger estimate by 2016, based on full, systematic surveys.

However, not all countries have completed or published these surveys and the new minimum estimate of close to 3,900 tigers is based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species account for tigers, updated for countries where tiger surveys have taken place since the IUCN assessment.
Bangalore-based TTK Prestige today said it will acquire a UK-based kitchenware company for an undisclosed sum.

The company's UK-based wholly-owned subsidiary TTK British Holding has entered into an agreement for acquisition of the target company, TTK Prestige informed BSE.

"The target is a branded player with a century-old existence. The name of brand involved will be shared on completion of the deal," it said.

TTK Prestige further said: "The target has experienced marketing, sales and distribution strength. The target does not have any manufacturing base but outsource all of its requirement from third party manufacturers."



The TTK group firm said that the target is of the size of 18 million pounds (Rs 170 crore) with a double digit EBIDTA margins.

"The business offers potential for a long-term presence of TTK Prestige in UK and Europe through its subsidiary," TTK said adding that it has "plans to leverage its domestic manufacturing capacity to cater these branded segments".

It further added "the consolidated financial are expected to result in superior turnover, profits and RICE.
At least two blasts went off outside a police station in southern Russia but there were no immediate reports of casualties, a police spokesman said.

"At least two explosions went off outside the entrance to a district police station in the village of Novoselitskoye in the Stavropol region," the spokesman told AFP.
Two Indian students at a medical college in were stabbed to death while another sustained injuries in the attack.

Those who died in the Sunday attack allegedly carried out by three Ukrainian nationals have been identified as Pranav Shaindilya from Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, hailing from Agra, was also stabbed and was recuperating in a hospital.

"In an unfortunate event, three Indian students in Uzhgorod Medical College (Ukraine) were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 AM in the morning of Sunday, April 10," said External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Shaindilya was a third year student while Singh was a fourth year student at the college.

"Based on his (Chauhan) statement, the police apprehended the Ukrainian nationals who were trying to cross the Ukrainian border. Passports/documents of the three Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the Ukrainian nationals," the MEA spokesman said.

He said Indian Embassy in Kiev was informed of the incident around 11 AM yesterday and it has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts.

"The Embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine," said Swarup.
The UK government may decide to co- invest with a steel buyer to help save thousands of jobs at Tata Steel's loss-making Port Talbot steelworks in Wales, UK business secretary Sajid Javid said today.

"I've been in contact with potential buyers, making clear that the government stands ready to help. This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms," Javid told the House of Commons.

His statement is the first firm indication that the UK government may resort to partial nationalisation of Tata Steel's loss-making units to save the nearly 4,000 jobs at Port Talbot, Britain's biggest steelworks, in which Indian- origin businessman Sanjeev Gupta has shown interest.

"Both the governments (British and Welsh) are very helpful and cooperative. Then it is a question of analysis, which we will have to undertake in-depth once we engage with Tata. That is when the model and concept we have clearly outlined and plan to pursue will be tested with real numbers," Gupta had told PTI over the weekend.

Javid's statement came as Tata Steel announced the sale of its Long Products Division to Greybull Capital earlier today.

The Long Products Europe business employs 4,800 people -- 4,400 in the UK and 400 in France.

Roy Rickhuss, secretary general of the steel union



community, said, "Since March, the way people have been treated has been very hard. No one knew if they would have a job by Christmas. But we have to recognise that prior to March, Tata had invested significantly in the UK".

"This proposal would secure jobs for years to come and bring serious investment, not just to Port Talbot but steelworks across the UK," he said.

Meanwhile, the Brexit referendum in June has changed economics for Tata Steel.

Britain's vote to leave the EU, and the accompanying crash in sterling, have transformed the competitiveness of its UK operation. About 40 per cent of the output from British plants is exported.

Thanks to the cheaper pound, a business that was losing a million pounds a day just a few months ago is now back in the black.
British Prime Minister David Cameron fought back today against allegations he's been evasive about his financial affairs, saying other senior politicians should follow his lead and publish their tax returns.

Cameron's spokeswoman, Helen Bower, said "potential prime ministers" and "those who are in charge of the nation's finances" should be transparent about their tax affairs. She said Cameron did not believe all lawmakers should go public.

Cameron spent several days explaining his relationship to his late father's legal but offshore fund and resisting opposition calls to publish his tax details before issuing a summary of his recent returns on Sunday.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised to publish his tax returns "very soon."



Cameron will try to restore his government's shaken reputation for competence with a statement in the House of Commons later today, after days of damaging headlines.

Opposition leaders plan to challenge Cameron over past investment in an offshore account set up by his late father.

Cameron's father, Ian Cameron, has been identified as a client of a Panamanian law firm that specializes in helping the wealthy reduce their tax burdens. Over 11 million documents from the firm Mossack Fonseca have been leaked to international media, in one of the biggest data breaches in history.

Ian Cameron's fund, Blairmore Holdings, was not illegal, but revelations about the Cameron family finances have overshadowed the government's claim that it is committed to closing tax loopholes.

David Cameron, a former PR man with a reputation for sharp political intuition, appears to have been caught off-guard by the issue. His office initially insisted that the prime minister's financial arrangements were private, before acknowledging that Cameron and his wife had sold some 30,000 pounds (USD 44,000) in shares in the offshore fund shortly before he became prime minister in 2010.

Finally, yesterday Cameron published a summary of his tax returns since 2009, becoming the first British leader to do so. The records appear to show that Cameron paid his full share of tax 75,898 pounds on taxable income of 200,307 pounds in the most recent tax year.

But the document also generated a new round of headlines over a 200,000 pound gift from his mother on which Cameron legally paid no tax.

Several other politicians, including Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, followed Cameron's lead and published their tax returns, and more are likely to follow.

There is no suggestion that Cameron or his father, who died in 2010, did anything illegal. But the headlines have served to remind the public of Cameron's wealth and privilege.

The furore could also have repercussions for Britain's decision on European Union membership, due in a June 23 referendum. Cameron is the leading proponent of a vote to stay in, and anything that tarnishes his brand could undermine the "remain" campaign.

(Reopens FES82)



Reacting to Cameron's comment, Buhari said he does not want an apology but a return of the assets that were taken out of Nigeria and sent to the UK.

"What would I do with an apology? I need something tangible. I am not going to demand any apology from anyone. What I am demanding is a return of assets," he said at a Commonwealth anti-corruption conference.

Asked at the event if Nigeria was a "fantastically corrupt" country, he thought for a moment and said: "Yes".

He refused, however, to say whether he regarded Cameron's remarks as rude, saying that Britain had led in trying to track down former Nigerian government members who had acted disgracefully.
A UN agency has used parachutes to air drop food aid to a Syrian city under siege since March 2014.

The Rome-based World Food Program says the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, its local partner, collected 22 of 26 pallets dropped Sunday from a chartered aircraft for the hungry in Deir el-Zour, eastern Syria. WFP was working to discover what happened to the other four pallets.

WFP says the aid, including beans, chickpeas and rice, is enough to feed 2,500 people for one month. WFP says more than 200,000 people in Deir el-Zour desperately need humanitarian assistance. More airdrops are planned.

The aircraft flew from Jordan.

WFP called airdrops "always a last resort." In February, technical problems caused some pallets to miss the drop zone, and some parachutes failed.
The UN peace envoy to Syria today said in Damascus that an upcoming round of negotiations in Geneva aimed at ending the country's five-year war would be "crucially important".

"The Geneva talks' next phase are crucially important because we will be focusing in particular on the political transition, on governance and constitutional principles," Staffan de Mistura told reporters after meeting Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.

"We hope and plan to make them constructive and we plan to make them concrete," the envoy said.

Scheduled to resume on April 13, the Geneva talks are aimed at ending a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes since it erupted in March 2011.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution in December which paved the way for the talks and called for elections in Syria to be held 18 months after a transitional government is agreed.

The fate of President Bashar al-Assad is a major sticking point, however.

While the opposition insists Assad can play no role in a future transitional government, the regime says voters should decide his fate.

According to state agency SANA, Muallem confirmed the government delegation was ready for the next round of peace talks.

"Muallem reaffirmed in his meeting with De Mistura the Syrian position on the political solution to the crisis and the commitment to Syrian dialogue under Syrian leadership, without pre-conditions," the agency said.

Meanwhile, De Mistura said he had also discussed with Muallem a shaky ceasefire in place since February 27.

"We did raise and discuss the importance of protecting and maintaining and supporting the cessation of hostilities which is fragile but is there, and we need to make sure that it continues to be sustained even when there are incidents to be contained," said the envoy, who spoke in English.

The truce, which was brokered by the United States and Russia, does not include areas where the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda's affiliate Al-Nusra Front are present.

De Mistura and Muallem also discussed humanitarian aid access to besieged areas, the envoy said.
The aims at stationing 60% of its surface ships in Indo-Asia Pacific region by 2019, catering to various missions including counter-terrorism, a senior naval official said today.

"We already have 60% of US submarines in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. The goal is to have 60% of the US surface ships in this region by 2019," Vice Admiral Joseph P Aucoin, Commander of Seventh Fleet of the US Navy, based out of Yokosuka, Japan, told reporters.

He was on board the US Naval ship Blue Ridge, currently anchored at Mormugao Port Trust near Panaji.

Aucoin said 10-15 more US surface ships in the region will make it to 60%. It is not just the number of ships, but the best of ships are being positioned in this region, he said.

He said three of the common missions for the US and India in this region are counter-terrorism, maritime security and humanitarian relief during disaster.

"Maritime security is crucial for the free flow of the trade through sea lanes. Almost 90% of the total trade happens in the sea. We are working closely with India and south and east Asian countries," the Vice Admiral said.

Aucoin said during his India visit, he is going to meet his Indian counterpart to discuss Malabar naval exercises scheduled for June this year.

The navies of USA, India and Japan would be participating in it. During the Goa visit, Vice Admiral Aucoin visited the Indian Navy's INS Hansa base in Panaji.

"India has amazing naval capabilities. There can be a great synergy between two nations," he said.

"India can be a great partner with the US as both the countries share similar capabilities," he said.

Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today visited the US Naval ship Blue Ridge, which arrived here from Mumbai last week.
The US is ready for the most capable and talented individual to be the country's leader irrespective of his or her gender, an Indian-American campaigner and a key fundraiser for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has said.

When asked if the US is ready for its first woman president, Haridwar-born Kashmiri-American Shefali Razdan Duggal said, "In all honesty, it really doesn't matter what I think, as the country must have a heart beat of its own which makes these decisions, based on societal advancement and open-mindedness which comes from progressive thought."



Away from media glare, 44-year-old Duggal has quietly established herself as a major fundraiser and campaigner for the former Secretary of State.

Based in San Francisco, California, Duggal firmly believes that 68-year-old Clinton is best suited to succeed Barack Obama as the next president of the US.

"Not because the former Secretary of State is a woman, but because she has all the credentials to lead the country at this critical juncture of history, she said.

"The United States is always ready for the most capable, thoughtful and talented individual to be the leader of our country.The gender is irrelevant," argued Duggal, who is on the National Finance Committee of the Clinton Campaign and is among the select group of Clinton supporters who have raised at least USD 100,000 in this primary election cycle since the launch of her campaign on April 12, 2015.

"In this year's election, the aforementioned individual happens to be a woman.The country's next Commander-in-Chief must continue the phenomenal and inspiring work completed and still in progress by President Obama. That person would be Secretary Hillary Clinton, and she is a woman," Duggal told PTI.

She is currently a member of the Democratic National Committee's National Finance Committee and is a Co-Chair for the DNC Women's Leadership Forum.

Appointed by the US President Barack Obama to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, for a term expiring January 15, 2018, Duggal said she only works on campaigns/issues/ boards which she feels very moved or compelled.

"I only work within things which deeply touch my heart. Thus, almost all of my free time, outside of children, is devoted to thanking this country for all the gifts it has given to me, and this gratitude is given within the time I dedicate to my political work," Duggal said.

Duggal moved to the US at a very young age and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A graduate from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, having received a BS in mass communication, with a minor in political science, she then went on to receive her MA in political communication from New York University.

"I have a great love for the United States.It is a place



where all things are possible, if one works honestly, diligently, and is pure-intentioned," Duggal said.

"I am personally involved within politics as I have always been fascinated with how this country is a meritocracy, and that anyone, absolutely anyone, can rise from the ashes to become anything they will into their life, including President of the United States," Duggal said.

This personal fascination within public service began at the age of nine when she intently watched the Carter-Reagan election in 1980.

"Effectively, when all other things were boiled away, the election consisted ofa peanut farmer running against an actor to become President of the greatest nation on earth. Where else in the world can that happen?" she asked.

"It was then, at age 9, that I realised how great this country was and what a privilege it was that my fate brought me here as a young child.I wanted to, somehow, be engaged within the political process, and it was a matter of time to discover where I would be most helpful within the journey," Duggal explained.

Passionate about politics, Duggal, however does not want to run for any elected office.

"Never.I am not suited for it, as I wear my heart on my sleeve and am quite sensitive," she notes.

"I have no issue with people telling truths about me, as unpleasant as they may be, although I do have fundamental issues with people being dishonest about my character, my essence, my being.Thus, a political campaign would be, literally, torture for my heart," Duggal said.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter today said his country was willing to share the technology for the next generation aircraft carrier of Indian Navy.

He was speaking to reporters onboard USS Blue Ridge which is anchored at Mormugao Port Trust (MPT). Carter and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar paid visit to the ship which arrived here from Mumbai.

Indo-US defence ties were going to be "defining relationship of 21st century", he said.

"That is because both our values and our interests overlap in important way and that happens with few countries around the globe and India is one of those which is influential and very important country," he said, adding that America is pleased to have partnership with India.

"We are working with the Indian Navy on technology for their next generation of aircraft carrier. India would like to migrate on flat deck design which has some advantages in terms of weight of the aircraft and others," he said, adding "we are more than willing to share it with India."



Carter, who is scheduled to hold a meeting in New Delhi tomorrow, said discussions would be held on Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).

"Agreement is very important. We can do a lot with agreement. Stay tuned for tomorrow," he said.

On supplying predator drones to India to spy on Pakistan, Carters said "Generally the US policy and approach to India is about India and its role in the region and it is not about particular neighbour. We have a relationship with India which reflects today's American way of thinking".

To a question about US policy in Asia, he said, "The US approach to this region is not to confront. We have todo what we have been doing for 70 years, that is to keep the stability and peace that has allowed economic and social miracle in modern India and China," Carter said.

To a question, he said US respected India's independence (in policy matters).

"Their (India's) policy is that of supplier of security in the region which is compatible with our policy. It is inclusive one and not exclusive one," he said.
Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan is all set to lend his voice to Chris Evans' Captain America in the Hindi version of the much-anticipated "Captain America: Civil War".

The 28-year-old "Badlapur" star, who is a self-confessed fan of all Marvel movies, said it was very challenging for him to do the voice-over for the superhero film, and hopes the audience will like his effort.

"Captain America is a matured and a balanced leader. This is something that I am not. So, that made it all the more challenging for me. 'Captain America: Civil War' is bigger better and the action is huge," Varun said in a statement.

"It's a film for kids and adults and the actual moral of the film is something I loved and believed in. So, I was very happy to voice it. The film has an amazing connect with kids and that was one of the main reasons for me to do it."



The film is being distributed in India by Disney.

"Captain America: Civil War" releases in India in four languages - English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu - on May 6.
VHP today exuded confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will keep his "promise" of constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the time has come for bringing a law in Parliament in this regard.

"We are worried about the Ram temple construction. When VHP launched its agitation for construction of Ram Temple, we made it clear that the way for it is through a law to be enacted in Parliament. BJP has passed a resolution in its 1987 national executive meeting at Palampur where it said that Ram temple should be built through a law.

"Time has come for bringing a law in Parliament and pave the way for Ram Temple construction....The 1987 BJP resolution also stands. Narendra Bhai is true to his promise and we are confident that he will fulfil his promise by bringing a law in Parliament for constructing Ram Temple," VHP international working president Pravin Togadia said.

To a question on how the law can be passed when BJP does not have a majority in both Houses of Parliament, he said, a joint session of both Houses could be called to pass the law.

"When there is not a majority in one House, then a joint session can be convened. There is a tradition. NDA government earlier had convened a joint session. When the need for Ram temple has come, a joint session can be called and a law can be passed on Ram temple issue," he said.

The Hindutva leader said VHP will discuss the issue in its next national executive meeting soon and come out with a solution and its further action in this regard.

Togadia also termed the lathicharge on NIT students as a "blot" on the country even as he demanded stern action against those behind the lathicharge on nationalist NIT students.

He demanded immediate suspension of all cops involved and permanent rustication of all students raising anti-India and pro-Pakistan slogans in the campus.

The VHP leader said there cannot be two yardsticks over nationalism as while Geelani is welcomed with unfurling of pro-Pakistan and ISIL flags on his return to Srinagar and not arrested but those raising pro-India slogans are lathicharged.

"There cannot be two yardsticks over nationalism. There should be only one yardstick. All cops involved in lathicharge on nationalist students at NIT should be suspended immediately and the students raising anti-India and pro-Pak slogans should be permanently rusticated from the university," he said.

Togadia added, "action should also be taken against those unfurling Pakistan flags in Kashmir and raising pro-Pak slogans. Government will have to take stern steps. VHP has taken a strong note of it.
Haryana's dairy cooperative federation will open milk booths under VITA brand at fuel pumps of Indian Oil Corporation in the state.

Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the oil company for opening of VITA milk booths at viable locations of IOCL petrol pumps in Haryana, said an official spokesman.

A proposal to this effect has been approved by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

He said as a result of this decision, not only the sale of milk and milk products of VITA would increase, but it would also enable the milk unions to get additional income from sale of every pack of milk and milk products at these outlets.

He said possibilities would also be explored to set up booths of VITA in Chandigarh Union Territory as Punjab's Milkfed has for Verka.

This would also generate employment opportunities and enable the people to buy VITA products at different locations.
An 80-year-old voter was killed and three others, including two CRPF personnel, were injured in a clash between the central force and voters in Sorbhog contituency in Barpeta district today.

The situation turned disruptive at Safarkamar polling station when CRPF men asked voters to stand in line properly leading to arguments and jostling, district election officials said.

In the scuffle, voter Abdul Rashid, 80, another voter Motleb Ali as well as CRPF Assistant Commandant Naval Kishore and constable Amarjeet were injured, they said.

All the four were rushed to the Barpeta Medical College Hospital where Abdul Rashid was declared dead. Both the CRPF men were admitted to the hsopital, while Motleb Ali was discharged after primary treatment.

The situation was soon brought under control and voting continued normally, they added.
All sides in Yemen's year-long war pledged to honour a UN-brokered ceasefire which took effect at midnight yesterday, adding to cautious optimism ahead of new talks to reach a lasting peace deal.

Fighting over the past year has killed thousands, displaced 2.4 million, and drawn in Yemen's neighbours.

The chief of staff of forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi confirmed "the ceasefire has taken effect" at 2100 GMT.

General Mohamed Ali al-Makdashi said, "We are going to respect it... Unless the Huthi rebels violate it."



Three earlier attempts at ceasefires collapsed after a Saudi-led coalition in March last year began air strikes to support the Hadi government.

The coalition intervened after Zaidi Shiite Huthis overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and later advanced to other regions.

Chaos and misery have ruled the Arabian Peninsula country since, while pressure built for an end to the violence.

The Iran-backed Huthis, along with allied troops loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have sent the United Nations a letter committing to "cease land, sea and air military operations" throughout Yemen, according to a communique carried by the rebel-run Saba news agency.

In a contrast to earlier ceasefire attempts, some Huthi leaders met with loyalist troops on a joint committee to make sure both sides comply with the truce, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri said.

"And they will monitor all the personnel on the ground, to not violate the ceasefire," he said, adding the committee is supervised by the coalition which has also pledged to abide by the ceasefire.

"We issued the orders to the forces that they will respect the ceasefire at midnight," Assiri said.

But the Arab alliance said it reserved the right to respond to any rebel violations.

Rights groups have criticised the civilian toll from coalition bombings.

UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed last month announced the ceasefire would occur ahead of April 18 peace talks in Kuwait.

In the lead-up to the truce, rebels and their allies yesterday exchanged mortar and artillery fire with pro-Hadi forces in Sarwah region of Marib province east of Sanaa.

The truce was only agreed by the warring sides after months of shuttle diplomacy by the UN envoy.
Ace fashion designer Anita Dongre says she was "surprised" to see Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton wearing one of her creations on the first day of her India trip.

The Royal couple are on their maiden trip to the country and Kate opted for a long printed tunic on her visit to a charity event at The Oval Maidan in Mumbai yesterday.

"I was surprised. Her team had contacted us before, but I never knew she has chosen one of my outfits. Watching her pictures wearing my creation was a really proud moment for me," Anita told PTI.

The Mughal-prints inspired tunic was from the Mumbai-based designer's latest Spring/Summer collection titled "Love Notes," which she showcased at the recently concluded Lakme Fashion Week.

Anita felt the royal took her design to another level, and carried it off beautifully.

"There was something special when she wore the dress. She carried it off beautifully. She wore it for a long time from afternoon till early evening and managed to look fresh throughout," she said.

Kate teamed her tunic with Mint Velvet wedges in mink colour while keeping the rest of the look simple and summery.

Anita said her designs have elegance and feminine touch and Kate perfectly personified it.

"I have always admired her and loved the way she dresses. She is elegant and feminine and that's what my designs show. She has a strong sense of style and whatever she will be wearing is going to be perfect. Her looks are always a hit and never a miss," Anita said.

The designer said she would love to create a bespoke design for Kate.

"I would like to see her in all my designs but I would love to create a bespoke outfit for her someday," she said.
A 'water train' with 10 wagons carrying water for parched Latur in Marathwada region, which is battling the worst ever, today left from Miraj in western Maharashtra.

The train is expected to reach Latur later today.

The railway wagons meant for supplying water to Latur had reached Miraj from Kota in Rajasthan yesterday.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said yesterday that Maharashtra government and Railway Ministry were working hard to bring relief to people in affected region.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had said, "50 Tank Wagons steam cleaned reached Miraj for Latur."



On April 8, one of two goods trains carrying 50 wagons of water for drought-affected areas of Latur departed from Kota workshop for Miraj in Pune division.

The second goods train consisting of 50 wagons is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15, a Railway official earlier said.

"As per instructions from the Ministry of Railways, Kota workshop received two goods trains consisting of 50 tank wagons (BTPN) each for deployment in drought-affected areas of Latur during the summer season and the trips of the trains will be arranged as per the requirement," he said.

The carrying capacity of these wagons is 54,000 litres of waters per wagon.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, today tried their hand at preparing a Dosa, and courtesy an Indian startup's innovation, came out successful at their maiden shot at making the famous South Indian snack.

Prince William poured the batter into a machine ivented by Bengaluru-based startup Dosamatic and Kate Middleton pushed some buttons, making the machine start its preparation.

Within a minute, the crisp dosa rolled out of it. Prince William took a small bite and said, "Namste Mumbai! Thank you for the dosa experience. It is going to be more filling next time."



According to those in the know, it was a departure from the normal practice of British Royalty avoiding to consume food publicly.

After eating the small portion of the snack, Dosamatic's chief executive Eshwar K Vikas told him that the dosa is very similar to the crepe pancakes which are consumed in Britain.

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, seemed to be the more curious among the Royal couple, asking many questions about the machine and the process.

Vikas said the machine used by the Royalty is a soon to be introduced one for residential use and added that his three- year-old company already serves hotels and corporate clientele through a bigger version of the same machine.

He said 500 of the bigger machines are already in force in the market and the Indian Angel Network-backed company is currently looking to raise funds through a Series A round to launch the residential machine which will be costing Rs 12,500.
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton today visited Mahatma Gandhi's memorial here and paid homage him.

In a close to 45-minute visit to the Gandhi Smriti on Tees January Marg, the royal couple also saw the exhibits there and came to know that Gandhi learned to wear a tie and play violin during his stay in London as a student.

The Duke and Duchess Cambridge also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at the Martyr's Column. The Father of the Nation was killed on January 30, 1948 by a Hindu fanatic at the Birla House when he was taking a stroll there. The House, where Gandhi spent the last few years of his life, was later turned into a memorial.

They also visited the museum, the khadi-weaving room and expressed keen interest in knowing about Lord Mountbatten's tribute to Gandhi among other eminent personalities, after his death.

The royal couple were particularly keen about the spinning wheel the use of which he popularised all his life.

Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India was related to the British royal family. Gandhi and Mountbatten were known to have shared bonhomie and the last Viceroy even attended his funeral.

"They (couple) were curious to know about Gandhiji and his life's philosophy. Their reaction was 'such a simple life' as they saw his pictures and visited his living room," said Depanker Shri Gyan, Director of Gandhi Smriti, who accompanied the royals around the memorial.

"They were very excited and happy to see him spinning the wheel. They wanted to know why Gandhiji spun the wheel and what does it symbolise," Gyan said.

"They asked why was the spinning wheel used and how did it become a symbol of Indian nationalism. To this, we said that this symbolised economic independence and promoted the idea of 'swadeshi'. They also asked how khadi is made," said Sailja Gullapalli, a research associate with the Gandhi Smriti, who also accompanied the couple throughout their visit to the museum.

The royal couple wrote a note 'To India's Visionary Leader' in the visitor's book.

Known for their sartorial grace, the couple looked elegant in their attire. Kate wore a cream dress by Emilia Wickstead on her first outing in the city.

The couple is on a seven-day tour of India and Bhutan, aimed at building up strong bonds with the two countries.
Breaking an age-old convention, a few women were today allowed to enter the inner sanctum of the historical Mahalaxmi temple in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district.

In the wake of Bombay High Court's ruling that women cannot be stopped from entering the religious places and subsequent decision by trustees of Shani temple at Shingnapur to allow women to enter its core area notwithstanding the ancient taboo, some women's organisations here had made similar demand for Mahalaxmi temple.

Though the temple was always open to men and women alike, women were not allowed inside the inner sanctum ('gabhara') of the temple.

Inspector Anil Deshmukh of Juna Rajwada police station told PTI that police today held a meeting with representatives of various organisations, the Paschim Maharashtra Devsthan Samiti (which manages this and various other temples in western Maharashtra) and the temple priests.

After the Samiti as well as the priests said that they were not opposed to women entering the inner sanctum, eight women today went into the sanctum and performed a puja, the police officer said.
Lending to needy countries by the World Bank surged to a level last year normally only seen during financial crises, the Bank said today.

Facing slowing growth and low commodity prices, developing countries borrowed the most money from the World Bank in 2015 since the 2008-2009 crisis.

"As developing countries continue to face strong economic headwinds, demand for lending from the World Bank has risen to levels never seen outside a financial crisis," the World Bank said in a statement.

During its 2015 fiscal year, lending to emerging-market and low-income economies totaled $42.4 billion, up from $40.8 billion in 2014.

Of that total, lending for emerging, or middle-income countries, was $23.5 billion in 2015, compared with only $14 billion in 2006. The Bank projects that lending for emerging economies this year will surpass $25 billion.

Hit particularly hard by the sharp fall in oil and other commodity prices and China's cooling economy, a number of developing countries are suffering from strained finances and economic difficulties.

"Developing country governments are feeling the pressure to find additional ways to accelerate growth, in the current downturn," said Jan Walliser, a World Bank vice president, in the statement.

A large part of its support has been to help countries diversify sources of growth and buffer themselves against future shocks, the Bank said.

The World Bank, which holds its spring meetings with the International Monetary Fund this week in Washington, has set a goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.

"We are in a global economy where growth is expected to remain weak, so it is critically important that the World Bank play our traditional role of helping developing countries accelerate growth," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in the statement.
Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today said he disfavoured action against students for alleged anti-national slogan shouting in JNU campus and suggested that instead they should be engaged in dialogue.

He also said that police "is invited only in cases of acute arson, not when there is sloganeering".

Jung told India Today TV channel that while he would not encourage anti-nationalism, he would also not take action against students for mere slogan shouting. "I would feel sorry for them," he said.

Jung, who had served as the VC of Jamia Millia Islamia university before taking over as the Delhi LG, said the controversy over the February 9 JNU event may have happened as the varsity had a "new Vice Chancellor".

"Police is invited only in cases of acute arson, not when there is sloganeering. Perhaps (the former VC) would have enhanced dialogue. We could have avoided the incident that stretched for a month," he said.

On calls for "azaadi" in Kashmir and "Pakistan zindabad" slogans, he said, "I think the Kashmiris have genuine problems over heavy army presence. I think they have genuine concern over the imposition of AFSPA. I would speak to them, counsel them but I would not encourage anti-nationalism."



On the debate over raising of slogans such as 'Bharat Mata Ki jai', Jung said no one can be "forced" to say anything.

"You can say I don't want to say it but that does not mean I am not nationalistic, that would not mean I am anti-India," he said.

Jung said there was a difference between raising slogans hailing the motherland and those praising the almighty, including 'Allah'.

"People are losing the nuances of the words. Saying 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' is different from worshipping any deity or Allah or god. It's a matter of pride for a person belonging to any country to love his country and, therefore, would be absolutely happy to say 'madre-watan zindabad', 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' or whatever," he said.

He said he would not "eat beef in this country" but would not insist on bans like that on beef even as he added that there was a need to "ignore" fringe elements.

"In a democracy, we need to give a lot of space to minorities. They need hand-holding. I would care for them... There is no need for harsh words," he said.

However, Jung said he would be "very uncomfortable" with a person who shouts anti-India slogans. In criticising the nation, one needs to be "careful in public", he said.

Jung said it would be "incorrect" to say police had done



nothing to protect JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar at the Patiala House court premises, where journalists were also attacked by men in black robes.

"Any incident that happens like what happened to Kanhaiya is symbolic of inadequate and poor policing. Whether police should have been tougher, the jury is out on that.

"A brutal response by the police on the lawyers could have led to a much larger problem. It could have well been a mistake. Post-mortem is being done and action will be taken very soon," he said.
Zimbabwe veterinary surgeons have been forced to put down a rhino that was featured on a television series, days after it was shot by poachers, said the wildlife authority today.

The eight-year-old rhino named Ntombi was shot last Tuesday in Matopos, southern Zimbabwe and then lingered on, wounded, riddled with bullets, for close to a week, said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokeswoman for the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

"The rhino had AK bullet heads in three of her legs and a further bullet wound in her right shoulder. She had a front broken leg that she was unable to bear weight on," said Washaya-Moyo in a statement, referring to rounds from a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Surgeons finally had to make the "very painful" decision to euthanize her during the weekend after realizing the wounds were too deep and the rhino could no longer make it to food and water, she said, adding that Ntombi left behind a calf that had just been weaned.

Ntombi appeared in 2011 on an Animal Planet television show, "Karina: Wild On Safari" that featured United Kingdom model Karina Holmes' adventures in Zimbabwean and Zambian wildlife reserves.

Trevor Lane of Bhejane Trust, an animal conservation group that works with the wildlife management authority, said they are offering a "substantial reward" for information leading to the arrest of poachers who shot Ntombi.

Zimbabwe, which teems with wildlife, is constantly battling poachers targeting mainly elephants and rhinos. Poachers killed over 150 rhinos in the past five years, according to the Lowveld Rhino Trust, a rhino conservation organization in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has a population of 800 rhinos, according to Washaya-Moyo. Zimbabwe's wildlife situation shot into the limelight in 2015 after the killing of a celebrity lion called Cecil by James Walter Palmer, an American dentist.
By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - British banks remain reluctant to finance trade with Iran, fearing they could still be targeted by existing U.S. sanctions that are impeding Tehran's re-entry into markets after years of isolation, officials said on Monday.

International measures against Iran - including banking curbs - were lifted in January as part of the deal with world powers under which Tehran curbed its nuclear programme. But the Islamic Republic is struggling to access new financing as many large banks fear falling foul of remaining U.S. restrictions.

"This is a problem I regret will take a little time to resolve," said Britain's trade envoy to Iran, former finance minister Norman Lamont.

"You can understand why they (banks) are extremely cautious - they have already been fined billions of dollars," he told a City & Financial Iran Trade conference in London.

Alexandra Renison, with Britain's Institute of Directors (IoD) lobby group, said that smaller European banks were starting to move towards providing trade finance to Iran, but the "risk appetite is absolutely not there" for British lenders.

"Any banks in the UK that really have any exposure in the United States ... are simply not budging," she told the conference.

Renison said it is even proving difficult to bring together businesses, policymakers and banks, frustrating efforts.

Evan Warren, a senior policy adviser with the UK's finance ministry, acknowledged that the close business ties between British banks and their U.S. counterparts did "pose significant challenges".

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the United States of foot-dragging following the official implementation in January of the nuclear deal.

British Trade and Investment Minister Mark Price said the UK was working on these issues with Washington, adding that Business Secretary Sajid Javid would meet with British banks ahead of an official trade delegation to Iran next month.

"His plan is to take UK banks out on that delegation," Price told the conference. "This government would like to see the banks play their part."

U.S. President Barack Obama and administration officials have denied in recent days that they planned to offer Iran access to the U.S. financial system or use of the U.S. dollar for transactions.

Efforts by opposition Republican U.S. lawmakers to introduce a bill that would block Iran from accessing dollar financing are adding to pressure. The IOD's Renison said such "volatility is scaring a lot of the banks away".

When asked about efforts to bar any access to dollars now faced by Iran, Lamont told it was "most unfortunate".

"The U.S. is now saying it (access to dollars) is not an option," he said. "We have to find other ways of solving it."

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
India is likely to hold off at least until the start of the monsoon season before making any changes to policy despite a jump in domestic prices that choked off exports.

The market has been abuzz with talk that the surge in domestic prices could lead authorities to cut the 40% import duty on raw .

However, traders said they do not expect any imminent action by authorities to encourage imports or exports because downwardly revised forecasts for 2015/16 (October/September) sugar production would still exceed domestic consumption.

One senior European physical trader projected 2015/16 Indian sugar output at 25.6 million tonnes, just above consumption seen at 24.5 million tonnes. Output in 2014/15 was 28.3 million tonnes.

India is the world's leading sugar consumer and second-biggest producer behind Brazil.

"Domestic prices have risen and exports have come to a halt, but we don't have any plans to lower the import tax for now," a senior Indian government source said.

"We had set a target for mills to export 3.2 million tonnes, but that was based on more buoyant production estimates, which no longer look that rosy thanks to the droughts in 2014 and 2015."

Referring to cash-strapped sugar mills, the source added: "We wouldn't mind some more sugar being exported, but we're no longer desperate to export as a jump in prices here has given a good deal of respite to mills."

Before taking any decisions on sugar policy, the government is expected to wait to see how the monsoon season develops.

India's annual monsoon rains are likely to be above average, the country's only private weather forecaster said on Monday, snapping two straight years of drought that cut farm output and farmers' income.

India's sugar industry exported more than 1 million tonnes of low-quality whites between October 2015 and March 2016, below the target of 3.2 million tonnes.

The senior European trade source said he expected Indian sugar stocks to be around 8.5 million tonnes at the start of the 2016/17 harvest. The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) expects stocks to be between 7.5 million tonnes and 8 million tonnes at that time.

Some European trade sources said de-stocking is possible if domestic Indian output in 2015/16 fails to meet expectations.
More than half of Indian reopened their shops on Monday after keeping them closed for nearly six weeks in protest over the reintroduction of excise duty on gold jewellery.

The resumption in business could boost demand from the world's second biggest consumer and support global prices trading near their highest in three weeks.

" are opening shops after government assured it will simplify implementation of excise duty," said Bachhraj Bamalwa, director at All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.

"More than half of jewellery shops are now open."

went on an indefinite strike at the start of March to protest against the proposed excise tax. The strike was later called off on assurances from the excise department that it would not "harass" jewellers.

Although the national level trade bodies of bullion dealers and jewellers called off the strike on March 19, various regional industry associations decided to maintain it.

But the government still refused to roll back the tax.

"We cannot continue to strike indefinitely. Already few artisans have committed suicide due to the business we lost," said Kumar Jain, a Mumbai-based jeweller.

Jewellery shops in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh opened last month.

On Monday, jewellers from eastern Indian state West Bengal decided to start operations, said Harshad Ajmera, Organizer Secretary of Swarna Shilpa Bachao Committee.

DISCOUNTS DROP

Gold discounts over global prices are falling as jewellers are now replenishing inventory after opening shops.

Dealers were offering discounts of up to $25 an ounce to the global benchmark this week, down from $40 last week.

"Demand has been picking up due to festivals and the wedding season," said Daman Prakash Rathod, a director at MNC Bullion, a wholesaler in Chennai.

The strike, and higher prices, are estimated to have cut India's gold demand in the March quarter by about two-thirds from a year ago to its lowest in seven years.

"By end of this week nearly all jewellery shops will open," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bank.
By Karolin Schaps

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Monday after banks dampened hopes that the meeting of producers in Doha next Sunday, aimed at freezing current output levels, would improve the demand-supply balance.

Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, fell by 10 cents to $41.84 a barrel by 1208 GMT, retreating from last week's rally to a three-week high reached on Friday after a drop in the rig count of U.S. drillers to its lowest since November 2009.

U.S. WTI crude also eased on Monday, falling to $39.50 a barrel, down 22 cents from the previous session.

"Prices will move back and forth this week on expectations for Doha. This morning it seems that speculation is being scaled back again," Commerzbank senior oil analyst Carsten Fritsch said.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs, who expect oil prices to average $35 a barrel in the second quarter, cautioned that the outcome of the meeting in Qatar could prove bearish for the market.

A production freeze at recent levels would not accelerate a rebalancing of the market, the analysts said, citing Russian and non-Iranian OPEC output that has remained close to the bank's 2016 average annual forecast of 40.5 million bpd.

Azerbaijan, the energy minister of which will attend the Doha meeting, said on Monday that its output had dropped by 1.6 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier to 10.496 million tonnes.

Barclays, meanwhile, gave warning that the Doha meeting could have limited impact because some producers are unlikely to take part in an output freeze.

Bearish sentiment was further reflected in price expectations. BMO Capital Markets lowered its 2016 Brent and WTI price forecasts to $41 and $38 a barrel respectively, down from the $45 and $41.50.

Many oil market speculators agreed with a more bearish outlook as data from the InterContinentalExchange (ICE) showed that net long positions on Brent had been cut to 355,225 contracts in the week ending April 5.

However, analsts are forecasting firmer demnd for oil over the longer term.

Researchers at Bernstein expect global oil demand to increase at a mean annual rate of 1.4 percent between 2016 and 2020, compared with annual growth of 1.1 percent over the past decade.

"We expect oil markets to rebalance by the end of 2016. This will allow prices to recover towards the marginal cost of $60 per barrel," Bernstein said, adding that global demand reach 101.1 million bpd by 2020, from the current 94.6 million bpd.

(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Greg Mahlich and David Goodman)
LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will close its corporate banking operations in India as part of a plan to sell or shut businesses in two-thirds of the countries it operates in, a person familiar with the situation said.

RBS, which was briefly the world's largest bank by assets, has spent the eight years since a 45 billion pound ($64 billion) government bailout cutting costs and reorganising.

It is closing the Indian business after failing to find a buyer, the person told on Monday.

Earlier this year, reported Singapore's biggest lender DBS Group Holdings and South African banking group FirstRand were in separate talks to buy the unit. "After examining a number of potential sale options for our banking business in India, we have concluded that it is not feasible to sell the business in its entirety," the bank said in a statement. "We will now look at other options which may include a wind down or sale of individual parts."The decision to close the India business is part of Chief Executive Ross McEwan's strategy announced last year to operate in 13 countries, down from 38.

McEwan has cut thousands of jobs and assets to reduce expenses, in a bid to boost earnings after eight straight years of losses.

($1 = 0.7026 pounds)

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Alexander Smith)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China wants to work with the rest of the world to find an appropriate resolution to overcapacity in the steel sector, its foreign ministry said on Monday, after Britain asked the world's top producer of the alloy to hurry up and tackle the problem.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond made the request while meeting his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Saturday.

A huge overcapacity and weak demand has prompted China, also the world's top steel consumer, to ramp up exports to record highs, dragging down global prices of the commodity to decade lows. Britain is hoping to stem this flood of cheap supply, which India's Tata Steel has blamed for its decision to pull out of the United Kingdom, putting 15,000 jobs at risk.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily briefing that steel overcapacity was a global problem caused by declining demand and said Hammond and Wang had talked about how to effectively address it.

"At this meeting the Chinese side also highly appraised the long-term British policy of open free trade and said we are willing to work with the international community, including Britain, to appropriately resolve this issue via international cooperation," Lu added.

He did not elaborate.

China makes half of the world's steel and produced 803.8 million tonnes in 2015. That was almost eight times the output of Japan, the No. 2 producer, and nearly 20 times Germany's.

China's production capacity is far bigger at 1.13 billion tonnes and it exported a record 112 million tonnes last year.

The country needs to step up efforts to shut down poorly performing mills, a government official has said.

Tata put its entire UK business up for sale last month, including its flagship production plant at Port Talbot in south Wales, saying it could no longer endure mounting losses caused by increased shipments to Europe from countries like China, high manufacturing costs and domestic market weakness.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
By Guy Faulconbridge and Sarah Young

LONDON (Reuters) - Tata Steel agreed to sell part of its British business to investment firm Greybull Capital on Monday, preventing thousands of job losses, and freeing it up to focus on the sale of its other big plant, in Wales.

The British government has been under pressure to ensure the plants are sold rather than shut down after Tata, one of the world's biggest steelmakers, said on March 30 it would sell its loss-making British business, putting 15,000 jobs at risk.

Greybull said it would buy Tata's Long Products Europe division in Scunthorpe, northern England, which employs 4,400, while the process to secure a buyer to save the Indian steelmaker's other major plant at Port Talbot in Wales also kicked off on Monday.

Greybull said it was arranging a 400 million pound ($570 mln) investment and financing package for the Scunthorpe business, as part of a deal which included agreement with suppliers and trade unions on resetting the business's cost base.

The deal, which will see the business renamed British Steel in a revival of a historic name last used almost two decades ago, is expected to complete in eight weeks subject to certain conditions being met, including a ballot of trade union members.

Prime Minister David Cameron, already grappling with rows over Britain's membership of the European Union, his budget and his tax affairs, has been scrambling to try to find buyers for Tata's assets to save jobs.

Tata put its British operations up for sale, citing a global oversupply of steel and cheap imports from China, high costs and weak domestic demand.

The deal for the Scunthorpe business would be done without any redundancies, said Greybull, adding that the acquisition was completed for a nominal 1 pound and also included two mills, an engineering workshop and a design consultancy in Britain, plus a mill in Hayange, France.

"We're expecting no redundancies going forward, the business plan calls for no redundancies," Greybull partner Marc Meyohas told reporters on a call.

Finding buyers for the Port Talbot assets, which employ 4,000 people, could take some time given the complexity of any deal, including negotiations over everything from pensions liabilities to energy subsidies.

Greybull said to date it had been wholly focused on the Scunthorpe deal, but declined to rule out future interest in the Port Talbot plant.

"Whether it's Tata or any other assets, we'll review it as and when is appropriate," Meyohas said.

Another potential bidder for the Port Talbot plant is Sanjeev Gupta, the boss of metals trader Liberty House Group. He told on Friday that he was serious about making an offer and had the backing of a group with $7 billion of revenues, hitting back at critics who have questioned his capacity to take on a business dragged down by heavy debt and weak sales.

However, much will depend on how much any potential investor is willing to pay to even hope of turning around the business.

"It's a loss-making business and a loss-making business is not worth a lot in itself to buy," Gupta said. "It's more of a question of what are the resources required in turning it around."

Britain's eurosceptic media has blamed Brussels for preventing London from taking greater steps to protect the industry while the opposition Labour Party has called on Cameron to do more to save the plants.

Tata, under former Chairman Ratan Tata, bought its UK steel operations in 2007 after outbidding Brazil's CSN to buy Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus for $12 billion as a way to access the European market. But the company struggled to turn the giant around.

Like its competitors such as top producer ArcelorMittal, Tata has been hit by plunging prices due to overcapacity in China, the world's biggest market for the alloy.

China said on Monday it wants to work with the rest of the world to find an appropriate resolution to overcapacity in the steel sector, after Britain asked Beijing to hurry up and tackle the problem.

Tata Steel is the second-largest steel producer in Europe with a diversified presence across the continent. It has a crude steel production capacity of over 18 million tonnes per annum in Europe, but only 14 mtpa is operational.

($1 = 0.7026 pounds)

(Additional reporting by Freya Berry; Editing by Susan Fenton)
By Georgina Prodhan and Tom Kackenhoff

DUISBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of German steelworkers took to the streets on Monday, demanding more action against the dumping of cheap Chinese imports and greater job protection amid uncertainty over the future of Thyssenkrupp's steel business.

The powerful German IG Metall union is demanding job guarantees if Thyssenkrupp merges its steel business with that of India's Tata Steel or another player - a prospect that has become more likely in the past weeks.

Workers fear they could face a similar fate to their peers in Britain, where Tata has put its entire steel business up for sale, endangering thousands of jobs.

More than 45,000 took part in protests throughout Germany, IG Metall said.

"I have another 39 years left to work. I don't want to be left on the street," said Ingo, a 28-year-old Thyssenkrupp employee, who identified himself only by his first name, at a march towards Thyssenkrupp's steel headquarters in Duisburg in Germany's Ruhr Valley industrial heartland.

Social Democrat Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, addressing a crowd of more than 17,000 protesters in Duisburg, vowed to fight for the German steel industry in Brussels, where the industry fears new climate regulation, that will make steel production uneconomical, and more favourable trade terms for China.

"We have nothing against China getting market economy status but only if it behaves like a market economy," he said, referring to the coveted World Trade Organisation status that China is expected to attain in December.

That would make it much harder for Europe to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods, including steel.

The European Union has set import duties on some Chinese steel products and has started anti-dumping investigations into others under pressure from Britain, France and Germany but will not impose any new measures until November.

Steelmaking in Europe has dwindled over the past decades as heavy industry has declined while other countries, in particular China, have ramped up production, selling excess steel on world markets at prices European producers cannot match.

That has led to calls for capacity cuts in Europe, a measure that producers believe will only be achieved through mergers.

Guenter Back, head of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe's central works council, warned management to include workers in any consolidation plans or face mass walkouts.

"We are not prepared to be bystanders if you are in your back rooms making plans for us," he told the Duisburg rally.

The steel industry employs 87,000 people directly in Germany - which unlike many other EU countries still has a strong manufacturing base. In total, it keeps 3.5 million people in employment in related industries and services, Gabriel said.

In Britain, Tata Steel agreed a deal to sell one of its main steelworks on Monday, saving 4,000 jobs, but thousands of other jobs remain at risk at its other UK operations.

($1 = 0.8786 euros)

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Susan Fenton)
DUISBURG, Germany (Reuters) - German steelworkers took to the streets on Monday, demanding more measures against the dumping of cheap Chinese imports and greater job protection amid uncertainty over the future of Thyssenkrupp's steel business.

Germany is Europe's biggest steelmaker and 45,000 workers joined rallies across the country, the IG Metall union said.

The powerful union is demanding job guarantees if Thyssenkrupp merges its steel business with that of Tata Steel or another player - a prospect that has become more likely in the past weeks.

Workers fear they could face a similar fate to their peers in Britain, where Tata has put its entire steel business up for sale, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

"I have another 39 years left to work. I don't want to be left on the street," said Ingo, a 28-year-old Thyssenkrupp employee, who identified himself only by his first name, at a march towards Thyssenkrupp's steel headquarters in the city of Duisburg in the Ruhr valley industrial heartland. That rally drew 16,000 workers.

Steelmaking in Europe has dwindled over the past decades as heavy industry has declined while other countries, in particular China, have ramped up production, selling excess steel on world markets at prices European producers cannot match.

There was some positive news, though, as Tata Steel reached a deal on Monday to sell part of its British operations to investment firm Greybull Capital, saving more than 4,000 jobs. Still, thousands of other jobs remain at risk as the Indian company has yet to find a buyer for its loss-making plant in Wales.

The European Union has set import duties on some Chinese steel products and has started anti-dumping investigations into others under pressure from Britain, France and Germany but will not impose any new measures until November.

"Brussels must decide: dirty steel from China or good clean steel from (the German state of) NRW," Knut Giesler, head of IG Metall in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia said.

The industry employs 86,000 people in Germany and had revenues of 40 billion euros ($46 billion) in 2014. Thyssenkrupp is the top producer, followed by ArcelorMittal and Salzgitter.

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel was due to address the protesters at Duisburg on Monday, while IG Metall also organised demonstrations in Berlin and the southwestern state of Saarland.

($1 = 0.8786 euros)

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Susan Fenton)
LONDON (Reuters) - British business minister Sajid Javid said on Monday the government would consider co-investing on commercial terms to secure the sale of Tata's UK steelmaking assets.

Tata, one of the world's biggest steelmakers, said on March 30 it was putting its British assets up for sale, citing a global oversupply of steel, high costs, weak domestic demand and a volatile currency.

"I've been in contact with potential buyers, making clear that the government stands ready to help," Javid told parliament. "This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms."

He said the government had appointed Ernst and Young to act as their financial advisers on any deal.

(Reporting by William James; editing by Stephen Addison)
India is ready to invest $20 billion in the development of Iran 's Chabahar port and has requested it to allocate adequate land in the Chabahar Special Economic Zone (SEZ), state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said in a statement.

India's intent to invest was made by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zangeneh in Tehran on Saturday.

"Pradhan conveyed to the Iranian side that Indian companies could invest up to $20 billion and were interested in setting up petrochemical and fertiliser plants, including in the Chabahar SEZ, either through joint venture between Indian and Iranian public sector companies or with private sector partners," the statement said.

"In this regard, he requested Iran to allocate appropriate and adequate land in the SEZ. He also expressed India's interest in setting up a LNG plant and a gas cracker in the Chabahar port," it said.

"He also requested the Iranian side for favourable treatment in the pricing of gas for India and also supply of rich gas at competitive price and on long term basis for the life of the joint venture projects that Indian companies are interested in setting up," it added.

In May 2014, India and Iran signed an MoU to jointly develop the port once the international sanctions against Iran were lifted.

Chabahar is located in the Gulf of Oman on the border with Pakistan, and Iran plans to turn it into a transit hub for immediate access to markets in the northern part of the Indian Ocean and Central Asia.

The statement said Pradhan also expressed India's interest in importing LPG from Iran and said that companies from both sides could, if required, discuss setting up an extraction plant in Chabahar.

On the final day of his two-day visit to Iran on Sunday, the first visit by an Indian minister to the country since sanctions against it were lifted earlier this year, Pradhan and his delegation visited the Chabahar free trade zone and port and discussed the facilities and incentives which could be offered to Indian companies, it added.

The Iran visit is to be followed by Pradhan's official tour of the UAE on April 11-12.


The Sunday Independent yesterday reported that Amazon is exploring options to take up more space in Dublin. The retail giant is thought to have secured an option over another city centre office block for the next six months.



Amazon employs close to 800 people on three floors at Burlington Plaza in Dublin 4. The company employs about 1,700 people in Ireland, roughly evenly split between its customer support operations in Cork, Dublin and data centre facilities located around Dublin.



Figures within the industry expect the retailer to sign on for 20,000 sq ft to 40,000 sq ft. That would be enough space for between 150 and 300 extra employees. This comes after it emerged that staff at the Irish units of Amazon are set to reap a total of almost 44m worth of share awards this year and in 2017.



The Sunday Independent reports that Amazon plans to build a data centre on the former Jacob's biscuits site in Tallaght to add to the number of data centres in the capital and wants to build two other facilities at locations around the city. Combined, those projects are likely to increase Amazon's infrastructure spending here to beyond 1bn.



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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It was announced on Friday that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) was named Irelands best large employer at the inaugural Nutrition & Health Foundation National Workplace Wellbeing Awards 2016.

Hundreds of employers from the public and private sector, supported National Workplace Wellbeing Day, which aims to improve employee health by promoting better nutrition and exercise in the workplace.

Health checks, exercise and fitness classes, nutrition talks and cookery demonstrations were organised around the country. Thousands of employers and employees also completed the Lunchtime Mile - a one mile cycle, jog, run, or walk - in the vicinity of their workplace.



The awards, which were sponsored by Mercer, recognise employers that make a significant contribution towards improving the health and wellbeing of their employees.

Colaiste Bride, a 100-teacher secondary school in Clondalkin, Dublin won the award for the best medium size organisation while personal tax advisers Fenero, also from Dublin, were named best small company.



National Workplace Wellbeing Day is an initiative of Food and Drink Industry Ireland, part of Ibec.

Dr Muireann Cullen of the NHF said, "We hope these companies will inspire more employers to do more in this area. Employee wellbeing is central to staff retention and productivity levels. Our recent study showed that seven in ten (69%) employees are more likely to stay longer with employers who show an interest in their health."

She added, "Employers are responding. More employees have access today to health and wellbeing initiatives within the workplace than they did in 2014 but more can be done."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The Causeway Capital Partners I LP Fund was launched yesterday by Causeway Capital.



The new 60m private equity fund will support growing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) based in Ireland and the UK. It will invest in growth equity and buyout transactions of companies initially requiring up to 10m of equity capital.



Causeway Capital was founded in 2015 with the objective of providing straightforward funding solutions and strategic support to the management of established SMEs. The Fund will provide investments of up to 10m to Irish SMEs with strong growth prospects as well as overseas companies with the potential for growth in Ireland. It operates from offices in Dublin and London and has plans to expand its team in both locations.



They have secured cornerstone investments in the Fund from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and AIB, together with funding from a number of private investors. The Fund will remain open to subscriptions from additional investors up to a hard cap of 60m.



The Funds first investment will be bbs Coffee and Muffins, a branded coffee and muffin retail business headquartered in Limerick. The fund is helping bbs Coffee and Muffins to successfully grow their business by opening new stores, launching new and improved products and enhancing existing stores through investment.

Since Causeway Capitals original investment, bbs has opened 6 new stores and has plans to grow the estate to 100 locations by 2020.



Furthermore, Dublin-based technology firm, Bizimply have been announced as the funds second investment project.

Causeway Capital, led a 2 million investment round alongside 500 Startups, a leading global venture capital seed fund based in Silicon Valley. This funding will support Bizimplys ambitious growth plans which include doubling the size of its current team based in Ireland.

The founders of Causeway Capital, David Raethorne and Matt Scaife, were previously involved with a number of successful SMEs, including Helix Health and Smiles Dental. Causeway Capital partner, David Raethorne says, "We have experience of founding and growing these types of businesses in Ireland and the UK and understand the opportunities and challenges they face. We believe that Causeway Capital is uniquely placed to help these businesses achieve a step change in their growth with a combination of funding and support for management teams and owners."

ISIF Director, Eugene OCallaghan commented, "We are delighted to support this new Irish SME private equity fund as a cornerstone investor. We believe that Causeway will be able to provide much needed capital to the SME sector in Ireland."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
Here at Business World, we publish blogs, news articles and social media postings on a daily basis. We get our name out into the market place by publishing interesting, unique content that aims to engage readers and draw them to our website with increased frequency.

Our business offers content creation services to a broad range of Irish companies. We offer news feeds, editorial content, blogs and other written content. Therefore, to drive our business it is imperative that we upload fresh content on a very regular basis.

Business review

Growing your business or at least maintaining your position is likely to be at the top of your short, medium and long term business plan.

In this day and age, maintaining your website is key to your online presence which is key to your business flourishing. According to all leading search engine providers, the best way to do this is to add timely, relevant content to your site.

Six key reasons why fresh content is fundamental to growing your business

1- Keep your customers informed: Updating your website regularly is a great way to advertise your products and keep your customers informed. This can be done via blog posts, news sections or product updates.

2- Appease the search engine masters! Adding fresh content to your website will make the auto-bot search engine crawlers happy, they like to find new content and push it towards the top of the search engine results. Fail to update regularly and you will sink down the search pages rapidly.

3- Stay relevant: You found your niche, you started your business but has your grip on the market slipped? Do people rely on your site for products or services? Or do customers flock to other businesses? Make your site relevant to the customers that you want. Dont try and cover all eventualities. Stay relevant and remember your niche.

4- Update your site; Old dull graphics? Tired written content? No blog posts since 2013? You need to get your content moving! Get some new written content on your site! If you cant.. Business World can  check out what we do here!

5- Writing regularly about your business and business arena is a great way to keep an eye on your business landscape. Use a blog post to research and review your competitors; look at their website content  how can you be better, consistently?

6-Get a website! Ok so you found our blog so you have some business sense! But shockingly a large proportion of Irish Small and Medium Enterprises dont have a website according to an Irish Times article last week; There are more than 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses in Ireland, but a massive 92% of these cant process sales online. Furthermore, 37% dont have a website.

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At Business World, we have a proud record of supporting a wide range of clients with their content creation needs. We support a diverse mix of national banks and other commercial entities as well as Governmental regulators get their corporate message across. Get in touch today to see how we can help grow your business.
New data released today by Ulster Bank shows that construction activity in Ireland continued to rise strongly in March despite an easing in the rate of expansion from the previous months high.

The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)  a seasonally adjusted index designed to track changes in total construction activity  posted 62.3 in March, remaining well above the 50.0 no-change mark despite dropping from the reading of 68.8 seen in February.



Construction activity has now increased in each of the past 31 months, with rising numbers of enquiries reported by respondents in March.



Each of the three monitored construction categories saw growth of activity ease from February. The fastest expansion in activity in March was on commercial projects, closely followed by housing activity. Civil engineering remained the slowest growing category, although the rate of expansion was still marked.



The report shows that construction firms increased their staffing levels further in March. The rate of job creation was the slowest in 2016 so far, but remained sharp. Employment has risen continuously since September 2013.



Chief Economist Republic of Ireland at Ulster Bank, Simon Barry commented, "Firms continue to report solid flows of new business. In turn, greater availability of tender opportunities continues to underpin increases in staffing levels which have been on the rise for over two and a half years now."

He added, "And firms remain solidly optimistic that activity will increase further over the coming year. Over 60% of firms anticipate further improvement over the next twelve months, partly reflecting positive expectations regarding the outlook for the wider Irish economy."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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It was announced last week that the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) has signed a 2.5m contract with Enterprise Ireland which will fund a significant expansion of its incubation facilities in ArcLabs Waterford.



The extension on its Carriganore campus will enable the Institute to double its capacity to support technology start-ups in the South East region.



The design phase and construction of the extension will take approximately 20 months and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation through Enterprise Ireland.



WIT President, Professor Willie Donnelly said, " Through the expansion of ArcLabs in Waterford and its presence in Kilkenny, the region will be better positioned to build on the existing mobile services cluster and to exploit new growth opportunities in areas such as Agri-tech."

He added, "This success is an important next step in the Institutes plans for establishing an entrepreneurial platform which will accelerate the regional economic development as a global leader in the digital economy."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Fans of craft beers could soon face higher bar bills as small, independent brewers face a potentially serious shortage of a vital ingredient: hops.

Last summer's hot and dry weather blighted the European hop harvest and strong demand for increasingly popular craft beers, which use a lot of hops, is putting small brewers' profit margins under pressure and forcing them to raise their prices.

Prices of some hop varieties have risen by up to 50%, industry sources say, while industry insiders say others are up to five times more expensive or simply not available.

On his farm in Kent, not far from London, Tony Redsell has been growing hops since 1948 and some of the varieties he cultivates, strung along yarns supported by rows of high poles in traditional fashion, are more than 200 years old.

He sells most of his hops under contract to small brewers in the United States and his prices have risen by 20% in the past three years. Last year the German crop was well down and American growers could not make up the difference, suggesting prices will go up again.

"The growth of craft brewing in the United States has boosted demand for English varieties," Redsell told Reuters.

"It's a good time to be hop farmer."

Most brewers have contracts with hop growers that protect them from sudden price surges, but future supply is at risk. The scarcity may also get worse as multinationals such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller buy up craft brands and ramp up their production.

"It's tough for brewers, especially brewers that don't have hop contracts or who were a little late to the contracting game," said Bill Manley, small batch product manager at Californian craft pioneer Sierra Nevada.

If you underestimate sales and need more hops, as can happen if a beer suddenly gets popular, he said "you have to go around and knock on doors like a neighbor trying to borrow a cup of sugar."

Along with water, malt and yeast, hops are one of the main ingredients of beer. Germany and the United States are the two dominant hop growers, each accounting for one-third of world production.

But Germany's harvest shrunk by 27% last summer, according to the International Hop Growers' Convention. There were also sharp declines in other European producers such as the Czech Republic and Slovenia.

"There has been a considerable tightening of supplies on the European hop market after the major reduction in the 2015 harvest with a sharp increase in prices," said Stephan Barth of German-based global hop merchant the Barth Haas Group.

"Europe will need at least an average harvest in 2016 otherwise we could see serious supply shortages," he added.

Barth said some hop prices had already shot up by 35 to 50% depending on type since last summer.

Craft beers are produced by small, independent brewers using traditional methods. Popular styles such as India Pale Ale can use six times the volume of hops used in the conventional lagers from which they have taken market share.

Rabobank analysts Ciska van den Berg and Francois Sonneville forecast an increase in global beer consumption of around 1% in 2016 as drinkers continue to trade up to craft beers.

Craft beer accounts for one pint in eight in the United States and is becoming more popular elsewhere, according to Bart Watson, chief economist with the US Brewers Association.

"We're seeing small and independent brewers spring up in a variety of locations across the globe. Europe, particularly northern Europe, is one area," Watson said.

Rabobank said craft beer had become "a worldwide phenomenon" and would ensure strong demand for hops this year.

The world's big brewers, producers of lagers like Budweiser, Miller Lite, Heineken and Coors, do use hops but in smaller amounts than in than craft beers. That may be changing though, as they have been jumping on the craft beer bandwagon by buying small brewers or developing their own craft-like brews.

AB InBev "has a policy of long-term contracts and sufficient physical inventories in place to protect against the current shortage for our brewing operations," a spokeswoman said.

The company, known for Budweiser and Stella Artois, also owns craft beers including Goose Island, Blue Point and Four Peaks in the United States and Camden Town in Britain.

Compared to independent brewers, AB Inbev will have much more clout when it comes to buying hops, potentially further reducing supply for small players.

Evin O'Riordain, founder of South London's Kernel Brewery, whose beers include six hop-heavy pale ales, called this "a worry on the horizon" but expressed hope that higher prices would encourage more farmers to grow hops.

"If a hop farmer can get a better living out of growing good quality hops, then I think that's positive," he said.

Hops often range in price from about $3 per pound to about $25 per pound, but extreme demand can push prices much higher.

Hops fall into two main categories, alpha, which give beer its bitterness, and aroma, which enhance smell and flavor. Aroma hops are currently either not available or in very tight supply, but ways have been found to help brewers.

"By shifting inventories from well stocked breweries to those in need, the hop merchants have been able to balance the market," Barth said.

Sierra Nevada, which helped launch the American craft beer movement with its flagship Pale Ale in 1980, said that given the perishability of hops, brewers will often transfer them to other beer outfits if they have more than they need.

"Sometimes we'll trade, like 60 empty bourbon barrels for 500 pounds of hops or something like that," Manley said.

Small brewers are also making beers that use fewer hops while still retaining their flavor, or substituting less popular but cheaper varieties.

Rabobank said high prices would bring an increase in plantings but since it takes three years for a new hop field to reach full yield hop prices will rise further this year.

This will not affect mainstream brews, where hops make up at most 2% of the price, Barth said. "But craft beers have a higher proportion of hops and so an impact on prices may be seen," he said.

Hops grow fast and this leaves them open to disease. On his farm at Boughton under Blean in east Kent, Tony Redsell is keeping a close watch on his increasingly valuable fields.

"Virtually every day of the week during May, June, July and August, I will be walking the hop trees," he said. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie


Microsoft became on Monday the first major US tech company to say it would transfer users' information to the United States using a new transatlantic commercial data pact and would resolve any disputes with European privacy watchdogs.

Data transfers to the United States have been conducted in a legal limbo since October last year when the European Union's top court struck down the Safe Harbour framework that allowed firms to easily move personal data across the Atlantic in compliance with strict EU data transferral rules.

EU data protection law bars companies from transferring personal data to countries deemed to have insufficient privacy safeguards, of which the United States is one, unless they set up complex legal structures or use a framework like Safe Harbour.

Microsoft said it would sign up to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, the new framework that was agreed by Brussels and Washington in February to fill the void left by Safe Harbour and ensure the $260 billion in digital services trade across the Atlantic continues smoothly.

"I'm pleased to announce today that Microsoft pledges to sign up for the Privacy Shield, and we will put in place new commitments to advance privacy as this instrument is implemented," John Frank, Vice President of EU Government Affairs, wrote in a blog.

The U.S. company's endorsement of the Privacy Shield comes amidst criticism of it by privacy groups for failing to address concerns about U.S. surveillance practices and one day before EU data protection regulators sit down for a two-day meeting on whether to endorse it themselves.

Revelations by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden of mass U.S. government surveillance programmes sparked outrage in Europe and set in motion the legal challenge that eventually led to the quashing of Safe Harbour.

The European Commission, which negotiated the framework on behalf of the EU, has urged companies to comply with decisions from the 28-member bloc's data protection authorities in disputes to help the Privacy Shield survive an expected future court challenge.

Companies transferring human resources data will have to submit to the jurisdiction of European regulators, but for other companies it will merely be voluntary. The main enforcers of the framework will be the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Growth is seen easing off in major advanced economies, the OECD said on Monday, with the outlook continuing to deteriorate in the United States and Britain while the German economy is losing steam.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said its monthly leading economic indicator, a measure designed to flag turning points in the world economy, showed signs of stabilization in China, India and France.

"The CLIs (composite leading indicators) continue to point to easing growth in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, with a similar outlook now expected in Germany and Italy," it said in a statement.

"In India and France, growth momentum is stabilizing. Signs of growth stabilization are also emerging in China and Canada," it said.

On an index where 100 represents the long-term average, the OECD said the reading for OECD countries as a whole edged down to 99.6 in February from 99.7 the month before.

The euro zone economy remained at 100.5 in its latest review of conditions, with the indicator for France stable at 100.9 while it dipped for Italy from 100.8 to 100.7.

The U.S. reading edged lower, to 98.9 from 99.0, while the UK reading dipped to 99.1 from 99.2. Germany's indicator dropped to 99.7 from 99.8.

China stood at 98.4, unchanged from the previous month. Brazil's reading remained at 97.7 while Russia stabilized at 98.2. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Whether it is Brexit nerves or just a bad run on shaky financial markets, sterling is on course for its first April loss in 12 years, boding ill for the run-in to the referendum on EU membership in June.

While the pound has proved more robust since a collapse at the end of February, and it rose again on Monday, it is down just over 1% on the Bank of England's trade-weighted measure of its strength so far this month.

That compares with a consistent run of strong performances in the first month of the UK financial year that stretches back more than a decade through the worst banking storms since the 1930s.

Traders and analysts have blamed the pound's weakness on nerves ahead of the June 23 referendum on European Union membership, poorer expectations for global growth or a current account deficit that ballooned to 7% of economic output at the end of 2015.

Analysts say that either suggests sterling may have the potential to recover before the end of the month from current multi-year lows. Or it could signal worse is to come in May and June, once the support for sterling that normally shows up in April evaporates.

The market's most-watched positioning data, from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, on Friday showed investors added to bets against sterling in the first week of this month.

But senior figures on banks' FX sales desks warn that few institutional investors have as yet hedged against the risk of a Brexit, as leaving the EU is known.

A Reuters poll on Friday suggested the pound would fall 7% in the immediate aftermath of a vote to leave. Some banks say it could be closer to 20%.

Opinion polls suggest the vote is too close to call, though bookmakers' odds tend to favour Britain staying in.

"One thing that is clear is that institutional money is not prepared," said the head of institutional currency sales at one of the top six FX trading banks by volume.

"At some point they are going to have to take a decision and we may see a real impact on sterling at that point." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
SHARE Contributed photo David Hart will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday at The NASA.

TUESDAY

WOMEN: The YWCA will host its Equal Pay Day Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. at Dos Comales Cantina, 227 N. Water St. The goal of the event is to educate women about pay inequality, offer solutions to wage discrimination and encourage women to take action. Cost: Free if RSVP by April 5. Information: 361-857-5661 ext. 30.

AWARENESS: The Child Abuse Prevention Month Proclamation at 11:15 a.m. at City Hall, 1201 Leopard St. Cost: Free. Information: 361-878-3561.

SOFTBALL: The Javelinas will host St. Mary's in a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. at Vernie and Blanche Hubert Softball Field, 700 University Blvd, Kingsville. Cost: $5, general admission; $4 public school students, seniors, military with ID; free, Texas A&M University-Kingsville students. Information: 361-593-4030.

MUSIC: The Sparkling City Chorus of Sweet Adelines International will host auditions at 7 p.m. to celebrate National Barbershop Quartet Day at Parkway Presbyterian Church, 3707 Santa Fe St. Cost: Free. Information: www.sweetadelines.net.

COMEDY: David Hart will perform at 7 p.m. at The NASA, 1613 Agnes St. Cost: $12. Information: 361-980-0440.

WEDNESDAY

CLASS: The Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District and the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service will host smoking secession classes from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Johnny Calderon Building, 710 East Main Ave., Robstown. Cost: Free. Information: 361-826-7267.

BOOK SIGNING: Celebrate the legacy of Dr. Hector P. Garcia, founder of the American GI Forum and a Mexican-American civil rights leader, with a reception and book signing of "The Inspiring Life of Texan Hector P. Garcia." The event will be at 1:30 p.m. at Mary and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Information: heather.selim@tamucc.edu.
Screenshot/YouTube David Liebe Hart, seen here in a YouTube screenshot with puppet Marcama, will perform at The NASA on Agnes Street at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

SHARE

By Amanda Howeth of the Caller-Times

David Liebe Hart's got a penchant for puppets and a knack for comedy.

Hart, made famous on Adult Swim's the Tim and Eric show, will be in town Tuesday performing skits from his quirky act.

"I bought tickets as soon as I could hoping they wouldn't sell out," said Bonnie Flores.

The purchase was a surprise she gave her better half.

"It was a birthday gift for my husband. I heard about the show through the NASA and Disc Go Round page on Facebook."

The live show featuring Hart begins at 7 p.m. at North Agnes Space Acoustics with local bands The Blind Owls and the Diagonal Lions also performing.

Hart, who got his start in the business in the late 70s, said he is looking forward to interacting with his fans.

"I'm kind to my fans. If it wasn't for the fans, I'd be nothing," he said. "You have to treat them like royalty. I'm grateful I have fans that support me."

The show will feature music, videos, puppets and laughs.

Hart said he will be performing old favorites, along with some original pieces.

"I've written a huge collection of songs. I took music theory and piano. I rehearse in my apartment every day and I practice my stand up in front of my mirror," Hart said.

Hart has many puppets in his collection, but says his personal favorite is an orange and white striped feline named Jason the Kitty Cat.

"Some of the puppets I have, I inherited from Christian school teachers," Hart said.

But there's another puppet in the collection that's getting fans' attention: Marcama.

"I fell in love" with Marcama, said Flores. "She may be my favorite."

When asked about his time appearing on Adult Swim, Hart said he appreciates the success he found while touring with the Tim and Eric show for five years. For the past three years, he's been touring solo.

Hart said he really wants to see the sights of Corpus Christi.

"I love it when fans show me around. I love it when fans want to take me to church while I'm on tour," he said. "I like to drop off my sheet music at local churches."

Flores said she is looking forward to Hart's songs.

"His music is definitely different from anything like I've ever heard and I like it. He can always make me smile and laugh" she said.

IF YOU GO

What: David Liebe Hart

Where: The NASA, 1613 Agnes St.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

Cost: $12 Tickets on sale at Disc Go Round, 5734 McArdle Road

Information: 361-980-0440
Foxconn, a giant Taiwanese contract manufacturer, has just acquired Japans Sharp, a loss-making consumer-electronics designer and manufacturer in need of restructuring. Foxconn paid a 'lucky' 88 per sharea low price for a once mighty brand.

One of Foxconns largest acquisitions ever has obvious benefits for Foxconnlike access to Sharps leading screen technology and better pricing power with customers, including its largest, Apple, whose customer loyalty has been waning. But beyond these benefits, were wondering whether the Sharp brand is worth saving.

Curious, we ran some social analytics. We found that Sharp is a sunset brand. While the majority of leading tech-brand loyalists are under 30 and more likely to have disposable income, over 50 percent of Sharps loyalists are over 55 and less affluent. Sharps current consumer is 'past prime', meaning difficult work to rebuild relevance amongst a younger customer basewith future purchasing potential.

Foxconns founder and CEO Terry Gou hinted he intends to keep the Sharp brand alive, so how can he ensure it regains relevance? We see two strategic options for Sharp-ening up the brand:

1) Refresh Sharp as a consumer master brand

If it chooses this route, Foxconn could take an evolutionary or revolutionary approach. Evolution: Sharp maintains its current branding in existing categories while restoring profitability through cost-cutting and incremental product improvements. Revolution: Foxconn uses Sharp as a vehicle to become a brand player beyond Sharps current core: expanding beyond phones, TVs, speakers and microwaves into new consumer-electronics categories, similar to Samsung or Electrolux. Sharps brand equity is in premium screen technology and being Japanesea challenging but not insurmountable starting point.

Reviving the Sharp brand is not necessarily a 'go big or go home' play. Instead of becoming the next Samsung or Apple, many Chinese companies are focusing on markets where their value proposition (great value) brings competitive advantage. There are 3 billion consumers in China, India, Africa and Eastern Europe who will pay a fair price for good quality from a Japanese brand.

2) Reposition Sharp as a consumer 'ingredient' brand

Sharps core competency is screen technology, so Foxconn could 'double down' here. Sharp screens could become a premium ingredient, allowing the companyand its device brand customersto command greater margins. Like 'Intel inside' and 'Lenses by Zeiss', why not Sharp Screen?

Apple wouldnt need or want to do this, but other Foxconn customers may find this valuable to differentiate their products. From our work in the industry, we know that screen technology is an increasingly important purchase driver, now that consumers see processing power and features as good enough.

This type of ingredient branding approach isnt new. Weve noticed a renaissance of the approach, with new characteristics. Xiaomi is known for building its own brand on the credibility of its component suppliers. The company promotes the Samsung battery in its new electric bicycle to build trust, and heavily markets Sony as the camera-tech provider for its smartphones.

Sharp is already partnering with Nintendo on its free form (flexible) console displaya premium ingredient model Foxconn could extend. Looking ahead, Foxconn could license brand usage alongside Sharp screens, though investment would be needed to refresh the brand's image.

So whats the Sharp-est way forward?

Foxconn needs to diversify its business to avoid overreliance on its contract-manufacturing business and its decreasing margins, driven by rising Chinese labor costs. Perhaps better margins through branded business is the answer.

Weve seen manufacturers attempt to move up the value chain before. We helped HTC make its shift from ODM to global brand in 2010. This experience taught us that building a relevant global brand is far from a trivial exercise. It requires a cultural transformation from technology to customer-centricity, not ot mention relentless marketing execution. Missteps arent forgiven, and sustaining momentum over time is challenging.

Foxconn has been experimenting with branded business to increase margin and move up the value chain. Recently it started making its own mobile accessories under the Coverbank brand, launched a Bluetooth headset brand, Candyard, and introduced Kick2real, a platform for helping entrepreneurs prototype products that Foxconn can then manufacture.

What if Foxconn became the provider of leading, branded electronic technologyscreens, batteries, or other essentials? Saying 'you design it, well make it premium' is a less risky, more sustainable way for the manufacturer to capture more value without straying too far from its core. More and more ambitious, emerging homegrown brandstomorrows Xiaomis, OPPOs and OnePluseswill be keen to leverage established brands equity to build credibility and premium associations.

David Brabbins is a Hong Kong-based associate partner at Prophet
Jarek Ziebinski has a bit more on his plate these days. In December, he was appointed CEO of Publicis One, a newly-launched group entity, following a restructuring of Publicis Groupes business model while apparently retaining the post of chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific.

Its a similar story for Paul Heath, chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific, who in January took on additional responsibilities at the agency as worldwide executive director for global business development. Charles Cadell, meanwhile, will this month take up the role of representative director, president and CEO of McCann Worldgroup Japan, alongside his current role as the agencys Asia-Pacific president.

These are just three examples of a growing trend at agencies in Asia-Pacificone that has seen senior personnel taking on dual roles. This begs the question of whether a pure regional role is a luxury that creative agencies can no longer afford, as well as highlighting the expectations agencies are now placing on talent.

Alan Couldrey, CEO of Brand Union Asia-Pacific, has spent the last year juggling two roles, having been appointed chief talent officer for Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific in January 2015. While he doesnt believe that a pure regional role is a luxury, he does say that a pure role, in many cases, is not a necessity.

More recently Ive been able to step away from a full-time role on Brand Union, as the team has become stronger, allowing me to take on a role for Ogilvy again, Couldrey says. The Ogilvy role has grown. My responsibilities at Brand Union have not reduced, but Ive got a strong team with me.

Couldrey explains that the dual role offers him balance and perspective, and that from a career development point of view, its good to be able to offer combined roles to managers in order to keep them both stimulated and challenged. It is also probablythough not always, he saysa more efficient use of senior human resources.

Tom Doctoroff, APAC chief executive at JWT, who currently also oversees China, believes that a pure regional role is still important because, he says, for network cohesion, it is still key to provide a vision and leverage tools to build a cohesive structure across geographies.

Too many layers bring accountability challenges for agency networks and their leaders, he says. Every regional leader needs to be rooted in some business, either with a client or being on the ground to manage a significant country.

Taking on multiple roles is also about getting the best people to take on positions as and when needed. Priya Bala, regional director at Asia-based font, which specialises in recruitment for the digital, marketing and creative industries, says that in such a case, it is likely that one of the roles requires hands-on involvement, while the other just needs oversight and guidance. She says it will be disastrous if the multiple roles all require 110-percent attention from one person.

It is also about getting people who already understand the business, company, people, challenges and culture to implement the best practices in another role and hit the ground running, Bala points out, as opposed to bringing in someone new from the outside who will have to learn everything before being able to bring in or achieve results.

Bala believes that the dual/multiple role concept is also about agencies being able to develop a strong second-tier team internally, where people are able and ready to step up and take on key senior positions when needed.

Cost constraints are also likely to be influencing this shift towards dual roles. Couldrey believes that the idea of a fully-funded, expensive overhead team sitting in a regional office is not sustainable, if it ever was in the first place.

Clients want expertise on their brands in the markets where they do business and its our responsibility to offer that, but we have to be more clever about how we structure our offering, he says. Combined roles allow agencies to match client needs without carrying unnecessary central resources. Or thats the theory: making it workas with anything that involves a matrix of any kindis a matter of trial and error.

And with limited budgets, teams cannot expand and neither too can staff be groomed. When the need arises, companies have no alternatives but to get existing staff to take on additional responsibilities. Fonts Bala cautions, however, that in the long run, this could potentially backfire as the lack of focus in any one job will lead to failure all around.

Is this dual-role trend likely to be replicated across other ad sectors? The likely answer is that as sectors continue to converge under one group, there is set to be more and more sharing of resources across the various companies. At the end of the day, businesses want the best outcome in the shortest possible time, and risk can be considerably reduced when there is someone around who is already a proven entity.

BIG IDEAS

Marketers expect to see one roof synergy from a holding company and its operating groups

Greg Paull, principal and co-founder, R3 Worldwide

There are two main factors working in parallel [behind this dual role concept]the personal and the financial. For the personal, juggling multiple roles is often a tool to secure better talentsome individuals seeking promotion or opportunity will take on the extra load to boost their own portfolio and power base.

At the same time, there are the financial realities of the holding companies to consider. Wall Street continues to demand more growth and over 15-percent margin in a business that is constantly under pressure from clients, procurement and shrinking budgets.

For Publicis Groupe, its reorganisation is a positive move for top 20 markets, but more of a financial move for the rest. Agencies will be co-located or closed, and overall working structures will change, in the smaller markets, to reign in cost.

For Ogilvy, it is somewhat disappointing that an organisation of over 4,000 people cannot find a full-time resource to handle its marketing [David Mayo, CEO for Bates CHI & Partners, has also taken on the role of chief marketing officer at Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific]. Marketing has always been something that has differentiated Ogilvy in the regionI hope they continue to invest in it.

The future trend will be hybrid roles between a holding group and the individual operating companies. By definition, the holding group roles have always been limited, and yet more clients are pushing to see the value of the holding company for their business. This is happening already with Laura Desmond at Publicis Groupe [the CEO of Starcom Mediavest was named the Groupes chief revenue officer in the recent restructuring and is also responsible for new business development] or Simon Bond at Interpublic [who joined the holding company as chief growth officer last September].

Youll see clients demand more holding-company synergy, and people in the operating groups will have to step up to manage this. In our research on integration, it was clear that marketers are demanding agencies work in a more integrated manner. Where they are all under one roof, that expectation is even higher.

Our view: Creative agencies are having to streamline and work in teams and leadership roles reflect the change. For questions or comments, write to [email protected]
| BY Ricki Green |

BMF has enhanced its creative offer with the appointment of Tim Bishop as associate creative director and the hire of two new teams: creative duo Jess Roberts (art director) and Justin Butler (copywriter), together with Nadia Ahmad (art director) and Tom Johnson (copywriter).

Bishop joins BMF with a 14 year career at leading agencies spanning Melbourne, Amsterdam and Sydney. He most recently spent three years at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne working across Carlton United Breweries, Bonds, Origin Energy, Dulux and NAB. He has achieved a number of global awards including three Silver Lions, Finalist Titanium, Silver and Bronze Euro Best, plus several AWARD, Clios and One Show wins.

Roberts and Butler met in AWARD School in 2013 and have been working together since. Roberts has a bachelor of visual communications (she does the pictures) and Butler has a bachelor of journalism (he does the words). Before joining BMF, they spent two years at OgilvyOne creating and executing campaigns for a number of businesses, including IBM, American Express, Coca Cola, Optus and KFC.

Ahmad joins from Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai where she worked on Nike. Throughout her career shes been in agencies such as DDB, Naked and Droga5. Outside of adland, she has created her own product, Handvas and also runs an Instagram account, Put A Rang On It. Ahmads work has been recognised by The Huffington Post, Time, Business Insider, Vogue, Perez Hilton, BuzzFeed, Mashable, MTV, Daily Mail, Brown Cardigan, TrendHunter, Core77, Design Milk and Young Guns.

Johnson is teaming up with Ahmad. He started his career at Whybin/TBWA Auckland where he worked predominantly on ANZ and picked up a handful of awards (D&AD Nomination, D&AD In-Book, One Show Design Merit, Adstars Bronze) for a Minds for Minds (Non-profit autism research organisation) print campaign. More recently, Johnson worked at DDB Sydney on McDonalds, Volkswagen, Telstra and Carefree.

Says Cam Blackley, executive creative director, BMF: We continue to strengthen our team and, having Tim onboard to add to the creative leadership, is massive. It has paid off already and hes also a terribly nice bloke. Im also excited to have persuaded Nadia, whos fresh from W&K, to sit alongside the immensely talented Tim. Were developing new ways of working and having a team with different perspectives and creative specialties is critical, the arrival of Jess and Justin will help us continue to push to be best creative offering around. They have a bright future.

Says Bishop about his appointment: BMF consistently does excellent work and weve got some exciting campaigns in the making. Im looking forward to playing a part in future successes and working with Cam and Alex to ensure the creative output of the agency is of the highest standard possible.

BMFs creative team is growing in response to recent wins including Dulux, as well as extending the scope of work for James Squire, 5 Seeds and Weight Watchers.
| BY Ricki Green |

CGU Insurance has launched its latest brand campaign via Cummins&Partners, celebrating its support of the iconic short film festival Tropfest, and the small businesses associated with the event.

As an insurer, CGU Insurance plays an important role in helping Australian small businesses, who are the backbone of our local communities, succeed. CGUs partnership with Tropfest is a great demonstration of this.

In December 2015, CGU Insurance announced it would extend a financial lifeline to the worlds largest short film festival Tropfest, following its shock cancellation the month earlier due to financial challenges. The announcement of the partnership, made at a press conference in Centennial Park, generated mass public support and significant media coverage for the resurrection of the iconic cultural event.

Thanks to CGUs support, tens of thousands of attendees flocked to Centennial Park on Sunday 14 February 2016 to see Tropfest make its triumphant comeback.

Developed with Cummins&Partners, the new campaign will tell the story of how CGU Insurance enabled Tropfest and its small business partners to see it through in the face of adversity.

The first 30 TVC features Tropfest founder, John Polson, sharing his perspective on what the return of Tropfest meant to him and the businesses involved.

It also follows the successful stories of CGU seeing it through for Tasmanian Oyster Farmer Max, and for David Sonter, whose nursery was destroyed in the 2013 Blue Mountains bushfires.

The campaign went live last night (Sunday 10 April) across TV, outdoor and online platforms, with the content series appearing across CGUs social platforms.

Says Julia Nelson, manager brand, sponsorship and events, Australian business division, IAG:

When Tropfest was cancelled, we saw an opportunity to make a real difference to the future of the event for all the small businesses involved, as well as the public.

CGU Insurance has a long history of helping small businesses see it through, and our partnership with Tropfest has enabled us to connect our brand with a younger, more urban audience.

Our new creative campaign is the culmination of our journey bringing Tropfest back to life, from the initial announcement through to the triumphant return of the event.

We have been overwhelmed by the incredible response to the return of Tropfest and are excited to share the story of our partnership with a wider audience through our new TVC and content series.

Says Tom Ward, managing director, Cummins&Partners: When we heard the news that Tropfest was going to be cancelled, we instinctively knew that CGU had to be involved.

As a brand that stands for seeing it through for small businesses, this was the perfect opportunity for CGU to partner up with the Tropfest team and put their brand purpose into practice.

After the idea was initially floated, within 24 hours all parties immediately sprang into action. It was an incredible collaboration and were delighted with the result.

CGU Insurance:

Julia Nelson, Senior Brand Manager

Louise Lynch, Senior Brand Advisor

Shaun Dyker, Senior Brand Advisor

Mary-Louise Dare, Corporate Communications Manager

Natalie Pennisi, Corporate Communications Manager

Mediacom:

Luc Meritan, Group Business Director

Sylvia Chew, Planning Manager

Cameron Perry, Senior Planning Executive

Mac Nguyen, Digital Manager

Cummins & Partners:

Executive Creative Director: Jim Ingram and Ben Couzens

Creative Director  Doogie Chapman

Senior Art Director  Connor Beaver

Head of Broadcast Production  Jess Thompson

Managing Director  Tom Ward

Group Account Director  Tilly Hobba and Georgie Bugelly

Integration Director  Victoria Beranger

Integration Manager  Rachel Beckley

Production Company  Will ORourke

Director  The Glue Societys Paul Bruty

Offline  Dan Lee & Graeme Pereira

Grade  Martin Greer

Online  Eugene Richards

Music  Electric Dreams

Sound House  Risk Sound
| BY Ricki Green |

Dentsu Mitchell has today announced the promotion of Carla Bradshaw to the newly created position of national head of marketing and partnerships.

In her new role, Bradshaw will be responsible for marketing for the agency, working closely with the Dentsu Aegis Networks Corporate Communications team and Dentsu Mitchells executive leadership team to build the profile of the brand, its people and its work. She will also be working closely with DANs new B2B division Interprise to identify new opportunities for Dentsu Mitchell clients in the business audience engagement space.

Bradshaw has over 20 years experience in the media industry, joining Dentsu Mitchell in 2008 after leading the Coles/Liquor business for several years at Universal McCann.

Says Adrian Roeling, national managing director: This promotion reflects the great contribution Carla has made to our business, having successfully led our largest commercial client The Good Guys for over eight years. We have incredible brand heritage in Australia and with the alignment to Dentsu and the launch of Dentsu Mitchell last year, a big opportunity has opened up to increase our share of voice and share our new capabilities with the market.

Says Bradshaw of her new role: Its been an amazing journey for Dentsu Mitchell and I believe we are entering a very exciting phase for our business, with an evolved strategic position and a great team in place to bring it all to life.

Im looking forward to a new challenge and recognising the immensely talented people at Dentsu Mitchell, and highlighting the innovative work the agency is producing. There is also great potential to build strategic B2B partnerships across our client base nationally through Interprise and I will leverage this to its full potential.
| BY Ricki Green |

Ad Stars has announced that the entry deadline for the 9th Ad Stars Awards is Sunday 15th May 2016.

Based in Busan, South Korea, Ad Stars is the biggest advertising festival in Asia by virtue of the fact that it is free to enter and open to everyone including advertising agencies and creative professionals, production companies, students and non-professionals.

Entries to Ad Stars can be submitted online at any time of the year, however only those entries received prior to 15th May will be in the running to win Grand Prix, Gold, Silver or Bronze medals at the Ad Stars Awards on 27th August 2016.

The Ad Stars Awards will conclude the 9th Ad Stars festival, a three-day festival that will run from 25th  27th August 2016 at Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea.

The first Ad Stars Awards took place in 2008 and received 3,105 entries from 29 countries. By 2015, entries had grown to 17,698 entries from 67 countries.

Entries to Ad Stars have grown so quickly since 2008 that we are now proud to say Ad Stars stands shoulder to shoulder with other advertising events of global renown. This year, were hoping to receive 20,000 entries from 70 countries, says Eui Ja Lee, Co-chairperson of the Ad Stars Executive Committee.

One reason for our growth is that Ad Stars doesnt charge entry fees for almost all of its categories, which means agencies of any size can afford to enter their work. We even have categories for students and non-professionals, giving everyone with an interest in advertising the opportunity to win an Ad Stars trophy.

Its free to enter the Ad Stars Awards, although this year for the first time there is an entry fee attached to the Integrated category only.

Co-chairperson Hwan Jin Choi said, By showcasing all award winners on our website, we hope to encourage more people to work in advertising, and to inspire people in the industry to continually improve their thinking. Its all part of our belief that creativity can contribute to a better future for us all, which is a philosophy that sets Ad Stars apart from other global festivals.

The preliminary deadline for entries is Sunday 15th May 2016, followed by a final deadline of Tuesday 31th May. To enter the Ad Stars 2016, visit here.

Although Ad Stars is based in Busan, South Korea, the festival welcomes entries from all creative professionals, students and non-professionals globally.
| BY Ricki Green |

The Kitchens Nick Bowers was recently commissioned by Havas Worldwide to photograph indigenous service men and women for the Australian Defence Force See Yourself campaign.

Over a two week period Bowers travelled to Air Force, Naval and Army bases in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland.

Says Bowers: It was great to have the opportunity to meet and photograph Tri Services personnel on location. I was very impressed with their professionalism and drive and humbled to learn their stories.
| BY Ricki Green |

The Newspaper Works today launched an advertising campaign to promote the strength of regional news media, following a report that found the sector has almost twice the trust of television and radio.

More than half of the reports respondents considered regional newspapers and their websites as a trusted source of information.

VIEW THE PRINT ADS  THINK LOCAL_REGIONAL_HP_190x262_WAN_FINAL.PDF

The national campaign, targeting local business owners, features a series of print ads tailored to individual towns and geographic areas with the headline Newspapers are the #1 source of local information.

The campaign will run in regional newspapers, supported by The Newspaper Works foundation members News Corp Australia, Fairfax Media, APN News & Media and Seven West Media.

Findings from the Think Local  Regional News Media Report, released last month, form the basis of the new campaign, which aims to reinforce the close and trusting relationship communities have with their local newspaper that also provides an effective advertising environment for businesses.

The report was commissioned by The Newspaper Works and conducted by Research Now among 1,440 respondents to better understand the roles news media plays in readers lives, and to compare this with how readers use other media.

Says Mark Hollands, CEO, The Newspaper Works: Regional news media reaches four million residents in regional Australia* and the sector has a unique and valuable role in communities. Readers have an intimate relationship with their local paper that creates a highly effective advertising environment. This campaign seeks to confirm the influential role of regional news media to both readers and advertisers.

Readers overwhelmingly turn to their local newspaper to stay informed about issues affecting their area, events in their region and to get practical, relevant information.

The report also found that 54% of people ranked regional newspapers as their most trusted source of information, followed by television at 29%, radio at 27% and online search at 18%.

Regional newspapers were also the most engaging source of information, with readers 1.4 times more likely to find their regional newspaper more engaging than TV, 1.6 times that of radio and 2.9 that of letterbox dropped catalogues and flyers.

When it comes to providing information about their local communities and how to find businesses and services in their area, regional newspapers outperformed every other media at 77%. This compares with just 30% for radio, 24% for catalogues/flyers and 22% for television. In addition, regional newspapers ranked Number One for influencing shopping and buying behaviour at 37%.

Regional news media readers are more likely to be high income earners, with one in three earning $80,000 or more per annum, making newspapers a source of high-value customers.

The Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Report, released last September, found that newspapers were also the most trusted medium for ads.

Think Local  News Media Research Report, was commissioned by The Newspaper Works and conducted by Research Now. The study was conducted online from 26 November to 14 December 2015, and collected data from 1,440 newspaper readers.
| BY Ricki Green |

VisitCanberra has launched One Good Thing After Another, a new global marketing platform created by The Works that is designed to focus on Canberras great diversity of visitor experiences and their close proximity to each other.

One Good Thing After Another is an enduring marketing platform that can evolve destination messages and will sit alongside the VisitCanberra and CBR brands. It follows the highly successful and award winning Human Brochure and 101 Local Humans campaigns which were also created by The Works.

The first phase of the integrated campaign includes a series of five curated films called Weekend Movie Trailers that provide a taste of what a weekend in Canberra can be like  appealing to a diverse range of travel moods.

Following the launch of the movie trailers the second phase will include an Australian first app that allows users to create their own travel video itinerary.

Cinema, digital video and display advertising, social, native advertising and search will support the campaign.

The independent Sydney agency was selected to create the global marketing platform in November last year following a pitch which included 12 agencies. Research commissioned by VisitCanberra into the short-listed concepts found The Works strategy to be the most successful at driving consideration of Canberra as a leisure destination.

Says Douglas Nicol, director and creative partner at The Works: Following the success of the Human Brochure and 101 Local Humans campaigns were delighted to be once again working with VisitCanberra on this long term global marketing platform.

Canberra is a destination that has a wide variety of experiences for all types of people wanting to spend a weekend away and One Good Thing After Another has been designed to reflect just that. The integrated campaign will showcase the best it has to offer and in phase two we will be launching something thats not been done before in Australian tourism marketing.

Says Kelly Ryan, group marketing manager at VisitCanberra: Research has demonstrated that consumers are time poor so this idea of being able to do more in less time is really appealing, particularly when you are talking about a short break.

VisitCanberra is investing $2 million across the 2016-2017 financial year to support the platform which will initially target Sydney, regional NSW and Melbourne residents intending to take a short break, with Singapore and New Zealand identified as the top tier international markets.

Maxus Communications Australia is managing the media planning for the campaign and will see the 60 second cinematic videos broadcast with busy commuters a key target. The message to escape it all will find them in moments of receptivity such as Monday mornings before a big week or at the end of a long day.
Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 9:56PM

BlackBerry isnt ready to give up on the Android market yet. According to its CEO John Chen, they plan on releasing two more Android-powered smartphones: one with a physical keyboard and another with a full touchscreen. Chen told Abu Dhabis The National that this would be different from the Priv will be mid-range devices. Chen admitted to The National that releasing the Priv was a misstep. The fact that we came out with a high end phone [as our first Android device] was probably not as wise as it should have been. It wasnt well received by even the companys enterprise customers who found the $700 USD price tag a bit too steep.

The new BlackBerry devices are rumored to be code-named Rome and the Hamburg and will be pushing for a sub-$500 price off-contract. Itll be marketed as the only truly secure Android devices.

Source: The Verge
Speaking in Singapore on the first day of a trade mission, the Chief Minister said there was nothing problematic about the February 18 meeting, which included Ms Fitzharris' husband, Pierre Huetter. Mr Huetter works for Dowse Projects, which has been employed by the GWS Giants to work on its bid with Grocon to redevelop the oval and build up to 1000 apartments, a hotel, shops and commercial space.
"Nine years later, over $10 million expended in research and development and MCi now holds the best opportunity to commercialise technology for utilising CO2 in building products on a very large scale. China is our obvious first market with a strong will for environmental clean up and a need for low emissions technology."
The hospital applied to have the case dealt with by summary judgment, which would bypass a trial, or struck out of court on the grounds that the claim was made more than six years after the surgery. That delay meant the case fell outside the ACT's statute of limitations, the hospital said.
A fifth permanent judge is expected to be appointed to the ACT Supreme Court by the end of June, the government has revealed while marking the start of construction on the new courts precinct.
Robson dug 48 test pits down as deep as four metres below ground. It found metal, brick, concrete and glass at the surface or near the surface in numerous locations. It found fragments of bonded asbestos sheeting and friable asbestos, probably due to the bonded sheeting degrading, in 10 of the test pits. The asbestos was found at 90cm or lower.
"[ASIC] has all of the powers to inquire of a royal commission but it's got the powers to prosecute and to take action, which it is doing. It has many current actions on the books at the moment. It has banned people from in the industry, it has enacted fines, it is a very active regulator," he said.
"I would infer that this [investigation] involved a wholesale trawl through all of 'mmmdl's' online posts, since it was discovered from those posts that 'mmmdl' claimed that he was approximately 39 years old in January 2015, had been employed at Centrelink for 20 years, lived opposite the Telstra exchange in Corrimal, and would be travelling overseas during late May to early June 2015," Mr Hatcher wrote.
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Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned []
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In order to reduce the burden of the school bags, the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research (Balbharti) has decided to launch an application.

This application has been developed in accordance with the Maharashtra state board syllabus, will allow students access/read textbooks on their mobiles.

Textbooks can be downloaded from ebalbharati.in

Textbooks will be published on ebalbharati.in in pdf format. The pdf e-books can be downloaded free of cost.

The app will be launched for Class 6 students in June before the new academic year begins, will feature the entire textbook content of all subjects. Audio-visual content will also be added to the versions later on.

The policy was aimed at reducing the weight of bags carried by students to school.

The government resolution (GR) on the school bag policy issued in June last year had stated that they will give students tabs, e-books and come up with semester-wise textbooks to reduce the weight of the students' bags.

With an aim to bring down the burden of school books of kids, last year the Maharashtra schools were directed to reduce the weight of school bags. The school education department in accordance with the expert recommendations has set the deadline to November 30 to reduce the weight.

According to the guidelines issued by the government, the weight of the bags for students of classes 1 to 8 is should be between 1,800 gm and 3,425 gm. Parents and schools were asked to ensure that the norms are followed.

Vaachan Prerna Diwas

Maharashtra government had also directed schools to celebrated Vaachan Prerna Diwas or 'Reading Day' to mark the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's birth anniversary. It was celebrated as 'No School Bag Day' for all the students of classes 3 to 8.

Also Read:

Top 10 Application for students
Following the demand of students for external evaluation of their final examination answer sheet the NIT Srinagar, board on Monday, March 11, agreed on considering this issue.

NIT, Srinagar the board of Governors (BoG) has recently said that they might consider the demand for external evaluation.

The demand in this regard has come into light after local students said that they fear of being discriminated by the resident professors of the institute. Earlier, the local students also demanded their transfer to other NIT institute, however, the centre rejected their demand.

While speaking on this issue, a senior official said, "We are also looking at introducing evaluation of final exam answer scripts from external examiners across all 31 NITs. The details are being worked out."

Non-Kashmir students boycotted the examination

However, non-Kashmir students on Sunday boycotted the examination even after getting an option to appear for it. This decision came after members from various student organisations belonging from fields like architecture, IT, among others tried to enter the college premises in order to stand with non-local students.

NIT, Srinagar final examinations started from Monday. Over 200 students have chosen to take these exams later. The number is expected to go up till 300, as per the ministry.

As per the reports, the Human Resource Ministry (HRD) has requested the principal, but the final decision should be in the hands of BoG and Senate.

The joint secretary of the ministry, Shashi Prakash Goyal will also be attending the meeting at the campus. As the Senate is the top decision-making body of the university, the sources said that the BoG is also authorised to take decision in this regard.

The HRD ministry is in the process of sending some of the best faculty members from IIT-NIT system to the institute.
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Steve Kalafer has produced 16 films and been nominated thrice for an Academy Award, but he also doubles as a car dealer.



In fact, the 66-year old has been in the trade for 39 years and is the chairman of Flemington Car & Truck Country, a chain that counts a Volkswagen dealership among its total of 17.

Unfortunately for the German company, Kalafer is very unhappy with their way of handling the whole diesel emissions cheating scandal. So much so, hes making a documentary titled Backfire: The VW Fraud of The Century. He makes it clear that the execs reaction to blatant cheating is far from satisfactory.

When I came to Volkswagen to discuss the film, they said, Why are you doing this?' Kalafer told Autonews. I said, To tell the truth.'

He accuses company leaders of being silent on the issue of offering compensation to customers and dealers alike. The worst part in all of this, he points out, are the single-point dealers who have invested their life savings and familys reputations in VW franchises. Theyve been thrown in the gutter, meaningless. That hurts me.

The film is a work in progress and it hasnt been decided if it will air as a single documentary or a series. One thing is certain: Backfire will add another headache to Wolfsburg. If you cant do the time

Photo Gallery
Coming up with a verdict on a single car is relatively easy, but one example does not reflect on the automaker as a whole.



How can you, therefore, rank the brands as accurately as possible?

The way Consumer Reports does it is the following: they add the overall score, road-test score and predicted reliability results for each model they have tested, then average the results and the number they come up with is that brands overall score.

To be included, CR must have data from at least two of a brands models, thus the likes of Tesla, Smart and Ram are absent.

Luckily for Audi, who topped the list, brand perception and corporate practices (read Dieselgate) are not taken into consideration. Even so, CR does stress that Volkswagen AG, the maker of VW and Audi vehicles, should be held accountable for manipulating emissions testing with its vehicles.

A non-premium brand, namely Subaru, slots in second place in front of Lexus, Porsche and BMW. In case youre wondering where the third German brand battling for the crown in the US premium segment, namely Mercedes-Benz, is, the answer is in the middle of the pack in 14th place.

What hurt it most were predicted reliability and less than a third of its models tested being recommended that offset their top marks in road-test results. As for the worst, the Razzie belongs to Fiat, with only 38 points out of 100.

You can read the full list, as well as each brands score in each category, right after the jump.
Bob Balser, 88, March 25, 1927  January 4, 2016

Animation director of The Yellow Submarine. Directed the Den sequence of Heavy Metal and sequence director of the made-for-TV animated version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Producer and animation supervisor of many series through his own production company, Pegbar Productions, in Barcelona, including The Jackson 5 and The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. Below is a short, El Sombrero, that Balser directed in 1964:

Frank Armitage, 91, August 5, 1924  January 4, 2016

Background and layout artist at Disney on Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, Mary Poppins, and The Jungle Book.

Production illustrator on Foxs Fantastic Voyage (1966), Disney Imagineer on many projects including Wonders of Life Pavilion (EPCOT) and murals for Disneys Animal Kingdom. Armitage established a second prolific career as a medical illustrator.

Pat Harrington, Jr., 86, August 13, 1929-January 6, 2016

Actor who voiced both the Inspector and his sidekick Deux Deux in DePatie-Frelengs 1960s theatrical animation series.

Andy Lesniak, age unknown, d. January 16, 2016

VFX artist and CG supervisor whose credits include Titanic, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Battleship, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, The Wolf of Wall Street, 300: Rise of an Empire, and Divergent.

Bob Inman, 88, 1927  February 2016

Background painter at UPA, Bob Clampetts Snowball Productions, MGM, Jay Ward, Hanna-Barbera, Bosustow & Associates, Quartet, Filmfair and many other commercial studios. Projects included Mr. Magoos Christmas Carol, Gay Purr-ee, The Phantom Tollbooth How the Grinch Stole Christmas, George of the Jungle, The Pogo Birthday Special, and Tom & Jerry shorts. Learn more about him here.

Joe Alaskey, 63, April 17, 1952  February 3, 2016

Voice actor who voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, and other Warner Bros. characters. He also voiced Plucky Duck on Tiny Toon Adventures.

Daniel Gerson, 49, August 1, 1966  February 6, 2016

Co-screenwriter of Monsters, Inc., Monsters University and Big Hero 6. Contributed story material to Chicken Little, Cars, Meet the Robinsons, Open Season, Inside Out, and Up.

So sad the world has lost Dan Gerson. An amazing friend, writer & mentor with a big heart & kind soul. Miss you, Dan pic.twitter.com/dmNyPUlOBm  Jared Bush (@thejaredbush) February 8, 2016

Colin Low, 89, July 24, 1926  February 24, 2016

Filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada and head of its animation unit. Worked on over 200+ NFB productions, mostly as director, producer, or executive producer. Directed the first NFB production to be nominated for an Academy Award for best animated short, The Romance of Transportation in Canada (1952), also the winner of a Short Film Palme dOr at the Cannes Film Festival and a special BAFTA Award. His dialogue-less 1954 Corral was named best documentary at the Venice Film Festival. Read about more of his films and accomplishments here.

Zdenek Smetana, 90, June 26, 1925  February 25, 2016

Animator and director on over 400 animation projects, including shorts like The Umbrella and The Water of Life. He animated on the Tom and Jerry shorts directed by Gene Deitch.

Dan McLaughlin, 83, d. March 15, 2016

Filmmaker, educator, and head of the UCLA Animation Workshop from 1970-2007. McLaughlin was an early promoter of computer animation, introducing computer animation classes to UCLA in 1968 and interactive animation classes in 1988. Graduates of UCLAs program include Shane Acker (9), David Silverman (The Simpsons), Gil Kenan (Monster House) and top VFX artists including Bob Abel, Con Pederson, and Hoyt Yeatman. Read his obituary here.

Terry Brain, 60, 1956  March 25, 2016

Animator, co-creator of the British animated series Trap Door and Stoppit and Tidyup. Animator at Aardman on Shaun the Sheep Movie, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run, and Creature Comforts TV series. (pictured at top of this article, right)

Igor Khait, 52, d. March 28, 2016

Production manager/producer. Worked at Amblin Entertainment, Disney, Spumco, and most recnetly, co-producer of Illuminations upcoming Sing. Other credits: co-producer of Gnomeo & Juliet, story department co-producer on The Lego Movie, producer of Everyones Hero, producer of Disneys Leroy and Stitch, co-producer of Brother Bear and production manager of Atlantis, the Lost Empire. He also worked on Quest for Camelot and Bebes Kids.
Photo: Razoom Games

What will I need to get a mortgage?

I often get asked what to bring to a mortgage appointment, and I usually tell my clients to bring a list of assets, liabilities, payments, and maybe grab a pay stub.

Thats a good start, but what if you are self-employed? It would be helpful to know what your net declared income is, which you can find on your Notice of Assessment (NOA) that you get back from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) after they have reviewed your tax return.

Most lenders will require an employment letter and pay stub dated within 30 days, so I recommend holding off until you are ready to make an offer.

If you are hourly or have recently started your job, it is a good idea to pull out your previous years T4s and/or your NOA from CRA for the previous year.

For self-employed borrowers, the documentation varies between lenders, but if you have two years of T1 Generals (income tax returns) and NOAs, it is a good start.

Once you have submitted an offer on a property, ask your realtor for a copy of the MLS (multiple listing system) which provides details about the property for the lender. You will also need a copy of the accepted offer to purchase and the Property Disclosure Statement (PDS).

The PDS is a checklist filled out by the seller of the property detailing the condition of the property, as well as any know deficiencies. It also describes the type of building materials used in construction.

If the property is a condo, it is helpful to have a copy of the Form B, which will state any outstanding fees for the unit and any pending repairs on the building.

Another confirmation which is required for financing is for the downpayment and closing costs.

Most lenders require that you show the downpayment and 1.5% of the purchase price for closing costs. Closing costs include legal fees, property transfer tax, property taxes due and title insurance costs.

There are several forms of downpayment, such as savings, a gift from family, or proceeds from a sale. For savings, the lender usually requires a 90 day history of the money in your account to show it is not borrowed. If the downpayment is a gift, then a gift letter is needed stating the amount, that it is an outright gift, and the relationship of the donor.

If the downpayment is from the sale of a property or something else, then a copy of the offer to purchase or sales agreement should be included, as well as a mortgage statement (in the case of real estate sale), to show the equity.

Prompt submission of all the paperwork will greatly speed up the time for approval, and ensure that you receive a non-conditional approval for financing.

Questions or comments, email [email protected]

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: LOLO

Sadly, I have no spig in my spigot. I have no turn in my quarter turn hose bib.

And I'm feeling man tears coming soon.

I fell in love with my new hose bib at first sight. Im thinking that the feeling was mutual. Its not every day that a homeowner changes out their solid brass hose bibs from 1967 for a new shiny chrome model.

Its not like my relationship with my old bibs had grown stale. I could still turn them on. Oh, sure I had to change out the rubber washers from time to time, but periodic leaking happens as one ages. My fatal mistake was not asking Larry for permission before embarking on this union, but hey, I was under pressure.

Every homeowner needs good solid expert advice from time to time. Larry is my go-to guy for everything plumbing. You see, hes been there and plumbed that. Thats why I have bought thousands of dollars of plumbing supplies from his aisle tucked far in the back of my local big box store.

There is no glory in the plumbing aisle, and even worse, his strategic command centre is dimly lit. At the front of the store its all glitzy, flyers, contests, promotions, and giveaways. Its all about air miles. In the plumbing department its just plain business, and the customers can be tough.

Larry is the first and only line of defence in the plumbing department. Homeowners with plumbing problems wander to his aisle much like zombies out of water.

Larry is unique, valuable and irreplaceable. Not because he knows the answers to every plumbing question on earth, but because he can take the nonsensical gibberish, the, I need a which-me-call-it, or a do-dah, or a which-ma-jiggy, and make the translation into an actual plumbing solution. God knows how the average homeowner will survive when he pulls the drain plug. Larry is old school, a real straight shooter.

Regrettably, Larry was on days-off that very day when I decided to swing by the plumbing aisle to explore my bib options. On a previous visit, he told me about quarter turn bibs.

I felt sure my wife would love them. Instead of turning, turning and turning the handle, she could get full blast water at a quarter turn of the handle. Quarter turn bibs offer the ultimate control when using hose based watering techniques. That day, without Larry, I was like a hungry fish in the water, I was attracted to the chrome flash of that bib, and took the bait.

I went home with a sexy new model, and it promised to be a lead free, non-freeze lawn faucet with a self-draining vacuum breaker, but thats what they all say.

Later, a few short weeks after my purchase when my bib failed me, I learnt from Larry that the make of the bib that I had errantly chosen has a ceramic part that could break.

I know the return defective merchandise game at big box stores. It goes like this: Bring back the defective item with the original receipt. But my bib is permanently installed inside my wall assembly behind drywall vapour barrier and insulation. Removing the bib would be invasive and costly and not practical to return. So, my first solution was to purchase a duplicate for parts from the very same store.

Surprise, since my original purchase, my bib has been discontinued by head office.

I called the manufacturer for help. I told them my story, and it turns out that I dont qualify for their customer service for their product. They dont help the actual end user of their product, they only help the stores that sell their stuff. Since my local store doesnt carry the product anymore they wont help.

The spig is up - I am stuck in the proverbial customer service waste pipe without a bib.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Scientists from IFW Dresden teamed up with colleagues from over 30 universities and institutes to investigate to what extent quantum simulations of material properties agree when they are performed with different software, independently coded. Thanks to an online collaboration, they successfully demonstrated that the most recent generations of codes agree well, in contrast to earlier generations.

Reproducibility does not come easily

It's a corner stone of science: independent yet identical experiments should produce the same results. Only in this way can science identify laws, which lead to new insight and sometimes to new technologies. However, several recent studies have pointed out that such reproducibility does not always come spontaneously. In scientific areas as diverse as psychology research and genetic research, cases were identified where repeating previous experiments led to very different results. Even predictions by computer codes require caution, since the way in which theoretical models are implemented may affect simulation results. This is a reason for concern in any field of research that critically depends on computer simulations. For the study and design of materials, for instance, there are several independently coded software packages available based on quantum physics. They are moreover being used increasingly often in automated procedures with limited human supervision. It is therefore essential to know to what extent predicted materials properties depend on the code that has been used.

Online collaboration brings experts together

Despite the need for reliable property predictions of materials, the reproducibility of quantum simulations had not been investigated systematically before. This is mainly because there is no single person sufficiently skilled in all existing codes. Scientists from IFW Dresden therefore joined forces with more than 60 colleagues, bringing together the know-how of over 30 prominent institutions. The researchers investigated 40 different methods to describe the influence of pressure in 71 different crystals. Due to the highly international composition of the team, discussions and collaboration were mainly conducted via online tools  similarly to the way people collaborate to write Wikipedia.

The team can now demonstrate that, although a few of the older methods clearly yield deviating results, predictions by recent codes are equivalent. This includes a method with about 600,000 lines of code developed at IFW Dresden. Moreover, the authors define a quality criterion that allows the verification of future software developments against their extensive database. New test data are continuously added to a publicly available website (http://molmod.ugent.be/DeltaCodesDFT). The researchers involved hope that their work will contribute to higher standards for materials property simulations, and that it will facilitate the development of improved simulation codes and methods.
In an international first, a research team of experimental physicists led by Francesca Ferlaino and theoretical physicists led by Peter Zoller has measured long-range magnetic interactions between ultracold particles confined in an optical lattice. Their work, published in Science, introduces a new control knob to quantum simulation.

Simulations are a popular tool to study physical processes that cannot be investigated experimentally in detail. For example, scientists encounter challenges when investigating physical processes in materials since their properties are determined by the interactions of single particles, which are hardly measurable directly. Conventional computers quickly reach their limits when dealing with these complex simulations. At the beginning of the 1980s, Richard Feynman proposed to simulate these processes in a quantum system to overcome this obstacle. Two decades later, Ignacio Cirac and Peter Zoller presented concrete concepts of how quantum processes could be studied by using ultracold atoms confined in optical lattices. In the last few years, this approach has proven itself in practice and is now broadly applied in experiments. We are able to control ultracold particles well in experiments and this has provided us with new insights into physical properties, says Francesca Ferlaino from the Institute for Experimental Physics of the University of Innsbruck and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In collaboration with Peter Zollers team of theoretical physicists, her research team has now extended this approach for quantum simulations and laid the groundwork for future new research: For the first time, the physicists were able to quantitatively measure long-range interactions between magnetic atoms in optical lattices.

Experimental tool box for matter

Many studies have focused on the investigation of the interaction of short-range particles. In contrast, we are working with strongly magnetic atoms, which can also interact over long distances, says co-author Manfred Mark. For their experiment the physicists prepared an ultracold gas of erbium atoms  a Bose-Einstein condensate  in a three dimensional optical lattice of laser beams. In this simulated solid-body crystal, the particles were arranged similar to eggs in a carton. The distance between the particles was seven times their wave function in the Innsbruck experiment. By using a magnetic field we are able to directly change the direction of the mini magnets and precisely control how the particles interact  attracting or repelling each other, explains first author Simon Baier.

A search for exotic quantum phases

Our collaboration with Zoller, Cai Zi and Mikhail Baranov was indispensable for understanding our measurement results comprehensively, underlines Francesca Ferlaino. Our work is another important step towards a better understanding of quantum matter of dipolar atoms because their nature is a lot more complex than the atoms used for ultracold quantum gases in other experiments. The research results also lay the groundwork for future studies of novel exotic many-body quantum phases such as checkerboard and stripe phases, which may be created by long-range interactions. Our study opens the door to finally being able to measure these type of phases, says Simon Baier, who is already looking into the future. In principle, we should be able to do this in our experiments as well but we will need to cool the atoms even further from currently 70nK to approximately 2nK.
The world has more carbon dioxide than it needs, and a team of Brown University chemists has come up with a potential way to put some of it to good use.

The researchers developed a new composite catalyst using nitrogen-rich graphene dotted with copper nanoparticles. A study, published in the journal Nano Energy, showed that the new catalyst can efficiently and selectively convert carbon dioxide to ethylene, one of the world's most important commodity chemicals.

Ethylene is used to make plastics, construction materials and other products. Chemical companies produce it by the millions of tons each year using processes that usually involve fossil fuels. If excess carbon dioxide can be used to make ethylene, it could help make the chemical industry more sustainable and eco-friendly.

"We hope that this new catalyst could be a step toward a greener way to produce ethylene," said Shouheng Sun, a professor of chemistry and engineering at Brown, whose research team developed the catalyst. "There is much more work to be done to bring such a process to an industrial scale, but this is a start."

Selectivity is key

Carbon dioxide is a stable form of carbon, and breaking it down into active carbon forms is no easy task. While some catalysts can do the job, they generally do not have good selectivity, meaning they create a variety of different reaction products.

"Most other techniques produce ethylene, methane, carbon monoxide -- all kinds of things that you would then have to separate," Sun said. "We wanted something that could be more selective."

Qing Li, a former postdoctoral fellow in Sun's lab and now a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, thought a catalyst that combines copper nanoparticles with graphene might be effective. Sun's lab had previously shown that metal nanoparticles, when tuned to the right size, could have increased reactivity. Graphene, one-atom-thick sheets of carbon, has also been shown to increase catalyst reactivity.

Li, the new study's lead author, experimented with copper nanoparticles deposited on several different graphene surfaces -- pure graphene, graphene oxide and graphene doped with nitrogen in various forms. Nitrogen doping is a process of introducing nitrogen atoms into the lattice of carbon atoms that make up graphene.

The study showed that seven-nanometer copper particles deposited on graphene doped with pyridinic nitrogen (an arrangement that causes nitrogen atoms to be bonded to two carbon atoms) had the best performance. That arrangement had selectivity for ethylene of 79 percent, significantly higher than other approaches, according to the study.

"Synergistic effect"

It is not entirely clear what about the new catalyst is responsible for its performance, but Li and Sun propose a few ideas.

"It's probably a synergistic effect," Li said. "The pyridinic nitrogen helps to anchor the copper nanoparticles and change the electronic environment around them, which changes the reaction pathway to selectively produce ethylene."

Sun noted that carbon dioxide can serve as a weak Lewis acid -- a compound that accepts electrons from donor compounds. Pyridinic nitrogen in the nitrogen-doped graphene forms a Lewis base center.

"We think that the presence of this Lewis base center helps to draw more carbon dioxide close to the copper for the observed catalysis," Sun said.

The researchers plan to continue work with the new catalyst, possibly using it in tandem with other catalysts to produce different reaction products.

"The possibilities are exciting," Sun said.
Huge forces are shaping health care in the U.S. today. There's the Affordable Care Act, which by the end of 2015 put 16.4 million newly insured people into the health care market. There's the aging baby-boomer population, 80 million of whom are projected to be 65 or older by 2030  and 60 percent of whom will be aging with one or more chronic conditions. And there's the shocking number of people across the country living in Health Professional Shortage Areas.

And at the center of it all? Nurse practitioners, or NPs.

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NPs can prescribe, treat and manage patients in a variety of settings, providing up to 90 percent of the care one could expect from a physician. In over 20 states across the country, NPs operate without restrictions, independent of a physician  and with resoundingly positive results.

"They're practicing at the highest level," says Marcia Murphy, DNP, ANP-BC, FAHA, FPCNA, program director of the adult-gerontology primary care NP program at Rush University in Chicago, Illinois.

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Since the field was founded in 1965, Murphy says, the role of the NP has taken off, and not just because consistent research across 50 years demonstrates quality outcomes. It's also about the unique role that NPs play. "The practice is different from other providers in that the emphasis is not only on cure but also care," Murphy says.

Why are NPs vital to the future of health care in the U.S.?

They're in the community.

NPs don't just work in hospitals. They work in prisons, community centers, even novel placements like housing projects or the workplace, bringing health care directly to where people can best access it.

"We focus on the patient's needs where they are," explains Cindy Cooke, DNP, FNP-C, FAANP, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and a practicing family NP on an Alabama military base.

And indeed, many NPs are where physicians currently are not. With a projected shortage of more than 20,000 primary care physicians by 2020, according to the Bureau of Health Professions, family NPs can be the primary care provider that people need.

They specialize.

Like physicians, NPs can specialize across the lifespan, from birth to old age. Although more than 50 percent of the 205,000 NPs today are working in family practice, the rest are working in specialties that include geriatrics, pediatrics, women's health and psychiatric/mental health, as well as acute and critical care settings.

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They're focused on quality and safety.

"The emphasis in the last ten to fifteen years has been on evidence-based practice, quality and safety," says Barbara Hinch, DNP, RN, APN-CNP, assistant professor and program director for Rush's acute care nurse practitioner program. "In the hospital setting, nurse practitioners focus on quality and safety and lead that charge as part of a team."

They consider the whole patient.

"Nursing is very holistic," explains Hinch. "We look at the whole person  their family and their context. This is the foundation of nursing and every NP has that initial nursing skill-set and education."

NPs also move easily between intervening in complex health problems to the everyday problems of the patient, explains Kathleen Delaney, PhD, PMH-NP, professor and director for Rush's psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program. For example, Delaney explains, if an NP is discharging someone from a hospital and it's 8 p.m., the NP is going to ask, "Is there a pharmacy near you that's open?" and "Who's going to bring you there?"

"They ask questions that show they understand the everyday realities," Delaney says.

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They're team players.

"Every profession in health care has a role to play," explains Cooke, of the AANP. "None of us does it alone. Nurses are trained to work collaboratively and put the patient in the middle."

Sometimes, that means NPs are the connective tissue in a sprawling network of specialists, primary care providers, family and community members.

They're leaders.

At a growing number of universities, including Rush, NPs receive a doctorate of nursing practice (DNP), meaning they are, as Murphy explains, clinical scholars. DNPs are expected not only to embrace new, evidence-based practice and to use data to inform their work but to present and publish their findings. Says Murphy, "The degree promotes leadership in terms of looking at a population of patients in a given context, promoting health and wellness of that population."

They're the future.

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"When we look at health care, it's constantly changing," says Delaney. "Nurse practitioners, functioning at their highest level, can help address those changes."

Laura Lambert for Rush University College of Nursing


Sue Swider: first row, far left (gray jacket). Public health students and faculty from Rush presenting at the American Public Health Association (APHA) conference in Chicago. The APHA hosts 13,000 public health professionals from across the country.

The saying "Become the change you want to see in the world," could easily be the slogan for advanced degree public health nurses.

Whether developing crisis plans, setting citywide health policy or lobbying legislators, their mission is to create systematic ways to make communities and the people who live in them healthier.

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For nurses who want to change the system from within as leaders in their field, the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree with a concentration in advanced public health nursing is excellent preparation, says Susan Swider, Ph.D, professor and director of the Advanced Public Health Nursing (APHN) program at Rush University School of Nursing in Chicago, Illinois.

As part of their graduate work, students in the APHN program research common health problems that have a significant impact in certain communities, such as asthma, teen pregnancy or sports-related concussions. Then they develop interventions to address them, and evaluate their effectiveness.

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For example, one graduate looked at data that indicated her state had an increase in sexually transmitted infections, Swider says. "She looked into the literature to see what had been done to help young adults. She developed an intervention in one county for when people came in for STI testing that involved talking about risky behaviors. She did some marketing to encourage people to get into the clinic more often, and then figured out a way to measure its success." The state plans to replicate this program in other counties.

Students also are taught how to construct a budget, pitch a program to a board of health, train the nurses and other public health staff who will carry out the intervention  and so on.

"It's all about looking at a population and figuring out what to do, then doing it," Swider says.

Cathy Catrambone, Ph.D, RN, associate professor at Rush University School of Nursing, calls this being a "system thinker."

"Nurses are uniquely qualified to do this because they already have a comprehensive view of the patient and the science," she says. "All they need is to be able to look critically at the system that they're in, and analyze data and apply current research. They'll see what changes need to be made, and they'll be the person to help lead those changes."

This is how public health nurses tackle the major epidemics that make headlines, such as the Zika virus. In those cases, nurse leaders might assemble a team of key people, help set policy and action plans and design metrics to measure outcomes, Catrambone says.

Leadership training is a big part of the Advanced Public Health Nursing degree.

"My graduate education prepared me to be a leader," says Catrambone, who earned a Ph.D at Rush. In addition to teaching, Catrambone was elected president of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International in 2015  an international nursing organization with 135,000 members in 91 countries. Its mission is advancing world health and celebrating nursing excellence in scholarship, leadership and service.

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"My graduate degree in nursing is what prepared me to move an organization forward strategically," she says.

Advanced degree public health nurses are also uniquely qualified to lobby legislators and inform the public about the health impacts of public policies, across all sectors of government and society.

For example, as a Board member Catrambone worked with the Respiratory Health Association in Chicago for years to make Chicago and Illinois smoke free in public places. She is currently working for smoke-free parks and housing, and focusing on efforts to reduce youth smoking rates.

In 2011 Swider was appointed to President Obama's Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health headed by the U.S. Surgeon General. Its mission is to advise on the best ways to implement the National Prevention Strategy  a guideline released in 2011 designed to increase the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life.

If you're an RN considering graduate school, how do you know if Advanced Public Health Nursing is right for you?

"If you're a person who has a particular area in which you want to make a difference by bringing the best of science from the practice setting and implementing change to improve individual health and the health system, you would be a good candidate," Catrambone says.

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The three-year, part-time program is taught online, so nurses across the country can participate. Students do clinical work in their own community. Rush University School of Nursing's DNP program was ranked fifth in the country by U.S. News & World Report, 2017 edition.

Lisa Jevens for Rush University College of Nursing


Iran said Saturday that the United States has allowed Boeing Co. to have direct talks with Iranian airliners following reports that a Boeing delegation will visit the country, the official IRNA news agency reported. (Ted S. Warren / AP)

TEHRAN, Iran  Boeing Co. offered Iranian airlines three models of new aircraft to replace the country's aging fleet during the first visit by the Chicago-based manufacturer in decades, the Islamic Republic's state-run news agency reported Monday.

Boeing declined to discuss specifics from the negotiation with officials in Tehran, but the airplane builder undoubtedly wants a piece of the action in post-sanctions Iran, which already saw Airbus sign a 22.8 billion euros ($25 billion) deal.

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The official IRNA news agency quoted Maqsoud Asadi Samani, the secretary of the Society of Iranian Airlines, as saying Boeing officials offered 737, 787 and 777 model aircraft. Samani said Iran was reviewing the offers.

Iranian airlines have some 60 Boeing airplanes in service, but most were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought Islamists to power.

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Out of Iran's 250 commercial planes, about 150 are flying while the rest are grounded due to lack of spare parts. The country's air-safety record remains spotty, as parts and servicing remained nearly impossible to get while the world sanctioned Iran over its contested nuclear program.

Now though, with the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran in place, airline manufacturers can re-enter the market, though Boeing has been more hesitant than its European competitor Airbus.

"The Boeing delegation assured Iranian airlines that it will provide all said support after signing an agreement," IRNA quoted Samani as saying. "Boeing's cooperation in supporting the current airplanes of Iran and its loyalty to its commitments will contribute to decisions by the airlines for purchasing airplanes from Boeing."

John Dern, a Boeing spokesman, declined to offer specifics about the negotiations, but said the company discussed the "capabilities of Boeing airplanes, along with the support the company provides." Previously, Boeing said that its license from the U.S. Treasury Department only allowed it to offer "commercial passenger aircraft fleet planning."

"The meetings, which were closely coordinated with the U.S. government, enabled us to better understand the status of their current fleets, their route structures and their plans for future operations," Dern said in an email. "Should any agreements be reached at some future point, they would be contingent on the approval of the U.S. government."

In late March, a U.S. State Department negotiator on the nuclear deal said nothing under the deal would stop Boeing from making a deal with Iranian airlines. The negotiator, Chris Backemeyer, described Boeing as "considering their options and that, I think, is a good thing."

On Monday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner offered similar sentiments.

"Although I can't speak to the specific report regarding Boeing, I can say that we have seen a number of major companies making tangible plans to take advantage of the new commercial opportunities afforded by," the loosening of international sanctions, he said, "As we have said before, we are not going to stand in the way of permissible business."

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Since the deal took effect earlier this year, Iran Air has signed agreements to buy 118 planes from the European consortium Airbus and 20 more from French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. Other European companies have pushed into Iran as well, though American firms have been far more cautious as Republican candidates in the U.S. election repeatedly have threatened to tear up the nuclear deal if elected this November.

Associated Press
Scott Steiner is assisted by a radiation therapist after treatment at Mercy Health Lacks Cancer Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Steiner has battled cancer, and its financial consequences, for eight years. (Laura McDermott / For The Washington Post)

Grand Rapids, Mich.  Even before Scott Steiner started treatment for a rare gastrointestinal cancer that had spread throughout his abdomen, a dangerous side effect threatened his health.

His doctor had prescribed the cancer drug Gleevec, but Steiner's insurance refused to cover its $3,500 monthly cost. Steiner, a warehouse manager for a publisher of Bible-themed literature, and his wife, Brenda, a part-time nurse, made just $30,000 a year. No way could they afford the drug on their own.

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"We still had six kids at home  how were we going to come up with that kind of money?" Steiner said. "We couldn't re-mortgage the house because it had already been re-mortgaged. I wouldn't have been able to take the medication. We would have had to just trust in the Lord."

It was a scary brush with "financial toxicity," as researchers call the mix of economic stress, anxiety and depression that cancer patients often endure. But then Steiner was assigned to Dan Sherman, an oncology social worker at Mercy Health Lacks Cancer Center who within days got a free supply of Gleevec from the manufacturer. He also made sure it was delivered promptly. The package arrived at Steiner's home on Christmas Eve, his 46th birthday.

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In the eight years since, Steiner has faced a series of medical and financial reversals, and each time Sherman has done as much as any doctor to keep Steiner going  scrambling to get the treatment he needed without sending his family into bankruptcy. "He keeps throwing me life rafts before I sink," Steiner said.

With cancer costs only continuing to rise, Sherman and other "financial navigators" across the country have moved to the front lines of efforts to help people survive financially as well as medically. They take a highly individualized approach, working closely with patients and oncologists from the time of diagnosis and continuing through the twists and turns of a protracted illness.

Their strategy is to pull every lever available to extract maximum assistance from pharmaceutical companies, the government, foundations and the hospitals themselves, and to make sure patients know the best insurance options for their particular illness. Such aggressiveness is needed, experts say, because millions of Americans are struggling with high out-of-pocket expenses. The complexity of the health care system only makes things worse, they add.

"We are experienced in dealing with the side effects of treatment," Sherman said, "but we have not recognized that we are causing financial harm to patients."

Although many in the health care industry say such collateral damage must be addressed - that hospitals need to become much more sophisticated, that doctors need to shed their reticence in discussing costs with patients  they acknowledge it's not happening quickly.

"This isn't something that health systems typically like to deal with," said Scott Ramsey, director of the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. "But someone needs to step in, assess patients' financial risks and do something to manage their finances."

A radiation therapist monitors a treatment session for Scott Steiner last month. A financial navigator has helped to secure assistance for Steiner from drug manufacturers, foundations and other sources. (Laura McDermott / For The Washington Post)

In that city, a nonprofit called CENTS is matching 25 recently diagnosed cancer patients from Hutchinson with volunteers who help manage their expenses and insurance needs. "People who feel safe financially and physically are going to have a better (treatment) result," said co-founder Karen Overstreet, a retired federal bankruptcy judge.

In Milwaukee, social workers at Aurora Health Care's cancer center have added financial counseling to the psychological support they've long provided to patients. "We didn't want patients walking away from treatments because of the expense," said Brad Zimmerman, who, like his colleagues, often turns to foundations funded by pharmaceutical companies and philanthropic groups to cover patients' medication copays.

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And in New York City, admissions staffers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center now ask specifically whether patients have financial concerns about treatment, said Chief Operations Officer Kathryn Martin. "We work closely with patients on complex issues and even help patients pick insurance products that are best for them," she said.

Behind such efforts is a bitter and fundamental dispute over why patients, even those with insurance, get hit with extraordinary costs for cancer care.

Pharmaceutical companies say insurers are to blame for requiring consumers to absorb higher deductibles and copays before coverage kicks in. Insurers say excessive hospital charges, doctor fees and drug prices are the culprits and that drug assistance programs actually encourage greater medication use.

And hospitals complain that the pharmaceutical companies are inflating prices and that insurers are failing to adequately cover needed treatments.

Sherman ignores the finger-pointing. Over the past several years, he has worked with about 25 hospitals across the country to set up financial-navigation services. "I can't do anything about prices or most of what happens in the health-care system," he said. "But I can help the cancer patient sitting in front of me."

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Cancer has always been an expensive disease. In 2013, S. Yousuf Zafar at the Duke University School of Medicine coined the term "financial toxicity" to describe the impact of better but costlier drugs, longer treatment regimens and the shifting of ever-greater costs to patients.

Because of the Affordable Care Act, millions more people are insured, including some who previously couldn't buy coverage at any price. Even so, researchers say, many Americans are underinsured, with out-of-pocket expenses outstripping their ability to pay. They include deductibles (paid by the patient before insurance kicks in), copays (set dollar amounts for a prescription or service) and co-insurance (a percentage of the cost of a drug or service).

Most ACA and employer insurance plans have out-of-pocket maximums  $6,850 for individuals and $13,700 for family coverage for this year  yet the costs can still be oppressive. Patients may have to pay more for out-of-network services. And with some cancer drugs weighing in at $10,000 a month, copays for patients can reach hundreds and even thousands of dollars a month.

Recent studies have documented patients' financial distress, from reduced income and depleted savings to loss of their homes. Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University concluded in March that almost 30 percent of cancer survivors experience some kind of financial burden and are more likely to then become depressed. Ramsey has found that people battling cancer are, on average, about 2 1/2 times more likely to file for bankruptcy than people without cancer  and that post-bankruptcy, patients are nearly 80 percent more likely to die from any cause compared with others with cancer.

"It's a slow but unfolding disaster," he said.

Dan Sherman, right, talks with Scott Steiner, who has a rare gastrointestinal cancer, and his wife, Brenda. Sherman and other "financial navigators" work to help people with cancer survive financially and medically. "He keeps throwing me life rafts before I sink," Scott says. (Laura McDermott / For The Washington Post)

Allie Harris-Moore of South Elgin, knows this firsthand. Five years ago, just after she turned 70, she was diagnosed with breast and kidney cancer and treated at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin. Despite having a Medicare Advantage plan  the private alternative to standard Medicare  she ended up with $10,000 in bills.

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"Every Monday, I would have a pile of bills on my floor, for this scan, for that test," said Harris-Moore, who is divorced. "The insurer would say some of the doctors were outside the network, and I would say, the hospital is inside the network, so how is this my fault?"

After working 39 years as a reservations agent, ticket agent and customer service manager for Northwest Airlines, Harris-Moore said she had no trouble standing up for herself, but that she still found the experience "the most stressful thing I have ever been through." A collection agency threatened to ruin her credit. It took her two years to pay off her debt.

Then she was diagnosed with cancer in her other breast. "What is this going to cost?" she immediately worried. But while at the hospital last fall, she met Rachel Faustner, who recently had been trained by Sherman to be Advocate Sherman's first financial navigator.

Faustner got Harris-Moore enrolled temporarily in the Washington-based Patient Access Network, a large copay foundation that covered her out-of-pocket responsibility for chemotherapy. She also talked to Harris-Moore about insurance alternatives; as a result, Harris-Moore dropped her Medicare Advantage plan and enrolled in regular Medicare. Because that program has no out-of-pocket caps, she added a Medicare supplemental policy to fill in the gaps. She also bought an inexpensive prescription-drug plan.

Although Harris-Moore's premiums are higher, her overall expenses are thousands of dollars lower because she has 100 percent coverage.

"Rachel," said Harris-Moore, "saved my life."

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- - -

As the son of American missionaries, with degrees in accounting and counseling, the 49-year-old Sherman approaches his work as a personal crusade. "I have discovered I have a deep, deep passion for the role," he said. "Way, way too many patients are falling through the cracks."

Sherman's first role at the Lacks Cancer Center was as a social worker helping cancer patients deal with their diagnoses. He was surprised as they began raising financial concerns. A "life-changing" moment came in 2008 when he helped a woman with acute myeloid leukemia figure how to afford her care. Until then, she told him tearfully, she'd been planning her funeral.

The next year, after studying up on the minutiae of insurance and health care, he started a financial-navigation program aimed at getting uninsured and underinsured patients the medications and services they needed. "He knows which plans cover one drug but not another," said Thomas Gribbin, the medical director at Lacks.

The effort has paid off. Sherman estimates that over the past five years he has saved patients there more than $16 million in out-of-pocket costs and the cancer center itself $9 million. The latter is a key point when he talks to facilities about setting up financial-navigation programs: Helping patients by getting insurance and drug companies to bear more costs means less bad debt and other expenses for hospitals.

With Steiner, he has used every tool available. With the first diagnosis of a gastrointestinal stromal tumor  a malignancy in the body's connective tissue  Steiner went on his employer's disability program but had to come up with $450 a month to be covered by its health plan. That sum was well beyond reach for the Steiners, so Sherman got the hospital to pay the premium.

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And as Steiner's drug treatments and insurance status changed through the years, Sherman found free drugs or copay assistance from a series of manufacturers and foundations.

Sometimes, the two disagreed. When Steiner, who eventually went on Social Security Disability, wanted to drop out and take a job as a computer technician, Sherman was alarmed. Steiner would lose his Medicare coverage at a time when his cancer was advancing.

Struggling with a broken leg, Sherman limped into the hospital in late 2014 and told the older man he was courting disaster. "Don't let your pride get in the way," he said. He won the argument.

Recently, with the standard therapies no longer working and his cancer advancing yet again, Steiner asked to try the new immunotherapy infusion drug Opdivo, which can cost more than $12,000 a month. His oncologist, Kenneth Krajewski, consulted another specialist and agreed that it was worth trying, but Medicare refused to pay because the drug hasn't been approved for treating Steiner's rare kind of cancer.

"Now what do we do?" Krajewski asked Sherman, who wasn't sure whether the manufacturer would provide Opdivo because it was going to be used in an off-label way. As it turned out, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Patient Assistance Foundation quickly approved the request for a free supply, and Steiner started treatment on April 1.

"It's a Hail Mary pass, a last-ditch effort," said Steiner, who hopes the drug will give him more time to see his 10 grandchildren, plus the three more on the way, grow up.

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"I don't know whether I would have been able to get this treatment without Dan," he said. "But he sure made it easier."
The developers of Vista Tower in the Lakeshore East neighborhood of Chicago have built an elaborate showroom to sell apartments in the building. A model of the tower (tall building, center left) and the surrounding neighborhood on April 11, 2016. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

If you want to live in Chicago's newest luxury high-rise, get ready for an expensive truth: Million-dollar views ain't what they used to be.

While $1 million will be just about enough to squeeze you into one of the cheapest condos on a lower floor of the yet-to-be built, 95-story riverfront Wanda Vista Tower, it won't get you much closer to the stunning views from the building's $17 million penthouse than a ticket for a passing boat tour would.

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That's because the average condo in what will be the city's third-tallest building will cost you around $2.5 million.

Developer Magellan earlier this month opened a 10,000-square-foot showroom to market the 406 Vista condo units in the 1,186-foot-tall, Jeanne Gang-designed skyscraper, which is due to break ground this summer in Lakeshore East and aims to be the last word in luxury downtown living when it is completed in late 2019.

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In addition to the normal high-rise perks such as a pool and gym, residents will have access to amenities including a 47th floor temperature-controlled wine room and a demonstration kitchen where they will be able to hire celebrity chefs to cook private dinners.

The showroom alone  located in the Coast residential building a few yards from the hole in the ground where Vista is due to stand on East Wacker Drive  cost "millions" to outfit, Magellan national marketing director Jim Losik said during a tour Monday.

It includes a room that uses drone photography to simulate the north- and south-facing, day and nighttime views from almost any condo in the building, as well as a kitchen display that allows buyers to choose between amethyst, topaz, sapphire and fluorite-themed finishes and has more in common with a jewelry store than the building site trailer that a less ambitious project might use.

"Simply because of the price, these units will appeal to people who already have multiple homes," said Losik, who said he expects that buyers will include wealthy Chicagoans looking for a primary residence as well as Chinese nationals attracted by the Chinese-owned Wanda hotel that will anchor the building's lower floors.

"We expect that there will be Chinese parents who purchase condos for their children to live in while they attend Northwestern, or the University of Chicago," he said.

Gang, best known for the undulating forms of the neighboring Aqua Tower, but also for her involvement in high-profile projects including the landscaping of George Lucas' proposed lakefront Museum of Narrative Art, took inspiration for her design for Vista from the structure of a fluorite crystal and the colors of Lake Michigan.

The building was approved by the Chicago Plan Commission late last year.

Every floor above the 71st floor  including the top two floors that make up the $17 million penthouse  will be sold as unfinished, complete floors, providing owners with free reign to design their own floor plans and to enjoy 360-degree views of the city.

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Floors between the 48th and 70th levels will be subdivided into four units, while lower floors will be subdivided into nine units. All residents will have access to amenities at the Wanda hotel, and to the 47th floor, resident-only "Vista Club," which includes a pool, a theater and the wine room.

Losik declined to say how many units had sold to date but said sales are "ahead of expectations" and that he expects that nearly all units will be sold by the time the building is completed.

kjanssen@tribpub.com

Twitter @kimjnews
McCormick spices and flavorings at the Associated Supermarket in midtown Manhattan in New York in 2005. The price of the bean used to flavor everything from ice cream and chocolate to cola and pastries more than tripled in the past year as output slipped and quality suffered. (Timothy Fadek / Bloomberg)

There's nothing plain about the vanilla market.

The price of the bean used to flavor everything from ice cream and chocolate to cola and pastries more than tripled in the past year as output slipped and quality suffered. That should have been a boon for top producer Madagascar, the island nation off Africa's southeast coast. Instead, the government is imposing measures to improve supply and quality to protect its market share.

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Vanilla demand is growing, particularly in developing countries, and companies like Nestle and Whole Foods Market are using more natural flavors in food products. But a prolonged price slump led to smaller global harvests. And in Madagascar, which supplies half the world's beans, farmers took short-cuts in the process used to create the aromatic qualities prized by consumers.

"The branding of Madagascar vanilla in the international market is threatened," Commerce Minister Henri Rabesahala said in a telephone interview from the capital, Antannaarivo.

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In recent years, after a decade of low vanilla prices, production declined in places like China, Indonesia and Uganda as farmers switched to other crops and inventories shrank, data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization show. Madagascar remained a low-cost supplier because the labor-intensive harvesting and curing of vanilla remained mostly profitable with workers paid $1.50 a day, compared with $10 elsewhere, according to Cook Flavoring Co., a U.S. processor that buys from several countries.

As prices improved, growers in Madagascar started harvesting more pods sooner than normal and packaging them in vacuum-sealed containers rather than curing and drying them. This was partly to avoid theft, but also to capitalize on the rally. The packaging gave wholesalers the flexibility to wait for higher prices as global supply shrank. But because the beans were so immature, they hadn't fully developed the compound  vanillin  responsible for all the flavor and aroma. It was almost like picking wine grapes before their time.

Compounding the problem was money-laundering linked to illegal exports of rosewood, according to the government. The red-hued timber is prized by manufacturers of luxury furniture and musical instruments, mostly in China. Since the government banned unlicensed logging in 2010, traffickers have used their illegal proceeds to buy green vanilla from local farmers that can be sold legally to generate dollar income, according to Rabesahala. Most didn't care that they were buying immature, vacuum-packed beans.

With a smaller Madagascar crop last year and fewer good-quality beans, prices surged in the U.S., the world's biggest buyer, where vanilla ice cream remains the most popular flavor. Higher-end vanilla fetches $250 a kilogram  if you can find it  compared with $80 a year earlier and $20 as recently as 2012, according to Cook Flavoring, which gets 80 percent of its supply from Madagascar. Even lower-grade beans sell for $210, up from $60 a year earlier.

A 2006 photo shows vendors selling vanilla sticks in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Ten years later, Vanilla demand is growing, particularly in developing countries, but a prolonged price slump led to smaller global harvests. (P. Bauermeister / Bloomberg)

Dairies and bakeries are balking at the increases, and some are switching from pure-vanilla extracts and powders to cheaper alternatives, like synthetics, and products blended with lower-grade beans or those made with natural ingredients that mimic the flavor of vanillin, said Josephine Lochhead, president of Cook Flavoring, which her grandfather founded in 1918.

"There's a limit to what people will pay for natural vanilla and we're nearing that point," Lochhead said by telephone from Paso Robles, Calif.

Higher prices also pose a risk for Madagascar, which got $280 million in foreign-exchange earnings from vanilla in 2014, second only to nickel mining, which generated $1.47 billion, according to central bank data. Competing growers like Indonesia, China and Uganda may expand output and gain market share.

"In India, for example, the last couple of years, they've been planting like crazy," said David van der Walde, director of Montreal-based vanilla distributor Aust & Hachmann (Canada) Ltd.

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To discourage lower-grade beans, Madagascar agreed this month to block exports of immature green vanilla, imposed a ban on vacuum-packed pods and increased the power of local security organizations to act against transgressors. In recent weeks, the government burned hundreds of kilograms of seized green vanilla, Rabesahala said.

Vanilla didn't originate in Madagascar. The Aztecs were the first to cultivate it in what is now Mexico, where vanilla was mixed with cocoa to make chocolate eaten mostly by aristocrats. Early Spanish explorers initially thought it was a perfume  a use that continues today  and began exporting it to Europe. The plant would only grow in Mexico because its pollination was dependent on a type of bee unique to the country.

That changed in the 19th century when a manual pollinating technique was developed for the vinelike orchid. But it remained labor intensive because the flowers only bloom for a one day per season, requiring workers to tramp through the jungle looking for blossoms.

High prices may not last. With the rally in its fourth year, more production is on the way, and Madagascar will harvest a bigger crop this year than last, in keeping with the plant's biennial cycle, said Lochhead at the Cook Flavoring. In 2002, prices fell from more than $500 to $15 in just a few months, once it became clear supplies were increasing, she said.

This year's harvest in Madagascar, which begins in July, probably will rise to about 2,000 tons from about 1,200 to 1,600 tons in 2015, according to Rabesahala, the commerce minister.

The country's National Vanilla Platform, a government and industry body created in December, is preparing an inventory of an estimated 100,000 growers, as well as collectors and exporters, as it prepares to ensure the quality of the crop when it reaches the world market later this year.

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"We are very serious about this," Rabesahala said. "We're not joking. We don't want to to jeopardize the next campaign."
A Texas school police officer who became enmeshed in controversy after he was captured on video seemingly body-slamming a sixth-grade girl has been fired from the San Antonio Independent School District.

District officials said officer Joshua Kehm was terminated Monday amid an investigation into an incident last month at Rhodes Middle School, in which he appeared to restrain and then throw down 12-year-old student Janissa Valdez.

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"We understand that situations can sometimes escalate to the point of requiring a physical response; however, in this situation we believe that the extent of the response was absolutely unwarranted," school district Superintendent Pedro Martinez said in a statement. "Additionally, the officer's report was inconsistent with the video and it was also delayed, which is not in accordance with the general operating procedures of the police department.

"We want to be clear that we will not tolerate this behavior."

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Janissa had told ABC affiliate KSAT after the incident that she and another student were meeting after school March 29 to discuss comments the other student had purportedly made about Janissa. The 12-year-old told NBC affiliate WOAI that other kids started to congregate in the hall to see whether the two girls planned to fight.

"I was walking toward her, telling her, 'Let's go somewhere else,' because there was a lot of people," Janissa told KSAT. "Then that's when other people came over and the officer thought we were going to fight."

The school district would not release details about the student seen in the video, but Janissa's family has said it was Janissa.

The video, which emerged on YouTube last week, seemed to show Kehm struggling to hold the student from behind as her schoolmates called out, "Janissa! Janissa, chill!"

The officer then hurled the girl to the ground - and a loud crack could be heard as her head slammed against the brick pavement.

The crowd gasped and then fell silent.

"Janissa! Janissa, you OK?" one student said. "She landed on her face!"

The officer handcuffed the girl, pulled her to her feet and escorted her from the area as another student reached out and gently touched her shoulder.

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District officials learned about the video when it surfaced on social media.

"The video is very disturbing," district spokeswoman Leslie Price said in a statement to The Washington Post. "We immediately launched a formal investigation, which is being conducted by both district police and administration."

It has drawn intense criticism.

Judith Browne Dianis, co-director for Advancement Project, a civil rights organization, said last week that it "demonstrates the urgent need to take action to remove police officers from our schools."

"It is unconscionable for a 12-year-old student involved in a verbal altercation to be brutalized and dehumanized in this manner," she said in a statement. "Once again, a video captured by a student offers a sobering reminder that we cannot entrust school police officers to intervene in school disciplinary matters that are best suited for trained educators and counselors."

She also questioned whether such incidents are driven by something more.

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"How many students of color must be brutalized by police officers in their schools before we recognize the pattern?" she said in the statement. "We saw this with 17-year-old Brittany Overstreet in Tampa, Florida, who was body-slammed and knocked unconscious by a school resource officer; in Baltimore, Maryland, where a middle school student required 10 stitches after she was assaulted by a school resource officer; in Columbia, South Carolina, where a student was thrown across a classroom, handcuffed and arrested for using her phone during class; and now, in San Antonio.

"We cannot wait for another violent video of police brutality in our schools to surface before we take action."

Martinez, the superintendent, told the San Antonio Express-News that the decision to fire Kehm came after district officials decided his use of force was unwarranted. Also, Martinez said, Kehm failed to report it to the district.

"That did not happen," Martinez told the newspaper. "When the police officer did submit a report, it was not at all consistent with the video."

Martinez said Kehm's report suggested the girl had fallen down.

"We recognize the high level of emotion generated by this incident, and we want to ensure the public's trust in this investigation, that it is being conducted without any perception of bias," Martinez said in the statement.

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"We know that this incident does not define our district police department, which is dedicated to serving and protecting our school community. We all want to make sure this kind of incident does not occur again, and we will seek to identify areas where improvement may be needed."
Ferris and friends at the Art Institute of Chicago in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." (www.ferrisfest.com)

This summer marks the 30th anniversary of a Chicago classic, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and you can celebrate the milestone by playing hooky at some Chicago hotels.

The Palmer House Hilton's "Bueller's Chicago" package invites people to make like Matthew Broderick and re-create Ferris' day of big-city fun. After all, life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

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You'll be armed with a script of sorts to follow in Ferris' footsteps, as well as a soundtrack in the form of a Spotify playlist, featuring The Beatles' "Twist and Shout" and Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen," among other tunes.

Drop by some of the iconic locations highlighted in the 1986 film, such as Wrigley Field, Willis Tower (Sears Tower back then) and Alexander Calder's orange-red Flamingo sculpture in Federal Plaza. Other notable spots in the Loop include the site of the rollicking parade scene and the parking garage where Ferris leaves the Ferrari.

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The package comes with two passes to the Art Institute of Chicago, where you're encouraged to re-create the contemplative pose struck by Ferris and his BFFs, Cameron and Sloane, and to post a photo of it on social media for the chance to win a prize.

The lobby of the Palmer House Hilton is grand enough for the likes of Abe Froman, Sausage King of Chicago. (Palmer House Hilton)

Make a dinner reservation under the name Abe Froman, Sausage King of Chicago, at Lockwood Restaurant in the Palmer House, 17 E. Monroe St., to receive special white-glove service. (Or seek out a French restaurant that serves extra large portions of snootiness along with those steak frites.)

Buffet breakfast for two at Lockwood is part of the package, priced starting at $258 a night and available April 30 through the end of the year by calling 312-726-7500.

Hotel Lincoln, 1816 N. Clark St., also is offering a "Save Ferris" package, priced from $299 to $499 per night with a two-night minimum. It includes overnight accommodations in the Lincoln Park hotel, two tickets to the Art Institute, two tickets to the Skydeck at Willis Tower, a pair of tickets to a Cubs game and a copy of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" on Blu-ray. The package is available through Sept. 20, blackout dates apply.

Hardcore fans of the film from North Shore native John Hughes might want to time their hotel visits with "Ferris Fest," May 20-22. The weekend lineup features special screenings of the movie at the John and Nancy Hughes Theater in Lake Forest, a filming locations bus tour and a planned restaging of the "Twist and Shout" parade that Sunday.

Get a glimpse of where it all began when you step inside a recreation of Ferris's bedroom at Virgin Hotels Chicago, 203 N. Wabash. The room will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the fest, and the public can check it out for $10. Tickets and info at www.ferrisfest.com.

lrackl@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lorirackl

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When should you call the doctor? (Arthur Tilley / The Image Bank)

When should parents seek medical attention for their sick child?

That's a question to consider as a trial is scheduled to resume today in a Canadian courtroom, where David and Collet Stephan are accused of failing to provide the "necessaries of life" to their son, Ezekiel, a toddler who died of meningitis in 2012, after they reportedly had been treating him with home remedies.

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"I'm not saying they killed him, abused him or ignored him  they loved him," crown prosecutor Clayton Giles said in his opening statement at the trial in Alberta, Canada, according to Global News. "They didn't take him to a doctor until it was too late  far too late." The Stephans say they are not guilty.

This case has sparked much controversy and debate, on both sides of the border, over parental rights and responsibilities. Mainstream medical care versus alternative health care, and the pros and cons of vaccination have long been hot topics for many parents, especially since some forms of meningitis can be prevented with vaccines, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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"The issue is how sick is your child? Very sick children should be seen by a health provider," said Dr. James Mitchell, a pediatrician at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital.

Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at New York University's

Langone Medical Center, agrees and thinks there should be a law.

"A very sick child, sick for more than 48 hours, must be taken to a hospital or have been seen by a mainstream doctor,'' said Caplan, who has written about and commented on the Stephan case in other reports. "Sick children have to be brought to a legitimate medical authority."

"The parents should be found guilty of neglect," Caplan wrote in a Forbes article. Caplan said the case brought against the Stephans was about sending the message that parents of extremely ill children have "a duty to take them to a doctor or a hospital."

Parents need to get a diagnosis from a doctor to establish what is wrong with their child, Caplan said, and then they can determine how to proceed.

The Stephans opted for naturopathic treatment instead of seeking medical care from a doctor.

Naturopathy is "useless hokum," said Caplan. He said it is not about the parents' beliefs, but what is right and best for the child.

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Jaclyn Chasse, a Bedford, N.H.-based naturopathic doctor who is president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, said parents need to work with a doctor they trust, whether the doctor is medical or naturopathic.

"Always err on the side of caution,'' she said.

Putting the responsibility on the parents to get a diagnosis still means the parents must decide what to do, Chasse added, noting that an incorrect diagnosis could occur.

"That's a challenging place for a parent to be with no medical background,'' said Chasse, who believes there's a mutual responsibility between doctors and patients in determining a course of care.

Parents have to use their "best judgment" when children can't act on their own behalf, said Michael M. Burgess, professor and chair in biomedical ethics at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus in Kelowna.

"When your child is very sick, you need to consider the full range of what's possible, including mainstream medicine,'' Burgess said. And when it comes to "vulnerable populations," including children, the obligation to do so is stronger, he said.

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The debate stemming from the Stephan case, he said, is "at what point must we seek mainstream medical care?"

Mitchell, the pediatrician, believes the Stephan trial might make parents who are on the fence about mainstream medicine choose one side or the other. He said, however, those already staunchly in one camp likely won't be swayed by the outcome.

Those who have firm beliefs will stick with them, he said, noting the perspectives of health care providers may be "respected" but will still be factored with other things parents believe in. Health care providers, he said, have to continue to work at communicating with families.

"At the end of the day, we want what's good for the child,'' he said.

wdaley@tribpub.com

Twitter @billdaley

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The initial paperwork can be done in about five minutes at TSA's website, but documents and fingerprints have to be presented in person at one of more than 330 TSA application centers nationwide. Locally, there's the O'Hare center as well as centers in the Loop, on Belmont Avenue, and in suburban Crestwood and Rosemont. Applicants will receive a notice by mail within two or three weeks  and if eligible, an applicant will get a "known traveler number" for quicker screening.
As a teenager I read the "Communist Manifesto," which blew my mind like few books ever have. I'm not a joiner. I never belonged to the Socialist Party, the Democratic Party or  heaven forbid!  the Republican Party. I grew up in a working-class, reflexively progressive community.

In adult life, I've tacked politically. Sometimes a little to the right, other times a little to the left. But Karl Marx's vision of a society without rich or poor still haunts me. Perhaps it is impractical. But it's enchanting, like when the setting sun slips behind a cloud that diffuses it into a pink glow along the horizon.

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So I've had to pinch myself upon hearing that Bernie Sanders drew a crowd of 20,000 to a rally in Seattle. Or that, in Ypsilanti, Mich., a milelong crowd lined up in 25-degree weather outside a hall where he would be speaking.

As Sanders calls himself a democratic socialist, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I haven't heard many denounce him as a dangerous subversive out to do in our way of life. Donald Trump calls him "our communist friend." But I think that gets lost amid the din of his put-downs of rivals, the press, Muslims and Mexicans.

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Red baiting has long distorted our political compass. The Republican Party is on the right, and the Democratic Party is in the center. But generally, the left is an orphan. Only infrequently has a president challenged the powers that be. Theodore Roosevelt denounced the "malefactors of great wealth." His distant cousin Franklin Roosevelt dubbed his social reforms "a New Deal." Lyndon Johnson sponsored the Civil Rights Act and Medicare.

Generally speaking, progressive ideas, often lacking major party support, don't get judged on their merits. They're simply dismissed as un-American.

Consider national health care. Labeled "socialized medicine," it was slow in coming to the U.S. Yet in Europe, where it's long established, it enjoys bipartisan support. Conservative parties aren't pledging to kill it. They promise to run it better, fund it more generously, than left-wing parties do.

In other countries, it doesn't pay to decry an opponent's program as the handiwork of a socialist bogeyman. Socialist parties, or recognizable facsimiles, are currently in power, are part of a ruling coalition or recently have held office in Austria, Albania, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Probably many of their voters have read the "Communist Manifesto." It has been translated into more languages than any book except the Bible. When it was published in 1848, factory hands wanted to know why they got starvation wages while their employers lived high on the hog; why young children worked in coal mines, helping keep a roof over their families' heads.

They found solace in Marx's concept that history was on their side. The Bible says: "The meek shall inherit the Earth." The "Manifesto" version promised a revolution, after which there would be no upper and lower classes.

While that didn't happen, socialist candidates began winning seats in Europe's parliaments. There, sitting alongside conservatives, some of the rough edges were rubbed off each of their ideologies. Socialists downplayed talk of barricades in favor of "Evolutionary Socialism" making a better world through legislative victories. Presumably that is what Sanders means by calling himself a democratic socialist.

Meanwhile, conservatives started taking a page from their opponents' playbook, as successful politicians will. In the 1880s, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck established a comprehensive social-welfare program in Germany: unemployment and old-age insurance, industrial safety regulations, limits on the working day and employment of minors.

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It was the world's first such, and its champion was anything but a bleeding-heart liberal. Known as the "Iron Chancellor," Bismarck was an archconservative. But with the socialists vote rising, he realized that he needed to play their hand before they did.

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As a result of similar give-and-take, Europe's economy became neither quite capitalist nor purely socialist but something in-between. Capitalism with a human face, you might say.

That didn't happen here. Instead, the dominant idea was that unfettered capitalism grows the middle class that is democracy's bedrock. It was hard to argue with that proposition. The American middle class was a joy to behold  larger and enjoying a larger slice of the economic pie than any before it.

More recently that has changed. The middle class is declining in numbers; its incomes have been stagnant or receding. Foreclosures have taken the homes that were its share of the American dream. Students graduate so deep in debt it will take years for them to have the enhanced earnings they were promised when they went to college  if they can even find a decent job. Yet the rich are getting richer  the now famous 1 percent

And socialism has gone from a dirty word to the virtual lapel button of a grandfatherly senator who packs them in like a rock star. His white hair flailing, he thunders against bankers and Wall Street like an Old Testament prophet. He warns his followers that electing him won't be enough. America needs a revolution.

And how do his followers respond? They send Bernie Sanders a king's ransom  one small donation after another.

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Who could have predicted that? Certainly not me. Not even when I was sitting at a reading table in the Albany Park branch of the Chicago Public Library, my nose buried in the pages of the "Communist Manifesto."

rgrossman@tribpub.com
The Chicago Police Department expects to receive a shipment of more than 450 body cameras, which will be worn by officers in some of the most gang-plagued areas of the city in addition to the department's top brass starting this spring, city officials announced Sunday.

After being trained, officers and supervisors in seven of the department's 22 police districts will be equipped with body cameras capable of recording 72 continuous hours of high-definition video and audio on a single charge.

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The new cameras, part of a city pilot program, began in January 2015 in the Shakespeare District, which covers the Logan Square and West Town communities on the North and Northwest sides. The six new police districts, which encompass one-third of the city, cover the South Shore, Auburn Gresham, Chatham, Washington Park, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Back of the Yards, Brighton Park, Bridgeport, Austin, North Lawndale and Little Village communities.

"Body cameras are one tool that the police department uses to serve and protect the people of Chicago," interim Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement. "They play an important role in not just fighting crime, but also in learning from actual encounters with the public. In addition to wearing a body camera myself, I've asked my command staff to wear one as well to demonstrate our commitment to rebuilding trust with the residents we're sworn to serve."

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The department expects the new cameras to be online later this spring and rolling out to the six new districts throughout the summer as it overhauls its technology. Police officials hope to have video uploaded and stored at the end of each shift.

Johnson is expected to begin wearing a body camera while on patrol next week, and his command staff is expected to follow suit.

"With Interim Superintendent Eddie Johnson leading the police department in wearing one, body cameras represent an important step forward as the work of restoring trust and accountability in the department continues," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement Sunday. "The police department will leverage this technology to fight crime, enhance transparency, and strengthen the fabric of trust that is vital between police and the community."

The expanded body camera program comes at a time when surveillance is of the utmost priority for Chicago police as the department cracks down on officers who have not reported broken dashboard cameras, turned on microphones or uploaded footage from those cameras at the end of their shifts. The issue came to light in the case of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by an officer. Five responding police cars had dash cams, but the audio didn't work on any of them.

Officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in the teen's death.

Dean Angelo, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, said the department has some concerns regarding the implementation of body cameras, such as possible infringement on private conversations between police officers.

Since the pilot program began in the Shakespeare District, Angelo said there has also been a lot of confusion over how it would be conducted and for how long. Many union members who participated in the program thought they would wear cameras for a short time before the devices would be rotated to another district. Angelo chalks up the confusion to a lack of communication between department leadership and the union.

"The rollout wasn't coordinated as it should've been," Angelo said. "We kind of hampered the process in the 14th (Shakespeare District). ... The department jumped too soon."

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The union drafted a memorandum of understanding with the department prior to the pilot, which included quarterly meetings between CPD officials, participating officers and the union after the start of program's first phase. Angelo said regular meetings and other terms of the agreement haven't been upheld by the department.

Union representatives are hoping to discuss the body camera program more with Johnson, who Emanuel appointed late last month, Angelo said.

"I don't know if that's something that the new regime is aware of," Angelo said about the agreement. "We want to be involved in the discussion."

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Former Superintendent Garry McCarthy was one of the major proponents of the body camera initiative during his tenure as top cop, pointing to research that showed that citizen complaints dropped by as much as 80 percent for some police departments using body cameras.

On Sunday, the department said citizen complaints against police "drastically" dropped in the first phase of the pilot program, though no statistics were given.

While the union has its reservations, Angelo said that if police are provided with ample training, body cameras could provide more context to police situations.

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"You're going to come away amazed at the compassion and professionalism of officers and the way they perform," Angelo said. "Because you don't hear about all those stories outside of the YouTube and cellphone videos (taken by bystanders). You don't see anything prior to someone getting tackled and forced into handcuffs. Let's see the fighting and the lack of compliance and all of the back and forth before the shot leaves the policeman's gun."

The program is expected to be funded with a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice and $1.1 million in matching funds from the city. The Chicago Police Department also has applied for state grants to assist with camera purchases, storage, maintenance, upload stations and other program-related costs.

tbriscoe@tribpub.com

Twitter @_tonybriscoe
Warning: graphic content. This video shows officers in a South Side lockup using a Taser on suspect Philip Coleman, inset, and dragging him out of his cell by handcuffs in December 2012. (Chicago Police Department) (Handout)

A Chicago City Council panel on Monday recommended spending $4.95 million to a settle a high-profile, excessive force case in which police officers were caught on video locking up a mentally ill man, repeatedly using a Taser and dragging him from his cell while handcuffed.

The police misconduct settlement vote came after the city's top attorney told aldermen that the parents of Philip Coleman had asked officers to take their son to a hospital instead of jail after he attacked them amid "an acute mental breakdown" in December 2012. Witnesses said the commanding officer told the parents "he doesn't do hospitals, he does jails," city Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton informed the council's Finance Committee.

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The chain of events ended in Coleman's death after he was taken to a hospital where staff gave him a shot of a commonly administered anti-psychotic drug, causing a rare allergic reaction that led to his death, Patton said.

During an hourslong hearing, aldermen decried the treatment of Coleman. Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, recalled the case of Christina Eilman, a 21-year-old woman who was left severely disabled after plummeting from the seventh floor of public housing high-rise on the South Side. Police had released Eilman into a high-crime area in 2006 amid the throes of a bipolar episode despite her parents' pleas to get her help.

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The city settled a lawsuit filed by Eilman's family for $22.5 million in 2013, and Burke said that should have been "a clarion call" to the Police Department. "Yet here we are 10 years later, with a case that is eerily similar," Burke said.

"At the time, I believe the police bureaucracy failed this young woman, and I think that the police bureaucracy failed this family," said Burke, referring to Coleman. The aldermen said the Coleman case showed a failure to ensure proper treatment for mentally ill arrestees despite police policy meant to ensure they are taken to hospitals.

"There's some cynicism here, because it's almost like deja vu," said Burke, a former cop who described the officers' conduct in the case as "an insult to our profession."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration released the Coleman video in early December, a couple of weeks into a growing crisis over the Chicago Police Department's use of force spurred by the release of footage showing Laquan McDonald being shot by Officer Jason Van Dyke.

Emanuel had fought release of the McDonald video, but a Cook County judge ordered its release. Van Dyke was charged with murder 400 days after the shooting, hours before the video went public. The U.S. Justice Department is now probing the department's use of force, State's Attorney Anita Alvarez lost a re-election bid and the mayor fired his police superintendent and chose a new one.

The spotlight on settlements of police misconduct cases is particularly bright after the City Council agreed last April to pay McDonald's estate $5 million.

Aldermen later took heat from the public for generally not asking enough questions and specifically not asking to see the video first. On Tuesday, discussion went on for nearly three hours.

When Emanuel released the Coleman footage, he issued a statement saying he does not "see how the manner in which Mr. Coleman was physically treated could possibly be acceptable. ... Something is wrong here  either the actions of the officers who dragged Mr. Coleman, or the policies of the department."

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Despite the request by Coleman's parents, police opted to take the 38-year-old University of Chicago graduate to a South Side police station, where he continued to act "deranged and crazy." and a "gaggle of police officers" repeatedly used a Taser on him, with the trigger being pulled three times, according to Patton.

Officers then dragged an unconscious Coleman from a cell while handcuffed, with both the Taser use and dragging captured on a lockup video that the city later released. Patton described the video as "horrific," adding that a judge already had determined cops used excessive force at the police station.

Police took Coleman to have the Taser prongs removed at Roseland Community Hospital, where he became uncooperative and "a melee" ensued, Patton said. During that melee, police deployed the prongs of a Taser 13 times, he added.

Hospital staff then gave Coleman a shot of a commonly administered anti-psychotic drug, to which he had a rare allergic reaction that led to his death, Patton said. Coleman's parents contended in their lawsuit that the treatment of their son, which left him with 50 bruises and scrapes, contributed to his death.

Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, who knew Coleman as a mentor to young people in her ward, decried his treatment, saying she did not know the person Patton described. "Maybe he would be alive today if (responding police officers) just had a heart," she said.

The Independent Police Review Authority, which reopened the Coleman case in December, continues to look into it, officials said.

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In what Burke called "another sad story," the committee also endorsed a $1.5 million settlement of a case stemming from the 2014 arrest of Justin Cook, a 29-year-old father of three young children who died of an asthma attack while in police custody after the two arresting officers allegedly denied him use of his inhaler.

Two officers, both of whom had just completed their routine probationary period after being hired, arrested Cook after he allegedly tried to flee when they tried to pull him over for going through a stop sign on the city's West Side. The officers testified that they sprayed the inhaler into his mouth, but six witnesses disputed that, Patton said.

Deputy Police Chief Eddie Welch, who heads up internal affairs, told aldermen that "in this case, there's a clear violation" of police policies on dispensing medicine. A sergeant called to the scene saw that Cook received immediate medical attention, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The full City Council is expected to approve both lawsuit settlements at Wednesday's meeting.

hdardick@tribpub.com

Twitter @ReporterHal
We have reached the point in the 2016 presidential campaign where everyone needs to go look at some pictures of capybaras.

What, you ask, is a capybara? It's a preposterously large South American rodent  imagine a guinea pig the size of a large dog  that seems to love just about everyone.

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If you poke around on the internet, you'll find a treasure trove of photos that show capybaras cuddling with kittens and dogs and humans. The wiry-haired, barrel-shaped critters hang out with monkeys and all manner of other wildlife. They stand around and let ducklings sit on their heads.

I don't think any of our current presidential candidates would let a duckling sit on his or her head. A bird got close to Bernie Sanders recently when it landed on his lectern at a campaign event, but the bond between the two seemed tenuous at best. And I'd worry a duckling landing on Donald Trump's incredibly fantastic hair would wind up on a plate in one of his amazingly classy casinos. (Delicately sauteed duckling plucked from Trump's noggin, served on a solid-gold plate, $800, best dish you'll ever have, truly one-of-a-kind.)

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The headlines right now are grim:

"Team Trump Temper Tantrum: Accuses Cruz Of 'Gestapo Tactics' "

"Sanders: Clinton's judgment 'clearly lacking' "

"Cruz: Trump triggers general election 'bloodbath' "

None of this would be happening if a capybara were running for president. The headlines would be:

"Capybara candidate nuzzles baby moose, amasses insurmountable delegate lead"

"Capybara: Other candidates are 'people I would very much like to hug!' "

"Cute Capybara Candidate Kindly Critiques Congressional Chaos"

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Sadly, America is not yet ready for an inordinately large rodent president. What it is ready for is a respite from the hideous nastiness of our political campaigns.

I was planning to write about the latest goings on in this presidential-race-turned-Hunger-Games. About now there's trouble in Trump's campaign, as he continues to have delegates snatched by Ted Cruz's more strategic operation.

About Sanders catching heat for calling Hillary Clinton unqualified, then saying she is qualified, and then saying she is both unqualified and qualified.

About Clinton reportedly pumping white noise through a speaker to keep the press from hearing her comments at a private, outdoor Colorado fundraiser, the latest example of her doing something that sounds exactly like something Hillary Clinton would do.

But in reading all the blah-blah about all this blah-blah, I spotted a link to a random story about capybaras, extolling their overall magnificence. And that led to pictures of capybaras in kiddie pools with puppies and curled up on couches with humans and on the edge of watering holes with turtles.

One particularly striking image showed a capybara having its snout scratched by a rat. BY A RAT, I TELL YOU!

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There appears to be no living creature that a capybara does not love unconditionally and want to be near. They are the semi-aquatic, herbivore polar opposites of our presidential candidates, none of whom I love unconditionally or want to be near.

Is this all very silly? Yes, of course it is.

Is it any sillier than suggesting an opponent is using "Gestapo tactics," drowning out the sound of the speech you're giving to rich people when you already have a trustworthiness issue or saying your opponent is both qualified and unqualified? No, it absolutely is not.

We have more than 200 days until the election. There will be plenty of time to ponder whether there will be riots at the GOP convention or whether tapes of past Clinton speeches will reveal her as the female version of Montgomery Burns from "The Simpsons" or whether Cruz can make anyone on Earth actually like him.

But for now, before we all descend into madness, I strongly encourage you to Google "capybaras with other animals." Spend a little time perusing those images.

It will remind you that there is good in the world. It will make you wish for a presidential candidate who honestly loves everyone. Which, come to think of it, doesn't seem like too much to ask from a presidential candidate.

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Shouldn't they all be more capybara-like? Isn't that kind of the point?

Think about that a bit. And consider donating to my new super PAC, Capybaras For A Happier America.

Capybara/Duckling 2016: Make America Gregarious Again.

rhuppke@tribpub.com
Rock Island Public House in Blue Island will celebrate Record Store Day April 16 with These Old Men They Play Records spinning vinyl, a record player raffle, $1 discount on draft beer for patrons with a Record Store Day receipt and brews from Delaware-based Dogfish Head Brewery. (Photo courtesy of Rock Island Public House)

Record Store Day, the ninth annual international celebration of independent music stores on Saturday, is about adding rare vinyl to your collection and shopping small and local.

Or it can be about the Star Wars, Walt Disney or Hello Kitty fan in your life.

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Or it can just be about having a beer and sandwich while listening to a turntable.

With events at businesses along Western Avenue in Chicago's Beverly area and Blue Island, you can choose your own spin on Record Store Day, which brings limited-edition releases by more than 100 artists, including locals Cheap Trick, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Disturbed.

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"We'll have specials all day long and will be doing karaoke," said Jack Dreznes, owner of Beverly Records. "It's fun. We never know what's going to happen or who's going to show up."

The Dreznes family's 49-year-old shop draws a long line outside its doors at 11612 S. Western Ave. for Record Store Day. If you want to get your hands on one of the more limited releases, Dreznes suggests arriving by 6 a.m. Doors open at 8 a.m.

"Even if we order 10 copies, we might only get one or two," he said, noting there's a purchase limit of one copy per title.

If items sell out before you can nab them, Dreznes said it may be possible to order additional copies.

Beverly Records also will have 20 of the Mickey Mouse Crosley Cruiser portable turntables released for Record Store Day.

A Disney compilation and Star Wars and Hello Kitty picture discs also are among this year's wares. Tom Petty, Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle and others will release exclusive tracks in honor of the day while Metallica's 2003 live CD in Paris will benefit victims of the recent tragedy there.

Record Store Day also will see picture discs from the late David Bowie, a Creedence Clearwater Revival 1969 box set and releases by Anthrax to Andra Day, Flaming Lips to Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull to Etta James, NOFX to the Notorious B.I.G., the Runaways to the Ramones and Miles Davis to Mumford & Sons.

Aside from Record Store-specific merchandise, Beverly Records also will have used vinyl priced at a 20-percent discount through Sunday.

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There's so much inventory that Beverly Records will expand next door to Cullinan's Stadium Club, 11610 S. Western Ave., and use the back room for a record fair, also on Saturday, with thousands of records on clearance for $2 for LPs and 25 cents for 45s. Jack Dreznes's son John will play records.

"We are playing a little bit of everything," John Dreznes said. "Some brand new stuff, some old stuff and requests, too. All vinyl, all day!"

The two businesses decided to joined forces again after a successful Black Friday record fair in November.

"That went really well," Jack Dreznes said. "We had a lot of people stopping for a sandwich and beer and browsing through records."

In nearby Blue Island, Rock Island Public House at 13328 Old Western Ave. will once again offer a $1 discount on draft beer for patrons with a Record Store Day receipt starting at 3 p.m. These Old Men They Play Records will spin vinyl from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.

The craft beer bar, where patrons are invited to bring food from nearby restaurants, also will be tapping beers from Delaware-based Dogfish Head Brewery, the official beer of Record Store Day with a new Belgian-style Tripel called Beer to Drink Music To, and Chicago's Revolution Brewing, including Hand Over Fist, a collaboration brew with Reckless Records for Record Store Day 2015.

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Dogfish Head also will raffle a record player and every purchase of a Dogfish Head beer equals a raffle ticket.

"We keep seeing an increased interest in vinyl and craft beer and we're happy to celebrate both," said Dave Brown, who owns Rock Island Public House with his wife Jennifer.

In 2015, Record Store Day attracted some 400 shoppers to Beverly Records and surpassed the prior year's event in sales, Dreznes said. He partly attributes the increased sales to a growing number of teenagers and young adults collecting vinyl.

"The younger generation has gotten into it now and are collecting as well as playing vinyl and showing it off to their friends," he said. "It's a status symbol even for college kids in their dorm rooms."

Record Store Day releases catering to young adults include a Justin Beiber picture disc (shirtless, of course), the Weeknd's "The Hills Remixes" and Twenty One Pilots' 7-inch single supporting Record Store Day and Disquaire Day in France.

Young or old, putting a needle on a record and soaking in the sound is a "magic thing," Dreznes said. "It's more of a tactile thing than a download. It's something older people have grown up with, but the younger generation is just discovering. And vinyl sounds better as long as you get a good record."

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Categories for Record Store Day include "exclusive releases" to be sold at participating stores and unavailable anywhere else in the same format; "limited run/regional focus releases," a sub-list of exclusives that may be in very limited quantities and may not be distributed nationally; and "first releases" that will be available at participating stores and, in four to six weeks, other retailers.

Almost 60 percent of the releases are from independent artists or released through independent labels and distributors.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Southland Sites for Record Store Day April 16

Beverly Records: Opens at 8 a.m.; 11612 S. Western Ave., Chicago; 773-779-0066; beverlyrecords.com or fortherecordshop.com.

Cullinan's Stadium Club: Record fair from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 11610 S. Western Ave., Chicago; 773-445-5620.

Rock Island Public House: A $1 discount on drink purchase for patrons with Record Store Day receipt starting at 3 p.m., a raffle for a record player and vinyl spinning by These Old Men They Play Records at 8 p.m.; 13328 Old Western Ave., Blue Island; 708-388-5513; rockislandpublichouse.com.

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Other Chicago businesses participating in Record Store Day include 606 Records, 1808 Allport St.; Death or Glory, 2557 W. Chicago Ave.; Dr. Wax, 5226 S. Harper Ave.; Hyde Park Records, 1377 E. 53rd St.; the Music Experience, 1959 E. 73rd St., Chicago; and Pinwheel Records, 1722 W. 18th St.

For more details, go to www.recordstoreday.com

Vickie Jurkowski is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
I've been noticing in the sports pages that the University of Illinois is having quite a bit of problem with their players they have ending up getting arrested. I'm wondering if they're recruiting from the Cook County Department of Corrections at 26th Street and California Avenue in Chicago and the prison league.

Jimbo, Chicago Heights

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Why doesn't Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders wear the American flag on their lapel? If they are going to be the commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, they should wear the flag on their clothing like the American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have the flag on their shoulders, not the Environmental Protection Agency button.

I wanted to correct a statement made by the media rewarding MAP grants and the budget showdown that has prevented the payout of MAP grants this academic year. MAP grants go to the neediest students, and many times the media has reported that MAP grants go only to students attending state universities or colleges. That is incorrect. In fact, MAP grants are also given to students at private universities and colleges. I teach part-time at a small, local private university in Chicago and 51 percent of our students receive MAP grants leaving our school  which is much smaller than many state schools  in dire financial straits at this time.

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Bob, Homewood

Why is Bruce Springsteen snubbing his fans in North Carolina that have spent millions over the years supporting his lavish lifestyle? It's not as though they had any control over a law (which, by the way, I agree with) enacted by their governor. Isn't this a form of exclusion in itself? Grow up already. Sincerely, a former fan.

Hey Dave, I guess the world is flat, the Earth is the center of the universe and an atom is the smallest thing known to man because these were all facts by the smartest scientists in the world at one point. Maybe the existence of God cannot be proven by science yet because our current scientists are not smart enough.

John, Orland Park

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

This is in regards to the commenter who said the Daily Southtown is afraid to print the truth. Well, the actual truth of the matter is that when the Republicans held the U.S. House of Representatives, they had more filibusters in one year than in the history of the entire U.S. Congress, which made it impossible for any kind of legislation to get through. They wouldn't even bring it up to the floor.

The next time I see a school district politicking for a rate increase, I'm going to keep in mind what's going on in Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 now that the state is investigating the district's audits and finances. Questionable finances go on in all the districts. It's the same with pension bumps and all the stuff they're pulling and getting away with. But remember, it's for the kids. It's not for those extra perks and large pensions they're walking off with. As for former Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie, you've got to be kidding me. An annuity fund worth more than $500,000 on top of his pension? I guess I missed the boat. I went to work for a utility.

When Marv from Bridgeview was confronted by George regarding the existence of God, George said God cannot interfere in the affairs of man. Really? If this be true, George, then why do you waste your time praying?

Stan, New Lenox

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To the commenter that said the kids should stay home for this election and not come and vote for candidate Hillary Clinton because we couldn't take another four years of a Democratic president: I don't think we can take another four years of a Republican president, especially with this Republican U.S. House of Representatives and Senate that we have right now that has completely been stonewalling the whole country for the last 16 years and sticking it to the middle class. I don't know what this gentleman is thinking of, but I certainly don't think he's thinking very much.

What's Speak Out?

Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 120 words and give your first name and your hometown.
Elmwood Park officials are in the process of adding public parking along 75th Avenue. Expanding public parking in that area has been an ongoing project for the village, said Village Manager Paul Volpe, because of the village's burgeoning "Restaurant Row" in that area.

"That success brings with it parking issues," Volpe said. "So we've been taking a number of different steps to alleviate the parking for our residents and business.

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Elmwood Park trustees approved the purchase of residential property at 1615 N. 75th Ave. on April 4 in order to demolish it and then turn it into another new public parking lot.

"About a year and a half ago, we bought a house [on 74th North Court] to the east of the house we're discussing now and we demolished it and turned it into a surface parking lot, creating 11 or 12 parking spaces," Volpe said. "Once that was complete last year, we began discussions with the owner of this particular property."

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The entire board voted in favor of purchasing the new lot, with the exception of Trustee Angelo J. Lollino. When the previous property was purchased and converted to a parking lot, residents were concerned that Lollino would be benefiting from the additional parking spaces because he owns a business in the area, said Village President Angelo "Skip" Saviano.

Lollino is the president and CEO of Alamode Foods, Inc., which owns and operates Massa Italian Cafe & Gelateria at 7434 W. North Ave. in Elmwood Park. And when the property at 74th North Court was rezoned to create a parking lot, Lollino recused himself from voting, Saviano said.

The village has negotiated the purchase of the 5,000-square-foot residential lot at 1615 N. 75th Ave. for $265,000, Volpe said. Once the village closes with the homeowner, the newly acquired property will have to be rezoned so it can be converted into a parking lot and continue the expansion of the public parking available just north of Elmwood Park's "Restaurant Row," which includes Johnnie's Beef, Spizzico Pizza, New Star and Cafe Cubano. The goal is to provide convenient parking for people going to those restaurants in the area and alleviate some of the residential parking issues in the 1600 block of 75th avenue, Volpe said.

"I don't have this one designed, but it will be another surface lot, and will have somewhere between 22 and 25 parking spots between the two parking lots," he said. "We're excited about it."

He said the goal is to have the new parking lot finished and open to the public before winter.

"We really believe this is a win-win for everyone," said Village Trustee Alan Kaminski. "We know that parking is at a premium in many parts of the village, and this is another important step in helping to meet that need."

Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
A plea deal is again a possibility for former Chicago Bears tight end Desmond Clark and his wife, who were charged with disorderly conduct after a 2015 dispute with Vernon Hills High School officials.

Jed Stone, a lawyer representing Clark, said Monday he believes a plea deal could be reached before the scheduled trials. Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim confirmed the state is involved in plea deal negotiations

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The couple was arrested after an Aug. 29, 2015, dispute at Vernon Hills High School that Clark claimed started when he confronted school officials about how his son was disciplined. Clark was charged with disorderly conduct and his wife, Maria Clark, was charged with disorderly conduct and assault.

The state had offered the Clarks a plea deal that would have resolved the charges for both cases, but it was rejected by the defendants and their attorney in October 2015.

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"This case should be resolved (without trials)," Stone said.

Desmond Clark had claimed the dispute occurred after his son was not allowed to participate on a lip-syncing team because of a disciplinary problem. His son was allowed in the audience, but the teams were told not to involve him in the performance if they used audience participation, Desmond Clark claimed.

Clark has said he confronted school officials because he believed there were "racial undertones" to the discipline and his son's objections.

In a separate case, the state has dropped battery charges against Maria Clark that stemmed from a dispute at a Vernon Hills Target. Nerheim said those charges were dropped last week.

Maria Clark had been charged last year with misdemeanor battery with intent to cause bodily harm and battery involving physical contact after an alleged incident at a Target on May 31, 2015, authorities said. Another woman involved in the dispute was also charged with disorderly conduct.

Nerheim said "cross cases" against both defendants would have made it hard for the state to prove either was guilty at trial.

If a plea agreement is not reached on the disorderly conduct charges, Maria Clark is scheduled for trial April 27 and Desmond Clark May 2.

The former Chicago Bears tight end and his wife have been free on $25,000 bond since the incident at the high school.

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jrnewton@tribpub.com

Twitter @jimnewton5
Stay on top of the news all day with the Tribunes web notifications. Well let you know  right in your web browser  when theres big breaking news happening, and also share our editors top picks so you see the best of what the Tribune has to offer.
The governing board of the STEM school meets for a board meeting attended by staff and parents April 5. (Sarah Freishtat / The Beacon-News)

When they sit down to review results from this spring's PARCC tests, staff at the John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School at Aurora University will have to request their students' scores from the surrounding public schools.

That's because, unlike traditional public schools, information specific to the STEM school is not reported to the state, so it does not receive a traditional school report card. While the school is set to annually undergo a wide-ranging evaluation from an outside firm, detailed, comparative data about the school can be hard to find.

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STEM school test scores are directed to the public schools in the four districts that formed the STEM school and are counted among their home schools' state data.

The STEM school is a partnership between Aurora University and four school districts  Indian Prairie School District 204, East Aurora School District 131, West Aurora School District 129 and Batavia School District 101.

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Illinois State Board of Education spokeswoman Amanda Simhauser said scores are not reported to the state board specifically for the STEM school because federal funding for those students is tied to their home schools, where they remain enrolled. Officials call the STEM school an "attendance center," accountable to its governing board and the four school districts whose administrators sit on the board.

Sally Glavin, a Naperville resident who has repeatedly criticized District 204 for spending money on the STEM school instead of lowering class sizes within the district, said she tried to search for test results for the STEM school to see whether those students outperformed students enrolled in a gifted education program in Indian Prairie.

"Since we are paying for (the STEM school), at the very least we should be able to see how that school is performing," she said.

Many say the STEM school, now in its second year, is unique in Illinois .Focused on hands-on education using new technology, it serves about 200 third- through eighth-graders generally selected by lottery. Teachers from the four districts rotate through the school in a move designed to provide them training and allow them to bring knowledge back to their home districts. It operated and funded by the four districts and Aurora University, working with corporations and non-profit organizations.

Some districts raised concerns while details about its operation were still being ironed out. Oswego-based Community Unit School District 308 rejected a pitch to join the partnership, citing the school's cost and relatively small size.

Traditional public schools and districts have state report cards, including detailed state test data, student demographics and information about teachers, enrollment and finances. Instead, the STEM school relies on an outside evaluator's report based on surveys, interviews, student tests and observations.

After Glavin's request, the school posted the evaluation on its website.

The nearly 30-page report includes some basic information about the school, as well as information about how the various partners in the school work together. Student demographics are listed in a paragraph about halfway through, and once PARCC scores became available last year, a summary of results was created listing the percent of students school-wide who met or exceeded expectations on the exam. It also includes information about other student tests and a rubric, according to the school.

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"I don't think we provide any less information than any other school district provides to their parents before they make a decision to come to a particular school," said Sherry Eagle, executive director of Aurora University's Institute for Collaboration and a member of the school's governing board. "If anything, (we) provide more."

STEM School Director Arin Carter said staff "absolutely" look at PARCC scores, after they get them from each of the school districts. Parents also receive their child's score report.

She said the exam is new, so it's difficult to see how it aligns with state standards. But she said the results "show that our students are being successful at our school."

Parents looking for information about the school call "all the time," Carter said. Eagle said the school also has parent information meetings.

"Everything's working fantastic," Carter said. "We're completely seeing positive results in our students and we really feel like what we're doing is working. And the students enjoy coming to school."

When making PARCC scores public, the STEM school must be careful not to double count them at the state level since they are already counted as part of their home schools, Carter said.

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Kane County Regional Superintendent Pat Dal Santo compared the PARCC reporting process to that of a special education cooperative.

Some of the STEM school partner districts said they can look at STEM students' PARCC scores. In East Aurora, spokesman Matt Hanley said the district could make scores available to parents looking for information about the school if students' identifying information is removed.

In West Aurora, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Brent Raby said he doesn't typically break out the STEM school scores because the test is brand new. He discourages parents from basing any decisions about the STEM school on test scores because he said it's not a gifted program and shouldn't be compared to one.

Instead, he encourages parents to think about whether a child likes math, science and technology, and whether a less traditional form of education could work for them and to attend parent night, search the district's website or visit the building for more information.

It is the STEM school's responsibility to track the effectiveness of student programs, teacher training and other aspects of the school, he said. He looks at the big picture based on parent, student and teacher feedback and reports from the STEM school, he said.

"They pretty much created a curriculum from scratch," he said. "And with their uniqueness of corporate collaboration, I hope that the parents who decide to go there want that learning environment for their kids. But they will be held accountable, just like any other school, for how their kids produce."

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But Glavin, a District 204 parent and resident of Naperville, would like to compare STEM school students' performance to those in the district's gifted education program, Project Arrow. "Is the STEM school in Aurora markedly outperforming the (Project Arrow) students at the elementary and middle school levels?" she said. "Where are those test scores?"

Downstate, Paris Cooperative High School operates on a similar model. The boards of two school districts have equal control over the school, which is considered two separate high schools by the state, Director Dave Meister said. The state requires the school to report test scores separately for each member district.

Meister said he publishes his own version of a state report card as a way to track the high school's progress as a whole. As with the STEM school, the state tracks each district separately for money reasons, Meister said. While parents can track how the school is doing through his report and from local media coverage, he said it is a problem that the state isn't tracking the school's performance as a whole.

"It becomes problematic for multiple reasons," he said. "It's a bureaucratic nightmare."

Freishtat is a Beacon-News reporter. Baker is a Naperville Sun reporter.

sfreishtat@tribpub.com

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subaker@tribpub.com

Twitter @srfreish

Twitter @SBakerSun1
Two men and two boys from Chicago were charged this week in connection with a carjacking incident in Oak Park, according to the village's police department.

The four individuals were arrested around 5 p.m. April 7, shortly after allegedly stealing a 2002 Oldsmobile from a 72-year-old resident and aiming handguns at him and his 67-year-old wife in the alley behind their home in the 700 block of North Grove Avenue, according to Oak Park police.

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Darryl Peters Jr., 19 of the 400 block of North Trumbull Avenue, and Anthony Johnson, 18, of the 3800 block of West 13th Street, were charged with vehicular hijacking, and two juveniles, ages 15 and 17, from the 1400 block of South Hamlin Street, were charged with vehicular hijacking and attempted armed robbery, police said.

The 72-year-old residentsaid he and his wife were in the process of cleaning out the Oldsmobile and planned to exchange it for a new vehicle the next day.

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The resident said he was sitting in the driver's seat of the Oldsmobile outside his garage, when the four individuals walked up to the car and one grabbed the door. The resident said he pulled the door shut, and the man took out a large handgun and aimed it at the resident's head.

"I got out of the car, and he slid right in," he said. "Another of his buddies had a handgun and aimed it at my wife and told her, 'We'll get you,' and then he jumped in the car and they sped off."

He said the entire ordeal lasted about 30 seconds. The resident said he immediately called 911.

Within minutes of the call, Chicago police identified the stolen Oldsmobile and followed it to a dead-end alley in the 300 block of North Parkside Avenue, police said. The four individuals attempted to flee on foot and were apprehended by police.

The resident said he was notified of the arrest minutes after he dialed 911. He said he was asked to identify the suspects in a street lineup after they were taken into custody.

Bond for Peters and Johnson was set at $250,000, and both men remained in custody Tuesday afternoon, according to Monalinda Saldivar, assistant chief of public information for the clerk of the circuit court. The two minors charged in connection with the incident were transported to the Cook County secure juvenile detention center, police said.

"This couple did everything right. They didn't panic, they didn't resist and they immediately called 911," Oak Park Police Chief Rick Tanksley said in a statement released by the department. "They also made it a point to retain details about their assailants that made it easy for them to make a positive identification. I think everyone can learn a lesson from how the victims handled themselves."

The longtime Oak Park resident said the carjacking shocked the entire neighborhood. He said the area is largely unaffected by crime.

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The resident said his neighbors are on guard following the incident, and "they know if people don't belong in the alley, they know now to call 911  there is no question in their minds."

He said neighbors have also expressed support for the couple in the carjacking aftermath by stopping by to express their concern and offering both flowers and food.

"This is a very tightknit neighborhood," the resident said.

Lee Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
The Niles Township High School District 219 Board of Education on April 5 voted to close the school-based health centers in Niles West and Niles North high schools. Gwenn Rausch, (above) chief executive officer at Heartland Health Centers, the company that operates the centers expressed extremely disappointed at the boards decision. (Brian L. Cox / Handout)

Less than a year after opening school-based health centers in Niles West and Niles North high schools, District 219 is closing the them citing low usage of the facilities by the very students they were established to serve.

"We had such high hopes it would work out," said board member Linda Lampert. "I am so sad it hasn't"

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The board, during its regular meeting on April 5, voted to terminate at the end of the school year its contract with Heartland Health Centers, the company that runs the centers. That vote comes despite pleas by representatives from the company who said closing the centers is a mistake that could have long lasting repercussions on student health.

"I'm just extremely disappointed in their decision," Gwenn Rausch, chief executive officer at Heartland Health Centers said after the vote. "I felt like the board members were not telling the whole story. They sort of picked and chose the kind of things they wanted to talk about."

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The centers were opened eight months ago with the help of a $1.3 million grant from the North Suburban Health Care Foundation and the district's promise to spend $500,000 on the centers for the first two years of their operation, officials said. They said that the district eliminated social work, psychologist and nursing position at both high schools to cover that cost of the $500,000 subsidy.

"It was believed at the time that services provided by the student health center staff would offset this loss of district services to district students," said board president Mark Sproat. "This has not been fully realized in the eight months since the opening of the student health centers."

He also cited low usage of the centers and said Heartland has only obtained consent forms from about 21 percent of students allowing them to be treated in the health centers.

"That leaves seventy nine percent of the students to be served by a significantly reduced district staff of social workers and psychologists," Sprout said.

"Some might say that this is a money issue, that District 219 does not want to pay the five hundred thousand dollar subsidy for next year," he said. "We prefer to frame this decision as one of providing the best quality services for our students."

But representatives from Heartland Health Centers said the district has not given the program enough time to realize the results the district is seeking. They said that closing the centers could impact low income families the hardest and impact student health, among other things.

"They act like twenty percent of the students, a thousand students, is trivial," said Rausch. "A thousand students receiving health care is significant especially in an eight month period of time. Frankly we have no choice but to look at what options we have to take action."

A representative from the North Suburban Health Care Foundation told the board that the $1.3 million grant received by the district to open the centers may need to be repaid due to the boards decision to close the health centers.

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District staff in a memo to the board did note that one area where Heartland has been successful is with psychiatric appointments, "where there is great student need." It said there have been 27 psychiatric visits at Niles West to date and 25 at Niles North.

Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
With the scope and penalties of Chinas social credit system being further clarified in 2021, legal and regulatory compliance has become more important than...
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China will continue to propel its ongoing reform on torpid state-owned enterprises (SOE) this year as part of the efforts to restructure the economy, according to a recent government meeting.

The government will work to eliminate barriers to the supply-side structural reform, stimulate the morale and creativity of entrepreneurs and employees, and improve state-owned asset supervision, said a statement issued on Sunday after the conference chaired by Vice Premier Ma Kai on Friday.

The meeting also agreed to establish mechanisms that encourage innovation and allow progress through trials and errors.

Given a continued economic slowdown, China is promoting an overhaul on SOEs to revitalize the public sector of the economy, piloting mixed-ownership reform, liberalizing industries to private capital and encouraging mergers and acquisitions.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission chose two SOEs to pilot reforms covering payment distribution, investment of state-owned capital, mergers and reorganization in February.
China's growing middle class will play an important role in Australia's economic future, the government has said ahead of Australia's "largest ever" trade mission to China on Monday.

Penning a article for News Corp ahead of the Australia Week in China (AWIC) event, Minister for Trade and Investment Steven Ciobo said the Asian superpower was crucial to boosting Australia's exports, and the week, which covers a number of cities across China, would showcase the best of a number of different Aussie industries.

Ciobo said it was important to send such a large delegation so that Australia could continue to foster and develop the important economic relationship on the back of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA).

"More than 1,000 business leaders will join me for Australia Week in China 2016, promoting the best we have to offer in cities across the country," Ciobo said on Monday.

"We are committed to such a large showing because China will remain our largest export market for the foreseeable future, and the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement will form the basis of a broader, more diverse commercial relationship for many years to come.

"As Minister for Trade and Investment, my job is to get on with preparing Australia for the new sources of growth this process will generate. The changes under way in China will have important ramifications for our economy and we must act now to understand and shape them."

Ciobo said both nations have already experienced a gigantic leap in economic returns from the deal, and added the trade mission would only serve to keep the positive momentum going.

"Australia Week in China is an important part of this process. It features an extensive program of events, meetings and site visits across agribusiness and premium food, financial services, health and aged care, urban sustainability and water management, education and tourism," he said.

"These are all sectors already benefiting from China's transformation, and coupled with the improved access and tariff reductions the Coalition negotiated through ChAFTA, this process will continue."

The minister said China's rapidly-expanding middle class was a key to the future of Australia's export market.

He said the food and drink industries, as well as cosmetics and technology, would soon rise to similar levels to tourism from China, which has continued to grow almost exponentially over the last decade.

"In the short time since ChAFTA came into force on December 20 last year, we have already seen early signs of gains in shipments of, for example, beef, cherries, wine, seafood and cosmetics," Ciobo said in his article.

"The benefits of ChAFTA aren't confined to goods though, it will benefit service industries too, including tourism.

"Last year, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Australia in a 12-month period passed the 1-million mark for the first time, double the total of just five years ago.

"Chinese tourists are now Australia's biggest-spending visitors and their growing presence in cities and regions is driving a renewal of infrastructure and tourism jobs."

"Visiting China has always been crucial to building stronger commercial partnerships, whatever the industry," Ciobo said on Monday.

"Today, it is also necessary in forming a proper understanding of the changes occurring there, and implications these have for Australian businesses and jobs."

AWIC begins in China on Monday, with the delegation, including the trade minister and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, to visit Hong Kong, Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai.
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China's Ministry of Public Security has published a wanted-list of ten fugitives who allegedly committed huge telecom and Internet fraud.

The list contains the names, gender, birth dates, hometown addresses and ID numbers of the wanted, who were mostly from the country's southern and eastern regions.

The ministry does not specify their crimes or how many cases they were involved in.

It says groups or individuals who provide information leading to arrests will receive a reward of 50,000 yuan, or about 7,700 U.S. dollars, for each suspect seized.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate, China's top prosecution body, said earlier this month that more than 300 people were arrested in China for telecom and Internet fraud in 2015.

It says police are seeing an increase in cybercrime, including transnational cases, and the sums of money involved, which is posing a greater threat to state and public security.
Chinese people use their ID cards for everything from travel and banking to marriage registration. But for many, the document also displays their least flattering photo.

Authorities around the country have started catering to image-conscious citizens by helping them take ID photos worthy of the social media age.

In late March, the public security department of north China's Hebei Province announced on Weibo that residents who apply for or renew their ID cards can take their own pictures.

In the past, the photos were taken by police officers. The new system allows people to sit in front of a screen, press a remote control button, review the pictures and choose a favorite. If they are not satisfied, they can try again.

Hebei is not the only place in China to tackle the ugly photo problem. Shenzhen police have authorized professional photo studios to take ID pictures for residents, and police in northeast China's Jilin Province worked with a software company to develop a photo editing program for IDs.

He Peng, deputy director with Jilin's Exit and Entry Administration, said the new software can tailor the photos to meet requirements for ID cards, passports, and other official documents.

"Police officers can help people shoot an attractive and approved photo in three minutes or less," He said.

China has been issuing its second-generation ID cards, featuring computer chips and digital encryption, since 2005. The cards have validity periods ranging from 10 years for people aged between 16 and 25 to 20 years for people aged 26 to 45, and even longer for older people. In other words, a bad photo can stick around for decades.

According to a Chinese Internet joke, if you want to know whether a person is really beautiful, you should check his or her ID or passport photo.

"My new photo looks much better than the old one," said Zhang Nan, a Jilin University student who recently renewed a second-generation ID card.

Authorities have strict requirements for ID photos: the full face and ears must be visible, hair must not fall over the eyes, dark clothes should be worn, and no heavy makeup is allowed.

"Due to the strict requirements and my fear of poker-faced police officers, the photo on my ID card is the ugliest one I have ever taken. It is good news that I now have the final say," said one Weibo user.

Hassle at hotels

An online survey showed that more than 71 percent of 419 respondents thought the photos on their ID cards, student cards and passports were ugly, and 45 percent admitted that the photos had led to hassle when flying, checking in to hotels or taking exams.

"A teacher even refused to let me into class for an English exam because he thought it was not me after checking my ID card," said one microblogger.

In order to get a good photo, one college student from Jilin's Yanji City repeatedly visited her local police station claiming to have lost her ID.

"It is strange for a person to always lose an ID card. The girl finally told us that she thought her photos were too ugly and just wanted to take new ones," said a police officer.

Song Wanlai, a Jilin-based police officer, said it is reasonable for people to ask for attractive ID photos.

"As long as the photos meet the requirements, we are willing to help people show a prettier face by updating our photo equipment and training ourselves," Song said.
Fudan University is reforming its enrolment process to make it easier for outstanding students in poor areas to gain entrance, it announced yesterday.

University streamlines admission for poor students

For the first time, underprivileged students will not be required to sit the univeristys exam or be interviewed after passing the national test. The reformed process will save students from poverty-stricken areas the cost of transport and accommodation, said Ding Guanghong, director of the universitys admission office.

Students from poor areas need only to apply online and will be selected on the basis of their performance at school and on the national college entrance exam.

Interviews for students from poverty-stricken areas will be dropped because they usually havent seen much of the world compared with urban children, but they are as good as the others, Ding said.

The reformed process also allows us to have a broader choice of potential students.

Fudan plans to enroll 400 students from poor areas, accounting for 13 percent of its overall quota for this year.

Last year, it also planned to enroll 400 underprivileged students, but only 100 enrolled.

Some students failed the written exam or did poorly in the interview, while some went to other universities, said Ding.

This year, however, the 400 slots will likely be occupied, he said, adding that information regarding student selection will be made public to ensure transparency and fairness.

Students from poverty-stricken areas are among the best at Fudan, Ding said, who encourages more to apply.
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South China's Guangdong Province reported a new Zika case Sunday, bringing the total number of imported infections in the province to 11.

A 7-year-old girl, a Venezuelan citizen, developed a skin rash after returning to her hometown in Enping City, Guangdong, on April 4 and tested positive for the virus on Thursday, the health and family planning commission of Guangdong said.

She is under observation at home and is in stable condition.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global emergency in early February amid a Zika outbreak in Central and South America. China has also been on alert as the warming weather may facilitate the spread of the mosquito-borne virus.

Symptoms of Zika infections include fever, joint pain, rash, conjunctivitis, headache and muscle pain. It is also a suspected cause of microcephaly in new-born babies.
Local authorities in Fenghuang County of southwest China's Hunan Province have eliminated entrance fees they used to charge tourists for visiting the town.

A photo shows the scenery of the ancient Fenghuang town in southwest China's Hunan Province on April 9, 2016. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

The local government says the fees were no longer consistent with the current development of the tourism market.

The ancient Fenghuang township is a renowned tourist area featuring tranquil sceneries, antique lifestyles and the traditional culture of the Miao ethnic group.

The local government started charging a fee of 148 yuan, or around 23 US dollars, per person in 2013, as an attempt to protect the town and to regulate its tourism market.

The investment company behind the Fenghuang tourism project says the elimination of the fees was a result of disagreements over profit distributions between itself and the local government.

China's national and some provincial authorities have banned certain administrative tourist charges, which are included in the total ticket prices, levied by local governments. According to the investment company, despite this, Fenghuang authorities still wanted the same portions of revenues as before the bans were implemented.

Since their inception, the fees have slowed local tourism and drawn criticism by the town's residents and business communities.
A woman taking a selfie near a railway track was hit by a train and died on the spot in Foshan on Saturday, reported citygf.com.

The woman is too focused on taking the selfie to realize how close she is standing to the railway tracks. [Photo from web]

The 19-year-old, a student at Foshan Polytechnic, was declared dead of severe head injury and blood loss when the emergency workers from local hospital reached the site 10 minutes after incident.

According to reports, the site where the accident happened is witnessing roses in full bloom stretching more than 100 square kilometers. The view is attracting many tourists who flock near the railway track to take photos. Some even stand too close to the track just to get their photo and the train in the same frame.

A local flower grower who witnessed the accident said the woman was standing too close, less than 50 centimeters, to the tracks.

"Several people tried to warn her but maybe she did not hear them," said a witness surnamed Huang.

Medical staff members said there have been previous cases of people getting hit by trains as many use the tracks as a shortcut while ignoring the dangers posed by the trains.

Police have launched an investigation into the case.

Many internet user expresses remorse at woman's death.

@ said on SinaWeibo: "Sorry to hear the news that the woman got herself killed due to lack of safety awareness."

The internet user also said she's planning a trip to the exact spot to see the flowers and trains but now she's scared and hesitant.

Another netizen said on SinaWeibo: "It's common that people love to take photos in such beautiful places. But how sad her family will be, especially as she died in these circumstances. We have to be serious about our safety and never ignore any warnings."

Although even after hearing the news some visitors didn't seem to care at all.

After the fatal accident, people were still flocking to the flower field and taking photos with the trains.

A man who took a selfie said he had heard about the accident but he still believed it was safe to shoot selfies with trains. "The woman was just way too careless," said the man, "but we are fine."

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Strong tremors were felt in southern Xinjiang in northwest China when a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan on Sunday, but no casualties have been reported.

The China Earthquake Networks Center said the quake hit the Hindu Kush area at 6:28 p.m. (Beijing Time) at 36.56 degrees north and 71.31 degrees east, at a depth of 200 km.

Residents of Kashgar, Hotan and Kizilsu Kirgiz prefectures of the autonomous region that borders Afghanistan felt strong tremors.

Deng Jiaping, a citizen of Kashgar, told Xinhua that the building she lives in shook for less than a minute, toppling her desktop computer and sending neighbors running out for safety.

Some railway sections in the south of Xinjiang were closed for safety checks after the quake.

Local authorities in Xinjiang are still assessing conditions in the affected regions.
People transfer an injured man to a hospital after a massive earthquake in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar, April 10, 2016. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale jolted parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, killing two and injuring 25 in Pakistan on Sunday. [Photo/Xinhua]

A strong earthquake has been felt across a number of major cities in South Asia on Sunday, with at least two people killed and 30 others injured in Pakistan.

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit parts of Pakistan on Sunday afternoon, local media and officials said.

The country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province was the worst hit area where all the casualties took place due to its closeness with the epicenter which was determined in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush Mountain Range, located some 231 km north of the province, said the Pakistani met office.

The quake was felt in several Afghan provinces including the eastern Nangarhar, Kunar and Laghman, northern Baghlan, Kunduz and the northeastern Takhar and Badakhshan provinces.

Residents from Indian capital New Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Pujnab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Indian-controlled Kashmir also felt the tremor.

Residents from Kabul, Islamabad, New Delhi and other quake-hit districts rushed out of their houses fearing the buildings will collapse due to tremors.

"The tremors were shocking," Mukthar Ahmad, a Srinagar resident from Indian-controlled Kashmir told Xinhua. "For a moment I thought our house will collapse and all my family members ran outside in panic raising alarm."

In Pakistan's northwestern frontier city of Peshawar, Khalid Masood, the spokesman of Lady Reading Hospital, said that the provincial government has imposed a state of emergency at the Lady Reading and other hospitals of the province to receive and give best possible medical treatment to the quake victims.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed all the civil and military departments of the federal government as well as the local governments of all the affected areas to be on high alert and quick in response to rescue and relief work.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, Sayed Abdullah Hamayon Dehqan, director of the National Disaster Management Authority in Badakhshan province, told Xinhua that the epicenter of tremor was in the mountainous Ashkashim district.

"We are collecting information about possible loss of life and property damage," Dehqan said, adding, "Luckily we have not received any report on casualties."

In India, officials were not available in the offices for the comment about loss of life or damage to structures owing to Sunday being a public holiday.

Police officials said so far there were no reports of any damage but the Metro services in Delhi were temporarily suspended due to the intensity of the earthquake.

The Hindu Kush area bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan is a seismically active area, with quakes often felt across the region.
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Chadians went to the polls on Sunday to elect a president who will serve them for the next five years, in a hotly contested election that has 13 candidates including incumbent President Idriss Deby Itno.

Deby is seeking his fifth consecutive five-year term since the re-introduction of multiparty politics in 1996, five years after coming to power through a military coup.

Some of the 6 million registered voters started heading to polling stations early in the morning before the official start of the voting process, which was to last for eleven and half hours between 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. local time.

President Deby Itno, accompanied with his wife Hinda, voted at around 8 a.m. at a polling station in Amriguebe suburb within the capital N'Djamena's fifth district, which is considered to be Deby's stronghold.

Generally, no major incident has so far been reported, but the display of electoral lists at the polling stations has so far not happened, with the exception of a few polling stations in the capital.

This has disenfranchised voters who have to move to different polling stations searching for their names so that they can vote.

Published following a presidential decree issued on March 5 after being prepared by the National Independent Election Commission, the biometric voters' lists are as a result of a decision taken by the authorities after many years of fighting with the opposition which, today, is skeptical about the system's reliability.

In the capital, few vehicles were visible and most shops remained closed on Sunday morning. However, traders in the main markets could not resist the temptation to open their businesses, especially due to the current poor economic situation that has been exacerbated by the drop in oil prices and other raw materials the country exports.

A well placed source told Xinhua the results of the elections will be known within two weeks. If none of the candidates gets 50 percent of the votes cast, then a second round will be held in early May.

After two weeks of election campaigns that ended on Friday night, uncertainty remains over the outcome of the elections that were held in a tensed environment, marked by anger expressed through two simultaneous strikes in key sectors of education and health, as well as arrest of several civil society actors who were accused of engaging in disorderly conduct.

The tension was heightened on Friday after an armed group declared its existence in Chad's Far North region, an area that has witnessed unprecedented movement of weapons allegedly obtained from the stock piles of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The expressions of anger were the main arguments by the opponents of the incumbent president who have insisted that it was impossible for him to win.

However, after casting his vote on Sunday, Deby seemed unperturbed and expressed confidence that he will win Sunday's elections.

It should be noted that this year's election was the first time in 26 years that Deby visited all the four corners of the national territory to convince voters to support his re-election bid.

In 2006 and 2011, opposition boycott enabled him to be re-elected without any difficulty in the first round with 77.53 percent and 88.26 percent respectively.

These were higher scores when compared to the 2001 elections when Deby scored 63.17 percent of the votes cast. Five years earlier, he was forced to contest in the second round which he eventually won with 69.09 percent.

"It is true Deby has done some good things, but time for change has come. The country is stuck because of him. He was booed in Doba during a campaign rally. This was a sign of the people's anger," one of the president's main challenger Joseph Djimrangar Dadnadji told Xinhua on phone on Saturday.

Dadnadji, who is a former Chadian prime minister, is part of an opposition coalition formed on April 5 in N'Djamena, whose main objective is to "protect the votes and unite opposition leaders after the elections."

The electoral process kicked off on Saturday with soldiers, nomads and Chadians in diaspora casting their votes.

However, the opposition has already raised allegations of rigging, especially through ballot stuffing and creation of fictitious polling stations, besides intimidation of voters.
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Measures to halt migration flows approved by the European Union (EU) in mid-March have started to pay off, said Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak on Sunday.

Lajcak, returning from visits to Greece and Turkey, stated that efforts to resolve the migration crisis are moving to a brand new stage, therefore.

He visited Greece and Turkey along with his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders, who was representing the EU's presiding country there, plus the foreign affairs ministers of France, Italy, Malta and Portugal.

"We had a chance to assess the situation jointly on the spot three weeks after the adoption of key European decisions linked to tackling the migration crisis," stressed Lajcak.

Lajcak said that Greece has managed to build a comprehensive system of migrant registration and reception centres in a short time.

"Our role as European partners is to help them to work fully and in a sustainable manner," he stated.

The Slovak Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will follow the current Dutch one in the second half of this year, will continue the work that has already been started in this field.

"This is a Europe-wide issue, and it will also be on our presidential desk. It will be one of the main issues and priorities," concluded Lajcak.
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Xie Xiaoyan, who has been involved in talks over the Iran nuclear situation and South Sudan, has just embarked on a demanding new mission  as China's first special envoy on the Syrian issue.

The 62-year-old, whose appointment was confirmed on March 29, said the post is a sign of China's greater involvement in resolving the issue and its willingness to contribute "wisdom and solutions".

Veteran diplomats said the increasing number of envoys comes from China's expanding involvement in global issues  including Syria  and its increasing national interests.

"It's because China upholds an objective and fair stance on the Syria issue that there are increasing calls from the international community for the Chinese to play a greater role," Xie said over the weekend.

Beijing has had a constant role in global efforts to tackle the Syria issue, communicating with both the Syrian government and the opposition to boost peace talks.

Xie takes his new title at a time when "special envoy diplomacy" is playing an increasing role in China's foreign affairs. The country now has at least six special envoys or representatives working on hot issues.

The United Nations and the United States have also appointed envoys  Staffan de Mistura and Michael Ratney respectively  to tackle the Syria issue, which has flared for five years.

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The attackers who struck Brussels last month initially planned a second assault on France, Belgiums Federal Prosecution Office said yesterday.

But surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation they decided to rush an attack on Brussels instead, the office said in a statement. It didnt provide details of the initial plot or its targets.

Two suicide bombers killed 16 people at Brussels Airport on March 22. A subsequent explosion at Brussels Maelbeek metro station killed another 16 people the same morning. Investigators have found intimate links between the cell behind those attacks and the group that killed 130 people in Paris in November.

The airport bombers have been identified as Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui, believed to be the cells bomb maker. Ibrahims brother Khalid blew himself up at the metro station near the European Unions headquarters.

Yesterdays statement provides confirmation of what many suspected: the raids and arrests in the week leading up to the Brussels attacks  including the capture of key Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam  pushed the killers to action.

Belgian police detained four men in Brussels raids over the weekend who were charged with participating in terrorist murders and the activities of a terrorist group in relation to the Brussels attacks. One of them, Mohamed Abrini, has also been charged in relation to the Paris attacks.

Abrini acknowledged being the man in the hat spotted alongside the bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels airport, officials said. Surveillance footage has also placed him in the convoy with the attackers who headed to Paris ahead of the November 13 massacre.

Abrini was a childhood friend of Brussels brothers Salah and Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks, and he had ties to Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the Paris attackers ringleader who died in a French police raid shortly afterward.

Brahim blew himself up in the Paris bombings while his brother was arrested in Brussels on March 18  four days before the attacks there  after a four-month manhunt.

According to a report in the Belgian daily LEcho, not confirmed by prosecutors, Abrini confessed he wanted to return to Paris for another attack but was spooked by the investigation and hastily decided to carry out the Brussels bombings.

Abrini, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, was the last known Paris suspect still at large. He had been spotted on camera at a petrol station north of Paris two days before the attacks there. In the car with him was Abdeslam, who is now awaiting extradition from Belgium to France. Abdesalam has said he had intended to set off a suicide bomb during the Paris attacks but changed his mind at the last minute.

Prosecutors said Abrini confirmed his connection to the Brussels airport attack. The 31-year-old confessed his presence at the crime scene when they confronted him with evidence, including footage of a man in a hat and light-colored jacket seen next to the two bombers as they walked through the departure hall pushing trolleys loaded with bomb-filled bags.

He is indeed the third man present at the Brussels national airport attacks, they said in their statement. He explained having thrown away his vest in a garbage bin and having sold his hat afterwards.

The airport images triggered a furious manhunt for the man in the hat.

Police stepped up the search on Thursday when they released a video tracing the fugitives escape route after the blasts and appealed for the publics help in identifying him.

The footage showed the suspect fleeing the airport and making his way back to central Brussels, appearing calm and composed, before surveillance cameras lose track of him.

The other suspects charged over the weekend were identified as Osama Krayem, who left the Swedish city of Malmo to fight in Syria and was described by one relative as having been brainwashed, Herve B. M., a Rwandan national, and Bilal E. M.

Krayem, the son of Syrian exiles, has been identified as the man seen on closed circuit television with Khalid moments before the metro bombing, prosecutors said.

Krayem, 23, was also caught on camera buying the bags used to conceal the bombs set off at the airport, they added.

The past couple of days developments represent a rare success for Belgian authorities, who have been repeatedly criticized for bungling the bombings investigation. Despite the progress, Brussels remains under the second-highest terror alert, meaning an attack is still considered likely.

There are perhaps other cells that are still active on our territory, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon told RTL television on Saturday.
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Faced with rising terror threats from both ethnic and religious armed militant groups, Turkey increased its security measures nationwide and intensified police presence in Istanbul, the nation's business capital.

Police units amplified security measures in Istanbul's Taksim Square ahead of the ceremony to commemorate the creation of Turkey's police department.

The square was cordoned off as police snipers positioned themselves atop nearby building rooftops.

The increased security measures spring from a Percussion bomb which detonated under an overpass in Istanbul's Mecidiykoy district Saturday evening, slightly injuring three people.

Percussion bombs make a loud noise and cause panic but rarely inflict serious damage or injury.

Istanbul's main two attractive locations, Sultanahmet square and Istiklal Street, were exposed to suicide bombing attacks this year by suspected Islamic State (IS) militants.

In January, an IS suicide bomber killed 11 German tourists and injured 15 others in an attack on Istanbul's old city and historic Sultanahmet Square.

In March, another IS suicide bomber attacked Istiklal beside Taksim square, killing three Israelis and one Iranian, whilst injuring 39 others.

On Saturday, the United States Embassy in Turkey issued a critical emergency message to its American citizens residing in Turkey, advising them to practice extreme caution in public places.

Citing credible threats against tourist areas, the embassy said U.S. citizens should especially avoid public squares and docks in Istanbul and Antalya, two major attractive tourist destinations.

The U.S. warning comes a day following Israel's warning of an imminent risk of attacks against Turkey, calling on all Israeli citizens residing in Turkey to evacuate the country as soon as possible.

"There are immediate risks of attacks being carried out in the country, and we stress the threat applies to all tourism sites in Turkey," Israel said.

Istanbul will be hosting the 13th Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit from April 14th until April 15th which will be attended by heads of state from over 30 countries.

According to terrorism expert Suat Oren from the Ankara-based Research Center for Security Strategies (GUSAM), the IS has not only used Turkey as a transit hub but also as a breeding ground where they have settled and expanded.

"IS's Turkish front not only carries out terrorism acts in Turkey but also actively engages in the war in Syria," he said.

Oren said IS Turkish militants serve as guides to foreign members of their group, using refugee camps as their private backyards.

In addition to the IS threat, Turkey has also been facing a rise of Kurdish militancy waged by the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), an outlawed organization listed as a terrorist group in Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The PKK resumed violent measures against the Turkish government after the collapse of the peace process in the summer of 2015.

Turkish security forces have been fighting the PKK in towns and cities in the southeast of Turkey since December.

"We have resorted to a comprehensive and intense armed confrontation against terror groups who have been attacking Turkey since June 7," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday.

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, described on Sunday the battle against terror as the country's most crucial one in its history, clarifying that there are no good and bad terrorists.

Over 350 members from Turkey's security forces were killed during clashes against the PKK since last summer, compared with at least ten times more than that from the PKK militants who were killed according to the Turkish president.

Two suicide bombing vehicle attacks in the Turkish capital in February and March killed over 60 people including civilians.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), an PKK affiliate, claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Mehmet Ali Sahin, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy chairman, regrets the toll terrorism has taken on the nation's economy.

"After all, one of objectives of terror groups is to disrupt daily routine, cause chaos and instability, and deal a blow to the economy," he explained, stressing that businesses must not stop working.

However, that maybe easier said than done given the decline in tourists visiting Turkey.

Tourism is major contributor to Turkey's economy, generating 31.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, with a total of 36.24 million foreign arrivals to Turkey in 2015.

Numbers of foreign arrivals to Turkey fell by 10.3 percent in February compared with the same period last year, according to the Turkish government's latest data.

Occupancy rates in Istanbul's hotels dropped by 21.4 percent, declining to 47.5 percent compared with the same month last year.

Before the cabinet meeting on Monday, Turkish Minister of Agriculture, Faruk Celik, said on Sunday that the government is eager to revive regional tourism, trade as well as industrial potential once the terrorism threat is completely eliminated.

He also said Turkey's government has taken a number of measures to repair the country's terror-hit southeastern region.
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A Syrian journalist was shot dead in southern Turkey on Sunday, daily Hurriyet reported.

Mohammed Zahir al-Sherkat, 36, was seriously injured after being shot by an unidentified masked attacker in Gaziantep province, according to the report.

According to security cameras, the attacker approached al-Sherkat from back and ran away after the assault, said the report, adding that he later died in hospital.

Similar incidents have occurred in Turkey's Gaziantep that is close to the Syrian border.

In December, Naji Jerf, a Syrian activist who produced documentaries hostile to the Islamic State (IS), was shot dead with a silenced pistol in Gaziantep. The prominent Syrian journalist was known for his opposition to both President Bashar al-Assad and the IS.

In October, the IS claimed responsibility for killing journalists Ibrahim Abdelkader and Fares Hamadi in a house in southern Sanliurfa of Turkey.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday flew to Kollam district in the southern state Kerala, where a doomed temple was devastated by a massive explosion and fire.

Over 110 people were killed at least 390 others injured in the incident.

An illegal fireworks show using lethal explosives as crackers in the Puttinggal Devitemple early Sunday set off a huge blast and fire.

Expressing deep grief over the horrific tragedy, Modi was accompanied by 15 medical professionals and heavy weight officials of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, including its president Amit Shah.

The tragedy occurred at about 3.30 a.m. in the coastal town of Peravur when a spark from an exploding firecracker landed on a building, where a vast quantity of bomb like crackers had been stored, setting off explosions and a massive blaze that blew away the structure and devastating the temple premises.

About 10,000 people were present watching the fireworks spectacle, which began midnight Saturday in an annual event to mark the temple dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Kali.

It took only a few minutes for the fire to engulf the area, burning to death many in a short time, said witnesses.

Several houses in a half kilometer radius were also destroyed or damaged. A stampede followed the blaze in a great chaos totally out of control, according to witnesses.

Indian army, air force and the navy joined in rescue operations and to provide medical treatment. Medical institutions in the country are mobilizing blood donation and dispatch of medical staff to the disaster struck zone.

Due to limited means and man power, the rescue operation was going slow and a local hospital was over flown with the injured and dead bodies, many charred beyond recognition.

Police arrested five employees of a father-son contractor duo who were reportedly responsible for the fireworks show that had been denied permission by the Kollam district authorities.

The father had suffered major burns while the son was in hospital with 50 percent burn injuries.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced a judicial probe and an investigation by the Crime Branch of Kerala Police into the tragedy, the worst in the state in more than six decades.

The government also announced 200,000 rupees (2,900 U.S. dollars) in compensation for the families of the each dead and 50,000 rupees (725 U.S. dollars) each to the injured.

Deadly accidents in religious sites are common in India, during various festivals.

In October 2013, over 100 people were stepped to death in a stampede at a Hindu temple in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.
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The World Food Programme (WFP) on Sunday delivered aid by air for hungry people trapped in the besieged eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, an area controlled by Islamic State (IS), also known as Da'esh.

The food assistance has reached the besieged parts of the city for the first time since March 2014.

A total of 20 metric tons of urgently needed food supplies -- mainly beans, chickpeas and rice -- were dropped from high altitude by a WFP-chartered aircraft, the UN agency said in a press release. The food was enough to feed 2,500 people for one month.

The air delivery is designed to boost international humanitarian efforts in Syria, the press release said.

Out of 26 pallets loaded with food contained in platforms attached to high altitude parachutes -- 22 pallets were collected by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), the WFP's partner in the city.

The WFP is working to find out what happened to the four other pallets.

More than 200,000 people have been living under siege in Deir Ezzor since March 2014 in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Critical food shortages have been reported.

The WFP is working closely with partners on the ground organizing food distributions, which should take place immediately after every drop.

More airdrops are planned for the coming days to meet food and other humanitarian needs for the besieged population, the press release said.

The aircraft flew from Marka airport in Jordan. Airdrops are always a last resort, as land access is easier and the most cost-effective way of delivering food, the UN agency said.

On Feb. 24, the WFP carried out its first high-altitude airdrop ever, dropping 21 tons of food assistance on Deir Ezzor. But technical problems meant some of the pallets missed the drop zone and some were damaged as their parachutes failed to function properly.

Across Syria, the WFP provides food to more than 4 million people every month and remains very concerned about the suffering of all Syrians living in hard-to-reach areas across the country.
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Five people were killed and seven others injured when a car loaded with explosives exploded near the office of Mogadishu mayor on Monday, Somali officials said.

Local government spokesman Abdi fitah Halan told reporters at the scene that the car exploded in Mogadishu has caused the death of at least five people.

"The car drove to the entrance, hitting the wall behind the mayor's office before exploding. We have established the death of five civilians and seven others were injured," said Halan.
ATHENS - Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos expressed hope for more investments to come to his country following a deal between Greece's privatization fund HRADF and China COSCO Shipping on the sale of the majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority (PPA).

He made the remarks while meeting China COSCO Shipping Corporation Chairman Xu Lirong after the agreement signing between HRADF and China COSCO Shipping on Friday.

"I hope that this deal is just the beginning for many more investments to come to Greece," Pavlopoulos told Xu during a meeting at the presidential mansion in Athens, noting the importance of the deal for both sides.

Under the deal, the Chinese company will pay 280.5 million euros ($319.79 million) to HRADF for the initial acquisition of a 51 percent stake, while it will pay another 88 million euros within five years for another 16 percent, provided it has implemented the agreed investments in the port.

"In 2008, China made two very important moves by choosing Greece as a gateway to Europe, and Piraeus as the first crossing point to Europe," said the president.

Pavlopoulos hailed the strong relations between the two countries, saying China and Greece connect not only economically, but with other ties related to the world view of economic growth.

"Greece will help China come closer to the European Union, so both can benefit greatly from this partnership," he said.

On his part, Xu praised the bilateral relations and the friendship the two countries share.

"Our goal is to help Piraeus Port become the largest container hub in Europe. I believe that we will promote not only the trade between China and Greece, but through Greece will boost China's commercial activity to other countries in the region," Xu added.

As soon as the deal comes into effect, China's COSCO Shipping plans to invest in maintaining the shipbuilding infrastructure, seek a greater share in the cruise sector and organize coastal shipping, Xu said.

He also assured the Greek president that the company will "pay great attention" to the labor relations and to "provide the best working conditions" to the employees.

"When we talk about economic development we always mean sustainable growth, which places people at its center," Pavlopoulos said.

Since 2009, China COSCO Shipping's subsidiary Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) has been operating Piers II and III at Piraeus port under a 35-year concession agreement. In 2015, the container throughput of Piraeus Port increased to 3.36 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) from 880,000 TEU in 2010, while the global ranking of Piraeus Port also increased significantly from 93rd to 39th in terms of container capacity.
A view of Fosun Group signage in Shanghai. [Photo/IC]

JERUSALEM - Leading Chinese investment company Fosun Group Sunday signed an agreement with the shareholders of Ahava to fully acquire the Israeli Dead Sea cosmetics company for 290 million NIS ($77 million).

Fosun Vice Chairman and CEO Liang Xinjun and Gaon Holdings CEO Guy Regev signed the deal on Sunday afternoon at Jerusalem's David Citadel Hotel, after months of intense negotiations. The signing ceremony was also witnessed by Israeli officials.

Under the agreement, Fosun will acquire the holdings from all Ahava's shareholders including Gaon Holdings, Livnat family, Shamrock Israel Growth Fund Advisors, Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem, and Kibbutz Kalia.

Liang said he was delighted to have succeeded in acquiring "such a famous, strong and successful brand as Ahava under this mutually beneficial agreement." He said Fosun will endeavor to extend the success of Ahava to China and other countries.

Dror Barzeli, chairman of Ahava's board, hailed the acquisition in an interview with Xinhua before the signing ceremony.

"This is a great acquisition, it's a really strategic acquisition. Definitely there should be a lot of synergy between the new share holders of Fosun group and Ahava. That's exactly the perfect partner and the perfect share holder which really will help us to expand our international activity to China," he said.

Barzeli told Xinhua that Ahava's yearly turnover amounts to $50 million, of which the US and European markets contribute $20 million and $15 million separately.

"Definitely China should be a much bigger market for us based on our great portfolio of nature products and our good relationship with the Chinese consumers," he said.

Barzeli said Ahava, which has subsidiaries in Germany and the United States, is looking forward to having a subsidiary in China as well, in order to be closer to Chinese consumers.

The transaction, which will be completed within six months, is the latest of a number of successful acquisitions of Israeli companies by Chinese investors in the past few years.

In early 2015, China's Bright Food purchased a 77-percent controlling interest in Israel's largest food company Tnuva for 2.5 billion dollars.
China's better-than-expected economic data in the first quarter has buoyed investor sentiment.[Provided to China Daily] Bright economic data, rising realty prices and dovish Fed whet risk appetite of investors

Overseas investors' risk appetite for China's A shares has increased and this means stock markets will continue to attract foreign capital, analysts said.

For, key economic data came out better than expected, property prices are up, and the US Federal Reserve has kept a dovish stance on its monetary policy, they said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rebounded 12 percent in March as this year's economic data buoyed investor sentiment.

"Over the past two weeks, global investors' interest in the A-share market has shown signs of improvement. Several large overseas exchange-traded funds that track the A-share indices saw net subscriptions," said Gao Ting, head of China strategy at UBS Securities, in a research note.

Gao cited the rebound in manufacturing activity, which expanded in March against the contraction in February, and expected industrial profits in March against the losses in January and February as evidence of improvement in the economy in the first quarter of this year.

The northbound trading under the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program has seen net purchases of 18.1 billion yuan ($2.79 billion) since March. Shares of brokerages and banks are among the northbound funds' most-bought stocks, according to the report by UBS Securities.

Matthew Sutherland, senior investment director for equities at global asset management firm Fidelity International, said that while the Chinese economy is decelerating, the new economy, particularly the consumer- and information technology-related sectors, will continue to offer good investment opportunities for foreign investors.

"As low-value-add businesses move away, China is acquiring the tools required to compete throughout the entire production chain, including upmarket technologies and high-level skills," he said.

According to a Fidelity International survey, 36 percent of its 200 equity and fixed-income analysts worldwide predict China's slowdown will have no, or a somewhat positive, impact on companies' strategic investment plans.

According to the survey, some European analysts believe China's slowdown will not have any impact on the stocks they cover.

As for investors, they are seized of the likelihood of China's A shares being included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

MSCI Inc, the global index provider, is scheduled to announce in June its decision on whether or not to include the A shares in its Emerging Markets Index. Any inclusion would attract an estimated $20 billion in investment to the A-share market initially, analysts said.

The company had postponed the decision last year citing market barriers to foreign investors in China. It, however, resumed the review this month and started soliciting opinions from international institutional investors.

Analysts said compared to last year, there is a better chance this year for A shares to be included in the MSCI index.

"If A shares are included in MSCI global indexes, the long-term positive implication will be more far-reaching than the short-term benefits of potential capital inflows, since A shares would attract stronger interest from global investors," Gao with UBS Securities said.
People cross a street outside a tax free department store popular among Chinese tourists in Tokyo, Japan, February 11, 2016.[Photo/Agencies]

The new tax on imported goods purchased from e-commerce sites will not affect Chinese travelers who buy abroad, the Ministry of Finance said on Saturday.

Shoppers had expressed concern that a new tax on foreign products, which went into effect on Friday, would spell trouble for outbound tourists. However, the ministry said the fears stemmed from confusion.

"The new policy targets e-commerce, not individual outbound tourists," People's Daily quoted an unidentified ministry official as saying.

According to the authority, the rules for tourists returning from abroad remain unchanged, with purchases up to the value of 5,000 yuan ($770) exempt from duties. The new tax relates only to e-commerce platforms that allow consumers to order imported goods online to be delivered through postal services.

The policy is aimed at creating a "level playing field" for cross-border e-commerce sites and brick-and-mortar stores that sell imported goods. It means overseas retail goods bought online are no longer treated as personal postal articles but as imported goods.

Cross-border e-commerce has boomed with the surge in demand for higher-quality products among China's middle class. For a time, websites have enjoyed an edge over other channels, such as onshore duty-free shops, as they did not need to pay tariffs, import value-added tax or consumption tax.

Now, retail goods sold on e-commerce sites are subject to the three taxes. Tariffs are currently all set at zero, with a 30 percent discount on import VAT and consumption tax for purchases up to 2,000 yuan, and only if a consumer's annual gross transactions are under 20,000 yuan.

Operators of bonded areas, part of the e-commerce chain, also expressed concern about the tax changeas it came into effect only about two weeks after it was announced, some areas said they did not have enough time to clear inventories.

Shoppers also have complained they must now pay higher taxes on low-priced overseas products. Previously, these were subject to only a 10 percent parcel tax, but now are subject to a tax between 11.9 and 32.9 percent.

However, analysts noted that some luxury items, such as cosmetics priced up to 2,000 yuan, now have a lower tax, as the previous parcel tax was 50 percent.

Fitch Ratings said in its latest report that China's restrictions on overseas purchases may narrow the price differential of luxury goods between China and the rest of the world, potentially boosting domestic consumption.
A Dong ethnic woman sells local snacks in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Provided to China Daily]

Liuzhou, a traditionally industrial city best known for its steel and automobile manufacturing, has been promoting its signature street food to more dining tables at home and abroad. Each day, workers from Luobawang Food Company of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region need to print 2,000 order forms and distribute more than 20,000 packages of instant river snail rice noodles to other regions of the country.

Combining traditional food materials of the Han people with Miao and Dong ethnic groups, river snail rice noodles, or "Luosifen" in Chinese, is a dish of rice noodles boiled with pickled bamboo shoots, dried turnip, fresh vegetables and peanuts in spiced river snail soup.

"We never expected that this local speciality commonly sold at roadside stands at the evening markets could become a national hit," said general manager Yao Hanlin, who pointed out that the number of orders has continued soaring since the company started operation in February 2015.
BEIJING - Beijing plans to set up an 8-billion-yuan ($1.53 billion) fund for a facelift for Zhongguancun Street, a key thoroughfare in northwestern Beijing often called "China's Silicon Valley."

The government of Haidian district, where Zhongguancun is located, said it has established the Zhongguancun Street Operation and Management Company to pool the funds.

The company was set up by Zhongguancun Development Group, the State-owned Properties Investment and Management Co Ltd of Haidian District and Tusholdings.

The money will be used to renovate infrastructure, acquire property rights and invest along the 7.2-km Zhongguancun Street, according to a statement by the government.

The fund will help the high tech industry to upgrade and seek international development, the statement said.

Sources said low-end electronics shops will be rooted out to create a maximum of 100,000 square meters of space for international incubators to set up offices.
WELLINGTON - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Monday he will lead a high-level business delegation to China next week and look to upgrade the bilateral free trade agreement.

The delegation would visit Beijing, where Key would hold meetings with Chinese leaders, as well as Xi'an and Shanghai, during the April 17-22 visit.

"Along with a broad range of topics, I look forward to continuing discussions with them on an upgrade of the China New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed eight years ago this month," Key said.

"Since this time, two-way trade between New Zealand and China has more than doubled, reaching almost NZ$19 billion ($12.96 billion). An FTA upgrade would allow us to modernise the agreement and ensure it continues to drive our relationship forward."

China was a key destination for our goods exports and an important consumer of New Zealand services, Key said.

"The visit provides an opportunity to strengthen our relationship and showcase New Zealand's creativity, innovation, and high-tech credentials," he said.

In Beijing, Key would also address students at the prestigious Tsinghua University and meet with senior Chinese business leaders.

Key will hold official meetings with senior provincial and city leaders in the major centers of Xi'an and Shanghai.

In his first visit to Xi'an, capital of western China's Shannxi province, he would support New Zealand business and cultural links with Xi'an, and visit the city's international trade and logistics hub, part of China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Key would also help to promote New Zealand's creative industries by attending the launch of the New Zealand Film Festival in Shanghai.

Key would be accompanied by Trade Minister Todd McClay and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy.
The second phase of the business aviation base being built at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport will commence operation in 2019 offering ground support and business aircraft maintenance in a broader capacity.

"The second phase will be completed in 2018 and start operation the year after," said Lu Xun, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Service Center.

"Another hangar of the same size will be built to the south of the existing facility," Lu added.

In 2015, a total of 5,536 business flights departed from Shanghai International Airport; up 15.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for more than one-third of the nation's total.
A man walks past the London Stock Exchange in the City of London in this file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

Chinese stocks might not be top of investor's shopping list at the moment as a result of the volatility in its market, but recent changes by global index providers give overseas investors the chance to take the plunge on China's equities.

A new index, the FTSE China A-H 50 index, was last week announced by FTSE Russell, one of the leading global index providers, to represent the largest companies listed on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong.

Deutsche Asset Management together with Harvest Global Investors, issued FTSE China A-H 50 Index Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to capture the price differential between China's domestic A-shares, usually traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, and H-shares, which are listed on the Hong Kong market.

On the same day, Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), a leading global benchmark index provider, said it would revive talks on including China A-shares in its global emerging markets index, though MSCI removed China from its review process last June.

In the financial markets, an index is an imaginary portfolio of securities representing a particular market or a portion of it. Stock market indexes are used to construct ETFs whose portfolios mirror the components of the index.

The FTSE China A-H 50 index lists the largest 50 China A-shares companies by market capitalization but tracks the lowest-priced share class between the A and H share classes. Dual-listed Chinese mainland shares often trade at different prices, even though the two types of shares enjoy the same voting rights and dividend payments.

"This is the first ETF of its kind listed in Europe," says Marco Montanari, Deutsche Asset Management's Head of Passive Asset Management, Asia-Pacific.

Twenty-eight of the largest 50 dual-listed Chinese companies currently trade at an average 22 per cent premium on the mainland in relation to their Hong Kong price, says Montanari.

The persistent price anomaly is due to the various capital control measures implemented by the Chinese government, says Hu Jing, investment manager at Arbuthnot Latham & Co, a private bank in London, adding "as the domestic capital market opens up gradually, the pricing difference can disappear."

The creation of the new ETF sends out a clear signal that the integration of Chinese capital markets in set to continue regardless of short term volatility, according to Ben Kumar, investment manager at Seven Investment Management, a London-based financial company founded in 2002.

"A gradual inflow of foreign investor capital would allow domestic Chinese capital to begin investing worldwide. The long term aim is that the A-H premium disappears, and ultimately Hong Kong listed stocks either trade in line with mainland counterparts, or vanish completely," he says.

Kumar warns there are two issues to be aware of, saying if the premium of A shares over H shares persists for a long time or even gets wider, the benefits of the index are somewhat limited.

Taking ICBC as an example, Kumar said in March last year the bank's stock was worth USD 0.70 in Hong Kong and USD 0.705 in Shanghai  a difference of 0.005USD. Yet today the difference between the two is USD 0.14, and the discount in Hong Kong has widened  a cheap share has become even cheaper, relative to its mainland counterpart.

"Additionally, even if the premium closes, it could be in an environment where both markets are declining rapidly  an investor might have better relative performance, but still lose in absolute terms," he explains.

Despite the turmoil in the Chinese stock market, China ETFs generated 4.1 billion pounds ($5.86 billion, 5.15 billion euros) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) last year, a 73 percent rise compared to the year before, according to a LSE report.

Analysts say this is a strong indication that China is making itself felt on the global stage; Kumar says international investors are beginning to realize that the Chinese assets in their portfolios are proportionately small when compared to the size of the Chinese economy, adding "if and when popular indices begin to include a meaningful weight to A-shares, people do not want to be playing catch up."

In February, as a commitment to further open financial markets, the Chinese government granted an extra $81 billion or so in quotas under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program, for overseas investment in China's domestic stocks and bonds.

QFII, started in 2002, is a program that allows certain licensed international investors access to the Chinese mainland stock exchanges using foreign currency.

MSCI says in a statement "The reopening of the consultation follows the recently implemented changes by the Chinese authorities aimed at enhancing the accessibility of the China A-shares market for international institutional investors."

As MSCI is widely used as a benchmark, and a vast amount of money tracks its indexes globally, industry analysts say MSCI's inclusion will be more meaningful and have more impact than FTSE Russell's new announcement.

"New indices created by FTSE Russell currently have zero assets attached to them, so flows will depend on investors starting to use them, whereas MSCI is an enormous pool of existing assets," says Robert Davis, senior portfolio Manager of Brussels-based NN Investment Partners.

MSCI has promised that the process would be mindful of investor feedback, so Davis anticipates the main concern for a delay would be that after the debacle of the A-share bubble and crash last year, the market, along with its regulation, is judged as insufficiently mature to be included in mainstream indexes.

Still, Davis is confident that MSCI will include China A-shares into its global benchmark, but perhaps with a low inclusion factor' so the initial weights in the indexes will be very small.

To contact the reporter: wangmingjie@mail.chinadailyuk.com
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance jointly released their plan on robotic industry development (2016-2020) Wednesday.

"This five-year-plan focuses heavily on key parts of technology and breakthroughs in high-end products which the domestic robot industry lacks," said Guo Xuan, vice president of Yichuang Smart Robot Industry Research Institute.

The planning showed that China will focus on developing ten signature products in the robotic industry which have high added-value and a promising market demand.

Here are the ten kinds of robots in the plan.

1 Arc welding robot
China's top banking regulator has vowed to crack down on illegal fundraising activities by unscrupulous online brokers and warned investors to be wary of their schemes.

Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said at a news conference on Saturday: "The CBRC will strengthen regulation, intensify on-site inspections and step up administrative penalties."

Shang said illegal fundraising cases have become so common and the perpetrators are finding new ways to commit their crimes.

The online peer-to-peer lending broker Ezubao, for instance, has been accused by police of collecting more than 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) illegally from about 900,000 nonspecific investors through fake projects.

The company allegedly lured its victims into the scheme under the guise of P2P lending, which is the practice of lending money to individuals or businesses through online services that match lenders directly with borrowers.

"Relevant government departments have put the case on file for investigation. They are seeking asset recovery to recoup as much losses as they can," Shang said.

Caixin Media earlier reported that according to its calculation, the amount of money collected via illegal fundraising reached a staggering 200 billion yuan last year.

By the end of March 2015, investigators had filed 14,000 financial criminal cases, up nearly 38 percent year-on-year, reported the Beijing-based media group specializing in business news.

Shang said: "The CBRC will also step up oversight of P2P lending and launch special projects along with other government departments to address problems arisen from Internet finance."

He reminded investors they have to be extremely cautious about participating in financial investment schemes.

"They should pay special attention to three elements before making investment decisions: First, whether or not a P2P lending platform is raising funds from nonspecific investors. Second, whether or not it has promised to offer abnormally high returns on investment. Third, whether or not it advertises publicly for fundraising," he said.

By the end of February, a total of 2,519 P2P lending platforms operated in the country without any problems, according to wangdaizhijia.com, a Web portal that tracks the industry.
A Thai flight attendant seen in this photo during a scuffle, Dec 12, 2014. [Photo provided on Weibo]

The Civil Aviation Administration of China recently issued guidelines for airline companies' making blacklists of passengers with records of bad behavior, requiring the companies to list clear reasons for including people on the list. Comments:

The lists are of passengers that break the law during flights or in airports so they can be prevented from taking flights again, but such power belongs exclusively to the legislature instead of the airline companies. The CAAC has made a good move by regulating the practice, but only requiring airlines to give clear reasons for putting a passenger on the blacklist is far from enough, it needs to prepare a single blacklist that airlines can access.

Wang Lin, associate professor of law at Hainan University, May 25

When passengers behave in improper ways, they will be blacklisted; what if airline companies behave badly? Is it possible to establish a credit system for them, too, and ask them to suspend operations if they break the law?

Liu Zhaorong, associate professor of environmental engineering at Peking University, via Sina micro blog, May 25

Blacklists are important for preventing people who might be a potential risk or disturbance from taking flights, thus saving airline companies and other passengers trouble. The civil aviation administration has finally started talking about it and we expect it will make detailed regulations soon and implement them fully.

FATIII, a self media on civil aviation, via Sina micro blog, May 25

There have been cases of passengers attacking airline ground staff, but passengers are not to blame for every case of the kind; many times it is the airline companies that refuse to explain the reasons for flight delays or other problems that bring about rage in passengers. It is necessary to introduce a more balanced regulation to prevent these conflicts from happening again.

China Youth Daily, May 20
About 40 percent of respondents in a recent industry poll said they won't buy domestic smartphones priced above 3,000 yuan ($464) each.

"I won't spend thousands of yuan on high-end domestic phones. They still lag in quality and services."

Feng Zhuo, State-owned enterprise employee in Harbin, Heilongjiang province

"Domestic cellphones offer the same or even better performance than foreign ones, and they are much cheaper. Chinese brands are good for students who don't have much money."

Zhang Xueying, English graduate in Zhengzhou, Henan province

"The domestic phones are much more affordable. There's not much difference between them and foreign ones."

Zhang Fangli, teacher in Chengdu, Sichuan province

"Domestic smartphones at about 1,000 yuan each offer the best deal. I can buy new ones every one or two years."

Zhao Ranran, literature graduate in Changchun, Jilin province
BEIJING - Han Xuejian, a former senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, has been prosecuted for allegedly accepting bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Monday.

Prosecutors in Liaoyuan city in Northeast Jilin province have informed Han, former member of the standing committee of the CPC Heilongjiang provincial committee and party chief of Daqing city, of his litigation rights and questioned him, according to an SPP statement.

The indictment said Han took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others, accepting a huge amount in bribes.

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced in December 2014 that Han was under investigation for alleged violations of discipline and law.

He was expelled from the CPC and dismissed from public office in April 2015.
A man uses taxi-hailing app Didi Dache on his smartphone on a road in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, April 9, 2015. [Photo/IC]

A local court in central China has sentenced a driver of ride-hailing service Didi Kuaidi to eight years in prison for raping and robbing a female passenger.

The driver, surnamed Li, picked up the victim late at night on Oct 19 last year in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, before he threatened her with a fake gun.

The victim, who has not been identified, said she was later raped and forced to wire 25,000 yuan to the man's bank account.

Didi said in a statement that the accused driver did not have any criminal record, but the company would further step up its efforts to ensure passengers' safety.

The case is the latest in a spate of recent sexual assault claims against Didi drivers across the country as authorities are seeking better ways to regulate the country's booming car-hailing service.

Last week, a Didi driver was sent to prison in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province, for raping a woman who had been drinking and had fallen asleep in his car's backseat.

In November, a court in Beijing sentenced a Didi driver to four years for raping a female passenger.

The court suggested at the time that people should take security measures. "It's better to be sure of the drivers' information when booking a car, because people often use such online platforms to cheat others or even commit crimes.

Earlier this month, Didi said it had expelled an undisclosed number of drivers in Shenzhen, Guangdong, who were found to have a history of drug use, mental illness or significant criminal records.

Didi's action follows a statement issued by Shenzhen transport commission that noted that five ride-hailing platforms had lax screening processes for drivers.

An initial inspection by Shenzhen's public security department showed that among Shenzhen's app drivers, 1,425 had a history of drug use, 1,661 had significant criminal records, and one driver was mentally ill and had caused traffic troubles.

Didi provided personal information on all its drivers to Shenzhen police. After investigation, a list of problematic drivers was sent to the company.

Didi has also asked for police background checks on drivers in other cities to rule out those who might be a risk to the safety of passengers.
Businesswomen pose for a picture at the awards ceremony of the Mulan annul meeting.[Photo by Chen Yingqun/chinadaily.com.cn]

Leading Chinese businesswomen encouraged women to conquer their fear, be brave, and realize self-fulfillment at the 8th annual Business Mulan Meeting, co-hosted by the China Entrepreneur magazine and China Entrep Mulan Club, in Beijing on April 10.

The meeting attracted hundreds of business women from all cross China to listen to leading Chinese businesswomen sharing their experiences in work and life.

"The most prominent feature of our times is that women's power has become stronger, from having self awareness to rising abruptly and leading the world in unique ways," says He Zhenhong, director of the China Entrepreneur magazine.

She says women leaders have advantages in communication, understanding, patience and checking balances.

"Another fact is that women are still the minority in the business world, in fact almost all countries; only less than six percent of leading companies are led by women leaders. In China, only about 5 percent of the academicians are women. This means that women's opinions about important issues are not able to be listened equally," said He Zhenhong.

"Gender equality doesn't only matter to women, but to every one, and women's involvement in the business world will be a main drive for economic growth," He Zhenhong said.

He Qiaonv, chairman of landscape company Orient Landscape and the executive director of the Mulan Club, said that when they first started eight years ago, the club had only 10 business women. Now they have more than 300 women members and millions of women followers.

"Getting together has given these women leaders much power. They also look for investment opportunities, and do charities to support young women entrepreneurs to start doing business together," said He Qiaonv.

Sun Yiping, president of Inner Mongolia's Mengniu Dairy Co, says women are more sensitive and care more about details.

Women are easily influenced by others at work, which will trigger more of their inner fear. When I first came to Mengniu, I was very scared as I was never in charge of such a big company before. I realized as long as I make great efforts and treat people sincerely, we (women) are able to conquer the fear and make you better," said Sun Yiping.

Businesswomen also discussed a lot of other topics such as Internet Plus in the afternoon. An awarding ceremony was held later in the evening that awarded ten women leaders for their past achievements.
Lui Che-woo wishes to serve the global community by recognizing achievements in the sustainable development of resources, the betterment of human welfare and enhancement of positive energy, with a 'prize for world civilization'. Joseph Li spoke with the noted entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Lui Che-woo, Founder-chairman of K Wah Group [Photo by Roy Liu / China Daily]

It has been the wish for decades of Lui Che-woo, founder and chairman of K Wah Group in Hong Kong, to launch a prize in his own name to reward people who have made outstanding contributions to the world and to make it a permanent international prize that lasted for generations.

His grand dream has now come true. After years of contemplation of the idea and planning, the Lui Che Woo Prize has been inaugurated and the laureates will be awarded for the first time in the fall of this year.

Unlike similar prizes that honor academic attainment by and large, the Lui Prize puts more emphasis on disciplines of humanities.

It has three prize categories, the first being sustainable development of global resources such as food supply and safety. The award also honors achievement in the improvement of human welfare, such as the treatment and control of epidemics and infectious diseases.

The third category is about positive life attitude and positive energy, aiming to recognize those who inspire, energize and light up the world with what they do and say.

Born on the Chinese mainland in 1929, Lui came to Hong Kong at the tender age of five. Now a sprightly 87-year-old, he remains in good physical and mental health and is able to present his viewpoints clearly.

"I first had the idea of launching a prize two or three decades ago. Since I had dropped out of school during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, that prompted me to offer help to the poor and underprivileged, especially in the areas of education and medical care, over the years," Lui told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

"Over the past 50 years or so, I have seen a lot of the world, society and people's sufferings. And as I have been investing in China since its economic reforms, I have realized how important education is to the country."

He explained why the Lui Prize is a bit different from other awards. "We are living in a modern world that has seen big advancements in science, technology and innovation. Yet in some parts of the world, there are still wars, conflict, killings, and people are living in pain. Human beings should be able to enjoy the world's natural resources, live in peace and harmony, and stop fighting.

"I chose to present the inaugural awards this year because it is the 60th anniversary of my company, and it is my wish to give out the awards every year," Lui said with a smile.

Global aspirations

Lui has his sights set beyond Hong Kong and intends to launch a grand award on the international scene.

He has opened an independent company to handle the Lui Prize and also invited a galaxy of renowned political and academic celebrities to be advisors and judges.

Among those sitting on the Lui Prize Council are Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Vice-Chairman and former Hong Kong SAR chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and World Bank ex-chairman James Wolfensohn.

Lawrence Lau, former vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is chairman of the nomination committee and Nobel Literature Laureate Mo Yan, a celebrated mainland author, is a member.

Former University of Hong Kong vice-chancellor Tsui Lap-chee and Mass Transit Railway Corporation Chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang are among members of the board of governors of the Lui Che Woo Prize Ltd or "Prize Company", a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated in Hong Kong.

Star-studded lineup

"It is a big feat and I need a lot of able people and good friends to help me and transform my thinking into reality," Lui said enthusiastically.

The individual prize money is HK$20 million ($2.58 million), which is higher than that of the Nobel Prize and the locally founded Shaw Prize.

"Bigger prize money is offered because I hope the winners can continue their contribution to the world after being awarded for their achievement," he said.

The nomination and selection processes are in progress. The winners will be announced in June, with a grand awards ceremony to follow in October.

Lui said he would invite prominent personalities to present the prizes.





Administration of Lui Che Woo Prize

Lui Che Woo Prize Limited (www.luiprize.org), an independent company from K Wah Group, has been formed to handle related affairs. To set up the Prize, Lui Che-woo has made a generous donation of HK$2 billion as initial working capital. Lui is the chairman of the Board of Governors of the company, while the other board members are Tsui Lap-chee, Frederick Ma and Moses Cheng.

The Prize is governed and selected by a three-tier structure, comprising the Prize Council, the Prize Recommendation Committee and the Selection Panels of three Prize Categories.

PRIZE COUNCIL

The Prize Council comprises five international personages and leaders. Lui Che-woo is the Chairman of the Prize Council. It is responsible for the deliberation and approval of the awardees recommended by the Prize Recommendation Committee.

Lui Che-woo

* Founder & Chairman of the Board of Governors cum Prize Council.

Tung Chee-hwa

* Vice Chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, People's Republic of China

* Former Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Condoleezza Rice

* Former US Secretary of State

* The Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of Political Science at Stanford University

James Wolfensohn

* Former President of the World Bank

* Chairman of Wolfensohn & Company, LLC

Rowan Douglas Williams

* Master of Magdalene College

* Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales

PRIZE RECOMMENDATION COMMITTEE

The Prize Recommendation Committee comprises six world renowned academics or top people of different disciplines. It is responsible for deciding a specific area of focus for each Prize Category every year and forming and supervising the Selection Panels of each Prize Category, reviewing the proposal for awards submitted by the Selection Panels of the three Prize Categories and recommending awardees to the Prize Council.



Mother Teresa is a role model

The Lui Che Woo Prize is open to all, regardless of ethnic background, nationality, geographical origin, cultural affiliation or religious belief, and it is hoped that it can carry on from generation to generation.

"It has no frontier at all," Lui explained. "My goal is as simple as that. I strive to promote preservation of global resources, maintain peace, harmony and mutual respect, so that everyone can enjoy the resources."

In theory, people from Hong Kong are also eligible for nomination and can win the award. Lui disclosed that the response to the prize has been quite good but did not reveal the number of nominations received and if there are any Hong Kong people among the nominees.

He added that the prize is not intended for Hong Kong alone, in response to a question on whether the city needs positive attitude and energy after the illegal 'Occupy Central' movement, veto of political reform, and the presence of those who do not seem to abide by the law.

"There are many elites in Hong Kong with important achievements. They are surely eligible for nomination and winning the awards," he said, but declined diplomatically to say which Hong Kong people he thinks deserve a nomination or can even win the award.

Asked which foreign figures live up to his standard of integrity, contribution and achievement, Lui said: "I think (the late) Mother Teresa (Nobel Peace Laureate of 1979) is a role model who deserves commendation, all for her great love, good work and unselfish sacrifices for the poor."

Contact the writer at joseph@chinadailyhk.com


BEIJING - The second G20 Sherpa Meeting, with substantive discussions on major issues, has laid solid groundwork for the G20 summit that China will host in September, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang was speaking at a news briefing when asked to comment on the meeting in Guangzhou last week.

The sherpas -- officials who negotiate and prepare for an international summit before leaders take part in -- had substantive discussions on the agenda for the Hangzhou summit, Lu said, including a global agenda for sustainable development, guidelines for global investment and the international hunt for fugitives and illegal assets.

The spokesman underscored a presidency statement on climate change at the G20 Sherpa Meeting, according to which G20 members are expected to sign the Paris Agreement beginning on April 22 or after.

It sent a strong signal that G20 members will address the climate change with united actions, Lu said, adding that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the statement.

China will work to hold an open, transparent and inclusive summit that will see G20 members focus on major economic and financial problems and contribute to global growth and economic governance, Lu said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a symposium to discuss the nation's economic situation with the heads of several major provincial regions, in Beijing, capital of China, April 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will cut social security payment requirements to lower the burden on businesses, and increase efforts to stabilize employment, Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday.

"The government will support various localities, in light of their local conditions, to reduce contributions to the five major insurance programs and housing provident funds," Li said at a forum in Beijing on the national economic situation.

He added that this will be conducted "in a step-by-step fashion and under a unified national framework".

The five major programs cover endowment, medical insurance, unemployment, employment injuries and maternity insurance.

Under the current arrangement, employers must pay just over 39 percent of their payrolls into the five social insurance programs.

Li's remarks follow his promise at the end of the national legislative session in March, when he said local governments would be authorized to cut this percentage adequately.

No specific measures were announced on Monday, but Li said that a national guideline on the change will be available very soon.

Zeng Xiangquan, head of the School of Human Resources at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said China's social insurance programs are among the world's most expensive, meaning excessively heavy burdens for enterprises and workers.

"Lowering the percentage is an important way to implement supply-side structural reform," Zeng said. "It aims to relieve the burden on enterprises and local governments."
The G7 group of nations may not benefit "if they are hijacked by selfish interests of certain countries", China said on Monday.

Beijing outlined its position after saying that Tokyo sought a special statement from the group to target China on the South China Sea issue.

If the G7 is to continue playing a big role, it should "tackle the issues that the international community has great concern with", Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular news conference in Beijing.

The G7 foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States ended their two-day meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, on Monday.

Observers said the G7 may be derailed by Japan as all seven member states are outsiders on the sea issue. They said the key goal of such meetings should have been to focus on issues topping the global agenda, including the refugees situation and sluggish global economy.

Although a document on maritime issues that was passed at the meeting on Monday did not name China, it covered areas where the country has disputes or maritime problems with neighbors.

The document said the G7 expressed its strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions.

The Nikkei Shimbun newspaper in Japan said the document targeted China, while Japanese broadcaster NHK said the statement showed the G7 nations' concern over China's actions in the South China Sea.

Liu Jiangyong, deputy dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, said the G7 foreign ministers should discuss economic cooperation, aid to needy countries and the refugee issue.

"However, the meeting has ended up as a steppingstone for the ruling Japanese Cabinet to justify radical new security bills," Liu said.

Lyu Yaodong, a researcher of Japanese diplomacy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the G7 meeting had ended up as a stage for Japan's political stance "because Tokyo is protecting its image as a victim of nuclear bombing and whitewashing its role in waging war".

Tokyo has long lobbied African countries to support its bid to reform the United Nations Security Council and make Japan a permanent member.

NHK television reported this month that the African country of Chad had been invited to attend the G7 summit in May.

Lyu said, "This (the ministers' meeting) has drawn a sharp contrast with last year. Japan promised a lot last year at G7 venues on assisting impoverished African countries and helping with construction there."

Over the weekend, the US publicly supported Japan's plan to put the South China Sea issue on the agenda at the G7 foreign ministers' meeting.

Gao Hong, a senior researcher of Japanese studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the US has long expected to reinforce its military presence and that of Japan in both the East China Sea and South China Sea.

"However, Japan has not taken the bold step of embarking on a joint patrol with the US ... in the South China Sea because it knows it is an outsider that is not relevant to the maritime issue," Gao added.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Beijing on Saturday that the G7 foreign ministers "should not play up the South China Sea issue".

Wang said China hopes Britain will adopt an objective and fair stand on the issue.

Contact the writer at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang presides over a symposium to discuss the nation's economic situation with the heads of several major provincial regions, in Beijing, capital of China, April 11, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has urged local governments to push forward supply-side structural reform to help stabilize economic growth when meeting the heads of several major provincial regions on Monday.

Local authorities should continue to cut red tape, implement tax breaks, encourage innovation and eliminate outdated capacity, Li said at the meeting participated by the governors of Hebei, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hunan, Guangdong and Qinghai provinces, and the mayor of Chongqing Municipality.

According to the premier, China needs joint efforts from central and local governments to face up to economic challenges.

The local heads agreed that more efforts are needed to stabilize growth as previous reform measures have begun to take effect.

Li asked the governments to delegate more power.

The plan to replace business tax with value-added tax should be "vigorously pressed forward to guarantee tax burdens are reduced in all industries and small firms actually benefit," according to Li.

Local authorities should build more platforms and provide better services for people who are trying to start their own businesses, he said.

Talking about the overcapacity seen in provinces such as Hebei and Liaoning, Li said excess capacity in coal and steel production should be eliminated so traditional economic engines can be fine-tuned. Local governments should help those made redundant to find new jobs.

The premier stressed the importance of maintaining market liquidity, making the financial sector better serve the real economy and introducing debt-for-equity swaps to gradually bring down the corporate leverage ratio.

He promised all central government budgetary investment will be allocated within the first half of this year.

In addition to making use of these funds, local governments should mobilize more private funding, Li urged.
CHENGDU -- A forest ranger in Sichuan province has recorded rare video of courtship among wild giant pandas.

A female panda sits in a tree while a number of males can be heard roaring at her in the two clips captured by Yang Jihong in the Wolong National Nature Reserve on Sunday.

The panda remained in the tree for an hour but rushed away when Yang approached.

Male pandas track female pandas in heat from their urine and squeaking. When they find her, males will compete to impress the female and hopefully win the right to mate with her. Only one will succeed, explained Huang Yan, deputy chief researcher with the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

Staff at Wolong are collecting pandas' excrement for DNA tests to identify how many males participated in the courtship.

"Generally speaking, pandas enter their annual estrus cycles during the period from March to May. For female pandas, their estrus can last about a month but their ovulatory period only lasts one to two days," Huang said.

If the female panda is reluctant, the mating fails, even during estrus.

The giant panda lives mainly in the mountains of western provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. They are threatened by habitat loss and a very low birthrate.

Sichuan was home to 1,387 wild giant pandas at the end of 2013, accounting for almost 75 percent of the total across the nation.
A rubber plantation of the major agroindustrial company Pamol Plantations Plc. Photos provided to China Daily

Country focuses on strong socioeconomic development

Blessed with a diverse portfolio of natural resources including oil and gas, minerals, timber and agricultural products such as coffee, cocoa, cotton and maize, Cameroon is one of Africa's economies with the highest potential.

The country of 23.5 million has consistently posted single-digit annual economic growth and is an increasingly attractive destination for foreign direct investment.

China is the country's largest foreign direct investor, accounting for two-thirds of the tens of billions of dollars that have arrived since the turn of the millennium.

Although less reliant on oil than several energy export-oriented neighbors, Cameroon has seen its fiscal performance hurt by the recent fall in crude oil prices and other commodity prices such as precious metals. However, a drive towards economic diversification has been compensated to a large degree by solid growth in sectors like financial services, telecommunications, transport and tourism.

Strong political, social and economic foundations mean Cameroon is well-positioned to capitalize on its many natural and human resources as part of a drive for economic emergence.

Vision 2035

Cameroon's comprehensive blueprint for strong and sustained socioeconomic development, called Vision 2035, is expected to boost living standards and generate thousands of jobs.

Launched by President Paul Biya, the bold plan aims to transform the country into one that creates and distributes wealth fairly, as well as offers equal development opportunities to all and enhances food security.

"The challenges are immense and meeting them requires total and unwavering commitment from all Cameroonians in towns and villages, within and outside the country," Biya said. "Economic emergence also requires opening up to partners and foreign investors willing to support our development.

"Major structural projects being executed throughout the country are key levers. The other face of this great mobilization focuses on agriculture, mining, oil and gas, environmental protection and related industries, services of high economic value, especially in finance, insurance, information and communication technologies and, broadly speaking, the digital economy. These major sectors are promising for our youth and for the country."

In January, Biya hosted a high-profile dinner in the capital Yaounde for government ministers, local dignitaries and representatives of the International Monetary Fund. Addressing an audience that included IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, he highlighted the progress made in recent years as the country strives to achieve its Vision 2035 goals.

"Over the last five years, despite a difficult global context, Cameroon has been able to maintain a relatively significant level of growth," Biya said.

"This has been achieved thanks to our increasingly diversified economy. Our ultimate goal is to achieve strong, lasting and inclusive growth, which would generate the desired impact on the quality of life, leading to attainment of the status of an emerging economy by 2035.

"I have prescribed profound reforms to enable us to make the most of our country's abundant natural resources. We are constantly striving to make our debt burden more viable, more productive and more sustainable."

In response, Lagarde reaffirmed her organization's firm commitment to Cameroon and commended officials on a "resilient economic performance under trying circumstances".

"Authorities are taking strong steps to secure macroeconomic stability and build strong and inclusive growth," she said during the gala dinner at the Unity Palace.

Relations with China

One of Cameroon's most important economic partners is China and the countries enjoy excellent bilateral political, diplomatic, trade and economic ties. China is financing a range of important infrastructure and energy projects, including the Kribi Deep Sea Port, the Lom Pangar, Mekin and Memve'ele dams and hydroelectric plants, as well as several major road-building programs.

In June 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a meeting with the Cameroon Prime Minister Philmon Yang in Beijing where they discussed ways to further enhance economic cooperation. Yang said Cameroon hopes to further cement bilateral relations and boost cooperation in industry, raw material processing, infrastructure, education, and science and technology.

The Cameroonian government will take further measures to provide more convenience and conditions for foreign investors, he added.

Yang also held productive talks with his Chinese counterpart, Premier Li Keqiang. Li suggested the two sides should work hand-in-hand to enhance cooperation in high-potential areas such as manufacturing and technology to accelerate industrialization. "China is willing to work with Cameroon to promote cooperation in civil aviation, agriculture and human resources development, in a bid to upgrade the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two nations," Li said.

Created after the first global oil crisis several decades ago, Caisse de Stabilisation des Prix des Hydrocarbures (CSPH) is a public institution with legal entity and financial autonomy operating under the supervision of the Ministry of Trade in Cameroon. Known in English as the Hydrocarbons Prices Stabilization Fund, it regulates prices of petroleum products by providing partial or complete subsidies.

Elung Paul Che, general manager of CSPH, said: "We ensure prices are stable and regulated. Volatility is a pervasive reality and specificity of the hydrocarbons sector."

InFocus provided this story

(China Daily 04/11/2016 page5)
The Nachtigal water pumping station will bring 300.000 cubic meters of fresh water per day to Yaounde. Photos provided to China Daily

Cameroon devoting more funds to industry, with new cacao and coffee development plan

Given its fertile soil and favorable crop-growing climate, Cameroon is a major producer and exporter of coffee and cocoa. Farmers produced a combined 200,000 tons of cocoa in 2015 and nearly 24,000 tons of coffee.

One of the few African producers of arabica and robusta beans, Cameroon counted China among its new export markets in 2015. By 2020, officials expect its network of farmers to grow a combined 600,000 tons of cocoa and 160,000 tons of coffee.

The Chamber of Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock and Forest of Cameroon, known by its French acronym CAPEF, is comprised of experienced and dedicated professionals.

"China can do a lot for the Cameroonian agricultural sector because of its wealth of experience," said CAPEF President Janvier Mongui Sossomba. "We hope Chinese investors arrive and create agricultural industries that allow local farmers to train and adopt better farming practices. It would be a transfer of knowledge and organizational ability.

"China is already involved in our agricultural sector, particularly in rice production. Cameroon has the advantage of having an extremely varied ecology, with five major agro-ecological zones. We want to grow as much fresh produce as we can."

Up to 6 million people are estimated to rely directly and indirectly on cocoa and coffee production. Reliable and affordable equipment is highly desired by growers and industry chiefs see a range of openings for foreign businesses, particularly from China.

Thanks to a new cacao development plan launched in late 2014, more funds have been diverted to the sector to maximize its huge potential as well as add value and explore new international sales channels, including China.

The National Cocoa & Coffee Board, or its French acronym ONCC, aims to ensure the sector complies with national and international regulations, and guarantees and certifies their qualities. The public entity also promotes the "Cameroon" label.

"For years, African producing countries have been suppliers of cheap raw materials. If we manage to transform ourselves we can capture the added value at the source," said ONCC general manager Michael Ndoping.

Focus on quality

"There is an emphasis on quality, given the fact we are in a very competitive international market. Quality, both physically and chemically, is very important. Local transformation is also key as we currently transform less than 10 percent of our production. The target is to reach 40 percent. These are the main priorities in the agribusiness today in Cameroon."

For the past decade, the Development Fund for the Cocoa and Coffee Sectors, or its French acronym FODECC, has acted as a custodian of the industry. The public entity aims to guarantee the quality of both crops and increase their productivity and efficiency by providing the producers with equipment, pesticides and fertilizers. In addition, the organization invests heavily in research and development and provides training to producers.

"There are a number of factors that make Cameroonian cocoa very special, including the large size of the beans and the particularities of its color. The variety of cocoa we have in Cameroon cannot be found anywhere else," said FODECC Administrator Jean Marie Ndengoue Noumbissi.

"Manufacturers are conscious that producing is no longer enough to be competitive. We need to add value and transform the sector and so are interested in having a presence in high-price, high-quality markets."

Cameroon's cocoa industry continues to expand at a rate of 3,000 to 4,000 hectares of plantations every year, an impressive growth rate that involves existing players along with new entrants. The country has the capacity to plant 4 to 5 million hectares of cocoa, meaning the potential is huge. On a global scale, demand for this "black gold" outstrips supply by 1 million tons, meaning companies stand a good chance of reaping significant rewards on their investment.

Another hard-working public institution dedicated to improving the cocoa sector's fortunes and extending its reach both nationally and internationally is the Development Corporation of Cocoa, known by its French acronym SODECAO. The entity is the only supplier of crops - from which 5 to 6 million plants are produced every year.

New roads

"Cameroonian cocoa is one of the best in the world and is highly appreciated by chocolate makers," said Jerome Mvondo, general manager of SODECAO. "(Our main competitor) Ivory Coast is saturated, if it wants to plant new cocoa trees, it must destroy the existing ones first. On the contrary, Cameroon has plenty of virgin land for cocoa production. The only things that we are lacking are crops, but a partnership with Brazil will allow us to plant between 15,000 and 20,000 additional hectares every year. We can progress extensively and rapidly."

"Foreign investors are very welcome but must respect technical processes and only use the finest cocoa plants and be selective when it comes to clearing forests," Mvondo said. "Our sector is open to all kinds of international investors, big or small, willing to produce, transform and export cocoa from Cameroon. China is very welcome to join."

With a diverse topography that presents challenges for the transportation and distribution of crops and fresh produce that will perish if not stored promptly, the importance of a modern and efficient transport network and infrastructure to Cameroon's economic well-being cannot be underestimated.

Due to its geographic location, and given the fact that it borders a number of landlocked neighbors, Cameroon is a strategic country when it comes to the transport of goods within the region. Renewing and upgrading highways is essential if the country is to achieve its economic potential.

Established in 1967 and supervised by the Ministry of Public Works, MATGENIE owns and maintains the equipment needed to develop and upgrade the national road network. The firm aims to achieve a 20-30 percent share of the road maintenance market and 10-15 percent slice of the road construction market by 2018. Another target is the ownership of 1,500 engineering machines by 2020 - a twelvefold increase on its 2011 total - meaning there are significant opportunities for supplying equipment to MATGENIE.

"In any country, the road network is essential both for the economy and for the welfare of its inhabitants," said Othon Niwa Long, general manager of MATGENIE.

"We have a road network that allows for the transport of goods and people, but that still has a number of limitations such as it does not cover the whole country and is not in good condition.

"For the moment, our function is to acquire the appropriate equipment and to make it available for the contractors, but we will soon be active in the construction of roads. We have a good relationship with the Chinese technical and financial partners.

"China is a vital partner for the country. We want them to suggest us new high-quality products and services. In the field of civil engineering machines, for instance, they should focus on customer service."

With more than half a century of experience assisting and supporting investors, the Cameroon National Investment Corporation, or SNI as known by its French acronym, acts as the right arm of the country in the realization of all structuring and strategic investments.

The SNI provides investors with the support they need for the launch of projects, in the participation in viable projects and in the identification of investment opportunities. Last year, the firm completed a feasibility study into a major new technological and agro-industrial park at Edea. One of the focal points of the Vision 2035 development plan is the overhaul of the energy and electricity sector by public bodies, privately owned companies and international investors. Billions of dollars will flow into the industry for new hydroelectric plants, dams, networks and physical distribution channels.

One such example is the Lom Pangar Dam, construction of which has been entrusted to China International Water & Electric Corp. The showcase energy project is an example of how the collaboration between Chinese and Cameroonian entities can lead to tangible structures that improve the lives of millions of people.

"The Chinese have exceeded our expectations: they work hard, always meet all deadlines, and deliver high-quality outcomes," said Thodore Nsangou, general manager of project partner Electricity Development Corp. "Lom Pangar Dam is an example of an extremely high-quality project delivered on time.

"Investors succeed in Cameroon because there is a clear strategy to improve the business environment. Access to cheaper electricity allows for industries to flourish - it is a trigger for growth. The country is making efforts to improve legal frameworks and increase competitiveness. Also, Cameroonians are intelligent with an entrepreneurial mindset."

InFocus provided this story

(China Daily 04/11/2016 page7)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) reviews Japanese Self-Defence Forces' (SDF) troops during the annual SDF ceremony at Asaka Base in Asaka, near Tokyo, in this October 27, 2013 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

Despite former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama's outright stance that Japan is mainly responsible for the tensions in Sino-Japanese relations and his criticism of the government's distorted views on history, territorial disputes and China's rise, Japanese right-wing politicians continually defend the Abe administration's accelerated efforts to revise the country's pacifist Constitution and other provocative moves.

Compared with the doves in Japan, the much stronger hawks, led by the Liberal Democratic Party, now firmly dominate the parliament's lower and upper houses and are leading Japan farther away from repairing its damaged ties with China.

The nationalist and populist tendency in Japan is poisoning the fragile Sino-Japanese relations. A March survey conducted by Japanese media found that a record 83.2 percent of Japanese people hold no sense of neighborliness toward China. Such a tendency can, to a large extent, be attributed to selective Japanese media reporting on China under the influence of Japan's official policy and stance toward China, which fails to paint a full picture of the country and misleads the Japanese public.

The absence or insufficiency of cultural exchanges has also further aggravated Japanese media and public's sense of repulsion toward China and even offered excuses for Japanese politicians to push for a tougher stance toward China.

Both Chinese and Japanese media should hold a responsible attitude and exhibit a balanced perspective when reporting on each other's country rather than focusing on the negative aspects alone. Given that China's economic aggregate and comprehensive national strength will continue to have an upper hand over Japan, Japan should hold a realistic attitude toward this. Tokyo should particularly discard its past "superiority complex" and "insular mindset" while dealing with China and no longer view itself as the leader of Asia in defiance of China's rise.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) raises his fist as he shouts slogans with his party lawmakers during a kickoff ceremony for the party chief election in Tokyo, in this photo taken by Kyodo, September 8, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

During the two-day G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, which began on Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the other G7 foreign ministers are scheduled to visit the Peace Memorial Park. Since the memorial is dedicated to the victims of the 1945 US atomic bombing of the city, Japanese media see the gesture as a call for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Japan is the only country to suffer a nuclear attack. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, and the second on Nagasaki three days later. The atomic bombs not only destroyed Japan's major military arsenals and killed Japanese troops stationed in the two cities, but also claimed the lives of about hundreds of thousands civilians. From a humanitarian point of view, Japan does deserve the world's sympathy.

The Japanese government symbolically chose Hiroshima as the venue for the G7 foreign ministers' meeting. And since Japan is the only victim of nuclear bombings, its call for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation should not be opposed.

But China objected to Japan's proposal that global leaders attending the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference at the UN Headquarters in April-May 2015 visit the two cities. In December, it was the UN General Assembly's turn to rebuff such a call.

So, why did China object to Japan's proposal? The Chinese people and government feel Japan is using the ploy of being a nuclear attack victim to make the world forget the horrors it inflicted on other countries.

Neither Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nor his predecessors have mentioned why the US dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Instead, they have chosen to highlight the human sufferings the bombs caused. While trying to portray Japan as a victim, its leaders have never fully condemned the large-scale invasions of China and other Asian countries, and the atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre the Japanese army committed. It is this evasive attitude of the Japanese government and media toward its war crimes that has prompted China and other Asian countries to object to Japan's attempt to disguise itself as the innocent victim of the nuclear attacks.

The countries that endured untold sufferings because of Japanese occupation or invasion will always call Japan's bluff. So Japanese leaders should face up to their country's war crimes and apologize to the wartime victims. They should also realize that, no matter what ploy they use they cannot change the historical fact that they unleashed a bloody war on Asian countries.

The Japanese government believes former US president Harry Truman committed an unforgivable crime by giving the order to drop the two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But Truman's decision came after it was estimated that Allied forces would suffer another 1 million casualties before being able to conquer Japan's main territories. More importantly, the Japanese government rejected the Allied forces' call to surrender, leaving the US no choice but to drop the two atomic bombs to force Japan to surrender and end the war as soon as possible.

Given that it was almost impossible for the US forces to distinguish between Japanese troops and supporters of the war, on the one hand, and ordinary civilians, on the other, the unprecedented destruction the nuclear bombs caused should be blamed on Japanese wartime leaders' belligerent and adamant policies and actions.

It's the leaders that drag a country into war, but it's the people who always suffer the most. So people of all countries should learn how to differentiate justice from injustice, and stop their over-ambitious leaders from dragging them into unjust wars.

The author is a professor of Japan studies at China Foreign Affairs University.
China's former ambassador Wu Jianmin, left, holding up his finger during the debate on Human Rights resolution in China at the 53th. Human Rights Commission in Geneva on Tuesday, April 15, 1997. At right an unidentified member of China's delegation.[Photo/IC]

Delivering a speech on the modern world and China's diplomacy at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing on March 30, Wu Jianmin, China's former ambassador to France and former president of the university, said the main theme of the world is peace and development, and criticized the Global Times for publishing some articles with extreme views which could mislead readers into believing in war and revolution.

Wu said Hu Xijin, Global Times chief editor and a leading commentator, cannot see the big picture and the general trend of the world despite being a learned man.

In response, Hu wrote an article on his micro blog on April 7 saying Wu represents an outdated mode of diplomacy and assumes the media do nothing but make trouble by professing extreme nationalism.

Wu refused to carry the debate forward, and Hu said his newspaper will soon publish an article Wu has written and continue to regard the former ambassador as an important writer contributing to the Global Times' pluralistic character.

Such a name-calling debate, even if not personal, between a veteran diplomat and an outspoken opinion leader is rare in China and has stirred a discussion between foreign policy doves and hawks. Yet the debate should be seen as a constructive exchange of ideas between different opinion camps, for it can only help improve China's diplomacy. Whether such debates are on the South China Sea disputes or the "new type of major-power relationship" with the United States, the need is to maintain a dynamic balance between hard line and restraint.

It is hoped the Wu-Hu debate will lead to more constructive discussions on the diplomatic issues confronting China. Wu and Hu, as well as the people supporting them, have become part of the debate for the same purpose: better adapting China's diplomacy to the changing world. And it is only natural that their outlooks on the modern world are different.

As an experienced diplomat fluent in French, Wu has experienced firsthand difficulties Chinese people faced during the "war and revolution" era. He is also witness to the benefits people have been enjoying after China launched reform and opening-up thanks to the peaceful environment.

Hu earned his master's degree from a university in the Soviet Union in 1989, three decades after Wu graduated. The Global Times editor-in-chief has seen the disintegration of the socialist camp. He served as a war correspondent in former Yugoslavia from 1993 to 1996 and the Iraq war in 2003. He has also seen how the US has split sovereign states or pushed them into anarchy on the pretext of propagating democracy.

Therefore, the public as well as China's policymakers should view the disagreement between Wu and Hu as a progressive development.

Similar splitting also exists in the United States on its China policies. Good foreign policies and strategies have always been a result of dynamic compromise between two parties. China is no exception, even if it has a different political system from Western countries.

As such, China needs the space for meaningful debates on some diplomatic issues, because the results can serve as reference points for policymakers while adjusting the country's foreign policies.

Since diplomacy is essentially an extension of internal affairs, public participation in discussions on the foreign policy, which directly concerns national interests, can minimize the opposition against the final outcomes at home. And without people's understanding and support, no foreign policy can be implemented smoothly.

Moreover, involving citizens in the process will help raise their awareness about diplomacy and cultivate in them a strong sense of responsibility toward national affairs.

In this sense, the Wu-Hu debate reflects a social understanding to protect China's national interests by devising an effective foreign policy.

The author is a writer with China Daily. liyang@chinadaily.com.cn
LIMA - Keiko Fujimori won the first round of Peru's presidential election on Sunday, though the race to be her opponent in the June run-off was locked in a virtual tie between two contenders, three exit polls showed.

Peru's presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori celebrate after exit polls of the first round of Peru's presidential election in Lima, Peru, April 10, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Ipsos gave Fujimori 37.8 percent of valid votes, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski 20.9 percent, and Veronika Mendoza 20.3 percent. GfK had similar results, while CPI gave Kuczynski a slightly better advantage, with 19.7 percent to Mendoza's 18.8 percent.

Fujimori, a U.S.-educated former congresswoman, would have needed 50 percent for an outright win. She set out early in her campaign to distance herself from her father, imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, after she narrowly lost her first presidential bid in 2011 to President Ollanta Humala.

Polls closed at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT) Lima time. Partial results, about 20 percent or 30 percent of votes, will be given at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT) and the electoral body says it will finish counting on Monday.

A runoff between Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former World Bank economist, and Fujimori would likely ensure Peru's free-market economic model remains intact. Mendoza's late surge in opinion polls in recent weeks has spooked markets in the top metals producer.

Kuczynski's supporters danced in the streets with his guinea pig mascot after exit polls were reported. However, in previous elections early results have underrepresented rural areas, where Mendoza and Fujimori have stronger support.

Growing opposition to Fujimori means she is vulnerable in a second-round vote. The most recent Ipsos poll showed Kuczynski would beat Fujimori in a second-round election by seven points, while Mendoza was seen in a statistical tie with her. Fifty-one percent of Peruvians polled told Ipsos they would "definitely not" vote for her.

Kuczynski's economic adviser, Alfredo Thorne, said that exit polls showed Kuczynski had stronger support in rural Peru than in 2011, when he struggled to connect with voters outside of Lima during his first presidential bid.

Mendoza, whom opponents have tried to link to late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, thanked her supporters from her home city of Cuzco, once the capital of the Incan empire. "We've shown that we can do politics differently!" she said.

A center-right populist, Fujimori has vowed to preserve democracy and extend 25 years of free-market policies.

However, support for Fujimori slipped after two of her rivals were ousted from the race and tens of thousands protested her candidacy on the day her father shuttered congress 24 years ago.

Alberto Fujimori, a right-wing populist who is serving a 25-year prison term for human rights abuses and corruption during his 1990-2000 rule, is fondly remembered by some for building rural schools and hospitals and implementing neo-liberal reforms that remain in place. Keiko Fujimori famously became Peru's first lady at 19 when her parents divorced.

She says her father is innocent and should be absolved by the courts but has promised not to use her political power to free him from jail or repeat his authoritarian tendencies.

"I voted for Keiko because she's not to blame for what her father did," said 41-year-old Carlos Zevallos. "Crimes aren't inherited."

The elder Fujimori said his hard-line measures were necessary to defeat the Maoist-inspired Shining Path insurgency.

In a reminder of that bloody conflict, rebels presumed to be remnants of the Shining Path on Saturday ambushed soldiers sent to safeguard ballots, leaving at least six dead, authorities said.

The head of the Organization of American States mission to Peru, Sergio Abreu, said there had been some isolated delays in voting but that Sunday's election had otherwise been calm, "an exemplary act."
Chinese investment in Australia has returned to positive growth, rising very strongly with a record number of deals taking Chinese investors into new industries - including healthcare for the first time - and new geographies, a report said on Monday.

Investment into commercial real estate has made up for the drop in investment in the mining sector. The return of the mega deal, with seven investments of 500 million Australian dollars or more during the year, helped propel the total value of investment to $11.1 billion (AUD15.09 billion), a 32.9 percent increase on the previous year.

This was the second highest inflow year for new Chinese investment into Australia, behind the previous peak driven by mining sector investment in 2008. On an international stage, Australia maintained its position as the second-largest recipient of aggregated Chinese direct investment between 2005 and 2015, behind the United States, attracting a cumulative $78.7 billion during the period.

In Australia, commercial real estate remained dominant for the second year in a row, accounting for 45 percent of the total deal volume. There was also significant investment into renewable energy and health, and long-awaited growth in agriculture and agribusiness investment. Chinese investors also moved into new geographies, with the Northern Territory receiving over AUD565 million of investment for the first time.

These are among the key findings of the latest Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia report by KPMG Australia and The University of Sydney, analyzing Chinese outbound direct investment into Australia in 2015. This year's report also includes new research analyzing the sentiments and attitudes of Chinese investors towards the Australian market.

"Following two years of moderately declining Chinese investment, the resurgence of interest and the diversification by Chinese companies in 2015 is a strong endorsement of the attractiveness of Australia's economy. Alongside continued interest in the NSW and Victorian commercial real estate sectors, there has been activity and major deals in renewables, agribusiness, and for the first time, healthcare," said report co-author, Doug Ferguson, Head of KPMG Australia's Asia and International Markets.

"Overall we are seeing a strong story of Chinese investment into Australia's broader economy which is in line with premium products, services and lifestyle-oriented themes," he said.
RABAT -- The European Union, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) pledged on Monday to provide financial support for the World Climate Conference (COP22), scheduled for November in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.

Representatives of the EU, UNDP and IFAD pledged to provide financial aid to ensure the success of this global event during a meeting organized by Morocco's Ministry of Economy and Finance in cooperation with the COP22 steering committee.

The EU will provide two million euros in support for the organization of COP22 and negotiations are underway to mobilize an additional five million euros, said the EU representative at the meeting.

The UNDP will provide two million dollars, while the IFAD's contribution will reach 450,000 dollars.
(Photo : Getty Images, Belgian Federal Police) Abrini is the prime suspect of the Paris attacks and was recently confirmed to be the escort of the two suicide bombers in Belgium.

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Authorities arrested a man named Muhammad Abrini, the man wearing a hat in the video footage from the Brussels attack. Abrini is the prime suspect of the Paris attacks and was recently confirmed to be the escort of the two suicide bombers in Belgium.



According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Brussels, when confronted with the startling evidence, the Belgian-Moroccan from Molenbeek confessed that he was at the attacked airport on March 22. Authorities believe they have finally caught the final missing suspect behind the bombings.



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Abrini was linked to the crime by DNA evidence and identified through surveillance camera footage from the airport where he appeared wearing a hat. He is believed to have fled immediately after the suicide bombers blew themselves.



Authorities have since confirmed the identities of the two suicide bombers who were brothers. While Ibrahim Al Berkaoui blew himself inside the airport, his brother Khaled El Barkaoui was responsible for the blast in the metro station. According to CNN, both were wanted by Interpol in connection to terrorist acts.



The list of accused also includes Najim Lakhraoui of Moroccan origin who blew himself at Brussels airport, and Mohamed Belkaid who commanded an ISIS cell in Belgium. Belkaid was killed in a raid that led to the terror mastermind Abdel Salaam's arrest. Osama Krayem, however, has survived and is under arrest on suspicion of being the second subway bomber.



With these arrests, the Interpol was able to link the terror network operating in Europe to at least two of the recent attacks in Brussels and Paris.



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Tagsterror attack, Brussels terror attacks, Paris Attacks, Ankara Bombing, interpol, Brussels, Belgium, ISIS, suicide bombing, suicide bomber
(Photo : Getty Images) Thousands attended a Taipei rally to support the death penalty in Taiwan.

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Thousands attended a rally in Taipei yesterday to support for the continued use of the death penalty. The demonstration comes as the recent horrific beheading of a four-year-old girl in Taipei has ignited debate over capital punishment.



Taiwan reinstated capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year moratorium. Since then, 32 executions have been carried out, according to the Death Penalty Worldwide.



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Some lawmakers have been arguing that Taiwan needs to abolish the death penalty, pointing to European countries as an example. The discussion will come to a head this week as the Legislative Yuan review a proposal that would impose the death penalty on anyone convicted of murdering a child under the age of 12.



The White Rose Social Care Association organized yesterday's event to urge the government to heed public opinion.



According to the association, 5,000 people showed up at the start of the rally, including Chen Pei-chi and her two young sons.



"Taiwan is not safe, so death sentences are needed to deter crimes and they should be carried out," said Chen. "I hope this will make our society safer for all children."



Another supporter, Wu Chiu-mei, said "I am really sad and angry that these random murders of children keep happening. All child-killers should be sentenced to death for hurting defenseless children."



This is not the first time the public reacted angrily to the murder of a child. In December 2012, a 10-year-old boy was killed in Tainan and the man convicted of the crime sparked outrage when he made comments about receiving free room and board in prison. Six executions were carried out later that month.



In June 2015, there were six more executions following the murder of an 8-year-old girl in Taipei. Amnesty International condemned the actions, saying that "the decision to carry out the executions reeks of political calculations by a government attempting to gain points by quelling public anger."



According to a survey by Taiwan's National Chung Cheng University, 83.3 percent of Taiwanese citizens are against abolishing the death penalty.



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Tagsdeath penalty, Taipei, Taiwan, capital punishmen, support death penalty, Amnesty International
(Photo : Getty Images) Italian prosecutors have started a probe into the Italian offices of the Bank of China for allegedly smuggling more than 4.5 billion euros ($5.12 billion) into Beijing from 2006 to 2010.

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Italian prosecutors started a probe into the Italian offices of the Bank of China for allegedly smuggling more than 4.5 billion euros ($5.12 billion) into Beijing from 2006 to 2010.



The probe, dubbed "River of Money," aims to bring 297 people, the majority of which are Chinese, to trial on charges of aiding illicit money flows from Italy to Beijing.



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Reports said the officials of the Bank of Italy have taken over the offices of the Bank of China, a state-owned bank, and have conducted an on-site inspection as part of the ongoing probe.



"River of Money"



The "River of Money" started its investigation into the Bank of China's link to a defunct money remittance center known as Money2Money which used to be the top money transfer agency for Chinese remittances from Italy.



Officials of the Bank of Italy started its supervisory inspection into the beleaguered Chinese bank days after a judicial investigation started in Florence.



The judge in Florence is yet to decide on whether the bank officials will be indicted or not.



The Bank of China has denied involvement with the money transfer agency and said it will cooperate with any investigation that will be conducted in relation to the smuggling accusations.



"Bank of China is providing full cooperation to the Italian Supervisory Authority," the bank told Reuters.



The Chinese bank officials denied that the inspection is part of its alleged link with the Money2Money transfer agency and said it was a routine procedure that covers business transactions and is done every three years.



"It is not connected to the M2M (Money2Money) issue," the Chinese bank said.



Amid the repeated denials, the Bank of Italy's financial intelligence unit pinpointed hundreds of suspicious money transfers from Italy to China using the Money2Money money transfer agency between 2008 and 2009.



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TagsBank of China, Bank of Italy, Money2Money, Italian Supervisory Authority, "River of Money", on-site inspection, smuggling, money flows, china
(Photo : Getty Images) Long time space rivals India and China will collaborate for for BRICS satellite project.

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India and China, who are currently locked in tit-for-tat space war, are entering into an unlikely space collaboration. The space agencies of both countries will collaborate on a proposed satellite constellation for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).



The new collaboration has been confirmed by Wu YanHua, deputy administrator for the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA), who was in India last week to take part in a space summit hosted in New Delhi.



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"We have been in dialogue with India on the BRICS Constellation for disaster risk reduction," Wu said at the summit.



Kiran Kumar, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), also confirmed that "virtual remote sensing satellite constellation for the BRICS nations" is on cards.



The idea for a BRICS satellite was first considered at a space summit in Austria earlier this year where the space agencies of several countries had participated, according to people familiar with the matter.



This is the first time that India and China will be entering a space collaboration. Experts say both countries have always treated their space war as an extension of their diplomatic rivalry, which has defined relationship between the two Asian giants for several decades.



The space programmes of India and China is largely indigenous and their spectacular success over the last two decades has been widely hailed by the scientific community across the world. However, China has relatively edged out the India in space war, as its space programme has achieved comparatively more success.



China sent its first astronaut into space way back in 2003, something the Indian space agency has not still managed to achieve. China also put a satellite in the moon's orbit much earlier than India did.



However, in 2014 India managed to beat China by becoming first ever Asian country to successfully launch a satellite to Mars.



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TagsIndia, china, India and China Space War
(Photo : Reuters) WWF said that the increase in number of tigers is due to heightened conservation efforts, more land area surveyed, and improved survey techniques.



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World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report revealed that the number of wild tigers has increased from 3,200 in 2012 to an estimated 3,890 now.



The increase is attributed to recent conservation efforts, particularly in Russia and India, which have seen greater population growth in recent years. According to Scientific American where the report was published, this is the first increase in population in a century. WWF said that the increased number is particularly seen in India, Russia, Nepal, and Bhutan besides improved surveys and enhanced protection of the species.



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WWF said that the increase is due to heightened conservation efforts, more land area surveyed, and improved survey techniques.



This is a pivotal step in the recovery of one of the world's most endangered and iconic species. Together with governments, local communities, philanthropists, and other NGOs, we've begun to reverse the trend in the century-long decline of tigers. But much more work and investment is needed if we are to reach our goal of doubling wild tiger numbers by 2022, said Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of wildlife conservation at WWF.



There are 13 countries included in the surveys that make up the tigers historical range. These nations are located across Asia from India to eastern Russia, and south to Malaysia and Indonesia. Experts combined the new numbers with the best tiger population estimates from the International Union for Conservation of Nature to come up with the exact number of 3,890 tigers in 2015 and compared it to the 2010s 3,200 number.



Compared to 100 years ago, there are only 97 percent fewer tigers today. WWF blames poaching, deforestation, urban development, and overall habitat loss on the verge of extinction of wild tigers. With no strong conservation efforts and a lack of leadership, the situation will be worst in the near future.



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TagsWild tiger, World Wildlife Fund, WWF, Tiger extinction
(Photo : Getty Images.) Taiwan claimed that the eight missing Taiwanese were legally allowed to stay in Kenya for 21 days after being acquitted by the Kenyan High Court. However, China pressured the Kenyan government to hand over the eight Taiwanese nationals before the end of the deportation period.

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Taiwan on Monday accused China of abducting eight of its citizens from Kenya who were facing deportation after the Kenyan High Court acquitted them of cyber crime earlier last week.



"This is an uncivilized act of illegal kidnapping and a serious violation of basic human rights," Taiwan Foreign Ministry said in its statement.



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Taiwan also demanded that Chinese authorities release its eight citizens immediately.



Taiwan claimed that the eight missing Taiwanese were legally allowed to stay in Kenya for 21 days after being acquitted by the Kenyan High Court. However, China pressured the Kenyan government to hand over the eight Taiwanese nationals before the end of the deportation period.



The eight Taiwanese were among 23 Taiwanese nationals, who along with other Chinese nationals, were being tried by Kenyan courts of cyber crime-related cases. China reportedly pressed for extradition of all the accused in January, but Kenya's government did not accept the demand back then.



China is yet to issue any official statement to Taiwan's latest accusation, but a firm response from Beijing is expected anytime soon.



Tensions keeping flaring between the two countries owing to their acrimonious history.



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(Photo : Reuters) China's PetroChina Co. posted the highest liability among non-financial A-share companies with more than $1.05 trillion yuan ($162.8 billion).

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PetroChina, the country's biggest oil producer, posted the highest amount of liabilities among all non-financial A-share firms with 1.05 trillion yuan ($162.8 billion), the worst in nearly two decades.



The state-owned oil company experienced its lowest dive, reporting a 67 percent plunge in net profit to 35.5 billion yuan.



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According to state-run Securities Daily, the company posted the liability even though it has managed to reduce its debt ratio from 45.2 percent to 43.8 percent a year ago after chopping its total debts by 3.5 percent in 2015.



In December, PetroChina got regulatory approval to issue corporate bonds no more than 40 billion yuan, state news agency Xinhua reported.



The need for liquidity follows after oil enterprises posted a weaker year as a result of the slumping oil price. Brent crude, the standard for over 50 percent of the world's oil, also posted a 48 percent decline in 2015.



The other Chinese oil giant Sinopec also saw a 32.1 percent decrease to 32.2 billion yuan.



Securities Daily, citing management insiders, said that PetroChina's management is considering cost management. It reportedly plans to slash off capital expenditure to 23 percent or 155.7 billion yuan.



Moreover, experts reveal that oil companies are also reportedly looking at broadening ownership to keep lean. PetroChina allegedly sold its remaining natural gas reserves subsidiaries, including Changqing, Dagang, Huabei, Liaohe, Southwest and Xinjiang, to domestic petroleum administrations at 3.51 billion yuan.



The company posted a 26.7 percent plummet in cash flow to 261.32 billion yuan from operating expenditures and a 25.8 percent decrease from investment activities.



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TagsOil, Brent, PetroChina, A-share firms, Sinopec, Petroleum, China National Petroleum Corporation
(Photo : Trocaire/Flickr/CC) A mother and her children at a border crossing between Serbia and Croatia, where thousands of refugees traveled daily on their journey to safety.

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have called on Christians to love refugees rather than fear them, saying that the current approach of many churches in dealing with refugees is "far more American than it is biblical."

The leaders were speaking at the Great Commission Summit, held at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary between March 29 and 31.

"Whatever response is seen [in our churches] often seems to come from a foundation of fear, not of faith, flowing from a view of the world that is far more concerned with the preservation of our country than it is with the accomplishment of the Great Commission," said David Platt, president of the International Mission Board.

Platt reminded the audience that millions of refugees have fled their homes from countries such as Syria and Sudan, and Christians must view this crisis through God's eyes of mercy and compassion. He referred to the biblical example of Boaz who sheltered Ruth, when she was a foreigner.

He said that Boaz's actions did not just demonstrate godly compassion, but also were a critical moment in redemptive history, by building a lineage which would "lead to the quintessential kinsman redeemer, Jesus the Christ."

"I fear that most people in our churches and maybe even in this room are paying very little to no attention to this - or if we are paying attention to it, we are looking at it through political punditry and partisan debates regarding whether or not we should allow relatively few refugees into our land," he said. "It is a sure sign of American self-centeredness that we would take the suffering of millions of people and turn it into an issue that is all about us."

Platt urged the believer to be sensitive to people's needs across the world and be dedicated to helping them with the compassion of Christ.

"Our God has not left the outcast and oppressed alone in a world of sin and suffering, he's come to us and he's conquered for us. Brothers and sisters, as followers of Christ, self is no longer our God, therefore safety is no longer our concern. We go and we preach the gospel, knowing that others' lives are dependent on it," he said.

Southern Seminary and Boyce College professors encouraged the students to adopt Muslim families and understand the complexities of Islamic culture in a series of short talks organized on March 31, sponsored by the Jenkins Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam.

"God wants something to happen in your heart so that it will appear outside," said Ayman S. Ibrahim, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Seminary and senior fellow for the Jenkins Center. "Think of Muslims as a very diverse community. Muslims are in very deep need of something you have. I call it 'the gospel of hope.' ... They have no hope."

Associate Professor of global studies at Boyce College, John Klaassen, who also wrote a book called Engaging with Muslims, said that churches can show their love by collaborating with refugee organizations and adopting refugee families when they come to the US.

Speaking at the summit, Florida pastor Jimmy Scroggins asked Christians to get more serious about reaching people who are far from God through continual prayer and gospel-centered conversations.

He referred to the first four chapters of Acts as a blueprint for how church needs to reach unchurched and broken people, with the aim of having a "messy and dynamic" church.

    press@cdaily.co.kr



- Copyright ,    

#SouthernBaptistLeadersCall
Citizenship test to revert to 'freedom of religion,' instead of 'freedom of worship' 11 April, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner)  Late in 2008, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made a slight change in wording to the citizenship exam given to potential Americans, but that change had enormous political implications  it removed the phrase "freedom of religion" and replaced it with "freedom of worship," which the department deemed more inclusive.

Critics have since claimed the move was part of Democrats' continuing effort to recast the First Amendment in a way that allows freedom within the four walls of the church, but not outside when the government makes mandates on issues like health care (such as the contraceptive coverage mandate opposed by Hobby Lobby).

The 'freedom of religion' language reflects our right to live a life of faith at all times, while the 'freedom of worship' reflects a right simply confined to a particular space and location.

President Barack Obama used the phrase "freedom of worship" publicly in 2010 shortly after court challenges were made to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). He does not, however, use it exclusively.

The change in the DHS testing materials did not go unnoticed. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) asked for an answer as to why the language had been changed shortly after he was elected to the Senate in 2014.

"Not only is 'freedom of worship' inconsistent with the text of the Amendment proposed 226 years ago ... saying that 'freedom of worship' is more inclusive than 'freedom of religion' flies in the face of a pillar upon which our entire nation was founded. Our forefathers came to America to have freedom of religion, not simply freedom of worship. So valued, they made the free exercise of religion our first freedom," Lankford wrote in June 2015.

"We are doing a great disservice to those seeking citizenship in this great country if we distort our history and fail to teach new citizens about the founding and the constitutional principles of this nation," Lankford added.

An answer to his question about the change took more than a year to receive, but on April 8 the senator's office announced DHS had made the decision to revert to the phrase "freedom of religion" in its testing and education materials.

"We are in the process of revising our test study materials and Web content to reflect the change. Approximately 40 different internal and external Web-based and printed publications will be revised as a result of this decision," Leon Rodriguez, director of the DHS's Citizenship and Immigration Services, wrote in a letter to Lankford.

"We continue to appreciate and share your interest in ensuring that applicants for naturalization learn about this Nation's founding and constitutional principles," Rodriguez wrote.

Lankford said in a statement that the changes should be in effect by the end of 2016 and that he was grateful for the change.

"I applaud the Department of Homeland Security for listening to me and deciding to change their material to reflect our First Amendment right of freedom of religion," Lankford said.

"At first glance, it appears like a small matter, but it is actually an important distinction for the Constitution and the First Amendment. The 'freedom of religion' language reflects our right to live a life of faith at all times, while the 'freedom of worship' reflects a right simply confined to a particular space and location," Lankford continued. "We live in a great nation that allows individuals to live out their faith, or have no faith at all. To protect freedom and diversity, we must carefully articulate this right throughout the federal government."
PayPal 'hypocrite of the year' for cutting expansion in North Carolina, Graham says 11 April, 2016 by Samuel Smith/CP , |

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Christian Examiner)  Leading evangelist Franklin Graham has labeled PayPal "hypocrite of the year" after the organization announced Tuesday that it is aborting its plan to open an operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina, because of an objection to the state's recently passed transgender law.

The California-based organization, which serves as a popular online payment alternative, announced two weeks ago that it was going to expand to Charlotte with a new operations facility that would have employed about 400 skilled workers.

But after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation into law that prohibits the city of Charlotte and other local governments from enacting ordinances that force places of public accommodation to open restrooms to members of the opposite biological sex, the leaders at PayPal decided to take a political stance by abandoning their plans to move to the state.

"The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal's mission and culture," PayPal CEO Dan Schulman argued in a statement. "As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte."

Although Schulman stated that the company regrets not being able to expand to Charlotte, he asserted that the "decision was a clear and unambiguous one."

On Wednesday morning, Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and a North Carolina native, took to Facebook to point out the hypocrisy behind PayPal's decision.

"PayPal gets the hypocrite of the year award!" Graham expounded in his post. "Congressman Robert Pittenger made a great point yesterday: 'PayPal does business in 25 countries where homosexual behavior is illegal, including five countries where the penalty is death, yet they object to the North Carolina legislature overturning a misguided ordinance about letting men in to [sic] the women's bathroom? Perhaps PayPal would like to try and clarify this seemingly very hypocritical position.'"

Graham also pointed out that PayPal announced in March that it would explore business opportunities in the Communist nation of Cuba, where homosexuals and transgenders are tortured, jailed and executed.

"PayPal only agreed to come to Charlotte in the first place after holding out for millions in corporate incentives," Graham stated. "And under the current law that they are so strongly protesting, PayPal could have chosen their own corporate bathroom policies."

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest defended the state's law on Tuesday in a statement. Forest said the state will not be coerced into changing a law that protects women and children from being assaulted by those who wish to use a transgender ordinance to their perverted advantages.

"If our action in keeping men out of women's bathrooms and showers protected the life of just one child or one woman from being molested or assaulted, then it was worth it. North Carolina will never put a price tag on the value of our children," Forest stressed. "They are precious and priceless. If a corporation wanting to do business in North Carolina does not see the worth of our children in the same light, then I wish them well as they do business somewhere else."

Graham praised Forest for defending the law.

"He couldn't be more right! We need more politicians across the country with this kind of backbone," Graham wrote. "Pray for the N.C. governor, lieutenant governor, and legislators that they stand strong against the attacks of this wicked agenda."

The North Carolina Values Coalition, a socially conservative advocacy organization, also took to Facebook to issue a statement. The organization accused PayPal of standing on the side of convicted sex offenders.

"PayPal's move shows their discrimination and lack of concern for the safety and privacy of women and children," the statement reads. "Today, PayPal sided with Chad Sevearance Turner, the Charlotte resident who was convicted for sexual assault of young boys, instead of the 69 percent of North Carolinians who support the safety and privacy of the women and children of Charlotte."

This article published by Christian Post and used with permission.
Two major prayer events were organized in US on two coastal extremes on April 9, and shared the same aim of prayers - to increase love, brotherhood, and healing. One was held in Washington DC, and the other in Los Angeles, which effectively forms a "Bridge of Prayer," a press release said.

In Washington, United Cry DC 16 reached about 30,000 pastors from different denominations and ethnicities. The event was held at Lincoln Memorial in the US capital on April 9, but the objective was to reach more pastors through radio, live streaming, and TV. The prayers began at 8:30 am and continued till 4 pm, and will centered on national issues in America like racism and division. The leaders prayed for recognition of role of church in bringing unity, brotherhood, and community transformation through intercession. Some of the ministers who led the event were Anne Graham Lotz, Tony Perkins, Jonathan Cahn, Harry Jackson, Jr., Jim Garlow, and Doug Stringer, among many others.

In Los Angeles, Bethel church collaborated with Lou Engle's The Call to commemorate 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street Outpouring at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Azusa Now. The LA prayer annual event started in 1906, when God moved powerfully in Los Angeles on a small group of believers that resulted in great harvest of souls for Christ. The event became globally known as Azusa Street Revival. Over 100,000 people from different ethnicities, background, denominations gathered for a day in 15 hours of nonstop worship and prayer.

When the country seems to be facing a spiritual crisis manifested in a broken and divided society, church leaders are feeling a need to come together in prayer more and more.

"All across America I am hearing the sound of angry voices, accusation and contention." said Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., Senior Pastor of Maryland Hope Christian Church and founding member of The Reconciled Church Initiative.

However, at the same time the number of prayer gatherings seem to be increasing as well.

"There are more large prayer gatherings in 2016 than I've seen in 26 years of ministry," said David Butts, President of Harvest Prayer Ministries and Chairman of America's National Prayer Committee. "I've seen waves of prayer before but in addition to filling stadiums, this year there is exceptional collaboration among diverse streams of faith."

Bishop Jackson said that Americans have to stand for unity and fight against racism, which he said was driven by 'forces of darkness'.

"We are in a time where there is a desire by the forces of darkness to rip asunder our unity, dignity and cause strife," Jackson said. "We want to focus on honoring the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and inspire others to be bridges of hope," he asserted.

Members of Dr. Martin Luther King's family participated in the Washington event to cry out to God for "repentance, sanctification, and racial reconciliation" of the country, which also featured a special "foot washing and mantle passing" ceremony.

Azusa Now event organizers said that the event in Los Angeles is driven by a deep conviction that God wants to move with the same power and purpose as he moved in 1906 prayer gathering.

"We need a true jubilee of love and mercy to sweep our land," they emphasized. "A dark question looms over our children's future: riots or revival? The only answer is to be found in Christ. Prayer, love, and unity remain the Acts 2 template for breakthrough."

Rachel Holden of The Call, a key organizer of Azusa Now, said that the main goal of the event "is to begin to repair the pain, wounds, and division among different nationalities, denominations, and backgrounds throughout the body of Christ. We want to humbly learn to bless our differences while joining together for worship and the proclamation of the Gospel. Our daring hope for Azusa Now is that the body of Christ would begin, even in a small way, to fulfill the great prayer of Jesus in John 17, to make us one as He is one."

Doug Stringer of Somebody Cares America explained the purpose of uniting so many pastors through United Cry DC 16.

"God has given us each a fishing line, but when we lay down our own agendas to become part of something bigger than ourselves; then God will take our fishing lines and weave them together into a net that is large enough to catch the fallen, rescue the lost, and heal the wounded, and dying in our communities."
Nigeria's military has opened a rehabilitation camp for Boko Haram fighters who have surrendered and are repentant, a statement from Nigerian Defense Headquarters (DHQ) said.

DHQ has also asked the militants to abandon the terrorism that has claimed 20,000 lives since the September 2010 mass prison break.

The rehabilitation program called "Operation Safe Corridor," will allow repentant militants to come to rehabilitation camps, where they will be offered vocational and life skills.

About 2,000 people have already been released from the Boko Haram web by West African regional forces, and some 800 members from the militant group surrendered, as they were suffering from hunger.

The West African regional forces had successfully cut down supplies to the militant group which had spread to many western African countries.

The military has also rescued over 11,000 civilian hostages from Boko Haram camps in the north-eastern Nigeria since February.

According to AP, around 300 members were also arrested during a three-day operation to wipe out the group's presence on the borders of Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon.

Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar told BBC, "Since they have shown remorse and come on board, I think it is our duty to ensure that we help them to become very productive members of this great country," and added DHQ will open two more camps within the next few months.

He encouraged the Boko Haram members to "see wisdom in surrendering now" as "the final onslaught against the remnant group of terrorists would continue unabated and would not relent until the power of evil forces in the northeast is completely neutralized."

A Baptist leader, General Secretary Duro Ayanrinola of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship told Baptist Press that the program may prove to be an avenue for the former militants to hear the Gospel.

"I think the program will succeed if it is well coordinated and if the government will keep the repented ones from other insurgents. In my opinion, the Nigerian government has done what a good government should do in a situation like ours," Ayanrinola told BP.

"Fighting Boko Haram is a spiritual matter; it is a problem of the heart and indoctrination," Ayanrinola added. "Only Jesus can give a new heart through His Spirit and make sincere repentance possible."
The Willow Creek Community Church is expected to soon open its Illinois campus at an industrial property spread over 193,000 square foot, which sits over a land of 25 acres.

The facility will be renovated and turned into a 2,000-seat auditorium, with classrooms and gathering spaces. The vast open space will have splash pad and nature trails, the church said in a press release.

"We are thrilled to have a new home that will allow us to best serve our surrounding community for the next 100 years and beyond," church's lead pastor Marcus Bieschke had said a year ago when Willow Creek was planning to buy it.

The Illinois church has been conducting services at its Crystal Lake campus in a 56,000 square foot building since 2003. Recently, it outgrew the space with over 1,200 Sunday service attendees from 300 attendees when it first started.

The campus has thousands of people participating in groups, classes, workshops and camps at present.

"City Council meeting went very well. Got some great feedback from them and they all seem very accepting of what our plans are for the site," Bieschke told The Christian Post.

"The next step in the process is to appear before Crystal Lake's City Council and, based on the strong recommendation of the Zoning & Planning Commission, seek the Council's provision of our necessary approvals so that we can enjoy our fullest impact in and through our new, permanent location," he continued.

A city planner at Crystal Lake, Elizabeth Maxwell, told CP that the commission approved the development of church at the location because their plan met the standards set by State Statutes.

"For the Willow Creek request they needed to meet the general Special Use Permit standards and the Religious Organization standards," said Maxwell.

She also said that "Willow Creek will be improving an underused manufacturing building that has been on the market for nearly 30 years."

Following the commission's approval, a renovation process will be carried out, and the building could be expected to open in the fall of 2017.

The land was purchased at a price of $7.5 million, the church's website said. The church currently has locations in West Chicago, South Barrington, Chicago, Huntley, Lincolnshire, and Northfield, with a total membership of over 20,000.

The church was founded by Bill Hybels in Willow Creek, where it started its worship services in a movie theatre.
A huge fire erupted at a Hindu temple in the Indian state of Kerala, which killed about 100 people and injured 380 others. The devotees had gathered to witness a display of fireworks on the occasion of a local new year celebration.

Puttingal Devi temple, about 43 miles from state capital Thiruvananthapuram and near the coast of Kollam, was packed with thousands of devotees, who were watching the midnight fireworks. The fire and explosions started when one of the crackers fell on a shed which stored the fireworks.

That resulted in massive explosions at the site that also destroyed the temple administration block, and another nearby building.

"There were body parts on the floor and on the roof there was an arm," Anita Prakash, a resident was quoted as saying by Reuters. "In the past, there's been fireworks but not on this scale."

Another eyewitness Bhadran (only first name given) said: "I did not know what happened. There was a huge fireball, and it was all over in five minutes. Once I reached the ground, there were dead bodies all around."

"I thought there was an earthquake and hid under the bed," 58-year-old Nirmala said. "When I came out, there was no electricity. People were running everywhere, and burnt bodies were on the ground. The smell was really bad."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to the place along with medical staff to assist the state authorities engaged in rescue operations.

He wrote on Twitter: "The fire at the temple in Kollam is heart-rending and shocking beyond words. My thoughts are with families of the deceased and prayers with the injured."

Chief Minister of the State Oommen Chandy said that the injured will receive free treatment from hospitals.

According to local news sources, each year temples hold fireworks displays and compete with each other to host the best ones.

A. Shainamol, Kollam district magistrate, said that people living nearby had complained about the dangers of fireworks for years, but the temples are managed by rich and powerful trusts who often disregard safety regulations.

"There was no permission to even store the fireworks," Chandy said.

A criminal case of culpable homicide has been filed against the temple authorities and two fireworks contractors for illegal possession and sale of explosives.
Life Advocacy Group Defeats Speech Injunction Attempt by Planned Parenthood Waste Disposal Company

Thomas More Society Delivers Created Equal Victory Against Stericycle's Corporate "Bullying"

WAUKEGAN, Ill., April 11, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- The Thomas More Society, a national non-profit law firm, delivered a win for pro-life advocacy group Created Equal and its Executive Director, Mark Harrington, in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Lake County, Illinois, this morning. Stericycle, a multinational waste hauling company, and its CEO, Charles Alutto, sued Created Equal, Harrington and unnamed volunteers for their awareness campaign against Stericycle, which criticized Stericycle's role in "enabling" Planned Parenthood's work by disposing of the fetal remains of children aborted at Planned Parenthoods across the country. In their efforts to stifle Created Equal's message, Stericycle and its CEO sought a temporary restraining order against Created Equal and Harrington, seeking to prohibit them from using or publishing the name or likeness of Stericycle's CEO, along with other information.

The "David vs. Goliath" courtroom match-up teamed the small advocacy group and the Chicago-based pro-bono attorneys of the Thomas More Society against multibillion dollar, S&P 500-listed, publicly-traded Stericycle and its legal team headed by former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Scott Lassar of Sidley Austin. Thomas More Society Special Counsel Peter Breen successfully argued the defense, attacking on First Amendment free speech grounds and against the claims by Stericycle's CEO that he was a victim of "false accusations" by Created Equal.

Judge Margaret Marcouiller heard the arguments in Stericycle, Inc., et al. v. Created Equal PAC, et al. and denied the motion for a temporary restraining order against the defendants' activities. Created Equal may now resume its awareness campaign against Stericycle's practices, and Thomas More Society attorneys will now seek to have the case dismissed entirely.

Stericycle had objected to Created Equal's Project Weak Link initiative, which takes its cue from published statements by abortion providers that they are "one incineration company away from being closed." A recent Ohio Attorney General investigation of Planned Parenthood confirmed that the nation's largest abortion provider depends on Stericycle for disposal of its aborted fetuses. Created Equal distributes informational literature that encourages the public to express their objections to Stericycle for its role enabling Planned Parenthood to continue performing abortions.

"This is a victory for free speech," stated Breen. "The Supreme Court has recognized that no business has the right to be 'free from public criticism of its practices,'" he explained. "When multinational companies like Stericycle engage in objectionable practices, citizens have a right to express their displeasure, deliver bad reviews, or ask others to speak out against the business. Abortion industry partners like Stericycle are not exempt from free speech and the First Amendment," said Breen.

Read Judge Marcouiller's decision in favor of Created Equal here

About the Thomas More Society
A New Conference to Energize Your Faith

Contact: Royce Hood, 309-323-0901 ext. 700

POMPANO BEACH, Fla., April 11, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic Witnesses, Inc. has announced details for the Flourish Your Faith Conference, which will be held on April 22nd & 23rd, 2016, in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Flourish welcomes an ecumenical coalition of nonprofit ministries and it features international speakers, an expo, break-out sessions, praise and worship music and free lunch. The speaker lineup includes international speakers Deacon Keith Fournier, founder of Common Good Foundation; Ryan Bomberger, founder of the Radiance Foundation; Leah Darrow, international speaker from top model to role model; and John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council.

"The goal is for people to leave Flourish feeling energized in their faith," said conference co-organizer Adriana Gonzalez. "To live their faith in the public square without shame or fear. In today's world, we see all too often the struggle facing Christians who wish to protect their sacred beliefs."

Flourish provides a time and place for Catholics and Christians from different denominations to gather together in unity for worship, encouragement, education, and fellowship. The dynamic Christian band, Louvation, will lead times of praise and worship, interspersed throughout the event.

"Flourish 2016 is a conference for teenagers and adults," explains Victoria Meyer who, with several others, coordinates the event. "Speakers this year, such as Leah Darrow and Ryan Bomberger, have huge youth-appeal. They really resonate with young people."

Leah Darrow was a top model who, after a dramatic encounter with Christ, became a role model of purity. With an equally moving testimony, Ryan Bomberger's biological mother was raped, yet chose to give him life. Today Ryan speaks passionately and personally to defend life in the womb.

Meyer encourages families with teenagers and young adults to register as a family. "We are seeing parents signing up with their kids. It will be a bonding experience for them. We love that," she says with a smile.

Flourish is a free conference but registration is required because space is extremely limited. Attendees will be invited to share, participate and develop their Christian virtues. For the full lineup of speakers and programing and to register visit FlourishYourFaith.com
Illinois Court Rejects Temporary Restraining Order: Campaign to Expose Planned Parenthood's Waste Disposal Company Will Proceed

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 11, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Today, arguments were presented in a lawsuit by Stericycle, Inc. against the pro-life group Created Equal. The Thomas More Society, a national non-profit law firm, represented Created Equal and its Executive Director Mark Harrington, against a temporary restraining order. This order intended to stifle their first amendment protected message that Stericycle is "enabling" abortion giant Planned Parenthood to kill preborn children.

The temporary restraining order was rejected; however plaintiffs have two weeks to amend the original complaint.

 Read Judge Marcoullier's decision in favor of Created Equal Read Judge Marcoullier's decision in favor of Created Equal HERE

Created Equal launched #ProjectWeakLink on March 29 by distributing informational postcards in the Lake Forest, IL area which is home to Planned Parenthood business partner Stericycle. On March 31 Created Equal was notified by Stericycle's attorney's that the company was seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the campaign.

Created Equal's #ProjectWeakLink was devised after a Michigan abortionist published a statement that abortion clinics are "one incineration company away from being closed." Additionally, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's investigation of Planned Parenthood confirmed that Stericycle disposes of aborted fetuses for Planned Parenthood.

Mark Harrington, National Director for Created Equal said, "We will not be bullied into silence. This lawsuit confirms that Stericycle is more interested in doing the dirty work for Planned Parenthood than protecting their image as a respectable waste disposal company. Further public exposure of their sloppy and unethical business practices in a lawsuit is far more damaging to Stericycle's image than ceasing to dispose of aborted babies for Planned Parenthood. If Stericycle is really concerned about their image, they need to cease transporting and disposing of aborted babies for Planned Parenthood. The campaign continues."

Peter Breen, Special Counsel for The Thomas More Society, stated, "This is a victory for free speech. No business has the right to be 'free from public criticism of its practices.' Companies have a responsibility to be accountable to the public. When businesses like Stericycle engage in practices to which the public objects, citizens have a right to express displeasure, deliver bad reviews, and ask others to speak out against the business as well. Abortion industry partners like Stericycle are not exempt."
home World Nigeria military sets up camp to rehabilitate Boko Haram members

The Nigerian military has set up a camp to rehabilitate Boko Haram members who have surrendered -- and will surrender -- and help them re-integrate into society.

In a statement by Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, as reported by Times Live, around 800 fighters are expected to take part in the rehabilation program. The facility will give them vocational training.

"It is going to be a huge exercise," Abubakar said. "The establishment of the camp is in line with best global practices, to rehabilitate those fighters who surrendered or are captured in a war situation."

The location of the camp has not been disclosed, but the general told AFP that the program, reportedly called "Operation Safe Corridor," is going to "empower, deradicalise, retrain and reintegrate" the Boko Haram members.

According to Fox News, Abubakar is also urging the militants to drop the Islamic insurgency and surrender.

"The reluctant Boko Haram members should therefore see wisdom in surrendering now, thereby saving themselves from the imminent calamity that is about to fall on them in the event of the military mop-up if they continue in their unwholesome acts," he said, this time quoted by Africa News.

Breitbart reports that the Islamic State-affiliated group has weakened in the past year due to the efforts of the Nigerian military under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. Government forces have blocked food and fuel supplies, which has resulted to some of the militants laying down their arms.

Boko Haram's actions has led to the deaths of about 20,000 people in six years. Their violence stems from their desire to establish an Islamic state in the northeastern part of Nigeria. Since Feb. 26, 11,595 hostages have reportedly been rescued from the group's camps. About 2.8 million people were forced out of their homes; and while some refugees have already returned to their villages, there are those who refuse to go back for fear of the group. According to Breitbart, some of the victims have complained about the lack of government help for them to start their lives over.
home World No more Christmas in Nepal, Christians react

The Nepalese government has declared that Christmas will no longer be considered a public holiday, a decision that sparked protests among Christians and their supporters in the country.

"We are forced to take such a decision not to hurt Christians but to control the rising number of public holidays," Minister of Home Affairs Shakti Basnet told Asia News. He did say that they "are ready to provide leave for Christians working for the government."

This, however, is not enough since those working in private companies will not be able to celebrate it. According to Christian Today, Christmas was the only Christian holiday recognized in the country, up until it was removed. People see this as the government having been "influenced by anti-Christian tendencies," since it recognizes dozens of other non-Christian religious holidays.

"Christians do not just work for the government," said Rev. CB Gahatraj, secretary general of the National Federation of Christians. "If Christmas is not a national holiday, the workers of the private sector will not be able to celebrate it. The Government recognises 83 festivities for Hindus and other communities, but none for Christians."

The decision came eight years after Christmas was declared a national holiday. Christian leaders have drafted a petition to challenge it, and they are supported by activist groups and inter-faith groups like the.

"We are ready to sacrifice ourselves for our faith and the protection of freedom of worship. We strongly demand the restoration of the festivity and that the recent decision be dropped within a week. If the government fails to meet our request, we will protest across the country," Gahatraj said.

Christian groups in Nepal are also questioning a provision in Article 156 of the New Civil Code that prohibits conversion and other similar activities. Gahatraj explained that this provision specifically targets Christian priests who can be imprisoned for performing conversions.
After almost three years of consultations, the Pope's Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on family was finally published. Titled "The Joy of Love" or "Amoris Laetitia," it talks about stable families as necessary for building a healthy society.

The document composed of 325 paragraphs centers on the need to examine the current situations of families and in having "a renewed awareness of the importance of marriage and the family." It mentions the debates that are going on, from "immoderate desire for total change without sufficient reflection or grounding" to that which tries to use general rules to solve everything.

"Unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing certain consequences from it," Pope Francis says. "Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs."

Since this is the Catholic Church's Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis finds the message timely because it not only asks Christian families to value marriage and family but also asks everyone to show mercy to those whose lives lack peace and joy.

Chapter I of the Apostolic Exhortation first tackles the topic of families and couples as discussed in the Bible, talking in length about the union of man and woman, and them having a family. The Pope says that "the Bible also presents the family as the place where children are brought up in the faith." And while parents have the responsibility to raise their children, these children have their lives to live and are by no means the family's property.

Pope Francis then discusses difficulties in both a couple's marriage and disputes within the family. The discussion then moves on to work, which he says is "an essential part of human dignity." Labor, he says, is what makes development of society possible, which brings up the issue of unemployment and the suffering it creates. He also mentions the destruction of the environment. He concludes the chapter by talking about "The Tenderness of An Embrace."

According to Radio Vaticana, the exhortation centers on the needs for individuals to have "personal and pastoral discernment," and they need to recognize that "neither the Synod, nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases."
home World Thousands of Danish Christians cancel church membership following atheist campaign

A huge number of Christians in Denmark has left the church in response to a nationwide campaign launched by an atheist group.

In its campaign, Ateistisk Selskab or the Danish Atheist Society advised Danish citizens that they could save money by leaving the church. It says that Folkekirken or the Church of Denmark receives about 8 billion kroner each year from both its members and the state. As a result of the campaign, almost 3,000 people have cancelled their membership. This amounts to an annual loss of about 9 million kroner for the country's state church, reports CPH Post.

In an interview with Kristeligt Dagblad, Atheist Society spokesman Anders Stjernholm said that they are happy with the preliminary results.

"While our bus campaign calls for a broad debate about the foundations of faith, the withdrawal campaign targets the many Danes who have long considered leaving folkekirken, but have been putting ting it off because the process is too cumbersome," he said, as quoted by Christian Today.

The group has provided a very simple method for church members to opt out. All one has to do is fill out a form in the website and send an email to the office of their local church.

According to the report, those who are baptized automatically become members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, which makes about 80 percent of Danes. These members are likewise automatically signed up for a voluntary Church tax of about 1 percent.

"It's not at all surprising that Danish citizens are cancelling their church membership," Stephen Evans of the U.K.'s National Secular Society said in an interview with Christian Today. "Nobody should be auto-enrolled into a religion, particularly when it comes with the imposition of a church tax to fund an institution that you may not support."

According to a report by CPH Post, Dean Thomas Frank of Viborg thinks that a counter-campaign is necessary. He told Kristeligt Dagblad that while they cannot stop the atheist group, the church can "try to constructively draw attention to what it means to opt out from the church in terms of funerals and other things."

"And we can explain that the church uses the tax money members pay on maintaining cemeteries and churches, organising activities for people of all ages, and much, much more," he said.
home US 'Trapped' documentary centers on abortion clinics' fight to stay open, Christian ob-gyn speaks

Pro-choice and pro-life advocates have had a longstanding disagreement about abortion. Recently, "Trapped," a documentary film that focuses on the struggles of reproductive health clinics to stay open despite government laws, was released, and it features a Christian ob-gyn who performs abortions because of his faith rather than in spite of it.

In a recent interview with AlterNet's Valerie Tarico, Dr. Willie Parker talked about spirituality and abortion. In what he calls "dignity restoration," he said that the care he provides includes discussions on the moral and spiritual center.

"I sense when a woman is dealing with guilt and shame and I'm offer a bridging conversation around faith and the sacred decision of whether to end her pregnancy," he said. "For many women, there is a tremendous amount of relief in not being turned away. Some are surprised that they aren't feeling judgment from me and my staff a that we see their pregnancy not as a personal and social failure but simply a biological reality."

Parker explained that he asks patients open-ended questions, he reads their body language, and he tries not to presume anything. He said that he can't proceed if a woman is conflicted or ambivalent. He has also discovered that there are those who are victims of sexual abuse.

With regard to the other reproductive care providers, he said that some "don't speak the language of faith" while some have had a bad experience of being threatened, dehumanized, and "even having colleagues murdered in the name of God."

"But for the sake of our patients, I've tried to encourage my colleagues to remain conversant in 'God talk.' Our patients have their own ways of understanding reality, and many need to address a metaphysical dimension as they process their experience. There are patients who ask their providers to pray with them," he said.

In a 2014 interview with Esquire, in the article titled "The Abortion Ministry of Dr. Willie Parker," the doctor said, "The protesters say they're opposed to abortion because they're Christian. It's hard for them to accept that I do abortions because I'm Christian. "

"Trapped" first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it was given the Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking. It was shown in theaters in March and has received 100 percent in Rotten Tomatoes' Tomato Meter based on 20 reviews and a Metacore of 77 in Metacritic based on 11 critic reviews.

It will still have screenings in some theaters this April and May. It will be shown in Lincoln, Nebraska until April 14; Kansas on April 12; Bellingham, Washington on April 18; Norfolk, Virginia on April 27; Tucson, Arizona on May 2; and Olympia, Washington on May 22. There are also scheduled community and festival screenings.

The synopsis of the film reads: "U.S. reproductive health clinics are fighting to remain open. Since 2010, 288 TRAP (Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers) laws have been passed by conservative state legislatures. Unable to comply with these far-reaching and medically unnecessary measures, clinics have taken their fight to the courts. As the U.S. Supreme Court decides in 2016 whether individual states may essentially outlaw abortion (Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt), Trapped follows the struggles of the clinic workers and lawyers who are on the front lines of a battle to keep abortion safe and legal for millions of American women."
home US U.S. public schools 'destroying children's belief in Christianity,' says author

Christianity is declining in the United States, and journalist Alex Newman said that this is due in part to the public school system.

In an interview with WND, Newman said, "One of the big things we looked at for 'Crimes of the Educators' was how the educators a and by this I think it's important to say we don't mean the average teacher in the classroom; we're talking about the education establishment a but what we looked at was how the government schools were systematically destroying children's belief in biblical religion, in Christianity."

Newman was referring to "Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America's Children," a book he penned together with author and educator Samuel Blumenfield. It digs deep into America's public education.

According to WND, Newman said that public schools in the U.S. are neither secular nor impartial to various religions as many believe; rather, it promotes religion to students -- that of humanism. He puts this down to the beliefs of John Dewey, an American education reformer, who was among those who signed the Humanist Manifesto.

The report also says that different religious beliefs are being introduced in schools. It mentions some kids having been asked to recite the Five Pillars of Islam, write the Islam conversion creed Shahada, practice mindful meditation of the Bhuddists, among others. Christianity, on the other hand, has been dissuaded, citing a school that prevented a group from giving free Bibles on National Freedom of Religion Day.

"Any religion that doesn't have Christ in it is fine in the schools and is promoted in the schools, especially humanism and these types of things," explained Newman. "So what's going on here is really a war on Christianity."

A study by Pew Research Center reveals that in 2014, 70.6 percent of Americans said they are Christians, a decline from the 78.4 percent in 2007. Another study shows that there is an increase in the number of unaffiliated. In the '70s and '80s, only 12 percent of respondents aged between 18 and 29 said they are unaffiliated or have no religion. This increased in the '90s to 16 percent; and in the 2000s, it went up to 23 percent.
Bringers of doom? NASA's space probe finds 8 new potentially hazardous asteroids near Earth

We often think of the Earth as being surrounded by a vast darkness of space, with the moon and nearby planets as its closest neighbours.

However, a probe by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the Earth's surrounding areas revealed that there are hundreds of other objects near our planet, including eight potentially hazardous asteroids that pose a serious threat to our planet.

In its second year of gathering data about the things circling our planet, the space agency's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission found 72 new discoveries. A total of 439 near-Earth objects have already been detected since the mission started in 2013.

Of this tally, eight asteroids were identified to have the possibility of approaching or even hitting our planet one day, based on their size and how closely their orbits approach the Earth.

The NASA's Near Earth Object programme has nevertheless assured that these big space rocks are unlikely to hit our planet any time soon.

It must be noted, however, that even smaller space rocks can slip by undetected and cause serious damage on Earth, like the meteor that injured hundreds of people and destroyed property in Chelyabinsk city in Russia in February 2013.

The space agency nevertheless said a nuclear response could save the Earth should one of these massive asteroids threaten to collide with our planet in the future.

"Unless there are a few decades of warning time, hazardous asteroids larger than a few hundred meters in diameter will require enormous energies to deflect or fragment. In the rare case of a large threatening asteroid, nuclear explosions that could push or fragment the object might provide a sufficient response," the NASA's Asteroid and Comet Watch page stated, as quoted by CNN.

James Bauer, the mission's deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, meanwhile explained that it is good that we are aware of things lurking around the Earth through the help of the NEOWISE mission.

"By studying the distribution of lighter- and darker-coloured material, NEOWISE data give us a better understanding of the origins of the NEOs, originating from either different parts of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or the icier comet populations," Bauer said in a statement posted on the NASA website.
When ministry turns toxic: How pastors can care too much for their congregations

Is it possible for pastors to care too much about their congregations?

It might seem like an odd question. The word 'pastor' means 'shepherd'. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. If he has a 100 of them and one goes missing, he'll search until he finds it. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi: "God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus" (1:8). Most churches would far rather have a pastor who cared too much for them than one who cared too little. In my own education for ministry I remember my college principal saying: "Your congregation will forgive any number of bad sermons but they'll never forgive you if you don't visit them when they're ill." That sustained me through a good number of bad sermons.

Pastors are called to share the lives of their people, to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. It's an intimate relationship of mutual respect and caring.

But it's a very good question. Because even though pastors will have a deep desire for their congregations to grow and flourish, and will be prepared to make all kinds of sacrifices to make that happen, their commitment can't be absolute  and it needs self-knowledge and self-discipline if the relationship is to be a healthy one. So here are five questions to help in thinking things through. They're aimed at pastors, but every Christian needs to be aware of the issues.

1. Is my pastoral commitment really a way of meeting my own needs?

One of the blessings of ministry is the sense that you're needed. You have the privilege of walking with people through some of the darkest times of their lives. It's not something you look forward to, but often you feel things are better because you were there.

You also have the privilege of leading people in worship and bringing God's word to them. If you have a responsive and appreciative congregation, that can feel good.

And you are, if you have a congregation of any size, always in demand. There's always another committee to sit on, another event you just have to be at, another call to make. It's sometimes annoying, but it means you're needed  and that can feel good too.

All of these are legitimate expressions of ministry. But from time to time pastors need to stand back and ask, "Is this more about me than about my congregation? Is it about bolstering my own self-worth? How secure would I be in my Christian identity if it were to be taken away?"

2. Am I neglecting my family?

Most ministers' marriages are happy. But it's far from uncommon for a minister's spouse to feel he or she is taking second place to the congregation. There's yet another meeting, or the scheduled evening together has to lapse because Sunday's sermon hasn't been written  or the emotional demands of problem church members or other families in crisis leave the minister wrung out and unable to give to their spouse and children. It's tragic if a minister's vocation to his or her church takes precedence over their vocation to their family. There'll always be pressure points and it won't always be easy  but families should never be in any doubt as to who comes first.

3. Am I expecting too much of my congregation?

Some pastors have a very fixed idea about what a godly life looks like. It might involve encouraging attendance at every conceivable meeting, firm checks on unorthodox beliefs and unspoken expectations about behaviour. 'Caring' about the congregation  wanting them to grow into the likeness of Christian, fulfilling their destiny in him and demonstrating the growth of the fruits of the Spirit in their lives  can become an excuse for exerting control. And perhaps this desire for control is based in insecurity; maybe the pastor wants to create the sort of community he or she feels comfortable in, without the blurred edges and messy situations in which ministry often really takes place. But pastors don't get to choose their congregations. They are given them, and each person within them is uniquely crafted by God.

4. Have I remembered whose servant I am?

There is no church tradition in which the pastor should be regarded as employed by the congregation or the church leaders. Sometimes that's the sort of language that's used, but it shouldn't be. Pastors are set free to minister by the support of the denomination or congregation, and their primary responsibility might be to a particular church or group of churches, but it's always God to whom they answer first and foremost.

One of the dangers of ministry is that pastors feel they have to keep the church happy. Of course a minister who's not doing the job properly needs to be challenged. But there's a different between that and feeling they're succeeding if they're pleasing people and failing if they aren't. Sometimes there's a clash between caring about what the church feels and caring about what's the right thing to do.

Ministers shouldn't make gods of their congregations.

5. Can I let them go?

Effective ministries sometimes last for several years. Friendships are formed, sometimes across several generations. Projects are developed and seen through to completion. Buildings might be put up, people are nurtured into new life and new pathways. But God calls ministers on, and their love of their congregations has to be subordinate to their love of God. It's a wrench, but if they can't move on when they're called to do so, they love their congregations too much and God not enough.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Dismissed Indiana state trooper says he preaches on street because he's a 'soldier for Jesus Christ'

An Indiana state trooper who was fired from his job for proselytising to a motorist does not regret his action, saying he is a "soldier for Jesus Christ."

Former Indiana State Police senior trooper Brian Hamilton was fired from his job on Thursday for insubordination and neglect of duty after he preached to a motorist he stopped for traffic violation last January.

A complaint was filed by Wendy Pyle against him, which led to an investigation that found him in violation of a 2014 agreement that prohibited him from proselytising while on duty.

Following his dismissal, Hamilton was seen on Saturday preaching to people on the street in Connersville, Indiana.

"They came out for the Lord Jesus Christ, they didn't come out for me. They came out to exalt the name of Jesus and they know what the truth is, and they know that the only way anybody can be changed is to the name of Jesus, and they know that they need to be obedient to Christ when Christ tells them to do something, as a soldier for Jesus, they're going to stand up," he told the crowd, 6ABC reports.

Pyle said when Hamilton stopped her and gave her a warning ticket, he asked her about her faith and told her about his church.

Hamilton refused to comment on the charges by the Indiana State Police but said he is a soldier for Jesus Christ.

"When I got saved three years ago, it changed my life, and I know what you're all doing here for and I can't really comment on the allegations of the state police. And I was a former state trooper, but I always said after I got saved, I said I work for the state but ultimately, I'm a soldier for Jesus Christ," he said.

Hamilton said God used his job as a state trooper in the last three years "to spread the Word, to tell people when they're hurting, the truth. Government programmes cannot touch anybody, it's the Word of God that can change people."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has also filed a complaint on behalf of Pyle against Hamilton.

Hamilton was first sued in 2014 when he stopped a motorist and asked her about her faith. The lawsuit was settled.

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said while everyone enjoys "the right to freedom of religion and freedom of speech, there are appropriate and proper restrictions placed on agents of the State related to their actions while engaged in their official duties."

Carter wished Hamilton "the best in his future and the ability to follow his heart."
Does death bed salvation work? Billy Graham's answer

There are some people who spend their whole lives either ignoring God or mocking Him. So when evangelist Billy Graham was once asked by a concerned Christian if God ever has a limit on forgiveness, or if death bed salvation really works, he provided an honest answer.

"God welcomes anyone  absolutely anyone  who sincerely turns to Him in repentance and faith, even at the last minute. The Bible says, 'He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance' (2 Peter 3:9)," Graham once shared on his website.

Graham recalled Jesus' crucifixion and the two criminals who were executed with Him. They all had hours left to live before facing God's judgment in eternity. One of the criminals continued to mock Jesus and wanted nothing to do with Him, while the other one expressed his faith. He asked Jesus humbly to save his soul and grant him eternal life, and Jesus did.

Jesus told him in Luke 23:43: "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Graham said God can save anybody, save for those who refuse to be saved.

"When a person repeatedly turns his or her back on Christ, their heart grows more and more hardened toward God. As a result it becomes easier and easier for them to resist God's call, and  like that unrepentant criminal  they are in danger of refusing to turn from their stubborn unbelief," he said.

At that time, Graham encouraged Christians to pray for people who had built barriers against God, as well as pray for strength and wisdom to become the people who will bring those who have been lost back to Jesus. His words remain just as valid today as they did then.
Families of schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram struggling for survival

The families of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria, are struggling for survival as the two year anniversary of the abduction looms.

Eighteen parents of the kidnapped girls have died since the attack on 14 April, 2015, when 275 girls  mostly Christians  were taken from their school.

Almost 50 managed to escape, but it is believed 219 remain in captivity.

According to persecution charity Open Doors, the families of those girls still missing are seriously struggling to support themselves, and many are suffering from severe health problems linked to their trauma.

"I am carrying my wife to the hospital and they said she has high blood pressure..." said the father of one of the abducted girls. "Sometimes they (the hospital staff) don't see sickness, they will say, 'It is the thinking within your family'."

He said his remaining daughters are also suffering. When one of his daughters "hears something, she shakes, fearing that Boko Haram will come and abduct her like her sister," he said.

Though many fled in the aftermath of the April 2015 attack, some families have now returned to Chibok. However, schools have not reopened since the kidnapping, and so the local children have been out of education for two years. The town's markets have also been closed since the attack.

Open Doors has been working with local churches and partners to provide food, healthcare and counselling for those affected.

"We are counselled, we are advised, we are comforted. I really liked that," said Pastor Ayuba, whose daughter Amina was among the girls abducted.

"When I went back [home], I tried to pass the knowledge to my church. I organised some people and then began to teach them... They really wanted it."

Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group whose name translates as 'Western education is forbidden', has abducted hundreds of women and girls since its uprising in 2009.

Several weeks after the Chibok abduction, militants released footage of 136 of the schoolgirls purporting to show them having converted to Islam. The girls were shown wearing hijabs and reciting the Qur'an.

Some reports suggest that at least some of the girls have been brainwashed by their captors, and have carried out murders on behalf of the group.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury calls on Corbyn to combat antisemitism

A former Archbishop of Canterbury has warned that Labour will not be ready to govern if Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn does not act to combat antisemitism.

Lord Carey of Clifton said he did not wish to suggest that the Labour Party was riddled with anti-Semitism.

But the problems were real enough that Corbyn had already promised to deal with the issue as a matter of urgency.

"If he does not take effective action this will demonstrate that the Labour Party is not ready to govern," said Lord Carey in a lecture, Combatting History's Oldest Hate - A Christian Perspective. "Antisemitic attitudes stubbornly persist in a few dark corners in Britain."

Lord Carey was speaking in Emmanu-El Synagogue in Manhattan in the US.

He was delivering the annual Dorothy Gardner Adler State of Anti-Semitism Lecture, endowed by Simon Wiesenthal Centre trustee, Allen Adler.

Lord Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, who is one of the patrons of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's exhibition, People, Book, Land: The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People, said: "Whether anti-Semitism is the world's greatest hate may be a matter of debate, but there is no denying that in the western tradition we may trace its presence back hundreds of years."

It has taken many forms in Europe and Britain and is still "evilly present" today, Lord Carey continued.

He quoted Lord Sacks, former Chief Rabbi and most recent winner of the Templeton Prize, who has written: "In the Middle Ages, Jews were hated for their religion. In the 19th Century they were hated for their race. Today, they are hated for their nation state. Israel, now 68 years old, still finds itself the only country among the 193 in the UN whose right to exist is routinely challenged and in many quarters denied."

Lord Carey said there have been worrying signs in recent years. The Community Security Trust, a respected Jewish organization, reported in 2014 that antisemitic incidents in the UK reached their highest level in 30 years.

Lord Carey said: "What is often forgotten, or deliberately ignored, is the fact that Israel is the only democratic nation in the region and this should be the cause of celebration rather than rebuke. In the matter of a mere 68 years a tiny group of people has transformed a strip of land into a free place of hope. It shames its larger neighbours, most of whom are failed States. Israel eclipses all 22 members of the Arab League in scientific output and has more Nobel Prize winners than all of them put together."

He said Israel was the only nation in the Middle East where Christianity is not only not persecuted, but granted freedom of expression, freedom of worship and a place where Christians in the Middle East are safe.

He criticised the divestment and boycott movement.

The fact that Israel alone is so often singled out high profile campaigning against its products is an indicator of antisemitism, he said. Lord Carey asked: "Where do we find equivalent reaction against Saudi Arabia where Christian worship is banned? Or against Sudan where war against Christians and minorities has continued for decades? Or Iran, with its abuse of human rights?"

His attention had been drawn recently to antisemitic language in the Labour Party in England.

Lord Carey also said Islam could be part of the solution. "In countries such as France and the UK antisemitic actions are largely done by disaffected Muslims who have a particular hatred towards Jews. And, yet we know that most Muslims are good people, wanting the best for their children and themselves and desiring peace with their neighbours. We should not fall into the trap of believing that the awful activities of Islamic terrorists reflect the faith of the vast majority of Muslim believers. The opposite is the case. Here we find the dilemma for Muslim people. The savage ideology of groups like IS, Al Quaeda, Al Shabaab and others are shaped not be mainstream Islam but by the mistaken and warped theologies of leaders like Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

"A moderate and reforming Islam must be enlisted as part of the solution and not the whole of the problem. Tough talking is only productive in the context of friendship and understanding."
Gospel lessons finally bear fruit: Christian missionaries in Mideast rewarded for their patience

Being patient is sometimes easier said than done.

Even Christian missionaries whose calling requires the utmost patience in convincing non-Christians to accept Christ sometimes feel let down when their expectations are not met.

But what the Christian missionary group Operation Mobilization (OM) learned is that even if people ignore God's Word for a few days, a few months, or even a few years, it doesn't mean God's Word is having no impact, Mission Network News reports.

OM's Nicole James shares the story of a missionary assigned in the Middle East who finally achieved his goal at a point when he was about to give up.

The missionary, named Timothy, and his team members have been hosting weekly dinners for the past few months for their non-Christian friends in the region in the hope that they could share with them the Gospel and eventually convince them to become followers of Christ.

One night they prepared a sumptuous feast. But to their dismay, every one of the local guys they called did not answer their phone calls.

Earlier that day, Timothy saw a Facebook post from one of the locals warning his friends about the missionaries in the city wanting to evangelise them.

Timothy then thought of calling Hamid, a local who lives just down the street. Hamid had once shown interest in Christianity but lost his interest and resumed worshipping in mosques again.

At least Hamid did not disappoint them and showed up for dinner that night. But Timothy wasn't really that happy. "The only guy coming over is a guy we had so much hope for, and he's been such a disappointment," he thought.

Nothing happened during dinner. After partaking of the meal, Hamid left and returned to his apartment.

But then after a short while, Hamid returned. To Timothy's surprise, he said, "Okay, I'm ready to become a Christian. What should I be doing? Reading the Bible? Praying?"

Timothy and two fellow evangelists then began sharing with Hamid their testimonies on their personal relationship with Jesus.

Hamid and Timothy continued talking the following morning. Timothy shared with him how Christians pray. He also read Matthew chapters five through seven about Jesus' teachings on prayer, fasting and giving alms"how a Christian generously gives from himself to God without being a hypocrite, without it being [only] religion," Timothy said.

The next week, Hamid agreed to watch a sermon on DVD with Timothy, an hour-long account from another Muslim-Background Believer (MBB).

At one point, Timothy left the room. When he returned, Hamid was explaining the video to another guy in the room, a foreigner who didn't speak Arabic. Hamid has become a Christian evangelist himself!

"Not only was he watching and listening, he was also able to explain," Timothy said. "With all the difficulties, with all the disillusionments, it's amazing how one conversation can change your attitude and make you thankful again for being out here."

Timothy's patience paid off. He not only convinced a Muslim believer to accept Christ, but the new Christian convert is now also busy trying to convert other Muslims to embrace Christ.
Kidnapped former missionary priest found alive

A former missionary who was abducted from his restaurant in the Philippines has been found.

Rolando del Torchio, an Italian man who was formerly a missionary priest with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, was found on Sulu Island in southern Philippines.

The island is a stronghold of the Islamist group Abu Sayyaf.

Five years ago, Father Fausto Tentorio, a former colleague of Del Torchio in Mindanao, was killed.

Del Torchio, who was abducted last October at his restaurant, the Ur Choice Cafe in Mindanao, was taken to hospital and then flown to Manila this morning.

After his release, Del Torchio was taken to a military hospital in Zamboanga, and this morning he was flown to Manila on plane chartered by the Italian Embassy.

Father Giovanni Re, regional superior for the missionary organisation, said: "We are very happy for the release of Rolando del Torchio. We hope that he will get better soon, because we were told that he was not doing well."

He added: "From the beginning, we got the impression that he was a kidnapping for ransom. For this reason, we were cautiously optimistic. However, in such cases one never knows how long things will take.

"I know about other people who have been in the hands of kidnappers for more than two years. Del Torchio was held 'only' for six months. I think that the Italian Embassy and Foreign Ministry did a good job through their contacts with local intelligence."

Del Torchio, 57, from Varese, joined the missionary organisation in 1984. He would often risk his life in defence of the rights of farmers and tribals. In 2001, he asked to live outside the organisation and then left the priesthood for personal reasons.
Like Lazarus: 'Lifeless' boy hit by truck comes back to life, injuries quickly heal in California miracle

In the Gospel of John, Lazarus of Bethany was the man raised from the dead by Jesus Christ. It was one of the biggest miracles attributed to Jesus, which showed His power "over the last and most irresistible enemy of humanitydeath."

And it looks like God is continuing to perform miracles of this kind, and one of them apparently took place recently in Bellflower, California, when a pickup truck struck a boy crossing the street Pentecostal Evangel (PE) News reports.

The commotion startled Pastor Eric Angeles who lives nearby. The pastor of New Hope International Christian Church in Norwalk immediately rushed out of his home to help. The pastor's wife, Ruth, and their daughter May also ran out to see how they could help.

The nine-year-old boy's parents and sister were crying at the scene and the pastor said his initial impression was that the boy was already dead. "He was lifeless. His eyes and mouth were open, but he was motionless," he said.

Ruth had the same impression. "When I saw the boy, I immediately asked if I could pray for him," she said. "I prayed in the name of Jesus. 'Lord, just bring back life into this boy. Perform a miracle right in front of our eyes.'"

Ruth said she heard a voice inside her mind urging her to call out the boy's namejust like what Jesus did when He called out Lazarus.

The Hispanic boy's sister, Brianda, said his name was Leonel. Ruth then started shouting, "Leonel! Leonel!"

Pastor Eric then felt the Holy Spirit urging him to embrace the grief-stricken father, Leonel Montanez. He then heard himself saying, "Llame el nombre de Jesus"even though he didn't know how to speak Spanish and didn't understand the language.

"I later found out that it meant, 'Call on the name of Jesus,'" Eric said.

Then Ruth noticed the boy's eyes blink once. She then announced that the boy was alive and asked everyone to call on the name of Jesus. "Even the man who hit him and other relatives were kneeling around the boy crying and calling on the name of Jesus," she said.

After five times of calling out Leonel's name and the name of Jesus, the boy began gasping for air.

That was not the only miracle for the Angeles family, however. After they rushed the boy to the hospital, the doctors found out he had a broken hip and ribs, dislocated shoulder and collarbone, a fractured skull, blood clots, and a fractured spine.

The doctors said it would take a month for Leonel to be strong enough to go home and at least six months before he could walk again.

But in two weeks, to his doctors' amazement, all his wounds were healed.

After four days in the hospital, Leonel was already back in his family's home and after two weeks, Leonel was reportedly already running, his body completely healed.

Pastor Eric said the miraculous recovery of their son fully convinced the Montanez couple of the power of Jesus Christ and they became even more receptive to the Gospel.

The pastor invited the family to share their story at New Hope International. Since the parents don't speak fluent English, their 17-year-old daughter, Brianda, translated their account.

"First of all we want to say thank you to everybody that prayed," Derenice Montanez, Leonel's mother, shared with the congregation through her daughter. "We are very thankful that he survived."

"We know that our Heavenly Father is true," the boy's father said. "We want to thank Him. We met Him at that moment."
Lutheran Church of Norway votes in favour of gay marriage

Norway's Lutheran Church today voted in favour of same-sex unions.

At the Church's annual conference, 88 delegates out of 115 in total backed same-sex marriage. Under the new rules, priests who do not want to marry gay couples will still have the right to object.

"Finally we can celebrate love independently of whom one falls in love with," said Gard Sandaker-Nilsen, leader of the Open Public Church, a religious movement within the Church that had campaigned for a change in its laws.

The vote reflects increasingly liberal attitudes in wider Norwegian society to issues including homosexuality.

Norway became the second country in the world after Denmark to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993, and has allowed civil same-sex marriage since 2009.

Around 74 per cent of Norwegians were members of the Lutheran Church last year, according to the national statistics agency, but that number has been declining.

Last year, France's main Protestant Church voted to allow gay marriage blessings, while the US Presbyterian Church approved a change in the wording of its constitution to include same-sex marriage.

The Church of England, however, remains opposed. In January, the Primates meeting at Canterbury agreed to curtail the participation of the Episcopal Church of the United States (TEC) in Anglican Communion bodies for a period of three years as a result of its formal adoption of same sex marriage.

This attempt to appease conservative members of the Communion has faced difficulties, however. Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and the province of Jerusalem and the Middle East boycotted an Anglican meeting in Zambia last week over concerns that the "consequences" imposed on the TEC had not been adequately carried out.

The Archbishop of Kenya, Eliud Wabukala, warned that "doctrinal confusion... has been allowed to take root in the Communion."

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Muslims in Bulgaria pull together to rebuild Christian church

Muslims in a small village in Bulgaria have raised the funds and contributed the labour to restore a century-old Eastern Orthodox church.

The Muslims managed to put together 800 for the restoration, to save the Church of the Archangel Michael for the village's Christian community who make up about one tenth of the 600 residents.

Kozlets is in the southern Bulgarian province of Haskovo, near the borders of Greece and Turkey.

The restoration of the bell tower cost about 800.

"It was possible that it would fall and bring down the roof with it. This very much worried the Christians in the village. So we decided to raise money," village mayor Kadir Beynur told Haskovo.

The Muslims along with local Christians found the money to repair the belfry, repair the fence around the church and refurbish the interior.

The bell will now peal out again as the church re-opens for Orthodox Easter, which this year is on 1 May.

The church sexton, Petar, said: "The tables, the floor mats, everything was collected from the people, everything was donated."

Previously, the bell was in a precarious state and it was feared it could have fallen at any time on to the heads of worshippers below.

Beynur explained that in these troubled times, this was a chance to strengthen the bonds between the two faiths.

"From what I can remember my parents, our Muslim community and Christians who once were a majority in the village, we lived together," he said. The communities were united by faith and jointly celebrated each others' holidays. "This is an absolute sign that not only people becoming more strong in faith, but in a village where there are Muslims and Christians, all have played their part, rolled up their sleeves and taken care of their houses of prayer. Kozlets is a true example of tolerance, especially in these times when it is so important and necessary."

Q4T Official, an Islamic lifestyle network, made the following video in response to this story:
New York Archbishop tells Iraqi Christians: 'We love you, you are not forgotten.'

The Archbishop of New York has moved to reassure Iraqi Christians that they are not forgotten.

After years of terrifying persecution by Islamic State, the ancient and once-thriving Christian community of Iraq has been reduced to a fragment of its former self.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is visiting the war-torn country, preached a homily at Mass in Inishke in Dohuk where some of the Christians who fled Mosul are now living, alongside with refugees of other faiths. Displaced priests and others from the Syriac-Catholic rite also joined the Mass.

"We love you, you are not forgotten," said Cardinal Dolan, according to Catholic News Agency.

The Cardinal also visited Dawodiya displacement camp, home to 2200 Yazidis, Christians and a few Muslims, in the same area.

Cardinal Dolan is on a pastoral visit to Iraqi Kurdistan to offer support to victims of Islamic State.

He is there in his role as chair of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, a Vatican agency which supports Eastern Catholic churches. The agency said in a news release that the visit is meant to "demonstrate solidarity with the families  many of whom are Christian  displaced when ISIS swept through northern Iraq in summer 2014." It is also intended to show solidarity with displaced priests, nuns and laity who are helping so many, in spite of their own difficulties. The Archbishop is expected to meet patriarchs and bishops of the Chaldean and Syriac Catholic churches, the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.
Phil Robertson delivers prayer at NASCAR race, urges Americans to 'put Jesus-man in the White House'

"Duck Dynasty" patriarch Phil Robertson delivered the invocation during the NASCAR circuit pre-race ceremony held at the Texas Motor Speedway over the weekend, and he prayed that America will eventually "put a Jesus-man in the White House."

"All right Texas, we got here via Bibles and guns, I'm fixing to pray to the One who made that possible," he prayed, according to Sporting News. "Father, thank you for founding our nation. I pray Father that we don't forget who brought us  You. Our faith in the blood of Jesus and His resurrection. Help us Father to get back to that."

Robertson also prayed for the men and women from the U.S. military, saying that they are "the reason we are still here." The outspoken Christian hopes that America will learn to repent, do what is right, and love God as well as love each other.

Robertson's drew mixed reactions from the crowd. Many praised him for his raw and honest prayer while others called it a "complete disaster."

Political Science Professor Matthew Wilson from the Southern Methodist University told Fox News that Robertson's prayer might be biased, but he said nothing wrong.

"He didn't call out any particular groups, he didn't insult any particular populations... so if the mere mention of the support of gun rights, Christianity, and the U.S. military is offensive to anybody they probably don't belong at a NASCAR race," he said.

Viewer Lesley Dathe also agreed. "Everybody's afraid of hurting everyone's feelings. It's freedom of speech - I think you should be able to say what you want," she said.

Robertson is endorsing Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz while his son Willie has given his support to Cruz's opponent Donald Trump. Cruz even thought of making Robertson a U.N. ambassador should he win the presidency.

"Imagine, for a second, Phil Robertson, ambassador to the United Nations," Cruz said, according to Us Magazine. "How much would you pay to see the Russian ambassador's face when Phil says, 'What is wrong with you people?'"
Pope calls for release of priest captured by ISIS in Yemen

Pope Francis has called for the release of hostages in conflict zones in prayers conducted yesterday at the Vatican.

Crowds gathered in St Peter's Square for the Pope's Regina Caeli prayer, a liturgy for the Easter period in Catholic tradition.

Francis spoke from the window of the papal apartments. He said: "Dear brothers and sisters, in the hope given to us by the risen Christ, I renew my appeal for the release of all hostages in zones of armed conflict."

He made a special mention of the priest abducted during a raid by Islamic State forces on an old people's home in Yemen last month.

"In particular I would like to recall the Salesian priest Tom Uzhunnalil, kidnapped in Aden in Yemen on March 4," he said.

Uzhunnalil, from Bangalore in India, was kidnapped by the gunmen who murdered four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard. Internet rumours said his captors would crucify him on Good Friday, but no evidence for the claim was ever produced and both his superiors and the Indian government consistently denied it.

Aden has been racked by lawlessness since supporters of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, backed by Gulf Arab military forces, drove fighters of the Iran-allied Houthi group from the city in July last year. International aid groups have pulled most of their foreign staff from Yemen due to security concerns.

A shaky truce took hold in the country today under a UN-backed effort to end a war that has made the country a front in Saudi Arabia's region wide rivalry with Iran and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The war-damaged capital Sanaa spent a quiet night, witnesses said, but residents said fighting flared in the southwestern city of Taiz soon after the planned start of the cessation of hostilities at 9pm GMT on Sunday.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Prophet Mboro 'heaven selfies' apparently lost in carwash

Days after Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious, and Linguistic Communities expressed an intent to reinstate extortion charges against him for charging fees for his "heaven selfies," South African pastor Prophet Mboro has claimed that the evidence is already lost.

Based on a report by ENCA, the pastor is now claiming that the Galaxy Smartphone phone used to take photos of heaven is missing.

The pastor, who leads the Church of Incredible Happenings, announced last week that he was "captured" to heaven on Easter Sunday and was able to take photos of God's Kingdom using his smartphone.

However, for those interested to see the photos, he was reportedly asking a donation of R5 000 (around 240 or $340) for the photos to be transferred via WhatsApp.

This prompted the CRL to review earlier charges filed against the prophet for the commercialisation of religion and for his failure to file the audited financial statements of his church.

"We are monitoring the heaven selfies  this is extortion and commercialisation of religion. We are also going to issue him with a subpoena for the selfies," said CRL chairperson Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva in a separate report by ENCA.

Aside from legal issues, Mboro also faced online ridicule and ire from netizens who criticised the charge for the photos. As a result, the pastor said he would post the pictures on his Facebook page for free.

However, he is now claiming that the phone was lost at a carwash in Katlehong.

"The pictures were really there, I saw them. We suspect one of the boys washing the Prophet's car took the phone. But they all denied taking it, even after we threatened them. All those who have deposited money will be refunded," one of his bodyguards claimed.
Top Anglican condemns forgery allegations as 'scurrilous' and 'untrue'

A leading Anglican official has condemned allegations of forgery around a meeting of Anglican leaders in Africa as "scurrilous", "untrue" and "against all biblical principles of appropriate behaviour".

Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, spoke out after the Archbishop of Kenya criticised delegates from the Anglican Church of Kenya for attending an Anglican meeting in Zambia this week.

Archbishop Idowu-Fearon said in a statement: "The unsubstantiated public allegations of forgery against the members of the Kenyan delegation are scurrilous and untrue and are made in a manner against all biblical principles of appropriate behaviour."

Archbishop of Kenya Eliud Wabukala had said that a letter stating the Kenya delegates would attend the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Zambia was a forgery. In fact the Kenya delegates are at the Lusaka meeting, although the Anglican provinces of Nigeria, Uganda and Jerusalem and the Middle East have boycotted it in protest at the presence of the US Episcopal Church.

Archbishop Idowu Fearon said it was a "false impression" that the Episcopal Church delegates were in Lusaka in defiance of the will of the Primates who spelled out "consequences" at their meeting in January over the US decision to back gay marriage.

He said: "The Archbishop of Canterbury has fulfilled his responsibilities and asked those members of interfaith or ecumenical bodies who are from TEC and whose appointment he controls, to stand down, and they have done so."

"He also said that an Episcopal Church representative whose attendance at the Lusaka meeting been commented on as breaching the decision of the Primates, was elected to the standing committee several years before the Primates' meeting. This person could not be removed "without legal cause".

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: "As Archbishop of Canterbury I have acted on the Primates' decision in those areas for which I have responsibility. It is both my and the Primates' desire, hope and prayer that the Anglican Consultative Council should also share in working through the consequences of our impaired relationships."
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The town of Deer Park had fitful beginnings on the way to becoming a major cog in the oil refinery world. Times weren't always easy but a hearty group of settlers were steadfast in their resolve to lay down roots in the area.

Deer Park's city government is planning a number of monthly events for the town's 125th anniversary this year, including concerts and other events.

The goal is to show off the growth of the town from a small settlement into the diverse suburb it is today. The city places its official incorporation date as December 20, 1892.

OLD DAYS: A photographic history of Baytown, from its oil boom to the early '90s

Now Playing: Latest Local And State News Video: Houston Chronicle

It was Native Americans who first hunted and fished on the land which was prone to flooding just 24 feet above sea level, centuries before Illinois pioneer Simeon Henry West brought his people to the area in 1892.

West had noticed a great number of deer roaming the plains and settled on a name for his new town. Its interesting that he didnt bestow a name on the town something a bit more aligned to its roots as the Birthplace of Texas. After all, the initial treaty signed after the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836 was signed at the home of Dr. George Moffitt Patrick just off Buffalo Bayou to the north.

Within eight years, West and the first residents finally saw the area on its way to being a farming and fruit-producing community. Hopes were high for the town. The possibly for year-round farming was a bonus for new residents.

The founder built a hotel and relied on the new railroad coming through the area. A blizzard in 1895 brought snowfall of around 24 inches and threw some farmers for a loop, making them question the idea of a tropical area. Galveston Bay had even frozen over in 1899.

HOUSTON ON THE MOVE: The city of Houston as seen in Kodachrome photos shot in the '50s and '60s

West brought in streets, water lines and other modern conveniences. He named Luella Street after his daughter, one of the only local streets that remain from Wests time.

Catastrophic flooding in September 1900 from the historic hurricane that ravaged Galveston just south of Deer Park washed away hopes of further development, and the settlers moved on to drier locales.

By 1905, West himself sold off his interests in the town and Deer Park became a ghost town of sorts. Those who stuck around had a hard row to hoe, to use a farming trope.

The discovery of oil at Spindletop near Beaumont in 1901 would eventually turn the tide for Deer Park, which would became a hub for the growing oil refining industry within a decade or two.

It wasnt until the Shell Oil Company broke ground in the late 20s that Deer Parks fortunes began to fully change and development began to ramp up just east of Pasadena and just south of the San Jacinto Battleground. The Shell people went all in on the area, taking advantage of a developing Port of Houston. Company towns benefited from an influx of oil money, to say the least.

GROWTH IN COLOR: The city of Pearland as seen in Kodachrome photos from 1972

Shell City as Deer Park was dubbed colloquially saw a boom in family life, and business workers from the plant sought to settle down just south of work. Soon the town began getting all of the things that are hallmarks of a burgeoning community like a city hall, a fire station, an independent water supply and public schools. Center Street, a major thoroughfare, was paved with shell for some time.

The installation of Texas 225 was a shot in the arm for the area. Post-war development surged as veterans returned home from World War II in search of jobs.

The Deer Park Historical Committee routinely shares historical photos to its Facebook page and each post brings about detailed, pride-filled conversation about days long gone and the lives of the people who helped build the city. Some of those photos can be seen in the slideshow above.

We can only imagine what Simeon West would have made of the insane labyrinth of steel that is now the chemical plant system not far from where he founded Deer Park.
For weeks, many people in Mexico have been outraged over law enforcement's response to a year-old rape. The suspects are four young men from wealthy and politically connected Mexican families who are known as "Los Porkys." The search for at least one of them has turned to the Houston area.

Enrique Capitaine Marin, a former studfent at College Park High School in The Woodlands, is among the accused, according to officials in Mexico. Mexican media reports have said the group left Mexico in late March, boarding planes for Spain and Texas.

The Woodlands Crime Watch Facebook page put out a call to be on the lookout for Marin. However, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department said there's no record of Marin in their system and no warrants for his arrest.

TAKE A LOOK: Texans are among people of interest in crime database

On Monday, a Veracruz newspaper said the state attorney general had issued three warrants in the case. One person is expected to be charged with rape and two with abuse, while a fourth person will go free since he allegedly only witnessed the crime, reports said. Officials in the Mexican government have said they are aware that several suspects are outside the country.

"An anonymous report said that Cruz got on an Aeromexico plane bound for Madrid, while Jorge Cotaita Cabrales, Enrique Capitain and Gerardo Rodriguez went to Houston, Texas, according to reports from employees of Veracruz's Heriberto Jara Corona Airport," Mexico City's The News reported.

RELATED: Rich kids in Mexico flaunt it on social media

"Los Porkys" got the attention of the internet group Anonymous, which had also shared videos of the crew as well as images of their families. Local publications in The Woodlands have been reporting on this case which has received a lot of attention on social media. The Houston area is well known among Mexico's elite as a prime location to buy property.

The case of "Los Porkys" has touched on the class divide and the power of corruption in Mexican society. The father of the alleged rape victim sent letters to Mexican media last month, which sparked the international focus on the case, as well as a suspected apology video that's been viewed more than a half-million times on YouTube. The teenaged victim was allegedly raped in January 2015, but the criminal complaint wasn't filed until May, according to reports.

"The young men have been labeled the "Porkys of Costa de Oro" on social media, and presumably belong to a criminal group composed of "Juniors," the privileged children of government officials and the wealthy upper class," the Sinembargo news site reported.

Mexican authorities and the attorney general of Veracruz, Luis Angel Bravo, have said the alleged rape is under investigation. But protests have been held in the region because people are questioning why warrants weren't issued earlier for the four suspects and why more than a year has gone by with no answers.

"Los Porkys" have reportedly been involved with other alleged sex crimes, but the families of the victims haven't been as forthcoming, The News reported.

Mexicans living in Spain have also held protests and put up wanted posters for "Los Porkys" after it was revealed that one of the suspects flew to Madrid.

It hasn't been confirmed if any members of "Los Porkys" are actually hiding out in The Woodlands. The attorney general of Veracruz was expected to give an update on the case Monday.
Editor's note: On March 29, the organizations that released this report said they had identified errors in their analysis that made statewide comparisons inappropriate.

The achievement gap between low-income students and their wealthier classmates has increased in Houston-area schools at one of the nation's highest rates, according to an analysis released Thursday.

Houston ranked 86th out of 94 cities for its worsening gap from 2011 to 2014, faring slightly better than Dallas but worse than Austin and San Antonio. This means the gap increased more rapidly in eight of the cities examined.

"Students from low-income families in Houston are falling further and further behind their more advantaged peers across the state and nation," Ethan Gray, the founder and chief executive officer of Education Cities, said in a statement released with his group's report.

The nonprofit, a network of agencies focused on improving public education, teamed with GreatSchools, which runs a website with school data for parents. The project was funded by the Austin-based Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

The researchers analyzed scores on standardized exams, comparing the passing rates for low-income students with the performance of all students. The difference in scores is known as the achievement gap.

The report included a bright spot for Houston and Texas overall: The achievement gap, while growing, it is not as wide as in most cities and states. Rated on the standard gap measure, Houston ranked 21st out of 100 cities. Texas ranked 4th out of 36 states included.

Researchers characterized the gap in most cities as "large" or "massive." Houston earned the "large" designation. The results for Houston include the city's numerous school districts as well as charter schools.

"We, as a nation, have a long way to go to ensure our most vulnerable children have the opportunities they need to thrive," said Gray, of Education Cities.

The report, however, highlighted 10 Houston schools with small or nonexistent achievement gaps that also serve mostly low-income students: Alief Early College High School, Houston Gateway Academy  Coral Campus, Houston Gateway Academy  Elite Campus, KIPP Academy Middle, KIPP Houston High School, KIPP Sharp College Prep, KIPP Shine Prep, La Amistad Love & Learning Academy, Houston ISD's Project Chrysalis Middle School and Aldine ISD's Victory Early College High School.

Nationwide, the report found, only two in 10 low-income students attend schools that have closed the achievement gap.

The analysis covered the time when Texas transitioned to a new, more challenging testing regime, called the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness. Carrie Douglass, managing partner of Education Cities, said the switch in 2012 should not have significantly impacted the rankings because low-income students were compared to others.

"The type of assessment or changes in rigor should not affect the scores," she said. "However, future research would be helpful to study whether certain assessments may have been masking the achievement gap."

Top 10 U.S. Cities for Having Smaller Achievement Gaps

1. Hialeah, Fla.

2. Gilbert, Ariz.

3. Miami

4. El Paso, Texas

5. Irvine, Texas

6. San Francisco

7. Scottsdale, Ariz.

8. Garland, Texas

9. New York

10. Chandler, Ariz.

Houston ranks No. 21 of 100.

Top 10 U.S. Cities for Narrowing Achievement Gaps

1. Omaha, Neb.

2. Denver

3. Norfolk, Va.

4. Reno, Nev.

5. North Las Vegas, Nev.

6. Lincoln, Neb.

7. Orlando, Fla.

8. Memphis, Tenn.

9. Tampa, Fla.

10. Tacoma, Wash.

Houston ranks 86 of 94.

Source: Education Cities
A Houston jury on Monday found a Seabrook optometrist not guilty of murder in the 2013 shooting death of a neighbor.

Karl Hormann, 56, testified that he acted in self-defense when he shot 36-year-old Brandon Smith after a Memorial Day weekend crawfish boil in 2013.

Hormann's attorneys told jurors that the eye doctor feared for his life and for the lives of his guests when he followed Smith off the lake property and into the street.

Prosecutors said Hormann should have let Smith just go home.

"Was the defendant justified in following him down the street and taking his life?" prosecutor Aaron Chapman asked jurors in closing arguments in the murder trial. "It wasn't immediately necessary."

Jurors had to decide whether the eye doctor was justified in shooting Smith in the street about 60 feet from Hormann's front yard.

Both sides agreed Smith was trespassing when he crashed the party that was winding down in the early morning hours on May 26, 2013.

Smith, who had a blood alcohol level of at least .026, more than three times the legal limit, snuck into the party twice, first about 2 a.m. and then again about two hours later.

He was thrown out the first time after making some disparaging remarks, including saying that a young woman looked "finger-licking good."

The second time, Hormann, who had also been drinking, was inside his home when his son told him Smith was back and "acting crazy," defense lawyers said.

Armed with a semi-automatic pistol with a laser sight, Hormann confronted Smith who was arguing with other partygoers. As the altercation escalated, Hormann opened the driveway gate to get Smith out as he called 911.

During his testimony last week, Hormann said he followed Smith out to keep an eye on him until the police arrived.

Prosecutors said Monday that Smith was going home and Hormann followed him out of the gate and down the street with the gun trained on his back.

Hormann said he followed Smith, who turned and charged him, forcing him to shoot. He said he fired at least one warning shot, then shot Smith in the abdomen, then his head.

During the trial in state District Judge Marc Carter's court, Hormann testified that Smith told him he had a knife and grabbed his pocket to show him, but no one else at the party saw that. Police later found a black 6-inch lockblade knife in the dead man's pocket.

Jurors deliberated about three hours Monday before reaching a decision.

brian.rogers@chron.com

twitter.com/brianjrogers
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For two decades, Jan Bynum has wondered what happened to her daughter, Kelli Cox. She prayed for a miracle to happen, for the University of North Texas student to walk through the door.

At the same time, Bynum did not want her to be lingering in pain somewhere.

EXPLAINED: What you need to know about William Lewis Reece

Bynum finally has an answer: remains found last week in Brazoria County have been positively identified as Cox, who disappeared just down the street from the Denton Police Department on July 15, 1997. The 20-year-old vanished just after touring the Denton police station for a criminology class.

"I always said that if she was gone, I'd want to know," Bynum said last week. "Then I can bring her home and put her to rest. I'd know she's not being harmed every single day."

Cox was identified through forensic analysis of dental records by The University of North Texas  Center for Human Identification and Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and the Galveston County Medical Examiner's office, Denton Police spokesman Shane Kizer said.

William Reece, a convicted kidnapper, has been identified as a "person of interest" in her disappearance . Reece led authorities to the location where they started digging for remains on March 28. Reece, 56, is serving a 60-year sentence for a 1997 kidnapping.

READ MORE: Human remains found in Brazoria County pasture

The search for Cox came after other remains were pulled from a horse pasture near Hobby Airport, which authorities say could be those of 17-year-old Jessica Cain from Galveston County. Cain also vanished in 1997.

Reece is also a primary suspect in the kidnapping and killing of Laura Smither, a 12-year-old who disappeared while jogging on April 3, 1997, in her Friendswood neighborhood, not far off Interstate 45. Her body was found more than two weeks later about 12 miles from her home, in a Pasadena retention pond. Reece has not been charged in her slaying.

Last year, advances in DNA testing connected Reece to the slaying of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston. Johnston was abducted from the Sunshine Car Wash in Bethany, Okla., on July 26, 1997, and her body was found the next day.
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The brand-new White Oak Music Hall in the Near Northside neighborhood hosted its first outdoor concert Saturday evening with French indie-rockers M83 holding forth on the lawn.

Customers bought 3,000 tickets to see M83 and Yacht at the venue, which resembled a sort of mini music festival just off North Main, Fans arrived via Uber, bicycle, car or MetroRail. The nearest rail stop is just a quarter-mile from the front door of the venue.

The bands played on a large, temporary stage similar to the set-up at Houston's annual Free Press Summer Festival. The new venue treated the audience to a glimpse of the city's north downtown skyline just at stage right.

RELATED: City grants White Oak Music Hall incentive

Once fans arrived on site they had the choice of watching the show on special artificial turf in front of the stage or on a gently sloping lawn covered in lush grass.

A few fans skipped the venue altogether and instead listened to the show from across nearby White Oak Bayou.

The cool April evening air was a godsend, but within a few months Houstons notoriously steamy nights might make outdoor shows a chore for some fans. By that time, though, the venues two indoor stages will be open for business.

That two-story building is under construction and is scheduled to open in July with rooms for 300 and 1,200 people.

RELATED: White Oak Music Hall 'temporary stage' raises questions

Food trucks parked on site gave fans the option to feast during the concert, with plenty of temporary drink stations selling beer, wine and mixed drinks. At one point Saturday, the venues credit card system went down but customers could either use cash for drinks or purchase drink tickets.

Neighborhood residents, who have been very vocal about their misgivings over the venue, plan to meet early this week to compare notes on its first major event. Early indications are that the noise from the concert was troubling for some. Saturday's acts were both a bit poppy and soft, so it remains to be seen (or rather heard) how heavier rock will go over.

Parking on area streets, another potential concern for residents, seemed to be at least partially alleviated by the opening of some extra lots for paid parking.

The developers have been working closely with residents of the historically Hispanic, working-class neighborhood since the project was announced.

After the show, many fans made their way to the adjacent Raven Tower bar and venue to continue the evening.
A federal judge in Houston has given the United States until Friday to explain jurisdiction over an Australian who allegedly sneaks people across Turkey to Syria on their covert journeys to join the Islamic State terrorist group.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, who has a history of showing little patience for the Department of Justice, recently issued the one-sentence order.
SAN ANTONIO - A woman suffered severe leg injuries after she was struck by a vehicle Sunday morning around 2 a.m. on the near North Side at at the intersection of McCullough Avenue and Cypress Street.

According to San Antonio police at the scene, a fight in a nearby bar escalated when those involved move the fight out into the streets.
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Speaking to an audience of thousands Sunday in upstate New York, Donald Trump accused the Republican Party of trickery and corruption after his campaign's stumbling loss in the Colorado causes.

Colorado didn't hold a popular vote for candidates in the Republican primary, instead electing delegates directly to the national GOP convention in July. The process was the first large-scale test of the delegate game that the campaigns will play state after state before the party convenes. In Colorado, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz swept the state's entire 37-delegate slate.

Cruz's tactics, though seldom necessary in presidential primaries, followed the rules of the Republican Party.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump told a campaign rally in Rochester, N.Y., on Sunday, ahead of the state's April 19 primary. "The system is corrupt."

No GOP candidate seems likely to claim the outright majority of delegates needed to win the party's nomination in the primary vote, paving the path toward a rare contested convention, and a series of re-votes to elect the nominee.

RELATED: Growing chance of contested convention puts added focus on delegates

In that scenario, Trump's frontrunner status could be rendered obsolete. The delegate games in Colorado, and in North Dakota shortly before that, suggest that Cruz would have an upper hand if the race came down to votes on the convention floor.

The Cruz campaign aims to build a large enough body of friendly delegates that the Texas senator could win an upset victory over the race's frontrunner in July.

RELATED: Cruz strategizes a contested convention

Addressing that scenario, Trump told his supporters, "I say this to the RNC and I say this to the Republican Party: you're going to have a big problem, folks."

Monday morning on Fox and Friends, Trump repeated that notion, calling the primary system "rigged" and "crooked."

RELATED: Divisive GOP presidential race ventures into unknown territory

Many Trump supporters seem to share the sentiment. Attendees of the Rochester rally quoted by various news media Sunday suggested they would be extremely disillusioned with the GOP if Trump won the largest share of primary votes and was denied the nomination.

One Colorado Trump supporter, who described himself as a Trump delegate removed from the roster because of his choice in candidates, posted a video Sunday of himself burning his GOP membership card. The video garnered 60,000 views by Monday morning.

Trump himself suggested in February there would be "riots" if he won the popular vote but not the nomination. In March, his reversal of a pledge to support the GOP's eventual nominee was widely seen as Trump preparing for the possibility of a third-party run in that situation.
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AUSTIN -- Federal regulators on Monday sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for allegedly committing securities fraud, the same charge he is fighting in a state criminal court.

The civil lawsuit, filed Monday in an East Texas federal court by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, alleges that Paxton raised nearly $1 million for a Collin County technology startup without disclosing to the investors that he was being compensated to promote the company.

The firm, Servergy, Inc., also was named in the complaint, as were former company officials William Mapp and Caleb White. Servergy and White already have settled their cases by paying a combined $260,000 in penalties, according to the SEC.

A Paxton lawyer indicated the attorney general would not be settling.

"Mr. Paxton vehemently denies the allegations in the civil lawsuit and looks forward not only to all of the facts coming out, but also to establishing his innocence in both the civil and criminal matters," said the lawyer, Bill Mateja.

The accusations concern investment activities that took place in July 2011, when Paxton was a Republican state lawmaker, four years before becoming the state's top lawyer.

The federal complaint alleges that during that month, Mapp offered Paxton a 10 percent commission for recruiting investors and Paxton responded via email: "I will get to work."

HIS STORY: Texas attorney general Ken Paxton to plead not guilty on fraud charges

Paxton then convinced five investors to put up $840,000, including through using "pressure tactics" such as a "unscheduled and unsolicited late night call," according to the complaint. He allegedly never disclosed that he was getting a commission.

As a result of his efforts, the SEC alleges, Paxton got 100,000 shares in the company.

The complaint alleges that Paxton told the SEC that he intended to pay for the shares and even offered to pay $100,000 to Mapp during a meeting at a Dairy Queen in McKinney, Texas.

According to Paxton, Mapp then said, "I can't take your money. God doesn't want me to take your money." So, Paxton took the shares as a gift.

"People recruiting investors have a legal obligation to disclose any compensation they are receiving to promote a stock, and we allege that Paxton and White concealed the compensation they were receiving for touting Servergy's product," said Shamoil T. Shipchandler, director of the SEC's Fort Worth regional office, in a news release about the statement.

The allegations are virtually the same as those that led to an indictment of Paxton by a Collin County grand jury last year. Those charges still are pending; a hearing is scheduled for next month on an attempt by Paxton's lawyers to dismiss them.

Those charges are felonies that could be punishable by jail time. The federal lawsuit is a civil case that would only result in a fine, whether through a settlement or a ruling by a judge.

The punishment could be steep, however. According to the SEC, White, who was accused of doing the same thing as Paxton and allegedly received one-fifth of the shares, agreed to a $66,000 settlement.

The political fallout could be damaging, as well.

On Monday, Texas Democrats predictably renewed their calls for Paxton to resign.

"Enough is enough," said Manny Garcia, the party's deputy executive director, in a statement. "How many more investigations, criminal charges, and lawsuits need to be filed before Republican Ken Paxton takes responsibility for his lawlessness and resigns?"

Bill Miller, a longtime Austin consultant who has represented politicians under investigation and facing criminal charges, said he expects Monday's federal charges will only make Paxton "lock down for the long haul. He will not step down."

"The feds are straight-up business in cases like this," Miller said. "They don't care whether he's attorney general or not, and they're going to pressc ahead with their case  and you can expect him to fight it," he said. "In a case like this, once you're there  like he is now  he's going to tough it out to the end."

Staff reporter Mike Ward contributed to this report.
-- OVERNIGHT : Clinton has edge over Trump on range of issues, according to AP-GfK poll, per Julie Pace and Emily Swanson. Even when asked which of the two candidates would be best at making American great  the central promise of Trump's campaign  Americans are slightly more likely to side with Clinton, according to the poll.

The survey does reveal some potential trouble spots for Clinton. Trump is nearly even with her on whom Americans trust to handle the economy, which voters consistently rank as one of the top issues facing the country. Clinton is trusted more on the economy by 38 percent of Americans, while 35 percent side with Trump. And despite Americans' overall preference for Clinton on a host of issues, just 20 percent say she represents their own views very well on matters they care about, while 23 percent say somewhat well.

-- TRUMP this week seeks to reshape campaign, by the APs Jonathan Lemire and Jill Colvin. For nearly a year, the celebrity businessman had kept away from the trappings of a more conventional campaign operation. But days after the Wisconsin loss, he relented on that front as he tried to recapture his momentum and gear up for a potential general election race against likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump is bringing in new staff, including a seasoned Washington operative to run his efforts at the convention, where the nomination appears more likely than ever to be decided. He also plans to place new focus on policy. His team is making more strategic decisions as to how to make best use of Trump's time  the campaign's most valuable asset  starting with a refocused effort to run up the score in the April 19 primary in his home state of New York.

-- MUST READ >> 4-year-old Leiliana Wright needed Dallas CPS. It failed at every turn, records show, by The Dallas Morning News Dave McSwane. A chain of errors, incompetence and systemic problems at Child Protective Services prevented the agency from protecting Leiliana from savage abuse with which her mother and her boyfriend are charged, agency documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News reveal. The Grand Prairie childs March 13 death already has prompted firings, resignations and finger-pointing at the agency, which has been plagued by mismanagement and high turnover of experienced caseworkers.

>> Jeff Leach on the story: @leachfortexas: Time for all of us in the #txlege to band together to fix this. These children cannot wait & they shouldnt have to.

-- Sid Miller used state funds for trips tied to rodeo, by the Chrons Brian Rosenthal. Miller spent nearly $2,000 in state and campaign cash on the three-day trip to Jackson, Mississippi, in February 2015, in the middle of last years legislative session, records show. He used a Texas Department of Agriculture credit card for airplane flights and a campaign account card for a hotel room and a rental car.  During the trip, Miller spent two days competing in calf-roping events at the horse show at the Dixie National Rodeo, according to the Mississippi Quarter Horse Association. He won $880.

-- ICYMI: Former Texas GOP chair hired by RNC to prep for contested convention, by the Chrons Dylan Baddour. As the vast majority of delegates are yet to be elected by state conventions, Munisteri is reaching out to the chairmen and directors of state Republican Parties to establish open lines of communication and ensure that questions are met with answers. He cited an example: if only part of the delegate assembly is present for a vote, does a vote require 50 percent of those present or 50 percent of all delegates? Answer: 50 percent of everyone.

-- Keep this on your radar: The Syrian government's recent release of a U.S. citizen detained in the war-ravaged country since fall 2012 has encouraged those working to free journalist and Houston native Austin Tice. The U.S. State Department announced Friday that Kevin Patrick Dawes, a 33-year-old from San Diego alternately described as a freelance photographer and a war zone adventurer, left Syria for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on April 1, per the Chrons Mike Morris.

>> A good read you may have missed over the weekend (h/t Scott Braddock): Why I refuse to send people to jail for failure to pay fines, from Texas Municipal Courts Association President Ed Spillane.

CAPITOL DAYBOOK

10:00 a.m.: Coastal Barrier System [ Texas A&M University at Galveston, Room 142 ]

SPEED READ

Texas Take: The not-so-new reality for Texas governors, Houston Chronicle

H-E-B executive gives student a wake-up call, Houston Chronicle

Grimes: Our democracy is in a state of incompetency  Can someone call a grown-up? Texas Observer

Grissom: What Abbotts attention to Dallas crime rise says about political priorities, The Dallas Morning News

Paul Ryan, a mirage candidate, wages a parallel campaign, The New York Times

Cruz faces NJ eligibility challenge from write-in candidate, The Dallas Morning News

State government faces growing technology deficit, Quorum Report

Caseworks, kids trapped in collapsing foster system, The Texas Tribune

Miller used state, campaign funds on trip to compete in rodeo, Houston Chronicle

Texas county to fight to retain gun ban at courthouse, Austin American-Statesman

Obama can appoint Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court if the Senate does nothing, The Washington Post

Republicans pick Texan to help smooth way for national convention, San Antonio Express-News

Cruz tries to pick off delegates on Trumps home turf, San Antonio Express-News

New approaches improve Childrens Court outcomes, San Antonio Express-News

Top cartel leader appeared to find temporary haven in Texas, Associated Press

QUOTE TO NOTE

You go to these county conventions, and you see the Gestapo tactics  the scorched-earth tactics.

-- Donald Trumps convention manager, Paul Manafort, on Sundays Meet the Press

RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE

-- Polls: Trump, Clinton up big in NY and PA, by Politicos Nick Gass. In a general election-matchup between Clinton and Trump, registered New York voters supported the former secretary of state to the tune of 53 percent to 37 percent, while Sanders leads Trump by a similar margin, with 54 percent to 35 percent. Among likely Republican primary voters in Pennsylvania, who will head to the polls on April 26, Trump leads Kasich 48 percent to 22 percent, while Cruz finished close behind with 20 percent and 8 percent said they did not know.

-- Past cases suggest Hillary wont be indicted, by Politicos Josh Gerstein. The examination, which included cases spanning the past two decades, found some with parallels to Clintons use of a private server for her emails, but  in nearly all instances that were prosecuted aggravating circumstances that dont appear to be present in Clintons case.

-- After Black Lives Matter dust-up, the Clintons shore up support with black voters, by WashPosts Abby Phillip. The episode launched a thousand reprises of the debate over whether the Clintons were truly contrite about the unintended consequences of the crime bill, which some blame for codifying a culture of mass incarceration that has decimated African American families. So the former president made his pilgrimage to three black churches, pillars of the black community in Harlem, on Sunday morning.
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.
Pension Math Doesnt Lie

To the editor:



Steven Malangas calculations are, by turns, misleading and faulty [Scary Pension Math, Winter 2016]. He begins by arguing that pension fund returns since 2009 have compared unfavorably with those of the Standard & Poors 500 Index. This math would matter if pension funds were equity investments, but theyre not. Pension funds invest in a diversified asset pool that includes stocks, Treasuries and government bonds, corporate bonds, real estate, and more.

Malanga also downplays a critical fact: pension funds are long-term investors that focus on stability. One or two years of low returnseven lossesare tolerable because the focus is on maintaining smooth returns over cycles of three to five years.

Malanga lays blame at the feet of public pension funds themselves, asserting that they have saddled themselves with $1 trillion or more in debta figure plucked, by the way, from research organizations fueled by foundations with an unbending right-wing agenda. At the same time, he fails to acknowledge that public employees fulfilled their side of the bargain and never had the luxury of skipping payments.

Hank H. Kim, Esq.



Executive Director and Counsel



National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems

Steven Malanga responds:



Kim resorts to the old chestnut that pension funds are long-term investors whose results shouldnt be judged by one or two years of low returns. But my article relies on data and experiences going back to the late 1990s, specifically because I wanted to show that pension debt is accumulating through far more than just a few quarters.

One would hardly describe the Pew Charitable Trusts, whose research I cite, as a right-wing organization. But more to the point, the Pew numbers are not estimates; they are derived from the reports of the pension industry itself. Other researchers suggest that the tab is much higher, including that well-known right-wing organization the Federal Reserve, which now puts pension debt at $1.7 trillion.

Over a period of more than a decade, through market booms and busts, pension debt has continued to grow. If, after the third-longest bull market in U.S. history, pension debt has barely declined, when can taxpayers hope for the relief from rising debt and rising taxpayer contributions that Kim and his industry have been telling us for years is coming?

No Secret Bias

To the editor:



Your criticism of Harvards admissions policies [Fewer Asians Need Apply, Winter 2016] is unfounded. While differences have existed in average test scores between ethnic and racial groups, the university has never lowered standards to accept applicants not well qualified to do high-level academic work. Harvard recognizes that a campus with differences in background and interests enhances the learning experience of all.

Robert C. Waggoner

Dennis Saffran replies:



The numbers speak for themselves. The Asian-American share of the student body at Harvard and other Ivy League schools has remained in the 14 percent to 19 percent range over the last 20 years. Waggoner ascribes this to the value that Harvard places on students with varied extracurricular interests and backgrounds. This was precisely the excuse that Harvard used to impose a de facto Jewish quota in the 1920s. The flatlining of Harvards Jewish population from the 1920s to the 1940s and its Asian population since the 1990s are starkly similar.
Consonant with the start of a new national administration and (by purists reckonings) the dawn of a new millennium, the keynote of this issue of City Journal is optimism. Its an optimism more of the skeptical than the Panglossian all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds variety, of course; and it rests on the proven truth that we are not the passive playthings of vast forces beyond our control but rather the active shapers of our destiny.

Its a fact of nature, pundits said, that American cities are ungovernableuntil Rudy Giuliani and other smart mayors began to govern them. We have to live in careful balance with the Soviet Union, foreign-policy pundits saiduntil Ronald Reagan won the Cold War. Demographic changes mean that crime will explode, criminologists predicteduntil enlightened policing cut crime dramatically. Elite culture is lost in political correctness, we conservatives lamentexcept that, as Heather Mac Donald elegantly shows in The Mets Triumphant Democratic Elitism, Philippe de Montebello, through sheer determination (and talent), has preserved the Metropolitan Museum as a temple of high culture and high scholarshipand New Yorks Number One tourist attraction. Human will is crucial, both in public matters and in individ- ual lives.

Understanding this truth is half the battle, as Fred Siegel and Van Smith make clear in their absorbing report from Baltimore. For years, the mantra of Baltimore politics was: Cant be done, dont even try. Little wonder that epidemic crime and economic decline ensued, driving some 16 percent of the population out of town during the nineties. The most important of new mayor Martin OMalleys governing principles is that he can change things for the better, and in that spirit he has already started pushing Baltimore in the right direction.

You would think such an understanding is a no-brainer. But a meeting of would-be education reformers with two leading experts on public schools some years ago made clear why it is not. To one suggestion after another, the experts replied: Oh no, cant be done. The union wont stand for it. . . . The State Legislature wont permit it. . . . We tried to do it 15 years back, and the governor stopped us. The result of all their considerable expertise and intelligence was passivity and paralysiswhich they took to be political savvy and hard-nosed realism.

So you have to think boldly and then just do it. Thats the message of our new contributing editor Steven Malangas gripping saga of how New York City began to succeed in pushing the mob out of town. For years, prosecutors and pols had assumed that the mob was a given of city life, like pigeons. D.A. Morgenthau, prosecutor (later Mayor) Giuliani, and Governor Pataki had a different view, and todays cleaned-up garment district, garbage-carting industry, and Javits Convention Center show that once you decide to accomplish something, sooner or later, if you keep trying, you will figure out a way to get it done.

This optimistic idea is, as Norman Podhoretz explains in America the Beautiful, fundamental to the American spirit, which licenses everyone to pursue his own definition of happiness in his own waya way that, in practice, will normally turn out to be the pursuit of material advancement. For that reason, Podhoretz says, elite intellectuals, contemptuous of materialism and mistakenly convinced of its inevitable opposition to the spiritual, cant see that the American idea has created one of the worlds greatest civilizations. A similar can-do spirit today pervades whole segments of the population, as Kay S. Hymowitz shows in Ecstatic Capitalisms Brave New Work Ethic, and it has become a dynamo of creativity and prosperitythough, as Hymowitz cautions, the new economys workamania comes with an inevitable set of costs, too.

The one place in the nation where that optimism is missing, as new contributing editor John H. McWhorter demonstrates in his profound Whats Holding Blacks Back? is among African-Americans. To be sure, McWhorter observes, blacks have made great stridesgreater than they themselves admit; but what bars them from even more dramatic progress isnt racism but their own attitudes about American society and their proper identity within it. Educational excellence? Shapers of our own destiny? Cant be done, dont even try, is the orthodox African-American response. But all it would take is some optimism and effort, McWhorter rightly says, and the whole world would change.

Brian C. Anderson
Feminists incessantly harp about a phantom rape culture in the United States and other Western countries. On New Years Eve 2016, Northern European cities experienced an outbreak of the real thingand the opponents of patriarchy went silent. It turns out that a more powerful force exists on the left than feminist victimology: multiculturalism.

As revelers gathered in the central square of Cologne, Germany, for the traditional New Years Silvesternacht celebrations, thousands of North African and Middle Eastern males started throwing firecrackers into the crowd and attacking passersby. They pickpocketed and robbed males and females, but they directed most of their violence against women: grabbing their breasts and buttocks, inserting their fingers into the womens vaginas, and, in a few instances, raping them, while shouting sexual insults. A total of 653 victims filed reports with the police.

Similar attacks were reported in Munich, Berlin, Nuremberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, and Bielefeld, among other cities across 12 German states, though not on the same scale. Outbreaks of sexual violence also occurred in France, Greece, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, and Turkey. The assaults appeared to have been planned and coordinated through social media, Germanys justice minister Heiko Maas later said. In Cologne, some of the suspects had notes in their pockets with scribbled German translations for female body parts. This mass sexual harassment of females recalled similar incidents during the occupation of Cairos Tahrir Square from 2012 to 2014.

German police and political leaders covered up the violence for days. A Cologne police-force press release originally reported that the Silvesternacht celebrations had been peaceful, though officers had witnessed the attacks. Police employees are afraid of talking about these things in the context of the immigration debate today, a Stockholm police spokesman told the Guardian, in reference to Swedens experience with Muslim sexual attacks on New Years Eve and at a music festival in 2014.

Eventually, however, news of the assaults leaked out, and the most surprising cover-up of all began. Leading feminists across the continent and in Great Britain either ignored the incidents entirely or distorted their significance beyond recognition. Silence was justified on the grounds that acknowledging the attacks would encourage opposition to the mass Muslim immigration that had engulfed Europe over the previous year. (German chancellor Angela Merkel accelerated that migration by declaring in August 2015 that her country would accept all Syrian asylum-seekers who made it in to her country.) Feminists were finding it difficult to speak up about the event because of concerns it might be used to encourage aggression against refugees, explained British journalist Jessica Abrahams. When feminists were cornered into addressing the violence, they tied themselves into knots trying to change the subject back to their favorite topic: Western white-male patriarchy. The problem of sexualized violence has already existed here for some time and cant simply be deported, said German feminist Anne Wizorek to Der Spiegel. It cannot be allowed to become the standard in gender debates that only male migrants are considered to be those responsible [for sexual violence]. In other words, the New Years assaults were continuous with the routine terror inflicted by German men on German women.

Actually, there was no precedent in Germany or the rest of Europe for mass peacetime sexual assaults, much less ones where the police merely look on. I have never experienced such a thing in any German city, a victim told the New York Times. But people who did name the attacks for what they werea manifestation of Muslim misogyny and an alarm bell regarding mass immigrationwere vilified as racists. An old-school German feminist, Alice Schwarzer, denounced the New Years assaults as a gang bang designed to terrorize women; she found herself condemned by other feminists and antiracists. Victims refused to give their names to reporters for fear of being pilloried on social media for xenophobia. Specious moral equivalencies poured forth: not only were the attacks a mere subset of everyday Western antifemale violence, but also ordinary citizens connecting those attacks to the out-of-control migrant situation were no different from the attackers themselves. Ralf Jager, minister of the interior for the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, announced: What happens on right-wing platforms and in chat rooms is at least as awful as the acts of those assaulting the women.

The most dazzling eruption of moral blindness came from a British feminist currently on a fellowship at Harvards Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The political and press silence after the New Years attacks was a product of Western sexism and indifference to rape, alleged Laurie Penny in The New Statesman. This was, of course, preposterous. Had thousands of white males committed the attacks, a worldwide furor would have immediately broken out. The effort to look the other way was patently the result of cringing political correctness. But Penny was equally critical of the right-wing press for condemning the mass violence, since it only did so out of unbridled racism. Itd be great if we could take rape, sexual assault and structural misogyny as seriously every day as we do when migrants and Muslims are involved as perpetrators, she wrote. Penny did not provide any examples of daily mass sexual assaults committed by Westerners. Then, in a paroxysm of hysteria induced by the conflicting pressures of feminism and multicultural relativism, Penny accused those right-wing critics of not just racism but sexual perversion: Ill be blunt. I think some people out there are very excited by their conception of Islamic violence against women. It allows them to enjoy the spectacle of women being brutalized and savaged whilst convincing themselves that its only foreign, savage men who do these things. This is lunatic fantasy. Moreover, the conception of Islamic violence against women is not just some right-wing constructit is a fact.

The feminist apologists did issue grudging, boilerplate repudiations of the violence but only en route to conflating it with Western patriarchy. In an understatement of colossal proportions, Penny acknowledged that the experience of women in the West is [not] exactly the same as the experience of women in Middle Eastern dictatorships and war zones. Lets rephrase that, shall we? To live in a society where womens magazines, pop culture, and advertising incessantly celebrate female sexuality and promiscuity, where every elite profession desperately seeks to hire and promote as many women as it can, and where women enjoy every freedom and right that men do, is not just not exactly the same as living in a culture where female rape victims are murdered to preserve their familys honor and where women who dont wear the veil or burka face public shaming or worse; there is no similarity whatsoever between those two experiences.

To acknowledge the abyss that separates the experience of Western women from those in Arab and North African countries, though, would risk walking down a slippery slope that might end up with the recognition that Western women do not, in fact, live in a rape culture. But even more dangerous than such a debunking of feminist propaganda would be the possibility of confronting the potential threat that large-scale Muslim and Third World immigration poses for Western liberalism and individualism. The New York Times provided a stunning example of the inevitable defining sexism down that will be necessary to accommodate such immigration. The problem on New Years Eve, it reported, was that migrants from war-torn countries were unfamiliar with German culture. Translation: the norm that you dont jam your fingers up womens vaginas in public is just a quaint German custom, akin to wearing lederhosen. This, from a paper that routinely covers phony college rape allegations with outraged alarm. Making matters worse in Cologne, according to the Times, the police were working from outdated expectations. Had the police been up to date, they would have planned for mass sexual assaults. This was new terrain for all, the Times concluded.

But it wont be new terrain for long. A public pool in the Bavarian town of Bornheim posted cartoon warnings against the fondling of womens bikini-clad bottoms, before banning male asylum seekers entirely in January 2016, due to the rash of harassment complaints. Women in Berlin report being called slut on the street. As for gay rights, try staging a gay pride parade in one of Europes Muslim enclaves, and see how far you get.

The New Years assaults should have been a wake-up call about the worsening civilizational clash brought on by mass immigration. The official cover-up of organized child sexual abuse committed by Pakistani-British men in Rotherham, England, foreshadowed the New Years suppression of truth by political correctness. But Merkel still refuses to set an upper limit on refugees, and Germanys powerful feminists have not demanded one. In neighboring Austria, meanwhile, the Green Party called for a lawmaker to resign after he said that refugees have a worldview like Neanderthals, which tramples the rights of women underfoot . . . and which we have extirpated among ourselves, thank God. He declared it a catastrophe that the Greens, who ordinarily hold womens rights in high esteem, are standing up for the refugees instead. The Greens have called him a racist, even though the Neanderthal epithet, favored by womens libbers circa 1975, can still be used today with impunity against chauvinist white males.

The hierarchy of left-wing pieties thus seems clear: narcissistic feminism may be important, but its even more important to inundate the West with Third World peoples. If that means that the Lefts favorite pastimes, such as the denunciation of rape culture, are increasingly confined to shrinking enclaves of self-flagellating Westerners, so be it.

Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Images
The amount of opioids prescribed to injured Ohio workers has fallen significantly since the states insurance fund for injured workers created a pharmacy management program amid concerns about painkiller usage.

Fewer than 4,800 workers have been deemed opiate-dependent after exceeding 9,300 five years ago, John Hanna, the state Bureau of Workers Compensation pharmacy program director, told The Columbus Dispatch on Wednesday.

We had to draw a line in the sand, Hanna said. Injured workers do not go back to work when theyre medicated into a stupor. They dont go back when theyre dead.

Opioid doses for injured workers have since dropped by more than 40 percent.

The drop is due to education, Hanna said, as well as a closed prescription drug formulary that was included with the pharmacy management program, which was implemented in 2011.

The newspaper said Ohio and Washington are the only states that have a closed formulary, which lists specific drugs and dosages allowable in workers compensation cases.

The insurance fund now wants Ohio to become the first state to write opioid prescription guidelines and workers compensation rules into the states administrative code.

Doctors would create and monitor a treatment plan, as well as document its effectiveness. There would also be guidelines on weaning injured workers off opioids.

One section of the proposed rule focuses on recording clinically meaningful improvement in function to justify giving a worker opioids weeks following the injury or surgery.

The proposal is heading to the bureaus board of directors and to a legislative panel for review.

Its important not to go too far, said Dr. Kort Gronbach of Mount Carmel Health, a pain-management specialist who serves on the bureaus pharmacy and therapeutics committee and who supports the proposal.

Gronbach said some doctors are refusing to treat chronic-pain patients with debilitating conditions.

Its as sad as Ive ever seen it, Gronbach said. Its been so vilified that my patients, on a daily basis, come in crying.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
After two straight victories in test trials over a deadly ignition switch defect in millions of vehicles, General Motors Co. settled a case that was set set to go before a jury next month, avoiding potentially emotional testimony about the death of a father of five children.

GMs confidential settlement with the estate of James Yingling III, a young Pennsylvania man whose life was cut short after 17 days in a coma, was revealed Thursday in a letter to U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan.

The trial over Yinglings death in November 2013 was set to be the third of six bellwether cases, so called because theyre used to test strategies. A jurys reaction to the evidence may push either side to settle  or battle out  hundreds of other cases and help set the size of any settlements.

We are pleased this matter has been concluded, and proud of our client Nadia Yingling, Victor Pribanic, a lawyer for the family, said in a statement after the settlement was announced. Nadia Yingling, the victims widow, was expected to testify at the trial, as was the couples eldest son.

Each side selected half of the bellwethers. The Yingling case was chosen by lawyers leading the suits against GM, who are among the top plaintiffs attorneys in the U.S. It isnt clear whether the settlement was inspired by GMs victories or the potential for a company loss in a trial involving a fatality.

Earlier Trials

The first trial ended in midstream after the plaintiff, who claimed to suffer back pain after his car ran off an Oklahoma highway and hit a tree, was accused of perjury and abruptly dropped his lawsuit. The second trial involved a driver and passenger who suffered only minor injuries after their car spun and scraped a barrier in an ice storm. The jury sided with GM in that case, blaming the accident on bad weather.

Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan Law School, said the verdict in the second trial showed that juries dont believe a defective switch is automatically the cause of every accident, a legal requirement in such cases known as causation.

Plaintiffs who assumed that juries would assume causation may be rethinking their cases, said Gordon, who isnt involved in the litigation. Plaintiffs who can show clear causation will plow ahead.

A GM spokesman, Patrick Morrissey, issued a statement confirming the settlement and declined to comment further.

Vehicle Failures

According to the complaint, 35-year-old Yingling couldnt brake or steer his Saturn Ion away from a culvert about two miles from his home after his power steering, power brakes and air bag failed as he drove to work at dawn.

Yinglings death was one of the last known fatalities before GM warned consumers of the defective ignition switches and recalled millions of cars, years after the company had first been made aware of the problem. Until that recall notice went out, the familys lawyers say, no one understood why Yingling had failed to turn when the road ended at a T intersection, leaving his car badly damaged and lying on its side in a ditch.

This family did not understand what happened to him until after the recall. It was an inexplicable crash, Pribanic said March 31, in an interview before the settlement was reached. After the recall, we located the car and found the defective switch and had it tested. We found it was well below the specifications.

GM Victories

Pribanic predicted GMs earlier wins in the two earlier bellwethers wouldnt affect his case. The first trial, he said, was obviously completely anomalous and would have no effect on his trial. The second trial involved very different facts, setting it apart, the attorney said.

Theres a certain amount of gravitas associated with the tragedy that was not present in the other cases, Pribanic said in the earlier interview. The jury has to put a dollar figure on what it is to lose your dad in a violent tragedy like this.

Unreasonably Dangerous

While the jury sided with Detroit-based GM in the second trial, it nevertheless agreed that the Saturn Sky at the center of the case was unreasonably dangerous as a result of the defect. The jurors said unanimously that the car deviated from the companys performance standards and that GM failed to use reasonable care to adequately warn consumers of that danger.

Robert Hilliard, one of the lead plaintiffs lawyers in the litigation, said the details of the next trial will be discussed with the court on April 20.

GM has said top executives didnt know the switch was a persistent problem, but in a Justice Department settlement the company admitted knowing about the defect by 2005 and concealing it from regulators from 2012 to 2014. The knowledge was established before the companys $49.5 billion government bailout in 2009, and the concealment continued after its sale to New GM in a bankruptcy reorganization.

The company is separately awaiting an appeals court ruling in a group of lawsuits rejected as a result of the bankruptcy sale. GM argues it was shielded from the suits by bankruptcy law. GM was able to dodge the cases because the sale barred litigation against the old entity, even though the new one employed many of the same employees and executives.

The case is In re General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation, 14-MD-2543, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Oregon is considering another year of insurance coverage to help pay for catastrophic wildfire seasons.

British insurance giant Lloyds of London is offering the state another year of coverage despite three consecutive years of expensive, drought-fueled wildfires. The policy could protect the state from financial problems if 2016 is another expensive year for firefighting, reported The Bulletin.

We think that a policy makes good financial sense for Oregon, (and) we ought to keep purchasing it. Thats what our recommendation is, said Tim Keith on Tuesday. He administers the states forest protection fund.

The policy would also be available to private landowners.

Oregon fire officials and landowners would share the $3.5 million premium and up to $50 million deductible before Lloyds contributes up to $25 million. The premium is down $300,000 from last year.

Last year, the state nearly lost its coverage for the first time in four decades after maxing out its policy in 2013 and 2014. Last year, Oregons fire season was bad enough to trigger federal reimbursements that covered the cost for most severe fires.

Oregon still needs to pay off $10 million in fire costs from last season.

State lawmakers have expressed interest in creating a fund for firefighting and finding money for it. It could hold as much as $60 million.

Sen. Bill Hansell, a Republican from Athena, says hed sponsor a bill proposing such a trust fund, but he wants to see if theres a way to protect the fund from being used on other programs when money is tight.

A trust fund, I can support that. I would. And I would be happy to introduce it, Hansell said, adding, I would want protections on it so that it couldnt be robbed.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man is accused of firing several gunshots inside a bar.

Raysean Neal, 23, is charged with discharging a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a gun in a bar.

He is being held in the Summit County Jail on $250,000 bond.

Neal about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday fired several shots inside Georgie's Pub in the 1300 block of Brittain Road.

No one was injured by the gunshots, according to court records. A large crowd ran from inside the bar screaming, according to court records.

Several police officers patrolling the area heard the shots and went to the bar.

An officer saw Neal run from the bar with the gun. He dropped the gun and eventually stopped running and was arrested, police said.

Officers found Neal's gun in the parking lot, police said.

Neal was drunk when he fired the shots in the men's restroom, court records say.

Officers have been called to Georgie's Pub 19 times since the beginning of 2016 for fights, gunshots, break-ins and other incidents.

If you would like to discuss this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
AKRON, Ohio -- A Green woman pleaded guilty Monday to bringing her 2-year-old cousin to several area drug houses and using crack cocaine while caring for the boy.

Olivia Remenyi, 27, pleaded guilty to abduction. Summit County Common Pleas Judge Amy Corrigall Jones sentenced her to 18 months in prison.

Corrigall Jones added an additional year in prison for violating the terms of her probation on two other cases.

Remenyi on Nov. 6 was watching her cousin at his home in Green. The child's mother allowed Remenyi to take the boy to the store about 3 p.m.

The mother called Summit County Sheriff deputies when the two didn't return home after several hours and Remenyi wouldn't answer phone calls. Remenyi has a history of drug use and psychotic episodes, investigators said.

The incident prompted an Amber Alert and wide search for the boy.

Remenyi took the boy to several different places looking for drugs, police said. She smoked crack in front of him at a home on Buckingham Street in Akron, and then walked to a home on Simmons Court, leaving the boy alone on the front porch.

Investigators tracked her phone to the Simmons Court home. Deputies found the boy unharmed alone on the front porch. He was released to his parents.

Remenyi tried to run from police when they found her on Simmons Court, police reported.

Remenyi was convicted in 2014 of theft, forgery of misusing credit cards. She was sentenced to 18 months on probation. She violated the terms of her probation several times, including when she was accused of stealing a family member's car.

If you would like to discuss this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio - Threatening, East Washington Street: After not receiving the service she wanted, on April 1 a woman caller warned a Post Office manager on the phone that she "was going to have a bad day."

It turned out to not be a complete joke, the angry woman, 80, showed up with a purse in which she indicated she had a bomb and was going to "blow up" the building. She reached across the counter and grabbed the manager by the arm.

Police arrived with bomb-sniffing dogs and determined that there was no bomb. The woman was cited with inducing a riot, a misdemeanor crime, and was told she was not permitted to return. She said she had stopped her mail and the Post Office lost it. Postal officials said that all of her mail had been delivered.

Warrant Arrest, West Washington Street: Mayfield Heights police caught a Nevada woman April 2 in their community who was wanted by Chagrin Falls for a 2011 theft. The woman was intoxicated and smelled of raw marijuana when she was turned over to Chagrin Falls police.

She said she had marijuana in her bra, which prompted assistance from a female Moreland Hills officer. The wanted woman was transported to the Solon jail to await a court date.

Drunken Driving, Bell Street: A South Russell man, 31, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated 7 p.m. March 30. Police received calls of an erratic driver in a red Jeep striking a mailbox.

He was located with two flat tires on his vehicle from driving on the curb. He failed sobriety tests and admitted to having a couple of beers and taking a new prescription. He became combative in the police car while being transported to the Solon jail.

Fraud, North Street: After receiving a call for instructions on where to ship his new vacuum cleaner April 2, the man who did not purchase one called police. He further learned that someone attempted to charge $899 in merchandise through the Internet on his credit card. Police are investigating.

Unauthorized Vehicle Use, Pheasant Run: A Euclid boy attending an overnight teen party March 29 took a Russell boy's truck without permission and is now facing charges. The Russell boy said his keys were missing earlier in the night, but when he looked outside his truck was where he parked it. In the morning, however, it was gone. The Euclid boy's father called later in the morning to report his son missing. He was later found.
odonnell.JPG

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John P. O'Donnell, who acquitted Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo on manslaughter charges last year, is seeking City Council's endorsement of his bid for the Ohio Supreme Court.

(Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John P. O'Donnell appeared before Cleveland City Council members Monday to promote his bid for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. But four council members boycotted the judge's visit to the noon caucus in protest of O'Donnell's controversial acquittal of police officer Michael Brelo last year.

Councilmen Zack Reed, Jeffrey Johnson, Kevin Conwell and TJ Dow have said that O'Donnell made the wrong decision last May when he found Brelo not guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the 2012 shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.

The councilmen said that the verdict, which set off days of protest downtown, inflicted great suffering on Cleveland's black community - and should haunt O'Donnell for the rest of his career.

"It is difficult for me to attend the meeting and offer support to a judge seeking higher office who failed to bring justice to a criminal case that clearly showed an excessive use of force by a police officer, causing the death of two unarmed citizens," Johnson said. "Judge O'Donnell's failure to do justice in this case has caused significant pain to many citizens around Greater Cleveland and beyond."

Brelo was one of more than 100 police officers who participated in the 22-minute police chase of Russell and Williams, and he was one of 13 who opened fire at the 1979 Chevy Malibu when the chase concluded in a parking lot in East Cleveland. The suspects turned out to be unarmed.

Prosecutors argued throughout Brelo's month-long trial last year that when other officers stopped firing, Brelo jumped onto the Malibu's hood and shot straight down at Russell and Williams. Those actions, they said, were unreasonable and went well past his duties as a police officer.

But defense attorneys said Brelo had reason to fear for his life and was justified in his use of deadly force because he and other officers believed that Russell and Williams had a gun and were shooting at police. They argued that if the 12 other officers who fired shots were justified in their use of force, so was Brelo.

O'Donnell ruled that it was impossible to tell whether Brelo's shots were the fatal ones. Brelo was acquitted on all charges, including a lesser offense of felonious assault. The judge spent an hour explaining his verdict to a packed courtroom, while outside protesters took to the streets.

O'Donnell, whose term ends in 2019, is vying for an open seat on the Supreme Court being vacated by Justice Judith Lanzinger, who is too old to run again. O'Donnell faces First District Court of Appeals Judge Patrick Fischer in November.

Reed, Johnson and Conwell, who sat in on portions of the trial, said they are offended that Council President Kevin Kelley would allow O'Donnell to come before council to promote his campaign, given the divisive nature of the Brelo case and the outcome.

Conwell said that beyond the caucus boycott, he will send letters to his constituents, urging them not to vote for O'Donnell.

In an interview Sunday, Kelley acknowledged the controversy surrounding the Brelo case and the trauma that the shooting brought upon the city.

"I'm not insensitive to that," Kelley said. "That case is what led to the U.S. Department of Justice's examination of Cleveland police and gave rise to the consent decree. This is very serious business. But right now, the choice that's before us is between the Democratic nominee or the Republican nominee, and we have to consider the bigger picture."

Kelley said he supports O'Donnell because the state's high court needs Democrats who would uphold the home rule authority of local municipalities. He cited Supreme Court cases that stripped Cleveland of its right to pass laws on issues ranging from firearms to predatory lending practices.

As for Brelo, Kelley gave the judge credit for offering the public a full explanation of his verdict.

"The judge was in the best position to evaluate the facts and the law," Kelley said. "Regardless of whether there is a disagreement on the outcome, Judge O'Donnell was unusually transparent and went to extreme lengths to explain to the public why he decided the case the way he did. ... That's what you should expect from a judge."

Stay tuned to cleveland.com for more on this developing story.

Note: An earlier version of this story stated that the judge was seeking council's endorsement. O'Donnell clarified at the caucus that he is not seeking an endorsement, but rather, wanted to "have a conversation" with council members.
Vladyslav Otsiatsia | Getty Images

Although they may not be the type of humanoid robots you imagine, roaming the streets like a scene out of the movie "I, Robot"; chatbots are on the march nonetheless. Many in the technology sector think chatbotsinteractive messaging powered by artificial intelligence (AI)are the next big form of communication, and their prevalence is already larger than you might expect. Microsoft recently had an embarrassing experiment with its chatbot experiment, while Facebook may be set to roll out a version of its own, Techcrunch reported last week. Many investors around Silicon Valley also see this as one of the next wave of disruptive technologies. Phil Libin, venture capitalist and co-founder of Evernote, recently told "Closing Bell" that "the world is about to be re-written, and bots are going to be a big part of the futurewe are going to be making products over the next few years that fit much more naturally."

So what exactly are these chatbots that are popping up all over? And will they spell the end of humanity as we know it, a frequent fear associated with AI?



'Rich world of conversations'

Real human positions cannot be entirely replaced by these chatbots, so they will eventually work together. Yolanda Gil computer science professor, USC

The simplest answer is a computer software program that is able to intelligently communicate with humans through artificial intelligence.

Tech companies like Microsoft are placing big bets on the computer software, which is able to intelligently communicate with humans via AI. Microsoft recently launched its first attempt with a Twitter chatbot named "Tay"; however things didn't go quite according to plan when "Tay" started spewing racist comments to some user's questions. However, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella isn't giving up on chatbots. It's just "back to the drawing board," he said recently at the company's developer conference. Microsoft also announced that it will be launching new tools to help developers build their own chatbots into their apps. "This is the rich world of conversations that we envision, people to people, people to personal digital assistants, people to bots, and even personal digital assistants calling on bots on your behalf. That's the world that you're going to get to see in the years to come," Nadella said. It's not just the tech behemoths who are trying to get in on the space. Fast food Mexican chain Taco Bell is trying to spice up its ordering options with its integration of what it calls a "TacoBot" into the workplace messaging app, Slack. It's currently in a testing phase, but the company's artificial intelligence software is hoping to allow users to communicate with a bot, place orders and pay for it all through Slack. TacoBot can even give recommendations if customers are having a hard time deciding between tacos or a burrito.
Iron ore moves through the production process at the China Oriental Group Co. steel plant in Tangshan, Hebei province, China, on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. Getty Images

Significant overcapacity will remain in China's steel sector even after planned restructuring, industry executives said at the weekend, suggesting no let-up for the beleaguered industry's plant closures and job losses across the globe. The acknowledgement by Chinese government officials and the country's steel association came as the UK foreign minister and a leading US steel executive added their voices to concerns about the recent surge in exports from China. Luo Tiejun, an official with China's industry ministry, said at a conference that planned cuts would reduce annual steel capacity to about 1.1 billion tonnes by 2020 while domestic consumption was unlikely to exceed 700 million tonnes. "We need to cut [an additional] 200 million tonnes for the situation to become acceptable," Mr Luo said, noting that China also currently exported about 100m tones of steel annually.

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The growing international controversy surrounding China's steel industry comes at an awkward time for the Chinese government, which is seeking to secure EU recognition as a "market economy" by the end of the year. Beijing argues that the designation, which would make it harder to prove that Chinese steel plants were "dumping" their products overseas at below cost, should be granted automatically under the terms of its 2001 World Trade Organisation accession agreement. More from the Financial Times:



Global trade should be remade from the bottom up

Global economic recovery 'in danger of stalling'

Venezuela risks a descent into chaos But EU officials, many of whom were initially favored granting China market-economy status, or MES, face a growing backlash from European unions, industry and politicians, especially after Tata Steel said it would dispose of a Welsh steel plant that employs 4,000 workers. The Indian group has blamed cheap Chinese exports for the pressure building on its European operations. The crisis at Tata's Port Talbot facility in Wales even featured at a weekend meeting of the UK and Chinese foreign ministers, where trade disputes are seldom on the agenda. "I urged China to accelerate its efforts to reduce levels of steel production," Philip Hammond, UK foreign secretary, said after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.
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The parent company of the Daily Mail is in talks with private equity firms for a possible bid for Yahoo. "Given the success of DailyMail.com and Elite Daily we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders," a DailyMail.com spokesman told CNBC on Monday. "Discussions are at a very early stage and there is no certainty that any transaction will take place. We have no further comment at this time. Further updates will be provided as appropriate."

Yahoo declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

The early talks between Daily Mail and Yahoo were initially reported by The Wall Street Journal. The Journal reported that the Daily Mail & General Trust  the parent company of the Daily Mail, which runs a daily newspaper plus one of the world's biggest tabloid-style news sites  was one of about 40 companies to have expressed interest in Yahoo. The Daily Mail has not yet met with Yahoo executives, the WSJ said. The WSJ also said that Yahoo, which put itself on the block in February after a four-year turnaround effort by chief executive Marissa Mayer largely proved unsuccessful, had spoken to bidders including telecoms company Verizon Communications as well as broadcaster CBS and U.S. media and internet company InterActiveCorp . The web portal last week extended the deadline for bids from Aug. 11 to Aug.18.

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U.S. stock indexes looked set to open higher on Monday, when earnings season will kick off with numbers from industrial bellwether Alcoa .



With expectations low for earnings season, the major U.S. averages declined by more than 1 percent last week, marking the worst performance since February.

"The technical tone is weakening as the earnings season begins in earnest and during earnings season, companies which are among the featured equity buyers are sidelined," BBH strategists led by Marc Chandler said in a note on Sunday.

Alcoa will hold a conference call at 5 p.m. ET on Monday.

European stocks traded higher, with the STOXX Europe 600 Bank index outperforming with gains of more than 1.5 percent in early morning trade ET.

Fresh reports supported hopes that the Italian government will soon form a plan to set up a state-backed fund that will buy bad loans held by the country's banks.

No major U.S. economic news is due during the day.

Oil prices are also in focus ahead of an upcoming meeting of oil-producing countries in Qatar at the weekend that could see output levels frozen. U.S. crude reversed to trade nearly 1 percent higher above $40 a barrel as of 9:01 a.m. ET.

Treasury yields were slightly higher. The U.S. dollar index traded slightly lower, with the euro above $1.14 and the yen off recent highs against the dollar around 108.19 yen. Sterling was near $1.42 as of 9:01 a.m.

Stocks to watch during Wall Street trade include Yahoo , after the Wall Street Journal cited sources saying the Daily Mail & General Trust was in talks with private equity firms for a possible bid.

The newspaper also said that Yahoo had spoken to other bidders, including Verizon Communications , CBS and InterActiveCorp .

JPMorgan Chase will be the first Dow-listed stock to report this week, on Wednesday.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.


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Consumers sick of having to dial a 1-800 number to receive customer service might not have to in the near future thanks to Facebook , Ken Sena of Evercore ISI said Monday. On Tuesday, Facebook will kick off F8, its annual developer conference, where one of the company's priorities is expected to be bots, or programs that use artificial intelligence to help consumers execute simple tasks. "As we start seeing advances in natural language programing, it's an opportunity for platforms like Facebook to scale that capability for businesses, and ... to potentially replace that 1-800 number," Sena, an internet analyst at Evercore ISI, told CNBC's "Squawk Alley." "In thinking through whether there's a friction point in wanting to buy something or an issue that you could potentially have post that transaction, a bot can actually handle quite a bit."

The conference is also expected to focus on the company's messenger app, as well as the platform's video capabilities, Colin Sebastian, senior research analyst at R.W. Baird, said in the same interview. "What we'll see at F8 is obviously Messenger with the robots they've been rolling out is the focus, as well as video and Facebook potentially taking a bigger bite out of television ad budgets. That's a huge opportunity for them," he said. "But the background story here is machine learning and artificial intelligence and Facebook creating more of a gap between itself and other competitors. I think we'll see that again on display this week." Investors will be watching the conference closely, as Facebook is scheduled to report quarterly results later this month.
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Blockchain  the technology that underpins the cryptocurrency bitcoin  is unlikely to kill banks despite warnings from top industry executives, the chair of a bitcoin non-profit organization told CNBC on Monday. Last week, Andrey Sharov, a vice president at Russia's Sberbank, said banks would disappear by 2026 due to the rising use of blockchain technology. "In 10 years, there will be no banks, I'm afraid," according to a translation of Sharov's comments by the Coinfox bitcoin news website. But Brock Pierce, the chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, said that while the adoption of blockchain will hit parts of a bank, it will ultimately create opportunity. "There are certain aspects of their business that are going to be negatively impacted, but there are also going to be other business units that are going to be positively impacted and new business units that get created that might not even exist today," Pierce told CNBC in an interview on Monday. "And the parts of the industry that are being most negatively impacted are the ones where the bank is not providing much in the way of value, where they are being a toll taker but not really a value creator."

Blockchain is the technology that underlies the cryptocurrency bitcoin. It works like a huge, decentralized ledger for bitcoin which records every transaction and stores this information on a global network so it cannot be tampered with. Banks feel blockchain technology can be utilized in areas from remittances to securities exchanges to bring about efficiency. The Bitcoin Foundation positions itself as an organization that is helping to advance the use of the cryptocurrency "through advocacy, education and support of adoption and core development", according to its website. While there is no centralized authority for bitcoin, the organization is trying to create common standards for its use.

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Pierce has a varied history. He was a child film star who appeared in Disney's "The Mighty Ducks" film in the early 1990s. He has previously run internet companies and is a partner in Blockchain Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in companies in the space. A number of major financial institutions have been speaking publically about blockchain and touting its potential. A firm called R3 has brought together a group of the world's biggest banks including JPMorgan and Citigroup and is dedicated to researching and delivering new financial technology. Another company called Digital Asset Holdings, founded by an ex-top JPMorgan executive, partnered with JPMorgan earlier this year to explore blockchain technology. Speaking at the Money 2020 conference in Copenhagen last week, Digital Asset Holdings chief executive Blythe Masters, said blockchain technology will be "deployed in a commercial setting in less than a couple of years," but widespread adoption would take longer, a point Pierce echoed. "I think banks are going to take a while to integrate this  it's going to take them years of testing before they start to commercialize aspects of the technology  it's more likely to have an impact in other industries in the short term which are less-regulated and where the stakes are lower," Pierce told CNBC. Pierce also explained that there would be "dozens of different versions of blockchains" deployed for different use cases.

Bitcoin 'major PR problem'
Source: Veuve Clicquot

Americans on average drink only one-third of a glass of champagne each year, according to internal research from Veuve Clicquot. Seeing room for growth, the LVMH brand wants to turn the bubbly drink from something you sip on special occasions to a beverage you pop on a more regular basis. "Americans are more and more interested in wine, and the proliferation of wine bars in this country is extraordinary.  The more consumers understand and are educated about what champagne is and what goes into making it and the whole process and all of those components, the more they are willing to pay that higher price," said Vanessa Kay, president of Veuve Clicquot USA.



Veuve Clicquot traditionally advertises at upscale events and publications, including creating the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New York. It also launched a global print ad campaign called "Let Life Surprise You" in the fall of 2015. But to really change perceptions  and not lower prices, which start around $50 a bottle  the brand launched its first digital ad campaign, focused on introducing the company to an influential demographic: millennial women. In March, Veuve Clicquot released three digital short films on YouTube and Tumblr focusing on telling the story of the woman who ran the company through the lens of the modern millennial woman. It's continued the campaign by curating images of women drinking its bubbly at social events, as well as creating GIFs and other social media around the materials.

"For us, it was about how do you reposition as something delicious that you can enjoy with your friends or people that you care about, even in more casual settings?" said Brian Carley, chief creative officer at agency Rokkan. "How do we make it the preferred drink of book clubs? If you bring a six pack of beer to a party, why can't it be a bottle of champagne?" It turns out focusing on women is a natural fit for the brand, Carley said. LVMH's other champagne brands like Dom Perignon tend to skew more male, he pointed out. Given the history of Veuve Clicquot, it was the perfect label for a female focus. The company was founded by Philippe Clicquot-Muiron in 1772. He died in 1805, leaving his widow Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin in charge. Madame Clicquot became the first woman to run a champagne house and is credited with popularizing the brand.


"This is a challenged group not unlike the auto companies, which are all dealing with Uber. I think that their failure to acknowledge Uber shows me that their head is in the sand. There's obviously something wrong," Cramer said on " Squawk on the Street ."

Hertz shares fell more than 5 percent Monday after the company lowered its full-year revenue guidance, and CNBC's Jim Cramer said the news shows that rental car companies need to wake up.

Hertz Global Holdings said it now expects car-rental revenues to range between flat and up 1.5 percent, down from a previous range of 1.5-to-2.5 percent growth.

"We are disappointed that the pricing pressure experienced late in 2015 further intensified in the first quarter of 2016," President and CEO John Tague said in a statement. "However, we believe that industry capacity will likely moderate as seasonal demand improves establishing the foundation for a relative improvement in pricing as we head into the peak summer season."



Hertz's stock has fallen over 55 percent in the last year.

"One of the reasons why it's this bad is because they talk about pricing pressure endlessly," Cramer said.

Hertz did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.



Disclosure: Cramer's trust did not own Hertz stock when this article was published.
When OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers meet this weekend, it will be one of the most closely watched oil summits in years, but few experts believe the get-together will result in a output freeze that would help lift global prices.

Around 15 major oil producers from both the OPEC cartel and non-OPEC countries are expected to attend the meeting in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday but analysts said that hopes of any "fireworks" would likely result in disappointment.

Since news emerged earlier this year of the meeting, oil markets have stabilized from the historic lows seen at the start of the year, rising from a low of below $27 a barrel to currently trade around $40 a barrel.

On Monday, however, oil prices dipped on concerns that the meeting would not improve the current imbalance between the supply of, and demand for, oil with Brent crude currently trading down 20 cents at $41.75 a barrel while U.S. WTI crude is 21 cents down from the previous session lower at $$39.52.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs warned in a note Monday that the meeting was unlikely to deliver a "bullish surprise" for oil markets and they maintained their price forecast of $35 per barrel in the second quarter.

The note, entitled "Doha is no panacea," also said that there was also a "multitude of potential production growth sources" to keep OPEC crude production growing. The analysts, Damien Courvalin, Jeffrey Currie, Abhisek Banerjee and Raquel Ohana, noted too that even if an agreement to freeze production is reached in Doha "it would not accelerate the rebalancing of the oil market as OPEC (ex. Iran) and Russia production levels have this year remained close to our 2016 average annual forecast of 40.5 million barrels a day."

The balance of supply and demand in the global oil markets has been out of kilter since OPEC refused to cut production in November 2014, choosing instead to defend its market share in the face of non-OPEC rivals such as shale oil producers in the U.S. In the meantime, a global slowdown and jitters over China's outlook saw demand failing to keep up with the record output from the 13-member producer group.
Welcome home Donald Trump. Now, you get to face the voters who know you best.

It's the electorate who remembers how you studied for two years at Fordham University in the Bronx before you transferred to Wharton. Somehow, you forget to mention that on the campaign trail when gloating over your brilliant Ivy League pedigree.

You will also have to face the local media who have covered your projects, scandals and failures going back to the 1970s. You can't fudge the facts with them.
WHEN: Today, Monday, April 11th

WHERE: CNBC's "Closing Bell"

Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on CNBC's "Closing Bell" (M-F, 3PM-5PM ET) today, Monday, April 11thdiscussing Goldman Sach's $5B mortgage settlement. Following is a link to the video on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000508730.

All references must be sourced to CNBC.

KELLY EVANS: THE US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ANNOUNCING TODAY THAT GOLDMAN SACHS AGREED TO PAY JUST OVER $5 BILLION TO SETTLE CLAIMS STEMMING FROM THE MORTGAGE CRISIS. NY ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN IS THE CO-CHAIR OF THE RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE BACKED SECURITIES WORKING GROUP WHICH NEGOTIATED THE SETTLEMENT WITH GOLDMAN AND JOINS US ONSET.

ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN: THANKS FOR HAVING ME.

EVANS: DOES THIS END YOUR OUTSTANDING LITIGATION WITH GOLDMAN ON FINANCIAL CRISIS ERA STUFF?

SCHNEIDERMAN: THIS RESOLVES CLAIMS RELATED TO THE BAD MORTGAGE BACKED SECURITIES THAT WERE PART OF BRINGING THE MARKET DOWN IN 2008. THIS RESOLVES CLAIMS BY A VARIETY OF FEDERAL AGENCIES AND STATES.

EVANS: WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER BANKS?

SCHNEIDERMAN: WE'VE SETTLED SO FAR WITH CHASE, MORGAN STANLEY, BANK OF AMERICA, CITI, GOLDMAN IS THE FIFTH. THERE'S STILL MORE INVESTIGATIONS UNDER WAY BUT THIS BRINGS THE TOTAL FOR OUR WORKING GROUP TO OVER $90 BILLION RECOVERED AND NEW YORK STATE HAS RECOVERED I'M HAPPY TO SAY OVER $5 BILLION AND WE'RE DOING WHAT WE CAN DO TO SEE AS MUCH AS THIS GETS OUT TO HOMEOWNERS OR COMMUNITIES THAT WERE HURT BY THE CRASH AS POSSIBLE.

EVANS: THAT'S EXACTLY THE QUESTION, WHETHER IT'S BEEN TALLIES OF DIFFERENT ANALYSTS FOLLOWING THE BANKS, SAYING UPWARDS OF $200 BILLION THAT HAVE BEEN EXTRACTED IN FINES AND SETTLEMENTS SINCE THE CRISIS OR THE JOURNAL'S INVESTIGATION A MONTH OR SO AGOWHERE THEIR SIMPLE QUESTION WAS WHERE'S THIS MONEY GOING. THEY COULD FIND OF FIGURE IT OUT BUT COULDN'T REALLY. EVEN IN NEW YORK'S CASE, IT MIGHT BE GOING TO PAY SOME PENSIONS OR WHAT HAVE YOU. WHERE IS ALL THIS MONEY GOING?

SCHNEIDERMAN: THE SETTLEMENTS ARE COMPLICATED BECAUSE DIFFERENT BANKS HAD DIFFERENT CLAIMS SOME HAD NATIONAL, THE CREDIT UNION ASSOCIATION HAD CLAIMS IN SOME CASES IT WAS DIFFERENT AGENCIES , SOME STATES THEY HAD PENSION FUND CLAIMS. IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK WE'VE GOTTEN WELL OVER A BILLION DOLLARS IN CASH. THAT'S GOES TO THE STATE GENERAL FUND. TO THE EXTENT IT'S INTENDED TO BE DIRECTED TOWARDS HOUSING PROGRAMS WHEN WE HAVE SUBSTANTIAL HOUSING PROGRAMS IN NEW YORK STATE BUT THAT'S REALLY CARVED UP BY THE LEGISLATURE AND THE GOVERNOR. THE SOFTER LEAF AS THEY CALL IT THE CONSUMER RELIEF HAS BEEN DIRECTED IN NEW YORK PRIMARILY TO HELPING HOMEOWNERS AND COMMUNITIES THAT WERE HURT BY THE CRASH. THE FIRST THING WE DID WAS FUND A NETWORK OF 90 HOUSING COUNSELING AND LEGAL SERVICES AGENCIES SO NO ONE IN NEW YORK GETS FORECLOSED ON BECAUSE YOU CAN'T GET TO A LAWYER. THERE ARE A LOT OF FOLKS OUT THERE WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR MODIFICATIONS THEY CAN KEEP YOU IN YOUR HOME BUT THEY JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT. WE'VE SEEN THROUGH THAT NETWORK OVER 60,000 FAMILIES ALREADY AND HELPS A LOT OF FOLKS KEEP THEIR HOMES.

EVANS: AND WE KNOW THESE ARE HUGE SUMS BUT GOLDMAN DID RALLY ON THE NEWS. HOPING AS YOU INDICATED AS WELL THIS NOW PUTS THAT CHAPTER BEHIND THEM.

MIKE SANTOLI: RIGHT THAT'S THE SENSE, AT LEAST IF NOT THE LAST ONE THAT WE'RE AT THE TAIL END OF THIS WHOLE PROCESS. I WONDER, THE SUBSTANCE OF THE FINDINGS WERE THAT GOLDMAN AND OTHER BANKS AS WELL MISREPRESENTED THE QUALITY OF THE LOANS THAT WERE BACKING THESE SECURITIES. WHAT ON A GOING AHEAD BASIS WILL CHANGE. IS THERE ANYTHING REQUIRED OF THE BANKS TO CHANGE PRACTICES OR MAKE SURE THAT THINGS DON'T HAPPEN THIS WAY AGAIN?

SCHNEIDERMAN: THERE'S MONITORING ON AN ONGOING BASIS TO MAKE SURE THE MONEY BEING DISTRIBUTED IS DISTRIBUTED PROPERLY FOR EXAMPLE IF IT IS GETTING TO FORECLOSURE RELIEF OR BLAND BANKS WHICH WE'RE ALSO FUNDING IN NEW YORK. GOING FORWARD, THEY HAVE TO COMPLY WITH SECURITIES LAWS. SOME PEOPLE ARE ARGUING THAT THE MORTGAGE MARKET IN THE WAKE OF THIS TIGHTEN UP TOO MUCH. NOW WE'RE TRYING TO REACH THE RIGHT BALANCE. EVERYONE IS ON NOTICE. THE PROBLEM HERE ESSENTIALLY WAS MISREPRESENTATIONS ABOUT DUE DILIGENCE THERE WERE ALL OF THESE PROMISES, WE'RE SCRUTINIZING THESE LOANS CAREFULLY AND MAKING SURE WE THROW OUT THE BAD ONES. GOLDMAN FOR WHATEVER REASON DID BUSINESS WITH COUNTRYWIDE AND FREEMONT A LOT OF THE WORST ACTORS IN THIS AREA AND WAIVE IN A LOT OF LOANS, THEIR OWN PEOPLE SAID THEY PROBABLY SHOULDN'T WAVE THEM IN AND THEY WAVED THEM IN SO THAT IS ALL IN THE STATEMENT OF FACTS.

LINK: DO YOU THINK THE REGULATIONS ARE TOO TIGHT NOW?

SCHNEIDERMAN: NO, I DON'T THINK THE REGULATIONS ARE TOO TIGHT. I THINK THAT THERE'S CHALLENGES WITH THE HOUSING MARKET AND FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE IS ALWAYS TOUGH. AND WE WENT THROUGH A PERIOD OF TIME WHERE THERE WAS THIS HUGE PUSH FOR HOMEOWNERSHIP, PARTICULARLY MINORITY HOMEOWNERSHIP. AND A LOT OF FOLKS SAY, YOU KNOW, WOULD ARGUE THAT THERE WERE PEOPLE WITH GOOD  WELL INTENTIONED WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD WAY TO GET FAMILIES TO SECURE SOME WEALTH FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR CHILDREN. AND ENDED UP PUTTING A LOT OF EQUITY IN THEIR HOMES JUST IN TIME FOR THE CRASH. SO YOU'VE GOT TO FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE.

EVANS: THERE'S ALSO, OBVIOUSLY A BIG FOCUS ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL ABOUT THE FINANCIAL CRISIS STILL AND WHETHER THE BANKS ARE TOO BIG AND NEED TO BE BROKEN UP AND THESE KIND OF THINGS. AND THIS IS NOW HERE IN NEW YORK, ESPECIALLY WITH THOSE PRIMARIES COMING UP. ARE YOU ENDORSING SOMEBODY? HAVE YOU DECLARED YOURSELF FOR SOMEBODY?

SCHNEIDERMAN: OH, I ENDORSED SECRETARY CLINTON A LONG TIME AGO. WE HAVE LONG RELATIONSHIP GOING BACK TO, ACTUALLY, BEFORE SHE WAS A SENATOR FROM NEW YORK. BUT I'VE WORKED WITH HER, TALKED PUBLIC POLICY WITH HER 

EVANS: LET ME JUST ASK YOU THEN, DO YOU THINK THAT BERNIE SANDERS HAS GONE TOO FAR WITH HIS RHETORIC? I MEAN, YOU HERE, REPRESENT KIND OF THE HAMMER COMING DOWN ON THESE INSTITUTION. BUT HE STILL WILL SAY THE BUSINESS MODEL OF WALL STREET IS FRAUD. IS HE GOING TOO FAR? OR NEEL KASHKARI, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU HEAR THE BANKS ARE  TIME TO BREAK UP THE BANKS. ARE THEY FOCUSED ON THE RIGHT THING HERE?

SCHNEIDERMAN: YEAH, I MEAN, I'M NOT FOLLOWING EVERYTHING SENATOR SANDERS SAYS. HE'S A NICE FELLOW, BUT I THINK THE HARSH RHETORIC IS ONE THING. COMING UP WITH SOLUTIONS IS SOMETHING ELSE AGAIN. AND WE ARE IN A PERIOD OF TIME WHERE I WOULD ARGUE THAT WE DO NOT  HAVE NOT HAD EFFECTIVE REREGULATION. I DON'T THINK THE DODD FRANK PROCESS IS GOING AS WELL AS IT SHOULD. IT IS MAKING THINGS COMPLICATED THAT SHOULD BE MADE MORE SIMPLE. AND I DO THINK THAT IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR WHOEVER THE NEXT PRESIDENT IS TO TAKE A CAREFUL LOOK AT THAT PROCESS. AND MY APPROACH TO IT IS YOU REALLY GOT TO GET PEOPLE INVOLVED WHO ARE IN THE BUSINESS. YOU'VE GOT TO GET PEOPLE INVOLVED WHO UNDERSTAND THE INDUSTRY, WHO UNDERSTAND FINANCES. COMPLEXITY IS THE ENEMY OF THE SIMPLE INVESTOR.

EVANS: NO, EVERYBODY WOULD AGREE TO THAT. BUT WOULD YOU GO SO  WOULD YOU EVER FILE SUIT AGAINST THESE BANKS TO BREAK THEM UP? YOU KNOW, WHAT I MEAN? IS THERE A BASIS FOR GOING THAT FAR IF YOU FEEL AS THOUGH THERE'S STILL  IS THAT ONE SOLUTION? I MEAN WOULD THAT GET WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT?

SCHNEIDERMAN: ACTUALLY UNDER DODD FRANK IT'S ARGUABLY HARDER TO BECAUSE IF YOU'RE A SIFI WHERE YOU'RE BEING  THE GOVERNMENT IS NOW BLESSING TOO BIG TO FAIL. SO IN A STRANGE WAY, WE'VE MOVED IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF WHAT A LOT OF ADVOCATES FOR FINANCIAL REFORM WERE SEEKING. I THINK  THE MARKETS I THINK ARE CERTAINLY BETTER OFF THAN WE WERE LEADING UP TO THE CRASH. WE WERE ALWAYS IN DANGER OF OTHER BUBBLES, BUT I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD SENSE THAT THERE ARE SMART PEOPLE TRYING TO DO THE BEST THEY CAN. IT IS BOGGED DOWN BY THIS MORASS OF GRIDLOCK AND LOBBYISTS ON TOP OF LOBBYISTS IN WASHINGTON. THE PROBLEM WE'VE GOT RIGHT NOW IS THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS JUST NOT FUNCTIONING AT THE LEVEL WE NEED IT TO FUNCTION. AND THAT'S WHY MY OFFICE AND I'M PROUD OF THE FACT THAT WE TOOK THE LEAD OF ALL THE STATES IN GETTING THIS WORKING GROUP SET UP IN THE FIRST PLACE SO WE COULD RECOVER 

EVANS: NO, YOU GUYS HAVE  WHETHER IT'S THIS, TRUMP UNIVERSITY, DAILY FANTASY, YOU GUYS HAVE YOUR HANDS FULL. SO WE'LL LET YOU GO AND GET BACK TO WORK.

SCHNEIDERMAN: THANK YOU.

EVANS: THANK YOU FOR JOINING US DOWN HERE TODAY.

SCHNEIDERMAN: APPRECIATE IT.

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Italian banks may be rallying on Monday, but the sector has still to shake off the concerns over their hefty bad loan books.

Out of many of the euro zone's banking systems, Italy's has been one of the most scrutinized, with the sector facing some 360 billion euros ($411.5 billion) in bad loans.

However, despite the turbulence, experts suggest the country's financial system isn't nearly as bad as the market thinks.

"The actual issue of the Italian banking system has been by far highly overestimated," Valerio De Molli, managing partner of The European House  Ambrosetti, told CNBC on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti workshop, over the weekend.

"If you look into the gross amount of non-performing loans (NPLs), you have quite an immense figure; we are the worst in Europe in comparison to total lending. We are one third higher than European average, that's bad."

"However, if you look into the net figures, all relevant banks have already amortized those costs and eventual risks. So that's one fact which is underestimated and under-evaluated in my opinion."
While workers in food preparation and service will benefit from a $15 California minimum wage, those higher labor cost won't necessarily be passed on to you with higher food prices at your local grocery store. First, let's differentiate from restaurants and agriculture. In restaurants, wages are a big cost component, of course. But the breakdown of labor costs in agricultural production like meat and bread can be unexpectedly low.

And because most Americans eat more protein and carbs that have lower labor costs, compared to fruits and vegetables that have higher labor costs, the coming $15 hourly wage in California is expected to have a small net effect if at all on retail food prices. "The fact is most of what people spend on food is not the labor intensive parts of food. They spend it on milk and cheese and meat and bread and things like that. And the labor costs there are much less than they are in strawberries, or fresh peaches," said Philip Martin, professor emeritus at the University of California at Davis. "Most of the spending on food is actually on the less labor intensive parts of food. In something like wheat or for bread, the labor costs are approaching zero," said Martin, an expert in agricultural and resource economics.

A laborer picks strawberries at J.R. Organics Farm in Escondido, California Sam Hodgson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The bulk of what people spend on food from a grocery store doesn't actually go to farmers. "It goes to retailers, and transporters and a whole lot of other people in between. Farmers don't give every penny they get to workers," said Martin of UC Davis. And even at the grocery store, most people are reaching for food with lower labor costs. The largest food-at-home expenditures were for meat and poultry (with low labor costs) to an average of $900 a year per household. Expenditures per year on fresh fruits (with higher labor costs) was $275, and $240 for fresh vegetables, according to consumer spending figures for 2014.

But what about food prices at restaurants? Business owners against mandated pay argue they will be forced to raise prices to offset higher wages. Keep in mind a restaurant owner, whether it is a mom-and-pop or burrito chain, must balance many costs including higher pay for waiters and cooks, as well as costs for ingredients.



And even if you're not a restaurant owner, California farmers and food producers will have some exposure to higher mandated pay for their workers. It's worth noting every business along the food production chain in California, beyond farms and ranches, will need to lift minimum pay, including packing houses. Workers there pack near perfect fruits and vegetables into boxes for shipment, and increasingly for export to places like China.

"If you're looking at this from the point of view of the farmer, this [wages] is another, very difficult issue," said Martin of UC Davis. The state grows more than a third of the country's vegetables, and two-thirds of the nation's fruits and nuts. And many farmers, especially in the Central Valley, are leaner after coming off four, consecutive years of a severe drought and soaring water prices. "If you talk to any farmers, they're really feeling under siege," said Martin.

Last year, some farmers' water bills jumped tenfold. They sought loans and dipped into personal savings to keep land alive another year.

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This year, California snowpack on the Sierra Nevadas, which eventually melt and fill reservoirs, grew during the first half of March. But long dry spells have left water content still below average. "While for many parts of the state there will be both significant gains in both reservoir storage and stream flow, the effects of previous dry years will remain for now," according to a late March statement from the California Department of Water Resources. Wages are another potential hit on top of water issues.

"I don't know whether this will be the thing that pushes some people over the edge or not. But, it certainly won't make it easier," Martin said. "Some of them [farmers] might not survive."

In 2015, citrus farmer Lorren Wheaton in Tulare County had received no surface water deliveries for two years. Oranges, pistachios, almonds and wine are among California's top agricultural exports. Qin Chen | CNBC

In Tulare County in the San Joaquin Valley, Lorren Wheaton farms citrus. In two recent years, he has shelled out $1 million-plus to keep his 300 acres alive during the drought. Lifting wages to a $15 threshold is another higher cost. The politicians, "they're heaping it on. There's no doubt about it," Wheaton said. "California has gone completely nuts in the employee field."

Wheaton is down to a 2-man crew. And lifting wages to a $15 threshold is just a starting point for many farmers when it comes to worker-related costs. Minimum pay for employees comes with related expenses that can span health care, taxes and worker's compensation. California employers have six years until 2022 to lift wages to at least $15 an hour from the current hourly, state minimum of $10. "They've been hit with the Affordable Care Act. There's a new paid family leave bill. There's the drought, the high dollar is hurting exports. There's a whole lot of things going on that are affecting farmer's costs," said Martin of UC Davis. Other macro agricultural pressures include surplus production and lower prices, and the ongoing stream of regulations.

"They are true challenges," says Vernon Crowder, a senior analyst with a focus on food and agribusiness research for Rabobank. "It's hard to say if one is a tipping point."
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The spotlight on the London property market as a destination for colossal sums of money has intensified after the so-called Panama Papers leak. The documents  more than 11.5 million encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm  have led to various reports detailing the foreign ownership of multiple prime London properties, sparking fears that some multimillion-dollar deals are being financed with laundered money. The U.K.'s Guardian newspaper  one of the teams that has been analyzing the documents  reported last week that around 2,800 Mossack Fonseca companies appear on a U.K. land registry list of overseas property owners dating from 2014. The Financial Times also reported that associates of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, had bought property in the capital. CNBC has not been able to independently verify the allegations. The money-laundering process involves processing money from a criminal or sanctioned sources and shuffling it from country to country and company to company until its original source cannot be traced.

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London property is a compelling choice for criminals looking to make dirty money clean, according to law enforcement agencies. In addition to a system that that can make it possible to disguise which individual ultimately owns a U.K. property, the country's political stability, image of respectability and lavish lifestyle offerings make the capital an attractive place to buy a trophy asset.

The city also has a highly competent and extensive professional services industry to provide all of the financial, advisory and legal support necessary to buy a house. These agents are tasked with raising red flags if they suspect corrupt money is in play but United Nations data show only a minuscule fraction of deals involving laundered money are ever flagged.

The United Nations estimates only 1 percent of global laundered money flows are detected. The contribution from U.K. estate agents was a total of 355 suspicious activity reports in 2015, equating to 0.09 percent of all the reports filed in 2015, according to the National Crime Agency.

The U.K. government has made some attempts to improve transparency by creating a publicly accessible database that will be launched later this year which will show the ultimate owners of U.K.-registered companies. However, this will not help unravel who owns the 36,342 London properties held by offshore registered companies.

"For these measures to have teeth, the government must force the U.K.'s tax havens to set up the same registers, or we simply move the secrecy offshore." Chido Dunn, senior campaigner at NGO Global Witness said to CNBC via email.

Rachel Davies, head of U.K. advocacy and research at the U.K. arm of the global non-governmental organization Transparency International agrees, telling CNBC via email that "this will make it much harder for corrupt individuals to use London as a safe haven for their illicit wealth."

"The impact of this damages the lives of people in the countries of origin, who have their resources and national budgets plundered by corrupt individuals, but it is also likely that this has skewed London property prices, pricing locals out of the market," she said.

Indeed, the rampant growth in London property prices support this assertion. At the turn of the century, according to Nationwide data, the average first-time buyers' house price was at a 4.3 multiple of their average salary. Now that figure has billowed out to around 10.1.

Another negative side effect is said to be a prioritization in recent years by U.K. developers of building luxury developments instead of desperately needed affordable accommodation in response to the demand for prime properties, often from offshore registered vehicles.

Transparency International cites house price manipulation and the growth of "ghost" areas as concerns. Indeed, an Evening Standard investigation in 2014 revealed 3 billion worth of London mansions sit empty, with the negative knock-on effects for local services and communities.

At a time of such an acute housing shortage and the rapidly declining ability of those who work and pay taxes in London to afford a house to live in, the clamor is growing for a tightening of rules to stop illicit money soaking up London property. The Panama Papers' revelations have added momentum to those demands.




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European leaders are scrambling to tighten rules on tax evasion this week as the Panama Papers data dump continues to cause political shockwaves around the world. David Cameron, the U.K.'s prime minister, is expected to announce measures to combat tax avoidance on Monday and meanwhile Germany and France's finance ministers have vowed to tighten rules against tax havens. The initiatives come as the European Union's vice-president for Jobs, Growth and Competitiveness likened tax avoidance to a "cancer" that had to be tackled. "It's a bad disease, it's a cancer of market economies," Jyrki Katainen told CNBC on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti workshop in Italy this weekend. "The market economy is a fantastic tool to create wealth and to give all citizens the opportunity to distribute the wealth in a fair manner but if you only want to take the fruits and not pay your liabilities in terms of taxes then it's not fair and it's a cancer," he said.



A poolside view overlooking the newer side of the Panama City skyline. Matthew Micah Wright | Lonely Planet Images | Getty Images

Katainen refused to comment on the circumstances surrounding specific leaders such as David Cameron, the U.K. prime minister who is in hot water over his own tax affairs following the Panama Papers leak. "All tax avoidance is always bad but especially if you are a democratically-elected leaderYou are a leader of the people and you are playing with different rules than your own citizens. It's a matter of confidence, it's a matter of fairness," he said.

Nervous leaders

Katainen's comments come as European leaders move to calm growing public anger over alleged tax avoidance with the global scandal over tax evasion already claiming one victim, the Icelandic prime minister, his job last week.

At the weekend, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron published a summary of his tax returns in a bid to try to clear his name after accusations of tax avoidance. He also announced this weekend plans to set up a task force to investigate allegations of tax-dodging and money laundering. The moves followed calls for Cameron to resign in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal in which millions of documents detailing the opaque offshore business dealings of an array of global political leaders, handled by Panamaniam law firm Mossack Fonseca, were leaked last week. Cameron is under fire for failing to previously disclose that he and his family had invested in an offshore investment fund run by his late father, which was exposed in this week's massive Panama Papers data dump. According to the documents, Cameron's late father ran an investment vehicle which avoided paying tax in the United Kingdom by having directors hold board meetings in Switzerland and the Bahamas. After initially refusing to divulge details on his interest in the fund, the U.K. leader revealed to ITV news Thursday that he and his wife had previously held a stake in the offshore trust. Cameron said he sold the shares before he entering Number 10 in 2010 and had paid all UK taxes due on profits from the 30,000 sale. On Monday, Cameron is due to face fellow politicians in parliament and is also due to announce that new legislation making companies criminally liable if employees aid tax evasion will be introduced this year, Reuters said.

German plan
The sign in front of the building that houses Mossack Fonseca in Panama City. The law firm has been at the center of the Panama Papers scandal.

The Panama Papers, which contained more than 11.5 million encrypted internal documents from the offices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, implicated government heads in setting up "shell" companies to harbor billions of dollars offshore.

The massive data leak that tied politicians, celebrities and other well-known people to possible financial crimes cast the spotlight on the shortfalls in current regulation.

Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko are among those named in the documents as owning shell companies.



Relatives and associates of other leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi Jinping and Britain's David Cameron were also identified by the team of hundreds of reporters that examined the documents over the course of a year.



On Sunday, David Cameron published his tax records in an attempt to a line under questions about his personal finances raised by the mention of his late father in the Panama Papers.



In this week's trader poll, tell us what needs to be done in light of the Panama Papers.
Underfunded pension programs in U.S. states, cities and municipalities are "three or four times worse" than current government projections, said Joshua Rauh, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution think tank.

"The amounts of money [officials] are setting aside [for pensions] are far short of adequate," Rauh told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday. "Taxpayers are going to get pretty soaked" when the time comes to make up the difference.

In a Hoover essay, "Hidden Debt, Hidden Deficits," Rauh argued U.S. public pension systems were actually running at a $3.4 trillion shortfall in fiscal 2014 when "optimistic assumptions about future investment returns" contained in government disclosures were tempered.

"Most public pension systems across the United States still calculate both their pension costs and liabilities under the assumption that their contributed assets will achieve returns of 7.5 [to] 8 percent per year," wrote Rauh.
Hailshadow | Getty Images

The hackers behind recent high-profile ransomware attacks on U.S. hospitals are using business methods that might be familiar to some Silicon Valley start-ups. Cybercriminal gangs are attacking large markets with rich customers. They offer a product with a clear value proposition (giving you back your seized data) that alleviates a specific pain point (the inability to run your business). They act with agility and stealth enabling them to outwit the competition. They are also scrappy, often bootstrapping their illicit businesses.

"It is an economic business system, it is just perpetrated at a criminal level," said Matt Devost, CEO of FusionX, a unit of Accenture. "There are a lot of analogies between that and a start-up environment."

What started as a basic scam  extorting, say, a $300 ransom from a grandmother wanting to get family photos back  has escalated. Last year there was a "reported loss of more than $24 million as a result of ransomware attacks," according to the FBI, a figure that surely massively underrepresents the scale of the problem due to the unwillingness of many victims to report.

The start-up costs for an illicit ransomware business are minimal. The hackers write their own code or buy ransomware as a service on the black market, often as part of a suite of other products.

Many groups are already operating other cybercriminal businesses, so getting into the ransomware business is just another way of leveraging existing talent and infrastructure. It requires minimal investment, is relatively low risk and the returns are potentially massive.

Enterprise victims frequently have no choice but to pay up, since hackers are often able to seize backup data as well, said Denise Anderson, president of the National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center. "So if they need to stay in business, they are paying it."

With the recent attacks on U.S. hospitals, the assailants are expanding beyond consumer to enterprise "customers"  their victims  and adjusting pricing accordingly. For example, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles paid a ransom of $17,000 in bitcoin in February. Other enterprises are likely paying a lot more than that already, said experts. (The FBI does not condone payment of ransom, an agency official told CNBC.) Read MoreThe hospital held hostage by hackers

Last year alone there was a reported loss of more than $24 million as a result of ransomware attacks FBI official

"I imagine it will hit into the millions of dollars, if they are able to infect some of the right types of targets in an enterprise environment," said Devost.

Like smart start-up CEOs, the hackers are testing the market and refining the business model. As the vast majority of attacks are likely settled without going public, more research is needed to figure out just how profitable the business really is, said experts. Unlike the criminal networks, which often share information freely, many of the victims do not. "The cybercriminals collude when their business model merits it," said Anderson. "Shame on us for not working together to protect against them."

The most lucrative potential victims have a specific set of characteristics. They hold critical information and infrastructure, have immature and vulnerable security programs and the ability to pay the ransom. Small- to medium-sized U.S. hospitals have proven to be a sweet spot in ransomware because of their often poor security infrastructure as well as the willingness to pay to retrieve patient data, get back online quickly and prevent reputational damage.

"We will see much more successful attacks in other industries," said Ed Cabrera, vice president of cybersecurity strategy at Trend Micro.

Law firms, which protect confidential and valuable information about their clients, and venture-backed start-ups that have invested in developing intellectual property are two targets criminals may increasingly go after, he said.

It is an economic business system, it is just perpetrated at a criminal level Matt Devost, CEO of FusionX, a unit of Accenture

The black market for high-value trade secrets or intellectual property is a lot more lucrative than the market for personally identifiable information, which is fairly saturated after numerous data breaches, said Devost. It is also a lot riskier, potentially exposing hackers attempting to sell their ill-gotten goods to law enforcement. Within businesses, it is almost always employees at the top and bottom of the pyramid who represent the best "leads" for attackers. Often, hackers will specifically target C-level executives with high-level access to an entire corporate network, or find success when low-level employees click on something they should not, said Vinny Troia, CEO of cybersecurity consulting firm Night Lion Security. In a perhaps counterintuitive twist, some ransomware criminals actually want to make their attacks "user friendly" for their victims. Like legitimate businesses, they want to maintain a five-star rating, said experts. Some will offer the opportunity for victims to "try before they buy," unencrypting a small portion of the files held hostage to prove they can deliver the product  a decryption key to get their files back.

They are creating user interfaces with sleeker designs and, in some cases, even providing customer support to make it easier to for victims to pay, said Devost. That makes it easier for even low-level victims  i.e., the grandma who just wants her photos back, and who has never heard of bitcoin  to make a payment. "To the extent that you have a support apparatus to help your victims pay tells me there is a lot of money being made," said Cabrera. On the back end, the hackers continue to innovate to make ransomware more robust, and to stay one step ahead of cybersecurity companies and law enforcement. When the "good guys" discover a decryption key, they often release it to enable victims to decrypt their own data, undercutting the attackers' business.



An example of how nimble these illicit enterprises are is shown by the rapid product evolution of CryptoWall, first released in 2014. CryptoWall is one of the most widely used forms of ransomware, and has been updated several times to make it stronger, said cybersecurity and threat intelligence firm Webroot in its 2016 Threat Brief. CryptoWall 3.0 is smarter, more secure and stealthier than previous generations. The malware generates unique encryption keys instead of using one key for all infections, secures the master key itself to prevent unauthorized access, and conceals the location of the servers containing the decryption keys and payment mechanisms, among other things. "In late 2015, CryptoWall 4.0 was released, with numerous enhancements to help sidestep security software," said Webroot.



The next evolution of CryptoWall will likely more aggressively try to encrypt attached network storage devices, Devost said. The software is largely operated by criminal gangs, many with ties to organized crime, often located in Eastern Europe and Russia. "Whenever it comes to malware that is written with the focus of strictly making more of a profit, it has typically come out of that region of the world," said Brian Calkin, vice president of operations at the Center for Internet Security.



watch now

For example, the architect believed to be behind CryptoLocker, Evgeniy Mikhaylovich Bogachev, remains at large, and is suspected to be in Russia. "Many of the most sophisticated cybercriminal actors are located in jurisdictions that do not cooperate directly with the United States," said the U.S. Department of Justice on March 4 in response to an inquiry by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) about the challenges in bringing the suspected criminals behind these types of ransomware attacks to justice. "If all individuals and businesses backed up their files, ransomware that relies on encrypting user files would not be as profitable a business for cybercriminal actors," said the DOJ.
Other than Russian President Vladimir Putin , there's no single individual seen as having more sway over the world oil market, and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is critical to the success or failure of this weekend's meeting in Doha, Qatar.

Oil-producing countries from inside and outside of OPEC hope to strike a deal this weekend to freeze production in order to stabilize the price of crude. Since Saudi Arabia, Russia and others first agreed to a meeting in February, oil prices have been supported at somewhat higher levels.

While there still could be a deal, some analysts see the chances of a meaningful agreement as slim. The reason is that bin Salman stated the kingdom's position and is unlikely to change his mind, barring a dramatic about-face in behavior from Iran.

"This could be the mother of all buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital.



In a five-hour interview with Bloomberg, bin Salman recently laid out his position on a freeze deal, saying Saudi Arabia would participate only if major producers, including Iran, also participate.

Read MoreOpinion: Why oil is about to tank - Kilduff

"Actually I think nothing is going to happen there. I think the likelihood is that the Saudis will continue to say the conditions are not right for a freeze in production," said Edward Morse, global head of commodities research at Citigroup. "It's a combination of factors. They have the excuse that Iran is not part of it, but I think overall Saudi strategy has been a function of recognition that there's oversupply in the market, and if they don't take the market share, someone else will."

Iran has said it would participate in the Doha meeting this weekend, but it will not freeze production. Iran is working to return oil to market, now that it is no longer under sanctions for its nuclear program, and its goal is to bring back 1 million barrels in a year.

"If all countries including Iran, Russia, Venezuela, OPEC countries and all main producers freeze production, we will be among them," bin Salman told Bloomberg. He also said that Saudi Arabia was not threatened by the drop in oil prices. Analysts say that comment signaled a willingness to persevere with low prices as long as it takes to end the supply glut.

"I think he's the biggest wild card factor," said Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

Read MoreThe 30-year-old prince who is changing the world

Croft said she expects the producers will still try to get a deal, as they all are feeling the pain of lower prices. They face budget shortfalls and possible debt downgrades.

In order to get a deal, Iran would need to come to the table with some sort of production agreement that would be viewed as acceptable to Saudi Arabia, but that could prove difficult, she said.

"It's going to require creativity this week. I think the effort will be made ... you have the Kuwaitis out there, saying 'We're going to get a deal.' You have these other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries still holding out hope. I think they're invested in trying to get this thing done," said Croft. "I think what they're looking to do is close their fiscal gap ... they are all concerned about increased borrowing costs."

Read MoreKuwait official: Signs point to output freeze

Francisco Blanch, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's head of global commodities and derivatives research, said he sees a slight chance Iran could agree to something, possibly a production cap just slightly above its current 3.2 million barrels a day output.

Read MoreThis is what could end the oil rally

"The downside risk is the Doha meeting ends up being another big disappointment, like the previous OPEC meetings have been. There is risk of that. We know there's a proposal on the table. We know the market has bounced somewhat on that proposal. It's also somewhat on the back of other seasonal factors that are driving prices higher. I still think even if we get some kind of freeze agreement and OPEC stops talking the market down, that leaves us where we are," said Blanch.

However, if there is no deal, oil could trade lower immediately. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled just above $40 per barrel Monday, and Brent was just under $43. Blanch expects Brent to trade at around $47 per barrel this summer and above $50 at year-end.

The final decision on Saudi participation is up to bin Salman and the kingdom is the key to the deal. "This prince is a son of the king, who looks like he's the heir apparent to the king and he seems to be calling the shots," said Morse. The son of King Salman, bin Salman is deputy to his cousin, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Nayef, but is seen as more of a rival.

Bin Salman has the support of young Saudis and dresses in traditional attire. "There are a lot of people worried about him in that he appears to be a radical who wants to transform the country and he's gained a lot of power," said Morse. "If you reform a country that's very conservative, you're going to provoke a lot of people who are interested in a slower approach to reform than he appears to be taking, from that interview."



The young prince heads both the energy sector and the military, while his cousin rose up the ranks as an intelligence official. Bin Salman is also set on diversifying the Saudi economy, and has plans to build a giant sovereign fund, starting with the sale of a stake in Saudi Aramco.

"He's the first person of that stature who takes seriously the move to diversify the economy, not as a long-term goal but something that requires action in the short term," said Morse.

Croft said the message from Saudi Arabia has changed, with more conciliatory comments previously from Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, now overshadowed by bin Salman's remarks. But Morse said Naimi left the door open to disagree when he said the Saudis would supply any customers who are looking for oil.

"This is a clear and present danger, if they don't get oil prices higher. Maybe Mohammed bin Salman doesn't care, but these other GCC countries care," said Croft.



She said Russia is also looking for a deal. "I think the Russians, they're incentivized to get this done from the standpoint of a fiscal position," she said. "Russia's been pretty adamant about getting this done."

If Saudi Arabia does not agree to a freeze, the prince could find himself at odds with Putin. Russia has said it would support a freeze, and it is reported to be interested in brokering a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but Morse said a deal could have come over Syria but that could prove elusive since the Russians have pulled out of Syria.

Bin Salman may also have more leverage to endure the oil downturn. "He has about $600 billion and the Russians have about $60 billion, and he smells weakness," said Morse. He said the Saudi sovereign wealth fund has about $580 billion.
Dick Kovacevich, former chairman and CEO at Wells Fargo , blasted GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday, saying he would not vote for the billionaire businessman.

"I think he's obnoxious. He's a bully. He's a narcissist. He debates on basis of personal insults and trivial soundbites," Kovacevich told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "I don't even know what his policies are. The times he comes out with policies, I don't think they make any sense. I would not vote for Donald Trump."

Kovacevich, traditionally a supporter of Republican candidates, did not say whom he would vote for, but predicted Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would be the eventual Republican nominee during a contested convention this summer.

Republican voters, even if they're not completely enamored by Cruz, would probably find the first-term senator more palatable than Trump, said Kovacevich.

"There aren't a lot of good choices," he continued. "The negative rates on both Hillary [Clinton] and Ted Cruz are high. ... The Democrats don't trust Hillary. The Republicans don't trust Ted Cruz."

"I don't even know how you vote for a president you don't trust," Kovacevich said.


Ukraine's simmering political crisis came to a head over the weekend with the resignation of Ukraine's prime minister. However, optimism over Ukraine's economic prospects and ability to secure further international funding in the wake of the move are likely to be short-lived, analysts say. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is expected to formally tender his resignation Tuesday after announcing his decision via Twitter on Sunday, culminating months of infighting. As a parting shot, Yatsenyuk said he hoped political stability would be restored as the government tries to work through a shakey ceasefire in the country's eastern region.

The running battles between Yatsenyuk's People's Front and President Petro Poroshenko's party, renamed the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko - Solidarity (BPP) has held up much-needed loans from the International Monetary Fund.





Speaker of Ukrainian Parliament Volodymyr Groysman (R) has been nominated by President Petro Poroshenko's party to head the future cabinet. Genya Savilov | AFP | Getty Images

Poroshenko has since nominated parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Groysman to take Yatsenyuk's place, which will have to be formally approved by parliament. While Yatsenyuks' resignation had been expected, Ukraine's PFTS equity index made marginal gains on Monday, up 0.2 percent as of 1:30 p.m. London time, but was still down over 5 percent for the year.

The Ukrainian currency, the hyrvnia, rose 0.39 percent to 25 hyrvnia against the U.S. dollar, extending five days of gains for the Ukrainian currency.

The country has been walking a fine line with the IMF, which back in February said the country was being too slow in introducing government reforms, fighting corruption, implementing austerity measures and privatization plans. That's after the fund said it would extend $17.5 billion worth of financial aid to Kiev over four years back in 2015, as part of an international package totaling $40 billion.

"News that PM Arseniy Yatseniuk has resigned will likely create a bit of short-term optimism and positive market momentum this morning that the political impasse has been resolved," Timothy Ash, the head of Central Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa credit strategy for Nomura International wrote in an analysis note Monday.





watch now

It's been suggested that some of the most important developments in the coming days will be appointments to the new cabinet, which could signal a willingness to tackle governmental reform and ultimately help secure a new financing round from IMF. "Arguably the most important question following Yatsenyuk's departure is whether Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko will remain in her position," Daragh McDowell, Principal Analyst, Europe and Central Asia at Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC via email.

Rumours in recent months suggested Jarekso might be tapped to take over as prime minister, but those rumblings have since been quashed.

"Jaresko is one of the last genuinely reformist and technocratic ministers in the government, and we expect that her departure would be interpreted negatively by Ukraine's western partners," McDowell explained.

If Groysman is formally approved as prime minister by parliament, he could find it relatively easy to implement macro-economic reforms and back-track on "populist impulses" like gas price hikes introduced in recent weeks, Ash explained. However, anti-graft measures will be tougher to tackle, he said.

Poroshenko is already suffering a blow after being named in the Panama Papers for having set up an offshore firm in the British Virgin Islands in 2014 while the country was in the grips of a war with pro-Russian separatists in the country's eastern region.

Nonetheless, creditors might be willing to give Ukraine the benefit of the doubt amid a cabinet reshuffle, with a new tranche potentially signed off over the next one to two months, Ash suggested, but would require much stronger commitment to reforms by Poroshenko and his BPP party which has so far failed to deliver.

Otilia Dhand, Senior Vice President at Teneo Intelligence, said in a research note that tranche could total $1.7 billion. However, she was similarly pessimistic about the release of funding going forward.

"Going on Ukraine's previous record, with no real change in parliamentary dynamics and the less technocratic profile of the cabinet under Groysman, the benchmarks will be difficult to achieve, making further delays in funding likely," Dhand said.




watch now

It is only April, but some on Wall Street are already predicting a rotten 2016 for U.S. banks. Analysts say it has been the worst start to the year since the financial crisis in 2007-2008 and expect poor first-quarter results when reporting begins this week.

Concerns about economic growth in China, the impact of persistently low oil prices on the energy sector, and near-zero interest rates are weighing on capital markets activity as well as loan growth.

Caroline Purser | Getty Images

Analysts forecast a 20 percent decline on average in earnings from the six biggest U.S. banks, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data. Some banks, including Goldman Sachs, are expected to report the worst results in over ten years.

This spells trouble for the financial sector more broadly, since banks typically generate at least a third of their annual revenue during the first three months of the year.

"What's concerning people is they're saying, 'Is this going to spill over into other quarters?"' Goldman's lead banking analyst Richard Ramsden said in an interview. "If you do have a significant decline in revenues, there is a limit to how much you can cut costs to keep things in equilibrium." Investors will get some insight on Wednesday, when earnings season kicks off with JPMorgan Chase , the country's largest bank. That will be followed by Bank of America and Wells Fargo on Thursday, Citigroup on Friday, and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, in the following week.

Banks have been struggling to generate more revenue for years, while adapting to a panoply of new regulations that have raised the cost of doing business substantially.

The biggest challenge has been fixed-income trading, where heavy capital requirements, new derivatives rules, and restrictions on proprietary trading have made it less profitable, leading most banks to simply shrink the business.

Bank executives have already warned investors to expect major declines across other areas as well. Citigroup CFO John Gerspach said to expect trading revenue more broadly to drop 15 percent versus the first quarter of last year. JPMorgan Chase's Daniel Pinto said to expect a 25 percent decline in investment banking. Several bank executives have warned about declining quality of energy sector loans. Global investment banking fees for completed merger and acquisitions, and stock and bond underwriting, totaled $15.6 billion in the first quarter, a 28 percent decline for the year-ago period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Volatility in stock prices and plunging commodities prices caused trading volume to dry up during most of the quarter. Trading activity picked up slightly in March but was not strong enough to offset declines during the first two months of the year. Analysts have been lowering first-quarter estimates over the last month in light of business pressures. They now expect JPMorgan to report adjusted earnings of $1.30 per share, Bank of America to report 24 cents per share, Wells Fargo to report 99 cents per share, Citigroup to report $1.11 per share, and Morgan Stanley to report 63 cents per share. Goldman is expected to report $3.00 per share, the lowest first-quarter earnings since before the financial crisis.
With virtual reality (VR) devices such as Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive being released this year, a lot of focus has been placed on how the new technology will transform the gaming industry. But VR has more real-world applications that just gaming. Here, CNBC takes a look at which sectors of society are likely to be affected from VR.

A Facebook employee demonstrates use of the Oculus Gear VR virtual reality goggles at the Facebook Innovation Hub on February 24, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. Sean Gallup | Getty Images

Medical and healthcare

VR devices could be used to simulate training scenarios for doctors and first aid responders, according to Karl Woolley, creative technologist and VR lead at visual effects company Framestore.

"Rather than poking around in a prosthetic dummy and trying to locate the heart of the patient and operate on that, there's no reason why you can't have a virtual reality or mixed reality application where you could have virtual tools in your hands," he told CNBC in a phone interview. Woolley also described how surgical specialists in one country could advise doctors in another country using VR. In the future, VR may be key element of allowing surgeons to operate remotely using machines. "Either you could remotely survey and give advice to the local people in the theatre or you could potentially have that specialist operate," he said. "It's a possibility, but we're not quite there yet."

Education

As well as training, VR applications will allow students to interact with digital objects in virtual locations.

"I see a lot of potential within the education, health and wellness space," Richard Gallagher, founder and chief creative officer of digital agency Engine Digital to CNBC via email. "A lot could be done around immersive learning, allowing students to better experience things that no longer exist (dinosaurs) or they don't have access to (foreign countries)." VR is also improving distance learning. For instance, in 2014 a professor at the University of British Columbia was able to remotely deliver a lecture to students using VR devices to attend a virtual classroom.

Travel and tourism

The travel industry is using VR in order to advertise tourist locations and experiences to consumers.

"It can be especially valuable for destinations that may not have a top-tier attraction with a lot of name recognition, but has great natural cultural attractions that can give travellers confidence that this is the place to go," Douglas Quinby, vice-president of research at Phocuswright, told CNBC via email. Recently, Samsung announced it was partnering with Carnival and AT&T to let potential customers explore cruise liners using VR headsets.

Six Flags Roller Coaster with Samsung Gear VR Credit: Samsung & Six Flags Entertainment Corporation

Theme parks are also looking at how to use the technology. In March, Six Flags announced plans for VR roller coasters, where visitors wear VR devices while riding on the attraction.



Design
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Even as many technology plays are struggling to keep their share prices over their initial public offering (IPO) price, Australia's WiseTech Global on Monday jumped on its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange, sending its market value cracking past the 1 billion Australian dollar ($750 million) mark.

WiseTech, which provides technology to logistics companies, offered shares at A$3.35 a share. The company raised approximately A$168 million, with over 50 million shares offered and suggesting an initial market value of around A$974 million. The stock began trading at midday local time at A$3.41 per share, a premium to its IPO price, climbing as much as 14 percent even as the broader ASX 200 index ended down 0.12 percent. The solid debut came despite investors turning cautious about new floats. , executive director at Jacanda Capital, noted that investors "have either been stung or they have seen other retail investors get stung." He told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that WiseTech is a clear standout because it's profitable, global and very large.

A man looks at the main board of the Australian Securities Exchange ASX. Daniel Munoz | Getty Images

That's in contrast to the many smaller, less profitable companies going public too quickly, due to a combination of Australia's lack of an active venture capital market until recently and companies starving for cash, he said. "Being on the ASX gives them a validation to the retail investors that, perhaps, they do not warrant," he added. Unlike these small players, WiseTech is already looking forward to profit. For the six months ended 31 December, 2015, WiseTech had a total revenue of A$48.59 million, with net profit of A$3.12 million. It's not too shabby for a company that CEO Richard White founded in 1994 from his basement in Sydney's suburban Newtown, with several colleagues and a credit card. White owns a 50 percent stake in the company in his own name and through RealWise Holdings, where he is a majority shareholder.


We are heading towards an increasingly low-carbon global economy, according to the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).



Speaking to CNBC on Monday, Christiana Figueres highlighted the importance of last year's historic COP21 summit in Paris.

"I think the takeaway message (from Paris) is governments have done at least part of their job  a very, very important job  which is to give the incontrovertible signal of where we're headed," she said.

At COP21, 195 countries agreed to make sure global warming stayed below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Storytime: What the pine and the elm can teach us
Best of Business 2022: Learn Who Won Our 15th Annual Reader Poll

Local professionals chose their favorite business and professional services, products, healthcare, dining and more. Find out who their top picks are.
June 25, 2015 - Alchemy is located in the heart of the Cooper-Young District of Midtown Memphis. (Kyle Kurlick/Special to The Commercial Appeal)

Sandwiches  done. Whew! But that doesn't mean the eating has slowed down around here: A new Eat the Street is under way, and someone is going to put in overtime in the gym and on the Greenline to work off these past couple of months of hard work.

As it always goes, we were in the middle of the sandwich story, brackets set and published, when people started telling us about other sandwiches we should be eating. Some of your suggestions have gone onto my list for possible review or a blog post. We listen! And I ask you now: What would you like to see in the next competition? Pizza? Fried chicken? Catfish?

It might not always be a bracket, but we love getting out and tasting and picking favorites. Having you guys in on the voting made this even better, so look for us to do it again.

Restaurant news

Alchemy has sold, but don't expect to notice any changes right away, said present co-owner Bert Smythe.

"It's kind of like when we bought McEwen's," he said. "We bought it and tweaked it a little, but basically kept it the same. The difference now is that this time, we're the ones passing the torch."

The new owners are Nick Scott, formerly of Bluefin and Flight, and Tony Westmoreland. The sale closes May 2. Until then, it's business as usual. And while it might close on that one day, it will be business as usual again starting May 3.

"They're still going to operate it as Alchemy, and every employee who wants to stay will stay," Smythe said.

Look for future ventures with Smythe and partner John Littlefield, who continue to own McEwen's. Read more about that online this week.

Loflin Yard opened last week at 7 W. Carolina, and there is absolutely no other place like it in town. It's huge, and most of it is outdoors ("Texas meets France" is how a friend described it). There's a great bar that serves up signature cocktails as well as all the basics, plus wine and local beer. Brisket is smoked in an outdoor kitchen, tables surround a canal formed from the Gayoso Bayou, there's a large lawn for folks to play on, complete with lawn chairs and picnic tables, a big porch on the event center, and even more outdoor space beyond that. See photos online at our food website, commercialappeal.com/go-eat.

I promise to find out more about this, but so far, this is all I know: On April 18, 99 Cent Soul Food Express opens at 414 S. Main. It will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily and will presumably offer inexpensive home cooking.

LBOE in Overton Square remains closed following a fire, but the plan is to rebuild and reopen as soon as possible.

Healthy eating

Farmers markets have opened around town. Memphis Farmers Market at Downtown's Central Station is back from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays; Cooper-Young Community Farmers Market has reopened at 1000 S. Cooper from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, and the Overton Park Community Farmers Market is 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays in the East Parkway pavilion. If your market is open or opening soon, please let me know. The Monday-Saturday Agricenter Farmers Market opens May 2.

Want to try a CSA this year? Bring It Food Hub starts May 3. Bring It collects produce from farmers in a 150-mile radius and puts together shares starting at $20 per week. In the summer you have the option of adding on items such as fresh bread, eggs, flowers and so on. There are numerous pickup points around town, and Bring It allows you to "pay it forward" by buying an additional share for a needy family if you want. Get more information at csa.farmigo.com/join/bringitfoodhub/summer2016.

Coming up

Taste of Memphis takes places from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Central Station, 545 S. Main. The event helps raise funds to send inner-city teenagers to Young Life camp in the summer. There will be plenty of food from restaurants such as The Arcade, Jim's Place Grill, Babalu, The Half Shell, Ciao Bella and more, about 25 total. There's also a silent auction and a wine pull: You pay $20 and get a surprise, a bottle of wine that could be worth $20 or up to $100. Buy tickets for $20 online or $25 at the door at eventbrite.com.

Here's a first at Amerigo: a vegetarian wine dinner. The Italian restaurant at 1239 Ridgeway hosts the dinner from 6 to 8 p.m. April 20. It features five courses and drink pairings for $40. Call 901-761-4000 for reservations.

Recipe of the week

Salmon isn't my favorite fish, but it's easy to find and easy to cook, so I often turn to it during the week. The recipe calls for light mayonnaise, but I'll likely use less full-fat mayo because I don't like the sweetness in the light version. Do whichever you choose.
SHARE Andre Wharton Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich

By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis criminal defense attorney Andre Wharton recused himself from the panel that will hear the disciplinary case against Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich involving the prosecution of Noura Jackson following objections from Weirichs attorney.

Weirichs attorney Jef Feibelman requested Whartons withdrawal from the panel that also includes Memphis attorneys Thomas R. Branch and Thomas P. Cassidy, Jr.

In a letter March 8, Feibelman attached Twitter posts retweeted from Whartons brother, Alexander Wharton. One retweet was from Just City, an organization that advocates for criminal justice reform, that stated, How many overturned murder verdicts is too many? How much evidence has remained hidden?

"How many overturned murder verdicts is too many? How much evidence has remained hidden?" https://t.co/4tAX4Vvph0 #BradyViolations  Just City (@JustCity901) February 12, 2016

A public censure is worse than "never a good thing." https://t.co/BHUsPok0mH  Josh Spickler (@joshspickler) February 2, 2016

Editorial: Disciplinary charges are not to be minimized via @memphisnews https://t.co/twh8vxrrnU  Louis Graham (@LGrahamMem) February 2, 2016

This is significant. It would be the second censure of an attorney from that office since 2013. https://t.co/CzVOEDxGmX  Josh Spickler (@joshspickler) January 29, 2016

"As you can see, these 'retweets' involve the very matter in controversy," Feibelman wrote.

"An additional concern is that Mr. Wharton represented the Honorable Joe Brown while a very bitter election campaign against Ms. Weirich was ongoing by Judge Brown," Feibelman wrote.

The Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee charged that Weirich improperly commented on Jacksons right to remain silent and that Assistant District Attorney Stephen P. Jones failed to provide a piece of evidence to the defense about an important witness.

Jackson was tried in the killing of her mother, Jennifer Jackson, in a two-week-long trial in February 2009. Weirich was an assistant district attorney at the time and the lead prosecutor. Jones was co-counsel.

The state Supreme Court vacated Jacksons second-degree murder conviction in August 2014, and a new trial was ordered.

The Board of Professional Responsibility did not have independent knowledge of the concerns Feibelman raised, but out of an abundance of caution, the Board would prefer to avoid a potential issue for appeal if possible, wrote Deputy Chief Disciplinary Counsel Krisann Hodges.

Wharton wrote in an email that he believes firmly that neither of these matters would inhibit my ability to preside impartially, nor should either of them require my disqualification.

However, solely in the interests of preserving the efficient flow of these proceedings, he wrote that he was willing to voluntarily accept reassignment of this matter to another panel officer.

Russell Savory of Memphis was designated Whartons replacement.

The petition against Jones involves a statement by a witness, Andrew Hammack, that Jacksons defense sought.

Hammack gave law enforcement multiple statements about his contact with Jackson on the night her mother was killed. His statement dated June 13, 2005, gave a completely different account of what happened on the night of the murder from the testimony by Mr. Hammack at trial, according to the petition against Jones.

Feibelman said Jones inadvertently failed to deliver the statement during the trial to the defense and he did not become actively involved in the case until two months before trial. The Memphis Police Department had the statement since 2005, Feibelman said in a letter.

Jones attorney, Brian S. Faughnan, wrote that the Jackson trial was at the time, by far the most highly-complicated case (based on the number of witnesses and exhibits) Mr. Jones had ever been involved in as counsel.

His involvement in preparation for the trial and the trial itself resulted in significant, atypical stress to Mr. Jones that impacted his health, Faughnan wrote

The petition against Weirich states that during a closing argument in Jacksons trial Weirich said loudly, Just tell us where you were! Thats all we are asking, Noura!

Weirich believes that she did not improperly comment on the right of the defendant Noura Jackson to remain silent and she objected to a reference of her speaking in a loud voice, according to her answer to the petition for discipline. The trial of Noura Jackson was very intense and every lawyer, in the course of the trial, engaged in vigorous advocacy, Feibelman wrote.

The boards petition against Weirich states it is a well-settled principle that a prosecutor may not comment upon a defendants exercise of the Fifth Amendment right not to testify.

In May, Jackson agreed to an Alford plea, without admitting guilt, to voluntary manslaughter. Her sentence end date is now Oct. 28, 2016, according the Tennessee Felony Offender Information system.
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By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis police are investigating two separate Sunday night shootings where two people were killed and a woman was critically injured.

At 11:37 p.m. police responded to a shooting in the 6600 block of Mallard Nest Cove off Shelby Drive in Hickory Hill.

Police said two women had just arrived home and were attempting to go inside when a man fired several shots hitting both.

An 18-year-old woman was pronounced dead on the scene. Her sister, a 34-year-old woman was taken to the Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

The suspect who was wearing dark clothes was seen running west on Mallard Nest Cove.

Earlier, at 11:17 p.m. officers responded after firefighters found a 24-year-old shot to death inside a 2002 Jeep Cherokee.

Police said the Jeep had heavy damage to the front and was found in the 700 block of Dempster in a driveway.

Officers then found a Ford F-150 truck with heavy rear-end damage facing north on McMillan just north of Dempster. Police said the truck had been parked on Dempster and was unoccupied when it was hit by the Jeep.

Both shootings remain under investigation and no arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-2274.
The Warren Apartments on Clementine in Memphis. (Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Maria Ines Zamudio of The Commercial Appeal

The Tennessee Housing Development Agency has prohibited the Health, Educational and Housing Facilities Board of Memphis from issuing additional bonds for low-income housing pending a resolution of its mounting problems, according to a letter from the Nashville-based agency.

John Baker, former executive director of the housing facilities board of Memphis, resigned his post last December after working there for 17 years. His replacement has not been named.

The agency is also dealing with the aftermath of a bond issued to Global Ministries Foundation to buy the troubled Warren and Tulane apartments. In February, GMF lost funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development after the nonprofit failed to provide good living conditions to its tenants. As a result, bond holders received a default letter and the value of the $11.8 million bond decreased to 30 cents on the dollar.

THDA's Executive Director, Ralph Perrey, said the local board should temporarily stop issuing bonds so it can deal with the bond for Warren and Tulane, which is attracting local and national media attention, and while it looks for Baker's replacement.

"It concerned us that the agency is in transition," Perrey said Monday. "They are working through a number of issues that attracted local and national media. We wanted them to deal with those issues without adding to their workload."

Perrey said in the letter dated March 21 that THDA directed two developers to other agencies that can issue bonds.

Daniel Reid, the housing facilities board chairman, said in a written statement that Martin Edwards was named interim executive director. Reid added that Edwards, the board and the city are working with THDA to address the state's concerns.

Local bond issuers such as the housing facilities board can apply for portions of THDA's tax-exempt bond authority to sell bonds on behalf of a developer.

The housing facilities board issues tax-exempt bond financing to developers for multifamily housing for low-income residents in Memphis. The board currently has 28 active bonds worth about $245.6 million. The board also approves payment-in-lieu-of-tax programs (PILOTs) for multifamily housing, allowing a developer to invest money to repair properties.

The quasi-government agency has issued $49.9 million in bonds to GMF to buy seven properties. This little-known nonprofit came to light after The Commercial Appeal published an investigation last year into poor living conditions including bed bugs, mold, leaking plumbing and other problems inside some Warren and Tulane apartments.

Reid challenged THDA's decision. In a letter he demanded an explanation of what he described as "imposed sanctions." He also told Perrey to disqualify or not allow John Baker from attending the appeal hearing. Baker is also a THDA board member and the former executive director of the Memphis agency. Reid said Baker is currently "engaged in legal action against the board."

Perrey responded by letter: "We have not 'imposed sanctions' as you put it. Rather, we recognize that your Board is in the midst of a transition in leadership and that you are dealing with issues that have lately attracted national media attention. We felt it prudent not to add to your workload while you are working to resolve those matters."

Baker declined to comment for this story but said he is "not engaged in legal action against the board."
The Tennessee State Capitol stands apart from newer buildings in Nashville, Tenn. (Mark Humphrey/AP file)

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By Tom Humphrey, Special to the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE  The multimillion-dollar business of influencing Tennessee's Legislature saw increased payments to lobbyists and a jump in expenditures by their clients on wining and dining last year, according to new figures compiled by the Tennessee Ethics Commission.

On the other hand, the amount of money going to so-called lobbying-related expenditures  typically advertising or phone bank messages that urge residents to call their legislators to voice support or opposition to a pending bill  declined from 2014 levels.

Combining all types of spending in 2015 that was disclosed, as much as $74 million was spent on lobbying during the year, compared to maximum reported spending of $69.2 million in 2014. But it also could have been as little as $30 million in 2015, up from about $27 million in 2014.

The figures are not precise because of the way lobbyist-compensation and lobbying-related expenditures are reported. Under a law enacted in 2006, lobbyists and their employers must report such spending only within ranges  for example, between $50,000 and $100,000  and need not give an exact figure. One category is simply "less than $10,000."

This is in contrast to some states that require precise reporting of all payments to lobbyists  a notion staunchly and successfully opposed by Tennessee lobbyists' lobbying during the special session on reform of state government ethics statutes a decade ago that put the present law in place. The special session came a year after five legislators were charged with bribery-related offenses in an FBI investigation. Before then, there was no reporting requirement whatsoever for lobbyist spending.

There were 569 lobbyists registered to represent 1,913 clients in Tennessee during 2015, according to Drew Rawlins, executive director of the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance. In 2014, 557 lobbyists registered to represent 1,880 clients.

Lobbyist employers annually file two reports, covering six months each, and the second round of reports for 2015 was filed last month with tabulations completed last week by Ethics Commission staff. The following figures are combined totals from the two six-month reports for 2015:

Lobbyist compensation was somewhere between $25.8 million and $54.4 million. The range for 2014 was between $22.1 million and $48.7 million.

Lobbying-related expenditures were somewhere between $3.5 million and $19.6 million in 2015. The range for 2014 was from a minimum of $4.7 million to a maximum of $19.8 million.

Combining compensation and lobbying-related expenditures, the 2015 range is between a minimum of $29.3 million and a maximum of $73 million. The comparable figures for 2014: Between $26.8 million and $68.5 million.

Rawlins cautioned in an email, responding to an inquiry, that it is difficult to accurately assess whether the 2015 figures indicate a trend toward more money being paid to lobbyists and less on related expenditures, also known as "grassroots lobbying."

"Some of it can have to do with them reporting by ranges so we don't get an exact figure," he said. "It's hard to tell how much it went up or down."

In contrast to the broad ranges in the above categories, lobbyist employers must also report the exact amount spent on each event they host with legislators as invited guests. The 2006 law prohibited lobbyists from paying for out-of-state travel, but permits what are called "in-state events" provided all legislators are invited and that they are disclosed.

In 2015, spending on such events  they range from providing coffee and doughnuts at morning gatherings to hear a lobbying pitch from some prominent person to fairly lavish affairs providing evening meals and alcoholic beverages for general conversations  followed a trend of increasing annually in recent years.

Last year, there were 106 such events with total spending of $1,194,169, according to Rawlins. That was up from the previous record $720,039 spent on in-state events in 2014.

Add the $1.2 million on event spending to the lobbyists' compensation and lobbying-related expenditures and the overall 2015 lobbyist spending total reaches a maximum of more than $74 million. For comparison purposes, the state budget allocated a total of $41 million in taxpayer money to all operations of the Legislature for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. A minor item in that total is the base salary of $20,884 for each lawmaker, or about $2.76 million for all 132 legislators combined.

The $74 million figure, of course, does not include what some would consider indirect efforts to influence legislators. Many groups that hire lobbyists also operate political action committees that make contributions to legislators' campaigns and many individuals working for corporations that employ lobbyists do so as well.

The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry had the most expensive in-state event last year, spending $77,480.

AT&T, which traditionally hosts a reception to mark the start of each legislative session, spent $43,360 on its event last year, second-most expensive after the Chamber. AT&T already has reported its spending on the event that opened the 2016 session in January: $57,297. That could indicate another increase in 2016, although the session still is under way and events still are being held  with most other lobbyist employers not filing reports yet.

AT&T also is a traditional leader in payments of lobbyist compensation, sometimes reporting more than $1 million in a year in payments to lobbyists annually. In 2015, 16 lobbyists registered to represent the telecommunications company and it reported paying them somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 in compensation and somewhere between $20,000 and $50,000 in lobbyist-related expenditures.

In years past, AT&T's primary objectives in the Legislature have been passage of bills that substantially deregulated the telecommunications industry, a mission that was accomplished. In 2015 and 2016, a primary objective for the company's lobbying has been to block proposals that would allow municipalities to provide broadband Internet service to rural areas. That also has been successful so far.

Americans for Prosperity, a national organization that presents itself as an advocate for free enterprise, has been a leader in lobbyist-related expenditures in Tennessee  spending a state record $1.1 million on direct mail, radio ads and events aimed at rallying voters to contact legislators in 2014 while spending relatively little on lobbyist payments.

AFP has been pushing repeal of the state's Hall tax on investment income, for example, starting in 2014 and continuing today with radio ads and video advertising on the Internet, and some on newspaper websites. It also has launched an ad campaign against any increase in the state's gas tax, which Gov. Bill Haslam has suggested is needed without offering any specific proposal.

Under state law, such groups relying on staff for direct lobbying  as AFP does, registering three people as lobbyists  are called upon to calculate the portion of their overall salary that is devoted to lobbying, then report that as compensation. In 2015, Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee reported spending less than $10,000 on compensation to three registered lobbyists in each of the two six-month reporting periods. But it reported spending somewhere between $250,000 and $350,000 on grassroots lobbying.
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A veto of legislation that proposes to designate the Holy Bible as the "Official State Book" of Tennessee could easily be overridden, but Gov. Bill Haslam would be sending the right message: Not everyone in the state is united in fear and distrust of religious minorities.

There is no doubt that this would be a difficult veto for Haslam, who rarely uses his limited veto power. The emotional and spiritual ties a majority of Tennesseans have with the Bible are strong.

But the governor, the state attorney general and a fair number of legislators understand the harm that can come from giving the Bible the status of an official state document. That would be an unconstitutional gesture that would reduce to non-Christians to the status of second-class citizens.

The state Senate voted 19-8 in favor of the legislation Monday night, ignoring a state attorney general's opinion declaring that it violates both the Tennessee and U.S. constitutions. The House approved the bill 55-38 last year. A gubernatorial veto, which could be overridden by simple majority votes in both houses of the General Assembly, would nevertheless reinforce the argument that many Tennesseans understand the government's obligation to avoid granting official status to any set of religious beliefs.

It's clear, too, that even those in favor of the measure understand the constitutional concerns. Why else would they seek to justify the Bible's adoption as an official state document  and try to evade constitutional scrutiny  with a lengthy preamble to the legislation that depicts the Bible as a historical work of cultural and economic importance to Tennessee rather than primarily a religious one? Or to justify passage with the rationale that Bibles are printed in Tennessee?

Cultural and economic progress in Tennessee would simply be impeded by any legislation that religious minorities would interpret  correctly in some cases  as exclusionary. Passage would undoubtedly trigger a lawsuit that would be costly to defend against and that the state would undoubtedly lose.

It may be that sponsors of this legislation have no intention of offending Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists or any other minority group. They may be operating from very deeply held personal experiences, such as those held by the bill's sponsor, Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown, who cites the Bible's role in many Tennessee families, recording a history of births, marriages and deaths that predates anything the state has on file.

But the framers of the Constitution had very good reasons for barring the government from the establishment of an official state religion, including protecting the rights of those who don't conform to majority beliefs.

The state is doing a good job of avoiding prickly arguments over religion so far. There is no reason to start one now.
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Shep Fargotstein

Memphis

On April 4, the Treasury Department issued new regulations that will prevent so-called inversion deals  under which a U.S. company moves its base to a country with a more favorable taxation environment  removing the tax benefits. These new regulations effectively scuttled New York-based Pfizer from being bought out by Allergan and moved to Ireland in order to save millions in U.S. taxes. I wholeheartedly approve and support this move.

That said, President Obama is taking credit for pressuring the Treasury to act on corporate inversion deals, when any observer of this issue knows that Obama did nothing over the past seven years on this issue while dozens of U.S. based multinationals moved away in a cascade of inversion deals.

The only reason Obama acted now was because Donald Trump made it a central issue in his campaign and Obama, true to form, got in front of the inversion riot and called it his parade. Why shouldnt Obama be blamed for being asleep at the wheel for seven years while one company after another left the U.S. tax rolls?
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By Charles Lane

We now know how big the Republican Party's Donald Trump problem is: so big that some in the GOP have convinced themselves the solution is Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Yes, the erstwhile government-shutter-downer trails Hillary Clinton by only 3.1 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average, as opposed to Trump's 10.8-point deficit.

But be skeptical: Those polls probably exaggerate Cruz's electability, which may diminish further if he gets the nomination, and the general electorate focuses on his ideology, even if his opponent is the unloved Clinton.

A lackluster economy and irritation at poor government performance dominate voters' concerns, just as Cruz says; whether Americans think Cruz's purist brand of conservatism represents the best way to deal with them is another question entirely.

"Abolish the IRS," Cruz cried after his Wisconsin primary victory  repeating a promise that, whatever its merits, only 34 percent of Americans favor, according to a recent Gallup poll. The same survey showed that only 18 percent support Cruz's plan to eliminate the Departments of Education, Energy, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development.

As Gallup's Frank Newport explained: "Our research . . . shows that only about a third of Americans favor limiting government to performing only basic functions, a third favor government being empowered to do all it can to fix problems and a third are in the middle between these two extremes. Thus, Cruz is simply fighting an apparent uphill battle  with the public taken as a whole  in his philosophical position that government must be scaled back."

On taxes, only 51 percent of Americans think their federal income taxes are "too high," according to Gallup  down 17 points since the start of the century. Meanwhile, 52 percent of Americans, including 29 percent of Republicans, agree with a proposition Cruz rejects: "Government should redistribute wealth by heavy taxes on the rich." Only 45 percent favor Cruz's 10 percent flat-tax proposal.

Cruz is on firmer ground, potentially, with Obamacare, "every word" of which he has sworn to repeal, and which has an approval rating that is still 12.6 points under water, according to the RealClearPolitics average. However, a lot will depend on his ability to articulate an alternative.

The health plan he has sketched, based in part on individual accounts, may be difficult to sell given a fresh Pew Research Center finding that Americans, by a 51 percent to 46 percent margin, think universal health coverage is a federal responsibility; that's a reversal of how they viewed the matter two years ago.

The big picture in American politics is partisan polarization, coupled with a discernible leftward shift of the political center on domestic issues, especially the social issues upon which Cruz has relied to fire up conservative evangelical Christians.

Though the Democrats' advantage over the GOP in voter identification is not particularly large  eight points, according to Gallup  24 percent of Americans now accept the no-longer execrated label "liberal," up seven points since 1992. "Conservative," meanwhile, held steady at 37 percent.

Also per Gallup, Americans by a 51 to 43 margin say government should not promote any set of values, rather than promoting "traditional values," a reversal of the historical norm.

The backlash against gay marriage has proven astonishingly weak, limited mainly to state laws aimed at preserving religious objections to participation in same-sex nuptials, which Cruz has backed  but which most Americans seem to reject.

Heck, even on Cuba, Cruz, who opposes President Obama's outreach to the Castro regime, is well to the right of most Americans: 54 percent now regard that Communist island favorably, according to Gallup.

In short, Cruz is offering America an updated version of the original 1980 Ronald Reagan package  small government, tax cuts, traditional values, strong defense  at a time when that package is no longer nearly as compelling to most Americans as it was 36 years ago.

Whereas Reagan offered a course correction from the excesses of the 1960s, which voters blamed on Democratic liberalism, today's voters are still reeling from two shocks, the Iraq War and the Great Recession, which they associate with the Republican presidency of George W. Bush.

No doubt Cruz, despite the bombast and disruptiveness that even his Republican colleagues have found off-putting in the Senate, would be, for lack of a better word, a much less embarrassing GOP nominee than Trump.

His presence at the top of the ticket might enable Republicans to stave off a loss of the Senate and hold their large majority in the gerrymandered House.

And of course, anything, even a Cruz victory, can happen in politics, especially this crazy year. But anyone who thinks today's America longs for a purist Reaganite should reflect on this: In every 2016 poll that pitted the two men against each other head to head, Cruz has lost, by an average margin of 9.8 points, to Bernie Sanders.

Charles Lane is an editorial writer for The Washington Post.
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By Kathleen Parker

WASHINGTON  Imagine emerging from a rocky political week only to announce, as Bernie Sanders did, that, oh, by the way, the Vatican called. Actually, it was the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, but close enough, I suppose.

Hillary Clinton thought bubble: He's Jewish for crying out loud. What am I, chopped liver? No, I'm Methodist! But if I can become a New Yorker, I can become a Catholic!

Some people have all the kismet. Or, sometimes people just happen to agree that communism isn't really so bad. OK, I'm exaggerating, but only a smidgeon.

Sanders is merely a democratic socialist, which sounds almost nice but means more or less equal misery. The pope is something else entirely. A pastoral leader who washes the feet of the homeless and eschews the elaborate trappings of the corner office, he's the real deal, as in living as Christ did. He's also a great, big troublemaker.

"People think Bernie Sanders is radical," Bernie Sanders said Friday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Uh-uh. Read what the pope is writing (these days)."

Indeed, Francis is a radical, just as Jesus was in his time.

What's radical about this pope is that he, like both Sanders and Jesus, says fresh, untraditional things that sound an awful lot like liberal ideas. But he's speaking and writing as the pope, not as a president of the United States. His ideas are aspirational both in scope and in application. He calls us to love one another, as he should, but love doesn't usually enter into the equations of a government-run economy. It can get rather messy at times, and mean.

The pope really believes that it's better to give than to receive, which is why so many love him. Sanders thinks more or less the same way. The difference is that one wants to raise consciousness about our obligation to the less fortunate; the other wants to restructure America's economic institutions to ensure that money trickles down  mandatorily rather than charitably.

Theoretically, this is a noble concept. It's how you do it that causes taxpaying citizens to seek shelter. Let's face it, most of us work hard not for the satisfaction of a well-made widget, but for a paycheck. As the taxman chisels away at such monetary rewards, where goes the incentive to work hard? This is common sense, obviously, but less common than it once was, judging by the popularity of Sanders' proposals.

His bid to break up the too-big-to-fail banks sounds awesome enough, especially if you've yet to pay any income taxes. Let's stick it to the fat cats and watch them squirm. But will it really help the poor, or might such draconian action ultimately hurt more than it helps?

It's important for Francis to speak out as a messenger for the greater good. It's important, too, that we be reminded of our moral obligation to each other. It's also his job  and something else entirely to conflate a pope's message of Christian charity with a political candidate's promise to remake America's economic system. The "rampant individualism" that Francis condemns is precisely what has driven American ingenuity, entrepreneurship and a level of prosperity unmatched in human history.

That more people are doing less well  and the middle class has suffered  means there's work to do, but it doesn't necessarily require radical restructuring. The striving for greater equality is always a proper principle, but, again, is aspirational. The imposition of equality by a third-party  the state  inevitably carries the penalty of less freedom. It's a balance we should seek rather than extreme measures that more likely would have a destabilizing effect.

A pope needn't worry about such things and is free to ponder the universe through the pulpit's lens. He is also free to chat with politicians who share his worldview, though from Sanders' confusion about his Vatican invitation, it isn't clear whether he and the pope will convene. And his invite wasn't, as it turns out, quite so beneficently extended.

"Sanders made the first move, for the obvious (political) reasons," Margaret Archer, the academy's president, told Bloomberg News. "I think in a sense he may be going for the Catholic vote, but this is not the Catholic vote, and he should remember that and act accordingly  not that he will."

At least one person we can guess was delighted by this amended news. Imagine emerging from a rocky political week only to learn, as Hillary Clinton did, that, oh, by the way, the Vatican just called your opponent. Miracles never cease.

Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.
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Ford announced it is using a new light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system that will enable a Fusion Hybrid autonomous sedan to drive in complete darkness.

The new LiDAR sensor further demonstrates an autonomous vehicle's ability to perform beyond the limits of human drivers, Ford said in a statement.

Ford A Ford Fusion hybrid sedan is fitted with LiDAR, which allows it to drive itself at night.

In related news, a San Leandro, Calif.-based startup called Scanse has developed a two-dimensional LiDAR system that it said will be vastly cheaper and more accurate than other systems. Unlike other LiDAR systems, that can cost thousands of dollars, Scanse said its system will retail for about $250.

Scanse is running a Kickstarter campaign that has already raised more than $272,000 toward bringing the technology to market.

"For $250, you get a spinning LIDAR sensor with a range of 40 meters," the company stated.

Ford said the LiDAR tests at its Arizona Proving Ground marks "the next step on the company's journey to delivering fully autonomous vehicles to customers around the globe."

"It's an important development, in that it shows that even without cameras, which rely on light, Ford's LiDAR - working with the car's virtual driver software - is robust enough to steer flawlessly around winding roads," Ford stated.

The technology is an important addition to other sensors, radar and cameras that autonomous vehicles have because it further reduces the possibility of accidents at night, when vehicle fatality rates are about three times higher than during the day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"Thanks to LiDAR, the test cars aren't reliant on the sun shining, nor cameras detecting painted white lines on the asphalt," Jim McBride, Ford technical leader for autonomous vehicles, said in a statement. "In fact, LiDAR allows autonomous cars to drive just as well in the dark as they do in the light of day."

After more than a decade of autonomous vehicle research, Ford said it is "dedicated to achieving fully autonomous driving capability" that does not require the driver to intervene and take control of the vehicle.

This year, Ford said it will triple its autonomous vehicle test fleet to 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid sedans for testing on roads in California, Arizona and Michigan.
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.
Andrew Kennedy is the Group Agent & Campaign Director in West Kent. He blogs at www.votingandboating.blogspot.com.

I can look back over 32 years of voting with absolute certainty that I have never missed a vote, nor failed to vote for the Conservative candidate at any given election. Some friends, even those who share my politics, find this blind loyalty to a party somewhat bizarre. For me, there is seldom doubt. I believe that Conservative principles provide the best framework for leadership, and the only way to elect a Conservative Government (or council, MEP or PCC) is to vote for the Conservative candidate on the ballot paper.

Three and a half years ago, I had the privilege of running Craig Mackinlays campaign for Kent Police & Crime Commissioner. It was perhaps the hardest, most emotionally draining and frustrating campaign I have ever worked on. The scars were not left by 6am starts at remote commuter railway stations; nor by the scale of the campaign (which was aimed tat 1.3 million electors across 17 parliamentary constituencies), nor by standing on cold, wet and windy High Streets trying to convince passers-by of the importance of their vote in an election that few understood and even fewer cared about. The problem was that, for the first time in my life, I was fighting an election which too many people thought shouldnt be happening, and in which people who should know better allowed their traditional loyalties to be blurred.

At the count, the independent candidate Ann Barnes won the election by two to one. Her victory was, in my opinion, based on three misconceptions, which I shall attempt to explain below.

First, that there was no need for Police & Crime Commissioners.

If anyone looks at a Band D Council Tax bill in Kent (and I suspect most other areas), they will see that their local Police Authority precept is higher than that charged by the local district council. No one would accept that their local council should be run by political appointees with no democratic accountability to those who pay the tax, yet people who opposed the creation of an elected Police & Crime Commissioner were quite happy for taxation without representation when it came to police spending, which in Kent amounts to 300 million a year.

It is also worth remembering what the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner replaced: the former Police Committee, the composition of which was almost exclusively by patronage of the leader of the County Council. I once asked a County Council Leader how he selected those who would serve on the local Police Committee. I pick those who cause me grief at County Hall and those I want to get rid of as they challenge my authority. Having our police priorities and 300 million spending supervised by the old, grumpy and awkward, none of whom were accountable to residents and taxpayers, was clearly unacceptable.

Second, that a party politician was unsuitable for the role, and that an independent candidate should prevail.

This view, widely held even by some active in our own party, was the most bizarre and difficult to deal with, especially since the same people were happy to vote on party lines to elect a party-political Home Secretary or Chief Justice; positions with far more control and influence over the criminal justice system than PCCs would ever have. Here in Kent, the delight shown by the supporters of Ann Barnes  the victorious candidate who ran as an independent  at having defeated the nasty Tory machine soon dissipated when her actions led to serious questions about her judgement and brought ridicule onto the office she held.

Before looking at Barness record, let us first re-visit some of the questions about her independence. Kents Liberal Democrats did not field an opposing candidate and most campaigned for her. Her Campaign Manager was Peter Carroll, a former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, and a subsequent SpAd to Danny Alexander. If these two facts are not enough to convince readers perhaps this tweet from Martin Shapland (a LibDem staffer) will remove any doubt: Lib Dem national PCC vote share is depressed by Independent candidates in North Wales, Bristol and Kent backed by our Party.

Barnes probably became Britains best known Police & Crime Commissioner for all the wrong reasons: including her ill-advised appointment (without adequate due diligence) of a Youth Commissioner (subsequently ridiculed for her racist and offensive tweets), the infamous and cringeworthy fly-on-the-wall documentary, her emotional outburst in a local pub over how much wine she had consumed, and the investigation by the CPS for driving without insurance, to name just four.

It is valid to ask whether a candidate with such poor judgement have got through a political partys vetting and approval process and, if this had been the case, whether that party would not have had the organisation and support in place to stop the car crash before it happened.

The third misconception is that the previous system worked well and didnt need changing.

I find it deliciously ironic that Barness public hostility to the creation of PCCs, and her subsequent high-profile election to a role she didnt believe should have been created, followed by her appalling record in office, has inadvertently provided one of the strongest reasons for its continuation.

Barnes was appointed to the Kent Police Authority in 2001 and became its Chair in 2005. She occupied that role for seven years until 2012, when she was elected PCC. During that time, she was never accountable for what she did, and could not be removed by the people whose taxes paid for the services she supervised. The ineptitude and poor judgement she has shown since her election as Police & Crime Commissioner surely did not start on the day she was elected? Her election exposed her to media scrutiny as never before  something which she had avoided previously, since she was then neither elected nor accountable. And had she not been elected, and therefore become accountable, and thus been forced to conduct her affairs in the spotlight of public scrutiny, she probably would have continued to get away with it.

There can be no doubt that her actions have been exposed because she holds elected office and this, in itself, is one of the strongest reasons to elect Police Commissioners. It has been a difficult three and a half years for the people of Kent but, thanks to this legislation, we could (had she not wisely decided to step down) have voted her out of office and elected someone new  an option not available in the days of patronage.

The role of PCC is a big job with great responsibility. I am delighted that CCHQ is focussing on the responsibilities of the role in the belief that, as people learn how important it is, so they will give greater consideration to the qualities needed to fulfil it. Being a PCC is not about politicising the local police: its about managing hundreds of millions of pounds of public money, ensuring that the views and concerns of residents and taxpayers are heard, and securing best value. And, as with national or local government, I believe that Conservative Police & Crime Commissioners will be best placed to deliver this objectives.

Over the next 24 days, I hope Conservative members and activists will give as much support and commitment to their local PCC candidate as they would to their parliamentary candidate or local councillor. If they dont  and you dont your county might end up with the next Ann Barnes.
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is about to withdraw the approval given for Carbadox, a drug used to treat bacterial illness in pigs. The drug's approval is reportedly being revoked because of its potential cancer threats in the human population.

Carbadox, which is manufactured by a New Jersey-based Phibro Animal Health company, Teaneck, was used in the treatment of bacterial enteritis and dysentery in pigs. The drug approved for use in swine back in 1972 also promotes weight gain in the animal, according to Reuters.

According to FDA, the drug manufacturers haven't produced enough evidence to prove that the drug is safe, following the claims that Carbodox residues left in pork are carcinogenic to human. Carbadox is marketed by the name Mecadox by Phibro.

The company "has failed to provide sufficient scientific data to demonstrate the safety of this drug given evidence that Carbadox may result in carcinogenic residues," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, reported Argi Pulse.

Meanwhile, the drug manufacturers are certain that the product is safe and doesn't cause any harm to pork consumers. The company has also noted that there are no evidence so far pertaining to Mecadox residues in the meat when the drug is administered to pigs as per the recommended dosage.

"Mecadox is not used in human medicine and the class of drug is not considered a medically important antimicrobial," the company said. "The approved Mecadox label requires a 42-day withdrawal period pre-harvesting, and to date, we have not seen any hazardous residues of Carbadox being detected from pig meat treated in accordance with the approved label."

The safety of the drug is again being tested by the company with the help of new advanced technologies. The test is also focused on whether there are residues left in the tissues for a longer period of time than tested earlier. While the results are due in next 90 days the company is expecting positive evidence to support the safe use of Mecadox in future.

Dave Warner, a spokesman for the Pork Producers Council said that it is relying on the Animal Health Institute to take the lead on the issue while the council is reviewing the FDA's recommendation. Phibro has an option for 30 days request regarding the withdrawal of the drug and if the company doesn't want to avail it, the FDA is free to revoke approval for the drug, noted Fortune.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
What Flowers Are Best For Mother's Day?

Is there anything better than a beautiful bouquet of flowers to make your mom feel special on Mothers Day? Flowers look and smell amazing, and they can put a big smile on your moms face, which is exactly what she deserves.
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A breakthrough medical device has been designed at a research facility in Belgium which can undertake precise surgical incision during brain tumor operations.

The device, conceived by David Oliva Uribe president of Mexican Talent Network Abroad chapter in Belgium, will pave the way for surgery in the operating room especially in the human brain to be more laid-back; as the "smart scalpel" with its spherical end design can detect a tissue status whether it is healthy or not by providing visual and auditory warning signs to a physician during the examination of a tissue surface, according to Science Alert.

"Although imaging scanning techniques - such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound - locate a tumor accurately preoperatively during the cranial opening and throughout the surgical procedure, there are many factors that can lead to the loss of this position. Therefore, the resection (removing a tumor) depends on the experience, sight and touch senses of the surgeon," Oliva Uribe made it clear as he has been at work in perfecting the device for the past six years.

Despite the device not being already in its final stages, the recent testing involved man-made tumors deposited in various brains coming from pigs.

Nevertheless, Oliva Uribe and his colleagues were all ecstatic of the outcome from the mock-up operation and are eager to move to the next phase which is the clinical trials in human patients especially with the device able to deliver results in less than half a second which are of the essence in life-and-death situations. The device caters specifically to tumors which are still in its early onset.

As of the present, the field of neurosurgery has been operating on a time-tested yet limited close observation and tools on tissue manipulation when faced with a brain tumor.

In related news, medical researchers from Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences had made an earlier discovery of a bioelectrical signal that can isolate cells which are future candidates to progress as a malignant or benign tissue growth, as reported by Idea Connection in 2013.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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A newly developed scanning technique can now help determine whether or not a cancer drug works in the patient, in just a day or two. The new imaging technique is hopeful in guiding doctors in rendering appropriate treatment for the patients.

Cancer is one of the most life-threatening diseases affecting millions of people around the world. There are tens of thousands of researchers working on finding the cause as well as a cure for the debilitating disease. While we know, no one treatment can cure different types of cancers seen in patients, researchers have come up with a new scanning technique that helps determine whether or not a cancer drug works in the patient.

"This new technique could potentially mean that doctors will find out much more quickly if a treatment is working for their patient, instead of waiting to see if a tumour shrinks," Dr. Ferdia Gallagher, joint-lead of the Wellcome Trust Strategic Award-funded study, said, according to Independent.

Chemotherapy is the choice of treatment for cancer which involves drugs of very high dosages. While they target killing cancerous cells, in most cases they are equally troublesome to the patient's body. Because of the pain involved and since it is not certain that the drug really works in treating the disease, people tend to give up on chemotherapies.

With the advent of the new technique that helps in finding if the drug works in the patient in just days after administration, researchers are hopeful that appropriate drugs could be given to every patient. Depending on how the drug works in the patient's body the doctors can choose to continue to use it on the patient or switch over to other drugs that work better on them.

Scientists at Addenbrooke's Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals tested a patient in Europe with the new metabolic imaging technique. Pyruvate, a broken down product of glucose, labeled with non-radioactive carbon 13 is administered into the patient's body and is tracked through a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.

The carbon 13 labelled pyruvate, which is 10,000 times more likely to be detected by MRI scan is tracked as they enter the cells of the patient's body. The doctors can now monitor how soon the pyruvate is broken down into the cancer cells, indicating how active the cells are, how they respond to the drugs and whether are not the drug is efficient in killing the cancerous cells.

"Each person's cancer is different and this technique could help us tailor a patient's treatment more quickly than before," said, Professor Kevin Brindle, the study's co-lead researcher, reported IB times. "Finding out early on whether cancer is responding to therapy could save patients months of treatment that isn't working for them."

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
India: MNREGA Budget Cut In The Times Of Drought

By Asian Human Rights Commission

11 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The rural distress plaguing large tracts of the Indian countryside is no secret. This distress has heightened in the wake of the devastating drought that is affecting more than half of Indias 676 districts. Forget the reports coming in from grass root organizations that showcase the severity of the crisis, data from the governments own agencies expose the horror.

For instance, Maharashtra, especially the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, has seen 273 farmers killing themselves in the first three months of 2016 alone; this is 59 suicides more than the corresponding period from last year.

The devil hides in the details. The spurt in farm suicides even before the onset of summer is an indicator of the things to come. Large tracts of state have already gone dry; Latur is the worst hit, with water curfews imposed there.

It is in this context that welfare schemes, like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) end up as the only way out for millions of rural poor to subsist. And, the government now wants to deny them even that.

The Supreme Court of India observed the same while hearing a petition by Swaraj Abhiyan, an activist group, which sought relief for drought hit regions in the country. The Court examined the data provided to it by the union government and curtly told the government that the funds allocated for MNREGA are not enough to alleviate the rural crisis, worsened by the drought that is affecting more than 10 states.

The bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and N.V. Ramana held that:

"There is a shortage of funds and this shortage is going to be severe if all states comply with 100 days of employment per household per year which at present is only at 46 days as per your data. You need to have larger budget to solve the problem of drought hit people by offering them employment".

Ironically, the fund cut has arrived despite the current governments complete about turn on MNREGA. It had called the act a living monument of failure of the previous government in its first budget. However, on the 10th anniversary of the Act, i.e. less than a year later, the same government termed MNREGA a national pride.

The pride, sadly, does not reflect in the numbers. Though, last year, the government enhanced the budgetary allocation for MNREGA to Rs. 38,500 crore from Rs. 34,699 crore, this has meant little on the ground, as states owe more over Rs. 10,000 crore as liability for wages that have gone unpaid during the last fiscal year. This liability leaves a mere Rs. 28,500 crore of funds available this year, around 18% lower than last year, in the face of an even more acute rural crisis.

The data exposes something bigger than the shrinking of available funds. It shows criminal disdain for the life of the rural poor who seek work under MNREGA to survive. Denying them wages on time defeats this very purpose. Sample this: the official data betrays exaggeratingly high level of delays in wage payment to workers. It shows that on time payment of wages for MNREGA work stood at a petty 27% in the fiscal year 2014-15, with the figure increasing to 45% last year.

The numbers expose that more than half the total workers do not get paid on time for work they take up to survive. They do not get paid in time for the work despite the national average for MNREGA wages standing at a paltry Rs. 132 (or $ 1.98 USD). They do not get paid on time even though they get work for only 46 days on average; the Act promises them employment for 100 days. This puts their total earning from MNREGA at Rs 6,072 per year. That amounts to Rs 506 a month, or Rs. 16. 87 (or $ 0.25 USD) a day!

One may consider the data like this as well: out of all the 28 provinces in India, 25 defaulted on timely payment last year. It is not the primary fault of the states though, as the states depend on funds from the union government to pay 90% of MNREGA works by statute.

Now, with the already entrenched rural distress aggravated by severe drought, the fund cuts for MNREGA mean slashing of the labour budget. This, in turn, means reducing the number of days of work offered to those seeking it and then leaving them to fend for themselves. The union government incidentally has done this already, by bringing down the number of person days to 2,170 million for 2,016-17, and 2,391 million person-days from last year!

It is not that the government is forced to do so for the lack of funds. Even a cursory glance at corporate loans foregone by the banks through waivers to bad debt mechanisms would expose the same. The government was set to reach Rs 55,000 crore by March 31, 2016, or almost the double of real allocation for MNREGA this year,

The Supreme Court bench had nailed what it really could be when the Additional Solicitor General Pinki Anand, who was to argue the union governments case over Swaraj Abhiyans petition, failed to show up in time.

The bench curtly asked her:

"Is this like cattle or something? Go here, go there. This is not your priority? Two judges are sitting here. You expect us to do nothing and just keep looking at the watch waiting for time to pass?"

Perhaps the government is only wasting time.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) works towards the radical rethinking and fundamental redesigning of justice institutions in order to protect and promote human rights in Asia. Established in 1984, the Hong Kong based organisation is a Laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, 2014.










Prafulla Samantara Attacked By Vedanta Goons

By Campaign for Survival and Dignity(CSD) Odisha

11 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Campaign for Survival and Dignity(CSD) Odisha which struggled for the enactment of Forest Rights(FRA), 2006 and presently campaigning for the establishment of Gram SabhaSarkar in the line of FRA Gram Sabhain all villages of the State today condemned the attack on Activist Prafulla Samantara, President, Lok Shakti Abhiyan by Vedanta goons.

Acknowledging the great contribution of Samantara to the tribals and forest dwellers of the State, CSD has said that PrafullaSamantra is of the courageous activists who have dared to reach nook and corners of state and have encouraged the community people who have been fighting to save their live and livelihood from the land mafia, multinational companies and corporate sector.

It is to be noted that on 6th April 2016 PrafullaSamantra was assaulted by about 10 goons of Vedanta Company while he was returning from a meeting from Village Masiput inKoraput district.

In a Press Release alsoMr.Samantarahas shared that I have been to give solidarity to the people of five villages who have been opposing mining over DangadeulaHill. They depend on this hill for grazing of their domestic animal,fuel wood, streams for water etc. He alleged that the hired goons of Vedanta companyalso tried to kidnap him forcefully but failed as the villagers rushed to the spot after getting information. Again in the afternoon when I was in a hotel of Koraput, some musclemen came to my room and threatened me not to support the local peopleresisting mining of bauxite in Dangadeulahill, Samantara said. He further said, No force could stop me to go back from active support and solidarity to the people who were once displaced by Upper Kolabreservoir. This mining not only will destroy their houses nearby but also water streams will be ceased to flow ultimately it will reduce quantity of water to Kolab reservoir and pollute it.

Samantara has also alleged that wherever I go, the Vedanta Company is following me and have engages miscreants and musclemen to attack me physically. This is nothing but criminalization of corporate regime. This is fourth time that Vedanta goons attempted physical attack on me

Meanwhile the Govt. of Odisha is trying to go for mining in Niyamgiri where the Gram Sabhas of Dongariatribals had rejected mining after the historical judgement of the Supreme Court in 2013. At the same time the police repression is increasing day to day in Niyamgiri by which innocent tribals who resist Vedanta Company are victimized and are being killed and kept in jail under false allegation of maoist activities.Samantara said.

In his press note, Samatara has also alleged that even some of top police officers mislead the local activists of democratic movements that I am amaoist which is totally baseless and contradictory to my ideology and activities of democratic socialism based on ideals Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. RammanoharLohia, Jayprakash Narayan and Dr. Baba SahebAmbedkar.He has called this as the cruel example of criminalization of police administration for corporate profits at the cost of democratic values and constitutional right to life and livelihood.

CSD,Odisha has urged Govt. of Odisha to give him special protection to him.










The Disneyfied Narrative Of The International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia

By Milan Djurasovic

11 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Pinocchio and Little Red Riding Hood still believe in the impartiality of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). I have yet to meet either a partial or an impartial Serb that shares their sentiments. Toward the political bazaar in Hague the Serbs feel what has been hurled at them by the institutions creators since the early 1990sdisdain, occasional profanity, and boiling resentment. Those are the only self-defense tools available to the tired citizens of a small, impoverished country.

In August of 1992, German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel, the father of the Tribunal, was already imitating The Boy Who Cried Wolf when he urged for the creation of an international judicial institution that would go after the evil Serbs who were ordering and committing genocides left and right. The second president of the Tribunal presented Madeline Alright with the role of Lady Tremaine (Also known as the Wicked Stepmother), a warmonger who placed her aversion to Serb hygienic practices high on her long list of anti-Serb grievances. In this dystopian tale, the U.S. government, George Soros, Rockefeller Foundation, United States Institute for Peace, and Bill Clinton eagerly accepted the part of the Spend thrift McDuck by providing the Tribunal with both the giant stack of chips and The Playing Cards. The indicted Serb political leaders were privy to the fact that the house had a built-in advantage, but at the time when the U.S. hegemony was at its peak, the ICTY was the only game in town.

The recently convicted Radovan Karadzic and the doomed general Ratko Mladic at least found out how Pluto felt in Plutos Judgment Day. Many other unconvicted Serbs were executed before they were able to present their case in the ICTYs trial in Hell.

Doctor Milan Kovacevic, indicted in 1997 by the ICTY on complicity to commit genocide and crimes against humanity, died in his cell after suffering two strokes and a rupture of an artery in his stomach. Other inmates tried to resuscitate him while a doctor was being summoned. By the time the doctor arrived, Kovacevic was already dead. The night before his death Kovacevic suffered a serious kidney attack. After he was given an injection at the hospital, he was promptly brought back to his cell. When the inmates asked why Kovacevic did not stay at the hospital until he recovered, the doctor replied: There was no need, he had a kidney attack. I gave him an injection and he felt better.

Chief of police in the town of Foca and a martial arts instructor, Dragan Gagovic, indicted for war crimes in June of 1996, was shot by the French SFOR troops in self-defense (the troops claimed that Gagovic directed his vehicle at high speed toward them before they opened fire) on his way home from a karate practice. Five of his students (children aged between eight and twelve) were in the vehicle during the incident, and luckily none of them were hurt. State Departments spokesperson, James Rubin, had this to say about the incident: This action serves as a warning to all indicted war criminals to bear the consequences and responsibility for their actions. Similarly, Simo Drljaca, a police chief in the town of Prijedor, indicted for genocide, was killed in July 1997 in the Clinton and Blair approved Operation Tango while swimming in a lake with his son and brother-in law. It took four tanks and three helicopters manned by British Special Air Service commandos to shoot Drljaca dead, again in self-defense. It was the right thing to do is what Bill Clinton had to say about the incident. Drljacas teenage son was returned home from prison late that same night with visible bodily injuries. In self-defense the American SFOR troops also killed Krsta Micic, an unarmed man who confronted the soldiers who were harassing Bosnian Serb girls at the restaurant in the town of Ugljevik.

Dragomir Abazovic, a man sought by the Bosnian State Prosecution for alleged war crimes committed in Sarajevo, was seriously injured by the soldiers of the European Union Force (EUFOR). Injured also was Dragomirs eleven-year-old son Dragoljub, while his wife was Rada was killed by the same culprits. EUFOR spokesman, Thomas Jem, stated that Dragomir shot himself in the head and that Dragoljubs son and wife were shot at only after they fired their weapons at the EUFOR soldiers.

Just imagine how livid the American public would be if a group of Iraqi commandoes barged into the George W. Bush Congressional Library and Museum and executed him while he was carefully rereading The Pet Goat, or how indignant the British would be if a dozen Libyan soldiers abducted David Cameron while he was munching on crisps in a comfortable chair and savoring every word of the Three Little Pigs?

General Djordje Djukic, a man who was never indicted, was kidnapped in February 1996 by Bosnian Muslims and brought to Hague to testify against other Bosnian Serbs. Since no valuable information was extracted from him during his three month stay in Hague, Djukic was allowed to go home to die of his untreated cancer.

Mayor of the town of Vukovar and a Croatian Serb, Slavko Dokmanovic, accused of war crimes, was secretly added to the Vukovar indictment. Slavko was illegally abducted and sent to the ICTY. In June of 1998, the accused allegedly hanged himself in his cell. The Associated Press wrote the following about the incident:  Dokmanovic had complained through his lawyers of feeling depressed and had been visited regularly by a psychiatrist, but he never hinted he was suicidal. In fact, he was seen as having a good chance at acquittal. The Hague officials claim that Dokmanovic was placed on suicide watch, but yet he was allowed to keep his tie and an electric razor. Witnesses summoned by the defense testified that Slavko Dokmanovic was in a different place at the time of the Vukovar hospital massacre, for which he was accused.

The most famous case of a Serb political leader dying in prison before the closure of his trial is the one of Slobodan Milosevic, President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000.In the middle of the NATO bombing of Serbia, ICTY charged him with genocide and other war crimes. He died of a heart attack in his prison cell in March 2006. Milosevics colleague, Zivorad Jovanovic, claims that Milosevic was not afforded with adequate medical care. Furthermore, Jovanovic explains that Russia offered its doctor to treat Milosevic, but that the Tribunal rejected the request. For a while, the only medicine that was offered to a man who suffered from chronic heart problems was one aspirin a day. Russian physician from the renowned Bakulev Institute, Dr. Leo A. Boqueria, said the following about Milosevics faith: "The last three years we have consistently, but unsuccessfully, insisted that Milosevic be sent to the hospital so that the exact diagnosis could be found. Had Milosevic been allowed to go to any specialist clinic, such as, for example, our medical center, and received appropriate treatment, he would have lived much longer. "

The mentioned cases are only a drop in the ocean of ICTYs transgressions toward indicted Serbs. The Hague war crimes tribunal has indicted 161 people, and more than half of them are Serbs, who have been collectively given a 1,000-year-long prison sentence. Altogether, nine people have perished in Hague (of which seven are Serbs: Djordje Djukic, Slavko Dokmanovic, Milan Kovacevic, Slobodan Milosevic, Momir Talic, Miroslav Deronjic, Milan Babic and Mile Mrksic) before their cases were brought to an end. Suffice it so say that, guilty or not, the accused should have been provided with an objective judicial setting in which they would be allowed to disprove the charges.

This imposed justice, supposedly created to maintain and restore international peace and security, and accompanied by the fact that the perpetrators of the Serbs opponents in the Yugoslav civil wars (especially the leading Albanian, Croatian, and Bosnian Muslim political and military figures) either died peacefully in their homes or continue to work as high-level government leaders and politicians in their respective countries, are the fundamental reasons why Serbs feel nothing but disdain for the ICTY. They are unwilling to accept that around thirty thousand dead Bosnian Serbs and more than half a million who were forced to leave their homes; and thousands more who were killed in Croatia (and around 200,000 who were ethnically cleansed and whose dwellings were destroyed in Croatia) deserve no justice and ought to be simply discarded like Cinderellas old shoes.

It should then come as no surprise that the vast majority of Serbs think that the ICTY is a kangaroo court. In 2004, the research conducted by the Serbian Ministry of Human and Minority Rights revealed that three fourths of the Serbian citizens believe that the Tribunal in Hague is a political rather than a legal institution.

The most unfortunate outcome of this absurdist tale (a thousand page Stephen King novel to the people of the former Yugoslavia and barely a haiku to the Western powers), coined abroad but carried out within the borders of Yugoslavia, is the increasingly greater chasm (As is evident from this video that shows what Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Serbs think about the trial of Radovan Karadzic) in the opinions of the people of different nationalities. The simplistic narrative of the conflict between the good and evil has left three sides understandably but uncritically imbibing the self-serving role of the unblemished victims, and it was supposed to (but failed due to the reasons mentioned in this article) burden Serbs with the kind of guilt and remorse many Germans have dealt with for decades after the Second World War. The imposed narrative of the Yugoslav civil wars has unleashed and amplified to the nth degree the already sizable animosity felt toward each other by the considerable percentage of the former Yugoslavias different national groups. Us vs. Them mentality (admittedly present in this article) is pervasive in the analysis of who should be held responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia. While I would agree that dwelling on the past can often be paralyzing and unproductive, untimely forgetfulness and sloppy reconciliation efforts are perhaps even more dangerous. Regardless of the frequent efforts, the experience of those who have lived through the slaughter cannot be Disneyfied. The sum of intricacies in this continuing absurdist tale is astounding, and my cynical predictiondespite a genuine hope to witness the contrary--is that animosity and dwelling will continue to persist for many generations to come.

Milan Djurasovic is a Bosnian American collage artist, blogger, and a book author. He currently lives and works in St. Petersburg, Russia. His educational background is in psychology and history.




Sri Lanka : Why Investigations Into Mass Graves Failed So Far

By Basil Fernando

11 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The existence of a mass grave may come to the notice of the public by many different ways; a statement by a witness made during a court hearing - as in the case of Chemmani Mass Graves: discoveries of some scattered remains of bones by workers when digging a site for constructions purposes, as in the case of the Matale mass grave; or by surfacing of some remains of human bodies as a result of heavy rains or due to any other accidental reasons.

However, what happens after such a revelation does not depend on accidental reasons alone but on very objective factors such as the political will of the government in power in a particular time to uncover the mystery behind such surfacing of a mass grave with the view to ensure that the law is enforced irrespective of whatever political circumstances, the corporation of the law enforcement agencies to do their duties in the investigation into all the circumstances which has led to the making of such a mass grave with the view to prosecute the offenders, and the technical capacities that exists within a particular country to engage in a scientific inquiry into the discovery of the secrets contained in the materials that have been discovered from a mass grave and many other factors.

Sri Lanka is a place where very many mass graves have been discovered as shown in the illustration which mentions 22 sites where mass graves have been discovered. Since the publication of this map, few more places have been added to this list.

Chemmani Mass and the Matale mass grave are the only two instances in which some progress was made in terms of a judicial inquiry to discover their backgrounds, however even in those two instances after the beginning of some initial steps mainly due to expressions of public opinion from local as well as international sources, the entire process has been stopped. Many excuses have been given for such stoppages, which are basically of technical nature.

However, close scrutiny of these circumstances clearly indicate that there are far more serious objections to inquiries into mass graves than those which are merely technical. Those serious objections are based on political considerations which should not have entered into considerations relating to inquiries of those considerations about serious crimes which are possibly involved in the burial of many human bodies in a mass grave.

Thus there are more serious considerations for the failure to investigate into mass graves should be looked into from the perspectives of the nature of the criminal justice that exists in a particular country. Therefore, probing into a mass grave is in fact, scrutiny into the very nature of criminal justice which in the first place made the possibility of the creation of mass graves followed by a prolonged resistance to uncovering the truth which lies behind such mass graves.

When thus, a criminal justice system allows for measures to be approved by a government and carried out by law enforcement agencies, which result in the creation of mass graves. When very detailed micro studies are needed into the uncovering of political and legal measures that has gradually led to the protections written into a criminal justice system, in terms of arrest interrogations and carrying out punishments for alleged offenders. There is thus much more to be discovered, through studies in the legal process that enables the creation of mass graves, than what the remains of dead bodies and other materials that may be discovered in a mass grave.

A close scrutiny is likely to reveal that a very political process that made the possibilities for circumventing the protections of individuals contained in a criminal justice system that also later prevents the proper inquiries into the mass graves.

What this implies is that the study of the mass graves, must be considered only as a sub-branch, of the studies into enforced disappearances. What made a government directly or indirectly approve the removal of measures for the protection of individuals which are contained in any legitimate criminal justice system, in order to enable enforced disappearances of persons? This question is much wider than a study into merely a particular mass grave. The factors that enable the possibilities of enforced disappearances need to be studied in the first place when trying to understand what is in a mass grave and the reasons for serious obstacles being created for engaging in any real judicial and forensic inquiry into the remains that are found in a mass grave.

There were many occasions at which large scale disappearances took place in Sri Lanka, a rough sketch of such disappearances is indicated in the box given below: for more details please see Phenomenon of disappearances in Sri Lanka by Mr M C M Iqbal.

Under the law in Sri Lanka there are protections against suspects of crime given by way of constitutional guarantees as well as provisions of criminal procedure law. Article 13(1) of the Constitution forbids illegal arrest, Article 13(2), illegal detention, and Article 11 absolutely prohibits torture. The law relating to arrests was the same as the law in Britain which was succinctly summarised by the great British jurist, A V Dicey in the Introduction to the study of the law of the constitution (All Souls College, Oxford, 1885) as follows;

The right to personal liberty as understood in England means in substance a persons right not to be subjected to imprisonment, arrest, or other physical coercion in any manner that does not admit of legal justification. That anybody should suffer physical restrain is in England prima facie illegal and can be justified (speaking in very general terms) on two grounds only, that is to say, either because the prisoner or person suffering restraint is accused of some offence and must be brought before the Courts to stand his trial or because he has been duly convinced of some office and must suffer punishment for it. Now personal freedom in this sense of the term is secured in England by the strict maintenance of the principle that no man can be arrested or imprisoned except in due course of law i.e. (speaking again in very general terms indeed) under some legal warrant or authority and, what is of far more consequence, it is secured by the provisions of adequate legal means for the enforcement of this principle. These methods are twofold; namely, redress for unlawful arrest or imprisonment by means of a prosecution or an action, and deliverance from unlawful imprisonment by means of the writ of habeas corpus.

The entire substance of the legal provisions contained in the above quote was displaced in Sri Lanka in order to enable the occurrence of enforced disappearances.

The protection of personal liberty which is an absolute principle was relativized by creating the possibilities of withdrawal of a personal liberty at the hands of security personnel. In order to do this, one of the first steps was to replace the need for arrest under the legal provisions by allowing abductions instead. Thus a security official acting on behalf of the state was given the right to abduct. Abduction is a criminal offence in Sri Lanka. However, abductions by security officers under the pretext of the prevention of alleged terrorism was legalised.

A security officer who thus abducts a person had no duty to justify his actions. Thus the burden of proving legitimacy of an arrest by any person acting on behalf of the state was thus removed. Once the duty of justifying an arrest was virtually removed, there was no legal technique by which the state could supervise the legality or illegality of an arrest.

Thus what really took place by way of allowing abductions in the place of arrests was to legitimise arbitrary arrests.

Once the arrest could be made outside the law then the doors are closed to monitor the detentions of persons so arrested. In normal circumstances a person who is arrested needs to be produced before a court, within 24 hours which later extended to 48 hours. However, there is no possibility for ensuring any such production of persons before a Magistrate when the arrest is in fact denied. Thus in terms of arrests and detention the abducted person becomes a legal non-entity.

Under the normal law the purpose of arrest is to conduct investigations into an alleged crime. However, obligation for investigations is removed when the person is treated as a legal non-entity, and thus a person could be detained for whatever reason and no further investigations need to be conducted.

When the security agencies that makes these arrests have the obligation to investigate it is also expected to keep records of such investigations. Therefore, when a statement is taken it would be transmitted in writing and kept as an official record. Whatever questioning that is being conducted, and the answers that are given are also transmitted into writing and maintained as an official record. However, in the instances when an arrest is made with the view to cause an enforced disappearance all the obligations for keeping official records are suspended. Thus, no record of what transpired since the arrest would be available. In that way the possibility of any judicial inquiry as to the legitimacy of what has taken place by way of interrogation is also being removed.

Under normal law, deciding on the guilt of a person is entirely a judicial function. Only a judge has the power to declare a person guilty of an offence and to prescribe any punishment. However, all such powers are being transmitted through security officers when the aim of the arrest is to commit an enforced disappearance. The security officers are thereby given judicial functions and judicial powers. What is more is that such functions could be exercised without keeping any kind of official record.

Under the normal law, even when a judicial officer exercises the right to judge on the guilt or innocence of a person such judicial officer is obligated to conduct the inquiry into the guilt or the innocence of the person by way of a fair trial . One of the basic rules of fair trial is that such a trial should be conducted in open court. Thus, the inquiry into the guilt or the innocence of the person is done with full transparency and the public have a right to watch such a trial. This way any kind of secrecy is denied even to a judicial officer who is conducting an inquiry into the guilt or the innocence of a person. However, when security officers are conducting the trial, they are allowed to do that in complete secrecy. Whatever that transpires will be known only to the victim and the security officers involved. In this way, security officers could exercise judicial powers without having any obligation to observe the legal procedures that even a judicial officer is expected to follow.

Under the normal law, the prescription of a punishment, is a function of a judicial officer and this function has also been conducted according to the limits laid down by the law. For example, a penal code or a particular statute creating a particular offence may also describe the maximum punishment that could be given for such an offence. However, when the security officers decide on the punishment they are powers are not limited by any law. They could decide on whatever the punishment in the way they think fit.

Under the normal law, the manner in which a punishment prescribed by a judicial officer is to be carried out is also determined by written legal provisions if the death sentence is prescribed by the judicial officer, the manner in which such an execution can be conducted is laid down by other laws and regulations. The prison authorities and the executioner merely follows those rules. Further every act that they conduct, is also recorded and such records are official records. The security officers that carries out a death sentence which they themselves have prescribed are not under obligation to follow any legal procedures or to maintain a record of what they do and the manner in which they carry out their own orders to themselves.

Under the normal law, the state is obliged to provide for an appeal, on any decision of guilt and prescription of a punishment by a judicial officer and this appeal has to be heard also by judicial officers with higher powers and authorities. The appeal Court will examine the legitimacy of the judgment and also the appropriateness of the punishment prescribed. Such an appeal court has power to declare such a judgment wrong and to quash it if they come to the opinion that the judgement has violated the law or has prescribed punishments which are not proportionate to the particular crime alleged to have been committed. This appeal court will also maintain records so that a public record of their reasoning will be available for public scrutiny. However, when the security officers make their judgements there is no such obligations. Their judgment cannot be appealed against nor are they under obligation to keep any records.

When a death sentence is carried out by proper legal authorities they are thereafter, under obligation to follow the law and the rules regarding disposal of the body. Under normal circumstances the dead body is handed over to the family, of the deceased so that they could carry out whatever rituals they think fit before the disposal of the body. Either by way of burial or cremation. Thus the rights of the family members are being respected even when the state have decided on the capital punishment regarding a person. However, when the security officers are to dispose of bodies they are under no obligation to respect the rights of the family members and to hand over the body to the family for disposal.

Under the normal law, when arrests, interrogations and trials, are being conducted all who are involved are under an absolute obligation to prevent torture or ill-treatment on the suspects. It is an absolute prohibition, which is guaranteed by the constitution. Further, constitutional and penal laws have prescribed serious punishments for those who violate the prohibition against torture and ill treatment. However, when the security officers carry out the arrests, interrogations and punishments themselves, they are not obliged to prevent the use of torture and ill treatment. In fact the secrecy with which they conduct their activities assures them that they could resort to any kind of torture and ill treatment.

Above is just a short description of the extent to which the basic laws of criminal justice are being completely violated when the state authorises enforced disappearances to take place. In fact at that point criminal justice ceases to exist. The state has taken upon itself the right to deal with the life and the liberty of a person without any justice. Justice is in fact made into a complete irrelevant consideration when the state through its security officers engages in the activities of conducting enforced disappearances.

Thus very clearly enforced disappearances mean a complete absence of justice.

The question that arises is as to whether the state can arrogate to itself any activity without at the same time subjecting itself to the requirement of serving laws and procedures relating to justice. Can the state under any circumstances declare that it considers justice as an irrelevant concept. The obvious answer is that the state is always under obligation to act justly.

Having considered how legal principles relating to criminal justice is completely displaced by way of enforced disappearances we may ask ourselves as to the principles of which the states act when it authorises causing of enforced disappearances?

Clearly when security officers are given the functions of being accusers, the investigators, judges, executioners and also disposers of the dead bodies, they are acting on the same principles by which the Russian secret police - the Cheka were authorised to act. Thus during the periods when enforced disappearances were allowed, those who engage in causing such enforced disappearances acted on the same principles as that of the Cheka. Thus investigations into enforced disappearances is nothing less than inquiries into similar activities as that of theCheka.

Thus we have two philosophical and jurisprudential positions one is as prescribed by A V Dicey, above, the fundamental principles of criminal justice where every interference into the liberty of a person has to be legally justified by the state. On the assumption that if no such legal justification is possible, the state is acting illegally. The opposite principle is that of the Cheka, where the state can authorise its agent to act without any reference to law. The issue of legality is completely irrelevant when looked at from the Cheka perspectives.

In Sri Lanka the state on occasions when it authorised enforced disappearances opted to abandon its own criminal justice laws and in its stead, opted to act under the Cheka principles. It is this ominous transition that we are confronted with when studying the enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka.

It is from these considerations that one could expose the limitations of trying to look into enforced disappearances only from a technical perspective which is a perspective from which even international agencies have looked into the phenomenon of disappearances in Sri Lanka. Kind of recommendations that merely insist on the state following its laws and improving its technical capacities to investigate and prosecute enforced disappearances conveniently overlooks the fundamental shift in principles that Sri Lankan state opted to act upon on occasions when it authorised enforced disappearances.

Implications of the above considerations on investigations into mass graves

A simple question that arises when a mass grave is discovered in Sri Lanka, is as to whether it is possible to demand the Sri Lankan state to act within the framework of criminal justice in dealing with such a mass grave when in fact such a mass grave is likely to be a mere manifestation of a state policy which allowed the causing of enforced disappearances. Is it possible for a state to act on the basis of the principles of cheka on the one hand and investigate into the same incidents on the basis of criminal justice principles?

Thus the issue of one of a very fundamental nature, each mass grave raises this fundamental issue. Neither Sri Lankans nor the international community have been able to face this fundamental issue squarely.

The result of not wanting to face this fundamental issue is that of looking for an escape from facing this situation by considering the enforced disappearances as acts of some officers who acted against the law and against the wishes of the governments in power during the time when such occurrences took place. Thus the real circumstances under which such disappearances took place is being overlooked and another reality is being created with the hope of rapidly forgetting these incidents with some excuse that something was done anyway.

However, such escape is not possible because a criminal justice system that was displaced in favour of following the principles similar to that of the Cheka, cannot be restored to its former position without facing up to the fundamental transformation that has taken place and without taking steps to abandon the Cheka approach and to replace it once again with a criminal justice approach.

There has not even been a discussion on that fundamental issue. Therefore, finding a solution is not possible when the problem that is to be resolved is itself acknowledged or understood. The result of continuing in this situation is to allow even the loss of memory of a criminal justice system that existed once. As the memory is, itself being lost there is lesser chance of taking any real initiative to restore the principles of criminal justice once again.

When mass graves are looked into as only a part of the overall problem of enforced disappearances then it is not difficult to understand why so much of obstacles are placed against any genuine investigations into a mass grave when it is discovered. The reactions to such discoveries is to find ways to supress curiosity about the actual meaning of such a discovery and to sabotage all attempts at a proper investigation into such mass graves. It is this that happened in Chemmani and it is also that which was repeated when the Matale mass grave was discovered. Similar sabotage will continue into any other discoveries in the future.

If such responses of denial and sabotage is to be displaced the process of this displacement must begin with the attempt to understand how the basic criminal justice system of Sri Lanka was displaced with a system that follows similar principles as that of the Russian Cheka. This is the first necessary step if we are to come out with any meaningful response which would ultimately have the result of restoring the lost criminal justice system of Sri Lanka.

Every mass grave is a symbol of the grave yard of criminal justice in Sri Lanka.

Basil Fernando is a Sri Lankan born jurist, author, poet, human rights activist, editor of Article 2 and Ethics in Action, and a prolific writer. He became a legal adviser to Vietnamese refugees in a UNHCR-sponsored project in Hong Kong. He joined the United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTAC) in 1992 as a senior human rights officer and later also served as the Chief of Legal Assistance to Cambodia of the UN Centre of Human Rights ( now the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights office). He is associated with Asian Human Rights Commission and Asian Legal Resource centre, based in Hong Kong since 1994








Obama Deceives World Over State Terrorism, Non-state Terrorism,

Apartheid Israeli Nuclear Threat And US Nuclear Terrorism

By Dr Gideon Polya

11 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

American President Barack Obama recently hosted and addressed the 4th Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) that is aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism. However an endlessly mendacious Obama ignored the failure over long-term storage of nuclear waste, the unconscionable US Alliance dispersal of depleted uranium in US war zones around the world, and the massive reality of state nuclear terrorism in which Humanity is existentially threatened by the nuclear terrorism of 9 nuclear weapons states, specifically (with upper estimates of nuclear weapons in brackets) the US (7,315), Russia (8,000), Apartheid Israel (400), France (300), UK (250), China (250), Pakistan (120), India (100), and North Korea (less than 10).

The essence of Obama's speech [1] is contained in the following 4 quotes that have been subjected to analysis revealing the profound dishonesty of the world's current number 1 nuclear terrorist, Barack Obama:

(1)  Good morning, everybody. It is my privilege to welcome you to Washington and to formally convene our fourth Nuclear Security Summit. I convened our first summit -- six years ago, in this same room -- because the danger of a terrorist group obtaining and using a nuclear weapon is one of the greatest threats to global security

(2) We've made nuclear security a priority at the highest levels. And I want to thank all my fellow leaders -- from more than 50 nations and key international organizations -- for your commitment to this work and being here today. Some of you were here for our very first summit; many of you have since taken office and joined this work. But it's a reminder that the task of protecting our citizens transcends political ideologies, parties and administrations. To date, our nations have made some 260 specific commitments to improve nuclear security -- and so far, three-quarters of these steps have been implemented. More than a dozen nations have removed all their highly enriched uranium and plutonium. Countries have removed or disposed of several tons of this deadly material. Nations have improved their nuclear security, including stronger regulations and more physical security of nuclear facilities, and more nations are cooperating to prevent nuclear smuggling. Leading up to this summit, nations have fulfilled additional commitments. Argentina , Switzerland , Uzbekistan all successfully eliminated all their highly enriched uranium from their countries. China recently opened its new center for promoting nuclear security and training, and I'm pleased that the United States and China are cooperating on nuclear security. And Japan is working to complete the removal of more than half a ton of highly enriched uranium and plutonium, which is the largest project in history to remove nuclear material from a country. I'm also pleased to announce that in recent days, after many years of work, 102 nations have now ratified a key treaty -- the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material. As a result, we expect that the treaty will enter into force in the coming weeks -- giving us more tools that we need to work together in the event of theft of nuclear material or an attack on a nuclear facility

(3) For the first time in a decade, we're providing a public inventory of our stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, which could be used for nuclear weapons, and that inventory is one that we have reduced considerably. When it comes to our nuclear-powered ships and submarines, we're exploring ways to further reduce our holdings of highly enriched uranium

(4) And that's why our work here remains so critical. The single most effective defense against nuclear terrorism is fully securing this material so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands in the first place. This is difficult. At hundreds of military and civilian facilities around the world, there's still roughly 2,000 tons of nuclear material, and not all of this is properly secured. And just the smallest amount of plutonium -- about the size of an apple -- could kill and injure hundreds of thousands of innocent people. It would be a humanitarian, political, economic, and environmental catastrophe with global ramifications for decades. It would change our world. So we cannot be complacent. We have to build on our progress. We have to commit to better security at nuclear facilities; to removing or disposing of more dangerous material; to bringing more nations into treaties and partnerships that prevent proliferation and smuggling; and to making sure that we have the architecture in place to sustain our momentum in the years ahead. With so many members of the global coalition against ISIL here today, this will also be an opportunity to make sure that we're doing everything in our power to keep a terrorist group like ISIL from ever getting its hands not just on a nuclear weapon, but any weapon of mass destruction.

Analysis.

(1) The danger of a terrorist group obtaining and using a nuclear weapon.

Obama dishonestly focuses on non-state terrorists who, thank goodness, do not currently have (a) nuclear weapons or (b) nuclear material for a dirty conventional bomb that would devastate economically by widely distributing deadly radioactivity [2]. However Obama ignores the vastly more dangerous state terrorists who do have nuclear weapons, are responsible for massive nuclear waste pollution, and variously have sanctioned and enabled corporate terrorists (e.g. those responsible for the Fukushima disaster) [3, 4].

A nuclear exchange between nuclear terrorist states would wipe out most of Humanity (current population about 7.3 billion) , successively through the initial instantaneous destruction of cities, subsequent deaths from burns and radiation sickness from radioactive fallout, and finally through a Nuclear Winter decimating agriculture, photosynthesis and photosynthate-based life in general. While imposing deadly Sanctions on Iran (that has zero nuclear weapons and repeatedly states that it does not want nuclear weapons and wants a nuclear weapons-free Middle East), the US (7,315 nuclear weapons) is boosting its nuclear and conventional forces in Asia and Australia and continues to pour billions of dollars of military aid into the war criminal, genocidally racist, ethnic cleansing and nuclear terrorist rogue state of Apartheid Israel that reportedly has up to 400 nuclear weapons. The upper estimates of stored nuclear weapons are as follows: US (7,315), Russia (8,000), Apartheid Israel (400), France (300), UK (250), China (250), Pakistan (120), India (100), and North Korea (less than 10). Apartheid Israel , India , Pakistan , North Korea and South Sudan have not ratified the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [4]. Nuclear exchanges have almost occurred accidentally several times in the last half century [5] and in several instances have only been averted by the sane actions of particular courageous and humane individuals e.g. Commander Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov (1962) and Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (1983) [6, 7].

The US leads the world in actual nuclear terrorism through its killing of 200,000 civilians through the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. It is claimed that the US may have used a neutron bomb to secure the Baghdad airport in the war criminal US, UK and Australian invasion of Iraq in 2003 [9, 10]. The US continues to develop nuclear weapons, a plethora of pro-Zionist and Zionist psychopaths advocate nuke Iran , and now loose cannon US presidential candidate, Donald Trump, espouses more nuclear proliferation.

(2) We've made nuclear security a priority at the highest levels.

This assertion by mendacious Obama is contrary to the following realities:

(a) Only 50 nations attended the Nuclear Security Summit and Russia was notable for its absence.

(b) Pro-Zionism and pro-Apartheid Obama failed to mention nuclear terrorist, genocidally racist, racist Zionist-run, democracy-by-genocide Apartheid Israel that has up to 400 nuclear weapons to help maintain a minority racist Zionist government (the Indigenous Palestinian subjects of Apartheid Israel now represent over 50% of the population ruled by Apartheid Israel but 73% are excluded from voting and are highly-abusively confined to the Gaza Concentration Camp or West Bank ghetto Bantustans without human rights, without charge or trial, and merely for the asserted crime of being Indigenous Palestinians living in a tiny portion of 90% ethnically cleansed Palestine) [8, 11-15]. Possession of hundreds of nuclear weapons by genocidally racist, serial invader Apartheid Israel is a huge threat to Humanity.

(c) Notwithstanding controversy over effects of low level radiation, a fundamental tenet of radiation safety remains that radiation damage is directly proportional to radiation dose and there is no threshold [2]. This conservative position informs physical radiation safety arrangements for radiation workers that are designed to minimize exposure to radiation and ingestion of radioactive material [2]. Despite this, and despite evidence for the chemical toxicity and teratogenicity (birthdefect-causing) properties of depleted uranium (uranium with a lower level of fissile U-235), countries of the US Alliance, notably the US, UK, Apartheid Israel and Saudi Arabia have variously used depleted uranium-containing weapons in Libya, Palestine (notably in the Gaza Concentration Camp), Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan [16]. This indiscriminate and widespread pollution with depleted uranium has been applied by the US Alliance against a swathe of Muslim countries but would be totally forbidden within the US itself and constitutes s a war crime.

(d) According to ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons): Nuclear weapons are the only weapons of mass destruction not yet explicitly prohibited under international law. The Humanitarian Pledge is a commitment by nations to fill this unacceptable legal gap. It offers a platform from which they can  and must  launch negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons. 127 countries have so far signed this Pledge [8, 17]. France and the Anglosphere members of the US Alliance are notable for not signing the Pledge. Thus, for example, while Australia has no actual nuclear weapons of its own, it has hosted nuclear tests and testing of nuclear weapons delivery systems, hosts nuclear armed war ships, plays a key role in US nuclear terrorism through its Pine Gap joint US-Australian communications facility, and under the present pro-war, pro-Zionist, US lackey Coalition Government slavishly supports US and Israeli war policies and is doing its best to oppose a Nuclear Weapons Ban. Thus the Sydney Morning Herald reported (2014):  In October 2013, according to the documents released under freedom-of-information law, Australia refused a request by New Zealand to endorse a 125-nation joint statement at the United Nations highlighting the humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons.'' Australia objected to a sentence declaring that it is in the interest of humanity that nuclear weapons are never used again, ''under any circumstances''. A group of 16 nations, including Indonesia , Malaysia , Mexico , South Africa and New Zealand , have been working to highlight the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons. That diplomatic campaign is intended to lay the ground for negotiation of a convention that would prohibit nuclear weapons - putting them in the same category as chemical and biological weapons, which are already prohibited under international law declassified documents have revealed that the government's primary concern is that a nuclear weapons ban would ''cut across'' Australia's reliance on US nuclear deterrence [18].

(e) The US and other nuclear industry countries have not yet found a suitable location for safe long-term storage of nuclear waste. However there is currently a major push for Australia to store the world's nuclear waste in remote Central Australia, a proposal that is made more alarming by the presence of up to 2,500 child-killing US Marines in US lackey Australia's Northern Territory and proposals for an even greater presence in northern Australia of US military, potentially nuclear armed US navy and potentially nuclear-armed US strategic bombers. The US has a dirty record of interference in Australia, notably the CIA-backed coup against the reformist Whitlam Government in 1975 over the Pine Gap communications base that is crucial for US nuclear terrorism, the US veto of Labor leader Mark Latham in 2004 over his election campaign promise to bring Australian soldiers back from Iraq, and the US-approved, mining-company-backed and pro-Zionist-led Coup against the Rudd Labor Government in 2010 [19]. If, as envisaged by some, Australia became the world's nuclear waste storehouse, one can realistically envision US military takeover of Australia (for freedom and world peace of course) if a progressive Australian Government backed out of the arrangement.

(3) We're exploring ways to further reduce our holdings of highly enriched uranium.

In the past the US was able to reduce holdings of highly enriched uranium by sending such material to Apartheid Israel as in the 1965 Apollo Affair, illegal and utterly irresponsible transfers that led to the ruling colonizer Zionist minority of Palestine acquiring up to 400 nuclear weapons [8, 20, 21].

(4) The single most effective defense against nuclear terrorism is fully securing this material so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands in the first place we're doing everything in our power to keep a terrorist group like ISIL from ever getting its hands not just on a nuclear weapon, but any weapon of mass destruction.

Mendacious Obama finds refuge in terror hysteria by touting the extremely remote if terrifying prospect that barbarous ISIL rebels - with no industry and hiding in caves and in bombing-devastated towns from conventional, guided missile and drone bombing - might nevertheless be able to acquire nuclear weapons. Obama ignores the actuality of genocidally racist, serial invader, nuclear terrorist states, namely the US, UK, France and Apartheid Israel, having already acquired huge numbers of nuclear weapons, with the worst such state, the US, having repeatedly used nuclear weapons to mass murder 250,000 civilians. Further, these nuclear terrorist US Alliance countries are notorious serial invaders of other countries - thus the US has invaded 70 countries, the UK 193, France 80, Apartheid Israel 12 and formerly UK lackey and now US lackey Australia 85 [22-26].

Conclusions

Mendacious Obama is the world's worst nuclear terrorist and is also presently as president of the US the world's worst operating serial invader, worst human rights abuser, worst genocidal killer and most deadly drug pusher. The nuclear-armed US Alliance led by Obama is presently undertaking military operations in a swathe of 20 impoverished countries from Mauritania to the Philippines that have suffered 27 million avoidable deaths from deprivation and about 5 million deaths from violence since the US Government's false flag operation on 9-11 [27]. Obama has continued the Iraqi Genocide, Afghan Genocide, Somali Genocide and Muslim Genocide, and through unwavering support for a genocidal Apartheid Israel continues to make Americans complicit in the ongoing Palestinian Genocide [28]. Thanks to George Bush and Barack Obama, 1.2 million people have died world-wide since 9-11 due to US Alliance restoration of the Taliban-destroyed Afghan opium industry from 6% of world market share in 2001 to 93% in 2007, the breakdown (as of 2015) including 280,000 Americans, 256,000 Indonesians, 68,000 Iranians, 25,000 British, 14,000 Canadians, 10,000 Germans, and 5,000 Australians [29].

Our world is acutely threatened by nuclear weapons (that threaten the very existence of Humanity), poverty (that kills 17 million people each year) and man climate change (that threatens to wipe out all but 0.5 billion people this century). The US led by Obama is a world leader in nuclear terrorism, One Percenter-dominated inequity (with the One Percenters owning half of the world's wealth) and deadly, ecocidal capitalism that acutely threatens Humanity and the Biosphere. A comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Ban is needed to avoid an accidental full-scale nuclear catastrophe and a consequent Nuclear Winter that will wipe out most of Humanity and the Biosphere [8].

Nuclear terrorist Obama has 8 months to go as president but may be replaced either by the odiously bigoted demagogue Donald Trump or by mass murderess Hillary Clinton whose obscene utterance We came, we saw, he died provides an epitaph for Libya, formerly a pro-woman, secular state and the richest country in impoverished Africa but wantonly and unforgivably devastated and consigned to endless sectarian civil war by the France, UK and US (FUKUS) Alliance. For all the likelihood of a first ever female president and American rhetoric about defending Western civilization from fundamentalist Muslim terrorists, US policy resolutely backs the misogynist, sectarian, state terrorist, war criminal and climate criminal Saudi dictatorship, has eliminated secular, pro-woman regimes in the Muslim world, specifically in Iran, Afghanistan , Iraq , and Libya , and most recently has devastated Syria in attempted removal of the secular Assad regime [30]. American propaganda ignores the Elephant in the Room reality that state terrorism by serial invader, US Alliance nuclear terrorist states is far, far worse than evil and repugnant non-state terrorism [3, 31].

Every person must stand up for Humanity and the Biosphere in the One Percenter War on Terra led by America under mendacious, war criminal and climate criminal Obama. What can decent people do? Decent people must (a) inform everyone they can and (b) urge and apply Boycotts, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) against all politicians, parties, corporations and countries disproportionately complicit in nuclear terrorism.

References.

[1]. Barack Obama, Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Rutte at Opening Session of the Nuclear Security Summit, White House, 1 April 2016: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/04/01/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-rutte-opening-session-nuclear

[2]. Gideon Polya, Rational risk management, science and denial: http://rationalriskmanagement.blogspot.com.au/2008/02/risk-management-science-denial.html .

[3]. Stop state terrorism : https://sites.google.com/site/stopstateterrorism/ .

[4]. List of states with nuclear weapons, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons .

[5]. Fred Mendelsohn, Working to abolish nuclear weapons , ABC Radio National Ockham's Razor, 10 August 2014: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/working-to-abolish-nuclear-weapons/5650138 .

[6]. Are we doomed?: https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/are-we-doomed .

[7]."Too late to avoid global warming catastrophe": https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/too-late-to-avoid-global-warming .

[8]. Nuclear weapons ban , end poverty & reverse climate change: https://sites.google.com/site/300orgsite/nuclear-weapons-ban .

[9]. Gideon Polya, Review: Genocide In Iraq Volume II. The Obliteration Of A Modern State  By Abdul-Haq Al-Ani & Tariq Al-Ani , Countercurrents, 15 March, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya150315.htm .

[10]. Abdul-Haq Al-Ani and Tariq Al-Ani Genocide in Iraq Volume II. The Obliteration of a Modern State  (Clarity Press, 2015).

[11]. Boycott Apartheid Israel : https://sites.google.com/site/boycottapartheidisrael/ .

[12]. Gaza Concentration Camp: https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/gaza-concentration .

[13]. Jews Against Racist Zionism: https://sites.google.com/site/jewsagainstracistzionism/ .

[14]. Non-Jews Against Racist Zionism: https://sites.google.com/site/nonjewsagainstracistzionism/ .

[15]. Palestinian Genocide: https://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/ .

[16]. Depleted Uranium, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium

[17]. International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN): http://www.icanw.org/pledge/ .

[18]. Philip Dorling, Australian diplomats frustrated nuclear weapons ban, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 March 2014: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australian-diplomats-frustrated-nuclear-weapons-ban-20140309-34fgg.html .

[19]. Gideon Polya, "Pro-Zionist-led Coup ousts Australian PM Rudd", MWC News, 29 June 2010: http://mwcnews.net/focus/politics/3488-pro-zionist-led-coup.html .

[20]. The Apollo Affair, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apollo_Affair .

[21]. Nuclear weapons and Israel , Wikipedia: https://www.google.com.au/#q=us+enriched+uranium+israel .

[22]. Gideon Polya, President Hollande And French Invasion Of Privacy Versus French Invasion Of 80 Countries Since 800 AD, Countercurrents, 15 January, 2014: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya150114.htm .

[23]. Gideon Polya, US has invaded 70 nations Since 1776  make 4 July Independence From America Day, Countercurrents, 5 July 2013: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya050713.htm .

[24]. Gideon Polya, British Have Invaded 193 Countries: Make 26 January ( Australia Day, Invasion Day) British Invasion Day, Countercurrents, 23 January, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya230115.htm .

[25]. Gideon Polya , As UK Lackeys Or US Lackeys Australians Have Invaded 85 Countries (British 193, French 80, US 70) , Countercurrents, 9 February, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya090215.htm .

[26]. Gideon Polya, Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950, that includes an avoidable mortality-related history of every country from Neolithic times and is now available for free perusal on the web : http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com.au/ .

[27]. Gideon Polya , Paris Atrocity Context: 27 Million Muslim Avoidable Deaths From Imposed Deprivation In 20 Countries Violated By US Alliance Since 9-11 , Countercurrents, 22 November, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya221115.htm .

[28]. Muslim Holocaust Muslim Genocide: https://sites.google.com/site/muslimholocaustmuslimgenocide/ .

[29]. Afghan Holocaust Afghan Genocide : https://sites.google.com/site/afghanholocaustafghangenocide/ .

[30]. Gideon Polya , Fundamentalist America Has Trashed Secular Governance, Modernity, Democracy, Women's Rights And Children's Rights In The Muslim World , Countercurrents, 21 May, 2015: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya210515.htm .

[31]. "State crime and non-state terrorism": https://sites.google.com/site/statecrimeandnonstateterrorism/ .

Dr Gideon Polya taught science students at a major Australian university for 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London , 2003). He has published Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950 (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ); see also his contributions Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality in Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/australian-complicity-in-iraq-mass-mortality/3369002#transcript

) and Ongoing Palestinian Genocide in The Plight of the Palestinians (edited by William Cook, Palgrave Macmillan, London , 2010: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html ). He has published a revised and updated 2008 version of his 1998 book Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History (see: http://janeaustenand.blogspot.com/ ) as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the forgotten World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/social-economic-history/listen-the-bengal-famine ; Gideon Polya: https://sites.google.com/site/drgideonpolya/home ; Gideon Polya Writing: https://sites.google.com/site/gideonpolyawriting/ ; Gideon Polya, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Polya ) . When words fail one can say it in pictures - for images of Gideon Polya's huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/gideonpolya/ .




Capitalism And Global Agribusiness: From Ford To Monsanto, It's For Your Own Good

By Colin Todhunter

11 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

We must build our own local food systems that create new rural-urban links, based on truly agroecological food production... We cannot allow Agroecology to be a tool of the industrial food production model: we see it as the essential alternative to that model, and as the means of transforming how we produce and consume food into something better for humanity and our Mother Earth Agroecology is political; it requires us to challenge and transform structures of power in society. We need to put the control of seeds, biodiversity, land and territories, waters, knowledge, culture and the commons in the hands of the peoples who feed the world.  Extract from The Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology, Nyeleni, Mali, 27 February 2015

The above extract is something that the US government and the agribusiness interests it serves do not want to hear. It represents a grass-root challenge to their intertwined commercial and geopolitical interests. Rather than wanting to transform society and food and agriculture, these state-corporate interests require business as usual.

Global agribusiness is threatening food security and food sovereignty. It has been able to capture government regulatory/policy agendas, important trade deals and global trade policies. Monsanto itself is a major player and wields enormous influence and receives significant political support. That company has a history of knowingly contaminating the environment and food with various harmful substances and engaging in cover ups and criminality.

In recent times, much resistance to the power of agribusiness has centred on seed patenting, the deleterious impacts of glyphosate-based herbicide and the dangers that GMOs pose to human and animal health and the environment. For instance, there is a massive campaign in North America to get GMOs labelled (despite the fact they were put on the market fraudulently in the first place), and there is the on-going debate over the carcinogenicity of glyphosate.

But if mandatory labelling is successful and glyphosate is banned, what next? Years of debate, deception, industry-funded science and PR over RNA interference, synthetic biology or some other cutting-edge technological development and regulatory bodies and government agencies colluding with companies?

That would suit powerful corporations just fine. By the time they surrender ground on one issue (if they ever do), the next technology is ready to be rolled out and be promoted or protected by their army of lawyers, PR departments, front groups, glove-puppet politicians and officials. Then it is left to the public and various civil organisations to fight the good fight all over again and engage in another rear guard action that could take decades to resolve. In the meantime, profits are secured, while health, agriculture and the environment are further degraded.

In this respect, Christina Sarich makes a valid point:

What should be concerning is the money trail supporting the funny science that keeps coming out about biotech foods. Or that according to a report that was released last summer, the global elite have up to 32 TRILLION dollars stashed in offshore banks around the globe, which can fund lawsuit after lawsuit against the people who are tired of being poisoned.

Power, hegemony and commercial interests

In capitalism, private commercial entities are legally obliged to maximise profit, thereby serving shareholder interests ahead of any notion of the public good. According to the description of liberal democracy in textbooks, the state will act to protect the public interest.

What is missing from the term liberal democracy is the word capitalist. In capitalist liberal democracies, the state serves the interest of private capital, first and foremost, and does its best to convince the public that commercial interests and the public and national interest are one and the same.

A recent piece in Truth Out describes how the people at Monsanto work inside a (well-paid) bubble defined by a business model that is aimed at market capture and profit maximisation.

As if to underline this, Jack Kasky on Bloomberg reports:

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Hugh Grant is focused on selling more genetically modified seeds in Latin America to drive earnings growth outside the core U.S. market. Sales of soybean seeds and genetic licenses climbed 16 percent, and revenue in the unit that makes glyphosate weed killer, sold as Roundup, rose 24 percent.

In the same piece, Chris Shaw, a New York-based analyst at Monness Crespi Hardt & Co states: "Glyphosate really crushed it," implying its sales a major boost.

The bottom line is sales and profit maximisation - and the unflinching defence of glyphosate. Monsanto might like to think all of this forms a good business model and that a 'good business model' and what is good for the public is one and the same, whether the public likes it or not. This is clearly deluded thinking, given the health impacts of glyphosate and, for example, the overall impacts of GMO crops throughout South America.

But through massive PR and advertising, this warped mindset or ideology is perpetuated not only within the confines of the company but is also rolled out to try to convince the public of the same. And through political influence, policies are put in place on Monsanto's behalf. The public is expected to sit back and take the poison. It's for their own good!

But this is the nature of hegemony: power holders strive to manipulate beliefs, explanations, perceptions and values so that their imposed worldview becomes accepted as valid, which in turn justifies the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable and beneficial for everyone. So Monsanto and other powerful corporations are regarded as acting in the public interest (although in Monsantos case, at least among the more informed members of the public, that belief died many years ago).

With the nominations for the US election upon us, much is being written about commercial influence that determines the structure of power in the US (not least Monsantos role). However, things are not too much different elsewhere.

In 2012, British Labour MP Austin Mitchell described the UKs big four accountancy firms as being "more powerful than government." He said the companies financial success allows them privileged access to government policy makers. Similar sentiments concerning 'privileged access' could also be forwarded about many other sectors, not least agritech companies which armed with their poisons, unsustainable model of industrial agriculture and bogus claims have been working hand in glove with government to force GMOs into the UK despite most people who hold a view on the matter not wanting them.

The impact and power of think tanks, lobbying and cronyism means that the major political parties merely provide the illusion of choice and democracy to a public that is easily manipulated courtesy of a toothless and supine corporate media. All the main parties have accepted economic neoliberalism and the financialisation of the British economy and all that it has entailed: weak or non-existent trade unions, an ideological assault on the public sector, the offshoring of manufacturing, deregulation, privatisation and an economy dominated by financial services.

The economy is now based on a banking and finance-sector cartel that specialises in rigging markets, debt creation, money laundering and salting away profits in various City of London satellite tax havens and beyond. Despite his sound bites about cracking down on tax avoidance and tax havens, PM David Cameron is also implicated in offshoring his wealth to avoid taxes. This article in The Ecologist shows he and his political cronies are up to their eyeballs in such practices. The banking industry applies huge pressure on governments and has significant influence over policies to ensure things remain this way.

But the mainstream political narrative concerns itself with welfare scroungers, immigration, terror threats or personality politics. Anything to divert attention from the tax-avoiding super rich, the destructive neoliberal agenda they have forced on people and the pushing of policies that would guarantee further plunder, most notably the Transatlantic Trade andInvestment Partnership (TTIP). Anything to avoid discussing profiteering cartels, how taxpayers money was turned into corporate welfare for the banks or how the richest 1,000 families in the UK having seen their net worth more than double since 2009, in the worst recession since the Great Depression, to 547bn, while austerity is imposed on everyone else. Again, the media, politicians and commentators try to convince this is all for their (the publics) own good.

In India, the links between the Monsanto-Syngenta-Walmart-backed Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture and the associated US sanctioning and backing of the opening up of Indias nuclear sector to foreign interests indicate the type of pro-corporate development being pushed through.

The combined wealth of Indias richest 296 individuals is $478 billion, some 22% of Indias GDP. This is larger than the GDPs of the UAE, which stood at $402 billion, South Africa ($350 billion) and Singapore ($308 billion).

While the state facilitates the enrichment of a wealthy elite, the plight of ordinary Indians is summed up in this quote from a piece by Sukumaran CV on the Countercurrents website:

We build cyber cities and techno parks and IITs at the cost of the welfare of the downtrodden and the environment. We dont think how our farmers on whose toil we feed manage to sustain themselves; we fail to see how the millions of the poor survive. We look at the state-of-the-art airports, IITs, highways and bridges, the inevitable necessities for the corporate world to spread its tentacles everywhere and thrive, depriving the ordinary people of even the basic necessities of life and believe it is development.

The global elite

Taking this discussion to a global level, Andrew Gavin Marshall states that at the top of the list of those who run the world, we have the major international banking houses. He adds that these dynastic banking families created an international network of think tanks, which socialised the ruling elites of each nation and the international community as a whole, into a cohesive transnational elite class. The foundations they established helped shape civil society both nationally and internationally, playing a major part in the funding  and thus coordinating and co-opting  of major social-political movements.

The model of neoliberal state-capitalist development being imposed on the world effectively serves the vested interests of an increasingly globalised and integrated elite.

To underline this point, David Rothkopf, in his book 'Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making', argues that the worlds superclass constitutes approximately 0.0001 percent of the global population. This class comprises the money-encrusted, megacorporation-interlocked, policy-building elites of the world: people at the absolute peak of the global power pyramid. They set agendas at the Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg Group, G-8, G-20, NATO, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization and are largely from the highest levels of finance capital and transnational corporations.

Further evidence indicates that a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, hold disproportionate power over the global economy. This elite ensures the corporate media says what it wants it to say, opposition is controlled, wars are fought on its behalf and the corporate control of every facet of life is increasingly brought under its influence - and that includes food: what is in it, who grows it and who sells it.

Aside from outlining how the Rockefeller-backed green revolution reshaped agriculture, which has been documented elsewhere, this film report by James Corbett also describes how Rockefeller, Ford and Firestone conspired to destroy aspects of US transport infrastructure and rebuild it for their own financial gain. It is but one example from the many that Corbett presents to show that, from WW1 to the Arab-Israeli War in 1973 and from the 1979 Iranian revolution to Syria, powerful oil and associated financial interests have had a hand in recasting the world in their own image, regardless of loss of life, environmental degradation or the wholesale destruction of economies.

Transformation

Transnational agribusiness is very much embedded within the power structures outlined above and plays a key role in determining global and regional policies. While tackling agribusiness on an issue by issue basis is necessary, there is a need to appreciate the nature of capitalism, power and neoliberal globalisation itself.

The more this is understood, the more urgent the need becomes to establish societies run for the benefit of the mass of the population and a system of food and agriculture that is democratically owned and controlled. This involves encouraging localised rural and urban food economies that are shielded from the effects of rigged trade and international markets. It would mean that what ends up in our food and how it is grown is determined by the public good and not powerful private interests, which are driven by commercial gain and their compulsion to subjugate farmers, consumers and entire regions, while playing the victim each time campaigners challenge their actions.

There are enough examples from across the world that serve as models for transformation, from farming in socialist Cuba to grass-root movements centred on agroecology in Africa and India.

But in finishing, let us return to where this article began.

The 2015 Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology sets out a framework for action. The Declaration emerged from a meeting of delegates representing diverse organisations and international movements of small-scale food producers and consumers, including peasants, indigenous peoples, communities, hunters and gatherers, family farmers, rural workers, herders and pastoralists and fisherfolk. These diverse constituencies provide 70 percent of the food consumed by humanity, and, as such, are the primary global investors in agriculture, as well as the primary providers of jobs and livelihoods in the world.

The Declaration can be read here. The delegates regard agroecology as being the answer to how to transform and repair a food system and rural world that has been devastated by industrial food production and the green revolution.

While agroecology may not be where transformation begins and ends for everyone, it must at least be regarded as a key form of resistance by food producers and rural communities to an increasingly globalised economic system that puts profit before the environment and puts the needs of agribusiness ahead of life itself.

Colin Todhunter is an independent writer - www.colintodhunter.com








Ukraines Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseyuk Resigns

By Eric Zuesse

11 April, 2016

Countercurrents.org

On Sunday, April 10th, Arseniy Yatseyuk, finally officially resigned, though his actual service as Ukraines Prime Minister ended in the very closing days of December 2015. He had been selected by U.S. President Obamas agent on Ukraine, Victoria Nuland, on 4 February 2014, to lead Ukraine as that countrys new Prime Minister  to lead it as soon as the Obama-planned Ukrainian coup overthrowing Ukraines democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych would be completed (which happened 22 days later).

As this reporter had noted on 15 January 2016, Yats (as Nuland affectionately called him) had been effectively ousted from power by the man, Petro Poroshenko, who had subsequently won the 25 May 2014 Ukrainian Presidential election, beating out Obamas choice, Yulia Timoshenko (the head of Yatss party), in the by-then rump Ukraine (i.e., without the participation of Crimea and Donbass, both of which areas of Ukraine had voted over 75% for Yanukovych and thus refused to accept Obamas coup and the legitimacy of the Ukrainian election to replace Yanukovych).

As Ukraines new President, Poroshenko continued (and intensified) the bombing campaign that had been started by Yatsenyuk to slaughter the residents of Donbass (whom both he and Yatsenyuk called all terrorists for refusing to accept their coup-regime), and he repeatedly expressed his determination also to invade and retake Crimea. Obama supported Poroshenko on both matters, and so too did Yatsenyuk, who remained in power in Ukraine as Prime Minister until this April 10th.

As I had noted when reporting on this matter back on January 15th of this year, Yatsenyuk even at that time, seems to have been ousted, and:

The person who ousted him appears to have been the former CIA asset whom the U.S. Administration allowed to run as a candidate in Ukraines Presidential election on 25 May 2014, and who had won that election  the billionaire Petro Poroshenko. Poroshenko had assisted in the coup, and admitted it to the EUs investigator who was sent right after the overthrow. (The information that it had been a coup instead of an authentic revolution came as a shock to the EUs Foreign Affairs Minister.) This apparent ouster was first reported by the TV channel 112 Ukraine, which is owned by a publicly unnamed anti-coup politician, whom the government has been trying to dispossess of the channel, but hasnt yet succeeded in achieving that.

Furthermore. I noted:

Prime Minister Yatsenyuks official website appears remarkably empty now. Its Upcoming Events page shows nothing at all. The News page is also interesting. On January 15th, the only headline is "Ukraine launched a new Silk Road bypassing Russia. That news-item doesnt even mention Yatsenyuk.

From that time till his official resignation four months later, Yatsenyuks office achieved nothing; and, finally, he succumbed, which will now enable Poroshenko to name his replacement.

According to German Economic News, which is the most reliable in-depth news-source on such matters, the U.S. Presidents "new favorite [to become Ukraines Prime Minister] is the former Georgian President Saakashvili, who now acts as governor of Odessa. Several months ago, Saakashvili called Jaz' the center of corruption in Kiev, and demanded dismissal of the entire political elite in Kiev. Saakashvili is considered one of the favorites to succeed Yatsenyuk. He is the subject of an international arrest warrant for allegedly having embezzled the former Soviet state, Georgias, government, while he was their President.

Saakashviili might be favored by U.S. President Obama because, after Saakashvili escaped from Georgia, he lived in the United States, where he nurtured political contacts, especially in neo-conservative circles (of which Obama and especially Hillary Clinton are members). (Victoria Nuland, and her husband, both strong neo-conservatives, are also close friends of Ms. Clinton.) This is also the reason why the U.S. regime had Poroshenko appoint the Georgian Saakashvili to be the Governor of the Ukrainian region of Odessa. Thats a region where the public, especially in the city of Odessa, have been especially bitter against the Obama-coup regime, because of the White-House-Yatsenyuk teams massacre of over a hundred coup-opponents at the House of Trade Unions in Odessa on 2 May 2014.

So: whereas Obama had replaced the corrupt Yanukovych with the even more corrupt Yatsenyuk, and then allowed onto the team Poroshenko (who was only acceptable to Obama, not preferred by him to become President), the expectation is now that the accused Georgian embezzler Saakashvili will soon become Yatsenyuks replacement  all courtesy of the U.S. government, and with the support of its European allies: all allegedly seeking here to clean up the corruption in Ukraine'. Poroshenko, who has a lower approval-rating among even just the rump-Ukrainian public  Ukraine without the portions that had voted at the highest percentages, as high as 90+%, for Yanukovych, and which would thus now disapprove almost 100% of Poroshenko  than Yanukovych ever had, in the entirety of Ukraine (including those, Yanukovych's highest-approval, areas), and so whose approval rating is by far lower than Yanukovychs ever was, is now to be making the decision to choose the replacement of the man who had started the bombing campaign against Donbass.

Whomever Poroshenko chooses to replace Yats will presumably be committed to whatever U.S. President Obama wants him to be committed to, because, otherwise, the bankrupt Ukrainian government wont continue to be able to go deeper and deeper into debt. Without the U.S. Presidents backing, Ukraines government wont be able to continue to be funded by the taxpayers in the U.S. and EU  absorbing the losses from a Ukrainian government whose only real product now is the further impoverishment of the publics not only in Ukraine but throughout the West. Saakashvili, according to German Economic News, will likely fill the bill.

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of Theyre Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRISTS VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.








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NAMI Evansville friends and families support group about mental illness: Meeting 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Mulberry Place, 410 Mulberry St. Call 812-897-1694.

NAMI Connection support group for all mental illness disorders: Meeting from 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Mary's Kempf Bipolar Wellness Center, third floor, rehab building. Information: 812-897-1694.

Alzheimer's Association Memory Cafe: for people with memory loss and their caregivers, 2-3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Alzheimer's Association, 701 N. Weinbach Ave. Registration required by calling 800-272-3900.

St. Mary's Center for Children: will host the ninth annual "Crop-Paper-Scissors" scrapbooking and craft event from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 30 in the St. Mary's Manor Auditorium. Early registration is $35 and ends Friday. After that, the fee is $40. Proceeds help fund autism services for children in the community. The event includes a variety of craft activities, including scrapbooking, make-and-takes, stamping cards and gift ideas. Attendees are encouraged to bring their current projects. There will also be door prizes, a silent auction, and items for sale from vendors Doodlebug and Creative Dreams. Lunch will be provided. To reserve a spot or to make a donation, contact Kelly Shaw at 812-485-4419 or Kelly.Shaw@stmarys.org.

FA (Families Anonymous): a 12-step fellowship for the family and friends of those individuals with drug, alcohol or related behavioral issues. Meetings are at 10 a.m. Saturdays at Methodist Temple, 2109 Lincoln Ave. Use the Kelsey Avenue entrance, second floor. Information: 812-550-5777.

Bereavement support group: Meeting 5:30-7 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month in the large group meeting room, second floor of Central Library, 200 SE MLK Blvd.

Men's bereavement support group: Meeting 9-10:30 a.m. the second Monday of each month in Room 204 at Deaconess VNA Plus, 610 E. Walnut St.

Support group for bipolar/manic-depressive disorder: Meeting 7 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of each month, Kempf Bipolar Wellness Center, third floor of St. Mary's Rehabilitation Institute, 3700 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-4934.

Survivors of Suicide support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the first and third Monday of each month, Methodist Temple, 2109 Lincoln Ave. Information: Mental Health America at 812-426-2640.

Mending Hearts pregnancy loss support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month, Gift Conference Room, off the lobby of St. Mary's Hospital for Women & Children, 3700 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-4204.

Men's cancer support group: Meeting 5:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, St. Mary's Epworth Crossing Community Conference Room, 100 St. Mary's Epworth Crossing, Newburgh. Information: 812-485-5725.

Stroke support group: Meeting 10 a.m. the fourth Wednesday of each month, St. Mary's Community Education Room at Washington Square Mall, 5011 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-5607.

ALS support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, Meeting Room E, Deaconess Gateway Hospital. The support group is for patients, caregivers and survivors who have lost someone to Lou Gehrig's disease.

Women's cancer support group: Meeting 5:30 p.m. the second and fourth Monday of each month, St. Mary's Epworth Crossing Community Conference Room. Information: 812-485-5725.

Pulmonary fibrosis support group: Meeting 4 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, Room 1420, Deaconess Hospital, 600 Mary St. Information: 812-450-6000 or deaconess.com/calendar.

COPD/asthma support group: Meeting 4 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month, Room 1420, Deaconess Hospital, 600 Mary St. Information: 812-450-6000 or deaconess.com/calendar.

Parkinson's support group: Meeting at 5:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month, Room 350, Deaconess Physician Center, 600 Mary St. Information: 812-450-6000 or deaconess.com/calendar.

Tri-State Multiple Sclerosis Association support group meetings: 10 a.m. the second Saturday of each month, Tri-State MS Association Office, 971 S. Kenmore Drive, Evansville (contact Nita Ruxer at 812-479-3544 or Sharon Omer at 270-333-4701); 10 a.m. the fourth Saturday of each month, Gibson General Hospital, fifth floor, first room on the right, 1808 Sherman Drive, Princeton, Indiana (contact Alice Burkhart at 812-782-3735); 11 a.m. the second Tuesday of each month, Twilight Towers, in the cafeteria, 1648 10th St., Tell City (contact Terri Hasty at 812-649-4013 or Gayle Taylor 812-719-2417); 10 a.m. the third Saturday of each month, Daviess Community Hospital, Washington, Indiana (contact Cindy Kalberer at 812-254-6735 or Fran Neal at 812-259-1565); 10 a.m. the first Saturday of each month, Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, 2360 Green River Road, Henderson, Kentucky, (contact Meg Burnley at 270-826-9507 or Debbie Whittington at 270-827-8298); 6 p.m. the second Monday of each month, Owensboro Health Healthpark, 1006 Ford Ave, Owensboro, Kentucky; and 11 a.m. the first Saturday of each month, Fairfield Memorial Hospital in the board room of Horizon Clinic, 303 NW 11th St., Fairfield, Illinois (contact Kathie Hill at 618-847-8452).

Compiled by Leah Ward,

leah.ward@courierpress.com.
Zachary Reed

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By Len Wells of the Courier and Press

An Albion, Illinois man has been jailed on a felony charge of retail theft after he allegedly ate $1.75 worth of fried chicken Friday at a Super Walmart in Fairfield, then tried to leave without paying.

Zachary B. Reed, 29, is accused of eating a piece of boneless fried chicken from the Walmart deli, then leaving the empty packaging on a shelf.

A Walmart loss prevention employee spotted the shoplifting incident and called local police, according to investigators.

Reed was booked at the Wayne County jail on a felony retail theft charge based on a previous theft conviction in Gibson County, Indiana. In Gibson County, Reed was found guilty of shoplifting items at the Walmart in Princeton, police said.

Reed remains in the Wayne County jail at Fairfield pending the filing of formal charges and setting of bond.
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By Leann Burke, The Jasper Herald

ECKERTY, Ind.  Kevin Davidson remembers repelling down the side of the big waterfall at Hemlock Cliffs as a teenager  about a 90-foot descent.

"I just love this waterfall here," Kevin said. "My favorite part used to be repelling."

At 59, Kevin's done with repelling (it's not allowed anymore, either), but Hemlock Cliffs is still one of Kevin's favorite hiking spots in Hoosier National Forest. Lots of other people love it, too.

On a Saturday in early March, cars lined both sides of the gravel road a good quarter mile back from the trail head, a problem for anyone farther up trying to leave. The road is barely a lane and a half wide. In the meadow-turned-parking lot at the trail head, two guys unloaded their camping gear, hoping that all the good spots hadn't been taken this late in the afternoon, a mom cleaned off her son who had a little too much fun in the mud and several families gathered for picnics behind their cars.

Amber Olberding and her son, Logan Angel, of Evansville, were getting ready to head home after a day of balancing on tree bridges across the river, climbing the boulders strewn along the creek bed and hunting crawfish.

"I got pretty dirty," Logan said, looking at his mud-stained pants.

The pair has come to Hemlock Cliffs several times over the years, recently for a treasure hunting activity with Logan's Boy Scout troop. The troop split into teams to make a compass to find hidden treasure boxes. Logan's pretty sure some of the treasure boxes are still there.

Hemlock Cliffs lies a ways off the beaten path, if the beaten path is State Road 37. Between Eckerty and St. Croix in Crawford County, there's Bethany Church Road, the gravel road that leads to another gravel road that leads to another gravel road that leads to Hemlock Cliffs. The good news is Google Maps can get you there.

Once you're there, the activities are endless. Enjoy rock climbing? Awesome. There are tons of large boulders near the waterfalls you can climb. A small cave cuts into the cliffside begging spelunkers to crawl in, and campers are welcome to pitch a tent anywhere along the trail, as long as they choose a spot 300 feet from the trail head.

A favorite spot is a clearing on top of the 90-foot waterfall. There's a pile of charred wood where groups of campers have lit their fires and circles are worn around the tree trunks from hanging hammocks.

Kevin's done it all at some point over the 40 years he's been visiting Hemlock Cliffs. Today, though, he's showing off the place to his 12-year-old daughter, Gracie, for the first time. She's snapping photos she'll post to her blog, Photos by Noodle.

"Oh, I got wet!" Gracie exclaimed. She was climbing behind the waterfall trying to find the perfect photo.

"Well good, good," Kevin said. "You should get wet."

They had a bet going about who would be the first to slip and fall. The weekend before, they went hiking near Paoli and had a similar contest. Gracie swears Kevin slipped first; Kevin disagrees. At Hemlock, they planned to settle the argument. Last one to slip gets bragging rights.

Hemlock Cliffs might be a small area (the hiking trail is 1.2 miles), but it's rugged. To get to the clearing on top of the water fall, hikers walk along a narrow path not far from the edge of the cliff. Single-file is a must. To reach the creek bed, hikers descend a collection of large stones that passes for stairs.

If the stones are wet or covered with leaves, they're slick. One misstep could lead to a concussion. Traversing the beginning of the trail near the waterfall and a section farther down the creek near a giant basin carved out of the sandstone from centuries of erosion is more like bouldering than hiking, but it's worth the physical exertion.

In the early spring warmth, the icicles have started to melt, making the cliffside glitter under the clear blue sky. Even when there's not a cloud in sight, it sounds like it's raining and the ground is damp from the melting ice. A few green spots are starting to pop out.

It's not just the recreation that makes Hemlock Cliffs a unique place. The U.S Department of Agriculture Forest Service recognizes Hemlock Cliffs as a designated special place for its archaeological and botanical value.

Native American artifacts from as early as 10,000 years ago have been unearthed in the area, and historians believe the ancient people used the caves carved into the sandstone as shelters. For plant lovers, wintergreen, a rare type of mint, wild geranium, French shooting stars, liverwort, mountain laurel and, of course, hemlock trees all grow in the creek bed.

The area is open year-round and warrants multiple trips a year. A few weeks from now, Kevin said, the area will look completely different.

"This is about as good of hiking as you can get in a small loop," Kevin said. "It's my favorite place to hike in all of southern Indiana."
By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com

When Dennis Haire's parents left the hospital with his older brother Rickey in 1954, they were told to love and hold their baby tight, because he probably wouldn't live very long.

That was the reality for people such as Rickey born with Down Syndrome several decades ago. The odds of having a full life were extremely long.

But Rickey beat the odds, passing away March 22 at the age of 61, the oldest member of the SMILE on Down Syndrome organization in Evansville. Rickey was one of a growing number of those living into their sixties with Down Syndrome. The current life expectancy is now between 55 and 60 years. When Rickey was born, the number was 10.

Despite the condition he lived with, Rickey was a positive impact on everyone he met, according to Dennis, who served as Rickey's guardian after their parents died.

"Rickey was a tremendous blessing to our family," Dennis said. "He had a transforming love and brought out the best in everyone."

Nina Fuller, the founder of SMILE, said she has known the Haire family for several years now and was always glad to see Rickey at events they held

Rickey's death came a few days before Gov. Mike Pence signed House Bill 1337, banning abortions due to a fetal diagnosis of Down Syndrome, which Haire called a coincidence. Dennis and his wife Margaret had been trying to find a way they could honor Rickey's life. He said they had thought about starting a fund to increase education about Down Syndrome but the new law gave them another idea.

Dennis thinks the new law will mean more Down Syndrome babies up for adoption from families who, for a variety of reasons, might not be able to care for the child.

So the Haires are raising funds, in partnership with SMILE on Down Syndrome, to help couples looking to adopt Down Syndrome babies. The Haires also hope to educate people about all aspects of the ailment.

"I don't think mothers are getting enough information about Down Syndrome babies," Dennis said. "There's a negative connotation about it."

Fuller said events in the community, attended by Rickey and others, help break the stigma of Down Syndrome.

"Community events, with people with Down Syndrome and those without it, forging friendships in the community, those all help," Fuller said. "People get to see those with Down Syndrome live rich, fulfilling lives."

Due to privacy laws and a lack of a national registry, statistics on abortions due to a diagnosis of Down Syndrome are difficult to calculate and nearly impossible to narrow down for a specific state. A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics surmised a nationwide average might be about 60 percent.

Because of Indiana's strict abortion laws, that number is likely lower for Hoosiers.

The number will certainly be lower if HB 1337 is upheld in court. The law is currently being challenged by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Indiana on the grounds that it prohibits abortion, a right legally recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Legal arguments aside, the Haires plan on pushing forward with their plan to help couples adopting Down Syndrome babies. Attorney's fees and court costs for adoption typically range from $1,000 to $2,000 in Indiana plus agency fees. The Haires said they aren't sure how much they will giving to each couple but want to make a significant contribution for couples taking the leap of adoption.

"Down Syndrome children are a blessing," Margaret Haire said. "We would love to help with financial assistance."

Fuller said she is excited about the opportunity to work with the Haires to raise money for couples seeking adoption. She said SMILE works with the Down Syndrome Adoption Network in Cincinnati and has several families in SMILE who have adopted Down Syndrome babies.

One of the issues brought up in the legislative debate over the abortion bill was the costs associated with raising children with genetic disabilities such as Down Syndrome. Dennis said he doesn't see Down Syndrome babies as being too expensive for families.

"I think that's a weak argument," he said. "We grew up in an impoverished household. Rickey never had to pay for school or any doctor's appointments. I think we have a good government that takes care of people who need it."

Most of all, the Haire family wants to tell people about all the benefits a person with Down Syndrome can have on a life.

"It's not always convenient but it was always worth it," Dennis said about growing up with a Down Syndrome brother and then caring for him later in life. "He was tremendously funny and had a childlike wonder at life. He always had that."
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Charles Leathers

Evansville

On April 10, on Fox News Sunday, President Obama stated confidently about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server: "There's a carelessness in terms of managing emails that she has owned and she has recognized, but I also think it's important to keep this in perspective. This is somebody that has served her country for four years as secretary of State and done an outstanding job."

He also said that he believes she did not jeopardize national security and that he "guaranteed" that Clinton would not be treated any differently than a regular citizen because "no one is above the law."

He has continued to spout comments like these all the while saying that he can't comment about on-going investigations. He says he does not have meetings with DOJ head Loretta Lynch nor with FBI chief James Comey. Does he want us to believe that neither of them watches or hears his "non-comments" about the case on the news?

He does all of this with a straighter face than when former President Bill Clinton wagged his finger at the camera when he told us: "I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never.
Channel programs News

2016 Partner Program Guide: A Blueprint For Partnerships

Rick Whiting

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At the Cisco Partner Summit in San Diego early last month, global channel chief Wendy Bahr came to the event with a big bag of presents for the networking giant's legions of channel partners, including a simplified rebate program, a suite of new digital transformation marketing services for partners, and new software services and practices.

That last item caught the attention of Brian Ortbals, advanced technology vice president at World Wide Technology, a St. Louis-based solution provider and Cisco Gold partner. "As the portfolio shifts to software, it's not about hardware maintenance anymore," he told CRN, given the changes in customer purchasing priorities. The role of solution providers today is "ultimately trying to create more value for our customers," he said.

A couple of weeks later HP Inc. unveiled a plan to leverage its HP.com online store to drive sales leads to commercial partners, a paradigm shift in the use of online stores that traditionally compete with solution providers.

[Related: 2016 Partner Programs Guide]

"This shows HP understands the channel can add real value to the solutions," Skip Tappen, president and COO of solution provider and HP partner NWN, told CRN. "It is not just about the transactions anymore."

Are IT vendors helping solution providers keep pace with the trends and technologies that are reshaping the IT industry?

One way to keep tabs on IT vendors in the channel is the 2016 Partner Program Guide, a listing of more than 225 IT manufacturers, software publishers and service companies. The guide offers solution providers the information they need to evaluate the vendors they already work with or are considering partnering with. It is based on detailed applications vendors submitted outlining all aspects of their partner programs. All applicants are listed in the Partner Programs Guide database, along with the market segment specializations they selected on their applications.

The Channel Company's research team analyzed the applications and designated some programs as 5-Star partner programs. That rating recognizes an elite subset of applicants that offer solution providers key partnering elements in their channel programs. To determine the 5-Star recipients, the research team assessed each vendor's application based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training and education, marketing programs and resources, sales support and communication. The 5-Star rating is given to programs whose overall rating is exemplary, segmented by company size: large, midsize, small and emerging companies (founded in 2010 or more recently).

The channel is currently in a state of flux. VARs and solution providers are struggling to evolve into strategic service and managed service providers, and are wrestling with new recurring revenue and services-led business models.

"I think partners are being hit with so much right now," said Kimberly King, global partner channels vice president at Progress, in an interview. Solution providers are selling to businesspeople and they need a blueprint to help them, especially in such areas as digital transformation and mobile computing, she said. "Partners are saying to us, I need you to show [customers] that I'm a thought leader in these markets."

Rob Rae, business development vice president at Datto, a developer of backup and recovery products that sells 100 percent through the channel, sees partners asking for assistance that goes beyond technical "speeds and feeds."

Partners, for example, need help with product positioning and pricing. "That's where the major gaps are, on the sales and marketing side," Rae said. Datto has developed positioning documents to help partners sell backup and recovery products as business continuity solutions. Tools to simplify the sales process are also under development, he added.
A mystery shopper scam targeting Walmart customers, which has been around since at least 2011, has resurfaced. Reports of the scam have started circulating on Facebook and other parts of the Web, from people who have gotten checks of up to $2,000 in the mail.

The scam starts with a legit-looking check, usually for an amount of up to $2,000, which is mailed to a consumer. The check is supposed to be used at Walmart to purchase items as part of their mystery shopper program, a program that pays random people to shop at their local store and rate their experience through a survey.

Massac County Sheriff's Department

A letter that comes with the check directs the reader to a registration website, which requires several items of personal information including name, address, phone number, Social Security Number, and in some cases a driver's license number.

The program is a scam, full stop  and the personal information collected will provide the scammer either everything they need to commit a number of crimes including identity theft or financial fraud. If you're curious, the checks themselves are worthless.

"Fraudsters are sending fraudulent solicitations via mail, print, text, and e-mail to entice consumers to evaluate the retail experience, products and services at stores, including Walmart," the retail giant said in a warning on their corporate website.

"This mystery shopper scam uses fraudulent offers, fake checks and wire transfers to persuade unsuspecting consumers into sending money to fraudsters who are often located outside the U.S.," the warning adds.

Bottom line: "Walmart does NOT utilize these services."

The scam itself has existed for several years. In 2014, the scam reached a point that required a wider public notice, so Walmart implemented their own fraud alert, and the BBB of Alabama (due to a number of complaints) issued their own warning.

In 2011, the consumer watchdog website Consumerist warned readers about the scam after a jobless victim in Los Angeles had $4,000 stolen from him. The website issued a follow-up reminder in 2015 when the scam once again started to circulate.

If you or someone you know finds one of these letters in the mailbox, or similar offer in your email or through a job-hunting website, ignore it.

The victim in Los Angeles is just one example of someone who was taken by the scam. Odds are, many others have had similar horrible experiences. These cruel scams play on the base fear that comes from having either no job, or the pressure of finding a second job just to support yourself.

It's hard to resist the pull of a way out when you're struggling, but you have to. Remember, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Update: A follow-up to this story has been posted to Salted Hash. In addition to posing as Walmart, scammers have also started posing as a legitimate mystery shopping company. One victim lost $1,825 last week due to this new variation.
Access Health CT representatives have begun attending United States Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization ceremonies in Hartford to provide newly naturalized citizens with information about healthcare plan options available to them and their families. AHCT is the only state-based exchange currently implementing this technique for reaching the uninsured.

The USCIS Hartford Field Office holds naturalization ceremonies approximately four times a month during which individuals are officially sworn in as United States citizens. All naturalization ceremonies are held in English and occur at United States District Courts in Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport, where over 15,000 people become citizens each year. AHCT will also be distributing educational materials to USCIS offices in Bridgeport and New Haven and will attend those ceremonies in the near future.
Hillary Clinton is building up her infrastructure in Bridgeport, where her ability to mobilize minority voters could be the difference between winning and losing Connecticuts upcoming presidential primary for the Democratic front-runner.

Clintons campaign opened a field office in the heart of the states largest city Sunday. The street-corner location at 100 Fairfield Ave. downtown is one of five Hillary for Connecticut offices in the state, which holds its primaries April 26.

Its finally our turn to have our say, said state Rep. Christopher Rosario, D-Bridgeport, a Clinton organizer who took part in the opening.

Bridgeport could be important for Clinton against her rival, Bernie Sanders, as might other Connecticut cities with large minority populations. Black and Hispanic voters have gravitated more to the former secretary of state in states that have already held their primaries. Minority residents make up 73 percent of Bridgeports population.

Sanders campaign director for Connecticut, Paul Feeney, disputed that the Vermont senator hasnt made inroads with minority voters and said Sanders push for income equity and a $15 hourly minimum wage transcends skin color. He also cited Sanders 1963 arrest during a Chicago protest over school segregation.

Once they get to know Senator Sanders, theyre inclined to be with him, Feeney said of minority voters. Senator Sanders has a great record on civil rights.

Sanders campaign has offices in Stamford, New Haven and Hartford, in addition to 20 staging locations, including Bridgeport, from which supporters could be mobilized, Feeney said. The campaign hasnt ruled out opening a Bridgeport office.

Bridgeport is certainly a place where I think Senator Sanders can do well, Feeney said.

In 2008, Clinton lost Bridgeport, 56 percent to 42 percent to Barack Obama. She lost Connecticut and the nomination to Obama.

Rosario, 37, who supported Clinton over Obama then, said its going to be a challenge for Clinton to replicate Obamas showing from eight years ago.

I think its going to be hard, because the dynamics have shifted, Rosario said.

Clintons supporters arent taking Sanders lightly in Bridgeport, according to Rosario, who said the party is divided.

Theres a split, Rosario said. Theres a lot of folks that are not necessarily in love with Secretary Clinton, but theyre not necessarily in love with Bernie either, Rosario said. Its going to be a crapshoot. Were hoping for a big turnout.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
BRIDGEPORT  The water that flows through the water fountains and sinks in city schools, health officials told school officials last week, is lead-free.

In at least three instances across 31 schools tested, however, the plumbing or fixtures where the water collects for extended periods of time has elevated levels of lead that needs to be addressed.

The diagnosis, delivered last week from the health department to a school board committee, came as somewhat of a surprise. No one officially asked the city health department to do the testing.

We like to be proactive, Albertina Baptista, acting director of health in the city, said. All the water coming into our buildings throughout the city is safe. We do not have the same type of water delivery system as Flint (Mich.). We cant have that type of a problem.

More News Report: Lead exposure risk high in these southwest Connecticut towns

Even so, Baptista said her department has answered an increasing number of calls and walk-in visitors in recent months alarmed by what they have seen and heard from Flint, Mich., where there is widespread water contamination, as well as recent publicity about lead contamination in Newark, N.J.

Plus, it was about time. The city hasnt tested school piping for lead since about 1980, city officials said.

So with personnel from its Lead Poisoning Program and school facilities personnel, the department descended upon the school system one recent Saturday in March, collecting water samples from 31 schools  wherever the water flows: water fountains, restrooms, kitchen sinks.

They started with elementary and middle schools, where students are the youngest. The younger the child, the more susceptible they are to lead poisoning, Audrey M. Gaines, director of the citys lead poisoning prevention program, said. Lead poisoning of a child, whose brain is still developing, can cause irreparable brain damage.

Until you are 5 years old, the acceptable level should be zero, Gaines said.

Under federal regulations, anything under 15 parts per billion is considered safe.

In three instances, initial readings came back higher than that from an independent out-of-state laboratory where the samples were analyzed. One area of concern was a faucet at the Bridgeport Military Academy, which came in at an initial reading of 38. Another elevated reading of 19 came from a water fountain at Dunbar School, and one sample from Hall School had a reading of 12 parts per billion.

Confirmation testing was done on all three. The second BMA testing came in at a safe level. Officials are still waiting on the second Hall sample and the second Dunbar sample came back higher, at 30 parts per billion.

The faucet at Dunbar in particular, I can tell you, it is the pipe, Gaines said. A water fountain right by the nurses office.

The faucet was not used since the first high reading, allowing the water to sit. The first quart of water that came from the fountain once it was turned back on came back high. After the first quart, the reading was clean.

That pipe may have a lead screw or it has been soldered with lead, Gaines said. The water that sits there can become contaminated.

If it needs to be replaced, we will replace it, Alan Wallack, school construction coordinator for the district, said.

The jury is also still out at Hooker School, where one test came back with an acceptable level, and a second sample accidentally spilled. Confirmatory testing is pending.

Board member Maria Pereira said a number of parents from Hooker School have come to her with concerns about the water there. Some say it is discolored and worry about contaminants.

Gaines said lead wont discolor the water.

Because of the Flint scare, schools all over the state are grabbing supply containers, Baptista said. There will be more testing once more testing bottles are received.

The department plans to sample water in not only the three comprehensive high schools in the city, but also approach all parochial and charter schools in the city about testing.
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HARTFORD  State lawmakers want to help save honey bees and butterflies from the mysterious die-offs of recent years.

But they cant agree on how to do it.

The legislative Planning and Development Committee on Monday approved a wide-ranging bill aimed at improving the health and habitats of pollinators. The bill would restrict the outdoor use of pesticides called neonicotinoids and prohibit their use on linden or basswood trees, require the state Agricultural Experiment Station to develop a citizens guide on pollinator habitat, and make the state Department of Transportation plant flowering vegetation along deforested areas of state highway.

The bill heads next to the state Senate

Rep. Phil Miller, D-Essex, co-chairman of the committee, said that the pesticide can affect the nervous systems of bees, preventing them from navigating back to their hives. While calling the legislation a good first effort, Miller said the bill has some weaknesses that he hopes can be addressed reaching the Senate floor. He said some neonicotinoids can remain active in soil for months.

There is an ever-increasing anecdotal and scientific body that confirms the problems with these neonicotinoids, Miller said during the committee discussion. The last weakness, I think, is that our Department of Transportation has been heavyhanded with their pesticide use, and I know in my district and others its a common complaint I get of sort of wanton pesticide use along the railroad tracks and along state roads and highways, especially where there are homes in close proximity.

Sen. Catherine Osten, D-Sprague, co-chairman of the committee, voted against the bill because beekeepers in her section of the state believe its not pesticides that are killing off bees, but rather varroa mites, parasites that threaten honeybees and other pollinator populations.

So I really think that we need to make sure that were not making something overly broad, Osten said.

This is a great start and a great attempt to protect bees and other pollinators, said Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin. But if you talk to the people who actually work in the industry, the beekeepers, they will tell you that the most important thing in assessing the health of bees in the state is to ensure that we have a bee inspector. Without the state apiarist, were really operating in the blind.

Last week, the spending package effective July 1 that was approved by the legislative Appropriations Committee included funding the retain the state beekeeper in the Agricultural Experiment State budget. But the stations budget may be subject to further revisions as lawmakers continue toward their May 4 adjournment.

kdixon@ctpost.com
The high cost of insulin, which has risen by triple-digit percentages in the last five years, is endangering the lives of many diabetics who cant afford the price tag, say Connecticut physicians who treat diabetics.

The doctors say out-of-pocket costs for insulin, ranging from $25 to upwards of $600 a month, depending on insurance coverage, are forcing low-income patients to choose between treatment and paying their bills.

Some of my patients have to make the choice between rent or insulin, said Dr. Bismruta Misra, an endocrinologist with the Stamford Health Medical Group and the Diabetes & Endocrine Center at Stamford Hospital. So they spread out taking insulin (injecting it less frequently than a doctor has prescribed) or dont take it.

Experts and recent studies point to drug companies long-standing patents and the lack of generic or biosimilar insulin as key reasons the drug is so expensive.

A study by Philip Clarke, a professor of health economics at the University of Melbourne in Australia, reported that the price of insulin has tripled in from 2002-2013. The findings were published in a research letter in the April 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In the United States. Just three pharmaceutical companies hold patents that allow them to manufacture insulin: Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk. Put together, the three made more than $12 billion in profits in 2014, with insulin accounting for a large portion. All three hiked their prices in the last five years by 168 to 325 percent, says Dr.Kasia Lipska, an endocrinologist at the Yale School of Medicine.

More Information High blood sugar According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 1980 there were 5.5 million Americans living with a diagnosis of diabetes. By 2014, that number had climbed to 22 million. See More Collapse

A rise in diagnoses

A diabetic needing insulin but unable to buy it ultimately will hit our emergency room, said Dr. Cunegundo Vergara, who specializes in internal medicine at Hartford Hospital.

Vergara says plenty of low-income diabetics in the Hartford area are living without physician-prescribed insulin.

Similarly, in New Haven, Dr. Anne Camp, an endocrinologist at the Fair Haven Community Health Center, said she has seen many patients referred to me because their diabetes is out of control, and the major reason is that they cant afford their insulin. Many other patients are prescribed insulin, and they dont return for a follow-up, because they are too embarrassed to admit they cant afford it.

About 257,000 Connecticut adults (8.9 percent) have been diagnosed with diabetes. Hispanics and African Americans are more than twice as likely to have the disease compared with whites and they are at greater risk of dying from diabetes-related causes, according to the latest data from state Department of Public Health. Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in Connecticut in 2013, killing 664 people.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes increased from 5.5 million in 1980 to 22 million in 2014. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form.

The higher rates of Type 2 diabetes among African-Americans and Hispanics appear to be based on a number of factors, including (differences in) access to healthy foods, physical activity and genetics, said Dana Marnane, a vice president for public relations at Greenwich Hospital. The hospital reported a 19.5 percent increase in patients discharged with diabetes as a primary or secondary diagnosis in fiscal year 2015, compared with 2014.

Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal. Insulin keeps blood sugar from rising too high. Without insulin for an extended period of time, a diabetic increases the likelihood of heart attack, stroke or death.

Lipska, the Yale endocrinologist, criticized pharmacy benefit managerswho negotiate with drug companies on behalf of employer and government insurance programsfor being more focused on accepting rebates from drug manufacturers than on bargaining for lower drug prices.

To make insulin more affordable, Lipska said, more competition is needed among insulin manufacturers, and biosimilar products must be made available for patients in the United States. There also is a need for better pricing transparency and regulation, she said.

Eli Lilly spokeswoman Julie Williams said she could not disclose the average cost to manufacture, package and distribute insulin to each user, because manufacturing and distribution costs are proprietary. Eli Lilly introduced the worlds first commercial insulin in 1923.

A biosimilar product hasnt emerged from other manufacturers, she said, because developing and manufacturing insulin requires billions of dollars in investment, along with deep scientific and technical expertise.

The reason people say insulin is expensive are complex and go beyond the medicines list price, Williams said. One of the primary reasons is the advent of new insurance plan designs  particularly the increased use of high-deductible health plans, which shift more of the cost to the individual.

Many low-income Americans get insulin through Medicaid, and Lilly offers patient- assistance programs that provide free medicine for one year to low-income patients who meet specific financial qualifications. But Williams acknowledged, Additional solutions are needed so all patients have access to their medicine.

Novo Nordisk and Sanofi did not return calls seeking comment.

Unaffordable teatment

The American Diabetes Association, which represents 441,000 people, says that no diabetic should go without insulin because of prohibitive costs or accessibility issues. The association says that many parties, including pharmacy benefit managers, insurers and retailers are involved in the path of medications from manufacturer to patient. The ADA advocates transparency by all parties in their pricing policies and a continued dialogue to develop lasting, affordable solutions.

At the Fair Haven clinic, many patients turn to discount retailers, such as Wal-Mart, where a cheaper but older type of insulin is sold, Camp said. But many doctors wont prescribe it because it often isnt as effective in managing and treating diabetes, Camp said.

The retail cost for a months supply for a typical Fair Haven clinic patient who uses 100 units of insulin daily to treat Type 2 diabetes is about $600 to $800, Camp said. And diabetic patients commonly have other health problems, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol that also require medication and treatment.

What person making $30,000 a year can lay down $600 a month for insulin? asked Camp, whose clinic treats about 16,000 patients annually, 72 percent Hispanic, 20 percent African American and 80 percent below the federal poverty level.

About 25 percent of the clinics patients have no health insurance, and those with private insurance often have enormous deductibles, such as $4,000 a year, she said.

Fair Haven participates in the federal 340B program, which requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health care organizations at significantly reduced prices.

In this country, Camp said, we have the potential for really good diabetes treatment. Yet, sadly, because diabetes has become such a high-cost condition, many people cant get access to it.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org).
WASHINGTON  Fairfield County is the Northeastern territorial edge of the mosquito most commonly associated with transmitting the Zika virus, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map distributed Monday by the White House.

But senior public health officials cautioned against panic and agitation, saying the 346 cases of Zika in the continental U.S. are all the result of travelers infected while visiting tropical locations such as Brazil, Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean.

I dont think its anything to panic about or get agitated about, but we cant just make the assumption that a Zika outbreak would be as easy to control as other mosquito-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and Chikungunya virus, said Anthony Fauci, chief of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

So while we hope were not going to see a sustained local outbreak, we need to be prepared, Fauci told reporters.

Zika causes only mild symptoms, but among pregnant women in Brazil and the Caribbean it has been implicated in an uptick in births of children with small heads, called microcephaly.

The mosquito most frequently implicated in Zika transmission, Aedes aegypti (also known as the yellow-fever mosquito) is common to the Southern and Western U.S., with its Northeastern border ending on Long Island and Southwestern Connecticut.

A second type of mosquito, Aedes albopictus (the Asian tiger mosquito), is present throughout Connecticut. But Fauci and Anne Schuchat, principle deputy director of the CDC, said it is less efficient than Aedes aegypti at spreading the disease.

While not wanting to sound alarms, both officials said they were surprised at the potential implications of a serious outbreak in the U.S.

The more we learn, the more concerned we actually get in some respects with regard to what this virus can do, Fauci said.

As the U.S. enters its warm-weather season, mosquitoes potentially could bite someone with Zika and transmit it to another person with the next bite.

Also, researchers have found Zika can be sexually transmitted. Federal health officials have been working with state and local counterparts to prepare for the diagnosing and testing that would be necessary to detect a rash of Zika cases.

Health officials at all levels ``need to be ready because we may not be lucky and avoid it, Schuchat said.

The Obama administration has reprogrammed $510 million from Ebola-virus-related programs to fund Zika preparedness. But the White House nevertheless is asking for a $1.9 billion emergency appropriation to fight Zika worldwide and prepare for thwarting it at home. Republicans so far appear to be lukewarm.

dan@hearstdc.com
A quarter-century has passed since the settlement of a landmark federal lawsuit aimed at forcing Connecticut to take better care of its abused and neglected children.

Nearly everyone in the child-welfare system agrees those 25 years have witnessed substantial improvement in the performance of the state Department of Children and Families.

But caseworkers still struggle to keep up with the demands placed on them  demands that have increased with the passing years.

Workers have massive caseloads and are tasked with trying to get children and families connected with resources that are few and far between, said Dennis Bieber, a licensed social worker who runs a private practice in Brookfield.

It really comes down to funding, Bieber added. I think thats where a lot of the struggles exist.

These conclusions are in line with those made in the latest report by Raymond Mancuso, who was appointed by the federal court to monitor state compliance with the settlement agreement.

The states fiscal commitment to improving child welfare case practice, as outlined in the exit plan, is not being properly attended to and it is compromising the safety and well-being of Connecticuts most vulnerable population, wrote Mancuso, himself a former DCF worker.

State spending on DCF has fallen from $852 million in fiscal year 2009 to about $791 million in 2015. During the same period, however, the number of children in DCF placements has declined from well over 5,000 to below 4,000.

DCF Commissioner Joette Katz, who lives in Fairfield, said the department has made important advances in child welfare in the last five years, reducing the share of abused and neglected children placed in institutions and increasing the proportion placed with relatives or foster care.

As a result of many reforms that have improved relationships with families and that build on family strengths to find solutions, we have 670 fewer children in care  a reduction of 14 percent, Katz said. Just as important, we have doubled the percentage of children in care who live with relatives and kin to 41 percent, compared to just 21 percent in January 2011.

She said the department has reduced by 919, or 64 percent, the number of children living in a group setting.

But Katz acknowledged these efforts have increased demands on DCF staff, because working on family-oriented solutions requires more time and effort than group placement.

So while we maintain caseload standards, the actual amount of work has increased as we have improved with time, Katz said. While that makes the significant achievements of our staff even more impressive, we remain committed to making further improvements in the quality of our work because many vulnerable children and families depend upon us.

The federal monitoring of the states child welfare system dates to 1989, when New York City-based Childrens Rights, joined by Connecticut advocates, filed suit on behalf of Juan F against the governor and the DCF commissioner.

The parties settled two years later. DCF agreed to a plan, which has been revised over the years, to exit federal oversight by fully complying with 22 different performance measures.

Robert Francis, who worked for DCF as a regional director when Juan F. was filed, said he was one of many employees who thought change was desperately needed.

We saw it as a positive for the department, as we were frustrated in the inside with the way things were going, too, said Francis, executive director of the Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership in Bridgeport.

According to Mancusos January report, the department has complied with 16 of the 22 measures, including increased efforts to help children affected by human trafficking, a reduction in congregate care and increased use of family-based living arrangements.

Yet, these and many other improvements are consistently undermined by insufficient staffing, which translates into an overwhelming workload issue, the report said. There also continues to be insufficient community resources to address the need of children and families.

Most critically, the department has continuously failed to create adequate treatment plans for many of the children and families under its supervision. In addition, too few clients receive medical, mental health and other services specified in their treatment plans, according to the report.

In preparing his report, the federal monitor sampled 108 cases from April to September 2015 across the six DCF regions, which include 14 area offices.

Under the exit plan, DCF must have treatment plans meeting certain standards in 90 percent of its cases. The standards include having plans drafted by a team including the caseworker and approved by a DCF supervisor within 60 days after the case is opened.

In Region I, which serves clients in Bridgeport, Stamford and Greenwich, treatment plans met the required standards 41.7 percent of the time; in Region V, which includes Danbury, 40 percent; and statewide, 45.4 percent.

Attorney Ira Lustbader, litigation director for Childrens Rights, said without treatment plans, which he described as critical road maps, youre greatly lowering the odds for these kids.

Without a good treatment plan, people dont know what to do, agreed Steven Frederick, a Stamford attorney who is co-counsel with Childrens Rights.

One reason DCF struggles to meet this standard is treatment plans have become more complex over the years, said Paul Lavallee, president of AFSCME Local 2663, which represents DCFs social workers.

The exit plan requires that at least 80 percent of all families and children receive medical, dental, mental health and other service needs as specified in their treatment plans.

In Region 1, these needs were met 75 percent of the time, in Region V, 40 percent, and statewide, 50.9 percent.

Despite these deficiencies, many observers believe DCF is making progress.

Frederick said he hopes the state will exit federal monitoring in the next couple of years, although the current budget crisis could endanger that goal.

These are vulnerable and disenfranchised children and they need to be protected, he said. The state needs to understand that they need to be protected and need to allocate resources appropriately.

Lustbader said for many years state officials seemed more interested in breaking up the settlement than in complying with it, but no longer.

While we dont always agree, this administration has been the most serious about DCF reform in the whole history of the reform lawsuit, he said. And I think theyre the most able to achieve full compliance and exit.

mrigg@newstimes.com;

Donec
I got an email from Eric Hauk, president of Bodacion Technologies in Barrington, Illinois. Before I relate his story, let me explain.

Erics company makes hack proof web servers that do not have any of the usual security holes that Windows, Linux, and Unix machines have.

Wed just done a fast start phone consultation, and the strategy I outlined for him was to become a relentless, remorseless publisher and publicist of all of the vulnerabilities of typical server software. Every month he should crank out more reports about seven, seventeen or a hundred ways hackers can and will (or already did) wreak havoc in your business. White papers, special advisories, magazine articles, seminars -- you name it.

The neat part is, he doesnt have to fix Windows or Linux. Hes got the miracle cure -- his bulletproof server. He can rant about the other guys security issues until the next millennium. He can shoot holes in the other guys all day long. Do that and hes got a natural audience.

Related: 10 Ways to Learn About Your Target Audience

Create missionaries.

OK, so anyway, Eric sent me an email today, explaining how when he speaks at a conference, 15 percent of the people in the audience ask him for copies of his presentation so they can become the security expert inside their company. One guy sat there listening to his talk and decided it was about time to go back into the security business. He asked Eric to send him all the information he could on network security issues.

So whats going on here is that Eric has a convert. And pay close attention, because a lot of times what gets a new technology over the top is when it attracts converts and "missionaries" who reject the status quo and multiply the message. A form of viral marketing, really. Thats how Linux got to be where it is today.

Another thing Eric has in his favor -- something that you should always be on the lookout for -- is the fact that network security is an extremely emotional issue. Lemme tell ya, if someone hacks into your company and swipes 4000 credit card numbers tomorrow, its going to be worse than bowel surgery in the woods with a stick.

Suddenly your security budget is going to go from $50 per year to unlimited.

Right?

Also note that there are two distinctly different buying modes for this and most other things, depending on the circumstances:

1. Preventing problems before they happen

2. Curing problems after they happen

Youll always make more money, with less pain, by selling a cure rather than a preventative measure. It always takes pain and suffering for money to change hands. If your customer is experiencing the pain, then you dont have to. If your customer is experiencing no pain, then you will experience all of the pain in the transaction.

If you dont believe me, then compare your medical insurance bill to your herb, vitamin and exercise bill. Just about every city in America has emergency 911 service, but how many towns have a cholesterol reduction hotline?

Or lets talk about your computer. When did you start backing up your data? Before your hard drive crashed, or afterwards? When did you get anti-virus software? Before you sent the KLEZ virus to 144 of your closest friends, or after?

Goodness, virtue and prevention are hard to sell.

In the late 80s, an infomercial was shot for a product that everybody should have. The product being advertised was a video designed to help parents talk to their teenagers about drugs.

It was such an altruistic, appealing project that everyone wanted to help with it. It was hosted by Nancy Reagan; there were dozens of prominent Hollywood stars on the cast; the production values were outstanding and it was nothing less than a beautifully produced, impressive and inspiring infomercial about making America a better place for kids.

This thing was the advertising equivalent of the Milk of Human Kindness. The company behind this infomercial, Guthy-Renker, was so proud of themselves, they were almost busting their buttons. They bought the airtime and ran the show.

Guess how many orders they got?

Zero.

Absolutely none. The phones were silent. At first they thought there was a phone problem, but when they dialed the number, sure enough, it was working. Nobody wanted to buy a video about talking to their kids about drugs. And they especially didnt want to sit their teenager down on the sofa, pop in the video, show it to them and have a discussion about it.

Nancy Regan couldnt convince em, Hollywood couldnt convince them, and a team of professional copywriters couldnt convince em. Why?

Because it was prevention, not cure. It was entirely too easy for the viewer, who was not in pain, to think Im going to mention this to Fred and Doris, because their son Todd is waaaay out of control. Of course, my kids would never take drugs. Besides, it would be a pretty awkward conversation if I implied that I dont trust my little Missy to do the right thing when shes at school.

Related: 5 Reasons Why Many Schools Don't Offer Degrees in Sales

Chicken soup for the dysfunctional, lust-infested drug addicts soul.

Its hard to sell virtue and goodness in and of itself. Thats why theres such a drastic difference between non-profit businesses and for-profit businesses. Its why there are so many novels about murder, mayhem, lust, betrayal and hell, and so few about goodness, hope, utopia and heaven.

Now dont get me wrong. Im not in any way degrading the goodness of prevention. Im just telling you that if you want to sell it, its much better to sell it as part of a cure than talking to someone whos never had the problem in the first place.

Copywriter John Carlton has this running debate with Joe Polish, who you could describe as the Perry Marshall of the carpet cleaning industry. Joe runs ads about carpet mites in your rugs and pillows, but John insists that however hard you try to sell the fact that you can kill carpet mites and take toxins and allergens out of your house, the real reason that Suzy Jones calls a carpet cleaner is that shes got company coming over and she doesnt want her friends to see the spot where little Jeffrey puked.

In other words, Suzys going to have the carpet cleaned before the party, not after. After would be prevention. Before is cure.

Ive got my own perpetual rant, implicit in my Unique Selling Proposition. Theres two versions of it. One is the rant about small business owners having no marketing system in place, and all the problems that result from their lack of deal flow.

The other rant is the salespersons version of the same thing. Its when the marketing system is the blood, sweat, tears, cold calls and shoe leather of a commissioned sales person.

Both of my rants are extremely effective in bringing me the results Im after because I offer the cure.

How about you? Do you have a rant? What ailment does your product/service cure?

Related: How do I tell my boss that he's not motivating his sales staff?

Related:



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Thumbs up and good luck to the Nutmeg Collective, a community of state artisans that supports their small businesses and work together to encourage thoughtful consumerism and appreciation for the hand-made products of their colleagues. The collective was launched in 2014 by Kristen Skelton, the owner of Milo and Molly, an Avon-based handmade fabric accessories business. The collective has grown from 35 members two years ago to include 70 artisans and businesses around the state.

Thumbs up to the encouraging projections for the Fairfield County economy that were made last week by Bill Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Speaking at theUniversity of Bridgeport, Dudley said he expects Fairfield County to benefit from a spillover of New York Citys roaring economy. The strength in New York Citys economy should be of significant help to Fairfield County, Dudley said. Over the past year, New York Citys economy has, on average, added more than twice as many jobs each month as the total expected job losses from the relocations of GE, UBS and RBS. As long as New York City keeps adding jobs at such a brisk pace, Fairfield County will benefit.
Who would come here?

Malloy wooing business from Mississippi?

What a joke.

He can't even hold onto what he has.

If anyone of them leaves there to come into this business unfriendly state, I'll be the first in line to congratulate him.

In an earlier letter I sent but never got printed, I stated in my business we use the Connecticut manufacturers register to find leads.

This lists everyone in the state who actually makes stuiff, from buttons to helicopters. The 2004 edition was 435 pages, the 2012 edition was 139.

Thank you, governor. Now go lay off 4,000 people.

Bob Zawadski

Stratford
STORY LINK GBP/EUR Forecast: Could Greek/Portuguese Pact Improve Pound Sterling to Euro Exchange Rate?

Today's Pound to Euro Rate (GBP/EUR) Sinks to 1.23 on Panama Papers Scandal, Brexit Concerns.

British Pound Predicted to Remain Pressured Ahead of EU Referendum

Portuguese Debt Concerns Could Drive Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates Lower

Foreign Exchange Forecast: GBP/EUR Expected to Gain if Portuguese Situation Worsens

Like this piece? Please share with your friends and colleagues:

The Pound has made a steady gain on the Euro today, thanks to continued instability in Greece keeping the Euro down against GBP and its other rivals.The latest news to emerge from the Eurozone has been that the Portuguese and Greek Prime Ministers have signed an anti-austerity agreement, something that is hardly likely to endear the Euro to investors in the long-run. Naturally, the Pound may be able to capitalise on this current disadvantage.As last week drew to a close, the Euro ( currency:EUR ) was riding high against the Pound Sterling ( currency:GBP ), with the exchange rate ending Fridays session at a lowly 1.2393.In the lead-up to Christmas, the pair was trading at more than 20c higher, leading some analysts to suggest that GBP/EUR may now be oversold and due a correction higher.Any moves higher, however, won't come close to 2015's best conversion levels for foreign exchange investors looking to move sterling to Europe.Looking at the fundamentals, most FX insiders feel that the UK unit will struggle to register any significant gains until after June 23rds European Union in / out referendum.However, other analysts surmise that the uncertainty which the popular vote continues to engender could well be eclipsed by a previously unexpected Black Swan event on the other side of La Manche.Proponents of this theory suggest that the most likely scenario for such an outcome is presented by Portugals burgeoning debt difficulties.Twelve months ago, the fiscally-challenged Iberian state was having to pay investors holding its 10-year bonds a mere 1.5% interest; this represented the lowest yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt which the Portuguese administration has ever had to pay.However, a year on and everything looks a little different; as of close of business Friday, the yield on Portugals 10-year bonds had increased to 3.2% - not quite as high as Februarys level of 4.0%, but still a level verging on the uncomfortable for Portuguese policymakers.In an echo of Greeces recent debt woes, Portugals minority Socialist government, which wrested power during the final stages of last year, continues a long and painful dialogue with the European Union aimed at jettisoning the austerity measures which Brussels imposed as payment for earlier bailouts.The failure of leading Portuguese retail bank Banco Espirito Santo (BES) in Summer 2014 has set in motion a chain of events which have ramped up fear levels for investors in Portugal. BESs healthy operations were farmed out to Novo Banco, while the government instigated a bad bank for its toxic assets.Late last year, Portugals central bank imposed a haircut on holders of Novo Banco bonds, triggering substantial losses for foreign institutional investors.Matters in Portugal, however, could get worse at a moments notice, triggering a move against the euro. Zoeb Sachee, head of European government bond trading at Citi, warned last week that, the thing about Portugal is it sometimes can behave a bit like emerging markets It can lose liquidity pretty quickly  peoples memories of Portugal yielding 14, 15 per cent have not completely faded. Analysts therefore forecast that the next six months may not be as bright for the shared currency as the past six months.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

TAGS: Currency Predictions Daily Currency Updates Poun Forecasts
Berlin, Windber and North Star bring plenty of momentum into Week 10

Check out what we learned in Week 9 of the high school football season across Somerset County.
Videos of Floridian arrests bring renewed criticism of crackdown on election fraud

Law enforcement body camera footage showed stunned and confused Floridians being arrested on voter fraud charges. Advocates are calling for changes.
Theft from Car:

A students car was broken into on March 30 in the Central parking lot.

Drew Martinez, 26, a business management major from Collierville, found the lock on his car punched out and his stereo missing.

I park right under a light so its lit up when I walk to my car, Martinez said. My car wasnt damaged, but they broke my key lock and Im out $500. I didnt think this would happen in broad daylight, but its the University of Memphis. You just have to be careful.

Martinez said the police have been very cooperative.

Someone from police services called me today asking questions about my car, Martinez said. They didnt make anything difficult.

Last year, 19 cars were burglarized at the U of M according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Thieves have stolen from at least six vehicles on campus since Jan. 1, according to police reports written by U of M Campus Police Services.

Derek Myers, the Assistant Chief and Director of Police Operations, said out of 38 reports of theft from vehicles and theft of motor vehicle parts, only 3 were cleared when an arrest was made.

Traditionally, more burglaries happen during the day, because there are more cars out here during the day, Myers said.

Domestic Assault:

A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly assaulting his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend in front of a University of Memphis dorm on March 28.

The alleged attack was on State Street in front of Rawls Hall in the heart of campus just after 3 p.m. according to a University of Memphis campus Police report written by Officer Claude Berry.

Officer Berry saw the couple arguing during his regular patrol, according to his report.

The victim told police that Jeffery Clark Jones, 23, had gotten physical with her after they ended their relationship.

Officer Berry wrote that the victim had minor injuries, according to the report.

Jones was arrested and marijuana was found on his person, Officer Berry said. Jones was charged domestic assault and possession.
Lifestyle | Daily Life | News | The Sydney Morning Herald

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David Cameron has come under fire after it was revealed he avoided a 70,000 tax bill over money inherited from his late father Ian and given to him by his mother Mary following his death

This paper has been a very critical friend of David Cameron.

We have praised his many impressive achievements  not least on the economy  but we also believe he has made dreadful mistakes, over a wide range of issues from foreign aid and green taxes to his broken promises to get a grip on mass migration.

Over recent months in particular, we have attacked him fiercely for his attempts to skew the EU referendum debate, using public money to promote scaremongering propaganda for the 'remain' camp after the abject failure of his renegotiations to secure a better deal from our partners.

Nor has the Mail hesitated to point out that Mr Cameron has handled the fallout from the leaks of his family's tax affairs appallingly. Indeed, with the facts having to be wrung out of him under duress, his every carefully worded statement has made him look shifty and evasive, throwing more petrol on to the fire.

But when his assailants froth with hysterical anger over every detail of his private finances  even attacking his mother for passing on money to her children by perfectly legal means  this paper believes the lynch mob has run wildly out of control.

Enough of this madness. Instead of grovelling before the politics of envy mob, the Prime Minister should be arguing that, for most people, Inheritance Tax (IHT)  by re-taxing income that has already been taxed  is unfair. He should also be shouting from the rooftops the moral case for low taxation.

Leave aside the rank hypocrisy of the BBC and the Guardian, which have led the charge over the leaked Panama papers from their moral high horses  despite their own history of adopting elaborate measures to minimise their tax liabilities.

Forget that firebrands of the Left, such as Tony Benn and the Milibands, have always been careful to keep as much of their money as legally possible in their families and out of the Treasury's hands (Ed Miliband's family, remember, sought to avoid IHT through a 'deed of variation' to his father's will).

Ian Cameron left the Prime Minister 300,000 when he died in 2010 while his mother gave him an extra 200,000 some months later

The truth is that there are no parents in this country, of any income bracket, who do not want their children to do better than themselves and to give them a leg-up in life. This is one of the most fundamental of human instincts. It is also among the most selfless and morally admirable.

Indeed, the urge to look after our own families is a hugely powerful incentive to working hard. This means that those who attack it as immoral or unfair undermine a key driving force of wealth creation  without which, of course, the whole country, rich and poor, would be immeasurably worse off.

After all, it should never be forgotten that the richest 1 per cent in Britain today pay 27 per cent of all income tax, while the top 10 per cent pay well over half, at 55 per cent (so much for the charge that they don't pay their fair share).

Without their effort and enterprise, a huge burden would fall on the 12 per cent of workers who pay no income tax at all, while the welfare state would collapse.

As for the theory that we have a moral duty to pay more tax than the law requires, this doesn't stand up to a moment's scrutiny.

Just look at the disgraceful way governments of every hue squander our hard-earned cash  whether on foreign aid to corrupt dictators, MPs' second homes, lavish expenses for eurocrats, the Millennium Dome, welfare benefits for terrorists or, yes, 9.3 million for infantile, misleading leaflets urging us to remain in the EU.

As a general rule, don't families and private businesses spend and invest their own earnings far more wisely and productively than the state, whose bureaucracy is more the brake than the accelerator of prosperity?

Mr Cameron has behaved as if he has been caught with his fingers in the till, while setting the worrying precedent of publishing his tax returns

Indeed, isn't there a strong case for saying we have a moral duty to husband our savings so that we can provide for our own?

So, good for Mr Cameron's mother! If she wanted to give her son 200,000 after his father's death, to top up his 300,000 inheritance, why on earth should she hand 70,000 to the Treasury, when she was under no legal obligation whatsoever to do so?

By arranging their affairs so that they paid no more tax than they had to, the Camerons were merely doing what millions of others would do in their position.

Indeed, everyone who owns an ISA or invests in a pension fund understands the desire to avoid unnecessary tax. So, too, do tradesmen at the lower end of the income scale who ask for payment in cash  with the difference that their tax-dodging is illegal.

True, many will find it distasteful that Mr Cameron's father used an offshore tax haven to set up a unit trust, in which the Prime Minister had a share worth 30,000.

But there is not the slightest suggestion that either of them did anything dishonest, let alone against the law. Nor should it be forgotten that many highly respectable businesses have used offshore vehicles, not just to escape historically punitive tax rates at home but to facilitate trade in securities denominated in foreign currencies.

So why was the Prime Minister on the defensive throughout last week?

Of course, one reason for his discomfort is that four years ago, he foolishly attacked the comedian Jimmy Carr as 'morally wrong' for investing in a legally approved scheme to minimise tax.

Thus, he blurred the distinction between tax avoidance (which is legal) and tax evasion (which is a crime), while himself introducing the concept of morality into the equation. To that extent, he is the author of his own troubles, hoist by his own petard.

But isn't the fuller explanation of his embarrassment not that he has done anything he should be ashamed of, but simply that this affair strikes him in his Achilles heel by drawing attention to his privileged background?

By the standards of the mega-rich, the sums passed down to Mr Cameron may not be vast. But there is no denying that to a steelworker in Port Talbot, say, they appear beyond dreams of avarice.

Clearly, this makes the Prime Minister deeply uncomfortable, since it reinforces the unfair impression that he leads a party of and for the rich.

But then voters knew he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth when they made him Prime Minister in 2010 and re-elected him with an overall majority last year. Labour's efforts to hold his inherited wealth against him failed then. Why should they succeed now?

Indeed, it is striking that before 2010, the Tories had their strongest surge of popularity when George Osborne promised to raise the threshold for IHT to 1 million for married couples (a pledge he won't now fulfil until 2020).

Many find it distasteful that Mr Cameron's father used an offshore tax haven to set up a unit trust, in which the Prime Minister had a share worth 30,000

By registering a resounding vote of approval for this policy, the public demonstrated their belief that the tax is deeply iniquitous. And rightly so. Why, when we have paid tax on our earnings throughout our lives, putting by what we can for our young, should we be taxed on the same money again after our deaths?

Indeed, there is nothing wrong with taking legal steps to avoid IHT  as every family would, given the chance. It's the tax itself that's immoral.

Isn't this the message that Mr Cameron should be proclaiming loud and clear to the country?

Instead, he has behaved as if he has been caught with his fingers in the till, while setting the worrying precedent of publishing his tax returns.

By throwing this meaty morsel to the hounds of class warfare, doesn't he risk sharpening their appetite for more, until the pressure grows for all politicians to lay the details of their private finances before the public?

This paper has long been champion of transparency. But at this rate, there is a clear danger that people with private means will no longer wish to go into public life, putting their advantages at the service of the less fortunate, for fear of being mauled by the pack.

If that happens, the field will be left clear for politicians who know nothing of wealth creation or those foundation stones of liberty from state oppression  private property, the self-reliant family and the rule of law.
A junior doctor has written to me, seeking my support of the industrial action by the British Medical Association  which later this month will see that union mounting its first all-out strike, withdrawing even emergency cover.

This doctor's letter to me ended: 'It's surely becoming harder and harder to ignore our plight, especially when we have well-known actors on the picket line and speaking out on our behalf?'

Yes, it's true: several stars from the TV sitcom Green Wing  including Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig  had put on their operating gowns from the costume department and joined real doctors on the picket line.

Stars from the relevision sitcom Green Wing  including Stephen Mangan (left) and Tamsin Greig (second from right)  put on their operating gowns from the costume department and joined real doctors on the picket line

Green Wing cast (from the left) Stephen Mangan, writer Rob Harley, Oliver Chris, Pippa Haywood, Tamsin Greig and Julian Rhind-Tutt join a picket line outside Northwick Hospital in Middlesex

So people whose great skill is to make us believe things that aren't really true  actors  are now the cutting edge of the junior doctors' campaign.

This is entirely appropriate, because the BMA has been consistently pretending that their dispute is about patient care, when in reality it is only about their own overtime payments. To be fair, they have been as good as any actors in persuading the public that what they are saying is truth rather than fiction.

Denounced

What is horribly real is the fact that on April 26-27, they will be putting patients' lives in completely unnecessary danger.

As the National Medical Director of NHS England, Sir Bruce Keogh, said yesterday of the threatened complete walk-out by junior doctors: 'The withdrawal of emergency cover will put our sickest, most vulnerable patients at greater risk.

'Doctors are the most trusted profession.This is a privileged gift bestowed on us by society, but it brings responsibilities and expectations. One of these expectations is that we are there when people need us most. By withdrawing emergency cover we will irreparably damage that trust and the reputation of our profession.'

For this, that distinguished former cardiac surgeon has been denounced as a 'Quisling' by the strike's supporters. Vidkun Quisling was the Norwegian wartime leader who collaborated with the invading Nazis, which gives some idea of the unpleasantness of the insults being hurled at doctors who regard solidarity with patients as more important than that of the picket line.

National Medical Director of NHS England, Sir Bruce Keogh (right) has been denounced as a 'Quisling' by the strike's supporters. Vidkun Quisling was the Norwegian wartime leader (left)

For months, the BMA insisted it was only because of the needs of patients that it was taking industrial action. Their argument was that the Government's demands that they work more at weekends would render doctors so exhausted that they would make mistakes, which in turn would harm patients.

But the new contract, now being imposed by the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, actually reduces the maximum hours permitted to be worked by any doctor in a week from 91 to 72, though the average will still be between 48 and 56 hours.

Risky

This is why last month the NHS national director for safety, Dr Mike Durkin, wrote an open letter declaring 'my own view is very clear that the new contract will not be unsafe or dangerous for patients'.

No, the BMA's real objection is that the new contract means junior doctors will no longer get special overtime rates for working between 7am and 5pm on Saturdays.

The contract awards a basic pay increase of 13.5 per cent, but in return, doctors will be expected to work more at weekends. The point is to meet Hunt's ambition to increase medical cover on Saturdays and Sundays, and thus  he hopes  reduce the increase in mortality over weekends.

The BMA has been consistently pretending that their dispute is about patient care, when in reality it is only about their own overtime payments

It is unbearable for the BMA to be told by a Conservative Health Secretary that he is acting in the interests of patients: but why else would he be doing this? It's not as if Government ministers actually like taking on the doctors: politically, it's immensely risky.

The BMA insists that the Government is 'refusing to sit down and talk'. This is disingenuous in the extreme. At their last meeting under the auspices of the conciliation service ACAS, the doctors' representatives made it absolutely clear that they would not consider any change to the 'special' nature of Saturdays.

They refused to discuss it. So there is no point in having a further meeting at which the BMA would once again walk out.

It is unbearable for the BMA to be told by a Conservative Health Secretary that he is acting in the interests of patients: but why else would he be doing this?

Now, I can understand why junior doctors might be cross. Particularly with young children, it is not always easy to balance work with family if your weekends become more pressured.

But that is a factor now commonplace throughout the private sector. Airline pilots, for example, don't get paid any more for working on a Saturday than they do on a weekday. And they too are professionals who have people's lives in their hands.

Perhaps there will be enough emergency cover from senior doctors to prevent a loss of life caused by junior colleagues abandoning patients on April 26.

But if there is a single such incident, a patient will have died because some striking doctors thought their Saturday pay-rates mattered more than the lives of those they are sworn not to harm.

Cameron dodges the Inquisitor

The Prime Minister is happy to spend 9.3 million of taxpayers' money posting to every household in the country a tendentious leaflet setting out his views on the benefits of British membership of the EU.

Yet he is unwilling to appear before the most important House of Commons committee, which has asked him repeatedly to answer their questions about the forthcoming referendum on this matter.

The PM has now written to the Chair of the Liaison Committee, Andrew Tyrie, saying that he can't, 'sadly, because of diary pressures'.

The Prime Minister does not wish to be exposed by Chair of the Liaison Committee, Andrew Tyrie (pictured)

This, of course, is not the reason. Rather, the PM does not wish to be exposed to the 59-year-old Tyrie's forensic skills.

In his earlier interrogations of Lord Rose and Boris Johnson, Tyrie ruthlessly exposed the weaknesses of the arguments of these campaigners on each side.

So, when Rose came up with a spurious figure that the EU benefited every British family to the tune of 3,000, Tyrie told the increasingly discomfited ex-Marks & Spencer boss that he was guilty of 'a scandalous misuse of statistics . . . intellectual dishonesty'.

A few weeks later he witheringly rebutted some characteristically colourful claims by Johnson, the star of the Brexit camp: 'All very interesting, Boris. Except that none of it is really true, is it?'

In fact, the PM lost his temper the last time he appeared before this fearless Tory MP, after Tyrie challenged him on his conduct over military action in Syria. Cameron snapped: 'If you think that, then you don't know what you're talking about.' Later, we were told that Downing Street calls him 'Andrew Tiresome'.

Tyrie  who has so far remained neutral on whether the UK should stay in or leave the EU  may be tiresome to the Government, but he is tireless in seeking to bring the executive to account. This is on behalf of all of us, as voters. Cameron's refusal to appear before his committee ahead of the referendum is to treat the public with contempt: we want more than propaganda paid for by our own taxes.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, seems remarkably relaxed about the discovery that his true father was Churchill's last private secretary.

It turns out that though he was born nine months after the marriage of his mother to Gavin Welby, in the days before the wedding she had 'gone to bed with' Anthony Montague Browne.

DNA tests have now confirmed this as the moment the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury was conceived.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, seems remarkably relaxed about the discovery that his true father was Churchill's last private secretary

When I interviewed Welby three years ago, weeks before his enthronement, he was just getting used to an earlier surprise about the man he thought was his father.

It turned out that Gavin Welby's real surname was Weiler and that he was of German-Jewish background. Justin had no idea of this, until the publicity surrounding his becoming Archbishop had led a newspaper to investigate and discover the truth.
A woman has claimed she was left with a bald patch and blisters on her scalp after Batiste dry shampoo caused her hair to fall out.

Nicole Baxter, 21, from Belfast, was devastated when she developed the symptoms after religiously using the product to keep her locks fresh in between washes.

After being diagnosed with Triangular Alopecia, she shared her disbelief in a Facebook post - which has been shared more than 30,000 times.

Nicole Baxter, 21, religiously used Batiste dry shampoo to keep her hair fresh in between washes. However she claims the product (right) left her with bald patches (left)

She also experienced a 'terrible burning sensation' all over her head, which left her in a great deal of discomfort.

Nicole was immediately referred to a dermatology unit in Belfast City Hospital where she was diagnosed with Triangular Alopecia and referred for a scalp biopsy.

There she was told to stop using any products on her hair until her next appointment - around six weeks later.

The only thing that Nicole routinely used on her hair was Batiste dry shampoo. However, after stopping she claims she noticed a dramatic difference in the health of her scalp.

Describing her April 7 follow-up appointment on Facebook, Nicole said: She [the specialist] looked at my file and said that it was to see what the blisters and sores were and could they diagnose a cause and straight away Id realised that I didnt have them anymore (I dont know why I hadnt realised before).

The only thing that Nicole routinely used on her hair was the dry shampoo. However, after stopping she claims she noticed a dramatic difference in the health of her scalp. Her Facebook post has been shared more than 30,000 times

So she compared my scalp today to the pictures that were in my file from February and asked what had I done differently in the last 6-7 weeks that may have helped it? I told her Id stopped using dry shampoo and that was it, nothing else different.

WHAT IS TRIANGULAR ALOPECIA The condition is a form of permanent hair loss. It is a type of hair loss that occurs in a patch of a triangular shape above either one or both the temples. The patches may be completely bald and not have any follicles at all, or they may have miniature hairs which never grow beyond a slight fuzz. Triangular alopecia is a condition that begins in childhood and can even be present at birth. However, many parents do not notice that there is a hair loss problem till the child is 2 to 3 years old. Hair loss from triangular alopecia is permanent, so no medication or oils or change in lifestyle will help the hair grow back. The condition is also unresponsive to other hair therapy treatments. The only treatment option is a hair transplant. Source: Glamcheck Advertisement

Youd of thought a light bulb went off in the womans head. [sic]

Nicole added that stopping using the product was the 'best thing' she could have done for herself.

Although she received plenty of support and sympathy on social media, Nicole also faced criticism as some questioned her personal hygiene.

Fighting back against the accusations, Nicole wrote: 'I only meant for this to warn my friends that these are the symptoms I had and after I stopped using dry shampoo most of them cleared up (never imagined it would have 23k+ shares).

'Then AN ACTUAL DOCTOR told me it was down to the dry shampoo - not a bunch of people who suddenly gained in depth knowledge of dermatology and my personal showering schedule.'

She also insisted she had a severe reaction to the product and added: 'I did not use dry shampoo instead of washing my hair properly.'

A spokesperson for Batiste said: As the UKs number one dry shampoo brand for over 30 years, Batiste is committed to producing quality products which are used every day by our millions of happy customers.

We would like to assure our customers that all our products are analytically tested for compliance to European Regulations.

'Independent laboratories conduct in-depth safety assessments and clinical patch tests for all products prior to launch. All our products have been certified as safe.

Hairdressers and trichologists are warning that over-using dry shampoo can cause unexpected  and highly unpleasant  consequences

As with any beauty product whether it be on the hair, body or face we recommend that you follow the usage guidelines and stop using it if sensitivity occurs.

However, Nicole is not the only person to experience an adverse reaction to the product.

Last year, Kerry Kilmister began using dry shampoo regularly after giving birth to her third child, Poppy, now five months.

A spokesperson for Batiste said: We would like to assure our customers that all our products are analytically tested for compliance to European Regulations'

Like many busy mothers, Kerry, 34, from Chippenham, Wiltshire, found herself with little time to spend on her appearance, and turned to the product as a solution.

She said: After Poppy was born, I didnt have time to wash and dry my hair more than once a week. I thought my can of dry shampoo was an easy fix, and I started using it every day.

I loved the way it made my hair look less greasy, gave it a nice smell and added volume.

After a few weeks, though, I noticed my scalp was getting itchy and sore. I started getting bad dandruff, and then I developed little sore patches on my head, which would catch on my hairbrush and bleed.

It was horrible, but I didnt connect it to the dry shampoo. It was my hairdresser who told me I was using it too much.

Kerry has now stopped using the product entirely, and the flaking and soreness has cleared up.

Meanwhile Kym Fryer suffered dermatitis as a result of over-using the spray. Her reaction was so severe that she developed bald patches.

Kim, a 35-year-old teacher from Leeds, said: Im so busy in my job that when I discovered dry shampoo a couple of years ago, I started using it every day.

'Over time, I developed a red, scaly rash around my hairline, which I put down to stress. Then, one day my mum spotted a bald patch at the back of my head, which horrified me. My hair had started to feel dry and brittle.

Both Kym and Kerry's hairdressers advised them to stop using the product altogether.

Iain Sallis, a trichologist at the Farjo Hair Institute in Manchester, said: Its the human equivalent of the dust baths animals take.

It coats the hair rather than making it clean, which means that the microbes which feed on the moisture in the scalp will still be there.

For people prone to dandruff or dermatitis, the scalp will become flaky to get rid of the irritation.
A former winner of MasterChef, Thomasina Miers, 40, is the author of four cookbooks and the founder of the Wahaca chain of Mexican restaurants. She lives in London with her husband Mark, a fund manager, and her children Tatiana, four, and Ottilie, three.

By the time I hit my mid-20s, I had started to flounder, career-wise. It was the early 2000s, and Id tried modelling, working for a digital start-up at the height of the dot-com boom, even accountancy in the City - but nothing stuck. I started to think it was a flaw in my personality.

Was I spoiled? Id had a privileged education at St Pauls Girls School in West London, but we werent rich, and I felt a great pressure to do something serious and professional.

Thomasina Miers floundered until she realised that cooking was what she really wanted to do

What I loved was to cook. At school, I cooked dinner parties for friends parents for pocket money - but cooking wasnt serious.

In those days, posh girls didnt become chefs, they set up catering companies, and that wasnt me, either. I liked getting my hands dirty in the kitchen, to experiment and develop menus.

Then one day, at a charity fashion show for Barbour in which I was modelling, I met the chef Clarissa Dickson Wright. I was in a Barbour bikini; she was modelling a trench coat. I was a huge fan - I loved Two Fat Ladies, the cookery show she hosted in the late Nineties with Jennifer Paterson - and she was just as dry and no-nonsense in the flesh as she was on TV.

What was extraordinary about Clarissa was the transformation shed made in her life, from lawyer to successful chef. In her day, she was the youngest woman to be called to the bar, at just 21. Looking back, she was a real trail-blazer and a great role model.

So I told her how confused I was, how I felt depressed and a failure. And Clarissa made it seem so simple. In a tone that was almost scolding, she said: Well, if you like cooking, why arent you cooking? Im sure she thought I was quite ridiculous, but that was my light-bulb moment.

Suddenly the horizon expanded before me. If Clarissa Dickson Wright had given up a stellar legal career to do what she loved, then - bing! - it was perfectly fine to follow your heart. I could do it, too.

After that she took me under her wing and helped me get a place at the Ballymalhoe Cookery School in Co. Cork. I met Clarissa in November and by January Id packed up my 2CV and caught the ferry to Ireland. A few years later, I won MasterChef; and I havent looked back since. I did ditch that Barbour bikini, though.
While working mums often turn up to school drop-off looking glamorous, organised and ready for the day, one mother-of-two has revealed that it's not always as it seems.

Rachelle, the writer behind successful parenting blog 'The Mummy Code', recently shared a post on social media about her demanding daily routine and overwhelming lifestyle.

'To anyone who thinks that working mums have it all together. Ummm no......[sic],' the Melbourne-based council worker, 34, wrote on Facebook next to a photo of herself in the car.

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Not as easy as it seems: Rachelle, the writer behind successful parenting blog 'The Mummy Code', recently shared a post on social media about her demanding daily routine and overwhelming lifestyle

'It's not easy': 'To anyone who thinks that working mums have it all together. Ummm no......[sic],' the Melbourne-based council worker, 34, wrote on Facebook next to a photo of herself in the car

'I have just arrived home at 5.10pm. I woke up with my 3 year old at 4.30am, got kids ready, went to childcare, drove an hour in traffic and started work at 8am - in a normal job, nothing glamorous or exciting.

'I still have to do baths, make dinner and make a slice for work tomorrow who are having a "fun" morning tea.'

Rachelle then explained how her three-year-old son Hudson spent 15 minutes asking 'Why? Why? How? Why? About various things' and while this was cute she was exhausted and also had her one-year-old daughter Scarlett 'upset and tired/hungry because daylight savings threw out her routine.'

Constant challenge: 'My car is dirty.....filthy dirty. Filled with toys, juice boxes, lolly wrappers, red bull cans and way too many sultanas to even bother cleaning,' she wrote

Popular post: Rachelle concluded by saying she is 'grateful' for her family and her job but 'it's not easy' and the post has since received over 39,000 reactions

'My car is dirty.....filthy dirty. Filled with toys, juice boxes, lolly wrappers, red bull cans and way too many sultanas to even bother cleaning,' she wrote.

'I have shopping on the passenger seat that I quickly grabbed at lunch time, schlepped all around Richmond and finally back to my car.

'It may appear that working mums have it together but we are really all just running around, muddling through and trying to make it all work, so no one is let down or left out.'

Rachelle concluded by saying she is 'grateful' for her family and her job but 'it's not easy' and the post has since received over 39,000 reactions.

'I thought how other mums probably feel like this': Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Rachelle said she was inspired to post the picture after picking up her one-year-old from daycare

Relatable: 'My children get in the car and they're eating and it's all crazy so I thought "why not share and see if people can relate" and obviously they can,' Rachelle said

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Rachelle said she was inspired to post the picture after picking up her one-year-old from daycare.

'I often think "how embarrassing is my car" and then I thought how other mums probably feel like this because my car is filthy no matter how much I clean it,' Rachelle said.

'My children get in the car and they're eating and it's all crazy so I thought "why not share and see if people can relate" and obviously they can.'

Beyond the surface: Rachelle, whose husband also works full time, said while she tries to look her best for work, people don't realise what goes on behind the scenes

Early starts: 'When I go to work I get up earlier than my kids so I can look a little bit put together beforehand,' Rachelle said

Rachelle, whose husband also works full time, said while she tries to look her best for work, people don't realise what goes on behind the scenes.

'When I go to work I get up earlier than my kids so I can look a little bit put together beforehand... and so many of my colleagues have said to me "I have no idea that's what you're doing" and that they have no idea what goes on at home,' she said.

'And my little girl who is at childcare goes to bed at 6.30pm and she's tired so I have an hour or less to try and get her bathed and fed and get her to bed before she's had enough... and I also have my three-year-old who wants attention too so it's a juggling act until everyone is in bed.'

Moving quick: 'And my little girl who is at childcare goes to bed at 6.30pm and she's tired so I have an hour or less to try and get her bathed and fed and get her to bed,' Rachelle said

Others agree: 'What a fabulous post.. As a mum of 5 (2 girls, 1 boy and a set of twin boys) I'm so glad to see that there are mums out there who are actually as rushed as me. Mummy power,' one woman wrote

Rachelle also said that balance is important and tries to get out and go for a walk with the dog by herself when she can... but that work also plays a role in finding balance.

'Both times I've gone back to work when my babies were six months old and I dreaded it both times... but when you actually do it it's nice to have that as well,' Rachelle said.

'I find for me that it's hard but mentally it's satisfying to keep that job and career I've been in for years and be a mum too.'

Rachelle said there should never be a debate between working mums and those who stay home as they both have their own struggles and work incredibly hard.

Working together: 'We need to all be supporting each other... I work hard and when it comes to stay-at-home mums I don't know how they do it,' Rachelle (not pictured) said

'It's a constant rat race that never ends!!! But we're all doing it and doing our best!!! Thank god for bed time!'A commenter wrote

'We need to all be supporting each other... I work hard and when it comes to stay-at-home mums I don't know how they do it,' she said.

'I have no idea why women feel the need to debate it or why it's such a big deal, we all have it hard in some way or another and at the end of the day we need to just get on with it and do the best we can.'

Many mothers commented on and praised Rachelle's post.

'What a fabulous post.. As a mum of 5 (2 girls, 1 boy and a set of twin boys) I'm so glad to see that there are mums out there who are actually as rushed as me. Mummy power,' one woman wrote.
Despite the fact that my cousin and I are both only children, she has ignored me for our entire adult lives.

For several years Ive been nursing my aunt (her mother) who has a degenerative heart condition. Im very close to her as my own mother died when I was just 20 and I even moved house to be nearer to her as her condition worsened.

Just after Christmas I was warned by my aunts doctors that she was becoming very frail and that we should begin getting her affairs in order - at which point my cousin miraculously turned up.

Janet Ellis advises a reader who cares for her elderly aunt, and is worried that the sudden reappearance of a cousin has to do with a will-related matter (stock photo)

While Im pleased for my aunt, it is very obvious this is a ploy to be included in the will. I want my aunt to be happy in her final months but am horrified by the idea that she is being used for her money. What should I do?

Im so sorry youre in such turmoil. Youre about to be lose a very important and sustaining part of your life and a very special person.

Youre probably fearful of your future, too - and fear is a corrosive emotion. It encourages suspicion and jealousy. In some ways, you even envy your cousin because, despite the sad circumstances, she does still have her mother, and she now has the opportunity to spend time with her.

Thats something youve been denied for a long time, as you lost your own mother at a young age. And you suspect your cousins motives as you cant imagine behaving as she has. But, whatever the circumstances, mother and daughter are now reunited.

In a film, your cousin would thank you profusely for all the care youve given her mother, ask for everybodys forgiveness (mostly yours) and leave after the funeral, declaring that she wanted nothing from the estate.

But of course this isnt a film. Neither is it a Victorian novel, where wills and bequests are decided at the last minute and in favour of whoever seems more deserving at the time. Unless your aunt has discussed her will with you, you have no idea what shes been planning. And until your cousin showed up, I doubt youd even thought about legacies and bequests.

Of course, you resent your cousins sudden reappearance. She may well feel guilty that shes ignored both of you for so long, but this isnt the time to challenge her about her behaviour. If she responds unkindly, you will suffer a great deal at a time when you need all your strength.

Janet says to make sure that the reader's aunts last days are dignified and full of love

The loving and selfless way youve cared for her mother will be obvious to her, even if her idea of family is very different from yours. Theres no suggestion in your letter that your aunt has found her daughters absence intolerable. Its possible that the closer you became to your aunt, the harder it was for your cousin to bridge the gap to her mother.

Do you have hopes that you and your cousin could begin to build a relationship together? Its more likely to happen if you can console her. Whatever has kept her away, she is losing her mother and thats something you understand only too well.

You dont say that she has made you feel unwelcome now that shes returned, so I imagine she still sees you as a valuable and vital part of her mothers care.
Leanne Guglielmi, a mother-of-two from Belrose, New South Wales, is the founder of Cozy Dozee - a head support accessory for sleeping children in the car.

The 38-year-old mumpreneur's heart would break each time she saw one of her sons' heads flopping forward in the car and decided to create something that would stop this happening, improve the quality of their sleep and relieve sore necks.

But just six weeks after launching the product 2.5 years ago, Ms Guglielmi, who is a primary school ethics teacher, became the victim of a relentless online bullying campaign and scary personal attacks.

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Mumpreneur: Mother-of-two Leanne Guglielmi is the founder of childhood car accessory Cozy Dozee - a device that prevents a child's head from flopping forward while sleeping in the car

Determined: She self-funded testing at the National Association of Testing Authorities, ticked off voluntary standards and conducted further crash tests to make sure the product passed all requirements

'Prior to the launch we spent two years doing research and product development which involved a lot of crash testing where you have to put money in upfront,' Ms Guglielmi told Daily Mail Australia, adding that she self-funded the $40,000 testing with her life savings.

The determined entrepreneur funded testing at the National Association of Testing Authorities, ticked off voluntary standards and conducted further crash tests to make sure the product passed all requirements, which it did.

'We finally launched the Cozy Dozee into the Australian market in November 2013. I was thrilled to be able to help so many families (including many special needs families) with a genuine solution for those who had the same problem as I did,' Ms Guglielmi said.

Unexpected negativity: Ms Guglielmi's successful product, which has been proven to improve neck posture and relieve adult distractions when driving, was soon targeted by online trolls in social media mother's groups

Misinformed: 'Things got personal and there were hate pages going up where people were saying things like "you're putting kids' lives at risk" or "I'm reporting you to ACA about your homemade death traps",' she said

'I was now officially a "Mumpreneur". I flew interstate for my first conference and won silver in the 2014 Ausmumpreneur awards for Innovation and was flying high.'

But Ms Guglielmi's successful product, which has been proven to improve neck posture and relieve adult distractions when driving, was soon targeted by online trolls in social media mother's groups.

'You name it I've had it... all the comments were based on probabilities and personal opinions and not based on research which is my biggest thing,' Ms Guglielmi said.

'Things got personal and there were hate pages going up where people were saying things like "you're putting kids' lives at risk" or "I'm reporting you to ACA about your homemade death traps" and lots of people saying I was in it for the money.

'A static photo doesn't show the work that has gone into it': Trolls were also making comments based on assumptions and asking people to share the information... even though it was incorrect

'I have no issue talking to people in depth about our testing': Ms Guglielmi's product has been reviewed by the ACCC and it was established that no data could demonstrate a risk to a child who used the product

WHAT IS THE COZY DOZEE AND IS IT SAFE? - A Cozy Dozee is a gentle head support for sleeping children in the car. It is an add-on accessory for childrens car restraints and NOT a safety device. - It gently supports children's heads, helping to give better quality sleep in the car and improve neck posture and help relieve adult distractions when driving. - The Cozy Dozee is a car seat accessory and is NOT TO BE USED AS A SAFETY DEVICE. - When tested the Cozy Dozee did not lessen the protection and performance offered by the child restraint as required by the Australian standard. - Flammability and breathability testing also passed Australian standards. - Crash testing data indicated that the Cozy Dozee did not introduce any additional injury severity to a child passenger in comparison to control testing. Source: Cozy Dozee Advertisement

'I was doing this for the mums and the kids... if I was doing it for the money I wouldn't have spent my life savings on crash testing.'

Ms Guglielmi's trolls, who had also found out her home address, would follow her online - from targeting and attacking businesses who stocked the Cozy Dozee, to naming and shaming her friends and those who supported the company.

Trolls were also making comments based on assumptions and asking people to share the information... even though it was incorrect.

'I'm a very sensitive person so I can't believe I've lasted this long myself... I now have stress-related vertigo which I had never even heard of before,' she said, adding that people were simply looking at a static photo of the product and jumping to conclusions.

'After Christmas I trialled my product in a store I had worked on a relationship with for two years and they were aware of the testing... but my trolls found them and attacked them so viciously they pulled the product.

'It's a pack mentality... it stems from a particular mummies' group who catch wind of things and attack... one woman once posted on my ad 17 times.'

Even though Ms Guglielmi's product has been reviewed by the ACCC and it was established that no data could demonstrate a risk to a child who used the product, Ms Guglielmi is still targeted.

On a mission: 'People aren't thinking before they write things and the ramifications they can cause by sharing incorrect information,' she said

'People aren't thinking before they write things and the ramifications they can cause by sharing incorrect information,' she said.

'People don't think about what's happening at my end or what's happening in my business or how it's impacting my family.

'I have no issue talking to people in depth about our testing... if these people called me or did it the right way and emailed me with manners it would be different. I understand the concerns and that's why we tested in the first place.'

Ms Guglielmi is raising awareness for cyber bullying and the impact it can have on someone's lives and is also hoping to inspire other innovative mothers to follow their dreams, even if doors are slammed in their faces 'over and over.'

'A solution to a very real need': 'If there werent positives, I suppose I wouldnt have pushed through. Really I think someone has to sometimes take the blunt end of the stick when introducing new technology,' she said

'If there werent positives, I suppose I wouldnt have pushed through. Really I think someone has to sometimes take the blunt end of the stick when introducing new technology. Im sure the first open heart surgeon was attacked as ludicrous,' Ms Guglielmi said.

'But research shows kids are at a higher risk of injury during an accident if they are slumping as opposed to sitting up right... the Cozy Dozee is a wonderful solution to a very real need.'

'While it does feel all bad in a way (and has been for so long), really theres something keeping me going and I think Ive really started focusing on 2016 being the year of positive change. Im no longer defending myself as the results speak for themselves.'
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have received a warm welcome on their official visit to India, but things look set to get a bit too heated later in the week when they will be invited to sample one of the world's hottest chillies.

Prince William, who has admitted he struggles with spicy food, will be offered Bhut Jolakiya chilli when the couple arrive at the IORA resort in Kaziranga where they will stay on Wednesday.

Prashanta Kumar Sharma, General Manager of the IORA Resort told India Today: 'We are planning to serve them traditional dishes, along with the world's hottest chilli Bhut Jolakiya.

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have received a warm welcome on their official visit to India, but things look set to get a bit too heated later this week when they will be invited to sample one of the world's hottest chillies

The Bhut Jolokia is rated at more than one million heat units on the Scoville scale, placing it at the highest level

He added: 'Our hotel employees are planning to welcome the royal couple in the traditional way with the Bihu and Jhumur dance. We are excited and eagerly waiting for their arrival.'

However, William may not share the same excitement at the culinary treat that's in store after it was revealed last week that he's not a fan of spicy food.

The confession came ahead of their official trip to India and Bhutan and was made during a Kensington Palace reception for young people from the two Asian countries living, working or studying in the UK, last week.

Among the guests the royal couple welcomed to their home was British Asian model Neelam Gill who has worked for Burberry and appeared in Vogue magazine.

This morning William tried his hand at making dosas - traditional Indian pancakes, which he declared delicious

William offered his wife a chance to sample the dosas but she declined, not wanting to risk getting her elegant cream Emilia Wickstead dress dirty

The model said about Kate: 'She told me she loves Indian food and I said she would be fine, and William said he struggles with the spices.'

The Bhut Jolokia is rated at 1,001,000 heat units on the Scoville scale, placing it at the highest level.

Named after its creator Wilbur Scoville who devised the Scoville Organoleptic Test, the method rates the heat of chillies. The higher the number, the more potent the chill.

In 2007 Guinness World Records certified the Bhut Jolakiya, also known as the Ghost chilli, as the world's hottest - 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce.

The Duchess last week revealed to model Neelam Gill that she enjoys spicy food but her husband admitted that he is not a fan

The couple were meeting young entrepreneurs in Mumbai at the start of the second day of their official visit to India when the future king was offered the chance to made a dosa - similar to a crepe - using an automatic machine invented by a company from Bangalore

Although Mr Kumar Sharma described the Bhut Jolakiya as the hottest chilli in the world, it's been usurped in recent years by other even more fiery varieties.

However, it was knocked off the top spot by the Infinity Chilli, the Naga Viper, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and the Carolina Reaper, the latter currently holding the top spot.

It's not clear how the royals will be served the delicacy. It may be served raw or cooked in a dish.

While William may balk at testing the immensely spicy chilli, this morning it was Kate who was less than keen to sample Indian cookery.

THE JOY OF SPICE The Scoville scale is named after its creator Wilbur Scoville. His method, devised in 1912, is known as the Scoville Organoleptic Test. The higher the number, the more potent the chill:- Spice up your life: Chilli peppers come in all shapes, sizes and hotness. 855,0001,463,700: Dorset Naga, Infinity Chilli, Bhut Jolokia chili pepper, Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper, Bedfordshire Super Naga, 7-Pot Chili 350,000580,000: Red Savina habanero 100,000350,000: Habanero chili, Scotch bonnet pepper, Datil pepper, Rocoto, Piri Piri Ndungu, Madame Jeanette, Peruvian White Habanero, Jamaican hot pepper, 50,000100,000: Byadgi chilli, Bird's eye chili, Malagueta pepper, Chiltepin pepper, Piri piri, Pequin pepper, Siling Labuyo 30,00050,000: Guntur chilli, Cayenne pepper, Aji pepper, Tabasco pepper, Cumari pepper 10,00023,000: Serrano pepper, Aleppo pepper 3,5008,000: Espelette pepper, Jalapeno pepper, Chipotle, Guajillo pepper, New Mexican peppers, Hungarian wax pepper, Tabasco sauce 1,0002,500: Anaheim pepper, Poblano pepper, Rocotillo pepper, Peppadew, Sriracha sauce, Gochujang 100900: Pimento, Peperoncini, Banana pepper, Cubanelle Advertisement

The couple were meeting young entrepreneurs in Mumbai at the start of the second day of their official visit to India when the future king was offered the chance to made a dosa - similar to a crepe - using an automatic machine invented by a company from Bangalore.

He took a small bite from one end, and declared it 'delicious' before offering wife Kate a bite.

However the famously slim royal waved the food away with her hand Hopefully for William her refusal wasn't as a result of his cooking but the fact that she didn't want to risk getting her elegant cream Emilia Wickstead dress dirty.

The dress, which retails for around 1,700, had oversized pockets on the torso and flared out below the waist.

Later they will fly to New Delhi, the capital of India, for a series of more formal Royal engagements.
A woman has revealed she flew 5,000 miles across the world for a first date with a man she'd met online just 14 days earlier - and now travels the world with him, and he foots the bill.

Lauren Levy, 35, from Louisiana, met Hani Alkoot, 40, who lives in Kuwait, on a website that connects attractive singletons who want to travel with 'sugar daddies' generous enough to cover the cost.

After just two weeks, the pair decided to fly to Amsterdam  halfway between their respective homes - to see whether their connection was as strong in real life.

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Lauren Levy, 35, from Louisiana, met Hani Alkoot, 40, who lives in Kuwait, on a website that connects attractive singletons who want to travel with men generous enough to foot the bill. Pictured in Thailand

Prior to meeting her now boyfriend on MissTravel, Miss Levy, pictured in Thailand, who works in sales for Mercedes Benz, had been single for 14 months

The sparks flew, and the couple have been travelling the world together ever since meeting last year, visiting three countries in 10 months.

Mr Alkoot pays for all Miss Levy's travel expenses and has so far spent up to $12,000 (8,400) on each trip - including five-star hotels, tickets to shows and Michelin-starred restaurants.

He estimates that he has already spent $35,000 (26,000) on their three trips - to Amsterdam, Dubai and Thailand.

Prior to meeting her now boyfriend on MissTravel, Miss Levy, who works in sales for Mercedes Benz, had been single for 14 months.

She said she was looking for a well-travelled and experienced man - but found them in short supply in her hometown.

It was there she met Mr Alkoot, an oil-worker, and they messaged every day for two weeks.

She said: 'Hani was very funny, intelligent and generous.

'After two weeks, he suggested flying me to Amsterdam, so I could join his 40th birthday celebration.

'I didn't want to go on my own, so he paid for me and my sister Blair, 33.

Lauren, pictured with Hani in Thailand, said she was looking for a well-travelled and experienced man - but found them in short supply in her hometown

'We hit it off straight away and there was a real chemistry for friendship there, but I wasn't sure romantically,' said Miss Levy, pictured with Hani, left in Amsterdam, and right in Thailand

In July 2015, Mr Alkoot paid for Miss Levy to visit him in Dubai, before flying to Thailand together for two weeks

'We stayed in the bed of his apartment for a week and he stayed on the sofa  he was a real gentleman.

'It was the craziest thing I've ever done. I never thought I would fly half way around the world for a stranger.'

Miss Levy told of how she felt nervous because they had a week to spend together.

But after a few hours in each other's company, the pair relaxed as if they had known each other for months.

'We hit it off straight away and there was a real chemistry for friendship there, but I wasn't sure romantically,' said Miss Levy.

'After a few days, he started to take my hand as we toured the city, and when I left we had a passionate kiss goodbye.

'I knew this was something I wanted to pursue.'

Once Miss Levy got back to the US, she kept in constant contact with Mr Alkoot, concocting ambitious plans for their next destination.

Lauren, who met Hani online, said: 'I love travelling with Hani, he always makes me feel special and we go to the most incredible places'

Lauren reveals how Hani, pictured together in Amsterdam, takes her to five-star hotels and Michelin-star restaurants, and he treats her in the best shops

In July 2015, Mr Alkoot paid for Miss Levy to visit him in Dubai, before flying to Thailand together for two weeks.

She said: 'I love travelling with Hani, he always makes me feel special and we go to the most incredible places.

'He takes me to five-star hotels and Michelin-star restaurants, and he treats me in the best shops.

'But there's always time for sightseeing. Thailand was incredible, it was like a dream.

I love travelling with Hani, he always makes me feel special and we go to the most incredible places

'I'd always dreamed of travelling to Phuket and he made it happen.

'He's so different from the men I meet in Louisiana, they have no desire to travel and they don't even have a passport.

'They're very countrified. I don't think they've even been on a plane.'

In January, the couple met up in Amsterdam and spent another week together, even attending an Ellie Goulding concert.

Despite their trips to far-flung locations, they have actually only spent a month together in the same place so far.

Despite their trips to far-flung locations, the couple, pictured together at an Ellie Goulding gig in Amsterdam, have actually only spent a month together in the same place so far

While Miss Levy's good friends support the arrangement, certain acquaintances believe Mr Alkoot, pictured with Lauren in Amsterdam, is 'buying her time'.

While Miss Levy's good friends support the arrangement, certain acquaintances believe Mr Alkoot is 'buying her time'.

She said: 'The premise of the website is crazy and unusual, but I'm okay with it.

'He's made lifetime memories for me and we know that we can't be in a real relationship because we live so far away, so we call it a 'travelship.'

'We've discussed moving closer together, but haven't made any decisions.'

Their next trip is due in the summer to visit the pyramids in Egypt, before returning to Dubai.

But the couple are uncertain where their unusual relationship will take them.

Mr Alkoot said: 'I divorced five years ago and was looking for a companion to travel with.

'I came across the site and thought I would meet someone to do a single trip with.

'I got lucky with Lauren, we really clicked and I love spending time with her.

'Who knows where the relationship will go.'
Global stars from Jennifer Lawrence to Khloe Kardashian have admitted to battling it...but could the dreaded camel toe finally be a thing of the past?

According to one online fitness gear company, more and more makers of leggings, which seem to offer a one-way ticket to the camel toe, are using a special U-shaped seam to ensure the fashion faux pas doesn't happen.

The cheeky term, which describes when a woman's genitalia can be seen through her closely-fitting clothes, has been in common use for much of the last decade but could be consigned to the history books if the new inseam design takes off.

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Could the U-bend (of sorts) banish the camel toe to recent history? Fitness wear company Bandier thinks so

Designers of the latest sportswear are taking a different approach to stitching around the crotch area

Not as it seams: The clever U-shaped inseam is being adopted by clothing designers as they try and master tight fitting clothing that doesn't leave the wearer feeling exposed

The founder behind fitness-wear company Bandier, Jennifer Bandier, says more and more designers are using the inseam to help combat the common problem when they're creating the latest must-have work-out wear.

Bandier told fashion website whattowear.co.uk that a 'high waistband and the seamless U-shaped inseam' eliminate any 'problem areas' and that if you choose a pair of leggings with the new stitching, camel toe simply can't happen.

Earlier this month, Mexican weather presenter Susana Almeida, a host on 4 Televisa Guadalajara who has been dubbed 'the world's hottest weather presenter', offered a rather unfortunate example of what not to wear on live television while broadcasting.

In a pair of grey leggings, and a skin-tight black polo-neck vest, Susana Almeida caused a storm, if you'll excuse the pun.

The footage of her camel toe has been viewed more than 255,000 times since it first aired, with one fan describing the clip on social media as: 'The greatest thing I've ever seen.'

Note to self: Don't wear leggings on live television... Mexican weather presenter Susana Almeida was caught out last week with a camel toe catastrophe

The clip of the 'hottest weather presenter in the world' has now had 255,000 views on YouTube

Focus on the stripes instead: High waist designs with the new-style seams are taking off

It can be embarrassing: Both Jennifer Lawrence and Khloe Kardashian have confessed to struggling with camel toes in the past

In the past companies trying to eradicate the camel toe have focused on underwear. Irish company bodiBase introduced a reinforced gusset to ensure in its attempts to beat the faux pas - as shown in the pictures above

The new-style leggings are the first time that outer clothing has been adapted to get rid of the affliction, with plenty of underwear providers previously attempting to smooth out unwanted creases.

Last year, the aptly-named Camel No underwear was launched, employing medical-grade silicone to combat the awkward silhouette.

At the time, creator Maggie Han told Mashable: 'Women dont want to address their camel toes and think if you have a camel toe then you must have a huge vagina and thats not it.

'The underwear itself is made of a breathable polyester and spandex blend so it's comfortable even in the warm weather.'

Elsewhere Belfast inventor, Collette McCrarren, also had a go at coming up with pants that would do away with the same problem.
They are actually triangular and are created by placement of light

A shapeshifting lampshade fools your brain into seeing something that isn't there with the clever placement of light.

The light fittings look like 3D cubes from the distance but are actually triangular-shaped as revealed in a mind-boggling video.

Called 'Lee Lights', they are the work of Melbourne-based interior designer Glen Lewis-Steele.

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This mind-boggling optical illusion tricks your eyes into seeing a 3D cube, when it reality this is a clever trick of the light

As the camera pans from left to right your brain thinks that it sees a cube but as it reveals the structure from behind it reveals a bulb hanging behind three white sheets.

The design creates confusion for your eyes due to the way they perceive distance.

Lewis-Steele's website says: 'This hanging cube light seemingly reacts as you move around in its presence.

'One can't help but to wave their head side to side as they walk towards the glowing light, drawing them in to unveil its secrets.'

What looks like a hanging cube is, in reality, made from a bulb hanging behind three white sheets. The lampshades have been created by Melbourne-based Austrailian interior designer Glen Lewis-Steele

However, when you move the shapes begin to take on a different form. The design creates confusion for your eyes due to the way they perceive distance

Another optical illusion baffled the internet recently as people struggled to guess the picture hidden in this red circle.

The brain teaser is said to test vision with people able to see everything from a detailed image to just an outline, while others have struggled to spot anything at all.

While some claim they can see the whole image in perfect detail, others are left scratching their heads in confusion.

When the dot is flipped you can clearly see a detailed sketch of a horse complete with a mane and tail, saddle and bridle and grass around its feet.

Some people can only see the outline of the image before the red spot is flipped, while others say they can see much more.

Is your eyesight good enough to see the hidden picture inside this red circle? The brain teaser has appeared online quizzing internet users about whether they can see another shape hidden inside the red blob, above

While some claim they can see the whole image perfectly, others are completely baffled by the image. When the dot is flipped, right, you can clearly see a detailed sketch of a horse complete with a mane and tail

The online teaser shows how some people only see the outline of the horse rather than the other details in the picture such as the grass, mane, tail and saddle

An image of an iPhone screen also became an internet sensation as thousands of people deliberated over the photo, which was widely shared along with the question: 'How many threes can you see in this picture?'

Social networkers came up with the most common answers of either 15, 19 or 21. But which answer is correct?

There are in fact 19 number threes pictured in the image, but there could be 21 depending on how you interpret the question.

Apart from the eight threes in the phone number, there are two threes on the key pad as the number eight button has been replaced.

At 3.33pm, the time also contains three number threes and the battery power at 33 per cent contains another two.

Can you count how many threes are on the iPhone screen? If you see 15, 19 or 21 number threes, you have arrived at the same conclusion as the majority of social networkers... but what's the correct answer?

That totals 15, the answer many social networkers have come to. On closer inspection, however, there are a further four hidden digits, totaling 19.

Three of the letters in the contact's name have been replaced with threes and the letter 'I' on the number four key has also been replaced.

But many online posts give the answer to be 21, with people seeming convinced that there are a further two threes in the image.

The differing opinions come down to the interpretation of the question. The images has been widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with the message. 'How many threes do you see in this picture?'

Many users have included the network bar and WiFi signal, both of which show three bars. But whether 19 or 21 is the correct answer is a matter of opinion.

But many online posts give the answer to be 21, with people seeming convinced that there are a further two threes in the image. The differing opinions come down to the interpretation of the question. Many users have included the bar signal and the wifi signal, both of which show three bars. But whether 19 or 21 is the correct answer is a matter of opinion

The puzzle, which has been widely shared on Facebook and Twitter after resurfacing again online, has instigated heated debate - with many left flummoxed at how others arrive at a different answer.

It follows an optical illusion poster featuring tigers that resurfaced asking viewers to guess how many animals it featured.

On close inspection the picture has the big cats hiding in the bushes, bark and even the sky.

The image, which appears to have been produced as a poster, has two adults tigers and their two cubs in the foreground.

After that it becomes trickier to track down the felines in the picture but there are 12 other tiger faces hidden.

How many threes can you see? Apart from the eight threes in the phone number, there are two threes on the key pad as the number eight button has been replaced. At 3.33pm, the time also contains three number threes and the battery power at 33 per cent contains another two. Three of the letters in the contact's name have been replaced with threes and the letter 'I' on the number four key has also been replaced

The image appears to have been used as a poster but has resurfaced on the internet

In the foliage to the right of the tigers, there's a fern in the shape of a tiger's face, with two hiding in the dirt beneath the tigers' feet.

In the top of the picture, there are five feline faces hidden within the branches of the trees.

While another two are seen in the wide trunk of the tree on the left of the picture and another tiger is face is seen on the left behind it and the last one is hidden in the soil below.

The poster, which features 16 in total, appears to be aimed at children, like many of the logic puzzles which have stormed the internet recently.

Another recent brain teaser saw a children's picture with tourists at a holiday campsite and challenged them to answer a list of nine questions.

The puzzle has the big cats hidden in foliage, trees and even the ground with all 16 very difficult to find

The image is thought to be from an old children's magazine, according to The Independent, but the tough questions are likely to also leave adults scratching their heads.

The black and white drawing showed three people at the campsite. One is standing by the cooking pot with a ladle, another is rifling through his backpack, and a third is taking photos.

A sign nailed to a tree states said: 'On duty. Colin, 7. Peter, 8. James, 9'. The final name is obscured, but the number 10 is visible.

A picnic blanket with four plates, four spoons and a watermelon is laid out on the ground and a hen is scratching in the grass nearby.

Nearby, a tent is pitched and a spider has built a cobweb between the edge of the tent and a nearby tree.

A recent challenge which baffled the internet is a logic puzzle from an old children's magazine that involves studying a picture of tourists at a holiday camp site and answering a list of nine questions

A series of clues is provided by the apparently calm scene involving boys at a campsite

The first question asks how many people are staying at the camp.

They must also figure out whether they arrived that day or a few days earlier, how they got there and how far away the closest town is.

CAN YOU SOLVE THE PUZZLE BY ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS? 1. How many tourists are staying at this camp? 2. When did they arrive: today or a few days ago? 3. How did they get here? 4. Is there a town nearby? 5. Where does the wind blow from: north or south? 6. What time of day is it? 7. Where did Alex go? 8. Who was on duty yesterday? 9. What date is it today? *Scroll down for answers Advertisement

In addition, they are asked whether the wind is blowing from north or south and what time of day it is.

The next question is to state where someone called Alex went.

Finally, they must figure out who was on duty yesterday and what day of the week it is.

Unlike the many cartoons that have swept the web in recent months challenging users to spot figures hidden in a sea animals or Star Wars characters, this puzzle relies on deduction.

The answer to how many tourists there are is relatively easy to figure out.

As there are four spoons and plates on the blanket and four names on the duty list, the answer is quite obvious.

The cobweb gives a clue to when the group arrived as it must have been a few days earlier to give the spider time to build it.

An oar leaning up against the tree is the key to figuring out how they got there - by boat.

The hen indicates that the nearest town is not far away as it's managed to wander into the campsite.

Hungarian cartoonist Gergely Dudas, also known as Dudolf, posted his latest puzzle a few days ago to celebrate Easter, challenging fans to find an egg cleverly disguised alongside a group of bunnies

The egg is cunningly disguised between a pair of white rabbit ears in the second row on the left hand side

ANSWERS TO THE CAMP RIDDLE 1. There are four tourists four spoons on the picnic blanket and four names on the duty list. 2. They arrived a few days ago A spider's web has appeared between their tent and a tree in that time. 3. They got there by boat Note the oars by the tree. 4. No, a village is not far ..because there's a chicken wandering around. 5. The wind is blowing from the south A flag that shows the wind direction is on top of the tent. (To tell which direction is which, look at the branches - they're normally bigger on the southern side of trees - if you're in the Northern Hemisphere.) 6. Its morning Take the answer from question five to figure out east and west then work out the time based on the shadows. 7. Alex is catching butterflies His net is behind the tent. 8. Colin was on duty yesterday Colin is rummaging through his backpack (marked with a 'c'); Alex is catching butterflies; James is taking photos as his tripod can be seen sticking out of his bag. This leaves Peter - then, according to the list, that means Colin was on duty yesterday. 9. Today is August 8th... According to the list, Peter is on duty, and there is a watermelon - which ripen in August - on the ground. Advertisement

A flag on the tent, known as a windsock, shows that the wind is blowing from the south, but to figure this out you need to be aware that branches on the southern side of trees in the UK get more sun and grow more densely.

To figure out the time, you need to use the previous answer which tells you south from north to figure out where is east and west and deduce the time based on shadows.

The answer is that it's morning because the boy by the cook pot's shadow extends to the west.

Because we're asked where Alex went, we can assume he's not visible in the picture. However a butterfly net can be seen behind the tent. So the answer is that he's gone to catch butterflies.

Gergley's original spot the panda puzzle left the internet baffled at Christmas 2015

The original Where's Wally-style snowmen picture was liked by 42,000 people and shared 100,000 times within days, with many struggling to find the panda at all

Dudolf followed up the panda puzzle days later with another picture posted online, this time of a cat hidden among dozens of brightly coloured owls

He planted a few red herrings in the owl picture like a colourful bow tie and festive hats, but the owl's facial features make it particularly difficult to spot the cat

To figure out who was on duty yesterday first consider that Colin, Peter, James and Alex are staying at the camp.

We know that Alex is catching butterflies and the person taking photos must be James, as there's a tripod sticking out of the bag marked J.

The person looking through the backpack is Colin as it's marked with a C.

That means Peter must be the one standing by the cooking pot. If Peter is on duty today, then according to the list on the tree Colin was on duty yesterday.

Figuring out the day of the month isn't too tricky as according to the duty list it's the 8th of the month.

The panda craze was followed up by Reddit contributor, with the username Oneste, who created a mind-boggling puzzle in which he hid a panda amongst rows and rows of Stormtroopers - and TIE fighter pilots

The black and white Star Wars image made it especially tricky to find the panda

But establishing what month it is may prove rather more difficult. The solution lies in the watermelon on the picnic blanket.

The answer is August 8, but you would have to be aware that it's the month in which watermelons ripen to find the correct answer.

Its long list of questions makes the puzzle even more baffling than a challenge by Gergely Dudas who first drove the internet mad trying to find a panda among a group of snowmen, and a cat blended into rows of owls.
An employee at Walt Disney World has revealed what it is really like to be suffering from depression while working at the resort that is nicknamed the 'happiest place on Earth' because of the endless joy it brings millions of visitors each year.

Natalie Zazula, 23, from Plymouth, Michigan warmly greets and welcomes guests at the the resort's hotels as part of her duties as a Bell Services cast member, leaving many to believe she is a naturally upbeat person. But as she explained in her essay for The Mighty, it is her bouts with depression that motivates her to make others happy.

'Im joyous so others dont ever feel as sad as I have felt,' she wrote.

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Happiest place on Earth? Natalie Zazula wrote an essay revealing what it is like to live with depression while working at Walt Disney World

Emotional moment: The 23-year-old explained that she identifies with the character Sadness from the 2015 Disney film Inside Out. Natalie is pictured meeting Sadness earlier this month

Natalie admitted that knowing that she will be busy helping people for at least 30 hours a week after completing her training and 'earning her ears' as an employee at Disney helps her 'feel much more at peace'.

The recent University of Pittsburgh graduate went on to say that her role has allowed her to speak candidly with her coworkers about her affinity for Sadness, a character in the 2015 Disney animated film Inside Out.

The film tells the story of an 11-year-old girl from the Midwest named Riley whose world is rocked when her parents move to San Francisco, and she is led through the life-changing event by her emotions, which include Sadness and Joy.

Touching moment: Natalie, who said she knows what it's like to 'wallow in sadness', was overcome with emotion when hugging the Disney character with whom she has an affinity for

'What Ive gotten from a lot of my coworkers, and what I really get from people in general, is that I am a mixture of two character/emotions: Joy and Sadness,' she wrote.

'Do I agree, yes. But its complicated. And Sadness is my soul sister.'

Because she knows what it is like to 'feel unimportant' and 'wallow in sadness', Natalie said she tries 'to be that shoulder for people to cry on or that person to bring a smile to someone's face'.

Natalie also sends cards to friends and colleagues and leaves thoughtful notes on the computer screen at the end of her shift to help brighten others' days.

'To me, it really is the little things that mean the most,' she explained.

Staying focused: After completing her Disney training and 'earning her ears', Natalie said she finds it peaceful to know that she will be busy helping others at her job for at least 30 hours a week

Natalie recalled that while she was writing notes for her coworkers, someone told her she is the 'antithesis of Sadness', and while she said she does sometimes feel true joy, she mostly feels like she is 'just floating along on the waves of emotions'.

While she knows that 'bad things happen' and are all too real, she finds herself worrying about 'unnecessary' things, and those are the moments she said she wants others to avoid.

And like the Disney the characters in the Disney film, she said there are some days where she is helping her friends cope with difficult situations like Joy does for Riley, and others where she doesn't have the energy to do anything but lay in bed.

'I try to be happy so that other people feel happy, too,' she explained.

Earlier this month, Natalie met Sadness and had the opportunity to hug and pose for pictures with the character she identifies with, sharing photos of the encounter on her Facebook page.
His comic tweets about the experience made him an online hit

A McDonald's customer has told how he got more than he bargained for when he went to the drive thru to get an early morning milkshake.

Josh Raby, a director, writer and server from Clarksville, Tennessee, went to McDonald's at one in the morning with the intention of getting a milkshake but came away more than half an hour later with two apple pies and the 'wrong' chicken sandwich.

In a comic series of tweets, the 33-year-old told how the person who served him claimed to have 'lost' his wife and then later said he had 'found' her behind some boxes and they were later seen kissing.

Twitter hit: Josh Raby, 33, went to McDonald's to get a milkshake but instead came home with two apple pies, a chicken sandwich and a strange insight into his drive thru server's life, pictured

Time consuming:The director, writer and server from Clarksville, Tennessee, spent more than half an hour at the drive thru and tweeted about his experience afterwards, pictured

Bizarre: Josh, pictured with a McDonald's milkshake, said his server told him he had 'lost' his wife and then claimed to have 'found' her before they were seen kissing

Josh may not have got what he ordered, but Josh's description of his unusual experience, which he shared on Twitter early this morning, has since made him an online star.

His interactions with the McDonald's worker were strange from the offset when, at 1am, he was greeted at the drive thru with the words: 'Hey holy s**t hello, you are at McDonald's, and I am begging your patience.'

Confused and shocked as his is the only car at the drive thru, Josh agreed, after which the voice said: 'Praise you'.

After waiting in silence for a minute the person returns to take his order, but when he asks for a milkshake he is told they do not have any, but that they do have 'many apple pies'.

When asked whether he was ok, the worker replied: 'I am not ok. Would you please tell me your order so I can try to punch it in? I will be very slow, but I will get it.'

Josh then decided to order a chicken sandwich, but the McDonald's worker then shocked him with another confusing statement.

Welcome: The experience was strange from the offset when he received a strange greeting, pictured

Broadcast: Josh, pictured, tweeted about his strange early morning experience

Surprised: Josh, pictured, said he is shocked by the reaction his tweets have had online

'At one point I guess he gave up because the screen just went black for a while. I hear a deep exhale. 'Dude I lost my wife'.

Josh said he tried to console him but was interrupted by the man who said: 'Please describe your chicken sandwich to me again so i can succeed at one thing.'

He then offered Josh an apple pie, which he agreed to and then he said 'there is a weird series of beeps and when his voice comes back in he is f***ing screaming into his headset: "I found her. Thank God."'

He said his wife can offer Josh two apple pies at a discount which he also agrees to.

He then was surprised to find the couple, who he said are in their forties, 'making out' and appears to be 'aware' that Josh was pulling up in his car.

'They unstick themselves from one another and I hand him my card "sorry about this. I haven't worked at McDonald's in 16 years" he says,' Josh tweeted.

'I say "it's fine" to which he says "fine just stands for f***ed up, insecure, neurotic and error-prone"'.

At this point he said he had been there for 37 minutes.

Evidence: Josh was offered a deal on two apple pies, pictured in his car, which he took even though he had not intended to

Perturbed: He said he was 'caught off guard' by the server's strange words, pictured

Lovers: Josh, whose tweet is pictured, was surprised to find the server and his 'wife' kissing in the window

Out of stock: Josh, whose tweet is pictured, said the server told him they did not have milkshake and instead sold him two apple pies

The worker then told him how the couple first met at McDonald's in 1993.

He went to the next window, paid, and the next person told him 'you get to drive away' before shutting the window and sat down 'head in hands'.

Ending his story at 2.41am, Josh ended his strange account by saying: 'My chicken sandwich was wrong, by the way'.

His numerous tweets have been favorited and re-tweeted hundreds of times and his efforts even got him a milkshake after a fellow twitter user brought him one today.

Josh, whose first job was at McDonalds, highlighted that he was in 'no way meant to make fun of working class folks' with his tweets, adding that they were 'nice people'.

Josh told Daily Mail Online he was amazed by the huge response his tweets have received but vowed it will not put him off milkshakes.

He said: 'The experience of not receiving the milkshake pales in strangeness next to the experience of everyone on the planet enjoying it this way.

'And yes, I will never stop my pursuit of milkshakes.'
Lost her sister Iona to the disease in November - which causes the lungs and digestive system to become clogged with mucus

A cystic fibrosis sufferer whose sister died from the same condition claims she has been 'handed a death sentence' as a drug she believes could save her life will not be prescribed on the NHS.

Hannah Lindley, from Leeds, and her younger sister Iona were both diagnosed with the illness - a life-limiting genetic condition causing the lungs and the digestive system to become clogged with mucus - as babies.

Though they both received treatment, Iona's condition deteriorated far more quickly and she passed away in November.

Miss Lindley, 20, says her lungs are working at half the normal capacity and it is 'only a matter of time' before they will deteriorate and she will no longer be able to get out of bed.

Cystic fibrosis sufferer Hannah Lindley, 20 (right) - who lost her sister Iona (left) to the condition - claims she has been handed a 'death sentence' as a drug she says could extend her life will not be prescribed on the NHS

Miss Lindley was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis - a life-limiting genetic condition where the lungs become clogged with mucus - at 14 months old. Her lungs are now working at 55 per cent capacity

She believes a new drug Orkambi - which thins mucus in the lungs, allowing them to heal - could stop her lungs worsening and save her life.

But the health body NICE has released draft guidance recommending it should not be routinely prescribed - as it costs 104,000 a year per patient and only provides a 'modest' benefit.

Now, Miss Lindley has launched a campaign with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to overturn the decision - so all sufferers will have access to the medicine.

Miss Lindley said: 'Orkambi is one of the cystic fibrosis drugs I've never had chance to have.

'My lung function is at 55 per cent at the moment but it's only a matter of time before my condition becomes more serious.

'When Orkambi was first available, everyone called it a wonder drug and a medical breakthrough.

'It was making a huge difference to people, so I can't understand how it's now in the process of being cut. It's like being handed a death sentence.

She added: 'With patients like me, Orkambi would provide real stability. I could cope at this state, if my lungs were stabilised, as I can do quite a lot in my current condition.'

She believes prescribing the drug to cystic fibrosis patients in order to stabilise their lungs would prevent the costs of treating complications linked with poor lung function.

WHAT IS CYSTIC FIBROSIS? Cystic fibrosis is a genetic condition which causes the lungs and the digestive system to become clogged with mucus. Symptoms usually appear in early childhood and they include a persistent cough, recurring chest infections and failure to thrive. As the condition develops, a lung transplant may be required. There is no cure for cystic fibrosis so treatment revolves around relieving symptoms and reducing long-term damage caused by infections. The most common treatments are physiotherapy to clear the mucus from the lungs, and antibiotics to treat the infections. The condition is caused by a genetic mutation which allows too much salt and water into cells - this results in a build-up of mucus. For a child to inherit the condition, both of their parents have to be carriers of the mutated gene. In this situation, there is a one in four chance the child will not inherit either of the faulty genes, a one in two chance they will inherit one of them and be a carrier but not a sufferer, and a one in four chance they will inherit both genes and suffer from the condition. About one in every 2,500 babies born in the UK are born with cystic fibrosis. As treatments have improved, the outlook for these children has improved dramatically. Life expectancy remains in the 40s. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

She continued: 'I know it costs a heck of a lot of money, but it would prevent other costs.

'For example in October I had a collapsed bowel and needed an ultrasound, X-ray and MRI scan and I racked up nearly 10,000 then. That would cover over a month of Orkambi.

'Two of my closest friends with cystic fibrosis died in February, within four days of each other.

'One was 22 and the other was 23 - people are dying so young and it's not fair..

NICE could let patients try Orkambi and then withdraw it if there's no benefit, she says.

She added: 'They haven't given anyone that opportunity, instead we're being denied something that could save our lives.'

Miss Lindley was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 14 months old after experiencing jaundice, coughing and wheezing and was unable to gain weight.

Her younger sister Iona had just been born and was immediately discovered to also be a sufferer - but despite the early diagnosis, her condition declined more quickly.

The average life expectancy of sufferers is 41, and as mucus builds up in the lungs, many require a transplant.

The sisters spent their childhood going to hospital appointments together and having nebuliser treatment each morning before school.

A nebuliser is a machine which dissolves drugs into a mist which is inhaled through a mouthpiece, allowing it to reach the lungs directly.

Miss Lindley said: 'Cystic fibrosis really affected me and Iona at school and we missed a lot of education.

'My condition stabilised a bit in year one, but Iona got more and more poorly.

'The nebulisers are quite loud so we'd have them for ten minutes at the same time in the mornings.

'We took tablets while we were at school as well. I hated it, because I wanted to feel normal at school as our home sometimes felt like a hospital.'

At every hospital appointment, the girls also had their lung function monitored - a test to see how people with cystic fibrosis are improving overall.

'If you are really stable, it might stay at 70 per cent for ages, then 69, then 68,' Miss Lindley said.

Iona's condition deteriorated until her lung function was at 20 per cent and she wasn't able to stand up. She is pictured in hospital before her death

'Losing Iona was very hard, even though we were able to prepare for it,' Miss Lindley said of her sister. Iona is pictured in hospital in November, before she passed away

'Mine fluctuates up and down a lot but I'm currently at 55 per cent.

'Iona's was always less than mine and when I was at 70 per cent, hers would be 40 per cent or 45 per cent.'

Aged just 16, Iona married her childhood sweetheart Laurie Kesteven in May 2013, but continued to rapidly lose lung function until her death in November last year.

Her lung function was at 20 per cent and she wasn't able to stand up.

It's like being handed a death sentence Hannah Lindley, 20

She was due to have a lung transplant in May but wasn't strong enough for surgery, and so died two days after her mother's birthday.

Recalling her sister's death, Miss Lindley said: 'Me and Iona were inseparable. Mum always referred to us as twins, as we were so close in age, our facial features and personalities.

'We had the same friends, wore the same clothes and shared everything. When we were well enough we did ballet, tap and piano lessons together.

'Losing her was very hard, even though we were able to prepare for it.'

Now, she fears she will meet the same fate as her sister unless doctors can find a way of stabilising her lungs.

The drug Orkambi thins mucus in the lungs, allowing them to heal. Without it, Miss Lindley (left) believes she will meet the same fate as her sister Iona, who died in November. The sisters are pictured as children

She believes Orkambi, a drug that was licensed for UK in November 2015, could save her life by helping protect her lungs from damage.

Orkambi is a combination of two drugs that tackle the cause of the genetic disease rather than just relieving its symptoms.

The twice-a-day tablet works by thinning the mucus, preventing damage and allowing the lungs to heal.

When it was licensed, experts said that while it is not a cure for the condition, the treatment could allow many patients to lead near-normal lives without the need for a transplant.

However, NICE has released draft guidance which said the improvements to lung function were 'modest' and therefore it is not cost-effective to prescribe it to all patients.

In May 2013, aged just 16, Iona married her childhood sweetheart Laurie Kesteven. She is pictured with her parents on her wedding day

They acknowledged the drug Orkambi benefits patients by reducing instances where they experienced a sudden worsening of symptoms that required hospitalisation.

Miss Landley believes the decision has handed her a 'death sentence'.

She said: 'I don't know how quickly my lungs will decline. I can do everything for myself most of the time, but some days I spend the whole day in my pyjamas as I'm so drained.

'Lately I've not been well, so just getting out of bed is an issue. Making a cup of tea knocks it out of me.

She said: 'I believe it'd be more cost-effective if I could try Orkambi and hopefully come off some of the other drugs. NICE just aren't looking it from the right perspective.

'You can't put a value on someone's life.'

She has also started an online campaign now in partnership with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust so that we can try to overturn the decision on Orkambi.

NICE is due to publishe its final guidance in July.

While the draft guidance recommends Orkambi should not be routinely prescribed, doctors can still apply for funding to give the drugs to patients.

The decision about whether to provide this funding will be left with local Clinical Commissioning Groups.

In a statement, Professor Carole Longson, director of the NICE Centre for Health Technology Evaluation, said: 'Orkambi is a new treatment option and it is disappointing that we are not able to recommend it.

'However our independent committee found that when compared to the current standard of care, the benefit it offered was modest and comes at a considerable cost.

She added: 'We have to recognise that the NHS is a finite resource and we can only recommend treatments for routine funding that are both clinically effective and represent good value for money.'

Healthcare professionals and members of the public are invited to comment on the preliminary recommendations, available for public consultation until 15th April.
The woman who hoped to receive America's first ever uterus transplant has revealed her 44-year-old mother will be her surrogate child-bearer since the operation failed.

Lindsey McFarland, 26, of Lubbock, Texas, underwent the groundbreaking procedure in February and even attended a press conference two weeks later to describe her joy.

But that same afternoon she noticed her incision was bleeding. Within four days doctors diagnosed a yeast infection, forcing them to remove the organ.

A week after the removal, she was rushed back into the operating theater to unblock an artery in her leg - a complex procedure which meant she is no longer eligible to try the uterus transplant again.

Today, Lindsey and her husband Blake are speaking out for the first time since the failed transplant, revealing to NBC News that Lindsey's mother will play a unique role in their plans to have a biological child.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Lindsey and Blake McFarland described their devastation on Today after their uterus transplant failed

Surrogate offer: Lindsey, pictured with her mother, who is now 44, at her wedding to Blake in 2011. Her mother, Calinda, has offered to carry Lindsey's child for her since she underwent two bouts of IVF

Hours after describing her joy at a press conference, Lindsey noticed her incision was bleeding. Within four days doctors diagnosed a yeast infection, forcing them to remove the organ. She is pictured after the surgery

Lindsey was born without a uterus but has functioning ovaries, meaning she can conceive but cannot carry a fetus. Other women considered for the transplant had lost their uterus due to disease.

The McFarlands, who have three adopted sons, underwent two bouts of aggressive IVF before the transplant. Now they plan to use the fertilized eggs, with Lindsey's mother as surrogate.

'We're going to take a few years to focus on our boys and me build up strength and get back to normal,' Lindsey told NBC News. 'Then we'll start the process. So we're excited.'

Blake added: 'We had the mindset at the beginning that, even if something happens and we lose the uterus, or it just doesn't work out, then we can always say that we gave it a shot and that even if they just learn something from her procedure, that it was a success.'

The couple, who met at Abilene Christian University and married in 2011, had been selected from 250 applicants after months of screening to find 10 eligible women as part of a clinical trial.

The infection which complicated Lindsey's transplant was caused by a fungus, called Candida albicans, the Cleveland Clinic revealed.

It is a common yeast that causes infections in humans, particularly women.

It is typically found on the skin and mucous membranes without causing infection, but overgrowth of the fungus can result in infection.

Lindsey was sedated when doctors approached Blake to inform him they would have to remove the uterus.

The news was devastating, he told NBC on Monday.

'You lose more than just the uterus,' he said. 'You lose a lot of the hopes and dreams that you had for the future.'

The weeks since, Lindsey explained, have been an 'emotional rollercoaster'.

'There are days when I'm happy, and then there's days where I'm kind of mad, and then days where I'm sad. Everyone has said that that's normal,' she told the network.

'It's going to be a while before I work through everything just because I had such high hopes.'

But she added: 'Infertility ... is a journey most people don't understand unless they've dealt with it.

'So I think it's amazing that science has come so far to provide families and couples with an opportunity like this to build their family.'

Lindsey MacFarland, 26, beamed as she spoke to reporters days after the operation about how grateful she was. But the day after the press conference doctors were forced to remove the uterus due to 'complications'. Today surgeons revealed a yeast infection 'compromised the blood supply to the transplanted uterus'

Lindsey relocated to Ohio from Texas with her husband Blake (behind her) and their three adopted sons to undergo surgery. Pictured: The couple appeared at a press conference on Monday with Cleveland doctors

Dr Andreas Tzakis, the program director of the transplant center at the Cleveland Clinic, emphasized that the trial is delicate and although it has been conducted in other countries, carries many risks

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, performed the first uterus transplant in the US during a nine-hour procedure last month (pictured)

HOW DO DOCTORS CARRY OUT A WOMB TRANSPLANT? The first step involves doctors removing some of the patients' eggs in order to fertilize them in a dish to create embryos. These are then frozen, until they are needed. Secondly, a womb, complete with two major arteries and four veins, removed from a from donor in a three-hour operation. The donated womb is then implanted into the patient during an operation that typically takes around six hours. The woman is then, as all organ transplant patients are, prescribed powerful immune-suppressing drugs to stop the transplanted womb being rejected by the body. Around a year later, when doctors are confident the transplant is a success, one of the embryos is thawed and implanted into the donated womb. If the pregnancy is a success, doctors ultimately deliver the baby via C-section. Once a woman has successfully carried one or two babies, the transplanted organ is then removed. Advertisement

Last year, an unidentified 26-year-old woman being screened for the trial - reportedly Lindsey McFarland - told the New York Times: 'I crave that experience. I want the morning sickness, the backaches, the feet swelling. I want to feel the baby move. That is something I've wanted for as long as I can remember.'

The hospital had initially envisioned 10 transplants as part of a clinical trial.

Sweden pioneered uterus transplants, with nine transplants that have resulted in five successful births so far.

However, the first attempt in Saudi Arabia in 2000 failed due to blood clotting, and the uterus was removed after three months.

In 2011, there was a second attempt in Turkey. Though the recipient managed to conceive, her pregnancy was terminated at eight weeks when doctors couldn't detect a heart beat, and the operation was also deemed a failure.

To ensure the new uterus is healthy enough for a pregnancy, recipients must wait a year before doctors perform in vitro fertilization.

Once a woman has had one or two children and the donor womb is no longer needed, it is removed by a team of surgeons. This would prevent the need for the woman to be on immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of her life.

HOW ARE WOMB DONORS FOUND? The donor wombs will come from women left brain-dead by car crashes, heart defects, brain haemorrhages or other illness. Aged 18 to 50, they will be kept alive on a ventilator until their womb is removed in a three-hour operation by one of five teams of surgeons who will be on call round-the-clock. The womb will be taken only after any vital organs, such as the heart or lungs, are retrieved for others awaiting life-saving transplants. If it is healthy and infection-free and matches the recipient's blood type, it will be transplanted within 24 hours in a six-hour operation involving seven surgeons. The logistics involved mean that initially, all of the wombs will come from women who have died in on concentrated area. However, if womb transplants become widespread, organs could be retrieved by teams around the country. And women without a womb would join the transplant waiting list, just like those who need a new heart or kidneys do today. Advertisement

Dr Andreas Tzakis, the program director of the transplant center at the Cleveland Clinic, emphasized at the time that the trial was far from over.

'Uterus transplants are not just a surgery, and moving a uterus from here to there. It's about having a healthy baby, and that goal is still a couple of years away,' she said.

In a statement announcing the failed procedure last month, the hospital said: 'Preliminary results suggest that the complication was due to an infection caused by an organism that is commonly found in a woman's reproductive system.

'The infection appears to have compromised the blood supply to the uterus, causing the need for its removal.

'There is an ongoing review of all the data and the team is modifying the protocol to reduce the chances of this complication occurring again in the future.

'The health of our patient is and has always been our primary concern.'

It came four days after Lindsey had described her joy at a press conference, beaming as she told reporters 'I'm so grateful' just two days after the initial procedure.

Lindsey and Blake became foster parents early in their marriage, and within months they decided to adopt two brothers in their care. Late last year they adopted another son.

Usually based in Lubbock, Texas, they were forced to relocate to Cleveland for the operation and three months post-op care. They had also envisioned staying in the area for her pregnancy.

Though the surgery was state-funded, the family set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to support their living costs.

Now, however, they have moved back home as they reassess their next steps.

Doctors in Sweden say the surgery, which is still experimental, might be an alternative for some of the thousands of women unable to have children because they were born without a uterus or lost it to disease.

Others have questioned whether the transplant would be a realistic option for many women. Some might reject the organ and the procedure requires taking potent immune-suppressing drugs.

Dr Tzakis said the risks aren't greater than for other transplants and that the surgery is considered life-enhancing, like transplants of the face or hand.

But unlike any other transplants, uterus transplants are temporary.

'They are not intended to last for the duration of the recipient's life, but will be maintained for only as long as is necessary to produce one or two children,' Tzakis said last year in a statement announcing the study.

Lindsey and Blake (pictured), who met at Abilene Christian University and married in 2011, did two rounds of aggressive IVF to ensure they had at least seven embryos that were able to be frozen ahead of the transplant

The couple became foster parents early in their marriage, and within months they decided to adopt two brothers in their care. Late last year they adopted another son. Usually based in Lubbock, Texas, they were forced to relocate to Cleveland, Ohio, for the operation and three months of post-operation care

Removing a uterus from a deceased donor requires more than a normal hysterectomy, as the major arteries also must be removed.

The donor wombs will come from women left brain-dead by car crashes, heart defects, brain haemorrhages or other illness.

Aged 18 to 50, they will be kept alive on a ventilator until their womb is removed in a three-hour operation by one of five teams of surgeons who will be on call round-the-clock.

The womb will be taken only after any vital organs, such as the heart or lungs, are retrieved for others awaiting life-saving transplants. If it is healthy and infection-free and matches the recipient's blood type, it will be transplanted within 24 hours in a six-hour operation involving seven surgeons.

The logistics involved mean that initially, all of the wombs will come from women who have died in on concentrated area.

However, if womb transplants become widespread, organs could be retrieved by teams around the country.

And women without a womb would join the transplant waiting list, just like those who need a new heart or kidneys do today.

The womb and blood vessels are sewn inside the recipient's pelvis.

Before closing the abdomen, surgeons check for good blood flow and that the attachment to the ligaments is strong enough to maintain a pregnancy.

If a woman is approved for a transplant in the study, she would first have to have eggs removed from her ovaries, like is done for in vitro fertilization, and then freeze the embryos. Those could be implanted only 12 months after the transplant heals, if it's successful.

The hospital said it would attempt transplants in women with what's called uterine factor infertility, meaning they were born without a uterus or with uterine abnormalities that block pregnancy.

KEY QUESTIONS OVER US WOMB TRANSPLANT: HOW WILL IT WORK? Ten women were given the chance of having their own babies with the trial at The Cleveland Clinic. Why the excitement? Experts in Sweden announced last year that a baby boy had become the first in the world to be delivered following a successful womb transplant. In the UK, a team led by Professor Richard Smith has been working for almost 20 years to secure approval for transplants. That approval has now been granted, which means the first British baby born following a womb transplant could arrive in 2017 or 2018. How do women come to have no womb? Thousands of women of child-bearing age in the US have no womb or a womb that would be unable to carry a baby. Some women are born with a syndrome known as MRKH (Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser), which means their womb never developed properly. Others lose their wombs to cervical cancer. Data suggests as many as 50,000 women of childbearing age in the UK have no viable womb, and thousands in the US will be suffering the same condition. Is it risky? The operation takes around six hours, with the organ coming from a donor who has died but whose heart has been kept beating. The recipient will need to take immune-suppressing drugs following the transplant and throughout any pregnancy to prevent the chance their body might reject the donor organ. Once the donor womb is no longer needed, it can be removed by a team of surgeons. This would prevent the need for the woman to be on immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of her life. Advertisement
Thousands of couples are being denied access to effective fertility treatments as the NHS tightens its belt.

Just one in six health boards in England - 17 per cent - is now providing the recommended three cycles of IVF to eligible couples.

NHS watchdog NICE advises that women under the age of 40 should be offered all three IVF cycles if they have failed to conceive naturally for two years.

But because the guidance is not mandatory, standards differ wildly across the country - and the number of clinical commission groups in England which offer all three cycles dropped from 24 per cent in 2013 to 18 per cent in 2014 and 17 per cent last year.

The NHS watchdog NICE advises that women under the age of 40 should be offered all three IVF cycles if they have failed to conceive naturally for two years

Most women undergoing IVF do not conceive on their first attempt, with only 30 per cent of first cycles resulting in a live birth.

But the odds of success increase with repeated attempts, with 45 per cent of women who have two cycles and 54 per cent who have three cycles having a baby.

One in six British couples have difficulty conceiving, and for many IVF offers the only hope of a child, with around 50,000 women now undergoing the procedure each year.

Yet health officials across the country are cutting down on the number of cycles they will fund, with couples forced to pay an average of 5,000 per IVF cycle in private clinics or give up their dream of a family.

Health officials in Bedfordshire last night announced they were considering scrapping funding for IVF altogether, one of a handful of boards to go down the route of cutting specialist fertility funding.

Mid-Essex decommissioned its NHS fertility service in 2014, north-east Essex followed suit last September, and South Norfolk announced its decision to cut NHS fertility services completely in November.

Basildon and Brentwood clinical commissioning group is also consulting on decommissioning its NHS fertility service.

In Wales and Scotland, all health boards fund two cycles for women under 40 and in Northern Ireland women are offered one cycle.

Susan Seenan, co-chair of the Fertility Fairness campaign group, said: Infertility is a disease and is as deserving of treatment as any other medical condition.

Experts think uptake of IVF has increased partly because more women put off starting a family while they concentrate on their careers, so that when they come to have a child their age means they have problems

We are calling on the Government to act now  to make it clear that while clinical commissioning groups have to operate within their financial budgets and consider the needs of their local healthcare population, they should not be implementing blanket bans on services.

Professor Scott Nelson, a fertility expert at Glasgow University, said: One in six couples have difficulties conceiving with IVF a highly effective treatment that can bring pleasure to all generations within a family.

I would question how many of us would deny potential parents and grandparents the joy of children Professor Scott Nelson, Glasgow University

I would question how many of us would deny potential parents and grandparents the joy of children.

Experts think uptake of IVF has increased partly because more women put off starting a family while they concentrate on their careers, so that when they come to have a child their age means they have problems.

But there are also many other reasons for fertility problems, including medical conditions such as cancer or a hormonal imbalance.

Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility, which has five clinics in the UK, said that the figures were startling.

Equal and fair access to health care is one of the founding principles of the NHS. Infertility is a diseases and it requires medical treatment and emotional support.

We cannot just turn our back on women and couples.

One in six British couples have difficulty conceiving, and for many IVF offers the only hope of a child

Part of the problem, she said, is that there is no national standard tariff for how much fertility clinics charge the NHS, with costs varying from 2,500 to 6,000 per cycle.

If this cost was standardised, say at 3,000 to 3,500 per cycle, it would reduce financial pressure on the NHS, Professor Nargund said.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire clinical commissioning group said it would conduct an 11-week public consultation on proposals to stop funding fertility treatment, gluten-free foods and over-the counter medicines.

She added: It is important to remember that no decision has yet been taken about future funding for the three services and that the public consultation which starts in the next four weeks will run for several months and include a formal document, a survey, engagement events and briefings for MPs and local authorities.

Dr Amanda Doyle, GP, co-chair of NHS Clinical Commissioners, said: Unfortunately the NHS does not have unlimited resources and ensuring patients get the best possible care against a backdrop of increasingly squeezed finances is one of the biggest issues CCGs face.

As a result there are some tough choices that have to be made, which we appreciate can be difficult for some of our patients.

The Department of Health said all health boards should be complying with NICE recommendations.
Experts warn non-compliance raises the risk of infections like hepatitis

only 63% of staff followed hand hygiene measures and just 66% compiled with safe injection procedures

A worrying number of medical staff at outpatient clinics are failing to adhere to standard policies put in place to prevent infections, experts have warned.

Doctors, nurses and other staff fail to follow guidelines for hand hygiene 37 per cent of the time, as well as policies in place for safe injection practices one in three times, a new study has revealed.

Adherence to recommended infection prevention policies is vital in limiting the risk of infection, the researchers note.

A new study by students at the University of New Mexico assessed hygiene practices across 15 outpatient clinics. They found while 93 per cent of recommended policies were in place across the centers, just 63 per cent of medical staff actually compiled with CDC set hand hygiene guidelines

A team from the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico Health Department assessed practices at 15 different outpatient facilities during the summer of 2014.

Medical students interviewed staff working at the clinics, and found 93 per cent of recommended policies were in place across the 15 centres.

However, when researchers observed staff behaviour, they found only 63 per cent compliance with recommended hand hygiene practices, and 66 per cent compliance with safe injection practices.

In 37 per cent of cases, no hand hygiene measures were taken at all, they said.

The authors said: 'Despite high levels of report of hand hygiene education and observed supply availability, observations of hand hygiene and aseptic injection technique showed lack of similarly high behaviour compliance.

'This project highlights the importance of assessing both the report of recommended infection prevention policies and practices, as well as behaviour compliance through observational audits.

'This is critical because there have been outbreaks and infection transmission to patients reported in outpatient settings due to these types of infection prevention breaches, including transmission of hepatitis B and C.'

The researchers assessed prevention policies using an outpatient infection prevention checklist, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Furthermore, their observations revealed only 66 per cent of doctors, nurses and other medical staff compiled with safe injection procedures. Experts warned failure to comply with the recommendations increases the risk of infections, such as hepatitis B and C, being spread

It includes 14 topic areas, including administrative policies, education and training, occupational health, environment cleaning, hand hygiene, and injection safety.

In addition to assessing policies based on the checklist, the students evaluated injection safety and hand hygiene practices through direct observations.

Each student was asked to observe 10 injections and 20 hand hygiene opportunities at their assigned outpatient clinic.

Of the 163 injection safety observations, only 66 per cent of the preparations compiled with all of the recommended infection prevention steps. which included washing hands, disinfecting the rubber septum, using a new needle and syringe, properly discarding single-dose vials, and dating multi-dose vials upon opening.

During the 330 hand hygiene observations, students reported that hand hygiene supplies were available 100 per cent of the time.

'These findings highlight the need for ongoing quality improvement initiatives regarding infection prevention policies and practices in outpatient settings,' the authors concluded.
Dawn Wilson comes quickly to tears as she recalls overhearing A&E staff agreeing the time of death for her daughter. Tamara, just 13, had died after an asthma attack.

'I stood outside the cubicle and could hear them working to save her, but when the nurse stepped out to tell me, trying to hold back her tears, I knew she had gone.'

Two years on, Dawn visibly struggles with the knowledge that Tamara's death could have been prevented.

Tamara Mills from Tyneside, pictured aged 10, who died from an asthma attack aged 13 in April 2014. Two years on, her mother Dawn struggles with the knowledge that Tamara's death could have been prevented

'At no time did I ever think that her asthma could or would kill her. I trusted the professionals responsible for her care,' says Dawn, 41.

Asthma, which is thought to affect 1.1 million children and 4.3 million adults in Britain, can be controlled with regular check-ups and a clear plan for how to manage attacks.

Yet every day, three people lose their lives to the condition. Shockingly, the UK has the highest rate of asthma deaths in children in Europe.

Last week, experts warned that childhood asthma deaths partly reflect an almost casual attitude to the disease, with too many children wrongly diagnosed and asthma inhalers being dished out like 'fashion accessories'.

Asthma is being 'trivialised', says Andrew Bush, a consultant paediatric chest physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London and a co-author of last week's report. 'People need to realise that asthma is a killer.'

Dawn Wilson says: 'At no time did I ever think that her asthma could kill her. I trusted the professionals'

Failure to take the condition seriously, combined with a failure to follow basic guidelines in treatment, can prove deadly, as Tamara's case shows.

She was first diagnosed after an asthma attack at nine months old. When she was nine, her condition deteriorated, and frequent attacks left her breathless and worn out.

Over the next four years, she was treated at A&E 24 times - and admitted to hospital on 21 occasions. She was also treated at her GP surgery 19 times.

At no time did I ever think that her asthma could or would kill her. I trusted the professionals responsible for her care

A red flag for any asthma patient is continual acute asthma attacks or flare-ups, which indicate that current preventive therapies are not working.

'Anyone who has an asthma attack should be prescribed steroids for at least three to five days,' says Dr Mark Levy, a part-time GP with a special interest in asthma. He gave evidence at the inquest into Tamara's death last October.

'Under NICE guidelines, this should be followed up by the GP within two working days. And in severe attacks, this should be a respiratory specialist, before their prescription runs out, to see if the attack has finished. No one knows how long an attack will last, so follow-up is key.'

On most occasions, Tamara was prescribed steroids and then sent home with no follow-up. During the last five years of her life she had at least 47 attacks, and in the year she died she was admitted to hospital six times.

This included having to be resuscitated in hospital following a near-fatal attack in November 2013, just five months before she died.

Yet each attack was treated effectively as a one-off rather than a sign of the 'deteriorating nature of her chronic respiratory condition', as the coroner put it.

Tamara was first diagnosed after an asthma attack at nine months old (pictured at 2 and 4)

Tamara was nine when her condition deteriorated, and frequent attacks left her breathless and worn out. Over the next four years, she was treated at A&E 24 times. Here pictured at 11 with her brother Dominic (right)

Hospital referral letters to her GP sometimes took months to reach the practice, meaning she didn't get the two-day follow-up.

And after she had to be resuscitated, she was seen a few weeks later by a junior doctor with no specialist training in asthma.

When she saw her regular consultant six weeks later, he arranged a further appointment in half a year's time. By the time that appointment was due, Tamara was dead.

Other red flag signs for asthma patients include excess prescription of reliever inhaler medication - someone whose asthma is well controlled should get through fewer than two of these annually.

185 ...People go to hospital each day due to asthma attacks Advertisement

Shockingly, Tamara was prescribed more than 100 inhalers in the three years before her death, yet her treatment plan was not reviewed.

'All these factors clearly indicated that Tamara should have been called in for a thorough review,' says Dr Levy. 'Surely a child who has a near fatal attack should be seen by an asthma specialist.' The afternoon before she died on April 11, 2014, the teenager texted her mother to ask her to arrange a GP appointment, suspecting she had a chest infection.

Dawn was not unduly alarmed. She and Tamara - an A* grade student - were never told that asthma can kill.

She was staying at her grandparents' bungalow, after being discharged from hospital for an attack days earlier.

'We had got into the habit of her staying there after an attack so that she wouldn't have to climb the stairs at home,' recalls Dawn. 'My dad called me at 2.30am to say she was bad, so I got in my car and drove the 20-minute journey.

In a recent inquest Dawn, 41, was told Tamara's death could have been prevented had proper procedures been followed and greater care taken, so she is planning to take legal action against those she holds responsible

'By the time I got there, Dad had called 999. The first paramedic started giving her medicine with a nebuliser.' This turns medication into a fine mist, making it easier for the patient to breathe in. 'But this time I knew it was different. I knew she wasn't able to fight it,' says Dawn, who lives in Tyneside with her two sons, aged 19 and nine.

She pauses, before describing how she watched her child loll back in the chair as adrenaline was administered and she was put in the ambulance and taken to hospital. But it was too late.

Dr Levy says the way to stop people dying from this condition is simple. 'Health professionals, patients and carers need to recognise that an asthma attack is a clear red light warning that something in the treatment plan is not working.'

He adds: 'So often, people with asthma, and sometimes those who treat it, view an attack as a one-off event, not part of an ongoing chronic condition. Simply treating the attack with nebulisers is not enough - the follow-up is vital.'

This time I knew it was different. I knew she wasn't able to fight it

For Dr Levy, such persistent failings in asthma care are a source of immense sadness and frustration.

He was the lead author on a government-commissioned inquiry into asthma deaths, published just one month after Tamara died. The report analysed 195 deaths between 2012 and 2013.

'It highlighted 17 key findings, and made 19 recommendations for how we could better partially treat asthma and prevent people from dying following a flare-up of their symptoms,' says Dr Levy. 'If asthma is controlled properly, it should not kill.

'Yet nearly two years on, only one of the recommendations has been implemented nationally. Our work has been quietly shelved.'

He adds that going through Tamara's medical notes was a depressing task. 'One striking feature is that she seemed to be treated independently by the hospitals and the GP practice, with little effective communication between them.'

Tamara Mills, who tragically died, pictured aged seven, with her brothers Shaun (left) and Dominic (right)

Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at the charity Asthma UK, points to the collapse of the 'care data' plan, a 2013 government initiative to link patients' GP notes with hospitals. 'Relevant information needs to be kept in a secure and shared record,' she says.

Dr Levy adds: 'Simple guidelines which, had they been carried out, would probably have saved Tamara's life, were clearly not on the radar of most medical professionals who came across her in her short life.'

Professor Mike Morgan, the national clinical director for respiratory care for NHS England, denies Dr Levy's report has been shelved, and says the National Audit of Asthma Care - which will look at treatment in England and Wales - was started as a result of its recommendations. But this audit will take some five years.

In the meantime, he says GP surgeries could install software that flags up excessive reliever prescriptions in patients and prompts a review of their care.

Dawn, wiping away the tears, is quietly determined. She has begun legal action against those she holds responsible for Tamara's death, and plans to train as a nurse specialising in respiratory disease.
Cindy Harding could not deny one of her teeth was wobbly, but when a dentist told her she needed to have it pulled out, she baulked at the idea.

Over the previous year the large molar had gone from being a little wobbly to, as she puts it, 'so loose I wondered: If I push it too hard with my tongue will I lose this?'.

But 61-year-old Cindy, who lives in Florence, Italy, hated the idea of having the tooth extracted.

Cindy had four laser treatments on all teeth, then repeated treatments on teeth with deep pockets [file photo]

'I really didn't want to end up with gaps, but nor did I fancy having implants,' says the cookery teacher.

'My mother and father ended up having all their teeth pulled out and wore dentures but I did not want to go the same way.' So when the dentist added that two teeth next to the wobbly molar also needed to be removed because the bone holding them in place had been eaten away, she sought a second opinion.

Even when the next dentist said he couldn't imagine 'any way we can save these teeth', she refused to give in.

And her determination paid off, as every one of her teeth is still firmly anchored in place - thanks, it seems, to a new laser-based treatment.

Cindy knew she had a wobbly tooth but she baulked when a dentist told her she needed to have it pulled out

The developers of the treatment, called Perioblast (Periodontal Biological Laser-Assisted Therapy), say it works by killing the bacteria that cause bleeding gums and loose teeth while encouraging the growth of new bone to help stabilise any already wobbly teeth - all without drilling or local anaesthetic.

The treatment has been developed by Florence-based oral surgeon Dr Francesco Martelli, who is opening a clinic in Leeds next month.

He claims this approach will save teeth that would have to be pulled with the conventional method and 'eradicates' gum disease for good. The laser also stimulates stem cells to establish new bone.

Losing teeth is something many of us have to cope with. The process typically begins with gingivitis, which occurs when 'bad' bacteria - plaque - cling to the teeth and harden into tartar. This irritates the gums, causing inflammation and possibly bleeding.

New laser is said to 'eradicate' gum disease for good

Normally it is treated by a hygienist who will scale off the tartar. However, gingivitis can progress into periodontitis, when the bacterial build-up on teeth roots causes inflammation that damages the soft tissues and bone holding the tooth in place.

'Pockets' form around the teeth, allowing bacteria to congregate.

Around 45 per cent of adults had pocketing exceeding 4mm around their gums, according to a survey published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in 2011, which means they had moderate to severe periodontitis and were at risk of losing teeth in the future.

The standard treatment for gum disease involves deep cleaning around the tooth root to remove plaque, and sometimes antibiotics to control the bacteria.

But Dr Martelli says this is a short-term solution to a chronic problem: 'Once the pathogens invade the dentine (the layer of tooth underneath outer enamel) the antibiotics cannot get to them as there is no blood supply.

'And as soon as you stop the antibiotics, the pathogens will return and reinvade the tissue and bone and you face the same situation as before - you are not eradicating the problem.'

Dr Martelli's treatment involves using a laser to reduce levels of harmful bacteria while maintaining beneficial bacteria.

He takes annual swabs after treatment to check on the balance, and if the bad pathogens reappear, he gives a follow-up laser treatment.

Lasers are already used in dentistry to kill bacteria, but Dr Martelli says his method is different as it is completely non-invasive (others may need probes to be inserted into the gums).

The first step is to swab a patient's mouth to check for the enzyme MMP8. This, says Dr Martelli, destroys collagen and indicates gum disease is present, 'even if there is no visible sign'.

I could feel the tooth becoming less wobbly after my third treatment - I was extremely surprised

Another swab is taken to check the quantity and type of bacteria before the laser - which pulses short waves of light - is used. The whole mouth will be treated first, but areas of severe pocketing may have further sessions.

'The laser has an anti-inflammatory action, it cuts off the action of MMP8 immediately and is antimicrobial,' says Dr Martelli. 'It is able to target the bad bacteria as they have a black pigment on their membrane.'

The laser's energy is strongly absorbed by dark substances, Dr Martelli adds, so the bacteria are effectively burned. The laser also stimulates new growth in the stem cells in jaw-bone marrow.

Cindy opted for the treatment after her husband, Alessandro Nannrelli, 63, a dental technician, suggested she look in to laser therapy. She was 'very sceptical' but thought she 'had nothing to lose'.

Nothing, that is, beyond 5,000 and many hours in Dr Martelli's clinic - 15 to 21 two-hour appointments, she estimates.

The developers of Perioblast (Periodontal Biological Laser-Assisted Therapy), say it works by killing the bacteria that cause bleeding gums and loose teeth while encouraging the growth of new bone

Cindy started the treatment in November 2014. Initially, she had deep cleaning, then four laser treatments on her whole mouth and then repeated treatments on teeth with deep pockets.

'I could feel the tooth becoming less wobbly after my third treatment - I was extremely surprised.' And now she 'couldn't be happier with the result'.

So is this a dental miracle? A study conducted by Dr Martelli and reported in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases earlier this year would seem to support his claims.

Each one of the study's 2,683 patients had at least four laser treatments until the make-up of their mouth bacteria changed.

The laser has an anti-inflammatory action, it cuts off the action of MMP8 immediately and is antimicrobial

Their gums were tested for bleeding, and pocketing around the teeth was measured before the treatment and at 12 and 24 months afterwards. All showed improvements. Swabs taken before and up to 24 months later showed the number of bacteria had reduced, and the type of bacteria had changed - with fewer 'known pathogens'.

As shown in Cindy's case, the treatment is not cheap, costing an estimated 5,000-7,000.

And other experts need more convincing. 'The problem isn't solely about removing the bacteria, it's also related to the body's immune response,' says Dr Francesco D'Aiuto, who heads the periodontology unit at the Eastman Dental Institute, University College London.

Lasers have been used for periodontitis for 20 years - we know the light is antibacterial.'

In theory it could kill off the bad bacteria and not the good, he says, but adds: 'All the studies done with lasers so far show they work against bacteria but have not found they are any superior to cleaning teeth by hand.

The treatment is not cheap, costing an estimated 5,000-7,000 - and other experts need more convincing

'Professional cleaning alone performed by a skilled hygienist every three months produces a substantial shift of the plaque from bad to good bacteria,' he says.

'A single session of cleaning of the root surface removes most of the bacteria and it takes just one week for bacteria to recolonise it.

'If a patient does not improve his or her oral hygiene, any dental treatment will fail to keep the root surfaces free from bacteria.

'In the study, there was no control therapy - the authors cannot claim their treatment approach is effective as no comparison was performed.'

He adds, it is possible lasers can help regrow bone, however. 'There is some evidence you can stimulate cells to repair - when you put light on anything it changes the status,' says Dr D'Aiuto.

Professor Damien Walmsley, scientific adviser to the British Dental Association, describes the treatment as 'interesting'.

'Anything we can do to reduce the use of antibiotics is useful,' he says. 'However this treatment needs more research.'
Could eating rare-cooked meat give you road rage? That is the intriguing question posed by new research into the parasitic bug toxoplasma gondii which will, at some point, infect half of adults.

The bug causes toxoplasmosis in the brain and we contract it primarily from handling or eating raw and undercooked red meat, such as lamb, or through contact with cats.

In most cases, the parasite is infective for only a few weeks after you have contracted it, though the very mild flu-like symptoms of initial infection are usually so subtle that most people never notice they have had it; then the bug goes into a long-term dormant or 'latent' stage.

Could eating rare-cooked meat give you road rage? That is the intriguing question posed by new research

This dormant stage was considered generally harmless, but that view is now changing, thanks to mounting evidence that it can influence people's behaviour by altering the chemistry of their brains, making some people more aggressive, reckless, impulsive and more likely to put themselves in danger.

Last month, scientists at the University of Chicago reported that people who explode into bouts of extreme anger such as road rage are twice as likely to have dormant toxoplasmosis.

'Our work suggests latent infection with the toxoplasma gondii parasite may change brain chemistry in a fashion that increases the risk of aggressive behaviour,' says Emil Coccaro, a professor of psychiatry and behavioural neuroscience, who led the study of 358 adults. He stresses that he has not established cause and effect, which is difficult to do when linking highly complex brain chemistry with behaviour.

However, uncontrollable rage is only the latest in a series of perilous psychological effects to be linked with toxoplasmosis. Numerous studies have shown an association with depression and suicide.

In 2012, a Maryland University study of more than 80 people in the Swedish city of Lund found that those whose blood tested positive for exposure to toxoplasmosis were seven times more likely to have attempted suicide.

Potential links between the parasite and mental illness emerged nearly 60 years ago. in 1959, a report in The Lancet by psychiatrists at St Luke's Hospital in Middlesbrough linked a 32-year-old woman's schizophrenia with her contracting toxoplasmosis. Since then, numerous studies have found unusually high levels of toxoplasmosis among patients with schizophrenia.

We contract the parasite primarily from handling or eating raw and undercooked red meat, such as lamb

Last July, a study in the Journal of Affective Disorders, led by the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, suggested toxoplasmosis causes brain inflammation, which may underlie the condition.

Professor Joanne Webster, chairwoman of parasitic diseases at the University of London, is an expert in toxoplasmosis and is investigating how the parasite may cause schizophrenia.

She believes that latent toxoplasmosis can boost levels of the 'reward' chemical dopamine in the brain. This chronic overstimulation is believed to cause some people to suffer such psychotic symptoms as confusion, delusions and hallucinations.

'It is not only altering the host's dopamine levels, the parasite is also producing its own dopamine,' she says. 'There are, however, almost certainly multiple other mechanisms it is using to alter the host's behaviour, but we are yet to discover them.

Our work suggests latent infection with the toxoplasma gondii parasite may change brain chemistry in a fashion that increases the risk of aggressive behaviour

'It is likely that, with more research, people will find toxoplasmosis is involved with more psychiatric conditions.'

Once ingested, the parasite travels to the brain through the bloodstream and 'hides' from our immune defences.

'It has been assumed to spend many years being asymptomatic and dormant, but I think the effects are still going on a lot more than people think, affecting the mind and perception of the host,' says Professor Webster.

These effects may include reaction times, as the infection has been linked to an increased risk of having a traffic accident. A study of nearly 4,000 military drivers in 2009 found that those with latent infections are up to six times more likely to have been involved in a crash.

Jaroslav Flegr, a professor of biology at Charles University in Prague, who led the research, believes the risk of accidents is raised because toxoplasma can slow people's reaction times and make them more likely to act impulsively.

But why would a parasite want to make us behave in a dangerous way? Professor Flegr and other researchers argue toxoplasma parasites change their hosts' behaviour in ways that benefit the parasite, not us.

The parasitic bug toxoplasma gondii causes toxoplasmosis in the brain, which is eventually believed to cause some people to suffer such psychotic symptoms as confusion, delusions and hallucinations

He says our brains provide a handy staging point where the parasite can live until it can infect an animal in which it can reproduce, because while toxoplasmosis can live in any warm-blooded animal, it can only sexually reproduce inside cats, be they big ones or domestic pets. The theory is that putting ourselves in harm's way is more likely to kill us and give the bug a chance to escape and pass to its ideal host.

Intriguingly, as well as making us reckless and slowing our reaction times, it also makes us more drawn to cats - which in our ancestors' day would have increased the chances of being eaten by a big cat.

Studies by Professor Flegr have found that students whose blood tested positive for the parasite were attracted to the smell of cat urine. Professor Webster has studied this phenomenon in rats.

'The infection overrides rats' strong, innate fear of domestic cats, in what we called a "fatal feline attraction",' she says. 'Infected rats particularly love the smell of puma and cheetah urine.'

There are no drugs available specifically to treat people's brains for the latent effects of toxoplasmosis. Professor Webster believes we need to develop some, as this may help to resolve some of the symptoms of infected people with conditions such as schizophrenia.

Nevertheless, she says, many behavioural changes caused by the parasite remain, even if all evidence of it has been cleared from the host's brain.

There are no drugs available specifically to treat people's brains for the latent effects of toxoplasmosis

Pet cats get most of the blame for spreading the parasite (it's in their faeces), but Professor Webster points to another culprit: 'most of us don't get toxoplasmosis from cats, but from undercooked meats.'

Pregnant women should avoid cat litter and wash their hands thoroughly after handling cats, as toxoplasmosis can cause miscarriage or birth defects.

The Food Standards Agency recommends that meat should be cooked 'until no trace of pinkness remains and the juices run clear'. It says we should not taste meat before it is fully cooked and should wash our hands after handling raw meat.
It's sort of a Left versus Right battle in Parliament in terms of how many debates MPs take part in.

While BJP lawmakers make up the list for the Lok Sabha, three of the top five legislators in the Upper Houses list are from the Left parties.

According to data available with PRS Legislative research, Bhairon Prasad Mishra, who represents Banda in Uttar Pradesh in the Lower House, has taken part in 569 debates.

Among the other members who have scored highly are Hamirpur MP Pushpendra Chandel with 422 debates, PP Chaudhary, a lawmaker from Pali, with 297, Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat with 181, and Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, the Ahmedabad West MP, with 165.

In the Upper House, where the BJP lacks in numbers, D Raja of the CPI has participated in 361 debates. He is followed by Anand Bhaskar Rapolu of the Congress (230), P Rajeev of the CPI-M (219), Naresh Chandra Agarwal of the SP (203), and Tapan Kumar Sen of CPI-M (199).

In recent decades, as a member's lung power played a crucial role in registering their presence, the skill of debate has taken a back seat in the Lok Sabha.

In comparison, the Rajya Sabha continued to maintain its reputation as a house where quality debates still take place.

While members of the Lower House are directly elected by voters, Upper House members are indirectly elected through an electoral college comprising state legislators.

Though the quality of parliamentary debates in recent years is itself debatable, the exchange of views has become fiercer, with both the treasury and the Opposition often seen trying to shout down a speaker from the opposite side.

The telecast of debates in the two houses of parliament via Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV were started with the hope that live broadcast would have some sobering effect on the shouting brigade.

However, the situation is far from being satisfactory with the presiding officers in both the houses often seen chiding the members to watch their conduct.

However, another view is that the live telecasts have made the lawmakers more conscious about their dress sense and mannerisms.

Both Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari have at times used strong words against members who were disrupting House proceedings.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi read the PM's greeting to devotees

Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was in Ajmer to offer a 'chadar' on behalf of PM Narendra Modi at the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

Naqvi read out the PMs message in which he greeted the devotees of Chishti in India and abroad on the occasion of 804th Urs.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was an amazing example of our country's great Sufi traditions.

Garib Nawaz considered service to the humanity as best form of 'Ibaadat' (worship), it is a source of inspiration for us even today, the message read.

Jaitley's 10-day business trip to US

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Tuesday embark on a 10-day US tour during which he will participate in the IMF-WB meeting, address a UN session on drug problems, and interact with investors.

In the first leg of his US tour, Jaitley will be in Washington to attend the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. He is likely to meet the officials of the US administration.

The Spring Meetings will also be attended by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

Jaitley will leave Washington for New York on April 17.

Nitish Kumar is JD(U)'s new boss

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been elected as JD(U) president, a move that will put him in complete command of the party as its seeks to expand beyond the state.

His unanimous election to the top post brought an end to the decade-old tenure of Sharad Yadav, who had ruled himself out for a fourth term.

It is the first time that Kumar has been elected president of the state-centric party.

Congress slams AAPs ISI jibe against PM Modi

Congress veteran Anil Shastri has come out against Aam Aadmi Party minister for calling PM Modi an ISI agent saying he was Indias PM and the statement of the AAP leader must be condemned by all.

The AAP had dubbed Modi an ISI agent for allowing the Pakistani JIT to visit the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

Later, Pakistan high commissioner said the peace process between the two countries was suspended and the JIT visit was not about reciprocity.

'Carter visit will boost defence ties'

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said India and the US will discuss the further movement in Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) during the visit of US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter.

Carter is on a two-day tour of Karwar in Karnataka and Goa before proceeding for New Delhi.
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Tragedy struck at Paravoor in Keralas Kollam district after a serious fire at the Puttingal Devi Temple left 106 dead and 383 injured in the early hours of Sunday.

A fireworks display sparked the blaze at the temple in the coastal town, located about 60 kms from Thiruvananthapuram.

With charred bodies, burnt clothes, and slippers strewn shockingly across the site, everybody is asking one question - who is responsible?

A devastating fire engulfed the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi Temple complex during an unauthorised display of fireworks

Government officials during the relief and rescue operation in Paravoor north of Thiruvananthapuram

The States Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the Kollam district administration had denied permission to conduct the fire show at the temple on Friday. But temple authorities went ahead anyway, as the local police looked the other way.

The police have registered cases against temple committee president PS Jayalal and secretary J Krishanakutty Pillai, and the contractors.

Police have also conducted raids at fireworks godowns owned by the contractors and arrested five people.

Opposition leader and former chief minister VS Achuthanandan, who visited the temple premises after the tragedy, blamed the police for their negligence.

Paravoor temple incident is a man-made disaster. While I express my shock over the tragedy and offer my condolences to the bereaved families, I want to put on record that the police were mainly responsible for this. Even after district administration denied permission, the police were there at the site to organise the fire show, he alleged.

THE TRAGEDY

As part of the temple festival there was a fireworks competition between two villages.

Around fifteen thousand people were there to watch the show that started around 11.45am, K Sivadasan, a local businessman, told Mail Today.

As the show got delayed, many left the ground. Otherwise, more would have been killed, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes stock of the situation in Kollam at the Puttingal Devi Temple

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visits the site of the tragedy in Kerala state

People stand next to empty fire cracker shells inside the temple compound after the tragic blaze

Sivadasan was lucky as he left the temple ground 15 minutes before the explosion. The massive fire broke out around 3.30am.

Officials said a spark ignited a stack of fireworks stored for the festival. The fire broke out in a loud explosion and brought down a two-storey building around which people had gathered, say eyewitnesses.

According to witnesses, the display of fireworks started around 11.45pm on Saturday.

We were watching the fire show through the night. At 3.30am, when the final phase was about to take place, there was a flash and then a loud explosion. We could not understand what was happening. There were pleas for help and then we saw charred bodies, said M Mohandas, a local businessman.

We had no idea how many people died or were injured, Mohandas told Mail Today.

The impact of the explosion was such that the office building of the Travancore Devaswom Board near the fireworks storehouse was blown off and 30 other houses were damaged.

According to Chandy, 31 of those killed remain unidentified.

We have requested villagers to report missing persons, Chandy told Mail Today.

He said critical care units are taking care of the injured.

We have ordered a judicial inquiry. The report will be submitted soon, he assured.

VVIPs VISIT

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the temple along with Chandy and promised all help. Modi later visited Trivandrum medical college to meet the injured. The prime minister has directed Union Health Minister JP Nadda to monitor relief operations.

Deadly end to midnight celebration

By TS Sudhir

For four hours, the firecrackers had lit up the Kollam sky in Kerala on the night of April 9-10. But at 3.30am, tragedy struck. In a matter of seconds, over 70 people were killed in a fire mishap when a spark fell on a stockpile of firecrackers stored in the temple complex.

As over 10,000 people assembled to watch the visual extravaganza ran for their lives, the Puttingal Devi temple in Paravoor, 50 km from Thiruvananthapuram, turned into a graveyard.

The next couple of hours before the break of dawn were a torture. Help was slow to arrive, with the narrow lane leading to the temple complex making it tough for ambulances and fire engines to rush in.

Onlookers gather near the temple site where tragedy struck during an unauthorised display of fireworks

Five or six people were dumped into a single ambulance and rushed to the nearest hospital in Kollam town. The ones with serious burn injuries were taken to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical college hospital.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew into Kollam with a team of burn specialists and promised all help to take the patients who needed urgent medical help to other cities with better facilities.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the temple had defied orders not to allow competitive fireworks, which are a tradition during the seven-day festival of Goddess Kali.

Meanwhile three naval ships, a Dornier aircraft, and two Chetak helicopters joined the rescue efforts.

The situation at the hospital was not easy with the Thiruvananthapuram medical facility sending out a SOS for blood from donors.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi asked Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to ensure that the guilty in the fire tragedy are immediately brought to book.

As the Kerala government constituted a judicial inquiry which has been asked to submit its report in six months, Sonia wrote to Chandy: Providing medical relief, financial assistance and bringing the guilty to book immediately, will, I am sure, be a priority, and will be ensured without delay.
MSMEs will have to comply with 25 additional parameters to realise the dream of 'Make in India' in the defence sector

In order to make the micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) involved with the defence sector globally competent, the government has decided to carry out a hand-holding exercise for over 4,000 businesses.

Moreover, these enterprises will have to comply with 25 additional parameters to realise the dream of Make in India in the defence sector.

The initiative is significant in the light of a recent report by the Quality council of India which speaks about the poor state of the MSME sector.

The report said most of the companies are in such poor shape that the majority of them do not even meet basic parameters to get any rating.

This came to light in a pilot report which has been prepared by the QCI to assess the condition of MSMEs in the country for the implementation of zero-effect and zero-defect (ZED) excellence in the sector.

The idea of ZED was first coined by PM Narendra Modi when he said: Our manufacturing should be with zero defect so that our goods are not returned from the International marketplace, and our manufacturing should be with zero effect, so that it has no negative impact on the environment.

Speaking about the new initiative, Dr RP Singh, secretary general, QCI, said: With the new defence procurement procedure, there is a huge opportunity for the Indian MSMEs in the defence sector to contribute to the Make in India Campaign. There is no better tool than ZED to provide the MSMEs the competitiveness and competence to manufacture not only for the country but for the world. Thats the intent of ZED, and through ZED QCI is building an ecosystem which will assist India in becoming the manufacturing hub for the world.

Mail Today had reported on ailing MSME factories in its edition dated March 8, 2016.

Officials said that to cater to the need of defence industries, ZED Defence model is designed to meet the high bar on quality and business standards for defence.

This model will be deployed to assess, handhold and enhance the performance of Indian MSMEs engaged in defence manufacturing.

During the 12th Plan period, the government has promised us to give subsidy up to 80 per cent depending on on kind and size of MSME and they will go through this entire exercise of certification, Singh said.

What we expect that all these bigger companies which want to invest in India will have to source their small components from the Indian small and medium industries. For this, we will have to prepare same parts and components which the foreign players require. It is essential for the organisations to produce good quality products without a negative impact on the environment. This is when an intervention like ZED is necessary, Singh added.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday castigated the Haryana Police for suppressing the facts pertaining to the alleged Murthal mass rapes.

In another development, the state government - which earlier denied that any rapes were reported during the Jat agitation - admitted to the possibility of rapes during the hearing.

The Haryana government was further embarrassed when the police, who also denied that rapes took place during the nine-day Jat agitation, told the court that they were investigating two complaints filed by alleged rape victims.

The clothing and belongings of alleged rape victims were found on the streets after the Jat protests

Submitting the SIT report in the form of an affidavit, Murthal gang-rape SIT chief IG Mamta Singh informed the court that the police have included Section 376-D (rape) of the Indian Penal Code to FIR No 118, registered on March 30, 2016.

The section has been included on the basis of the complaint of a Delhi resident that women were allegedly sexually assaulted by the agitators.

The state government said it had received anonymous letters alleging that the rapes took place.

"The anonymous letter forwarded by CP Faridabad vide letter dated March 1, 2016 to SP Sonipat which was further forwarded to Special Group of officers by SP Sonipat on March 2 and the letter from a non-resident Indian forwarded by a news channel on March 2016 was also taken on record.

"Since the content of both communications reveals commission of offence under Section 376 of the IPC, the relevant Section has been added on the basis of the content and further investigation will be conducted on these communications to verify the content of communication," the affidavit submitted by Haryana police said.

At least 30 people were killed and over 300 injured in the nine-day-long Jat agitation in Haryana. Around 20 women claimed to have been raped by the agitators.

Efforts have been made to identify the victim of these two communications. Keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter, utmost care has been taken to keep secret the identity of the victim, if the communication is substantiated, and victim is identified, the affidavit added.

So far, three alleged rape victims have surfaced. One of the victims is a final year degree student, who was present on the street along with her father.

The second woman who has alleged rape is a resident of Patparganj in New Delhi. She has spoken to amicus curiae Anupam Gupta.

The third alleged victim is an Australian woman whose complaint was also forwarded to the police.

The court also questioned the state government on the appointment of the Parkash Singh Committee to look into the incidents of violence during the Jat agitation, asking it to clarify its constitutional and legal status.

"We have been taken for enough rides. We won't be taken for one more. The police only registered FIR after we pulled them. After the court pulled them up, the police have now conditionally accepted the rapes. I have video tapes of Murthal victims statement, Gupta said.

Meanwhile, a Chandigarh-based NGO, Haryana Human Rights has said it will file a contempt petition against former SIT chief Dr Rajshree as she misled the court and the media.

The court, which took a suo motu notice of the reports in the media about the mass rapes, had asked the Haryana government and police to submit a status report.
A Sikh-Canadian woman, suspected to be an ISIS agent, may carry out terror strikes in Delhi along with other associates who are already in the Capital, according to a specific intelligence input.

Agencies have the name and passport details of the woman, who they suspect is travelling to Delhi.

An alert has been sent to airports, intelligence, and investigating agencies tracking the activities of terror group ISIS, stating that the 35-year-old woman could carry out strikes along with other ISIS members.

A Sikh-Canadian woman, suspected to be an ISIS agent, is suspected to be travelling to Delhi. An alert has been sent to airports and investigating agencies.

According to the input, the womans passport is due to expire in December 2016.

Mail Today has details of her passport but her identity is being withheld since the information is part of an ongoing intelligence operation.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has arrested 25 recruits and is probing several cases related to ISIS, has also been roped in.

Sources said the information regarding the possible entry of the Canadian-Indian woman was shared with Indian intelligence agencies by their counterparts in another country.

Intelligence reports have recently raised fears of Indians living abroad being attracted to the Sunni jihadi group, which has lured hundreds of youths from the West.

Sources say over 40 people suspected of having links with ISIS have been arrested from across the country. A total of 24 Indians have so far joined the terror outfit, of whom six were reportedly killed in different incidents.

While two returned, 16 are still reportedly part of ISIS. Several Indian youths aspiring to join ISIS have been stopped from travelling abroad.

In the past, Adil Fayaz Wada, an Indian living in Australia, travelled to Syria to be part of jihad. This is the first time, though, that information has been generated of a Sikh living abroad and suspected of having links with ISIS, said an intelligence official.

One of the Indians reportedly killed fighting in Syria, Atif Vaseem Mohammed, who was a resident of Hyderabad, also lived in the US for a brief period before returning to India and travelling to Syria.

Some Indians living in UAE have been identified for their alleged ISIS links. In January, three Indian nationals who were based in Abu Dhabi were deported and later arrested by the NIA on suspicion of being involved in activities linked to the Islamic State.

The growing influence of ISIS on Indians living in the Gulf has alarmed the security establishment. The concern was flagged at a recent meeting chaired by union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to combat the ISIS threat.

Several Indians living in the Gulf are getting attracted to ISIS. These are Indian citizens and the threat of them coming back and carrying out strikes in the name of ISIS cannot be ignored, said a government official.

Sources said it is feared that many members of home-grown terror group Indian Mujahideen who fled the country following a crackdown ended up fighting on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border or the Af-Pak region, before joining ISIS.

Earlier in the year, the NIA busted an Indian module drawing inspiration from ISIS called Janoodul- Khalifa-e-Hind, or the Army of Caliph in India, after countrywide raids prompted several arrests.

India adopted a unique strategy to combat the ISIS threat by carrying out a de-radicalisaiton programme for young people attracted by ISIS ideology.
In a significant decision benefiting lakhs of students aspiring to become doctors, the Supreme Court on Monday restored the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), setting aside its own 2013 judgment.

The NEET is the common entrance test for admissions to MBBS, BDS and PG courses in all medical colleges - government and private - across the country.

It is a boon for students hoping to join medical courses as otherwise over 90 medical entrance tests are held across India.

The National Eligibility Entrance Test is the entrance test for students wanting to enter medical school. It had been suspended under a Supreme Court ruling, but now a new ruling has seen it re-imposed.

It will also stop the corrupt practice which enabled undeserving students to get admission to private colleges by paying huge fees or donations.

Passing orders in a review petition filed by the Centre and Medical Council of India against the quashing of the NEET, a bench headed by justice Anil Dave said it will hear arguments against the validity of the common entrance test afresh.

"Till the matter is decided, NEET can be implemented," said the court.

Asked by a lawyer if the NEET stood restored, the Bench said - that is the natural consequence.

The Supreme Court had, in June 2013, ruled that the Medical Council of India (MCI)'s notification for holding common entrance tests for MBBS, BDS and post-graduate medical courses was invalid.

A three-judge bench by a 2:1 (one judge dissented) verdict held that the notification was against the Constitution.

In its 2013 judgment, the court had ruled that the MCI did not have the jurisdiction to enforce the common entrance test (CET) on state and private medical colleges as it would violate their right to administer such institutions.

The court had also said the move could violate constitutional guarantees to minority communities to establish and manage their own educational institutions.

The NEET was introduced by the Medical Council of India in 2012, but 115 petitioners, including private medical colleges, challenged it and obtained a Supreme Court ruling that it was not a must for them.

The apex court in 2013 held that having a common entrance test for admission in medical colleges violates the rights of state and private institutions, which is likely to have fall-out as such tests are conducted for other professional courses like engineering and management.

The three-judge bench headed by former chief justice Altamas Kabir in a majority 2-1 verdict quashed the notifications for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
Locked in a bitter struggle with the BJP over which party gets to claim the legacy of dalit icon BR Ambedkar, both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi vowed to fight for the downtrodden while alleging that the ruling party is anti-poor.

I will never bend before the ideology of Manu as it has destroyed India, Rahul said, while addressing a rally to mark the 125th anniversary of Ambedkar in Nagpur.

Rahul, who has been attacking the BJP and the RSS over the atrocities on dalits, especially the killing of two dalit children in Haryana and the suicide of a dalit student, Rohith Vemula, in Hyderbad University, used the occasion to paint the ruling party as anti-poor.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and V-P Rahul Gandhi pay tributes to Babasaheb BR Ambedkar in Nagpur

Rohith did not end his life, he sacrificed for the country. Who oppressed him? the VC. who installed the VC? The RSS, said Rahul.

Targeting the BJPs ideological mentor in its bastion, Rahul said: RSS ideology is weakening the country. The Congress will always fight this ideology.

Sonia pointed out that the BJP showed its insensitivity when the students, who were fighting for the ideals of Ambedkar, suffered at the hands of the ruling party.

Praising Ambedkar, she said the dalit leader gave India its constitution which reflects the aspirations of millions of people.

It was the Congress which requested him to carry out the big task of drafting the Constitution, said Sonia.

Rahul said the Congress is the party of the poor, marginalised, and those who are weak.

Each worker of the Congress will fight for these sections, he said.

Rahul said the RSS attacked him as he opposed their ideology.

The mega show by the Congress to mark the anniversary of Ambedkar comes amid a similar push by the BJP to claim the legacy of the dalit icon.

Targeting the PM, Rahul said that although he shared his thoughts on the radio programme mann ki baat often, he hardly cared for the poor.
Ahead of his current visit to India, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter spelt out the American perspective on ties with India at a meeting at the CSIS in Washington DC last week.

Cutting through the hype, he said that while the US was looking for a closer and stronger relationship with India, it was not looking for anything exclusive, beyond what emerges from the convergence of interests in the US' pivot to Asia, and Indias Act East policy.

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has said that while the US is looking for a 'closer and stronger' relationship with India, it is not looking for 'anything exclusive'

Packages

Actually, at this juncture, both New Delhi and the United States need some space from each other.

Moves by the US to boost its ties with Pakistan through new arms packages, aimed at prodding Islamabad to get the Taliban to the negotiating table, dont quite gel with Indo-American strategic ties.

Clearly, Indian and American views are at odds here, because New Delhi is sceptical of Islamabads peace-making credentials and does not believe in the concept of the good Taliban and the bad Taliban.

The recent hyphenating of India and Pakistan on the nuclear issue, too, has not been taken kindly by New Delhi.

But Carters mission is to line up India to shore up a coalition to confront China in the South China Sea.

Last year, during President Obamas visit to India, the two sides adopted a Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

On security issues, they affirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime security and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight throughout the region, especially the South China Sea.

Clearly, the American push for joint patrolling comes from our own commitment to them.

Since last December, the two sides have been discussing the joint patrolling issue to underscore their common support for the freedom of navigation of the seas.

Earlier in March, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar appeared to play down the issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with visiting US President Barack Obama in February

At a press conference, Parrikar said, in something of a non-sequitur, that India was into joint exercises with the US and had not yet taken part in joint patrols - So the issue of joint patrols at this time does not arise.

While New Delhi may patrol wherever it wishes with the US Navy, it would have to think through the consequences of patrolling in the South China Sea carefully, because through the Nine Dash line, Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea.

At present it is incrementally, but clearly, enhancing its military capacity there.

An Indian military presence there could well result in a Sino-Pakistani riposte in the seas adjacent to India.

Retaliation

My view is not that New Delhi should back away at the prospect of a Sino-Pak retaliation, but that it should carefully work out its responses to the escalatory steps it may confront thereafter.

It is in this context that the other elements of the Carter agenda come through - the need to press India to sign a number of foundational agreements to enable the US and Indian military to operate together effectively, especially in an operational scenario.

In themselves, the agreements are not particularly onerous. Especially if you take the view that they will not tie you down, if you do not wish to be tied down.

That is the big lesson India must learn from the US' relationship with Pakistan.

As for the other key element, especially dear to Ash Carter, the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative, we need to cut through the verbiage and understand that no one, but no one, gives away technology.

For this reason, the DTTI will never quite live up to its hype.

To generate defence technology, India needs to go up the long hard climb to first become part of the American/ western production and supply chains, and simultaneously provide strategic R&D funding to Indian firms, technology institutions and universities and, perhaps, see the results 20 years down the line.

Cooperation

One of the big gaps in the Indo-US security engagement is the lack of any significant cooperation in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.

The US needs to be reminded that the Joint Vision also covers the Indian Ocean.

Little or no discussion goes on here because the US military engagement with India is confined to its Pacific Command which stops mid-ocean at Diego Garcia.

Prime Minister Modi has recently taken bold steps in reaching out to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Now he must leverage the US partnership to make deeper Indian economic and security inroads into the region, which is by far more important to us than the South China Sea.

In its ties with the US, New Delhi needs to think and act strategically.

The US' desire to come closer to India presents a great strategic opportunity for India, and we would be criminally negligent if we did not take it.

But whether it is in the area of geopolitics, or technology, India needs to have a clear-cut set of goals with five, 10 and 15 year markers to guide us along.
The court acquitted the man after finding the girl's statement to be unworthy of credence. (File picture)

He was arrested on charges of raping a Chinese national days after the December 16 gang-rape.

However, it took for him over four years to prove his innocence and walk out of jail. And he still faces the stigma of being a one-time rape suspect.

The 28-year-old was acquitted by a Delhi court in March, but the case has left a deep scar on him as he faced the raging furore of the Nirbhaya rape.

Working as an event organiser and with a career in modelling, the man had met a Chinese national through a contact who had come to Delhi for an internship with a non-profit organisation.

I was 25 years old when I met the girl through a friend at an event. She from then on began pursuing me to help her get some part-time work so that she could bear her expenses during her stint.

"On the day of the incident, she accompanied me to a meeting and on our way back, we went to my apartment in south Delhi along with my two other friends. We partied and then she was dropped home by a friend.

"The very next day she texted me and enquired about her lost earring. I do not what happened after that. On February 5, 2013 an FIR was lodged against me accusing me of raping her, he told Mail Today.

In her complaint at Hauz Khas police station, the girl stated that she was raped by the accused on January 30 at his brothers house, where they had stopped for some work while on their way back from a party.

She told the court that the accused forced himself on her five times before he raped her.

Sharing his plight, the acquitted person said: I was immediately arrested due to the pressure owing to the Nirbhaya incident and my bail was rejected. My name was flashed on channels for over a week. I had to share space with other criminals in Tihar for a year. With a bachelors degree in finance, I was planning to move to Germany, but the whole incident changed my life. My passport was punched along with the license. As time passed, I lost my friends. Today, I am not left with anything. Even though I have been acquitted people are always going to be suspicious of me.

Through his counsels Dharmendra Arya and Akshat Gupta, he deposed before the court saying that the girl never mentioned raising an alarm in her statement.

The entire sequence of incidents goes on to show that the complainant had several opportunities to raise an alarm or inform her friend or the two friends of the accused who were present in the apartment that time but she instead chose not to and continued to stay in the said apartment without any qualms," said advocate Akshat Gupta.

"The most intriguing part was she chose to initiate a comfortable conversation with the accused about her earrings, which she wanted the accused to return. She even showed her concern, when the accused mentioned that he had a splitting headache. Moreover, the complainant took five days to register the complaint."

The court, making the note of the submissions by the defence, observed that it was unnatural conduct on the part of the complainant not to raise the alarm and seek help, knowing that there were two more people in the same flat where the alleged incident took place.

It was unnatural on the part of the complainant to communicate with the accused hours after the incident asking him to return her earrings which she might have misplaced at his place and even asked him to see a doctor for his headache, the court said.
An 18-year-old who allegedly ran over a 32-year-old man with his father's Mercedes in north Delhi's Civil Lines area, was held on a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on Sunday and sent to a juvenile justice home, the police have said.

The youth will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on Monday.

The police also arrested the man who claimed to be the actual driver of the Mercedes at the time of the incident, but did a volte-face after he learned that the victim, Siddharth Sharma, had died.

A rally being held in Delhi on Sunday seeking justice for Siddharth Sharma

The driver and the boy's father, who was arrested on Friday, were produced before a city court, where they were granted bail.

The driver was arrested for the offence under Section 203 (giving false information respecting an offence committed).

Meanwhile, the police said that the juvenile, who turned 18 years old the day before yesterday, came to the court along with his lawyers to surrender.

His advocates then moved a bail plea, and the police said that the court refused to grant him bail on the grounds that it was a matter for the juvenile justice board (JJB).

Later, a juvenile welfare officer of the Delhi Police apprehended the boy and he was sent to juvenile justice home for a day.
Bollywood actor Anupam Kher was on Sunday stopped by Jammu and Kashmir Police at the Srinagar airport and not allowed to visit the National Institute of Technology (NIT), which recently witnessed clashes between local and out-station students.

He (Kher) was stopped at the airport and not allowed to visit NIT, a police official said.

He said Kher was asked to return to Delhi as there were apprehensions of law and order problems.

Anupam Kher at the VIP Lounge in Srinagar Airport. The Bollywood actor accused J&K Police of an 'airport arrest' on his Twitter account

Kher reached the airport on Sunday morning and was scheduled to visit NIT to give moral support to the students.

Landed in Srinagar.'HOME' away from home. Will go to #NITSrinagar & meet the students & give them a warm hug & a special gift. :), Kher tweeted.

I have been told by J&K Police that I cannot enter Srinagar city at all. I have asked them to show me the orders. Still at the airport, he later wrote on Twitter.

Kher said he was not going to the NIT to create problems but to meet the students.

I was going there as a citizen to meet students and give them moral support... If they say this is a law and order situation, I will say millions of people go to university, it's an open place, why should they stop me, Kher said.

I was not going there to create problems. I was just going there to give them a sense of warmth, he added.

The Bollywood actor alleged that police did not even allow him to visit his ancestral house or Kheer Bhawani Temple in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
The owner of the Daily Mail newspaper and DailyMail.com is eyeing up a bid for US tech giant Yahoo.

Daily Mail and General Trust confirmed talks had taken place with a private equity company about a joint offer but added that the process was still in initial stages.

A DailyMail.com spokesman said: 'Given the success of DailyMail.com and Elite Daily we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders. Discussions are at a very early stage and that there is no certainty that any transaction will take place.'

In the running: DMGT has confirmed it is in preliminary talks with other investors to launch a bid for Yahoo

A takeover of Yahoo's news would increase DailyMail.com's already strong foothold in the US, where it launched a version of its website in 2012.

Since then it has become a firm favourite among Americans - who are addicted to its news and celebrity coverage - with 66.7 million unique visitors alone in February.

A deal would give the publisher additional scale and more data on users, both of which would deliver an attractive prospect to advertisers.

In January 2014 to further build scale in the US, DMGT acquired Elite Daily, a news site that calls itself 'The Voice of Generation Y'.

In contrast, Yahoo has been struggling for a number of years and is under heavy pressure from shareholders to turn itself around.

As a result, last month the internet giant sent a letter to possible buyers asking them to name which assets they are looking to buy and for what price by 18 April.

Yahoo's shares have fallen by about 30 per cent since the end of 2014.

Under pressure: Marissa Mayer has been under pressure to return the struggling internet giant to profit

DMGT is the parent group of the Daily Mail, including the brands DailyMail.com in the US and MailOnline and This is Money in the UK.

Analysts suggest that a potential bid from DMGT could take two forms.

In one scenario, a private-equity partner would acquire Yahoo's core web business with the Mail taking over the news and media properties.

In the other scenario, the private-equity firm would acquire Yahoo's core web business and there would be a merger of media and news properties with the Mail's online operations, with DMGT as majority shareholder.

Other potential Yahoo suitors include Time and private-equity firms TPG and KKR.

Meanwhile, Microsoft also has held discussions with private-equity firms about helping to finance a buyout.

In February, Yahoo hired Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and PJT Partners to explore a sale, as chief executive Marissa Mayer struggles to turnaround the company she has headed since 2012.

The plan is to conduct a so-called reverse spin-out of Yahoo's core internet properties, separating this side of the business from its $25billion stake in Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba, its most valuable asset.

Analysts have estimated that the core business could be worth about $4billion.

Shares in DMGT were down 0.65 per cent today at 691p.




UK economic growth continued to soften in the first quarter as the dominant services sector showed signs of slowing down - keeping the prospect of an interest rate rise distant.

While overall both the services and manufacturing sectors showed continued growth, several key indicators for the services sector fell slightly in the first three months of the year, according to the British Chambers of Commerces quarterly economic survey.

The survey, based on responses from over 8,500 firms, found that domestic sales and orders in the services sector, which makes up nearly three quarters of the UKs economy, hit their lowest level for three years.

Cutting growth: The UK economic growth continued to soften in the first quarter as the dominant services sector showed signs of slowing down

This echoes the latest Markit/CIPS services PMI, which showed that growth in the services sector slumped to its slowest since the beginning of 2013 in March.

Thats despite growth for the final quarter of 2015 being revised up to 0.6 per cent, from a previous estimate of 0.5 per cent, bringing annual growth to 2.3 per cent for last year as a whole.

David Kern, BCC chief economist, said that the results were disappointing but not surprising.

This is the inevitable consequence of mounting global and domestic uncertainties, but it is nevertheless concerning that the vibrant and dominant services sector is likely to face mounting challenges in the next few years.

The mediocre employment balances are a warning that we cannot afford to be complacent about the continued dynamism of our labour market.

Despite the signs of a slowdown in the economy, inflation is tipped to rise to a 15-month high of 0.5 per cent in March  up from 0.3 per cent in February  when figures are revealed this week.

This is largely due to a rise in the oil price and an earlier Easter which affects spending and consumer prices index figures.

At this level inflation remains well below the Bank of Englands 2 per cent target and its monetary policy committee is expected to unanimously vote to keep rates on hold at 0.5 per cent again on Thursday.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at HIS Global Insight, said: Anything else than a 9-0 vote for unchanged interest rates at the April MPC meeting will be a major surprise.

With the UK economy seemingly stuttering so far in 2016, earnings growth muted and domestic and global economic uncertainties high  any interest rate hike has disappeared off the table for now.

We are doubtful that the Bank of England will relax monetary policy  either through trimming interest rates to 0.25% (which the Bank of England has now indicated is possible) or reviving Quantitative Easing - as we do not believe that the UK economy is weak enough to warrant such a move, especially given the tightness of the labour market and the support to growth that should eventually feed through from sterlings marked weakening.

Firmly on hold: Low inflation and concerns over the world economy have dominated he thoughts of the Bank of England's ratesetters, led by Governor Mark Carney.

In the manufacturing sector, there was a slight increase in the number of firms reporting improved export sales and orders, but confidence in turnover and profitability for both services and manufacturing remains low by historical standards, the BCC said.

The report also found that the percentage of service companies struggling to recruit rose to its highest level for 18 years, but firms expect to take on more staff in the coming months.

Kern added: The improvement in the manufacturing export balances, probably helped by sharp falls in sterling, is welcome. But exports are still weak by historical standards.

The survey comes as the UK current account deficit rose to a record high of 7 per cent of GDP in 2015 and is expected to remain large in the next few years.

Data by the Office for National Statistics last week showed that the trade deficit remained large at 4.8billion in February. It also found that industrial production had its biggest fall in two and half years.

Our latest survey results suggest that the UK economy is in a holding pattern. While the picture is static overall, there are clear indications that economic growth is continuing to soften, Adam Marshall, acting director general of the BCC, said.
The proposed 10.3billion merger between O2 and Three would lead to a 'significant impediment to effective competition' in Britain's mobile network market, the UK competition watchdog has warned.

In a letter to the European Commission, the boss of the Competition and Markets Authority said the merger would lead to 'increased prices and/or a reduction in the quality offered to UK consumers' in the mobile telecoms sector.

The European Commission has until May 19 to make a decision on the deal, but regulators close to the matter say a decision could be made earlier.

Competition concerns: The proposed merger between O2 and Three would lead to a 'significant impediment to effective competition' in the UK's mobile network sector, the UK competition watchdog has warned

Alex Chisholm, chief executive of the CMA, told the European Commission that unless an appropriate solution can be found, 'the only option available to the Commission is prohibition.'

Chisholm said the only way the deal could go through as proposed would be if Three or O2 sold off all or some of their mobile network business.

Without this sell-off, the CMA is concerned that the number of mobile network operators in the UK will fall from four to three. At present, Britain's biggest mobile network operators are Vodafone, O2, Three and EE.

European regulators have been scrutinising the proposed deal for several months since Hong Kong-based Three owner Hutchison Whampoa entered into exclusive talks to buy O2 from Spain's Telefonica in January 2015.

At present, O2 enjoys a 28.5 per cent slice of the UK mobile network market, but a merger with Three's, which has a share of just over 8 per cent, would see the new group become the biggest operator in the UK.

Last month, Three announced plans to launch a special 5 monthly tariff for pensioners in a bid to get regulators on board to approve the O2 merger deal.

The company has revealed it will offer 'all-you-can-eat' calls and texts bundles to over-65s.

Under scrutiny: European regulators have been scrutinising the proposed deal for several months since Three owner Hutchison Whampoa entered into exclusive talks to buy O2 from Spain's Telefonica in January 2015

Hutchison Whampoa is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, who also owns pharmacist Superdrug and Northumbrian Water.

The billionaire also has investments in Southern Water, Wales and West Utilities, UK Power Networks, and Thamesport and Harwich ports.

In January, the CMA cleared the 12.5billion sale of EE to telecoms giant BT Group, creating a combination that will have around 35 million mobile, broadband, and TV customers.

The deal saw BT re-enter the mobile market, but the CMA said that deal was not likely to harm competition in the industry.

The executive director of consumer watchdog Which? Richard Lloyd said: The CMA is right that this merger, if it is allowed to go ahead, would seriously reduce choice and competition for UK customers in the mobile market.

Which? has also written to the European Commission to set out our concerns.

Mr Lloyd pointed out that fewer players in a market rarely leads to better outcomes for consumers.

However, the boss of telecoms and TV firm Virgin Media argued that three bigger firms had a better chance of competing with EE, now that it has been bought by BT.

Virgin Media claims that the BT/EE merger now controls almost half of the UK spectrum available to mobile phone firms in this country.

Virgin Media chief executive Tom Mockridge said: Less than three months ago the CMA approved the merger of BT/EE, without remedies, despite concerns that this concentrated too much valuable spectrum in the hands of one provider.

This is the very reason it is now difficult to create a new, fourth mobile network operator.

A combined O2/Three would provide a counter balance to the strength of BT/EE, offering an alternative source of capacity to other providers who will drive competition in their own right.
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They are as good as renovations get in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne - so good in fact that even master renovators themselves who made their name on 'The Block' say they cannot improve them.

The former contestants were each challenged to single out one renovation in their capital city which stood out above all others.

Carlene Duffy from the Gold Coast teamed up with partner Michael to make their mark on Channel Nine's series The Block 'Glasshouse' in 2014. She has focused on a property at Chelmer, just seven kilometres from the heart of Brisbane.

Dani Wales made her name on The Block in 2012, during season five, with her partner Dan Reilly and landed on a home in Surrey Hills, 11 kilometres east of Melbourne.

And from the Sydney perspective, fellow belle of the third-placed 2014 Blockheads, Kara Demmrich (with husband Kyal) landed on a yet-to-be completed mansion at Bondi in the city's east.

Here's what they say stood out for them.

Brisbane - 89 Victoria Avenue, Chelmer QLD (Carlene Duffy) Last sold for $2.4m

Pretty as a picture: 'A Brisbane home with finishes I could happily live with,' Carlene Duffy said of the Chelmer property which last changed hands for an estimated $2.4m

Carlene Duffy (right) has singled out the Brisbane home which houses four bedrooms, a reworked main bathroom with black and white floor tiles, toilet, vanity, separate shower and bath

This stunning residence just outside of Brisbane is set on a sprawling 1,348sqm block with picturesque front yard and pool area and is currently up for sale after it fetched an estimated $2.4m in 2010

The original home built in the suburb of Chelmer over a century ago is the favourite for master renovator Carlene Duffy

'We are renovators, so I dont ever look for renovated homes when browsing the market - it would be madness for us to even entertain buying a renovated home for both the fact that we are equipped to renovate for profit ourselves,' writes Carlene on Domain.com.au

One of three original homes built in the suburb of Chelmer over a century ago, this stunning property has been designed by renowned architect of that era, Robin Dodd. It's the stand-out for 'The Block' renovator Carlene Duffy as the pick of Queensland upgrades

'This Chelmer home is as pretty as a picture, and I love the fact they have stuck with the style of the property and they didn't feel the need to completely gut it,' she said.

Writing an overview on the property for Domain.com.au she described it as feeling like 'I could just walk on in here, put on the kettle and feel right at home. Its dripping in the character and personality that we expect from an old Queenslander'.

'I know many would want to modernise the floor tiles in the bathroom but I would implore you not to,' she added.

'These black and white diamond tiles [in the bathroom] arent dated, they are classical. There is a difference and they are perfect paired with the subway wall tiles.'

It is currently up for sale and it is estimated to have been sold for $2.4m six years ago.





Melbourne - Surrey Hills VIC (Dani Wales) Median house prices in area $1.7m

The Surrey Hills home in Melbourne is also a contrast of the old combined with new and is the favourite of Dani Wales

Dani Wales (right) made her name on The Block in 2012 during season five with partner Dan Reilly - she loves the finish of the property at Surrey Hills, which is located in Melbourne's east

Dani didn't hold back her enthusiasm for the home when speaking with Daily Mail Australia. 'Its freakin' beautiful and the calibre of work I would expect from my contractors in my own renovation and also the level of detail that we would deliver on a project'

The Victorian pick really caught Dani's eye - she said the finish and classic lines in all rooms and bath ould not be faulted

A balance of heritage and new elements is what won over the popular Block contestant from the 2012 series

Dani Wales has singled out a property in Surrey Hills, Melbourne.

She made her name on The Block in 2012, during season five, with her partner Dan Reilly.

'One of my favourite renos is by Mim Design in Melbourne,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'Its freakin' beautiful and the calibre of work I would expect from my contractors in my own renovation and also the level of detail that we would deliver on a project.

'Dan and I have our own design and construct firm, Red Door Project. I literally cant fault this house, theres not a thing I would change.'

The design team said the requirement was to successfully balance the heritage character of the home against the introduction of new elements to create a completely unique aesthetic.

'The design of the residence directly responds to the clients brief for a new dialogue between an old Victorian property, based in Melbournes Surrey Hills coupled with the increasing demands of catering for a young family of five.'





Sydney - 36 Wellington Street, Bondi NSW (Kara Demmrich) Estimated value $9m

Moreton Manor in all is soon-to-be glory through an artist's impression. This renovation is yet to be completed but according to according to 2014 The Block contestant Kara Demmrich is set to be something very special

Kara (right) took a different tack than the other former contestants, singling out a Bondi property which is yet to be overhauled but the plans for the transformation have impressed her greatly

'Although still in construction, the renovation plans are respectful of the homes heritage and charm, and it appears no expense will be spared,' Kara enthused. Once completed the property will be worth an estimated $9m

Originally built in 1858, the home became well known across Sydney's east as Scarba House and was set up as a childrens welfare home but is set to be given a stunning overhaul

A backyard in Bondi, car space and Moreton Bay fig trees - old world charm and a modern revamp convinced Kara Demmrich

Kara Demmrich was blown away by the plans behind one of Bondi's oldest manors - but there's a lot of work still to be done.

'A home with a backyard and car space in Bondi is one thing, but a home with five bedrooms and four bathrooms takes property dreaming to the next level,' she said.

'Car parks and land size aside, the thing I love most about this absolutely beautiful home, is the history that accompanies it.'

The soon to be transformed Moreton Manor was built in 1858 as a four bedroom cottage, and later used as a childrens welfare home run by the Benevolent Society.

It became known as 'Scarba House', and estimates have the revamped house being worth upwards of $9m on completion.

'The home boasts plenty of old-world charm including decorative cornice, high ceilings, a grand staircase and 100-year old Moreton Bay fig trees,' Kara added.

'Although still in construction, the renovation plans are respectful of the homes heritage and charm, and it appears no expense will be spared.

'A renovated home in Bondi is a dream for many, so while were fantasizing we may as well dream big.'

Moreton Manor is a home like no other, with the 1144 square metre north-facing property front Dickson Park fusing a grand heritage style with functionality and contemporary opulence.
Two men have been charged after a Sydney shooting that left one man dead and another seriously injured.

The victims were shot in an industrial estate in Condell Park in Sydney's southwest on Saturday afternoon.

They were found by police after reports of an argument followed by gunshots and were taken to Liverpool Hospital, where one of the men, aged 32, died.

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A man has been shot dead and another is in hospital with bullet wounds after an attack at an industrial area in Sydney's south-west

A 35-year-old man remains in a serious condition.

The men charged, both 22, have been accused of concealing a serious indictable offence after being arrested outside Bankstown Hospital on Saturday.

They have been refused bail to appear in Parramatta bail court on Sunday.

Earlier, police said they believed the men were known to each other.

The shooting happened about 1:10pm on Saturday in Condell Park in Bankstown, and officers say the men are known to police

'We believe that the people did know each other,' a police spokesman told media on Saturday, adding that it was unclear whether the men were shot by a third party.

'It's quite possible that a meeting has taken place.'

The spokesman said people in the area heard an argument before a number of shots were fired.

One of the men died in hospital, while the other man's condition remains unknown.
Former cartel boss Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa was shot dead outside a mall in Dallas and had been living in the city for two years

A top cartel boss who was slain at a mall in Dallas was hiding in a $1million home in the city for two years while on the run from rival gangsters who wanted him dead, according to court documents.

Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa moved to his suburban home in Southlake in 2011, two years before he was allegedly assassinated by three men who prosecutors claim had been stalking him for months.

Chapa was murdered in May 2013, when a masked gunman walked up to his Range Rover and shot him several times at close-range with a 9mm pistol.

According to the FBI, three rival gang members - who are all related - traveled from Mexico and spent months tracking Chapa down.

Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda, his son Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Campano Jr and cousin Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes allegedly set up CCTV cameras around his neighborhood to track his movements before the shooting.

While most cartel kingpins are believed to hide from the law in Mexico, where authorities can be bought off, Chapa had decided he was safer in the U.S..

He moved to north Texas because he was wanted by rival gangsters, but was living in fear because 'he had been found by people who wanted to kill him', court records show.

The court filing by lawyers for Ledezma-Cepeda claims Chapa used to be head of the notorious Gulf cartel.

Chapa rose to power after the gang's former leader Osiel Cardenas-Guillen was extradited to the U.S. in 2007 and jailed for 25 years for his involvement in drug trafficking, attorneys said.

Chapa moved to his suburban home (pictured) in Southlake in 2011, two years before he was allegedly assassinated by three men who prosecutors claim had been stalking him for months.

Chapa rose to power after the gang's former leader Osiel Cardenas-Guillen was extradited to the U.S. in 2007 and jailed for 25 years

'Chapa ran a large criminal enterprise whose activities included murders, narcotics trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, bribery, money laundering and torture,' the court document says.

He was only head of the cartel for a short transitional period, Ledezma-Cepeda's attorney Wes Ball said.

Federal authorities have said Chapa was Cardenas-Guillen's lawyer before his arrest and was a principle figure in the cartel's operation.

The Gulf cartel controls most illegal drug imports into southern Texas, according to the DEA, including Houston, San Antonio and Austin.

However, Dallas - a key city for traffickers because of its transport links to the rest of Texas and other southern states - is under the control of the Sinaloa cartel, most commonly associated with its notorious leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

El Chapo is currently fighting extradition to the U.S. after his capture in Mexico following a bizarre meeting with actor Sean Penn.

Cartels often have lower-level members living in the U.S. to broaden drug-trafficking efforts, DEA spokesman Russ Baer said.

These operatives are usually in the United States for limited periods and then rotated back to Mexico to avoid law enforcement scrutiny.

However, upper-level leaders usually do not live in the U.S. due to the increased likelihood of capture, Mr Baer said.

Ledezma-Cepeda, his son Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Campano Jr and cousin Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes face trial for the killing of Chapa.

Their trial is expected to offer a rare insight into cartel operations.

'Most of your cartel heads never go to trial, they almost always plead guilty,' Mr Ball said. 'So public trials where all the nitty gritty details are laid out is actually pretty rare.'
Unnamed 24-year-old man was also taken to hospital with minor injuries

Noone has been arrested; police have not determined suspects or motive

Two 19-year-old college students were killed in a 2am shooting outside an apartment complex in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police said.

Annette January and Lashuntae Benton, who both attended Southern University and A&M College, died Sunday while a 24-year-old man sustained non-threatening injuries.

Police said the shooting occurred in the parking lot of the Cottages Apartments popular among college students in the area, and a witness said 15 to 20 people blocked the road as a large fight broke out.

Annette January (left) and Lashuntae Benton (right), who were both 19-year-olds attending Southern University and A&M College, died after a shooting broke out in the parking lot of the Cottages Apartments in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Sunday

The Cottages Apartments are popular amongLouisiana State University students, and one witness said he saw what appeared to be a large fight breaking out when he drove past the area before the 2am shooting

A witness who wished to remain anonymous told NOLA.com he was driving past the development before the shooting, and was forced to take a side road after a large fight appeared to be breaking out with 15 to 20 people blocking the road.

One of the women died on the scene while the second passed away in a local hospital, police said. The unnamed 24-year-old man was also taken to hospital with minor injuries.

January was a freshman track and field athlete from Gary, Indiana. She described herself as an 'intelligent outgoing young woman' on her Facebook page, which also listed her as a business management major at the school.

Theresa Tillman said her daughter Lashuntae Benton was not an intended target of the shooting.

Her daughter lived in the school dormitory and had been attending a party at the Cottages Apartments, located near Louisiana State University.

January (left) was a freshman track and field athlete who was majoring business management, while Benton (right) was studying sports medicine as a sophomore athletic trainer

Another student told NOLA.com that there had been other large parties in the apartment complex that drew crowds of people who did not seem linked to the university.

Benton, who was an athletic trainer and sophomore studying sports medicine, was described as ambitious, vibrant and beautiful by her mother.

Police did not release women's names, but Southern University System President Ray Belton issued a statement to confirming the deaths of both January and Benton.

'The University asks for prayers and support for the families at this difficult time,' Belton said.

Police say there have been no arrests, suspects, or motive established yet.

The Cottages Apartments is run by the American Campus Communities, the nations largest developer, owner and manager of student housing communities.
Children as young as 13 are using Tinder to brag about how many matches they can get, according to a cyber safety expert.

The dating app, which can be used by those over the age of 13, has drawn in thousands of Australian teenagers with police warning that sex predators could use Tinder to find victims.

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean said it was concerning and dangerous for teenagers to be using the app given there is no way of verifying the age of the person you are talking to.

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The dating app, which can be used by those over the age of 13, has drawn in thousands of Australian teenagers with police warning that sex predators could use Tinder to find victims

'Girls are using it to boast about how many matches... how many people want to hook up with them,' Ms McLean told Daily Mail Australia.

She said that type of mentality wasn't good for a young girl's self-esteem if they were judging their worth on the amount of 'likes' they get on Instagram or matches on Tinder.

'The other issue is geolocation. You are giving away your precise location... giving away your location is highly problematic,' Ms McLean said

'There is no safe way to be on Tinder.'

It comes as surveys revealed more school children in Australia were using Tinder compared to those aged over 35, the Daily Telegraph reports.

While Tinder can be used by those over the age of 13, the app links people of a similar age together using information from Facebook, which is how a profile is set up in the first place.

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean said it was concerning and dangerous for teenagers to be using the app given there is no way of verifying the age of the person you are talking to

While Tinder can be used by those over the age of 13, the app links people of a similar age together using information from Facebook, which is how a profile is set up in the first place

It is possible to change your Tinder name and age by updating details on your Facebook account and the dating app even details how to do so on its website.

'When you sign up for Tinder because it links to your Facebook you're automatically linked to people in those age brackets,' Ms McLean said.

'Tinder gives the user access to Facebook accounts - it can tell me who their friends are, where they go to school.'

The government's Children's esafety Commissioner, Alastair MacGibbon, told the Daily Telegraph that teenagers who are using Tinder to talk to adults was just like 'sneaking into a nightclub underage'.

Surveys revealed more school children in Australia were using Tinder compared to those aged over 35

'It's dangerous,' he said.

'But unlike online dating apps, nightclubs have bouncers and are fined when caught serving underage teens.'

Ms McLean said while there were 'plenty of nice people on Tinder', it was particularly dangerous for children because they don't know the dangers.

'Legally (the children) can be there, but legally I can walk in the middle of the road. It's about educating children to make good decisions,' she said.
The 60 Minutes TV crew, including senior journalist Tara Brown, have been told they could face up to a month in custody over last week's bungled child recovery in Beirut.

Channel Nine's Director of News and Current Affairs, Darren Wick, has flown to the Lebanese capital to try and negotiate the release of his staff members as they prepare to face court on Monday.

A group of seven people, including Tara Brown, are expected to be charged over their involvement in the botched recovery operation allegedly orchestrated by an Australian mother and the 60 Minutes team.

Sally Faulkner and the TV crew were detained by Lebanese authorities in Beirut on Thursday and Daily Mail Australia understands the group was advised on Sunday that the legal process could see them remain in custody for up to a month, at least.

Lebanese authorities have split up the detained Australians, sending Ms Faulkner and Tara Brown to a female-only detention centre and the male members to another detention centre.

Lebanese police allege the crew paid for and filmed the attempted kidnapping of the Brisbane mother's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, five, after their father Ali el-Amien moved them to the Middle East without her permission.

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Seven people are expected to face court in Lebanon over their involvement in a botched child recovery operation allegedly orchestrated by an Australian mother Sally Faulkner (pictured) and a 60 Minutes crew

Lebanese police allege the crew paid for and filmed the attempted kidnapping of the Brisbane mother's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, five, after their father Ali el-Amien moved them to the Middle East without her permission

Senior journalist Tara Brown has been moved to a female only detention centre outside Beirut with the children's mother Sally Faulkner ahead of an expected court appearance on Monday night

A judicial source has told a local newspaper that two of the nine people initially detained over the snatch and grab operation have been released while seven others will likely be charged on Monday.

Nine's European correspondent Tom Steinfort told the Today Show that Channel Nine had hired a well-respected local criminal lawyer to represent its staff members at their first hearing tonight.

'We are likely to find out whether or not they will be facing charges and perhaps what those charges may well be. It is a tricky legal process here and it's one that is likely to take some time,' Mr Steinfort said.

Channel Nine had hired a well-respected local criminal lawyer to represent its staff members at their first hearing tonight.

It has also emerged that the father of the children, Ali el-Amien, is closely related to a senior minister in the Lebanese Government.

The case has been referred to Mount Lebanon general prosecutor Judge Claude Karam.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has spoken to her Lebanese counterpart and says she expects the question of charges will be determined soon.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment extensively on the situation on Sunday but said that the TV crew are receiving consular help as they wait to learn if charges will be filed against them.

'We are seeking through the usual diplomatic channels to ensure that they are kept safe and will be able to return,' Mr Turnbull said.

'But you have to understand that in situations like these, often the less I say, the better it is for the people that are at risk or in these difficult circumstances overseas.'

Mr Turnbull (pictured) declined to comment extensively on the situation on Sunday but said that the TV crew are receiving consular help as they wait to learn if charges will be filed against them

On Saturday Ms Bishop said that there was a compassionate element to the case because it involves children.

'We are providing as much support as we can, meeting with officials within the Lebanese government and doing what we can to ascertain what is proposed, in relation to the crew and the alleged involvement of the crew in this case,' she said.

Ms Faulkner travelled to Lebanon to allegedly kidnap her children from a previous marriage, who are living in Beirut with their father, and left her three-month-old infant with her new husband, Brendan Pierce, at home in Brisbane.

Sally Faulkner, from Brisbane, hired a controversial child recovery agency to snatch her children - Lahlea, 5, and Noah, 2 - back from their father

Ms Faulkner claims her ex-husband took their children to Beirut on a holiday last year and then refused to bring them back home to Australia, allegedly telling her that she wouldn't see the kids again.

Lebanese authorities reportedly have evidence that Channel Nine paid for the abduction of two children, who were snatched off the street in Beirut in a botched child recovery operation.

The authorities say they have a signed statement from a member of the 'recovery team' who says Channel Nine paid $115,000 for the operation, reported the ABC.

However, the evidence and signed statement is unconfirmed.

The children's father, Ali el-Amien said he was 'disappointed' by the recovery attempt, but has reiterated he won't be pushing for charges against Ms Faulkner.

'I told her that I'm not going to file anything. She is the mother of my children,' Mr el Amien told The Guardian.

Ms Faulkner said she agreed for her ex-husband Ali el-Amien to take the children to Lebanon for a holiday last year but a day after they left he told her that Noah and Lahlea would not be returning

The mother has previously said she did not know about her ex-husband's intention to take her children

'I saw her and I was thinking, 'Oh what did you do? What were you thinking'?

'I wasn't angry. I was disappointed. You could have just showed up and said you wanted to see the kids. She knows that.'

Mr el-Amien also said he had access to his ex-wife's emails and knew that a recovery operation was being planned.

The ABC reported that the area where the two children were grabbed is monitored by Hezbollah and Amal, two powerful Lebanese political and militia organisations. Mr el-Amien's father's family is al reportedly politically connected.

Mr el-Amien has previously told media he believes the recovery attempt put the children's safety in jeopardy, with security camera footage appearing to show them being bundled into a car by several people in southern Beirut.

The children have both since been reunited with their father, who says he is 'disappointed' by the recovery attempt

Footage release by Channel Nine after journalist Tara Brown and her crew were detained in Lebanon while filming a story about the recovery shows a scuffle break out in a busy street of Lebanon's capital, Beirut

Once Lahela and Noah went to Beirut, Mr el-Amien told allegedly Ms Faulkner she would never see her children again

Before the controversial alleged snatch and grab operation, Ms Faulkner hadn't seen her children for more than ten months

'I want to come back,' Lahela could be heard saying as she sobbed to her mother

Ms Faulkner said Lahela feels isolated and she now lives with family members like her grandmother who only speaks Arabic, and no English

He said the family, including Ms Faulkner, had lived in the country until 2013, when she decide it was no longer safe and left for Australia.

'When all the bombings took place, she wanted to go and visit her parents. She arrived there and tore up the children's passports.'

He claimed she told him when he wanted to see the children, to come to Australia.

Despite trying to live in Australia, neither had work there, and their income came from Lebanon, he told the ABC.

Australian consular officials visited the four Australians, who are in good health, in prison on Thursday night.

Dramatic security camera footage broadcast on Lebanese TV and on the Nine Network appear to show the children being bundled into a car by several people on a busy street in southern Beirut.

Two women, believed to be Noah and Lahlea's grandmother and nanny, can be seen standing in the street with two small children when a commotion ensues.

A flurry of people jump out of a large parked car and approach the children.

They pick them up and shove bystanders out of the way as they rush back to the car to stuff them in the back seat.

The person left behind on the street makes an attempt to chase after the car.

Ms Faulkner told A Current Affair last year that she would do 'anything' to get her children back

In Skype call, both Ms Faulkner's children can be heard begging to be returned to their mother's side

Her brother Noah said he wanted to return to Australia but that his father had dodged his pleas

The children's grandmother claims she was hit on the head with a pistol.

'It's their mum that kidnapped them, and that's what we know. She contacted me and told me she has the kids,' their father, Ali Zeid al-Amien, said soon after the incident.

Later, the children were returned to their father.

A British citizen from the child recovery agency involved has been detained on suspicion he planned to smuggle the children out of Lebanon on a boat, according to police.

Officers also seized an expensive boat they believe was intended for the job.

Lebanon, unlike Australia, is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction which allows for children normally resident in one location to be returned if taken by a relative.

'Lahela is not coming back, Sally. She's staying here with me. Alright? Lehla and Noah,' Mr el-Amien said on a Skype call

Ms Faulkner said she trusted her ex-husband before he left with the kids

In a tearful interview last October, Ms Faulkner told Daily Mail Australia 'It's literally like a living hell'

Both children were born in Australia and Ms Faulkner let them travel to Lebanon with their father because she had no reason to suspect they would not come back from the holiday

Ms Faulkner said that while her relationship ended on bad terms, she had never tried to keep the children from their father and had no idea why he would do that to her

Tara Brown (above) , 60 Minutes producer Stephen Rice and sound operator David Ballment are believed to have been detained by Lebanese police

Brown and her crew are understood to have been in a car with Ms Faulkner while the two children were snatched from their paternal grandmother
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This is one swine who may look like she's barking up the wrong tree, but Olive the pig couldn't be happier playing with her canine companions.

It's definitely a dog's life for the eight-month old little porker who spends her days playing with Tilly the British bulldog, a Boston terrier called Alfie and Lola a French bulldog in the leafy suburb of Glenorie in Sydney.

The eight-month-old pig belongs to Alissa and Nick Childs who have captured their beloved pet on camera in a variety of ways as she enjoys herself with her doggy pals.

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Olive the pig shares her home with Tilly the British bulldog, a Boston terrier called Alfie and Lola a French bulldog

Whether out for a walk or having a power nap, Olive has been captured enjoying herself by her owners

Olive's owner Alissa Childs has captured some of the little piggy's best moments for posterity

Time for a snooze: Olive lives with the Childs family in the leafy suburb of Glenorie in Sydney

'She definitely behaves as though she is one of the dogs,' Alissa told Mashable.

'She spends every hour of the day with them, plays with them like a dog, she naps with them. If the dogs run at the gate to bark at something in the street, she races with them.'

Whether it's playing daily with the dogs on the lawn or just having a quiet snooze on the couch, Olive, who joined the Childs family in October, couldn't be happier.

And as there is never a dull moment, Alissa has captured some of Olive's best days on camera and the cute photographs have captured people's hearts.

What did you say? Olive has a listen while on a day out with her canine companions

The eight-month-old pig belongs to Alissa and Nick Childs who have captured their beloved pet on camera

Walkies! Olive enjoys going out on a long bush walk with the rest of the gang

Time for a nap: Olive takes a time out after chasing her tail all day long

The little pig is seen in a variety of poses and costumes as she plays around with the dogs.

Either out for a walk or having a power nap, Olive has been captured enjoying herself as her canine friends join in on the fun.

It may be a dog's life for some, but for this little pig it's obvious life couldn't get much better.

Snoozefest: Olive catches up on some much-needed sleep after a hectic day at home

Listen up everyone: Olive and her canine friends listen to here what's next on the agenda

'She definitely behaves as though she is one of the dogs,' her owner Alissa Childs said
He is known for his passion for hunting, outspoken Christian views, and a love for the state of Texas.

So it is perhaps no surprise that Phil Roberson, head of the Duck Dynasty household, kicked off his pre-race prayer at NASCAR's Commander 500 on Sunday with those three topics.

Addressing thousands packed into the Texas Motor Speedway, he said: 'All right Texas, we got here via Bibles and guns, Im fixin to pray to the one who made that possible.'

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Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Duck Dynasty reality TV show, delivered a pre-race prayer at NASCAR's Commander 500 race in Texas, asking for a 'Jesus-man in the White House'

Robertson, whose company Duck Commander now sponsors the Texas race after NASCAR cut ties with the NRA, was followed on stage by Will Roberston, his grandson, who sang the national anthem

Roberson, who has sparked several controversies with his religious views in the past, went on to praise the U.S. military and ask for a 'Jesus man' to win the White House.

Fans of the entrepreneur and Duck Dynasty reality TV patriarch were left in little doubt that he was referring to Ted Cruz, his state senator who he has already publicly endorsed.

Following the invocation, Will Robertson, also of Duck Dynasty fame, sang a rather flat version of the national anthem before racing got underway.

The Robertson family took center stage at the event because father Phil's hunting company Duck Commander, which was founded in 1973 to launch his signature duck whistle, sponsors the event.

The race was formerly sponsored by the NRA, but following public criticism NASCAR was forced to review the endorsement, before handing it to Duck Commander instead.

His prayer received a mixed response online, with some praising him for being unafraid to speak his mind, while others said bringing politics into the sporting environment was 'inappropriate'.

Roberson is well known for causing controversy with his often outspoken religious views.

Robertson has courted controversy with his outspoken religious views before, such as during a half hour address to CPAC in 2015 in which he recited a graphic anecdote about an atheist and his family being killed

Robertson made his money with hunting company Duck Commander before launching reality TV show Duck Dynasty (pictured) for which he is now famous

Back in 2013 he was suspended from his own show amid controversy following a GQ interview in which he said homosexual behavior was 'sinful'.

While many prominent human rights groups blasted Robertson's 'outdated' views, fans eventually got him reinstated on the show thanks in part to a petition that gathered thousands of signatures.

In 2015, after being given Brietbart's First Amendment Defender award, Robertson again courted controversy while speaking at CPAC.

During a half-hour address he said STDs are the legacy of Nazis, Communists, beatniks and hippies, alongside a long an graphic anecdote about an atheist and his family being murdered.
Australia is to accept 80 rhinos over the next over the next four years in a world-first conservation effort to protect the threatened species.

The first six rhinos will be transferred in August, and spend two months in quarantine at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, NSW. After that they'll most likely be relocated to Monarto Zoo's safari park near Adelaide.

The six white rhinos set to be relocated later this year, five females and one bull, cost $70,000 each.

Five females and one bull will be transferred to Australia in August. They will be quarantined at Taronga Western Plains Zoo for two months before moving on

Behind the mission is The Australian Rhino Project, founded by Ray Dearlove in 2013. He believes Australia's strong border-security, the lack of comparable poverty and poaching-free history will make it a much safer option.

Speaking to Australian Geographic, Mr Dearlove was excited to see his hard work starting to pay off: 'It's been a pretty exciting ride for the last three years,' he said. 'It's now building up  I think we are close to achieving the first of our objectives  it's full on, but it's exciting.'

Mr Dearglove added that time and money will be a determining factor into the success of the project, as well as issues like breeding success and predators, starvation and intra-specific competition once they are reintroduced to Africa.

Factors like Australias strong border-security, the lack of comparable poverty and poaching-free history will make it a much safer option for the rhinos

Despite conservation effort, poaching increased 9000% in 2014. Poachers kill for the rhino horn which is popular in tradition Asian medicine

Rhino horn is highly valued in traditional Asian medicine and can fetch up to $500,000 each, meaning record numbers of the animal are being poached.

In 2007, only 13 South African rhinos fell victim to poachers, but despite conservation efforts by 2014, that number had increased by 9000% to 1,215.

The first six will be the test to make sure the rhinos can be relocated safely. After they are settled, it's hoped another 74 will be flown down under in the next four years. It has not been finalised yet where the remainder will be homed.
Polls suggest there is a gulf between Muslims and other Britons on issues such as marriage, freedom of speech and justifying violence in defence of religion

A disturbing 'chasm' has opened up between the attitudes of British Muslims and those of mainstream society, new research has found.

Trevor Phillips, the former equalities watchdog chief, warned that a 'significant minority' of UK Muslims wanted to live more separately, preferably under sharia law.

He pointed to worrying poll findings suggesting there is a gulf between Muslims and other Britons on issues such as marriage, freedom of speech and justifying violence in defence of religion.

The race campaigner said some British Muslims constituted 'a nation within the nation, with its own geography, its own values and its own very separate future'.

He argued that many non-Muslims had been uneasy about these growing differences for a long time, but were too worried about being labelled Islamophobic to debate the issue. Claiming that the UK had 'dodged the tough questions' for too many years, he accused politicians of trying to reassure society that 'only a tiny minority' of Muslims held dangerous views.

Most concerningly, he said Muslims who held 'separatist' views about living in Britain were much more likely to support terrorism. Mr Phillips also said there was a 'deeply ingrained sexism' running through Britain's Muslim communities, that manifested itself in 'alarming' attitudes towards women.

He pointed to the 'contempt for white girls' shown by some Muslim men that was highlighted by the recent sexual grooming scandals in Rotherham, Oxford, Rochdale and other towns.

Muslims who wanted to live a more separate life were sending a clear signal that they did not want to adopt much of the wider UK society's 'decadent way of life', Mr Phillips said.

But the former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission said the biggest obstacles to addressing this growing separatism were not created by British Muslims themselves.

In a scathing attack, he said Britain's elite refused to acknowledge any problems with Islam.

He added: 'Any undesirable behaviours are attributed to poverty and alienation.

'Backing for violent extremism must be the fault of the Americans. Oppression of women is a cultural trait that will fade with time, nothing to do with the true face of Islam.'

Mr Phillips was a central figure in the retreat from multiculturalism  the Left-wing doctrine which encouraged migrants to keep their own culture rather than integrate into British ways. After the 2005 London bombings, he warned the country was 'sleepwalking towards segregation'.

He pointed to the 'contempt for white girls' shown by some Muslim men that was highlighted by the recent sexual grooming scandals in Rotherham, Oxford, Rochdale and other towns. Brothers Arshid (left), 40, Basharat Hussain (middle), 39, and Bannaras Hussain (right) raped young girls in Rotherham

Yesterday he said that the separation highlighted in the research was partly a consequence of the 'entrenched residential segregation' he warned about a decade ago.

The poll also found that almost nine in ten British Muslims (86 per cent) felt a strong sense of belonging in Britain  higher than the national average of 83 per cent.

Some 88 per cent felt Britain was a good place for Muslims to live, and 78 per cent said they would like to integrate into British life on most things.

Last year, in another article for the Mail, Mr Phillips warned that Britain was silencing debate on race issues by 'intimidating' those who dared to ask questions.

Trevor Phillips (pictured), the former equalities watchdog chief, warned that a 'significant minority' of UK Muslims wanted to live more separately, preferably under sharia law

The former television executive said far too many people felt unable to speak their minds because they feared being branded racist.

Sir Gerald Howarth, Tory MP for Aldershot, said: 'Three cheers for Trevor Phillips. I think he is absolutely right. There's an element in the Muslim community which reject our values, while enjoying our tolerance.

'We are a tolerant nation because we are routed in the Christian faith, which is a tolerant religion. As our own religious observance declines, a vacuum is being created into which the hardline Islamist community is stepping.
Eurosceptic Tories rallied to David Camerons (pictured with his mother, Mary) support last night in the row over his tax affairs

Eurosceptic Tories rallied to David Camerons support last night in the row over his tax affairs.

Their intervention came as Labour MPs drew accusations of acting like hyenas for tearing into the Prime Minister.

Michael Gove, Tory justice secretary and Brexit campaigner, said it was crystal clear Mr Cameron had acted with integrity and probity throughout.

The Prime Minister has taken the unprecedented step of publishing details of his tax returns dating back to 2009 in a bid to ease criticism of his mother and late father.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the disclosure did not go far enough, and demanded more details on whether Mr Cameron had profited from his fathers Panama-registered Blairmore fund.

He also faced criticism over a 200,000 gift made to him by his mother Mary, despite experts saying the move was a normal part of inheritance tax planning of the type used by thousands of middle-class families.

The Prime Minister, who admitted at the weekend he should have been quicker to reveal his finances, will hit back today in the Commons with a passionate defence of his parents and their actions.

Another Eurosceptic, justice minister Dominic Raab, said: Jeremy Corbyn came in saying as leader of the Labour party he was going to introduce a kinder politics, and yet hes been whipping up a mob mentality and engaging in leading these attacks and whipping Labour MPs who, some of them, are behaving frankly like hyenas. Its grotesque hypocrisy  just about scoring political points.

The fightback came as:

George Osborne and other ministers came under pressure to publish their tax returns;

Labour indicated it could ban parents from giving children tax-free gifts;

Ministers prepared action against firms that fail to stop staff dodging tax;

Scotlands Nicola Sturgeon published her tax return.

Mr Camerons decision to publish his on Saturday night came 48 hours after his dramatic TV confession that he had a 31,500 investment in Blairmore, which he sold months before becoming prime minister.

Downing Street was under pressure for days last week after the PMs father Ian was named in the Panama Papers  leaked documents that detail the dealings of thousands of wealthy individuals.

But senior Eurosceptics last night rallied round, despite their anger at the Prime Ministers controversial decision to spend 9.3million of taxpayers money sending a pro-EU leaflet to 27million homes.

Ian Cameron and Mary Cameron, the prime minister's parents, at a Tory party event in Swindon. Ian was mentioned in the Panama papers for tax avoidance, which has led to awkward questions for his son

Commons leader Chris Grayling said: Jeremy Corbyn is trying to take Britain back to the days of class war and economic stagnation. Labours attacks show just how out of touch they are.

Parents should be able to pass the fruit of their hard work on to their children and grandchildren. This Government has championed the cause of low taxation because we know it creates jobs and the money to pay for strong public services.

Former defence secretary Liam Fox added: David Camerons father worked hard and left his family money. They obeyed the law and paid their tax? So what? This witch-hunt by smear, innuendo and asking questions is grotesque and hypocritical. The PMs critics should play the ball, not the man.

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said it was wrong to call Mrs Camerons gift to her son tax avoidance.

The rules are plain  you can give money from income, or give money more than seven years before you die and theres no inheritance tax. Utilising that isnt dodgy, he said.

BBC LED REPORTING BUT HELPED PAXMAN AND FIONA BRUCE AVOID HIGH INCOME TAX ON THEIR WAGES BY PAYING WAGES TO THEIR COMPANIES Stars including Jeremy Paxman and Fiona Bruce were among 148 of the corporations presenters paid through personal service companies The BBC has led reporting about alleged tax avoidance revealed in the leaked Panama Papers  but it has itself been accused of dodging tax by paying its presenters off the books through companies. Stars including Jeremy Paxman and Fiona Bruce were among 148 of the corporations presenters who were paid through personal service companies. There is no suggestion the presenters were seeking to avoid tax, and some said BBC bosses had encouraged them to set up the structures. Instead of paying the presenters through Pay As You Earn, the BBC channelled their salaries through the companies. This enabled them to declare the money as company profit, subject to corporation tax of 21 or 26 per cent, compared with income tax of 45 per cent for the highest rate earners. Using a service company also allowed individuals to deduct expenses like travel, phone bills and computer costs from their earnings. The practice, which also affected the senior broadcasters National Insurance contributions, was legal when it was revealed in 2012 and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing. Miss Bruce closed her company, Paradox Productions Two, and told trade magazine Broadcast she was no longer required by the BBC to have a limited company. Personal service companies were widely used by freelancers who did short-term work for multiple different companies. But George Osborne introduced a clampdown in last months Budget, saying public sector bodies including the NHS and the civil service would be held responsible for ensuring their workers paid the right tax rate. The BBC said it had paid up to 3,000 actors, editors, make-up artists and other craft staff that way, and later admitted that nearly 150 presenters were paid through such companies. Bal Samra, the corporations commercial director, insisted: The use of personal service companies is not a tax dodge, it is a legitimate method of engaging freelance presenters. The Government has not ended it, but has proposed introducing a stronger requirement for public sector bodies to assess the employment status of workers and apply tax and National Insurance appropriately. Advertisement

GUARDIAN PUBLISHED PANAMA PAPERS BUT AVOIDED STAMP DUTY BY SETTING UP AN OFFSHORE COMPANY IN TAX HAVEN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS The newspaper at the centre of the Panama Papers expose in Britain has itself been accused of legal tax avoidance. Guardian Media Group (GMG), the publisher of the Guardian, used an offshore company in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands when it bought a magazine and events group with a private equity firm, Apax. The newspaper has campaigned against tax avoidance but GMG paid no stamp duty on the acquisition because of the complex arrangement, which it said was accepted by HM Revenue and Customs. GMG said the offshore company was created at Apaxs request, and insisted the UK Exchequer had not lost out. It also used an HMRC exemption to avoid corporation tax on the 302million profits of a sale of part of its stake in the publisher of AutoTrader in 2008. GMG said it paid full corporation tax on any taxable profits. The firm also has a fund portfolio which invests in offshore hedge funds, but is subject to UK tax on all income and realised gains. The blogger Guido Fawkes has repeatedly accused the company of hypocrisy. In 2012, when the newspaper ran an expose of tax avoiders using offshore firms to buy British property, the blogger revealed its London offices were owned by a tax exempt offshore trust managed from Germany. The Guardians then editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger addressed the suggestion of hypocrisy in a 2011 article about the papers finances and its relationship with GMG. He said: If the argument is that no one should write critically about tax avoidance unless they can show total purity in all their dealings and investments, both personal and corporately, then the probable blunt truth is that not a single journalist would be able to write on the subject. Advertisement

But Mr Corbyn, who has yet to keep his promise of publishing his own tax return, yesterday claimed the Prime Minister still had questions to answer. The Labour leader told the BBC all MPs, and possibly others in public life, such as journalists, should be forced to publish their tax returns.

And he said Mr Camerons display of openness did not go far enough.

I want to see the papers, he said. We need to know what hes actually returned as a tax return, we need to know why he put this money overseas in the first place and whether he made anything out of it or not before 2010 when he became prime minister. These are questions that he must answer.

Downing Street yesterday indicated that other ministers would not be expected to publish their tax returns. But Mr Osborne, as the steward of the nations finances, was under growing pressure to follow suit, having previously said he has nothing to hide. A Treasury source last night indicated the Chancellor was considering the idea.

Energy secretary Amber Rudd said Britain might have to move to a US-style system where senior politicians must declare their finances.

We have to think very carefully about the balance between transparency and privacy, she said. We dont want to put people off who might have substantial assets, so I think its worth having the debate but I dont think its necessarily the case that it is right.

What about Red Ed's ploy to avoid duties on his father's home

Labour's assault on David Camerons tax affairs comes 12 months after the party faced claims that the Miliband family tried to avoid death duties.

Jeremy Corbyn savaged Mr Camerons conduct over the weekend, saying it suggested there was one rule for the wealthy and another for the rest of us.

Labour also indicated it may push for a change in the law to ban people from receiving tax-free gifts, as Mr Cameron did from his mother.

Labour's assault on David Camerons tax affairs comes 12 months after the party faced claims that the Miliband family tried to avoid death duties

But last year the party reacted with fury when critics pointed out that the family of its then-leader Ed Miliband appeared to have attempted to avoid paying full inheritance tax on his fathers home.

Legal documents show that the Milibands used a deed of variation to divide the ownership of the 2.5million family home in north London.

After Mr Milibands father Ralph died in 1994, the family agreed a deal in which his widow Marion retained 60 per cent of the equity in the property, with 20 per cent transferred to each of her sons, Ed and David.

LABOUR ARE PLANNING TO BAN TAX-FREE GIFTS FOR CHILDREN An inheritance tax crackdown that would ban people from giving tax-free gifts to their children is being examined by Labour. Senior party figures seized on revelations that David Camerons mother Mary gave him a 200,000 gift following the death of his father in 2010 as evidence that the inheritance tax system is flawed. The rules on gifts mean that if Mrs Cameron lives for another two years then her son will not be liable for any inheritance tax on the sum. In theory the move could save him up to 80,000. Financial experts yesterday pointed out that the rules on gifts in the inheritance tax system are legitimately used by thousands of families, with people often trying to help their children buy a home or fund their education. But shadow chancellor John McDonnell yesterday said the rules would now be included in a wide-ranging Labour Party review of the tax system. Mr McDonnell said people were angry about the tax system because it was not seen to be fair. He said he would reverse Tory plans to raise the inheritance tax threshold from 325,000 to 500,000. Mark Serwotka, of the PCS union, said cash gifts to children should be taxed by a future Labour government. Advertisement

The decision appears to have been designed to limit the potential inheritance tax liability faced by her two sons.

If Marion had died after seven years, then inheritance tax would have been levied on only 60 per cent of the value of the home.

In the event the deed of variation was irrelevant, as David Miliband bought out his mother and brother in 2004 to take ownership of the home outright.

Ed Miliband said he had not avoided any dues because he had paid capital gains tax on his share of the family home when it was sold. But the revelation was embarrassing at a time when he was on the attack over the activities of dodgy Tory donors.

Gordon Brown had previously referred to deeds of variation as a form of tax abuse. And George Osborne twisted the knife in the budget just before the election by announcing a Treasury review of the device.

The episode is far from the only example of Labour hypocrisy on tax avoidance.

Reports suggest the late Tony Benn also used legitimate tax planning strategies to reduce death duties on his 5million estate. After the death of his wife in the year 2000, a deed of variation was reportedly used to allow the couples children to take part ownership of the veteran socialists large family home in the fashionable Holland Park area of West London. The property was sold in 2011 for 4.1 million.

Mr Benns sprawling family home, Stansgate Abbey Farm, in Essex, which is thought to be worth many millions, was placed in trust on his death  another device that is thought to be designed to shield it from the taxman.

Labour faced controversy in 2013 when it emerged a huge 1.65million donation to the party was made in shares, not cash, in an apparent bid to avoid a 700,000 tax bill. John Mills said he made the donation to Labour in shares following advice from the party about the most tax efficient way of handling the issue.
There is a life-and-death struggle for the soul of British Islam  and this is not a battle that the rest of us can afford to sit out, says Trevor Phillips

Britain is in many ways a better place than its ever been  more prosperous, more diverse, more liberal. But for some of our fellow citizens, were heading in entirely the wrong direction. So much so that some of them would rather live under a wholly different system.

Indeed, a significant minority of Britains three million Muslims consider us a nation of such low morals that they would rather live more separately from their non-Muslim countrymen, preferably under sharia law. This sobering conclusion comes from the most comprehensive survey of British Muslims ever conducted, commissioned by Channel 4.

Having been asked to examine its results, I believe it holds a grim message for all of us. There is a life-and-death struggle for the soul of British Islam  and this is not a battle that the rest of us can afford to sit out. We need to take sides.

For the most part, Britains Muslims share most peoples preoccupations  jobs, homes, a future for their families. Nearly nine out of ten say they feel British. One of the reasons they like Britain is freedom to practise their religion as they see fit.

But below the surface, the pollsters told us that a chasm was developing between the attitudes of many British Muslims and their compatriots, driven by their adherence to their faith.

More than half of Muslims think lesbian or gay relationships should be illegal. Almost a third of British Muslims think polygamy  currently illegal  should be permitted. Young Muslims are nearly as enthusiastic for it as older Muslims.

Two fifths (39 per cent) of Muslims say a woman should always obey her husband, compared to 5 per cent of non-Muslims. These views are not regarded as old-fashioned  they are seen by those who hold them as divinely ordained.

Unfortunately, so is the Koranic injunction that a man may chastise his wife. Its hard to avoid the conclusion that the instruction to obey tells women that they should accept domestic abuse without complaint.

Finally, theres the small matter of the Jews: 35 per cent of British Muslims  compared to 8 per cent of others  believe Jewish people have too much power in Britain.

The reason why these fellow Britons seem so far out of line with mainstream opinion is that too many live in a different Britain to the rest of us.

A fifth have not entered the home of a non-Muslim in the past year. This may not be their fault  I recall being shut out of white friends homes as a child  but the outcome is disastrous for integration.

Sadly, many British Muslims are keen to embrace this status. One in six would prefer to live more separately; almost a quarter would like to see areas where sharia law took precedence over British law.

More than half of Muslims think lesbian or gay relationships should be illegal. Almost a third of British Muslims think polygamy  currently illegal  should be permitted. Young Muslims are nearly as enthusiastic for it as older Muslims

Most people in this nation-within-a-nation eschew violence in defence of religion. Not all, though.

We have recently seen the murder of a leading Scottish Muslim, the killer citing disrespect of the faith.

Four per cent  the equivalent of more than 100,000 British Muslims  told the researchers that they had sympathy for people who take part in suicide bombing to fight injustice. Asked if they knew that someone was involved with supporting terrorism in Syria, just one in three would report it to the police.

There is one truly terrifying finding. Muslims who have separatist views about how they want to live in Britain are far more likely to support terrorism than those who do not. And there are far too many of the former for us to feel that we can gradually defeat the threat.

Two fifths of Muslims say a woman should always obey her husband, compared to 5 per cent of non-Muslims (stock photograph)

Liberal-minded Muslims have been saying for some time that our live-and-let-live attitudes have allowed a climate to grow in which extremist ideas have flourished within Britains Muslim communities. Our politicians have tried to reassure us that only a tiny minority hold dangerous views.

All the while, girls are shipped off to have their genitals mutilated, young women and men are being pressured into marriages they do not want, and teenagers are being seduced into donning suicide vests or becoming jihadi brides.

We have understood too much, and challenged too little  and in doing so are in danger of sacrificing a generation of young British people to values that are antithetical to the beliefs of most of us, including many Muslims.

In my view, we have to adopt a far more muscular approach to integration than ever, replacing the failed policy of multiculturalism.

In the case of British Muslims it means ensuring that schools  such as those in the Trojan Horse case in Birmingham where hardliners tried to impose an Islamist agenda  are not taken over by any single minority group.

That could mean changing catchment areas, as has taken place in Oldham, much to the towns benefit; or even limiting the presence of any ethnic minority group to no more than 50 per cent. It will mean strict monitoring of the ethnic composition of housing estates to prevent them becoming ghetto villages, little islands separate from the rest of their districts.

It will mean political parties no longer turning a blind eye to appalling misdemeanours in return for votes from community leaders  so-called silence-for-votes deals which created havoc in Rotherham and Rochdale and contributed to the grooming scandals in those towns.

Some will find such steps distasteful. One Left-wing commentator has already claimed that our analysis reveals attitudes no different from those of elderly white Britons  or indeed some Conservatives. This entirely underestimates the seriousness of what Britains Muslims are telling us.

Muslims want to be part of Britain  but many do not accept the values and behaviours that make Britain what it is; they believe that Islam offers a better future. And a small number feel that these sincerely held beliefs justify attempts to destroy our democracy.

Britains liberal Muslims are crying out for this challenge to be confronted.

The complacency weve displayed so far is leaving them to fight alone, and putting our society in danger. We cannot continue to sit on the fence in the hope that the problem will go away.
The man in charge of overseeing the UK Government's inquiry into the Panama Papers was a partner at a law firm that acted for the offshore fund set up by David Cameron's stockbroker father, it emerged this morning.

Edward Troup, executive chairman of HMRC, was a partner at Simmons & Simmons, which represented Ian Cameron's Blairmore Holdings and other offshore firms named in the leak.

HMRC has been given a lead role in the 10million taskforce launched to investigate allegations of wrongdoing highlighted in the 11.5million documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

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HMRC chief Edward Troup, left, is a former partner at Simmons & Simmons, which reportedly represented Ian Cameron's (right) Blairmore Holdings and other offshore companies named in the Panama Papers leak

The files - leaked last week - have revealed how wealthy businessmen and political elites from across the world managed to hide their money in tax havens.

Mr Cameron became embroiled in the row after it emerged Blairmore Holdings - the offshore fund that was run by his late father - was among the firms registered as Mossack Fonseca's clients.

After days of silence the Prime Minister was forced to admit on Thursday that he held a 30,000 stake in the Blairmore until he sold it before entering Downing Street in 2010.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Simmons & Simmons or any of its clients.

His handling of the revelations caused the most damaging week of his premiership and yesterday he took the unprecedented step of publishing details of his tax affairs in a bid to clear his name.

HMRC will be working alongside the National Crime Agency as part of the inquiry into claims of tax dodging and money laundering that were brought to light in the Panama Papers leak.

But Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has demanded a full, independent inquiry, saying it must have the 'full confidence of the British people'.

Simmons & Simmons' name appears on dozens of emails and documents in connection with a number of companies registered with Mossack Fonseca, according to the Guardian.

Some date back to 2003, when Mr Troup was still a partner. The first leaked correspondence regarding Blairmore Holdings date from 2005, a year after Mr Troup left to join the Treasury. He joined HMRC in 2013 and was named chief executive in April.

HOW THE LEADERS COMPARE: DETAILS REVEALED AFTER CAMERON, CORBYN, BORIS, OSBORNE AND STURGEON PUBLISH THEIR TAX RETURNS Salary Additional income Tax paid David Cameron 140,522 49,951 75,898 Jeremy Corbyn 67,060 1,850 18,912 Boris Johnson 127,505 491,978 276,505 George Osborne 120,526 78,209 72,210 Nicola Sturgeon 104,817 0 32,517

Simmons & Simmons' name appears on dozens of emails and documents in connection with a number of companies registered with Mossack Fonseca, whose Panamanian headquarters is pictured above

The Panama Papers appear to show Simmons & Simmons' offices in London and Hong Kong were registered as clients or intermediaries with Mossack Fonseca.

It was also reported that In 2008, when Blairmore was considering a change of jurisdiction, Simmons & Simmons asked Mossack Fonseca for advice on the benefits of other tax havens.

HMRC said Mr Troup had never had dealings with Mossack Fonseca and none of the individuals or organisations named so far in relation to the Panama Papers were clients he had advised.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, pictured, has called for an independent inquiry into the leak

But Labour has stepped up demands for an independent inquiry into the leak in the wake of the latest revelations.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: 'This further highlights why, for any inquiry to have the full confidence of the British people, it must be truly independent in structure and process.

'It certainly should not be reporting to politicians whose party has been highly implicated in this scandal, with large donors directly involved in this matter.

'But most of all it needs to be above question and beyond rebuke.

'And with new allegations calling the Government's approach into question the only obvious answer is a truly independent public inquiry as Labour is demanding.'

A HMRC spokesman said: 'Before joining the Civil Service in 2004, Edward Troup had a successful career in the private sector, during the course of which he dealt with many companies.

'He can confirm that he never had any dealings with Mossack Fonseca, was unaware of the company until recently, and that none of the individuals or organisations named so far were clients that he advised.

'Edward Troup's role in HMRC has never involved responsibility for operational activities or direct dealings with companies on their tax affairs.

'In any event, the governance in place at HMRC means that any commissioners who have a potential conflict of interest would exclude themselves from any investigation or settlement involving a taxpayer with which they had had dealings in their previous careers.'

It comes after Eurosceptic Tories rallied to David Camerons support last night in the row over his tax affairs.

They accused Labour politicians of acting like 'hyenas' for tearing into the Prime Minister over his tax arrangements, which have not revealed any wrongdoing or illegality.

Michael Gove, Tory justice secretary and Brexit campaigner, said it was crystal clear Mr Cameron had acted with integrity and probity throughout.

Mr Cameron became the first Prime Minister to publish details of his tax returns dating back to 2009 in a bid to ease criticism of his mother and late father.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the disclosure did not go far enough, and demanded more details on whether Mr Cameron had profited from his fathers Panama-registered Blairmore fund.

He also faced criticism over a 200,000 gift made to him by his mother Mary, despite experts saying the move was a normal part of inheritance tax planning of the type used by thousands of middle-class families.

The Prime Minister, who admitted at the weekend he should have been quicker to reveal his finances, will hit back today in the Commons with a passionate defence of his parents and their actions.

Simmons & Simmons did not respond to the Guardian's request for comment. MailOnline has contacted the law firm for comment.

HOW CAMERON'S FAMILY CARVED UP THE INHERITANCE CASH FOUR YEARS BEFORE HIS FATHER DIED (From left) The Prime Minister's siblings Alexander Cameron QC and Tania Cameron Four years before Ian Cameron died, his Oxfordshire family home was transferred to his eldest son Alexander, a wealthy QC. As part of the deal, Mr and Mrs Cameron senior moved into Alexander's smaller home next door. Because it was handed over more than three years before Ian died, the full 40 per cent inheritance tax on the 2.5 million home would not be payable: the rate 'tapers' down to nothing if the deceased survives for more than seven years. At the time, only the first 325,000 of an estate was free of inheritance tax, so if the house's value was taken in isolation from the rest of the estate, Alexander would have paid 24 per cent on the 2.1 million of the house which was taxable. Separately, David Cameron's two sisters, Tania and Clare, were jointly left in the will a 1 million London house. The two women, who shared the house equally, had already been gifted a stake of unknown value in the property in advance of Ian Cameron's death. Advertisement

Now heat is on Chancellor to reveal tax dealings as senior Tory says it's 'inevitable' that all MPs will publish their returns

Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has pledged to release his tax return information

George Osborne is under mounting pressure to reveal details of his income and tax dealings amid claims it is now 'inevitable' all MPs will have to publish their returns.

Sources close to the Chancellor made clear he is considering whether to follow David Cameron's example by releasing information about his finances.

Downing Street disclosed a summary of the Prime Minister's tax returns covering the past six years in a bid to restore trust after a disastrous week of revelations about links to his father's offshore investment fund.

They showed that Mr Cameron had an income of around 1.1 million over the period and paid some 400,000 in tax. Renting out his London home while he lives in a grace-and-favour apartment has been bringing in more than 90,000 a year.

Labour has lashed out at the revelation that Mr Cameron received gifts totalling 200,000 from his mother Mary after the death of her husband Ian in 2010.

If he had received the money as an inheritance it could have attracted duties of up to 80,000.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has already published a copy of his tax return, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised to do so soon.

A Treasury source said 'no decision has been taken' on whether to release Mr Osborne's information. He is said to be 'happy to consider ways to offer more transparency'.

But the source insisted his income came from his salary, rental from letting out a home while he lives in Downing Street, and a shareholding in his father's wallpaper business Osborne & Little.

They also stressed that there was no suggestion the Chancellor had money offshore.

Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg upped the pressure by saying he believed it was 'inevitable' that all MPs will now have to publish their tax returns.

'I think I am going to have to,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 'I am not going to be the one hold-out about that.'

Mr Cameron, who admitted at the weekend he should have been quicker to reveal his finances, will attempt to regain the initiative in a Commons statement where he is expected to make a passionate defence of his parents and their actions.

He will also confirm that the government is launching a crackdown on companies that facilitate tax evasion.

A new law being brought forward this year will make it a criminal offence for companies to fail to stop staff aiding tax evasion.

The move was first announced in the March 2015 Budget, when Mr Osborne said the Government would introduce the measure in this Parliament.

Speaking ahead of his statement, Mr Cameron said: "This Government has done more than any other to take action against corruption in all its forms but we will go further.

"That is why we will legislate this year to hold companies who fail to stop their employees facilitating tax evasion criminally liable."

Eurosceptics have put aside their differences with the Tory leadership to condemn Labour attacks over Mr Cameron's finances.
A Vietnamese restaurant named after communist leader Ho Chi Minh will be rebranded after its cultural insensitivities resulted in death threats and a 100-strong protest.

Uncle Ho announced on social media on Sunday they would be renaming to Uncle Bia Hoi, after receiving death threats and closing for the day.

About 100 Vietnamese locals protested outside the Newfarm beer cafe and restaurant in Brisbanes Fortitude Valley earlier in the day.

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A Vietnamese restaurant named after communist leader Ho Chi Minh has changed its name from Uncle Ho to Uncle Bia Hoi after receiving 'death threats' and closing for the day following a protest

About 100 Vietnamese locals protested outside the Newfarm beer cafe and restaurant in Brisbanes Fortitude Valley earlier on Sunday because of the 'insensitive' name

The new name references a type of beer rather than the former North Vietnamese leader whose regime saw many deaths and millions flee the country as refugees.

The restaurants director Anna Demirbek announced the name change in a statement posted to Instagram on Sunday.

We are, and have always been, fully conscious that the brand Uncle Ho would be sensitive. It is not, for the record, the first or only business in Australia bearing such a name, Ms Demirbek wrote.

She declared they were not a community money laundering operation, nor were they communist sympathisers.

A protester on Sunday carried a sign which said: 'Ho Chi Minh is nobody's uncle, his is mass murderer'

The restaurant employs many Australians as well as Vietnamese nationals from both the North and the South who find no offence in the brandname.

Similarly we have had many Vietnamese Immigrants dine at the venue already, who have loved everything about our quality of food, beer and the venue. They too have commented that the brandname is inoffensive to them.

It is these people we are today having to protect.

Despite the organisers of the protest maintaining that this is a peaceful protest, over the past 24 hours management have received death threats and threats of burning down the building our business is housed in, the statement said.

Their Instagram and Facebook accounts have been changed to the name Uncle Bia Hoi, however, locals have called on the restaurant to go further.

'No sign of an apology,' one wrote, adding the owner had an 'insensitive [and] arrogant attitude'.

'Changing the name of the joint is not good enough with that attitude!' another wrote on Instagram.

Another said: 'The owner's response to this is appalling. So immature. Deflecting the public's criticism of your extremely insensitive name and advertising material by telling them off for "bullying"??'

An Instagram picture posted about a month ago showed a red tank with military and the words: Gather your squadron and mobilise the troops

It was not just the name, but Uncle Hos marketing choices which angered the Vietnamese community

One Facebook user commented: 'Why not open a restaurant called Uncle Osama bin Laden or Uncle Hitler.'

My father was put in a re-education camp by Uncle Hos regime and has suffered his whole life as a result, another wrote. Im never setting foot in your culturally insensitive establishment.

Yes, youre in Australia. But youre in an Australia where most of the Vietnamese community are refugees, one woman wrote on their Facebook page.

Another person commented on their Instagram post from Uncle Hos city of Saigon, and is forced to see the oppressive  propaganda on every street corner.

But we have no choice in this matter and no freedom to tell any other version of history. You have a freedom we can only dream about and you choose to do this?? Contrary to your statement, you HAVE taken a position on the politics and history of Vietnam. And youre on the wrong side of history.

Dr Bui Cuong, who escaped from Vietnam during the war, said the name gives refugees who fled the country 'nightmares'.

Dr Bui Cuong, who escaped from Vietnam during the war, said the name gives refugees who fled the country 'nightmares'

'The communist people called him Uncle Ho. That is Ho Chi Minh. He is a mass murderer, a dictator,' Dr Bui told The Sunday Mail.

It was not just the name, but Uncle Hos marketing choices which angered the Vietnamese community.

An Instagram picture posted about a month ago showed a red tank with military and the words: Gather your squadron and mobilise the troops.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the restaurant for further comment.

Ho Chi Minh led the Vietnamese nationalist movement for more than three decades, fighting against Japanese, French and US-backed South Vietnamese forces.

He remained president of North Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969. In July 1976, Saigon was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the leader.

In the 20 years after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, around two million people left the country in a mass exodus to escape the communist regime, with hundreds of thousands dying on the journey.

The new name Uncle Bia Hoi references a type of beer rather than the former North Vietnamese leader whose regime saw many deaths and millions flee the country as refugees

Dr Bui Cuong (left), who escaped from Vietnam during the war, said the name Ho Chi Minh (right) gives refugees who fled the country 'nightmares'

In the 20 years after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, around two million people left the country in a mass exodus to escape the communist regime, with hundreds of thousands dying on the journey
On Saturday, Euro MP Daniel Hannan asked you to sack him and so help abolish the fat-cat perks enjoyed by Eurocrats and Brussels politicians. Today, he reveals the back-scratching culture of Brussels, where its the EU-funded lobby groups and quangos who are the loudest supporters of ever-greater union...

A recent public letter warning against Brexit argued that EU laws have a hugely positive effect on the environment. It was signed by the heads of a dozen green pressure groups including Natural England, the Green Alliance, the RSPB and the Natural Environment Research Council. What was not mentioned was that the European Commission funds eight of the 12 organisations directly.

Of course, protect our countryside sounds so much prettier than protect our grants, but you cant help wondering which issue motivated them more.

Its a familiar ruse. The last time Britain had to approve a major transfer of power to Brussels was in 2007, when we ratified the Lisbon Treaty. Introducing the Bill in Parliament, the then Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, made a great song and dance of quoting a whole range of organisations in favour. The NSPCC has pledged its support, as have One World Action, Action Aid and Oxfam, he said, looking pleased with himself.

Many of the organisations which are lobbying the public to stay in the EU are actually funded by them

Environmental organisations support the treaty provisions on sustainable development, and even the commission of bishops supports the treaty. This is a coalition, not of ideology, but integrity.

Integrity? It turned out every organisation he cited was in receipt of EU subventions. Hardly surprising, then, that they should dutifully endorse a treaty supported by their paymasters.

What was surprising was the extent of their financial dependency. When I asked the European Commission how much money it had paid these organisations, it emerged that Action Aid, the NSPCC, One World Action and Oxfam had among them been given 43 million in a single year.

So, can organisations in receipt of such colossal subsidies legitimately claim to be independent? Can they even describe themselves as charities, at least in the sense that we commonly understand the word?

As for the commission of bishops, that turned out to be the Commission of Bishops Conferences of the European Community, a Brussels-based outfit whose purpose was to promote reflection, based on the Churchs social teaching, on the challenges facing a united Europe.

In other words, while seeking to give the impression of broad support for a new transfer of powers to Brussels, the British Foreign Secretary was reduced to citing a body that would be out of business if the EU disappeared.

Back in 2003, when the European Constitution was first being drawn up, 200 organisations supposedly representing civil society were invited to submit their suggestions on what it should contain. All of them were in receipt of EU grants.

This is how the system works. The EU funds an interest group. That group duly demands that Eurocrats seize more powers. Eurocrats then announce that, in response to popular demand, they are extending their jurisdiction.

When the Commission sought new continent-wide rules on pesticides, it set up a group called Pesticide Watch  an amalgam of various EU-funded bodies  to push it in the direction it wanted. MEPs were then duly bombarded by emails from this campaign, presented as missives from ordinary citizens.

In much the same way, the Commission pays Friends of the Earth to urge it to take more powers in the field of climate change. It pays WWF (the World Wildlife Fund) to tell it to assume more control over environmental matters. It pays the European Trade Union Congress to demand more Brussels employment laws.

This is how the system works. The EU funds an interest group. That group duly demands that Eurocrats seize more powers

The EU machine-guns cash at its client organisations, these organisations tell it what it wants to hear, and it then turns around and claims to have listened to The People.

Virtually every field of activity has some approved, EU-sponsored pressure group to campaign for deeper integration: the European Union of Journalists, the European Womens Lobby, the European Cyclists Federation.

These are not independent associations which just happen to be in receipt of EU funds. They are, in most cases, creatures of the European Commission, wholly dependent on Brussels for their existence. So when the Remain campaign tells us it has the support of some organisation or other, it is wise to check where their funding comes from.

Take UK Universities, which campaigns strenuously for the EU and claims that EU funding is too important to be sacrificed. British universities have had close to 900 million from Brussels since 2008.

What UK Universities wont tell you is that all this money was, in effect, taken out of Britains contribution to the EU. If Britain withdrew, it could make an equivalent or larger payment directly, rather than routing it through Brussels. Yet they still want to stick with the EU. Why? Because of what the economist Milton Friedman called the tyranny of the status quo.

This does not just refer to the fact that human beings are change-averse, though we are. It refers, also, to the way in which a corpus of vested interests grows up around whatever happens to be the established settlement.

Eurocrats employed by Brussels are naturally gung-ho on the Remain side. They are well paid (with a very advantageous tax perk) and not about to bite the hand that feeds them. I can understand that. But some of those fighting hardest to remain in the EU are benefiting from the system at second-hand.

The Europe Officers employed by local authorities; the financial regulators whose bread-and-butter work is the enforcement of EU rules; the representatives of the professional associations and trade unions that maintain a presence in Brussels; the bureaucrats who flit between their national civil services and lucrative Brussels secondments.

The professors whose chairs are endowed by the EU; the think-tanks that are contracted by the EU to carry out research projects on remarkably generous terms; the NGOs and charities in receipt of grants; the international aid consultants; the lobbyists, for whom the EU is a goldmine.

These recipients of EU largesse are likely to argue that Britain ought to have influence in Brussels, that the nation-state is passe and that the economy benefits from the EU. You are entitled to be sceptical about what they say.

Eurocrats employed by Brussels are naturally gung-ho on the Remain side. They are well paid (with a very advantageous tax perk) and not about to bite the hand that feeds them

My advice? Cherchez largent.

ONE of the reasons the EU is stagnating while other advanced economies grow is because cronyism and protectionism flourish in the undemocratic Brussels institutions.

Under this system, committees and technical experts meet and make trade-offs out of the public eye. It amounts to an invitation to lobbyists and pressure groups to reach secret arrangements behind closed doors.

No wonder lobbyists love the EU, intuiting from the moment they arrive that it was designed by and for people like them.

The grey, rainy streets of Brussels are to lobbying what Silicon Valley is to high-tech. There are reckoned to be around 25,000 of them plying their trade there as big business spends fortunes forging links with those who make the laws.

Oil companies, banks, new media outfits such as Microsoft and Google, pharmaceutical companies  all are at it, purchasing face-time to promote their vested interests. So, too, are causes such as Greenpeace, WWF and Oxfam.

What all these lobbies have in common, whether industrial or environmental, is a preference for corporatism and back-room deals.

What is bad about such a system is not just that it is intrinsically secretive and a paradise for vested interests. It also puts a major block on innovation and enterprise.

Vested interests rarely like innovation. Nor does the EU, which is, by its nature, hostile to anything new or different. Existing elites fear that the creative destruction of new inventions might jeopardise their position. They therefore lobby to keep things more or less as they are.

Causes such as Greenpeace and Oxfam, as well as oil companies, banks and pharmaceutical companies are all at it, purchasing face-time to promote their vested interests

In the 28 member states, this isnt always easy to achieve. The individual nations are democracies with independent judiciaries.

But in the EU, whose institutions were designed by men who distrusted democracy, it is far easier to reach cosy accommodations with decision-makers. As for the will of the people, that can go hang.

Let me give you an example. Twenty million citizens around the EU make use of complementary health products, but in 2005, the EU began to regulate higher-dose vitamin and mineral supplements, herbal remedies and other alternative medicines.

In 16 years as an MEP, I have never had so many letters and emails from worried constituents, for whom this was a burning issue.

Now, there are arguments on both sides for these medicines. I was puzzled. Why did the EU want to ban or restrict substances that were at best health-giving and at worst harmless? Regulation should be brought in only proportionately and only where there is an identified need.

Of course, Eurocrats see it differently. In their view, unregulated is synonymous with illegal. The idea that an absence of regulation might be the natural state of affairs finds little sympathy.

HOW THE EU WAS FOUNDED - BY SIGNING A BLANK CHEQUE There is an old joke in Brussels that, if the EU were a country applying to join itself, it would have to be rejected  on grounds of being insufficiently democratic. In fact, the Union is contemptuous of public opinion, not by some oversight, but by its very nature and origins. Back in 1951, the EUs founders had had a mixed experience with democracy  especially the populist strain that came into vogue before World War II. In their minds, too much democracy was associated with fascism. They prided themselves on creating a system where supreme power would be in the hands of technocrats immune to the ballot box. They designed a mechanism whereby public opinion would be tempered by a bureau of wise men. So much so that on the day the foreign ministers of the six founding members agreed the Treaty of Paris, the first step towards the EU, they signed a blank piece of paper. There hadnt been time to draw up an official text  so they left their officials to fill in the articles of the treaty later. To British eyes, this is an almost perfect symbol for what has always been wrong with the European project. The bureaucrats fill in the blanks to suit themselves. And they have done so with only one objective in mind: to promote ever-greater integration  with themselves at the centre of this relentless power machine. Again and again, Brussels institutions have set aside both public opinion and the instructions of member states to advance their agenda of more Europe. Under the direction of these Eurocrats, rather than being an umbrella organisation for the nation states beneath it, the EU comes closer to qualifying as a state in its own right. But it falls well short of being a state based on the rule of law. The rules are applied one-sidedly and arbitrarily to advance the goal of political amalgamation. The most recent example of this was the eurozone bail-out of Greece. Bail-outs are expressly outlawed in the EU. Article 125 of the Treaty is unequivocal: The Union shall not be liable for, or assume the commitments of, central governments, regional, local or other public authorities, other bodies governed by public law, or public undertakings of any Member State. This was no mere technicality. It was the basis on which the Germans agreed to join the euro in the first place. As Angela Merkel put it in 2010: We have a Treaty under which there is no possibility of paying to bail out states. But when it became clear that the euro wouldnt survive without cash transfusions, all this was shoved aside. To British eyes, the whole process seemed bizarre. The moment the rules became inconvenient, they were ignored. When the British Press said so, though, it was mocked for its insular, Anglo-Saxon literal-mindedness. Rules are ignored, the will of the people routinely ignored. In the EU, democracy has been thrown out of the window. Advertisement

British herbalists had been essentially self-regulating since a dispensation dating from the reign of Henry VIII, which gave them the freedom to trade without being prosecuted for witchcraft. In Brussels, this was regarded not as an ancient liberty, but as a loophole that needed closing.

Some of the large pharmaceutical companies, well understanding the Eurocratic mindset, saw an opportunity to put their smaller rivals out of business.

The new legislation required expensive tests that the big companies could afford, but which were beyond the means of small producers. As independent herbalists reduced the range of what they could sell, and in some cases went out of business altogether, the giants assumed a larger market share.

Now, who gained from that procedure and who lost? The multi-nationals did very well out of it, obviously. Consumers did badly. But the European economy as a whole suffered, too.

Whenever a cartel succeeds in raising barriers to entry, the climate becomes less congenial to start-ups, and some entrepreneurs take their energy elsewhere.

Lobbying by big business was also at the heart of perhaps the worst scandal ever to hit the car industry when it emerged last year that Volkswagen had been programming some of its diesel engines to cheat emissions tests. The discovery was, of course, a terrible blow to the company, but it raised another question.

Why had the EU, almost uniquely in the world, adopted standards that promoted diesel engines? While the American and Japanese governments were encouraging hybrid and electric cars, the EU struck out in a very different direction, enforcing emissions standards that focused on carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of nitrogen oxide.

The diesel market was almost dead in the late Eighties, when Volkswagen revived the technology with its turbocharged direct injection (TDI) engines. European car manufacturers saw a market opportunity and set about lobbying for Brussels rules that would give them an advantage over their rivals.

It wasnt an easy case to make. Diesel emits four times more NO2 than petrol and 22 times more of the tiny pollutants that penetrate our lungs, brains and hearts.

Yet, although diesel is generally the filthier fuel, it does produce 15 per cent less CO2 than petrol. And so a massive operation was begun to sell the new standard as part of the Kyoto climate change process to reduce CO2 emissions. Health risks were overlooked, and the conversation was skilfully turned to global warming.

It worked. During the mid-Nineties, the car companies negotiated a deal with the European Commission which prioritised a cut in CO2 emissions over the more immediate health problems caused by exhaust fumes  an arrangement announced in 1998 by Neil Kinnock, the then Transport Commissioner.

According to Simon Birkett, of Clean Air in London: It was practically an order to switch to diesel. The European car fleet was transformed from being almost entirely petrol to predominantly diesel. Britain, Germany, France and Italy offered subsidies and sweeteners to persuade car makers and the public to buy diesel.

As a result, diesel cars went from less than 10 per cent of the UK market in 1995 to more than half in 2012, with equivalent rises in other EU states.

Because the industry had been savvy enough to make its case in terms of climate change, the ministers and pressure groups who might have scrutinised what was happening gave carmakers the benefit of the doubt  up until the shock of the 2015 Volkwagen revelations.

In short, the EU was lobbied by a vested interest and adopted rules that increased air pollution and led to the needless deaths of thousands of European citizens.

No one set out deliberately to kill. No doubt the Brussels-based lobbyists acting for the car giants genuinely convinced themselves that they were saving the planet. Still, EU policy ended up killing many innocent people, in the commercial interest of one industrial sector. It was a terrible blunder.
The mother of Australia's most prolific mass murderer has attempted to commit suicide twice and needs to be recognised as a victim too, an author is claiming.

Carleen Bryant, whose son Martin Bryant killed 35 people and injured 23 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996, has been loathed and pitied by the media and the public since the massacre, writer Sonya Voumard told Adelaide Now this week.

As the 20th anniversary of Australia's worst mass shooting approaches on April 28 and 29, Mrs Bryant - who her lawyers said had tried to take her own life on two occasions - also deserves sympathy, Ms Voumard argues in her book The Media and the Massacre.

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Carleen Bryant, (pictured) whose son Martin Bryant killed 35 people and injured 23 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996, needs to be seen as a victim as well, author Sonya Voumard said this week

Martin Bryant became Australia's most prolific mass murderer after he opened fire on crowds at Port Arthur Historic Site with an AR-15 high-powered gun on April 28 in 1996

'Her story became a prized commodity in the media marketplace,' Ms Voumard told News.com.au.

'She was chased by the media, they set up camp behind her fence and someone climbed over. As a fairly naive person, on the occasions she did engage she was upset with the results.'

After years of media scrutiny and rumours as the country tried to figure out why her son had committed such a horrendous crime, Mrs Bryant eventually wrote her own book in 2010 and claimed that her son was innocent.

Despite his taped confession and guilty plea, Mrs Bryant told 60 Minutes that there was 'no evidence' Martin was at Port Arthur.

The pain of that fateful day when Martin opened fire on an unsuspecting crowd at the busy Broad Arrow Cafe is still a struggle for the survivors two decades on.

Peter and Pauline Grenfell broke their silence to ABC on Monday about their holiday in Tasmania that turned deadly when they decided to stop at the Port Arthur Historic Site just before Martin appeared with an AR-15 high-powered gun.

Mrs Bryant has tried to commit suicide twice since her son, then 28 (pictured), went on a killing spree

Bryant's motive for the killing has never been established, but he is believed to have been mentally sub-normal, with an IQ of just 66

Martin walked out of the cafe and fired at the couple, who decided to flee up Jetty Road, according to ABC.

While running for cover as Martin shot at them, Mr and Mrs Grenfell ran into victims Nanette Mikac and her two daughters, three-year-old Madeline and six-year-old Alannah.

The group of five were almost at the exit when a car pulled up beside them and stopped and Ms Mikac approached the car, believing it was someone trying to help her and her children, Ms Grenfell said.

As they stood beside the car Mr Grenfell noticed it was Martin who was driving.

Martin's father (pictured left) committed suicide in 1993, which is believed to have contributed to his mental state

'That's when I seen the gun on the front seat and I yelled out, 'It's him, run',' he told ABC.

He and his wife quickly hid behind a nearby tree but Martin shot Ms Mikac and her daughters before getting back in the car and driving away.

'A mother and her two children saved us. They saved us, and I was always just so sorry we couldn't save them,' Mrs Grenfell said.

'They gave us the precious seconds to move away. So, yes, we were lucky and we were fortunate but that doesn't take away the pain of what happened. That stays with you.'

The couple has since met with Ms Mikac's husband, Walter Mikac  who wanted to know about the last moments of his loved one's lives.

Walter Mikac (pictured), whose wife and daughters were filled by Martin, reflects on the tragedy 20 years later

In the years following the massacre Mr Mikac has become one of the most vocal supporters of gun control in Australia.

'If Australia was shocked at what happened, Tasmania was overwhelmed in many cases,' Mikac recently told The Age.

'There was almost a sense of guilt that they had such poor firearms legislation that that was able to happen.'

Mr Mikac said he thinks about his wife and two children every day and wonders what his daughters would be doing now.

Although he won't be participating in the 20th anniversary commemorations, Mr Mikac said he thinks they are 'a great sign of respect.'
Business Secretary Sajid Javid, pictured today, said the Government was prepared to 'co-invest' in the UK steel industry

Sajid Javid today revealed the Government was prepared to 'co-invest' in the Port Talbot steel works.

The Business Secretary has repeatedly insisted a full nationalisation of the massive South Wales steel works would not work despite demands from Labour and trade unions to take nothing off the table.

But in a major Commons statement on the steel crisis, Mr Javid said the Government wanted to make clear how far it was prepared to go to 'make sure steel is a success'.

Tata's announcement it wanted to completely pull out of the UK steel industry raised fears 40,000 jobs could be lost.

But today's announcement the firm had sold its Scunthorpe plant, the heart of its long products division making things like railway track, to financiers Greybull Capital, raised hopes of a future for the industry.

Turning to the Port Talbot works and Tata's remaining UK business, Mr Javid told MPs: 'I've been in contact with potential buyers making clear that the Government stands ready to help.

'This includes looking at the possibility of co-investing with a buyer on commercial terms.'

Pressed for details by MPs, Mr Javid added: 'I have said that to demonstrate when we look at all the options, we really will look at all the options.

'It's possible someone might come forward and ask for investment or funding from Government in lots of different ways.

'It has to be on commercial terms but it is a demonstration of how far Government will go to make sure steel is a success.'

Tata's executive group director Koushik Chatterjee today said the firm had appointed KPMG as advisers to the sale process for its remaining UK business.

Mr Chatterjee declined to give a timescale for any sale, saying there would be different stages, starting with the launch of the official process today.

He said: 'We will run this process in a credible manner but it is important we don't have a very long uncertain period for the employees, suppliers and customers.'

The business as a whole, including Port Talbot, is losing 1 million a day and for the last year has been making 'significant' losses, he said.

The deal to sell Scunthorpe's steelworks was signed today. Pictured from left, Bimendra Jha, executive chairman Tata Long Steel UK Limited, Paul McBean, Scunthorpe multi-union chairman, and Marc Meyohas Partner Greybull Capital

The board's preferred option is to sell the business as a whole. It is understood that more than two firms have expressed an interest in Tata's plants.

The talks with Greybull over the Scunthorpe site have lasted nine months and it was reported last week the firm could look to expand its investment in British steel to include Port Talbot.

Greybull partner Marc Meyohas today said his firm would provide 400 million in a investment and financing package for the Scunthorpe site and linked businesses.

He said: 'We are delighted to have reached agreement for the acquisition of LPE, which we believe can become a strong business, with a highly skilled workforce and great potential.

'I would personally like to thank Tata Steel, the trade unions and the British and French Governments for their support, which was essential in ensuring the agreement.

'We are now focused on taking the deal to completion in order that the business can start its next chapter with confidence.'

Mr Meyohas would not be drawn today on whether he would invest further in Port Talbot but said the firm was 'always interested in growth'.

Negotiations: A deal to buy Tata Steel's plant in Scunthorpe, pictured, was announced today

Announcing the Scunthorpe sale, Bimlendra Jha, executive chairman of the Tata Long Products Europe business, said: 'Today marks a significant milestone in the sale of the Long Products Europe business.

'This sale is the best possible outcome for employees who have worked relentlessly to ensure the business's survival, and helped to make it attractive to a potential buyer.'

Mr Jha refused to be drawn interviews about the implications for the Port Talbot plant of the sale.

He told Sky News: 'The process will take its own course.'

Hans Fischer, chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations, said: 'Under these current challenging market conditions in Europe with the soaring levels of imports from China, we are happy that Tata Steel UK and Greybull Capital have entered the final stage of completion of the sale of shareholding in Longs Steel UK.

'This transaction will offer a future for the Long Products Europe business and its 4,400 employees in the UK.'

The sale covers several UK-based assets including the Scunthorpe steelworks, two mills in Teesside, an engineering workshop in Workington, a design consultancy in York, and associated distribution facilities, as well as a mill in northern France.

At risk: Efforts are underway to try and save Tata's other UK assets, including its Port Talbot plant, above

Gareth Stace, director of UK Steel, said: 'This is clearly good news for the British steel sector, and I hope it will provide a much-needed boost for steelmaking in the UK.

'However, while very welcome it does not mean that we are out of the woods yet.

'A long-term investor is needed, in the very short term, for the remainder of the whole of the Tata Steel UK business, including Port Talbot.'

A DEAL TO SAVE 4,400 UK JOBS AT SITES ACROSS THE NORTH Tata's Long Products division employs almost 5,000 people - 4,400 of whom work in Britain. The company produces products including railway tracks, wire rods and Tata claimed it offered the shortest lead times in Europe on the key products. Tata Steel's Long Products Europe business is made up of the following facilities: Teesside Beam Mill, Lackenby

Special Profiles, Skinningrove

Hayange Rail Mill, north east France

Immingham Bulk Terminal (port terminal)

Engineering workshop, Workington

Design consultancy, York

Associated distribution facilities in the UK Advertisement

Union members at Scunthorpe are currently being balloted on whether to accept a 3 per cent cut in pay and reductions in pension contributions for a year to smooth the path for the deal, with the result due next week.

Dave Hulse, national officer of the GMB union, said: 'GMB welcomes the announcement that Greybull Capital has reached an agreement with Tata Steel that safeguards our members' jobs, especially given the recent announcement that Tata will sell its entire UK operation.

'The trade unions have been in negotiations over a long period of time, looking at temporary agreements to make sure that the first 12 months of the sale are successful.'

Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community union, said: 'So far, Tata Steel has honoured its commitment to be a responsible seller of the business by allowing time for the deal to be done.'

Scunthorpe Labour MP Nic Dakin said the deal had been a 'big ask' for the work force and paid tribute to the unions for leading members through the sale process.

He told Sky News the Government has 'made this challenging period into a crisis' and added: 'It's good to be coming through that.

'If you see a steelworks disappear, as we have seen in Redcar, it is devastating.'

Mr Javid, pictured in Mumbai following a meeting with Tata last week, today said the Scunthorpe sale was a 'step in the right direction'

Andrew Percy, Tory MP for the neighbouring Brigg and Goole constituency, said: 'I am pleased that a sale purchase agreement for the Scunthorpe steel works has now been agreed.

'This is something we have all been working on for some time and something I have kept residents updated on. If the sale is completed the site would be re-branded as British Steel.

GREYBULL ARE TURN AROUND SPECIALISTS WHO PUMP IN CASH IN RETURN FOR NEW CONTRACTS Greybull Capital ploughs money into struggling businesses in a bid turn them around and make rapid profits Greybull Capital will attempt to revive the fortunes of a steelworks after driving a number of business rescues and turnarounds. The family investment group saved Monarch Airlines in October 2014 when it pumped 125 million into the business to prevent it from collapsing. Since then, the low-cost carrier has swung from a 94 million loss to a 40 million profit in the year to the end of October, albeit on the back of a painful restructuring, which saw staff take a 30 per cent pay cut and 700 jobs lost. Monarch is now being lined up for a possible sale, according to reports last month. The investment firm was also at the centre of a deal with supermarket chain Morrisons when it pulled out of its loss-making convenience shops in September last year. It saw the grocer sell 140 M local stores for 25 million to retail entrepreneur Mike Greene, who was backed by Greybull Capital. Mr Greene rebranded the chain My Local and announced that he would open 10 more stores and add 200 staff to its 2,300-strong workforce. The investment group also invested funds in an attempt to rescue electrical retailer Comet led by private equity firm OpCapita. But the turnaround attempt became mired in controversy when OpCapita put the business into administration, sparking store closures and hundreds of job losses. Based in London, the family investment group was founded in 2008 by Marc Meyohas, his brother Nathaniel and Richard Perlhagen. The firm is also the driving force behind Arc Specialist Engineering and manufacturer Plessey Semiconductors. Advertisement

'Today's news is to be welcomed but there are still a few issues to be resolved before the purchase is completed which is why we must remain cautious. The Government stands ready to help resolve these remaining issues.'

Mr Javid will address MPs later today on his efforts to find a buyer for Tata's loss-making UK business.

Speaking after the Scunthorpe sale was announced, Mr Javid said it was a 'step in the right direction' and pledged to keep working on the wider steel industry.

He said: 'We will continue to work with Tata and Greybull and, as we have said, stand ready to provide funding on a commercial basis if required.

'The UK and Welsh Governments are working tirelessly to support Tata Steel to reach a deal for Port Talbot and their other sites across the UK.

'This agreement sends positive signals to any potential investor for the rest of Tata's UK business.'

Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle said: 'If the reports are correct, this is welcome news for the workforce, for Scunthorpe and for the wider steel industry.

'The trade unions and the plant management should be congratulated for helping to secure the deal.

'While the industry is facing a perfect storm, this shows there is a viable future for steel.

'The Government failed to heed our warnings of the growing challenges facing the industry and when the crisis escalated, the Business Secretary was missing in action.

'With the sale of the wider Tata business commencing today, the Government must take all action necessary to address the challenges facing the industry and ensure that a suitable buyer is found.'

Mr Javid flew to India last week to meet company executives and ask for enough time to find a buyer.

Liberty is the only company expressing a public interest in buying the assets, including the country's biggest steel plant at Port Talbot in south Wales.

The formal sales process will be launched today.

Yesterday it emerged that Chinese firms accused of dumping steel that have led to the destruction of the British industry have been given loans by the European Investment Bank.

A loan of 40million was made to one of the worst culprits of the practice, the Wuhan Iron & Steel Corporation  which has the Chinese communist government as its main shareholder.

Cheap steel imports, mainly from China, have brought the British steel industry to its knees, threatening to close the remaining operations.
The comedian slipped Taylor a ring while the men broke into song

One of the men said Taylor had a gun, prompting a fake search by Mabe

They stood there menacingly until Mabe showed up dressed as a cop

A Kentucky woman thought she was getting robbed by a gang in Louisville - but in reality, her boyfriend was just about to propose.

Taylor, of Lebanon, teamed up with comedian Tom Mabe to surprise his partner Amanda.

She thought she was going to a restaurant with Taylor after winning a gift card when four men stopped them on the street.

A video of the prank shows Amanda seemingly terrified as the four men corner her and Taylor menacingly in front of a bank.

Taylor (pictured in a plaid shirt) and his partner Amanda (pictured in a black t-shirt) were walking in Louisville, Kentucky, when a group of men stopped them in front of a bank

Amanda tried to keep walking but the men kept getting in her way, gathering around her and Taylor on the sidewalk

The men wouldn't let Amanda through as she tried to figure out a way to continue her itinerary. They eventually appeared to corner Amanda and Taylor

Later on, Amanda could be seen clutching her belongings, including a water bottle and her purse, as the men kept causing trouble

Amanda, holding a water bottle as well as her purse, tries to walk around the group of men but they kept standing in her way.

Taylor, who met Mabe a few years ago after reaching out for comedy advice according to Inside Edition, knew there was nothing to fear but didn't let on he was in on the joke.

Mabe had offered to do something special for the couple after seeing pictures of their baby son, Bodie, on Facebook.

The comedian dressed as a police officer and even enlisted the services of an off-duty cop in case the situation got too much to handle, Inside Edition reported.

He showed up halfway through the prank, as the four men continued to argue with Taylor and Amanda, pretending to check on the situation.

Comedian Tom Mabe (pictured dressed as a police officer) pretended to search Taylor after one of the men said Taylor had told him he had a gun

Taylor then dropped down on one knee and asked Amanda to take his hand as he was about to propose. The young woman, who has a baby son with Taylor, seemed utterly shocked as she dropped all her belongings

But Taylor was in on the joke and Mabe discretely gave him a box (pictured) containing Amanda's engagement ring during the fake search

The four men, who are actually part of a band called Linkin' Bridge, sang a capella while Taylor asked a speechless Amanda to marry him, to which she shook her head yes

The couple came in for a group hug with the four men. Amanda later said she had never been that scared in her life but wasn't mad at Taylor after the prank, just happy they weren't getting robbed for real

'Are you having a problem here?' Mabe asked.

'Yeah, he said he had a gun,' one of the men replied, pointing to Taylor.

'No, we never said that,' a panicked Amanda said, shaking her head.

'She's lying,' one of the men insisted.

Mabe then took Taylor aside as if to search him.

But instead, the comedian slipped a ring box in Taylor's hand and started snapping his fingers, prompting the four men to break into song.

'Look at me I'm on my knees and I want to marry you,' they began in perfect a capella harmony.

Clearly shocked, Amanda dropped her water bottle and brought her hands to her head, asking: 'What the f**'?'

Meanwhile, Taylor came down on one knee and took her hand, producing the ring.

The four men kept singing as people stopped to watch.

'Will you marry me?' Taylor asked.

A speechless Amanda shook her head yes.

Taylor slipped the ring on her finger and his fiancee leaned in for a kiss.

The four men, who are actually part of a band called Linkin' Bridge, ended their song as the couple and Mabe came in for a group hug.

'You scared me to death,' Amanda said, laughing.

'I have never been so scared in my entire life,' she later told KSLA.

'I was not mad at all, I was so happy we weren't actually being robbed.'

Linkin' Bridge pulled a similar prank in December last year by showing up at various locations, including a parking garage and a diner, looking as if they were up to no good before eventually singing Christmas carols.
An adolescent girl who was sexually abused by her stepfather found an unlikely source of support among a group of Los Angeles bikers as the court date to testify against her perpetrator loomed closer.

Bikers Against Child Abuse, or BACA, rallied together to protect the girl known only as 'FA', by standing guard outside her house throughout the night, escorting her to school, and welcoming her into their tight-knit community.

The incredibly moving video, which is seeing a resurgence online after it was shot for Yahoo's Viewfinder series two years ago, details FA's recovery with the help of a heroic group of men and women.

BACA, which has chapters established all around the world, first formed in 1995 by a biker, licensed social worker and registered therapist named John Paul Lilly.

When he met an eight-year-old abuse victim who was too scared to leave his house, Lilly included the boy in his biking community, and saw a marked improvement in his sociability over the course of a few weeks.

The group, which began in Utah and spread to places from Iceland to New Zealand, aims to 'empower children who have been victims of child abuse to no longer be afraid of the world that they live in.'

One member of the Los Angeles chapter known as 'Bikerdad' said: 'If they need escorts to court, to therapy, to school, if it takes us having to stand outside and guard their house all night so they can sleep, then that's what we'll do.'

Another biker known as 'Tombstone' said: 'We're a rough lot, and we're scarier than their perpetrators. We are scarier than their demons. It works.'

He said BACA's had a powerful impact on abused children, adding: 'They get that any one of us would gladly take a bullet for them.

'It is probably the most important role in my life. These kids have no one. We're that single strand of barbed wire between hell and happiness for them.

'All these kids are our heroes. We're just the guys who ride around and give them some support. I'm in it for life.'

BACA, which has chapters established all around the world, first formed in 1995 by a biker named John Paul Lilly, who was a licensed social worker and registered therapist

They helped FA, who was abused by her stepfather when she was 10, by guarding her house in the night, escorting her to school, and welcoming her into their community

FA, who was abused by her stepfather when she was 10, pressed charges after she told her mother at the age of 12.

Her mom wrote the memoir I Am Gonna Tell under the pen name Jane T. Doe and described FA's stepfather as 'young, handsome man with a nine-to-five job' whom she never imagined would be the cause of her daughters' pain.

While FA was fun, outgoing and fearless as a young girl, she eventually became suicidal after the abuse.

She would shower with her clothes on, vigilantly check if the doors and windows were locked, and had trouble eating or sleeping at night.

FA, now a young woman in college, held back tears as she recounted the trauma she experienced, saying: 'I was in the worst time of my life, going through so much, seeing my family go through so much.

'I really gave up and everyone around me knew that.'

After she pressed charges, it took another three years until the case was brought to trial, during which time FA and her mother feared for their safety.

When she had to testify against her stepfather three years after she pressed charges, BACA members went to court with her and offered their emotional support

Her abuser was jailed, and FA credited her journey to the heroic group by saying: 'BACA pretty much turned me into the woman I am today.' She graduated high school and attended college while working full time

BACA, which gets referrals from the police, child-care agencies, and guardians, stepped in to protect FA, and her face beamed as she recalled seeing the gang outside her house for the first time.

They would stand guard around the clock and even appeared in the stands of court to show their solidarity as FA testified against her former stepfather.

FA said: 'I looked over and saw my stepdad just staring at me and I felt like I could have passed out or died just from his glare.

'And I looked over and BACA's there, and they're just sitting there with their thumbs up giving me the emotional support that I needed.'

Her abuser was jailed, and FA credited her journey to the heroic group by saying: 'BACA pretty much turned me into the woman I am today.'
Australia's last refrigerator factory has produced its final fridge today, after white goods company Electrolux decided to move its manufacturing to south east Asia and eastern Europe.

The factory in Orange, 254km west of Sydney, began as a World War II munitions plant in 1945, reported the ABC.

The following year it was turned into a white goods factory and produced fans, stoves, washing machines and freezers, but recently it has been fridges only.

Electrolux is closing its factory in Orange which is the last refrigerator factory in Australia and has been producing white goods since 1946

Of the remaining 300 employees at Electrolux's factory, 210 will have their last day on Tuesday, while 90 employees will stay on for up to eight months decommissioning the plant.

The company announced in 2013 it had decided to consolidate its Asia Pacific refrigeration and as a consequence, would be closing the Electrolux Refrigeration Plant at Orange.

At the time, managing director Dr John Brown said manufacturing operations would be wound down 'in a gradual and orderly manner' starting late 2015 and through 2016, with the research and development centre continuing for up to a further two years after that.

'The company's exhaustive investment study concluded that Electrolux is able to manufacture refrigerators currently made here more cost effectively in other factories in Asia and Eastern Europe,' Dr Brown said in a statement.

The plant is said to have pumped more than $70 million into the local economy in Orange.

At its peak it employed more than 2,000 people and the Queen visited it on her 1970 tour.

The company is moving its fridge manufacturing to south east Asia and eastern Europe as it is more cost effective

Workers interviewed by the ABC said 'it was going to be like leaving part of the family behind'.

General manager of the factory at Orange, Mark O'Kane has worked at the factory for 29 years.

He paid tribute to the staff in how they handled the closure and continued to focus on quality and safety.

Electrolux employees at the factory in Orange told the ABC finishing up at the company would 'be like leaving part of their family behind'

'There are millions of products in Australian and New Zealand homes every day being used; that's a tremendous legacy,' he told the ABC.

One of the factory's longest serving employees, Phil Johnston, said he had seen a lot of changes in fridge making in his 44 years.

'We used to get the steel in black, we used to fold it, paint it, we had our own paint shops here, we used to do chrome plating, anodising, powder coating, we used to do everything here, in house,' he said.

Another employee Ron Finch said not many employees were 'bouyant about the closure'.

'It's a profitable factory,' he said.

'The thing that a lot of us feel is just the impact on the town.'

General manager of the factory Mark O'Kane paid tribute to the staff in how they handled the closure and continued to focus on quality and safety

Of the remaining 300 employees at Electrolux's factory, 210 will have their last day on Tuesday, while 90 employees will stay on for up to eight months decommissioning the plant
Police are searching for the real-life hamburglar after a DC man broke into a Five Guys and grilled up some burgers.

Surveillance footage at the fast-food restaurant captured the man in the store sometime between 3.10am and 5.05am on March 18.

Officer Sean Hickman said that the suspect snuck inside the restaurant on Irving Street in Columbia Heights after a delivery person left.

Police are searching for the real-life hamburglar after a DC man broke into a Five Guys and grilled up some burgers

The footage shows the man in the sink area of the closed restaurant

As the man gets to the grill, he pauses momentarily to figure out how to fire it up and without further hesitation turns a few knobs and grabs a wide spatula

'He cooked food. I don't know if he made a hamburger or not,' Hickman told The Washington Post.

Police said the man stole a bottle of water along with the food that he cooked.

The footage first shows the man poking around the Coke machine.

It then cuts to an area in the back of the closed restaurant where the 'person of interest' appears to be carrying a drink cup as he leaves the sink area and heads for the grill.

As he gets to the grill, he pauses momentarily to figure out how to fire it up and without further hesitation turns a few knobs and grabs a wide spatula.

The man is then seen in what appears to be the break room for the employees with lockers in the background.

He reenters the grill area, checks to see if it's heated up and then tosses two patties on it.

After he flips the burgers he adds what looks like cheese to each patty.

The suspect then makes a phone call and opens a pack of buns and places two buns on the grill.

From the footage, it looks like the man made two Little Cheeseburgers, but it's still unclear.

Police said the incident is being investigated as a burglary and DC Crime Solvers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for any information that leads to an arrest.

The man is then seen in what appears to be the break room for the employees with lockers in the background

The suspect makes a phone call and opens a pack of buns (pictured)

From the footage, it looks like the man made two Little Cheeseburgers, but it's still unclear
This is the heartwarming moment a two-year-old boy pays his respects to U.S. soldiers at Houston airport by walking over and shaking their hands.

Cell phone footage captures the adorable moment the boy is walking along the tarmac at the airport with his family while a line of flag-bearing soldiers stand nearby.

Showing no hesitation, the boy toddles over to the first soldier in line before stretching out his hand, which the soldier gladly takes in his.

The boy looks to be wandering back towards his family before changing his mind and going back to shake the hands of the remaining servicemen.

As the men stretch their hands out to take his, the boy's siblings can be heard laughing in the background and asking: 'What is he doing?'
An actor who played a drug dealer in Coronation Street has been jailed after 8,500 worth of cannabis was found in his garage.

Chris Hargreaves played five roles on the soap in the 1980s and 1990s, most recently gangster Carl Foster, who caused the death of popular character Des Barnes.

Hargreaves, 48, was arrested after police found 3kg of high-grade cannabis during a raid on his former family home in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Chris Hargreaves, 48, left outside court, was arrested after police found 3kg of high-grade cannabis during a raid on his former family home in Salford, Greater Manchester. Pictured right, Samantha Hargreaves

Officers also discovered 38,000 in 'dirty money' stuffed into Tesco carrier bags, shoe boxes and drawers at the property, which Hargreaves shared with ex-wife Samantha and their five children.

Hargreaves, now of Newcastle-under-Lyne, Staffordshire, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail following a trial at Manchester Crown Court.

Prosecutor Michael Maher told the jury that investigators discovered Hargreaves and his ex-wife had laundered 17,500 through their children's bank accounts.

The couple also had a 24,000 caravan with a 4,000-a-year pitch which could not be paid for by the modest earnings from his small acting roles and fledgling business ventures, or her mobile hairdressing business.

Chris Hargreaves, who also appeared in Where The Heart Is and Inspector Morse, told the court the money found at his property had come from investors for a film he was producing.

The actor claimed a BAFTA-winning director was advising him on the project, titled 'I Know A Safe Place'.

Small roles: Chris Hargreaves appeared in shows including Inspector Morse and Where The Heart Is, pictured

However when the prosecution phoned a number he said belonged to the director, it connected to an elderly woman with no knowledge of Hargreaves.

Hargreaves was found guilty at an earlier trial of possessing class B drugs with intent to supply, money laundering and possessing the club drug M-Cat, dating back to January 2012.

Samantha Hargreaves, 46, of Salford, was found guilty of money laundering and handed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with supervision and 120 hours unpaid work.

Her defence described her as a 'pillar of her community', and the judge accepted she had been implicated by Mr Hargreaves.
Australia's most talked about political staffer Tamara Candy has weighed in on the fashion choices of the nation's most powerful people.

Ms Candy made headlines for exposing online trolls who labelled her 'a taxpayer-funded call girl' after she posted photographs of herself on Instagram in revealing clothing.

Armed with her interest in fashion, Ms Candy, who is doing her PhD in political science and is an occasional staffer for conservative MP George Christensen, doled out fashion advice to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Foreign Affair Minister Julie Bishop and Senator Jacqui Lambie on The Morning Show.

Australia's most talked about political staffer Tamara Candy (pictured) has weighed in on the fashion choices of the nation's most powerful people

She even gave her opinion on her boss's love for 'gangster' pinstripe suits and urged Opposition Leader Bill Shorten not to be 'afraid of wearing blue ties'.

When asked for her thoughts on Mr Turnbull during the Channel Seven segment, Ms Candy, 27, said he was 'always suave'.

'He's on point at the moment. I will say though that I love the leather jacket. I wish he would wear it more often, not just in Q&A. If he could wear it at Question Time that would be perfect,' she said.

As for Mr Turnbull's right-hand woman, Ms Candy said Ms Bishop had 'amazing' fashion sense.

Ms Candy (pictured) made headlines for exposing online trolls who labelled her 'a taxpayer-funded call girl'

The 28-year-old PhD student said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (left and right with Julie Bishop) was 'always suave' and 'on point'

Mr Turnbull (left), like his deputy Julie Bishop (right), is a fan of tailored clothing

Ms Candy said Ms Bishop always had 'beautiful blazers' and her hair was never out of place

'She always has these beautiful blazers and I've never seen her with a hair out of place. She's always perfect,' she said.

Speaking about her boss, Ms Candy said he was a big fan of the 'gangster suit'.

'He always wears that. I think that's great... He loves a pinstripe suit, it really suits him,' she said.

Possibly making a political statement, the former part-time model had a brief message for Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

'Don't be afraid of wearing blue ties and I leave it at that,' she said.

But Ms Candy had some kind words for his deputy Tanya Plibersek who she praised for always looking 'fantastic'.

Speaking about her boss George Christensen (right), Ms Candy (left) said he was a big fan of the 'gangster suit'

She said Mr Christensen's pinstripe (above) suits were a good fit for the Queensland MP

The political staffer, who was hired by Mr Christensen to research Sharia law, appeared on The Morning Show to defend herself against the haters

She also knocked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his love of trucker caps

Ms Candy said she was glad Senator Jacqui Lambie's (left) 'yellow scarf' phase (right) - a nod to her former allies, the Palmer United Party - was over

'She's a power dresser. She always looks smart,' she said.

Turning her attention to Tasmania firebrand senator Jacqui Lambie, Ms Candy said she was glad her 'yellow scarf' phase - a nod to her former allies, the Palmer United Party - was over.

But Ms Candy said she was 'brave' for wearing a questionable black-and-white printed shirt.

She also knocked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his love of trucker caps.

'This trucker cap that says "Make America Great Again", I think there's nothing great about trucker caps. I think they should have stayed in 2003 where they came from,' Ms Candy said.

The political staffer, who was hired by Mr Christensen to research Sharia law, appeared on The Morning Show to defend herself against the haters.

'I'm more of lone-wolf... I march to the beat of my own drum. If people don't like it, that's their choice. I'll always do my own thing,' she said defiantly.
One of Australia's most powerful workers unions has been accused of 'endorsing' a post on social media that compared Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to Adolf Hitler.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union Victorian secretary John Setka shared a tweet that included a quote often attributed to Hitler and linked it to the Prime Minister, the Daily Telegraph claims.

'We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce salaries and take away their right to strike  Adolf Hitler,' the post read, which the newspaper claims Mr Setka retweeted.

Powerful union official John Setka (pictured) has been accused of comparing Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to Adolf Hitler on social media

It also reported the CFMEU's official Twitter account accused Mr Turnbull and his Government of going to 'war' with unions, in reference to the Coalition's plan to reintroduce the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

The CMFEU has clashed with the government in recent times, and last week threw its support behind Labor's proposed royal commission into the banking sector.

'The CFMEU welcomes Labor's strong stance on financial misconduct by committing to a Royal Commission,' national secretary Michael O'Connor said.

'The Turnbull Government has failed to act in the best interests of small business, investors, mortgage holders and Australian families who keep their life-savings in Australia's big banks.

It has been claimed Mr Setka retweeted a post from another user containing a quote often attributed to Hitler, referencing it to Mr Turnbull

The CFMEU also reportedly accused the Prime Minister (pictured) of declaring war on unions around Australia

'The community has lost faith in our financial system after repeated financial scandals and the situation is so bad that even Liberal National MPs have joined the call for their own Government to take action.

'The sad truth is the Government has ignored the repeated exploitation of Australian families in favour of its mates in the big end of town.'

Daily Mail Australia contacted the CFMEU for comment.

The CMFEU and Mr Setka have clashed with the government in recent times, and last week the union threw its support behind Labor's proposed royal commission into the banking sector
As he winds down toward the end of his eight-year term as President, Obama has been keen to trumpet all of the things he believes his administration got right during his time at the helm.

But during an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Obama took a moment to reflect on his biggest mistake while Commander in Chief.

Speaking to host Chris Wallace, Obama said: 'Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya.'

Scroll down for video

Barack Obama has acknowledged that his biggest mistake as president was failing to prepare for what would happen to Libya after the fall of Colonel Gaddafi back in 2011

While Libyans initially rejoiced at their new-found freedom, the country quickly descended into chaos as armed militias split it apart and no central government could be formed

In 2011, a US-led NATO coalition began bombing forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi as he threatened to slaughter the residents of Benghazi following rebellions there in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Those strikes helped turn the balance of power in favor of the rebels who ejected Gaddafi from his power-base in Tripoli, before facing down in a last-stand at the city of Sirte, on the coast.

As the last loyalist district of the city fell, Gaddafi attempted to flee in a convoy which was picked up and then bombed from the British Royal Air Force.

Rebel troops soon found Gaddafi hiding in a culvert at the side of the road before dragging him out and beating him.

Graphic footage taken at the time shows a heavily bleeding Gaddafi being dragged through an aggressive crowd before he was shot dead.

While the overthrow of his dictatorial regime was hailed as a success for NATO coalition, forces quickly withdrew from the country without providing support to any government that emerged.

As a result the country broke apart and is now governed by a series of militias that fought against Gaddafi, who regularly spar with one another while no central government has formed.

Obama has previously said he considers Libya to be 'a mess', though aides have confided that in secret he refers to the country as a 's***-show'

Gaddafi was forced from his stronghold of Tripoli following pressure from armed rebels and US-led NATO airstrikes, before he was found hiding in a culvert, beaten, and then shot

As a result, ISIS has managed to take advantage of the situation and now controls a large swathe of coastline including Gaddafi's former stronghold of Sirte.

Obama has discussed the shortcomings of the mission in Libya before. In a profile piece with The Atlantic he described the situation as 'a mess', though aides say in private he calls it a 's***-show'.

While accepting his own part of the blame for Libya turning out as it has, Obama also laid a fair share of the blame in Europe's doorstep in the same interview.

He said: 'When I go back and I ask myself what went wrong, theres room for criticism, because I had more faith in the Europeans, given Libyas proximity, being invested in the follow-up.'

Speaking about his own missteps, he added: 'The degree of tribal division in Libya was greater than our analysts had expected.

'And our ability to have any kind of structure there that we could interact with and start training and start providing resources broke down very quickly.'

The political instability in Libya has allowed groups such as ISIS to seize territory around Gaddafi's old stronghold of Sirte (pictured here in black)

Later in the same interview Obama addressed his potential successor in the White House, saying Hillary Clinton never jeopardized national security in the handling of her emails.

'I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized Americas national security,' Obama stated, adding that Clinton has recognized a carelessness on the email issue in which she used a private server for Government business.
Diplomats from other embassies also had many traffic infringements

Saudi Arabian diplomats have been bypassing Australian traffic laws by using their immunity to speed, drive drunk, and drive without a licence without punishment.

One such diplomat drove more than 60km/h over the speed limit and led police on a chase shortly after 2am in June last year after driving 133km/h past Canberra's Parliament House.

He even failed to produce a driver's license when police finally caught up to him, but avoided paying up to $1,811 or losing up to six demerit points.

The Saudi Arabian diplomat excused his driving by saying he 'needed to take his antibiotics', documents released by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) under freedom of information laws shows, originally reported by Canberra Times.

One diplomat was caught speeding more than 60km/h above the speed limit past Parliament House (pictured) and led police on a chase

Police chased another diplomat driving almost 30km/h, but abandoned the pursuit over fears for public safety.

Another Saudi drove 50km/h over the limit because he 'needed to go to the toilet', the driver, the son of a diplomat driving an official car, told police.

The 'excessive speed' had risked 'undermining the reputation of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and that of the wider diplomatic community, one DFAT official said.

Many others were caught driving drunk, with one Saudi diplomat informing police he'd had nothing to drink despite returning a blood alcohol reading triple the legal limit.

Any other driver with a reading of 0.115 would have fronted court and faced a maximum penalty of $1,400 or six-months in jail, or both, a DFAT official said.

Diplomats based at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Canberra (pictured) had the highest number of traffic infringements

But, alas, the Saudi was a diplomat and allowed to go without further process, according to the documents released under FOI.

In most cases, diplomats have avoided even paying their fines, resulting in more than 200 reminder notices delivered to foreign embassies last year over traffic fines.

The Vienna Convention provides Diplomatic or Privileged Persons immunity from suspension and cancellation action being taken against their driver license, another DFAT official said.

It's not just Saudi Arabian diplomats using their immunity to ignore Australian traffic laws, though Saudi Arabia is 'the embassy with, by far, the highest number of traffic infringements', DFAT chief of protocol Chris Cannan told Canberra Times.

A DFAT spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia:

'Just as we expect Australian diplomats who are overseas to abide by local road rules, the Australian Government expects foreign diplomats to abide by Australian road rules as well as pay traffic and parking fines and to respect local laws and regulations, consistent with their obligation under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

'The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades Protocol Guidelines clearly state the expectations of diplomats driving in Australia and we regularly remind the diplomatic and consular corps of their obligations to obey Australian road rules,' the spokesperson said.
Home-owners looking to cash in on Australia's property boom should move quickly because a leading American bank says we won't see the like of it for at least another 10 years.

According to Fairfax Media the Bank of America Merrill Lynch has issued a warning to clients that 'a period of weaker price growth or outright modest declines is likely to become entrenched over coming years'.

It also stated that the next price jump could be a decade away.

'We'd expect that such a period could severely test Australians' long love affair with property investment,' the report stated.

A new note by Bank of America Merrill Lynch to clients warned Australia's next property boom may not be for another 10 years

Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens recently spoke about the downturn in house prices being 'helpful'

'We'd expect that such a period could severely test Australians' long love affair with property investment,' the Merrill Lynch report stated

Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens recently referred to the 'moderation' in housing prices as 'helpful'.

Fairfax reports that Merrill Lynch is also casting doubt negatively gears properties, suggesting investors may be having second thoughts with the slowdown.

The Merrill Lynch concern on over-supply in the apartment sector follows a recent report by the The Australian Population Research Institute which warned a 'glut of of high rise apartments is looming'.

'There has been a huge increase in housing investment in Sydney and Melbourne but most of it has been in existing detached houses,' wrote Bob Birrell and David McCloskey.

'The result has been a speculative bubble in such housing that has made the housing crisis even worse.

'To the extent that there has been an increase in new dwellings it has predominantly been in the form of small high rise apartments.

'The outcome is that the shortage of affordable family friendly housing in Sydney and Melbourne has deepened.

'Much of the younger generation of aspiring home owners is destined for rental bondage as they are displaced by investors.'

The note by Merrill Lynch to clients mirrored the findings of CoreLogic RP Data which stated after the first quarter of 2016 that ''the annual pace of home value appreciation across Australias capital cities highlights the slowing growth trend'

American experts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch has issued a warning against Australia's booming house prices saying the current spike will not be repeated for at least 10 years

During March, capital city dwelling values recorded a small increase, up just 0.2 per cent, according to CoreLogic RP Data.

Home values were 1.6 per cent higher in the first quarter of 2016.

Perth and Brisbane recorded negative results, falling 0.9% and 0.1% over three months.

CoreLogic RP Data Head of Research Tim Lawless said the modest March quarter rise in dwelling values is in stark contrast to the first quarter of 2015 when values increased by 3 per cent, almost double the current pace.

'The housing market has shown a modest rebound in growth which is well below the strong capital gains recorded over the first half of 2015,' he said.

'The annual pace of home value appreciation across Australias capital cities highlights the slowing growth trend.'

The change in the Sydney market has been the most pronounced, with value growth more than half of what is was in July last year, falling to 7.4 per cent per annum from a high of 18.4 per cent.

He said the Melbourne market was more resilient with values slipping below the 10 per cent mark for the first time since May last year,
Plans to build a new museum have been given the go-ahead despite a petition being signed by 10,000 people - including Cate Blanchett and former premier Bob Carr.

The proposals will see the Powerhouse Museum move from Ultimo to Parramatta and are part of the NSW government's plan to create a cultural hub in the city's west.

The proposed new site is at the old David Jones car park on the banks of the Parramatta river.

Positioned on the banks of the Parramatta river, the location of the new museum complements transport and light rail plans for the area

Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant said the plan was exciting news for western Sydney.

'Obviously we heard the calls regarding the protest of moving the museum from Ultimo,' he told ABC Radio.

'But we're focused on delivering Parramatta a world-class museum to increase the patronage of students in particular and to get visitations up to a million annual visits by 2030.'

Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant said the plan (pictured) was exciting news for western Sydney

Actress Cate Blanchett (left) and former premier Bob Carr (right) were among the 10,000 signatures on a petition to scrap the relocation plans

The new museum in Parramatta will showcase 40 per cent more of the Powerhouse's exhibits

Arts Minister Troy Grant joined Premier Mike Baird at the proposed new site at the old David Jones car park on the banks of the Parramatta river today. Here, Mr Baird made no apologies for relocating one of Sydney's biggest cultural institutions despite community opposition, 'It's about time that western Sydney had one of the great cultural institutions right here in its heart'.

Plans for the Ultimo site are still to be decided but it's expected the government will sell the valuable inner-city land, NSW Labor leader Luke Foley urged the government not to sell the site to property developers.

'My challenge to the government is, if you're shifting the Powerhouse keep the land you own in Ultimo and deliver a new school to the people of the inner city'.

Mr Baird would not guarantee whether the land would be sold to developers but said he expected it to be a 'multi-use' site in the future.

NSW Premier Mike Baird (left) and Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant (right) will meet at the proposed new site at the old David Jones car park today

Construction for the new museum in Parramatta is planned to begin in 2018 with a finish date set for 2022

Actress Cate Blanchett and former New South Wales premier Bob Carr were among the 10,000 people to have signed the petition calling for the relocation plans to be scrapped.

The signees had published a letter in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year calling for the Government to reconsider the plans, 'We support the creation of a distinctive 'cultural beacon' in Parramatta, but to transport a small-scale Powerhouse would be folly,'

The plans will go ahead despite objections. Construction is set to begin in 2018 and finish in 2022 with the new museum showcasing 40 per cent more exhibits.
Nick Gordon, the former boyfriend of the late Bobbi Kristina Brown, is returning to Dr Phil, more than a year after the show staged a dramatic life-saving intervention.

Gordon, 20, will be answering questions about Bobbi Kristinas final hours before the then 21-year-old was found face-down and unresponsive in her bath-tub on January 31, 2015.

He is also expected to discuss the shocking secrets about the tragic deaths of both Houston and Brown and their private life behind closed doors', according to a press release about the episode, which airs April 28.

In March 2015, learning of Gordon's rapidly deteriorating mental, emotional and physical state, Dr Phil staged an intervention and got Gordon to go to rehab.

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Nick Gordon will meet with Dr Phil on April 28 to discuss Bobbi Kristina Brown's final hours before she was found unresponsive in a bathtub on January 31, 2015

Twelve hours before the intervention, Gordon was captured on video falling down drunk and being helped to his feet in his hotel, the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead, Atlanta.

In the weeks leading up to the intervention, Gordon had twice overdosed on a mixture of Xanax, alcohol and prescription sleeping pills.

Gordon had agreed to meet with Dr Phil believing that he was there to be interviewed. According to Dr Phil: 'He felt like he was being vilified and presented as some sort of monster.'

Dr Phil stated: 'I don't think he has any chance of turning this round. Left to his own devices he will be dead within the week.'

Gordon's mother, Michelle, was by her son's side as he alternated between compliant and aggressive  at one point threatening to attack camera men as they filmed.

She described her son as 'at breaking point.'

She said: 'He cannot take too much more of not being able to see Kriss. He blames himself. He's torn up and carrying guilt.

'He's dealing with it by drinking. I've begged him to stop. I've tried to help him but he can't let go of the guilt.'

Leaning towards Gordon's mother, Dr Phil said: 'You and I have one mission with one possible outcome and that's for him to agree to go to rehab to deal with his depression, his guiltand to get clean and sober.'

He added: 'His life absolutely hangs in the balance.'

Questions still rage regarding just what happened in the early hours of January 31, 2015, that led to Bobbi Kristina, 22, ending up face down in her tub.

In March 2015, learning of Gordon's rapidly deteriorating mental, emotional and physical state, Dr Phil staged an intervention and got Gordon to go to rehab

In the weeks leading up to last year's intervention, Gordon had twice overdosed on a mixture of Xanax, alcohol and prescription sleeping pills

Twelve hours before the intervention, Gordon was captured on video falling down drunk and being helped to his feet in his hotel, the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead, Atlanta

Gordon, 20, has been under suspicion of being involved with the death ever since she was found in the bathtub.

According to Gordons mother, Michelle, at the time of the intervention, Gordon could not forgive himself for his 'failure' to revive Bobbi Kristina. His guilt is compounded by the eerily similar situation in which he found himself almost exactly three years earlier.

Then, on February 11, 2012, it was Gordon who tried to resuscitate Whitney when she was found unresponsive in her bath-tub just hours before she was due to attend a Grammy awards party.

Speaking to Dr Phil last year, Michelle said: 'Nicholas just continually expresses how much he has failed Whitney.

'He administered CPR [to Whitney] and he called me when he was standing over her body. He couldn't understand why he couldn't revive her. He said, "Mommy why? I couldn't get the air into her lungs."

Following the intervention, Gordon entered a rehab facility in Atlanta.

Lawyers for Gordon last month called on a prosecutor to tell the public that Bobbi Kristina Brown was not murdered following the release of her autopsy.

Joe Habachy and Jose Baez released a statement Tuesday asking Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard to acknowledge there was no evidence of wrongdoing in Bobbi Kristina's death while also claiming Gordon tried to save her life.

They also claimed that their client has suffered public humiliation for 'more than a year' because some believe he played a role in the death of Bobbi Kristina.

A judge last week unsealed Bobbi Kristina's autopsy report which showed that her face being immersed in water, along with drug intoxication, led to her death.

Lawyers for Gordon last month called on a prosecutor to tell the public that Bobbi Kristina Brown was not murdered after the release of her autopsy

A judge last week unsealed Bobbi Kristina's autopsy report which showed that her face being immersed in water, along with drug intoxication, led to her death. It was still unclear if her death was an accident

The medical examiner couldn't determine whether her death was an accident.

'Nick Gordon's life has been tumultuous since January of 2015 when he lost the love of his life,' said Baez and Habachy in their statement.

'On top of being prohibited from visiting Bobbi Kristina at the hospital for the last six months of her life, Nick has been publicly humiliated for more than a year.

'Throughout that time the Fulton County District Attorney's office has tried to make Nick a murderer despite having clean and convincing evidence that Bobbi Kristina's death was nothing more than a tragic accident, evidence that the District Attorney's office fought to seal and conceal from the public rather than allowing her fans to know the truth.

'The truth is that Nick tried to save Bobbi Kristina's life. The truth is that Nick cooperated with law enforcement since day one. The truth is that no one loved Bobbi Kristina more than Nick and no one has suffered more as a result of her death than Nick.'

'However, at the recent hearing regarding unsealing the autopsy report, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk repeatedly reiterated that the Fulton County District Attorney's Office has had 13 months to investigate.

'By failing to acknowledge that there is simply no evidence of any wrongdoing, they have in essence helped feed the slanderous media frenzy regarding Nick Gordon.'

'Frankly, the right thing for the District Attorney's office to do right now is to tell the public the truth... that this was an accident... or even a suicide, but not a murder.
Hairdressing staff had an 'extremely lucky' escape when the roof at their salon collapsed moments after they left for their morning tea break - leaving a 10 metre-wide hole.

A large part of the roof at Pure Organic Ministry in northern Adelaide is believed to have collapsed overnight directly above where customers normally wait to have their hair done.

Staff were 'shocked' when they arrived on Monday morning to find debris and ceiling panels scattered around the salon.

Shortly after uncovering the scene of destruction, staff went on a morning tea break and were fortunately outside when another part of the ceiling fell down at about 8.40am.

A hairdressing salon has been forced to shut after its ceiling collapsed - leaving a 10 metre-wide hole directly above where customers normally wait to have their hair done

Manager Mollie Peters wrote on Facebook saying: 'Pure lovers, we've woken to some very shocking news this morning.

'Our roof has collapsed over night which unfortunately means we will be rescheduling all today's appointments.

'We apologise for any inconvenience but your safety is our absolute number one priority. Thank God everyone is safe and the building has been secured thanks to the SA Metro Fire Service.'

She told news.com.au that the spot where the roof collapsed was directly over the waiting area where customers would sit before having their hair done.

Staff were 'shocked' when they arrived at Pure Organic Ministry in northern Adelaide on Monday morning to find debris and ceiling panels scattered around the salon.

Another part of the ceiling fell down when staff were on a morning tea break at around 8.40am - but fortunately no one was hurt thanks to 'extremely lucky timing'

'It's normally where the customers would be sitting,' she said.

Firefighters from the Metropolitan Fire Service said more of the roof is expected to cave in today, but they did not know why the collapse at the Wynn Vale salon happened.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Fire Service said it was 'lucky' that no one was hurt.

'We received a call at 9.20am on Monday. We are propping up the building and we expect more of the roof to collapse,' a spokesman said.

'It was incredibly lucky that no one was hurt.'

Ms Peters said she was unsure why the roof had caved in as there had been no maintenance work done recently.

The manager said she was unsure why the roof had caved in as there had been no maintenance work done recently

Staff said that a temporary salon would be set up at the boss' house nearby so customers would still be able to have their appointments

Staff said that a temporary salon would be set up at the boss' house nearby so customers would still be able to have their appointments.

'Thanks to the SA Metro Fire Service, SES and everyone who came out to help us ensure the building is safe and secure for our trades to come in and begin the fix up asap.'

'In the meantime we're in the process of setting up a temporary salon at the boss' house nearby - the hair must go on.'

'Thank you to everyone for all the love and support.'

Ms Peters said one of the hairdressers heard a crack in the ceiling at about midday on Sunday.

'We had girls prepping for a competition in the salon and they said they heard a few cracks and weren't too sure what it was,' she said.
A radio shock jock has told listeners he is confused by the lack of 'hysteria' surrounding the death of a toddler who was allegedly snatched from her pram by a 'kidnapping murdering madman'.

Tony Jones told 3AW listeners that he was surprised by the reaction after the body of 15-month-old Sanaya Sahib was found in a creek at Heidelberg West in Melbourne early on Sunday morning.

The girl's mother, Sofina Nikat, says her daughter was snatched from her pram at Olympic Park about 10am on Saturday by an African man who smelt of alcohol and was not wearing shoes.

Police are yet to make an arrest over the incident.

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The body of 15-month-old Sanaya Sahib was found in a creek at Heidelberg West in Melbourne early on Sunday after her mother said she was snatched from her pram while they were walking on Saturday at 10am

The body of 15-month-old Sanaya Sahib was found in Darebin Creek at Heidelberg West in Melbourne early on Sunday morning

They are continuing to speak with the toddler's family.

'As it stands now, we've got a kidnapping murdering madman on the run and it's something we should be screaming from the rooftops about,' Jones, who is filling in for Neil Mitchell, told listeners.

'There should be some form of hysteria in the town, but I'm not sensing any of that.'

Ms Nikat, 22, told officers she was pushed to the ground by the man on Saturday morning, who ran off with her daughter towards a nearby shopping centre.

Ms Nikat gave chase but when she realised she couldn't catch him, she raced home to alert police.

The family home that Ms Nikat was staying in with her 15-month-old toddler near the park where she was taken

The girl's mother, Sofina Nikat, says her daughter was snatched from her pram at Olympic Park about 10am on Saturday by an African man who smelt of alcohol and was not wearing shoes

Ms Nikat was escorted from her home by welfare workers to speak with police on Sunday as they continue to investigate the girl's murder

Police spent Sunday scouring the crime scene at Heidelberg West, retracing her mother's steps and searching a home where they had been staying

Tribute flowers and teddy bears have been left at the scene where the little girl was found dead on Sunday

She never saw the face of the man, who is described as being of African appearance, between 20 and 30 years old and about 1.8m tall.

SANAYA SAHIB'S DISAPPEARANCE Saturday 10am: Sanaya and her Sofina Nikat were out walking at Olympic Park in Melbourne when she was snatched from her pram. Ms Nikat chased after the man who smelt of alcohol and wasn't wearing any shoes. She raced home to alert police when she couldn't catch him. Sunday 2.45am: Sanaya's body was found in Darebin Creek by a family of four who had seen social media posts about her disappearance and wanted to help. Sunday: Police spent the day scouring the crime scene at Heidelberg West, retracing her mother's steps and searching a home where they had been staying Sunday afternoon: Ms Nikat was taken by welfare workers to speak with police to help with the investigation. Advertisement

The toddler's body was found in Darebin Creek just before 3am on Sunday by a family of four who had seen social media posts about her disappearance and wanted to help.

The family, who had once lost a child who had later been found, had spent the night looking for Sanaya.

It's believed Sanaya and her mother, from Mitcham, were staying with family in Heidelberg West near the former 1956 Olympic Village following a separation from the tot's father.

Both parents have been helping police and are said to be extremely distressed.

Ms Nikat was taken by welfare workers to speak with police on Sunday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey said it wasn't known how long the toddler's body had been in the water.

'It is obviously extremely concerning for Victoria Police if this is a random abduction,' he told reporters.

'We need to be careful, alert, given what's taken place at this present time, but we'll wait and see how the investigation unfolds.'

He appealed for anyone who saw the incident, the child or her blue and yellow pram to come forward.

Banyule mayor Craig Langdon said he hoped witnesses would come forward to help police in their search for the killer.

'Being the (sunny) Saturday it was I would have thought there'd be bike riders and all sorts of people wandering through the Darebin Creek and the trails down there,' he told 3AW.

'Every time I go down there on a beautiful day you bump into lots of people.

'Hopefully someone's seen it and will come forward.'

Emergency workers put up a plastic sheet to cordon off the location where Sanaya was found

Police recover what is believed to be the body of a 15-month-old girl who was found in Darebin Creek after being abducted in Heidelberg West

Police retraced Ms Nikat's steps on Sunday and conducted line searches in bushland near the creek.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey said it wasn't known how long the toddler's body had been in the water
A remote indigenous town in Canada has declared a state of emergency amid a suicide epidemic that saw 11 young people try and take their lives in a single night.

Council leaders in Attawapiskat First Nation, a town of just 2,000 people on remote James Bay, say they have been 'overwhelmed' with the number of suicide attempts in recent months.

Since September last year 101 people aged from 11 to 71 have attempted suicide with only four health workers, none of whom have mental health training, left to deal with the fall-out.

Chief Bruce Shisheesh, leader of Attawapiskat First Nation (pictured), Canada, declared the emergency on Saturday night following another mass suicide attempt

Shisheesh said that overcrowding, with 14 or 15 people living to a house (pictured) was one cause of the suicides, along with drug abuse, and physical and sexual abuse

Chief Bruce Shisheesh and his council voted unanimously on Saturday night to declare an emergency meaning resources can be brought in from elsewhere to help, CBC reports.

The latest spate of suicides, which has plagued the community for decades, began last September when five young girls overdosed on medication and had to be airlifted to hospital.

The following month Sheridan, the 13-year-old great niece of Jackie Hookimaw, a resident of the community, took her only life, the sole fatality of the crisis so far.

Hookimaw, speaking to the National Post, said Sheridan had been plagued with multiple health conditions and was being teased at school before killing herself.

Sheridan's death sparked a string of other suicide attempts, which local MP Charlie Angus puts down to a lack of services to support young people after tragic event.

He said: 'When a young person tries to commit suicide in any suburban school, they send in the resources, they send in the emergency team. Theres a standard protocol for response.

'The northern communities are left on their own. We dont have the mental health service dollars. We dont have the resources.'

Four health workers in Attawapiskat, who have no mental health training, have been overwhelmed by 101 suicide attempts in eight months, with almost one attempt per day in March

Shisheesh said overcrowding, with 14 to 15 people living in a single home, along with physical and sexual abuse, and drug use are all leading causes of suicide in the community.

Justin Trudeau, Canada's new Prime Minister, has made improving the lives of aboriginal people a cornerstone of his administration.

In his first budget since assuming office, presented last month, Finance Minister Bill Morneau promised billions more in spending to address issues such as education, child services and quality of water in remote communities.

On Twitter, Trudeau said: 'The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. We'll continue to work to improve living conditions for all Indigenous peoples.'
The former police officer and Australian Army soldier who runs the child rescue group at the centre of the bungled 60 Minutes Lebanon sting was previously jailed for flouting local laws in a foreign country.

Adam Whittington, the managing director of the Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI) business which was involved in the operation, has been at the centre of a number of highly publicised 'child rescue' attempts in the past year.

CARI operatives were reportedly among a group of nine people who were originally detained over their involvement in the botched recovery operation of Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, five.

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Child Abduction Recovery International chief Adam Whittington (pictured) has been at the centre of a number of highly publicised child 'rescues' that have received widespread media coverage recently

CARI has claimed responsibility for the rescue of scores ofchildren from trouble spots around the world

Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner (pictured left) sought the assistance of the CARI organisation to retrieve her children Noah (right) and Lahela (middle)

Mr Whittington's role in the operation remains unclear but he has been reported among those detained.

Over the years, Mr Whittington's organisation claims to have retrieved scores of from sites around the world including Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Russia and Laos.

Award-winning reporter Tara Brown remains in detention in Lebanon over the botched operation

Not included among that list was Singapore, where Mr Whittington was sentenced to 16 weeks jail in September 2014 after admitting illegally entering the country.

Then, Mr Whittington admitted chartering a catamaran to take them from Malaysia to Singapore with the British mother of a Singaporean child.

The boat docked at a yacht club and he and the boy's mother failed to check in with immigration authorities.

The pair then proceeded to the house where the child was living, where court records reportedly said an incident had occurred.

Following a confrontation at the property, Mr Whittington was sentenced to 16 weeks prison for entering the country illegally as well as two charges of assault and voluntarily causing hurt, The Telegraph reported.

Reports said it was alleged in court Mr Whittington put the child's grandfather in a headlock and pressed the grandmother's neck during the attempted child retrieval.

In a Triple M interview last year, Mr Whittington admitted the mother's story about why she could not land at an airport - that the father had made 'false allegations' - had been 'a bit fishy'.

But he added his group had gone ahead with the mission because the child was living in poor conditions. 'That's the only time we've sort of, ended up in jail so to speak,' he told the broadcaster.

Mr Whittington (far left, during his time with the Army) formed the organisation in 2000 in the interest of helping children around the world

Mr Whittington served in the Australian Army from January 1991 to January 1998, his LinkedIn profile said

According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Whittington started the child rescue organisation in 2000. He had previously served in the Australian Army from January 1991 to January 1998.

The Defence Department and the Department of Veteran's Affairs declined to provide more information, citing the Privacy Act.

From 2001 to 2009, he worked for the British Metropolitan Police, where he claimed to receive two commendations for his work.

He also touted himself as the 'lead investigator' into the murder of Lucie Blackman, a U.K. woman who vanished in Tokyo in 2000.

Over the past year, he has publicised a number of successful rescue attempts, including the retrieval of a Brisbane man's Stuart Dempster's daughter from Thailand.

He told New Idea last year: 'All recoveries are emotional. To see what these children go through by no choice of their own is horrendous'.
An Irishman who drowned in Sydney's Darling Harbour during the Vivid Festival light show was heavily intoxicated and had a fear of water, an inquest has heard.

Brendan Hickey, 34, died after he fell into the water at Cockle Bay in May 2014 and was unable to be rescued by friends who jumped in after him.

An inquest into his death began in Sydney on Monday, and it heard that Mr Hickey, who was living in Sydney's east, had a blood alcohol reading of 0.256 when he died, more than five times the legal driving limit.

Brendan Hickey, 34, died after he fell into the water at Cockle Bay in May 2014

He is pictured here with female friend Julia Szymanska earlier in 2014

The inquest heard the Irishman entered the water from the end of a timber board walk just before 11pm on the opening night of the Vivid Festival of light two years ago.

Counsel assisting the coroner Mark Cahill said Mr Hickey, who was with friends, was seen to stand up and lose his balance and fall into the harbour.

The Irishman was described as having a fear of water and being unable to swim.

He was later found to have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.256g per 100ml, Mr Cahill said in his opening statement at the Glebe Coroner's Court.

'The available evidence indicates Mr Hickey was both a non-swimmer and heavily affected by alcohol,' Mr Cahill said.

Given these factors and the lack of rescue craft nearby, 'there was little real prospect of preventing a drowning once Mr Hickey entered the waters of Cockle Bay' he added.

A helicopter flew above Darling Harbour to help search for the missing man

A male and female jumped into the water after Mr Hickey but were unable to save him

A male and female jumped into the water after Mr Hickey but were unable to save him.

Mr Cahill said an independent witness reported seeing a male flailing in the water with his head just below the surface.

She thought the man was joking but realised he was drowning and called triple-zero.

A pathologist's autopsy report concluded alcohol intoxication was a significant contributing factor in the drowning.

Mr Hickey, pictured here with female friend Julia Szymanska had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.256

Mr Cahill said Vivid Festival organisers decided to go ahead with the 11pm light show despite a search operation being under way - a decision that will be probed during proceedings.

There was also confusion on the night about who was responsible for co-ordinating the response to the incident, and for liaising with emergency services.

Before opening night authorities had been aware of the risk of patrons entering the water, but it was decided that safety rails or fencing were not required because they would obstruct viewing and were against design principals, Mr Cahill said.
Esteban Nunez (pictured), 27, has been freed after his manslaughter sentence was reduced from 16 years to seven in 2011 by then-Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger

The son of a former California state Assembly speaker has been freed from prison after his manslaughter sentence was dramatically reduced in 2011 by then-Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Esteban Nunez, 27, the son of Fabian Nunez, who was a political ally while Schwarzenegger was governor, will spend three years on parole supervision in Sacramento County, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Nunez entered prison in June 2010 to serve a 16-year sentence in the stabbing death of college student Luis Santos, who was 22 at the time, in San Diego.

On his last day in office in 2011, Schwarzenegger commuted the sentence to seven years.

Esteban Nunez received credit for good behavior and was ultimately released after serving less than six years.

'Our son has paid his debt to society. ... He is committed to continuing the work of healing, self-reflection and spiritual growth,' the Nunez family said in a statement released Friday.

Santos' mother had anticipated Nunez's early release and she steadfastly believes a high-level political favor is sending him home.

Nunez is the son of Fabian Nunez (left), the former speaker of the state Assembly and a political ally while Schwarzenegger (right) was governor

'It makes you sick that something like this can happen, and you have no power,' Kathy Santos told the Los Angeles Times, adding she doesn't believe the young man has reformed.

Prosecutors said Nunez and Ryan Jett, both armed with knives, acted together in the attack that killed unarmed Santos at San Diego State University in October 2008, according to the LA Times.

The defendants had faced the possibility of life in prison if they went to trial and lost so instead, they pleaded guilty to lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault.

Schwarzenegger argued that Nunez should have received a lighter sentence than co-defendant Jett, because Jett had a prior record and Nunez did not, according to the LA Times.

The prosecution's theory that Jett had been the one who delivered the fatal knife blow also played into the governor's argument.

But it was never clear who stabbed Santos and prosecutors said that the law should treat the attackers with equal severity.

The Santos family (left) with Luis Santos (back row center) sued to overturn the shortened sentence, but without success. Nunez (right) in 2008 during his arraignment in San Diego

Fabian Nunez said the judge had been too harsh on his son.

He told the LA Times that he used his 'relationship with the governor to help my own son', adding that he would 'do it again'.

Jett is expected to serve out his original sentence.

The Santos family sued to overturn the shortened sentence, but without success.

In 2012, a Sacramento judge called the commutation 'repugnant' but legal.

And in 2015, an appeals court wrote that 'back-room dealings were apparent', but upheld Schwarzenegger's power to reduce the sentence.
The plane clipped a tree and hit a power line as it went down just a block away from the aerodrome

Clifford was trying to return to the Bayport Aerodrome after experiencing 'engine failure' during takeoff

A small plane crashed in the middle of a residential area in Long Island on Sunday, leaving the pilot in serious condition and his 65-year-old passenger injured.

The single-engine plane took down power lines as it crashed around 7pm on Sunday in the middle of an intersection in Bayport, New York.

Pilot Scott Clifford, 35, suffered two broken legs and a head injury. He is in serious condition.

His passenger Michael Rome also suffered head injuries, which police said were considered not life-threatening. He is listed in fair condition.

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A single-engine Piper PA-28-140 plane crashed in a residential area of Bayport, New York on Sunday

The plane tore down power lines as it crashed around 7pm. Pilot Scott Clifford, 35, suffered two broken legs and a head injury. His passenger Michael Rome, 65, was also injured in the crash

It is believed Clifford was attempting to return the Piper PA-28-140 plane to the Bayport Aerodrome after experiencing 'engine failure' upon takeoff, Islip town supervisor Angie Carpenter told Newsday.

That's when the four-seat plane clipped a tree and took down power lines as it crashed just a block away from the historic rural airport.

The plane and power lines burst into flames and firefighters who lived in the area were immediately on the scene.

Colleen Fleming, whose husband Robert is the Bayport Fire Chief, said at least 50 people worked to pull the two men out of the plane, she told the New York Times.

Garden hoses were used to try and extinguish the flames as quickly as possible.

It is believed Clifford was attempting to return the Piper PA-28-140 plane to the Bayport Aerodrome after experiencing 'engine failure' upon takeoff

The plane and power lines burst into flames and firefighters who lived in the area were immediately on the scene

'Everybody was just in that mode,' Fleming said. 'You know, that total concentration, "We gotta do what we can do" mode.'

Robert Fleming said by the time he arrived on the scene the flames were shooting as high as a telephone pole.

He said both the firefighters and residents who joined forces to help rescue the men from the plane 'absolutely saved their lives,' he told Newsday.

Clifford and Rome, who are both of Orange County, New York, were airlifted to Sony Brook University Hospital following the accident.

No houses were hit during the crash and no one was injured on the ground.

'This is nothing short of a miracle - both that the airplane did not hit any houses and any other individuals,' Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini told ABC 7.

'We're talking about a Sunday evening at 7pm, clearly people could be out and about.'

Around 250 houses and businesses lost electric power for a brief period of time after the crash, according to NBC New York.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

Colleen Fleming, whose husband Robert is the Bayport Fire Chief, said at least 50 people worked to pull the two men out of the plane
An Aston Martin engineer was forced to race half-way around the world after technical failures were found at the launch of a $4 million super car.

Hundreds of motoring enthusiasts gathered at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Otago, New Zealand, on Saturday to see Australian multi-millionaire Tony Quinn fly around the track in an Aston Martin Vulcan.

However, during a test run on Friday Mr Quinn noticed a fault in the $3.8 million machine, forcing Aston Martin to fly an expert out from the UK to fix the problem, Stuff NZ reports.

An Aston Martin engineer was forced to race half-way around the world after technical failures were found at the launch of a $4 million super car (stock image)

Hundreds of super car fans had gathered in Otago, New Zealand, to see an Aston Martin Vulcan race around the track (stock image)

'We pushed her out of the museum and put it on the circuit but unfortunately there was an issue with the computer and she would not go longer than three minutes,' Highlands chief operating officer Josie Spillane said.

'It was 3pm New Zealand time, 2am their time and they made the decision to put him on a plane to New Zealand. We very quickly had a discussion with the team.

'Tony and I were confident in Aston Martin's ability to deliver and we decided to stick to the plan.'

After a nervous wait for the car's owner, an expert technician had the super car ready to hit the track after more than three hours spent under the hood.

The ultra-luxury sportscar was in New Zealand as part of the Highlands track's third birthday, and is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Aston Martin Vulcan has a top-speed of more than 320km/h, and can accelerate from 0 to 100 in just three seconds.

Australian multi-millionaire (middle) noticed a fault in his $3.8 million machine when he took it out for a drive the day before it was to be unveiled

It took an expert technician who had flown in from the UK more than three hours to get the car ready to race last Saturday (stock image)
The grieving uncle of a toddler found dead in a creek after she was snatched with her pram has said she was a cute little angel who didn't deserve to die.

The body of 15-month-old Sanaya Sahib was found in Melbourne's Darebin Creek about 3am on Sunday, 17-hours after her mother says she was snatched at a nearby park.

The little girl's uncle, Habib Ali, told reporters on Monday she was 'a cute little kid' who 'didn't deserve it'.

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The body of 15-month-old Sanaya Sahib (pictured) was found in Melbourne's Darebin Creek about 3am on Sunday

'Whoever done it, shame on him, he's a coward and ....shouldn't have done what he had done,' the little girl's uncle, Habib Ali, said

'Whoever done it, shame on him, he's a coward and ....shouldn't have done what he had done,' Mr Ali said.

Sanaya's mother Sofina Nikat, 22, told police her daughter was snatched from her pram at Olympic Park in central Melbourne about 10am on Saturday by a man who smelt of alcohol and was not wearing shoes.

Ms Nikat said she was pushed to the ground by the man of African appearance who ran off with her daughter towards a nearby shopping centre.

She gave chase but when she realised she couldn't catch him she raced home to alert police.

Sanaya's mother Sofina Nikat (left), 22, told police her daughter was snatched from her pram at Olympic Park in central Melbourne about 10am on Saturday by a man who smelt of alcohol and was not wearing shoes

Ms Nikat said she was pushed to the ground by the man of African appearance who ran off with her daughter. She gave chase but when she realised she couldn't catch him she raced home to alert police

Sanaya's Habib Ali spoke out on Monday

The toddler's body was later found in the creek by another family, who had seen posts on social media about her disappearance and wanted to help.

The little girl's uncle said his sister was hysterical about Sanaya's death, and is being cared for by social workers.

'She's quite disturbed and shocked and she's crying a lot.'

'My entire family is in grief and shocked and we just don't know what to do,' he told reporters outside his home in Heidelberg West.

He said the police were doing a great job and the family believed justice would be served.

'They didn't take much away, a bit of clothes and things,' he said.

Mr Ali said the family had no information about any autopsy or what had happened to his niece.

'It is very frustrating and whoever is out there, whoever has done it, I hope he is caught as soon as possible and dealt with.'

Detectives have scoured the crime scene at Heidelberg West, retraced the steps of the girl's mother and searched the Ali home where the mother and daughter had been staying on a visit (Darebin Creek pictured)

The body of 15-month-old Sanaya Sahib was found in Darebin Creek at Heidelberg West in Melbourne in the early hours of Sunday morning

He thanked the family who found his niece's body and asked for his family to be left to grieve in peace.

Earlier, Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane was asked whether people should be worried that a potential killer was on the loose.

'We've certainly got more police out in that area - out at Heidelberg and around the parks - today and probably for the rest of this week just to reassure the community that we are there and that we're taking every step we can to keep the community safe,' Mr Leane told 3AW.

The assistant commissioner said everyone in Melbourne was no doubt thinking of family and friends closely involved.

Emergency workers put up a plastic sheet to cordon off the location where Sanaya was found

Police recover what is believed to be the body of a 15-month-old girl who was found in Darebin Creek after being abducted in Heidelberg West

Given the nature of the 'terrible' incident he is also worried about police and other emergency services personnel working on the case.

'It's a big shock to one's system when dealing with a tragedy such as this,' Mr Leane said on Monday.

Detectives have scoured the crime scene at Heidelberg West, retraced the steps of the girl's mother and searched the Ali home where the mother and daughter had been staying on a visit.

Ms Nikat said she never saw the face of the man, who is described as being of African appearance, between 20 and 30-years-old and about 1.8m tall.

It's believed Sanaya and her mother, from Mitcham, were staying with family in Heidelberg West near the former 1956 Olympic Village following a separation from the tot's father.

Tribute flowers and teddy bears have been left at the scene where the little girl was found dead on Sunday

Pink teddy bears and flowers left at Darebin Creek, where Sanaya's body was found in the early hours of Sunday morning

Both parents have been helping police and are said to be extremely distressed.

Banyule mayor Craig Langdon said he hoped witnesses would come forward to help police in their search for the killer.

'Being the (sunny) Saturday it was I would have thought there'd be bike riders and all sorts of people wandering through the Darebin Creek and the trails down there,' he told 3AW.

'Every time I go down there on a beautiful day you bump into lots of people.

'Hopefully someone's seen it and will come forward.'

Anyone with information which could assist police with their investigation is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report online.

The family home that Ms Nikat was staying in with her 15-month-old toddler near the park where she was taken

Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey said it wasn't known how long the toddler's body had been in the water

Police retraced Ms Nikat's steps on Sunday and conducted line searches in bushland near the creek.

A car is seen parked out the front after police spent most of Sunday looking through the house
A New Zealand retail chain has been accused of 'bait advertising' after offering some customers discounted sofas they failed to deliver on.

Wellington man Samuel Gwynn made a complaint on the company's Facebook page after paying $300 for a sofa through its online store that was unavailable, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Mr Gwynn said he purchased the three seater Living & Co Liberty Sofa on Friday, which retails for $399 in store, after it was advertised in the 'red alert' one day online sale section.

Wellington man Samuel Gwynn made a complaint on The Warehouse's Facebook page after paying $300 for a sofa through its online store that was unavailable

'They happy (sic) took my money straight away yet apparently had to cancel my order for 'unforeseen circumstances',' Mr Gwynn wrote in his complaint.

The architect graduate received two emails on the weekend saying the product could not be shipped immediately and they would refund him.

'Now I'm without my money for five days while a refund is processed,' he wrote.

The Warehouse spokeswoman Julia Morton told Stuff.co.nz that the wrong quantity of available stock had been mistakenly listed on its online store.

'Next time make sure you have stock before offering on line,' Mr Gwynn wrote.

Mr Gwynn said he went to The Warehouse store in Porirua but the same sofa was being sold for $100 more.

The Warehouse customer Kezia Rock commented that the same incident had happened to two out of three of her online orders.

Mr Gwynn wrote in his complaint that the company was engaging in unfair trading and bait advertising

Another customer, Janet Reynolds, said 'this has happened to me more than twice, with completely different excuses each time - ridiculous!'

Mr Gwynn said he was offered a free delivery voucher that would be valid for 12 days, but said it was pointless as the sofa already included free shipping.

Mr Gwynn wrote in his complaint that the company was engaging in unfair trading and bait advertising.

He linked New Zealand's Commerce Commission's definition of bait advertising, which stipulates that advertising goods and services that cannot be supplied in order to lure people into a shop is a breach of the Fair Trading Act.

Stuff.co.nz reported that the company had contacted Gwynn on Monday and were trying to find him a new sofa for the original price he paid.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted The Warehouse for comment.

The sofa Mr Gwynn purchased, which retails for $399 in store, after it was advertised in the 'red alert' one day online sale section




The White House has announced it is redirecting money earmarked for the fight against Ebola to combat the growing threat of the Zika virus.

In a press briefing, press secretary Josh Earnest blamed Congress for a failure to provide adequate resources to the Zika threat and announced the Obama administration would be 'reprogramming' about $600million dollars from money allocated to the fight against Ebola.

He said the threat had increased because of a greater awareness about the sexual transmission of the disease, the impact of the virus on brain development and the increased geographical range.

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The White House has announced it is redirecting money earmarked for the fight against Ebola to combat the growing threat of the Zika virus. An edes aegypti mosquito (pictured) is seen inside a test tube as part of a research on preventing the spread of the Zika virus

The director of the Centers for Disease Control Tom Frieden also warned that local and state agencies should be preparing for the looming Zika threat as the summer months approach in the US.

But at a summit earlier this month he said: 'It's hard to get people to invest in it until there's a crisis,' according to Stat news.

Mr Earnest said: 'For months now, the administration has been warning about the risk posed by the Zika virus, particularly the risk that is posed to pregnant women.

'In February, the administration formally submitted a request to Congress for $1.9billion for activities that scientists and experts say are critically important to combating Zika.

'This includes funding for mosquito control, which is particularly important now that the weather is beginning to warm up.

'We heard from states that they're keenly aware of the threat that the disease poses, and many do not have the money that they need for basic tasks that would prevent the spread of Zika.

'Over this time, Congress has done nothing.'

In a press briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest blamed Congress for a failure to provide adequate resources to the Zika threat. Alice Vitoria Gomes Bezerra, three-months-old, (pictured) who has microcephaly, is held by her mother Nadja Cristina Gomes Bezerra

According to the CDC there have been 346 travel-associated Zika virus disease cases reported in the continental US states but 351 locally acquired cases in US territories including Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and American Samoa.

The Press Secretary added: 'Now, we know that we cannot continue to fund a robust response to this disease without adequate resources, particularly for our partners in state and local government who bear much of the burden of fighting Zika.

'So earlier today, as many of you may have seen, the administration announced that we would reprogram about $600million to bolster the ongoing Zika response.

'But we also told Congress that just using some of the Ebola funds would be insufficient.

'And that should be an indication to you that today's actions to reprogram $600million is a temporary fix and not at all a long-term solution.

According to the Centers for Disease Control there have been 346 travel-associated Zika virus disease cases reported in the continental US states but 351 locally acquired cases in US territories including Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and American Samoa. Health workers fumigate against the Aedes aegypti mosquito in Lima, Peru (above)

'Since the beginning of the year, our concerns about Zika have only increased because of some new things that we've learned about the disease.

'First, we've learned that sexual transmission of the virus is actually more common than was initially believed.

'Second, we learned that the impact of the virus on fetal brain development is likely starker and more serious than first understood.

'Third, in the United States, the geographical range of the mosquito that carries this virus is significantly broader than our initial estimate.

'And as we learn more about all of these things, we continue to be concerned about the potential impact of this virus on the public health situation inside the United States.'

He said: 'We do have an opportunity to prepare for the Zika virus, but Congress has completely abdicated their responsibility to follow through on a proposal that the administration put forward based on the advice of scientific experts.

Mr Earnest said: 'For months now, the administration has been warning about the risk posed by the Zika virus, particularly the risk that is posed to pregnant women.' Pietro Rafael, who has microcephaly, reacts to stimulus at the Altino Ventura rehabilitation center in Recife, Brazil (above)

'So the administration is going to do what we can right now to fight this disease by shifting funds temporarily from the fight against Ebola into the fight against Zika.

'State and local officials are certainly doing their job right now to try to prepare their communities to fight Zika. Now it's time for Congress to do its job for a change.'

Earlier this week scientists revealed the highest levels of are found in male testes.

Lead study author Dr Michael Diamond, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, said: 'We looked for evidence of Zika in the mouse testes mostly as an afterthought, due to mounting evidence of sexual transmission and were surprised that viral levels were the highest we saw in any tissues.

'We are now doing subsequent tests to determine how long those viral levels are sustained, which could help us estimate the length of time Zika can be transmitted sexually.'
A billionaire hedge fund manager's decision to quit New Jersey for Florida means the struggling state is set to miss out on a desperately-needed $140million in income tax.

David Tepper, 58, has listed a Miami Beach property as his permanent address and registered to vote in the Sunshine State as he bids to move his financial operations south.

However, with an estimated worth of $11.4billion, the decision has rocked income tax estimates in New Jersey where he has lived and operated for several decades.

David Tepper, president of Appaloosa Management, is pictured with his wife Marlene in their home in 2006. Tepper is considered one of the greatest traders of his generation and is worth an estimated $11.4billion

David Tepper bought his former boss's ocean-facing property in Sagaponack, New York, in 2010, and tore it down to build a much bigger mansion (pictured above, Tepper's completed Hamptons home)

Tepper paid $43.5million in 2010 for former Goldman Sachs CEO John Corzine's former summer home and a year later, razed the property to the ground to build a larger mansion (pictured, the estate in 2012)

The frame of the new mansion was built by around June in 2012, showing exactly how large Tepper intended the new home to be

Here, a picture from March last year shows the 11,268-square-foot mansion is complete with only finishing touches to the estate needed

Razed: The stunning mansion (pictured here before it was bulldozed) belonged to Joanne Dougherty, the former wife of Jon Corzine, once a Senator, Governor and Mayor of New Jersey. It used to rent for $900,000 a summer

Frank Haines, a budget officer with the Office of Legislative Services, said: 'We may be facing an unusual degree of income-tax forecast risk,' Bloomberg News reported.

This was due to the fact 40 per cent of the state's revenue comes from income taxes, and a third of this comes from the state's richest 1 percent.

FLORIDA TAXES EXPLAINED

For decades, Florida has had one of the lowest tax burdens in the country, according to the independent research organization Tax Foundation. The strength of Floridas low tax burden comes from its lack of an income tax, making it one of seven such states in the U.S. The state constitution prohibits such a tax, though Floridians still have to pay federal income taxes. Florida also does not assess an estate tax, or an inheritance tax. No portion of what is willed to an individual goes to the state. Floridians no longer need to pay taxes to the state on intangible goods, such as investments. The law requiring that tax was repealed in 2007. Advertisement

By comparison, Florida has no income, estate or inheritance taxes, making it an ideal destination to avoid the levies that are compulsory elsewhere.

Mr Tepper made his fortune as a Goldman Sachs junk bond trader in the 1980s, before founding Appaloosa Management in New Jersey in the early 1990s.

He has been called one of the best traders of his generation and his $18.6billion hedge fund has routinely delivered returns so strong that the manager has periodically returned capital to investors because it was getting too large.

He worked for eight years at Goldman Sachs but left to start up his own hedge fund in 1992 after repeatedly being passed over for partnership.

It is thought he made the money by correctly predicting that the US government would not allow major banks to fold that year, compounding his profits as the banks' share prices then recovered.

In 2009, he made a trade that netted his company $7.5 billion and gave him a payout of nearly $4 billion.

'What do you think I should do with it?' he asked New York Magazine afterwards. 'I could buy an island. I could buy a private jet... I could get myself a 22-year-old!'.

Tepper was raised in a Jewish family in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the Stanton Heights neighborhood. He was the second of three children born to Harry, who worked as an accountant, and Roberta, who was an elementary school teacher who taught at public schools in the city.

He is said to keep a brass replica of a pair of testicles in a prominent spot on his desk, a present from former employees. He rubs the gift for luck during the trading day to get a laugh out of colleagues.

Last year he made headlines after purchasing his former Goldman Sachs boss' home in the Hamptons, then tearing it down to build his own mansion twice the size.

He was allegedly irked that he couldn't see the ocean from every room of the sprawling 6,165 square foot estate, so he decided to build another one from the ground up, according to Curbed Hamptons.

Set on more than six acres, the Hamptons home had palatial rooms, huge marble bathrooms, a tennis court and a swimming pool.

The home had rented for $900,000 each summer season.

Mansion: Tepper and his wife Marlene lived in this sprawling home in Livingston, New Jersey

Architect Jaquelin Robertson, who built the new residence, called it a 'cedar-shingled two-story Georgian Colonial-style home'.

It comes complete with a sunken tennis court, a three car garage and second floor decks featuring a jacuzzi and covered porch.

The new property also offer views of the ocean from the first floor that were previously blocked by sand dunes.

In recent years, he has also developed a name as a philanthropist.

He and his wife Marlene have three children. After Hurricane Sandy struck, he donated $200,000 worth of Target gift cards to residents impacted by the storm.

The David A. Tepper School of Business at his alma mater Carnegie Mellon University was also established after he made a $55million donation.
Company initially took a 'leap of faith' in allowing show to use its product

The water rower that makes more than a cameo appearance throughout Netflix drama series House of Cards has become an unlikely star in its own right.

The unusual piece of exercise equipment, which features a circular tank filled with water at its front, has grown in popularity since it was first used by the protagonist of the show.

Kevin Spacey, who plays the part of ruthless politician Frank Underwood, regularly works out on the rower and even dreams about it.

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Pumping: Kevin Spacey, who plays the part of ruthless politician Frank Underwood, regularly works out on the rower and even dreams about it in the hit Netflix show

But the unique exercise machine, from WaterRower, appears to have had a more profound effect on the viewing public.

According to Google Trends, every time new episodes of the hit drama series are released there is a spike in people browsing the product on the internet search engine.

And when the fourth series of the show was released in March there was a peak in searches.

As a result, one of WaterRower's main offices in Warren, Rhode Island, has tripled its production capacity, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The director of sales and marketing for WaterRower, David Jones, explained that the company is now producing more than 1,000 machines a week just to keep up with the demand.

Tonja Hadley, regional sales director for HealthStyles Exercise Equipment, a chain of six Colorado stores said the machines are 'one of the hottest products out there right now,' reported the paper.

She added: 'We can't seem to keep them in stock.'

Popular: Every time new episodes of the hit drama series are released there is a spike in people browsing the product on the internet search engine

Mr Jones acknowledged the impact House of Cards had on this surge in sales, and called Mr Spacey's character 'the most famous rower in the world'.

Founded in 1988, the WaterRower was created by competitive rower John Duke and features a paddle system in the tank that pulls through the water to provide resistance.

When it first hit the shelves it sold modestly until fitness classes began using it in 2012 and sales figures began to rise.

In 2013 the WaterRower was picked to feature in House of Cards after the producers of the show were convinced by its unique design, explained Mr Jones.

The WaterRower has since appeared in every season, according to TheTake, a website that records what products feature in what films and TV programs.

Supply and demand: One of WaterRower's main offices in Warren, Rhode Island, has tripled its production capacity and is now producing more than 1,000 machines a week

What is also interesting is the fact sales of the rowing machine have continued to rise despite the product not always receiving rave reviews from its most famous user.

Mr Underwood calls the machine a 'monstrosity' when he first claps eyes on it and even manages to break the handle off in another episode.

Mr Jones explained the company took a 'leap of faith' in allowing their product to be portrayed in a way that could have been potentially damaging.

He now acknowledges that the risk paid off as the company has achieved more from the relationship than it could have ever envisaged.
George Osborne has bowed to pressure by revealing he had an income of nearly 200,000 last year - but insisted he will not release details from previous tax returns.

The Chancellor released details of his financial dealings after being effectively ordered by Downing Street to follow the Prime Minister's example.

Mr Osborne made 120,000 from his government role and MP salary in 2014-15.

George Osborne (pictured left) bowed to pressure by revealing his tax return details, which revealed he earned 33,562 from his share of rental income from his west London home, pictured right, while he lives in No 11

He also pocketed 44,647 in dividends from his family's luxury wallpaper firm, and renting out his London home while he lives in a grace-and-favour apartment brought in 33,562.

The same amount of rental money again was recorded under his wife's name, according to the Treasury.

However, Mr Osborne has invited further questions by refusing to publish records going back further.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell slammed Mr Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron for only publishing summaries of their tax returns and not the original documents.

A source close to the Chancellor said unlike the premier - who has published six years' worth of information - he did not need to address 'specific historic questions'.

The 2014-15 year was the 'only one of particular interest' as his father's firm Osborne & Little had not paid a dividend for some time before that, they argued.

Earlier, the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said those who were in charge of the nation's finances should show 'transparency'.

The extraordinary intervention came just hours after the Treasury had refused to confirm that Mr Osborne would open up his books.

The dramatic developments came as:

Jeremy Corbyn admitted he had been fined 100 for filing his return late after apparently struggling for days to locate a copy of the document

David Cameron made a passionate defence of his own financial dealings and those of his investment broker father Ian in a statement to the Commons

It emerged London mayor Boris Johnson paid nearly 1 million in tax over four years

Labour veteran Dennis Skinner was booted out of the Commons chamber after branding the PM 'Dodgy Dave'

The Chancellor released his tax return details for 2014-15 in the form of a letter from his accountants

HOW THE LEADERS COMPARE: DETAILS REVEALED AFTER CAMERON, CORBYN, BORIS, OSBORNE AND STURGEON PUBLISH THEIR TAX RETURNS Salary Additional income Tax paid David Cameron 140,522 49,951 75,898 Jeremy Corbyn 67,060 1,850 18,912 Boris Johnson 127,505 491,978 276,505 George Osborne 120,526 78,209 72,210 Nicola Sturgeon 104,817 0 32,517

Downing Street released a summary of the Prime Minister's tax returns covering the past six years in a bid to restore trust after a disastrous week of revelations about links to his father's offshore investment fund.

They showed that Mr Cameron had an income of around 1.1 million over the period and paid some 400,000 in tax. Renting out his London home while he lives in a grace-and-favour apartment has been bringing in more than 90,000 a year.

Labour has lashed out at the revelation that Mr Cameron received gifts totalling 200,000 from his mother Mary after the death of her husband Ian in 2010.

If he had received the money as an inheritance it could have attracted duties of up to 80,000.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have published copies of their own tax information from last year. However, Mr Corbyn was left humiliated after he initially appeared unable to locate a copy of his return - and was then forced to admit he had been fined 100 for filing it late.

In a defiant performance in the House, Mr Cameron mocked the Opposition leader for the delays in making his return public.

He told MPs he accepted he had handled the affair badly but was 'angry about the way my father's memory was being traduced'.

'I know he was hard-working man and a wonderful dad and I'm proud of everything he did to build a business and provide for his family,' the premier said.

Mr Cameron said it was 'natural human instinct' for parents to want to pass things on to their children.

'As for parents passing money to their children while they are still alive, it is something the tax rules fully recognise,' he said.

TAX WARRIOR JEREMY CORBYN FINED 100 AFTER FILING HIS RETURN LATE Jeremy Corbyn had apparently not kept a copy of his tax return Jeremy Corbyn finally published his tax return this afternoon - but it emerged he filed it a week late and was forced to pay a 100 fine. The Labour leader declared an additional income of 1,850, including earnings from delivering lectures. It took his total income for 2014/15 to 70,795, paying a tax sum of 18,912. He had promised to publish his tax return after pressing David Cameron and other Cabinet ministers to publish their full tax arrangements following the Panama Papers leak last week. But embarrassingly he only published his tax return this afternoon after failing to find a paper copy that he sent to HMRC. The veteran left-winger apparently submitted the document in paper form to HMRC and does not have a copy. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell - who has managed to released his personal return for 2014-15 - told the BBC: 'He does his own tax returns, I believe. He submitted and I think he's trying to get it back from HMRC.' But Treasury minister David Gauke jibed on Twitter: 'Of course, one advantage of digital tax reporting is that it can be easier for taxpayers to locate their tax records.' Advertisement

The Prime Minister said he sold his shares in 2010 because he did not want 'any conflict of interest'.

'I didn't want anyone to be able to suggest that as Prime Minister I had any other agendas or vested interests.'

But Mr Corbyn dismissed Mr Cameron's statement as a 'masterclass in the art of distraction' and accused the Prime Minister of failing to appreciate the public anger over the 'scandal of destructive global tax avoidance' revealed by the Panama Papers.

'What they have driven home is what many people have increasingly felt - there is now one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest,' he said.

'I'm honestly not sure that the Prime Minister fully appreciates the anger that is out there over this injustice.'

Mr McDonnell later added: 'Neither the Prime Minister nor the Chancellor has published their full tax return like myself or the Leader of the Labour Party.

'Instead they have provided a summary that leaves more questions than answers, which strikes me as an odd approach and is as transparent as dish water.

'But this is not about individuals, its about trust and fairness at the top of government.

'As we now know, when the Chancellor was cutting the top rate of income tax for people like himself, while at the same time saying he wasn't wealthy enough to benefit, he was also cutting public services and support for some of the most vulnerable in our society.'

Bolsover MP Mr Skinner described the PM as 'Dodgy Dave' and refused to withdraw the barb when ordered to by Speaker John Bercow.

He was then banned from the chamber for the rest of the day and walked out to calls of 'by bye' from Tory MPs. Senior Conservative Nicholas Soames dismissed the left-winger as a 'defunct volcano'.

Mr Cameron also held out an unexpected olive branch to comedian Jimmy Carr - whose tax avoidance arrangements he condemned in 2012.

As the storm over Mr Cameron's offshore investment broke last week, the star joked on Twitter that it would be 'morally wrong' to comment on another person's tax affairs.

Reminded of his jibe today, the PM said: 'To be fair to Jimmy Carr, as soon as it was pointed out that he was in a scheme to artificially reduce his income he immediately changed his arrangements.

'He made that very clear and I pay tribute to him for doing that.'

Carr tweeted afterwards: 'Whenever the Prime Minister mentions me in Parliament why is it always about tax? He never mentions the 'Best of Tour' or Netflix special?'

Before Mr Osborne confirmed he was releasing tax information, Downing Street stepped in to insist that he should be 'transparent'.

'If you think to who is in charge of the nation's finances, the Prime Minister takes the view that chancellors and shadow chancellors should show transparency too,' the PM's spokeswoman said. 'But he is not recommending that it should be the same for everyone involved in politics.'

Asked whether she meant Mr Osborne should publish his tax details, the spokeswoman said: 'It is right to show transparency in this regard.'

She added: 'They are the First and Second Lords of the Treasury.'

Questioned on whether Mr Cameron had spoken to the Chancellor about the issue overnight, the spokeswoman said merely that the pair 'speak regularly'.

London Mayor and Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Mr Johnson has published his tax records for the past four years,

They reveal that his total income from his official roles, journalism and books was 1,985,901 between 2011/12 and 2014/15.

His tax bill over the period totalled 916,481.

Earlier, Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg said he believed it was 'inevitable' that all MPs will now have to publish their tax returns.

'I think I am going to have to,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 'I am not going to be the one hold-out about that ...

SHADOW CHANCELLOR'S RETURN SHOWS INCOME BOOSTED BY PENSION Shadow chancellor John McDonnell Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell laid down the gauntlet to Mr Osborne when he published his tax return in February. 'I believe if you aspire to be in charge of the nation's finances, you should be as open and transparent about your own income as possible,' he said. The veteran left-winger initially tweeted the front page of the document, revealing that he received 61,575 in MP salary in 2014-15 and paid 14,253 of tax. But the full document released later showed that he was also getting a 14,421 pension from his time in local government. Since then MPs have been awarded a backdated 10% pay rise to 74,000. Mr McDonnell also turns 65 in September, meaning he will be entitled to claim his Commons pension and the state pension - potentially taking his income well over 100,000 a year. Advertisement

'The argument for doing is that the Caesar's wife must be above suspicion, and that if you are managing the country's affairs and voting on them, the electorate want to know that you are doing it properly and independently.'

But a number of MPs have warned against forcing politicians to publish their tax details.

Former minister Stephen Hammond said: 'We need to be very careful about how far down this line we go. There will be a clamour to say 'Okay MPs, what about senior judges, what about the BBC, what about people doing contracts with the Government?''

Mr Cameron, who admitted at the weekend he should have been quicker to reveal his finances,confirmed that a new law being brought forward this year will make it a criminal offence for companies to fail to stop staff aiding tax evasion.

The move was first announced in the March 2015 Budget, when Mr Osborne said the Government would introduce the measure in this Parliament.

Eurosceptics have put aside their differences with the Tory leadership to condemn Labour attacks over Mr Cameron's finances.

Justice minister Dominic Raab said: 'Jeremy Corbyn came in saying as leader of the Labour party he was going to introduce a kinder politics, and yet he's been whipping up a mob mentality and engaging in leading these attacks and whipping Labour MPs who, some of them, are behaving frankly like hyenas. It's grotesque hypocrisy  just about scoring political points.'

Commons leader Chris Grayling said: 'Jeremy Corbyn is trying to take Britain back to the days of class war and economic stagnation.

LABOUR ARE PLANNING TO BAN TAX-FREE GIFTS FOR CHILDREN An inheritance tax crackdown that would ban people from giving tax-free gifts to their children is being examined by Labour. Senior party figures seized on revelations that David Cameron's mother Mary gave him a 200,000 gift following the death of his father in 2010 as evidence that the inheritance tax system is flawed. The rules on gifts mean that if Mrs Cameron lives for another two years then her son will not be liable for any inheritance tax on the sum. In theory the move could save him up to 80,000. Financial experts yesterday pointed out that the rules on gifts in the inheritance tax system are legitimately used by thousands of families, with people often trying to help their children buy a home or fund their education. But shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the rules would now be included in a wide-ranging Labour Party review of the tax system. Mr McDonnell said people were 'angry' about the tax system because it was not seen to be 'fair'. He said he would reverse Tory plans to raise the inheritance tax threshold from 325,000 to 500,000. Mark Serwotka, of the PCS union, said cash gifts to children should be taxed by a future Labour government. Advertisement

'Labour's attacks show just how out of touch they are.

'Parents should be able to pass the fruit of their hard work on to their children and grandchildren. This Government has championed the cause of low taxation because we know it creates jobs and the money to pay for strong public services.'

Former defence secretary Liam Fox added: 'David Cameron's father worked hard and left his family money.

'They obeyed the law and paid their tax? So what? This witch-hunt by smear, innuendo and 'asking questions' is grotesque and hypocritical. The PM's critics should play the ball, not the man.'

Mr Cameron's decision to publish his tax details on Saturday night came 48 hours after a dramatic TV confession that he had a 31,500 investment in Blairmore, which he sold in 2010 along with other shares months before becoming prime minister.

HMRC has been given a lead role in a 10million taskforce launched to investigate allegations of wrongdoing highlighted in the 11.5million documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Mr Cameron became embroiled in the row after it emerged Blairmore Holdings - the offshore fund that was run by his late father - was among the firms registered as Mossack Fonseca's clients.

The files - leaked last week - have revealed how wealthy businessmen and political elites from across the world managed to hide their money in tax havens.

After days of silence and then a series of partial retreats, the Prime Minister was forced to admit on Thursday that he held a 30,000 stake in the Blairmore until he sold it before entering Downing Street in 2010.

Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt insisted Mr Cameron had done nothing wrong.

But she told the BBC yesterday: 'I think what this is about is trust. And he has to now demonstrate and build up that trust and rapport with the general public.'

Asked if the Prime Minister had lost her trust, she replied: 'I think that this will raise questions ... about politicians publishing further information about themselves, and I think although I understand arguments around privacy and security, if that is what the electorate require of their elected officials, I think that's what will have to happen.'

The only main party leader to have flatly declined to publish their tax return is Ukip's Nigel Farage.

Tory backbencher Charles Walker has previously condemned calls for all MPs to publish their tax returns, threatening to bring forward a Bill to ban curtains if the transparency was forced on him.

HMRC BOSS'S ROLE AT FIRM THAT ACTED FOR OFFSHORE FUND HMRC has been given a lead role in a 10million taskforce launched to investigate allegations of wrongdoing highlighted in the 11.5million documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. It has emerged that the man in charge of overseeing the UK Government's inquiry into the Panama Papers was a partner at a law firm that acted for the offshore fund set up by Mr Cameron's stockbroker father. Edward Troup, executive chairman of HMRC, was a partner at Simmons & Simmons, which represented Ian Cameron's Blairmore Holdings and other offshore firms named in the leak. The files - leaked last week - have revealed how wealthy businessmen and political elites from across the world managed to hide their money in tax havens. Mr Cameron became embroiled in the row after it emerged Blairmore Holdings - the offshore fund that was run by his late father - was among the firms registered as Mossack Fonseca's clients. After days of silence the Prime Minister was forced to admit on Thursday that he held a 30,000 stake in the Blairmore until he sold it before entering Downing Street in 2010. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Simmons & Simmons or any of its clients. Advertisement

Cameron hails crackdown on firms that help with tax evasion

Firms that aid tax evasion will be held criminally responsible for the actions of their staff under legislation to be introduced in Parliament this year, David Cameron has told MPs.

The Prime Minister gave details of the plans as he faced critics in the Commons for the first time since it emerged he had invested in an offshore trust set up by his father Ian.

Legislation due in the Queen's Speech in May will create the new offence, which will mean that firms will be held criminally liable if they fail to stop their employees from facilitating tax evasion.

The move comes ahead of an international anti-corruption summit in London on May 12 and follows the announcement of a new task force aimed at investigating the evidence from the Panama Papers data leak.

Proposals for the measure were announced in March 2015 and put out for consultation and Mr Cameron has now confirmed the introduction of the new legislation.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin is accused of forming secret 'battle groups' in western countries including Germany ready to activate at a moment's notice.

Putin expert and biographer Boris Reitschuster claims in his new book 'Putin's Hidden War' that this army of sleepers is trained in the Russian 'Systema' techniques of martial arts and knife fighting as taught to his country's special forces units.

German author Reitschuster claims to have seen the reports of a western European intelligence service detailing the covert groups spread across the continent.

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'This means the Kremlin leader and ex-Intelligence Chief Putin has direct access to an elite fighter network in the West,' said popular German daily newspaper BILD ahead of the book's publication on Friday this week.

Reitschuster says the commanders of this secret army are drawn from GRU military intelligence and elite WDW airborn troops, adding; 'This fighting force in enemy territory is a mainstay in Putin's hidden war against the West.'

Earlier this year German intelligence agencies warned of Putin's plan to destabilize the country through propaganda.

Now Reitschuster says the intelligence he has seen suggests the new goals are fomenting civil unrest, distorting democratic political processes and 'conveying non-democratic ideals.'

In January the intelligence services said the Kremlin was behind a false report of a 13-year-old Russian girl called Lisa who claimed she was raped in Berlin.

Reitschuster says the commanders of this secret army are drawn from GRU military intelligence and elite WDW airborn troops, adding; 'This fighting force in enemy territory is a mainstay in Putin's hidden war against the West'

Earlier this year German intelligence agencies warned of Putin's plan to destabilize the country through propaganda

Later she admitted she made the story up - but not before ex-pat Russians had taken to the streets and even protested outside Chancellor Angela Merkel's office.

Russian Systema self-defence schools in Germany act as 'camouflage for agent meetings,' according to Reitschuster and 'are centres for recruiting new Kremlin fighters.'

The author claims European intelligence services have identified about 300 men in the previous year Germany who are actively involved in the Systema structures. Among those who have received special training in Moscow are also soldiers, policemen, judicial employees and turncoat members of the German police and elite forces GSG 9 and KSK who are 'known' to the security services.

'These saboteurs with elite education are no negligible factor - they are targeted for crisis situations and trained to trigger unrest after assessing intelligence documents,' he added.

The Russian paramilitaries, he claimed, now hold 'real manouvres in the Swiss mountains, operate across borders and are particularly strong in Czech Republic where they mostly exercise.'
Macedonia has accused Greece of not reacting to prevent hundreds of migrants and refugees from attempting to breach a border fence between the two countries - sparking a row.

The country's foreign ministry asked Greece to fully engage its police forces to prevent what it called the violent rioting of migrants.

The call came a day after seven-hour clashes between Macedonian security forces and hundreds of migrants and refugees.

Macedonia has accused Greece of not reacting to prevent migrants from attempting to breach the border. Here, refugees protest at the restrictions preventing them from passing into Macedonia

Flames and smoke rise after a fight between Kurds and Arab Syrians at their camp in the northern border village of Idomeni

Greek police officers, dressed in riot gear and some wearing face masks, look on at the migrant protesters

Refugees throw stones at Macedonian riot police, who fired tear gas to prevent them passing through the border

A woman and her children cry after being effected by tear gas close to the border near their makeshift camp

Seven-hour clashes occurred between Macedonian security forces and hundreds of migrants and refugees

The migrants were attempting to break through the border fence at an impromptu refugee camp housing around 12,000 people near the Greek village of Idomeni.

Macedonian authorities fired tear gas and rubber bullets, and medical aid agencies said they treated about 300 people, including children, for respiratory problems and injuries.

Macedonia said 14 police offers and nine soldiers were wounded.

Greek police observed from their side of the border and did not intervene.

The Greek government strongly criticized the 'indiscriminate use of chemicals, plastic bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable people.'

A few hundred people also protested in Idomeni today, marching to the razor-wire border fence carrying a Greek and German flag, but no violence was reported.

Migrants cut the border fence during the riots, which saw injuries to 14 police offers and nine soldiers

Migrants with a Greece flag and a German flag greet Macedonian police at the border after yesterday's riots

A migrant man throws a can of the tear gas back toward Macedonian police during the heated protest

Migrant men display used tear gas canisters apparently used on them by Macedonian police yesterday

Macedonian border police shots with water cannon and teargas against refugees in a bid to stem the rioting

More than 53,000 people who made their way to Greece from Turkey have been stranded in the country since Balkan and European nations shut their land borders to them.

The decision stemmed the largest refugee flow the continent has seen since World War II.

Greece has been frantically building new refugee camps, but does still not have the capacity to house them all.

Those in Idomeni have refused to leave the sprawling camp, made up mostly of small tents pitched along railway tracks and in fields, in the hope the border might open.

Activists have circulated in the camp over the past few weeks, distributing fliers urging camp residents to protest and make a push on the fence.

The Macedonian foreign ministry said Skopje has been continuously requesting from Athens 'cooperation, information sharing and preventive action to dissuade violent rioting of migrants and illegal border crossing from Greek into Macedonian territory.'

The migrants were attempting to break through the border fence at an impromptu refugee camp housing around 12,000 people near the Greek village of Idomeni

Macedonian authorities fired tear gas and rubber bullets, and medical aid agencies said they treated about 300 people, including children, for respiratory problems and injuries

The Greek government strongly criticized the 'indiscriminate use of chemicals, plastic bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable people'

A few hundred people also protested in Idomeni today, marching to the razor-wire border fence carrying a Greek and German flag

The 'establishment of law and order in the borderline zone, in and around the migrant reception centers, is essential to prevent such incidents in the future,' the ministry said.

It added that Macedonian security forces, along with police officers of several EU member states deployed at the border, were attacked by migrants throwing stones.

The ministry said they responded to the attack 'swiftly and accordingly.'

The ministry claimed that while tear gas was fired, 'no other riot control means were used' - despite clear evidence of rubber bullets being used, with migrants and reporters on the Greek side of the border collecting scores.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said the border clashes are 'a matter of great worry.'

Greek police observed from their side of the border but did not intervene as tear gas was used

A migrant boy tries to protect his tent from the strong morning winds at a camp in Greece following yesterday's riots

A group of migrant men attempt to tear apart the fence during the protest as clashes with police broke out

Greece replied by criticizing the Macedonian police response as excessive.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke out and referred to Macedonia's years-long efforts to join the EU.

He said the incidents, and the use of tear gas and rubber bullets in a refugee camp, 'is a big embarrassment for European civilization, and for countries that want to become a part of European civilization.'

Tsipras said the blame for the violence was shared with the activists spreading rumours in the camps of border openings and instigating protests.

But he also said 'unilateral decisions that shut the borders' contributed to the situation.

Balkan and some European nations began restricting the flow of migrants and refugees through their land borders earlier this year, eventually shutting them completely in early March.

A Macedonian policeman is seen throwing a percussion sound grenade during the clashes on the border

The Macedonian foreign ministry said Skopje has been continuously requesting cooperation from Athens

The ministry claimed that while tear gas was fired, 'no other riot control means were used'

The European Union reached a deal with Turkey last month under which land borders were shut to refugees and those arriving on Greek islands from the Turkish coast from March 20 onwards are being returned to Turkey.

Today, Greek authorities said only 18 people entered Greece by sea over the past 24 hours, a week after the EU-Turkey deal went into effect.

Arrivals, mostly in frail smugglers' boats from Turkey, peaked above 200,000 in October.

Following last month's agreement the numbers have dropped, with just 1,704 arrivals so far this month - about 189 daily.

Steffen Seibert, the government spokesman for Germany, said the government was ' viewing with concern both the difficult living conditions in the provisional camp (of) Idomeni as well as the events that have occurred at the Greece-Macedonia border over the last 24, 48 hours.'

Seibert declined to condemn Macedonia's use of tear gas, saying simply that borders need to be protected 'in accordance with international rules.

One man makes it through the wire fence and appears to shout at others behind him during the clashes

A migrant man runs with a tear gas canister during clashes, which Greece has criticized as being excessive
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This is the moment a terrorist convicted of murdering five journalists was tied to a wooden post before being executed by a Somali firing squad.

Hassan Hanafi, a former media officer for the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, was tied up at a police academy square in the capital Mogadishu today before being shot.

He was sentenced to death by military judges in March having been extradited from Kenya a year ago following his arrest in 2014.

Pictures captured the moment a terrorist convicted of murdering five journalists was tied to a wooden post before being executed by a Somali firing squad

Hanafi had a sheet pulled over his head and was tied to a simple wooden post before Somali police carried out the execution

The body of Hassan Hanafi Haji, is carried away after he was executed by firing squad, at a police academy in the capital Mogadishu

Hanafi, whose head was covered with a white sheet before he was killed, was widely known for arranging news conferences in the years when the militants controlled the city.

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.

Somalia was plunged into anarchy in the early 1990s following the toppling of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, and has been struggling to rebuild.

Hanafi, 30, had said he joined al Shabaab in 2008 when he was working as a journalist for a local Somali broadcaster. He was arrested in neighbouring Kenya last year and then returned to Somalia for trial.

Hassan Hanafi, a former media officer for the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, was tied up at a police academy square in the capital Mogadishu today before being shot

The 30-year-old terrorist was widely known for arranging news conferences in the years when the militants controlled the city

Somalia soldiers and policemen look on as Hassan Hanafi, a former media officer for the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab, stands tied to a pole before his execution today

After his sentencing last month, Hanafi had said: 'I am indifferent if you kill me. You will see if killings will stop even after my death'

Al Shabaab, whose name means 'The Youth,' seeks to impose its strict version of sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently unleashes attacks targeting security and government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital

He had been promoted to commander in 2009. The following year, he was seriously injured in fighting.

'Al Shabaab killed many journalists but personally I killed only one,' Hanafi said after the sentence was announced. 'But I am indifferent if you kill me. You will see if killings will stop even after my death.'

Al Shabaab, whose name means 'The Youth,' seeks to impose its strict version of sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently unleashes attacks targeting security and government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital.

The group was also behind deadly attacks in Kenya and Uganda, which both contribute troops to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

The execution comes days after two other al-Shabaab members were executed for the murder of a journalist killed by a car bomb last year in Somalia.

Abdirisak Mohamed Barow and Hassan Nur Ali, who admitted being al-Shabaab members during their trial, were also tied to posts and shot dead in Mogadishu.
Pair have received just 750 each while Pattemore has been on luxury trips

Snapping selfies in front of the world's most famous landmarks, this is the gallivanting widower of Lynda Bellingham accused by her sons of splurging their mother's estate on luxury getaways.

Property developer Michael Pattemore has faced an online backlash ever since claims surfaced that he had privately disowned the sons of actress and famed Oxo mum Lynda.

Her third husband also refused to give them a copy of Lynda's will, the sons say, leading the pair to challenge it after receiving just 750 each in inheritance since she died.

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Life of luxury: Snapping selfies in front of famous landmarks, this is Lynda Bellingham's widower accused by her sons of splurging their mother's estate on holidays. Michael Pattemore is seen at Ayers Rock in Australia

Property developer Michael Pattemore has faced an online backlash ever since claims surfaced that he had privately disowned the sons of actress and famed Oxo mum Lynda. Here he is pictured in Malaysia last year

Within months of her death from bowel cancer 18 months ago, Pattemore had been to Dubai three times, as well as Peru, Canada and on a round-the-world trip for eight weeks, Lynda's son Michael Peluso said.

And these globe-trotting pictures, posted to the late actress' Twitter account - which Pattemore now has control of - show some of the places he's visited.

Many are accompanied with the caption 'Pattemore's travels'.

In the past year Pattemore has travelled to Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Cuba and China among others.

In one selfie he sips a glass of wine in front of Ayers Rock in Australia.

It comes days after Lynda's sons Michael and Robbie hit out at what they claim is the breathtaking hypocrisy of a man they say has disowned them behind closed doors despite publicly describing his relationship with them as close.

Following Lynda's death aged 66 in October 2014, her sons assumed that, in time, Pattemore would come to them with a copy of her will.

Travels: Within months of her death from bowel cancer 18 months ago, Pattemore had been to Dubai three times, as well as Peru, Canada and on a round-the-world trip for eight weeks, Lynda's son Michael Peluso said

Globe-trotting pictures, posted to the late actress' Twitter account - which Pattemore now has control of - show some of the places he's visited. In the past year he's been to Russia, Thailand, China and Cuba among others

It comes just days after Lynda's sons Michael and Robbie hit out at the breathtaking hypocrisy of a man they say has disowned them behind closed doors despite publicly describing his relationship with them as close

Lynda, left, married property developer Mr Pattemore, right, in 2008 and left everything to him in her will

But months passed with no word before, in February 2015, Pattemore finally agreed to share it with them when their aunt intervened.

Michael, a 32-year-old actor, told the Mail on Sunday: He sat me down and instead of giving it to me, he read it. He said, This sum is to be split between you and Robbie, and another sum is to be split between you, Robbie, Bradley and Stacey, who are his children.

But he added, Everythings been left to me, so it will go to you when I decide. I was sitting there crying, thinking, Oh God, no.

Robbie, 27, a guest relations manager at a London hotel, adds: When he read it to me later, he actually chuckled and tried to make a joke, saying, So youd better not do anything to annoy me.

On the beach: Following Lynda's death aged 66 in October 2014, her sons assumed that, in time, Pattemore would come to them with a copy of her will. But months passed before he finally agreed to share it

Michael Pattemore has posted pictures of his travels on Lynda Bellingham's Twitter account since her death

Sunning himself: Another one of the photos shows property developer Pattemore at the Great Wall of China

The plight of Lynda Bellingham's sons has struck a chord with the public, many of whom took to Twitter to blast Pattemore's alleged behaviour. One user took exception to Pattemore using his dead wife's Twitter account

'He obviously realised how awkward it was that hed effectively said he now had control over everything my mother had worked for her entire life.'

Michael said: Within a few months of Mums death, hed been to Dubai three times, to Peru, to Canada to see where Mum was born and on a round-the-world trip for eight weeks.

'He also went to Dublin for a hair transplant and he bought himself a brand-new Chevrolet Corvette, despite already driving a brand-new Range Rover my mum had bought him.

He hardly made a penny the entire time he was with my mother  it was all hers.

We started to wonder if he was rubbing our faces in it.'

Their plight has struck a chord with the public, many of whom took to Twitter to blast Pattemore's alleged behaviour.

Angered: Robbie, left, and Michael Peluso, pictured with mother Lynda Bellingham when they were children, have hit out at their stepfather Michael Pattemore for 'disrespecting their mother's memory'

Legal action: Michael, left, and Robbie, right, claim they have been disowned by Mr Pattemore privately and are challenging him over their late mother's will

Lynda was well known throughout the UK for playing the mother in the Oxo adverts, shown, in the 80s and 90s

Amanda Talbot wrote: 'Awful to read how you have treated Lynda's sons - I have two son's [sic] myself and would want them protected for life end of!'

Another, Amanda Ibbotson, accused Pattemore of 'disrespecting not only her memory but her own flesh and blood'.

Judith McKew tweeted: 'Please give her sons their inheritance it's not yours to keep', while Jo Clapham added: 'I really hope it isn't true that you're not looking after Lynda's boys now she's gone! She would not be happy.'

Sophia Grant wrote: 'Michael aka @LyndaBellingham should maybe prove he's not over spending poor Lynda's money & justify why her boys only got 750!!'

Another user took exception to Pattemore using his dead wife's Twitter account. Sissy Sertraline tweeted: '@LyndaBellingham (aka her widower) actually uses his dead wife's old Twitter page, that is beyond tasteless, exploitative and creepy #urgh'
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A couple quit their jobs, sold their home and jetted off for an eight-month honeymoon and a trip of a lifetime.

Adam, 36, and Jodie Dobb, 28, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, began their adventure in November last year after marrying in June.

They sold their semi-detached house for the globe-trotting trip, which they estimate will cost them 25,000.

Adam left his role as a senior architectural technician at a Birmingham consultancy firm, while Jodie handed her notice in as a CAD technician at a Birmingham contractors company.

They have already visited many places, from South-east Asia to the U.S. and will continue to travel through South America for the test of their trip.

Pictured is Adam and Jodie Dobb at the salt flats at Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia last week before the moved on to Peru

The couple took a selfie with the Christ The Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The site is one of the most famous monuments in the world

The couple are seen enjoying the hot weather and tropical views in Bali, Indonesia - one of the first countries they visited

Adam and Jodie Dobb, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, began their adventure in November last year after marrying in June

Now halfway through their travels, the newlyweds have already stayed in 44 different accommodations and visited UAE, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, USA, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia.

Jodie, 28, said: 'Adam and I have always talked about travelling. Our first ever conversation during a work night out was about travelling through Europe which is something we still hope to do.

'Due to Adam studying architecture part-time we've not had an opportunity to go travelling for any period of time until last year so we took the chance for our honeymoon.'

The loved-up pair have met up with friends and family in Australia and New Zealand and then trekked, swam, before touring visiting museums, galleries, parks and iconic monuments along the way.

Horse riding at sunset in Argentina, exploring the world-famous Bolivian salt flats at Salar de Uyuni and visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro are just some of the highlights of their trip so far.

Jodie said: 'It's amazing sharing this experience with one another, plus it's opened our eyes to future opportunities.'

Jodie Dobb, 28, from Newark, Nottinghamshire, enjoys the city skyline in Auckland, New Zealand

The newlyweds have kept their family and friends up to date with their travels by posting pictures on Facebook. Pictured (left) is Venice Beach in Los Angeles and (right) Bluff in New Zealand

In Autralia (left) and New Zealand (right), the couple were able to visit friends and family

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jodie and Adam Dobb met Grease actress Olivia Newton John

The newlyweds have stayed in hotels, guest houses, hostel, a caravan and a tent.

Jodie said: 'For many people the thought of spending 24 hours a day with your other half would be a nightmare but Adam and I get on great, laugh lots and are very close.

'There are times when we're tired, hungry and hot and get frustrated but we can both sense those moments so we give one another space and laugh about it later!'

They are in Peru this week and visited Macchu Piccu and the Inca ruins in the sacred valley today. The Dobbs will then go on to Ecuador, Colombia, Central America, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico.

They sold their semi-detached house for the globe-trotting trip, which they estimate will cost them 25,000. They are pictured sitting on sand in LA

This photo taken by the Dobbs shows boats at a small port in Indonesia - one of the first countries they visited on their adventure

Adam and Jodie enjoy the sunshine and hilly views in Queenstown, New Zealand. They were able to visit family and friends there too

Jodie said that the trip has strengthened their relationship and will prove to be a source of happy memories for years to come. Pictured is their wedding day in June last year

Jodie said that the trip has strengthened their relationship and will prove to be a source of happy memories for years to come.

She said: 'We'll certainly have lots of amazing memories to talk about going into the future - lots of laughs of moments of 'can you remember when*?

'We have a strong relationship anyway but I think having spent so much time together non-stop that, even after almost nine years, we've still learnt new things about one another which is great.'

Adam, 36, left his role as a senior architectural technician at a Birmingham consultancy firm while Jodie handed her notice in as a CAD technician at a Birmingham contractors company. The couple are pictured in LA

Now halfway through their travels, the newlyweds have already stayed in 44 different accommodations and visited UAE, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, USA, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. They are pictured on a train in New Zealand

Jodie (pictured with Star Wars character Chewbacca in LA), 28, said: 'Adam and I have always talked about travelling. Our first ever conversation during a work night out was about travelling through Europe which is something we still hope to do.'

Jodie said: ''There are times when we're tired, hungry and hot and get frustrated but we can both sense those moments so we give one another space and laugh about it later!' Pictued (left) is the couple in Australia and (right) Adam pony trekking in Argentina

The loved-up pair have met up with friends and family in Australia and New Zealand (pictured) and then trekked, swam, before touring visiting museums, galleries, parks and iconic monuments along the way.

Horse riding at sunset in Argentina, exploring the world-famous Bolivian salt flats at Salar de Uyuni and visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro are just some of the highlights of their trip so far. They are pictured here in LA

Jodie said: 'It's amazing sharing this experience with one another, plus it's opened our eyes to future opportunities.' The couple are pictured in Queenstown, New Zealand

Jodie said that the trip has strengthened their relationship and will prove to be a source of happy memories for years to come. The couple are pictured (left) on their wedding day last June and (right) in front of Hollywood Hills in the U.S.




Mr Ortega says El Chapo ordered his custodians to fetch the group coffee

He was 12 hours late as El Chapo wanted to use steam rooms and nap

Jose Antonio Ortega interrogated the drug lord at the Mexican jail in 2000

El Chapo 'owned' the first prison he escaped from, a criminal attorney says

A prosecutor has revealed new details about how Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman controlled the first prison from which he escaped.

Jose Antonio Ortega, a criminal attorney, said his interrogation of El Chapo was delayed by 12 hours because the cartel boss had a conjugal visit then decided he wanted to visit a steam room and take a nap.

When he finally sat down to interview him, he ordered custodians to get the group coffee 'as if he had invited us to his own house', Mr Ortega said.

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Jose Antonio Ortega (left), a criminal attorney, claims when he met with El Chapo (right) to interrogate him, it appeared as though the drug lord 'owned' the prison - from which he escaped 10 months later

A group of footballers train outside Guadalajara's Puente Grande federal prison, which El Chapo 'owned' during his imprisonment there

The incident, which Mr Ortega has described to CNN, took place in March 2000 when Guzman was a prisoner at the Puente Grande federal prison from where he escaped 10 months later.

Mr Ortega said he was due to meet El Chapo at 10am that date, but received a phone call delaying it for 12 hours because the 'inmate' was not ready.

He was tasked with investigating the death of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo at Guadalajara Airport in 1993. It was believed he was shot dead by gunmen trying to target El Chapo, who was on the tarmac at the time.

When El Chapo finally entered the interview room - which was not the prison's usual interrogation room but was a room next to the prison director's office - he asked why the interview was delayed.

According to Mr Ortega, El Chapo responded: 'Look, I had my conjugal visit today. Afterward, I went to the steam room and then had to take a nap so that I could greet you as you deserve.'

Mr Ortega explained: 'El Chapo owned the prison at that moment. It was as if he had invited us to his house. He offered coffee to us, knowing full well the hearing was going to last several hours.'

Meanwhile, a Mexican judge has dismissed one of the appeals against extradition filed by lawyers for El Chapo.

The federal Judiciary Council says the judge threw out the appeal because the drug lord's lawyers didn't provide evidence that their defendant's rights were being violated.

El Chapo is forced to face the press after being captured for a second time in early January this year

Pictured is the tunnel believed to have been used by El Chapo in his escape from Altiplano Prison last year

In a statement explaining the ruling last month, it appeared to the judge ruled largely on technical grounds.

The appeal allegedly didn't include the correct name of the federal prosecutors' office cited evidence that amounted to little more than a clipping from a newspaper.

El Chapo's lawyers say they have filed nine constitutional appeals on Guzman's behalf against extradition, restrictions on visits and other alleged violations. He has claimed prison authorities won't let him sleep, following his re-arrest in January.
A Moroccan man has appeared in court today to become the first person to go on trial over the wave of sex assaults in German cities on New Year's Eve.

The man, identified only as Toufik M, is alleged to have been among a group of 30 men who molested a woman.

He was identified after a woman recognised his face from the attack when he was interviewed on TV, The BBC reported.

The Moroccan defendant, identified only as Toufik M (pictured), makes his way into the court in Dusseldorf

The accused (pictured) was later identified after an alleged victim saw him on a German television programme

Photographs taken in Dusseldorf today show him making his way into the courtroom covering his face with a jacket.

More than 5 million people in Germany watched the exclusive Spiegel TV report entitled 'King of the pickpockets'.

In the interview, Taoufik M claimed that he had been forced into a life of crime because of his upbringing and only stole to feed himself.

However, one viewer, a teenager from Cologne, later said it had left her speechless - after she claims she recognised him as the man who had put his hand under her skirt on New Year's Eve.

Witnesses said the attacks, of which more than 550 were registered with police, saw groups of Arab or North African men surrounding and groping women they had cornered during celebrations.

The majority of the attacks occurred in the city of Cologne, though once news of the mass assaults broke, it emerged similar sex attacks took place across many other European cities.

Cologne police are investigating people from North African countries in connection with the New Years Eve attacks for robbery, theft and trafficking stolen goods.

However, they admit the majority would not be caught due to poor CCTV and victims' inability to identify their attackers.

Police logs from the night reveal the full horror the women experienced when they were set upon by the out-of-control mob of men on the steps of the city's historic cathedral.

The notes reveal how women complained they were surrounded by men who tried to put their hands inside their tights and knickers and even insert their fingers in their vaginas.

The New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne (pictured) were described as chaos with hundreds of drunk young men setting off fireworks and causing trouble in the city centre

Two police officers stand guard outside Cologne's main train station following the New Year's Eve attacks

One woman told police she was surrounded by 20 men of North African appearance before they attacked her, while another said hands were 'all over her breasts and buttocks'.

Thieves rifled through a woman's handbag while others distracted her by shoving their hands underneath her clothes.

In an appalling catalogue of complaints, the women who were attacked by up to 2,000 men during a fireworks display in the square by the cathedral in front of Cologne's train station told how they had mobile phones, bank cards and cash stolen.

After reports that the attacks were carried out by 'mainly Arabic and North African men', far-right protesters launched a wave of demonstrations across Europe.

Authorities were intially accused of a cover-up regarding the events, with reports emerging claiming officers were told to remove the word 'rape' from reports.

The initial report that the officers discussed read 'rape, sexual harassment, thefts, committed by a large group of foreign people'.

Officer KHK received a call hours later requesting he delete 'rape' at the behest of the state interior ministry. The officer refused.
The 15-month old was in a pram with her mother when she was snatched

Sources close to family claim she grew up in dysfunction environment

Her grieving uncle revealed she was treated for a 'seizure' a week before

Toddler Sanaya Sahib, who was found dead in a Melbourne creek, was treated by an ambulance for a 'seizure' just a week before she died, her grieving uncle Habib Ali has revealed.

It is understood paramedics were concerned the fit was caused by a lack of oxygen when they attended the family home on Sunday, April 3, the Herald Sun reported.

This comes as an autospy revealed that 15-month-old Sanaya, who was found dead in Darebin Creek on Sunday, died due to smothering.

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The body of Sanaya Sahib, who was 15 months old, was found 'partially submerged' in a creek after her mother said she was snatched from her pram in a Melbourne park

Sanaya's grieving uncle Habib Ali (pictured) revealed the toddler was treated by an ambulance for a 'seizure' just a week before she died

The home of the uncle of the 15-month-old girl, where paramedics treated her on April 3

Sanaya's mother Sofina Nikat, 22, told investigators a man who smelt of alcohol and was not wearing any shoes took her daughter as they walked through Olympic Park in Heidelberg West, in Melbourne's north, on Saturday.

On Monday neighbours and sources close to the family told The Age that the 15-month old was raised in a dysfunctional environment and was in close contact with two men facing serious criminal charges in the week before she died.

Homicide detectives will reportedly investigate links between the men, who are reportedly close to the family, and who cannot be named for legal reasons, and the toddler's death.

One of these men is charged with serious domestic violence offences, including assault with a weapon.

Detectives have spent four hours scouring the family home as welfare workers took the child's mother to police, who she was helping with their inquiries.

Ms Nikat was seen leaving her home with two welfare workers on each arm as she was escorted to speak with police on Sunday

The family home that Ms Nikat was staying in with her 15-month-old toddler near the park where she was taken

Ms Nikat was seen leaving her home with two welfare workers on each arm as she was escorted to speak with police on Sunday, Ten News reported.

The man, who Ms Nikat said followed herself and Sanaya in the park before pushing her to the ground and running off with her daughter about 10am on Saturday, was described as African in appearance, between 20 and 30 years old and about 1.8 metres tall.

But the mother did not see his face.

Less than 24 hours later, the toddler's body was found 'partially submerged' in Darebin Creek just before 3am on Sunday by a family who had seen social media posts about her disappearance and wanted to help.

They were looking for the child so early in the morning because they themselves had been victims of a child disappearance, but lucky for them their loved one was returned.

While investigators have watched hours of CCTV footage, the Herald Sun reported there was no evidence of the alleged killer and no known witnesses who have come forward to verify Ms Nikat's story.

A car is seen parked out the front after police spent most of Sunday looking through the house

Police recover what is believed to be the body of a 15-month-old girl who was found in Darebin Creek after being abducted in Heidelberg West

Police are continuing to speak to family members, including the toddler's mother (centre above with welfare workers)

Sanaya was last seen wearing a short-sleeved white top with pink and yellow hearts, koala print pants, socks, and a black necklace with an oval locket

Ms Nikat was placed in a car before being driven away from the family home

No one has been arrested and the investigation will continue, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey said on Sunday it was not known how long the toddler's body had been in the water, and appealed for anyone who saw the incident, the child or her blue and yellow pram to come forward.

'It is obviously extremely concerning for Victoria Police if this is a random abduction,' he told reporters.

'But we're not closing off any lines of inquiry.'

It is believed Sanaya and her mother, from Mitcham in Melbourne's east, were staying with family in Heidelberg West near the former 1956 Olympic Village following a separation from the tot's father.

Both parents are said to be extremely distressed and have been helping police.

Emergency workers put up a plastic sheet to cordon off the location where Sanaya was found

Both parents are said to be extremely distressed and have been helping police. Above police are collecting evidence from the crime scene

The bridge over Darebin Creek where the little girl was found on Sunday

Police tape cordons off the scene, with a trolley acting as an anchor point

Locals have started to lay tributes for the little girl at a makeshift shrine where her body was found

Mourners carry a teddy bear and flowers for Sanaya on Sunday morning

The pile of tributes are growing at Darebin Creek as police continue to investigate Sanaya's death

Two emergency services workers are seen at the area in Heidelberg West, near Melbourne, where the 15-month-old was snatched and last seen alive by her mother

The body is yet to be formerly identified and a post-mortem examination was due to be carried out on Sunday night.

Locals said they were shocked at the grisly incident, which shook the tight-knit community.

'It's really scary. You would hope someone would have seen it,' local Sophie said, according to the Herald Sun.

'It's so scary that it could happen with so many people around. I don't want to say it's an unsafe neighbourhood, but it definitely makes you more mindful.'

Other residents have started to lay flowers at the park in tribute to the baby girl.

Police and rescue workers are seen putting an orange tarp up around the site where a body was found on Sunday morning

Police are seen searching a garbage bin while looking for Sanaya, who went missing on Saturday morning and was found dead on Sunday in Darebin Creek

One message from locals read 'our heart breaks' with your family

A knitted stuffed toy sits next to a small bunch of flowers on Monday

Following the discovery of her body, Mr Ali told Ten News the family were 'shocked, worried and devastated'. Above are more tributes from the makeshift shrine

Following the discovery of her body, Mr Ali told Ten News the family were 'shocked, worried and devastated'. Pictured is the creek

Police tape have cordoned off a large area around the creek in Melbourne

Sanaya's uncle Mr Ali claims the mother arrived home after her child was snatched, holding grave concerns and was screaming 'somebody took my child, somebody took my child', 9News reported.

Following the discovery of her body, Mr Ali told Ten News the family were 'shocked, worried and devastated'.

Ms Nikat was reportedly sitting on a bench when she noticed an African man in his mid 30s keeping a close eye on her.

'She said someone was standing and watching her...but she didn't make anything of it,' Mr Ali said.

Although Ms Nikat lived in Mitcham, about 20 minutes north-east of Heidelberg, Mr Ali said his sister visited frequently as he and his family were helping her through a separation with her partner.

Victoria Police detective Stuart Bailey said officers are searching for a man who was not wearing shoes and 'smelt heavily' of alcohol when he allegedly abducted the baby on Saturday

Officers closed off Olympic Park in Heidelberg West (pictured) overnight on Saturday as part of the search

SES volunteers looking for Sanaya on Saturday before she was found early on Sunday

The little girl vanished from Olympic Park in Heidelberg West, north-east of Melbourne, about 10am on Saturday

The toddler's mother claims she was pushed to the ground by a man in his 30s who then took her child from her pram and ran away

SES volunteers aided police during the search by scouring the area and searching through rubbish bins in hopes of finding evidence
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London may just have welcomed its flashest car yet - a pink Lamborghini covered in pictures of Pamela Anderson.

The 300,000 Aventador, dubbed the Pam-borghini, was spotted in London over the weekend, which has been teeming with an array of eccentrically-coloured supercars in recent weeks.

And while there have been a number of unique Arab-owned cars arriving in the capital over the past fortnight, the Lamborghini is British-registered.

It is believed the car is owned by Nitin Passi, the Manchester-based founder of retail website Missguided.

The Pam-borghini is covered in fake $100 bills along with pictures of the famous Baywatch star on the bonnet and along the roof.

Anderson recently became the face of the fashion website.

The car's appearance in London follows the arrival of a fleet of four gold cars owned by a young Saudi tourist.

The super-rich Saudi Bin Abdullah has caused quite a stir in west London in recent days as his golden Bentley, Lamborghini and Rolls Royce have been seen touring the streets and parked outside luxury hotels.

The photos and videos posted on instagram document Bin Abdullah's globetrotting lifestyle as he takes his money and his cars between the oil-rich states of the Middle East to the most exclusive streets of Europe.

In one video, he is shown chasing a camel down a steep desert slope in his 370,00 six-wheel Mercedes G63. A friend jokes: 'My drive home from school'.

Britains most garish car has been unveiled - a pink Lamborghini covered in pictures of Pamela Anderson, shown here parked in the capital

The 300,000 Aventador, dubbed the Pam-borghini, was spotted in London over the weekend, complete with the hashtag #pamborghini

It is believed the car, registered here in Britain, is owned by Nitin Passi, the Manchester-based founder of retail website Missguided

The Pam-borghini is covered in fake $100 bills along with pictures of the famous Baywatch star on the front and along the roof

It is believed the car is owned by Nitin Passi, pictured, the Manchester-based founder of retail website Missguided, who recently hired Anderson as the face of a new campaign

A 90,000 gold wrapped Maserati Gran Turismo is spotted in London with learner plates last week, one of several flashy cars to roam around London recently

A parking warden was approached by a security guard as he put a ticket on the car, which was parked outside a cafe in London's W1 postcode area

Another clip, posted just a few weeks ago, shows him filming himself as he drives his 350,000 Lamborghini Aventador SV in west London, followed by friends in another of his golden vehicles.

There is also a gold Maserati Gran Turismo in town - with the owner driving around with his learner plates still attached.

The owner, who is believed to be a 20-year-old Arab playboy, parked his Maserati Gran Cabrio near Edgware Road last week before entering a coffee shop with his friend.

A short-while later, the car was spotted by a traffic warden who began writing out a ticket. A large man, believed to be a friend of the car's owner, ran out of the coffee shop and approached the traffic warden.

According to an eyewitness: 'The traffic warden continued to write his ticket and the man returned to the coffee shop. They stayed in there for about an hour.

'The young guy, who must have been about 20, got into the driver's side and the friend got in the passenger seat. The friend must have had a full driving licence to supervise the learner.

'I'm not sure whether a Maserati is the best car to learn to drive in, I learned in a Fiesta.'

A gold Mercedes 6x6 worth 370,000 and a Lamborghini Aventador SV valued 350,000 are seen in London - two of four gold-coloured cars which have been seen in the captial all belonging to the same wealthy motorist

A gold Mansory Bentley Flying Spur worth 220,000, one of four gold cars owned by a wealthy Saudi who has brought his entourage of expensive cars to the UK

The maddest-looking motor is his 370,000 Mercedes G63 AMG 6x6 - a six-wheel off-roader which is more suited to the sand dunes of Saudi Arabia than the congested streets of Kensington
Notorious prison escapee the 'Postcard Bandit' who has served 18 years in jail for bank robberies is expected to be immediately re-arrested after he is released on parole on Tuesday.

Brenden Abbott, 53, spent more than six years evading authorities and managed to escape from two prisons - by dressing up as a guard and using wire to slice the bars on his cell - before finally being sentenced to 25-years served at the SuperMax at the Woodford Correctional Centre northwest of Brisbane.

He was last month granted parole and was on Monday transferred from the Woodford Correctional Centre to the Brisbane Correctional Centre at Wacol in preparation for his release, which is likely to happen early Tuesday morning.

Notorious prison escapee the 'Postcard Bandit' who has served 18 years in jail for bank robberies is expected to be immediately re-arrested after he is released on parole on Tuesday

Brenden Abbott, 53, spent more than six years evading authorities and managed to escape from two prisons

West Australian Police have confirmed they will seek his extradition so that he can face the remainder of his sentence there for various crimes, including breaking out of jail.

'At this stage all we can say is he intends to oppose that application,' Abbott's lawyer Brendan Nyst told AAP.

'As far as I understand it, he has about 11 years in total to serve and I think he's eligible after eight years for parole.'

He has served 18 years of a 25-year sentence for bank robberies and escapes after earning his nickname for reportedly taunting police with postcards while on the run.

He said the Queensland Parole Board had deemed Abbott not to be a risk to the community.

'The decision to seek his extradition to Western Australia is somewhat perplexing and we would say unfair given the history of the matter,' Mr Nyst said.

Since 2002 Abbott has applied to be transferred to WA, but that state's attorney-general refused to grant such permission.

'We would say the interests of justice probably aren't served in having him now return to Western Australia after serving what can only be described as a very lengthy sentence here in Queensland,' Mr Nyst said.

West Australian Police have confirmed they will seek Abbott's extradition so that he can face the remainder of his sentence there for various crimes, including breaking out of jail

While behind bars, Abbott took up painting portraits of famous figures and on the back of each work, would leave a thumb print and sign his name

Abbott (pictured left with tourist) spent more than six years evading authorities and managed to escape from two prisons before finally being sentenced to 25 years served at the SuperMax at the Woodford Correctional Centre northwest of Brisbane

Abbott had repeatedly applied for parole prior to his recent, successful attempt and argued he had obeyed prison rules for over a decade.

Abbott grew up in the suburb of Broadmeadows in Melbourne's north and when he was just 12 years of age, he hit a schoolgirl with a bicycle pump and was subsequently sent to a Perth detention centre as a ward of the state, according to The Courier Mail.

He left school at 15 and by his mid-20s, joined a gang who robber Perth electrical stores. After being arrested in a raid, he asked a Nollamara police officer for a drink, unlocked the door to the interrogation room and escaped.

Abbott then participated in a number of bank robberies throughout the 1980s, where he would 'drop' from the ceiling wearing a balaclava and threaten staff with a gun.

He was convicted of one of the robberies in 1987, and sentenced to 12 years in prison served at the high-security Fremantle prison

Abbott grew up in the suburb of Broadmeadows in Melbourne's north and when he was just 12 years of age, he hit a schoolgirl with a bicycle pump and was subsequently sent to a Perth detention centre

Abbott was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment at the then-new SuperMax at Woodford Prison (pictured), 80 kilometres north of Brisbane

While behind bars, Abbott began painting portraits of famous figures such as former prime minister Gough Whitlam and boxer Mike Tyson (pictured) to send to his then-girlfriend

While behind bars, Abbott was hired by the tailor shop and used the opportunity to make prison guard uniforms. Along with fellow inmate Aaron Reynolds, he managed to escape through the roof of the prison.

Abbott, spend five and a half years on the run, donning disguises, making fake IDs and committing bank robberies to keep himself afloat. It is estimated he stole up to $6 million.

He was finally captured in Queensland in 1995 and sent back to prison in Brisbane. Two years later, he broke out for a second time by cutting through his cell bars with wire smuggled in by an accomplice.

Abbott and his accomplice Brendan Berichon, 19, travelled to Melbourne and managed to evade authorities for another eight months, before Abbott was finally arrested at a laundromat in Darwin in 1988.

He was sentenced to 25 years at the then-new SuperMax at Woodford Prison, 80 kilometres north of Brisbane.

Abbott was subject to surveillance checks every 15 minutes and the bars checked twice a day while in solitary confinement. He has been moved between cells more than 200 times.

While behind bars, Abbott began painting portraits of famous figures such as former prime minister Gough Whitlam and boxer Mike Tyson to send to his then-girlfriend.
The woman who gave French police the vital tip-off about the secret hiding place of the mastermind of the Paris attacks has revealed the terrifying moment she met Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

'I'd seen him on TV,' the woman said, recalling how she had accompanied Abaaoud's cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen to the fugitive's secret hiding place in a wooded area near the suburb of Aubervillier.

Realising his intentions to carry out another massacre, she tried to get Aitboulahcen drunk to stop her helping Abaaoud before secretly informing police of his plans.

Now living under police protection and fearful for her life, the woman told The Washington Post that she was a surrogate mother to Aitboulahcen and struggled with feelings of guilt over her death.

'It's important that the world knows that I am Muslim myself. It's important to me that people know what Abaaoud and the others did is not what Islam is teaching,' she said, explaining why she informed the police.

The woman accompanied her friend Hasna Aitboulahcen (left) to her meeting with Abdelhamid Abaaoud (right), unaware that the Belgian jihadi had been behind the attacks in Paris

A forensic scientist of the French police searches for evidences in the apartment in St Denis

Deadly attack: Inside the burnt out remains of the St Denis flat where Aitboulahcen, Abaaoud and Akrouh were killed on 17 November 2015

The friend said she remembered how when she told Aitboulahcen about the attacks on the night of 13 November, she simply said: 'They're all unbelievers. Nothing can happen to me'

The woman explained that Hasna Aitboulahcen stayed with her for three years but suffered with spells of drug abuse and heavy drinking when she would disappear for several weeks.

She described the change in Hasna's behaviour when she started to message someone in Syria, according to French investigators files.

It is unclear who she was in contact with but it is likely it was her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who had travelled out to Syria in 2013 and risen through the ranks of ISIS to head up their external terror team.

The jihadi had taunted intelligence services in an interview in ISIS's propaganda magazine, boasting how he had made multiple trips back to Europe from Syria undetected.

Aitboulahcen started to wear a niqab and talked about marrying her cousin Abaaoud despite videos emerging online of him boasting of war crimes and driving truck filled with dead corpses.

Parisians look at the scene outside the Bataclan concert hall on the night 130 innocent civilians were killed

Now living under police protection and fearful for her life, the woman told The Washington Post that she was a surrogate mother to Aitboulahcen and struggled with feelings of guilt over her death

Hundreds of fans crowd on to the pitch after three suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the Stade de France on 13 November 2016

It is thought that although she was in regular contact, Aitboulahcen was unaware that Abaaoud was involved in the Paris attacks until she met him in the woods.

The friend said she remembered how when she told Aitboulahcen about the attacks on the night of 13 November, she simply said: 'They're all unbelievers. Nothing can happen to me.'

According to the woman, Aitboulahcen received an a phone call two nights after the terror attacks. The caller claimed to be calling on behalf of her cousin but was using a Belgian number.

Unconvinced, she hung up only for the same number to call again and tell her that they needed her to find accommodation 'for no more than a day or two'.

The woman, who is living under police protection, said that the Belgian jihadi later called his cousin and threatened to kill the woman if she spoke to anyone about the meeting

French Police Forensics officers work on Rue des Corbillon in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis

Excited by the request, she quickly asked what they needed and said she hoped it was not a joke, the friend said.

On the night she met Abaaoud, Aitboulachen was delighted, rejoicing at the sight of him, the woman recalled before describing how she felt the need to question his actions.

Abaaoud gave his cousin 5,000 Euros and told her to find accommodation for him and his associate.

He also asked her to buy smart suits and shoes, which he is believed to have intended to use as a disguise for a second attack on Paris's business district.

The woman said she asked him why he had hurt so many people but the jihadi confidently claimed that Paris 'was nothing' and warned of further attacks from many other militants in Europe.

The Belgian jihadi later called his cousin and threatened to kill the woman if she spoke to anyone about the meeting.

On the Tuesday night, the St Denis flat which Aitboulahcen had rented for 150 Euros was raided. Aitboulahcen's friend asked her for the address before informing the police

The woman said she asked him why he had hurt so many people, only for the jihadi to confidently claim that Paris 'was nothing' and warn of further attacks from many other militants in Europe

Abaaoud may be dead but for the woman who stopped him, his threat still haunts her life everyday as she lives in fear that she could be targeted by an ISIS operative

Realising the seriousness of the situation, the friend tried unsuccessfully to get Aitboulahcen drunk in order to prevent her carrying out Abaaoud's request.

The next day she secretly rang the emergency intelligence online and explained everything that was said at the meeting.

Security services picked up Aitboulachen's calls and watched her view properties the following day.

On the Tuesday night, the St Denis flat which Aitboulahcen had rented for 150 Euros was raided. The police had been given the address by Aitboulahcen's friend.

Heavy gunfire was exchanged between French special forces and the fugitives before Chakib Akrouh's suicide vest detonated.

The ceiling caved in killing Abaaoud and crushing Aitboulahcen to death.

Despite her extraordinary bravery in informing police about Abaaoud and her friend Hasna Aitboulahcen, the woman says she still lives in fear.

Abaaoud may be dead but for the woman who stopped him, his threat still haunts her life everyday as she lives in fear that she could be targeted by an ISIS operative.
The 48-year-old is serving 35 life sentences at Risdon Prison in Hobart

Police revealed he had slaughtered his hostage before the phone call

Martin Bryant described the Port Arthur massacre as a 'Hawaiian holiday' during a chilling phone call to police where he also said he was making tea and sandwiches for the hostages he already killed.

Officer Terry McCarthy said the prolific mass murderer sounded 'dull' when he made a phone call to police on April 28, 1996, while he was holed up in the Seascape bed and breakfast after mercilessly shooting 35 people to death at the Port Arthur convict colony.

Bryant, then aged 28, told the officer he 'couldn't be better' and that the situation was just like being on a 'Hawaiian holiday', A Current Affair reported.

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Martin Bryant made a chilling phone call to police during the Port Arthur massacre where he described the situation as being like a 'Hawaiian holiday' and claimed he was making tea for the hostages he'd already slain

'I've got to go cos kettle's squealing downstairs and I'm making a cup of tea now for the hostages,' he told police

When asked what he had meant after making the peculiar statement, Bryant went on to say he was in the process of making his hostages 'some sandwiches' and a cup of tea.

'I'm making up some sandwiches... these people have got some salad and some bacon in them.'

'I'm going to fry up some bacon and eggs for them.'

'I've got to go cos kettle's squealing downstairs and I'm making a cup of tea now for the hostages.'

But Bryant had already slaughtered his hostage Glenn Pears and proceeded to set the cottage alight, only fleeing once his clothing caught fire.

But Bryant had already slaughtered his hostage Glenn Pears and proceeded to set the cottage alight, only fleeing once his clothing caught fire

'We were fairly convinced that nobody was alive there at the time that we were actually talking,' Mr McCarthy said

Mr McCarthy said Bryant had been trying to coax police into a shootout, with his choice of words raising red flags for police

'We were fairly convinced that nobody was alive there at the time that we were actually talking,' Mr McCarthy said.

'We were fairly convinced that nobody was alive there at the time that we were actually talking,' Mr McCarthy said.

He said Bryant had been trying to coax police into a shootout, with his choice of words raising red flags for police.

'It was the terminology he was using, the type of language and words he was using to convey an impression as to where those people were or what they were doing just didn't ring true.

'It was a game where he really didn't have any exit strategy.'

This comes as the 20th anniversary of the horrific mass killings looms.

Bryant, whose IQ was found to be 'lower than over 98 per cent of the normal population', was found guilty on 72 separate charges including murder and attempted murder in the Tasmanian Supreme Court.

He was sentenced to 35 life sentences - or 1,035 years without parole.

The blonde killer, now 48, has been incarcerated at Risdon Prison, near Hobart, ever since.

THE PORT ARTHUR MASSACRE The Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people died, is the deadliest mass killing in Australia's history, and the fourth biggest shooting spree anywhere. Port Arthur is a former prison colony, now a popular tourist site, near Tasmania's capital Hobart. On April 28 1996 Martin Bryant, then aged 28, opened fire in the cafe, gift shop and car park. It took Bryant just 15 seconds to kill 12 people and wound 10 more in the cafe. He then left Port Arthur, killing indiscriminately as he went. He went to a nearby B&B which his father had once tried to buy, and killed several more people there. He was captured by police when he set the house on fire and ran out. Bryant is now serving 35 life sentences, plus an additional 1,035 years in jail. His motive for the killing has never been established, but he is believed to have been mentally sub-normal, with an IQ of just 66. Bryant's father had committed suicide in 1993, which contributed to his son's mental unrest. Advertisement

Bryant's motive for the killing has never been established, but he is believed to have been mentally sub-normal, with an IQ of just 66

Bryant's father committed suicide in 1993, which contributed to his son's mental unrest

The blonde killer, now 48, has been incarcerated at Risdon Prison, near Hobart, since his conviction

Last month chilling ever-before-seen footage showed the moment Bryant confessed to his crimes when he mistakenly thought the camera had stopped rolling.

A creepy smile warps Bryant's face as he baits police with a vague confession during a recorded interrogation after his arrest.

'I'm sure you'll find the person who caused all of this,' a young Bryant tells police shortly before he raises his hand and motions towards himself as he mouths the word 'me'.

'You should've put that on recording,' he adds.

A creepy smile warps the face of murderer Martin Bryant as he baits police with a vague confession during a recorded interrogation after he mercilessly shot 35 people to death

He then raises his hand and motions towards himself as he mouths the word 'me'
Four young men were dragged through hell by bungling rape detectives who buried the evidence that eventually caused the case against them to fall apart.

The quartet, who were arrested after a group sex session at a student ball, last night said police treated them as guilty until proven innocent.

Detectives were accused of cherry-picking evidence to support their case, while airbrushing out anything that suggested the men were innocent.

Thady Duff, Leo Mahon and Patrick Foster, all 22, and James Martin, 20, had denied charges of rape and sexual assault.

Cleared: Leo Mahon, Patrick Foster, Thady Duff and James Martin (all pictured left to right) have all been found not guilty of rape

Anger: James Martin with his father Andy after leaving court. Mr Martin's barrister said there needed to be a review into the handling of the case against his client

And the Gloucester Crown Court case against them fell apart after it emerged that the alleged victim had given different accounts as a witness in another rape case.

Officers are also facing questions over why it took 13 months to charge the men, with lawyers alleging evidence had been withheld by officers before the trial.

This included messages taken from the victims phone hinting that she may have consented.

The rape case collapsed on the day it was revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last year dropped more cases than in any of the previous five years.

The damning figures revealed that one in every eight Crown Court cases  more than 12,600  were abandoned before they had even started.

Last night amateur jockey Mr Martin criticised the devastating police investigation.

He said: If they had done their job properly it would have been over a long time ago and I would have years of my life back.

His barrister Edward Henry accused officers of airbrushing and cherry-picking evidence and said there will need to be a review.

He added: We need to know the answers to some questions. Why this should have gone on for so long as it has? Why it took 13 months to decide to charge these defendants in the first place?

Mr Henry had told the court there had been an absolute failure by a police officer to take notes except for self-serving acts on occasion.

He said: There are two notes where sexual behaviour has been mentioned to the officer and these notes have never made their way into the defence material.

He has vandalised the trial process. It is broken and cannot be fixed.

The young men were arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault after the drunken sex session on the night of the Mad Hatters May ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in 2014.

A pornographic video of the act was shared on social messaging app Snapchat  leading the woman involved to tell police she had been raped.

The group were accused of raping the alleged victim at the end-of-year ball at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire (pictured)

The young men were facing prison sentences of more than ten years if they had been convicted.

THE WORLD-RENOWNED ROYAL AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY The University's annual Summer Ball is held in late May to mark end-of-year exams. The Royal Agricultural University is known as the 'Oxbridge of the Countryside' and the sons and daughters of many of Britain's biggest landowners are among its 1,200 students. The patron is Prince Charles and one of its former students is Captain Mark Phillips, former husband of Princess Anne. Around 1,200 students attend the RAU, which became the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world in 1845 when it was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria. Former students include political commentator Jonathan Dimbleby, Princess Anne's ex-husband Captain Mark Phillips and the late champion horse trainer Sir Henry Cecil. Her descendants have always been Patrons of the institution which stands in a beautiful 25-acre campus on the edge of Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Since 2008, it has seen a 49 per cent rise in applications and is ranked top in the UK for investing in campus facilities. The internationally renowned university, which until 2013 was known as the Royal Agricultural College, is rated the Oxbridge of agricultural studies. Founded in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. Advertisement

But it emerged on the eve of the trial opening that the police had failed to reveal that the alleged victim had given different accounts as a witness to an alleged rape on an Army base in October 2014. The alleged rapist was a soldier but he was later cleared.

Detectives were also said to have buried text messages sent by the woman which said she was worried she would look bad if the sex tape got out.

Mr Martin yesterday spoke of his relief. The amateur jockey said he had been devastated to be arrested and to have the charges hanging over him for two years, adding: I didnt feel like it was real. It was hard, very hard. Its always been there.

Its changed the way I think about things. I look at people in a different way now  a bit paranoid. Its harder to trust anybody.

It has been hard, really hard for the families. It is a big relief for everyone. Im relieved but annoyed it got this far.

The son of a farrier said the police had treated the men as guilty until proven innocent. He added: It just seems like something out of the 80s. You dont expect to see the police do this to better themselves.

Mr Martin said it was frustrating that the woman behind the claims remained anonymous under law while the defendants were named and shamed.

He said: She is twisted  she really is. To try to do that to four people just to save her name  I am lost for words.

His parents Andy and Julia, from the tiny village of Swerford near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, said it had been very distressing.

Sobbing, his mother said: I have seen my son change. The day we heard the case was closed, I got my son back.

Melanie Duff, 54, whose polo-playing son Thady had been accused of three charges of rape and one of sexual assault, said the two-year ordeal had been horrendous.

DID POLICE 'AIRBRUSH' KEY EVIDENCE ABOUT GIRL BEFORE TRIAL? Key details that raised questions about the alleged rape victims credibility were airbrushed out by police, it was claimed last night. Five months after the Royal Agricultural Universitys May Ball, where she said she was raped by the four young men, the woman was involved in a sex session with an Army officer which led to the soldier being accused of rape by another woman. It is understood the complainant in the May Ball case was in the same Army barracks room when the soldier was alleged to have raped another woman. Initially the accuser said they had consensual sex but changed her story later to support the other womans rape accusation The soldier was court martialled but cleared of rape and sexual assault charges after she gave different accounts of the alleged rape. The officer on the May Ball case was revealed to have kept quiet about the different accounts the woman had provided. Leo Mahon of Cirencester, Gloucestershire (left) and Patrick Foster of Kelvedon, Colchester in Essex (right) Defence barristers acting for the four men argued the case showed the womans interest in group sex and demanded to know why neither they, nor the Crown Prosecution Service, had been told about it. Further analysis of the complainants phone revealed she had sent text messages on the night of the ball which raised further doubts about her accusations. The black-tie May Ball at the Royal Agricultural University is a chance for its students to let their hair down and celebrate finishing their exams. Hosted by the student union, the Mad Hatters event is described as the biggest ball of the year and the main event in the RAU social diary! Publicity for the event promises: Live bands and top DJs, a funfair and partying from dusk til dawn. Yet for the four young men, the drunken and riotous 85-a-head night at the Cotswolds university evolved into a sordid sex session and a two-year ordeal that had them labelled rapists with heavy jail sentences hanging over them. Based on the outskirts of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and close to Prince Charless Highgrove home, the Royal Agricultural University counts the sons and daughters of many of Britains biggest landowners among its 1,200 students. But the ball in May 2014  where unlimited beer, wine and cider was on offer  revealed a sleazy sexual side to student life. Former private schoolboys Patrick Foster and Thady Duff, farriers apprentice James Martin and jockey Leo Mahon were all accused of rape after indulging in a sex session with one young woman which was filmed and shared online. The pornographic video surfaced on the social messaging app Snapchat and the infuriated woman was prompted by a student officer to go to the police. Thady Duff of Blunsdon, Swindon in Wiltshire (left) and James Martin of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire (right) Final-year university students Mr Duff, Mr Foster and Mr Mahon were all immediately suspended and have been unable to collect their degrees. They were kept on bail for more than a year before being charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault against the woman they all insisted had consented to sex. A student at the time said: The ball was, as usual, a riotous occasion, with everyone throwing a considerable amount of alcohol down their throats. Weve got 1,200 students here and a good many of them were at the ball, as well as quite a few ex-students and staff. Theres never any trouble normally, beyond people letting their hair down and having a good time. The Royal Agricultural University became the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world in 1845 when it was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria. The college, which stands in a beautiful 25-acre campus on the edge of Cirencester, became a university in 2013. Advertisement

Mrs Duff, who runs a livery in rural Wiltshire, said: Today is his first day of starting to rebuild his life. It is something which has been hanging over their heads.

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAPE TRIAL: A TIMELINE From left: Leo Mahan, Patrick Foster, Thady Duff and James Martin - their defence barristers have now called for action following the trial OCTOBER 2013: Thady Duff was accused of a further sexual assault involving the same alleged victim, which allegedly took place in October 2013. MAY 2014: Leo Mahon, 22, Patrick Foster, 22, James Martin, 20, and Thady Duff, 22, had been accused of subjecting a woman to a rape ordeal on the night of the annual May Ball in 2014. JULY 2015: All four men were charged by the Crown Prosecution Service in July 2015. MARCH 29, 2016: A jury of six men and six women were sworn in on March 29 to hear the case but were discharged a week later not having heard any evidence. The group appeared at Gloucester Crown Court on March 29 to deny all charges against them. MARCH 30, 2016: Their trial had been due to start on March 30, 2016. APRIL 2016: The case had been reviewed last week and a decision not to offer any evidence against the four defendants had been made. APRIL 11, 2016: All charges were dropped today save for one of possession of extreme pornography against Mr Duff. Advertisement

'There were some things they couldnt do and some places they couldnt go.

The former Tory councillor for Swindon council added: It has just been horrendous. Anyone who has had anything like this will be able to understand, but their names have been cleared now.

Three of the men were students at the university and they were suspended in their final year. They have been unable to collect their degrees.

A defence source last night said the police investigation had also been detrimental to the woman who made the claims.

He said: To egg someone on, to give them unrealistic expectations  it sends out a dreadful message to women who have been raped and who will feel scared or reluctant to come forward.

A spokesman for Accused.me.uk, the support group for victims of false allegations, said the young men should have been given life-long anonymity unless they had been convicted  just like the woman who made the complaint.

He said: Why should their lives be for ever associated with these disgusting allegations?

The next time they go for a job, or go on a date, these stories will stick to them.

The fact that they were put on a trial which then collapsed illustrates the hell that many thousands of us are put through by the police and legal system each year.

A hearing will be held at a later date to consider defence legal costs. None of the men is currently a student at the agricultural university.

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment because it was waiting to hear the specific detail of the criticism by the defence.

A CPS spokesman said: The CPS has a duty under the Code for Crown Prosecutors to keep cases under continuous review.
The 'Naked Ramber': Stephen Gough, 57, of Eastleigh, Hampshire, has spent much of the past decade in prison over his refusal to wear clothes

Britains infamous Naked Rambler has quit his nude crusade after more than a decade - so he can take his poorly 89-year-old mother for walks.

Stephen Gough, 57, of Eastleigh, Hampshire, has spent much of the past decade in prison over his refusal to wear clothes after he first took to wandering naked in 2003.

But he is putting aside his staunch belief in trekking with no clothes on so he can take care of his dementia-suffering mother Nora and take her for strolls without being arrested.

His vow comes just three months after his latest jail spell for public nudity came to an end. The former Royal Marine also revealed that his elderly mother had suffered a stroke.

Mr Gough said: At the moment whats appropriate is looking after my mum - she needs 24-hour care. If she wants to go for a wander, Ill get dressed and go with her whatever time it is.

Obviously Im clothed when Im doing all this - Id get arrested if I wasnt and then shed have no one to look after her. Shes gradually getting worse. I need to be here. I had to respond to what was necessary.

Mr Gough first started walking the length of the UK in 2003, campaigning for various freedoms including those of expression and a private life.

He hiked from Lands End to John OGroats wearing nothing but his rucksack, hat and boots and was locked up several times as he tried to do a repeat trip two years later with his girlfriend.

The former lorry driver has been arrested a number of times for appearing nude in places and completed various stints in prison - mostly in solitary confinement due to his refusal to wear clothes.

Kit on and kit off: Mr Gough is putting aside his staunch belief in trekking with no clothes off so he can take care of his dementia-suffering mother and take her for strolls without being arrested

Walking the walk: The former marine is pictured making his way through Scotland towards the English border

Mr Gough was arrested more than 30 times in Scotland between 2003 and 2012, and he spent more than seven years in detention there between May 2006 and October 2012.

He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years at Winchester Crown Court in October 2014 after he walked out of the city's prison only wearing his boots and socks following a previous jail term.

And in March 2015, the European Court of Human Rights rejected a final legal challenge brought by Mr Gough, who had claimed he had a right to be nude in public.

For years he has risked falling foul of laws against indecent exposure or behaviour likely to cause 'harassment, alarm or distress'. Mr Gough was most recently released from jail in January.
Now Mr Burton must sell the property and give money to his ex-fiancee

Ms Liden paid 70,000 in contributions to the mortgage but her partner claimed it was only 'rent'

Michael Burton began 18-year relationship with Kristina Liden while he was still married to another woman

A man who persuaded his Swedish fiancee to move to England to live with him by saying he would 'look after her for ever' later insisted she was nothing more than a 'lodger', a court has heard.

Michael Burton has been ordered by a judge to sell his 435,000 house in Yorkshire and hand some of the proceeds to his former partner Kristina Liden.

During their 18-year relationship, Mr Burton told Ms Linden that she had to contribute financially in order to share his home, and she handed over a total of 70,000.

But after the couple broke up, he said that she did not have a stake in the property despite her payments, and even denied that they had ever been engaged.

Victory: Kristina Liden has won the right to part of the money raised by her ex-lover Michael Burton selling the house where they both loved

Mr Burton also suggested that his lover, a keen horsewoman, had only moved to the UK because there was better riding there than in Sweden.

He told Leeds County Court that she paid him 'rent' to live at his house outside Wakefield and insisted he had made it clear that the property was entirely his and would represent his pension pot.

Judge Neil Cameron heard that Mr Burton was still married to another woman when he began an affair with Ms Liden while on business in Sweden in 1995.

After co-habiting in Scandinavia for six years, the couple moved back to England and, after divorcing his wife, Mr Burton installed Ms Liden in his former marital home.

She told the judge: 'Michael was unable to afford the outgoings on the house and in particular he struggled with the mortgage payments.

'He made it plain to me that we could only live at the house if I made a financial contribution. He told me it would be too expensive for him otherwise. I agreed to this.

'I made this contribution because Michael told me on numerous occasions that we would be together for the future, that this would be our home, and he would look after me for ever.

Property: The couple lived at this house outside Wakefield in West Yorkshire for more than a decade

'He told me, "You have to contribute wherever we live, so why not pay for my house?" He also told me I would be a beneficiary of his will.

'I would not have made these payments to him if I believed that he would have treated me this way and would not have made provision for me in the future.'

She also said that when Mr Burton described the money she was paying as 'rent' she had 'challenged this description... telling him that I was not a tenant.'

Judge Cameron said: 'Had she known the true state of affairs, she would potentially have felt that she was paying an unreasonably high contribution to the household.

And he said of Mr Burton: 'He appeared to downplay the significance of the relationship... almost suggesting that Miss Liden moved to England as a lodger rather than a partner in a relationship.'

Judge Cameron accepted Ms Liden's description of their relationship - including her claim that Mr Burton had proposed to her and bought her an engagement ring.

He concluded: 'If Ms Liden had known the true position, she would have made no payments towards the house, towards the mortgage, and could have invested money elsewhere.'

And he ordered the sale of the house, which was already on the market at that time, awarding Ms Liden 33,522 from the proceeds.

In a final bid to fight off his ex-lover's claim, Mr Cameron went on to challenge Judge Cameron's order at the Court of Appeal in London.

But Lord Justice Hamblen, sitting with Lady Justice Sharp and Lord Dyson, dismissed his complaints.
Colonel Rupert Wieloch warned of 'mission creep' if Britain committed troops to Libya

A former British commander of forces in Libya has warned sending in troops to reinforce the fight against Isis risks drawing the UK into a new Afghanistan-style war.

Colonel Rupert Wieloch said it would be 'tempting' to allow a training mission to expand into crisis response or a direct confrontation with ISIS forces.

But he warned the action would raise a 'great danger of mission creep'.

Plans to send 1,000 British troops to join an Italian-led training mission in Libya have been discussed repeatedly in recent months.

The Mediterranean country has descended into chaos since a British and French-led bombing campaign removed Colonel Gaddafi from power in 2011.

ISIS forces have moved to establish a foothold in the North African country amid the chaos.

In remarks reported by the Daily Telegraph, Col Wieloch warned: 'It would be very tempting to get involved in other things other than just training, for example crisis response, or defeating Isil itself.

'We have seen this before in a number of operations.

'It's then very easy for the local population to not understand what the international community is trying to do.'

Col Wieloch said the presence of western troops in Libya could unite the warring militias who have fought over the country's future since 2011.

The retired soldier led British efforts to try and stabilise the country after the 2011 campaign.

He said: 'It's got to be well thought through, with properly trained people going out there and it's got to be a mixture of not just military, but civilians as well.

'I believe it has to be Muslim-led because it's all very well to say the Italians are going back in, but they have not got a good reputation because the Libyan's remember the fascist regime.'

The Ministry of Defence has refused to confirm details of any British mission.

Prime Minister David Cameron was accused by US President Barack Obama, pictured together at the White House, of getting distracted in the aftermath of the 2011 Libya campaign

Speaking in the Commons last month, David Cameron told MPs: 'If we had any plans to send conventional forces for training in Libya we would of course come to this House and discuss them.

'What we want to see in Libya is the formation of a unity Government.'

The Prime Minister said the Government was eager to support a stable new administration in Tripoli.

Mr Cameron's role in the Libya campaign came under scrutiny last month after US President Barack Obama accused Europe of leaving the country a 's*** show'.
New audits into claims are being carried out by outsourced assessors

The Governments overhaul of the benefits system has been plunged into fresh controversy after it was revealed assessors insulted the disabled whose claims they were vetting.

In one shocking exchange one disability assessor said: She asks for help to wipe her ar** cos shes too f**king fat to do it herself.

And in another claim he says assessors are regularly earning up to 20,000 a month by rushing through dozens of appointments.

The claims, aired in Channel 4s Dispatches programme tonight, will further discredit plans for the radical overhaul which led to the resignation of Iain Duncan-Smith.

A still from tonight's episode of Dispatches, hosted by Paralympian Ade Adepitan, pictured. The programme will investigate on planned changes to Disability Living Allowance

Last night disability groups reacted in horror over the findings.

Liz Sayce OBE, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, said she was appalled by the findings and showed the PIP system was being abused

She said: I am alarmed by that disparaging remarks like this are being made by assessors who should be treating the disabled claimants with respect.

Anyone carrying out work of this nature for the Government, should at the very least, be respecting of members of the public.

It clear this system is dehumanising and makes people frightened of the assessment procedure. We are also concerned that incentives to earn large sums of public money are being handed out when it should be going to the very people that need it.

The Channel 4 investigation centres on planned changes to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) which in two years will disappear to be replaced by the new Personal Independence (PIP).

As part of the change all claimants on DLA have to make a fresh application for PIP and then face an assessment to decide whether they are eligible.

Rather than use the evidence of claimants doctors, the Government have out-sourced a 140m contract to Capita to carry out the assessments.

The evidence they gather is then sent to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and a decision on each claim is made.

However the Government is desperate to reduce the massive 12bn annual disability benefit bill and thousands of current claimants have had their applications rejected.

Dispatches sent in psychiatric nurse, Noel Finn, as an undercover reporter to judge how fair the new system is to disabled claimants.

The PIP assessment is done either at the claimants home or a special assessment centre with each applicant having to fill out a 35 page questionnaire beforehand.

The assessments are scored using a system of points, with claimants receive points based on how well they can perform daily activities.

If they can perform a task well they receive no points but if they cant do the task at all then they receive a maximum of eight points.

Using a totting up method the claimant is the assessed over how much help they need around the home and could receive a maximum 140 a week.

According to Capitas website they are looking for: Health professionals who are able to undertake a disability assessment  people who actually have an empathy with disabled people, have an understanding and desire to seek to improve the lives of disabled people.

But one assessor, called Alan, was filmed making a series of disparaging remarks about one female claimant he had assessed.

Speaking to Mr Finn, Alan said: Disability known as being fat. She asks for help to wipe her arse because shes too f**king fat to do it herself

He shares his views with his manager saying: Now this womans so fat she cant wipe her own arse..but Ive got to give her an award for it.

Iain Duncan Smith, pictured, resigned from the cabinet resigned over cuts to disability benefit

The assessor also tells the undercover reporter at the start of the Capita contract in 2013 it was possible to make huge sums of money by rattling through dozens of assessments.

He said: The money? It was ridiculous. I was getting around 20 grand a month, most months. Theyd pay around 80 an assessment for the first 8 assessments, then they paid 160 an assessment for 8-14, then they paid 300 per assessment for 14-21. We was flying through them, because of that money. Thats 20 grand a month.

Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Jed Boardman from the Maudsley Hospital said, Now the purpose, it struck me, of the assessment was to actually assess peoples functioning, but there seemed to be very little evidence they were being trained to assess like that.

What they seemed to be trained to do was get through an examination very quickly and make their rating on the basis of a rather, well, superficial examination or interview with those claimants. Alan also boasts that he sometimes carries out large parts of the assessment before the appointment saying he once completed one on a one-legged man before he even met him.

Dr Boardman added: He represents both a failure of his own professional standards, but also, a, sort of, problem in the system that is not somehow looking closely enough at the quality of that interview.

The disability assessor is also caught taking photos of his computer screen so he has details of the claimants he has assessed.

He tells the undercover reporter: Once theyve attended, take a picture. If you come to your payday and you havent got all your assessment reports, how can you prove youve done them?

But taking details of claimants appointments is a breach of the Data Protection Act and is punishable by fines of up to 500,000.

The information held on Capitas computers is confidential and very sensitive. On Noels second day he finds Alan photographing his computer screen.

Simon Butler, a barrister, said: Its quite clear there has been a breach of the Data Protection Act, that theres been a clear breach of the patients confidentiality because youre not entitled to take photographs of the patients information and therefore as far as Im concerned and from what Ive seen that would be a serious breach of his professional standards.

Iain Duncan Smith originally created Personal Independence Payment (PIP) as a new way to help disabled people with everyday needs but resigned after the budget, saying further cuts were a step too far.

Iain Duncan Smith resigned, attacking his own department's plans to cut disability benefits as balancing the books on the back of the poor and vulnerable.

He said: As it came through in the budget, that is deeply unfair and was perceived to be unfair. And that unfairness is damaging to the government, its damaging to the party, and its actually damaging to the public.

Chancellor George Osborne backed down and further cuts were put on ice but the planned introduction of PIP will still go ahead.

Capita focuses on delivering to the DWPs requirements while equally importantly supporting and expecting all our assessors to treat every person sensitively and with respect. We will continue to review and refine the content and quality of our training and our work with disability organizations to ensure that we meet the needs of the DWP and treat people claiming this benefit appropriately.'

A spokesman for the DWP said: We expect the highest standards from the contractors who carry out PIP assessments and work closely with them to ensure PIP is working in the best way possible.

Regarding the assessor a spokesman for Capita said: We dont recognise the claimed earnings and they do not correlate to the individuals annual earnings.

Capita focuses on delivering to DWPs requirements while equally importantly supporting and expecting all our assessors to treat every person claiming this benefit sensitively and with respect.

The comments and actions of this assessor clearly fall short of what we expect and are totally unacceptable. We are obviously appalled by and sincerely apologise for this individuals disrespectful comments and actions. If individuals do not meet our expectations we will always take appropriate action. This assessor will no longer work for Capita.
Households across the UK began to receive the Government's pro-EU 'propaganda' leaflet today - but many are being sent straight back to Downing Street as voters protest the taxpayer-funded mailshot.

Images were posted on Twitter of the 14-page booklet with handwritten comments asking the Royal Mail to 'return to sender'.

David Cameron's decision to spend 9.3million of taxpayers' money on sending out the pro-EU leaflet to 27million households has caused outrage, with Justice Secretary Michael Gove - the Prime Minister's close friend - branding the leaflet 'one sided propaganda'.

The mailshot sets out the Government's case for remaining in the EU but tonight senior Tory Eurosceptics confronted ministers over the leaflet and demanded they lift spending allowances for the Out campaign to counter the 'blatant unfairness'.

Scroll down for video

Images were posted on Twitter of the leaflet with handwritten comments asking the Royal Mail to 'return to sender'. Above, one of the leaflets is pictured with a handwritten note to return to David Cameron in Downing St

Europe minister David Lidington (pictured in the Commons today) defended the controversial booklet, insisting the Government had a duty to inform British voters of the facts before June's referendum - drawing widespread laughter by Tory backbenchers as they mocked their own Government

Europe minister David Lidington defended the controversial booklet, insisting the Government had a duty to inform British voters of the facts before June's referendum - drawing widespread laughter by Tory backbenchers as they mocked their own Government.

Leading Eurosceptic John Redwood, a former Tory Cabinet minister, claimed the leaflet would encourage more people to vote for Brexit as they would view it as an abuse of taxpayers' cash and an 'insult' to voters.

But Mr Liddington insisted the booklet struck the right balance between setting out the Government's case in plain English while 'not over-egging the pudding'.

Brexit campaigners have urged voters to send the leaflets back, while some postmen have pledged to bin the leaflets.

Last week Ukip leader Nigel Farage told Out activists: 'Send it back to Downing Street  thats what Im going to do. I hope they get millions sent back to Downing Street.'

The leaflet will not be sent to households in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland until after the devolved elections on May 5, but they will be sent to Londoners, despite the looming mayoral election in the capital.

This morning Downing Street defended the decision to send out the leaflet, insisting the Government had a 'right and responsibility to provide information that reflects its view'.

'The Government is not neutral in this debate,' the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said. 'It has a clear position on the UK's membership of the EU.'

Asked what would happen if bulks of leaflets were sent back, the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said: Lets see if that happens.'

PM REFUSES TO FACE MPS FOR QUIZ OVER 9M PRO-EU LEAFLET The Prime Minister (pictured) has rejected an invitation to appear before the liaison committee  made up of every select committee chairman  ahead of the EU referendum on June 23 David Cameron was yesterday accused of dodging a grilling by senior MPs over the Governments 9.3million taxpayer-funded pro-EU leaflet. The Prime Minister has rejected an invitation to appear before the liaison committee  made up of every select committee chairman  ahead of the EU referendum on June 23. Mr Cameron has written to Andrew Tyrie, Tory chairman of the liaison committee, saying that sadly heavy diary pressures in the coming months meant he could not take questions from the MPs before the in-out referendum. Mr Tyrie said Mr Cameron should face scrutiny over the controversial mailshot, which has been dismissed by Leave campaigners as propaganda. I am surprised and disappointed that the Prime Minister is currently refusing to appear before the committee to answer questions on the EU referendum, he said. This is all the more disappointing given that the Prime Minister recently launched a 14-page Government document  to be sent to 27million households  setting out his, and his Governments, case for remaining in the EU. Mr Tyrie, who is remaining neutral on the referendum because of his role, said the public wanted to get beyond the slogans and exaggerated claims made during the debate so far. The MP, who also chairs the Treasury select committee, added: The decision to call the referendum was his [Mr Camerons]. He led the renegotiations. So it is his views and explanations that matter most, and are most worthy of careful scrutiny. Europe Minister David Lidington will today face furious MPs to give a Commons statement about the Governments decision to use 9.3million of taxpayers money to create, print and deliver the pro-EU pamphlet and produce an associated website. Mr Lidington pledged last year that there was no question of the Government undertaking any paid advertising or promotions such as billboards, doorstops, leaflets or newspaper or digital advertising. But his vow only applied to the final 28 days ahead of voting day. Advertisement

I hope millions of those who receive government's pro-EU booklet return to sender, back to Downing Street!https://t.co/J9YodzuH37  Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) April 8, 2016

Mr Cameron has also enraged Tory Eurosceptics by refusing to appear before a Commons committee to explain the decision to spend 9.3million on the leaflet.

Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the liaison committee, has accused him of dodging a grilling, saying he was 'surprised and disappointed' that he had rejected the invitation to appear at the committee.

Mr Cameron rejected the invitation in a letter, saying that sadly heavy diary pressures in the coming months meant he could not take questions from the MPs before the in-out referendum.

Mr Tyrie said Mr Cameron should face scrutiny over the controversial mailshot, which has been dismissed by Leave campaigners as propaganda.

Mr Tyrie, who is remaining neutral on the referendum because of his role, said the public wanted to get beyond the slogans and exaggerated claims made during the debate so far.

The MP, who also chairs the Treasury select committee, added: The decision to call the referendum was his [Mr Camerons]. He led the renegotiations. So it is his views and explanations that matter most, and are most worthy of careful scrutiny.

Europe Minister David Lidington today faced furious MPs as he gave a Commons statement about the Governments decision to use 9.3million of taxpayers money to create, print and deliver the pro-EU pamphlet and produce an associated website.

Mr Lidington pledged last year that there was no question of the Government undertaking any paid advertising or promotions such as billboards, doorstops, leaflets or newspaper or digital advertising. But his vow only applied to the final 28 days ahead of voting day.

Senior Tory MP Sir Bill Cash said he had tabled a manuscript amendment to todays Finance Bill debate to protest the public spending on the leaflet.

He told MailOnline the decision to send the leaflet flew in the face of assurances he had been given by ministers during debates on the referendum.

He said: Its so blatantly unfair  the Government always has the opportunity to put these things right.

Senior Tory MP Sir Bill Cash said he had tabled a manuscript amendment to todays Finance Bill debate to protest the 9.3million spending on the leaflet.

He told MailOnline the decision to send the leaflet flew in the face of assurances he had been given by ministers during debates on the referendum.

He said: Its so blatantly unfair  the Government always has the opportunity to put these things right.

As far as Im concerned, this referendum is being biased in favour of the Remain campaign.

If Sir Bills amendment is selected for debate today it will offer the chance for MPs unhappy with the leaflet to vote against it in the Commons.

Technically, the amendment could de-rail the entire Budget were it to pass  but such a result is highly unlikely because of Labours pro-EU position.

Speaker John Bercow will rule on the amendment when the Finance Bill debate begins later today.

Sir Bill added: I should say I dont believe its 9million  I think it should be looked at by the public accounts committee.
Health officials across Europe must improve their disease screening in light of the unprecedented influx of refugees, experts have warned.

Migrants are at risk of carrying superbugs such as MRSA and antibiotic-resistant salmonella, which can cause havoc if they are introduced into European hospitals, according to research.

Infectious diseases which were thought to be on the decline are now re-emerging as refugees carry bugs and viruses across borders, according to data presented at a major microbiology conference yesterday.

Squalor: Europe's governments must introduce screening for HIV, TB and scabies because of the massive influx of migrants, experts have warned. Refugees are pictured wading through puddles at the Idomeni migrant camp in Greece

Doctors told a conference in the Netherlands that more money and a coordinated approach to disease screening and treatment was needed with health systems across the continent becoming overburdened

Migrants have an increased chance of carrying HIV, tuberculosis, shigella, scabies and other parasitic infections, experts said.

A series of papers presented at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease conference in Amsterdam outlined the new risk of infectious diseases.

Refugees have flooded into Europe in unprecedented numbers over the past two years, many fleeing war, persecution and humanitarian disaster in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

A record 1.25million asylum seekers arrived in the EU last year  more than double the 564,000 who arrived in 2014  and these figures are likely to be the tip of the iceberg because they cover only official claims. In the UK, 38,878 asylum seekers lodged claims last year  up 20 per cent on 2014 and the highest number since 2004.

Refugees are likely to pick up an array of diseases and viruses as they move across the world, doctors said. Living in squalid conditions in refugee camps in Africa and the Middle East, and on their journeys across Europe, they have poor access to sanitation and often live cheek by jowl  the ideal condition for infections to multiply and spread.

Perhaps more startling, however, is the number of superbugs seen among refugees, picked up either in their country of origin or along their route to Europe.

Many of these superbugs  such as MRSA, salmonella and certain strains of ecoli  are rapidly becoming untreatable with antibiotics.

Europe has struggled to deal with the influx of refugees from countries in Africa and the Middle East ravaged by war and poverty. Migrants are pictured at the border of Greece and Macedonia

Academics from University Hospital Basel yesterday reported that patients in a Swiss refugee centre were ten times as likely to be carrying MRSA bugs as the general population.

A Norwegian study, conducted over ten years between 2006 and 2015, found that 26 per cent of cases of MRSA were acquired abroad, either as a result of migration or tourism.

And a German study, conducted at refugee reception centres in the state of Thuringia, found two strains of the shigella bug which were resistant to common antibiotics.

Refugees may carry both resistant pathogens and microbes, causing the emergence or re-emergence of infectious diseases that have become less prevalent in host countries Professor of Medicine Winfried Kern

Other studies presented yesterday found that refugees were more likely to have HIV, TB, salmonella, Chagas disease and scabies.

A study of 700 people in Denmark found that refugees were more than five times as likely to have HIV as Danish-born citizens. The researchers said that refugees were also more likely to seek medical help at a late stage, increasing the risk of transmission.

Winfried Kern, programme director at the conference, said: Healthcare services across the world are facing a number of new challenges as a result of recent mass migration.

Refugees may carry both resistant pathogens and microbes, causing the emergence or re-emergence of infectious diseases that have become less prevalent in host countries.

We recommend that public health facilities maintain and step up screening programmes and put the appropriate precautions and procedures in place to most effectively protect migrants and domestic populations in host countries.

According to refugee agencies, more than a million migrants arrived in the EU last year, and almost 180,000 so far this year - many risking their lives to cross the sea in crowded boats. Most spend extended periods in camps ill-equipped to deal with the unprecedented influx

Professor Harkan Leblebicioglu, head of the societys group for infections in travellers and migrants, said most people have little to worry about, because transmission usually requires close contact.

But he said hospitals should be wary of the risk, because if a refugee is admitted to hospital carrying a superbug the chance of it spreading is high. Dr Nick Beeching, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said that NHS hospitals have well-established systems in place to spot the risk, with patients likely to be isolated if there is a chance of a disease spreading.
A woman corporal was found almost naked and crying in an Army barracks corridor on the night she alleged she was raped by two of her male colleagues, a court martial has heard.

Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement, 30, who died two years after the alleged attack, is said to have spent the evening drinking with several service personnel in their mess.

Thomas Fulton and Jeremy Jones, both 28, are accused of raping Cpl Ellement in the early hours of November 20 2009 while she was serving with the Royal Military Police in Germany.

Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement (pictured left and right, at her passing out parade) was found almost naked and in an Army barracks corridor on the night she alleged she was raped, a court martial heard

Pictured with her mother: Cpl Ellement, who died two years after the alleged attack, is said to have spent the evening drinking with several service personnel in their mess

Bulford Court Martial Centre in Wiltshire heard the soldiers, who have since left the Army, admit that sexual activity took place. But they insist Cpl Ellement fully consented to what happened.

Prosecuting, Sarah Whitehouse QC, told the court: 'In the early hours of the morning of November 20 2009 a young woman was found in a corridor in the Army quarters where she lived at the time.

'This young woman was entirely naked apart from a long cardigan that she was carrying.

'She appeared to be extremely drunk. She was struggling to keep her balance. Her feet were muddy and she was crying.

'This young woman was Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement.'

Cpl Ellement, from Bournemouth, Dorset, was described by colleagues as someone who would 'quite regularly get drunk' and was 'generally unhappy'.

On November 19 2009, the court heard Ms Ellement, aged 28 at the time, was 'out of sorts' and had a disagreement with a colleague, so didn't want to socialise with others in her accommodation block.

Instead she cycled to the corporal's mess where she met Fulton and Jones, who had persuaded the bar lady to hand them the keys for a 'lock in', the court martial heard.

Fulton - the boyfriend of Cpl Ellement's friend Cpl Sarah Noteyoung - and Jones were at the bar along with two others when she arrived there at about 10pm.

'There's no doubt that over the next hour or two hours Miss Ellement drank a great deal, as did Mr Fulton and Mr Jones,' Ms Whitehouse said.

'At some stage during the evening Miss Ellement drank a Red Bull cocktail. It was undoubtedly a very potent mix.'

Court martial: Thomas Fulton (left) and Jeremy Jones (right), both 28, are accused of raping Cpl Ellement in the early hours of November 20 2009 while she was serving with the Royal Military Police in Germany

Hearing: Bulford Court Martial Centre in Wiltshire (pictured) heard the soldiers, who have since left the Army, admit that sexual activity took place. But they insist Cpl Ellement fully consented to what happened

It is unclear whether Cpl Ellement or Jones poured the drink, which contained four to five shots of vodka, one to two shots of brightly coloured spirits and Red Bull, the court heard.

Witnesses described flirting and kissing between Cpl Ellement, Fulton and Jones.

Fulton and Jones were heard discussing a threesome, which Fulton later suggested to Cpl Ellement, it was alleged.

Cpl Ellement is said to have declined this because of Fulton's girlfriend Cpl Noteyoung, who was attending a funeral in England at the time.

She left the mess with Fulton and Jones then headed to Jones's room at about 12.30am on November 20.

'Some things she remembers, other things she doesn't,' Ms Whitehouse said.

'She remembers Thomas Fulton having sex with her and she found it painful. She remembers Jeremy Jones grabbing her breast.'

Jones later said the three had all undressed in his room and both he and Fulton had consensual sex with Cpl Ellement, the court heard.

Ex-corporals Fulton (left), formerly of 174 Provost Company 3 Royal Military Police, and Jones (right), 28, formerly of Close Protection Unit Royal Military Police Operations Wing, each deny two charges of rape

Anne-Marie Ellement's mother Alexandra Barritt and sister Sharon Hardy arrive for today's court martial

He described them all as 'giggling and being silly' throughout. Cpl Ellement, in her video interview, had no recollection of sex with Jones.

Ms Whitehouse described how a shakey and 'very confused' Cpl Ellement was discovered in her corridor at Sennelager Barracks by colleague Cpl Charlene Pritchard at 1.37am that morning.

The court martial heard she was 'extremely drunk' and 'struggling to keep her balance' when found almost 'entirely naked' and with mud on her feet.

Another colleague, Cpl Kelly Broadhurst, came to help Cpl Ellement and heard her say 'I didn't want it. He tried to have sex with me'.

'She said he had sex with her and she said "stop" but he carried on for 10 minutes,' Ms Whitehouse said.

Fulton and Jones were arrested later that morning and were interviewed. Fulton declined to comment, while Jones insisted both men had consensual sex with Cpl Ellement.

During her recorded police interview, Cpl Ellement tearfully recalled how she couldn't remember getting back to her block.

She said: 'Tom kept mentioning all night about having a threesome and I thought he was joking, because I would never do that.

Tom kept mentioning all night about having a threesome and I thought he was joking, because I would never do that Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement in a video interview

'Tom showed me a text saying "Tell Anne-Marie Jez fancies her" and Tom and I were having a laugh about that.

'I pretty much remember the majority of stuff and we went upstairs to Jez's room so he could get changed to go out.

'The next thing I remember is Tom was on top of me and I was saying to him "It's hurting. It's really, really hurting".

'The last thing I remember is Jez grabbing my chest and then I have a memory blank. I don't know how I got back to my accommodation or why I was naked.'

Cpl Ellement added: 'I know for a fact that I would never have done anything with Tom because of Sarah and because I don't like him like that.'

Cpl Ellement described how colleagues had found her naked outside her accommodation block but she had no recollection of going there.

'I had no clothes on whatsoever,' she said.

'There's no way that I would run across camp naked. For me to run out of the room naked something has to have happened but I don't remember.'

During the alleged rape, Cpl Ellement said Fulton was acting 'like it was a joke'.

'As he was doing it he was laughing and smiling,' she said.

'I was getting angry at the fact that I was trying to get up and pull my trousers up. I know that he was wearing uniform to begin with but I don't remember entering the room.

'I really don't remember what he was wearing. I just remember his face and what he was doing.'

Ms Whitehouse told the panel Cpl Ellement had died in 2011.

Ex-corporals Fulton, formerly of 174 Provost Company 3 Royal Military Police, and Jones, formerly of Close Protection Unit Royal Military Police Operations Wing, each deny two charges of rape. The rapes are alleged to have taken place between November 18 and 21 2009.
is booted on to the pavement in Whitechapel

Dramatic footage has emerged showing a protester being felled by a flying kick after clashes between far-right campaigners and Muslim worshippers.

After members of the nationalist group Britain First staged a protest outside a Mosque in Whitechapel, the unidentified activist was struck by a man in a red striped tracksuit who booted him in the back.

Britain First had arrived at Whitechapel Road to stage an 'anti-mosque' protest bearing union flags and large banner reading 'no more mosques'.

Flying kick: A man knocks the oblivious protester to the ground with a flying kick in Whitechapel east London

The mosque said that its members were 'provoked and attacked'. Britain First claimed that it was trying to stage a peaceful demonstration.

The group reportedly blocked an entrance to the mosque and were holding flags, wooden crosses and the large yellow banner.

Open tours of the mosques were due to be held that day but had to be cancelled due to the far-right protest.

Violent clashes: Two men were arrested by police after the violent clashes erupted on the street outside

Peaceful protest? Members of far-right activist group Britain First were holding an anti-mosque protest

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Police were called following reports of a protest outside the East London Mosque on Whitechapel Road.

'Officers attended and spoke with the group. A short time later, a counter-protest commenced. Two men were subsequently arrested.'

One man was held on suspicion of going equipped to cause criminal damage and the other of assault.

Knocked down: The mosque said that its members were 'provoked and attacked' but on social media Britain First said it was trying to stage a peaceful demonstration.

Descended into violence: The protest erupted into violence between the activist members and the Muslim worshippers

Britain First has been accused of provocation and racism, being dubbed 'Britain's most vile right-wing group'.

It has made headlines after staging violent stunts including invading mosques and driving military cars up and down the street in Brick Lane.

The East London Mosque has been a particular target of the group many times before, where members have tried to incite trouble by swigging lager cans outside, though often being completely ignored.

The consumption of alcohol is generally forbidden in the Qur'an.

In a statement last month after a previous protest the Mosque wrote: 'Although the Britain First protests have all been abject failures, there is a danger their continued harassment may lead to violence, causing fear and tension in our community.
says they are already trying for a baby to make Chyna bigger than rest of family

Ian Halperin is a number one New York Times bestselling author and award-winning investigative journalist whose highly-anticipated forthcoming book, Kardashian Dynasty, has already disclosed sensational new details about reality TV's most famous family and Bruce Jenner's transformation into Caitlyn.

Now he writes for Daily Mail Online. Halperin shares the untold story behind how Blac Chyna, a bisexual former stripper, has risen from obscurity to become Rob Kardashian's fiancee and one of the most talked about celebs of 2016.

Here Halperin lays bare the ruthless 'master plan' that Chyna has devised to marry her way into the KUWTK world and seal power by having Rob's kids.

And he reveals how the curvaceous model has vowed to become the most famous Kardashian of them all - supplanting even former BFF and now sworn enemy, Kim.

Blac Chyna is still something of a reality TV enigma - but she could soon be its biggest and most brazen star.

Just a few years ago she was a complete unknown, flaunting her curvaceous body in strip clubs while trying to catch the eye of minor rappers.

Today she is on the brink of becoming a fully-fledged Kardashian - with a ruthless 'master plan' to marry Rob and supplant Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and Co. as the family's most famous member.

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As she was: Blac Chyna in a promotional poster which highlights how she is 'King of Diamonds own'. She began her rise at the club in Miami, and it was there she came to mesmerize up and coming rapper Tyga

As she was: Under her first stripper name, Dora Renee, she was photographed in a club in Miami with an admirer

The ring's the thing: Flashing the reportedly $350,000 ring which marks her engagement to Rob Kardashian, this is the new image of Blac Chyna - one which she had a 'master plan' to achieve, writes Ian Halperin.

Lost friendship: Kim Kardashian treated Blac Chyna as her best friend. Chyna wrote down everything she learned from Kim - but now the two are at war, with Chyna determined to be the biggest star of all

In the course of researching my latest book, I have undertaken thousands of interviews and spoken with those who have witnessed first-hand Chyna's extraordinary rise from pole-dancing nobody to celebrity vixen.

And everything they have told me leads me to conclude that the Kardashian clan has a huge fight on its hands to stop her from gatecrashing their globally-recognized brand.

I predict the stage is set for the greatest power struggle reality TV has ever known - with Rob Kardashian, the 'weak link' of the family, likely to be collateral damage.

Chyna, 27 - real name Angela Renee White - grew up in Washington, D.C. and went to Henry E. Lackey High School in Maryland.

She attended business school at Johnson and Wales University in Miami but it was among the city's clubs and wild nightlife that she began making a name for herself.

White was just 18 when she began started working as a stripper under the names Dora Renee and Cream.

She finally settled on Blac Chyna while dancing at the King of Diamonds Gentleman's Club, a favored haunt of rappers and aspiring hip hop stars.

A client there had called himself Black China because he was black and had 'Chinese' looking eyes. Chyna liked the name so much she kept it for herself.

She was soon the club's biggest draw with a legion of male fans lusting over her curves and sexy tattoos.

Got the moves: It was her ability as a pole dancer which brought Blac Chyna to attention as the King of Diamonds Gentleman's Club in Miami's biggest draw

On her way to a fortune: The money thrown at Chyna in one dance video was a portent of things to come. 'She was making more money than anyone else in the club and could make up to 10k a night,' dancer Gigi says

Romance: Captivated by her dancing, Tyga took up with Black Chyna, and moved her to Los Angeles - where she was seen watching the Clippers - and into his new $6.5 mllion home in Calabasas

Laying down tracks: The by then former stripper featured on Tyga's video for his single Rack City in a sign of their romance

One and one makes three: Tyga and Chyna had their son King Cairo together and several months later marked their engagement. But it was not to be.

I tracked down Chyna's former stripper friends who told me she was as well-known for the scale of her ambitions as she was for her raunchy moves.

'Chyna was a stunning woman on a pole, clearly with jet-set aspirations,' recalled one of the girls, Trixie. 'There was no way she was going to end up working in a strip club the rest of her life.'

Another dancer, Gigi, remembered Chyna as 'excessively wild' and said she was willing to do just about anything to raise her popularity and make money.

'Back in the day she turned every trick in the book. And she definitely loved to swing both ways,' Gigi told me.

'Chyna was all business and if this meant taking a woman into the back room and pleasing her, there was no problem.

'She was making more money than anyone else in the club and could make up to 10k a night.'

Chyna soon broke into the hip hop music scene, most notably standing in as a body double for Nicki Minaj for Kanye West's 'Monster' video, rubbing shoulders with Jay Z and Rick Ross in the process.

But the young wannabe soon turned her attention to Tyga, an up and coming rap artist who fell under her spell in October 2011 when the King of Diamonds hosted an after party for Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. tour.

'They hit it off like a house on fire,' Gigi recalls. 'Tyga and all the rappers were infatuated with Chyna. Nobody could do a lap dance and grind like Chyna.'

Lots in common: Kim and Chyna were spotted going to movies, having dinner and Chyna was a guest at Kim and Kanye West's lavish Florence wedding in August 2014.

Alarming: 'I can reveal for the first time that the flirty behavior between Kylie and Tyga dates right back to Kendall's Sweet 16 party where they were spotted laughing and joking for a good part of the night. A guest at the star-studded bash told me that it set off alarm bells owing to the fact Kylie was just 14 and Tyga was in his twenties,' writes Halperin

Actual outcome: Tyga made his feelings for Kylie clear in this post. Although the reasons for his split with Blac Chyna was said not to be over Kylie, she was furious

Established couple: With a relationship which started when she was 17, Kylie and Tyga remain a couple, with him showing up (right) on her arm at the launch of her brother in law Kanye West's most recent Yeezy fashion season

Just one month later Chyna was hired as the lead female role in the music video for Tyga's hit single 'Rack City' - and she revealed soon after on Twitter that the pair were dating.

Chyna gave birth to Tyga's son, King Cairo Stevenson, on October 16, 2012. They announced their engagement several months later.

By then Tyga, 26, had purchased a sprawling $6.5 million mansion for his new family in Calabasas, California - where their well-heeled neighbors would include rap superstar Drake and the Kardashians.

Tyga was already acquainted with reality TV's first family, having performed at Kendall Jenner's Sweet Sixteen party in November 2011.

And as soon as he introduced Chyna to Kim the pair struck up an unlikely friendship - with Chyna quickly becoming one of Kim's 'besties'.

The two pals were spotted going to movies, having dinner and Chyna was a guest at Kim and Kanye West's lavish Florence wedding in August 2014.

The buxom duo even posed side by side in selfies to show off their toned abs and famously perky backsides.

Chyna, meanwhile, had been to makeup artist school, launched a cosmetics brand, LASHED by Blac Chyna, and opened her own beauty salon.

My sources tell me that Kim was hugely impressed by Chyna's incredible focus and ambition. She saw Chyna as a younger version of herself.

Chyna, meanwhile, looked up to Kim as a mentor and took notes of everything she said during their meetings - and for good reason.

All the people I interviewed in their inner circle told me that Chyna has aspirations to be the next Kim Kardashian.

Only she wanted to take it to a completely different level - she wanted to be, in the words of one observer, 'Kim Kardashian on steroids'.

The two women would remain close until Chyna's world was rocked by the breakup of her relationship with Tyga in August 2014.

By all accounts she was desperate to keep her family together and genuinely distraught.

So just imagine Chyna's sense of betrayal when, in March 2015, Tyga confirmed after months of speculation that he was in a relationship with none other than Kim's underage sister, Kylie, 17.

'Certain things capture your eye, but only few capture the heart,' he captioned a photo of Kylie on his Instagram account, further twisting the knife.

It's a public war: Blac Chyna boasted of her friendship with Kanye West's ex Amber Rose in a taunt aimed squarely at her new enemy, Kim Kardashian, last year - after she and Kim fell out bitterly

First hint: This instagram post by Blac Chyna set off eruptions within the Kardashian clan because it was clear who was in the picture with her - Rob

Instant response: Khloe Kardahsian did not mince her words. It was clear that Chyna was now very much out of the Kardashian circle

Publicly, Tyga continued to insist that his romance with Kylie had nothing to do with his split from Chyna - but insiders say that is patently false.

I can reveal for the first time that the flirty behavior between Kylie and Tyga dates right back to Kendall's Sweet 16 party where they were spotted laughing and joking for a good part of the night.

A guest at the star-studded bash told me that it set off alarm bells owing to the fact Kylie was just 14 and Tyga was in his twenties.

Another of my sources confirms that the Kardashians themselves were aware of the attention Tyga was paying Kylie - but they brushed it off because they thought he was in a relationship.

I also interviewed a couple who went to Kim and Kanye's wedding and they told me they saw the pair hanging out and openly flirting the entire night.

Of course none of this escaped Chyna, who is said to have reached out to Kim via telephone and told her: 'You've got to keep your sister away from my man'.

When Kim failed to step in, Chyna accused her of endorsing Kylie and Tyga's relationship and the two friends had a monstrous falling out.

My sources say Chyna was so upset and her life was such a shambles that she vowed to do whatever it took to get her revenge.

Chyna is no fool. Instead of getting bitter she devised a plan. And the plan was to hook up with a Kardashian, to get into that family and to call the shots.

Her plan would be simple yet devastating: She would seduce Rob - stealing the Kardashian's only male heir and seizing the celebrity world's most prized name for herself.

'If Tyga is going to get into that family then I'm going to get into it too,' she allegedly told a confidant.

'Chyna is no fool. Instead of getting bitter she devised a plan,' a friend of Chyna explained. 'And the plan was to hook up with a Kardashian, to get into that family and to call the shots.

'Her dream was to become as big - or bigger - than the Kardashians.'

On January 25 Chyna lit the touchpaper by posting an intimate Instagram photo of herself in the arms of a heavily-tattooed mystery man.

His face was not visible but there was no mistaking who the distinctive ink belonged to - 29-year-old former addict Rob.

As the tabloids scrambled to confirm that the pair were dating, my sources told me that behind closed-doors the Kardashians 'flipped out'.

Kris Jenner confirmed as much by tweeting to say it had been a 'challenging day' - while Khloe hit back with a quote from the Godfather: 'You can do anything. But never go against the family.'

Since then the Kardashians have put up a front and said they will support Rob as long as he is happy.

They know they also have to be mindful of Kylie's relationship with Tyga and don't want to be seen to be taking sides.

Very public relationship: Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna together at a strip club event - in a photograph she posted on her Instagram.

Transformation: Blac Chyna has made no secret of her part in Kardashian battling to lose weight

Future of the clan: Could Rob and Chyna become bigger than the rest of the reality TV family from which he is sprung? That is her master plan, says Ian Halperin

Privately though, Kim and her siblings are convinced this is step one of Chyna's big plan for revenge.

My Kardashian sources say the family fears Chyna can do damage to the family's reputation.

Chyna's mother Tokyo Toni called the Kardashians 'reality hoes' which set off fireworks between the two families.

It has been reported that Kris Jenner called Tokyo and gave her a piece of her mind, demanding a public apology.

My sources claim the Kardashians have been strategizing how to handle the situation, expecting it to get more heated in the not too distant future.

They doubt she has any genuine feelings for Rob - a view share by a close friend of Chyna.

'If Rob didn't have the last name Kardashian attached to him there's no way in a million years Chyna would even come within arm's length of him,' she told me.

Look at the men Chyna has dated in the past. Rob Kardashian, a 250-pound depressed Caucasian guy does not fit Chyna's demographic - enough said. Close female friend of Chyna

'Look at the men Chyna has dated in the past. Rob Kardashian, a 250-pound depressed Caucasian guy does not fit Chyna's demographic - enough said.'

And what of last week's latest bombshell - the news that Rob and Chyna are engaged with rumors of a 'quickie wedding' in the works.

The bootilicious model announced it to the world in typically max-publicity fashion - feigning shock while posting a photo of her huge diamond wedding ring along with the word: 'YES!'

But was Rob's proposal at the Ace of Diamonds strip club in LA really a huge surprise to her? My sources say no.

'There is no way in the world that Chyna didn't know what was about to go down,' said AJ, an LA-based hip hop promoter. 'She is such a great actor.

'If that ring is worth $325,000 my Toyota Prius is worth more than a Ferrari. There's no way that ring is worth that much - they are just trying to hype it up.'

And what about the next stage in Chyna's Kardashian takeover?

I can reveal she recently told a close friend that she and Rob are having unprotected sex and hoping to have as many kids as they can.

In the words of her confidante, they want to start a 'new generation of Kardashians'.

Kim and co. are clinging to the hope that Rob's latest engagement will end as abruptly as his previous two - but insiders say that's just wishful thinking.

In the words of a friend connected to both Chyna and the Kardashians: 'This ain't going to be strike three. The family are in a bind now.

'They are struggling because there is no way that Chyna is going to let go of this until she succeeds in her master plan - and that's to become the most famous and the richest Kardashian.'
A father and his young son are among the three dead after a family fishing trip ended in tragedy yesterday.

Sole survivor Robert Stewart told authorities he made it to shore by clinging onto the boat after it overturned yesterday.

Sadly, his cousin Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy Fernandez Jones, 51, Jones' 9-year-old son Jaden and stepfather Wills Bell were not so lucky.

Their bodies washed up on shore this morning after their 24-foot Sea Ray failed to return after the family fishing trip on Sunday morning.

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Three bodies and one survivor have been found from after a boat sank off the Florida coast. The vessel washed up on shore this morning (pictured)

Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy Fernandez Jones, 51, (pictured) never returned from a family fishing trip on Sunday

Jones had set out with his son Jaden (pictured) and two others. Their bodies washed up on shore on Monday

Stewart told the authorities he had desperately tried to save Jaden from drowning but could not stop him from slipping away.

'(Stewart) did say he was able to hold on,' Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told WPTV.

'He tried to keep the 9-year-old alive. Very tragic, difficult time for him,' Snyder added.

The 45-year-old was taken to hospital for treatment after being spotted near the capsized boat on Monday morning.

Jones' heartbroken wife Michelle say the men had set out for the fishing trip at 8am on Sunday. The family would typically fish near Stuart or the Intracoastal Waterway.

She reported them as missing at 10pm that evening after they failed to return and Coast Guard crews from both Lake Worth and Fort Pierce were dispatched to search for the boaters.

A small craft advisory has been in place on Sunday with winds above 20 mph.

Robert Stewart, 45, was confirmed as the sole survivor after the bodies of his family members washed up on shore

He was taken to hospital for treatment after being spotted near the capsized boat on Monday morning

The boat was discovered the following morning at 8.20am on the shore of the St. Lucie Inlet in Florida

Investigators say a cellphone tower which received a 'ping' at 9am on Sunday may have been someone on the boat trying to reach the land.

The boat was discovered the following morning at 8.20am on the shore of the St. Lucie Inlet in Florida.

Stewart was found walking along the beach nearby and is now recovering at Martin Memorial where his condition was described as 'good.'

Today Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office paid tribute to Jones, who had worked with the department for more than a year after transferring from Miami.

'Today, we lost a father, a son, a friend, a hero,' the office said in a statement. 'Deputy Fernandas Jones, we have the watch from here, brother. RIP.'
A lorry driver who failed to see traffic which had slowed down for roadworks had made the 'fatal error' of fiddling with his sat-nav just before he hit the back of a pick-up, a judge said today.

A dash-cam recording from the HGV was shown at Caernarfon Crown Court of what happened shortly before Nicholas Clough, 36, smashed into the vehicle on the A55 dual carriageway - killing 37-year-old married dad Darren Longden.

Clough, of Bromborough, Wirral, who pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, was jailed for three-and-a-half years. A two-and-a-half years driving ban with a re-test was also imposed.

Not paying attention: 'He was searching on his satellite navigation system for an address his colleague was trying to locate In Birkenhead. It's a case of dangerous driving because of the elements of distraction'

Prosecuting counsel Matthew Curtis said Clough had a hands-free mobile phone system and received a call a few minutes before the tragedy on a straight section of road.

'Mr Clough's final comment during that conversation was, if he found an address, he would get back to his colleague who he was speaking to on the phone.

'He was searching on his satellite navigation system for an address his colleague was trying to locate In Birkenhead'.

Mr Curtis said: 'It's a case of dangerous driving because of the elements of distraction'.

For about a mile before the scene of the crash there were warning signs about roadworks. The barrister said: 'They were clearly visible to the defendant. About 800 metres prior to the scene of the collision there were road signs warning "queues likely".'

Clough had driven from Widnes in Cheshire that morning. Mr Longden was heading from Leeds to Colwyn Bay, working for a roofing firm, and had been a front seat passenger in the Ford Transit pick-up which was sandwiched between Clough's wagon and a second lorry in front.

The prosecutor said Clough had slammed on his brakes less than two seconds before the smash and collided at 37mph, pushing the Transit forward. His HGV was limited to 57mph.

The judge, Recorder Peter Griffiths QC, commented: 'The Transit is virtually decimated'.

The driver, Neil Jackson, had severe whiplash injuries and suffered nightmares. He saw his colleague - a friend - had died.

The judge said Clough had a clear view for 600 metres.

He told him: 'The real cause of this accident is the combination of the use of your mobile communication to speak to this other person who was inquiring about an address. Your fatal error was to fiddle about with your sat-nav in order to assist him.

'It's quite clear from the recording I have seen and audio transcript that when that call ceased before the accident occurred you had indicated you would call him back if and when you found the relevant information.

Not looking: Longden was heading from Leeds to Colwyn Bay and had been a front seat passenger in the Ford Transit pick-up which was sandwiched between Clough's wagon and a second lorry in front

Too late: The prosecutor said Clough had slammed on his brakes less than two seconds before the smash and collided at 37mph, pushing the Transit forward. His HGV was limited to 57mph

'It's obvious to me you missed the warnings there were roadworks ahead'.

Recorder Griffiths added : 'Your attention must have been on trying to assist your colleague and thereafter to ring him back.'

At the last moment he realised vehicles had stopped ahead and the result was 'devastation'.

The court heard that 15 miles before the crash he had received, read and replied to a text message.

Defence lawyer Peter Horgan said Clough was 'hardworking, decent, caring and sensitive'.

Mr Horgan said : 'This is a man who is genuinely wracked with remorse. On this occasion he's made a mistake he will have to live with for the rest of his life'.

Afterwards PC Arwyn Phillips of North Wales Police Roads Policing Unit said: 'We have issued the footage, with the agreement of the families of those affected by the tragedy, as a warning to drivers to pay attention when behind the wheel.

'Mr Clough's dangerous driving has cost the life of another man and devastated a family in the space of a few seconds.

Fatal smash: 'Mr Clough's dangerous driving has cost the life of another man and devastated a family in the space of a few seconds

'We know that Mr Clough had used his mobile phone and satellite navigation which took his attention away from the road.

'All of this could have been avoided if he had paid attention to the warning signs which were in place to highlight the oncoming roadworks.

'Mr Longden's family have been left without a husband and son, and the family of the driver from the Ford Transit have had to pick up the pieces and cope with his serious injuries. The family of Mr Clough have also had their lives changed forever by what happened on that day.'

Lois Longden, the widow of Mr Longden, said: 'We finally decided to get married in 2013 and it was the happiest day of our lives.

'Our married life was only just beginning and now I feel that my life is shattered. All the dreams we had and all the plans we had made for the future have gone.

'We were planning on starting a family this year. That is something that will never happen now. That piece of my life has been taken away by a person I don't even know. I feel like someone took away not only my husband but my best friend.
Only people allowed to ascend Morro Rock are members of the Chumash tribe

Banks' bail was set at $10,000 and he will have to foot the bill for being rescued by helicopter

said yes at the time and has stuck by her decision, despite Banks's arrest for methamphetamine possession

Michael Banks was booked for being under the influence of a controlled substance, and for possession of methamphetamine

A marriage proposal that got off to a rocky start has now ended in success.

Michael Banks, 27, scaled 600-foot Morro Rock just off California's Central Coast early Thursday morning to propose to his girlfriend, who was watching via FaceTime video.

But his romantic gesture turned into disaster after emergency responders were dispatched to rescue him from the illegal maneuver - after which he was arrested when found to be high on methamphetamine.

A helicopter plucked Banks from the cliff Thursday after he got stuck on a narrow ledge.

Despite the resulting jail time and hefty fine, Bank's now fiance was touched by the dramatic gesture.

Banks says given the chance, he would do it again, because the woman who is now his fiance deserved a one-of-a-kind proposal.

Speaking to KEYT-TV, Banks explained the meaning behind the dramatic display, addressing his now, fiance he said: 'This rock is the rock I would love to put on your finger, if I could buy a diamond this size I would because that's what you are worth to me.

Ultimately I'll never let that go so will you marry me if I feel that way at least?

She said yes, now the way she said yes was the emotional part because she says, of course I'll marry you, you are a crazy SOB, and she goes off telling me I can't believe you, you're either going to die or get arrested.'

Scroll down for video

Speaking to KEYT-TV, Banks explained the meaning behind the dramatic display: 'This rock is the rock I would love to put on your finger.'

Michael Banks was rescued after being stranded on a ledge some 80 off the ground on Morro Rock, a landmark in Morro Bay, California. He had scaled the rock to make an Internet proposal to his girlfriend - who said yes - but then got stuck on a ledge and couldn't get down

Climbing Morro Rock is banned - and those who do so anyway risk fines. City authorities said Banks would have to foot the bill for the rescue

Despite the mishap, Banks's cliffhanger proposal was a success: his girlfriend said yes, according to the fire officials who rescued him

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office Jail records show that the Fresno native was booked for being under the influence of a controlled substance, and for possession of methamphetamine.

But he told ABC-3 that he takes medication given to him by the VA as an Army veteran.

He said: 'I informed [the police officer] not only do I take PTSD anti-anxiety meds, I also take meds for my nightmares.'

Banks spent the night in San Luis Obispo County Jail and was released on a bail was set at $10,000 and is now faced with a hefty fine of thousands of dollars for trespassing and in restitution for the rescue operation.

The daring romantic claims he didn't know that climbing the rock was illegal. But the only people allowed to ascend Morro Rock are members of the Chumash tribe.

The Native American tribe are allowed to climb the summit of volcanic plug, which is part of the Chumash ancestral grounds, once a year for a religious ceremony.
A police officer was critically injured after a man opened fire on a SWAT team when police tried to arrest him in Clintonville, Ohio, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The officer, who has not been named, remains in critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery at Ohio University medical center.

The suspect, 44-year-old Lincoln Rutledge, refused to surrender after the shooting at the apartment complex in the area of North High Street and West California Avenue and Columbus police said several hours passed during which smoke and flames were seen in the suspect's apartment.

He has now been charged with shooting the officer.

Rutledge was wanted for suspected arson and stands accused of setting fire to his ex-girlfriend's house.

The suspect gave up around 7.15am after a loud bang was heard inside the apartment that police say was part of a strategy to end the standoff.

A spokesman for Columbus Ohio police said: 'The SWAT officer critically injured today remains hospitalized. Family and officers are by his side.'

Rutledge now faces a preliminary charge of attempted murder.

He was being treated at a separate hospital for smoke inhalation and an apparent gunshot wound.

A police officer was critically injured after a man opened fire on a SWAT team when police tried to arrest him in Clintonville, Ohio, in the early hours of yesterday morning. Drone footage shows fire raging through the Clintonville apartment (above)

The suspect, 44-year-old Lincoln Rutledge refused to surrender after the shooting at the apartment complex in the area of North High Street and West California Avenue (above) and Columbus police said several hours passed during which smoke and flames were seen in the suspect's apartment

The officer was inside a SWAT vehicle approaching the residence when shots were fired, said Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs.

She said: 'There are some very desperate, very dangerous people out there.

'Sometimes they choose to go out in a certain way and or take us on in a certain way.'

She described the officer as a highly respected, well-liked veteran of the department.

Jacobs said the SWAT team was present because of what she called 'erratic behavior' by the suspect and because police knew he had access to guns.

This morning police cars were guarding the apartment building.

Fire trucks and police vehicles converge near the corner of Pacemont and North High Street (pictured). Rutledge was wanted on a felony arson warrant and stands accused of setting fire to his ex-girlfriend's house a day earlier
A 70-year-old Vietnam vet foiled a robbery at a north Carolina waffle house after engaging a bizarre duel with the thief's AK-47, which turned out to be a fake.

Phillip Brooks was enjoying his breakfast in his regular seat near the cash register when a gun-wielding man rushed in and announced a robbery.

But the brave former foot soldier immediately recognized that the gun was a fake because 'all the parts were missing' and told staff not to give him anything, reported WRAL-TV.

Phillip Brooks (who didn't wish to be pictured while robber is still at large) foiled a robbery at a north Carolina waffle house (pictured) after engaging a bizarre duel with the thief's AK-47, which turned out to be a fake

Suspect: Police say the hooded man tried to rob the Waffle House, but was stopped by a group of patrons

While the other customers - including a mother and her two children - scrambled for safety, Brooks decided to stand up to him.

After he called out the weapon for being a fake, the robber replied: 'Well, I'm for real' and began brandishing the phony gun at Brooks.

He told the station: 'I showed him how real I was. I hit him in the nose with my cane.'

The two then engaged in a bizarre duel between cane and phony firearm.

Other customers soon jumped in and chased the robber, who was as described as black, with a light complexion, a thin build and dreadlocks, out of the restaurant.

Brooks came out of the tussle unharmed - minus a small bruise on his hand - and credited his military training for his quick thinking.

For his first three years of service, Brooks was in the infantry and did two tours of Vietnam - so got 'to see a lot of Ak-47s', he said.

The incident occurred at 5.20am Saturday April 2.

The robber is still at large and thought to be between 18 and 25 years old, last seen wearing a black-and-gray hooded sweatshirt with a red hooded sweatshirt underneath, gray pants and a yellow bandanna over his face.

A spokeswoman for the Waffle House chain says restaurant officials are thankful no one was hurt.

The brave former foot soldier recognized that the gun was a fake because 'all the parts were missing' and told staff not to give the robber anything. The two then engaged in a bizarre duel between cane (pictured) and phony firearm
A drunk driver high on cocaine told friends 'I can't see' moments before he crashed and killed a teenage girl after leaving a house party with eight passengers packed in his van.

Kyle Perkins, 26, was today jailed seven years for killing 'vibrant and beautiful' Sammy Jo Davies, who was thrown from the LDV Maxus van when it hit a parked car in Abderdare, South Wales.

A court heard the 19-year-old was killed instantly when the vehicle landed on top of her.

Tragic: 'Vibrant and beautiful' Sammy Jo Davies, 19, (pictured) was killed instantly after being thrown from the LDV Maxus van being driven by 26-year-old Kyle Perkins when it hit a parked car in Abderdare, South Wales

Moments before the crash Perkins was driving the red works van 'like an idiot', his passengers said, and was warned to slow down as he raced towards a residential hill at speeds of around 45mph.

He even told them: 'I cant drive this van boys. Someone else needs to drive. I cant see.'

Sammy Jo, described as 'bubbly' by her family, had been to a house party at the home of Perkins girlfriend.

Perkins then decided to take the van to drive from the party through Aberdare with eight people squeezed into it - two of his male friends in the front and a man and four women in the back.

The court heard he then took a bend too fast and smashed into a parked car. The van started to spin and ended up skidding sideways down the road - crushing Sammy Jo.

Prosecutor Nigel Fryer said: 'Mercifully, if there is any comfort in what happened, it is clear that her death was almost instantaneous.

Jailed: Kyle Perkins (pictured), 26, was sentenced to seven years for killing Sammy Jo in a crash last August

Scene of the crash: The court heard Perkins then took a bend too fast and smashed into a parked car. The van started to spin and ended up skidding sideways down the road - crushing Sammy Jo

'Sammy Jo was struck by the van and came to be underneath it.'

All the passengers were treated in hospital for injuries including a broken pelvis and cuts suffered in the crash.

Perkins fled the scene before later being found by police. When he was breathalysed he told officers: 'I wont pass this.'

Killed: Sammy Jos mother Debra described her daughters death as 'tragic and needless' and said she could never forgive Perkins

The reading showed 41microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg. Blood tests also showed that Perkins had cocaine in his system.

Sammy Jos father Geraint John Davies told how his daughter was 'vibrant and beautiful'.

'It is heartbreaking to think I will not get another Fathers Day card from her,' he said.

Her mother Debra said: 'I'm a broken person. I try to exist for the moment but that is all it is. I cant say that I live. I do not live, I merely exist.

'To say that my family and I are broken is an understatement. I am not a religious person but I pray to God that he can show me some hope of healing.

'But I know my heart will never get over the loss of my beautiful daughter.'

She described her daughters death as 'tragic and needless' and said she could never forgive Perkins.

'The repercussions of his actions that night have ripped our whole family to pieces. We have lost our angel,' she said.

Father-of-one Perkins sobbed in Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court as the evidence was heard.

Lucy Crowther, defending, said: 'He is genuinely somebody who is truly sorry for what has happened.

'He is a parent of a little girl. Whilst he cannot understand the heartbreak of Sammy Jos family he can only start to imagine the horror of losing his child. He wont. He will be released.

'His life will not be what he thought it would be or could be but it will be a life.'

Perkins, of Cwmaman, Aberdare, admitted causing the death of Sammy Jo by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking along with driving without insurance.

Judge Richard Twomlow jailed Perkins for seven years and disqualified him from driving for five years.
Hillary Clinton is putting the squeeze on Donald Trump in New York as she competes to win her party's primary there next Tuesday.

An ad released by Clinton's campaign today that is airing in New York City takes aim at the Republican candidate's controversial comments about abortion, Mexicans and Muslims and declares, 'She's the one tough enough to stop Trump.'

A previous spot created for New York voters suggestively denounced the Manhattan-based billionaire's rhetoric but did not include a verbal reference him.

Clinton dropped the curtain today and directly trashed her one-time friend who is now seeking Republican nomination for president.

Hillary Clinton is putting the squeeze on Donald Trump in New York as she competes to win her party's primary there next Tuesday

An ad released by Clinton's campaign today that is airing in New York City takes aim at the Republican candidate's controversial comments about abortion, Mexicans and Muslims and declares, 'She's the one tough enough to stop Trump'

Ad tackles his claim that Mexican immigrants illegally entering the country are 'rapists' and his proposal to ban Muslims indefinitely. 'Total and complete shutdown,' it shows him saying. Video includes the image above, as well

'He says we should punish women who have abortions,' the ad begins.

It cuts to Trump saying at a town hall, 'There has to be some form of punishment.'

Then it tackles his claim that Mexican immigrants illegally entering the country are 'rapists' and his proposal to ban Muslims indefinitely.

'Total and complete shutdown,' it shows him saying.

Enter Hillary Clinton, who's seen telling her supporters at a rally earlier this month, 'Donald Trump says we can solve America's problems by turning against each other. It's wrong, and it goes against everything New York and America stand for.'

Clinton, a former U.S. senator for the state of New York, has made her approach to winning the state's April 19 primary two-pronged.

The anticipated winner of the Democratic contest - she leads opponent Bernie Sanders by an average of 14 percent - the former cabinet member is using her speeches and air time to take down Trump, as well.

He leads is pledged delegates and is the most likely of the Republican bunch to represent the party in November.

Her first ad in New York highlighted its namesake city's diversity and effort to overcome the 9/11 terrorist attacks as it undercut Trump's comments in the Clinton commercial that came out today.

'Some say we can solve America's problems by building walls,' the Clinton-narrated ad says as an obscured image of Trump's new Washington, D.C. hotel flashes on screen, 'banning people based on their religion, and turning against each other, well this is New York.'

Clinton adds, 'And we know better.'

The 'turning against' people line is accompanied by video footage of a Trump supporter punching a protester in the face at a Fayetteville, North Carolina, rally, an assault that sparked criticism against the candidate for condoning violence in his remarks at other events.

Clinton regularly puts Trump, and, increasingly, second-place GOP candidate Ted Cruz, on notice in her speeches, as well, over their plans to single-out Muslims in order to fight terror.

She still has to beat Sanders in her own race before she can fully pivot to the general election. A blow out in New York for Clinton will all but make it impossible for him to recover, though.

He has 1,037 pledged delegates to her 1,287 after a weekend contest in Wyoming gave them the same number of delegates, seven, though he won a larger number of ballots.

Sanders would need to handily defeta her in nearly every remaining state after New York in order to break even. That's an unlikely scenario, based on polling in upcoming states.
Shocking pictures show the moment police discovered 314 migrants crammed on board a tiny boat on the Ionian Sea between Greece and Italy.

The dramatic images were captured by a patrol plane of the Air Service of the Civil Guard, which spotted the vessel in the dead of Wednesday night.

The boat was believed to be suitable for only six people and the 107 children, 51 women and 156 men detected on board, were in grave danger of falling in and drowning.

Dangerous: The Spanish Civil Guard rescued 107 children and 51 women who were on board the tiny boat

The plane, which is involved in the 2016 TRITON operation of the European Agency for the Management of External Borders, picked the people out with its lights.

The decision was made for the two patrol boats to sandwich the crowded vessel, as the pictures show, and help the migrants to safety.

The Italian coastguard assisted the extensive operation and everyone was successfully rescued, according to the Spanish Civil Guard.

The pictures emerge as 155 migrants east of Tripoli, who had been trying to reach Europe by boat today, were also rescued by Libyan coastguards.

'We were told that a boat with people of African nationalities on board was in trouble off Ghout Rumman,' coastguard Colonel Ashraf al-Badri said.

Visible: A patrol plane spotted the vessel with its lights on the Jonica Sea in the dead of Wednesday night

Spotted: The migrants were crammed on board the tiny boat on the Ionian Sea between Greece and Italy

'We found the boat and rescued the migrants,' he added, while in Tripoli's port.

Badri said the vessel had been carrying about 115 people from Mali and other African states.

UN refugee agency staff gave the people clothes and food, as well as first aid to some, as buses arrived to take them to detention centres in Tripoli.

Libya has long been a stepping stone for migrants seeking a better life in Europe, with Italy some 185 miles away across the Mediterranean.

It was also confirmed today that only 18 refugees and migrants have entered Greece by sea over the past 24 hours.

Success: The Italian coastguard assisted the operation and everyone was rescued, according to the Spanish Civil Guard

The news comes a week after a European Union deal to deport new arrivals back to Turkey came into effect.

Despite this, more than 53,000 remain stranded in Greece, through which more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa have passed since the beginning of 2015.

Arrivals, mostly in frail smugglers' boats from Turkey, peaked above 200,000 in October.

Following last month's EU-Turkey deal the numbers have dropped, with just 1,704 arrivals so far this month - about 189 daily.
John Davies, pictured outside court at an earlier hearing, pocketed vast sums in tax relief paid by the government by organising gift aid repayments through two charities

A father and son are facing jail after being convicted of involvement in a 5million charity gift aid scam.

John Davies, 58, pocketed vast sums in tax relief paid by the government by organising gift aid repayments through the Sompan Foundation and Kurbet Foundation.

But many individuals said to have donated to the two charities, which Davies had set up and ran, did not even exist.

Benjamin Davies, 31, was also found guilty of money laundering, while his father and Olsi Vullnetari, 38, were found guilty of both cheating public revenue and money laundering between June 2005 and January 2014.

Davies' daughter Melody Davies, 28, was cleared of being involved in the scam following a six-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

She hugged her brother as jurors returned their verdicts after more than 18 hours of deliberation.

The court heard Sompan provides relief for women and children in poverty while the Kurbet Foundation focuses on the well-being of migrants.

David Hughes, prosecuting, said: Behind this case is the tradition that we have in this country among people, no doubt yourselves included, of donating to charity.

The government supports charities by what is known as gift aid tax relief.

'They are getting money back off the government when they are not entitled to it. Here we say what is being stated is we have had a donation, please give us the gift aid relief.

This was just a complete sham.

For all of those there has been no donation, no entitlement to gift aid, no entitlement to any money from the government.

Fraudulent tax repayments were claimed on behalf of the Sompan Foundation worth 3,294,450.43 between March 2007 and January 2014 while the Kurbet Foundation received 1,743,748.20.

Money was sent to 15 countries including Ireland, the US and UAE from the Sompan foundation with almost half the funds being diverted to Hungary.

The Davies family owned a holiday home in Balastya, Hungary, where a significant part of the money was sent.

John Davies claimed he bribed officials in order to further the cause of Sompan, which was set up to help women and children in poverty.

He explained that he ordered Viagra and Implanon - a birth control medication - from a company called Norco Pharmaceutical.

I placed the order and they shipped directly to me and then I took everything to Sompan.

In the United Arab Emirates if you have sex outside of marriage it is a criminal offence.

Pregnancy is enough in the UAE to have you arrested and give you a two year prison sentence.

Asked why he ordered Viagra he said: The Sompan needs Viagra for the same reason it needs caviar.

What it does is it stops the immigration authority coming around and arresting everybody.

Benjamin Davies, left, was found guilty of money laundering as part of the scam, while his sister Melody, right, was cleared of all charges

If you give them caviar and Viagra they will leave you alone.

Davies claimed that if an immigration officer is given a can of caviar and several packets of Viagra they will turn the other way.

He also paid for a return flight for his daughter to New Zealand and helped her by arranging accommodation and by paying for her course and living costs.

A 5,500 payment to Melody Davies had actually been paid out from the Sompan Foundation.

There was also a payment of 10,800 for university funds that had been paid via credit card.

When asked if she knew where the money came from Melody Davies replied: I thought my dad paid it into there.

She claimed that she had no knowledge whatsoever as to whether or not those funds could have been paid from the charity.

Vullnetari had been a trustee of the Sompan foundation from November 2004 until January 2008 when Benjamin Davies became a trustee, until he resigned in August 2012.

He carried out some of the transactions by hijacking the identity of Thomas Hamilton and had a fake passport which he used to pretend this was his true identity.

The real Thomas Hamilton was a vice principal at a school in Coleraine, Northern Ireland and was unaware of the charities until he was contacted by investigators.

Jurors saw a photocopy of a passport which held Mr Hamiltons name but featured a picture of Vullnetari.

John Davies, of Mill Road, Esher, Surrey, and Vullnetari, of Charney Avenue, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, were found guilty of two counts of cheating the public revenue and one of money laundering.

Benjamin Davies, of Allanson Road, Manchester, was found guilty of money laundering but cleared of two counts of cheating the public revenue.

Melody Davies, of Nettles Lane, Shrewsbury, was cleared of the same three charges.

The three men will be sentenced on May 13.
Two steam pipes exploded in mid-town Manhattan Monday morning leaving plumes of smoke billowing from the middle of two roads.

The explosion occurred around 10 am on West 58th Street and Avenue of the Americas due to a water main break, NYPD Sargent Jones told DailyMail.com, likely caused by a steam and water condition in the area.

There were no reports of injuries, said Jones.

NY fire service were in attendance at the scene, which has been cordoned off to vehicles and pedestrians

Buildings on Manhattan's 58th Street between 5th and 8th Avenues were evacuated today after steam burst out from man holes in the street

NY fire service were in attendance at the scene, which had been cordoned off to vehicles and pedestrians

Buildings on Manhattan's 58th Street between 5th and 8th Avenues were evacuated after the steam burst out from man holes in the street, spaying dirt and debris across vehicles and the road.

Dramatic video - taken by Twitter user Eric Teran - of the early morning scene shows huge plumes of smoke rising from the pavement and billowing nine out stories high.

NY fire service were in attendance at the scene, which had been cordoned off to vehicles and pedestrians.

Vehicle access was temporarily shut off on 58th Street between 6th and 8th Avenue.

Speaking to DailyMail.com Eric Teran, 32, said he saw the huge plumes of smoke while he was working nearby and went out to see what was going on.

He said: 'It was about 10 am and there was loads of firefighters and a lot of smoke.

'At first I thought it was a fire - but then I saw it was white smoke I realized it was nothing to worry about.

'I didn't think it was a terrorist attack or anything. It was just normal stuff that happens in the New York underground.'

He added: 'You can't see in the video, but behind the smoke a concrete truck was completely covered in soot and dirt.'

Teran, a construction inspector, said that ten minutes later the fire service had shut off the valve and the billowing smoke had died down.

Workman working on a nearby building seemed seemed to be in good cheer as their work day was interrupted by the incident.

Nearby truck was left caked in soot and and dirt after the smoke from the explosion had cleared

The explosion occurred around 10 am on West 58th Street and Avenue of the Americas due to a water main break

Workman working on a nearby building seemed seemed to be in good cheer as their work day was interrupted by the incident
Jeremy Corbyn finally published his tax return this afternoon - but it emerged he filed it a week late and was forced to pay a 100 fine.

The Labour leader declared an additional income of 1,850 from delivering lectures and filling out surveys.

It took his total income for 2014/15 to 70,795, paying a tax sum of 18,912. This income relates to his salary as a backbench MP but next year he will declare the additional 63,098 income he receives as Leader of the Opposition, which will take his total salary to more than 137,000.

Mr Corbyn had promised to publish his tax return after pressing David Cameron and other Cabinet ministers to publish their full tax arrangements following the Panama Papers leak last week.

It came on a dramatic day in the House of Commons, with veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner being expelled from the chamber for branding the Prime Minister 'Dodgy Dave'.

Scroll down for video

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in the Commons today) finally published his tax return this afternoon - but it emerged he filed it a week late and was forced to pay a 100 fine

David Cameron himself launched a passionate defence of his and his family's tax affairs after one of the most damaging weeks as Prime Minister due to his admission that he had a 30,000 stake in his stockbroker father's offshore Blairmore fund - one of the firms named in the Panama Papers leak.

Mr Corbyn's spokesman told MailOnline he has paid the 100 fine for submitting the paper copy a week late - missing the January 31 deadline.

MPs are already given three additional months to submit their paper tax returns but Mr Corbyn only filed his 2014/15 details on February 6.

In a further humiliation for the Labour leader, he only published his tax return this afternoon while he was in the Commons chamber to grill David Cameron on his tax affairs. Mr Corbyn had failed to find a copy that he sent to HMRC.

His spokesman blamed the missed deadline on 'a pretty busy few months last year' after his surprise election as Labour leader in September.

'He does his own tax return. He doesn't have an accountant,' Mr Corbyn's spokesman said.

The veteran left-winger apparently submitted the document in paper form to HMRC and did not keep a copy.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell - who has managed to released his personal return for 2014-15 - told the BBC: 'He does his own tax returns, I believe. He submitted and I think he's trying to get it back from HMRC.'

The dramatic developments came as:

George Osborne bowed to pressure by revealing he had an income of nearly 200,000 last year - but insisted he will not release details from previous tax returns

David Cameron made a passionate defence of his own financial dealings and those of his investment broker father Ian in a statement to the Commons

It emerged London mayor Boris Johnson paid nearly 1 million in tax over four years

Labour veteran Dennis Skinner was booted out of the Commons chamber after branding the PM 'Dodgy Dave'

Jeremy Corbyn's tax return was sent in a week late and incurred a 100 fine, which MPs are warned about on the tax return (pictured above)

The tax return for 2014/15 was dated February 6 2016 - a week after the January 31 deadline

When Mr Corbyn's tax return finally appeared it revealed he earned 1,350 from delivering lectures and 500 from filling out surveys.

PM PLAYS DOWN CRITICISM OF JIMMY CARR AFTER REBUKING HIS 'MORALLY WRONG' TAX AFFAIRS David Cameron today sought to play down his previous criticism of Jimmy Carr's tax affairs by paying tribute to the comedian (pictured last week) in the House of Commons David Cameron today sought to play down his previous criticism of Jimmy Carr's tax affairs by paying tribute to the comedian in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister publicly rebuked Mr Carr in 2012 by claiming he was 'morrally wrong' for taking money from people who buy tickets to his shows and putting it into 'very dodgy' tax avoidance schemes. But as Mr Cameron faced the most damaging week of his premiership after admitting he had profited from an offshore fund set up by his strockbroker father, Mr Carr got his revenge by joking it would be 'morally wrong' to comment on another person's tax affairs. Speaking in the Commons as MPs debated the Panama Papers leak, Tory MP Andrew Tyrie chairman said: 'I don't think the Prime Minister has done anything wrong except possibly to comment on the Jimmy Carr case.' Mr Cameron agreed with Mr Tyrie, replying: 'Tax evasion is illegal and tax avoidance - if the Government disapproves of it - should be legislated against, and that is the approach we have taken. 'But what I've said before, and I'm very happy to say again, is there are some practices of very aggressive tax avoidance that I think do merit proper questions and then legislative action. 'And to be fair to Jimmy Carr, as soon as it was pointed out that he was in a scheme to artificially reduce his income he immediately changed his arrangements. 'He made that very clear and I pay tribute to him for doing that.' Mr Carr immediately responded on Twitter, joking: 'Whenever the Prime Minister mentions me in Parliament why is it always about tax? He never mentions the 'Best of Tour' or Netflix special?' Advertisement

He also registered 500 of tax-deductible expenses, described as 'share of cost of study'.

George Osborne also published his tax return this afternoon, bowing to pressure by revealing he had an income of nearly 200,000 last year - but insisted he will not release details from previous tax returns.

The Chancellor released details of his financial dealings after being effectively ordered by Downing Street to follow the Prime Minister's example.

Mr Osborne made 120,000 from his government role and MP salary in 2014-15.

He also pocketed 44,647 in dividends from his family's upper-class wallpaper firm, and renting out his London home while he lives in a grace-and-favour apartment brought in 33,562.

The same amount of rental money again was recorded under his wife's name, according to the Treasury.

However, Mr Osborne has invited further questions by refusing to publish records going back further.

A source close to the Chancellor said unlike the premier - who has published six years' worth of information - he did not need to address 'specific historic questions'.

The 2014-15 year was the 'only one of particular interest' as his father's firm Osborne & Little had not paid a dividend for some time before that, they argued.

Earlier, the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said those who were in charge of the nation's finances should show 'transparency'.

The extraordinary intervention came just hours after the Treasury had refused to confirm that Mr Osborne would open up his books.

Downing Street released a summary of the Prime Minister's tax returns covering the past six years in a bid to restore trust after a disastrous week of revelations about links to his father's offshore investment fund.

They showed that Mr Cameron had an income of around 1.1 million over the period and paid some 400,000 in tax. Renting out his London home while he lives in a grace-and-favour apartment has been bringing in more than 90,000 a year.

Labour has lashed out at the revelation that Mr Cameron received gifts totalling 200,000 from his mother Mary after the death of her husband Ian in 2010.

If he had received the money as an inheritance it could have attracted duties of up to 80,000.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has already published a copy of his tax return. The PM's spokeswoman declined to say that Mr Cameron thought all MPs should release such material, but insisted it was 'right to focus on those who are in charge of the nation's finances'.

'If you think to who is in charge of the nation's finances, the Prime Minister takes the view that chancellors and shadow chancellors should show transparency too,' she said. 'But he is not recommending that it should be the same for everyone involved in politics.'

Mr Cameron, who admitted at the weekend he should have been quicker to reveal his finances, attempted to regain the initiative in a Commons statement this afternoon.

Making a passionate defence of his and his father's financial arrangements, he also confirmed that the government is launching a crackdown on companies that facilitate tax evasion.

HOW THE LEADERS COMPARE: TAX DETAILS REVEALED AFTER CAMERON, CORBYN, BORIS, OSBORNE AND STURGEON PUBLISH THEIR TAX RETURNS Salary Additional income Tax paid David Cameron 140,522 49,951 75,898 Jeremy Corbyn 67,060 1,850 18,912 Boris Johnson 127,505 491,978 276,505 George Osborne 120,526 78,209 72,210 Nicola Sturgeon 104,817 0 32,517

Jeremy Corbyn's tax return showed an additional income of 1,850 - including earnings from delivering lectures

A new law being brought forward this year will make it a criminal offence for companies to fail to stop staff aiding tax evasion.

But Mr Corbyn dismissed Mr Cameron's statement as a 'masterclass in the art of distraction' and accused the Prime Minister of failing to appreciate the public anger over the 'scandal of destructive global tax avoidance' revealed by the Panama Papers.

'What they have driven home is what many people have increasingly felt - there is now one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest,' he said.

'I'm honestly not sure that the Prime Minister fully appreciates the anger that is out there over this injustice.'

LABOUR VETERAN DENNIS SKINNER IS KICKED OUT OF THE COMMONS FOR BRANDING THE PM 'DODGY DAVE' AND REFUSING TO TAKE IT BACK Bolsover MP Dennis Skinner, left, insisted twice the Prime Minister, right, was 'dodgy Dave' during today's heated debate on tax avoidance Labour veteran Dennis Skinner was expelled from the House of Commons today for branding the Prime Minister 'Dodgy Dave'. The Bolsover MP was ordered to withdraw the remark by Commons Speaker John Bercow. But the MP - one of the longest serving members of the Commons - refused, shouting 'do what you like' at the Commons Speaker. Mr Skinner, known as the 'Beast of Bolsover' for his angry attacks on Tory ministers, walked out of the Commons as ordered. He will be barred from entering for the rest of the day. MPs are due to hear a major statement on the steel industry before debating the laws implementing last month's Budget. Mr Skinner had demanded Mr Cameron explain his affairs further - with particular reference to his Notting Hill home and the mortgage on the home. Mr Skinner walked out of the Commons as ordered after refusing to withdraw his 'dodgy Dave' jibe at the Prime Minister He said: 'Maybe Dodgy Dave will answer it now?' Mr Bercow interrupted and demanded: 'I must ask the Honourable Gentleman to withdraw that adjective - you're perfectly capable of asking the question without using that word.' Mr Skinner suggested he didn't know which word should be withdrawn - before insisting: 'This man has done more to divide this nation than anyone else. 'I still refer to him as dodgy Dave - do what you like.' Mr Bercow demanded a second time before ordering the Bolsover MP to 'withdraw from the House for the remainder of this day's sitting'. Tory MPs jeered 'bye bye' at the 84-year-old Labour MP. John Bercow used his powers as Commons Speaker to expel Mr Skinner from the Commons after his jibe about the Prime Minister Mr Skinner has fallen foul of the Commons rules before. On one occasion, he said 'half the Tories opposite are crooks', prompting the Speaker to demand a correction. Mr Skinner said: 'Ok, half the Tories opposite aren't crooks.' On another occasion, addressing former Labour foreign secretary David Owen, Mr Skinner said he was a 'pompous sod'. Ordered to withdraw, Mr Skinner insisted: 'I'll withdraw the pompous.' Advertisement

Cameron hails crackdown on firms that help with tax evasion

Firms that aid tax evasion will be held criminally responsible for the actions of their staff under legislation to be introduced in Parliament this year, David Cameron has told MPs.

The Prime Minister gave details of the plans as he faces his critics in the Commons for the first time since it emerged he had invested in an offshore trust set up by his father Ian.

Legislation due in the Queen's Speech in May will create the new offence, which will mean that firms will be held criminally liable if they fail to stop their employees from facilitating tax evasion.

Mr Cameron said: 'This Government has done more than any other to take action against corruption in all its forms, but we will go further.

'That is why we will legislate this year to hold companies who fail to stop their employees facilitating tax evasion criminally liable.'

The move comes ahead of an international anti-corruption summit in London on May 12 and follows the announcement of a new task force aimed at investigating the evidence from the Panama Papers data leak.

Proposals for the measure were announced in March 2015 and put out for consultation and Mr Cameron has now confirmed the introduction of the new legislation.
Despite not being struck, he is in hospital with 'life threatening' injuries

He then lay there unconscious as three

A man has avoided being killed by three separate trains after falling onto tracks drunk and lying unnoticed for 10 minutes.

CCTV footage examined by police showed the man in Munich, Germany, passed out on the tracks at a spot by the exit tunnel where it was difficult for oncoming drivers to spot him.

While he didn't fall into the rescue trench under the rails, he managed to fall into a position that prevented him from being killed as they traveled over him, The Local reported.

The man fell onto the tracks in Munich in such a way he was not struck by the passing trains. File image used

Remarkably, he lay there unconscious for 10 minutes before being pulled from the tracks and taken to hospital.

Despite not being struck by the passing trains, he was suffering from skull fractures, a brain hemorrhage and 'life-threatening' injuries.

Wolfgang Hauner, a police spokesperson, told Suddeutsche Zeitung: 'The man lay 20 metres outside the tunnel exit.

'Train drivers still have problems at that point with the transition from the dark into the light.'

The 22-year-old man remains in hospital in a critical condition.

Such escapes, although rare, are not unheard of. In January, jaw-dropping footage showed the moment a woman survived being run over by a freight train in India.

The 56-carriage train passed over Himani Manjhi as she clung onto the tracks having tripped over while crossing them.

Instead of losing her composure, she lay down instantly on her stomach between the railway tracks as the train chugged into the station and passed over her.

Once the train passed, she surprised onlookers on the platform by getting up 'virtually' unhurt.

Ram Sinha, who witnessed the shocking incident, said: 'Everything happened within a few seconds.
The mother embroiled an alleged kidnapping scandal sent text messages to another child recovery agency during the operation stating that her and the 60 Minutes crew who accompanied her were in 'trouble'.

Sally Faulkner and the Australian television crew, including reporter Tara Brown, accused of kidnapping two children had their court hearing in Beirut delayed on Monday, according to Nine News reporter Tom Steinfort.

Lebanese prosecutors were expected to question the group, who have been detained since Thursday, for the first time about their involvement in the botched snatch and grab' recovery operation of Ms Faulkner's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, five.

A short time after the 60 Minutes crew and members of Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI) were arrested on Thursday, Ms Faulkner made contact with Colin Chapman, who runs a rival child recovery agency from Queensland.

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Seven people are expected to face court in Lebanon over their involvement in a botched child recovery operation allegedly orchestrated by an Australian mother Sally Faulkner (pictured) and a 60 Minutes crew

Lebanese police allege the crew paid for and filmed the attempted kidnapping of the Brisbane mother's two children Noah, four, and Lahela, five, after their father Ali el-Amien moved them to the Middle East without her permission

Senior journalist Tara Brown has been moved to a female only detention centre outside Beirut with the children's mother Sally Faulkner ahead of an expected court appearance on Monday night

According to text messages and emails obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, Ms Faulkner confirmed that 60 Minutes recorded the operation but said police didn't have the footage.

She went on to beg Mr Chapman to help her find a way out of the country via boat or through Syria.

The 29-year-old said local police had thwarted a plan to sneak the children out of Lebanon on a yacht but that she could make it to a boat 'within a day'.

The Brisbane mother, who left an infant child behind in Australia, said 60 Minutes would pay for the agency to organise another extraction via boat, but Mr Chapman said he would need 'some sort of deposit or guarantee' that the 75,000 euros would be paid.

The 29-year-old said local police had thwarted a plan to sneak the children out of Lebanon on a yacht but that she could make it to a boat 'within a day'

She reportedly hired a controversial child recovery agency to get Noah and Lahlea back from Lebanon after thier father Ali el-Amien refused to bring the children home to Australia

The mother has previously said she did not know about her ex-husband's intention to take her children

The children have both since been reunited with their father, who says he is 'disappointed' by the recovery attempt

'Is there any way your team could do the recovery and get the money later. I know 60 will pay up if it means I don't do the rest of the story and I get out,' Ms Faulkner reportedly said.

'60 refusing to pay for the boat. They're relying on [Foreign Minister Julie] Bishop to get them out,' Mr Chapman responded.

Ms Faulkner denied that any force was used against her children's paternal grandmother after she claimed she was pistol whipped and threatened with a gun during the abduction from a busy Beirut bus stop, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

'They say we took them using guns and hit [the grandmother] in the head. We didn't even touch the grandmother,' she said.

Ms Faulkner reportedly said that she and the 60 Minutes crew were in 'a bit of sh*t', also confirming that 'Adam', suspected to be head of CARI Adam Whittington, had been 'pulled in for questioning'.

Channel Nine's Director of News and Current Affairs, Darren Wick, has flown to the Lebanese capital to try and negotiate the release of his staff members as they prepared to face court.

A group of seven people are expected to be charged over their involvement in the botched recovery operation allegedly orchestrated Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes team.

A judicial source told a local newspaper the group had been questioned on Monday, contrary to reports from Nine correspondent Tom Steinfort.

Ms Faulkner denied that any force was used against her children's paternal grandmother (pictured), who claims she was pistol whipped and threatened with a gun during the abduction from a busy Beirut bus stop

Once Lahela and Noah went to Beirut, Mr el-Amien told allegedly Ms Faulkner she would never see her children again

A group of seven people are expected to be charged over their involvement in the botched recovery operation allegedly orchestrated Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes team

Daily Mail Australia understands the group was advised on Sunday that the legal process could see them remain in custody for up to a month, at least.

Lebanese authorities have split up the detained Australians, sending Ms Faulkner and Tara Brown to a female-only detention centre and the male members to another detention centre.

Lebanese police allege the crew paid for and filmed the attempted kidnapping of the Brisbane mother's two children after their father Ali el-Amien moved them to the Middle East without her permission.

A judicial source has told a local newspaper that two of the nine people initially detained over the snatch and grab operation have been released while seven others will likely be charged on Monday.

Nine's European correspondent Tom Steinfort told the Today Show that Channel Nine had hired a well-respected local criminal lawyer to represent its staff members at their first hearing.

Lebanese authorities have split up the detained Australians, sending Ms Faulkner and Tara Brown to a female-only detention centre and the male members to another detention centre

Daily Mail Australia understands the group was advised on Sunday that the legal process could see them remain in custody for up to a month, at least

'We are likely to find out whether or not they will be facing charges and perhaps what those charges may well be. It is a tricky legal process here and it's one that is likely to take some time,' Mr Steinfort said.

The case has been referred to Mount Lebanon general prosecutor Judge Claude Karam.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has spoken to her Lebanese counterpart and says she expects the question of charges will be determined soon.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment extensively on the situation on Sunday but said that the TV crew are receiving consular help as they wait to learn if charges will be filed against them.

Ms Faulkner claims her ex-husband took their children to Beirut on a holiday last year and then refused to bring them back home to Australia, allegedly telling her that she wouldn't see the kids again.

Lebanese authorities reportedly have evidence that Channel Nine paid for the abduction.

According to the ABC, police said they had a signed statement from a member of CARI confirming they received $115,000 for the operation.

Ms Faulkner told A Current Affair last year that she would do 'anything' to get her children back
Mr Breen (pictured) threw the first punch at the older defendant and was set upon by at least two of the gang

A Romanian teenager was facing jail yesterday after beating a man to death in a row over queue-jumping on a railway station escalator.

John Francis Breen was on his way home from work when he was set upon by two brothers, aged 17 and 15, who punched and kicked him to the ground in front of hundreds of horrified rush-hour commuters.

The hod carrier, 53, suffered catastrophic head injuries and died in hospital a day after the assault on October 27 last year.

His attackers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied murder.

But the 17-year-old admitted manslaughter on the first day of his trial yesterday, while his 15-year-old sibling admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Their last-minute pleas at the Old Bailey left the victims family furious. His sister Sue Breen said: The only reason that they pleaded guilty was because they will get a shorter sentence. Were devastated, absolutely devastated.

Her son Charlie added: How can two people get away with murder in a station?

I dont understand how people can get away with manslaughter on a murder case, it doesnt make sense.

In the wake of Mr Breens death, the distraught family issued a statement, saying: Johns whole family and friends are totally devastated by this mindless act of violence.

John was a wonderful son, brother and uncle and will be truly missed by all who knew him. In an earlier hearing at Stratford Youth Court, the brothers sobbed as Elizabeth Ajayi, prosecuting, outlined the attack on Mr Breen in the passage between the London Overground and the Jubilee line platforms.

The siblings, who moved to Britain from Romania over six years ago, were said to be part of a boisterous teenage group who had spent the day hanging around in Westfield Shopping Centre in east London before entering Stratford station at rush hour.

They had been jumping in front of people on a crowded escalator when they were confronted by Mr Breen, who was from Streatham, south-east London.

The victim was knocked to the floor when he challenged them, before being repeatedly stamped on, punched and kicked.

The 17-year-old and a 15-year-old boy, who cannot be name for legal reasons, attacked hod carrier John Francis Breen at Stratford Overground Station (pictured at the time) in the east of the capital city

Then as he tried to stagger to his feet, the 17-year-old felled Mr Breen with a single punch before the yobs ran off, leaving the victim unconscious with blood pouring from his head.

The punch to the middle of the victims face was described as a very hard blow that knocked the man back on to the floor striking the back of his head on to the hard floor. The four youths were arrested after they were discovered sitting in two separate Jubilee line carriages.

One of the gang told police that Mr Breen had barged into him and complained that he was blocking the escalator.

Prosecutors dropped proceedings against two of the boys, who are aged 14 and 15, last December.

Yesterday prosecutor Mukul Chawla QC told the court that the 17-year-old delivered the fatal blow.

He said: The older [defendant] was involved in both parts  he had initially been struck by Mr Breen.

The second defendant is involved in the first part of the incident  the first defendant then comes back and gives the fatal punch.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC told the 17-year-old yesterday to expect a substantial custodial sentence.

The pair, both from Ilford, east London, were granted bail ahead of sentencing on May 20.
Jailed: Mark Gosling has been sentenced to 20 months in jail for sex offences

A paedophile who was caught by vigilantes sending sexual photographs to what he thought were schoolgirls was today jailed for 20 months.

Mark Gosling, 45, said he would 'flash' the 15-year-old girls and have sex with them as he groomed them in a series of online messages, a court heard.

But when he arranged to meet a child in Trafalgar Square, vigilantes from 'Operation Paedophile Hunter' turned up and revealed that they had fooled him.

He was jailed at Southwark Crown Court today after he admitted attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Paul Walker, prosecuting, said: 'This is a case involving Mark Gosling and three 15 year-old girls on Facebook.

'He believed they were under 16, but unbeknownst to him they were not real, and these messages in fact came from members of a paedophile hunter group.'

Gosling, from Bognor Regis in Sussex, then sent naked pictures of himself to two of the girls, before arranging to meet one of them at Trafalgar Square on December 11, 2015.

Instead of an under-age girl, he was met by three members of the Anonymous group who had launched Operation Paedophile Hunter. Mr Walker said: 'The police then arrived and Mr Gosling was taken to the police station.

'They looked at the mobile phone of one of the civilians who had stopped Mr Gosling and on it there was chat messages of a sexual nature from Mr Gosling to the person he believed to be a 15-year-old girl.

'He told her he intended to have sexual intercourse with her.'

Ghulam Humayun, defending, said until 2012 Gosling had been working and leading a normal life but since then had descended into deep depression.

He said: 'He currently lives with his mother and has done so since 1998 and the death of his father.

'He doesn't have a social circle, he doesn't read the papers, he's what you might describe as a social loner, the only people he interacts with are his family.

'He was unaware that what he was doing at the time was a criminal offence. Since the offence, he has imposed an order for himself to not use the internet, aside from going to the library to apply for jobs.'

Paedophile: Gosling sent a naked picture of himself, left, to one of the girls and arranged to meet a girl only to be arrested in London, right

Judge Alistair McCreath told Gosling: 'You came to London to meet someone you believed to be a 15-year-old female child.

'You may not be a great reader of newspapers, you may not have many friends, but given the content that you live in a society where this has much publicity in the news I can't believe you thought it was lawful to do what you certainly intended to do.
A newlywed couple in Alberta, Canada, were shocked to learn they are going to have identical quadruplets.

Bethani, 22, and Tim Webb, 23, exchanged vows in June and found out Bethani was pregnant in September.

Married for less than a year, the couple, who have no history of multiple births in the family, planned on slowly starting a family.

Newlyweds Bethani, 22, (right) and Tim Webb, 23 (left) were married about three months when Bethani became pregnant

At Bethani's first ultrasound the doctor counted out all four babies (pictured) who will be named Abigail, McKayla, Grace and Emily

But nature had other plans and after Bethani became pregnant, she went in for an ultrasound and discover she was carrying four girls.

'She turned the screen and she started counting babies and she counted baby one, baby two, baby three - I was thinking "OK you can stop at baby three. Baby three is enough" - and she counted out the fourth baby.

'I'm definitely glad I was laying down because I could not believe that there were four there. I thought there had to be some kind of mistake my husband almost fainted.

'He had to sit down for a moment,' Bethani told TODAY.

The couple married in June and by September they were expecting their four girls to be named Abigail, McKayla, Grace and Emily

The couple did not use fertility drugs or in vitro fertilization to conceive their children. Bethani will deliver the babies in the next few weeks.

'It was completely and totally natural. It was very spontaneous,' Bethani said.

Having quadruplets without the aid of fertility treatments is one in 729,000, Dr. James Bofill, a professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Mississippi, told TODAY.

However, identical quadruplets like the Webb's, who will be named Abigail, McKayla, Grace and Emily, happen approximately every one in 15 million.

Bethani (pictured) is in the hospital now and has not had any complications with her pregnancy so far but says the babies are 'very, very active'

Bethani has had no complications in her pregnancy and doctors hope she will get to 32 weeks before the four babies are delivered via C-section.

She said the babies are very active and sometimes she feels two or three kick at a time.

Bethani added that while she is excited for the babies, the notion of how much they would need to care for them is overwhelming.

'I'm thinking we have no van, we have no car seats, we have no crib. I thought we were good just having one.

'Going from one to four is like four times everything. Four strollers, four car seats, Four cribs. Diapers. Diapers everywhere,' Bethani said.

The Webbs will use approximately 48 diapers a day once their daughters arrive.
An Australian school has reportedly been forced to send out legal letters to parents after teachers were being subjected to cyber bullying and defamation.

Several teachers have suffered bullying at the hands of parents, who were said to have set up public pages on Facebook to vent their frustration, the Herald Sun reported.

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean said the online abuse has become so severe that one Melbourne primary school has resorted to reprimanding parents on social media policies.

An Australian school has reportedly been forced to send out legal letters to parents after teachers were being subjected to cyber bullying and defamation (stock image)

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean said the online abuse has become so severe that one Melbourne primary school has resorted to reprimanding parents on social media policies (stock image)

The bullying started after students were said to have criticised teachers on the Rate My Teacher website

'They were talking about the quality of teaching, defaming people, using obscene language,' she told the publication.

Ms McLean, who is advising the school, claims when the principal called one of the parents to warn them against bullying a teacher, they reportedly told them to f*** off'.

'We are seeing more and more of totally inappropriate, disrespectful behaviour online. People think it's harmless fun but it can ruin a teacher's life, and what kind of message is it sending to their children?' she continued.
to issues that could be better handled in religion classes

One question in book asked: 'Do you believe in sex before marriage?'

A Catholic school has ordered students to destroy pages in a heath workbook referring to premarital sex and homosexuality

On the last day of term year 9 students at St Francis Xavuier College in Berwick, Melbourne were called into the hall and told they could not leave util they has thrown a page of the workbook in the bin, Fairfax reported.

One side of the page asked students if they believed in sex before marriage, and what tips they could give a friend who was thinking of losing their virginity.

On the last day of term year 9 students at St Francis Xavuier College (pictured) in Berwick, Melbourne were called into the hall and told they could not leave util they has thrown a page of the workbook in the bin

The book read: Do you believe in sex before marriage? Why or Why not?

The book listed different sexual preferences including heterosexuality, homosexuality, asexuality and bisexuality and included a photo of two men hugging and smiling.

'While categories help in discussing sexual identity, research suggests that sexuality occurs on a continuum and can be fluid for many people,' the textbook said.

Furthermore it asked students when they though it was appropriate to start having sex.

What age do you think is suitable for someone to become sexually active? Provide reasons for your response, it read.

Principal Vincent Feeney told Fairfax that students were told to remove the page as it referred to issues that could be more appropriately discussed in religion education classes.

'Young people do become sexually active in our society before marriage,' he said.

"But we have an obligation to talk about relationships in terms of our values context, which is a Catholic context. We mediate this within an understanding about where young people are. If we had our time again we would do things differently.'
Woman asked to pay a fine and be released from jail

A 25-year old American woman has spent more than a month in jail in the United Arab Emirates for allegedly 'insulting' the state in public when two men approached her at the airport.

The woman, who has not been named, is on trial at the Federal Supreme Court and has been charged with insulting the country and its leaders through verbal assault.

On Monday she told the court she had been waiting for a taxi at the Abu Dhabi International Airport when two men approached her and spoke to her in a manner she did not like.

A 25-year old American woman was jailed in February after she was approached by two men at the Abu Dhabi International Airport (pictured) and 'refused to engage with them'

'The men tried to help me. I had another flight to catch at 1.29am,' she told the judge, according to The National, a government-owned newspaper in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

'I refused to engage with them and nothing happened.'

The woman told the judge she did not know why she was on trial.

It is unknown if evidence was presented against her.

She was arrested on February 23 and charged with the misdemeanor.

The woman asked the judge if she could pay a fine and be released from jail. A verdict was set for May 2.

The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi responded to an Associated Press query by stating that the embassy, 'is aware of the case and is providing consular services'.

While liberal on some issues, the UAE has strict laws governing expression.

The woman, who has not been named, is on trial at the Federal Supreme Court (pictured) and has been charged with insulting the country and its leaders through verbal assault

Unlike in many Western countries, defamation is treated in the UAE as a criminal rather than a civil matter.

Insulting the UAE's leaders, or the country itself, can carry a prison sentence and steep fines.

In 2013, a 29-year-old US citizen from Minnesota was tried under a cyber-crimes law and accused of defaming the country's image abroad for posting a spoof video online about youth culture in the UAE.
A Walmart worker was shot to death on Sunday night after he tried to stop a suspected shoplifter from leaving the store with three flat screen televisions in his cart.

Jaseramie Dion 'JD' Ferguson, a loss prevention officer for the Atlanta store, and another employee tried to stop the man before he went through the exit door.

A struggle ensued as the two employees tried to detain the man, who then pulled out a .380 caliber pistol and fired at least one shot that struck Ferguson, Lilburn police said.

Walmart loss prevention officer Jaseramie Dion 'JD' Ferguson was shot to death on Sunday night after he tried to stop a suspected shop lifter from leaving an Atlanta store with three flat screen televisions

Ferguson, who was unarmed, was 'unresponsive and unconscious' when he was transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died from his injuries, according to 11 Alive.

The married father of two young children had been working at the Walmart store for seven months.

A bullet shell casing, a two-way security radio and the Sony television screens were collected as evidence by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities are still hunting for the shooter, who left the shopping cart and took off in a dark red four-door sedan, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Lilburn Police Department released images captured from surveillance video that shows the suspect carting around the television screens, as well as the car with which he fled the scene.

The Lilburn Police Department released images captured from surveillance video that shows the suspect carting around the television screens

The suspect fled the scene in this four-door red sedan, captured on surveillance video

The Sony television screens were collected as evidence by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation

Photos show the suspect has a medium build and bald or shaved head. He is being described as 5ft 9in and is believed to be in his mid-thirties.

He was wearing a gray dress shirt and dark pants.

The Lilburn Walmart store staff said they were 'deeply saddened' by the 'tragic loss of our friend and colleague' in a released statement.

'Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the Ferguson family at this difficult time.'

Friends immediately began posting tributes to Ferguson on Facebook after the news broke.

'JD I'm so proud of the man you have become,' one wrote.

'I love you always. I will miss you...you were a man of God, a loving husband, and an excellent father.'

A bullet shell casing and a two-way security radio were also recovered at the scene
Paula D'Amore hired a professional photographer to capture the birth of her third child so that she wouldn't forget the moment - but as these beautiful and moving pictures show, that was never likely to happen anyway, as she ended up going into labor in the hospital's parking lot Friday.

The Green Acres mom hired Boca Raton photographer Paulina Splechta to document the birth, and both women got a more unique album than they expected when D'Amore was forced to give birth in the family's SUV.

'It's almost like an out of body experience because I'm going through all of this and now I'm able to look back at the photos [and say], "Wow this just happened,"' D'Amore told ABC News.

Beautiful: The images, captured by photographer Paulina Splechta, show mom Paula D'Amore giving birth in her SUV in the parking lot of Boca Raton Regional Hospital on Friday

Hired: D'Amore hired Splechta because she had no photos of the birth of her first son, and only low-quality images from her second

Moving: The images capture every moment of the labor, from the early contractions, to D'Amore's labor, to her delighted smile after giving birth

D'Amore had no photographs of the birth of her first child, and low-quality images of her second, she told ABC, so she wanted to make sure that her third baby's entry to the world would be fully captured on film.

That's why she went to Spletchta, a professional birth and motherhood photographer, paying $1,000 for 100-150 photos of the event, some of which were shared on the photographer's site on Friday.

Having been through birth twice before, D'Amore had an idea of what to expect.

'With this one I knew my body more,' she told ABC. 'I didn't want to arrive to the hospital and be there for hours, so I [told my doula Lindsay Ripley,] 'I would love to labor at home for as long as possible.'

That's why the photographs begin with D'Amore leaning against a wall in her home, counting contractions with Ripley, and sitting in a bath before taking to the stairs to go to hospital.

But her new arrival hadn't got the message about the more leisurely pace of this birth.

Doula: D'Amore told her doula Lindsay Ripley that she wanted to spend as much time as possible at home before the birth. Splechta was on-hand to capture those early moments of the birth

Bath: D'Amore took a bath to ease her contractions, surrounded by birthing affirmations that she had placed on the walls

Heading out: Knowing that the birth would be soon, D'Amore headed out. But the birth happened faster than she had expected

D'Amore, her husband Joe and Ripley all rushed to the hospital in one vehicle, with Splechta following behind - but 'two miles' down the road, D'Amore said, she got the urge to push. The baby was coming.

They made it to the parking lot of the Boca Raton Regional Hospital, around a half-hour drive from Green Acres, but D'Amore wasn't going inside.

Instead, hospital staff, along with Christine Hackshaw, the midwife that D'Amore had hired, met the group in the parking lot outside the hospital's Toppel Family Place.

And it was there that Daniella D'Amore came into the world.

Tired: D'Amore looks tired, but glowing, in this image seen just after the birth of baby Daniella

Laughter: But she's soon laughing, as husband Joe looks on. She was assisted by her doula and a midwife she'd hired for the occasion - and by Splechta who kept an eye on the proceedings

Happy father: Joe holds his new daughter outside the Boca Raton Regional Hospital's Toppel Family Place

Daniella: The baby girl, pictured here unaware of the drama she'd caused, weighed eight pounds and six ounces on arrival

Givin birth is a stressful time for families, of course, but the pressure was also being felt by Splechta, who had two years of previous experience, but told ABC that the shoot was 'definitely not easy.'

'You have to be on your toes because there's only one chance to get that particular shot and if you don't get that shot there's no second chance at all,' she told the channel.

But get the shots she did, and the arrival of Daniella - all eight pounds and six ounces of her - was captured for posterity.

And D'Amore is delighted with the results. 'It's incredible how everything went down even down to the second,' D'Amore said.

'I couldn't have picked a better team. I always said to them: "You're my dream team."'

Sleeping: Daniella rests up in the Toppel Family Place maternity ward
Court found Brown family cannot sue because charges were never filed against them and state policy not to prosecute adult

An appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit from the polygamist stars of Sister Wives contesting Utah's polygamy laws.

The decision marked a defeat for Kody Brown and his four wives Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn who all star in the TLC reality show.

Brown and his wives had launched a federal lawsuit in 2011 after a county prosecutor threatened to charge them following the premiere of the TV show.

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A US appeals court has dismissed a polygamist reality TV star's lawsuit contesting Utah's polygamy laws Pictured is Kody Brown with wives: back Janelle and Christine, front Meri and Robyn (pictured in 2013)

The decision marked a defeat for Kody Brown (pictured) and his four wives who all star in the TLC reality show

They complained that the state's ban on multiple marriages violated their right to religious freedom.

A federal judge sided with the lawsuit in 2013 and ruled that part of Utah's polygamy law was unconstitutional. He said that the threat of prosecution alone drove the Browns out of the state to Las Vegas.

U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups' ruling effectively decriminalized polygamy in the state and allowed the family to collect attorneys' fees.

But Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes appealed and today, the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals have tossed the case down to the lower court - effectively dismissing the ruling.

Brown and his wives had launched a federal lawsuit in 2011 after a county prosecutor threatened to charge them following the premiere of the TV show (pictured last October)

The court found that the Brown family cannot sue because prosecutors never filed charges against them.

Authorities had also said they would not prosecute polygamists without evidence of other crimes such as abuse.

In their lawsuit, the Browns had argued that other laws exist to target crimes such as sexual assault, statutory rape and exploitation of government benefits which were linked to plural marriages.

They added their show was proof that polygamous unions can be as healthy as monogamous marriages and that keeping the ban would cause upset in polygamous communities and sow mistrust.

But Sponsor Republican Rep. Mike Noel of Kanab said that Utah banned polygamy in its constitution, but he's not looking to change prosecutors' widespread, longstanding policy against prosecuting consenting adult polygamists. Instead, the state focuses on those who commit other crimes, like abuse or fraud.

Cases like those have been in the spotlight recently as authorities go after the group led by Warren Jeffs on multiple fronts. Another Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) leader Lyle Jeffs is currently on trial on major fraud charges.

Kody ahs 18 children, three of whom are Robyn's children from another marriage, who Kody has since legally adopted

Beliefs: 'We have chosen to live in a plural family for many reasons, above all we have a testimony that this is what God wants us to do, and that it will make us better people,' Kody has said of their family dynamic (pictured together in 2010)

Kody Brown, pictured with his children, was threatened with prosecution after the programme aired

Courts in Utah and Arizona are now considering child labor, discrimination and food stamp fraud cases against members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Noel told KUTV: 'And our state Constitution says polygamy is banned, and our attorney general has said the statute must be protected.'

'The things that we're trying to prosecute, such as child sexual abuse, spousal abuse, and fraud.'

Brown family's lawyer said they are now considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

'The Brown family is obviously disappointed in the ruling but remains committed to this fight for the protections of religion, speech, and privacy in Utah. They respect the panel's consideration of the appeal and the review process afforded their case,' Jonathan Turleywrote.

The FLDS is just one of several different groups in Utah that practice polygamy. There are a total of about 30,000 people who live in polygamous communities in Utah.

The belief that polygamy brings exaltation in heaven is a legacy of the early Mormon church. The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned the practice in 1890 and strictly prohibits it today.

In March, a jury concluded that two polygamous towns in Arizona and Utah violated the constitutional rights of nonbelievers by denying them police protection, building permits and water hookups.

The verdict in the civil rights case marks one of boldest victories by the government in its efforts to confront what critics have long said was a corrupt regime in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.

Polygamy advocate Hannah Willams, left, joins others gathered at the Utah State Capitol to protest a lawmaker's proposal that would make polygamy a felony crime again last month

Polygamy advocate Enoch Foster, center, poses with his wives Catrina, left, and Lillian, right, as she holds their baby Adonijah on Monday. He said making polygamy a felony crime violates the constitutional rights of consenting adults who choose that lifestyle

The towns were accused of doing the bidding of the FLDS. The towns deny the allegations.

The seven-week trial provided a rare glimpse into the communities that for years have been shrouded in secrecy and are distrustful of government and outsiders.

Last month, polygamy advocates had gathered in Utah's Capitol to argue that keeping polygamy a felony drives those communities underground and makes people afraid reporting crimes like underage marriage because they could be prosecuted themselves.

Joe Darger told KUTV: 'The idea that just because I am a polygamist man, that I am [also] a perpetrator, is a myth. It's a stereotype.'

He told the station: 'That's the myth, is that all polygamist families are just from [the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints].'

Former polygamous wife Kristyn Decker was one of about a dozen counter-protesters who rallied nearby, arguing that harms associated with polygamy, like underage marriage, mean it should stay illegal.

Decker, who founded the group Sound Choices Coalition, said she wants lawmakers to take more action to protect women and children.

Christine Marie told Fox 13: 'As a lifestyle, it's like setting up your child for a life of sadness. A life that has more heartache than they need.'

Polygamy, or holding multiple marriage licenses, is illegal in all 50 states. But Utah's strict laws also prevented someone from living with another adult in a marriage-like relationship when they were already married.
A photo of serial killer Peter Sutcliffe was found on the phone of a teenager who admitted the manslaughter of two members of the public in street attacks, a court has heard.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility following the killings of James Attfield, 33, and Nahid Almanea, 31, and is on trial for their murders.

Guildford Crown Court was told that material found on the boy's phone included 'five horrific serial killers who are free right now', detail on serial killers, as well as a photograph of Yorkshire Ripper Sutcliffe.

Police described the stabbing of James Attfield, pictured, as one of the most brutal attacks they had ever seen

Mr Attfield was found fighting for his life in Colchester's Castle Park. One of the injuries he suffered was a stab wound to the eye, which a pathologist described as 'uncommon'

Philip Bennetts QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the boy was 15 at the time of the killings, adding: 'There is no dispute that he killd those two people.'

He added: 'You will hear that the defendant gave accounts of experiencing auditory and visionary hallucinations that compelled him to carry out the killings.'

Mr Bennetts told the jury the defendant's claims of experiencing such hallucinations have been deemed to be of 'doubtful authenticity' by an expert, adding that the claims are part of the defendant's attempts to 'deceive'.

The jury heard that that the boy, who is in a hospital, admitted stabbing Mr Attfield 102 times in Colchester on March 29 2014.

Mr Attfield was found fighting for his life in the town's Castle Park in the early hours of the morning. He died a short time later.

Mr Bennetts said one of the injuries suffered by the victim was a stab wound to the left eye, which he said a pathologist described as being 'uncommon'.

Three months later, the boy knifed Saudi student Ms Almanea along the Salary Brook Trail on the morning of June 17 2014.

The teenager, from Colchester, was arrested after being found with a lock knife on May 26 last year.

Saudi student Nahid Almanea (pictured on CCTV) was killed just months after moving to Britain for her PhD

Painstaking: Detectives drained two lakes near the scene of Ms Almanea's death in the search for a weapon

Investigation: Forensics (in 2014) scale the path where the Ms Almanea, a student, was attacked and killed

He has since pleaded guilty to having that weapon.

Mr Bennetts said that when the boy was being assessed over his fitness to be detained and interviewed, he said: 'I have been hearing voices which have told me to murder people and I've murdered two people.'

The prosecutor went on to say that the boy said he murdered Mr Attfield and Ms Almanea, and that voices had told him to 'sacrifice people'.

Mr Bennetts told the jury that the boy said: 'I was sitting in the living room when my parents were fast asleep in bed and I heard these voices saying you need to make a sacrifice and if you don't do it we're coming to get you.'

The jury heard the boy had looked up a news report about Kenneth Erskine, who killed seven pensioners.

It was argued that Erskine, dubbed the Stockwell Strangler, should have his convictions reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

DVDs found at the boy's premises included Wrong Turn: The Carnage Collection, the prosecutor said, adding the description that 'killers sometimes lurk in bushes waiting to ambush their victims'.

The jury was also told that a DVD about Sutcliffe was found.

Police said Mr Attfield, 33, left most of his pint behind when he left and headed towards his home in Colchester

Mr Bennetts said the boy pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis that at the time of the killings his responsibility was diminished.

He added: 'The prosecution do not accept that it was.'

On the day he was arrested, the boy was seen 'acting suspiciously' and told police he was experiencing 'depression' that day.
A former Royal Navy captain whose 'shameful' bullying of junior officers cost him his command has lost his High Court privacy claim against the Ministry of Defence.

David Axon sued the MoD for substantial damages after one of its employees with access to information up to 'top secret' level sold details about him to a journalist at the Sun for 5,000.

The career naval officer left his ship, HMS Somerset, in December 2004 - four days before an article appeared in the Sun - after an equal opportunities investigation made adverse findings against him and concluded his position on board was 'untenable'.

Ex-Royal Navy captain David Axon faces a huge legal bill if an appeal on High Court decision is not successful. Right, Commander David Axon pictured taking the salute at the Freedom of Wells ceremony in May 2004

MoD employee Bettina Jordan-Barber later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office and was jailed for 12 months.

But a judge has rejected Mr Axon's claim that he was entitled to compensation from the MoD.

It was, he said, vicariously liable for her breach of confidence, misuse of private information and a breach of his Article 8 privacy rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr Justice Nicol, sitting in London, ruled that Mr Axon, who now faces a large legal costs bill unless there is a successful appeal, 'did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy' over the information leaked to the Sun.

The judge said there was no doubt that Ms Jordan-Barber owed a duty to preserve the confidentiality of information she received in the course of her work.

'However, that was a duty which she owed to either the Crown or the MoD. It was not a duty which she owed to (Mr Axon).'

Mr Axon was appointed commanding officer of HMS Somerset, a Type 23 frigate, in June 2003 with a crew of about 185.

In May the following year, the ship was deployed to the Gulf for a six-month operational tour off the coast of Iraq. Towards the end of that deployment complaints of bullying reached top RN officers.

At the equal opportunities investigation (EOI), Mr Axon said he was devastated that officers considered his behaviour to be bullying as he had never set out intentionally to belittle or bully anyone.

Naval captain Mr Axon left his HMS Somerset, a Type 23 frigate, in December 2004

He later accepted that the investigation had rendered his position very difficult and, with the best interests of the ship firmly in mind, did not oppose the application for his removal.

Mr Axon told Mr Justice Nicol at the hearing of his damages claim: 'I accept that I bullied my officers, to my eternal shame.'

The effect on his reputation of the allegations becoming public had caused problems with finding employment.

Mr Axon added: 'It was humiliating and embarrassing to realise I had let my officers down and my ship down. The impact on me at the time was dramatic, I admit, but for me the real damage was the impact on my ship's company.'

He argued that the EOI was intended to remain confidential and private and it was a matter 'of great regret' that the process, to which he had fully subscribed and which resulted in a five-year censure on his personnel record, was subverted by a breach of his confidence.
Justin Ross Harris sat somber-faced next to his attorney in a small, tightly-packed courtroom near Marietta, Georgia's town square Monday afternoon, dressed in a blue shirt and red tie instead of the orange prison clothing he's worn for nearly two years.

Harris fidgeted as attorneys for both the prosecution and his defense began the process of selecting 12 jurors and several alternates from a pool of 550 Cobb County residents to hear a first-degree murder case that has captivated the nation.

Those selected jurors will decide if 22-month-old son Cooper Harris died of heatstroke in a closed-up and unbearably hot car because his dad forgot to take him to daycare  or if it was a deliberate and cruel murder by design, carefully researched and planned.

In motions filed today, prosecutors have requested that jurors be taken to the Chick-fil-A where Justin Ross Harris had breakfast with his son Cooper on the day of his death, as well as the daycare center where he should have taken his son, the office where Harris worked, and the shopping center where Harris ultimately stopped and tried to revive his son.

The case will be tried before Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley, a former prosecutor.

Justin Ross Harris sat somber-faced next to his attorney in a small, tightly-packed courtroom near Marietta, Georgia's town square Monday afternoon, dressed in a blue shirt and red tie instead of the orange prison clothing he's worn for nearly two years.

Jurors will decide if 22-month-old son Cooper Harris died of heatstroke in a closed-up and unbearably hot car because his dad forgot to take him to daycare  or if it was a deliberate and cruel murder by design, carefully researched and planned

Harris, 35, formerly of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has remained in the Cobb County Jail since his son's death in June 2014. His charges include malice murder, felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children.

Despite the grim nature of the alleged murder, it is not a death-penalty case, court officials said.

Police believe Harris intentionally left his son in the car to die in the sweltering summer heat while he worked as his web development job at a Home Depot satellite office.

Investigators said Harris had breakfast with his son at a Chick-fil-A restaurant shortly before placing him into a rear-facing child's car seat in the back of his silver Hyundai Tucson SUV, and then driving short distance to his job -- two minutes and less than a mile away.

Police said Harris backed his into a parking space about 9:30 a.m. and then walked into the glass and steel office building, leaving his toddler son strapped in his car seat for nearly seven hours with the car's windows rolled up.

The toddler died of hyperthermia, according to the county medical examiner's report. Weather experts said the outdoor temperature reached 92 degrees on that day. They believe temperatures could have climbed to 120 degrees or more inside the car.

Harris' attorneys insist Cooper's death was an accident. They maintain their client simply forgot to take his son to a company-operated daycare center a mile away before starting his workday. They also maintain Harris didn't notice that his toddler son was still strapped in his car seat when he stopped briefly at his vehicle several hours later, and placed some light bulbs he had purchased onto his SUV's front seat.

Harris reportedly left his office about 4:16 p.m., police said. Harris told police he was on his way to a movie theater when he realized his son was still in the car. Witnesses said he screeched to a halt just inside the entrance to an outdoor shopping center, hysterically screaming, 'Oh my God, my son is dead! What have I done?'

Harris appeared in Cobb Superior Court today as jury selection began for the first-degree murder trial he faces. Harris is accused of intentionally allowing his 22-non-old son Cooper to die, leaving him in a locked car for seven hours on a hot Georgia summer day in 2014.

Harris hurriedly removed his motionless child from the car and tried to revive him, witnesses told police. The child's lifeless body was rigid and in a sitting position, they said.

In pretrial motions last fall, Harris' lawyers hoped to bar media and public from the pretrial hearings. The judge denied their request. His attorneys also tried to convince the judge to separately try charges that Harris had close to 40,000 online exchanges with other women, including images of his erect penis. A number of conversations involved an underage girl, investigators said. That motion to exclude was denied.

In those October 2015 pretrial hearings, Det. Phil Stoddard of the Cobb County Police Department read several conversations from KIK, a social media phone application where Ross Harris allegedly asked a 17-year-old girl to send picture of her lower private body parts. The detective said Harris met the girl online when she was 16 years old. Harris was aware of her age, the detective said.

Investigators said Harris had breakfast with his son at a Chick-fil-A restaurant shortly before placing him into a rear-facing child's car seat in the back of his silver Hyundai Tucson SUV

Details of those online chats surfaced during those hearings, including one that occurred within 15 minutes of the last time Harris saw his son alive, according to police.

While eating with Cooper at the Chick-fil-A on the morning of the child's death, Harris texted with a woman who has posted that she 'hated' being married with kids. Harris replied with, 'I love my son and all but we both need escapes,' only minutes before leaving the restaurant and driving to work, according to investigators.

In that same conversation, Harris said he missed 'having time to myself and going out with my friends,' Det. Stoddard said. He told the court that Harris' conversations with the teen girl qualify as a motive to kill. Harris referred to himself as 'addicted to sex' and had texted that he wanted multiple sex partners and 'do things with a lot of girls,' according to Senior Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring.

The former Home Depot web developer pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been held without bond since his arrest in 2014.

Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said that while his client's conversations may reveal his Harris to be a 'philanderer' or 'adulterer' they don't indicate a motive.

'The state wants to bootstrap every bad act they can think of to prove some grand conspiracy,' he told reporters. 'Cooper's death was a horrible, gut-wrenching accident,' he said.

In pretrial motions, the defense argued the charges  criminal attempt to commit sexual exploitation and dissemination of harmful materials to minors  'are not of a similar character or nature' to the murder charges. Those charges were added to interject 'evidence of bad character' against Harris, which violated his right to a fair trial, Kilgore said.

Harris' ex-wife Leanna was also questioned by police and initially considered a possible accomplice in Cooper's death, sources said. She was not charged

Prosecutors believe Harris was motivated to allow his son to die in the car in part by his desire to be with other women, including the minor named in the indictment. Investigators said Harris engaged in several affairs and wanted to escape his married life. They believe Harris saw his son as an impediment to enjoying life, according to reports. Prosecutor Boring said while Cooper was dying inside the hot car, Ross Harris was at his desk, sexting with as many as six different women on that day.

'He was unhappy in his marriage. We plan to show that he wanted to live a child-free life, there's evidence to suggest that, based in his Internet searches,' Boring told the court. Searches of Harris' computer records revealed he had visited social networks devoted to living a childfree life. Harris visited prostitutes in the days prior to the toddler's death, investigations have revealed.

Harris, 35, formerly of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has remained in the Cobb County Jail since his son's death in June 2014. His charges include malice murder, felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children.

Prosecutors also plan to introduce evidence that Harris watched a 6-minute video days before Cooper's death that featured a veterinarian as he demonstrated the dangers of leaving an animal in a hot car, suggesting that Harris was well-aware of what could happen if his child were left strapped-in and helpless n a sunbaked SUV for a summer day in Georgia.

During an interview with investigators, Harris admitted he recently researched, through the internet, 'child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be for that to occur,' search warrants stated. 'Justin stated that he was fearful that this could happen,' according to police.

Harris' wife Leanna was also questioned by police and initially considered a possible accomplice in Cooper's death, sources said. She was not charged.

Leanna stood by her husband's side throughout much of his incarceration and steadfastly maintained his innocence. She visited him at the Cobb County Jail where she talked regularly by phone and closed circuit cameras. In a statement to prosecutors two months after their son's death, Leanna stated her husband was a loving father who would never have intentionally harmed their son.

Leanna was granted a divorce from Ross in recent weeks. She stated their marriage was 'irretrievably broken' when she filed for divorce earlier this year. She now uses her maiden name, Leanna Taylor, and lives in Alabama. She may be called as a witness for the prosecution, according to her attorney Lawrence Zimmerman.

Jury selection is expected to take ten days or more due to extensive social media and news coverage of the case, legal observers said. The trial could take more than a month to complete. Defense attorneys have requested the jury be sequestered, court officials said.
For 30 years, Kifleab Tekle protected the students at the Hockaday School as their security guard.

Now that he's about to retire, alumnae at the elite Dallas, Texas all-girl's school are paying Tekle back for his three decades of service - with a six-figure check.

The fund initially started as a campaign by members of the class of 2005, to raise $2,005 as a retirement gift for the long-time security guard the students call 'Kief'.

But the Go Fund Me campaign quickly surpassed it's goal as graduates of all ages started chipping in.

Kifleab Tekle, the longtime security guard at the Hockaday School in Dallas, Texas is retiring and his former students at the school have raised more than $178,000 as a parting gift for him

As of Monday afternoon, the fund had raised over $178,000, with more than 1,700 individual donations.

'I was not expecting such a big farewell,' Kief said in a statement. 'It means stability for my family.'

Alumnae will present Tekle with the gift at a private retirement ceremony on Monday.

'For 30 years, Kief was the emperor of the parking lot and carpool, and for all those years, Kief has been the heart and soul of Hockaday,' Eugene McDermott Headmistress Liza Lee said in a prepared statement. 'He has given us lessons in grace, lessons in courtesy and lessons in love.'

Abby Hoak Morton, a 2005 graduate and now a teacher herself, launched the page with friends and told the Dallas Morning News that she was pleasantly surprised by the success of the fund.

'I had no idea it would get to this point,' Hoak-Morton said.

Since it's foundation in 1913, the daughters of Texas' - and the nation's - most powerful people have graced it's halls, including former President George W Bush's daughters Barbara and Jenna

Former students at the school say Kief was like the Hagrid to their Hogwarts, who never forgot a student's name and once broke his arm chasing someone from campus.

'When someone as pivotal in the community as Kief announces his retirement, its breathtaking, but not entirely surprising the entire community has rallied like this,' Amy Patrick, a structural engineer who graduated from the school in 2000, said. 'He kept us safe. And he fought for safety.'

According to the Dallas Morning News, Kief was born in Ethiopia to a rich family that lived in an eight-bedroom villa. But the family lost millions of dollars, their livestock, seven estates and their hotel with the fall of the monarchy in the early 1970s.

After being arrested for working for a Russian textile company, Kief was ordered to leave the country, so he made his way to Eritrea and then Sudan where he got a job as an immigration interpreter.

Eventually, he secured a sponsorship from a Christian charity to move to the United States, and he settled in Dallas in 1986. A few years later, he got his first job at Hockaday.

Since it's foounding in 1913, the daughters of Texas' - and the nation's - most powerful people have graced it's halls, including former President George W Bush's daughters Barbara and Jenna.

Tuition ranges from $24,040 for elementary school to $53,285 for high school students who board at the school.
Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah has defended the country's 'ban' on women driving

Saudi Arabias top cleric has defended a ban on women driving claiming it would expose them to evil.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah al-Sheikh added obsessed men with weak spirits could end up causing female drivers harm.

Women driving in Saudi Arabia is not technically against the law, but is banned in practice because women are not able to obtain driving licences.

Some exceptions have been made in rural areas if a woman driving is essential for her family life.

According to The Independent, the religious leader was speaking on a Saudi television channel and also claimed women driving alone could cause problems for families as they would not know where they were.

Last year campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul was jailed for 10 weeks after violating the ban by driving from the United Arab Emirates to the Saudi border.

And in February 2015, Saudi historian Saleh al-Saadoon caused controversy in trying to justify the ban, claiming women could be raped if their cars broke down.

The historian was speaking on Saudi Rotana Khalijiyya TV and added his opinion that in countries like America sexual crimes 'are no big deal' to women.

But some progress on womens rights has been made recently, with females allowed to stand and vote in municipal elections for the first time last December.

The Grand Mufti is known for being outspoken and earlier this year ruled that chess is forbidden for Muslims because it is a 'waste of time' and promotes gambling.

He issued the fatwa ahead of a major chess tournament in Mecca in January.

Muslims often follow personal religious guidance given by senior clerics, but their declarations are not legally binding.

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Remains found in pasture in southeast Texas are those of Keli Cox

The remains found in a pasture in southeast Texas are those of a 20-year-old college student who went missing almost two decades ago, police have confirmed.

Denton police said Monday that the remains have been identified through dental records as those of Kelli Cox, who went missing from the North Texas town of Denton in July 1997. She attended the University of North Texas.

Authorities had announced this month that imprisoned, convicted kidnapper William Reece had led them to the remains in Brazoria County.

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Denton police said Monday that the remains found in a pasture in southeast Texas have been identified through dental records as those of Kelli Cox (left), who went missing in 1997. Imprisoned, convicted kidnapper William Reece (right) had led them to the remains

Her parents were left to raise her 19-month-old daughter, Alexis (pictured in 2011)

The 56-year-old is already serving a 60-year sentence for kidnapping one woman, led Texas authorities to remains in the search for 17-year-old Jessica Cain, also missing since 1997, has been charged in the slaying of a 19-year-old in 1997 and was a prime suspect in another killing.

A DNA analysis will also be conducted on Cox's remains, said Denton police spokesman Officer Shane Kizer.

He added that police are 'looking into formal charges in the near future,' but still investigating.

He said that they are hopeful that Reece will continue to cooperate and that investigators will learn more details of what happened to Cox.

'We're just happy that we're finally getting some answers to the family,' said Kizer, adding, 'Hopefully this starts the healing process for them.'

Speaking in March of this year, Cox's mother Jan Bynum told Dallas News: 'You get up every single day and think is today the day that she will call or ring the doorbell or is today the day we will get answers from the police.'

Police were lead the site in southeast Texas by William Reece (in handcuffs center), the 56-year-old is already serving a 60-year sentence for kidnapping one woman

A DNA analysis will also be conducted on Cox's remains, said Denton police spokesman Officer Shane Kizer

Cox's mother Jan Bynum (pictured in March 2016) said: 'You get up every single day and think is today the day that she will call'

Reece has been temporarily released from state prison into local custody to help with the search, in which he directed investigators to the sites where they found both sets of remains.

Reece faces first-degree murder and kidnapping charges in Oklahoma for the slaying of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston, who was abducted from a car wash northwest of Oklahoma City in 1997.

He was also previously named the prime suspect in the April 1997 abduction and killing of a 12-year-old girl in Friendswood near Houston but has not been charged.

Reece was sent to prison in 1998 for the May 1997 Houston-area abduction of Sandra Sapaugh, who told authorities Reece forced her at knife point into his truck after first feigning to help her with a flat tire. Sapaugh escaped after jumping from the truck.

Identification is also pending on remains authorities found last month with Reece's help in the search for 17-year-old Jessica Cain, also missing since 1997.
A former Utah high school teacher filed a handwritten response to a lawsuit over her sexual contact with underage students and claims one of the teen's grades improved.

Brianne Altice, 37, of Salt Lake City, said in the document that she never meant to harm anyone and encouraged the teenage boy whose parents are suing to continue his education.

In addition, she denies that she was fired from a previous job for having inappropriate relationships with minors.

The ex-English teacher wrote in the federal court filing that the teen in question improved his grades during the year she had a relationship with him.

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Behind bars: Brianne Altice (above in January 2015) is serving between two and 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of forcible sexual abuse. She now says one of the boy's grades improved during their relationship

Fighting back: Altice responded to a lawsuit filed against her by one of her victims in a letter submitted to the court saying the boy's parents never attended parent-teacher conferences

'Prior to the 2012-2013 school year, (the victim's) attendance and school behavior was a problem causing low grades and suspensions from school,' Altice wrote on on loose leaf paper, because she says she cannot afford an attorney, CBS News reported.

'(The victim's) attendance, grades, and behavior improved during his 2012-2013 school year, allowing him to meet his goal to graduate a semester early.'

The teen's parents filed a lawsuit in December against her and Davis County School District, claiming that school officials failed to act on suspicions that she was behaving inappropriately.

She has previously said that one of her victims and his parents failed to attend her parent-teacher conferences and that their son often complained about his strained relationship with his parents.

Altice has also shot down claims that she wore 'risque' clothing in the classroom saying that there she had never received any complaints about her work attire.

She is currently serving a minimum of two years in prison after pleading guilty last April to three counts of forcible sexual abuse.

In the letter, first obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, she also responded to allegations that she allowed the boys to skip class and hang out with her, saying that she frequently let both male and female students spend time together in her classroom before and after school and during their lunch hour.

The initial complaint claims that employees at the school told administrators about Altice's inappropriate behavior with male students and they chose to ignore the problem.

Attorneys for the school district have denied this claim.

The lawsuit also claims that Altice's rampant romps were so blatant that the question 'Who is Ms. Altice sleeping with now?' became a running joke throughout the school.

The young man who filed the lawsuit was 16 years old the first time he engaged in sexual contact with Altice.

According to Altice's letter the boy would often help 'thwart inappropriate comments directed at her'.

Legal trouble: In 2013, Altice (left in July, right in February 2014) had sexual contact with three male teenage students at Davis High School in Salt Lake City, Utah

She said her victims would also frequently tell her 'you're hot' and 'you're sexy.'

In December, a state court judge also tossed out a lawsuit filed by one of Altice's other victims.

A school district attorney argued that the district is immune from liability under state law that exempts state entities for physical and emotional harm suffered as the result of physical battery.

Police say Altice befriended the boys while they were students, eventually progressing to three separate sexual relationships, meeting the teens for sex at parks, in cars and at her home while her husband was away.

She has since divorced.

The disgraced teacher had sexual relationships with the boys for months, going on picnics and dates with the students.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages for physical, mental and emotional pain and expenses for counseling, therapy and related care and treatment. It also seeks punitive damages against Altice.

A trial date has not been set at this time.

A second victim had also filed a suit against Altice and the school district claiming that the teacher took advantage of the fact that the teenager had been sexually abused and had a troubled past.

That suit also alleges that the school district knew about the Altice's relationships and failed to protect the students.

Altice admitted to touching the genitals of her three victims in 2013, while all three of the young men said they had sex with the teacher.

In exchange for the plea, Davis County prosecutors dismissed 11 other felony charges, including first-degree felony rape.

At her sentencing, she said she was emotionally damaged and made mistakes by giving into her teenage students' advances. She will have her first parole hearing in January 2017 and could ultimately be facing 30 years in prison.
on twitter, saying that their Secret Service detail had been calling her family

The feud between the Palin family and Azealia Banks continues to drag on more than a week after the rapper called for Sarah to be gang-raped by a group of the 'biggest burliest blackest' men.

On Monday, Bristol went after Twitter over their decision to not remove Banks from their service following her offensive comments, which she eventually deleted from her personal page.

Banks meanwhile took to her still active Twitter to accuse the Palin camp of harassing her and threaten to sue them less than a week after Sarah said she planned to take the New York City native to court.

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More anger: Bristol Palin (left in 2012) ashed out at Twitter saying they were 'hypocrites' for not banning Azealia Banks (right in 2014) from the service

Clains: Banks meanwhile said that Sarah'sSecret Service detail had been calling her family

Anger: Banks also hreatened to sue Bristol and Sarah

Bristol spoke about the situation in an interview with Fox 411, saying; 'Twitters own words - "We believe that protection from abuse and harassment is a vital part of empowering people to freely express themselves on Twitter."

'I cannot imagine what they would have done if races were reversed. It's unfortunate that Twitter is not truly colorblind in this situation with regards to Miss Banks and her threats.'

Banks meanwhile is now painting herself as a victim in all this claiming that the Palins have refused to leave her alone, and is even suggesting that the Secret Service is now involved in the feud.

'Palins secret service people r still calling my family's phones,' tweeted Banks on Monday afternoon.

'I'm going to be the one filing charges against her soon.'

She then added; 'Because this is harassment.'

Banks also retweeted a poll posted by Bristol asking if she should still be allowed to stay on Twitter, writing; 'Yawn.'

Bristol first involved herself in the feud last Wednesday when she attacked the rapper for saying her mother Sarah should be gang-raped, and for making comments about her children Tripp and Sailor.

Banks fired back on Twitter, writing; 'Bristol Palin need to shut it the f*** up and get herself a nuvaring.'

She later deleted the tweet after a fan wrote to her; 'Azealia stop giving the media reasons to attack you. We fans love focus just on us please.'

Banks responded to that by writing; 'ok. i will.'

Bristol wrote in her blog post; 'I want to start off this post by saying I would never wish any of these threats on Azealias mother (or anyones mother for that matter).

'She said the best thing to happen to my mom is if she was gang raped by a group of black men.'

She later stated: 'It is unfortunate people in my generation think they can do, and say, whatever they wish without any sort of consequence. There are consequences for every action you make Miss Bank, and there will be consequences for your unimaginable threats.

'I am not going to waste another minute of my day addressing you, but I will finish my post by addressing what you said in regards to my children.'

Banks wrote in an open letter to Sarah on Tuesday; 'If Bristol Palin listened to my music she probably wouldnt have all those cotdamn kids!!!! ;-P #sis #iud #stayinschool #causeitsthebest.'

Bristol responded to this by writing in her letter; 'So, I looked up your lyrics.

'Which song should I have been listening too? Hood B****, P-U-S-S-Y, Queen of Clubs, Grand Scam, or Big Talk?

'Just let me know.'

Banks posted a message calling Sarah a 'cracker' on Wednesday while also criticizing her on Twitter for supporting Donald Trump, saying: 'Everyone can tell you're spreading them cheeks for Mr. Trump Sarah..... you ain't got to lie.'

This all came after Azealia attacked Sarah on Twitter Sunday in a series of now deleted tweets.

'Honestly Lets find the biggest burliest blackest n****** and let them run a train on her. Film it and put it on worldstar,' wrote Banks in one of the tweets.

In another she wrote; 'Hideous. At least suk a n**** d*** or summ before you start talking s*** about "black people willingly accepting slavery." Least she can do.'

The rapper lashed out at the former Alaska governor after reading a satirical article in which Sarah was falsely quoted as saying; 'Im telling you, Ive been saying it for years, but nobodys listening  slavery wasnt forced onto African-Americans, they accepted it willingly.'

Sarah responded to Banks on Tuesday, saying she was 'not exercising enough intelligence' and later added: 'Why don't we strengthen both our platforms and work together on something worthwhile.'

She then wrote that 'condoning racism' was one of the things that the women could work on before editing it to 'condemning racism' in the post.

In the beginning: Banks went after Palin on Twitter over a week ago (above) but then deleted her tweets

On the attack: Banks posted a message calling Palin a 'cracker' and attacked her for supporting Donald Trump on Wednesday (Palin and Trump above on Saturday)

Bristol's turn: Banks also responded to Palin's comment that she planned to delete Banks' music off her daughter's playlist by going after Bristol Palin's two out-of-wedlock pregnancies, saying; 'If Bristol Palin listened to my music she probably wouldnt have all those cotdamn kids!!!!' (Bristol above with her son and daughter)

Sarah later told People; 'I've had enough of the unanswered threats and attacks against my family and me.

'So, for the first time I'm going to enjoy the only retribution some protected "celebrities" seem to understand  I'm suing Azealia Banks and can't wait to share my winnings with others who have gone defenseless against lies and dangerous attacks far too long.'

Palin added; 'Azealia engages in a form of racism and hate that is celebrated by some in the perverted arm of pop culture, but is condemned by those who know it's tearing our country apart.

'Others may keep turning a blind eye to problems like Azealia's mouth; I choose to take a stand against it and the double standards that result in her actually being rewarded for her divisive tactics and aggressively inciting violence.'

Banks responded to this on Twitter, writing; 'When you're a public figure who courts attention, you can't sue ppl for making jokes. Freedom of Speech girllllyyyyy.'

She also wrote; 'F*** Sarah Palin.'

In the letter she posted Wednesday, Banks wrote; 'Despite their best efforts to conceal the contempt and envy that the cracker has for Blacks and other people of color... they just cant hide it and it's seeping from the seams of their being.

'Im 100% positive that the police killings, cultural appropriation, Trump and Palin etc. represent the contempt that whitey shares for this intangible , uncontrollable new black man thats been steeping for a while now.'

Media Research Center managed to grab Banks' initial tweets before they were taken down, the most vulgar of which said; 'Sarah Palin needs to have her head shaved off to a buzzcut, get headf***** by a big veiny, ashy black c*** then be locked in a cupboard.'

The 24-year-old rapper is frequently in the news for her erratic behavior, and just two weeks ago was seen charging at photographers who were taking her picture outside Manhattan Criminal Court.

Banks was appearing in court following an incident that happened in December where she is alleged to have punched and then bitten a female bouncer at a Manhattan club.

She was also accused of assaulting a bouncer at the Break Room 86 club in Los Angeles in October.

Banks has also engaged in numerous Twitter fights, most notably with fellow rappers including Iggy Azalea, Eminem and Nicki Minaj.

She tweeted about Azalea just last month, writing; 'Mentioning me is the only thing that will get you attention. Because ur music and nose job are trash.'
A billboard in St. Augustine, Florida, that criticizes Islam is causing international outrage.

The words 'Islam Bloody Islam' are written in a red, tattered font on a black background across the 14-foot high sign.

Written in in white below the red words the billboard reads: 'Doomed by its doctrine'.

The statement has become a source of ire for those who have to look at it every day as well as those across the globe.

One neighbor, who lives just feet away from the sign, on highway A1A and Seashore Avenue, told CBS 47 he thought it was inappropriate.

A billboard reading 'Islam Bloody Islam. Doomed by its doctrine' appeared above a St Augustine, Florida, highway. The sign has caused outrage worldwide

Another said: 'Politics, religion that kind of thing - people can get pretty heated about it, so I just try to leave that kind of stuff alone.'

One woman, Bonnie Rosen, drove down to see the sign for herself. It was worse than what she expected.

'I was expecting a small five-by-three homemade sign.

'This is horrifying because this tells me that they want everyone in our whole city to read this,' she said.

A petition, started by a woman named Becky Williams, hopes to bring the sign down.

It is also lit up at night so motorists and pedestrians can see its message at all hours. Neighbors who live around the sign have called it 'inappropriate'

'We should always stand up for those in our community who are shown hatred and intolerance.

'We should be outraged that a billboard with this message could in any way represent our community as a whole.

'It is of the utmost importance that we stand against messages and movements that isolate, judge and threaten an entire sect of people who share our same hometown,' the petition says.

People from the UK, India, France and Nigeria have signed the petition.

'We are all children of God, and must be tolerant of each other, no matter what sect or belief a person or persons have,' Richard Loftus wrote on the petition.

A petition, which has been signed by nearly 2,300 people, has earned support from people in the UK, India, France and Nigeria

Yvonne Malik wrote: 'Everyone has the right to opinions but not at the expense all those who are innocent. Come now HUMANITY. Global harmony starts with one person at a time.'

Some people posted in favor of the sign.

'The sign is accurate. Wake up! There are whole nations abusing human rights, woman rights, and threatening peace in the name of a failed, uncleansed belief that shouldn't even be considered a religion,' one anonymous poster said.

CBS 47 contacted the owner of the advertising company that owns the billboard.

Robert Harry, Jr, of St Johns Outdoor Advertising told the station it was an individual not an organization or a church who purchased the sign.

He called it freedom of speech.
Donald Trump escalated his war of words with CIA director John Brennan on Monday, castigating the spymaster for saying he would never bring back waterboarding  even under a future president's orders.

'I think his comments are ridiculous,' Trump said during a phone-in interview with 'Fox & Friends' on Monday morning.

'I mean, they chop off heads and they drown people in cages with 50 in [a] cage  in big steel, heavy cages  drop 'em right into the water, drown people!' Trump exclaimed, referring to the ISIS terror army.

'And we can't waterboard and we can't do anything!'

'RIDICULOUS': Donald Trump hammered CIA Director John Brennan for ruling out the use of waterboarding in the future, even if a U.S. president ordered it

NOT ON MY WATCH: Brennan told NBC that CIA agents won't be waterboarding terror suspects while he's at the helm

Brennan laid down a marker in an NBC News interview conducted Sunday and set to air Monday, saying his agency would not go along with a President Trump's order to waterboard suspected terrorists.

'I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about,' Brennan said, 'because this institution needs to endure.'

Brennan was unequivocal, saying he would continue to ban the enhanced interrogation technique agency-wide, regardless of what the White House might want.

'Absolutely, I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again,' he said.

Trump framed Brennan as a weak relic and a recipe for defeat.

'We're playing on different fields, and we have a huge problem with ISIS, which we can't beat,' the Republican presidential front-runner said.

'And the reason we can't beat them is because we can't use strong tactics, whether it's this or other thing.'

'So I think his comments are ridiculous,' he continued.

'Can you imagine these ISIS people sitting around, eating, and talking about how this country won't allow waterboarding  and they just chopped off 50 heads?'

WHAT IS WATERBOARDING? The torture technique makes interrogation subjects feel as if they are drowning

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's main GOP White House rival, has also signaled a desire to end President Barack Obama's ban on waterboarding, saying it falls short of 'torture.'

Trump has pledged to return 'a hell of a lot worse' than waterboarding to the toolboxes of America's military and intelligence forces.

During a March 4 debate, Trump practically dared military commanders to risk their careers by standing up to him in the face of a waterboarding order.

'They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse me,' he told Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier in one televised exchange that night.
A detective said he could say 'quite categorically' teenager was murdered

Human remains found at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft have been identified as those of a teenager who went missing almost four months ago.

Cayleb Hough, 17, was last seen in the area of The Crescent in Highett, in Melbourne's south-east, in the early hours of December 20, 2015.

The remains were found in a shallow mineshaft near Coimadai, in the shire of Bacchus Marsh, on Seerey Track on March 10 as police launch a murder investigation into Cayleb's death.

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The human remains found at the bottom of an abandoned mineshaft have been identified as those of teenager Cayleb Hough who went missing almost four months ago

Missing Persons Squad detectives and State Emergency Services were searching the area around the mineshaft

Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Rhodes told reporters on Tuesday: 'I can say quite categorically that Cayleb Hough was murdered'

Police have confirmed they are treating the teenager's death as suspicious.

'I can say quite categorically that Cayleb Hough was murdered,' Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Rhodes told reporters on Tuesday.

A post-mortem examination has been conducted but police have declined to comment on the cause of death or if a weapon was used.

'The body took some time to identity because of the way the body was and the DNA process,' Det Sen Sgt Rhodes said.

A police investigator holds a piece a fabric alongside SES workers during the search for clues

Det Sen Sgt Rhodes appealed to the public for any information regarding the case as the search for clues continued

Police are appealing to the public to come forward if they saw anything strange in and around the state park, where the mine is, between December and March.

'It is an out-of-the-way area,' the detective said.

'If someone up here may have seen anything that was unusual... anything that was out of the norm, that little bit of evidence might support us in our investigation.'

Police do not believe the teen was been mixed up with drugs or the wrong crowd.

'We have no idea why that would have occurred,' Det Snr Sgt Rhodes said.

'He was just a young 17-year-old kid who had just left home and was looking for work. There was nothing untoward at all.'

The teen was known to police before he disappeared.

Missing Persons Squad detectives and State Emergency Services were searching the area around the mineshaft.

Hough was reportedly seen travelling in a blue 2003 Ford Falcon XR6 sedan with registration SOG 812 shortly before his disappearance.

Cayleb, 17, was last seen in the area of The Crescent in Highett, in Melbourne's south-east, in the early hours of December 20, 2015

SES members form a search line to uncover clues to Cayleb's disappearance on Tuesday

Police are appealing to the public to come forward if they saw anything strange in and around the state park, where the mine is located, between December and March

Police released photos of the jacket (left) and shorts (right) Cayleb was wearing at the time of his disappearance

The shoes Cayleb had on at the time. Police hope to find answers about Cayleb's death

Police found the sedan in the car park at a Southbank entertainment complex about 1pm on January 16.

The vehicle remains in police possession as the investigation continues.

Det Sen Sgt Rhodes said police were 'particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have seen any suspicious activity in the Lerderderg State Park since 20 December last year'.

'Someone out there knows who is responsible for Cayleb's death and we are appealing for them to come forward and contact police,' he said.

'Cayleb's family deserve some answers in relation to this horrific tragedy.'

Police have released images of clothing similar to what Hough was wearing at the time of his disappearance.

Police found the sedan in the car park at a Southbank entertainment complex about 1pm on January 16

A mock-up of the number plate that was on the vehicle is pictured above
A Virginia 10-year-old boy has been hailed a 'little hero' after alerting guests staying at a bed and breakfast to a fire that erupted in the building.

Justin Peery, the owner of Good Place Farms Bed and Breakfast, said the guests were saved late Saturday night by Ashton Dunford, who saw the flames and began screaming to wake people up.

Forty people escaped the fire that destroyed the Rockbridge County bed-and-breakfast where the guests were staying at for a wedding. No one was injured in the fire.

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Ashton Dunford, 10, of Virginia (pictured) has been hailed a 'little hero' after alerting guests staying at a bed and breakfast to a fire that erupted in the building on Saturday night

Forty people escaped the fire (pictured) that destroyed the Rockbridge County bed-and-breakfast where the guests were staying at for a wedding. No one was injured in the fire

Rockbridge County Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Foresman told WSLS-TV that about 50 to 75 firefighters took around an hour to tackle the flames.

Peery, a photographer who said he lost all of his belongings in the blaze, said his neighbor Ashton had initially spotted the fire from his his house located across the driveway.

The quick-thinking boy then told everyone inside the renovated barn turned bed and breakfast that they needed to evacuate, Peery told ABC News.

'Ashton ran across the street and into the building screaming for the people to get out,' Peery said.

'I screamed to the top of my lungs and said "everybody out!' They all listened, but some people were asleep upstairs and downstairs,' Ashton, who said he had smelled paper burning, told WSET.

'But the person downstairs already got out the house, and the person upstairs was still asleep, so we got someone to run and get them.'

Foresman added that as smoke spread inside, Ashton, 'without hesitation' went right in.

'If it wasn't for Ashton, we definitely could've had some fatalities,' Foresman told ABC News.

Justin Peery, the owner of Good Place Farms Bed and Breakfast, (pictured) said the guests were saved late Saturday night by Ashton, who saw the flames and began screaming to wake people up

Rockbridge County Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Foresman said that about 50 to 75 firefighters took around an hour to tackle the flames

'I screamed to the top of my lungs and said "everybody out!' They all listened, but some people were asleep upstairs and downstairs,' Ashton, said

'He even was trying to help put the fire out once we arrived.'

After the boy's heroic effort, the wedding went on as planned on Sunday afternoon with Ashton in attendance after he was invited as a thank you for his life-saving gesture, according to ABC News.

Following the fire, Foresman shared a post on Facebook, dubbing Ashton a hero.

'Ashton Dunford is truly amazing and he is definitely a hero for alerting all the people to get out of the house,' he wrote.

'Very few children would know what to do and his parents should be very proud of the young man he is becoming.

'As bad as this fire was, if not for the efforts of Ashton this could have had a tragic outcome.

'The community should be grateful to this young man for his efforts on Saturday.

Rockbridge County Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Foresman said if it was not for the boy's actions there could have been some fatalities

The aftermath of the fire shown above. After the boy's heroic effort, the wedding went on as planned on Sunday afternoon

The cause of the fire has not been determined and remains under investigation. On Sunday, it was reported the guests were being assisted by the Red Cross

'On behalf of the citizens of Rockbridge County and the fire departments in the county our hats are off to you and Thank You.'

With all the attention, Peery told ABC News that Ashton is surprised by it all.

'He doesn't even realize what he did,' Peery said. 'How he saved lives.

'He's already talking about rebuilding and setting up for more people to stay in the future. He just wants to go fishing between now and then.'

The cause of the fire has not been determined and remains under investigation. On Sunday, it was reported the guests were being assisted by the Red Cross.
A San Diego couple has been arrested and charged with enslaving an Indonesian woman for domestic labor.

Firas Majeed, 44, and Shatha Abbas, 38, forced their maid to work up to 18 hours a day doing housework for no pay at an apartment in suburban El Cajon, according to the US Attorney's Office of Southern California.

The couple allegedly didn't give the woman any days off and concealed the victim's passport in order to prevent and restrict her liberty to move and travel, and to maintain her labor and services.

Firas Majeed, 44, and Shatha Abbas (pictured), 38, forced their maid to work up to 18 hours a day doing housework for no pay at an apartment in suburban El Cajon, according to a criminal complaint filed on Friday

A criminal complaint filed on Friday states that the worker, who has only been identified as 'W.M.' doesn't speak English and came to the US in November 2015 after years working for the same family in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations began its probe last month after the woman handed a visiting nurse a note seeking help, according to NBC.

The victim was not allowed to leave the home, except to throw away the family's trash.

Agents removed the woman from the home on March 22 shortly after healthcare workers reported to the Human Trafficking Resource Center that the victim was seen in the back of the residence and closely monitored, documents state.

The note the woman gave to a nurse prompted her rescue.

U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy praised the victim for having the courage to seek help, and the healthcare workers who responded to her note.

'Human trafficking is a deplorable practice that amounts to modern slavery, and many of these victims are hiding in plain sight,' Duffy said.

Dave Shaw, special agent in charge for HSI San Diego said the department 'will not tolerate any form of human exploitation', which 'has no place in a modern society'.

Majeed and Abbas are scheduled for a preliminary examination on April 21.

If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the counts of forced labor and trafficking.

They also face up to five years for the document servitude charge, according to NBC. Abbas was released Friday, but her husband remained in federal custody.
Kehm has been fired; school district said his response was unwarranted

A San Antonio school police officer who was filmed slamming a 12-year-old girl to the ground has been fired, with school district officials calling his actions 'absolutely unwarranted'.

The video, which was posted on YouTube last week, showed Officer Joshua Kehm lifting sixth-grader Janissa Valdez into the air before throwing her face-down onto the concrete walkway at Rhodes Middle School in Texas.

Kehm was placed on administrative leave after the video of the March 29th incident surfaced online, but the San Antonio Independent School District fired the officer with a statement released today stating: 'We want to be clear that we will not tolerate this behavior.'

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A San Antonio school police officer has been fired after a video of him body-slamming a 12-year-old onto her face surfaced online

The 33-second clip - which was posted on YouTube last week  shows Officer Joshua Kehm lifting a girl into the air before throwing her onto the concrete walkway at Rhodes Middle School in Texas

A uniformed Kehm is later seen pulling the girl, identified as sixth-grader Janissa Valdez, to her feet and leading her away

An investigation, carried out by a third party law enforcement agency, is still ongoing but Kehm was fired 'effective immediately'.

SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez said in the statement: 'As educators, it is our responsibility to provide a safe environment for all of our students.

'We understand that situations can sometimes escalate to the point of requiring a physical response; however, in this situation we believe that the extent of the response was absolutely unwarranted.

'Additionally, the officers report was inconsistent with the video and it was also delayed, which is not in accordance with the general operating procedures of the police department.

'We want to be clear that we will not tolerate this behavior.'

The clip, posted online last Tuesday, has since attracted more than two million views.

The 33-second clip shows a uniformed Kehm trying to restrain Valdez from behind, before dropping her face-first to the ground as other students gasped, laughed and asked if she was okay.

Valdez appears to be unresponsive for a few seconds, but is soon pulled up to her feet by the officer, who led her away.

According to his now-deleted LinkedIn page, Joshua Kehm (pictured) was in the Air Force before joining the school district in February 2015

Her mother, Gloria Valdez, told KSAT: I was angry, because I still couldnt believe that he had done that to her. And then she told me, Mom, I wasnt fighting. Why would he do that?

Janissa says she had planned to meet another girl after school to talk after she heard rumors that the girl had talked about her behind her back.

But she says they had been planning to move elsewhere because the area was very crowded.

Thats when other people came over and the officer thought we were going to fight, so thats whenever he came and did that, she told KSAT.

You could actually hear her head hit the concrete, he mother added. Thats what hurt me the most  and it didnt even seem like it bothered him.

Janissa's mother sent the video to a local blogger who uploaded it online.

'I wanted answers and nobody could give me answers,' she said, according to NBC News.

Janissa was suspended  and says the officers actions left her with a large bruise near her right eye

Janissa has shared pictures of the bruising to her temple left after the incident

Kehm reportedly told Janissa's mother that he was forced to throw her to the ground because Janissa was trying to kick him in the 'groin area', the 12-year-old's father Raul Valdez III told the NYTimes.

Some students told KSAT that they had seen Kehm try to resolve the situation peacefully and said he was kicked a number of times  something Janissa denies.

When asked what one word she would tell Kehm if given the opportunity, Janissa said 'wrong'.

'Because I wasn't even going to do anything,' she added.

Although she said no fight ever broke out, the student was suspended  and says the officers actions left her with a large bruise near her right eye.

Leslie Price, a spokesman for the San Antonio Independent School District, called the cell phone footage disturbing and said the district was made aware of the clip earlier this week.

Kehm, who had been employed by the school district since February last year, was previously in the Air Force, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn page.
Janice Dickinson has been recovering from breast cancer surgery at a luxury five-star retreat in Beverly Hills, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

The reality star and former supermodel is on the mend at the $2,000 a night Pearl Recovery Retreat.

Dickinson was pictured looking frail as she was wheeled out of the facility to get some fresh air on the weekend, in these exclusive photos.

The 61-year-old was accompanied by her fiance, psychiatrist Dr. Robert Gerner - who has been by her side throughout the traumatic past few weeks.

The retreat - located inside a dedicated wing of the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills - boasts private suites with adjustable memory foam beds, oversize bath and rainforest shower, gourmet in-room dining, in room spa treatments and each room is designed by French interior designer Philippe Starck.

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Janice Dickinson looks frail but still manages a smile and a wave - and some make-up - as she leaves the $2,000 a night Pearl Recovery Retreat in Beverly Hills

Before her breast cancer suregery, Dr Talei carried out a laser face and neck lift as well as laser skin resurfacing of sun damage

The facilitys website says guests will never lift a finger and a dedicated nursing staff managed Dickinsons post-operative care.

Its believed the star was staying at the recovery facility while awaiting the results of tests carried out following her surgery last Thursday.

Surgeons removed a one-inch area of tissue around the lump in her breast and it has been sent away for biopsy.

A source told Daily Mail Online: Janice was in a lot of pain but is doing great, the surgery went really well but shes not out of the woods yet. Shes waiting on a few more results which should come through later this week. Shes staying extremely positive.

In an emotional interview with Daily Mail Online the model revealed a doctor had found a lump in her right breast during a routine medical examination.

After an urgent mammogram and biopsy Dickinson was found to have early stage ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) - a common form of breast cancer that starts in the milk ducts.

The star has been visiting a UCLA hospital almost daily in the past few weeks to undergo a series of blood tests, specialized mammograms and an electrocardiogram, a test which checks for problems with the electrical activity of the heart.

Janice's fiance Dr Robert Gerner has been at Janice's side through thick and thin

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Online, Janice choked back tears as she spoke of facing the greatest challenge of her life.

She says: 'It's hard for me to say this, but I have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

'It's still quite shocking. Today I got very scared... I just get very scared and it hit me. But I am not gonna let that define me, the fear. I'm going to get through this, I'll be just fine kiddo.

Last week - the day before her breast surgery - Dickinson kept her spirits up by having Botox injections, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

Top Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr Ben Talei carried out the procedure at his offices at the Beverly Hills Center.

Daily Mail Online has obtained exclusive photos of Janice larking around with the doctor in his surgery.

The source close to Janice said: Everyone knows that Janice isnt shy when it comes to cosmetic surgery and she wanted to look her best before her lumpectomy, to help her to get through it.

Dr Talei is also a lot of fun, she loves to go to him because not only does she get Botox, she gets a laugh, hes been extremely supportive.

In a video before the cosmetic procedure Dr Talei says: 'I'm with Janice Dickinson, we are about to do a little laser lift, just for some tightening and rejuvenation for the big day.'

Dickinson chips in: 'I can't wait to be more youthful.'

And in a second video Dr Talei is seen injecting botox under the star's right eye.

Dr Talei said he carried out a laser face and neck lift as well as laser skin resurfacing of sun damage.




David Cameron was accused of spiv Robert Mugabe antics last night as his government sought to defend its decision to spend 9.3million of taxpayers money on a pro-EU mailshot.

Conservative backbenchers lined up to accuse the Government of an abuse of public money in sending the document to every house in the nation.

A former minister branded it a dodgy dossier sequel, while another said it would drive more towards the Brexit camp.

Yesterday John Longworth, forced out of the British Chambers of Commerce owing to his Eurosceptic views, called the Government a pro-Brussels campaign group which cannot be trusted.

David Cameron, pictured, has been slammed over the Government's 9.3million pro-EU leaflet campaign

The 16-page mailshot began yesterday, with all homes in England set to receive them by tomorrow. Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish voters will get theirs after their devolved elections in May.

It makes a series of assertions disputed by Leave campaigners, including the claim that Mr Camerons reforms have given Britain a meaningful special status in the EU.

And it says we should stay in the EU because its members buy 44 per cent of everything we sell abroad.

The Leave camp claims we would still be able to trade if we left.

The leaflet claims 3million jobs are linked to exports to EU countries, and that membership makes it attractive for foreign companies to invest in the UK.

It also says leaving would cause pressure on the pound, and argues: If the UK voted to leave the EU the resulting economic shock would risk higher prices of some household goods.

And it claims EU membership makes it easier to keep criminals and terrorists out.

Mr Longworth told the Mail last night he was incensed by the Government move, adding: We cant believe anything they say because they are a campaigning organisation.

In a stormy Commons session, Europe Minister David Lidington was forced to defend the booklet, insisting none of its facts were over-egging the pudding.

He said the leaflets cost only 34 pence per household  and insisted the Government was not neutral in the debate.

But he was met with a barrage of criticism from Tory backbenchers over the document being sent to 27million households across the UK.

Former Tory vice-chairman Nigel Evans compared ministers to the Zimbabwean leader.

Some have even likened the Prime Minister to Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe, pictured, over the scheme

If I witnessed in any of the countries that I go to the sort of spiv Robert Mugabe antics that Ive seen by this government then I would condemn the conduct of that election as being not fair, he said.

An angry Mr Lidington reminded him that campaigns in Zimbabwe involved murder, maiming and intimidation of voters  suggesting Mr Evans outburst was not his finest moment in the House.

John Redwood, former Welsh secretary and Tory leadership candidate, said the leaflet was an insult to the electorate, adding: Does he not realise that it will drive many more people to vote to leave?

And former defence secretary Liam Fox called the leaflet Dodgy Dossier the Sequel, in reference to a Blair government document in favour of the Iraq War.

But Mr Lidington said it was entirely lawful and did not need to be balanced because the Government is not neutral in this debate.
David Camerons renegotiation with Brussels is nothing more than a deal hammered out down the local bazaar, a senior EU figure has said.

The Prime Minister spent months meeting European leaders to come to his agreement, which he claims gives Britain a special status in the EU and powers to suspend migrants benefits.

But Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, vice-president of the European Parliament, said the deal was not legally binding  and warned that MEPs may vote down any elements which hampered the EU principle of freedom of movement.

Out campaigners said the comments showed that the British people had been hoodwinked  because the European Parliament could tear up the deal after the referendum.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, vice-president of the European Parliament, said the deal was not legally binding

Mr Lamsdorff  also known as Count Lamsdorff as he is part of the German aristocracy  sits as an MEP for the countrys liberal Free Democratic Party.

Five years ago he was quoted saying: It was a mistake to admit the British into the European Union.

Speaking to the EurActiv Germany website, he said yesterday that the deal between the European Council and the UK was not legally binding.

At the moment, the whole thing is nothing more than a deal that has been hammered out down the local bazaar, he said.

The European Union, however, is a community of law, in which there are regulated responsibilities.

If the British are going to put all their eggs in one basket, in a promise made like this, which has not yet complied with our clean process of law, them for me, this process of law is more important and preferable.

Mr Lamsdorff said that the emergency brake idea  under which in-work benefits for EU migrants could be suspended for four years in times of pressure  went too far, and could lead to the end of the single market.

For the emergency brake to come into force, the EU directive on free movement has to be modified with the consent of the European Parliament.

Asked whether this might be refuse, he said: Im sure that I will certainly not agree to a change of the directive, as it would restrict one of our basic fundamental freedoms.

Out campaigners say the Prime Minister's (pictured) deal has 'hoodwinked' the British people

I assume that many in my group will feel the same. What position the other groups take remains to be seen.

But I believe that we in the Parliament have an institutional responsibility to protect the common European integration, which is incompatibl with measures that will help bring down the internal market.

Last night Priti Patel, the employment minister and member of the Leave campaign, said: These comments suggest that EU politicians entered into the renegotiations with profound ill-intent.

They hoped that the British people could be hoodwinked into remaining in the EU on the basis of a deal that the European Parliament will tear up within days of the referendum result.
The lawyer who represented the 'DC Madam' has released the names of 174 groups whose employees allegedly called her escort service.

Montgomery Blair Sibley listed the entities that include government agencies, embassies and huge companies that he says phoned Deborah Jeane Palfrey for call girls between 2000 and 2006.

Among those named were the FBI, IRS, the State Department, the Department of Commerce, the Embassy of Japan, Lockheed Martin and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

In an email to Daily Mail Online, Sibley said he obtained the information from cell phone numbers dug up in a subpoena conducted by Verizon.

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Montgomery Blair Sibley (left), the lawyer who represented the 'DC Madam' Deborah Jeane Palfrey (right) has released the names of 174 groups whose employees allegedly used her escort service between 2000 and 2006. They are pictured following a court hearing in 2007 while she faced prostitution charges

They are said to be included in a black book of clients that Palfrey left in Sibley's possession before she killed herself in 2008, before she could be sentenced for prostitution and racketeering.

Despite naming the organizations, Sibley is still barred from naming any of the supposed 815 clients who are said to have hired escorts.

Sibley represented Deborah Jeane Palfrey in 2008 when she was convicted of federal racketeering and various prostitution charges.

The scandal of her arrest rocked the nation's capital as some of the city's biggest power players, including father-of-four Senator David Vitter, were outed.

Palfrey hanged herself in 2008 before she was set to be sentenced for her crimes and left the book containing details of her clients behind.

The information inside the book was sealed by a judge, but Sibley has continued to battle with the authorities to try and get the names released.

He has been trying to side-step a retraining order that means he must keep the names under wraps.

On Monday he filed another motion, which included the names of 174 organizations in Exhibit B.

He said in the email: 'Back in February I had filed a lawsuit against Former Judge Roberts and the Clerk of the District Court in D.C. Superior Court -- the "state" court for the District of Columbia. Last week, the U.S. Attorney in her infinite wisdom removed that case to U.S. District Court which left me one last federal judicial opening.

'So today I jumped through that opening and filed with U.S. District Court Judge Walton both my First Amended Complaint and "Emergency Motion for Pre-trial Conference to Schedule Expedited Disposition of Sibleys Third Claim".

'Exhibit "B" to that Emergency Motion lists the names of some 174 companies and government agencies whose cellphone numbers appear in the Verizon Wireless subpoena return that I have in my possession.

'And no, I am not releasing any individual names . . . yet.'

The attorney has hit headlines in the past. He filed a failed lawsuit claiming Barack Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and also ran for president in 2012 as a write-in candidate

News of Palfrey's death in 2008 followed reports she handed a list of telephone numbers of 15,000 clients to a U.S. television network

She had vowed to identify as many well-known figures as possible to subpoena them as defense witnesses.

Palfrey had insisted her company, Pamela Martin and Associates, was a legal enterprise that provided 'high-end' clients with nude dancing and massage, but not sex and initially considered selling her phone records in order to raise money for her defense.

When she later released her phone records for free, they ended up shedding little further light on her clientele.

Palfrey hanged herself in 2008 before she was set to be sentenced for her crimes and left the book containing details of her 815 clients behind. Even though their names have not been revealed, the list of entities whos members used the services includes the FBI, IRS, the State Department and the Department of Commerce

In what could be the biggest sex scandal in the U.S. capital for more than a decade, Ms Palfrey caused the resignation of married 65-year-old Randall Tobias, a deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The list also thrust another official, Pentagon adviser Harlan Ullman, into the heart of the scandal.

However Senator David Vitter was one of the biggest victims. He admitted to being on Palfrey's 'list' and was forced into a grovelling apology.

He suffered months of attack ads and recently addressed the scandal in a campaign video.

The 30-second commercial released in November shows Vitter sitting at a kitchen table as he talks to the camera, saying: 'Fifteen years ago, I failed my family but found forgiveness and love.'

'I learned that our falls aren't what define us but rather how we get up, accept responsibility and earn redemption,' Vitter says, as the ad next shows him eating dinner with his family.

However, Vitter never directly refers to his involvement in a prostitution ring in Washington D.C., which was discovered in 2007 - seven years after he began using the service, according to his own words.
A tourist has captured the horrifying moment a woman is swept under a train while taking a selfie in Foshan, south China.

Hoards of tourists had been attracted to Liantang village's 33 acres of rose gardens according to People's Daily Online.

But tragedy struck on April 9 when the unidentified 19-year-old victim stood too close to the tracks as the train sped past.

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Tragedy: A woman, 19, was swept under the wheels of a train in Foshan, China, when she stood too close

Moments earlier: Victim was photographed by tourists taking a selfie just before the tragedy struck on March 9

The incident took place at around 12.10pm local time.

According to Mr Dai, the manager of the rose garden, the woman and a couple of her fellow students were visiting the area.

She wanted to take a selfie with the passing train in the background so stood close to the tracks despite the fact that the train showed no signs of stopping.

The woman also ignored warning horns sounding from the locomotive and pleas from people around her.

Another tourist captured the terrifying moment before the woman died.

It is thought that although she wasn't standing directly on the tracks, the force generated by the train's movement swept her under the wheels.

The woman suffered severe injuries to her head and was pronounced dead at the scene and the train eventually came to a stop.

Too late: Emergency services arrived at the scene but the woman suffered severe head injuries and could not be saved

This is far from the first time that similar incidents have taken place at those tracks, where there are no barriers to keep people away from danger.

Locals revealed that although there are signs warning people not to go on the tracks, the fact that they made a short cut across the fields meant that many did not heed the advice.

For tourists, there's also a lack of awareness about the dangers of being so close to the tracks with many preferring to get the perfect picture instead.

Last year, MailOnline reported that a section of tracks in Nanjing, east China, had become a popular tourist spot with people trying to take photographs of its natural tunnel.

Although no fatalities had been reported, one girl stopped the same train twice because she was standing on the tracks to take the perfect selfie.
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Beautiful images have emerged online displaying flower fields in intricate colourful designs in Yangzhou, east China's Jiangsu province.

The fields are part of Marco Polo Flower World which is an attraction which is expected to open on April 16, the People's Daily Online reports.

Workers have been preparing for months, installing giant flower beds at the attraction.

Working hard to get the flowers blooming: Horticulturists have been working for months to ensure the flowers look their best

Colourful pattetrns: A spokesman from the Marco Polo Flower World told reporters that the theme this year is flowers and culture

Big amounts of cash: The Marco Polo scenic area is around 800 acres in size with an investment of 1.2 billion yuan (130.4 million)

Informative and fun: The park also houses a 5D ride attraction where visitors are given an insight into the history of explorer Marco Polo

A spokesman from the Marco Polo Flower World told reporters from Yangzhou Evening News that the theme this year is flowers and culture.

According to the report, the flowers were meant to be in bloom last September to celebrate the 2,500 anniversary of the founding of Yangzhou City however apparently they weren't at their best.

However this year, horticulturists have been working for months to ensure the perfect bloom.

The scenic area is around 800 acres in size with an investment of 1.2 billion yuan (130.4 million).

There will be seven themed lands with many playgrounds for children at the park.

Also on offer is a 5-D ride in which visitors can experience the story of Marco Polo.

China has a number of theme parks with flowers being one of the main attractions.

In March this year, a number of tulip themed parks opened to the public with visitors flocking to take a selfie with the colourful flowers.

Fun and adventure in China's Jiangsu province: The fields are part of an attraction which is set to open on April 16
It is one of the oldest whodunnits in human history, but the blame for the extinction of the Neanderthals may not entirely lie with our own ancestors.

Instead, new analysis suggests these closely related species of early human may have died out after catching tropical diseases from Homo sapiens as they spread out of Africa.

Scientists studying the latest genetic, fossil and archaeological evidence claim Neanderthals suffered from a wide range of diseases that still plague us today.

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Neanderthals, like the reconstruction above on display at the Natural History Museum in London, may have succumbed to infectious diseases carried to Europe by modern humans as they migrated out of Africa

The Neanderthals had managed to survive in Europe and parts of Asia for around 200,000 years until around 45,000 years ago when they vanished - around the same time our species left Africa.

Modern humans have been blamed for causing their demise by competing with them in the struggle for food and resources, breeding with them and even outright murdering them.

ARE NEANDERTHALS TO BLAME FOR OUR MODERN DISEASES? It has been around 30,000 years since the ancestors of modern-day humans are thought to have wiped out the ancient Neanderthals. But the extinct species could be taking revenge on us from beyond the grave by making us more vulnerable to potentially killer diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Neanderthals and modern humans are thought to have co-existed for thousands of years and interbred, meaning Europeans now have roughly two per cent Neanderthal DNA. These 'legacy' genes have been linked to an increased risk from cancer and diabetes by new studies looking at our evolutionary history. However, some genes we inherited could have also improved our immunity to other diseases. Scientists have found that part of our HLA system, which helps white blood cells to identify and destroy foreign material in the body, could have come from Neanderthals. Other researchers have suggested that humans outside Africa are more vulnerable to Type 2 Diabetes because they interbred with Neanderthals. Researchers from Oxford and Plymouth universities have also found that genes thought to be risk factors in cancer were present in the Neanderthal genome. A gene that can cause diabetes in Latin Americans is also thought to have come from Neanderthals, long before their ancestors colonised the New World. Another recent genetic study by scientists at the University at Buffalo has suggested that Neanderthals may have suffered from psoriasis and Crohn's disease, a condition that affects the digestive system. Advertisement

But Dr Charlotte Houldcroft, an anthropologist at the University of Cambridge, and her colleagues suggest it may have been infectious diseases carried by modern humans that delivered the killer blow.

They claim infections such as tapeworm, tuberculosis, stomach ulcers and types of herpes are chronic diseases that would have weakened the Neanderthals.

There is some evidence already that viruses moved into humans from other hominins while still in Africa.

As they moved out of Africa they would have undoubtedly brought some of these with them, putting the Neanderthals who had no immunity to them at risk.

Dr Houldcroft said: 'Humans migrating out of Africa would have been a significant reservoir of tropical diseases.

'For the Neanderthal population of Eurasia, adapted to that geographical infectious disease environment, exposure to new pathogens carried out of Africa may have been catastrophic.

'However, it is unlikely to have been similar to Columbus bringing disease into America and decimating native populations.

'It's more likely that small bands of Neanderthals each had their own infection disasters, weakening the group and tipping the balance against survival.'

The findings add to the growing consensus that Neanderthals were killed off by a combination of climate changes and competition with our Homo sapiens.

Recent findings have suggested Neanderthals were far more sophisticated and intellectually advanced than previously believed, raising questions about how they lost out to modern humans.

But if groups of Neanderthals were already weakened by disease from encounters with modern humans, it would have left them unable to compete effectively.

Dr Simon Underdown, a principal lecturer in anthropology at Oxford Brookes University and co-author of the study, said: 'As Neanderthal populations became more isolated they developed very small gene pools and this would have impacted their ability to fight off disease.

Modern humans may have brought diseases like herpes (Herpes simplex virus pictured) with them when they left Africa and began spreading into Europe. Neanderthals would have had no immunity to these diseases and they could have caught these illnesses in encounters with modern humans

The bacteria Helicobacter pylori (pictured), which causes stomach ulcers, is a prime candidate for a disease that humans may have passed to Neanderthals. It is estimated to have first infected humans in Africa 88,000 to 116,000 years ago, and arrived in Europe after 52,000 years ago

'When Homo sapiens came out of Africa they brought diseases with them.

'We know that Neanderthals were actually much more advanced than they have been given credit for and we even interbred with them.

'Perhaps the only difference was that we were able to cope with these diseases but Neanderthals could not.'

For their study, which is published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, the researchers analysed recent genetic studies on Neanderthals and other early humans.

They also examined recent genetic research on common human pathogens that have aimed to trace their origins and combined it with fossil and archaeological evidence.

Most evidence from the fossil record suggest that Neanderthals tended to suffer traumatic injuries as a result of their hunter gatherer lifestyle, but there are also signs of inflammation and infection.

Neanderthals are thought to have numbered up to 70,000 at their peak and lived in hunter gatherer societies

Among the findings they found that some infectious diseases may be much older than previously believed.

Many diseases, such as tuberculosis and typhoid, are thought to have exploded with the dawn of farming as human populations tended to live in one place alongside livestock.

But the new study points to evidence that suggests these diseases may actually pre-date agriculture and had a much longer 'burn in period'.

In fact, many diseases traditionally thought to be zoonoses - infections transferred from animals to humans - may have been transmitted to livestock by humans in the first place.

This suggests early humans would have been carrying many of these pathogens as they left Africa around 60,000 years ago.

Dr Houldcroft added: 'We are beginning to see evidence that environmental bacteria were the likely ancestors of many pathogens that caused disease during the advent of agriculture, and that they initially passed from humans into their animals.

SMART, SOPHISTICATED AND ARTISTIC: THE NEW VIEW OF NEANDERTHALS Neanderthals first emerged around 280,000 years ago, spreading to inhabit much of Europe and parts of Asia, but they eventually died out 40,000 years ago. The reason for their demise was often put down to being a more primative species of human that was unable to compete against the more sophisticated Homo sapiens. They were depicted as thuggish cavemen that scraped an existence on the cold lands of ice age Europe. However, a series of discoveries are now putting Neanderthals into a new light. Stone tools discovered at sites they inhabited suggest they were skilled tool makers with adept hand eye coordination. A 60,000-year-old multi-purpose bone tool unearthed in France also suggests Neanderthals understood how to use bones to make useful devices A recent discovery by researchers at the Museum National d'Histories Naturelle in Paris suggests that Neanderthals may have built homes using the materials they found around them. They discovered a 26 feet wide building created 44,000 years ago from mammoth bones. Many of the bones had also been decorated carvings and ochre pigments. Cross-hatched engravings found inside Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar are also thought to be the first known examples of Neanderthal rock art. DNA analysis has also shown that Neanderthals carried the same genes that are thought to have enabled modern humans to speak. Eight talons found at a 130,000 year old Neanderthal site in Krapina in Croatia are also thought to be the world's first jewellery, and may have been worn as a necklace. Neanderthals may have used the powdered rocks to lower the temperatures needed to light wood shavings. If they controlled fire in this way, then it has wide ranging implications for their cognitive abilities, society and culture. A stock image illustrating Neanderthals around a fire is pictured Advertisement

'Hunter-gatherers lived in small foraging groups. Neanderthals lived in groups of between 15-30 members, for example. So disease would have broken out sporadically, but have been unable to spread very far.

'Once agriculture came along, these diseases had the perfect conditions to explode, but they were already around.'

The researchers said Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that causes stomach ulcers, is a prime candidate for a disease that humans may have passed to Neanderthals.

It is estimated to have first infected humans in Africa 88,000 to 116,000 years ago, and arrived in Europe after 52,000 years ago.

Another candidate is the herpes simplex 2 virus, which causes genital herpes.

There is evidence preserved in the genome of this disease that suggests it was transmitted to humans in Africa 1.6 million years ago from another, currently unknown hominin species that in turn acquired it from chimpanzees.

Some infectious bacteria, like those that cause tuberculosis (pictured) are thought to have exploded when humans began living closely with livestock after the advent of farming, but recent research suggests they may have been causing problems for humans for far longer

Dr Charlotte Houldcroft (pictured left) and Dr Simon Underdown (right) analysed recent genetic studies on Neanderthals and other early humans. They also examined recent genetic research on common human pathogens that have aimed to trace their origins and combined it with fossil and archaeological evidence

'The "intermediate" hominin that bridged the virus between chimps and humans shows that diseases could leap between hominin species,' said Dr Houldcroft.

'The herpesvirus is transmitted sexually and through saliva. As we now know that humans bred with Neanderthals, and we all carry 2 to 5 per cent of Neanderthal DNA as a result, it makes sense to assume that, along with bodily fluids, humans and Neanderthals transferred diseases.'

However, Neandethals may have also helped modern humans by passing on slivers of immunity against some diseases to our ancestors when they interbred.

Genetic sequencing of Neanderthal and Denisovan - another early human ancestor - DNA has shown that modern humans have inherited a number of genes from these extinct species.

These include genes that provide immunity to viral infections such as tick-borne encephalitis.

Dr Underdown said this virus would probably have been common in the forested areas of northern Europe that Neanderthals inhabited and so immunity would have been an advantage.

The fossilised remains of Neanderthals, like the skull above, are revealing more details about their lifestyles

Other genes found in modern Papua New Guineans that are involved in the immune response against viruses like dengue and influenza may have come from Neanderthals.

Analysis of ancient DNA has also shown that Neanderthals carried genes that would have protected them against bacterial blood poisoning, or sepsis.

Dr Underdown said: 'There are genetic signals in the Neanderthal genome that suggest quite clearly that they were exposed to these types of diseases but also developed some resistance to them.

'It had been thought that many of these diseases began infecting humans with the population increases that came with domestication of animals and permanent settlements.
Nasa is trying to resuscitate its planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft, in a state of emergency nearly 75 million miles away.

The treasured spacecraft - responsible for detecting nearly 5,000 planets outside our solar system - slipped into emergency mode sometime last week. The last regular contact was April 4; everything seemed normal then.

Ground controllers discovered the problem on Thursday, right before they were going to point Kepler toward the center of the Milky Way as part of a new kind of planetary survey.

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Nasa is trying to resuscitate its planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft, in a state of emergency 75 million miles away. Pictured above is an undated artist's concept provided by Nasa shows the Keplar Spacecraft moving through space

The treasured spacecraft (pictured) has been responsible for detecting nearly 5,000 planets outside our solar system. This is the latest crisis of several in the life of Kepler. Launched in 2009, the spacecraft completed its primary mission in 2012

Kepler was going to join ground observatories in surveying millions of stars in the heart of our galaxy, in hopes of finding planets far from their suns, like our own outer planets, as well as stray planets that might be wandering between stars.

This is the latest crisis of several in the life of Kepler.

Launched in 2009, the spacecraft completed its primary mission in 2012. Despite repeated breakdowns, Kepler kept going on an extended mission dubbed K2 - until now.

The vast 75 million-mile distance between Kepler and Earth make it all the harder to fix.

Kepler was on its way to join ground observatories in surveying millions of stars in the heart of our galaxy. Pictured above is an undated artist's concept provided by Nasa shows the Keplar spacecraft moving in space

KEPLER'S HISTORY OF PROBLEMS In 2012, Kepler lost use of the first of two failed gyroscopic reaction wheels. Four wheels are used point the telescope in a specific direction, according to NASA, and in May of the following year, the second wheel broke. After months of work, engineers were unable to restore them. The Kepler telescope was reborn in 2014 as 'K2' with a clever strategy of pointing the telescope in the plane of Earth's orbit, the ecliptic, to stabilize the spacecraft. The probe has been mining the cosmos for planets by searching for eclipses or 'transits,' as planets pass in front of their host stars and periodically block some of the starlight. Advertisement

'Even at the speed of light, it takes 13 minutes for a signal to travel to the spacecraft and back,' mission manager Charlie Sobeck said in a weekend web update from Nasa's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

Recovering from this emergency condition 'is the team's priority at this time,' Sobeck said.

In 2012, Kepler lost use of the first of two failed gyroscopic reaction wheels.

Four wheels are used point the telescope in a specific direction, according to NASA, and in May of the following year, the second wheel broke.

After months of work, engineers were unable to restore them.

The Kepler telescope was reborn in 2014 as 'K2' with a clever strategy of pointing the telescope in the plane of Earth's orbit, the ecliptic, to stabilize the spacecraft.

The probe has been mining the cosmos for planets by searching for eclipses or 'transits,' as planets pass in front of their host stars and periodically block some of the starlight.

Despite its history of breakdowns, Kepler has continued to gather data for Nasa.

In the original Kepler mission, the telescope identified more than 4,600 candidate worlds and 1,918 confirmed planets. And, a handful of these planets share striking similarities with Earth. Closeness in size and stellar radiation levels has astronomers wondering if Kepler-438b, Kepler-442b, and Kepler 452-b, might be habitable

Last year alone, the spacecraft discovered what scientists called Earth's 'closest twin' outside the solar system; rocks in the habitable zone of another star; a dimming pattern coming from a faraway star; and the first supernova to be seen wit visible light.

More than 1,000 of Kepler's detected 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed to date, according to Nasa.
A Japanese robotics firm has shown that when it comes to walking, two-legged robots don't necessarily need to follow humans.

Looking a little like an under-dressed R2-D2, the bipedal robot was unveiled by Schaft - owned by Google's parent company Alphabet - at the recent New Economic Summit in Tokyo.

Co-founder and boss of Schaft, Yuto Nakanishi, introduced the as-yet unnamed robot as it waddled on stage, stiff-legged and self-assured, demonstrating its locomotion without bending its leg joints.

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Alphabet-owned Japanese robotics firm Schaft unveiled its new two-legged robot in Tokyo on Friday. The as-yet unnamed prototype walks without bending its leg joints and is reportedly aimed at helping society by carrying heavy loads. A video at the conference demonstrated the robot's capabilities (still pictured)

Mimicking the complex movements involved in human motion has long-been a challenge for bipedal robotics experts, owing to the countless minor adjustments we make as we walk.

But Schaft's robot has opted for a different approach, doing away with the complex knee joint and opting for sliding mechanisms in the top of the legs, with stabilising load-bearing ankle joints.

In an eerie display of its capabilities, the bipedal droid is seen self-stabilising after stepping on a pole in a demonstration video, as well as lifting weights in the gym and even taking a lonely stroll along a shingle beach.

The robot can also be seen ascending and descending sets of stairs without assistance.

The bipedal prototype (pictured) can reportedly carry 60kg (132 lb) of weight, and is 'aimed at helping society by helping to carry heavy loads

BIPEDAL ROBOT PROTOTYPE The prototype robot, made by Alphabet-owned Shaft, was unveiled at the recent New Economic Summit in Tokyo. It can carry 60 kg (132 lb) of weight, can tackle uneven terrain and is 'aimed at helping society by helping carrying heavy loads'. The unnamed robot can self-stabilise on uneven surfaces, as demonstrated by stepping on a pole in a video. It can also be climb and descend stairs unaided. Advertisement

The Japanese robotics firm was bought by Alphabet in 2013, just a year after it was established.

The only footage of the robot in action emerged from an attendee at the NEST 2016 conference, as did a handful of tweets and images.

According to Tokyo-based tech writer Tim Hornyak, the bipedal prototype can carry 60 kg (132 lb) of weight, it has no name yet, can tackle uneven terrain and is 'aimed at helping society by helping carrying heavy loads'.

Schaft has worked with Alphabet's Boston Robotics to advance bipedal robots as part of the Darpa robotics challenge.

The Japanese firm now sits under Alphabet's secretive X division, formerly known as Google X.

No name yet for Google #Schaft prototype bipedal robot, aimed at helping society by carrying heavy loads #NEST2016 pic.twitter.com/wuMMG65GPg  timhornyak (@robotopia) April 8, 2016

Looking a little like an under-dressed R2D2, the new bipedal robot was unveiled by Schaft Inc - owned by Google parent company Alphabet - at the recent New Economic Summit in Tokyo

According to recode.net a rep for Alphabet's X, said: 'The team was simply delighted to have a chance to show their latest progress.'

'As with all of the robotics teams that recently moved from Google to X, we're looking at the great technology work they've done so far, defining some specific real-world problems in which robotics could help, and trying to frame moonshots to address them.'

The unnamed robot can ascend and descend sets of stairs, without assistance (still pictured)

Similar to robots developed by Google-owned Boston Dynamic, the bipedal prototype is self-stabilising and is able to correct itself when standing on uneven surfaces, such as a metal bar (still pictured)

Google announced last month that it is to sell Boston Dynamics, the US firm behind the running robot dog and the bipedal Atlas robot.

The California-based internet giant acquired Boston Dynamics in late 2013 along with several other robotics firms, in a deal set up by Andy Rubin, the former head of the Android division, who left the company in October 2014.

It is believed the firm was too focused on long-term projects to fit in at Google.

Yuto Nakanishi from Google #robot developer #Schaft shows off latest bipedal robot, which can carry 60kg #NEST2016 pic.twitter.com/RUTCda8hyk  timhornyak (@robotopia) April 8, 2016

Leaked emails also show that PR staff at the search giant were concerned that the humanoid robots would put the firm in a bad light if they were shown to be able to replace humans in some jobs.

The firm's latest version of its humanoid robot can now get up easily on its own if it falls. The Atlas robot was widely derided at the recent 'robolympics' after falling repeatedly and needing a crane to get up.

It was recently reported that the firm could be snapped up by Amazon or Japanese car manufacturer Toyota.
Decades of space missions have provided us with clues about atmospheres around planets within our own solar system, and now they're starting to reveal more about planets that don't orbit our sun.

Using data from the Nasa Kepler space telescope, astrophysicists have discovered a class of exoplanets whose atmospheres have been stripped away by their host stars.

Dubbed hot super-Earths, these planets are losing their layers of gas because of blasts of intense radiation that 'cooks' the large stellar bodies.

Astrophysicists used data from the Nasa Kepler space telescope to discover a class of exoplanets whose atmospheres have been stripped away by their host stars. Artist's illustration pictured. Due to their proximity to their host star, the heat the planets suffer means their 'envelopes' have been blown away by radiation

Astrophysicists at the University of Birmingham used data from the Nasa Kepler space telescope to discover a class of extrasolar planets whose atmospheres have been stripped away.

According to the study, planets with gaseous atmospheres that lie very close to their host stars are bombarded by a torrent of high-energy radiation.

Due to their proximity to the star, the heat that the planets suffer means that their 'envelopes' have been blown away by intense radiation.

This violent 'stripping' occurs in planets that are made up of a rocky core with a gaseous outer layer.

The scientists used asteroseismology to characterise the stars and their planets to levels of accuracy not achieved before for these systems.

Asteroseismology is also known as stellar seismology and is the study of the internal structure of pulsating stars.

Earlier this year, experts discovered an exotic exoplanet called 55 Cancri e that is more than eight times the mass of Earth and has previously been dubbed the 'diamond planet' because models based on its mass and radius have led some astronomers to speculate that its interior is carbon-rich

It uses the natural resonances of stars to reveal their properties and inner structures.

The results of the study have important implications for understanding how stellar systems, like our own solar system, and their planets, evolve over time and the crucial role played by the host star.

Dr Guy Davies, from the University of Birmingham's School of Physics and Astronomy, said: 'For these planets it is like standing next to a hairdryer turned up to its hottest setting.

'There has been much theoretical speculation that such planets might be stripped of their atmospheres.

Astronomers detected wildly changing temperatures on this super Earth  the first time any atmospheric variability has been observed on a rocky planet outside the solar system  and believe it could be due to huge amounts of volcanic activity

The data for the study was obtained from Nasa's Kepler spacecraft. Nasa is currently trying to resuscitate its planet-hunting spacecraft that has entered emergency mode 75 million miles from Earth. Pictured is an artist's concept provided by Nasa shows the Kepler Spacecraft moving through space

KEPLER'S HISTORY OF PROBLEMS Nasa is trying to resuscitate its planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft after it went into emergency mode 75 million miles away from Earth. The treasured spacecraft - responsible for detecting nearly 5,000 planets outside our solar system - slipped into emergency mode sometime last week. The last regular contact was April 4; everything seemed normal then. In 2012, Kepler lost use of the first of two failed gyroscopic reaction wheels. Four wheels are used point the telescope in a specific direction, according to NASA, and in May of the following year, the second wheel broke. After months of work, engineers were unable to restore them. The Kepler telescope was reborn in 2014 as 'K2' with a clever strategy of pointing the telescope in the plane of Earth's orbit, the ecliptic, to stabilize the spacecraft. The probe has been mining the cosmos for planets by searching for eclipses or 'transits,' as planets pass in front of their host stars and periodically block some of the starlight. Advertisement

'We now have the observational evidence to confirm this, which removes any lingering doubts over the theory.'

Dr Davies added: 'Our results show that planets of a certain size that lie close to their stars are likely to have been much larger at the beginning of their lives.

'Those planets will have looked very different.'

Scientists expect to discover and characterise many more of these 'stripped systems' using a new generation of satellites, including the Nasa Tess Mission which will be launched next year.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Earlier this year, astronomers 'sniffed' the atmosphere of a distant super-Earth for the first time, and found it contained a highly poisonous form of hydrogen

The exotic exoplanet, 55 Cancri e, is more than eight times the mass of Earth and has previously been dubbed the 'diamond planet' because models based on its mass and radius have led some astronomers to speculate that its interior is carbon-rich.

Using new processing techniques on data from the Nasa/Esa Hubble Space Telescope, a University College Longon-led team of European researchers has been able to examine the atmosphere of 55 Cancri e in unprecedented detail.
At the start of this year, a team of US researchers predicted the existence of a mysterious ninth planet, much to the cynicism of other experts.

A group of physicists in France then looked at their own models, along with data from the Cassini spacecraft, to narrow down the search for the giant stellar body.

Nasa scientists have dismissed claims that an unexplained object is 'tugging' on the spacecraft - and added that even if it did, the tugs would not be caused by a planet.

But the researchers involved have told MailOnline the Nasa scientists are incorrect in their dismissal of the paper.

This artist's concept illustration shows a distant view from Planet Nine back towards the sun. A group of physicists in France then looked at data from the Cassini spacecraft, to narrow down the search for the planet. But Nasa scientists said the Cassini data does not indicate unexplained tugs on its gravity

This is the latest in a series of developments surrounding the controversial mysterious extra planet.

The unknown world, dubbed 'Planet Nine' by some and 'Planet X' by others, is thought to be 10 times more massive than Earth and the furthest planet from the sun - but its exact location is unknown.

THE CONTROVERSIAL PLANET NINE Even the mysterious planet's name causes controversy. Mike Brown is Professor of Planetary Astronomy at Caltech. He is best known for his discovery of Eris, the most massive object found in the solar system in 150 years, and the object which led to the debate and eventual demotion of Pluto from a real planet to a dwarf planet. Alan Stern is an engineer and planetary scientist. He is the principal investigator of Nasa's New Horizons mission to Pluto. He is famously a defender of Pluto's planet title, which was stripped from it in 2006. The two scientists are 'at loggerheads' with each other over the classification of Pluto, according to some astronomers. The mysterious planet has always been termed 'Planet X', X being the roman numeral for ten, suggesting a tenth planet. But when Professor Brown and his team published the paper in January, they controversially named the planet 'Planet Nine' instead of Planet X, as a nod to Professor Brown's work towards declassifying Pluto. 'Calling it Planet Nine is very mischievous,' Professor Monica Grady told MailOnline. Advertisement

A team of French scientists suggested gravity from the planet could explain perturbations in the orbit of Saturn as seen by Nasa's Cassini spacecraft.

The paper published in March this year, which has now been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, suggests that small fluctuations in the orbit of Cassini could be used to narrow down an area of space where the planet could be.

But Nasa scientists have now said the Cassini spacecraft is not experiencing unexplained deviations in its orbit around Saturn.

'An undiscovered planet outside the orbit of Neptune, 10 times the mass of Earth, would affect the orbit of Saturn, not Cassini,' said William Folkner, a planetary scientist at JPL.

Folkner develops planetary orbit information used for Nasa's high-precision spacecraft navigation.

'This could produce a signature in the measurements of Cassini while in orbit about Saturn if the planet was close enough to the sun.'

But Professor Jacques Laskar, researcher on the study told MailOnline: 'This is exactly what we have done. We have simulated the presence of [Planet Nine] and look to the induced effect on the Earth-Saturn distance, as measured by Cassini.

'Our zones of exclusions occur when the perturbation of [Planet Nine] on Saturn is too large to be compatible with the Cassini data. With data from 2004 to 2014, the exclusion zoneis 180 degrees wide.'

'The press release of JPL is very confusing and essentially wrong,' Professor Laskar added.

'We do not see any unexplained signature above the level of the measurement noise in Cassini data taken from 2004 to 2016,' Mr Folkner added, in Nasa's JPL press release.

Professor Mike Brown predicted the existence of 'Planet Nine' in January this year. He is best known for his discovery of Eris, the most massive object found in the solar system in 150 years, and the object which led to the debate and eventual demotion of Pluto (shown) from a real planet to a dwarf planet

Professor Mike Brown, Professor of Planetary Astronomy at Caltech, who originally reported finding Planet Nine in January this year, told MailOnline that both Nasa and the French researchers are correct.

'This was very confusing, but mostly because the Nasa press release was pretty unclear,' he said.

'But the upshot is that everyone is correct.'

'Cassini has been measuring very precise Earth-Saturn distances for a decade.'

He said the data seen by Nasa from Cassini fits in, within uncertainty, with models predicting the expected distance between Saturn and Earth, which is why Nasa are saying they have not seen any unusual orbits.

'The March paper, which I find very impressive, says what happens if we add in Planet Nine to all of this?' he said.

'Not only does it affect Saturn, but also every other body in the solar system (by small amounts), which means they affect Saturn differently, so we have to recompute everything we thought we knew about where the planets should be.'

There is one place, identified by the French researchers, where if Planet Nine exists it would explain the distance between Earth and Saturn slightly better.

'No one would look at the Cassini data and say there must be a Planet Nine,' he said. 'But you might consider a Planet Nine and then realize it makes the Cassini data ever so slightly better.'

But external astronomers admit even the original paper published in January is very theoretical, and does not confirm the existence of a ninth planet.

'The paper is...all modelling.

'It might be there, it might not be,' Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University told MailOnline.

Alan Stern is an engineer and planetary scientist. He is the principal investigator of Nasa's New Horizons mission to Pluto (artist's impression pictured). He is famously a defender of Pluto's planet title, which was stripped from it in 2006

CASSINI AND DARK ENERGY SURVEY Last month, evidence from Nasa's Cassini spacecraft, orbiting Saturn, might have helped close in on the missing planet. Researchers at the Cote d'Azur Observatory in France checked whether a theoretical model with the new addition of Planet Nine could better explain slight perturbations seen in Cassini's orbit. They found a 'sweet spot' for Planet Nine, 600 astronomical units away towards Cetus, that can explain Cassini's orbit quite well. If the planet is where they think, other instruments might also be able to help find it. The Dark Energy Survey is a Southern Hemisphere observation project designed to probe the acceleration of the universe that started in 2013. It was not designed to look for a ninth planet, but by chance it is already looking in the right direction, according to the Cassini data. Advertisement

She added that the French paper is 'very very hypothetical' and if Nasa is not reporting unknown tugs on the orbit of Cassini, it is unlikely they exist.

If the planet is in the Kuiper Belt, our telescopes are not powerful enough to be able to see it, Professor Grady added.

Nasa said the paper predicts that, if data tracking Cassini's position were available out to the year 2020, they might be used to reveal the 'most probable' location for the new planet in its long orbit around the sun.

But Professor Laskar told MailOnline this was incorrect and that the team had asked for a correction to be issued.

'The outcome of our simulation of an extended Cassini mission over 2020 is not to improve a possible determination of the location of planet 9, which in fact is not easy, and even impossible to do as we cannot simulate the data including a planet 9 in a coherent way.

'Our simulation is for the extension of the zones of exclusion of the planet 9,' he said.

Instead of looking for places the planet could be, they have ruled out the places it could not.

'This result is very robust,' he added.

'And nothing in what has been said by JPL navigation team contradicts this result. We are quite sure that if the JPL navigation team were performing the same simulation, they would end up with the same results.

'But up to now, it does not seem that they have searched to reproduce this part of our results.'

A paper published in March suggests small fluctuations in the orbit of Cassini (artist's impression pictured) could be used to narrow down an area of space where the planet could be. But Nasa scientists have said the Cassini spacecraft is not experiencing unexplained deviations in its orbit around Saturn

Cassini's mission is planned to end in late 2017, when the spacecraft, too low on fuel to continue on a longer mission, will plunge into Saturn's atmosphere.

'Although we'd love it if Cassini could help detect a new planet in the solar system, we do not see any perturbations in our orbit that we cannot explain with our current models,' said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL.

While the proposed planet's existence may eventually be confirmed by other means, mission navigators said they have observed no unexplained deviations in the spacecraft's orbit since its arrival there in 2004.

HOW THEY 'FOUND' PLANET NINE Researchers inferred Planet Nine's presence from the peculiar clustering of six previously known objects that orbit beyond Neptune. They say there's only a 0.007% chance, or about one in 15,000, that the clustering could be a coincidence. Instead, they say, a planet with the mass of 10 Earths has shepherded the six objects into their strange elliptical orbits, tilted out of the plane of the solar system. Advertisement

But if the planet is where the French researchers predicted, other instruments might be able to help find it.

The Dark Energy Survey is a Southern Hemisphere observation project designed to probe the acceleration of the universe that started in 2013

It was not designed to look for a ninth planet, but by chance it is already looking in the right direction, according to the Cassini data.

'It turns out fortuitously that the favoured region from Cassini is smack dab in the middle of our survey footprint,' said David Gerdes, who is working on the cosmology survey.

'We could not have designed our survey any better.'

The six most distant known objects in the solar system with orbits exclusively beyond Neptune (magenta) all mysteriously line up in a single direction. Such an orbital alignment can only be maintained by some outside force, according to the Caltech researchers who predicted Planet Nine in January
They are better known for becoming the fierce Viking warriors who terrorised much of Europe though the Middle Ages, but it seems ancient Norsemen may have been the world's first hipsters.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence that some women in Iron Age Norway around 1,500 years ago wore jewellery emblazoned with 'foreign' designs to help them stand out from the crowd.

The researchers say there appears to have been distinct trend among certain women in the upper echelons of pre-Viking Norse society to choose distinctive jewellery to make social statements.

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Women living in Iron Age Norway usually worse jewellery typical of their region but a few may have worn foreign designs to stand out. One brooch found in Skien, Norway, has edging seen in the local jewellery around the rectangular plate, but also carries spiral decorations commonly seen in Denmark or Sweden (pictured)

While some of the jewellery, which has been found in graves dating to between 400AD and 550AD, appears to have been made in other countries, some is local but adopts foreign designs.

At the time, before the Viking culture emerged into Europe with the first raids in 790AD, it was extremely unusual for jewellery to have this mashup of Scandinavian designs.

WHERE DID THE VIKING'S LOVE OF BLING COME FROM? Although they have a reputation for raping and pillaging their way around Europe, the Vikings also liked to show off their hard-earned gold by adorning themselves with bling. Archaeologists have discovered delicate blue glass and amber beads at the site of a former early Viking settlement in the middle of Norway's rland peninsula. The Iron Age site reveals how the societies that gave rise to the Vikings appear to have traded their wealth for trinkets and pieces of fine jewellery. The 1,500-year-old village was unearthed as experts investigated the site ahead of plans to extend a military airbase on the site. The airbase is being designed to accommodate a fleet of 52 new F-35 jet fighters. Covering an area of more than 22 acres (9 hectares), the site contains a treasure trove of Viking artefacts, according to the archaeologists. Much like it is today, the area would have been strategically important and the researchers have discovered the remains of several traditional Viking long houses built on the site. Archaeologists said the beads found at the site suggest the inhabitants used their position to build up wealth and weren't afraid to show it . Advertisement

Ingunn Marit Rstad, an archaeologist at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, told MailOnline that it seems the jewellery was an early desire to 'stand out'.

However, she said there was an important distinction from the hipsters of today who build their wardrobes around a desire to not conform to the society around them.

She said: 'I think the owners were women belonging to the upper strata of society, although perhaps not exclusively the uppermost level.

'Most of these finds definitely belong to the richest graves in this period - the migration period, c. AD 400-550 - but others have been found in graves that are well furnished, but would not be characterized as "aristocratic".

'I think that the foreign or "different" jewellery gave social status both to the women that wore the jewellery and to their family.

'I don't really think we can compare them to the "hipsters", because today everybody can choose to become a hipster.

'But there is no doubt that both in the Iron Age and today people use dress and jewellery to distinguish themselves and make social statements.'

Dr Rstad examined around 1,200 Iron Age brooches and pieces of jewellery that were found in several different areas of Norway.

At the time in 500AD different regions of Norway used very distinct designs. At this time the country was a combination of Sami cultures and North-Germanic Norse.

These people would later emerge as the Vikings in the 8th Century.

While most of the jewellery appeared to conform with the styles of the local areas they were found in, around 25 appeared to be quite different.

Some seemed to combine local designs with those more commonly seen in Denmark and southern Sweden.

Dr Rstad said at the time clothing and jewellery was governed by strict cultural rules.

Cross-shaped brooches in Iron Age Norway tended to have designs specific to the local area. Those pictured above were typical of Ha in Rogaland County (left), Sogndal in Sogn og Fjordane County, Klepp in Rogaland County, Frde in Sogn og Fjordane County, an unknown location, and Voss in Hordaland County (right)

The women who wore foreign jewellery obviously did it as a conscious expression of foreign affiliations that gave them and their family status, said the researchers. In one example a gilded silver brooch found in the Skien area of Norway (marked) carries spiral decorations more commonly seen in Denmark or Sweden

She said: 'It's not at all likely that you could choose freely to wear whatever jewellery you liked or wanted to wear in the migration period/Scandinavian Iron Age.

'Your "choice" was governed or structured or regulated by unwritten laws about social dress codes.

'The women who wore foreign or unusual jewellery obviously did it as a conscious expression of foreign affiliations that gave them and their family status.

'In one example a gilded silver brooch found in the Skien area of Norway has designs typically seen in the local jewellery, but also carries spiral decorations more commonly seen in Denmark or Sweden.

The Vikings (still from the TV series Vikings pictured) who later emerged from the Iron Age Norse cultures were better known for terrorising the coastlines of Europe, but they too wore foreign jewellery for status

In another example, archaeologists found a mould in eastern Swedend that could have been used to make jewellery typically seen in Rogaland, western Norway.

Dr Rstad believes the mix-and-match jewellery may have been an attempt to demonstrate political alliances.

Speaking to Science Nordic, she said by the sixth century it was customary for the upper classes to raise each other's children, which could have given some a connection to distant regions.

They may have then tried to show off these connections by combining the jewellery and possibly the clothes of the two areas.

Later the Vikings would also use jewellery to make statements about their status by flaunting items from far flung lands.
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Since Charles Darwin first imagined every living thing on Earth being connected by branches on the tree of life, his primitive sketches have been redrawn and redesigned to account for the constant discovery of new life forms.

Now, this tree that depicts how life has evolved and diversified on the planet is getting a lot more complicated.

Researchers who have discovered more than 1,000 new types of bacteria and Archaea over the past 15 years have dramatically rejigged the tree to account for these microscopic life forms.

The tree that depicts how life has evolved and diversified on the planet is getting a lot more complicated. Researchers who have discovered more than 1,000 new types of bacteria and Archaea over the past 15 years have dramatically rejigged the tree to account for these microscopic new life forms. The updated tree is pictured

Archaea and bacteria are both different forms of single-celled microorganisms.

'The tree of life is one of the most important organising principles in biology,' said Jill Banfield, a UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science and environmental science, policy and management.

'The new depiction will be of use not only to biologists who study microbial ecology, but also biochemists searching for novel genes and researchers studying evolution and earth history.'

REDRAWING THE TREE OF LIFE Researchers sequenced new microbial species, gathering 1,011 previously unpublished genomes to add to already known genome sequences of organisms representing the major families of life on Earth. The team constructed a tree based on 16 separate genes that code for proteins in the cellular machine called a ribosome, which translates RNA into proteins. They included a total of 3,083 organisms, one from each genus for which fully or almost fully sequenced genomes were available. The analysis produced a tree with branches dominated by bacteria, especially by uncultivated bacteria. A second view of the tree grouped organisms by their evolutionary distance from one another rather than current taxonomic definitions. This made clear that about one-third of all biodiversity comes from bacteria, one-third from so-called uncultivable bacteria and slightly less than a third from Archaea and eukaryotes. Advertisement

Much of this microbial diversity remained hidden until the genome revolution allowed researchers like Banfield to search directly for their genomes in the environment, rather than trying to culture them in a lab dish.

Many of the microbes can't be isolated and cultured because they can't live on their own - they must beg, borrow or steal stuff from other animals or microbes, either as parasites, symbiotic organisms or scavengers.

The new tree, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, reinforces that the life we see around us - plants, animals, humans and other so-called eukaryotes - represent a tiny percentage of the world's biodiversity.

'Bacteria and Archaea from major lineages completely lacking isolated representatives comprise the majority of life's diversity,' added Banfield.

'This is the first three-domain genome-based tree to incorporate these uncultivable organisms, and it reveals the vast scope of as yet little-known lineages.'

According to Laura Hug, a former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow who is now on the biology faculty at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, the newly reported organisms appearing on the revised tree are from a range of environments.

These include a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park, a salt flat in Chile's Atacama desert, terrestrial and wetland sediments, a sparkling water geyser, meadow soil and the inside of a dolphin's mouth.

All of these newly recognised organisms are known only from their genomes.

'What became really apparent on the tree is that so much of the diversity is coming from lineages for which we really only have genome sequences,' she said. 'We don't have laboratory access to them, we have only their blueprints and their metabolic potential from their genome sequences. This is telling, in terms of how we think about the diversity of life on Earth, and what we think we know about microbiology.'

One striking aspect of the new tree of life is that a group of bacteria described as the 'candidate phyla radiation' forms a very major branch.

Only recognized recently, and seemingly comprised only of bacteria with symbiotic lifestyles, the candidate phyla radiation now appears to contain around half of all bacterial evolutionary diversity.

Archaea and bacteria are both different forms of single-celled microorganisms. Bacteria (left) and Archaea (right) from major lineages make up most of life's diversity, according to Jill Banfield, UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science and environmental science, policy and management. More than 1,000 new discoveries of these microorganisms have been added to the 'tree of life'

The team constructed a new tree (pictured without text) based on 16 separate genes that code for proteins in what's known as the ribosome. This translates RNA into proteins. They included a total of 3,083 organisms, one from each genus for which fully or almost fully sequenced genomes were available

Charles Darwin first sketched a tree of life in 1837 as he sought ways of showing how plants, animals and bacteria are related

While the relationship between Archaea and eukaryotes remains uncertain, it's clear that 'this new rendering of the tree offers a new perspective on the history of life,' Banfield said.

'This incredible diversity means there are a mind-boggling number of organisms that we are just beginning to explore the inner workings of that could change our understanding of biology,' said co-author Brett Baker, formerly of Banfield's UC Berkeley lab but now at the University of Texas, Austin, Marine Science Institute.

For the new paper, Banfield and Hug teamed up with more than a dozen other researchers who have sequenced new microbial species, gathering 1,011 previously unpublished genomes to add to already known genome sequences of organisms representing the major families of life on Earth.

She and her team constructed a tree based on 16 separate genes that code for proteins in the cellular machine called a ribosome, which translates RNA into proteins.

They included a total of 3,083 organisms, one from each genus for which fully or almost fully sequenced genomes were available.

The analysis, representing the total diversity among all sequenced genomes, produced a tree with branches dominated by bacteria, especially by uncultivated bacteria.

A second view of the tree grouped organisms by their evolutionary distance from one another rather than current taxonomic definitions, making clear that about one-third of all biodiversity comes from bacteria, one-third from uncultivable bacteria and a bit less than one-third from Archaea and eukaryotes.

'The two main take-home points I see in this tree are the prominence of major lineages that have no cultivable representatives, and the great diversity in the bacterial domain, most importantly, the prominence of candidate phyla radiation,' Banfield said.

'The candidate phyla radiation has as much diversity within it as the rest of the bacteria combined.'
It is considered by many to be the word of God as told through a select few authors, but the writers of the Bible may have been far more numerous than previously believed.

Analysis of a series of inscriptions written on ceramic shards found in the Israeli desert has suggested literacy was common place in the kingdom of Judah 2,600 years ago.

The shards, known as ostraca, were discovered in the desert fortress of Arad in southern Judah had have been dated to around 600BC.

Analysis of a series of inscriptions on 2,600-year-old ceramic shards (pictured left and right) found during excavations at a fortress in the Israeli desert has shown they were written by at least six authors at different levels in the Judean military. It suggests literacy was much more widespread than had been believed

They contain a series of military commands regarding the movement of troops and the provision of supplies.

Using computerised imaging processing and machine learning, researchers have discovered the 16 inscriptions were written by at least six different authors.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT JIGSAW IN HISTORY They are some of the most important historical and religious documents to have ever been discovered, giving a rare and detailed insight into Biblical times. But many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in a series of caves in the desert in the West Bank in Israel, have been reduced to little more than fragile fragments of parchment and papyrus. A project to preserve the ancient documents with digital technology is promising to transform the laborious process of matching the tiny pieces of the scrolls together. Nearly 2,000 years after they were written, the thousands of tiny Dead Sea Scroll fragments are being scanned using high-resolution imaging. Advanced digital tools are also being developed to suggest new ways of joining these together by looking for connections between images, text and matches between fragment edges. The project will also assist attempts to translate the scrolls as they are fitted together, helping researchers unravel the secrets they contain. Experts estimate there around 20,000 fragments of scrolls being scanned as part of the project but there could be many more. Advertisement

This, they say, suggests writing, and so reading, within the Judahite military was common place as a way of issuing commands and recording information.

They argue this also suggests literacy was widespread throughout the kingdom of Judah - and this may have set the stage for the compilation of the hefty biblical works.

It supports the idea that the Hebrew Bible was a massive composition of texts by many authors which were then gathered together rather than a single literary work.

Professor Israel Finkelstein, archaeologist at Tel Aviv University who led the work, told MailOnline: 'Biblical texts carry ideological and theological messages and as such were probably meant to be known to the population.

'Hence there has been an ongoing discussion on literacy in ancient Israel/Judah.

'Our work shows that late-monarchic Judah (around 600 BC) had an educational infrastructure which was suitable for compilation of texts and use of the written-word medium to convey ideological messages.'

The Arad ostraca were discovered during excavations of the fortress of Arad, to the east of Beer-sheba and west of the Dead Sea, during the 1960s.

The texts were written in ink on ceramic shards in ancient Hebrew.

Professor Finkelstein said they dealt mainly with mundane military orders and suggest writing was used as a matter of course in the Judahite army.

'The inscriptions deal with movement of troops and delivery of supplies to military units. They show that the military system was highly bureaucratic,' he explained.

'In one of them the author instructs a person to send this and that commodities and to write the date.'

The ceramic shards, known as ostraca, were found during excavations of the fortress at old Arad in Israel in the 1960s (shown on map pictured)

The inscriptions show the entire chain of command at the fort (picutred) was able to communicate though writing, suggesting literacy was widespread in the kingdom of Judah. This, the researchers say, provides clues as to how the Hebrew bible was compiled

'Our study shows that the entire chain of command of the Judahite army, down to the deputy quartermaster of a remote desert fort, was capable of communicating in writing.

'If we extrapolate the Arad results to other forts in the south, to forts in other frontiers of Judah, to the civil bureaucratic apparatus, to priests and the entourage of the king in Jerusalem, then we probably get a significant number of people who can communicate in writing.'

Indeed, ostraca have been found in several places around Israel dating to a similar period.

But the authors say this literacy appears to have disappeared when the Kingdom of Judah collapsed following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586BC.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they added their work provides evidence to support modern theories of how the Hebrew bible was written.

'Biblical texts could have been written by a few and kept in seclusion in the Jerusalem Temple, and the illiterate populace could have been informed about them in public readings and verbal messages by these few,' said the paper.

The Hebrew bible (modern stock image pictured) may have been pulled together from the writings of many individuals according to some scholars. The new work provides new evidence for this

'However, widespread literacy offers a better background for the composition of ambitious works such as the Book of Deuteronomy and the history of Ancient Israel in the Books of Joshua to Kings, which formed the platform for Judahite ideology and theology.

'In the Babylonian, Persian, and early Hellenistic periods, Jerusalem and the southern highlands show almost no evidence in the form of Hebrew inscriptions.

'In fact, not a single securely dated Hebrew inscription has been found in this territory for the period between 586 and around 350 BC - not an ostracon or a seal, a seal impression, or a bulla.
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With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat.

Some sites and artifacts could become submerged - with everything from Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America, to much of the museum beneath the Statue of Liberty at threat.

Scientists, historic preservationists, architects and public officials are meeting this week in Newport, Rhode Island - one of the threatened areas - to discuss the problem, how to adapt to rising seas and preserve historic structures.

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 Slide me  The Statue of Liberty in New York is 151ft from the base to the torch. A large area of its base could be under water if global warming continues at the current rate, according to researchers. The left image shows what the Statue looks like today and the right, if it became submerged by 25ft of water as a result of rising sea levels

'Any coastal town that has significant historic properties is going to be facing the challenge of protecting those properties from increased water and storm activity,' said Margot Nishimura, of the Newport Restoration Foundation, the nonprofit group hosting the conference.

Federal authorities have encouraged people to elevate structures in low-lying areas, but that poses challenges in dense neighborhoods of centuries-old homes built around central brick chimneys, Nishimura said, especially ones where preservationists are trying to keep the character intact.

Many of the most threatened sites in North America lie along the East Coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and southern Maine, where the rate of sea level rise is among the fastest in the world, said Adam Markham, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a speaker at the conference.

'We're actually not going to be able to save everything,' he said.

BOSTON Much of historic Boston is along the water and is at risk due to sea level rise, including Faneuil Hall, the market building known as the 'Cradle of Liberty,' and parts of the Freedom Trail, a walking trail that links historic sites around the city. Boston has seen a growing number of flooding events in recent years, up from two annually in the 1970s to an average of 11 annually between 2009 and 2013, according to a 2014 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. If sea levels rise by 5 inches, the group reported, the number of floods is projected to grow to 31 annually. If seas rise by 11 inches, the number of flooding events is projected to rise to 72 per year. In this Feb. 22, 2007 file photo, Faneuil Hall, right, one of the sites on Boston's Freedom Trail, sits among buildings on an evening in downtown in Boston. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport, R.I., this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. Advertisement

Situated in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are some of New York's most important tourist attractions.

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy submerged most of the low-elevation Liberty and Ellis islands. After the storm, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France in 1886, was closed for eight months. Ellis Island, the entry point for about 12 million immigrants to the United States from 1892 to 1954, remained closed for nearly a year.

A report by the National Park Service looked at how several parks would be threatened by 1 meter, or around 3 feet, of sea level rise. It found $1.51 billion worth of assets at the Statue of Liberty National Monument were highly exposed to sea level rise.

NEWPORT The Point neighborhood in the Rhode Island resort town has one of the highest concentrations of Colonial houses in the United States, and it sits 4 feet above mean sea level. Tidal flooding is already occurring in the neighborhood, and that is expected to increase as sea levels rise, Nishimura said. The smell of sea water already permeates the basement of some homes. In this October 2012 photo, Jim Davis kayaks through waters flooding Bowen's Wharf after Superstorm Sandy in historic Newport, R.I. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. Advertisement

Other areas include Maryland's capital, on Chesapeake Bay, boasts the nation's largest concentration of 18th-century brick buildings. The city briefly served as the nation's capital in the post-Revolutionary War period, and the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war, was ratified there. The city is also home to the U.S. Naval Academy.

The city already sees tidal flooding dozens of times a year, and scientists have predicted number could rise to hundreds annually in the next 30 years.

Jamestown could also be badly hit.

Established in 1607, it is the first permanent English colony in North America. It sits along the tidal James River in Virginia, and most of the settlement is less than 3 feet above sea level.

A large part of the settlement has already eroded because of wave action, Markham said. Storms have also damaged the site, including Hurricane Isabel in 2003, which flooded nearly 1 million artifacts.

A rising water table at the site also poses a threat to archaeological remains, Markham said.

He called the loss of archaeological artifacts 'an urgent problem' along the U.S. coastline.

Reports by the National Park Service and others have found that rising sea level rises threaten archaeological sites at various historic places in Hawaii.

Those include ancient fish ponds at Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site and a 'Great Wall' at a sacred site in Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park.

It is considered the best-preserved such wall in Hawaii.

Dozens of UNESCO World Heritage Sites are under threat from sea level rise, according to a 2014 report by climate scientists Ben Marzeion, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, and Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute in Germany.

Among those are: the Tower of London; Robben Island in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years; Venice, Italy, and its lagoon; Mont-Saint-Michel, home to an abbey built atop a rocky islet in France; the Kasbah of Algiers, Algeria; the historic district of Old Quebec, Canada; Old Havana in Cuba; and archaeological areas of Pompeii, Italy, and Carthage in Tunisia.

The authors wrote that their findings indicate that 'fundamental decisions with regard to mankind's cultural heritage are required.'

Earlier this year, a series of images showing what would happen if major US landmarks were flooded by rising tides has provided a glimpse of what could be our future.

In the shocking pictures the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C is surrounded by water, Ocean Drive in Miami looks like it would only be navigable by boat and Crissy Field in San Francisco is mostly under water.

The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. as it is today is shown on the left, and the monument as it could be in a few centuries under 25ft of water is shown on the right

And you'd need waders to walk around The San Diego Convention Center, according to the predictions.

The photographs were developed by Pittsburgh-based digital artist Nickolay Lamm, based on sea level-rise mapping data from Climate Central.

His hypothetical scenes show national icons under four levels of flooding at each: 0 feet; 5 feet, which is possible in 100 to 300 years; 12 feet. possible by about 2300; and 25 feet, predicted in the coming centuries.

'The maps  which these illustrations are based off of  are tidally adjusted, meaning they map out areas below different flood heights relative to high tide,' Lamm wrote on his site.

'The illustrations, on the other hand, imagine what the affected areas would look like based on varying degrees of low and medium tide.

'Although no one can predict the exact rate the sea levels will rise, many self storage businesses are making an effort to become more environmentally friendly in an attempt to reduce the chances of these events from occurring.'

 Slide me  With 25 ft of sea level rise in Ocean Drive, the cameraman taking this image would be standing 17.5 ft. of water. The left image shows what the region looks like today. Earlier this week, scientists revealed that over the course of the 20th century, sea levels across the globe rose faster than in any of the previous 29 centuries

 Slide me  Pictured on the left is a real-life scene of Harvard's campus in 100 years if sea level rises 5 feet. The right image shows what it would look like under 12ft of water. A study earlier this month found that sea level rise caused by man-made climate change could last 10,000 years

Harvard's campus in the next few centuries if sea level rises 25 feet. The image shows how the campus in Massachusetts would be completely submerged by rising tides

And the need to do this is urgent, scientists say. A recent study has found the 5.5-inch (14cm) global rise is at least twice as much as would have been seen without global warming - and if the trend continues, scientists many of our cities will be underwater.

Earlier this week, scientists revealed that over the course of the 20th century, sea levels across the globe rose faster than in any of the previous 29 centuries.

The research discovered that the 5.5-inch (14cm) global rise is at least twice as much as would have been seen without global warming.

In fact, they believe levels might have actually fallen if it hadn't been for soaring global temperatures.

'The 20th century rise was extraordinary in the context of the last three millennia - and the rise over the last two decades has been even faster,' said professor Robert Kopp, lead author of the report published in the Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences.

The pattern was revealed by a new statistical analysis technique which extracts global data from local records.

No local record measures global sea level. Instead, each measures sea level at a particular location, where it will differ from the global mean.

 Slide me  Miami as it is today (left) and what it would look like under 25ft of water (right). Scientists have warned that global warming needs to be curbed drastically to avoid sea level rise

 Slide me  A real-life view of the Washington Monument today is on the left, while its appearance in a few centuries when sea levels could rise by 25ft is shown on the right

The statistical challenge is to pull out the global signal.

The scientists built a database of geological sea-level indicators from marshes, coral atolls and archaeological sites at 24 locations around the world, covering the past 3,000 years.

They also looked at tide gauge recordings for the last 300 years from 66 other locations.

Many of the records came from the field work of Kemp, Horton, or team members Roland Gehrels of the University of York and Jeffrey Donnelly of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

This information was used to calculate how temperatures relate to the rate of sea-level change.

Using this new technique, the researchers showed that the world's sea level fell by about 11 inches (8cm) between 1000 and 1400AD, when the planet cooled by about 0.2C.

Global average temperature today is about 1C higher than at the end of the 19th century.

It also found that , had global warming not occurred in the 20th century, the change in sea level would 'very likely' have been between a decrease of 1.1 inch (3cm) and a rise of 2.8 inches (7cm).

Instead, the world actually saw a rise of 14cm.

A companion report also found that more than half of the 8,000 coastal nuisance floods observed at US tide gauge sites since 1950 would not have occurred.

Professor Kopp estimates that sea levels will rise by 20 inches to 51 inches (50cm to 130cm) in the 21st century, if the world continues to rely on fossil fuels.

However, it will only rise by 10 inches to 23.5 inches (25cm to 60cm) if fossil fuels are phased out.

'Anthropogenic sea level rise poses challenges to coastal areas worldwide, and robust projections are needed to assess options,' explained the researchers.

 Slide me  Back Bay in Boston is most famous for its rows of Victorian brownstone homes (left, seen as it is today). However many of these homes could be submerged as a result of rising sea levels. The right image shows a scenario in which 25ft of water floods the region

 Slide me  Pictured on the left is Boston Habor Hotel as it is today, and what it could look like under 25ft of water. The seas along the East Coast from North Carolina to New England are rising three to four times faster than the global average

Pictured is a map of Harvard's campus under 25ft of water. 'The maps  which these illustrations are based off of  are tidally adjusted, meaning they map out areas below different flood heights relative to high tide,' Nickolay Lamm wrote on his site

'Here we present an approach that combines information about the equilibrium sea level response to global warming and last century's observed contribution from the individual components to constrain projections for this century.

'While applying semiempirical methodology, our method yields sea level projections that overlap with the process-based estimates of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.'

A separate study earlier this month found that sea level rise caused by man-made climate change could last 10,000 years.

Even if global warming falls below the governments' target of 2C, around 20 per cent of the world's population will be forced to migrate away from coasts.

That means that unless we cut carbon emission drastically, major cities such as New York, London, and Shanghai, will be completely submerged, scientists have warned.

The study, published in Nature Climate Change, argues that scientists have been short-sighted in looking at the impact of climate change over one or two centuries.

In the research, scientists looked at the impact of four possible levels of carbon pollution1,280 to 5,120 billion tonnesemitted between the year 2000 to 2300.

Studying data from over the last 20,000 years, the researchers predicted what will happen to global temperatures, sea level, and ice cover over the next 10,000 years.

WHICH COUNTRIES WILL SUFFER MOST FROM CLIMATE CHANGE? Scandinavian countries and the UK are among the most likely to survive - but areas of sub-Saharan Africa will be hardest hit In a separate study, climate change experts recently released a map of the world revealing how prepared different countries are to cope with the effects of climate change (shown above). In the map 192 countries are ranked by their 'vulnerability' and 'readiness', producing an overall score on their fate, ranging from bad (zero) to excellent (100). The results reveal that Scandinavian countries and the UK are among the most likely to survive - but areas of sub-Saharan Africa will be hardest hit. The maps were created by London-based company The Eco Experts, using data from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, known as the ND-Gain Index. They took into account location, terrain, pollution rates and national resources when calculating which countries would be most affected. Countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark score well on the scale. But places like Central America, Africa and India all appear at risk from natural disaster - and are poorly equipped to cope, said The Eco Experts. Jon Whiting, of The Eco Experts warned: 'Hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, droughts and flooding are all real dangers for some of these areas, and this is compounded by a lack of national strategy to counteract the effects.' Burundi, Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo produced some of the lowest scores, meaning these countries will be the biggest victims of weather disasters. Advertisement

A map of Ocean Drive in the next few centuries if sea level rises 25 feet (right), much of the area will still be under water if sea levels rose 12ft (left)

A map of the Washington Monument in the next few centuries if sea level rises 25 feet. Scientists estimate sea levels will rise by 20 inches to 51 inches (50cm to 130cm) in the 21st century

A map of New York City in 2300 if sea level rises 12 feet is shown is shown on the left, and with 25ft of sea level rise shown on the right. The more extreme scenario will see large parts of Manhattan flooded

The complex modelling effort was led by Michael Eby of the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University.

'Carbon is going up, and even if we stop what we are doing in the relatively near future, the system will continue to respond because it hasn't reached an equilibrium,' Marcott explains.

'If you boil water and turn off the burner, the water will stay warm because heat remains in it.'

A similar but more complex and momentous phenomenon happens in the climate system, according to the study which is written by nearly two dozen leading Earth scientists.

Current releases of the carbon contained in carbon dioxide total about 10 billion tons per year. The number is growing 2.5 per cent annually, more than twice as fast as in the 1990s.

Humans have already put about 580 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and the researchers looked at the effect of releasing another 1,280 to 5,120 billion tons between 2000 and 2300.

'In our model, the carbon dioxide input ended in 300 years, but the impact persisted for 10,000 years,' Marcott says.

By 2300, the carbon dioxide level had soared from almost 400 parts per million to as much as 2,000 parts per million.

The most extreme temperature rise - about 7C by the year 2300 - would taper off only slightly, to about 6C, after 10,000 years.

The picture is disturbing, says co-author Shaun Marcott, an assistant professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Perhaps the most ominous finding concerns 'commitment,' Marcott says.

'Most people probably expect that temperature and carbon dioxide will rise together and then temperature will come down when the carbon dioxide input is shut off.

'But carbon dioxide has such a long life in the atmosphere that the effects really depend on how much you put in.

'We are already committed to substantial rises in temperature. The only question is how much more is in the pipe.'
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The future USS Zumwalt is so stealthy that it'll go to sea with reflective material that can be hoisted to make it more visible to other ships.

The Navy destroyer is designed to look like a much smaller vessel on radar, and it lived up to its billing during recent builder trials.

Lawrence Pye, a lobsterman, told The Associated Press that on his radar screen the 610-foot ship looked like a 40- to 50-foot fishing boat.

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FILE - In this March 21, 2016 file photo, Dave Cleaveland and his son, Cody, photograph the USS Zumwalt as it passes Fort Popham at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Phippsburg, Maine, as it heads to sea for final builder trials. The ship is so stealthy that the U.S. Navy resorted to putting reflective material on its halyard to make it visible to mariners during the trials. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

He watched as the behemoth came within a half-mile while returning to shipbuilder Bath Iron Works.

'It's pretty mammoth when it's that close to you,' Pye said.

Despite its size, the warship is 50 times harder to detect than current destroyers thanks to its angular shape and other design features, and its stealth could improve even more once testing equipment is removed, said Capt. James Downey, program manager.

During sea trials last month, the Navy tested Zumwalt's radar signature with and without reflective material hoisted on its halyard, he said.

The goal was to get a better idea of exactly how stealthy the ship really is, Downey said from Washington, D.C.

The reflectors, which look like metal cylinders, have been used on other warships and will be standard issue on the Zumwalt and two sister ships for times when stealth becomes a liability and they want to be visible on radar, like times of fog or heavy ship traffic, he said.

The possibility of a collision is remote.

The Zumwalt has sophisticated radar to detect vessels from miles away, allowing plenty of time for evasive action.

But there is a concern that civilian mariners might not see it during bad weather or at night, and the reflective material could save them from being startled.

The destroyer is unlike anything ever built for the Navy.

Besides a shape designed to deflect enemy radar, it features a wave-piercing 'tumblehome' hull, composite deckhouse, electric propulsion and new guns.

More tests will be conducted when the ship returns to sea later this month for final trials before being delivered to the Navy.

The warship is due to be commissioned in October in Baltimore, and will undergo more testing before becoming fully operational in 2018.

Future version of the radical design are expected to be used to test a futuristic 'Star Wars' railgun that uses electromagnetic energy to fire a shell weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles  with such force and accuracy it penetrates three concrete walls or six half-inch thick steel plates.

The largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy is currently undergoing sea trials. Future versions of the radical design will be fitted with 'star wars' railguns, if tests go according to plan.

More than 200 shipbuilders, sailors and residents gathered to watch as the futuristic 600-foot, 15,000-ton USS Zumwalt glided past Fort Popham, accompanied by tugboats on Monday.

The $4.3bn ship departed from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works in Maine and carefully navigating the winding Kennebec River before reaching the open ocean where the ship will undergo sea trials.

Kelley Campana, a Bath Iron Works employee, said she had goose bumps and tears in her eyes.

'This is pretty exciting. It's a great day to be a shipbuilder and to be an American,' she said.

'It's the first in its class. There's never been anything like it. It looks like the future.'

Larry Harris, a retired Raytheon employee who worked on the ship, watched it depart from Bath.

'It's as cool as can be. It's nice to see it underway,' he said.

'Hopefully, it will perform as advertised.'

Bath Iron Works will be testing the ship's performance and making tweaks this winter.

For the crew and all those involved in designing, building, and readying this fantastic ship, this is a huge milestone,' the ship's skipper, Navy Capt. James Kirk, said before the ship departed.

Advanced automation will allow the warship to operate with a much smaller crew size than current destroyers.

Warship of the future: Future versions of the radical design are expected to be used to test a futuristic 'Star Wars' railgun (advanced gun system) that uses electromagnetic energy to fire a shell weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles

The ship has electric propulsion, new radar and sonar, powerful missiles and guns, and a stealthy design to reduce its radar signature.

Advanced automation will allow the warship to operate with a much smaller crew size than current destroyers.

All of that innovation has led to construction delays and a growing price tag.

The Zumwalt, the first of three ships in the class, will cost at least $4.4 billion.

The ship looks like nothing ever built at Bath Iron Works.

The inverse bow juts forward to slice through the waves.

Sharp angles deflect enemy radar signals. Radar and antennas are hidden in a composite deckhouse.

The builder sea trials will answer any questions of seaworthiness for a ship that utilizes a type of hull associated with pre-dreadnought battleships from a century ago.

Critics say the 'tumblehome' hull's sloping shape makes it less stable than conventional hulls, but it contributes to the ship's stealth and the Navy is confident in the design.

Eric Wertheim, author and editor of the U.S. Naval Institute's 'Guide to Combat Fleets of the World,' said there's no question the integration of so many new systems from the electric drive to the tumblehome hull carries some level of risk.

Operational concerns, growing costs and fleet makeup led the Navy to truncate the 32-ship program to three ships, he said.

With only three ships, the class of destroyers could become something of a technology demonstration project, he said.

USS ZUMWALT: EQUIPPED TO DOMINATE THE SEAS FOR DECADES A model of the Zumwalt Class destroyer built by Bath Iron Works and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding is seen displayed during a contract signing ceremony at the Pentagon Displacement: 14,564 long tons (14,798 t) Length: 600 ft (180 m) Beam: 80.7 ft (24.6 m) Draft: 27.6 ft (8.4 m) Propulsion: Two Rolls-Royce Marine Trent-30 gas turbines driving Curtiss-Wright generators and emergency diesel generators, 78 MW (105,000 shp); two propellers driven by electric motors Speed: Over 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) Weapons: 20  MK 57 VLS modules, with a total of 80 launch cells RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), four per cell Tactical Tomahawk, one per cell Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC), one per cell Two  155 mm/62 caliber Advanced Gun System 920  155 mm rounds total; 600 in automated store with Auxiliary store room with up to 320 rounds (non-automatic) as of April 2005 70100 LRLAP rounds planned as of 2005 of total Two  Mk 110 57 mm gun (CIGS) The Zumwalt looks like no other U.S. warship, with an angular profile and clean carbon fiber superstructure that hides antennas and radar masts, among many other features Advertisement

The goal is to deliver it to the Navy sometime next year.

'We are absolutely fired up to see Zumwalt get underway.

The Zumwalt looks like no other U.S. warship, with an angular profile and clean carbon fiber superstructure that hides antennas and radar masts.

Originally envisioned as a 'stealth destroyer,' the Zumwalt has a low-slung appearance and angles that deflect radar. Its wave-piercing hull aims for a smoother ride.

Heading out to sea: The 600-foot-long destroyer cruised along the Kennebec River to the Atlantic on its maiden voyage

Big moment: The first Zumwalt-class destroyer, the USS Zumwalt is the largest ever built for the Navy and cost an estimated $4.3 billion

Spectators line the shore in Phippsburg, Maine, on Monday morning to witness the ship is headed out to sea for sea trials

'IIt's the first in its class. There's never been anything like it. It looks like the future': said Kelley Campana, a Bath Iron Works employee

Futuristic: Resembling a 19th century ironclad warship the, USS Zumwalt uses a 21st century version of a 'tumblehome' hull

Hulking: First-in-class USS Zumwalt is the largest U.S. Navy destroyer ever built and took four years to complete. It is now being tested
La Nina could be appearing on the heels of one of the strongest El Ninos on record.

Typically less damaging than El Nino, La Nina is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

La Nina, Spanish for 'the girl', tends to occur unpredictably every two to seven years and severe occurrences have been linked to floods and droughts.

Now, researchers claim there is a 50 per cent chance that La Nina will arrive soon, bringing with it colder weather in many parts of the world.

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Click on this interactive Climate Central map to see how El Nino impacts the climate in the winter and summer

WHAT IS LA NINA? La Nina is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, compared to El Nino. When trade winds, blowing from east to west across the Pacific, are strong, equatorial waters are cool, suggesting the arrival of La Nina. The phenomenon tends to occur unpredictably every two to seven years. Severe occurrences have been linked to floods and droughts. La Nina's don't always follow after El Ninos, but based on historical records, it seems there is a chance that a strong El Nino is more likely to generate a La Nina. Advertisement

La Nina's don't always follow after El Ninos, but based on historical records, it seems there is a chance that a strong El Nino is more likely to generate a La Nina.

Climate Central provides an in-depth discussion about how the underlying physics of the El Nino cycle offers a reason to think that strong El Ninos lead to La Ninas.

'El Ninos generate large-scale waves in the ocean (these aren't like the waves that break on the water's surface),' it says.

'One set, called Kelvin waves, travel from west to east and cause warming, enhancing the El Nino.'

Another set of waves, called Rossby waves, travel in the opposite direction until they reach Indonesia, where they head back east.

When the Rossby waves hit El Nino, they cool it and bring the weather phenomenon to an end.

During a particularly strong El Nino, stronger Rossby waves will be created, which could trigger a La Nina event..

La Nina could bring a higher chance of a dry winter in drought-stricken California and more rainfall in Southeast Asia.

Last month, a US government weather forecaster said it sees a near 50 per cent chance La Nina could develop by the Northern Hemisphere as El Nino dissipates.

The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the US National Weather Service, in its monthly forecast maintained its projections that current El Nino conditions.

La Nina is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, compared to El Nino. It tends to occur unpredictably every two to seven years. Severe occurrences have been linked to floods and droughts. Pictured is how La Nina impacts global weather patterns

WHAT IS EL NINO? El Nino is caused by a shift in the distribution of warm water in the Pacific Ocean around the equator. Usually the wind blows strongly from east to west, due to the rotation of the Earth, causing water to pile up in the western part of the Pacific. This pulls up colder water from the deep ocean in the eastern Pacific. However, in an El Nino, the winds pushing the water get weaker and cause the warmer water to shift back towards the east. This causes the eastern Pacific to get warmer. But as the ocean temperature is linked to the wind currents, this causes the winds to grow weaker still and so the ocean grows warmer, meaning the El Nino grows. This change in air and ocean currents around the equator can have a major impact on the weather patterns around the globe by creating pressure anomalies in the atmosphere. Advertisement

The phenomenon, which has been linked to crop damage around the world, will likely dissipate by late Northern Hemisphere spring or early summer, it said.

'All models indicate that El Nino will weaken...(and) the chance of La Nina conditions increases into the fall,' the CPC said in its report

In February, CPC said it saw a chance of La Nina developing later this year, emerging for the first time since 2012.

The strong El Nino still underway has had a significant impact globally and is expected to affect temperature and precipitation patterns across the US in the upcoming months, the CPC said.

The ongoing El Nino, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, has been linked to serious crop damage, forest fires and flash floods.

Japan's weather bureau also said today there was a high possibility that a La Nina weather pattern would emerge in summer after the El Nino ends.

But as Climate Central points out, El Ninos and La Ninas are particularly difficult to predict at this time of year, and what happens remains to be seen.

Pictured is the current El Nino-La Nina forecast from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center and Columbia University's International Research Institute

'It's difficult to forecast strength of events. An added difficulty is that things change pretty quickly when an event is decaying  this is the time of year when the accuracy of forecasts is lower,' Catherine Ganter, a senior climatologist with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, told Climate Central in an email.

Last month, researchers warned that the tropical Pacific Ocean is see-sawing in an extreme way.

Natural cycles such as El Nino and La Nina events cause this sea level seesaw to tip back and forth, with the ocean near Asia on one end and the ocean near the Americas on the other.

But over the last 30 years, the seesaw's wobbles have been more extreme.

This causes variations in sea levels up to three times higher than those observed in the previous 30 years, scientists claim.
A passenger who was branded a 'potential time bomb' was offloaded from a transatlantic flight in northern Ireland after he changed his clothes three times and allegedly told an air stewardess that he could 'have all the f****** peanuts' he wanted.

A flight attendant claimed Jeremiah Mathis Thede pointed his finger at her face and demanded to know her name when she refused his request for additional snacks on the flight which was diverted last year.

Lisa Hall told Thede's trial: 'He became very angry and he told me he could have all the f***ing peanuts and crackers he wanted.'

Jeremiah Mathis Thede leaves Antrim Crown Court where he is accused of endangering a transatlantic flight. The pilot became concerned about his behaviour after he changed his clothes three times, the court heard

The United Airlines flight from Rome to Chicago diverted to Belfast International Airport after the alleged air rage incident last June.

United flight attendant Ms Hall gave her version of the in-flight encounter with US citizen Thede as she gave evidence at Antrim Crown Court.

She claimed Thede had come back to the galley area of the economy section a short time after take-off, when the seat belt sign was on, and asked for peanuts and crackers. He was given the snacks on that occasion but when he returned a short time later, Ms Hall said she told him there was only one snack per passenger.

Ms Hall claimed Thede became enraged and pointed his finger at her face.

'I felt like my heart was pounding, that something wasn't right with him,' she said.

She added: 'He started shouting at me before I could even finish my sentence.'

Asked to characterise his demeanour, Ms Hall said: 'He seemed extremely angry and it was just not normal behaviour.'

The flight attendant with almost 30 years of experience told the court she expressed concern to the head flight attendant that 'somebody was going to get hurt'.

Asked who, she added: 'Anybody confronting this passenger - any passenger on the aeroplane or any flight attendant.'

The Boeing 777 carrying 264 passengers was en route from Rome to Chicago on June 20 last year

A barrister representing Thede said his client denied swearing or pointing his finger during the conversation about the peanuts and crackers.

Thede, 42, from Berkeley, California, denies a charge of endangering an aircraft or persons in the aircraft.

The Boeing 777 carrying 264 passengers was flying to the US on June 20 last year when the captain made the decision to touch down at Belfast International Airport after concerns were raised about the behaviour of Thede.

On Friday the court heard that Joseph Oka, a United Airlines relief pilot, said he feared the actions of Thede could have been a distraction for something more sinister.

He told Antrim Crown Court: 'I was thinking, can this just be a minor incident? Our training is to treat every incident as not minor.

'This could really be a diversion to take attention away from the front.'

Mr Oka, a former US navy pilot with 19 years' experience at United, said he made the unprecedented recommendation to 'offload' Thede as the plane approached the end of UK airspace.

To the forefront of his mind was an extreme incident where a passenger on a previous flight had been involved in a prolonged struggle before the plane could land, he said.

Oka added: 'There could potentially be a time bomb on board. Do you want to deal with it on the ground or in the air, given that we were about to coast out?

'There would be a long period for someone to get hurt while trying to get to an airport.'

The relief pilot, who is legally required to sleep during the first three hours of the flight, described being woken twice and asked to deal with Thede, something that he claims 'never happens.'

There could potentially be a time bomb on board. Do you want to deal with it on the ground or in the air, given that we were about to coast out? Pilot Joseph Oka

Complaints included allegedly 'staring' at a female passenger and invading her personal space.

Thede, who had changed his clothes a number of times and was standing up rummaging through his bag in the overhead bin, had been given three warnings to change his conduct, the court was told.

Mr Oka did not witness any inappropriate behaviour but said he believed the accounts of the crew and concerned passengers.

He said: 'Another part of our training is that if any passenger's behaviour or conduct affects the safety or comfort of another passenger, they may be removed - and that was clearly happening.

'I just felt that the crew members' duties had been interfered with enough, we were reaching the point there we were coasting out and once you are over the Atlantic there are not a lot of places to land.

'It's better to offload this gentleman and continue with this flight.'

The court heard there was no evidence that Thede's actions were part of a wider distraction plot and shortly after the captain announced the plane was being diverted he appeared to be asleep.

He was only woken when police officers escorted him off, it was claimed.

It also emerged that although restraints were available they were not deployed.

The plane had to dump thousands of litres of fuel before making the unscheduled stop in Northern Ireland.

As the crew would have exceeded their legal flying hours if the aircraft had resumed the journey straight away, the passengers had to wait almost 24 hours before the plane could take off again, with many having to sleep on the terminal floor.

Thede, dressed in a light grey suit and white shirt, listened from the dock as Ms Hall gave evidence.
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With an outdoor fire pit that can be converted into the largest Champagne chiller at sea, this stunning superyacht could be the perfect toy for a party-loving playboy.

Measuring nearly 165ft, the concept yacht boasts several jaw-dropping amenities that will allow the owner and guests to holiday in the lap of luxury while sailing the Mediterranean or Caribbean.

In addition to the Champagne chiller, the three-deck vessel  called the Benetti Fisker 50  comes with a 12-person cinema that doubles as a gym, a spa, a hot tub that faces the ocean, bars and sunbathing areas.

Surrounded by comfy seats, the largest Champagne chiller at sea features on the concept superyacht, called the Benetti Fisker 50

The Champagne ice bath on the top deck can be converted into a fire pit on chilly nights, with enough seating for 12 passengers

Benetti said the 12-person movie theatre can be converted into a gym by sliding back the middle beds and removing the chairs

Measuring nearly 165ft, the Benetti Fisker 50 (for 50 metres) was designed by Italian shipyard Benetti and car designer Henrik Fisker

Unveiled at the Singapore Yacht Show, the superyacht was created by Benetti, the oldest shipyard in Italy, and renowned car designer Henrik Fisker, who co-founded Fisker Automotive.

Every room has been designed to optimise ocean views, although passengers may want to spend most of their time outdoors on the sun deck.

Depending on the season or mood, its fire pit or Champagne ice bath is surrounded by comfy seats, just steps from a bar, al fresco dining table and barbecue.

The middle deck features a movie theatre with a large screen and reclining beds. The area can be converted into a gym by sliding back the middle beds and removing the chairs.

Able to accommodate 12 guests and 11 crew, the yacht also has storage for water toys such as personal watercraft and a 21ft tender

In addition to a Champagne ice bath/fire pit, the superyacht's sun deck boasts a bar, al fresco dining table and a barbecue

The man deck has a reception area with bars facing the port and ocean, a large living room and floor-to-ceiling glass walls that slide open

The master suite boasts a royal bed, fireplace, stunning ocean views, walk-in closets, a library or office, curved TV and starlight ceiling

The main deck has a reception area with bars facing the port and ocean, a large living room and floor-to-ceiling glass walls that slide open and welcome the ocean breeze.

The master suite is at the end of the main deck, complete with a royal bed, walk-in closets, library or office, bathroom, fireplace, minibar, curved TV, starlight ceiling and a retractable ocean-view terrace.

Able to accommodate 12 guests and 11 crew, the yacht also has storage for water toys such as personal watercraft and a 21ft tender.

Benetti and Fisker went for a sporty design using lightweight carbon fibre accents, reclaimed wood, automated controls, solar panels and optional hybrid power.

Benetti and Fisker went for a sporty design using lightweight carbon fibre accents, reclaimed wood, automated controls and solar panels

The yacht's exterior boasts strong feature lines  from the front to rear on all three decks  that are inspired by a regressive wave

Energy from solar panels is used to power ambient lights on the deck and carbon fibre wings, illuminating the sea at night

The exterior boasts strong feature lines  from the front to rear on all three decks  that are inspired by a regressive wave.

The distinctive front end has three stainless steel bars intended to be imposing and powerful, while extended carbon fibre shark fins give it an aerodynamic and smooth appearance.

Solar energy is used to power ambient lights on the deck and carbon fibre wings, illuminating the sea at night.

Benetti said the yacht was designed in California and will be built at its shipyard in Livorno, Tuscany.
A woman who booked a luxury cruise with her husband to celebrate their retirement is taking legal action against the cruise operator, TUI UK Limited, after developing pneumonia on board.

Bernadette Lloyd, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, spent six days in hospital after returning from the 14-day cruise around the Caribbean on board the Thomson Celebration.

Instead of a trip of a lifetime, the couple not only contended with being ill, but also claim to have had to put up with a leaking air-conditioning unit dripping onto their bed and a bathroom flooding with dirty water.

Bernadette Lloyd, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire - pictured with her husband, Stephen - spent six days in hospital with pneumonia after returning from a 14-day cruise around the Caribbean on board the Thomson Celebration

Bernadette claims to have stayed in a cabin on the Thomson Celebration (left) that had leaking air conditioning and a bathroom that was flooded on occasion with dirty water

The 58-year-old travelled with her husband Stephen, 65, who also began to fell unwell during the cruise from January 24 until February 7 this year.

'It was a disappointing experience anyway as we had issues with our cabin,' said Bernadette, with the couple having paid 5,199 for the experience.

'On one occasion, the bathroom flooded with dirty water and the air conditioning unit dripped onto our bed throughout the cruise. It wasn't the way we expected to celebrate our retirement.

'During the last few days of the holiday both Stephen and I felt unwell. By the time we got home Stephen and I were coughing all the time and I just felt tired and weak - as if I was going to pass out. I felt as though I couldn't breathe. It was frightening.'

When they returned home, Stephen called an out-of-hours GP to examine Bernadette and the couple were told she needed urgent hospital treatment.

They went to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary where Bernadette was admitted and forced to spend six days in hospital being treated for pneumonia.

Stephen, who was also still feeling unwell, was prescribed antibiotics for a chest infection.

The couple are pictured here trying to relax on holiday - but Bernadette said that it was a 'disappointing experience'

Bernadette added: 'The trip was supposed to be a memorable start to a long and happy retirement, but we won't be looking back on it fondly. Being so unwell was a very frightening experience, not just for me but Stephen too. I was delirious, I was imagining all sorts of things and I just couldn't breathe.'

The couple have now instructed International Personal Injury Lawyers Irwin Mitchell to investigate the cause of their illness.

Irwin Mitchell has also been instructed to act on behalf of four others who were also passengers on board the cruise ship at the same time as Bernadette and Stephen.

Bernadette has said that the trip was supposed to be 'a memorable start to a long and happy retirement'

Following her illness, Bernadette decided to take legal action against TUI UK Limited. Specialist International Personal Injury lawyers Irwin Mitchell are investigating her claims

In addition the firm has also been instructed by groups of passengers who suffered illness on the same ship during voyages in 2014 and 2015, ruining what was supposed to be a relaxing getaway.

Nichola Blackburn, the expert in the specialist International Personal Injury team at Irwin Mitchell representing the passengers, said: 'This was supposed to be a special trip to celebrate a well-deserved retirement. But Bernadette and Stephen's experience was miserable due to the problems they endured.

'It is extremely concerning to hear of the couples illness suffered whilst on board the Thomson Celebration cruise. What was supposed to be an idyllic relaxing cruise resulted in Bernadette being hospitalised, with pneumonia and Stephen suffering from a chest infection.

'We have launched an investigation into what caused their illness and hope they get answers about how they came to fall ill.'
This is the shocking moment a furious mother berated American Airlines staff over a 12-hour flight delay that apparently ruined her familys dream holiday.

The profanity-laden meltdown was captured on camera as passengers surrounded a gate agent at New Yorks LaGuardia Airport and demanded to know when their flight to Miami would depart after being delayed due to bad weather.

In a rant delivered in front of her sobbing daughter, the unidentified woman claimed travellers were lied to and she demanded the airline cover the cost of her familys Disney cruise.

The woman, circled, is pictured berating and pointing at an American Airlines gate agent

Passengers looked on in stunned silence as the woman screamed at staff, but the situation soon deteriorated as more travellers became overwhelmed with frustration.

Airline staff eventually called police for assistance.

Video of the woman's tantrum has gone viral on the internet, with more than half a million views on Facebook alone.

When the clip begins, passengers are already crowded around the American Airlines employee at Gate D8 as they wait for an update on flight AA2240.

The woman, who was in a rage, shouts: I could have driven there in the four hours I have been waiting here.

Dont give me this bulls***. Youre all going to pay for my Disney cruise and youre going to pay for everything else here.

The profanity-laden meltdown of the passenger (circled) was captured on camera at New Yorks LaGuardia Airport

She begins to walk away but then turns around and returns to the desk, yelling: Im getting everyones name here because youre all in s***.

I want everything. Im sorry, you lied to me. You lied to me. Im sitting here since 8 oclock with a nine-year-old whos waiting for her vacation and my 13-year-old and me.

The camera then pans to a young girl who is in tears and clutching a plush toy.

As she slams her hand on the desk, the mother yells: If theres no flight just say theres no flight. Say theres no flight.

A girl, believed to be the womans oldest daughter, grabs her shoulder to calm her down, but she continues screaming, adding: Im getting what we want. Were waiting all our lives for this. Im waiting for this Disney cruise for a year already.

The gate agent didnt appear to respond to the woman.

An American Airlines spokesman said in an email that the flight to Miami was delayed because the inbound flight was not given clearance to land in New York and was diverted to Philadelphia due to bad weather.

Passengers had to wait for the plane to arrive from Philadelphia.

The spokesman wrote: 'We do apologize that passengers on American Airlines flight 2240 were delayed due to inclement weather at New Yorks LaGuardia Airport.

'The inbound aircraft, which was coming from Miami, diverted to Philadelphia due to high winds at LaGuardia.

'The Federal Aviation Administration had air traffic control ground stops/ground delay programs in effect due to weather, which resulted in the diversion of the aircraft.'

The flight was scheduled to depart LaGuardia on March 24 at 9pm, but didn't arrive in New York from Philadelphia until 12:42am. It departed LaGuardia the following morning, on March 25, at 8:50am, 12 hours behind schedule.

Jade Weng, the passenger who recorded the video, wrote on YouTube that some travellers had arrived up to two hours before the scheduled 9pm departure time, and the video of the woman's rant was recorded at 2am.

Weng accused staff of a 'lack of communication and sympathy', and said police were called in after employees were confronted by angry customers.

She said travellers were given food vouchers worth $12 and she was upset that they did not receive hotel vouchers.

When bad weather strikes, American Airlines offers a 'distressed passenger rate' voucher that is good for a discounted rate at an available local hotel, the carrier's spokesman said.

The voucher does not cover the entire cost of a hotel room, however, and the airline does not cover incidental charges such as meals, telephone calls or transportation.

Weng told MailOnline Travel that she filed a complaint but American Airlines informed her yesterday that it wouldn't compensate her any further.
Ashley Judd is using her celebrity influence to make a change and a genuine difference in the world.

It seems the 47-year-old actress has been inspired by Angelina Jolie as she is currently in the northern Jordanian city of Mafraq visiting refugees from war-torn Syria.

The Double Jeopardy star was seen cradling and embracing the children, and talking with other Syrian refugees in the camp.

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Actress Ashley Judd visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan, on Sunday

It seems the 47-year-old actress has been inspired by Angelina Jolie as she is currently in the northern Jordanian city of Mafraq visiting refugees from war-torn Syria

Close to her heart: It was a bittersweet experience for the generous actress as she's seen here smiling

A Syrian refugee woman places a veil on the actress

Goodwill Ambassador: Ashley can be seen in a tender embrace with one of the individuals in the camp

Angelina famously visited Syrian refugees in recent months.

During her humanitarian, the mother of six said that the issues in Syria have created a wave of human suffering.

Ashley has clearly taken the same stance on the matter and can be seen emotionally and visually moved by the individuals in the camp.

The American actress has never had children of her own and for her there is a very good reason for that.

She told the Sunday Mail that she feels it would be selfish to procreate with the amount of children who are starving to death in impoverished countries.

Respectful: Ashley was seen wearing a large silk head cloth, also known as Shambar out of respect

The controversial statement attracted worldwide attention and as a result Ashley received a fair share of criticism.

The actress believes it isn't fair for people to put their resources into making their own children when those resources can help children that are already born and suffering.

A natural: Despite choosing to have no children of her own, Ashley looks content cradling the baby

She strongly believes that through service to refugee camps and impoverished countries we can transform the world into a place where no child ever needs to be born into poverty or abuse again.

Ashley says she already feels like a mother to all the children already out there. She likes nurturing orphaned or abandoned children who need love, care and attention.

Just like the Lion King! Ashley can be seen hoisting the child into the air like Mufasa raised Simba

Sweet embrace: The children looked just as happy to see Ashley as she was to see them

Ouch! Ashley was in good spirits as she was seen playfully biting the child's hand

Peekaboo: It's as if motherhood comes naturally to her as she's seen playing games with one of the children

Meet and greet: Ashley met a lot of people in the camp and seemed overjoyed to be able to spend time with them all

Judd is best known for her movie thrillers High Crimes and Kiss The Girls. She has also bee in 2012's Missing. And in 2014 she appeared in Divergent.

The beauty - whose sister is country singer Wynonna - will next appear in Trafficked and Good Kids.

She also will pop up in the reboot of Twin Peaks and the sequel Tangles: Before Ever After.

Judd is best known for her movie thrillers High Crimes and Kiss The Girls. She has also bee in 2012's Missing. And in 2014 she appeared in Divergent

A sailor went to sea sea sea: The pair looked like they were having fun during their clapping game

New experiences: Ashley learnt a lot on her trip as she was seen speaking with one of the local doctors

Jolie, meanwhile, has been in London with her family.

Her husband Brad Pitt has been shooting his sequel to World War Z in the country.

The pair reportedly have rented a massive mansion that is more than suitable for her six children.

Supermum: Angelina has six children of her own which has been a huge incentive for her to help suffering child refugees

Due to Angelina's dedicated service to the cause of refugees she's been asked to deliver a keynote speech on the global refugee crisis.

The Maleficent actress will give the speech in the programme, World On The Move. The show will be broadcast from the BBC Radio Theatre and will also air across several BBC shows on May 16.
He made his name as bad boy Warren Fox in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks.

But Jamie Lomas, 40, showed a more sensitive side during a photoshoot for Hello! magazine in which he affectionately posed with his daughter Polly, five.

The doting dad placed a loving arm around the youngster, who perched on a surface beside the actor, and flashed a pearly white smile.

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Doting dad:Jamie Lomas, 40, showed a more sensitive side during a photoshoot for Hello! magazine in which he affectionately posed with his daughter Polly, five

The soap star looked like he couldn't be any happier as he sat cheek to cheek with his little girl, who sported a pink headband over her flowing blonde locks.

The pair share the same blue eyes and clearly have a close bond. Jamie posed in a plain grey jumper and light blue trousers, sporting stubble and well-coiffed hair.

As he prepares to make a return to Hollyoaks, despite his character being killed off in 2011, the star insists his main aim is to make it in Hollywood.

The former husband of Coronation Street star Kym Marsh moved to America in 2012 to try and launch a career stateside.

A day at the races: Hollyoaks stars Jessica Fox, Stephanie Waring, Kirsty-Leigh Porter and Jamie recently attended Ladies Day at Aintree

He headed back to the UK a year later and signed on to play Jake Stone in EastEnders.

Speaking to Hello!, he said: 'Los Angeles is a massive draw for me. Acting is something that drives me and I won't stop until I achieve my goals. Hollywood might not be every actor's dream, but it certainly is mine.'

During his four years playing Warren Fox his storylines included drug dealing, murder and the 'Who Pushed Clare' mystery.

In the latest trailer for the show, a soaped-up Warren can be seen grinning at the camera from a shower, before asking: 'Did you miss me?'

This was a nod to hit 1980s US soap Dallas, which killed off popular character Bobby Ewing (played by Patrick Duffy) only to bring him back a year later.

Horsing around: Kirsty-Leigh looked to be having a blast as Jamie looked intently at the course

Bad boy: In March, it was announced Bury-born Jamie would be reprising the role of Hollyoaks bad boy Warren Fox

Ewing's first scene took place in a shower, with the previous season explained away as a dream.

During his Hello! interview, Jamie revealed he has taken up meditation and chanting.

'I've learnt a lot about myself going over to LA and being there alone,' he said.

The actor was introduced to it by James DR Hickox, director of his most recent film The Importance Of Being Andy.

'I am very spiritual and learnt about chanting and meditation. Meditation does completely change you.

'It helped relieve me of a lot of stress and angst and made me calmer.

Read the full article in Hello! out now

'I used to be stressed all the time and that doesn't get you anywhere in life,' he admitted.

'Everyone has got a story and everybody is going through their own turmoil and challenges.

'I feel that over the past few years I have a better way of thinking and have started to become a better person.'

Jamie has a son named Billy, 10, with his former girlfriend Haley Lever.

His relationship with ex-wife Marsh produced a son named Archie Jay in 2009. The baby arrived 18 weeks early and died moments after being born.

The couple's second child Polly was born in 2011. The pair went on to marry a year later only to divorce in 2014.

'My life has changed a lot since I was last in Hollyoaks,' Jamie said.

'I am going back in a completely different mindset, older and wiser. My priorities have changed. I want to be a great dad - that is my purpose in life.'

Read the full article in Hello! out now.
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There were more F-bombs than awards doled out at the MTV Movie Awards.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Kevin Hart perfectly encapsulated a raunchy night with a profanity laden rap about Leonardo DiCaprio's infamous bear-mauling scene in The Revenant.

The track was supposed to be about the year's films but there was clearly one focus as they repeated the refrain 'Leo got (expletive) by a bear.'

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Diss track: Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Kevin Hart performed a raunchy rap as hosts of the 2016 MTV Movie Awards at Warner Bros Studios in Los Angeles California

Deep burn: The duo took aim at Leonardo DiCaprio's infamous bear-mauling scene in The Revenant

The two talented stars were not the only ones that poked fun at the expense of the 41-year-old actor as Adam Devine, Anthony Mackie and Rebel Wilson all got in on the action.

Earlier in the night, the two hosts got their post-apocalypse on to kick off gala award show.

The two hosts opened it Mad Max style by riding through Warner Bros. Studios strapped to the front of a tricked-out truck.

The event featured plenty of sketches, profanity and movie trailers but there were still some gongs handed out as Star Wars: The Force Awakens took the top prize at the star-studded gala.

He's got bars: The Rock looked buff while performing the catchy tune

Hitting it out of the park: The two looked good as they talked about movies of the last year

Bear necessities: The two funnymen danced in a train with female background dancers wearing bear suits

Getting in on the action: Adam Devine (left) and Anthony Mackie performed their own verses about where they were when news of that scene broke out

Raunchy: Rebel Wilson also joined in on the fun as she said joked that she had relations with the bear when she found out about Leo's infamous scene

The audience at Warner Bros. Studios waved what looked like red and blue lightsabers as star Daisy Ridley and director J.J. Abrams accepted the final golden popcorn trophy at Saturday night's ceremony.

The prize capped off the irreverent awards show, which presents fan-voted film awards and touts upcoming releases.

The Force Awakens, the third-highest grossing film of all time, led with 11 nominations and beat out blockbusters such as Jurassic World and Avengers: Age of Ultron for movie of the year. Lead star Daisy Ridley won best breakthrough performance.

Post-apocolyptic fun: Hosts The Rock and Kevin opened up the gala in fine form

Wow factor: The action man and comedienne rode on a large vehicle for the Mad Max-inspired entrance

Buff: The Rock showed off his impressive physique as he mimicked the guitar player from the movie

Locked up: Kevin could be seen at the front of a vehicle with a face restraint on

Big reveal: The Ride Along actor seemed to have fun with the gag

'What an entrance': Even host Kevin was voiced his excitement about the intricate opening

Intricate: Several extras were dressed as the Mad Max characters

Explosive: It was quite the grand entrance

Ready for action: Dwayne shared this photo of he and Kevin right before their Mad Max-inspired opening

Having fun: The Rock and Kevin put on a high-energy monologue together

Action man: Dwayne beat up a few stuntmen during the monologue

Knock out: Kevin did not seem to impressed as he said The Rock didn't even touch the guys

Dynamic duo: Kevin and The Rock came out as Batman and Superman after a commercial break

Ouch: Jaden Smith covered his mouth after a joke about Samuel L. Jackson having a 'lazy eye'

Hitting out: The two stars made fun of all the stars who played Marvel comic book heroes

Super studs: The two posed for a photo together later during the show as The Rock alluded to his next role as super villain Black Adam in the upcoming Shazam movie

'It's especially amazing to be part of a film that represents all genders - two genders - and races and ages in such a positive and aspirational way,' Ridley said.

They set the tone early for the evening as they opened with curse words and insults, at one point dressing up as Batman and Superman to throw barbs at the A-list superhero actors in attendance.

Will Smith and Melissa McCarthy each received special honors, and their heartfelt speeches were respites of sincerity in an expletive-laden show that featured more F-bombs than awards.

Smith, who was joined at the ceremony in Los Angeles by sons Trey and Jaden, joked that he thought his honour was 'code for the old-ass dude award'.

Eyes on the prize: JJ Abrams and Daisy Ridley accepted as they got the biggest award of the night: Movie Of The Year for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

Forgot your trousers? Samuel L. Jackson and Alexander Skarsgard, who co-star in the forthcoming The Legend of Tarzan, presented the last award of the night

The force was with them: The director said: 'It was an incredible honour to be a part of the Star Wars Saga'

Pleased: The duo were happy as they crowd cheered for them

Fantastic four: The duo were joined by the hosts at the end of the event

Feeling good: Daisy won the award for Breakout Star

Tremendous trio: She was given the prize by Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick and Adam Devine

Paying their respects: The trio looked very happy for the relative newcomer

Teamwork: Actress Daisy Ridley and director JJ Abrams from Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens were spotted in the audience before taking home the biggest award of the night

'This is absolutely beautiful,' he said. 'I released my first record when I was 17. I'm 47 years old now. This June marks 30 years in this business.

'I'm dedicated to being a light in this world.'

Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, who presented Smith with his award, said: 'Will is a champion for diversity in Hollywood, blazing a path for actors by showing that someone of any colour can play any role, and can open any movie and win any award and be the biggest freaking movie star in the whole world.'

Actress Queen Latifah also paid tribute to Smith and described him as the 'king of all blockbusters'.

Legend: Will Smith had one of the biggest honours of the night as he received the Generation Award

Gorgeous: Halle Berry was one of the presenters of the prize

Lovely in lace: Halle rocked a very revealing number

Tremendous twosome: Queen Latifah was also a presenter

Honoured: Will looked happy to see his two old friends on stage

Rapper's delight: The Lonely Island performed a medley of Will's hits related to television and movies

Proud: Will was flanked in between his two sons Trey and Jaden while seated in the audience

Just the two of us: He gave Jaden a kiss on the cheek before hitting the stage

Sheer genius: Melissa McCarthy looked gracious as she received the special Comedic Genius award

Let's go: The 45-year-old funnywoman crowd surfed before hitting the stage

Enjoying the show: She was spotted hanging out in the audience before accepting the prize

Excited: Melissa was greeted by several of her happy fans

Smith told the audience that he is 'dedicated to being a light in this world' when he accepted the show's highest honor, the Generation Award.

'I want to help people,' Smith said after being introduced by Queen Latifah and Halle Berry. 'I want to be a light. I want to display love. I want to play roles that have dignity. I want to help in this world.'

McCarthy, who crowd-surfed her way to the stage to claim the Comedic Genius Award, said that while she is the first woman to receive the recognition, 'I am certainly, certainly not the first one to deserve it.'

Getting intimate: Adam Devine and Rebel Wilson shared a smooch as they won Best Kiss

Dishevelled: They even rolled around on the floor while making-out

Hilarious: Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele introduced the Best Virtual Performance gong

Happy camper: Amy Poehler looked excited when her name was called out

Thankful: She tried to keep her speech 'PG' as she was accepting for her role in Inside Out

Together again: She said she was going to pretend she was accepting the award for Parks And Recreation as she called out Chris Pratt, who starred in the sitcom with her

Magical: Woody Harrelson, Lizzie Caplan and Jesse Eisenberg presented the Action performance award as they star in Now You See Me 2 together

Action man: Chris Pratt thanked several action heroes who came before him in his speech

Double winner: He also won the Best Male Performance gong

Funnymen: They presented the Best Leading Man award to Chris

Swoll patrol: Seth Rogen wore a bodysuit to look buff like co-star Zac Efron

Pep talk: Zac apologised to Seth's testicles

Juiced: Seth became so angry that he ripped the trophy in half before nominees were announced

She thanked everyone who buys tickets to her movies or watches her shows. 'You are absolutely the single reason I get to keep doing what I love doing so much,' she said.

Charlize Theron won the first award of the night: best female performance for Mad Max: Fury Road. She thanked the film's director, her son, Jackson, and daughter, August.

'The story of Fury Road is in part a story of the power of women and the power to create our own destinies,' Theron said as she accepted the award in her daughter's name.

Hanging out: Ryan Reynolds was pointed out in the audience as he won two awards for Deadpool

Big man on campus: Ryan looked excited as he was given the Best Comedic Performance award

What a man! Salt-N-Pepa came out and performed as several Deadpools danced

Dapper: He even joked about his sex life with Blake Lively in his speech

Double trouble: Later on in the night he won again for Best Fight

Quite the pair: Emilia Clarke and Andy Samberg presented the Best Fight award

Whiplashed: Miles Teller was the first presenter of the night

Big winner: Charlize Theron took home the golden popcorn in the Best Female Performance category for her role in Mad Max: Fury Road

What a crowd: Several men dressed as Mad Max: Fury Road extras stayed for the speech

Pitch Perfect 2 co-stars Rebel Wilson and Adam Devine created an intimate destiny for themselves as they claimed the prize for best kiss, pretending to be overcome with passion and collapsing in an embrace on the stage.

Other winners included Chris Pratt (action performance for Jurassic World), Amy Poehler ('virtual performance' as Joy in Inside Out) and Straight Outta Compton, which won for true story. Ryan Reynolds won two prizes for 'Deadpool': comedic performance and best fight, which he shared with Ed Skein.

Reynolds said he worked for 10 years to get Deadpool made, but he added that 'it was not all unicorns and cocaine' during production.

Tremendous trio: Charlize, Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain presented together

Pretty in pink: Ariana Grande performed Dangerous Woman

Doing what she does best: She tried to add a glamourous touch to the award show

Luxurious: She sported a strapless pink number with a white fur shawl

Racy: Halsey showed off her body in a white sexy cut-out bodysuit as she performed

Hole-y moly: Her outfit was very revealing

Super: She began the performance much more clothed as she wore a cape

The MTV Movie Awards serves as a marketing platform for summer movies. Most presenters were principals from upcoming films, including Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele of Keanu, out later this month.

Theron took the stage with Jessica Chastain and Chris Hemsworth, her co-stars from The Huntsman: Winter's War.

Devine presented alongside Anna Kendrick and Zac Efron  the three star in Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates.

Looking good: Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid certainly seemed to be enjoying the show

Proud of their dad: Jaden and Trey Smith were spotted in the crowd as their famous father Will accepted his award

Using the force: Hugh Sheridan and Rebel had fun with the lightsabers given out

Who knew they were friends? Model Sami Miro, her boyfriend Zac, Melissa and her husband Ben Falcone posed for a snap together backstage

Other presenters included Seth Rogen, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Common, Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid. Ariana Grande, Halsey and Salt-N-Pepa provided musical performances.

The show also included never-before-seen footage from Suicide Squad and Captain America: Civil War. Eddie Redmayne unveiled the world premiere of the trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Ridley and Abrams accepted the night's top prize from Samuel L. Jackson and Alexander Skarsgard, who co-star in the forthcoming The Legend of Tarzan. Skarsgard came onstage wearing a tuxedo jacket and no pants, saying: 'You got to give the fans a little skin.'

The MTV Movie Awards are set to air Sunday on MTV, Comedy Central and other Viacom channels.

'Legit chemistry is rare in Hollywood': The Rock shared this photo of he and Kevin bonding on Saturday
Their octopus and kale dish won the chef's choice on Sunday night during My Kitchen Rules.

Now mother and son Anna and Jordan are preparing to see their personally created course on the menu of Chef Colin Fassnidge's Sydney restaurant 4Fourteen.

While appearing on Channel Seven's Morning Show Jordan joked as he called on the celebrity restaurant to pay up for his signature seafood dish.

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Gearing up: My Kitchen Rules' mother and son Anna and Jordan are preparing to see their personally created course on the menu of Chef Colin Fassnidge's Sydney restaurant 4Fourteen

'I have Colin on speed dial, so I am just going to call him up and be like Colin five percent of all royalties, swing it my way,' he laughed.

Jordan, 23, went on to add: 'I am going to fly over to Sydney to taste my dish and then I can critic it and say like "Colin you need more sauce, you've over cooked the octopus".'

While he joked around on camera his red-faced mother commented 'you're so cheeky' before she gushed with pride over their latest achievement.

Sense of humour: In the pair's latest interview Jordan joked as he called on the celebrity restaurant (pictured: Colin) to pay up for his signature seafood dish

Nervous: While he joked around on camera his red-faced mother commented 'you're so cheeky' before she gushed with pride over their latest achievement

'I have always wanted to become a chef and it was a dream come true cooking in a proper restaurant kitchen,' Anna gloated.

'It was simply unbelievable'.

She went on to add that she and Jordan had thought they would be sent through to sudden death before of the risky dish they had cooked up.

'Right up to the last minute we really thought we were going through to sudden death because of the chances we had taken,' the mother explained.

Jordan went on to add that they were both 'so shocked' with the outcome and that 'it's such a big honour' to have their dish on Colin's menu.

Proud moment: Anna went on to explain: 'I have always wanted to become a chef and it was a dream come true cooking in a proper restaurant kitchen'

Memories: Upon hearing the news from the professional chef on Sunday night Jordan turned around and exclaimed to his shocked mother, 'Anna, you're a gun,' while wrapping his arm around her

Upon hearing the news from the professional chef on Sunday night Jordan turned around and exclaimed to his shocked mother, 'Anna, you're a gun,' while wrapping his arm around her.

Colin praised Anna and said she should think about a new career as a chef, like she's always dreamed.

'Anna, I know you've dreamed of being a chef, it's not too late to change careers,' he said.

Anna was in shock and replied: 'I've always wanted to be a chef, but I don't know,' which made Jordan add: 'she's retired.'
In his tuxedo and bow tie he looked the height of style and sophistication.

But it was the fact Alexander Skarsgard appeared to have forgotten to put his trousers on that drew squeals of delight, not to mention more than a few hearty guffaws, at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles this weekend.

The True Blood hunk showed off his muscular legs, and a little bit more, as he presented the movie of the year award with the able assistance of Samuel L Jackson at the event, which was held at the Warner Bros Studios.

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No smalls feat: Alexander Skarsgard stole the show from Samuel L Jackson by wearing no trousers at the MTV Movie Awards this weekend

The 39-year-old Swedish beefcake giggled with glee as he showed off his toned thighs in his tight white underpants, which he wore along with a tuxedo jacket, shirt, tie black socks and shiny leather shoes.

His fellow award presenter was also wearing a wide grin on his face as he stood next to the popular star, who became something of a sex symbol due to his performances, sometimes in the nude, as vampire Eric Northman on True Blood.

Just before his memorable appearance he posed up with the Pulp Fiction favourite in a black sarong, which was garnished with some pink lettering.

Figure of fun: The actor giggled as he stood in front of the packed audience in just his underpants

Briefs highlights: Alexander took great delight in flashing hims smalls from every angle for the fans

Pulp friction: The Shaft star did not look very impressed when he saw his co-presenter's lack of trousers

The hunk has something of a track record for stealing attention by flashing the flesh.

He stole the show in the trailer for Legend Of Tarzan last month, where he stripped off for epic scenes where he does battle in just his trousers.

Indeed he even managed to outshine the generously proportioned Margot Robbie, who is also starring as his wife Jane, after he flaunted his muscular physique and ripped six pack in an explosive battle scene in the short clip.

Larger than life: The gregarious Scandinavian's antics left even Samuel lost for words

Unprofessional: It is unlikely the Pulp Fiction star had to endure such behaviour when working with John Travolta

Feeling Windu in here? Star Wars actor Sam was surely emotional when everyone started waving their sabres

By contrast Margot looked far from her usual polished self as a brunette as she fights for her husband's freedom.

The film is set in the years since since the man once known as Tarzan left the jungles of Africa for a gentrified life as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke with his beloved other half.

He also famously posed naked on a toilet when he reached the South Pole while taking part in a challenge for UK servicemen charity Walking With The Wounded in December.

Skirting the issue: He posed up in a black skirt just before he made his showstopping appearance on stage

Sarong farewell: But it was not long before the confident actor was showing off his smalls

Monkey business: He stripped off for epic scenes where he does battle in just his trousers in the trailer for The Legend Of Tarzan

Toilet humour: He sat nude on a toilet after he reached the South Pole while taking part in a challenge for UK servicemen charity Walking With The Wounded

Heartthrob: He became something of a sex symbol due to his performances, sometimes in the nude, as vampire Eric Northman in True Blood
Whether it is something they wanted it not, the world still will have a chance to hear verses from Nicki Minaj's 'boyfriend'.

Despite a judge initially blocking Meek Mill from recording new music while under house arrest, the star has now been given a green light to release songs, TMZ reports.

Last week, the 28-year-old rapper did a new remix of his nemesis Drake's Summer Sixteen track, leading to some question whether he violated the conditions of his sentence.

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Music to his ears: A judge has ruled Meek Mill (seen here doing community service in December) can release new music while under house arrest - but he cannot make money from it

However, the website reports the diss track was all above board as far as the legal system is concerned - whether Drake thinks the same, remains to be seen.

According to TMZ, sources connected to the case said Meek got an order of clarification after his sentencing.

Not an issue: Last week, the 28-year-old rapper did a new remix of his nemesis Drake's Summer Sixteen track, leading to some question whether he violated the conditions of his sentence

The judge decided to allow the rapper to release music in order to 'protect his brand,'.

However, there is a provision - he cannot make any money off these new tracks so has to drop them on free platforms like SoundCloud and YouTube.

This is about the only good news Meek has heard since starting his sentence which requires him to serve a minimum of three months house arrest for parole violations with a possibility of up to 12 months depending on a judge's review.

On Thursday on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Nicki declared that she no longer considers Meek her boyfriend but instead called him 'a boy who likes me'.

She continued: 'Were still figuring each other out. And in fact, I dont even want to say that Im in a relationship anymore.'

'He and I are just two souls passing through the universe and I don't know what's going to happen.'

While Nicki has been seen with a big engagement ring - two different ones in fact - on her hand, the rapper said Meek promised her three rings and the third will be an engagement.

No doubt her words were a big blow for Meek, who has a lot on his plate at the moment.

In February, Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley sentenced the House Party rapper to between six months to a year in a county jail but allowed him to serve his time at home.

Ouch: On Thursday on the Ellen DeGeneres Show , Nicki declared that she no longer considers Meek her boyfriend but instead called him 'a boy who likes me'

After his first 90 days of house arrest, Judge Brinkley - whom Meek once branded a b***h' in one of his songs - will evaluate the rapper and decide of the house arrest will continue.

He can leave home only to do community service with groups serving adults, not young people and the judge also ordered him to spend six more years on probation.

This comes at a critical time in Meek's career as he battles to keep fans and stay relevant after a very public fight with rapper Drake and then had yet another beef with 50 Cent.

Punishment: In February, Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley sentenced the House Party rapper to between six months to a year in a county jail but allowed him to serve his time at home

Prosecutors successfully argued that Meek had violated the conditions of his probation for a drug and gun conviction from 2009.

Prosecutors told the judge that Meek took a trip without obtaining a travel voucher, namely to go to New York for a concert and also to join Nicki in various cities including going to the American Music Awards with his love.

Meek also reportedly failed a drug urine test.
My Kitchen Rules teams Eve and Jason and Lauren and Carmine battled it out in the sudden death round of the show on Monday night.

But sent packing was married couple and 'soulmates' Eve and Jason.

And indeed they had a graceful exit, with Eve saying to camera after being eliminated: 'Our experience on My Kitchen rules has been absolutely unforgettable.'

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'Absolutely unforgettable': 'Soulmates' Eve and Jason were sent packing after the sudden death cook off with Lauren and Carmine on Monday night's episode of My Kitchen Rules

'We came into this competition a really close couple and we are leaving even closer,' she added.

'Not one single regret,' she said.

Jason added to camera: 'We've had an absolute ball. It's just been a blast.'

When the pair - who hail from Victoria - heard the news from the judges that they were going home, Pete Evans commended them saying they should be 'proud' of how far they have come on the show.

'Not one single regret': Eve gracefully exited the competition saying the couple regretted nothing on the show

Surviving another day: Carmine and Lauren have survived the intense cook off and make it back into the competition

Eve said in front of the judges and her rivals: 'I think we're a good team, I'm very proud of Jason.'

Manu added: 'We're gong to miss those chops!'

Eve and Jason had cooked up an entree of choux gnocchi with spring vegetables and roast tomato sauce, lamb cutlets with parsnip puree, mushrooms, and jus for main and a dessert of lemon cheesecake with citrus curd and pepita crumb.

Carmine and Lauren - from South Australia - meanwhile made an entree of tortellini in Brodo (broth), beef brisket with mushy peas and roasted bone marrow for a main and a dessert of apple crumble tart with cinnamon ice cream.

Eve and Jason scored a total of 35/60, while Carmine and Lauren scored 46/60 from the judges including Pete, Colin Fassnidge, Manu Feildel, and guest judges Karen Martini, Guy Grossi and Liz Egan.

Entree: Eve and Jason served for entree choux gnocchi with spring vegetables and roast tomato sauce

Mains: The married couple delivered lamb cutlets with parsnip puree, mushrooms and jus for the mains

Cheesecake with a difference: The pair served lemon cheesecake with citrus curd and pepita crumb for dessert

Not so impressed: Judges weren't too impressed with Eve and Jason's gnocchi but commended their dessert

In the elimination, among their feedback, Liz commented that Eve and Jason needed to get their 'technique right' for their gnocchi.

'What should have been light and fluffy was actually quite heavy,' she said.

She added however that their lamb was cooked well, but the 'rest of the dish was a bit flat.'

She also told them 'well done' on their dessert.

Karen Martini meanwhile said she was 'expecting little pillows' with their entree.

Colin commended them on how their lamb was cooked as if it was in a 'professional restaurant,' but their garnish could have been better.

But Pete said their main 'didn't feel like Eve and Jason cooking,' just being meat and vegetables on a plate.

Guy Grossi commended them with their dessert, saying how much he loved it, but it was not that good presentation wise.

Entree: Lauren and Carmine produced an entree of tortellini in Brodo broth

Mains: The South Australian couple then served beef brisket with mushy peas and roasted bone marrow

Tarte: And finished with apple crumble tart and cinnamon ice cream for dessert

He also added before giving his score that he was 'disappointed' with their entree.

For Carmine and Lauren meanwhile, judges noted how their broth for their entree was perfectly flavoured, but the pasta could have been worked more.

Colin said their main and the ingredients used, was as if they were talking chef's 'language.'

Manu noted how with their dessert they should have plated the food up faster and not be baking with ten minutes left on the clock, but they all loved the taste of the dish.

'I think we're a good team': As judge Pete Evans told the couple they should be proud of their efforts, Eve agreed that the pair made a good team

Colin in particular noted: 'In four years here here, I've only had one dessert as good and that was in the grand final, so for me, that was a ten out of ten.'

Carmine got teary when he got the judges feedback, clearly overwhelmed with it all.

After Carmine and Lauren were revealed as the winners of the cook-off, they didn't hold back about their rivals on a piece to camera.

'We've sent another team packing,' Carmine said, with Lauren added: 'Cya.'

During the cooking process, onlooking teams including Jordan and Anna and Cookie and Chris noted how slow Jason was cutting vegetables.

'We're gong to miss those chops!' Manu expressed how much he admired the couple and how much he would missing seeing Jason's sideburns

'So slow!' Mother and son duo Anna and Jordan commented on how slow Jason was

Cookie noted on a piece to camera: 'Chops' cutting today, it's not at its most frenetic pace,' he said with a laugh.

Anna and Jordan added on a piece to camera 'so slow!' and said it in slow motion as they laughed.

'Like that turtle that beat the hare, would easily beat Jason,' Jordan said.

'Slow and steady wins the race if you're a turtle but not today, you're up against a rabbit.'

Both teams in the cook off however got their dishes for all courses served up on time.
He is the son of one of the biggest in the business.

And Arnold Schwarzenegger's mini-me love child Joseph Baena looked ready to get pumped himself after he headed out in Malibu on Sunday.

The 18-year-old was quite the Austrian sapling as he headed to his vehicle in the California celebrity enclave.

Austrian sapling: Arnold Schwarzenegger's mini-me love child Joseph Baena looked strong as he headed out in Malibu on Sunday

Given how close he was to nearby Venice, perhaps the strapping young lad felt like pumping some iron at the famous Muscle Beach area so he could look even more like his Terminator star father Arnold.

He certainly looked quite the specimen in a tight black T-shirt, Bermuda shorts and flip-flops, with a rear-facing baseball cap rounding off his beach bum look.

Joseph seemed a man on a mission as he checked his mobile phone before hopping into his Jeep, which was a present from the Conan The Barbarian actor, who the most successful bodybuilder of his day before heading into showbusiness.

He was sired after the True Lies star had a fling he had in the 1990's with Mildred Patricia Baena, the Schwarzenegger housekeeper.

It only came to light that the action hero had fathered a love child in 2011, when his wife Maria Shriver, 60, separated from the action man and moved out of their home.

Texting his gym partner? Perhaps the strapping young lad was organising an iron pumping session

Chip off the old block: Joseph bears a striking resemblance to Arnold in his Austrian Oak years

The actor himself was unaware he was Josephs father for many years, and told 60 minutes that it wasnt until the boy 'started looking like me, that's when I kind of got it. I put things together'.

Arnold and Maria have four children - Katherine, 26, Christina, 24, Patrick, 22, and Christopher, 18, who was born just five days before his half-brother.

While the Junior star may not have as close a relationship with Joseph as with his other kids, he is said to have bought him and his mother a four-bedroom home with a swimming pool in Bakersfield.

Last year the teenager graduated from Frontier High School in Bakersfield, California.

He also gifted the teenager a $30,000 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon for Christmas in 2014, a month before he got his drivers license.

Must have been hard to wrap: He headed off in his Jeep, which was a Christmas present from his father
She's used to wearing designer brands when she struts down the runway.

And it appears Jesinta Campbell like to applies the same rules to her every day life, including as she sweats it out at the gym.

The 24-year-old was spotted walking to her training session in Sydney's eastern suburbs on Monday decked out head-to-toe in branded clothing with a leather Gucci handbag to top it all off.

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Designer duds: Jesinta Campbell was spotted strolling to her gym in Sydney's eastern suburbs on Monday in an all-designer attire

Jesinta looked ready for action as she sported a black and white striped Camilla and Marc singlet top and black Nike tights with trainers by the brand as well.

The brunette beauty also covered her eyes with round tortoise shell designer sunglasses, while her engagement ring sparkled on her left hand.

Keeping her hair tied back in a bun, Jesinta highlighted her make-up free complexion.

Despite the hefty price tag attached to the complete outfit, Jesinta appeared relaxed as she strolled through her neighbourhood chatting on her phone before heading into the training session.

Trendy: The 24-year-old sported a black and white striped Camilla and Marc singlet top, black Nike tights while she slung a black leather Gucci bag over her shoulder

Pricey: Despite the price tag of the workoutwear the model looked relaxed as she chatted on her phone before going into her training session

It's been a busy few days for the former Miss Universe Australia after she attended the Women of the Future Awards launch with First Lady Lucy Turnbull and Liberal Party deputy leader Julie Bishop at Kirribilli House on Friday.

Cutting a statuesque figure as she posed next to the two powerful women, Jesinta once again showed her appreciation designers wearing a double-breasted brown coat by Camilla and Marc and ankle strap black platform heels.

Having completed her duties at the launch, the Gold Coast-born beauty then took to Instagram to flaunt her gym-honed legs on Saturday, showing why she's still a photographers dream.

Jesinta's toned legs were on display as she wore a fitted suede skirt that featured a sultry side slit.

Relaxed look: Jesinta finished her active-wear look with a pair of red and black Nike trainers and rounded tortoiseshell shades while her engagement ring sparkled on her left hand

Sweating it out: The brunette showcased her natural beauty keeping her hair tied back in a bun, highlighting her make-up free complexion

'Saturday's in @viktoriaandwoods #viktoriaandwoods,' the fiancee of Lance 'Buddy' Franklin captioned the snap, as she posed on a set of stairs.

She paired the tan coloured suede skirt with a light sweater and complementing coat draped over her slender shoulders while accentuating her model height with a pair of sky-high heels.

Jesinta completed her look by pulling her brown tresses back in a loose bun, and wearing a pair of sassy sunglasses.

Quite the gym bag! For the training session, the David Jones ambassador took along a leather Gucci tote

Leggy lady: On Saturday Jesinta Campbell proved she's still a photographer's dream, showing off her runway ready pins in a stunning social media snap
Dita von Teese looked a little overdressed for lunch at Century City Food Court on Sunday.

Maintaining her polished glamour in red lipstick and retro spectacles, the brunette was far too refined to be queuing for her own hot soup at an Asian eatery inside the Los Angeles mall.

Dita, 43, was joined by a dapper male pal as she enjoyed a day off from her US and Australia burlesque tour Strip Strip Hooray.

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Courting attention: Dita von Teese was spotted queuing for her own food with a male friend as she enjoyed a day off from her Burlesque tour at Century City in Los Angeles

Wearing more layers than she's famous for sporting, the brunette blended in with a burgundy coat and flat black shoes.

She carried a vintage Chanel handbag and sipped from a wine glass with her red lips pursed to match a perfect crimson manicure.

Dita poked fun at the glamour of her weekend, when she posted a picture that was captioned: 'Having a good pre-show day off, shopping for bath towels followed by lunch in the food court. #StripStripHooray!'

Low-key lunch: The brunette sipped from a wine glass with her red lips and matching manicure

High glamour: The dancer was far too refined to be queuing for her own lunch - she was also shopping for towels that day

Heads were turned in her direction, proving that she couldn't slip under the radar for too long, -especially in a busy shopping centre food court.

Dita shopped with a mystery man after recently revealing that she is off the market when it comes to the company she has previously kept in Australia, where she's due to return in June.

Speaking to The Western Australia on Saturday, Dita said: 'I've had a lot of fun times in Australia when I've been single, I have to say. I'm not single this time though, so the men are safe.'

Cute duo: Dita rested her Chanel handbag on the table while she sipped soup

Turning heads: She made a joke out of the situation by posting a picture where heads were turned towards her

Joker: The brunette proved that her life isn't all high-flying glamour

Dita's tour, starting on Tuesday, will take her from California to San Francisco and Portland to Seattle before she arrives in Sydney on June 4, 2016.

She previously spent time there last September at Wheels and Dollbabys 2015 Telstra Perth Fashion Festival and says her pastimes are particularly normal.

'I love doing touristy things,' she continued. 'I love going to kangaroo reserves, I can't help it. I know it's cliched and everyone is cringing but I love it, I love seeing all of the beautiful animals. Hopefully I'll be able to take my cast to meet some kangaroos.'

Day off: The burlesque dancer is about to commence her Strip Strip Hooray tour

Busy bee: She is due to travel around the US before hitting Australia

Not so single: She recently revealed that she is off the market again when it comes to men
He famously quit his family's reality show and spent two years shying away from the spotlight.

But Rob Kardashian, 29, seems set to make a triumphant return to the spotlight with a big money deal to air his wedding with Blac Chyna in a TV special.

TMZ reports that the pair are considering starring in their own reality series which would see them paid between '$150-$200 thousand' each per episode, as well as '$500 thousand' each for the wedding day episode.

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Cashing in: Rob Kardashian, 29, seems set to make a triumphant return to the spotlight with a big money deal to air his upcoming wedding with Blac Chyna in a TV special

However, plans to start their own series could prove problematic as Kris Jenner has the family tied in to their contract with the E! network.

Last year, the momager signed an $80 million contract with the American network which gave them four more seasons of their hit reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Whilst Rob's health has been a frequent topic on the series, he has not been seen or appeared in an episode since 2014.

MailOnline have contacted representatives for Rob and Blac Chyna for comment.

Wedding belles: It has been reported that the pair are considering starring in their own reality series which would see them paid between '$150-$200 thousand' each per episode

Problematic: Plans to start their own series could prove problematic as Kris Jenner has the family tied in to their contract with the E! network, the home of their series Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Meanwhile, Rob made his way to see his mum in Los Angeles on Friday, the same day as reports emerged claiming that the reality star is hoping for a 'quick wedding' to fiancee Blac Chyna.

The entrepreneur had a beaming smile plastered across his face as he sauntered from his car to Jenner's headquarters, showing off his slimmed down physique in the process.

It's been claimed that Rob has already shed 50 pounds since meeting his 27-year-old girlfriend and is hoping to get rid of another 50 pounds by the summer.

And it seems there could be a very specific reason for the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star's desire to lose weight quickly as it's been reported that Rob and Chyna are hoping to tie the knot by the end of the year.

Elated: The 29-year-old entrepreneur had a beaming smile plastered across his face as he sauntered from his car to Jenner's headquarters, showing off his slimmed down physique in the process

Clever fashion choice: Rob emphasised his weight loss by opting for a slimming all black style for his casual outing, clad in a loose fitting black tracksuit

Sources have told TMZ that Rob doesn't want a long engagement, meaning that the couple are already talking about ceremony ideas.

The insider added that the loved-up twosome have even been working on a guest list and are both hoping that the Kardashian-Jenner clan will be there in their entirety.

But one man who recently admitted he hadn't been invited to Rob and Chyna's nuptials was Kim Kardashian's husband Kanye West.

Making it snappy! Rob's smiley outing comes amid reports that he and girlfriend Blac Chyna are hoping to tie the knot by the end of the year

Asked by a photographer if he had been invited to the ceremony by photographers earlier this week, the Love Lockdown hitmaker confessed: ''You know what? I haven't been invited.'

Kanye then insisted there was no love lost between the two, adding: 'You know, Rob is my brother. I love Rob. I just roll with it. I love Rob, that's all I can say.'

It's alleged that a number of chapels in Las Vegas are eager to host the famous couple's nuptials, with reps at the Little Chapel proposing two Elvis impersonators, two showgirls and a pink Cadillac convertible for pick up and drop off.

Awkward! Kanye West - the husband of Rob's sister Kim Kardashian - recently admitted he hadn't been invited to Rob and Chyna's nuptials but insisted that he 'loved' his brother-in-law

Spoiling his woman? Meanwhile, it seems Rob isn't the only member of the Kardashian family who enjoys gifting his women with bling as the younger boyfriend of Rob's mother Kris was seen carrying a gift box when leaving Polachecks Jewelers on Friday

But, according to the news outlet, the venue has some stiff competition from the Little White Wedding Chapel - where Britney Spears once tied the knot - as they are offering a helicopter ceremony above the strip.

Meanwhile, it seems Rob isn't the only member of the Kardashian family who enjoys gifting his women with bling as the younger boyfriend of Rob's mother Kris was seen carrying a gift box when leaving Polachecks Jewelers on Friday.

Corey, 35, made sure to keep his box out of sight as he carried it in his hand and out of the sight of photographers.
She often jokes that working alongside Piers Morgan can be challenging.

And Susanna Reid faced her biggest trial to date as she was forced to duck out of the way of her sword-swinging co-host on Monday's episode of Good Morning Britain.

Handling the blade during an interview with Britain's Got Talent sword swallower Alex Magala, an overexcited Piers began wielding the samurai sword around the studio as the 45-year-old presenter begged him to stop.

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Blade dodger: She often jokes that working with Piers Morgan is challenging. And Susanna Reid faced her biggest trial to date as she was nearly hit by his sword on Monday's episode of Good Morning Britain

Aware that an incident was bound to happen, Susanna prefixed the segment by pleading: 'No, no, no, no! I don't want Piers in charge of a weapon in the studio.'

But her cries were ignored by the talent show contestant Alex as he innocently passed his blade to the cheeky host who preceded to wave the sword in her face.

Telling his co-presenter to 'kneel down' as he wanted to knight her, the enthusiastic star shoved the steel next to Susanna's face as she squealed and flinched.

In the know: Aware that an incident was bound to happen, Susanna prefixed the segment by pleading: 'No, no, no, no! I don't want Piers in charge of a weapon in the studio'

Daredevil: Britain's Got Talent contestant Alex Magala brought the blade on the set to demonstrate his impressive sword swallowing skills that wowed the judges during Saturday night's show

'Just... Not even messing it about with it Piers Morgan,' she shrieked.

Taking the blade away from his co-host, the divisive journalist then turned the sword on himself as he ran his fingers along the blade and demonstrated the sword swallowing technique.

After Susanna revealed that the health and safety representative was having 'kittens' watching the antics, Piers finally relented with the blade and held it sensibly by his side.

Blades of glory: Handling the sword an overexcited Piers began wielding the samurai blade around the studio as his 45-year-old co-presenter begged him to stop and huddled away

All right on the knight! Telling his co-presenter to 'kneel down' as he wanted to knight her, the enthusiastic star shoved the steel next to Susanna's face as she squealed and flinched

Risky business: Taking the blade away from his co-host, the divisive journalist then turned the sword on himself as he ran his fingers along the blade and demonstrated the sword swallowing technique

Safety first: After Susanna revealed that the health and safety representative was having 'kittens' watching the antics, Piers finally relented with the blade and held it sensibly by his side

Speaking to the Daily Mail's You magazine, Susanna recently described Piers as a 'mini tornado,' as she explained: 'The chairs start spinning, the papers go everywhere, interviewees never know whats going to happen to them.

She added that she had a lot of respect for the star and his style of interviewing, as he manages to get to the root of the issue.

He always gives his interviews a bit of an edge,' she said. 'He takes them by the collar and shakes them until nuggets of headline fall out. We could all learn from that.

Pretty in pink: Despite losing her composure briefly, Susanna still looked elegant on the show as she showcased her slender curves in a colour block dress with orange, pink and purple panels

Brunette beauty: Wearing her chestnut coloured locks loose and tousled she wore her glossy tresses in a centre parting framing her pretty face that boasted a neutral make-up palette with a slick of rosy lipstick

Leggy lady! Susanna flashed her famously lean legs in the figure-hugging dress whilst she added some height to her frame in a pair of red crocodile print heels with a pointed toe

Describing their dynamic, the mum-of-three referred to herself as a calming influence on Piers as she said: 'I calm down his excesses. We have a lot of respect for each other.

'People make a big deal about our banter and ourI dont flirt with Piers, but we are playful and antagonistic and it works.

Susanna presents the show alongside Piers between Monday and Wednesday, but has a break from the cheeky host on Thursday when she shares duties with Ben Shephard.

Here comes trouble! Susanna recently described Piers as a 'mini tornado' as she explained that working with him was a unique experience and revealed she enjoyed their banterful presenting style

Meanwhile, sword swallower Alex also brought his blade along to the This Morning studios, where he discussed the dangerous nature of his act that earned him four yeses on Saturday night's episode of Britian's Got Talent.

'We're all gonna die but for me the question is "How?"' the Moldovan star said. 'I feel alive when I'm doing this.'

He added: 'It goes exactly inside me and hits the bottom of my stomach. I've punctured my oesophagus really bad, I couldn't eat for a week

'Thats the sacrifice I have to bring to deliver shows for people. People train for their whole lives and there's always gonna be that cute dog that steals the show.'

Risk-taker: Sword swallower Alex discussed the dangerous nature of his act that earned him four yeses on Saturday night's episode of Britain's Got Talent after he wowed both the judges and crowds

Hazard: Alex revealed that the dangerous act had previously ruptured his oesophagus leaving him unable to eat for a week as he described the risks associated with his unique talent

Quite the pair: Alex explained the extreme dangers associated with his talent but seemed to imply that Lucy Heath's dancing dog was the star attraction on Britain's Got Talent

Alex's comments were seemingly directed at Lucy Heath, who appeared alongside the star with her pet pooch.

Lucy had originally appeared on the talent show last year but reemerged on Saturday night's show with a new dancing dog in a bid to make it further in the competition.

Speaking about her cute pet, Trip Hazard, she said: 'I have had him a year and a half. There's never been a dog this tiny; he only weigh two kilograms.'

Puppy love! Lucy Heath appeared alongside the star with her pet pooch. She had originally appeared on the talent show last year but reemerged on Saturday night's show with a new dancing dog in a bid to make it further

Tiny: Lucy explained that her dog Trip Hazard was the smallest pooch to ever appear on the show and he weighed only two kilograms which made him harder to train as he is so little that he gets worn out

Teenage singing star Beau Dermott also appeared on ITV on Monday to discuss her incredible audition for the show which saw Amanda Holden press her golden buzzer.

The 13-year-old singer wowed the judges with her rendition of Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked, and explained: 'I was really nervous.'

She added that having the golden buzzer pressed 'was like a dream come true.'

Her mother explained: 'She's really humble Beau isn't she and takes it all in her stride. I'm still in this bubble at the moment it's been really great.'

Singing star: Teenage singer Beau Dermott also appeared on ITV on Monday to discuss her incredible audition for the show which saw Amanda Holden press her golden buzzer
She recently underwent a physical transformation to see how the elderly are treated in a social experiment.

And Roxanne Pallett, 33, looked back in her youthful form as she attended BBC Breakfast to talk about her old-age role in Manchester on Monday morning.

The former Emmerdale actress radiated femininity as she donned a white and pink, heavily floral dress which fell just short of her knees.

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Time machine: Roxanne Pallett, 33, looked back in her youthful form as she attended BBC Breakfast to talk about her latest age-defying role in Manchester on Monday morning

Giving off a slightly kooky eighties vibe, the stunning brunette opted for a light mint green tweed style jacket on top.

Ensuring that the ladylike feel was translated in the full element of the look, Roxanne opted for nude platform heels, which elongated her toned legs.

The Cumbria native kept her belongings safe in a small brown shoulder bag, complete with gold chain strap detailing.

Whilst her make-up look was mostly neutral, she sported a healthy baby pink flush on her cheeks.

Flirty and feminine: The former Emmerdale actress radiated femininity as she donned a white and pink, heavily floral dress which fell just short of her knees

Selfie with the fans: Giving of a slightly kooky eighties vibe, the stunning brunette opted for a light mint green tweet style jacket on top

The Waterloo Road star sported a huge grin as she combat her dark chocolate brown locks against the windy elements of the city.

This seemed like a far cry from her mood after filming the analysis of how the elderly get treated in society.

After undergoing four hours of prosthetics and make-up, the actress finally became 'Doris' and mentioned: 'It was a pretty brutal experience. I thought it was going to be fun and exciting but it just wasn't.'

She also mentioned that she felt 'invisible' after going undercover for BBC Radio 5 Live.

'I only went through it for a few hours but it's left me with a really heavy heart,' said Roxanne- who is an ambassador for Age UK.

Dramatic make-over: Roxanne Pallett was transformed into an old woman as part of a social experiment for BBC Radio 5 Live

Brutal experience: The pretty brunette actress said she was 'shocked' by how she was treated

Continuing about her experience and the lack of help she received, she mentioned: 'No one was assisting me and it was obvious I needed help. One man barged me when I was walking down the street, it was like I didn't matter.

'There's a lot of chivalry out there but it doesn't seem to apply to older people and that's not right and it's not fair.'

Since leaving Emmerdale in 2008, Roxanne has appeared in the stage production of the Rocky Horror Show and is set to star in the British film The Violaters this coming June.




She turns 18 this August, but Sofia Richie is already well-versed in the hottest celebrity hangouts in Los Angeles.

The teenage daughter of Lionel Richie was spotted leaving The Nice Guy on Sunday with boyfriend Jake Andrews by her side.

Sofia showcased her edgy style for the evening in an all-black outfit which consisted of a baggy T-shirt over ripped leather trousers, along with trainers and a choker necklace.

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Party time: Sofia Richie left celebrity hotspot The Nice Guy in Los Angeles on Sunday evening

The model had a small handbag slung over one shoulder and wore her long blonde locks (with a couple of streaks of blue) down, finishing off her look with natural make-up.

Sofia's boyfriend was dressed casually in a black hoodie with a matching T-shirt, ripped jeans and black trainers.

The Nice Guy is a favourite hotspot for celebrities such as Kendall and Kylie Jenner, the Kardashians and Gigi Hadid.

Sofia's big sister Nicole Richie is also known to be a fan of the A-list venue.

Date night: The 17-year-old daughter of Lionel Richie was joined by boyfriend Jake Andrews (L)

Edgy style: Sofia wore an all-black outfit, consisting of a baggy T-shirt over ripped leather trousers and trainers

The 17-year-old revealed during an interview with ES Magazine last month that reality star turned jewellery designer Nicole warned her about drugs.

The 34-year-old previously battled a heroin addiction, and has told her little sister to never give in to peer pressure or be tempted to experiment with illegal substances.

''People look at me thinking, "Oh, you are probably going to go through the same thing." [Nicole] says, "Don't let people pressure you to do what they think is cool, like taking drugs. Be true to yourself,"' Sofia told ES.

Inseparable: The model and her boyfriend were spotted out grabbing iced coffees earlier in the week

The rising star said that Nicole - who is currently holidaying in Aspen - would let her do things that her dad wouldn't when she was growing up.

She added: 'Nicole was crazy and fun. She would take me to places I wasn't supposed to go to, like fairs, and she would let me have foods that I wasn't allowed to eat, like cotton candy.'

Sofia, who became the face of Madonna's Material Girl clothing line last year, made her New York Fashion Week runway debut in February, walking in the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women Red Dress Collection show.
Josh Duhamel and Fergie's two-year-old son Axl appears to already have a cheeky side.

And Josh was keeping a firm grasp of the lively tot as they enjoyed some father-son time on Sunday in Brentwood, California.

The youngster and his proud papa, 43, stepped out in matching mini-me outfits to pick up a coffee and snacks.

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Cheeky: Josh Duhamel and Fergie's two-year-old son Axl stepped out together in Brentwood, California on Sunday

He kept it casual in a baseball hat, grey T-shirt and cargo pants - a look mirrored by his little one.

Although fashion-forward young Axl added a down gilet and kept a tight hold of his blue toy.

They were even in step with similar black chunky high-top trainers on their feet.

Father son time: The youngster and his proud papa, 43, stepped out in matching mini-me outfits on Sunday, to pick up a coffee and snacks

The Safe Haven star appeared to be enjoying a day off with his only son.

They were without the Black Eyed Peas singer, who continues to work on her long-awaited second solo album Double Dutchess, which is expected to drop sometime this year.

The happy couple wed on January 10, 2009, at a vineyard in Malibu, California.

Cute: The Safe Haven star appeared to be enjoying a day off with his only son, without Fergie

Josh likes to spend as much father-son time with Axl as possible, and says that intends to educate him about his dad's Midwestern roots in North Dakota.

Last summer, Josh traveled to the heartland in America, telling People: 'It was an opportunity for me to spend eight days with him just traveling around.

'I wanted to give him an idea of who I am. Where Im from is part of me, so its part of him, too.'

The actor also has two films completed that are due for release this year - Spaceman with Ernie Hudson and This Is Your Death opposite Fanke Janssen.
Lynda Bellingham's former Loose Women colleagues have blasted her widower for his audacious claims since she passed away in 2014.

Speaking on the ITV chat show on Monday morning Gloria Hunniford, Nadia Sawalha, Coleen Nolan and June Sarpong discussed their late friend and the headlines surrounding her death.

The chatty foursome were naturally loaded with opinions on the fact that Michael Pattemore claimed he had sex with his late wife from beyond the grave - dubbing his claims 'outrageous'.

Speaking to Spirit and Destiny magazine, Pattemore revealed in specific detail that he sleeps with the 'ghost spirit' of his wife, who died from colon cancer in October 2014.

The 60-year-old recounted how he still reaches across the bed for the Loose Women star and can often still feel the warmth of her skin as he places his arms around her.

In response to his claim, Nadia hit back: 'I have been just so uncomfortable. I was relived that I wasn't on the show when he was here.

'He's said he's had sex with her ghost, in my opinion that's outrageous. She adored those children and I knowing what I know of Linda she would've been horrified.'

Stunned stuff: Lynda Bellingham's former Loose Women colleagues have blasted her widower for his audacious claims since she passed away in 2014

Hot topic! Speaking on the ITV chat show on Monday morning Gloria Hunniford, Nadia Sawalha, Coleen Nolan and June Sarpong discussed their late friend and the headlines surrounding her death

Beyond his stunning claims over his posthumous relations with his wife, the Loose Women touched on the subject on Pattemore's relationship with Lynda's sons, Michael, 32, and Robert, 27.

The duo claim, Pattemore, her third husband, refused to give them a copy of her will, leading the pair to challenge it after receiving just 750 each in inheritance since she died.

Gloria said: 'The whole country loved her and we know how much she loved her boys. The point they want to make is that it's important to put everything in place.

'It's the trust factor as well. I'm sure Linda didn't want them to get 750. You have to get your dying wishes on paper.'

On the beach: Following Lynda's death aged 66 in October 2014, her sons assumed that, in time, Pattemore would come to them with a copy of her will. But months passed before he finally agreed to share it

Lost love: Speaking to Spirit and Destiny magazine, Pattemore revealed in specific detail that he sleeps with the 'ghost spirit' of his wife, who died from colon cancer in October 2014

Life of luxury: Snapping selfies in front of famous landmarks, this is Lynda Bellingham's widower accused by her sons of splurging their mother's estate on holidays. Michael Pattemore is seen at Ayers Rock in Australia

Despite the sensational claims, Coleen diplomatically interjected: 'We obviously have to point out we have no proof. She idolised the boys.'

In the midst of the drama over money, Pattemore has been snapping selfies in front of the world's most famous landmarks - accused by her sons of splurging their mother's estate on luxury getaways.

Property developer Pattemore has faced an online backlash ever since claims surfaced that he had privately disowned the sons of actress and famed Oxo mum Lynda.

Within months of her death, he had been to Dubai three times, as well as Peru, Canada and on a round-the-world trip for eight weeks, Lynda's son Michael said.

Living it up: Property developer Michael Pattemore has faced an online backlash ever since claims surfaced that he had privately disowned the sons of actress and famed Oxo mum Lynda. Here he is pictured in Malaysia last year

Travels: Within months of her death from bowel cancer 18 months ago, Pattemore had been to Dubai three times, as well as Peru, Canada and on a round-the-world trip for eight weeks, Lynda's son Michael Peluso said

And these globe-trotting pictures, posted to the late actress' Twitter account - which Pattemore now has control of - show some of the places he's visited.

Many are accompanied with the caption 'Pattemore's travels', which in the past year have seen him travel to Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Cuba and China among others.

In one selfie he sips a glass of wine in front of Ayers Rock in Australia.

It comes days after Lynda's sons Michael and Robbie hit out at what they claim is the breathtaking hypocrisy of a man they say has disowned them behind closed doors despite publicly describing his relationship with them as close.

Angered: Robbie, left, and Michael Peluso, pictured with mother Lynda Bellingham when they were children, have hit out at their stepfather Michael Pattemore for 'disrespecting their mother's memory'

Legal action: Michael, left, and Robbie, right, claim they have been disowned by Mr Pattemore privately and are challenging him over their late mother's will

Following Lynda's death aged 66 in October 2014, her sons assumed that, in time, Michael would come to them with a copy of her will but months passed with no word before, in February 2015, Pattemore finally agreed to share it with them when their aunt intervened.

Michael, a 32-year-old actor, told the Mail on Sunday: He sat me down and instead of giving it to me, he read it. He said, This sum is to be split between you and Robbie, and another sum is to be split between you, Robbie, Bradley and Stacey, who are his children.

But he added, Everythings been left to me, so it will go to you when I decide. I was sitting there crying, thinking, Oh God, no.

Globe-trotting pictures, posted to the late actress' Twitter account - which Pattemore now has control of - show some of the places he's visited. In the past year he's been to Russia, Thailand, China and Cuba among others

Vroom, vroom: It comes just days after Lynda's sons Michael and Robbie hit out at the breathtaking hypocrisy of a man they say has disowned them behind closed doors despite publicly describing his relationship with them as close

Robbie a guest relations manager at a London hotel, adds: When he read it to me later, he actually chuckled and tried to make a joke, saying, So youd better not do anything to annoy me.

'He obviously realised how awkward it was that hed effectively said he now had control over everything my mother had worked for her entire life.'

Michael said: Within a few months of Mums death, hed been to Dubai three times, to Peru, to Canada to see where Mum was born and on a round-the-world trip for eight weeks.

Her account: Michael Pattemore has posted pictures of his travels on Lynda Bellingham's Twitter account since her death

Sunning himself: Another one of the photos shows property developer Pattemore at the Great Wall of China

'He also went to Dublin for a hair transplant and he bought himself a brand-new Chevrolet Corvette, despite already driving a brand-new Range Rover my mum had bought him.

He hardly made a penny the entire time he was with my mother  it was all hers. We started to wonder if he was rubbing our faces in it.'

MailOnline has approached Michael Pattemore for comment.
It's the moment million of fans have been waiting for for nine years.

Netflix has released the first seven stills from its revival of Gilmore Girls.

The shots give a small insight into how life has changed - or remained the same - for Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore and Alexis Bledel as her daughter, Rory.

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Mother and daughter moment: Alexis Bledel, as Rory, talks to Lauren Graham, who plays her mother Lorelai Gilmore, over a coffee in Netflix's Gilmore Girls where time has moved on nine years since the original wrapped

Not pictured is Melissa McCarthy as Lorelai's best friend Sookie St. James.

The star only confirmed that she was returning on Thursday's Ellen DeGeneres Show after space opened up in her busy schedule just two hours earlier.

The 45-year-old will be in two of the four 90-minute episodes, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Among other cast members returning to the fictional town of Stars Hollow are Scott Patterson as Luke Danes, Kelly Bishop as Emily Gilmore, Richard Keiko Agena as Lane Kim, Sean Gunn as Kirk Gleason, Milo Ventimiglia as Jess Mariano, Matt Czuchry as Logan Huntzberger and Yanic Truesdale as Michael Gerard.

See Netflix updates as they revs up fans with first photos from Gilmore Girls revival

Love still blooms: It seems that Lauren is still with her boyfriend Luke Danes, played by Scott Patterson

Some things don't change: Rory visits her meddling grandmother with Kelly Bishop back as Emily Gilmore

The much loved family drama that ran between 2000 and 2007 on The WB before moving to The CW centers around Lorelai and Rory, who live in the fictional Connecticut town of Stars Hollow.

Lorelai owns the Dragonfly Inn, a bed-and-breakfast place, with best friend and chef Sookie, while dealing with her interfering, well-off mother Emily.

Amy Sherman-Palladino is the creator and executive producer of the series with husband Daniel Palladino as an executive producer. They are both writing and directing the series.

Family matriarch: Kelly's interfering character will appear in all four of the 90-minute episodes

New role: Alexis's character Rory was finishing up university when last seen. Now she appears to have started a career as a teacher

Each episode will represent a different season over the course of a year - Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. The revival will be set in the present day, roughly eight years after the series ended, according to TVLine.

Filming started on the Warner Bros. lot in Los Angeles on February 2 and is currently scheduled to wrap June 30. But eager fans will still have to wait to find out when they can check in to the Dragonfly Inn.

Netflix has said that Gilmore Girls will be released this year but whether all four parts drop in one go for binge viewing has yet to be revealed,

Out and about: Lorelai and Rory appear to have a problem with the organisers of the Stars Hollow musical

Amy is hoping that's not the case.

'The last thing you want is for someone to jump to the last episode and [ruin] it for everybody, which I think would happen, quite frankly, in this day and age of binging,' she told TVLine.

'So my preference would be to release them at least a day apart. Let people get a little sunlight and go for a walk around the corner.'
She was seen channeling 1980s Madonna in a pink satin Michael Costello statement gown to perform at the MTV Movie Awards this weekend.

And by Monday, Ariana Grande had got straight back into the groove and landed in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, looking rather loved up with her boyfriend Ricky Alvarez.

The 22-year-old pop star went from glam-style to gran-style, however, as she popped on a pair of comfy slippers to make her way through Haneda International airport.

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Eyes for you: Ariana Grande landed in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, looking rather loved up with her boyfriend Ricky Alvarez

She dwarfed her 5ft frame with a giant North Face puffer jacket - in stark contrast to her showstopping hot pink strapless outfit at the awards.

The Dangerous Woman hit-maker looked flawless despite the long international flight - radiating blemish-free skin and perfectly applied make-up.

The former Nickelodeon star went with a smokey matte cat eye, defined brows and matte cinnamon lip hue.

Cosy: The 22-year-old pop star went from glam-style to gran-style, however, as she popped on a pair of comfy slippers to make her way through Haneda International airport

Her brunette tresses were tightly pulled into her signature high ponytail.

Following firmly in the footsteps of Madonna, Ariana looked besotted with her backing dancer Ricky.

The diminutive stunner locked eyes with her handsome beau, amid the screaming crowds that greeted them.

Big coat: She dwarfed her 5ft frame with a giant North Face puffer jacket, as she wheeled her bag alongside her beau

Glowing: The Dangerous Woman hit-maker looked flawless despite the long international flight - radiating blemish-free skin and perfectly applied make-up

Popular: Her brunette tresses were tightly pulled into her signature high ponytail as she was greeted by a large crowd

Frenzied welcome: Ariana posed for selfies with fans and clutched a note from one

Beanie beau: Her handsome boyfriend was also popular with the excited crowds that greeted them

The couple were caught in hot water after last year after she licked a donut that she hadn't paid for.

The Bang Bang singer apologised after she was caught last July on a surveillance camera as she entered a Lake Elsinore, California doughnut shop with Alvarez.

When donuts were placed on the counter, she said: 'What the f**k is that? I hate Americans. I hate America,' then she licked them.
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She never fails to hit a precise and stylish note when it comes to an outfit on the red carpet.

And it seems that Dame Helen Mirren was making no exceptions to her rule at the London premier of Eye In The Sky, on Monday night, as she arrived at the event in a stylish yet understated ensemble.

Hitting the red carpet at the Curzon cinema in Mayfair flanked by a pair of soldiers, the 70-year-old cut a striking figure in a lace top and skirt by Suzannah as she arrived to promote her late co-star and friend Alan Rickman's last feature film.

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Arriving in style! Hitting the red carpet at the Curzon cinema in Mayfair flanked by a pair of soldiers, Dame Helen Mirren cut a striking figure in a lace dress as she arrived to promote her late co-star and friend Alan Rickman's last feature film, Eye In The Sky, in London

Arriving at the premiere of the thrilling war flick, which was the last film Alan completed before his death in January, Helen cut a chic yet understated figure in her navy midi dress.

Keeping her look restrained yet slightly racy, the Prime Suspect star wowed in a lace and silk number - which allowed the actress to flash a hint of skin whilst retaining a demure and modest edge.

Featuring semi-sheer floral lace torso, which was broken up by felt detailing on its neckline and torso, the Oscar-wining star channeled a youthful and effortlessly chic air - whilst she retained her modesty thanks to a dark slip worn underneath.

And sticking to a simple yet stylish theme, the garment's lower solid A-Line section featured a high waistline and subtle pleating as it fell away to her ankles - drawing attention to her trim waist.

Understated elegance: Arriving at the premiere of the thrilling war flick, which was the last film Alan completed before his death in January, Helen cut a chic yet understated figure in her navy midi dress while Colin opted for a dapper two-piece suit

Rounding the ensemble off with a pair of suede navy stilettos, the British screen legend kept to her subtle and understated theme whilst also retaining a stylish and chic edge.

Keeping her look uncluttered, the actress - who is married to film director Taylor Hackford - kept things equally simple yet elegant, opting for a small black leather clutch, teardrop gold earrings, a brace of rings and a lone sparkling bracelet.

With her short blonde locks carefully coiffed and styled in a tousled manner, Helen topped her effortlessly fashionable look off with a minimal and flesh-toned palette of make-up; only using a flash of mascara and a coat of coral lipstick to define her striking features.

A real honour: Hitting the red carpet at the Curzon cinema in Mayfair, the 70-year-old star was flanked by a pair of smiling -yet still imposing - soldiers

Effortless style: Sticking to a simple yet stylish theme, the garment's lower solid A-Line section featured a high waistline and subtle pleating as it fell away to her ankles - drawing attention to her trim waist

A demure Dame? Featuring semi-sheer floral lace torso, which was broken up by felt detailing on its neckline and torso, the Oscar-wining star chanelled a youthful and effortlessly chic air - whilst she retained her modesty thanks to a dark slip worn underneath

A woman of the people: Stopping to sign fans photos, the star's fans didn't seem to perturbed by the brawny duo escorting her down the red carpet

Her honour guard? And in a manner befitting her character Colonel Kathleen Powell's status, the actress was flanked by two soldiers in their military fatigues as she arrived at the event

A right laugh: Dame Helen appeared to have formed quite a bond with the two brave soldiers, and could be seen cracking up as she joked with the pair of them

She arrived on the red carpet in a manner befitting her character Colonel Kathleen Powell's status, with the actress flanked by two soldiers in their military fatigues.

And while she initially had an honour guard of Her Majesty's finest, her co-star and fellow British thespian, Colin Firth, relieved the gallant gents of their escort duty when he arrive suited and booted on the red carpet.

Wearing two-piece suit, white shirt and black tie paired with black oxford lace-ups, the 55-year-old Kingsman star looked the dictionary definition of dapper.

But out of all the stars to grace the red carpet in Mayfair, one was notable in his absence, Alan Rickman.

Dapper gent: And while she initially had an honour guard of Her Majesty's finest, her co-star and fellow British thespian, Colin Firth, relieved the gallant gents of their escort duty when he arrived suited and booted

A friendly peck: Colin gave Helen a friendly peck on the cheek, as the friends and co-stars greeted each other outside the Curzon

Cosy co-stars: The 55-year-old Kingsman star was all smiles as he cosied up to the Oscar-winning actress - wrapping a supportive arm around her shoulders as they made their way towards the cinema's entrance

Following his death in January at the age of 55 from cancer, Eye In The Sky would prove to be the final film he completed, however as befitting an acting icon, he co-star Helen believes his performance in the movie is a testament to his skills as a thespian.

Speaking about what would be his final acting role on The Andrew Marr show over the weekend, she explained: 'Alan was a genius character actor and he could play all these amazing baddies.

'The Alan we see on the screen in Eye In The Sky is Alan. It's Alan as I remember him. His wit, his humanity, his intelligence.

All smiles: The duo were all smiles as they took posed alongside each other

Lights, camera... action? The stars looked well at ease as they stood side-by-side in front of the assembled photographers, and appeared to be sharing a quiet word with each other

Stand to attention! Wearing a two-piece suit, white shirt and black tie paired with black oxford lace-ups, the 55-year-old Kingsman star looked the dictionary definition of dapper

Suited and booted: The British thespian appeared effortlessly suave and stylish in his classically cut two-piece

'I think Alan would have been really, really proud for this to have been his last film.'

Discussing her most famous part to date - Queen Elizabeth II - the veteran was asked whether she would be playing the Queen during the 90th birthday pageant later this year.

She joked: 'No, the Queen will be the Queen. She's much better at it than I am.'

'Alan was a genius character actor and he could play all these amazing baddies': Following his death in January at the age of 55 from cancer, Eye In The Sky would prove to be the final film Alan Rickman completed - and Helen has been sure to pay fitting tribute to the actor

'The Alan we see on the screen in Eye In The Sky is Alan. It's Alan as I remember him. His wit, his humanity, his intelligence': Speaking to Andrew Marr she explained the film was a fitting finale for the brilliant stage and screen star

A warm welcome: The screen legend ran into a group of female soldiers on the red carpet, and looked delighted that the group had arrived in time to meet her outside the event

A proud picture: The Dame looked delighted that she was able to pose for a picture with the soldiers, who had turned out in their finest formal regalia for the event

Another fan: Colin couldn't resist getting in on the action either, with the beaming star looking delighted to be in the company of the valiant ladies

But while the late actor was no doubt sorely missed there were a whole host of famous faces from the film's cast and crew also at the glitzy event.

The film's director Gavin Hood gave Colin a run for his money in the tailoring stakes, arriving in a dapper charcoal suit, while Phoebe Fox looked sensational in a nude mini dress.

Her co-stars Jessica Jones and Monica Dolan also cut swish figure in their jazzy dresses, while Dickensian star John Heffernan wore a smart cobalt blue suit to the event.

Eye In The Sky tells the tale of Colonel Katherine Powell (Dame Helen), a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, however, disaster strikes as she sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone - triggering an international dispute.

The film will be released nationwide in the UK on April 15, while it hit cinemas in the US on April 1.

Chic and simple: Phoebe Fox appeared to have followed her co-star's simple yet chic theme, and wore a nude mini dress which featured cutaway panels on the upper arms

Alabaster beauty: The Olivier-winning actress looked the picture of an alabaster beauty with her pale skin complemented by her dress

Sassy and jazzy: Jessica Jones (left) and Monica Dolan (right) wore bold and stylish mini dresses emblazoned with funky prints

Keeping it classic: Director and actor Gavin Hood gave Colin a run for his money in the tailoring stakes, as the South African star arrived in a suitably stylish two-piece

A flash of colour: Dickensian star John Heffernan injected a bit of colour into proceedings, donning a cobalt blue suit and checked overcoat for the event; arriving on the red carpet with a glamorous female companion

Let me take a selfie: Colin looked delighted to meet some of his fans, and even stopped for a selfie or two despite the grey skies and intermittent drizzle
Made In Chelsea started its eleventh series following such fascinating spectacles as JP dithering over poor Binky, Sam acting as if he resembled Leo DiCaprio rather than Nigel Farage, and Alex Mytton preparing to cheat on his girlfriend.

Yes, it was deja vu all over again.

Even the stars of the show were struggling to cope.

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Vacuous? Us? Alex Mytton admires himself in the mirror while Stephanie Pratt tries to picture what Alex Mytton would look like without his clothes on

My God ! Its been two years of this s**t ! Reality TV veteran Stephanie Pratt cried when she heard Mytton was still bleating on about committing to his on-off girlfriend, Nicola Hughes. Im so tired of it.

Arent we all dear?

Other familiar fodder used to pad out the first episode included: sex pest Jamie Laing flashing his bum and salivating over the latest long blonde to join the cast; various minor characters accidentally dropping their friends in it to their supposed partners; and pointless footage of them enjoying such hilarious japes as playing darts or doing fitness drills (wearing coats and hats).

By the time wed heard someone actually say OK, yah ! and had the return of the word bonk (several times), the new series was not just the same as the last one/few but was in a time warp going back to the 1980s.

Highlights were few and far between. These were the best of them.

Deja vu: My God ! Its been two years of this s**t !: Reality TV veteran Stephanie Pratt despairs as Mytton was still bleating on about committing to his on-off girlfriend, Nicola Hughes. Im so tired of it. Aren't we all dear?

1. Louise Thompsons naked phodo shoot

Louise is very much the Ernie Wise of Made In Chelsea - the little one, the unfunny one, the one with the short, fat, hairy legs.

Still there was no need for Rosie to call over Louise using the nickname Porky during their photo-shoot with wannabe photographer Olivia. That was just cruel. OK, so it may have been Porgy.

The sight of Louise and Rosie gate-crashing the shoot when Olivia was obviously only interested in Binky was rather tragic.

Its am-air-zing ! trilled Louise, trying to sound as posh as the other gals. Were go-hing to be-hee hon the walls of a gall-air-rair.

Her desperation to pretend she could look like a model (a full sized one) was such that she eagerly got her kit off. (Olivia couldnt stop her.)

She aped Binkys conversations too.

I used to snog girls in the towel cupboard at school  naked ! confessed Binky, confirming suspicions that she is not as angelic as she makes out.

Hat schoo-oool, me-hee and Rose-air used to do hand-stands hup against the wall, nake-aired ! echoed Louise. Chortle chortle !

As for revealing how many men they had slept with, Louise had lost track after the first ten  presumably because most of the time she was legless (literally in her case).

She refuted Jamie the sex-pests claims that he was one of them though.

We actually dry humped, she corrected.

Too much inform-air-tion...

A strange introduction: Louise Thompson gasps at how long Binky's legs are - understandable in her case

2. The latest new girl with a ridiculous name

It was hard to see what qualified Jessica Molly for a place in the MIC cast  apart from a suitably stupid name to rank with the likes of Tiff, Toff, and Taff (from Made In Cardiff). Olivia Bentley could at least have called herself Benty. As for Sam and Olivias excruciating use of the word bonking, the least the show can do is find Binky a friend called Bonky.

3. The face-off between Walking Dead lookalikes, Toffs grandma and Victoria

The conversation between Victoria and Toffs grandma was priceless, with both of them talking through gritted teeth, looking as if their faces were made of candle wax and could crack open at any time.

Trouble brewing? JP was still trying to decide whether he wanted Binky and her Lovely Hair to be his first girlfriend. Something that has occupied Made In Chelsea for the last 117 episodes

4. Lucy Watson patiently explaining the meaning of love to JP as if he was a child of six

I just dont think our relationship is as strong as it once was, the gormless JP droned. Not about his girlfriend Binky but his old chum James.

James had been spending his nights sleeping with Lucy Watson rather than staying in listening to JP ramble on about whether he was ready for Binky to be his first girlfriend (or any girl)  an inexplicable decision (at least to JPs mind).

In JPs muddled worldview, the amount of time Binky wanted to be with him was way beyond an acceptable ratio. JP had come to the obvious conclusion about James absence: it was Lucy Watsons fault.

The thing is he WANTS to sleep with me, Lucy Watson stated, patiently explaining we love each other, so thats normal as if he was a child. Its not something you calculate in your mind. You just WANT to do it.

The way JP looked at her as if she was speaking Japanese confirmed the worst.

After poor Binky had been to Norfolk to meet JPs parents, JP had promptly gone on holiday to Dubai without her.

JP just said I just dont think were ready to go on holiday together. Id rather be with the boys, Binky told the girls. What a gent.

Sadly though, Binky was as defensive/deluded as ever.

Hes got so many qualities I know hell get to one day, she insisted. It hasnt been the easiest journey but I adore him. I think hed be the most amazing husband and father.

Just not a boyfriend...

5. Lucy Watsons sister Thingy shamelessly sponging off LWs fame only to muster a feeble showdown with Olivia

Ive heard from people that youve been going around saying that you slept with my boyfriend Sam, Lucy Watsons sister whined to Olivia.

It was a classic manufactured Made In Chelsea confrontation  or it would have been if it werent for the fact that a) she had mostly heard it from Sam and b) it was true. As accusations go, pretty weak  even for this show.

Anyway I dont think its a big deal ! she blustered, having already made it into a bigger deal.

Blonde moment: Stephanie Pratt demonstrates her greatest talent - touching her nose with her fingertip. No, not when she's drunk but when she's sober

6. Alex Mytton and Stephanie Pratt living up to their reputations as a spineless worm and human mantrap

Myttons girlfriend Nicola was moving out of his flat to live with Millie, Jess, and Toff. Not

It was just a necessity  her living there before, he explained to Jamie, not exactly gutted. In fact he was secretly ecstatic, and not very secretly either.

I need to be my own man for a while, he maintained as if he had been horribly hamstrung.

Im now a free man ! he cheered, even though Nicola was still his girlfriend  or thought she was. The freedoms quite intense !

Old Alex was positively giddy with the prospect of finding his next victim, and had almost certainly decided who it was too. (It was in the script.)

You should have seen Steph the other night, he leered. Some lucky dude is going to get picked up.

That lucky dude of course was him.

I thought you guys broke up, Stephanie beamed to Nicola having mis-understood (deliberately) that they had in fact been ON a break to Marakech.

Steph had been lusting over Alex almost as much he had been over her, telling Binky and Watson she had thought he could be a new option  even though he was with Nicola.

Not that she was the kind of girl to break a couple up, she insisted to Binky and Toff.

But if he kissed me in a club, I would probably not hit him.

Her pals were suitably appalled.

Stephan-air cant go after someone with a girlfriend ! snorted Louise. I would actual-air stop talking to her if she did that.

Another incentive for Stephanie that almost guarantees it will happen next week.
She's a bona fide star, with four films coming out this year.

But despite her celebrity status, Ella Fanning was just like any other teen - as she bemoaned the end of spring break on Monday.

Dakota Fanning's famous sibling shared a selfie on Instagram as she made her way back to school in Los Angeles.

'Spring break over. Back to early school wake-ups,' she wrote, along with a picture of herself rolling her eyes.

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Instagram Newbie: Elle Fanning posts her first selfie to her new public Instagram account on Monday Morning

Like her sister before her, Elle still finds time for her studies whenever she's not filming her next block-buster or covering the latest Teen Vogue issue.

The young Maleficent star proudly donned her uniform shirt in the photo, showing off her blonde locks in what must have been a very early morning.

The selfie comes just two days after her 18th birthday celebration, in which she gifted herself a public Instagram account after having recently sworn off the social networking site, citing Hollywood-legend Marilyn Monroe's mystery as her personal inspiration.

Happy Birthday: The young starlet celebrated her birthday with a pink cake and a surprise announcement

'Can you imagine Marilyn [Monroe] on Instagram? Would she still be this figure if we knew all this information about her?' Elle said in a recent red-carpet interview.

At her birthday party on Saturday, she gave in to the online fun by snapping a photo of herself beside a pink and gold birthday cake with the words 'Elle 18' em-blazed under a bow.

'I decided to give myself a birthday present... a public Instagram..SURPRISE!' she posted to the account that now holds over 131,000 followers.

The birthday girl appeared fresh faced and make-up free, despite the silly pose.

In 2011, older sister Dakota graduated from the same private high school that Elle now attends, after famously winning the title of Homecoming Queen during her senior year.

School Daze: Elle Fanning chats about school and boys during a visit to Jimmy Kimmel in May of 2014

In 2014, Elle made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, telling a funny story of her recent prom-proposal. She told the late-night talk show host 'It's just as exciting.' when asked-out out to a traditional event like Prom, despite her fame.

The busy-actress returns to classes after a very busy couple of months of press. Earlier this year, the starlet covered Vogue Australia in a stunning spread wearing Chanel. She opened up about her growing maturity and upcoming 18th birthday.

'Everyone's saying I'm adult now... [but] I'm not grown up, I want to be a girl forever!' the blonde beauty joked in her interview with the Australian magazine.

Having graced the cover of Teen VOGUE three times, Elle made her VOGUE debut in couture, sporting a smokey-eye and elbow-high laced gloves on the cover. Casting her in a much different light than her usual girly style.

Cover Girl: The Maleficent star shows a different side of her in VOGUE Australia's March 2016 issue

'People might say these photos are so much grungier than I am. But there are so many layers in people,' said Elle, defending her older appearance in the fashion magazine.

Next, Fanning stars alongside Naomi Watts and Susan Sorandon in About Ray playing a a young girl transitioning into a boy.
He's a Hollywood heartthrob with a famous last name, but now Scott Eastwood's about to enter franchise-territory.

On Monday, news broke of Fast and Furious 8's latest casting addition. And by no means did it disappoint.

The 30-year-old actor and son of Clint Eastwood will co-star in F. Gary Gray's Fast 8, the eighth installment in the popular film series.

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Hashtag F8: Scott Eastwood shares heartfelt words after casting announcement Fast 8 on Monday

Eastwood joins academy award winner Charlize Theron, who's involvement in the film was announced last week.

Although little is known on who the 40-year-old actress will play in the film, It's been said that her character, though new, will have a villainous nature.

Following the news, Eastwood took to Instagram to share his gratitude and excitement for his upcoming working on the film.

'It's hard to put into words how excited I am for the next Fast & Furious. To me, the series is so much more than just a franchise. Its a legacy,' said the Hollywood hunk alongside a photo of himself with the number 8 above his head.

Silver Screen Legend: Paul Walker rose to fame alongside co-star Vin Diesel with their roles in the franchise

The Longest Ride star also shared some heartfelt words on his long-time friend: 'Paul was a close friend of mine. We surfed together, traveled together, and he was a huge role model and influencing figure in my life when I was younger. He still is.

'He was an older brother to me,' said Scott of the film favorite.

The news of his addition to the star-studded cast comes almost three years after the sudden death of Paul Walker, who was killed in a car-crash, in November of 2013 during production of Fast 7.

'Paul - I am going to make you proud,' shared Eastwood on Instagram about his late friend.

Back Again: Kurt Russell will reprise his role in Fast 8 alongside Tyreese Gibson, Vin Diesel among others

Like Theron's role, producers have kept hush-hush on the details of Scott's character. However, it was revealed that he will play the protege of Kurt Russel's federal agent. Russel is joined by Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Tyreese Gibson, all which will reprise their roles in the latest installment.

The Neal Moritz produced film already has a set release date of April 14, 2017. Straight Out Of Compton director F. Gary Gray is set to helm the film.
India police file charges over temple fireworks disaster

Indian police said Monday they have filed initial charges against six people over a massive explosion during a banned fireworks display that killed more than 100 people and left many more with horrific burns.

Thousands had packed into a Hindu temple in the southern state of Kerala on Saturday night for the show when a stray firework apparently landed on a stockpile of them, triggering a huge blast that tore through concrete buildings.

Three people died of their injuries overnight, taking the death toll from the disaster to 109. Hundreds more are still being treated.

Thousands had packed into a Hindu temple in the southern state of Kerala on Saturday night for the show when a stray firework apparently landed on a stockpile of them, triggering a huge blast that tore through concrete buildings Manjunath Kiran (AFP)

Police said they were investigating who was responsible for the fireworks display going ahead even though authorities in Kerala's Kollam district had refused permission for it.

"A case was registered yesterday against six people," said the head of Kerala police crime branch S. Ananathakrishnan.

"Six people have been named in the case -- three from the temple committee, three who were contractors for the fireworks display."

Initial charges against the six include culpable homicide not amounting to murder, he said.

None of the six has yet been arrested. Police said one was in hospital and the other five had gone missing.

Police also said they were questioning five temple workers involved in staging the fireworks display. They faced no charges at this stage.

Witnesses told how the force of the explosion sent concrete slabs and roof tiles slamming into the panicked crowd of onlookers in the early hours of Sunday.

Thousands had gone to the temple to celebrate the Keralan festival of Vishu, marking the Hindu new year.

Local resident Shiva Kumar said many families had left the display by the time the explosion occurred and the victims were mostly young men competing to set off the most explosive crackers.

"It was a sort of competition between two groups," he told AFP.

"The firecrackers are sponsored by families who get them made, they are locally manufactured and don't follow the usual norms. Sometimes they use gunpowder to get that extra firepower."

He described scenes of chaos after the fire broke out, with onlookers having to ferry the wounded to nearby hospitals using their own cars and motorcycles.

- 'Memories will haunt us' -

One man living near the temple told how his son Adiraj, a factory worker, had gone to the display with three old friends. Only one survived.

"He was with his friends near the structure where the firecrackers were kept," said Baba, 46, giving only one name.

"He had dressed up for the festival after having dinner and said he will be with his friends. We saw his body afterwards at the hospital morgue... his memory will haunt us every year on this day."

Firefighters and police battled to douse the fire that broke out after the explosion and to rescue those trapped at the complex, but some victims were charred beyond recognition.

More than 30 have yet to be identified and a team of specialist doctors was deployed from New Delhi to treat the horrific burn injuries.

Some buildings at the temple complex were completely flattened by the force of the blast, while others had their roof tiles blown off or plaster ripped from the walls.

The main temple building had its windows blown out. Dozens of shoes lay scattered on the dusty ground outside.

Fires and stampedes are not uncommon at temples and during religious occasions, often because of poor security arrangements and lax safety standards.

The Kerala government has ordered a judicial inquiry into the disaster, which comes as the southern state heads to the polls.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the scene of the disaster on Sunday and messages of condolence have poured in from around the world.

Pope Francis's office said he was "praying for all affected by this tragedy" while Britain's Prince William and wife Kate said through a spokesman they were "saddened by the news" after arriving in India on Sunday for an official tour.

The Kerala Temple disaster Gal ROMA, AFP (AFP)
N. Korean colonel, diplomat defected to South: Seoul

South Korea said Monday a North Korean colonel in charge of spy operations had defected to the South, along with a diplomat and three family members.

The army colonel had handled espionage targeting South Korea at the North's General Bureau of Reconnaissance before arriving in Seoul last year, the South's Yonhap news agency said.

Unification and defence ministry spokesmen in Seoul confirmed the report but declined to give details such as the officer's name and exact date of defection.

North Korean soldiers look at the South side at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas - (Pool/AFP/File)

"He is the highest-level military official to have ever defected to the South," said a government official quoted by Yonhap.

The officer is believed to have given details about the bureau's operations against South Korea to authorities in Seoul, the unidentified official said.

The unification ministry spokesman also confirmed a report by Dong-A Ilbo daily on Monday that a North Korean diplomat posted in an African nation had defected to Seoul last May with three family members.

The news came days after Seoul announced that a group of 13 North Koreans working in a state-run restaurant outside the country had fled to the South in a rare mass defection.

The group -- one male manager and a dozen women -- arrived in the South Thursday. They had reportedly been working at a restaurant in China's southeastern port city of Ningbo before coming to the South through a third country in Southeast Asia.

Seoul rarely confirms defections by North Koreans, especially senior officials, citing the potential threat to their safety. It also does not want to damage diplomatic relations with the countries through which they travel.

China is the North's sole major ally. Pyongyang reportedly has often lodged protests with transit nations used by defectors en route to Seoul.

The highly unusual disclosures prompted Seoul's main opposition party to accuse the government of trying to rally support among conservatives before Wednesday's parliamentary election.

The vote for the 300-seat national assembly is seen as a referendum on the policies of President Park Geun-Hye and her ruling conservative Saenuri Party.

The unification and defence ministries denied political motives, saying the disclosures were made in the public interest.

In the past some defections were made public only after months of questioning and with the approval of the person concerned.

This was out of consideration for the safety of their families in the North, said Cheong Seong-Chang of Seoul's Sejong Institute think tank.

"I can't help viewing these extremely rare disclosures... as attempts to influence the election," he said.

The revelations came at a time of heightened military tensions on the divided Korean peninsula.

North Korea has condemned Seoul and Washington for spearheading a sanctions drive at the United Nations over its nuclear and missile programmes.

It has also issued nuclear threats in response to annual large-scale military exercises which South Korea and the US began last month.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression in their country despite the risk of imprisonment and torture if caught, and settled in the South.

But the number of defectors -- who once numbered more than 2,000 a year -- has nearly halved since Kim Jong-Un took power in the North after the death of his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong-Il in December 2011.

Those who still manage to flee in recent years already have families settled in the South or are relatively well-off and well-connected members of the elite in search of better lives, according to experts and activists.

The highest-ranking North Korean defector to come to the South was Hwang Jang-Yop, the North's main ideologue and former tutor to Kim Jong-Il. He made a high-profile defection via the South Korean embassy in Beijing in 1997 and died in Seoul in 2010.

A North Korean patrol boat is seen from the Chinese border side of the Yalu River, northeast of Dandong, in north-eastern Liaoning province Peter Parks (AFP/File)
S. Sudan rebels 'arrive in Juba' as part of peace deal

Rebel troops in South Sudan have completed their return to the capital Juba as part of a peace deal, days ahead of the expected arrival of their commander, ceasefire monitors said Monday.

The 1,370-strong force of soldiers and police were flown to Juba to ensure security for rebel chief Riek Machar -- named as vice-president in February -- who is due to arrive in Juba next week.

The rebels were brought to Juba on United Nations and chartered airplanes "as required by phase one of the transitional security arrangements plan," the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) said.

South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar was re-appointed vice president in February 2016 Isaac Kasamani (AFP/File)

JMEC was set up by the regional IGAD bloc to ensure a repeatedly broken and delayed August 2015 peace deal is implemented.

Machar has said he will arrive in Juba on April 18 to form a unity government with President Salva Kiir, returning for the first time since he fled the capital in December 2013 when civil war broke out.

However, rebel spokesman Mabior Garang on Sunday accused "hardliners" in the government of trying to undermine the peace process, including boosting government troop numbers in the capital.

Garang said the rebels "find this situation unacceptable and reserve the natural right of self-defence", but said they remained committed to the peace process.

Tens of thousands have been killed in a war marked by atrocities, with over two million forced from their homes, and over six million in need of emergency food aid.

The conflict now involves multiple militia forces driven by local agendas or revenge, who pay little heed to paper peace deals.

JMEC chief Festus Mogae has already warned that "formation of a new government will not in itself be a panacea."
Kerry says 'deeply moved' by Hiroshima memorial visit

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was "deeply moved" by his visit Monday to the Hiroshima atomic bomb memorial -- and expressed hope that President Barack Obama would go there too.

"I want to express on a personal level how deeply honoured I am, how deeply moved I am" to be the first US secretary of state to visit the memorial, he told reporters after his visit during a G7 meeting in the Japanese city.

He described the memorial as "extraordinary" and called it a "gut-wrenching display that tugs at all your sensibilities as a human being".

US Secretary of State John Kerry puts his arm around Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida after they and fellow G7 foreign ministers laid wreaths at the Memorial Cenotaph for the 1945 atomic bombing victims in Hiroshima on April 11, 2016 Jonathan Ernst (Pool/AFP)

Kerry was the highest-ranking US administration official to pay respects at the spot where American planes launched the world's first nuclear attack, in 1945.

About 140,000 people died from the blast or later from severe radiation exposure.

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki followed three days later and Japan surrendered within a week, ending World War II.

"Everyone should visit Hiroshima, and everyone means everyone," Kerry said.

"I hope one day the president of the United States will be among the everyone who is able to come here," he added.

But he declined to elaborate on whether such a visit -- it would be a first by a sitting US president -- was likely.

"Whether or not he can come as president, I don't know. That is subject to a very full and complicated schedule that the president has to plan out way ahead of time."

White House officials have said Obama is considering making a stop in Hiroshima during a planned visit to Japan next month for a G7 summit.

Kerry visited the memorial with other Group of Seven foreign ministers who were wrapping up a two-day meeting in Hiroshima to prepare for the summit.
Global wild tiger count rises for first time in 100 years

The number of wild tigers across the globe has increased for the first time in more than a century thanks to improved conservation efforts, wildlife groups said on Monday.

Deforestation, encroachment of habitat and poaching have devastated tiger populations across Asia, but countries with the big cats are working to increase their numbers.

Data compiled by the WWF and the Global Tiger Forum show that the global population of wild tigers has risen to an estimated 3,890 from an all-time low of 3,200 in 2010.

A wild tiger at the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, western Thailand, pictured a camera trap photo released by the Government of Thailand and the Wildlife Conservation Society Thailand on February 18, 2016 Wildlife Conservation Society Thailand (Government of Thailand/AFP/File)

"For the first time after decades of constant decline, tiger numbers are on the rise," Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, said in a statement.

It is the first time the number of the endangered cats has gone up since 1900, when there were 100,000 tigers.

India is home to more than half of the world's tiger population with some 2,226 tigers roaming its reserves across 18 states, according to the last count in 2014.

Russia, Bhutan and Nepal also saw higher tiger numbers in their latest surveys.

However, experts cautioned that the numbers may be partly down to improved data gathering, with the inclusion of new sample areas and upgraded survey techniques as well as enhanced protection efforts.

- Global efforts -

Bangladesh registered a severe decline from 440 tigers in 2010 to 106 in 2015, though conservationists say this may have been due to an over-estimation of the population six years ago.

There has been a rapid fall in Indonesia because of heavy forest destruction to meet a growing global demand for palm oil, pulp and paper.

Cambodia is mulling the idea of reintroducing tigers after declaring them functionally extinct last week following no evidence of the animals since 2007.

Poachers often sell tiger body parts to the lucrative traditional Chinese medicine market, and the felines also face other man-made problems such as habitat loss.

In 2010 the 13 countries with tiger populations -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam -- launched a plan to double their numbers by 2022.

Monday's global census was released a day before a three-day meeting of ministers from these countries in New Delhi to discuss conservation efforts.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the conference which is expected to be attended by around 700 tiger experts, scientists, managers and donors from across the world.

"Due to the concerted efforts of the government and other stakeholders, more than 70 percent of the global wild tiger population is in India," Prakash Javadekar, India's Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister said in a statement.

Conference delegates are expected to discuss some of the key conservation issues including a unified anti-poaching strategy, monitoring protocols, habitat and landscape management.

Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, whose eponymous charitable foundation was also involved in the 2010 tiger conservation plan, voiced his elation at the increased numbers.

"Proud of @World_Wildlife and #LDF's efforts that have helped increase tiger populations for the first time in 100 yrs," the Oscar-winner and environmentalist tweeted.
Saudi king ends landmark Egypt visit with firm support to Sisi

Saudi King Salman on Monday wrapped up a landmark five-day visit to Egypt marked by lavish praise and multi-billion-dollar investment deals, in a clear sign of support for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's regime.

The 80-year-old monarch's visit came as Riyadh aims to shore up ties with Cairo as it engages in several conflicts in the Middle East and competes with Shiite Iran for regional supremacy.

The visit also highlights Saudi Arabia's firm support for Egypt's fight against the jihadist Islamic State group, which has spearheaded a brutal insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz (left) and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed a slew of multi-billion-dollar investment deals STRINGER (Egyptian Presidency/AFP/File)

"The other mission that we should work on together is the fight against extremism and the fight against terrorism," King Salman said on Sunday in an address to the Egyptian parliament.

On Monday, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Cairo University.

He later flew to Turkey where he was met by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Over the past five days, King Salman and Sisi signed a slew of multi-billion-dollar investment deals that included a plan to build a bridge over the Red Sea connecting Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Egypt also agreed to demarcate its maritime borders with Saudi Arabia by officially placing two islands in the Straits of Tiran in Saudi territory.

The agreement provoked an immediate backlash in Egypt, with thousands of Twitter users accusing Sisi of selling the islands. The islands had historically been Saudi and were "leased" to Egypt in 1950.

Analysts said Salman's visit puts to rest months of reports in Saudi and Egyptian media of strained ties between the two countries over Cairo's unwillingness to participate fully in Saudi-led operations against Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen.

Egypt had announced it would back Saudi Arabia with ground forces if needed, but appears to have balked at sending troops for fear of becoming mired in the conflict.

"The two countries realise that common interests outweigh their practical differences," said Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle East politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Following Salman's visit, Egypt would now be expected to offer more vocal support for Saudi Arabia when it comes to Iran and Yemen, he said.

"The Egyptians are basically going to convince the Saudis that they are in the same trench when it comes to the Saudis' existential fight with Iran, and Saudi Arabia too seems to be very committed to Egyptian national security and the Sisi adminstration," said Gerges.

- Economic aid -

Since he ousted Morsi in 2013, Saudi Arabia has supported former army chief Sisi.

Riyadh viewed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement with deep suspicion.

Saudi support for Cairo has helped Sisi tighten his grip on Egypt after he crushed not just the Brotherhood but also secular dissidents.

Hundreds of supporters of Morsi have been killed and tens of thousands jailed in a blistering police crackdown.

Hundreds more including Morsi himself have been sentenced to death or lengthy jail terms after often speedy trials that have been condemned by the United Nations and global rights groups.

Prior to Salman's visit, Riyadh had already pumped billions of dollars in aid and investment into Egypt. It has helped prop up Egypt's economy, whose tourism industry has been devastated by years of political turmoil and jihadist attacks.

"Although Saudi Arabia's support is important to confront Egypt's economic crisis, what Egypt needs is more political stability and security to attract tourism and foreign direct investments," said Ibrahim El-Ghitany, a researcher at Cairo-based Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.

Egypt's economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism, was dealt a body blow when IS downed a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31.

All 224 people on board, mostly Russian tourists, were killed in the attack which IS said was carried out by stowing a bomb on the aircraft.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb (left) gives Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz a visit of the al-Azhar mosque in the Egyptian capital Cairo, on April 9, 2016
French defence chief in Iraq to coordinate on anti-IS war

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Baghdad Monday on an unannounced visit for talks with Iraqi officials on the war against the Islamic State jihadist group.

Le Drian discussed the campaign against IS, in which France is playing a major role, with President Fuad Masum and parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi, their offices said in statements.

He also met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian Kenzo Tribouillard (Pool/AFP)

IS claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November last year and there is concern that the jihadists will strike the country again.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has said a jihadist cell that attacked the Brussels airport and a metro station last month, killing 32 people, initially planned to target France.

France is part of a US-led coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS and providing training and other assistance to Iraqi and Syrian forces.

According to the French military, France has carried out more than 580 strikes against IS, destroying over 1,000 targets.

The country carries out 15 percent of coalition air operations, and it has around 350 soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Le Drian, who arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait where he met his counterpart, will also visit French troops during his trip to Iraq.

The United States has carried out the majority of coalition strikes and has deployed some 3,900 military personnel to the country, including special forces carrying out raids against IS.

The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained ground with backing from the coalition.

IS still controls significant territory in western Iraq and holds major areas in neighbouring Syria.

Le Drian's visit comes just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed during a trip to Baghdad that the coalition and Iraq would turn up the heat on IS after the jihadists suffered a string of losses.

But while the jihadists are on the defensive, they are still able to carry out frequent bombings targeting civilians and security forces in government-held areas.

In addition to major security challenges, Iraq has also been hit by an economic crisis caused by slumping oil prices, and political tensions over efforts to replace the current cabinet.

Abadi has called for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics," and presented a list of nominees to parliament last week.

But powerful Iraqi parties and politicians rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds, and lawmakers said the political blocs are nominating other candidates.
Prince William makes Indian pancake, royal couple meet 'awestruck' fan

Britain's Prince William tried his hand at Indian cookery Monday after he and wife Kate met perhaps their biggest fan in the country -- a dream come true for the 93-year-old.

The Duke of Cambridge spoke with entrepreneurs and inventors in the financial capital Mumbai before making the Indian pancake known as a dosa, using an innovative automatic device called DosaMatic.

After watching a demonstration, William gladly poured some batter and waited for the dosa to cook before tasting a bit and declaring it "not bad", although the Duchess could not be tempted to take a bite.

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, eats a "dosa", a traditional south Indian pancake, alongside his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, during a Young Entrepreneurs Event in Mumbai on April 11, 2016 Danish Siddiqui (Pool/AFP)

"The Duke said he would love to have the machine in his palace," Eshwar Vikas, device inventor and chief executive of Mukunda Foods, told reporters afterwards.

Day two of their tour of the Indian subcontinent came after the royal couple met Boman Kohinoor, owner of Mumbai's most famous Parsi cafe, on Sunday evening.

Kohinoor, 93, has a strong claim to be India's biggest fan of the British royal family -- giant cardboard cutouts of William and Kate adorn his restaurant -- and he told AFP on Friday he was desperate to meet them.

His dream came true after William and Kate were made aware of a social media campaign with the hashtag #WillKatMeetMe, with Kensington Palace tweeting that the couple had been "very touched" and invited him to their hotel.

He spent 10 minutes chatting to them at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel before they enjoyed a glittering charity ball with Bollywood stars.

"I was awestruck. I never expected the prince to be so charming and Princess Kate so beautiful," Kohinoor told AFP at his restaurant, clutching a photograph of the three of them.

Kohinoor, who gave Kate a bouquet of yellow flowers, admitted he was slightly nervous -- although not too much on account of his age.

"I wished them a very rosy future and I sent my good wishes for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and I also requested them to kiss Prince George and Princess Charlotte for me," he added.

- 'Namaste Mumbai' -

On Monday William also got behind the wheel of a racing car simulator as he and Kate chatted with entrepreneurs in Mumbai. The prince met employees of Mahindra Racing, which manufactures Formula One-style electric cars, and tested their latest invention.

William rounded off the morning's event by making a short speech to launch an awards programme for Indian startups called the Tech Rocketship Awards.

After walking onto the stage he started by bowing slightly as he put his hands together and said "Namaste (greetings) Mumbai".

"Catherine and I are very impressed by the energy and ideas we have just seen. Being here today, it is clear that India is leading the way in so many areas of innovation and technology," he said.

"Your ability to innovate is not just good news for India but it's great news for the world. With one sixth of the world's population, young innovators like you must play a major role," William added.

The 33-year-old then pressed a button to officially launch the programme, setting off exploding confetti.

"All this innovation and we get this!" William joked to laughing quests.

The couple later flew to New Delhi where they laid a wreath at India Gate to honour fallen soldiers, and visited a museum dedicated to Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi.

They will lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday before heading to Kaziranga National Park in the country's remote northeast to see endangered rhinos.

The couple will also spend two days in Bhutan, where they will meet the Himalayan nation's king and queen and embark on a six-hour hike.

They return to India to finish their tour in Agra on Saturday by visiting the famous Taj Mahal.

Restauranter Boman Kohinoor, 93, an ardent fan of the British royal family, holds up photos of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge outside the Britannia & Co. restaurant in Mumbai on April 8, 2016 Indranil Mukherjee (AFP)

Britain's Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, drives a Formula E simulator as he attends a Young Entrepreneurs Event in Mumbai on April 11, 2016 Danish Siddiqui (Pool/AFP)
G7 calls for restraint in Asian maritime disputes

Group of Seven foreign ministers on Monday expressed concern about maritime disputes in Asia, as worries grow in the region over China's territorial and military ambitions.

Beijing lays claim to almost all of the South China Sea despite conflicting partial claims from Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.

It has constructed artificial islands in the area in recent months as it asserts its sovereignty.

A Chinese marine surveillance ship (left) alongside a Japan Coast Guard ship near the disputed islets known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and Diaoyu islands in China in the East China Sea, on February 4, 2013 JAPAN COAST GUARD (JAPAN COAST GUARD/AFP/File)

Japan, meanwhile, has its own dispute with China in the East China Sea over uninhabited islands that it administers but that are also claimed by Beijing.

"We are concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and emphasise the fundamental importance of peaceful management and settlement of disputes," the G7 ministers said in a statement after their two-day meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

The Southeast Asian countries and Washington fear China could impose military controls over the entire South China Sea. Beijing has in recent months built massive structures including radar systems and an airstrip over reclaimed reefs and outcrops.

"We express our strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions", the ministers said. They did not mention China or any other country by name.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan issued the Statement on Maritime Security at the meeting.

The G7 also urged "all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamations" and "building of outposts... for military purposes".

Disputes should be solved "in good faith and in accordance with international law", including dispute settlement mechanisms and arbitration, the group added.

Meeting host Japan and the US have repeatedly expressed alarm over Chinese moves, while Beijing has voiced suspicion that they are using the G7 to criticise it.

An international tribunal in The Hague is preparing to decide a case brought by the Philippines in connection with the South China Sea.

Beijing has refused to take part and says it does not recognise the tribunals authority.

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he had not seen the G7 statement and refrained from commenting directly on it, but warned the G7 to avoid being biased towards China.
US should not surrender global economic leadership: Lew

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew called Monday for the US to maintain its global economic leadership and not cede it to others like China in a tide of protectionist sentiment.

With some US presidential candidates advocating a pullback from the post-World War II Bretton Woods structure that rebuilt the global economic structure guided by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Lew said the next administration needs to remain committed to those principles.

"If we want it to work for the American people, we need to embrace new players on the global economic stage and make sure they meet the standards of the system we created," he said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

With some US presidential candidates advocating a pullback from the post-World War II Bretton Woods structure, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the next administration needs to remain committed to those principles Philippe Lopez (AFP/File)

"The worst possible outcome would be to step away from our leadership role and let others fill in behind us."

Lew argued that the Bretton Woods system, with its focus on increasing cooperation on trade and financial regulation and on fighting poverty, had underpinned a quadrupling of world per capita income since 1950.

"American leadership was essential to the creation of that system and the progress it yielded," he said.

In recent years, the system made possible rapid response through the IMF and World Bank to the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the economic and political crisis in Ukraine.

It also helped make effective US sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea, Lew argued.

The administration of President Barack Obama, now in its final year, has faced persistent resistance in Congress to support for the IMF, cooperation with China, and to two Obama-driven international trade treaties, one spanning the Pacific and another cross-Atlantic deal with the European Union.

A number the current candidates to replace Obama, led by Republican hopeful Donald Trump, have campaigned on opposition to the trade deals and putting up more barriers to foreign competitors.

Lew argued that the global system does better when the United States is leading, and that institutions like the World Bank and IMF "amplify US influence on the global stage."
Grenade explodes during Pakistan court demonstration, injures two

The detonator of a hand grenade exploded during a demonstration requested by a judge in a Pakistani anti-terror court on Monday, injuring two people and throwing the judge off his chair.

The dramatic incident, which wounded a policeman and a court assistant, occurred during the trial in the southern city of Karachi of a man accused of being an extortionist and gangster who had carried out several grenade attacks.

Police claimed to have recovered a stash of grenades when they arrested him.

"Upon the request by the judge, the investigator tried to demonstrate the working of the grenade by pulling something out of it," defence lawyer Abdul Jabbar Lakho told reporters in Karachi Luis Robayo (AFP/File)

During the course of proceedings Judge Shakil Haider asked police to demonstrate how the device worked, a lawyer told AFP.

"Upon the request by the judge, the investigator tried to demonstrate the working of the grenade by pulling something out of it," defence lawyer Abdul Jabbar Lakho told reporters.

The judge was thrown from his chair by the blast, a witness said.

Senior police official Jamil Ahmed confirmed the incident, adding the part which exploded was the detonator which was thought to have been defused.

The explosive surrounding the detonator had already been made harmless, he said.
US stocks end lower ahead of earnings

Wall Street stocks finished modestly lower Monday as the market prepared for the start of a corporate earnings season that is expected to show generally weaker results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.55 points (0.12 percent) to 17,556.41.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 5.61 (0.27 percent) to 2,041.99, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 17.29 (0.36 percent) to 4,833.40.

Near the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,557.65, down 19.31 points (0.11 percent) Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File)

Stocks opened higher, but veered into negative territory near the end of the session.

"Today is just wait-and-see until earnings season gets underway," said Bill Lynch, director of investment at Hinsdale Associates.

S&P Capital IQ expects first-quarter earnings to drop 8.1 percent among S&P 500 companies compared with the year-ago period, with seven of 10 sectors showing a decline.

Yahoo rose 1.1 percent after the parent of British tabloid Daily Mail said it is working with other parties on a potential bid for the struggling Internet company.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International sank 6.9 percent on news that a US Senate panel is weighing contempt of Congress proceedings against outgoing chief executive Michael Pearson over his failure to appear before a hearing on drug price hikes.

Hertz Global Holdings plummeted 11.4 percent as it cut its revenue and earnings outlook, citing excess industry capacity that is depressing revenues. The car-rental company said it was hopeful "that industry capacity will likely moderate as seasonal demand improves" heading into the peak summer period.

Tesla Motors dipped 0.1 percent after recalling 2,700 Model Model X sport utility vehicles to fix a locking hinge that could allow third-row seat-backs to fold forward.

Under Armour tumbled 5.4 percent following a downcast report from Morgan Stanley, which pointed to slow sales growth in women's apparel and slowing sales of running shoes. Rivals Nike and Lululemon Athletica lost 2.5 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively.
Zimbabwe TV rhino killed after poaching attack

Veterinarians in Zimbabwe put down a rhino that featured on a popular wildlife television series after it was critically wounded in a poaching attempt, a wildlife conservation group said Monday.

The eight-year-old rhinoceros named Ntombi -- "girl" in the Ndebele language -- featured in the "Karina: Wild On Safari" series about four years ago.

The animal sustained wounds on its legs when poachers shot at it last week in Matopos National Park in southern Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has been battling wildlife poachers who targetmainly rhinos and elephants, but parks authorities say they lack the funds and equipment to carry out extensive patrols and rely on volunteers Stephane De Sakutin (AFP/File)

"The severely-wounded Ntombi was euthanised as the vet ruled there was no possibility of saving her. She had lived a week of indescribable agony," the Bhejane Trust said in a statement.

Rangers from the parks department found the wounded rhino after several days of searching through the national park.

"Ntombi had a 13-month calf and we are following up on what has happened to this youngster," the trust said.

Parks and wildlife authorities were not immediately available to comment.

Zimbabwe has been battling wildlife poaching with poachers targeting mainly rhinos and elephants.

Parks authorities say they lack the funds and equipment to carry out extensive patrols and rely on well-wishers and volunteers.
Afghan suicide bomber 'kills 12' army recruits

At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded Monday when a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghan army recruits near the eastern city of Jalalabad, officials said.

It came days after US Secretary of State John Kerry paid a visit to Kabul to underscore his support for Afghanistan's beleaguered unity government and call on the insurgent group to resume direct peace talks.

"In the attack, 12 army recruits were killed," said Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar province.

Afghan security forces inspect the site of a suicide attack on a bus carrying army recruits in Jalalabad, on April 11, 2016 Noorullah Shirzada (AFP)

Ministry of Defence spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed the incident and death toll, adding the attacker struck the bus while riding a motorised tricycle.

"The recruits were being transferred from Jalalabad to Kabul," Waziri said, putting the number of injured at 26.

Ehsansullah Shinwari, head of a regional hospital in Nangarhar province, said 38 people were hurt in the bombing.

Speaking from the hospital, Ahmad, who only uses one name, told AFP that his father and two brothers were killed in the attack.

At the site of the blast, bloodied clothes and personal belongings were strewn on the ground around the badly charred remains of the bus.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid later claimed responsiblity on his verified Twitter account. The group have been waging a revolt against the government since being toppled from power in 2001, frequently targeting the military.

They have stepped up their campaign following the 2014 withdrawal of US-led combat troops, winning a number of important military victories including the brief capture of northern Kunduz city last September.

Afghanistan, the US, China and Pakistan in January formed a four-way group to try to jump-start peace talks that were first held in Islamabad last July but fell away after it emerged later that month the Taliban's founder Mullah Omar was dead, leading to infighting within the group.

But the Taliban have refused to return to the negotiating table until their conditions are met, including the departure of 13,000 foreign soldiers who are on a mission to train and advise their Afghan counterparts.

Omar's successor Mullah Akhtar Mansour meanwhile is seen as rapidly consolidating his authority over dissident factions and has announced he is preparing for "decisive strikes" this spring.

The Syria-headquartered Islamic State group has also gained a foothold in Nangarhar province in recent years.

Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, a spokesman for the US-led military operations in Afghanistan, said in March the group was mainly contained in one district of the province.

Many of them are former Pakistani Taliban fighters who "have changed allegiance to Daesh," Shoffner said, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym.
Saudi King receives red carpet treatment on Turkey visit

Saudi King Salman arrived in Turkey on Monday for a visit aimed at tightening increasingly close ties between the two overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim allies, receiving a lavish welcome that underlined the strength of relations.

The 80-year-old king was welcomed at Ankara airport by a delegation personally led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in an unusual break from protocol and showing the importance Turkey attatches to the visit.

Television footage showed the king, wearing black sunglasses, serenely descending from the plane with a special escalator rather than steps before being welcomed by Erdogan.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (right) welcomes Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud upon his arrival at Esenboga Airport in Ankara, on April 11, 2016 Adem Altan (AFP)

King Salman is expected to hold talks on Tuesday at Erdogan's presidential palace in Ankara expected to focus on the Syrian conflict and the fight against militants.

Salman will then attend the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul on Thursday and Friday after wrapping up talks in the Turkish capital.

Local media reported that he will stay in Ankara in a 450 square-meter (4,850 sq ft) hotel suite, with bullet proof windows reinforced by bomb-resistant cement.

A 300-person Saudi delegation had earlier arrived in Ankara to coordinate the king's accommodation and deal with security issues, the Hurriyet newspaper said.

Five hundred luxurious Mercedes, BMW and Audi cars had been hired for the king's transport in Ankara and Istanbul, it added. The king's personal belongings had all been shipped to Turkey in cargo planes.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey have forged close alliance after their relationship had been damaged by Riyadh's role in the 2013 ousting of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, a close ally of Ankara.

Ankara and Riyadh have cooperated closely over the five-year Syrian war. Both back rebels who are seeking to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power and see his exit as essential to ending the war.

In February, Saudi jets arrived at Incirlik air base in southern Turkey to join the air campaign against Islamic State jihadists.
Bryan Adams cancels Mississippi gig over anti-gay law

Canadian singer Bryan Adams has cancelled an upcoming show in Mississippi to protest a controversial law that opponents say discriminates against gay and transgender people, his website said Monday.

The 56-year-old rocker was scheduled to perform at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on April 14.

Adams said in a statement that he "cannot in good conscience perform in a state where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation."

Canadian musican Bryan Adams is best known for his global hits "(Everything I Do) I Do it For You," and "Summer of '69" Samuel Kubani (AFP)

He also joined activists in calling for the state to repeal the "extremely discriminatory" law.

The measure, signed last week by Republican Governor Phil Bryant and set to take effect July 1, allows officials and businesses to deny marriage-related services to gay people or refuse to employ them if they feel it would violate their religious beliefs.

Similar measures have popped up in other states since the US Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the nation in June 2015.

Adams' announcement comes days after Bruce Springsteen cancelled a gig in North Carolina to protest a new law there that prohibits local governments in the southern state from acting to stop discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people in public facilities and restrooms.

Springsteen had been due to perform in Greensboro, North Carolina this past Sunday as part of a sold-out arena tour revisiting his classic 1980 album "The River."

He said cancelling the show was "the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards."
IS bastions 'must fall' in 2016: French defence chief

The Islamic State group strongholds Raqa and Mosul "must fall" this year, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said during a speech in Baghdad on Monday.

The battles to retake Raqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq are expected to be the most difficult of the war against IS, which holds swathes of territory in both countries.

Le Drian's remarks are the most specific timetable for the cities' recapture given by a member of the US-led coalition against the jihadists, which has been reluctant to comment on the expected pace of operations.

Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Furqat al-Abbas brigades prepare a tank during an operation to retake the town of al-Bashir, near Kirkuk, from the Islamic State group on April 10, 2016 Mohammed Sawaf (AFP/File)

"Raqa and Mosul must fall in 2016," Le Drian said, calling for making it "the year of a major turning point in our struggle against the so-called Islamic State".

IS claimed attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November last year, and there is concern that the jihadists will strike the country again.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has said a jihadist cell that attacked Brussels airport and a metro station last month, killing 32 people, initially planned to target France.

Raqa was seized by the jihadists in early 2014, and Mosul was overrun during an IS offensive in June that year.

The fact that both cities still have large civilian populations will complicate efforts to retake them, and the jihadists have had ample time to sow slews of bombs and set up other defences.

Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, the commander of the international operation against IS, has said that Iraqi generals do not think they will be able to recapture Mosul until the end of 2016 or early 2017 at the earliest.

This year "must be the year of the beginning of the end for Daesh", Le Drian said in his speech to Iraqi special forces and French troops, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

But he cautioned that despite having suffered a string of defeats, the jihadists are still a threat.

- 'More dangerous than ever' -

"Because it's cornered, Daesh is more dangerous than ever," he said.

IS is still able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas, as well as mount raids targeting security forces.

"Now that we have regained the upper hand, we must make the most of this dynamic with our partners," said Le Drian, referring to Iraqi and Kurdish forces on the ground in Iraq.

He said the objective was to whittle down IS "resources, its leaders, its capacity for planning attacks on European soil".

Le Drian arrived in Baghdad on Monday for talks on the war against the jihadists, meeting Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi and Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi.

According to the French military, France has carried out more than 580 air strikes against IS, destroying over 1,000 targets, and has around 350 soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Le Drian, who arrived in Baghdad from Kuwait, has already visited some of those troops.

The United States carries out the majority of coalition strikes and has deployed some 3,900 military personnel to the country, including special forces targeting IS with raids.

The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since recaptured significant ground with backing from the coalition, while Syrian forces have also made gains against IS.

Le Drian's visit comes just days after US Secretary of State John Kerry vowed during a trip to Baghdad that the coalition and Iraq would turn up the heat on IS.

In addition to major security challenges, Iraq has also been hit by an economic crisis caused by slumping oil prices, and political tensions over efforts to replace the current cabinet.

Abadi has called for "fundamental" change to the cabinet so that it includes "professional and technocratic figures and academics", and presented a list of nominees to parliament last week.

But powerful Iraqi parties and politicians rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds, and lawmakers said the political blocs are nominating other candidates.

Officials have said a vote on new candidates could take place on Tuesday, but the end result may be a variation on the current system of party-affiliated ministers.

French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian, pictured on April 5, 2016, is on a visit to Iraq Thierry Zoccolan (AFP/File)
US Navy officer charged with handing secrets to China, Taiwan

A decorated US Navy officer faces espionage and other charges after allegedly passing defense secrets to China and Taiwan -- and possibly other nations, a US official said Monday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told AFP the sailor is Lieutenant Commander Edward Chieh-Liang Lin, who has been in the Navy since 1999 and has won several awards including two Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medals.

The Navy declined to confirm his identity, but provided a heavily redacted copy of a charge sheet that outlined four charges against an officer of Lin's rank.

Lt. Edward Lin, a native of Taiwan, shares his personal stories about his journey to American citizenship to 80 newly nationalized citizens at a naturalization ceremony in Honolulu, Hawaii on Decembet 3, 2008 Handout (Navy Visual News Service/AFP/File)

According to that document, the suspect communicated "secret information relating to the national defense to representatives of a foreign government."

The US official said Lin is accused of handing secret information over to China and Taiwan, adding it was possible the investigation could also uncover ties to other countries.

A 2008 Navy article says Lin left his birthplace of Taiwan when he was 14 and eventually became a naturalized US citizen.

A Navy biography shows Lin underwent training as a nuclear specialist between 2000 and 2002, when he was still enlisted.

The charges say the accused was later assigned to the Navy's Commander Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, which gathers intelligence.

The officer is also accused of violating a lawful general order by "wrongfully failing to properly store material classified as secret."

- Prostitution charge -

A third charge alleges he lied about which foreign country he was going to visit while on leave, and he was also alleged to have committed adultery and procured a prostitute, with "such conduct being... of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces."

The Navy declined to provide the name of the accused's attorney, and additional attempts to find his lawyer were not immediately successful.

It was not clear how long Lin faces in prison if convicted, though the alleged offenses are "not capital."

Lin appeared before a preliminary Article 32 hearing on Friday, during which a military judge hears initial evidence and then recommends to a commanding admiral whether the case should be referred to a full court-martial.

Lin remains in custody at the naval brig in Chesapeake, Virginia.

The case emerges amid heightened tensions between China and regional neighbors in the South China Sea, where Beijing is building massive military structures including radar systems and an airstrip over reefs and tiny islands.

China claims almost all of the contested sea, which is important for international shipping and is believed to hold valuable mineral and energy deposits.

Neighboring countries and Washington fear China could impose military controls over the entire South China Sea.

The United States also suspects Beijing is conducting cyber attacks on US interests and passing this information to the private sector for commercial gain.
Morocco court releases 2 men convicted of homosexuality

A Moroccan court on Monday released two men convicted of homosexuality -- which normally carries a jail sentence in the kingdom -- in a case that stirred emotions throughout the country.

The court also jailed two men convicted of attacking the couple, while outside two topless Femen activists from France were detained and deported after protesting for Rabat to decriminalise homosexuality.

Residents of the town of Beni Mellal in central Morocco, meanwhile, gathered to demand the release of the jailed attackers.

Moroccan protesters living in the neighbourhood where two men presumed to be homosexual were assaulted last month, demonstrate against homosexuality and in support of family members who are on trial in connection with the assault, on April 11, 2016 Fadel Senna (AFP)

The trial centred on an alleged assault of two homosexual men by a group of individuals in an apartment in Beni Mellal last month.

A video of the alleged attack appeared on YouTube, showing two half naked men with bloodied faces being attacked and dragged into the street.

A first victim was sentenced to four months in jail for "acts against nature", but an appeal hearing decided Monday to release him on time served.

The other victim was handed a four-month suspended sentence for "sexual deviancy".

For the attack on the couple, one defendant was handed a six-month prison sentence and another received four months for forced entry, resorting to violence and carrying weapons.

Two others were acquited and a fifth was to be tried later in a minors' court.

Rights organisations have demanded that Morocco decriminalise homosexuality, which is punishable by up to three years in jail.

Last August, a court in Rabat sentenced two men to four months in prison for beating up a presumed homosexual because of his appearance.

The men were arrested after websites posted a video of the victim trying in vain to take shelter in a taxi to escape a crowd.

And in another incident in a string of controversies over homosexuality, two men were jailed for four months in June for kissing in public in the capital.
Turkey strikes IS positions in Syria: report

Turkey's army has launched artillery strikes on positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria after the jihadists recaptured an area near the Turkish border, local media reported Monday.

Turkish artillery fired shells from howitzers positioned on its border region of Kilis against IS targets, the private NTV television reported.

Meanwhile, more than one rocket fired from the Syrian side of the border hit the centre of a Turkish town, a Turkish government official told AFP.

Turkey's army has launched artillery strikes, similart to these pictured on February 16, 2016, on positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria Bulent Kilic (AFP/File)

The official did not say who fired the rockets which slammed into the centre of Kilis -- the main town in the province of the same name -- near the Syrian border and left more than four people wounded.

The injured were taken to hospital in ambulances, he said.

The Turkish army's shelling of IS targets comes after the extremists took back control of the town of Al-Rai near Turkey, which rival rebels had captured last week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Neither the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front nor IS are included in a truce brokered by the United States and Russia that came into force on February 27.

In February, Turkish artillery had also shelled targets of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Syria, with the military saying it was responding to incoming fire.

But Turkey has not shelled any positions held by Syrian Kurdish fighters inside Syria since the ceasefire was implemented.

Washington has applauded Turkey's role in the anti-IS coalition but US officials on occasion have urged Ankara to do more.
Chinese leaders big fans of 'House of Cards' says Spacey

"House of Cards" star Kevin Spacey said Monday that the Netflix series has made him a star in China -- including with its Communist leaders -- even though the service is not available there.

The actor, who plays the ruthless American political operator Frank Underwood in the series, said that he was greeted like a superstar on a recent trip to the country.

"They tell me House of Cards is a huge success in China, that the government like it a lot and that for the man in the street Underwood is seen as a man who fights corruption," he told reporters in Paris at a European launch of a new wave of Netflix series.

"House of Cards" star Kevin Spacey said that the series has made him a star in China -- including with its Communist leaders -- even though the Netflix show about a ruthless political operator is not officially available there Nicholas Kamm (AFP/File)

The political drama, adapted from a BBC series of the same name, is the Internet platform's flagship series, winning both Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

Despite -- or maybe because of -- storylines that include cyber war with the US and a corrupt Communist Party insider, the show has been a big hit in China, with streaming service Sohu buying the rights to show it soon after its US premiere.

The chillingly Machiavellian congressman Underwood "is one of the most remarkable characters I have ever been able to play," Spacey said.

"The show has been so successful in so many countries. It seems to translate and (cross) borders, and it is not just because people are fascinated with American politics," the actor added.

"There are many times when I leave the set and go to my hotel room and I wonder, 'Have we gone too far?' Then I watch the news and I think, 'Maybe we haven't gone far enough.'"

He said some politicians had told him that the series "was too cynical. (But) others have told me that it was closer to reality than they would like it known," he said.

Spacey, who left Hollywood to run the Old Vic theatre in London for 13 years, said he would have been incapable of playing Underwood without that time on the British stage.

"It changed me... 15 years earlier I would not have been able to play him," he said.

"House of Cards" has also been a major success for Netflix in Europe, which claims to have two million subscribers across France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland.
Race and the death penalty in US spotlight

Advocates for two African Americans on death row for murder are seeking a reprieve for both men on the grounds their trials were tainted by racial bias, taking their campaigns all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Amnesty International is waging a last-ditch effort to secure a stay for Kenneth Fults, 47, who is due to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday in the southeastern state of Georgia for the murder of a white woman 20 years ago.

Fults was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to shooting Cathy Bounds five times in the back of the head.

Amnesty International is waging a last-ditch effort to secure a stay for Kenneth Fults, 47, who is due to be executed by lethal injection on April 12, 2016 Guilemetter Villemin (AFP/File)

But eight years later, an investigator working with his lawyers spoke to a juror in the case, Thomas Buffington, aged 79 at the time, who used a racial slur when referring to Fults.

"Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that's what that nigger deserved," Buffington, who has since died, told the lawyer under oath.

Georgia's State Board for Pardons and Paroles was to rule Monday on an appeal for clemency filed by Fults' lawyers in which they highlight allegations of racial bias but also characterize him as intellectually impaired and the product of a violent, neglectful childhood.

Should that fail, his last resort would be an intervention by the Supreme Court, which rejected a previous appeal by his lawyers' last year. His lawyers have asked the court to take up the case again.

The Fults case has drawn relatively little media attention in the United States -- partly because the allegations of bias surfaced long after the trial.

But on April 22 the Supreme Court rules on whether to take up a much higher-profile case -- that of Duane Buck -- which involves similar allegations of racial bias in the trial process.

Buck was sentenced to die in Texas in 1997 for shooting dead his ex-girlfriend and a friend, in front of her children.

His attorneys do not dispute his conviction for the double murder, but they argue that racial considerations entered into his sentencing, infringing his rights under the US Constitution which guarantees the right to an impartial jury.

- 'Profound impact' -

During the 1997 hearing, psychologist Walter Quijano testified that blacks pose a greater risk of "future dangerousness" than whites.

Under Texas law, a person can be sentenced to death only if shown to pose a danger to society and the prosecutor cited this testimony in asking for capital punishment.

"This was a case that did not have an enormous amount of evidence speaking to the question of future dangerousness," said Christina Swarns, litigation director at the legal defense fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"Mr Buck did not have prior convictions for violence, so having this expert in the field saying that because of his race he was going to be dangerous in the future, it clearly had a very profound impact on the jury."

The Supreme Court has intervened once before in Buck's case, granting a stay hours before his scheduled execution in September 2011.

At the time, several of the justices qualified as "bizarre and objectionable" the testimony of the psychologist, but the court stopped short of agreeing to review the case.

- Procedural error -

The Court's decision this month whether or not to take up the now-emblematic case comes as the vacancy left by the death of one of its nine justices, Antonin Scalia, has created a likelihood of split 4-4 rulings.

Both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have now published editorials calling for Buck to be granted a new trial.

"A man was sentenced to death at least in part because of his race -- a violation of his constitutional rights," wrote the Los Angeles Times in urging the Supreme Court to grant him a hearing.

Both papers highlighted the fact that other men sentenced to die in cases involving testimony by the same psychologist were granted fresh hearings. But Buck's death sentence still stands because of a procedural error by his lawyers.

Advocates for Buck also cite strong evidence of prejudice in Harris County, Texas, where he was sentenced and which accounts for nine percent of all capital penalty sentences meted out in the United States.

Studies have shown Harris County prosecutors were three times more likely to seek the death penalty against African Americans than against white defendants between 1992 and 1999. Juries in the county were also more than twice as likely to impose capital punishment on African Americans.

Kate Black, a member of Burk's defense team, invokes his good conduct during 18 years in jail as a further argument in his favor.

"If Mr Buck is given a new, fair sentencing hearing the jury will see that he has not posed any future danger and has in fact been a model prisoner," she told AFP.
Massive fire kills at least 84 in south India temple complex

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (AP)  A massive fire broke out during a fireworks display in a south Indian temple early Sunday, killing more than 80 people and injuring at least 200 more, a top official said.

The fire started when a spark from a fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks that were being stored at the Puttingal temple complex in Paravoor village, a few hours north of Kerala's state capital of Thiruvananthapuram, State Home Minister Ramesh Chennitala.

Thousands had been packed into the temple complex when a big explosion erupted around 3 a.m., officials said. The blaze then spread quickly through the temple, trapping devotees within.

In this image made from video, debris is seen following a fire and explosion at a temple in Kollam, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, early Sunday, April 10, 2016. A number of people were killed and many more injured in a massive fire that broke out in a temple caused by fireworks that had been stored in the temple in preparation for the Hindu new year festival, according to an official. (Asianet News via AP Video) INDIA OUT

At least 84 people were killed, said a Kerala police official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to give his name to journalists.

Local TV channels broadcast images of huge clouds of white smoke billowing from the temple, as fireworks were still going off in the night sky. Successive explosions from the building storing the fireworks sent huge chunks of concrete flying as far as a kilometer (a half mile), according to resident Jayashree Harikrishnan.

"Huge pieces of concrete were flying through the air. Chunks landed in our yard," she said.

By morning, firefighters had brought the blaze under control, officials said. Rescuers were sifting through the wreckage in search of survivors, while backhoes were clearing the debris and ambulances ferried the injured to nearby hospitals.

Every year, the temple holds a competitive fireworks display, with different groups putting on successive light shows for thousands of devotees gathered for the last day of a seven-day festival honoring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali.

This year's competition was happening without permission, after the state's High Court banned competitive light shows at temples.

State Labor Minister Shibu Baby John said incident would be investigated, and the victims would be compensated.

___

Associated Press writers Nirmala George and Katy Daigle in New Delhi contributed to this report.
immigrant students blocked from enrolling in school

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Immigrant children living in the U.S. without legal status have been blocked from registering for school and accessing the educational services they need, according to a report on school districts in four states by Georgetown University Law Center researchers.

Such students have faced long enrollment delays and have been turned away from classrooms as the result of some districts' arbitrary interpretations of residency rules and state laws, the researchers said.

All children  including those living in the U.S. illegally must attend school through at least the 8th grade or until they turn 16 under compulsory education laws in all 50 states. Many states allow students to enroll beyond that age, according to the Education Commission of the States.

HOLD FOR RELEASE UNTIL 12:01 A.M. EDT. THIS STORY MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST OR POSTED ONLINE BEFORE 12:01 A.M. EDT. - FILE - In this July 1, 2014, file photo, a student at Liberty High School in Houston works on a holiday writing assignment. The school serves a large immigrant population, including "unaccompanied minors." (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

But some districts' elaborate paperwork requirements effectively have kept immigrant youth out of school, while lack of translation and interpretation services have left their families uninformed about the process, the report found.

The Obama administration's efforts to find and deport the tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children and families who arrived during the 2014 surge of illegal crossings have further complicated the situation, prompting some students to avoid school for fear that they will be picked up by authorities, the report's authors said.

"U.S. law is clear on this point  no child in the United States should be excluded from public education," said Mikaela Harris, a Georgetown law student who co-wrote the study issued by the university's Human Rights Institute and the nonprofit Women's Refugee Commission. "That doesn't always play out in practice."

In May 2014, then-Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued joint guidance with the Justice Department reminding districts that a 1982 Supreme Court ruling gives all children the right to enroll in school, regardless of immigration status.

The report, which studied school districts in Florida, New York, Texas and North Carolina, calls for a strengthening of federal outreach to districts unaccustomed to serving newcomer populations and better assurances that educational access continues amid immigration enforcement.

Researchers said they had presented their recommendations to the Department of Education.

"We remain vigilant about our responsibility to protect the civil rights of all students, including immigrant students, undocumented students and unaccompanied immigrant students," Education Department spokeswoman Dorie Nolt said. "We have provided a number of resources to communities in order to do so."

The agency is committed to working with federal agencies and community organizations to address any issues, she added.

U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said he had not seen the report so could not comment on it, but said agency policy in general precludes any enforcement activity at schools and other sensitive locations.

The report analyzed barriers to education faced by the 775,000 children under the age of 18 estimated to be living in the United States without legal permission, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of 2012 Census figures. Since fall 2013, more than 100,000 unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras also have sought refuge in the U.S. and have been placed in communities across the country after being apprehended at the border.

Researchers said an additional estimated 1.6 million school-aged immigrant children who were brought to the U.S. legally may live in mixed-status families and face similar barriers. Public school districts are entitled to request and vet paperwork to establish students' residency, but some have gone a step beyond, requiring immigration documents, researchers found.

"Under federal law, schools are not allowed to discriminate against children due to their racial or ethnic background," the report said. "And yet, some communities have barred immigrant children from enrolling or meaningfully participating in school by creating intentional and unintentional barriers."

HOLD FOR RELEASE UNTIL 12:01 A.M. EDT. THIS STORY MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST OR POSTED ONLINE BEFORE 12:01 A.M. EDT. - FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2014, file photo, New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, left, sits in on a bilingual kindergarten class at Washington-Rose Elementary School in Roosevelt, N.Y. Tisch and other state officials ordered a compliance review of suburban New York City school districts enrollment policies and procedures for unaccompanied minors and immigrant children following reports that several dozen children who had recently arrived from Central America were not admitted to a Long Island high school because of overcrowding. (AP Photo/Frank Eltman, File)
Monday, April 18

Today is Monday, April 18, the 109th day of 2016. There are 257 days left in the year.

Highlights in history on this date:

1328 - Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV deposes Pope John XXII, but John stays on and the antipope Louis installed in Rome wins little support and abdicates two years later.

1663 - Turks declare war against Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.

1775 - Paul Revere makes his legendary ride to Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, conveying the warning that the British were coming.

1858 - A 60-day-long rainfall begins in Chicago.

1906 - Earthquake rocks San Francisco, touching off fires that almost destroy the city and killing about 700 people.

1924 - Simon and Schuster publishes the first crossword puzzle book in the United States.

1934 - The first U.S. coin-operated laundry opens in Fort Worth, Texas.

1942 - Lt. Gen. James Doolittle leads the first U.S. air raid on Japan in World War II.

1946 - The League of Nations comes to an end.

1965 - Uganda becomes first noncommunist nation to formally denounce U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

1976 - About 40,000 Israelis march into occupied West Bank, demanding that Israel annex the territory.

1978 - The U.S. Senate votes 68-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on Dec. 31, 1999.

1980 - Former Rhodesia becomes independent Zimbabwe.

1983 - Sixty-two people, including 17 Americans, are killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.

1986 - Angry crowds protest outside American embassies throughout the world as backlash continues against U.S. attack on Libya.

1988 - U.S. Navy destroys two offshore Iranian oil platforms and bombs two Iranian Navy frigates in retaliation for a mine explosion that damaged a U.S. frigate.

1989 - Thousands of Chinese students demanding democracy try to storm Communist Party headquarters in Beijing.

1990 - Eleven school children and four others are killed when a school bus is set ablaze during street fighting in Beirut.

1991 - Iraq submits list of chemical and biological weapons capabilities and nuclear facilities to the U.N. secretary-general.

1993 - President Ghulam Ishaq Khan of Pakistan dismisses the government and dissolves parliament, the culmination of a bitter power struggle with the prime minister.

1994 - Former President Richard M. Nixon suffers a stroke at his home in New Jersey; he dies four days later at a New York hospital.

1996 - A passenger train collides with a stopped freight train at a railroad station in central India, killing at least 60 people.

1998 - The first official talks in four years between North and South Korea end with the two sides unable to resolve a dispute over aid to the starving North and reuniting families.

1999 - The 25th straight day of NATO attacks on Yugoslavia is the most intense yet, with 500 missions pummeling refineries, bridges and dozens of other targets.

2002 - A U.S. Air National Guard fighter pilot, apparently in the mistaken belief that he was under attack, drops a bomb on Canadian soldiers carrying out a training exercise near Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing four Canadians and wounding eight others.

2003 - The leaders of Taiwan's two main opposition parties, Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party and James Soong of the People First Party, announce plans to run together in a presidential election scheduled for March 2004 against incumbent Chen Shui-bian.

2006 - The United Nations health agency says that about 9,300 people are likely to die of cancers caused by radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, while a report from the Greenpeace environmental group put the potential toll 10 times higher.

2007 - At least 183 people are killed when four large bombs explode in mostly Shiite districts in Baghdad, including a car bomb near the Sadriyah market that kills 127.

2008 - The son of the Dutch defense chief Gen. Peter van Uhm is killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, casting a cloud over Dutch involvement in NATO's mission just months after the Netherlands reluctantly agreed to extend its mission.

2009 - Iran convicts an American journalist of spying for the United States and sentences her to eight years in prison, complicating the Obama administration's efforts to break a 30-year-old diplomatic deadlock with Tehran.

2010 - Major airlines that sent test flights into European air space find no damage from the volcanic ash that has paralyzed aviation over the continent, raising pressure on governments to ease restrictions that have thrown global travel and commerce into chaos.

2011 - More than 5,000 anti-government protesters in Syria take over the main square of the country's third-largest city, vowing to occupy the site until President Bashar Assad is ousted and defying authorities who warn they will not be forced into reforms.

2012 - Sudan's president threatens to topple his rival government to the south, harsh words that could escalate the conflict between the two nations as they intensify clashes over their shared border.

2013 - Pope Francis, known for his frugal ways, decides Vatican employees will not be getting the bonus that traditionally comes with the election of a new pope.

2014 - An avalanche sweeps down a climbing route on Mount Everest, killing 16 Nepalese Sherpa guides in the deadliest disaster on the world's highest peak.

2015 - A motorcycle-riding suicide bomber attacks a line of people waiting outside a bank in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 35 and wounding 125 in an assault the country's president blamed on the Islamic State group.

Today's Birthdays:

Leopold Stokowski, English-born conductor (1882-1977); Franz von Suppe, Austrian-born composer (1819-1895); Ian Smith, Rhodesian leader (1919-2007); Tadeusz Mazowiecki, first post-communist prime minister of Poland (1927-2013); Hayley Mills, British actress (1946--); James Woods, U.S. actor (1947--); Maria Bello, U.S. actress (1967--); America Ferrara, U.S. actress (1984--).
Kentucky Derby field taking shape after weekend prep races

NEW YORK (AP)  In just over an hour, in three races from coast to coast, the field for the Kentucky Derby mostly came into focus.

Outwork is in. So are Brody's Cause and Exaggerator.

"Anytime you've won one of these major preps, it puts you in the top area," trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday, a day after Outwork outlasted Trojan Nation in the $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and clinched a spot in the Derby field.

In this image provided by the Coglianese Photos, Outwork, second from right, ridden by John Velazquez, noses out Trojan Nation, ridden by Aaron Gryder, to win the Wood Memorial horse race, Saturday, April 9, 2016, at Aqueduct in New York. (Coglianese Photos via AP) NO SALES

Over at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, about a half-hour later Saturday, Brody's Cause pulled off a come-from-behind victory in the Blue Grass and earned his spot in the Derby.

And out West a little later, Exaggerator capped the biggest day of Derby preps when he blew away the field in the stretch and won the Santa Anita Derby.

The results added 100 Derby qualifying points to each colt's total, guaranteeing them spots in what likely will be a full field of 20 3-year-olds running for the roses May 7.

Despite the results, unbeaten Nyquist remains the likely favorite for the Derby after his showdown win against Mohaymen in the Florida Derby on April 2. Nyquist  a son of Uncle Mo, as is Outwork  has 130 points, with Gun Runner the points leader at 151.

After Nyquist, though, it's anyone's guess who the second-leading contender might be.

"We haven't been able to beat him (Nyquist), what, five times?" Exaggerator trainer Keith Desormeaux said  exaggerating since it's really three times. "I don't know if we can or not."

Added Pletcher, who also plans to send Tampa Bay Derby winner Destin to Churchill Downs: Nyquist "certainly deserves that top seed right now. It seems to be a fairly consistent group. The horses in California are consistently doing well and Nyquist as well. It wasn't a big surprise that Brody's Cause came back and ran well, and then you have the Arkansas Derby to go."

Nyquist will face no shortage of challengers, including a few who stormed into contention Saturday.

The biggest surprise came in the Wood, where 81-1 long shot Trojan Nation finished second by a head to Outwork. Winless in six starts, Trojan Nation earned 40 points to qualify for the Derby. The last maiden to win the Derby was Brokers Tip in 1933; the last to run was Nationalore in 1998, finishing ninth. Trainer Paddy Gallagher says the Derby is a go.

Adventist ran third in the Wood for 20 points and now totals 32 points  good for 20th and likely enough to make the field. Wood favorite Shagaf finished fifth in his first loss but already had 50 points and is Derby-bound.

Brody's Cause won the Blue Grass by 1 3/4 lengths over My Man Sam. Cherry Wine was third and Laoban fourth. Dale Romans trains Brody's Cause (114 points) and Cherry Wine (25 points) and is hoping his third-place finisher has enough points to make the Derby. My Man Sam could give Shagaf's trainer, Chad Brown, a second Derby starter. Laoban, like Trojan Nation, a maiden, has 32 points and is ranked 21st.

"This is home, this is the second-biggest race in Kentucky in my opinion, and it's great to win," Romans said. "On to the Kentucky Derby with a real chance."

At Santa Anita, Exaggerator (126 points) comes into the Derby with four wins in nine starts after his 6 1/4-length victory. Ridden by Desormeaux's brother, Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux, the colt would attempt to become the third Santa Anita Derby winner in five years to win the Kentucky Derby. I'll Have Another did it in 2012, and California Chrome came through in 2014.

Don't feel too bad for Santa Anita Derby runner-up Mor Spirit. With an additional 40 points, the colt from Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert's barn moved up to 84 points. Baffert also trains Rebel winner Cupid (50 points), who is set to run next weekend in the Arkansas Derby.

Uncle Lino's third-place finish pushed his points total to 29, but trainer Gary Sherlock said the horse is off the Derby trail. Danzing Candy was fourth for 10 points and now has 60 points. Trainer Cliff Sise Jr. said Sunday his colt's Derby status is uncertain.

With two preps left, it looks as though at least 30 points will be needed to make the Derby field. In previous years, the number was about 20.

The Arkansas Derby offers 100-40-20-10 points, the Lexington Stakes 50-20-10-5 points.

For 3-year-old star filly Songbird, the answer is still no to the Derby. She ran her record to 7 for 7 with another cruise-control victory in the Santa Anita Oaks. Owner Rick Porter said once again his filly will run next in the Kentucky Oaks on the day before the Derby.

NOTES: Triple Crown-winning jockey Victor Espinoza, who finished seventh aboard Smokey Image in the Santa Anita Derby, is looking for a Derby mount a year after riding American Pharoah to victory in the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. ... Nyquist, who missed a day of training last week with an elevated white blood cell count, jogged for a second day at Keeneland on Sunday, reported Jack Sisterson, trainer Doug O'Neill's assistant.

Jockey Luis Saez pumps his fist after riding Brody's Cause to win the Blue Grass Stakes horse race at Keeneland Race Course, Saturday, April 9, 2016, in Lexington, Ky (Pablo Alcala/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Seoul: Senior North Korea military officer defects to South

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  A colonel from North Korea's military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in a rare senior-level defection, Seoul officials said Monday.

The announcement came three days after Seoul revealed 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South. It was the largest group defection since North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported the restaurant is located in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

The colonel worked for the North Korean military's General Reconnaissance Bureau before defecting to South Korea, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry and Unification Ministry. Both ministries refused to provide further details including a motive for the defection.

A man watches a TV news program showing file footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 11, 2016. A colonel from North Korea's military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in a rare senior-level defection, Seoul officials said Monday. The letters read "True, A colonel from North Korean military's General Reconnaissance Bureau Asylum." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The reconnaissance agency was believed to be behind two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

There have been occasional reports of lower-level North Korean soldiers defecting but it is unusual for a colonel to flee to the South.

The highest-level North Korean who took asylum in South Korea has been Hwang Jang-yop, a senior ruling Workers' Party official who once tutored Kim's late dictator father Kim Jong Il. Hwang's 1997 defection was hailed by many South Koreans as an intelligence bonanza and a clear sign that the North's political system was inferior to the South's. Hwang died in 2010.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records. Many defectors have testified they wanted to avoid the North's harsh political system and poverty.
Haiti artists forge int'l reputation with art made of junk

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  Amid a maze of car repair shops in Haiti's gritty capital, Andre Eugene pitches a shredded tire he found atop a towering sculpture he built out of rusty engine parts, bed springs and other cast-off junk.

"This is what I do: I work with the garbage of the world," says Eugene, assessing the largest sculpture displayed at the entrance of his studio and open-air museum off a crumbling street cutting through some of Port-au-Prince's poorest neighborhoods.

The Haitian sculptor is a founding member of Atis Rezistans, a shifting collective of artists who recycle whatever useful scraps they can find to give a raw, physical shape to the spiritual world of Voodoo, or Vodou as the religion is known by Haitians, and weigh in on the country's chronic political and economic troubles.

In this April 2, 2016 photo, dusty sculptures made of cast-off baby dolls sit in an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They were created by Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans who have become celebrated in the international art world by creating sculptures out of scrapped car parts, old wood, discarded toys and even human skulls found scattered outside crumbling mausoleums. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

While Haiti's established galleries were slow to warm to the scrap sculptors of the capital's impoverished Grand Rue neighborhood, bustling with furniture-makers and other craftsmen, the artisans working with recycled materials have been embraced by a number of international art connoisseurs and academics.

Over the last decade, the work of Atis Rezistans has been exhibited in cities such as Paris, London, and Los Angeles. There are sculptures included in the permanent collections of museums, including the Frost Art Museum in Miami.

Haitian art has long had a reputation for imaginative richness, and wealthy international collectors including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and filmmaker Jonathan Demme sought out self-taught painters colorfully evoking the everyday lives of Haitians or depicting dreamlike scenes. And even though found-object creations have been part of the poor country's art for decades, experts say there has been nothing like the in-your-face works of Atis Rezistans.

"Atis Rezistans takes an old practice in new directions, expanding the range of materials used and offering stunning new meanings for objects found in everyday life," said Marcus Rediker, a collector of Haitian art and a distinguished professor of Atlantic history at the University of Pittsburgh.

The materials that form the sharp-edged sculptures include automotive fragments, carved wood pieces, broken TVs, discarded toys and even real human skulls collected at a cemetery of mausoleums where bones were scattered by grave robbers.

Many of their artworks are a nod to Baron Samedi, the Vodou god of the dead, and his rambunctious offspring, Gede. Others offer a kaleidoscope of jarring images out of a Mad Max movie: sculptures of faces with spikes; masked figures resembling shrouded corpses; broken baby dolls fused with computer motherboards.

But it's not all darkness. There's plenty of evidence of playfulness and irreverent theatricality, such as a skull-topped figure with a stethoscope, snake sculptures with scales of inlaid bottle caps and much frank sexual imagery.

Perhaps their most acclaimed collaborative creation has been a mashup of high art-meets-developing world called the "Ghetto Biennale." Every two years, international artists come to the Grand Rue neighborhood in a kind of cross-cultural festival that leaves the door open for just about anything.

The Ghetto Biennale takes a form developed for European art fairs and radically subverts it, according to Anthony Bogues, a Brown University professor who co-curated a 2011 exhibition of Haitian art at the Providence, Rhode Island school.

"Art for them is not about the elite but rather recognizing that art is a language in which Haiti speaks to itself and the world," Bogues said of Atis Rezistans.

Collaborations with overseas artists who come to Haiti have given younger members of the collective chances to tap into art networks across the globe, while international artists are stimulated by the Haitian group's creative process.

"Their philosophy to turn trash into art, thus something seemingly worthless into something valuable, has inspired me," said Alice Smeets, a Belgian artist who collaborated with members of Atis Rezistans to create staged photographs in Haitian slums that depict figures from tarot cards.

Eugene hopes that the praise gathered for the group he founded with Celeur Jean-Herard, who has since departed the collective, can now translate into enough earnings to upgrade his yard's musty museum and improve the lives of members. and local youngsters dubbed "children of the resistance" who sculpt and paint.

Though he has traveled the world with his art, Eugene still lives in a small concrete shack next to his Grand Rue workshop and "Musee d'Art," where many sculptures are caked with dust and swathed in cobwebs. Two turkeys and several cats were the only visitors one recent afternoon.

He calls Atis Rezistans a social "movement" that should expand opportunities for its artists.

"I don't want to be famous," Eugene said in his rain-slicked concrete yard in the poor neighborhood, shortly after returning to Haiti from an exhibit of a major piece in Milan. "Step by step, I am looking to make money so we can improve our situation here."

___

David McFadden on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/dmcfadd

In this April 6, 2016 photo the metal archway of Atis Rezistans stands outside an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street called Grand Rue in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The site is in the yard of a founding member of a loose collective of Haitian artists who have become celebrated in the international art world by creating sculptures out of scrapped car parts, old wood, discarded toys and even human skulls found scattered outside crumbling mausoleums. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

In this April 4, 2016 photo sculptor Andre Eugene speaks to a friend outside his open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He is a founding member of a loose collective of Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

In this April 4, 2016 photo, a turkey struts through an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The site was created by a loose collective of Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans who have become celebrated in the international art world. Over the last decade, the work of Atis Rezistans has been exhibited in cities such as Paris, London, and Los Angeles. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

In this April 4, 2016 photo colorful pieces made out of recycled tires hang on a wall at an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They were created by Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans. Haitian art has long had a reputation for imaginative richness, and wealthy international collectors. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

In this April 4, 2016 photo, children play with a piece of a broken television outside sculptor Andre Eugenes open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Andre Eugene a founding member of a loose collective of Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans who have become celebrated in the international art world by creating sculptures out of scrapped car parts, old wood, discarded toys and even human skulls found scattered outside crumbling mausoleums. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

In this April 4, 2016 photo a wooden snake with inlaid bottle caps hangs in an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Hiati. The snake was created in Haitian the Atis Rezistans workshop, who's work has been exhibited in cities such as Paris, London, and Los Angeles. There are sculptures included in the permanent collections of museums, including the Frost Art Museum in Miami. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

In this April 6, 2016 photo, a sculpture made out of industrial junk and topped with a human skull with Christmas lights sticking out of its eye sockets stands at an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The site is in the yard of a founding member of a loose collective of Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans who have become celebrated in the international art world by creating sculptures out of scrapped car parts, old wood, discarded toys and even human skulls found scattered outside crumbling mausoleums. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

In this April 4, 2016 photo a cast-off baby doll fused with a motherboard of circuitry is displayed in an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They were created by Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans who have become celebrated in the international art world by creating sculptures out of scrapped car parts, old wood, discarded toys and even human skulls found scattered outside crumbling mausoleums. (AP Photo/David McFadden)

In this April 2, 2016 photo, sculptor Jean Robert Palanquet carves on a piece of wood in an open-air museum and art workshop off a trash-strewn street cutting through some of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Palanquet is a member of a collective of Haitian artists called Atis Rezistans who have become celebrated in the international art world by creating sculptures out of scrapped car parts, old wood, cast-off toys and even human skulls found scattered outside crumbling mausoleums. (AP Photo/David McFadden)
Drowning history: Sea level rise threatens US historic sites

With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. Some sites and artifacts could become submerged.

Scientists, historic preservationists, architects and public officials are meeting this week in Newport, Rhode Island  one of the threatened areas  to discuss the problem, how to adapt to rising seas and preserve historic structures.

"Any coastal town that has significant historic properties is going to be facing the challenge of protecting those properties from increased water and storm activity," said Margot Nishimura, of the Newport Restoration Foundation, the nonprofit group hosting the conference.

In this October 2012 photo, Jim Davis kayaks through waters flooding Bowen's Wharf after Superstorm Sandy in historic Newport, R.I. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. (Dave Hansen/Newport Daily News via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Federal authorities have encouraged people to elevate structures in low-lying areas, but that poses challenges in dense neighborhoods of centuries-old homes built around central brick chimneys, Nishimura said, especially ones where preservationists are trying to keep the character intact.

Many of the most threatened sites in North America lie along the East Coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and southern Maine, where the rate of sea level rise is among the fastest in the world, said Adam Markham, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a speaker at the conference.

"We're actually not going to be able to save everything," he said.

A look at some of the historic areas and cultural sites that are under threat from rising sea levels:

___

STATUE OF LIBERTY AND ELLIS ISLAND

Situated in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are some of New York's most important tourist attractions.

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy submerged most of the low-elevation Liberty and Ellis islands. After the storm, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France in 1886, was closed for eight months. Ellis Island, the entry point for about 12 million immigrants to the United States from 1892 to 1954, remained closed for nearly a year.

A report by the National Park Service looked at how several parks would be threatened by 1 meter, or around 3 feet, of sea level rise. It found $1.51 billion worth of assets at the Statue of Liberty National Monument were highly exposed to sea level rise.

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HISTORIC BOSTON

Much of historic Boston is along the water and is at risk due to sea level rise, including Faneuil Hall, the market building known as the "Cradle of Liberty," and parts of the Freedom Trail, a walking trail that links historic sites around the city.

Boston has seen a growing number of flooding events in recent years, up from two annually in the 1970s to an average of 11 annually between 2009 and 2013, according to a 2014 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. If sea levels rise by 5 inches, the group reported, the number of floods is projected to grow to 31 annually. If seas rise by 11 inches, the number of flooding events is projected to rise to 72 per year.

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NEWPORT

The Point neighborhood in the Rhode Island resort town has one of the highest concentrations of Colonial houses in the United States, and it sits 4 feet above mean sea level. Tidal flooding is already occurring in the neighborhood, and that is expected to increase as sea levels rise, Nishimura said. The smell of sea water already permeates the basement of some homes.

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ANNAPOLIS

Maryland's capital, on Chesapeake Bay, boasts the nation's largest concentration of 18th-century brick buildings. The city briefly served as the nation's capital in the post-Revolutionary War period, and the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war, was ratified there. The city is also home to the U.S. Naval Academy.

The city already sees tidal flooding dozens of times a year, and scientists have predicted number could rise to hundreds annually in the next 30 years.

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JAMESTOWN

Established in 1607, it is the first permanent English colony in North America. It sits along the tidal James River in Virginia, and most of the settlement is less than 3 feet above sea level. A large part of the settlement has already eroded because of wave action, Markham said. Storms have also damaged the site, including Hurricane Isabel in 2003, which flooded nearly 1 million artifacts. A rising water table at the site also poses a threat to archaeological remains, Markham said.

He called the loss of archaeological artifacts "an urgent problem" along the U.S. coastline.

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HAWAII

Reports by the National Park Service and others have found that rising sea level rises threaten archaeological sites at various historic places in Hawaii. Those include ancient fish ponds at Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site and a "Great Wall" at a sacred site in Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. It is considered the best-preserved such wall in Hawaii.

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INTERNATIONAL SITES

Dozens of UNESCO World Heritage Sites are under threat from sea level rise, according to a 2014 report by climate scientists Ben Marzeion, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, and Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute in Germany.

Among those are: the Tower of London; Robben Island in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years; Venice, Italy, and its lagoon; Mont-Saint-Michel, home to an abbey built atop a rocky islet in France; the Kasbah of Algiers, Algeria; the historic district of Old Quebec, Canada; Old Havana in Cuba; and archaeological areas of Pompeii, Italy, and Carthage in Tunisia.

The authors wrote that their findings indicate that "fundamental decisions with regard to mankind's cultural heritage are required."

FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2012 file photo, the Statue of Liberty stands beyond parts of a brick walkway damaged in Superstorm Sandy on Liberty Island in New York. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport, R.I., this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - In this June 14, 2006 file photo, people walk along a street in the historic section of coastal Annapolis, Md. With scientists forecasting sea levels to rise by anywhere from several inches to several feet by 2100, historic structures and coastal heritage sites around the world are under threat. A multidisciplinary conference is scheduled to convene in Newport, R.I., this week to discuss preserving those structures and neighborhoods that could be threatened by rising seas. (AP Photo/Chris Gardner, File)
Kerry makes gut-wrenching visit to Hiroshima site of A-bomb

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP)  An emotional John Kerry said Hiroshima's horrible history should teach humanity to avoid conflict and strive to eradicate nuclear weapons as he became the first U.S. secretary of state to tread upon the ground of the world's first atomic bombing.

Kerry's visit Monday to the Japanese city included him touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining park's stone-arched monument, with the exposed steel beams of Hiroshima's iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.

The U.S. attack on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II killed 140,000 people and scarred a generation of Japanese, while thrusting the world into the dangerous Atomic Age. But Kerry hoped his trip would underscore how Washington and Tokyo have forged a deep alliance over the last 71 years and how everyone must ensure that nuclear arms are never used again.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, walks past A-Bomb Dome after visiting the site in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, April 11, 2016. Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshima's atomic bombing on Monday, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after United States used the weapon for the first time in history and killed 140,000 Japanese. (Shingo Nishizume/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

"While we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past," he told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native. "It's about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built, the friendship that we share, the strength of our alliance and the strong reminder of the imperative we all have to work for peace for peoples everywhere."

Kerry's appearance, just footsteps away from Ground Zero, completed an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

No serving U.S. president has visited the site, and it took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend Hiroshima's annual memorial service. Many Americans believe the dropping of atomic bombs here on Aug. 6, 1945, and on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later were justified and hastened the end of the war.

Kerry didn't speak publicly at the ceremony, though he could be seen with his arm around Kishida and whispering in his ear.

The otherwise somber occasion was lifted by the presence of about 800 Japanese schoolchildren waving flags of the G7 nations, including that of the United States. They cheered as the ministers departed with origami cranes in their national colors around their necks. Kerry was draped in red, white and blue.

Hours afterward, the top American diplomat still seemed to be absorbing all that he saw.

"It is a stunning display, it is a gut-wrenching display," he told reporters of the museum tour, recounting exhibits that showed the bomb, the explosion, the "incredible inferno" and mushroom cloud that enveloped Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. "It tugs at all of your sensibilities as a human being. It reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices of war and what war does to people, to communities, countries, the world."

Kerry urged all world leaders to visit, saying: "I don't see how anyone could forget the images, the evidence, the recreations of what happened."

Japanese survivors' groups have campaigned for decades to bring leaders from the U.S. and other nuclear powers to see Hiroshima's scars as part of a grassroots movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

As Kerry expressed interest, neither Japanese government officials nor survivor groups pressed for the U.S. to apologize. And Kerry didn't say sorry.

"I don't think it is something absolutely necessary when we think of the future of the world and peace for our next generation," Masahiro Arimai, a 71-year-old Hiroshima restaurant owner, said of an apology.

Yoshifumi Sasaki, a 68-year-old, longtime resident, agreed: "We all want understanding."

Both wished for Obama to follow in Kerry's footsteps next month.

The president still hasn't made a decision about visiting Hiroshima and its memorial when he attends a Group of Seven meeting of leaders in central Japan in late May, and Kerry made no promises. During his first year in office, Obama said he would be "honored" to make such a trip.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial," Kerry wrote in the museum's guest book. "It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself."

"War must be the last resort  never the first choice," he added.

Wading into U.S. politics, both Kerry and his Japanese counterpart rejected Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent suggestion that Japan consider developing its own nuclear weapons to defend itself against nuclear-armed North Korea.

Kishida said, "For us to attain nuclear weapons is completely inconceivable."

Kerry called such notions "absurd on their face," contradicting the efforts of every Democratic and Republican president since World War II to prevent wider nuclear proliferation.

Kerry acknowledged that some governments want all nuclear weapons, including those in the U.S. arsenal, destroyed immediately. He described such calls as unrealistic, potentially making the world more dangerous in the short-term by ridding nations of their deterrence against bad actors such as North Korea. Instead, he urged an ordered, methodical process toward the final goal of denuclearization.

"We all know it's not going to happen overnight," Kerry said.

But he said, "We have to get there."

___

Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talk after offering wreaths at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, April 11, 2016. Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshima's atomic bombing on Monday, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after United States used the weapon for the first time in history and killed 140,000 Japanese. (Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center left, puts his arm around Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, center right, after they and fellow G7 foreign ministers laid wreaths at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, April 11, 2016. Also pictured are, from left to right, E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, Britain's Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)

Children hold flags from G7 countries in the wind as the foreign ministers visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Monday, April 11, 2016. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)

Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, waving at center, Britain's Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, second right, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, wave to schoolchildren as they and fellow G7 foreign ministers visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, April 11, 2016. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)
G-7 foreign ministers push nuclear disarmament in Hiroshima

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP)  Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries, meeting Monday in the atomic-bombed Japanese city of Hiroshima, called for a renewed push for flagging nuclear disarmament efforts as they wrestled with some of the intractable global problems facing their nations.

A joint communique condemned the usual suspects: recent extremist attacks from Turkey and Belgium to Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Pakistan; North Korea's nuclear test and missile launches; and Russia's "illegal annexation" of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.

The international community used to share common values that maintained stability and prosperity, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said at a news conference.

Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talk after offering wreaths at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, April 11, 2016. Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshima's atomic bombing on Monday, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after United States used the weapon for the first time in history and killed 140,000 Japanese. (Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

"Today, the world is now facing challenges to change such common values and principles unilaterally, such as terrorism and violent extremism," he said.

On terrorism, the top diplomats from the U.S., Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy pledged to complete a G-7 action plan that the leaders of their nations can adopt at their summit in Japan's Ise-Shima region in late May.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said it's essential to reduce the number of terrorists who may try to return home from Syria and other areas. He also said it's key to stem the flow of refugees around the world.

"The refugee crisis demands a global response, and we all agreed on that here," he said.

A separate statement took aim at China's land reclamation in the South China Sea, where it is enmeshed in a series of overlapping territorial disputes with Southeast Asian nations.

"We express our strong opposition to any intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions," the statement said, without mentioning China by name.

It also expressed concern about the situation in the East China Sea, where Japan and China both claim some uninhabited islands.

Japan gave the issue of nuclear nonproliferation added significance by making Hiroshima the venue for the two-day foreign ministers meeting.

Kerry  the highest-ranking American official to visit Hiroshima since World War II  and the foreign ministers jointly laid flowers for the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing in 1945.

They issued two statements on nonproliferation, including a "Hiroshima Declaration" that calls on other political leaders to visit Hiroshima.

"In this historic meeting, we reaffirm our commitment to ... creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons," the declaration said.

The task is made more complex, it said, by the deteriorating security environment in countries such as Syria and Ukraine, as well as by North Korea's "repeated provocations."

The Hiroshima declaration aims to revitalize and restart the effort toward a nuclear-free world, which seems to have shrunk, said Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister.

"To that end, it was significant that the G-7 ministers saw the reality of the atomic bombing," he said, noting that the group includes both nuclear and non-nuclear states. "It is crucial for both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons countries to cooperate and together raise awareness of what happens when nuclear weapons are used."

___

Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper contributed to this report.

Follow Mari Yamaguchi at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Also at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mari-yamaguchi

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, walks past A-Bomb Dome after visiting the site in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, April 11, 2016. Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshima's atomic bombing on Monday, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after United States used the weapon for the first time in history and killed 140,000 Japanese. (Shingo Nishizume/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT

G7 foreign ministers, from left to right, E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, Britain's Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault walk together after placing wreaths at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Monday, April 11, 2016. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)

School children hold national flags as France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, left, Britain's Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, third left, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, fourth left, and other G7 foreign ministers visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, Monday, April 11, 2016. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)

From left, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Britain's Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane Dion and E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini carry wreath to offer at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, April 11, 2016. (Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT
SOUTH CHINA SEA WATCH: China alarms 2 other Asian nations

Tensions in the South China Sea are rising, pitting China against smaller and weaker neighbors who all lay claim to islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves. China's recent construction of artificial islands complete with airstrips and radar stations, and U.S. patrols challenging Beijing's vast territorial claims, have caused concern that the strategically important waters could become a flashpoint.

A look at some of the most recent key developments:

___

FILE - In this April 4, 2016 file photo, Lt. Gen. John Toolan, center, U.S. Commander of U.S. Marine forces in the Pacific, speaks with Vice-Admiral Alexander Lopez, right, at the start of their annual joint military exercise involving thousands of U.S. and Philippine military personnel amidst the current South China Sea tensions, at a military base Quezon, Philippines. Tensions in the South China Sea are rising, pitting China against smaller and weaker neighbors who all lay claim to a string of isles, coral reefs and lagoons, rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest key developments in the South China Sea, home to several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region.

___

INDONESIA, MALAYSIA WORRIED

Vietnam and the Philippines have been China's most frequent South China Sea adversaries, but now Indonesia and Malaysia are upset over forays by Chinese vessels close to their shores.

Tensions with Indonesia flared when one of its patrol ships intercepted a Chinese fishing vessel on March 19 off the Natuna Islands. That's where Indonesia's exclusive economic zone overlaps with China's so-called "nine-dash line"  which outlines Beijing's vast claims to almost the entire South China Sea.

According to Indonesian officials, a Chinese coast guard vessel came to the rescue of the fishermen and deliberately rammed the boat as it was being towed, allowing it to escape.

Indonesia has since refused Chinese demands to release eight crewmen who are being held on charges of illegal fishing. Indonesia deployed four special forces units equipped with an advanced air defense system to the largest of the Natuna Islands, according to IHS Jane's Defence weekly.

Achmad Sukarsono, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said the skirmish could signal a turning point in Indonesian views on the South China Sea. It has "dispelled the notion in Jakarta that Indonesia has no real stake in South China Sea tensions," he said.

Malaysia, meanwhile, complained that about 100 Chinese fishing boats had encroached near the Loconia Shoals. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the boats have a right to be there. Chinese officials consider the waters to be traditional Chinese fishing grounds.

___

PHILIPPINES, U.S. TROOPS IN WAR DRILLS

The Philippines, which has turned to the U.S. to beef up its defense against China, has hosted more than 5,000 American troops for annual war games that include a scenario that could be playing out in the South China Sea.

A key exercise involves U.S., Australian and Philippine forces retaking an oil rig seized by hostile units. The mock assault utilizes an unused rig off the western province of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea.

A highly mobile U.S. rocket system, the M142 HIMARS, is being used for the first time in the Philippines during the exercises. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter will witness the drills when he visits this week.

The Philippines is expecting soon a ruling at a U.N. tribunal on its case challenging China's maritime claims. China has refused to take part in the proceedings and said it would not be bound by the ruling.

___

OIL RIG MOVES CLOSER TO VIETNAM  AGAIN

Tensions between Vietnam and China are heating up again.

Vietnam has demanded that China remove an oil exploration rig from an area of the South China Sea where their border is still being demarcated, and has lodged a protest with the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi.

The oil rig was at the center of a standoff in 2014 when China parked it near the Paracel islands, which Vietnam claims as its exclusive economic zone. The incident sparked deadly riots in Vietnam targeting Chinese-owned companies.

Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh also protested China's operation of a new lighthouse on Subi Reef in the Spratlys, which is also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Rejecting Vietnam's demands, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the oil rig is conducting standard exploratory activities within waters under China's "undisputed" jurisdiction.

Hong also said the lighthouse on Subi Reef is a matter falling within China's sovereignty.

___

U.S. ADMIRAL REPORTEDLY WANTS MORE AGGRESSIVE APPROACH

Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, reportedly wants a more robust approach to China, including more assertive freedom-of-navigation operations such as helicopter flights and intelligence-gathering within 12 miles (19 kilometers) of Chinese-controlled features.

So far, U.S. Navy ships have twice sailed close to Chinese-controlled islands. However, critics say those maneuvers amounted to innocent passage, during which foreign vessels do not stop or carry out activities that might be perceived as hostile.

The Navy Times quoted defense officials as saying the White House is discouraging strong rhetoric by military leaders on the South China Sea. It reported that National Security Adviser Susan Rice on March 18 imposed a gag order on military leaders over South China Sea comments in the run-up to the nuclear summit in Washington that ended April 1.

"The White House's aversion to risk has resulted in an indecisive policy that has failed to deter China's pursuit of maritime hegemony while confusing and alarming our regional allies and partners," Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

Harris declined to comment on the report, according to the Navy Times.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking in Washington, said that Beijing respects freedom of navigation and overflight but will defend its sovereignty in the South China Sea. Xi said China won't accept any act disguised as freedom of navigation that violates its security.

___

LAST WORD

"Washington should know that the more provocative moves it makes against China, the more counter-measures Beijing will take. Such an undesirable cycle may push both sides nearer confrontation and cause both to prepare for the worst-case scenario, potentially making it self-fulfilling."  editorial in the U.S. edition of the state-supported China Daily.

___

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Bangkok, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Christopher Bodeen in Beijing, Tran Van Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

FILE - In this March 23, 2016, file photo, an aerial view is seen from a military plane carrying international journalists of the Taiwan-controlled Taiping island, also known as Itu Aba, in the Spratly archipelago, roughly 1600 kms. (1000 miles) in the South China Sea of southern Taiwan. Tensions in the South China Sea are rising, pitting China against smaller and weaker neighbors who all lay claim to a string of isles, coral reefs and lagoons, rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai, File)

FILE - In this file photo from March 14, 2016, Vietnamese shout anti-China slogans with a few hundred demonstrators during an anti-China protest honoring Vietnamese soldiers killed during a clash 28 years earlier with the Chinese navy in the South China Sea in Hanoi, Vietnam. Tensions in the South China Sea are rising, pitting China against smaller and weaker neighbors who all lay claim to a string of isles, coral reefs and lagoons, rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves. (AP Photo/Tran Van Minh)

FILE - In this file photo from April 4, 2016, protesters display placards against China and the U.S. during a rally near the U.S. Embassy to coincide with the start of the annual joint military exercise involving thousands of U.S. and Philippine military personnel amidst the current South China Sea tensions, in Quezon, Philippines. Tensions in the South China Sea are rising, pitting China against smaller and weaker neighbors who all lay claim to a string of isles, coral reefs and lagoons, rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
Low-level drug offenders find new source of addiction help

SEATTLE (AP)  When pondering how to keep low-level drug offenders out of jail, officials in Albany, New York, faced a challenge: How could they pay for a case manager to coax addicts onto the straight and narrow, sometimes by tracking them down on the streets?

The money turned up in a previously untapped source: President Barack Obama's health care law, which by expanding Medicaid in some states has made repeat drug offenders eligible for coverage, including many who are homeless or mentally ill and have never been covered before.

The idea could make the joint federal and state health insurance program for the poor into a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system. Advocates hope to prove that the concept works, possibly paving the way for more cities to try it as an alternative to the drug war.

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, listens to a question from his caseworker during a meeting in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Many repeat drug offenders are "precisely the population Medicaid expansion was designed to cover," said Gabriel Sayegh, co-founder of the Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice, an advocacy group that aims to reduce incarceration rates and promote drug war alternatives. "Down the road, we see a path for case management and many other services to be supported by Medicaid."

The notion of using Medicaid to steer people away from jails and into services that offer housing, job training and mental-health or substance-abuse treatment comes at a crucial time for the criminal-justice reform movement. Incarceration numbers are making headlines. States are legalizing marijuana, and police departments hammered over questionable shootings are trying to reconnect with the public they serve.

"This shows the community we're willing to try different things," said Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox. "This just makes all the sense in the world."

Albany's efforts and others have been based on a highly touted Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD. Launched in 2011, it aims to keep people out of prison by focusing on those who use a disproportionate share of public resources by repeatedly getting arrested or seeking care at emergency rooms.

Instead of booking those addicts or prostitutes into jail, police contact program employees, who meet with the offenders and try to enlist them in social services. That can mean getting them a pair of shoes or a bus pass to help keep appointments; buying them groceries until they obtain food stamps; providing short-term housing or even paying for yoga, art supplies, utility bills or college classes  whatever the person needs.

Unlike in drug courts, participants are not kicked out or threatened with jail time if they relapse.

"They know we're out there struggling," said Jerald Brooks, one of the original participants in LEAD. "Sooner or later, you start to do a little better."

Following a White House summit about Seattle's program last summer, dozens of cities are considering whether to follow suit. Santa Fe, New Mexico, launched its version in 2014. Albany began its pilot program this month, and Baltimore, Atlanta and Fayetteville, North Carolina, are expected to launch versions next year.

Medicaid "makes it not crazy-expensive to do this," said Lisa Daugaard, director of Seattle's Public Defender Association and a top proponent of LEAD.

In cooperation with the Katal Center, Seattle's program just opened an office to guide other jurisdictions through the process.

Evaluations in Seattle have shown that LEAD participants were up to 60 percent less likely to be arrested than a control group. The program also saves money on criminal-justice costs, but it still takes money to start such programs.

Before the Affordable Care Act, low-income adults with no children living at home were largely shut out of Medicaid. The law expanded Medicaid to cover people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or nearly $16,400 for a single person.

So far, 31 states plus Washington, D.C., have taken advantage of it. The federal government pays a much bigger share of the cost of covering the new enrollees than for groups traditionally covered by the program.

Some programs around the country have been enrolling inmates in Medicaid just as they leave prison. More than 112,000 were signed up by January 2015, many of them single men being covered for the first time, according to a Johns Hopkins University study published in December.

Medicaid expansion remains a highly politicized issue, and 19 states have rejected it.

Among them is Georgia. That leaves Atlanta in tougher shape as it plans to launch a LEAD program next year, said Xochitl Bervera, co-director of Atlanta's Racial Justice Action Center.

Instead of relying on Medicaid, the city is trying to arrange a combination of county, private and possibly federal money to supplement a $200,000 grant from billionaire George Soros' Open Society Institute, which has provided similar LEAD startup grants to several other cities.

Because many people who would benefit from behavioral health services were not previously covered, there was little incentive for providers to offer services in many areas, including Atlanta. Medicaid's expansion could remedy that, she said.

"The case managers are one piece, but then you need in-house drug treatment for some people and mental health care for others," she said. "We just don't have enough here."

___

Online: LEAD National Support Bureau: http://www.leadbureau.org/

___

Associated Press Writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington also contributed to this report. Follow Johnson at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle.

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, right, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, talks with Chris Cates, left, his caseworker, during a meeting in Seattle as a container for discarded needles sits nearby. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, left, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, goes shopping for groceries with Chris Cates, right, his caseworker, in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, right, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, talks with Chris Cates, left, his caseworker, in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

In this March 25, 2016 photo, Jerald Brooks, left, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, goes shopping for groceries and personal-care items with Chris Cates, right, his caseworker, in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
'Hire some new redactors': How US hinders records requests

WASHINGTON (AP)  As U.S. officials dealt with the fallout of the government's once-secret "Cuban Twitter" program, they had one thing on their side: notorious delays in the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The government didn't have copies of the documents, which formed the basis of an Associated Press investigation detailing a program on which taxpayers spent millions. But officials were worried that asking the contractor to hand over copies would risk making the details even more public.

"The risk is that it gets FOIA'd later. FOIA will take six months," Mark Lopes, a former senior official with the U.S. Agency for International Development, wrote in newly released emails. "I say yes so we get through the next week, six months from now when FOIA comes out, this will all be over?"

FILE - In this April 1, 2014, file photo, students gather behind a business looking for a Internet signal for their smart phones in Havana, Cuba. As U.S. officials dealt with the fallout of a once-secret "Cuban Twitter" program, they had one thing on their side: notorious delays in the federal Freedom of Information Act. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

USAID's calculus  realizing that the nation's public-records law can be so slow as to border on unusable  comes amid new data showing that delays to process requests from the public or journalists worsened under the Obama administration. Last year, the government also set a record for coming up short in finding documents.

The government's responsiveness under FOIA is widely regarded as a barometer of its openness. President Barack Obama has said his administration is the most transparent in history.

In USAID's case, emails released last week to the AP come two years after the news cooperative asked for them following its 2014 report of a secret Twitter-like program in Cuba. ZunZuneo, as it was called, was among several Cuban civil-society programs designed to bring about democratic change.

The Cuba programs received sharp criticism from some U.S. lawmakers, who called them "reckless," ''boneheaded" and "downright irresponsible." The AP found that some Cubans unwittingly ensnared in the program were detained by Cuban authorities, and a secret U.S. hip-hop operation backfired after Cuban authorities found that an independent music festival was really backed by the Obama administration.

At the White House Monday, press secretary Josh Earnest said the administration expects federal agencies to have a "bias toward openness and transparency" when fulfilling FOIA requests. Earnest said the government's response rate last year showed its commitment to complying, but said he couldn't address the specific AP request, noting the wide range of factors involved in any specific FOIA decision.

"I don't know what merited a two-year delay, or whether or not a two-year delay actually was merited," Earnest said.

The newly released documents, showing the back-and-forth among USAID officials, contain dozens of redactions largely for personal-privacy reasons. But most censored items appeared to be benign bits of information like officials' email addresses and general narratives that, at times, describe journalists.

"Um, this could be worse. (Redacted lines) this Jack Gillum guy, and unfortunately, Desmond Butler, who has written extensively and unfavorably on crappy USG programming in Cuba in the past," wrote one former official, Joseph McSpedon, referring to this reporter and Butler, who's covered U.S. government programs there.

Under the president's instructions , the U.S. should not withhold or censor government files merely because they might be embarrassing. USAID cited privacy exemptions in 82 requests last year, and that was the exception cited most often.

The AP previously obtained thousands of leaked internal documents about the Cuba program, run by Washington-based private contractor Creative Associates International. A December 2015 inspector general's report found the program was inadequately monitored and had conflicts of interest.

A USAID lawyer acknowledged in the emails the risk in obtaining those very documents from Creative Associates. If the government had possession of them, she said, they could become public record.

"Mark is correct that any copies or notes would be subject to FOIA," wrote Susan Pascocello, the agency's deputy general counsel. "It would be a good idea for me or Hal to speak with the person who is going to Creative so that we can provide guidance."

Overall, USAID said it took nearly 11 months last year to process FOIA requests that were deemed "complex"  when a request asks for a lot of documents or requires government workers to search multiple places. The agency processed 305 FOIA requests that same year.

Under FOIA, citizens and foreigners can compel the U.S. government to turn over copies of federal records for little or no cost. Anyone who seeks information through the law is generally supposed to get it unless disclosure would hurt national security, violate personal privacy or expose certain confidential decision-making.

Yet in one newly released USAID message, one government official's friend suggested FOIA was the source of the ZunZuneo documents and should be tightened up: "AP didn't get this through FOIA, did they? If so, maybe it's time to hire some new redactors. They got a bit too much of an inside view."

The sender's name and email were censored.

___

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

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GOP Senate OKs Obama judicial nominee for Tennessee

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Republican-led Senate easily confirmed President Barack Obama's pick for a Tennessee federal judgeship on Monday, even as the GOP maintained its blockade against considering Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy.

By a 92-0 vote, senators approved Waverly Crenshaw for the lifetime appointment, filling a vacancy in the Middle Tennessee District that officials declared a "judicial emergency" because of the number of cases pending there.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Republicans of "a concerted effort to undermine the American judiciary system." He said they have moved far too slowly on Crenshaw's and other judicial nominations and, as he's repeatedly done before, attacked their refusal to consider Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court.

FILE - In this March 15, 2016 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., joined by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., left, talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate is poised to vote on one of President Barack Obama's judicial nominees - for a court in Tennessee. The Senate is moving ahead on the nomination of Waverly Crenshaw to be U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee. Crenshaw has the support of Tennessee's Republican senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, who have been pushing McConnell, to schedule a vote as Republicans and Democrats have clashed over whether Obama or his successor should fill the Supreme Court opening. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Crenshaw, an attorney in Nashville, Tennessee, was the first judicial nomination the Senate has approved since Justice Antonin Scalia's Feb. 13 death opened a seat on the high court. Thirty-three of Obama's nominees to district courts and seven to the appeals court remain in limbo.

Democrats have charged that Republicans have confirmed too few nominees in the last year. Crenshaw was the 17th federal judge the chamber has approved since the GOP took control of the Senate in January 2015.

During the final two years of President George W. Bush's administration, from January 2007 through April 11, 2008, the Senate  then run by Democrats  confirmed 45 district and circuit court judges, according to the federal judiciary's website.

In the 70 years since the end of World War II, the Senate Judiciary Committee has cleared an average of 40 federal appellate and district court judge nominations for action by the Senate annually, according to data the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service sent to Senate Democrats.

So far this year, the panel has sent three such nominations to the full Senate.

Republicans countered with statistics of their own. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Crenshaw was the 324th Obama judicial nominee confirmed since he took office in 2009  compared with 303 approved at the same point in Bush's presidency. Most of the judges confirmed during Obama's term were under a Democratic Senate.

Crenshaw's position became vacant in December 2014. Obama picked him two months later and the Senate Judiciary Committee cleared the nomination last July.

Crenshaw was supported by Tennessee's Republican senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, who pushed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to schedule a vote even as the Supreme Court fight raged. The two parties have battled bitterly since McConnell said the day Scalia died that his vacancy would remain unfilled until a new president takes office next year.

Alexander and Corker praised Crenshaw before the vote, but neither addressed Reid's criticisms.

Crenshaw's confirmation may be among the last in Obama's presidency. In recent decades, the Senate has slowed  and gradually stopped  its approval of judges nominated by a president of the opposing party in the later months of a president's final year in office.

Conservative groups have pushed McConnell to shut down the process entirely. A January memo from the advocacy group Heritage Action urged the Senate not to confirm any of Obama's non-security nominees. "Granting any more lifetime appointments to federal judges whose views align with this president's radical ideological agenda is indefensible," the memo read.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said last month that he hoped the Senate would move on some nominations. But he acknowledged there won't be any after the summer, as Obama wraps up his term and the presidential election campaign gears up.

In addition to the Tennessee senators, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who is facing a tough re-election in November, has asked for votes. Toomey wrote to Grassley earlier this year and urged the Iowa Republican to move two district judge nominees whom he is supporting.

Two other Pennsylvania district court nominees backed by Toomey and the state's other senator, Democrat Bob Casey, are awaiting a Senate vote.

___

Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

___
Forget the drought, Thailand's national water fight is on

BANGKOK (AP)  Drought? What drought? Bring out the water guns!

Thailand may be going through its driest period in 20 years, but the country's military government wants visitors from around the globe to know that the biggest water fight in the world is still on.

So, get your buckets, hoses and other gear ready for the three-day nationwide street party that begins Wednesday to mark the Thai New Year.

FILE - In this April 13, 2015 file photo, people riding on a motorbike react as a boy splashes water on them during the traditional Thai New Year celebrations or Songkran water festival in Bangkok. Thailands military government is putting a dampener on the annual nationwide water fight. Despite Thailands worst drought in 20 years, the junta says it has no intention of limiting the virtually around-the-clock water throwing that defines the three-day Songkran festival. Instead, it has decided to impose morality measures. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit,File)

"We can still use water for the new year festival. It's not that dry," said government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd. The government has instructed the Tourism Ministry to make sure foreign tourists don't misunderstand the severity of the drought and cancel holiday plans out of concerns the water supply will be cut off, he said.

After all, there are millions of dollars at stake.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand expects this year's holiday to generate more than 15 billion baht ($427 million) for the tourism sector and attract half a million visitors in a span of five days.

Songkran, as the festival is known, has the spirit of a soggy Mardi Gras and is a major tourist attraction. Revelers line the streets, or prowl the roads in pickup trucks, armed with water guns and plastic bowls, and douse anyone in sight. Some areas are closed to traffic for wet and wild street parties with loud music, booze and dancing.

Rare controversy has preceded this year's water fight, with environmentalists and other critics calling for festivities to be curtailed.

"Instead of mindlessly wasting water, New Year revelers should be mindful of the crushing drought," The Nation newspaper said in an editorial last week calling for "a dry Songkran" to show solidarity with the country's farmers.

Twenty-seven of Thailand's 77 provinces have been declared drought zones, with the lowest level of rainfall in more than two decades. Farmers have been ordered to curtail their water use and scale back planting. Tap-water rationing is in effect in some provinces.

And yet Thailand's military government is playing down the dry spell and says it is powerless to crimp such a popular national holiday.

"As the prime minister has said, Songkran brings happiness to the Thai people, and canceling it would be too difficult," Sansern said.

A ban would also be hugely unpopular both with Thais and tourists.

In past promotions, the tourism authority has played up the party scene, urging tourists "to get wet and wild" and "be part of the largest street water fight the world has to offer." In 2011, the tourism authority used the holiday to organize a Guinness World Record attempt for the world's largest water pistol fight, drawing more than 3,400 people to a 10-minute shootout in central Bangkok.

The prime minister, a former general who has dictatorial powers after toppling a civilian government in 2014, has bristled at the notion of canceling Songkran.

"I will not ban water throwing, that's impossible," Prayuth Chan-ocha, the prime minister, said in response to a proposal for government controls on holiday water use. He added dismissively, "Parents should teach their children to use less water and not splash it around for three days and three nights."

Prayuth is calling for strict measures this year during the festivities, but not related to water rationing. The junta is putting a damper on dancing and indecent attire, saying specifically that women and transgenders who show too much skin will face arrest.

"I have told officials, police and soldiers that there should be no women  or transgender women  dressed provocatively or dancing on the backs of trucks," Prayuth said. "If they do, they will be arrested."

Environmentalists say the government should get its priorities straight.

"The government should tell people the truth, that the drought is bad. They should not try to cover up the truth," said Smith Thammasaroj, chairman of the Foundation of National Disaster Warning Council. "If people keep thinking we have enough water, it could badly hurt agriculture and farmers."

"They shouldn't worry about clothing and covering up the body," he said. "They should worry about the drought."

Some cities, including Bangkok, have taken it upon themselves to dilute this year's festivities.

Bangkok city hall has ordered a 9 p.m. curfew on water fights and is trying to keep the festival to three days, excluding the weekend  measures that it says will save 5 billion liters (1.3 billion gallons) of water.

Wanlop Suwandee, the chief adviser to Bangkok's governor, made a highly publicized proposal that partygoers put down their guns and instead use handheld spray bottles, the kind used on indoor plants to make leaves wet.

The idea struck many as laughable in a city where water guns are not mere pistols, but large pump machine guns often with water storage tanks worn as backpacks.

Krit Pongchaiassawin, a 22-year-old university student, said he had no plan to enter into battle firing a gentle mist.

"Are you kidding me?" said Krit, while shopping for a water gun at a Bangkok outdoor market. "I would get laughed off the street if I had a spray bottle. People would see that and just dump more water on me."

___

Associated Press writer Nattasuda Anusonadisai contributed to this report.

FILE - In this April 13, 2015 file photo, tourist is showered in water by locals during the Songkran festival to celebrate the Thai New Year on Samui Island in Surat Thani province, Thailand. Thailands military government is putting a dampener on the annual nationwide water fight. Despite Thailands worst drought in 20 years, the junta says it has no intention of limiting the virtually around-the-clock water throwing that defines the three-day Songkran festival. Instead, it has decided to impose morality measures. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

FILE - In this April 13, 2014 file photo, a foreign tourist holds a water gun as she takes part in a water fight during traditional Thai New Year celebrations or Songkran festival in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand. Thailands military government is putting a dampener on the annual nationwide water fight. Despite Thailands worst drought in 20 years, the junta says it has no intention of limiting the virtually around-the-clock water throwing that defines the three-day Songkran festival. Instead, it has decided to impose morality measures.(AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, File)

FILE - In this April 13, 2015 file photo a woman and a girl riding on a motorbike react as a boy splashes water on them during traditional Thai New Year celebrations or Songkran water festival in Bangkok. Thailands military government is putting a dampener on the annual nationwide water fight. Despite Thailands worst drought in 20 years, the junta says it has no intention of limiting the virtually around-the-clock water throwing that defines the three-day Songkran festival. Instead, it has decided to impose morality measures. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

In this April 10, 2016 photo, Thai vendors stand near water pistols as they wait for customers in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailands military government is putting a dampener on the annual nationwide water fight. Despite Thailands worst drought in 20 years, the junta says it has no intention of limiting the virtually around-the-clock water throwing that defines the three-day Songkran festival. Instead, it has decided to impose morality measures. Among them, women who show too much skin in wet skimpy attire, or dance too provocatively at raucous street parties could face arrest. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

FILE - In this April 13, 2015 file photo, a Thai woman splashes water on people from the back of a truck during the Songkran water festival to celebrate Thai New Year in Bangkok, Thailand.Thailands military government is putting a dampener on the annual nationwide water fight. Despite Thailands worst drought in 20 years, the junta says it has no intention of limiting the virtually around-the-clock water throwing that defines the three-day Songkran festival. Instead, it has decided to impose morality measures. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

FILE- In this April 13, 2015 file photo, tourists and locals exchange water pistol fire during the Songkran festival to celebrate the Thai New Year on Samui Island in Surat Thani province, Thailand. Thailands military government is putting a dampener on the annual nationwide water fight. Despite Thailands worst drought in 20 years, the junta says it has no intention of limiting the virtually around-the-clock water throwing that defines the three-day Songkran festival. Instead, it has decided to impose morality measures.(AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)
Trump seeks to reshape campaign after Wisconsin loss

NEW YORK (AP)  When Donald Trump walked onstage for his final rally before Wisconsin's presidential primary, he found an unfamiliar sight: hundreds of empty seats.

The election eve rally at the grand Milwaukee Theatre, which featured the heavily promoted campaign return of the GOP front-runner's wife, was intended as a capstone of Trump's three-day blitz through the state. A big-enough victory could have put Trump on a path to clinch the number of delegates needed to win the nomination before the party's convention in July.

Instead, the half-filled room was an ominous harbinger: He ended up losing to rival Ted Cruz by 13 percentage points.

In this April 4, 2016, file photo, supporters of Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump depart the Milwaukee Theatre after a rally in Milwaukee. When Trump strode onstage for his final rally before the Wisconsin primary, he found an unfamiliar sight: hundreds of empty seats. The election eve rally, which featured the Republican front-runners wifes much-touted return to the campaign trail, was intended as a capstone of Trumps three-day blitz through the state. A big-enough win the next day could have put Trump on a path to clinch the number of delegates needed to win the nomination ahead of this summers Republican National Convention. Instead, the half-empty room was an ominous harbinger of Trumps fate the next day: he lost to rival Ted Cruz by 13 percentage points. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

Trump still holds a solid lead in the race, but the stinging defeat was evidence that his unorthodox campaign  run by largely inexperienced operatives and fueled by the candidate's sheer force of personality  had hit a wall.

The ever-confident Trump canceled his plans for the rest of the week, hunkered down and confronted fears that he was being outmaneuvered.

For nearly a year, the celebrity businessman had kept away from the trappings of a more conventional campaign operation. But days after the Wisconsin loss, he relented on that front as he tried to recapture his momentum and gear up for a potential general election race against likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump is bringing in new staff, including a seasoned Washington operative to run his efforts at the convention, where the nomination appears more likely than ever to be decided. He also plans to place new focus on policy.

His team is making more strategic decisions as to how to make best use of Trump's time  the campaign's most valuable asset  starting with a refocused effort to run up the score in the April 19 primary in his home state of New York.

"In many ways, I think it's a recognition that the successful primary campaign that Mr. Trump has run has to shift gears," said adviser Ed Brookover, brought on board to help lead the delegate strategy.

With minimal spending on advertising and a small staff in comparison with Clinton's, the Trump campaign has upended the political orthodoxy by riding large rallies and a knack for earning free media, and risen to the top of the GOP race.

But Wisconsin showed the limitations of that strategy.

The state's Republican establishment coalesced around Cruz. Leading the way was Gov. Scott Walker, who had dropped out of the White House race last year and warned against Trump's ascendance. The state's influential conservative talk radio circuit proved an unfriendly venue to a candidate who has glided effortlessly through so many interviews.

Trump also found himself on the defensive after retweeted unflattering photo of Cruz's wife, and committed what may have been the first costly gaffe of his bid when he bungled a question about abortion.

His insular campaign leadership, featuring a tiny inner circle led by campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who's facing charges of battery after an incident with a reporter, seemed ill-equipped to compete in the bruising and complex fight to line up the support of delegates who will attend the national convention.

In Colorado, for instance, Cruz-supporting delegates swept local contests while Trump's team made repeated flubs. The campaign fired its Colorado state director just after he had arrived. The new director, Patrick Davis, started running Trump's fledgling operation after Cruz had snapped up nearly one-sixth of the state's delegates.

Trump and his team had largely assumed he would have the race all but locked up after winning Florida in mid-March, and had largely failed to prepare for a potential fight at the convention. It was then, even before the resounding defeat in Wisconsin, when Roger Stone, a former Trump campaign aide and longtime adviser, put Trump in touch with Paul Manafort, a veteran of numerous conventions.

As part of the campaign shuffle, Manafort will be "responsible for all activities that pertain to Mr. Trump's delegate process and the Cleveland convention," according to a campaign statement.

It is not clear precisely how Lewandowski now fits into the campaign operation. He is expected to continue to have a prominent role that will including traveling with the candidate  highly unusual for a campaign manager.

___

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Colorado Springs, Colorado, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jonathan Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JonLemire and Jill Colvin at http://twitter.com/colvinj

In this April 4, 2016, photo, Melania Trump, wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the crowd during a rally at the Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee. When Donald Trump strode onstage for his final rally before the Wisconsin primary, he found an unfamiliar sight: hundreds of empty seats. The election eve rally, which featured the Republican front-runners wifes much-touted return to the campaign trail, was intended as a capstone of Trumps three-day blitz through the state. A big-enough win the next day could have put Trump on a path to clinch the number of delegates needed to win the nomination ahead of this summers Republican National Convention. Instead, the half-empty room was an ominous harbinger of Trumps fate the next day: he lost to rival Ted Cruz by 13 percentage points. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

In this April 4, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the crowd during a rally at the Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee. When Trump strode onstage for his final rally before the Wisconsin primary, he found an unfamiliar sight: hundreds of empty seats. The election eve rally, which featured the Republican front-runners wifes much-touted return to the campaign trail, was intended as a capstone of Trumps three-day blitz through the state. A big-enough win the next day could have put Trump on a path to clinch the number of delegates needed to win the nomination ahead of this summers Republican National Convention. Instead, the half-empty room was an ominous harbinger of Trumps fate the next day: he lost to rival Ted Cruz by 13 percentage points. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
Somalia: Man executed for journalists' killings

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP)  A former journalist who joined the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab was executed Monday by firing squad in Somalia's capital for the killings of five Somali journalists.

Hassan Hanafi Haji, who was extradited from Kenya last year on the request of the Somali government, was executed at a police academy in Mogadishu. Firing squad is the only execution method in Somalia.

He was led out of a police van in chains before a crowd of journalists, many of whom remembered Haji with a degree of fear when he was media liaison to al-Shabab and was known to threaten journalists.

Hassan Hanafi Haji, center, a former journalist accused of belonging to al-Shabab and involvement in the killings of five Somali journalists, is tied to a wooden post as he is prepared to be executed by firing squad, at a police academy in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Monday, April 11, 2016. Haji, who was extradited from Kenya last year on the request of the Somali government, was executed by firing squad which remains the only execution method in Somalia. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Haji was bound to a pole and closed his eyes in apparent fear as the firing squad marched in. He was then blindfolded.

Once the order was given, shots rang out randomly and Haji's bloody body dropped to the ground.

"Justice served -- it was his turn to taste the pain of death," said a Somali journalist who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal. Medical workers then checked the body and prepared it for burial.

Haji often urged journalists to report according to al-Shabab's media rules, which included avoiding stories related to the group's military setbacks, and under his pressure many media outlets practiced self-censorship for security reasons.

Haji later led al-Shabab's media unit, inviting journalists to press conferences and giving them tours of battlefields.

Haji was one of the few suspects prosecuted by the Somali government despite years of criticism by rights groups who urged authorities to do more to end the killings of journalists.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries for media workers. At least 18 Somali journalists were killed last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

It's not entirely clear who has been killing journalists. Al-Shabab rebels, warlords, criminals, and even government agents all could have reasons.

Hassan Hanafi Haji, a former journalist accused of belonging to al-Shabab and involvement in the killings of five Somali journalists, is tied to a wooden post as he is prepared to be executed by firing squad, at a police academy in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Monday, April 11, 2016. Haji, who was extradited from Kenya last year on the request of the Somali government, was executed by firing squad which remains the only execution method in Somalia. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Hassan Hanafi Haji, a former journalist accused of belonging to al-Shabab and involvement in the killings of five Somali journalists, is tied to a wooden post as he is prepared to be executed by firing squad, at a police academy in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Monday, April 11, 2016. Haji, who was extradited from Kenya last year on the request of the Somali government, was executed by firing squad which remains the only execution method in Somalia. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
Bangladesh closing notorious 18th-century prison in Dhaka

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  Bangladesh is closing its notorious 18th-century prison where sensational political killings over decades have targeted people on both sides of the South Asian country's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.

The government wants to reopen the old, dilapidated Dhaka Central Jail as a museum to its tumultuous past, while giving its inmates better accommodations on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital. The new jail will have an uninterrupted power supply, a 200-bed hospital and a job training center.

"Such initiatives will help criminals change their way of living and their thinking as well as motivate them to return to normal life," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Sunday as she opened the new jailhouse on the capital's outskirts.

In this April 10, 2016 photo, a prison guard looks over a busy street adjoining the Dhaka Central Jail in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The government is closing its notorious 18th-century prison where sensational political killings over decades have targeted people on both sides of the South Asian country's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

The Dhaka Central Jail, with architectural marks that reflect Mughal and British histories, has been chronically overcrowded. It now has about 8,000 inmates, though it was built to accommodate just 2,600. Inmates live in cramped, unsanitary conditions.

Authorities plan to move the inmates to the new facility over the next month. "We will do it slowly, as security is an issue that needs to be taken care of very carefully," said Col. Fazlul Kabir, additional inspector general of police (prisons).

Bangladesh was born in 1971 through a bloody nine-month war. The war broke out after military rulers in Pakistan, then West Pakistan, refused to hand over power to majority Bengali politicians led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina's father, after his party won most seats in a 1970 election.

Rahman was confined to Dhaka Central Jail numerous times before he became Bangladesh's founding leader. Many Communist politicians were also jailed, as were intellectuals who were involved in the nationalist movement.

"During the long political career of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, this central jail was his second home," Forman Ali, a former jail superintendent, wrote in a newspaper article on Saturday. Bangabandhu is an honorary title meaning "Friend of Bengal" given to him in a massive rally in Dhaka following his release from jail in 1969 in a politically motivated sedition case.

Rahman was assassinated in 1975  killed along with most of his family members in a military coup. Killed in Dhaka Central Jail that year were four close associates of Rahman who were the architects of the country's independence war and advocates of secular Bangladesh.

Following the killings, military dictators amended the secular constitution, changing the country's course by creating more opportunity for politics based on religion. A banned Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, was reborn, and its top politicians returned from exile in Pakistan. The party openly campaigned against Bangladesh's independence and collaborated with Pakistani military.

When dictator H.M. Ershad ruled from 1981 to 1990, dozens of prominent student leaders were jailed, both from Hasina's Awami League party and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of her archrival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

More recently, the military-backed caretaker government that ruled from 2006 to 2008 arrested many top politicians from both parties and held them in the central jail before Hasina won elections in late 2008.

Hasina established special tribunals to prosecute war crimes committed during the 1971 fight for independence. Authorities say Pakistani soldiers aided by local collaborators killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women that year.

At least four politicians have been hanged for 1971 war crimes inside the central jail. Six top leaders of a banned Islamist group that wants to introduce Sharia law in Muslim-majority Bangladesh also have been hanged there.

In this April 10, 2016 photo, Bangladeshi security personnel stand guard at the entrance to the Dhaka Central Jail, as visitors walk out after meeting their relatives and friends lodged inside, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The government wants to reopen the old, dilapidated Dhaka Central Jail as a museum to its tumultuous past, while giving its inmates better accommodations on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital. The new jail will have an uninterrupted power supply, a 200-bed hospital and a job training center. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

In this April 10, 2016 photo, Dhaka Central Jail is seen in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The government wants to reopen the old, dilapidated Dhaka Central Jail as a museum to its tumultuous past, while giving its inmates better accommodations on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital. The new jail will have an uninterrupted power supply, a 200-bed hospital and a job training center. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

In this April 10, 2016 photo, a worker carries a load of goods on a road adjacent to Dhaka Central Jail in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The government is closing its notorious 18th-century prison where sensational political killings over decades have targeted people on both sides of the South Asian country's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)

In this April 10, 2016 photo, people commute on a road next to the Dhaka Central Jail in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The government wants to reopen the old, dilapidated Dhaka Central Jail as a museum to its tumultuous past, while giving its inmates better accommodations on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital. The new jail will have an uninterrupted power supply, a 200-bed hospital and a job training center. (AP Photo/ A.M. Ahad)
Philippine offensive kills 8 militants, wounds commander

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Eight more Abu Sayyaf extremists have been killed and a top militant commander has been wounded as Philippine troops pressed a major offensive in the country's south following the killings of 18 soldiers in fierce fighting over the weekend, the military said Monday.

Regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said four Abu Sayyaf gunmen who were wounded in battle Saturday later died and four other militants were killed in fresh fighting Sunday in the hilly outskirts of Tipo Tipo town on Basilan island.

A ruthless Abu Sayyaf commander, Puruji Indama, was seriously wounded in the head either by gun or artillery fire, Tan said. Indama has been linked to deadly bombings, kidnappings for ransom and beheadings of Filipino marines.

Daylong fighting in the outskirts of Basilan's Tipo Tipo town left 18 soldiers dead Saturday in the military's largest single-day combat loss so far this year. The killings occurred as the Philippines marked its Day of Valor holiday to remember its war dead.

At least 53 other soldiers were wounded in the 10-hour battle that initially killed five extremists, including a Moroccan fighter who was wearing a suicide vest rigged with pipe bombs when he died, Tan said.

More than 1,500 army troops are involved in the offensive, including ground forces pursuing Abu Sayyaf gunmen on Basilan, a poor, predominantly Muslim province, about 880 kilometers (550 miles) south of Manila. The Abu Sayyaf was founded there in 1991 as an extremist offshoot of a decades-old Muslim separatist rebellion in the south, homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.

"A soldier all the more becomes courageous when he's wounded," said military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla. "We're pursuing terrorists who are behind kidnappings for ransom and uphold a radical and extremist approach."

Asked what caused the high number of military deaths, Padilla said the soldiers were hit by bombs concealed around the Abu Sayyaf encampment to warn the militants of an impending assault. Air strikes prior to the ground assault was also called off early Saturday due to bad weather and the military instead resorted to artillery fire "to soften the target" before troops went in, he said.

As the fighting raged, the militants were able to get reinforcements, he said.

A military official in the south said Abu Sayyaf gunmen may have acquired new and more powerful guns and weapons from the huge ransoms they received in exchange for releasing kidnapped foreigners. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss such sensitive details with reporters.

A former Italian missionary was freed last week by the militants after six months in captivity in exchange of a huge ransom, the official said, but the military reacted by saying it's unaware of any such ransom payments.

A key target of the ongoing offensive is Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and has been hunted for years for his alleged involvement in several terrorist attacks, the military said.
Rutgers student killed, recent graduate wounded in shooting

NEWARK, N.J. (AP)  A Rutgers University student was killed Sunday night and a recent graduate injured in a double shooting inside an off-campus apartment near the New Jersey university's Newark campus.

Shani Patel, 21, of Toms River, was fatally shot around 10 p.m. Sunday, and his 23-year-old roommate was undergoing surgery and listed in critical condition at a hospital, said Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray.

The roommate graduated from Rutgers last year, Murray said.

The university says the shooting isn't a random act and there are no threats to the school community.

"I write with the sad news that last night we lost one of our students," Rutgers Chancellor Nancy Cantor wrote in an email to students. "There is an active, ongoing investigation by the Newark Police Department of a crime that took place at a private residence located off campus."

No suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made, Murray said. An award of up to $10,000 was being offered for information that leads to arrest and conviction.
Sporadic fighting mars first day of cease-fire in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AP)  A U.N.-brokered cease-fire was mostly holding across war-torn Yemen on Monday with scattered violations reported by both sides. Much of the remaining violence took place in the besieged city of Taiz, where shelling killed at least one person and wounded five, according to residents.

There were also sporadic exchanges of gunfire and air strikes in other parts of the country after the truce between the Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemen's internationally recognized government, and the Shiite rebels known as Houthis went into effect at midnight Sunday.

The truce is meant build confidence between Yemen's warring sides ahead of the U.N.-sponsored peace talks scheduled to take place in Kuwait on April 18.

Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, carry the coffin of a fellow Houthi who was killed during fighting against Saudi-backed Yemeni forces in Marib province, a few hours before the start of a fresh cease-fire in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, April 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Residents of Taiz, which has been besieged by the rebels for over a year, are blaming the Houthis for overnight shelling that killed one civilian and wounded four. According to the military council of Taiz resistance, which is loyal to the internationally recognized government, there were a total of 25 violations by the Houthis; meanwhile the Houthis claimed 56 cease-fire violations by the pro-government forces across the country. Residents also said three airstrikes hit Houthi positions during the day in Taiz.

Mohammed al Qubati, information minister for the internationally recognized government, acknowledged that there were dozens of violations. Speaking to The Associated Press from Saudi Arabia, he said, "We urge self-restraint."

In the capital, Sanaa, which has been under Houthi control since September 2014, the coalition largely halted its airstrikes.

In the district of Naham, on the fringes of Sanaa province, fighting continued overnight between armed men backing the government and the Houthis, according to residents there. The residents in both in Taiz and in Naham spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety.

The Saudi-led coalition has said it will commit to the open-ended cease-fire and halt its yearlong air campaign against the rebels.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam wrote on his Facebook page: "We express our condemnation to the continuation of the airstrikes and the troops' movement which took place in some fronts today ... We stress the importance of abiding by the agreement and the dangerous continuation of the military action threatens to curb the peace process."

In Washington, the U.S. State Department hailed the cease-fire, despite the difficulties. Spokesman Mark Toner called the cessation of hostilities, "crucial to the people of Yemen," and added, We urge all parties to ensure they are cooperating fully with humanitarian workers as they seek to access all parts of the country."

Earlier, the alliance's spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri, told The Associated Press that the coalition's commitment to the truce will depend on the extent that the Iranian-backed Houthis abide by the Security Council resolution stipulating the rebels pull their forces from the cities and hand over heavy weapons to the government.

The U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, urged all parties to work to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is "fully respected."

"This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives," Ahmed said in a statement Monday. He added that preparations were underway for Kuwait peace talks, which are to focus on key issues such as withdrawal of militias and armed groups, handover of heavy weapons and resumption of an all-inclusive political dialogue.

The coalition, comprised of mostly Arab countries, launched its campaign against the Houthis in March 2015, several months after the rebels overran Sanaa and forced the internationally-backed government into exile. Since then, more than 9,000 people have been killed in Yemen's civil war, including more than 3,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. The fighting has also displaced 2.4 million people.

One of the most daunting consequences of the war has been the spread of hunger across Yemen. The impoverished nation of 26 million, which imports 90 percent of its food, already had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, but in the past year the statistics have surged.

The number of people considered "severely food insecure"  unable to put food on the table without outside aid  went from 4.3 million to more than 7 million, according to the World Food Program. Ten of the country's 22 provinces are classified as one step away from famine.

The U.N. children's agency warned that the children of Yemen are bearing the brunt of the conflict. UNICEF said in a statement that at least 900 children have been killed  a seven-fold increase, compared to the number of fatalities among children in 2014. The agency also said that child recruitment increased five times, and that the "disruption in the delivery of basic services has deprived thousands of children of their fundamental rights to education and health."

The U.N. also said Monday that it had successfully launched a three-day polio vaccination campaign targeting five million children in Yemen.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the campaign started Sunday, coinciding with the cease-fire.

He called the campaign, supported by UNICEF, the World Health Organization and World Bank, "a good sign" and "a very important step" in advance of the talks.

According to WHO, Yemen conducted large-scale immunizations targeting children under the age of five from 2011-2014. As late as last November, vaccinations of children were taking place in Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa.

___

Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo, Matthew Lee in Washington and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
10 Things to Know for Today - 11 April 2016

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

1. WHAT MOST SENIOR OFFICIAL TO EVER VISIT HIROSHIMA DELIVERED

John Kerry visits the memorial to the atomic bombing, offering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after the U.S. killed 140,000 Japanese.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center left, puts his arm around Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, center right, after they and fellow G7 foreign ministers laid wreaths at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan Monday, April 11, 2016. Also pictured are, from left to right, E.U. High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, Britain's Foreign Minister Philip Hammond, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP)

2. WHO HAS THE EDGE AMONG VOTERS IN GENERAL ELECTION

An AP-GfK poll finds Americans trust Hillary Clinton more than Donald Trump to handle a wide range of issues.

3. POLICE HUNT SUSPECTS IN DEADLY INDIA FIRE

Medical teams tend to hundreds injured in a massive blaze in a Hindu temple that killed 110 people, while authorities search for those responsible for illegally putting on the fireworks display.

4. WHY SOME FAMILIES ARE CONCERNED ABOUT LOVED ONES' REMAINS

An AP analysis finds that policing of the funeral industry in the United States is fragmented, with few consequences for those who break rules.

5. 'CUBAN TWITTER' FALLOUT FOUND RELIEF IN FOIA'S GLACIAL PACE

A two-year delay in the Freedom of Information Act benefited U.S. officials as they dealt with the repercussions of the government's once-secret program.

6. TRUMP CRIES FOUL OVER DELEGATE PROCESS

The Republican front-runner blasts the way the country chooses presidential party nominees as "corrupt" and "crooked" as he grapples with the potential of a brokered convention he risks losing.

7. INVESTIGATION INTO SLAYING OF EX-NFL PLAYER CONTINUES

Former New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Will Smith was shot in the back and side, according to a warrant, and police say a road rage incident preceded the slaying.

8. KEIKO FUJIMORI LEADS PERU ELECTION

The daughter of the jailed former president leads in preliminary results from the first round of Peru's presidential election and appears headed to a June runoff.

9. BRYAN ADAMS CHALLENGES NEW MISSISSIPPI LAW

The Canadian rocker is canceling a performance this week in Biloxi, citing the state's new law that allows religious groups and some private businesses to refuse service to gay couples.

10. SPIETH READY TO MOVE ON AFTER EPIC MELTDOWN

The young Texan staggered to the finish at Augusta National, squandering a five-shot lead at the Masters and losing by three strokes to England's Danny Willett.

An unidentified man weeps as bodies of victims lie outside a morgue at the Kollam district hospital after a massive fire broke out during a fireworks display at the Puttingal temple complex in Paravoor village, Kollam district, southern Kerala state, India, Sunday, April 10, 2016. Dozens were killed and many more were injured when a spark from an unauthorized fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks that were being stored at the temple complex, officials said.(AP Photo/ Jyothiraj. N.S)
Prince William, wife Kate pay respect to Gandhi in India

NEW DELHI (AP)  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid their respects to Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi on Monday and met with young entrepreneurs in India's financial capital of Mumbai to speak with the country's next generation of business leaders.

On the second day of their weeklong royal tour of India, Britain's Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, placed a wreath and bowed their heads as they stood in front of a memorial for Gandhi in New Delhi. They then toured a museum near the spot where the independence leader was assassinated in 1948.

Prior to that, William and Kate laid a wreath at a memorial to honor Indian soldiers who had died in World War I.

Britain's Prince William, and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, take a tour of Gandhi Smriti, where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated on 30 January 1948, in New Delhi, India, Monday, April 11, 2016.(Saurabh Das/ Pool Photo via AP)

The royal couple spent the first part of the day in Mumbai, where they met with the young entrepreneurs and the venture capitalists likely to fund some of their enterprise ideas. Kate, dressed in a cream wool crepe outfit, smiled and waved at crowds of onlookers who had gathered outside the cafe where the meeting was held.

In the evening, the couple attended a garden party in New Delhi to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday, which is April 21. William addressed a large gathering of prominent Indians at the reception to speak about his grandmother, Britain's longest-reigning monarch.

The prince said his trip to India celebrated the link between Britain and India, which was part of the British empire before gaining independence in 1947. He also read out a message from Queen Elizabeth hailing the "enduring friendship, shared culture and business opportunities between the two countries."

William and Kate are traveling without their two children  2 1/2-year-old Prince George and 11-month-old Princess Charlotte. They had taken George to Australia with them in 2014 on their last royal tour.

On Tuesday, the royal couple will sit down for lunch with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before traveling to the Kaziranga National Park, home to two-thirds of the world's Indian one-horned rhinos, in the northeastern state of Assam.

They'll also take a one-day trip to neighboring Bhutan at the invitation of the Himalayan kingdom's King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema.

William and Kate will then head back to India, where they'll wind up their tour with a visit to the Taj Mahal, retracing the steps of a 1992 visit to the monument of love by William's mother, the late Princess Diana.

Britain's Prince William, along with his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, centre, arrive to pay their tributes at the India Gate war memorial, in the memory of the soldiers from Indian regiments who served in World War I, in New Delhi, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. (Manish Swarup/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William eats a "dosa", or a rice pancake as his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, watches during an event on young entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a weeklong visit to India, their first royal tour in two years. (Danish Siddiqui/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, along with his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge leave after paying their tributes at the India Gate war memorial, in the memory of the soldiers from Indian regiments who served in World War I, in New Delhi, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. (Manish Swarup/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, along with his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, right, pay their tributes at the India Gate war memorial, in the memory of the soldiers from Indian regiments who served in World War I, in New Delhi, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. (Manish Swarup/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, along with his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, centre, pay their tributes at the India Gate war memorial, in the memory of the soldiers from Indian regiments who served in World War I, in New Delhi, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. (Manish Swarup/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, right, eats a "dosa" or a rice pancake as his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, watches during an event on young entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India, April 11, 2016. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a weeklong visit to India, their first royal tour in two years. (Danish Siddiqui/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, participates in an event on young entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a weeklong visit to India, their first royal tour in two years. (Danish Siddiqui/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, right, and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, arrive at an event on young entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a weeklong visit to India, their first royal tour in two years. (Danish Siddiqui/Pool Photo via AP)

Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, participates in an event on young entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a weeklong visit to India, their first royal tour in two years. (Danish Siddiqui/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William drives a Formula E simulator at an event on young entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a weeklong visit to India, their first royal tour in two years. (Danish Siddiqui/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, second left, and his wife Kate, left, the Duchess of Cambridge, arrive at young entrepreneurs' event in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a weeklong visit to India, their first royal tour in two years. (Danish Siddiqui/Pool Photo via AP)
Spanish police arrest ex-top banker for money laundering

MADRID (AP)  Spanish police have arrested former top banker Mario Conde, who has already served time for embezzlement.

A National Court statement said Conde, 67, his daughter and six others were arrested Monday on suspicion of money laundering and tax fraud.

Conde, a flamboyant entrepreneur in the 1980s, was chairman of Banco Espanol de Credito, or Banesto, when it was taken over in 1993 after an audit revealed a shortfall of 3.6 billion euros.

Conde was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2002 for embezzlement and fraud but was released on parole in 2005.
Clinton readies ad challenging Trump on his home turf of NY

WASHINGTON (AP)  Hillary Clinton is stepping up her criticism of Donald Trump, arguing in a new campaign ad that she's the candidate "tough enough to stop Trump."

The spot takes aim at Trump's recent assertion that women should be punished for getting abortions, a position he quickly reversed. It also highlights Trump's harsh rhetoric about some Mexicans coming to the United States and his call for blocking Muslims from the U.S. because of terror threats.

Clinton's campaign says the ad will start running this week in New York City ahead of the April 19 New York primary. Trump is favored in the state's Republican contest.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign event at City Garage in Baltimore, Sunday, April 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Drug smuggler and 'Mr. Nice' author Howard Marks dies at 70

LONDON (AP)  Howard Marks, a convicted drug smuggler who reinvented himself as an author, raconteur and drug-reform campaigner after publishing best-selling autobiography "Mr. Nice," has died of cancer at age 70.

A statement on Marks' website said he died in his sleep on Sunday "surrounded by his four loving children."

Born in a coal-mining village in Wales in 1945, Marks studied physics and philosophy at Oxford University before becoming a marijuana dealer and then smuggler, building up a global business and cultivating an image as a countercultural entrepreneur.

FILE - This is a July 4, 1997 of former drug smuggler and author Howard Marks, Monday April 11, 2016. Howard Marks, a convicted drug smuggler who reinvented himself as an author after publishing best-selling autobiography "Mr. Nice," has died of cancer aged 70. A statement on Marks' website said he died in his sleep on Sunday April 10 2016 "surrounded by his four loving children." (Ben Curtis/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT

One of his preferred routes was to smuggle drugs in the equipment of touring rock bands  without the bands' knowledge.

He claimed to have lived under 43 aliases and worked as a spy for Britain's MI6 intelligence agency.

"Smuggling cannabis was a wonderful way of living  perpetual culture shock, absurd amounts of money, and the comforting knowledge of getting so many people stoned," Marks told the Observer newspaper last year.

Marks was acquitted of drug dealing after a British trial in 1980, but the scale of his operation soon had international law enforcement on his tail. He was arrested in Spain in 1988 in an operation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, extradited to the United States and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was released on parole for good behavior in 1995.

"Mr. Nice," a rollicking account of Marks' criminal career, was published in 1996 and made him something of a folk hero. He had a column in a men's magazine, toured a one-man show and ran unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1997 on a platform of legalizing cannabis.

"Mr. Nice" was turned into a 2010 film starring Rhys Ifans. Marks made a cameo appearance in 1999 nightclubbing movie "Human Traffic," appeared on TV and was a regular at British music festivals.

Among his books were an autobiographical sequel, "Senor Nice," and a crime novel, "Sympathy for the Devil."
Egypt's surrender of islands to Saudi deepens its woes

CAIRO (AP)  Egypt's declared intention to hand over control of two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia has kicked off a storm of vociferous opposition, laced with stinging satire, and dealt a blow to the pride of many Egyptians at a time when they feel their country is vulnerable and under attack from all sides.

The announcement that a team of Egyptian experts has concluded that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba were inside Saudi territorial waters has taken Egyptians by surprise, raising criticism by some that the move amounted to a territorial sell-off to the oil-rich Saudis at a time when Egypt's battered economy needs all the help it can get.

Others charged that President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was running the country without transparency or accountability.

In this picture provided by the office of the Egyptian Presidency, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, left, shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's King Salman before he departs Egypt, Monday, April 11, 2016. Egypt's oldest secular university on Monday granted King Salman of Saudi Arabia an honorary doctorate for his "unique services" to Arabs and Muslims, the final function in a five-day visit clouded by opposition to Cairo's intention to hand over control of two Red Sea islands to Riyadh. (Sherif Abdel Minoem, Egyptian Presidency via AP)

The agreement must be ratified by parliament, a 596-seat chamber packed with the president's supporters whose adulation for Saudi Arabia went on display Sunday when King Salman addressed the legislature. He was received with a standing ovation and his six-minute address was repeatedly interrupted by applause. Lawmakers also recited poetry praising the Saudi monarch.

"The government surprised 90 million Egyptians with a decision that we grew up accustomed to its opposite. That's what made it worrisome and horrifying," author and analyst Ibrahim Eissa said on his TV show about the declaration that the islands were Saudi.

Tiran is the larger of the two islands and is closer to Egypt's southern Sinai coast. It is associated in the mind of many Egyptians with their country's four wars against Israel between 1948 and 1973, a time of nationalistic fervor and patriotism. More recently, Tiran has become a popular destination for tourists.

Hardly anyone in Egypt had thought of Tiran, the better known of the two islands, as anything but Egyptian territory for generations. But the government now says that Saudi Arabia in 1950 merely placed the islands in Egypt's custody to defend them against possible attack by Israel. Now, according to that narrative, Riyadh is able to defend the island and is simply taking its own territory back.

News of the expected loss of the islands broke at a particularly vulnerable time, as the country is reeling from a string of public blunders and a host of seemingly intractable problems.

Egypt's economy is ailing after five years of turmoil, an insurgency by Islamic militants has proved resilient and the vital tourism industry has been battered. The crash last October over the Sinai Peninsula of a Russian airliner, killing all 224 people on board, in a suspected terror attack has cut off the flow of Russian tourists who normally frequent the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Mostly desert Egypt is also gripped by fear over the likely reduction of its vital share of the Nile waters as a result of the construction by Ethiopia of a large dam on the river.

More recently, the country's image abroad has taken a beating over the case of an Italian doctoral student whose torture and killing drew attention to the widespread culture of abuse of Egypt's police. Giulio Regeni's body, bearing torture marks, was found on a suburban Cairo road Feb. 3, nine days after he disappeared. Italian media and Regeni's family have cast suspicion on the Egyptian police, but the Interior Ministry has consistently denied involvement.

Italy recalled its ambassador in Egypt on Friday to protest what it said was Cairo's lack of cooperation in the Regeni investigation.

Khaled Ali, a prominent rights lawyer and a former presidential candidate, has filed a court case to demand that the Egyptian-Saudi agreement on the islands be annulled on the grounds that it violated Egypt's constitution.

Critics also took to social media networks to denounce the deal, creating the hashtag "Awad Sold His Land," an allusion to the villagers' taunts in a popular 1960s radio play of a man who sold his plot of farmland  an act that in the past was equated with dishonor in rural Egypt.

"Here, here, Pasha, one island for a billion, a pyramid for two and I will throw two statues on top," Egypt's best known political satirist, self-exiled Bassem Youssef, tweeted, mimicking the shouts of Egyptian street hawkers selling souvenirs to foreign tourists.

Curiously, the pro-el-Sissi media has gone to great lengths to prove, even justify, Saudi Arabia's claim to the islands. In the same vein, a Foreign Ministry statement lauded the decision as the fruit of "more than six years of hard and long work."

"Egypt has not surrendered a single square inch of its territory under any condition," the top state newspaper Al-Ahram said in its Monday editorial. "But it will be unreasonable to deny our brothers their right to holding on to their own territory when all documents prove their ownership."

The two islands control entry to the Gulf of Aqaba and the ports of Eilat and Aqaba in Israel and Jordan, respectively. Tiran lies about four miles (six kilometers) from Sharm el-Sheikh. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war but returned them to Egypt after the two nations signed a peace treaty in 1979.

Under the terms of the treaty, Egypt cannot station military forces on the islands and is committed to ensuring free navigation in the area's narrow shipping lanes.
Zimbabwe: Rhino featured on TV killed after poacher shooting

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Zimbabwe veterinary surgeons have been forced to put down a rhino that was featured on a television series, days after it was shot by poachers, said the wildlife authority Monday.

The eight-year-old rhino named Ntombi was shot last Tuesday in Matopos, southern Zimbabwe and then lingered on, wounded, riddled with bullets, for close to a week, said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokeswoman for the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

"The rhino had AK bullet heads in three of her legs and a further bullet wound in her right shoulder. She had a front broken leg that she was unable to bear weight on," said Washaya-Moyo in a statement, referring to rounds from a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

Surgeons finally had to make the "very painful" decision to euthanize her during the weekend after realizing the wounds were too deep and the rhino could no longer make it to food and water, she said, adding that Ntombi left behind a calf that had just been weaned.

Ntombi appeared in 2011 on an Animal Planet television show, "Karina: Wild On Safari" that featured United Kingdom model Karina Holmes' adventures in Zimbabwean and Zambian wildlife reserves.

Trevor Lane of Bhejane Trust, an animal conservation group that works with the wildlife management authority, said they are offering a "substantial reward" for information leading to the arrest of poachers who shot Ntombi.

Zimbabwe, which teems with wildlife, is constantly battling poachers targeting mainly elephants and rhinos. Poachers killed over 150 rhinos in the past five years, according to the Lowveld Rhino Trust, a rhino conservation organization in Zimbabwe.
Ex-CIA agent makes last-ditch appeal against extradition

LISBON, Portugal (AP)  A former CIA operative has lodged an appeal at Portugal's Constitutional Court against her extradition to Italy, a court official said Monday.

The appeal is Sabrina De Sousa's last-ditch effort to stop being returned to Italy to serve a six-year sentence there for her part in the U.S. extraordinary renditions program.

A Constitutional Court official told The Associated Press the appeal was logged Monday. The appeal came after the country's Supreme Court rejected her earlier appeal against extradition, according to an official at that court.

FILE- In this July 10, 2012 file photo, Sabrina De Sousa poses for a portrait in Pentagon Row, Va. Virginia. Portugal's Supreme Court has rejected on Monday April 11, 2016 former CIA operative Sabrina De Sousa's appeal against extradition to Italy to serve a six-year sentence for her part in an extraordinary renditions program. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via AP, File) WASHINGTON TIMES OUT; NEW YORK TIMES OUT;THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER AND USA TODAY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with their courts' rules.

The Constitutional Court represents De Sousa's only remaining recourse to avoid being sent to Italy. The official declined to give details of the grounds for appeal and said it was impossible to estimate how long a decision could take.

De Sousa's Portuguese lawyer, Manuel Magalhaes e Silva, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Her Italian lawyer, Dario Bolognesi, said he is hopeful of obtaining clemency from Italy's president.

De Sousa, who was working in Italy under diplomatic cover, faces prison for her role in the 2003 kidnapping in Milan of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, a terror suspect who was under surveillance by Italian law enforcement at the time. De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted in absentia in the case, which also implicated Italy's secret services and has proven embarrassing to successive Italian governments.

The extraordinary rendition program was part of the anti-terrorism strategy of the U.S. administration following the Sept. 11 attacks. Years later, President Barack Obama ended the program.

A lower Lisbon court ruled in January that De Sousa should be turned over to Italy following her arrest at Lisbon Airport in October on a European warrant. Authorities seized her passport while awaiting the court decision on her extradition.

De Sousa, who was born in India and holds both U.S. and Portuguese passports, has said that she had been living in Portugal and intended to settle there. She was on her way to visit her elderly mother in India with a roundtrip ticket when she was detained.

Bolognesi, her Italian lawyer, told the AP he has been meeting and will continue to meet with officials to explore the possibility that President Sergio Mattarella, Italy's head of state, could lower her sentence to the point she would be eligible in Italy to do social services instead of prison time.

He noted that other convicted defendants have benefited from presidential clemency. In December 2015, Mattarella shaved two years off the sentence of a former CIA base chief, Robert Seldon Lady. Mattarella also wiped out the entire three-year penalty for another American convicted in the case. Others convicted in the case have requested clemency, according to Italian officials.

Both Mattarella and his predecessor, Giorgio Napolitano, have cited Obama's decision to end extraordinary rendition as their motive for granting reprieves.

___
The Latest: Investigators visit Panama law firm's offices

LONDON (AP)  The Latest on the publication by a coalition of media outlets of an investigation into offshore financial dealings by the rich and famous (all times local):

1:15 a.m.

Prosecutors in Panama looking into allegations that a computer hacker was behind the leak of a trove of financial documents about tax havens have inspected the offices of the Panamanian law firm where the papers originated.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron leaves 10 Downing Street in central London to appear before MPs for the first time since it emerged he had profited from an offshore fund, Monday April 11, 2016. Cameron will try to restore his governments shaken reputation for competence with a statement in the House of Commons later Monday, after days of damaging headlines about his links to an offshore wealth fund. (Stefan Rousseau / PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVES

Public ministry spokeswoman Sandra Sotillo said the visit Monday at the offices of Mossack Fonseca was made by investigators from the intellectual property prosecutor's office.

The firm filed a complaint regarding the security breach shortly before media reports appeared using the documents to detail how politicians, celebrities and companies around the globe were hiding assets.

Law firm co-founder Ramon Fonseca has said he suspects the hack originated outside Panama, possibly in Europe, but has not given any details.

Panama has said it will cooperate with any judicial investigation arising from the documents.

____

9:15 p.m.

Venezuela's chief prosecutor has ordered banks to freeze the accounts of people the country is investigating in connection with leaked documents that originated with a Panama-based law firm that helps set up secretive offshore bank accounts and shell companies.

Public prosecutor Luisa Ortega told the television station Globovision Monday that the government is considering issuing arrest warrants for people named in the "Panama Papers" leak. She didn't say who might be affected.

Venezuelans whose names have appeared in connection to the leak include a former top military officer, a former state oil company official and a security official who worked at the presidential palace during the administration of the late President Hugo Chavez.

President Nicolas Maduro asked for Ortega's investigation last week.

___

5:45 p.m.

Hungary's prime minister says authorities have set up special investigative units to review any Hungarian aspects of the recently revealed offshore accounts.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Monday in parliament that police, tax authorities and, hopefully, prosecutors will be involved in the probes.

So far, Hungarian politicians linked to the offshore companies included in the Panama Papers have been a former lawmaker from Orban's Fidesz party and a former treasurer of the opposition Socialist Party.

Orban said that "the Hungarian aspects of the offshore deals have to be reviewed one by one."

___

5:30 p.m.

Spain's acting minister of industry, energy and tourism says he never ran or owned a Bahamian offshore company and doesn't know why his name appeared on leaked documents identifying him as a firm director.

Jose Manuel Soria told reporters Monday that he never "had shares, nor participation, nor any position of responsibility" with the company named U.K. Lines Limited in 1992, three years before he entered politics. He said a British company with that name was a service provider for a family shipping business he used to run.

Soria spoke after the El Confidencial digital news site published a September 1992 document naming him and another man as the firm's directors. He also said he sent a letter to Spanish prosecutors authorizing them to investigate.

___

3:45 p.m.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has lashed out at "deeply hurtful and profoundly untrue" claims made about his late father's financial arrangements.

Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons Monday that his father set up an offshore firm for investment purposes and not to avoid tax.

He said the firm, Blairmore Holdings, was set up following "an entirely standard practice and ... not to avoid tax."

Cameron has been under pressure since his father, Ian Cameron, was identified as a client of a Panamanian law firm that specializes in helping the wealthy reduce their tax burdens.

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12:55 p.m.

A Spanish digital news site has published documents showing that Spain's acting minister of industry, energy and tourism was a director of a Bahamian offshore company in 1992, three years before he entered politics.

A September 1992 document obtained by El Confidencial names Jose Manuel Soria and another man as the directors of the company named U.K. Lines.

But another document from November 1992 says Soria's name was submitted by mistake and asks for him to be replaced by his brother, Luis Alberto Soria.

Soria and his ministry did not immediately comment on the report published Monday.

Soria last week told reporters that people named in the massive leak of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that specializes in setting up offshore companies have an obligation to explain themselves quickly.

El Confidencial says the company was dissolved in March 1995. Soria was elected three months later as mayor of the city of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
The Latest: Activists: IS militants down Syrian warplane

BEIRUT (AP)  The Latest on the conflict in Syria and diplomatic efforts ahead of a the next round of Geneva peace talks(all times local):

11:30 p.m.

A conflict monitoring group and the Islamic State group both say that IS militants have shot down a Syrian government war plane during violent clashes to the west of Damascus.

A child of the Syrian community in Romania peers from behind a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad, during a rally in Bucharest, Romania, Sunday, April 9, 2016. Syrians gathered in a protest against foreign support for the rebel groups in Syria and voiced their support for the country's president Bashar Assad and his regime. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the fate of the pilot was unknown. It said his plane was shot down in the vicinity of the Dumayr Air Base in the eastern Qalamoun mountains, which straddle the border with Lebanon.

A news agency for the extremist group says the wreckage landed inside the base, damaging three other planes. The Aamaq News Agency posted a video on social media that shows thick smoke emerging from what it says is the Dumayr base.

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8:10 p.m.

The Russian military says it is helping the Syrian army fight the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front around Aleppo, but has no plan to storm the city.

Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's general staff told Monday's briefing that Nusra has nearly 10,000 fighters southwest and north of Aleppo and plans to cut a strategic highway linking the city with the rest of the country.

Rudskoi said that the Syrian army backed by Russian warplanes is taking action to derail Nusra's plan. He added that "there is no plan to storm Aleppo."

Rudskoi's comment contradicted a statement by Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halki, who reportedly told Russian lawmakers in Damascus on Sunday that Syrian troops backed by the Russian air force are preparing a joint operation to capture Aleppo.

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7:30 p.m.

Turkey's state-run news agency says five rockets fired from Syria have landed in a Turkish border town, wounding at least four people.

The Anadolu Agency says the rockets hit the town of Kilis on Monday and at least one of them damaged a house.

The incident came just days after two people were wounded in Kilis after a rocket exploded near a park, forcing authorities to evacuate schools in the area.

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2 p.m.

The U.N. special envoy has urged Syria's warring sides to do all they can to preserve the fragile U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire in Syria.

Staffan de Mistura spoke after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus on Monday. The U.N. envoy says the next round of peace talks in Geneva will focus on a political transition for Syria.

De Mistura's visit came as government forces and rebels clashed across northern and western Syria, endangering the truce, which has mostly held since the end of February.

Al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group are excluded from the cease-fire, which had brought relative calm to much of Syria.

De Mistura said the new round of talks will begin on Wednesday in Geneva.

____

11:20 a.m.

Islamic State fighters on Monday retook control of a northern town along Syria's border with Turkey, just days after losing it to rebel forces and allied militants, opposition activists said.

The recapture of al-Rai shows the Islamic State group is still capable of launching counterattacks even as the extremists come under pressure on different fronts in areas IS controls in Iraq and Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Today TV station said the IS extremists captured al-Rai early on Monday morning after intense fighting for the frontier town.

Al-Rai is strategically located on the border with Turkey, serving as the Islamic State group's access point to supply lines. It also sits along the road to the IS stronghold in Aleppo province.

The Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said IS fighters also captured six villages near al-Rai on Monday. IS lost the town last Thursday after an offensive by rebels and militant groups allied with them, including al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front.

IS has lost wide areas in Iraq and Syria recently, including the historic central town of Palmyra that was captured by Syrian government forces and their allies recently.
10 electrocuted during protest outside Indian police station

GAUHATI, India (AP)  Ten people were electrocuted Monday by an overhead high-voltage wire that fell on them during a demonstration outside a police station in India's northeastern state of Assam, police said.

Hundreds of people armed with wooden batons and bows and arrows came to the police station demanding that police hand them two suspects arrested for the murder of two members of their tea workers community last week, police officer S.N. Singh said.

Singh said that as police fired in the air to disperse the crowd, some bullets hit the overhead cable, which came crashing down on the demonstrators in the town of Pengeri, 550 kilometers (345 miles) east of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.

One person was killed in police firing, Singh said.
Emirati firm Aabar denies links to troubled Malaysia fund

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  A government-backed investment fund in the United Arab Emirates is denying links to a similarly named company tied to indebted Malaysian investment fund 1MDB.

Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments and its parent International Petroleum Investment Company said in a filing to the London Stock Exchange on Monday that a company based in the British Virgin Islands known as Aabar Investments PJS Limited "was not an entity within either corporate group." They denied receiving payments from the Caribbean company or assuming its liabilities.

A Malaysian parliamentary inquiry has found an unexplained payment of $2.1 billion by 1MDB to Aabar Investments PJS Limited.
Cambodian PM warns of arrests for 'fake' border map claims

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)  Cambodia's prime minister threatened Tuesday to arrest anyone who repeats opposition accusations that his government used "fake maps" to demarcate the country's border with Vietnam, reviving a campaign of pressure against his foes and critics.

Opposition lawmaker Um Sam An was charged Tuesday with two criminal offenses for having made the accusations in Facebook posts last year. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted. The lawmaker was arrested a day earlier in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap after having returned from a trip to the United States.

He was the latest member of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party to be criminally charged for making comments on the politically sensitive topic and implying that Prime Minister Hun Sen's government failed to counter land encroachment by Vietnam, Cambodia's traditional enemy.

"I strongly declare that whoever talks about fake maps will be immediately arrested," Hun Sen said Tuesday. "Regardless of who you are  a member of parliament, a senator  if you are talking about fake maps, I will arrest you quickly."

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged Um San An with incitement to commit a criminal act and inciting prejudice against another country, said his lawyer, Sam Sokong. The charges carry prison sentences of up to two and three years, respectively.

The Cambodia National Rescue Party decried his arrest, saying it breached his immunity as a lawmaker. The government rejects such claims, saying such arrests are allowable because the lawmakers have been caught in the act of committing a crime.

One of Um San An's colleagues in the Cambodia National Rescue Party, Hong Sok Hour, is facing trial on several charges after making similar criticisms last year.

Hun Sen has been in power for three decades. While Cambodia is formally democratic, his government is authoritarian and known for intimidating opponents.

Last year, Hun Sen put an end to an uneasy detente with the opposition party, with which he had reached a political truce in 2014 to end a boycott of parliament. The opposition mounted a surprisingly strong challenge against Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party in the 2013 general election, which it accused the government of stealing.

The opposition has faced physical and legal intimidation, and politically motivated legal actions against charismatic opposition leader Sam Rainsy have convinced him to stay abroad.

The opposition for its part had sought to capitalize on its election gains by hitting Hun Sen on the sensitive issue of relations with Vietnam, with some of its lawmakers charging that Cambodia was losing land to its neighbor.

Hong Sok Hour was arrested last August after Hun Sen accused him of treason for an online posting that included the purported text of a 1979 treaty with Vietnam that declared that their mutual border would be dissolved.

Hun Sen  who was foreign minister at the time in a government installed by a Vietnamese occupation force that invaded Cambodia to oust the murderous Khmer Rouge regime  insisted that the treaty was forged.
NTSB: Copter not certified to fly in conditions before crash

ATLANTA (AP)  A medical helicopter was not certified for flying in the foggy, low-visibility conditions it encountered before crashing last month with a patient in southeast Alabama, killing all four aboard, federal investigators say in a newly released report.

Fog and mist enveloped the landing zone in a farm field near the scene of a highway wreck when the helicopter arrived near midnight, the National Transportation Safety Board wrote in its preliminary report.

The poor weather continued 23 minutes later, when the helicopter took off with a patient the morning of March 26, the NTSB report states. The helicopter managed to rise to 1,100 feet before crashing in a swampy area near Enterprise, Alabama, it states.

The pilot, a flight nurse, a flight medic and the patient were killed.

The chopper "was not certificated for flight" in such conditions, which require the use of instruments to maneuver through poor visibility, the NTSB report states.

Helicopters must have the equipment necessary to fly with instruments when visibility is poor, said Gary C. Robb, a Kansas City-based aviation lawyer who wrote the book "Helicopter Crash Litigation." The NTSB doesn't specify exactly why it found the Alabama helicopter wasn't certified for flying in the poor weather.

NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said "we've just documented what we know to be factual," in the preliminary report.

"We haven't determined whether it should have been flying that night," Holloway added. "Part of our investigation is to look at everything, and whether or not the aircraft was certified to fly is part of that."

It could take a year or longer for a final report that identifies a likely cause of the accident, federal authorities say.

However, the preliminary report on this crash is thorough, giving more detail than many others at this stage of an investigation, Robb said.

"In terms of what pieces of the puzzle do we have, right now it's a 500-piece puzzle and this preliminary report gives us 200 pieces of that puzzle ...," he said after reviewing it.

The report details the condition of the aircraft and its parts at the wreckage scene, and notes that many components were working at the time of the crash.

"They were able to confirm that there was no breach of the ability to control the main rotor or the tail rotor or the engine," Robb said. "The control system was intact. That's critical."

He said there were clear signs the engine was operating and producing power at the time of the crash, making it unlikely that any in-flight mechanical malfunction was to blame.

Shortly after the crash, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said the weather conditions and visibility would be a focus of the investigation.

Fog can lead to a phenomenon known as spatial disorientation. "It is defined as the pilot's losing his or her orientation to the ground, plain and simple," Robb said. "You don't know where you are in space."

The helicopter had been sent to the wreck by Haynes Life Flight dispatchers from its base at Troy Regional Medical Center in Troy, Alabama, the NTSB said.

Kirk Barrett, chief operations officer of Haynes, an Alabama ambulance service, said in an email to The Associated Press Monday that questions should be directed to Louisiana-based Metro Aviation Inc., which operated the helicopter.

"Our deepest condolences are with all the families involved. At this time, the NTSB investigation is still ongoing and until that is complete, we are prevented from making additional comments," Kristen King Holmes, Metro Aviation's marketing director, said in a statement Monday.

The crash comes as the Federal Aviation Administration continues its efforts to improve the safety of the aircraft known as air ambulances. It began that effort after a series of deadly crashes.

The year 2008, for instance, "proved to be the deadliest year on record with five accidents that claimed 21 lives," the FAA wrote in a fact sheet about the initiatives to improve safety.
LAUREL, Md. (AP)  A city official says a Laurel, Maryland, police officer responding to a burglary alarm in a store shot a man inside.

City spokeswoman Audrey Barnes says officers called to the Indus Food International Market after 11 p.m. Sunday caught a 15-year-old boy fleeing the building.

Barnes says officers found a 20-year-old man inside, where an officer shot him. She did not know what prompted the shooting and says officials aren't saying whether a weapon was found.

Barnes says the wounded man is in stable condition after surgery and the teen was released to a parent.
Kenyan president says country will meet doping deadline

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Monday he would personally ensure that his country passed legislation to meet a World Anti-Doping Agency deadline, and that would mean there would be no reason to ban its champion runners from the Olympics.

Kenya's government has given the anti-doping bill priority, Kenyatta said, and he was following up with leadership in parliament to ensure it went through.

WADA has given Kenya a final deadline of May 2 to bring its anti-doping program in line with the global code, including passing a law that criminalizes doping, or risk further action by WADA that could lead to an international track and field ban.

FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 file photo, Kenyan athletes train just after dawn, in Kaptagat Forest in western Kenya. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Thursday, April 7, 2016 gave Kenya a final deadline of May 2 to bring its program in line with the global code or a review committee will recommend it is declared non-compliant. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Kenya has already missed two WADA deadlines to pass the law and improve other parts of its anti-doping program.

This is its last chance to avoid being declared non-compliant with WADA rules.

"By next week latest, the anti-doping bill will have been passed by parliament and I will have signed it into law so that there will be no excuse to deny our team from participating in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August," Kenyatta said. "We know there are people who are looking for excuses to ensure that Kenya does not participate in the Olympics. We will not give them that excuse."

Kenyatta's intervention showed how damaging a recent doping crisis has become for the image of athletics in Kenya, the world's leading distance-running nation.

Since the 2012 London Olympics, 40 runners from Kenya have been banned for doping, while four senior athletics officials, including the head of the national track federation, have been suspended by track governing body the IAAF on suspicion of corruption.

Kenyatta spoke Monday at his official residence in Nairobi where he hosted Kenyan athletes who competed in the recent Paris Marathon and the world half marathon championships. Kenyans dominated both events.

"We must win clean," Kenyatta told the runners. "Kenya's undisputed position as world athletics champions should not be tainted by doping."

Kenya faces the May 2 deadline to pass the legislation and ensure its national anti-doping agency is functioning properly, and WADA will decide if the country has done enough at a board meeting on May 12.

Although being declared non-compliant with WADA's rules doesn't immediately affect Kenyan athletes, it could spur the IAAF to consider further action and a sterner punishment.
Venezuela's cellphone providers suspend international calls

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Venezuela's two main cellphone service providers are suspending long distance calling as the South American country struggles to pay its bills.

Movistar, a subsidiary of the Spain-based Telefonica, and Digitel both announced last week that they would be cutting international service because of issues related to Venezuela's byzantine currency controls. Digitel ended that service on Saturday while Movistar will do so Friday.

The companies had already dramatically reduced the list of countries Venezuelans could call.

Pedestrians walk outside Movistar a cell phone company office in the Chacao municipality of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 11, 2016. Movistar, a subsidiary of the Spanish-based Telefonica, and Digitel both announced last week that they would be cutting international service because of issues related to Venezuela's byzantine currency controls. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Movistar said the change will be temporary, but didn't say when long distance calling will resume. Venezuelans will still be able to make international calls from some landlines.

Currency rationing is increasingly cutting Venezuela's global trade. Many airline companies have abandoned the country, and mail delivery is also limited.

The government has created what amount to subsidized rates for hard currency and requires companies to get approval for converting local bolivars into dollars. With the administration running low on dollars itself amid a general economic collapse, officials are increasingly reluctant to part with any foreign currency.

The phone companies have said they are tens of millions of dollars in debt to foreign providers and have unsuccessfully asked the government to increase rates for international calls.
Governor rejects effort to force electric-chair executions

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP)  Virginia's governor on Monday rejected an effort to force condemned inmates to die in the electric chair, replacing the proposal with one that would keep secret the identities of pharmacies that supply lethal injection drugs.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe stripped the electric chair provisions from the bill and vowed to veto the measure if lawmakers don't approve his changes, which he said offer a "reasonable middle ground" on an emotionally charged issue. He warned that unless lawmakers approve his proposal, capital punishment will come to a halt in the state.

McAuliffe's amendment would give the state the authority to mix its own execution drug cocktails using products from pharmacies whose identities would remain confidential.

Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian J. Moran, right, listens as Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, left, proposes making significant changes to a bill that sought to allow the state to force condemned inmates to die in the electric chair when lethal injection drugs aren't available, in Richmond, Va., Monday, April 11, 2016. The Democratic governor's amendment to the bill would give the state to power to compound lethal injection drugs needed for executions. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Without the secrecy provision, the measure is "only an empty gesture," McAuliffe said, because drug manufacturers will continue to refuse to do business in Virginia unless their names are kept secret. Florida, Texas and Ohio have applied similar provisions in their compounding laws, he said.

Virginia is one of at least eight states that allow electrocutions, but it currently gives inmates the choice of lethal injection or the electric chair.

The original bill sought to allow the state to use the electric chair when lethal injection drugs are unavailable. Supporters of that measure said Virginia has no choice because death penalty opponents have made it so difficult to find the drugs.

McAuliffe faced pressure to veto the electric chair bill from religious groups and death penalty opponents, who say electrocutions are cruel and unusual punishment.

The governor said he finds the electric chair "reprehensible."

It's unclear whether there will be enough support in the General Assembly to approve McAuliffe's amendment. A similar measure backed by the governor failed last year.

Virginia's two scheduled executions have been put on hold, pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Ricky Gray, who was sentenced to death for the 2006 murders of a family of four, was supposed to be executed March 16. Ivan Teleguz, who was convicted of hiring a man to kill his ex-girlfriend, had been set to receive a lethal injection on Wednesday.

___

Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer
Online curbs limit South Korea pre-election speech freedoms

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  With cheap and ubiquitous access to the world's fastest Internet speeds and a lively democracy, South Korea's cyberspace could flourish with rich discussions and debates ahead of the country's general election this week.

The reality, however, is that online comments or posts depicting a candidate in a negative light can be blocked with a few simple clicks thanks to a law allowing anyone to ask for them to be deleted for alleged libel or privacy violations.

Critics worry that such compromises of online freedom of expression have limited the ability of voters to be fully informed ahead of Wednesday's election, which will see South Koreans elect 300 new lawmakers to parliament. They also raise questions over how the state and public should balance the sometimes conflicting rights to privacy and freedom of speech.

In this Sunday, April 10, 2016 photo, ruling Saenuri Party's lawmaker Na Kyung-won waves to her supporters during the party's election campaign in Seoul, South Korea. With cheap and ubiquitous access to the world's fastest Internet speeds and a lively democracy, South Korea's cyberspace could flourish with rich discussions and debates ahead of its April 13 general elections. The reality is that online comments or posts depicting a candidate in a negative light can be blocked with a few simple clicks thanks to a law allowing anyone to ask for it to be deleted for alleged libel or privacy violations. (Bae Jae-man/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT

"The South Korean Internet appears vibrant. But only short and fragmentary expressions like tweets are flourishing as a way of communicating," said Park Kyung-shin, a professor of law at Korea University. "Many people have used various methods available in South Korea to censor even content that is trustworthy, well-structured and well-written, because of its potential impact."

Anonymous online activities, deemed legal in 2012 by the constitutional court, are generally banned during the two-week pre-election campaign period.

But even outside of that time frame, many South Koreans have been fearful of online discussions of any news reports that raise allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers. Such online posts could be zapped for only tenuous concerns over libel or false information. People caught sharing unfavorable new reports on a candidate can face investigation for libel or the criminal charge of spreading false information.

Freedom of speech has become a point of concern during the presidency of Park Geun-hye, daughter of former military dictator Park Chung-hee.

A Japanese journalist, Tatsuya Kato of the Sankei Shimbun newspaper, was charged with defaming the South Korean president by reporting that she was spending time with a man during a 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people. Prosecutors sought an 18-month prison term for Kato, who was found not guilty in December in a case critics say illustrated how defamation laws can be used to gag the press and suppress dissent.

Some of the South Korean online political commentary that has been ordered deleted seems tame compared with the online free-for-all raging around this year's U.S. presidential campaign.

When a report in March by local investigative reporting organization Newstapa that a ruling party lawmaker's daughter with Down syndrome had received preferential treatment in a college admission process for disabled students went viral, a blogger urged the university and the lawmaker, Na Kyung-won, to respond to the allegation.

Less than 10 hours later, the blog service operator Kakao notified the 37-year-old blogger, known online by his pseudonym TB, that the post had been removed because the election commission said it was spreading false information.

The blogger had three days to appeal to the commission. In the meantime, he was summoned every day for a week for questioning over a mistake in his post, which incorrectly said that the university's special admissions process for disabled students had been abolished after Na's daughter was admitted. The school told the election commission that the special admissions process was not abolished. The news report had actually said that "no more disabled students" were accepted to the school's music department, which Na's daughter was admitted to, after the daughter's admission.

The blogger ignored the summonses, and the commission dropped the case without pressing charges. But the man, who asked that his name not be disclosed to avoid trouble with his family and colleagues, said by email that it was the first time in six years of blogging that he had felt threatened.

"I experienced for the first time that someone who is politically influential can be scary. It would be a lie to say that I was not intimidated," he said. "Even on social media, people are not able to talk about Na Kyung-won."

Internet companies accept without a thorough review nearly all requests to remove online posts, because they could be fined if they refuse, said Im Byeoung-do, a prominent South Korean political commentator who is known online as "ImPeter."

Im shifted his 7-year-old blog from a server operated by Kakao to an independent server in late 2015. The switch cost him traffic from Web portals and online search engine users, he said, but his posts stopped disappearing without explanation.

Im said that before making the change, at least two of his posts were deleted each day. Now, the election commission emails him about any suspected violations of election laws in his blog posts, giving him a chance to revise his posts and avoid having them erased.

Regarding complaints by TB and Im, Kakao cited local laws that fine companies for not carrying out the election commission's removal requests. It also said companies are obliged to temporarily remove posts when there is any doubt over possible privacy violations or libel.

In South Korea, hundreds of thousands of online posts get deleted every year by such temporary removal requests, which in effect remove the posts permanently because most are not appealed. During the campaign seasons, candidates often use such requests to stop the spread of potentially damaging news and commentary.

Na's campaign team asked the National Election Commission to remove about 60 online posts that mentioned the college admissions allegations. Song Ki-hwan, an official with the commission's cyber-election crime response team, said at least 600 online posts were deleted for the same mistake TB made about the change in admissions policies or for slandering Na. Na's office did not respond to an email or a phone call seeking comment.

Naver, operator of South Korea's most visited search engine, says its policy is to delete posts when asked to do so by the authorities, even before any investigation, to help limit damage caused by libelous or defamatory comments.

Kakao, which operates South Korea's second-most visited web portal, Daum, said it has deleted most of the posts related to 47,797 requests for deletion due to alleged libel. It is not clear how many of them were related to the elections.

Unlike local companies, Facebook and Twitter generally do not delete posts even when asked to do so. Twitter, which is popular for its air of anonymity, did not remove any of the 146 posts that government agencies or the police asked it to take down in 2015, according to the company's transparency report.

Since many local media companies temporarily shut down the comment functions for their news articles to avoid violating the pre-election ban on anonymous commentary, online commentators increasingly favor anonymous forums such as Twitter, says Park, the Korea University professor.

"That is why I think serious discourses in South Korea's Internet space are being replaced by fragmented and marginalized tweets," said Park.

__

Lee can be reached on Twitter: www.twitter.com/YKLeeAP

Her previous works can be found on: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/youkyung-lee

Students walk by a sign to encourage people to vote for the upcoming general elections in downtown Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 11, 2016. With cheap and ubiquitous access to the world's fastest Internet speeds and a lively democracy, South Korea's cyberspace could flourish with rich discussions and debates ahead of its April 13 general elections. The reality is that online comments or posts depicting a candidate in a negative light can be blocked with a few simple clicks thanks to a law allowing anyone to ask for it to be deleted for alleged libel or privacy violations. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Candidates' posters for the upcoming general elections are hung on strings over the Cheonggye stream in downtown Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 11, 2016. With cheap and ubiquitous access to the world's fastest Internet speeds and a lively democracy, South Korea's cyberspace could flourish with rich discussions and debates ahead of its April 13 general elections. The reality is that online comments or posts depicting a candidate in a negative light can be blocked with a few simple clicks thanks to a law allowing anyone to ask for it to be deleted for alleged libel or privacy violations.(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
The number of people linked to the ISIS network that attacked Paris and Brussels reaches easily into the dozens, with a series of new arrests over the weekend that confirmed the cell's toxic reach and ability to move around unnoticed in Europe's criminal underworld.

From Belgium's Molenbeek to Sweden's Malmo, new names are added nearly daily to the list of hardened attackers, hangers-on, and tacit supporters of the cell that killed 130 people in Paris and 32 in Brussels.

A computer abandoned by one of the Brussels suicide bombers in a trash can contained not only his will, but is beginning to give up other information.

Criminal underworld: Police investigate an area where terror suspect Mohamed Abrini was arrested in Brussels

It includes an audio file indicating the cell was getting its orders directly from a French-speaking extremist in Syria, according to a police official with knowledge of the investigation.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

Ten men are known to be directly involved in the November 13 attacks in Paris; others with key logistical roles then - including the bomber, a logistics handler, and a hideout scout - went on to plot the attack March 22 in Brussels.

But unlike Paris, at least two people who survived the attack have been taken into custody alive, including Mohamed Abrini, the Molenbeek native who walked away from the Brussels international airport after his explosives failed to detonate.

But investigators fear it may not be enough to stave off another attack.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, another Molenbeek native whose charisma made him a natural draw to many in the Brussels neighborhood after he joined IS extremists in Syria, said before his death that he returned to Europe among a group of 90 fighters from Europe and the Mideast, according to testimony from a woman who tipped police to his location.

Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer who is now with the Soufan Group security consultancy, described the Brussels-Paris network as a 'supercell.'

'The hope was that they had died out in the Paris attacks, and obviously that's not true,' Skinner said in an earlier interview with The Associated Press.

After nearly three weeks of frantic searching, Belgian authorities announced Saturday they had finally arrested and identified the elusive 'man in the hat' spotted alongside two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Brussels Airport

'They (authorities) knew who these people were. And they still managed to pull off the first Paris attack, which was the worst attack in France since WWII, and then under incredible scrutiny, they still pulled off the worst attack in Belgium since WWII. So this is a highly functioning cell.'

Normally, Skinner said, an extremist cell has six to 10 people linked by pre-existing ties.

'It makes it very difficult to crack. You're not sending an informant into this group, because they know each other. So no one new is just walking into this,' he said.

'It's so big, look at the people on the periphery, logistics, the people that are suspected. You're looking at 50 people. That's not a cell; that's a terrorist group.'

It was a group already intimately familiar with European law enforcement. Abrini was a petty criminal long before his younger brother was killed in Syria in 2014.

Both Abdeslam brothers had brushes with the law, and Brahim spent time in prison for stealing Belgian ID cards  background that took on new importance amid revelations that many people in the IS cell had forged passports.

And Abaaoud's female cousin, Hasna Ait Boulhacen, who died with him on November 18 after finding a hideout for him, was under surveillance in a narcotics operation at the time, although her ties to the man already wanted on terrorism offenses were unknown to French investigators.

Police secure an area during a house search in the Etterbeek neighborhood in Brussels on Saturday April 9

The man arrested for renting that fly-by-night flat in Saint Denis, Jawad Bendaoud, had been sentenced to eight years in prison for the accidental killing of a man he described as his 'best friend' over a cellphone.

The Belgian brothers who blew themselves up on March 22 had ties to violent crime, as did two suspects with ties to Sweden, one dead and one captured this weekend.

The latest name to emerge, Osama Krayem, was a delinquent in Malmo, Sweden, before leaving for Syria. Krayem 'was the perfect target for radicalization - no job, no future, no money,' said Muhammad Khorshid, who runs a program in the neighborhood of Rosengard to help immigrants integrate into Swedish society.

It's a neighborhood with its own parallels to Molenbeek, and has proven to be fertile recruiting ground for Muslim extremists.

Krayem, who like Abrini is suspected of accompanying a suicide attacker on March 22, was detained on Friday.

He traveled with Salah Abdeslam through Ulm, Germany, on one of Abdeslam's many journeys putting extremists into place for attacks, authorities said.

Stephane Berthomet, a former French counterterrorism officer who now works as a writer and security consultant in Canada, said the arrest of multiple key suspects will prove crucial.

'When there are declarations made by an accomplice, you can confront them and make progress in the discussions with the other suspects,' he said in an interview just ahead of the news of Abrini's arrest Friday.

The hope, of course, is that anything the suspects say will crack open a network that seems to grow by the day.

'There is not a single person at large  there are dozens of people at large. That's the reality,' Berthomet said.
A Kansas appellate court says five children of a Navy veteran and his wife were taken into state custody because of suspected drug use and neglect, not because of his use of medical marijuana.

The Topeka Capital-Journal says a Kansas Court of Appeals panel determined Friday the children don't feel safe returning to Raymond and Amelia Schwab.

The appellate court found that Raymond Schwab tested positive for methamphetamine and opioids during a court-ordered blood screening last year. Amelia Schwab tested clean.

Raymond Schwab, 40, says he has used medical marijuana to treat PTSD, even though Kansas has not legalized medical marijuana. He alleges the state 'kidnapped' the children in April 2015.

Raymond Schwab and his wife Amelia lost custody of five of their six children in April last year. Court says kids were taken because of suspected drug use and neglect

A Kansas Court of Appeals panel determined Friday the children don't feel safe returning to Raymond and Amelia Schwab (pictured during protest)

The Schwabs' case became a rallying cry for marijuana advocates as he went on a hunger strike for more than two weeks when his kids were placed in foster care.

The veteran father says the kids were taken while he and his family were packing up their belongings to move to Colorado, where the drug is legal.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families removed the children as they investigated allegations that the children were emotionally abused.

The appellate court found that Raymond Schwab (second from left) tested positive for methamphetamine and opioids during a court-ordered blood screening last year. Amelia Schwab tested clean

He famously camped out on the Statehouse steps in Topeka in an attempt to get his children back.

According to the Journal, the parents dismissed testimony cited in the ruling as hearsay.

In addition, the 38-year-old mother was arrested over the weekend on an outstanding bench warrant for a 2015 battery incident.

She was released on bond shortly thereafter.
Eto'o threatens Sampdoria with lawsuit over contract dispute

MILAN (AP)  Four-time African player of the year Samuel Eto'o has threatened to sue his former club Sampdoria over a contract dispute.

Eto'o claims that when he joined Sampdoria in January 2015, there was a stipulation in his contract that the Serie A club would also sign fellow Cameroon international Fabrice Olinga, a product of Eto'o's youth academy.

Eto'o says "I'm only asking that president Massimo Ferrero and his lawyer do the right thing."

FILE -- In this photo taken on Jan. 25, 2015 in Genoa, Samuel Eto'o, right, poses with Sampdoria President Massimo Ferrero as they sit in the stands prior to a Serie A soccer match between Sampdoria and Palermo. Four-time African player of the year Samuel Eto'o has threatened to sue his former club Sampdoria over a contract dispute. (AP Photo/Carlo Baroncini)

The 19-year-old Olinga plays for Belgian club Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz on loan from Spanish side Malaga.

After only half a season with Sampdoria, the 35-year-old Eto'o is now with Turkish side Antalyaspor.

Eto'o's lawyer Luca Tolentinto says they are still hoping to reach a settlement with Sampdoria.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP)  Eric C. Conn, the Kentucky lawyer accused of conspiring to defraud the government of $600 million in questionable federal disability payments, could be released from jail pending trial.

A federal judge has called a hearing for Tuesday afternoon, when he will lay out the conditions for Conn's release. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Weir filed an order Monday that listed one of the conditions as a bond secured by Conn's home in Pikeville. Property records show Conn bought the house in 2011 for $1.5 million.
Shellfish behavior: US lobster industry at odds with Sweden

PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  Exactly how 32 American lobsters wound up in Swedish waters isn't clear. But because some of them were wearing the rubber bands that are put on lobsters' claws in captivity, many suspect the shellfish had been exported to Europe and then either escaped into the wild or were set free by animal rights activists.

Whatever the case, their discovery has set off a high-stakes trade dispute between Sweden on one side and the U.S. and Canada on the other.

Sweden has asked the European Union to bar imports of live American lobsters into the 28-nation bloc, saying the crustaceans could spread disease and overwhelm the smaller European variety by outcompeting them for food.

FILE - In this July 2007, file photo, a scientist holds a lobster underwater on Friendship Long Island, Maine. Reports from Sweden say American lobsters have appeared in their waters, threatening native stocks, and some are calling for a ban on imports. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

The American and Canadian lobster industries are skeptical of Sweden's call for a ban, saying they suspect it has more to do with business than with sound science. They suggest Sweden is trying to protect the market for European lobsters.

"Is it an invasion of species or an invasion of economics?" said Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. "This ban is unnecessary."

The North Americans are recruiting members of Maine's congressional delegation and U.S. ambassadors and asking Secretary of State John Kerry and the White House for help.

The stakes are high: The U.S. and Canada export a combined $200 million in lobster to Europe annually, and Europe took nearly one-fifth of all U.S. lobster exports last year. Lobsters are also Maine's signature product, depicted on license plates and tourist T-shirts.

The North American side points to a Swedish report that says a ban on American crustaceans "would potentially be beneficial in terms of profits and jobs" for Europe. The report also says the discovery of the 32 American lobsters over the past eight years raises the prospect of shell disease and red-tail disease.

Gunvor Ericson, state secretary for the Swedish Ministry of Environment and Energy, said Sweden considers American lobsters an invasive species. She said the country's concerns are based entirely on the scientific risk assessment done by Swedish authorities.

"Once the American lobster is established, it will be impossible to eradicate. This poses a severe threat to the native European lobster, as well as to other native crustacean species," she said.

A ban on imports would probably benefit countries such as Iceland, which exported more than 2 million pounds of lobster to the EU in 2014, and Cuba.

American lobster, a species that is caught in the cold waters of the Northeast and Maritime Canada, tends to be bigger and meatier than the European species. The European species also has a bluish hue, though both varieties turn scarlet when cooked.

American scientists share the doubts of the country's lobster industry.

Robert Bayer, director of the University of Maine Lobster Institute, said research on shell disease does not suggest it is contagious, and red-tail disease hasn't been seen in years.

Rick Wahle, a research professor at the university's marine science school, dismissed the danger of interbreeding, another risk raised by the Swedes. He said there is no evidence hybrids of the two lobster species are viable in the wild.

"Attempts to introduce American lobsters elsewhere have failed," Wahle said. "A newly introduced lobster would face a gantlet of different species that it has no experience with."

Swedish fishing industry officials insist the push for a ban is driven by environmental, not commercial, concerns. Yngve Bjorkman, a leader of the Swedish fishing industry association, noted that lobstering in Sweden is allowed only during the fall and winter and is almost entirely for domestic consumption.

"It is not Swedish fishermen who are against it," he said. "It's the environmental movement."

Gerry Cushman, a lobsterman who works out of Port Clyde, Maine, said a ban on exports to Europe based on a few escaped lobsters would be unfair.

"If they ban Maine lobsters, are we going to ban selling Volvos in Maine?" he said.

___

Associated Press writer Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report.
Kentucky attorney general sues governor over education cuts

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  Kentucky's Democratic attorney general sued the state's Republican governor on Monday, arguing he overstepped his authority when he ordered budget cuts for state colleges and universities without the approval of the state legislature.

Attorney General Andy Beshear, the son of a former governor, followed through on his threat to file a lawsuit challenging Bevin's "blatant violations" of law by unilaterally cutting 4.5 percent, or $41 million, from the state's colleges and universities in the last three months of the fiscal year.

"I do not take any joy or satisfaction out of this action," Beshear said at a state Capitol news conference. "Over the last seven days, it was my hope that the governor would listen to reason, comply with the law and rescind his order. He did not."

Beshear said his suit filed in Franklin County Circuit Court was an answer to Bevin's "unconstitutional and illegal order." He wants a judge to force the governor to release the funds to the schools. Beshear is requesting expedited court review.

Bevin spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said the governor's office strongly disagrees with Beshear's action and "will respond as necessary in court."

This is not the first time a Democratic attorney general has sued a Republican governor in Kentucky. In 2004, then Attorney General Greg Stumbo challenged former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's attempt to enact a state budget after the legislature failed to pass one. The state Supreme Court ruled against Fletcher.

"I think (Beshear) will win. I predict it," Stumbo told reporters on Monday.

Bevin, who took office in late 2015, has proposed $650 million in state spending cuts over the next two years in a plan to begin paying down the state's public pension debt, estimated at more than $30 billion. His proposal included the budget reductions for colleges and universities.

State lawmakers rejected that plan. They have still not approved a two-year state spending plan with time winding down in the legislative session, but neither the House nor the Senate included current-year cuts for colleges and universities in its budget proposals.

Bevin cut their budgets anyway.

Beshear said the governor's unilateral action violated the state Constitution's separate of powers provision, as well as state laws specifying conditions for budget reductions.

"His actions violate the governor's constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws passed by the General Assembly," the attorney general said.

Beshear said it was the governor's "view of his power"  treating a budget passed by state lawmakers as "merely a suggestion"  that compelled the lawsuit. Without court action reining in his action, Beshear said, a governor could unilaterally cut any part of the state budget.

"Folks, that's the type of absolute power that the U.S. Constitution, the Kentucky Constitution and our laws explicitly forbid," he said. "It is a direct challenge to our liberty and our way of life, and it's my job to stand up to anyone who claims to have that power."

The lawsuit escalates what has become a political feud between Bevin, Beshear and the attorney general's father, former Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, who could not seek re-election last year due to term limits.

Before Bevin took office, he called Steve Beshear an "embarrassment" after the then-governor appointed his wife to an unpaid position to the board of directors for the Kentucky Horse Park.

Steve Beshear has also started a nonprofit organization dedicated to opposing Bevin's attempts to undo the state's health care exchange.

"This is not political," Andy Beshear said Monday. "It's not Democrats versus Republicans. It's not about upcoming or future elections. It's not Bevin versus Beshear. It's not even about pensions versus higher education. It's about the law and my duty as attorney general to enforce it. And it's not personal. No governor has the power to do what this governor has done."

In another sign of the growing acrimony, however, Bevin's spokeswoman in her response to the lawsuit pointed to a scandal involving Andy Beshear's former top assistant in the AG's office.

A document unsealed in federal court last month accused Timothy Longmeyer of taking more than $200,000 in kickbacks. Longmeyer is a former Kentucky Personnel Secretary during Steve Beshear's administration as governor, and he served as deputy attorney general for Andy Beshear until resigning last month. Andy Beshear has said he was assured that no one else in his office was implicated in the scandal.
The Latest: Reynolds lawyer: Feds seize smartphone, computer

CHICAGO (AP)  The Latest on the arrest of former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds. (all times local):

5 p.m.

An attorney for former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds says Homeland Security agents have seized his smartphone and computer.

FILE - In this July 30, 2015 file photo, former Illinois Congressman Mel Reynolds talks on his cell phone as he leaves federal court in Chicago after pleading not guilty to federal tax charges. Reynolds was taken into federal custody Monday morning April 11, 2016, in Atlanta after a judge in Chicago ordered his arrest because he didn't appear for a hearing in a tax case last month, federal officials said. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

Attorney Richard Kling says the two devices contain text messages and documents essential to Reynolds defense in a tax case.

Reynolds was taken into custody in Atlanta Monday after a judge in Chicago ordered his arrest when he didn't appear for a hearing. He later was released on his own recognizance.

Kling says he doesn't believe the agents had warrants for the devices.

Kling says he's trying to figure out how to obtain the devices from Homeland Security before a scheduled May 2 hearing in Chicago.

___

3:45 p.m.

Federal prosecutors say former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds has been released on his own recognizance after his arrest in Atlanta.

Reynolds was taken into custody Monday after a judge in Chicago ordered his arrest when he didn't appear for a hearing in a tax case.

Reynolds has pleaded not guilty on a misdemeanor charge of failing to file income tax returns from 2009 to 2012. He was arrested at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport after arriving on a flight from South Africa.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Fitzpatrick said in an email that Reynolds appeared in court and has been released.

Fitzpatrick says Reynolds' case is expected to go to trial May 2 in Chicago and prosecutors expect him to be there for it.

____

11:45 a.m.

Authorities say former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds is in federal custody in Atlanta after a judge in Chicago ordered his arrest when he didn't appear for a hearing in a tax case.

U.S. Marshals Service spokeswoman Belkis Cantor Sandoval said Reynolds was arrested Monday morning at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta after arriving on a flight from Johannesburg.

U.S. District Judge John Darrah ordered an arrest warrant March 31 when Reynolds told the judge he wouldn't appear in court as ordered because his 23-year-old daughter in South Africa has scoliosis and may also have cervical cancer.

Reynolds' attorney, Richard Kling, said Reynolds would appear Monday afternoon before a federal magistrate.
Mexico Nissan defends Tsuru after testers call it dangerous

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Nissan's Mexico subsidiary on Monday defended the 1990s-era Tsuru compact car that it sells in Mexico after testers called the vehicle dangerous.

The warning came in a new study by the Latin New Car Assessment Program, known as Latin NCAP.

The Tsuru got zero stars in crash tests. The study said that "for most of the years analyzed, the Nissan Tsuru experienced the highest fatality score" of any vehicle sold in Mexico.

Nissan said the Tsuru "meets the safety regulations in the markets where it is sold." It said the car "is one of the most popular sub-compact vehicles in Mexico due to its proved affordability, durability and reliability."

The Tsuru has no standard air bags. Mexico's auto regulations require cars to have little more than brakes, tires and rear-view mirrors.

Latin NCAP said the model is sold in parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Central and South America.

Testers said 4,102 people died in Tsurus between 2007 and 2012 in Mexico.
Kansas couple to appeal custody ruling; drug use suspected

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Five of a Navy veteran's children were taken into state custody because of suspected drug use and neglect, not because of his admitted use of medical marijuana, a Kansas appellate court has concluded.

Rulings by a three-judge Kansas Court of Appeals panel determined "the children did not feel safe returning home" to Raymond and Amelia Schwab, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported (http://bit.ly/1UVzUfV ).

Raymond Schwab, whose case has become a rallying point for marijuana advocates, said he has used medical marijuana to treat PTSD, even though Kansas has not legalized it.

The appellate court found that during a court-ordered blood screening last year, Raymond Schwab tested positive for methamphetamine, amphetamine, hydrocodone and the opioid tramadol. Schwab, who later unsuccessfully sought to suppress results of the drug test, insisted Saturday that although he admits taking prescribed drugs, he denied testing positive the day cited by the appellate court.

Schwab said Saturday at his makeshift protest camp on the Kansas Statehouse steps that the Kansas Department for Children and Families "illegally kidnapped" the children a year ago, and that state agencies, judges and law enforcers are engaging in a plot to keep their children from them.

The Schwabs have dismissed testimony unfavorable to them during previous custody hearings as hearsay.

Schwab said he plans to appeal Friday's rulings to the Kansas Supreme Court and, if necessary, to the nation's high court.

The state's Department for Children and Families has not discussed publicly why officials took custody of the children, ages 5, 7, 11, 13 and 16.

Schwab has told The Associated Press that he was honorably discharged from the Navy after serving 18 months between 1994 and 1996, during which time an incident he declined to discuss occurred that led to PTSD. Suffering from chronic joint and back issues, he said he became addicted to pain medications and then to heroin in 2009.

He got treatment in 2011 and was able to kick the heroin addiction with the use of cannabis, he said.

___
Cameron sets out transparency measures as Corbyn, Osborne publish tax returns

David Cameron has set out new measures to make it harder for people to hide the proceeds of corruption offshore, as Jeremy Corbyn and George Osborne published details of their tax returns.

The Chancellor's release showed he received a total taxable income of 198,738 in 2014/15, including 44,647 in the form of dividends and rental income of 33,562, and that he paid income tax of 72,210. The figures showed Mr Osborne was earning enough to benefit from his cut in the top rate of income tax from 50p to 45p.

Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn declared just 1,850 of taxable income in 2014/15 over and above his parliamentary salary. The Labour leader had to pay a 100 fine after filing the return late.

George Osborne published his tax return as David Cameron faced MPs about his own previous offshore investments

In a Commons statement, Mr Cameron - who published details of his own tax return at the weekend - said he believed there was a "strong case" for the Prime Minister, leader of the opposition, chancellor and shadow chancellor to make their tax affairs public, but did not think the same should apply to all MPs.

"If this were to come in for MPs, people would also ask for a similar approach for those who ask us questions, those who run large public services, or lead local government, or indeed those who edit the news programmes or newspapers," he said.

"I think this would be a very big step for our country, it certainly shouldn't take place without a long and thoughtful debate and it is not the approach that I would recommend."

Labour complained that Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne had avoided "full disclosure", as they published summaries of their returns which were "as transparent as dishwater" rather than releasing the original documents.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell repeated Labour calls for an independent inquiry, adding : "T his is not about individuals, it's about trust and fairness at the top of government. As we now know, when the Chancellor was cutting the top rate of income tax for people like himself, while at the same time saying he wasn't wealthy enough to benefit, he was also cutting public services and support for some of the most vulnerable in our society."

Mr Cameron accepted that he had not handled the row over his father's Blairmore unit trust well, after a torrid week in which Downing Street's response to the leak of the so-called Panama Papers changed several times.

But he said he had been "angry" over "some deeply hurtful and profoundly untrue allegations" against his father Ian Cameron, who died in 2010.

"I know he was a hard-working man and a wonderful dad and I'm proud of everything he did to build a business and provide for his family," the PM told MPs.

Mr Cameron, who inherited 300,000 from his father and received gifts worth 200,000 from his mother Mary, said it was "natural human instinct" for parents to want to pass assets on to their children.The tax rules "fully recognise" that parents may make gifts to their children tax-free while they are alive, and this was "something that we should not just defend but proudly support", he said.

The Prime Minister said it was right to "tighten the law and change the culture" to crack down on evasion and aggressive avoidance", but the Government should "defend the right of every British citizen to make money lawfully".

Mr Cameron announced that most British crown dependencies and overseas territories have now agreed to share information in future with UK police and law enforcement authorities.

"For the first time UK police and law enforcement will be able to see exactly who really owns and controls every company incorporated in these territories - Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Isle of Man, Jersey, the lot," Mr Cameron said.

The Prime Minister said similar agreements were expected soon with Guernsey and Anguilla. And he confirmed plans to legislate this year on the Conservatives' manifesto commitment to create a new criminal offence for companies which fail to prevent their representatives facilitating tax evasion.

Meanwhile, the Government will provide 10 million for a new cross-agency task force to analyse the information contained in leaks linked to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

But Mr Corbyn dismissed the PM's statement as a "masterclass in the art of distraction" and accused Mr Cameron of failing to appreciate the public anger over the " scandal of destructive global tax avoidance" revealed by the Panama Papers.

"What they have driven home is what many people have increasingly felt - there is now one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest," he said.

"I'm honestly not sure that the Prime Minister fully appreciates the anger that is out there over this injustice."

And tax fairness campaigners said the new measures did not go far enough.

Christian Aid said that the announcement amounted to a "climbdown" on Mr Cameron's previous support for public registers of companies' beneficial ownership.

"The Prime Minister himself knows that central registers do not solve the problem and that to curb the sort of activities exposed in the Panama Papers, the public, journalists and other businesses must be able to see those registers," said the charity's Toby Quantrill, who challenged Mr Cameron to announce a date for overseas territories to make information public ahead of an anti-corruption summit he is hosting in London on May 12.

Oxfam also called for public registers, saying that Mr Cameron "needs to do better than this", while ActionAid's Charlie Matthews said: "Today's proposals will not be enough to curb the massive corporate tax avoidance connected to UK-linked tax havens like the British Virgin Islands."

During his time as Labour leader Ed Miliband hit back after his late father Ralph was criticised in the press.

He told ITV's The Agenda : "I understand the Prime Minister defending his father and I understand it was upsetting for him and his mum and all of that.

"I think we have got to use this as a moment to understand what is going on here. For a long time in this country and indeed across the world we've taken the view that when it comes to the richest in our society - I'm not talking about the Prime Minister but just in general - we need to be nice to them by either giving them tax breaks or lowering their taxes or giving them some kind of special deal.

"We have this in this country with non dom status. You can live here and work here and not pay taxes here.
Both sides of EU vote debate warned of uncertainty over current migrants

The Remain and Leave campaigns have been urged to set out their position on the future of EU migrants already in the UK and ex-pats living in Europe in the event of Brexit.

Prominent think-tanks and campaign groups have warned there is significant uncertainty about how citizens from the bloc currently living in Britain would be affected by a Leave vote in the referendum in June.

They claim the picture is also unclear in relation to Britons living in other EU countries.

Both sides of the referendum debate have been warned there is uncertainty about how EU citizens currently living in Britain would be affected by Brexit

The Institute of Directors, New Europeans, Migrant Voice, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Open Europe, Policy Exchange, British Future and Migration Watch - which campaigns for tighter immigration restrictions - joined forces to call for campaigners on either side to clarify their position.

In an open letter, they said the Government should make clear its policy would be to protect the rights of EU nationals living and working in the UK and seek reciprocal arrangements for British citizens in other EU countries.

They argued future changes should not apply "retrospectively" to those currently exercising free movement rights, saying: "Both current EU migrants in Britain and British migrants living in other EU member states should be able to continue to live and work in those countries."

Veronika Susedkova, 29, a Czech charity worker from Yorkshire, said: "The uncertainty of this referendum feels to me like British weather: you don't know what's coming until it's there, it changes very suddenly and you can't do anything about it."

An online poll of 1,018 UK adults also found 83% of respondents think the Government should clarify the position before the referendum.

Asked whether existing EU migrants should be able to remain in the UK in the event of Brexit, around a quarter of people said they did not know and of those who answered, two-thirds (67%) think they should be allowed to stay, with around a quarter (26%) feeling they would have to leave.

The letter sparked fresh hostilities between the opposing camps.

Will Straw, of Stronger In, said: "As part of the EU, millions of Brits live and work freely across Europe and many more aspire to do so in the future.

"If we left, that automatic entitlement could end, throwing their future into doubt. That would mean enormous disruption for many Brits - on top of the risk of job losses and prices rising that leaving would entail.

"No-one knows what Britain's future would look like if we left. Leave campaigners have so far refused to set out their vision of what leaving would actually mean for Britain or for Britons living across the continent.

"What's certain is that if we pulled out of Europe and stopped Europeans from coming to work in Britain, we would lose our access to the world's largest free trade area, costing us jobs and pushing up prices in this country. For most Brits, that's a price not worth paying."

A spokesman for Vote Leave said the rights of EU citizens living in the UK "will not be threatened or undermined" if the country votes for Brexit.

"There would be no question of EU citizens being removed from the UK because of the referendum result," he said.

"Similarly, UK citizens in the EU will not be deported as their rights will be protected.

"We deeply regret that some pro-EU voices are preying on the fears of those living in the UK and abroad, rather that engaging in an honest debate."

A Government paper published in February said UK citizens living, working and travelling in the other 27 EU member states "currently enjoy a range of specific rights to live, to work and access to pensions, health care and public services that are only guaranteed because of EU law".

It added: "There would be no requirement under EU law for these rights to be maintained if the UK left the EU.
New imaging technology could help 'competitive production of steel'

New imaging technology could help save UK and European steel industries, according to a university scientist.

The Shell-Thick project will develop an innovative induction tomography system for assessing the solidification process of metal.

This new system will significantly improve the continuous casting process of steel by providing a real-time, non-destructive and reliable method of measuring the molten steel to detect any defects or fails as it solidifies and becomes a market product.

Dr Manuch Soleimani, who has been awarded an EU grant to develop new tomography technology that could help save the UK and EU steel industries (University of Bath/PA)

The system will form a kind of contactless bracelet around the billet of molten steel and take continuous measurements as the steel solidifies.

It will visualise the electrical conductivity of the different states of the solidifying steel and therefore provide an image of the structural composition of the steel as it cools.

By enabling industry to continuously monitor and alter the cooling process of steel, this innovative method will improve the quality, safety, productivity, costs and ultimately competitiveness of the UK and EU steel industries.

Induction tomography is a new and emerging non-invasive imaging technique used in a number of applications including medical diagnostics, geophysical exploration and civil engineering.

The EU and particularly UK steel industry is currently in a desperate state and facing widespread job losses due to its inability to compete with the highly subsidised steel industries in China.

Steelworks such as the Tata steelworks at Port Talbot are currently in emergency talks to try to prevent the plant closing.

It is hoped this technology may help the UK/EU steel industry become more competitive and have greater job security in the long-term future.

Dr Manuch Soleimani, from the University of Bath, has received an EU Horizon 2020 grant to lead this three-year project.

He said: "We are delighted to play a critical part in this project by using world-leading techniques in our engineering tomography lab, in the area of electromagnetic imaging.
Court remands in custody man charged with murder of Pc Gordon Semple

A man has appeared in court accused of murdering a gay police officer whose decomposed remains were found in a flat.

The body of Pc Gordon Semple, 59, was found in a property in the Peabody Estate a week after he went missing.

The gruesome discovery was made after a neighbour alerted Scotland Yard to a "smell of death" coming from the flat in Southwark, south London.

Forensic officers at the estate where the remains of Pc Gordon Semple were found

Stefano Brizzi, 49, was arrested at the property, which was his flat, and appeared via videolink at London's Bromley Magistrates' Court.

Wearing a grey prison issue tracksuit, he appeared calm as he confirmed his name, age and address during the brief hearing.

Brizzi, who is bearded, told the court: "I'm an Italian citizen but a UK resident."

He sat next to a lawyer at a table in Lewisham Police Station and at times leaned forward in his seat as he listened to the proceedings.

Brizzi, of Peabody Estate, Southwark Street, is charged with murdering Pc Semple at his flat on a day between April 1 and April 7.

At one point he raised his hand to interject in proceedings to ask about his legal aid.

No indication of plea was given and the chairwoman of the bench Sue Polydorou remanded him in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on April 13.
Kate avoids Marilyn Monroe mishap as wind catches dress during India tour

The Duchess of Cambridge almost suffered a Marilyn Monroe moment when a gust of wind blew her dress up as she paid her respects to India's war dead at a national monument.

Kate was able to catch the hem of her gown in time and save any embarrassment as she laid a wreath with husband William at India Gate, the country's war memorial.

But she was plagued by a number of strong gusts that not only sent her Emilia Wickstead outfit billowing into the air, but wrapped her hair around her face.

The Duchess of Cambridge struggles to control her dress in strong winds as the royals lay a wreath at the India Gate in New Delhi

India Gate is a towering 42-metre high arch designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the heart of New Delhi, but its open plan channelled the wind, turning a strong breeze into troublesome gusts.

The Duchess managed to keep her composure throughout the sombre ceremony that honoured the 70,000 Indian soldiers who died fighting for the British Army during the First World War.

When the royal couple first arrived they walked slowly behind a large wreath made from marigolds and carried by two ceremonial soldiers. As they neared the centre of the arch, they took the floral tribute from the servicemen.

The monument and other shrines within it recognise the sacrifice of Indians who fought in the 1914-18 war, as well as other conflicts including the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

As the Cambridges observed two minutes' silence after three buglers had sounded the last post, the Duchess clasped her hands in front of her as she held on to her dress.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge lay a wreath at the India Gate

The wind also caught the Duchess of Cambridge's hair revealing her earrings

The royals honoured soldiers from Indian regiments who served in the First World War

The Duchess of Cambridge keeps a tight hold of her dress during strong winds

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge pay their respects at the India Gate

The monument and other shrines within it recognise the sacrifice of Indians who fought in the 1914-18 war, as well as other conflicts including the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

Detail of the Duchess of Cambridge's handbag and ring

Kate wore her hair down in bouncy waves

Kate's dress was designed by Emilia Wickstead

Kate wore a light summer dress by Indian designer Anita Dongre on a visit to a water tank in Mumbai

Kate's hair was starting to show the effects of Mumbai's humidity

Kate has won plaudits for her fashion choices so far during the trip
Soldier who fired rubber bullet 'had clear view of 11-year-old boy'

A soldier who fired a rubber bullet at an 11-year-old boy in Northern Ireland more than 40 years ago had a clear view of his target, a coroner's court has heard.

Francis Rowntree died days after being hit by the bullet while walking through the Divis Flats complex close to Belfast's Falls Road in April 1972.

Controversy surrounds the shooting, with disputed claims on whether the boy was struck directly or injured by a ricochet, and if the bullet had been doctored to make it potentially cause more harm.

Solicitor Padraig O Muirigh and Jim Rowntree, the brother of Francis Rowntree, at Belfast coroner's court

Witness Henry Donaghy, who was 14 and was with the St Finian's Primary School pupil when he was shot, said he still had a vivid recollection of events.

He said: "He (Francis) seemed to lift off the ground slightly and go backwards at the same time. That has stayed with me.

"We knew something was desperately wrong by the colour on his face. That scared us."

Mr Donaghy was giving evidence during the first day of a long-awaited inquest at Belfast's Laganside Court, ordered by Northern Ireland Attorney General John Larkin.

According to Mr Donaghy, the bullet was fired from an Army vehicle parked with its engine running about eight or 10 yards away.

The doors were closed but an observation hatch was fully open, he said.

"It hit him directly because there was nothing to ricochet off," the witness said. "Whoever fired the shot would have had a clear view of who they were firing at.

"There were no cars parked, no wall, there was no obstacles in the direct line of fire between the Saracen and Francis Rowntree's head."

The court heard how the Divis area had been plagued by sustained disorder between republican youths and the Army in the days before and after April 20 1972 when Francis was shot.

But, Mr Donaghy, a self confessed "serial rioter", insisted there were no disturbances at the time.

"At that particular time in the afternoon and at that particular part of the Divis complex, it was quiet."

He later added: "This local regiment had lost one of its officers and anyone who has experience from that time will will you that soldiers tended to run amok a bit after things like that happened.

"I am not in a position to argue with people from the MoD, I am just relating what I experienced at that particular time at that particular part of Divis flats. I have already said there was rioting going on in the general Divis complex but at that particular time and that particular location there were no barricades, there were no burning cars and there was certainly no crowd of 50 yobbos attacking soldiers."

Mr Donaghy and his group of friends had gone to Divis expecting to see and to participate in riots, the court was told.

Francis had joined them by accident and was not aware of their intentions, Mr Donaghy claimed.

"I think the wee lad was just curious to find out what was going on," he said. "I certainly do not believe he came there to actually engage in that type of activity. It had more to do with childish curiosity.

"A lot of people in or near the area would not have been involved in pelting the Army with stones. People went along to look.

"Unfortunately for my generation, it (rioting) happened to be a fact of life. If you lived in an area like the Lower Falls, Ballymurphy or New Barnsley, unfortunately, looking back, it was a fact of life for hundreds, if not thousands of young people."

Replying to an assertion from Martin Wolfe QC, representing the Ministry of Defence (MoD), that riots were designed to injure soldiers, the witness added: " I cannot recall any soldiers being beaten with pillows."

Earlier, the court heard how Francis suffered extensive skull fractures as well as lacerations to his brain.

Despite undergoing emergency surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital he never recovered.

Retired state pathologist Professor Jack Crane said the fatal injury was more likely to have been caused by a "direct hit" than a ricochet.

But he said there was no evidence to support allegations that the projectile had had batteries or sharp objects inserted.

James Rowntree told the court his sport-mad younger brother had never been in trouble with the law or school.

He said: "He was in and out of hospital and my mother kept a very strict eye on him in case his leg went while he was playing. She would have kept a closer eye on him than any other family and as a family we agreed to watch out for him.

"He had no interest in riots, he just loved to get out in the fresh air because of the amount of time he spent in hospitals."

The former member of the Royal Anglian Regiment who fired the baton round is known to the court as soldier B and is expected to give evidence later this week.

Outside the court, Mr Rowntree said he hopes the inquest will help clear his brother's name.

Mr Rowntree said: "It would mean a great deal that it is proven he was not involved, that he was an innocent child."
Laurent Blanc: PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has Manchester City in his sights

Laurent Blanc has warned Manchester City that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is determined to shoot them down at the Etihad Stadium.

The prolific Ibrahimovic is the chief obstacle standing in City's way as they bid to reach the Champions League semi-finals at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain.

Ibrahimovic had a mixed night in the first leg of their quarter-final in France last week, scoring and hitting the bar but also missing a penalty and spurning another good chance in the 2-2 draw.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is planning to send Manchester City packing in the Champions League

The 34-year-old has had a fine season, netting 30 goals in Ligue 1 for the runaway champions. He is out of contract at the end of the campaign and has been linked with a move to England, most recently with City's rivals Manchester United.

And Blanc expects him to be at his sharpest at the Etihad Stadium.

He said: "We're always a bit surprised when Zlatan misses a chance but when you're a top goalscorer like him, you can miss a couple.

"Unfortunately for us he missed them in that game. He still scored though and he's someone who is extremely demanding of himself.

"He wants to show something else tomorrow, he wants to be more clinical in front of goal. If we create as many chances as the first leg, I think his conversion rate will be a lot higher."

PSG showed plenty of attacking impetus at the Parc des Princes as they recovered from a goal down to take the lead and, when Ibrahimovic hit the woodwork, it seemed they would win convincingly.

But both sides were prone to errors and Fernandinho pounced on one from PSG to equalise and keep the tie alive.

Blanc, who could have midfielder Marco Verratti back after almost eight weeks out with a groin injury, knows improvements are necessary.

He said: "We've analysed the first game and looked at the errors we made. There was too wide a gap between players, we were not compact enough and opened too much space for City.

"When you think of the palyers they've got, particularly going forward, they can create problems for a lot of teams, not just us.

"We need to perform at the highest possible level, a higher level than the first game. PSG are capable of qualifying but we know how difficult it will be.

"I would still like us to create as many chances as we created last week because I am pretty sure we would score a fair few more."

Also hoping to make an impression will be Angel di Maria on his first return to Manchester since his unhappy spell at United last season.

United signed the former Real Madrid winger for a club record 59.7million in 2014 but he was allowed to leave to join PSG last summer.

Blanc said: "I don't think Angel has anything to prove. He's going to be under pressure, like we all will. He joined us to bring his experience in the competiton - he has won the Champions League."

Di Maria himself hopes PSG can get back to their best.

The Argentinian told the club's website, www.psg.fr: "We need to play the way we know how - control the ball, attack and take the chances that come our way.
Canada aboriginal community declares suicide crisis emergency -media

By Ethan Lou

TORONTO, April 10 (Reuters) - A Canadian aboriginal community of 2,000 people has declared a state of emergency after 11 of its members tried to take their own lives on Saturday night, national media reported.

CTV News reported on Sunday that the remote northern community of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario experienced an additional 28 suicide attempts last month. More than 100 people in the community have attempted suicide since last September, and one person died, according to CTV.

Charlie Angus, the local member of parliament, told the Canadian Press it was part of a "rolling nightmare" of more and more suicide attempts among young people throughout the winter.

The Canadian Press said the regional First Nations government was sending a crisis response unit to the community following the declaration. The Health Canada federal agency said in a statement it sent two mental health counselors as part of that unit.

The First Nation's band office could not be immediately reached for comment.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter: "The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. We'll continue to work to improve living conditions for all Indigenous peoples."

Another Canadian aboriginal community in the western province of Manitoba appealed for federal aid last month, citing six suicides in two months and 140 suicide attempts in two weeks.

Canada's 1.4 million aboriginals, who make up about 4 percent of the country's population, have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy than other Canadians and are more often victims of violent crime, addiction and incarceration.
Kerry to join other G7 foreign ministers at Hiroshima A-bomb museum

By Arshad Mohammed and Kiyoshi Takenaka

HIROSHIMA, Japan, April 11 (Reuters) - John Kerry on Monday was set to be the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Hiroshima's atomic bomb museum and pay respects at a memorial for victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack, raising expectations President Barack Obama may make an historic visit next month.

A senior U.S. official said on Sunday that Kerry would not offer an apology for the United States' use of the atomic bomb when he joins his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on the visit, which takes place on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers' meeting in the western Japanese city that was once obliterated by U.S. atomic bombing.

It will also be the first visit by foreign ministers from Britain and France, two other nuclear powers among G7 nations.

"I will be pleased to visit later today the Peace Memorial Park ... in a moment that I hope will underscore to the world the importance of peace and the importance of strong allies working together to make the world safer and, ultimately, we hope to be able to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction," Kerry said at the start of a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, host for the meeting and lawmaker from a Hiroshima district.

"And while we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past. It's about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built," Kerry added.

A U.S. warplane dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, setting the city ablaze and killing 140,000 people by the end of the year. The United States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki on Aug. 9. Japan surrendered six days later.

Hiroshima's suffering is vividly displayed at the museum, including victims' charred and torn clothes, a tricycle ridden by a three-year old boy who died from the blast and statues of the victims, their flesh melting from their arms.

Kerry's trip could pave the way for an unprecedented visit to Hiroshima by a sitting U.S. president when Obama attends the annual G7 leaders summit in another Japanese city next month. A visit could be controversial in America if it were viewed as an apology.

While saying the White House has not yet decided, the senior U.S. official said Obama has shown he is willing to do controversial things such as visiting Havana last month.

Hopes for Obama's visit to Hiroshima were raised after his April 2009 speech in Prague calling for a world without nuclear weapons. He later said that he would be honoured to visit the two nuclear-attacked cities.

The G7 foreign ministers' trip to the museum and memorial is part of Japan's effort to send a strong nuclear disarmament message from Hiroshima, the world's first city to suffer atomic bombing.

Kishida said the ministers will discuss anti-terrorism steps, maritime security and issues related to North Korea, Ukraine and the Middle East.
Japan March average spot LNG arrival price falls to $6.80/mmBtu

TOKYO, April 11 (Reuters) - The average price for liquefied natural gas LNG spot cargoes arriving in Japan in March fell by 10 cents from February to $6.80 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), the lowest since the trade ministry started publishing figures two years ago, official data showed.

Spot Asian LNG prices fell to the low-$4 per mmBtu late last month as demand in Asia remained slow overall.

Japan is the world's biggest LNG buyer.
South Korea reveals defection last year of two N.Korea officials

By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park

SEOUL, April 11 (Reuters) - Two senior North Korean officials, including an army colonel specialising in espionage against the South, defected to South Korea last year, the Seoul government said on Monday.

News of the defections followed Friday's announcement by Seoul that 13 workers at a restaurant run by the North in an undisclosed third country had defected as a group, arriving in the South a day earlier.

On Monday, the South's Unification and Defence Ministries said a North Korean army colonel defected last year and had been granted political asylum. He had worked in the secretive General Reconnaissance Bureau, which is focused on espionage activities against the South.

The Unification Ministry, which handles North Korea issues, also said that a senior diplomat who was posted in an African country had defected to the South last year with his family.

The disclosures confirmed earlier reports in the South Korean media. The South Korean government's public acknowledgement of defections is unusual.

The main liberal opposition Minjoo Party on Monday accused the government of conservative President Park Geun-hye of trying to influence conservative voter turnout ahead of Wednesday's parliamentary elections by announcing the defection of the restaurant workers last week.

Both ministries denied suggestions that Monday's revelations were made for domestic political reasons and said disclosing the defections was in the public interest.

About 29,000 people had fled North Korea and arrived in the South as of March, including 1,276 last year, with numbers declining since a 2009 peak.

Earlier on Monday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the North Korean colonel specialised in anti-South espionage operations before defecting and had divulged the nature of his work to South Korean authorities while in the North.

South Korean officials declined to commment on that or give further details.

The defection of a high-ranking officer in the General Reconnaissance Bureau would be a coup for Seoul.

The North set up the bureau in 2009, consolidating several intelligence agencies to streamline operations aimed at the South.

Its head, General Kim Yong Chol, is accused by the South of being behind the 2010 torpedo attack against the South that sunk a navy ship and killed 46 sailors. The North denies any responsibility for the sinking.
Five facts about Nigeria's missing Chibok schoolgirls #bringbackourgirls

By Luke Mintz

LONDON, April 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Two years ago the world was in uproar over the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram from a secondary school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria.

Under the hashtag #bringbackourgirls, politicians, celebrities and the public globally united to demand the return of the girls who disappeared without a trace.

Two years later, and after several false leads, the girls are still missing.

Here are five key facts about the Chibok schoolgirls:

1. On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 school girls, mostly aged between 16 and 18, from a secondary school in Chibok in Borno State, northeast Nigeria. About 50 of the girls escaped but 219 were captured.

2. Nigeria's government and military faced heavy criticism for their handling of the incident, with towns and cities across the nation witnessing protests. President Goodluck Jonathan, who declined to comment on the kidnappings for almost three weeks, was criticised, and became the first sitting Nigerian president to lose an election, in 2015.

3. The kidnappings prompted a strong social media reaction, with the phrase #bringbackourgirls tweeted around 3.3 million times by mid-May 2014. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama joined the campaign, as did Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban after campaigning for girls' education.

4. Hope for the girls was briefly raised in April, 2015, when the Nigerian military announced it had rescued 200 girls and 93 women from the Sambisa forest. It was later revealed that the Chibok girls were not among them.

5. About 2,000 girls and boys have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014, according to Amnesty International, which says they are used as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers.
France, Germany halt Airbus export credit amid UK probe

By Tim Hepher and Gernot Heller

PARIS/BERLIN, April 8 (Reuters) - France and Germany have joined Britain in suspending export credit facilities for Airbus jet deliveries, expanding the fallout from a potential corruption probe in Britain, several people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The move follows Britain's decision last week to suspend financing and alert the Serious Fraud Office after Airbus Group said it had found anomalies over the declaration of overseas agents and that it had itself notified the UK authorities.

Unusually, it leaves the world's two largest planemakers, Airbus and Boeing, both facing paralysis over government export financing as Congressional delays leave U.S. Export Import bank unable to support Airbus's U.S. rival.

In Europe, Airbus draws on financing support for some sales from Britain, France and Germany where its main factories are.

The nations typically act in concert, offering guarantees in proportion to the industrial work in each country, but declining to take up the slack whenever one of them refuses to take part.

A German economy ministry spokesman confirmed that the financing, provided on its behalf by Allianz unit Euler-Hermes, was no longer available.

Berlin is also examining whether the UK episode could have consequences for export credits already awarded, he added.

In France, three sources said export guarantees were being withheld for the time being.

"Audits are being carried out in the UK and we are waiting for the conclusions for those," a French government official said.

Airbus Group declined to add to a previous statement that it was co-operating with export credit agencies and that it expected financing to be resumed in the near future.

For now, the market impact is seen as limited as the use of export credits has dwindled to around 6 percent of deliveries from 40 percent at the height of the 2008-10 financial crisis.

But the unprecedented halt raises doubt over the financing for some upcoming deliveries, pushing up demand for commercial loans and placing pressure on Airbus to offer bridge financing.

"The problem is that deals financed with export credit are usually the tough-to-finance ones, so finding a commercial alternative is not always that simple," a market source said.

AGENT FEES AND NAMES

The agency which underwrites aircraft exports in Britain has said it will not support Airbus deliveries until it gets assurances about Airbus's current practices on overseas agents.

The UK case involves discrepancies over the amount of agents' fees disclosed in applications for export support, or missing names of third parties, in some cases dating back several years, two people familiar with the matter said.

A person responsible for overseeing some of the information supplied in export credit applications is no longer with the group, people familiar with the matter said. Airbus Group declined comment.

The decision by Airbus to report itself reflects efforts by many aerospace companies to toughen compliance and review their records for past failings after a series of industry scandals.

In its just-published annual report, Airbus said a newly centralised compliance team was revising the procedures on hiring consultants and warned investors this may "lead to additional commercial disputes or other consequences".
Poland's Kaczynski blames Tusk's government for president's jet crash

WARSAW, April 11 (Reuters) - Responsibility for the 2010 plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski along with 95 other people lay with the then government of Donald Tusk, the late president's twin brother and leader of the current ruling party said on Sunday at an event to commemorate the disaster.

The plane crash in Russia, which also killed the president's wife, the central bank chief and several military top brass, led to bitter political divisions in Poland, after initially uniting the nation in grief.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party and a former prime minister himself, took aim at Tusk, who is now president of the European Council which is the summit of EU leaders, saying guilt and punishment needed to be apportioned before forgiveness could be offered.

"One wanted to kill our memory, as one was afraid of it. Because someone was responsible for the tragedy, at least in moral terms, irrespectively of what were its reasons," Kaczynski said in a speech marking the sixth anniversary of the crash.

"The former government was responsible for that. Not Ms Kopacz government of course, but Donald Tusk's government".

Tusk was Poland's prime minister when the crash happened, and he was succeeded by his protege, Ewa Kopacz.

A government inquiry into the crash had blamed pilot error. But the new government, led by Kaczynski's party, which came to power in October, has said an onboard explosion could have caused the crash.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski has long accused Tusk of being indirectly responsible for the crash, which, in his view, was at least partially a result of the government's negligence.

Earlier in the day, President Andrzej Duda addressed thousands of Poles gathered in front of the presidency to commemorate the crash.

Duda appealed to Poles to forgive each other and reconcile over political divisions, but speaking later in the evening at the same venue, Kaczynski gave a stern response.

"Forgiveness is necessary but, but forgiveness after admitting guilt and administering proper punishment. This is what we need," Kaczynski said.
Hungary opposes proposed EU changes on seconded workers - gov't

BUDAPEST, April 11 (Reuters) - Hungary opposes a European Union plan to equalise pay between seconded and local workers as it would pose an "unacceptable competitive disadvantage" to Hungarian companies, a government spokesman said on Monday.

Poland also rejects the proposed changes put forward by the EU executive and hopes to block them together with other poorer countries in the bloc, Polish diplomatic sources said last week.

The number of seconded or "posted" workers, employed in one EU state but temporarily sent to work in another, has jumped in recent years. There were some 1.9 million posted workers in the EU in 2014, the most recent data shows.

Employers are not now obliged to pay posted workers more than the minimum wage in the host country, which leads to underpayment of posted workers and competition between firms employing seconded or local workers. The European Commission has proposed equalising the pay of the two categories.

"The planned measure would be disadvantageous to us, and would threaten the jobs of tens of thousands of Hungarians, for example those truck drivers working in the international road haulage sector," the government spokesman said.

He said the planned measure would oblige foreign companies to pay higher wages to workers than local firms, which could still pay wages between the minimum wage and the average wage.
PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Apr 11

MOSCOW, April 11 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- Olga Dergunova, head of Rosimushchestvo, the Russian state property watchdog, will leave her post soon, the paper writes citing sources.

- Crude production in Russia in 2016 may grow at least 0.4 percent, while exports will rise 3.5 percent, the paper reports citing an Economy Ministry outlook.

- Pilot error caused the crash of a Flydubai Boeing in Rostov-on-Don on March 19, the paper writes citing a source close to investigation.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- The central bank is concerned about growing demand for retail loans among Russians, the daily reports.

- Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, has asked the government to give the republic the local Chechenneftekhimprom company and to renovate Grozny's airport, the paper writes.

- Russia plans to establish a platform to exchange ecology-related experience with other BRICS countries, the paper writes.

RBK

www.rbcdaily.ru

- The head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, has asked the government to devise a privatisation scheme for a 19.5 percent stake in the oil company that would prevent British Petroleum from acquiring a blocking stake and instead favour Asian strategic investors, the paper reports citing government sources.

- Sales of new cars in Russia fell 10 percent in the first quarter of 2016, while sales of Avtovaz new cars dropped 18.8 percent, the daily says.

NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA

www.ng.ru
Air France makes new cost-cut proposals to pilots

PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) - Air France has made fresh cost-cutting proposals to pilots' unions that would see a rise in the number of flying hours and more flexibility in return for a share of the resulting productivity gains, the French carrier's head said on Monday.

The plans by Air France, which were sent to unions on Sunday, with a May 2 deadline to respond, would also see it hire more than the 600 new pilots previously envisaged through 2020, taking the total number to 3,900, Frederic Gagey said.

Air France is cutting labour costs to better compete with deep-pocketed Gulf airlines and fast-growing European low-cost carriers. It dropped a so-called 'Plan B' restructuring project with forced job cuts in January and tilted its plans towards growth in the wake of a slide in oil prices.

"The cost per hour of flying falls, this is necessary for the company to be competitive, but this is done in the context of more flying hours, so no one loses out," Gagey told a conference call. "Overall, pilot pay won't drop."

The unit of Air France-KLM said the proposals would improve productivity by between 5 percent and 10 percent, and that the resulting gains would be shared with pilots, without being more specific.
South Korea reveals defection last year of two N.Korea officials

By Jack Kim and Ben Blanchard

SEOUL/BEIJING, April 11 (Reuters) - Two senior North Korean officials, including an army colonel specialising in espionage against the South, defected to South Korea last year, the Seoul government said on Monday.

News of the defections followed a South Korean announcement on Friday that 13 workers at a restaurant run by the North in an unidentified country had defected, a case it described as unprecedented, arriving in the South a day earlier.

South Korea did not say where the 13 had worked. China said on Monday that 13 North Koreans had been there and had left lawfully. It did not say if they were the same group.

The South's Unification and Defence Ministries said on Monday a North Korean army colonel defected last year and had been granted political asylum. He had worked in the secretive General Reconnaissance Bureau, which is focused on espionage activities against the South.

South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles North Korea issues, also said that a senior diplomat who was posted in an African country had defected to the South last year with his family.

The defection of a high-ranking officer in the General Reconnaissance Bureau is a coup for Seoul. The North set up the bureau in 2009, consolidating several intelligence agencies to streamline operations aimed at the South.

Its head, General Kim Yong Chol, is accused by the South of being behind a 2010 torpedo attack against the South that sunk a navy ship and killed 46 sailors. The North denies any responsibility for the sinking.

The bureau is also known to operate an elite team of computer specialists working to infiltrate the networks of the South and other countries and to conduct cyber attacks against key institutions.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the North Korean colonel specialised in anti-South espionage operations before defecting and had divulged the nature of his work to South Korean authorities.

South Korean officials declined to comment.

News of the defections come after a period of tension on the Korean peninsula following the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch the next month.

'VALID PASSPORTS'

The South Korean government's public acknowledgement of defections is unusual.

The main liberal opposition Minjoo Party on Monday accused the government of conservative President Park Geun-hye of trying to influence conservative voter turnout ahead of Wednesday's parliamentary elections by announcing the defection of the restaurant workers last week.

Both ministries denied suggestions that Monday's revelations were made for domestic political reasons and said disclosing the defections was in the public interest.

China is North Korea's main ally and is known for sending defectors back to the North, so South Korean media reports that restaurant workers had been there initially raised some surprise.

Asked about the workers on Monday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said it had received a report about a group of 13 North Koreans in China who had gone missing.

"After an investigation, (we found) the 13 North Koreans used valid passports to leave the country normally in the early hours of April 6," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing, without saying where they had gone.

"What needs to be stressed is that these people had valid identity documents and legally came to the country, not North Koreans who have entered illegally."

South Korea's Joongang Ilbo newspaper said the 13 worked at a restaurant in the Chinese city of Ningbo until around Tuesday last week when they disappeared, quoting a Chinese worker at the Ryugyong Korean Restaurant.

Calls to the restaurant seeking comment went unanswered.

South Korean media said the 13 left China and travelled to a Southeast Asian country before being flown to South Korea, citing unidentified government sources.

The South's Unification Ministry declined to comment on where the North Koreans had been before arriving in South Korea.
Iran says Russia delivers first part of S-300 defence system

DUBAI, April 11 (Reuters) - Russia has delivered the first part of an advanced missile defence system to Iran, Iranian media reported on Monday, starting to equip Tehran with technology that was blocked before it signed a deal with world powers on its nuclear programme.

The S-300 surface-to-air system was first deployed at the height of the Cold War in 1979.

In its updated form it is one of the most advanced systems of its kind and, according to British security think tank RUSI, can engage multiple aircraft and ballistic missiles around 150 km (90 miles) away.

Russia's agreement to provide Iran with S-300 has sparked concern in Israel, whose government Iran has said it aims to destroy.

In a recorded transmission, state television showed Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari telling a news conference on Monday: "I announce today that the first phase of this (delayed) contract has been implemented."

Ansari was replying to reporters' questions about videos on social media showing what appeared to be parts of an S-300 missile system on trucks in northern Iran.

Russia says it cancelled a contract to deliver S-300s to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West. President Vladimir Putin lifted that self-imposed ban in April 2015, after an interim agreement that paved the way for July's full nuclear deal.
Six dead in Pakistan after strong quake rattles South Asia

By Asad Hashim

ISLAMABAD, April 11 (Reuters) - Six people were killed across northern Pakistan although there appeared to be no widespread damage after a strong earthquake rattled major cities across South Asia at the weekend, authorities said on Monday.

The 6.6-magnitude quake on Sunday startled residents in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and forced some in high-rise buildings to flee into the streets of the Indian capital, New Delhi.

It was also felt in Islamabad and in Lahore in Pakistan's east, about 630 km (390 miles) from the quake's epicentre in remote northeastern Afghanistan, just inside the border with Tajikistan and across a narrow finger of land from Chitral - a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan's northwest.

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said five people were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Another was killed in northern Gilgit-Baltistan state, the NDMA said. At least seven people were reported injured across Pakistan, many of them in the northwestern frontier city of Peshawar.

There were no immediate reports of widespread damage in either Afghanistan or India, despite the quake rattling buildings in all three countries for more than a minute.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at a depth of about 210 km (130 miles).

Despite its depth, the quake still caused widespread panic in areas such as Chitral, a Reuters witness and a villager in the area said.

"It was a very dangerous situation, because our houses were already damaged from recent rainfall," said Isa Khan, whose home in the village of Susoom, about 25 km (15 miles) north of Chitral, suffered moderate damage.

Most of the homes in his village are made of mud and brick. "We saw a lot of walls being damaged in front of us," Khan said.

Pakistan's NDMA said in a statement the air force had been asked to conduct an aerial photography survey to assess the damage in mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Khan said Chitral residents were still awaiting compensation after a 7.5-magnitude quake hit the area on Oct. 26 last year, killing more than 300 people and destroying thousands of homes.

The Hindu Kush area between Pakistan and Afghanistan is seismically active, with quakes often felt across a region where the Indian and Eurasian continental plates collide.
A bright future but a stormy present for copper producers: Andy Home

By Andy Home

LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - "In copper we trust".

Such was the title of the presentation given by Jerry Jiao, vice president at China's Minmetals Group, at last week's CRU-CESCO conference in Chile.

Jiao looked beyond the current sharp braking in Chinese demand growth, "an adjustment rather than big trouble", to paint a bright future for copper usage in the country as its economy moves towards a more consumerist model.

The theme was taken up by Robert Friedland, chairman and founder of Ivanhoe Mines, who was in typical evangelical form about copper's prospects as the world embraces greener technology. nL2N1791V1

"As soon as you go green, you have an explosion in demand."

The problem for the copper industry executives meeting in Chile last week, however, is not the bright future but the stormy present.

A first-quarter rally, which lifted the London Metal Exchange price to $5,131 per tonne, has fizzled out and three-month metal ended the week looking battered and bruised at $4,650.

SUPPLY CUTS - TOMORROW BUT NOT TODAY

Minmetal's Jiao might be forgiven for taking an optimistic view of copper demand.

After all, Minmetal's listed arm, MMG, is in the process of bringing on stream the new Las Bambas copper mine in Peru.

It is just one of many projects planned and commissioned during the heady years of the super-cycle and now contributing to a particularly vicious down cycle of fading demand and rising supply.

If attendees at last week's industry meeting in Santiago were hoping for more production cutback announcements they were disappointed.

Producers such as Chile's state-owned Codelco, Antofagasta and Mantos Copper all banged the producer drum of cutting costs but not actual production. nL2N1790E3

It is this lack of supply response that is pressuring copper prices but with everyone slashing costs the real producer pain hasn't yet really kicked in.

Perhaps the most bullish supply-side news at last week's event was the cancellation of Chilean copper organisation CESCO's exploration conference on the Monday.

The lack of interest is symptomatic of the collapse in project development, Friedland's Ivanhoe excepted.

The man who brought the world such mines as Voisey's Bay in Canada and Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, is currently working on another giant prospect, Kamoa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Just about everyone else, though, has slammed the brakes on their exploration and development activities.

That, in time, will generate its own up-cycle in prices.

We've been here before.

It was the collective failure by copper producers to anticipate the surge in Chinese demand growth of the last decade that contributed to the stratospheric rise in price to over $10,000 per tonne in 2011.

And such is the severity of the downturn in planning for the next generation of copper mines that the market will rebalance even under the most pessimistic of demand scenarios, according to CRU senior consultant, Matthew Wonnacott.

But only in the year 2020.

TRADING "RUMOURS, HEARSAY AND ANECDOTES"

With little in the way of supply response to current depressed prices, the market is collectively trying to second-guess the speed and scale of the Chinese demand slowdown.

The exercise is not helped by the increasingly erratic behaviour of key Chinese economic figures.

The confusion runs all the way from the broadest of measures such as GDP to sectoral specifics such as construction.

Noting the apparent contradiction between positive construction metrics and secondary indicators in the first two months of 2016, Wonnacott noted wrily that China seems to have found a way of building without using either steel or cement.

One of the resulting problems from such statistical confusion, he added, was that the market is left trading "rumours, hearsay and anecdotes".

A comment that particularly applies right now to the level of Chinese copper stocks.

Those registered with the Shanghai Futures Exchange have mushroomed so far this year, while those lying in the more opaque bonded warehouse system are also now rising again.

Is this metal all locked down in financing deals, as suggested by Minmetal's Jiao, who described such stock as "no longer just copper" but part of China's financial system?

Or might some of it spill out into the rest of the global market, as suggested by reports last week that Chinese smelters might themselves start exporting in the face of weak domestic demand? nL3N16W1ZZ

Answers on a postcard.

But what everyone agrees is that there is no current demand replacement for China. Other emerging countries such as India might get there in time but right now China remains the only copper game in town.

THE NEW GLOOMY CONSENSUS

And everyone seems to agree that with Chinese demand losing much of its sparkle the price must go down before it goes up.

It totally fit the downbeat mood of the conference that it actually rained on Tuesday, an unusual event in a city that averages just one day of rain per month over the December-March period.

The logic for lower prices is strong.

In an oversupplied market more production must exit and it will not exit until it is forced to do so.

As producers have slashed costs, the global cost curve has fallen steeply. At current prices only the most financially vulnerable of producers have had to pull down the shutters.

The price, it follows, must travel further into the cost curve for a sizeable supply response to materialise.

When Goldman Sachs last year forecast the price would hit $4,500 by the end of 2016, it was deemed a super-bear.

Goldman's analyst Max Layton reiterated the reasons for the bank's prognosis last week but he is no longer the sole super-bear.

Many others have followed him downwards in the intervening period with much talk of prices bottoming out in the low $4,000s at last week's meeting.

Contrarians were in noticeable short supply.

The new consensus, it seems, is for more rainy days in Santiago and other copper production centres.

But the problem with any sort of price consensus is that it is all too often wrong. Copper producers are now living with the fall-out from the collapse of the old consensus, which was that Chinese industrialisation would march unrelentingly onwards.

That, we now know, is not how things panned out.
Kyrgyzstan PM Sariyev resigns after cabinet accused of graft

BISHKEK, April 11 (Reuters) - Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariyev and his cabinet resigned on Monday after a parliamentary commission accused it of corruption, a move highlighting tensions between different factions of President Almazbek Atambayev's supporters.

"Squabbles, rumours and gossip have upset the balance within the government," Sariyev told a cabinet meeting open to the media. "The government's work has stalled at such a difficult time."

A commission set up by the ex-Soviet republic's parliament said last week the government had broken the law, accusing it of having rigged a $100 million road construction tender to ensure it was given to a Chinese firm that lacked the required license.

Sariyev, who has denied any wrongdoing, had asked Atambayev to sack Transport Minister Argynbek Malabayev, but the president has refused to do so, saying the prime minister had not provided clear legal grounds for a dismissal.

On Monday, Atambayev accepted Sariyev's resignation, which automatically triggered the resignation of the whole cabinet.

Sariyev, 52, has run the Central Asian nation's government since last May, at the time when its economy has come under pressure from the recession in Russia and slowdowns in other neighbouring countries such as China and Kazakhstan.

Sariyev had also pledged to resolve a long-standing dispute over profit-sharing with Canada's Centerra Gold, which operates Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan's biggest gold mine and its economic backbone. But the sides have not reached any agreement yet.

Social Democrats closely linked to Atambayev head up a coalition that dominates the parliament and also includes the Kyrgyzstan, Onuguu-Progress and Ata Meken parties. Sariyev's party, Akshumkar, does not have seats in the parliament.

The coalition, which controls 80 out of 120 seats in the legislature, now needs to pick a new premier within 15 days.
Somalia publicly executes former al Shabaab spokesman

MOGADISHU, April 11 (Reuters) - A former media officer for the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab was publicly executed by a government firing squad on Monday for ordering the death of six journalists, court officials said.

Hassan Hanafi, who arranged news conferences for the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group when the militants controlled the capital Mogadishu, admitted during his trial to personally killing one journalist in Somalia.

"Today, the court fulfils the execution of Hassan Hanafi who had killed journalists," Abdullahi Hassan, deputy judge of the court, told reporters at the scene on Monday.

A masked Hanafi was tied to a pole before government forces opened fire at an execution field at a police training camp, according to witnesses.

Since 1992 a total of 59 journalists have been killed in Somalia, according to industry body, the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Al Shabaab seeks to impose its strict version of sharia, Islamic law, in Somalia, where it frequently attacks government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital. The group was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but controls many rural areas in southern Somalia.

Hanafi, 30, admitted joining al Shabaab in 2008 when he worked as a journalist for a local broadcaster. He was arrested in neighboring Kenya last year and returned to Somalia for trial.
Germany says examining Turkish request to prosecute satirist

BERLIN, April 11 (Reuters) - Germany said on Monday it was examining a formal request made by Turkey for it to prosecute a comedian who recited an obscene poem about Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a satirical show on national television.

German prosecutors have already begun investigating Jan Boehmermann, the iconoclastic host of the late-night "Neo Magazin Royale" on the public channel ZDF, on suspicion of the crime of "offending foreign states' organs and representatives".

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said the Turkish embassy had sent Germany's foreign ministry a cable with "a formal request from the Turkish side for a prosecution in connection with comments made in this broadcast."

"The content of this cable and the way forward will now be carefully examined by the government," Seibert told a regular government news conference. "It will take a few days. I can't and don't want to anticipate the results of this examination."

The incident is awkward for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has spearheaded EU efforts to secure Turkey's help in dealing with Europe's migrant crisis. She has told Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a telephone conversation that the poem was "deliberately offensive".

Boehmermann, who has made a name for himself by pushing the boundaries of satire in a once-staid media landscape, made clear on the show that he was courting controversy.

Before reading his poem, Boehmermann referred to a satirical song broadcast on NDR television that had mocked Erdogan for his authoritarian treatment of journalists. That led Turkey to call in Germany's envoy to provide an explanation, although Germany rejected Turkish protests.

Speaking as if he were addressing Erdogan, Boehmermann explained that the NDR broadcast had fallen under the right to artistic freedom, press freedom and freedom of opinion.

On Monday, Seibert stressed that an article in Germany's constitution on freedom of opinion was of the utmost importance to Merkel and was non-negotiable, regardless of whether or not she found an opinion tasteful or tasteless.

Seibert also noted that Boehmermann had himself said his broadcast was "a conscious breach of limits".

"Solving the refugee issue is in the joint interests of Germany, the European Union and Turkey," Seibert added.

"The fundamental values of the constitution are non-negotiable, independent of whether Germany works with others to jointly tackle political challenges."
Taiwan accuses China of kidnapping eight of its nationals from Kenya

TAIPEI, April 11 (Reuters) - Taiwan on Monday accused China, which regards the self-ruled island as a breakaway province, of kidnapping eight of its nationals who it said had been acquitted in a cyber crime case in Kenya.

Kenya's attorney-general said in January it was considering a request from Beijing to extradite 76 Chinese charged with cyber crime in Kenya for trial in their homeland.

But Taiwan said some of these people were actually from Taiwan and that a total of 23 of its people had been acquitted last Tuesday by a Kenyan court and given 21 days to leave.

Yet China pressured Kenyan police to put eight of the Taiwanese nationals on to a Chinese jet bound for China on Friday, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said. It did not say how they were taken.

"This is an uncivilized act of illegal kidnapping and a serious violation of basic human rights," the ministry said in a statement, adding it was demanding the immediate return of the eight.

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which distrusts China, also weighed in on the issue, demanding China "repatriate our people and guarantee their legal rights".

China views Taiwan as a wayward province, to be brought under Beijing's control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after a civil war with the Communists now in control in Beijing.

Only 22 countries recognise Taiwan, with most, including Kenya, having diplomatic relations with Beijing, recognising its "one China" policy.

Taiwan had sent officials from its representative office in South Africa to Kenya to try to deal with the case as it has no office in Kenya, the Foreign Ministry added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he needed to "further understand" the situation, when asked during a regular news briefing on Monday.

"But in principle, countries which follow the 'one China' principle are worthy of approval," he added, without elaborating.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office, which oversees relations with Taiwan, said in a short statement sent to Reuters it was trying to find out what had happened. China's Ministry of Public Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Kenyan government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Ties between Taiwan and China rapidly improved after the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou took power in 2008 as Taiwan president and signed a series of landmark trade and business deals.

But China has looked on with suspicion at Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen and her independence-leaning DPP won presidential and parliamentary elections in January.
Hungary to end Sunday trading ban in rare climbdown for Orban

By Marton Dunai and Gergely Szakacs

BUDAPEST, April 11 (Reuters) - Hungary's government decided on Monday to scrap an unpopular ban on Sunday retail trading in a rare climbdown for Prime Minister Viktor Orban who wanted to avert a potentially awkward referendum on the issue sought by the opposition Socialists.

The retreat represents a tactical victory for the Socialists, but Orban's ruling nationalist Fidesz party, in power since 2010, remains well ahead of its rivals in the opinion polls. The next parliamentary election is due in 2018.

The trading ban, which forces all but the smallest retail outlets to close on Sunday, has been in effect for just over a year but has proved unpopular with Hungarians.

"The ban ... has proved divisive," Orban's cabinet chief Antal Rogan told reporters.

"We could not convince people that this is a successful measure from their point of view. (They perceived) that it made the everyday lives of families more difficult."

Two thirds of Hungarians surveyed by pollster Ipsos last year said they opposed the Sunday trading ban. The government had argued that the ban was beneficial for the retail sector and that employment in the sector rose last year.

Socialist politician Istvan Nyako, whose party had pressed for a referendum on the ban, said: "We see this as a victory, the victory of Hungarian people. We managed to force the Orban regime to retreat for the second time."

In 2014 a mass rally forced Orban to abandon plans to tax use of the internet.

The government will send a proposal to parliament later on Monday to rescind the ban and the previous system could be restored by the weekend.

"It would have been too big a risk not only to potentially lose the referendum but there would have been a months-long campaign about an issue that is unfavourable for the government," said Csaba Toth, a political analyst at think-tank Republikon Institute.

"It was at least as much about controlling the agenda as about the possible outcome of the referendum," he said, adding that the campaign had the potential to boost the ailing Socialist party.
Philippines army on defensive after bloody clash with militants

By Manuel Mogato

MANILA, April 11 (Reuters) - The Philippines army defended its operations on Monday after 18 soldiers were killed and more than 50 wounded in a jungle ambush by militants in the south of the country who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Security experts and some media criticised the handling of Saturday's encounter with the Abu Sayyaf rebels, which had echoes of a grisly 2011 clash when 19 troops died - some beheaded - and another last year when 44 police commandos were slain.

"It's deja vu. The government forces underestimated the rebels' firepower capability and ties with other lawless groups on Basilan," said security analyst Rommel Banlaoi, referring to the southern island where the clash raged for 10 hours.

Military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said the troops had been adequately trained and the operation had been well coordinated, but they had been lured into a trap of improvised landmines that could not have been anticipated.

"The situation on the ground is much different from how these armchair generals and analysts saw it. They tend to magnify this unfortunate incident when the army has had many successes."

Padilla said eight Abu Sayyaf rebel bodies were found on Sunday, bringing to 13 the number of dead on the rebels side, including a Moroccan national.

Describing the incident, he said the military had pounded the Abu Sayyaf camp on the island with bombs and artillery shells before sending in ground troops.

"When they got in there, there were explosions around them, the place was booby-trapped and they were pinned down and the rebels were firing at them at all sides," he said.

Padilla said that, as well as the army, the government had a role to play in stamping out militancy in the south of the country through development and providing social services.

The small but violent Abu Sayyaf group, which is known for extortion, kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, is one of several brutal Muslim rebel factions in the impoverished south of the largely Christian Philippines.

The group has posted videos on social media sites pledging allegiance to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, which have attracted foreign fighters from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa to the troubled southern Philippines.

The army stepped up its offensive against Abu Sayyaf late last year, when President Benigno Aquino ordered troops to hunt down the rebels over the kidnapping and execution of foreign nationals.

The Philippines military has had years of U.S. counter-terrrorism training, although American troops have no direct role in the offensive against Abu Sayyaf.

"It's not simply a matter of training," said Ric Jacobson, a U.S. security expert. "If the leadership and preparations are not solid, then these operations are destined for failure, no matter how well-trained the troops."

The incident has not prompted criticism from candidates vying for the Philippines' presidency in next month's election. But a tough talking mayor from a southern city, who has vowed to end corruption and crime, has topped the latest opinion poll and is the front-runner for the May 9 election.

The opinion poll was conducted March 30-April 2, before the fighting on Basilan.
MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf bourses mixed; Egypt corrects as locals dump shares

By Celine Aswad

DUBAI, April 11 (Reuters) - Saudi and Egyptian stock markets corrected on Monday, while Abu Dhabi's and Qatar's bourses edged up, supported by the real estate sector.

With no major companies reporting earnings, Riyadh's index fell 0.5 percent to 6,312 points, erasing some of the 1.4 percent gains on Sunday as profit takers cashed out.

The index fell below its critical resistance band between 6,325-6,400 points and short term technical indicators are considered overbought, making the case stronger for a correction, said a note by Riyad Capital.

Almarai, which jumped 3.6 percent after reporting on Sunday a slight rise in first-quarter net profit in a challenging market, fell back 1.3 percent.

NCB Capital said in a note that despite gross margins hitting a six-quarter low, favourable raw material pricing and a lower than expected impact of subsidy cuts, enforced by the government this year to help plug a budget gap, did less than expected damage to gross margins.

Jarir Marketing, a giant retailer which sells electronics and stationeries, fell 0.4 percent, erasing some prior session gains. On Sunday it reported a net income drop of nearly 30 percent, short of analyst expectations, although sales turnover were not as extreme as the company had previously expected.

The company's chairman, Mohammad al Aqeel, told CNBC Arabia late on Sunday that Jarir will push ahead with expansion plans for 2016, starting with the launch of two new branches in the second quarter. The retailer is also planning to expand to other Gulf countries and North Africa.

Dubai's index edged down 0.3 percent, pulling away from a five-month high hit on Sunday as local traders booked profits in small and mid-cap stocks which have been the backbone of the bourses gains over the last four weeks.

Investment firm Shuaa Capital, which has rallied 40 percent since a month ago, dropped 3.7 percent. Builders Arabtec and Drake and Scull were also sold off, falling 1.7 and 1.6 percent respectively.

But Union Properties, a mid-sized developer, added a further 0.6 percent, its fourth straight session of gains.

Emaar Properties fell 0.3 percent after the company said on Sunday that Abdulla Lahej had discontinued his role as group chief executive officer, adding the group chief operating officer will be handling the role, without elaborating further. On the same day the company had announced plans to build a skyscraper surpassing its Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

In Egypt the main index dropped 0.8 percent as bourse data showed local and other Arab traders exited positions.

Shares, which have rallied since the mid-March devaluation of the currency, continued to correct for a second day, with real estate investment firm Amer Group slumping 5.0 percent. The stock is now flat since the devaluation on March 14.

ABU DHABI, QATAR NUDGE UP

Abu Dhabi's stock exchange added 0.2 percent, lifted by real estate shares.

Aldar Properties rose 1.4 percent after the company said on Monday, a day ahead of Cityscape Abu Dhabi where developers exhibit planned projects, it will add new villas to its Yas Island development with a project valued at 6 billion dirhams ($1.63 billion).

But energy-related stocks fell back as investors booked profits ahead of earnings season. Dana Gas, which jumped 11.1 percent on Sunday, tumbled 6.7 percent.

In Qatar, the index edged up 0.3 percent in week high volumes, with the main support coming from real estate shares. Mazaya Real Estate Development jumped 9.9 percent.

MONDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

SAUDI ARABIA

* The index fell 0.5 percent to 6,312 points.

DUBAI

* The index edged down 0.3 percent to 3,424 points.

EGYPT

* The index fell 0.8 percent to 7,342 points.

ABU DHABI

* The index advanced 0.2 percent to 4,391 points.

QATAR

* The index edged up 0.3 percent to 10,160 points.

KUWAIT

* The index added 0.6 percent to 5,284 points.

OMAN

* The index increased 0.5 percent to 5,681 points.

BAHRAIN

* The index slid 0.2 percent to 1,116 points.
Italian banks pin hopes on state-backed rescue fund

By Silvia Aloisi

MILAN, April 11 (Reuters) - Hopes the Italian government and top lenders will soon thrash out a plan for a state-backed fund to buy bad loans and plug capital shortfalls lifted banking shares on Monday, even though analysts warned the scheme would be no panacea.

Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan has called a meeting in Rome with executives from Italy's leading financial institutions at 1600 GMT on Monday and an announcement of an agreement could follow shortly afterwards.

"This is the right week," Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told reporters when asked about the scheme's timing.

Italy's government is anxious to assuage concerns about its banking system, which fared badly in 2014 financial stress tests carried out by the European Central Bank and is groaning under the weight of 360 billion euros ($410 billion) in bad loans.

The aim is for the fund to mop up unsold shares in upcoming stock issues at distressed lenders and help buy non-performing loans from banks, five sources said on Sunday.

One of the sources said the fund would have a maximum equity endowment of 5 billion euros, on top of a debt component.

State lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti would contribute up to 300 million euros, the source said, with the bulk of the money expected to come mostly from top banks Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit, insurers and asset managers.

Rome, struggling under a public debt equivalent to 132 percent of GDP, wants the fund to be majority-owned by private investors to comply with European rules limiting state aid.

SHARES RISE

Shares in Italian banks - which have lost around a third of their value this year amid concerns over the solidity of the system - rose for a second straight session on Monday as investors bet an announcement may come in a matter of hours.

Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which has the highest proportion of bad loans, soared 12 percent. Banco Popolare rose 9.5 percent while UniCredit was up 5 percent.

Weeks of talks over setting up the fund took on added urgency due to a 1.76-billion euro cash call at Banca Popolare di Vicenza, to be completed by May 10.

UniCredit is sole guarantor for the capital increase and its own capital ratios could suffer if it was left with a lot of unsold shares. Two other rights issues totalling 2 billion euros loom -- one at Veneto Banca and one at Banco Popolare.

"We struggle to see there being demand for the three Italian banks looking to raise capital," Berenberg said in a note.

"We worry that a bail-in of an Italian bank may cause a chain reaction with the ripple effects felt across the European banking system."

Analysts said the country's top banks appeared to be willing to put money in the fund out of fear a bank collapse could trigger a run on deposits and drag down the whole industry.

But they said the scheme was a backstop, not a cure-all for Italy's banking sector, which has long suffered from low profitability, weak governance and too many branches.

"In the long term Italian banks need to consolidate, restructure and change their business models," said Luigi Tramontana at broker Banca Akros.
Yemen truce strained by reports of air strikes and fighting

By Mohammed Mukhashaf

ADEN, April 11 (Reuters) - A truce aimed at ending more than a year of war in Yemen appeared to be largely holding on Monday, although residents said fighting was still going on in parts of the country.

The U.N.-brokered ceasefire is meant to precede peace talks in a country that has become the face of rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It seemed to be holding up despite "pockets of violence", U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.

Artillery fire, gun battles and air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition were reported across Yemen, but a spokesman for the Iranian-allied Houthi movement said on Monday the group would respect the cessation of hostilities.

"We express our condemnation of air strikes and the military advances made in some fronts since this morning," Mohammed Abdel-Salam said in a statement on his Facebook page.

The Houthis said they had set up committees in six provinces to prevent escalation and coordinate aid efforts with the United Nations.

Earlier on Monday, the Yemeni government and its Houthi adversaries blamed each other for violence in the city of Taiz. Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV accused the Houthis of launching a ballistic missile, in violation of the truce.

The Soviet-era Tochka missile was fired into the battle-scarred northern desert province of al-Jawf but was intercepted in mid-air, the network reported.

Residents reported air attacks in support of government forces in the provinces of Taiz, al-Jawf and on the outskirts of Sanaa, the capital.

"There's continuous shelling in the downtown and the suburbs, and we can hear explosions across the city," said Jameel Abdo Ahmed, a civil servant in the battered frontline city of Taiz. Another resident said: "Nothing's changed."

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports of continued air strikes.

PEACE TALKS SET U.N.-sponsored peace talks are set to begin on April 18 in Kuwait, bringing together the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government. The Houthis forced the government out of the Sanaa in 2014, in what they called a revolution against corruption.

Saudi Arabia and its allies from the Sunni Muslim Gulf states began a military campaign in March last year to prevent the Houthis and forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the whole country.

The Saudi-led coalition expelled enemy fighters from the southern port city of Aden in July, but Houthi forces continue to hold the capital and tracts of the country, with the help of Saleh loyalists. More than 6,200 Yemenis have been killed in the war.

The Saudis fear the Houthis, who belong to a Shi'ite sect, will spread the influence of Iran, their Shi'ite rival, in the Arabian Peninsula.

The United Nations special envoy for Yemen said a committee of military representatives from both sides would work to make the truce hold.

"Now is the time to step back from the brink," Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.

The truce terms included commitments for unhindered access for relief aid. Nearly half of Yemen's 22 provinces are on the verge of famine, the U.N. World Food Programme has said.

The foreign minister in the Saudi-backed government, Abdel Malek al-Mekhlafi, told al-Arabiya TV: "This truce is in its early stages, violations may occur in the beginning, but we hope the next few hours will see more discipline towards the ceasefire."
Carinthia and Heta creditors signal readiness for compromise

VIENNA, April 11 (Reuters) - Creditors of Austrian "bad bank" Heta on Monday gave their clearest indication that they were ready to compromise in a dispute over the repayment of billions of euros of bonds.

The move to break the deadlock comes a day after Austria's financial watchdog FMA cut the nominal value of the bulk of bonds -- initially worth around 11 billion euros ($12.5 billion)-- by more than half.

FMA made use of a new European ruling that intends to share losses of a failed bank with senior creditors, making Heta a test case for attempts to finance bank rescues using creditors' money instead of contributions from taxpayers.

An umbrella group of creditors, which claims to represent nearly half the value of the bonds and which has repeatedly insisted on being paid back in full, said it was ready to table a proposal to find an out-of-court settlement.

The group said in a statement it was prepared for "constructive negotiations with (the) Province of Carinthia and the Republic of Austria and to present an offer structure face-to-face".

It did not provide any details of any negotiations with the southern province of Carinthia, which guarantees the bonds.

The FMA last year took control of Heta, formed following the collapse of lender Hypo Alpe Adria, imposing a debt moratorium until May after an audit exposed a capital hole of nearly 8 billion euros which the government was not prepared to fill.

In response, many creditors went to court to enforce their claims. Experts predict long-running court battles if no agreement can be reached between Carinthia and creditors who include German-owned Commerzbank and Pimco.

Carinthia's governor Peter Kaiser said at a news conference on Monday creditors would have to make a proposal "worth negotiating".

"Then we can probably enter into decisive talks with those who secure the financing," Kaiser said, referring to the federal government.

He added the province was in constant talks with the Austrian chancellor and the federal government over the issue.
UK's CMA voices serious concerns over Hutchison-Telefonica deal

April 11 (Reuters) - UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has expressed serious concerns about the proposed merger between Hutchison 3G UK and Telefonica UK and called for the European Commission to prevent "long-term damage" to the UK mobile telecoms market.

The proposed merger is likely to lead to increased prices and/or a reduction in the quality offered to UK consumers, CMA Chief Executive Alex Chisholm told the European Commission's Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. (http://bit.ly/1SYPxji)

European Union antitrust regulators launched a full in-depth investigation in October into Hutchison Whampoa's 10.3 billion-pound bid for British mobile operator O2 on Friday, concerned that the deal may push up prices.

The potential deal would make Li Ka-shing's Hutchison, which operates the Three UK mobile network, the top mobile operator in Britain.

"It is clear that the remedies offered fall well short of what would be required to meet the relevant legal standard, as detailed in our case submissions," the CMA said, adding that the only available option for the EU was a prohibition if the suggested remedies are not enacted.

On Monday the CMA suggested that the companies divest either the Three Mobile or O2 mobile network business completely or allow for carve-outs from the divested business.

Hutchison said it was "very disappointed" the CMA had intervened, adding that it could have "no legitimate" status in the process.

"It is of no surprise that the CMA opposes the merger," it said in a statement.

"It always has, and so has (British regulator) Ofcom. But it is for the Commission to assess any competition concerns, on the basis of the facts and proposed remedies."

Hutchison said the remedies it had proposed -- including striking deals for other operators to rent more than 40 percent of the combined network capacity -- went far beyond remedies accepted in previous deals in the sector in Europe.

It said the CMA's suggestion that either the Three Mobile or the O2 network should be divested was a "red herring" that would undermine the whole rationale behind the merger.

"There is no taker for such a remedy," it said.
S.Korea tells U.N. that N.Korea GPS jamming threatens boats, planes

UNITED NATIONS, April 11 (Reuters) - North Korea has been jamming GPS signals in South Korea since March 31, threatening the safety of civilian aircraft and vessels and violating international agreements, Seoul told the United Nations Security Council in a letter released on Monday.

South Korean U.N. Ambassador Oh Joon said the electronic jamming signals have come from five North Korean regions - Haeju, Yonan, Pyongyang, Kumgang and Kaesong - and "dangerously affect" the Global Positioning System.

"The GPS jamming by DPRK (North Korea) is an act of provocation that poses a threat to the security of the Republic of Korea and undermines the safety of civil transportation, including aircraft and vessels," Oh wrote in the April 5 letter.

On April 1 South Korea warned North Korea to stop and vowed to take action if it continued amid heightened tension over the North's nuclear and rocket tests.

The reclusive North and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Oh said the GPS jamming violates that armistice agreement.

South Korea has been on high alert against possible cyber attacks from the North after Pyongyang's weapons tests and angry rhetoric threatening war in response to new sanctions imposed last month by the U.N. Security Council and the South.

"The government of the Republic of Korea strongly urges DPRK to stop its GPS jamming without further delay," Oh wrote.
EMERGING MARKETS-Political hopes lift Peru, Brazil currencies to highest in months

By Bruno Federowski SAO PAULO, April 11 (Reuters) - The Peruvian and Brazilian currencies shot to their highest in months on Monday as traders hoped that political uncertainty in both countries could soon give way to a market-friendly policy agenda. The Peruvian sol jumped more than 2 percent to a six-month high as leftist presidential candidate Veronika Mendoza seemed set to miss out on a second-round vote. The country's select stock index headed for its biggest daily gain since 2008. Peru's stocks and currency had suffered in the run-up to the election as traders feared that Mendoza's rise in opinion polls could spell the demise of the free-market model pursued by Peruvian governments for a quarter century. Instead, conservative Keiko Fujimori will likely face off with investor darling Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, which should yield little surprising in terms of economic policy. "(The runoff) is widely regarded as the market's preferred outcome, with both candidates pledging to maintain pro-business policies, unlike Mendoza, whose populist rhetoric and recent surge in the polls had generated market anxiety," J.P. Morgan economist Franco Uccelli wrote in a client note. Meanwhile, the Brazilian real extended its rally for a second day to an eight-month peak before a congressional committee was set to vote on President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment after market close. A majority decision for the leftist President's ouster would pave the way for a vote on the House floor as soon as this week. Local media polls have generally shown increasing lawmaker support for an impeachment, boosting the country's stocks and currency. Many traders believe a change in government would lay the groundwork for an investment recovery in the recession-mired economy. "This week carries a promise of high stakes," said Correparti brokerage trader Ricardo Gomes da Silva. Shares of BM&FBovespa SA rose about 0.5 percent after it agreed to buy rival Cetip SA Mercados Organizados , creating Latin America's largest bourse with a market value of almost 12 billion reais ($3.4 billion). Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Tito Labarta lowered recommendation on BM&FBovespa shares to "hold", saying the acquisition makes "makes strategic sense, but outperformance limits upside." Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1605 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 825.49 1.06 2.86 MSCI LatAm 2151.05 2.45 14.74 Brazil Bovespa 50629.95 0.67 16.79 Mexico IPC 44996.68 0.31 4.70 Chile IPSA 3919.78 -0.18 6.51 Chile IGPA 19226.41 -0.15 5.92 Argentina MerVal 12360.17 1.13 5.87 Colombia IGBC 9864.26 0.63 15.41 Venezuela IBC 15189.02 -0.08 4.12 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.5170 2.22 12.23 Mexico peso 17.6435 0.77 -2.34 Chile peso 680.5 0.34 4.29 Colombia peso 3060 1.12 3.57 Peru sol 3.2916 2.32 3.72 Argentina peso (interbank) 14.5100 -0.14 -10.53 Argentina peso (parallel) 14.87 0.27 -4.03 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; Additional reporting by Paula Arend Laier; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Meredith Mazzilli)
Czech minister says coal trading firms offer to help mining group NWR

PRAGUE, April 11 (Reuters) - The bosses of two coal trading firms have offered to help to restructure coal miner New World Resources' (NWR) Czech operating business OKD, Industry Minister Jan Mladek said on Monday.

Mladek said Petr Paukner, head of coal trading firm Carbounion Bohemia, and Petr Otava, who runs trading group Metalimex which owns a coking plant using OKD coal, have contacted the government over loss-making OKD.

Government ministers were due to meet NWR representatives on Tuesday to try to reach an agreement that would avert the collapse of the company which employs some 13,000 people.

NWR is controlled by a group of bondholders, known as AHG, which holds 60 percent of voting rights and about two thirds of the company's debt. They have called for government assistance.

The government has been reluctant to provide aid to the company but it also fears that a collapse of the mining group would hurt the economy.

"We will lead these talks (with Paukner and Otava) at the end of this week or next week," Mladek told reporters. "The priority now is negotiating with AHG, which will take place tomorrow. We have to clarify if any agreement is possible with them."

Paukner and Otava could not immediately be reached for comment.

AHG said on Sunday an agreement was needed this week to secure financing for the company from the next month. Mladek said the government would not be pushed to meet deadlines.

The government has said options range from insolvency to a restructuring plan or government takeover.

Mladek said the Paukner and Otava were only willing to enter the picture through an insolvency which would rid OKD of its existing contracts.
HARARE, April 11 (Reuters) - Game wardens in Zimbabwe have killed a black rhino popular with tourists to end its suffering after suspected poachers shot and severely wounded the animal, the wildlife parks' agency said on Monday.

Ntombi, whose name is a native Ndebele word for girl, was an eight-year-old female with a 13-month-old calf living in Matopo National Park in western Zimbabwe.

The rhino had four bullet wounds in its legs and shoulder after being shot last week, said Caroline Washaya-Moyo, a spokeswoman for Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA). Its horns had been sawn off but were later recovered.

Veterinarians from animal conservation group Aware Trust carried out an X-ray that showed Ntombi had "endured unimaginable pain caused by broken legs and open wounds", Washaya-Moyo said.

"The animal was very immobile and was unable to walk to access food and water. Because of the seriousness of the wounds the authority had to put the animal to sleep," she said.

The ZPWMA is investigating the incident. Wardens are taking care of Ntombi's calf, which was not harmed by the poachers.

Buying and selling rhino horn internationally was banned in 1977. In Zimbabwe, killing a rhino carries a mandatory nine-year sentence upon conviction.

But rhino horn is prized in Asia for use in traditional remedies and surging demand has led to more poaching. A record 1,305 rhinos were illegally killed in Africa last year.

Zimbabwe's black and white rhino population is estimated at just over 800, said Washaya-Moyo. The World Wildlife Fund said in a January report that 50 rhinos had been killed in Zimbabwe in 2015, double the figure for the previous year.
U.S. 'very concerned' over Syrian violence before peace talks

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - The United States is "very, very concerned" about an increase in Syrian violence just ahead of planned peace talks in Geneva this week, a State Department spokesman said on Monday, blaming Syrian government forces for the escalation in fighting.

"We are very, very concerned about the recent increase in violence and that includes actions that are in contravention of the cessation of hostilities," spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing.

He said Secretary of State John Kerry conveyed the U.S concerns in a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Sunday.

"We would say that the vast majority of violations have been on the part of the regime," Toner said when asked who was to blame for violations.

Kerry wanted to make sure that in the next days leading up to peace talks "every extra effort is made in order to sustain and solidify the cessation of hostilities," Toner said.

Washington's worries come as the Syrian army appeared to send reinforcements to the ancient city of Aleppo, threatening a fragile truce in the run-up to the second round of peace negotiations.

The ceasefire was agreed in February between the United States, which backs Syrian opposition groups, and Russia, which together with Iran supports the Syrian government.

U.N.-sponsored talks aimed at ending the five-year conflict are meant to resume on Wednesday. The first round made little progress with no sign of compromise over the thorniest issue, the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Toner said the United States wanted to make sure that opposition forces were not attacked as the Syrian army seeks to take Aleppo.

"If they are attacking members of the Syrian opposition who have signed on to the cessation of hostilities, then those are violations of the cessation of hostility," Toner said, adding: "We need greater clarity what is actually planned, who are they targeting."
Niger's Issoufou tightens grip after polls with loyalist cabinet

NIAMEY, April 11 (Reuters) - Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou reinforced his control over the West African nation in the wake of a disputed election, naming loyalists to key cabinet positions on Monday while making no concessions to the opposition.

In line with traditional practice, the government resigned earlier this month following his re-election in March polls boycotted by the opposition, but Issoufou immediately reappointed Prime Minister Brigi Raffini.

Having served in several different posts in previous cabinets, Mohamed Bazoum, head of the president's Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism, was named minister of the interior, according to a list of ministers announced on state television.

Hassoumi Massaoudou, who previously served as interior minister, will take over the defence portfolio, an important supporting role for Issoufou, who is a crucial ally of the West in the fight against Islamist militants in the region.

Saidou Sidibe, meanwhile, returned as finance minister but without the economy portfolio.

Hassane Baraze Moussa, one of the few new arrivals in the 38-member cabinet, will head the mines ministry for uranium-producing Niger, after previously serving as director of a state-owned construction and urban development company.

Issoufou won a second five-year term with 92.5 percent of the vote in the March 20 run-off election.

His opponent, opposition leader Hama Amadou, had been in jail since November on charges related to a baby-trafficking scandal and was therefore unable to campaign. He was flown to France for medical treatment just days before the election, and the opposition called for a boycott of the polls.
Americans are now living 20 years longer than their grandparents generation, thanks largely to the work of public health. Even still, Americans are not the healthiest people in the world. In fact, the United States spends billions of dollars on health care each year, but Americans live shorter lives and suffer more health issues than our peers in other high-income countries.

The Virginia Department of Health just celebrated National Public Health Week, which focused on Virginias Plan for Well-Being (the Plan). Improving well-being can help to lower health care costs and increase productivity, ultimately enhancing Virginias competitiveness and resiliency.

The opportunity for health begins with our families, neighborhoods, jobs and schools, but there are significant differences in health within and between communities throughout Virginia. The Plan highlights specific goals and strategies for communities to focus on and, one hopes, make measurable health improvements by 2020. Incorporated into this plan are efforts in the following areas:

Healthy, connected communities

Feeling safe, supported, and connected to your neighborhood and community is critical for well-being. Examples of how we are accomplishing this at the local level throughout the Thomas Jefferson Health District, which serves the Greater Charlottesville area, include:

 Mobilizing community leaders for health improvement begins with assessment. Engaging stakeholders across multiple sectors to review our communities strengths and opportunities is the first step to creating an actionable plan for overall health improvement.

 The environmental health program prevents the spread of communicable diseases by monitoring and permitting restaurants and temporary events to help prevent foodborne illnesses.

 The epidemiology program conducts surveillance and investigates more than 80 communicable diseases to prevent diseases from spreading and stop outbreaks in their tracks.

 The emergency preparedness program plans for and responds to large-scale health events and natural and man-made disasters, like severe weather and flu season.

Strong start for children

Childrens health is affected by influences such as nutrition, illness, education and other factors. Health-related factors may affect academic success, and children with chronic health problems may experience poorer health outcomes. TJHD provides the following to address these issues:

 The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program helps pregnant women, mothers, in-fants, and young children stay and eat health during times of important growth.

 Maternal and child cealth programs provide nutrition education and preventive health services to ensure planned and healthy pregnancies, healthy moms, and healthy babies.

 The Improving Pregnancy Outcomes Work Group works collaboratively to improve birth outcomes, eliminate disparities, and lower infant deaths.

Preventive actions

We can decrease the burden of disease significantly and reduce health care spending by creating conditions that lead to a healthier community. TJHD provides the following services:

 Vaccination programs help to reduce, control and prevent illnesses that spread from person to person.

 Prevention of communicable diseases and outbreaks are accomplished through our on-site programs that permit and inspect private wells and disposal systems.

 Sexual health clinics provide screening and treatment for a variety of sexually transmitted infections.

 Rabies prevention and control through education, training and investigation of reported animal bites.

 Education and distribution of child safety seats to prevent injury from motor vehicle acci-dents and portable cribs to help reduce the risk of accidental suffocation and sudden infant death.

 Harvest of the Month and Fresh Farmacy are collaborative community programs that help to bring healthy foods to neighborhoods and schools.

 Promotion of tobacco cessation and support through the establishment of smoke-free policies and smoking cessation classes.

System of health care

The Community Health Worker program spreads health education and navigation skills through our communities to improve health and empower individuals to live a healthy lifestyle. Community health workers have special insight into the communities they serve and can help promote positive health outcomes by living as role models, empowering others to access health and human services and sharing information in culturally appropriate ways.

Health begins where we live work, and play. The Plan is a call to action for all of us to work together to give every Virginian the chance to live a healthy life. Please join us in helping to reach our goal of becoming the healthiest nation in one generation.

Elizabeth Beasley is senior health promotions consultant for the Thomas Jefferson Health District.
BLACKSBURG  Flint, Michigan, is hardly the only place Virginia Tech researchers are looking for contaminants in drinking water.

In Virginia, one team thats part of Virginia Techs Cooperative Extension has tested private well samples serving 16,000 people across the state since 2008.

Researchers discovered health-based contaminants above federal standards for municipal systems in almost 60 percent of the well samples  including Flint-like elevated lead levels in almost 20 percent of homes and coliform bacteria in about 40 percent of homes.

You have failing systems all around you, said Leigh Anne Krometis, a biological systems engineering assistant professor who has analyzed samples with the program.

The Virginia Household Water Quality Program  a service of Techs cooperative extension program  is working to prevent those failing well systems from harming people across the commonwealth.

These guys are doing a great service, said Marc Edwards, the leader of Techs Flint Water Study group and, in part because of the Flint situation, now a nationally renowned expert on water safety.

According to a 2010 U.S. Geological Survey report, about 1.7 million Virginians rely on private wells  systems that draw water from the ground and arent connected to municipal water infrastructure. And because theyre privately owned, there is little to no regulation and they are often misunderstood, said Erin Ling, senior extension associate and program coordinator.

Many Virginia wells supply rural homes, but there are also many wells that are used in subdivisions on the outskirts of towns and cities, Ling said.

The water quality program offers to test peoples private wells for a reduced rate of $52. Agents and volunteers within the programs network will then help people navigate the results in an information session, Ling said.

If we can empower people with accurate information we can help them make informed decisions, she said.

More than 20 years ago, when Karen Iannaconne and her husband moved to their home in the Prices Fork community near Blacksburg, the source of their water was the last thing on her mind, she said.

The couples groundwater well was out of sight and easy to forget about.

Our well was literally buried under the surface of the ground, Iannaconne said.

A buried well  which is common among older wells  isnt a safe one, said Krometis. Because their caps are below the surface its easier for harmful things like wildlife or livestock waste to seep into them, she said.

That waste might cause bacteria like E. coli or parasitic giardia to become present in the water. But even if harmful diseases dont automatically present themselves, its still unlikely people want to ingest such water, she said.

Nobody wants to drink fecal material, Krometis said.

Iannaconne said she was fortunate because she was able to get into the water quality program about eight years ago after reading about it on Virginia Techs website. Because of the program, she had testing done on her water, which shes continued to do annually. Luckily for her, nothing harmful has been found, she said.

However, based on the condition of her well its likely she couldve been in harms way, she said experts told her at the time.

Now, she has proper sanitary caps on two wells located on her property.

In Virginia, there is little regulation for private well owners. Wells built before 1992 had no regulations when they were bored or drilled, because there was no policy from the Virginia Department of Health.

There are installation regulations for wells that local drillers need to know in order to obtain a license, said Gary Coggins, New River Health District environmental health manager. However, there are no regulations for wells after that point. State and federal water safety agencies dont regulate private wells.

Coggins said that when a new well is drilled the health department will come and inspect it to make sure proper protocols are performed. The health department will also investigate any instances where a communicable disease is reported.

However, Coggins said, the health department doesnt do routine inspections of private wells because its ultimately up to the well owner to maintain them.

Theyre private, so its the private owners responsibility to have them checked, Coggins said. Were a big proponent that its absolutely important to get your well checked.

One way the program is empowering people is through research on private wells done by members of the team that found lead in Flints water.

Kelsey Pieper, a researcher on the Flint team who recently got her doctorate from Tech, was the primary author on a study published last fall that found that 19 percent of homes in Virginia had water with amounts of lead above the Environmental Protection Agency standard. The study determined that much of the lead in private water systems is due to similar problems that occurred in Flint: corrosive water.

Corrosion  common in some parts of Virginia  happens with water in pipes that contain lead or brass, and that causes leaching.

According to Pieper, one of the places that has the worst such problem in Virginia is Albemarle County, where about a third of homes had particulate lead in their water supply. In the Roanoke and New River valleys, corrosive water is less common in some areas, but can be present in others simply based on whats present in the soil or the depth of a well. Shallow wells are more likely to have rain water seep in and bring acid with it.

Really the safest thing you can do is just test it, Ling said.

Piepers study, was one of a handful conducted nationwide on lead risks in private wells. Its authors, who included Edwards, wrote that as the country continues to look at water safety for its citizens, private wells cant be ignored.

 Without including a focus on private as well as municipal systems it will be very difficult to meet the existing national public health goal to eliminate elevated blood lead levels in children, Pieper and her co-authors wrote.

Those elevated blood lead levels can be catastrophic for developing children, said Casey Self, a pediatrician for Carilion based in Rocky Mount.

Self said the tricky thing about lead is detection in children younger than 5 years old. Children might be lead poisoned but show no obvious symptoms. Lead can cause a wide range of issues such as anxiety or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or even anemia or kidney failure. It can also be difficult to detect because many of those problems can be caused by other factors.

Thats why doctors test for lead in childrens blood at 1 and 2 years old, Self said. Identifying lead in the water could be another signal for young children who might have lead poisoning.

In Selfs experience, she said lead is rare in local drinking supplies for people on wells. However, because lead will enter from old pipes or other outside contaminants in older systems its important for people to be diligent about testing their water.

Self, who has been practicing medicine for more than a decade, said that health problems with well water are more likely to come from coliform bacteria or parasites most commonly associated with animal waste getting into water supplies.

People who rely on wells for their drinking water should have it checked annually, Ling said.

The household water quality program offers a kickoff meeting, followed by a sampling collection on the same day that will allow people to drop off their samples in their locality.

There will then be a followup meeting on a later date where extension analysts will help homeowners figure out what the results mean and what steps should be taken to ensure their safety, Ling said.

The $52 to process a kit is lower than rates from a private firm, Ling said.

And because water source problems can impact property values, Ling said, the results of the tests are confidential.

The sessions proved helpful, Iannaconne said. Now she regularly gets her water checked by private companies for harmful foreign substances in her water. Shes also used the opportunity to talk to her neighbors to make them aware of the importance of checking out wells.

It was an educational process that Iannaconne is grateful for.

I was shocked at how much I didnt know, she said.

Now I know I have clean water.

For more information about the Virginia Household Water Quality Program or to sign up for the program visit www.wellwater.bse.vt.edu.

The Virginia Household Water Quality Program will be preparing for water testing clinics soon in the Roanoke and New River Valleys. Water sample kits will cost $52. Virginia Tech extension agents will conduct testing in the following Counties on the following dates:

Montgomery, April 13

Bedford, April 27

Pulaski, May 18

Giles, May 18

Botetourt, June 22

Roanoke, June 22

For more dates in other counties visit www.wellwater.vt.edu/events.php.

Source: Virginia Household Water Quality Program, Virginia Cooperative Extension




"Since we made our initial phase three announcement, we added Spider-Man, which was a big joyous coup for us. We added Ant-Man and the Wasp, which was a big fun continuation of that story for us. Walt Disney Company has announced an Indiana Jones film for right around that same time. So I think it will shuffle off the current date that its on right now. How far down it shuffles, Im not sure yet. ... Its [now] a question of when [it will release]."





This also confirms INHUMANS is not being scrapped as previous rumors have claimed. It's just not coming out when it's currently set to release. This could imply that INHUMANS might be moved back into the studio's Phase 4 movie schedule.









Related Posts:




The mooving story of Jersey, her udderly miraculous recovery following her tragic fall at Young's Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs, and the outpouring of cow-puns that followed.

This incredibly mooving story began last weekend when Jersey, the dairy cow atop the familiar sign outside Youngs Jersey Dairy for more than 40 years, was blown down by strong winds.

Despite the tremendous fall, Jersey survived with relatively superficial injuries - the loss of a rear hoof, an ear, and a few scratches. However, thanks to Cow Specialists Bill & Chuck, a prosthetic fiberglass ear was quickly constructed, and her rear hoof was retrieved and reattached.

The following day, Jersey was quickly upgraded to "stable" condition, and Youngs, a favorite family destination since 1869, has been busy posting daily updates on Jersey's progress via their Facebook page.

Concerned locals were quick to respond, unable to resist adding their 2 (per) cents.

"I hear she is udderly thrilled with the outpouring of support from the community," posted Will Nordmeyer.

Responding to a photo, apparently showing the traumatized Jersey intravenously hooked up to a gallon of milk, Debbie Garza remarked "She is thinking...I finally get down off that sign and I am stuck here upside down with me udder showing being force fed me own milk?"

"Such a cowtastrophe! bahahahahahahah", Youngs retorted.

Harry Edwards cautioned, "Heard the cow was gonna sue for damages...but didn't have a leg to stand on."

And so the cow puns just kept coming...

Paul Hohlbein cried "GROUND beef in the truest sense!"

Josh Polkinghorn observed "I'm quite Moooooved by their dedication to getting Jersey back on her feet!"

As her remarkable recovery continued, fans of Jersey were treated to several new photos along the way, including one of her posing with her fellow herd (top right).

"Since her accident, her herds milk production has declined," Youngs posted, "[but] a quick visit to them by Jersey reassures them she is doing well and on the mend. Some time in rehab and support by her herd and fans will assure a full recovery."

"Awww, look at the other cows checking her out!" laughed Rebecca Chamberlain Jones.

"It is so good to see Jersey up and Mooooovin' around'" posted Cynthia Alvey.

"The cows ok guys, it just needed to break wind." suggested Paola Isabel Garcia Morales.

"Glad to see she is feeling so much butter." observed Jennifer Baguma.

"They are really milking this for all its worth, I love it!" exclaimed Tina N Ryan.

And just when you thought the cow-puns had been exhausted, Lesley Ann Million-Ballard stepped in:

"She looks moovalous".

Stephanie Reed had an interesting idea. "Are there any plans to make Jersey more aerodynamic? Fins? Spoiler? Swiss cheese holes?"

Jersey got a nice surprise on Thursday when she unexpectedly received a bouquet of flowers from "Moola", the mascot at People's Savings Bank in Urbana. Wishing your days bring you to greener pastures and a speedy recovery, Moola wrote.

Youngs responded, via their Facebook page: "All of us here at Youngs Jersey Dairy and Jersey herself would like to send a big thank you to the staff and their mascot, Moola, at Peoples Savings Bank in Urbana, Ohio for the beautiful flowers."

"Say CHEEEEEESE!!!" punned Cheryl AndJohn Osborne, reacting to the photo of Jersey posing with the bouquet.

Jersey, obviously moooved, was also anxious to redirect any further gifts to more worthy causes, and asked that the public please make a donation to her favorite charity  Youngs Ice Cream Charity Bike Tour, which benefits The Alzheimers Association, United Rehabilitation Services, South Community and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. (Collection jars for the charity can be found at The Dairy Store, or you can donate online).

Earlier today, Youngs posted a statement informing fans that Jersey was being treated to a day at the spa. Debbie Garza, who has apparently been following the story very closely, continued to look out for Jersey, offering some positive vibes: "2% better each day, soon she'll be whole!"

One local resident, Greta R. Namath, has been particularly outraged by the whole incident. She said to tell Mr. Young, "[Jersey] wants a raise".

Officials at Youngs were quick to acknowledge this post. "She will when we raise her back on top of the sign next Friday!"

Amy Sims, also unimpressed, chimed in: "I hope she is drawing Workers' Cowpensation benefits"

Overall, the mooood still remains positive. Amy Mullen Miller put it best: "These posts are, hooves down, the best posts ever!"

We're just left wondering when this story can be put out to pasture?
The owner is also willing to sell it for a 20-year lease for 20,000. (Photo: Representative image)

Now a days you can rent anything you want, an apartment, a car, a DVD but did you know that you could even rent a toilet? Yes, we are not joking, you can actually rent a toilet in the posh London suburb of Highgate just for Rs 2,82,000 i.e 3,000 a month.

James Atherton, the owner and the builder is looking to sell or rent just a loo area that he owns inside a block of flats at the bottom of Highgate West Hill, reports Mirror.UK.

Its located just next to the bottom of Hampstead Health and the offer is being promoted with a sign that says toilet space.

As its just by a bus turnaround point, Atherton hopes that it might catch attention of bus drivers who would want to relieve themselves.

This toilet has not been in used since many years and is in good condition as per Atherton. He claims that the area can also be used as a storage unit.

The toilet is up for rent at 3,000 a month but Atherton is also willing to sell it for a 20-year lease for 20,000.
The prime accused, Ram Singh, had been found dead in a cell in Tihar Jail in March 2013 and proceedings against him were abated. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday appointed two amicus curiae on appeals of four condemned convicts in the December 16 gangrape and murder case against the Delhi High Court order upholding their death sentence.

A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra appointed senior advocates Raju Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde as amicus curiae to assist the court in the matter. While Ramachandran would assist the court in appeals of the convicts, Mukesh and Pawan, Hegde would appear for convicts Vinay and Akshay in the case.

"We must express our concern in the matter. We feel the gravity in the whole issue. Sometimes there are many perceptions and we don't want to miss anything. We would like to be assisted by the amicus curiae in the matter. We appoint two senior counsels Raju Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde as amicus in the case," the bench, also comprising Justice V Gopala Gowda and Kurian Joseph, said.

The matter is listed for next hearing on July 18. On April 4, the court had commenced arguments on the plea of Mukesh and Pawan. Besides Mukesh and Pawan, the other two convicts, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh, had approached the apex court against the Delhi High Court's March 13, 2014 verdict, which had termed that their offence fell in the rarest of rare category and upheld the death sentence awarded to them by the trial court.

A 23-year-old paramedic was brutally assaulted and gangraped by six persons in a moving bus in South Delhi and thrown out of the vehicle with her male friend on the night of December 16, 2012. She had died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.

The prime accused, Ram Singh, had been found dead in a cell in Tihar Jail in March 2013 and proceedings against him were abated. On August 31, 2013, another accused, a juvenile at the time of the crime, was convicted and sentenced to three years in a reformation home. He was released from observation home in December last year.
Civilians wait to be checked at a checkpoint at the entrance to Ramadi, 115 km west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday. (Photo: AP)

Thousands of displaced families are returning to the western city of Ramadi three months after Iraqi forces backed by US-led airstrikes drove out the Islamic State group, an Iraqi official said on Sunday.

The citys mayor, Ibrahim al-Osaj, said Sunday that local authorities are only allowing families to return to areas that have been cleared of mines and other booby traps planted by IS.

He says thousands have returned, without providing a specific figure.

Iraqi security forces check identification documents at a checkpoint near the entrance to Ramadi, 70 miles (115 km) west of Baghdad, Iraq. Thousands of civilians have returned to the city after Iraqi government forces retook the Anbar provincial capital from the Islamic State group earlier this year. (Photo: AP)

Iraqi state TV aired a video showing the Head of Sunni Religious Endowments, Sheik Abdul-Latif al-Himaim, leading a convoy of dozens of cars into the city.

Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province, fell to IS last May. The extremists were driven out in December.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday will be in Karwar, where he would embark upon Indias most advanced aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya along with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.





The two ministers would take off from Goa in a military chopper and land in Karwar around 11.20 AM and proceed to the aircraft carrier, which India acquired from Russia. Parrikar would take him around in the ship and host a lunch on-board.



In December when he visited the USA, Carter accompanied Parrikar to the nuclear-powered USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN 69) for viewing flight operations while the ship is at sea.



As the two countries are engaged in talks over India's next home-grown aircraft carrier, Parrikar decided to host Carter on-board INS Vikramaditya in a reciprocal gesture.



From Karwar, the two ministers would take a return chopper flight to land on the decks of USS Blue Ridge, one of the oldest ships in the US 7th Fleet, which is now anchored off Goa.



Following another round of discussions on-board the US warship, they would return to Delhi in the evening for the delegation level talks scheduled on April 12.



After reaching Goa on Sunday, Carter visited Manguesh temple along with Parrikar in Old Goa and later went to the St Francis Basillica. Talking to reporters in Goa, Carter said his trip is very significant as it would help secure this part of the world.



Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook on Friday stated that Carter would use his trip to advance two of his key international priorities: solidifying the rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region and accelerating the lasting defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.


The Calcutta High Court has directed Narada News editor Mathew Samuel to hand over the sting tapes allegedly showing Trinamool Congress leaders taking money and the device used to record these to a three-member committee, set up by it today, in Delhi.



The bench had earlier directed Samuel to submit the tapes and device before the court here along with details of the company running Narada News, a web portal which allegedly conducted sting operations a few years back on several TMC leaders, including ministers and MPs.



Samuel, however, pleaded in his affidavit that he would hand over the tapes to any authority or person as directed by the court as he apprehended threat to his life and property in the city.



A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice A Banerjee today annouced that the committee would be set up comprising the Registrar General (Original Side) of Calcutta High Court, CBI DIG at Kolkata and an IG-rank officer of West Bengal Police which will secure the tapes and device and submit these before the court .



"The matter, which has serious ramifications on the entire system if the information is true, ... we feel the video tapes and device be kept in safe custody for meeting the ends of justice," the bench today observed while passing the order.



Taking note of Samuel's affidavit apprehending threat to his life and property, which in this case are the tapes and the device, the court directed that Samuel would hand over the original video tapes and the device to the committee members in Delhi.



The bench directed that the committee would fix the venue and time where the tapes would be handed over. The committee members would secure the tapes and device and submit these before the court.



The court directed that the DGP of West Bengal Police would depute an IG-rank officer and his name would have to be given to the court by tomorrow.The tapes were released recently by Narada News.



Three PILs were filed seeking action against Trinamool Congress leaders who were purportedly shown accepting money in exchange for promise of favours in the sting video.
The US Navy aims at stationing 60 per cent of its surface ships in Indo-Asia Pacific region by 2019, catering to various missions including counter-terrorism, a senior naval official said today.





"We already have 60 per cent of US submarines in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. The goal is to have 60 per cent of the US surface ships in this region by 2019," Vice Admiral Joseph P Aucoin, Commander of Seventh Fleet of the US Navy, based out of Yokosuka, Japan, told reporters.



He was on board the US Naval ship Blue Ridge, currently anchored at Mormugao Port Trust near here.



Aucoin said 10-15 more US surface ships in the region will make it to 60 per cent.

It is not just the number of ships, but the best of ships are being positioned in this region, he said.



He said three of the common missions for the US and India in this region are counter-terrorism, maritime security and humanitarian relief during disaster.



"Maritime security is crucial for the free flow of the trade through sea lanes.



Almost 90 per cent of the total trade happens in the sea. We are working closely with India and south and east Asian countries," the Vice Admiral said.



Aucoin said during his India visit, he is going to meet his Indian counterpart to discuss Malabar naval exercises scheduled for June this year.



The navies of USA, India and Japan would be participating in it. During the Goa visit, Vice Admiral Aucoin visited the Indian Navy's INS Hansa base here.



"India has amazing naval capabilities. There can be a great synergy between two nations," he said.



"India can be a great partner with the US as both the countries share similar capabilities," he said.



Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today visited the US Naval ship Blue Ridge, which arrived here from Mumbai last week.


State-run schools in Karnataka saw fewer enrolments in the current academic year than 2014-15, despite the fact that the government gives students free milk, midday meal, uniforms, textbooks and scholarship.





Admissions to lower primary classes in 2015-16 slumped by around 52,000 compared with the previous academic year.



In 2015-16, there were 26,83,364 enrolments in lower primary classes. The figure for 2014-15 stood at 27.35 lakh. (see table)







Year Class (1-5) Class (1-8) Class (1-10)

2014-2015 27.35 lakh 42.21 lakh 48.64 lakh

2015-2016 26.83 lakh 41.09 lakh 47.45 lakh





What explains this gradual decline at a time when private schools are recording increased admissions every year? V P Niranjan Aradhya, a fellow at the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, has some answers.

He said shortage of teachers and lack of basic facilities like proper classrooms were driving students away from government schools.



He disputed the governments argument that a slower growth in population in Karnataka was behind the decline in enrolments at state-run schools. Private schools are constantly recording increased enrolments, he said.



According to Aradhya, out of 53,619 classrooms in lower primary schools, 16,540 are unusable. Out of 1,58,418 classrooms in higher primary schools, 49,500 are not suitable for use.



If this is the condition of government schools, how will admissions go up, he asked and urged the government to seriously look into the problems of the schools.



Ajay Seth, Principal Secretary, Primary and Secondary Education, agreed that admissions in government schools are declining but cited different reasons for it.



Admissions for poor children in private schools under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, migration of parents and a gradual decline in the population growth are decreasing the enrolments in government schools, he said.



The trend is reverse in Morarji Desai residential schools which are run by the Directorate of Minorities.



The schools run classes 6 to 10 and the medium of instruction is English. A teacher at a Morarji Desai residential school in Chikkamagaluru said parents were approaching the institution for admission for their wards.



This is because the quality of education in regular government schools is not up to the mark, the teacher said.


Like II PU results, SSLC results could also be delayed with high school assistant masters threatening a strike demanding a pay hike. The Karnataka State High School Assistant Masters Association on Monday threatened to go on a strike from April 16 if the government failed to hike their salaries.





PU lecturers have already been on strike for a week seeking higher wages and have boycotted evaluation. Ramu A Gudawada, vice-president, Karnataka State High School Assistant Masters Association, said that depending on the outcome of their meeting with Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar on Tuesday, they will decide on whether to boycott evaluation.



When contacted, Ratnakar told Deccan Herald the government is willing to offer an honorarium of Rs 400 each to high school teachers and PU lecturers. The matter will be sorted out soon. The changes to be made in their basic pay is not in my hands. They have to wait for the approval of the Pay Commission recommendations in 2017. As of now, the government is ready to give an honorarium of Rs 400 for SSLC teachers and Rs 500 for PU lecturers which would mean a burden of Rs 50 crore to exchequer. But they are not happy. However, we have not stopped negotiations yet, the minister added.





Thimmayya Purle, president, Karnataka PU Lecturers Association said they would go ahead with the protest. We are getting an ex-gratia of Rs 500. Now, the government is willing to offer us Rs 500 more. We have sought a revision in the basic pay and not honorarium. PU lecturers would go on an indefinite hunger strike from April 13 at Freedom Park if their issues are not resolved, he added.


The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is yet to submit its interim report on the second year pre-university chemistry question paper leak, even as it intensified the search for the kingpin of the racket, Shivakumaraiah, and his son.





The police said they had questioned over 200 persons in Tumakuru, Dharwad, Mysuru, Koppal, Raichur, Bengaluru Rural and Shivamogga for their links with Shivakumaraiah. The police detained them and questioned them based on their mobile phone call details.



The police are also interrogating the five men arrested so far to ascertain if any police man was involved in the racket. There are reports that some police personnel assisted Shivakumaraiah in leaking the question paper as their children, too, were in the second year PUC, said the police.



We are still getting information from students and parents who claimed that all the question papers had been leaked, but there is no evidence to establish this. The police top brass will take a decision on questioning the students after the chemistry re-examination concludes on Tuesday, said a senior police officer.



The sessions court, meanwhile, postponed to April 16 the hearing of a petition filed by Shivakumariah seeking anticipatory bail. The judge directed the public prosecutor to file his objections before the date.




A fight over a petty issue between friends resulted in the murder of an 18-year-old youth in Siddapur police limits on Sunday. The deceased is Syed Rehman, a resident of Arekampanahalli 2nd cross.





The police arrested Salman on the charge of murdering Rehman, said the police.

Rehman and Salman, both friends for the last several years, went to a bar and consumed liquor. They picked a fight and exchanged heated words. Rehman tried to stab Salman with a dragger. Salman snatched the dragger and stabbed Rehman on his chest, said the police.



Rehman was rushed to a nearby hospital by a few local residents where he succumbed to his injuries some time later, the police said.



The two were childhood friends and worked as labourers. They raked up personal issues which led to the fight, said the police.


An explosion of data has already changed how we market products and politicians. Now a similar innovation is beginning to change how we combat poverty around the world.





Consider an unlikely problem: finding the poor. Even in a world riddled with poverty, nearly every government, nonprofit and aid agency, struggles with this issue. Where in Kigali should the Rwandan health ministry place a new health clinic? Which rural districts in India should receive rice at subsidised prices? All these decisions require not just knowing poverty exists, but pinpointing areas of greatest need.



But until very recently, the data commonly used to answer these questions came almost exclusively from countrywide surveys, which are expensive and logistically challenging. It is very difficult to randomly sample people in the rural areas of Bihar or in a slum like Kibera in Nairobi where even just mapping the streets is its own project.



These challenges make new kinds of data  information that can be gathered indirectly using algorithms and novel sources  particularly valuable. Google searches and Twitter and Facebook posts, which are useful in the United States, are unlikely to help in Kibera or Dhaka. But the core idea behind these sources of data  measuring without asking people directly  can be enormously helpful.



Take the case of measuring the most basic of economic variables: gross domestic product. The numbers can be unreliable in countries where the statistical infrastructure is weak, the informal businesses do not want to be tracked and the numbers may be manipulated. Morten Jerven, an economist at Simon Fraser University, argues in his book, Poor Numbers, that for many African countries the lack of quality data impedes development.



To see how questionable official data can be, consider that in 2015 North Korea released a budgetary report claiming its economy had grown by roughly 225%. To verify this dubious economic miracle, researchers can turn to Nasa, which has nighttime satellite images. One image shows an ocean of lights in South Korea and China. It also shows a vast darkness between them, depicting the grim reality of North Korea, where night lighting is a rare luxury. If North Korea is experiencing an economic miracle, it is a purely daytime affair.



Night-time luminosity tells us not just about electrification but also about economic activity more broadly, and statistical work shows it reliably correlates with economic performance. North Korea is not the only country where satellite photos tell a story that differs from the one told by official data. A seminal paper in the American Economic Review found estimates of income growth in many places that differed from official data by as much as 3 percentage points annually. Satellite photos provide a level of geographic specificity that national accounts do not. Another set of researchers used visual algorithms (related to those that help navigate cars) to analyse these images pixel by pixel, and they were able to quantify poverty in each square km of Uganda.



Satellite photos provide other useful information. In rural areas, researchers can see crops in the ground, allowing them to estimate harvest size  even before the actual harvest. This data offers a direct window into an essential part of the economic lives of many of the worlds rural poor. The information can be used to build early warning systems for crop failure, to create crop insurance or target other forms of assistance.



There are many other important, unconventional sources of data. Consider cellphones. For most of the worlds poor, each call and text has a very noticeable and real monetary cost. Economist Joshua Blumenstock at the University of Washington uses cellphone metadata (who calls whom, when and for how long) to measure wealth. For instance, people who make calls at certain times of the day are wealthier, and people who make lots of short calls tend to be poorer than people who make fewer, longer ones. In a paper in Science, using data from Rwanda, he quantifies poverty at very high levels of resolution, focusing not just on individual villages but on individual people.



Of course, all these data sources  satellites, cellphones and many others  work even better in concert. Flowminder is a nonprofit organisation that has taken on this challenge of combining data. Researchers are beginning to see tangible benefits. For example, GiveDirectly, a nonprofit group that gives cash to the poor, now uses satellite imagery to identify villages where thatched roofs signal that they may need help. Remote sensing data can be powerful, especially when combined with cheap classification tools like crowdsourcing or machine learning, says Paul Niehaus, co-founder of the organisation. Theyve let us strip cost and time out of the process.



Combining data

The World Bank recently held its Big Data Innovation Challenge. Many of the winners used novel data sets to improve measurement and decision making, and their titles paint vivid, if wonky, pictures: Improved Real Time Decision Making of Infrastructure Investments for the Philippines by Linking Geo-Spatial Road Network Data With Rich Geo-Tagged Social Data Collected Through Mobile Phones and Combining Taxi GPS Data and Open-Source Software for Evidence-Based Traffic Management and Planning.



Some of these projects are about changing how old sources of data are used. Typically, surveys are used to determine which variables are most correlated with poverty, such as having a thatched roof or a dirt floor or not having a toilet. These variables are then added up to form a score that ranks households. Those with the highest rank may be deemed eligible for help, whether it is a microloan, a food subsidy or a cash transfer.



But this kind of simple score card does not take advantage of the latest technologies. For example, in the United States, modern credit scoring agencies do not simply add a few variables. They use predictive algorithms to scour data for complex relationships most associated with default, which are then combined into a tailored prediction of credit risk.



Why should the financial services industry, where mere dollars are at stake, be using more advanced technologies than the aid industry, where human life is at stake?



A winning World Bank Innovation Challenge project, with which I collaborated, aims to close this gap. Melissa Adelman, an economist at the World Bank and one of the lead researchers in our project, says: Existing surveys may contain much more information for poverty measurement than is actually used. Were exploring how many more of the poor could be identified and targeted for services by using machine-learning tools. Its exciting because those better algorithms are essentially free to use, so the benefit-to-cost ratio of any gain in targeting will be very large.



All of these efforts improve efficiency. It doesnt sound very romantic: Costs go down and accuracy goes up. Typically, efficiency gains like these excite only technocrats. But when these improvements truly help the neediest, all of us should be excited.


The tragedy at Paravur temple in Kerala on early Sunday has once again brought to focus the danger involving use of fire crackers during festive seasons.





Across India, 1,204 people were killed in 1,236 incidents involving fire crackers in three years between 2011 and 2013.



According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there were 456 incidents of fire cracker accidents in 2013 in which 462 people lost their lives. This is the latest official figures available with the government so far.



In 2013, Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of 89 deaths in 93 incidents. Madhya Pradesh had 92 deaths in 92 incidents while Gujarat had 66 deaths in as many incidents.

Kerala reported 17 deaths in 14 incidents in 2013, according to NCRBs Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) 2013 report.



In 2012, there were 505 deaths in 468 incidents while 2011 witnessed 237 deaths in 312 cases.



Though incidents involving fire accidents in factories manufacturing combustible items like fire crackers and match box are part of ADSI 2014, it does not give figures on other fire cracker related incidents alone. According to this figure, there were 143 incidents in such units in 2014.



Sundays incident is not the first such incident this year in Kerala in which fire crackers at festivals have resulted in tragedy. On January 22, a woman was killed when a warehouse attached to a temple in Ernakulam district caught fire. The accident happened during the production of crackers for the festival.



Officials said locals always insist on getting permission for fire cracker display citing long standing tradition. They said many times local administration finds it difficult to enforce regulations on such matters as it can create local tension. Also, many a times, the political leadership also intervene to circumvent the regulations.



Even if one enforces regulations, such accidents can take place. So the need is to take maximum precaution. We need to have stricter rules and regulations to deal with such situations, a senior official said.




Eight months after his re-admission, Congress leader Jagmeet Singh Brar on Monday was expelled from the party for launching a campaign against Punjab unit chief Amarinder Singh.





The 57-year-old Brar was given the marching orders as he continued his tirade against Amarinder Singh, the partys face for the Assembly elections next year, despite warnings from the central leadership.



All India Congress Committee (AICC) has expelled Jagmeet Singh Brar, ex-MP, from the primary membership of the party with immediate effect, Shakeel Ahmed, Congress general secretary in-charge of party affairs in Punjab announced here.



Brar had been at loggerheads with Amarinder ever since his appointment as the president of the Punjab unit of the Congress. His latest attacks were targeted at Amarinders campaign for the Assembly elections next year. He had mocked Amarinders Coffee with Captain campaign as too western and announced a counter Jeera lassi with Punjabis tour.



Brar had also praised AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals Maghi Mela rally in Punjab in January, remarks that had angered a section of the state Congress.



In August 2014, the Congress had suspended Brar for suggesting that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi take a break from politics and hand over the reins of the party to someone else. However, Sonia decided to revoke the suspension in August after Brar met her twice and gave clarification for his remarks.Reacting strongly to his expulsion, Brar said he had been condemned without hearing.


Following the split in Vijayakanth-led DMDK, the Tamil Manila Congress founded by former union minister GK Vasan is close to breaking up after senior leaders raised objections over the decision to join DMDK-PWF alliance.





Former Congress MP Viswanathan, TMC general secretary SR Balasubramaniam and party vice-president Peter Alphonse made no secret of their displeasure over Vasans alliance strategy and are reportedly heading to Congress.



We have decided to quit since Vasan did not discuss his decision (to join DMDK-PWF alliance). We are totally against it and cannot accept the decision, Viswanathan said.

The dissident leaders and thousands of their supporters, who joined the TMC when Vasan revived it in November 2014, said they would take the appropriate decision at the right time.



Vasan, on the other hand, said the alliance with DMDK-PWF will brighten the partys prospects.



Tamil Nadu Congress Committee sources said the TMC leaders would meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi and discuss their return to the party fold. A senior TNCC leader said they would even contest the forthcoming polls in Congress tickets.



TNCC president EVKS Elangovan has invited the dissident TMC faction to join the Congress and add strength to its election efforts.



This is their parent party. I welcome if they return, Elangovan said. Last week, several senior DMDK functionaries, including three of its MLAs, raised questions over the merit in joining hands with the PWF and gave their party leadership ultimatum to snap the deal and announce a tie with the DMK.



The leaders, including their party propaganda secretary and MLA VC Chandrakumar, were sacked within an hour after going to the press.



They subsequently floated a new outfit called Makkal DMDK.


Prime Minister Narendra Modis massive bank account opening drive under Indias biggest financial inclusion plan, Jan Dhan Yojana has not benefited north eastern states much. At least two states  Meghalaya and Sikkim have complained of no bank branches in rural areas.





In a closed door meeting of state finance secretaries with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and mandarins of Finance Ministry, most of the north eastern states flagged concerns about financial inclusion reaching slowly to their door steps.



Their concern comes at a time when the Centre is boosting of opening close to 22 crore accounts against only six crore two years ago. The Centre also claims that these 22 crore accounts have mobilised nearly Rs 36,000 crore deposits.



Sikkim flagged a major concern about its rural areas having few branches. This was a concern for Meghalaya and some others too, an official present in the meeting told Deccan Herald.



He, however, said the Centre ensured that the last mile connectivity will soon be achieved.



Concerns were also raised on slow release of finances to states under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and funding cuts which were coming in the way of implementation of CSS in the states.



Special refence was made by most of the states about two CSS -- Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), another official, who attended the meeting, said on condition of anonymity.



ICDS is worlds largest programme for maternal and child health care. The 12th Five Year Plan allocated Rs 1,23,580 crore to ICDS. However, the central government has allocated a little above 60% of the planned ICDS Budget till the current financial year which is the last year of the 12th plan.



The last years Budget affected a massive funding cut for centrally sponsored schemes in the name of a bigger devolution of funds by 14th Finance Commission. Though funding for SSA was increased this year, it was still lower than fiscal 2014-15.



Officials said the major confusion arises in the centrally sponsored scheme is that the finance minister through the Budget allocates money to the schemes and not to the states. Hence, the state finance departments, till the last minute, do not know when the funding is expected to reach to them and how much.



This state of confusion hinders the implementation of some of the important schemes like SSA, he said.
Braving heat, lakhs of voters turned up at booths across the districts of Bankura, West Midnapore and Burdwan to cast their votes for the second phase of polls in West Bengal on Monday.





Till the end of days polling at 6 pm, about 79.5% people voted.



Election Commission officials said that with the mercury hovering above 42 degrees Celsius in the 31 seats of the polling districts, 60% of around 70 lakh voters exercised their franchise by 1 pm.



While officials said that polling was mostly peaceful, barring stray incidents of clashes, opposition parties alleged large-scale violence and intimidation by workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress. The poll panel received hundreds of complaints of voter intimidation, violence and Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctioning from across the polling districts. We redressed around 950 of the complaints and many of these were found to be baseless. Were looking into all aspects, an official said. The Left, Congress and BJP alleged the polls were neither peaceful nor fair.



The CPM state committee accused the Trinamool of staging demonstrations against party state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, who is contesting from Narayangarh in West Midnapore. Mishra was heckled when he visited some booths from where he received complaints of electoral malpractices, including attempts to intimidate voters, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said. Mishra also complained of similar incidents of violence.



There have been incidents at Jamuria, Pandaveswar and Raniganj in Burdwan, at Keshpur and Garbeta in West Midnapore, along with at Patrasayer in Bankura. Voters, however, withstood all these intimidating tactics, Mishra said, adding that while he did not have any trust in the police or the administration, he trusted the EC and the people. The Lefts coalition partner, the Congress, also complained of similar excesses by Trinamool workers at Sabang in West Midnapore, where former state minister Manas Bhunia is fighting to retain his seat.



Trinamool goons have been on the prowl since Sunday night, intimidating voters and attacking polling agents. There has been widespread violence and voter intimidation at Sabang, Bhunia said.



Opposition leaders also complained that central security forces were absent in many of the booths.



Besides Mishra and Bhunia, the phase had a number of prominent candidates in the fray, including BJP state president Dilip Ghosh pitted against 91-year-old Gyan Singh Sohanpal, a 10-time Congress MLA from Kharagpur Sadar. While voters braved the scorching heat to exercise their franchise, the extreme weather claimed the life of polling officer Parimal Barui at Pandaveshwar in Burdwan, who collapsed and died of sun stroke.




Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, in a press conference on Monday, said Election Commission (EC) officials are biased.





Later, the EC lodged an FIR against Gogoi for violating the Modal Code of Conduct, sources informed DH.



Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena told journalists in New Delhi that the poll panel directed the District Election Officer for filing a First Information Report against Gogoi. He said that the decision to lodge the FIR was taken after ascertaining the facts about the chief ministers press conference.



The FIR has been lodged against the chief minister for violation of the Section 126 of the Representation of Peoples Act.



Violation of the Section 126 of the RP Act attracted penalty or imprisonment for up to two years or both. The penalty has not been quantified in the law.



The EC also observed that BJP leader in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sharma, had not held a procession when the polling was on. According to the information received by the poll panel, some people had gathered to take a glimpse of Sharma when he was returning from a temple. The EC, however, would look into the purported comments he had made about some financial irregularity while interacting with people.



Gogoi said EC officials were harassing Congress leaders across the state.

Gogoi cited a Sunday night incident when the residence of Congress leader and former minister Goutam Bora at Dhing In Nagaon district was laid siege to by EC officials.



While the poll panel did not take any action for violation of code of conduct by BJP leaders like Himanta Biswa Sarma, it raided the houses of other Congress leaders like Rockybul Hussain and Goutam Bora without any reason Gogoi said.



On knowing that Gogoi called a press conference, the BJP lodged a complaint with the EC that Gogoi is trying to violate the Modal Code of Conduct. The EC intervened and reportedly asked Gogoi to cancel the the press conference, but the chief minister went ahead with his plan claiming that the EC has not issued him any official order to cancel the press meet.



I am a law abiding citizen. But should I not clarify my stand, Gogoi added.

Later the EC asked TV news channels not to air the press conference, official sources added.



Later in the evening, Assam Congress chief Anjan Dutta took yet another dig at the EC saying that their officials had throughout the campaign targeted the Congress and was favouring the BJP.



The Congress has also lodged complaint against the BJP after the party heavy weight Himanta Biwsa Sarma took out a bike rally in his Jalukbari constituency on April 10, a day after the official time for campaigning was over.



Meanwhile, the BJP has retorted back saying that the Gogoi not only violated the rules but demeaned the chair of chief minister.



The ruling Congress is totally frustrated. After the huge turnout in second phase like the first phase, we are sure people have voted for change and we are coming to power with full majority, state BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal told reporters on Monday evening.


The Advocates Association Bengaluru has filed a PIL questioning the formation of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). It has sought directions for quashing the government notification dated March 19, 2016 wherein the Lokayukta police wings powers to investigate will be superseded by deputy superintendents of police. The association, in its PIL, said that the Karnataka Lokayukta is a creation of the state legislature and has been constituted for a specific purpose. This is broadly to review the states actions and to curb corruption and nepotism. Creation of the ACB would virtually defeat the very purpose for which the Lokayukta is constituted and will result in the creation of a parallel body through an executive notification to achieve the same purpose with lesser intent, the PIL states.





ACB empowers the chief minister to veto investigation or the sanction of investigation. This in itself defeats the very purpose of the anti-corruption drive, the PIL states. The Dy SP of the ACB being a Class I officer, works under the authority of the chief minister and any independent investigation is only a mirage, it adds. The ACB is virtually in the nature of a kid glove boxer to the corrupt administration and is constituted to defeat the purpose of the Prevention of Corruption Act itself, the PIL states. The court is yet to hear the PIL.
The state government has no plans to abolish the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Home Minister G Parameshwara asserted on Monday.





Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Parameshwara said the government, if required, would bring in changes in the functioning of the ACB.



He said the Karnataka High Court had recently stayed the transfer of cases from the Lokayukta to the ACB. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had convened a meeting in this regard and to discuss other aspects related to the ACB. However, the meeting was postponed to Tuesday as the chief minister had to leave for Nagpur and also due to the unavailability of Law Minister T B Jayachandra, the minister said.



The state government has already issued a notification constituting the ACB. Tuesdays meeting will discuss its functioning. Some have opposed the formation of the ACB. We will also discuss their concerns and, if need be, bring in changes, Parameshwara said.



He said as many as 18 states had functional ACBs and in 11 states they functioned under the ambit of the chief minister. In four states, they function under the chief minister and home minister. In three states (Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra), the home minister is in charge of ACB, he said. To a question whether the state government also proposed to bring the ACB under the ambit of the home minister, Parameshwara replied in the negative.



The home department is preparing a handbook on the role and responsibilities of the ACB. It would be soon sent to the Department of Administrative and Personnel Reforms for ratification, the minister said.


After getting an earful from the Supreme Court on handling the drought situation, the Modi government on Monday cracked the whip asking ministries to immediately allocate funds for procurement of fodder, supply of drinking water and increasing days of employment under the rural jobs scheme.





Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha summoned a meeting of Secretaries of departments of Agriculture, Rural Development, Animal Husbandry, Food and Public Distribution, Home Affairs, Water Resources, Finance, and Railways to review the situation in drought affected areas of the country.



Later, Sinha also held consultations with chief secretaries of the drought affected states and issued directions to address the difficulties faced in access to drinking water, supply of fodder, rural employment and immediate relief assistance.



Sinha asked the Agriculture Ministry to immediately allocate funds to the state governments for procurement of fodder. Similarly, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has been asked to release funds for rural drinking water supply to obviate problems.




The Supreme Court on Monday agreed for sending a plea calling the Bombay High Courts acquittal of actor Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run case as void and arbitrary for consideration before a bench hearing the Maharashtra governments appeal.





A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur, however, questioned the petitioner senior advocate Pt Parmanand Katara as to how he was concerned about the case involving the actor.



Katara maintained that because the accused was a famous actor, he should not be allowed to take undue benefit under the law.



In his petition, he claimed since Salman was convicted and sentenced to five years jail term with fine, the law required that the revision petition should have been filed under Section 397/401 (powers of high court to hear revision petitions) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and not a criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of CrPC.



He said under Section 374, the appeal can be filed if the conviction was for seven years or more.



The high court passed a judgment acquitting Salman on December 10, 2015, without jurisdiction and this legal flaw and blunder was not pointed out in high court by lawyers from both sides, he claimed. Kataras plea will now be taken up by a bench presided over by Justice J S Khehar.


Nearly a month after Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Gods gift to India, his Cabinet colleague Radha Mohan Singh sang similar paeans on Monday.





While addressing a gathering of farmers organised by the BJPs Kisan Cell at the Constitution Club here, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said: After Independence, no government has come to power that worries so much about the future of the country. In a way, to the people of the country, the Modi government and the prime minister are gods gift.



Moving a political resolution at the BJP conclave on March 21, Naidu had observed that Modi was gods gift for India and a messiah of the poor which was not very palatable to senior leaders in the party.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday underscored Indias role as a net security provider in Indian Ocean.





He joined Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom in New Delhi to witness signing of five pacts, including a defence cooperation action plan.



India is fully aware of its role as a net security provider in Indian Ocean and is ready to protect its military interests in the region, Modi said while addressing media with Abdulla Yameen.



The prime ministers comment came at a time when India was seeking to expand its strategic footprints in Indian Ocean in response Chinas growing maritime assertiveness in the region.



We are conscious of security needs of Maldives. President Yameen agreed that Maldives will be sensitive to our strategic and security interests. It is clear that the contours of India-Maldives relations are defined by our shared strategic, security, economic and developmental goals, said the prime minister.






After Sarabjit Singh, another Indian prisoner, Kripal Singh, on death row in Pakistans Kot Lakhpat Jail, died on Monday under mysterious circumstances.





Singh had been languishing in Pakistan jail since 1992 after he was arrested in Pakistan and was accused of terror and spying.



Reasons of his sudden death in the jail are still unclear and may come out after autopsy report. Some reports, however, suggest he died of a heart attack in a hospital where he was taken after he complained of chest pain on Monday. Kirpal hails from Mustafabad Saidan village in Gurdaspur in Punjab.



He had reportedly crossed over inadvertently into Pakistan in an inebriated state twenty six years ago.



After the brutal attack on Sarabjit Singh in Kot Lakhpat jail three years ago, his family back home in Punjab had apprehended threat to Kripals life in jail. They had sought the Centres intervention in the case, but to little avail.



His kin say the least the government can now do is to get back his body for the last rites. Early March this year, sources said, the family received two letters from Kripal written in Urdu. That was the last time they heard of him.



Earlier letters by Kripal to his family had indicated towards the horrible conditions prevailing at Kot Lakhpat jail. Letters also pointed out towards the adverse treatment meted out to inmates.



Kripal had also served in the Army. He was the youngest in the family of seven, including four brothers and three sisters. His parents, Dasram and Bavi Devi, and three siblings

have died.


A proposal to manufacture US fighter jets on Indian soil is on the agenda of bilateral talks between US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar.





Members of my team and industry are looking at the potential co-production of fighter aircraft, Carter said at a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations, New York, giving a clear hint prior to his departure.



His public comments come days after US aviation majors Boeing and Lockheed Martin gave a presentation to the Defence Ministry top brass about their proposal on producing fighter jets in India under the Make in India programme, though several officials in the defence ministry and Indian Air Force remained sceptical about the US move.




India is leading the way in innovation and technology, said Prince William, as he and his wife, Kate Middleton, wrapped up their two-day visit to Indias financial capital.





Being here today, it is clear that India is leading the way in so many areas of innovation and technology, Prince William said at the Young Entrepreneurs Event at The Social, a cafe which is also a collaborative workspace for emerging business talents.



During the meeting, the Duke of Cambridge interacted with young entrepreneurs from Mumbai who demonstrated their start-up ideas and enterprises.



Veteran industrialist Anand Mahindra, CMD of Mahindra Group, one of the captains of Indian business community, was present when Prince William also stepped into a Formula E simulator, made by Mahindra & Mahindra.



Told him last evening that he would be in a car simulator & he reminded me he was a pilot. Hes a real competitor!, he tweeted.



Assam visit

With the high-voltage polls over, Assam prepares to welcome the British royal couple who would visit the Kaziranga National Park and take part in summer festival of Rongali Bihu.



Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will welcome the royal couple. Such is the excitement that even the Paresh Barua-led ULFA (I) faction has also welcomed the visit.


The High Court on Monday directed Joseph Chacko, who is accused of duping NRIs of over Rs 500 crore by promising them sites in Bengaluru, to return the amount at the present guidance value.





The NRIs had expressed uncertainty over alternative sites as they were not sure they would be allotted sites which had proper approvals. They sought directions for repayment of their amount in keeping with the present market value of the sites. Justice AV Chandrashekhara passed the orders pertaining to 52 NRIs and adjourned the next hearing to Wednesday.



Joseph Chacko, an NRI, had duped hundreds of NRIs settled in West Asia, promising them residential sites. He sold them many sites under bogus khathas since 1994. Chacko is said to have swindled Rs 500 crore by selling sites in more than 25 layouts in and around KR Puram. He had taken a general power of attorney from land owners and formed illegal layouts in greenbelt areas without taking any statutory permission. Sale deeds were issued under bogus house list khatha numbers. He formed layouts in Sy No 59 of Kyalasanhahalli forming Elysium Township and in Sy No 14 of Doddagubbi and Sy No 9 of Bilishivalle to form Athina Township.



The NRIs later learnt that the layouts were not approved by the government and Chacko had conned them. There have been more than 200 complaints against Chacko in various police stations in the city and the CID chargesheeted him in about 85 cases.
The Modi government is banking on the forecast of a normal monsoon to pull the struggling farm sector out of depression due to two successive drought years.



The Centre also identified diversion of farm credit as one of the reasons for increasing farmers suicides and directed the state governments to ensure it reaches the intended beneficiaries this kharif season.



Addressing a national conference, Agriculture Secretary S K Pattanayak said the south-west monsoon is expected to be normal this season and asked the state governments to draw up plans to bring maximum area under cultivation.



In the backdrop of two successive drought years, Indias food grain production declined from a record 265.04 million tonnes in 2013-14 to 252.02 million tonnes in 2014-15. According to government estimates, the farm output is expected to be marginally better at 253 million tonnes for the 2015-16 crop year.



Private weather forecaster Skymet on Monday issued a forecast of above normal monsoon this year. The India Meteorological Department is scheduled to announce its long-range monsoon forecast on Tuesday.



At the conference, Pattanayak asked the state governments to make advance preparation for sowing of kharif crops such as rice and pulses by making adequate availability of seeds, fertilisers, and other agricultural inputs.



He admitted that the institutional credit mechanism was not working as desired as farmers were approaching money lenders despite the government making available Rs 8.5 lakh crore towards farm credit.



As a result, we have seen maximum number of farmers suicides last year, Pattnayak said asking the state governments to ensure that small and marginal farmers get access to institutional credit.



The government has earmarked Rs 9 lakh crore for disbursal of short-term agricultural loans for small and medium farmers in the Union Budget for 2016-17.



The government also ruled out any changes to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and asked state governments to roll out the scheme this kharif season.




Two Indian students were stabbed to death and another was critically injured in Ukraine on Sunday.





The two students, Pranav Shandilya and Ankur Singh, were fatally stabbed by three Ukrainians. The other student, Indrajeet Singh Chouhan, survived and is now recuperating in a hospital, Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup, said in New Delhi on Monday.



New Delhi has conveyed its concerns to the Ukrainian government and the Embassy of India in Kiev took up the matter related to safety of Indian students with the foreign office of Ukraine government, said Swarup.



Our embassy is in touch with authorities and monitoring (sic) the case. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families. We promise them all help, tweeted External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.



Shandilya and Chouhan were 3rd year students at Uzhgorod Medical College in western Ukraine, while Singh is a 4th year student at the same college. All three students are from Uttar Pradesh.



Uzhgorod is close to Ukraines border with Slovakia and Hungary. The local police recorded Chouhans statement in hospital and apprehended the assailants when they were trying to cross the border.


Veteran Kannada actor Sundar Raj on Monday lodged a complaint against HDFC Life Insurance former manager Vishalakshi Bhat accusing her of duping him of Rs 43 lakh. The actor also named Vishalakshi Bhats husband Srikanth Hegde and sister Anupama Hegde in the complaint.





In a complaint to the JP Nagar police, Sundar Raj stated that Vishalakshi contacted him through a common friend a year ago. She had claimed that a few firms offered attractive life insurance products. She convinced him that he could make huge sums by investing in those products and collected Rs 43 lakh from him, he said.



 Some time after I paid her the cash, I realised that she had duped several persons. Later, I came to know that she had given me fake bonds, he said in the complaint.



There are cases against Vishalakshi with Banashankari, Madiwala and Mahalakshmi Layout police. The Central Crime Branch (CCB) is investigating the cases and the JP Nagar police are likely to transfer the actors complaint to the CCB, said the police. The police arrested her in December last year from Delhi and brought her to Bengaluru.
A paper by Kshitij Awasthi, a student of the Fellow Programme in Management at IIM Bangalore, has been judged as one of the best accepted papers for the annual meeting of the Academy of Management (AoM) conference, to be held in Anaheim, USA, from August 5 to 9.





The paper, titled Effect of Political Connections on Profit Persistence: Evidence from India, is part of Kshitijs doctoral thesis. It is a significant feat, considering that only the top 10% of the papers accepted in this conference are selected for the honour. The acceptance means that the abridged version of the paper will be published in the conference proceedings, the IIMB said in a presss release on Monday.



Kshitij has co-authored the paper with three faculty members of IIMB  Prof Sai Yayavaram and Prof Rejie George Pallathitta from the Corporate Strategy and Policy area, Prof Trilochan Sastry from the Decision Sciences and Information Systems area.

The previous version of the paper had received the IIMB prize at the seventh IMR doctoral conference, a two-day event organized by IIM Bangalores IIMB Management Review (IMR) and the Office of the Fellow Programme in Management at the institute in December 2015.



The AoM meeting is the premier annual conference in business management, particularly in the Strategy and Organization Behaviour areas. Kshitijs paper was submitted to its Business Policy and Strategy Division.



Founded in 1936, the AoM is the pre-eminent professional association for management and organization scholars. It is a nearly 20,000-member global community, spanning 115 countries, comprising professors, PhD students of business schools at universities, academics in related social science and other fields and practitioners.


A day after being trounced by Sen. Ted Cruz in Colorado, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump blasted the state partys process for selecting national delegates and called into question the results.

The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed! Trump posted on Twitter on Sunday evening.

Moments earlier, he posted a tweet that asked: How is it possible that the people of the great State of Colorado never got to vote in the Republican Primary? Great anger  totally unfair!

The Cruz campaign ran the table in Colorado, capturing all 34 delegates at a series of seven congressional district meetings this month and the state party convention Saturday in Colorado Springs.

Colorado GOP leaders canceled the partys presidential straw poll in August to avoid binding its delegates to a candidate who may not survive until the Republican National Convention in July.

Instead, Republicans selected national delegates through the caucus process, a move that put the election of national delegates in the hands of party insiders and activists  leaving roughly 90 percent of the more than 1 million Republican voters on the sidelines.

The decision sparked significant controversy at the time and removed Colorado from the Republican primary map in the early stages of the campaign. But Cruz supporters worked quietly behind the scenes to build an organization to get like-minded Republicans to the March 1 precinct caucuses and capitalized on the Trump campaigns failure to adapt to the system.

Trumps campaign didnt put a visible paid staffer on the ground in Colorado until last week, when it hired Patrick Davis, a Colorado Springs political consultant, to organize national delegate candidates at the 7th Congressional District convention in Arvada. By then, Cruz had won the first six delegates.

Even then, the energy behind Trumps campaign didnt materialize in support. He managed to win only seven alternate delegates.

The Trump campaigns list of preferred national delegates distributed at the state convention on Saturday was riddled with errors and misspellings that only further hurt its chances.

The problems with Trumps ballots  and the candidates comments  raise questions about whether Colorado will figure prominently into a challenge at the national convention about the states delegates.

Ahead of the state convention, a Trump campaign strategist said it made the strategic decision not to compete in Colorado because the caucus system favored party insiders.

Trump skipped the state party convention, where Cruz gave a rousing speech that galvanized his supporters.

In an interview at the event, Cruz said Trump was scared to attend because he doesnt handle losing well.

Powered at first by volunteer organizers, the Cruz campaign began working to win delegates months ago and amplified the efforts in January when it brought U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, on board as state chairman. The campaign also teamed with controversial conservative organizations, such as the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, Gun Owners of America and religious liberty groups, to rally support.

The Colorado Republican Party only exacerbated the fears of the Trump camp on Saturday when it tweeted after Cruz claimed victory at the convention: We did it. #NeverTrump.

A second after the tweet, a state party spokesman came running into the press box at the convention and shouted it wasnt us!

The party quickly deleted the tweet and posted: The last tweet was the result of unauthorized access to our account and in no way represents the opinion of the party. We are investigating.

The partys spokesman, Kyle Kohli, said Sunday evening the investigation is ongoing and the party is examining its IP login history.

The party declined to comment on Trumps tweets about the process.

John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank
By Costas Kantouris and Nick Dumitrache

10 April 2016 IDOMENI, Greece (Associated Press)  Migrants waged running battles with Macedonian police Sunday after they were stopped from scaling the border fence with Greece near the border town of Idomeni, and aid agencies reported that hundreds of stranded travelers were injured. Macedonian police used tear gas, stun grenades, plastic bullets and a water cannon to repel the migrants, many of whom responded by throwing rocks over the fence at police. Greek police observed from their side of the frontier but did not intervene. More than 50,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece after Balkan countries closed their borders to the massive flow of refugees pouring into Europe. Around 11,000 remain camped out at the border with Macedonia, ignoring instructions from the government to move to organized shelters as they hold out hope to reach Western Europe. Clashes continued in the afternoon as migrant groups twice tried to overwhelm Macedonian border security. The increasing use of tear gas reached families in their nearby tents in Idomenis makeshift camp. Many camp dwellers, chiefly women and children, fled into farm fields to escape the painful gas. Observers held out hope that evening rainfall, which began about seven hours into the clashes, would dampen hostilities. The aid agency Doctors Without Borders estimated that their medical volunteers on site treated about 300 people for various injuries. Achilleas Tzemos, deputy field coordinator of Doctors Without Borders, told the AP that the injured included about 200 experiencing breathing problems from the gas, 100 others with cuts, bruises and impact injuries from nonlethal plastic bullets. He said six of the most seriously injured were hospitalized. The clashes began soon after an estimated 500 people gathered at the fence. Many said they were responding to Arabic language fliers distributed Saturday in the camp urging people to attempt to breach the fence Sunday morning and go to Macedonia on foot. A five-member migrant delegation approached Macedonian police to ask whether the border was about to open. When Macedonian police replied that this wasnt happening, more than 100, including several children, tried to scale the fence. Greece criticized the Macedonian police response as excessive. Giorgos Kyritsis, a spokesman for the governments special commission on refugees, said Macedonian forces had deployed an indiscriminate use of chemicals, plastic bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable people. But he said blame for Sundays trouble had to be shared with those in the camp spreading rumors of border openings. Kyritsis said the Idomeni campers should not believe the false rumors spread by criminally irresponsible individuals and to cooperate with Greek authorities that guarantee their safe transfer to organized temporary hospitality locations. [more]
By Aurelie Marrier dUnienville

10 April 2016 GOLA FOREST, Sierra Leone (Al Jazeera)  Beneath the dense forest canopy, Vandi Konneh carefully picks his way along the rocky footpath. Beads of sweat gather at his temples as he scans the undergrowth for signs of the poachers who roam here. Working as a park ranger in the remote Gola Forest in southern Sierra Leone is a dangerous business, but Konneh is not afraid. A muscular 36-year-old with piercing eyes and high cheekbones, Konneh is one of a small band of ex-militia fighters from the countrys 11-year civil war, who now use their skills and experience to preserve the forest. Walking deeper into the trees, Konneh is alert as he examines the nearby plant life. If we encounter any armed poachers, lie flat on the ground, he says. Just a month earlier, another ranger was treated in hospital after being slashed with a machete during an encounter with poachers. Pausing, Konneh breaks a small branch from a shrub on the right of the path. We ate this during the war to suppress our appetite and to help us focus, he says, chewing on the plants fleshy interior. [] Spanning seven chiefdoms and 70,000 hectares near Sierra Leones border with Liberia, Gola is one of the last remnants of the vast rainforests that once stretched for 2,000km along the humid West African coastline. Spindly trees stretch up to a high canopy that casts its shade over the leaf-strewn forest floor. Clouds of delicate copper-coloured butterflies swirl drunkenly in the heat. A global biodiversity hotspot, the park supports about 1,000 plant species, nearly half of which are endemic, as well as more than 330 recorded bird species, primates, forest elephants and the exceedingly rare pygmy hippos. But the forest is constantly under threat as a result of poaching by surrounding communities, for whom forest animals, such as primates, are a valuable source of protein. Illegal logging and gold mining also pose challenges. One of the challenges is that a lot of people want to do mining and some people are solely dependent on hunting, said Mana Ibrahim Swaray, the parks acting manager. Poachers are a very big threat to us. [more]
TOKYO  China, Inc.s rush to build its own memory business is real. But just how  and how soon  remains a complete mystery, several knowledgeable semiconductor industry sources based in Japan told EE Times.



Abundant financial resources available from Chinas National IC Industry Investment Fund, often called the Big Fund, augmented local government-led funds, have lent Chinas memory dream an air of credibility.



But setting aside Chinas aspirations, there is intense scrutiny here about the sources of IPs and engineering talent that China badly needs.

Click here to read more ...








Broadband access is still prohibitively expensive in many emerging markets, and according to the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, things are unlikely to improve if these regions follow the course charted by developed markets.

Capitalising on underutilised spectrum is crucial to extending coverage to the worlds remotest areas while making it affordable for those in the lowest bracket, according to the DSAs Executive Director H Nwana. DT Editor James Barton spoke to Nwana about the role that dynamic spectrum allocation can play in bridging the digital divide, expanding the Internet of Things, and keeping connectivity costs low in emerging markets.

Tell me a little about your background in spectrum policy.

I used to run spectrum policy at Ofcom; I was responsible for the 4G auction and digital switchover in the UK, as well as 3G liberalisation.

What do you consider the role of the DSA?

The DSA was founded in late 2013 by members such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft; it is a global cross-industry alliance focused on increasing dynamic access to unused radio frequencies. While I was overseeing the UKs 4G auctions I was also heavily pushing TV white space policy, and the reason for this is very simple: most spectrum is not in use for most of the time. To me, this is crazy  it might even be generous to say that 90% of airwaves are not being used in 90% of places, 90% of the time. Take Singapore for example  one of the worlds most technologically developed nations, but their regulator has stated that they are only using 6% of their spectrum. For this reason, dynamic spectrum access must be the future of spectrum policy.

Could you explain how dynamic spectrum access is defined?

Ultimately, its about sharing unused spectrum. In fact, you could define dynamic spectrum access as a spectrum-sharing approach that allows secondary users to access abundant spectrum holes, or white spaces, in licensed spectrum bands.

During my time at Ofcom, the first licensed band we chose to go after was broadcasting, which yielded the whole issue of TV white spaces. These frequencies have fantastic propagation characteristics  which is why they were chosen for TV in the first place  but despite this they are very inefficiently used. Certain frequency channels will be used in three particular major transmitters  which will be spaced very far apart - and the rest of the country wont use them at all, so there are significant areas where these frequency channels arent in use at all. These are the white spaces  and they can be employed by secondary users to offer other services such as broadband. Any good regulator should be looking at dynamic spectrum access anyway; not only is all spectrum underused, but some frequencies are incredibly useful and need to be shared.

So how does the Alliance aim to advocate this?

The first goal of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance is to close the digital divide  hence, why we consider the full utilisation of spectrum to be of key importance. The second goal is enabling the Internet of Things; when spectrum policies were first established, my predecessors never could have imagined a world where billions of things are accessing the airwaves - they figured it would only ever be large companies accessing spectrum, not wireless microphones, smart meters or cars. That world was not envisioned, but now that its happening regulators have realised that theres no way for billions of devices to access spectrum unless it is shared  we cant give every single thing its own piece of spectrum to use! A traffic light can use spectrum one minute thats being used by a smart meter or a car the next minute; they need to be able to share spectrum.

The final goal is alleviating the artificial spectrum crunch; the static way spectrum is allocated today means that huge swathes of it lie dormant or simply unused, and we want to provide ways for this spectrum to be used in productive ways. Theres practically limitless potential; the only criterion is making sure that the spectrums key function isnt affected.

The DSA probably spends most of its time currently on the first and third of these goals, although the second is of course becoming increasingly important.

How will spectrum utilisation help to bridge the digital divide in emerging markets?

In terms of the digital divide facing emerging markets, the key issues are affordability and reach  because reach without affordability is futile. This is the case in some parts of urban Africa; there is broadband access but no one can afford it, and conversely if you can afford it but dont have access to it, then whats the point?

Africa essentially faces both a lack of reach and affordability. It is an enormous continent; it eclipses Europe, China and North Americas sizes combined, so deriving spectrum policy from somewhere far smaller such as the UK simply doesnt make sense. It needs to use its UHF frequencies as much as possible to get the required reach, but these frequencies have been assigned for broadcasting. Therefore, until the frequencies are reassigned, the only way this spectrum will be available for communications is via sharing  and the only way to do this is via TV white space regulations that I am advocating for.

The issue of affordability is even more pernicious. If we talk about the global population as being 7 billion, then we can roughly divide it up as follows:

The first billion have an average annual income of $49,000, and are willing to spend $205 on communications per month.

The first billion have an average annual income of $49,000, and are willing to spend $205 on communications per month. The second billion drops very quickly to $12,000 average annual income. Theyre prepared to spend $53 per month on communications.

The second billion drops very quickly to $12,000 average annual income. Theyre prepared to spend $53 per month on communications. The third billion has $5450 average income, vs. $23 on monthly communications spend.

The third billion has $5450 average income, vs. $23 on monthly communications spend. The fourth is $3000 vs. $12.

The fourth is $3000 vs. $12. The fifth is $1750 vs. $7.

The fifth is $1750 vs. $7. The sixth is $1065 vs. $4.4.

The sixth is $1065 vs. $4.4. And the final billion, the one that lives on less than $1 a day, has an average annual income of anywhere between $350-$540, and is willing to spend $2.25 a month on communications.

If you scan those numbers, it is no surprise that there are 3.3 billion people connected to broadband  anything below $23/month is unaffordable. Carriers are not going to build expansive 3G/4G networks when the size of the purse for voice, TV and data is $12/month. If the fourth billion are already spending $3-$4 a day on communications, they dont exactly have much left over for broadband. It goes without saying that geographically, the sixth and seventh billions are dominated by Africa and South Asia. In India only 20% of people are connected to broadband; in Africa its 19%. The quality of broadband is also fairly poor.

So, how do we resolve these issues of affordability and reach? I do not believe for a second that the current 3GPP ecosystem is going to connect the next four billion any time soon. 70% of Africans and 66% of Indians live in rural areas; they arent going to expand into these regions without a strong incentive  so, we need to throw competition at them. Twenty years ago in Nigeria, there were only 300,000 fixed lines. When the market was liberalised and mobile competition was introduced  there are now 140 million connections in the country. That came through competition from another ecosystem. Similarly, the mobile ecosystem is now reaching its limits of profitability  most operators in Africa are getting 50% of their revenue from less than 10% of their base stations. This means that most of their base stations are running at a loss  and this is as it stands currently, when most base stations are based in urban areas. So, theres very little incentive for operators to move into rural areas. Competition needs to come from within the 3GPP ecosystem itself  they need to be promoting LTE in 450MHz in Africa for broad LTE coverage. But there also needs to be competition from outside, companies using TV white space regulations and deploying Wi-Fi type technologies to provide broadband in rural areas. For a significant number of people living in rural areas, this is likely to be their first experience of broadband  via Wi-Fi rather than LTE.

There needs to be an alternative, complementary ecosystem around Wi-Fi to balance out the 3GPP ecosystem. A lot of current 4G operators are already offloading a lot of the data to Wi-Fi; in Africa, its a valid blueprint to use low-cost 2G/3G to carry voice, then Wi-Fi to carry data.

What are the policy lessons that emerging markets can learn from developed markets?

I advocate making telecommunications the nerve centre of developing economies, particularly within Africa. I think its important that people like me, who come from an African origin, are able to articulate the issues in a telecoms/media/technology landscape and do something about it from an African perspective. I say this bluntly as a lot of regulation in Africa and other emerging markets is derived from Ofcom and other developed market regulators  and this is a mistake.

H Nwana is the Executive Director of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance.

The DSA Global Summit takes place in Bogota, Colombia on 26th-28th April.
Tests for gestational diabetes are taking place too late, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge.

Most screening for gestational diabetes  which develops when blood glucose levels rise too high in pregnant women  takes place at 28 weeks.

The Cambridge team studied 4,609 pregnant women at 28 weeks and found that the foetus was already affected in the 4.2 per cent who were then diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

Gestational diabetes can increase the likelihood of an abnormally large baby, which can be difficult to deliver. This heightens the risk of complications during childbirth, such as bone fractures and stillbirth.

Our study suggests that the babies of women subsequently diagnosed with gestational diabetes are already abnormally large by the time their mothers are tested for the disease, said lead author Dr Ulla Sovio.

Women who tested positive for gestational diabetes at 28 weeks were twice as likely as mothers without the condition to have an abnormally large foetus. Obese mothers with gestational diabetes were five times more likely.

Gestational diabetes can increase the risk of mother and child developing type 2 diabetes later in life, and researchers have called for earlier screening to improve short and long term outcomes for women and children.

Professor Gordon Smith, a researcher in the study, told BBC News: The recommendations are that screening should take place at some point between 24 and 28 weeks, but in practice a lot screen at 28 weeks.

Our findings indicate that it should be brought forward to 24 weeks and that would still be consistent with existing guidelines. And we should possibly be doing a second, earlier, screening test for early onset of the disease  but that needs further research.

The study appears in the online journal Diabetes Care.
Sony is rolling out the Android Marshmallow for the Xperia Z2,Z3, and Z3 Compact, featuring a new camera app interface

The Sony Xperia Z2, Z3 and Z3 Compact were due to get the Android Marshmallow update and Sony has finally started rolling it out. The new update which is based on Android 6.0.1 is currently rolling out to the three devices in selected regions. The update is currently live in US, Ukraine, Middle East, Russia and North Africa. The latest update brings a new camera app interface as well as the essential security patch which came out in February.

According to Xperiablog, the update is being pushed to the selected models - Sony Xperia Z2 (D6503), Xperia Z3 (D6603) and the Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803). The update is being rolled out over the air in stages and should come to the Indian sub-continent within a few weeks.

Sony has already updated its latest Xperia Z5 lineup to the latest Android software a few weeks back. That said, we await the next generation flagship of the company in India, the Xperia X Performance. Sony showcased the X Performance during MWC 2016 and it is due to launch in India. The relatively small 5-inch smartphone is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC and features a 23MP rear camera. The phone will come with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, and like most Sony phones will be waterproof and dustproof.
Smartwatches have been steadily evolving over time, with many companies now focussing on making watches that are aimed at premium watch buyers, and not just technology enthusiasts. Huawei, here, has aimed at the same. What I'm not sure about, though, is how much they've succeeded. In fact, the Huawei Watch is already about one year old, on arrival in India.

The Watch looks decent, and has a simplistic approach to design. For those who prefer bling, there is the Swarovski Crystal variant. The watch begins its journey with genuine leather straps, and metal strap versions will follow. On this note, what is interesting to observe is Huawei's certainty and confidence surrounding the product. The company wishes to introduce the Watch as a lifestyle gadget, with plans to showcase it across offline premium watch resellers, so that people can try it out before making a purchase. But maybe, there is a wee bit of doubt. Huawei is also playing the exclusive card, aiming to sell a limited number of watches. The Watch starts selling today on Flipkart, and will remain exclusively so for the immediate future. And at Rs. 22,999, that is possibly the right way to go. The Huawei Watch is more expensive than the new Moto 360 and Asus Zenwatch 2 and doesn't really offer much over them.

For budget-conscious buyers, there is the TalkBand B2, and the upcoming B3 that was launched in London a few days ago. Billing a smartwatch as a premium gadget and pricing it at Rs. 22,999 means that Huawei will almost certainly sell a very limited number of these watches, and looking at the price-sensitive market, successfully selling a limited number of watches will be quite decent a campaign for the company.

But that is enough about the pricing. The watch itself is quite decent a product in terms of hardware, but it does not immediately strike you as a very premium watch, if you're holding the standard variant in your hands. Adding to that, even the black leather strap does not really feel upmarket. The device is light weight, but at this price, many discerning watch buyers would be looking for a wrist accessory with slightly higher weight and density. These are areas that the Apple Watch really aces at, appearing as a premium lifestyle gadget, and the Huawei Watch misses out on.

The display, though, is a sheer delight. It is rich, responsive, and feels just right. 268ppi is pretty good on such a small display. Huawei has also added a pretty large variety of watch faces by default, adding to the customising factor of the watch. However, Samsung aced smartwatch innovation around the 23k mark with the rotating bezel on the Gear S2, and if you're looking for that kind of innovation to make your watch stand out, this is not the product.

The Huawei Watch packs in 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage, along with a 300mAh battery pack. Hardware-wise, it is well-poised. It also houses an array of sensors, including a PPG heart rate sensor, 6-axis motion sensor, pedometer and barometric sensor, which should see you through all your activity tracking needs. It covers all the essential grounds, and Android Wear gives it a massive support ground for applications, although, the app database is still to become really useful. You can also make and answer calls from the Watch itself, but that is the only feature that really stands out from other, similar watches.

The Huawei Watch is quite decent a product, but it is not the premium, smart timepiece. Should you pay 23 grand for it? I'm not convinced upon first sight.
CPP Group has issued proceedings in the High Court against its founder and main shareholder, Hamish Ogston.

The former payment protection insurance company, originally founded in 1980 as Credit Protection Plan before it was later fined by regulators, forced to pay 73m compensation and last year rescued from the brink of collapse by investors Phoenix Asset Management, said it was seeking an interim injunction against 42% shareholder Ogston to stop him from overhauling the board at a proposed general meeting.

Schroders and Ogston, who remains the largest individual shareholder but has no management or operational control over the business, have proposed four current directors of the company - being Stephen Callaghan, chief executive Officer; Roger Canham, non-executive chairman; Shaun Astley-Stone, non-executive director; and Abhai Rajguru, non-executive director - be removed.

In their place have been proposed appointing ex British Aerospace and McLaren Group director Sir Richard Douglas Lapthorne at chairman, ex Asda and Cable & Wireless legal counsel Nick Cooper and current CWC and serial non-executive Mark Hamlin to the company's board, though CPP complained they lacked either "experience of the business" and the latter two appeared to have "no prior board-level experience of regulated financial services businesses".

In 2012 CPP was fined about 10m for mis-selling by the Financial Conduct Authority, which blamed Ogstons company for its central role in the credit card mis-selling scandal.

The FCA said unwitting customers paid up to 84 a year for credit card insurance  even though they would never need it because they were receiving free cover from their bank.

On receipt of Ogston and Schroders' requisition last month, CPP said it was "in active discussions with the FCA regarding the lifting of the voluntary variations of permission to which the regulated entities are still subject".
Shares in mining minnow European Metals Holdings shot up 43% to their highest point since their London flotation as interest in the lithium sector intensified due in part to excitement around the launch of new electric cars and subsequent demand for lithium-ion batteries.

Aussie-listed EMH, which joined the AIM junior market in December, put out a statement on Monday afternoon that it was "not aware of any reason for the movement other than recent general market interest in the lithium sector and in ASX-listed lithium companies in particular".

Lithium prices have been a rare bright spot in the commodities market due to their use in electric batteries and electronic devices like tablet computers.

Last month, EMH said it had signed up to a new testing agreement with Germany's Dorfner Anzaplan as it deepened its series of independent studies to evaluate the best lithium extraction method for the company's 100% owned Cinovec Project in the Czech Republic.

Dorfner have previous experience with the treatment of extracting lithium from the same sort of zinnwaldite host rock that exists at Cinovec.

Lithium fever has spread of late thanks largely due to Teslas new electric vehicles (EVs), stationary storage devices and the resulting positive implications for lithium-ion batteries.

Daimler also last month announced plans to spend 500m on the development of a new Li battery factory in Germany.

Moreover, research into the performance and lifespan of lithium batteries used in EVs has been said to show less degradation and better performance than had been thought and can be reused for stationary storage applications.

From 2015 to 2024, the market to supply lithium ion batteries for light vehicles may total $221bn, according to some estimates.

Prices of lithium carbonate, the industrial chemical used in lithium ion batteries, have soared in 2016 and were recently running at around $5,800-6,200/t in the contract market. The spot market is seen trading in the $7,000-9,000/t range but some investors have worried that a bubble may be forming.

Broker SP Angel recently said: "While we believe lithium prices could continue to appreciate investors should be wary of ambitious lithium price claims. Lithium battery makers are keen to expand supply but are also keen to lower battery prices to better compete with NiCd and lead-acid batteries and expand the market for lithium battery products."

European Metals, which made it AIM debut at around 11p but has since neared 5p, rallied above 16.5p by lunchtime on Monday and was holding at 15.25p by mid afternoon.
Legendary Investments reported promising results from one of its recent acquisitions on Monday, with preliminary results arriving from Manas Resources on its 2015 sampling programme at the Sultan Sary Project in Kyrgyzstan.

The AIM-traded company had announced in October 2015 that it had acquired a 5.5% stake in Manas, with an option over an additional 4.45% stake.

Manas Resources holds a licence to explore and mine for gold in Sultan Sary, Narynskaya Oblast, Kyrgyzstan. The licence area is in the gold-rich Tien-Shan region and covers around 25 square miles.

Highlights of the programme to date included several bedrock samples up to four grams of gold per tonne within a 247-acre soil anomaly in area two, and a boulder sample grade of 36 grams per tonne along a structural corridor in area three.

"We are pleased that the preliminary exploration results we have received so far have already delineated some very focussed areas for follow-up work, said Legendary executive chairman Zafar Karim.

They support our decision and efforts to exchange the coal asset for the gold asset and subsequently support the exploration of the gold asset.

Following these results, the company intends to conduct further work, potentially in collaboration with partners, with a view to outlining a mineral resource, he added.

At 1400 BST, shares in Legendary Resources were trading up 34.53% at 0.36p.
Tata Steel said it had agreed to sell its Long Products Europe operations in the Uk and France to Greybull Capital for a "nominal consideration".

In a statement, Tata said Greybull would take on the whole of the business, including assets and relevant liabilities, and be responsible for "securing an appropriate funding package".

"The deal would be completed once a number of outstanding conditions have been resolved, including transfer of contracts, certain government approvals and the satisfactory completion of financing arrangements. The Long Products Europe business employs 4,800 people  4,400 in the UK and 400 in France," Tata said.

The sale covers several UK-based assets including the Scunthorpe steelworks, two mills in Teesside, an engineering workshop in Workington, a design consultancy in York, and associated distribution facilities, as well as a mill in northern France.

Tata's European operations chief executive Hans Fischer welcomed the agreement.

Under these current challenging market conditions in Europe with the soaring levels of imports from China, we are happy that Tata Steel UK and Greybull Capital have entered the final stage of completion of the sale of shareholding in Longs Steel UK. This transaction will offer a future for the Long Products Europe business and its 4,400 employees in the UK.

Gareth Stace, director of industry body UK Steel warned that the Greybull deal did not mean "we are out of the woods yet".

"A long term investor is needed, in the very short term, for the remainder of the whole of the Tata Steel UK business, including Port Talbot. We must also remember that the crisis that we are in is not confined to just the Tata Steel businesses, but the sector as a whole," he said.

Stace said the UK government still needed to "take every action possible to ensure British steel can once again complete on the global market place. This includes pushing the European Commission to continue its steel dumping investigations ensuring that tariffs are set at an appropriate level".

Government must be prepared to provide time limited, life support to our sector. Without this, the future of steelmaking in Britain could be limited.

The BBC reported that Greybull would invest up to 400m in the Scunthorpe plant but workers would have to accept a 3% cut in pay and freeze in pensions to save more than 4,000 jobs.

Tata in March said it was selling all it's UK plants, blaming high energy costs and oversupply due to Chinese dumping of cheap steel.

Tata employs 15,000 workers in the UK, across plants in Port Talbot, Rotherham, Corby and Shotton. Thousands more along the supply chain are dependent on them.

The only other expression of interest has come from Liberty House, whose chief Sanjeev Gupta, is interested in the Port Talbot operation.
Three men have attacked a police station in a village in Stavropol, Russia, according to the interior ministry, one of whom was a suicide bomber.

An attack took place on a regional police station, a spokesman for the interior ministry in Stavropol said.

One of the attackers blew himself up, two others were killed.

No one else was hurt in the attacks, with five explosions heard in the Southern Russian village, which is close to the predominantly Muslim Northern Caucasus.

Accounts from earlier had varied, with some news agencies reporting that three suicide bombers had blown themselves up and others saying there were three suicide bombers along with another attacker.

The affected area has now been placed on a state of high alert, with schools and hospitals in the vicinity evacuated.
Food producer Cranswick announced the acquisition of CCL Holdings , and its 100% owned subsidiary Crown Chicken Limited from the Thacker family and management on Monday.

The FTSE 250 firms board paid a cash consideration of 40m for the deal, funded from existing bank facilities.

Cranswicks board described Crown as an integrated poultry producer based in East Anglia, which breeds, rears and processes fresh chicken for supply into a broad customer base across grocery retail, food service, wholesale and manufacturing channels.

It also consists of a milling operation, satisfying all of its own feed requirements as well as supplying other pig and poultry producers in East Anglia.

For the year ended 31 December, revenue for Crown was 83.8m with adjusted EBITDA sitting at 6.6m. Adjusted gross assets at year end were 28.4m. Crowns workforce totalled 400 across its operations.

Cranswick expected the acquisition to be modestly earnings-enhancing in the current financial year.

"Crown is a well-respected operator in the UK poultry sector and represents an excellent opportunity for Cranswick to continue the development of its UK poultry business, building on the highly successful acquisition of Benson Park, the market leading producer of premium cooked poultry, in October 2014, said Cranswick chief executive officer Adam Couch.

This acquisition represents important progress in our long term growth strategy of developing new product channels in both pork and other proteins."

Mill director Nigel Armes and agricultural director Matthew Ward would remain with Crown during the transition to Cranswick. Current chairman of Crown, David Thacker, was retiring from the business as part of the acquisition.

Investec's Nicola Mallard highlighted how the deal would be "modestly earnings enhancing" and bumped up both her 2017 and 2018 estimates for the company's profit before tax (after interest costs) by 4.1m to 71.1m (115,6p) and 73.1m (120.2p), respectively.

She also pointed out how two members of Crown's management team, its Mill and Agricultural directors, would be joining Cranswick.
The European probe of Three s takeover of O2 was heavily criticised by the UKs competition watchdog on Monday, with the Competition and Markets Authority claiming the deal could threaten choice and competitiveness in Britains mobile market.

Hong Kong-listed CK Hutchison, which owns Three, reached an agreement to pay Madrid-listed Telefonica 10.25bn for O2 last year.

The proposal sparked an investigation by the European Commission, which released a list of objections hundreds of pages long.

Whitehall had wanted to investigate the merger itself, and on Monday the CMA wrote a letter saying Brussels objections fell well short of what is required to prevent harming choice and competition in the United Kingdom.

Both the EC and the CMA have focused their concern on the fact the deal would leave Britain with just three network operators - Three-O2, EE and Vodafone. In a separate Ofcom study, it was suggested that prices in markets with three operators are between 10% and 20% higher.

The proposed remedies are materially deficient as they will not lead to the creation of a fourth mobile network operator capable of competing effectively and in the long term, said CMA chief executive Alex Chisholm in the letter to the EC.

He proposed forcing a merged Three-O2 group to divest some of its network infrastructure and radio spectrum so that a fourth network could be set up, maintaining a certain level of competition.
A US Navy officer was facing espionage charges this week, after allegedly passing on state secrets - possibly to China and Taiwan.

An unnamed official told Reuters the suspect was Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, a Taiwan-born US citizen with access to sensitive Washington intelligence.

It was understood he was assigned to the Navy Patrol and Reconnaissance Group headquarters, where intelligence collection is managed and monitored.

A redacted charge sheet accused him of twice communicating secret information, and attempting to do to to a representative of another government three times with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation.

The charge sheet did not identify which countries were involved, though the official told Reuters both China and Taiwan were possibilities.

It was also reported Lin spoke fluent Mandarin, and managed the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft.

Neither the Chinese of Taiwanese government said they were aware of the case.
Save my User ID and Password

Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site.

Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site.
Decker: Was corrupt ex-Columbus vice officer's sentence too light?

Former Columbus vice cop Steven Rosser mocked the Constitution and his oath to protect and serve. Is 18 months in prison really enough?
The government is taking concrete steps to increase farm productivity and increase farmers' income in order to remove debt problems of farmers, union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare Radha Mohan Singh said. Speaking at the Kharif Conference being held at NASC-ICAR Institute Pusa, New Delhi, he said, the government has increased agricultural credit target to Rs9,00,000 crore for the year 2016-17 from 8,50,000 crore in 2015-16. He said the government is taking long-term measures to remove the problem of indebtedness of farmers. The minister said it is for the first time that representatives of agriculture and related sectors have been invited for the conference. He said the government aims to double farmers income in the next five years as is announced in the budget 2016-17, adding that the prime minister has suggested a 7-point plan to achieve the target. These include: Increasing production: The government has increased budgetary provision in irrigation sector. Government also aims at 'more crop per drop'. The policy is focused on water preservation and irrigation. Government is also working hard to increase the productions of other crops alongwith paddy and oilseeds. More income at lower input: To get higher productivity from the seeds when it gets right amount of nutrients from the soil. Soil health card scheme can help in this regard. We are providing useful information to the farmers. In this programme, farmers will invest less and get more. It is necessary to regularise the cost of farming and to maintain the productivity of crops. Soil health promotion programme has been initiated for the preservation of soil health. Government has decided last year to produce only neem coated urea so that plants get nutrients easily. Besides the government is providing Rs20,000 per acre to farmers to encourage them to adopt to organic farming. Reducing their marketing expenditure: A national agriculture market is being set up for electronic trading. In this programme, 585 agriculture mandis of India will be connected to each other. Farmers will get maximum price of their crops and the interference of mediators will be reduced to a greater extent. Direct foreign investment is also being encouraged in this field. Agriculture risk security: Under Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana, the farmers will be benefited on account of natural calamities like storms, earthquake and cyclone etc. Reduce post-production losses: The central government has promoted region based strategy according to the climatic diversity of every state and region by implementing unified Horticulture Development Mission so as to develop horticulture sector as a whole. Under this mission, the government aims to promote technical setup, extend the area under horticulture crops, improve post-harvest management, processing and marketing etc. (India ranks second on global scenario in horticultural crops after China). Value addition: Government is promoting processed food industry so as to make value addition in agricultural products. Besides, the government is also chalking out programmes through different schemes to increase the production of fruits and vegetables and its processing with assistance of the ministry of food processing industry. The government aims to increase processing of fruits to 25 per cent by 2025 against 10 per cent at present. Auxiliary activities: Under the prime minister's vision, farmers' income will be supplemented partly through livestock, dairy, poultry, bee keeping, agriculture ponds and fisheries. Simultaneously, efforts are being made to increase the income of farmers by planting trees in fields and installing solar panels there. Singh informed that to increase availability of seeds in north east states, the National Seeds Corporation had asked the governments of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar to provide land to establish production centres. The minister also said that to establish an institution like Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar were requested to provide land. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have given land and it is hoped that Bihar will provide the land for the same. Singh observed that in spite of a severe loss to crops owing to unseasonal rains, hailstorm and other natural calamities, foodgrain production in the country is expected to increase to 253.16 million tonnes on 2015-16 (as per the advanced estimates), against 252.02 million tonnes in 2014-15. The minister called for the participation of all concerned, particularly states, to work for the welfare of farmers.










India eyes $20-bn investment in Iran's Chabahar port, SEZ

Indian companies are looking to invest up to $20 billion in the development of Iran's Chabahar port as they seek overseas expansion in the quest for energy resources.

Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan visited Iran over the weekend to push the proposal. He was accompanied by a delegation of state-run companies, including IOC, OVL, OIL, EIL, MRPL, NALCO, and RCF, and officials from the ministries of petroleum and natural gas, finance, fertilizer, petrochemicals and shipping.

At a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zangeneh in Tehran on Saturday, Pradhan requested Iran to allocate adequate land in the Chabahar Special Economic Zone (SEZ), state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said in a statement on Sunday.

''Pradhan conveyed to the Iranian side that Indian companies could invest up to $20 billion and were interested in setting up petrochemical and fertiliser plants, including in the Chabahar SEZ, either through joint venture between Indian and Iranian public sector companies or with private sector partners,'' the statement said.

''In this regard, he requested Iran to allocate appropriate and adequate land in the SEZ. He also expressed India's interest in setting up a LNG plant and a gas cracker in the Chabahar port,'' it said.

''He also requested the Iranian side for favourable treatment in the pricing of gas for India and also supply of rich gas at competitive price and on long term basis for the life of the joint venture projects that Indian companies are interested in setting up,'' it added.

India and Iran had, in May 2014, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly develop the port once the international sanctions against Iran were lifted.

Chabahar is located in the Gulf of Oman on the border with Pakistan, and India hopes to use the port and the SEZ as a transit hub for access to markets in Iran and further into Afghanistan and Central Asian countries, skirting Pakistan.

Pradhan is also said to have expressed India's interest in importing LPG from Iran and wanted companies from both sides to discuss setting up an extraction plant in Chabahar.

During the first visit by an Indian minister to Iran since the lifting of Western sanctions against the country, Pradhan and his delegation visited the Chabahar free trade zone and port and discussed the facilities and incentives which could be offered to Indian companies, it added.


80-floor wooden skyscraper planned in London

A giant timber skyscraper could emerge as an architectural landmark in London, alongside the Gherkin and the Shard.

The 80-storey tower would stand 300 metre-high, integrated into the Barbican complex and create 1,000 new residences.

Architectural plans for the first timber skyscraper in the city, were presented to London mayor Boris Johnson last week for his approval.

Architects' Journal likened the design concept to a toothpick.

The timber structure would be the second-tallest building in the capital after the 95-storey Shard, which stands at 310 metre.

The world's tallest timber building as of date, is a 14-storey apartment block in Bergen, Norway, which will be surpassed by London's proposed timber skyscraper, if its developers get the green light.

London-based PLP Architecture, had, in partnership with researchers from Cambridge University's department of architecture and engineers Smith and Wallwork drawn up proposals for the development of tall timber buildings in central London.

The researchers are looking at timber as a structural material in tall buildings due to a variety of potential benefits, the most obvious being the fact that it is a renewable resource.

They also cite benefits such as cheaper construction cost, less time for construction and lighter buildings.

Just because it would be made of wood in no way meant that it would be a greater fire risk say the researchers. In fact, the finished building was likely to be safer than most steel and concrete construction.

As regards the builders' aims when the Barbican residential estate was first built, Dr. Michael Ramage, director of Cambridge's Centre for Natural Material Innovation, said, ''The Barbican was designed in the middle of the last century to bring residential living into the city of London  and it was successful. We've put our proposals on the Barbican as a way to imagine what the future of construction could look like in the 21st century.''

''If London is going to survive it needs to increasingly densify. One way is taller buildings. We believe people have a greater affinity for taller buildings in natural materials rather than steel and concrete towers,'' marketbusinessnews.com reported.


China's HNA Group to buy Swiss catering, hospitality company Gategroup for $1.5 bn

Chinese aviation and shipping giant HNA Group today struck a friendly deal to buy Swiss catering and hospitality company Gategroup for $1.5 billion (SFr1.4 billion).

Under the deal, HNA is offering to pay SFr53 a share, a 21 per cent premium to Gategroup's Friday closing price.

Post closing, HNA intends to delist Gategroup from the Swiss Stock Exchange and operate the company as an independently managed company with its headquarters in Switzerland.

HNA, whose flagship company is Hainan Airlines, has like other Chinese companies recently gone on acquisition spree.

In February, it offered to buy US electronics distributor Ingram Micro Inc for about $6 billion, the largest Chinese takeover of a US information technology company, while last July, it acquired Swissport, the ground handling and cargo services company that was also earlier part of Swissair, for $2.8 billion.

In September last, it agreed to buy Irish aircraft leasing company Avolon for $2.5 billion and last week, HNA agreed to buy a controlling stake in Chinese engineering and construction company Tysan Holdings from Blackstone Group for $340 million.

Based in Zurich airport and earlier part of Swissair, Gategroup provides services to the travel industry, including catering, hospitality, provisioning and logistics.

It offers its services via a portfolio of 11 brands, employs more than 28,000 people worldwide and has annual revenues of 3 billion Swiss francs.

Andreas Schmid, chairman of Gategroup said, "It makes strategic sense that our company will become part of HNA, one of the leading providers of airport and aviation services worldwide. HNA has extensive expertise in the aviation industry, and its strong footprint in Asia will help gategroup to expand significantly in this fast growing region, where gategroup has strategic headroom."

A Fortune 500 Company, HNA has grown from a local aviation transportation operator into a multinational conglomerate encompassing aviation, airport management, financial services, real estate, retail, tourism, and logistics.

The Group has assets worth over $90 billion, and has 11 listed companies. In 2015, HNA had revenues of $29 billion and employed nearly 180,000 worldwide.

It has a fleet of over 820 aircrafts, serves nearly 700 domestic and international routes, flies to over 200 cities, and has serves 77.4 million passengers annually.

HNA operates and manages Hainan Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, Deer Jet, Lucky Air, Capital Airlines, West Air, Fuzhou Airlines, Urumqi Air, Beibu Gulf Airlines, Yangtze River Airlines, Guilin Airlines, My CARGO, Africa World Airlines, and Aigle Azur.
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.
Home Four wheelers BMW Launches Car Sharing Service In The United States oi-Dennis

BMW has launched its own car sharing service, ReachNow, in the city of Seattle in the United States. BMW will offer a fleet of 370 BMW and Mini vehicles in the city before it expands the service to other cities in the US.

The ReachNow service will offer the car sharing service to closed groups such as companies or entire residential complexes. Various members of the closed group will be able to unlock and use the cars using their smartphones.

In addition to the car sharing service, BMW ReachNow will also offer short-term rental or longer-term rental service as well as delivery and chauffeur services.

ReachNow is also offering customers the option of renting out their private vehicles to the ReachNow fleet for limited periods, such as when the owner is on holiday.

BMW is the latest carmaker to join the car sharing revolution after Ford and Opel as the car industry battles it out with taxi aggregator and sharing services like San Francisco based Uber.
How can Google My Business help my business?

Google My Business is a free tool provided by Google to help businesses better establish themselves so that they can increase their visibility to their audience across all of Googles platforms.

No matter the industry that you are in, you want your audience to access your brand as easily and as much as possible. Whether people are looking for your opening times for your restaurant, an emergency number for your plumbing business or a potential guest wants to read reviews about your motel; this tool can help you.

It is not meant to replace your website. Rather, it compliments your existing website by giving it a public identity and presence on Google.

The benefits of having a listing include:

Prominently stand out when you appear on the top right-hand side of the search engine results page when a user searches for your business name.

When users do this search on mobile devices, they may instantly see all your details including your hours and phone numbers; in which they can contact you straight away.

People will be able to easily find you on Google Maps; which is by far the most popular map app these days for people searching for directions to go somewhere. They will be able to click to get directions to you easily.

Your business listing will automatically connect to Google+ (Googles social network) in which you can share updates about what is going on in your business.

Manage your online reputation by responding to reviews and ratings and enable you to track your ratings over time.

If this sounds like something that can benefit your business, continue reading to find out how to set up and optimise your Google My Business listing.

How to set up your Google My Business Listing

1) To get started, go to the Google My Business sign-up homepage here: (www.google.com.au/business/sign-up/index.html). This is the page that you will see:

2) After clicking Continue, you will have the option of either signing in to your Gmail account (if you have one) or creating a new Google account.

If you currently have a Gmail account (or pre-existing Google account), simply sign in and skip to step 3.

If you do not have a Google account, click the Create account button to get started. It is relatively simple to complete so just fill in the relevant details to create your new account.

Google will ask for a verification code so simply enter it in.



To get to the next step, simply click Continue to Google My Business as below:

3) You will be taken to a map of Australian screen where you can search for your business name and address.

It is possible that your business listing may already be on Google but simply unclaimed. This is due to Google using third party data sources such as the Yellow Pages or YELP which recognise that your business exists.

4) Start typing your business name to see if it is automatically generated. An example is below:

For illustrative purposes, suppose the first listing is the business name that Google already recognises but you want to claim ownership of it. Click on the link and you will be taken to the location in maps.

If your name doesnt appear, then click on the Add your business at the bottom of the search menu.

You will be able to add your main business information.

If you are a service-based business, in which you drive to serve customers at their location, then tick the box at the bottom of the form. You will be able to set service areas based on postcodes or cities; or a given area around your location. After submitting this, skip to step 6.

5) If the address or number is not 100% accurate, just ignore it for now as you can fix it when you claim ownership of it. Simply click on the location to be taken to the next step:

6) The next step is to get ownership of this business, simply click to agree that you are authorised to manage the business and click Continue.

7) You will need to verify your business. Verification exists to protect your business listing in that only an authorised person at the address can receive the verification code to take control.

Verification can be done by phone in which case Google calls you with a number code to enter or by postcard where Google sends you a code by post.

You can choose to verify later but be aware that your updates will not be reflected on Google search, Google maps or Google+ until your business listing has been verified.

Whether you choose to verify now or later, you will be able to access the Google My Business dashboard:

How to optimise your Google My Business Page

The following steps detail how to completely optimise your listing by completing the necessary information.

1) To begin adding information methodically, click on the EDIT INFO tab to view the appropriate fields to fill in.

3) The below fields will need to be completed (explanation below):

Business Name  If you need to, you can update your business name. Note that your name must reflect your business real-world name according to the Google guidelines (https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en)

 If you need to, you can update your business name. Note that your name must reflect your business real-world name according to the Google guidelines (https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en) Address  You can access the map to move the icon to your correct location. Alternatively, you can simply enter in your address details.

 You can access the map to move the icon to your correct location. Alternatively, you can simply enter in your address details. Contact Info  Ensure that your phone number is accurate (including the state area code) and your website address is correct.

 Ensure that your phone number is accurate (including the state area code) and your website address is correct. Category  Pick a category from the list of suggestions to help Google to show your business for the right searches.

 Pick a category from the list of suggestions to help Google to show your business for the right searches. Hours  Select the hours the opening and closing times for your business.

 Select the hours the opening and closing times for your business. Introduction  Add a brief description of your business here. This section lets you introduce yourself to your customers and teach them about your business.

Click Finished Editing when you have completed the relevant sections.

4) To add photos and images to your page, click the PHOTOS tab at the top of the dashboard:

5) There are different categories of photos that Google My Business recommends that you upload in order to give a complete insight into your business. If you want to completely optimise your listing, then it is recommended that you upload photos to all categories.

Your photos will look best on Google if they meet the following standards:

Format: JPG or PNG

Size: Between 10KB and 5MB

Minimum resolution: 720px tall, 720px wide

Quality: The photo should be in focus and well lit, and have no Photoshop alterations or excessive use of filters. The image should represent reality.

6) The first type of photos to upload are your identity photos:

Profile  Your profile photo should help people recognise your business. This could be an entrance shot.

 Your profile photo should help people recognise your business. This could be an entrance shot. Logo  This to help people recognise your brand and should be a square logo.

 This to help people recognise your brand and should be a square logo. Cover  Showcase the personality of your business with an interesting cover photo.

7) If possible, show customers what your business location looks with interior and exterior shots. Interior photos help your customers see the ambience and decor of your business. Exterior photos help customers recognise your business when they approach it from the outside.

8) You can add product photos to give customers a better understanding of the kinds of goods that you offer.

9) You can show a more personal side of your business with team photos to show your management team or employees.

10) Lastly, you have the option to upload additional photos that do not fit into any of the other categories such as shots of your business in action (if you are a service-based business):

Summary

By following the above steps listed to get your Google My Business page up and running, your business listing will start showing up across Google. To access more ideas and resources, check out the official Google My Business Help section located here. Read up on their quality guidelines to be sure youre optimized for success.

About the Author

Leigh-San Mo is an SEO Specialist with Indago Digital, a marketing agency that specialises in running acquisition campaigns and the channels that drive low cost conversions. SEO and SEM are at the heart of what we do but were also experts in Display, Mobile and Social Media.
Last December, I had this big annoying pimple that came out and sat comfortably on my right cheek. It was so big and so annoying and it came at a time when I wanted to be my best because it is the month of Christmas parties, get together with old friends and highschool and college classmates and relatives. So what i did was I tried to pop it out by myself and tried so many home remedies that I knew always worked before when I had breakout. This one was very determined to stay for the holidays, it never popped out and it got even much worse. I had to wear a hat and work extra hard to conceal it if I need to go out. Because of that annoying pimple, I also missed out on some get togethers because I dont feel beautiful with that one big zit in the middle of my face. It did not leave until before my birthday when I finally got the time to have my visit with YSA Skin Care and had my first pimple injection! (Ouch!) Thats how bad that pimple was, in fact it is so bad it left a scar now that will take time to disappear grrrrrr!

For the first time in forever of my life I had an injection on my face because of a stubborn pimple I had since last month. #ouch Thank @ysaskinandbodyexperts #YsaLovesMeBetter #girlproblems #pubertystage lolz #IamEarth #firstselfie at #28 hahaha! A photo posted by Earth Rullan (@earthlingorgeous) on Jan 12, 2016 at 6:21pm PST

Anyway, if I was this worked out by a single pimple sitting on my face, I could imagine the torment of all people in the world who has acne. To be specific this one younger girl from Manila that I met recently who battled acne breakouts since November . Her name is Jeff and she just recently graduated from college and is an intern at a radio station. She dream of becoming an actress/star in the Philippine showbiz someday, in fact in the past she has joined number of artista search like Startruck and KaLookaLike , she even attends VTR for TV commercial because she is pursuing her dream. But because of her breakout, she has lost her confidence. I can imagine 15 or more of the one big zit I have. I dread and I feel sorry for her. I can magie the torment.

Luckily, she was discovered by Maxi-Peel and they made her the star of their recent campaign, the Bagong Ganda Bagong Pag-asa. Jeff bravely attended the VTR for Maxi-Peel and her realness in her video got the brand from taking her.

Maxi-Peel Bagong Ganda Bagong Pag-asa is a video documentation / vlog of the real life experience of Jeff using the Maxi-Peel products. She started using the products since April 1, 2016, it was April 7, 2016 when I met her. The Jeff I saw in her first VTR with acne breakouts and what I saw from her Day 1 vlog entry shows a big improvement in her skin. In fact I couldnt believe it was just 6 days since she used the product. Her skin is already smooth but with some visible pimple marks no more breakouts or huge bumps on her face.

Jeff , inspite of her acne is a pretty girl. She came at the press conference without makeup just the sunblock and the cream from Maxi-Peel as it is recommended to keep face clean and free from makeup while having the treatment.

You can watch her #BagongGandaBagongPagasa #TunaySeryo video here:

Jeffs MAXI-PEEL Tunay Serye #BagongGandaBagongPagasaParating na ang #BagongGandaBagongPagasa! Panoorin ang kauna-unahang tunay-serye from MAXI-PEEL. Samahan si Jeff sa kanyang beauty transformation simula April 1. #MAXIPEEL Posted by Maxi-Peel on Saturday, March 26, 2016

You can watch all her videos here Maxi-Peel Bagong Ganda Bagong PagAsa

Aside from finally achieving clear flawless skin and her dreams to become an actress someday . One of her dreams came to a reality when she finally met her idol Marian Rivera-Dantes who is a long-time brand ambassador of Maxi-Peel. Marian has been with the brand for 8 years now and she attended the event to surprise Jeff annd encourage everyone to not lose hope and keep your eye on the prize inspite of some hurdles along the way.

It will take 30 days for Jeff to achieve flawless skin like Marian according to Maxi-Peel as it is the suggested period to use the products. Peeling is inevitable, stinging is a part of the process. Jeff shows how to properly use the product in her videos.

You will see more of Jeff around as she will be atttending a lot of tv guestings and photo shoots so as we can follow her journey in real time to a flawless skin. Im excited for her!

Hindi po ako kasali sa Bagong Ganda Bagong Pag-asa haha fanmode lang kaya may pichur kami mukha akong shadow kaloka ang puti ni Marian ka-gandang babae !

Maxi-peel has 8 different products available in the market.

Maxi-Peel Exfoliant Solution 2 (Anti-Acne Depigmenting Agent) Facial Wash Sunblock Cream Moisturizing Cream Concealing Cream Maxi-Peel Microexfoliant Soap Maxi-Peel Facial Cleanser Pore Refining Maxi-Peel Micro-Exfoliant Cream Skin Renewal System 3 Adcanced

One thing I learned from the event that day was that Maxi-Peel IS NOT RECOMMENDED for pregnant and lactating women! Maxi-Peel can be used by men.

So, if you are experiencing a bad breakout and have tried almost everything to get that soft smooth skin , maybe its time to try this!

Stay gorgeous everyone!
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The EBRD at 25: building private sector-led economies to strengthen economies and societies

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come, is a quote commonly attributed to the French writer Victor Hugo. It was the idea of freedom and democracy that in 1989 brought down the Iron Curtain and ended the division of Europe.

But bringing down the Berlin Wall in many ways soon turned out to be the easy part. Communism had severely damaged the economic foundations of the countries where it had ruled. After the failure of the state-controlled economy the private sector had to be rebuilt, often from scratch.

The EBRD celebrates its 25th birthday this month. This video tells our story from our founding in 1991 to the present day.

More videos

In order to do this on a systematic and long-term basis, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was set up 25 years ago by shareholders from all over the world. From the outset, the ownership structure of the institution brought together donors and recipients of EBRD investments who were united in the mission  as the Banks Article 1 states  to foster the transition towards open market-oriented economies and to promote private and entrepreneurial initiative in countries committed to and applying the principles of multi-party democracy, pluralism and market economics.

EBRD at 25 We celebrate 25 years of investing for change



The powerful idea at the heart of the EBRD was to promote market economies by acting in line with market principles and rules, not by providing aid and grants. The EBRD started investing alongside pioneers who were the first to explore business opportunities in central and eastern Europe. Ambitious reform programmes and huge pent-up demand made the countries attractive destinations for investment and within a few years the EBRD had established itself as a major market participant with loans and equity investments in all vital sector of the economy. In its first 25 years of existence, the EBRD has invested over 107 billion in almost 4,500 projects.

Over the years the Bank widely expanded its operations. The successor states of the former Soviet Union each became countries of operations, as did the countries that emerged following the break-up of Yugoslavia. The success of the EBRD in fostering market economies and promoting the private sector subsequently allowed the Bank to also add Mongolia, Turkey and the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries (Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia) to its portfolio. The EBRD is currently also investing on a temporary basis in Cyprus and Greece in order to support their recovery from severe economic crises.

In addition to expanding its geographical outreach, the focus of EBRD investments and policy engagement has also evolved over the years. While the first period after the liberation from communism was characterised by rapid growth, the global economic and financial crisis of 2007/08 represented a major setback for many countries in the EBRD region. Thanks to strong shareholder support, the Bank was able to respond quickly and decisively by increasing its investment volume by almost 50 per cent in order to address the most pressing challenges. Today, as growth remains sluggish and the convergence process has slowed down markedly, the EBRD is focusing on strengthening economic resilience through investments and support for policy reform.

In the words of EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti: The EBRD has consistently delivered, and time and again has shown it responds quickly to changing circumstances.

The Banks strategic directions are tailored to address the most urgent needs of its regions. Investment in privately-owned small businesses  the backbone of the economy in many countries  accounts for roughly one-third of all EBRD investments and has recently been streamlined under the Small Business Initiative.

Realising the vast importance of energy, the Bank has been a frontrunner in developing investment in energy and resource efficiency and renewable sources of energy. Under its new Green Economy Transition approach, the Bank is aiming to increase its green financing to around 40 per cent of total annual investments by 2020. With its local currency and capital markets initiatives, the EBRD is leading the effort to grow the resilience of local markets without losing sight of the benefits of regional coordination and integration.

The EBRD is a commercial operation. The Bank is a bank. It makes profits which provide a sound capital base and allow the EBRD to invest in projects where other banks or investors are not yet prepared to accept the associated risk. The EBRD is able to do all this thanks to generous support of donor governments and institutions who to date have contributed a total of 4.4 billion to the Banks activities. In addition to their substantial financial support, donors also provide inspiration and leadership, for instance in the development of climate change, gender or inclusion policies.

The EBRD has played a crucial role in the establishment of private sector-led market economies in its countries of operations. The private sector share of its investments today is 80 per cent. Over the past 25 years there has been marked progress in the transition process but much remains to be done. Improving the investment climate by guaranteeing the rule of law and fighting corruption becomes ever more important in a global economic environment characterised by high volatility and fierce competition for scare sources of investment.

The countries where the EBRD invests offer many attractive features, from rich natural resources to competitive cost structures and a well-educated labour force. The Bank will continue to support the countries development and progress with a strategy adapted to the new challenges, but with the same determination and enthusiasm as when it was set up 25 years ago as a powerful idea whose time had come.
Adobe last week issued an emergency security patch to fix a vulnerability in Flash that could leave users vulnerable to a ransomware attack.

The vulnerability exists in Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.197 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Chrome operating systems. It can cause a crash and leave the computer vulnerable to attackers, the company said.

Its aware of reports that CVE 2016-1019 has been exploited on systems running Windows 10 and earlier with Flash version 20.0.0.306 and earlier, Adobe said. A patch introduced in Flash Player 21.0.0.182, however, prevents exploitation.

Targets Older Versions

Researchers atProofpoint discovered the vulnerability earlier this month, when they realized the Magnitude exploit kit was successfully exploiting Adobe Flash version 20.0.0.306.

The attack was found in what is called an exploit kit, which is a cybercrime tool typically sold on underground forums. Exploit kits are malicious software packages that hide on websites and take advantage of vulnerabilities in Web browsers and plug-ins in order to deliver malware, in this case ransomware, said Ryan Kalember, senior VP of cybersecurity strategy at ProofPoint.

Since the Magnitude EK was not affecting Flash 21.0.0.182, the researchers initially thought the target was CVE-2016-1001 as in Angler, the combination exploit CVE-2016-0998/CVE-2016-0984 or CVE-2016-1010.

If a victim lands on a webpage and has Flash, the malware would be quietly installed, even without the user clicking on anything, Kalember told the E-Commerce Times.

Researchers shared their findings with other companies, and a colleague atFireEye figured out that it was a previously unknown vulnerability, according to Proofpoint. The companies contacted Adobe, which, working with the researchers, determined that the mitigation that was integrated into 21.0.0.182 caused the exploit to fail.

The problem was a previously unreported vulnerability and assigned the number CVE-2016-1019. Adobe released the emergency patch last week.

Adobe is a big target simply because Flash is so widely used  Adobe has said it is on over a billion devices, Kalember noted.

Working Together

A Proofpoint researcher named Kafeine shared the vulnerability with FireEye, which did analysis and testing to determine the status of the previously unknown vulnerability, a FireEye spokesperson confirmed. The companies worked together to help Adobe send out a quick release of a fix.

Given the rise in ransomware attacks in recent months, it is most important to note that unlike most exploit kits using known vulnerabilities, this zero-day vulnerability was being used to distribute ransomware at the time of analysis, FireEye said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by company rep Kyrk Storer.

Magnitude seemed to be used by only one actor in recent months, spreading Cryptowall crypt 1001 until the middle of March, Proofpoint researchers noted. However, the actor then switched to Teslacrypt ID=39 and later to Cerber.

The Cerber ransomware encrypts documents, photos, databases and other common file types, Proofpoints Kalember said. Victims see a ransom demand directly on their PCs.

Ransomwares Reach

Symantec last year published a broad overview of ransomware, a relatively new form of malware that is akin to cyberextortion, in which attackers take control of the victims computer and often demand payment or some other form of compensation in order to release the exploited system.

The U.S. led the countries victimized by ransomware attacks in 2015, followed by Japan, the U.K., Italy, Germany and Russia, according to Symantec. The average payment demanded was US$300.

Organizations of all sizes are being targeted, with broad-based email campaigns  sometimes over 10 million messages in a day  malicious Web advertisements, and even malicious mobile apps, Kalember said.

In general, ransomware targets Windows more often than other operating systems, but recent examples of ransomware have been found up for Mac OS X, which was taken down immediately, and Android, he said.

Defense in Depth

Researchers atTrend Micro saw a zero-day attack being included in the code of Magnitude Exploit Kit through its protection network feedback, they said. That type of activity leads to Locky ransomware, a form of crypto ransomware that abuses macros in document files to hide the malicious code.

What weve seen in this particular attack is that Adobe has made changes to ensure this did not impact those who are using the most up-to-date version of their product, said Christopher Budd, global threat communications manager at Trend Micro.

This underscores how defense-in-depth security measures are a good thing and can be very helpful in mitigating the impact of such attacks, he told TechNewsWorld.

Ransomware is on a major upswing over the past four to six months, Proofpoints Kalember said, so were likely right in the middle of the cybercrime cycle.
The parent company of British tabloid the Daily Mail apparently has entered whats shaping up as frenzied round robin bidding war for Yahoo, a firm that long has worn the mantle of a technology relic incapable of exciting interest.

The Daily Mail & General Trust on Monday confirmed a report that it has approached private equity companies on a possible joint bid for the firm.

Given the success of DailyMail.com and Elite Daily we have been in discussions with a number of parties who are potential bidders, a Daily Mail spokesperson said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by company rep Sean Walsh. Discussions are at a very early stage and there is no certainty that any transaction will take place. We have no further comment at this time. Further updates will be provided as appropriate.

Yahoo reportedly has held discussions with Verizon, IAC/Interactive Corp. and CBS Corp., according to the WSJ, but has not yet sat down with Daily Mail executives. Verizon, whose CEO confirmed interest in acquiring Yahoos core Web business several weeks ago, is widely seen as the leading candidate to pull off a deal.

Yahoo has extended the deadline for receipt of first-round bids from April 11 to April 18, according to reports.

The Daily Mail is the latest surprise entrant in the contest. Its bid could take the form of one or two potential deals, the WSJ noted.

In one scenario, the private equity partner would take over Yahoos entire U.S. operation and fold the news and media properties into the Daily Mail. The second scenario would have the private equity partner take control of Yahoo and fold its news and media companies into a new firm, which would include DailyMail.com and Elite Daily.

The Daily Mail has been in talks with a half-dozen private equity firms on making a bid, including General Atlantic, according to the WSJ.

Plenty to Offer

Despite Yahoos difficulties as a legacy company, there remains a strong core of Web traffic that might attract traditional media company like the Daily Mail, observed Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at Poynter.

Say what you will about Yahoo,they remain a leader in basic traffic, he told the E-Commerce Times. The rap on the company is that they cannot come up with a growth strategy or carve out a distinctive journalistic role.

The Daily Mail claims about 62 million unique visitors per month in the U.S., citing Comscore data from July 2015.

Yahoo reaches nearly 78 million people per month, making it the ninth biggest website in the country, according to Quantcast.

Yahoo has beefed up its content business over the years, luring major media figures like former CBS anchor Katie Couric, who is global anchor at Yahoo, and former Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, who is now the companys chief investigative correspondent.

The news and financial features are good and what makes Yahoo attractive to media companies, said Michael Jude, consumer communication services research manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

Yahoos once-leading search engine probably would be folded into another entity, as it is not what it used to be before Google emerged as a leading search provider, he added.

However, the likely scenario is that whichever company acquires Yahoo, it will wind up with the company largely intact, Jude suggested, because the individual parts by themselves are not as attractive.

Identity Crisis

What exactly is Yahoo these days? A media company, a personal destination page, a news source, a 22-year-old startup? asked Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

A case can be made for all of these and none of these, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Defining what Yahoos mission actually is has stymied its management since the leadership of cofounder Jerry Yang, and therefore made the company both malleable and cast hard, Krewell said.

Each potential buyer can see it in their own light, but whichever company does get Yahoo will try to mold it to a new owners whims, he predicted. It will be hard, and some things will break, and some parts will be sold off.

Yahoo will have no comment on the deal process, spokesperson Rebecca Neufeld told the E-Commerce Times  either regarding the Daily Mail specifically or in general.
Oracle has asked for US$9.3 billion in damages in its multiyear lawsuit against Google over the use of Java in Android, according to a report filed last week in federal court.

That amount is reportedly about 10 times what it had initially asked for.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 9 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

James Malackowski, a damages expert hired by Oracles lawyers, set the companys actual damages at about $500 million and apportioned Googles profits from the allegedly infringed Java copyrights at about $8.8 billion.

He used the following reasoning:

The allegedly infringed Java copyrights were critically important to the timing of Googles launch of the Android platform;

Googles strategy in launching Android was to ensure a continuing revenue stream from its search services in connection with mobile advertising, which has generated significant advertising revenue and profit for Google. The Android platform is a critical component of Googles overall mobile search business;

The allegedly infringed Java copyrights are necessary for, and critically important to, the ongoing operation of the Android platform and its applications;

Absent Googles use of the allegedly infringed copyrights, Sun Microsystems would have generated significantly more licensing revenue, at least from its Java ME platform, and was positioned strategically to introduce a successful mobile platform, either by itself or through a licensee.

Googles Reaction

Google responded by filing a motion last week to exclude portions of Malackowskis report.

The motion contends the following:

Malackowski failed to conduct any meaningful analysis supporting his claim that the alleged infringement caused Google to earn advertising revenue;

Once he deducted Googles costs to reach a profit number, he didnt conduct apportionment of Android at all;

His analysis of the profits Oracle claimed to have lost was based on a single 2008 Sun document projecting revenues for licensing Java ME  a different Java platform from Java SE, and not even the accused work here  through 2010 only projecting an 8.3 percent increase from 2009 to 2010 and a private conversation with former Sun employee Michael Ringhofer, who now works for Oracle;

Malackowski speculated that, had Google not allegedly infringed, Oracle would have created its own full-stack platform and made just as much profit as Google has made indirectly from Android using an entirely different business model from Oracles.

However, Oracle never came close to creating it own platform, despite years of trying, Google said.

The Importance of the Case

The issue to be heard in May is the question of fair use.

Javas still in relatively wide use, and if Googles seen as infringing, then its likely Oracle will go after others, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

For example, an Oracle win could open the door to massive judgments against other Linux derivative products, he told the E-Commerce Times. A Google victory largely would maintain the status quo.

An Oracle win could have a real chilling effect on the tech community [because] Java is open source, said Mike Jude, a research program manager at Frost & Sullivan.

A victory by Google would be very good for tech [because] most of the innovations in Java have been in the open source community, he told the E-Commerce Times.

The impact on the industry will depend on how narrowly or broadly the court rules in the end, noted Al Hilwa, a research program director atIDC Seattle. A narrowly interpreted victory for either side may only impact APIs of similar nature and complexity.

Who Ya Gonna Bet On?

The May 9 hearing will be held before Judge William Alsup, who heard the case in 2012 and ruled that APIs could not be copyrighted. The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in 2014.

The reversal suggests this [hearing] will roll back more into Oracles favor, Enderle said, but the extreme amount of damages its asking for is likely beyond what a court will be willing to grant them.

However, Hilwa told the E-Commerce Times, the case has taken many turns, and Im not going to predict how it will turn out.
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Siberian and US scientists will work together collecting data on climate change and global warming in the Arctic. They plan to work out methods to prevent environmental disaster that could happen in the region, Julie Brigham Grette, professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, told the TASS news agency in Novosibirsk.

"There are various points around the Arctic (points, most suitable to begin research TASS editor's note). Probably there are ways of obtaining more information from these locations. This is important since the temperature is already rising and we need detailed data, which could allow us to prevent temperature growth," the professor said.

The scientists plan to calculate the rate at which climate change in the Arctic is taking place and analyze it and the nature of the changes. Then they will try to work out mechanisms to slow the warming process and issue recommendations to the leaders of the countries that are conducting activities in the Arctic.

According to TASS news agency, the US delegation arrived in Novosibirsk to learn about the capabilities of Siberian scientists and to develop ways to obtain the necessary data. The delegation is headed by Julie Brigham Grette, who has been involved in glaciology (the science of glaciers and other types of natural ice TASS editor's note) and the paleoclimatology of the Arctic for many years.

"We haven't been in touch for many years. Now they'll visit our research facilities and review our work, which will form the basis for joint projects," Zinfer Ismagilov, the director of the Institute of Coal Chemistry and Material Science of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reported.
With the field of Republican presidential candidates narrowed from a high of 17 last year to three this month, only one remains who has both an extensive K-12 track record and a record that reflects many state policy prescriptions popular among GOP leaders in recent years: Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Over the course of his two terms as governor, Kasich has instituted a school accountability system based on A-F grades, signed into law a bill requiring students to demonstrate they are literate by the end of the 3rd grade (with some exceptions), and approved the creation of new tuition-voucher programs. Aggressive support for vouchers was also a highlight of Kasichs record in Congress, where he served from 1983 to 2000.

He also signed a bill late last year to overhaul charter school accountability in the state, but only after a significant outcry about poor academic results at many charters, as well as financial mismanagement and corruption in the charter sector.

But in the Republican field, when it comes to K-12, Kasichwhos been mathematically eliminated from obtaining the number of delegates necessary to win the nomination on the first ballot at the GOP convention in Julyhas also been defined in large part by what he doesnt support.

In contrast to his remaining rivals, real estate developer Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Kasich has not attacked the Common Core State Standards as an insidious intrusion by the federal government into public schools. Kasich has defended the standards, albeit sometimes in vague and indirect ways, and Ohio has kept the common core on the books despite significant political pushback in the state.

(The standards, a project of governors and state superintendents, were not written or paid for by Washington, although President Barack Obamas administration has supported them with grant incentives and funding for the creation of related tests.)

Nor has Kasich called for the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education, as have Cruz and Trump. However, the Ohio governor has called for consolidating about 100 programs run by the department into four block grants that would be distributed to states.

Compared to Cruz and Trump, I certainly think that Kasich has more progressive views on public education, said Damon Asbury, the director of legislative services for the Ohio School Boards Association. I think his intent is to have strong public schools, whether they be traditional public schools or charters.

Asbury added, though, that Kasich is usually more inclined to let the legislature deal with his proposals, and less interested in consistent collaboration with school advocacy groups.

Kasichs campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

The Ultimate Accountability

Over the past two biennial state budgets, Kasich has approved two, non-automatic K-12 funding-formula increases, one of about $1.2 billion for fiscal years 2014 and 2015, and another of about $1.7 billion for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. However, some otherstate aid to some school districts is slated to start dropping by the end of Kasichs second term, Asbury noted. (In Congress, by contrast, Kasich advanced a federal budget resolution as the House budget leader in 1995 that would have cut federal education spending by $10 billion.)

In part, Kasichs record as governor has been shaped by his responses to setbacks and controversy in two policy areas: collective bargaining rights and charter schools.

In 2011, his first year as governor, Kasich signed into law Senate Bill 5, which would have significantly curtailed collective bargaining rights for public employees and prohibited public employees from striking, among other shifts. Kasich told Fox News in February of that year that he backed the state Senate bill in part to give mayors and school boards the tools they need to control their costs.

But when the law was put before Ohio voters on the November 2011 ballot, they rejected it.

I think that was an incredible learning experience for the governor, said Chad Aldis, the vice president for Ohio policy and advocacy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington think tank. That might be what you see more of on the campaign trail from him. That very well may have been a lesson from Senate Bill 5. He does seem to listen a lot more than potentially other candidates.

Youve had the ultimate accountability: You pushed for something, something you really believed in, and the voters said no, you went too far, said Aldis. But then you still have the task of governing.

Aldis noted that the Cleveland Plan for Transforming Schools, which Kasich signed into law in 2012 and highlighted in a March GOP presidential candidates debate to stress his record supporting improvement to urban education, contained at least a few elements similar to provisions of SB 5.

See Also For more on the presidential candidates positions on education and the 2016 campaign, see Education Weeks online election guide. Presidential Candidates on Education: Election Guide

For example, while the 2011 bill would have removed the teacher-salary scale from state law, the Cleveland Plan (through a contract agreed to in 2013) helped institute differentiated pay for teachers. And like Senate Bill 5 aimed to do, the Cleveland plan reduces the impact of seniority on personnel decisions.

In the GOP debate, Kasich used his discussion of Cleveland schools to make a pitch for block-granting a lot of federal programs, because fixing schools rests at the state and the local level, and particularly at the school board level.

However, the success of that plan and its long-term outlook is in disputeand so is the extent to which Kasich was truly at the center of the Cleveland effort, said state Sen. Tom Sawyer, a Democrat who is the ranking member of the Ohio Senate education committee and served with Kasich in Congress. Moreover, Sawyer said, Kasichhasnt always been so collaborative when it comes to significant K-12 efforts by the state.

When he wanted to undertake a similar effort in the deeply troubled Youngstown schools, he claimed that he was following the same pathway, Sawyer said. But, in fact, it was the opposite. It would be fair to call it a coup. It lacked the broad-based support of a community.

Divided Opinion

Thats a reference to a bill signed by Kasich last year that allowed the state to appoint a CEO of Youngstown schools to help turn around the districts academic performance and take over responsibilities from the local school board. (It followed the creation of a separate Youngstown Academic Distress Commission by the state in 2010.)

And its possible the law could be construed in the future to apply to any number of districts deemed to be like Youngstown, Sawyer added. (Youngstown is not in Sawyers Senate district.)

Meanwhile, its Kasichs handling of charters that has drawn perhaps the biggest share of broader attention to his K-12 record and continues to divide opinion inside Ohio.

Last year, the states top school choice official, David Hansen, resigned after it came to light that he omitted failing grades from some online Ohio charter schools from the states accountability system. State Auditor David Yost has investigated Ohio charters on multiple occasions. And a 2014 Stanford University study found that Ohio charter school students lag behind their peers in district schools in terms of academic progress.

Aldis of the Fordham Institute praised Kasichs work with the legislature to clear up conflicts of interest and a general lack of transparency that had crept into Ohio law over the years.

It probably takes a Republican school choice supporter at the state level to truly bring the parties together and get meaningful reformdone without it breaking down into some middle school food fight, Aldis said. If hes able to get into office [as president], it does show I guess that he has been the grown-up in the room, at least on this issue.

But Sawyer, the Democratic lawmaker, is more skeptical. He said the legislations durability is questionable, and it doesnt change the extent to which charter schoolsthose run by for-profit companies, in particularhave (in the view of charter critics) benefited inappropriately on Kasichs watch.

Still, Sawyer praised Kasich for resisting a rush among some GOP politicians to throw the common core overboard, and for trying to balance the interests among different kinds of school districts when it comes to state K-12 funding.

Inside Ohio, people look at me and say, How can you get along so well with Kasich? Look at the stuff you disagree about,  Sawyer said. And people outside Ohio say, Arent you lucky to have John Kasich?  and both of those are true.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenpress presents on the air of LRATVAKAN radio all that you will read, hear and see in todays news.

On April 10, 1992, the Azerbaijani armed forces attacked the Maragha village of Martakert region in Nagorno Karabakh, and violently murdered the civilian residents. Today, on April 11, an event will be organized in the American University of Armenia dedicated to the 24th anniversary of the Maragha massacres. Observations about the Maragha event will be made by the first Human Rights Defender Larisa Alaverdyan. A film on the Maragha massacres will be screened after her speech, followed by a discussion. To this day the Azerbaijani leadership has not received appropriate condemnation and assessment by the international community for the war crimes committed in Maragha.

RPA MPs Gagik Minasyan and Gagik Melikyan, MP of the Armenian Supreme Council Azat Arshakyan and others will speak about the observations made by the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Co-chairs visited Baku, then Nagorno Karabakh, and then Yerevan, where they gave a press conference.

Though a ceasefire agreement has been reached in the line of contact, the adversary continues to fire. Azerbaijan is even firing towards Armenian state borders. The Ministry of Defense of Armenia and the Ministry of Defense of Nagorno Karabakh will continue providing information about the situation in the line of contact.

The military hospitals of Yerevan and Stepanakert will also continue providing information about the health condition of the wounded soldiers.

Other topics: Five Nobel laureates in Yerevan. The Nobel days event will be organized in Yerevan from April 11-16. The event will present facts about scientific achievements which were granted the Nobel legacy. Rector of the Yerevan State Medical University Michael Narimanyan and the director of the Nobel days in Yerevan initiative Constantine Enkoyan will present details about the upcoming event.

Results of the 2015-2016 external and internal school design are being summarized. The participants have conducted internal and external shaping and design of schools. Photos have been uploaded to dasaran.am website. Winners will be announced today and will be awarded.

You can read about these and other topics on armenpress.am or listen to the news on the air of LRATVAKAN radio. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Berlin, Apr 11 (EFE). - Berlin's Martin Gropius-Bau Museum hosted on Monday an unprecedented exhibition of about 300 works of Mayan art, marking the opening of the Mexico-Germany Dual Year 2016-2017.

The exhibition, titled "The Maya - Language of Beauty," was opened by German President Joachim Gauck and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

On his first state visit to Germany, Pena Nieto seeks to strengthen bilateral diplomatic and economic relations.

The exhibition has numerous Mexican national treasures and pieces so far never shown outside Mexico, mainly from late Classical period between AD 600 and 900.

Curator Karina Romero said in her presentation that the period responds to the "splendor of the Maya culture."

Yucatan state Tourism Secretary Saul Ancona told EFE the goal of this exhibition was to show Europeans and all visitors that the Maya people were "avant-garde in their time and their culture is alive."

The daily life of the Maya people, their relationship with the gods, literature, astronomy, music and dance, usually represented by "a human figure often idealized," are being exhibited at the museum through pieces organized around different thematic groups.

One of the most striking works includes costumes found at the bottom of a cenote, or well, in Chichen Itza - where human sacrifices took place - and different clothes responded to social classes.

The collection also offers busts, masks, small figures and jewelry that reflect the beauty ideal of a culture that used the body as a canvas, as well as hair, skin color, teeth, scars or tattoos.

The exhibition also includes writing samples of the Maya, an indigenous group that currently numbers about 8 million.

Romero stressed the role of German archaeologists and researchers, who have been interested since the late 18th century in Mayan culture, with constant discoveries.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS:Heavy battles are taking place in Nagorno Karabakh: colleague and partner of the Bergstrasse region of Germany. Azerbaijan has claims towards this territory, which is populated by Armenians, thats why Azerbaijan starts the conflict with the Armenian Armed Forces, which is the guarantee of security of the internationally unrecognized republic. As "Armenpress" reports, this concern was expressed in an interview with "Bergstraer Anzeiger" newspaper by Bergstrasse Governor Christian Engelhart (CDU, Christian Democratic Union party), noting that he is following with concern the developments. The governor pointed out that according to reports, during the last days of fierce fighting more than 30 people were killed.

"The poor access to outside world, being landlocked and the only airport which is not functioning due to political reasons show what kind of obstacles the 145,000 people of Karabakh face in the struggle with the big neighbor," this is how he describes the situation in the Caucasus. He says Nagorno Karabakh is suffering from political and economic isolation, and Nagorno Karabakh can come out of this situation with international aid.

Since 1991, theNagorno Karabakh Republic has consistently pursued a balanced policy to maintain peace and stability in the South Caucasus. "Their desire to peaceful solution of problems and conflicts in the region is priority for them. We hope that they will succeed, said the head of Bergstrasse.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani armed forces have fired 17 machine gun bursts in the direction of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border, Armenpress was informed by the Information and Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.

The announcement reads: During the night of April 10 and the morning of April 11 Azerbaijani forces fired 17 machine gun bursts in the northeastern direction of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border. Various caliber weapons, including mortars and large caliber machine guns were fired towards Armenian positions. The Azerbaijani fire was mostly irregular.

The Armenian Armed Forces exercised restraint and conducted response operations only in strict necessity and confidently continue patrolling the border.

According to the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Armys data, in the early morning of April 11 in some areas the adversary violated the ceasefire agreement and fired various caliber weapons including mortars.

In particular, the Azerbaijani side fired towards Armenian positions in the southern and northern directions in the line of contacts, using 60mm mortars (2 shells) and AGS-17 grenade launcher (14 grenades).

The Defense Army forces mainly refrained from taking response actions and confidently continued carrying out their military duty.

According to an agreement, on April 11 the Azerbaijani side will have the opportunity to conduct search operations of the corpses of soldiers.

The faith of one soldier of the Defense Army remains unknown, for which relevant procedures are carried out through the International Red Cross Committee.
Island commits to enhanced beneficial ownership sharing

The Isle of Man Government says it's committed to improving the sharing of 'beneficial ownership information' with the UK.

Both governments have been involved in an ongoing partnership to help each other tackle corruption, tax evasion and other serious criminality.

The arrangement means the Isle of Man and UK will provide law enforcement agencies with 'adequate, accurate and current' information on all corporate and legal entities incorporated in their jurisdictions.

From this commitment the Island will establish and maintain a central electronic database of beneficial ownership information.

This arrangement comes at an apt time following fresh justification that the Island is not a tax haven following revelations in the 'Panama papers'.


YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. John Kerry on Monday became the first U.S. secretary of state to pay his respects at Hiroshima's memorial to victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack, raising speculation that U.S. President Barack Obama might visit in May, Armenpress reports, citing Daily Mail.

Accompanied by foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies, Kerry toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum, whose haunting displays include photographs of badly burned victims, the tattered and stained clothes they wore and statues depicting them with flesh melting from their limbs.

The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States then laid wreaths at a cenotaph to the victims of the Aug. 6, 1945 bombing, which reduced the city to ashes and killed some 140,000 people by the end of that year.

While he is not the highest-ranking U.S. official to have toured the museum and memorial park, a distinction that belongs to then-U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in 2008, Kerry is the senior-most executive branch official to visit.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial. It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself," the chief U.S. diplomat wrote in a guest book at the museum.

After a moment of silence by the ministers, Japanese school children presented them with lei's made of paper cranes, symbolizing peace, in each country's national colors.

At Kerry's suggestion, the ministers also made an impromptu visit to the Atomic Bomb Dome, the remains of the only structure left standing near the hypocenter of the bomb explosion and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Three days after a U.S. warplane dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945. Japan surrendered six days later.

Kerry's trip could pave the way for an unprecedented visit to Hiroshima by a sitting U.S. president when Obama attends the annual G7 leaders summit in another Japanese city next month.

A visit could be controversial in America if it were viewed as an apology. A majority of Americans still view the bombings as justified to end the war and save U.S. lives, while the vast majority of Japanese believe it was not justified.

While saying the White House has not yet decided, the senior U.S. official said Obama, who last month visited Cuba, has shown he is willing to do controversial things such as visiting Havana last month.

Hopes for Obama's visit to Hiroshima were raised after his April 2009 speech in Prague calling for a world without nuclear weapons. He later said that he would be honored to visit the two nuclear-attacked cities.

The G7 foreign ministers' trip to the museum and memorial is part of Japan's effort to send a strong nuclear disarmament message from Hiroshima, the world's first city to suffer atomic bombing.

"I think this first-ever visit by G7 foreign ministers to the peace memorial park is a historic first step towards building momentum toward a world without nuclear weapons," Kishida said in a statement.

Kishida said the ministers will discuss anti-terrorism steps, maritime security and issues related to North Korea, Ukraine and the Middle East.
















Re: Swiss schools in Kusnacht Welcome to Switzerland!



This is the last week of school for this area, at least. It might be worth contacting the school authorities and letting them know you will be coming so they at least have names to add to their lists.



Your seven-year old will go into the second or third class depending on his/her birthdate. It might be worth pushing for the first rather than the second class, to allow more time for your child to comfortably learn German. There was a boy in my daughter's first class who started with no German at all who now, end of the third class, is speaking fluently and completing all class work.



For your eleven-year old it is a bit trickier. At that age most kids are in either the fifth class or sixth class, which are naturally more intensive than the earlier classes. After sixth class children either go into Gymnasium if they've passed the exam, or to Sek A or B. If they are in Sek A they have the option of doing the Gymi exam again in the second and third year, but it is harder to do this from Sek B.



There are three years of Sek, after which, if your child does not go to Gymi, they must find an apprenticeship (available in a very wide range of fields), and which also involve additional further study in college-type situation. There are alternative ways to enter university but any way will be extremely difficult without fluent German. I'm by no means an expert in this as my daughter isn't yet at this stage, but there will be other people on this forum who can tell you more.



So with this in mind, I would give your eleven-year old as much time as possible to pick up German, meaning aim for a lower class if you can.



Both kids should be offered additional German help, and you can supplement this with immersion in some out of school activities, as well as just general playing with the neighbourhood kids.



The alternative is international school (English) or bilingual school (German/English).

Music lessons in English:



Writing and Research Skills Zurich: __________________Music lessons in English: www.discovering-music.com Writing and Research Skills Zurich: www.writingandresearchskills.com Last edited by tildaoz; 07.07.2014 at 16:15 . Reason: added something
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS: The Boris Eifman Ballet Theater begins its Caucasian tour of "Anna Karenina" performance on April 11. As Armenpress" reports, performances will be held in Yerevan and Tbilisi from April 12-16.

"Our group has never been deprived of the love of the public, however, we warmly remember the fantastic welcome which we received two and a half years ago by Armenian and Georgian audiences," Boris Eifman told TASS before the trip.

"Dance is truly a unique way of spiritual communication, which always helps people to reach an understanding. We are very pleased to return to Yerevan and Tbilisi with the "Anna Karenina" performance, which represents the modern Russian ballet art and fully discloses the aesthetic personality of our theater, Eifman said.

He said that the performances in Yerevan will be a part of the Russian Days in Armenia, which are held within the framework of the CIS 25th anniversary celebrations. The performances will be held in the Alexander Spendiaryan Opera and Ballet National Academic Theatre.

"Anna Karenina" ballet was staged in 2005 based on Pyotr Tchaikovsky's music. In the past ten years the ballet was performed in various cities of Russia, tours were made in the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, France, China.
Re: Vaccine Question Quote: iulianaW I do keep an eye on the scientific evidences of course, but apparently the anti-vaxx are based on scientific evidences too....



On a different note, don't forget that every time you and your family get on a plane, there is a non-zero risk that it will crash with potentially catastrophic consequences. I'm sure that no matter how many pictures you see of crash sites or testimonies you read from people who've lost loved ones, you will still decide that the benefits of fast air travel outweigh this tiny risk, and that you sufficiently trust the expertise of the pilots and engineers. Such a risk/benefit analysis that is so highly skewed towards benefits is exactly the situation with vaccines, yet for some reason people who wouldn't think twice before getting on a plane lose their minds over vaccines. The scientific evidence should be your only source of information, more than just 'keeping an eye on it'. If you're not able to understand scientific publications (no shame there), organisations such as the NHS or CDC present the science in more layman-friendly terms on their websites. Notice that legitimate sources of information on vaccines readily admit that there is a (tiny) chance of side effects. If a website is claiming that a vaccine WILL give your child some horrible condition or WON'T work as intended then it's almost certainly bull. The anti-vax crowd repeatedly claim that their view is based on science, but repeatedly cite studies with poor methodology (or fabricated results!) that have been heavily criticised by mainstream scientists.On a different note, don't forget that every time you and your family get on a plane, there is a non-zero risk that it will crash with potentially catastrophic consequences. I'm sure that no matter how many pictures you see of crash sites or testimonies you read from people who've lost loved ones, you will still decide that the benefits of fast air travel outweigh this tiny risk, and that you sufficiently trust the expertise of the pilots and engineers. Such a risk/benefit analysis that is so highly skewed towards benefits is exactly the situation with vaccines, yet for some reason people who wouldn't think twice before getting on a plane lose their minds over vaccines. Last edited by Cornetto; 11.04.2016 at 15:28 . Reason: Added an extra point to make my argument clearer.
Camera film developing service in Zurich and problems with a bad one

I found a nice service recently that allows me to send them camera films by mail for development, and they send back the developed film and CD with all the pictures "digitized". The idea is great, but I was so disappointed by the result. First, I'm not sure the film was developed correctly, there are some strange marks and sudden changes in exposure, but ok, let's leave that aside because that could be a problem of my old camera or my mistakes when taking pictures. Second, on the CD there were only 10 of 36 frames from my film, other 18 were pictures of somebody else, I suppose from another customer!!! Luckily there was nothing intimate there!



When I started negotiating with the service they found like 10 more pictures from my film but couldn't find the remaining ones, and also said that they discarded some frames because they were of "bad quality", how do you like that? At some point they just stopped answering my emails.

(sorry, maybe I should have posted this part in "rants" forum)



So I have 2 questions:

1) any recommendations for film development in Zurich or as a mail service? (for the future) I also still need to scan the existing developed film.

2) What can I do regarding this bad customer service and huge privacy violation? Is there a government organization that takes complaints from people like me and takes an action if needed?



Thank you so much! Good day everyone.I found a nice service recently that allows me to send them camera films by mail for development, and they send back the developed film and CD with all the pictures "digitized". The idea is great, but I was so disappointed by the result. First, I'm not sure the film was developed correctly, there are some strange marks and sudden changes in exposure, but ok, let's leave that aside because that could be a problem of my old camera or my mistakes when taking pictures. Second, on the CD there were only 10 of 36 frames from my film, other 18 were pictures of somebody else, I suppose from another customer!!! Luckily there was nothing intimate there!When I started negotiating with the service they found like 10 more pictures from my film but couldn't find the remaining ones, and also said that they discarded some frames because they were of "bad quality", how do you like that?At some point they just stopped answering my emails.(sorry, maybe I should have posted this part in "rants" forum)So I have 2 questions:1) any recommendations for film development in Zurich or as a mail service? (for the future) I also still need to scan the existing developed film.2) What can I do regarding this bad customer service and huge privacy violation? Is there a government organization that takes complaints from people like me and takes an action if needed?Thank you so much!
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Although Azerbaijan is hiding from its public the official number of casualties of the 3-day Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh , the Khazar military research institute announced that based on its research, Azerbaijan lost 93 soldiers during April 1-6 in the line of contact. As Armenpress reports, this was informed by azadliq.info news website.

According to Khazar, 52 are soldiers, 10 conscripts, 10 non commissioned officers, 21 officers. Khazar also informed about 21 wounded.

According to Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army data, during the April 1-5 Azerbaijani military aggression and attacks against Nagorno Karabakh, as a result of Armenian counterattacks the Azerbaijani side lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 2 battle vehicles, 1 engineering hardware, 7 UAVs, 1 MM-21 multiple rocket launcher. Azerbaijan lost more than 500 soldiers and 2000 were wounded.
Deep-sixing another useful climate myth By David R. Legates

By now, virtually everyone has heard that "97% of scientists agree: Climate change is real, manmade and dangerous." Even if you weren't one of his 31 million followers who received this tweet from President Obama, you most assuredly have seen it repeated everywhere as scientific fact. The correct representation is "yes," "some," and "no." Yes, climate change is real. There has never been a period in Earth's history when the climate has not changed somewhere, in one way or another. People can and do have some influence on our climate. For example, downtown areas are warmer than the surrounding countryside, and large-scale human development can affect air and moisture flow. But humans are by no means the only source of climate change. The Pleistocene ice ages, Little Ice Age and monster hurricanes throughout history underscore our trivial influence compared to natural forces. As for climate change being dangerous, this is pure hype based on little fact. Mile-high rivers of ice burying half of North America and Europe were disastrous for everything in their path, as they would be today. Likewise for the plummeting global temperatures that accompanied them. An era of more frequent and intense hurricanes would also be calamitous; but actual weather records do not show this. It would be far more deadly to implement restrictive energy policies that condemn billions to continued life without affordable electricity  or to lower living standards in developed countries  in a vain attempt to control the world's climate. In much of Europe, electricity prices have risen 50% or more over the past decade, leaving many unable to afford proper wintertime heat, and causing thousands to die. Moreover, consensus and votes have no place in science. History is littered with theories that were long denied by "consensus" science and politics: plate tectonics, germ theory of disease, a geocentric universe. They all underscore how wrong consensus can be. Science is driven by facts, evidence and observations  not by consensus, especially when it is asserted by deceitful or tyrannical advocates. As Einstein said, "A single experiment can prove me wrong." During this election season, Americans are buffeted by polls suggesting which candidate might become each party's nominee or win the general election. Obviously, only the November "poll" counts. Similarly, several "polls" have attempted to quantify the supposed climate change consensus, often by using simplistic bait-and-switch tactics. "Do you believe in climate change?" they may ask. Answering yes, as I would, places you in the President's 97% consensus and, by illogical extension, implies you agree it is caused by humans and will be dangerous. Of course, that serves their political goal of gaining more control over energy use. The 97% statistic has specific origins. Naomi Oreskes is a Harvard professor and author of Merchants of Doubt, which claims those who disagree with the supposed consensus are paid by Big Oil to obscure the truth. In 2004, she claimed to have examined the abstracts of 928 scientific papers and found a 100% consensus with the claim that the "Earth's climate is being affected by human activities." Of course, this is probably true, as it is unlikely that any competent scientist would say humans have no impact on climate. However, she then played the bait-and-switch game to perfection  asserting that this meant "most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations." However, one dissenter is enough to discredit the entire study, and what journalist would believe any claim of 100% agreement? In addition, anecdotal evidence suggested that 97% was a better figure. So 97% it was. Then in 2010, William Anderegg and colleagues concluded that "9798% of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field support  [the view that]  anthropogenic greenhouse gases have been responsible for most of the unequivocal warming of the Earth's average global temperature" over a recent but unspecified time period. (Emphasis in original.) To make this extreme assertion, Anderegg et al. compiled a database of 908 climate researchers who published frequently on climate topics, and identified those who had "signed statements strongly dissenting from the views" of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The 9798% figure is achieved by counting those who had not signed such statements. Silence, in Anderegg's view, meant those scientists agreed with the extreme view that most warming was due to humans. However, nothing in their papers suggests that all those researchers believed humans had caused most of the planetary warming, or that it was dangerous. The most recent 97% claim was posited by John Cook and colleagues in 2013. They evaluated abstracts from nearly 12,000 articles published over a 21-year period and sorted them into seven categories, ranging from "explicit, quantified endorsement" to "explicit, quantified rejection" of their alleged consensus: that recent warming was caused by human activity, not by natural variability. They concluded that "97.1% endorsed the consensus position." However, two-thirds of all those abstracts took no position on anthropogenic climate change. Of the remaining abstracts (not the papers or scientists), Cook and colleagues asserted that 97.1% endorsed their hypothesis that humans are the sole cause of recent global warming. Again, the bait-and-switch was on full display. Any assertion that humans play a role was interpreted as meaning humans are the sole cause. But many of those scientists subsequently said publicly that Cook and colleagues had misclassified their papers  and Cook never tried to assess whether any of the scientists who wrote the papers actually thought the observed climate changes were dangerous. My own colleagues and I did investigate their analysis more closely. We found that only 41 abstracts of the 11,944 papers Cook and colleagues reviewed  a whopping 0.3%  actually endorsed their supposed consensus. It turns out they had decided that any paper which did not provide an explicit, quantified rejection of their supposed consensus was in agreement with the consensus. Moreover, this decision was based solely on Cook and colleagues' interpretation of just the abstracts, and not the articles themselves. In other words, the entire exercise was a clever sleight-of-hand trick. What is the real figure? We may never know. Scientists who disagree with the supposed consensus  that climate change is manmade and dangerous  find themselves under constant attack. Harassment by Greenpeace and other environmental pressure groups, the media, federal and state government officials, and even universities toward their employees (myself included) makes it difficult for many scientists to express honest opinions. Recent reports about Senator Whitehouse and Attorney-General Lynch using RICO laws to intimidate climate "deniers" further obscure meaningful discussion. Numerous government employees have told me privately that they do not agree with the supposed consensus position  but cannot speak out for fear of losing their jobs. And just last week, a George Mason University survey found that nearly one-third of American Meteorological Society members were willing to admit that at least half of the climate change we have seen can be attributed to natural variability. Climate change alarmism has become a $1.5-trillion-a-year industry  which guarantees it is far safer and more fashionable to pretend a 97% consensus exists, than to embrace honesty and have one's global warming or renewable energy funding go dry. The real danger is not climate change  it is energy policies imposed in the name of climate change. It's time to consider something else Einstein said: "The important thing is not to stop questioning." And then go see the important new documentary film, The Climate Hustle, coming soon to a theater near you. David R. Legates, PhD, CCM, is a Professor of Climatology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. Home
$85 crude oil by Christmas  An interview with Mike Rothman



By Nick Cunningham

After a 50 percent rally in oil prices between February and March, crude has retreated a bit as of late. The upcoming OPEC-Russia meeting in Doha looms over the markets, but few expect the outcome to have any material impact on supply and demand. Global supply still exceeds demand, but there are solid signs that the overhang is finally starting to ease. Storage levels are high, but are expected to come down.



Where does that leave us? With so many energy investors unsure of where the markets are heading, we decided to get in touch with Mike Rothman at Cornerstone Analytics  a macro energy research firm that has produces some of the most accurate data out there. Oil prices may be gyrating up and down, but Mr. Rothman provided some juicy clues for investors, highlighting some key near-term trends for crude oil.



Cunningham: The IEA has been accused of overestimating global supplies. The WSJ says that somewhere around 800,000 barrels per day are unaccounted for, meaning they are not consumed nor have they ended up in storage. Are these "missing" barrels a big deal?



Mike Rothman: The issue has not been one of the IEA over-estimating supply, but rather under-estimating demand. There are basically two ways to arrive at figures for global oil demand. The IEA methodology is built on an estimate of GDP and an assumed ratio of oil demand growth to GDP growth.



For the emerging markets in particular, that methodology represents a leap of faith since there are >100 countries and close to real time measures for economic activity rank up there with seeing unicorns and leprechauns. Also, in countries where we have better and more timely data for demand and GDP (like the U.S.), we see that oil demand growth to GDP growth ratio fluctuate sharply.



The other way to measure usage (which is what we do at Cornerstone Analytics) is to assess how much physical oil the global system is absorbing. It's called "apparent demand." It presumes global oil production data is close to the mark - which is the evident historical pattern - and that inventory changes in the OECD are the proxy for global storage changes. Basically non-OECD countries use oil on a hand-to-mouth basis with the primary exception really being China -- whose stockpiling has actually been smaller than generally believed. "Missing oil" is the gap that we see between econometrically estimated demand and apparent demand. Historically, bouts of "missing oil" are resolved by the IEA revising up its demand series. The underlying issue is generally an underestimation of oil consumption in the non-OECD countries.



Cunningham: Are oil markets actually much tighter than everyone thinks?



MR: Yes, in the sense that storage is not as high as generally presumed and yes in the sense that OPEC's spare production capacity is much more limited than generally believed. But, to be realistic, because petroleum stocks in the OECD countries (which is the proxy for global stores) are high, there is no real concern in the market about availability, yet. We think this changes starting in the current quarter because we forecast global oil inventories will be drawn down contra-seasonally.



Cunningham: What is Saudi Arabia's position coming into the production freeze? Are they winning the oil war  or are they rather desperate at this moment in time? Data compiled by FGE energy consultancy suggests that Saudi Arabia is losing its leadership position in 9 out of 15 of its major markets.



MR: Our sense is that Saudi Arabia put itself in a position whereby it will wait for global supply/demand to rebalance itself. Most market watchers don't really understand that back in 2014, the Saudi aim was about coercing a handful of OPEC countries to make production cuts to counter what was a collapse in the "financial demand" for oil. While Saudi Arabia has been burning through $12-$15 billion per month from its financial reserves to fund government spending through this period, it seems the policy is that the path to a much higher price (and higher revenue) will come about by allowing for a prolonged low price.



Cunningham: What can we realistically expect from the OPEC/non-OPEC meeting in Doha?



MR: At most, countries may agree to freeze output, which may sound encouraging but in reality is little more than an agreement of the lowest common denominator since they are basically capacity constrained to begin with. To defend a price, OPEC would need to actively take barrels "out of the hands" of refiners  that is, a production cut, the current prospects for which lie somewhere between slim and none.



Cunningham: Do you expect oil to fall back below $30 if Doha turns out to be disappointing?



MR: No, but that's partly because we think the oil balance will be transitioning into a deficit in 2Q and because many will come to realize that a production freeze is not a viable plan to cause the oil balance to tighten.



Cunningham: The oil industry is making massive cuts in investment. Should we be bracing ourselves for a price shock at some point in time? If yes when do you see this occurring?



MR: You cannot cut CAPEX and reduce upstream activity and somehow think future production growth goes unaffected. We forecast non-OPEC supply to contract this year for the first time since 2008. That was a way-out-of-consensus call to make a year-ago when most pundits vigorously argued non-OPEC production would still expand even with the drop in oil prices. What we've communicated to our clients  and those we deal with directly in OPEC  is that the spike down in oil prices is basically setting up an eventual spike up.



Cunningham: Will bankruptcies in the U.S. shale industry do anything to balance the market?



MR: We expect that it will feed into the contraction we forecast for U.S. output. We also see the credit availability issue as likely being a limiting factor moving forward, sort of like what we saw in 1986 and then again in 1999.



Cunningham: Where should investors look if they want to put money in the energy market? What types of companies will perform well over the next year?



MR: Since energy equities basically trade as a proxy for the commodity, it's safe to say all boats rise when the tide comes in. The beta" names typically include the Oil Services sector and E&Ps. The most leveraged play would be the commodity itself (or a vehicle like the USO).



Cunningham: Lenders to the oil and gas industry have been fairly lenient with companies. Do you believe that the banks will start to tighten the screws a bit more as the periodic credit redetermination period finishes up?



MR: The old joke is that bankers are the guys who will lend you an umbrella and then ask to have it returned as soon as it starts to rain. Yes, we think lending will become much more highly scrutinized and financing less readily available.



Cunningham: Can oil break out from $40 per barrel anytime soon?



MR: Sure. All it takes is one outage of consequence. More generally, though, we think oil breaches $40 during 2Q as physical evidence becomes available about inventories drawing down globally.



Cunningham: Where can you see oil heading over the next 3 months, 6 months and 1 year out?



Our target is Brent crude at $85 by the end of 2016.



Cunningham: How do you see the U.S. presidential elections impact U.S. oil and gas policies? What could be the most radical change for oil and gas?



Ask me after the election



Cunningham: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us Mike.



Nick Cunningham is a writer for Oilprice.com where this originally appeared. Home
2016  The math that matters most

By Mark Alexander



The 2016 general election will determine not just our next president; it will also determine which political party controls the Senate and House. While the House is securely in Republican hands, Senate control is most assuredly in play. That's because Republicans will be defending 24 Senate seats while Democrats only need defend 10. Currently, Republicans hold a narrow 54-46 majority in the Senate.

Consequently, this election is not just a four-year decision but a generational one, because the next president will nominate the Supreme Court justice who will fill the swing-vote vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia, and perhaps three additional seats  those of Justices Ginsberg, Kennedy and Breyer. If Hillary Clinton holds off the challenge from Socialist Bernie Sanders and is then elected president on November 8, only a Republican Senate would stand between her and the progressive dream of a statist-controlled Supreme Court for the next quarter-century.

We elect our presidents every four years, but those presidents nominate Supreme Court justices for life.

This is what Ronald Reagan meant when he said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction."

Let me be clear: If Republicans lose both the presidential election and control of the Senate, the Socialist Democratic Party will control the despotic Judicial Branch for the foreseeable future, and the tyranny of the so-called living constitution will reign supreme.

Thus, those of us who support Liberty and First Principles should engage in a vigorous debate about the qualifications of presidential candidates, and the consequences of who will run against Hillary Clinton this November. We should consider with great deliberation the character of our presidential candidates.

For the record, that debate among those of us who advocate for Liberty by way of the ballot box, among other means, is not restrained by Ronald Reagan's admonition about fratricidal attacks  his "Eleventh Commandment."

In his 1990 autobiography, "An American Life," President Reagan wrote of that brother-against-brother fratricide in his first campaign for the California governorship: "The personal attacks against me during the primary became so heavy that the state Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, postulated what he called the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. It's a rule I followed during that campaign and have ever since."

Reagan fared well by following that rule, and after soundly defeating Jimmy Carter for the presidency in 1980, he won 49 of 50 states during his re-election campaign of 1984  losing just Minnesota, the home state of his opponent Walter Mondale, by a mere 3,800 votes. (Oh, and he also lost the District of Columbia  an outcome that speaks for itself.)

Unfortunately, Republican presidential contenders since, most notably the 17 GOP candidates who began this primary, have taken the art of fratricidal attacks to new lows.

In every respect, this election cycle is like no other I have ever witnessed  or read about  and primarily for one reason: The "establishment politicians," the professional political class, are disconnected from those of us who live outside the Washington Beltway.

It's no wonder that Bernie Sanders is nipping at Hillary Clinton's heels, having thumped her in seven of the last eight contests  including last week's double-digit win in Wisconsin  and I totally understand the popular appeal of Donald Trump. According to the most recent (and reliable) Quinnipiac University political poll, 57% of Americans agree that "America has lost its identity." The same percentage say that they are "falling further and further behind economically," and 53% say they want "a leader who is willing to say or do anything to solve America's problems."

These findings are consistent with our analysis and what we hear from our fellow grassroots Patriots, most of whom have expressed their support for Ted Cruz or Donald Trump over the more centrist John Kasich.

But unlike each of these remaining three candidates who have broken their pledges to support the eventual GOP nominee, I will support that nominee because I know for certain the perilous threat that "President Hillary Clinton" poses to the future of Liberty.

Last week's Wisconsin win for Ted Cruz notwithstanding, Mr. Trump still has a commanding delegate lead in the race to see who will likely face Hillary Clinton.

But there are serious questions about the election math  not of the GOP convention math as determined by the delegates, but of the general election math.

That is the only math that matters.

Until recently, Donald Trump has frequently referenced his "lead in the polls." I tend not to reference most media polls because of what we define as the "Pollaganda Effect," which is: Outcome-based opinion samples (polling instruments designed to generate a preferential outcome), which in large measure reflect prior-opinion indoctrination or cultivation by the same media conducting the poll. The incestuous results are then used to manipulate public opinion further by advancing the perception that a particular candidate or opinion on an issue enjoys majority support.

But that being said, there are some very distressing research polls assessing a matchup between Clinton and Trump in the general election. Notably, the results of these polls have been affirmed consistently for several months now. Allow me to reference a couple of the most recent findings below, and, of course, you determine what to make of these findings.

Last Monday there was a report from Whit Ayres, president of the conservative polling firm North Star Opinion Research and author of "2016 and Beyond: How Republicans Can Elect a President in the New America."

According to Ayres's research, "A Trump nomination has as much chance of success in the general election as Trump University, or Trump Mortgage, or Trump Shuttle, or Trump Vodka, or Trump Casinos. Trump is an electoral disaster waiting to happen." He then notes the demographic trends that will have enormous impact in 2016: "A Republican nominee who hopes to win a majority of the popular vote in 2016 must gain either 30% of the nonwhite vote or 65% of the white vote, a level not seen since President Ronald Reagan's 49-state landslide sweep in 1984." There are more women than men voters, and "Trump's favorable to unfavorable ratings among white women are 29% to 68%. ... Millennials have now passed baby boomers to become the largest generation. Trump's ratings among millennials are now 18% favorable to 80% unfavorable, with 70% strongly unfavorable." (Trump's unfavorable ratings with women are even higher in the latest Wall Street Journal/ABC News poll.)

Ayres continues, "Since 1984, no victorious Republican presidential candidate has received less than 91% support from Republicans. Trump's favorable to unfavorable ratings among Republicans are 52% to 47%, with 34% strongly unfavorable. A candidate beginning a general election campaign with almost half of his party holding unfavorable views is a non-starter. Contrast that with Hillary Clinton's favorable to unfavorable ratings among Democrats of 78% to 20%. A Trump nomination would put a Democrat in the White House, seriously threaten Republican majorities in Congress and leave the Republican Party in shambles."

For the record, Trump's GOP unfavorable ratings are on par with those of George W. Bush at his presidential low point.

Next up is the most recent research from Public Policy Polling on the most popular Republican in the race  Donald Trump  unless Kasich drops out. According to this and similar polls, 42% of Republican voters would support Trump if the election were held now. About 33% would support Cruz and 22% Kasich. However, when asked if Kasich were to drop out, 51% of his supporters go to Cruz while only 23% support Trump. That would put Trump and Cruz in a statistical dead heat.

Notably, the latest Reuters rolling averages today put Cruz ahead of Trump nationally. These numbers have significant implications for the general election, particularly since Mr. Trump has yet to collect more than 49% of the votes in any primary.

The general election results, and the likelihood that Republicans will lose their Senate majority with Trump on the ticket, are upheld by both conservative and liberal media research, as noted both in New York Times poll summaries and Washington Post poll summaries. They are also affirmed by the 30-day rolling average of polls.

Perhaps most ominously, Larry Sabato, a seasoned election forecaster at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, concludes that in a Clinton v Trump contest, Democrats will go into Election Day with a whopping 347 electoral votes in their pocket or strongly leaning toward Clinton. They only need 270 to win. And by way of affirmation, Clinton leads Trump by double digits in six of the most comprehensive polls taken in the last month.

The fact is, whether the polling source is Left, Centrist or Right, Trump takes a beating in a head-to-head general election matchup with Clinton. Based on the total number of primary votes cast to date, about 5% of all eligible voters have checked ballots for Donald Trump. That means an even smaller percentage have cast primary votes for Ted Cruz and others  because until a few weeks ago, the field was still flooded with GOP candidates. But, the percentage of primary votes cast for a candidate is of less importance than the percentage of total eligible voters supporting a particular candidate.

All that having been said, as utterly perplexing as the current primary cycle is, it remains possible that once Trump and Clinton debate each other mano a mano (yes, the masculine applies to Hillary), Trump might pull enough blue-collar and rustbelt Demo support away from Clinton to defeat her. This will be especially true if the momentum generated by Sanders does not transfer to Clinton. (She is, after all, a historically weak, unpopular and untrustworthy candidate.)

And where can Clinton attack Trump without undermining her own campaign? Not Wall Street connections, not personal integrity, not honesty, not wealth, not marriage infidelity, etc. Raising any of those issues with Trump will draw fire on her own record. Of course, there is that wild card: A Clinton indictment...

Unfortunately, she is coated with as much non-stick Teflon as Bill Clinton. Even under the most unfavorable circumstances for Clinton, a Trump victory would still be a long shot.

If Trump is the nominee, I hope he can defeat Clinton  but I don't base my reasoned, critical analysis on popular opinion or "hope," and neither should any of us.

Again, this is not just a four-year decision but a quarter-century decision. If Hillary Clinton wins and Republicans lose control of the Senate gauntlet against her judicial nominees, batten down the hatches.

Ultimately, the math that matters is the poll taken on November 8th of this year. I care less about the name of the GOP candidate than I do that candidate's ability to defeat Clinton at best, or leave the GOP Senate majority intact at worst.

Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post.
Republicans advocating mob censorship By Michael R. Shannon

I wonder what Ted Cruz hoped to gain from blaming Donald Trump for the leftist mob that forcibly shut down his rally in Chicago? You would expect this confused moral inversion from squishes like Marco Amnesty and John "The Apostle" Kasich, but not Cruz. Formerly he was a staunch defender of the 1st Amendment, going all Voltaire on anyone trying to censor speech. Turning on a dime to gain a news cycle on Trump doesn't do anything to dispel Cruz' unfortunate image as an opportunistic professional politician. Why does Cruz choose to do the work of the mainstream media and the left who want to subvert everything for which he claims to stand? There are events in contemporary America that go handinhand with violence. Take HipHop "music." Here in the DC area many venues won't host HipHop concerts because of recurrent violence associated with the fan base. Trump's fan base has impressed even the New York Times with its good manners: "The Trump supporters I interview are almost unfailingly courteous. In the snaking lines of traffic that precede his events, they smile and wave and allow me to cut in front of them. And they politely answer my questions..." So how is it Trump's fault when the HipHop base invades his rally and causes violence? And why is Trump's base always described as "angry" and Bernie's as "idealistic?" If Trump people are so "angry" and violent why aren't they breaking up Bernie's events? Where are the shouters and stage rushers at Hillary's wakes? This unprovoked anger and violence is a product of the leftist mob, not Republicans. The same people that smashed car windows with Trump stickers in Chicago. The same creeps who vandalize a Trump supporter's home in Gainesville, VA by spray painting her house. The same pajama fascists caught spray painting penises in a university chapel along with the word "Trump." This is the group Ted Cruz is temporarily abetting? Let's reverse the situation. Picture a group of prolife demonstrators who get to reeling with the feeling and invade a Planned Parenthood abortion mill. They block the inner door in the waiting room and force Bible tracts on waiting customers. There is pushing and shoving and an employee is accidentally hit in the head with an illustrated, hardback copy of the New King James Bible, a surefire concussion inducer. Would the media criticize Planned Parenthood for inflaming Christians by demanding taxpayer funds for its abortion mills? Would the media cite provocative, veiled language, particularly the word "choice" in connection with the death of the unborn? Would the media ask why Planned Parenthood insists killing the unborn much longer than is allowed in Europe? Would the New York Times condemn abortion supporters for calling Christians fanatics, theocrats and misogynists? Don't make me laugh. The only time the victim is blamed is when the victim is a Republican or white. Cruz is a smart fellow, I wonder if he really thinks leftist violence is only associated with Trump? He hasn't had protest problems because his crowds have been too small. Leftist narcissists follow the media and the media follows Trump. That situation changes this fall if Cruz is the nominee. Then Cruz gets the crowds and he gets the leftist mob that will say he's now the bigot, the racist, the xenophobe and the chief warrior against women. Ted will find himself in a real Martin Niemoller situation. The statement Cruz should have made after the planned attack on the Trump rally is easy enough to write: "Anyone that has watched even one of the Republican Presidential debates knows that I have disagreed with Donald Trump on both his choice of language and his policies. But I stand shouldertoshoulder with Mr. Trump in defense of the 1st Amendment, which protects free speech and most particularly speech with which we disagree. These leftist protesters have every right to stand outside and lawfully voice their disagreement with Donald, or myself for that matter. But when they invade a Trump rally with no other goal than to gain attention and prevent the audience from hearing what Donald has to say, I draw the line and they should suffer the consequences for breaking the law." There, that wasn't so hard was it? Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. He is a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker. He can be reached at mandate.mmpr (at) gmail.com. He is also the author of Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!). Home
Theoretical rights, multiculturalism, and marginality - the Polish-Canadian case (Part Two) By Mark Wegierski

Cultural facts on the ground are very important for the relative flourishing and salience of a given community. Insofar as a community lacks a core-audience that can attract outside money and possibly generate its own resources for their social, cultural, and political activities, they will lack salience. Cultural facts on the ground are more important than supposedly expansive guarantees of rights which are often theoretical. It does appear by now that most persons of Polish descent in Canada have been thoroughly assimilated into the relatively bland, so-called mainstream. One way of roughly measuring this is to look in the Canada Census at the comparatively small number of persons who retain knowledge of the Polish language among the total number of persons of Polish descent in Canada. There are too few persons left for whom the "affect" of their identity can be a significant mobilizing factor. Very few attempts were made to work out a more enduring, emphatically hyphenated, Polish-Canadian identity. The arriving immigrants usually defined themselves as "Poles living in Canada" and did little to help their children creatively acculturate -- as opposed to thoroughly assimilate  into Canadian society. It could be argued that, as white ethnics, Polish-Canadians have ended up today as neither part of so-called long-established groups, nor part of so-called accredited minorities in Canada. Thus they are not prioritized for multicultural-related and other culturally-related funds offered by various levels of government in Canada. In the 1970s, the comparative dynamism of the community was focused around its two prominent leaders in the Liberal Party of Canada  M.P. and later Senator Stanley Haidasz, who became Canada's first Minister of State for Multiculturalism, and Jesse Flis, the longtime M.P. from Parkdale-High Park, at that time a riding in Toronto with one of the largest populations of Polish descent. In 2011-2015, there were again two emphatically Polish-Canadian M.P.s  Wladyslaw Lizon, and Ted Opitz, both members of Stephen Harper's Conservative Party. Somewhat ironically, as a result of the Conservative Party "ethnic outreach" by such figures as Jason Kenney, the community has advanced on initiatives which had been log-jammed for years under previous Liberal administrations (for example, a pension plans agreement between Canada and Poland; and the end of visa requirements for Polish visitors to Canada). In the 2015 federal election, the only emphatically Polish-Canadian M.P. elected was Tom Kmiec (from a Calgary-area riding)  representing the Conservative Party. However, Polish-Canadians are weakly represented in the general culture of Canada. Today, we are living in a North American (U.S. and Canadian) mass media environment, where social reality and identity is heavily defined by the mass-media  especially in terms of shaping the news and the highly pervasive pop-culture. Insofar as there is almost no Polish-Canadian and comparatively little Polish-American presence in the mass-media, the community lacks saliency. Indeed, it is only in the 1970s that there appears to have been some saliency for Poles in North America. There was, for example, the iconic figure of Bobby Vinton, one of whose hit songs had extensive passages in Polish. It was also the time of "ethnic studies" in America and Canada  when for the first and probably last time, groups such as Polish-Americans were somewhat popular. Gierek's Poland also offered quite extensive outreach and support to Polish-American and Polish-Canadian communities at this time  although there was a "hidden agenda" behind it. This raises the obvious point that throughout virtually the entire history of Polish immigration to Canada, the home country could not offer significant or in fact any help to its "overseas communities". Partially based on a draft of an English-language presentation read at the 6th Congress of Polish Canadianists (Polish Association for Canadian Studies) (Poznan, Poland: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan), April 5-7, 2013. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Toronto-based writer and historical researcher. Home
Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and the burden is increasing - much of which could be reduced through modifiable risk factors. A new review in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology examines the role of the family for heart health by focusing on interdependence of the family, shared environment, parenting style, caregiver perceptions and genomics. According to the study authors, reducing the global burden of heart disease requires continuous heart health promotion and prevention throughout life and the family plays a central role in this process. Effective promotion of heart health will require family-based approaches that focus on both caregivers and children, encourage communication among the family, and address the conditions in which families live and operate.

###

The American College of Cardiology is a 52,000-member medical society that is the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the College is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College operates national registries to measure and improve care, provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications. For more information, visit acc.org.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which publishes peer-reviewed research on all aspects of cardiovascular disease, is the most widely read cardiovascular journal worldwide. JACC is ranked No. 1 among cardiovascular journals worldwide for its scientific impact.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. U.S Secretary of State John Kerry and G7 foreign ministers on April 11 called for a "world without nuclear weapons", citing North Korea's sabre-rattling as a key challenge to achieving that goal, Armenpress reports, citing Daily Mail.

"We reaffirm our commitment to seeking a safer world for all and to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons in a way that promotes international stability," the group said in their "Hiroshima Declaration", after a landmark visit to the Japanese city's atomic bomb memorial.

"This task is made more complex by the deteriorating security environment in a number of regions, such as Syria and Ukraine, and, in particular by North Koreas repeated provocations," it added.

On April 9, Pyongyang said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) that would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland.

It was the latest in a series of claims by North Korea of significant breakthroughs in both its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

The G7 statement came as ministers wrap up their final day of meetings with discussions focused on global hotspot issues including terrorism and other security threats as well as instability in the Middle East, and the refugee crisis.
Scholars have long debated how much of the Hebrew bible was composed before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE. While scholars agree that key biblical texts were written starting in the 7th century BCE, the exact date of the compilation of these books remains in question.

A new Tel Aviv University study published today in PNAS suggests that widespread literacy was required for this massive undertaking and provides empirical evidence of that literacy in the final days of the Kingdom of Judah. A profusion of literate individuals in Judah may have set the stage for the compilation of biblical works that constitute the basis of Judahite history and theology, such as the early version of the books of Deuteronomy to Second Kings, according to the researchers.

"There's a heated discussion regarding the timing of the composition of a critical mass of biblical texts," said Prof. Israel Finkelstein of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations, who led the research together with Prof. Eliezer Piasetzky of TAU's School of Physics and Astronomy. "But to answer this, one must ask a broader question: What were the literacy rates in Judah at the end of the First Temple period? And what were the literacy rates later on, under Persian rule?"

The interdisciplinary study was conducted by Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, Arie Shaus and Barak Sober, under the supervision of Prof. Eli Turkel and Prof. David Levin, all of TAU's Department of Applied Mathematics. Other collaborators included Prof. Nadav Na'aman of TAU's Department of Jewish History and Prof. Benjamin Sass of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations.

Literacy in the First Temple period

Using cutting-edge computerized image processing and machine learning tools, the TAU team analyzed 16 inscriptions unearthed at an excavation in the remote fort of Arad, and deduced that the texts had been written by at least six authors. The content of the inscriptions disclosed that reading and writing abilities existed throughout the military chain of command, from the highest echelon all the way down to the deputy quartermaster of the fort.

"We designed an algorithm to distinguish between different authors, then composed a statistical mechanism to assess our findings," said Sober. "Through probability analysis, we eliminated the likelihood that the texts were written by a single author."

The inscriptions found at Arad consisted of instructions for troop movements and the registration of expenses for food. The tone and nature of the commands precluded the role of professional scribes. Considering the remoteness of Arad, the small garrison stationed there, and the narrow time period of the inscriptions, this finding indicates a high literacy rate within Judah's administrative apparatus -- and provides a suitable background for the composition of a critical mass of biblical texts.

Literacy more widespread than previously believed

"We found indirect evidence of the existence of an educational infrastructure, which could have enabled the composition of biblical texts," said Prof. Piasetzky. "Literacy existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of Judah. Reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite."

"Now our job is to extrapolate from Arad to a broader area," said Prof. Finkelstein. "Adding what we know about Arad to other forts and administrative localities across ancient Judah, we can estimate that many people could read and write during the last phase of the First Temple period. We assume that in a kingdom of some 100,000 people, at least several hundred were literate.

"Following the fall of Judah, there was a large gap in production of Hebrew inscriptions until the second century BCE, the next period with evidence for widespread literacy. This reduces the odds for a compilation of substantial Biblical literature in Jerusalem between ca. 586 and 200 BCE."

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Tel Aviv University (TAU) is inherently linked to the cultural, scientific and entrepreneurial mecca it represents. It is one of the world's most dynamic research centers and Israel's most distinguished learning environment. Its unique-in-Israel multidisciplinary environment is highly coveted by young researchers and scholars returning to Israel from post-docs and junior faculty positions in the US.

American Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFTAU) enthusiastically and industriously pursues the advancement of TAU in the US, raising money, awareness and influence through international alliances that are vital to the future of this already impressive institution.
April 11, 2016 - The Soil Science Society of America will present the Don and Betty Kirkham Gold Medal to Dr. Martinus (Rien) T. van Genuchten, retired from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, at the 2016 Kirkham Conference at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, April 10-14 in Sede Boqer, Israel. The prestigious award will be presented by Mary Beth Kirkham, daughter of the award's namesakes, Don and Betty Kirkham.

This is only the second time the Don and Betty Kirkham Gold Medal has been awarded since the award's inception in 2008. The first Kirkham Gold Medal was awarded in 2008 to Don Nielsen, University of California-Davis, for his extraordinary commitment to science and soil physics and support of soil physicists around the world.

"Dr. van Genuchten's landmark contributions and leadership in soil physics and vadose zone hydrology serve as the basis for this Gold Medal," says Jan Hopmans, University of California-Davis, who chairs the selection committee.

"His many achievements have transformed hydrologic science applications by propelling the soil physics and vadose zone hydrology disciplines in the mainstream geosciences field. Especially important have been his studies of the basic processes affecting water and contaminant transport in variably-saturated (vadose zone) systems, his contributions in analytical and numerical modeling, his development of powerful inverse (parameter estimation) methods, and his documentation of computer software that is now being used worldwide in the scientific and engineering communities. Equally important has been long-time service to the profession," Hopmans added.

Van Genuchten is likely best known for the theoretical equations that he developed for the constitutive relationships between capillary pressure, water content and the hydraulic conductivity of variably-saturated porous media (van Genuchten, 1980). Because of their attractive mathematical properties, and their simplicity, the "van Genuchten equations" are now universally used in numerical simulators of subsurface flow and transport processes. In addition to his research impacts, van Genuchten's leadership has largely contributed to the successful careers of countless graduate students, junior scientists, and post-doctoral and visiting scientists.

Throughout his career, van Genuchten has given seminars, short-courses, and invited presentations in 30 different countries throughout the world. Van Genuchten was instrumental in SSSA launching Vadose Zone Journal, dedicated specifically to the variably-saturated vadose zone, and served as its founding editor.

"He has brought enormous visibility and credibility to the soil physics profession. His personal and team research over the past 30 years has been second to none in the world, as has been his service to the profession," says Hopmans. "Rien's contributions to the Soil Science community are an inspiration for us all."

Van Genuchten was elected Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, Soil Science Society of America and American Society of Agronomy, as well as received several awards such as an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Hannover in Germany (2004), the Dionys Stur SAS Medal of Honour from the Slovak Academy of Sciences (2005), and the John Dalton Medal from the European Geosciences Union (2010).

The Don and Betty Kirkham Gold Medal is presented every eight years at alternate Kirkham Conferences to a retired scientist and commemorates the unexcelled career achievements of those most extraordinary individuals throughout the world who uniquely contributed to soil physics because of their inspirational teaching, research and professional activities.

Beginning in 1997, Don Nielsen, along with Rienk van der Ploeg, University of Hannover, jointly drafted guidelines for a Kirkham program to honor their major professor Don Kirkham and his wife Betty and to recognize scientists who have made outstanding scholarly achievements and educational contributions to advance soil physics. The program consists of the Don and Betty Kirkham Soil Physics Award, the Don and Betty Kirkham Gold Medal, and the quadrennial Don and Betty Kirkham Conference. For that purpose, the Don and Betty Kirkham Fund and later the Lena and Maria van der Ploeg Fund were established by the Agronomic Science Foundation (ASF).

For more information, visit http://www.soils.org/membership/divisions/soil-physics-and-hydrology/kirkham-award-and-conferences.

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Geneva, Switzerland, 11 April -- The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) have announced the 2016 Heine H. Hansen (HHH) Award recipient as Suresh Senan from Amsterdam. The award will be presented at the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) 2016, held 13 to 16 April in Geneva, Switzerland.

The HHH Award recognises the lifetime contribution of Prof Heine H. Hansen1 to lung cancer research and education globally. Heine Hansen was a president of ESMO, a founder of IASLC and a mentor to many in the field of lung cancer. The HHH Award is presented annually by representatives of both organisations at ELCC, where the awardee will give a keynote lecture.2

The HHH Award acknowledges a lung cancer investigator who has made a special contribution to lung cancer research and education on an international basis. Prof Senan is currently vice-chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he has been professor of clinical experimental radiotherapy since 2003. He is an ESMO Faculty member for Chest Tumours and has been a member of the IASLC since 2000.

Commenting on the significance of receiving the award, Senan said: "The Heine H. Hansen Award reflects the opportunities provided by ESMO to non-medical oncologists such as myself, to actively participate in guideline development and teaching courses, all with the aim of contributing to improved care for our patients."

Senan completed undergraduate studies and training in internal medicine at the National University of Singapore, before training in radiotherapy and oncology in Scotland. He has been working in the Netherlands since 1994.

He said: "This award represents for me a recognition of the active research efforts in the Dutch lung cancer research community. I see it also as recognition of the growing role of radiation oncology in treatment of lung cancer. Since my first attendance at a World Lung Cancer Conference in 2000, I have been an active member of the IASLC community, and like many others, have benefitted from stimulating discussions and networking with established leaders in the field like Prof Heine Hansen."

Senan's research has focused on different aspects of lung cancer therapy, including stereotactic radiotherapy, 4-dimensional imaging, chemo-radiotherapy, treatment of small-cell lung cancer, comparative effectiveness research, and MRI-guided treatment. He has more than 285 peer-reviewed publications, and has supervised 15 PhD theses.

Acknowledging the contribution of others to his career, Senan said: "I am grateful to my radiation oncology colleagues, especially Frank Lagerwaard and Ben Slotman, for a very productive collaboration over nearly 15 years, and we continue to work on exciting new projects. Lung cancer research at the VU University Medical Centre benefitted greatly from the inspiring leadership of Pieter Postmus and Egbert Smit, who together with my surgical colleague, Rick Paul, were all strong supporters of 'disruptive research' which could lead to improved outcomes in patients. I have also been fortunate to work with a number of very talented Dutch and international PhD students, whose projects helped generate the data to move the field forward."

ELCC Scientific Committee Co-Chair for ESMO, Prof Solange Peters said: "ESMO is delighted to bestow this year's Heine H. Hansen Award on Suresh Senan. He has been an active member of ESMO, helping to spread best practice in the field of lung cancer."

Dr. Wilfried Eberhardt, ELCC Scientific Committee Co-Chair for IASLC, said: "Suresh Senan is a valued member of IASLC and worthy recipient of this award. His involvement in research, editorial roles, supervision, and professional societies will have a long lasting impact on the field of lung cancer."

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Notes to Editors

References

1 Prof Hansen started translational research in lung cancer and collaborated with many investigators in Europe and the US. Early on he saw a need for a formal collaborative framework for investigators focusing on lung cancer and was one of the visionary founders of the IASLC and its journal Lung Cancer. He later became the IASLC's President and first Executive Director. Prof Hansen played a significant role in ESMO's evolution and was ESMO President in 1996-1997. At ESMO he contributed to the development of a global curriculum for medical oncology and was instrumental in developing medical oncology as a recognised specialty in Europe. He was also very active in educational activities in the previous Eastern European countries and implemented many clinical trials in this part of Europe.

2 The Heine H. Hansen Award will be presented to Prof Senan during the Heine H. Hansen Award Lecture on Wednesday, 13th April 2016 at 13:45, Room B. Keynote lecture: "Curative treatment of early-stage NSCLC: Lessons learned from comparative effectiveness research and future directions".

Info on other ESMO awards is available at http://www.esmo.org/Career-Development/Awards

About the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) 2016

The European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) has become the reference event in Europe for professionals treating lung cancers. It is organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, in collaboration with the partner societies ESTRO, ESTS and ETOP.

ELCC provides a comprehensive multidisciplinary overview of the latest as well as of the state-of-the-art knowledge in thoracic malignancies, covering different aspects such as prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment modalities and the results of basic, clinical and translational research, presented by top international academic experts. Around 2,000 attendees are expected from throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

About the European Society for Medical Oncology

ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology. With more than 14,000 members representing oncology professionals from over 130 countries, ESMO is the society of reference for oncology education and information.

ESMO's educational resources support an integrated, multi-professional approach to cancer care. We have European roots and a global reach: we welcome oncology professionals from around the world and we seek to erase boundaries in cancer care as we pursue our mission across oncology, worldwide.

To learn about ESMO, visit http://www.esmo.org

About the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organisation dedicated to the study of lung cancer. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes more than 3,500 lung cancer specialists in 80 countries. To learn more about IASLC, visit http://www.iaslc.org
This news release is available in German.

When water in a pot is slowly heated to the boil, an exciting duel of energies takes place inside the liquid. On the one hand there is the interaction energy that wants to keep the water molecules together because of their mutual attraction. On the other hand, however, the motional energy, which increases due to heating, tries to separate the molecules. Below the boiling point the interaction energy prevails, but as soon as the motional energy wins the water boils and turns into water vapour. This process is also known as a phase transition. In this scenario the interaction only involves water molecules that are in immediate proximity to one another.

A team of researchers led by Tilman Esslinger at the Institute for Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich, and Tobias Donner, a scientist in his group, have now shown that particles can be made to "feel" each other even over large distances. By adding such long-range interactions the physicists were able to observe novel phase transitions that result from energetic three-way battles.

Artificial quantum worlds

The physicists did not, of course, perform their experiments in a cooking pot, but rather in an artificially created quantum world called a "quantum simulator". To do so, the researchers cooled a tiny cloud of rubidium atoms to temperatures just above absolute zero and then caught them in a crystal-like lattice made of laser beams. The interaction energy stems from collisions between atoms that move back and forth between lattice sites. The motional energy of the atoms, on the other hand, can be controlled through the intensity of the laser beams, which determines how easily the atoms can move inside the lattice.

Finally, in order to bring about an interaction between atoms that are far apart, Renate Landig, a PhD student in Esslinger's group, and her colleagues used a technical trick. Using two highly reflecting mirrors they built a resonator that ensured that light particles scattered by one of the atoms would fly through the rubidium cloud several times. In that way, sooner or later all the atoms in the cloud come into contact with the scattered photon. They thus "feel" the presence of the original atom that first deviated the photon. This feeling over a distance is tantamount to an effective long-range interaction. How strongly the atoms interact in this way can be exactly controlled through the frequency of the laser beams.

"Using this trick we now have three competing energy scales in our system: besides the motional and interaction energies there is, in addition, the energy associated with the long-range interaction", explains Landig. "By varying the motional energy and the long-range interaction energy, we are able to study a number of novel quantum phase transitions."

First order phase transitions

The researchers were already familiar with some of the possible phase transitions. For instance, when the long-range interaction is very small and the motional energy is increased little by little, the phase of the rubidium cloud changes from a Mott insulator, with one immobile atom sitting on each lattice site, to a superfluid, in which atoms can move completely freely.

If, by contrast, the researchers increase the long range interaction energy, something completely different happens. At a particular strength of that interaction the atoms spontaneously arrange themselves in a checkerboard pattern, with one empty lattice site between two atoms. "The peculiarity of this phase transition, which is similar to that between water and water vapour, is that it's a first order transition", Donner emphasizes. In such phase transitions a particular property of a substance changes suddenly, whereas second order phase transitions, which are the type of transitions that have been detected in artificial quantum systems up to now, are characterized by a gradual change.

Supersolidity detected

The physicists were also able to induce another unusual phase transition by making both the motional energy and the long-range interaction energy very large. In that case, too, a checkerboard pattern appeared inside the lattice, but this time there was phase coherence between the atoms - in other words, their quantum mechanical wave functions were synchronized. Phase coherence is usually only observed when the atoms are relatively free to roam, as is the case, for instance, in the superfluid state. The coexistence of a checkerboard pattern and phase coherence at the same time indicates that one is dealing with a supersolid phase. The hybrid state of supersolidity was theoretically predicted as much as fifty years ago, but thus far unambiguously detecting it has proved difficult.

In the future, Esslinger and his collaborators will use their quantum simulator to study such exotic effects more closely. The researchers' aim is to get a general idea of quantum phenomena in increasingly complex systems. This, in turn, goes hand in hand with the development and investigation of materials with special properties.

The research was undertaken in conjunction with TherMiQ, a European research project examining the thermodynamics of mesoscopic open quantum systems.

###

Reference

Landig R, Hruby L, Dogra N, Landini M, Mottl R, Donner T, Esslinger T: Quantum phases from competing short- and long-range interactions in an optical lattice, Nature, 11 April 2016, doi: 10.1038/nature17409 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature17409]
A tax on individual transactions between financial institutions--based on the level of systemic risk that each transaction adds to the system -- could essentially eliminate the risk of future collapse of the financial system, according to a new study recently published in the journal Quantitative Finance. It relies on an analysis of the networks of the banking system, using central bank data from Austria. "When banks collapse, it costs a lot to bail them out, and that money usually comes from the public, from taxpayers" explains IIASA researcher Stefan Thurner, who coauthored the study with IIASA researcher Sebastian Poledna. The proposed tax would go into a government fund which could be used to bail out a struggling bank, for example. "You could also consider it a form of systemic risk insurance," says Thurner.

Financial institutions are linked by multiple types of transactions, which Thurner and Poledna have modeled in a detailed network analysis. These transactions include deposits and loans between financial institutions. The study is the first to quantify the systemic risk that individual transactions add to the system.

"Since the international financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, policymakers have been discussing new ways to regulate the system in order to help avoid a repeat scenario. The new study provides just that," says Poledna. While introducing such a tax would require some work, the researchers argue that the data are there and the technical effort required for implementation is not overwhelming. Thurner has already presented the work to interested policymakers, supervisors, and central banks in the EU and Mexico.

"There's currently a lot of discussion about a Tobin tax in the European Union, but the version they are proposing would tax every transaction at a flat rate. The tax we are proposing would not have to be large, in order to act as an incentive scheme for avoiding transactions that would be the most harmful for the system--banks would try to avoid transactions that generate that risk," says Thurner.

###

Reference

Poledna S, Thurner S (2016). Elimination of systemic risk in financial networks by means of a systemic risk transaction tax. Quantitative Finance doi:10.1080/14697688.2016.1156146
Thanks to over $800,000 in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund and the Quebec government, INRS researchers will have access to new scientific facilities to develop new therapeutic agents, innovative catalysts, and reliable models for managing fishery resources. The addition of these two state-of-the-art facilities will also help give the next generation of scientists the skills they need to innovate in the fields of the environment, medicinal chemistry, and catalysis.

Aquatic habitat analysis and modelling

With the creation of the aquatic habitat analysis and modelling laboratory, Professor Fateh Chebana of the Eau Terre Environnement research centre, in partnership with professors Andre St-Hilaire and Normand Bergeron, will have access to the data they need to develop the next generation of statistical models for determining the effect that a change in habitat has on biological productivity. The team has access to an experimental watershed located on a salmon river (Riviere Ste-Marguerite) and a mobile laboratory, enabling it to characterize the physical habitat of rivers, conduct telemetric monitoring of fish, and develop sophisticated statistical approaches that take into account the variety of scales and levels of data to analyze. This laboratory is the first of its kind in Quebec (and all of Canada), and it will help improve our knowledge of fish habitats and ensure the sustainable development of river ecosystems to give managers the tools they need to make informed water resource management decisions.

Design of organometallic catalysts and therapeutics

The advanced inert atmosphere facility for the design of organometallic catalysts and therapeutics, a first at INRS and one of the rare facilities of its kind in Montreal, will allow Professor Annie Castonguay of the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier Centre to investigate topics at the interface of chemistry and biology. Her research program will lead to innovative metallic therapeutics and thermoresponsive delivery platforms with the potential to overcome numerous problems associated with existing metal-based chemotherapies. Another aspect of her research program also involves the study of organometallic complexes based on relatively abundant metals, which have traditionally been overlooked to achieve catalytic reactions of high importance. This research will lead to major advances in the field of medicinal chemistry and contribute to the development of greener routes to bond formation.

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About INRS

Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS) is a graduate-level research and training university and ranks first in Canada for research intensity (average funding per professor). INRS brings together some 150 professors and close to 700 students and postdoctoral fellows at its four centres in Montreal, Quebec City, Laval, and Varennes. Its basic research is essential to the advancement of science in Quebec and internationally, and its research teams play a key role in the development of concrete solutions to the problems faced by our society.
April 11, 2016, NEW YORK - A team of researchers, led by Ludwig Cancer Research scientist Paul Mischel and James Heath of the California Institute of Technology, has probed biochemical signaling cascades within individual cancer cells to capture a previously poorly understood but clinically significant mechanism of cancer drug resistance. Published in the current issue of Cancer Cell, their paper shows that cells of the invariably lethal brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) begin adapting to resist therapy within as little as three days of its initiation. The researchers further show that their technology and analytical approach has the potential to be harnessed by clinicians to anticipate, and even overcome, drug resistance to GBM.

"Cancers in general, and GBM in particular, are marked by staggering cellular and molecular heterogeneity," says Mischel, a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, San Diego. "It is what makes them so difficult to treat. We risk missing important elements of this heterogeneity if we can't collect and analyze data at the level of individual cells."

Drug resistance is a case in point. Many targeted therapies bind and inactivate specific proteins known to be essential nodes in the signaling circuits that drive cancer cell growth. But, almost invariably, some cells within tumors randomly develop mutations that either disrupt the binding of a drug or otherwise obviate its effects. Those cells tend to resist treatment and can grow to dominate a tumor. This classical mechanism of drug resistance is known as clonal selection.

But tumors can also adapt to targeted therapies in other ways. Their cells might, for example, skip the genetic changes and alter the coordination of their internal signaling circuitry -- in effect sending critical growth signals down alternative circuits. To capture such changes, the researchers used a micromechanical device developed by Heath's lab known as the Single Cell Barcode Chip (SCBC) to study GBM cells taken from a patient-derived mouse model of the cancer. The mice were treated with drugs that target key molecular nodes in GBM signaling circuits, mTORC1 and mTORC2.

Mischel, Heath and their colleagues first eliminated the possibility that clonal selection accounted for the inevitable resistance that developed against the drugs. They then used SCBC to track a selected subset of biochemical reactions that expose the activation of distinct signaling pathways in individual or small groups of cells.

"Drug resistance was marked by the emergence of signaling networks that were previously in the background and that now were newly coordinated to drive the growth of these tumors," says Mischel, who is also a professor of Pathology at the University of California, San Diego. "This was a key insight because it led to a series of testable predictions."

Specifically, after pinning down the precise alternative circuits used by GBM cells under treatment, they showed that by concurrently targeting both the original and the new signaling pathways, they could durably suppress the growth of tumors in their mouse model. Conversely, targeting any one pathway alone, even with more than one drug, had no such effect. The findings were replicated in tumor samples obtained from GBM patients at various stages of treatment.

"Our findings do not overturn the idea of clonal selection," says Beatrice Gini, a former post-doctoral researcher in Mischel's lab who conducted much of the study with Wei Wei, an assistant professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA and former graduate student in Heath's laboratory. "In fact, genetically encoded resistance and this kind of adaptive resistance are probably occurring at the same time in a GBM tumor. But the rewiring of signaling circuits occurs much faster--apparently in the first few days of treatment, even when the tumor seems to be responding to a targeted therapy."

The findings also explain why that response has typically proved so minor and fleeting in GBM, an extremely heterogeneous tumor. "This study builds on ten years of collaborative work with Jim Heath's lab and really highlights how heterogeneity is linked to a cancer's clinical behavior," says Mischel. "The cancer cell has a vast repertoire of responses at its disposal when it is challenged by a drug."

###

Support for this study was provided by Ludwig Cancer Research, Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation Fund, the National Institutes of Health, the Phelps Family Foundation and the National Brain Tumor Society.

About Ludwig Cancer Research

Ludwig Cancer Research is an international collaborative network of acclaimed scientists that has pioneered cancer research and landmark discovery for more than 40 years. Ludwig combines basic science with the ability to translate its discoveries and conduct clinical trials to accelerate the development of new cancer diagnostics and therapies. Since 1971, Ludwig has invested nearly $2.7 billion in life-changing science through the not-for-profit Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and the six U.S.-based Ludwig Centers. To learn more, visit http://www.ludwigcancerresearch.org.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have identified a type of immune cell that appears to block the progress of melanoma and other cancers in animal models. These subcapsular sinus (SCS) macrophages form a protective coating around lymph nodes, preventing the entry of tiny structures that transport bits of tumor tissue and help the cancer to grow and spread. However, the SCS macrophage barrier appears to be temporary, as it breaks down as the tumor progresses and in response to some cancer treatment drugs.

"Macrophages found within tumors are typically seen as promoting cancer growth, for example, by helping form new blood vessels which deliver nutrients to tumor cells," says Mikael Pittet, PhD, of the MGH Center for Systems Biology, who led the study appearing in the April 8, 2016 issue of Science. "My lab studies how tumors communicate with the immune system in the entire body, and we became particularly interested in knowing whether tumors also interact with macrophages that reside away from the tumor."

One potential means by which molecular signals could be transferred from tumors to immune cells are tiny membrane-bound compartments called tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (tEVs), which are known to bind to and activate many different cell types. Measuring tEV levels can be used to predict treatment response and survival, but assessing the impact of tEVs in living animals has been difficult. The MGH team combined genetic and imaging approaches in a novel way to track tEVs and their targets.

In mice carrying tumor cells genetically modified to produce tEVs with a light-emitting marker, the researchers confirmed that tEVs can exit tumors and travel throughout the body and found they were most highly concentrated in nearby lymph nodes to which they are transported via lymphatic vessels. In another group of mice with melanomas carrying different reporter proteins, the team found that tEVs primarily interact with SCS macrophages, which form a layer directly within the fibrous capsule surrounding lymph nodes.

To determine whether this observation in mice was relevant to human disease, the investigators examined cancer-free sentinel lymph nodes - those closest to the tumor to which it would be expected to spread first -- from 13 melanoma patients. Although the nodes themselves were confirmed to be melanoma-free, melanoma-derived material was found in SCS macrophages surrounding nodes from 90 percent of the patients. The presence of tumor-derived material in those macrophages did not reflect how far the primary tumor had progressed.

Further experiments found that SCS macrophages act as tumor suppressors in two mouse models of melanoma and in a lung cancer model. This is in marked contrast to macrophages within tumors, which typically promote cancer. While the current study showed that SCS macrophages suppress cancer by limiting the spread of tEVs, the density of SCS macrophages around lymph nodes begins to decrease as tumors grow. Treatment with chemotherapy and immune therapy drugs was also found to disrupt the SCS macrophage barrier. Once tEVs enter the lymph nodes, they bind to B cells, which produce antibodies that accelerate tumor growth.

An associate professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, Pittet says, "Since there currently is interest in developing therapies that deplete tumor-promoting macrophages within tumors, it could be useful to determine whether these treatments also affect protective SCS macrophages. The best outcome would probably be getting rid of the tumor-promoting activities of macrophages within tumors while preserving the tumor-suppressing activities of SCS macrophages. It also would be useful to determine whether SCS macrophages can be strengthened to prevent delivery of tEVs into the lymph nodes and to better understand how tEV-activated B cells promote cancer growth."

###

Ferdinando Pucci of the MGH Center for Systems Biology is lead author of the Science paper. Additional co-authors are Christopher Garris, Andita Newton, Christina Pfirschke, PhD, Camilla Engblom, Melissa Sprachman, PhD, Charles Evavold, Angela Magnuson, PhD, and Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD, MGH Center for Systems Biology; Charles P. Lai, PhD, and Xandra Breakefield, PhD, MGH Neurology; Thorsten R. Mempel, MD, PhD, MGH Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases; David Alvarez, PhD, and Ulrich von Andrian, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School; and Katharina Glatz, MD, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.

Support for this study includes the Samana Cay MGH Research Scholar Fund and National Institutes of Health grants R21-CA190344, P50-CA86355, R01-AI084880.

Massachusetts General Hospital , founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $800 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine. In July 2015, MGH returned into the number one spot on the 2015-16 U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Moving bodies can be attracted to each other, even when they're quite far apart and separated by many other objects: That, in a nutshell, is the somewhat unexpected finding by a team of researchers at MIT.

Scientists have known for a long time that small particles of matter, from the size of dust to sand grains, can exert influences on each other through electrical, magnetic, or chemical effects. Now, this team has found a new kind of long-range interaction between particles, in a liquid medium, that is based entirely on their motions. And these interactions should apply to any kind of particles that move, whether they be living cells or metal particles whirled by magnetic fields.

The discovery, which holds for both living and nonliving particles, is described in a paper by Alfredo Alexander-Katz, the Walter Henry Gale Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and his co-researchers, in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

Alexander-Katz describes the kind of interactions his team found as being related to the research field of active matter. Example of active systems are the flocking behavior of birds or the schooling of fish. Each individual member of the system may be responding just to others in its vicinity, but the result is a coherent overall pattern of movement that can span a large region. Cells in a fluid medium, or even tiny structures moving within a cell, exhibit similar kinds of motion, he says.

The researchers studied magnetic particles a few micrometers (millionths of a meter) across, comparable to the size of some cells. A small number of these magnetic metal microparticles were interspersed with a much larger quantity of inert particles of comparable size, all suspended in water. When a rotating magnetic field was applied, the metal particles would begin to spin, simulating the movements of living cells in the midst of nonliving or relatively inert objects -- such as when cells migrate through tissues or move in a crowded environment.

They found that the spinning particles, even when separated by distances tens of times their size, would ultimately migrate toward each other. Though that attraction progressed through a slow and apparently random series of motions, the particles would in the end almost always come together.

While there has been a lot of research on interactions among active particles, Alexander-Katz says, this is one of the few studies that has looked at the way such particles interact when they are surrounded by inactive particles. "In the absence of the inactive particles there are essentially no interactions," he says.

The unexpected finding might ultimately lead to a better understanding of the behavior of some natural biological systems or new methods for creating synthetic active materials which could be useful for selectively delivering drugs into certain parts of the body, Alexander-Katz suggests. It could also end up finding applications in electronics or energy-harvesting systems, for example providing a way to flip a crystal structure between two different configurations.

"What we're addressing is collective excitations of the system, or coherent excitations," he explains. "What we're looking at is, what are the interactions as a function of activity" of the individual particles.

The faster the particles spin, the greater the attraction between them, the team found. Below a certain speed the effect stops altogether. But the amount of inert matter also makes a difference, they found.

With no inert particles -- if the moving particles are suspended in clear water -- there is no motion-based attraction. But when the nonspinning particles are added and their concentration reaches a certain point, "there is attraction!" Alexander-Katz says.

One unexpected aspect of the findings was how far the effect extended. "What was really surprising was that the range of the interactions is gigantic," he says. By way of comparison, he says, imagine you're in a crowd, and you start to move a bit, and someone else also starts to move, while everyone else tries to stand still. "I would be able to sense, even 20 people away or more, that that person is also active -- assuming that the other folks around us are not active."

The attraction, he says, "is not chemical, it is not magnetic, it is not electrostatic, it's just based on activity." And because the range is so long, these interactions could not be modeled in simulations but required physical experiments to be uncovered. The tests by Alexander-Katz and his team used two-dimensional films, similar to particle sediments that form on a rock surface, he says.

He speculates that some biological organisms may use this phenomenon as a way of sensing parts of their environment, though this has not yet been tested.

###

The team included MIT postdoc Juan Aragones, graduate student Joshua Steimel, undergraduate Helen Hu, and collaborator Naser Qureshi from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, MISTI Mexico, and the Chang Family.
Poverty in the U.S. is often associated with deprivation, in areas including housing, employment, and education. Now a study co-authored by two MIT researchers has shown, in unprecedented geographic detail, another stark reality: Poor people live shorter lives, too.

More precisely, the study shows that in the U.S., the richest 1 percent of men lives 14.6 years longer on average than the poorest 1 percent of men, while among women in those wealth percentiles, the difference is 10.1 years on average.

This eye-opening gap is also growing rapidly: Over roughly the last 15 years, life expectancy increased by 2.34 years for men and 2.91 years for women who are among the top 5 percent of income earners in America, but by just 0.32 and 0.04 years for men and women in the bottom 5 percent of the income tables.

"When we think about income inequality in the United States, we think that low-income Americans can't afford to purchase the same homes, live in the same neighborhoods, and buy the same goods and services as higher-income Americans," says Michael Stepner, a PhD candidate in MIT's Department of Economics. "But the fact that they can on average expect to have 10 or 15 fewer years of life really demonstrates the level of inequality we've had in the United States."

Stepner and Sarah Abraham, another PhD candidate in MIT's Department of Economics, are among the co-authors of a newly published paper summarizing the study's findings, and have played central roles in a three-year research project establishing the results.

In addition to reporting the size and growth of the income gap, the study finds that the average lifespan varies considerably by region in the U.S. (by as much as 4.5 years), but that the sources of that regional variation are subtle, and, like the aggregate national gap, subject to further investigation.

"The patterns are not exactly what you might expect," says Abraham, noting that regional variation in longevity does not seem strongly correlated with factors such as access to health care, environmental issues, income inequality, or the job market.

"We don't find those to be as highly correlated with differences in longevity as we find measures of health behavior, such as smoking rates or obesity rates" [to be correlated with lifespan], Abraham observes.

The paper, "The Association between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014," is being published today by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The authors are Raj Chetty, a professor of economics at Stanford University; Stepner and Abraham of MIT, who are the second and third authors on the paper; Shelby Lin, an analyst with McKinsey and Company in New York; Benjamin Scuderi, a predoctorate fellow in Harvard University's Economics Department; Augustin Bergeron, a PhD candidate in Harvard University's Economics Department; Nicholas Turner of the Office of Tax Analysis in the U.S. Department of the Treasury; and David Cutler, a professor of economics at Harvard University.

The geography of mortality

The researchers looked at 1.4 billion anonymized income tax filings from the federal government, and combined that with mortality data from the years 2001 through 2014 from the Social Security Administration. This represents the most complete geographic and demographic landscape of mortality in America.

Among other things, the growth of the gap in mortality rates -- by nearly three years -- struck the researchers as noteworthy. To put it in perspective, they note that federal health officials estimate that curing all forms of cancer would add three years to the average lifespan.

"That change over the last 15 years is the equivalent of the richest Americans winning the war on cancer," Stepner observes.

At the same time, the researchers are quick to point out that the findings cannot immediately be reduced to simple cause-and-effect explanations. For instance, as social scientists have long observed, it is very hard to say whether having wealth leads to better health -- or if health, on aggregate, is a prerequisite for accumulating wealth. Most likely, the two interact in complex ways, something the study cannot resolve.

"It's a descriptive story," Stepner says of the data.

A new puzzle emerging from the study, the authors note, is that differences in lifespan exist along the entire continuum of wealth in the U.S.; it is not as if, say, the top 10 percent of earners cluster around identical average lifespans.

"As you go up in the income distribution, life expectancy continues to increase, at every point," Stepner says.

And then there are the new geographic patterns in the findings. For instance: Eight of the 10 states with the lowest life expectancies for people in the bottom income quartile form a contiguous belt, curving around from Michigan through Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

So while average lifespans for everyone are lower in some Southern states, the poor do not fare worse in those places than they do in other regions.

"The Deep South is the lowest-income area in America, but when we're looking at life expectancy conditional on having a low income, it's not worse to be poor in the Deep South than it is in other areas of America," Stepner says. "It's just that there are far more poor people living in the South."

Future research: Think local

The researchers say that more analysis on the sources of local variation in lifespans could be among the most fruitful research areas stemming from the current paper. The research team is releasing all the data from the study today as well.

Among the municipalities where low-income people have experienced the greatest increases in lifespan from 2001-2014, for example, are Toms River, New Jersey; Birmingham, Alabama; and Richmond, Virginia. Cities with the largest drops in lifespan among the poor are Tampa and Pensacola, Florida; and Knoxville, Tennessee.

"We're not making any normative statements about what policy should be, but there is a wide dispersion of [results] happening in the U.S.," Abraham says. "That might need to be addressed at a more granular level."

Places with the overall longest lifespans for the poor include New York City, with a chart-topping 81.8 yearsJournal of the American Medical Association on average, as well as a passel of cities in California. The bottom of that list includes Gary, Indiana (77.4 years on average); Las Vegas; and Oklahoma City.

Among the top income earners, people live longest in Salt Lake City (87.8 years on average); Portland, Maine; and Spokane, Washington. The rich have the shortest lives in Las Vegas (84.1 years on average); Gary, Indiana; and Honolulu.

Abraham also observes that the findings could have implications for national policy programs, as well.

"Things like Social Security aren't going to be as redistributive if the richer people are getting paid for 10 more years than the poorer people," she says.

Overall, the researchers say they hope to spark a larger discussion among the research and policy communities.

"We don't have all the answers," Abraham says. "But it's really important to make these statistics widely used so people have an idea of what the magnitude of these problems is, where they might focus their attention, and why this matters."

###

The research was supported by a grant from the U.S. Social Security Administration to the National Bureau of Economic Research; the National Institutes of Health; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; the Smith Richardson Foundation; and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Leader of the main opposition party of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party Ali Karimli announced in connection with the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno Karabakh, that the Azerbaijani army, which received tens of billions dollars shouldnt have around 100 killed soldiers.

As Armenpress reports, citing Azadliq newspaper, Ali Karimli criticizes the Azerbaijani authorities for hiding the number of casualties sustained as a result of Armenian countermeasures. Ali Karimli said that they gain information from independent reporters from social networks as a result.

The behavior of the Azerbaijani ruling party (Yeni Azrbaycan Partiyas, YAP) once again proves that the goal of the leadership is not Karabakh, but maintenance of power, he said.

Ali Karmli strongly criticized the Azerbaijani leadership for the failed military operations against Nagorno Karabakh.

Karimli reminded the Azerbaijani political and military leadership their repeating If needed, we will capture Karabakh expression, and asked them So why couldnt you.

If you are talking about the combat efficiency of the army, public unity, support of the world, the neighbors, especially Turkey, about the panic and distress of the adversary, so why couldnt you fulfill your If needed promise? Please, do not ever say If needed type expressions, they will not be seriously perceived, he wrote.

The Azerbaijani authorities organized protests outside Ali Karimlis residence, shouting Traitor, pro-Armenian, enemy.

Karimli defended the Azerbaijani opposition and democratic forces National council alliance.

The alliance released a statement saying that  23 year long if needed we will capture Karabakh declaring army failed to make correct moves.

Our army, which Ilham Aliyev states has a greater budget than the Republic of Armenia in general, shouldnt have sustained so many losses. The leadership has forgotten that the supreme commander and ceasefire agreement signer is Ilham Aliyev, an demands Karabakh from Karimli,  reads the statement.

According to Khazar military research institute, Azerbaijan lost 93 soldiers during their aggression: 52 are soldiers, 10 conscripts, 10 non commissioned officers, 21 officers. Khazar also informed about 21 wounded.

According to Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army data, during the April 1-5 Azerbaijani military aggression and attacks against Nagorno Karabakh, as a result of Armenian counterattacks the Azerbaijani side lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 2 battle vehicles, 1 engineering hardware, 7 UAVs, 1 MM-21 multiple rocket launcher. Azerbaijan lost more than 500 soldiers and 2000 were wounded.
Princeton University researchers have found that a family of proteins with important roles in the immune system may be responsible for fine-tuning a person's motor control as they grow -- and for their gradual loss of muscle function as they age. The research potentially reveals a biological cause of weakness and instability in older people, as well as a possible future treatment that would target the proteins specifically.

The researchers reported in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity that proteins in the family MHCI, or major histocompatibility complex class I, "prune" the connections, or synapses, between motor neurons and muscle fibers. Pruning is necessary during early development because at birth each muscle fiber in humans, mice and other vertebrates receives signals from dozens of neural connections. Proper motor control, however, requires that each muscle fiber receive signals from only a single motor neuron, so without the pruning carried out by MHCI proteins, fine motor control would never emerge.

But the researchers also found that MHCI levels can rise again in old age, and that the proteins may resume pruning nerve-muscle synapses -- except that in a mature organism there are no extra synapses. The result is that individual muscle fibers become completely "denervated," or detached from nervous system control. Denervated muscle fibers cannot be recruited during muscle contraction, which can leave older people weaker and more susceptible to devastating falls, making independent living difficult.

However, the Princeton researchers discovered that when MHCI levels were reduced in mice, denervation during aging was largely prevented. These findings could help scientists identify and treat the neurological causes of denervation and muscle weakness in the elderly.

Corresponding author Lisa Boulanger, an assistant professor in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, explained that in infants, motor neurons initially make far too many connections to muscle fibers, which is part of why infants lack fine motor control. Synapse overproduction followed by pruning occurs in many different regions of the vertebrate nervous system, and the neuromuscular junction has often been used as a model for studying this process.

It is not known why more synapses are made during development than are needed. One possibility is that it allows the wiring diagram of the nervous system to be precisely tuned based on the way the circuit is used, Boulanger said. MHCI proteins help limit the final number of connections so that communication between neurons and muscles is more precise and efficient than would be possible using just a molecular code that produced a set number of connections.

"Molecules might get you to the right zip code, but pruning can make sure you arrive at the right house," Boulanger said. "During development, it's essential to get rid of extra synapses. But when you up-regulate MHCI when you're older and start pruning synapses again, but you don't have any extras to replace them."

Boulanger worked with first author Mazell Tetruashvily, who received her doctorate in molecular biology from Princeton in 2015 and is now completing her M.D. training at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; Marin McDonald, who received her doctorate in neuroscience from the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) in 2010, and is now a radiology resident at UCSD; and Karla Frietze, a doctoral student in Princeton's Department of Molecular Biology. Boulanger was on the UCSD faculty before moving her lab to Princeton in 2009.

In the immune system, MHCI proteins present protein fragments, or peptides, to T cells, which are white blood cells with a central role in the body's response to infection. This peptide presentation allows T cells to recognize and kill infected and cancerous cells, which present abnormal or foreign peptides on their MHCI proteins. It is unknown if the proteins' ability to help recognize and destroy infected or cancerous cells is mechanistically related to the proteins' ability to help eliminate excess synapses that the Princeton researchers discovered.

In the nervous system, MHCI proteins stop pruning synapses early in life. Why they may resume their synapse-eliminating activity later in life is unknown, Boulanger said. As immune-system proteins, MHCI levels increase with inflammation, she said. Aging is associated with chronic inflammation, which could explain the observed increase in MHCI levels and the reactivation of its former role.

The Princeton researchers found that mice bred to express less MHCI proteins had "more youthful" patterns of muscle innervation, since they were protected from denervation as they aged, Boulanger said. The mice actually lacked a protein known as beta-2 microglobulin, which forms a complex with MHCI and is necessary for MHCI expression on the surface of cells. This could be beneficial from a clinical perspective because beta-2 microglobulin is a soluble protein and can be removed from the blood, Boulanger said.

"If a rise in MHCI is the problem, having less beta-2 microglobulin might be protective," Boulanger said. Recent results from a lab at Stanford University showed that reducing beta-2 microglobulin also helped with cognitive aging because of its effects on MHCI proteins. "Our studies raise the possibility that targeting one protein could help with both motor and cognitive aspects of aging," Boulanger said.

Because MHCI proteins are important in the immune system, however, such an approach could result in compromised immunity, Boulanger said. The mice bred to not express beta-2 microglobulin had weakened immune systems, as a result of their lower levels of MHCI proteins. Future work will include exploring the effectiveness of other approaches to reducing the proteins' synapse-eliminating activity in older nervous systems, ideally while leaving their immune functions intact, she said.

###

The research was supported by the Princeton Department of Molecular Biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (grant no. 1F30AG046044-01A1), the UCSD School of Medicine, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Whitehall Foundation, and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute Innovation Fund.

Mazell M. Tetruashvily, Marin A. McDonald, Karla K. Frietze and Lisa M. Boulanger. "MHCI promotes developmental synapse elimination and aging-related synapse loss at the vertebrate neuromuscular junction." Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2016.01.008
The Society for Vascular Medicine (SVM) is a part of a coalition of five leading nonprofit professional societies that has made recommendations for the treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD) to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) panel. The coalition's recommendations are explained in an editorial that appears in Vascular Medicine, the official journal of SVM. The editorial was made available on April 10, 2016 on the Vascular Medicine website.

The MEDCAC panel was convened to examine scientific evidence for lower-extremity PAD treatments that aim to improve health outcomes in Medicare beneficiaries and to address areas where evidence gaps exit related to lower-extremity PAD. The panel discussed care for patients with three levels of peripheral artery disease: asymptomatic, intermittent claudication, and critical limb ischemia.

Speaking on behalf of the value of early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of PAD to save limbs and lives, SVM, represented by SVM Immediate Past President James Froehlich, MD, MPH, FSVM, and SVM President John R. Bartholomew, MD, MSVM, joined with the coalition, which has a combined membership of more than 100,000 physicians, to present before MEDCAC and advocate for continued access to PAD treatments or care. Along with SVM, these organizations represented a broad coalition of PAD specialists in the United States: American College of Radiology, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society of Interventional Radiology, and VIVA Physicians. All of these groups share a common goal of ensuring patients' access to high-quality, medically necessary care for all stages of PAD.

The editorial includes the following recommendations:

The coalition noted that the ankle brachial index (ABI) should be reclassified based on CMS criteria as a diagnostic test to permit identification and treatment of asymptomatic patients.

The coalition strongly believes that comprehensive medical intervention as described by the current guidelines has both immediate/near-term and long-term benefits in patients with intermittent claudication.

The coalition strongly recommends full coverage of supervised exercise training programs for Medicare patients with intermittent claudication.

Overall, the coalition feels that there is sufficient evidence for medical therapy, supervised exercise training, and revascularization in appropriate patients with intermittent claudication.

The coalition strongly believes that medical therapy and revascularization have immediate/near-term and long-term impact on all outcomes related to individuals with CLI.

The coalition endorses the concept of CLI teams, which may include endovascular and surgical specialists, podiatrists, orthotists, and other wound care specialists for optimal care.

Read the full editorial on the Vascular Medicine website. vmj.sagepub.com.

"The Society for Vascular Medicine believes that the appropriate treatment of PAD is of the utmost importance for improving health and lives," said Bartholomew, SVM's president. "The impact of the coalition's advice to CMS may affect millions of Americans over the age of 65 years with PAD," he said.

SVM Past President Michael R. Jaff, DO, MSVM, who also addressed the MEDCAC panel, said, "It is so rewarding to see how different physician specialists who are dedicated to the management of patients with peripheral artery disease are able to put aside specialty-specific competitive positions to advocate on their behalf in a coordinated and aligned front. The messages delivered to CMS and their MEDCAC were clear, concise, consistent, and underscore the importance of advancing the field while improving the care of these complex patients. I look forward to many future initiatives using this experience as a road map."

Mehdi H. Shishehbor, DO, MPH, PhD, the corresponding author on the editorial and a member of coalition to the MEDCAC panel, said, "We are proud of the collaborative effort by all specialities and societies to advocate for our patients with PAD. Decisions made by CMS directly affect the care of our patients with PAD; therefore, all physicians, allied health professionals, and institutions involved with the care of these patients should be aware of these discussions and be fully engaged."

###

The Society for Vascular Medicine is a professional organization founded in 1989 to improve the integration of vascular biological advances into medical practice, and to maintain high standards of clinical vascular medicine. The Society is distinguished by its emphasis on clinical approaches to vascular disorders. http://www.vascularmed.org.

Vascular Medicine is the premier and ISI-ranked, peer-reviewed international journal of vascular medicine comprising original research articles and reviews on vascular biology, epidemiology, diagnosis, medical treatment and interventions for vascular disease, and the official journal of Society for Vascular Medicine.

Join the conversation online using #PADaware.

http://vmj.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/23/1358863X16636955.full
Gender imbalance has existed for at least 2 decades and can be seen across Canada

TORONTO, April 11, 2016--More male babies than expected are born to Indian-born women living in Canada who already have two or more children, according to a study published today in the journal CMAJ Open.

This gender imbalance has existed for at least two decades and can be seen across Canada, said lead author Dr. Marcelo Urquia of St. Michael's Hospital.

The study, which used Statistics Canada data, highlights the "magnitude of the skewed sex ratios" among Indian immigrants but does not explain why this imbalance exists, said Dr. Urquia, an epidemiologist in the hospital's Centre for Research on Inner city Health.

However, a separate paper by Dr. Urquia published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that more boys were born to Indian-born women living in the province of Ontario if they already had two girls. The sex ratio increased significantly if they had one abortion prior to their third birth, if they had more than one abortion, and if they had an abortion after 14 weeks gestation when the sex of the fetus can accurately be determined by an ultrasound.

Dr. Urquia said these factors likely explained the gender imbalance in the rest of Canada as well.

In most of the world, between 103 and 107 boys are born for every 100 girls.

Canadian-born women living in Canada gave birth to about 105 boys for every 100 girls, Dr. Urquia's paper found.

But women born in India, who already have two children, gave birth to 138 baby boys in Canada for every 100 girls. If they already have three children, they give birth to 166 boys for every 100 girls.

Couples involving at least one Indian-born parent gave birth to more boys than girls in second and later births, principally when the father was born in India.

Dr. Urquia said this was the first paper to examine both the mother and father's country of origin when examining sex ratios.

His national study examined birth certificate data of 5.8 million births to Canadian-born women and 177,990 Indian-born women between 1990 and 2011. The data is provided by provincial Vital Statistics Registrars to the Canadian Vital Statistics Birth Database administered by Statistics Canada.

In Ontario, data housed by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences also showed sex rations among babies of Canadian-born women were within the expected range.

However, women born in India who already had two daughters then give birth to 196 boys for every 100 girls.

The sex ratio rises to 326 boys for every 100 girls if the Indian-born mother with two daughters had an abortion preceding the third birth.

It rises to 409 boys for every 100 girls if the mother had more than one abortion.

And it rises again to 663 boys for every 100 girls if the mother had at least one abortion after 14 weeks of gestation when the sex of the fetus can be accurately estimated by ultrasound.

The CMAJ study examined 1.2 million births to women with up to three live births between 1993 and 2012 in Ontario, where abortions are both legal and free. Records of live births and abortions were linked to Canadian immigration records.

Dr. Urquia said the data used in his studies did not indicate how long Indian immigrants had lived in Canada and whether that impacted the sex ratio. Nor did it indicate country of origin of the babies' grandparents, meaning some of the Canadian-born mothers may have been second-generation immigrants.

"We conservatively estimated that 4,472 girls of Indian immigrants to Canada were unaccounted for over the last two decades, largely among couples of two Indian-born parents but also among couples that have one Canadian-born parent," Dr. Urquia said.

The Ontario study also found a slight imbalance in the number of boys born to Chinese-born women living in Canada, but it was not tied to abortion and seemed to be more about family balancing.

###

The CMAJ Open study received funding from the Canadian Research Data Centre Network, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Statistics Canada. The CMAJ study received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. About St. Michael's Hospital

St. Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in more than 23 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, and care of the homeless are among the hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

For more information, or to speak to Dr. Urquia, please contact:

Leslie Shepherd

Manager, Media Strategy

St. Michael's Hospital

416-864-6094

shepherdl@smh.ca

Inspired Care. Inspiring Science.

http://www.stmichaelshospital.com

Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stmikeshospital
A researcher from the University of Bath has been awarded a new grant to develop an innovative way of assessing a key stage of the production of steel, greatly benefitting the competitiveness of the UK and EU steel industry.

The 'Shell-Thick' project will develop an innovative induction tomography system for assessing the solidification process of metal. This new system will significantly improve the continuous casting process of steel by providing a real-time, non-destructive and reliable method of measuring the molten steel to detect any defects or fails as it solidifies and becomes a market product.

The system will form a kind of contactless bracelet around the billet of molten steel and take continuous measurements as the steel solidifies. It will visualise the electrical conductivity of the different states of the solidifying steel and therefore provide an image of the structural composition of the steel as it cools.

By enabling industry to continuously monitor and alter the cooling process of steel, this innovative method will improve the quality, safety, productivity, costs and ultimately competitiveness of the UK and EU steel industries.

Induction tomography is a new and emerging non-invasive imaging technique used in a number of applications including medical diagnostics, geophysical exploration and civil engineering.

The EU and particularly UK steel industry is currently in a desperate state and facing widespread job losses due to its inability to compete with the highly subsidised steel industries in China. Steelworks such as the Tata Steelworks at Port Talbot are currently in emergency talks to try and prevent the plant closing. It is hoped this technology may help the UK/EU steel industry become more competitive and have greater job security in the long-term future.

The University of Bath works closely with its industrial partners in the UK and across the EU to bring innovation to the marketplace, delivering impactful research to industry and society.

Dr Manuch Soleimani from the University of Bath's Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering has received an EU Horizon 2020 grant to lead this three year project and will work with colleagues at the Fundacion Tecnalia Research & Innovation in Spain as well as Italian steel industry companies Ferriere Nord and Ergolines Lab.

Dr Soleimani, Associate Professor in the University's Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, said: "We are delighted to play a critical part in this project by using world-leading techniques in our Engineering Tomography Lab, in the area of electromagnetic imaging.

"This is an exciting and yet very challenging project that will have a great impact in helping in the competitive production of high quality steel, which is very important for the sustainable future of the UK and European steel industry."

All of the research carried out by the University's Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering was recently ranked 'internationally excellent' (3*) and 'world-leading' (4*) for its impact by the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), an independent assessment of UK university research activity.

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Previous studies have shown that married patients with cancer fare better than unmarried cancer patients, surviving more often and longer. In a new study, published April 11 in the journal Cancer, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that the benefits of being married vary by race and ethnicity, with male non-Hispanic white bachelors experiencing the worst outcome. This group had a 24 percent higher mortality rate than their married counterparts.

Unmarried women also had higher mortality than married women, but the difference was less significant than among men. Unmarried non-Hispanic white females had a 17 percent increase in mortality compared to those who were married, while single Asian/Pacific Islander females experienced a 6 percent increase in cancer death compared to wedded counterparts.

"Oncologists should be aware that an increase in cancer mortality is a real outcome among unmarried individuals," said Maria Elena Martinez, PhD, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Sam M. Walton Endowed Chair for Cancer Research and lead author of the study. "Physicians treating unmarried patients should ask if there is someone within their social network available to help the individual physically and emotionally during treatment. More attention should be paid to this consistent and adverse health effect of being unmarried."

The number of unmarried adults in the United States is growing, from 10 percent in 1960 to 23 percent in 2012 among men and 8 to 17 percent among women. Researchers say an increase in cancer mortality is also likely to continue rising. They suggest further work to study the association between marriage and cancer mortality to help inform future decisions that may reduce cancer disparities.

In the study, comprehensive data from the California Cancer Registry were used to study 393,470 men and 389,697 women. In addition to the difference based on race and ethnicity, researchers found variation based upon place of birth. Unmarried patients born outside of the United States experienced better survivorship rates compared to those born in the U.S. There was a significant difference among women of Hispanic descent as well as males and females of Asian/Pacific Islander descent who were born in the U.S. compared to their foreign-born counterparts.

"The results suggest that the more acculturated you become to U.S. culture, the more it impacts cancer survivorship," said Martinez, co-director of the Reducing Cancer Disparities research program at Moores Cancer Center. "Our hypothesis is that non-Hispanic whites don't have the same social network as other cultures that have stronger bonds with family and friends outside of marriage. As individuals acculturate they tend to lose those bonds.

"It's also been shown that women seek out help for health concerns more frequently than men, and women tend to remind spouses to see their physicians and live a healthy lifestyle."

The data did not include information about comorbidities, changes in marital status after a cancer diagnosis or on unmarried couples living together, which may differ among different race/ethnic groups.

In a companion paper, Scarlett L. Gomez, PhD, research scientist at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California and principal investigator on the study, and other co-authors including Martinez, looked at the impact of socioeconomic status on cancer survivorship. The patterns in the Martinez-led study were minimally explained by greater economic resources among married patients, including having private health insurance and living in higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods.

###

Additional study co-authors include Kristin Anderson, James D. Murphy, UC San Diego; Susan Hurley, Alison J. Canchola, Cancer Prevention Institute of California; Theresa H. M. Keegan, UC Davis; Iona Cheng, Christina Clarke, Sally L. Glaser, and Scarlett L. Gomez, Cancer Prevention Institute of California and Stanford.

This research was funded, in part, by the Stanford Cancer Institute, National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (HHSN261201000140C, HHSN261201000035C, HHSN261201000034C), and Specialized Cancer Center Support Grant (CA023100-29).
Chemists at the University of California San Diego have designed a set of molecules that promote microscopic, anatomical changes in neurons associated with the formation and retention of memories. These drug candidates also prevent deterioration of the same neuronal structures in the presence of amyloid-beta, a protein fragment that accumulates in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

The study looked at the effect of drug candidates on the density of tiny thornlike structures called dendritic spines that bristle along the branching processes of neurons and receive incoming signals.

"Problems with learning and memory in many neurodegenerative and neurodevelopment disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and certain forms of autism or mental retardation involve either loss or misregulation of dendritic spines," said Jerry Yang, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry who led the work. "The compounds we have developed may offer the possibility to compensate, or ideally preserve, neuronal communication in people suffering from problems with memory."

When the researchers treated neurons from a part of the brain critical to forming and retrieving memories with their new compounds they saw an increase in the density of dendritic spines. The new compounds also prevented the loss of these spines that occurs in the presence of amyloid-beta, the substance that forms amyloid plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease, the team reports in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The greater the concentration of the drug candidate, the greater the density of spines within the range of doses the team tested. The effect is also reversible: once the compounds were washed away, the spines receded within 24 hours.

Earlier versions of these compounds, also developed by Yang's research group, improved memory and learning in normal mice and a mouse model for Alzheimer's disease, but were too toxic to pursue as drug candidates.

Jessica Cifelli, a graduate student in Yang's group, worked out a way to keep the part of the molecules that they believe promoted the growth of dendritic spines, but alter the chemical features that impart toxicity. These novel compounds, called benzothiazole amphiphiles, are new tools to study relationship between dendritic spines and cognitive behavior.

We know from a wealth of prior research that spine densities on neurons change over time and that increases in the densities correlate with improved memory and learning. As potential drugs, benzothiazole amphiphiles could be useful for combatting spine loss in neurodegenerative disease, or possibly for general cognitive enhancement.

###

Co-authors include Lara Dozier, Tim Chung and Gentry Patrick. UC San Diego's Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, funded by the National Institute on Aging, partially supported this research.
The tree of life, which depicts how life has evolved and diversified on the planet, is getting a lot more complicated.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, who have discovered more than 1,000 new types of bacteria and Archaea over the past 15 years lurking in Earth's nooks and crannies, have dramatically rejiggered the tree to account for these microscopic new life forms.

"The tree of life is one of the most important organizing principles in biology," said Jill Banfield, a UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science and environmental science, policy and management. "The new depiction will be of use not only to biologists who study microbial ecology, but also biochemists searching for novel genes and researchers studying evolution and earth history."

Much of this microbial diversity remained hidden until the genome revolution allowed researchers like Banfield to search directly for their genomes in the environment, rather than trying to culture them in a lab dish. Many of the microbes cannot be isolated and cultured because they cannot live on their own: they must beg, borrow or steal stuff from other animals or microbes, either as parasites, symbiotic organisms or scavengers.

The new tree, to be published online April 11 in the new journal Nature Microbiology, reinforces once again that the life we see around us - plants, animals, humans and other so-called eukaryotes - represent a tiny percentage of the world's biodiversity.

"Bacteria and Archaea from major lineages completely lacking isolated representatives comprise the majority of life's diversity," said Banfield, who also has an appointment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "This is the first three-domain genome-based tree to incorporate these uncultivable organisms, and it reveals the vast scope of as yet little-known lineages."

According to first author Laura Hug, a former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow who is now on the biology faculty at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, the more than 1,000 newly reported organisms appearing on the revised tree are from a range of environments, including a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park, a salt flat in Chile's Atacama desert, terrestrial and wetland sediments, a sparkling water geyser, meadow soil and the inside of a dolphin's mouth. All of these newly recognized organisms are known only from their genomes.

"What became really apparent on the tree is that so much of the diversity is coming from lineages for which we really only have genome sequences," she said. "We don't have laboratory access to them, we have only their blueprints and their metabolic potential from their genome sequences. This is telling, in terms of how we think about the diversity of life on Earth, and what we think we know about microbiology."

One striking aspect of the new tree of life is that a group of bacteria described as the "candidate phyla radiation" forms a very major branch. Only recognized recently, and seemingly comprised only of bacteria with symbiotic lifestyles, the candidate phyla radiation now appears to contain around half of all bacterial evolutionary diversity.

While the relationship between Archaea and eukaryotes remains uncertain, it's clear that "this new rendering of the tree offers a new perspective on the history of life," Banfield said.

"This incredible diversity means that there are a mind-boggling number of organisms that we are just beginning to explore the inner workings of that could change our understanding of biology," said co-author Brett Baker, formerly of Banfield's UC Berkeley lab but now at the University of Texas, Austin, Marine Science Institute.

Tree depicts life we see today

Charles Darwin first sketched a tree of life in 1837 as he sought ways of showing how plants, animals and bacteria are related to one another. The idea took root in the 19th century, with the tips of the twigs representing life on Earth today, while the branches connecting them to the trunk implied evolutionary relationships among these creatures. A branch that divides into two twigs near the tips of the tree implies that these organisms have a recent common ancestor, while a forking branch close to the trunk implies an evolutionary split in the distant past.

Archaea were first added in 1977 after work showing that they are distinctly different from bacteria, though they are single-celled like bacteria. A tree published in 1990 by microbiologist Carl Woese was "a transformative visualization of the tree," Banfield said. With its three domains, it remains the most recognizable today.

With the increasing ease of DNA sequencing in the 2000s, Banfield and others began sequencing whole communities of organisms at once and picking out the individual groups based on their genes alone. This metagenomic sequencing revealed whole new groups of bacteria and Archaea, many of them from extreme environments, such as the toxic puddles in abandoned mines, the dirt under toxic waste sites and the human gut. Some of these had been detected before, but nothing was known about them because they wouldn't survive when isolated in a lab dish.

For the new paper, Banfield and Hug teamed up with more than a dozen other researchers who have sequenced new microbial species, gathering 1,011 previously unpublished genomes to add to already known genome sequences of organisms representing the major families of life on Earth.

She and her team constructed a tree based on 16 separate genes that code for proteins in the cellular machine called a ribosome, which translates RNA into proteins. They included a total of 3,083 organisms, one from each genus for which fully or almost fully sequenced genomes were available.

The analysis, representing the total diversity among all sequenced genomes, produced a tree with branches dominated by bacteria, especially by uncultivated bacteria. A second view of the tree grouped organisms by their evolutionary distance from one another rather than current taxonomic definitions, making clear that about one-third of all biodiversity comes from bacteria, one-third from uncultivable bacteria and a bit less than one-third from Archaea and eukaryotes.

"The two main take-home points I see in this tree are the prominence of major lineages that have no cultivable representatives, and the great diversity in the bacterial domain, most importantly, the prominence of candidate phyla radiation," Banfield said. "The candidate phyla radiation has as much diversity within it as the rest of the bacteria combined."

###

Co-authors with Hug, Banfield and Baker are Karthik Anantharaman, Christopher Brown, Alexander Probst, Cindy Castelle, Cristina Butterfield, Brian Thomas, Alex Hernsdorf, Ronald Amundson and Kari Finstad of UC Berkeley; Yuki Amano and Kotaro Ise of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency; Yohey Suzuki of the University of Tokyo; Natasha Dudek of UC Santa Cruz; and David Relman of Stanford University.

The research was supported primarily by the Department of Energy through Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, with metagenomic sequencing by DOE's Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California.
Montreal, April 11, 2016 - Alzheimer's not only steals people's memories but also their ability to recognize faces, which widens the gulf between people with this disease and their loved ones. A recent study has demonstrated that, beyond causing memory problems, Alzheimer's disease also impairs visual face perception. This finding may help families better understand their loved one's inevitable difficulties and lead to new avenues to postpone this painful aspect of the disease. Research in this area by the team of Dr. Sven Joubert, PhD, a researcher at the Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de geriatrie de Montreal and a professor with the Department of Psychology at Universite de Montreal, will be published tomorrow in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

Face perception plays a fundamental role in human communication, which is why humans have evolved into experts at quickly detecting and identifying faces. This faculty is thought to depend on the ability to perceive a face as a whole. Also known as "holistic perception," this ability is in contrast to the local and detailed analysis required to perceive individual facial features, such as the eyes, nose or mouth. Dr. Joubert's study has demonstrated that the holistic ability to perceive faces is impaired by Alzheimer's disease.

For the study, the Montreal team recruited people with Alzheimer's along with healthy seniors to study their ability to perceive faces and cars in photos that were either upright or upside down. Dr. Joubert explains the team's findings: "The results for people with Alzheimer's were similar to those in the control group in terms of answer accuracy and the time to process the upside-down faces and cars. To perform these tasks, the brain must perform a local analysis of the various image components perceived by the eye. However, with the upright faces, people with Alzheimer's were much slower and made more mistakes than the healthy individuals. This leads us to believe that holistic face recognition in particular becomes impaired. Subjects with Alzheimer's disease also demonstrated normal recognition of the upright cars, a task that in theory does not require holistic processing. This suggests that Alzheimer's leads to visual perception problems specifically with faces." What's also surprising about this impairment is that it is observed in the early stages of the disease.

Overall, Dr. Joubert's study better explains the mechanism involved in the problem that people with Alzheimer's have with recognizing the faces of family members or celebrities. The fact that impaired facial recognition might stem from a holistic perception problem--and not just a general memory problem--opens the door to different strategies (such as the recognition of particular facial traits or voice recognition) to help patients recognize their loved ones for longer.

###

Source

"A qualitative impairment in face perception in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence from a reduced face inversion effect." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease JAD 51(4), April 12, 2016. DOI: 10.3233/JAD-151027

Acknowledgements

Sven Joubert is supported by a Chercheur-boursier senior award from the Fonds de recherche du Quebec - Sante (FRQ-S). Sven Joubert and Isabelle Rouleau are supported by the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Delphine Gandini was supported by a CIHR postdoctoral award and Guillaume Vallet is supported by a FRQ-S postdoctoral award. Bruno Rossion is supported by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific research and a BELSPO grant.

Fonds de recherche du Quebec; Alzheimer Society of Canada; Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Award; Belgian National Fund for Scientific research Grant.

About the Institut universitaire de ge?riatrie de Montre?al (IUGM)

The IUGM has 446 short-term and long-term beds and an ambulatory centre. It has what is considered to be the largest Francophone research centre in the field of aging. A member of Universite de Montreal's larger excellence in health network, the IUGM opens its doors every year to hundreds of students, trainees and researchers. Since April 1, 2015, the IUGM has been part of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal.
The work will generate new, high-resolution, quantitative records of temperature and hydrology over the past 1,500 years in an area that also has important links to the broader climate dynamics of the North Atlantic

AMHERST, Mass. - The National Science Foundation has awarded $348,218 to climate researchers Raymond Bradley and Isla Castaneda at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to analyze sediment records from Greenland's lakes, where Vikings once settled.

The work will generate new, high-resolution, quantitative records of temperature and hydrology over the past 1,500 years in an area that also has important links to the broader climate dynamics of the North Atlantic. Bradley, with graduate student Greg De Wet, will work in the field over the coming summer, then use newly available organic geochemical techniques in the laboratory to reconstruct past temperature and estimate changes in evaporation over time. These analyses should shed light on climate variations during the period of Norse settlement.

As Bradley explains, according to Icelandic sagas, Norse settlers also known as Vikings established farmsteads in what became known as the "Eastern settlement" near present-day Narsarsuaq, southern Greenland, in 985. Later, more settlements were established in western Greenland, inland from Ivittuut, also known as the "Middle settlement," and further north, inland of Nuuk, the "Western settlement."

He adds, "Archaeological and historical sources paint a picture of relatively successful communities relying on farming and marine resources that provided an adequate economic foundation for many generations of settlers. However, by the early 15th century, the settlements had been abandoned, and there are many questions about why this happened. Although climate change is often cited as the reason, the evidence for that is quite limited and not very convincing. We hope to find out more."

As the geoscientists point out, the climate in southern Greenland is a key area for reconstructing the North Atlantic Oscillation, a major pattern of northern hemisphere climate, and is also linked to Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation changes, an important ocean process controlling North Atlantic climate.

They add that studies suggest this sea water circulation factor has been weaker in recent decades than at any time in the last 1,000 years, in the same region where Norse settlements were abandoned by the early 15th century. "Many questions still remain about the causative factors," Castaneda notes. "Although climate change is often cited as the reason for settlement failure, this explanation rests on a very poorly constrained scientific foundation and other explanations have also been proposed."

For this project, the researchers plan to develop a website with materials explaining changes in North Atlantic climate and the history of human migration across the region. It will connect the general public with different aspects of the scientific research, Bradley notes.

He and Castaneda also plan to include about 15 girls in at least one summer session from the UMass Amherst College of Natural Sciences' Eureka! program, a collaboration with Girls Inc. of Holyoke. Eureka! is a nationally recognized program for engaging girls from 12 to 18 years old in exploring science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The project will also support a geosciences doctoral student and undergraduates from the Commonwealth Honors College, who will learn modern biogeochemistry techniques and apply them to a fascinating archaeological problem, Bradley says.

###
Using your skin as a touchscreen has been brought a step closer after UK scientists successfully created tactile sensations on the palm using ultrasound sent through the hand.

The University of Sussex-led study - funded by the Nokia Research Centre and the European Research Council - is the first to find a way for users to feel what they are doing when interacting with displays projected on their hand.

This solves one of the biggest challenges for technology companies who see the human body, particularly the hand, as the ideal display extension for the next generation of smartwatches and other smart devices.

Current ideas rely on vibrations or pins, which both need contact with the palm to work, interrupting the display.

However, this new innovation, called SkinHaptics, sends sensations to the palm from the other side of the hand, leaving the palm free to display the screen.

The device uses 'time-reversal' processing to send ultrasound waves through the hand. This technique is effectively like ripples in water but in reverse - the waves become more targeted as they travel through the hand, ending at a precise point on the palm.

It draws on a rapidly growing field of technology called haptics, which is the science of applying touch sensation and control to interaction with computers and technology.

Professor Sriram Subramanian, who leads the research team at the University of Sussex, says that technologies will inevitably need to engage other senses, such as touch, as we enter what designers are calling an 'eye-free' age of technology.

He says: "Wearables are already big business and will only get bigger. But as we wear technology more, it gets smaller and we look at it less, and therefore multisensory capabilities become much more important.

"If you imagine you are on your bike and want to change the volume control on your smartwatch, the interaction space on the watch is very small. So companies are looking at how to extend this space to the hand of the user.

"What we offer people is the ability to feel their actions when they are interacting with the hand."

###

Professor Sriram Subramanian is a Professor of Informatics at the University of Sussex where he leads the Interact Lab and is a member of the Creative Technology Group.

The findings were presented at the IEEE Haptics Symposium 2016 in Philadelphia, USA, by the study's co-author Dr Daniel Spelmezan, a research assistant in the Interact Lab. The symposium concludes today (Monday 11 April 2016).
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS: President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has arrived in Tehran on an official visit. As "Armenpress" reports, the Press Service of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan informed on April 11.

"The head of state arrived in Tehran. During the visit meetings with President Hassan Rouhani, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as representatives of Iranian companies and holdings are scheduled, "the statement reads, as informed by RIA Novosti.
First time scientists have tracked the genetic mutations acquired by iPS cells as they are grown in the laboratory

Therapeutic stem cells can be made without introducing genetic changes that could later lead to cancer, a study in PLOS Genetics has found.

The discovery, made by researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a boost for scientists working on ways to make regenerative medicines from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells; a type of stem cell made by reprogramming healthy body cells.

It is the first time scientists have tracked the genetic mutations gathered by iPS cells as they are grown in the laboratory.

The idea behind the research was to follow the whole journey iPS cells will take when used in clinical therapy. The Sanger Institute team, led by Professor Allan Bradley and Dr Kosuke Yusa, started with blood cells donated by a 57-year-old man.

As a person grows from embryo, to child, to adult, and as they age, the cells in their body generate a mosaic of tiny genetic changes. Most of these mutations have no effect but some can lead to cancer. The Sanger Institute team traced the history of genetic changes in both the donated blood cell and the iPS cells created from it.

The results reveal that mutations arise 10 times less often in iPS cells than they do in lab-grown blood cells and that none of the iPS cell mutations are in genes known to cause cancer.

Lead researcher Dr Foad Rouhani said: "None of the mutations we found in induced pluripotent stem cells were cancer-driver mutations or mutations in cancer-causing genes. We didn't find anything that would preclude the use of iPS cells in therapeutic medicine."

In addition, the team used the iPS cells, reprogrammed from the donated blood cell, to trace the history of every mutation that one cell had developed from the time it was a fertilised egg all the way up to the moment it was taken out of the body.

This is the first time that mutation rates of both types of cells, the donor cell and iPS cell, have been calculated and compared.

Professor Allan Bradley said: "Until now the question of whether generating iPS cells and growing them in cell culture creates mutations has not been addressed in detail. If human cells are really to be reprogrammed on a large scale for use in regenerative medicine then understanding the mutations the donor cells carry will be a crucial step. We now have the tools to do this."

The ability to track the genetic changes in cells over a lifetime could also improve scientists' understanding of how, when and why mutations can lead to cancer.

Dr Kosuke Yusa said: "One of the exciting things is that we have found a way to use iPS cells as a tool to look at the genetic history of a single cell. It also underlines the fact that before you use these cells you really need to characterise them to a high degree to know where the mutations that have been introduced are."

The team also found that the genetic changes that do take place in iPS cells in the lab might be caused by a mechanism known as oxidative stress. They hope this knowledge will help to find ways to improve the process of making iPS cells.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the European Bioinformatics Institute also contributed to the study.

###

Notes to editors

Rouhani F, et al. Mutational history of a human cell lineage from somatic to induced pluripotent stem cells. PLoS Genetics 2016, published 7 April. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005932

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world's leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease.

http://www.sanger.ac.uk

The Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. We support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. Our breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. We are independent of both political and commercial interests.

http://wellcome.ac.uk


Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM) Giuseppe Castagna (left) with Banco

Popolare's CEO Pier Francesco Saviotti



Optimists say the long-awaited announcement of the first Italian popolari bank merger since a 2015 government reform is the start of a wave of consolidation. It will increase competitive pressures on other mid-sized lenders in Italy, they argue.

Thousands of cooperative shareholders, however, could still annul a fusion of Banca Popolare di Milano and its bigger, Verona-based rival Banco Popolare. Even if it goes ahead, the regulators stance may dissuade their biggest rival UBI Banca and others from following, while making it harder to fund similar mergers.

Popolari banks rushed to appoint M&A advisers in 2015 after the government abolished their one-share, one-vote rules. The reform was meant to make it easier for them to raise equity, and  as a welcome side effect at least  to spur consolidation. So it was disappointing that Banco Popolares stock dropped sharply last month, when its CEO Pier Francesco Saviotti announced the deal, and an accompanying 1 billion capital increase he said the ECB had required. The news prompted KBW research to raise its capital targets for Italian banks across the board.

Rapid action

Italian banks need to take rapid action to reduce bad debt, and Banco Popolare performs particularly badly in this. The capital increase will help improve asset quality and the merger targets a new 10 billion cut in bad debt, albeit in a rather vague timeframe. Despite a commitment to avoid redundancies (necessary to get trade union buy-in), the banks estimate 1.9 billion in present-value synergies after tax and integration costs. They are also adopting a leaner governance model.

The stock markets reaction might have been better if the ECB had done more to clarify its requirements early on. After the reform (and recurrent leaks to the press), news of a proposal for a big Popolare merger like this is hardly a surprise, though the two banks CEOs were quoted in late February saying there was no need for a capital raise.

Saviotti has been quite open about his dissatisfaction with the capital call, and not without reason. Shareholders will be diluted when the bank is almost four percentage points above its latest Pillar 2 ratio and merger synergies will improve capital generation anyway.

The merged banks increased systemic importance (it will be Italys third biggest) could justify a higher regulatory buffer, and the ECB wants to stamp its authority across European banking. But the ECB will make consolidation less likely if its demands on mergers are hazy until it is too late for the banks to back out. It could be setting a precedent of punishing banks for getting bigger, preventing vital efficiency gains.
The March 31-April 1 Nuclear Security Summit exhibited all the pomp and fanfare characteristic of such eventsthe family photos of 50 odd world leaders, the motorcades, fancy dinners, and bustling entourages. Yet, the motorcades departed Washington without building a sufficiently strong framework for nuclear security and the end of such meetings raises doubts about whether it will be built in the future.

To be sure, the fourth and final summit made important progress in developing a genuine international regime to prevent nuclear terrorism. In particular, President Obama announced that an important nuclear treatyan amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) would soon enter into force, more than a decade after it was opened for signature. The amendment broadens the scope of the underlying international treaty which was previously limited to ensuring sufficient locks and guards for nuclear material while it was international transit. States that sign up to the amendment also pledge that they will provide sufficient guns, guards, and gates while the material is on their own soil.

Other notable achievements came in the form of gift baskets or joint statements. Such commitments brought together subgroups of summit members who pledged to take faster action on particular issues. For instance, a gift basket signed by 22 countries built on one of the summits prime areas of progress: minimization of highly enriched uranium (HEU) used in research reactors and other non-military applications The statement, which calls for the ultimate elimination of HEU from civil uses, committed the signatories to a number of specific goals, including short-term efforts to curb trade in HEU and its use in medical isotope production. It also established several mechanisms for monitoring further progress in the area including voluntary reporting to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a 2018 international conference organized by Norway.

Another important gift basket, championed by France, was aimed at improving the security of radiological materials, non-fissile but radioactive materials used for peaceful applications like cancer treatment. Many experts fear that terrorist might be able to acquire such materials as they are kept in publicly accessible facilities such as hospitals and that terrorists could use them for a dirty bomb or other simple weapon. The gift basket, which was signed by 28 countries, sought to encourage states to make an effort to build another important cornerstone of the regime as even the amended CPPNM does not apply to radioactive sources; they are covered only by a 2003 voluntary Code of Conduct. That measure does not tackle many of the crucial issues surrounding such sources such as their disposal. There is considerable concern, for example, that disused but still dangerous source might fall into the wrong hands. The gift basket commits the states to strengthen the international framework on such sources (building on a 2014 initiative in this regard) and cooperate more on disposal. It also includes a new commitment by states to support the development of new technologies that could replace high-risk radioactive sources and promote their development when technically and economically acceptable.

At the previous summit, in 2014 in the Netherlands, 35 countries agreed to an important gift basket that aimed to strengthen international security rules. It committed those countries to establish regulations at least at tough as those recommended by the IAEA in a voluminous set of guidance documents. An important achievement of the 2016 summit was getting China, host to about half of the new nuclear plants under construction, to join the gift basket.

For an earlier summit, this list of achievement might have been sufficient to describe it as a success. However, the failure of the summit to fully or in some cases partly tackle some issues, looms larger given the end of the summit process and the high-level political attention it guaranteed. For instance, the CPPNMs focus on physical protection of civil nuclear materials means that the physical protection of other materialsradiological and militaryhas not been sufficiently addressed. Given that military materials far outnumber civil materials and radiological materials are more accessible than others, this is a serious omission. It also does not ensure sufficient international action to tackle other important aspects of nuclear security such as cybersecurity, sabotage, and an organizational culture that gives security concerns a priority. Likewise progress on HEU minimization only makes the failure to halt, let alone reverse, the civil accumulation of the other nuclear bomb material, plutonium, all the more glaring.

The summit attempted to tackle the question of continued international attention to these issues through the formulation of action plans for five international institutionsthe IAEA, a UN committee, Interpol (the international police organization), the Global Partnership (a group of rich donors on such issues), and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. But these plans did little to set a course for future activity, largely restating previous plans.

Other efforts may provide somewhat more hope for future efforts. Twenty-nine summit countries signed a joint statement to continue meeting at least annually as a Contact Group to try to push forward on commitments undertaken in the summits. The entry of the CPPNM amendment will require treaty members to have at least one international review conference within five years. The HEU meeting in Norway and discussion of potential HEU free zones in regions such as Central and Eastern Europe could offer a path forward in certain geographic areas. The IAEA will hold another of its triennial ministerial conferences on nuclear security this December. Nonetheless, the lack of clear high-level political and institutional leadership in this area threatens to downgrade the issue from one of high politics to a technical concern that receives insufficient attentionuntil or unless there is a terrorist attack that uses such materials. Some cornerstones for a nuclear security regime have been laid but the next US president and other world leaders will need to finish building the framework for a true nuclear security regime.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament of Greece Garyfallia (Liana) Kanelli and Member of Parliament of Latvia Sergejs Potapkins departed for Nagorno Karabakh. As Armenpress reports, this was informed by the Head of Public Relations and Media Department of the National Assembly of Armenia Arsen Babayan. The MPs are escorted by Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov.

The MPs are the heads of Greece-Armenia and Lativa-Armenia parliamentary friendship groups.


The UK's High Court is expected to hear arguments in the legal challenge against the UK Government over its decision to exclude British expats from the referendum on the country's position in the European Union this week.Lawyers will argue that up to two million British expats people living in the European Union are unjustly excluded from the vote in June in the hope that if they win there is still time for legislation to go before Parliament to allow then to vote.A "rolled up" hearing will take place at which both the permission to apply for a judicial review will be held, and if successful and permission is granted, a substantive hearing will follow immediately after.Lawyers for the claimants, Leigh Day, have expressed the wish for fast track legislation to be put through Parliament so that the referendum should not be delayed.The firm is acting on behalf of 94 year old Harry Shindler, a Second World War veteran who lives in Italy, and lawyer and Belgian resident Jacquelyn MacLennan. Both claim that under the EU Referendum Act 2015 they are being denied the right to vote on the UK's continued membership of the EU.Despite the Conservative 2015 manifesto including the pledge to introduce votes for life, scrapping the rule that bars British citizens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years from voting, the UK government have not proposed any legislation to reverse this rule ahead of the referendum.At the hearing lawyers for the claimants will argue that excluding UK expats who have lived elsewhere in the EU for more than 15 years acts as a disincentive from, and a penalty for, their exercising their free movement rights.They will say that it also prevents them from participating in a democratic process, the result of which might bring to an end the very EU law rights on which they rely and base their working lives.According to Richard Stein, the lawyer for the claimants, the judicial review of the legislation, if successful, should require the Government to rush through amending legislation to change the franchise for the referendum in June.According to lawyers there is precedent for such fast track legislation going through Parliament in a matter of days, they point to the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 which received Royal Assent on 17 July 2014 after being introduced before Parliament just three days before, on 14 July 2014, in response to a European Court decision that declared the Data Retention Directive to be invalid."We believe that the Government has the time now to amend the franchise and empower the many expats who have lived outside the UK for over 15 years who want to vote on decisions which will have a very real impact on their lives," said Richard Stein, the lawyer from Leigh Day representing the claimants."This legal action should not delay the referendum, the Government should instead stand by its promises and give a vote for life to British citizens," he added.
Hi

I have been reading threads on this forum and I want to put my case on it. My husband is a Pakistani national who lives in uae. This is my second marriage. We were childhood sweethearts who got separated due to family. I got married in scotland( I was born n bread here) divorced after being married 15 years me and my current husband met while I was living with grandparents in Karachi for a few years. We re connected through Facebook a few years ago n got married in 2014. To comply with the thought laws of financial retirement it's taken us this to apply. I work part time hours as I have two young kids. So we have used my part time saving mind my husbands savings account which is above the required amount. We applied for visa end of Feb. Today my husband got refused because his statement only shows 3 transactions. The opening Balance, one trans in between and closing. Which are the only transactions carried in that account. There is No more transactions. They have refused on two grounds. One is attached and the second that they are saying his divorce certificate (which has been issued in Pakistan court) isn't issued by court. When it is

Can u help please. I have had a tough life n now when I've found my true live we cannot be together. My both sees his more of a dad than their own
That begs the question why did OP bother to apply to come to Canada if he has no real intention of coming over and staying on?



There are hundreds, if not thousands of people who would love to come to Canada to live and work and would give anything to be in the position of having to wrap up their lives where they are so that they could make the move over.



After all, it seems like a waste of time and money to come for a few months to get the very basics established before leaving without much of a plan (if any) to return beyond meeting the absolute minimum requirement to keep one's status here (airfare isn't cheap within Canada and it certainly wouldn't be cheap between Canada and the Middle East).



If you needed to return to whence you came to tie up the last of your responsibilities where you're coming from, that's one thing and is totally understandable - some things just aren't "sort-able" at the drop of a hat and take time to wind up.



To return to whence you came to resume your life there rather defeats the point of having any status in Canada.... the government didn't go through the whole process of processing your application and granting you your visa with the intention of you accepting it and then turning around and just using it as a back up plan in case things don't pan out for you where you are - your visa is a privilege and not a right and that privilege really shouldn't be abused in this way... it's not fair to Canadians (whose tax money funds the government and makes it possible for new immigrants to come over in the first place) and its not fair to those who truly want to come to Canada but, for whatever reason, aren't able to come over to fulfill their dream of living here.
My wife (UK) and I (Canadian) lived in Spain for about two-and-a-half years before moving to France a couple of weeks ago. We both have Spanish residency. Our plan is to live in France for at least a year or as long as it takes to make an educated decision on which country we'd prefer to live in long term. So I need a "Titre de Sejour" based on being a family member of an EU citizen.



I'd like to go through the process as soon as possible just for the peace of mind of knowing that it's done with. This means at least starting it before we have a bank account in France. Can we demonstrate our sufficient resources through the money we have in Canadian, British and Spanish banks (plus our pensions) without having to show money in a French bank? And who's resources will be evaluated: mine; my wife's, or our joint holdings?



Of course, it may turn out that we can open a French account quickly, but I'd hate to hold things up in case it turns out to take a while.
Hey all,



This forum is enormously useful-- thank you so much to everyone who posts and diligently responds to questions.



I am an American master's student currently studying in London. I am applying for doctoral programs in France, one in Bordeaux and one in Paris. There are several documents that need to be translated and certified for my application for a doctoral contract (I haven't started the visa process yet as I won't have a convention d'acceuil until I know whether or not I'm accepted). I am having an attestation de comparabilite de diplome done through ENIC-NARIC, but from the website it seems they only do diplomas. This means my releves de notes will need to be translated seperately. The other big one is my birth certificate, which needs to be translated and certified.



The schools' websites suggest going through the consulate, in my case London, but the consular website only has pages relating to certifying French documents for British purposes. I have emailed them asking for clarification, but have not received a response.



My two questions are:

1. Are there other bodies or institutions that are competent to certify a translated birth certificate? I.e. my partner lives in Bordeaux and I travel there about once a month; could I pass by the mairie and have a notaire there do it?



2. Do the translations need to be done by a professional? Both documents are pretty much stock content; could I mock up a translation myself? I guess the challenge for the releves de notes is that they want to see the comparability of what that means on a French scale-- any suggestions for how or where to get that done?



Thanks for any advice,



Laura
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Names of the 18 killed soldiers, who were transferred to the Armenian side, will be released after identification; Armenpress was informed by the Nagorno Karabakh Presidents Press Secretary Davit Babayan. Currently we are conducting identification of the corpses, after all this is a very delicate process. After finishing it we will release the names, David Babayan said.

Press Secretary of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army Senor Hasratyan informed Armenpress that during the transfer of corpses on April 10 near the Bash Karvend settlement, 13 bodies were transferred to the Azerbaijani side, including those of the helicopter pilots. 13 corpses were in our territory, however there are many bodies of the adversary near the line of contact. Search operation will resume today, the Armenian side still has one missing soldier, Senor Hasratyan said.

18 corpses were transferred to the Armenian side near the Bash Karvendi settlement. Earlier 19 soldiers were reported to be missing. The faith of 1 soldier still remains unknown.

During the morning of April 2 Azerbaijan carried out large scale military attacks along the entire line of contact of Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan carried out artillery strikes on both Armenian positions and civilian settlements. The attacks continued throughout April 5 12:00, when a ceasefire agreement was reached during the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armed Forces of both sides in Moscow.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The State Commission on POWs, Hostages, and Missing Persons of Nagorno Karabakh announces that all bodies which were transferred to the Armenian side were mutilated and treated inhumanely by the Azerbaijani side. Nagorno Karabakh considers this fact an outrageous display of inhumanity by Azerbaijan and will pursue the strict condemnation by international community and specialized agencies. Armenpress presents the full statement on this matter:

The Statement of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic

On April 10, in accordance with the arrangement reached earlier, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, carried out the exchange of bodies of the deceased between the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan near the Bash Karvend settlement. The bodies of 18 servicemen of the NKR Defense Army, fallen as a result of the large scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in April 2-5, were transferred to the NKR side during the exchange.

At the presence of the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the NKR State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons registered that all bodies of the deceased transferred by the Azerbaijani side had signs of torture and mutilation.

Those acts, being a flagrant manifestation of inhumanity, run counter to the laws and customs of war and are in grave violation of the international humanitarian law, in particular, the Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (1949), Geneva Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1949) and the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I).

The Karabakh side will seek to ensure that such behavior of the Azerbaijani side is condemned in strongest terms by the international community and the specialized agencies, and those responsible are brought into account.
As a response to the generalized food crisis of the early 1970s, the Committee on World Food Security prompted the creation of the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS). Over the years, GIEWS has established itself as the worlds leading source of information and as a respected authority on global food production, consumption and trade. It continuously monitors the food security situation in every country of the world and alerts the world to emerging food shortages. more...
CARY, N.C.  United Kingdom wheat producer Rod Smith and a passenger in his combine couldnt believe what the yield monitor was telling them.

As Smiths tracked New Holland 9070 combine crawled along at 1.5 Km./Hr., trying to cope with harvesting a very heavy grain load, the monitor was showing over 23 T./hectare (one hectare equals 2.471 acres).

We had to take a picture of the yield monitor to prove our eyes werent deceiving us, Smith said. This field had a history of high yields, but wed never seen these sort of peaks before.

When the combine dust had cleared over the 11.259-hectare field, Smith and his father, James, and wife, Vicky, had harvested 16.52 T./Ha. (249.6 Bu./A), shattering the previous wheat yield set by New Zealander Mike Solari, at 15.64 T./Ha.

The Smiths Beal Farm is located in Northumberland near the Scottish border overlooking Holy Island.

Dickens variety

Its record-breaking yield was set by a Dickens variety grown for Master Seeds. And, with a total input cost of under 46 British lbs./T., the crop generated a gross margin of over 1000 British lbs./Ha. ($1,411.26 U.S./Ha. or $571.33 U.S./A.) at a feed wheat price, before accounting for the extra returns from a seed crop.

The Beal Farm agronomy team was assisted by agronomists at agricultural retailer Agrii as a part of its British 15-Tonnes Project to help farmers push wheat yield boundaries.

Our initial focus was on soil management, Smith said. We used tracked equipment, effective subsoiling, rotational plowing, furrow incorporation and the application of 500 T./Ha. of muck annually. We also relied on soil testing and broad-spectrum tissue analyses.

The Dickens wheat variety was drilled the third week of September in 2014 into a seedbed established by two diskings and a cultipress. With excellent soil moisture, the wheat established really well and evenly, Smith said.

He also put on a fall application of Nutri-Phite PGA, a patented technology developed by Verdesian Life Sciences and available to U.S. farmers under the brand name Take Off. It was applied in a tank mix with a broadleaf herbicide and insecticide. Also assisting the record-breaking yield were four split nitrogen applications  two of which involved stabilized urea  and four fungicide sprays.
PHILIPPINES-GOAT MEAT.

Various stakeholders in the region are now putting their acts together for the development of the goat meat industry in the province of Davao del Sur. Goat meat or chevon is a potential industry where a great number of jobs will be generated, this according to the office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Davao del Sur. Based on the reports gathered by DTI-Davao del Sur, the demand for chevon in the United States alone is so high that the country has to import from New Zealand and Australia. Majority of these consumers from the ethnic groups of Middle Eastern, Asian, African, Latin American and Caribbean heritage. Furthermore, studies show that 63 percent of the red meat consumed worldwide is goats meat. DTI 11 Regional Director Marizon S. Loreto said this is an opportunity for the region to grab. "If every stakeholder will cooperate, we can really develop this industry and maximize its potential. This will definitely give a boost to our economic performance. We really have to work hard if we are to get a slice of the US$1.6 to 1.8 billion Halal market worldwide," she said. With the present economic turmoil being experienced worldwide, Loreto said, this project can help a lot. "Considering that we need to raise thousands of goats and we need to produce tons of chevon, it only means that we also need a good number of farmers and people who will manage the slaughter house, less to mention those who will market the product," she said. Fifty percent of Davao del Surs total land area of 359,777 hectares is suited for agriculture while 32 percent is suitable for pasture because of its generally flat topography. These characteristics of the province have been its competitive advantages in becoming the top producer of chevon in the region, if not in the country. "Because of chevon industrys potential to generate sizeable number of jobs, we have enrolled it as a project under the CLEEP (Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency Employment Program)," Loreto said. CLEEP is the umbrella of the several poverty alleviation programs of the government viewed as an immediate response to the impact of the financial crisis, especially on unemployment. Plans for the development of the provinces chevon industry are now underway.




YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Over 5,000 military personnel from both countries will take part in Exercise Griffin Strike, the largest joint drill since the establishment of the CJEF in 2010, according to the UK Defense Ministry's statement, Armenpress reports, citing Sputnik News.

"The next two weeks will see French and British servicemen and women training side by side on the sea, on land and in the air. Together with Admiral Laurent Isnard, my French counterpart, we are anxious to demonstrate that our military partnership is now on a new level and show how the combined UK-France Combined Joint Task Force in the most testing of circumstances, stands shoulder to shoulder," Standing Joint Force Commander Major General Stuart Skeates said, as quoted by the statement.

French troops have begun arriving ahead of the drills, which will take place in locations across the United Kingdom, such as North Yorkshire, the Salisbury Plain and off the south and west coasts of England, according to the ministry.

Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale multirole fighter jets will be involved in aerial exercises, while several French and UK assault ships, frigates and air defense destroyers will be deployed for naval drills. On land, the UK army's 3rd Division and the French army's 7th Mechanized Brigade will take part.

The CJEF is a deployable force that may be used in a wide range of scenarios, including combat operations. The force is mainly expected to be tasked with crisis management, evacuation operations, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. In 2012, France and the United Kingdom said that the force was expected to reach full operational capacity in 2016.








P.E.I. is looking at Nova Scotia as a template

By Diego Flammini

Assistant Editor, North American Content

Farms.com

Prince Edward Islands farmers could receive some help in the form of local workers who are currently on social assitance.

If the program is approved, it would be similar to the Harvest Connection program already ongoing in Nova Scotia.

Under the program, people with social assistance benefits would be able to work in the agriculture industry by harvesting crops and earn up to $3,000 annually without affecting their benefits.

Tina Mundy, P.E.I.s minister of Family Services and Seniors told CBC that such a program has value and if the provinces ag industry is interested, then partnerships will be explored.

A recent report commissioned by the Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council estimates Canadas ag industry is short nearly 60,000 employees. Agriculture and Fisheries minister Alan McIsaac said a program like Harvest Connection could help with the annual shortage of farm workers in the province.

The idea of bringing a program similar to Harvest Connection to P.E.I. dates back to 2014 when the provinces Federation of Agriculture called on Ottawa to help with a long-term human resource strategy regarding farm workers.

In a September 2014 interview with CBC, John Jamieson, then P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture executive director, said wages, the phyisicality of the work and an aging population contribute to the lower number of farm workers.

Looking for work in agriculture? Visit AgCareers.com to browse hundreds of opportunities in ag.
The recent drop in crop prices has put a financial squeeze on some Nebraska producers. What happens if you lose your operating credit? Dave Aiken, UNL agricultural law specialist, answers questions relating to losing operating credit and loan subordination.



SO WHAT HAPPENS IF A PRODUCER GETS THEIR OPERATING LOAN CUT OFF? Depends on whether or the lender moves into loan foreclosure. If that happens, you need to contact an attorney immediately.



WHAT HAPPENS IF THE LENDER DOES NOT FORECLOSE? Then the producer will try to find new operating credit from suppliers (seed dealer, fuel dealer, chemical dealer, etc.) or even from family members.



HOW DOES THAT WORK? The important point to realize is that the new creditors may not be protected on the new crop. So the producer may need to negotiate what is called a subordination agreement with the old lender.



PLEASE EXPLAIN THAT. On the operating loan, the producer buys their inputs and puts in the crop. The operating lender takes that new crop as collateral (or security) for the operating loan. After harvest the producer pays off the operating loan and the process repeats itself.



WHERE DOES LOAN SUBORDINATION COME IN? If the producer gets cut off for operating credit, the old operating lender will still likely have any new crop produced as collateral for the old, unpaid operating loan. So steps are needed to protect the new creditors.



CAN YOU GIVE US AN EXAMPLE? Yesa 1985 Nebraska Supreme Court decision shows how this works. The operating lender cut off operating credit with an unpaid loan balance of over $100,000 but didnt foreclose. The farmers brother-in-law loaned the farmer $46,000 to put in the next crop. The farmer, brother-in-law and the lender agreed that the lender would receive the first $20,000 from the new crop before the brother-in-law got paid. If this agreement had not been made, the brother-in-law would not have received anything from the new cropthe old lender would have gotten everything from the new crop.



HOW WOULD THIS WORK FOR INPUT SUPPLIERS? Same approach. The producer would have to negotiate to get the old operating lender to agree to share the proceeds from the new crop with the new operating creditors.



ARE SUBORDINATION AGREEMENTS EASY TO NEGOTIATE? Noin all likelihood there wont be enough revenue from the new crop to pay everyone in full. So everyoneparticularly the new creditorsshould go into this with their eyes open.



HOW DO YOU MAKE THE OPERATING AGREEMENT? Be sure to get it in writing. I would work with an attorney.



WHERE CAN PRODUCERS GO TO FOR HELP WITH THESE ISSUES? Three main sources. FirstNebraska Farm Hotlinefinancial, legal and emotional counseling. Second--Nebraska Department of Agricultural ag solutions negotiations programlegal and financial counseling and farm credit mediation. ThirdNebraska Legal Aidlegal counseling and representation.



WHAT IS MEDIATION? A neutral third partythe mediator--tries to get parties to negotiate a compromise. Mediation be used to negotiate loan subordination agreements. Mediation has been used to avoid foreclosure and bankruptcy.



WHAT ABOUT FARM SERVICE AGENCY BORROWERS? FSA has a detailed, borrower-friendly process to deal with financial distress, including mediation.



Contact information for the farm hotline, ag mediation, and legal aid is below:

 Nebraska Farm Hotline 800-464-0258 (financial, legal and family counseling services and referrals)

 Farm Finance & Legal Assistance Clinics 800-464-0258 (free monthly clinics sponsored by Nebraska Department of Agriculture Farm Mediation Service dealing with debtor-creditor issues and farm credit mediation)

 Nebraska Farm Mediation Service 800-446-4071 (Nebraska Department of Agriculture program, assists agricultural borrowers and lenders resolve agricultural debt issues)

Source:unl.edu
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Violent conflict erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh on April 2, killing hundreds. Azerbaijan violated a cease-fire that had been in place since 1994. The situation remains extremely volatile, despite a temporary truce. Armenpress reports the popular The Huffington Post periodical referred to the latest clashes on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line and the political developments going parallel.

Authors of the article David Phillips and Van Krikorian mention that Russia and the USA must become more intensive in their mediation efforts.

Negotiations should include representatives of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. US law already calls for sanctions on Azerbaijan if it acts aggressively. The Obama administration should implement Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, imposing economic and diplomatic sanctions on Azerbaijan to punish its aggression, the authors write.

Introducing the history of the conflict they mention that the Nagorno-Karabakh population held a referendum in 1991, as the Soviet Union was disintegrating. Christian Armenians voted overwhelmingly for independence from Muslim Azerbaijan. Back in 1992, President George Bush signed Section 907 into US law, which prohibits assistance to Azerbaijan if it engages in aggressive military actions against Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh. Section 907 was an important deterrent, contributing to the cease fire. Since the conflict began, every US Administration has been committed to a peaceful, negotiated solution.

The authors state that tensions in this frozen conflict have increased in recent years. Escalating and well-documented cease fire violations occurred without consequence. Inaction by the international community encouraged Azerbaijans coordinated assault. Azerbaijan recently spent $4 billion buying weapons from Russia. On April 2, Azerbaijan used its upgraded air and land weapons to attack on multiple fronts. Weapons included Smerch rocket systems, Grad missiles, Russian-made T-90 tanks, TOS-1A flamethrowers, modern helicopter gunships, as well as kamikaze drones. All told, over 40 Armenians were killed, including civilians. An ethnic Yezidi/Armenian citizen, was beheaded by Azeri troops. Over 200 Azeri soldiers died in the offensive. No territory was gained.

David Phillips and Van Krikorian document that Azerbaijan was not alone in its aggression against Nagorno Karabakh. According to eye-witness accounts, Turkish troops and equipment were involved in battles near the Iranian border. The Azerbaijani offensive was immediately endorsed by Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Nagorno-Karabakh will be returned to Azerbaijan. Erdogan added, We will support Azerbaijan until the end.

Azerbaijan claims that Armenia instigated the recent conflict. However, Chatham House and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace maintain that Nagorno-Karabakh forces did not instigate attacks on Azeri positions. Armenians consistently proposed monitors and confidence building measures since 1994. Azerbaijan refused, calling for a military solution. Azerbaijans Ministry of Defense initially took credit for initiating the offensive.

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev relies on a combination of oil revenue, caviar diplomacy, and government crackdowns on fundamental freedoms to maintain power. In the face of the recent oil price crash, Azerbaijans economy is in decline and its currency has plummeted. Azerbaijans civil society continues to oppose the regimes incarceration of journalists and human rights advocates. Igniting a war with Armenia, even a short one, aims at distracting the Azeri people from the regimes abuses and economic insecurity., the authors of the article write. They confirm that Nagorno Karabakh can have no military settlement. As refers to the Minsk Group, they state that the Group must bring back the full format of the negotiations, making Nagorno Karabakh part of the political talks.
Fayetteville mother says four charged in son's killing were his friends

The mother-of-two is struggling to understand not just how her son could be gone so quickly, but why his friends turned on him.
Hello everyone,

Caroline Oldham

We are halfway through April and I am pleased to let you know that we have managed to rebook our holiday to Thailand for mid-May, which we are really excited about, a month overdue but better late than never so I will be able to share all my finds when I am out there. I used to live in Dubai for 5 years and we have decided to do a stopover on the way back so I can catch up with a few friends so I will have a lot to share with you in May. Firstly, we head to Lake Garda in Italy, the Italians are fantastic for gluten free food so I thoroughly enjoy visiting this country, it is also just a beautiful country with wonderful landscapes, it is the place where myself and my boyfriend can really switch off and have some rest and recovery.

With Spring here and the weather hotting up I am always looking for ways to satisfy my sweet tooth and I tend to go towards the cold desserts like this vegan chocolate mousse, it is really delicious and is healthier than normal mousses, it has avocado in it, maple syrup instead of sugar and the thickness is from coconut cream rather than milk. It is lovely with some dried raspberries on top. This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, paleo and suitable for vegans too. http://blog.biteappy.com/blog/vegan-chocolate-mousse/

Restaurant Hangout of the Week

Dynasty is a Chinese restaurant and takeaway located on Claremont Road in the small town of Seaford. Most Chinese restaurants are not clued up on the allergy world, however, this one is. It was a very pleasant surprise when I called on the off chance that they may have some gluten free options. My boyfriend loves Chinese food and I feel terrible that I usually have to avoid it due to cross-contamination and the heavy use of soy sauce and batter. When I rang, the manager was so helpful he told me that 95% of the items on the menu were gluten free as they used potato and corn flour and I could remove soy sauce from any of the dishes.

They also had rice noodles as an alternative if I wanted to have them. So very excited to order, not only because I was having Chinese food but also that he had made me feel so confident in eating the food he was serving. I started with the chicken and sweetcorn soup which was absolutely delicious, I have always loved this soup as I love sweetcorn. We then had the Hong Kong style sweet and sour chicken and the crispy fried beef which were both so yummy, accompanied with a spoonful of rice I was in heaven. I would highly recommend this restaurant if you find yourself in Seaford.

Top tip of the Week

Never be afraid to experiment, with Spring in full swing and Summer fast approaching, I love to experiment with salads as you can probably tell from some of my previous columns, don't be afraid to add in some summer fruits to give your salad an added freshness and boost, I tend to favour apples, strawberries and grapes, head over to the blog for some ideas.
Sri Lankan textile major Textured Jersey Lanka PLC (TJ) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Peradeniya (UoP) to expand the smart textile segment of the industry. The company will fund research on the development of advanced textile materials, conducted by an expert research team appointed by UoP, it said in a press release.The exercise has a long-term goal of taking the textile industry in Sri Lanka and the region to the next level. TJ will use the research done by the university to manufacture smart textiles, which will be the future of the industry in terms of opening up new markets and meeting the advancing needs of their current clients.

Sri Lankan textile major Textured Jersey Lanka PLC (TJ) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Peradeniya (UoP)#

This is an exciting proposition for us and we look forward to working with the University to create some revolutionary changes in the industry, said Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne, CEO of the TJ Group.The MoU between TJ and the UoP has a number of Research Projects lined up, i.e., textiles with antimicrobial properties, superhydrophobic stain resistant properties, anti-pilling properties, conducting yarns and antistatic properties as well as scratch-resistant and shape-memory properties. Some of the research projects would have the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) with whom the University has signed a separate non-disclosure agreement.More will be demanded of textiles in the future as consumer demands grow and apparel manufacturers are challenged to produce better precision fit garments for which the first raw material needed is the fabric. We are ready to meet the challenges of the market with the introduction of intelligent functionalities to our fabrics and products; at the same time encouraging new skill sets among our graduate students. This initiative is another step taken by us in furthering the weft knit textile industry", Wijeyeratne said.The research team from the University's Faculty of Science is headed by Prof. R.M.G. Rajapakse, Senior Professor, Department of Chemistry, and Dr. S.S. Gunathilaka, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Chemistry.TJ will provide grants for five postgraduate students for their M.Phil./Ph.D. degrees to be employed as Research Assistants for each of the projects undertaken by the team.As a premier university of the country , we are committed to help support our local industries by all means in order to improve their product qualities, decrease production costs and to increase profits obtainable so as not only to survive the industrial products in the future global market but also to create new products that present day society is demanding, UoP Vice Chancellor, Prof. Upul B. Dissanayake said.
The markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are expected to stay ahead of the advanced e-commerce markets in terms of growth through 2019, according to a research report by yStats.com.

China holds the largest online share of total retail sales by international standards, while in Brazil, India, and Russia the sales remain below 5 per cent, indicating high potential for further growth.

India is expected to be the growth champion among the BRIC markets through 2019 by overtaking China with its high double-digit growth rate.

The markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are expected to stay ahead of the advanced e-commerce markets in terms of growth through 2019#

The report also reveals that China is the largest of the four markets both in terms of B2C e-commerce sales and number of online shoppers. Russia and Brazil have shown increasing interest in cross-border buying on Asian e-commerce platform, specifically those of China.

China's Alibaba Group continued to lead online retail in China with its Tmall brand, while its AliExpress cross-border platform is also popular in Brazil and Russia. Home-grown companies Flipkart and Snapdeal hold strong positions in India's market, while in Brazil the major local player is B2W Digital and in Russia the largest online mass merchant is Ulmart,according to the research findings of yStats.com.

The rising share of mobile commerce was recorded strong in all the four countries, with mobile devices gaining higher share of Internet traffic. (HO)

yStats.com
A few hours ago, we reported the live pictures from the royal dinner, attended by many Bollywood celebs with Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Many top celebs from the tinsel town including Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Parineeti Chopra and others attended the charity dinner.

Now, have a look at all the inside pictures from the event and check out how the celebs are having an amazing time at the gala dinner.

Click On 'VIEW PHOTOS' To See All The Pictures:

Reportedly, Superstar Shahrukh Khan & the stunning diva Aishwarya Rai Bachchan welcomed the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge on stage at the Royal gala dinner. While giving a speech, Prince William shared a beautiful thing about his visit to India and said "When Catherine & I were married, India was the first place on Catherine's list that she told me that she wanted to visit. Two children and five years later, we have finally made it - and we are both honoured to be here."

Bollywood Celebs At Femina Miss India 2016 [Photos]

He added, "Catherine and I embark on a journey to get to know the vibrant India of the 21st century."

A few minutes ago, the Fan actor took to the micro-blogging site, Twitter and wrote "The Royal couple was so gracious & full of poise. Tonite as I said is the nite of the King the Queen & the Knights. Wish all nites were same."

Well, there is no denying that it was one amazing night, with all the celebs under one roof. We hope that, the royal couple too, had a memorable time with our gorgeous stars!
A few days ago, we have updated you with the live pictures of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan from Sydney, where she was spotted at the Longines store launch. Undoubtedly, Aishwarya was looking exquisite in those stunning pictures and now, we have brought to you new pictures of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, in which she was spotted with Aaradhya Bachchan.

New INSIDE PICS Of SRK, Aishwarya & Others From The Charity Gala Dinner!

The mother-daughter duo was spotted at the Sydney airport and boy, Aishwarya was looking damn stylish, while sporting a black attire. On the other side, Aaradhya was seen sporting a cute pink tee, paired up with blue jeans.

Check Out All The Pictures Here:

Once, while talking to TOI, when Aishwarya was asked how she manages time with brand and film commitments, while also giving time to Aaradhya, she had said "It's a constant learning process. It's something that you work on every day. Each day brings new surprises. God has been generous in giving me a multi-faceted life from the beginning, and honestly, I would not trade it for anything else. One needs to prioritise. I take out my own moments with Aaradhya; that has never been a difficult for me. I literally plan it every day. A lot of my appearances are planned for weekends. She has been seeing me going out for work, I have always referred to it as 'office'. Making a film is not easy, but I am happy with the way it all rolled, Aaradhya recognising the pace of my work, me being there for her."

Aishwarya, On The Work Front:

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be next seen in Omung Kumar's Sarbjit. Post Sarbjit release, Aishwarya will be gearing up for Karan Johar's upcoming film, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Russia has to reconsider selling arms to Azerbaijan, because it is being used against its strategic partner. This was announced at a press conference by Chairman of the Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of Armenia Gagik Minasyan. Azerbaijan is buying modern military hardware and weapons from Russia, ensuring that it will not be used against Nagorno Karabakh. But today, it is more than obvious that Azerbaijan is using those weapons in the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh, and Russia should reconsider its position of selling arms to Azerbaijan, Armenpress reports Gagik Minasyan saying.

The MP said that the Armenia-Russia cooperation is mutually beneficial and equal for both countries, and the disruption of this cooperation will be equally harmful for both sides. I firmly believe that we should do everything possible for our strategic partner to realize that by arming Azerbaijan, it is not doing business, but rather disrupting the basis of our cooperation, which will harm the interests of both our countries, the MP added.

Gagik Minasyan stressed the fact that it is by being a CSTO member that we get arms from Russia by much more privileged prices than Azerbaijan, but currently we need to seize other opportunities for adding security components in Armenia. We need to have opportunities to have assistance from other military centers, by continuing to be EEU member, which is of national interest for us, added Gagik Minasyan.
Pratyusha Banerjee's death had taken a U-turn, with her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh's ex-lawyer, Neeraj Gupta backing out of the case. He had mentioned in the press conference, that he wants the police to investigate the case not as a sucide, but as a planned murder!

Neeraj had said that he was not told about many facts. One such thing was Rahul's marriage and his 9-year-old son, which he got to know through media! The lawyer was quoted by TOI as saying, "When I took up the matter, I realised that the entire television industry was against him. However, the news of his marriage, child and illicit relationship with Saloni Sharma surfaced later. This was contrary to what I was told by his family .They had said he is a bachelor."

Click On 'View Photos' To Read 17 Shocking Revelations (In Random) That Rahul's Ex-Lawyer Neeraj Gupta Made...



Rahul's ex-lawyer also said, "Rahul had also told me that he and Pratyusha were partying with a common friend the day before she committed suicide, but at the hospital, he gave me a different version. He said that he had invited friends over to finish some leftover alcohol from the Holi party . I realised that he was lying and warned him that it would affect the case."

Neeraj felt that Rahul and his family kept lying to him and his conscience didn't let him fight the case. Also, Rahul and his family had not even given his advance fee, and they kept postponing. The lawyer had to spend money from his own pocket.

But Rahul's father has something else to say about Neeraj! He was quoted by the leading daily as saying, "Neeraj was never appointed by us to fight the case and there has been no documentation. In fact, he made us meet Ashok Saraogi, who is our lawyer."

He further added, "We are grateful to him for standing by us those few days and arranging our stay at his office. He was also there with us at the police station, but there has been no involvement in the case at his end. We are upset with him for giving statements on our behalf to the media. He is probably seeking publicity out of the case.We have been refraining from commenting on the case or anything as advised by our lawyer."

Well, who is lying here: The lawyer or Rahul's father? We hope to get the answers soon. #justiceforpratyusha
In Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, Akshara (Hina Khan) and Naitik's son Naksh is all set to get married to Tara. The marriage preparation is on full swing. The pre-marriage rituals have already begun. It's Haryanavi style wedding for Naksh and Tara.

Do you think Naksh and Tara will get married? Who do you think will create trouble in their marriage - Sanju? According to the latest promo, the reason for delaying Naksha and Tara's wedding is Naitik. But, the real reason behind this is Hina Khan! Wondering how... Read on to know more...



In the previous episode, we saw how Naksh, Sangram and others are getting ready for the bachelor party. Naksh had taken permission from his mother for the party, but more than Naksh, Sangram will be excited!

Akshara and the family will make Tara do the rituals, while Sanju and others make fun of Naksh. Sanju makes Sangram enact Tara, to test Naksh's love for Tara.

Meanwhile Tara calls Naksh, and when Sangram informs about the same to Naksh, he ignores it saying he will speak to her later. Again, Tara tries to speak to Naksh, but this time Sanju picks the call and jokes; asking to leave Naksh alone for a day! This irks Tara.

A group of people enter the party and misbehave. They have alcohol and even bring a girl, who performs. Dadaji will be informed by someone to stop the party. Aksahara and Dadaji go to the party to check on Naksh.

Seeing the elders coming to the party, Naksh asks Sanju to handle the girl. The girl falls on Naksh and Akshara shouts at him. Naksh and Tara get into a heated argument, while Sangram tries to tell his sister that it wasn't his fault.

Tara asks Sangram not to support Naksh, while Sanju too, starts supporting Naksh. Tara and Sanju get into a heated argument.
India is often touted as the next mega technology play after China. With its vast population of internet-loving millennials and robust economic growth, its not hard to see why. There is a proviso though: it could be a while before Indian e-commerce truly fulfills its potential, given the countrys onerous financial and logistical shortcomings must be adequately addressed.

Vying to become Indias Jack Ma or Jeff Bezos is a rising cohort of entrepreneurs, both hyper-ambitious new young players and stalwarts of the countrys business elite who have seen the light.

After being denied an H1B visa to work in the US, Kunal Bahl returned to his home country in 2007 and began selling discount coupon booklets. His first business venture was a flop, leaving him with 50,000 unsold booklets. Three years later the Wharton School graduate decided to sell these coupons online and Snapdeal.com was born.

Sanjay Baweja, with his old-school moustache, took a different route, ditching his coveted high-profile role as the chief financial officer of blue-chip Tata Communications to join co-founders Sachin and Binny Bansal at Flipkart.

Despite their different backgrounds, Bahl and Baweja both know that the internet could be a spectacular treasure trove in India by revolutionising the way Indians buy things and pay for stuff.

In a February report, Morgan Stanley said it expected the total value of Indian online sales to rise to $137 billion by 2020 from $11 billion in 2013 as the number of online Indian shoppers rises to almost 320 million from just 50 million last year.

So its no surprise that competition is intense as Americas and Chinas internet titans and other early-bird investors pour billions of dollars into the market.

Flipkart and fast-expanding Snapdeal are currently in a three-way battle in India with US e-commerce doyen Amazon. Meanwhile mobile specialist Paytm is also keen for a piece of the action.

Some major players also appear to be hedging their bets: Alibaba of China is a backer of both Paytm and Snapdeal and is also looking to enter the market directly, while New York-based Tiger Capital is the largest investor in Flipkart and the second-largest investor in Amazon.com.

Access to capital is not a problem, at least for the larger start-ups. Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Paytm have collectively raised more than $5 billion since 2014, when Bezos also pledged to invest $2 billion to turn India into Amazons second-largest market.

However, these would-be conquistadors of the Indian internet face onerous structural challenges, since 40% of Indian households do not have a bank account and the countrys physical infrastructure is fairly run-down.

Whoever emerges as the Alibaba of India will need to resolve these payment and logistical issues.

DETHRONING CASH

The lack of e-commerce liftoff so far in India is partly down to the challenging financial landscape. Unlike in China, where most ordinary people have a bank account or have easily adapted to online payments, more than 80% of Indians do not have electronic means of payment and only 59% of households have a bank account, according to Morgan Stanley.

Further, due to a relative lack of trust in electronic payment, cash on delivery still dominates online transactions. Goldman Sachs in a May 2015 report estimated that Indian consumers settled about 60% of their online transactions with cash, compared with 2% in the US and 30% in China.

That is creating a bottleneck and limiting the opportunities for growth as Indian consumers hesitate from adapting to new technologies. E-commerce in India has many first-time buyers and they have not yet made up their mind about what to expect from online shopping, Baweja told FinanceAsia in a telephone interview .

Baweja joined Flipkart in November 2014.

Paments: Flipkart

To try to address this, Flipkart in early March launched a new mobile wallet service called Flipkart Money, 18 months after it shut down its payments gateway PayZippy due to a weak response.

Mobile wallets allow consumers to put cash on their phones by entering card data to spend in shops or online. The adoption of mobile wallet technology started with mobile recharges, and is now moving up the value chain to enable shopping, paying for food, and hiring taxis.

Flipkart Money was launched following the companys September acquisition of payments services start-up FX Mart Pvt., which holds a prepaid wallet license. It hopes to take a bigger market share in the mobile wallet market.

Paytm, which claims to be Indias largest mobile payment platform, said in August that it had more than 100 million wallet users, who carry out 75 million transactions each month. The New Delhi-based company had 50 million wallet users in 2014.

Newer payment options, especially digital wallets, have found good traction and acceptability among Indian consumers but there is still a way to go.

We expect wallet payments to continue to gain more traction in coming years, Baweja said. [But] cash on delivery remains the most prevalent way of making payments for online shoppers, representing about 70% of our overall sales. I dont think the industry has the solution yet.

Bawejas concern over the development of online payment systems highlights the lingering mistrust between buyers and sellers and fear of security issues. Since credit card penetration in India is less than 2%, cash still remains the dominant mode of payment.

Sellers usually bear most of the overhead expenses arising out of cash on delivery and it hurts the profitability of e-commerce companies that have already spent heavily on marketing and deep discounts to grow their consumer base.

Profitability for the leading players may be still some time away, Pragya Singh, vice-president at Technopak Advisors, a New Delhi-based retail consultancy, told FinanceAsia. Going forward, with increasing investor pressure and some market consolidation, there may be more rationalisation on discounts and marketing, and bottom lines may start improving.

The development of mobile wallets is not the only incremental step being taken in India towards a cashless society.

The Reserve Bank of India granted licenses to 11 businesses to launch so-called payments banks in August last year. That means they can hold up to $1,485 at a home and conduct transfers. But these providers are limited to handling payments and so cant issue credit cards or loans like regular banks.

The list of successful applicants includes Bharti Airtel, Indias largest mobile operator by revenue, UK telecoms group Vodafone, plus Paytm.

According to local media reports, Paytm plans to offer remittance services (money transfers from one account to another) for free, as part of its campaign to generate public attention. Remittances will not be a revenue item for us, but it will generate a lot of interest, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, told news website NDTV Gadgets in November.

Paytm, which entered the e-commerce sphere in 2014, sold $2.5 billion-worth of merchandise last year. This year the company is poised to surpass $10 billion in sales  the same amount targeted by larger rivals Flipkart and Amazon India.

The launch of payment banks is intended to help Indian consumers convert cash into digital deposits or a mobile wallet, which can be managed through an app or SMS-based system.

In Part 2 tomorrow: the logistics challenge, and why the money is still pouring in to Indian e-commerce
Anbangs failed $14.2 billion bid for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide isnt just a setback for the ambitious insurance company  it may well have knocked the credibility of all aspiring Chinese overseas buyers.

The companys behaviour during its unsolicited pursuit of Starwood underscored impressions that Chinese bidders can be difficult to read and unpredictable. Anbang also played fast-and-loose with peoples expectations for funding documentation.

Management boards at M&A targets have to spend more time and money evaluating bids from privately owned, youthful companies such as Anbang, which was only founded in 2014. To do so, they have to be certain its worth the time and effort.

Anbang didnt do itself any favours in this regard. The insurer waded into ongoing merger discussions between Starwood and Marriott with a higher offer, only to abruptly drop its bid with little explanation besides: due to various market considerations.

It marked the second biggest withdrawn offer from China on record, after CNOOC abandoned its attempt to acquire Unocal for $18.5 billion in 2005 due to resistance in the US Congress.

Anbangs behaviour even during its unsolicited offer had been, to put it kindly, cavalier. The company offered Starwood a written guarantee that it would pay for the company even if the Chinese insurance regulator blocked the deal, a person familiar with the discussions said.

Anbang also offered little detail on its proposed funding package, merely supplying a skimpy outline about which bank would put up the money for its first offer, the person said. This seemed a foolish tactic, given mounting concerns about the levels of leverage some Chinese companies are piling on in order to fund big overseas acquisitions.

Anbang chairman Wu Xiaohui then raised eyebrows with his domineering approach to the M&A discussions with Starwood. While he spoke at length, his coterie of expensively assembled advisers and consortium partners were almost entirely mute, according to the person familiar with the talks. If corporate leaders do not take advice they run the risk of appearing less predictable as counterparties in merger talks.

Anbang clearly tried to soothe concerns about its recent arrival on the worlds M&A stage by bringing in private equity firms J.C. Flowers and Primavera as partners. However the person familiar with the deal said the consortium partners were not vocal in negotiations and likely had a very small equity stake. J.C. Flowers was in on the deal partly due to the fact it had maintained a relationship with Anbang after it sold the Beijing-headquartered firm Belgian insurer Fidea.

To be sure, Anbangs aggressive bid for Starwood may be an extreme case. But it comes as the stakes rise for Chinese companies, their targets and advisers.

Chinas companies were the biggest acquirers and racked up the biggest overseas shopping bill of $92.2 billion on record in the first three months of 2016, according to data provider Dealogic.

Concerns had already existed among the management boards of potential targets that Chinese buyer bids have to overcome layers of red tape at home and political resistance overseas. That makes them riskier to entertain.

Anbangs misstep is likely to cost future Chinese acquirers. One senior investment banker estimated Chinese bidders would have to pay an extra 10% premium for acquisitions and put down a cash deposit to offset target companies concerns.

A deposit would be more comforting than the promise of a break-up penalty, although these are also becoming very substantial. ChemChina has agreed to pay Syngenta a reverse break-fee of $3 billion if its $43 billion takeover does not receive Chinese regulatory approval.

For Chinese companies seeking to play a bigger role on the world M&A stage, generous offers are just the starting point. Ultimately, the ability to close an offer is key.

Anbangs failure to do so with such a high profile bid is likely to have ramifications for its fellow Chinese would-be acquirers.
Ameriprise's bid to claw back stock awards from two advisors not only failed, but it produced a costly blow back for the firm.

Last month two FINRA arbitration panels ordered the brokerage firm to pay more than $500,000 to the advisors for alleged misconduct, including unfair trade practices and breach of the Broker Protocol, a legal framework governing how advisors can switch firms.

The spat between the firm and the ex-Ameriprise advisors began after they left the firm to join Janney Montgomery Scott in January 2014, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. John Chapman and Jack W. Griffiths worked in the same office, but are not a team, according to Amy L. B. Hill, an attorney at Columbia, S.C.-based law firm Gallivan, White & Boyd.

Prior to Amerprise, the advisors had been employed by H&R Block, which sold its advisory unit to Ameriprise in 2008. Ameriprise Financial, the parent company of Ameriprise's brokerage unit, issued a stock award to the advisors as an incentive to stay with the firm, according to a copy of one of the arbitration awards. The award had a five year vesting period that ended January 2, 2014. Griffith, who at one time served as an Ameriprise branch manager according to Hill, sold his shares four days later, and then resigned from Ameriprise on January 27.

The parent company then tried to reclaim the stock awards in cases filed with the American Arbitration Association, saying that, unlike its brokerage unit, it was not a member of the Broker Protocol and therefore did not have to through FINRA arbitration. It was an unusual move as employment disputes between advisors and firms are often resolved in FINRA's arbitration process.

Had the advisors lost, it might have created a precedent for firms to skirt the protocol, Hill says. "This is a way for them to get around the Broker Protocol. It lets them have their cake and eat it too."

But the advisors' W2 forms show that the stock award came from Ameriprise's brokerage unit, which is a member of the Broker Protocol, Hill says.

"What happened was that they got a demand from Ameriprise Financial, the parent company demanding that they repay the award because they broke the contract and were competing against Ameriprise Financial Services [the brokerage unit]," she says.

Arbitrators in these AAA cases ruled against the company, saying that its claims had no basis.

In the decision for the Griffith case, arbitrator H. Landis Wade said that Ameriprise "failed to carry its burden of proof to demonstrate that it suffered an actual loss due to the transfer of the stock to [Griffith]."

Ameriprise Financial representatives did not return requests for comment.

'BAFFLING'

It appears from arbitration documents that there were also some irregularities with the case. Originally, Ameriprise sought to claw back about $567,000 from Griffith in the AAA case, according a copy of the award. But when the firm arrived at the hearings, it revised its claim upward to $873,000.

This cast the firm in an unfavorable light for the arbitrator on the case.

"If the [long term incentive award] is as clear as [Ameriprise Financial, Inc.] contended it was throughout the arbitration process leading up to the hearing, it is baffling how AFI was mistaken about the damages it says it is entitled to recover under the LTIA. AFI's effort to ratchet up the damages against Respondent by a significant amount for the first time at the hearing, and its contentions that it was justified in doing so in the face of AFI's filings in the case, affected the credibility of AFI's claim," the arbitrator said in his ruling.

In parallel cases filed FINRA, the two advisors sought damages against Ameriprise for unfair trade practice, breach of the Broker Protocol and other damages. Chapman won his case in early March, receiving $117,000 in damages and $6,000 in attorney's fees and costs. Griffith won later that month, winning $350,000 in damages plus $32,000 in attorney's fees.

As is customary, the FINRA arbitration panels did not explain their decisions.

"There are many firms out there and many brokers out there who work hard to follow the Broker Protocol. It benefits every when it's followed," Hill says.

Read more:
Regulatory News:

Stallergenes Greer plc (the "Company") (Paris:STAGR) (Euronext Paris: STAGR), a biopharmaceutical company specializing in treatments for respiratory allergies, today announced the appointment of Daniel Smith as Global Head of Information Technology.

Daniel has more than 20 years of international experience in Information Technology with extensive expertise in the pharmaceutical industry. He joins Stallergenes Greer after six years at Zoetis, Inc. formerly Pfizer Pharmaceuticals International where he was responsible for driving innovation in global infrastructure business technology programs, including pharma-focused enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, digital e-commerce, and sales force support platforms. The ERP systems included a comprehensive change management implementation covering over 27 countries supporting thousands of users in the operations and manufacturing.

Fereydoun Firouz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stallergenes Greer, said:

"I am pleased to welcome Daniel as our Global Head of Information Technology. He will play a vital role in overseeing large scale implementations and upgrades across the business, such as the continuation of the ERP rollout, while standardizing technology globally. Daniel will be responsible for developing a long-term strategic IT plan, ensuring the implementation of a best-in-class and consistent IT framework for our commercial, manufacturing and quality functions."

ABOUT STALLERGENES GREER PLC

Headquartered in London (UK), Stallergenes Greer plc is a global healthcare company specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies through the development and commercialization of allergy immunotherapy products and services. Stallergenes Greer plc is the parent company of GREER Laboratories, Inc. (whose registered office is in the U.S.) and Stallergenes S.A.S. (whose registered office is in France).

Trading information:

Name: Stallergenes Greer

ISIN: GB00BZ21RF93 1 Ticker: STAGR

ICB classification 4577

Market: Euronext Paris regulated market

Additional information is available at http://www.stallergenesgreer.com

This document (including information incorporated by reference in this document), oral statements made and other information published by the company contain statements that are or may be forward-looking with respect to the financial condition and/or results of operations and businesses of the Company. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe", "expects", "project", "estimated", "forecast", "should", "plan", "may" or the negative of any of these, or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology indicating expectations or beliefs concerning future events. These forward-looking statements include risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Without being exhaustive, such factors include economic situations and business conditions, including legal and product evaluation issues, fluctuations in currencies and demand, and changes in competitive factors. These and other factors are more fully described in our prospectus filed with the French Autorite des marches financiers on September 3, 2015. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, due to various factors. Save as required by applicable law, neither the Company nor any other person assumes any obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to notify any person of any such update.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160411005440/en/

Contacts:

Investor and analyst relations

Peter Buhler, Tel: +33 1 55 59 23 22

Chief Financial Officer

Email: investorrelations@aresallergyco.com

or

Investor relations agency

FTI Consulting

Arnaud de Cheffontaines, Tel: +33 1 47 03 69 48

Email: arnaud.decheffontaines@fticonsulting.com

or

Media relations

Lise Lemonnier, Tel: 33 1 55 59 20 96

Head of Global Communications

Email: llemonnier@stallergenes.com

or

Media relations agency

Havas Worldwide Paris

Jean-Baptiste Froville, Tel: +33 1 58 47 95 39

Email: jean-baptiste.froville@havasww.com
LONDON, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

9,500 delegate investors signed up for annual show of UK investment media platform, Master Investor Ltd.

Exhibitor spaces sold-out.

Twice as many guest talks as previous year's show.

On Saturday April 23rd , thousands of private investors will receive world-class insights and investment opportunities at the Master Investor Show 2016. The event takes place at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London. Private investors will have the chance to connect with the CEOs, founders and decision-makers of over 100 companies in the event's sold-out exhibition zones.Companies can tap into investors to increase liquidity in their shares or to raise new funding. The UK's top minds in investment, finance and entrepreneurship will deliver talks packed with investment tips and insights. Up-and-coming companies will also pitch their businesses to delegate investors across multiple rooms.

Photo - http://masterinvestor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/master_investor_show_1-800x475.jpg

Event organisers expect the show to be the busiest in its 14-year history. Only a handful of delegate spaces are left, with sign-ups capped at 10,000. Exhibitor space in both sections of the venue sold out in early April. More than half of the exhibitors are listed on a stock market in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia. Exhibiting companies will receive exposure to private investors, new business contacts and increased brand profile via Master Investor's media platform.

Swen Lorenz commented: "Our efforts to revive the industry of private investor events in the UK have paid off. We've managed to create the largest such show in the British Isles, and probably one of the largest in all of Europe. It will be an exciting day for both exhibitors and delegates!"

Throughout the day, in a series of guest talks, industry experts will provide insights on how to maximise financial returns. Speakers will also share their extensive knowledge of some of the trends set to shape the financial markets today and in the future. This year's main-stage speakers include world-renowned investor Jim Mellon, Radio 4 Money Box presenter Paul Lewis, and entrepreneur and CEO of FastForward Innovations, Lorne Abony.

On the Rising Star Stage and in Presentation Room A, leaders of 40 companies will present their investment cases to delegates. Due to unprecedented demand, event organisers have now added an additional room. The Auditorium is open for delegates to listen to presentations that distil the components of investment success in a "How to" of investing, with companies like Charles Schwab presenting to the audience.

A limited number of tickets are available until April 20th. Visit: http://www.masterinvestor.co.uk/show

About Master Investor Ltd.

Master Investor is a free Internet platform, incorporating a monthly e-magazine with 65,000 readers, which delivers independent, financial commentary and analysis to UK private investors and traders. In 2015 a new management team relaunched the Master Investor brand and product portfolio with the backing of Jim Mellon, one of the UK's best-known financiers.

Media enquiries: james.hudson@masterinvestor.co.uk

http://www.masterinvestor.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/masterinvestor

http://www.twitter.com/masterinvestor

MasterInvestorShow
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) said that its board has elected Marsha Williams as the non-executive chair of the Board effective immediately following its Annual Meeting of Shareholders on April 19, subject to her reelection to the Board. Williams, who has served on the Board since 2008, has served as the Company's lead director since April 2014. Williams succeeds James Hackett, who has served as the Company's non-executive chairman since April 2014 and on the Board since 2001. Hackett on March 10, 2016, announced his resignation from the Board in order to become the chairman of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company formed to accelerate the company's plans to design, build, grow and invest in emerging mobility services. He was named to the post March 10, 2016. Williams' background includes serving as chief financial officer for Orbitz Worldwide Inc., now part of Expedia, and as chief financial officer for Equity Office Properties Trust, the nation's largest operator of office properties prior to its acquisition by Blackstone. Prior to joining Equity Office, Williams was chief administrative officer for Crate & Barrel. Williams also has fifteen years of experience as a commercial banker. Williams also currently serves as the lead independent director of Modine Manufacturing Company and as a supervisory director of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, N.V. She also serves as a director of the Davis Funds. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
FRISCO, TX--(Marketwired - April 11, 2016) -West Texas Resources, Inc.(OTCQX: WTXR), a Texas-based independent oil and gas company, today announced that it has entered into a Letter of Intent ("LOI") with MORANSCO Energy Corporation of Shreveport, Louisiana to acquire The Dixie/Dzurich Production. The LOI involves West Texas Resources acquiring 100% working interest (82.3% net revenue) of 57 wells on approximately 3,841 acres in the State of Louisiana. The acquisition will be an all cash transaction and expected to close June 30, 2016.

J.D. Kerr, CEO of West Texas Resources, said, "The Dixie/Dzurich acquisition represents the culmination of a great deal of work by all the parties involved and we are very pleased with this outcome. Our company continues to search for and identify attractive opportunities, particularly in this very stressful time for other oil and gas operators. West Texas Resources remains aggressive in its pursuit of undervalued oil and gas properties to acquire and by doing so build shareholder value."

About West Texas Resources, Inc.

West Texas Resources, Inc. is engaged in the business of oil and gas exploration and development in North America. The Company's objective is to become an independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, development and exploitation of oil and gas properties in North America in partnership with oil and gas producers. The Company's strategy is to pursue strategic acquisitions of interests in oil and gas properties, including prospects with proven and unproven reserves, which it believes to have development potential. The Company targets both new and existing fields and producing wells to be revitalized.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning West Texas Resources, Inc. within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Those forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations for the ability to acquire the working interests in operating leases and the profitability of those leases. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual circumstances, events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include, but are not limited to, the risk that we may not be able to acquire operating leases, the risks that the leases, if acquired, may not be commercially productive, the risk that we may not be able to acquire the additional working capital with which to exploit the acquired leases on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, and those other risks set forth in West Texas Resources' annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014 filed with the SEC on January 14, 2015 and subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. West Texas Resources, Inc. cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. West Texas Resources, Inc. does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur.

For more information about West Texas Resources, Inc., please visit:

www.westtexasresources.com

Contact information:

J.D. Kerr

President and CEO

West Texas Resources, Inc.

(972) 832-1831
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on April 11.

Edward Nalbandian presented to Jeffrey Feltman the consequences of the Azerbaijani attacks in Nagorno Karabakh, thus stressing the importance of the international communitys position on unacceptable military operations; Armenpress was informed by the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of MFA.

Jeffrey Feltman expressed deep concern over the escalations in Nagorno Karabakh line of contact and said that the UN has expressed its position of unconditional support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs for the exclusively peaceful solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Developments in the Middle East and issues related to the migration crisis were also discussed.

The sides discussed issues related to Armenia within the UN and projects implemented in Armenia by the UN Development program.

A number of documents were signed related to Armenia-UN cooperation for the upcoming 4 years.
Frost & Sullivan's webinar reveals how P.A.C.E. Micro Booms can drive transformative growth opportunities in organizations

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

WHEN: 12:00 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, April 13, 2016 LOCATION: Online, with free registration (Email kayla.belcher@frost.com) EXPERT PANELIST: Frost & Sullivan Global Vice President, Sath Rao

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160411/353529LOGO

Frost & Sullivan's P.A.C.E. (Platforms and IoT, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, Connectivity and Autonomous Disruptions, Eco-systems and Companies to Watch) framework analyzes converging Mega Trends driving transformational growth opportunities. These near-term growth opportunities, known as Micro Booms, are systematically identified through a structured macro-to-micro approach. Metrics and analytics support the P.A.C.E framework to synthesize strategic and analytical deliverables focused on driving growth.

Industry convergence is accelerating the disrupt-collapse-transform cycle; Frost & Sullivan thought leaders will examine the growth opportunities businesses must focus on to gain a long-term competitive advantage and how organizations can accelerate the "idea to execution" cycle to drive transformative growth.

Benefits of a Micro Boom:

Discover growth opportunities from adjacent industries

Learn how to strategically partner with customers

Assess business model innovation and leverage alternate revenue sources

Identify innovative partnerships/ecosystem approaches

Gain long-term competitive advantage

Expand geographical reach and entrance into emerging markets

Participants will gain insights on the priorities for growth, including:

Convergence growth opportunities

The P.A.C.E. framework

Micro Booms and how they can generate a strong sales pipeline

The acceleration of the "ideas to execution" cycle

The webinar is essential for senior executives throughout the industry looking to understand what is in store for the global market.

Thought leader insights:

"Micro Booms are near-term growth opportunities that must be promptly seized to drive transformational growth and differentiated offerings," said Frost & Sullivan Visionary Innovation Global Vice President Sath Rao. "Organizations need to discover ideas, synthesize growth implications and execute growth strategies to succeed in their industries."

Register:

To attend the briefing, email Kayla Belcher, Corporate Communications - kayla.belcher@frost.com - your full name, job title, company name, company telephone number, and company email address, website, city, state and country or click here: http://frost.ly/7i.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact:

Kayla Belcher

Corporate Communications - North America

+1.210.247.2450

kayla.belcher@frost.com
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - April 11, 2016) - With Zephyr's ongoing commitment to being at the forefront of leading-edge technology, services and support, as well as providing the latest office environs, comes the revitalization of one of their longest-established locations. Zephyr is excited to announce some significant remodeling of Zephyr Real Estate's Noe Valley office.

The office, located at 4040 24 th Street, is being renovated to provide and support the latest in state-of-the-art technology, innovative marketing, luxury expertise and unparalleled agent support -- all attributes for which Zephyr is well known.

While the remodeling project is underway, the office has been temporarily relocated to a 'pop-up' location at 4200 17 th Street. The construction schedule is being fast-tracked to be completed as quickly as possible with a target date of August 2016.

The company's commitment to integrity, personal attention, professionalism and dedicated service is a vast part of its 38-year history. Zephyr's original office was located, interestingly, at 4200 17 th Street with 10 agents. Quickly outgrowing that space, a new office was opened on 24 th Street. The good news is Zephyr still owns that 17 th Street office. Consequently, it is the perfect temporary home for the Noe Valley office.

Over the years, Zephyr has continued to thrive and expand. The West Portal office opened in 2001; a second office in the Upper Market/Castro area opened in 2005; the Pacific Heights office opened on California Street in 2007; the company headquarters moved into its location in the design district in 2013; the original office at 17th Street and the second Market Street/Castro office were merged into a truly sophisticated new location in the heart of the neighborhood at Market and Noe Streets in 2014; and most recently a brand new office opened in central Marin at the Bon Air Shopping Center in Greenbrae in 2015.

"Excitement is in the air as we begin this major undertaking," commented Aimee Arost, Managing Broker/Partner of the Noe Valley office. "The new and improved space will provide an environment representative of the company's commitment to creativity, diversity and results-oriented customer care."

About Zephyr Real Estate

Founded in 1978, Zephyr Real Estate is San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm with nearly $2.3 billion in gross sales and a current roster of more than 300 full-time agents. Zephyr's highly-visited website has earned two web design awards, including the prestigious Interactive Media Award. Zephyr Real Estate is a member of the international relocation network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; the luxury real estate network, Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate; global luxury affiliate, Mayfair International; and local luxury marketing association, the Luxury Marketing Council of San Francisco. Zephyr has six offices in San Francisco, a brand new office in Greenbrae, and two brokerage affiliates in Sonoma County, all strategically positioned to serve a large customer base throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information, visit www.ZephyrRE.com.

Contact:

Melody Foster

Zephyr Real Estate

San Francisco, CA

415.426.3203

Email contact


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Rebuffing calls by the leading Republican presidential candidates, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan said his agency will not engage in waterboarding again. In an interview with NBC News on Monday, Brennan said the CIA would not use 'enhanced interrogation' techniques even if ordered to by a future president. 'I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure,' Brennan said. Asked specifically about waterboarding, he added, 'Absolutely, I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again.' Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., have both suggested they would authorize waterboarding, with Trump saying he would go even further. In a telephone interview with 'Fox & Friends,' Trump described Brennan's comments as 'ridiculous,' noting that terrorists such as the members of ISIS decapitate and drown people. 'We're playing on different fields, and we have a huge problem with ISIS, which we can't beat,' Trump said. 'And the reason we can't beat them is because we can't use strong tactics, whether it's this or other things.' 'So I think his comments are ridiculous,' he added. 'Can you imagine these ISIS people sitting around, eating and talking about this country won't allow waterboarding and they just chopped off 50 heads?' President Barack Obama signed an executive order banning waterboarding and other techniques shortly after taking office. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - April 11, 2016) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Marshall S. Sprung, co-chief of the Division of Enforcement's Asset Management Unit, is planning to leave the agency later this month.

As co-head of the unit for the past two-and-a-half years, Mr. Sprung has overseen a nationwide staff of nearly 80 attorneys, industry experts, and other professionals that investigates violations of the federal securities laws by investment advisers, registered funds, and private funds. Co-Chief Anthony Kelly will continue to lead the unit following Mr. Sprung's departure.

"Marshall has served as a thoughtful, creative, and driven co-chief of the Asset Management Unit," said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division. "He helped the unit grow its expertise and drove the unit's data-driven approach that led to innovative and impactful cases involving asset managers and investment advisers."

Mr. Sprung said, "It has been an honor to work with staff throughout the Division of Enforcement and the SEC who inspired me with their unwavering professionalism, skill and talent during my tenure at the agency. I am particularly proud of my colleagues in the Asset Management Unit for their grit and dedication in ferreting out misconduct by investment advisers and developing the expertise needed to protect investors from fraud and other unlawful practices in the complex asset management industry."

During his tenure as co-chief, Mr. Sprung oversaw investigations of investment advisers for various forms of misconduct involving valuation, disclosure, conflicts of interest, fund governance and the advisory contract approval process, trading practices, and compliance and controls. He was instrumental in transforming the unit into an agency leader on leveraging data and designing risk-analytic initiatives in key priority areas, including private equity, mutual fund fee and revenue sharing, and aberrational private fund performance. A hallmark of Mr. Sprung's tenure was building a nationwide team within the Enforcement Division that developed expertise in the asset management industry and partnered with other SEC divisions and offices on examination sweeps, rulemakings, and more effective detection of emerging risks.

Under Mr. Sprung's supervision, the unit brought enforcement actions addressing misconduct in all of its priority areas. Many of these actions were firsts of their kind and included charges against:

 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. which paid nearly $30 million for misallocating more than $17 million in so-called "broken deal" expenses, which was the agency's first action to address such conduct.

 Three AIG affiliates which paid more than $9.5 million for steering mutual fund clients toward more expensive share classes so the firms could collect more fees.

 Morgan Stanley Investment Management and one of its portfolio managers who paid nearly $9 million for unlawfully conducting "parking" trades that favored certain advisory client accounts over others that included an investment company.

 Fenway Partners LLC and its principals who paid more than $10 million for failing to disclose conflicts of interest relating to consulting services provided by an affiliated entity and payments to former firm employees that were paid for with fund and portfolio company assets.

 R.T. Jones Capital Equities Management, Inc. for failing to establish cybersecurity policies and procedures in advance of a breach by hackers that compromised confidential client data of approximately 100,000 individuals, including thousands of the firm's clients.

 J.S. Oliver Capital Management and its president for allegedly routing winning trades to favored clients and lying about payments using client assets, and against the firm's broker-dealer Instinet for approving some of these payments.

Mr. Sprung joined the SEC in 2003 after working for five years as a litigation associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles, and serving as a law clerk to the Honorable A. Joe Fish on the U.S. District Court in Dallas. He was promoted to branch chief in 2005, and in 2010 he was promoted to be an assistant director in the newly-formed Asset Management Unit. In 2012, he was appointed co-deputy chief of the unit and was appointed co-chief in 2013. Mr. Sprung received the SEC Chairman's Award for Excellence in Leadership in 2015 and the Arthur F. Mathews Award in 2010. Mr. Sprung received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1996 and his undergraduate degree with high honors from Brown University in 1993.
WAYNE, PENNSYLVANIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/11/16 -- Today, in response to HB2, North Carolina's new law limiting anti-discrimination protections, the global community of nearly 1,700 Certified B Corporations announced it will relocate a cluster of October events out of North Carolina. Those events include the annual global gathering of B Corp CEOs and executives; a series of public talks and street festival called B Inspired; a conference for the economic development arms of city governments, corporate supply chain managers, and impact investors called Measure What Matters; and a conference for university educators teaching business as a force for good.

"B Corps seek to build a more inclusive economy, and that is not possible with laws like HB2 on the books," said Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab, the nonprofit behind the B Corp movement. "Through the upcoming legislative session, we will work closely with the North Carolina B Corp community and the LGBT community most affected by this law to make North Carolina more business friendly and enable us to return as soon as possible."

Read B Lab's full statement on North Carolina HB2.

HB2 requires people to use public bathrooms associated with the sex assigned on their birth certificate instead of that with which they identify, which most adversely affects transgender people. HB2 appears to remove the civil right of all people to file anti-discrimination lawsuits with the State based on race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, or handicap. HB2 also eliminates the ability for cities in North Carolina to support a living wage. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of HB2 under the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Kevin Trapani, CEO of The Redwoods Group, a Morrisville, North Carolina-based commercial property casualty insurer and Certified B Corp said, "As it actually says in North Carolina law, we believe that discrimination 'foments domestic strife and unrest, deprives the State of the fullest utilization of its capacities for advancement and development, and substantially and adversely affects the interests of employees, employers, and the public in general.' We are ready to work with proponents of HB2 to help forge 'One North Carolina' that lives up to its own creed so that we can welcome the global B Corp community to our great state as soon as possible."

John Replogle, CEO of Seventh Generation, who leads the national brand and Seventh Generation Ventures from HQ Raleigh, said, "As a founding B Corp, we stand united with the 1,700 CEOs who are using business as a force for good and will muster all of our resources to overturn this abhorrent law. North Carolina deserves better and the business community must stand united that HB2 is bad for our state and bad for business."

B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. Its vision is that one day all companies compete to be best for the world and society enjoys a more shared and durable prosperity. B Lab drives this systemic change by: 1) building a global community of Certified B Corporations; 2) promoting Mission Alignment using innovative corporate structures like the benefit corporation to align the interests of business with those of society; 4) helping tens of thousands of businesses, investors, and institutions Measure What Matters, by using the B Impact Assessment and B Analytics to manage their impact -- and the impact of the businesses with whom they work -- with as much rigor as their profits; and 4) inspiring millions to join the movement through compelling storytelling by its multi-platform branded media company B the Change Media. For more information, visit www.bcorporation.net.

Certified B Corporations meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability. They achieve a minimum verified score of 80 out of 200 available points on the B Impact Assessment, which measures the positive impact of a company on its workers, customers, community, and the environment, and are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on all stakeholders, not just shareholders. There are 1,674 Certified B Corporations in 130 industries and 48 countries, including 32 in North Carolina.

Partial list of B Corp CEOs available for comment:

-- Eric Henry, CEO, TS Designs (NC) -- Kevin Trapani, CEO, Redwoods Group (NC) -- John Replogle, CEO, Seventh Generation (NC) -- Maria Kingery, CEO, Southern Energy Management (NC) -- Jostein Solheim, CEO, Ben & Jerry's -- Rose Marcario, CEO, Patagonia -- Wendy Collie, CEO, New Seasons Markets -- Christine Perich, CEO, New Belgium Brewing (NC)

Contacts:

Yulu Public Relations

Melissa Orozco

Media Relations

(604) 558 1656

bcorp@yulupr.com



B Corporation

Vale Jokisch

Director of Services

(610) 293 0299

vale@bcorporation.net

www.bcorporation.net




PEMBROKE, Bermuda - April 11, 2016 - Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:ENH), a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, announced today that Mr. Michael Nardiello has joined the company as Senior Vice President, Property Product Leader, Global Risk Solutions. Global Risk Solutions is a recently launched business within Endurance Insurance, targeting large account risk management clients within select global industry verticals. The new platform, headed by Michael Chang, CEO of Global Risk Solutions, is initially focused on the Real Estate & Hospitality, Financial Institutions and Professional Services industries. Mr. Nardiello will be based in Endurance's New York City office.

Mr. Nardiello was most recently Regional Property Executive with AIG since April 2012, responsible for property operations in their Northeast Region. Prior to that, Mr. Nardiello was with Marsh Inc., where he spent the majority of his 20 plus year career in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility. He was promoted to Managing Director at Marsh in 2005 and served as U.S. Property Placement Leader since 2010. He is a graduate of Loyola University in Maryland.

Mr. Chang commented, "I am very pleased that Mike is joining our Global Risk Solutions' team. His deep property product knowledge and extensive experience in our target industry classes, both as an underwriter and a broker, will differentiate us in these key markets. Endurance is building a unique holistic service model offering industry tailored solutions across a broad range of products. I am confident that Mike's wide network and client-oriented approach will be instrumental to the success of this new business initiative."

About Endurance Specialty Holdings

Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. is a global specialty provider of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. Through its operating subsidiaries, Endurance writes agriculture, professional lines, property, marine and energy, and casualty and other specialty lines of insurance and catastrophe, property, casualty, professional lines and specialty lines of reinsurance. We maintain excellent financial strength as evidenced by the ratings of A (Excellent) from A.M. Best (XV size category) and A (Strong) from Standard and Poor's on our principal operating subsidiaries. Endurance's headquarters are located at Waterloo House, 100 Pitts Bay Road, Pembroke HM 08, Bermuda and its mailing address is Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., Suite No. 784, No. 48 Par-la-Ville Road, Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda. For more information about Endurance, please visit www.endurance.bm (http://www.endurance.bm/).

Contact

Investor Relations

Phone: +1 441 278 0988

Email: investorrelations@endurance.bm (mailto:investorrelations@endurance.bm)





This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd via Globenewswire



HUG#2002534


NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Unions representing employees of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) have announced that they will go on strike on Wednesday if a new contract isn't reached. Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers from Massachusetts to Virginia will go on strike at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, April 13 if a fair agreement is not reached by then. 'We're standing up for working families and standing up to Verizon's corporate greed,' said CWA District 1 Vice President Dennis Trainor. 'If a hugely profitable corporation like Verizon can destroy the good family-supporting jobs of highly skilled workers, then no worker in America will be safe from this corporate race to the bottom.' The workers are represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The union says that Verizon wants to gut job security protections, contract out more work, offshore jobs to Mexico, the Philippines and other locations and require technicians to work away from home for as long as two months without seeing their families. Verizon has trained thousands of non-union employees to carry out every job function, including making repairs on poles and responding to inquiries in call centers. Meanwhile, Marc Reed, Verizon's chief administrative officer, said, 'We've tried to work with union leaders to reach a deal. Verizon has been moving the bargaining process forward, but now union leaders would rather make strike threats than constructively engage at the bargaining table.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Japan will on Tuesday release March numbers for bank lending, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. In February, lending both with and without trusts was up 2.2 percent on year. Japan also will see preliminary March numbers for machine tool orders; in February, orders plummeted 22.5 percent on year. Australia will see February figures for credit card purchases and March results for business confidence and conditions from NAB; in February, their index scores were +3 and +8, respectively. The Philippines will release February numbers for exports, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 3.2 percent on year following the 3.9 percent contraction in January. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS: The Ministry of Emergency Situations presents the list of priority needs at the moment in Nagorno Karabakh

Sleeping bags

Mantle-umbrellas (-)

Personal hygiene items

Underwear

Medication aid should be coordinated with the Ministry of Health. As "Armenpress" was informed by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, there is no need for food at this stage.

All persons and organizations that wish to provide financial assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh Republic can transfer money to the following bank accounts:

Artsakhbank CJSC

Address  Kievyan Street 3, Yerevan, Armenia

SWIFT` ARTSAM22

Beneficiary  Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh

Account - 22300612211100 (AMD)

Account` 22300110153200 (USD)

Account` 22300200153300 (Euro)

Account` 22300400153100 (Rubles)

All state, public and private institutions and individuals willing to provide assistance may contact the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia  Yerevan, Davitashen 4th block, A.Mikoyan str. 109/8 or call - 060 44-03-35, 010 31-78-57, 099 31-71-12.

In case of necessity the Ministry of Emergency Situations will organize the shipment of aid from your location.

The Ministry expresses its gratitude to everyone for their support, compassion and quick response for Nagorno Karabakh.
Altitude Digital, a Denver, Colorado-based provider of a white-labeled, self-service programmatic video platform, raised an additional $17.5m in funding.

Multiplier Capital and Bridge Bank, a division of Western Alliance Bank, provided the financial resources.

The company intends to use the funds for further expansion of the platform and increase publisher adoption of the technology.

Led by Jeremy Ostermiller, CEO, and Manny Puentes, CTO, Altitude Digital provides a programmatic video technology platform that gives publishers independence and control of their mobile and desktop video business so they can optimize their inventory and increase margins.

The new ARENA Programmatic Video Platform allows publishers to take control of their own real-time bidding exchange to work directly with DSP partners, package and sell both mobile and desktop video inventory through programmatic direct deals, private marketplaces and open exchanges in a unified auction, protect revenue through natively integrated third party verification vendors and pre-filtering tools, expand video inventory through an outstream player and optimize inventory through real-time analytics.

The company has offices in New York and San Francisco.

FinSMEs

11/04/2016
Critizr, a Lille and Paris, France-based platform for consumers to provide feedback at the point of sale, raised 1m in funding.

The investment, made by CapHorn Invest, brought total funding to 3.5m having Point Nine Capital and Runa Capital previously supported Critizr.

The company will use the funds to continue to expand operations in Europe

Founded in 2012 by Nicolas Hammer and Thibaut Carlier, Critizr operates a platform that allows consumers to provide feedback at the point of sale establishing itself as a trusted third party for the customer relations of major retailers including Carrefour, Total, Mr. Bricolage, Leroy Merlin, etc.

It is currently present in Italy, Belgium, France and Spain.

FinSMEs

11/04/2016
Supported by the technology, a new form of wealth management advice has emerged in the latest years. By leveraging client information and algorithms, robo-advisors create and manage automated portfolio allocation and make investment recommendations tailored to clients based on their unique needs.

Already a meaningful reality, they today managing over $50 billion in assets, attracting both millennials and older, high-net-worth individuals. A recent study by A.T. Kearney says they will continue to increase their market size, managing approx. $2.2 trillion by 2020, challenging human-based business models (that typically have higher fees) from such incumbents as UBS, Credit Suisse, and Bank of America.

An increase already signalled by the acquisition of digital wealth management firm FutureAdvisor by Blackrock in 2015.

Nevertheless, this is still a young space with the majority of entrants who are not profitable yet but relying on venture capital funding, instead.

Below, we present some players from the main fintech hubs.

Betterment is a NYC-based independent robo-advisor which offers customers a globally diversified portfolio of index-tracking exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with personalized advice in a goal-based investing framework. Customers can open and customize regular investment accounts, traditional/SEP/Roth IRAs, trust accounts, and accounts for retirement income. The company also has expanded its platform to serve the RIA and 401(k) markets. It recently launched Betterment Institutional for advisors and Betterment for Business 401(k) for employers.

Led by Jon Stein, Founder and CEO, Betterment currently manages $1.1 billion to nearly $4 billion in assets for more than 150,000 customers.

To date, it has raised over $200m from investors including Kinnevik, Bessemer Venture Partners, Anthemis Group, Menlo Ventures, Globespan Capital Partners and Francisco Partners.

San Francisco, CA-based Personal Capital combines technology with professional advisors to help households manage their wealth via a free app available for iPhone, iPad and Android.

Led by Bill Harris, CEO, Personal Capital allows any user to access a dashboard and financial tools for free, and offers professional advisory services to manage client assets. Advisors leverage these tools to build personalized retirement plans and custom portfolios based on the specific needs of clients and advise them on financial planning milestones.

On average, a user aggregates 15 different financial accounts including 401(k) accounts, IRA accounts, loans, credit cards, savings and checking accounts. It recently achieved $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), one-third coming from clients with over $1 million in assets at Personal Capital. The average AUM per client is now $300k.

The company is backed by BBVA Ventures, Corsair Capital, Crosslink Capital, Institutional Venture Partners, USAA, Venrock, and BlackRock.

Redwood City, CA-based Wealthfront combines financial expertise and technology to provide clients with an automated service to manage their long term investments using tax efficient and low cost portfolios. When users open an account, theyll get a personalized asset allocation based on their risk score and the accounts tax status. Wealthfront employs ETFs that track indexes for all the major asset classes used in their portfolios. Each ETF is chosen by an investment research team based on cost, tracking error, market liquidity, and securities lending policies. The service provides recommendations on diversification, taxes and fees that are personalized not only to the specific investments in a given account, but also to a specific financial profile and risk tolerance.

Launched in December 2011 (and led by Adam Nash, CEO), the company has raised approx. $130m to date from Spark Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, Benchmark Capital, Ribbit Capital, Social Capital and DAG Ventures.

LendingRobot is a Seattle, WA-based fully automated investment service for peer lending, including platforms such as Funding Circle, Lending Club and Prosper. After signing up, individual accredited investors select their risk tolerance and LendingRobot instantly makes investments on their behalf. The service is free up to $5k in managed assets and 0.45% per year above that amount.

Led by CEO Emmanuel Maro, the company has raised $3m in Series A funding led by Runa Capital.

Leawood, KS-based Blooom provides an online tool that assesses a consumers 401(k) in a few minutes and provides ongoing professional management for only $1/month for those with less than $20,000 invested ($15/month for those with more than $20,000).

Founded in 2013 and led by CEO Chris Costello, the Registered Investment Advisory firm now manages more than $110m.

It recently raised $4m in Series A funding from QED Investors, DST Systems, Commerce Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners and UMB.

Motif Investing is a Rancho Cordova-based online broker that offers thematic investing opportunities for individuals and financial advisors. The company allows investors to trade motifs, intelligently weighted basket of stocks built around themes, investing styles or multi-asset models for a low fee. A registered broker dealer and a member of SIPC, Motif is backed by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Renren Inc.

San Francisco, CA-based Captain401 allows startups and small businesses to start a 401k plan for their employees entirely online in a minutes. It uses index funds from leading companies like Vanguard as the basis of its investment portfolios while administration is automated pulling data from other HR software to eliminate repetitive data entry.

Led by Roger Lee, co-founder and CEO, the company recently closed a $3.5m seed round of funding from Y Combinator, SoftTech VC, SV Angel, CrunchFund, Dave Morins Slow Ventures, Susa Ventures, FundersClub, Paul Buchheit, Justin Kan, Michael Siebel, Jared Friedman, Jacob Gibson, Greg Brockman, and Joe Montana.

London, UK-based Nutmeg provides an online investment management service specializing in investments, ISAs and pensions. With a minimum investment being 500 for each fund users create, the firms team builds a diversified investment portfolio that spreads risk across various asset classes, geographies and industry sectors, generally preferring to use exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Led by Nick Hungerford, Nutmeg is backed by Balderton Capital, Pentech Ventures, Tim Draper and others.

MoneyFarm is a tech-driven investment advisory firm operating in Italy and UK. Founded in March 2011 by Paolo Galvani, President, and Giovanni Dapra, CEO, the firm leverages a digital wealth management platform to provide independent investment advisory services to small savers. A team of experts continuously monitors the investment state and provides recommendations, if needed, to rebalance portfolio according to market trends. The company is backed by Cabot Square Capital, United Ventures and Principia.

Singapore-based Smartly is building a digital wealth management platform for the Southeast Asian millennial market. The service  which will be launched in July 2016, leverages algorithms to recommend a personalized globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on a customer risk analysis. The startup is led by Keir Veskivali, CEO, Artur Luhaaar, CFO, Danielle Jiang, CIO, and Hiten Pratap Singh, CTO.

FinSMEs

11/04/2016
General Catalyst Partners, a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and growth equity investments, announced four promotions.

These include:

 Niko Bonatsos to managing director. He joined the firm in 2011 as an associate, was promoted in 2013 to principal, and to venture partner in 2015.

 Deepak Jeevankumar to partner. He joined General Catalyst in 2010 as a senior associate and was promoted to principal in 2013.

 Spencer Lazar to partner. He joined the firm in 2013 as a principal.

 Gabe Ling to partner. He joined General Catalyst in 2004 as an associate, was promoted to vice president in 2010 and then again to principal in 2012.

With offices in Cambridge, MA, Palo Alto, CA and New York City, General Catalyst Partners has backed innovative technology companies including Airbnb, BigCommerce, ClassPass, Datalogix, Datto, Demandware, The Honest Company, HubSpot, KAYAK, Oscar, Snapchat, Stripe, Warby Parker, and ZenPayroll.

FinSMEs

11/04/2016
What do you do when you forget to take your medicines? Put a reminder on your phone or ask your family members or friends to give you a reminder? mTatva, a primary healthcare IT firm which launched its app HealthPIE in September 2015 will soon be launching Pillbox, which will send a reminder to patients about their medicine intake.

mTatva will not manufacture the box, which will be synchronized with the app through Bluetooth so that every time the patient takes the medicine, the app will record it, says Baljit Singh, Founder and CEO. If the medicine is not taken, the app will send a reminder.

The company has around 3 percent people in the Middle East using the app, besides around 2 per cent in the US,too.

Another product in the pipeline is real-time patient doctor consultation with an in-house doctor on the app to answer any queries from patients. This is expected to be launched in six months time. "The possibilities of doing a lot for patient healthcare is enormous," says Singh.

The primary healthcare IT firm was set up in April 2013 by two IIT Delhi graduates, Singh and Pravin Prakash - Co Founder and CTO, with 50 percent of their personal savings and the remaining from angel funds. We started mTatva out of a need to plug the gap between need for healthcare facilities and what was available in the sector for the affected, says Singh. Prakash, his IIT classmate, comes from a family of doctors and knows the environment up close.

The company's focus is to minimize medical errors (through difficult-to-read medical prescriptions and wrong medicines given by pharmacists), solve medical compliance issues and make patients aware of the medicines prescribed to them.

How does it work?

Smartphone users can download the app and it is ready for use. Singh says that medical reports can be uploaded and the app provides medication reminders for the entire family, stores the familys health charts like vaccination charts, and also sends reminders and alerts if a medication or a visit to the doctor is missed. There is an SMS facility for patients in hospitals where the HealthPIE decodes the doctors prescription.

The app is available in Hindi and English with the former being most popular in Delhi, Lucknow. Plans are afoot to use regional languages to make the app consumer-friendly, says Singh. The company has over one lakh consumers using the platform, three lakhs in hospitals and has sent 12 million reminders to patients, says Singh.

There is medical literature on the app which helps patients know more about diseases, lifestyle changes to be adopted besides health and nutrition care. It has been getting traction for Dr Alerts on the app where the doctor can monitor the progress of the patient and advise accordingly.

Revenue model

The revenues come from from B2B offerings. The hospitals and clinics where mTatva provides solutions pay them on a per patient visit basis.

The company plans to have 700 lakh consumers on its app by end of year.
New Delhi - India is in the grip of a drought for the second year running. On an average, 9 farmers committed suicide daily in Maharashtra alone last year.

A fight against drought of course needs adequate supply of drinking water and foodgrain but it also requires the government to augment existing Central initiatives and launch new schemes for affected states. Is the government doing enough to help drought affected regions?

Last week, a Supreme Court bench asked the Centre to list measures taken under the national food security law and the rural employment guarantee scheme that are meant to benefit drought-hit areas.

The Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MNREGA) offers guaranteed jobs in the hinterland. Though spending under MNREGA in 2015-16 was the highest ever at Rs 41,617 crore and Rs 38,500 crore have been allocated in the Union Budget for the current fiscal, implementation of the scheme remains patchy.

Only 9% of the total households under MNREGA even completed 100 days of employment last fiscal. Wage arrears for last fiscal have only now been released by the Centre, after SC prodding, and about 52 lakh works under MNREGA remained incomplete as of March 31 this year.

Officials say the government has approved digging of 8.77 lakh total ponds under MNREGA this fiscal of which a majority will be in drought affected areas and with wage-material ratio of 80:20. Each pond should envisage investment of Rs 1.6 lakh. But even where allocation is being made to create water reservoirs which assuage water shortage and also provide employment, faulty implementation is making matters worse.

A report in The Times of India today delineates how faulty implementation is also affecting person days as machines take over.

Now that drought is spreading to more districts, here is a look at what needs to be done under MNREGA:

1) A senior official with the Ministry of Rural Development said on Friday that of the Rs 7,983 crore arrears in unpaid wages under this scheme for 2015-16, Rs 2,723 crore was the amount pending for works done in 10 drought-affected states alone. Additionally, there is a pending demand from states for Rs 4,000 crore for material arrears, which will be released in June, after the Union Budget for 2016-17 is passed in Parliament.

On Saturday, Union Minister for Rural Development Rao Birender Singh announced the release of Rs 12,230 crore as Central contribution under MNREGA to states. In a statement, the Minister said this will take care of the pending wage liability of the states for 2015-16 and help them run the programme during 2016-17.

Singh refuted media reports that there were wage arrears of over Rs 8,000 crore under MGNREGA for the 2015-16. And the ministry official quoted earlier said typically, pending arrears under MNREGA were cleared each year in April and the amount usually took care of wage arrears of the previous fiscal.

Wage arrears are probably one of the biggest reasons for workers, especially those in drought affected districts, to not come forward. These need to be minimized.

2) This article in the Business Standard newspaper said on Sunday that now, when nearly half of India's 676 districts are grappling with drought, the government expects a decline in the demand for work under MNREGA.

The story says estimated number of days when people in rural India will be offered work has been slashed by 220 million person-days from the previous year. In 2015-16, the government had approved a labour budget of 2,391 million person-days, the report said adding the same for 2016-17 is 2,170 million person-days.

This would either lead to work for fewer hands or lesser work for all those who apply for the scheme. But the ministry official quoted earlier said person days in 2015-16 would be 2280 million against 1660 million in the previous fiscal.

3) Only 9% of households which were to benefit under the MNREGA job guarantee completed 100 days of work last fiscal. That is less than even one in 10 households with the number totaling to just 44 lakh households. A report in the Mint newspaper showed the percentage of rural households completing 100 days of work in drought-affected states is much lower than even the national average.

It said the number of such households is 2% in Uttar Pradesh  one of the worst-hit states  3.7% in Chhattisgarh, 4.5% in Madhya Pradesh, 4.6% in Odisha, and 5.5% in Karnataka. Some of the better performing states are Telangana (7.3%), Andhra Pradesh (8%), Jharkhand (8.2%) and Maharashtra (12.2%).

Minister Singh said in his statement on Saturday that 20.48 lakh households in drought affected regions completed 100 days of work last fiscal. But the ministry official quoted earlier said MNREGA is a demand-driven programme and in any case, is meant to supplement household income instead of being the primary source of income.

The Centre has now increased the number of days of work under MNREGA from 100 to 150 days for drought-affected states, this official said. But if only one in 10 households were able to complete even 100 days of work, what are the chances of large swathes of households in the drought affected regions completing 150 days this fiscal?

4) Annual wage increase under this scheme has only been 5.7%. The ministry official said even though the wage increase has been moderate, the minimum wage in 19 states is still lower than the rate at which wages are being given under MNREGA.

According to a report in The Economic Times, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Karnataka have got the maximum increase of almost 10% in the daily wages under MNREGA. States with the least increase include the poll-bound states of West Bengal where the hike is a mere Rs 2 to Rs 176 and Assam which has seen only Rs 3 increase to Rs 182.

The Rural Development Ministry had earlier okayed a proposal by the Dev Committee to get MNREGA wages indexed to a states agricultural wages but the Finance Ministry is yet to sign on the dotted line. This would have meant an additional outgo of Rs 2000 crore but indications are the entire proposal may now be tweaked.
Stepping up its energy ties with Iran, India has lined up $20 billion as investment in oil and gas as well as petrochemical and fertiliser projects in the Persian Gulf country subject to provision of concessional rights.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, on a two-day visit to Tehran from April 9, also discussed with his Iranian counterpart the repayment of nearly $6.5 billion that Indian refiners owe to Iran, but there is no agreement yet on rights to develop Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf discovered by OVL.

The minister informed the Iranian side that Indian companies could invest up to $20 billion and are interested in setting up petrochemical and fertiliser plants, including those in Chabahar SEZ, either through a joint venture between Indian and Iranian public sector companies or with private sector partners.

In this regard, he requested Iran to allocate appropriate and adequate land in the SEZ. He also requested the Iranian side for favourable treatment in the pricing of gas for India and supply of rich gas at competitive price on long-term basis for the life of joint venture projects Indian companies are interested in setting up, an official statement read.

Pradhan said India did a fine balancing act after Prime Ministers visit to Saudia Arabia earlier this month.

Accompanied by ONGC Videsh MD Narendra K Verma and Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman B Ashok, Pradhan sought to engage with the leadership of the oil-rich nation that has stepped out of international sanctions.

This was the first visit by an Indian minister since the US and other western powers lifted sanctions against Iran in January.

Within days, Chinese President Xi Jinping travelled to Tehran, signing 17 accords and agreeing to increase bilateral trade by more than ten-fold to $ 600 billion in the next decade.

Keen not to rub Saudi Arabia the wrong way  Chinas largest oil supplier  Xi visited Riyadh and Egypt before heading to Tehran.

Pradhan had meetings with Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Senior Advisor to President of Iran on Free Trade Zones Akbar Torkan and Governor of Iranian Central Bank Dr Valliolah Seif, the statement said.

The two nations, it said, discussed developments regarding Farzad-B gas field and expressed confidence in concluding an agreement at the earliest.

The issue relating to payment of dues by Indian refineries to Iran towards purchase of crude oil was also discussed. Pradhan conveyed that India is committed towards making payments as and when banking channels, acceptable to both sides, are available, the statement added.

He said competitive gas pricing is crucial in making the projects attractive for prospective investors. He also expressed Indias interest in setting up an LNG plant and a gas cracker in the Chabahar port.

New Delhi is looking to increase engagement with the sanction-free Iran by raising oil imports and possible shipments of natural gas. It also wants rights to develop Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf discovered by OVL.

Sources, however, said a deal for field was not signed during Pradhans visit as Iranian Parliament, Majlis, is yet to approve new Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) under which the Farzad-B field is to be given to the OVL-led consortium.

IPC ends two-decade old buyback system that prevented foreign companies from booking reserves or taking equity stakes in Iranian companies. Under some circumstances, the new model allows reserves to be booked, but foreign companies would still not own oil fields.

While previously foreign firms were paid a fixed fee for discovering and bringing to production an oil and gas field, the new model raises their profit by grading the fee based on the risk of the fields, allows contracts to last for up to 25 years and no ceiling on capital expenditure.

Foreign firms are to be paid a fee per barrel and they will also be entitled to an increase in profits in the face of dramatic oil price fluctuations.

Indian firms have so far shied away from investing in Iran for the fear of being sanctioned by the US and Europe. The same was deterring New Delhi from claiming rights to invest nearly USD 7 billion in the biggest gas discovery ever made by an Indian firm abroad.

But after the lifting of sanctions, India is making a renewed pitch for rights to develop 12.8 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves OVL had found in 2008.

Pradhan also conveyed to the Iranian side that both countries must expand the basket of oil and gas trade.

He expressed Indias interest in importing LPG from Iran and said companies from both sides could discuss on setting up an extraction plant in Chabahar, if required. Both sides agreed to continue examining various means of evacuation of gas such as LNG, including through the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline.

Pradhan visited Chabahar Free Trade Zone and Port for a site visit and discussed the facilities and incentives which could be offered to Indian companies.

The visit came 9 years after the previous visit by an Indian minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas. It was the first visit of an Indian minister to Iran after sanctions were lifted this January.

PTI
NEW YORK Brent crude prices touched a four-month high on Monday as a rally in wider commodities markets encouraged buying ahead of a meeting of oil producers in Doha next Sunday, aimed at freezing current output levels.

After hitting the highest level since December 7, Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, retreated slightly and then partially recovered, staying within a tight range.

The market is having difficulty maintaining a higher price because of the storage overhang, said Gene McGillian, senior analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

"We're still above 9 million barrels of U.S. production, and of course there's a massive overhang in storage that you can't get around," McGillian said.

Data from energy information provider Genscape at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) suggested the U.S. will have a smaller-than-expected draw on stockpiles this week, prompting the market to pull back slightly, according to market participants.

Brent was up 84 cents at $42.78 a barrel by 12:06 p.m. (1606 GMT), having touched a session high of $43.06, the highest level since December 7.

U.S. WTI crude also rose on Monday, gaining 61 cents to $40.33 a barrel and touching an intra-day high of $40.75, near a three-week high.

Prices are likely to remain in a range of $36 to $42, McGillian said.

"It's all going to be about the Doha meeting on Sunday," said Tariq Zahir at Tyche Capital in Laurel Hollow, New York. Still, even the agreement may have only moderate market impact, he cautioned. "Even if you do have an agreement on it, it's not going to do much: It's not a production cut."

Oil was also caught in a generally bullish pattern of trading across commodities.

"All commodities are going up. It could be (investors) buying into dips every now and then as people are looking for opportunities to get long," said Abhishek Deshpande, commodity strategist at Natixis in London.

Gold prices also touched their highest level in almost three weeks, while silver and platinum were up more than 2 percent.

A weaker U.S. dollar gave impetus to buyers as commodities priced in the currency became cheaper to purchase.

Oil traders continue to place hopes on the oil producers' meeting to prop up crude prices that have been severely depressed by a global supply glut.

But analysts at Goldman Sachs, who expect oil to average $35 a barrel in the second quarter, cautioned that the outcome of the meeting in Qatar could prove bearish for the market.

Last week many oil market speculators agreed with a more bearish outlook as data from the InterContinentalExchange (ICE) showed that net long positions on Brent had been cut to 355,225 contracts in the week to April 5.

However, analysts are forecasting firmer demand for oil over the longer term.

Researchers at Bernstein expect global oil demand to increase at a mean annual rate of 1.4 percent between 2016 and 2020, compared with annual growth of 1.1 percent over the past decade.

"We expect oil markets to rebalance by the end of 2016. This will allow prices to recover towards the marginal cost of $60 per barrel," Bernstein said, adding that it expects global demand to reach 101.1 million bpd by 2020, from the current 94.6 million bpd.

(Reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York; Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Karolin Schaps in London; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Press Secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan released names and photos of the soldiers who were killed by the Azerbaijani attacks in Nagorno Karabakh. As Armenpress reports, some of the names were earlier reported as missing in action.

Private Artur G. Gevorgyan

Born in 1997, 2015/1 conscript, Kotayk military commission

Funeral  11.04.2016 at 17:00

Burial  12.04.2016 at 13:00

Address  Abovyan city, Funeral house of Saralandzh cemetery

Private Azat K. Simonyan

Born in 1996, 2014/2 conscript, Kotayk military commission

Funeral  11.04.2016 at 18:00

Burial  12.04.2016 at 13:00

Address  Kotayk province, Kamaris village

Private Zhora A. Esayan

Born in 1996, 2014/2 conscript, Masis military commission

Funeral  11.04.2016 at 18:00

Burial  12.04.2016 at 13:00

Address  Ararat Province, Darbnik village, Village administration hall

Private Norik Z. Sargsyan

Born in 1996, 2014/2 conscript, Martuni military commission

Funeral  11.04.2016 at 16:00

Burial  12.04.2016 at 12:00

Address  Gegharkunik province, Yeranos village

Contractual Sergeant Robert A. Abrahamyan

Born in 1993, in service since 2016, Ararat military commission

Funeral  11.04.2016 at 18:00

Burial  12.04.2016 at 13:00

Address  Ararat province, Taperakan village, House of Culture

During the morning of April 2 Azerbaijan carried out large scale military attacks along the entire line of contact of Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan carried out artillery strikes on both Armenian positions and civilian settlements. The attacks continued throughout April 5 12:00, when a ceasefire agreement was reached during the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armed Forces of both sides in Moscow.

An exchange of bodies was carried out on April 10 near the Bash Karvend settlement. 18 bodies were transferred to the Armenian side. Earlier 19 were reported missing. The faith of one soldier still remains unknown.
Chennai: After joining hands with Twitter, Election Commission on Monday announced its partnership with Facebook to reach out to 31 per cent of the electorate in Tamil Nadu and achieve 100 per cent turnout.

Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni and Director of Public Policy (India, South and Central Asia), Facebook, Ankhi Das in a joint press conference announced the partnership.

Lakhoni said this was part of the Commission's 'Tamil Nadu 100 per cent' (100 per cent in registration, voting and honesty-ethical voting) initiative for the 16 May polls.

The move comes after EC's tie-up with Twitter last month to give a fillip to its #TN100percent campaign.

Stating that her company was delighted to partner with EC, Das said from 15 May onwards Facebook users will see news feed reminders with informational links about their polling stations.

Such messages will remind and ask them to vote, she added.

She also said out of the 15 million electors added to rolls in Tamil Nadu during the last five years, 14 million of them were in the age group of 18 to 29. "Our joint awareness campaign will help achieve EC's goal of 100 per cent voter turnout."

The social networking website said it was in talks with Kerala as well.

Replying to a query, she said, "we are in talks with election authorities in other states. We have arrangement in Puducherry, we are in talks with Kerala, but we are yet to formalise the arrangement."

"I think Tamil Nadu is the first state in terms of being so forward leaning (in partnering with Facebook)."

CEO said, "Roughly there are 1.8 crore Facebook users in Tamil Nadu and approximately 5.79 crore voters, so it (Facebook users) accounts to about 31 per cent."

"So voters who are in Facebook will get reminders through one partnership and that is something really outstanding," he said.

To another question, he said,"my vote is not for sale (campaign) from 14 April will automatically get promoted on Facebook and celebrity videos, discussions and competitions will all be featured in our Facebook page."

On announcing results on FB, CEO Lakhoni said "election results can be announced live on Facebook, they are for it, we are also okay with it, we can reach so many people."

He said poll results were of interest not only to residents of the state, where it was held but also to those living elsewhere.

Responding to a question on poll-related ads on social media, he said the Commission has begun sending notices to those who had posted poll-related advertisements in social media without taking permission.

Stating that election is "run through Model Code," he said social media advertisement also needed certification before it was put out online.

"We have already started giving notices to people saying you have put out advertisements without permission and we will be watching," he said.

"If people are not taking certification, we have two teams that are watching and we are integrating another company which is putting together anything on TN elections and that will come to us," he said adding the firm will be made known soon.

There are instructions that any form of promotion that went on electronic media must be certified and he reiterated that "we are and will be watching."

He further said, the Madras High Court, a few days ago, in an interim order had banned putting up flex-boards, and hoardings on foot-paths, roadsides and road margins.

"Based on HC order, we have sent circulars to district collectors that now onwards they cannot grant permission for hoardings in specified locations."

CEO said the court has banned all kinds of hoarding, including political.

He, however, said parties may put up such propaganda materials in the venue of rallies and public meetings.

On unaccounted cash, he said out of the Rs 21.8 crore cash seized in the state by the Commission, Rs.16.2 crore has been released to its owners on production of supporting documents, he added.
At least 11 people were killed and 20 others were seriously injured when a high voltage wire hit by bullets fell on demonstrators as police fired in the air to disperse them at Pangeree in upper Assam on Monday.

Police said the incident took place when a large number of protestors armed with matchets and sticks pelted stones at Pangeree Police Station in Tinsukia district and tried to crowd it demanding that those arrested in connection with the killing of two persons in the area three days ago be handed over to them, police said.

They threw stones and broke glass panes of the police station.

"A group of people from neighbouring villages laid siege to the police station on Monday morning. The mob was demanding the police to hand over to them five murder accused, who were arrested over a recent murder case," a police official said.

Police then fired in the air to control the mob and the bullets hit an overhead high tension electric wire causing it to fall on the demonstrators.

Nine of them died on the spot and one died at Tinsukia Civil Hospital. Another person died on way to Assam Medical College Hospital in neighbouring Dibrugarh district.

Senior district civil and police officials along with central paramilitary forces and police reinforcements have

rushed to the spot.

The officials were holding meetings with the protestors to neutralise the situation, the police said.

Three days ago a man, his son and daughter-in-law were abducted by unidentified persons at Pangeree area and while the son escaped from their kidnappers, the bodies of the two others were recovered later, police said.

#FirstVisuals:10 dead&16 injured as high voltage cable fell on them in Tinsukhia(Assam),injured rushed to hospital pic.twitter.com/zWxwW6vlDf  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016



Police had arrested five persons in this connection and the mob had demanded that they be handed over to them for punishment.

Meanwhile, Assam BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal expressed concern over the incident and demanded a high-level probe.

Sonowal, the union minister of youth affairs and sports, also announced Rs.1 lakh compensation to the families of each of the deceased and Rs.25,000 to those injured.
The Sivakasi Syndrome still stalks India.

The little township which accounts for 95 per cent of Indias consumption of fireworks in a $400 million business was mute witness to its produce causing the deaths of 106 people and rising in the Paravur temple in Kerala. While the investigation will show that many people died in the stampede following the explosion triggered by an errant cracker that set ablaze a mountain of magnesium and potassium nitrate and sulfur.

Of the 750 shops that produce this stuff several are unlicensed. Sivakasi itself was the centre of a blaze in 2012 that caused 70 deaths when an illegal manufacturers inadvertently tinder-boxed his supply.

With no quality control as such, second rate and short fused crackers enter the market. Add to that the chaotic conditions in places of worship, during festivities and religious occasions and death dazzles.

The fact is that we are not practiced in crowd control nor do we police squads trained in this human movement. Crowd control is now science and an art but even though we have over 4000 events across the country annually where over 100,000 people congregate the police are untrained and the facilities are primitive and temporary.

The moment an incident occurs and panic spread the stampede gains momentum. As people scramble to escape the elderly, the young and women lose their balance and pile on each other creating a blockade. This is then trampled upon by others fleeing. If it is dark and there is a fire or smoke, the deaths increase exponentially.

Control behavioral expert based in the USA Daniel Pink has done several studies on EXIT systems and his contention is that fear and panic are the two ignitions to disaster. But you cannot do much about human feelings under stress unless you have systems and skill in place. Bamboo pickets dont work. Much like airports you need only forward movement with no back tracking.

You also need the skills of support teams who know how to spot hazards and start organised evacuation.

It is a lot more than barriers and signage which is largely questionable. One person tripping can start it off. You also need to ensure pre-event fluency in traffic, in arrival and departure and factor in the weather.

Understanding crowd dynamics is not even a starter in our country. The ad hoc kind of bandobust is seen as sufficient.

It is time to create a new para-military force that specializes in crowd control and saves lives.

As things stand today we have had fires and stampedes in events like Make in India, in temples like Mandar in Maharashtra and Sabrimala and Chamunda Devi.

We have had them in Malls and cinema halls. At fairs like the Kumbh Mela, at railway stations, at Dushhera festivals,even in greeting hallowed personalities like the 18 people who died in a stampede outside the residence of Dawoodi Bohra spiritual leader Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin at Mumbai's Malabar Hill.

And what is done in the aftermath?

Nothing. The chief minister of the affected state expresses shock and horror and promises an ex gratia payment.

The Centre echoes the sadness of the loss. One of the organisers gets arrested and paraded on the telly.

A judge is pulled out retirement and made chairman of a committee whose report, like Father Mackenzies sermon, no one will read.

Life goes on.

And this will keep happening because we so completely fail to understand that we have no clue how to handle crowds. Nor do we have stringent rules enforced in fire safety and emergency measures. How many of the men and duty at the temple have done a course in crowd science?

Time to wake up and figure out the stats on stampede deaths are right up there with motorcycle accidents.

Seriously, look how far the world has advanced. The Yale Scientist has this to say: Dr Paul Torrens, Associate Professor of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, has developed a technology that can help control crowds and avert calamities.

Torrenss work lies at the forefront of geosimulation, which uses computer programs to model how agents interact with geographic environments. He simulates the behavior of human crowds in various locations such as city streets, movie theaters, and open fields. By recreating these scenarios using computer modeling, Torrens can work with many crowd-related situations that cannot be tested in real life, such as a crowd running away from a burning car or escaping a collapsing building.

Unlike most crowd simulations, in which crowds simply think and move as a single entity, Torrenss models achieve a new level of realism: He can give individual agents emotions, instincts, and the artificial intelligence to think for themselves. This reveals numerous insights about how interactions between individual crowd members affect crowd dynamics."

And we hope to get somewhere with a cop and a lathi.
New Delhi: A Delhi court has awarded Rs 17 lakh compensation to the kin of a 29-year-old man who died in a road mishap here in 2011.

The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, presided by Manish Gupta directed Bharti Axa General Insurance Company Ltd, the insurer of the offending vehicle, to pay a compensation of Rs 17,08,900 to the family of Kosar, a Muzaffarnagar native.

"From the overall facts and circumstances and evidence on record it is clear that the accident in question occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the offending vehicle which caused death of Kosar. The present issue is disposed off accordingly in favour of petitioners," the MACT judge said.

Kosar was working as a driver of a truck which met with an accident while they were on the Swaroop Nagar flyover at GTK road.

The offending vehicle which was going ahead of Kosar's truck suddenly applied brakes, without any indication, resulting in collision and death of Kosar.

"Since no evidence has been led on behalf of respondents (vehicle driver and owner), the liability to pay the entire award amount to petitioners is of insurance company," the tribunal said. The tribunal awarded the compensation of Rs 17,08,900 to the family of Kosar, comprising his wife, four minor children and his father, after considering the loss and care for the minor children, loss of dependency and other factors.
New Delhi: A city court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of a man who had hurled a shoe at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at a press conference in New Delhi last week, saying a strong deterrent is needed for such acts.

Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra denied relief to 28-year-old Ved Prakash, a national general secretary of Aam Aadmi Sena, and sent him to 14 days in judicial custody.

"One may have difference of opinion with someone but one needs to respect the constitutional authority.

"The chief minister was elected by the people. I express my displeasure over the act. A strong deterrent is needed for such acts," the magistrate said while pronouncing the order of bail application.

Prakash was produced before the court after expiry of one-day judicial custody.

At the outset, the court asked Prakash about his offence.

To this, he said he had carried out a sting operation on alleged irregularities in distribution of CNG stickers at the centres and had informed Delhi government about it, but no action was taken.

He claimed he was angry with Kejriwal for not taking action against those involved in alleged irregularities and that was the reason he hurled the shoe.

The magistrate disapproved his behaviour saying he could have vindicated grievances through legal mechanism.

"Apart from the chief minister's office, there are other authorities also to hear your grievances. Instead of taking such a blatant step, you should have approached the other authorities," the court said, adding there should be deterrent punishment so that people do not dare to commit such acts.

The bail plea was opposed by the prosecutor who argued that there was evidence to show that the shoe was thrown at the chief minister and Prakash should have approached proper authorities with his grievances. He said such incidents are assault on democracy.

During the arguments, advocate Pradeep Rana, who appeared for Prakash, sought bail on the ground that apart from section 353 IPC, which says assault to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, all other provisions invoked on him were bailable.

He argued that the video of the incident showed that shoe was thrown in the air just to grab the attention and there was no intention of hitting the chief minister.
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Wednesday leave for the United States on an official visit during which he will attend the International Monetary Fund - World Bank meeting and hold sessions with institutional investors and pension funds.

"As part of the first leg of his US visit, the Finance Minister will arrive in Washington on 13 April and will address at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 'Steering India Towards Growth'," a Finance Ministry statement said.

On 14 April, Jaitley has a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, which will be followed by the 6th Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue between India and the US.

The Finance Minister will participate in BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) Board of Governors Meeting followed by the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.

"The Finance Minister is also proposed to meet the Chinese Finance Minister in the evening," the statement added.

On 15 April, Jaitley will participate in G-20 meetings and attend a special event to honor UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in nurturing World Bank-UN Partnership.

On 16 April, 2016, the Finance Minister will participate in International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) Governors meet followed by the IMFC Plenary Session and Development Committee Plenary meeting, among others.

In his second leg of US visit in New York, Jaitley will address the Asia Society Event 'Make In India-The New Deal' on 18 April. The Finance Minister will also hold meeting with long-term funds and pension funds.

On 19 April, he will address the Special Session of General Assembly of UN on the World Drugs. The Finance Minster is also proposed to participate in institutional investors meet on the same day.

The Finance Minister will return to the country on 21 April.
Going by recent media reports, the Narendra Modi government is set to establish a Permanent Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (PC COSC)  which has reportedly already been vetted by the cabinet secretary, national security advisor and defence minister. The prime minister will likely accord in-principle approval on 12 April during a presentation on higher defence reforms and future air-power planning. After this, the process of appointing the PC COSC will be moved for approval by the cabinet committee on security (CCS), with the entire exercise taking a couple of months.

The government envisages the PP COSC as having a two-year tenure and an equivalence in rank and protocol with the service chiefs.

The term couple of months perhaps coincides with the current Naval Chief completing his present tenure in February 2017 and according to the grapevine, he will be elevated as the first PC COSC, albeit the current Army Chief too retires in July 2017. As per reports, the PC COSC will be responsible for all military hardware acquisition processes, tri-service commands and for jointmanship within the forces for optimum utilisation of resources. This is no different from the current arrangement of having a rotational chairman of the COSC since raising of HQ Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), other than that the rotational incumbent normally has a tenure of less than two years.

A single-point military advisors post in the form of Chief of Defence Staff was proposed by the Kargil Review Committee headed by K Subrahmanyam (father of present foreign secretary S Jaishankar), and endorsed by the follow-up group of ministers report. Pranab Mukherjee (now president), while holding the portfolio of defence minister, had stated during a presentation at HQ IDS in 2005 that the then government had actually chosen the person who would be CDS a few months prior, but there was no political consensus, adding in the same breath that there are many things that are pushed through without political consensus.

But seven years down the line, the Naresh Chandra Committee report of 2012 recommended a watered down version of the CDS and called it the PC COSC. A media report at the time quoted a senior government official as saying, The whole idea behind appointing a PC COSC is to break down silos within armed forces and create synergy in the fighting force. The problem with the existing separate military headquarters is that there is a turf war between the three wings with each seeing things with its own perspective and requirement, which is a big joke on the unsuspecting public.

How can a PC COSC bring synergy within the three services when he has no operational powers over the military?

As regards the talk about synergy, despite the best efforts of former defence minister George Fernades, under whom the HQ IDS was raised, the bureaucratic mafia did not permit the HQ IDS to merge with the Ministry of Defence which would have resolved the issue of military synergy.

The bureaucratic skulduggery is clear from the CCS note that sanctioned HQ IDS saying "as and when the CDS is established, he will have equal voting rights as the service chiefs, and where two service chiefs don't agree, the MoD will arbitrate". Now if a CDS is to be a single point advisor, where is the question of two chiefs not agreeing? Interestingly, Naresh Chandra was specifically briefed by the then NSA, to dump the CDS and introduce this hitherto-unheard term of PC COSC.

The cat was actually out of the bag with Manoj Joshi, himself a member of the Naresh Chandra Committee, disclosing that the MoD did not want the CDS because they thought that the defence secretary and his IAS colleagues would be somehow diminished. So that is what the consideration is: That a defence secretary who perhaps came from the ministry of agriculture or family welfare is enough not to appoint a CDS?

The defence of India be damned!

India is the only country with an MoD sans military professionals, with bureaucrats lacking a military background and knowledge ruling the roost, hiding their ineptitude and incompetence in their respective cocoons and without accountability, making money through scams and appeasing their political bosses. As a result, we lack a cohesive national security strategy; national security objectives remain undefined; higher defence organisations arent streamlined; there is little synergy within the military; the military-industrial complex remains in a pathetic state  the recent dumping of Akash after crores and years wasted being just one example; military not integrated with MoD; militarys capability gap vis-a-vis widening exponentially; inaction post-discovery of permanent Chinese intrusions at Sirijap in 2007; major intrusion permitted in the Pangong Tso area including a 10-kilometre PLA road; a lid put by UPA II on Shyam Sarans report of China having nibbled 654 square kilometres of our territory in Ladakh, in addition to 38,000 sq kms of Aksai Chin; post-April 2013 PLA intrusion in Depsang, the Army forced to dismantle surveillance cameras at Chumar; the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in sensitive areas of Depsang and Chumar remains under the MHA flouting the Kargil Review Committee report; the Armys limit of patrolling restricted even along the border with Myanmar, to cite few issues.

Members of the US contingent who came to attend the first India-US Defence Planning Group meeting in New Delhi after the 11 September, 2001 attacks were aghast to learn that our MoD has no military officers on permanent absorption or deputation. The bureaucracy has ensured that this integration doesnt take place. General VK Singh (now minister of state, Ministry of External Affairs) had revealed in his book the corruption trail going right up to the Prime Minister's Office.

Obviously, the defence minister presides over the rot and there is little wonder that despite scores of scandals in defence procurement, no bureaucrat has ever been indicted or punished. Is the public aware that the defence secretary, not defence minister, is charged with the defence of India and the Army, Navy and Air Force HQ continue to be attached offices, as under British rule?

During his address to the Combined Commanders Conference on 17 October, 2014, Modi had said, We should remember that what matters is the capability of the force. When we speak of Digital India, we would also like to see a Digital Armed Force'.

So what about the Digital Armed Force?

Which political authority gives directions for this and follows it up at the at the apex and what is its progress, because for the bureaucracy, it matters naught beyond the prime ministers statement and the HQ IDS has little power without a CDS. What is the status of the digitisation of the MoD, Services HQ, intra-service and inter-service linkages, digitisation processes to integrate procedures between the MoD and services through HQ IDs, procurement processing, digital links with IFAs and the like.

Close scrutiny will tell you that snails are crawling at the same pace.

Giving a two-year permanency to the existing rotational chairman of COSC in vogue since the establishment of HQ IDS, without operational powers over the military means little. The mafia has scored again and it will be business as usual replete with continuing scams, corruption and civilian control continuing as bureaucratic control instead of correcting it to be one of political control. CDS was the need of the hour a decade back. The only difference that a PC COSC will make is ensuring the continued happiness of our adversaries.

During an international seminar in Beijing, a question was addressed to the Chinese chairperson of one session as to what China thinks of Indias nuclear forces. His response was what to talk of nuclear forces, India does not even know how to utilise its conventional forces. Make in India is only one small part of defence, but so far the government does not appear to be thinking beyond that.

Shifting the Defexpo from Delhi to Goa or meeting Ashton Carter onboard INS Vikramaditya dont go beyond gimmickry.

The author is veteran of the Special Forces of the Indian Army
New Delhi: Attacking the Congress for the state of farmers in the country, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the party's policies were responsible for the situation leading to peasants' suicide.

"Congress policies have ruined the farmers. It is because of their policies that farmers are being driven to commit suicide," Gadkari told a farmers' conclave organised by the BJP's Kisan cell in New Delhi.

The BJP leader said the first government of Congress, formed under Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947, had raised hopes and aspirations among the people of the country, but alleged that the results after 68 years were "negative".

"Congress' policies have ruined our villages. If the Congress party had spent Rs 70,000 crore, which was used to buy aircraft, for making water available in villages, then there was no need to send water (to drought-hit areas) by trains. There would have been no suicide by farmers," he said.

The minister said the farmers in the country are suffering because of poor power and road connectivity, lack of job opportunities and no provisions for schools and hospitals, among other things.

The minister highlighted various initiatives being taken by the BJP-led NDA government, including credit facility for farmers, providing power in villages, connecting villages with roads, increase in urea production and enhancing irrigation measures.
If you thought the debate over drought or womens right to enter temples cannot get any worse, well, think again. Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati of Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth has taken the debate to a new low with his statements on the cause and effect of these "calamities".

According to him, the reason Maharashtra is experiencing drought is because Sai Baba is revered in the state, reported ANI. Sai Baba is revered in Maharashtra especially Shirdi, thats why it (drought) is happening, he was quoted as saying.

Calamity strikes and such places suffer drought, flood, death or fear, where those unworthy of worship are worshipped. Maharashtra is currently facing all of these," he said, according to The Times Of India report.

If that wasnt weird enough, Shankaracharya is also against allowing women to enter the Shani Shingneshwar temple, according to ANI. And now that they have breached its inner sanctum, incidents of rapes will increase further. Really? What about the fact that men have always entered the inner sanctum? Did that increase the rate of crimes against them?

Then again, why expect any kind of logic from the Shankaracharya. Wasnt he one of the few people who spoke out against the RSS decision to change their uniform from shorts to full pants? Today they are changing their dress. Tomorrow they may change their core ideology, Saraswati was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying.

Of course, the Shankaracharyas statements had the Twitterati blowing up, making him a trending topic for quite some time on the microblogging site. While many were against him, a few also tweeted in support of the seer.

A Shankaracharya says temple entry for women will lead to more rapes. Sigh. The old old threat, 'cross the... https://t.co/fyL3uJ7Ca9  Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) April 11, 2016

If people like Shankaracharya Swaroopanand will lead religious practices, only God can save the religion.  Rahul Raj (@bhak_sala) April 11, 2016

#ShankaracharyaSwaroopanand time to show total disobedience to these agents of God,they lost their mind,they dont even afraid of d Almighty  Whats in a Name? (@an_apolitical) April 11, 2016

Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Which God is this who punishes his worshippers.?  neetu (@neetumabc) April 11, 2016

"IF" shani exists. I bet he is laughing his ass off for what Shankaracharya Swaroopanand said.  Sarcastic Singh (@sarcastic_singh) April 11, 2016

Women in Shingnapur can lead to rapes! By that logic there should have been no rape in the 400 yrs of this ban #ShankaracharyaSwaroopanand  Rashmi Singh (@RashmiSC) April 11, 2016

The Red Dot on Shankaracharya Swaroopanand's forehead indicate that his brain functions are temporarily disabled.  Free Wheeler (@RoadHound) April 11, 2016

So now we know why "bhagwaan ke liye mujhe chhod do" never really helped.https://t.co/lRTl8y0ABS  Long Live INDIA!! (@BoscoUnchained) April 11, 2016

There is nothing seriously wrong in what Shankaracharya Swaroopanand says - tradition holds that Shani's effect on women is bad so women+  Saint Lucifer (@AgentSaffron) April 11, 2016
Jamshedpur: Six journalists and photo-journalists were injured when police used canes on them in front of a police station in Jamshedpur prompting the authorities to suspend three constables and close its officer-in-charge.

The incident occurred before the Sitaramdera police station on Sunday night when the scribes and photographers rushed to the police station on being informed that Jharkhand Food Supply and Consumer Affair Minister Saryu Roy visited the police station to enquire about a builder, who had lodged a FIR against a BJP district committee member for allegedly demanding Rs five lakh, was detained by the police, a police officer said.

A group of BJP supporters also demonstrated in front the police station. When police used canes to disperse the demonstrators, they also did not spare the media persons injuring six of them. The injured were later rushed to the MGM Hospital, where they were provided treatment and released at 1.30 am.

After meeting a delegation of the Press Club here, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Anoop T Mathew suspended three police constables while the officer-in-charge of concerned police station, Jayant Tirkey was closed, he said.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Serzh Sargsyan must feel dominant during negotiations enjoying peoples support. First President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan expressed such a conviction in an interview with ilur.am, referring to the question what stance Armenia should embrace during negotiations.

Naturally, the Armenian side must gain maximal possible through tough but constructive negotiations. As refers to the role of opposition and the public, it must be nothing but temporary freezing of domestic disagreements and national consolidation. Now it is not the proper time to blame the authorities or demand explanations for their mistakes. War will soon enter the phase of diplomacy or complicated negotiations from the battlefield. Due to position their positions our commanders in that war will be Serzh Sargsyan and Bako Sahakyan. Even if Sahakyan does not directly participate in the negotiations, Serzh Sargsyan cannot ignore his position in any case (by the way, I have an arrangement to meet with Sahakyan as well). Serzh Sargsyan must feel dominant round the negotiation table, enjoying his peoples support, his administration is obliged to make some positive steps, address the needs of the people carrying a real struggle against corruption, arbitrariness of law enforcement bodies, monopolies, electoral frauds, and haughtiness of state officials. The relations between the authorities and the public must be built based not on unilateral attitude, but mutual trust and support. It is not right to ignore the people and opposition during good times, but expect their support during bad times, Ter-Petrosyan said.

President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with the First President of the Republic Levon Ter-Petrosyan on April 9. The meeting was initiated by Levon Ter-Petrosyan. The conversation, which lasted over an hour, was dedicated exclusively to the recent events at the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijani line of contact, upcoming developments in the peace negotiations, and to the necessity to unite internally in the face of these challenges. The meeting took place at L. Ter-Petrosyans residence.
Kollam: Police on Monday detained five workers from a temple in southern India where a massive explosion during a fireworks display killed more than 100 people.

Thousands had packed into the Hindu temple in Kerala state's Kollam district on Saturday night for the show when a stray firework apparently landed on a stockpile, triggering a huge blast that tore through concrete buildings.

"Five workers have been detained for questioning," Kollam police chief P Prakash told AFP by phone.

"These are not formal arrests. Once they are questioned, only then we will know their involvement and take further steps."

Police will investigate who was responsible for the fireworks display going ahead even though local authorities had refused permission, he said.

The Kerala government has already ordered a judicial inquiry into the disaster and police have registered a criminal case against temple authorities.

Footage of the disaster which occurred in the early hours of Sunday showed a series of explosions with flames and huge plumes of smoke.

Firefighters and police battled to douse the fire and rescue those trapped at the complex, but some victims were charred beyond recognition and more than 30 of the 106 dead have yet to be identified.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushed to the scene and a team of specialist doctors were deployed from New Delhi to treat the horrific burn injuries.

Witnesses told how the force of the explosion sent concrete slabs and other building parts slamming into the crowd.

Local lawmaker NK Premachandran said a fireworks competition traditionally held every year between different groups had been staged at the temple, drawing thousands to watch.

One firework landed on a building that was storing the rest of the pyrotechnic material, triggering the explosion, he said.

Fires and stampedes are not uncommon at temples and during religious occasions, often because of poor security arrangements and lax safety standards.
A massive fire swept through a temple in the southern Indian state of Kerala Sunday, killing more than 100 people and injuring at least 280 after thousands gathered to watch a fireworks display.

It was the latest in a grim series of fires and stampedes at temples and during religious festivals, where huge crowds routinely gather.

Here is a list of some of the worst such disasters in India in recent years:

2008

3 August: About 150 Hindu worshippers are killed in a temple stampede sparked by rumours of a landslide in northern Himachal Pradesh state.

30 September: Some 224 pilgrims die in a stampede when worshippers rush to reach a hilltop temple in the northern city of Jodhpur.

2010

4 4March: Sixty-three people, mostly women and children, are killed in a stampede at a temple where free clothes are being doled out in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

2011

14 January: Some 102 Hindu devotees are killed in a stampede which breaks out when thousands of pilgrims make their way home after an annual pilgrimage in Kerala state.

8 November: Sixteen people including 14 women die in a stampede at a religious ceremony near the holy Hindu city of Haridwar.

2012

19 November: Eighteen women and children are crushed to death in a stampede when a rope bridge collapses at a Hindu festival in eastern Bihar state.

2013

10 February: At least 36 people are trampled to death as pilgrims head home from the Kumbh Mela religious festival on the banks of the River Ganges.

13 October: A stampede near a temple kills at least 115 people in Madhya Pradesh state, where up to 400,000 devotees were gathered. Twenty-one people, including all 17 police from a local station, are suspended after the tragedy.

Ratangarh town where the disaster occurred was the scene of a similar stampede seven years earlier, when 50 people were crushed to death.

2014

18 January: At least 18 people die and more than 40 are injured in a stampede in Mumbai when a large crowd gathered to pay their last respects to a Muslim spiritual leader.

3 October: Some 32 people are killed in a stampede at a popular Hindu festival in eastern India after panic erupts following rumours of an electrical fire.

2015

14 July: A stampede on the banks of a holy river crushes 27 pilgrims to death and injures dozens in southern India.

2016

10 April: A huge fire sweeps through a temple in southern India, killing more than 100 people.
Till 2008, in a case of firecrackers mishap, the buck would have started and stopped with Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), responsible for controlling and administering the usage of explosives including crackers. But the "Explosives Rules 2008" which came as a 163-page gazette notification changed that. It passed the buck to district authorities in case of small-scale firecracker makers, like the ones who make the supplies for Keralas numerous temple and church festivities.

Thats the reason why, Kollams district collector A Shainamol had a look at a complaint by Pankajakshi Amma, a 80-year-old woman, who said her house was getting damaged every year by the bursting of crackers by the nearby Puttingal Devi temple.

Note that the annual fireworks show at this temple was always in two parts: fireworks display and fireworks "competition". Then Shainamol asked deputy collector and additional district magistrate A Shanavas to look into it. On his part, Shanavas asked police, fire, environment and revenue officials about it, and they either wanted the show to be stopped or allowed with conditions.

At the same time, official and political sources confirm, local Congress politicians, who included both Hindus and Christians, tried another tack. They attempted to impress on Shainamol and Shanavas, both Muslims, that they should honour the feelings of Hindus and allow the show to go on. The Congressmen were under pressure of elections. They tried to transfer this pressure to the two officials. But the collector and the deputy went by the rule bookthey had the recommendations of sundry other officials. Shanavas passed an order, rejecting the temple's application for the fireworks show.

And thats when Shainamol and her deputy thought the story had ended. It should have, but it didnt.

Semantics over pyrotechnics

The story didnt end because the temple's committee members went ahead with the festivities, perhaps confident that nobody dared to act against them with elections round the corner. The committee claimed that the Collectorates rejection was only for fireworks competition and not for display and so began the display. Thats what the police say the temple committee members said. We have no way of crosschecking this with those worthies, since they have disappeared. But one thing is clear: either the police are lying about what the temple committee said. Or the temple committee was lying to the police.

At last on Saturday night, the show began as a display, which soon degenerated into competition.

And it took 112 lives. So whos responsible?

Collectorate passes the buck to the police

Collectorate officials say it was the job of the police to see that the temple didnt go ahead with the show. Arent they the law-enforcers? This does make some sense. But does it?

Didnt the collector have any inkling of the fact that the temple had begun the show? Maybe she did know. Maybe she didnt.

But whether the collector knew it or not, you can be sure that the police did. Policemen were present at the festivities where some 15,000 people had gathered.

Police pass the buck back to the Collector

And thats when things begin to look murky. Kollams Commissioner of Police P. Prakash has told the media that the temple committee members had told him orally that they had oral permission to conduct the display and not the competition, and so he allowed it go ahead.

That leaves us with plenty of questions.

1) How do police accept oral claims in a matter of this kind?

2) Shouldnt the police have checked at least orally with the collector about whether permission had been given for a "display"?

3) How can the police feign ignorance about the fact that the show was meant to have a competition too?

4) How could the police be ignorant about the fact that the temple committee had distributed pamphlets and brochures listing contestants and prizes?

5) If the police allowed the show under the impression that it was only a display, why did they take some three hours to find it was a competition too before asking the organisers to stop it?

6) Were they blind not to see that dangerous and potent firecrackers were going up into the sky and exploding, just above the spectators and just above the building where crackers were stored?

The answers to all these questions may revolve around only one thing: the police succumbed to the same Congress politicians who had no luck with the collector and her deputy.

The authors of the "Explosives Rules 2008", while leaving the onus of enforcing those rules on district administration, had clearly not foreseen a divided district administrationdivided between law and the complete lack of it.
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According to CNN-IBN, no permission had been given to the Puttingal temple by the district collector for holding the fireworks display which caused the massive tragedy. In fact, the competitive fireworks display had been stayed after the locals complained.

No permission was given to the temple to conduct competitive fireworks display

Reports are now saying that the death toll has risen to 86 and the number of people injured has also risen to 300.

"Huge pieces of concrete were flying through the air. Chunks landed in our yard," she said.

Local TV channels broadcast images of huge clouds of white smoke billowing from the temple, as fireworks were still going off in the night sky. Successive explosions from the building storing the fireworks sent huge chunks of concrete flying as far as a kilometre (a half mile), according to resident Jayashree Harikrishnan.

The fire started when a spark from a fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks that were being stored at the Puttingal temple complex, according to Associated Press . Thousands had been packed into the temple complex when a big explosion erupted around 3 am, officials said. The blaze then spread quickly through the temple, trapping devotees within.

The explosion had sent huge chunks of concrete flying as far as a kilometre away

Expressing deep anguish and shock over the disaster, he directed the Indian Air Force to ferry the injured to hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram for treatment.

He also announced Rs 50,000 each for the injured in the tragedy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh each as compensation for the kin of the dead in the Kollam temple fire, reported PTI.

PM Modi announces compensation for the family of the deceased and the injured

"We hope a detailed inquiry will be conducted. It is a matter of investigation," said Congress leader Manish Tewari. "There is a strong case to go into the reasons why this tragedy took place. Whoever is responsible should be punished."

According to Times Now, an FIR has now been filed against the temple authorities.

According to reports, the death toll has now climbed to 102. The Hindu also reported that over 350 people have been injured.

Here are the helpline numbers for the temple fire tragedy: 0474 2512344, 9497960778, 9497930869. Blood donors are needed at the hospitals for the injured.

According to PTI, Kerala CM Oommen Chandy said, "102 persons are confirmed dead in Kollam temple fire mishap, at least 280 have been injured."

The report added that between 3 and 3.30 am, one of th fireworks called 'amittu' fell on the ground and the sparks spread to other fireworks and caused an explosion.

This fireworks face-off takes place between two groups of people. "The competition is to see whose fireworks are more grand, the explosions louder and the sights magnificent," the report said.

The report added that it is not just a fireworks display but also a competition in which judges watch the fireworks and declare a winner every year.

This old tradition is supposed to be a visual treat for the people and thousands of people gather at the temple every year to watch the fireworks.

According to this report in The News Minute , a massive fireworks display takes place every year during Vishnu celebrations at the Puttingal temple in Kollam.

Here's what exactly happened at the temple

For the past four years, local residents living close to the temple had complained about fireworks, saying their homes were getting damaged. Earlier this year, before the festival began, they formed a Resident Committee and approached the District Collector. This petition was forwarded to Tahsildar. Permission was denied for fireworks in the temple but it went ahead anyway. 80% of the houses nearby were destroyed. Luckily, no one was present in these houses. They usually go stay with relatives elsewhere during the festival season as it is too much of a disturbance for them.

According to Firstpost correspondent Sandhya Ravishankar, the festival honouring the Bhadrakali deity in the Paravur temple has been going on for almost a century. Bursting fireworks on the last few days of the festival is a local custom. It is a 10-day festival and is very popular. People from Coimbatore and other areas of Tamil Nadu too throng here.

Here is the letter which denied permission for fireworks at the temple

"Our sympathies are with the bereaved families. We wish early recovery to all injured people," said the Pakistan MoFA statement.

Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in a statement said that Pakistan "expresses its deep condolences on loss of precious lives, resulting from fire breakout in temple in South Kerala", according to ANI.

Our sympathies are with the bereaved families: Pakistan on the tragedy

The concrete building in which crackers and pyrotechnic materials were stocked was completely destroyed in the explosion which was so massive that cement slabs were found even 10 metres away from the accident spot, said 63-year-old Vijayan, an eyewitness. - PTI

Lalu said he immediately rushed to the spot and found about 10-15 people dead.

"I saw a huge fireball and then a thundering sound. Electricity in the area went off and I heard people screaming. It was a very chilling experience," he said.

Lalu, a television journalist who was watching the fireworks from the terrace of a nearby building, said the mishap occurred towards the end of the festivities.

Giving an account of her experience, Girija, whose house is situated about a kilometre away from the temple, said she felt tremors soon after a massive explosion.

This was the account of Girija who said such an incident had never occurred earlier.

At around 3.30 am, there was a massive explosion followed by tremors which were felt even a kilometre away from the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi temple near Kollam as a massive fire tragedy struck there.

Tremors caused by the explosion were felt even a kilometre away

According to Xinhua , the death toll in this tragedy has now climbed to 110.

The Kerala government has announced Rs 10 lakh will be given to the families of the deceased, Rs 2 lakh will be given to the seriously injured and Rs 50000 will be given to those with minor injuries, reported CNN-IBN.

He also said that a blanket ban on such fireworks display and festivals was not possible. "A blanket ban on such fireworks or such festivals is not possible. Stringent guidelines must be brought in and we must ensure that these stringent guidelines are followed," said the CM.

As the Kerala cabinet meeting ended, CM Oomen Chandy addressed reporters and said that the government has ordered a crime branch probe into the Kollam tragedy. "We will get into all aspects of the case," he said.

A case has also been registered against the father-son duo of Surendran and Umesh who had organised the fireworks display. Both are being treated at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital.

Top officials of the Puttingal Devi temple in Kerala have reportedly gone missing after the tragedy, police sources said, reported IANS.

"The locals said they had received oral permission. The temple authority did not have the permission and we did not give them any permission," he said. - PTI

However, Kollam City Police commissioner P Prakash, said police did not given permission for the display of fireworks.

Local people in the area told PTI that late at night, the ban was lifted following a 'mutual agreement'.

Pankajakshi alleged that temple authorities had threatened her after the complaint was filed.

They claimed a ban had been imposed on a complaint by one Pankajakshi, a resident near the temple complex against holding fireworks display.

While the office of Kollam District collector A Shainamol's office told PTI that no permission was granted to conduct the fireworks display, local people claimed the ban was lifted later in the night.

Conflicting versions are emerging on permission being granted for conduct of fireworks display at the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi temple complex.

Contradictory claims emerge on the issue of permission granted for fireworks display

Rahul Gandhi arrives in Kollam to take stock of the situation

Surendran had license to store only about 15 kg, police said "It is a clear violation of license. So far no arrest have been made," police told PTI - PTI

According to PTI, Attingal police said they have registered a case against the licensee, Surendran, who had stored about 150 kgs o crackers and fireworks material at the storehouse without valid permission.

One booked for storing fire crackers 10 times more than permitted limit

Speaking about the impact of the explosion, he said that people as far as 200 meters from the site were injured.

He further added " The Indian government is with Kerala and the families in such times and will assist anyone who wants to be shifted to Mumbai or Delhi for any kind of treatment."

After having reached the Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) Medical college with his team of doctors and taking stock of the situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the media. He said " I am very sadden by the incident. My sympathies are with the families of the deceased, my prayers with the injured"

Seven people had been killed during another explosion at the storehouse where firecrackers had been kept for the famous Thrissur Pooram festival in 2006. - PTI

A cracker, which accidentally fell on spectators, claimed six lives in Thrissur in 1978.

As many as 20 people had been killed in another cracker blast during a church festival in Thrissur district in 1984 and 26 people had died during a blast in the storehouse of crackers at a temple in Malanada in Kollam in 1990.

The cracker blast at the premises of Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple in 1952 had claimed at least 68 lives.

Though cracker blasts, especially during religious festivals, are not new in the state, Sunday's tragedy is the worst in over last 50 years of the state's history.

The Puttingal Devi temple fire mishap is one of the worst such tragedies witnessed by Kerala, where display of fireworks are an integral part of religious and cultural festivals.

Puttingal Devi temple fire tragedy was the worst such tragedy in Kerala in the last 50 years

According to The Times of India , the death toll has now risen to 112. The report further said that nearly 400 other people had been injured.

Once the order was issued, it was vetted by Collector Shainamol, so the pressure started mounting on her. A senior minister called her to demand a change in her stand and asked whether she really wanted to upset religious sentiments of a section to which she does not belong. Local Hindu groups also used it against the ruling party, and eventually, police and politicians decided to make the fireworks happen despite a ban, the report quoted an officer as saying.

What is worse is that communal slurs were used against the two officials, who are Muslims.

According to this report in Indian Express , Additional District Magistrate A Shanavas and District Collector A Shainamol, who were two of the officials who had denied permission for the fireworks display, were bullied and threatened by local politicians and Hindu groups.

Officials who had opposed the Kollam fireworks display were bullied

According to The Times of India , the death toll has now risen to 112. The report further said that nearly 400 other people had been injured.

Once the order was issued, it was vetted by Collector Shainamol, so the pressure started mounting on her. A senior minister called her to demand a change in her stand and asked whether she really wanted to upset religious sentiments of a section to which she does not belong. Local Hindu groups also used it against the ruling party, and eventually, police and politicians decided to make the fireworks happen despite a ban, the report quoted an officer as saying.

What is worse is that communal slurs were used against the two officials, who are Muslims.

According to this report in Indian Express , Additional District Magistrate A Shanavas and District Collector A Shainamol, who were two of the officials who had denied permission for the fireworks display, were bullied and threatened by local politicians and Hindu groups.

Officials who had opposed the Kollam fireworks display were bullied

ANI reports that fire and rescue teams are now inspecting the site of the tragedy which killed 112 people.

A case has been registered against 30 people, including the Puttingal temple board members, according to NDTV.

TV news reports said that the five organisers who had been detained by the police are now being questioned by them.

But the task is being made more difficult by the fact that some of the more than 100 people killed are unrecognisable. - AFP

At hospitals, morgues and police stations, families are involved in a heartwrenching search for loved ones feared swept up in the blast that tore apart concrete buildings.

"My father had gone to the festival with his friend. We were able to find the body of his friend but have yet to get any information on my father," the weary-looking Anoop said, before heading off to yet another hospital.

"I don't know if he is alive or dead. All I want is to see him, we are ready for the worst but this search is painful," he told AFP after questioning ICU staff at a medical college hospital in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.

But in the chaotic hours after the explosion that ripped through the Puttingal Devi complex, the increasingly desperate 32-year-old could find no trace of his father, Vishwanathan, and feared the worst.

Like thousands of others, his father had gone on Saturday night to the Hindu temple in southern Kerala state, renowned for its beaches and tranquil backwaters, to see the annual fireworks display.

After scouring six hospitals and three morgues, NP Anoop is no closer to finding his father who was caught in a massive blast and fire at an Indian temple that claimed more than 100 lives.

According to ANI, a seven-member team led by Chief Controller Explosives Sudarshan Kamal inspected the tragedy site.

It's correct that we denied permission for fireworks display: Chandrakumar, Circle Inspector #Kollam pic.twitter.com/lySg4xD0Lc

'It is correct that we denied permission for fireworks display'

Yechury also said that this disaster "definitely merits to be considered a national calamity."

"The guilty should be punished," he added. "The Prime Minister was here. I chose not to come here yesterday because the priority of the administration should be to provide relief. When that was over, I decided to come here," he said.

"Monetary compensation is not enough. The state government should announce employment for the kin of victims so that they have some future," Yechury told reporters after meeting the victims.

Sitharam Yechury met the injured and the families of the deceased and said that the state government should provide employment to the injured and the kin of the deceased.

They have flouted many rules. As per SC guidelines one cannot ignite fireworks after 10pm: Sudarshan Kamal pic.twitter.com/49wo6JcR7m

"We have drawn some samples which will be sent for testing. We will be able to say what type of chemicals were used only after testing," Chief Controller Explosives Sudarshan Kamal said.

Over 80 people were killed and several others injured when an explosion took place at the Puttingal Devi temple during a festival at Paravoor in Kollam at around 3 am on Sunday, police said.

As the temple festival was on, fireworks display had commenced at the temple precincts since midnight and hundreds of people had gathered to watch the show.

As the fireworks and pyrotechnics display was coming to a close at 3 am, an explosion is suspected to have occurred at the storeroom 'Kambapuram' filled with crackers and pyrotechnics materials, police said.

Men, women and police officials are among the dead, they said.

Fifty of the injured have been rushed to Trivandrum Medical College in the state capital and five persons died after being brought there.

Nearly 200 people got injured in the mishap and have been admitted to various hospitals in the district and nearby Thiruvananthapuram, police said.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy termed as "unprecedented" and "alarming" the situation at the Puttingal Devi temple.

Chandy, who cancelled all his scheduled poll programmes, is on his way to the accident site.

"Rescue operation at the mishap spot is over...The next main focus of the government is to provide best treatment to the injured," he told PTI.

Asked about the death toll, the Chief Minister said the number would go up as reports are pouring in from different hospitals, where the injured have been admitted.

"This is an unprecedented and alarming situation," Chandy said.

The government would extend treatment facilities to the injured persons in the hospitals preferred by their relatives, he said.

The State Chief Secretary has been asked to write a letter to the Election Commission for necessary sanction to exclude the treatment facilities to the injured from the ambit of the Election Code of Conduct, he said.

State Health Minister VS Sivakumar said directives have been issued to hospital authorities to make necessary arrangements for the injured.

State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said Director General of Police (DGP) Senkumar is monitoring the rescue operations.

"A comprehensive probe will be conducted into the incident. Adequate compensation would be given to the victims of the accident after consulting with the Election Commission," Chennithala said.

Local media reports quoting Kollam district authorities say the temple authorities ignored warnings issued against holding a huge firework in the area vulnerable to such accident.

District Collector Shinamol, who visited the spot, said evacuation and rescue operations were going on full-swing. People trapped in the concrete structure, which was completely destroyed in the mishap, were taken out, police said.

Eye witnesses told television channels that the accident took place at 3.30 am.

The sound of the explosion in the store-room was heard in around two-km radius of the temple, they said.

(With inputs from PTI)
New Delhi: On Monday NIA arrested an alleged fake currency smuggler from Sealdah railway station in Kolkata who is said to be the mastermind of a gang busted by the agency last year.

The arrest was made as National Investigation Agency was investigating a case after two persons were held on 12 May last year from Sujapur in West Bengal and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) with face value of Rs nine lakh and about 800 grams of opium were recovered from them.

The smuggler, Alam Sekh, who was arrested this morning, is an alleged key player along with another accused Jahirul Sk and used to collect fake currency notes from smugglers in Bangladesh at the rate of Rs 18,000 for FICN of Rs one lakh face value, it said.

The agency alleged that he used to forward the fake notes to one Amerul Sk, already arrested by NIA, who acted as a carrier for another absconding FICN dealer for further circulation in different states.

Alam had been absconding for the last 4-5 months. He has been produced before NIA Special Court and remanded in 12 days police custody with NIA.

The two smugglers who were arrested last year  Sunesh Kumar Sharma of Haryana and Rajan Chopra alias Rajen Kumar of Punjab  have already been charge-sheeted in the case.
Officials investigating Sundays temple fire in Kerala are almost certain that potassium chlorate, a banned and deadly chemical, was used in making the firecrackers that caused the mishap, killing 112 people.

Only two months ago, investigators in Bengaluru revealed that potassium chlorate was one of the chemicals that Simi operative Mohammed Rafiq used in making a crude bomb that killed a woman outside a restaurant in that city.

One of the reasons for mishaps during fireworks displays in Kerala has always been the use of potassium chlorate, an official of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) told Firstpost.

Known earlier as the Department of Explosives, PESO has its headquarters in Nagpur and comes under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. A team PESO experts, led by Chief Controller of Explosives Sudharshan Kamal, reached the mishap site on Monday to conduct its own investigation.

The reason potassium chlorate is used illegally in making firecrackers is that it makes them more noisy, besides making them more colourful and more likely to fly higher. More importantly, it costs one-third as much as the mixture of potassium nitrate or sodium nitrate that most Indian firecracker-makers use as a substitute.

But scientists describe chlorates as unstable and friction-sensitive and hence, highly dangerous. The chemical is also toxic and can harm the skin. This was the reason it was banned by the government through a notification on 27 January, 1992 which said:

...the Central government is pleased to prohibit the manufacture, possession and importation of any explosive consisting of or containing sulphur or sulphurate in admixture with chlorate of potassium or any other chlorate:

Provided that this prohibition shall not extend to the manufacture or possession of such

explosives:

a) in small quantities for scientific purposes;

b) for the purpose of manufacturing heads of matches;

c) for use in toy amorces (paper caps for toy pistols)

d) in percussion caps for use in Railway Fog Signals.

It was the sheer intensity of the explosion on Sunday that is making officials suspect that potassium chlorate was used. The explosion was so strong that the crackers, apparently ignited by a spark, blew up the building in which they were stored. The concrete pieces that flew all around killed more people than actual burns, according to eyewitnesses and doctors.

Officials claim that none of the manufacturing units at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, Indias cracker capital, use potassium chlorate but it is used a great deal in Kerala  most often by people who have no expertise in using it.

We warned the Kerala government, fireworks manufacturers and district authorities several times about the lapses, PESOs former Chief Controller of Explosives Prakash Chandra Srivastava told Firstpost. Srivastava worked for the department of explosives and its later avatar of PESO for 35 years before he retired last year.

He said while PESO dealt with bigger manufacturers like the ones at Sivakasi directly, the district authorities concerned were expected to monitor the smaller ones across India.

We have warned authorities in Kerala time and again that manufacturers were not only exceeding the permitted size of firecrackers but were also using prohibited chemicals like potassium chlorate, Srivastava said. He said it was 101 percent the responsibility of district officials even if it meant a sub-inspector of police to see that norms were adhered to. It was, he said, mandatory for district officials to inspect the premises of firecracker manufacturers once in six months to ensure that everything was above board.

Srivastava said dealers of chemicals sold potassium chlorate for its permitted uses but it was for the officials to see that this was not used in the making of firecrackers. PESO, he said, could only play an advisory role and had no power to take action against those who violated laws.

But a senior police official expressed helplessness in enforcing rules, since fireworks makers and the manufacturers and dealers of chemicals had formed a network to smuggle huge quantities of banned ingredients into Kerala.

The Explosives Rules 2008 lay down 27 conditions for allowing a fireworks public display. These include:

- A minimum distance of 100 meters shall be maintained between the spectators and the area where the display is carried out.

- The fireworks shall be assembled at site for the purpose of display.

- No fireworks shall contain chlorate or prohibited explosives mixture.

- No display of fireworks shall be carried out when the wind velocity exceeds 50 kilometres per hour or the control over spectators has been lost.

- Only minimum persons shall be employed for making and display of fireworks. The site should be constantly supervised and the persons employed shall wear protective clothings, ear defenders, safety glasses and other protective devices.

- Once fireworks have been taken to the site, the site must not be left unattended or unprotected.

- No fireworks shall be ignited inside of or closer than 15 metres of any tent, trailer, canvas shelter of vehicle.

- No fireworks shall be ignited within 250 metres of a hospital, nursing home, schools unless consent from local authorities and the owner or its agent is obtained.

In 2013, the government also banned the import and sale of Chinese crackers, which gave a better bang and were cheaper, because they use potassium chlorate. But officials fear that Chinese crackers continue to find their way into India through Nepal.
Keralas craze for fireworks at temple festivals is well-known. Beginning with the Malayali New Year  Vishu, fireworks are the norm for every festival, religious or otherwise. Despite Diwali not being celebrated in the southern state with too much gusto, crackers find their place in all other festivals. Church functions too see displays of fireworks.

Malayalis though take this tradition seriously, despite a long history of such accidents and deaths due to firecrackers gone rogue. Ajay Krishna, a resident of Paravoor, in the vicinity of the Puttingal Temple, says the problem lies in the competitive nature of the bursting of fireworks.

Initially, it began as a way of worship and subsequently it became all about showing off ones money power, said Ajay, an eyewitness to the explosion, who managed to escape the disaster in the nick of time. Rich people began to purchase and burst more expensive firecrackers. It is a dangerous game. It is because of this the authorities banned competitive bursting of firecrackers this year, he said.

Thiruvananthapuram resident, R Navaneethankannan, a frequent pilgrim at the Puttingal temple told Firstpost that superstition plays a large role in the tradition. Many people believe that if they burst fireworks, evil forces will stay away, he explained. This practice of bursting fireworks can be seen in every temple. People believe that their prayers will be answered if they burst firecrackers, he added.

During the era of kings, people would conduct small competitions by bursting fireworks. That tradition continues today. In many districts there are restrictions on this practice. But since it is connected with religious fervor, the authorities are struggling to control this menace, he continued.

Despite the authorities issuing a ban on competitive firecrackers in Puttingal, temple authorities decided to allow it to go ahead without following proper safety norms. Even though the residents around the temple kept asking for the practice to be stopped repeatedly, authorities did not take any action, said Ajay Krishna, a resident of Paravoor.

The Sabarimala fire accident of 1952 in which 70 people died is notorious and Sundays Puttingal tragedy is bigger than that, said Thiruvananthapuram resident Navaneethakannan. The media focuses on this issue when such big tragedies take place but everyday there are smaller fire accidents continually happening due to this practice of bursting fireworks, he said.

In 1990, 25 people were killed in a similar explosion caused by fireworks at the Malanada temple in Kerala. In January this year, one woman lost her life in a similar accident at the Maradu Kottaram Bhagavathy temple near Kochi. 300 people have died between 2006 and 2011 in fireworks mishaps, according to the Kerala governments data.

The tragedy has already been politicised barely two months before an election that is seeing much polarising rhetoric. Social media is abuzz with allegations that perhaps a particular community has been targeted in this fire.

It will perhaps be the first task of the next government to bring in stringent regulations for fireworks to ensure such loss of lives does not take place once again.

The author tweets @anandkso
New Delhi: In a significant order, Supreme Court on Monday recalled its controversial judgement scrapping single common entrance test (NEET) for admission to MBBS, BDS and PG courses in all medical colleges, saying it was delivered by a majority verdict without any discussion among members of the bench headed by then Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on the day of his retirement.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice A R Dave were unanimous in saying that the July 18, 2013, 2:1 verdict of the three-judge bench, which had paved the way for private colleges to conduct their own examination, "needs reconsideration" as "the majority view has not taken into consideration some binding precedents".

"Suffice it is to mention that the majority view has not taken into consideration some binding precedents and more particularly, we find that there was no discussion among the members of the Bench before pronouncement of the judgment," the apex court said.

"We, therefore, allow these review petitions and recall the judgment dated July 18, 2013 and direct that the matters be heard afresh. The review petitions stand disposed of as allowed," it said.

Justice Dave in the 2013 verdict had given a dissenting verdict, while Justice Vikramjit Sen (since retired) had shared the views and findings of then CJI Kabir on the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

The verdict, delivered on the day when CJI Kabir demitted office, had created a buzz in the apex court corridors as an advocate had posted on a social networking site about the outcome in advance.

Interestingly, Justice Dave then too in his dissenting judgement had said the three judges of the bench "had no discussion on the subject due to paucity of time" which is normally done.

Allowing the petitions seeking review of the controversial 2013 judgement, the bench also comprising justices A K Sikri, R K Agrawal, Adarsh Kumar Goel and R Banumathi ordered the petitions filed by Christian Medical College, Vellore and others, on which the verdict was

delivered, "be heard afresh".

However, the bench said it was not giving detailed reasons for reconsideration of the three-year-old verdict so that the matter can be heard afresh without any prejudice.

"After giving our thoughtful and due consideration, we are of the view that the judgment delivered in Christian Medical College (supra) needs reconsideration. We do not propose to state reasons in detail at this stage so as to see that it may not prejudicially affect the hearing of the matters," the five-judge bench said.

While passing the order, the bench noted it was keeping in mind the observations appearing in the Constitution Bench judgment of the court in Sheonandan Paswan case.

The review petitions were first placed before a three- judge bench which on 23 October, 2013 had issued notices and later preferred to refer the matter to the five-judge bench.

The majority verdict of July 2013 had held that the common entrance test for admission in medical colleges "violates the rights of state and private institutions" and is likely to have a fallout as such tests are conducted for other professional courses like engineering and management.

While then CJI Kabir and Justice Sen had quashed the notifications for NEET, Justice Dave had dissented saying the policy was "legal" and it would stop corrupt practice of undeserving students getting admission by paying huge donation or capitation fee.

The majority verdict had said that common test seems "attractive" but it is "fraught with difficulties" and would "perpetuate" divide between urban and rural students in the name of giving credit to merit.

It had quashed the notifications issed by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Dental Council Of India (DCI) by which admissions to MBBS, BDS and Post-graduate courses to medical colleges were to be made solely on the basis of NEET and States and privately-run institutions were prevented from conducting any separate examination.

Justice Dave in his dissenting judgement had said the NEET was not only legal but practical and is the need of the society for ensuring more transparency and less hardship to the students eager to join the medical profession.

"If only one examination in the country is conducted and admissions are given on the basis of the result of the said examination, in my opinion, unscrupulous and money-minded businessmen operating in the field of education would be constrained to stop their corrupt practices and it would help a lot, not only to the deserving students but also to the nation in bringing down the level of corruption," Dave had said.

The majority verdict had said that enforcing a common entrance test would have "the effect of denuding the State and private institutions, both aided and unaided, some enjoying the protection of Article 30 (Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions), of their powers to admit students in the MBBS, BDS and the Postgraduate Courses conducted by them".

The CJI and Justice Sen had said that policy of common entrance test directly affects the right of private colleges, particularly minority institutions, to admit students of their choice and that MCI was not empowered to conduct the NEET.

Justice Dave had said that there was no violation of fundamental rights of state and private colleges including minority institution by NEET which would ensure that "no extraneous consideration would come into play in the process of selection".

Justice Dave had said that NEET is not only legal but "a boon to the students aspiring to join medical profession", adding that NEET would ensure that students are selected only on the basis of merit and there is no discrimination.

"The process of selection (through NEET) would not be influenced by irrelevant factors like caste and creed, community, race, lineage, gender, social or economic standing, place of residence  whether rural or urban, influence of wealth or power and admission would be given only to the students who really deserve to be well qualified physicians or dentists. Thus, there would not be any discrimination or influence in the process of selection," he had said.

The CJI, however, had opined that NEET would not be able to provide level-playing fields to students belonging to different strata and regions.

"It cannot also be disputed that children in metropolitan areas enjoy greater privileges than their counterparts in most of the rural areas as far as education is concerned, and the decision of the Central Government to support a single entrance examination would perpetuate such divide in the name of giving credit to merit.

"In a single window competition, the disparity in educational standards in different parts of the country cannot ensure a level playing field," they said.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The health condition of those who were wounded as a result of the military operations in Nagorno Karabakh is in constant focus. Minister of Healthcare of Armenia Armen Muradyan once again visited the Central military hospital of the Defense Ministry of Armenia. The minister reviewed the condition of every wounded soldier and talked to them. 36 wounded are currently being treated in the military hospital; Armenpress was informed by the Healthcare Ministry.

According to the doctors, positive progress is observed among the wounded.

The treatment is carried out using the latest generation medical equipment.

All of the wounded are provided with necessary medications and medical equipments.
Eminent Constitutional expert, Professor Upendra Baxi is currently Emeritus Professor of Law in Development, University of Warwick. He has also served as Vice-Chancellor of University of Delhi during the most tumultuous time of Mandal agitation. In a freewheeling chat with Firstpost, Professor Baxi shared his views on issues ranging from article 356, sedition law to student politics in University campuses. Below is the excerpt of the interview.

Q. Article 356 has been subject of fierce debate. The fact that it has been used more than 100 times since independence, speaks at length of its misuse. However, after SR Bommai judgement it was thought that its arbitrary use will end. But the trend has continued. How do you see the current crisis in Uttarakhand which has once again ignited the debate?

During the Constituent assembly debate Dr BR Ambedkar referred to the article as a dead letter. He said that "I share the sentiments that such articles will never be called into operation and they would remain a dead letter. This was something which was quoted in Bommai judgment too.

And why did he call it as a dead letter? It was because he felt that it will be used in rare cases. It is not a normal tool of governance. The Sarkaria commission which laid down several guidelines and grounds which should be considered while imposing the presidents rule also echoed the same views.

Dr Ambedkar insisted that it is a dead provision which should be seldom used, like we say that capital punishment should be awarded in rarest of the rare cases. But the history of the misuse of article is evident. Till the Bommai case there was extraordinary use of this provision. Bommai had number of cases of presidents rule proclamations to consider. The judges gave judgment according to merit of each case. But in general it was held that presidents rule should become rare. While there is no manageable judicial standard to scrutinise the satisfaction of the president the fact is that it should not be ultra vires.

It is the Constitutional provision that president should be satisfied that condition existed for the imposition of article 356 on the report of the governor or any other material. However, the Supreme Court in Bommai made it clear that satisfaction of the president should be reasonable.

Here we have to understand that whether the Presidential proclamation was reasonable or not is for the court to decide. But Bommai led to a major development as it introduced what is known as the floor test. In essence this idea of floor test was a key aspect of the judgment. It was the central idea of the judgment.

Q. At inter-state council in Srinagar an agreement was reached to incorporate it in Constitution through a Constitutional amendment. Do you think it is possible and desirable?

If they include it, that would be nice. But it is nevertheless the law of the land. It is a judgment pronounced by the Supreme Court hence it is as important as an article in the Constitution.

Q. But it has been ignored so many times. Why do you think that is?

Yes, but whenever it was or will be violated it will come to the high court or the Supreme Court for the scrutiny  like in the present case of Uttarakhand. But nobody will say that because it is not incorporated in the Constitution therefore it is not applicable and the Bommai case doesnt hold ground.

Floor test is the basis of discerning who shall govern that state. Mr Arun Jaitley is a Supreme Court lawyer known for many Constitutional cases. In respect of Uttarakhand , he said that it was a "textbook example of breakdown of governance." I dont have access to paper-books and details of the arguments made in the court but I am intrigued by what Mr Jaitley is reported to have said.

I am not aware of the politics involved in this but from the legal perspective one question is whether the state budget was supposed to be passed or that if it could not be passed, is floor test the best way ahead?

The other ground can be that in certain situations floor test is not required; that Bommai did not lay down the rule of floor-test without exception. Certain situations are so striking that they may arguably lead to the conclusion that no floor test is necessary. I dont know what exactly the argument is.

If the question now is that did Bommai laid down floor test in such cases, I will say yes. Did Bommai ask for floor test in all cases, it is for the court to decide; to see if there can be any exception. From outside view the politics in both cases (Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) is very murky.

Can there be a situation that the lack of confidence in the ruling party is so manifest that no floor test is necessary and whether the present case falls in this category is a question that is now being raised.

In the Bommai case it was made very clear that there should be a floor test. Nobody can say Supreme Court judgment was unreasoned. If the question is whether Uttarakhand warranted that exception, my answer would be that I dont see any exceptional situation. I have high respect for Mr Jaitleys Constitutional acumen; he might have seen something by way of support as Constitutional lawyer and party person. I am not concerned with any party's political considerations. Let us say that if the matter goes to the Supreme Court, then the Parties have to justify/de-justify the nature of the claimed exception.

Q. Having served as the head of two prestigious universities how do you analyse what happened at JNU?

I have said that people have the right to dissent, the right to criticise. The idea of freedom of speech is (to use an odious expression during the Cultural Revolution in China) 'let hundred flowers bloom'. Campuses are places where free thought must be practiced. About the use of sedition, one must understand that Section 124 A of the IPC itself recognises two exceptions namely  the criticism of government and bureaucracy.

Even colonial powers recognised it to some extent. However, nobody should raise disgraceful slogans which affect the sovereignty and integrity of India. There should be a special law  if you need one - to deal with such acts. This particular section has no place in democratic India.

It does not mean that everything goes. If anyone feels that integrity and sovereignty of the nation is put to risk by certain people then lets make it a separate offence. Lets not call it sedition  sedition is disaffection towards lawfully established governments. Colonial governance wanted to produce loyal subjects. But citizens are beings with rights and dissent and disagreement are the lifeblood of a democratic political and social orderings.

Mahatma Gandhi once remarked that law cannot manufacture affection. It is a colonial law and it should go. It has a chilling effect on freedom of speech. It is bad and sad that people begin to self-censor themselves in the lengthening shadow of the law and they tend to become subjects and not citizens. It is extremely unfortunate that some people take the monopoly of patriotism and even recourse to violence as a form of desh-bhakti (the worship of the country).

If someone thinks there is a need of the law to deal with such acts then you can make a tightly-controlled law which does not affect and damage the foundation of freedom of speech and expression.

Q. General perception is that the campuses are getting too much political of late. Do you see it as a recent phenomenon or has it been there always?

Campuses in the national struggle were used by incipient nationalist leaders for politics, instigating students to join the struggle and the legacy continues, although there is no alien rule.

BJP, Congress and other political parties are all present on the campuses. Some do ideological politics while other do party politics. Students are free to do so. So are karmchari unions, teachers union divided on party lines in all the campuses. So lets take it as a fact of politics in Indian democracy that not just ideological, but party politics is inevitable.

I was serving at Delhi University at the time when political sentiment of Mandal and Kamandal both were guiding the student youth and teachers and karmcharis. As a head of the university I made it clear that students and all others were free to express themselves, their views in the way they want but there should be no incitement to violence. They were free to take any position they wanted.



Politics have always been part of education in campuses. Educational leadership consist in preserving freedom of students to express themselves within the limits of law and the Constitution. And the educational system will always see that the matter is confined within the boundaries of the campuses. But then there are certain matters that will spill over outside the campuses also. You cannot avoid it. So it is in the hands of students, teachers and karmachari politicians and their masters outside to draw limits. But freedom comes with responsibility, restraints, and respect (the three R's are embedded for all citizens in our Constitution).

The current unrest in different campuses have different contexts. There cannot be an overarching explanation for all of it. Some issues raised are new and new equations are being forged between the campuses and the outside world. But politics in campuses is an age old fact.

Q. You have talked about the two most important A's required to govern universities that is 'Autonomy and Accountability'. How can it be ensured with post of VCs being appointed by political executive based on considerations other then merit?

Accountability is not possible without autonomy. You cannot separate the two. There are freak appointments and then there are appointments that are politically patronising. Then there are many vice chancellors who are in between the two; they have some political patronage but they do their work diligently.

The point is that it has to be ensured that the head of the institution is a person of proven integrity and academic excellence.

That has to be ensured at all costs. The Fundamental duties in our Constitution (Part IV-A) call for ensuring excellence in all walks of life. The enemy of excellence is mediocrity so ensuring excellence is a Constitutional duty and so one has to avoid mediocrity in thinking, teaching, learning, curricular development, evaluation, and examinations.

Q. Do you feel that too much of politics and activism can hamper academics in universities?

Campuses should not have party politics. In campuses students are students and teachers are teachers; the relationship is that of mutual learning: academic freedom entails both the freedom to teach and freedom to learn.

There is no preceptor without a learner and vice versa. I dont think party politics should enter in classrooms and libraries. You cannot produce space scientists or teachers of philosophy or languages or literature, to take some large examples, if you are involved in party politics. Politics does not produce knowledge; it produces power. Our duty is to develop excellence, to produce and consolidate knowledge. Our job is to produce more Constitutionally sincere Part IV A citizens (who ponder their fundamental duties as citizens under Part IV-A) and not just part III citizens (who specialize in claiming their fundamental rights as citizens to the detriment of suffering others).

Teachers also should distinguish their role as teachers and as party workers. They cannot do party politics in classrooms. Once, the renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead told me that if you want money with M capital dont go to university, go to business or industry; if you want power with P capital dont waste time in a university but if you want knowledge only then come to university. I still tell my students this thing.
Trupti Desai and the women of the Bhumata Brigade performing aarti at the sanctum in the Shani Shignapur Temple is a historic sight. This development has a tremendous significance in the history of independent India and in so many ways history of the world. One of the greatest sources of patriarchy is religion thanks to the exclusionary practices, customs and traditions that ostensibly emanate from scriptures. Women have been subjugated across faiths, cultures and geographies for centuries. And as we all know, the rationale or justification is always invented from some religious source. For, people are believers; both women and men are believers and accept whatever is served in the name of religion. The patriarchs understood this important truth early in history. And needless to say, they exploited this reality to the fullest. When Bhumata Brigade or Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan demand equality as Hindus or Muslims they hit at the core of this patriarchy. Not surprisingly, they are disliked even despised by the men of religion. They want no challenge to their authority over religion.

We are told that religions of the world  Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism all arrived with a message of love and humanism. The message was for entire humanity cutting across race, gender, class, caste. But in reality religions have been reduced to serve the ends of patriarchal control over the lives of women all over the world. The male custodians made religion their sole prerogative and decided what customs, practices and systems to be followed by all. The flaw is in the very design of religious customs and practices. No wonder the male custodians gave supremacy to males in these customs and practices and ensured extra measures to deny equality to women and to put them in a secondary position. Men appointed themselves in charge of the lives of entire communities.

They appointed themselves as some kind of intermediaries between God and followers. They began to speak on behalf of God and gave a free play to their own conservative mindsets, self interests and hegemony. They appointed themselves as arbiters of religions, administrators of places of worship, methods of worship and evolved a nearly full-proof plan of control. It has proved to be a really effective plan. Religions world over became institutionalized and men presided over the institution. They invented all kinds of arguments about women being impure, weak and therefore inferior to men. They invented myths, anecdotes, verses, practices, divine injunctions to establish that woman are inferior. They continued to exclude women based on this concoction of religious sanctity and frailty of women. It is important to mention that these patriarchal custodians of religions always found allies in the rulers down the ages. Be it kings, emperors, shahs, maharajas, sultans  they all were in cahoots with patriarchal clergy of all denominations. They jointly furthered institutionalized religion and exercised hegemonic control over ordinary people. What is most shocking is that this nexus between men of religion and rulers has continued in the modern age too. It has been a feature of a vibrant democracy such as ours. The developments at Shani Shignapur hit at the core of this nexus and this hegemony.

Let us analyse the recent developments of the Shani Shignapur issue to throw some light on the patriarchal nexus. When Bhumata Brigade made their first attempt to barge into the sanctum at the temple, they were forcibly prevented by the police and the local administration. The temple trustees and local politicians reacted with outrage over the attempts to  break the 400 year old tradition. Women groups from Maharashtra knocked at the doors of the Bombay High Court. Bhumata continued its struggle through various means and public pronouncements. All through this turmoil, the politicians or elected representatives either chose to remain silent or talked ambiguously or even on the side of the status quo. Following the directive of the Bombay High Court to allow all  women as well as men in the chabutra, Bhumata women once again reached the temple only to be brutally prevented by the police. The High Court order notwithstanding! The police were doing whose bidding? Why were the law enforcers blatantly working against the court order forget protecting and enabling the order to be implemented! And what was the district administration doing while this violation was taking place in full public view? Finally, it took a bunch of local men to barge into the sanctum and perform a puja. It was only after the men had broken the norms of the 400 year old tradition that it became possible for Trupti and the women to get entry! This was a shocking display of solidarity of the patriarchs!

Attempts by women and democratic minded men over equality in religion have met with mixed success in the past in India. They have not been able to make that structural change so necessary to fight patriarchy and uphold womens position. Even the courts have been not so forthcoming in the past. But the scenario is changing rapidly and the courts are stepping in where the elected representatives are dithering on their Constitutional obligations of gender justice.

Some time during the struggle the temple trust appointed a woman trustee to head the trust. Another example of the tricks that patriarchs play! The question is she can be appointed trustee but would they allow her to enter the sanctum and perform the puja? Would they allow her to lead the aarti and the prayers? The question needs to be posed to all the custodians of religion. When will there be a woman Pope? When will there be a woman Shankaracharya? When will there be women Imams leading namaz? Will that day ever come? Going by the developments in India these days over Shani temple and various other places of worship that day is not impossible to envisage. Such is the significance of what has taken place at Shani Shignapur temple.

Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Safia Niaz are co-Founders of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan
It is a parched summer afternoon in this remote and hilly village of Maharashtra, located a little over 125 kilometres from Mumbai. Kantabai More looks in a hurry to finish her daily chores. Dressed in a pink uniform, the school girl is meditating in front of a miniature temple inside her single-story house. Amid chanting of prayers, she intermittently opens her eyes to look at the wall clock.

It is 1:30. Hurry up or I wont be able to drop you to school today, announces a boy who entered the room like a gust of wind and then disappeared in the same fashion.

Nudged, Kantabai cuts short her prayers, picks up her school bag and sets out for school, holding the hand of her guardian.

Nitesh is Kantabais grandson who drops her to school every day after returning from his own school.

At 65, the un-schooled grandmother is going to school to rid herself of the stigma of being an illiterate. The saying that learning has no age limit gets a real-life meaning in this school in Phangane village of Thane district.

When we go to the bank, we feel ashamed about giving our thumb impression. People laugh at us for not being able to sign our name. I feel that I should at least be able to sign my name. This is why I decided to go to school, says Kantabai on her way to school, braving the baking summer sun.

She goes on: As a child, I never attended school. I had four siblings  three sisters and two brothers. But only my brothers were sent to school. Our father would tell us that he did not have the money to educate all of us. My parents would go out to work in the fields. So my father never sent us  the girls  to school. All three sisters, including me, stayed at home, and we would be assigned the job of fetching water and doing household chores.

Things didnt change for her even after marriage.

Hence, switching from doing daily household chores to chanting nursery rhymes, remembering alphabets hasnt been an easy task for Kantabai and her classmates  all aged between 60 and 90.

Aajibaichi Shala or Grandmothers school, which started a month ago on the International Womens Day, has started a quite revolution in this nondescript village.

For a village that faces perennial water crisis, the school brought another blessing  in the form of running taps.

Most families make a living from subsistence farming and doing menial jobs at the industrial units in nearby town.

The village that has no public transport or primary healthcare unit the school give a good hope to people.

The Motiram Dalal Charitable Trust and Yogendra Bangar, an award-winning teacher from Phangane Zilla Parishads primary school, not only founded Indias first school for unlettered grannies, they also made portable water a reality in the village.

The trip motivated the women to do something meaningful in life. One of them is Ramabai Ganpat Chandelle. The 87-year-old lady lives all by herself in a thatched house. The school has given a new purpose to her life. Like any first-timer, Chandelle is very excited about the idea of doing something new. She would finish all her household chores much before the school time, get draped in her school uniform and eagerly wait for her classmates to come by.

I am like a ripe fruit that might fall off the branch anytime. I couldnt go to school as a child and remained illiterate all my life. But I dont want to die illiterate. Now, I am happy that I would be able to carry a few words with me to the other world, says the octogenarian.

Aajibaichi Shala is neither a morning school nor an evening one. It begins at 2 pm and continues till 4 pm.

We chose the timing keeping in mind that all these women help with daily chores at home. This is only time slot when they are usually free, said Bangar, the teacher who conceived the idea of the school.

After a 10-minute assembly and roll calling, the class begins. Alphabet practice makes the core of the session where every student is supposed to write the alphabet on their slates and show it to the teacher.

Of the 28 students, many are frail. If some have weak eyesight, others are hard of hearing. Many of them are escorted on the school that is less than 500 meters from their homes.

Initially, their grandchildren laughed at the ideas of them going to school, they were more than eager to drop them to school.

The anxious grannies are now coping with daily homework and an upcoming unit test. This will be their first-ever academic exam.

When I come back home, the grandchildren tell me, Granny, this is how you write this, or Granny, this is how you read this. They teach me everything. They sit and study along with me. It's great fun. We read each other's lessons. We read out poems to each other. We write our lessons... We are certainly happy that we became literate at this age, said Kantabai.

Her classmate Gulab Kedar, 72, chimes in: I also never went to school. My children and grandchildren dropped me to school on the first day. My son asked me, Mother, are you going to school? I said. Yes. He said, That's good... Go. They came to drop us to school. They were very happy.

The kind of support and encouragement the school has got from the little educated or unlettered villagers is overwhelming.

Yogendra Bangar, who conceived the idea of the school, says: Everybody in the village encouraged us, no one said a thing against the school. They said: 'Nobody has done something like this before. Whatever you are doing is good for the society. We are with you.'

He goes on: Knowledge has great importance in life. It is very important to educate these elderly people who never got an opportunity to go to school. We started this school to bring happiness to their lives and make the village 100 percent literate.

Though the school is providing alphabet lessons now as the first goal is to make them literate, it has other plans to the ladies. We have planned some creative initiatives wherein they will be trained to make hand-woven quilts and paper bags, said Bangar.

Motiram Dalal Charitable Trust, which runs the school, started the initiative to convey the message that these elderly people are very important for our society. We started this school to inculcate love and respect for the elderly, says Dilip Dalal, the founder of the trust.

If nothing, the school has given these elderly women a purpose in life. Instead of sitting and praying in some isolated corner of the house, they are now communicating with their classmates and teachers in school. At home, the grandchildren have become their classmates  and at times mentors. They sit together and learn from each-other. Suddenly, the generation gap is gone and homes have become livelier.

I am in the last leg of my life. I know dont when I will be gone. One thing I know that I dont want to die unlettered. Now, I can at least take a few words with me to the other world, sums up Kedar.
New Delhi: Supreme Court on Monday questioned Delhi Police over the presence of some unsolicited persons in black robes in a courtroom where JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar was allegedly assaulted before being produced in the sedition case.

"Why they were allowed? Why the police did not take any action? The whole situation was tense and high-voltage drama was going on from Patiala court to this court.

"If police force is acting like this then they (petitioner Kamini Jaiswal) are justified in seeking relevant inquiry," a bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre said.

The observation came when senior advocate Ajit Sinha, appearing for the police, referred to the report of Delhi High Court Registrar General to drive home the point that on 17 February, no unsolicited persons were allowed inside court number four of Patiala House Courts where Kanhaiya was to be produced.

He said two persons in black robes were present in other courtroom where the accused and accompanying cops stayed before the judicial proceedings that took place in another room.

Later, police found out about the persons who turned out to be lawyers, he said.

At the outset, senior advocate KTS Tulsi, appearing for lawyer N D Jaiprakash who alleged that he was beaten in the Patiala House Courts, said the police connived with some accused lawyers who assaulted his client and mediapersons.

"You allege that you were personally attacked. Tell us, what reliefs which you are seeking? Don't talk about all the things," the bench said.

The bench then heard lawyer Prashant Bhushan, representing Jaiswal, who sought an SIT probe and initiation of contempt action against three lawyers who were allegedly caught on camera "bragging and boasting" that they had beaten up the JNUSU President and others, including journalists, in the lower court complex.

The apex court has now posted the matter for further hearing on 22 April.

Earlier, the court had sought response from the Centre and Delhi Police on Jaiswal's plea seeking an SIT probe and initiation of contempt action against three lawyers in the case. These lawyers were allegedly caught in a sting operation.

The plea has sought "suo motu contempt proceeding" against lawyers Vikram Singh Chauhan, Yashpal Singh and Om Sharma on the ground that they have allegedly been caught on camera talking about the attacks.

It also sought a direction to set up Special Investigation Team to probe the incidents of violent attacks on journalists, students, teachers, defence lawyers and Kanhaiya on February 15 and 17 by some advocates in the premises of Patiala House courts during the hearing of the sedition case involving the JNUSU leader.

The plea was filed in pursuance of an oral observation by a bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar, which is hearing the matters arising out of violence in the trial court premises in the JNU case, that the allegations are fresh ones and hence, a fresh petition is required to be filed.

The plea alleged that the three lawyers interfered in the "administration of justice" and willfully violated the orders passed by the apex court on February 17.

The petition which also makes Ministry of Home Affairs and Delhi Police as parties, has said facts have come to light that there was "blatant violation of the rule of law" in the trial court premises.
After four months of efforts put in by women led by activist Trupti Desai, the trust of the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra has finally permitted women to enter the temple and pray in the sanctum sanctorum putting an end to a 400-year-old custom. This comes after the Bombay High Court made it clear that it was incumbent upon the state government to ensure that the Maharashtra Hindu Places of Worship (Entry Authorisation) Act, 1956 was properly enforced.

The Maharashtra temple entry act, originally enacted to enable temple entry for Dalits, long forbidden to enter public temples by Hindus, was held to be equally applicable to women who had been excluded from praying at the temple. Since 2011, women had been allowed to enter the Shani Shingnapur temple though they were not allowed into the sanctum sanctorum.

The demand for temple entry to all classes has long been a part of the larger struggle for social reform in India. Initially begun as a movement towards seeking equality for Dalits with other caste Hindus, it has now also embraced within its scope Hindu women who seek parity with men in access to temples.

History of temple entry laws and their constitutionality

Temple entry for Dalits, who had been barred on grounds of "untouchability", was one of the leading social reform movements that ran parallel to the larger Independence movement in the early part of the last century in India. The first legal measure guaranteeing the rights of Dalits to enter temples at par with all other caste Hindus was the Temple Entry Proclamation issued by the then Maharajah of Travancore. It opened the doors of all temples in the princely state of Travancore to all classes of Hindus. This was subsequently followed by the Temple Entry Authorisation and Indemnity Act, 1939 passed in the then Madras Presidency guaranteeing Dalits the right of temple entry there. Other states have followed since, and the aforementioned Maharashtra Hindu Places of Worship Act is one of those laws protecting the rights of all classes of Hindus to access places of worship equally. Article 25(2)(b) of the Constitution of India clarifies that temple entry laws are not tantamount to restriction of individual's right to religion under Article 25(1).

These laws have not gone unchallenged in Court. The Bombay Harijan Temple Entry Act, 1947 (the precursor to the Maharashtra temple entry law) was challenged in Bombay High Court by members of the Jain community arguing that it did not apply to them since their temples were not open to Hindus generally, even though the definition of "Hindus" under the Act included Jains. The Bombay High Court upheld this contention holding that Hindus couldn't enter the temple as a matter of right, Dalits could also therefore not claim to enter the temple as a matter of right under the Bombay Act.

Did this necessarily mean that as long as a temple was set up by a given denomination it could ignore all temple entry laws? The Constitution protects both an individual right to religion under Article 25 and a denominational right to manage its own religious affairs under Article 26 of the Constitution, so an argument could be made that temple entry laws won't affect a temple used exclusively by a given denomination. The Supreme Court of India in Venkataramana Devaru versus State of Mysore did not think so. In a challenge raised by a temple meant for Gaud Saraswat Brahmins in the coastal regions of the then Mysore state (now Karnataka), the Supreme Court clarified that temple entry laws would also apply to so-called denominational temples. It read the permission to make temple entry laws contained in Article 25 of the Constitution to be applicable as a limitation on the rights of denominations of a religion to manage their own religious affairs, including the running of temples. In effect, as some legal scholars pointed out, it raised the statutory right of Dalits to enter temples to the level of a constitutional right - an interpretation that was perhaps more in line with the Constitution than a pedantic reading would suggest.

As it stands, where a law guaranteeing temple entry for all classes of Hindus for temples which are generally open to the public such a law will validly apply to not just temples which are meant for the general public but also temples for the exclusive use of a denomination. Even if it had been claimed that the Shani Shingnapur temple had been built for a particular denomination of Hindus, women would still have a right to enter such temples under the Maharashtra Temple Entry law.

Impact on Haji Ali and Sabarimala cases

Shani Shingnapur is not the only instance where women are seeking entry to temples on par with men. The Sabarimala temple in Kerala and the Haji Ali dargah have also become the focus of efforts by women to seek entry to religious places of worship. The entry of women to both are presently under litigation before the Supreme Court of India and the Bombay High Court respectively. The Bombay High Court has stated that it will wait for an authoritative ruling by the Supreme Court in the Sabarimala case before deciding the Haji Ali case.

One distinction must be pointed out between the two cases in court - whereas the Constitution explicitly states that laws makes the throwing open of Hindu religious places of worship to all classes is an exception to any claimed right to religion by a person or a denomination, no similar clause exists for other religious places of worship. Even Article 15 which specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, gender et al in public places does not include "temples or places of worship" as public places. This does not necessarily mean that there is no constitutional protection for Muslim women who wish to access the Haji Ali dargah. Rather that the argument for the same may have to be made on the constitutional guarantee of equality rather than rely on specific statutory provisions regarding temple entry.

Shorn of all the legal and religious construction, the justifications offered for denying women entry into places of worship rests on a supposed inferiority of women in matters of religion. Whether such an argument is linked to menstruation, the weakness of physical frame or some other physical attribute of women, the fact remains that the arguments offered for restricting women's entry to religious places is a brute exercise of patriarchal power and nothing more. When such barriers and obstacles in the path of equality of women is being slowly but steadily being eroded in most aspects of society, one hopes that the Constitutional courts of India will find themselves on the right side of history in clearing the path for equal rights for women in matters of religion.
Guwahati/Kolkata: High voter turnout was recorded in the assembly polls in Assam and West Bengal where an estimated 79 per cent and 75 per cent of the voters cast their ballots on Monday till around 4.30 pm amid sporadic clashes and police firing that resulted in the death of an elderly voter.

In Assam, where balloting was held in 61 constituencies in the second and final phase, an 80-year-old voter died in a scuffle between CRPF personnel and the locals over forming a queue at a polling station in Sorbhog seat in Barpeta district, officials said.

Three others, including a CRPF Assistant Commandant and a constable were also injured in the incident. Security personnel fired in the air to quell a protest at at Chaygaon in Kamrup district after a CRPF constable allegedly "misbehaved" with a pregnant voter who re-entered a polling station to pick up her child whom she had inadvertently forgotten to carry while leaving after casting her vote.

The entire team of CRPF deployed in the polling station was replaced after the incident, the district superintendent of police Prasanta Saikia said.

Long queues were seen outside polling booths since early morning and prominent among those who cast their vote was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Rajya Sabha member of the Congress from the state since 1991.

Singh came to Guwahati from Delhi to cast his ballot at Dispur Government High School. There were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some polling centres but the machines were replaced immediately, election office said.

Prominent among those whose fate will be decided in the second phase include cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Nazrul Islam of Congress, AGP leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and BJP national spokesman Sidhartha Bhattacharya.

Also in the fray is former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who revolted against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and later joined BJP last year.

There are 525 candidates in the fray. Congress, which under Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is seeking a fourth straight term in power, has fielded 57 candidates, BJP 35, its allies AGP 19 and BPF 10, AIDUF 47, CPM nine and CPI five.

65 of the state's 126 seats had gone to polls on 4 April. In West Bengal, where TMC leader Mamata Banerjee is seeking a second term in office, an estimated 75 per cent voters cast their ballots till around 4:30 pm in 31 seats where voting was held in the second part of the first phase of poll.

Braving the blazing sun, people lined up at polling stations since early morning. Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from polling booths in Jamuria constituency in Burdwan.

A CPM agent was injured after he was allegedly beaten up by Trinamool Congress workers and prevented from entering a polling booth, though TMC denied the allegation.

Two bags containing bombs were found near a polling booth in Jamuria by police. A scuffle broke out between TMC and CPM supporters at Narayangarh in West Midnapore district after the Left party's state secretary and Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, who is contesting from the constituency faced demonstration by ruling party workers.

Polling was interrupted for some time at a booth in Pandaveswar constituency in Burdwan district when a polling officer Parimal Bauri died of heart attack.

Voting resumed after another officer took charge. There were reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some places but those were replaced. Prominent among those whose fate would be decided in today's polling included state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, former WBPCC president Manas Bhunia, state minister Malay Ghatak, actor Soham Chakrabarty besides Surjya Kanta Mishra. Mishra.

Altogether 163 candidates, including 21 women, are in the fray from 31 seats in West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan districts. The ruling TMC, Left-Congress alliance and BJP, which has only one MLA in the outgoing Assembly, have fielded their nominees for all the seats.
Guwahati: Over 70 per cent votes were cast till 3 PM in the second and final phase of polling in 61 Assembly constituencies of Assam on Monday to decide the fate of 525 contestants.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, representing Assam in Rajya Sabha since 1991, came from Delhi to cast his ballot at Dispur Government High School here.

Indian boxer from Assam Shiva Thapa along with his family members cast his vote. He said he had come here from his ongoing training outside Assam as participating in the democratic process "is a big responsibility for each one of us and all should come out to vote".

Many of the voters stood in queues since 3 AM at all the 12,699 polling stations where polling is being held to be among the first five when booths opened at 7 AM. The district election administrations will felicitate them with medals to encourage voting.

Though polling was by and large peaceful, an incident of firing in the air by CPRF took place at a polling station at Chaygaon in Kamrup district.

The firing took place following protests over a force personnel allegedly "misbehaving" with a pregnant voter to prevent her from returning to the booth after casting vote to pick up her child whom she had left behind.

The entire team of CRPF deployed in the polling station was replaced after the incident, the district superintendent of police Prasanta Saikia said.

In Barpeta district one person died and three others, including two CRPF personnel, were injured in a clash between the central force and voters at Safarkumar polling station in Sorbhog constituency over forming a queue for casting vote.

A scuffle had broken out when the CRPF personnel asked voters to stand in a queue, which led to arguments and jostling, district election officials said.

In the scuffle four persons were injured including an 80-year old voter, a CRPF Assistant Commandant and constable Amarjeet. They were rushed to Barpeta Medical College Hospital where the octogenarian was declared dead.

Voting in both the polling stations, however, continued uninterrupted, the election office sources said.

There were also reports of malfunctioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) in some polling centres

across middle and lower Assam and they were replaced immediately, election office said.

For the first time a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine was introduced in ten Assam constituencies, including Guwahati under Kamrup (Metro) district.

CCTV cameras and web casting facilities were also arranged by the election authority to ensure free and fair

poll.

Among those in the fray on Monday are cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Nazrul Islam from Congress, AGP leader and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and BJP national spokesman Sidhartha Bhattacharya.

Also in the fray is former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had led a dissidence movement against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and joined BJP last year.

Among the 477 men and 48 women contestants are 57 Congress, 35 BJP, its allies AGP 19 and BPF 10, 47 AIUDF, nine CPM, five CPI, 129 from unrecognised parties and 214 Independents.

Over 50,000 persons manned the polling booths with security personnel guarding them, while security measures were reinforced along the international boundary with Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Mahanta, BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary and AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal who has claimed to be the king-maker in the formation of the next government, also cast their votes.

The first phase of polling in the state on 4 April had witnessed an 82.20 per cent voter turnout in 65 of the 126 Assembly constituencies spread across upper Assam, two hill districts and Barak Valley.
Garageline, Baksa, Assam: Small shops on either side of the road, quintessential of any of Assam's nondescript tiny urban centres on a highway makes Garageline no different from the others in its class, except that it is located just 50 metres away from the India-Bhutan border. It overlooks Samdrup Jongkhar, a Bhutanese town located in the south-eastern part of the mountainous nation.

As Assam votes in its second and last phase of polling for its new Assembly, Garageline which falls under Tamulpur constituency in Baksa district, will also lock its hopes and aspirations for the next five years through the beeps of electronic voting machines.

However, it is on Bhutan that Garageline largely depends to thrive economically while Assam has done remarkably little to develop the area as a prospering border zone.

"Bhutan is more developed than us because of its low population and minimal corruption," Hemanta Kumar Dutta, a small trader who runs a shop in Garageline selling miscellaneous items from cosmetics to pan and betel nut told Firstpost.

"Most of the Indian daily wage earners are dependent on Bhutan for their livelihood. They enter Bhutan in the morning and return before the gate closes at 4 pm for the day," said another trader Sadan Thakur, who runs an electrical and electronics items shop in Garageline. "But there is talk going on that they might close the gate barring the entry of our people into Bhutan from this month itself. If that happens, our people would be in dire straits."

Both the traders hoped that whoever wins the Tamulpur seat will take up the matter at the appropriate level urgently. Incumbent Tamulpur MLA Emmanuel Mosahary, belonging to the Bodo People's Front, has not taken up the issue yet. He is contesting the poll again.

There are rising demands that the border should be made free of all formalities so that people from both sides can transit at will and in convenience.

"During the first phase of polls on 4 April, the gates were closed as all the international borders in Assam were sealed. On that day, all shops were closed in Garageline as if it was a shutdown because no customers could come down from Bhutan. There was no point in keeping the shops open," said Thakur.

The problem was worse till a few months back due to the difference in values between the Indian rupee and the Bhutanese ngultrum. Now it is comparatively easy as both the currencies share the same value. For example, if a Bhutanese buyer came down to Garageline to shop, he or she can use an assortment of the two currencies to purchase a single commodity depending on the denomination he or she possesses.

"Around two years back, Bhutanese banks used to allow Indians to hold accounts. But they have stopped the practice now. Today if we get a big sum of Bhutanese ngultrum, then we go to the Bank of Bhutan in Samdrup Jongkhar, deposit it there while the bank wires the money to our accounts in India. They don't allow currency exchange in cash anymore. The MLA should take up these issues as it concerns many people on the Indian side," he said.

The lack of adequate infrastructure is quite visible in the Indian border town. In contrast, Samdrup Jongkhar in Bhutan is pretty organised.

"There are power cuts here for long hours. Even the farming and service quality in Bhutan are far better than ours," said Dutta. "For the past five years, we have been getting running water only for one hour a day on alternate days. Drinking water is a major problem here. People still go to Bhutan on cycles to bring water or to a school in nearby Shashipur for water."

It is ironic that there is a distinct lack of progress on the Indian side, despite being the supply line of nearly all commodities to Bhutan. The dependence on India is such that Bhutanese citizens have to be on this side of the border to have the pleasure of a smoke.

"Sale of cigarettes and smoking is strictly banned in Bhutan. It is so severe that if a person is found smoking outside a shop, the shopkeeper would be fined Rs 10,000 whether he has sold the cigarette or not. Even the smoker would not be spared. This has forced everyone not to smoke within the country. So even for a cigarette they cross over to India. They smoke as much as their lungs permit at one go and return. When we have shutdowns on our side due to frequent bandh calls in the Bodoland Territorial District Areas, the gates remain closed and no Bhutanese citizen is allowed to enter India. In the following morning, Bhutanese customers turn up as early as 6'o clock in the morning for a smoke. Even tobacco is banned in Bhutan," Dutta said.

Instead of encouraging a more prosperous trade relationship between the two countries, Tamulpur MLA Mosahary allegedly did not visit the area even once after winning the last Assembly election in 2011.

"The MLA is still to come and meet us after his last win. Now, Bhutan has also introduced tax on Indian items. It is 10 percent on electronics goods, five percent on electrical items and shoes while on vegetables there is sales tax. We have a fear that it might get prohibitive for them to trade with us if it is raised too much. Although it is the prerogative of the Bhutanese government we can't keep our eyes closed. Our MLA should be abreast of these issues," Thakur said.

The biggest disappointment among the people residing in the Garageline and Darranga area is that despite being a huge country, the governments on the Indian side  be it the state or the Centre  have failed to fulfil even the basic needs of the people.

"There is no hospital in the area. There is not a single higher secondary school nearby. We have more population but no facilities. You have just returned from Bhutan and I am sure you have observed the stark differences," Dutta said.

Both Dutta and Thakur are probably voting today with the hope that these "stark differences" would go away soon and the MLA, whoever he might be, takes out some time in the next five years to visit Garageline and Darranga.
This is how politics will be played out in Bengal in the days to come whatever the outcome of the elections  violently.

The second round of voting that began this morning was barely underway when television channels started showing images of election agents of political parties, primarily opposition parties, bleeding profusely, men in lungis freely striding about with guns in hand, heated exchanges between voters and nonchalant policemen, angry voters venting their spleen in front of the cameras, bomb explosions being explained away as acts to chase away rogue elephants, complaints from people and opposition leaders about the absence of central forces juxtaposed against ruling party candidates feigning complete ignorance of any troublesome incident anywhere, so on and so forth.

This is the immediate result of an emboldened opposition and a wary ruling party feeling the heat of an unexpected alliance, an embarrassing sting operation and a disastrous collapse of a flyover. Not surprisingly, the complaints of violence by Trinamool goons are coming from constituencies where there is a perception of two contending sides being equally poised.

Bengal is no stranger to political violence. In fact, despite all the claims of culture, erudition and sensitivity made by Bengalis on their behalf and their timidity and lack of martial spirit their critics love to poke fun at, violence has been the hallmark of politics in Bengal for ages. Pre-Independence it was the "revolutionaries"  much admired by one and all despite their utter incompetence, almost invariably ending up missing their targets and killing unintended victims instead. Then there was the widespread scepticism of Gandhis non-violence and misplaced faith in Subhas Bose and his dreams of wresting India back from its colonial masters through armed insurrection.

Poll violence, pre-poll, post-poll and during the actual polling, is not unknown either. Still, the violence we are witnessing today brings back memories of 1972, when the Congress under Siddhartha Sankar Ray, ably aided by a group of young Turks that included current Trinamool leaders like Subrata Mukherjee, practically forced the opposing Left to go underground to live to fight another day, even front-ranking leaders like Jyoti Basu.

That tradition has gone from strength to strength since, irrespective of the party in power. When the Trinamool Congress won its historic victory in 2011, there were apprehensions about a 1972 like bloodbath of Left workers and while there were acts of revenge here and there and senior Left leaders humiliated openly things werent as bad as was feared. Mamata Banerjee herself gave a call to her men and women to restrain themselves from acts of revenge. Whether it was her directive or because the TMCs victory was so comprehensive and the CPI(M) goons switched sides so quickly one doesnt know, but the fact is violence did not reach Bengals usually high benchmark.

In elections since 2011, there have been too many instances of booth capturing and false voting and legitimate voters being denied a chance to cast their ballot, but the fear tactics of the ruling party was so effective and the oppositions morale so low that actual incidents of poll violence remained within Bengals lax acceptable limits.

But this time round, the Left and the Congress are refusing to slink away quietly; they are determined to put up a fight. Even their supporter are unafraid enough to show their faces and complain vociferously against the ruling party in front of TV cameras. Many complaints came from CPI(M) leader and chief architect of the Left-Congress alliance Surjya Kanta Mishras constituency where Mamata Banerjee had concluded the campaigning with a promise to do give anything to its voters as long as they defeated her bete noire.

And there are still five more rounds of voting to go till polling ends on 5 May. While the next couple of rounds that are slated to be held in north Bengal will hopefully be more peaceful because the TMC is in a relatively weak position there compared to the Congress Left combine, the more the elections come travel to the southern parts of the state, where the two sides are equally poised with adequate access to goons on both sides, the more the violence will increase.

The first round of voting went off more or less peacefully because the areas that went to polls that day were seen as a Trinamool stronghold and despite evidence of ridiculously high voting in several booths (some booths recorded 100 per cent voting with votes of the dead too duly recorded) the opposition parties were reasonably contented that the voting had gone along expected lines.

That may well have rung warning bells amongst the ruling party. The second round also includes constituencies that are seen as fiefdoms of some of TMCs celebrated musclemen but where some heavyweight candidates of the opposing alliance are putting up a determined fight. Little wonder, these areas have already been marked by murder, violent clashes, voter intimidation in the last few days where both sides stand accused.

The tragedy is, there is little chance of the violence abating even after the results. The oppositions blood is up, they are not going to give in with grace to defeat; their victory, CPM leader Mohammad Selim has already threatened, will lead to a accounting of all they had to suffer under TMC rule. On their part, the TMC will no longer be in a mood to be magnanimous in victory this time round even if it wins convincingly again; while, as is most likely, a return to power by the TMC with a reduced number of seats will mean the eyeball to eyeball confrontations will continue, bidding goodbye to any hope of peace and progress in the years to come.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The delegation led by the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia Levon Mkrtchyan has left for Kingdom of Belgium to attend the Council of Europe Conference of Ministers of Education to be held in Brussels on April 11-12 under the headline Securing democracy through education: The role of democracy for the development of democratic culture.

As Armenpress was informed from the Press Service of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, Ministers of Education of nearly 50 countries will participate in the conference and a number of important discussions are planned, such as building inclusive society or the role of education in ensuring democratic security.

At the end of the conference it is expected that a declaration headlined Ensuring democracy through education will be adopted.
Surapur: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday hit out at Opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over Sutlej Yamuna link canal (SYL) issue, accusing them of "conniving" with each other to deprive the state of its legitimate share of river water.

The chief minister said both Congress and AAP were the "enemies" of the state, who have "joined hands to snatch" the water of Punjab by constructing Sutlej Yamuna link canal (SYL) thereby robbing it of its legitimate share of river water.

"Both AAP and Congress are conniving with each other to deprive Punjabis of every single drop of water," Badal alleged during his Sangat Darshan programme of Nawanshahar Assembly segment in Surapur.

"The recent affidavit submitted by Delhi government in the Supreme Court on the SYL issue has exposed the anti-Punjab stance of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)," Badal claimed, adding Delhi government has termed the stand taken by Punjab as "unconstitutional and anti-national".

"Even Kejriwal-led government has warned Punjabis of dire consequences due to their firm stand of not allowing the construction of SYL," he alleged.

"This is a grave insult to brave and hard working Punjabis, who are just seeking their legitimate right on waters," he added.

The chief minister said as per riparian principle of water-sharing, Punjab was the only "rightful owner" of river waters of the state.

Badal said Congress had "divested the state of its rights" by giving water to Rajasthan, Haryana and other states.

He said that it was ironical that state Congress Chief Amarinder Singh, who was shedding "crocodile tears" on the issue, had "enthusiastically welcomed" the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to lay the foundation stone of SYL.

"Punjabis can never forgive Congress for its sins against Punjab," he alleged.

Badal charged Congress has "meddled" in the social, political, economic and even religious affairs of the state and "successive Congress governments at the Centre had deliberately denied a state of Punjabi speaking areas, its capital Chandigarh and even its legitimate share in river

waters".

"How can any true Punjabi forget and forgive Operation Blue Star and the killing of innocents in 1984 anti-Sikh carnage?" Badal asked.

The chief minister announced to complete the ongoing work of rejuvenation of Bist Doab canal and Kandi Canal, the two major arteries of irrigation in the region, by coming June so as to provide a 'robust irrigation mechanism' to the people of Doaba region.

Amid media reports claiming that students, who have passed Std XII examination from the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), would not be issued visas to study in Australia, the chief minister said his government would seek the intervention of the Centre to impress upon the Australian government to revoke its decision.

He said though the state government could not directly do anything tangible on the matter but all out efforts would be made to raise this matter through the central government.

"Punjab is front-runner state in the field of education and denial of visa to its students is sheer injustice with us, which cannot be tolerated at any cost," said Badal.
The surprise appointment of 46-year old Lok Sabha MP from Phulpur in Allahabad, Keshav Prasad Maurya  a dark horse  as the BJP president of Uttar Pradesh underlines the fact that in the real battleground its still the caste strategy that rules the roost and not just the development plank.

Maurya, whos considered a Hindutva hardliner in UP, has not been selected merely due to his long association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), but on the basis of an arithmetic strategy centered on caste politics. Hes an OBC candidate from the Kushwaha community that has a sizeable presence of around 8% in the state.

His positioning as BJP president in this arithmetic calculation is important due to the fact that on one hand the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) has a complete hold over the Yadav community and on the other the Dalit population is loyal to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). With an eye on the 2017 Assembly polls in UP, the BJP leadership has tried to target the rest of the OBC population comprising Kurmi, Kohri and a section of Baniyas etc, with the appointment of Maurya.

People close to Maurya and in the know of UP politics said, In the past, Kalyan Singh had been a successful chief minister of UP. He gave a tough competition to the SP by using his OBC vote bank. Now, the BJP wants to follow his caste-strategy by pitching in Maurya as the state BJP president. He hails from Allahabad that borders eastern UP and there is a sizeable population of Kurmis and Lodhs in this region. Maurya has a good hold over them.

These calculations ensured that Maurya emerged as the best choice among other frontrunners for the post. For the BJP, the 2017 election is going to be a matter of life and death, more than for any other party, because not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi won Lok Sabha election from Varanasi in the state but also because the BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls in UP, giving it heft in its national numbers.

However, Maurya doesnt want to give credit to caste-based arithmetic for his selection as the states party president.

BJP is a broad-based democratic party, with a strong leadership at the top and strong network of workers across the country. Im grateful to the party leadership which considered a common party worker like me for the post and entrusted faith in me. Within the party, one can try for a post or a candidature till the last minute, but once a candidate is finalized for a job, all the workers and members across the party line join hands to achieve the goal. BJP has never been into caste-based politics, Maurya told Firstpost in an exclusive interview on Saturday.

Besides, having a right-wing hardliner brand attached to his name, who ran a Go-raksha chowki (Anti-cow slaughter campaign), Maurya has also been known for criminal antecedents, including a murder case registered against him. The affidavit filed by him with the Election Commission during Lok Sabha polls 2014, shows there were 11 criminal cases against him, including one related to murder.

The BJP placed its trust in Maurya in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, who was a sitting MLA from Sirathu in the neighbouring district of Kaushambi, and announced his candidature to contest from Phulpur constituency. This brought him to limelight, especially after he won to become the first-time MP. Phulpur constituency has witnessed candidates right from nations first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to SP candidate and mafia don-turned-politician Atique Ahmed.

In politics, these kind allegations are there. The court has absolved me of these charges. Ive been working amongst the masses with an objective to do good, he emphasized.

During a free-wheeling chat with Firstpost, Maurya shared his views on his forthcoming strategy, including the Ram Mandir issue.

On strategy

Well win the 2017 Assembly poll on the same agenda with which we had won 73 seats in 2014 Lok Sabha election. Our aim is to achieve the target of winning 265-plus seats given to us by the partys national president (Amit Shah). Well emerge as the winner. Both the SP and the BSP will contest for the first and second positions, but ultimately the BJP will bag the first position, and the other two parties will compete for the second and third slots.

Ill be going to Lucknow for an important meeting on 11 April with the state leaders and workers, and thereafter with further discussions with the top leadership, strategy will be chalked out on how to proceed in UP.

On competitors forming alliances and a grand alliance

Even in the past, alliances-grand alliances were formed. In UP, the BJP is well-equipped to face any challenge. I dont think the role of alliances or a grand-alliance is of any consequence in UP politics at present. There are 1.2 lakh booths in the state  out of which the BJP has made its reach up to one lakh booths. Were working hard to reach out to the rest at the earliest possible. Ill be meeting our party president soon and chalk out a strategy in this direction as well. Let the opposition parties do their work, well do ours and give them a befitting reply at the right time.

At the moment, the people of UP are frustrated and angry over mis-governance and poor law & order situation in the state. Neither the farmers nor the youth are happy. Its a golden opportunity for the BJP and well utilize it in our favour.

On Ram Mandir issue

As a VHP worker, Maurya had been actively involved in the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

Ram Mandir will be built on the basis of Supreme Courts verdict and a consensus. Its not a religious or political issue; its a matter of faith. BJP wont do anything against this. Once the BJP comes to power in UP, itll be easier for us to build the temple  again on the basis of consensus, especially with the NDA government at the centre.

On nationalism and Bharat Mata ki Jai

I fail to understand why people living in Bharat (India) dont want to acknowledge it. Whats wrong in saying Bharat Mata ki Jai. Youre hailing your own nation. Weve been saying it and continue to do so. I dont want to comment on those who dont say it and on their anti-national stand. But, neither the people of this country nor of UP will tolerate any politician, who speaks against his/her nation.

On BJPs message to people ahead of UP election

Our slogan and message to people is Sabka saath, Sabka Vikas. Na goondagardi, Na bhrashtachaar; Hum denge achchi sarkar (No hooliganism, no corruption; Well provide a good government).
The AAP governments seriousness in revamping school education in Delhi is appreciable indeed, and its plan to send principals to Harvard and Cambridge to learn global best practices and teaching styles makes sense. It is better than sending ministers and bureaucrats, who have no long-term stake in the field of education, on such trips on any day. By investing money in teachers it is putting its money in the right place. The knowledge gained would pass on to the appropriate circles and not rot as pointless reports as in the case of ministers and bureaucrats.

The Arvind Kejriwal government plans to send 200 principals abroad and 200 to different IIMs for professional training. According to sources, 90 of them would be sent to Cambridge in the first phase. In this years budget it has ear-marked Rs 102 crore for this purpose. Presenting the budget for this financial year Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the Education minister, had said the focus areas this year would be training and capacity building of teachers.

They would be imparted high quality training for their professional development and will be sent to some of the best universities in the world like Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford. For this, he had said. The fund allocated for the purpose is a massive jump from 2015-16 where a meagre Rs 9.4 crore was set aside for the purpose.

The fact that the quality of teaching in government-run schools across the country requires a massive revamp needs no overstating. While the weaknesses in many such schools  crumbling infrastructure, poor student-teacher ratio and underpaid teachers among others - have been glaringly apparent for many years now, few governments have displayed a sense of urgency towards improvement in one critical area: quality of teaching. This indeed is a problem that needs to be addressed with a sense of commitment.

Last year, Maharashtra held an evaluation test for teachers and only one percent of primary school teachers cleared it. In the case of upper primary teachers it was around five percent. In Punjab, English teachers delivered a shocker to the Education minister last year when they produced explanations on why so many students were failing in English. Their command over the language was abysmal. Needless to underline here that this is the case all over the country. No attention has been given to this area by governments.

There is allocation of funds for teachers training under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan but it has not helped much in elevating the standard of teaching in schools. Delhi could be setting a healthy trend by putting emphasis on it. However, it is not only knowledge of the subject or skills at teaching, teachers need to stay updated on managerial skills too. The principals trained abroad and IIMs would form a knowledge pool and help in upgrading the skills of other in their fraternity.

The message from the government is simple: you can hope to have quality education without having quality teachers around. The process of educating the young starts with them.
15:05 (ist)

Congress committed to 'Make in Assam': Rahul

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said his party is committed to 'Make in Assam' initiative to provide employment to more than 10 lakh youths.

"Our party is committed to the welfare and development of the poor and the Congress government led by Tarun Gogoi was committed to 'Make in Assam' to provide employment to the youth of the state," Gandhi said at an election rally in Goalpara.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks of 'Make in India' but for us the development of Assam and its youth are priority and we have been doing it for the last 15 years.

"If you recall the situation in 2001 before the Congress came to power, there was violence and killings all over the state. The Congress with its policy of love and compassion brought about a change to ensure development of the local people," he added.

It was the Congress that brought peace and started the development process in the state leading to a rise in the per capita income, constructing more than 24,000 kms of roads, setting up three new medical colleges and providing scholarships to more than seven lakh students in the state, he said.

"We don't make false promises like Modi did before the last Lok Sabha elections but we toil hard by giving our blood and sweat to improve the condition of the poor in the country," Gandhi said.

Gandhi said that if the Congress returns to power, it will continue with this development process and ensure more jobs to the youth of Assam, employment to two lakh teachers, scholarships to children of poor families for preparing for civil services, and address the problems faced by farmers by ensuring that they get proper price and market for their products.

"I have also asked Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to provide free medical help in state-of-the-art government hospitals to those having annual income below Rs 2.5 lakh," he said.

He said the Congress cares for the security of the poor and is "not like BJP which is only interested in creating division in the society, guided as they are by RSS ideology from Nagpur".

He also alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was serving the rich and was only committed to further the interests of a few industrialists.

"Vijay Mallya looted thousands of crores and the BJP government allowed him to leave the country. The Prime Minister says something and does something else," he said.

Modi had promised before the Lok Sabha polls that he would "ensure return of black money and deposit Rs 15 lakh in the bank account of all citizens but now he is trying to turn black money into white by his 'Fair and Lovely' scheme", Gandhi said, referring to an amnesty scheme announced in this year's Union Budget. - PTI
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The number of Azerbaijani servicemen eliminated as a result of armed clashes on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line reaches 93, Armenpress reports citing Caspian Strategy Institute.

According to the monitoring of materials on the social networks done by the Caspian Strategy Institute, 93 Azerbaijani servicemen were eliminated on the contact line during the period of April 1-6.

The names of 34 injured are also known, reads the press release of the Caspian Strategy Institute.
New Delhi: Over the past two-and-a-half decades, Nitish Kumar's present ally, friend-turned-foe-turned-friend again, Lalu Prasad Yadav, has claimed to be the 'kingmaker'. He and his wife Rabri Devi have been the reigning king and queen of Bihar, and their position in each parliamentary election has been considered critical to the formation of prospective governments at the Centre.

On some occasions, as in 1996, 1997, 2004, he came true on his boastful claims while on others, like in 1998 and 1999, he failed. His failures amounted to success for Nitish Kumar.

Lalu was completely marginalised in the 2009 and 2014 parliamentary elections. But in both these elections Nitish couldn't gain much either. The RJD chief bounced back in his 'kingmaker' role in the 2015 Bihar assembly elections, ensuring his ally Nitish's return to the throne. While he and two of his sons became the power behind the throne.

What unfolded in the JD(U) national council meeting in New Delhi on Sunday becomes significant in this context. Nitish Kumar finally became JD(U) president, something he had avoided for over two decades after he founded JD(U) or the erstwhile Samata Party.

In his inaugural address as party president, he said, "All opposition parties ought to set aside their differences and forge a strong front against the ruling party (BJP)....We stopped them (BJP) in Bihar and we are working to stop them in UP."

He charged that Modi had unleashed "adhinayakvad" and claimed that BJP's politics could cause serious damage to the nation.

By doing so, Nitish clearly and formally bared his ambitions to spread his reach beyond the boundaries of Bihar, and position himself as a challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019.

That is the reason why he needed to occupy the top organisational post of his party and propose a merger with smaller regional parties like Ajit Singh's RLD, Babulal Marandi's JVM and open negotiations with some other sub-regional parties.

Ahead of the merger, Nitish may give a Rajya Sabha berth to Ajit Singh. Out of five Rajya Sabha seats from Bihar, which will fall vacant in July, two will go to the JD(U) kitty. There could be a toss for another seat on the JD(U) quota between Sharad Yadav, Babulal Marandi, KC Tayagi, Pawan Verma and an n-number of other aspirants.

Interestingly, Lalu's RJD is not in the list of parties that are to merge in due course to form a new political entity - the Jan Vikas Party.

The question is why did Nitish not persuade Lalu to be a part of this new merger proposal? Does Nitish want to pursue his "national" political path sans Lalu's image baggage?

That presents an interesting situation, which is being talked about privately in JD(U)-RJD circles.

Nitish's decision last week to impose total prohibition in the state was a critical step in this regard -- the king taking his own decision without aid, advise or influence of the kingmaker or his deputies in the government.

By doing so Nitish has also carved a strong social constituency, outside of the influence of the RJD chief, for himself and for his party.

Under the existing alliance arrangement in Bihar, if the same was to continue for the 2019 parliamentary elections -- out of 40 parliamentary seats in the state, Nitish's JD(U) would contest 16 seats, Lalu's RJD 16 and Congress eight.

Imagine what kind of a prime ministerial contender Nitish would be, whose party's claim to fame was to contest only on 16 seats.

Nitish and his principal strategists realise that it wouldn't be a happy situation.

Even the likes of Deve Gowda and IK Gujaral represented the then unified Janata Dal, when political "accidents" made them prime ministers.

By spreading his wings in UP, Jharkhand and in some other states and by being president of a party which at least had presence in more than one state, token or otherwise, Nitish's claim to be a PM contender would become somewhat decent.

There are many 'ifs' but as the saying goes "if wishes were horses...". Post Bihar assembly elections, Nitish and his core team are riding high on aspirations and belief. Close supporters of the Bihar Chief Minister are also assuming that Rahul Gandhi would not be a prime ministerial contender even if such a situation arises.

The Congress vice-president would look for his own 'Manmohan Singh'. But they tend to forget that Sonia Gandhi nominated Manmohan Singh from inside her party, not just because he had a clean image but because it was taken that he would always be pliant. She didn't look for a 'Sharad Pawar' outside of her party or a 'Pranab Mukherjee' inside her party.

Nitish's man of the moment and official advisor, Prashant Kishor, is managing Congress's campaign in UP and Punjab. Will Nitish's party fight UP elections in alliance with Congress? Well, nobody has a clue yet. But it is expected that Kishor's direct access to Rahul will help cement the Nitish-Congress relationship.

Only a few months ago, Nitish's big bang bid for the merger of SP, JD(U), RJD, INLD, JD(S) and some other parties failed. There was no meeting point on leadership, flag, party name, asset, resource mobilisation and distribution.

This time around Nitish has been accepted as the "development icon" and the supreme leader, and the parties joining him will have only regional or sub-regional interest. For now, Jan Vikas Party is on the drawing board stage and is yet to cross several hurdles to come into being, if at all.
Nagpur: The Narendra Modi government on Monday came under a double-barrel attack from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi over "manifold rise in unrest among students", on the home turf of RSS in Nagpur.

Addressing a rally to mark culmination of the year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar at Kasturchand Park here, Sonia asserted the legacy of the Dalit icon for Congress and tore into RSS over reservation.

"The right-wing outfit is bent upon to destroy the democratic values, disturb secular fabric and alter Indian Constitution authored by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. "RSS wants to crush reservation for the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, OBCs and minorities which is guaranteed to them by Constitution," she said.

In an apparent reference to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Sonia said Sangh is posing a "great threat' to the reservation system when it talks against it.

Seeking to blunt BJP's efforts to 'appropriate' legacy of Ambedkar, Sonia said, "Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his dues by appointing him as chairman of the Draft Committee of Constitution.

"Congress will leave no stone unturned to save the democratic values and secular fabric being destroyed by some forces. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to give protection to these factors".

Focusing her speech mainly on issue of reservation, the combative Congress chief said the Narendra Modi government is set to discriminate against women at Panchayati level by depriving them from enjoying power in their villages.

"In Haryana and Rajasthan, the BJP-ruled governments are contemplating to bring legislation asking for certain education level for contestants," she said.

Sonia said this will deprive about 80 per cent of dalit women from contesting Panchayati elections.

"The Congress regime brought the mid-day meal scheme for the children, which was a social revolution as dreamt by Ambedkar. Ambedkar received good support from the then Congress stalwarts like Jawahralal Nehru and Sardar Valabhbhai Patel," she said.

Targeting Modi, she said BJP government is "destabilising the democratically-elected Congress governments in Uttarkhand and Arunchal Pradesh".

"The students' unrest has grown manifold under the current Modi government in the country. Congress has a moral responsibility and constitutional duty to protect the backward community, dalits, minorities and the under-privileged ones and party will not fail in it..Congress has been doing this for more than 60 years," she added.

Earlier in the day, Sonia and Rahul visited memorial of Ambedkar at Deekshabhoomi here where the dalit icon had embraced Buddhism on 14 October, 1956.
Gummidipoondi, Tamil Nadu: DMDK chief Vijayakanth on Monday began his election campaign from Gummidipoondi launching a tirade against both the AIADMK and DMK describing the 16 May election as a "war against the Dravidian majors".

Hitting out at AIADMK and DMK as "venomous plants", he appealed to the people to shun them and said, "From yesterday (when a joint rally of DMDK-PWF was held at Kanchipuram district) our war has begun, this is a war (against AIADMK and DMK), only you (people) should give the judgement."

Stating that both the Dravidian parties "misruled" Tamil Nadu alternately for nearly 50 years, Vijayakanth hit out at them over issues like prohibition.

He questioned as to why AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa has assured that "dry law would be implemented in phases and not

at one go" and made several allegations.

Also, he asked why DMK chief Karunanidhi now promised to bring in prohibition when he had been in power five times

before.

On the goal of DMDK-PWF combine, he said six parties (DMDK, MDMK, TMC, CPM, CPI, VCK) came together for a "single cause", to be the credible alternative after the 50 year misrule of AIADMK and DMK.

Referring to alleged granite scam in Madurai and suspension of Judicial Magistrate KV Mahendra Boopathy who went into related cases, he asked why action was not taken against those behind the scam.

He also alleged that large scale "irregularities" were happening in sand mining in the district (Tiruvallur).

In his closing remarks, he said "no one can change your fate, if you do not vote for the DMDK-PWF combine".

Vijayakanth on Monday used a van gifted to him decades ago by AIADMK founder MGR for campaign purposes, according to the party.
Had it not been so, Mamata Banerjee would not have kicked off her election campaign from Malda, recently infamous for the rioting by the Ulemas in skull caps burning police vehicles and looting a police station. Her nephew MP Abhishek Banerjee fluently recites a Qalma in midst of Muslim clergymen, in his jansabhas( public meeting) at Birbhum district while campaigning for his party candidate. Mamata Banerjee herself has without any qualms sported the Orhna (shawl) covering her head with ends tucked behind her ears to appear more like a Muslim woman on posters. In several of such publicity material across the state she is seen asking for votes. In Raniganj she campaigns for Nargis Bano, wrapping her trademark white cotton shawl on her saree with her party symbol displayed clearly as she addresses people in rallies. Insha Allahtalla Muslim bhai bon bhalo thakun implying Muslim brethren keep well, she says along with her other high pitched slogans.

Until now this was being termed as her style of inclusive campaign that Mamata is used to. It would not have been noticeable back as the leader was sure of her winning streak that had kicked off from the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The arithmetic said so. There is a 27.5 percent dedicated vote from the Muslim community in the state and if that voted en masse for the ruling party, nothing could stop Trinamool from reclaiming power. It seemed like a cakewalk.

The Muslims did vote together in the last Lok sabha, 2011 assembly and 2009 Lok sabha elections. Three districts in the state have Muslim majority votes, Malda, Murshidabad, and North Dinajpur whereas in districts like Birbhum, Burdwan, South and North 24 paraganas, Nadia, Cooch Behar it is more than 25 percent. Altogether out of 294 assembly seats 95 seats are such in the state that have a sizeable deciding Muslim votes with about 30-40 percent of votes. Among these seats half of them have more than fifty percent of Muslim voters in a state where the community constitutes about 24 percent of the total electorate.

Mamata Banerjee has been carefully nurturing the community since she came to power. She offered salaries to the Imams and Muezzins even after fighting a legal battle. She forged alliances with right wing Muslim outfits like the Jammat-e Ulema-Hind (JuH) to an extent that the influential general secretary of the JuH Saddiqullah Chowdhury agreed to contest on a Trinamool Congress ticket from Katua constituency of Burdwan district, although JuH has its own political outfit, the Peoples Democratic Conference of India (PUCI). On the other hand, Toha Siddiqui the Peerzada of Furfura sharif shrine that holds equal clout on rural Bengali Muslims of south Bengal, is also by her side. To add to numbers the Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan mosque Nurur Rehman Barkati as an efficient party spokesperson defends the Trinamool Congress in television interviews. Also Abdul Razzak Mollah, former veteran from the fold of CPIM, switched sides and is contesting from Bangur, his old constituency in South 24 paraganas.

These are symbolic gestures but in public life symbols matter. Her party gave about 19.3 percent seats to the Muslim community that she highlighted prominently raising the number from 38 to 57 seats in a 294 member assembly.

But since the new unusual alliance of the Congress and the Left was forged hastily and gelled well at grassroots level despite severe doubts from political analysts, the cakewalk for the TMC has turned trying. And it is worrying time for the Chief Minister because her arithmetic goes awry. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, TMC won or was leading in the 85 of the 95 seats that has more than thirty percent votes from the Muslim community. But had the Congress and Left contested together in the Lok Sabha polls, the alliance would have been leading or won in not less 90 seats and their numbers would have grown in places where the Muslim community votes were between 25-40 percent.

Muslims had in fact voted en masse for her thumping 2011 historic victory. She had then realized their potential. But then she had fought the elections with the Congress, explains Shabana Ejaz of ETV Urdu news channel.

Still in rural Bengal, Malda, Bankura, Birbhum the community in return is coming in large numbers to listen to her. The mayor of Durgapur Apurba Mukherjee wearing skull cap visits the Nayeemnagar Bari Masjid asking for votes. All the other candidates from the party have also been asked to do as confidence building measure. It is time for a consolidated verdict from the community or Mamata Banerjee might feel the heat.

Muslim votes are divided this time unlike in 2011. A sizeable percentage of votes will also go to the Left and the Congress. And these votes are divided in the Muslim dominated districts like in Malda, Murshidabad and north Dinajpur where Congress has a dedicated vote bank. So are the left voters of central and north Bengal who had deserted the Left after the Sachar Committee report and the fallout thereafter. They thought Left had taken them for granted. Mamata seems to be making the same mistake, explains Professor Salman Khurshid political analyst and former general secretary of Muslim Institute. Also this time Muslims are divided between the Urdu and Bengali speaking people, urban and rural Muslims, he adds.

A dent in Muslim vote bank is not a great sign for ruling TMC. It is because of this she is aggressively targeting the Modi led central government during her last days of campaign in Burdwan, Birbhum and Malda. She wants to consolidate the minority votes that can easily bail her out. For the Left Congress alliance she wants to rake up issues of mere opportunism and past animosity but of late she has been vicious towards Modi and the recent national issues that can polarize minority votes in her favor now.

Much needed for a Trinamool Congress victory!

Take the quiz to find out if you should vote for Mamata Banerjee
Even a few months ago, if one were to do election forecasting in West Bengal, few would have predicted any contest. The Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee was widely seen as the undisputed winner  well on the way to repeat or even better the 2011 Assembly election performance that brought the once unvanquishable CPM-led Left Front to its knees. While almost all opinion polls till date still predict a TMC victory, the race appears to have tightened a lot.

What has happened in between is the grand alliance between the CPM and the Congress two parties which were sworn enemies in West Bengal for decades (and in some cases, still are).

Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool's unprecedented success in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, winning 34 out of 42 seats, happened due to a divided opposition. The CPM's party organization was in dire crisis in wide areas of West Bengal and needed a tonic to be back in the fight. The Congress strongholds were also under pressure from Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool, with major defections helping the ruling party make inroads into areas that Congress held in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

While an alliance between the CPM and the Congress can be painted as opportunistic and unprincipled from an ideological standpoint, politics is also the art of survival. Thus, in many ways, the CPM-Congress alliance was the only political manoeuvre left to these two parties facing Trinamool as the common foe. All in all, with a few hiccups from Left Front partners like the Revolutinary Socialist Party (RSP) that has refused to be part of an alliance with the Congress, the tactic seems to be working well  both politically and at the grassroots.

The alliance makes perfect sense in terms of electoral maths. The base strength of the Congress and the CPM-led Left Front can be ascertained from the 2014 Lok Sabha election results where the Trinamool, the Congress and the CPM-led Left front fought separately without alliance.

What does that reveal?

The combined vote share of the Congress and the CPM-led Left front in 2014 was 32.3%. The Trinamool polled 39%. While this is a big difference, we have to remember that 2014 Lok Sabha election was unusual in the sense that the 'Modi wave' did create a small 'Modi ripple' in parts of urban West Bengal helping BJP get an unprecedented 17% vote share. At present, even that ripple has evaporated and the BJP might find it hard to even cross the 10% mark. It can be safely assumed that the 2014 Modi-bump in West Bengal will go back to their natural political homes and that is mostly the Congress and the CPM, since a typical BJP voter is also a stridently anti-Trinamool voter. Thus, we have to look at the 2011 elections results, to get an estimate of the combined strength of Congress and the CPM-led Left Front, without the one-off Modi-bump of 2014.

It must be mentioned that in the 2011 Assembly elections, the Congress was in alliance with the Trinamool so that does not necessarily give the totally accurate estimate of the Congress' electoral strength. Be that as it may, taking the 2011 vote shares at face value, the combined Congress and the CPM-led Left front vote share was more or less equal to that of the Trinamool vote share in 2011 and 2014.

Now that the alliance is a reality, this has created some tension in the Trinamool camp and has energized the Opposition. The Trinamool is also the party in power and hence, if there is any anti-incumbency factor at play, it might bring down the Trinamool vote share. In that scenario, in terms of just vote shares, the Alliance would be ahead. However, there is are multiple catches.

Electoral arithmetic is different from normal arithmetic. There is the question of discontent about the alliance in some sectors of the Congress. The CPM seems to have taken to it much more enthusiastically. Also, the RSP and some sections of the Forward Bloc, both constituents of the Left Front are not elated with the alliance, with the RSP clearly declaring that it has no alliance with the Congress and that the alliance is not a Left FrontCongress alliance but a CPMCongress alliance.

But the biggest hindrance in translating vote shares into a victory for the alliance lies in the geographical distribution of the opposition votes. If the Indian Union elections followed a proportional representation system that awarded seats based on vote shares totalled over a state, the alliance would have been better off. But that is not the case. We have a first-past-the-post system in place. Hence, the highest vote-getter in a constituency wins.

Whether the winner wins a constituency by 500 or 5,000 or 50,000 votes, it does not matter. The net result in terms of seats is the same. This is a problem for the alliance. In the districts of central Bengal like Malda and Murshidabad, in many areas, the Trinamool is hardly the dominant force. It is the third or even the fourth largest force in certain areas. A Congress-CPM alliance in these areas would mean wins by huge margins, which contribute to the vote shares that were cited earlier, but these big wins will mean proportionally higher number of seats. Thus, the apparent vote share advantage that the alliance has, may not have its fullest impact in terms of number of seats.

We might even have a scenario where the Trinamool overall has a marginally higher number of seats while getting marginally lower vote share compared to the alliance. The real decider in these elections will be the electoral outcome in South Bengal. If the alliance is able to increase its vote share here beyond 2011 numbers, Trinamool may be in for trouble.
Hiroshima: Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries called Monday for a renewed push for nuclear disarmament at the end of a two-day meeting in the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima in western Japan.

They also condemned recent terrorist attacks in a range of countries  Turkey, Belgium, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Pakistan  and pledged to complete a G-7 action plan to counter terrorism that the leaders of their nations can adopt at their summit in late May.

The ministers also condemned "in the strongest terms" this year's nuclear test and rocket launch by North Korea, and a subsequent series of missile launches. They renewed their condemnation to what they called Russia's "illegal annexation" of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine, and urged Russia to observe the recent Minsk agreement to resolve the dispute.

Meeting in Hiroshima, which was devastated by an American atomic bomb in 1945, the issue of nuclear nonproliferation took on special significance at the annual meeting of the top diplomats from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.

US Secretary of State John Kerry became the highest-ranking American official to visit Hiroshima since the Second World War when the foreign ministers visited the Hiroshima peace memorial cenotaph to lay flowers for the victims of the American atomic bombing in 1945.

They issued two statements Monday on nonproliferation, including one dubbed the "Hiroshima Declaration" that calls on other leaders to follow their path to Hiroshima.

"In this historic meeting, we reaffirm our commitment to seeking a safer world for all and to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons," the statement said. It also said the task is made more complex by the deteriorating security environment in countries such as Syria and Ukraine, as well as by North Korea's "repeated provocations."

The Hiroshima declaration aims to revitalize the momentum for the effort toward making a world without nuclear weapons, said Yasuhisa Kawamura, the Japanese Foreign Ministry press secretary.
The impeachment battle against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has been waged in the streets, in Congress and in the courts.

These key dates track an often complex process that moves forward Monday with a vote in the lower house commission, then a decisive vote in the full lower house a week later.

2 December, 2015

Controversial lower house Speaker Eduardo Cunha formally opens the impeachment saga by accepting a petition from a group of lawyers.

They accuse Rousseff of having illegally juggled government accounts and taking loans in order to mask the depth of government shortfalls during her 2014 re-election.

Meanwhile, many politicians, including Cunha, are snared in criminal corruption probes linked to a vast embezzlement scheme at state oil company Petrobras.

16 March, 2016

The Supreme Court resolves technical issues that had been holding up impeachment proceedings and the battle gets under way.

17 March

The lower house of parliament forms a cross-party commission of 65 members to recommend whether impeachment should go ahead.

4 April

Against a backdrop of regular pro- and anti-Rousseff street protests, Brazil's solicitor general, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, makes final arguments before the commission in the president's defense.

He tells deputies that the charges do not amount to impeachable offenses and that the process is fueled by Cunha's "desire for revenge."

11 April

The commission was to vote on Monday, with only a simple majority needed either way. The commission's rapporteur Jovair Arantes already recommended last week in favor and expectations were that the "yes" side would prevail.

17 or 18 April

The commission vote is non-binding but sets the tone for when the lower house of Congress meets a week later -- expected for either April 17 or 18 -- to issue a decisive ruling.

A two-thirds majority will be required there for an impeachment trial to open in the upper house. Anything less and the matter will be dropped.

If a trial starts in the Senate, then another two-thirds vote will be required for Rousseff to be removed from office. In the meantime, she would have to step aside and Vice President Michel Temer would take over.

A guide to the impeachment process

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff risks being driven from office if the lower house votes in favor of an impeachment trial, with Monday's vote in a special commission a symbolic first step.

These are the main stages in the crisis, which comes on top of a deep recession in Latin America's biggest economy as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in August in Rio de Janeiro.

Runup

A petition to impeach Rousseff, accusing her of fiddling government accounts to mask budget shortfalls, was accepted last year. On March 17 this year, lawmakers formally launched an impeachment commission after procedural obstacles were resolved.

Launch

The commission votes Monday on whether to recommend impeachment. Although non-binding the decision will help set the tone for a crucial vote in the lower house a week later, probably 17 or 18 April.

Trial

If fewer than two-thirds of the lower house approve the motion, Rousseff escapes impeachment. If two-thirds approve, the case passes to the Senate.

There, a simple majority of the Senate will be enough to begin a trial. Rousseff will be ordered out of office provisionally for up to six months while the Senate hears evidence.

She would be replaced by her vice president and leading opponent, Michel Temer.

Judgement

After closing arguments in the impeachment trial, senators will vote on whether to remove Rousseff from office. If two-thirds of senators vote to impeach her, she will be out. If not, she can resume her post.

Analysts say the case may take just a few weeks to reach the Senate, but once there the proceedings could take months.

Road bumps

If the Senate launches an impeachment trial, it could be under way as Brazil hosts the Olympic Games in Rio from August 5 to 21.

The political crisis engulfing Rousseff and her allies such as predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sparked angry street protests which threaten to heat up over the coming months. Rousseff could also slow things down with challenges in the Supreme Court.

Lula himself is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on whether he can join Rousseff's cabinet, partly shielding him from corruption charges brought by a lower court.

And while the political paralysis in Brasilia deepens, nothing is being done to address Brazil's gaping recession.
London: British Prime Minister David Cameron is expecting to face harsh questions in Parliament about his personal investments after releasing some tax information over the weekend.

Opposition leaders plan to challenge Cameron Monday over his explanation of his past investment in an offshore account set up by his late father.

The fund was not illegal but Cameron's disclosures have overshadowed what he claims is his government's commitment to make it harder for Britons to avoid taxes.

He plans to introduce a bill that would hold employers criminally liable if they permit employees to promote tax-dodging schemes.

Cameron's late father, Ian, has been identified as a client of a Panamanian law firm that specializes in registering offshore companies and that has just suffered the biggest data leak in corporate history.
Seoul: A colonel from North Korea's military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in a rare senior-

level defection, Seoul officials said on Monday.

The announcement came three days after Seoul revealed 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South. It was the largest group defection since North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported the restaurant is located in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

The colonel worked for the North Korean military's General Reconnaissance Bureau before defecting to South Korea, according to Seoul's Defence Ministry and Unification Ministry. Both ministries refused to provide further details including a motive for the defection.

The reconnaissance agency was believed to be behind two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

There have been occasional reports of lower-level North Korean soldiers defecting but it is unusual for a colonel to flee to the South.

The highest-level North Korean who took asylum in South Korea has been Hwang Jang-yop, a senior ruling Workers' Party official who once tutored Kim's late dictator father Kim Jong Il.

Hwang's 1997 defection was hailed by many South Koreans as an intelligence bonanza and a clear sign that the North's political system was inferior to the South's. Hwang died in 2010.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records. Many defectors have testified they wanted to avoid the North's harsh political system and poverty.

Defections are a bitter source of contention between the rival countries, which are still divided along the world's most heavily fortified border since the end of the Korean War. Pyongyang usually accuses Seoul of enticing North Korean citizens to defect, something Seoul denies.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. NKR President Bako Sahakyan met with Republic of Armenia National Assembly Vice President Eduard Sharmazanov and a group of deputies from Greek and Latvian parliaments having arrived in Artsakh on the same day. The meeting addressed issues related to the military operations recently launched by Azerbaijan against the Artsakh Republic.

As Armenpress was informed from the Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic President, Bako Sahakyan acknowledged adherence to the peaceful resolution of the conflict and denouncing aggression by different countries, representatives of their political and public circles, considering it a manifestation of principle stand and humanism.

The President noted at the same time that the international community must have a tough and targeted assessment of the Azerbaijani militaristic and unconstructive policy, highlighting the importance of its manifestation and equivalence in terms of deterring aggression. NKR National Assembly deputy chairman Vahram Balayan, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Greece Gagik Ghalachyan and other officials took part in the meeting.
New Delhi: A defence cooperation pact and five other agreements to expand bilateral ties were inked between India and Maldives on Monday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom held talks including ways to combat terrorism and radicalisation.

During the deliberations, India assured Maldives it was ready to protect its strategic interests in the region and would extend all possible assistance, including in maritime sphere and capacity building of armed forces, as part of an action plan in the defence sector.

India has also decided to speed up infrastructure projects like development of ports in the country where China was trying to expand its foothold. The other agreements signed were in the fields of taxation, tourism, space research and conservation.

"It is an important day in the history of cooperation between India and Maldives," PM Modi said during a joint press interaction with Yameen, listing outcomes of the talks.

The Prime Minister said the threat of cross border terrorism, challenges of radicalisation and overall security scenario in the Indian Ocean region were discussed and both sides agreed to step up cooperation in these areas.

"We are conscious of security needs of Maldives; President Yameen agreed that Maldives will be sensitive to our strategic and security interests. It is clear that the contours of India-Maldives relations are defined by our shared strategic, security, economic and developmental goals," the Prime Minister said.

Modi also said it is in India's strategic interest to have a stable and secure Maldives and that its challenges are India's concerns. On his part, Yameen said his country pursues an "India first" foreign policy and described it as most important friend of Maldives.

"The prompt implementation of a concrete action plan in the defence sector will strengthen our defence cooperation, Development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance will be its main elements," the Prime Minister said.

He said India understands its role as a "net security provider" in the Indian Ocean and was ready to protect its strategic interests in this region.

"President Yameen and I are aware of the growing dangers of cross border terrorism and radicalisation in South Asia. Information exchanges between security agencies and training and capacity building of Maldives Police and security forces is important part of our security cooperation," he said.

Modi said India India is ready to partner Maldives in its ambitious iHaven project.The iHaven project is one of the most important projects in President Yameen's economic vision, and is being developed under the new laws of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The project has six main goals, including developing an airport, a harbour, bunkering services, real estate, shopping malls, and resorts in the atoll.

Talking about Saarc, the Maldivian President said both Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will have to play key role in realising true potential of the region.
Lahore: An Indian national who was languishing at a Lahore jail for more than 20 years on spying charges died on Monday under mysterious circumstances.

Kirpal Singh, 50, had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested.

He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

"Kirpal Singh was found dead at his cell in early hours of Monday at Kot Lakhpat Jail," an official of Kot Lakhpat Jail said.

He said the body of Kirpal has been shifted to the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore for autopsy.

A judicial magistrate was also called who recorded the statements of some prisoners about the death of Kirpal, the official said.

To a question about the death of Kirpal by torture, he said: "The inmates of the jail near to Kirpal stated that he complained about pain in his chest and died instantly."

Kot Lakhpat Jail police station head Nafees Ahmed said that the jail authorities had called police to shift the body to the dead house.

"It seems the Indian prisoner died of natural death. However, autopsy will tell the exact cause of death," he said.

Ill-fated Kirpal from Gurdaspur has reportedly been acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted because of unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said that the family couldn't raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

Earlier, in last week of April, 2013, Indian prisoner on death row Sarabjit Singh was brutally attacked and murdered by his fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Both accused - Muhammad Muddasar and Amir Tamba also condemned prisoners - are facing trial of his murder at the jail.

Sarabjit was arrested on charges of conducting four bomb blasts in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore that killed 14 bystanders in 1990. He was sentenced to death.
HIROSHIMA, Japan U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday called his visit to a memorial to victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack on Hiroshima "gut-wrenching" and said it was a reminder of the need to pursue a world free of nuclear weapons.

The first U.S. secretary of state to visit Hiroshima, Kerry said President Barack Obama also wanted to travel to the city in southern Japan but he did not know whether the leader's complex schedule would allow him to do so when he visits the country for a Group of Seven (G7) summit in May.

Kerry toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and Museum, whose haunting displays include photographs of badly burned victims, the tattered and stained clothes they wore and statues depicting them with flesh melting from their limbs.

"It is a stunning display. It is a gut-wrenching display," he said. "It is a reminder of the depth of the obligation everyone of us in public life carries ... to create and pursue a world free from nuclear weapons," he told a news conference.

After the tour by Kerry and his fellow G7 foreign ministers, the group issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to building a world without nuclear arms but said the push had been made more complex by North Korea's repeated "provocations" and by worsening security in Syria and Ukraine.

The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States laid white wreaths at a cenotaph to the victims of the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing, which reduced the city to ashes and killed some 140,000 people by the end of that year.

While he is not the highest-ranking U.S. official to have toured the museum and memorial park, a distinction that belongs to then-U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in 2008, Kerry is the most senior executive branch official to visit.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial. It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself," the chief U.S. diplomat wrote in a guest book.

Asked later if this meant Obama should come, Kerry said: "everyone means everyone. So I hope one day the president of the United States will be among the everyone who is able to come here. Whether or not he can come as president, I dont know."

'FIRST STEP'

At Kerry's suggestion, the ministers also made an impromptu visit to the Atomic Bomb Dome, the skeletal remains of the only structure left standing near the hypocentre of the bomb explosion and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Three days after a U.S. warplane dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, on Aug. 9, 1945. Japan surrendered six days later.

A visit by Obama could be controversial in America if it were viewed as an apology. A majority of Americans view the bombings as justified to end the war and save U.S. lives, while the vast majority of Japanese believe it was not justified.

Hopes for Obama's visit to Hiroshima were raised after an April 2009 speech in Prague when he called for a world without nuclear weapons. He later said that he would be honoured to visit the two nuclear-attacked cities.

The G7 foreign ministers' trip to the museum and memorial is part of Japan's effort to send a strong nuclear disarmament message from Hiroshima, the world's first city to suffer atomic bombing.

"I think this first-ever visit by G7 foreign ministers to the peace memorial park is a historic first step towards reviving momentum toward a world without nuclear weapons," Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said in a statement.

He later told a news conference that it was "inconceivable" that Japan would ever decide to have nuclear weapons. Last month, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Japan and South Korea should build such weapons to deter enemies.

In a separate, detailed statement, the G7 ministers singled out North Korea for sharp criticism, condemning its recent nuclear test and launches using ballistic missile technology.

And in a statement on maritime security, they voiced their strong opposition to provocative attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas, an apparent reference to China, which is locked in territorial disputes with other nations including the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan.

(Additional writing by Linda Sieg and additional reporting by Tim Kelly and Elaine Lies in Tokyo; Editing by Michael Perry and Nick Macfie)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Moscow: Three suicide bombers blew themselves on Monday up as they tried to storm a police station in the usually-peaceful region of southern Russia, police said. No other casualties were reported in the incident which took place in Novoselitskoye village in the southern Stavropol region.

"We were holding a meeting in the morning when five explosions went off," Sergei Karamyshev, a senior local police official, told AFP.

"Three people blew themselves up after an officer on duty at the entrance blocked the door to the building," he said.

He said three of the explosions were caused by the suicide bombers, while a fourth was caused by a grenade while the source of the fifth blast was not immediately clear.

There was no immediate information on the identities of the bombers.

Russia's North Caucasus has been gripped by nearly daily violence for years due to a simmering Islamist insurgency there but attacks in southern Russia are extremely rare.

A regional police spokeswoman, however, said only one of the attackers had detonated an explosive charge while the other two assailants were killed by "return fire."

"They were shooting at the building," Natalya Tyncherova told AFP, adding that the exact number of assailants was still unclear.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said efforts were under way "to understand what was behind" the attack, which is likely to be seen as a blow to the Kremlin's prestige.

"Was this a terrorist threat or gangsters? Without knowing the circumstances it is hard to say," he told reporters during a conference call.

Regional investigators declined immediate comment.

The attack took place after the Syrian army backed by Russian forces secured a hugely-symbolic victory over Islamic State jihadists in Palmyra and is preparing to retake control of the northern city of Aleppo from rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

IS has vowed revenge after Putin launched a bombing campaign in Syria last September.

In December, IS militants claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Derbent, a city in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan with an ancient citadel that is popular with tourists.
Marib: All sides in Yemen's year-long war pledged to honour a UN-brokered ceasefire which took effect at

midnight yesterday, adding to cautious optimism ahead of new talks to reach a lasting peace deal.

Fighting over the past year has killed thousands, displaced 2.4 million, and drawn in Yemen's neighbours.

The chief of staff of forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi confirmed "the ceasefire has taken effect" at 2100 GMT.

General Mohamed Ali al-Makdashi told reporters that "we are going to respect it... unless the Huthi rebels violate it".

Three earlier attempts at ceasefires collapsed after a Saudi-led coalition in March last year began air strikes to support the Hadi government.

The coalition intervened after Zaidi Shiite Huthis overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and later advanced to other regions. Chaos and misery have ruled the Arabian Peninsula country since, while pressure built for an end to the violence.

The Iran-backed Huthis, along with allied troops loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have sent the United Nations a letter committing to "cease land, sea and air military operations" throughout Yemen, according to a communique carried by the rebel-run Saba news agency.

In a contrast to earlier ceasefire attempts, some Huthi leaders met with loyalist troops on a joint committee to make sure both sides comply with the truce, coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Assiri said.

"And they will monitor all the personnel on the ground, to not violate the ceasefire," he said, adding the committee is supervised by the coalition which has also pledged to abide by the ceasefire.

"We issued the orders to the forces that they will respect the ceasefire at midnight," Assiri said. But the Arab alliance said it reserved the right to respond to any rebel violations.

Rights groups have criticised the civilian toll from coalition bombings.

UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed last month announced the ceasefire would occur ahead of 18 April peace talks in Kuwait.

In the lead-up to the truce, rebels and their allies yesterday exchanged mortar and artillery fire with pro-Hadi forces in Sarwah region of Marib province east of Sanaa.

The truce was only agreed by the warring sides after months of shuttle diplomacy by the UN envoy.
New Delhi: Two Indian students at a medical college in Ukraine were stabbed to death while another sustained injuries in the attack.

Those who died in the Sunday attack allegedly carried out by three Ukrainian nationals have been identified as Pranav Shaindilya from Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, hailing from Agra, was also stabbed and was recuperating in a hospital.

"In an unfortunate event, three Indian students in Uzhgorod Medical College (Ukraine) were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 AM in the morning of Sunday, April 10," said External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Shaindilya was a third year student while Singh was a fourth year student at the college. "Based on his (Chauhan) statement, the police apprehended the Ukrainian nationals who were trying to cross the Ukrainian border.

Passports/documents of the three Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the Ukrainian nationals," the MEA spokesman said.

He said Indian Embassy in Kiev was informed of the incident around 11 AM yesterday and it has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts.

"The Embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine," said Swarup.
WASHINGTON A U.S. Navy flight officer with knowledge of sensitive American intelligence collection methods faces espionage charges over suspicions he passed secret information to Taiwan and possibly to China, U.S. officials said.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, according to a Navy article profiling him in 2008.

Lin was a flight officer assigned to the Special Projects Patrol Squadron, with experience managing the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft, officials said.

Information about how the U.S. Navy carries out such signals collection operations could be highly valuable to a foreign government.

A heavily redacted Navy charge sheet twice accused the suspect of communicating secret information and three times of attempting to do so "with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation."

The suspect was also accused of engaging in prostitution and adultery.

The document was redacted to blot out Lin's name and did not identify what foreign country or countries were involved. The U.S. officials said both Taiwan and China were possibly those countries but stressed the investigation was still ongoing.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed that a Navy officer was in custody on espionage charges at Navy Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia but declined to offer additional information.

A U.S. official told Reuters that Lin was apprehended at an airport in Hawaii, possibly while attempting to leave the country. He has been held in pretrial confinement for the past eight months or so, U.S. officials said.

The U.S. Navy profiled Lin in a 2008 article that focused on his naturalization as a U.S. citizen, saying his family left Taiwan when he was 14 and stopped in different countries before coming to America.

"I always dreamt about coming to America, the 'promised land,'" he said. "I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland."

The Navy's article can be seen here: 1.usa.gov/1SIEJDe

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he was not aware of the details of the case. He did not elaborate. China's Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had no information on the case. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

Lin enlisted in the Navy in 1999 and held a variety of positions over his 17-year carrier, including working on the staff of an assistant secretary of the Navy from 2012 to 2013. He served on the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Eisenhower from 2009 to 2010.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing, J.R. Wu in Taipei and Clarece Polke and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry and Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Hiroshima: US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshima's atomic bombing on Monday, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after the US used the weapon for the first time in history and killed 140,000 Japanese.

Kerry became the most senior American official to travel to city, touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialised nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining park's stone-arched monument, the exposed steel beams of Hiroshima's iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.

The otherwise somber occasion was lifted by the presence of about 800 Japanese waving flags of the G7 nations, including that of the US.

Kerry didn't speak publicly at the ceremony, though could be seen with his arm around Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native, and whispering in his ear. The ministers departed with origami cranes in their respective national colours around their neck, Kerry draped in red, white and blue.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial," Kerry wrote in the museum's guest book. "It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself."

"War must be the last resort never the first choice," he added. "This memorial compels us all to redouble our efforts to change the world, to find peace and build the future so yearned for by citizens everywhere."

Kerry's appearance, just footsteps away from Ground Zero, completed an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

No serving US President has visited the site, and it took 65 years for a US ambassador to attend Hiroshima's annual memorial service.

Many Americans believe the dropping of atomic bombs here on 6 August, 1945, and on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later were justified and hastened the end of the war.

Nevertheless, Japanese survivors' groups have campaigned for decades to bring leaders from the US and other nuclear powers to see Hiroshima's scars as part of a grassroots movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

As Kerry expressed interest, neither Japanese government officials nor survivor groups pressed for the US to say sorry. And a senior American official travelling with Kerry said no apology would occur.

Shortly before the ceremony, Kerry called it "a moment that I hope will underscore to the world the importance of peace and the importance of strong allies working together to make the world safer and, ultimately, we hope to be able to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction."
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Discussion dedicated to the Nagorno Karabakh issue took place on April 11 at the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE in Copenhagen, during which the Special Representative of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on the South Caucasus Kristian Vigenin delivered a speech.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the OSCE, following the meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assemblys Bureau in Copenhagen, Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) and the OSCE PA Special Representative on the South Caucasus, Kristian Vigenin (MP, Bulgaria), reiterated the Assemblys hopes for a sustained ceasefire and willingness to contribute to efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

My colleagues and I are united in our hope for a complete cessation of hostilities. The human toll that continued fighting  not only in the past week, but over more than 20 years  is having on the people in the region is simply not tolerable. We owe it to those who regularly suffer from this violence to take a forward-looking approach on ways to find a peaceful settlement, said President Kanerva.

The OSCE PA Bureau, consisting of the President, Vice-Presidents and Committee Officers of the Assembly, heard a report by Special Representative Vigenin on recent developments in the zone of conflict.

The very significant increase in violence last week underlines the need for a rapid return to the political process. While immediate efforts are understandably concentrated on halting hostilities, I intend to continue working at the parliamentary level to encourage increased political will from the sides in the region to engage in serious efforts to negotiate a comprehensive settlement within the framework of the Minsk Group. The rapid agreement on confidence building-measures to reduce the risk for further hostilities can be an important first step in this direction, and we stand ready to contribute to all these efforts, said Special Representative Vigenin.

The President and Special Representative expressed their support for the continued work of the Minsk Group and its Co-Chairs to facilitate a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Vigenin reported to the OSCE PA Bureau that he would maintain contact with parliamentary colleagues from Armenia and Azerbaijan, and intends to continue discussions during the Assemblys 25th Annual Session, to be held in Tbilisi from 1-5 July.

The OSCE PA Bureau meets each year in April, to discuss ongoing work and to plan for the Assemblys Annual Session.
STEPANAKERT, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Defense of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic informs that on the Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line on April 11 during the day the agreement of the parties on the ceasefire was mainly respected. NKR Defense Ministry has presented a number of cases of violation of this agreement by the adversary.

Armenpress reports the statement issued by the NKR Defense Ministry reads as follows, At 11:40 in the north-eastern direction of the front (Martakert) Azerbaijani armed forces used heavy machine-automatic grenade launcher AGS-17, firing 10 shots at the direction of Armenian positions.

At about 18:45 ceasefire was broken in the direction of Chaylu-Matagis, where the enemy used 60 mm caliber mortar (3 shells). In the same period, according to the Defense Army intelligence data, in some areas under the control of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, it was recorded troop movements.

Frontline units stationed on the front line are closely monitoring the front-line developments and confidently perform combat missions assigned to them.
YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenian soldiers unveiled the legend of the power of adversarys modern armaments. Armenpress reports the statement issued by the volunteers states this.

We witness historical days that are characterized not only by self-sacrifice and heroism, not only by tragedy and the immense grief for the loss of soldiers and officers, but also by the national consolidation that can be compared with the awakening of 1988. Like a quarter of a century ago, we again without doubting went to the borders drawn by us to stand side by side with the soldiers that were not yet born during the Artsakh Liberation War. The soldiers and officers, who facing death did not withdraw, and sometimes at the expense of their young lives unveiled the legend of the power of adversarys modern armaments, reads the statement.

Together with the Army we demolished and will again demolish the deadly attacks of the adversary. But today is the high time not only of self-sacrifice and bravery, but also of consolidation. As during all the centuries, today our greatest warrantee for victory remains consolidation, the statement reads, asking all those who are not on the frontline at the moment to preserve and reinforce the all-Armenian consolidation.
YEREVAN, 11 APRIL, ARMENPRESS: More than 520 organizations form NKR and Armenia signed a Joint appeal to the European Parliament, calling to condemn Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno- Karabakh Republic. As Armenpress news agency reports, the call runs as follows: "In the early morning of April 2, in a serious breach of the 1994 cease-fire agreement and the 1995 agreement on consolidation of the cease-fire regime, which both have a perpetual nature, the Azerbaijani armed forces have unleashed unprecedented large-scale military actions along the whole Line of Contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Heavy artillery, tanks and air forces have targeted the positions of the Defence Army of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, as well as the civilian infrastructure and settlements. The Azerbaijani authorities obviously launched the offensive military actions unexpectedly to simply seize some territories, and to distract its populations attention from ongoing economic turbulences, hundreds of human rights violation, as well as from the rising scandal around President Aliev, revealed in Panama Papers, that billions of dollars were offshored to the companies, registered on the name of Alievs daughters and other relatives. As a result, hundreds of soldiers were killed, wounded or are missing in action on both sides. Background It is a well-known fact of history that Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), throughout centuries being populated by vast majority of Armenians, was annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan by the decision of J. Stalin in 1921, in order to please Turkey and develop communist lines in them. During the Soviet era Azerbaijani SSR government conducted systematic Azerification of the region, resulting in the decreased Armenian population (from 95% to 75% in mid-eighties) facing continuous discrimination in political, social, educational and other aspects of life. On 10 December 1991 in a referendum conducted according to international law, Nagorno Karabakh populations striking majority approved the creation of an independent state. Being furious with these developments, Azerbaijan commenced a large-scale war against the Karabakhi population, which resulted in death of more than 30,000 people on all sides and was resolved by cease-fire agreement on 12 May 1994, by which Azerbaijan government also recognized Nagorno Karabakh as a party to the conflict. However, the cease-fire agreement has been continuously violated by oil-rich Azerbaijan, the current dictator of which - President Ilham Aliev, since 2004 has allocated large part of oil revenues for purchasing of weaponry, including offensive weaponry (in violation of norms of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe). Azerbaijan military budget increased more than 20 times in 10 years, as assigned by President Aliev to draft a military budget equal to the overall budget of Armenia, accompanied with inflammatory war rhetoric of the leadership of Azerbaijan, claiming Yerevan and other parts of the Republic of Armenia as ancient lands of Azerbaijan. It is no surprise, that given the disastrous fall in prices of energy resources resulting in 50% depreciation of the Azerbaijani national currency and dramatic discontent of the population, the Azerbaijani government felt it has no choice, but to breach the cease-fire again, this time in the form of a four-day war. Azerbaijan has tried to present the UN Security Council resolutions of 1993 as the basis of the conflict settlement by distorting their essence, deliberately ignoring the key and unconditional demand of all four resolutions: immediate cessation of military and hostile acts. Furthermore, the Security Council resolutions call to refrain from any actions that will undermine the peaceful settlement of the conflict  to which Azerbaijan opposes up until now.

Azerbaijani officials did not hide that, in fact, they have started this undeclared war, which is obvious from the numerous statements by President Aliev and well-known and publicly available speech of the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia. Following his President, Azerbaijan minister of defence Zakir Hasanov during the Novruz holidays on March 23 stated that soon by one strike they will return back their territories and destroy the enemies, which are the Nagorno Karabakh Armenians. It is obvious, that the dictator president of the country with the poorest human rights record, reported cases of tortures of political prisoners and human rights activists, is desperate to show, that his war rhetoric has any value and consolidate the rising anti-governmental moods into the hatred towards the enemy.

The large-scale offensive operations unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic during April 2-5, and still continuing after the cease-fire regime was announced on April 5, are accompanied with gross violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, particularly, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its Additional Protocols of 1977, 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

From the very beginning of the Azerbaijani offensive civilian infrastructures and civilian population, including children and the elderly have become intentional and indiscriminate targets of their actions. Among the first civilian victims were the 12 years old Vaghinak Grigoryan, who was killed, and two other wounded schoolchildren.

In Talish village of Martakert region of Artsakh, the Azerbaijani soldiers tortured, maimed and killed three members of the Khalapyan family, the eldest of which was Marusya Khalapyan, born in 1924. It is impossible to imagine any justification for such barbarian acts towards the civilians. Along with these atrocities, soldiers of the NKR Defence Army Haik Toroyan, Karam Sloyan, Hrant Gharibyan were all beheaded and maimed in ISIS-style appalling behaviour, after special forces of the Azeri army attacked their positions. The actions of the Azerbaijani army are blatantly violating the abovementioned conventions, customary law on war, as well as are beyond any civilizational elementary norms.

Being convinced that the most effective way to curb Azerbaijans military ambitions and exclude further military aggression against Nagorno Karabakh is the recognition of the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic by the international community;

We, the undersigned, representatives of non-governmental organizations of Nagorno- Karabakh and Armenia, as well as representatives of mass-media, who worked on the Line of Contact and all over Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic during all the days of military actions,

appeal to you and call to

strongly condemn the atrocities and war crimes, committed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic and its civilian population,

strongly condemn calls from Turkey and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Azerbaijan to continue the military aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic,

restate that there is no other solution to this conflict than by peaceful negotiations and

urge on the OSCE Minsk Group to restore the status of the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic as a full-fledged party to the negotiations".

Armenia's National News Agency Armenpress also joined the appeal.


There is a looming food crisis in Venezuela. Apparently, the country is running out of food to feed its population.

CNN Money points out that the country's economic problems are to be blamed for this food crisis. The government no longer has the capacity to pay for imported basic food items such as milk, flour and eggs. Even McDonalds Venezuela was reported to have run out of fries, albeit temporarily.

The country began rationing supplies years ago. But now the lines are increasingly becoming longer with food lines sometimes lasting for hours under the heat of the sun. These food shortage, rationing and longer food lines are becoming a source of social unrest in the Latin American country.

But how can a country rich in oil become so destitute? It's due to a combination of bad luck and even worse policies according to the Washington Post.

Apparently, the ruling socialist government led by Hugo Chavez decided to spend money on the poor from two-cent gasoline to free housing. Admittedly, that is a good thing for a government to do to its people, but only if it has the money to do so. However, around 2005, Venezuela no longer had the funds for these projects.

It is hard to imagine Venezuela running out of money with all those oils. In fact, the country has the largest proven oil reserves in the world at 297 billion barrels. Yes, the country is that rich that back in 2011, it was announced that its oil reserves surpassed that of previous world leader Saudi Arabia which is only 265 billion barrels.

This just shows how tragic the recent turn of events in the oil-rich nation had become. One would have expected that with all its oil reserves it should be as rich, if not richer, as Saudi Arabia. Yet, the government is so poor that it lacks the money to feed its population.

And the reason is how Chavez ran the state-owned oil company. Professionals who efficiently managed the oil company in the past were slowly replaced by people loyal to the regime. Profits were not reinvested and as a result, oil production fell by 25 percent between 1999 and 2013. No upgrades were done and the infrastructures were not even adequately maintained.

When the oil crash came, things got worse. The dramatic fall of oil price, from $100 per barrel back in 2013 to around $28.36 today, took a heavy toll on the country's economy, CNN Money reported. Alejandro Arreaza, an economist at Barclays, even calls Venezuela the "biggest loser" in the oil crash. The country's 2016 total exports are only valued at $27 billion, down from $75 billion two years ago.

With oil prices not likely going back to its previous levels anytime soon, it would take a miracle for the oil-driven economy to pick up. This means that the country is likely to default on its debt payments this year, an event already anticipated by market watchers.

In the meantime, it is its people bearing the brunt of the economic mismanagement of its leaders. The government began to force farmers to hand over their crops last summer. In addition, farmers and food manufacturers are now forced to sell from 30-100 percent of their production to the government at prices it dictates.

Such socialist measures and forced food production are likely to backfire. People will have a less motivation to produce foods and goods if they can't justly profit from their hard work.

And now it is no longer food that is being rationed. Even electricity is now rationed where people can only get power 4 hours a day, a sign that the situation is getting worse.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently released statewide forecasts for salmon and apparently, 2016 promises to yield a fewer output compared to previous years.

This year will have a large drop in overall salmon harvest, ADFG reported. Total projections are at 161 million salmon - a steep drop compared to last year, which topped at 268 million, according to Alaska Journal of Commerce. Projections for specific varieties of the fish are:

99,000 chinook salmon in areas outside Southeast Alaska.

47.7 million red or sockeye salmon, which is seven million fewer than last year.

4.4 million coho or silver salmon, which is up by half a million.

19 million chum salmon, up by half a million last year.

90 million pink salmon.

The almost 90 million drop can be credited to the life cycle of the pink salmon, wherein the odd-numbered years experience bigger harvests while the even numbered ones experience steep drops. Although some species will satisfactory rises, the pink and red varieties which are the backbone of Alaska's salmon harvest and production will noticeably decline.

However, this development is not all bad news for local salmon fishermen and sellers. Fewer harvests mean fewer salmon for exports, leading to higher market prices, benefitting the export market.

Salmon exports to Japan increased drastically by 320 percent from October to December due to the failure of farmed and wild salmon fisheries. Sales are also expected to continue to keep up the pace this year as inventories start to clear out before the new fishing season.

Additionally, Chile's farmed salmon production is also experiencing a downtime due to occurrences of toxic algal bloom, Reuters reported. Note that the South American country is leading salmon supplier to the United States, and this problem may continue to persist until next year. Over 24 million fish have been killed in the country, and Alaska's salmon may have to step in to meet the mainland's demand.
A convincing prank caller was able to persuade employees of a Burger King Coon Rapids, Minneapolis, Minnesota outlet to break the restaurant's windows. This is because of a supposed rising gas pressure that may lead to an explosion.

A worker from the gasoline station next door called the police and reported what seemed to be vandalism in progress. But when the police appeared, it turned out they were Burger King employees, a manager and three other employees, who ran outside to their cars grabbing tire irons to smash all exterior glass windows of the restaurant, Yahoo News reported.

They thought they were trying to save the restaurant, and their lives, by relieving the pressure of the supposed gas leak the prank caller had convinced them.

Fortunately, no customers were hurt in the incident as they were ushered out before the window smashing started. According to police Captain Tom Hawley, all ground-floor windows were already shattered before they arrived. However, firefighters who were called to the scene found no traces of gas leak, confirming the call to be a hoax.

The restaurant's manager told the responding police officers that the caller, a man who identified himself to be from the fire department, seemed knowledgeable of commercial fire safety systems. In addition, the caller gave the impression that he was remotely monitoring the situation, giving the manager updates on the rising gas pressure. This culminated with the caller insisting that the gas buildup reached critical levels and an imminent explosion will surely follow unless the windows are immediately broken.

Other restaurant outlets have been targeted by the same prank. According to CNN, one Jack in the Box, one Wendy's and three Burgers Kings in Arizona, Oklahoma and California have been victimized. Hawley confirms that the perpetrator could be charged with felony terrorist threats and felony criminal damage to property.
In Australia last week, the conversational embers around race relations were fanned once again in the Sydney Daily Telegraph by Victoria Hannafords reverse racism-flavoured opinion piece focused on the Australian-born of Egyptian descent television personality, Waleed Aly.

Racism occurs with such regularity that when you stand on the shoreline of life with a head full of regret, you can look out upon the vast ocean where its specimens lurk beneath, waiting to be reeled in.

THERES subtle racism and theres reverse racism. Theres internalised racism and theres the category of which the infamous missis and masta are derivatives, colourism.

After which a sizeable troop of supporters rallied around Aly including comedian Will Anderson, who penned a six-point take-down that amplified gaping holes in Hannafords article.

And Michael Bradley, citing the mocking of Lee Lin Chin, another non-white Gold Logie nominee, lambasted the chatter amongst other prominent, white morning television show hosts. He pulled no punches in labelling Hannafords column for what it represented, racism.

The support for Aly and Lee Lin amplified Bradleys wrath that there was no factual or rational basis to argue that skin colour or ethnicity were the basis of the duos award nominations. Such mindless explanation managed to overlook the duos demonstrated intelligence, wit and popularity with Australian audiences (which is what the Logies come down to, dont they?).

Anyway, it backfired on Hannaford and this was, well, entertaining. Almost Logie quality.

In the same week, the trail of racism snaked its way across the waters to Papua New Guinea, where a disgruntled patron of the national airline took to Facebook to vent his disgust at what appeared to be subtle racism.

As a result of a flight cancellation, its passengers were accommodated overnight in Port Moresby hotels.

The complaint was that Papua New Guineans and expatriates were accommodated as two separate groups in two separate hotels. The point of contention was the expats temporary shelter was of superior quality to that of the Papua New Guineans.

As I havent seen an explanatory media statement from the airline, I can only consider the disgruntled customers complaint as an allegation. But that is not to discount his experience of what he perceived as racism.

The response to this was a flurry of outrage including irrational threats to torch the airlines fleet, but Papua New Guineans knew all about this - it was an experience many of them had shared one way or another.

The late Pacific academic and commentator Ron Crocombe said in Australias own history of apartheid in PNG that the serious reservations held by Papua New Guinean leaders of their Australian counterparts stemming from colonial (and post colonial) policies might be extended to the general PNG population. Hence, the recent quick skip down memory lane with Prof Crocombe.

http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2016/03/australias-own-history-of-apartheid-in-png.html

There was the 1964 incident aboard a Qantas flight when a Papua New Guinean was seated in isolation and not served the in-flight meal because Its company policy. We do not feed the natives (now Im feeling incited to torch an aircraft or two!).

Then there was the Australia-imposed exclusion of PNG applicants invited to study at the East-West Centre and University of Hawaii. And lets not forget when the young Julius Chan was excluded from the Konedobu Club because of its no non-whites policy.

And pthe time Crocombes wife (Marj, a Cook Islander) was refused service at Burns Philp store because she failed to understand the unspoken rule that she, like the Papua New Guineans, should scamper off to the shops perimeter to receive her select cuts from the butchery.

In 2016, the lifeblood of society still pulsates with remnants of these attitudes and Papua New Guineans are justified in reacting with acrimony.

The commentary from PNG Attitude readers to Crocombes article, the conversations around the Gold Logie nominations and the double standards alleged by the PNG airline patron were littered with personal experiences of the multi-faceted term weve neatly labelled racism.

I agree entirely with the comment by PNG Attitude commentator, Fr Garry Roche, who, in response to Crocombes article, expressed that in my opinion there is a bit of racism in all of us; the challenge is to recognise the racism, acknowledge it, and work at getting rid of it.

This statement echoed the tenets of The Racism We All Carry by American academic and feminist writer, Roxanne Gay.

In that essay, Gay discussed the impolitic views on race held by former television show host Paula Deen, a white American from Savannah, Georgia, and how cultural conditioning dictates our ability to curb racism.

A leaked legal document revealed Deen consistently using the N word and other derogatory references to identify black Americans. Her recollections of acquiring this family-fostered language at the kitchen table, in farmyard dealings and in community interactions perhaps explained (but in no way justified) the absence of remorse or shame for her racist attitudes.

We are all human and, by that very premise, are entitled to a daily free-pass for imperfection. Due in part to the company we keep, we retain presumptions about everyone who is not us. If its not because of race, it might be gender. If not age, it might their job. Limitless are the subjects about which we harbour prejudice.

It is tempting to fuel the momentum of the quixotic volleying back and forth in the blame-game of racism.

But as Fr. Roche offered, investing time and effort in awareness, tolerance and respect of every other person who is not your culture, clan, tribe, race or whatever is the way forward.

And yes, this includes the colourism Fr Roche alluded to as a practice that Papua New Guineans pit against each other. As Crocombe observed past misunderstandings can be overcome, and many on all sides are trying their best to do so.

Retained judgements and presumptions might be formed but be a decent human being and get your facts straight before mouthing (or penning) off. Otherwise, its best you keep your thoughts to yourself.

The mass reactions in Australia evoked by Hannafords article, the allegation against the apparently errant PNG airline and the late Ron Crocombes own experiences are clear indicators that, unless there is a factual or rational basis, if it is shaped, sounds or smells like racism then it is.

Fortunately it seems there is a healthy number of individuals who are genuinely interested and will step out to deplete this vast ocean of racism.
Allergan (AGN) has been all over the news this week after pharmaceutical powerhouse Pfizer (PFE 4.75%) dropped its merger plans with the smaller, Ireland-based drugmaker. The $160 billion dollar deal would have gone down in history and formed the largest drug-developer on the planet, and it would have re-domiciled Pfizer to Ireland for tax purposes. But after the U.S. Treasury changed some regulations earlier this week and subsequently made the deal much less attractive to Pfizer, the celebrity marriage of the healthcare sector fell apart.

Allergan's stock price has fallen over 10% since the Treasury's announcement on Monday night, and $10 billion in market cap evaporated almost overnight. However, if you look back to November 2015, when the deal was first announced, Allergan's stock price was well over $300 per share. As of Monday, the share price stood at $277, implying that investors thought the merger would be damaging to Allergan. So how could it be that on Tuesday, just seven months later, an announcement that the deal is off sends shares tumbling even further to $236? Shouldn't investors be cheering?

Two things stand in the way of an escalation of Allergan's price

The first piece to this puzzle involves doubt that Allergan's planned sale of its generics unit to Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA 4.07%) will go through. The deal is worth $40.5 billion to Allergan and would go a long way toward bolstering Allergan's balance sheet. As it stands, Allergan has $40 billion in long-term debt and just over $1 billion in cash on its balance sheet. Since the majority of the Teva proceeds would take the form of cash, Allergan would go from having a red-flag balance sheet to having a reasonable one ripe for further leverage.

Problem is, there's a hefty amount of skepticism that the FTC will allow this deal to go through. There has been a good deal of scrutiny surrounding generic drugs and their pricing in the U.S. lately, and it's not unreasonable to think that Teva might interfere with free-market competition by taking on Allergan's substantial generics unit. If the deal does not go through, then Allergan is fundamentally no worse for the wear -- but it will still have that glaring debt sitting on its balance sheet.

An unfair comparison?

The second thing investors need to understand in order to grasp Allergan's current share price is the general controversy in the United States surrounding drugmakers' profits -- particularly those that rely on acquisitions for growth. Allergan has quite the history of growing by acquisition. In fact, it's precisely this storied past that the Treasury depended on in the fine print of its rule change. (Although the Treasury claims that its rule adjustment was not aimed at any single transaction, the U.S. would of course rather not lose Pfizer as a U.S.-tax-paying corporation -- and the timing of the change does seems awfully coincidental.)

It seems that concerns about further government intervention are being blown out of proportion: Allergan has a very different business model from Valeant Pharmaceuticals (BHC 4.84%), which is the company on the receiving end of most of the pointed fingers. Valeant's entire entrepreneurial presence has been called into question. Is it ethical for a company to buy up other companies and raise the prices of their products, especially if said company is in the business of providing life-saving medications? Many people would answer no, and this has become the subject of heated debate -- particularly in this U.S. election year.

What many people don't realize is that Allergan and Valeant are not even in the same ballgame. Allergan, despite its history of acquisitions, spends substantially more on research and development than Valeant does, and its goal with acquisitions has never appeared to be simply raising the price of a drug that's already on the market. So while it's understandable that the entire healthcare sector has been somewhat deflated by concerns that a new U.S. president could change the regulatory and price-setting landscapes, it doesn't make much sense to have identical reservations about both Allergan and Valeant.

So is Allergan a buy?

Personally, I see a lot to like in Allergan right now, particularly after listening to CEO Brent Saunders defend himself and his company in multiple media outlets over the past few days. And yes, it's kind of a CEO's job to sound optimistic, but my gut reaction is to trust him. Plus, Pfizer saw a (desperately needed) growth opportunity in Allergan -- not just a chance to lower its tax rate -- and I think most investors looking at this stock should see the same.

The company is trading at a relatively cheap multiple (23 trailing P/E, 13 forward P/E), and analysts are calling for 15% EPS growth for the remainder of the decade. This is a company with several blockbuster drugs on the market, 70 mid- to late-stage drug candidates, and 14 more regulatory approvals expected just this year.

The only asterisk on my bullishness is the prospect that the Teva sale will not go through, which could potentially do even more damage to the stock -- at least in the short term, particularly if it affects Allergan's credit ratings. We should have definitive news on this sale by July of this year, and if the story then is the same as it is now, I'll consider picking up some shares.
Pirelli are bringing their red-walled tyres to China for the first time, and the front of the grid is likely to start the race on them, given their speed advantage in qualifying. That, though, could lead to some very early pit stops, especially if degradation at Shanghai proves more pronounced than in Bahrain, where three-stopping was the default strategy.

"The Shanghai circuit places an entirely different duty on tyres relative to Melbourne and Bahrain," said Paddy Lowe, Mercedes executive director (technical).

"However, we have the same three compounds available, so it will be interesting to see how the competitive order plays out.

"It's the first time we'll see the supersoft compound used at this track, thanks to the new regulations, and that will likely create a more extreme example of what we saw in Bahrain, where the best qualifying tyre is unlikely to be a great race tyre.

"Every team is bound to want to qualify on the supersoft - but if it grains in the race, we could see cars stopping in the first five laps. There will be plenty of analysis to do on Friday and we could see some interesting calls on qualifying and race strategy."

Lowe said the changeable climate in China could complicate the picture even further, adding: "What makes this all the more difficult for the teams is the unpredictability of the conditions. It can be quite warm in Shanghai - but it can also be as cool as Belgium.

"That variability can make life tricky in terms of both set-up and strategy work, so it's always a challenging weekend."

Mercedes have dominated in China in recent seasons, with Nico Rosberg winning in 2012 and Lewis Hamilton victorious in the last two editions of the race.
Theres no question that all three Republican candidates for the 2016 nomination are proposing lower taxes for businesses than their Democratic opponents. But the devil may indeed be in the details. Lets look at the four key rates that affect companies like mine.

The current corporate tax rate is 35%. Donald Trump wants to reduce this rate to 15% including S-Corp income (which is most popular among small businesses and currently taxed at ordinary rates). Ted Cruz wants to replace all payroll and corporate taxes with a 16% business transfer tax (similar to the Value Added Tax system used by many European countries). John Kasich would lower the corporate tax rate to 25%. Neither of the Democratic candidates have proposed a reduction in the corporate rate. All of the candidates want to tax companies with offshore earnings.

The current top personal tax rate is 39.6%. Both Trump and Kasich want the top rate to be 25%. Cruzs flat tax proposal maxes out at 10%. Hillary Clinton would keep the rate the same and is urging a surcharge on wealthy earners, and Bernie Sanders would increase the top tax rate to 52%. The candidates all support simplifying the code (of course) and changing some deductions and exemptions.

The current capital gains rate is 20%. Trump wants to reduce the rate, depending on income level, to zero. Cruz would include this rate under his 10% flat tax and Kasich would reduce it to 15%. Clinton wants a higher tax on certain investment income, and Sanders wants capital gains to be taxed at the same level as ordinary income.

Finally, there are estate taxes. Currently the rate is 40% on assets over $5.5 million. Both Clinton and Sanders want to reduce the asset ceiling to $3.5 million and increase the tax rate to 45% and 65%, respectively. All three Republican candidates want to eliminate the estate tax altogether.

As a small business owner, the taxes I pay are enormous. About 30% of my income goes to the Federal government. Another 4% goes to the City of Philadelphia and 3% to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And that doesnt include property, school and sales taxes. Or tolls, licenses, permits, tariffs, franchise fees and all the other baked-in taxes that I pay whenever I buy a bottle of wine, board an airplane or stay in a hotel.

So when a Presidential candidate says he or she will reduce our taxes, most small business owners are all ears. Yes, it is true that all three of the remaining Republican candidates in the race for the GOP nomination are proposing just such a thing. The two Democratic candidates are not. So does that mean the decision is a slam dunk? Just vote Republicans? It would be for meexcept for one thing: were still missing too much information.

The Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy research organization, has made its best predictions as to whose plan would be best for the economy (unfortunately, Kasich wasnt included in this analysis). Cruz wins here. According to their calculations, Cruzs flat and transfer taxes would increase GDP by 13.9% over the next 10 years and provide a 43.9% capital investment income growth. Trump is not so far behind. According to the analysis, both Clinton and Sanders would cause a contraction in economic growth over this time period. On the other hand, Clinton and Sanders plans would add revenues to the Federal government during this period where their opponents would leave shortfalls of up to $10 trillion (in Trumps case). And these are just forecasts made by one organization. Of course there are others, all with different conclusions. As we all know, economic forecasts are never entirely reliable.

But even assuming that the Tax Foundations numbers come to pass, theres still too much information missing to determine who has the best tax plan. Yes, weve heard about the revenues. But what about the expenses? Ive never read a profit and loss statement with only revenues included. So wheres my complete P&L?

When anyone in business proposes a change to their companys business - a big investment, a new product line, a change in model  there are projections. We dont just budget the good stuff (the hoped-for revenues) but we also include the not-so-good stuff (the costs). Politicians are experts at highlighting the good and downplaying the bad.

Tax decreases are good. But a $19 trillion national debt and projected trillion dollar deficits over the next decade are bad. Saying that youre going to clean up government and get rid of waste isnt good enough. Business people need more information than that. We like to know both sides of the story: the revenue coming in and the costs going out. Just because Clintons and Sanders plans will increase revenues to the government over the next 10 years, what exactly will they be spending? And if Cruzs and Trumps plans are going to create a hole in Federal revenue inlays, where will the expenses be correspondingly reduced?

All of these are the kinds of questions any manager or business owner would ask of someone preparing a business plan or projected income statement. And if there arent satisfactory answers to those questions then most would conclude its not a very good plan, regardless of how rosy things seem on one side. So yes, I think I can speak for most small business owners as we file our 2015 tax returns that I would definitely welcome lower tax rates in 2016. So who has the best tax plan? As I see it, the jury is still out  awaiting more information.
Nothing was more important to Winnie than her young children. The married mother of three took care of their needs but seldom took care of her own. As Winnie neared retirement, she divorced her spouse without a pension, 401-k or any significant savings. Because of an illness, she was forced to retire early and take reduced Social Security benefits. Her story is not uncommon.

Winnie is my mother. A study by GOBankingRates.com found that one in three Americans has nothing saved for retirement. Women are 27% more likely than men to have no retirement savings.

Experts say everyone should start preparing for the future as soon as possible.

A young person starting their first job is thinking - retirement is 40 years in the future and I can deal with that later, says John Sweeney, Executive Vice President of Retirement and Investing Strategies at Fidelity. Thats exactly the time to set up a disciplined savings process and let that money compound over their 40-year working career.

Workers should contribute enough to their jobs retirement plan to get their employers full matching contribution  if one is offered.

Thats the closest thing to free money and a great way to grow your retirement savings, says Cameron Huddleston, Life & Money columnist at GOBankingRates.com. Even small amounts contributed monthly can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time they retire.

Calculate how much of a nest egg you will need to live comfortably. Take into account health care costs - which may rise as you get older. The Department of Labor says the average American spends roughly 20 years in retirement. Fidelity, Vanguard and other investment firms offer free online retirement calculators.

Savers are looking between 70 and 80% income replacement in retirement, Fredrik Axsater, Head of Defined Contribution Retirement for State Street Global Advisors. In order to get there, we need to think of an overall savings rate of 15 to 20% of our paychecks.

If your company offers a traditional pension plan, check if youre covered. An Individual Retirement Account (IRA) may also be an option. An IRA allows an individual to save for retirement with tax-free growth or on a tax-deferred basis.

Social Security may also play a key role in your retirement plan. But keep in mind: Social Security only replaces about 40% of pre-retirement earnings for the average American worker. Review your options at www.ssa.gov.

Northwestern Mutual says a majority of Americans expect to begin taking Social Security between the ages of 65-67. Angela DiCastri, Director of Retirement Markets at Northwestern Mutual says consumers should take into account their savings/investments, current/future earnings, health, taxable income and family situation when deciding when to collect Social Security.

Make sure you are getting the most you can based on your circumstances and what makes the most sense you as an individual or a couple. Thats something many consumers are overlooking and potentially leaving a significant amount of dollars on the table.

This is the second in a series of articles that will appear weekly during April; National Financial Literacy month.

Linda Bell joined FOX Business Network (FBN) in September 2014 as an Assignment Editor after more than a decade at Bloomberg News. She is an award-winning journalist/writer of personal finance content. Follow her on Twitter @lindanbell.
Just three years ago, J.C. Penney was thought to be on it last legs. Stores were being shuttered, old CEOs were departing while new CEOs were riding in on white horses, and the word bankruptcy was being tossed around on a daily basis when referring to the beleaguered retailer. Despite its woes, J.C. Penney managed to cut costs, alter its course, and slowly but surely earn back the trust of some of the customers it lost. It seems that, at the very least, there is a place for J.C. Penney in retail America today.

Retail America tomorrow, however, could be an entirely different story. Amazon.com's sales, a bellwether for e-commerce usage, continue to climb every year. Meanwhile, J.C. Penney's top competitor, Macy's , continues to invest in omnichannel and other e-commerce-focused initiatives. Those moves, funded by Macy's massive free cash flow generation, could very well leave JCP in the dust. Given all of this, is it possible that all J.C. Penney's management has earned for the company is a temporary stay of execution?

This J.C. Penney in Brooklyn has a very modern look. Image source: J.C. Penney.

Below, three Motley Fools contributors weigh in to answer the question: Where will J.C. Penney be in 10 years?

Daniel B. Kline (Out of business): My dire prediction is not meant as a knock on the work Mike Ullman did in bringing the company back from the mess Ron Johnson created, nor is it a criticism of current CEO Marvin Ellison. The problem is that while Johnson was clearly the wrong visionary, it's going to take a radical reinvention for nearly any retailer to survive in the coming decade.

J.C. Penney is a lower-priced department store competing in a space already squeezed heavily by the Internet. Going forward, that pressure will only become more intense. Now, at least physical stores have the advantage of people seeing, and trying on, clothes in person before purchasing. That's an advantage for brick-and-mortar stores when it comes to anything wearable. Even in an area like shoes, where someone's size is generally consistent, people hesitate to buy online because of the hassle involved in returning something.

What happens to a retailer like J.C. Penney when technology makes that much less of a problem? There are already tablet-based apps that help people size clothes. They're not perfect yet, nor are they widespread, but five years from now, who knows?

Remove, or at least reduce, the natural advantages physical stores like J.C. Penney have and all it really has going for it is the occasional shopper in need of an item right there and then. That, too, will become less of an advantage as two-day delivery becomes the default and even faster methods get developed.

J.C. Penney, at least as it currently exists, is simply not special enough to survive the loss of these edges over buying online. It's possible that Ellison plans to finish stabilizing the chain, before attempting a radical reinvention, but that seems unlikely, which leads me to believe this will be a case of a well-managed, slow death.

Rich Duprey (Thriving): Wall Street has been completely unable to accurately forecast J.C. Penney's recovery almost from the time it began. The fact that it has finally gotten on board with the department store chain making good on its promise could be seen as a contrarian indicator, but I think for once, Wall Street has got it right.

It's true that the retail landscape is in the midst of an upheaval, as Amazon has changed the way consumers shop. There's no evidence, however, that shoppers are willing to completely abandon the physical store for the digital. Indeed, Amazon is now in the midst of opening a number of brick-and-mortar locations precisely because customers still want to feel, touch, and experience an item before making a purchase. We're actually seeing this from quite a few Internet retailers that until very recently were online-only, including diamond seller Blue Nile launching a physical "webroom" to hawk its stones; Gap subsidiary Piperlime opening its first store in Soho, New York; and curated commerce service Birchbox experimenting with the model.

Using brick-and-mortar stores as distribution points for e-commerce sales helps blur the distinction between what is considered an online seller and a physical location retailer.

That bodes well for J.C. Penney, which has initiated not only a major transformation of its many shopping mall anchor stores, but a revamp of its online channel aimed at making it just as important a component of its success. In its annual filing with the SEC last month, the retailer credited Internet sales with helping it achieve its goals, noting, "Internet sales grew at a faster rate compared to our department stores and were positively affected by our mobile application that creates an enhanced digital experience."

It has regained market share while rivals like Macy's and Kohl's have stumbled, I foresee J.C. Penney strengthening its position and enjoying even better results than it is now.

Sean O'Reilly (Smaller but profitable): I couldn't agree more with those who say that the golden age of the brick-and-mortar department store is probably behind us. Only a (lower-case) fool can look at the annual march upwards of online sales and not see the writing on the wall. This does not mean, however, that there is no room for the likes of J.C. Penney (or a few of its peers, for that matter) in the 21st century. What J.C. Penney will require to succeed is not a store in every decent-sized city. JCP needs fewer stores, in fewer markets. Of course, each of these locations will need to be carefully stocked, and operate in highly efficient locations that work hand-in-hand with advanced distribution and online sales network.

So, what does all of this mean for the J.C. Penney of 2026? One need only look, I believe, at the current operations and financial statistics of its two worthy peers: Macy's and Dillard's . Macy's has been the leader of the pack for some time now, and while it didn't have the best 2015 holiday season from an operating standpoint, its results speak for themselves. Dillard's, too, seems to succeed by following the K.I.S.S. rule (keep it simple, stupid), and so too will J.C. Penney in the years ahead.

Dillard's operates just under 300 stores spread across 29 states. This lends credibility to the idea that leaner is better, especially when coupled with its decent profitability compared to JCP. Dillard'slarger peers seem to be getting the idea. J.C. Penney has closed, or scheduled for closure, over 100 stores (dropping its location count to 1,062 as of Dec. 31, 2015) as part of its cost-cutting initiatives of the last few years. Macy's, despite its billions in free cash flow and profits every year, actually closed 22 locations in fiscal 2015 while opening just 5 new stores, for a net decrease of 17 stores. All three of these retailers see the writing on the wall. What lies ahead are fewer physical store locations, found primarily in high-traffic, high-population areas, all of which will work hand-in-hand with a modern, e-commerce focused, distribution network. For JCP, specifically, I wouldn't be surprised to see its profits continue upwards, and store count continue downwards, in the decade ahead.

The article Where Will J.C. Penney Be in 10 Years? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Daniel Kline has no position in any stocks mentioned. Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. Sean O'Reilly has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool recommends Blue Nile. 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.
Allergan has been all over the news this week after pharmaceutical powerhousePfizer dropped its merger plans with the smaller, Ireland-based drugmaker. The $160 billion dollar deal would have gone down in history and formed the largest drug-developer on the planet, and it would have re-domiciled Pfizer to Ireland for tax purposes. But after the U.S. Treasury changed some regulations earlier this week and subsequently made the deal much less attractive to Pfizer,the celebrity marriage of the healthcare sector fell apart.

Allergan's stock price has fallen over 10% since the Treasury's announcement on Monday night, and $10 billion in market cap evaporated almost overnight. However, if you look back to November 2015, when the deal was first announced, Allergan's stock price was well over $300 per share. As of Monday, the share price stood at $277, implying that investors thought the merger would be damaging to Allergan. So how could it be that on Tuesday, just seven months later, an announcement that the deal is off sends shares tumbling even further to $236? Shouldn't investors be cheering?

Two things stand in the way of an escalation of Allergan's price The first piece to this puzzle involves doubt that Allergan's planned sale of its generics unit to Teva Pharmaceutical will go through. The deal is worth $40.5 billion to Allergan and would go a long way toward bolstering Allergan's balance sheet. As it stands, Allergan has $40 billion in long-term debt and just over $1 billion in cash on its balance sheet. Since the majority of the Teva proceeds would take the form of cash, Allergan would go from having a red-flag balance sheet to having a reasonable one ripe for further leverage.

Problem is, there's a hefty amount of skepticism that the FTC will allow this deal to go through. There has been a good deal of scrutiny surrounding generic drugs and their pricing in the U.S. lately, and it's not unreasonable to think that Teva mightinterfere with free-market competition bytaking on Allergan's substantial generics unit. If the deal does not go through, then Allergan is fundamentally no worse for the wear -- but it will still have that glaring debt sitting on its balance sheet.

An unfair comparison?The second thing investors need to understand in order to grasp Allergan's current share price is the general controversy in the United States surrounding drugmakers' profits -- particularly those that rely on acquisitions for growth. Allergan has quite the history of growing by acquisition. In fact, it's precisely this storied past that the Treasury depended on in the fine print of its rule change. (Although the Treasury claims that its rule adjustment was not aimed at any single transaction, the U.S. would of course rather not lose Pfizer as a U.S.-tax-paying corporation -- and the timing of the change does seems awfully coincidental.)

It seems that concerns about further government intervention are being blown out of proportion: Allergan has a very different business model fromValeant Pharmaceuticals , which is the company on the receiving end of most of the pointed fingers. Valeant's entire entrepreneurial presence has been called into question. Is it ethical for a company to buy up other companies and raise the prices of their products,especially if said company is in the business of providing life-saving medications? Many people would answer no, and this has become the subject of heated debate -- particularly in this U.S. election year.

What many people don't realize is that Allergan and Valeant are not even in the same ballgame. Allergan, despite its history of acquisitions, spends substantially more on research and development than Valeant does, and its goal with acquisitions has never appeared to be simply raising the price of a drug that's already on the market. So while it's understandable that the entire healthcare sector has been somewhat deflated by concerns that a new U.S. president could change the regulatory and price-setting landscapes, it doesn't make much sense to have identical reservations about both Allergan and Valeant.

So is Allergan a buy?Personally, I see a lot to like in Allergan right now, particularly after listening to CEO Brent Saunders defend himself and his company in multiple media outlets over the past few days. And yes, it's kind of a CEO's job to sound optimistic, but my gut reaction is to trust him. Plus, Pfizer saw a (desperately needed) growth opportunity in Allergan -- not just a chance to lower its tax rate -- and I think most investors looking at this stock should see the same.

The company is trading at a relatively cheap multiple (23 trailing P/E, 13 forward P/E), and analysts are calling for 15% EPS growth for the remainder of the decade. This is a company with several blockbuster drugs on the market, 70 mid- to late-stage drug candidates, and 14 more regulatory approvals expected just this year.

The only asterisk on my bullishness is the prospect that the Teva sale will not go through, which could potentially do even more damage to the stock -- at least in the short term, particularly if it affects Allergan's credit ratings. We should have definitive news on this sale by July of this year, and if the story then is the same as it is now, I'll consider picking up some shares.

The article Allergan's Share Price Makes No Sense -- Until You Consider These Two Things originally appeared on Fool.com.

Kristine Harjes has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. 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.
A small injection could lead to decreased feelings of hunger as well as major weight loss, a small new study finds.

The procedure, known as bariatric arterial embolization, has only been tested in seven patients, and much more research will be needed in order to confirm its safety and effectiveness.

However, the doctors who completed the study are "excited about the possibility of adding [the procedure] as another tool for health care providers to offer patients in the effort to curb" the obesity epidemic, said Dr. Clifford Weiss, the director of interventional radiology research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the leader of the study, in a statement. [The Science of Hunger: How to Control It and Fight Cravings]

The procedure involves injecting microscopic beads into the blood through a tiny nick in the wrist or groin. These beads travel to a part of the stomach called the fundus, where they decrease the amount of blood flow to the area. (The fundus is located toward the top of the stomach, near the part where the esophagus adjoins it.)

Scientists suspect that the fundus may play an important role in weight loss because it produces most of the body's ghrelin, also known as the hunger hormone. By decreasing blood flow to the fundus, the procedure may limit the amount of ghrelin that the fundus secretes, which could minimize hunger and help patients lose weight, the researchers hypothesized.

Compared to weight loss surgery (also called bariatric surgery), "bariatric arterial embolization is significantly less invasive and has a much shorter recovery time," Weiss said.

Six women and one man were included in the study. All of the patients had a BMI that was between 40 and 50  which is considered "severely obese"  but otherwise, they did not have other health problems, according to the researchers.

All of the patients lost a significant amount of weight after the procedure, the researchers said. After one month, the patients lost, on average, 5.9 percent of their excess body weight, according to the study. At the end of three months, the patients had lost an average of 9.5 percent of their excess weight, and by six months, an average of 13.3 percent of their excess weight.

In comparison, six months after surgery, patients who have had bariatric surgery may lose about 30 percent to 40 percent of their excess body weight, according to the Mayo Clinic.

In addition, the patients also reported dramatic reductions in their hunger levels, according to the researchers. To measure hunger, for several days before and after their follow-up visits, the researchers asked the participants to fill out a questionnaire about appetite and satiety (the feeling of fullness). Two weeks after the procedure, the patients reported, on average, an 81 percent average decrease in hunger; at one month, they reported an average decrease of 59 percent; and at three months, an average 26 percent decrease, according to the study.

The researchers also found that patients' ghrelin levels decreased by an average of 17.5 percent at three months after the procedure.

While the results of the study are promising, the "research is still in its early stages," Weiss said. The study demonstrated that the procedure is safe. Now, researchers can carry out more clinical trials with larger numbers of patients in order to test how effective the procedure may be, and how long-lasting its effects may be, he said.

The results of the study were presented on April 3 at the Society of Interventional Radiology's annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. The findings have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Johnnie Walker Green Label Back By Popular Demand

Johnnie Walker Green Label Is Making A Welcome Return To The Johnnie Walker Family

This article is brought to you by Johnnie Walker.

Why Is This Important?

Because the people have spoken and Johnnie Walker has answered, reintroducing the popular Johnnie Walker Green Label blended malt Scotch Whisky to global markets.

Long Story Short

After a relatively brief  but strongly felt  absence, Johnnie Walker Green Label will soon be available in outlets once again.

Long Story

When Johnnie Walker revamped its range in 2012 with the additions of Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve and Johnnie Walker Platinum Label, there was unfortunately no room in the family for Green Label at the time. It was discontinued all over the globe, except for in Taiwan, where lucky Scotch Whisky fans have been enjoying it this whole time.

The Johnnie Walker Green Label was a victim of its own success, says Sean Baxter, National Johnnie Walker Ambassador. It was a very popular style, but it was a different style. With the current Johnnie Walker range, each one of the blends contains grain whisky from various grain distilleries in Scotland  however Johnnie Walker Green Label is the exception. Green Label is a pure malt, which effectively means its only single malt whisky that gets used in its composition. It was slightly different and it didnt really fit the mould of Johnnie Walker that they wanted to move forward with at the time.

Whisky drinkers however never stopped being fans of Johnnie Walker Green Label and have been clamouring for its return ever since.

We have listened to our consumers and we are responding to popular demand to reintroduce it, says Guy Elscolme, Johnnie Walker Global Director. Johnnie Walker Green Label has always had a following and releasing limited volumes of it in the US and Australia this year to mark the tenth anniversary of its first introduction has revealed how much consumers have missed Johnnie Walker Green Label and want to see it back. Were thrilled to be able to respond to that.

A departure from the grain whisky blends of the other members of the Johnnie Walker family, Johnnie Walker Green Label comes by its distinct flavour thanks to the careful blending of four malt whiskies from several of Scotlands unique whisky regions.

The Isle of Skyes Talisker brings smoke, pepper, oak and rich fruit to the blend, while the Linkwood malt from the Speyside region brings some lighter fruit, flower and cedar wood notes. Throw in the sweeter Cragganmore malt - also from Speyside - and the peaty, salty and fruity Caol Ila from the Isle of Islay, and the result is a whisky packing everything youd expect from a quality single malt, but with a broader and more complex flavour profile.

The challenge of Johnnie Walker Green Label is to have a wide flavour spectrum from malts matured for at least 15 years in American and European Oak, ensuring that those flavours really complement each other and work in harmony to create a blend of great complexity which, at its heart, is true to the Johnnie Walker style of big and bold flavours with a signature smokiness, says Jim Beveridge, Johnnie Walker Master Blender. Crafting this blend is all about making the aromas more pronounced and vibrant, allowing us to shape a blend that has the depth of character which just isnt possible from one malt whisky alone.

Johnnie Walker Green Label will hit shelves in outlets as of the 1st of April, 2016. It may not have been gone all that long in the grand scheme of things, but now its re-joined the Johnnie Walker family for good and were glad to have it back.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Where does the Johnnie Walker Green Label fit in when it comes to the Johnnie Walker hierarchy? Above Double Black? Below Gold Label Reserve? On par with Platinum Label? I need to know so I can line the bottles up on my shelf accordingly!

Disrupt Your Feed

Ive been saving a bottle of the Johnnie Walker Green Label for a special occasion. News of its return seems like just the occasion Ive been waiting for, right?

Drop This Fact

Johnnie Walker Green Label began life in 1997 as Johnnie Walker Pure Malt and was sold in bottles with a green label. In 2005 it was rebranded as Johnnie Walker Green Label.
It's more than double the work at a suburban Chicago hospital where 13 sets of twins are in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Kate Eller, a spokeswoman for Advocate Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the 13 sets of twins in the unit as of Friday includes eight sets born since April 1.

The hospital's overall twin count has been even higher, but some babies have since gone home.

Dr. Brett Galley tells The Daily Southtown it has "been like Noah's Ark" with the babies coming in twos.

The hospital opened a new birthing center in January. Eller says 38 sets of twins have been born in 2016 with 15 sets born in March alone.

Oak Lawn is about 16 miles from Chicago.
A Wisconsin teacher who surprised the family of one of her students by volunteering to donate a kidney will soon make good on her promise, as the surgery has been set for April 27. Jodi Schmidt, a first-grade teacher at Oakfield Elementary School, surprised Natasha Fullers grandmother with the news in March.

In a recorded video Schmidt hands 8-year-old Fuller's grandmother, Chris Burleton, a pink box to open.

"I just wanted to give you a gift just for how hard you work just to keep her here because we really appreciate everything you do," Schmidt told Burleton.

As the grandmother opens the box she sees a message informing her that Schmidt was found to be a match for Fuller and immediately bursts into tears.

This WONDERFUL lady named Jodi Schmidt is a teacher at Natashas school...and she gave the best ever present to... Posted by Chris Burleton on Friday, March 4, 2016

"Here I thought I was coming to school because she was naughty," Bulerton said in the video.

Fuller, an identical twin, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease and prune belly syndrome before she was born. Her mother and eight siblings live in Oklahoma while Fuller lives in Wisconsin so she can receive dialysis three days per week at Milwaukee Childrens Hospital.

"It's been really hard," her mother, Kerri Cox, told KFDX.com. "We try to Skype as much as possible. Her and her twin, they send letters constantly and Skype."

Burleton posted an update on Facebook letting followers know that the surgery has been set for April 27.
Less than two weeks after the Cleveland Clinic performed the nations first uterus transplant, surgeons at the hospital revealed Friday that the organ had to be removed due to a fungal infection. On Monday, the patient, Lindsey McFarland, and her husband, Blake McFarland, said they were still coping with the failed surgery.

"There are days when I'm happy, and then there's days where I'm kind of mad, and then days where I'm sad," Lindsey, 26, told NBC News. "Everyone has said that that's normal."

Blake told the news station: "It's been really encouraging to see all the support from our family and from the doctors and nurses. The best experience about it is how much God has looked out for us."

On March 8, hours after doctors announced completion of the transplant at a press conference, Lindsey noticed bleeding from her incision and went into surgery. It was then that doctors discovered a fungal infection had stopped blood flow to the uterus and was causing life-threatening complications involving her artery. They had to remove the organ while she was still sedated.

Lindsey, who was born without a uterus, received the transplant on Feb. 24 and had appeared to be recovering well. When Lindsey awoke from surgery, doctors told her the news.

"It's going to be a while before I work through everything just because I had such high hopes," Lindsey told NBC News.

Lindsey is no longer eligible for another transplant due to a complication with her artery that caused loss of blood flow to her leg a week after the transplant removal.

"We would not proceed with another transplant until we have come up with a clear understanding of how this infection occurred and a clear solution to avoid it from happening [again]," OB-GYN surgeon Dr. Tammaso Falcone, chairman of the Cleveland Clinic Transplant Center, told NBC News.

The Lubbock, Texas, couple now have a new hope for having children Lindseys mother has offered to be a surrogate, using embyros via IVF.
Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace sat down with President Obama last week to discuss, among other things, the legal imbroglio over Hillary Clintons emails. As a journalist, I was fascinated by the political implications of the presidents defense of his former secretary of state. As a lawyer, I was stunned by his logic and reasoning which seemed, at times, tortured. Here are my five takeaways from the conversation which aired on Sunday.

1. PRESIDENT OBAMA SAID HE BELIEVES HILLARY CLINTON HAS NOT JEOPARDIZED AMERICAS NATIONAL SECURITY.

How does he know? He doesnt. He was speculating. Hackers may well have gained access to her unsecured server and we simply dont know it.

Hacking is often surreptitious. Many victims dont even know it when theyve been hacked. The Chinese, Russians and other adversaries have a long history of hacking to obtain American secrets. Which is exactly why unsecured servers are a risk to national security. So, Obamas claim is baseless and without real knowledge. No one, not even the president, knows every occasion when hackers succeed or fail.

2. OBAMA CLAIMED CLINTON NEVER INTENTIONALLY PUT AMERICA IN ANY KIND OF JEOPARDY.

In a court of law, that is not the issue. The question is not whether Clinton intended to put America at risk, but whether her actions were intentional and thereby put America at risk.

Clintons acts were clearly intentional. She intended to create a private server. She knew it was unsecured. She intended to retain classified materials on the server, and she proceeded to do so (with some 2,000 classified and 22 top secret documents).

Remember, knowingly storing classified information at an unauthorized location is a crime. (18 USC 1924)

3. OBAMA DESCRIBED CLINTONS ACTIONS AS CARELESS, AS IF THAT MAKES IT OKAY.

It is not okay under the law. Recklessness (or gross negligence) is sufficient to indict and convict, according to the statute and case law. The presidents use of the word careless is simply a synonym for reckless. While Obama was trying to exculpate Clinton, he was really inculpating or incriminating her by pronouncing her careless. From a legal standpoint, he actually hurt Clintons case.

4. OBAMA INSISTED HE WILL EXERT NO POLITICAL INFLUENCE ON THE FBI AND THE DOJ.

Yet, he did precisely that in the interview! He all but proclaimed Clintons innocence by offering his opinion that she did nothing legally wrong (that is, his repeated description of careless, not intentional).

Obama was too clever by half.

Presidents are not supposed to interfere directly with pending cases. So, what did Obama do? He interfered indirectly .

As president, he wields a huge megaphone. He shouted his desire to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey in a nationally televised interview. Of course they saw it and/or read about it. They now know what he wants them to do. The question iswill they do it?

5. CLINTONS DEFENSE IS NO DEFENSE AT ALL.

She claims some of her predecessors did the same thing. Incorrect. None of them had their own private, unsecured servers in their homes on which they conducted their business exclusively. Even if they did, Clintons defense is the equivalent of saying, its okay to rob banks because other people do it.

She also claims the materials were not marked classified. Thats utterly irrelevant under the statute. It is the content, not the markings, which make matters classified. Indeed, it doesnt matter if they are marked or unmarked.

If Clinton wants to claim she did not recognize the classified materials without the markings, then she would be arguing her own incompetence.

In a court of law, incompetence is not a defense.
Establishment Republicans may be able to stop Donald Trump from winning the partys nomination, but their stalking horse, Ted Cruz, is hardly a party favorite and could be denied at the Cleveland convention too.

Polls indicate all the mud throwing between Trump and Cruz has helped render both likely losers to Hillary Clinton. However, establishment Republicans have focused too much on who they could nominate and not enough on the critical issues their nominee must address to win the general election.

Clinton has staked out positions on free trade, health care, education and gender equity, and the GOP standard bearer will have to veer from traditional party positions on those issues to have any chance of winning.

Blind allegiance to free trade, internationally, is akin to denying the federal government a role in regulating markets and monopolies, domestically, to assure fair competition and efficient outcomes.

Three of our largest trading partnersChina, Japan and Germanyabuse their size to victimize smaller nations and American workers. Either the GOP gets on board with fixing currency manipulation and toughening up trade agreements, as Clinton has lately endorsed, or it is dead in the water. Simply, many of Trumps non-college educated supporters will sit out the election and hand victory to Clinton.

Americans cant compete without better access to skills-based education but Hillary Clintons proposal to make college freeincluding room and boardis absolute folly.

Experience teaches, when the federal government increases student aid, universities spend the additional money badly. Nowadays, 40 percent of college graduates lack the basic skills necessary for entry level white collar work.

Better to redirect much of what is spent on higher education toward vocational training and strictly condition aid on successful job placement. Also, impose student exit examinations on universities to qualify for federal aid and shut some second-tier institutions.

ObamaCare is a bust. Health insurance is still prohibitively expensive, even if you are willing to settle for a $5,000 deductible, and the federal and state websites are downright maddening. However, promising to bring back the regime of George W. Bush by repealing it and offering tax breaks and other subsidies wont wash with voters.

Trumps mussing about a British-style single payer system has no traction, but the Germans and Dutch pay much less for health care with private insurance systems that regulate markets differently, not more, than our system. The GOP should embrace those as a model for reform.

Gender is Hillarys trump card.

Many women, especially older women who were the victims of discrimination in their youth, believe a female president is needed to break down barriers even if those are now largely gone.

Currently, about 60 percent of the college degrees are granted to women and young women earn more than young men in many circumstances. The Economist newspaper, hardly a conservative mouthpiece, accuses Democrats of cynically distorting this issue to win elections.

The gender pay gap has many sourcesand subtle residual discrimination may be one factor but so are choices women make about career paths, hours worked and being with young children.

Clintons notion of a national version of the California Paycheck Fairness Act, which requires even the smallest businesses to justify all pay differences between men and women to government supervisors, would be a bureaucratic nightmare and compliance costs would lower wages generally.

A better solution would be to mandate that businesses publish the compensation of all employeestransparency is the best antidote to latent discrimination.

These are radical ideas for Republicans to embrace but leveling the playing field in markets, looking for more cost effective solutions when domestic industries are inefficient, and laying bare remaining wage discrimination would promote economic growth.

In case establishment Republicans havent heard, those are key performance metrics for conservative policies and would improve opportunities and fairness for all Americans.
As Donald Trump ratchets up his complaints about the Republican nominating process  one he enthusiastically joined last June  the uncertainty in the tightening battle between him and Ted Cruz is kicking up renewed speculation about the possibility of alternative candidates entering the fray.

The latest name surfacing as a late-entry 2016 presidential bid is retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, former commander of Central Command. The Daily Beast published a lengthy report last week on an effort by a group of conservative billionaire donors to convince Mattis to consider an independent run.

According to the report, nearly a dozen donors are ready to back Mattis financially, and already are working with political operatives to draft strategy memos  which apparently have been delivered to the colorful and blunt-spoken retired general himself.

Mattis, though, recently told The Daily Caller the speculation is just idle talk.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also recently flirted with mounting an independent bid, only to decide against it in the end. Former GOP nominee Mitt Romney, too, decided more than a year ago against running this time around despite insider pressure, though his very public anti-Trump efforts have kept him in the political public eye. Libertarian and other third-party candidates like former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson continue to float their own names as alternatives in November for disaffected voters.

Then theres House Speaker Paul Ryan, who says hes not interested in being the GOP nominee but is frequently floated as someone who could be a consensus pick at the July convention.

The New York Times reported over the weekend on Ryans efforts staying in the public eye, including a video set to campaign-style music bemoaning the state of politics.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said last week that speculation surrounding Ryan is natural, calling him one of the great leaders on Capitol Hill who brings both sides together.

However, its one thing for someone like Mattis to mount an independent run. Its another for Republicans to nominate at their convention a politician who did not compete in the primaries and caucuses  a move that could sow discord in the party nationally and with voters who backed both Trump and Cruz in the nominating process so far. Trump also has repeatedly threatened to mount an independent bid of his own.

Further, a big hurdle to Paul Ryan or any other outside figure would be a 2012-era rule that states a candidate for the nomination must get the support of a majority of delegates in at least eight states.

The rule could be changed -- but unless it is, it would appear to rule out the consideration of outside candidates, or even Ohio Gov. John Kasich if he doesnt go on a winning streak soon.

Some analysts say despite the chatter about a non-candidate swooping in to secure the nomination in Cleveland, the party will ultimately have to choose between Trump and Cruz, who by far have won the most delegates. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently argued theres no chance Trump or Cruz would allow convention rules to be changed so someone else can be considered.

Mattis has actually batted down the chatter about a possible independent run for months. Last year, he told the Marine Corps Times its time for younger people, especially veterans, to run for office.

But no amount of pushback appears to be quieting that speculation. John Noonan, a former Jeb Bush aide involved in the draft Mattis effort, recently tweeted that Mattis can save us from Trumpand Clinton.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has been railing against the complex delegate allocation process that Cruzs campaign lately has dominated. Most recently in Colorado, the Cruz campaign swept the states 34 delegates. The state did not hold a traditional primary or caucus but a state convention to determine delegates. Cruz succeeded in getting his allies on the delegate slate.

Speaking to thousands in western New York, Trump argued anew that the person who wins the most votes in the primary process should be the GOP nominee.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump said.

Trump senior policy adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News on Monday that Cruz effectively won a voter-less election.

Cruz performs better with party insiders. Trump performs better with voters, he said.

Despite the complaints, Cruz came out ahead in Colorado after dedicating resources to the convention process and putting in personal face time on the day of the final vote, something Trump did not do. On Twitter, the Colorado GOP retweeted a message, saying: You may not like CO's caucus system, but it's representative, and claiming delegates were 'stolen' insults the Republicans who participated.

Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier also retweeted a message saying the rules were publicly available for months to people who know how to read and understand words.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CIA Director John Brennan has said that his spy agency will not use controversial interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, even if ordered to do so by a future president.

Brennan made the remarks in an interview with NBC News released Sunday.

"I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure," he said. Brennan later added that he would "not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again."

President Barack Obama banned waterboarding shortly after taking office in 2009. However, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly promised that he would revive the practice if elected.

At a Republican debate in New Hampshire this past February, Trump said he would "bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding", an interrogation technique in which a detainee is made to feel that he is drowning.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's greatest rival for the GOP nomination, said at that same debate that he would not make "widespread use" of the practice, but added that he did not believe the practice amounted to torture.

In December 2014, Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report claiming the interrogation methods used by the CIA in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were "brutal and far worse" than the agency had represented to lawmakers.

The report alleged that the agency had tortured several suspected Al Qaeda detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia. CIA officials claimed at the time that the interrogation methods produced valuable and actionable intelligence, including information that led U.S. forces to the whereabouts of Usama bin Laden in 2011.

That assessment was echoed by Brennan himself in his response to the report, which read in part, "The intelligence gained from the program was critical to our understanding of Al Qaeda and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day."

However, during his confirmation hearings to be CIA director in February 2013, Brennan said the intelligence committee's report "raises serious questions about the information that I was given" about the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques.

Brennan later added, "I do not know what the truth is."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Duane Ramsdell Clarridge, a legendary CIA officer who established the agencys counterterrorism center, died Saturday due to complications from throat cancer. He was 83.

Born in Nashua, N.H., in 1932, Clarridges 33-year career included a stint in the early 80s as the chief of the CIAs Latin America Division, where he directed the operations of the Nicaraguan Resistance, along with other major intelligence and security programs in Central America and the Caribbean.

After two years as the head of the European Division, Clarridge -- known by his nickname Dewey -- was chosen in 1986 to organize and direct the Counterrorist Center, authorized by President Reagan to penetrate and destroy international terrorist groups.

The center, under his guidance, paired CIA agents with intelligence and tech specialists in order to better combat the growing threat of terrorism.

Most importantly, the model originally established by Mr. Clarridge remains the centerpiece of the United States operations today globally against Islamic extremist terrorist groups," CIA colleague Charlie Allen said in a statement.

He retired in 1988 and in 1991 was indicted over the Iran-Contra affair. When asked why he was wearing a World War II British SAS battle jacket to a court appearance, he replied because Im going to a war I intend to win. He was later pardoned along with five others by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

After he retired, he set up the Clarridge Eclipse Network, which provided a constant flow of information on the threat to U.S. personnel and facilities in the Middle East. The Eclipse Network confirmed Usama bin Ladens base in Pakistan, helped locate and rescue hostages and found evidence of Saddam Husseins weapons research in Iraq.

In November, he dealt a serious blow to former neurosurgeon Ben Carsons presidential campaign. As an adviser to Carson on terrorism and national security, he told The New York Times in November: Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East. He also called for Carson to have weekly meetings so we can make him smart.

Clarridge is survived by his wife, three children and five grandchildren.

Fox News Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.
The head of the Transportation Security Administration appeared to acknowledge in a recent Capitol Hill hearing that only three U.S. airports require employees to go through screening checks before coming to work, even after reports surfaced that dozens of airport workers have potential terror ties.

TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger was asked about the checks at a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing on Wednesday.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said only Miami, Atlanta and Orlando require staff to undergo badge checks and screening, and asked: What about the rest of the 297 airports?

Neffenger, not disputing Nelson's characterization, acknowledged he had "exactly the same question," while saying they're in the process of improving security.

Nelson, in asking about the protocols, cited increased security measures at the Atlanta airport after authorities broke up a gun smuggling ring in 2014. Prosecutors allege Delta Air workers smuggled guns, including an AK-47, from Atlanta to New York.

Neffenger called the 2014 incident "a wake-up call for America," saying the agency has taken steps to increase worker security across the U.S. Judicial Watch reported that the TSA chief said the nations airports will provide a report by the end of the month on vulnerabilities. Judicial Watch also noted, though, that a 2015 advisory committee study said it would be too expensive for most airports to screen industry employees every day.

Nelson was not satisfied with Neffenger's answer.

"That is an insufficient answer in a problem that has been begging now for two years. And the only person that is going to get the airports ... to limit the access into the airports is going to be you and your administration," he said.

The revelation comes shortly after a dozen employees at three U.S. airports were identified as having potential ties to terrorists, according to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by FOX 25s Washington Bureau.

FOIA requests identified two employees at Logan International Airport in Boston, Mass., four employees at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia and six employees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington.

But those 12 workers are just a fraction of 73 private employees at airports across the nation flagged for potential ties to terror in a June 2015 report from the Homeland Security Inspector Generals Office.

The 2015 report did not reveal where the 73 workers were employed.

Concerns about airport security in relation to employees were heightened after a terrorist, believed to have been a baggage handler, smuggled a bomb onto an aircraft at Egypts Sharm-el-Sheikh airport in October -- 224 people were killed when the bomb detonated shortly after takeoff.
Top Obama administration health officials sounded a dire warning Monday about the spread of the Zika virus as the spring and summer months approach, saying the number of states where one Zika-spreading mosquito is known to live has more than doubled -- a warning that comes amid a funding battle on Capitol Hill.

Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

She said a Zika-carrying mosquito is now present in about 30 states, up from 12, while also confirming that the virus  which has been linked to birth defects  can be transmitted sexually as well as through mosquito bites. And she said the virus is now linked to a broader set of complications in pregnancy than first thought.

The warnings -- delivered by Schuchat and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci  came amid another funding dispute between the Obama administration and Congress. The administration last week announced that money left over from the fight against Ebola would go to combating the Zika virus, as President Obama seeks a larger amount in emergency funding which has not yet been approved in Congress.

House Speaker Paul Ryans office, in response to the briefing on Monday, accused the White House of trying to politicize the Zika virus while stressing that funding requests should go through the normal appropriations process.

For now, the decision to divert Ebola money will free up about $589 million, mostly for CDC research on the virus and Zika-related birth defects, as well as the creation of response teams to limit its spread. The National Institutes of Health will continue research into a vaccine and the U.S. Agency for International Development would intensify efforts to fight the virus overseas.

The briefing at the White House on Monday amounted to an alarm bell about the growing risk of the virus.

Schuchat said that not only is a key virus-spreading mosquito now present in about 30 states, but the virus is likely to be a problem at much of the pregnancy period.

And she said they are very concerned about Puerto Rico, where the virus is spreading throughout the island. She said there could be hundreds of thousands of cases and perhaps hundreds of affected babies, while saying theyre not waiting for additional money to act, either.

This is a very, very unusual virus that we cant even pretend that we know everything about, said Fauci, who also said they will probably have the first vaccine candidate ready to start in September.

Obama has asked for a total of about $1.9 billion in emergency money to fight Zika, though the request has stalled in the GOP-controlled Congress. White House budget chief Shaun Donovan and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said on a conference call with reporters last week that the administration still needs the full request to fight both Zika and maintain vigilance on Ebola.

Burwell said at the time there were 672 confirmed cases in U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and the United States, including 64 pregnant women. Zika can also be transmitted through sexual contact and it's estimated that 40 million people will travel between the U.S. and countries with Zika outbreaks.

Republicans on Capitol Hill had suggested the administration consider reshuffling existing funds -- which they have since done -- and have said they are open to paying the money back in future legislation if it's needed for Ebola or some other purposes.

Action on a stand-alone emergency spending bill seems improbable in the bitterly partisan atmosphere in Washington, though such funding could be attached to larger legislation later in the year. At the same time, both the White House and top Republicans have tried to work cooperatively despite the difficult environment.

"I told the White House I'd be supportive of a supplemental if they could show me where the money goes and what it could do," said Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate subcommittee responsible for foreign aid.

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the administration's moves are just "a temporary Band-Aid."

"It is inexcusable that the Republican majority's failure to consider emergency supplemental funding to respond to the Zika virus, forced the administration to redirect funding that is still needed to monitor and respond to the potential re-emergence of the deadly Ebola virus," Lowey said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Steve Williams, one of three Democrats vying to unseat U.S. Rep. John Katko, had a busy March.

He had to collect signatures to get on the June 28 primary ballot. And he continued to raise money that will support his campaign  he hopes  over the next several months.

"We're working hard every day to raise money, and it's going well," he said. "I'm real happy. We don't have any polls or anything like that. But from where I sit, I'm happy and optimistic."

Williams, D-Baldwinsville, talked to The Citizen in March and discussed a range of issues, including a recent exchange over his support for paid family leave and how to best address poverty in central New York.

Here is the Q&A with Williams:

The Citizen: One of your primary opponents, Colleen Deacon, came out and criticized you for supposedly not supporting paid leave. She said you were siding with Republicans. What did you make of that attack?

Williams: What she said was just a complete lie and there was no basis or foundation for it whatsoever. I'm a little surprised that that's how she's chosen to run her campaign by simply issuing press releases that includes lies about her opponent. The fact is, and she knows this, I totally support the idea of paid family medical leave. In fact, I support the FAMILY Act (a bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Deacon's former boss) itself. There are a lot of plans out there. I've given them all consideration and I think the FAMILY Act is the best one. Hillary's got a proposed plan. California's got a plan. New York state's got a proposed plan. (Note: This interview occurred before the state approved the 2016-17 budget, which included the establishment a paid leave program.) I think the best one on the table right now is the FAMILY Act.

I was really, really angry about that press release. It was a lie, it was completely false and I'm discouraged about how she and her campaign are moving forward on this kind of thing.

The Citizen: Your potential general election opponent, Congressman John Katko, has come against any sort of federal government paid leave program and instead proposed the creation of optional private savings accounts. Why do you think this federal paid leave plan is necessary?

Williams: I think John Katko's proposal is a complete joke, and he knows that. If people had enough to set aside money for these kinds of events, we wouldn't even be talking about this. Quite frankly, his proposal is really just another tax break for the rich. People who can afford to save for these types of events will set aside that money and get a tax break, whereas the working class folks and the middle class who can't afford to save for these kinds of events will not be able to take advantage of that tax break.

It has to be something where everybody pitches in just a little bit so on the occasion where somebody needs it there will be enough money there for somebody to take that leave. I think it's very important to have a program like that because we know, in today's economy, the economy's not the same as it was in the 1960s and 1970s, where folks get good paying jobs with great benefits. Those days are gone because those kinds of jobs have been shipped overseas. So now we have an economy where the bulk of Americans work at minimum wage and service-oriented jobs so when they have an unexpected health problem that requires family leave or a pregnancy, they can't afford to live because they have to leave their job and go without pay. That's unacceptable. We need to make an adjustment for that. The FAMILY Act is the correct adjustment we need to take. It requires the employee to contribute, along with the employer, a modest amount. If everybody does that there will be enough there for folks who need to take advantage of the program.

The Citizen: What are three things we need to do to address poverty throughout this district?

Williams: The number one thing we need to do is we need to create jobs. I know that's a nice catchphrase, but I have meaningful ideas about how to do it. For example, we need to combat these free trade agreements with countries that intentionally manipulate the value of their currency down to prevent further jobs from going overseas. Because that's, quite frankly, why we've lost good jobs in this area.

We need to connect our universities with our largest employers. We know who the largest employers in the district are and we know the jobs that they need to fill. So what we need to do is have those employers tell the local community colleges and universities what courses of study folks need to take in order to get those jobs. If we do that, we will help a lot of people become employed. We need to also attract future jobs and we're seeing an effort to that by (Gov. Andrew Cuomo) and I applaud that.

We need to find a way to provide affordable public transportation for people who want to work. Because let's face it: People who have been unemployed for a long time don't have a car. They can't afford the payment. They can't afford the insurance. They can't afford the registration. So we need to make sure that they have affordable public transportation. How do we do that? We fight for funding for public transportation in the (federal transportation bill) so that there will be enough bus routes for people to get to work and there will be enough bus runs  in other words, frequency of routes  so that people can get to and from work. And we also need to help people find affordable child care. If you're poor and you want to go to work, in all likelihood you're not going to be able to afford day care. And there are programs out there that are designed to do that now that need to be bolstered. For example, the Child Care Development Block Grant is a grant that provides funding for day care for low-income people who have children ages 13 and below. People can't work unless they have somebody or some place to take care of their kids.

We're going to fight to raise the minimum wage. If we raise the minimum wage that will do a lot to alleviate poverty in this district. If somebody works full-time at minimum wage in this district, they're still considered impoverished and eligible for public assistance. If we raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, people will no longer be considered impoverished, and that's a good thing. Number one, it gets them off public assistance and that raises the soul of the community because people become self-reliant. And it reduces taxes on small businesses because fewer people are receiving public assistance.

Lastly, we need to invest in education  of course I mean our high schools and our colleges. But I also mean we need to invest in skill-based training. People want to gain the skills necessary to obtain employment in this district and there are other opportunities, but they simply need to get the skills. We need to make that happen.

The Citizen: If elected to Congress, what will you do to promote openness and relay information to your constituents? What ideas do you have to establish a more transparent congressional office?

Williams: When I'm elected I'm going to make it as easy as possible for any constituent to communicate with me. We're, of course, going to use the digital age. We're going to have a very interactive website. It's going to allow people to comment on proposed legislation. I'm going to include links to proposed bills and I think that's important because so many times we hear pundits on the radio comment on proposed legislation and they summarize it in a sentence or two that's favorable to their point of view. When if somebody had an opportunity to read the actual bill they would feel entirely differently about whether they're for it or against it or their position. I think it's important that we allow people to actually read proposed legislation. Also, we're going to conduct town halls on a regular basis, not only live, but also digitally and by telephone because not everybody can be at a town hall.

Moving forward, I really think an important issue with regard to transparency is campaign finance reform. As you probably know in today's day and age, the electorate doesn't know who's funding campaigns and that is totally unacceptable. There is no way any campaign should be funded and the electorate not know who's funding it. Totally unacceptable. You see it with super PACs that accept money from anonymous donors. You see it even with PACs, where you don't know who's giving the money to the PACs. You see outside spending on campaigns  outside the candidate's spending  and we can't identify who those outside contributors are. All of that is unacceptable. Financing of campaigns should be completely transparent and we need to fight for that. That's very important.

I think we need to take a close look at the Freedom of Information Act. I remember when I was an attorney in the Navy I was the FOIA officer for my command. I know that there are strict rules with regard to an agency responding to a request. But I also know that many agencies ignore those rules. For example, I seem to recall that if you make a FOIA request, the agency must respond within 30 days. They must tell you they're not going to give you the stuff and why or they must give it to you within 30 days. And often times, they don't respond at all. There needs to be a consequence for that failure to respond, because too many agencies simply don't respond by the deadline, they ignore the request and they force folks like you  and just the citizens in general  they force them to have to take these agencies to court to get the information they want, the information they're entitled to and the information that the agency is supposed to divulge under FOIA. And that's simply too onerous an action for folks to have to take to get documents they're entitled to. So we need to take a close look at the Freedom of Information Act and make sure that these agencies are responding the way they should.
The pundits are having a field day beating up on Bill Clinton.

Hes off message, they say. Hes lost it. Hes trapped in the past. Hes hurting her campaign.

Heres a contrary view: The former president did something the other day that his wife should do more of.

He was being heckled in Philadelphia by protestors from Black Lives Matter, and he decided to fight back.

Terrible idea, many commentators said. His wife is trying to get African-American votes. Whats he doing alienating a Democratic constituency group?

Fire Bill Clinton, demands Slate columnist Michelle Goldberg.

I wonder if theres a part of Bill Clinton that doesn't really want Hillary Clinton to become president, particularly if she has to distance herself from his legacy to do so. How else to explain why one of the worlds most talented and agile politicians is so consistently flat-footed and destructive when advocating on his wifes behalf?

What Clinton did was seize the moment, deliver an emotional response and tell a group of agitators something they didnt want to hear.

Thats quite a contrast with the cautious candidate, whose public utterances seem so calculating and who rarely if ever challenges her supporters.

First, the back story. In 1994, when violent crime was a major issue, Clinton pushed through legislation that imposed harsher sentencing guidelines and provided funding for more prisons and for more police officers on the street. This was popular at the time--but has since been blamed for an explosion in incarceration that is a liability in the 2016 Democratic primaries.

Hillary Clinton vowed to reverse many of these policies last year, saying it is time to end the era of mass incarceration. And thats fine: no reason she should be bound by what the 42nd president did more than two decades ago.

Her husband went along, saying the crime bill was a compromise that cast too wide a net and that we have too many people in prison.

Earlier this year, a black activist confronted Hillary about a comment she made about some hardened young criminals in 1996: They are often the kinds of kids that are called 'super-predators.' No conscience, no empathy, we can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel.

Clinton told the Washington Post after that meeting that she regretted having used those words.

But in Philadelphia last week, faced with such signs as Hillary is a murderer, Bill Clinton angrily defended his wifes 20-year-old characterization.

I dont know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African-American children. Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She didntYou are defending the people who kill the people whose lives you say matter!

Of course, Clinton also defended his legislation for slashing the crime rate, so maybe he was getting defensive about his administrations record.

Still, it was a moment. Not unlike the Sister Souljah moment in 1992, when candidate Clinton took on a black rapper over her violent lyrics about killing white people.

A day later, he must have been told his scolding of the protestors was not playing well. I almost want to apologize for it, he said. "I rather vigorously defended my wife, as I am wont to do, and I realized, finally, I was talking past [the protester] the way she was talking past me.

Hillary Clinton endorsed that conciliatory language on CNN yesterday.

Its true that 42 hasnt been a great asset for the woman he hopes will become 45. I saw them in New Hampshire and he appeared wan and low key, lacking the magic of old.

But whether you agree with the Clinton crime policies or not, what troubles me is the way most of the pundits saw his cardinal sin as going off script. Maybe he was right, maybe he was wrong. But sometimes its worth going off script for something you believe in.
Republican front-runner Donald Trump took a new round of shots at the GOP's nominating process Sunday, while his newly-hired convention manager Paul Manafort accused Trump's rival Ted Cruz of using "gestapo tactics" to earn delegate support at nominating conventions across the country.

Speaking to thousands packed in a frigid airport hangar in western New York, Trump argued anew that the person who wins the most votes in the primary process should automatically be the GOP nominee.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump said. The real estate mogul compared himself to Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, who is well behind Hillary Clinton in that party's delegate race despite a string of state wins.

"We should have won it a long time ago," Trump said. "But, you know, we keep losing where we're winning."

Trump was introduced at the rally by Buffalo real estate developer and 2010 New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, who said that talk of a brokered Republican convention "suggests that they can take that right away from the American people to choose their leader."

Manafort, a veteran GOP strategist who worked on White House campaigns for President Gerald Ford in 1976 and Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in 1996, told NBC's "Meet The Press" that the Cruz campaign was using a "scorched earth" approach in which "they don't care about the party. If they don't get what they want, they blow it up."

Manafort added that the Trump campaign is filing protests because the Cruz campaign is "not playing by the rules.

You go to his county conventions and you see the gestapo tactics," he said.



Trump has a 743-to-545 delegate lead over the Texas senator, with the end of the primary/caucus season fast approaching. Over the weekend, Cruz completed his sweep of Colorado's 34 delegates by locking up the remaining 13 at the party's state convention in Colorado Springs. He already had collected 21 delegates and visited the state to try to pad his numbers there.

Cruz came out ahead in the Colorado contest, though, after dedicating resources to the convention process and putting in personal face time on the day of the final vote, something Trump did not do. The Trump campaigns flyers in Colorado naming their preferred delegates were also riddled with errors. While Trump aides blamed the state party for giving them bad information, the party pushed back.

And on Twitter, the Colorado GOP retweeted a message, saying: You may not like CO's caucus system, but it's representative, and claiming delegates were 'stolen' insults the Republicans who participated.

Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier also retweeted a message saying the rules were publicly available for months to people who know how to read and understand words.

Polls show Trump holding a sizable lead in the next big state contest, New York's April 19 primary, but Cruz is trying to chip away at Trump's home-state advantage in conservative pockets of the Empire State.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is third with 143 delegates, behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who ended his campaign March 15 with 171 committed delegates.

Manafort insisted Sunday that hes still connected enough to wrangle delegates.

"You would be surprised who's been calling me over the last week and where they're from," he said. "Do I know the 25-, 30-year-old delegates? No. Do I know the people who push buttons in a lot of these states? Yes."

However, Manafort made clear the Trump campaign wont use strong-arm tactics.

Thats not my style, he told NBC. Thats not Donald Trumps style. Thats Ted Cruzs style.

Manafort also dismissed the notion that the Trump campaign has missed opportunities to get delegates through insider tactics and boasted that Cruz has and will continue to lose that way.

He said the Trump campaign has gotten all of the committee spots in Alabama and that it wiped [Cruz] out" in a similar effort in Michigan.

Youre going to see Ted Cruz get skunked in Nevada, Manafort added.

Manafort made clear the race to get 1,237 delegates will likely extend until early June, which includes Californias GOP primary, with 172 delegates, and the New Jersey primary with 51 at stake.

Im confident there are several ways to get to 1,237, he said.

Trump would need to win nearly 60 percent of all the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before this summer's convention in Cleveland. So far, he's winning about 45 percent.

Manafort insisted being hired by the Trump campaign was not a shakeup, particularly amid Cruzs come-from-behind win last week in Wisconsin.

He argued the campaign season is entering its end stages and that Trump must move from the free-wheeling, free-media style that made the first-time candidate the GOP presidential front-runner.

Donald Trump has recognized that, Manafort said, while arguing Trump still runs the campaign.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A multinational team of researchers set out to settle what has oddly been a longstanding dispute in scientific circles: whether, in Moby Dick-esque fashion, sperm whales could use their heads to bash seagoing vessels.

And it seems that Herman Melville got it right. Writing in the journal PeerJ, researchers concluded that a part of a sperm whale's head "evolved to function as a massive battering ram during male-male competition." The idea has been "highly controversial" because skeptics say such collisions would damage sensitive organs inside the whale's head, but in a press release, the researchers say connective tissue "may function as a shock absorber." The researchers, who hail from Australia, the US, England, and Japan, didn't determine whether the whales actually butt heads or ram boats, the Washington Post notes, only that they couldand live to fight another day.

Four incidents occurred between 1820 and 1902 in which sperm whales reportedly rammed whaling ships, according to Tech Times, and one of them inspired Melville to write Moby Dick.

The sperm whale's forehead"one of the strangest structures in the animal kingdom," per the study's lead authoris home to what is called the spermaceti organ (which is filled with oil) and something called the junk sac.

It has been established that the junk sac helps with echolocation. This new research, based on simulated whale crash tests, concludes that it can also be used as a weapon.

The idea is further supported by the fact that the exterior of the junk is often scarred, per the study. "So there you have it, aspiring whalers," the Post writes.

"The Moby Dicks out there are well-prepared to take you on." (An ancient white whale was discovered in the depths of the Smithsonian.)

This article originally appeared on Newser: Scientists Answer Weird Question About Moby Dick

More From Newser
Drones are opening up a world of new possibilities for consumers. They may have started off as aerial cameras, but now, as the technology has matured, they're finding applications far outside the realm of photography. Nowadays we've got drones that deliver goods, fight deforestation, and even patrol our coastlines to warn swimmers of nearby sharks -- but this is just the beginning. In the not so distant future, drones will also be used to save lives.

Staring very soon, DJI, the world's largest drone manufacturer, will be supplying drones to the European Emergency Number Association for use in high-impact situations like rescue missions -- a deal that could fundamentally change the way first responders operate.

Related: Dubai's Waste Management Department will soon use drones to catch litterbugs

"Drones are transforming the way first response and civil protection missions operate by not only helping commanders make faster, smarter and better informed decisions, but also by providing first responders with more detailed information from an aerial perspective," said Romeo Durscher, director of education at DJI, in a statement.

The partnership will involve the use of DJI's Phantom, Inspire, and Matrice 100 drones, which will be equipped with the company's Zenmuse XT thermal imaging system. Pilot programs will begin in May and September in Denmark and Ireland.

In the Denmark pilot program, the Greater Copenhagen Fire Department will be trained to use drones for things like firefighting, chemical accidents, and car accidents. The Irish Donegal Mountain Rescue Team is already using DJI-built software to coordinate rescue missions, however going forward they will also be working on improving real-time networking techniques and crowd-sourcing capabilities.

The program could open the door for other teams to incorporate drones into how they operate. At the end of the pilot programs, teams will "share insights and best practices with the broader international emergency-response community to promote the safe integration of drones in emergency situations," according to the statement.

The EENA has representatives from over 1,200 emergency services in 80 countries, so it's certainly well-positioned to implement drone use for emergency situations around Europe.

Also watch: We talk to Ford's Ken Washington about connectivity, cars, and drones at CES
NASA engineers have successfully recovered the Kepler spacecraft from emergency mode, the space agency announced Monday.

The spacecraft, which is nearly 75 million miles away and responsible for detecting nearly 5,000 planets outside our solar system  slipped into emergency mode sometime last week. The last regular contact was April 4.

The mission has now cancelled the spacecraft emergency, which was Keplers first during its seven years in space.

Related: NASA races to save planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft

On Sunday morning, the spacecraft reached a stable state with the communication antenna pointed toward Earth, enabling telemetry and historical event data to be downloaded to the ground, explained Charlie Sobeck, Kepler and K2 mission manager at NASA's Ames Research Center, in a statement. The spacecraft is operating in its lowest fuel-burn mode.

With the cancellation of the Kepler emergency, NASAs Deep Space Network ground communications have been returned to normal scheduling.

Launched in 2009, the spacecraft completed its primary mission in 2012. Despite repeated breakdowns, Kepler kept going on an extended mission dubbed K2.

Related: Saturn probe unaffected by hypothetical Planet Nine, NASA says

NASA explained Monday that once data is on the ground, experts will assess all on board systems to ensure the spacecraft is healthy enough to return to science mode and begin Campaign 9, a Kepler K2 mission to study exoplanets. This checkout is anticipated to continue through the week, said Sobeck.

Earth-based observatories participating in Campaign 9 will continue to make observations as Kepler's health check continues, Sobeck added. The K2 observing opportunity for Campaign 9 will end on July 1, when the galactic center is no longer in view from the vantage point of the spacecraft.

NASA said that the emergency mode began approximately 14 hours before a planned maneuver to orient Kepler toward the center of the Milky Way for Campaign 9. The team has therefore ruled out the maneuver and the reaction wheels as possible causes of the EM event, added Sobeck. An investigation into what caused the event will be pursued in parallel, with a priority on returning the spacecraft to science operations.

Related: Saturn is absolutely gorgeous in this photo from NASA's Cassini probe

More than 1,000 of Kepler's detected 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed to date, according to NASA.

Kepler is named after the 17th century German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Luxury cruise line Ponant has been granted approval to bring Americans to Cuba starting early 2017.

The French cruise line is the second cruise company that has been given permission from the Cuban government in the past month. Carnivals Fathoma new brand focused on voluntourism and cultural experienceswas granted permission March 21.

Unlike Fathoms excursions, which sail directly from the U.S., Ponant will fly guests from Miami to Havana, where they will board the intimate 64-passenger sailing yacht Le Ponant for seven- or eight-night itineraries, reports the Miami Herald.

"Ponant has been introducing Europeans to Cuba in the past and we are now delighted to offer Americans this enriching opportunity," said Navin Sawhney, CEO of the Americas for Ponant.

Non-Cuban born Americans are eligible to participate in people-to-people exchange trips as one of the 12 designated visa categories that allow American travel to Cuba. But people born in Cuba who are now U.S. citizens are ineligible for cultural exchange visas

Cruise Critic reports that a third cruise line, Pearl Seas Cruises, is currently selling cruises to Cuba from Fort Lauderdalebut has not officialy announced whether the Cuban government has approved the itinerary. The cruise line has since been forced to cancel the first two planned sailings. But if youve already made it to Cuba, U.S.-owned International Expeditions runs people-to-people cruises out of Havana for American visitors.

Ponant will start operating Cuban excursions from early January 2017 through April 2017. Stops include Havana, Isla de la Juventud, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and Santiago de Cuba. The trip starts at $8,190 per person, including airfare.
A man has been released from a Virginia prison after serving more than three decades for crimes authorities now say he didn't commit.

Keith Allen Harward walked out of the Nottoway Correctional Center on Friday after the Virginia Supreme Court agreed that DNA evidence proves he's innocent of the 1982 killing of Jesse Perron and the rape of his wife in Newport News.

Harward was a sailor on the USS Carl Vinson, which was stationed close to the victims' home. The prosecution in Harward's case leaned heavily on the testimony of two experts, who said Harward's teeth matched bite marks on the woman's leg.

Virginia's attorney general says the DNA evidence implicated Jerry L. Crotty, a former shipmate of Harward's who died in an Ohio prison in June 2006.
On any given Friday morning, Tom Watko arrives at the food pantry in Whitesburg, Kentucky, to pack boxes of canned vegetables and frozen chicken legs for the residents already waiting in line outside the door.

The Letcher County Food Pantry, a non-profit that was established with money from a legal settlement after a mining disaster 40 years ago, is one of the few places in the central Appalachian county attracting customers.

Whitesburg has become the poster child for the war on coal.

"Coal was our golden egg and it just no longer exists and people are struggling to make ends meet," said James Craft, Whitesburg's mayor for the past 10 years.

"The impact has been absolutely devastating, with no discernible method of income for most of the people," Craft told FoxNews.com. "We desperately need some infusion from the federal government."

Of the 24,000 people who live in Letcher County, only 100 still work in coal-related jobs, according to county officials. Nearly 30 years ago, there were more than 1,700.

Coal jobs in Kentucky and West Virginia have been on the decline for decades -- long before President Obama took office. According to data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the two states together have lost 38,000 coal jobs since 1983.

But job losses in recent years have been especially staggering, the result of tighter regulatory policies and cheaper power plant fuels, like natural gas.

In Letcher County, the unemployment rate stands at 13.4 percent -- the fifth-highest county in the state. The highest unemployment rate is in Magoffin County, at 21.6 percent, followed by Leslie County, with 13.7 percent.

The unemployment rate statewide is 5.8 percent, making Kentucky tied for the sixth highest jobless rate in the country. One year ago, Kentucky's unemployment rate was 5.3 percent, and has risen over the past six months. It is currently one of 16 states with a jobless rate above the national average.

While unemployment in some Kentucky counties is staggering, local law enforcement officials say the crime rate hasn't significantly increased, in part, because many of the jobless are leaving.

"Our population is dropping and people are going to other places to get jobs," Letcher County Sheriff Danny Webb told FoxNews.com.

Mayor Craft said Whitesburg -- a small city with a population of about 2,140 -- is trying to redefine itself with tourism.

"Were making us a destination," Craft said, noting the Appalshop, a multi-disciplinary arts and education center founded in 1969 that produces original films, theater and music, as well as the opening of the "only moonshine distillery east of Lexington."

Craft also expressed optimism over a 1,200-inmate maximum security prison he said the federal govermnent plans to build in Letcher County -- ironically, on a former mining site. Construction on the $444 million project is expected to begin in two years, and is expected to create 300 full-time jobs -- along with new much-needed revenue streams.

At the Letcher County Food Pantry, meanwhile, a steady stream of people file into the small, white, four-room home every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to pick up the food basics that many can't afford to buy.

"We try to give them nutritional stuff," said Tom Watko, a 71-year-old retired safety officer who works with 15 other volunteers to provide meals for more than 1,000 people a month.

The food pantry was opened in 1982, with money from a legal settlement after the Scotia mine disaster of 1976 -- one of the worst in the state's history. The pantry operates entirely on private donations, including contributions from corporate giants like Walmart.

"Weve seen as many as 80 people in one day," Watko said, as he detailed the food box contents for the day: canned vegetables, cereal, spaghetti and marinara sauce and drinks.

"People here were once making very good money -- anywhere from 24 to 25 [dollars] an hour -- down to basically nothing," he said. "These families are really hurting."

Cristina Corbin is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaCorbin.
Ethan Couch, the Texas teenager caught in Mexico after using an "affluenza" defense in a deadly drunken-driving wreck, turned 19 on Monday, days before he's set to make his first appearance in adult court.

His birthday automatically triggers stricter probation conditions, WFAA reports. Couch is currently behind bars for violating his probation by escaping to Mexico, and he's set to face a judge in adult court Wednesday.

Authorities say they believe Couch and his mother fled to Mexico as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he may have violated his probation in the drunken-driving case. The crash killed four people and left nine others hurt.

Couch was 16 at the time of the wreck in 2013.

Officials in Mexico caught Couch and his mother, Tonya, in December, and eventually deported both to the U.S.

The mother, 48, was released on bond with a GPS monitor. She's charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon.

Ethan Couch will appear Wednesday before a Fort Worth judge who could order more jail time as part of the conditions of his adult probation. Prosecutors and court officials declined Tuesday to confirm the nature of the hearing.

Couch's blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit for adult drivers when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people trying to help a stranded driver on the side of a road near Fort Worth. The probation sentence handed down by a juvenile court judge outraged prosecutors, who had called for him to serve detention time.

Affluenza is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation during Couch's trial provoked a backlash from some medical experts and families of the dead. His legal team had claimed he was too young and affluent to understand right from wrong.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A man who originally pleaded not guilty to starting a massive fire two years ago has now admitted he ignited the blaze that burned 80 structures in Northern California.

Thirty-nine-year-old Wayne Allen Huntsman pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of felony arson in the September 2014 King Fire.

El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Daniel Proud sentenced Huntsman to 20 years in prison and ordered him to pay $60 million in restitution.

The King Fire burned 12 homes, 68 other structures and more than 150 square miles of land in the north-central Sierra Nevada mountains. It took 300 firefighters and personnel about a month to control.

Huntsman made a video of himself during the fire that District Attorney Vern Pierson says was an attempt to portray himself as a hero.
Bernie Sanders claiming Bill Clintons presidency was harmful to African-Americans.

He appeared on four Sunday shows, and backed off his claim Hillary Clinton was unqualified, but he opened a new line of attack saying she lacked judgement. Sanders said, She may have the experience to be president of the United States. No one can argue that. But in terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking.

Sanders easily won Wyoming Saturday but actually got less delegates than Hillary Clinton when you include super delegates.

New Fox News polling from New York and Pennsylvania has good news for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Trump gets 54% in New York.. well about the 50% threshold he would need to get all the states delegates. John Kasich gets 22%, and Ted Cruz gets 15%.

Hillary Clinton has 53% to Bernie Sanders 37%.

In Pennsylvania, Trump gets 48%, Kasich 22% and Ted Cruz 20%.

Hillary Clinton has 49% to Sanders 38%.

President Obama appeared on Fox News Sunday for the first time of his presidency yesterday. He offered a strong defense of Hillary Clinton over the email controversy. He also said she wouldnt get any special treatment from the Justice Department. President Obama said, Here's what I know; Hillary Clinton was an outstanding Secretary of State. She would never intentionally put America in any kind of jeopardy.

Ted Cruz stepping up the pressure on Trump over delegates.

The Washington Post writing today:

Donald Trump used his first campaign rally in western New York to attack Sen. Ted Cruz for something the Texan happily boasts about: mastering party rules to elect his delegate slates to the Republican National Convention.

"They're trying to subvert the movement," Trump said to thousands of voters crammed into a frigid airplane hangar Sunday. "They can't do it with bodies, so they're trying to subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans."

The Rochester rally was only Trump's second in the 14-day New York campaign, and his first since Cruz swept Colorado's 34 available delegates in a series of conventions. Trump's hastily assembled delegate-chasing operation, which had been optimistic about the state, bumbled through a series of votes and came out empty there.

The Wall Street Journal writing today:

The party conventions across the country typically get little national attention. But while Mr. Trump has recently reorganized and beefed up his campaign staff to focus on them, the scramble is an insiders contest that plays to one of Mr. Cruzs strengths: his ties with seasoned political activists. They turned out in force in Colorado, where he dominated the states raucous and chaotic convention system and picked up all 34 delegates available. They also delivered in Iowa, where Republicans on Saturdaymore than two months after the state held its caucus for votersbegan the process of picking delegates to the July national convention. Cruz supporters won 11 of the 12 that were up for grabs in Iowa.

The New York Times today writes about the intriguing possibility of Paul Ryan running for President:

While Mr. Ryan has repeatedly said that he has no intention of becoming his partys nominee this year, he is already deep into his own parallel national operation to counter Donald J. Trump and help House and Senate candidates navigate the political headwinds that Mr. Trump would generate as the partys standard-bearer  or, for that matter, Senator Ted Cruz, who is only slightly more popular. Mr. Ryan is creating a personality and policy alternative to run alongside the presidential effort  one that provides a foundation to rebuild if Republicans splinter and lose in the fall.

There are new AP-GfK Times polls on President Obama.. suggesting half now approve of the job President Obama is doing.

New details coming from the man busted Friday in the Brussels and Paris terror attacks. Weve also learned the terrorists who hit Belgium killing 35 people had originally planned on another attack on Paris. Specifically, La Defense a business and shopping district in Paris.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron to address Parliament today about his inheritance after ties to offshore accounts in the Panama Papers scandal came to light.

Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Hiroshima bomb site in Japan.. the highest ranking U.S. official to visit the place where the U.S. set off the first atomic bomb used in war time.

Earnings season kicks off today with Alcoa. Analysts believe American companies struggled to show growth the past quarter.

The Daily Mail is reportedly among the potential buyers for Yahoo!

President Obama will meet with Fed Chief Janet Yellen today to talk about the state of the economy.

Oil and gas prices are trending higher, but today oil fell below $40/barrel again.

A Dubai company says it will build the worlds tallest skyscraper in Dubai.

For more news, follow me on Twitter: @ClintPHenderson
Washington D.C. police are looking for a man who broke into a Five Guys restaurant last month and appeared to cook himself a meal.

Investigators say the break-in occurred early on the morning of March 18 at the popular burger joint's location in Northwest Washington. They say the unidentified man snuck inside the closed restaurant after waiting for a delivery person to leave for the night.

Once inside, the man was caught on camera fiddling with the restaurant's soda machine before making his way over to the grill.

After turning the apparatus on, the security video shows the man throwing some kind of food the grill, though authorities could not specify what the burgler was cooking.

"He cooked food. I dont know if he made a hamburger or not," Metropolitan Police spokesman Sean Hickman told The Washington Post.

Police say the man stole a bottle of water. Authorities are offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.

Click for more from Fox5DC.com.
Lamar Harris had seven felony convictions and 43 arrests when he shot three Chicago police officers. The same week, Samuel Harviley, who had just been paroled after serving less than half of his sentence for armed carjacking, shot yet another of the Windy Citys finest.

Police officials, researchers and many elected leaders all agree that the pair were prime examples of the violent pool of criminals driving the citys historically high crime rate. Ex-cons well-known to police and with a proven propensity for violence are being let out early from prison or let off lightly by judges, only to wreak havoc on the city, they say.

We are not incarcerating a bunch of harmless sad sacks who are merely caught with a joint.  Heather Mac Donald, Manhattan Institute

"The fact that a convicted felon and gun offender is yet again out on early release to torment communities is representative of the types of individuals who are overwhelmingly driving the recent spike in violence," then-interim police Superintendent John Escalante said at a news conference last month announcing charges against Harviley.

The cycle of violence has resulted in more than 800 shootings so far this year, including seven shootings and one murder on April 4 alone. Escalantes successor, former Chicago Police Department Chief of Patrol Eddie Johnson, says the rate of murders and shootings cant be reversed until the criminal justice system begins to hold offenders accountable.

We have five districts that are driving the crime in the city, Johnson said in a recent radio interview. And within those districts, there is a small subset of individuals who are responsible for those crimes. They have multiple arrests for gun offenses and until we start holding these people accountable [the problem will persist].

According to the CPDs most recent CompStat figures, 133 people have been murdered in 2016, compared to 77 during the same period in 2015. Shootings are up 91 percent.

Johnson, unlike many of the citys African-American elected officials, is seeking tougher sentencing laws. Over the coming weeks, he plans to be asking our legislative partners in the near future to help us pass new laws that will ensure judges throw the book at violent offenders.

Its become easy for police to predict who will be on both ends of the explosion in gun violence. Some two-thirds of murder victims are already on the Police Departments strategic subject list, a roster of residents identified as being at risk of being a victim or an offender of gun violence. The list is kept so police can carry out lifestyle intervention efforts.

In one weekend in late March, 76 percent of shooting victims were on the SSL and 95 percent had lengthy criminal histories.

Illinois is one of several states implementing recommendations from prison reform commissions to reduce or even eliminate mandatory minimum sentences. Those groups seek to reduce prison populations by as much as 25 percent.

The movement to slash sentences and free inmates is given momentum by controversial, police-involved shootings that galvanize communities, as well as protests by Black Lives Matter and civil rights groups. But shortening sentences of violent offenders puts both police and law-abiding residents of the inner city at risk, say law enforcement officials.

Every day our members risk life and limb to defend our constitution and the rights it affords our citizens, wrote Dominick Stokes, vice president for legislative affairs for the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association in a December letter to Senate leadership. Mandatory minimums are a vital tool utilized in dismantling criminal drug trafficking enterprises.

Stokes group is opposed to the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015, one of several bills aimed at reducing or eliminating mandatory prison sentences on the Federal level. And researchers say laws that ensure robust prison terms for dangerous people keep everyone safe.

We are not incarcerating a bunch of harmless sad sacks who are merely caught with a joint, said Heather Mac Donald, of the Manhattan Institute, a non-partisan research institute. Prisons today mostly house violent criminals. Prison populations have increased because violent crimes increased.

Mac Donald acknowledges some validity to arguments against imprisoning non-violent drug offenders, but rejects claims that rising incarceration rates are a consequence of racism.

But others say longer and tougher sentencing laws do little to reduce recidivism.

There is value in punishment, but you have to think about how to use it effectively and the threat of longer sentences does not have a deterrent value, said Samuel Bieler, a criminologist with the Urban Institute. What is needed is a way to transition [prisoners] into the community and the sooner you can do that, the better.

Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department is fighting back, with gun arrests up 43 percent since mid-February and arrests for homicide up 40 percent for the entire month over February 2015.

We are arresting people, Guglielmi told FoxNews.com. And we are arresting the right people. We are facing a long-term problem and that is that individuals are just not being held accountable for gun crimes.

What we need to do is remove the repeat offenders from society because they are exacerbating the problem of crime, he added.
Days after the massacre in Paris that killed 130 people, mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud met with two Muslim women, one of whom secretly tipped off police to his whereabouts and future terror plans, according to documents revealed to The Washington Post on Sunday.

The files from French investigators show that Abaaoud, 28, reached out to his cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, through an accomplice over the phone and offered her 5,000 euros to help him find a hiding place and to pay for new suits and shoes.

Aitboulahcen, 26, helped Abaaoud avoid authorities for days after the November attacks, according to the Post. But the other woman, Aitboulahcens surrogate mother of several years, reportedly met police in secret, giving them a detailed account of her interaction with Abaaoud.

She was unaware of who she was going to meet when she and Aitboulahcen were brought to the hiding place, the newspaper adds.

Id seen him on TV, she later told police, recalling videos from Syria of Abaaoud dragging dead bodies behind a truck.

After the initial meeting, the woman reportedly got into a car with her husband, Aitboulahcen and Abaaoud, driving about 150 yards before the terror mastermind changed his mind and got out of the car.

Days later, Aitboulahcen left her surrogate family to return to Abaaoud with the shoes and suits he wanted, according to the documents. When the woman asked for a place to retrieve Aitboulahcen, she was given an address to the apartment in Saint-Denis, which the woman then gave to the police.

That night ultimately led to a raid on the Saint-Denis apartment, where Abaaoud and Aitboulahcen were killed by a suicide bomb.

Authorities learned that Abaaoud was planning additional attacks, according to the Post.

Its important the world knows that I am Muslim myself, the woman said, citing that as a reason for being willing to speak to The Post. Its important to me that people know what Abaaoud and the others did is not what Islam is teaching.

The woman, in her 40s, asked to keep her identity hidden out of safety, despite being in protective custody.

I no longer feel safe when I walk around. [Abaaoud] said they had many operatives It could be anybody around here.
Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds was arrested in Atlanta on Monday and released on his own recognizance after failing to appear for a hearing in a tax case last month, federal officials said.

Reynolds, who had been in South Africa with his 23-year-old daughter, appeared in federal court in Atlanta and was released, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Fitzpatrick in Chicago said in an email.

Reynolds was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when his flight arrived from Johannesburg, U.S. Marshals Service spokeswoman Belkis Cantor Sandoval said. He has pleaded not guilty on a misdemeanor charge of failing to file income tax returns from 2009 to 2012.

An arrest warrant was issued for Reynolds on March 31 when he told a judge he wouldn't appear in court as ordered because he's caring for a daughter whom he says has scoliosis and may also have cervical cancer. The Illinois Democrat had asked the judge "to show some compassion and understanding."

"His case is scheduled for trial in Chicago on May 2, and we expect him to be here for it," Fitzpatrick said after Reynolds was released.

This isn't the first time Reynolds has faced federal charges.

A Harvard graduate and a Rhodes Scholar, Reynolds resigned his 2nd Congressional District seat in 1995 after being convicted of statutory rape for having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker. He served 2  years in state prison.

Later, he was convicted in federal court for concealing debts to obtain bank loans and diverting money intended for voter registration drives into his election campaign. He was sentenced to 6  years in federal prison and had two years left when then-President Bill Clinton commuted the sentence in 2001.

___

Associated Press writer Phillip Lucas in Birmingham, Ala., contributed to this story.
The Seattle-area family of a U.S. citizen released from captivity by the Syrian government said they were grateful for efforts by the U.S. government over the past three years to secure his freedom.

The exact whereabouts of freelance photographer Kevin Patrick Dawes remained unclear, but his family told The Associated Press in a statement Saturday that they that they're thrilled to be welcoming him home.

"We're incredibly grateful for the tireless efforts of the U.S. government over the last three years and the involvement of the Czech and Russian governments in securing Kevin's release," said the statement emailed by Randy Dawes, who identified himself as Kevin's father.

The U.S. State Department said Friday that the Syrian government had released the 33-year-old to authorities from Russia, which has been backing the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the civil war that is in its sixth year.

Dawes, who lived in San Diego, was detained in 2012 in Syria, U.S. officials said.

Family members in Renton, Washington, asked for people to respect their privacy.

"Our thoughts are with the families who have loved ones missing overseas and pray for their safe release," the statement said.

The U.S. continues to work through Czech officials in Syria to get information on the welfare and whereabouts of Austin Tice and other U.S. citizens missing and detained in Syria, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

Tice, of Houston, disappeared in August 2012 while covering Syria's civil war. A video released a month later showed the journalist blindfolded and held by armed men. He has not been heard from since.
The judge overseeing the trial of a Georgia man accused of intentionally leaving his son in a hot SUV to die heard on Monday from about a dozen potential jurors who said they had scheduling conflicts. Two were excused.

Justin Ross Harris, 35, faces charges including murder in the June 18, 2014, death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. Police have said the boy died after spending about seven hours in the SUV on a day when the temperature in the Atlanta area reached at least into the high 80s.

Prosecutors have painted Harris as a man unhappy and unfaithful in his marriage who sought an escape and intentionally left the boy to die. Defense attorneys have called the boy's death a tragic mistake that Harris will have to deal with for the rest of his life.

Harris is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and moved to Georgia in 2012 to work for Home Depot.

He was indicted in September 2014 on multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder and cruelty to children. That indictment also includes charges related to sexually explicit exchanges prosecutors say Harris had with an underage girl.

Jurors who had sent in notices of scheduling conflicts appeared Monday before Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley to explain their conflicts. Many of the excuses included travel, for either personal or professional reasons.

Staley and the attorneys for both sides were able to figure out ways to accommodate most of the requests while still keeping the potential jurors in the jury pool. Two jurors were excused, including one who had bought tickets in November to go to Paris for two weeks with his wife to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.

Most of the potential jurors are expected to report for jury duty Tuesday to fill out a questionnaire. Further questioning of individual jurors by lawyers from both sides is expected to last at least into next week.

The extensive local and national news coverage of the case from the beginning will likely make it extremely difficult to find jurors who haven't heard or read about it. Defense attorneys have already asserted in pretrial hearings that some of the media coverage has been sensationalist and misleading and could cause potential jurors to come in with a negative view of their client.

It's not necessary for a juror to have heard nothing about the case, said University of Georgia law professor emeritus Ron Carlson, who's not involved in the case but has followed it from the beginning.

"They may be informed about the case, but the disqualifier is that that knowledge has caused them to form a fixed opinion about guilt or innocence," he said.

The fact that Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds chose not to seek the death penalty will save some time. The lawyers won't have to go through and eliminate people who are opposed to capital punishment and those who would automatically impose a death sentence for a murder conviction if given the option, Carlson said.

The defense will be looking for jurors who understand that something can be a mistake, even if it has a tragic outcome, said David Weinstein, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor in Miami who is not connected to the case. They'll also be looking for people who won't think that having made some bad choices in his life means he intentionally killed his son, Weinstein said.

The prosecution will likely talk to jurors about the difference between an accident and something that's intentional and will also probably try to find people who believe circumstantial evidence is sufficient for a conviction, Weinstein said. Prosecutors will also want to weed out anyone who might be sympathetic to the fact that Harris has lost his child, he said.

Ultimately, jury selection is extremely important for both sides, as it is their chance to make a first impression on jurors.

"The purpose of jury selection is supposed to be to find out if you can select enough fair and impartial jurors to try the case just on the facts that you're presenting to them in the courtroom and that they're people who will follow the law," Weinstein said. "What it really is, is an opportunity for both the prosecution and the defense to indoctrinate the jury as to their theory of the case from the first minute they meet them."
Authorities say Anne Arundel County's sheriff has been arrested following a domestic dispute.

County police department spokesman Lt. Michael Brothers says Sheriff Ronald Bateman was taken into custody Sunday night.

Online court records show Bateman has been charged with second-degree assault, a misdemeanor. It is unclear whether he has an attorney.

County police plan to hold a press conference Monday to provide more information about the case.

Bateman, an Annapolis native, has been the sheriff since 2006.
An off-duty Memphis police officer killed his fiancee's ex-husband during a child custody exchange at gas station, the third fatal shooting by an officer this year, authorities said Monday.

The off-duty officer was at the gas station to witness his fiancee picking up her 4-year-old daughter from and her ex-husband Sunday night, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine said.

The ex-husband, Luis Philipe Soto and the officer got into an altercation. The situation escalated, and the officer shot Soto, 29, DeVine said. Investigators found what they believe to be Soto's gun near his body, but they were still working to determine if he fired it during the struggle, DeVine said.

It was not immediately clear where exactly the child was during the shooting, but she was present, DeVine said.

"It's our understanding that the child may have been turned away from this incident, so she may not have necessarily witnessed this shooting," DeVine said.

The officer's name and race were not released by the Memphis Police Department or the bureau. Soto was Hispanic.

DeVine said the investigation was in its early stages and many details of the shooting were still unknown, including whether the officer used his service weapon and what sparked the altercation.

Investigators will turn over their findings to Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich when the probe is completed. DeVine said the investigation could take weeks.

The bureau is currently investigating two other shootings by Memphis police officers this year. Johnathan Bratcher, 32, was shot by police during a foot chase in a Memphis neighborhood Jan. 27, authorities said.

Alexio Allen, 30, was shot by an officer inside a house in the Raleigh neighborhood on March 23, authorities said.

The bureau began investigating officer-involved shootings in Shelby County with the case of 19-year-old Darrius Stewart. He was killed by Officer Connor Schilling as they fought when the officer tried to arrest the teen on two active warrants during a July 17 traffic stop. Schilling is white, and Stewart was black.

Investigators gave Weirich an 800-page report, and she recommended that a grand jury indict Schilling on charges of voluntary manslaughter and employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. The grand jury declined to charge Schilling, who has retired. The department has said Schilling, 27, violated policies for handcuffing techniques and radio procedures on the night of the Stewart shooting.
A pilot and his passenger were injured Sunday afternoon after their single-engine airplane crashed on a residential street on Long Island.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini told reporters the Piper 28 went down at the intersection of Second Street and Third Avenue in Bayport shortly after 7 p.m. local time.

Sini said the aircraft had experienced engine trouble and was trying to return to the airfield when it clipped a tree and utility lines before going down.

Newsday reported that the plane caught fire after the crash, but the flames were soon doused with the help of local Bayport firefighters who happened to live nearby.

"I heard what sounded like a sputtering noise, like something happened to the engine, local resident Jill Rogers told Newsday. "And then, it was deadly quiet, and then you just heard a loud bang and an explosion."

Sini said the pilot, 34-year-old Scott Clifford, was hospitalized in serious condition with two broken legs and a head injury. The passenger, identified as 65-year-old Michael Rome, was listed as being in fair condition.

No injuries on the ground were reported. The FAA is investigating.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Newsday.
Australias Garlos Pies announces expansion plans

Garlos Pies is expanding its Australian production facilities as well as its presence in the US.

Garlos Pies was established 15 years by NRL player Sean Garlick with his brother Nathan Garlick. It makes meat pies of all kinds including a kosher meat versions.

The company found its success by starting off small and establishing one bakery in Sydney. After steadily building up a Sydney customer base Coles approached Garlos Pies about stocking its product in its supermarkets. Today Garlos Pies are available in more than 1, 000 Australian pubs, clubs, schools and supermarkets which include both Coles and IGA.

Garlos Pies says it has now outgrown its original production facility and is upgrading to a new 3, 9000 metre squared facility in Kingsgrove, Sydney. The new facility will employee 70 people.

How Garlos Pies found success in the US

Internationally, Garlos Pies will soon be opening a second store on Hollywood Boulevard. The company opened its first in Los Angeles in 2014 with Nathan Garlick spending two years on location ensuring the site had the right equipment and that staff were properly trained.

Garlos Pies recognises that it was not the first company to introduce meat pies to the US but said it created a point of difference by deciding to bake its pies fresh on site daily.

Weve made a great effort to ensure that the pies that you buy from our American locations will taste identical to the ones you buy in Australia, or anywhere else around the world, said Nathan Garlick.

In November 2013 Garlos Pies expanded its customer base by deciding to sell a range of kosher pies in Coles and IGA supermarkets. At the time, Sean Garlick said there was a need in the market for kosher pies his company had identified.

Were always looking at ways to diversify our products, he explained. This increases our reach and offers more people the opportunity to try the unique taste of a Garlos Pie, Garlick said.
Some 46 years after a Vietnam War veteran had his first Purple Heart pinned to his fatigues, he received his second in an emotional ceremony earlier this month.

The Argus Leader reports military officials somehow lost the records of 69-year-old Navy veteran Jake Aning's brave actions. But he said he had lasting proof: a piece of shrapnel still in his wrist.

Aning, originally from Iowa, had patrolled the Mekong Delta as a gunner on a river boat. He said that as he descended a ladder to use the bathroom, he spotted a man with a rocket launcher aimed at the American crew.

So he said he motioned to the attacker, who aimed at him instead. Aning jumped to safety, but the explosion knocked him unconscious.

"The rocket came in about exactly where I was standing," he told the newspaper. He'd received his first Purple Heart after a separate attack on his boat.

Aning said he returned home with post-traumatic stress disorder, which hurt his job prospects. When he finally received his second Purple Heart in Sen. John Thune's Sioux Falls, S.D. office, he was in tears.

Aning says he served his country and he did it with pride. He says if his country would ask him again, he would go.

Aning became overcome by emotion when Thune presented him with the Purple Heart and a Navy Achievement Medal with a combat "V." Thune thanked Aning and read a record of service, including 181 combat patrols and eight occasions of engaging the enemy.

Aning grew up on a farm in Lyon County, Iowa, and joined the Navy Reserve to work in payroll.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Syrian government forces, with support from Russia, are planning an operation to retake Aleppo and battle an Islamist rebel offensive in the region, the Syrian prime minister said Sunday after a week of clashes.

The use of Russian firepower in the Syrian government offensive to retake Syrias largest city, which has been partly controlled by rebels since 2012, clouds the future of upcoming peace talks.

We, together with our Russian partners, are readying ourselves for an operation to liberate Aleppo and blockade all illegal armed groups which have not signed up to or are violating a cease-fire, said Syrian Prime Minister Wael al Halqi in a meeting with Russian parliamentarians, Russian news agency Tass reported.

The regime and rebel groups agreed to a cease-fire that came into effect in late February. But it doesnt cover Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which joined with other Syrian rebels to launch an offensive last week to recapture territory near Aleppo that had previously been retaken by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. On Tuesday, Islamist rebels shot down a government warplane and captured its pilot.

Sundays announcement comes a month after Russia said it was pulling back a large part of its air forces from Syria, when President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlins mission in Syria was largely complete.

Russian firepower is widely seen as having reversed the fortunes of Mr. Assad on the battlefield, winning back the Damascus regime swaths of land from moderate and Islamist rebels. Russia said it would maintain a contingent of jet fighters in the country to keep up Moscows fight against Islamist groups.

Clashes between rebels and pro-regime forces in the southern Aleppo countryside have been ongoing for a week.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Nusra Front militants had accumulated forces around Aleppo and had increased their military operations against government troops and civilian quarters around the city.

Local antigovernment activists said rebels who had briefly seized new ground were forced to withdraw Sunday morning due to intensified Russian airstrikes.

The fighting killed at least 19 rebel fighters and 16 regime soldiers, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based opposition monitoring group.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
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Efforts to remove Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff are advancing as a congressional commission meets to decide whether it should recommend impeachment to the full lower house of Congress.

The 65-member commission is widely expected to vote in favor of impeachment on allegations Rousseff violated fiscal laws. A vote is likely today or early Tuesday.

Whatever the outcome, the measure will go to the full lower house. That vote is widely expected at the end of this week.

It's not clear if opponents will get the 342 votes in the 513-member Congress needed to back impeachment. If the measure passes the lower house, it goes to the Senate, which would decide whether to begin impeachment. If that happens, she'd be suspended from office during the trial.
Germany is considering a request from Turkey to prosecute a TV comedian who wrote a crude poem about the Turkish president, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Monday.

The request poses an awkward choice for the German leader as she relies on Turkey to reduce the influx of migrants to Europe.

Turkey sent a diplomatic note making "a formal request for criminal prosecution" of comedian Jan Boehmermann, Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

Boehmermann read the poem on ZDF television two weeks ago to illustrate what he said wouldn't be allowed in Germany, contrasting it with another channel's satirical song that also poked fun at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Germany's ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry in Ankara last month to hear a protest over that song.

While the German government defended the song as legitimate free speech, it has strongly distanced itself from the poem. Seibert has said that Merkel and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu agreed the poem was "deliberately offensive."

Germany's criminal code provides for up to three years in prison or a fine for insulting a foreign head of state. However, it stipulates that such offenses are only prosecuted if the country in question seeks prosecution and the German government allows it.

Seibert told reporters Monday that officials would take several days to decide whether to allow prosecutors to proceed in the case, but stressed that Merkel holds free speech in high regard. It is "negotiable neither at home nor abroad," he said.

German officials have appeared at pains to avoid causing further friction with Erdogan, steering clear of direct criticism of the president in recent weeks amid Turkey's sharp response to German satire. Merkel championed the European Union-Turkey deal for Ankara to take back migrants who travel illegally to Greece.

Seibert said he was stressing Merkel's dedication to free speech "to counter the impression that the freedom of opinion and art ... no longer has the necessary high value for the chancellor just because she, along with other Europeans, wants to resolve the refugee question in partnership with Turkey."

In Turkey, Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that "this kind of attack, including insults and rude statements to a country's president and also targeting a society, has nothing to do with freedom of expression or with press freedom."

"It is an insult everywhere in the world, and it is a crime," he said, adding that "those who publish this kind of ugliness ... apparently are annoyed with improved relations" between Germany and Turkey.

A senior German opposition lawmaker called on Merkel to reject the Turkish call for Boehmermann's prosecution.

Left Party parliamentary caucus leader Sahra Wagenknecht noted that in Turkey, more than 1,800 cases have been opened against people accused of insulting Erdogan since he came to office.

"If Merkel caves in in the Boehmermann case, he will be able to strike at will in Germany as well in the future," she said.
Iran received the first delivery of a previously-forbidden advanced missile defense system from Russia this week, in the wake of global approval of the countrys nuclear deal, an Iranian government spokesman revealed Monday.

I announce today that the first phase of this [delayed] contract has been implemented, Iran foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said during a news conference broadcast on state television.

First utilized during the Cold War in 1979, the S-300 system is able to engage multiple aircraft and missiles from 90 miles away, according to the British security think tank RUSI.

Israel expressed concern over the delivery, Reuters adds. Iran has repeatedly threatened to destroy the U.S. ally.

Russia originally signed a contract to equip Tehran with S-300 surface-to-air defense systems in 2010 but canceled the agreement and imposed its own ban on the shipments after pressure from western nations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban on shipments in early 2015, as an interim agreement before the global nuclear deal was finalized.
The Islamic State killed more than 20 Christians when the terror group first captured a Syrian community that the government recently liberated, a church leader revealed Sunday.

At least 230 citizens, including scores of Christians, were kidnapped when ISIS captured the town of Al-Qaryatain in August 2015, Syrian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II said. As many as 21 of those Christians were murdered, he told the BBC.

Many reportedly trying to escape the town, while others were killed for breaking "dhimmi" contracts they had been forced to sign. According to the church leader, the contracts stipulated that they could stay in Al-Qaryatain as long as they lived under the terrorists' interpretation of Islam.

Al-Qaryatain, located only 65 miles from the historic Syrian city of Palymra, was liberated by government forces in coordination with Russian-backed airstrikes last week.
An official at Portugal's Supreme Court says judges have rejected a former CIA operative's appeal against extradition to Italy to serve a six-year sentence for her part in an extraordinary renditions program.

The official told The Associated Press that Sabrina De Sousa's only remaining recourse is to appeal to Portugal's Constitutional Court, arguing her extradition order is unconstitutional.

De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted in absentia in Italy for the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan.

The Portuguese court official spoke on condition of anonymity Monday in accordance with court rules.
A former bombmaker linked to the deadly 2008 attacks in Mumbai posed as a refugee to enter Europe where he'd planned more attacks in the name of the Islamic State terror group, according to multiple reports.

Muhammad Ghani Usman reportedly belonged to Lashkar-e Taiba, or LeT, the Pakistani terror group that attacked two hotels in Mumbai, killing 164 people. He and Algerian native Adel Haddadi were arrested in Salzburg, Austrian prosecutors told The Telegraph.

Police arrested the men in December, but officials did not reveal Usman's name until this past weekend.

Usman and Haddadi initially arrived in Greece on the same boat as two of the culprits in the October 2015 terror attacks in Paris, investigators added.

The men are suspected of making up a so-called strike team for ISIS. Sources told the paper dozens of yet-unidentified ISIS plants have infiltrated Europe similarly posing as refugees.

However, LeT, with which Ghani has been associated, is a sworn rival of ISIS, and called the Syrian-based terror group a product of anti-Islamic Western countries in the wake of the Paris attacks. ISIS responded to the statement by claiming LeT was associated with the apostate Pakistani army, The Telegraph reported.

Ghani also has been associated with Lashkar-e Jhangvi, a terror group active in Syria.
A high-ranking officer from North Korea's military intelligence agency fled to South Korea last year, the Seoul government confirmed Monday.

The colonel, whose name was withheld by the South Korean government, worked for the North Korean military's General Reconnaissance Bureau. The agency is believed to be behind two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

The General Reconnassance Bureau also deals in cyberwarfare, and it is widely suspected of being behind the 2014 hack attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that the colonel is viewed as an elite member of North Korean society by other defectors from the Communist dictatorship.

"He is believed to have stated details about the bureau's operations against South Korea to authorities here," the agency quoted a source as saying.

The announcement of the colonel's defection came three days after South Korea revealed 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South, the largest group defection since North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported the restaurant is located in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

The highest-level North Korean who took asylum in South Korea has been Hwang Jang-yop, a senior ruling Workers' Party official who once tutored Kim's late dictator father Kim Jong Il. Hwang's 1997 defection was hailed by many South Koreans as an intelligence bonanza and a clear sign that the North's political system was inferior to the South's. Hwang died in 2010.

Yonhap also reported that a number of low-level North Korean officials based in foreign countries have sought asylum to avoid being caught in one of Kim Jong Un's purges. South Korea's Unification Ministry confirmed Monday that a North Korean diplomat based in Africa also separately defected to South Korea last year. It didn't elaborate.

South Korea's spy agency reported last year that Kim has had more than 70 North Korean officials executed in an effort to solidify his grip on power. However, such reports are almost impossible to confirm due to the tight controls on information from North Korea.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records. Many defectors have testified they wanted to avoid the North's harsh political system and poverty.



Defections are a bitter source of contention between the rival Koreas, which are still divided along the world's most heavily fortified border since the end of the Korean War. Pyongyang usually accuses Seoul of enticing North Korean citizens to defect, something Seoul denies.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Turkish official says normalization of ties with Israel hinges on reaching an agreement over humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Monday "the negotiations are continuing (but) we are not at the stage where we can say an agreement has been drafted and sealed."

Speaking in Ankara, he said there will be a "few more meetings" in the coming weeks to iron out key issues.

His remarks contrast with a foreign ministry statement last week which suggested an agreement was within reach.

Israel and Turkey were traditionally close allies, but ties broke down in 2010 over Israeli commandos' deadly storming of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship.

Kalin said Turkey insists on the "re-establishment of conditions for humanitarian aid to Gaza" and supports an independent state of Palestine "whose capital is East Jerusalem."
Sea Harvest initiates proportional takeover of Mareterram

South Africas Sea Harvest has proposed a proportional takeover of Western Australian seafood company Mareterram.

Mareterram is split into two divisions, Mareterram North West and Mareterram Foods. Mareterram North West is the fishing division of the company, located in Shark Bay, Western Australia. It catches prawns, scallops, crabs and cuttlefish. Mareterram Foods sells and markets the seafood caught by Mareterram North West.

Sea Harvest, one of South Africas largest fishing companies, is proposing a Bid Implementation Agreement (BIA) to acquire 1 out of every 2 shares held by Mareterram shareholders of AUD $0.35 per share.

Sea Harvest is already the largest shareholder in Mareterram, currently holding voting power of 19.9 per cent.

The offer is conditional upon Sea Harvest attaining a 50.1 per cent shareholding.

Mareterram says if shareholders choose to accept the offer, Sea Harvests ownership of Mareterram shares will increase up to a maximum of approximately 59. 6 per cent for a total cash consideration of approximately AUD $19.7 million.

Felix Ratheb, Chief Executive Officer of Sea Harvest, said the offer demonstrated confidence in the Australian fishing company.

Sea Harvest will continue to support Mareterrams Board and management and their strategy, Ratheb said.

We believe by increasing Sea Harvests shareholding we can better partner and assist Mareterram in achieving its goals, especially in relation to its growth and diversification objectives, he said.

Sea Harvest was established in 1964 and sells a wide variety of frozen fish products including fillets, fish fingers and fish cakes. It current exports a large variety of its products overseas. It has fresh fish processing plants in Saidanha and Mosel Bay in South Africa.

David Lock, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Mareterram backed the BIA.

This transaction reinforces our strategic direction and will help us deliver our strategy to drive long term value creation for all Mareterram shareholders, Lock said.
A TV news crew based in Australia was detained in Lebanon along with a mom accused of trying to kidnap her two children, Australian media reported Sunday.

Police arrested Sally Faulkner and a reporting crew from Australia's Nine News network after Faulkner tried and failed to take her five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son from her Lebanese ex-husband in Beirut on Thursday, a judicial official told the Associated Press. Faulkner said her ex-husband moved the children to Lebanon without her permission.

Faulkner claims her ex, Ali Elamine, is illegally holding custody of their two children, Lahela and Noah.

The official said kidnapping charges are expected to be filed against Faulkner and at least three others with alleged involvement in the attempt. Journalist Tara Brown, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound technician David Ballment have been detained in addition to Faulkner.

The Nine News crew accompanied Faulkner to record her attempt to return her children to Australia using a controversial child recovery agency, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The Australian Foreign Affairs Ministry has been trying to determine exactly how the TV crew was involved in the mother's plans, Minister Julie Bishop said.

We are providing as much support as we can, meeting with officials within the Lebanese government and doing what we can to ascertain what is proposed, in relation to the [TV] crew and the alleged involvement of the crew in this case, Bishop said.

Faulkner and representatives from the child recovery agency were arrested after the group seized the children from Elamines father at a bus stop in Beirut.

It was not immediately known how and when the news crew was detained.

"I cannot understate the seriousness with which the Lebanese authorities are viewing the case but we're doing all we can to maintain contact with all of the parties involved," Bishop said, according to Reuters.

Faulkner left her new husband, Brendan Pierce, and their infant child in Australia when she departed for Lebanon.

A hearing for the crew has been postponed, according to News.com.au. The suspects reportedly will be able to apply for bail in the coming days.

Click for more from News.com.au
The Twitter Algorithmic Timeline Apocalypse Came (and It's No Big Deal)

Twitter has launched its new algorithmic timeline. Since the company announced it was coming, it has been extremely controversial, with widespread predictions that it marked the "end of Twitter." No such thing occurred. The new feature simply extends the "while you were away" feature that has existed since early 2015. Twitter users who don't like the new feature can opt out in their settings. "The algorithm now appears to be enabled by default across the social network, with users reporting that the company started turning it on it across the service as early as March 15," writes Gwen Williams on The Next Web.

Instagram Is Going Algorithmic Too

The wildly successful Instagram photo and video sharing service will begin to show "what you care about most" instead of a pure timeline in their feeds. Since many brand marketers have adopted Instagram, the will affect them. It's too soon to know whether the coming changes will make ads more prominent on Instagram and lead to drops in organic reach for those not using paid advertising. But given that Instagram is owned by Facebook, which has decimated the reach of business pages, it's a safe bet. "Perhaps the biggest driving force behind this change is that 'people miss about 70 percent of the posts in their feed,' according to Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom," writes Derek Roessler on Ignite Social Media.

Amazon Bans U.K. Shopper for Too Many Returns

Greg Nelson, a resident of the United Kingdom, has been banned from Amazon after returning 37 of his 343 purchases in the past 2 years. The company confirmed the ban, but said that in a "tiny fraction of cases" it is forced to take action when they find "extreme account abuse." Nelson says he had good reasons for returning the stuff; Amazon says it only takes action after making a careful review and trying to work with the customer to resolve the issue. "The online shopper says the company has even retained a gift card balance he had on the account after telling him the funds can only be used on the site and can't be exchanged for cash," reports Trevor Mogg on Digital Trends.

What's Ahead for Facebook? Zuckerberg's 10-Year R&D Roadmap

What big things will Facebook be working on in the next 10 years? According to an interview CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave in Berlin earlier this year, the company will concentrate on making progress in three key areas: connectivity, AI, and virtual and augmented reality, reports Dave Smith on Tech Insider.

Connectivity: 3 billion people are currently connected to the Internet, but there are 7 billion people in the world.

AI: self-driving cars are likely to be the first AI "killer app," but there are opportunities for progress in medicine and other fields. All the major Internet companies are aggressively pursuing progress in voice recognition, and products like Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana are already available.

Virtual and augmented reality: Facebook bought Oculus VR, an advanced virtual reality player, in March 2014 for $2 billion, and Oculus released its first virtual reality headset for consumers on March 28, 2016.

The U.S. Presidential Campaign on Social Media

The presidential campaign in the U.S. is also being fought out on social media. No surprise here: Donald Trump is the winner, with more than 1.11 million followers on Instagram. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders topped Hillary Clinton, with 927,240 followers to her 897,860 in early March. On Facebook, 9.3 million people made 3.7 million interactions (posts, likes, comments, and shares) about Clinton in the first week of March, compared with 5.8 million people making 2.3 million interactions about Sanders, according to Hadas Gold, writing on Politico.

Daniel Lieberman is the founder of Daniel Lieberman Digital ("I speak Geek - You don't need to"). Based in Shelburne Falls, Mass., he helps companies, organizations, and individuals learn to use the Internet to communicate, market, and brand themselves using the most up-to-date tools and techniques. Contact him at 413-489-1818 or daniel@daniellieberman.org.
Card Connection Franchisee Doubles Opportunity

April 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, has today confirmed that Redditch franchisee, Subramaniam Suganthan (Sugan), has increased the size of his franchise buy purchasing the recently marketed Leicestershire territory. He now takes on over 110 additional retail accounts and will distribute and merchandise Card Connections extensive range of high quality greetings cards and accessories with the help of a full-time picker/packer and merchandiser.

Card Connection franchise territories dont become available every day! explains Sugan. When I heard that my neighbouring colleague and franchisee Mark Miller and his wife were planning to emigrate to New Zealand, I knew the opportunity was too good to miss! Mark has run the Leicestershire territory which also covers Coventry, parts of Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, for eight years so I know I am stepping into a good, viable business. With the help of my part-time merchandiser, who has now become full-time, we will carefully manage the handover and in the future see how we can further develop the business.

Prior to becoming a self-employed franchisee with Card Connection Sugan was a commission operator for petrol forecourt and before that, a manager at a leading forecourt food outlet. Sugan explains: As a previous customer I was aware of the company as a local franchisee delivered greetings cards to the forecourt where I worked. Since joining at the end of 2014, I am pleased to confirm that Card Connection is one of the best organisations Ive worked with!

The team are particularly approachable, organised and always aims to solve any minor issues straight away, continues Sugan. My positive experience with the clever business model, the team, plus the fact that I have been able to grow the Redditch area by 6% in my first year, meant I was confident to go-ahead with the purchase of the new area immediately.

Sugan will now deliver and merchandise Card Connections range of high-quality, popular greetings cards and accessories to a mix of independent stores, as well as national accounts such as Costcutter, WH Smiths Motorway Services, NISA, BP and Spar. The card ranges are placed in retail outlets on a consignment basis which is one step beyond sale or return, as the retailer never has to buy the stock initially, only paying for what they sell. The award winning concept has enabled hundreds of franchisees to become self-employed, running successful businesses over the past two decades.

Card Connection is part of UK Greetings, which is a subsidiary of American Greetings Inc., one of the largest greeting card publishers in the world and has limited vacancies for franchisees that are keen to run an expanding business. Since the franchise network in the UK is complete, the available opportunities now consist of acquiring an already-established territory from an existing franchisee. These vary in price according to their level of development, but start at 7k + Stock + Card Connection fee with earnings potential in excess of 50k per annum.

Territories currently available include: Bath, Coventry, Bournemouth, Northampton, Liverpool, Bradford, Brighton, Plymouth, Edinburgh and Ireland South. For further information about franchises for sale, please see: www.card-connection.co.uk

Card Connection

Card Connection is one of the UKs most successful card publishers and is the market leader in the franchised distribution of greeting cards.

The company was established in 1992 and became a Full Member of the British Franchise Association in 1995. It now distributes greeting cards to around 13,000 outlets through its network of 67 franchisees. www.card-connection.co.uk

SOURCE Card Connection

Contact:

Mel Betts

Grapevine PR Ltd

01544 318546

melanie.betts@grapevinepr.com

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Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care Partners with Benetrends Financial

To Put Entrepreneurs in the Express Lane to Franchise Ownership

HORSHAM, PA (PRWEB) April 11, 2016 - Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care, an automotive aftermarket industry-leading franchise that provides quality transmission and automotive care to consumers nationwide, has partnered with Benetrends Financial, the trusted leader in franchise and small business funding. Through this partnership, Benetrends will provide Cottman franchisees with access to their full suite of fast and economical funding options custom-designed to fit their individual funding needs.

Cottman has built a solid reputation on its 50 years of proven automotive and franchise business experience. Since opening its first location in 1962, the Cottman team has since expanded to nearly 60 locations nationwide, with plans to expand even further through its franchisee network.

"Cottman is committed to helping our franchisees start out their journey into franchise ownership successfully. An element of success is being able to provide firms who could assist with possible funding needs," said Randy Wright, President of Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care. "Now, through this relationship with Benetrends, they will have access to a variety of funding options available to them."

Through an established system for success, a strong consumer market, and now simplified access to funding, Cottman is setting entrepreneurs up for success and providing them with an attractive business opportunity.

"We are excited to forge this new partnership with such a trusted, high-quality franchise system," explained Rocco Fiorentino, president and CEO of Benetrends Financial. "Benetrends continues to support the growth and success of Americas favorite franchise brands, like Cottman, by providing their franchisees with the funding they need to start living their dreams as business owners."

About Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care

With locations across the U.S., Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care is a transmission and auto repair brand that services almost any make or model vehicle, foreign or domestic. Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care centers specialize in complete transmission service, brakes, suspension, air conditioning service and much more. Headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania, Cottman is an automotive aftermarket industry-leader backed by 50 years of experience. For more information, please visit http://www.Cottman.com andhttp://www.TheCottmanManBlog.com.

About Benetrends Financial

Benetrends Financial, named a 2014 and 2015 Future 50 winner by Philadelphia SmartCEO, offers a full suite of funding options to help entrepreneurs secure the capital needed for their small business or franchise. The company originated the 401(k)/IRA tax-deferred and penalty-free rollover process with its Rainmaker Plan, helping over 10,000 entrepreneurs in the last 30 years. Additionally, Benetrends features a wide range of loan options covering every type of business need, including SBA loans, equipment leasing, securities-backed lines of credit, and more. To learn more about Benetrends, please visit http://www.benetrends.com.

SOURCE Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care

Contact:

Dallas Kerley

Benetrends

+1 (267) 638-9007

###

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FRSTeam Celebrates A Decade Of Service And Honors Outstanding Performers

FRSTeam of North and Central Georgia, FRSTeam by Tri State among top performers

April 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // NAPA, Calif.  Fabric Restoration Service Team, Inc. (FRSTeam), the leading national provider of textile restoration services, celebrated its 10th anniversary during its annual RESToration Retreat held at the Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, California. The event hosted nearly 100 franchise owners, managers, sales representatives and industry guests, and awarded top performers with the FRSTeam Recognition Awards.

Since its inception in 2006, FRSTeam has become one of the most recognized names in the fabric restoration industry. It has been at the forefront of technical innovations, equipping its franchisees with better tools so that they can provide superior service to customers who have experienced a fire or water loss. For example, in 2014 the company developed FRSTrack, the first cloud-based photo inventory system available for textile restoration on a national level, which delivers a detailed photo catalogue and cost valuation of all items being processed for restoration.

FRSTeam has been recognized as one of Americas fastest growing private companies on the Inc. 5000 list for three years running. Today, the franchise has 48 locations and is one of only two restoration brands that operates nationwide. In its lifetime, it has provided restoration services to more than 97,000 homeowners in need.

At the 10-year anniversary celebration, FRSTeam of North and Central Georgia and owner Ron Patrie were presented with the Franchisee Leader Award, the highest honor within the company. Ron and his team have been a part of FRSTeam since 2006, and he was previously awarded the FRSTeam Presidents Award. FRSTeam by Tri State, and owners Jeff Gervasi, Suzanne Stefanelli and Art Katz, were the recipients of this years Presidents Award, which lauds the franchisee that provides exceptional service and embraces the brand values.

Each of our franchisees is integral to our success as a brand and we are proud to honor our top performers in front of their peers, said Jim Nicholas, FRSTeam president. As we transition into our second decade as a national brand, we are more committed than ever to providing outstanding service in textile restoration to those in need.

Other award winners include:

Top Jobs Growth Award  FRSTeam of Houston in Houston, Texas

Top Sales Leader  FRSTeam by Lansing Cleaners in Lansing, Ill.

Sales Growth Award  FRSTeam by Custom Commercial in Wildomar, Calif.

Top Sales Growth Percentage Award  FRSTeam of Central Ontario in Toronto, Canada

Operations Superstar  Rachel Gast of FRSTeam by Custom Commercial in Wildomar, Calif.

Service Superstar  Pat Szala of FRSTeam by Lansing Cleaners in Lansing, Ill.

Sales Superstar Brett Nichols of FRSTeam by Lansing Cleaners in Lansing, Ill.

FRSTaid Survey Superstars  FRSTeam by DKS Dry Cleaning Restoration in Parma, Ohio

FRSTeams personalized service and core business practices based on family values have contributed to its success as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S.

About FRSTeam

FRSTeam (Fabric Restoration Service Team) is a leading national provider of fabric restoration services specializing in clothing and textiles damaged by smoke, fire, water and mold. It is a family owned and operated company with a network of 48 franchise and company store locations servicing 48 states across the U.S. and Canada. FRSTeam has been recognized as a top franchise by Franchise Business Reviews Franchisee Satisfaction Awards in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. To learn more, visit www.frsteam.com.

SOURCE FRSTeam

Contact:

Jessie Yarrow

Fineman PR

O: 415.392.1000

C: 925.330.1426

###

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Hyatt Place And Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport Celebrate Official Opening

Hotels bring two distinct experiences under one roof to Shenzhen Airport in southern China

April 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // CHICAGO  Hyatt Place Shenzhen Airport and Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport open today in southern Chinas Guangdong province. The opening of Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport marks the first Hyatt House hotel and the first combined Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels in the Asia Pacific region, creating an experience that enables guests to enjoy the benefits of both brands in one location.

Hyatt Place Shenzhen Airport brings the Hyatt Place brands intuitive design, casual atmosphere, and practical amenities, such as free Wi-Fi and 24-hour food offerings, to the Shenzhen Baoan International Airport. Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport offers apartment-style suites with fully equipped kitchens, providing guests with the spaces and places that help make them feel more like home. The two hotels combine to create a hotel experience that offers an array of shared services and amenities that meet the needs of guests.

We are excited to announce our first Hyatt House hotel and the first dual-branded Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels in China, said Christopher Koehler, Hyatts vice president and managing director, China operations. The opening of these hotels reinforce our commitment to thoughtful and purposeful growth, and we hope the hotels provide new and existing guests with more options when they are traveling in China.

Convenient located at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport with direct access to the new Terminal 3, Hyatt Place Shenzhen Airport and Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport provide guests with a relaxing and uncomplicated place to pause before beginning the next leg of their journey. Connected to the citys ground transportation system, the combined hotels offer easy access to the citys shopping, industrial and business areas, including Dongmen shopping area. The hotels are a 40-minute drive to Futian central business district and Shekou free trade zone, and for guests looking to explore Hong Kongs city center, shuttle buses are available everyday at the airport. Recreational spots such as the Happy Valley and the Shenzhen Window of the World are 40 minutes away by car.

It is a great honor for the team at Hyatt Place Shenzhen Airport and Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport to be part of these significant openings, said General Manager Julie Tan. We are ready to welcome guests to experience the modern comforts these two hotels offer  from the contemporary design and spacious layout of our guestrooms  from the separate spaces to sleep and work at Hyatt Place Shenzhen Airport to the apartment-style suites with real kitchens at Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport  our guests can choose a hotel that fits their needs.

Hyatt Place Shenzhen Airport Offers:

167 spacious guestrooms and suites with separate spaces to sleep, work and relax, as well as a Cozy Corner sofa-sleeper

Free Wi-Fi everywhere

Free breakfast features an array of delicious hot breakfast items and fresh fruit

24/7 Gallery Menu and Market, enjoy a freshly prepared meal or pick up bottled beverages or perfectly packaged grab n go sandwiches, salads and snacks, any time of the day or night

Meetings Places with more than 3,200 square feet (300 square meters) of flexible and multi-functioning spaces equipped with the latest audio-visual technology and supported by the hotels expert Gallery Host team. Ranging from 650 square feet (61 square meters) to 750 square feet (70 square meters), the five meeting rooms are perfect for business gatherings, interviews and training events

24-hour Gym featuring cardio equipment with LCD touch screens and free ear buds

Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport offers:

112 Suites, ranging from spacious studios to one-bedroom Kitchen Suites with fully-equipped kitchens. Each Kitchen Suite features a full-sized refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, and other small appliances and utensils, as well as a separate living space, bedroom and work area with a flat screen high definition television

Free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel and guestrooms

Complimentary Morning Spread, a full hot breakfast served daily for guests, featuring a build-your-own Omelet Bar, savories, fresh fruit and more

The H BAR, a private, cozy space for both Hyatt Place and Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport guests to unwind in the evening, featuring a delicious menu, including sandwiches, pizza and snacks, in addition to a comprehensive selection of premium beers, wines and cocktails.

The H Market to meet the everyday needs of guests, from snacks and sundries to freshly prepared salads and sandwiches

Gathering Rooms with more than 1,900 square feet (180 square meters) of flexible meeting spaces, Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport features three Gathering Rooms ranging from 645 square feet (60 square meters) to 688 square feet (64 square meters that can accommodate up to 50 people in a variety of meeting formats. With all-inclusive packages available, each meeting room comes fully serviced with extensive menu options, comprehensive event planning support and audio-visual equipment

A 24-hour Workout Room to keep fitness routines going

Borrows Menu with often-forgotten items from phone charges to razors

Additional services, including same-day dry cleaning services, 24-hour laundry room, and complimentary grocery shopping

Hyatt Place Shenzhen Airport and Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport share an indoor heated swimming pool situated between their respective gyms, which is open daily from 6 AM to 10 PM.

Hyatt Place And Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport Leadership

Hyatt Place Shenzhen Airport and Hyatt House Shenzhen Airport are under the leadership of General Manager Julie Tan and Director of Sales Rock Han. In her role, Tan is directly responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the hotels, including overseeing the hotels 140 associates and ensuring guests encounter the thoughtful service for which Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels are known. Han is responsible for providing sales service and support to travelers and meeting planners frequenting Shenzhen Airport and the Baoan area.

The term Hyatt is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

About Hyatt Place

Hyatt Place, a brand of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, combines style, innovation and 24/7 convenience to create a seamless stay with modern comforts. There are more than 240 Hyatt Place locations in the United States, Armenia, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Honduras, India, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, The Netherlands, and United Arab Emirates. To learn more about Hyatt Place hotels or to make a reservation, visit www.hyattplace.com.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram, and tag photos with #HyattPlace and #TheresAPlaceForYou.

About Hyatt House

Hyatt House, a brand of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, launched in 2012 and offers more than 65 locations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and China. Inspired by extensive research of guest experiences, Hyatt House hotels are designed to welcome residents rather than guests and offer services, amenities, upscale spaces and a casual, comfortable environment that reminds guests of home. To learn more about Hyatt House hotels or to book a reservation, visit www.hyatthouse.com.

Join the conversation on Facebook, and follow Hyatt House on Pinterest for inspiration on things to do, places to see and more in the neighborhood.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The Company's subsidiaries develop, own, operate, manage, franchise, license or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences and vacation ownership properties, including under the Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Residence Club, Hyatt Residences and The Unbound Collection by Hyatt brand names and have locations on six continents. As of December 31, 2015, the Company's worldwide portfolio consisted of 638 properties in 52 countries. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

SOURCE Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Contacts:

Sian Martin

Hyatt

sian.martin@hyatt.com

+1 312 780 5797

Lillian Zhang

Hyatt  China

lillian.zhang@hyatt.com

+86 10 5928 1234

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Juice It Up! Signs Multi-Store Deal With New Franchise Partner

Franchise Group to Further Grow Brands Presence in Southern California

April 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // IRVINE, California  Juice It Up!, one of the nations leading raw juice bar and hand-crafted smoothie chains, entered a multi-unit area development agreement with new franchise partner, BMB FOODS, INC. The franchise group will develop throughout Southern California, opening Juice It Ups first Beaumont location in early Q2, with additional site selections in progress.

Today, raw juicing and health-focused dining options are in higher demand than ever before, so were thrilled to partner with Juice It Up!, a brand that unreservedly supports the healthy, active lifestyles of its guests, said the BMB FOODS, INC. franchise representative. After researching many concepts in the raw juice and smoothie space, it became clear that Juice It Up! offered a product quality and a level of support above and beyond competitors. Were looking forward to a long and rewarding partnership as Juice It Up! franchisees.

All Juice It Up! products are designed to be both delicious and functional, meeting the nutritional wants and needs of guests at every level of health. Menu items include fresh-squeezed functional raw juices, blended-to-order real fruit and veggie smoothies, and nutrient-rich bowls loaded with superfruits Acai and Pitaya. With the recently-introduced Smoothie Bowls as well as an expanded focus on the Bowl category, guests can transform their favorite Classic and Veggie Smoothie into a nourishing meal replacement, topped with fresh bananas, granola and a drizzle of honey. To supercharge any bowl or smoothie, guests can ask to Make it Green by blending in raw kale and spinach to add an extra dose of fiber, vitamins and minerals.

With nearly 20 years of combined franchise experience with multiple concepts, we are proud to partner with seasoned franchise groups like BMB FOODS, INC. said Carol DeNembo, vice president of business development for Juice It Up! Were confident that Juice It Up!s proven business model combined with our innovative products and passionate franchisees is our recipe for success; and we have no doubt that, under their leadership, the brand will thrive in the Southern California communities they serve!

With a franchisee-focused culture, Juice It Up! continues to attract highly-qualified new and existing franchise operators to grow with the brand. Ideal franchisees possess an entrepreneurial spirit and a creative local store marketing mindset, and are passionate about living a healthy lifestyle. To learn more about the benefits of owning a Juice It Up! straight from current franchisees, watch https://youtu.be/qkn3vxafNOI and visit http://www.juiceitupfranchise.com for additional franchising details.

About Juice It Up!

Juice It Up!, a leading raw juice bar and hand-crafted smoothie franchise, specializes in delicious and functional fresh-squeezed juices, blended-to-order real fruit smoothies and nutrient-rich options such as Acai and Pitaya Bowls. Founded in 1995, the Irvine, California-based lifestyle brand is focused on providing its guests with a variety of great-tasting, better-for-you food and drink choices designed with personal wellness in mind. With more than 80 locations across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas, the company is showcasing a new restaurant design, a heavier focus on the growing demand for raw juice options and a menu refresh that reflects the brands active personality and motto to Live Life Juiced! An established lifestyle brand with unparalleled experience in the raw juice bar industry, Juice It Up! is poised for aggressive expansion throughout the U.S. For more information, visit www.juiceitupfranchise.com.

Juice It Up! Social Media Pages:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/juiceitup/

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/juiceitup/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/juiceituphq/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/juiceitup/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/juiceitupcorp/

SOURCE Juice It Up!

Contact:

Chelsea McKinney

Powerhouse Public Relations

(949) 261-2216

Chelsea@powrhousepr.com

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Medi-Weightloss Is Now Open in Austin, TX

April 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // Austin, TX  Physician-supervised weight loss brand Medi-Weightloss is now open at 13359 Highway 183 North, Suite 403, in Austin.

And it could not have come at a better time.

According to the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department, 37 percent of adults in the county are considered overweight and another 21.3 percent are obese. Known as The One That Works!, the Medi-Weightloss Program is a three-phase eating and lifestyle plan in which medical professionals supervise and support patients in achieving their health goals. On average, compliant patients lose 6.4 pounds in their first week and 14 pounds their first month.

About the Medical Team at Medi-Weightloss Austin

Jeanie Chiu, MD, was born in Taiwan but grew up in central Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in geology and acquired her MD at Howard University College of Medicine. She completed her postdoctoral training at Penn State University Medical Center and UCSF Medical Center. She moved to Texas in 2009 and has been a proud Texan ever since.

Dr. Chiu has had both personal and professional experience with weight issues. Over the years, she has witnessed patients, friends, and family members struggle to first achieve, and then maintain, a healthy weight and lifestyle. She has been deeply affected by how much this struggle has impacted their quality of life and self-confidence. She is passionate about helping patients succeed with their weight loss goals and live the best life they possibly can.

Chris Pereira, RN, FNP-C, is a graduate of Texas A&M Corpus Christi Family Nurse Practitioner program.

She has over 25 years of professional nursing experience, with the last 15 years focused on the wellness of the working population.

She enjoys working with people to reach their health, exercise, or weight loss goals. She has managed many weight loss challenges in the workplace and is very passionate about using preventative medicine to gain a healthy life.

She has been married for 25 years and has three grown children. She enjoys running, yoga, reading, and sailing!

Maria Diaz is a driven Medical Assistant who loves to make patients feel welcomed and at home.

What excites Maria most about her position is the one-on-one time she spends with patients while performing her duties. Maria enjoys family time and watching movies. She has a passion for cooking and is a big fan of Medi-Weightloss recipes!

The Austin office is welcoming new patients.

13359 Highway 183 North

Suite 403

Austin, TX 78750

https://www.mediweightloss.com/locations/Austin/

SOURCE Medi-Weightloss

Media Contact:

Roxanne Winters

(512) 867-6200

Rwinters@mediweightlossclinics.com

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Petland Sponsors Dogs For Veterans

Company to provide support to Heartland Canines for Veterans

April 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // Chillicothe, OH  Petland, Inc. is excited to name the Heartland Canines for Veterans organization as one of its national charities.

Heartland Canines for Veterans is a 501c3 organization that provides companion, service and therapy dogs for disabled veterans.

Since 1967, Petlands focus has been matching the right pet to the right customer and enhancing the human animal bond, said Elizabeth Kunzelman, Director of Public Affairs. We are very pleased and honored to support the work of Heartland Canines for Veterans and are grateful to be able to help enhance a veterans life with a furry best friend and companion.

The mission of Heartland Canines for Veterans is to provide companion, service, and therapy dogs for disabled veterans. Heartland Canines for Veterans was established as an active 501c3 non-profit organization in 2015 and is led by a team of Missouri Pet Breeders. Heartland provides dogs that have been donated by professional breeders from the Missouri Pet Breeders Association. Each one of these dogs undergoes about 12-14 months of professional training to be able to aide veterans in the following areas (but are not limited to these): PTSD, seizure response, hearing disabilities, mobility assistance, and diabetic alerting. Heartland works with an affiliate veterans organization, Compass Quest, to identify candidates and their needs. Since their founding, they have placed two dogs and currently have four in training.

The average cost to raise and train each service dog is $7,200. Petland, Inc. has committed to supporting the cost of one dog per year for five years.

Veterans can go to the www.heartlandk9s.org website for more information and to fill out an initial application.

About Petland, Inc.

Petland, Inc. is a franchise operation with quality, full service retail pet centers across the United States, Canada, Japan, China, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil and El Salvador. For more than 47 years, Petland Pet Counselors have been dedicated to matching the right pet with the right person and meeting the needs of both. To its customers who already have pets, Petland is dedicated to enhancing their knowledge and enjoyment of the human-animal bond. Petland was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in south central Ohio. For more information on Petland, visit www.petland.com.

SOURCE Petland, Inc.

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This Francisor Really Does Compute: Experimac Is Making Waves In A Big Way

April 11, 2016 // Franchising.com // West Palm Beach, Florida - To say the Experimac brand has come a long way in a short time is an understatement. With an enviable growth curve achieved in less than 18 months, the one-of-a-kind retail concept is expanding its borders both domestically and internationally in impressive fashion.

Experimac is a franchised storefront concept that specializes in sales of pre-owned Apple computers and devices; repair of laptops, phones and tablets; trade-ins of existing devices; and sales of accessories. Operating under the United Franchise Group umbrella, the brand was launched in November 2014 and already has more than 30 locations open with 85 additional stores in various stages of development.

The unique business model that Experimac founder and president Jim Muir developed takes advantage of multiple revenue streams. Not only can customers buy pre-owned products at a lower cost, they can also get their devices repaired and get upgraded memory and software along with accessories.

Such attributes represent robust potential for the brand. Muir estimates that by the end of 2017, Experimac will have sales agreements in place for a combined 325 stores, both domestic and international, with 250-plus locations open.

Experimacs incredible growth is fueled by the fact that it is actually two complementary businesses rolled into one, said Muir. On the sales side, franchisees are able to put ownership of highly coveted Apple product into every customers budget. On the service side, Experimac offers in store repairs, upgrades and other services, making the store a one-stop location for all pre-owned Apple product needs. Experimac is the perfect choice for enterprising business owners looking to invest in an amazing business with tremendous profit potential.

However, the most successful franchisors have a multi-faceted growth strategy and Experimac is at the forefront of that movement with its bold international plans.

Experimac just opened a pilot store in Sydney, Australia with expectations of selling 15 to 25 franchises in 2016 alone in Australia. In addition, deposits for master franchises been received for Chile, as well as South Africa, while a master license has been awarded for northern Mexico, with the pilot store already in development. Plans are also under way for expansion in Canada, France, Nigeria and western Africa.

According to Franchising.com, having a blueprint for international growth has been increasing in popularity for U.S.-based franchisors. According to Franchising.coms findings, 80 percent of the world's population lives in areas that are considered emerging markets. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that over 75 percent of the expected growth in the world's trade over the next two decades will come from developing countries, particularly big emerging markets, which account for over half the world's population, but only 25 percent of its gross domestic product.

In addition, the report said that finding well-qualified master franchisees outside the U.S. can pave the way for growth of a franchise because the qualified master franchisee can be the key to identifying and recruiting talented franchisees who fit the system and successfully execute the franchise concept.

Experimac is very well received internationally as an exciting franchise model. With the brand loyalty and global appeal that Apple commands, we are in an excellent position to have Experimac well exceeding our already ambitious global growth goals, said International Director Tipton Shonkwiler.

About Experimac

Experimac is the latest addition to the United Franchise Group family of brands, joining a team with over 30 years of franchise experience. Capitalizing on a sustained demand for Apple products, Experimac provides pre-owned computers and devices, repair of laptops, phones and tablets, trade-ins of existing devices, sales of accessories and software. For more information visit experimacfranchise.com.

About United Franchise Group

Led by CEO Ray Titus, United Franchise Group houses a successful group of business-to-business franchise systems. United Franchise Groups concepts specialize in personalized business services including signs, embroidery, business brokerage and outdoor advertising. With nearly three decades in the franchising industry and more than 1400 franchisees throughout the world, United Franchise Group offers unprecedented leadership and solid business opportunities for entrepreneurs. United Franchise Groups brands include Signarama, EmbroidMe, Transworld Business Advisors, SuperGreen Solutions, Experimac, Jon Smith Subs and Ventura.

SOURCE United Franchise Group

Media Contact:

Mackie Hill

Sanderson & Associates

Mackie@sandersonpr.com

312-829-4351

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Tassal capitalises exports by dropping Coles private label salmon and blames global warming

Tassal will stop supplying Coles supermarkets with private label salmon as of 4 June 2016.

The Tasmanian seafood company will also stop a salmon supply contract with Simplot from 30 June 2016.

Tassal said it decided to withdraw tenders for these contracts due to supply issues.

This decision was taken to ensure Tassal continues to generate sustainable returns moving forward in light of warmer water impacting growing conditions for near term supply, Tassal said in a statement.

The company said ending the contracts is not expected to impact revenues and earnings going forward.

Tassal had a long and enduring relationship with Coles, said Tassal.

This relationship is not expected to change, and Tassal will continue to supply a wide range of other Salmon and Seafood products to Coles, the company said.

Tassal says it will now be able to redirect salmon into other domestic markets in order to optimise return. It also stated demand will come from overseas markets.

The export market continues to present favourable conditions given supply shortages globally that are expected to continue for the next two years, with increased pricing and a low Australian dollar. Tassal will continue to utilise the export market to balance sales volumes in line with optimising shareholder returns, Tassal stated.

In November 2015 Tassal launched a variety of new innovative and value-adding salmon products into Coles and Woolworths supermarkets across Australia. These products included a ready-to-eat snacks range that combined salmon with rice, beans and quinoa plus salmon rashers. Salmon rashers are pitched as an alternative to bacon rashers and are well suited as a breakfast food.

Tassal acquired Sydneys De Costi Seafoods in July 2015 for AUD $50 million plus shares issued over the following three years.

In August 2015 Tassal revealed a 21.8 per cent net profit increase for the 2014  2015 Australian financial year.

Coles has since announced that Petuna will take over where Tassal took off in supplying private label salmon to the supermarket. A five year partnership has been established between Petuna and Coles. Petunas is based in Devonport, Tasmania and is owned by its founders the Rockliff family along with the Sealord Group.

Coles said it looks forward to continuing a good relationship with Tassal who its its primary supplier of smoked salmon across Australia.
Donald Trumps inflammatory statements about Mexican immigrants, Muslim refugees and women who get abortions may eventually be his campaigns undoing, some analysts say. But dont tell that to the many supporters such as Titus Kottke, attracted to the Republican front-runner specifically because he shoots from the lip.

No more political correctness, said Kottke, 22, a cattle trucker and construction worker from Athens, Wisconsin, who waited hours last weekend to see the candidate in a line stretching the length of a shopping mall.

Trump is not scared to offend people, Kottke said. He agrees with some of the views Trump expresses but likes the fact that the candidate shows the confidence to reject the dogma of political correctness. That takes away your freedom of speech, pretty much. You cant say anything.

For years, conservatives have decried political correctness as a scourge of orthodox beliefs and language, imposed by liberals, that keeps people from voicing uncomfortable truths.

Now, some Trump supportersmany white, working-class voters frustrated with the countrys shifting economics and demographicsapplaud him for not being afraid to make noise about the things that anger them but that they feel discouraged from saying out loud.

Its a cultural backlash, said Steve Schmidt, a Republican political strategist who ran Sen. John McCains 2008 presidential campaign. Millions and millions of people in this country, blue-collar people, feel that their values are under assault, that theyre looked down upon, condescended to by the elites.

Trump rival Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has quit the 2016 race, are among the candidates who also have outspoken in decrying political correctness.

But Trump has made defiance of the manners usually governing politics a signature of his campaign.

The big problem this country has is being politically correct, he said in a debate in August, when pressed on his comments about women that brought criticism. Ive been challenged by so many people and I dont frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesnt have time either.

In doing so, Trump tapped into a frustration shared even by many voters who disagree with him on other issues. In an October poll of Americans by Fairleigh Dickinson University, more than two-thirds agreed that political correctness is a big problem for the country. Among Republicans, it was 81 percent.

That sentiment is clear in conversations with Trump supporters.

Let him be a man with the guts to say what he wants, said Polly Day, 74, a retired nurse from Wausau, Wisconsin, who came to a Trump rally last Saturday in nearby Rothschild. Should he tone down? Hell figure that out on his own. I like him the way he is.

At the same rally, Kottke said Trumps rejection of political correctness is one of the main reasons he supports him, along with the candidates determination to improve security, protect jobs and keep Muslims out of the country.

Plenty of others agreed with him.

Finally somebodys coming in that has the cojones to say something and to do something, said Ray Henry, another supporter. I think hes saying what a lot of what Americas feeling right now ... enoughs enough.

Trumps flouting of political correctness has turned out to be a potent rhetorical weapon, political analysts say, but could prove troublesome.

At its best, not being politically correct comes across as direct, unfiltered and honest. At its worst, not being politically correct comes across as crude, rude and insulting, said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster who previously worked for Florida Sen. Marco Rubios presidential campaign. Trumps supporters may find it refreshing. That doesnt mean they would find it presidential.
According to previous studies, the result of the PET scan partway through treatment with ABVD is associated with the eventual outcome of the therapy. Patients with advanced disease whose scans were positive after two cycles of ABVD were much more likely to see their disease get worse within two years of completing treatment; just 15 to 30 percent of these patients experienced what scientists call two-year progression-free survival.

The researchers aimed to boost the percentage of these high-risk patients who survived two years without their disease progressing to at least 48 percent by switching them into eBEACOPP instead. In contrast, patients whose imaging suggested they were likely to be cured by the standard ABVD could be spared eBEACOPPs side effects.

The team also hoped that response-adapted therapy would increase the progression-free survival of the entire group of patients on the trial to 78 percent.

On this prospective study, 331 patients received fluorodeoxyglucose-PET scans after two rounds of ABVD. The scans were positive for highly metabolically active cells in 60 participants, who were then offered six cycles of the more toxic eBEACOPP regimen. Participants who had negative scans continued with four more cycles of the traditional ABVD regimen.

Of the 319 participants who completed their assigned chemo regimens under the study protocol, the calculated two-year progression-free survival was 79 percent, exceeding the researchers 78-percent goal.

And while the team had aimed to increase two-year progression-free survival in the higher-risk cohort to around half, progression-free survival in this group jumped to almost two-thirds (64 percent).

Its very clear that [eBEACOPP] is a toxic regimen, so in our study, only about 20 percent of patients needed to get that regimen, whereas in Germany, all of the patients are getting that regimen, Friedberg said, which I think is the balance, the appeal, of our approach.

First study of many

As a Phase 2 study without a control arm, the trial is not the so-called gold-standard of medical research, a Phase 3 randomized trial. Whether the results of this single trial will change clinical practice in the lymphoma field as a whole is in the eye of the beholder, Press said. We ultimately would like a Phase 3 study.

Dr. Julie Vose, a lymphoma specialist who was not an investigator on this trial, said that the study was very well-designed and its results are promising. If we can try to choose just the patients who really need the BEACOPP regimen, which has higher toxicity, that is a benefit to all our Hodgkins patients, she said.

Vose had enrolled patients on the trial, which had a study site at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she is chief of the oncology/hematology division.

Press, Friedberg and their colleagues are not the only team of investigators studying response-adapted therapy in advanced lymphoma. Several other research groups worldwide are also carrying out Phase 2 and 3 trials, and their final results have not yet been released. Press thinks that as the results from all these studies are published, lymphoma specialists around the world may consider adopting some form of PET-guided response-adapted therapy to treat their stage 3 and 4 Hodgkin lymphoma patients.

If there are two Phase 2 studies side by side showing similar results, I think a lot of physicians will want to change practice, he said. The investigators will continue to gather follow-up data on participants, including information about long-term survival and side effects, he said.

Vose, for example, said that she and her colleagues do not currently use the response-adapted therapy strategy tested in this new study as a routine part of their Hodgkin lymphoma practice. Instead, she uses a risk-scoring system known as the International Prognostic Score, first published in 1998, to assign Hodgkin lymphoma patients at diagnosis to a chemotherapy regimen (high-score patients are assigned to eBEACOPP). She said that she would consider adopting this trials PET-based response-adapted therapy in the clinic after the publication of longer-term follow-up data and data from a larger number of patients assigned to eBEACOPP after a positive PET scan.

A cooperative effort

This trial was a massive collaborative effort, involving three large clinical trials groups supported by the National Cancer Institute. The trial was managed by SWOG, a cancer clinical trials group with 12,000 members worldwide currently based at the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. Trial participants were also enrolled through the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group.

The trial has been a long time coming: Its moniker is SWOG S0816, and the 08 refers to 2008, the year its protocol was written. The first participant was enrolled in 2010. With the intergroup cooperation under Press leadership, however, the investigators were able to enroll participants quickly once the trial opened, Friedberg said.

Cooperation is the direction that the lymphoma groups are moving in nationally, Friedberg said. We realized that for us to get the study done in a reasonable period of time, we needed all of the adult cooperative groups to collaborate and not compete.
Alpharetta Computer Repair New Site For Laptop & Desktop Servicing In Georgia

A computer repair company in Alpharetta, Georgia has launched a new site to advertise its services in Alpharetta and surrounding area. The expert technicians can deal with any computer problem, whether it's hardware or software based, and can be reached on 678-825-3597.

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A computer repair company in Alpharetta, Georgia, has launched a new site advertising its computer repair services for customers in the local area. Anyone suffering problems with their computer, whether its freezing or slowing during use, if it has a virus or simply won't turn on, then Computer Repair Suwanee can help get the device back in working order.

More information can be found on the Computer Repair Alpharetta website at: Computer Repair Alpharetta, http://www.computerrepairsuwanee.com/.

The new Computer Repair Alpharetta site explains how buying a new laptop or desktop computer is expensive, so repairing a broken one can often save hundreds of dollars. But computers are such complicated machines that it can be difficult for users to know how to diagnose a problem, whether it's software related or something is wrong with the hardware itself. Computer Repair Alpharetta has a team of fully trained and licensed technicians, who are experienced in dealing with every aspect of computer repair, and can hone in on precisely what is wrong with any device.

The staff regularly goes through training to stay up to date with the latest technology, so they can always diagnose problems. They can work on any operating system, and their expertise also extends to dealing with keyboards, disk drives, video cards, USB ports, motherboards, sound cards and all hardware issues.

Any customers considering buying a new computer because it's old or running slowly are encouraged to get in touch with Computer Repair Alpharetta, because they have affordable packages available depending on the amount of work that needs doing, and they can often return a computer running just as fast or even faster than when it was brand new. Depending on the problem and the work involved, the technicians can even return a computer on the same day.

Anyone considering contacting the company can receive a free quote simply by filling in their details on the website. Alternatively, they can call 678-825-3597 and discuss their problems directly.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.computerrepairsuwanee.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Austin Tutor

Organization: Computer Repair Suwanee



Release ID: 110127

For more information visit r



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Dallas Criminal Defense Law Firm Launches New Client Defense Service Texas Site

A Dallas criminal defense law firm has just announced the launch of a new website, advertising its services and a free consultation. The company's expert team of lawyers offers a wide range of criminal defense services for anyone in the area.

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A criminal defense law firm in Dallas, Texas, has announced the launch of a new website advertising the full range of its attorney services. The Dallas Criminal Defense Law Firm practice covers everything from assault charges to DWI defense, felony charges and theft or burglary crimes. A free consultation is available for anyone considering hiring one of their lawyers for legal defense.

More information can be found on The Dallas Criminal Defense Law Firm site: http://criminallawyerdallas.org.

The new site explains how frightening it can be for anyone to be accused of committing a crime. Many people don't know what to do in response, and this is why it's imperative to seek solid legal advice from a law office. When facing a criminal conviction, there is no substitute for extensive, proven experience. The expert team of lawyers at The Dallas Criminal Defense Law Firm can help to ensure that clients' do not have their rights violated, and ensure the best possible defense to any criminal proceedings.

Even the smallest criminal charge can have a large impact on a person's future, which is why The Dallas Criminal Defense Law Firm offers their free consultation service, so people can get advice from a trustworthy defense team and make up their mind about what they would like to do. How someone's case is presented in court can be the difference between being found not guilty or guilty. The criminal defense lawyers at the law office know that each case is different, and that is the reason they are devoted to offering creative, effective and unique criminal defense approaches to every individual they represent.

Because the legal process can often be confusing, the new website offers a well developed FAQ section for people to find answers to common queries. These range from what to do if a client intends to plead guilty, the difference between a felony and a misdemeanour, and what to do if an officer didn't read the accused's rights. If someone's question doesn't appear on the list, they can get in touch with the company through a contact form on the site.

For more information about us, please visit http://criminallawyerdallas.org/

Contact Info:

Name: Rose Johnson

Organization: The Dallas Criminal Defense Law Firm

Address: 1700 Pacific Avenue, Dallas, Texas 95201

Phone: (214) 310-9500

Release ID: 110134

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Wind Voyager Takes on Triple-S To Create The Ultimate Kiteboarding Getaway

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, USA - March 30, 2016 - Wind Voyager is proud to announce that it will be the title sponsor of REAL Watersports' 2016 Triple-S Invitational.

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Wind Voyager has set out to create the ultimate kiteboarding getaway aboard a luxurious catamaran that will take its guests and crew to the world's untouched kiteboarding havens. With a focus on comfort, practicality and accessibility, Wind Voyager is diligently selecting and equipping a one-of-a-kind vessel to provide an unparalleled experience to its guests.

The Yacht's first season will debut in the fall of 2016, ready for the Caribbean charter months. Unbound by a fixed geographical location, the route will be dictated by the weather trends for each potential destination.

The team at Wind Voyager was brought together through experiences at REAL, so the opportunity to sponsor the 2016 Triple-S Invitational carried particular significance to WV. As the leading kiteboarding destination in the world, REAL Watersports located in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, never fails to birth new and lasting relationships, driven by its love for the sport. WV is excited to partner with REAL Watersports' co-founders Trip Forman and Matt Nuzzo for a sensational 11th annual Triple-S Invitational.

"No place in the world offers the level of experience and customer satisfaction that REAL Watersports does. We have drawn inspiration from their standard, and strive to offer the same quality, comfort and security on our trips. We are truly thrilled to work closely with the industry leader that REAL Watersports has become." - Ian Baldwin, Wind Voyager Chief Marketing Officer.

"We're excited to have Wind Voyager onboard as the new title sponsor for the Triple-S Invitational. This year's Triple-S features 32 of the world's best kiteboarders competing for $50,000 in prize money, and the honor of being crowned the 2016 Wind Voyager Triple-S Champion. 7 Parties and 7 Bands bring the action off the water and to the dance floor every night, providing the ultimate kiteboarding destination experience for both competitors and spectators alike. Event partners like Wind Voyager, can see beyond the current "norm", and help us take the Triple-S to the next level. The fact that the Triple-S and REAL are an inspiration for their own project has us salivating for what they will bring to the kiteboarding travel industry!" - Trip Forman Co Founder Triple-S Invitational and REAL Watersports.

Mark the dates from June 4th - 10th to make the trip to REAL for our favorite week of the summer, and prepare to be blown away as Wind Voyager and REAL host the world's top kiteboarders who unrelentingly push the physical limits of our sport.

Visit windvoyager.com to sign up for news and updates regarding the yacht, the route and the team behind the adventure. You can follow the Triple-S event at TripleSinvitational.com

For more information about us, please visit http://www.windvoyager.com

Contact Info:

Name: Ian Baldwin

Organization: Wind Voyager LLC



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/wind-voyager-takes-on-triple-s-to-create-the-ultimate-kiteboarding-getaway/109227

Release ID: 109227

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Faraday 3D Launches a 3D Visualization Campaign

With the help of 3D visualization, clients find they can see a completed project before any work even begins, reports FaradayLabs.EU

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Faraday 3D launches a 3d architectural renderings campaign, as they wish for consumers everywhere to understand the benefits of this service. With the help of a 3d rendering company, a client sees their project as planned before any work ever begins. This ensures client satisfaction once the project is complete, less risk of cost overruns and a high quality project from start to finish. Individuals unfamiliar with architectural visualization need to learn more about this option and how it can be of help with their project.

"Although based in Europe, we work with clients from around the globe to assist them in creating their dream project. Our company visualizes any size of project, whether it be a small, private home for a single family or a large office building capable of housing hundreds of firms. Our exterior rendering is only one of the services we offer, as we wish to ensure every aspect of the project can be seen before we break ground," Dimitri Bobkov, spokesperson for Faraday 3D, announces.

With the help of 3D exterior rendering, a client obtains a realistic picture of what the completed project will look like from the outside. Many assume the rendering focuses only on the structure, yet it can also include the surroundings for a more complete vision of the finished work. The clear, lifelike representation helps to ensure client satisfaction, as they can make changes early on, preventing delays in the project as it progresses.

"Property buyers are not the only ones who benefit from use of this service. Home builders find they can provide potential buyers with images that capture the customer's eye, using a professional presentation that truly shows the benefits of the property. Clients actually experience the project from the first step, as opposed to when the project is underway. The images produced are so realistic many assume they are actually photographs of completed projects, only learning they aren't when we share this information," Bobkov continues.

Clients typically want to see more than simply the exterior of the home. For this reason, Faraday 3D complements the exterior rendering service with interior 3D visualization and 3D furniture rendering. When combined, the three services allow a client to get a very accurate representation of every aspect of their project. Clients who have used the service find they benefited in a variety of ways, and Faraday 3D wants to ensure more learn about this offering and how it can help them.

"Visit our site today to learn more about 3D visualization options. With the help of our services, clients have a better picture of the final project and how it will look. Regardless of where you are located, we can be of help," Bobkov declares.

About Faraday 3D:

Founded almost six years ago, Faraday 3D remains dedicated to providing outstanding customer service and support for all clients. Each project receives exclusive attention from the team of programmers, graphic designers, marketing professionals and web developers, and all clients obtain a fresh design and develop a close working relationship with their project leader. What truly makes the firm stand out, however, is their creative edge, one used to strengthen the client's professional strategy.

For more information about us, please visit http://faradaylabs.eu

Contact Info:

Name: Dimitri Bobkov

Organization: 3D visualization company

Phone: +3725050486

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/faraday-3d-launches-a-3d-visualization-campaign/110176

Release ID: 110176

For more information visit r



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VALiNTRY and EAF Announce Their New Business Partnership

The partnership allows EAF members to take advantage of exclusive discounts on VALiNTRY services, reports https://VALiNTRY.com.

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VALiNTRY, a premier consulting and staffing firm based in Winter Park, Florida, has recently announced their new business partnership with the Employers Association Forum (EAF). EAF is a non-profit corporate member-based association dedicated to serving the business and HR community with programs, services, and resources that help businesses achieve organizational effectiveness. Through this partnership, EAF members will be eligible for discounts on VALiNTRY services, such as IT Consulting, Finance/Accounting Staffing, Healthcare Recruitment, or Digital Marketing management.

In reference to the new partnership, EAF President Rita Manny stated "EAF is proud to add VALiNTRY to our growing list of preferred member-partners. In just 3 short years, VALiNTRY has made a name for itself in technology, accounting and finance, marketing, and healthcare staffing, winning several "Best Places to Work" honors along the way. We have even taken advantage of VALiNTRY's experts for several EAF projects, and their results have exceeded expectations. We encourage our members to join us in partnering with VALiNTRY."

As a company, VALiNTRY has become highly regarded in their industry. The company was named a finalist for GROWFL's "Florida Companies to Watch." In addition, they have earned the title of "Best Staffing Firm to Work For" by Staffing Industry Analysts. The VALiNTRY team continually strives to provide the best technology services and consultants in the industry while aiming to create a collaborative, values-first environment for their consultants and clients alike.

VALiNTRY President Joe Parris commented "EAF has been a great partner to VALiNTRY. In our nascent partnership, we have signed and successfully provided discounted services to several fellow EAF members and new VALiNTRY customers. We are flattered to be chosen as EAF's preferred consulting partner for the services VALiNTRY provides and look forward to partnering with more EAF members!"

About VALiNTRY:

VALiNTRY is a technology and values-driven consulting and staffing firm based in Winter Park, FL that services businesses of all sizes throughout the United States. VALiNTRY services customers in variety of industries, providing Technology (IT), Accounting/Finance, Marketing, and Healthcare Staffing and Consulting talent, building on the experience their team has attained at previous roles working for industry leaders. Together, VALiNTRY continually looks to exceed expectations for the Clients and Consultants they partner with to tackle their complex and challenging projects.

About EAF:

Serving more than 1,500 professionals nationwide, Employers Association Forum, Inc. (EAF) is a non-profit corporate member-based association dedicated to serving the business and HR community with world-class HR Tools, Hotlines, Legal Compliance, News, Trends, Surveys and Economic data, Benefits, Insurance, and Risk Management, as well as Training, Consulting, and Organizational & Leadership Development. EAF serves its members nationwide from its main office in Longwood, Florida.

For more information about us, please visit https://VALiNTRY.com

Contact Info:

Name: Brent Healy

Organization: VALiNTRY

Phone: (800) 360-1407

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/valintry-and-eaf-announce-their-new-business-partnership/110170

Release ID: 110170

For more information visit r



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Buffalo Photographers Portrait Pretty Now Booking Senior Portraits Class of 2017

Buffalo Photographers Portrait Pretty Photography announced the continued availability of their High School Senior Portraits "High School Senior Portraits" available at On our website. More information can be found at http://www.portraitprettyphotography.com/senior-portraits-buffalo-ny/.

--

Customers looking for an exceptional High School Senior Portraits are now able to purchase High School Senior Portraits by Portrait Pretty Photography. Jennifer Lee, Photographer at Portrait Pretty Photography has just released more in depth details of High School Senior Portraits's development.

High School Senior Portraits is designed to appeal specifically to high school students / parents / families / family / teens / tweens and includes these different options:

The Ultimate Senior Portrait Experience - This was made part of the packages, since one of a kind experience for high school senior portraits, featuring numerous on-location scenes at various locations throughout Buffalo and WNY.. Customers who buy High School Senior Portraits should enjoy this particular feature because the high school senior will have tons of fun and will be a session to remember. .

The Senior Mini - Portrait Pretty Photography made sure to make this part of the High School Senior Portraits's development as an affordable option for those whose budget is not for the ultimate senior portrait experience.. Customers will likely appreciate this because they receive a single on-location scene with tons of poses offering that unique experience..

Custom Senior Yearbook Photo - This feature was included because a truly custom yearbook portrait experience is unique to Portrait Pretty Photography.. This is great news for the senior as they get a one on one experience from start to finish, the photographer starts with the various head shots for yearbook and then the photographer and senior finish and edit the image together based on the seniors needs.. This leaves for no surprises.

Jennifer Lee, when asked about High School Senior Portraits said:

"We offer different options that no one in the area offers, we truly offer a unique high school senior experience"

Jennifer Lee is particularly excited about this service because Portrait Pretty Photography is one of a kind senior portrait photographers offering a service as unique as the high school senior..

Those interested in booking their high school senior portrait experience now, can do so on the photographers website at http://www.portraitprettyphotography.com/senior-portraits-buffalo-ny/

Those interested in viewing other portrait sessions can do so by going to their website located at http://www.portraitprettyphotography.com

For more information about us, please visit http://www.portraitprettyphotography.com

Contact Info:

Name: Jennifer Lee

Email: portraitprettybuffalo@gmail.com

Organization: Portrait Pretty Photography

Phone: 716-348-8701

Release ID: 110123

For more information visit r



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The government has created a taskforce to investigate allegations of offshore tax avoidance, which emerged from the Panama Papers leak.

The prime minister yesterday (10 April) announced 10m has been allocated to support the taskforce, which will investigate leads on tax-dodging from the Panama Papers.

The new unit, which will be lead by HM Revenue & Customs and the National Crime Agency, will also be made up of specialists and analysts from the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Conduct Authority.

David Cameron also published his tax returns yesterday (10 April) in a bid to calm the public uproar following news he benefitted from his late fathers offshore investment trust.

Last week leaked documents called the Panama Papers were released, which uncovered 11.5m files from Panama-based global law firm Mossack Fonseca disclosing secret tax dealings.

The newly established taskforce will report its progress to the chancellor and Home Secretary later this year.

It is already investigating 700 current leads linked to the Panama Papers.

Over recent years the UK government has clamped down on aggressive tax avoidance and evasion, and HMRC has tracked down 2bn from offshore tax dodgers since 2010.

But Mr Cameron said there is clearly further to go, adding the new taskforce will bring together the best of British expertise to deal with any wrongdoing relating to the Panama Papers.

The chancellor is working with other countries to accelerate progress towards sharing beneficial ownership information, meaning enforcement agencies can share information on who really owns companies.

From June 2016, the UK will publish its own freely-accessible register of company beneficial ownership. Our message is clear: there are no safe havens. David Gauke

Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said the Panama papers show tax evasion is part of a wider set of international criminality activity, together with money laundering, illicit finance and evading sanctions.

He said the new taskforce will further tighten the screw on those who think they can get away with dodging tax.

It will also further enhance our ability to tackle financial crimes across the board, leaving no stone unturned.

Our message is clear: there are no safe havens.

Philip Milton, chartered financial planner at Devon-based Philip J Milton & Company, welcomed the new taskforce.

There is nothing wrong with the super-rich preserving anonymity with their international wealth and that should be allowed to continue, but when blatant illegality is involved, it must be stopped.

Tax havens would be keen to participate to preserve their special status and demonstrate to the world they are not places for the proceeds of crime to be hidden.

Mr Milton suggested the enquiries should extend to property ownership by offshore trusts in the UK.

katherine.denham@ft.com
Aegon has sold two thirds of its UK annuity portfolio to Rothesay Life, in order to divert more resources to its adviser platform.

The provider will reinsure 6bn of liabilities under the terms of agreement, transferring a portfolio of contracts to Rothesay Life.

It expects the move to cut its annual operational free cash flows from its UK business by around 35m, with an impact on 2016 underlying earnings before tax of approximately 20m. The move will also reduce Aegons risk weighting under Solvency II.

According to a statement from the company, the sale will mostly benefit its rapidly-growing investment platform, along with the protection business.

Alex Wynaendts, chief executive of Aegon said: This is an important step in the process to fully divest our UK annuity portfolio, and will enable us to focus on our fast-growing platform in the UK.

We are confident that this transaction is also in the best interests of our annuity customers, as Rothesay Life is an established and respected specialist provider in the UK annuity market.

To ensure a smooth transition for its customers, Aegon and Rothesay Life will put a migration plan in place in which the administration of the annuity portfolio will be executed by Aegon until the completion of the transfer.

Aegons statement added that it is exploring options to also divest the remainder of its UK annuity portfolio. Rumours of a sale have circulated for some time, with both Rothesay Life and Legal & General touted as potential buyers.

Aegon has not been an active player in the UK annuity market since 2010, the provider pointed out, adding that there will be no material impact on Aegon staff, as employees who currently service annuities are expected to be redeployed.

UK chief executive Adrian Grace added: Were committed to the UK see our future in offering advisers and employers with a platform that combines the best investment solutions, guarantees and service.

The sale marks a huge milestone for Aegon and todays deal gives us the impetus to continue growing our platform and protection business.

ruth.gillbe@ft.com
Farm ministers meeting in Luxembourg are discussing whether EU measures are helping to ease the pressure on crisis-hit producers.

Ministers at the EU farm council meeting is expected to spend much of Monday (11 April) afternoon discussing the support measures.

EU farm commissioner Phil Hogan will update ministers on the implementation of market support initiatives announced by Brussels last month.

See also: UK farmers unlikely to benefit from cashflow measures

The measures followed a 500m (400m) support package for EU farmers announced by the commission in the wake of farm protests in Brussels last September.

Additional measures aimed at easing price pressures on dairy producers included doubling intervention ceilings for skimmed milk powder and butter.

Milk production accounts for 15% of the EUs agricultural output and dairy farmers are among those hardest hit by low prices across a range of sectors.

Mr Hogan also announced voluntary measures allowing dairy producer groups to voluntarily agree how much milk they should produce and supply.

This is the so-called Article 222 from the common market organisation, which is specific to the agricultural sector and can be applied in case of severe imbalance in the market.

Milk supply

A temporary measure, it allows producer groups to restrict the supply of milk without falling foul of EU competition laws.

Six EU countries account for some 70% of EU milk production.

They are Germany, France, the UK, Poland, the Netherlands and Italy.

Some EU countries, such as France, believe implementing measures allowed under Article 222 could help speed the recovery of the dairy sector.

But some other countries, including the UK, are less enthusiastic.

The NFU, for example, believes that any reduction in milk supply would be simply be filled by producers elsewhere rather than firm up prices.

The commission is also expected to update ministers on the latest developments concerning difficulties in the pigmeat, dairy and fruit and vegetables sectors.
More than 40 Gaffney High students will compete for titles in the 2023 Miss Cherokeean Pageant being held this Saturday, Oct. 22. The pageant will begin at 6 p.m. in ...

How should you pay for short-term financial goals?

As you go through life, you will likely have longand short-term financial goals. But how will your strategies for meeting your long-term goals differ from those needed for your short-term...
Story Highlights 35% of Americans are worried a great deal about race relations

Number has more than doubled in past two years

Race relations still ranks low among issues causing worry

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than a third (35%) of Americans now say they are worried "a great deal" about race relations in the U.S. -- which is higher than at any time since Gallup first asked the question in 2001. The percentage who are worried a great deal rose seven percentage points in the past year and has more than doubled in the past two years.

Concern about race relations in the U.S. has risen during an 18-month period marked by a series of deaths of unarmed blacks at the hands of police officers. These deaths sparked major, sometimes violent, protests and fueled the nationwide rise of the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

Democrats, Liberals More Worried Than Republicans, Conservatives

Concern about race relations over the past two years has increased among Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, and blacks and whites. But the gap between the groups who were already most worried before 2015 -- Democrats, liberals and blacks -- and those less worried has not shrunk, and in some cases has widened. Of particular note is the 53% to 27% "worried" gap between blacks and whites, up from the 31% to 14% gap between blacks and whites in the 2012-2014 combined polls.

Percentage Who Say They Worry "a Great Deal" About Race Relations in the U.S. 2001-2011 % 2012-2014 % 2015-2016 % Democrats + leaners 25 22 37 Republicans + leaners 14 14 26 Liberals 25 24 42 Moderates 19 14 27 Conservatives 17 16 28 Blacks 45 31 53 Whites 15 14 27 Combined Gallup polls: 2001-2011, 2012-2014, 2015-2016

Race Relations Low on the List of Major Concerns

Prior to 2015, race relations was much less of a concern to Americans, relative to other national issues. In almost every one of 13 polls from 2001 to 2014, Americans were significantly less likely to be worried about race relations than about any of the other dozen or so issues tested. Even this year, though the percentage concerned is up, race relations still ranks near the bottom of the list of concerns, along with energy, climate change and illegal immigration. None of the four elicited a great deal of concern from more than 37% (illegal immigration) of the public, compared with more than 50% for healthcare, the economy, and crime and violence.

Bottom Line

Race relations may not worry as many Americans as do issues such as the economy, affordable healthcare or crime, but Gallup's polling clearly shows that racial tensions over the past few years have significantly affected public opinion.

Not only are far more Americans -- no matter their race or political beliefs -- worried about race relations, Americans have also become less satisfied with the way blacks are treated and more likely to list race relations as the most important problem the nation faces.

The rising concern about race relations as the nation's first black president completes his last year in office is a retreat from the optimism that swept the country in the immediate aftermath of President Barack Obama's first election win in 2008. A Gallup poll one night after Obama won found that seven in 10 Americans believed race relations would improve because of his victory.

In fact, a mid-2015 Gallup poll indicated that treatment of blacks had not worsened during Obama's time in office, even while concerns about race relations and treatment of blacks were rising. However, the poll also did not show any significant lessening of perceived racial discrimination among blacks.

In the current presidential election cycle, both conservatives and liberals have attacked Republican front-runner Donald Trump for his campaign's racist overtones, and conservative pundits are already claiming that history will conclude the Obama presidency worsened race relations. These factors, along with the ever-growing number of racial protests on college campuses and elsewhere, make it unlikely that Americans' concerns about race relations will diminish in 2016.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted March 2-6, 2016, with a random sample of 1,019 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.
It is with heartfelt gratitude and pride that I report the successful completion of the clothing drive started by Ettihad Cultural Center at Oregon State University.

The boxes containing 2,100 pounds of clothing have been collected by the shipping company and the cargo will be received by Norwegian Peoples Aid in a few weeks.

When students asked me to guide them in developing programs that have a global significance, I knew it would require the entire community to step in and make this vision a reality. Only in its pilot year, the humanitarian drive as already taught our students an unforgettable lesson in humanity. I feel honored and privileged to be raising my own children in a community that responds so passionately to a call for assisting those whose suffering cannot be captured by our imagination.

We thank Bennett Hall and Andy Cripe for covering the story in such depth. We thank every single donor who supported the effort through cash or in-kind donations. For every donation we received, the students resolve to do more, to do better and to not lose hope intensified.

I have been teaching in a classroom for many years but I know that collectively this community has helped me teach our students how to think big, how to cultivate and sustain empathy, and above all; how to be global citizens. All prayers, advice, encouragement and support is what would help these students thrive as they plan for the next year. May this community thrive and get even stronger.

Dr. Amarah Khan

Corvallis (April 7)

The author is the associate director for global diversity initiatives and the adviser for the Ettihad Cultural Center at Oregon State University.
University of Bonn : 92 million Euro in renovations needed

Bonn Bonns University is in need of millions of euros in renovations. Cost are high and an exact time table has not yet been developed.

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Bonns University is certainly a historical treasure as it will celebrate 200 years of existence in 2018. As wonderful as that sounds, old buildings need lots of maintenance and the main building of the University needs about 92 million euro in renovations. In total, there are about 250 buildings that belong to the University and estimates for renovating all of those in need run about a billion euros. Its money the University doesnt have; it is depending on funding from North Rhine Westphalia (NRW).

One of the biggest concerns is the AVZ building on Nussallee. It has many laboratories for research and teaching but it is in such poor condition that planners say it has to be replaced with a new building, and permission to use the building runs out at the end of the year. This will affect many students in biology, chemistry, physics, pharmaceuticals and medicine. Costs for a new building are estimated at 37 million euro and it would not be completed until 2020 at the earliest.

The 92 million for the main building would cover a new heating system, windows, updated fire safety measures, structural improvement and better escape route access. A time plan does not yet exist for the renovations but they would have to be carried out in increments. This main building houses Theology, Philosophy and part of the University administration.

Three buildings are being constructed on the new Poppelsdorf campus and they are expected to be completed in summer. One building will house the Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology, one will house the Institute for Numeric Simulation and the third will contain the Nutrition and Food Science departments. The cost of those buildings was estimated at 75 million euro.
This is how Micromax Smartphone Users Will Now be Able to Make Digital Payments News oi -GizBot Bureau

Domestic handset maker Micromax will now integrate a new wallet offering, powered by Visa and TranServ, for its smartphone users as it looks to beef up its services business. The Gurgaon-based firm, which had partnered TranServ in December last year, is relying heavily on payments as part of its overall service strategy.

"Payment is very critical to the overall service strategy for Micromax... Almost all the new smartphone products will have this wallet as natively integrated in them. Existing users of Micromax smartphones will also get this upgrade," Micromax co-founder Vikas Jain told PTI.

SEE ALSO: 5 Best Smartphones With Longer Batter Life Under Rs 10,000

He added the company has partnered Visa and TranServ to offer unique digital solutions specifically designed to meet the demands of the "mobile-first" Indian consumers. "VISA brings together the merchant ecosystem and TranServ takes care of the technical aspect, while Micromax already has strong service ecosystem and user base in place to use this service," he said.

Using the proposed payment solutions, Micromax users will be able to use mobile-based push payments using mVisa and make eCommerce payments on merchant and social media applications as well as interpersonal payments to personal contacts. In the future, the companies will also look at launching mobile contactless payments in physical locations through NFC (near-field communications).

"The payment solutions will soon be available to Micromax smartphone users through the Udio app," he said. Udio is a digital wallet enabled by TranServ. It allows consumers to shop using a Visa card number linked to the underlying prepaid wallet, wherever Visa is accepted.

"Digital payments is clearly an important part of our digital experience and services strategy. We are looking to provide an all pervasive payments layer to our services ecosystem enabling digitalisation of the lifestyles of our consumers," he said.

Chris Clark, Group Executive (Asia Pacific) at Visa, said mobile payments are part of the future of payments and their rapid adoption will be instrumental in helping India move towards a cashless society.

SEE ALSO: Apple 9.7-inch iPad Pro Now Available In India: 5 Features Makes It Worth Buying

"With India being the world's fastest-growing smartphone market, we have a significant opportunity to combine the power, reach and security of the Visa network, with the strengths of our partners Micromax and TranServ, to create payment solutions tailored to local market needs," he added. TranServ co-founder and CEO Anish Williams said the company is building solutions that will contribute towards a holistic and secure payments ecosystem.

Source PTI

Best Mobiles in India

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#1

The Huawei MediaPad T2 Pro 10.0 sports a display sharper than the one found in the base model launched at the CES. Unlike the MediaPad M2 10.0 sporting a Full HD (1920x1080p) panel, the Pro variant comes with a slightly sharper WUXGA (1920x1200p) IPS display with 800:1 contrast ration and 300 nits of peak brightness. While the panel mayn't be the sharpest around especially when compared with the likes of Xiaomi Mi Pad or the ChromeBook Pixel which offers 500 nits of brightness, it is still decent enough to get your work done.

#2

Just to recall the MediaPad M2 10.0 which was unveiled at the CES came with an in-house Kirin 930 chip with eight cores clocked at 2GHz each coupled with a Mali T-628 MP4 GPU. The Pro variant of the device on the other hand sports an all new Snapdragon 616 SoC from Qualcomm. For those unaware the Snapdragon 616 is a slightly modified variant of the Snapdragon 615 chip and comes with two sets of Cortex A53 cores (4x1.5GHz + 4x1.2GHz). This is the same chip as found in the Xiaomi Redmi 3 and Lenovo K5 Plus.

#3

Huawei MediaPad T2 10.0 Pro comes in two storage variants - one with 2GB RAM/16GB storage and another with 3GB RAM/32GB storage. The memory can further be expanded by a MicroSD card upto 128GB, hence you never need to worry about storing your important files in the MediaPad.

#4

Do you usually click images from your tablet? Bet you don't! Rather you may use your tablet to click a few images in those rare situations where both your smartphone and digital camera have run out of charge. Anyways, Huawei has included a decent 8MP shooter on the back of the MediaPad T2 10.0 Pro. Incidentally the rear camera module comes with f/2.0 aperture thereby enabling you to capture usable lowlight images. For those die-hard selfie fans Huawei has also included a 2.0MP camera on the front.

#5

To keep the tablet running all day long, Huawei has included a 6600mAH battery on the inside. Well, this is quite a large battery and can possibly last you through two days especially because the Snapdragon 616 chip on the inside is quite conservative in terms of utilizing juice.

#6

Despite including a large 6600mAH battery on the inside, the Huawei MediaPad T2 10.0 Pro is decisively slim at 8.5mm. As per the official statement, the Huawei MediaPad T2 10.0 Pro measures at 259.1x156x8.5mm. Besides that, the tablet weighs up at 495g.

#7

Unlike many other 10.1 tablets available in the market, the Huawei MediaPad T2 10.0 Pro comes with support for 4G LTE SIM card. Thus calling on this humongous tablet is quite possible, but would you ever do so?

#8

Huawei MediaPad T2 Pro 10.0 Pro will come in two colour variants namely Black and White. Details regarding the pricing of the variants aren't known so far. Expect Huawei to price the products rather competitively.
'Feels Like Home Season 2' offers something real and tangible to think about; takes home a pertinent point - if your intentions are good, there is nothing in life that isn't achievable.
CIA Director: No Waterboarding, Even if Ordered

by VOA News April 11, 2016

U.S. CIA Director John Brennan says his agency would not use waterboarding against a detainee, even if a future president ordered such interrogation techniques.

"Absolutely, I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again," he said in an interview with NBC News, a portion of which aired Sunday.

Brennan said he would not use the tactics "because this institution needs to endure."

The CIA used a program of harsh interrogations aimed at forcing terror suspects to give up information about possible attacks against the United States in the years following the 2001 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the U.S.

President Barack Obama banned the techniques when he took office in 2009, saying many of them amounted to torture.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said last month he would "use every legal power" to stop terrorists, but would not order the military or others to violate the law. He had earlier supported going "tougher than waterboarding." His closest challenger in the race, Senator Ted Cruz, said in February he would bring back "whatever enhanced interrogation methods" are necessary to keep the country safe.

Brennan's stance has evolved since the Senate released a report in December 2014 criticizing the CIA's use of waterboarding, mock executions, ice baths, sexual threats and other techniques against captured al-Qaida members and other militants. The report said the interrogations failed to produce any life-saving intelligence.

Brennan said after the report's release that he would "defer to future policymakers in future times" on whether the techniques would be used again. He also said the interrogations had, in fact, produced intelligence that helped thwart attack plans and capture terrorists.

Others have defended the program as necessary for national security. Former vice president Dick Cheney, who was in office when then-president George W. Bush authorized the methods, said they kept the country safe from more attacks. Jose Rodriguez, who ran the interrogation program for the CIA, said information obtained through the interrogations helped lead to the capture of the self-proclaimed architect of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Mohammed is one of the remaining detainees at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a facility that Obama wanted to close during his presidency. The U.S. government has tried prosecuting some of the detainees, but legal analysts say that process is complicated because some of the prisoners were subjected to enhanced interrogations that included waterboarding.

Two U.S. Air Force psychologists who designed the CIA's program are also facing a lawsuit filed on behalf of three suspected terrorists who were detained but never charged with crimes. The ACLU brought the suit last October, accusing the psychologists of personally taking part in torture sessions under a program that was "unlawful and its methods barbaric." That case is still moving through the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.

Also last year, the American Psychological Association (APA) apologized for its work with the CIA and Defense Department to issue guidelines supporting torture, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation. An APA report said those who colluded with the agencies wanted to "curry favor" and possibly enabled the government's use of abusive interrogation techniques.

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Coalition Strikes Target ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 10, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack aircraft conducted one strike in Syria:

-- Near Raqqah, a strike destroyed two ISIL oil pump jacks.

Strikes in Iraq

Fighter, ground attack and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 24 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun.

-- Near Albu Hayat, two strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle and three ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Fallujah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Haditha, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Hit, two strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed nine ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL mortar system and denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Kirkuk, four strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL heavy machine guns, an ISIL fighting position, five ISIL assembly areas and an ISIL supply cache.

-- Near Mosul, eight strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and five ISIL communication facilities and destroyed two ISIL vehicles and an ISIL boat.

-- Near Qayyarah, three strikes destroyed two ISIL boats and an ISIL vehicle and denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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Kerry reiterates U.S. support to Afghan forces

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 09:13, April 10, 2016

KABUL, April 9 -- The visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday reiterated United States support to Afghan security forces and the people of Afghanistan.

"The United States remains fully committed to the mission to train, advice and to assist the Afghan security forces as they combat the insurgency to protect their people," Kerry told a joint press briefing with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

Kerry added that the U.S. will firmly continue to help Afghans in the fight against Taliban militants and Islamic State (IS) terror outfit, saying "we are also deepening our counter-terrorism cooperation."

The top U.S. diplomat arrived in Kabul earlier on Saturday for an unannounced visit.

The comments came as the violence has been on the rise in countryside as the spring and summer known as fighting season is drawing near. The Taliban insurgent group and IS militants have also increased their attacks since the drawdown of foreign forces over the past two years.

Nearly 13,000 foreign forces are currently stationed in Afghanistan within the framework of the NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) mission to help Afghan forces in the field of training and advising.

He made the comments as two international conferences on Afghanistan are scheduled to be held later this year -- Warsaw in July and Brussels in October - - will focus on security and development on the top of its agendas respectively.

Regarding the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2016, Kerry said that the decision will depend on the evaluation of U.S. military commanders on the ground.

Replying to a question regarding the stalled peace process with the Taliban, Kerry said that there was still hope for the peace.

In February, a quadrilateral group of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States had invited the Taliban groups to take part in direct talks with Kabul by the first week of March.

However, the Taliban rejected the offer.

"So again, today, we call on Taliban to enter into a peace process, legitimate process, the real process, they provides equal rights protection for all Afghans and brings to an end to violence in the suffering, that the people of this country have endured for so many years," Kerry said.

Earlier on Saturday, Kerry and Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani joined other high-ranking Afghan and U.S. officials to attend the third U.S.-Afghanistan Bilateral Commission meeting held in Presidential Palace.

They exchanged views on security and bilateral ties, and discussed the recent Afghan political and economic developments. The meeting aimed to review the progress in the above fields outlined in the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by the two countries in 2012.

The meeting highlighted the continuation of the U.S. security presence beyond 2016 to carry out two important missions, including training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces and "cooperating bilaterally on shared efforts to counter terrorism."

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Saudi warplanes strike Yemen ahead of UN-brokered truce

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:16PM

Saudi Arabia's war machine is using every last minute for more attacks against Yemenis before a UN-brokered ceasefire takes effect.

Saudi fighter jets carried out dozens of airstrikes across Yemen on Sunday, targeting civilians' houses and properties, Yemen's official Saba Net news agency reported.

Saudi warplanes conducted a dozen airstrikes on the Sirwah district of the central province of Ma'rib. They also carried out nine air raids against the Matun district in the northern province of Jawf and launched another attack on the Karsh district of the southwestern province of Lahij.

Separately, Saudi jets conducted over 12 airstrikes against the Nihm district of the western province of Sana'a. There were no immediate reports of possible casualties and the extent of damage inflicted by the Sunday attacks.

On Saturday, Saudi jets launched an aerial assault against the Dhubab district of the southwestern province of Ta'izz, leaving five people dead, including three women and a child.

Reports coming out of Yemen say Saudi Arabia is increasing its military forces in Yemen's Hajjah province ahead of the UN-mediated ceasefire that comes into effect on Sunday midnight. Scores of Saudi troops and some forces loyal to Yemen's fugitive president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi were also deployed to Nihm, near the capital Sana'a.

The deployment is reportedly aimed at launching a military operation to seize the control of the capital if the upcoming talks fail to end the conflict.

The truce was announced by the UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed as a step to calm the situation ahead of the negotiations scheduled to be held on April 18 in Kuwait.

Saudi Arabia has been waging a war on Yemen since late March 2015 in a bid to return Hadi to power and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement. Nearly 9,400 Yemenis, including 4,000 women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.

Yemenis, in return, have been carrying out retaliatory attacks on the Saudi forces deployed in the country as well as targets inside Saudi Arabia.

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Nigeria blames Biafra after mass graves unearthed

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:29PM

Nigerian secret police have laid the blame on the Biafra separatist group for the killing of 55 people after discovering shallow mass graves in the country's southeast.

"The Service has uncovered the heinous role played by members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), in the abduction/kidnap of five Hausa-Fulani residentsThe abducted men were later discovered at the Umuanyi forest, Abia State, where they were suspected to have been killed by their abductors and buried in shallow graves, amidst 50 other shallow graves of unidentified persons," Tony Opuiyo, the agency spokesperson for Nigeria's domestic spy agency, said in the statement later Saturday.

"Arrests and investigation conducted so far revealed that elements within the IPOB carried out this dastardly action," he added.

The agency said IPOB carried out the massacre of people of northern Nigerian origin at the time as part of its efforts to destabilize the country.

The IPOB movement was founded by Nnamdi Kanu, who is currently on trial on charges of treason and felony in a high-profile case in the country's capital of Abuja.

Kanu's unilateral declaration of independence from Nigeria as a separate Biafran state led to an ethnic conflict from 1967 to 1970, leaving about one million people dead, many of them from starvation and disease, as Nigerian troops blockaded the fledgling Republic of Biafra.

He was arrested in October 2015 for allegedly delivering "seditious messages" against the Nigerian government.

Kanu is accused by the state of "propagating a secessionist agenda" with the intention to "levy war against Nigeria;" a charge he has dismissed.

IPOB supporters, describing the allegations as baseless, have staged a series of protests across the country in recent months to demand his release and call for a breakaway state for the Igbo people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa.

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Eight states currently allow concealed carry permit holders to carry guns on all public college campuses. In Utah, campus carry has been on the books for a decade. The first seven states to extend concealed carry rights to their campuses did so with little fanfare or public consternation.But not so in Texas, the most recent addition to list, where the response has been histrionic.Two faculty members at UT-Austin have resigned , students are protesting against the law, a candidate for a deanship has withdrawn his application and a sitting dean has left (though it appears that the guns question was not entirely responsible for his decision). The University of Houston's senate has urged faculty to self-censor lest they provoke armed students to violence.The increasing tribalism of American politics explains why this debate is so vitriolic.Advocates of campus carry see guns as symbolic of individual liberty and self-reliance, physical tokens of a free society. They desire to insert their vision of what American society ought to be like into an enclave (higher education) where most people don't share it.The rejection of campus carry by university faculty and administrators is also tribal. To them, the guns represent violence as opposed to reason and a hopelessly atavistic understanding of the nature of individual liberty and self-reliance.Ultimately the debate is as much about turf and who gets to decide what worldview prevails in public universities as it is about any rational assessment of the safety students and faculty.Some opponents of campus carry assume that guns themselves cause violence, so more guns, whether legal or illegal, will necessarily mean more violence on campus.For example, after my recent piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education arguing that legal campus carry would not increase the risk faculty face from guns, a common response from critics was to note that I had said nothing about the murder of an Arkansas State student in 2010. The victim was shot in the head in his dorm room, probably while he was sleeping.Guns were prohibited then and now on the Arkansas State campus. Despite that prohibition, someone (the crime remains unsolved) illegally brought a gun on campus and committed what appears to have been a premeditated, execution-style murder.What's the connection between that horrific event and the campus carry question? Only one thing: a gun.On one side, we have someone willing to risk not just weapons charges for illegally bringing a firearm on campus, but capital murder charges too. On the other, we have people who have gone to the trouble of getting legal approval to carry a firearm, a process that in Arkansas involves sending fingerprints to the State Police, who then investigate the applicant's background.It's very hard to see any intersection between premeditated murderers and law-abiding people who obtain carry permits. The rules regarding guns on campus mean little to people who come to campus bent on committing crimes.The more reasonable arguments against campus carry fall into two broad categories.One is that the presence of guns on campus will inhibit the free exchange of ideas. Faculty, it is claimed, will hesitate to bring up controversial topics and students will be afraid to engage in vigorous debate, for fear that one of their classmates might shoot them.Curiously, that concern is never framed the other way around. No one seems to worry that faculty with carry permits will shoot their students for challenging them or making them appear foolish in class. In other words, we assume the worst of students, a byproduct of the increasing tendency to infantilize them, while making unwarranted assumptions about the emotional stability of our colleagues.It seems highly improbable that campus carry will lead to outbreaks of deadly violence in the classroom.I have been teaching university students since the late 1990s and I have not heard of a single instance when a classroom discussion caused physical violence. I have had students in my classes, especially student athletes, who probably had the physical capacity to kill or injure me or other students without the need for any weapon. But although I teach a course on the slave trade and discussions can get tense, the possibility of violence has never inhibited my presentation of controversial material or students' willingness to voice their opinions.Furthermore, some students and faculty members already bring guns on campus-just not legally. I know of no cases, however, where a heated classroom debate led to someone losing his cool and reaching for a gun.If students do not now resort to fisticuffs over course content, it's unlikely that legal permit holders will punctuate their debating points with gunfire in the future.The second reasonable argument against campus carry is that it could complicate law enforcement's response to active shooter situations.My campus recently went through an active shooter situation of sorts. No shots were fired and the whole thing was resolved without anyone getting hurt. In conversations after the event, a number of my colleagues expressed their relief that armed students had not tried to intervene, because bystanders might have been hurt and the police might have shot the students who had produced guns.Two interesting points here. First, my colleagues seem to share my belief that some students already illegally bring guns to campus for their own protection. Second, it's always the students, rather than faculty or staff, who we're told we should be concerned about.There are now over 10 million concealed carry permit holders in the US. If there has been an active shooter incident where a permit holder shot a bystander or confused responders, it has not been well publicized.At the Umpqua Community College shooting in Oregon (where campus carry is legal), two armed permit holders were present. They did what people do when someone is shooting; they cleared off in hurry. I suspect that the reason no permit holder has shot a bystander or been shot by the police in any of these events is that they're too busy doing what everyone else is doing-trying to get out of harm's way.The one instance where legally carried guns might make a difference in a campus context is when people are trapped and cannot flee.My office is at the end of a hallway that has only one entrance. During our recent lockdown, I sat in my office and considered my options. The most useful weapon I had at hand was a ceramic coffee cup. I did not think to myself, "Well, this coffee cup may not do much against a gun, but at least I don't have to worry about being accidentally shot by an armed colleague."Ultimately, the more extreme claims of both sides in the debate do not hold water. Allowing permit holders to bring guns on campus is unlikely to result in a rash of violence or to stifle debate. Nor, unfortunately, will it prevent the types of gun violence that already occur on university campuses.Happily, college campuses are typically pretty safe places compared with the rest of the society. The strident debate on the issue is a tempest in a teapot, more about the political symbolism of guns than it is about safety.
Carter arrives in India to advance defense ties

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:49AM

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has begun a three-day visit to India to strengthen a relatively new defense relationship with the country.

Carter, who arrived in India on Sunday, has said that Washington has a "whole global agenda" with New Delhi.

"There's no question about where the United States-India relationship is going," Carter said at a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Friday. "We can control and influence the pace, and I want to do that."

Carter has placed a great importance on improving defense relations with India which the US sees as a counterweight to the increasing power of China.

India, however, has been wary of having very close relations with any country, even the United States.

"India's very reluctant to be seen as too close to the United States, but the Pentagon is very bullish on this relationship," said Shane Mason, a research associate at the Stimson Center in Washington.

In March, commander of US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris said the US was willing to expand the maritime exercises it held with India yearly into joint operations across the Asia-Pacific.

However, India has said that there were no such plans as it has never conducted any joint patrols with any country.

"The Indians are being careful because it's their neighborhood," said a US congressional source familiar with US-India military negotiations. "It's been a long-standing Indian policy to deal with China on a bilateral basis."

On Friday, Carter said, "Recently not all the news out of the Asia-Pacific has been positive: indeed, in the South China Sea, China's actions  in particular  are raising regional tensions."

"That's why countries across the Asia-Pacific are voicing concern with militarization, and especially  over the last year  with China's actions, which stand out in size and scope they're voicing those concerns publicly and privately, at the highest levels, in regional meetings and global fora," he added.

The South China Sea has become a source of tension between China, the US, and some regional countries that are seeking control of trade routes and mineral deposits.

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Three soldiers, civilian killed in guerrilla attacks ahead of Peru elections

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:59AM

At least three soldiers and a civilian have been killed and seven others injured in two attacks by guerrillas in the jungles of central Peru ahead of elections.

Peruvian officials blamed the Saturday raids on remnants of the Shining Path communist guerrilla group, which was largely suppressed in a bloody war in the 1990s but still has elements hiding in the forests.

The three soldiers and a driver were killed as they were transporting troops to provide security for polling stations in the central region of Junin.

"Special forces and supporting aircraft were sent to take control of the area and remove the military personnel that still remain in place," the country's Joint Command of the Armed Forces said in a statement.

Following the raids, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala denounced the "insane violence," adding, "Terrorism and those who collude with it have no place in our society or in our family."

Meanwhile, head of the National Office of Electoral Processes, Mariano Cucho, said the raids "will not tarnish the elections."

Nearly 23 million Peruvian citizens are eligible to cast their votes on Sunday for a new president and members of the congress.

Conservative presidential candidate, Keiko Fujimori, is leading the opinion polls. Her father, Alberto Fujimori, waged a fierce war against the Shining Path during his presidency from 1990 to 2000. The former president is now serving a 25-year sentence for killing civilians during the onslaught against the rebels.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Humala said, "Peru has lived through these violent periods and we are working to bring peace to the country. All these demented acts do is unite the Peruvian people more."

Officials say remnants of the Shining Path have joined forces with drug gangs and operate in the remote mountains and jungles of central Peru. The country is considered as one of the main coca leaf and cocaine producers in the world.

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Egypt hands over two disputed islands to Saudi Arabia

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 6:51AM

The Egyptian government has handed over the ownership of disputed Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia amid strong objection from several former officials as well as the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Egyptian cabinet announced in a statement released on Saturday that both islands fall within the territorial waters of Saudi Arabia as codified in the maritime border agreement signed between Cairo and Riyadh the previous day.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail inked the border demarcation accord with the Saudi side in the presence of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in the Federal Presidential Palace, eastern Cairo.

The agreement is going to be presented to the parliament for ratification.

Analysts, dissidents question legitimacy of agreement

Meanwhile, legal experts and opposition figures in Egypt have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the agreement on the two strategic islands, arguing that relinquishing authority over Egyptian territory is unconstitutional.

The banned opposition movement, Muslim Brotherhood, also denounced the agreement in a statement which said, "The Muslim Brotherhood hereby declares unequivocally that no one has the right to abandon the property and resources of the Egyptian people in exchange for a fistful of dollars, or in exchange for support for government policies sanctioning murder, detentions, violations, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings."

Exiled politician, Ayman Nour, also dismissed the agreement along with nine other opposition figures.

"Once people are free, they will not approve agreements that were signed during the reign of governments that are used to giving away the rights of their citizens," Nour said.

Tiran Island is located at the entrance of the Straits of Tiran, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aqaba. Its strategic significance lies in the fact that it is an important sea passage to the major ports of Aqaba in Jordan and Eilat in Israel.

Israel briefly took over the island during the Suez Crisis in late 1956, and once more between 1967 and 1982 following the Six Day War.

Sanafir Island is in the east of Tiran Island, and measures 33 square kilometers (13 square miles) in area.

Ownership of the two islands was handed to Egyptian control in 1982, when Tel Aviv and Cairo signed the so-called Camp David peace accords.

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US leading largest maritime exercise in Mideast

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:42AM

The United States Navy is leading the largest maritime exercise in the Middle East with 30 countries participating in the event.

The International Mine Countermeasures Exercise (IMCMEX) aims to protect international trade routes against possible threats posed by terrorist groups like Daesh and al-Qaeda, according to US officials.

The exercise was organized by US Naval Forces Central Command and began Monday in Bahrain, home to the US 5th Fleet.

On Saturday, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan highlighted the importance of the exercise in protecting shipping routes, saying, "We know that they want to disturb trade lines".

"This region provides a strong training opportunity for nations worldwide as three of the six major maritime chokepoints in the world are here: the Suez Canal, the Strait of Bab Al Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz," Donegan said.

The IMCMEX, which ends on April 26, focuses on operations such as mine countermeasures, infrastructure protection, and maritime security operations to protect civilian shipping.

In addition, new technologies such as unmanned underwater vehicles and the expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Choctaw County are being demonstrated.

"(Militants) are well aware of the vulnerability of shipping and when it's confined to choke points, ports, and channels," Commodore William Warrender, the British deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces told reporters in Bahrain. "And also, the disproportionate media attention that perhaps a spectacular maritime attack would generate."

In addition to this exercise, the United States launched another drill Monday in waters near the South China Sea, areas of which are the subject of a territorial dispute among regional states including China.

The 12-day annual drills, dubbed Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder), began with the participation of some 5,000 US troops, 4,000 Filipino soldiers, and 80 Australian forces.

The United States has recently increased its military presence in the Middle East as well as in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Tensions Rising Between US, Turkey Over Possible Closure of Incirlik Base

Sputnik News

18:58 10.04.2016(updated 21:43 10.04.2016)

Washington's unwillingness to take actions toward the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, may result in Ankara closing the Incirlik airbase to the US, an adviser to the Turkish president said.

The news came amid deepening tensions between Washington and Ankara over US support for Kurdish forces fighting in Syria.

In late-March, US President Obama rejected Recep Tayyip Erdogan's request to participate in a joint event during a nuclear summit in Washington.

The move to close the Icirlik base would have a number of consequences for the Turkish government, an article in the Turkish newspaper Yeni Cag read.

Turkey has long emphasized the fact that the PYD is a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK is designated as a terrorist group by a number of international organizations and countries, including the US.

However, that does not prevent Washington from supporting Kurdish PYD fighters in their fight against Daesh in Syria.

Turkey opened the Incirlik airbase to its allies in the fight against Daesh militants. At the same time, Turkey planned to intensify its fight against the PKK. But US support for Kurdish forces in Syria has forced Ankara to test Washington's commitment to cooperation with Turkey. As a result, the presidential adviser announced that the base may be closed.

Analysts assumed that if the air base is closed it would have a deep impact on US-Turkish ties and would have a negative effect on the fight against Daesh as well as the peaceful process in Syria.

Moreover, the US could develop its cooperation with PYD forces and Kurdish forces in northern Iraq and continue to create new bases in the region, the article read.

What is more, a break up between Ankara and Washington would make Turkey more vulnerable to the threats in the region. At the same time, the US would find new bases and facilities to deploy its weapons.

Some analysts say that the US will agree with the move but will not help Turkey which would become more and more isolated within NATO.

As a result, according to the article, Ankara should revise its policy toward Syria which has been "misguided since the very beginning."

"From the point of view of national interests, it would be reasonable to change the course and focus on preserving the territorial integrity of Syria," the article read.

"Such an approach would contribute to normalizing ties with Syria as well as help resolve the migrant crisis and overcome the crisis in ties with Russia," the author concluded.

 Sputnik

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End of a Dispute? Egypt Hands Over Two Red Sea Islands to Saudi Arabia

Sputnik News

16:53 10.04.2016

Egypt has handed two disputed Red Sea islands over to Saudi Arabia as part of an agreement that is going to be presented to parliament for ratification, Al-Arabiya news channel reported.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia agreed to maritime borders that handed ownership of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir over to Riyadh, an Egyptian cabinet statement said on Saturday.

"This enables both countries to benefit from the exclusive economic zone for each, with whatever resources and treasures they contain," the statement said.

The border delimitation agreement will be submitted to parliament for ratification.

However, legal experts in Egypt questioned the legitimacy of the agreement, arguing that that giving away authority over Egyptian territory is unconstitutional.

The two countries delineated their sea border for the first time in 2010 and spent the next five years claiming ownership of the two uninhabited islands.

In December 2015, Cairo and Riyadh finally agreed that Tiran and Sanafir were within Saudi territorial waters.

The islands, which once-formed the border between the Ottoman Empire and British-controlled Egypt, are considered of strategic importance because they lie on the important sea route to the Jordanian port of Aqaba and the Israeli port of Eilat.

 Sputnik

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Nagorno-Karabakh MoD: Azerbaijan Fires Mortars in Violation of Ceasefire

Sputnik News

09:23 10.04.2016(updated 12:58 10.04.2016)

Azerbaijani forces have violated the ceasefire in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh early on Sunday by shelling enemy positions, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's (NKR) Defense Ministry said Saturday.

YEREVAN (Sputnik)  Armenia and Azeraijan have agreed to a ceasefire deal in Nagorno-Karabakh on April 5, after several days of intense fighting and losses on both sides.

"The ceasefire on the Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line has generally been observed. Only the northern front line has seen enemy shelling involving 82-mm mortars and 122-mm D-30 howitzers," the ministry told RIA Novosti.

NKR forces have mainly refrained from retaliating against the attacks, the ministry added.

On April 2, Armenia and Azerbaijan declared a dramatic escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Baku and Yerevan traded blame for breaching the truce in the conflict and reported heavy fighting in the area.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported shelling and numerous ceasefire violations by the Armenian armed forces. In turn, Armenia reported offensive actions from the Azerbaijani side.

Initially, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The conflict escalated further in September 2015, with the sides blaming one another for violating the truce.

 Sputnik

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Armenia Violated Karabakh Ceasefire 125 Times in 24 Hours - Azerbaijani MoD

Sputnik News

08:29 10.04.2016(updated 09:31 10.04.2016)

The Armenian military has violated the ceasefire along the contact line in Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh 125 times over the past 24 hours, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

BAKU (Sputnik)  On April 5, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a bilateral ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, which came into force at noon on the same day.

"Despite the Karabakh contact line ceasefire agreement [we] previously reached, the Armenian side has violated the ceasefire along the entire line 125 times over the past day," the ministry said in a press statement.

Azerbaijan's forces retaliated with 125 artillery strikes, the statement added.

Azerbaijan does not recognize the ethnically Armenian self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and considers the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army to be a part of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

On April 2, Armenia and Azerbaijan declared a dramatic escalation of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Baku and Yerevan traded blame for breaching the truce in the conflict and reported heavy fighting in the area.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported shelling and numerous ceasefire violations by the Armenian armed forces. In turn, Armenia reported offensive actions from the Azerbaijani side.

Initially, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The conflict escalated further in September 2015, with the sides blaming one another for violating the truce.

 Sputnik

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US Defense Chief Visits India Amid New High in Bilateral Relations

by Carla Babb April 10, 2016

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is in India during a wave of increased cooperation with India's military.

The two countries' defense ministers will discuss "a large number of activities, technology projects, exercises and so forth that reflect the closeness of the U.S.-India strategic relationship," Carter told reporters after arriving in Goa Sunday.

Carter is looking to improve defense technology and trade cooperation while increasing military-to-military cooperation through additional bilateral and trilateral coordinated operations.

"We are doing things now with the Indians that could not have been imagined 10 or so years ago," a senior defense official said.

Technology coordination between the two countries is focused on aircraft carrier design and the co-production of jet fighter aircraft, according to a senior defense official.

Undersecretary of Defense Frank Kendall visited New Delhi ahead of the secretary's trip to discuss these projects, but another senior official told VOA Sunday the U.S. and India have not yet reached a formal agreement on this technology cooperation.

Carter said his Indian counterpart has stressed co-production and technology sharing "rather than a simple model in which buys military systems from other countries."

The Indians "have an indigenous capability there," James Clad, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and a senior advisor for the Center for Naval Analysis, told VOA. "They want to be in the rank of people with military capability that is kind of first world."

The visit aims to demonstrate the priority that the defense department has placed on the Asia-Pacific region.

Carter has touted the U.S.-India relationship as a "strategic handshake," one that is "destined" to be among the most significant partnerships of the 21st century.

"As the United States is reaching west in its rebalance, India is reaching east in Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's 'Act East' policy that will bring it farther into the Indian and Pacific Oceans," Carter said.

Clad told VOA the pivot has been a good way to formally display the "inside-our-government attitude" that gives Asia the priority many felt it deserved.

"Because we need to be enabled to focus unrelentingly on what is I think the single comprehensive challenge," Clad said, "which is the way the Chinese are coming at us."

Carter has said the Asia pivot, however, is not aimed at any particular country and "excludes no one." The secretary has accepted an invitation to visit China that is expected to take place later this year.

His India visit will likely ruffle feathers in (bother) neighboring China  whose aggression has caused concern in the Himalayas and the South China Sea  as well as in Pakistan, India's rival.

Strengthening ties

Clad believes strengthening ties with Pakistan's rival is a sensible move and "doesn't care" if it bothers the Chinese or the Pakistanis.

"Pakistan has been an intervening drain on our resources," Clad told VOA. "It's a country that's not really our friend. It's a country that's played a double and a triple game, vis-a-vis the Afghan war and all the rest of it."

Goa, Carter's first stop, is the home state of Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar. Senior defense officials say the visit to Goa underlies the "close, personal relationship" that Carter and Parrikar have developed.

"I enjoy being with him, and he's become a good friend over several times we've been together now," Carter said during their first stop at the Manguesh Temple, one of the largest and most visited Hindu temples in state of Goa.

Parrikar also showed Carter the Basilica of Bom Jesus, a UNESCO World Heritage site dating back to the 16th century that is said to hold the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier.

Carter will head to New Delhi later in the week for talks with Prime Minister Modi and other senior officials.

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Saudi-led Coalition, Rebels Pledge to Abide by New Cease-fire in Yemen

by VOA News April 10, 2016

A new cease-fire took effect in Yemen at midnight, local time, with all sides promising to stick to it.

The truce is aimed at giving peace talks scheduled for April 18 in Kuwait a chance to succeed.

"The Arab coalition is going to respect a cease-fire in Yemen starting from midnight Sunday at the demand of President Hadi, but reserves the right to respond to any rebel attacks," a Saudi-led coalition statement says.

The Iranian-backed rebels also say it will adhere to the truce, but respond if attacked.

Fighting was reported in several areas as the hour for the cease-fire approached. One report says at least 20 people were killed.

Several other cease-fires in Yemen have failed and desperate civilians say they hope this one will last.

A government worker in the rebel-held capital of Sana'a told Reuters "I am tired of the fighting, the destruction, everything. The situation is very difficult for people without work, without electricity, without water and with the fear that at any moment, bombardment could kill those dear to us."

The Houthis took over Sana'a in 2014 and forced the internationally-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to exile in Saudi Arabia before returning to the southern port of Aden.

A Saudi-backed coalition launched airstrikes against the Houthis last year and also sent in ground forces.

The airstrikes and fighting on the ground have killed about 6,000 people and created a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.

The United Nations says about 80 percent of Yemeni civilians are in desperate need of food and medical aid.

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Nullification and Anti-Commandeering: Mississippi Senate Passes Bill for Constitutional Carry and Setting Foundation to Reject Some Federal Gun Control

by Michael Maharrey, Tenth Amendment Center, March 29, 2016.



JACKSON, Miss. (Mar. 29, 2016) - Today, on March 29, the Mississippi Senate passed a bill that not only allows unlicensed, "constitutional carry," but also sets the foundation to reject and end new federal gun control regulations and executive orders.Originally introduced as a church security bill to allow those with a concealed carry permit to have a firearm in church, House Bill 786 (HB786) was passed in the House by a vote of 85-33. However, when it was sent to the Senate, the scope of the bill was greatly expanded in the Judiciary A Committee. As noted by a report from Guns.com:House Judiciary B Committee Chairman Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, himself a lawyer and minister of a small church, was able to add an amendment to allow unlicensed carry of a concealed gun elsewhere in the state so long as it is in a holster or scabbard on the belt or shoulder.This builds on laws adopted in 2013 legalizing open carry and one last year to allow for carry in a purse or bag without a permit.Additionally, Gipson's amendment included language from House Bill 782 (HB782), introduced by Rep. Mark Formby (R-Picayune), along with 30 cosponsors. That bill passed the House last month by a vote of 75-46. The language included in HB786 would take on federal gun control measures issued by rule, regulation, agency order, or executive order. It reads:No federal executive order, agency order, law not enrolled by the United States Congress and signed by the President of the United States, rule, regulation or administrative interpretation of a law or statute issued, enacted or promulgated after July 1, 2016, that violates the United States Constitution or the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 shall be enforced or ordered to be enforced by any official, agent or employee of this state or a political subdivision thereof.Speaking in favor of the bill on the Senate floor, Sen. Sean Tindell noted that the legislation would not only protect the 2nd Amendment from further violations, but that the right to keep and bear arms is a natural, "God-given right that our forefathers recognized."In recent weeks, gun control groups like "Everytown for Gun Safety" and "Moms Demand Action" blitzed the state with ads against the bill, according to Guns.com. But today, the state Senate rejected their arguments and passed the bill by a 36-14 vote."We beat Bloomberg!" said Elaine Vechorik, Vice-President of Mississippi for Liberty.The Mississippi state constitution reads, in part: "The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons."In his important study on the right to keep and bear arms in state constitutions, Constitutional Scholar Dave Kopel noted, "The concealed weapon restriction underscores that "the right to keep and bear arms" includes the right to carry non-concealed firearms for personal protection."As the NRA-ILA resource page for the state points out, Mississippi doesn't require licensing, a permit to carry, or registration for rifles and shotguns, with handguns only needing a permit to carry, but no licensing or registration. It also has the Castle Doctrine enacted into law, right to carry in restaurants, and right to carry confidentiality, among other protections.Any federal executive order, rule, regulation, or interpretation of existing law that attempts to enact such restrictions would ensure that state or local enforcement of the federal gun control would be prohibited as violating "Section 12, Article 3, Mississippi Constitution of 1890."Recently-proposed federal measures, such as an M855 ammo ban would fall under the new law and state resources could be prohibited from being used to help the federal government enforce such a ban. And any attempt to bring in more gun control through a presidential executive order, or "executive action" would also full under the scope of the bill.If passed into law, HB786 would likely require further action to be put into practical effect regarding federal gun control. A lawsuit could be necessary to determine a violation of the state Constitution, or the legislature might need to create some mechanism to determine whether a federal action was contrary to the Mississippi constitution. The latter could be included in the bill this year with an amendment.But even without such a bold move, the would set a good foundation to build on, and would represent an important strategic step forward. As Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison about the passage of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, it's important to be strategic:I think we should distinctly affirm all the important principles they contain, so as to hold to that ground in the future, and leave the matter in such a train as that we may not be committed absolutely to push the matter to extremities, & yet may be free to push as far as events will render prudent.Based on James Madison's advice for states and individuals in Federalist #46, a "refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union" represents an extremely effective method to bring down federal gun control measures because most enforcement actions rely on help, support and leadership from the states.Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano agreed. In a televised discussion on the issue, he noted that a single state taking this step would make federal gun laws "nearly impossible" to enforce.The federal government relies heavily on state cooperation to implement and enforce almost all of its laws, regulations and acts - including gun laws. As noted by the National Governor's Association during the partial government shutdown of 2013, "states are partners with the federal government on most federal programs."Partnerships don't work too well when half the team quits. By withdrawing all resources and participation in federal gun control schemes, the states can effectively bring them down.The bill rests on a well-established legal principle known as the anti-commandeering doctrine. Simply put, the federal government cannot force states to help implement or enforce any federal act or program. The anti-commandeering doctrine is based primarily on four Supreme Court cases dating back to 1842.serves as the cornerstone. In that case, the majority wrote: "We held inthat Congress cannot compel the States to enact or enforce a federal regulatory program. Today we hold that Congress cannot circumvent that prohibition by conscripting the States' officers directly. The Federal Government may neither issue directives requiring the States to address particular problems, nor command the States' officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program. It matters not whether policy making is involved, and no case by case weighing of the burdens or benefits is necessary; such commands are fundamentally incompatible with our constitutional system of dual sovereignty."HB786 will now go back to the state House for concurrence. Since the House already passed both HB786 and HB782 by wide margins, inside sources suggest that grassroots pressure will help the chamber approve the expanded Senate version and send the bill to the Governor.
South Sudan Army Chief Sparks Controversy

by Peter Clottey April 10, 2016

South Sudan's opposition faction is calling recent comments by the country's army chief of staff, "anti-peace and anti-democracy."

Last week army chief of staff Paul Malong Awan said as long as he lives, former vice president and rebel leader Riek Machar will never become president of the world's newest nation.

Speaking during a visit to his home village of Malualkon, General Awan did not say how he would prevent the opposition political leader from becoming president.

Machar spokesman James Gatdet Dak condemned Awan's comments as "an unfortunate reminder that there are senior political and military officials of the government in Juba who are not for peace and democracy."

Machar to travel to Juba

Awan's comments came after Machar announced plans to return trip to Juba on April 18 to take up his position as the country's first vice president to form a transitional unity government under a 2015 peace accord that ended more than two years of civil war.

Elections, including presidential contests, according to the peace agreement, will be conducted at the end of 30 months of transitional period.

Dak said Awan had no right or power to deny a citizen or political leader his or her right to contest for the South Sudan presidency.

The spokesman said Awan's comments bring into question the government's commitment to peace.

He added, "This has raised a serious concern about the way the implementation of the peace agreement is heading. This means there is underlying plan by General Paul Malong Awan to violate the peace agreement, and even to harm Dr. Machar."

Dak said that he wished that President Salva Kiir came out and denounced what his army chief of staff has declared, calling the comments anti-peace and anti-democracy.

'Clear the air'

"This would clear the air and assure the rest that what the army chief of staff has said is not shared by the president," Dak said.

Supporters of the government said Awan's pronouncements are his and should not be misconstrued to be a reflection of Kiir's government.

They contend that as a citizen the army chief has a right to express his personal opinion. They also said Awan's statement should not affect Machar's planned trip to Juba.

Dak said the controversy will not affect Machar's plans to return to Juba.

"But still we are worried the comments may be backed by negative actions," he added.

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Nigeria Denies Chibok Girls Ransom Report

by Peter Clottey April 10, 2016

Nigeria's information minister is denying media reports the Islamist militant group Boko Haram is demanding $50 million from the government as ransom before releasing the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

President Muhammadu Buhari promised to do all he can to ensure the release of the school girls, following his recent meeting with parents of the abducted girls at the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said ransom reports are not new.

"It appears we have several versions of this report. The one that we heard was from a source that [Boko Haram] wants to release 10 of these girls for 1 million euros," Mohammed said.

'Gone through this' before

"But the most important thing is that we've gone through this route before, and until and when we establish the credibility of this source and the truth behind it, the government will not be in a hurry to make a statement. However, government is using its own channels to authenticate the credibility of this source," he said.

Mohammed said accusations the Buhari administration appears not to be doing enough to secure the release of the more than 200 Chibok girls is not fair.

"No day passes without the issue of the kidnapped girls not being at the front burner. But these are highly security and intelligence issues, which cannot always be discussed openly," he said. "But I can assure you that for this government, the return of these girls is what is going to bring the final closure on the Boko Haram terrorism and we are working very hard, daily on it."

Mohammed's remarks came after the government announced it has made significant progress in the fight against Boko Haram.

The administration said it has "technically" defeated Boko Haram. But critics say the militants continued attacks unarmed civilians, including the use of suicide bombers, shows Boko Haram remains potent, despite the government's reports.

"Those who say that are being very unfair to us," Mohammed said.

"We inherited a very bad situation where the trail had gone cold, despite that every day we send out reports, we receive [information] some of them are phony some of them are just there to excoriate government.

Daily reports

"But the truth of the matter is that it's not a matter that the government is taking lightly. Those who want a daily report on what we are doing, of course in security that does not happen. But we have channels of information in which we make available on a need to know basis," he said.

Mohammed said Nigeria's military has been able to wrestle control of territories previously under the control of the Boko Haram militants. He also said the militants have been dislodged from their fortresses, including their main operation center in the Sambisa Forest.

"What we have today is cowardly attacks on soft targets. ... And Nigeria has moved on from that and we are now concentrating very much on the rehabilitation, resettlement of those who are displaced. And I think the fact that one of the most wanted persons all over the world was captured without even firing a shot last week. ... I think, is evidence so far of Nigeria's success in dealing with terrorism," he said.

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Djibouti Opposition Rejects Election, Cites Fraud

by Abdulaziz Osman April 10, 2016

Djibouti opposition leaders are rejecting the results of the country's presidential election, citing fraud.

Djibouti's ruling party declared on Saturday that President Ismail Omar Guelleh won Friday's presidential election, gaining nearly 87 percent of the votes.

Three candidates who ran against the incumbent told VOA Somali the result was "false."

The independent candidate Mohamed Muse Tourtour said, "A national vote-stealing occurred, it is false and I will not accept it."

Jama Abdirahman Djama, another independent candidate, said, "I warned that the will of people not to be repressed, but the results show what I warned just happened."

Omar Elmi Kheyre, the Union of National Salvation (USN) candidate, said all opposition parties are united "not to accept the results," and the president deceived the public.

Boycots

Some opposition parties boycotted the election after Guelleh, who was always the clear front-runner, went back on his earlier decision not to run.

Opposition leaders say they plan in the next few days to issue a joint communique and demonstrate against the outcome.

But the country's election commission denies the opposition claims, saying the election process was held without a problem and in accordance with Djibouti and international law.

Abdi Ismail Hirsi, who heads the election commission, told VOA the candidates have the right to accept or reject the results, and should refer their claims to the constitutional council.

Guelleh, who has been in power since 1999, starts another five-year presidential term.

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Counter-ISIL Strikes Hit Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 11, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack and remotely piloted aircraft conducted five strikes in Syria:

-- Near Manbij, a strike produced inconclusive results.

-- Near Mara, four strikes struck four separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions, seven ISIL vehicles, two ISIL tactical vehicles and an ISIL house bomb.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, fighter and ground attack aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 13 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Rutbah, a strike destroyed an ISIL bed-down location.

-- Near Hit, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, six ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL heavy machine gun.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes struck four separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed seven ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL supply cache and an ISIL rocket rail.

-- Near Qayyarah, a strike denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed three ISIL bed-down locations, two ISIL supply caches and an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, four ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL staging areas and an ISIL vehicle bomb.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct operations.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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Yemen: UN envoy welcomes start of cessation of hostilities

11 April 2016  The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen has welcomed the start of the cessation of hostilities that began at midnight, 10 April, urging all parties to work to ensure that the terms are fully respected and create a conducive environment for the peace talks scheduled to resume next week.

In a statement, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, highlighted that the terms and conditions for the cessation of hostilities include commitments for the unhindered access for humanitarian supplies and personnel to all parts of Yemen.

"Both sides have committed to adhere to the Terms and Conditions for the cessation of hostilities which I presented," said the Special Envoy. "I ask all the parties and the international community to remain steadfast in support for this cessation of hostilities to be a first step in Yemen's return to peace. This is critical, urgent and much needed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives."

Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed noted that the De-escalation and Co-ordination Committee has been reconvened in Kuwait and will work to bolster adherence to the cessation of hostilities. The Committee, comprising military representatives from both sides, recently concluded a capacity-building exercise conducted by experts from the European Union, he said.

"Much work lies ahead to ensure full respect of the cessation of hostilities and the resumption of peace talks in Kuwait. Now is the time to step back from the brink. The progress made represents a real opportunity to rebuild a country that has suffered far too much violence for far too long," added the Special Envoy. "A positive outcome will require difficult compromises from all sides, courage and determination to reach an agreement."

Preparations are currently well under way for the start of the intra-Yemeni peace talks, to be held under the auspices of the UN. The talks will focus on five main areas: the withdrawal of militias and armed groups; the handover of heavy weapons to the State; interim security arrangements; the restoration of state institutions and the resumption of inclusive political dialogue; and the creation of a special committee for prisoners and detainees.

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Thai Political Parties Oppose Draft Constitution

by Ron Corben April 11, 2016

The leadership of Thailand's oldest political party, the Democrats, has joined other political groups in opposing a military-backed draft constitution.

The Democrat Party's opposition leaves in doubt an August referendum on the new charter, as it lines up with other political parties in calling for the document to be rejected.

The party leadership, led by former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, openly criticized the new draft charter, calling the document "democracy in retreat."

Abhisit, at a press conference late Sunday, said the draft distorted the democratic will and weakened the people's power compared with the authority of the state.

He also criticized the draft for depriving people of their right to participate in the political process.

The military government, which came to power in 2014, has called for amendments to a recently completed second draft charter that would include a military appointed 250-member Senate.

This varied from the drafting committee's version that called for a 200-member Senate comprised of members elected from organizations and social groups within the country.

Attitude adjustments

Thailand's other major political party, the Pheu Thai Party, ousted from power in 2014, has already opposed the draft charter and called for voters to reject it at the August referendum.

Several Pheu Thai Party members have been detained by the military for short periods for so-called "attitude-adjustment" talks, with the government planning to set up additional camps for further detentions.

Smarn Lertwongrath, a senior Pheu Thai Party member, said he welcomed the Democrat Party's stance on the charter despite the delay in their response.

"If you are thinking as Thailand needs democracy to run the country, you have to oppose the draft constitution. The problem is that the Democrats were very slow to oppose it, but anyhow it's slow but it's better to do that way. They have to do it," Smarn said.

"What Khun [honorific] Abhisit says yesterday is good for our country. I think an election with the rule that is not democratic look is not good," he said.

Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha is reported to have attacked politicians who criticize the draft charter.

Prayuth said the military would press ahead with reforms and if successful, he said the political parties may lose popular support.

Next steps unclear

On Monday, the prime minister called for clarification on what will happen if the charter is rejected at the referendum.

Recent public opinion polls have indicated most respondents support the military-backed national legislative assembly's move to add the question of a wider role for the Senate to the August 7 referendum.

Until now, the referendum was simply slated to be a question of support for the new charter alone, with a simple majority determining the outcome.

But Democrat Party member and rights advocate Kraisak Choonhavan said with the major political parties likely to oppose the referendum, the next step in the charter process is unclear.

"Why should we get to a referendum when the two biggest parties  in fact, three parties  in all that disagree with this? It's not going forward," Kraisak said. "In fact, it is because of that, because it's moving backward if you like in the highest law of the land, for that reason we're not moving forward at all."

Analysts say in the event of the draft charter being rejected in August the military government may select a previous charter with amendments and without public participation to take the country into the next elections, expected in 2017.

Potential protests ahead

Thai analysts and politicians say concerns are that the military is seeking to extend its period in power amid fears of the military taking a tougher stance towards any criticism of its government.

Already analysts fear a repeat of past crackdowns, such as in 1992, when the military moved to appoint an army general, Suchinda Krayprayoon, to the post of prime minister. The military had seized power in February 1991.

Deadly pro-democracy protests in May 1992 left dozens killed and scores injured and led to Suchinda stepping down under an amnesty after just 47 days in office.

Rights activists warn of potential protests in the months ahead, especially in provincial regions most affected by the military government's determination to move ahead with mega-project developments.

But analysts say the Thai middle class, a driving force in past political protests, remains largely dormant at present, wary after years of political conflict and uncertainties surrounding a slowing economy.

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Prosecutors: Brussels Attacks Had Planned to Hit France Again

by VOA News April 10, 2016

Belgian prosecutors said Sunday the terror cell linked to the November attacks in Paris was planning a second attack in France, but last month decided to hit Brussels instead.

The Brussels bombings at an airport and metro station killed 32 people and came days after police arrested key Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam in the city's Molenbeek area following a four-month manhunt.

Prosecutors said Sunday the cell was "surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation" and shifted their plan to a quick attack in Brussels instead.

There was widespread speculation following the March 22 bombings that Abdeslam's arrest triggered the cell to act.

The statement from Belgium's Federal Prosecution Office came a day after it said another Paris attack suspect, Mohamed Abrini, told investigators he was the "man in the hat" seen accompanying the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at the Brussels airport.

Police searched for him for weeks after the blasts before arresting him Friday along with four other people.All five were charged with participating in "terrorist murders" and "activities of a terrorist group."

Authorities also confirmed the arrest of a sixth person in connection with the Brussels attacks, but did not give further details.

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India Mends Ties With Maldives

by Anjana Pasricha April 11, 2016

In a signal of a revival in ties between India and the Maldives, the president of the Indian Ocean island country committed to what he called an "India-first" policy on a two-day visit to New Delhi.

During talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom on Monday, the two countries sought to put behind a recent spell of cooler ties. India was seen backing former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed and Chinese influence was perceived to be on the rise in the country that lies along important shipping routes in the Indian Ocean.

Six agreements signed by the two countries include a defense cooperation pact which New Delhi hopes will revive its strategic clout in the Maldives.

Modi underlined New Delhi's readiness to protect its interests in the region.

"The strong friendship between our two countries is important for peace and security in the entire Indian Ocean. India understands its responsibility as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean," he said.

Saying the two countries share a common perspective, the Maldivian president said that is why "the Maldives pursues an India first foreign policy. The security of the Maldives is intimately linked with the security of India."

Last year, Prime Minister Modi canceled a trip to the Maldives amid a downturn in ties over political turmoil triggered by the arrest of former president Nasheed, a pro-India leader ousted in 2012.

Analysts, however, say India was prompted to repair ties with the Maldives government amid concerns over a bid by China to deepen security ties and increase its investments with strategic Indian Ocean countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Beijing's investments in infrastructure projects in the archipelago have increased significantly since Yameen took power.

The two countries also agreed to cooperate in counterterrorism amid concerns that there has been a surge in young people from the Maldives leaving for West Asia to join Islamic State.

The Maldivian president said his country's economy is in distress and opportunities are needed for "the desperate and restless youth." Yameen warned that "otherwise this part of the world is right open to radicalism, to militant exercises by the youth across the borders."

The Maldivian opposition is unhappy that New Delhi is repairing ties with Yameen, saying India should have reprimanded him over the arrest of Nasheed, who has been convicted on terrorism charges. Campaigners have also been pressing for travel bans and sanctions against top Maldivian officials to press them to restore democracy.

In New Delhi, Yameen lobbied India for support to thwart such moves, saying his government is upholding the rule of law. "We look at India for continued support in preventing any unfair, any punitive action by the CMAG (Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group) on the Maldives."

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Zarif says defensive issues not negotiable

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, April 10, IRNA -- Foreign minister said that US officials including US secretary of state know well that Iran's defense capabilities are not negotiable for bargaining and no Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action(JCPOA) is on the agenda in this regard,

Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks in a joint press conference with visiting Estonian Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand.

If US is serious towards defensive issues, it should decrease and stop selling weapons to certain regimes that kill innocent civilians in Yemen and Palestinian Occupied lands, he added.

Zarif referred to the US Department of State reports on nuclear talks adding that this US institution have confessed for several times that the JCPOA do not include defensive issues.

US secretary of state remarks that accuse Iran of sponsoring terrorism is so much baseless that nobody will pay attention to around the world, he noted.

Zarif said that the danger of terrorism and extremism is the result of US presence in the region.

Iran had warned about the consequences of attacking and occupying Iraq before the US attack, he added.

Unfortunately the world including the people of Syria and Iraq are suffering from the aggressive policies of US former President George W. Bush and at the present time, certain states are helping spread of extremism and Daesh terrorism and sacrifice the future of their country's security for short term interests, Zarif said.

He noted that at the present time, Mr Kerry should ask US allies who provides Daesh with weapons, who buys the oil and the looted antiques of Iraq and Syria from this terrorist group.

Instead of leveling baseless accusations against Iran, it is required that they have a serious look at regional developments and do not cause more trouble for themselves and others by dangerous programs, Zarif said.

Washington has denounced Iran's ballistic missiles program, including a March 9 test of two ballistic missiles, as a violation of a United Nations ban. Iran maintains they are not covered by the UN ban, which is linked to last year's landmark nuclear agreement.

9191**1771

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Zarif: No JCPOA in defense domain

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sun 10 Apr 2016 - 11:31

TEHRAN (ISNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif reiterated that there is no JCPOA in defense domain.

His remarks came as US Secretary of State John Kerry has recently said that the next step in line with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is limiting Iranian defense and missile activities.

"This part of his (Kerry's) remarks were so baseless that US State Department rejected the comments and claimed that such remarks have not been made," Zarif said in a press conference with his Estonian counterpart Marina Kaljurand here in Tehran.

He also said that Kerry is aware that Iranian nuclear issue and capability is not negotiable.

"If US is seeking these issues in practice, it should stop selling its weapons which are used for killing of innocent Yemenis or used by Zionist regime against civilians. US should lessen welling weapons."

He also said that the US is aware that Iranian defense issue is not negotiable and there is no JCPOA in defense field.

The issue of Iranian missile activities is totally different from JCPOA, and the US State Department has officially announced the issue, Zarif said.

End Item

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The Quran's Deadly Role in Inspiring Belgian Slaughter

Islamic fundamentalists continue to plague and eat away at the civilized nations of the world, like a cancer to a healthy host. In light of the horrific attacks in Paris and most recently in Brussels, the question that preoccupies me is this: Why are Young Muslims Being Radicalized?My nephew (by marriage), Nabeel Qureshi, was asked by Fox News to give a response to the Brussels terrorist attack and also he wrote an article for USA Today. See below. Please pray for his message to have a positive impact around the globe and perhaps even more, please pray for his continued safety.You may recognize Nabeel Qureshi by his first book - "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity." If you have the time, it is certainly worth reading. His second book just came out last week. It's entitled "Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward."by Nabeel Qureshi, USA Today, March 22, 2016 Americans awoke this morning to another terrorist attack -- this time in the Brussels airport and subway. These attacks hit close to home. Many of us have flown through the Brussels airport, just as we have vacationed in Paris and visited San Bernardino. Once again images of the injured flood social media channels, reminding Americans of the ever-present reality that it could have been us. How is this happening? Why are people becoming radicalized, and so close to home? I am concerned how little we in the West understand why peaceful Muslims who live among us are drawn into radical Islam.As a Muslim growing up in the United States, I was taught by my imams and the community around me that Islam is a religion of peace. My family modeled love for others and love for country, and not just by their words. My father served in the U.S. Navy throughout my childhood, starting as a seaman and retiring as a lieutenant commander. I believed wholeheartedly a slogan often repeated at my mosque after 9/11: "The terrorists who hijacked the planes also hijacked Islam."Yet as I began to investigate the Quran and the traditions of Muhammad's life for myself in college, I found to my genuine surprise that the pages of Islamic history are filled with violence. How could I reconcile this with what I had always been taught about Islam?In February 2015, the U.S. State Department Acting Spokesperson Marie Harf suggested that a "lack of opportunity for jobs" might be a significant factor in radicalization and terrorism. Alternatively, Suraj Lakhani, a scholar of radicalization in Wales, suggested that the process is driven by religious concerns and a drive to bolster one's personal identity. He implies that young Muslims ought not be allowed to hear ISIL messages or interact with their recruiters.Naturally, I agree that interacting with ISIL recruiters is a bad idea, but I believe what the recruiters themselves say sheds the most insight on the radicalization process. ISIL's primary recruiting technique is not social or financial but theological. With frequent references to the highest sources of authority in Islam, the Quran and hadith (the collection of the sayings of the prophet Muhammad), ISIL enjoins upon Muslims their duty to fight against the enemies of Islam and to emigrate to the Islamic State once it has been established.A recent two-page spread in the third issue of ISIL's propaganda magazine, Dabiq, for instance, appealed to prospective recruits to leave their homeland and emigrate to the Islamic State by quoting a hadith from the canonical collections; it urged them to realize that they are living in times that reflect those of the earliest Muslims by referring to Muhammad's life; it encouraged them to take a step of faith by quoting the Quran; and it praised them for their obedience by quoting yet another hadith. All four references to the Quran, hadith and the related Sunnah, were on the same two-page spread. Such is the frequency and intensity with which ISIL uses Islam's foundational texts to appeal to potential recruits.As a young Muslim boy growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, it was impossible for me to look up a hadith unless I traveled to an Islamic library, something I would have never thought to do. For all intents and purposes, if I wanted to know about the traditions of Muhammad, I had to ask imams or elders in my tradition of Islam. That is no longer the case today. Just as radical Islamists may spread their message far and wide online, so, too, the Internet has made the traditions of Muhammad readily available for whoever wishes to look them up, even in English. When everyday Muslims investigate the Quran and hadith for themselves, bypassing centuries of tradition and their imams' interpretations, they are confronted with the reality of violent jihad in the very foundations of their faith.The Quran itself reveals a trajectory of jihad reflected in the almost 23 years of Muhammad's prophetic career. As I demonstrate carefully in my book, Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward, starting with peaceful teachings and proclamations of monotheism, Muhammad's message featured violence with increasing intensity, culminating in surah 9, chronologically the last major chapter of the Quran, and its most expansively violent teaching. Throughout history, Muslim theologians have understood and taught this progression, that the message of the Quran culminates in its ninth chapter.tackles the question "Why are Young Muslims Being Radicalized" for FOX News. Check out the clip
Iran now holds 220 tons yellow cake

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sun 10 Apr 2016 - 08:40

TEHRAN (ISNA)- Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said that there are now 220 tons of yellow cake in the country, expressing the hope that the amount would increase in future.

"Some measures have been taken in this regard. We hope that the measures will yield good results this year. We had 550 tons of uranium in the country. We had 220 tons after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)."

He further said that the sample fuel for the redesigned Arak Reactor will be placed in Tehran reactor for test in next 2-3 days.

Designing modern reactor of Arak has been started and "We have now entered into phase of basic design", he noted.

He also said that Iran's heavy water passes the required conditions. "We want to have international approval based on global standards for Arak Reactor."

End Item

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Military might, spirituality go hand in hand: Leader

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 11:49AM

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the Iranian Armed Forces are required to enhance their "military might" along with "spiritual and religious motivations."

"In the Islamic Republic establishment, the main task [assigned] to the Armed Forces is to defend national security boundaries; therefore, the operational capability and spiritual motivations of these forces must be upgraded from day to day," Ayatollah Khamenei told a group of senior military commanders in Tehran on Sunday.

"The Armed Forces are not at the disposal of a specific person or specific party and faction, but belong to the whole nation and country and must be a safe bulwark for people and protector of national and public security," the Leader added.

The Leader added that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the only military power that is "efficient" and "ideologically-driven" and operates in a country with "political independence."

Ayatollah Khamenei also said Saudi Arabia's army has failed to realize its objectives more than a year after it invaded Yemen in full force.

The Leader said some armies in the world have been established only for protecting ruling regimes.

"Such armies apparently enjoy high operational and military might, but in the battlefield they indulge only in militarism, irrationality and ruthlessness," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Prior to Ayatollah Khamenei's remarks, Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi (seen above) said the Iranian Armed Forces "feel obligated" to upgrade their military and deterrence might and particularly "upgrade ballistic missile stockpiles and develop missile bases."

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Iran missile program not open to negotiations, compromise: FM

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 6:16AM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the Islamic Republic's missile capability is not open to any form of negotiations or compromise.

Zarif made the remark in a joint press conference with his Estonian counterpart, Marina Kaljurand, in Tehran on Sunday.

The Iranian top diplomat stressed that the US Secretary of State John Kerry knows well that Iran's missile capabilities are not open to negotiations.

"If the US administration is really serious about defense issues, it should decrease the sale of weapons, which are killing innocent Yemeni people every day, and should stop [the sale of] weapons which, as admitted by the Zionist regime, are used to attack civilians," Zarif said.

He added that the US government knows well that Iran's defense issues are not negotiable and that no deal would be made on such issues.

Zarif emphasized that the issue of Iran's defense programs have been clearly excluded from the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries on July 14, 2015.

"There would be no JCPOA for defense issues," Zarif emphasized.

Zarif's reaction came after the US Secretary of State John Kerry suggested on Thursday that Washington was open to a "new arrangement" with Tehran for peacefully resolving disputes such as its recent ballistic missile tests.

Kerry said the US and its partners were telling Iran that they were "prepared to work on a new arrangement to find a peaceful solution to these issues."

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) successfully test-fired two ballistic missiles on March 9 as part of military drills to assess its capabilities. The missiles dubbed Qadr-H and Qadr-F were fired during large-scale drills code-named Eqtedar-e-Velayat.

On March 8, Iran fired another ballistic missile called Qiam from silo-based launchers in different locations across the country.

The US claims that Iran's missile tests violate the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed the JCPOA.

Iran, however, has repeatedly announced that the missile launches are not against the Security Council resolution.

US occupation of Iraq, root cause of terrorism in ME

The Iranian foreign minister also dismissed Kerry's "baseless" allegations that Tehran is destabilizing the Middle East.

"The risk of terrorism and extremism, which is the main risk threatening the region, is the result of the United States of America's occupation of Iraq and is a risk that we had predicted before the US attack on Iraq and had officially announced that the occupation of Iraq would lead to extremism and terrorism in the region," Zarif said.

He warned that the threat of terrorist and extremist groups such as Daesh is spreading in the region by those who only think about their short-term interests and are not concerned about their own long-term security.

Instead of making unfounded accusations against Iran, the US is needed to adopt a more serious approach to regional issues, he said.

The US secretary of state on Thursday accused Iran of conducting "destabilizing actions" in the Middle East.

Speaking in a joint press conference with Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Kerry said the US calls on Iran to "constructively join in the efforts to make peace  and to work toward a cessation of hostilities."

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Iran Says Missile Program Not Negotiable

April 10, 2016

Iran's foreign minister says Tehran will not negotiate with the United States over its missile program.

The missile program and "defense capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran are not negotiable," said Mohammad Javad Zarif on April 10 after meeting with his Estonian counterpart Marina Kaljurand.

Zarif said the nuclear agreement that was reached between Iran and the United States and other major world powers does not include Tehran's missile program, which Tehran says is only for defense purposes.

Under the nuclear accord reached last year, Iran has significantly limited its sensitive nuclear work in exchange for sanctions relief.

Zarif also said that, if Washington was serious about defensive issues in the Middle East, it should stop providing Israel and Saudi Arabia with arms.

Zarif was reacting to last week's comments by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry who said the United States is open to a "new arrangement" with Iran for peacefully resolving disputes over its missile tests.

Kerry said on April 7 that the United States and its allies have told Iran that they are "prepared to work on a new arrangement to find a peaceful solution to these issues."

But he said Iran first had to "make it clear to everybody that they are prepared to cease these kinds of activities that raise questions about credibility and questions about intentions."

Zarif accused the U.S. of raising "baseless and and threadbare" accusations against Iran while claiming that some of the U.S. allies in the region were supporting the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

"Kerry should ask U.S. allies who provides [IS] with weapons, who buys the oil and looted antiques of Iraq and Syria from this terrorist group,"Zarif was quoted as saying byIran's government news agency IRNA.

Based on reporting by AP and IRNA

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-zarif-missile- program-not-negotiaiable/27665553.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russia Begins Delivery of Surface-to-air Missiles to Iran

by Joshua Fatzick April 11, 2016

In a deal that would have been barred prior to last year's nuclear agreement, Russia has begun delivering advanced surface-to-air missiles to Iran, according to state media reports.

Mehr news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari as saying, "Iran had already announced that despite several times of change in time of delivery the deal is on its path of implementation" and "the first phase of the agreement is implemented and the process will continue."

This isn't the first time Russia has tried to sell S-300 missiles to Iran.

Russia's initial attempt, in 2007, was canceled because of pressure from Israel and the United States, whose leaders were concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

In the spring of 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an end to the deal's suspension, and signed a new deal with Iran in November.

Iran will receive an upgraded version of the S-300 missile system under the new deal, which is expected for be fulfilled by the middle of this year.

The S-300 surface-to-air system is one of the most advanced in the world. It can fire several missiles at a time, at various targets up to 150 kilometers away.

The S-300 was first developed in 1979  during the height of the Cold War  but since then has been upgraded multiple times.

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Shia fighters to retake Iraqi town from Daesh

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 6:11PM

Shia volunteer fighters from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units have launched an operation to recapture a northern town from which the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group recently carried out a chemical attack.

"The operation aims to liberate Bashir, after we succeeded several days ago in cutting off supplies to ISIL (Daesh) in the Bashir area," Abu Ridha al-Najjar, the operation commander, said on Sunday.

Najjar added that four pro-government fighters were also killed and 40 wounded in clashes with the terrorist group in Sunday's operation.

Last month, Daesh militants fired a total of 24 mortar shells and Katyusha rockets filled with "poisonous substances" into the village of Taza, located some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the oil city of Kirkuk. The raid was carried out from the nearby militant-held Bashir area.

The attack killed three children and wounded at least 40 people, forcing thousands more to flee Taza out of fear that the assault would be repeated.

Daesh has reportedly been trying to produce chemical weapons and is believed to have formed a special unit for chemical weapons research. Iraqi scientists from the Saddam-era weapons program as well as foreign experts are thought to be working for the terror group.

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 the Iraqi territory.

The militants have been committing heinous crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians. 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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Pakistani Prime Minister Coming Under Pressure

by Ayaz Gul April 10, 2016

A main political rival in Pakistan has demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down, after documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm revealed his children own several offshore companies.

The revelations have dominated debates in Pakistani political circles and the media, mostly critical of Sharif for allegedly concealing his family's offshore property.

Sharif has denied any wrongdoing by himself or his sons, and last week he announced the establishment of a judicial commission to be headed by a retired judge to determine the facts.

But his main political rival, Imran Khan, in a televised speech Sunday, rejected the commission as an attempt to cover up corruption of the Sharif family.

"I am demanding Mr. Prime Minister, on behalf of the Pakistani nation, that you resign because you have lost moral authority to rule Pakistan or ask the people to pay taxes," Khan asserted.

He vowed to stage a sit-in protest rally outside Sharif's family residence in Raiwind, near the eastern city of Lahore, if the prime minister does not quit. But he gave no date for that ultimatum.

Khan said his party will give the government until April 24 to take appropriate actions like hiring the services of international auditors and the formation of an inquiry commission under the leadership of Pakistan's chief justice to investigate charges of "corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and perjury."

Pakistani Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed rejected Khan's allegations and demands as "baseless and childish."

Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party staged a big sit-in protest outside parliament in late 2014. For weeks, his supporters refused to disperse, demanding that Prime Minister Sharif step down over allegations of fraud in the 2013 parliamentary election. The demonstration formally ended after a Taliban attack on a school in the city of Peshawar killed 150 people, mostly children.

"I promise my nation that until justice is done and accountability is ensured, I will not back down this time," Khan warned in his Sunday speech.

The so-called Panama Papers leak named Sharif's two sons, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz, and daughter Maryam Safdar as owners of several offshore companies.

A family spokesman, in a statement, insisted the documents alleged no wronging because no illegal means were involved in establishing the assets.

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Heavy Duty: a Look at Russia's Arctic Forces' Military Vehicles

Sputnik News

17:41 10.04.2016(updated 17:44 10.04.2016)

The Russian military is firing on all cylinders in exploring the Arctic Region. Large units and military bases have already been deployed in a number of remote areas in Russia's polar regions.

Extreme weather conditions in the Arctic Region require the most durable and reliable military hardware.

All-wheel drive and all-terrain tracked vehicles are one of the most needed pieces of military hardware for the Russian Artic forces.

For instance, the TM-140A was developed and designed specially for military purposes in the region. It is perfect for use in remote areas and can drive on almost all kinds of terrain, including snow, loose soil, rocks, and boggy soil.

"Such a level of off-road performance was achieved thanks to the design of the track. It was based on the track of the BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles and modernized to deliver minimum pressure on the terrain," a representative of the Special Engineering Design Bureau told Zvezda TV channel.

Furthermore, the TM-140A is also amphibious. During tests, each vehicle is tested in the water.

The durability of the vehicle causes no doubt. According to Pavel Vesyoliy, director of Kurganmashzavod, the standard range of the vehicle before the first major repair is 24,000 km. In practice, the TM-140A can drive 70,000 km and even more, an outstanding result for a tracked vehicle.

Powered with a 250-hp engine, the vehicle can drive up to 800 km without refueling. It has a payload of up to four tons.

In order to adapt more military hardware for harsh Arctic conditions, the Russian Defense Ministry has ordered to expand its series of Arctic-designated military vehicles. Over 40 testers and engineers drove 14 vehicles in extreme conditions in the Yamalo-Nenets Region.

"Special purpose" vehicles are already in use in the polar regions of Russia. For example, the DT-10 and DT-30 two-section trucks can operate in temperatures as low as minus 50 Celsius.

The Taifun armored off-road vehicles have also a gained good reputation with the Russian Armed Forces. The vehicle was designed as a result of cooperation between 120 Russian companies and design bureaus.

All new off-road vehicles which are already in service or expected to enter service are not only specially designed to drive in all possible conditions, they also provide an improved level of comfort for personnel.

For example, the cabin of the TM-140 is designed as a separate module, with improved sound and vibration isolation. The vehicle is also equipped with an air conditioner.

Military vehicles and hardware specially designed for extreme weather conditions are in unprecedented demand in the armed forces. Russia has been gradually building up its military presence in the region, including on islands in the Arctic Ocean. Military off-road vehicles have permanently been used during drills, especially by the Arctic motorized infantry brigade.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered to step up the delivery of new vehicles to the armed forces. The ministry announced the beginning of shipments of a number of modern and advanced vehicles, including the Taifun, the Bulava, the Bulat, the Volk, and the Tigr-M military multipurpose vehicles.

 Sputnik

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Newly-Created Russian National Guard is 'Preventive Measure'

Sputnik News

15:20 10.04.2016(updated 17:35 10.04.2016)

A parliamentary committee on security will meet on Thursday to discuss the proposed creation of a new federal executive body  the National Guard, which will be charged with fighting terrorism and organized crime, and with helping to maintain peace and order inside the country.

On Tuesday, during a meeting with the heads of Russia's major internal defense and law enforcement agencies, President Vladimir Putin announced the creation of the National Guard  a powerful new paramilitary unit charged with combating terrorism and organized crime and maintaining social order.

A pertinent bill was submitted to parliament on Wednesday.

The new force will take over many of the existing duties of the special police forces thus eliminating the link  that is of Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev  between the President and the head of the National Guard.

The National Guard will be headed by Viktor Zolotov, formerly the commander of the Internal Troops, and the onetime head of the president's personal security detail.

Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of Natsionalnaya Oborona (National Defense) journal, believes that the National Guard will focus on fighting international terrorism.

"The National Guard is being created to prevent and combat existing and future threats, above all international terrorism, which is rearing its head in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. A series of attacks there by the so-called 'Terror International' could spill over into Russian territory, and the National Guard will be able to respond to such a threat. This is the main reason it is being established, it is a preventive measure," Igor Korotchenko told Radio Sputnik.

He also underscored the importance of "concentrating resources in the war against organized crime."

Alexander Perendzhiev, a Moscow-based political scientist, hailed the proposed reform as means of streamlining state control in the field of national security.

"We need to draw a clear line between police functions and military operations against organized terrorist and criminal groups. The National Guard will be able to fighting organized crime, armed groups and terrorists," Perendzhiev told Radio Sputnik.

The decree of the National Guard is part of a major reorganization of the security forces.

In addition to the formation of the new service, Putin announced that Russia's Federal Migration Service and the Federal Drug Control Service would be merged into the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which already has ample experience in dealing with both drug crime and issues related to migration.

 Sputnik

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Russian Army to Receive 20 New BTR-82A Armored Personnel Carriers in 2016

Sputnik News

12:33 10.04.2016(updated 12:34 10.04.2016)

Russia's Defense Ministry has ordered 20 new BTR-82A armored personnel carriers to be supplied to the army by the Russian Military Industrial Company, the ministry said on Sunday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The BTR-82A vehicle is the latest version of the BTR-80 amphibious armored personnel carrier first adopted in 1986.

The vehicle is fitted with improved armor, modern night vision equipment, the Glonass navigation system and an upgraded engine. Prototypes were unveiled in 2009, with the first units supplied to the Russian army in 2014.

"In accordance with the contract conditions, 20 new BTR-82A units will be supplied to the Russian Defense Ministry by the end of the year," the ministry said in a press statement.

 Sputnik

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Syrian forces to launch operation to retake Aleppo: Premier

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:52PM

The Syrian prime minister says government forces are preparing an operation to retake control of the northwestern city of Aleppo.

"With our Russian partners we are preparing an operation to free Aleppo and block all illegal armed groups that have not joined or have broken the ceasefire deal," Wael al-Halqi said on Sunday after a meeting with Russian lawmakers in the Syrian capital Damascus.

The premier noted that capturing Aleppo would allow the government forces to advance toward Deir Ezzor, which is held by Takfiri militants including Daesh.

Also on Sunday, army soldiers took control of Barneh and Zaytan villages, which lie south of Aleppo.

Reports said on Saturday that a leader of Takfiri Ahrar al-Sham group, Abdullah Mohamed al-Hassam, was killed in clashes with Syrian army soldiers in Aleppo.

Backed by the Russian air cover, the Syrian army has vowed to press ahead with its counter-terror military operations and drive Daesh elements out of their major strongholds in the war-wracked country.

In yet another major blow to Daesh Takfiris, Syrian armed units regained control of the historic city of Palmyra in Homs Province late last month following weeks of heavy clashes with the militants.

The Syrian government is also involved in indirect negotiations with opposition groups on a political settlement of the crisis in the Arab state. A new round of discussions is to resume between the two sides in Geneva later this month.

The UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who mediates the negotiations, arrived in Damascus on Sunday to hold talks with senior Syrian officials.

A ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia went into effect on February 27 across Syria. The truce agreement does not apply to Daesh and al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.

Syria has been grappling with a deadly conflict it blames on some foreign states for more than five years. The militancy has left over 470,000 people dead so far, according to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research.

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Syrian forces retake two villages in Aleppo

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:52AM

Syrian army soldiers and their allied forces have managed to recapture two villages in the northwestern province of Aleppo from the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, inflicting losses on the militants, military sources say.

Army units, in cooperation with popular defense groups, took control of Barneh and Zaytan villages, which lie south of the provincial capital Aleppo, on Sunday following intense skirmishes with the Daesh Takfiris, Arabic-language Syria Now news website reported.

Syrian fighter jets also pounded Daesh positions on the outskirts of the militant-held city of Raqqah, situated about 160 kilometers (99 miles) east of Aleppo, killing 10 militants in the airstrikes.

Syrian warplanes also struck vehicles belonging to the Daesh militants in the vicinity of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi castle, located 80 kilometers (49 miles) southwest of the ancient city of Palmyra.

There were no immediate reports of possible casualties on the side of Daesh terrorists.

Separately, Daesh terrorists seized nine villages from rival militant groups north of Aleppo and near the border with Turkey.

Lebanon's al-Ahed news website reported that militants fighting under the banner of the Daesh Takfiri group captured the villages of al-Bel, Sheikh Reih, Firouzah, Baraghidah, Tal Hussain, Yahmoul, Ghazal, Talil al-Hosn and Jarez after fierce battles with the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants.

The report added that an unspecified number of militants was killed and injured during the heavy exchange of gunfire. Daesh militants also took eight FSA militants hostage and moved them to an unknown location.

According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the ongoing Syrian conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond borders of the conflict-ridden Arab country.

Damascus accuses Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar of funding and arming anti-Syria terrorist groups, including Daesh.

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Ouster of Assad Iran's redline: Leader's adviser

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:35AM

The idea of the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a redline for the Islamic Republic, says a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

"Iran believes that the government of Bashar al-Assad should remain in power until the end of the presidency term and the removal of Assad is a redline for us," Ali Akbar Velayati, who advises Ayatollah Khamenei on international affairs, said in a televised interview on Saturday.

He emphasized that only the Syrian people can decide the future of their country and their president.

The Iranian official also commented on the policies of the United States in the Middle East, saying Washington has suffered repeated failures in its regional policies.

People in Afghanistan and Iraq, Velayati said, have pushed Americans out of their countries and now the US authorities cannot tolerate Iran's influence in countries such as Iraq and Syria.

"At the request of these governments (Iraq and Syria), we support them [in their fight] against terrorists and it is none of Americans' business to say anything in this regard," Velayati stated.

He noted that Washington is behind the creation of terrorist groups such as the Daesh Takfiri group.

The Iranian official warned that the US seeks to disintegrate Muslim countries so that proxy governments would be formed to support the Israeli regime.

Velayati also emphasized that whether the Americans accept it or not, the time for their presence in the region is over.

Velayati's remarks came after Ram Ben-Barak, the director general of Israel's Intelligence Ministry, called on February 14 for the partition of Syria along sectarian lines.

"I think that ultimately Syria should be turned into regions, under the control of whoever is there - the Alawites where they are, the Sunnis where they are," Ben-Barak said.

Syria has been plagued by militancy since March 2011, which according to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has so far claimed the lives of at least 270,000 people. Some reports, however, put the death toll at as high as 470,000.

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Free Syrian Army Fighters Fire Mortar in Hama, Kill Civilian - Russian MoD

Sputnik News

19:13 10.04.2016(updated 21:31 10.04.2016)

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters fired a mortar in Syria's Hama, killing one civilian and injuring a woman amid a ceasefire.

The FSA is one of the groups labeled a "moderate" opposition faction by the West. Washington trained and equipped the FSA in the hope that they would counter Daesh, but subsequently shut down this program in October after spending almost $500 million dollars without any tangible results.

Russia and the United States reached an agreement on the ceasefire regime in Syria on February 22. The truce excluded terrorist groups Daesh and al-Nusra Front.

According to the Russian reconciliation center, al-Nusra Front terrorists are boosting their presence near Aleppo.

"According to the information received by the Russian center for [Syrian] reconciliation from local residents and militia forces, al-Nusra Front terrorist group continues to boost its forces northwest of the city of Aleppo. Over the past day two groups of militants of more than 350 fighters armed with two infantry fighting vehicles and 13 off-road vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns arrived in two villages [near Aleppo]."

There have been five violations of the ceasefire regime in Syria over the past 24 hours, according to the Russian ministry.

"The ceasefire regime is generally holding in the majority of the provinces in the Syrian Arab Republic. Over the past 24 hours, five violations of truce have been registered (four in the Latakia province and one in Hama)."

Ahrar ash-Sham group, which had previously agreed to participate in the ceasefire regime, has continued to shell the Syrian army in the Latakia province with mortarts and firearms. Two civilians have been injured.

A total of 60 settlements have joined the ceasefire regime in Syria, the Russian reconciliation center in Syria said Sunday.

"Over the past 24 hours, an agreement has been reached with the elders of a community in the Damascus province. The number of settlements that have joined the ceasefire has reached 60."

 Sputnik

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Erdogan Tries to 'Prevent Kurds From Participating in Syria Peace Talks'

Sputnik News

13:42 10.04.2016(updated 13:45 10.04.2016)

Ankara is making every effort to prevent the Kurds from participating in the Syria peace talks in Geneva, speaker of Syria's People's Council Mohammad Laham said Sunday.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik)  The Syrian reconciliation talks are expected to kick off on April 11, with the government's delegation anticipated to come to Geneva on April 14.

The Kurds, the largest ethnic minority and an integral part of the Syrian society, have received no official invitation to join the Syrian peace talks. The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) claims that its participation in the Syria peace talks was blocked by Ankara because of its assumed links to the pro-independence Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), active in southeastern Turkey and listed a terrorist organization by the latter.

"Turkey is doing everything to prevent the Kurds from participating in the Geneva talks. When we talk about Turkey, we mean [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, who bypassing all rules and regulations, has pinned down both the government and the parliament of the country," Laham said at the meeting with a delegations of Russian parliamentarians in Damascus.

 Sputnik

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Hell From Above: Russian Aviation to Help Syrian Army Liberate Aleppo

Sputnik News

13:00 10.04.2016(updated 15:28 10.04.2016)

Moscow and Damascus are elaborating a joint operation to liberate Aleppo from terrorists, the Syrian prime minister said.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik)  The Russian Aerospace Forces' aircraft will help the Syrian army liberate Aleppo from terrorist groups, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader Halqi said Sunday as quoted by a Russian lawmaker.

"Halqi told us that Syria and Russia are preparing an operation to liberate Aleppo. Russian aviation will help the Syrian army to attack on the ground," Russian upper house member Dmitry Sablin told RIA Novosti.

A group of Russian lawmakers is currently visiting the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Moscow commenced an anti-terrorism operation in Syria on September 30 at President Bashar Assad's request. On March 14, Vladimir Putin ordered to start withdrawing the main part of the Russian air group from Syria. Moscow maintained its presence at the Hmeymin airbase and the Tartus naval facility.

Russia Plays Major Role in Liberating Over 500 Syrian Settlements

"The Syrian people will never forget the assistance provided by the Russian people. First of all, it concerns the decision of [Russian] President Vladimir Putin on the involvement of Russian Aerospace Forces in the operation to support the Syrian army on the ground. More than 500 settlements with a total area of 40,000 square kilometers were liberated thanks to it," Halqi added.

On March 27, the Syrian army, backed by militias and Russian Aerospace Forces, fully liberated Palmyra, which was under the control of Daesh since May 2015.

Syria has been mired in civil war since March 2011, with government forces loyal to Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, such as Daesh and the Nusra Front. A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force across Syria on February 27. It does not apply to terrorist groups such as Daesh and Nusra Front, both of which are banned in Russia.

 Sputnik

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Russia, Syria Plotting Military Push to Retake Aleppo

by Lou Lorscheider April 10, 2016

Russian news reports say the Syrian military is preparing a major operation with the Russian air force to regain control of the embattled northern city of Aleppo.

The Interfax news agency on Sunday quoted Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Haiqi as saying the military push is aimed at freeing the city and blocking "all illegal armed groups which have not joined or broken the [February] cease-fire."

Haiqi also is quoted as saying that regaining control of the city from rebels would allow government forces to advance 300 kilometers to the east, toward the Islamic State stronghold of Deir Ezzor.

Fresh from recapturing the ancient city of Palmyra two weeks ago, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have taken aim at the Deir Ezzor area, where IS militants control territory extending from their de facto capital, Raqqa, to the Turkish border and southward to Iraq.

Aleppo -- Syria's one-time economic capital, parts of which now lie in ruins -- has been divided into occupation zones since 2012, with rebel groups in some areas while other locales are still under government control.

Also Sunday, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 35 people were killed in overnight fighting on several fronts south of Aleppo. In a statement, the monitoring group said the dead included 19 members of the Islamist rebel group al-Nusra Front and 16 pro-Damascus fighters.

The United Nations says at least 250,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011. Human rights officials say more than 4 million others have been displaced by the fighting.

In a separate development, the United Nations World Food Program said Sunday it has delivered 20 metric tons of emergency food supplies in high altitude airdrops to 200,000 people trapped by fighting in and around Deir Ezzor since March 2014.

The agency said similar drops in February met with only partial success, with some supplies missing the drop zone and others damaged or destroyed when parachutes failed. It said more aerial drops are scheduled in the coming days to bring food and other humanitarian needs to the besieged city of more than 200,000 residents.

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Battling Daesh: US Aims to Increase Fivefold Number of Troops in Syria

Sputnik News

00:50 11.04.2016(updated 00:53 11.04.2016)

The Pentagon has come up with an initiative of increasing fivefold the number of American troops in Syria in attempt to combat Daesh ("ISIL" or "the Islamic State"), in the cities of Ar Raqqah and Mosul, according to media reports.

The Barack Obama Administration is considering sending an additional Special Forces contingent to Syria consisting of 250 troops, CNN reported Saturday.

The initiative falls in line with the Defense Department plan of supporting local forces to liberate the city of Ar Raqqah in Syria and Mosul in neighboring Iraq, a spokesperson for the agency noted.

At the meeting with American military brass earlier this week Barack Obama pledged to defeat Daesh militants after "squeezing" them from their strongholds.

"Destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority and so we can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqah and in Mosul," the president claimed.

At the end of 2015, Obama ordered the deployment of about additional 50 Special Forces troops in Syria, saying the number will continue to grow.

According to Defense Department spokesperson Michelle Baldanza, the American president has commissioned the American Special Forces to coordinate the actions of local Syrian forces fighting Daesh.

The actions of US Special Forces in the fights against Daesh in the vicinity of Ar Raqqah and Ash Shaddadah were called a success, CNN reported. Enhancing the American military group in the region, the Pentagon is seeking to accelerate the course of the anti-Daseh campaign in both Syria and Iraq, the TV channel noted.

Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city, which sits in the northern Nineveh Governorate, remains the major encampment site of Daesh militants in Iraq. In January the country's Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi vowed that the battle for the city will take place in 2016 and will become a crucial milestone in the fight against the terrorists.

Daesh remains one of the major threats to global security. The militants have managed to capture large portions of land in Iraq and Syria for the last three years. Above all, they are looking for an opportunity to spread their influence across a bunch of Northern African nations, Libya in particular.

According to estimates, the Daesh-controlled territory has reached up to 90 square kilometers. The data on the number of fighters on the side of the extremist organization varies from 50 to 200 thousand.

 Sputnik

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Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk announces resignation amid political crisis

Iran Press TV

Sun Apr 10, 2016 2:32PM



Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has announced his resignation after weeks of a political crisis in the Eastern European country.

The premier said in a televised address on Sunday that he would formally submit his resignation to parliament on Tuesday.

"I decided to resign from the post of Ukraine's prime minister. On Tuesday, April 12, the decision will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament)," Yatsenyuk said, adding, "Since now, I see my goals broader than the powers of the government head."

The outgoing premier stressed that destabilization would be "inevitable" in Ukraine if a new government was not formed.

He said his party, the Popular Front, would continue to remain a part of the ruling coalition in the parliament.

The resignation came two months after Yatsenyuk's government almost narrowly dodged a no-confidence vote, which provoked various political parties to leave the ruling parliamentary coalition. On February 16, the motion got 194 votes in the Verkhovna Rada, falling short of the 226 votes required to oust the prime minister.

In recent weeks, protesters have held rallies outside the parliament in the capital, Kiev, calling for the resignation of Yatsenyuk over what they perceive to be his government's failure to fight graft.

The protest was organized by the Ukrainian nationalist Svoboda Party and the Party of Ordinary People.

Yatsenyuk's government has come under increased pressure due to allegations of corruption and the slow pace of anti-corruption reforms.

Yatsenyuk was a leading figure during a 2014 political campaign demanding pro-EU changes in government policies and vowed to clean up the government by cutting its ties to shadowy tycoons.

However, people soon accused the former banker of defending the interests of the very same billionaires he had vowed to sideline.

The political crisis in Ukraine also threatens a massive IMF-led rescue package aimed at reviving the country's shattered economy and slashing its reliance on Russian financial support. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that it may withhold aid to Ukraine if it does not carry out anti-corruption reforms.

In February, Ukrainian Economic Development and Trade Minister Aivaras Abromavicius resigned, claiming that substantial quantities of money were being diverted away from the Ukrainian government.

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Tenders Resignation

April 10, 2016

by RFE/RL

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has announced his resignation in a televised address.

"I took the decision to resign as prime minister of Ukraine," Yatsenyuk said on April 10 in comments aired on Ukrainian television channels.

"On Tuesday, April 12, I will submit it to parliament," he said.

He added that his decision was based on several reasons, saying "the political crisis in the government has been unleashed artificially, the desire to change one person has blinded politicians and paralyzed their will to bring about real changes in the country."

Yatsenyuk said his resignation is to be immediately followed by the formation of a new government.

"The parliamentary faction of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc has nominated Volodymyr Hroysman to the post of prime minister," he said. "Having done everything to ensure stability and continuity of our course, I declare my decision to transfer the obligations and responsibilities of the head of government of Ukraine."

Yatsenyuk said his country should not allow the "destabilization of the executive branch during a war."

"This would be inevitable, if after this resignation a new government of Ukraine is not selected immediately," he added.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and fomented a separatist revolt in Ukraine's east.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, Oleksiy Honcharenko , deputy head of the parliamentary faction of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, expressed confidence that a new prime minister would be chosen next week.

"Yatsenyuk can remain as acting [premier] if we [don't manage] to elect a new prime minister. And I'm sure we can do it on Tuesday [April 12]; the new head of the government will be elected," Honcharenko said.

When asked whether he had Hroysman in mind, he said: "Yes, that's about him."

"This would resolve the political crisis, " he added.

"I am 99.9 percent certain that Hroysman will become the new premier," another Poroshenko party member, Vadym Denysenko, said in televised comments.

Yuriy Pavlenko, a member of the parliamentary faction Opposition Bloc, said Yatsenyuk's resignation was "expected and predictable."

"It was clear that this government, which does not enjoy any public support or the support of the Parliament, cannot [last]. Yatsenyuk failed economic policies, "Pavlenko told RFE/RL's Ukrainian service.

He added that early parliamentary elections are the only way out of the political crisis.

Yatsenuyk came to power in 2014 with the promise that he would tackle corruption and bring about economic reforms. But he has been himself facing accusations of economic corruption.

Yatsenyuk survived a no-confidence vote on February 16.

The vote came after Ukrainian President Poroshenko asked Yatsenyuk to step down "in order to restore trust in the government."

Opinion polls have been showing a growing disenchantment among Ukrainians with the pro-Western government that took power following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, a Kremlin ally, in February 2014.

The White House said that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Yatsenuyk had spoken over the phone and agreed that economic reforms undertaken by Ukraine must be irreversible.

"The leaders agreed these changes must be irreversible and that continued progress is critical to securing a prosperous future for the people of Ukraine, "the White House said in an April 10 statement.

"The leaders also agreed on the importance of assembling a new cabinet committed to implementing needed reforms, in particular those recommended by the International Monetary Fund and European Union," the statement added.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service correspondent Olga Komarova, Reuters, AFP, TASS, and the BBC

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-prime-minister -yatsenyuk-resigns/27665474.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Poroshenko Expects Forming Coalition in Ukraine's Parliament on Tuesday

Sputnik News

20:32 10.04.2016(updated 20:36 10.04.2016)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Sunday he expected forming the coalition in the Ukrainian Parliament as early as on Tuesday.

KIEV (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has announced that he resigned.

Yatsenyuk said that destabilization in Ukraine is "inevitable," if a new government is not formed. He added that his party, the Popular Front, will remain to be a part of the coalition in the parliament.

"I'm waiting for that no later than the next week, preferably on Tuesday, we will see the creation of a coalition in the Verkhovna Rada," Poroshenko told reporters.

Poroshenko added he expected that the lawmakers would "propose [current Verkhovna Rada Chairman Vladimir] Groysman's candidacy for prime minister," but he noted he was ready to work with any candidate.

Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's government survived a no-confidence vote, which provoked various factions to leave the ruling parliamentary coalition.

Recently, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko nominated Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and his party fellow Volodymir Groisman for the new country's prime minister. The news about Groisman's candidacy came a few days after Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko announced her willingness to become Prime Minister herself and lead a "government of technocrats".

In February, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc said it considered the work of the government in 2015 unsatisfactory, and supported the vote to dissolve the government. President Petro Poroshenko also called for resignation of Yatsenyuk, but the parliament failed to pass a no-confidence motion against the government.

In February, Yatsenyuk described the ongoing political crisis in the country as "artificial" and urged the Ukrainians to continue on the course of reforms.

 Sputnik

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Announces Resignation

Sputnik News

16:19 10.04.2016(updated 21:42 10.04.2016)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has announced that he had resigned, local media reported Sunday.

"I decided to resign from the post of Ukraine's prime minister. On Tuesday, April 12, the decision will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian parliament]", Yatsenyuk said as quoted by Ukrainian TV channels Sunday.

Yatsenyuk said that destabilization in Ukraine is "inevitable," if a new government is not formed.

"We cannot allow one thing [to happen]  the destabilization of the executive power during the war [in the southeastern region of Donbass]. This prospect is inevitable, if after the resignation, a new government is not formed."

"Since now, I see my goals broader than the powers of the government head."

He added that his party, the Popular Front, will remain to be a part of the coalition in the parliament.

Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's government survived a no-confidence vote, which provoked various factions to leave the ruling parliamentary coalition.

Recently, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko nominated Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and his party fellow Volodymir Groisman for the new country's prime minister. The news about Groisman's candidacy came a few days after Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko announced her willingness to become Prime Minister herself and lead a "government of technocrats".

In February, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc said it considered the work of the government in 2015 unsatisfactory, and supported the vote to dissolve the government. President Petro Poroshenko also called for resignation of Yatsenyuk, but the parliament failed to pass a no-confidence motion against the government.

In February, Yatsenyuk described the ongoing political crisis in the country as "artificial" and urged the Ukrainians to continue on the course of reforms.

 Sputnik

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Embattled Ukraine Prime Minister Yatsenyuk Resigning

by VOA News April 10, 2016

Ukraine's embattled prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said Sunday he is resigning, opening the way for a new government to be formed in an effort to end Kyiv's political crisis.

Yatsenyuk said in a televised speech and Twitter comments that he hopes his resignation, to be formally submitted to parliament on Tuesday, will give Ukraine a chance to adopt new electoral, constitutional and judicial reforms, and to join the European Union and NATO, the western military alliance.

He said he is quitting because "the political crisis in the government has been unleashed artificially," and that the efforts to force him out have "blinded politicians and paralyzed their will to bring about real changes in the country."

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in a phone call Sunday, congratulated Yatsenyuk about strides Ukraine has made in implementing "difficult but necessary economic reforms," and advances toward energy independence from Russia. The White House said Biden and Yatsenyuk agreed "these changes must be irreversible and that continued progress is critical to securing a prosperous future" for Ukraine.

Biden and Yatsenyuk also agreed on the importance of assembling a new cabinet and implementing further "needed reforms."

Yatsenyuk's cabinet survived a no confidence vote in February, but two parties left the governing coalition for failure to oust him. He has been criticized for Ukraine's worsening economy and the slow pace of reforms.

Early elections could be called if Ukraine lawmakers fail to unite behind a new prime minister, but President Petro Poroshenko has sought to avoid new voting for fear of further destabilizing the country.

Kyiv's forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists for control of eastern Ukraine for two years, with more than 9,000 fighters and civilians killed in the clashes. At the same time, Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and it remains under Russian control.

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Submit a letter
April 11, 2016 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, BC, Canada. - Dunnedin Ventures Inc. (the "Company" or "Dunnedin") (TSX-V: DVI) reports that company representatives will be meeting April 11-15, 2016 with the Nunavut communities of Rankin Inlet and Chesterfield Inlet to discuss proposed exploration plans, seek their advice and collaborate on a Wildlife and Environment Monitoring and Mitigation Plan (WEMMP). Dunnedin invites all local community members interested in discussing the Company's plans to meet with Chris Taylor, Dunnedin's CEO. Locations and times of meetings have been published to community bulletin boards and provided to local groups.

The Company also reports that while its current exploration permit remains in effect until mid-2017, it also submitted a multi-year exploration permit application in December 2015, well in advance of the current permit's expiry. The proposed work pertains to speculative future activities that are contingent upon current results, not to its current exploration program. Upon review, the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) recommended that the Company should meet with members of the local communities to explain the Company's plans and to seek advice including traditional knowledge that may be incorporated into the Company's proposed exploration activities. The Company is currently updating its application with input from the communities as recommended by the NIRB. Over the coming months, the updated application will be reviewed by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) to determine if it is acceptable as submitted, requires further changes, or should be resubmitted.

"We submitted a multi-year exploration permit application almost two years before required, in order to ensure Dunnedin has ample time to work within regulatory guidelines and incorporate any guidance from local groups," said Chris Taylor, Dunnedin's CEO. "Changes have recently been made to Nunavut's mineral exploration regulations, and we decided to be proactive as it will take time for companies, government and local interests to adapt. I would like to apologize on behalf of the Company for not having yet consulted with all community members at the time of our application's submission. We look forward to building meaningful relationships with both communities, and to integrating local knowledge into our application to ensure an effective and responsible program. I invite anyone who is interested to meet with me in Rankin Inlet and Chesterfield Inlet during the week of April 11 to 15."

The Company notes that some community members have raised concerns with the NIRB about a mineral exploration camp abandoned by now defunct Shear Minerals Ltd. The camp is not located on Dunnedin's mineral claims and is several kilometres away from the nearest diamond occurrences and proposed exploration areas. Dunnedin has no legacy or current involvement with the site, but is sympathetic with these concerns and has included up-to-date best practices in its exploration permit application that it is now updating with local guidance to minimize any potential impacts of its proposed work.

For further information please contact Mr. Chris Taylor, M.Sc., P.Geo, CEO at 604 681 0084.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Dunnedin Ventures Inc.

Chris Taylor

Chief Executive Officer

About the Kahuna Project

Kahuna is an advanced stage high grade diamond project located near Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. Dunnedin is now recovering diamonds and indicator minerals from a series of kimberlite and till samples collected in summer 2015. An Inferred Resource released by Dunnedin showed over 4 million carats of macrodiamonds (+0.85 mm) at a grade of 1.01 carats per tonne had been defined along the partial strike length of the Kahuna and Notch kimberlite dikes through shallow drilling. The largest diamond recovered was a 5.43 carat stone from the Kahuna dike that had been broken during the sample preparation process and was reconstructed as having an original size of 13.42 carats. Recent results include a 0.82 tonne sample of the PST kimberlite dike which returned 96 macrodiamonds totalling 5.34 carats (+0.85 mm).

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
TSX.V: GBN

SASKATOON, April 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Golden Band Resources Inc. ("Golden Band" or the "Company") (TSXV: GBN) announces that its senior secured lender, Procon Resources Inc. (the "Lender"), has made demand upon the Company for payment by April 18, 2016 of all amounts due and owing by the Company under the credit agreement originally between the Company and Waterton Global Value, L.P. dated August 3, 2012 which, as of the date hereof, are approximately $19.6 million, exclusive of professional fees and costs. In addition, the Company has received a Notice of Intention to Enforce Security under section 244 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada) from the Lender.

The Company is taking the notifications seriously and continues to review and consider its alternatives to resolve the situation. At present, there can be no assurance as to what, if any, alternatives might be pursued by the Company.

About Golden Band

Golden Band Resources Inc. is a gold producer operating in the La Ronge gold belt in northern Saskatchewan and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada under the symbol GBN. Commercial production was declared on April 1, 2011. The Company has suspended mining operations (see news release of June 30, 2014) but has been actively exploring the La Ronge Gold Belt since 1994 and has assembled a land package of 870 km2, including 13 known gold deposits and five former producing mines, being Jolu, Decade, Star Lake, EP and Komis (the La Ronge Project area).

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Golden Band Resources Inc.,

"Paul Saxton"

Paul Saxton, CEO

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding future plans, objectives or expectations of Golden Band Resources Inc. (Company) are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's plans or expectations include risks relating to the failure to obtain necessary regulatory or shareholder approvals, regulatory changes, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company. The Company makes all reasonable efforts to update its corporate information on a timely basis.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Golden Band Resources Inc.
Owner Anna Demirbek outside Uncle Ho. Photo: Robert Shakespeare

The director of a Brisbane restaurant has agreed to change the business name after facing sharp criticism from the Vietnamese community over the weekend.

Uncle Ho, named after the communist dictator Ho Chi Minh, closed its doors on Sunday after more than 100 members of Brisbane's Vietnamese community protested outside the Fortitude Valley establishment.

The restaurant, located on East Street just off Ann Street, had been open for 17 days.

During the Sunday protest, restaurant director Anna Demirbek posted to the restaurant's Instagram page that management and staff had received death threats and threats of damage to the business.

"Over the past 24 hours management have received death threats and threats of burning down the building our business is housed in," a post on the account reads.

"This is unacceptable, bullying behaviour.

"Our business will be closed today (Sunday) to ensure the safety and security of our team and our customers."

Member of the local Vietnamese community Jade Pham told Fairfax Media she was "outraged" by the lack of respect.

Advertisement

"The caucasian owners have named it after a dictator whose communist regime is what Australia fought against during the Vietnam War," she said.

"I am outraged by the lack of respect for history and the people it affects in Australia to this day."

Demirbek released a statement to Channel 7 on Sunday which announced a name change for the controversial establishment.

"We have registered the name Uncle Bia Hoi and have commenced proceedings to change our trading name in the coming weeks," she stated.

Fairfax Media approached the restaurant owners for comment.

- with Nathanael Cooper
The ramen with scallop and purslane at Bar H. Photo: Supplied

Graffiti artist Banksy grabs all the headlines, but it is another British Banks whose name will be on the wall at the latest Barangaroo restaurant signing. Botanist Sir Joseph Banks has naming rights for Banksii, the latest launch from the team behind Bar H in Surry Hills.

Banksii co-owner Hamish Ingham explains there'll be strong 'botanical' influence across the drinks and food menus when the 200-seat restaurant opens in September. Are they picking up where Noma left off with native Australian produce?

"We don't want to make a point of it [comparing the two]," he says. "We'll be modern Australian bistro-style. We've been using a lot of that stuff for a long time  saltbush, karkalla and pepperleaf."

Banksii co-owner Hamish Ingham. Photo: Tegan Sadlier

Good Food first reported on speculation that Ingham would open a restaurant the waterside development in March. The interior is in the hands of Luchetti Krelle and a large bar is part of the plans. The early word is vermouth and wine will be both be on tap.
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Officials want to make salaries competitive with similar size cities

By Kiah Collier

A study the San Angelo City Council commissioned in August 2007 confirmed what many said was obvious: An overwhelming majority of city employees were paid less than workers doing the same jobs in similarly sized Texas cities.

However obvious, the six-month, $130,000 "compensation and classification" study revealed how severe the problem was. It found that more than 75 percent of the city's 114 job classes were being paid 5 percent or more behind the prevailing rate for competing cities ? low enough to be considered "not competitive."

For years officials had acknowledged the city's problem retaining employees in certain specialized fields, especially policing, because of low pay.

Various efforts had been made to bolster wages, including a large scale effort at the turn of the century to eliminate vacant positions and use the savings for raises.

In 2009, after a year of negotiations, the city struck a meet-and-confer agreement with the Police Department that set out a plan for pay increases.

The council has approved some form of city employee pay raise every year since at least 1981, except in 1995 and the current fiscal year. Texas cities are allowed to set their own wages.

Still, 37 percent of the city's 880 active, full-time employees make $30,000 per year or less. About 15 percent, or 135, make less than $23,000, placing them at the federal poverty level if they are providing for a family of four.

"You just can't live on that," said Dwain Morrison, the longest serving council member and a fervent advocate for the lower paid city employees.

After the 2007 study, the first formal pay analysis the city had completed in recent memory, the council agreed to do something about a problem they agreed was chronic.

"The council's approach was, 'Let's figure out where we are, and let's build in increments to make wages stay competitive at least within a certain percentage so that we don't fall further behind, and maybe we can gain a little bit,'" said Jon Mark Hogg, a former city council member who served as mayor pro tem for eight months after the unexpected resignation of J.W. Lown.

A local attorney who is board certified in labor and employment law, Hogg said he feared the city was not only falling behind in offering competitive wages, but as it lost people in key upper management positions, as well as police and fire, it would face "sticker shock" when recruiting outsiders who would expect a higher starting salary.

In spring 2008 the Phoenix-based consultant who conducted the study recommended a multiyear, multimillion dollar plan of action to gradually ? and fairly ? boost all city salaries to competitive levels. The council ended up approving a version of the proposed plan that called for salaries to be increased to within 85 percent of the minimum of each pay range dictated in the study by 2009 and to at least 90 percent as soon as possible.

By October 2008, at the start of the 2008-09 fiscal year, the city had met the 85 percent goal after updating the salary ranges for each of its jobs classes based on the salaries of its benchmark or competitor cities compiled in the study, giving raises and allocating additional money to boost salaries that fell outside the new ranges ? a phenomenon known as "compression."

"When we did that, everybody was squared away," said Lisa Marley, the city's human resources and risk management director, noting that "the ranges were out of whack."

"It had been a long, long time since that had really been a focus that the city could afford," she said.

A year later, the city again gave raises and made small adjustments to the salary ranges, but only for the job classes that were "drastically behind," said Marley, who previously had worked as a classification and compensation analyst for the state of Virginia and a small city in Florida. That brought salaries to 87 percent of the minimum benchmark salary range.

Then the recession hit, and the plan was derailed.

A 14-month decline in sales tax collections that began in July 2009, along with rising costs, left the city with a $2.3 million budget deficit going into 2011. Following the recommendation of city budget staff, the City Council decided not to give raises for the first time in more than 15 years.

The city never reached its 90 percent goal and hasn't updated the salary ranges in the compensation plan in nearly two years. In the meantime, Marley said, "our target for being within 90 percent" has gone up, as competing cities have given raises and adjusted their own pay ranges.

"It really hurt us, not only just individuals by not getting a pay increase, it hurt us with our ranges compared to other cities, which in turn hurt us for recruitment purposes," Marley said.

Now, Marley estimates salaries are somewhere between 77 and 80 percent of the average minimum pay.

A recent analysis of employee salaries in competing cities shows San Angelo is still as far behind as it was nearly four years ago, especially for police and firefighter pay.

According to an analysis of wages paid in the 2010-11 fiscal year compiled by the Abilene Reporter-News, San Angelo police and firefighter salaries rank last in a comparison with Abilene, Midland, Tyler, Waco and Wichita Falls ? Texas cities with populations between 90,000 and 125,000. San Angelo Police Department employees make an average of $41,848 per year ? $1,018 less than the next lowest city, Wichita Falls. Fire Department employees make an average of $45,027 per year ? $5,272 less than the next lowest city, Midland.

San Angelo's average overall pay ? $38,164 per year ? ranks fifth. Its administrative pay also ranks fifth.

Marley said they keep a close eye on what other cities pay for hiring purposes, but they haven't updated pay ranges.

"We couldn't afford to do it," Marley said of reaching the 90 percent goal last year or this year. "There was no money for salaries, for adjusting the (salary) scales ? for anything."

Police and Fire Department officials say they are not surprised by the salary data from the analysis.

"We've been there before, and it's disappointing," said San Angelo Police Chief Tim Vasquez, who is asking for pay increases for his department. "We're significantly behind, and we stay that way, unfortunately, and we do lose a lot of officers to other agencies."

Vasquez, who was first elected in 2004 and has served on the city's budget committee for the past two years, said two to three officers leave the department each year on average to take jobs with other departments, as well as in- and out-of-state U.S. Customs and Border Protection offices. One time, he said, the department lost six officers in a single month when the Border Patrol was offering $20,000 more per year to experienced police officers.

"It really hurts," Vasquez said, noting that it takes nearly a year to train an officer before he or she is able to patrol the streets solo. "Every body counts."

San Angelo Fire Chief Brian Dunn said it's more difficult for firefighters to move around because the department has its own unique pension system, so the department has less of a problem with losing firefighters. But he said he has no doubt salaries are lagging, which he said hasn't been a glaring problem so far but would be worrisome if it got any worse.

"I know we're behind," Dunn said. "It's always a concern because, like I said, if they start getting really behind then it starts making it harder to recruit."

Police and Fire Department salaries are paid out of the city's general fund, which comes mostly from sales and property tax collections. Almost 80 percent of the general fund expenditures go to salaries and benefits.

Other cities, like Abilene, which ranked fourth in average salary, are more consistent about updating salary ranges annually.

Asked why he believes San Angelo's salaries are still lagging, Vasquez said the city hasn't made it a top priority, instead choosing to put resources into other things like infrastructure.

Harold Dominguez, San Angelo's city manager, said that balance is the main reason the salary problem has persisted. He said the city has had to figure out how to sink dollars into other critical issues like repairing antiquated infrastructure.

"Up until last year we were pushing on those issues," Dominguez said. "One of the things that we have to do is really balance these issues out. We're still fundamentally dealing with infrastructure issues and all of that so what we try to do is bring some sort of balance to it where we can ... deal with as many issues as we possibly can, and going one way or another completely causes you to lose focus on one of those issues.

"So what we're trying to do is maintain focus on the core issues of the city while at the same time deal with the salary issue."

At a council meeting last year, Dominguez spoke candidly about the city's low wages, saying it pains him to see city employees working second jobs at Walmart and Home Depot because they can't afford to support their families on their city salary alone.

"Last year would have been a great year for us to do something because we could have caught up even more, but unfortunately we weren't even able to do it because of the budgetary issues we were having to deal with," said Dominguez, whom the council appointed as interim city manager in August 2004 and hired permanently in January 2005.

Dominguez said the balancing act is exacerbated by the increased demand on services that comes with a growing city. He also said the city's efforts to eliminate a slew of positions in the late 1990s in an effort to slash expenses and free up funding for salary increases is something that has led to "unintended consequences," including understaffing in infrastructure-related departments. To deal with that, the city has had to increase its workforce over the past decade.

On Sept. 6 the council gave final approval to the 2011-12 budget, which includes nearly $1 million for salary increases.

Although the city has yet to update the 2-year-old benchmark salary ranges in the 2007 compensation plan, it has not been an unconscious decision, City Finance Director Michael Dane said. After not giving raises last year, Dane said, the council wanted to "get money into employee pockets."

Updating salary ranges, which can mean employees at the bottom end of the current range are left with salaries outside the range, as well as having to offer higher salaries to new hires regardless of experience level, often requires more money than granting across-the-board pay increases, he said.

"Council seemed most interested in getting raises for employees, especially those who lived through a year of no raises," Dane said. "So we took a little bit of a simplified approach and threw all the money into adjusting pay."

But at an Aug. 30 meeting after discussing how to distribute salary increases and giving preliminary approval to the 2011-12 budget, the council expressed unanimous support for updating the compensation plan and reviving the goal of offering competitive wages. It directed city staff to update the benchmark salary data for next year ? something Marley and Vasquez described as exciting and encouraging.

"We need commitment to continue to move forward on that," said council member Kendall Hirschfeld.

Marley said she was excited to hear members express interest in resuscitating the plan. Like Hogg, she said it's difficult to play catch up with salaries if they aren't adjusted incrementally each year.

"We all knew we weren't on track because we knew the ranges hadn't moved," Marley said. "At a bare minimum, we need to at least always adjust the ranges and give pay increases to boot. It will be a very big pill to swallow if we fall off the track. So I'm glad that the focus is being shifted to, 'Let's look at the study. Let's resurrect it.' I mean, we paid a lot of money for it, and we should try to stay in step with what we know will be a better way to keep us in line with our competitors."

Morrison, who opposed funding the study in 2007 because he felt it was unnecessary to hire an outside firm to complete the analysis, said that while city salaries are still "a little low," wages in San Angelo have "always been low" compared with cities like Midland and Abilene because the city has a weaker tax base. The city has made some progress, he said, but part of it is that it's the nature of the beast.

"Our community is built on ranching and farming and households," Morrison said. "We don't have the oil, and we don't have the commercial base that they have. That's why their tax rates are lower, because we don't have that base."

Those constraints have ? understandably ? meant lower wages, he said.

"Yes, the wages are less in San Angelo ... and sadly, the cost of living is not that much cheaper, either," Morrison said. "But salaries in our city have got to be based on the amount of revenue that we have, and you can't spend more than you've got. I think all-in-all, we've done as well as could be expected with the revenue we have, but we simply can't spend more money than we have."

Hogg said the city's low wages are more of a choice than a consequence of a weak tax base and lack of money.

"I think part of it is a historically conservative approach to fiscal issues with the city and basically not wanting to pay more," Hogg said. "If the city wanted to pay more for its positions, it certainly could, but I think historically it's tried to keep those very low, and I think that's for philosophical and political reasons and fiscal conservatism."

Like the city's ailing water infrastructure hidden underground, Hogg said, providing good pay to city employees, who are "doing all the work and providing all the services," is something that's easy to forget about.

"It's not like building a new park," Hogg said. "There's nothing real exciting about paying people more money. I think that's part of the reason that councils tend to forget it, is because it doesn't have that curb appeal, so to speak, and it's just easy to forget about paying your people well and taking care of them, even though it's probably the most important thing we could do as a city government."

Dominguez said the goal hasn't been lost, just postponed under extenuating circumstances.

"We're going to continue working on that process," Dominguez said. "It's always been a part of the discussion, it's just how much do you allocate to it considering the other issues you have to deal with."
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By Steph Solis, USA TODAY

The group responsible for the deadly bombings in Brussels had initially planned to attack France, Belgium's federal prosecutor said Sunday.

The suspects were "surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation" and decided to attack Brussels instead, the office said in a statement. The alleged organizers of the Brussels attacks were part of the same group behind the Paris massacre in November, federal prosecutors said.

The statements from prosecutors come after the arrest of Mohamed Abrini, who was described as the "man in the hat" or the "man in white" captured on surveillance footage with the two suicide bombers at Brussels Airport, RTBF reported. Abrini and three others were charged with "terrorist murders" and conducting the "activities of a terrorist group" in connection with the Brussels attacks.

"It's fresh proof of the very real threat that weighs on all of Europe, and on France in particular," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said.

Belgian Justice Minister Koen Geens told VRT network it amounted to "a dirty war" when more attacks could be expected in Belgium, France or beyond.

"We need to remain very alert, and new cells can pop up at any moment. The facts have already taught us that," Geens added.

The suicide bombers killed 16 people at the Brussels Airport on March 22, and another blast claimed the lives of another 16 people at a city subway station.

Abrini confessed he was the "man in the hat" seen in the surveillance footage, Belgian prosecutors said.

The other suspects were identified as Osama Krayem, Herve B.M. and Bilal E.M. Krayem, who is known to have left the Swedish city of Malmo to fight in Syria.

Investigators found links between the group behind Brussels attacks and the one that killed 130 in Paris Nov. 13. Authorities said a series of raids and arrests leading up to the Brussels attack, notably the arrest of key suspect Salah Abdeslam on March 18, prompted the suspects to change course and speed up the plan.

Several connections surfaced involving Abrini. Surveillance footage shows Abrini driving Abdeslam to Paris two days before the deadly rampage. Abdeslam's arrest occurred four days before the Brussels explosions.

Authorities said Abrini grew up with Abdeslam and his brother, Brahim Abdeslam, both suspects in the Paris attacks. They believe he also knew Abdelhamid Abbaoud, the Paris attackers' ringleader.

Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in the Paris bombings. Abbaoud died in a police raid shortly after the attacks.

Abrini's fingerprints and DNA were found in a car used in Paris, as well as an apartment in a Brussels neighborhood that was used by the airport bombers.

Abrini was also believed to have traveled to Syria, where his younger brother died in 2014 in the Islamic State's Francophone brigade.
What has Gov. Abbott done about the six mass shootings on his watch?
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The following editorial appeared in the March 24 Houston Chronicle:

Almost as infuriating as Donald Trump's macho blathering about building a gigantic wall along our border with Mexico is the mindless assent the other two Republican presidential aspirants give to the notion. "Of course, we have to have a border wall," Ohio Gov. John Kasich said during a recent debate, as if the magnificent U.S.-Mexico borderlands were a flat, featureless tabletop, and dividing the interconnected borderlands would be no more trouble, expense or environmental disruption than setting up a net across a Ping Pong table.

Apparently neither Kasich nor his fellow candidate  a Texan who should know better  has any notion of the spectacular landscape along both sides of the border  in the Big Bend area, for example, or the seamless flow of nature back and forth across the banks of the Rio Grande from Boca Chica to El Paso or the vast desert ecosystem along the border through New Mexico, Arizona and California. The border-wall enthusiasm of the would-be presidents suggests ignorance of the vast region and contempt for all that lives there (plants, animals and people).

Certainly, nations have a right to protect their borders, but a seamless wall stretching from the Gulf to the Pacific, nearly 2,000 miles, would destroy much more than it would protect.

Portions of the border wall built in the Rio Grande Valley, one of the most bio-diverse regions in North America, already are having a negative environmental impact. They're fragmenting endangered species, including bobcats, jaguarundi, the 50 or so ocelots remaining in the U.S. and the pygmy owl, as well as white-tailed deer and javelina.

"The fence is the very definition of habitat fragmentation, the very definition of what inhibits free movement of wildlife within its natural habitat," Laura Huffman, director of the Nature Conservancy's Texas office, told Newsweek recently.

The Sierra Club has pointed out that existing portions of the wall have dammed washes and have caused floods, severe erosion and habitat loss in Arizona. In southwest New Mexico, northern Mexico and central Arizona, mule deer, puma, black bears, bighorn sheep and jaguar are being adversely affected.

A wall along the Rio Grande as it snakes through the rugged Big Bend region would be just as devastating, if not more so. Big Bend on this side of the river and the equally wild and spectacular Maderas del Carmen desert mountain region on the other side are home to 446 species of birds, 3,600 species of insects, more than 1,300 plants and 75 species of mammals. A multibillion-dollar wall through Big Bend, even if it could be built, would devastate one of the world's last unspoiled regions.

Ecosystems and endangered species aren't the only ones paying a price for such an extravagant boondoggle. So is the American taxpayer (at a time, by the way, when net immigration from Mexico is zero). The New York Times has estimated the cost of building Trump's "big, beautiful wall" as $16 million per mile for a total of about $20 billion. That may be chump change for a big spender like Trump, but it better fits the definition of his latest catch phrase: "waste, fraud and abuse."
To OUR Gourmet Retailer Readers

While Gourmet Retailer no longer exists as a separate print publication and website, Progressive Grocer will continue to feature new content about boutique retailing in our ongoing coverage of Independent Grocers.

Please update your Gourmet Retailer bookmark and check our Independent Grocers topic page regularly for updates and fresh content.

-- The Progressive Grocer Team
Health plans must assign a primary care doctor to enrollees within 30 days of coverage.

Health plans and doctors must share data to better track and treat patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes.

Plans are obliged to monitor and reduce health disparities among all their patients, starting with four major conditions: diabetes, hypertension, asthma and depression.

They also are required to better manage the price of high-end pharmaceuticals and aid consumers in reducing the cost of expensive drug treatments.

The health plans must help consumers better understand their diseases and treatment choices  and their share of the costs for those treatments.

Moving into a realm usually reserved for health care regulators, the California health marketplace Thursday unveiled sweeping reforms to its contracts with insurers, seeking to improve the quality of care, curb its cost and increase transparency for consumers.The attempt to impose quality and cost standards on health plans and doctors and hospitals appears to be the first by any Obamacare exchange in the nation.Among the biggest changes: Health plans will be required to dock hospitals at least 6 percent of their payments if they do not meet certain quality standards, or give them bonuses of an equal amount if they exceed the standards.The plan, to be implemented over seven years, is based on a similar strategy pursued by the federal agency that oversees the government-run Medicaid and Medicare health insurance programs.The California Hospital Association, in a statement issued late Thursday, said it supported the exchanges decision to phase in the plan incrementally.The exchange, known as Covered California, will also require health plans to identify hospitals and doctors that are performing poorly on a variety of quality metrics or charging too much for care. The plans must dump the providers from their networks as early as 2019 if they dont mend their ways. The plans could choose not to cut the hospitals or doctors, but they would have to explain in writing why, and detail what the providers are doing to address their deficiencies.Covered Californias mission is not just getting patients health insurance; its about improving the quality of the health care delivery system, Peter V. Lee, the exchanges executive, said in a written statement. We are creating a market that rewards quality over quantity.Some doctors have noted that provider networks in many of the health plans sold by Covered California are already thin and warned that cutting the networks even more would only exacerbate the problem. And, they say, some hospitals and physicians might balk at the stringent new requirements and decline to participate in Covered California networks.The insurers are not happy about transparency provisions that involve disclosing the rates they negotiate with their providers. Health plans have long resisted efforts that would let competitors or the public see the deals they make with doctors and hospitals.But Covered California officials believe that scrutinizing the negotiated rates will help the exchange identify high-cost providers and allow policyholders with high deductibles to see the differences in price before undergoing a medical procedure.Nicole Evans, spokeswoman for the California Association of Health Plans, said that in some rural areas, where hospitals are few and far between, eliminating even one that is deemed to be underperforming might seriously compromise access to medical care.Or maybe one of them didnt score as well on one quality measure but other quality measures are higher, she said.Evans added, though, that she was pleased Covered California would at least allow exceptions to this rule.Among other elements of Covered Californias contract overhaul:
Public officials who use private email accounts to conduct official business cannot conceal their personal email addresses when releasing public information, a state appeals court ruled Friday.The question dates back to 2011, when The Austin Bulldog, an independent online news site, filed several open records requests asking for all emails regarding city business between the Austin mayor, city council members and the city manager, according to court papers. The city immediately turned over some information, but withheld the rest, asking the attorney general's office for advice on whether that remaining information was subject to disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act.The office advised the city to turn over those documents, which it did. However, the city redacted the personal email addresses of city officials, complicating the flow of conversations because it was unclear who was saying what and to whom. The city said an exemption under the Public Information Act allowed it to redact personal email addresses in disclosed correspondences if the email address belonged to a "member of the public."The Austin Bulldog sued the city in Travis County District Court, arguing that that exemption does not apply to government officials. The court agreed with the city's interpretation of the law.The Austin Bulldog appealed the decision to the 3rd Court of Appeals. The court said Friday in its ruling that "member of the public" refers to "a person who belongs to the community or people as a whole." And although city officials as individuals are members of the public, when conducting official business they are members of a governmental body, the court says."Therefore, the City Officials email addresses are not shielded from disclosure and must be disclosed as public information," the court ruled.The ruling could have implications on communications among officials at the state level. In August, Gov. Greg Abbott and other officials were called out for using the "member of the public" exception to shield personal emails that discussed government business. Attorney General Ken Paxton used the same exception to defend the practice.Bill Aleshire, an attorney for The Austin Bulldog, celebrated Friday's decision, saying the attorney general's office has been wrong for 15 years by relying on the "member of the public" exemption to shield officials' personal email addresses."It's a good day for open government in Texas," Aleshire said in a statement. "Public officials and employees have no excuse for using their personal email accounts to conduct official business in the first place, and, now, if they do it, their personal email addresses will be publicly disclosed."The City of Austin law department, through a city spokesperson, said it will "advise our clients of this new interpretation."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been charged in federal court with allegedly misleading investors in a technology company.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed the charges Monday in a Sherman-based court. They are similar to the allegations Paxton faces in a pending indictment handed up by a Collin County grand jury last year.Paxton is named in the SEC's complaint along with William Mapp, the founder and former CEO of Servergy Inc. Paxton is accused of raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for Servergy without disclosing he was making a commission. The case stems from when Paxton was a member of the Texas House  before he was elected attorney general in 2014."People recruiting investors have a legal obligation to disclose any compensation they are receiving to promote a stock, and we allege that Paxton and White concealed the compensation they were receiving for touting Servergys product," Shamoil T. Shipchandler, director of the SECs Fort Worth regional office, said in a news release on the complaint.Paxton has pleaded not guilty to the three felony counts he faces in the criminal case.Bill Mateja, an attorney for Paxton, said that Paxton's legal team has not reviewed the SEC's civil lawsuit."As with the criminal matter, Mr. Paxton vehemently denies the allegations in the civil lawsuit and looks forward not only to all of the facts coming out, but also to establishing his innocence in both the civil and criminal matters."By July 2011, Paxton had persuaded five investors to put $840,000 into Servergy, according to the complaint. A month later, Paxton received 100,000 shares of stock in the company.The SEC said Paxton told investigators that the shares were a gift from Mapp, not necessarily a commission. According to the complaint, Paxton claimed he accepted the shares only after Mapp refused to accept an offer from Paxton to invest $100,000 of his own money in Servergy.I cant take your money. God doesnt want me to take your money, Mapp told Paxton during a meeting at a Dairy Queen during the summer of 2011 in McKinney, according to the SEC.
When Jim Kenney replaced Michael Nutter this year as Philadelphias new mayor, there were some changes. Officials came and went, titles were tweaked, roles were shifted, and bold policies were forged in pursuit of that familiar promise of a new future for an old city.As one of the nations leading govtech landscapes, Philadelphias changes in technology leadership are particularly noteworthy. Former Civic Tech Director Aaron Ogle resigned in March, his duties absorbed by Web and Application Services Director Kyle Odum. Story Bellows , former director of the Philadelphia Mayors Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM), left her post last year, leaving behind a Twitter account of 1,174 followers whove not received a communique in six months. The new administration is abandoning MONUM and pursuing what the mayors office calls a far more collaborative effort under Rebecca Rhynharts cabinet-level Office of Administrative Services. MONUM didnt live up to its potential, a spokesperson told, because it wasnt fully integrated into departments like it should have been.The new office will advance on new projects, like an electronic procurement system, and continue old MONUM projects like the partnership with the Barcelona-based consultancy Citymart to develop innovative approaches to procurement, and continued involvement in initiatives like the citys Innovation Academy and Innovation Fund.And the straw who stirs the drink, Chief Innovation Officer Charles Brennan , replaced Nutters Adel Ebeid, bringing with him some structural changes of his own.For one, city Chief Data Officer Tim Wisniewski is no longer responsible for managing the citys Web services on top of his open data role. Web services was assigned to a dedicated manager, so each person can focus on their mission, Brennan explained. Open data, he said, is a top priority for his office, and he wants Wisniewski focused.On April 5, the city made good on that claim, publishing salary data for the citys entire public workforce searchable at data.philly.com , something the previous administration was unable to accomplish, Brennan said, though he didnt know why.Payroll data can be challenging to unlock, Brennan said, because not everyone is necessarily in favor of making the information public, and the city has to be careful not to jeopardize the safety of their undercover police officers. But initial reports indicate open data advocates are pleased [The city has] released over 200 [data sets], but theres a lot of fertile ground out there for releasing data sets to the citizens and for researchers, Brennan said. I have [Wisniewski] meeting with one of the deputy police commissioners next week to talk about some of the data to obtain from them, and I believe the police commissioner will in fact turn it over to us. And the kind of data were looking at is updated data on crime offenses as well as interactions with police.Like many city police departments, the PPD also collects demographic data on traffic and pedestrian stops to meet the requirements of a decades-old federal consent decree. President Obamas Task Force on 21st Century Policing renewed the examination of such data following the highly publicized death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014.The citizen interaction stuff is also interesting, Brennan said. Im sure people will do analysis by sex and race and location and things like that. Its a real benefit, especially for researchers.Police data is among the most interesting and coveted resource a city can release, Brennan said.A 21-year veteran of the police force himself, Brennan started on street patrol the same year that songs like Phil Collinsand Stevie Wondersblared from boom boxes crammed with D cell batteries. He didnt stay on the street long, preferring instead to spend his years in the departments IT office, where he stayed until 2006, helping to design and build, among other projects, a $500,000 communications network. After leaving the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD), Brennan served as deputy secretary of public radio services for the state of Pennsylvania, a principal of Carolus Consulting, and then a program manager at Alcatel-Lucent, working on large scale radio installations.Finding someone with this wealth of big-project IT experience is huge for our administration, a city spokesperson toldby email. It is imperative that we have a strong, experienced leader to make these projects successful. In addition, Charlie knows the city processes and players from his time here at the PPD and is able to get things done.Brennan will need experience to draw on as he leads dozens of ongoing technology projects. In 2010, Nutters administration announced $120 million in capital funding to refresh the citys many aging systems, and some of those facelifts remain unfinished today. An overhaul of the citys tax system  called Taxpayer Information Processing System (TIPS)  is a particularly large and tortuous project that Brennan's office is charged with completing.The 20-year-old tax system needs regular updates to reflect changes in the tax code, but the system was programmed in a language called ADABAS Natural, and the coders familiar with that technology have long since retired, Brennan said. The result is a backlog of system changes, a sub-optimal Revenue Department and a constituency that doesnt get access to modern Web and mobile services. The citys developing a modern replacement now, Brennan said.Large systems, particularly tax systems, have a reputation for gaining momentum and escaping the control of its creators. There are a couple of ways to avoid that, said Brennan.One is if you look at how these systems evolve, theres almost a direct relationship between the complexity of the system and its likelihood of failure, he said. What government tends to do, since they may not get money all the time, whenever they do get money, they try to throw everything and the kitchen sink into an RFP.  Id like to remove the kitchen sinks from some of these things and bring some common sense to what we as a city are capable of managing.The second measure is to target vendors that are open to iterative development, Brennan said. The advantage of an approach like Agile is that it gives the customer an idea of how the solution will look and behave before development gets too far along and making changes becomes too costly or difficult.I think of it as storyboarding a movie, said Brennan. If you think about why they do that, its much easier to change those little drawings than after you get the actors in and youre shooting real film.Other large legacy system rehauls that the new administration is bestowing with renewed attention include One Philly, a $20 million merger of human resources, payroll and pension data; the Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System; and a modernization of back-end HR and procurement systems that are managed by Rhynharts Office of Administrative Services with help from Brennans office.Hes been too busy managing all the projects his office adopted from Nutters administration, Brennan said, but when he gets a chance to launch a project of his own, hed like to attract a wider scope of vendors so the city has more choices.Ive heard from vendors that I dealt with years ago that dont want to come into the city because they view it either as very expensive in here or they believe the process as unbelievably onerous or even unfair, Brennan said. And I think I have to do some outreach to the vendor community and explain to them that its a square deal, it is fair  and Im thinking about having a vendors conference or something like that where we do a show-and-tell where everyone talks about what they know about procurement in a big city.
(TNS) -- Few things scream throwback like a contested political convention, an event that calls to mind conniving party bosses, clouds of stale cigar smoke and throngs of activists in Uncle Sam hats passionately waiving homemade signs.But while some of those retro touches will surely present themselves if Republicans arrive in Cleveland for their national convention in July with no clear nominee, the X factor in the fight could be an entirely new frontier of politics: the new technology of hunting for delegates.A cottage industry of political techies already has emerged to pitch their wares to campaigns. Theyre promising that in the weeks leading up to the convention they can enable candidates to find and persuade the right delegates and then arm deputies on the convention floor with thousands of data points about delegates ideological leanings, social media proclivities and even TV viewing habits.A contested convention would test the extent to which technology can be leveraged to push the outcome of a political event and the speed at which such technology could be built and deployed.Every possible service you can think of, some vendor is going to try to sell to every campaign involved, said Benjamin Ginsberg, former general counsel to the Republican National Committee and national counsel to the campaigns of Mitt Romney and George W. Bush.There will be lots of efforts to sell new products that may or may not work to accomplish a task with which nobody is really familiar. This is so unknown.The last time Republicans had a contested convention was in 1976, when Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford squared off in an arena in Kansas City, Mo. Rotary telephones were still in vogue, and Apples Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had just formed their partnership in a garage in Los Altos, Calif.There were no iPads. There were no iPhones. There were carbon paper and typewriters.This time, if a contested convention happens, it will unfold in an age of data analytics and micro-targeting and social media scraping, where it is not unusual for campaigns to target voters through magazine subscriptions and grocery purchases. Candidates will walk into the convention hall with tools unimagined four decades ago that they can use in a race to, among other things, find out everything they can about every delegate and develop a lightning-fast platform on which to share that knowledge with floor whips at crunch time.There will be tons of (companies) crowding this space, said Brittany Kaiser, director of program development for Cambridge Analytica, a firm that has accumulated thousands of data points  from Starbucks preferences to vacation histories  on each of about 240 million Americans. It is going to be incredibly important to understand everything possible about every single delegate.Kaisers firm  although not Kaiser herself  already has been working with the campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is likely to head into the convention with the second-largest bloc of delegates committed to him.Cruz campaign insiders say tech already has been key to the edge Cruz has been gaining in delegates even in states where he lost the election to Donald Trump.Many of the delegates who will be officially representing Trump from Louisiana, Georgia, Virginia, Arizona and North Dakota  all states won by the New York businessman  are actually Cruz sympathizers. Under convention rules, those delegates would be bound to Trump for the first round of delegate voting in Cleveland. But if no candidate receives a majority on the first ballot, many delegates will become free agents. Depending on state laws, others will be become free to vote for any candidate they choose after a second ballot or a third.More than 2,400 delegates could ultimately end up coming up for grabs on the convention floor if no candidate clinches the nomination after the initial balloting. Some may already have revealed on their Facebook pages that they were fans of Terminator movies. So a call from Arnold Schwarzenegger could be the nudge that wins them over. Or perhaps they are gun enthusiasts, in which case they might be awed by a convention floor chat with Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association.Cambridge Analytica claims to have developed a psychographic profile of every one of the delegates chosen so far. Such profiles, which are rooted in reams of consumer and personal background data acquired by the company, put people into such categories as stoic traditionalist or extroverted leader and are already being used to target voters.But Kaiser says such profiles also have helped clients devise sophisticated lobbying strategies to move stubborn legislators, an application not dissimilar to what candidates would face as they set out to persuade delegates in Cleveland.It helps you understand where each delegate stands, how persuadable they are to change their mind, said Kaiser.There are also more nuts-and-bolts considerations for campaigns  knowing where any particular delegate stands at any particular moment, for example.Speed is going to kill when votes are taken, and the campaign that can best use data quickly will have a huge advantage, said Mark Stephenson, who was Scott Walkers chief data officer during the Wisconsin governors short-lived presidential campaign.You have to be able to persuade people fast, with that data at your fingertips. Technology enables you to be relevant when you are talking to your targets, he said.Digital strategists expect the campaigns to leave nothing to chance. They will come armed with backup wireless capability in the event the network at the Quicken Loans Arena gets balky. The technology will work online or off. The Trump campaign, according to a report in Politico, is even building its own hardware.Yet Trump is likely to have significant catch-up work ahead of him. The Cruz campaign already has proved adept at using technology to narrowly target its operations, whether in building psychological profiles of voters or apps that caucus precinct captains can fire up on election night to herd every possible vote.The Cruz campaigns obsession with tracking and monitoring which potential delegates might be sympathetic to their candidate began months ago, and it is already paying dividends.This is stuff the Cruz campaign has been doing since last year, said Josh Putnam, a lecturer at the University of Georgia who studies the delegate selection process. Other campaigns are playing catch-up.Still, much of the technology that would be used on the convention floor does not yet even exist in beta form. As the GOP race tightens, and the likelihood of a contested convention increases, some political technologists foresee a weekslong hackathon taking shape, as firms rush to get a piece of the business.Patrick Ruffini, one of the few Republican digital strategists who has actually developed software successfully used by a candidate in a convention  albeit at the state level, in Virginia  said he anticipates a stampede.The challenge for the campaigns, he said, will be sorting out the useful pitches from the deluge of marketing malarkey that tech firms tend to muster around such occasions.I expect to see a lot of people arguing they have just the thing to solve your brokered convention problem, Ruffini said.
Deaths hard to track

Squeezing the shoulders

Tow-truck accident on I-94

(TNS) -- The call came in to Absolute Towing around 8:45 on a recent spring morning, notable only for its persistent drizzle. Flat tire. Two people. I-94 and Manning-ish -- a reference to the exurban Washington County crossroad.This service call was a relatively safe one for Tim Heldman, who owns the Oakdale towing firm. The occupants of the disabled Ford Fusion had carefully steered the sedan off the busy highway and onto an expansive shoulder, where it was hoisted onto his tow truck without incident.But thats not always the case. Basically, every time I go out, Im risking my life for 40 bucks, said Heldman.As Twin Cities roads grow more congested and as Minnesotas summer road construction begins this Thursday, the safe haven of the highway shoulder for motorist emergencies and traffic stops may not be terribly safe. Many stretches of road in the metro area have limited roadside space -- or sometimes no shoulders at all.Add to the mix distracted drivers -- those texting, e-mailing and talking on the phone -- and a lack of awareness of the states move over laws requiring drivers to move over a lane to avoid stalled or stopped vehicles on roadway shoulders.It can be very dangerous, said John McClellan, freeway operations supervisor of the Freeway Incident Response Safety Team for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). If someone breaks down, being on the shoulder is better, but the best thing is to not be out there in a disabled vehicle.Thats not always an option for police, emergency workers, firefighters and tow truck drivers called to the scene of an accident or breakdown -- often a risky proposition to safely navigate.Its difficult to quantify the number of emergency and roadside responders who are killed or injured by careless motorists because theres no central clearinghouse for collecting that information.The Emergency Responder Safety Institute reports that seven fire and emergency medical personnel were killed across the country in struck-by-vehicle incidents last year, and two additional fatalities of off-duty personnel who stopped to help at crash sites. Thats up from two fatalities in 2014.Six law-enforcement officers were fatally struck by vehicles in 2014 -- directing traffic, assisting motorists, or while conducting a traffic stop, according to the FBI. Nine fatalities were reported in 2013.A police officer in Minnesota hasnt been killed in such an incident since Aug. 31, 2000, when state trooper Ted Foss was struck and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 90 near Winona while on a traffic stop.Foss death was the impetus for the states move over law requiring motorists to move over a lane to avoid stopped emergency vehicles, or slow down if its not safe to switch lanes. Fines can exceed $100, and the Minnesota State Patrol last year issued 3,443 citations and warnings. Still, seven squad cars were struck while parked, and two troopers injured in 2015, and six squad cars have been struck so far this year.We try to never turn our back on traffic during a stop, said State Patrol spokeswoman Lt. Tiffani Nielson. Our job is to pick a safe location. Sometimes we follow a driver for a while until theres a safe place to stop, then we activate our lights. We try to handle things quickly; the longer were out there, the higher the risk.A right shoulder is typically 10 feet wide on Minnesota freeways. If the desired width cant be achieved, MnDOT says it has a detailed review process for state and federal highways. And if the road is within the federal interstate system, another review is done by the Federal Highway Administration.But on highways such as Hiawatha and Central avenues and Olson Highway, the right shoulder is often less than that because of its urban nature, according to MnDOT. Left shoulder width standards depend on the number of lanes in each direction, but are usually 2 to 10 feet wide.An example of a design exemption is I-94 from Hwy. 280 to the I-35W/94 commons in Minneapolis, where lanes were re-striped following the I-35W bridge collapse, reducing the right and left shoulders from 10 feet to as little as 2 feet. The initial reason for the reduction was to add a lane because of the bridge collapse, but MnDOT decided to keep it that way because it reduced congestion.In a statement, MnDOT said the slimmer shoulders on I-94 dont necessarily imperil safety along the road, although certain aspects may be less than desirable.That was the case when one of Heldmans employees at Absolute Towing was seriously injured along this stretch of highway while tending to a disabled motorist in January. Trevor Allison, 39, of St. Paul, was loading a vehicle onto his tow truck on the eastbound snow-slicked left shoulder near the Riverside Avenue exit. Allison was outside the truck, which had its emergency lights flashing, when he noticed an oncoming car hurtling toward him.He leapt over the low median wall into westbound traffic to avoid it, and was hit by two cars.Allison did not respond to a request for comment, but Heldman said he faces a long recovery. Many people arent aware of the states move over laws, he said, and think about the thousands of people violating the law every day.Mindful of this, MnDOT is launching a safety campaign this week urging motorists to be alert and prepared for unexpected changes near work zones during road construction season.Last year, 10 motorists and passengers died and 1,684 crashes occurred within Minnesota work zones -- areas identified by warning signs, signals, barriers, pavement markings and flaggers. All told, about 200 active work zones are scheduled throughout the state this season.All of the fatalities were motorists and their passengers, although in previous years there have been maintenance crew workers who have lost their lives, been injured or had close calls, said Jay Hietpas, director of MnDOTs Office of Traffic, Safety and Technology in a statement. Most of these fatalities and crashes were the result of driver inattention and speeding, both behaviors we can change.
In a new series,is looking for insights from IT decision-makers on the opportunities and issues facing their respective jurisdictions. Each week, our staff aims to catch up with a state or local government CIO to discuss trending topics, particular pain points and initiatives geared toward improving public-sector IT.This week, we talked with Pennsylvania CIO and Deputy Secretary for Information Technology John MacMillan about the states efforts to recruit talent, bolster the service catalog and ultimately protect constituent data from outside threats. MacMillan was appointed to the position in March 2015 and takes a measured, thoughtful approach to his role within state government.Its hard to separate IT from money. The governors priorities are pretty clear to us: Schools that teach, jobs that pay and government that works. We would fall under the government that works area as far as IT goes.First and foremost is the people part of the business. We are putting a lot of effort forward to recruit, retrain and develop our staff. That starts with what are our services and how do we get organized to deliver them. Understanding our services, as represented in the service catalog, involves the service management process to help manage them more effectively.There are a couple of key initiatives around enterprise telecommunications and data centers that we have been working on for a number of years that will remain at the top of our list.[We are not doing anything] specific. Our services dont change that rapidly, but when it comes to IT service management our goal is to break that down into roles and responsibilities. Its in that area where we feel that we are becoming more clear both internally with our own HR department and with other business functions, such as procurement, about what our real requirements are. So clarity is one of the ways we are going about it.As we mature and improve our offerings in our service catalog, where those elements attract that talent, I think we are much more clear about what we need and why we need it. For example, as we seek to empower the workforce through mobility and other offerings in the catalog, that is one of the areas that I think those with less experience or those entering the workforce have an affinity for: developing apps for smartphones, developing apps that can be downloaded from websites and developing new Web content. Those kinds of things will attract that talent.One of the other areas we are looking at is digital government and continuing to execute against our digital strategy.Lets be clear about what the cloud is: Somebody elses infrastructure and somebody elses data across a high-speed, high-capacity network. So, if you use those concepts, we already have a cloud, except that we did it ourselves.Were using cloud concepts to build out our consolidated data center strategy where it makes sense and where the application portfolio is ready, then well talk about further cloud adoption. When you look at our cloud adoption portfolio, a small percentage of applications are actually cloud-ready. Were trying to be careful with the broader cloud term and seeking to focus in on areas where it would benefit us the most, most likely around platform as a service.We embrace cloud concepts, but ultimately, we have to be very careful with our citizens data. Where we need to protect the data, we will move very carefully and in compliance with the law. So, if we were seeking to enter into some sort of infrastructure-as-a-service, software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service cloud offering, we want to understand how the data will be protected when it enters the environment, how its managed while it is in the environment and how we get our data back at the end of a relationship and to make sure that any of the IT infrastructure thats in the service providers environment is cleansed in accordance with the law.I dont think we are different than any other state when it comes to the approach. But one of the things we are doing, perhaps a little bit differently this year, is we started to use the moniker its not if it happens, its when it happens. We are trying to be prepared when security incidents occur with the right response, solid communications, clear understandings of impact. We could spend all the money in the world, and I mean that metaphorically, trying to protect the perimeter, doing email spam filtering, all kinds of firewalls, all sorts of great tools. But it just seems that regardless of how much IT spends, something happens. Weve got excellent people, weve got outstanding tools, weve got great suppliers and while we know that we can continue to try to build cybersecurity walls, at some point somebody or some tool from some place will break through those walls. It changes how you think a little bit about security. If you focus on the data and protecting it, what the vulnerabilities are, you start to shift to a more risk-based approach.The world is changing very quickly. We continue to become more and more service-oriented, trying to better align the business demands with the IT capabilities. So, five years from now, I would like to see a much stronger alignment between business cycles and IT capacity availability.
(TNS) -- The Oculus Rifts privacy policy has raised concerns from users and now a U.S. lawmaker.The virtual reality device, which was conceived in Irvine where the company was founded in 2012, allows the company to gather information including a users location, movements and interactions to use for promotional purposes.Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) has sent a letter to Oculus Chief Executive Brendan Iribe asking whether or not the company shares the information with third parties.Oculus creation of an immersive virtual reality experience is an exciting development, but it remains important to understand the extent to which Oculus may be collecting Americans personal information, including sensitive location data, and sharing that information with third parties, the letter states.Consumers, Franken writes, must be able to make informed decisions about whether and with whom they share such sensitive information, and they must be assured that, when the information is shared, it will receive the utmost protection. However, questions remain regarding Oculus data collection of certain types of information and Oculus relationships with third parties.Franken is known as a consumer advocate who has called into question privacy policies of companies such as Uber.Iribe has so far not responded to Frankens letter.The Rift, which is debuting this month as a consumer device, ran into trouble earlier this week when production issues stalled pre-order deliveries.Pre-orders for the $599 Rift started in January. It includes a headset with removable headphones, an external camera that tracks head movement, an Xbox One wireless controller and an input device that allows users to manipulate objects.The virtual reality segment is quickly filling up as tech companies converge on technology. Prices for first-generation VR headsets range widely.Playstation VR, which will be released in October, will cost $399. The HTC Vive, which is scheduled to be released Tuesday, costs $799. Some Vive orders have been delayed because of a payment processing error, according to the companys blog.Oculus was bought in 2014 by Facebook for $2 billion. The company shifted from Irvine to Menlo Park to be closer to Facebook.
(TNS) -- Renewing its fight over encryption, the U.S. Justice Department is pressing forward with another controversial effort to force Apple to unlock a seized iPhone in a New York drug case.In a letter made public Friday, U.S. prosecutors informed a federal judge in Brooklyn that the FBI still needs Apple to unlock an iPhone 5S to aid in a drug trafficking case, keeping alive a broader legal showdown that pits law enforcement and national security needs against privacy protections.The move comes less than three weeks after the FBI, with the help of an unidentified third party, successfully hacked the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters and dropped its legal request demanding Apple's help in the terrorism probe there. The iPhones in the San Bernardino and New York cases are different models with distinct encryption, prompting the Justice Department to say in its letter that it cannot access the data in the drug probe without Apple's help -- a claim the company immediately questioned Friday.The Justice Department letter effectively means the FBI will continue its appeal of a federal magistrate judge's order last month siding with Apple in the New York dispute. Federal prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie to overturn the ruling and order Apple to provide the technical aid needed to unlock the smartphone.While there are at least a dozen other FBI demands to unlock iPhones pending in the federal courts, the New York case is the furthest along in terms of clarifying the legal issues.Apple attorneys, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday they will resist any order forcing the company to help the FBI in the case, arguing that the government is trying to set a broad precedent that would require tech firms such as Apple to crack their own security protections to aid in law enforcement investigations. Unlike the San Bernardino terror case, where federal prosecutors argued they needed the help to fight terrorism, Apple lawyers say the Brooklyn case involves an unnecessary request to unlock an iPhone in a routine sentencing of a methamphetamine dealer.The Cupertino tech giant also maintains the San Bernardino case demonstrated the FBI can find other ways to crack iPhone security without court orders against Apple. Apple is scheduled to file its formal legal arguments next Thursday.Apple lawyers said one of their arguments will emphasize that the FBI has insisted on the need for Apple's help hacking its iPhone security but nevertheless found a way to solve the problem in the San Bernardino case and must prove it cannot do the same in New York. Privacy advocates maintain the judge will pay close attention to that factor in evaluating whether the government can show Apple's help is "necessary and appropriate," as the law requires."It can't help but be on the court's mind," said Andrew Crocker, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.Bolstering Apple's position, Brooklyn-based U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in March concluded the government does not have the authority to force a company to crack its own security protections, calling it "an unreasonable burden" on Apple.Legal experts say the government may be forced in the New York case to provide further details about its independent efforts to unlock iPhones, and suggested the Justice Department is pressing forward because it does not want to leave Orenstein's ruling in place for other courts to follow."I think this is really about not leaving Orenstein's opinion in place because they hate it," said Albert Gidari, director of privacy at Stanford's Center for Internet & Society.In a 50-page ruling, Orenstein noted that the 18th-century law invoked by the government to seek the order did not envision the type of debate now unfolding in the courts and in the political arena pitting law enforcement and national security needs against the tech industry's privacy rights. He indicated Congress, not federal judges, should solve the conflict."How best to balance those interests is a matter of critical importance to our society, and the need for an answer becomes more pressing daily, as the tide of technological advance flows ever farther past the boundaries of what seemed possible even a few decades ago," Orenstein wrote. "But that debate must happen today, and it must take place among legislators who are equipped to consider the technological and cultural realities of a world their predecessors could not begin to conceive."Apple, backed by the tech industry, argues that the FBI's demands threaten the privacy and security rights of millions of iPhone users around the world. The company recently disclosed in the Brooklyn case that it has already received at least a dozen FBI requests to unlock iPhones since last fall and anticipates many more from the government if it loses in the courts.Justice Department officials have downplayed Apple's security arguments, contending the government is seeking technical help to aid law enforcement in solving crimes and fighting terrorism that does not pose a wider threat to consumer privacy and digital security.Both the New York and California cases center on whether the 1789 All Writs Act, a catch-all law that gives the courts power to order individuals or businesses to take action, provides the legal authority to compel Apple to create the tech needed to unlock an iPhone.Orenstein specifically found that old law did not cover that power.Whatever Brodie decides, the case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals.The case may offer the courts an opportunity to address the legal questions, but could be outdated in terms of how it applies to the larger debate over encryption. The device in the Brooklyn case is an older iPhone model, and Apple has since tightened security protections further in newer iPhones such as the iPhone 6. The New York case also involves a security backdoor that, unlike the San Bernardino iPhone, would not require Apple to create an entirely new software security program.Apple lawyers said Friday they would not ask the courts to force the FBI to disclose how it unlocked the iPhone in the San Bernardino case, stressing any security vulnerability would be quickly fixed by the company's ongoing encryption efforts.
Home  Motorcycles & Bikes  Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Of 2022 Reviews & Buying Guide Motorcycles & Bikes Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Of 2022 Reviews & Buying Guide

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Motorcycles are excellent vehicles for travel and adventure both on and off-road. It is an investment you need to keep safe from those who would love to take that treasure off your hands. Wheel-locking systems may not be enough for those with enough mechanical ability to hot-wire it, and in some cases, one or two people could simply load it onto a truck without unlocking anything.

You dont want to wait months for the police to try to get it back. You want to know where it is right now.

A GPS tracking system is the perfect security investment for your motorcycle, and we have reviews of the best motorcycle GPS trackers here for you.

Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers You Should Buy Of 2022 Reviews

1 AMERICALOC GL300W Mini Portable Real-Time GPS Tracker. XW Series

Leta start with this Americaloc mini portable GPS tracker. This is a mid-range GPS tracker both regarding cost and ability. It comes in about the size of a heavy keychain, so if you are looking for something tiny, this is not it. It is detectable by someone who knew what they were looking for but depending on where you attached it to your motorcycle, it may take them a bit of time to identify it.

There are diverse opinions in the reviews about its battery life. It appears that it will last at least 3-4 days, but there are sometimes problems when recharging it. Make sure to follow the instruction guide that comes with this tracker.

You also need to recognize that this service is run by a tech that is not as widespread as most cellphone GPS trackers. While is advertises real-time the reality is that it updates once per minute, thirty, or ten seconds  depending on your setting. This setting will affect battery life, and depending on where it is, the updates may not be entirely accurate. It is not a bad tracker, but you need to have realistic expectations for it.

Pros GPS Tracker for vehicles, people, assets

GPS Tracker for vehicles, people, assets This GPS tracker has the longest battery life version with extended multicarrier coverage. Battery life is measured in weeks.

This GPS tracker has the longest battery life version with extended multicarrier coverage. Battery life is measured in weeks. Alerts: movement, parked, speeding, device on/off, low battery, entering or leaving zones

Alerts: movement, parked, speeding, device on/off, low battery, entering or leaving zones Real-Time Tracking and 1 year of tracking history. Track from any computer, tablet or phone or just download our Android and iPhone APP.

Real-Time Tracking and 1 year of tracking history. Track from any computer, tablet or phone or just download our Android and iPhone APP. Works in the US, Canada, Europe and in almost every country in the world

Works in the US, Canada, Europe and in almost every country in the world 1-minute location updates while moving. Can be configured for location updates every 60, 30 or 10 seconds with no additional cost. Cons Slightly bigger than something described as mini.

Slightly bigger than something described as mini. Sometimes faces battery charging issues

Sometimes faces battery charging issues Behind cellphone GPS technology and occasionally is off a block or so in tracking

Behind cellphone GPS technology and occasionally is off a block or so in tracking No mobile app and website can be buggy

2 Spy Tec STI GL300 Mini Portable Real-Time Personal and Vehicle GPS Tracker

Spy Tecs GL300 GPS is about the same size as the Americaloc, but about half the price. As with most GPS devices, there is a monthly subscription fee that can quickly add up over time. In practice, this GPS seems to function a little more smoothly than others, with many short-term satisfied customers.

For this GPS to work well for you, you need three things. First, you need to be using it in an area covered by T-mobile, or else you may have accuracy problems. Second, you need to be able to recharge it every few days. Finally, this is a short-term solution. The charging cable seems to break down over months, not years, and the customer and tech service can be a pain to deal with. If you are looking for a long-term GPS, you may want to take a pass on Spy Tec.

Pros Perfect for tracking vehicles, people, or assets

Perfect for tracking vehicles, people, or assets Compact size can go anywhere

Compact size can go anywhere Tracks with Google Maps in real-time over the Internet

Tracks with Google Maps in real-time over the Internet Get text or email when a person leaves an area (geo-fencing) Cons Inconsistent customer service

Inconsistent customer service Works primarily in T-mobile coverage areas

Works primarily in T-mobile coverage areas Problems with charging cable

Problems with charging cable Short life span

3 Amcrest AM-GL300 V3 Portable Mini Real-Time GPS Tracker for Vehicles

Here is another low-end GPS tracker for your motorcycle. What makes this one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers is that it works with mobile apps from Google and Apple, so you can track your motorcycle from your phone and not just your computer or a webpage.

It comes with lots of tracking options as well. You can create zones and be alerted if your motorcycle moves outside of it. You can set speed alerts or other proximity alerts, which will be pushed to your phone via text and email. The Amcrest is a solid package for taking care of your needs, and there is no contract required to use it.

How you use it will determine the battery strength, and, like other devices in this low-cost range, the batteries are a weak point, particularly if not re-charged correctly. Also, it relies on 2G coverage and does not connect with all carriers. To get your moneys worth out of this motorcycle GPS tracker, make sure to inquire about coverage in your area and this tracker, and be sure to read the instructions about recharging your GPS.

Pros Works with apps from Google and Apple store

Works with apps from Google and Apple store This GPS device allows you to create zones that you specifically want to monitor, such as your home to you know when your loved one leaves or returns. Set maximum speed alerts and proximity alerts for your vehicles to suit your needs.

This GPS device allows you to create zones that you specifically want to monitor, such as your home to you know when your loved one leaves or returns. Set maximum speed alerts and proximity alerts for your vehicles to suit your needs. Receive text, push and email notifications straight to your personal device.

Receive text, push and email notifications straight to your personal device. Long-lasting  Stay connected with a longer battery life of 10-14 days on a full charge.

Long-lasting  Stay connected with a longer battery life of 10-14 days on a full charge. Access the reports from your GPS device from your PC, Mac or smartphone.

Access the reports from your GPS device from your PC, Mac or smartphone. No contract required Cons GPS Tracker is limited to 2G and will only work in areas where there is 2G coverage.

GPS Tracker is limited to 2G and will only work in areas where there is 2G coverage. Batteries can be faulty leading to short lifespan of the device

4 GPS Tracker  Optimus 2.0

This low-end tracker has a better performance record than some of the others, making it one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market. This GPS has a monthly subscription fee but no contract required and it comes with apps you can use to track your motorcycle from your phone. There is no limit to how much data you can save on the secure databases, and so will update you every 30 seconds while your motorcycle is moving, or you can upgrade it to update you every 10 seconds.

Fortunately, there are only two reported issues from the reviews of this GPS tracker. It is slightly larger than some of the other models, making it a bit more challenging to hide securely. It also sends out false reports occasionally if the cell service is interrupted.

Pros No Contract

No Contract Adjustable position report frequency from 30 Seconds while moving.

Adjustable position report frequency from 30 Seconds while moving. iPhone and Android App

iPhone and Android App Email and Text Message notifications for Movement, Speeding, Leaving or Entering Areas, etc.

Email and Text Message notifications for Movement, Speeding, Leaving or Entering Areas, etc. Unlimited Tracking Data Saved During Service

Unlimited Tracking Data Saved During Service SIM Card and Data Plan all Included

SIM Card and Data Plan all Included Easy to install and use Cons Will occasionally send out false reports if it loses cell service

Will occasionally send out false reports if it loses cell service Slightly larger than other models

Which of the best motorcycle GPS trackers have the best batteries?

5 Trackmate Mini 3G H GPS Tracker for Vehicles

Unlike the previous models of the best motorcycle GPS trackers, the Trackmate does not rely on a rechargeable lithium battery. Instead, it is hardwired directly into the motorcycle battery itself. This has the benefit of preventing the GPS from turning off when the battery dies at inopportune times.

The downside of this setup is that installation is more difficult, and while the device is easily concealable, it also has wires running between it and the battery. This connection can cause your motorcycle battery to run down if you do not monitor it closely, causing both the device and motorcycle to fail to operate.

This is a 3G tracker and has better accuracy than the previous 2G GPS trackers, making this one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market.

Pros On/Off Detection, Speed Indicator, and Live Map Tracking.

On/Off Detection, Speed Indicator, and Live Map Tracking. Numerous alerts such as low-battery, tampering and towing. Historical location reports available.

Numerous alerts such as low-battery, tampering and towing. Historical location reports available. All-Weather Resistant and Waterproof.

All-Weather Resistant and Waterproof. STAY IN TUNE: Unique system Tracks via AT&T and T-Mobile networks, simultaneously.

STAY IN TUNE: Unique system Tracks via AT&T and T-Mobile networks, simultaneously. EASILY CONCEALABLE: 3.4 X 1.75 X 0.50 , 2oz. No visible external light. Cons Can drain the motorcycle battery

Can drain the motorcycle battery Challenging to install since it is hardwired to the motorcycle battery

6 MotoSafety Mwaas1P1 Wired 3G GPS Car Tracker

The MotoSafety Mwaas1P1 is another hardwired GPS tracker that you can use on your motorcycle. It also uses 3G service and, as long as you are in the United States, typically does an excellent job of tracking through mobile apps. It sends detailed reports, particularly useful for tracking teen drivers, such as speeding, hard braking, and curfew notices. You must subscribe to a monthly fee, but there are no contracts.

Overall, this is one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers. There are about 10% of customers though who encounter significant issues trying to get this GPS to function properly. Many of these are being used in cars, rather than motorcycles. However, since this GPS is hardwired into the vehicle system, the fault seems to be a compatibility issue, between the GPS and the vehicle. There are no reports of which vehicles are incompatible or why.

You take a small risk with this GPS that it may not be compatible with your motorcycle. Otherwise, this is one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers.

Pros Monitor driving activity using Google Maps.

Monitor driving activity using Google Maps. Use GPS to review driving routes, set geofences around key locations and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew.

Use GPS to review driving routes, set geofences around key locations and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew. No contracts or cancellation fees.

No contracts or cancellation fees. Track anywhere with free GPS tracking mobile apps with real-time email & text message alerts. Cons Has some issues updating consistently

Has some issues updating consistently Only works in the United States

7 ATian Vehicle Car personal GPS/GSM/GPRS/SMS Tracker

The ATian GPS Tracker is one of the less expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers available. It comes with both a Lithium-ion battery and power supply to be installed to the motorcycle battery. Be warned though, that it will drain both rather quickly if you use it continuously. The lithium-ion battery, for example, is only rated up to 29 hours of continuous use, meaning you have to recharge it daily.

This GPS is not waterproof so some kind of external cover may be necessary to keep it working correctly. It comes with a remote control though, to turn it on and off without getting on the motorcycle yourself.

The biggest challenge with this GPS is that they do not provide a SIM card in it. Being foreign made, they have adapted to the global cellular service challenge by forcing you to get your own SIM card for it. This means that, although there is only a minimal service fee for using this GPS, you have to pay a cell service company to use it. With the frequent false alerts reported in the reviews on this GPS, that cell service bill can cost you a pretty penny.

Pros Single Locating

Single Locating Auto track continuously

Auto track continuously Track with limited times upon time interval, Smart track upon time and distance interval

Track with limited times upon time interval, Smart track upon time and distance interval The tracker will update the positions automatically to web server once the vehicle changing driving direction over preset angle value to form a smooth trajectory consistent with the actual road, this function works only in GPRS /GSM mode Cons Drains motorcycle battery

Drains motorcycle battery May often send false alerts

May often send false alerts Requires a SIM card and the additional cost of that cellular service.

Looking for a higher end GPS for your motorcycle?

8 AES RGT90 GPS Tracker

The difference (besides the price) between the AES RGT90 and some of the other best motorcycle GPS trackers that operate with a lithium-ion battery, is that the folks over at AES implemented a sleep mode into their device. That saves you hours and hours of battery use wasted when your motorcycle is simply sitting in your garage. That is how they are able to get 90 days worth of use out of their battery.

The other reason that this GPS tracker costs so much is that it has the broadest range of the best motorcycle GPS trackers  extending all through North America and over 100 other countries as well. By comparison, most other trackers have difficulty even covering the USA alone.

Pros Works Anywhere in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, plus over 100 other countries

Works Anywhere in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, plus over 100 other countries Internal battery Operates GPS tracker up to 90 days on a single charge. Recharges by Micro USB for better convenience. Charge using any USB Charger.

Internal battery Operates GPS tracker up to 90 days on a single charge. Recharges by Micro USB for better convenience. Charge using any USB Charger. Covert, Discrete, Waterproof Magnetic Case

Covert, Discrete, Waterproof Magnetic Case Goes to sleep when the vehicle is parked for 5 minutes or more. Displays the last location before going into Sleep Mode. Access anytime via text.

Goes to sleep when the vehicle is parked for 5 minutes or more. Displays the last location before going into Sleep Mode. Access anytime via text. Track on your phone or on the website. You can also receive GPS coordinates via SMS Text. Cons Phone app is not the easiest to use

Phone app is not the easiest to use Relies on magnetic attachment

What is the best reviewed of the best motorcycle GPS trackers?

9 Goome 3G/WCDMA/GSM/GPS GM36W

The Goome has the least amount of negative reviews of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market. It also has the fewest reviews in total, so take that with a grain of salt. Many of the reviews commented that they got more value than they expected from this GPS. It is easy to install and very accurate, and the company offers global service.

The only problem the reviews have reported is that the app associated with this tracker is in Chinese and can be difficult to navigate. Even so, most customers were able to use this GPS quite well directly through SMS communication between their phones and devices.

Pros Support 3G/WCDMA/GSM/ Network

Support 3G/WCDMA/GSM/ Network Waterproof features, level  IP67 will prevent water damage the inter electric components.

Waterproof features, level  IP67 will prevent water damage the inter electric components. Geo-fencing, playback history tracks, speeding alarm, low power &battery alerts, etc.

Geo-fencing, playback history tracks, speeding alarm, low power &battery alerts, etc. OTA Upgrade Program, Anti-theft

OTA Upgrade Program, Anti-theft One year free trial for North America customers Cons App is Chinese and hard to navigate

App is Chinese and hard to navigate Can be difficult to find to purchase

What is the least expensive best motorcycle GPS tracker on the market?

10 MOTOsafety OBD GPS Tracker Device

Here is the least expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers you can find. This GPS, like several of the others reviewed, was made with teen drivers in mind. It gives comprehensive reports on driving stats, but it is not meant to be long-lasting.

If you are looking for a short-term GPS tracker, and you are living in the US, this is an inexpensive option for you. If you are looking for a GPS for security reasons, you may want to see another option.

Pros Monitor driving activity using Google Maps.

Monitor driving activity using Google Maps. Get a complete driving report cards that score safe driving habits such as speeding, harsh braking, and rapid acceleration to improve driving habits.

Get a complete driving report cards that score safe driving habits such as speeding, harsh braking, and rapid acceleration to improve driving habits. 3G vehicle tracking coverage that updates every minute in the US, Canada, and Mexico

3G vehicle tracking coverage that updates every minute in the US, Canada, and Mexico Track anywhere with the free GPS tracking mobile apps and real-time email & text message alerts.

Track anywhere with the free GPS tracking mobile apps and real-time email & text message alerts. Use the GPS tracking to review reports such as driving routes, set geofences around key locations (school, home, or friends house) and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew. Cons Inconsistent updating

Inconsistent updating Only works in the US

So, how do these reviews line up?

Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Buying Guide

Best Value

The MOTOSafety OBD GPS Tracker is the least expensive option if you are looking for a short-term tracker for your motorcycle. It is made for tracking the driving habits of teenage drivers.

The Trackmate is a more expensive device, but it has a lower monthly subscription cost and is hardwired into your motorcycle, so you dont have to worry about recharging the battery.

The ATian GPS tracker is inexpensive as well, but you may end up paying more for your SIM card (not included) usage.

Accuracy

The AES is the most expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers but can provide you with some of the best accuracy across the greatest number of countries. The ATian is one of the least expensive devices but can offer service in any country you can get a SIM card to use in it. The Goome GPS also provides excellent service if you can navigate the Chinese app or use SMS to connect to the device.

Durability

How long do the best motorcycle GPS trackers last?

The most durable of these trackers are the ones that are hardwired into your motorcycle battery. The lithium-ion battery is one of the earliest failing points on these devices, and if it doesnt have one, it lasts that much longer. You also want one that is waterproof, to prevent moisture from damaging the electronics.

The Trackmate is a great hardwired GPS that is recommended for motorcycles and is waterproof. It is one of the more durable of the best motorcycle GPS trackers.

There is one exception to the battery rule, and that is the AES RGT90 GPS tracker. This tracker, because of its sleep mode, causes less wear on the battery and ends up lasting much longer than any other GPS with a lithium-ion battery.



Conclusion You can get inexpensive GPS trackers if you are only interested in short-term use. If you want something to last longer, you need to spend a little more money. You also need to be able to install it to your motorcycle battery. It is also important to watch for the subscription costs. The device may be inexpensive, but most subscriptions are around $20 each month. Some may require cell phone contracts (although most do not). Also, the more expensive GPS trackers have better service (3G instead of 2G) and a much wider area of coverage. If youre looking for the best motorcycle GPS trackers, the reviews suggest checking out the AES RGT90 and the Trackmate Mini 3G H GPS Tracker.
86 Killed In Kerala Temple Firework Mishap

Kollam (Kerala): At least 86 people were killed in an accident on Sunday due to a firework display which caused a massive blaze at the Puttingal temple in the coastal town of Paravur located about 60 kms from the state capital.

The gruesome incident occurred around 3.30 a.m.

Speaking to IANS, Lallu S.Pillai who was covering the temple festival for Asianet News TV, said it only took a few minutes for the disaster to take place.

"I was watching the event unfold about 150 metres from the terrace of my friend's home. The firework display was only around half an hour to finish when a spark of an already lit cracker landed in the concrete building that stored the high potency crackers. In few minutes, the building came crashing down and we felt the place shaking," said Pillai.

"Then it was absolute chaos and pieces of concrete were scattered all over the place and some of it were found over 500 metres away in a taxi stand," Pillai added.

Numerous homes in half a kilometre radius have been damaged .

Eyewitness said that the fireworks display started close to midnight and when nearing its close, a spark from a cracker landed in a building that had stored some high potency crackers and it caught fire causing a massive explosion.

According to local legislator P.K. Gurudasan, there was no firework competition but only a firework display, generally associated with any temple festival. However, it is not clear if there was any permission for this display.

State Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar said the injured have been brought to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital.

"Numerous people are under treatment in hospitals at Kollam. The health department is fully geared to provide the necessary treatment," said Sivakumar.

Meanwhile, Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala announced financial assistance to the dead and the injured. He said judicial probe would be ordered soon.

The fire has been brought under control and heavy equipment machineries are now working to clear the debris.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will be reaching the accident site shortly and has already asked the chief secretary to get in touch with the Election Commission to allow the state government to announce immediate relief to the victims.

Kollam Lok Sabha member N.K.Premachandran who visited the site demanded that all those who have been injured should be given free treatment with adequate compensation.
H-1B Cap Reached, Majority Of Applications By Indian Companies

The US government is believed to have received about 250,000 petitions for H-1B visas - the most sought after American work visas -- with a majority of them being from either Indian companies or having huge footprint in India.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services yesterday said it has reached the Congressional mandated cap for H-1B visas in the general category and also the 20,000 for those who completed higher education from inside the US in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects.

USCIS did not give the number of H-1B petitions it received since April 1, when it started accepting applications for this most coveted visa for the fiscal year 2017 beginning October 1, this year. But, it says the successful petitions would be determined by a computerised draw of lots.

"We had 230,000 H-1B visa petitions last year. I think, this year it is going to be higher. We think 250,000 H-1B petitions were filed this year," Bill Stock, incoming president of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and a founding partner of Klasko Immigration Law Partners told PTI in an interview.

Stock's estimates are based on his experience and interaction with lawyers and those groups who mostly file H-1B visas. This is fourth consecutive year that the Congressional mandated cap has been reached in the first five days of the filing. "Unless the economy changes again, we would continue to see it," he said.

Majority of these estimated 250,000 H-1B visa applications are "certainly" either by companies that have Indian owner like TCS or companies that have substantial operations or development centres in India like IBM, Stock said in response to a question.

The recent increase on certain category of H-1B visas, he said, "may have had a little impact" on Indian companies. "But I think their business so much depends on H-1B and being able to send people on projects, they (Indian companies) are going to pay fees on those petitions," Stock said. President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Victor Nieblas Pradis said the "avalanche" of petitions for H-1B visas mean that USCIS will once again randomly determine which of those petitions will actually be considered for one of the 85,000 available visas.

Each petition not selected is a business need unfulfilled and a growth opportunity that is delayed or thwarted.

"However, artificial limits established more than a generation ago are again hobbling the economic potential of this great nation," Mr Pradis said, calling for lifting this visa cap.

"Why do we continue to artificially limit this program? In a reasonable system, market demand should factor into how many business visas are granted, and indeed, demand for H-1B visas slowed when the economy took a downturn. But each year that we cap these visas when demand outweighs supply, all we're doing is creating obstacles to economic growth. We're losing out on shared prosperity for no good reason," he said in a statement.

The US is one of the most important economies in the world, but its full potential is going unrealised, he said.

"We live in a wireless world, but our visa system is a relic from the days of the dial-up modem. It's long past time for Congress to lead on this issue and reform the H-1B program in a way that addresses the needs of American businesses, US workers and our economy. Congress must bring our immigration system out of the last century and into this one," Mr Pradis said. (PTI)
Indians Held In US College-Visa Sting, Hundreds Face Deportation

US authorities announced on Tuesday the arrest of 10 people from India and 11 from China for alleged visa fraud involving college admission and likely deportation of hundreds of Indian students.

The accused used a phony university in New Jersey to grant certification needed for legitimate student and work visas but were not aware it was run by federal agents investigating them.

Authorities said defendants helped over 1,000 foreign students stay in the US legally with papers provided to them from this phony institution, University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ).

The accused are charged with visa fraud and making false statements, each carries a sentence of five years, and H-1B visa fraud and harboring aliens, each carrying 10 years.

Authorities are cancelling non-immigrant student visas of foreign nationals who benefitted from the racket, and, if applicable, arrest them and start deportation proceedings against them.

The Indian Embassy in Washington is in touch with the US government about Indians among these students  around 370 and 380 according to official sources  seeking fair treatment for them.

The embassy has requested the US government to not arrest or deport them. And given them a chance, instead, to keep their student visa by transferring to another university.

This has been done before in the case of Tri-Valley (a fake California university busted by authorities in 2011 for running a pay-to-stay student visa racket), said an official in Delhi.

The embassy is also awaiting consular access to those among the arrested who hold Indian passports  going by their names, 10 of them seemed to be Indian or of Indian descent.

Students from India have been found enrolled in vast numbers in almost every fake university busted in recent years  Tri-Valley in 2011 and University of Northern Virginia in 2013.

Late 2015, US authorities deported hundreds of Indian students headed for two California universities from the airport itself, San Francisco, and in some cases from their stop-overs.

Most of these universities operate as fronts from pay-to-stay operations, selling I-20s Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (F-1) Student Status - for Academic and Language Students  needed to get a student F-1 visa.

This time agents of Homeland Security Investigations (a wing of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration) started one as part of a sting operation.

Set up in 2013, UNNJ had no instructors or educators, no curriculum, and conducted no classes or education activities, said a statement from the office of US attorney for New Jersey.

The university, which operated solely as a storefront location with small offices staffed by federal agents posing as school administrators, could issue I-20s, however.

That brought them the defendants, recruiting companies, brokers and business entities located from all over the country  New Jersey, California, Illinois, New York, and Virginia.

Everyone involved  recruiting agents and their clients, mostly from India and China  knew UNNJ was a phony university, as perhaps like the others they had heard of.

Only, this one was being run by undercover federal agents.

Defendants are charged with producing false documents to facilitate their clients enrolment at UNNJ and also arrange for H-1B visas meant for highly skilled foreign workers.

Beneficiaries were mostly those already in the US on valid visas. Enrolment and work permit through UNNJ allowed them to continue staying, legally but through illegal means.

Source: Hindustan Times
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TDP-BJP Rift Widens: Venkaiah Needles Naidu

Even as the rift between the Telugu Desam Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party is widening with every passing day, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday joined his party leaders in Andhra Pradesh in launching a counter-attack on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

Hitherto, there have been reports that Venkaiah has been trying to avoid confrontation between the TDP and the BJP. But now, with the Union minister himself joining the Naidu critics, it is pretty evident that the rift is indeed widening.

Last week, Naidu had expressed displeasure over the Centres attitude on the demand for special category status to the state, allocation of funds for the Capital construction, division of government employees between AP and Telangana and related issues.

He had asked Union DoPT Secretary Sanjay Kothari to convey his feelings to the Prime Minister.

Making an indirect reference to Chandrababu Naidu, Venkaiah said there was no point in criticising the Centre for everything.

The State should cooperate with the Centre and try to secure maximum benefits. They should work together, instead of blaming each other, he said.

It is Team India and development is the only agenda. States and the Centre should work together, the Union Minister remarked. He said he was trying his best to get justice done to the two Telugu states (AP and Telangana).

Venkaiah also took a dig at Chandrababu Naidu for trying to promote his son Lokesh as his heir apparent.

I am against hereditary politics. Character and calibre are the essential requirements in politics, he said.
SAE International will hold a new two-day symposium in Knoxville, Tennessee on 2-3 November 2016 on range extenders for electric vehicles (REX). Organized by Robert Wagner and Scott Curran of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Hugh Blaxill of Mahle Powertrain, Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles will include sessions on policy and regulation driving the design and implementation of prime movers for REX applications; unique and advanced prime movers (e.g., fuel cell stacks as well as engines); recent powertrain advances for enabling REX; infrastructure role on range extender options; and the future of REX from a prime mover perspective.

Reuben Sarkar, US Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation, will provide the opening keynote. Sarkar oversees DOEs EEREs Sustainable Transportation area, which includes the Vehicle, Fuel Cell, and Bioenergy Technologies offices, representing an annual investment of more than $600 million.

Sarkar spent more than 10 years at General Motors where his last position was as lead design release engineer on the electric drive unit for the Chevy Volt.
April 11, 1951

President Truman dismissed General of the Army Douglas MacArthur today from all Far East commands on charges of failing to support United States and United Nations plans to defeat Communism. Truman cited against MacArthur the law and the Constitution. He named Lt. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway to succeed MacArthur at once. Angry Republicans today raised threats of impeachment against President Truman  and possibly Secretary of State Dean Acheson  within hours after the President fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur from his Far Eastern commands.
On a chilly Saturday morning in February 2012 residents of the rural farms and homes in the community of Bethany awoke to the news that a hometown girl and her high school sweetheart had been shot to death in a violent and inexplicable home invasion.

All that early morning commotion at the intersection of Pinewood and Brown roads had heralded the final moments of two lives they knew well and a peace of mind they would not reclaim soon.

Troy and LaDonna French had been taken from them. Who would want to harm the couple who sat beside them at church each Sunday? These were people you knew and you could count on. They were part of the fabric, the history of this part of Rockingham County.

Troy French, 48, was a husband and father who worked 22 years for Duke Energy.

LaDonna Moseley French was 3 years younger. She worked for the Shapiro Eye Care clinic in Reidsville. They had been married for more than 26 years. They raised their two children on the street where LaDonna French grew up. They were vocal fans at their childrens sports events.

The Frenches were loved. They were known. Then they were gone.

News quickly spread in the tight-knit community that Troy and LaDonna French were shot and killed in their house on Feb. 4, 2012.

Friends and family gathered at the Moseley farm across the street from the crime scene and watched investigators work. Soon after, reporters began gathering at the house. They waited for three hours before Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page would tell them the couples daughter, Whitley French, was injured. There was no word on their son, Hunter French.

Page wouldnt say who died until hours later, but in a community the size of Bethany most people knew.

Friends and neighbors heard sketchy details of how an intruder had broken into the Frenches home and shot them both. That intruder then ran out of the house. Whitley French was on a rare overnight visit home. She called 911. Apparently, she got hurt somehow and had to go to the hospital. Hunter, the 14-year-old, was away, thank goodness.

Rumors and messages turned into full-fledged media reports. Television crews from the region descended on the neighborhood. Reporters started to ask questions about what had happened, about who knew what.

There was little to know. Crime-scene investigators were going over the two-story house where the Frenches had lived since 1998. Page offered scant details: Troy and LaDonna French had died on the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. Law-enforcement authorities were looking for a suspect. He gave a description. They were looking for the murder weapon. Whitley French had a superficial cut on her arm. Family members had told Hunter French about what had happened.

That morning, the killing of the Frenches would become one of the most discussed and analyzed murder cases in the modern history of Rockingham County. For four years, investigators, their case once seemingly cold, have tried to determine exactly what happened that night and the identity of the hooded intruder who fired those lethal shots.

Friends and family said Troy and LaDonna French lived a love story but not your typical love-at-first-sight kind.

Douglas Troy French was two grades ahead of LaDonna Ann Moseley at Rockingham County High School. The French and Moseley kids had been running into each other on church softball teams since middle school, and LaDonna and Troys kid sister, Lisa, had become good friends.

LaDonna was a petite girl with strawberry-blonde hair and a constant smile. She was a popular cheerleader at the high school. She also played softball and joined several clubs.

Troy was well-liked by his classmates. He played basketball and baseball, but his time working on his fathers farm kept him away from many extracurricular activities.

Troy was a junior in 1981 when he was dating a girl at school, and he feared she was about to dump him. He asked his friend, LaDonna, to talk to the girl, whom he knew was her friend, too.

LaDonna agreed to the romantic recon, but things changed quickly between Troy and her.

They kept talking about the situation and the other girl, until eventually Troy started to visit LaDonnas house instead of the other girls.

They began dating during Troys junior year.

Troy graduated and joined the Navy, serving as air-traffic controller on the USS Guadalcanal, an amphibious assault ship stationed in Norfolk, Va.

While on leave, he would visit LaDonna . He escorted her on to the football field when she served as a member of the 1983 homecoming court.

After graduation in 1984, LaDonna attended classes at UNC-Greensboro. She considered studying business. She minored in music but always wanted to be a teacher.

Following Troy to Norfolk put a hold on those plans.

The Navy was Troys first venture out of Rockingham County. Most of his childhood was spent in Ruffin, on the northeastern edge of the county. There, he helped his father, Marvin Doug French, a fire captain for the Danville, Va., Fire Department and a farmer, raise tobacco, cattle and hay.

Troy was the oldest of three children, 4 years senior to his sister, Lisa, and 10 years older than his brother, Craig. And they were close.

Marvin Doug French died of a heart attack in 2005. Troys mother, Anne French, married Jerry Faucette in October 2012.

When he entered the Navy at 18, Troy French told his mother that there had to be more to life than farming tobacco.

A photo album provides a tour of Troy and LaDonna Frenchs wedding day, Aug. 12, 1985. The bride, all in white with a long veil trailing from her broad-brimmed hat, was gregarious, hugging her husband while flashing a smile and the OK sign. The groom wore a gray suit and peach bow tie.

She had a No. 1 personality, Nancy Moseley said of her daughter. If she met someone who acted like a stranger, they were going to be a friend before she left them. She was something.

Troy French was quiet, but he shared with his siblings an oddball sense of humor and tight family bonds. The Frenches loved to play pranks on each other and their friends, eventually doing so with the willing participation of the oldest childs bride.

Craig French was 10 years old when his big brother married LaDonna. As he came to know her, he could see that she and Troy were good for each other, that they complemented each other.

And two photographs from their wedding album illustrate one of their favorite pranks.

In the first image, taken while Troy and LaDonna were dating, the French siblings and their mother are seen making a funny face behind LaDonna, who appears confused by their expressions.

That expression eventually came to be known as the family face, and it was used one summer every time Lisa French struggled to remember something while recovering from a brief bout of amnesia caused by an accident.

After she recovered, that face became an inside joke. It also was something they pulled behind LaDonnas back nearly every time they were together. That ended the day she became one of them.

The second image shows the French family, LaDonna included, mugging in that same family face for a wedding photo.

Troy and LaDonna married at Sharon Baptist Church, a mile from where they raised their two children. LaDonnas parents still attend the church.

The couple stood in the front of the sanctuary and, in the glow of lighted candles, officially became the Frenches before a happy group of friends and family.

After their wedding, the newlyweds headed for Norfolk, where LaDonna worked for a rental car company while Troy continued his service with the Navy.

Nearly 10 years later, Troy felt that he had reached his professional limit as an air-traffic controller for the Navy. He liked climbing ladders, but after reaching the top rung, he didnt see a way to advance.

Civilian air-traffic controller jobs rarely come open in the Triad, yet the Frenches longed for home.

I think sometimes you have to get away from home before you realize what youve got at home, said French-Faucette , Troys mother.

Within a month, Duke Energy hired French, and he spent the next 22 years employing a work ethic  taught to him by their father, his brother said  to climb through the ranks, serving last as the scheduling specialist at the utilitys Rockingham County Operation Center.

LaDonna French took a job with a rental car company and then with an obstetrician in Greensboro. She soon learned she was pregnant.

Whitley French was born Oct. 29, 1992.

The couple and their new baby girl moved into the house where LaDonnas grandmother once lived. The one-story brick house sits across Brown Road from where Donald Moseley raised his daughter. Nearly five years later LaDonna French was pregnant again, and on July 6, 1997, Hunter was born.

The Moseleys gave their daughter and son-in-law another gift: 2.5 acres of their 100-acre property, at the corner of Pinewood and Brown, where the Frenches built a two-story house and raised their young family.

In his spare time, Troy worked in a shed behind the house to create miniature versions of each NASCAR vehicle, complete with each drivers signature. Some of the drivers, like Dale Earnhardt Sr., Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip, even bought their miniatures. Troy was a diehard fan of the North Carolina Tar Heels. He also loved helping out with his sons Eagle Scout project.

LaDonna loved a bargain, carrying home bags from Walmart, Kohls and Target to fill their home with special touches.

The Frenches seemed normal and happy. Family members say they kept private any problems they might have had. To the outside world, this husband and wife who were killed in their home seemed perfect.

Three days after the double-fatal shooting, a joint celebration of the lives of Troy and LaDonna French was staged by Wilkerson Funeral Home at Reidsville Christian Church. Family members scheduled the service at one of the countys largest churches because a large crowd was expected. Visitation began at 4 p.m. and lasted until the last person paid respects around midnight.

The next day, Feb. 8, a fleet of trucks from Duke Energy and Sheriff Pages patrol vehicle led the funeral procession that stretched 10 miles from the church to the cemetery on Brown Road, at Sharon Baptist Church, where Troy and LaDonna French had been married. It was about mile from where they lived and raised a family.

Now the couple would spend eternity buried beside that church.

Television cameras at the gravesite recorded gray skies and mourners huddled beneath umbrellas.

After the funeral, wreaths with Carolina-blue ribbons popped up on mailboxes and outside of businesses in Rockingham County, hung in memory of the Frenches, to remain there until justice is served for their loss, friends say.

Four years later, many of those wreaths and ribbons still hang along Pinewood Road, near the house where the Frenches lived and died.
In Whitney Kurlans life so far there have been two abiding themes: a love for animals, especially horses, and art.

The union is apparent the moment you cross the threshold of her home in Trumbull. Somewhere inside her three dogs are barking excitedly. Stacked or hung in the entryway are a dozen canvases, all of animals.

Of course, each has a story. Take the half-finished portrait of a zebra. Improbably, Kurlan says she is doing the zebra in conjunction with the Black Mambas, the mostly female anti-poaching patrol that operates, unarmed, in the vicinity of Kruger National Park in South Africa. (Never heard of the Black Mambas? Go ahead and Google them.)

Under their loose arrangement, Kurlan says she gets to use images from the Mambas website and they get publicity from a series of paintings she hopes to produce and also a share of the profit she may make from selling prints or other reproductions. The project is one of several she has percolating and describes on her website, Soul of the Animal.

Shes also on deadline to finish illustrations for a series of childrens books, whose central character is Elvis the Pony (he looks feisty in her sketches), written by an English professor in Iowa. Meanwhile, a horse painting she placed in the Connecticut Pastel Societys annual show in March also was used in a publication of the current Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla. Kurlan considers it a huge honor to be a featured artist at the renowned festival, which this year is hosting trials for the U.S. Olympic riding team.

Kurlan has so many irons i n the fire  or brushes in the paint  that her art resume can seem bewildering until she explains two events, separated by decades.

In 1988, the year she graduated from high school in Southington, she was chosen the Connecticut winner of the Congressional Art Competition, an ongoing program begun in 1982. The piece she did, a watercolor of polo ponies, Chukka, encouraged her art aspirations. But as so often happens, aspiration gave way to practicality.

Thats why that term starving artist is there, Kurlan says. I went out and got the jobs I wanted.

The jobs primarily were in marketing for animal food companies and the best was for a company that supplied the equestrian elite. She dealt with Olympic riders and premier trainers and was on racetracks with Triple Crown horses. I met Rachel Alexandra, she says as if she was talking about a movie star instead of a horse. Then she scrupulously corrects herself. It was the Preakness winners vet she actually met.

The more recent bracketin g event has an exact date. On Dec. 26, 2012, she slipped and fell on ice, suffering a devastating spinal injury that forced her on parallel journeys of recovery. First, she had to recover from the two surgeries it took to repair her spine. Then in the last year, mostly healed, but unable to continue her marketing career, she had to recover her youthful self: the girl who painted polo ponies.

Dont say I was born in a barn, because I wasnt, Kurlan warns, raising the possi bility she might have been. At the time, her parents ran a stable for show horses in Florida. She claims they moved a crib into the barn so she could nap while they worked. They had the worlds smallest show horse. He would sleep under my crib, she says.

She was competing in riding competitions by age 5 and eventually bred her own horse, named Full Monty, that she still owns but can no longer ride. Given her riding history, she comes close to laughing at the ironic circumstances of her bad fall. It should have been dramatic, from horseback. Instead, it happened at a car dealership where she had gone for an oil change. Still, she sees a connection.

Horse riders are notoriously tough people. They say if youre not going to the hospital and youre not unconscious, then you get back up.

Getting back up by going back is what shes trying to do. She speaks regretfully of some early missed opportunities. In college at Central Connecticut State University, she had a chance to work in a student group with Sol Lewitt, the conceptualist, but turned it down.

His murals, arrogantly, just didnt inspire me. I was young, she says with a sigh.

For a few years in the early 2000s, she ran her own art gallery in Southington and is proud to have displayed the work of Clinton Deckert, a surrealist whose paintings are now in museums. At the time, she says she saw herself as a curator.

Then theres her own painting of a sitting tiger, Grace, that she did when she was 21 and entered in the New York Art Expo. More even than her Chukka ponies, Grace represents the talent she put aside.

I feel like I reached my pinnacle at that point of skill and achievement, she says. I created something I never thought I could create.

Id like to get back to the place where Im creating something Im really proud of. And Im working on it. I think.

Joel Lang is an award-winning Connecticut journalist.
Pasquale Jones. Photo: Tirzah Brott/New York Magazine

That old bellwether of the New York dining landscape, the Italian restaurant, has lately undergone what Darwinians like to call an evolutionary leap. Many eons ago, the Red Sauce Epoch gave way to the Age of the Trattoria, which in turn gave way, in certain quarters, to the rise of elevated gourmet establishments like Michael Whites Marea and Mario Batalis Babbo and Del Posto. Lately, however, these dinosaur-size operations, and even some trattorias, have been overtaken by a smaller, more nimble (and yes, faster-breeding) species of Italian joint. Grand venues have been replaced by boxy, adaptable little spaces, and baroque multicourse menus have been reduced to a single, tiny page. Tuscan trophy wines have given way to trendy Sicilian peasant blends, lavish ragus have been replaced by simple classics (cacio e pepe, anyone?), and while a few old dinosaurs still survive in their ancient habitats, without an ancient wood-burning oven (or two) on the premises, the chances of survival out on the great Italian fine-dining savannah are increasingly slim.

Chef Ryan Hardys sporty, Mini Cooper-sized Soho restaurant, Charlie Bird, was an early example of this chicly adaptable Italian style, and if anything, his new Nolita venture, Pasquale Jones, moves the evolutionary needle even further in the direction of Sparseness and utility. He and his partners (the wine impresarios Grant Reynolds and Robert Bohr) have fit the snug room on the corner of Mulberry and Kenmare with simple globe lights, and the kind of scuffed mosaic-tile floor you might find in the kitchen of a train-station cafe in Milan. Two small rows of slate tabletops and a couple of half-moon banquettes are folded, origami style, into this little space, along with an elegantly utilitarian wraparound bar where you can sip a reasonably priced quartino of interesting Corsican wine (ask for the 13 Domaine Giacometti) while watching cooks flip a succession of dishes (seasonally appropriate leeks, chunks of locally caught cuttlefish, the inevitable pizzas) in and out of not one but two large, gently glowing, state-of-the-art wood-burning ovens.

The single-page menu here is even more abbreviated than the one at Charlie Bird, but Hardy and the San Francisco chef, Tim Caspare, arrange their elemental ingredients on the plate in all sorts of enticing ways. The aforementioned leeks are scattered with toasted walnuts and shingles of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the plump, ivory-colored cuttlefish is enlivened with shreds of chile pepper and wedges of a lemon plucked from the famous Sorrento-lemon trees south of Naples. I dont know where the artichoke hearts I enjoyed one evening came from (theyre served with slivers of fennel-rich finocchiona salami), but theyre Neapolitan quality too, as are the charred, puffy-edged pizzas and the house calzone, stuffed with caciocavallo, shreds of prosciutto, and choppings of broccoli rabe. All of these pizzas are good, but the ones I had to be restrained from ordering again were the clam (littlenecks, garlic, the faintest drizzle of lemon and cream) and that old purists favorite, the marinara, which is dappled with little black Taggiasca olives and rich spoonfuls of sauce, which, unlike lots of marinaras around town, doesnt taste like the bottom of a tomato can.

In addition to a handful of generally well-executed pastas (try the baby-goat pappardelle or the deeply funky, anchovy-laced Martelli spaghetti), there are just four entrees available at this diminutive, oddly named, highly satisfying restaurant, all of which emerge sizzling from the wood-burning oven in varying states of deliciousness. We sampled bite-size pieces of crispy-skinned spring chicken on my visits, and a soft hunk of wild striped bass garnished with mushrooms and spring onions, which tasted like it had just been fished out from under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The beefeaters at my table went slightly mad over the well-aged bone-in rib eye for two ($125, with a giant charred onion as big as a softball), although for maximum utility, I recommend the $48 pork shank, also for two, which is braised to an almost fruity tenderness and finished with lardo and fennel pollen. Add a pizza or two, and the simple house dessert (grilled pineapples with mascarpone-flavored ice cream one evening, pears with the same gelato the next), and its enough to feed a discerning family of four out on the great savannah for close to a week.

During the course of their long, storied career together, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich have opened their share of nimble, trattoria-style establishments (Otto, Lupa, the cavalcade of dining experiences at Eataly), but their latest venture, La Sirena, looks like a dinosaur to me. Or if not a dinosaur exactly, then, as the nautically poetic name indicates, a large and glittering cruise ship of a place, moored amid the fleet of other transient crowd-pleasing restaurants of the Meatpacking District. Like on many cruise ships (and many restaurants around that particular neighborhood), the ghostly presence of a superstar chef hovers over the proceedings, although how long he might stay in the kitchen before flying off to tend to the rest of his vast empire is an open question. Like on cruise ships, there are two dining rooms here instead of one (the restaurant is set off the lobby of the Maritime Hotel, above that mother of all Vegas/cruise ship establishments, the downtown outlet of Tao), although the centerpiece of the more than 200-seat operation is a barn-size cocktail lounge, which is set between the two smaller sit-down areas and features a long, glowing white quartz bar manned by a small army of barkeeps dressed in well-starched aprons and gray ties.

I enjoyed my visits to the bar at La Sirena, where you can obtain a pricey but well-made cocktail (the $18 Vesper martini, for one) and the wait staff perambulate among the assorted Meatpacking swells, their anti-pasto carts loaded with olives, breadsticks and great blocks of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. But at this early shakedown-cruise stage of the proceedings, the actual dining rooms felt generic, and with the exception of a few stout red-sauce classics (a trio of fat pork meatballs, mascarpone-stuffed pansotti drizzled with brown butter, a rib-sticking Old School short-rib beef braciole), so does much of the cooking. I liked my nicely cooked quail alla piastra appetizer (with charred ramps and rhubarb), but unlike the sea bass at Pasquale Jones, the orata that followed it had a distinctive fishiness to it. The braised and roasted chicken entree seemed to have been leached of all flavor long before it reached the roasting stage, and the steak for two is aged in Batalis trademark lardo, a process that imbues the meat with a certain degree of salty goodness but also gives it an unfortunate bouncy, vulcanized texture. Save room, at the end of your dinner, however, for Michael Laiskoniss festive, elegantly pre-potted 90s-era desserts, in particular the honey-walnut semifreddo, which is speckled, like some exotic sea creature, with spikes of frozen meringue.

Rating: 3 stars

Pasquale Jones

187 Mulberry St., at Kenmare St.; no phone yet; pasqualejones.com

Open: Dinner Tuesday to Sunday.

Prices: Small plates, $7 to $20; large plates, $18 to $32, with a $125 rib eye for two.

Ideal Meal: Warm leeks, clam pizza, chicken and/or pork shank, grilled fruit with gelato.

Note: The wine list is chock-full of interesting, out-of-the-way Italian bottles.

Scratchpad: Two stars for the simple, satisfying cooking and another

for the wines.

Rating: 1 stars

La Sirena

88 Ninth Ave., nr. 17th St.; 212-977-6096; lasirena-nyc.com

Open: Daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch.

Prices: Appetizers, $15 to $17; pastas and entrees, $19 to $34, with a $120 New York strip steak for two.

Ideal Meal: Quail alla piastra, pansotti, meatballs or Old School braciole, honey-walnut semifreddo.

Note: This hotel restaurant serves a fine selection of Italian-accented egg dishes for breakfast (try Nonnas fried eggs sprinkled with bottarga, and the housemade Italian-style breakfast sausages) beginning at 7 a.m.

Scratchpad: Half a star for the bar and another half for the best of the

nostalgic red-sauce dishes and desserts.

*This article appears in the April 18, 2016 issue of New York Magazine.
Who wouldve thought? Photo: Melissa Hom

Think Coffee is a pretty standard New York City chain, but to many visitors from South Korea, its the ultimate destination. The Times explains that this is because of a show called Infinite Challenge, which ran an episode in 2009 about the challenge of ordering an espresso drink in perfect English. South Koreans now flock to the Mercer Street location, specifically  often in groups of 50. And, as a result, Thinks owner sold the license to a company called Seoul Food, which has opened three locations in the city, and counting.

[NYT]




Haiti - Humanitarian : WFP plans to launch an emergency operation in Haiti





The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) committed today to both assisting 1.6 million people hit by droughts exacerbated by El Nino in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti and building resilience against future climatic shocks.



Speaking at the end of visits to El Salvador and Guatemala to see the compounded impact of El Nino, one of the strongest in the last half century, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, will go in the coming days in Haiti where she will meet with vulnerable communities who suffer the impacts of El Nino.



WFP is concerned that from March to April, small farmers in Central America may have to drain their cash and food reserves to obtain seeds and other inputs for the first crop cycle of 2016.



Meanwhile, 3.6 million people in Haiti are food insecure after three years of severe drought. WFP initially responded with food distributions for a two-month period to 120,000 people. It now plans to launch an emergency operation to assist 1 million people, primarily by cash transfers. More nutrition interventions are planned to prevent a rise in acute malnutrition.



WFP needs US$100 million to assist 1.6 million victims of drought through August in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti.



HL/ S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping politics...





"We must give time for Haitians to organize elections" dixit OAS

Sunday in Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) on the sidelines of the opening of the meeting of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), Luis Almagro, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), declared "It is very important to have a solution soon in Haiti, but we should not hurry to make these choices," stressing "we must not be in a hurry to hold elections and thus avoid the mistakes of the past [...] We must give time for Haitians to organize elections in the best way," adding that the OAS is following closely the developments in Haiti, he said to hope the international community will continue to support Haiti.



Privert for a rapprochement with the DR

Ruben Silie Valdes, the Dominican ambassador in Haiti, said the interim Haitian President Jocelerme Privert, has expressed interest in closer ties with the Dominican Republic. He said the administration of the new interim Haitian government took an important turning point in relations between the two countries. "They have a fairly open view, they do not come with preconceived ideas and I think this is very positive for the Dominican Republic, because they give clear evidence, they want an approach and a change in relations bilateral."



Moise J-C satisfied with the announcement of the Commission, but...

Thursday, Moise Jean Charles, the presidential candidate of the platform of the opposition "Pitit Dessalin" welcomed the announcement of the soon establishment of an electoral Verification Commission. However, he requests that the terms of reference of this Commission are defined in consultation with political parties.



Dialogue, Privert has two agendas

Daly Valet, the Special Adviser to the President a.i. Jocelerme Privert declared "At the Presidency, we have two dialogue agendas. The immediate dialogue with political actors and sectors of civil society for the necessary implementation of the Verification Commission. Meanwhile, a second agenda for a national dialogue, for at term a sustainable social pact of political stability and economic development."



Humanitarian Response Plan...

Thursday at the Hotel Montana, Me Aviol Fleurant, the Minister of Planning and External Cooperation (MPCE), accompanied by Mourad Wahba, the Humanitarian Coordinator of the United Nations for Haiti, and Carla Loque the Coordinator of NGO activities, officially presented the Humanitarian Response Plan 2016 "The critical situation of thousands of families affected by these multiple problems and especially by food insecurity requires a rapid and effective response to prevent a worsening humanitarian situation," declared Minister Fleurant. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17122-haiti-humanitarian-$200m-call-for-funds-to-help-the-most-vulnerable.html



Supervisory visit of Jessy C. Petit-Frere

Friday morning, Jessy C. Little Frere, the Minister of Commerce and Industry (MCI), conducted a supervisory visit of the work of the new MCI building on Champs-de-Mars, in order to see the progress made.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby.

09:00, 23 OCT 2022
By Jesse Wood

On Friday, N.C. Sen. Dan Soucek announced his immediate resignation, N.C. Senate Leader Phil Berger announced in a release:

Sen. Dan Soucek (R-Watauga) notified Gov. Pat McCrory of his decision to retire from the North Carolina Senate effective today.

Below is a statement from Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham):

Sen. Dan Soucek has made it his lifes work to help others  by improving public education as a member of the North Carolina Senate, by defending our freedoms as a member of our Armed Forces and by aiding those in poverty through his many years of charitable work, said Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham.) His retirement will be a big loss for the Senate, the people of his district and the State of North Carolina.

This announcement comes a few months after Soucek said he would be retiring from the N.C. Senate after the general election.

In December, Soucek rescinded his filing to re-run for office. Through Bergers office at the time, Soucek announced that he wouldnt be seeking another term to represent the citizens of the northwestern part of the state.

As Christmas approaches and I reflect on the past year, I realize there were more than 180 nights this year when I was not home to kiss my wonderful wife and three children goodnight, Soucek said in December. It has been a great and humbling honor to be trusted by the citizens of Northwestern North Carolina to represent them in the state Senate, but I cant continue to faithfully serve both my family and constituents.

Soucek has endorsed Deanna Ballard, also a Blowing Rock conservative employed by Samaritans Purse, as his successor. Ballard defeated soon-to-be retiring Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute president Ken Boham in the Republican primary.

In the general election in November, Ballard will face Democrat Sue Counts.

The News & Observer reported that Gov. Pat McCrory will formally appoint a replacement after a nomination from Republican leaders in Souceks district. The legislative session begins in two weeks.

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(Reuters) Argentina settled with additional creditors holding defaulted sovereign bonds for $253 million, Daniel Pollack, the court-appointed mediator in the long-running case, said in a statement on Sunday.

The agreements in principle reached late last week with several groups of creditors bring the aggregate amount of settled claims to approximately $8 billion, the statement said.

In my capacity as Special Master, with the responsibility for presiding over the conduct of settlement negotiations, I am extremely gratified that holders of approximately 90 percent of bonds at issue in the cases in the Southern District of New York have now reached settlements with Argentina, Pollack said in his statement.

To read this article:
(Bloomberg) Grupo BTG Pactual is spinning off its commodity-trading unit and renaming the division Engelhart Commodities Partners in a deal valuing the business at about $1.6 billion.

BTG shareholders may be eligible to receive equity in the new entity or take their stake in the form of additional shares in the bank, the company said in a statement Friday. The Brazilian bank is considering a plan that would provide to BTG investors about 65 percent of its stake in Engelhart, which will have $5.7 billion in assets. Senior employees would hold a portion of the Luxembourg-based units equity under an incentive program, the company said.



To read this article:
(Reuters) Hedge funds investing in China lost an average of 7.4 percent in the first quarter of 2016, the fallout of a turbulent three months for the worlds second largest economy, all but wiping out all the previous years profits, data from eVestment showed.

A slowing of Chinas growth along with pressure on its stock markets, corporate borrowers and the yuan currency sent a shockwave through global financial markets in January.

Public media in China lashed out at hedge fund speculators and regulators took a raft of measures to prevent the aggressive shorting of local markets and offshore trading of the yuan.

To read this article:
Marty Bishop captivates during storytime at the Bethel Church Heifer celebration.

Bethel, Connecticut  Children from pre-K to high school at Bethel United Methodist Church are abuzz about raising money for beehives during Lent to benefit families in need. For nearly four decades Sunday School classes at Bethel have had a Lenten project focusing on ending hunger through Heifer International.

We really like the mission of Heifer International to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the earth, said Ann McLellan, Sunday School coordinator the Bethel Church. We always start with Heifer moments during church and try to do as much as we can to engage our members. A special treat this season was taking children of the congregation to visit the Heifer Farm in Rutland, Massachusetts.

Kids color bees to put on the cover of a honey recipe booklet they put together as part of the fundraiser.

For 37 years, the churchs Heifer efforts have focused on animals and specific areas such as Appalachia and Haiti. Members of the congregation have not forgotten the time when pigs visited the church, McLellan said. Live piglets got loose and children were running everywhere to try and catch them.



Research tells us that an estimated 870 million people in the world dont have enough to eat, said Pat Keay, national community engagement director for Heifer International. We know that with the right tools, training and livestock, small farms in impoverished nations can be transformed. Support from congregations like Bethel United Methodist Church is critical as we seek to reach our goal of helping four million families annually, within the communities where we work, achieve living incomes by 2020.

At Bethel Church, children in Sunday School classes made a wide variety of items to sell to raise money for the beehives. These included beeswax candles, bee pins and care packages that included honey and lemon green tea. Each Sunday School class takes part in friendly competition to raise the most money, said McLellan. A celebration complete with a petting zoo capped the fundraiser on April 3rd.

That's awesome! What can my congregation do?
Akava points out in a press release that the average score of Finns in PISA tests in mathematics and natural sciences dropped by 23.5 points in 20062012, according to a study carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

A decline in educational achievements could have significant repercussions for the economy of Finland, warns the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff (Akava).

If the decline is permanent and reflects the skills of adults, the results published by the OECD allow for the conclusion that economic growth could slow by 0.46 per cent in Finland in the long term. Finland's gross domestic product would be 25 per cent smaller by the end of the century than in the scenario that there is no decline in learning achievements, says Eugen Koev, the chief economist at Akava.

It would slow down the growth rate by roughly 30 per cent, if you conform to the traditional, long-term growth projection of 1.5 per cent for Finland, he says in an interview with the official publication of Akava.

The possible economic slowdown could according to the publication become a reality once the current workforce has been replaced by people born after 1997. The cumulative impact on economic growth would amount to roughly 5 per cent by the mid-2040s and to almost 25 per cent by 2100.

Akava has calculated that 25 per cent of the current gross domestic product is equivalent to some 52 billion euros  that is, 9,500 euros per capita.

Taking the difference in prices into consideration, this exceeds the income gap between Finland and Spain. It would not reduce us to the income levels in Greece, tells Akava.

Important decision have and continue to be made by people who are not experts in education or education policy. Education policy is fair game to officials, politicians, advocacy groups and economists due to a lack of research data and open discussion on the applications of that data, argues Ida Mielityinen, an adviser at Akava.

More accurate information and analyses about what should and should not be done at each level of education are needed urgently. Or [information about] how to develop education and create savings without compromising the quality of education and expertise, she continues.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
The country is practically a lost cause. The fact that industrial investments haven't surpassed depreciations for seven years means the industrialisation of Finland may have reached the end of the road, he stated to the Swedish-language daily on Thursday.

Bjorn Wahlroos, the board chairman at Nordea, Sampo and UPM, has delivered an incisive assessment of the economic conditions in Finland in an interview with Hufvudstadsbladet .

Finland, he argues, has largely itself to blame for the woeful economic conditions because it has allowed the public sector to become too large and expensive. He also draws attention to the well-documented list of challenges faced by Finland: population ageing, the difficulties of the forest and metals industry, the downfall of Nokia, and slumping trade with Russia.

I think it's alarming how unattractive politics has become. If I had been asked some time ago to name the politicians I respect, I would've mentioned Carl Haglund (SFP), Jan Vapaavuori (NCP) and Matti Vanhanen (Centre). What do they have in common? All of them either have left or are about to leave politics, said Wahlroos.

No one seems to be responsible for the big picture. This is evident especially among the Social Democrats.

Another concern for him is the emigration of young people from Finland.

Many of my friends' children and their friends have left Finland. I hope decision-makers will realise that they must reverse the trend to make sure we don't lose the brightest talents of the next generation, he said.

The outspoken tycoon also commented briefly on the allegations revolving around Nordea in the wake of a massive leak of confidential data from a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca: I recognise that this is an important issue for people under the difficult economic conditions []. I also want to remind, however, that we're talking about paltry sums of money.

I don't want to say this is how the world works. If it had been me making the decisions, I would've said Nordea must not be involved with a service provider such as this, said Wahlroos.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Vesa Moilanen  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Our concerns arise from a change in attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers as well as acts that promote disparity and violate human rights all over Europe, the leaders state in an unusual guest contribution published by Helsingin Sanomat .

The leaders of several religious communities have expressed their concerns about the hardening of attitudes in Finland and the deterioration of the principle of equal treatment in Europe.

Every single child and parent has the right to care and security, the right to a family, and [the right] to live with each other irrespective of their social, cultural or religious background. Family reunification is not a right reserved only for the citizens of our country. Our actions and decisions must be based on thinking that takes families into consideration, they add.

The statement was issued by the following religious leaders: - Atik Ali, the chairman of the Finnish Tatar Community. - Anas Hajjar, the chairman of the Finnish Islamic Society. - Simon Livson, the chief rabbi of the Jewish Community of Finland. - Leo Makkonen, the archbishop of the Finnish Orthodox Church. - Kari Makinen, the archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. - Mari-Anna Pontinen, the secretary general of the Finnish Ecumenical Council. - Teemu Sippo, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Church of Helsinki.

They argue that concrete measures taken in Europe, such as confiscating mobile phones from unaccompanied underage migrants, are in violation of human dignity: A phone is typically the only way to contact your parents or other people who speak the same language as you. The complete isolation of family members hinders integration and contributes to the emergence of social problems.

Kari Makinen, the archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, commented on the issue in an interview with YLE already on Saturday by estimating that Muslims and other religious groups are able to adapt to life in Lutheran Finland.

He also voiced his hope that the native population met people from different cultures without prejudices.

Finns both have and don't have the capacity to accept the representatives of other religious communities. The best way to increase that capacity may be direct and personal interaction, the willingness to see [others as] people instead of representatives of other religions. The more we work together, the more we'll realise that we have much more in common than not, he said.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Daniel Mihailescu  Lehtikuva / AFP

Source: Uusi Suomi
These pictures show the inside of the homely apartment where drug mule Michaella McCollum will live during her parole in Peru.

The fifth-floor apartment in Lima is home to Irish-American Archbishop Sean Walsh and his wife.

The Catholic priest has been assisting the drug smuggler since she was in prison and has stepped up to help her meet the terms of her parole.

"It was an easy decision to offer my place and the job to her," he said.

"I knew she needed to have a formal offer of employment which I made, and an address to live at, which I was also able to give her."

As part of her parole conditions, the Tyrone woman will need to work during her four years in the south American country, where she was convicted in 2013 for attempting to smuggle 1.8m worth of cocaine into Europe.

She will now work as a lay missionary alongside the priest both in an office in the apartment and in the Eastern Lima Catholic Church.

Her new home is based in the trendy Milaflores district in the city and is within walking distance of a number of amenities which she will be able to enjoy after more than two years behind bars.

A mounted reprint of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, read by 1916 rebels at the GPO, is mounted on a sitting room wall in the apartment.

Comfortable

During her imprisonment, McCollum was forced to share a cell with 30 criminals, but in her new flat she will have her own room and access to her own bathroom.

"While it's not a very big apartment, we do have a lot of room and will be able to offer Michaella her own space and a comfortable place to live," Archbishop Walsh told the Sunday Life newspaper.

"We are looking forward to working with her and having her stay with us at home."

The bishop, who has grown-up children, said that he is looking forward to working alongside the drug mule, who he says has turned her life around.

"She's a precious lady - she can be my granddaughter. My wife and I are treating her like one of the family," he said.

McCollum is already enjoying her freedom and has been snapped taking selfies in a coffee shop which she visited with her mum over the weekend.

The conditions of her newly granted parole dictate that the 23-year-old must stay in the country for the remainder of her six-year and eight-month sentence - of which she has served less than half in prison.

However, it is understood that she is keen to secure permission to return to Ireland before then.

"They [her family] are just so happy to be able to spend some time together after almost three years apart," Archbishop Walsh said.

"Her mum just wants her back home in Ireland now - she doesn't want to have to say goodbye to her daughter again," he added.

McCollum's partner in crime, Scottish woman Melissa Reid, remains locked up in Peru for her part in the smuggling operation.

McCollum told RTE last week that it was a "moment of madness" that led to her involvement with international drug dealers, who offered her cash to transport the drugs back to Europe.

McCollum was living and working in Ibiza when she was approached by drug dealers.

The Herald previously revealed that before her arrest the former model was caught on CCTV visiting the apartment of a notorious drug dealer, nicknamed 'Uncle Charlie'.

She visited him at his home in the same district as her new apartment.

A top Peruvian official revealed that the kingpin was well-known in the country for his criminal activities.

The pictures of her visiting the dealer, to collect the cocaine for which she was charged with smuggling, led to McCollum identifying the gangster to authorities which may mean she is in danger, although this is deemed "unlikely".

"He [Uncle Charlie] is very, very famous in Peru, without a doubt. He is well known on the drug scene," the source said.
Luas drivers "are a long, long way" off cutting a pay deal with operators Transdev after the company indicated that jobs could be at risk as a result of lost revenue from strike action.

A letter from management in the UK said the company would have to consider job cuts and increased productivity to reduce operating costs.

Transdev's chief for the UK and Ireland, Nigel Stevens, said the company will not stand idly by while the "challenging financial position is further eroded".

Progress

Representatives of the drivers' union, Siptu, said that while they were aware of Mr Stevens' letter, industrial action will continue until an agreement is in place.

The union will meet with Transdev bosses again today to see if any progress has been made on their demands.

Drivers are prepared for a further seven strikes over the next six weeks, beginning with a 48-hour stoppage on April 23 and 24, giving both parties two weeks to reach a deal.

Further strikes will take place on April 28 and May 4, 13, 20 and 27, while a four-hour stoppage will take place on May 26.

The drivers have taken eight days of strike action so far this year.

Siptu, which was seeking pay increases of between 8pc and 53pc for 200 drivers, rejected a compromise deal from the Workplace Relations Commission last month.

The deal is believed to have offered drivers increases of between 10pc and 19.2pc, but they have been taken off the table by the company.

A spokesman for the drivers told the Herald it was no surprise that the offer was pulled, given that 98.5pc of drivers overwhelmingly rejected it.

He said that unless the company addresses the three reasons the offer was rejected, there is no prospect of a resolution.

Siptu said it was turned down because of the lower rates on the table for new entrants, along with the productivity conditions being either too much or too vague and the pay for the productivity being "disproportionately low".

Transdev management's conviction is believed to have been boosted by the lack of public support for the striking drivers.

Demands

According to the letter issued by Mr Stevens, increased productivity when the Luas Green Line is extended to Cabra next year may form part of the demands placed on Luas workers.

However, Siptu said there will only be increased productivity if it is negotiated and agreed on by drivers.

"The workers are happy to sit down and negotiate a new agreement, that's what they want to do," a spokesman said.

"If there's talk of productivity, then that has to be part of that process and it has to be agreed on. We're a long, long way away."

All-out strike action has not been ruled out by Siptu and is said to be "always under consideration" but is not deemed to be a likely course of action at the moment.
Gardai are investigating if one of the "spotters" used by the Hutch gang at the Regency Hotel to locate members of the rival Kinahan cartel brought their children with them.

They believe a number of lookouts were positioned inside the Dublin hotel last February 5 while a boxing weigh-in took place.

It is understood their job was to report to gunmen where Christy Kinahan's son Daniel was, who he was with and what he was wearing.

photographed

It is believed two gunmen, later identified as a man with a flat cap and another dressed as a woman, were to target Kinahan.

A separate pair of gunmen who were photographed dressed as gardai and running in the front door would kill him if he tried to escape through the foyer.

However, in the confusion, Kinahan escaped by jumping from a window and drug dealer David Byrne was gunned down at the reception desk before the shooters ran off.

It is thought that one of the spotters in the hotel did not know a bloodbath was about to take place in an area where so many innocent people were fleeing in panic and now feels duped.

Meanwhile, a senior figure in the Hutch gang has held talks with a Dublin-based INLA group as the bloody feud with the Kinahans continues unabated.

The INLA outfit has previously clashed with the 'Fat' Freddie Thompson gang. Thompson's mob are aligned with the Kinahan mob.

Dissident republicans have previously been linked to the Hutch gang and are believed to have supplied the weapons used in the Regency Hotel attack.

It is thought there were three dissident republicans among the 12-strong gang involved in the Regency attack which left Byrne dead and two other men seriously injured.

One of the gunmen, who has been warned by gardai that his life is under threat, received weapons training from the dissidents before the attack.
Kind of a drag if you miss The Buckinghams concert Wednesday

The Buckinghams, a Chicago-based pop rock band that exploded onto the charts in 1967 with Kind of a Drag, are coming to the Maryland Theatre.
Will high school cross country competition be different in 2023?

Proposal calls for elimination of one postseason race, leaving several options for new format and what that might mean for small schools
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On April 9, under intense pressure and criticism from many quarters including the Supreme Court, the government announced the release of its first tranche of funds for 2016-17 of Rs 12,230 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Welcome as this relief will be, it is far too little and much too late. It is only enough to clear last years dues, which exceed a staggering Rs 12,000 crore. It fails, therefore, to restore the MGNREGA to a position where it can suitably help people fight one of the worst droughts India has faced in decades. It also fails to meet the governments legal obligations under the MGNREGA on at least five counts.

The MGNREGA is a legal guarantee outlined under Section 3(1) of the Act, which states that the government shall ... provide to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work not less than 100 days of (such) work in a financial year.

Read | SC raps Centre for not releasing MNREGA funds in drought-hit states

The April 9 release is in violation of the governments own master circular that states in Section 7.1.2:

First tranche is to be released to States/Districts in the month of April. The quantum of 1st Tranche is based on the number of person days projected by the State/UT for the first six months of the year up to September in the Labour Budget..the first tranche is released after adjusting unspent balance available with the districts/States and considering the pending liabilities, if any.

The MGNREGA website shows that at the end of 2015-16, 25 out of the 29 states in India had a negative balance and had no money to even pay the outstanding dues, leave alone open new works. With no work and no wages, it is obvious that there is going to be a resultant escalation in malnutrition, endemic hunger, and distress migration.

Read | Save water, diversify crops, take up allied jobs: PM Modi to farmers

The entitlement of compensation for delayed payments has also been violated. The government owed workers Rs 216.5 crore in delayed wage compensation. Less than 2% was paid amounting to Rs 3.4 crore. Nearly 90% of the declared dues were rejected by programme officers citing insufficient funds.

A crucial entitlement under the MGNREGA rests on paying a minimum wage. Supreme Court judgments have declared that the non-payment of minimum wages amounts to forced labour, and is therefore unconstitutional. Nevertheless, on March 29 this year, the ministry of rural development has once again notified sub-minimum wage rates for MGNREGA workers in several states, including the drought-affected states of Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha.

In a drought year, announcements were made enhancing the 100 days, with an additional 50 days of employment. No extra money was provided, and ironically, the notification itself has lapsed on March 31 just as the drought is peaking.

The fact is that since 2010, the MGNREGA allocation in real terms has shrunk to less than half, and stands at 0.26% of GDP for 2016-17. That the MGNREGA can in fact help people fight poverty and hunger remains unchallenged. Work gives both wages and dignity. It can help people in distress tide over the drought without completely caving in. But the MGNREGA cannot run on rhetoric and insufficient funds. The government must obey the law.

Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey are are social activists working in Rajasthan and former members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council, MGNREGA

The views expressed are personal
Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basits assertion that bilateral talks with India are suspended may have made for screaming headlines and TV anchors, but reality could well be only bark and no byte.

The carefully-choreographed statements made by the foreign office spokespersons of both countries in the past week yield another interpretation: New Delhi and Islamabad are in touch with each other.

New Delhi is, however, waiting for Islamabad to indicate why Basit used the Indian media to hang a question mark over the future of foreign secretary-level talks and the possibility of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) visiting Pakistan in connection with the January 2 terror attack on Pathankot airbase. India says the attack was the handiwork of the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit.

Top government sources do not rule out the possibility of the two national security advisers (NSAs) being in touch, and perhaps even meeting soon along with their foreign secretaries as happened in Bangkok last November. This could result in the NIA being allowed to visit Pakistan as New Delhi was satisfied with the professional attitude of the Joint Investigating Team (JIT) sent by Islamabad to collect clues at Pathankot. Indian NSA Ajit Doval and Pakistan NSA Naseer Janjua have kept their lines of communication open since the Bangkok meet.

Read | Ceasefire violation along LoC, heavy firing after Pak suspends talks

One has to look at Pakistans foreign spokespersons statement, a day before on the JIT (April 6) as well on the day (April 7) Basit spoke, to understand the mind of Islamabad. India has shown its bona fides by allowing the JIT access to all the NIA had as far as the Pathankot probe was concerned. And contrary to public perception, India has got support from Islamabad in nailing the actual perpetrators. It is now for Islamabad to get back to us, a senior official told Hindustan Times.

The South Block perspective on Basits public outburst is that it was possibly aimed at his own foreign ministry. That he was kept out of the NSA dialogue in Bangkok and then over-ruled by his own superiors during the Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad last December would explain that. Seen as a supporter of a Hurriyat role in India-Pakistan relations, Basit was pipped to the foreign secretarys post by Aizaz Choudhary.

Basit may thus have acted at the behest of a section of Pakistans foreign establishment which feels that Islamabad has been forced into a Pathankot corner because theres only terror on the menu, and other outstanding issues stay on the back-burner. This section, South Block says, is unhappy at New Delhi trying to block the sale of F-16 fighters to Pakistan, supplying Mi-26 attack helicopters to Afghanistan and establishing close contacts with the ruling dispensation in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor, Hindustan Times.

Read | The time has come for India to be firm with Pakistan

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Notwithstanding the sweltering heat, 60% of the nearly 70 lakh voters turned out till 1 p.m. on Monday to cast their ballot in 31 constituencies, in the second part of the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls.

However, the opposition parties accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of resorting to widespread violence.

Groups of people, said to be Trinamool Congress activists, staged angry demonstrations against CPI-M state secretary and candidate from Narayangarh constituency Surjya Kanta Mishra when he visited some of the booths on receiving complaints of electoral malpractices.

Polling began at 7 a.m. in the 31 constituencies, of which 13 are in West Midnapore and nine each in Bankura and Burdwan districts.

The scorching heat accounted for a casualty. Polling officer Parimal Barui at booth no.295 in Pandaveshwar of Burdwan district collapsed and died of suspected sun stroke.

Till 1 p.m., 59.78% polling was recorded. The turnout is 65% in West Midnapore, 57.60% in Bankura and 56.74 % in Burdwan, said an Election Commission (EC) official.

The EC received over 1,100 complaints from across the three districts regarding voter intimidation, violence and Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctioning.

Around 950 of the complaints have been redressed so far. Many of them were found to be baseless. We are looking into all aspects, said the official.

Mishra alleged incidents of violence occurred across the three districts.

There have been incidents in Jamuria, Pandaveswar and Raniganj (Burdwan), Patrasayer (Bankura) and Keshpur and Garbeta (West Midnapore), but the people have withstood against all these intimidating tactics, said Mishra.

I dont have any trust in the police or the administration, but I trust the EC and the people, he said.

Several incidents of violence were reported, with the Left Front, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging the polls were far from peaceful and fair.

Several crude bombs kept in a bag were seized from near a booth in Jamuria of Burdwan district.

A Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) polling agent had to be hospitalised after he was attacked at a polling booth in Chandrakona of West Midnapore.

Since last night (Sunday), Trinamool goons have been on the prowl, intimidating voters and attacking polling agents. Such is the condition that we are not getting polling agents. There has been widespread violence, voter intimidation, polling is far from peaceful in Sabang, said Congress leader and former minister Manas Bhunia.

Tension prevailed in Bankuras Sonamukhi where a CPI-M polling agent was attacked and masked men, armed with bamboos and cane, were seen roaming around.

Opposition leaders also claimed central security forces were absent in many of the booths.

Bengali actor Soham Chakraborty, who is the Trinamool candidate from Barjora in Bankura, claimed he was prevented from entering a booth by security personnel.

I am the candidate from here and despite carrying an identity card, I was prevented for no reason. I have informed the party leadership about this, said Soham.

An electorate of nearly 70 lakh (69,79,788), including 33,68,311 females and 50 from the third gender, are eligible to choose their representatives from 163 candidates -- 21 of them women -- across 8,465 polling stations including two auxiliary stations.

The Trinamool, the Left Front-Congress combine and the BJP are locking horns in all the seats.

Among the Left Front constituents, the CPI-M has put up 19 candidates, the CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party, All India Forward Bloc and the Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) in one each. The Congress is in the race in eight constituencies.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Shiv Sena have also fielded a number of candidates.

In the 2011 assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress had bagged 17 and its then ally Congress got three seats. The Left Front, then in power, won the remaining 11.

Apart from Mishra and Bhunia, star candidates include state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and 91-year-old Congress nominee Gyan Singh Sohanpal (both from Kharagpur Sadar).

Voters in 18 constituencies -- six in West Midnapore, nine in Purulia and three in Bankura -- exercised their franchise on the first polling day on April 4. That was part one of the first phase.

Polling for the remaining phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5.
More than 40% of the 95 lakh voters exercised their franchise amidst tight security till midday, during polling for the remaining 61 of the 126 Assam Assembly constituencies on Monday.

First time voters and others were seen queuing up from 3 am at several of the 12,699 polling stations, though voting began at 7 am, as scheduled. Many of them were keen to win the medal given by the district administration to the first two voters to encourage voting.

CRPF fired in the air at a polling station at Chaygaon following protest over a jawan of the central force allegedly misbehaving with a pregnant voter there. The situation was, however, brought under control and voting continued there uninterrupted, district Superintendent of Police Prasanta Saikia said, adding, no one was injured, even though locals claimed four persons were hurt as they ran when the firing took place.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in some polling centres were reported to have malfunctioned, thereby briefly halting voting but once they were replaced the polling continued uninterrupted, the election office said.

CCTV camera and web casting facilities were also arranged by the election office for free and fair polling.

Among the 95,11,732 people eligible to cast their franchise, 50,44,051 are women. Shiva Thapa, Indias boxer from Assam, cast his vote along with his family. Thapa said he took time off to vote, from his ongoing training outside Assam, since participating in the democratic process is a big responsibility for each one of us and all should come out to vote.

The electoral destiny of cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Nazrul Islam from Congress, besides former Chief Minister and AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta will be decided on Monday.

Sidhartha Bhattacharya, the national spokesman of BJP that has an electoral alliance with AGP and Bodo Peoples Front (BPF), former Congress minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma who had led a dissidence against Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi before leaving Congress to join the BJP last year, are among the leaders in the fray in this second and last phase.

Among the 477 male and 48 female contestants, 57 are from the Congress, 35 from the BJP, its allies AGP 19 and BPF 10, 47 AIUDF, nine CPI(M), five CPI, 129 from other parties and 214 independents.

Over 50,000 persons were manning the polling booths along with security personnel. Security measures were intensified along the international boundary with Bangladesh and Bhutan.

AGPs Prafulla Kumar Mahanta along with his wife and former MP Dr Jayashree Mahanta, BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary and his wife, AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal who claims that he will be the king-maker in the formation of the next government, also cast their vote.

The first phase of polling in the state on April 4 had witnessed an 82.20% voter turnout in 65 of the 126 Assembly constituencies spread across upper Assam, two hill districts and the Barak Valley.


All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal has said the Congress will be blamed for the division of secular votes if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the assembly elections in Assam.

If BJP wins because of division of secular votes, it is Congress who will be responsible, Ajmal posted on Twitter early on Monday, the day of the second and final phase of polling in the state.

Coming in the midst of the elections, the statement is being widely read by political analysts as Ajmals acknowledgement of the BJPs possible victory in Assam.

The BJP had emerged as a strong player in the northeastern state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when it bagged seven of the 14 parliamentary seats with an impressive vote share of 36.5%. The Congress and Ajmals party won three seats each.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, Ajmal also revealed that his party had approached the Congress for some understanding two days ago. But Congress rejected our offer, he said. They rather are hell bent to divide secular votes.

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi had opposed any alliance with Ajmals party on the ground that a tie-up with a communal oufit like AIUDF will benefit the BJP.

Assembly Elections: Full Coverage

A section in the party also supported Gogoi, arguing that the Congress will lose badly in Hindu majority Upper Assam if it forged an alliance with Ajmal. The party had won maximum seats in last three assembly elections from this area.

For his part, Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar had also tried to play the peacemaker between the Congress and AIUDF and form a Bihar-style grand alliance to thwart the BJPs aggressive bid at capturing power in Assam. The Bihar chief minister was of the view that a multi-cornered contest on any seat would certainly benefit the BJP.

The perfume baron-turned-politician too had rejected all direct and indirect feelers from the Congress for an alliance as he did not want to share the burden of the ruling partys 15 years of anti-incumbency.

But that appears to have been mere public posturing as he himself admitted on the eve of final phase of polling that his party had repeatedly approached the Congress for a tie-up.

We tried our best to form an alliance with Congress. But unfortunately they did not agree, Ajmal said.

Ajmal had floated the AIUDF as an alternative to the Congress which he had accused of using the states sizeable 30% Muslims electorate as merely a vote bank.

The Bihar CMs chief election strategist and advisor Prashant Kishor had also visited the state before the election and given his feedback to JD(U) leaders who then conveyed to Congress leaders that their party is likely to end up with less than 20 seats if it continues to project Gogoi as the CM candidate.

The JD(U) had suggested that it will be appropriate to project a fresh and young leadership in the state to energise the Congress cadres, especially after several of its senior leaders have joined the BJP following differences with Gogoi.

However, the Congress rejected the move, forcing Kumar to abandon his plan to replicate his Bihar-style mahagathbandhan formula in Assam.

Nitish Kumarji, Lalu Yadavji also tried their best to work out a grand alliance including Congress, AGP, BPF, JD(U), RJD and all other secular forces, Ajmal said in one of his latest tweets. Prashant Kishor also spoke to Rahul Gandhi in this regard, he added.

The AIUDF had initially hoped to increase its tally from the present 18 with a vote share of 12.57%. Out of the total 126 seats, the Congress with a vote share of 39.39% had won 78.

While the BJP had bagged five seats and its vote share stood at 11.47%, the AGP won 10 seats and secured a vote share of 16. 29%.

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At least two people were killed and 15 others injured in a stampede at an election rally addressed by Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in Virudachalam, 230 km from Chennai.

Instead of rushing the injured to a hospital, police forced them to lie down in the scorching heat. Two of the injured were pronounced dead on arrival at the government hospital.

Thirteen of the injured were women, who were also taken to the hospital after Jayalalithaas election meeting got over. Five of them have been kept under observation at the hospital. The others were given first aid and discharged.

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The Madhya Pradesh government on Sunday announced a magisterial inquiry into the coal mine roof collapse in Umaria district which had killed two miners and left two critically injured.

The probe will be conducted by the additional district magistrate, who has been asked to submit the report within a fortnight, Umaria district collector Abhishek Singh said.

The injured, identified as Sohan Kol and Sohan Kumar, are being treated at a Jabalpur hospital. Sohan Kol is feared to have suffered paralysis down the waist, reports said.

The coal mines are owned by the South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), which has been in the news in 2015 when 10 workers were reported killed in various mishaps across 107 mines situated in MP and Chhattisgarh.

In another incident on Sunday, around one acre land of a closed mine of SECL at Chagera village in Shahdol district caved in 4-5 ft. However, no casualty has been reported so far. District collector MK Shukla said, The SECL officials were of the view that some people might be indulging in illegal coal mining from the closed mines, which had caused the surface collapsing in the village.

Meanwhile, AITUC leader Haridwar Singh said, The miners are working under strenuous conditions and were pressured for production targets, which often led to such incidents.

However, he said 80% of coal mine accidents take place due to human negligence. He said the SECL should conduct an internal inquiry and punish the guilty. SECL area manager Anil Mishra could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

However, experts said that heavy vibrations due to drilling work could have caused the roof collapse.

MAN-MADE?

In 2015, 10 workers were reported killed in various mishaps across 107 mines situated in MP and Chhattisgarh

80% of coal mine accidents take place due to human negligence, AITUC leader Haridwar Singh said and demanded an inquiry.
Despite recent government clarifications on foreign direct investment (FDI) in e-commerce and the definition of a marketplace model, online companies continue to flout rules, organised retailers have said. Large players including Future Group, Aditya Birla Retail and Shoppers Stop, have joined hands and may ven take the legal route.

According to a recent government notification, FDI is not allowed in inventory-based e-commerce model, and marketplaces cannot offer heavy discounts or influence prices to lure buyers.

Even though the law clearly states that it is applicable from the date of the issue of the clarification, almost two weeks back, e-commerce companies are following the same practices. You are saying you are a marketplace but call yourself a dukaan, offer discounts, food e-tailers talk of inventory-based modelthere are lot of issues, how is the law going to be implemented? said BS Nagesh, chairman, Retailers Association of India (RAI).

The Internet and Mobile Association of India, a lobby group founded by online portals, wants the government to allow 100% FDI in inventory-based B2C (business-to-consumer) e-commerce activities.

The retailers have petitioned commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman, urging her to take action against those who violate the FDI rules.

If you look at all the players as a marketplace, I dont think anyone is adhering to any of the clarifications, which have been made. This is a serious concern and it is high time it is implemented as only announcement of a policy doesnt make any sense, said Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group.

The Delhi High Court had last November ordered the Enforcement Directorate to investigate whether e-tailers were flouting rules. RAI is awaiting that report, which is expected in the next four weeks, after which it will plan its legal recourse.

If things dont change by then, we will go back to courtWe are not going to sit back and wait for it said Nagesh, who is also the non-executive vice-chairman of Shoppers Stop.

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Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller will push for a significant reduction in bonuses for the carmakers management board on Monday, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The proposal being put forward at a supervisory board steering committee meeting follows criticism from one of Volkswagens major shareholders, the state of Lower Saxony, about intentions to pay bonuses to top managers while the company grapples with the diesel emissions crisis and prepares to cut costs elsewhere.

Bonuses for senior managers have become a flashpoint in an escalating dispute with powerful labour leaders at Europes biggest carmaker as it prepares to finalise a new strategy.

Separately, Germanys Bild am Sonntag newspaper said in an unsourced report that Mueller would ask board members to accept a voluntary bonus reduction of about 30 percent.

Volkswagen declined to comment.

On Friday sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the steering committee would use Mondays meeting to discuss the emissions scandal investigation and VWs financial position ahead of its annual report, due to be published on April 28, as well as bonuses and friction between management and labour.

Mondays meeting will lay the groundwork for a full meeting of the supervisory board, originally scheduled for April 20, which is due to ratify 2015 results and executive compensation.

Lower Saxony, which holds a 20 percent stake in VW, has two seats on the 20-member supervisory board.

Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Saturday that the full supervisory board meeting would be delayed by at least two days because talks were dragging on with U.S. authorities about how to make almost 600,000 diesel cars compliant with U.S. environmental standards.
Shaktiman, the Dehradun Police horse which received global sympathy from celebrities and common people alike after it lost its left hind limb in an attack by BJP legislator Ganesh Joshi, has managed to survive all odds.

But a six-year-old injured and abandoned horse is struggling for its life in an animal shelter in Dehradun and might lose its battle for the lack of treatment.





He is not as lucky as Shaktiman as the police department and various NGOs ensured he received the best treatment by generating funds and calling in the best doctors. Equine orthopedic surgeon Phiroz Khambatta traveled from Pune for its surgery and prosthetic expert from The Maya Foundation in Bhutan Jamie Vaughan was also invited to support the team of veterinarians who were deployed around the clock to monitor its health.

Volunteers brought the horse, which met with an accident and injured its right foreleg about a month ago, to Raahat, a shelter that belongs to a resident of Sapera Basti in Mothrawala on Friday night. They have decided to call it Shaktimaan 2.

Activists at Raahat are struggling to find help as only a couple of non-government organisations have come forward to lend a hand in its treatment. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is one of the two which is chipping in.

The leg needs to be amputated immediately before the infection spreads in other parts of the body. We contacted People for Animals that runs an equine shelter in Sahaspur. They denied providing services to the horse claiming that the shelter takes only old horses and not injured ones. Friendicoes Seca based in Delhi was also contacted that backed off. Donkey sanctuary, which is based in Gurgaon, however, has promised to support us, Pankaj Pokhriyal, an activist with Raahat, told Hindustan Times.



Photo of Uttarakhand Police horse Shaktiman who got injured during a BJP rally at police lines in Dehradun. (Vinay Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The veterinary department has agreed to treat the horse but has said it cannot help them with resources like medicines, bandages, an oscillating cutter for amputation, prosthetic leg and others. Activists from Raahat and SPCA are raising money by themselves.

Veterinary department doesnt have anything in the name of infrastructure. So, volunteers would collect money for buying related items needed for its surgery and healthcare that is likely to be done in a day or two, Pooja Bahukhandi, SPCAs vice-president, said.

The Maya Foundations Vaughan, who has been treating Shaktiman, was approached by Bahukhandi for help. She fixed a PVC pipe on the leg of the ill-fated horse on Saturday.

I am a prosthetic expert. And I could assist veterinary doctors during surgery, Vaughan said.

Watch: Cops play holi, click selfies with Shaktimaan, the horse

The animal, however, is finding it difficult to adapt as the wounds are leaking with pus, Raahats Pokhriyal said.

Dr Ashutosh Joshi, the officer in charge of Uttarakhand Animal Welfare Board said, The entire life of a horse is spent standing. If one of its legs gets injured and gangrene sets in, then there are negligible chances of its survival unless careful and continuous efforts are made towards amputation and providing prosthetic leg.

When contacted SS Bisht, additional director at Uttarakhands department of animal husbandry, said veterinarians are working on the case.

We have to be cautious in case of the equine. Gangrene is fatal for any animal, Bisht said.

BJP man arrested: How Shaktiman, the broken horse, found support

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The juvenile who allegedly ran his fathers Mercedes over a 32-year-old man in Delhis Civil Lines area, will be taken to the accident spot and questioned by a juvenile welfare officer for the next two days, the police said.

A senior police official said the juvenile was sent to two days in police custody by the Juvenile Justice Board on Monday.

Unlike normal police remand in which the accused persons can be interrogated for the whole day, the juvenile will be made available only from 10 am to 6 pm. At other times, he will be at the juvenile home, though technically in police custody, the official said.

During the remand period, he will be taken to the accident spot and asked a wide range of questions.

Family members and friends protest for #JusticeforSidd at Central Park in Connaught Place in New Delhi on Sunday. (Sanjeev Verma/ HT Photo)

He could not be questioned on Monday because of the time constraint. The eight-hour slot would apply for on Tuesday and Wednesday, following which his police custody would end, the official said.

Meanwhile, the police are also preparing to challenge the bail granted to the juveniles father on Sunday. While the son has been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, the father was booked for abetment to the offence.

The teenager was again held by the police on Sunday after he went to surrender at a Delhi court, where his father and the man, who had once claimed to be the driver of the Mercedes at the time of the accident, were produced.

While the teenager was sent to a juvenile home, his father (arrested on Friday) and the other man (arrested yesterday) were granted bail.

The man who had claimed to be the driver and later retracted her statement, was arrested under section 203 (giving false information respecting an offence committed) of the IPC. Police said the juvenile turned 18 years old on April 8.

The incident took place on April 4 when 32-year-old marketing executive Siddharth Sharma was trying to cross a road near Ludlow Castle School and the speeding Mercedes hit him.
Police have arrested the driver who was sent as a dummy allegedly by the family of the minor to own responsibility for the Mercedes hit-and-run incident in which a 32-year-old IT professional was killed last week, a report said on Monday.

According to the Indian Express, the 33-year-old driver, who works for the minors businessman father, was arrested on Sunday and granted bail later.

The driver had earlier approached the police and allegedly claimed that he was driving the car but changed his statement when he got to know that Sharma had died.

Police suspect it was an attempt to mislead investigation into the death of Siddharth Sharma, who was killed after being struck by the speeding Mercedes in north Delhis Civil Lines area, the daily said. Sharma, the son of a retired navy officer, died on the spot after the speeding luxury car hit him.

The driver has been booked under sections 201 and 203 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Express cited unnamed sources as saying that the sections have been added to the same case of the accident that was registered at Civil Lines on April 4.

The minor was apprehended again on charges of culpable homicide on Sunday and sent to a correction home. Police had also arrested the juveniles father on charges of abetment and culpable homicide on Saturday. He has been granted bail.

We have again apprehended the boy and sent him to a correction home, after producing him before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), DCP Madhur Verma told The Indian Express.

Sharmas family had released the CCTV camera footage of the hit-and-run incident that showed him being flung at least 15 metres into the air after being hit by the car.

Witnesses said that they saw a group of young boys stepping out of the car and fleeing the scene, leaving the vehicle at the spot after the accident.

Police recorded eyewitnesses accounts and scanned dozens of CCTV grabs to ascertain the identity of the errant driver, who turned out to be the businessmans 17-year old son. The boy was apprehended last Tuesday and later released on bail as per legal provisions.

Minutes before hitting Sharma, the Mercedes car had grazed past two bikers near the Delhi Vidhan Sabha. They were not injured and have not filed any complaint.

According to the Express, police claimed to have several witnesses to earlier traffic violations committed by the juvenile. Last year, on February 16, the juvenile allegedly rammed his car into a fruit vendor, and hit another car in the process, in northwest Delhis Maurice Nagar area.

Police, however, did not lodge a case and let him go after issuing a warning to his father. The Class 12 student had mowed down Sharma with the same vehicle.
Siddharth Sharma, a 32-year-old IT professional and the son of a retired navy officer, was killed last week after being struck by a speeding Mercedes in north Delhis Civil Lines area. Soon after the accident, Sharmas family released the CCTV camera footage of the hit-and-run incident that showed him being flung at least 15 metres into the air after being hit by the car.

Witnesses said that they saw a group of young boys stepping out of the car and fleeing the scene, leaving the vehicle at the spot after the accident. Police recorded eyewitnesses accounts and scanned dozens of CCTV grabs to ascertain the identity of the errant driver, who turned out to be a businessmans 17-year old son. The boy was apprehended last Tuesday and later released on bail as per legal provisions.

Last year, on February 16, the juvenile allegedly rammed his car into a fruit vendor, and hit another car in the process, in northwest Delhis Maurice Nagar area. Police, however, did not lodge a case and let him go after issuing a warning to his father. The Class 12 student had mowed down Sharma with the same vehicle.

The nominal fine of Rs 100 is all one pays for violations that cause 60% of all road fatalities in India. The penalty has remained unchanged since 1988.

Also, many parents dont even consider the possible consequences of handing over keys to their cars and two-wheelers to their children before they turn 18, the legal age for driving a motorised vehicle in India.
India is a land of religions  and more religions mean more festivals and pilgrimages. Given the multitude of followers who flock to temples, shrines and churches across India every year, one would expect that festival organisers by now would have perfected the art of crowd management and adhere to safety measures expected to be observed at such events. Sadly, Sunday reminded us that that was not the case. In an accident during an unauthorised firecracker display at the Puttingal Devi temple, in Kollam, in Kerala, more than 110 people were killed and about 300 were injured. The accident adds to the long list of tragedies at religious gatherings India has witnessed over the years: 22 pilgrims were killed in a stampede in Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh in 2015, 89 at the Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2013, 105 at Sabarimala, Kerala, in 2011 are some of the recent ones.

Read | Kerala blaze: Woman to fight for ban on fireworks display in temples

This shows that the safety of the believer is not factored in while organising such religious gatherings. This should not be the case. The State and the festival organisers have the responsibility to ensure the safety and security of people who attend such gatherings. There are existing laws but tragedies happen when they are bypassed  as was the case in Kollam. The tragedy also points to the fact that law enforcement agencies need to get proactive. Since 2003, Kerala has a law that bans the use and storage of certain types of locally-made firecrackers, the ones predominantly used for festivals. That the police raided and seized more than 150 kilogrammes of explosives  the legal limit is 15 kg  from various places in and around Kollam also shows that if officials had been on the job perhaps the tragedy could have been avoided.

Read | Kollam tragedy: More fireworks to follow in Kerala

A Left leader attempted to pin the blame on the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government. Such politics will not help either the victims or in shaping a discussion that will lead to awareness among the people to avoid such accidents. To make religious gatherings and pilgrimages safe it is necessary to have the required infrastructure that can hold the volume of devotees. Adequate open spaces and wide roads play an important role. Crowd management, including regulating the number of devotees inside the temple/church, is crucial for this. Such places should also have a contingency or evacuation plan, in the unfortunate event of a tragedy.
The lack of road discipline is a problem with many dimensions in our cities, and the incident of a marketing professional killed by an underage driver of a Mercedes in Delhi is just one aspect of it. People in Delhi have never been known for being disciplined or law-abiding, and nothing exemplifies this better than the manner in which the rules of the road are flouted every day. This malaise pervades all levels of society. However, the Mercedes incident is something very specific to persons of privilege and the sense of class consciousness that seems to come easily to them. The underage boy had supposedly been on a joy ride with his friends, and by allowing him to do so, his father, the owner of the car, not only positioned him on a path of illegal action but also sent him an implied message that such a piece of illegality was par for the course. In such a situation a person of an impressionable age is very likely to get the idea that being in a certain station in society, he is likely to get away with a measure of wrong-doing. Driving a costly vehicle such as a Mercedes can only reinforce such an idea. If the police cannot move against the offender for legal reasons, they should move at least against the father, who has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. No leniency should be shown towards him. The legal basis for acting against him can be how he allowed someone who is not legally entitled to a licence drive his vehicle.

READ: Poll | Who should be blamed for rising cases of underage driving?

With growth in affluence, underage driving is becoming very common. Some years ago the incident of a nine-year-old child driving a Ferrari in Kerala created a commotion. But the police are often not able to catch the offender in some cases because there is little to distinguish a person of 18 years and someone who is a few days short of that. This precisely is what happened in the Mercedes case. Also it has been reported that the juvenile had erred several times earlier and yet got away with very little punishment. If the father had been punished then, the tragedy last week could have been avoided. Also the police complain they are not able to act against the juvenile offenders who flaunt their connection with people in powerful positions.

READ: Delhi road rage: Only exemplary punishment can cure power driving trip

Parents must be made to understand that letting underage children poses a grave risk to both the child in question and others. The certainty and severity of punishment for giving killing machines to children can be the only deterrent to this trend. A beginning could be made with the death of Siddharth Sharma.
Good news for applicants from non-CBSE Boards applying for admissions to Delhi University.

The University is likely to stop deducting 10 marks from the aggregate scores of applicants who have studied subjects that have practical component of more than 30%.

Marks of such applicants will be adjusted on pro-rata basis, said AK Bhagi, member of the admission committee.

Till last year, DU deducted 10 marks or 2.5 percentage points from the score of applicants who included subjects not having 70 marks for theory and 30 marks for practical.

Some state boards allot 60 marks for theory and 40 for practical. Due to this many students had to lose out marks while applying to DU despite scoring well in their board exams.

Bhagi said that corresponding marks will be calculated and applied to the best of four. If you have a subject which has 40 marks for practical and 60 for theory then corresponding marks will be calculated and applied, he said.

Students having studied science stream and vocational subjects will benefit most by the new rule, he said.

The decision was taken recently by a 24-member admission committee, consisting of academic, executive council members, principals and university representatives. There are 54,000 undergraduate seats available in around 70 colleges affiliated to the university.

The recommendations by admission committee will now be sent to the vice-chancellor for final approval.

DUs admission process, which will be fully online, will begin from May 24. Among other changes in the admission policy this year, the university has decided to allow students to make online payment for their college fees.

Unlike previous years when students had to wait for hours in long queues at the college to submit the fee, this year students can make online payment using the university website.

Till last year successful applicants had to go to college concerned and submit the admission fee after getting academic and identity documents verified from the college admission committee. Many students had complained about not being able to submit fee on time due to long queues.

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Former student of century old Arts College, Lucknow, Shitanshu G Maurya (33), has returned to the city after completing the Artist In-Residence programme at Rashtrapati Bhavan, held from March 12 to 26. The first from Lucknow to have made it to the programme, Shitanshu was clearly overjoyed and overwhelmed with the experience.

Speaking about the time he spent in the serene environs of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Lucknow-based artist, Shitanshu said that the experience was wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in the company of other creative people that included writers and innovators, he shared.

The In-Residence programme welcomes creative individuals like writers, artists and innovation scholars to stay at Rashtrapati Bhavan and get a chance to be a part of the life there.

I found President Pranab Mukherjee to be a very simple and down-to-earth person. I was impressed when he described the Rashtrapati Bhavan as a house of the people of India, while addressing a group of guests. His plain speaking really won my heart, said Shitanshu.

Read more: Artist makes a point with cabbage walk across Srinagar

He added, The president said the In-Residence programme is among the many initiatives taken to open up the Rashtrapati Bhavan to the public. He described the participants of the programme as honoured and special guests, who will continue to be so because of their talent.

Speaking further on what the president said to the group, Shitanshu said, The President described the selected guests as the creative minds of a resurgent India, who will add many more glorious chapters to our ancient civilisation. He also asserted that a society that could not respect talent could not be described as progressive.

Speaking to HT, Shitanshu said that he presented a picture of his award-winning ceramic work (sculpture) to the president. I received a Rashtriya Akademi Award for it. The president looked at the picture and then congratulated me. He said: Thank you for presenting this to me, shared the artist, adding, I was lucky enough to shake hands with him.

A former student of Arts College, Lucknow, Shitanshu opened up on how the experience had altered and made him a better person. I deal with visual elements, giving forms to dreams. My stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan has taken my creative initiatives to a higher level. It has helped me gain a different perspective of creativity through stories, plays, poems and innovations. I got a chance to interact with innovators who have made a big change in the lives of millions, at the grassroots, through their extraordinary idea, vision and will. He added, I find myself a more disciplined person. This will help me perform better in my roles as a citizen and an artist.

Shitanshu said that the president stressed that innovation and creative ideas were essential for the growth and development of the country. We were told that once we return to our states, we would serve as the ambassadors of the president and the Rashtrapati Bhavan. We should encourage others to innovate to find solutions to problems of people in their day-to-day lives, the artist said.

The InResidence programme was launched by the president of India on December 11, 2013, with a view to encourage senior creative people as well as young and upcoming talent, by facilitating them to stay close to nature in the picturesque and serene surroundings of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In the last two years, four writers, five artists and 15 innovations scholars have benefited from the programme.

Participants at the In-Residence programme 2016:

Innovators: GK Ratnakar from Karnataka (mini hydro turbines), Mushtaq Ahmed Dar from J&K (walnut cracker), Lal Biakzuala Ralte from Mizoram (bamboo splint-making machine), Mallesham Laxminarayana Chinthakindi from Andhra Pradesh (Laxmi Asu making machine), Amrut Lal Bawandas Agrawat from Gujarat (Aaruni bullock cart and innovative pulley), Anuradha Pal from Andhra Pradesh (Right biotic an antibiotic finder) and Shri Swapnanil Debajit Talukdar from Assam (foot-operated manual page-turning machine).

Writers: Binod Ghosal from West Bengal, Jwishri Boro from Assam and Dhwanil Ravindrabhai Parekh from Gujarat. All three are winners of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar.

Artists: Shitanshu G Maurya, visual artist from Uttar Pradesh. He won the Rashtriya Akademi Award from Lalit Kala Akademi in 2010.

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The global media is keeping a close watch at every fashion move that Kate Middleton is making during her current tour, and till now, the verdict has been positive. Indian designers are happy that the Duchess of Cambridge is having fun with her fashion picks.

On Sunday evening, designer Manish Malhotra attended a fund-raiser dinner in Mumbai, where he met Middleton.

Read: I was taken by surprise: Anita Dongre on Kate wearing her design

She told me that she loved Indian fashion and even praised the outfits of all the women who were attending. She look like a picture of royal elegance, says Malhotra.

Kate wore a custom-made gown by one of her favourite British designers, Jenny Packham.

The beadwork on the outfit was done in India, and foreign publications were quick to call it sari inspired. She completed her look with a low-set updo and geometric earrings by Amrapali.

Read: Kids bowled over by royal couple at Oval

The choice of colour has got the fashion fraternity talking.

The dress was a perfect choice for Kates India debut.The style is fuss-free and the colour is vibrant, reminding one of Indian jewels, says designer Suneet Varma.

Beyond honoured to meet with TRHs Prince William & Kate  #willandkate #royalvisitindia #proud #BritishAsian #britishasiantrust #princewilliam #katemiddleton #royaldinner A photo posted by Sophie C (@sophiechoudry) on Apr 10, 2016 at 9:49am PDT

 Any colour would have suited her but she looks gorgeous in the vintage blue shade, adds designer Ritu Beri. Designer Leena Singh thinks the choice of India-inspired dress was occasion -perfect.

Read: Kate Middletons dress is a hit with designers

For a formal dinner, the colour was a classic choice. The gown exuded a sense of sophistication, she says. While many love Kates look, some find the gown overwhelming. I think she confused the occasion with an Indian wedding, I did not like it one bit! says designer Anand Bhushan.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.

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The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middletons choice of outfit on her first day in India, has got the thumbs-up from the fashion fraternity here. The Duke (Prince William) and Duchess arrived in Mumbai yesterday morning, and Kate stepped out wearing late designer Alexander McQueen ensemble. Though she didnt wear an Indian designer, she went for India-inspired paisley prints with peplum detailing and a front split in the skirt.

Designers hail the duchess look. I loved her outfit and I think she looks very elegant and stylish. I love Alexandra McQueen and I think its a great choice of an outfit, says designer Manish Malhotra.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton arrived in India on Sunday, April 10, 2016. (AP)

Designer Rahul Mishra says that the strong heritage vibe in the outfit, is commendable. Its a very modern outfit and at the same time has a very strong heritage vibe, with paisley prints inspired by India. I also like the jersey style in the top portion and the subtle peplum. Agrees designer Rina Dhaka, Alexander McQueen is a great pick. The outfit has a modern style. Kate is always very classy. She goes for safe outfits but she always manages to be fashionable.

Read: In pics | Bollywood to business class: The Royal dinner in Mumbai

Read: Kangana Ranaut gives royal gala a miss, bonds with Saif and Kareena

Designer Pankaj Ahuja agrees with Dhaka on the safe choice. She seems to have made a choice to wear a bold bright colour and an Indian-looking print. No fashion statement here but Im all for cheering her effort, says designer Pankaj Ahuja.

Read: Kids bowled over by royal couple at Oval

Read: Taj, British Asian Trust partner to raise funds for charity

While in Mumbai, the royal couple stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace in a specially designed Suite Spa. A special four-course dinner was served in silver ware, and included ajwani macchli, paneer shahi korma, chonka palak, lucknowi biryani, as well as, deserts such as Dodha with Rabdi, Chenna Payesh and Sharifa Kulfi.

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Ever imagined saree-clad Charlies Angel or Hulk in a Kathakali get-up? So here are the posters of the Hollywood superhits, censored by comedy collective All India Bakchod to suit the Indian sanskari sensibilities.

AIB has come up with a bunch of fake movie posters called Sanskari Hollywood Posters. Rambo is transformed into Jai Ho Rambo where Sylvester Stallone is seen donning a sacred cloth like a sage. Fast and Furious is deemed to be too fast for us so we get Na Fast Na Furious where Vin Diesel and Paul Walker look perfect politicians and don khadi to boot. No cool cars either, we get a lal batti Ambassador instead.

Read: Thought it sensible to grant The Jungle Book U/A certificate, says Pahlaj Nihalani

Hulk is transformed into a Kathakali dancer in the poster titled The Incredible India Hulk. The cute Kungfu Panda becomes Kungfu Pandit; saree-clad Charlies Angels are renamed Pavitra Apsaraye; Daniel Craig of Spectre will be seen as Sanskari Inspectre and finally Captain America is rechristened Peshwa Bajirao avatar titled Peshwa Amrica.

This came days after the internet went furious over the Central Board of Film Certification of India (CBFC) head Pahlaj Nihalanis decision of giving The Jungle Book a U/A certificate. Nihalani said that it was scary for kids and the 3D effects are scary because the animals seem to jump right at you.

Check out the posters here...
Her parents were hairdressers in a small town in Connecticut -- so it wasnt exactly written in the stars that Lynsey Addario should become one of the worlds best known war photographers.

Even after her Italian-American family got her a Nikon camera for her 13th birthday, she thought photographers were crazy rich kids with time on their hands.

But fate was about to deal Addario the first of many strange hands that would take her to Afghanistan before September 11 turned the world upside down, and then from one war zone to the next.

I never set out or wanted to cover war, the 42-year-old, who has continued to cover conflicts since becoming a mother five years ago, told AFP.

In her book, Its What I Do, Addario tries to make sense of what got her into one of the worlds most dangerous professions.

Read: Jessica Knoll was raped, and she wont deny it any more. Read her piece

Despite several scrapes with death documenting wars from Iraq to Congo, I didnt think anyone would read the book, she said. It felt really uncomfortable... egotistical (even). I thought, who would possibly care about my life?

Steven Spielberg for starters. He is about to tell her story in a new film in which she will be played by Hollywoods hottest property, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence.

Read: Steven Spielbergs Harvard speech announcement made us dig up 10 more

It will centre on her kidnapping in Libya in March 2011, when she was held with four other New York Times journalists by soldiers loyal to Colonel Kadhafi as large parts of the country rose up against him.

That nightmare which included beatings, death threats and Addario being molested by her captors, ended with the journalists being released after a few days.

Their driver Mohammed, who had been frantic with fear as they lingered amid sniper fire to photograph rebels along the road to the besieged town of Ajdabiya, was not so fortunate.

After I was released I wanted to do a photo book. I was thinking about the work I had done, and going through my old work, and it was then that I found out that Tim and Chris had been killed, she said. (AFP)

I didnt want to be the cowardly photographer or the terrified girl who prevented the men from doing their work, Addario wrote later, questioning their actions.

As they were taken away, Mohammed was shot by the roadside.

It was his death, and that of her friends and fellow photographers Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros who were killed in Kadhafis hometown Misrata the following month, that pushed Addario to put pen to paper.

After I was released I wanted to do a photo book. I was thinking about the work I had done, and going through my old work, and it was then that I found out that Tim and Chris had been killed, she said.

I had this sort of moment of reckoning. I wanted to write... to communicate what I went through in Libya after my friends were killed. It just seemed a better way.

As she tells it, Addario -- who won a Pulitzer prize as part of a New York Times team in 2009 -- is an accidental war photographer.

It all began after she was sent to Afghanistan in 2000 to photograph life for women under the Taliban. The following year, a country which most Americans could not have found on the map, became a national obsession as the hunt began for Osama bin Laden.

I never set out or wanted to cover war. I started it because Id been working so much in Afghanistan on the Taliban. It was natural that I went back there.

Then I wanted to be in Iraq so I started to cover wars regularly, but it was because the stories brought me there, not because of war itself.

I want people to see how other people live and to be sort of a messenger, I want to connect the dots, to give people perspective. (AFP)

It was in Iraq where she met the sisters of the then leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, out of whose group the Islamic State grew.

I do think its always been a great advantage being a woman in this job, she told AFP during a visit to Paris, where her book has just been published in French.

But because I work in the Muslim world I have access to both women and men. I can go into peoples houses and interview the mothers and the sisters, she said.

I had tea with Al-Zarqawis sisters because I was a woman, so I was thrown in with the women!

Despite having a five-year-old son, Lukas, to whom she dedicated her book, Addario has continued to go work in war zones.

I want people to see how other people live and to be sort of a messenger, I want to connect the dots, to give people perspective.

For her the choice is simple.

When Im covering a humanitarian crisis, human rights abuse or war... you have to be out there (for it) to be seen by people from the comfort of their home.

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The 6.5 tonnes of beef seized from Dharavi on Friday was brought from Thane district and was to be smuggled to Vietnam from Dharavi, the city police have found.

Slaughtering of cows, bulls and bullocks and consuming or possessing the meat is illegal in Maharashtra, according to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act. While the original Act of 1976 banned the slaughter of cows, the amendment prohibits the slaughter of bulls and bullocks as well.

Read more: Beef worth Rs 14 lakh seized from godown in Mumbai slum, 3 held

Acting on a tip-off, the police had raided a godown at Dharavi. The three arrested accused -Ashrafali Bakareiddin Miya, 60, who owns the warehouse in Dharavi, Shamshad Aazad Kureshi, 28, and Mohmad Sirtaj Kallu Kureshi, 27 -- were produced in court on Saturday and have been remanded in police custody till April 13.

During interrogation, the accused told the police they used to buy beef from the interiors of Thane district and several other places in Maharashtra. A police team will question the people whose names have come forward during questioning. If we find their role [in smuggling], action will be taken against them, said a police officer, on condition of anonymity, adding they were questioning the accused to find out how the meat was smuggled into the city.

Sources said the owner had been exporting beef for the past 10 years. An FIR against has been filed against the trio under section 5 and section 9 of the Act, along with relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Britains Prince William helped cook a dosa in Mumbai on Monday after he and wife Kate met perhaps their biggest fan in India, making the 93-year-olds dream come true.

The Duke of Cambridge met entrepreneurs and inventors in the western city before making the southern Indian dish using an innovative automatic device called DosaMatic.

After watching a demonstration, William gladly poured some batter and waited for the dosa to cook before tasting a bit and declaring it not bad, although the Duchess could not be tempted with a bite but she pushed some buttons to making the machine start.

Read: Delhis Royal reception marks Indias enduring friendship with Britain

The Duke said he would love to have the machine in his palace, Eshwar Vikas, device inventor and chief executive of Mukunda Foods, told reporters.

Day two of their tour of the Indian subcontinent came after the royal couple met Boman Kohinoor, owner of Mumbais most famous Parsi cafe, on Sunday evening.

Kohinoor, 93, has a strong claim to be Indias biggest fan of the British royal family -- giant cardboard cutouts of William and Kate adorn his restaurant -- and he said he was desperate to meet them.

At Britania eatery, Kohinoor is known to give personal attention to each and every patron, moving from table to table as his staff serves them the restaurants delicacies.

He said that before independence in 1947, the restaurant used to serve delicious continential dishes, but after the departure of the Britishers, the restaurant started offering Parsi and Mughlai dishes, including the famous Chicken Berry Pulao.

Prince William eats a dosa as Catherine looks on. (PTI)

In Pics: William, Kate have a royal time in Delhi

Namaste Mumbai

William also got behind the wheel of a racing car simulator on Monday, as he and Kate chatted with entrepreneurs at Social -- a trendy meeting place in Mumbai.

The prince met officials from Mahindra Racing, which manufactures Formula One-style electric cars, and tested their latest invention.

William rounded off the mornings event by making a short speech to launch an awards programme for Indian startups called the Tech Rocketship Awards.

After walking onto the stage he started by bowing slightly as he put his hands together and said Namaste (hello), Mumbai.

Catherine and I are very impressed by the energy and ideas we have just seen. Being here today, it is clear that India is leading the way in so many areas of innovation and technology, he said.

Your ability to innovate is not just good news for India but its great news for the world. With one sixth of the worlds population, young innovators like you must play a major role, William added.

The 33-year-old then pressed a button to officially launch the programme, setting off exploding confetti.

All this innovation and we get this! William quipped to laughing quests.

In this handout photograph released by The British Deputy High Commission, William speaks with Boman Kohinoor(L) during a meeting in Mumbai. (AFP)

The couple later flew to New Delhi where they were due to visit India Gate before a dinner to mark Queen Elizabeths birthday.

In Delhi, they will also have lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday before heading to Kaziranga National Park in the countrys remote northeast to see endangered rhinos.

The couple will also spend two days in Bhutan, where they will meet the Himalayan nations king and queen and embark on a six-hour hike.

They will return to India to finish their tour in Agra on Saturday by visiting the famous Taj Mahal.

Stars and the royals: William and Kate get a taste of Bollywood

Read: Gush fest for British royals shows colonial charm, low self-esteem
A Jharkhand minister demanded a ban on sale and consumption of liquor in the state, praising chief minister Nitish Kumar for prohibiting alcohol in Bihar.

Bihar clamped down on India-made foreign liquor on April 5, four days after it banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor.

Liquor has become a part of daily life in parts of the state due to ignorance and lack of awareness. The habit is affecting people socially and economically, said Chandra Prakash Choudhary, Jharkhand minister of water resources, drinking water and sanitation.

In a letter sent to chief minister Raghubar Das on Sunday, the minister said, Jharkhand loses hundreds of lives every year in road accidents due to drink-driving. Liquor consumption causes incurable diseases like cancer, he said.

Former chief ministers Sibu Soren, Hemant Soren and Babulal Marandi also pitched for a ban on liquor.

Citing prohibition in Gujarat, Choudhary said, The concept of a clean and healthy Jharkhand could be realised only after total prohibition of liquor in the state.

Prohibition has been in force in Gujarat since it was formed in 1960.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha president, Sibu Soren, said, Liquor is the greatest impediment to Jharkhands development.

I have always been a votary of prohibition since the days of agitation for separate Jharkhand, he said during an interaction at his Khijuria home in Dumka.

When he was the chief minister, Soren mooted an alternative employment for women selling handia, a local brew. If sale of liquor is not banned, the JMM will launch an agitation, the Dumka MP said.

Hemant Soren backed the anti-liquor campaign during his visit to Godda on Saturday.

Marandi, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) chief, said, Nitish Kumar in Bihar has shown the will (to ban liquor) and done that. Chief minister Raghubar Das should also do this in Jharkhand.

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Congress general secretary Ambika Soni lashed out at the PDP-BJP coalition for playing opportunistic politics. Soni, who is the partys in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir affairs, was here to attend a meeting of the state executive committee of the JKPCC (Kashmir province).

The meeting, presided over by JKPCC chief GA Mir, was attended by party functionaries, legislators (MLAs/MLCs), district presidents, leaders of the Youth Congress, Seva Dal, INTUC, Mahila Congress and NSUI, former ministers, MLAs and MLCs.

Soni said by seeking votes against each other and then joining hands to form a government, the PDP and the BJP have backstabbed the people.

A statement by Congress spokesman quoted Soni as saying that the Congress had been silently watching developments for the past one year, but it cannot remain silent as the people of J&K have even been deprived of their basic rights.

It is unfortunate that people have to take to streets for getting their genuine demands heard and addressed. She also took a dig at chief minister Mehbooba Mufti for letting the people of J&s Suffer for almost three months. I wonder what Mehbooba got after such a long delay from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Soni said.

The Congress has a legacy of uniting and serving people of all shades, maintaining integrity of the country and it (Congress) wont allow any force to harm the age-old tradition of unity, communal harmony and brotherhood in the country, the statement quoting Soni said.

Accusing the BJP of destabilising the Congress governments in the states, she said the Congress was strong enough to defeat the designs of and falsehood being spread by the BJP leadership against the Congress and felt confident that wise people of the country have recognized the real face of the BJP and realized that the BJP was playing politics on every issue concerning the people, she said.

GA Mir said that people of the state were betrayed by both the PDP and the BJP for the sake of coming into power. Both the parties indulged in all kinds of political gimmicks and falsehood to exploit the sentiments of the people in the name of religion and regionalism, but the Congress, being strong enough, will defeat politics of exploitation on the part of PDP-BJP and will not allow them to play with the emotions of people for the sake of remaining in power.
In Sonakhan, all that glitters is gold. But residents of this gold-rich village, a two-hour drive from the capital city of Raipur in Chhattisgarh, have never cared much for it. On a good day, a family here can make a few hundred rupees by sifting the blackish-yellow flecks of gold from the sand in the river Jonk that flows close by.

Villagers say the gold is everywhere  in the ground beneath their homes, in the thickly forested hills in the area, and in the waters of the Jonk.

This sifting of gold, however, happens only in the rains. Sonakhan residents, mostly adivasis, earn their livelihood from the forests (picking its flowers, fruits and leaves), and by working on their own small farms, or those of others.

With the government struggling to decrease its reliance on imports, and augment its production of the yellow metal, the focus is on the reserves in Sonakhan. This February, the countrys first gold mine was auctioned, and the lease was won by mining giant Vedanta.

Chhattisgarhs gold diggers: Adivasi rights versus industry interests(Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Vedanta plans to dig about 2,700 kg of gold from the mine, spread over 608 hectares. For now, only two villages are mentioned in the companys plans  Baghmara and Devpur. But local activists claim that mining activity is bound to affect at least 24 villages that lie in the range of 40-50 km. As news of the auction trickles in, residents of Sonakhan, and neighbouring Baghmara, find themselves confronting the big question: do they want this mine?

Sonakhan has a legacy of protesting the mining of their gold. When the British tried, they were prevented from doing so by adivasi landlord Narayan Singh in the 1800s. Singh was imprisoned by the British, after he advised drought-struck villagers to loot grain stocks from the rich.

In 1857, Singh escaped prison and organised an army of adivasis to resist the British, say villagers. Singh lost, and was executed by the British. His legend was resurrected in the 1970s, when labour union leader Shankar Guha Niyogi travelled to Sonakhan to piece together this story of resistance.

The burden of his legacy, however, rests uneasy on the frail shoulders of those in Sonakhan, as they begin to calculate their stakes in the upcoming project.

Outside a village grocery store, a group of men, sitting idle on a hot afternoon, say the mine will not affect them. However, local activist Rajim Ketwas, who works with the NGO Dalit Adivasi Manch, disagrees. People dont have clarity about when they will start digging, how much land will be acquired. Officials from the district administration claim they dont know much either, she says.

As she speaks, Rajim begins to get agitated. Some villagers say that company officials have told them that they will only dig up the hills, not the villages. But people worship the hills, pick flowers and leaves from the forests. If they are gone, what will be left? she says.

In mineral-rich Chhattisgarh, this is not a new dilemma  rights of tribals (comprising about 31 per cent of the states population) who have been traditionally dependent on the forests for their livelihood, are in conflict with the interests of mining companies, both state and privately-owned. The gold mine at Sonakhan is only the latest flashpoint in a state where adivasis have been facing loss of livelihood and a traditional way of life, as mines, steel and power plants replace their forests and fields.

Chhattisgarhs gold diggers: Adivasi rights versus industry interests

In north Chhattisgarh alone, in several districts such as Korba, Raigarh, Janjgir-Champa  Champa might soon have the highest number of power plants in any one district in the country  villagers lament the loss of trees, land grab by mining companies through local middlemen, the cracks in the walls of their homes caused by blasts in the mines, and the mounds of sand dumped on their fields.

Life is not the same anymore, they say.

Read: Landgrabbers Inc: Making millions in Raigarh

Power games

The road to Baghmara village, about an hours drive from Sonakhan, is lined with sky-high sal trees. Thickly forested hills mark village boundaries. This is where the mining activity is slated to begin.

Despite being in a majority in Baghmara, the adivasis are dominated by the Patels, who own more land, and employ the adivasis on their farms.

At a meeting in his house, influential landowner Ghasi Ram Patel claims that the village doesnt care about the mine as long as their lives are not affected. Rajim, who has been mobilising villagers for anti-mining agitations, claims that the Patels are not supporting the movement as they feel it concerns only the adivasis. She says that landowners such as Ghasi Ram want to preserve the status quo in the village, and see the empowerment of adivasis as a threat. The Patels, however, counter her claims, and when Rajim informs them that mining activity will affect everyone  Outsiders will come to work here, what about the safety of your women then? Where will they dump the sand from the mine? On your fields. Think of the noise and the dust  they promise their support. But Rajim insists that the Patels play a role in preventing the adivasis from securing land titles.

In Baghmara, where the mining is slated to begin, villagers gather to discuss their prospects. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo )

This power play has implications for what lies at the heart of the debate  ownership and management of forests in a mineral-rich state such as Chhattisgarh, which contributes almost 13 per cent of the total value of minerals produced in India.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, recognises adivasi rights and determines the process of diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes.

But unless legal claims over their land and forests are established, the adivasis cannot exercise their rights . Thirty-something Madhai Bai says her family depends on forest produce and her one-acre farm which could be acquired once mining starts. If we had the papers, we could at least get compensation money. Or we stand to lose everything, she says.

There are other issues that prevent adivasis from filing their claims  lack of awareness about relevant laws, procedural difficulties and corruption. Local activists claim that the influential and the corrupt in the village are often bought over by mining company officials to convince villagers to give their consent and quell any dissent. In Baghmara, for instance, there are whispers about its sarpanch supporting the mining company for money. Even consent can be manufactured  according to prevailing laws, the gram sabhas (village assembly) consent is required before a project begins. But in several villages in the state, mandatory public hearings for consent can be staged and documents forged.





Canary in a coal mine

It takes a seven-hour drive from Raipur to the Hasdeo-Arand forest area in North Chhattisgarhs Surguja district, to find that sometimes, even securing the rights on paper is not enough.

For the first time in a decade after the Forest Rights Act came into force in 2006, community forest rights that were granted in 2013 have been revoked. This January, villagers in Surgujas Ghatbarra village, were told by the district administration that their rights granted in 2013 had been cancelled, because they were obstructing mining work.

Tribal activist Jai Nandan Porte, next to the trees that have been felled for the coal mine. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

The region, it seems, has a history of being caught in legal quagmires. In 2012, forests located in the Parsa East and Kante Basan coal block, were handed over to Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd for coal mining. Mining operations were to be carried out by Parsa Kante Colleries Ltd, a joint venture with Adani Mining Ltd. However, the residents of Ghatbarra and a few neighbouring villages said that they were against the project. Moreover, the diversion of forest land had taken place before the settlement of their rights, a violation of existing laws.

The 2012 approval for mining was rejected by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), citing the biodiversity of the region. This judgement was then challenged in the Supreme Court. The apex court stayed a part of it. In essence, mining was allowed, until further orders from the environment ministry. However, the forest advisory committee that was to review the situation in this area, has not done so, says Raipur-based Alok Shukla of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan. Shukla says that even the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the nodal agency for implementing the Forest Rights Act, has not taken the matter seriously. We had sent the ministry a letter on the issue about a month back. But we havent heard from them yet, he says.

Back in Ghatbarra, adivasi activist Jai Nandan Porte says the mine is taking away their water, and their trees.

Another adivasi resident of the village, Rameshwar Lakda, 40, who works as a cook at the coal mine, says villagers only get low-end jobs at the mine that pay no more than 5,000-6,000.

A few villagers, however, are ambiguous about their support to the anti-mining agitations. Dinesh Kumar Yadav, 40, who owns a grocery store and some land in the village, says, Do they really think that mining will stop? Instead, we should negotiate for a better price for our land when they come to acquire it.

Yadav has another grouse. Since mining began, the only school in the village has been shifted to another village, he says. The work of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has also stopped. The poor tribal in this village is surviving on ration rice. We dont have proper sanitation. I dont care what happens to the mine, but does the administration think we have stopped living, eating and shitting?

Chhattisgarhs gold diggers: Adivasi rights versus industry interests

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Britains Prince William and his wife Kate had a busy schedule on the second day of their weeklong India tour: meeting Bollywood stars, entrepreneurs and inventors in Mumbai and then flying to Delhi for trips to a museum and a soldiers tomb.

William and Kate are traveling without their two children - 2 1/2-year-old Prince George and 11-month-old Princess Charlotte. They had taken George to Australia with them in 2014 on their last royal tour.

On Tuesday, the royal couple will sit down for lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before travelling to the Kaziranga National Park, home to two-thirds of the worlds Indian one-horned rhinos, in Assam.

Theyll also take a one-day trip to neighbouring Bhutan at the invitation of the Himalayan kingdoms King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema. William and Kate will then head back to India, where theyll wind up their tour with a visit to the Taj Mahal, retracing the steps of a 1992 visit to the monument of love by Williams mother, the late Princess Diana.

Here are the best pictures of their day out in Delhi:

Prince William, and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, at India Gate. (Ajay Aggarwal/ HT photo)

The couple at India Gate where they laid a wreath to honour Indian soldiers who had died in World War I. (Ajay Aggarwal/ HT photo)

The couple interact with the students of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan school after visiting Gandhi Smiriti, a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/ HT photo)

At a tour of Gandhi Smriti in Delhi. (PTI)

The wreath which was placed by t is seen at couple at India Gate war memorial. (REUTERS)

The couple walk with officials after paying tribute at the India Gate. (AFP)

Prince William, and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, take a tour of Gandhi Smriti , where Mahatma Gandhi lived for 144 days before he was assassinated on January 30, 1948. (REUTERS)

The couple at India Gate. Never forgetting those who have made their ultimate sacrifice for India, they said in message they left at the memorial. (PTI)

Britain's Prince William signs visitor's book as his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, looks on after paying their tributes at India Gate. (REUTERS)

Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge speak with Boman Kohinoor (L) during a meeting in Mumbai. Kohinoor, 93, has a strong claim to be India's biggest fan of the British royal family -- giant cardboard cutouts of William and Kate adorn his restaurant -- and he told AFP that he was desperate to meet them. (AFP PHOTO/ BRITISH DEPUTY HIGH COMMISSION )

Britain's Prince William drives a Formula E simulator at an event on young entrepreneurs in Mumbai. (AP Photo)
The Haryana government on Monday told the Punjab and Haryana high court a section of gangrape has been added in the FIR registered on the complaint of a Delhi resident who alleged that women were sexually assaulted during an agitation by Jats demanding government benefits.

Media reports had said that gangrapes took place on February 22 and that at least 10 women were sexually assaulted by a group of nearly 40 agitators during the violence. Images of innerwear scattered on the fields were circulated on social media and cited as proof by some.

They had quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the women lay in the fields until their families came looking for them.

After rejecting the reports of sexual assaults in Murthal, the Manohar Lal Khattar told the court that the section has been added in the FIR registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Bobby Joshi on March 30 alleging gangrapes during the Jat quota violence.

The government said the section was added after it received an anonymous letter alleging gangrapes. It was provided to the Faridabad commissioner of police by a local news channel and has been purportedly written by an NRI woman. Section 376(D) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been added to the FIR on the basis of her letter.

The Punjab and Haryana high court had taken suo motu notice of the media reports that some women who were commuting on the Delhi-Ambala highway (NH-1) were stripped and raped by rioters during the agitation.

The state government had told the court in February that no incident of rape or molestation was reported anywhere in the state during the 10-day agitation by members of the Jat community. In March, the government had filed a report in the court again stating no gangrapes had taken place during the stir but some women were harassed.

An all-women special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged gang rapes had also said that no such incident was reported from Murthal in its preliminary status report submitted to the court in February.

During the agitation over reservation in government jobs, sectarian clashes were reported from the state in which at least 30 people were killed and public and private property worth Rs 10,000 crore was damaged.

The agitators had also damaged canals supplying water to Delhi, resulting in a massive water shortage in the national capital.

Also Read | No evidence of rapes in Murthal, says women panel
Jewellers in Maharashtra temporarily called off their strike from April 14 to 24, which has been on since March 2 against the one percent excise duty proposed in the Budget.

We are meeting the Union minister Piyush Goyal tomorrow (on Tuesday) in Delhi with our demands, which include paying additional one per cent additional tax on VAT instead of excise duty, no maintenance of extra register keeping details of each items, no additional tax on remake of old jewellery and no inspection of manufacturing and retail units.

For this we have temporarily halted the strike in the state from April 14 to 24, Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Suvarnakar Federation president Fatechand Ranka told PTI in Mumbai.

He said if the demands were not met, the jewellers in the state will resume the strike.

In Maharashtra, jewellery sales everyday go up to Rs 250 crore, which doubles on festive occasions like Gudi Padwa, the Marathi new year.

Jewellers across the country are on indefinite strike since March 2, against the Budget proposal to levy one percent tax.

Over 300 associations comprising over 3 lakh manufacturers, retainers, wholesalers, artisans among others, participated in the stir across the country.

As an alternative to the excise duty, the jewellers said the government can increase the customs duty by 1-2%.
The Paravur Devi temple in Kerala where a banned fireworks display went out of hand, leading to the deaths of 112 people, was denied permission by the Kollam district administration and state fire department. So how did temple authorities expect to get away with such a loud and clear violation?

Locals blame the impunity on political patronage in the issue. Accusing that some temple officials used their connections with the ruling party to override complaints raised, locals said these officials even forced law-enforcement agencies to turn a blind eye on some occasions.

Read more | Kerala fire: Against fireworks ban, says board managing 1,255 temples

Pankajaskhi Amma, an NRI whose house was damaged in Sundays disaster, claimed she was threatened by temple authorities for petitioning the district collector to rein in the fireworks display. Miscreants had allegedly thrown stones at her house a day before the tragedy.

Some of the temple officials threatened to burst fireworks in my house if I complained in future, she said as she checked a portion of her house that had caved in due to the explosion. Every year, Pankajakshis house that is located close to the temple, develops cracks and a few lose panes when the fireworks go off. Given her protests over the four years shes lived there, temple officials promised to repair the damages, but never delivered.

Read more | Kerala tragedy: Families search for loved ones in morgues, hospitals

Police are on the lookout for office-bearers of the temple administration who went missing after a case was registered against them. A case was also registered against the main contractor of the event, Kazakootam Surendran who was among the injured and is battling for his life in a Thirvananthapuram hospital.

The display for which permission was denied by the district administration, was held with the permission of police because of interference at a higher level, alleged CPI(M) state secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Several police and fire personnel were also among the injured as a large company was dispatched during the show. One on-duty policeman was among the dead.

We denied permission. The police should have enforced it strictly. It seems some temple officials gave a wrong impression to them that an oral permission was given to the display. It is absolutely wrong, district collector A Shainamol said, adding that if the ban had been imposed properly, the tragedy could have been averted.

Read more | Smoke after blaze: Kerala temples, churches to skip fireworks

Competitive fireworks displays are a common practice during big religious festivals like the Thrissur Pooram, with each temple vying for a louder and longer display of pyrotechnics. The tragedy on April 10 occurred during a similar competitive showcase.

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Sundays tragedy at the Puttingal Devi temple in Kollam is the reason why Pankajakshi Amma, an NRI living close to the temple, has been constantly asking authorities for a ban on fireworks display.

At least 110 people were killed and 300-odd injured in a major fire that broke out during a fireworks display in the temple precincts on Sunday.

Preliminary inquiries by the police revealed that sparks from one of the lit fireworks spread to a storehouse adjoining the temple, where a large cache of explosives was stocked, resulting in a massive blast. Locals say the impact of the explosion was felt within 1km radius of the temple.

Pankajakshis house, located 50 metres away from the temple, was also damaged in the explosion that even knocked down a portion of a one-storeyed concrete building.

Read more | Kerala temple blaze: Five detained for unauthorised fireworks show

Shocked at the extent of loss of life and damage to property, Pankajakshi said she will continue her fight and resort to legal steps to ensure a total ban on fireworks display.

Since constructing her house in the area four years ago, the octogenarian has been facing trouble with the annual fireworks display. This year, she approached the district administration requesting a ban on it, following which the Kollam Collector denied permission to the Puttingal Devi temple authorities.

We were often ostracised for speaking up against the fireworks. Nobody realised that they were sitting on a powder keg, said Pankajakshi.

Read more | In pics | Pall of gloom: Kerala mourns its dead after temple fire

Read more | After Kerala fire tragedy, cops search for missing temple officials

Her son-in-law Prakash alleged that temple management even threatened the family when the complaint was filed with the district authorities.

The house was built four years ago. In the first year itself, the building was damaged and doors had been broken in the fireworks display, he said.

Read more | It came like a storm: Kerala survivors describe temple blaze horror

Revenue officials had apparently visited the family to verify the complaint and informed them that there was a stay on the display, but it was later held, Prakash said.

We used to move away from the house during the time of the fireworks display every year. This time also, we were not at the house and we were staying at another house, owned by us, he said.

Kerala director general of police, TP Senkumar said five people were detained in connection with the disaster, and were on the lookout for officials from the temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the injured on Sunday, and sought a detailed report from the state administration on how the accident took place. He also announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for families of the deceased.

Aside from civic authorities, national services like the navy, Rapid Action Force and air force were pressed into action to help with the rescue operations.
The use of high-decibel firecrackers must be banned at all temples in Kerala, a high court judge suggested on Monday, seeking judicial intervention by the court to stop man-made tragedies like the Kollam mishap that killed more than 100 people.

In a letter to registrar general of the high court, Justice V Chitambaresh said: The time is more than ripe for immediate judicial intervention to stop such man-made tragedies by banning the use of high-decibel explosive firecrackers.

A bench that deals in cases related to temples will take up the letter for discussion on Tuesday afternoon, treating it as a public interest litigation.

At least 100 people were killed and scores injured when an unauthorised fireworks show at a temple in Kerala set off blasts and a blaze early on Sunday, in yet another accident blamed on safety norms violations at places of worship in India.

Read: Norms violated, banned chemicals used: Officials on Kerala temple fire

The right to profess, practice and propagate the religion of ones choice under Article 25 of the Constitution of India does not take in the freedom to use dangerous crackers, Chitambaresh said, and added that only low decibel Chinese-type crackers can be permitted for display.

His plea came amid growing calls for banning fireworks display in the wake of Keralas worst-ever fireworks tragedy.

Chitambaresh was sworn in as additional judge of the high court November 8, 2011 and appointed as permanent judge from December 7, 2012.

This is not an isolated incident and statistics reveal that more than 500 people have been burnt alive in similar festivals and celebrations across the state.

The Travancore Devaswom Board that manages about 1,255 temples in the state said it was not for a complete ban on such displays.

The board has issued an urgent circular to all temples under it, directing that the firework shows should be carried out in compliance with rules and regulations.

Read: Kerala fire: Against fireworks ban, says board managing 1,255 temples
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal requested Delhi residents on Monday to save water that can be sent to drought-hit Latur in Maharashtra.

Kapil Mishra, a minister in the AAP government, said Delhi was prepared to send water to the parched district in Marathwada region, which is battling severe drought.

Severe water crisis in Latur. We all shud help. Are all Delhiites ready to save some water daily to send it for our people in Latur?  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 11, 2016

The assurance comes at a time the railway ministry has sent a train carrying around five lakh litres of water to Latur.

It is expected to reach on Tuesday morning, a railway official said.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has said his government and the railway ministry are working hard to bring relief to the people in the region.

The first batch of ten wagons, each with a capacity of around 50,000 litres, was filled with water at Miraj railway station (in Sangli district of Maharashtra), Narendra Patil, the chief spokesperson of Central Railway, said.

The train left for Latur around 11am on Monday after it reached Miraj from Rajasthans Kota a day ago.

Read: Train with five lakh litres of water leaves for Latur

Patil said the transporters priority was to reach out to the people, though he declined to comment on the charges the state government will have to pay.

In Delhi, Jal Board CEO Keshav Chandra said his agency was ready to help despite the water availability challenges in the city.

We can send about seven lakh litres of water in one freight train. This is not a big amount, Chandra said, and added: There is a life and death situation in one part of the country.

Delhis daily water production is around 900 million gallons. Seven lakh litres is around 0.2 million gallons.

Freight train is not available with Northern Railways. Most probably, Western Railway will provide the water train, a senior official said.

(With agency inputs)
Uttar Pradesh police may increase the reward to anyone who can provide information about Muneer, the absconding prime accused in NIA official Tanzeel Ahmeds murder case, from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh or 2 lakh, sources said on Monday.

Ahmed, who was probing terror cases related to Indian Mujahideen, was shot dead on April 3 when he was returning home with his 40-year-old wife Farzana, teenaged daughter Zimnish, and son Shahbaz from a wedding near Bijnor.

His wife received bullets injuries in her stomach and legs and is undergoing treatment at a Noida hospital. The children escaped unharmed by hiding behind the seats.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided by director general of police Javeed Ahmad in Lucknow on Sunday, senior officials said. They said a proposal is being drafted in this regard and it will be sent to the government on Monday or Tuesday.

According to sources, the decision to increase the reward money was taken because it may help getting Muneer. Sources privy to the investigation said Muneer could be hiding in Aligarh or could have slipped into Nepal from Gorakhpur. Investigators have tracked his location in the region.

Ahmed had western Uttar Pradesh in his area of operation and where he met with considerable success in anti-terror operations.

Police have interrogated over 100 people following raids at several places but no arrests have been made so far in the case.

Rehan, who was driving the motorcycle that intercepted Ahmeds car from after which Munir began the indiscriminate firing, has told interrogators that the NIA official was sprayed with 24 bullets to make it look like the handiwork of terrorists.

Rehan, who is being interrogated for the three or four days, is one of Muneers gang members and a relative of Ahmed. The UP anti-terror squad and special task force (STF) have been conducting raids at places Rehan named during his interrogation.

Muneer, a commerce student at Aligarh, had shot into limelight following the murder of Alamgeer in November 2015 in Aligarh. Alamgeer was studying social work when he was shot near the chemistry department of Aligarh Muslim University. His father Jehangir had named four people, including Muneer, in his complaint filed with Aligarh Police.

Muneer is also suspected to be involved in some other high profile murders and robberies.
Safety guidelines and a ban on fireworks display were ignored at Keralas Puttingal Devi temple, officials said on Monday, a day after more than 100 people were killed in and around the premises in explosions and a blaze.

Sudarshan Kamal, chief controller of explosives in charge of monitoring the use, storage and licensing of such items, visited the accident site and pointed to gross violation of explosive norms.

Banned chemicals were used by the suppliers who manufactured the crackers and conducted the display, he said.

Thousands had packed overnight into the temple complex in Kollam district when a stray firework landed on a stockpile, triggering a huge blast that partially demolished a concrete building.

Read: Kerala fire: Against fireworks ban, says board managing 1,255 temples

Kollam district collector A Shainamol said the administration denied permission for the annual fireworks display competition where different groups put on successive light shows for devotees gathered for the last day of a seven-day festival honouring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali.

I just did my job. There was no pressure on me. Granting or denying permission requires certain procedures.

But somebody has gone ahead and done this and I have asked this to be investigated, she said.

A copy of the ban order said an application by a temple committee official for the display was rejected, as it was found that it was not a fireworks show but a competitive display.

The order, issued on April 8, said action would be initiated under Section 208 of the Explosive Substances Act against those who violated the ban.

Eighty-year-old Pankajakshiamma, who stays near the temple, had objected to the event.

We were often ostracised for speaking up against the fireworks. Nobody realised that they were sitting on a powder keg, Pankajakshiamma said.

Read: Kerala tragedy: Families search for loved ones in morgues, hospitals

Meanwhile, police seized at least 100kg of explosive materials from nearby Attingal.

Police said the seizure was from a storehouse belonging to one Umesh, said to be the son of one of the licensees who had the contract for the fireworks display.

Searches are going in various other places in Kollam and state capital Thiruvananthapuram, police said.

On Monday, medical teams tended to hundreds of people injured in the fire, while police searched for those responsible for illegally putting on the display.

All aspects with regards to the permission given for the event and what happened after that will be looked into, S Ananthakrishnan, who heads the Crime Branch, said in the capital.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy has announced a judicial probe and an investigation by the Crime Branch.

Police have filed initial charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder against six people.

None of the six has yet been arrested. Police said they were questioning five temple workers involved in staging the fireworks display.

Read: PM Modi assures Kerala of help, says temple fire very painful
To push its luck in the 2017 Presidential contest, the BJP needs to fare well in the ongoing elections in five assemblies and early next years state polls, besides trying to win them to expand its national footprint.

The ruling party falls short of 1.85 lakh votes required to win the prestigious battle that involves an electoral college of 10.98 lakh votes.

Even the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)  an alliance of 39 parties that fought the 2014 Lok Sabha polls  doesnt add up to the required majority of 5.49 lakh votes.

Unlike the Lok Sabha or the assembly polls, where millions of Indian voters directly decide the winners, the President is elected by an electoral college comprising of MPs and MLAs.

Though the support of big regional parties like the AIADMK (Tamil Nadu), Trinamool Congress (West Bengal) or Biju Janata Dal (Orissa) may help the BJP-led NDA secure majority support, it will still face the challenge of picking a candidate who enjoys wide acceptance. In the 2012 Presidential polls, both J Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik, along with the BJP, had supported Purno A Sangma against Pranab Mukherjee, the UPAs candidate.

Between now and July 2017 when the next President is elected, 10 states will have elected new assemblies. These include Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand, and the union territory of Puducherry. A strong show of the BJP in these states, especially in Uttar Pradesh where MLAs votes have a total value of 83,824, may allow the party the political leeway needed to pick its own nominee or RSS candidate.

In the Presidential election, each MLA vote carries a value proportionate to the population of the state as per the 1971 census. With Uttar Pradesh being the most populous state, an MLA from there has the highest value (403), while a legislator from Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh has the least value (8).

The BJP suffered a setback in 2015 when it lost both assembly polls in Bihar and Delhi. Improving its tally in the elections being held now and in early next year will also help the ruling party gain an upper hand over the Congress-led opposition in the Rajya Sabha, where many key bills are stuck.

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Religious bodies in Kerala are doing away with displays of fireworks during temple festivals in the wake of the fire tragedy that killed more than 100 people at the Puttingal temple in Kollam district on Sunday.

Read more | Temple fire likely to cast shadow over Keralas famous Thrissur Pooram festivities

Thrissur Pooram,regarded as Keralas biggest cultural pageant, will avoid high-decibel crackers during its week-long festivities that begin on Monday. Authorities of the Tiruvambadi and Paramekkavu temples who usually compete with each other, have further decided to skip the loud crackers that follow the hoisting of the Pooram flag. The Sabariamala supreme priest, Kandararu Raeevaruru, also said the exercise was a mere waste of money that invited unwanted danger. A ban on fireworks was earlier supported by former defence minister and Kerala chief minister A K Antony.

Read more | Suddenly a fireball engulfed us: Kerala temple blaze in pictures

Read more | Prince William, Dutchess offer condolences over Kerala temple fire

For many Hindu shrines in the state, fireworks and caparisoned elephants are essential adornments to the festivities. Higher the number of elephants and longer the fireworks display, the more superior a shrine is considered, and priests often take pride in making these arrangements. Over the years, even churches have picked up the practice.

Read more | Kerala fire: Temple officials go missing after police book them

Read more | In pics | Pall of gloom: Kerala mourns its dead after temple fire

In the last five years, at least 400 people have died in firecracker-related incidents in the state. Of Rs 2,000 cr worth crackers burst in Kerala, Rs 840 cr  almost one-fourth of the amount  is used for fireworks during festivals. In Kollam, the Puttingal Devi temple had acquired an estimated 50 tonnes of gunpowder and assorted explosive material, costing around Rs 10 lakh.

Officials investigating the accident suspect that sparks from a lit cracker had ignited the reserve stock, leading to the explosion that damaged the area, killing and injuring dozens, and even collapsing a portion of a one-storey concrete building.

The district administration had apparently denied permission for the fireworks display, following a complaint by local resident living close to the temple. Temple authorities had however gone ahead with the show.

Read more | Kerala blaze: Woman to fight for ban on fireworks display in temples

Flouting the stringent provisions on the use of explosive material is common practice, and is often done with impunity.

A 2005 Supreme Court judgement in fact imposes a blanket ban on the use of sound-emitting firecrackers between 10 pm and 6 am. But it isnt just temple officials who break the ban; people also ignore the restriction, especially during festival celebrations like Deepavali.

Read more | Kerala temple fire tragic example of how indifference can prove fatal

The problem though not only lies in the complete disregard for norms and safety provisions, it also lies in the lack of safe equipment.

Grand pyrotechnic displays are not uncommon across the world  the Dubai Shopping Festival and the Olympics have some spectacular shows, viewed and enjoyed by thousands of people on the ground. But explosives experts in India say temples still use primitive methods for the display. Murali Thummarakudy, chief of a UN disaster reduction team, said, We have to do away with most of the primitive techniques.

For now, temples will be doing away with firecrackers entirely. Churches that followed suit in allowing fireworks during their religious celebrations are also doing away with the fire hazard. Baselois Mar Thoma II, head of the Malankara Orthodix church has even asked believers to avoid using crackers.

Read more | PM Modi assures Kerala of help, says temple fire very painful

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Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, on Monday defied the election commission (EC)s verbal order to stop holding press conferences while polling was underway.

The Congress convened a press conference at a city hotel where the Chief Minister addressed the media. Before entering the venue, Gogoi said the EC had not served any formal communique to him not to address the media.

Why doesnt the EC serve an official letter to me to stop this press conference? I am a lawyer. If I violate rules, arrest me. I am not bothered, Gogoi said.

He focused on the allegations by BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday evening, at the press meet.



Gogoi said Sarma directly targeted him, spoke to the media over a video clipping that was morphed, alleged that in his tenure development was slow in the state and that it was up to him to counter all these allegations.

EC officials, meanwhile, said that since the model code of conduct was in force, no political party could convene a press conference on the day of polling. The commission acted after an official complaint lodged by the BJP.

At the press meet, Gogoi also accused the Election Commission of adopting a partial stance towards the BJP. The EC this time is 100% partial. I have never seen this type of partial behavior by the EC during any election in my 55 year political career, said Gogoi.

Other members of the Congress party in Assam, too, accused the Election Commission of being biased.

Violating ECs guidelines, the BJP has issued a full page advertisement in all newspapers published from Guwahati today. Is this not a violation? Why is the EC silent on this? asked Ripun Bora, chief spokesman of the Assam Congress.
A gang of looters stabbed to death two Indian medical students in Ukraines Uzhgorod town on Sunday while a third was gravely wounded.

All three were from Uttar Pradesh and studying at Uzhgorod Medical College.

External affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said Pranav Shandilya, a final-year student from Muzaffarnagar, and Ankur Singh, a Ghaziabad resident who was in his fourth year, were fatally stabbed by three Ukrainians.

Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, a resident of Agra and a third-year student, was also stabbed but is recuperating in hospital, he said.

The 24-year-old Chauhans father, who owns a biscuit factory in Agra, told HT that his son and friends were attacked in their sleep. My son is my only asset  He is in ICU and improving, said Narendra Singh.

The assailants, including a woman, were arrested on the basis of Chauhans statement when they were trying to cross the Ukrainian border.

Passports of the three students, a blood-stained knife, a laptop, mobile phones and other valuables were reportedly recovered from the killers.

Shandilyas father, Parmesh Sharma, said his 23-year-old son was studying in Ukraine since 2009 following in the footsteps of sister, who completed her studies there in 2013.

He was initially with a medical college in Lugansk but all the students were transferred to Uzhgorodh during the 2013 Russia-Ukraine turmoil, sister Kamakshi said.

Elder brother Mukul, an advocate in Delhi high court, came to know of the fatal attack from Amreek Singh, who had helped the medical student study in Ukraine.

Singh, a caretaker-cum-local guardian for Indian students, told the family over the phone that some looters attacked their son. He also contacted the Indian embassy in Kiev.

The embassy in Kiev has reportedly spoken to the families of the students.

All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The embassy is taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the foreign office of Ukraine, foreign ministry spokesman Swarup said.

The wounded students 55-year-old father alleged that government officials were yet to contact the family. Indrajeet is in Ukraine since 2011. He was here during his summer vacation and left in October.

(with inputs from HTC Agra)
My son is my only asset and we have been spending Rs 4-5 lakh on his studies every year. We hope that he completes his course and becomes a doctor, said a worried Narendra Singh, father of Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, one of the three medical students attacked in Ukraine.

Indrajeets friends informed us about the Ukraine incident on phone and said he is in ICU and improving. He and his two friends were attacked while they were asleep, said Singh, who runs a biscuit-making unit in Agra.

Since the news of the incident, the family has been living in anxiety.

We had a phone conversation with Indrajeet on Sunday but after that, there has been no contact with him. I hope my son gets well and continues his studies, said Neera Devi, the 24-year-old students mother.

According to reports, two Indian medical students were stabbed to death while the third (Indrajeet) was grievously injured in an attack in Ukraine on Sunday.

All three were students at the Uzhgorod Medical College and were attacked by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3am on Sunday.

The deceased were identified as Pranav Shandilya, a resident of Muzaffarnagar, and Ankur Singh, a resident of Ghaziabad. Indrajeet survived the attack and is recuperating at a hospital in Ukraine.

No one from the government has contacted us yet and we are living in anxiety concerned about the wellbeing of our son, said the victims father.

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A village panchayat in Uttar Pradeshs Baghpat has decided to boycott the families of girls who wear jeans and tight clothes.

At a panchayat held in Bawli village, it has been decided that girls should not wear jeans and tight clothes. If any girl wears such clothes, her family would be boycotted, village heads husband, Omveer told reporters.

The panchayat also asked villagers to pledge not to take or receive dowry and opposed playing of DJs in marriages. It also came out against female foeticide.

Any family which does not adhere to these decisions would be boycotted, he said.

The Panchayat has also said that no one should attend Terhvi (a ceremony to mark the final day of mourning after death) and have food there.
As the state reels under a severe water crisis, Mumbais college students are exploring ways to conserve water. They are chalking out and implementing water conservation programmes in their own campuses and in drought-hit villages.

Yogita Jadhav, a student from St Pauls College in Ulhasnagar, had often heard the slogan Pani adwa pani jirwa (Obstruct the water, absorb the water), but she understood what it meant only when she saw it in action at a village in Murbad taluka in Thane. The National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteer was a part of a team of students who recently built check dams in the village.

When we first visited the village, the water stream had dried up. With the help of villagers we erected five check dams  small, temporary installations made up of sacks filled with rubble  to accumulate the little water flowing in the stream, she said. Within a day, the water level rose from 2mm to 1foot. Soon enough, the reservoir was full of water and the fields had turned green.

In the past few months, over thousand students from around eight colleges in the city and suburbs participated in projects that help the drought-hit tide over the crisis. From building small dams in rural areas to raising awareness about water conservation in the city, they are bringing some respite to a parched state.

Tata I nstitute of Social Sciences (TISS) faced a water crisis in the campus earlier this year, when Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation cut down the water supply. The borewells in the campus, too, were drying up. We didnt have enough water to cook or bathe, said Sanju Soman, a graduate from TISS.

Soman, with other students, formed a water committee. The committee aims to make the campus self-sustainable in terms of water usage. We have started plugging the leaks in the pipes and the institute has started putting in place an infrastructure to tap rain water, said Soman. The committee also offered tips to save water to students through posters.

A similar initiative was taken up at Don Bosco Institute of Technology in Kurla during Holi. The students raised awareness on water conservation through posters and social media messages.

Royal Dsouza, an NSS programme officer and coordinator for colleges between Kurla and Mulund, said, Students play an important role in raising awareness in the communities. I have asked all the colleges in the region to take up this issue.

Meanwhile, some students are trying to draw the citys attention to the problem. Rushabh Mamani, a city college student, has started an online petition to shift Indian Premier League matches out of the state. It is true that the state will earn some revenue out of these matches but it cannot be at the cost of sufferings of our farmers, reads the petition. So far, it has garnered more than 19,000 signatures.
More than 1,000 non-Kashmiri students have left the National Institute of Technology in Srinagar following days of tensions between local and outstation pupils over nationalism, sources said on Monday.

Around 600 students left the campus on Monday, a day after actor and BJP sympathiser Anupam Kher was forced to return from the Srinagar airport. Another 500 plan to leave on Tuesday, the human resource development (HRD) ministry was told.

Exams were scheduled for Monday but the students left the 3000-people-strong campus after HRD minister Smriti Irani told them they could take the tests after the holidays, possibly by the third week of April.

We feel suffocated here as we are not allowed to go outside or talk to media. We want to get out of campus and do not want to risk our lives to continue with studies, said Srikant Rajwar, a third-year electronics student from Ramgarh in Jharkhand.

Read: T20 match, clashes: How chaos unfolded at NIT Srinagar campus

Sources said many students were taking time off to visit their families and will be back after tensions die down on campus.

Sources said the HRD ministry circulated an email id, asking students who wanted to leave to inform authorities so that preparations for their examinations later could be done.

The campus has been on the boil since March 31, when local students clashed with their Kashmiri counterparts, who were allegedly celebrating Indias loss against West Indies in the WorldT20 semifinals.

Since then, the situation on campus has deteriorated with outstation students demanding the campus be shifted out of Srinagar after police allegedly thrashed hundreds of non-Kashmiri pupils chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai and waving the Tricolour.

The nationalism row has spread to other parts of the country with a group of Kashmiri students beaten up at a Rajasthan college.

Read: Friendships take a blow as politics breeds hatred on NIT Srinagar campus

VHPs international working president Pravin Togadia has demanded action against the perpetrators of violence at NIT-Srinagar, and said the courage of students who tried to hoist the Tricolour was admirable.

The VHP will not tolerate violent attacks against those who respect the Tricolour, he said.

The incident comes months after a similar controversy at Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University, where students were charged with sedition for shouting anti-national slogans.

What happened in NIT Srinagar is totally unacceptable... I pity pseudo-secularists for their silence on it, tweeted Union minister Venkaiah Naidu.

Union HRD minister Smriti Irani has also initiated steps to address the issue of faculty at several NITs using outdated teaching methods and tools  a concern flagged by students at NIT, Srinagar to the HRD ministry team.

The ministry will approach Stanford University to seek help, sources said.

Srinagar students informed the HRD ministry team that faculty is using redundant methods. The ministry wants to revamp it by introducing better teaching methods  putting greater emphasis on visual teaching, more interaction between students and the faculty, and better use of technology, said a senior HRD ministry official.

The ministry also plans to improve the current syllabus by getting inputs from world-class technical institutions.

(with inputs from HTC, Jharkhand)

Read: Why govt sprung into action at NIT Srinagar but ignored Hyd stand-off

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The first thing to notice about the ease with which Kolkata Knight Riders romped to victory is how the overs were distributed among the bowlers by Gautam Gambhir. Even Colin Munro chanced his arm for an over in which he was getting lateral movement. Six bowlers were used against Delhi Daredevils. And that didnt even include Yusuf Pathan who at one point of his IPL career looked a safer bet for four cheap overs than batting his team to safety.

The depth in bowling always made Kolkata Knight Riders a team to look out for. That is in contrast with other teams who look to fill their team with batsmen. Consider this: KKR did without the services of Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel and Shakib Al Hasan on Sunday. When they return, KKR might have to bench John Hastings, Brad Hogg and Colin Munro but it is what captains prefer to term a happy headache to have. And not many IPL teams can boast of that headache in the bowling department.

Read | Daredevils experiment with young Indian batsmen fails versus KKR

As it turned out on Sunday, even the second options gave a taste of what KKR promises at half-strength. Take the case of Hogg. If he is lucky, the 45-year-old spinner might play around six or seven matches. The match against Delhi Daredevils was one of those. Hogg was on the money from his first ball, appealing for a leg-before shout against Pawan Negi who looked a bundle of nerves. Hogg was so quick to sense the edginess that it took the wily Australian just five more deliveries to draw Negi out of his crease with a tossed-up delivery.

Read | IPL: Russell, Hogg dominate Delhi batsmen, carry KKR to easy triumph

With Piyush Chawla at the other end, Hogg carefully engineered Delhis quick implosion with a delightful blend of traditional leg-breaks, chinaman and wrong ones. The wrong one especially was too much especially for Carlos Brathwaite who had admitted before Sundays match that he wanted to improve his knowledge against spin. His lesson against Chawla on Sunday lasted just five deliveries. Chawla however gave credit to Hogg for making the job easier. The way he started to bowl, giving away just two runs and picked up a wicket. My job was to keep it tight at the other end, said Chawla after the match.

This was one match where KKR had to do without their best bowlers, including spinners. Still it was a disciplined and laudable effort. Chawla said that the kind of help spinners are used to get at Eden is available at only four or five other stadiums. And that will give KKR plenty of food for thought. Unlike other teams, they have a happy situation with their bowlers. That shouldnt be good news for many.

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The state legislative council on Monday cleared the dance bar regulation bill with stringent conditions that will make it difficult for dance bars to operate. The bill is now expected to be cleared by the assembly, paving the way for the reopening of dance bars. The bill also has a provision to repeal amendments to Section 33 (A) of the Maharashtra Police Act that were twice struck down by the Supreme Court.

According to the stringent new conditions, dance bars must be at least a kilometre from any educational or religious institution, restrict their timings to between 6pm and 11.30pm, and not serve liquor in the performance area. The bill also bans bars in the residential buildings and permits them in semi-residential ones only if the three-fourths residents consent.

Read more: No dance bars in residential buildings; Maha finalises draft

More rules added to draft dance bar bill

The Supreme Court, during hearings between October 2015 and March 2016, struck down two amendments through which the state governments banned dance bars. The court, however, clarified that the state government has the power to contain obscenity and to safeguard women who work in them. Following this, the state cabinet decided to bring in a new law to regulate dance bars.

The new bill fixes accountability on the owner if rules are violated, if it is found that women are being exploited, or in cases of obscenity. Owners or operators face up to up to five years in jail and fines of up to Rs 25,000 for violations. Separate rules are being formulated on this, based on the provisions of the bill.

The Indian Hotels and Restaurant Association (AHAR), the apex body of hoteliers, said the new rules are not practical. We have no option but to go to the Supreme Court, said Adarsh Shetty, president of AHAR. He said AHARs lawyers will study the proposal in detail. Another hotelier, who did not wish to be named, said the rules were framed to ensure that no dance bars are opened. The owner of a prominent restaurant in Lalbaug said, There are many licences in the names of either wives or mothers of the owners and hence no one will take the risk. Owners say it makes no sense to fight the government.
An Indian national from Gurdaspur in Punjab who was languishing at a Lahore jail for more than 20 years on spying charges died on Monday under mysterious circumstances.

Kirpal Singh, 50, had allegedly crossed the Attari-Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistans Punjab province.

Kirpal Singh was found dead at his cell in early hours of Monday at Kot Lakhpat Jail, an official of Kot Lakhpat Jail told PTI. He said the body of Kirpal has been shifted to the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore for autopsy.

A judicial magistrate was also called who recorded the statements of some prisoners about the death of Kirpal, the official said.

To a question about the death of Kirpal by torture, he said: The inmates of the jail near to Kirpal stated that he complained about pain in his chest and died instantly.

Kot Lakhpath Jail police station head Nafees Ahmed told PTI that the jail authorities had called police to shift the body to the dead house. Apparently, it seems the Indian prisoner died of natural death. However, autopsy will tell the exact cause of death, he said.

Ill-fated Kirpal from Gurdaspur has reportedly been acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore High Court but his death sentence could not be commuted because of unknown reasons. Jagir Kaur, Kirpals sister, earlier said that the family couldnt raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

Earlier, in last week of April, 2013, Indian prisoner on death row Sarabjit Singh was brutally attacked and murdered by his fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat Jail. Both accused - Muhammad Muddasar and Amir Tamba also condemned prisoners - are facing trial of his murder at the jail. Sarabjit was arrested on charges of conducting four bomb blasts in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore that killed 14 bystanders in 1990. He was sentenced to death.
Amritsar Municipal Corporation is struggling to recover property tax dues in absence of records of defaulters. Adding to their woes is the stubborn hotelier lobby that seems in no mood to pay up.

Majority of the hoteliers didnt clear the property tax despite a revision in rates on their demand last year and the civic body missed the collection target.

The MC authorities have asked the officials to initiate a fresh survey to list defaulters of property tax. The officials have been given time till June 30 to complete the survey, based on the data pertaining to the Geographical Index Survey (GI Survey) of 2013, besides issuing challans to the defaulters they come across in the process.

While the GI Survey provides the MC with the lists of assessees of property tax, the civic body lacks data pertaining to payment for property tax from 2013 onwards. The civic body doesnt have digitised record of people who pay property tax. As compared to `28 crore of last year, the MC has set a target of `35 crore this year.

Last year the civic body could collect around `19 crore. The civic body couldnt meet the target as hoteliers despite being given some relief didnt pay up.

Municipal corporation joint commissioner Surinder Singh said only a handful of hoteliers had volunteered to clear their dues. Majority of them has not yet paid their property tax. We dont have lists of defaulters 2013 onwards as digitisation of records is on, he said.

He said as the process of computerisation could take a while, officials concerned have been asked to do a survey to physically collect data about the property tax defaulters. The process of recovery of property tax shall be initiated after June 30, he said.
The reports about students passing Class 12 from the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) not being issued visas for studying in Australia has come as an unpleasant surprise to the education department.

On Sunday, education minister Daljit Singh Cheema announced to sending a communication to ministries of external affairs and human resource development, with a request to take up the matter with the Australian High Commission.

This development has put the district education authorities on the backfoot, who think it was a big jot to the credibility of the state education board.

Amritsar district education officer (secondary) Satinder Bir Singh said the development would affect the enrolment in schools affiliated to the board in the next session. Families who want to send their wards to Australia on study visas will think twice before enrolling them in a schools affiliated to the PSEB. Other countries can follow what Australia has done. The issue needs to be taken up seriously with the Australian High commission, he said.

He, however, termed the development as an eye-opener, saying, The PSEB needs to take strict measures to check copying in examinations if it wanted to resurrect its image. Also, the trend of CBSE and ICSE board students who opt for state board to improve score goes against the boards reputation.

He said it was a question mark on the whole educational set up and raised a finger at the teachers. Teachers need to impart quality education. PSEB needs to ensure that best of the lot are appointed as teachers, he said.

District science supervisor Sudeep Kaur said, Because of this report we cannot assume that Punjab board students are inferior. There are instances of copying but they are far and few. But, it is always good to take steps to better the system as there is always room for improvement.

Principal of the government school on the Mall Road, Mandeep Kaur, said, This development should alert us. Board, administration and teachers need to take this seriously. The rule of not detaining (under RTE) any student till Class 8 should be taken back. If it has been claimed that PSEB student with 80% is not even able to take 5 bands, then we definitely need to check the quality of education we are imparting.

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Preventing a major embarrassment for the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the district administration managed to convince and bring down protesting teachers, who had climbed atop a water tank near the Baisakhi political conference venue of SAD here on Sunday.

The protesting teachers were recruited by the government under education guarantee scheme (EGS), alternative innovative education and as special trainers.

To raise their demands, five of the protesting teachers, including two women, climbed atop a water tank at Talwandi Sabo at about 5am.

However, the district administration succeeded in bringing down the protesters after negotiations with them as protesters were assured of a meeting with chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

State committee member of Shaheed Kiranjit Kaur EGS, AIE, STR Teachers Union, Veerpal Kaur Sidhana, said the administration had assured them of fixing a meeting with the CM in Chandigarh on April 18 to discuss their demands so they descended from the water tank. She said the police also assured them of cancelling the cases registered against their members after a protest in Bathinda.

Senior superintendent of police Swapan Sharma could not be contacted for comments. Sub-divisional magistrate Varinder Singh said they had given a written assurance to the protesters to fix a meeting with the chief minister on April 18.
Union food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Sunday said the Punjab government was committed to protect the interests of farmers and was ready to extend all kinds of help to the debt-ridden farmers.

While interacting with mediapersons during a sangat darshan programme at Gobindpura village, Harsimarat said the Punjab government was completely committed to resolve all kinds of issues of the farmers and various farmer welfare schemes had been launched with the same objective.

She said the Punjab government would launch Bhagat Puran Singh Health Insurance Scheme on Monday, which was a part of the series of pro-farmer initiatives launched by the government.

She said more than 11 lakh farmers having J forms could avail the benefit of the scheme. In the first phase, 3 lakh farmers were being given the benefit, she added. Harsimrat said the scheme included health insurance up to `50,000 for the head of family and other members for an year.

Answering a query, she said the state government had been paying power bills of the farmers for the last nine years, amounting to `6,000 crore and in coming days, around 1.56 lakh new tube-well connections would be allotted to farmers, whose power bills would be paid by the government.

Responding to a media query on the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) forming a committee to probe reasons for racial attacks on Sikhs abroad, the minister appreciated the decision and said it was the need of the hour so that such racist attacks could be prevented in future.

She added that after the 9/11 terror attack on World Trade Centre in the US, Sikhs in foreign countries were facing many kinds of problems for which the Punjab government had appealed to the central government to run a campaign and create awareness regarding Sikhs.

Terming the hurling of a shoe at Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as unfortunate, she said such a method of protest was not right. She said politicians should understand the feelings of people and consider their demands seriously.

Answering a question on the upcoming solid waste management plant on Bathinda-Mansa road, against which residents of the area are resorting to protests, she said the project was being set up after getting approval from the National Green Tribunal.
Owners of combine harvesters in Haryana are facing losses this year due to an increasing competition from their counterparts pouring in from the neighbouring state of Punjab. But farmers as rejoicing as, thanks to the tug-of-war of sorts, the cost on harvesting wheat has fallen by Rs 400. Harvesting wheat on an acre in the region now costs Rs 1,000.

Its a sight to see the combine harvesters, little monster machines that gulp down the chaff and throw up clean grain, lined up on the National Highway-1 that connects Punjab and Haryana, ready to fan out.

We are not going to earn good profits as the number of combine harvesters from Punjab has doubled (this year), forcing us to reduce prices, said Sunil Tyagi, who owns a combine harvester, in Karnals Bijna village. I have four combine harvesters but it is tough completion about 100 combine harvesters from Punjab have come to Karnal alone, he said.

Tyagi has sent two of his machines to other districts, Yamunanagar and Rohtak. But not everyone is doing that. Some are winding up. I disposed of one machine as I could not earn any profit due to competition from the Punjabi machines, said Kaka Singh of Yunispur village in Karnal.

But the harvesters from Punjab refused to be blamed. They said it was their right to work anywhere as the harvesting season back home was delayed by a week.

They (Haryana owners) cannot blame us for fall in prices because they too go to Punjab and Madhya Pradesh for harvesting, said combine harvester operator Jasbir Singh from Punjabs Nabha area. Jasbir said the combine harvesters from Punjab will stay in Haryana for a week before returning home as harvesting picks up there.

When we go back we will also face the same competition as combine harvesters from Haryana will reach Punjab and will force a reduction in prices, he said.

6.31 MT procured so far: Govt

Chandigarh: About 6.31 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat have arrived in mandis of Haryana so far. A government spokesperson said more than 2.01 lakh MT of wheat had been procured by the food and supplies department, and HAFED had purchased more than 1.69 lakh MT.

He said the Food Corporation of India had purchased 72,844 MT of wheat, the Haryana Agro Industries Corporation 28,238 MT, and 1.60 lakh MT of wheat had been procured by the Haryana Warehousing Corporation. Apart from this, 191 MT of wheat had been procured by traders. He said Palwal district was leading in wheat arrival with 1.05 lakh MT of wheat in mandis. htc

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Confusion over the seat-sharing arrangement between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the upcoming assembly elections in the state shows no signs of clearing with BJP state affairs in-charge Prabhat Jha claiming on Monday the party high command is yet to take a decision on the issue.

The statement comes a few days after the newly elected state BJP chief and Union minister Vijay Sampla said the party will stick to the existing arrangement and contest on 23 seats in the elections scheduled in 2017.

Read more: The who, why, what next on new Punjab BJP chief Vijay Sampla

The decision in this regard (sharing of seats) will be taken by the high command at an appropriate time before the elections. There has been no final official announcement on the issue so far, said Jha, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with party workers in Jalandhar on Sunday.

The controversy over the issue began after SAD chief and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badals meeting with BJP national president Amit Shah in February this year.

Even though Sukhbir announced that the BJPs national leadership had given its nod to stick to the existing seat-sharing arrangement, many state BJP leaders, including former chief of the state unit Kamal Sharma and national secretary Tarun Chugh, contradicted his claims.

On being questioned as to why he was touring the 23 constituencies from where the BJP had contested in 2012, when nothing was final on the seat-sharing yet, Jha said he was asked by the party high command to take feedback from the workers in the existing constituencies.

Caste balance: Sampla meets Jaitley, change of Punjab ministers likely

Make voters aware of Modis policies

During his visit to Jalandhar, Prabhat Jha addressed party workers in three constituencies: west, north and central. Jha told the workers to make voters aware about new pro-poor and pro-farmer policies implemented by the Centre.

If you make people aware about historical initiatives taken by the Modi government to uplift the downtrodden, there is no doubt they will vote for the SAD-BJP alliance in the Punjab assembly polls, Jha told party workers. Jha said the BJPs base has increased in Punjab, with the party membership reaching 23 lakh this year from 3 lakh a few years ago. He, however, admitted pressure on party workers to increase the number of assembly seats in the coming election. BJP state organisation secretary Dinesh Kumar said the SAD and BJP are like two brothers functioning well.

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Need relationship advice? Is she not returning your calls or are you yet to ask her out? Fret not, Popular TV anchor, comedian and thespian Cyrus Broacha turns love guru to help you with his ready wit, rumour and some solid perspective on love, relationships and everything in between.

I love a guy from my class. He is always depressed because of family pressure. Once, he expressed his feelings, but said he wasnt ready to be in a relationship. I even said I wanted to be his partner. He has mood swings, and sometimes, he behaves weirdly and ignores me. Ive compromised on many things just to be with him. He has changed after we started talking and spending time together. But Im worried about his mood swings. Should I continue like this or wait till he changes?

CV

CV, Emperor Nero of Rome was very similar. Serious mega mood swings. Once completely drunk he bumped into his own marble statue in his palace courtyard. And he had all 16 guards in the compound executed (obviously he had to do a lot of the executing himself as he ran out of guards). You must tackle his weird personality immediately. He doesnt respect you enough if he can sway up and down like this. Stop compromising and start confronting him. Personality is like body odour. If not dealt with, the stink gets worse. Be strong, be firm, tie his shoelaces together if you have to. But dont let him dictate terms. Thats not a relationship. Thats punishment.

Read: Cyrus Broacha has an advice for the lovelorn: Dont confront him

Recently, I started liking a girl. But she avoids me and talks to another guy. I got frustrated because of her behaviour and yelled at her. Now, I am very jealous and cant even sleep or concentrate because she talks to this guy. Should I forget her or do something about the boy?

Confused

To say you are mad would be too impolite. Id rather ask you if youve lost your mind. Please understand if the girl doesnt like you and likes another boy, you cant take action against the boy. Obviously, shell avoid you. Id avoid you and youre not even romantically interested in me! Yes, forget her. We, men, must learn to accept rejection. Its the same feeling you get when your pant doesnt fit your waist anymore. Have you ever tried to drive a car with your pants at your ankles? She doesnt like you. Your yelling didnt help either. She likes the other guy. Deal with it and move on. ..Oh, and pull your pants up for Gods sake.

Read: Find yourself in a Game of Thrones type relationship? Dont worry

I had feelings for a girl in my college. I couldnt propose to her. Now, she told me that she is in a relationship with a friend, who confirmed this. What should I do?

D Boy

D Boy, have you been reading too much Harry Porter? I think you are mistaking me for Professor Dumbledore (the Richard Harris version, please). In spite of my penchant for wearing conical hats at soirees and job interviews alike, let me confirm that I cant wave a magic wand and make her fall for you. Besides, in modern India, if one brandishes a magic wand in public, people may get frightened. Even Baba Ramdev doesnt do that. You missed your deadline. Now you need to wait and watch. Stay in the shadows and be her friend. If you can bear it, let her relationship play out. In a little while youll know how strong it is.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.
Almost 10 days after TV actor Pratyusha Banerjee committed suicide, the Mumbai Police is still recording statements in the case. The Balika Vadhu actors boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh has been booked for suicide abetment based on the case filed by the actors mother.

Singh is currently admitted to Shree Sai Hospital in Kandivli for acute depression and the police are checking whether he can be arrested. His anticipatory bail has been rejected. The police have recorded the statements of many witnesses, including Rahuls ex-girlfriend Saloni Sharma and Banerjees parents. This is what everyone had to say in the case...

Read: Who took Rs 24 lakh from Pratyushas account? Police on money trail

Rahul Raj Singh said in his initial statement to the police, We used to stay in a two-bedroom flat. We had two keys; one key was with Pratyusha and the other was with me. When I entered the bedroom, I found Pratyusha hanging from the ceiling. I got very scared. Immediately, I called the neighbours and with their help, I took her to Kokilaben Hospital.

Pratyusha Banerjee with boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh.

Speaking about his reason for being absconding till the day after her suicide, Rahul said, We assumed that she was alive, but she was not. I got so scared that I did not inform the police. It was the hospital authorities who informed them. After the doctors declaration, I called up Pratyushas family members and few of our close friends.

On the allegations that Banerjee was in a messy relationship with him and they had a fight before the actress committed suicide, he told a newspaper, We did not have a fight. We were soon going to get married.

Read: Rahul has not been honest from the day of Pratyushas death, says his lawyer

Pratyusha Banerjees parents told police that the actor was fed up with her life because of boyfriend Rahul Raj Singhs harassment. Banerjee used to call her mother Soma from her maids phone as Rahul had restricted her from speaking to her parents, the statement said.

In October last year, I had heard them shouting loudly in their bedroom and at one occasion, Pratyusha came running out of her bedroom scared, said Soma Banerjee in her statement to the police.

Pratyushas domestic help Renu Singh said in her statement to the police, When Rahul was out, she would narrate her ordeal to me. She would show me the injuries she got from Rahuls beatings.

She said Rahul also controlled Pratyushas finances, including her credit and debit cards. They would mostly fight over money matters. Rahul would often ask her for Rs 50,000 to 1 lakh even when she did not have the money. Rahul would also suspect her and doubt her. Pratyushas previous relationship with a businessman was another reason for many of their fights, Renu said. She said whenever Pratyusha brought up marriage, Rahul would avoid the topic.

Renu worked at Pratyushas and Rahuls flat for three months and left the job around a month ago, when Rahuls ex-girlfriend Saloni showed up at their house  with a copy of the key. After letting herself in, she had a fight with Pratyusha and Rahul. Renu said, Pratyusha thought Saloni got the key from me. I dont know how she got it. I quit the job then and did not even get paid.

Pratyusha Banerjees parents with actor Kamya Punjabi (extreme right).

A driver, who had earlier worked for Rahul, said he saw Saloni at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital on April 1, when Rahul had taken Praytushas body there. According to a source, the driver told the police Rahul left the hospital after leaving Pratyushas body there, and that Saloni also disappeared soon after.

Actor Kamya Punjabi, Pratyushas friend, said during a press conference, Some days ago she (Pratyusha) called me and said Rahul is cheating on her. Three-four days ago, when I got a call in Delhi, I told her Ill come and sort out everything. She said she cant live like this anymore and wanted to get out of this relationship. She said she needed help.

Kamya added that Pratyusha called another common friend Leena and said I want to fight back.

Vikas Gupta, a producer friend of Pratyusha, claimed the actor did not want to give up on the relationship. She was in a messy relationship. She didnt want to come out of it thinking I dont want people to think I am in a relationship and now I am getting out of it. She didnt want to give up, he claimed.

Gupta also claimed Rahuls ex-girlfriend Saloni Sharma allegedly used to assault Pratyusha in his absence. Saloni Sharma used to visit her and assault her. She used to threat Pratyusha because of which she was disturbed too. When Pratyusha used to tell Rahul about this, he used to switch off his phone and not visit her, he further claimed.

Kamya and Vikas also claimed that Rahul used to publicly slap Pratyusha in public as well as in parties and many of her friends had witnessed it.
Three men who had been missing for three days were rescued from a deserted Pacific island after a US Navy plane spotted the word help spelled out in palm leaves on the beach, officials said on Saturday.

The mens families reported them missing Tuesday after they failed to show up at the Micronesian island of Weno, US Coast Guard spokesperson Melissa McKenzie said.

The men were travelling in a skiff from another Micronesian island when a wave overtook them, she said.

Fortunately for them, they were all wearing life jackets and were able to swim to the deserted island, McKenzie said.

The mens families reported them missing Tuesday. They were stranded on the island. (Photo: Twitter account of US Navy)

The men were waving their orange life jackets when the Navy plane spotted them on the small island of Fanadik, several hundred miles north of Papua New Guinea. Two hours later, a small local boat picked them up and took them to a hospital.

McKenzie said she didnt have updated information on the mens condition Saturday.

Two bulk carriers searched a combined 17 hours for the men as part of AMVER, a US Coast Guard voluntary search and rescue programme. With AMVER, rescue coordinators can identify participating ships in the area of distress and ask them to help.

In the last two weeks, 15 people have been rescued in the Pacific with the help of 10 AMVER vessels and six aircrews, the US Coast Guard said.

One of the men trying to catch the attention of a US Navy plane. (Photo: Twitter account of US Navy)
Three men attacked a rural police station in southern Russia on Monday, including at least one suicide bomber, the Interior Ministry said, saying police in the affected area had been put on alert.

The attack took place in a village in Russias Stavropol region, close to the volatile majority-Muslim North Caucasus area, where Islamist extremists intent upon carving out a breakaway caliphate have targeted policemen in a series of car bombings and shootings.

An attack took place on a regional police station, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry in Stavropol told Reuters. One of the attackers blew himself up, two others were killed.

Initial reports said nobody else - including police officers or civilians - had been hurt.

Accounts of what happened varied. Some Russian news agencies cited unnamed police sources as saying three suicide bombers had managed to blow themselves up and that there were four attackers in total. Reuters could not independently confirm that.

The interior ministry spokesperson said the authorities had responded to the attack by activating the Fortress Plan, which meant police had been put on a higher state of military-style readiness.

An eyewitness video on the lifenews.ru news portal filmed at what it said was the scene of the attack showed the blackened entrance to the police station and assorted debris in front of it as a continuous alarm sounded in the background.

The man filming the video, who was not named, said there had been five explosions and automatic gun fire.

.
A community in Canada declared a state of emergency after 11 people attempted suicide on Saturday and March recorded an average of nearly an attempt a day.

The Attawapiskat First Nation, located in James Bay in the province of Ontario, took the measure after being overwhelmed by the more than 100 people who tried to kill themselves over the past eight months, according to Canadian national broadcaster CBC.

One person died among those that attempted suicide.

The community has approximately 2000 Cree residents. CBC quoted its chief Bruce Shisheesh as saying: Im asking friends, government, that we need help in our community.

In response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. Well continue to work to improve living conditions for all indigenous peoples.

Canadas First Nations are the 1.4 million indigenous or aboriginal people who make up almost 4% of the countrys population. They have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy. They are also victims of violent crime and addiction.

Canadas health minister Jane Philpott said she was deeply distressed by this news and was reaching out to the ministry team and partners to find solutions.

Among the triggers attributed to this spate of suicide attempts are drug abuse, overcrowding in homes and bullying.

Shisheesh said: We have people that are on prescriptions. We have people that are selling pills. And I believe thats how some of them have withdrawals and they feel unwanted, or they dont know how to express their feelings and they have to use a drug to drown their problems or their pains. And when you dont have money to buy drugs, thats when they turn to suicide.

The federal and the Ontario provincial governments have announced they are sending emergency medical personnel to the area and the crisis teams will include mental health nurses and social workers.
A grenade presented as evidence in an anti-terrorism court in the Pakistani port city of Karachi on Monday exploded when the judge asked a policeman to explain how the device worked.

Two people were injured when the grenade went off in the courtroom while a case was being heard against a man accused of being an extortionist and a gangster.

The alleged gangster was accused of using grenades to harass people, and police said they had recovered a stash of grenades when they arrested him.

Defence lawyer Abdul Jabbar Lakho said the explosion occurred when the policeman pulled something out of the grenade.

Senior police official Jamil Ahmed confirmed the incident, saying the part that exploded was the detonator. Police said it was thought the detonator had been defused. The explosives surrounding the detonator had been made harmless, Ahmed said.
An Afghan hospital official says that at least 12 new army recruits have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Ahsanullah Shinwari, head of the Jalalabad hospital, said Monday that 12 bodies have been brought to the hospital in the city, 125 kilometers (77.5 miles) from the capital Kabul.

He said another 38 people were wounded, most of them in critical condition.

All were new army recruits traveling in a bus Monday afternoon, on the outskirts of the Jalalabad  the capital of Nangarhar province.

Initial reports said the attacker was on a motorcycle when he rammed the bus, detonating explosives, according to Ahmad Ali Hazrat, chief of the Nangarhar provincial council.

No group has yet claimed responsibility. Suicide attacks regularly take place in Jalalabad, as a number of anti-government insurgent groups are based in the province.
Despite some candidates in the ongoing 2016 presidential elections stating they would bring back waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced" interrogation techniques, CIA Director John Brennan declared that the agency will never resort to those methods again - even if the president himself decrees it.

"I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure," the CIA director said in an interview.

Waterboarding was used infamously after the 9/11 attacks, with the CIA utilizing the aggressive interrogation technique in order to force information out of terror suspects. Due to its nature, which involves a very real simulation of drowning, the practice has been branded as a form of torture by many, ultimately being banned by international law.

Plus, its effectiveness was deemed questionable by critics as well, who stated that terror suspects who were waterboarded did not really give up sensitive information anyway.

Thus, immediately after current U.S. President Barack Obama took power back in 2009, he immediately banned waterboarding, together with other harsh interrogations, from being conducted by authorities. During that time, Obama stated that waterboarding and the other aggressive techniques amounted to no less than torture.

With the 2016 presidential elections underway, however, candidates, especially from the Republican side, have made it known that they intend to reinforce aggressive interrogation practices again.

GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who is famous for his strong rhetoric, has stated that waterboarding, as well as other interrogation methods he characterized as "as hell of a lot worse," would be used to draw information out of terror suspects under his administration.

Trump's main rival on the GOP side, Ted Cruz, also doubled up on the waterboarding stance. Though he stated he would not bring waterboarding back to any "widespread use," he nonetheless does not consider the practice as a form of torture.

Cruz also said he would "use whatever enhanced interrogation methods to keep this country safe."

As it turns out, however, even if Trump or Cruz becomes president, waterboarding, together with a number of other questionable and aggressive forms of interrogation, would not see the light of day.

Not if CIA Director Brennan could help it.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A growing global demand for shark fins and a general deficit in fishing regulations are key drivers in the decline of shark populations. More than three million sharks in the Coral Triangle alone are said to fall victim to fin harvesting each year.

New research from Australia's Murdoch University examined the catch, trade and management of sharks in Indonesian island communities, the leading country in the international shark fin trade.

Home to the largest shark fin industry, and the world's most diverse coral reefs, the Coral Triangle lies within a region of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. With a reported annual catch of 100,000 tons, Indonesia's shark fishery contributes more to the international shark fin trade than any other nation.

Despite staggering population declines, sharks are continually harvested for their fins due to the high price tag that makes shark fishing one of the most lucrative livelihoods in these remote coastal areas.

However, overexploitation of sharks causes cascading effects throughout local biological ecosystems. Therefore, researchers warn better fisheries management and established No-Take Zones (NTZs) are need to ensure effective shark conservation in Indonesia. NTZs ban both commercial and artisanal fishing of all sharks and reef fish.

Led by Vanessa Jaiteh, researchers traveled to the Raja Ampat regency of far Eastern Indonesia, where sharks have a high monetary value as a tourism attraction.

Compared to areas of open fishing, researchers found shark populations were up to 28 times higher within two NTZs of a marine protected area in a recently established shark sanctuary of Raja Ampat. This suggests NTZs act as a safe haven for remaining sharks and their offspring by providing more food and refuge.

But researchers were also interested in what the establishment of the Raja Ampat shark sanctuary meant for local fisheries. Of those interviewed, 88 percent of Eastern Indonesia's fishers knew sharks were now off limits, but were not convinced of the need for the sanctuary.

As an exceptionally profitable industry, many of the fisheries felt their livelihoods were not considered by conservation agencies when making the decision to close large stretches of shark hunting grounds.

However, researchers also found many shark fishers adapted to the closures by moving to other fishing grounds, targeting populations in unprotected regions, or by finding other means of supporting their livelihoods, including illegal petrol transport.

"The fishers we interviewed were aware that sharks are important for marine ecosystems and tourism, but also expressed their dilemma in pursuing more sustainable livelihoods within the limitations of geographic remoteness, poverty and debt with boat owners and traders," Jaiteh explained. "Some of their self-initiated alternatives involve high personal or environmental risk and are hardly more sustainable than shark finning, which undermines the broader benefits of locally successful conservation strategies."

Researchers urge that their findings highlight the need for both NTZs and alternative means for fisherman to sustain their livelihoods.

Their study was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Wildlife photographer Tim Fitzharris is the artistic mind behind a beautiful new stamp released this month by the National Postal Service. Tims photo of wild horses at the Assateague Island National Seashore (a beautiful sandy, beachy barrier island park that straddles Maryland and Virginia) will be commemorated on a Forever stamp as part of a pane of 16 stamps celebrating the National Park Services Centennial this year.

Tim latest pictorial book, Wild California, was published in 2013. He is also the author and photographer of 27 additional books on wilderness and wildlife photography. He is one of the most published nature calendar photographers in the world. His photographs are published worldwide, appearing on the covers of Life, Audubon, Natures Best, Terre Sauvage, Outdoor Photographer and many other publications. He lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Get Our Free Weekly Enewsletter About Horses

Tim took the photo on Assateague Island on a warm, sunny day in May, 1993. He was on the Maryland side and he caught the ponies grazing at dawn. This week I chatted with Tim via email. He said he loved how the wild ponies, are personable animals with each other. Their movements are graceful and varied. They are curious.

He hasnt photographed the Assateague ponies again since the day he snapped this beautiful photo. They are always high on my list to photograph, he said. However, wild ones, which are the ones I am interested in, are elusive, intelligent and wary. Not easy to shoot.

Check out a couple other stamps from the national parks series, like Acadia National Park and Arches National Park.

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Follow Kitson Jazynka on Twitter at @KitsonJ and on Facebook.
The number of planned hotel rooms in Africa has soared to 64,000 in 365 hotels, up almost 30% on the previous year, according to new figures from the annual W Hospitality Group Hotel Chain Development Pipeline Survey.

The increase is largely down to strong growth in sub-Saharan Africa, which is up 42.1% on 2015 and is significantly outstripping North Africa which achieved only a modest 7.5% pipeline increase this year.

A major shake-up in the rankings by country saw Angola, never before listed among the top 10, push Egypt out of second place, due to a major deal there signed by AccorHotels.

The W Hospitality Group survey is published ahead of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), which is organised by Bench Events. The conference attracts all the major international hotel investors in Africa and is being held for the first time in Lome on 21-22 June. A second AHIF will also take place in Kigali, Rwanda on 4-6 October.

Trevor Ward, W Hospitality Group managing director, said: "The evidence from our survey is clear - investors remain confident about the future of the hospitality industry on the continent. Even when pummelled daily by low commodity prices, exchange rate problems, political challenges and poor infrastructure, Africa remains resilient."

The IMF forecast for economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is for an increase of 4% this year and 4.7% in 2017, up from 3.5% in 2015. Overall this is down on the 5-6% increase enjoyed over the past decade, but it's still double or more the forecast for the world's advanced economies, such as Europe, the USA and Japan.

Matthew Weihs, managing director of Bench Events, said: "Africa is still on the up. For business, trade and capital investment, the continent remains an attractive proposition, leading to continuing demand for accommodation and other hospitality services."

Detailed analysis

This is the eighth annual pipeline survey, widely recognised as the most authoritative source on hotel industry growth in Africa, particularly in revealing data on international chains signing new deals.

The 2016 survey provides a full picture of hotel development across the continent - 36 hotel chains and 86 brands with more than 64,000 rooms in 365 hotels.

In comparison to figures from the inaugural survey in 2009, it's possible to see how far hotel development in Africa has come. In 2009 there were 19 international and regional hotel chains contributing, with a pipeline of 144 hotels and just under 30,000 rooms.

Overall in the 2016 report, it's Angola that dominates. In July last year, AccorHotels signed with AAA Activos LDA for the management of 50 hotels with around 6,200 rooms. All are under construction and many are ready to open.

Across the continent, the north-south divide on hotel development continues. In 2011, the number of pipeline rooms in the five countries of North Africa was about 25 per cent higher than that in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, it is less than half.

Trevor Ward explained: "There are two reasons why development activity in North Africa is now somewhat subdued. Firstly, the markets there are more mature and have already seen much development, so there are fewer opportunities for new hotels. Secondly, there is the political turmoil  in Libya, which has seen a 40% drop in the pipeline, and also Egypt, parts of which are experiencing drastic reductions in the number of tourists."

Source: The Bench

Source: The Bench

Nigeria remains the country with the most rooms in the pipeline, up 20% on 2015. Together with Angola, the two countries account for 17,782 rooms between them, almost 30% of the total pipeline and 40% of the signed rooms in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: The Bench

Source: The Bench

Despite the promising 2016 survey findings, Trevor Ward cautioned on the number of hotel deals that have been signed but have so far not opened, for a variety of reasons but primarily a lack of finance. "Between 2006 and 2013, 104 deals with 21,377 rooms, over 30% of the total, were signed and should now be open, or at least well under construction".

Source: The Bench

Trevor Ward said: "If all those involved - the investors, chains, consultants and lenders - can bring these deals to fruition, the pipeline of the future will result in the much-needed expansion of Africa's hotel industry."

Source: The Bench

The 2016 survey will be discussed in detail at AHIF in Lome in June. Matthew Weihs, said: "The 30% increase in the hotel development pipeline is astonishing and clearly demonstrates that Africa still has fantastic potential for further growth."

AHIF is the pre-eminent event for international investors in hotels in Africa. It takes place in Lome, Togo on 21-22 June 2016, at the new flagship Radisson Blu Hotel du 2 Fevrier. The second AHIF will take place on 2-4 October at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Convention Center, Kigali, Rwanda. For more information, visit www.Africa-Conference.com.

About W Hospitality Group

The W Hospitality Group, a member of Hotel Partners Africa, specialises in the provision of advisory services to the hotel, tourism and leisure industries, providing a full range of services to clients who have investments in the sector, or who are looking to enter them through development, acquisition or other means. In sub-Saharan Africa the W Hospitality Group is regarded as the market leader due to the market and financial expertise of its staff, its worldwide knowledge, and its commitment to its clients. In Africa, W Hospitality Group has to date worked in 39 countries on the continent, from its Lagos and Addis Ababa offices.

The Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF)

AHIF is the premier hotel investment conference in Africa, attracting many prominent international hotel owners, investors, financiers, management companies and their advisers. It is organised by Bench Events (www.benchevents.com), which is known for producing, alongside Questex Travel + Hospitality and MEED Events, several other top-level hotel conferences around the world including Berlin (IHIF), Dubai (AHIC), Istanbul (CATHIC) and Moscow (RHIC).

Sponsors of AHIF Togo 2016 are: Host Partners: Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Private Sector Promotion and Tourism of Togo and Groupe Kalyan; Platinum sponsors: AccorHotels; Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group; Hilton Worldwide; Marriott Gold Sponsors; Rwanda Development Board Gold Sponsors: Areen Hospitality Interior Design; Colliers International, DEG; France Kitchen; Horwath HTL; Hotel Partners Africa; HVS; Hyatt; JLL; Kempinski Hotels; Kinza Yapi; Louvre Hotels; Onlime Business Communications; Source Interior Brand Architecture; Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc.; STR Global; Swiss Education Group; Wyndham Hotel Group and ZPC Group.

Sponsors of AHIF Rwanda 2016 are: Host Sponsors: Rwanda Development Board, Rwanda Convention Bureau and Remarkable Rwanda; Platinum sponsors: AccorHotels; Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group; Hilton Worldwide; Marriott Gold Sponsors: Areen Hospitality Interior Design; Colliers International, DEG; France Kitchen; France 24; Horwath HTL; Hotel Partners Africa; HVS; Hyatt; JLL; Kempinski Hotels; Kinza Yapi; Louvre Hotels; Movenpick; Onlime Business Communications; Source Interior Brand Architecture; Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc.; STR Global; Swiss Education Group; Wyndham Hotel Group and ZPC Group.

About The Bench

The Benchhas established a legacy for delivering world-leading investment forums and conferences in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The key principle behind these platforms has remained "dealmaking'. Transforming the way business connect, Bench has developed a reputation for creating innovative and high-impact meeting spaces for the industry.

For over two decades - government leaders, tourism ministries, global travel & tourism associations, the world's most influential hospitality brands, hotel owners & investors, renowned restaurant groups, airlines & aviation authorities, destination developers, asset managers, financial groups and consultants  have been participating in The Bench's events for their respective objectives. These include AHIC, AHIF, GRIF, FHS, AHF, IDEEA, AviaDev and RENEW where industry players showcase their brands, position themselves as thought leaders or innovators, and connect with the right opportunities and knowledge.

Learn more on thebench.com

About MEED

Launched on International Women's Day 1957, the Middle East Economic Digest, MEED, is a well-known and trusted brand used by governments and businesses operating in the region.

Encompassing a business intelligence service, digital media, publications and events MEED provides exclusive daily news, data and analysis. We are responsible for keeping our audiences of subscribers, registered users and event attendees informed, helping to facilitate decision making and connections.

Our marketing solutions team provides clients with access to our audiences. We partner with local and international companies who need to reach our high-value communities. In consultation with our clients we utilise tried and tested methods to target and engage decision makers to announce and explain, lead and grow and to contact and convert business leaders into customers.

MEED is wholly owned by data and intelligence company GlobalData Plc which means that our marketing solutions clients are also able to access a network of over 13m digital users per month across 18 different sectors.

Learn more on meed.com

Future Hospitality Summit (FHS)

Date: 19-21 September 2022

Location: Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE

Sponsors

Host Sponsor: Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts

Platinum Sponsors: Accor, Dur Hospitality, Hilton, Marjan, Millennium Hotels & Resorts and Radisson Hotel Group

Emerald Sponsors: Emaar Hospitality Group, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, NEOM, Rotana, Royal Commission for AlUla, SMIT Morocco and Taiba Investments.

Gold Sponsors: Aleph Hospitality, CBRE, Colliers, Compass Project Consulting, Dentons, ELAF Group, ENVI Lodges, GG&Grace International, Hospitality Management Holding, HVS, The Indian Hotels Company, Insignia, Interior360, Ishraq Hospitality, IT Hospitality Group, Knight Frank, Louvre Hotels Group, LXA, Mapal Group, Minor Hotels, OBMI, PwC Middle East, QUO, SSH, STR, Valor Hospitality Partners and Voltere by egis.

Silver Sponsors: Deutsche Hospitality and Katch.

Supporters: The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA), Sustainable Hospitality Challenge, and Women in Hospitality (WiH).

Anja Eckervogt

Tarsh Consulting

+44 (0) 3301222648

The Bench
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The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) applauded Governor McAuliffes signing of House Substitute SB 416. In the final days of the General Assembly, the Limited Residential Lodging Act was amended to include a detailed study of short-term rental companies, like Airbnb, as well as increased accountability and enforcement.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) applauded Governor McAuliffes signing of House Substitute SB 416. In the final days of the General Assembly, the Limited Residential Lodging Act was amended to include a detailed study of short-term rental companies, like Airbnb, as well as increased accountability and enforcement.

The House Substitute that was passed on March 2 included language requiring short-term rental platforms to register with the Virginia Department of Taxation. Additionally, the bill allows local governments to create a registry of these rental properties, to ensure basic public safety protections and zoning enforcement and removes the veil of secrecy originally sought by Airbnb around the legally-required tax payments by these properties.

Governor McAuliffes signing of this important legislation is a victory for Virginias small inns and bed and breakfast establishments, consumers and communities, said Katherine Lugar, president and CEO of AH&LA. We've seen in cities across the country the proliferation of illegal hotels run by commercial operators who use the site to rent out multiple residential properties year-round, just like a hotel, while avoiding taxes, zoning guidelines, and health and safety regulations. We believe that all lodging businesses should play by the same rules to ensure neighborhoods are not disrupted by unregulated commercial activity and remain safe and secure. Cities and towns must have the ability to deal with the challenges posed by short-term rentals. We look forward to working with the Virginia Housing Commission as they examine this critical issue in the coming months.

Governor McAuliffes signature on this House Substitute SB 416 is an important milestone to Virginia, said Eric Terry, president of VRLTA. With similar legislation being pushed by Airbnb in other states, Governments across the country now have an example to draw from that codifies commonsense legislation on an industry that is rapidly expanding.

With Gov. McAuliffes signature today the bill is enacted, and the Virginia Housing Commission will begin an in-depth study of this industry. The final report will be completed by December 1, 2016, to the General Assembly, which will then review the information and reconsider the legislation for reenactment during the 2016 General Assembly Session.
Second Holiday Inn Express hotel opens in Chennai and the first in New Delhi

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) last week announced the opening of two Holiday Inn Express Hotels in India; Holiday Inn Express Chennai - Old Mahabalipuram Road and Holiday Inn Express New Delhi - International Airport Terminal 3.

Conveniently located on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), the 136-room Holiday Inn Express Chennai Old Mahabalipuram Road is a perfect destination for business and leisure travellers visiting Chennai. The hotel offers great access to the district's commercial centre that is the hub of automobile plants, IT technological parks and dedicated Special Economic Zones (SEZ). It is also nearby major tourist attractions like ECR Beach, VGP Universal Kingdom Amusement Park and the shopping district.

Additionally, strengthening the brand's presence in north India, IHG has announced the first Holiday Inn Express hotel in New Delhi - Holiday Inn Express New Delhi - International Airport Terminal 3. The 93-room hotel is the first to open in the airport which is easily accessible by both the international and domestic terminals. Offering guests a comfortable and affordable night's stay, the hotel is perfect place for guests wanting to rest and re-charge.

Shantha de Silva, Head of South West Asia, IHG, said: "Holiday Inn Express is really gaining momentum in India as we continue to expand our brand portfolio across the country. The brand offers guests everything they need and nothing they don't while being situated in easily accessible locations. We're excited to be opening the doors of these two hotels and we're confident they will be the number one choice for smart travellers visiting New Delhi and Chennai."

True to the promise of the Holiday Inn Express brand, which guarantees guests comfort and convenience, both hotels offer the following amenities:

 Free and fast Wi-Fi available in guest rooms and throughout the hotel so they stay connected all day, every day

 Free Express Start Breakfast or a Grab & Go option for a smart start to the day

 A comfortable and restful sleep with high quality bedding and a choice of firm or soft pillows

 Self-service business centre and laundry room for everyday needs of the guests

 24-hour access to the fitness centre for guests to indulge in fitness regime any time

IHG has 26 hotels open across four brands in India including: InterContintental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express with 42 hotels in the development pipeline. There are currently three Holiday Inn Express hotels open across India with a further 18 in the development pipeline*.

*Figures as at 31st December 2015
Year-on-year profit per room recorded at Abu Dhabi hotels dropped by 37.0% for the month, which was largely due to the absence of the IDEX (International Defence Exhibition & Conference) exhibition, according to the latest HotStats data.

Year-on-year profit per room recorded at Abu Dhabi hotels dropped by 37.0% for the month, which was largely due to the absence of the IDEX (International Defence Exhibition & Conference) exhibition, according to the latest HotStats data.

The biennial event, along with its co-event, NAVDEX (Naval Defence Exhibition & Conference) is the largest arms exhibition in the Middle East and is hosted at ADNEC (Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre). Typically attracting 80,000 attendees, including individuals and high profile representatives such as defence ministers, chiefs of staff and army, navy and air force commanders, the exhibition was primarily responsible for the 51.2% spike in profit per room this time last year (ie February 2015).

However, with the event not held in 2016, the year-on-year decline in performance recorded across all measures this month was significant, including a 30.8% drop in RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) and a 21.6% fall in TrevPAR (Total Revenue per Available Room).

Whilst Abu Dhabi hoteliers were able to reduce payroll costs by 9.4% and overheads by 11.5%, the top-line decline was too severe to claw back in its entirety, resulting in a 37.0% drop in GOPPAR (Gross Operating Profit per Available Room) recorded this month, to $81.48 from $129.35 in February 2015.

Amman Hoteliers Slash Costs to Drive Profit Growth

Hotels in Amman are in the midst of a challenging period of operation, as RevPAR has dropped by 11.3% in the last year, to $89.31 in the 12 months to February 2016 from $100.69 in the 12 months to February 2015, due to a combination of declining volume and price.

Not only have hotels in the Jordanian capital suffered a decline in RevPAR, but profit conversion in the Rooms department has also fallen, by 1.2 percentage points, as Rooms Cost of Sales increased by 12.1% for the month as hoteliers attempted to stimulate demand via online channels. Declining performance levels have not only been limited to the Rooms department, with TrevPAR down by 6.3% as Food & Beverage (-13.3%) and Conference & Banqueting (-26.2%) revenue plummeted on a per available room basis.

Despite declining revenue levels, astute Amman hoteliers have cut costs to drive a 26.2% year-on-year increase in GOPPAR for the month, including a 10.9% saving in labour costs and a 20.0% drop in overhead costs on a per available room basis.

Economic Woes Stifling Profit Performance at Riyadh Hotels

Hoteliers in Riyadh recorded a 9.9% drop in RevPAR in February, which contributed to the 7.6% year-on-year decline in this measure since the beginning of the year, as Saudi Arabia continues to face economic challenges as a result of the crash in oil prices.

Headline performance at Riyadh hotels has been mixed over the last 12 months, although it is clear from the performance in early 2016 that it is now on a downward trajectory. Rooms department profitability has also suffered due to a 9.0% increase in rooms payroll on a per available room basis, resulting in a 1.9 percentage point decline in profit conversion in the rooms department, to 83.9% of revenue.

In contrast to other cities in the region, which have managed costs to maintain profit, hotels in Riyadh suffered a 3.2 percentage point increase in payroll as a proportion of total revenue, although this was offset by a 2.9% decrease in overhead costs.

As a result of the movement in revenue and costs, profit per room at Riyadh hotels dropped by 19.9% this month, to $119.45 from $149.15 during the same period in 2015.

Click here ( Adobe Acrobat PDF file) to view full the report.

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Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) today announced Hilton Lifou Wadra Bay Resort, its second hotel in New Caledonia, with the signing of a franchise agreement with Societe de Developpement des iles Loyautes (SODIL). The 50-room resort is due to open in 2019 and will be managed by GLP Hotels New Caledonia.

Lifou Island is one of the three Loyalty Islands located off the east coast of the mainland of New Caledonia. This will be the first hotel of this standard on the island which is largely undiscovered and features a combination of Melanesian culture, unique nature, and magnificent beaches. Lifou Island is accessible by air or by boat leaving from Noumea, the capital city of New Caledonia.

Robert Scullin, vice president, Development, Australasia, Hilton Worldwide, said, "Today we take the first step toward adding a world-class resort to the island of Lifou and Hilton is thrilled to have this opportunity; what a terrific place to continue our New Caledonia story. This beautiful country surrounded by the Pacific Ocean has a deep, rich cultural heritage. Global travellers trust the Hilton brand and together with our partners we look forward to making this destination more accessible to global travellers".

William Ihage, general manager of SODIL, said, "This important project has been in the works for many years and together with GLP Hotels and Hilton Worldwide we are excited to bring this unique piece of paradise in the South Pacific to both new and existing Hilton Worldwide guests."

Jean Rambaud, general manager of GLP Hotels New Caledonia added, "We look forward to managing this new hotel and bringing an international level of service to Lifou. We see this as an exciting sister property for the extremely successful Hilton Noumea La Promenade Residence."

The resort will include 50 villas all located on or close to the beachfront and will boast an inland lagoon with local fish, rays and turtles following an agreement with the Noumea Aquarium. Two restaurants, a health club, spa, outdoor pool and event spaces complete the resort facilities.

Today's announcement is a testament to both the Hilton brand's strength in the Australasia region borne out of having had a presence here for over 40 years, to deliver exceptional experiences for both guests and owners," said Sean Wooden, vice president Brand Management, Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide. "We are privileged to be partnering with SODIL and again with GLP Hotels to launch Hilton Lifou Wadra Bay Resort as a strong addition to our current portfolio of 21 operating hotels in Australasia and we look forward to welcoming travellers to this beautiful island with our world-renowned Hilton hospitality."
Where Two Hotel Brands Are Better Than One

Building one strong brand has long been a basic rule in running a successful hotel - but some operators are now looking to improve margins by running two brands on the same property.

Late next summer a new dual branded hotel is due to open in downtown Denver  even if many of the guests who stay there will be unaware of what makes it rather special. Just over half of the 495 rooms will be part of the full service Le Meridien brand while the remainder will operate under the select service AC Hotels flag. These two brands were owned by separate companies, Le Meridien by Starwood and AC Hotels by Marriott, before their planned merger was announced back in November 2015. The 18-storey Denver hotel will be the first ground-up constructed hotel with the AC and Le Meridien combination.

The two brands will have separate food outlets, lobbies and entrances but some of the behind-the-scenes functions will be operated by the same staff. Inside the building, the AC Hotel areas and rooms will reflect the simple, clean and crisp lines of its European origins  while Le Meridien will offer its usual standards of luxury, a full service restaurant, 24-hour fitness facilities and a business center and meeting space.

The operating organization bringing these two brands together is White Lodging, which runs numerous hotels for both these parent companies and several others around the U.S. White Lodging is involved in other dual brand operations including the Aloft and Element hotels due to open in the same premises in downtown Austin in 2017. Aloft and Element are part of the same parent company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

However, as new alliances form in the dual branded hotel market, could we soon see future combinations bringing together organizations which have no connection with each other and which are competing as rivals in the market?

The year of interesting marriages

Lauro Ferroni, Senior Vice President in JLLs Hotels & Hospitality Group in the US, has been following the dual brand trend develop since it started some four or five years ago. 2016 will be the year of the announcement of more interesting marriages, he says. His team calculates that about 3,000 rooms are being developed or converted in dual-branded developments in at least ten U.S. cities including New York, Chicago, San Diego, Houston and Dallas. A common formula is to combine two select service hotels which serve different demand segment such as extended-stay guests with short-stay business and leisure travelers.

The concept is also starting to take hold in the UK  where InterContinental Hotels plans to open a Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites development near Heathrow Airport in 2018  and in India. In the sub-continent, the trend has been embraced at the highest levels  with the civil aviation minister inaugurating the Pullman/Novotel development from AccorHotels at Delhi Aerocity in November. AccorHotels is constructing another dual brander in Chennai, Lemon Tree Hotels is planning one for Gurgaon and Marriott International has just launched a Courtyard/Fairfield Inn development by the commercial IT hub at Bengaluru.

Certain locations are particularly suited to the two brand approach  downtown locations, airports and convention centers, for instance. The two brands catch customers from different segments of the market and lower the traditional risks involved for the hotel operator. Putting large inventory of the same category in one big land parcel is a big challenge, Jean-Michel Casse, senior vice president-operations of AccorHotels in India told the Economic Times. So, once you map the market and look at the potential customers and business feasibility, you need to split the risk in two different brands and different positioning.

Lower labor costs

The dual branded concept can lower labor costs by anywhere between 10 and 30 percent, Patu Keswani, chairman of Lemon Tree Hotels, tells the Economic Times. The same staff can provide security, administration and backroom services while one set of facilities can be used for deliveries, laundry and catering.

Despite the attractions, brands are wary of confusing guests who are loyal to one particular hotel chain. Where brands are going to be cautious is in making sure that the experience is not diluted, says Ferroni. Not all locations will be suitable. Even when they are, operators have to think through how they keep the two categories of guests separate from each other at breakfast time, for instance  especially if one brand offers a more up-market option than the other.

But in cases where dual branding is likely to be effective, Ferroni sees strong potential interest. Lenders and investors would be more enthused about lending to a combination where one brand has a strong track record than to a small local operator on its own. Already, there is one triple-branded development in Chicago and another announced for Nashville. Ferroni predicts that the combinations will get more and more interesting and with future developments even featuring a traditional hotel brand with a unique independent lifestyle hotel.

He believes that the way that the Indian market has taken off could be used a model for elsewhere. Be creative, he recommends. Think of different combinations and think of doing this in cities outside the U.S. which have traditionally had a more expensive, full service approach to hotels.

Source jll.com
Baymont Brand Booming After Just 10 Years with Wyndham Hotel Group

Wyndham Hotel Groups fastest-growing brand defies expectations with record growth in 2015, robust outlook for 2016

Wyndham Hotel Group is marking the 10th anniversary of its fastest-growing brand, Baymont Inn & Suites, a midscale, limited-service brand focused on good, old-fashioned service.

Since being acquired in 2006, Baymont has more than tripled in size and, at 410 hotels strong, continues to grow exponentially. Recent milestone openings, including its 400th hotel and first hotel in Mexico, marked an unprecedented 2015 and landed Baymont on Entrepreneur Magazines Top Fastest Growing Franchises of the Year in 2016.



Baymont has resonated with hoteliers from the beginning. Nearly 30% of Baymont owners have been with the brand since the acquisition and 50% of the brands 2006 locations still remain Baymont hotels. More than 20% of the brands franchisees own multiple Baymont hotels.

Baymont is no longer the underdog the industry once thought it was, said Greg Giordano, the brands vice president of operations. Weve defied the odds by growing steadily for a decade, proving that welcoming service is timeless. Ive been with Baymont every step of the way and I know, as do our owners, that this brand has staying power.

The momentum continues in 2016 thanks to record growth  more than 50 hotels joined the brand in 2015 alone - and an interior prototype design that contains elements of community while offering cost efficiencies for owners. Baymont has more than 40 hotels already in the pipeline for 2016 and plans to open new construction hotels under the prototype design in Midland, Texas and Long Island City, New York later this year.



With hotels in 43 states, Baymont is on a quest to conquer its homeland while expanding across borders. The brand has set its sights on the remaining 7 states (Alaska, Hawaii, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon and Rhode Island), and is looking forward to further expansion in Canada later this year.



My first Baymont property was a conversion property from AmeriHost when Wyndham Hotel Group merged the two brands  back then I was probably the last guy that wanted to be become a Baymont because it was a small, unknown brand, but I'm glad I made the right decision, said Ketan Patel, owner of the Baymont Inn & Suites Muskegon, in Muskegon, Michigan. Over the last 10 years my family has grown to a handful of properties and Baymont is always our first choice. I see myself growing even further with the brand over the next 10 years.

Baymont has cornered the market on genuine, old-fashioned service, coining a culture of hometown hospitality aimed to make guests feel like theyre in familiar territory when theyre away from home. Many Baymont owners and their employees are true hometown hoteliers, residing in the very same communities where their hotel is located.



Our hotels are mostly in small towns where most of our team members have lived for years. They are proud to be part of the hotel and proud to represent a brand like Baymont in their hometown to guests from all over the world, said Tony Maness, vice president of Channel Point, which operates 16 Baymont hotels.

Acquired in 2006, Baymont Inn & Suites was originally established in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as an economy brand under the name Budgetel. After a series of evolutions, the brand inched out of its segment and was re-positioned as midscale under the name Baymont Inn & Suites, meaning from the bay to the mountains. The name reflected a lofty ambition for a brand which at the time was confined to the Great Lakes region of the U.S. With Wyndham Hotel Group, the 126-hotel brand grew exponentially thanks to a merger with the former AmeriHost brand, adding more than 50 hotels in a span of three years, and steady, progressive growth ever since.



About Baymont Inn & Suites

Part of Wyndham Hotel Group, the Baymont Inn & Suites hotel brand is a chain of more than 400 midscale hotels located throughout the United States and in Mexico that takes pride in neighborly hospitality. Many locations feature free Wi-Fi, continental breakfast at the Baymont Breakfast Corner, swimming pools, fitness centers, airport shuttle service and the opportunity to earn and redeem points through Wyndham Rewards, the brands guest loyalty program. Travelers can join the free program at www.wyndhamrewards.com.

Each Baymont Inn & Suites hotel is independently owned and operated under a franchise agreement with Baymont Franchise Systems, Inc. (BFS), or its affiliate. BFS is a subsidiary of Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC and parent company Wyndham Worldwide Corporation(NYSE: WYN). Reservations and information are available by visiting www.baymontinns.com.

Wyndham Hotel Group is the worlds largest hotel company based on number of hotels, encompassing over 7,800 properties and 678,000 rooms in 72 countries. Additional information is available at www.wyndhamworldwide.com. For more information about hotel franchising opportunities visit www.whgdevelopment.com.
At the end of last month, Diddy announced that he will be honoring the legacy of Biggie Smalls with a Bad Boy reunion concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on May 20. Tickets went on sale a few days later and reportedly sold out in seven minutes. Tonight, Puff has announced that he and the Bad Boy Family are bringing one more show to the Barclays Center  to take place the following night, May 20, which is Bigs actual birthday.

A lot of people that have supported us through this whole journey. Fans and everybody, so we wanna make sure that New York gets to see the show, said Puffy on Snapchat, in a clip that he also posted to Twitter. He then shared a clip announcing that tickets for the second show will go on sale on Monday morning (Apr. 11) at 10am. If you played yourself the first time, dont play yourself this time, he told his followers.

In addition to Diddy himself, the original concert lineup included past and current Bad Boy artists like Lil Kim, The LOX, Faith Evans, French Montana, 112, and Total. Non-Bad Boy artists Mary J. Blige and Jay Z are also set to make an appearance. Its unclear if the exact same lineup will perform on each night.

New Yorkers  head to Ticketmaster at 10am for another chance to see many of the citys premier 90s hip-hop stars together on the same stage. Maybe Biggies own daughter can get a seat this time

Puff Daddy
Despite fluctuating quite a bit the stock of Global Digital Solutions, Inc. (OTCMKTS:GDSI, GDSI message board) was still able to close yesterday's trading with a sizable gain of nearly 12%. This brought the company to a close at $0.0047 while at the start of this week they were sitting at $0.0014 per share. After surging by 185% on Tuesday despite some signs of hesitation GDSI have been able to not only hold on to their gains but move even higher up the chart.

The reason for the sudden burst in both interest by the market and support from investors was the announced acquisition of the private Brazilian company the Rontan Group. The deal was first revealed in an 8-K filing on October 19 followed by an official PR on October 21. According to the terms of the agreement GDSI are going to pay $26 million in cash spread over 48 equal monthly installments, $26 million paid in stock valued at $1 per share, while as we said earlier even after the recent massive gains the stock is still deep in the double-zero prices, and an earn-out amount. What will GDSI get in return though?

Well, until an official filing disclosing the financials of the Rontan Group is submitted we won't know the full picture but what we do know is that for 2014 Rontan generated revenue of approximately $128 million. An impressive sum indeed but it might be wise to wait for the whole balance sheet before getting too excited.

Not to mention that GDSI's own financial state raises quite a lot of concerns. The company finished the second quarter of the year with:

 $147 thousand cash

 $769 thousand total current assets

 $1.6 million total current liabilities

 $379 thousand revenues

 $672 thousand net income

While for the quarter GDSI did report a positive bottom line if you take the six-month period since the start of the year the company has a net loss of more than $2 million. And as we warned you in our previous articles as of June 30 there were around $500 thousand in outstanding convertible notes.

These notes can potentially be turned into shares at a 40% discount and if they get converted the resulting dilution could be simply devastating. This may already be happening. As of August 4 GDSI had a little over 112 million outstanding shares but as of September 16 that number had already reached 139 million shares. Since then, however, the rate at which new shares are being printed has picked up even more speed and as the Schedule 13G statement filed on October 7 showed GDSI now had 266 million outstanding shares. Currently there could be even more outstanding shares because just this Wednesday 235 million shares changed hands during a single session.

GDSI's stock could continue to enjoy increased interest from investors thanks to the acquisition but the risks should still be taken into account. The dilution and the possibility of millions of underpriced shares to be unleashed on the market could influence the stock negatively. That is why you should do extensive research before putting any money on the line.




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How to Master the Art of Workplace Diplomacy

Posted by Simon Hopes on Monday, 04-11-2016 7:27 am

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Diplomacy could be the key to your success. Workplace interactions are a part of your job performance. When you have trouble getting along with your co-workers or promote disagreements, you will find it harder to accomplish tasks. Your productivity will suffer. Being diplomatic in the workplace means remaining open to suggestions, hearing everyone out, and avoiding brash decision making. This is not always easy. If you tend to have trouble taking advice or working with a team, then you will definitely benefit from learning the art of workplace diplomacy. Always Think Before You Act The very first rule of diplomacy in the workplace is to think before you act. This applies to any situation  especially when you are angry or irritated. Whenever you feel you're about to make a quick decision without thinking, take a breath. Breathe in through your nose. Hold your breath for a second and slowly exhale through your mouth. By taking a second to think before you act you will find yo...

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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-11 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Greek economic staff and institutions' representatives to resume negotiations at 3 pm [02] Greeks negative over IMF's role, poll says [01] Greek economic staff and institutions' representatives to resume negotiations at 3 pm "Progress has been made in order to have an agreement on bad loans, but the issue has not closed yet," Economy Minister George Stathakis said after the meeting with the representatives of the institutions early on Monday. A new meeting has been scheduled for 3 pm, the minister said adding that the negotiations must end on Monday because the representatives of the institutions leave on Tuesday. Stathakis noted that they have agreed on tax issues, while the discussion on bad loans will resume later in the day. Asked on the negotiations on bad loans, the Bank of Greece governor Yannis Stournaras said: "We are very close (to an agreement)." [02] Greeks negative over IMF's role, poll says Greeks are negative over IMF's role, according to an opinion poll conducted by Palmos Analysis for "Efimerida Ton Syntakton" newspaper. More specifically, 79 percent of the participants believes that IMF's role towards Greece is negative, while 78 percent of the respondents believe that the IMF blackmails the government to impose harsher measures. 63 percent of the respondents said that the government should ask the IMF's retirement from the programme Finally, 77 percent said that the government should not accept additional measures. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
many HR leaders, the 80s werent defined by shoulder pads and spandex but rather unions and industrial action  now, that tumultuous employment landscape has long gone but it seems New Zealands largest supermarket is still being inspired by ideas old.In 2014, industry veteran Jason Tuck was taken on by Countdown to head up a major structural change  the development of a dedicated employment relations function, entirely separate from human resources.While most organisations have retained specialist employment relations roles, very few have distinct ER functions and its an initiative rarely seen since the heyday of unions.Like a lot of things, its gone in cycles, says Tuck, national HR manager, employment relations. Back in the 80s and maybe the 90s, there was a lot more union activity, a lot more industrial action  strikes and so forth  impacted on the efficiency and effectiveness of business, he explains.During that period, there were a lot of specialist employment relations or labour relations roles that were just focused on that component then with the Employment Contracts Act coming in, you saw a large reduction in the number of unions  not so much in the public sector which is still the case but in the private sector  and you saw a large reduction in the industrial action that was being taken.Through that period of time, as the landscape changed, a lot of ER specialist roles just became naturally integrated into general HR because there was efficiency to be gained by doing so.So why has Countdown decided to rededicate an entire function to ER?In 2014, the supermarket side of the business decided to restructure their operations to provide more resources to store managers and they broke up into four zones, explains Tuck. At the time they were doing that, they said to the HR function; Hey, heres an opportunity to reconfigure your structure and align with us if youre up to it and if you wish.At this point, the company consulted HR leaders from the 12 separate areas of the organisation and found that the overwhelming percentage werent exactly satisfied with the status quo.The feedback, pretty much unanimously, was; We spend so much of our time dealing with reactive disciplinary investigations or assisting with issues to do with the collective agreements and hours of work changes, we just dont get the time to get to the value-add HR stuff, reveals Tuck.So the general manager looked at that and made a call that it would be worthwhile for the business to actually separate those two components out, he continues.In doing so, they would have people who have specialist knowledge in employment relations and can focus on supporting managers with that side of the business while the HR function could then focus on doing what it needed to add value.Rather than being distracted by disciplinary processes and other traditional employment relations issues, HR is freed up to tackle more strategic endeavours.Tuck, who was brought in to establish the function almost exactly a year ago, says the feedback has already been overwhelmingly positive.Managers feel like theyre getting more timely, consistent, accurate advice and the HR managers feel that theyre able to focus on where they can really add value to the business, he reveals.According to Auckland-based Tuck, the ER function offers three main areas of service to management  disciplinary, collective negotiations, and organizational restructuring.In all three of those areas, there is a lot of potential legal risk, Tuck told HRM. By having a small team of specialists who are knowledgeable on the legal requirements, the contractual requirements and also the right approach to meet the business right culture and values, that means theres less risk and all of those three areas are managed more efficiently.However Tuck is quick to insist that the ER function doesnt take employment relations responsibilities off managers hands  but rather educates them on handling the situations better.The component that is key to this model working is that were not there to step into managers shoes, were not there for managers to abdicate their responsibilities around decision making for disciplinary outcomes or restructures or even how they engage in and resolve collective agreements, he told HRM. Were there to provide specialist advice and support and were also there to improve capability and confidence in dealing with those matters.The ER team has developed a comprehensive suite of training and subsequent certification process which has been rolled out nationally to improve managers capability in the employment relations arena.So should you do the same for your organization?Each organization needs to look at its own specific circumstances, says Tuck. Things like what is their environment, do they have collective contracts, do they have a large number of disciplinary situations?In some cases, just having an HR generalist is sufficient because of the nature of the business and the type of issues coming up but for businesses that are larger, more complex, undertaking restructuring, have situations where staff are doing the wrong thing on a reasonably regular basis, maybe have unions in the mix as well, considering splitting ER from HR would definitely make good sense because you actually increase the calibre of the support that your operational managers are receiving and the effectiveness of the HR function overall.
Canadian rocker Bryan Adams has cancelled a concert in Mississippi because he "cannot in good conscience perform in a State where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation."

This week, Mississippi passed a "religious liberty" bill that allows people to deny wedding services to same-sex couples and paves the way for employers to legally include religion in setting workplace policies like dress code and bathroom access.

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Adams was scheduled to perform in Biloxi at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Thursday. But in a Facebook statement cancelling the event, he said, "I find it incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against in the state of Mississippi.

"Using my voice I stand in solidarity with all my LGBT friends to repeal this extremely discriminatory bill. Hopefully Mississippi will right itself and I can come back and perform for all of my many fans. I look forward to that day."

Adams' stance comes after Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band cancelled a weekend show in Greensboro, N.C. because of a new law in that state that dictates which bathroom transgender people are allowed to use.

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"To my mind, its an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress," Springsteen wrote in a letter to fans last week.

"We just felt the issue was just too important," guitarist Steven Van Zandt told media. "This really vile and evil discrimination is starting to spread state to state and we thought, 'We better take a stand right now and catch it early.'"

He continued, "It's unfortunately the only way people understand. You have to hurt them economically in order to have them do the right thing morally."

Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, David Sancious and Victoria Clemons (left to right) pose onstage at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony on April 10, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Kane/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

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North Carolina congressman Mark Walker was not impressed by the band's move and called Springsteen a "bully."

"We've got other artists coming soon  Def Leppard, Justin Bieber," Walker told The Hollywood Reporter.

"I've never been a Bieber fan, but I might have to go. Maybe artists who weren't 'born to run' deserve a little bit more support," he said, referring to one of Springsteen's most famous songs.

Businesses have also taken a stance against against North Carolina's law. PayPal cancelled an operations centre that would have created 400 jobs, and the state's biggest employer, Nissan, has publicly supported the LGBT community.

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Bryan Adams Facts See Gallery
An Australian cafe is offering breastfeeding moms free tea and a place to relax.

Natala Bain, the owner of The Willows Cafe and Wine Bar in Sydney, posted a sign outside the cafe that reads, "Pop in, have a FREE cup of tea if you need a pit stop. No need to eat, no need to ask  please relax."

Isn't this a delightful sight #breastfeedingmothersfriendly The Willows at Willoughby Posted by Carolyn Hastie on Monday, March 7, 2016







As a new mom herself, Bain knew firsthand that breastfeeding can sometimes be stressful.

"I'm a young mom myself and I had just had my first child, and thought that it's a good thing to do. It's really to make breastfeeding moms feel welcome," Bain told Mashable Australia.

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The sign has been up since last summer, but after a patron shared a photo of it in March, it went viral with more than 1,000 likes and 700 shares on Facebook. Many commenters are now lauding Bain and her cafe for its inclusiveness.

"There should be more of these places for nursing mothers and their babies. Well done," one user wrote.

Another added: "What a beautiful idea."

Bain herself was inspired by a British cafe that posted a similar sign outside their establishment back in 2014.

This is soooo good!!! The Willows has to steal :) 100% backing the breastfeeding Mummy's!!!! Posted by The Willows cafe & Wine Bar on Saturday, June 20, 2015

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"The Willows has to steal," she wrote in a Facebook post last summer. "100% backing the breastfeeding Mummy's!!!!"

When one commenter questioned Bain for seeming to only support breastfeeding mothers and not bottle feeding mamas, the owner wrote back: "The sign is just to let mother's know that they can feel comfortable breastfeeding here... Bottle feeding is not an issue in today's society."

This sign shows a stark contrast to other establishments that urge breastfeeding mothers to cover up or hide away. Earlier this year, the Daily Mail UK reported that a London restaurant required a mother to either fully cover up or go to the back room.

"I totally broke down and cried in the restaurant. I felt like I must have done something embarrassing," the mother, Carla Francome, said.

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With more businesses like The Willows Cafe and Wine Bar offering themselves as safe-havens, new moms have more options for themselves and their babies.

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In recent years, emerging Canadian fashion designers have been pushing the industry forward and creating a lot of buzz in the international scene. One of the greatest examples of this was seeing Lady Gaga wearing outfits from Beaufille and Matthew Gallagher's S/S 2016 collections in 2015.

On April 15, the Canadian Arts & Fashion Awards (CAFAs) will be held in Toronto and four emerging brands are nominated in the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent, Fashion category. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000, and gain national and international exposure and recognition.

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Here is a short biography of each nominated brand alongside a S/S 2016 outfit illustration created by Michael Hak using iPad Pro.

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Matthew Gallagher debuted his first collection at Toronto Fashion Week (then known as World MasterCard Fashion Week) in March 2013. In 2015, he won the Toronto Fashion Incubator's TFI New Labels competition with his Fall/Winter 2015 collection. The Matthew Gallagher woman is bold, glamorous and appreciates beautiful things. Every garment he makes is handcrafted to suit each client's needs. Some of the celebrities who have worn his clothes include Lady Gaga and Elisha Cuthbert.

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Beaufille is no stranger to the CAFAs. In 2015, the label won the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent, Accessories category. Sisters Chloe and Parris Gordon founded the label in 2013 (it was first known as Chloe comme Parris in 2009), and create both the clothing and accessories for the brand. Its aesthetic? A combination of hard and soft, as the brand's name translates to "handsome girl." Beaufille is also one of the few Canadians brands to be featured on Vogue's website. Last November, Lady Gaga was seen wearing one of its Spring/Summer 2016 outfits.

Based in Montreal, Jose Manuel St-Jacques and Simon Belanger founded UNTTLD in April 2011. In October 2015, the brand won the Mercedes-Benz Start-Up competition at Toronto Fashion Week and had the opportunity to present their Fall/Winter 2016 collection at the shows in March 2016. The clothing of this brand reflects a sense of masculine femininity and timeless elegance. Their mission is to support the local high-end fashion industry by making every piece in Canada.

Emeric Tchatchoua and Raymond Cheung are the masterminds behind the menswear brand 3.Paradis. Because of their European and Hong Kong backgrounds, the designers are able to create clothes that are inspired by the street culture of Hong Kong and Paris. The brand was established in 2013 and won the TOM*EMDA (Toronto Men Fashion Week Emerging Menswear Designers Award) in 2015. The duo also presented their Spring/Summer 2016 collection during the Men's Paris Fashion Week in June 2015.

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To see the rest of the 2016 CAFA nominees, click here.

Marcus Kan is the founder of Draw a Dot, which houses an ever growing collection of brilliant illustrations both on its website and popular Instagram account.

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A Halifax newspaper is under fire for an article it published about seemingly violent refugee students based on anonymous interviews with parents.

UPDATE: April 15  A columnist with the Chronicle Herald has resigned following the backlash to the article, CBC reports. Lezlie Lowe told the broadcaster the story "lays bare the worst of the worst xenophobia in our city and our province."

The Chronicle Herald published the story on Saturday about students at Chebucto Heights Elementary School. One of the interviewees, who asked to be referred to in the article by her nickname "Missy," alleged that refugee students used a chain to choke her daughter, who is in Grade 3.

"She said one boy yelled 'Muslims rule the world' while choking her daughter," reads the original article with the headline "Parents worried over school kids' brutality at Chebucto Heights Elementary School."

A sign for the Halifax Chronicle Herald is seen as members of the newsroom union picket outside the newspaper's office after walking off the job in Halifax on Jan. 23, 2016. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)

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The paper, which has been experiencing a newsroom strike since January, was bombarded with online condemnation from readers and other journalists.

A humiliating, xenophobic excuse for journalism, citing anonymous sources, written by anon scab, at striking paper https://t.co/M9GQ54Mw01  Andrea Woo |  (@AndreaWoo) April 10, 2016

The story was deleted from the paper's website over the weekend. (Blogger Chris Parsons has republished it here.)

But the article, which had no byline, caught the attention of anti-Muslim groups.

"Reaction to the story was all over the map, from thoughtful to downright scary," the Herald stated on the page that held the original story.

"Appallingly, anti-Muslim groups with words like crusade and jihad in their names started sharing the article."

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I hope @chronicleherald is proud of providing the big players in the Islamophobe industry w/ convenient lies pic.twitter.com/kduDOtCQyX  Alheli Picazo (@a_picazo) April 10, 2016

Elwin LeRoux , superintendent of the Halifax Regional School Board, blasted the article on Monday for its "harmful" tone, according to Metro Halifax.

I was deeply offended to see the school represented so inaccurately. I know how hard teachers, administrators and support staff at Chebucto Heights have been working to support each student enrolled in the school, said LeRoux in a message to school board staff.

A current worker at the Herald told The Coast that he feels "ashamed to be associated with this newspaper" after reading the story.

"I read it and the first thing I thought was 'Wow. The only thing this article will accomplish is breed ignorance, hatred and intolerance.' I couldn't believe it. What I really was shocked about was that it got through the editors."

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Julie Chamagne, executive director of the Halifax Refugee Clinic, said the story sends a damaging message to the refugee community in Halifax and beyond.

"I think this article is super damaging and complete drivel," Chamagne told The Huffington Post Canada.

"The tone is really pernicious, and there was no fact-checking and it's hearsay and rumours."

Also on HuffPost
Tony Law

A terrible kitchen incident changed Basma Hameeds life forever. When she was just two years old, she was horribly burned by hot oil. Hameed would go on to spend her formative years in and out of hospitals, undergoing countless surgeries. It had finally come to the point where doctors told her that they had done all they could to help cover her scars.

"I pretty much did everything that the medical community offered; from plastic surgery to laser treatment and then when I reached about 15 or 16, I was still left with a red discoloration from the burn," Hameed explains. "My doctor pretty much said, 'you have to live with it.'

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School was another challenge, as Hameed's appearance was a source of ridicule. "I was constantly being teased and made fun of because of the scars on my face," she says. "It was hurtful, of course, to hear those words."

It was at this point that Hameed, now a teen, looked into finding a solution for her scars. Inspired by permanent makeup procedures, such as tattooed eyebrows, she began to consider what would happen if she were to fill scar tissue using similar techniques.

While studying to become an esthetician, she developed Para-Medical Micro-Pigmentation, a procedure that alters scars, burns and discoloration to match a patient's natural skin tone. Similar to general tattooing, its a procedure in which an ink-dabbed needle is pressed onto the skin. The treatment is complete after at least six monthly sessions. This innovation and Hameeds professional drive to succeed led to the opening of Torontos Basma Hameed Clinic in 2014 and AIR MILES celebration of her this year. The 29 year old is the recipient of the 2016 AIR MILES for Business Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award; a prize awarded annually to one young talent in Canada.

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The Road To Success

Hameeds treatment was initially met with disapproval. Figures in the medical and makeup industries didnt accept the process suggesting that pigment could not survive in the damaged skin. But after seeing success on her own face she rented out a room at a spa and began doing the procedure on others.

The successful results of these treatments had brought in patients from around the world and is now well-regarded medically. Hameed has been contacted by various medical journals to discuss her findings.

Because of the growing demand for Para-Medical Micro-Pigmentation procedures, Hameed started a training academy in 2015 and has plans to open up clinics in Miami and Los Angeles.

A line of Scar Camouflage Concealer is also available. Designed to temporarily cover scars, burns, birthmarks, acne, hypo/hyper pigmentation and vitiligo, it retails in various shades through the clinic's website.

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This wide-range of services and products available through the Basma Hameed Clinic and its founder's globally-minded expansion are proof of her entrepreneurial savvy. Its the same business acumen AIR MILES had seen in its award recipient this year. An incredible example of turning a personal need into a scalable business, the judges say of Hameed. Her plan to open more clinics shows business maturity and a willingness to take entrepreneurial risk.

While the roots of the Basma Hameed Clinic stem from a place of personal pain, its what motivates her to help others.

"I know the feeling," Hameed says of her clients. "I went through it myself...if I see a 16 year old who has alopecia [and has] lost her eyebrows and hair...it brings me back to the same position I was in growing up and being bullied by other kids in school. It humbles me."
If you're #blessed with rock-hard abs like Halle Berry's (or you put in the work to get such a taut stomach), you're gonna wanna show them off, which is exactly what the 49-year-old actress did at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards.

On Saturday evening, the "Extant" actress donned a black Noam Hanoch dress with sheer lace panels putting her toned abs on full display.

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The bodycon number also highlighted the mother-of-two's svelte physique, thanks to the bandage-like top and skirt.

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During the awards show, the mother-of-two, along with Queen Latifah, presented Will Smith with the "Generation Award", praising the 47-year-old actor for being a "champion for diversity in Hollywood."

"[He is] blazing a path for actors by showing that someone of any colour can play any role, and can open any movie, and can win every award, and be the biggest freaking movie star in the whole world," Halle said.

Check out more red carpet photos from the 2016 MTV Movie Awards below:

2016 MTV Movie Awards Red Carpet See Gallery

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The Duchess of Cambridge and husband Prince William, continued on with their royal duties at India's national war memorial on Monday.

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However, Catherine's 1,700 cream-coloured Emilia Wickstead frock couldn't hold its own against New Delhi's strong winds, leading to a very Marilyn Monroe-like moment from the Duchess.

As she laid down a wreath at India Gate to honour the 70,000 Indian soldiers who died fighting for the British Army during the First World War, the breeze became an issue.

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However, handling the moment with complete grace, the 34-year-old mother-of-two was able to catch the hem of her the short-sleeved dress just in time, keeping calm, cool and collected in the moment.

Now, this isn't the first time the mother-of-two has struggled against the wind on a royal tour. During her visit to Canada in 2011, the Duchess had a cheeky skirt-raising experience with the prairie winds in Calgary as she donned a dainty yellow Jenny Packham frock.

Yet, each time, Kate handles the fashion faux like a pro!

And Kate Middleton fans were also given a rare glimpse of the Duchess without shoes, as she slipped off her heels during a visit to the Gandhi Smiriti museum.

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Later that evening, the Duchess changed into an elegant and monochromatic Temperley London Delphia cropped top and skirt for an event that paid tribute to the Queen and her upcoming 90th birthday (April 21st).

For her beauty look, Kate opted to pin back her blown-out locks, revealing dazzling waterfall earrings and nude makeup.

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According to the Daily Mail, the Duchess of Cambridge has packed 15 outfits "carefully chosen to give a nod to her host's culture and local style." And we must say, she's pulling out all the stops for her travelling wardrobe!

For more photos from the Royal Tour of India, check out the slideshow below:

Royal Visit 2016 - India And Bhutan See Gallery
The Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver in 1914 and were denied entry to Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he will deliver a formal apology in the House of Commons for one of Canada's most racist chapters.

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In 1914, the Canadian government denied entry to a boat called the Komagata Maru, carrying 376 immigrants from India, which was controlled by Britain at the time.

The majority of passengers were Sikhs, and all were British subjects. The ship was forced to return to India.

Trudeau said the Komagata Marus passengers were seeking refuge and better lives, like millions of immigrants to Canada since.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement at an event in Ottawa celebrating Vaisakhi. (Photo: The Canadian Press)

With so much to contribute to their new home, they chose Canada. And we failed them utterly, he said at an event in Ottawa Monday celebrating Vaisakhi, the Punjabi new year.

As a nation, we should never forget the prejudice suffered by the Sikh community at the hands of the Canadian government of the day.

The refusal in Vancouver highlighted the federal government's laws of keeping out Asian immigrants. Many members of the Sikh community in Canada have been pursuing a formal apology for the incident 102 years ago.

BREAKING: Prime Minister @JUstinTrudeau to offer full apology on behalf of Canada for 1914 Komagata Maru incident https://t.co/X0RdsIWgHE  Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) April 11, 2016

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In 2015, former prime minister Stephen Harper did apologize for the incident, but it was at a public event in Surrey, B.C. Many Sikh-Canadians felt it would only be acceptable if it was a formal statement in the House of Commons.

During the election campaign last year, the Liberals said they would issue a formal apology, if elected.

Trudeau said the apology will happen on May 18.

Earlier on HuffPost:
UPDATE: A woman was arrested last week in the case, according to The Dallas Morning News. Kalynn Homfeld, 41, has been charged with theft from a human corpse and could face up to two years in jail if she's convicted.

A social media manhunt is on for a woman in Texas who swiped a ring right off a deceased grandmother's finger in a funeral home  even though the jewelry was plastic.

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Surveillance camera video shows a woman walking in after a visitation service at the Sunset Funeral Home in Odessa Friday, stealing a ring from 88-year-old Lois Hicks' left hand, according to a local news site.

Here is part 2 of the video of the thief Posted by Brooke Vaughan Burns on Saturday, April 9, 2016

I cant believe someone would be that low, Hicks' daughter Vel McKee told the outlet.

"I hope they catch her.

The theft is a crime, but the woman in the video may not have known that the ring was a fake.

Its being investigated, even though the ring was a $10 plastic ring, Odessa police Cpl. Steve LeSueur told USA Today.

Theft of a corpse, regardless of whether its $5 or $5,000 is still an automatic felony.

Hicks' granddaughter Brooke Vaughan Burns posted an angry message to Facebook on Saturday, along with surveillance footage and a photo of the ring itself in an attempt to identify the robber.

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"As if my grandmother passing away hasn't been hard enough on my entire family now some low life thief went into the funeral home yesterday around 5:40pm and stole the ring off her finger," she wrote.

Here is the ring of anyone sees one like it for sale on a trading post. Posted by Brooke Vaughan Burns on Saturday, April 9, 2016

People on social media responded in kind.

A Saturday post on a local "stolen stuff" group had over 23,000 shares as of publication. The poster added the make and model of the woman's car, and one commenter shared a surveillance video shot of the vehicle itself.

Another commenter suggested the thief seemed to know what she was after, advising police to find out if Hicks was in a care home so they could check employees.

The funeral home told KWES that type of crime had never happened before.

It's unclear if those responding on Facebook know the ring isn't real, and whether or not that would change their reaction.

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But the family is still upset. Granddaughter Brandi Carrasco told KWES she wanted the community to pray for the robber.

"A lot of people are trying to step in, investigate, and find this woman who obviously is a very troubled soul."

For more on the story, you can watch the video above.

Also on HuffPost
pablocalvog via Getty Images Portrait of angry adult female on blue blouse reading a message on her cell while screaming on isolated white bacckground

If theres one thing that unites Canadians, its a deep conviction that we're getting ripped off on wireless prices.

A new poll from Angus Reid shows that fewer than one in 10 Canadians say they are getting a good deal on their cellphone plan, while six in 10 say they're paying too much and more than half  55 per cent  say more competition is needed.

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But while a majority want want more competition in wireless, few are aware of a recent CRTC decision that many experts say makes this less likely, the poll found.

The results themselves suggest that more competition would make consumers happier with their services. It found the highest level of satisfaction with cellphone competition was in two provinces that have four, instead of three, major wireless carriers: Saskatchewan (where SaskTel is the fourth player) and Quebec (where Videotron offers wireless).

As HuffPost has reported before, those provinces that have four major players have significantly lower wireless prices than provinces where there are only three major players.

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The poll found many Canadians  61 per cent  are unaware of a CRTC decision that some experts say will make it more difficult to bring new competition to the market. The CRTC in February sided with the large telcos, and rejected a request from a group of small telcos to mandate access to the large telcos networks.

The small telcos are or want to operate as mobile virtual network operators  essentially resellers of the large telcos' wireless bandwidth. In some other countries where MVNOs operate, they have had some effect in bringing down prices to consumers. Wind Mobile, recently bought by Shaw, is Canada's largest and best-known MVNO.

Awareness of the decision drives opinion on it, Angus Reid said in its poll results. Those who have been following the issue in the news mostly believe the CRTC made the wrong decision, while those who havent been following are unsure.

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If Canadians are convinced they aren't getting the best deal on wireless, it may have to do with all the stories out there asserting Canadian wireless prices are among the world's highest, and the packages offered by the wireless companies are pretty much all the same.

Sometimes they're almost identical, as a Reddit user showed recently with a comparison of wireless prices. With one exception, plans at Rogers Fido brand and Telus Koodo brand are identical.

Also on HuffPost:
POOL via Getty Images LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 26: Lead prosecutor Marcia Clark (L) talks with fellow prosecutor Christopher Darden during court proceedings 26 January 1995 in Los Angeles. The O.J. Simpson trial was delayed by the hospitalization of prosecutor William Hodgman and continuing fray over the defense's failure to turn over the names of its anticipated witnesses. (COLOR KEY: Wall is brown.) AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read POO/AFP/Getty Images)

The most interesting part of American Crime Story, the TV series chronicling the O.J. Simpson trial, was the way it revealed how mid-90s views on race and gender shaped the outcome of this case.

Throughout the trial, lead prosecutor Marcia Clark was a target for sexism. Everything from her hair to her child-care issues were judged in the courtroom and by the public. But what's more surprising than the level of gender discrimination during the trial is that in 2016, female lawyers still deal with a lot of the same prejudice.

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A recent study from the Canadian Lawyers' Association (CLA) found that far more women give up working in criminal law than men. Of those who started practicing in 1998, 60 per cent of women left by 2014, compared to 47 per cent of their male colleagues. Women who currently work in law said the struggle to raise kids while balancing work in a sexist environment was a top challenge of the job.

There are many reasons women struggle in high-pressure jobs, none of which are because they can't hack it. In most families, women are still the primary caregivers, which makes it hard to hold down a position that can demand 70-hour work weeks and late-night client calls. As a mother of two young boys and going through a divorce, Clark was mocked by defence lawyers when child-care issues almost prevented her from staying late at court.

Today, female criminal lawyers still grapple to achieve work-life balance in a profession that demands they be both super moms and super lawyers. The CLA survey found that if female lawyers take maternity leave, they lose clients and set back their careers, while those who run small practices often have no resources to take a break. Many women reported that when they asked to leave court early to pick up kids, judges were less amenable than when their male colleagues made the same requests.

"It is hard to juggle court hours with daycare hours," one woman told the CLA. "Often I am begging for adjournments (at) 4:30 so I can get my kids from daycare." When women take advantage of "family friendly" policies offered at some firms, such as remote work and part-time schedules, they are often taken less seriously.

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"That Clark's perm is a lasting symbol of the O.J. trial is a disappointment, but worse is that unlike the hairstyle, sexism is still in fashion."

Though firms can make policy changes to address work-life balance, it's harder to reform a sexist culture. During the O.J. trial, Clark's hairstyles and demeanor were scrutinized as much as her tactics. Her tight perm was mocked relentlessly by the media. When Clark switched to a straight bob mid-way through the trial people actually applauded, her suits were called "dowdy" and a jury consultant found she came across as "shrill" and "a bitch."

This year, defence lawyer Marie Henein was subject to the same microscopic treatment. Throughout the Ghomeshi case, she was constantly referred to as a "Hannibal Lecter" who conducts "machete"-style cross-examinations (full disclosure: I used those descriptions myself.) Not a day went by when a journalist didn't write about her pomp of black hair and $1,500 leopard-patterned shoes -- the implication being that professional women shouldn't care so much about how they look. The attire of the male prosecutor did not receive anywhere near the same level of sartorial scrutiny.

In addition to sexism from the media and public, female criminal lawyers also face misogyny in the workplace. They are often patronized rather than treated as competent colleagues. Female lawyers told the CLA they were called "little lady" in court, asked by male colleagues to do administrative tasks beneath their pay grade and treated more disrespectfully by judges than the men.

It's absurd that in 2016, female criminal lawyers still struggle in a basic way to be taken seriously by the media, the public and their male colleagues. That Clark's perm is a lasting symbol of the O.J. trial is a disappointment, but worse is that unlike the hairstyle, sexism is still in fashion.

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This column previously appeared in the Ottawa Citizen
Mark Blinch / Reuters Author Naomi Klein (3rd R) speaks during a news conference to launch the

Lost in the excitement of the Mulcair vote during the NDP convention in Edmonton this last weekend was the news that the NDP passed their support for "The Leap Manifesto." The Manifesto consists of a list of "15 Demands" that range from the somewhat reasonable; to the ridiculous; to the sublime. It would take numerous blog posts to address them individually. Happily, I have been writing blogs for a while and the Manifesto addresses a number of topics I have previously covered. Here are some quick takes:

Demand #2 says:

The latest research shows we could get 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable resources within two decades; by 2050 we could have a 100 per cent clean economy. We demand that this shift begin now.

Arguably the first half of Demand #2 (100 per cent electrical energy in 20 years) may be possible with a Herculean effort, but achieving 100 per cent clean energy by 2050 (i.e. 100 per cent fossil fuel free energy status) is simply a pipe dream. I detailed what it would take to achieve a fossil fuel-free British Columbia in my post Dispelling Some Myths About British Columbia's Energy Picture. The take-home message:

In order to achieve a "fossil fuel-free B.C." we would need to somehow replace the almost 60 per cent of our energy needs currently being met with fossil fuels through alternative sources.

Given that B.C., which is incredibly rich in hydro, cannot reasonably achieve a fossil fuel-free status in the timeline presented, the idea that Saskatchewan or Ontario could achieve similar results without a heavy investment in nuclear power, is inconceivable.

Demand #3 says:

No new infrastructure projects that lock us into increased extraction decades into the future. The new iron law of energy development must be: if you wouldn't want it in your backyard, then it doesn't belong in anyone's backyard.

This is a typical NIMBY/BANANA demand that reflects a common misconception about energy amongst the non-technically inclined. I address the problem in a post On Renewables and compromises, Intermission: Energy Density and Power Density. We live in a power-hungry society and small-scale renewable are incapable of addressing our energy needs. If we are going to survive in a renewable energy future we will need a lot of energy from large industrial facilities and you simply cannot put a commercial-scale geothermal or hydro facility in anyone's backyard.

The activists who prepared these demands also appear to be unaware of where the wood, metal, concrete and aluminum needed to create their infrastructure comes from. None of these can be scaled down to something you would build in your backyard.

I must say of all the demands the one I find most amusing is Demand #6.

NIMBY only works if you are rich enough to be able to import your raw materials from somewhere else. While I agree that most of the initial signers of the Manifesto might be that rich, the rest of us aren't and so we will continue to need to hew wood and draw water.

Finally, as I wrote in my post I Support The Energy East Pipeline As A Pragmatic Environmentalist, there is a legitimate case to be made that, as we wean ourselves off fossil fuels, we still build a pipeline to allow Canadian oil to be used to fund our energy transition.

I must say of all the demands the one I find most amusing is Demand #6:

We want high-speed rail powered by just renewables and affordable public transit to unite every community in this country - in place of more cars, pipelines and exploding trains that endanger and divide us.

I cannot imagine greater proof that this list was written by a bunch of urbanites than a suggestion that we connect the country (and all cities) by high-speed rail, powered by renewables. With improved transit and smart planning we should be able to reduce our energy needs for transportation in our biggest cities; but the vast majority of Canada cannot be served by mass transit. There is not enough money in Canada to give every driver an alternative to driving.

All the transit in the world will also not address the need for panel vans and work trucks. Contractors, suppliers and salespeople cannot rely on the transit system. Try to imagine a plumber attempting to transport a new sink or toilet and all her supplies/tools to a job site on a bus?

Finally, no amount of transit will reduce the need for the transport trucks that bring the groceries to market. The last time I looked it was pretty much impossible to move a pallet of milk or apples on transit.

Let's finish with: Demand #9

We must develop a more localized and ecologically-based agricultural system to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, absorb shocks in the global supply - and produce healthier and more affordable food for everyone

The "smaller is better," "local is better," "organic is better" memes in agriculture are some of the most pernicious myths to come out of the modern environmental movement and show a profound lack of understanding of how food is grown and energy is used as I write in my post: Local Isn't Better When It Comes To How Your Food Is Grown.

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The authors of the Manifesto are well-meaning but appear to lack the real-world experience to understand that Canada is a HUGE country. Building a trans-continental railway was an incredible achievement. The thought of connecting every community in Canada by rail (powered by renewables no less); while also building all those renewable energy sources; while eliminating our dependence on fossil fuels; all by 2050; doesn't even warrant the description "pie in the sky" it is simply magical thinking.
CP/Dominic Chan

Yusra Khogali, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto wrote an op-ed in The Toronto Star on Sunday, breaking her silence on a story that's threatened to overshadow the Black Lives Matter protest.

She responded to a tweet from February that resurfaced last week where she said, "Plz Allah give me strength not to cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today. Plz plz plz."

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Newstalk1010 host Jerry Agar, who Khogali says has a "long, well-documented record of enmity" to the group's "anti-racist goals" posted it on social media.

For some, anxiously waiting for the movement to be derailed, Jerry Agar's post couldn't have come at a better time. In the two weeks protesters camped outside in unforgiving weather conditions, they made a lot of progress in having their demands met.

City councillors agreed to pass a motion at city hall to investigate interactions between black people, the Toronto police and the Special Investigations Unit. Afrofest had been restored to two days, after the second day had been taken away by city councilors due to noise complaints from residents near where the festival took place. And Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne agreed to have a public meeting with the group.

Let's get one thing straight. The tweet was in very poor taste. It gave many Torontonians the ammunition they needed to uphold their narrow views of BLM -- that its an organization full of angry black people that don't value any lives except for black ones.

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Our experiences tell you that the threats we face are very real.

According to prominent Toronto journalist Desmond Cole, the tweet was simply a public prayer "not to harm those who harm her." In his Thursday column in the Toronto Star, he called it "an honest appeal to restraint and wisdom in the face of violence, racism, and misogyny."

Khogali referred to the tweet as the use of "a turn of phrase, a rhetorical flourish, to voice my frustration and dared to be a person calling for justice."

And while some might think that Cole and Khogali are downplaying the tweet or making excuses, the experience of everyday black Canadians would tell you otherwise. Our experiences tell you that the threats we face are very real. Our lived experiences show that we are being profiled and shot by police and we're the victims of a very unjust and inherently racist and sexist society.

One key thing was ignored in the coverage of this story and it frustrates me as both a journalist and a woman of colour. Khogali summed it up quite nicely in saying, "I am not a public official. I am not a police officer. The state does not entrust me with violent weaponry. I have never contributed to the mass targeting of a community."

The BLM movement in Toronto has done an excellent job of remaining peaceful, calm and as organized as any protest can be.

In other words, the media has chosen to focus on words posted on social media that were not followed up with in any way, shape, or form, throughout the entire BLMTO movement, rather than the systemic and institutionalized forces that are embodying the threat behind the tweet.

The mainstream media coverage of this particular story up until now also relays a very clear message to the protesters and to the news audience. That message is that Khogali's words -- and those of protesters -- speak louder than their actions. And they shouldn't. Not when public apologies and vague, generic statements from officials and the refusal to name officers who kill black citizens have always overshadowed the actual attacks on our community.

The BLM movement in Toronto has done an excellent job of remaining peaceful, calm and as organized as any protest can be. They've succeeded in garnering the attention of various governments, politicians and lawmakers. They've established a very clear agenda that they've shared with the public. Their efforts have been passionate, consistent, non-violent and worthy of applause, despite the movement being bashed constantly on social media.

Khogali writes that she has received several "disturbing" death threats, from white supremacists in Canada. Where is her protection from them? She writes that since this story has gained so much traction in the media, the accomplishments and progress BLMTO has made towards equality and justice have been drowned out, that journalists have harassed her for a comment, but were nowhere to be found during their tent city.

Those who know Khogali refer to her on Facebook as "beautiful, free" and a "radical source of love, light and transformative energy." But media outlets have described her as "being prone to use hyperbolic rhetoric," "disturbing, emotional and controversial," and Mayor John Tory said the tweet was "incendiary."

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According to Khogali, Tory ignored BLMTO while protesters "fought for [their] humanity" for those two weeks outside of police headquarters. Yet he responded to the tweet within just 24 hours. But Tory's remarks, I would argue, highlight the larger idea of what it means when black people gather in small or large groups, particularly in public places -- that danger is present.

We saw the overwhelming police presence when the group established their tent city. Videos surfaced of protesters being pushed, shoved and kicked by police. When the group held a vigil outside Wynne's home for 45-year-old Andrew Loku, a Sudanese immigrant gunned down by police, the Toronto police's chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive unit was called in because the group left an empty bottle of wine that was full of water. In Toronto, and in several other places, black presence and congregations equate to danger.

Rather than denounce Khogali for words that were spoken in the face of centuries of abuse, dehumanization, inequality, racism and sexism. Rather than argue with her about fairness, and whether she has the right to feel the need to pray for strength and wisdom in the face of death threats from white supremacists. Rather than question her ability to lead a protest for things that should come as basic human rights... I thank her and I stand with her. Because the media's focus on BLM shouldn't change ours. And thankfully, it hasn't changed hers.

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Olivier Le Moal via Getty Images Close up on a file tab with the text tax avoidance, focus on a yellow, note where it is hanwritten legislation, blur effect.

The ground has shifted.

The Panama Papers leak has unleashed a tsunami of data and paper trails that show just how far -- geographically and morally -- the super-wealthy will go to avoid paying their share of taxes. It is a sense of entitlement that has the rest of us outraged and angry. There is an added sense of betrayal that our governments and regulatory agencies let this happen on their watch.

Is it collusion, corruption or just plain incompetence? That answer will likely play out over time if there is a public demand for accountability.

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In the meantime, Canadians need a plan to make sure that our leaders understand what we have known for a while -- the tax system is neither fair nor doing an adequate job.

For most of us, tax policy is something we leave to others. As a result, it has been shaped by those with the most to gain or lose -- the rich and big corporations.

But ordinary tax payers lose out big time when governments don't raise enough revenue to fund essential public services and address all the challenges we face, such as poverty and climate change. Making it right won't be easy. But here are some important steps that we can take together.

Over 90 per cent of individuals who use offshore accounts do so in order to illegally avoid taxes.

1. Don't believe the argument that most of this is "lawful tax avoidance." A French government study found that over 90 per cent of individuals who use offshore accounts do so in order to illegally avoid taxes.

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2. Reform corporate tax rules. Much of the corporate use of tax havens may be legal, but this doesn't make it right. We need to stop companies from shifting profits offshore. With the second-lowest corporate tax rate in the G7, Canadian companies don't need subsidiaries in tax havens to be competitive.

Corporations should pay taxes to each country where they operate. This can be proportional to where they have their capital investments, employ staff and generate sales. Most offshore subsidiaries have little or no staff, and are little more than a fictional place to hide profits and avoid taxes. They should not count for tax purposes unless they have economic substance.

3. Pressure government to prosecute KPMG for facilitating tax evasion for Canadian multi-millionaire clients using KPMG tax scheme on the Isle of Man. An internal memo called KPMG employees who pushed this scheme "champions." That's not what a champion looks like in our books. Send a message to the "wealth management" industry that aggressive tax planning that crosses the line will not be tolerated.

4. Demand the CRA make public all deals with individuals or companies who have been caught evading taxes. Currently, many high net-worth individuals and corporations stay out of the public eye because of secret out-of court-settlements. How many exactly? We don't know, and the CRA won't say. What kind of sweetheart deals have been made? We all have a right to know. It's not fair that rich Canadians are treated differently.

Some governments seem more intent on going after whistleblowers and journalists than tax dodgers.

5. Ask for regular reports from the CRA on how they are following through with investigations and leaked files they have obtained. Currently, the CRA has been stretching the "confidentiality" argument to limit information. And they can't or won't give Canadians a status report on the Luxembourg Leaks information from three years ago.

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6. Support stronger rules to prevent the creation of anonymous shell companies and demand transparency of beneficial ownership. One under-reported aspect of the Panama Papers is that the Panamanian law firm was telling their clients Canada was a good place to register a shell company because of lax provincial rules on ownership of companies.

The federal government needs to lean on provinces who fall below the international compliance standards. Provinces have much revenue to gain from stronger action against tax evasion, so it is in their own interests to up their standards.

7. Get behind the tax gap. Canada's major trading partners use modern methodologies to calculate the difference between what tax revenue should be and what is actually collected. The Canada Revenue Agency has dug its heels in and refuses to work with the Parliamentary Budget Office to do the same. But it fails to offer any better solution and current strategies are underwhelming.

8. Without a tax gap measurement, it is difficult to identify most problematic areas, create solutions and evaluate success. The new government should do a tax gap study now to get a baseline, and then do another four or five years from now to measure the improvements they are able to make as a result of stepped-up enforcement efforts.

Globally, only a handful of people have been charged as a result of multiple leaks of thousands of documents in the past three years. Some governments seem more intent on going after whistleblowers and journalists than tax dodgers.

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Antoine Deltour, the Luxleaks whistleblower, is facing trial in Luxembourg this month.

Whistleblower Edward Snowden recently told a Vancouver audience that the Panama Papers demonstrate that "change doesn't happen by itself and the participation of the public is absolutely necessary. We can achieve change... whether we do or not is a decision that falls to us."

We owe it to ourselves to make that change.

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The 2015 political donations were out this week and they contained some numbers that should cause a bit of unease. It's not just the 2015 amounts that are of interest, it's the running totals as well.

Since 2005, the B.C. Liberal party has raised more than $107.8 million -- $70.2 million of that from businesses and corporations. The B.C. NDP raised $55.9 million, with $38 million coming from individuals and $11.6 million from unions.

The Liberal party's Million Dollar Club has grown.

Five companies and one association have now donated more than $1 million to the party, including Encana Corporation ($1.1 million), the Aquilini Group ($1.2 million), and Teck ($2.3 million).

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The party's top 10 donors have given in excess of $11.7 million.

Over 11 years, the Liberals raised $37.6 million from individuals and the NDP $39.7 million, both more than the Alberta PCs raised in total.

Party executive director Laura Miller gave $2,520 in 2015, Deputy Premier Rich Coleman $300, and Premier Christy Clark $0.

Clark has donated $1,400 since 2005, Gordon Campbell $4,750.

The Bank of China gave $388 to the B.C. Liberal party in 2015. Seven banks topped that up by $799,000 over the past 11 years, including CIBC ($245,410) and TD Bank ($130,440).

B.C. credit unions got into the spirit of giving, too, contributing $163,448 to the B.C. Liberals and $31,425 to the NDP.

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You can always count on lobbyists to come through in a pinch.

They've donated more than $1.1 million to the B.C. Liberals, $80,629 to the NDP, and $1,000 to the B.C. Green party.

Patrick Kinsella's empire has given $271,266 to the Liberals, which exceeds Earnscliffe ($133,000) and Hill & Knowlton ($72,380).

Over seven years as an MLA, John Les donated $1,964 to the Liberals. In two years as a lobbyist, he's given $6,880.

Since 2014, three players in B.C.'s burgeoning LNG industry came through with $112,650 for the B.C. Liberals, and two with $15,850 for the NDP.

Guess the B.C. Liberals got first dibs on building a prosperity fund from LNG.

Seven players with a keen eye for good public-private partnerships (P3) opportunities donated $310,690.

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Borealis Infrastructure -- part of OMERS Ontario municipal-employee pension plan -- bought $8,000 worth of seats at B.C. Liberal party fundraisers, bringing its total to $73,200 worth of seats, plus $17,150 in benches from the NDP.

According to OMERS policy, Borealis can't make political donations, but it can buy seats and benches.

Ten of the construction companies who do the heavy lifting for the P3 number crunchers donated $674,000, including Ledcor ($257,850), Kiewit ($105,975), PCL ($141,879) and Emil Anderson Construction ($52,910).

Coincidentally, Emil Anderson was awarded a $36-million contract by the B.C. government last month "for the second phase of six-laning on Highway 97 through Kelowna."

Texas-based Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway donated $7,000 to the B.C. Liberals in 2015. CN Rail has given $295,760 over 11 years, and CP Rail contributed $136,782.

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Twenty-one law firms gave $1.35 million to the Liberals, not including donations from partners and associates.

Fasken Martineau Dumoulin was tops at $356,760.

The developers behind Vancouver's Trump Tower -- the Holborn Group -- donated $25,000 to the B.C. Liberals last year and its sister company, TA Management, gave $25,000.

Both companies are part of Malaysian-based TA Global Berhad.

Since 2005, property developers have donated more than $10.7 million to the B.C. Liberals, including $1.55 million in personal donations, or roughly 10 per cent of the party's total $107.8-million haul.

The B.C. Liberals received $427,706 from trade associations in 2015 and the NDP collected $44,805.

Since 2005, the largest for both was the New Car Dealers Association of B.C. with $1.15 million for the B.C. Liberals and $82,790 for the NDP.

The B.C. Salmon Farmers Association has given $38,225 to the B.C. Liberals and $11,650 to the NDP.

Since 2005, the B.C. Road Builders & Heavy Construction Association has donated $147,639 to the B.C. Liberals and $2,500 to the NDP; the Christian Labour Association of Canada gave $2,780 to the Liberals.

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Here's a first: the Liberals are accepting donations from casinos.

In 2015, Gateway Casinos gave $67,397 to the B.C. Liberals, Great Canadian Gaming donated $31,468, and its subsidiary, River Rock Casino, contributed $3,300.

If you've got this far, you may want to crack open a cold one and consider that over the last 11 years Canada's national brewers gave $153,779 to the B.C. Liberals and $35,525 to the NDP. Here are the other numbers: Ontario's Beer Store $113,178/($6,670), Labatt $159,366/($30,550) and Molson $121,257/($24,225).

The donations of 193 companies and individuals were considered for this column.

Together they gave $35.7 million and they're not the B.C. Liberal party's top 193 donors.

Knock off the 104 smallest and 89 donors gave $31.8 million to the Liberals.

In the same period of time, the Alberta Progressive Conservatives raised $31.75 million from all its donors (corporate, individual and union).

What would B.C. parties be left with if there was a total ban on corporate and union donations?

Over 11 years, the Liberals raised $37.6 million from individuals and the NDP $39.7 million, both more than the Alberta PCs raised in total.

The B.C. Liberal party has deposited enough to cover what its Quebec counterpart and its 125 candidates spent in the 2014 election 18 times over. Quebec has six million voters, nearly double the number in B.C.

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Oh, there's likely still four seats for sale at the premier's table later this month in Prince George for the party's annual dinner. They can be had for $25,000 a pair.

Notes on data: Unless noted all figures in parentheses are for the period 2005 to 2015. Direct hyperlinks are incorporated where possible, otherwise donations reflect a total of all corporate versions of a name and are sourced from the Elections B.C. database. Alberta statistics are sourced from Elections Alberta.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Models wear creations for DSquared2 women's Fall-Winter 2015-2016 collection, part of the Milan Fashion Week, unveiled in Milan, Italy, Monday, March 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

On February 24, two weeks after Dean and Dan Caten, co-founders of Dsquared2, signed on with the Hudson's Bay Company to design Team Canada's outfits for the Olympics in Rio, the brothers issued an "open apology" to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.

What exactly were Dean and Dan Caten apologizing for?

A close reading of their letter shows that they were expressing regret for their "mistaken" use of a derogatory name for their fall/winter 2015 fashion line called Dsquaw. They said their intentions were in good faith and that they now knew that "squaw" was an inappropriate way to pay homage to the beauty and strength of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.

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But in apologizing for their use of the word "squaw," Dsquared2 limited the definition of their wrongdoing and thus limited their responsibility for acknowledging what is really at stake: profiting from systemic inequality rooted in racism.

Thus, the problem runs much deeper than the name they chose.

Corporate profiteering routinely commandeers representations of Indigenous cultures for its commercial objectives. This includes well-known brands such as Ralph Lauren and Victoria's Secret, to name two recent examples.

Was Dsquaw really an honest mistake?

In light of fashionistas' growing tendency to exploit Indigenous peoples through the use of stereotyped cultural imagery, and the mounting counterblast from observers demanding apologies and sometimes taking legal action, it's hard to believe Dsquared2's flimsy claim that they didn't know better.

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The word "squaw" and the ideas and understandings it evokes -- of loose and licentious women who live in squalor and are best suited for blue-collar work -- helped to justify policies that were aimed at destroying Indigenous cultures worldwide.

The term has been used to attack their child-rearing practices (and thus vindicate the residential school system and the sixties scoop), their sexuality (thus helping to explain the lack of concern for missing and murdered Indigenous women) and their labour (which serves to devalue their place in the workforce). These are more than words because they are attached to ideas, institutions, and practices that reinforce violence against Indigenous peoples.

Dsquared2 isn't alone in this particular mess. The Bay has a long history of exploiting Indigenous cultures for commercial benefit. The Bay struck a deal with members of the Cowichan Tribes in advance of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games after stealing and mass-producing their famous "Cowichan sweater" design. Members of the tribe had planned to protest the torch relay, forcing the Bay to come to an agreement with them about how to reconcile the problem.

As for Rio 2016, the Bay and Dsquared2 had been negotiating their partnership even before Dsquared2 released its Dsquaw line in early 2015. Dsquared2 only apologized for its "mistake" a full year after releasing Dsquaw, and nearly two weeks after the Bay announced their partnership.

Why did the Bay move ahead with the offenders, Dsquared2? Clearly the Bay is more concerned with Canadian Olympians feeling "strong and confident" in Rio and thus put more stock in Dsquared2's brand than they are in fostering respectful relations with Indigenous peoples.

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And our Olympians, including Indigenous Olympians, are now being exposed to this exploitation by virtue of having to wear this clothing. Canadian athletes, no matter what their cultural identity, shouldn't have to compete and be quiet in an inequitable set of conditions they can't avoid.

Then again, there might not be any Indigenous athletes representing Canada in Rio.

Only four Indigenous athletes have competed for Canada at the summer Olympics since the Second World War: Mary Spencer (2012), Waneek Horn-Miller (2000), Angela Chalmers (1988, 1992) and Alwyn Morris (1984). It's easy to silence an entire community when none of its members are in attendance.

The Bay is a Premier National Partner of the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committee. It reportedly paid more than $100 million dollars for its 2006-2012 sponsorship contract. It likely paid more to secure its 2014-2020 deal.

The COC derives a lot of money from its control of that exclusive partnership club. In 2014, the Bay's Foundation donated $4.5 million to Canadian athletes. How much of that money was used to support Indigenous sport? It's hard to say because the Bay doesn't share this degree of information with the public. But it's probably not much, if anything at all.

In 2005, the federal government released Sport Canada's Policy on Aboriginal Peoples' Participation in Sport, suggesting Indigenous sport in Canada would get a much-needed boost of financial support. Except the policy was never legislated, so there was no action plan (or new money) attached to it.

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Thus, organizers for the North American Indigenous Games, the cornerstone to Indigenous sport development in Canada, still have to scrounge for dollars each time they want to host an event. Even the Tom Longboat Awards, one of the most prestigious awards for Indigenous athletes in Canada, limp along without corporate backing.

Meanwhile, the COC is spending more than $10 million dollars on its new headquarters in Montreal so that it can receive high-end sponsors like the Bay and Dsquared2 in an environment that befits their status.

It's all take and no give.

How should Canadians respond? Well, Dsquared2's apology was worded in such a way that made it clear there is no need for a response. The letter presumes unquestioning acceptance of their apology, without the need for dialogue.

For instance, it's addressed to "the Indigenous Peoples of Canada." Who is authorized to respond to that vague and homogenizing reference? The Caten brothers also suggest their blunder was a positive thing in that it "brought attention to this issue" (which issue is that, exactly?) and that they are now in a position to "learn together" about Canada's history and will continue on their learning "journey" about Canada's cultural diversity, the "DNA" of their brand.

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This was not an apology, but rather a brush off, and not a particularly well-crafted one, at that.

Ultimately, in a colonial context like Canada, non-Indigenous organizations such as the Bay and even the Canadian Olympic Committee can choose when and how they engage in relationships with Indigenous peoples. Given their continued relationship with Dsquared2, they have made their choice.

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Chris Harris via Getty Images British Columbia, Canada, Central BC coast, Steller sea lions, Eumetopias jubatus,

British Columbians were shocked to learn of the recent slaughter of 15 California sea lions by salmon farmers on the west coast of Vancouver Island. But the killing of marine mammals at open-pen salmon feedlots is nothing new. And the cumulative death toll is horrifying.

The most recent killings, disclosed on March 30 by salmon farming giant Cermaq, took place in December of last year at their Binns Island salmon farm north of Tofino.

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The 15 California sea lions, lured by the presence of tonnes of densely packed young salmon, were shot by Cermaq staff for posing "an ongoing threat to the safety of the farm staff, fish and net pens."

Environmentalists have been quick to point out the folly of allowing what are essentially factory farms in some of our most sensitive and cherished marine ecosystems.

"Clayoquot Sound is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It's a recognition of just how special a place this is", said Clayoquot Action's Bonny Glambeck. "Yet even here, wildlife is not safe from Norwegian-owned industry."

Marine mammals, seals and sea lions in particular have paid a terrible price at the hands of salmon farmers.

We hear a lot about the risks of open-pen salmon feedlots to the survival of our wild salmon, but much less about other collateral damage the industry causes. Marine mammals, seals and sea lions in particular have paid a terrible price at the hands of salmon farmers.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) statistics show that since 1990, the B.C. industry has shot and killed more than 7,000 of our marine mammals: almost 6,000 harbour seals, 1,200 California sea lions and 363 endangered Steller sea lions.

"Marine mammal interactions" (a.k.a. deaths) are a well-known and inevitable consequence of open-pen salmon farming. It's hard not to see how putting large numbers of slow-moving, artificially fattened fish directly into the habitat of hungry sea lions is flawed by design.

So the shooting of seals and sea lions is an accepted industry practice, not just in B.C., but around the world. Outrage also swept across the U.K. recently following revelations that hundreds of seals were being killed by Scottish salmon farmers.

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Shooting "nuisance sea lions" is only one of the ways feedlots take a toll on our marine mammals.

It is not uncommon for them to get caught in the nets that enclose the pens and drown. Seal and sea lion entanglements are such a problem for the industry that they have even forced Marine Harvest to withdraw applications for sustainability certification for some of their feedlots.

Tragically, whales can also die from entanglement at salmon farms. In 2013, the body of a young humpback whale was reported at the Ross Point salmon farm near Tofino. Cermaq claimed it had died elsewhere and simply drifted into the enclosure.

Sadly, there appears to be little consequence to salmon farmers for these deaths, apart from the bad public relations they cause. In 2013, another Norwegian company, Grieg Seafoods, managed to negotiate its way out of charges of nine counts of unlawfully destroying marine mammals.

In that incident, 65 California sea lions and one harbor seal perished after becoming entangled in nets at three of their farms within a six-month period.

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Both government and industry will downplay the recent killings, pointing to reductions in the number of reported shootings in the last several years. But the numbers are curious.

From 1990 to mid-way through 2011, reports averaged about 360 seals or sea lions killed per year -- almost one per day. Then, virtually overnight, the reported numbers plummeted to an average of less than one a month.

Did salmon farmers come up with some new technology to keep sea lions away, somehow managing to roll it out in the space of a couple months to over a hundred feedlots, owned by multiple companies, located in remote areas scattered across the province? Or is there a simpler explanation?

Salmon farmers are given a blanket authorization to kill "problem" seals and sea lions, with the requirement to report the shootings after the fact. From 2011 on (about the same time as the precipitous drop in reported killings), this license to kill was included as part of their aquaculture license, removing separate licencing under Canada's Marine Mammal Regulations. In other words, they shoot first, report later.

Perhaps salmon farmers just stopped reporting all of the seal and sea lion shootings? They certainly would have motive. It is an industry that faces almost constant controversy over its environmental practices, and marine mammal deaths simply add to their public relations problem.

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It would also be exceptionally easy to get away with. In the remote bays along B.C.'s coast where most feedlots are located, there are rarely others around to witness a shooting.

The majority of what we know about what goes on at salmon farms is based on what salmon farmers tell us goes on.

And there is evidence that shootings have gone unreported by salmon farmers in the past. In 2010, videos emerged showing salmon farm feed bags containing sea lion carcasses weighed down with rocks that had washed ashore in Clayoquot Sound. The bags were identical to ones stacked on the structure of a nearby salmon farm. Then there was the mass grave of sea lions discovered nearby.

But it is not just self-reporting of sea lion shootings that we need to be concerned about. For sea lice counts, the use of antibiotics and toxic chemicals, incidental catch of other wild fish species, escapes of Atlantic salmon and, most troubling of all, disease outbreaks that endanger wild salmon, the majority of what we know about what goes on at salmon farms is based on what salmon farmers tell us goes on.

Given the grave risks to our coastal ecosystem that open-pen salmon feedlots present, the reliance on self-reporting is deeply concerning. Where it becomes downright frightening is when the federal government cedes its authority to salmon farmers on decisions that could have truly catastrophic consequences for our coast.

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Last year, the Federal Court struck down licence conditions that allowed salmon farmers to transfer disease-infected salmon smolts into our coastal waters.

But the federal government has teamed up with the salmon farmers to appeal that decision. If they are successful, it will mean salmon farmers will decide for themselves if their virus-laden farmed salmon pose a risk to our wild salmon.

The appeal is a particularly reckless form of deregulation that we came to expect in the Harper era. We expect more from the Trudeau government. The new Liberal Fisheries Minister, Hunter Tootoo has the power to halt the appeal, but to date he has not done so.

With the consequences of global warming changing our coastal ecosystem at a frightening pace, every species, from the top to the bottom of the food chain, is now at risk. Seal and sea lion populations may be considered stable at the moment, but we have entered an unprecedented time in the history of our oceans. We just don't know what comes next.

What we do know is that regulating salmon farmers by the honour system will not protect our wild salmon, nor the orcas, wolves, bears, eagles, seals and sea lions that depend upon them. The only way to ensure the killing stops and our wildlife is protected is to remove salmon feedlots from our coast.

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Photo credit: Twyla Roscovich/coastcast.org

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Aliyev Alexei Sergeevich via Getty Images Mother holding son in rural field

April is autism awareness month but in our home, we live and breathe awareness, acceptance, inclusion, and understanding every single day. I adore my children and I began adjusting my life to accommodate my son way before he was officially diagnosed with autism. I saw the signs early on and I knew the only way to help him was to make certain changes in order to help him learn and develop in a manner that best suited him.

Parenting has been simultaneously the most rewarding and difficult role I have ever had. Being responsible for these precious little ones is truly a blessing and a role I never took lightly. I remember when I was pregnant, I envisioned so many different scenarios of what my relationship with my child would be like.

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He/she would learn three languages (I'm Italian so he/she will learn how to speak Italian along with French because we live in a French province and of course English). We'd read books together, go to the library, create puzzles, go to the park, bake cookies together and all the wonderful stuff parents do with their kids.

My son was born and well before he was a year old, I knew something was wrong. His autism diagnosis was the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. Some of the dreams I envisioned were put on hold while others faded back to where they came from only to be replaced by new dreams, which were just as important and meaningful, if not more.

Of course, I always had good-hearted friends and family members ask me all the time "How are you? No really, how are you?" Always wanting to make sure that I wasn't too overwhelmed with raising a chid with special needs. My quick and usual response was, and still is, "I'm fine".

For the most part, I am. I am blessed in so many ways and I make sure to thank my lucky stars every day. I live life with an attitude of gratitude and understand full well how precious life is. What we have today is not guaranteed tomorrow, so I want to make today count as much as possible.

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Yet, there is a part of me that isn't fine even when I say that I am. Being the parent of a child with special needs, "I'm fine" is just the partial truth.

You see, I am fine -- except for the paralyzing anxiety that suddenly creeps up in the middle of the night, seemingly out of nowhere, making it difficult for me to breathe and even more difficult to fall asleep.

I am fine -- except I worry about what will happen to my child, who has autism and who is dependent on me, once I leave this world. Who will look after him?

I'm fine -- except for when I see my child having a meltdown, struggling to make sense of an environment that is overstimulating and throwing him off balance.

I'm fine -- except I often feel isolated and alone, fearful of the unknown.

I'm fine -- except I worry for my child's safety when he is out in society. Will he be targeted due to his autism?

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I'm fine -- until I panic about his next IEP meeting, knowing full well it will be another battle to secure resources and support that are lawfully due to him.

I'm fine -- except for the dark circles under my eyes, deceiving me and telling another story.

I'm fine -- but sometimes I need more than just 5 minutes to recharge and re-energize.

Raising a child is hard, and raising a child with special needs has even greater challenges that often leave parents feeling fatigued and depleted. Yet every day we find renewed energy and we continue to push forward and advocate for our children who cannot advocate for themselves.

I am fine -- because I must help my son find his voice so he can learn how to advocate for himself. He's doing that more and more every day.

I am fine -- because I must be present to help my son solidify his place in society.

I am fine -- because I have the opportunity to guide my son and help him become more independent.

I am fine -- because I was blessed with another day to help my son, to show love towards others and try to make a difference in this world.

I am fine -- because the alternative is simply not acceptable, it can't be, not now, not ever.

I am fine. How are you?
Mathieu Belanger / Reuters Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Tom Mulcair waves with his wife Catherine and sons Greg (L) and Matthew after he gave his concession speech after Canada's federal election in Montreal, Quebec, October 19, 2015. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger

If the NDP is to survive, it must defend left wing policies. But what does it mean exactly and what should it do in order to occupy the Left in Canadian politics? Here are some examples.

A leap forward would be to explicitely disagree with Rachel Notley and endorse the Leap Manifesto. It is not a leap in the dark; it is a leap beyond the dark age of fossil fuel industry. This leap would imply saying no to pipelines. Among other things, the Energy East project should be rejected, for otherwise it would entail an increase of 100 per cent in the fossil fuel industry.

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In other words, the NDP should reject the idea that we should double the production of dirty oil by 2020 and to triple that production by 2030. To double the production of fossil fuels in Alberta would produce additional 35,000,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year, equivalent to adding seven million automobiles in Canada. This is simply incompatible with the goal of progressively reducing the greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reduce gas emissions, you first need to stop increasing them.

To stop the increase does not mean to stop immediately the fossil fuel industry. Mulcair's idea of introducing a carbon tax that would progressively be invested in clean energy would be a second step in the good direction. Canadians have already invested quite a lot in Alberta's economy by financing the development of the fossil fuel industry, thereby increasing the value of the Canadian dollar, which in turn created the loss of thousands of jobs in Ontario and Quebec. Seen in this way, equalization payments are nothing more than compensation payments. Solar energy is a good replacement and the good news is that the place where it is mostly present happens to be in Alberta.

Another important policy would be to reject the TPP. Bernie Sanders and now Hilary Clinton are both against it, so the least the NDP can do is to keep on rejecting it as well. The TPP is not just an agreement on free trade. It is an agreement that allows companies to sue governments if they think that these governments have policies preventing them to make profits. The TPP imposes a new set of rules and regulations that circumvent those already in place at the level of World Trade Organisation.

Since NAFTA was implemented, we have realized that free trade was not just about the elimination of commercial boundaries and protectionist trade policies, but also about allowing delocalization to take place. NAFTA more than ever appears to be just a piece in the puzzle of a globalized economy that concentrate capital and means of production in the hands of just a few multinational companies. And just as Sanders is considering to reintroduce the Glass Steagal act, the NDP should also propose to reintroduce firewalls between financial institutions.

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The NDP should also consider the Dussault Erasmus report and the UN's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as central pieces of its policy toward Indigenous peoples. It should also consider the Sherbrooke Declaration as a central piece of its policy toward Quebec. Concerning religious signs, the NDP should follow Quebec Solidaire and suggest the adoption of a Charter of secularism that would be inspired by the Bouchard Taylor recommendations.

These recommendations present a nice equilibrium between the respect of religious freedom and the equality between men and women. Concerning the niqab issue, the citizenship oath could take the form of a private ceremony for those women who do not wish to remove their veil in public.
Dear Premier Notley,

I support your government on a lot of things.

I was there the day it was sworn in, when thousands of people filled the legislative grounds. I was there when the first cabinet with full gender parity in Alberta's history was sworn in. I cheered when -- after years of an unfair tax system creating unequal burdens -- the government raised corporate taxes. I cheered again when your government helped get the money out of politics.

I was there the day Alberta announced, after decades of inaction, its first major steps to address a growing climate crisis, and I watched on TV as an Alberta MLA cradled a baby on the floor of the legislature.

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All of these things and promises of more to come -- like raising the minimum wage, diversifying Alberta's economy and supporting working people -- have my full support, but I'm sorry Premier Notley, I just can't get behind you on pipelines.

New pipelines aren't good for the environment, they aren't good for the climate, and I'm sorry, but they aren't good for working people or good governance, either.

Your government committed to re-establishing the relationship with First Nation people and to fully implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP). Both of these moves are the right thing to do, but both are at odds with your push for new pipelines.

It's disingenuous to continue to tell workers there is a long-term future in fossil fuels, because there isn't. The oil industry must come to an end.

At the heart of UN DRIP is the principle of Free, Prior and Informed consent. Unfortunately for pipeline advocates, several First Nations along both proposed pipeline routes have not only, not given their consent, but have stated their official opposition.

The Squamish, the T'seil Waututh, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the Iroquois caucus (Akwesahsne, Kahnawa:ke, Kahnesata:ke, Oneida of the Thames, Six Nations of the Grand River, Tyendinaga, and Wahta), and the Wolastoq Grand Council have all come out against new tar sands pipelines, and that's just to name a few.

If Alberta is serious about UN DRIP it means respecting their "no." That may be a hard pill to swallow, but if you don't it will send a strong message to all First Nations about just how serious the Alberta government really is.

I've also seen the damage that pipelines can do to communities. My colleagues' community suffered the effects of one of the largest spills in Alberta's history where community members, men, women and children were forced to shelter in place because of the toxic emissions. Those are working people, too, and their community is still dealing with the effects of that spill to their traditional lands.

Pipelines also aren't good for the climate, and that's bad for working people as well. The global climate targets of stabilizing global temperature rise between 1.5 degrees and 2.0 degrees Celsius of warming aren't just numbers, they mean peoples lives.

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Stabilizing temperatures at 1.5C means millions of working people won't be displaced from their homelands; it means less frequent and less severe superstorms, like droughts, hurricanes and forest fires; and it means less dramatic and severe effects on the lives and livelihoods of working people all over this planet.

Both goals of 1.5 and 2.0 demand decarbonization. They necessitate we leave carbon in the ground so that we can stop climate change before it spirals out of our control and takes all life on this planet with it. That's a lot of working people.

In that context it's disingenuous to continue to tell workers there is a long-term future in fossil fuels, because there isn't. The oil industry must come to an end if we are to survive and, as the world moves away from fossil fuels, Alberta's resources are going to be some of the first to get transitioned out of the mix. That's a reality we need to come to terms with, and pretending the situation is different doesn't help working people, either.

Right now people are hurting. I've seen the unemployment numbers, I've seen the rising suicide rates, and have seen the real and devastating effect this downturn is having on working people and their families across this province. But the answer to that suffering isn't building a new pipeline.

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A pipeline won't put Albertans back to work. The world is awash in oil and a new pipeline won't change that. It may feel good or be politically strategic but it won't do much to help.

Alberta has the tremendous and immediate potential to create over 100,000 jobs in this province in renewables, energy efficiency and sustainable transportation alone.

Here's what will.

Building green jobs. Alberta has the tremendous and immediate potential to create over 100,000 jobs in this province in renewables, energy efficiency and sustainable transportation alone.

The province could start putting Albertans back to work today through policies that incentivize and speed the transition Alberta must undergo. Welding jobs, engineering jobs, electricians, machinist jobs are all waiting to explode, they just need a little more government leadership to do it.

Already we see worker-led organizations like Iron and Earth, an organization comprised of oil sands workers, taking the lead and demanding training and programs that support renewable energy development and job creation.

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This is the vision we need for the province. This is the vision that can truly help the working people of this province and it's a vision the world could really get behind.

Premier Notley, I urge you to stop the pipeline pushing and start focusing on the solar pushing, the wind pushing, the geothermal pushing, the retrofit pushing and the mass transit pushing -- that's where we need you. We need you to help us build the energy system of the 21st century not in expanding the fossil fuel-based one that every climate scientist on the planet says we need to move rapidly away from.

With much love and respect,

M

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yelo34 via Getty Images Queen's Park or General Legislature of Ontario

The rot of big money in Ontario politics stinks. People want action now to clean up the mess.

Comprehensive fundraising reform is essential to renewing our democracy. Instead it seems we have politicians playing political games -- to fix the political games that got us here in the first place.

The status quo parties at Queen's Park have laser-sharp focus when it comes to attacks on each other's fundraising practices. The accusations they are throwing around ask who is selling access to whom. The truth: none of the three parties at Queen's Park have a clean record on donations.

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I support calls for inquiries into past practices and committees to consult the public, but I don't want these efforts to delay passing legislation to transform the system. Fixes should be in place before the 2018 provincial election.

Delay tactics like the blame game at Queen's Park are harmful. Over the past years, I've watched urgent issues fade into oblivion without change under the Liberals' watch. For example, in 2011 the Liberals were under intense pressure from opposition to the Melancthon Mega Quarry.

So they made an election promise to review the Aggregate Resources Act. But after five years of hearings, a report and more consultation, nothing has changed. Another mega quarry could be proposed. I don't want the same to happen with fundraising reform.

Big corporations and well-heeled individuals should not be able to buy access to power.

We need transformational change now to get the stink out of Queen's Park.

To start, we need to immediately eliminate corporate and union donations. Big corporations and well-heeled individuals should not be able to buy access to power. There appears to be broad consensus on this. Why wait to make it happen?

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Next, Ontario needs to dramatically lower contribution limits. Immediately lowering annual contribution limits to match federal levels is a step in the right direction. This would reduce contribution limits from $9,785 to $1,500. Eventually, I would like the annual limits to be set under $1,000. In Quebec, they are $100.

The $1,500 should be a hard cap. To achieve this Ontario will need to disallow additional contributions to byelection campaigns and leadership campaigns. The premier has already hinted at her support for this, so we could move quickly on this as well.

But we can't stop there. Ontario desperately needs a comprehensive set of fundraising reforms to restore trust in the integrity of government decision making.

To create a more democratic system and get the corrosive influence of big money out of politics, we need a public financing system that is democratic.

A per-vote allowance is a more democratic form of public financing. It doesn't exclude citizens who don't have deep pockets.

After Stephen Harper cancelled the federal government's per-vote funding system, some reform advocates worry that an idea like this will not receive public support. Under the federal system, taxpayer funding was allocated to parties based on their percentage of the popular vote. The concern is that people won't support our tax dollars going to fund political parties.

But the truth is we already do. Currently, public financing is a pay-to-play model that undemocratically benefits big donors through generous tax credits. For example, a $2,500 donor will receive a refundable tax credit of approximately $1,150. Our tax dollars cover the cost of almost half of the donation.

A per-vote allowance is a more democratic form of public financing. It doesn't exclude citizens who don't have deep pockets. It's a vote-to-play system. It empowers every citizen with an opportunity to help support the party of their choice with their vote.

Even though the vast amount of money will still flow to the major parties, a per-vote allowance gives smaller parties a bigger incentive to get their vote out in order to qualify for funding. All parties have an incentive to engage voters, even in ridings where they are generally not competitive. This will enrich our democracy.

Additional reforms should include restrictions on third-party advertising, lower spending limits for parties during writ and pre-writ periods, and better disclosure and oversight rules.

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Ontario's political fundraising rules need radical change. This change should not be delayed because of bickering among the status quo parties. The time to act is now.

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Rawpixel Ltd via Getty Images Diversity Casual Team Cheerful Community Concept

Growing up in Toronto community housing, Venessa Douse felt that the city's youth didn't have a voice at the table. So when her community introduced a new Youth Tenant Representative position, she campaigned for 3 months, and won. Which is even more impressive when you take into account that she was only 7 years old at the time.

"For [the next] 6 years, I went to city hall meetings and community meetings, and met with countless community members," Venessa recalls. "I am grateful to have had a seat at the table."

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It's not surprising that young people are Canada's most active volunteers, representing about 66 per cent of those who give their time for a cause. Time is, after all, on their side. But our country's volunteering numbers might surprise you. In 2013, 4 out of 10 Canadians volunteered, putting in 1,957,000,000 total hours. This week, National Volunteer Week, we celebrate them, while also asking: How do they do it? And how can the other 60 per cent of us find the time and inspiration to do the same?

"It's all about baby steps," explains Venessa, now volunteering as a charity event coordinator. "Find a volunteer position doing something you're interested in, make connections and learn from your experiences. Employers love seeing volunteer experience and you'll meet new people. It's really a win/win situation!"

Venessa and colleagues at her latest event

"Volunteering also opens doors to careers," says Jessica Glazer, Founder and Recruitment Director of MindHR in Montreal, Quebec. "You never know who you are going to meet.

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For many, volunteering is a way to pay it forward. Growing up in Iran with a neuropathic disability, Mostafa Akbari had to stop going to school when he was 12.

"We immigrated to Canada for a better life," he says. "I started high school in Canada when I was 17 and I had to do a lot of catching up." After graduating from graphic design college, Mostafa sought out an organization that helped children from a similar background.

Kay Adekoya traveled a similar journey, moving to Canada from Lagos, Nigeria 9 years ago, on a scholarship that covered a significant portion of his undergraduate tuition. When Kay first came to Toronto, he became wrapped up in his career and wasn't taking the time to volunteer. But after a friend shared their experience helping out at at TIFF, he decided to give it a go.

"I got to make some amazing connections with many Torontonians, and I also loved that sense of pride I felt when I was able to help people, even if it was just assisting an older lady to her seat and pointing a tourist in the right direction," he says.

He, too, was then inspired to seek out an organization that supported young people in getting a better education.

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"I would like to see that deserving youths, not unlike myself not so long ago, are afforded similar opportunities," he says.

Mustafa echoes Kay's thoughts. "It's everyone's right to continue education. With education you can help grow a community. Maybe there is someone among us that has the skill of figuring out the answer to curing cancer, but he/she doesn't have the necessary education or tools."
Alamy

Back in the mid-1990s, the Ontario Provincial Government found itself in a bitter dispute with Ontario physicians. Back then, the government tried to frame the dispute as one that was solely based on physician compensation. Physicians of course, took the stand that the dispute was actually about how health care was funded, cuts to patient services, and that, in the long run, it would be the people of Ontario that suffered.

The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) of the day, the body that is supposed to represent all physicians, was felt to be sorely lacking in this regard by a significant number of it's members. They felt the OMA was not doing enough to represent their interests or to protect patient care. Family physicians felt particularly disheartened about the lack of respect they were being allotted by the government of the day, and were frustrated by the perceived inability of the OMA to advocate on their behalf.

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As a result, two young female physicians, Dr. Sharla Lichtman and Dr. Rochelle Schwartz, founded the Coalition of Family Physicians (COFP). This breakaway group started to do things that the OMA either couldn't or wouldn't.

Both were young, full of energy and passionate about providing high-quality patient care. Recognizing that government cutbacks would ultimately hurt patients the most and unfettered by what appeared by many to be an "old boys club" at the OMA, they proceeded to launch a public campaign, using the media of the day.

By highlighting the flaws of the health-care system and, in particular, how family physicians were being singled out by the government as being solely responsible for the ills of a growing and ageing population, their passion resonated with many of Ontario's front-line physicians.

I'm unable to link to the cached web pages, but if you click on Dr. Lichtman's profile above, you can click on the COFP letters to read just how different tonally the response from the COFP was to anything that comes out of the OMA.

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They were rapidly able to grow their organization to almost 4,000 members (about half of all family physicians!) within three years. They were able to get numerous new stories published in newspapers highlighting how the system was failing, and how the number of patients without a family physician was approaching three million.

From a political perspective, they were able to get numerous members of their group elected to senior positions in the OMA (one, Dr. Suzanne Strasberg, even became OMA president) and this resulted in a much more strident tone in the OMA's dealing with the government.

It certainly could not have been reassuring for the OMA to have another group be referred to as representing the interests of a segment of its members. At the end of the day, however, the combination of a more strident OMA and a "breakaway" group that was willing to say what the OMA would not succeeded in forcing the government to implement Primary Care Reform (PCR) in 2001.

PCR lead to a seismic shift in how family physicians practiced. The result? Now about 45 per cent of medical school graduates in Canada choose family medicine as their specialty (and yes, it is a specialty) as opposed to as little as 18 per cent eight years ago.

Fast forward to 2016. The government of the day finds itself, you guessed it, embroiled in a bitter dispute with Ontario physicians. The government portrays this as, you guessed it again, a dispute based on physician compensation.

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Unbeknownst to most of the general public however, a breakaway group of physicians, spearheaded by, you guessed it yet again, two young, highly energetic female physicians, Dr. Nadia Alam and Dr. Kulvinder Gill, have spoken out vigorously against the cuts to health care.

The co-leaders of the group Concerned Ontario Doctors (COD) have (here we go again) taken a number of steps that the OMA either can't or won't do.

Using the power of social media, they have managed to get over 11,000 physicians to come together on a secret Facebook page and email lists, to speak privately about how health-care cuts are affecting the general population. They have actively promoted a Twitter campaign via their Twitter handle (Your Ontario Doctors -- @OnCall4ON) that rebuts just about every tweet that Eric Hoskins and Kathleen Wynne make about health care. They've created a public Facebook page called We are Your Ontario Doctors (WAYOD), that list stories of how physicians continue to serve the population, despite being marginalized by Eric Hoskins and the Liberals.

Did you know that there was an orthopaedic crisis in London, Ontario?

Did you know that Dr. Emily Queenan, who the media strongly feted in the fall for being a doctor who moved here from the United States (opposite of what many physicians were considering doing), now feels as if she is being driven out because of the mess that is health care in Ontario?

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Did you know that despite spending $51 billion a year in health care, we still have an Alzheimer's patient sleeping on the floor of an emergency department for eight days?

I wouldn't have known about these stories if it wasn't for the WAYOD page. All of their media releases are also archived on their Care Not Cuts page. For whatever reason the OMA refuses to promote this, but the stories are being widely circulated by COD. They also clearly use a much more aggressive tone.

On January 30, Drs. Alam and Gill organized a protest rally against cuts to health care in front of Liberal candidate Elizabeth Roy, in the by election of Whitby-Oshawa.

As a result it's widely been reported that while the Liberals didn't speak about health care before the protest, they did after. How much of a role the protest had in the stunning and overwhelming defeat of the Liberals in that riding is for political pundits to speculate on. But suffice it to say that it clearly didn't help the Liberal cause.

On Saturday April 23, Drs. Gill and Alam are going to up the political ante. They have organized a public rally at Queens Park for 12 p.m. The idea is to have everyone who is concerned about health care, whether physician, nurse, allied health-care provider or patient, have a peaceful march protesting against the cuts to meet a patient services.

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If even three or 400 people are willing to show up, the event will be a big success considering how few resources they have at their disposal to publicize the event. (And yes, I plan to be there and yes, you are invited, too -- just click here to join).

Moving forward, there have already been numerous OMA elections that have resulted in members of the COD gaining various positions in the OMA bureaucracy. Many of these physicians are taking a much more strident tone that the current OMA leaders. As a result, the longer Hoskins and Wynne wait to go back to fair negotiation process with Ontario doctors, the more difficult they will find it to reach a deal.

George Santayana is famous for saying that those who cannot remember the past are determined to repeat it. In medical politics, this clearly seems to be the case.

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Pascal Rossignol / Reuters An aerial view shows Canadian National Vimy Memorial on Vimy Ridge, northern France November 1, 2015. This memorial site is dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. The year 2017 will mark the centennial commemoration for the soldiers who fought during the battle of Vimy Ridge in the First World War (WWI). REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

The history books told me of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. But nothing prepared me for the majesty of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial atop Hill 145. It simply took my breath away.

At first it was a spot on the horizon, poking up through early morning fog. As we drew closer, the mass of carved stone reduced us to insignificance in its presence. It is an elegant structure and seems to glow in the changing light of day.

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It is impossible to describe the sense of calm I felt in the stillness of the surrounding forest. Craters large and small covered in a lush green carpet provide a most unusual undulating landscape where sheep graze. In this pastoral setting, I was left alone with my thoughts.

How does one reconcile the sacrifice of thousands of young lives and the horror of war with the jubilation of victory and the coming of age of a country?

A moving day so far at the Cdn National #Vimy Memorial, 99 years after such a decisive moment in Cdn nationhood #WWIpic.twitter.com/3NQpty66X8  Elizabeth Dowdeswell (@LGLizDowdeswell) 9 April 2016

This was my first visit to the battlefields of the Great War. I had the privilege of seeing

this site through the eyes of 19 Canadian high school students who, for their community service, bravery and leadership, received Vimy Pilgrimage Awards to travel to France and study the history of Canada's contributions. They undertook this mission to understand the legacy left by their forebears, some of them no older than they are now.

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On April 9, 2016, we stood together where those before us fought so valiantly. I cannot tell you precisely what these young people were thinking, but I do know that young and old alike were profoundly moved by the experience.

We imagined the German forces looking across trenches and shell craters to the enemy lines -- at first French and British, and then in the spring of 1917, Canadian.

We marvelled at the courage and determination of those Canadian troops who pushed through the smoke of artillery fire and gas shells to take and hold the ridge. It was an offensive initially considered a lost cause by both sides.

Hearing remarkable stories of courage and sacrifice as we mark the 99th anniversary of the Battle of #VimyRidge. pic.twitter.com/1Xmrf2MViR  Elizabeth Dowdeswell (@LGLizDowdeswell) 9 April 2016

And we read, on the Vimy Memorial that now stands there, the names of the 3,600 Canadians who died in the battle, and reflected on how their sacrifice and valour helped shape our nation.

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We saw firsthand the dedicated loving care and attention given to commemoration.

We were told that Canadian success relied on innovation, from battle tactics to the wireless transmission of enemy locations from planes to gunners. It also relied on the perseverance required to withstand the harshest of conditions, and on togetherness. The esprit de corps was bolstered by all four divisions of our country's expeditionary force fighting side-by-side for the first time.

Canada was not quite 50 years old when the battle was fought. One German officer's account of the conflict states: "Deployed against us were four of the best English attack divisions -- the Canadians."

He wasn't far wrong: Canadians at the time were still considered British subjects. Our country flew the Union Flag, and yet soldiers wore the maple leaf on their uniforms. Some carved it into the tunnels under the ridge, making their mark for future generations. They identified with their fellow soldiers and with the country that they represented, which was just coming into its own on the international stage.

As Canada approaches its 150th anniversary, and the battle its 100th, it is an important moment to contemplate the values we want to uphold, and the role we wish to play in the world.

May the new #Vimy visitor education centre inspire a new generation to respect duty, courage and, above all, peace. pic.twitter.com/YJfvlS5kvK  Elizabeth Dowdeswell (@LGLizDowdeswell) 9 April 2016

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The Vimy Memorial, designed by Toronto's Walter Allard, can help us focus. Its towering pylons, topped by the figure of Peace holding a torch, are awe-inspiring and sombre. And on the corners of the wall at its base are two sets of statues.

The first, Breaking the Sword, shows two figures standing proudly on guard while another bends to destroy a weapon of war. We have long been prepared to fight for our values, but our fighting itself does not define us; instead, it is our commitment to good government and democracy.

We reject the forces of hatred and intolerance. And we do this as we are reminded by the second set of statues, Sympathy of the Canadians for the Helpless, through our inclusive and generous society.

When the memorial was unveiled in 1936, Minister of Justice Ernest Lapointe spoke of how "in their hour of testing the souls of Canadians revealed themselves gloriously at the summit of their national ascendancy." Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King called Vimy Ridge "one of Earth's altars, on which Canadians sacrificed for the cause of humanity."

As we inscribe the fallen soldiers' names in our collective memory, we are reminded of the values that define us as a country. I, for one, will certainly reflect on those who served and believed in Canada's future.

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The Raven Coal Mine proposal is finally gone.

British Columbia's Environmental Assessment Office pulled the plug on their review of the Raven Coal project. The decision to terminate the review is the final nail in the coffin for Raven Coal and a victory for the communities that fought this proposal for more than six years.

With staggering water use, uncovered tailings heaps and riparian impacts to local creeks and rivers, Raven Coal would have been a disaster for local water quality. It would have filled public highways with gigantic trucks, threatened the renowned Baynes Sound shellfish industry and increased our local contribution to the climate crisis.

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But ultimately, the proponents of Raven Coal failed because of their short-sightedness. A risky, 16-year coal mine project is unsustainable in every sense of the word, and Central Vancouver Island rightfully rejected this model of long-term pain for short-term gain.

So what does this mean, and where do we go from here?

It's important that we give credit where it's due, like to the inspiring CoalWatch Comox Valley Society and the thousands of citizens they mobilized over the past six years.

But this is also a moment to think about economic development on Vancouver Island.

Do activities that benefit so few at the expense of the environment have a place here? Is it responsible to develop projects with short lifespans that leave us vulnerable to the boom-bust cycle that has hurt many communities on the Island?

Unfortunately, Raven Coal isn't the only proposed or active project here that fits this description.

In the Saanich Inlet, a corporation called Steelhead is looking to build a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal off Bamberton called Malahat LNG. Bringing underwater pipelines, floating terminals and supertankers into an already sensitive waterway is a giant leap in the wrong direction at a time when we have to phase out fossil fuels.

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In the Walbran Valley, Surrey-based logging company Teal Jones is cutting into the last large intact old-growth rainforest on southern Vancouver Island. Thousand-year-old trees are not a renewable resource and, having been removed from the vast majority of Vancouver Island, what are left should be protected.

In these and other cases, short-term development is prioritized and a conversation about what's best for Vancouver Island 10, 20 and 30 years down the road is utterly absent.

It's time for that to change.

What if multi-generational benefits and long-term environmental health were the primary criteria for economic projects?

What if we extracted fewer resources on a more sustainable basis and turned them into finished products here?

What if we prioritized food security, for example?

The amount of food grown on Vancouver Island has decreased dramatically in the last 50 years to the point where we now depend on imported products. If we were to set a goal that three-quarters of all food consumed on the island must be produced on the island, we'd increase our food security and employ a lot of people in the process.

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And since the human race isn't going to stop eating any time soon, these jobs would be around forever, unlike the short-term employment in old-growth logging or fossil fuel extraction.

Sure, revamping the local economy with a greater focus on manufacturing and agriculture is an ambitious undertaking, but so is removing some of the largest trees on the planet from remote hillsides in the Walbran Valley.

Proponents of the status quo deride the transition to a local value-added economy as unfeasible. These are the same people who support risky projects like underwater pipelines from Washington State to Mill Bay.

Increasing the say that local jurisdictions have in decision making is more responsible, democratic and just.

With Indigenous communities, we should go even further. Most corporations talk about consultation with the Kwakwaka'wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish Nations whose unceded territories make up Vancouver Island. Some companies even make vague commitments about involving these Nations.

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What if instead we followed Indigenous Peoples' leads on development?

True reconciliation requires the return of authority to Indigenous Peoples, so let's start with land use and the way we create and sustain jobs.

The knowledge, passion and commitment to create a better future exists on Vancouver Island. In the Comox and Alberni Valleys, citizens are now free from the shadow of an unwanted coal mine, and can focus on building alternatives.

But we're still degrading ecosystems in the Walbran Valley, still wasting time with projects like Malahat LNG. If we can rule out these short-sighted activities that threaten the environment for minimal benefit, the possibilities for what we can create instead are endless.

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I am delighted that science is increasingly recognised as a key driver of development in Africa. High-profile conferences such as February's Next Einstein Forum in Senegal have turned the spotlight onto some of the continent's best young scientists and technologists. International leaders such as the distinguished scientist, HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the African Union Commission, are also calling for greater efforts to equip the next generation with high-quality scientific and technical skills. What's more, countries such as Mauritius deserve praise for their efforts to create an enabling environment for local scientists.

This progress is encouraging, but we must do more to build the domestic skills base that Africa needs to address its own development challenges. As President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim pointed out in a recent interview, 'If we had the testing ability and the basic education around the sciences -- hygiene for example -- we probably, and hopefully, would not have had the human disaster that we saw during the Ebola crisis.' Beyond the health sciences, for example, I would love to see local scientists creating innovations to enhance access to clean and sustainable energy, which can improve our citizens' livelihoods. We must also balance 'quick scientific gains' with investment in basic sciences research to broaden the range of scientific discoveries, and aid long-term development.

At the same time, there is a real need to ensure the industrial relevance of scientific research as well as the scientists who conduct it. A 20-year trend of under-investment in higher education and science in Africa has left many academics cut adrift from the needs of industry. Too often, they can be found pursuing their own research, and more aligned with the wishes of international funding bodies than local industry. At the same time, businesses often bemoan the lack of high-quality local personnel with practical scientific and technical competences. In fact, over 42% of executives across the continent indicated that the lack of talent and the cost of keeping skilled employees weigh heavily on the near-term view of the African business operations.

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This state of affairs prompted an important Memorandum of Understanding between the PEI and the African Academy of Sciences, a bastion of scientific excellence on the continent. Central to the MoU is a PhD grant programme that supports African students to pursue research in the areas of water, energy, agribusiness and basic sciences. In this way, we will be building the capacity that the continent needs to tackle current and anticipate future development priorities.

I am especially proud that this programme will be delivered with the assistance of private sector partners. The involvement of for-profit businesses will help enable our researchers to develop the practical experience that employers are looking for, and that their research closely aligns to industry needs. I want to emphasise that this is beneficial to all stakeholders. By supporting this programme, companies are helping to build the hard and soft infrastructure they need to operate on the continent. This programme will also help counter the brain drain that is stripping our countries of their best and brightest.
Photo by Louise Orton

Hundreds of people fleeing from stun grenades as they are battered by rubber bullets and blinded with teargas, while riot police look on from behind a barbed wire fence. This was the scene at Idomeni in northern Greece on Sunday, after an estimated 500 refugees tried to breach the Macedonian border.

Medical aid organisations yesterday reported that it had treated 300 people, including 200 suffering from respiratory problems caused by tear gas, as well as rubber bullet wounds. Around 30 children, aged between five and 15 years old, required care and at least 10 people said that they had been beaten by the Macedonian police.

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This most recent occasion of police violence is just the latest event in a string of attacks against migrants and refugees who have become stuck in the Idomeni camp. Thousands of people have been barred from crossing the border into Macedonia and are now living in filthy tents where diseases such as scabies and respiratory infections are rife.

Vulnerable people, such as Leyla an Iranian woman who is six months pregnant, say they have been enduring threats and violence from Macedonian police for weeks. She recounted walking in the dark for eight hours to reach the Greece-Macedonia border with her family just weeks ago.

"We came across a group of men in clothes that looked like uniforms," she said. "They began to beat my father and brother with truncheons. I tried to protect them but the men pushed me to the ground. I fell and hit my belly." Leyla was sent back to the sodden tent she had left behind in Idomeni, despite suffering terrible pains and worrying about the health of her unborn child.

Daniel Youkee, a volunteer for a health charity, who is currently providing healthcare in Idomeni, recalled treating a Syrian man beaten by Macedonian border guards last month. "It was what some call a professional beating, likely with truncheons," he said. "He had been hit in places that cause maximum pain, soft tissue areas such as the back of the thighs or buttocks, but that will not break any bones."

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One young man examined by medics at a Doctors of the World clinic broke down in tears while recounting how he was attacked by 12 police officers as he and other migrants as they tried to cross the Macedonian border. It's not known which country the police were from. "We cowered in a corner and they kept beating us," he said. "They want to kill us, they have beaten us," he said. "They treat us like animals."

Whether in Greece, France or the Balkans, migrants face police brutality at every stage of their journey into Europe.

In Calais, in northern France, a makeshift camp known as the 'Jungle' has become a site of squalor, misery and fear. According to a recent study by the Refugee Rights Data Project, almost 75% of migrants surveyed there have experienced police brutality in the form of verbal abuse, exposure to tear gas, physical and in some cases even sexual violence.

Almost 5,000 people are currently living in the Jungle camp, including over 650 children. Ahmed is a 16-year-old boy from Libya who told Doctors of the World about the police abuse he suffered last year. Two days after arriving in the Jungle, Ahmed said he was apprehended by four police officers while he was fetching water from a tap. One asked him where he came from but before he could respond, two officers knocked him to the ground, blinded him with pepper spray and beat his legs and feet. A friend then took Ahmed to a Doctors of the World clinic so that his injuries could be treated. "I'm afraid every time a police van goes by," he told aid workers. "They shout curse words while beating us."

Police violence in camps is fast becoming a part of everyday life for refugees, whether in France, Greece or the Balkans. According to human rights group Amnesty International, women and girls making the journey from Turkey to the Balkans are now particularly at risk of police harassment. Almost 60% of refugees arriving in Greece so far this year have been women and children.

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On Wednesday, France voted for gender equality by making the purchase of commercial sex illegal, while decriminalising and providing exiting services and support to people in prostitution. It was a conclusive verdict, with 64 politicians voting in favour and 12 voting against the new bill.

The news is welcomed by feminist organisations such as Equality Now, which has been advocating for this Nordic or 'Equality' Model of laws for many years. Its passage is thanks in large part to years of hard work by our partners CAP International, Mouvement Du Nid and the European Women's Lobby, as well as the coalition of over 60 French organisations that make up Abolition 2012.

Starting in Sweden in 1999, several countries have enacted laws based on this model. France joins Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Canada - and likely soon, the Republic of Ireland, in a growing list of countries, which acknowledge the high levels of sexual exploitation within the commercial sex trade.

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They also recognise its links with sex trafficking - and the gender inequality inherent in the practice of predominantly men using their power to buy access to mostly disadvantaged women's bodies. In Canada for example, Aboriginal children and youth make up 90% of the visible sex trade in some communities where the overall Aboriginal population is less than 10%.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands and Germany - which attempted to regulate prostitution in 2000 and 2002 respectively - are beginning to backtrack from their failed experiments, with politicians pushing for new laws to criminalise the purchase of sex from a victim of trafficking or coercion. This is an attempt to stem the widespread trafficking and exploitation in their legal and illegal prostitution sectors.

There is also discussion in the United Kingdom and elsewhere on re-examining existing laws - particularly in the face of change in Ireland and France. This positive wave is likely to strengthen further as neighbouring countries that have legalised brothel-keeping, pimping and buying sex feel the increased ill-effects of these harmful policies.

At the continental level, in 2014, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe both adopted resolutions, which recommended member states to consider the Nordic Model. Around the world too, an increasing number of activists and organisations - many of which are survivor-led - in countries such as South Africa, India, Lebanon, Germany, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand and the US, are calling for lawmakers to recognise the realities of prostitution and to enact the Nordic model. They see this approach as the only effective way to tackle commercial sexual exploitation and the inequalities it is based on.

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Accurate statistics on prostitution can be difficult to find, but media reports estimate that 80% to 90% of those (mostly women) in prostitution in France are believed to have come from abroad - including many victims of trafficking. From our work on the issue, we know that many of these are likely to have come from the African continent or from Eastern Europe, largely due to coercion, deception, or lack of choice.

The Nordic Model recognises that people in prostitution experience a disproportionate risk of violence, physical and psychological harm and that prostitution is based on - and reinforces - gender, class, race, ethnic, economic and other forms of inequality. It is not the same as full criminalisation, where everyone involved is criminalised - including the person selling sex - often under the rationale that they are doing something 'indecent'.

It is becoming increasingly evident too that attempts to regulate the commercial sex trade through legalisation or decriminalisation do not make things safer for people in prostitution. Instead, these policies legitimise the violence and exploitation in the sex trade - an industry in which brothel-keepers, traffickers, pimps and those who buy sex are in the main the people who benefit.
As the government's leaflet about the EU begins to sail through our letterboxes, we are being overwhelmed by arguments about the economy, security and sovereignty.

But one aspect has been largely ignored so far: the religious perspective. It is worth considering not because faith groups have any greater understanding than others, but because there was a religious theme to the foundation of the EU that needs to be considered when discussing whether to stay or leave.

The religious element was certainly not for missionary purposes, but it was a deep belief in the need for harmony and peace that stemmed from messianic ideals and then became translated into secular politics.

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The original concept of the EU developed from the Christian Democrat ideology that dominated the original six states who came together in 1951: Belgium, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and West Germany.

They had a moral and spiritual vision of a Europe based on justice and integrity. This became funneled into a vehicle for economic growth and concentrated on free trade, but the fundamental thinking behind the European project rested on a desire for peace between nations and an improved quality of life for individuals. They did not expect a lamb to lie down with a lion, but they certainly wanted Germany and France to co-exist, and others around them to be at ease.

It is significant, for instance, that the term 'subsidiarity', which is associated primarily with the EU, actually comes from a Papal Encyclical from 1931, Quadragesimo Anno. Moreover, it is seen not merely as a matter of governance but of justice. As Pope Pius XI summarised it at the time: 'It is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organisations can do' (1).

The EU's purpose today of better relationships between nation states and between peoples certainly chimes with religious values. But goodwill is not enough by itself, particularly when self-interest or political struggles might suggest countries pursue a more individualistic course. Structures are needed to reinforce those ideals.

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Just as individuals need the Ten Commandments to remind them that morals should take precedence over instincts, so nations need treaties and obligations to lock them into letting the overall long-term good prevail over less noble criteria.

This includes the enormously important role that the EU tries to achieve of the wealthier countries supporting the poorer ones, thereby promoting social and economic justice. For some, this can be labeled as 'redistribution of wealth'; for others, it can be described as 'loving your neighbour as yourself'.

The EU also facilitates policies that can only work effectively on a larger scale with international agreement, such as on climate change or corporate responsibilities. Some may balk at the restrictions on their particular industry, but that should distract from the much wider good that is achieved.

A religious perspective in favour of the grand designs of the EU does not mean that it always operates at its best, or that reforms are not necessary, but any criticism of the way it works should be tackled separately and should not be confused with its value as a whole.

One area, for instance, where there is need for great care is that of acknowledging national identities within the EU super-structure. There is a delicate balance between giving them expression and imposing limits. If they are repressed, it will cause a backlash that could lead to the disintegration of the EU.

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Another religious issue is the way the EU debate is conducted: that it should avoid the hostility and divisiveness that characterised the Scottish Referendum. Opinions should be given freely, but without personal invective and abusive language.

June 23rd is important, but so is June 24th and we have to still be on talking terms with family, friends and neighbours whichever way the vote goes.
Ultimatum: noun /ltmetm/ - a final, uncompromising demand or statement of terms, the rejection of which will result in retaliation or a breakdown in relations.

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'Capitalism is crisis', read the banner I slept underneath for months as we occupied the city of London. This crisis will never be without revolt, was the biggest lesson. In the margins of capitalism, where extraction, exploitation, death and destitution pave the way for prosperity in the capitals, people are always on a move against the moneychangers and captains of industry. Sometimes, at crucial moments, the revolt spills into the capitals.

With the revelation of the Panama Papers, revolt is brewing in the cities of the Global North. Historically, it is then that collateral is offered up by the state, usually in the form of heads. David Cameron, although hesitantly, may well be the next head of state to step down - this means next to nothing, we need look no further than Eton to see that he is bred to be replaceable. We need look no further than Osborne to see that his successor could easily match his malice.

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If David Cameron resigns it only indicates that we must push for more than resignations, that we must impose ultimatums limiting the mobility of the government to slash crucial services and continue the imperial status quo. If people take to the streets, people must stay on the streets. Space is crucial, to talk, to organise, to commune and to envision. We can and must focus our energies on the gargantuan task of holding a system of global capital, of cronyism and colonialism, which has never stopped plundering, to account.

With the Panama Papers the jig is up. Austerity's proposed logic, which has always been flawed, is now null and void. The public, in an extremely public fashion, now have proof of how the rich have robbed the poor. David Cameron being the most poignant example of this robbery. Blairmore holdings, an offshore fund at the heart of Cameron's unfolding scandal, amassed its wealth by playing broker for the Rothschild bank during times of war, and playing grain merchant in 19th Century Chicago. Capital scraped off the back of hardworking, dying, people.

Photo: public domain image, a conversation between newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and the anonymous source

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With the capital the Cameron-Geddes house hoarded they have since established an investment bank, an accountancy firm and various offshore funds. Building up a formidable dynasty in the City of London, they have been funnelling all wealth through offshore schemes, zeroing taxes, namely in Panama and the Bahamas. The time to pay has come, so in Rihanna's timeless wisdom, #BitchBetterHaveMyMoney.

The Corporotocracy at the helm of global capital and most nation states, which all mainstream parties will inevitably play ball with in order to gain political power, may finally be unable to reassemble the mask which creates a fake distinction between elite tycoons and leaders of states. As the Panama Papers scandal brings to light, state leaders have lept at every opportunity to defend the assets of the wealthy - and the wealthy have accrued capital at an accelerated rate during what is essentially the most persistent global recession in human history.

What can we organise for beyond resignations? Now is the time to formulate national demands, but more than demands, ultimatums. Whilst the fat cats and parliamentarians rush to find their feet we must levy these non-discussions upon them. We must reassess all that we were told to forfeit because "We're all in this together", as Cameron once chimed.

No austerity. Immediate collection of all evaded taxes, and, appropriation of assets handled illegally. The NHS must not be sold off. Crucial services such as women's refuges must remain open. Resettle families seeking refuge here from our wars. Whatever our ultimatums, they must be strictly unconditional: sustained demonstrations if we do not have immediate obligation from government during this interim period.

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Photo: Ged Carroll

We need an interim period not just a snap internal election. The demands we formulate should be step one, only to halt and reverse the murderous, racist, ableist, patriarchal policies of the last few decades. They are for the interim because when the establishment is on the retreat, there is no better time to forward the agenda of holding it to account - to begin the dialogue of justice, the people are wounded, and a program of healing and restorative justice needs to start, yesterday.

The word justice needs to trend alongside the word resign. We must radicalise and decolonise the discussion, so that this is not just about state leaders and party politics, so that this is about a systemic injustice pitting the marginalised against the rich in an unfair game - where the rules are rigged and the Panama Papers say so. The Panama Papers say so. Just as the indigenous peoples of the Global South say so. Just as we, the wretched of the earth have said so.

There is a chasm being created where the show-reel of mainstream politics is overheating, in this space of uncertainty we can certainly seize a moment. Assemblies, in churches, in mosques, in parks, in town halls, on streets, in homes, better than we did in 2011. We need not look far to draw inspiration on how to believe in our autonomy, and power to mobilise, cast a glance at Rojava in Northern Syria, Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa or the Comunero's in Venezuela, by the people, for the people.

We have time and reason to come together in our respective communities and be honest about the situation - assess our communal needs, formulate our nuanced ultimatums against the government, amalgamate and correlate our voices through the internet, and most importantly piece together a plan to separate ourselves from a system of global capital, of corporotocracy, which as the Panama papers show, cheats us minute to minute.

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Photo: Matthew Straubmuller, Panama City

We need not fear who will pick up rubbish or cook food. We do that ourselves. We hold up the state, we hold up society, my uncle was a carpenter, my grandmother was a chef, my grandfather was a tailor, my mother was a nurse, is a carer, my father is a taxi driver. We make society and the state turn, it is not the other way round. We the people are not even a dual power, we are the only real power.

The closing weeks of April will be very decisive. Climate catastrophe is beyond urgent. Marginalised communities are filling prison pipelines and prisons are being auctioned off to private companies by a government entrenched in the biggest leak in history. We have a moment, it is bigger than a resignation, and it is even bigger than a political party. It is about a political and economic system that does not stand up, and that with enough agitation and organisation can be curbed at the eleventh hour.
There seems to be a consensus emerging that the past few days have been particularly bad ones for the Prime Minister. Not for one second would I disagree with David Cameron's own assessment, delivered with a certain degree of establishment British understatement, that "It's not been a great week."

For the first time in months I might even suggest that we have seen Labour on the front foot. Buoyed by the revelations of arguably out of touch wealth and misted by talk of offshore trading which I will venture few of us understand Messrs Corbyn and McDonnell are undoubtedly taking their chance, an opportunity that even by their standards it would be hard to miss.

I am more than a little worried though, worried that in seeking to capitalise on easy blows against the Tory, in the immortal words of Nadine Dorries, 'posh boys' a much greater threat lies in wait for both the Conservatives and Labour.

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As party leaders, and those who aspire to take lofty office, line up to release summary or even actual copies of their tax returns the question has to be asked who else should be releasing theirs?

If Cabinet ministers are to publish details of their personal finances then what about the Shadow Cabinet? What about all MPs? Should Police Commissioners or Councillors be expected to publish their returns, or even candidates?

And of course what do we expect them to tell us? Tax returns may well show some politicians are rich whilst others will have much more modest incomes. It doesn't automatically follow that the wealthy ones will be Tory whilst the ones poorer than church mice wear red.

Do voters actually care whether their politicians are rich? It was hardly a secret that Mr Cameron was well to do prior to the 2015 General Election. Providing politicians are not acting illegally, and there is absolutely no suggestion that Mr Cameron was, does the electorate give two hoots?

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But, and here is the massive caveat, what will happen when information is uncovered that politicians have used careful tax planning which to the public may be seen as dubious?

For every David Cameron we know, or at least it has been reported, there is a Tony Benn or Ken Livingstone making use (dependent on your point of view) of careful planning or aggressive avoidance.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with planning your finances to legally minimise your tax liability. Isn't that, simply put, what millions of us do by investing in ISA's?

The problem arises not so much in perfectly legal activities but how they are reported and it's my guess that there are plenty of politicians on both sides of the house who have made prudent use of their accountants.

What this means though isn't an easy win for Labour but the very high risk that all politicians will be tarred with the same brush. Do Messrs Corbyn and McDonnell truly believe that Labour is above reproach or will it be a plague on all of our houses?

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When we look back at the dog days of the last Labour government we remember with a shiver down our backs the turmoil that the MP expenses scandal brought to all political parties, signalling the end of some very fine parliamentarian's careers.

Can we honestly be sure that the current tax return fiasco will not have exactly the same outcome?

How many voters will look at the establishment parties and say 'you can't trust any of them' before putting their cross for someone completely new?
In the UK, there has been unprecedented interest in the American election and the reason for this is undoubtedly Donald Trump. Trump is often called a 'fascist' in Europe, but surely such a description is unfair to fascists, as they at least have a consistent and coherent ideology? Trump will say anything and everything and flip-flop on the subject within a matter of hours and perhaps a few hours later even flip-flop on the flip-flop if the mood takes him. Trump has no policies, no ideologies, just a thirst for power and the admiration of others. He is a media fixated populist, but unlike many of his type, there doesn't seem to be one policy that can't be abandoned given an opportune interview and enough wriggle room to change his mind at the next media appearance if he deems it necessary.

Trump like those populists in Latin America and Europe appeals to those whose advocates call disenfranchised and voiceless though whose detractors prefer the terms, embittered and self-absorbent. Either way, throughout the developed world, the stereotype is well known of alienated folk of the 'squeezed middle' who have had enough of the status quo and want a leader who will be their shining knight on a white charger and will make their country great again. This would be rescuer is big on charisma, outspokenness and saying the things no other politician dares to say (usually with good reason) and becomes an anti-hero; a rock star or reality TV idol for people who should be well past the rebellious stage.

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You can get very far with this shtick, but you can't win in 99 scenarios out of 100. There is always more people who will vote for anyone, literally anyone who can stop you, than those voting for you. This is always because the populist promises things that enchant the alienated faithful but repulse the majority of the voting public so that the anti-Trump ticket is the hottest one in America. This would be so for most populists who say things that outrage the majority in order captivate their own supporters, but the additional problem with Trump is the uncertainty over what his policies exactly will be except the mere sketches he offers in that direction sound disastrous enough without the fine details of how it will all exactly work which usually sink policies in British elections.

The ironic thing about the 2016 election is that the most likely beneficiary from Trump's unlikeliness to hold office is Hilary Clinton who without Trump might be very unlikely to win office herself. She is currently being investigated by the FBI after conducting governmental business on a private server which as John R. Schindler notes, could have and likely was intercepted by foreign intelligence services. Hilary says that talk of her being prosecuted over this matter is "fantasy" but the Sunday Times reported that Hilary will be interviewed by the FBI over the matter soon and that FBI director James Comey has threatened to resign if in the instance of him recommending a prosecution and it being refused by the White House.

The article goes on to state that the Obama administration fear that such a resignation would lead to Trump winning, and yes, normally such an inability to follow basic protocol in the way Hilary has been accused of doing, would preclude someone from being considered competent enough to hold a drinking session in a brewery let alone president. In a race with Donald Trump who would probably set the brewery on fire in this scenario though, even a candidate under FBI investigation may win.

This is if of course Trump wins the Republican nomination in the first place. Currently according to Nate Silver, Trump is on course to win under 1,237 delegates in the Republican race which means there would be contested convention in which all the delegates after one vote would be free to horse-trade and haggle over the final nominee and the despite Trump being the front runner he may not necessarily win. The #NeverTrump movement has been gaining strength rapidly in Republican circles with notable thinkers in the party and on the American right such as Rick Wilson,Max Boot and Tom Nichols being in the vanguard of making the case for anyone but Trump being the Republican candidate with names such as Trumps main rival Ted Cruz, 2012 VP candidate and house speaker, Paul Ryan and military hero James Mattis being mentioned.

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The revelation that more than 214,000 off-shore companies have been established in Panama to help the super-rich avoid paying tax is shocking, but not especially surprising. The scale of the evasion might be more than most suspected, with everyone from Putin to the Chinese political dynasty to Lionel Messi to David Cameron's father (and Cameron himself) implicated in the scandal, but we pretty much all begrudgingly accepted that this kind of thing goes on. It's a sad indictment of the global state of politics that the ubiquitous response to the news that the super rich are evading tax on a worldwide scale was, "Yeah, and what else is new?".

In his polemical essay The Lion and the Unicorn, George Orwell references this sorry state of affairs, saying "Everyone knows that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor". Perhaps one reason for the miraculous ascent of Jeremy Corbyn to the top of the Labour Party is that previous socially democratic governments have failed to address what has apparently been known for decades. New Labour's Peter Mandelson famously once said that he was 'intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich (although he has recently retracted his comments). When people criticise the 'political class', they are criticising the fact that the rich have been able to steal from the poor in broad daylight - there is no attempt to even conceal the treachery. George Osborne, for example, makes no effort to hide the fact that he is giving Google an especially good deal on their corporation tax rate, instead he gleefully parades it around like it is some sort of victory. If you or I tried to pay the piddling amounts that Google pays on their revenues in the UK, we would soon be on the receiving end of a visit from HMRC.

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It is in moments like these that the facade of us all being in it together that David Cameron has been trying to maintain throughout his premiership melts away to reveal the ugly face of conservatism that has been there since he attained office. The fact that his family were personally involved in tax evasion has received the attention from the media, but what is far more revealing is that Cameron stepped in to avoid the European Union cracking down on tax avoidance involving offshore trusts. At the same time that the benefits of the most vulnerable were being slashed, and thousands more children were entering absolute poverty.

The public reaction has been quick to the scandal has been quick; there have been marches calling for Cameron's resignation, and the protestors have even been effective enough to prompt an apology from the Prime Minister - but that is all they are going to get. Unlike in Iceland, there is no chance the PM will resign - because this is what we voted for. Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson, the Icelandic Prime Minister who has resigned in the wake of the scandal, was elected on a wave of anti-bank fury, and stood on a progressive ticket that promised to stop this kind of thing from happening. In Britain, however, we all knew what we were getting when we gave the Conservatives a mandate for power in 2015. This was a party whose Chancellor went on daytime television and gave advice on how you could go about avoiding inheritance tax.

In the prelude to the 2010 election, the Conservatives, under the guidance of PR Guru Steve Hilton, made a concerted effort to detoxify their image. Moving away from the 'Nasty Party' of Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith, they wanted to present themselves as a party of decency who were on the side of hard-working people, who would act on climate change and help the NHS while still cutting the deficit and lowering taxes. There was still a whiff of privilege about the ex-Bullingdon boys, but for the most part, the British electorate lapped up these lies and voted them in.

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So the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to end their Indian tour on Saturday by visiting the Taj Mahal? Well - why wouldn't they? They are famously a loving couple, and this has been a place for lovers through the centuries.

But this is also - just as famously - the place where Diana, Princess of Wales, posed for the press in 1992 and dramatised the failure of her marriage. Ostentatiously alone, gazing wistfully at the cameras, in front of the building another prince, Shah Jahan, had raised to celebrate his enduring love story . . . This was, if we remember, the royal 'annus horribilis' and the War of the Waleses was well underway. The couple had travelled to India on different planes, and stayed on different floors of their hotel. The Queen had asked them to undertake this joint public engagement in the hope of plastering over the cracks in the marriage. Before the end of the year, she agreed that the pair should separate, and put everyone out of their misery.

The Cambridges' communications secretary, Jason Knauf, said in a statement that the Duke is of course aware of the huge esteem in which his mother is held in India - 'and he appreciates the iconic status of the images that exist of the Princess at the Taj . . . Twenty four years on from her visit to the Taj, the Duke and Duchess are looking forward to seeing this beautiful place for themselves and creating some new memories'.

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Yes, but is it just me - or are things getting ever so slightly worrying here?

The bench on which Diana posed wasn't taken away. It's known as 'Lady Di's Chair'. But the Duke and Duchess won't pose just there - will they? Whatever the photographers say? Though in the past, when comparisons with Diana beckoned, they haven't exactly shied away.

There isn't a word to be said against the fact that William and Harry, and Kate too, are starting to specialise in the kind of charities Diana would have approved - mental health and children's issues, as well as the kind of nature and military-type causes other royals have adopted more naturally.

There was nothing to be said when William gave Kate his mother's engagement ring. It was a touching way of including her in the happiness she was not there to enjoy. And if Kate, like Diana, wore a strong blue for the engagement pictures, well, again, why shouldn't she?

No - I think what set the alarm bells ringing for me was the christening of their second baby Princess Charlotte (Charlotte Elizabeth Diana) and the outfit Prince George wore for the ceremony. A smocked shirt and red shorts - almost identical to outfit his father wore to meet his younger brother, Prince Harry, in the maternity unit. A little odd, surely?

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There is clearly a sense in which Prince William (and perhaps his brother too) are trying to retread old ground - and this time, to do it properly. If the marriage of Charles and Diana was meant to be a national fairy story, then this time they want it to end happily. That phrase of the communications secretary about 'creating some new memories' is key.

In a sense no doubt Diana's heirs are right in what they do. Searching - the looking for a loved one - is said to be an important stage in the grieving process . . . But a stage from which the bereaved should move on, eventually.
It is a brave person who dares speak out either for or against breastfeeding in public these days. I know of one highly experienced research press officer, who had worked on controversial issues like human animal hybrids, GM crops, animal research, minimum alcohol pricing and climate change, who admitted:

"Nothing had prepared me for the most polarising, knee-jerking subject of all: breastfeeding."

Whether you are Jamie Oliver trying to show support for breastfeeding and rightly recognising a genuine problem - that women who want to breastfeed in this country often face barriers that mean they can't - or a new mother just blogging or tweeting about her personal experiences, speaking out puts you in the direct path of the opinion juggernaut which careers headlong into anyone who dares to take a stand on either side of the polarised infant feeding debate.

In some ways, Oliver was an easy target for criticism: a public figure not afraid of being outspoken, resilient, successful. Those attacking him would not have been concerned about his personal wellbeing. It is a different story for the mothers, midwives and health professionals whose daily work is supporting mothers who want to breastfeed, who often find themselves on the receiving end of similar criticism for putting pressure on women to breastfeed. Indeed, the UK context has become so fraught that those who advocate for breastfeeding are regularly accused of being breastfeeding Nazis or part of the "breastapo". Any chance of having an inclusive, factual and non-judgmental conversation about breastfeeding is shut down.

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So it is time to change. First, we need to be upfront and admit that yes, sometimes, well-meaning efforts to promote breastfeeding have been insensitive and over-zealous. No mother should feel pressurised, or manhandled, around feeding her baby; we must do better than that and provide non-judgmental information and support so that a woman can genuinely choose how she wants to feed her baby, and is able to follow through on that choice.

Second, we must also be upfront with the evidence around breastfeeding. Recently three new major studies funded by the Gates Foundation have been published, including a series in the Lancet, which delivered resounding and extensive evidence that breastfeeding saves lives, improves health and cuts health service costs in every country, rich or poor. Children who are breastfed for longer periods have higher intelligence, fewer infections, fewer dental problems, reduced morbidity and mortality, and are less likely to be overweight or diabetic in later life. For mothers, breastfeeding protects against breast and ovarian cancer and diabetes.

This is powerful information that mothers will want to know when making a decision about how to feed their child. But even writing it down here presents a dilemma as it will be upsetting for many families who have not breastfed, or who have experienced the trauma of trying very hard to breastfeed and not succeeding. We all understand that pain because we know those women - many of them are our friends, our families, and some of us.

So thirdly, we need to change the conversation. We can stop laying the blame for a major public health issue in the laps of individual women, and acknowledge the collective responsibility of us all to remove the barriers to breastfeeding which lead to eight out of ten women reporting they had to stop breastfeeding before they had wanted to. These include 1) cultural norms that discourage long term breastfeeding, 2) a widespread misconception by almost everyone that formula milk can replace breastmilk without any harm, 3) a lack of postnatal care and trained support to help women get breastfeeding off to a good start, 4) formula company marketing that invests huge amounts of money in normalising bottle feeding and undermining breastfeeding.

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On the back of the recent new evidence around breastfeeding, Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative is launching a Call to Action , which sets out the situation in the UK, and calls on the UK and all devolved governments to implement four key actions that will kickstart a supportive, enabling environment for women who want to breastfeed.

The Lancet series has highlighted what can only be described as a crisis in breastfeeding in the UK. We have one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world and one of the biggest formula milk industries. Our culture so often stops us from speaking out about the problem because we fear the backlash of opinion. Any rational debate about how to make things better for women who want to breastfeed in the future becomes almost impossible. Isn't it time that as a nation we stop treating each other as enemies and start to work together to make things better for future generations?

For more information on the Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative, please visit our website and take up our Call To Action
The Panama papers reveal what we already know: rich people avoid their taxes. But take a moment to survey the bigger picture from this scandal. Here we have 11 million documents leaked from one of thousands of law firms based in one of numerous tax havens. The sheer size and reach of global finance has been laid bare for the public to glimpse, albeit in awe of its complexity. Not a decade on from the greatest economic catastrophe in living memory, investment banking has brushed off its brief flirtation with demise, romping free once more unshackled. And as regulatory enforcement recedes, the financialisation juggernaut continues afresh, growing more ostentatious and lucrative with every passing block to regulation that might halt it.

Given the cavorting of high finance highlighted in the Panama papers has deeply political roots, let us give the Conservatives their due. The Tory power-grab of the last decade has been the most brazen of opportunistic responses to financial meltdown. Never before have I read about a populist conversion to relaxed capital controls, or a spontaneous roll-back of the post-war consensus, as a response to hard times. In prior recessions, a people whose living standards were crushed by bankers never took that occasion to demand less regulation for the very institutions they had bailed out. Nor did they rally behind a Government wedded to hacking open the state, demoralising its workforce, and rewarding friendly business with the loot.

Conservative economic policy: off the hook

All this, of course, has been made possible because Conservative economic ideas were gifted the juiciest of get-out clauses in 2008 by New Labour and the Blairites who slavishly upheld Thatcherite principles of free market utopia. Rather than acknowledge that their economic policies had enjoyed three decades behind the wheel of Government, the Tories were able to declare that they never had their chance. Conservatives had not been in charge, laissez-faire was on hold, and therefore the disastrous events of recent years cast no discredit on the cornerstone free market ideas of the Conservative movement.

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Listen to prominent Conservatives in 2008. You won't hear them discussing mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps, or the free market deregulatory coups that made them so toxic. Pesky facts like these may have wrecked the global economy, but to Tories they may as well have been irrelevant. Instead, they fought the battle at the level of theoretics - in economic fairy tales involving maxed out credit cards, broken roofs, and prudent housewives. There was no room to reconsider the economic dogma that cast ruination upon the country, instead the Conservatives doubled-down, and resolved even more aggressively for ideological purity.

Contempt pays

And so here we are in 2016 staring down the effects of deliberate Conservative inaction. The Panama papers reveal vividly that instead of cleaning up the act of big business and the super-rich, the resurgent Tories have contrived to make their predatory actions worse - swindling the state of billions at a time when Government cuts are hurting society's poorest and most vulnerable actors. We might allow that millions of working people toil to appropriate obscene wealth for a tiny handful in this country. The very least we should expect, though, is that they pay back into the infrastructure supporting the creation of that wealth in the first place.

Yet such courtesy is too much to ask of a self-serving elite, who already consider themselves to pay more than their fair share into a state apparatus they despise. A more contemptuous attitude toward society you would be hard pressed to contrive. But this is precisely the attitude of our economic and political masters. The defenders of an extractive economy leeching rents from the majority, squirreling them away in tax havens, to fund little Boris, Gideon, and Dave through Eton - so they might be harvested as the next devout wardens of privilege.

Shattering the pretence
The recent tragic murder of Ahmadi Muslim Asad Shah in Glasgow by another Muslim has brought much of the anti-Ahmadi prejudice latent in the UK Muslim community into sharp focus.

As an Ahmadi Muslim who has spent six years on the Muslim student scene, I've seen my fair share of anti-Ahmadi sentiment. Ahmadiyya student societies have experienced multiple incidents of other Muslim student bodies attempting to 'protect the faith' by disrupting our events, emailing their memberships 'warning' people of our 'deviant' views, trying to stall the creation of our societies and then attempting to shut us down thereafter. There has even been an incident where our students were physically assaulted whilst manning an outreach stall, and another where a Muslim student handed out leaflets that declared our death meritorious. The attitude of many young Muslims towards Ahmadi Muslims was typified for me when the then-president of my university's Islamic Society emailed our committee informing us that we shouldn't use the word 'Islam' in our event titles. As we were holding an event on the topic of "Women in Islam", they kindly suggested that "Women in Ahmadiyya" would be more appropriate. How thoughtful.

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An AMSA Publicity Stall

This tendency amongst young British Muslims of turning Islam into Islam is inherited behaviour. It stems from a subcontinental mindset that deems it legitimate to consider a group of self-identifying Muslims who follow the five pillars of Islam and believe in the six articles of faith as being non-Muslim, whether that group 'realises' it or not. This time-old tradition has been continued by the upper echelon of Muslim representation in the West. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), whilst condemning the murder of Shah, on Thursday released a statement reiterating their position that Ahmadis aren't Muslims. In this stance they are joined by even the most 'moderate' mainstream Imams of the West. I will never forget a reply I received from Cambridge University's Timothy Winter, once named 'Britain's Most Influential Muslim', in response to a painstakingly polite invitation to dialogue I had sent him. To my 344 worded email, I received only these few in reply:

"Please do not bother me with this. You know your status in the eyes of the Muslim community."

Charming.

These edicts of disbelief are problematic as they act as a stepping stone of dehumanisation that leads to discrimination and, in extreme cases, active persecution. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Pakistan, where Ahmadis' non-Muslim status in the eyes of their detractors was written into law, causing the community to face intense state-sanctioned persecution. Whilst law and order exist in the UK, the prejudice still runs deep.

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Ahmadi Students at a Seminar in a Mosque

Be this as it may, many Muslims reading will wonder if the unsavoury edicts are essentially justified- maybe Ahmadis aren't Muslims, and we should simply seek to reduce the discrimination that understanding entails. A cursory glance at the Prophet Muhammad's definitions of a Muslim, however, expose these edicts as simply being prejudice in the garb of theology. In the census of Medina, the Prophet required self-identification and nothing else, saying, 'Write down for me the name of everyone who call himself a Muslim.' On another instance he declared that, "Whoever says, 'none has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' faces our Qibla (direction) during the prayers, prays like us, and eats our slaughtered animal, he is a Muslim; he has got the same rights and obligations as any Muslim has."

The modern day clergy however, apparently know better than the founder of Islam. The MCB for instance have adjudicated that, 'the cornerstone of Islam is to believe in One God and in the finality of the prophethood of the Messenger Muhammad, peace be upon him.' This invented definition of a Muslim stems from a mistranslation of the basic declaration of faith in Islam, with the word 'final' appearing nowhere in the original Arabic. But the statement still raises an important question: do Ahmadis deny the finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad?

The answer from Ahmadis is that they believe in the finality of Prophethood at least as much as other Muslims do. That is, they believe that Muhammad is the final law-bearing Prophet. Nothing can be added or taken away from the teachings of Islam. However, all Muslims agree that the Prophet Muhammad himself said that Muslims would one day descend into the materialistic and dogmatic condition of the Jews at the time of Jesus, necessitating their rejuvenation at the hands of a reformer bearing the title of 'Messiah, Son of Mary.' This Messiah he repeatedly described as being both a follower of Islam and a Prophet at the same time. The only difference between Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis is concerning the identity of this 'Messiah' figure. As Ahmadis believe that Jesus died a natural death, they take these prophecies as being metaphorical, finding fulfilment in the messianic qualities of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Non-Ahmadis disagree with these ideas, and believe that Jesus ascended to heaven, therefore allowing the prophecies of his descent to be taken literally. But either way, all muslims believe that there will be a follower prophet after the Prophet Muhammad- be he Jesus, or someone akin to Jesus.

AMSA Inter-Belief Event with Humanists

If you found that hard to follow, it's because the real differences between Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis concern very technical issues of interpretation. They very obviously do not concern the basic definition of a Muslim. The MCB's definition of a Muslim is as self-serving as it is self-created, ruling millions of Muslims out of the pale of Islam if they don't agree with their specific understanding of the nature of Prophethood. Islam indeed.
Fairfax Media

X marks the spot for a political brouhaha on Monday morning, with the Australian Sex Party and colourful senator Nick Xenophon embroiled in conflict over the South Australian politician's new logo.

Independent senator Xenophon recently announced the formation of his own political party, the Nick Xenophon Team, or the NXT. Changes to Senate voting rules will allow party logos on the ballot paper for the first time, and the NXT's logo is a large letter 'X' in a square box.

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The Australian Sex Party -- based in Victoria and based on the values of civil libertarianism, with a platform including anti-censorship -- says it has lodged an official complaint with the Australian Electoral Commission over NXT logo, which it says breaches intellectual property, will lead to confusion at the ballot box, and possibly take votes from the Sex Party.

Logos recently registered with the AEC, including the NXT logo

Sex Party co-founder and registered officer, Robbie Swan, claimed the X "infringed the Commonwealths intellectual property by using the classification symbol for the most explicit film classification in Australia  the X classification."

Swan also said that, since some people will mark their ballot paper with an 'X,' that the logo would be confusing.

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"Given that some people will mark their ballot paper with a cross, often in vague or unclear ways, such a vote is more likely to be taken as a vote for Team Xenophon, under the savings provisions of the new electoral laws. It is tantamount to using a tick and neither ticks nor crosses should be allowed," he said.

The Sex Party's third objection was that they claimed their supporters had assumed the 'X' logo represented the Sex Party.

"When the story about the new logo first appeared in the national press on [April 6], many people left comments saying that they assumed the X logo represented the Sex Party. Team Xenophon would have been aware of the fact that the Sex Party was founded as a result of Senator Conroys 2009 internet filter that would have banned the X rating. The Sex Partys leader, Victorian Upper House member, Fiona Patten, campaigned heavily on the issue," Swan said.

"Nicks an old parental guidance man from way back and a good supporter of the nanny state. He just got the wrong rating. PG is the logo that is much more likely to win him seats."

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In a response to The Huffington Post Australia, a spokesman for the NXT said they were aware of the Sex Party's objections but would not be changing their logo.

"The X logo has been used by us for some time, and indeed the media also frequently use it to describe Nick and the team. Logos can only be refused if they meet the criteria for refusal detailed in Section 129A [of the Electoral Act]. We will address any objections if and when the AEC writes to us," the spokesman said.

"We ensured we met all requirements under... the Act."

Section 129A sets out that the Electoral Commission can refuse to register a party's logo if it "is the logo of any other person" or "so nearly resembles the logo of any other person that it is likely to be confused with or mistaken for that logo" or "is one that a reasonable person would think suggests that a connection or relationship exists between the applicant and a registered political party if that connection or relationship does not in fact exist".

The Australian Electoral Commission has been approached for comment.

Speaking to ABC radio on Monday, Swan was asked whether the objections were tongue-in-cheek.

"It's a bit in one cheek but in the other cheek it's not in there at all," he said, saying Xenophon had "made a bad call here".

"It's a funny issue but in one sense it's not funny because it threatens to rob us of votes."
Robin MacDougall via Getty Images Blurred motion of high speed train, track and buildings

The Federal Government has poured cold water on reports Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull plans to announce a high speed rail network along the nation's east coast, as the Opposition accuses the PM of "clutching at straws" to avoid being labeled a "do-nothing" leader.

The Australian reported on Monday Turnbull is preparing a new funding approach for nation-building projects, including a plan to develop high-speed rail links on Australias east coast aimed at boosting regional centres and easing congestion in capital cities.

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The report said the government would prioritise a rail line to Badgerys Creek in Sydney's west, and it wants it followed with links to regional centres such as Goulburn, as well as another from Melbourne to Shepparton -- the first links of a longer-term fast train network that would eventually run from Melbourne to Brisbane.

But Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Cities, Angus Taylor, on Monday afternoon appeared to shoot down the idea following the morning's speculation.

almost as soon as it was flagged, the govt shoots down high-speed rail idea - this from Angus Taylor pic.twitter.com/NY3oDRu5TJ  Josh Butler (@JoshButler) April 11, 2016

"In reference to media speculation surrounding a high speed rail connection from Melbourne to Brisbane, there is no commitment from the Federal Government to fund this project as it stands," he said in a statement.

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"The only way that major projects can be progressed is through transforming the ways proposals are planned, financed and delivered.

"There is a parliamentary committee looking at high speed rail, chaired by John Alexander, and the government looks forward to receiving its report in due course."

The Australian earlier quoted Taylor as saying more investment in cities and in connections between our cities were needed, but financial constraints meant new and innovative approaches were needed.

Theres many projects that could fit this model, whether it is rail to Badgerys Creek, whether its the Melbourne Metro, or whether indeed it is high speed rail between regional cities and the capitals  they are all projects where we are interested in looking at innovative approaches to financing, Taylor told The Australian.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said reports of the plan showed Turnbull was "desperate".

"This is a desperate Malcolm Turnbull clutching at straws to try and shake off the tag of being a do nothing Prime Minister," opposition leader Bill Shorten told reporters on Monday.

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"If the Liberals were so committed to high-speed rail, why did they scrap some of the funding for a high-speed rail authority which Labor previously put in place.

"Talk is cheap. Its actions that really matter. And when it comes to everything from climate change to banks, Mr Turnbull talks a great talk, but he just doesnt walk a great walk."

High speed rail has been on the public agenda for decades, but so too has the the very high cost of construction.

Labor Infrastructure Spokesman Anthony Albanese said a report released three years ago showed the need for 82km of tunnels, 67km of which would be in Sydney, and projected there would be a $2.15 benefit to the economy for every dollar invested between Sydney and Melbourne.

The previous government also committed $50 million towards an advisory board to work with state and territory governments to move the project forward.

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"Malcolm Turnbull is relying upon people having the memory of a goldfish," Albanese told the ABC.

"He comes up with ideas that are old, that have been progressed, that indeed his Government and Tony Abbott's government have wound back and stopped the advance of and then pretends that somehow this is some new whiz-bang initiative. It's not."

He said he would re-introduce a bill to establish a High Speed Rail Authority Parliament resumes next week.

"It cant just happen with a front page splash once every year," Albanese said.

"You actually need a structure that will work to do the planning work to preserve the corridor across the jurisdictions and thats why the High Speed Rail Authority was recommended."

High Speed Rail: the train that only runs in election years pic.twitter.com/AXzThncg8L  Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) April 10, 2016

Greens MP Adam Bandt dubbed the proposal "the train that only runs in election years".

The idea -- and its timing -- has been ridiculed on Twitter, with people comparing the plan to an episode of the ABC comedy Utopia, a satirical piss-take on how decisions are made in Canberra.

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Talks about high speed rail link An election is coming.  joshuatreee (@joshuatreee) April 10, 2016

If we're going down the high speed rail route again, at least mix it up & try to sell us one that's roller coaster-style this time.  Sharna Bremner (@sharnatweets) April 10, 2016

I'll say it again, for the people in the back. There's a MEL-SYD flight every 15 minutes in peak times NO ONE WANTS HIGH SPEED RAIL.  Sabine Wolff (@sabinewolff) April 10, 2016

October 1981 - high speed rail proposed by the Institution of Engineers pic.twitter.com/VxHLTIaFzW  Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) April 10, 2016

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Police are investigating the circumstances that lead to the discovery of a 15-month-old baby girl's body in a suburban Melbourne creek on Sunday by searching homes and appealing for information.

The baby's mother Sofina Nikat, 22, reportedly told police a man of African appearance snatched the baby at Olympic Park in Heidelberg West on Saturday about 10am while they were out on a walk.

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The man was described as being between 20 and 30, was not wearing shoes and smelled strongly of alcohol.

A full-scale search for toddler Sanaya Sahib kicked off on Saturday and police said volunteer searchers found the toddler's body in the nearby Darebin Creek at about 2.45am on Sunday.

Parklands were searched after the baby was allegedly snatched.

Homicide Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey said on Sunday a family with two children found the baby's body.

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"The reason they were out looking at 2.45am in the morning is because they were also subjected to their child being lost some time ago," Bailey said in a press conference.

"Fortunately that child was discovered so they felt the need to have the community and assistance out there at that time trying to locate that child.

"They made this grisly discovery."

The park is the site of the 1956 Olympic Games, now parkland and stadiums.

Police search the home where mother and child spent Friday night.

The home where Nikat and her baby spent Friday night was searched for multiple hours by forensic detectives on Sunday, along with bins in an alley behind the street.

While investigations also continue at the park site, community members have left flowers and toys in a small memorial to the girl.

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Police search for missing toddler who vanished from Heidelberg West park. Photo of search by Penny Stephens pic.twitter.com/P8Zvox2cgt  The Age Photography (@theage_photo) April 10, 2016

"She was a very cute, a very good little girl, Ali told the Herald Sun.

She was an angel. Sanaya didnt deserve what happened to her.

I remember she was always a very happy child.

The police say it is suspicious. It is up to them now. Her mother is devastated.

Police are continuing to investigate and are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
By Ashley Hamilton

We've all been there before ... you're curled up on the couch with a spoon of ice cream in one hand and a box of tissues in the other. In other words, you're going through a breakup. Instead of pouring your heart out to Ben & Jerry, how about bonding with a few authors who can relate? Check out eight great books to read when you're going through a breakup.

1. Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak: by Writers Famous and Obscure edited by Smith magazine

If you could describe your breakup in six words, what would you say? At a loss for words? No problem. Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak is happy to fill in the blanks. Composed of hundreds of nuggets on love and loss, these memoirs say just what you've been trying to articulate yourself -- without going over six words. Whether it's heartbreaking ("What once were two, are one"), tongue-and-cheek ("Reclaimed maiden name after every divorce") or just confusing ("Don't trust a man who waxes"), this read has a sliver of wisdom for anyone with a broken heart. There's also a little something for those who wish to remain optimistic on the state of love, including, "At 12 found soul mate, still together." Now don't we all wish we could write a memoir like that?

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(Give it a try! Login and leave your six-word memoir in the Comments area below.)

2. What Was I Thinking? 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories by Barbara Davilman and Liz Dubelman

For every woman who missed that red flag waving wildly in her face (He owns a faux dog! He's Homer Simpson's clone! He's a porn star!), this book is for you. Fifty-eight women share their hilarious tales of the romances (and the men) that took a nose-diving turn for the worse. Even if you can't relate to their stories, you'll at least get a good laugh out of them.

3. Love, Loss and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman

Two divorces, six children and one fabulous wardrobe. In this quirky pictorial for adults, author Ilene Beckerman takes you back through the most pivotal moments in her life ... and what she wore along the way. From Brownie uniform to prom dress to wedding gown, each clothing item holds a strong memory. Good and bad, Beckerman remembers them all and encourages us to look back on our own lives and wardrobes. By the end of it, you'll be throwing out that old he-broke-my-heart dress, strapping on some ready-for-a-fresh-start heels and heading out to create a closet full of new memories.

4. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

This classic chick lit book might be the ultimate tale of what not to do when you're single and lonely. Do not stare at your phone for an entire weekend, binge on chocolate Christmas tree decorations or have an affair with your cad of a boss. However, this book's plucky heroine also does quite a few things right. On Bridget's to-do list? Do lean on your fabulous friends, give that nice man (whom you once snubbed) a second chance and turn every humiliation into a laugh-out-loud moment, all in the name of finding love and "inner poise."

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5. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

This soul-searching memoir has become the bible of all breakup books, and if you haven't already turned to it to nurse your broken heart, you need to now.

After going through a bitter divorce and a disastrous love affair, Elizabeth Gilbert sets out on a journey that changes her life forever. She finds pleasure (and pizza) in Italy, peace in India and love in Bali. And the best part? It comes complete with a happy ending.

6. Split: A Memoir of Divorce by Suzanne Finnamore

It's a story as old as time: Boy meets girl, boy asks girl to marry him, and five years later, boy downs two martinis and announces that he wants to divorce girl. We've all heard this tale before, but for California journalist and author Suzanne Finnamore, it was very real. With brutal honesty and deadpan humor, she divulges the dirty details of her marriage and divorce -- and how she ultimately muddled her way through all the lies, betrayals and attorneys. Finnamore's book is not your typical divorce diatribe. It's more like sitting down with your wittiest, most acerbic friend as she throws out her filter and tells you how it all went wrong...and how you can do things differently.

7. Personal History by Katharine Graham

Take notes from a woman who survived much worse than a breakup. In Katharine Graham's powerful autobiography, this Washington socialite recounts her husband's very public affair, his mental illness and subsequent suicide, as well as her unexpected accession to power at The Washington Post. Here's why you'll relate: Katharine Graham suddenly found herself thrown in a situation that she never wanted or expected (sound familiar?). She never claims that these changes were easy or that she walked into them with confidence. Instead, she says: "What I essentially did was to put one foot in front of the other, shut my eyes, and step off the ledge. The surprise was that I landed on my feet."



8. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Want to know what's going on in his head? Of course you do! You may remember John Cusack in the movie adaptation of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, a cynical breakup tale told from the male perspective. After being dumped yet again, music addict Rob looks back on his "all-time top five" breakups. Read along as he relives the losses, and then ask yourself, "Does this breakup really make my top five?"
Motorcycle travelling through the redwood trees on the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

Theres nothing quite like traveling this country on a motorcycle.

The sun warm on your back, the wind and the roar of your bike crowding your ears, the clear air spiked with salty ocean breezes or the heavy perfume of harvested maize. Birds dip in and out of sweet songs both foreign and familiar, as you realize you and your fellow riders -- the partner leaning into your back, the beloved bloodhound safely tucked in your sidecar -- arent merely spectators in the scene unfolding before your eyes; you are living America, breathing in shocking red sunsets, crystalline blue lakes, mountaintops ringed with feathery white clouds, and exhaling -- what else? Freedom.

In partnership with Allstate, weve asked riders from some of Americas storied motorcycle clubs to find the best roads to take you from sea to shining sea on two (or three!) wheels. Even if youve never had the pleasure of hopping onto a motorcycle, these veteran riders paint a vivid picture of what it feels like to hit the pavement. So what are you waiting for? Put your leathers on, kickstands up and get ready to roll.

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Look Out For Wild Boars In North Carolina



Not pictured: friendly neighborhood wild animals (via Getty Images)

As American Legion Rider Bill Sloan and others on this list will tell you, the most famous American must-ride for motorcycle enthusiasts is an easy pick: the Tail of the Dragon (US-129) at Deals Gap, an 11-mile stretch of asphalt near the border of North Carolina and Tennessee that compresses itself into 318 dizzying hairpin curves through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But Sloan -- an N.C. native who now resides in Indiana -- insists there are even better rides near Fontana Village, a resort close to his childhood home, such as the Cherohala Skyway, a picturesque throughway that snakes an ethereal path into mountain clouds.

Aim to squeeze both into your trip. And take it from Sloan, who once led a group of 15 veterans from his American Legion Riders club of Lebanon, Ind., to the Tail of the Dragon: Youll want to keep an eye out for the local fauna. I saw a razorback boar  and all of a sudden I was 17 years old again and laughing to myself, Sloan says. It immediately wiped away 25 years. You see things from a motorcycle you just dont see from a car.

Enjoy Autumn At Its Most Colorful In Michigan



Find prime opportunities to appreciate fall foliage beyond the East Coast (via Getty Images)

Michigan knows scenic rides as well as it does the vivid palette of fall. The 7.4 mile Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, running along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, carves through the deep forests and windswept beaches of Lake Michigans northeastern coast. A second road a little further south, known simply as Scenic Drive, will take you on a twisting tour through Muskegon State Park. For Rick Perreault, the road captain at the Muskegon Motorcycle Club, one of the oldest motorcycle clubs in the country, the second Scenic Drive has the hometown advantage and turns he cant get enough of. Youre leaning hard to the left, and then you suddenly pull back your 700-pound motorcycle to the right, he explains. Its just such a rush. I kind of got goosebumps just thinking about it.

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Once you zigzag your way past sand dunes and burrow through tunnels of trees, youll find yourself at the precipice of some truly stunning vistas (especially during the fall), care of a historic outpost known as the blockhouse, says Perrault. There are a lot of maples and ash; those are the ones that turn all the colors, he notes. The view is spectacular.

Get Twisty In Oklahoma



There's more to Oklahoma road adventuring than Route 66 (via Getty Images)

Oklahoma probably doesnt come to mind first when dreaming of winding roads and elevated passes. But dont be so quick to overlook the Sooner State, says Rex Brown, a member of the Northeastern Oklahoma BMW Motorcycle Club. There are a lot of turns in northeastern Oklahoma because youre at the foothills of the Ozarks, he says, referring to the mountain range in neighboring Arkansas and Missouri.

Brown recommends making your way along Oklahoma State Highway 20 (SH-20), which runs for over 100 miles from Ralston, Okla. and climbs east to Three Corners -- the spot where Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma all meet. If youre looking for a nice and twisty ride, a section of OK-20 between the towns of Salina and Jay called Copperhead Trail wont disappoint, Brown says, nor will the Talimena National Scenic Byway, which runs a little farther south.

Youre also likely to meet great people as you stop to refuel on food and gas. Some of the most wonderful experiences I've had will be interacting with people getting gas or stopping for lunch, Brown recalls. When youre driving a car no one comes up to you and says, You know, I used to have an Infiniti like that! But it always happens to me on a motorcycle, no matter what motorcycle I'm on.

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Bring The Whole Family -- Dogs And All -- To South Dakota



Barley has racked up over 55,000 miles as a trusty sidecar companion to his owner Peter (via Peter Burke)

The downside to riding on two wheels is that, with less space, someone probably has to stay home, whether its Junior (the human) or Junior (the dog). But you can remedy this problem by upgrading to three wheels, suggests Will Short, the president of the United Sidecar Association. Short says the riders in his crew love to share their adventures with family and pets -- especially pets. Last year there were more dogs that came to our rally than children, he says.



Barley visits the Black Hills in one of his final rides (via Peter Burke)

With the proper sidecar in place, Short suggests sharing the sun, the sky and the asphalt with your favorite people and animals in the Black Hills of South Dakota, especially Needles Highway (SD-87), a 14 mile pathway in Custer State Park with a fabulous backdrop.

Take In The Perfect Ocean View In California



Get your twists with a side of sun and sea on this coastal highway (via Shutterstock)

One of the most awe-inspiring roads in America is also among its most famous: Say hello to Highway 1 (SR 1). It hugs the Pacific coastline so closely at times, youll taste the salty sea foam on your lips. Vick Germany, co-president of the San Francisco Dykes on Bikes WMC, advises beginning your Highway 1 cruise in Carmel-by-the-Sea and heading south to Cambria, a roughly 100-mile ride, where she says youll find awesome scenery and good twisty areas as well as small coastal towns and farming communities for variety.

As you close in on Big Sur, take a rest stop at the Nepenthe restaurant to discover one of Germanys favorite ocean views. Youve got the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other  you can look down the coast for miles, she says.

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Find A Cosmic Peace In Washington



Washington boasts a number of rides with striking mountain views (via Getty Images)

City life for motorcyclists often requires gritted teeth and grappling with too many vehicles clogging the streets. Thats what makes Washingtons Cascade Loop (US-2), a winding highway, the perfect draw for riders like Gary Warden, president of the Desert Thunder Riding Club. If I could tell someone what outer space is like, first Id pick scuba diving, and then being on a motorcycle, says Warden. Its as close to peace as you can get.

He recommends traveling the Loop from Everett to Wenatchee to experience a 120-mile sparkling panorama of thick forests, rushing creeks, and of course, the majestic Cascade Range -- scenery youll be able to enjoy all the more without the torpor of traffic keeping you stuck on planet Earth.

Now that youre ready to ride your motorcycle through the best landscapes America has to offer, let Allstate help you protect it.

Also on HuffPost:
Investment can usually sound like a dry topic, at least to laypeople like this writer, who has no formal background in economics. The operative word here is "formal" -- as someone who had graduated college right into the Great Recession, economics has not been hard to come by. Neither is the world of socially-responsible business, which still forms a small sliver of the larger corporate world, focused for the most part on the Bottom Line. The truth is that there are three bottom lines, as the B Corporation movement attests: to profit, people, and planet.

On April 7, New America NYC hosted a panel discussion, "On the Frontier: Profits, Purpose, and the Future of Impact Investing," that explored those bottom lines. But what exactly is impact investing? The host, New America's Program on Profits and Purpose director Georgia Keohane, parried with co-panelists Robynn Steffen, Liz Luckett, and Michael Faye, who are respectively senior manager of impact investments at the Omidyar Network (which has been hosting New America events at the Civic Hall), president of the Social Entrepreneurs Fund, and serial entrepreneur (and token Y-chromosome), to find out.

"Much of our work is focusing on people who are making between two and eight dollars a day," Steffen, who has worked for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said. "These are people who are, on the one hand, at risk of slipping back into extreme poverty, but on the other hand they are also aspiring to be part of the middle class, and they have enough disposable income that they can actually spend money on the products and services that would improve their own lives." Steffen added that this population "has a collective purchasing power of $3 trillion, so this is a pretty significant market." Whereas this market has not been traditionally served, that is changing, as evidenced by efforts to provide off-grid electricity and micro-payments, among many other projects.

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Frontier Capital: Early Stage Investing for Financial Returns and Social Impact in Emerging Markets, a recent Omidyar Network report, announces that trends such as "the rapid spread of mobile phones" and "the global uptick in entrepreneurship" -- and, crucially, "the increased flow of capital toward developing economies" -- "have made possible commercial innovations serving populations once excluded from market access." When it comes to that access, Steffen said that "different investors come with different goals." One of the methods that Omidyar uses, she added, is what they call "replicate and adapt," by which they mean companies who take "business models that have been proven in the US and other developed markets and then replicating and adapting them in emerging markets." The frontier, Steffen added, is the most interesting: in this space, innovative products and services and business models are "specifically targeted to the needs of lower- to lower-middle income populations in emerging markets. So they are innovating just for them."

Ver de Verdad, a company based in Mexico, "saw a huge opportunity to be able to provide affordable eye exams and glasses to a very big market that included low- to lower-middle income customers but also the middle class," Steffen said, adding that "targeting both is really critical to their business model, so they intentionally built their retail stores in a downtown area where they had high foot traffic from both the middle class and lower-income customers. And that led to high volume, economies of scale, and being able to offer those glasses and eye exams at a low enough price point that it was actually affordable to the low-income customers." Steffen pointed out that the company could not have served the poorest of its customers had they not also "targeted the middle class."

"I have a tech background, but that's not obvious," Luckett, who used to be the president of Pershing Square, where she ran social investment for three years and "incubated" the Social Entrepreneurs Fund while she was there. The Fund is "a group of very high net worth individuals who are philanthropic and interested in the intersection between philanthropy and investing. These were not investors who were interested in writing checks to funds," Luckett said. Instead, they wanted to be actively involved. "Our investment thesis is simply, well, I'm herding lions as I like to say," Luckett said, adding that these lions feel "a great burden with philanthropy: if there's something you care deeply about and you're the main funder of it, if your funding goes away, potentially that cause will suffer." The other factor is that her lions "are quite interested in finding efficiencies in marketplaces and our investment thesis is to find those efficiencies for underserved markets, with that deliberate, intentional, and explicit target market in place."

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One such underserved market is America's massive prison population. Pigeonly was "invented by an incarcerated inmate who was arrested for selling marijuana through his UPS store. While he was in jail," Luckett said, "he lost touch with his girlfriend, with his family because of the incredibly high cost of phone calls. A ten-minute call from prison can be as much as 50, 60 dollars."

The locked-up entrepreneur "made friends with a white-collar prisoner and they made this business plan together" to create a VoIP network which would "allow all inmates to make calls that are capped at $10 a month, so they can't spend more than that. The only limit is the number of minutes." Since inmates do not have access to phones, Pigeonly also allows text-to-mail to be possible. Luckett spoke movingly about a manufacturing project in Liberia that had to be shuttered after the Ebola outbreak. None of the workers her project helped were affected, and she appeared a little broken up when describing how real social impact from businesses can be.

The most seemingly simple questions that face social purpose enterpries, Faye said, such as where does the money go and how does it actually help people, are the most bedeviling. "Those are two very difficult questions to answer for many organizations." For the last half-century, he added, "we have been making policy largely by aphorism." For example, everyone knows If you teach a man to fish, feed him for life; give him a fish, feed him for a day. "These really were the things defining policy," Faye said. "That started to change in the early 2000s. The second thing that happened was the explosion of mobile money." It is "still an uncommon thing" in the United States for people to send payments to each other over their phones, but "in Kenya and other African countries they actually got a bit of a head start on us."
Recently, I joined hundreds of arts advocates at Los Angeles City Hall as a guest speaker for ArtsDay, part of an annual celebration of Arts Week 2016 focused on continuing and expanding investment in the arts. This collaborative effort is led by Arts for LA and Councilman Mitch O'Farrell with support from both the City and County of Los Angeles. The arts matter immensely, but some may not realize just how important the arts and arts education are as a key strategy to disrupt and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.

The school-to-prison pipeline is essentially a set of policies and practices that favor incarceration over education, punishment over rehabilitation, reinforce zero-tolerance policies, and disproportionately push students - particularly students of color and an overwhelming number of boys - out of the classroom and into our juvenile halls and camps. The data is striking:

70% of students arrested or referred to police at school are Black or Latino.

50% of school-based arrests are for "disturbance of the peace" or "disruptive conduct."

75% of youth are incarcerated on charges that pose little to no threat to public safety, such as probation violations, status offenses (e.g. running away, skipping school), and property, public order, and drug offenses.

Ultimately, all roads lead to jail, prison, or even worse - unless there is some intervention.

The school-to-prison pipeline - which too often starts when student behavior is addressed in a manner that is disproportionate to the offending act - is symptomatic in many instances of unaddressed trauma and the need for healing. We know exposure to traumatic events in childhood and adolescence plays a significant role in perpetuating cycles of abuse and poverty. And a significant amount of research shows that traumatic experiences alter brain development. Chronic stress and exposure to traumatic events places children and youth in constant fight, flight, or freeze mode. Within this context it is easy to understand the interconnectedness between trauma that goes unaddressed and the pipeline that goes from school-to-prison.

The arts create an off-ramp from the pipeline by engaging young people and empowering them. Art is not a distraction - but a diversionary tool for them to heal and tell their stories through spoken word, dance, poetry, performance art or a visual piece. Art provides freedom from the everyday struggles that our children and youth must navigate. It channels creativity and gives young people the power to be kids again by allowing them to reclaim their childhood. Art increases self-esteem and an understanding of culture and one's history.

I grew up going to Barnsdall Art Park in the East Hollywood region of Los Angeles, watching my younger sister dance at Lula Washington's Dance Theater on Adams Boulevard, and being exposed to the paintings of Walt Walker. Early birthdays were spent being enthralled by the ingenuity on display at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. My parents kept us busy with trips to museums and countless summer hours making pottery and paintings that always hung on the walls of our home. Later in life the rhythmic and pulsating sounds of Alvin Ailey's "Revelations" kept me on the edge of my seat and I began a love affair with the jazz music that played every time I rode in a car with my mom and dad.

The arts have played a fundamental role in my life. That's why I was so proud to join the governing board for the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network (AIYN) led by my dear friend Kaile Schilling. AIYN is an organization comprised of eight incredible arts providers who serve incarcerated youth within Los Angeles County. The idea is that through the arts we can build resiliency and wellness, eliminate recidivism and transform the juvenile justice system. But most of all, AIYN is helping to unlock and heal the deep trauma that so many of our youth hold within.

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Other organizations such as RYSE Youth Center in Richmond and Destiny Arts in Oakland have created safe spaces for young people and are brilliant examples of local programs healing children and youth through trauma-informed mental health treatment paired with exposure to the arts.

I'm a firm believer in the transformative power of the arts to save lives and as part of a smart workforce-development and reentry strategy for incarcerated youth, particularly in Los Angeles County where arts related industries are one of the largest and the fastest growing sectors.

Investing in the arts and arts education however must begin well before a young person enters into incarceration. It must begin with early childhood education as it is one of the core building blocks of child development. Every child, regardless of zip code, should be exposed to the arts in order to receive a well-rounded education. As a board member of the Los Angeles County Board of Education, I am excited that the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) is one of the premier public arts high schools in the nation.

The arts can take shape in many ways and many forms - but the bottom line is that for young people we know it will improve their achievement in school and is a critical strategy to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline while addressing trauma. Giving children and youth strategies to express their pain, and cope with the stress, prepares them for a strong future. As we learn more about the brain and the effects of trauma on youth, our system, policies, programs and allocation of resources must change to reflect this new knowledge. Healing the effects of trauma builds hope and resiliency; and, resilient children grow up to live healthy productive lives.
It is altogether proper to view a decision by the Senate not to act as a waiver of its right to provide advice and consent. A waiver is an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege. As the Supreme Court has said, "No procedural principle is more familiar to this Court than that a constitutional right,' or a right of any other sort, 'may be forfeited in criminal as well as civil cases by the failure to make timely assertion of the right before a tribunal having jurisdiction to determine it."

It is in full accord with traditional notions of waiver to say that the Senate, having been given a reasonable opportunity to provide advice and consent to the president with respect to the nomination of Garland, and having failed to do so, can fairly be deemed to have waived its right.
Saffron-robed man Panj Pyare (R) holds a sword before taking part in the 'Nagar Kirtan' procession, a Sikh Indian costume, in Hospitalet del Llobregat, near Barcelona, on April 10, 2016. / AFP / PAU BARRENA (Photo credit should read PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images)

My favorite Vaisakhi happened when I was ten, when I watched my father walk down the streets of Madison Avenue in Manhattan, dressed in blue raiments with a striking orange turban alongside four other men dressed identically. He had been chosen to be one of the Panj Pyare or "Five Beloved Ones" during the annual Sikh Day Parade, celebrating Vaisakhi.

As I walked down each block alongside thousands of other Sikhs, I proudly waved a flag bearing an orange and blue Khanda, a Sikh symbol of political and spiritual freedom. Growing up a Sikh-American in post-9/11 New York City, I was used to facing prejudice because of my faith. My classmates would often tell me that my father looked like a terrorist because of his turban. It was empowering to see the parade celebrating Sikhism, and our belief in equality and respect for all.

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Vaisakhi commemorates the formation of the Khalsa Panth, the community of all Sikhs, and their commitment to fighting discrimination. It also marks the formal passing of authority from the last living Sikh Guru onto our community as a whole.

On the day of Vaisakhi in 1699, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth and last of the enlightened spiritual teachers and messengers of the developing Sikh faith (called Gurus), gathered Sikhs from across India to meet in the city of Anandpur Sahib, amidst political turmoil and under the oppressive rule of the Mughal Empire. As the Guru stood, he captured the attention of thousands of Sikhs, Hindus, and Shia Muslims in the crowd. After being massacred in large numbers because of their religious beliefs, the crowd stood united, trying to fight back, but on the brink of being forced to convert.

Guru Gobind Singh declared that it was the time to stand up for religious freedom. The Guru asked called for the heads of five Sikhs, a test to see who was willing to lay their life for the values of Sikhism. After a long silence, one by one, five volunteers approached him and he took them to the back of a tent, each time returning with a sword covered in blood. People began to think he had gone mad, and crowds began to disperse. It was then that the Guru presented the five volunteers to the crowd, unharmed.

He baptized them, the Panj Pyare, or Five Beloved Ones, for their fearlessness and commitment to the ideals of Sikhism. He declared that wherever the Panj Pyare were, so was the Guru. And he urged all Sikhs not only to fight for their own freedom but the freedom of others. In Sikhism every religion is respected, and what emerged from the Guru's call to action was a lineage of Sikhs willing to fight for a more inclusive future.

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Guru Gobind Singh also created a unique identity for Sikhs, centering around five primary articles of faith: Kesh or unshorn hair, a Kangha or a short comb, a Kara or iron bracelet, a Kachhera or special type of boxer shorts, and a Kirpan or ceremonial short sword. Sikhs still adorn these articles of faith, although as a modern adaption, Kirpans are worn after being dulled and closed shut to the casing. This distinct identity was supposed to make Sikhs capable of being 'saint-soldiers.' This idea always resonated with me, because it meant being educated and compassionate but also willing to stand up to oppression even when it meant risking your own life.

Sikhism is now the fifth largest religion in the world with over 25 million adherents. And as the Sikh community grew, Sikhs found more ways to build the community that the Guru envisioned. A central concept to this community is seva, a term that describes selfless service and action, motivated by pure intentions, to help those around you.

I remember visiting the Gurdwara, or Sikh temple, in my own community, and going downstairs into the langar hall, a large kitchen where everyone sits on the floor as equals and is served free food. Seva has played an important role in helping me connect to people of different backgrounds because everyone is equal in the eyes of a Sikh. The concept of everything being God's creation is central to Sikhism.

We believe in one God, a Creator who permeates everyone and everything. We believe that all people have a divine quality and we should treat every person with respect. We are taught to earn an honest living and meditate on God's name ("Waheguru") as the path to becoming one with God. But being a recluse focused on prayer and devotion is insufficient. We're also trying to make our actions reflect our beliefs, by helping everyone we encounter, regardless of their background. Vaisakhi symbolizes the day Sikhs committed to upholding these values in our way of life.
What kinds of people could be more different than diplomats and tech-developers? The first wear midnight-blue suits in the corridors of power; the latter wear sweat pants in Californian cafes. And yet it is these two groups that an organisation called DiploHack has thrown together to solve real problems - like corrupt government, sexual violence or the use of internationally prohibited weapons.

In events generally lasting only a weekend, the diplomats and techies, as well as entrepreneurs, journalists and NGO workers, are effectively locked in a room until they make something that can ameliorate one of these problems. The thinking is that by smashing together very different kinds of expertise under high pressure, you create a reaction. And the results can be impressive.

It's like Iron Man for programmers

A DiploHack in Ottawa created a crowd-sourced means of tracking the production and use of barrel bombs - crude, untargeted weapons that often kill civilians - in Syria. The team made a website where anyone can upload pictures or information about any part of the supply chain - whether production, delivery or use. Their concept is that because the Syrian war is 'the most socially mediated conflict in history', they can crowd-source scrutiny of the bombs - and so bring international pressure to bear.

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Another project investigated whether politicians had a conflict of interest in relation to businesses. Simply by combining political affiliations with databases of work histories and social networks, they were able to get striking results about people controlling huge sums of public money.

Creating something like that in a weekend is intense, to say the least. One programmer described as 'like Iron Man for programmers. A real test of your character'.

Apolitical spoke to Daan Eijwoudt, a young diplomat with the Dutch diplomatic service, which is where DiploHack began. One of its champions, both spreading and developing the concept, he spoke to us about why this isn't just a gimmick, why the Dutch are so innovative and what he caught the diplomats doing while the techies were hard at work.

Your first DiploHack was run by the Dutch Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia, and focussed on internet freedom. How did the public servants take to working like techies?

It was interesting to see. These kinds of hackathon-type events tend to be for the start of a company, non-profit or profit, but this was kind of different. Especially for people in diplomacy and working in the public service - we were partners with the Estonian government - it was new.

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What can these two groups bring to each other?

It's a combination of the world of diplomacy, which is rather serious, where people are more formal and look in very broad terms and always find a certain balance with the entrepreneurial spirit - working under a lot of pressure in a way which is more binary and way more 'OK, we have to solve it now', and there's only one solution we'll go to. It's combining two different worlds that are really very clashing.



DiploHackers hard at it in Tallinn

And what did the culture clash look like?

I had to laugh because what I noticed on the first day was that the developers were sitting together and already looking for potential solutions. The diplomats were doing something completely different, and very typical - they were networking. They were drinking coffee and talking to each other.

DiploHack has now spread across the continents, but didn't it come from very humble beginnings?

I was working as an intern back then at the Embassy in Estonia, in Tallinn, and we were asked to organise something for Human Rights Day. Estonia is not a country very much threatened by human rights abuses, so I was looking to do something different from the standard lecture by an ambassador or a movie screening. We wanted to develop something that people would actually remember.

I called around other embassies and asked them what they did in the last couple of years. Because of course we don't have to develop the wheel ourselves - you can just copy-paste great initiatives. And I got a phone call from this Dutch guy in London, who'd just done the first trial of DiploHack.

What was the most interesting project to come out of that first one you worked on?

One of the challenges we chose was public spending and the connection between politicians and their backgrounds in business. How can you find out what the clashes of interest are, and how their background might affect their sense of, well, neutrality? How neutral are they? They might have shares in a certain company; they might be the brother of a certain person. So the challenge was how to find out whether there are potential - because it's of course not a clash of interest legally - but potential clashes of interest.

And what did the team come up with?

They developed a website based on open data, combining a lot of databases. They took the people on the board of the Estonia Investment Agency, people in charge of a lot of public money. And they combined the information about these people with their LinkedIn profiles, their networks, but also with their party memberships. And what came out was that the vast majority were members of the two main right-wing parties in Estonia, which were in government at the time. In itself, it doesn't mean anything, because that's just a link, which might be very well explainable, it might be that they are more entrepreneurial people and so more willing to be in this party.

Yet, at the same time, it gives research journalists looking at this sort of thing a platform to start from. The information was all out there, but you would have had to do really a lot of work to connect all the dots.

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King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands meets DiploHackers in Ottawa

What do you think of the barrel bomb crowd-sourcing done in Ottawa (see introduction)?

That was a very good example, a very concrete outcome, where you could see what could happen in such a little group in just a weekend. Just putting people with the right background together, locking them in a room and saying: you can only leave when you've found a solution.

It sounds like a great approach; what are the downsides?

One of the weaknesses is that people are put on the project for a certain amount of time, so the projects don't always carry on properly afterwards. It's not the same people who are super-enthusiastic about the event - and who are often interns or junior employees - who will be the ones to implement it afterwards. We've had the King of the Netherlands, we've had two Foreign Ministers, we've had a Director General at the events, so people are aware of them, but so far it's more to show how innovative the Netherlands is, look at these cool things we're doing, and not something people higher up the organisation see as a means of solving problems. [Indeed, there has been little recent activity on, for example, the barrel bomb crowd-sourcing project.]



Poster for Hacking Conflict in Ottawa

Why did this way of doing things resonate with you; do you have a tech background?

Not at all, I just see that we live in a time where things like Big Data and Open Data and these ways of looking at problems, they're bypassing big Ministries like the one I work in, which could hugely benefit from them. Especially when you look at conflict, development policy. But people with a background in law or politics are not always as interested and as open to these kinds of developments. They might see that it has huge gains for the economy or start-ups, but they think, 'well, that's them, it's not us. We do things differently.' And I disagree. I think we can do something with it. We just have to find out how.

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At Apolitical we keep hearing about new, bottom-up ideas coming out of the Netherlands. Are the Dutch just more innovative?

We're not very hierarchical, so it's very easy to come up with new ideas and to persuade your superior of the benefits. When we hear about initiatives like this, a lot of us think: why not just give it a shot? We try a lot, we do a lot, but I think that's also the major weakness with innovation in general in our field. Every month someone has a new idea and then in the end no one feels responsible for developing it, because there's always another idea coming along behind.
The Turkish foreign policy has faced a drastic shift after the Arab Spring from a policy known as 'zero problems with neighbors' to 'animosity with neighbors' which eventually led Turkey to precious loneliness in the region.

While having extremely positive bilateral relations with Syria, for instance, how the Arab Spring drastically change Turkish foreign policy remains as an important question.

The Arab Spring which started in 2011 trough the uprisings and protests in the Middle East and North Africa led the regime changes in some countries such us Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Tunisia. However, the uprisings did not result in a regime change in Bahrain and Syria as expected. In some countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, there has not been even experienced any instability either. One of the main reasons that the Arab Spring did not result in a regime change in Syria was most likely due to the power of the sectarian Syrian Army, backed by Russia and Iran, which is still strictly loyal to the regime. The developments in Syria has not proceeded as in Libya as the Turkish authorities calculated. When the protest movements started to spread to the streets of Syria, Erdogan started to take a harsh line against Assad regime, beginning in June 2011, three months after the start of the demonstrations.

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Turkey's policy shift against Damascus, can't completely explain whether Turkey's policy was driven exclusively by rational calculations or ideological considerations. But it is safe to suggest that Turkish leaders believed that Syrian regime would fall soon like the Libyan regime. Turkey's then foreign minister Davutoglu said that the of Syria's government is 'only a matter of time.' This prediction has failed.

Further more, since the Turkish Government failed to over throw the Assad regime, Turkey was even accused of conspiring some false flag operations in Syria to manipulate the President Obama to take serious actions against the Assad regime.

A research team in Columbia University's Program on Peace-building and Rights revealed even a report 'drawing on a variety of international sources -- The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, BBC, Sky News, as well as Turkish sources, CNN Turk, Hurriyet Daily News, Taraf, Cumhuriyet, and Radikal among others which indicate Turkey's involvement in supporting militant groups against the Syrian regime including Al Nusra front and ISIS'. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/research-paper-isis-turke_b_6128950.html

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Furthermore, the stream of accusations has grown against Turkey over illegal oil trade and support of ISIS, after the Russian Federation submitted its well documented reports to U.N.S.C. on Turkey's involvement in recruitment of foreign terrorist fighters, facilitation of their cross- border movement into Syria and the supply of weapons to the terrorist groups active there.

How did Turkey take all these risks and implement such a drastic change in its foreign policy?

Doesn't NATO have a binding force over Turkey?

Not exactly!

In his article titled 'Turkey's Foreign Policy Vision: An Assessment of 2007', Davutoglu addresses the emergence of the new opportunities and dynamics for Turkey after the end of the bipolarity in the global system and the cold war. He actually makes himself clear that Turkey will no longer be part of NATO's containment policies as it was during the Cold War but pursue a new orientation in Turkish foreign policy in the light of the new regional and global developments.

He further elaborates that, these initiatives will make Turkey a global actor as they approach 2023, the one-hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic. Having considered the AKP's opposition to the founding symbols to the Republic, which was established in 1923, the goal and the vision of 2023, is related to the re-production of the new identity of the state and the nation as well. Since the process of state building refers to the development of a political entity with rulers, institutions and citizens, 'vision of 2023' of AKP is an important indicator to see how an 'imagined future projection' is being used to mobilize the nation and to reach the Grand Turkey again where a hundred years ago that grandiosity was lost after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This should be considered not only a journey to an imagined future but also a journey to the past where the Turkish grandiose collective identity was lost.

As such, when reading his article it is easy to see that Turkey's objective will no longer be viewed as "bridge" but as "the gate" and 'leadership' for the Muslim world.

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Even though the architect of the Turkish Foreign policy was Professor Ahmet Davutoglu, the leader who applied these policies and attracted the attention of the masses in Turkey and abroad was no doubt the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A close focus on Erdogan's speeches, interviews, statements can tell us a lot about the discourse and leadership style of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and help us understand his motivations and goals.

Gorener and Ucal, used the Leadership Trait Analysis as a research tool designed by Margaret Hermann, to examine the rhetoric of Erdogan to particularly analyze the leadership style of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and its prospective impact on Turkish Foreign policy.

The research concludes that Erdogan's convictions 'are so tightly held and preferences fixed, and that he tends to see only what he wants to see, renders him incapable of deciphering the nuances of diplomacy and successfully navigating the tricky waters of international affairs.' The research reveals that 'his dichotomizing tendency predisposes him to view politics as a struggle between right and wrong, just and unjust, villains and victims.'

The research points out that Erdogan's pattern of scores indicated that he has a leadership orientation that results from a combination of the tendency to challenge constraints in the environment, closedness to information.'

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When Selahattin Demirtas, the co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), said his party "will never let Erdogan be president [in a presidential system], Fuat Ozgur Calapkulu, the head of a provincial branch of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) responded stating that country should "get ready for the caliphate" of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. When losing the majority in the parliament in June 8 elections, Erdogan himself accused of HDP to prevent 'Turkey's 2023 goal'. He repeatedly said that terror and other developments in the region will not stop Turkey from reaching the goals that have been set for 2023, the centennial of the Republic of Turkey.

The leader-follower relationship is not 'a one way relation' and both agents constitute each other. In other words, leaders cannot operate without followers. It is evident that many of his supporters see him as a caliph. A pro-AKP newspaper columnist Abdurrahman Dilipak said the Turkish President could become "caliph" of all Sunni Muslims in the world, if only Erdogan could manage to fulfill his often-stated aim of shifting Turkey to a presidential system of governance. Erdogan never declined this kind of imputations.

Turkish columnist Kadri Gursel states that Erdogan's attitude produces instability with ever expanding dimensions and can only be explained by a hubris syndrome that has overwhelmed common sense.

'It is a psychological transformation to superiority complex, caused by a long-lasting, politically successful and powerful rule, that manifests itself with narcissism, irresponsible and arbitrary acts. Such leaders forever believe that they are the people of big issues and that they are the only ones who know the right thing to do under any circumstance, sometimes even thinking that they have been tasked by God. Under the influence of such misguided convictions, they totally ignore that they have exceeded the boundaries of public ethics.'
[There will be] trillion[s of] dollars of stranded subprime carbon assets, and I've spent a lot of time in the investment community analyzing the great global shift, now. And I suggested [in 2013] that it'd be good for Harvard to take a look at the spreadsheet analysis of what was likely to happen. Well, according to three different NGOs in the three years since then, the Harvard endowment has lost roughly 200 million dollars on the carbon assets that were kept. And I don't mean that in a...well, I don't mean it in a mean way at all, but I care about this institution a great deal...

The behavioral scientists talk about the "endowment bias" - no pun intended. They also talk about the "status quo bias" or the "system justification principle" - we have a need to believe that things are basically ok, and if they're not, it creates anxiety, so we try to push it off. We need to speed up the shift away from dirty, carbon-rich fuels toward a true renewable economy. And I would dearly love, for economic reasons alone, to see Harvard leading the way.
Our friend, Iranian-American consultant Siamak Namazi, has been in Tehran's Evin prison for six months. He has not been charged with a crime, and his detention has no legal basis. Access to Siamak's lawyer has been denied. His health is at risk. He has been through a hunger strike and intense interrogations for the last nine months.

Make no mistake: Siamak is innocent.

The longer his unjust detention continues, the more responsibility we feel to make sure his story is not forgotten. News dies when there are no developments, so in an effort to help keep Siamak's story alive, the four of us - his classmates from the London Business School's Executive MBA program - would like to share the following testimonials with the world.

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Printed on the back of our class t-shirt, there is a picture of a dancing elephant. The elephant is there to symbolize the expression "the elephant in the room" - a situation where you have an issue that's obvious to everyone, but deliberately ignored because it's too controversial or taboo to discuss. We have this elephant on our class t-shirt because one person in our class would never hold his silence or shy away from controversial issues or embarrassing topics. This person was Siamak Namazi. I met Siamak in Dubai at our first class in the London Business School's Executive MBA program. In a class of 63 students, it takes some time to get to know everyone. Siamak isn't loud or extroverted, nor does he seek the spotlight, so it took a while before I got to know him. But I am so glad that I did. Siamak is one of the smartest people I've met: Extremely knowledgeable and analytical; always thinks before he speaks; and whatever comes out of his mouth leaves an impact. It breaks my heart that Siamak and his elderly father are in prison. The world needs people like Siamak -- people who aren't afraid to stand up for what they believe in and speak up about the elephant in the room.

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Ulrika Hedlund, Founder of a Technology Adoption Company

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Siamak was beyond a classmate. He's a fantastic guy that has a positive spin on everything. We'd spend hours debating the various possible outcomes in our case studies, and just before we'd agree to disagree, he'd throw in his positive spin and make the big picture clear to everyone in our team - miraculously building the bridge that would bring us all together again. This is his nature: A person that works hard to converge ideas and bring out the best in teams. He'd always speak up about what's right, and he'd be willing to remind people of the big picture. I thoroughly enjoyed having him as a part of our study group, and I learned so much from him. Not only was he an active learner, he was pleasant and patient. He had lots of experience in life and with people, and often times these were the only ingredients to help us crack our case studies. His kindness and generosity topped it all as he would be the one picking up the check for all of our coffee and treats. The little things that matter about a person - What a guy!Basem Abu Dagga, Founder of an Educational Investment Company

___________

I believe it is very hard to forget Siamak if you ever get the chance to meet him and have a more-than-casual talk with him. You will be struck by his sharpness, knowledge and sense of humor. If you were lucky enough to see him over a period of more than five years, like me, you will realize that there is much more than that to his personality. I came to know Siamak from the early days of our Executive MBA program at London Business School. He was very transparent in expressing his views in a direct yet respectful way regardless of how strong those views were. Throughout the years I came to know that this transparency and ability to articulate his thoughts were a result of a solid value system and commitment to high principles and morals.

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Our discussions opened my mind to see many things from new angles, especially when he showed me his work on the effects of sanctions on the pharmaceutical industry in Iran. He was consistent in his love of Iran and its people, and he always believed in the prospects of its bright future. When it came to personal gains and fame, I think Siamak didn't really care much. He selflessly put Iran and its people and future above everything else in his life.

I am personally saddened that such a patriotic person like Siamak is deprived of his freedom without committing any crime at a time when Iran is being welcomed back to the world stage. I hope that he is released soon.Husam Osman Mahjoub, Head of Sales at a Telecom Company

___________

I first met Siamak, or Sia as his classmates affectionately know him, at his office in Dubai. After talking to him for 10 or 15 minutes, I remember being thoroughly impressed. Not only is Sia extremely intelligent, but also soft-spoken, polite and unassuming. During our business school class, Sia would ask well thought-out questions to the professor, and was a big champion of openness and transparency. Sia is gutsy and unafraid to speak his mind on controversial topics, but he is also extremely friendly and a genuinely nice guy.

We met for coffee after our MBA program when I wanted to pick his brain about my new venture. The conversation moved quickly from discussions about business to his social work. It was then that I realized Sia's passion was not in business, entrepreneurship, or in making money, but in helping his motherland, Iran.

Amongst other things, we spoke about his efforts to persuade authorities to lift medical sanctions against Iran so that ordinary Iranians would have access to potentially life-saving medication. I thought it was a thankless job. He is a rare breed that follows his heart no matter what - and I respect him for it. Iran is doing itself a disservice by imprisoning him and his ailing 80-year-old father. Sia is an Iranian patriot, a true son of the soil, and an asset to Iran - and he should be released.

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03 11 08 philadelphia pa ...

Amidst reports of Donald Trump's meltdown, a significant news item went almost unreported: MSNBC noted that the number of FB1 agents working on the Hillary Clinton email kerfuffle is not "147" but "12." The initial exaggeration was further evidence of the massive effort to demean and discredit Clinton. These attacks should stop. Hillary Clinton is honest and trustworthy.

If you have followed Hillary Clinton's career, you understand there have been few periods where there were not rumors of some sort of Clinton scandal; beginning, in 1992, with Whitewater and, most recently, Benghazi. In 1998, Clinton spoke of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" against her and Bill.

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There's continuing evidence of this conspiracy; although recently most of its energy has been directed towards President Obama -- for example, claiming he is a Muslim.

Over the past seven years, there have been three distinct attacks on Hillary Clinton. Since the September 11, 2012, attack on a State Department outpost in Benghazi, Libya, Republicans have accused Clinton of malfeasance. This culminated in an 11-hour hearing before a House Select Committee. Clinton got positive reviews for her deportment and refuted all charges. Unfortunately, the protracted investigation dragged down her approval ratings and opened up an email controversy.

The right-wing conspiracy rumbles on. In February, during a Republican presidential debate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio accused Hillary Clinton of "lying" to the four families of victims of the Benghazi attack. However, the non-partisan website, Politifact concluded: "There simply is not enough concrete information in the public domain for Rubio or anyone to claim as fact that Clinton did or did not lie to the Benghazi families."

Recently, the conspiracy has focused on Clinton's email. During the summer of 2014, the Benghazi investigation revealed that Secretary of State Clinton had handled some email outside the normal State Department system, on her own server. While this was not illegal, it was unusual and invited further investigation. Of course, this impacted Clinton's approval ratings. Many Republicans believe that Clinton will inevitably be indicted; as do some Bernie Sanders supporters, who hope this indictment will lead to his winning the Democratic presidential nomination.

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The indictment won't happen. Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, and others, have concluded that it is unlikely Hillary Clinton will be indicted over her use of a private email server. Law professor Richard Lempert observed: "Based on what has been revealed so far, there is no reason to think that Clinton committed any crimes with respect to the use of her email server, including her handling of classified information."

But the relentless onslaught of the right-wing conspiracy has taken a toll. Over the past seven years, Hillary Clinton's approval ratings have lost sixteen points -- from 56 percent to 40 percent.

Now Clinton is being assaulted by the Sanders campaign. First there was the accusation that she's a tool of Wall Street because she has accepted donations from individuals who are in the financial sector. Now the Sanders campaign has accused her of being a tool of the fossil fuel industry. About fossil fuel money, Politifact noted: In fact, people in the fossil fuel industry have given to both campaigns... Clinton's campaign has received $307,561 from people who work for oil and gas interests so far in the presidential race. Sanders has received nearly six times fewer dollars -- $53,760. On April 6th, On April 6th, Bernie Sanders said, "I don't believe that [Hillary Clinton] is qualified" to be President because she takes special-interest money.

Last week, the Mother Jones' political correspondent, Kevin Drum wrote an important article about Hillary. He quoted another correspondent, Jill Abramson, who has covered Clinton for 20 years, who observed. "There are no instances I know of where Clinton was doing the bidding of a donor or benefactor."

Drum concluded: "The truth is that regardless of how [Clinton] sometimes sounds, her record is pretty clear: Hillary Clinton really is fundamentally honest and trustworthy."

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On April 6th, Politifact updated it's "truth-o-meter" for statements made by each candidate. Bernie Sanders had a 50 percent rating for "true" or "mostly true;" Hillary Clinton had a 52 percent rating for "true" or "mostly true."

Recently, Nate Silver of 538 pointed out it is extremely unlikely that Bernie Sanders will get the Democratic nomination: Sanders would have to carry the remaining contests by an average of 13 percentage points. Feeding off this, Paul Krugman called on the Sanders campaign to quite depicting Clinton negatively: "The Sanders campaign needs to stop feeding the right-wing disinformation machine. Engaging in innuendo suggesting, without evidence, that Clinton is corrupt is, at this point, basically campaigning on behalf of the RNC."
Within the past ten years, the European Union (EU) has enacted laws creating a "right to be forgotten." The basic idea is that individuals should not be perpetually stigmatized by past actions. While not without practical problems, I suggest that a formal U.S. blue-ribbon panel of experts, perhaps at the level of the American Bar Association or American Law Institute, to name two examples, study the numerous issues surrounding the question of whether or not the U.S. needs a specifically identifiable legal right to be forgotten.

Many capable commentators have already written about the pros and cons of the right to be forgotten and the right of privacy. Much recent commentary occurred after a 2014 decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Google Spain v. Agencia Espanola de Protection de Dados, Mario Costeja Gonzalez. The CJEU held that an Internet search engine must consider individual requests to remove links to Web pages when the search results "... appear to be inadequate, irrelevant ..., that they are not kept up to date,... or no longer relevant or excessive... in light of the time that had lapsed." A rejection of the request could be appealed to public authorities.

The CJEU decision in reviewing European Union law noted that the preamble of the relevant Directive (Directive 95/46) states "... data-processing systems are designed to serve man;... they must, whatever the nationality or residence of natural persons, respect their fundamental rights and freedoms, notably the right to privacy, and contribute to ... the well-being of individuals;...." Essentially the EU law envisions in particular situations a balancing test between the "legitimate interest of internet users potentially interested in having access to that information..." and "the data subject's fundamental rights...." The case in question involved a Google link to a newspaper publication 16 years earlier mentioning a private individual's name and relating to a real estate auction for the recovery of certain debts. The CJEU ordered that the Google search link be deleted but noted that the result might be different under a variety of circumstances including "the role played by the data subject in public life."

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The following is a brief and incomplete overview of the current US legal environment with minimal legal citations in the interest of brevity.

1.The word "privacy" does not appear in the U.S. Constitution although significant U.S. Supreme Court decisions have inferred that a right to privacy does exist. The First Amendment does specifically provide powerful protection to freedom of speech and press. Hence, a preliminary question is if a Constitutional amendment directly addressing privacy is desirable, and if so, how should it be worded?

2.The idea of a right to privacy in U.S. law dates from an 1890 Harvard Law Review article, "The Right to Privacy," written by Louis Brandeis and Samuel Warren, in reaction to the sensational journalism of the yellow press. The concept was expanded to a "right to be left alone" that recognized legal tort actions for intrusion upon seclusion, public disclosure of embarrassing private facts, publicity that places one in a false light, and commercial appropriation of one's name of likeness. Thousands of court decisions address these issues. However, much of this law was developed before the Internet age.



3.The right of speech has never been considered absolute. Hence, defamation and invasion of privacy torts exist and advertising may be regulated. The First Amendment applies to actions by government and not private employers who have broad authority to regulate workplace speech.



4.Truth is a legal defense in a defamation case but not in an invasion of privacy case where the issue becomes if a reasonable person would find the intrusion highly offensive or objectionable. However, the so-called "Streisand effect" indicates the legal attempts to suppress information only leads to more dissemination.



5.Whether or not one has a "reasonable expectation of privacy," a phrase appearing in thousands of criminal and civil cases, is very dependent upon the specific facts of a given situation. In a variety of ways, individuals are determined to have waived (given up) any expectation of privacy.

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6.The rapid advances of the information age and social media have left legislatures and courts struggling to keep-up and adapt. Legislation tends to be piecemeal and directed to specific situations in a whack-a-mole fashion and not to overarching principles.

7.Simultaneously, with the rise of terrorism, there is a never ending debate concerning the appropriate balance between security and privacy. The EU, most recently in the West, is being forced to reconsider this question.

8.Issues of confidentiality permeate numerous legal problems, from trade secrets and intellectual property to attorney-client relationships and access to public records, to name but three examples.

9.A small number of states provided limited regulation of Internet dating sites, frequently in the form of mandatory disclosures in their terms of service agreements concerning safety, identity screening, and background checks. The California Attorney General in 2012 reached an agreement with three major national services that these services would check subscribers against a national sex offender registry. There is a federal statute, The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (2005) that requires, among other provisions, background checks for marriage visa sponsors and for U.S. citizens using these services. Lawsuits brought by generally dissatisfied users of Internet dating services against the service provider tend to be dismissed by the courts. The service also may not be legally liable for the fraud or criminal activity of a third party user. If the service is legally classified as a computer service provider, then the federal Communications Decency Act (1996) exempts these intermediaries from liability. However, a lawsuit based upon some fraudulent activity by the dating site, such as posting fake profiles or sending the user fake responses, or otherwise promising services that are not rendered, has a greater likelihood of success. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has become involved in some situations.

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10. Pre-employment background checks are typically subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) (1970) that, in broad overview, limits utilizing information concerning civil suits, judgments, and arrest records to events occurring within the previous seven years. Background checks provide employers with a defense to negligent hiring claims by an injured third party. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is concerned that background checks and employee screening could be discriminatory and has published guidelines.

11.Volunteer and tenant background checks are widely utilized also and tend to be subject to FCRA. Agencies dealing with children, the elderly, and the disabled should, at a minimum, screen with the National Sex Offender Public Registry (2006). Most states have background check regulations addressing child care and fewer for other categories. The federal National Child Protection Act (NCPA) (1993) addresses background checks, among other provisions.



12.The extent that background checks should be required for firearms purchases is controversial. The major system is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (1998).

13.The federal government, in addition to most states, has a Combined DNA Index System, authorized by The DNA Identification Act (1994). It may be utilized to identify criminal offenders, unidentified human remains, and missing persons.



14.Over half of the states have enacted so-called "revenge porn" legislation involving the capture and frequent Internet distribution of sexually explicit materials without the subject's consent. However, an overly broad statute may be invalidated on First Amendment grounds. Even in the absence of such legislation courts have heard both criminal and civil cases based upon the subject's copyright rights, invasion of privacy, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress.

15.A few states (approximately ten) have begun enacting legislation regulating the commercial exploitation of publicly available mug shots, where the publishing entity requires an individual to pay a fee to remove the information from its Website. Some law enforcement entities have stopped posting this information. Of course, a mug shot says nothing about guilt or innocence or the ultimate disposition of a case.



16.To what extent and under what circumstances public records should be available, and indeed what constitutes a "public record," is an unfolding issue. The federal Freedom of Information Act, effective in 1967, and the federal Privacy Act, effective in 1974, demonstrate two side of the issue. Of course, this legislation was created before Internet technology became commonplace. Additionally, most states have procedures for the expungement or sealing of certain criminal records, especially addressing juvenile offenders.



17. New media, as is well known, provides an international forum for the dissemination of information and various social media platforms contain valuable data that may be utilized for marketing and political purposes. U. S. courts have tended to enforce "terms of service" agreements that frequently provide limited rights to the user.

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18.A few states have enacted legislation addressing the disposition of social media assets when the owner dies. However, how these statutes interact with terms of service agreements is an unfolding legal question. These developments are comparable, in the digital world, to celebrity rights state legislation of the 1980s that made fame and the right of publicity an inheritable asset. Thus, the owners of deceased celebrities' fame are able to create licensing agreements for an asset that historically did not exist after death.

19.Social media and publicity issues related to marriage are being addressed in prenuptial agreements. Privacy and other limitations are contractually addressed. Commentators note that social media usage and the information that social media provides is increasingly significant in divorce cases.

20.Precisely what the future holds for social media and the individual and society is unfolding. Already research indicates that numerous computer mediated technologies are altering the way individuals think and how they are capable of interacting. What is the impact on personal autonomy and privacy if virtually all significant actions and events are in some fashion "on the record" and never disappear from public view? Is political, economic, religious, and social freedom possible?

While this brief list could be multiplied, the point is that the European approach is a step beyond current U.S. law. As a generalization, it is said that Europeans tend to be more sensitive that U.S. citizens to data collection and related privacy issues because of centuries of political and social oppression of dissidents and other nonconformists.

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Of course, one may always argue that even if there were a legal right to be forgotten, it could never be implemented due to digital archives and other technical issues. However, the EU approach is being currently implemented.

California enacted legislation effective in 2015, "Privacy Rights for Minors in the Digital World," that allows minors who are registered users of online sites to request the removal of information that they have posted (a "digital eraser").

I suggest that our best minds and experts spend some time, a few years, discussing the merits, limitations, and negative aspects of a legal right to be forgotten and issue a report of conclusions and recommendations. This is a difficult issue that has already been the subject of debate forums and scholarly commentary. In my opinion the EU approach has merit. Generations before Internet search engines possessed de facto forgetfulness (due to the difficult task of research) and an invasion of privacy remedy if offensive private facts were published.
But he failed to speak out publicly for her. In fact, in the week of her arrest last month the State Department offered a series of baffling responses (four in the following five days). These included repeatedly urging the Bahraini government to follow "due process" and "transparent judicial proceedings," despite there being no legitimate legal system in Bahrain for dissidents and despite all of Zainab's judicial processes having been exhausted anyway. More alarming still was the State Department's contradiction of what it said on her case on October 20, 2014, when it called for the charges against her to be dropped. And in December 2014 when U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power tweeted she was "very troubled by 3 year sentence given to Zainab al-Khawaja. In #Bahrain and around the world, peaceful activism must be protected." Zainab Al Khawaja is a perfect example of where the State Department's muddled response is harming U.S. interests. Instead of offering vague statements in his pubic remarks in Bahrain about the importance of human rights Secretary Kerry should have clearly called for her release. She's exactly the caliber of leader Bahrain needs to help navigate the country out of its sectarian and political crisis. Educated at Lewis and Clark in Oregon and Beloit in Wisconsin, Zainab is an expert on peaceful political change and the American civil rights movement. She and I have spoken regularly over the last five years about the history of peaceful dissent, about the nature of hate and reconciliation. A little while before her arrest we were discussing how Rosa Parks, when asked to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus in 1955, moved from the aisle to the window seat. "It's a cool detail," said Zainab. "Proof that she meant it...not like she maybe said no and then regretted it." Five years ago this week she wrote a powerful public letter to President Obama citing the relevance of the U.S. struggle for civil rights to Bahrain's protests for democracy, and in a 2014 piece for the New York Times described how Martin Luther King was "reaching out to us from another land and another time to teach us very important lessons... that we must not become bitter, that we must be willing to sacrifice for freedom, and that we can never sink to the level of our oppressors." She's the most thoughtful activist I've ever met. I spent years researching and writing an academic book on American civil rights history, but my understanding of the philosophy Martin Luther King is nowhere near hers. In the 2014 film "We Are the Giant" she explains how other nonviolent struggles, including those of Gandhi and of the Maoris against the British Empire, have also shaped her thinking. People in the Middle East wonder why Washington repeatedly gets key decisions wrong--like rewarding and arming Bahrain's anti-democratic ruling family rather than siding with inspirational intellectuals like Zainab. The State Department's botched response to her arrest a few weeks ago has further damaged its credibility across the region, as has Secretary Kerry's failure to call publicly for her release.
"Ordinarily I wouldn't pick on a particular columnist but I respect Paul Krugman. Also, his perch at the New York Times gives him broad influence - especially just two and a half weeks before the important New York State primary. But his piece today (which I've attached) is shot through with errors.

1. The biggest Wall Street banks did indeed precipitate the crisis on Wall Street in 2008 because of their gambling in newfangled financial instruments and fancy derivatives even they didn't understand.

2. Their size did make a difference because they were so interconnected with other financial entities both in the U.S. and around the world that they were "too big to fail." Today's biggest Wall Street banks are much bigger than they were in 2008.

3. Size also has a bearing on their political influence. The reason the Glass-Steagall Act was scotched by Bill Clinton's administration, and the Clinton administration wouldn't agree with the CFTC to regulate derivatives, had a lot to do with the influence of Wall Street over the Clinton administration and over Congress. The political power of the biggest players on the Street is even larger today - as evidenced by their capacity to whittle back significant parts of Dodd-Frank in the regulatory process.

4. Breaking up the biggest banks isn't a radical idea. In fact, many experts - including the current president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis (who's a Republican and a former executive of Goldman Sachs), and the former head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas -- have called for exactly this.

5. Bernie's other ideas -- for a single-payer plan, and for free tuition at public institutions of higher education - are sensible, and also backed by many experts. It's well-established that a single-payer plan would be far less costly and deliver far better care than our own system, which is based on private for-profit insurers. As to free tuition in public universities, we were well on the way to this goal in the 1950s and 1960s. It was and is a logical extension of free K-12 education.

6. Finally, the current brouhaha over who's "qualified to be president" was arguably started by Hillary Clinton. Personally, I think neither she nor Bernie should be calling the other unqualified, but to blame Bernie for this exchange is simply incorrect.

What do you think?"
*NOTE: This five-year period covers 2010 through 2014, the last available data.

There has been a good deal of movement regarding the hidden networks known as 'special access'. They are not special; they are just basic business broadband and data lines that use the existing copper (and fiber) utility networks.

FCC: What is Special Access?



For example, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) released a new report on April 5th, 2016 on special access overcharging and economic harms.

"(CFA) today released a study that estimates that large incumbent telephone companies have engaged in abusive pricing practices for high-speed broadband 'special access' services, with overcharges totaling about $75 billion over just the past five years. As a result, CFA estimates that the indirect macroeconomic loss to American consumers doubles that damage to a total in excess of $150 billion since 2010."

The study brings up some good points. However, the overcharging for these special access services, as reported by the CFA, is only a fraction of the financial accounting manipulations that have been going on since 2000, and the report didn't address the fact that the obscene profits of special access are being created through massive cross-subsidies -- the overcharging of special access was created, not simply by the neglect of the FCC and the lack of competition, but through one of the largest accounting scandals in American history.

And it impacts every service and current policy decisions, from the raising of local rates, the shutting off of the copper infrastructure to force-march customers onto wireless, (which has been subsidized via local phone rate increases, as the wires to the cell towers are part of these 'special access' networks), or the price to competitors and end users who rely on the incumbent utility networks.

Let me summarize some of the work we previously released about special access and cross-subsidies - and throw in some new material which will be detailed in our upcoming reports from the series "Fixing Telecommunications".



A $60 Billion Market; $31.6 Billion in Mostly-Copper, Regulated Revenues in 2014.

Back in July, 2014, we published an article and detailed how the FCC's data and industry analysis was off -- big time. The FCC claimed that special access was a $12-18 billion market in 2013 originally.

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In 2014, we found that special access 'regulated' revenues were about $28.3 billion but in toto was actually over $60 billion, as there is a collection of financial buckets for special access, much of which was NOT counted and NOT part the original FCC financial analyses. (NOTE: We did a slight recalc based on Verizon NY 2014 Annual Report data, and other Verizon state annual report data we obtained.)

By 2014, special access revenues had increased 50.4% since 2007, (the last FCC recorded data) and it had reached $1.85 billion, surpassing 'Local Service' revenues. (The upcoming reports give the details through 2015.)

We estimate that in 2014, special access regulated revenues was $31.6 billion.

"Black Hole Revenues" are Filled with Special Access Revenues

Our previous and new reports go into detail about "Black Hole Revenues". When we cross-referenced different financial reports for Verizon New York, we found that there was a massive difference. In 2010, Verizon NY showed $2.3 billion in extra revenue on the Investor-SEC-filed books vs the NY Public Service Commission (NYPSC) required annual report -- with no explanation. However, it is clear that various access revenues are NOT on the regulated financial accounting, but are in different financial buckets, including an area called 'nonregulated', and others that are on different accounting books.

This is a serious problem because in 2010 we found that the 'construction expenditures' in the SEC books were the same as the regulated utility books - i.e., the $2.3 billion in revenues (and access revenues) paid no extra capital expenditures.

Using the 'Black Hole' accounting, we estimated that special access was over $60 billion. (See "Fixing Telecommunications" for more details.)

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However, the $31.6 billion for 2014 represents mostly copper-based revenues for the Bell companies - Verizon, AT&T and Centurylink, and the independent ILECs who control most of the copper incumbent networks. We believe that the 'copper-based regulated' special access is overwhelmingly controlled by these three companies, however, and this projection reflects mostly their revenues.

The FCC Released Special Access Info Is Lacking.

In 2015, the FCC released new info based on its data collection, claiming that the market was really $40 billion in 2013 and that 60%, the majority, was $24 billion in 'mostly copper' networks. While it appears to dovetail with our analysis, there's a problem.

The FCC, however, appears to have based their market size on their data collection. According to recently un-redacted info, AT&T's consultants claim that 42% of the data is missing.

"Building-specific revenue data are lacking for about 42 percent of all buildings in the 2013 Special Access Data Collection, including 51 percent of CLEC locations and 27 percent of ILEC locations."

NOTE: However -- If we add 42% to the FCC's original $40 billion, it ends up being $57 billion and closer to our analysis.

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I'll get back to how to solve the actual size of this market and it isn't what the FCC is doing today.

Manipulation of Financial Accounting - Charging Local Phone Customers for Special Access Deployment in Multiple Ways.

Let me give you specific examples that demonstrate the massive cross-subsidies in play.

The FCC's "Big Freeze" Manipulated the Financial Books to Make Local Service Pay the Majority of Expenses.

In 2001, the FCC created a series of regulations on how expenses were to be allocated - and literally 'froze' the analysis to always be based on the year 2000 -- yeah, 16 years ago. (And it is in effect today, regardless of what the companies say, including using words like 'price caps'.)

We use Verizon NY because it is required to supply financial annual reports to the NY Public Service Commission (NYPSC).

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The incumbent utility financial accounting books are divided in three main categories-- 'Access Services', 'Local Service' and 'Nonregulated'. We will focus on access and local service, and go though nonregulated revenues, etc. in a future article.

'Corporate Operations' Expenses Dumped into Local Service

Here it is in black and white. This chart shows 'Corporate Operations' expense by year as compared to revenues of Local Service. These are expenses for lawyers, lobbying, etc., a virtual garbage pail of corporate charges, it appears.

As you can see, Corporate Operations expenses remained virtually the same each year, but Local Service revenues were in decline. In 2003, Local Service revenues were 65% of the total regulated income and paid 65% of the expenses; by 2014, Local Service was still paying 60% of the expenses but only had 27.6% of revenues.

Access Services paid 29.5% of this expense, but had 45.1% of the revenues (special access being 82% of Access Services in 2014).

Special Access Paid a Fraction of Network Costs: 'Grandma' Funded Special Access.

And in every category, Local Service ends up paying the majority of expenses.

In this next example, Verizon NY's Local Service had 65% of revenues and paid 62% of the network expenses in 2003; Access made 31% and paid 30%. (This includes what is known as "Plant Specific" and "Non-Specific Plant" expenses.)

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By 2014, Local Service is 28% of revenues but was paying 46% of network expenses. Access Services, was 45% of revenues in 2014, but only paid 24% of expenses.

Local Service is 'POTS', plain old-copper-based telephone service, of which Verizon has more or less stopped maintaining much less upgrading the copper infrastructure - but it is paying $1.5 billion, even though local revenues in 2014 were $1.4 billion.

There's been no audits, no investigations, and the FCC's new data doesn't actually go into the financial accounting to find these massive cross-subsidies - i.e., Grandma, low income families, small business customers all had rate increases, and with these cross-subsidies are paying for Verizon's special access profits as well.

Verizon Wireless Appears to be Paying Below Market Prices for Competitors, and Cross-Subsidized the Special Access Wires to the Cell Towers.

But it gets worse. Besides not paying common costs and dumping the majority of expenses into Local Service, it appears that Verizon's 'affiliate companies', like Verizon Wireless, are paying a fraction of what other competitors pay for the same service.

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This information was reported in Verizon NY's 2009 and 2010 SEC-filed 4th quarter reports, and was highlighted in our previous reports. Sprint and AT&T are paying a lot more than what Verizon Wireless was paying for "access fees" and "billing and collections" to Verizon New York, the incumbent phone company.

In fact, Sprint paid more than Verizon in both years and had at least  the customers, while AT&T was about the same size. There is no information supplied as to whether these are identical payments for the same services rendered or different, but on the surface, Verizon Wireless was paying a fraction of what other competitors pay for the same service.

(This is from "It's All Interconnected", published by Public Utility Law Project, PULP, May 2014. We will be updating this information, summer 2016.)

Re-Engineering the Expenses: Massive Cross-Subsidies

Here is what the calculations would look like if 'Access Services' paid expenses based on revenues as opposed to the manipulation of applying the expense allocations of the year 2000 (with caveats; we left out "nonregulated" services, for example.)

Simply put, in just 2014, Verizon New York's regulated Access Services underpaid $1.3 billion in expenses while Local Service overpaid by $1.7 billion, and each expense category had major overcharging of Local Service.

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Examining this over 5 years, 2010-2014, Access Services underpaid by $5.5 billion in just Verizon New York while Local Service overpaid by almost $6 billion (this was based on actual accounting per year).

And nationwide, this would mean that annually, Access Services are underpaid by about $18 billion and Local Service had been gouged by $24 billion dollars - in just 2014. Over these five years, 2010-2014, Access Service fees underpaid by $88 billion and Local Service was overcharged at least $121+ billion.

'Minutia Analysis': Doubling-Down on Overcharging

There are caveats that make this a lot worse; many of the expenses charged to Local Service should not be charged and the totals would need to be adjusted.

Case in point, Local Service paid 52.6% of Marketing & Advertising expense, which is made up of $230 million of 'product management' with 'other expenses' and $112 million in 'product advertising'.

This means that Local Service paid about $180 million for Marketing/Advertising in just 2014.

When is the last time you saw an advertisement for basic phone service? Even if we adjust this category to the revenues, where Local Service paid 27.6%, that still comes to $94 million of expense -- in just New York. Obviously, this expense should be bordering on zero, as should, say, paying for network construction that isn't being done or 'corporate operations'. And to top it off, since 2006, Local Service had multiple rate increases based, in part, on these expenses that created financial losses.

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Manipulation of Access Line Accounting

We've written a lot recently about the fact that Verizon et al. have manipulated the accounting of access lines to make it look like Local Service is unprofitable and 'losing lines'.

Yes, "Local Service" is losing revenues -- some of it being migrated to other services that are not in this accounting if it is considered "IP" or 'inter-state', or when a line is no longer treated as an access line, such as the addition of DSL or any other 'information service'--or used as a special access lines. And there is a question about whether a Verizon Wireless service should also be counted, especially when not only the service, but the connection to the towers, are all from Verizon.

And yes, there has been a drop in one category of lines, 'POTS' phone service.

But, here's the problem. This is just one subset of lines, and other areas, like special access, had massive increases.

This is from the FCC's last report covering access line accounting - "Statistics of Common Carriers", and it shows that in Verizon New York territory there were 47 million total access lines in service in 2007 (with caveats).

In 2014, Verizon claimed it had 2.7 million access lines, and doesn't mention any of the special access lines, DSL lines, lines to competitors, wires to the cell towers, etc.

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If special access revenue went up 50% since 2007 as documented by Verizon New York's Annual reports, then how can Verizon claim access lines are going down?

In fact, we estimate that there are about 65 million total access lines in Verizon NY, starting with the FCC's own published data as the guide.





How can Verizon shut off the POTS networks claiming that they are losing lines or that the networks are unprofitable, when we just saw a massive manipulation and multiple cross-subsidies, underpaying by affiliate companies and other financial tricks?

As we pointed out in a previous article -- special access wires and the local phone service wires are the same, identical wires. Why is one class of wires being hidden?

Solution: What is ridiculous is - the FCC could have simply required the companies to supply all of the information it did in 2007 about lines - i.e., the previous FCC chart above - and we would know exactly how many lines were in service, and whether there was actual competition for special access.

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And if the FCC required the original financial accounting - that had been collected since 1939, instead of canceling requirements circa 2007, we wouldn't have been overcharged (as badly). And if NY State had bothered to actually review the annual reports it required, and audited the books when it raised rates, -- i.e., a rate case, it might have noticed the billions in cross-subsidies.
Americans love to invoke the past and indeed are often happiest doing so in direct proportion to their ignorance of it. One oft-repeated historical reference (much beloved by President Ronald Reagan along with many others) offers an excellent case in point. According to Reagan, the first migrants to New England thought of themselves as creating a model for the rest of the world. Advocates of this view cite the lay sermon of early Massachusetts governor John Winthrop, known as "Of Christian Charity." The tradition that the first settlers thought of themselves as prospective world leaders (or at least as guides to the rest of the world) flowed directly into the conviction that the United States had not only the right but the duty to take Indian and Mexican lands in its advance across the continent; it has been seen as a precursor to the 19th century idea of "Manifest Destiny." Echoes of it appear in the most arrogant foreign policy statements, especially when U.S. leaders claim that America has a duty to act in the affairs of others. The misreading this represents likely will never die, so fundamental has it become.

John Winthrop preached "Of Christian Charity" because, as its informal title implies, he worried that the settlers would not take care of each other. Preached in anticipation of the move to New England, the sermon warned colonists that they had to behave charitably toward their fellow migrants. The road ahead would be difficult, he warned, and the society they sought to create was far from assured. Winthrop wanted both to maintain social distinctions and to ensure that each person felt responsibility for the others. The idea of "a city on a hill" did not represent a beacon to draw the world's people or their attentions, but warned that their social experiment would be scrutinized and judged. He reminded them that they wanted to set up a godly society, worthy of their religious beliefs. In failure, they would embarrass their faith. Far from a blueprint for creating a world power, or even a beacon to prospective migrants, the sermon cautioned rather than celebrated.

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Reagan's use of this idea (which was so much a part of his public discourse that his eulogist Sandra Day O'Connor revived it at his funeral) never followed Winthrop's tone or meaning. Rather for Reagan the "city on a hill" went along with his intention to "make America great again." This slogan, used in Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980, is currently in play once again.

One of the great ironies of Reagan's use was how he invoked the image to support a particular image of the United States, in which independent, self-sufficient men and women came to build a great nation, one that could stand up to Soviet Communism. That he employed the image even as he advocated drastic cuts in social program (mental health, welfare, etc.) shows how far his meaning was from Winthrop's, since the earlier leader argued FOR the early modern version of social programs, care for the poor and less fortunate. Quite likely, calling this use Reagan's "reading" gives a false sense of the late President's engagement in the text. He probably lifted the famous phrase without exploring its context or trying to interpret its original meaning.
Fox News Channel debate moderators (L-R), Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Brett Baier, start the first official Republican presidential candidates debate of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign in Cleveland, Ohio, August 6, 2015. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk

The Republican Party is in a pickle.

The Party itself despises its own two leading presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. This is a remarkable oddity just in itself. But there is good reason for it. Both of these candidates are so extreme and disastrous that they will almost certainly never be able to win a national election for the Republican Party.

But much worse, if and when one of these candidates does becomes the Republican Party's nominee for president, the Party could very well be torn asunder into factions. One wing would split off to support the extremist candidate, and the other more moderate wing would be so embarrassed by what the Republican Party had become that they might even abandon the Party altogether. And forget about attracting new members into the Party because it would be too mean and extreme.

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This could devastate the Party for years or even decades to come. So the Republican Party now finds itself teetering on the precipice of disintegration.

The Republicans, however, have no one to blame but themselves. This is a crisis of their own creation. And it didn't just happen overnight.

The Republican Party has been fomenting anger and discontent in the base of its own Party for years. The mechanism through which this hate has been disseminated has been the network of extremist media of right-wing talk radio and the Fox News Channel, which is essentially talk radio transposed onto television.

Just think of all the right-wing "superstars" who spew messages of anger and hate every single day throughout the land over this enormous megaphone. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, Ben Shapiro, Dana Loesch, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, to name a few.

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And make no mistake, spewing hate has a significant impact upon society. It is the equivalent of modern-day propaganda where the population is barraged with a stream of consistent messaging. As ordinary people go about their daily lives, they are exposed repeatedly, day-in and day-out, to the same messages in numerous different forms and by numerous different people. Pretty soon, these messages begin to sink in and take effect. The audience begins to adopt a worldview consistent with these messages, regardless of the degree of truth. It is a remarkable phenomenon.

History is replete with examples of how propaganda can be very effective in altering the views of a population. Nazi Germany in the 1930's is a classic example. How could it possibly be that a maniac like Adolph Hitler was able to convince millions of ordinary people throughout the entire nation of Germany to go to war against the world? Well, propaganda was an extremely powerful component.

For years, Hitler inundated the German population with a stream of consistent messages that the German Aryans were the superior master race of all humans, and that Germany was under imminent threat of destruction by foreign enemies as evidenced by the Treaty of Versailles, which was the international peace treaty that ended World War I but that also imposed upon Germany the hardship of having to make enormous reparation payments to the foreign victors for having caused the war. The Nazi messaging also preached about internal threats from various segments of Germany's own population, like Jews, homosexuals, and communists. The German population began to adopt this perverse and paranoid worldview as truth, and a national war machine was born.

A more contemporary example is the Bosnian War from the early 1990's that shockingly occurred in the heart of Europe right near Italy and Greece. The government of Serbia deployed propaganda to incite its Christian Serbian population to turn against the Bosnian Muslim ethnic group. Previously, however, the Serbs and the Bosnians had lived together in peace for generations in the very same towns and villages. But the propaganda from the nationalistic Serbian government whipped-up its population into a frenzy that resulted in former neighbors and friends killing each other in horrifying atrocities of ethnic cleansing, systematic mass rape, and genocide.

Another contemporary example is the genocide that occurred in the African nation of Rwanda in 1994. The Hutu-led government systematically employed propaganda to spread fear and paranoia that the Tutsi minority was about to rise-up and enslave the Hutus, so the Hutus had better spring into action and save themselves by striking first against the devious and plotting Tutsis. This incited a wave of violence that lasted for months. In villages across Rwanda where Hutus and Tutsis had previously lived together in peace and harmony, suddenly mobs of Hutus were rampaging against their own Tutsi neighbors with machetes and clubs. One million Tutsis were killed in the genocide.

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Propaganda is powerful stuff. Many people are susceptible to it and can be swayed by it, especially the less educated.

In America today, the right-wing media network is engaged in this very same activity through Fox News and extremist talk radio. This network is constantly barraging its audience, day-in and day-out, over and over again, with a stream of consistent messaging. And this messaging is overwhelmingly negative and destructive.

The messaging consists of common themes that recur over and over in various forms. One central theme is a fierce opposition against government, especially so called "big government." This reappears in various sub-forms as well, such as rage against bureaucracy, regulations, Washington, D.C., the IRS, the Environmental Protection Agency, and federal politicians.

It is really quite remarkable that a major political party could get away with so shamelessly trashing our very own government and our very own nation. But yet, there it is.

They rant and rave about how our nation is a disaster, out of control, a huge mess. The government is so far off the rails that it no longer even follows the Constitution of the United States! Absurd, of course. But wildly popular.

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Another big theme is fear and victimization. You had better watch out because government is gonna getcha! "They," whoever that may be, are about to take away your rights. Your freedom is about to disappear. Your religious liberties will be stripped away. You won't be able to make your own healthcare decisions. Free choice will be gone. Your children will suffer. You are under a big threat. Even though you are just an innocent person minding your own business, you are about to be victimized!

Another common theme is the fear of foreigners, or outsiders. We must protect our own in-group from the vague and mysterious threats posed by those who are a little bit different from us. The particular targeted group changes with the times, but it has included Muslims, illegal immigrants, Syrian refugees, Russia, China, Mexican immigrants and communists. But the concept remains the same.

And, of course, someone from the Democratic Party, or some "liberal," is to blame for all of this wreckage. Demonizing a specific target is powerful. If a Democrat is in the White House, then the President becomes the favorite bullseye. Otherwise the demon is some other Democratic politician, typically from Congress.

But why would a Democrat want to take away people's rights throughout the nation? This would mean that the Democrat would also be taking away their own rights, and also the rights of their constituents. Why in the world would they do that? Well, of course, this makes no sense whatsoever. But it doesn't need to make any sense. It just needs to instill fear, anger, and discontent.

Now, a political platform comprised of nothing more than hate and anger is not a very viable or sustainable political strategy, especially for a national party like the Republican Party. It may be a good strategy for a specific election or an isolated situation, but an entire political party cannot endure based upon only a message of outrage and opposition.

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So why would the Republican Party devise such a strategy that has no hope of success? Well, it turns out that they did not devise this strategy. In fact, it's not even a strategy at all. It emerged not as a result of a grand Republican master plan, but rather, it emerged as a result of market economics.

The extremist right-wing network of Fox News and talk radio was not created by politicians, and it is not funded by a political party. It is not supported by donations from people seeking political expression. No. It was created for one central purpose: to make money.

The founding motivation and the driving force behind all of this propaganda of hate and anger that is being disseminated throughout our society is nothing more than the almighty dollar. The profit motive. It is a business. Pure and simple.

And, as it turns out, the business of peddling hate and anger is a fantastically profitable one at that.

Rush Limbaugh raked-in $80 million for himself in 2015 alone. Sean Hannity was paid $30 million. Glenn Beck is personally worth over $100 million. Bill O'Reilly's television show, "The O'Reilly Factor," generates over $100 million per year in advertising revenue.

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If these front-men are making this much money, well then you know that their corporate masters are making even more.

Fox News has dominated the ratings as the number one cable news channel for the last 14 years and reportedly earns over $1 billion in profits annually, making it a golden goose in the overall Fox corporate empire. Fox itself is one of the most valuable brands in the world with sales of over $13 billion. And the tycoon behind Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, is personally worth $12 billion.

This is Big Business.

It is no joke. We are not talking about some folks just yearning to express their opinions. No. This operation is not being driven by politics or by a desire to promulgate political viewpoints. No. This operation is being driven by money. Big Money. This is what it's all about.

Of course, politics is involved as well. No doubt. The content spewed by this media network is highly political in nature and it champions right-wing issues, right-wing politicians, and the right-wing Republican Party. This is no accident. In fact, it makes perfect sense when viewed through an economic perspective.

Corporate profits are greatly impacted by governmental policies. Corporations, therefore, desire the government to be controlled by whichever political party is the most favorable to corporate profits. And this, of course, is the Republican Party. So it makes perfect sense that this extremist media network would use its megaphone to attempt to influence politics by urging support for the right-wing Republican Party.

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Interestingly, the Fox media empire that is dominated by the tycoon Rupert Murdoch is shockingly reminiscent of the media empire from around 1900 that was dominated by the tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

Mr. Hearst was notorious for printing false information in his media network of newspapers in order to influence public opinion and politics. Instead of using his vast media network to objectively and fairly report news and disseminate information, Mr. Hearst used his media network as an instrument of power by controlling the content and distorting the truth in order to manipulate public opinion for his own benefit.

So we have seen this playbook before. One would think that we would now be savvy enough to prevent this terrible abuse from happening again. But apparently not. It is astonishing that Mr. Murdoch has been able to recreate right before our very eyes the abusive practices pioneered by Mr. Hearst over one hundred years ago.

Today, the bottom line is money. Politics is secondary. While the media content is highly political, the purpose behind influencing politics is to serve the primary objective of protecting the big profits.

Just think what would happen if the Republican Party suddenly proposed a tax on excessive corporate media profits. This right-wing network would shift away from the Republican Party so fast your head would spin. Bill O'Reilly would be sporting tie-dyes and Birkenstocks.

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Corporate profits is what led to the creation and expansion of this extremist right-wing media network. And it is indeed a cozy little business model. The network builds an audience by appealing to people's fear, insecurity, and anger, and simultaneously directs its audience to support the right-wing political party that best protects the network's own profits.

It's like a rigged game. The content disseminated over the network masquerades as being objective and informative, but in reality the content has instead been carefully designed to promote the network's own business interests.

Pretty nifty.

What is best for corporate profits, however, is not necessarily best for a democratic society.

From a political perspective, it is certainly not healthy to incite anger and hate within a nation's own population. And it is not very wise to inflame hostility and rage against a nation's own government. From a business perspective, sure, it is perfectly understandable because a corporation can exploit this and profit handsomely from it. But from a political perspective of creating a cohesive society and maintaining peace and harmony among the population, this is disastrous.

Responsible politicians certainly know better and would never endorse any enterprise seeking to inflame anger and hostility in the population. A true political leader would not participate in any such conduct, but instead would speak out against it. A true political leader would not condone the dissemination of false and misleading information, but instead would seek to correct it with accuracy. A true political leader would not sacrifice unity in society in order to capture a few easy votes, but instead would uphold his or her principles and integrity even at the risk of losing votes.

That is genuine political leadership. Doing what is best for society, even in the face of adversity.

But politicians in the Republican Party could not resist. The extremist right-wing network of Fox News and talk radio had built up an audience that could easily be exploited for political support. Even though the extremist media network was fomenting anger and hatred that is disastrous for society overall, the network could also be used to deliver political votes to Republican politicians.

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And there it was. The Republican Party had made a deal with the devil.

An unholy alliance was formed. The Republican Party would allow the extremist right-wing network to promulgate its destructive propaganda throughout society in order to generate its enormous profits, and in exchange, the network would direct its audience to vote for the Republican Party.

The allure of easy votes was too great. Exercising true leadership was too difficult.

So for years and years, the extremist right-wing media network spewed out content full of anger, hate, and division. And Republican politicians jumped on the bandwagon. They began preaching the same destructive messages and appearing on the extremist right-wing network all across the nation.

And guess what? It worked.

The base of the Republican Party grew more and more angry. Their resentment against our very own government grew ever greater. Their sense of victimization became ever more acute. Their fury at the establishment boiled over.

And then, predictably, it backfired.

The base of the Republican Party became a Frankenstein. It became radicalized into an extreme movement that turned against the established order, including the leadership of the Republican Party itself. It has become a monster of its own that is now roaming the countryside and terrorizing the very political party that created it.

This is the reason behind the rise of candidates like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. The Republican Party establishment despises these candidates, but the Party has no idea how to slay these dragons.

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These candidates now pose the enormous threat of potentially causing a giant split within the Party that could lead to the utter destruction of the entire Republican Party itself.

It is a remarkable story.

The Republican Party has enjoyed its dance with the devil. Now it must pay the piper.

This post also appears on Salon here.
'Refugees Welcome' is seen painted on a building in a blighted area near downtown Detroit, Michigan November 17, 2015. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

When they aren't being erroneously denounced as terrorists, Syrian refugees have a similarly unjustified reputation as fundamentalists who oppose liberty. Since the Paris attacks, Syrian refugees here have had many opportunities to speak to local papers and news outlets about their views on our freedoms, and the result is unanimous: they love them.

Saleh Sbenaty who escaped Syria to Nashville explained to the Nashville Scene that he wanted to come to the United States specifically because of its freedoms. "I immigrated to the U.S. and left my family and home because of my freedom," he said. "I also wanted to ensure such freedom is protected, not only for my children, but also for everyone else. I strongly believe in the U.S. Constitution and will fight to protect it, period! Everyone in my community felt the same way."

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Nidal Alhayak, a Syrian who received asylum and is living in Michigan, interprets his flight to the United States in the same way. "First of all, I consider myself fortunate that I made it to the United States," he told NPR in November. "I consider it the number one country for democracy and freedom for humanity worldwide." Noor Eddin who is living in Kentucky agrees. "This is the Western world," he told the Washington Post. "They respect the rights of a human being."

The connection between the United States and liberty is engrained into their perceptions of the nation. Radwan, Syrian refugee in Ohio, told his local CBS affiliate: "I came here, to the freedom country." Hussam Al Roustom saw his decision to flee Syria to New Jersey similarly. "We reached to a point it's either death, or live with dignity or freedom," he said.

Rama Al Najjar, a 16-year-old Syrian in Kentucky, found the sudden negative reaction to Syrian refugees puzzling. "Why are people afraid of us?" she asked reporters in Lexington. "We've escaped a war. We just want to live in a free country.... [There] was no freedom... for the people over there."

Safera and her husband Khalid were resettled in Las Vegas, Nevada - not exactly the most common location for resettlement. But even with the extremes that a free country allows, Safera says that living here changed their view of it. "We had to Google it," she told the Las Vegas Sun in December. "We read about its image as a sin city. But when we came here, we liked it."

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One Syrian father in Toledo, Ohio spoke of his vision of a freer future for his children. "We want them live in liberty and have choices in life," he said, "and be able to make their own decisions and... equality, yes."

Syrians' naturally favorable impression of U.S. liberty was tarnished for one refugee family who were redirected away to Connecticut after Indiana's governor rejected them. "We are coming to an open country," the father told the New York Times. "A country with freedoms," his wife added. "We felt rejected," he continued. "How could that be the freedoms that we hear about?" His wife added that her idea of America was one where "people are accepted regardless of their backgrounds or what their ideologies are."

The issue highlights an irony in the anti-Muslim proposals from states across the country. If politicians want Muslims to embrace the United States, they would be wise to protect America's liberties. "Minnesota is a lovely place that Syrians would love a lot," Bashar Alakkad who escaped Syria explained to his local station. When asked to list the reasons for why he wanted to stay here, he said, "First of all there are no checkpoints."

Yet some politicians are acting as if they think this should change. Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, has called on U.S. police to target--"patrol and secure"--Muslim American neighborhoods. Such ethnic profiling, however, will not have the impact he wants. As one Syrian refugee in Chicago put it, "What we love most here is that there is no discrimination between people." He adds, "Everybody minds their own business."

What could be more American?

Most Syrians just shake their heads when reporters ask them about profiling Muslims. "Syrians are war refugees. We're not all in ISIS," Elamri, a Syrian refugee in Boston, told Boston Magazine. He notes that Syria has a long tradition of commingling religious groups. "Syria is a land of civilization, of Christianity and Islam."

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By David L. Phillips and Van Krikorian Violent conflict erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) on April 2, killing hundreds. Azerbaijan violated a cease-fire that had been in place since 1994. The situation remains extremely volatile, despite a temporary truce.

The United States and Russia must intensify their mediation. Negotiations should include representatives of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. US law already calls for sanctions on Azerbaijan if it acts aggressively. The Obama administration should implement Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, imposing economic and diplomatic sanctions on Azerbaijan to punish its aggression.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory in the South Caucasus. Joseph Stalin included it in Azerbaijan as part of a broader effort to undermine the national aspirations of minorities in the Soviet Union. The Nagorno-Karabakh population held a referendum in 1991, as the Soviet Union was disintegrating. Christian Armenians voted overwhelmingly for independence from Muslim Azerbaijan. In the ensuing conflict, over 20,000 people died and over 800,000 people were displaced. The war ended with a cease fire but no peace agreement.

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In 1989, the US Senate passed a resolution "[urging] Soviet President Gorbachev to restore order, reestablish unrestricted economic and supply routes to the people of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh, secure the physical safety of the people of [NK] from attack, and continue a dialogue with representatives of such region regarding a peaceful settlement of the dispute...." In 1992, President George H.W. Bush signed Section 907 into US law, which prohibits assistance to Azerbaijan if it engages in aggressive military actions against Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh. Section 907 was an important deterrent, contributing to the cease fire.

In 2008, then Senator Barack Obama endorsed a "lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America's founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self-determination." Since the conflict began, every US Administration has been committed to a peaceful, negotiated solution.

Starting in 1994, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe spearheaded efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict Nagorno-Karabakh. The OSCE Minsk Group is mandated to mediate. It is co-chaired by France, the Russian Federation, and the United States. Attempts by Azerbaijan to change mediators have been rebuffed.

Tensions in this "frozen conflict" have increased in recent years. Escalating and well-documented cease fire violations occurred without consequence. Inaction by the international community encouraged Azerbaijan's coordinated assault. Azerbaijan recently spent $4 billion buying weapons from Russia. On April 2, Azerbaijan used its upgraded air and land weapons to attack on multiple fronts. Weapons included Smerch rocket systems, Grad missiles, Russian-made T-90 tanks, TOS-1A flamethrowers, modern helicopter gunships, as well as kamikaze drones. All told, over 40 Armenians were killed, including civilians. An ethnic Yezidi/Armenian citizen, was beheaded by Azeri troops. Over 200 Azeri soldiers died in the offensive. No territory was gained.

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Azerbaijan did not act on its own. According to eye-witness accounts, Turkish troops and equipment were involved in battles near the Iranian border. The Azerbaijani offensive was immediately endorsed by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Nagorno-Karabakh will be returned to Azerbaijan." Erdogan added, "We will support Azerbaijan until the end."

Turkey is already a protagonist in this conflict. It maintained a blockade of Armenia since 1992. Erdogan scuttled the 2009 protocols to open the border and have diplomatic relations with Armenia, which Turkish diplomats negotiated.

Azerbaijan claims that Armenia instigated the recent conflict. However, Chatham House and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace maintain that Nagorno-Karabakh forces did not instigate attacks on Azeri positions. Armenians consistently proposed monitors and confidence building measures since 1994. Azerbaijan refused, calling for a military solution. Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense initially took credit for initiating the offensive.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev relies on a combination of oil revenue, caviar diplomacy, and government crackdowns on fundamental freedoms to maintain power. In the face of the recent oil price crash, Azerbaijan's economy is in decline and its currency has plummeted. Azerbaijan's civil society continues to oppose the regime's incarceration of journalists and human rights advocates. Igniting a war with Armenia, even a short one, aims at distracting the Azeri people from the regime's abuses and economic insecurity. It is no secret that Armenia has a strategic military relationship with Russia. It faces an existential threat from Turkey, as well as Azerbaijani aggression. At the same time, Armenia maintains good relations with the United States and the European Union. Armenia actively participates in NATO's Partnership for Peace Program. A NATO official called Armenia's contribution to international security "very impressive." Armenia accepted more than 20,000 refugees from Syria.

Nagorno-Karabakh is one of the most dangerous places in the world today. With Russia and Turkey at odds in Syria, a proxy fight may be escalating. The US has a national security interest in preventing an all-out war, with regional implications.

The US and Russia have worked together more assiduously on Syria. They should also intensify cooperation through the Minsk Group. Specifically, the OSCE should deploy monitors around Nagorno-Karabakh to deter future aggression. The Armenian side is willing.

There is no military solution in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Minsk Group should rejoin its original configuration, including Nagorno-Karabakh representatives in negotiations. They should be a part of political talks, which affect the peace and security of their constituents. The US must not soft pedal Azerbaijan's aggression. Nor can Washington condone Turkey taking up arms against Armenians. As we observe yet another anniversary of the Armenian Genocide on April 24, the US needs a fact based, principled approach to prevent the escalation of deadly violence in Nagorno-Karabakh.
stack of books isolated on white background

It is not uncommon for various groups to protest the way certain subjects are presented in school text books. Most recently, educational publishing giant McGraw-Hill apologized for the fact that its World Geography referred to slavery thus: "The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations." The Texas review committees did not find anything objectionable in the textbook -- it was only when people started to point out the glaring misconception that slaves somehow were equivalent to wage earners that the publisher apologized.

What is far less common, however, is when protests against the way a particular group or nation is represented jibe with similar efforts to maintain or enforce a specific historical narrative in the country in question. That is, when a nationalist narrative from abroad is imposed upon the way that nation and its people are presented for Americans. In such instances, it's not simply a matter of academic freedom, it is also a matter of Americans being brought up to understand the world in the ways politically influential groups in other nations wish to have their nation be understood. Crucially, what is being imposed upon our learning is only one version of a contested narrative, in which one group ultimately has its way, often based not on fact but on relative power.

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The energy and violence that informs the controversies over whose history will be the one we know a nation by is reflected well in the headline Inside Higher Education gave one instance of textbook politics: "Textbook Destroyed."

The story goes on to explain that upon seeing the way McGraw-Hill's Global Politics: Engaging a Complex World represented the progressive loss of Palestinian land over the decades, a group of pro-Israel readers protested. McGraw-Hill said that it then submitted the work for "academic review" and found it lacking. Of course, the question is why it passed review the first time, and why a new line of thinking became so persuasive. We will likely never know. What we do know is that McGraw-Hill recalled all copies in circulation, destroyed them, and ceased publication. End of that particular story, but not of the phenomenon of nationalist narratives being ideologically insinuated into U.S. school books.

Currently, this issue is being manifested in an international controversy over language and terminology, not maps. Some groups of Hindu nationalists are incensed over the recommendation of a group of scholars that the term "South Asia" be used to describe the shared heritage of the Indus Valley civilization between India, Paksitan and Afghanistan.

The controversy centers upon the recommendation by the South Asia Faculty Textbook Committee, which includes South Asian scholars from Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia University and others, asserts that:

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...while 'Ancient India' is the accepted usage among Indologists, in other fields, pre-modern South Asia is the common term of reference. Since there is no standardized usage across fields, it is difficult for us to recommend a single standard term for use in the curriculum framework. After careful review, we have settled on a context dependent approach for the use of the terms, 'Ancient India,' 'India,' 'Indian subcontinent' and 'South Asia,' as we explain in the edits. The use of terms like 'Ancient India' and 'India' in the current version of the draft framework, particularly for grades 6 and 7 is at times misleading. Although 'Ancient India' is common in the source material, when discussing the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), we believe it will cause less confusion to students to refer to the "Early Civilization of South Asia or "Ancient South Asia" because much of the Indus Valley is now in modern Pakistan. Conflating "Ancient India" with the modern nation-state of India deprives students from learning about the shared civilizational heritage of India and Pakistan.

A petition being circulated ("Don't Replace "India" with "South Asia" in California History Social Science Frameworks) states in response to those recommendations:

School students in California will be forced to learn that there was never an "India" unless you act! A small group of South Asia studies faculty recently asked the California Board of Education to change the History Social Science Frameworks so that the word "India" will be removed and replaced with "South Asia." They believe that India did not exist before 1947 and want a stereotypical and concocted generalization like "South Asia" to be used for almost all discussions of Indian history before 1947.

The political content of this protest is clearly expressed in this lead paragraph. While one could write off "there was never an India" as simply rhetorical excess, corrected a few lines after by the specific "before 1947," the fact of the matter is that the language of the protest betrays its real intent -- to bypass the actual historical record and insist that "India" existed trans-historically, before actual statehood, and thus has rightful claim to indigenous status in almost a primordial fashion.

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What is the effect of this politically? By arguing that the India as we know it today existed before its actual statehood, Hindu nationalist groups can make a parallel claim that the current Modi government is simply the most recent incarnation of a timeless, Hindu "tradition," implacably rooted in the land with often violent consequences for India's minority Dalit (former untouchable) communities, Muslim, and Christian communities. The petition urges the Board to "reject all the changes pushed by the South Asia faculty group that attempt to erase India and Hinduism from California's schools. Let "India" remain "India" and "Hinduism" remain "Hinduism," and respect reality at least that much."

Although the Hindu Education Foundation has been reported as a key player in the debate, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) -- which lobbies for political candidates and seeks to influence elections -- and the Uberoi Foundation have been two of the most vocal proponents of ideologically driven edits which also try to eliminate mention of caste and gender inequalities in the Framework. The HAF, whose key officers are committed Hindu nationalists, unsuccessfully suedthe California Board of Education in 2006 and lost on all substantive grounds. The "Curriculum Institute" of the Uberoi Foundation is directed by Shiva Bajpai, and an office-holder of the Dharma Civilization Foundation that unsuccessfully attempted to endow a Chair in "Dharma Studies" a UC Irvine that was rejected by its faculty for advocating a sectarian version of Hinduism.

The debate over how India is to appear in California textbooks has to be seen against the backdrop, not only of Indian political action committees, of what is emerging as a pattern of influence exerted by Hindu nationalist groups here in the U.S. upon U.S. education. In February in The Huffington Post, I blogged on how Hindu national groups attempted to dictate the way endowed professorships at the University of California at Irvine were to be filled, and how this exercise in influence was related to the suppression of dissent and opposing views on campuses in India as well.
The so-called Panama Papers scandal this week couldn't have come at a worse time as everyone files their tax returns.

It's particularly galling since the tax rate for high-income earners is now a record 54 per cent, and rich Canadians and multinationals can avoid taxation by using offshore tax avoidance schemes. Americans, with lower taxes, are also upset about their multinationals getting away with tax murder abroad, legally.

The fact is that making fortunes in Canada, then taking them offshore to never pay taxes again, is a well-worn Canadian tradition. It's all very legal. But morality is another matter.

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While it's hard to imagine, Canada is one of the world's biggest secrecy and tax havens. So is the U.S. where shell companies, offshore entities and proxies own, buy and sell assets here every day. But Canada, like Britain, Switzerland, Luxembourg or Lichtenstein, pioneered tax avoidance/evasion schemes. In fact, my first job in Toronto (many years ago) was working for a lawyer who created paper shell companies for the country's richest individual, industrialist E. P. Taylor, so he could divide his huge income in order to pay a minuscule small business income tax.

A Canadian lawyer invented the numbered company, and Canada allowed it, all in order to hide beneficial ownership.

Canada also spawned another tax-dodge pioneer -- K.C. Irving of New Brunswick -- who in 1972 moved to tax-free Bermuda and placed ownership of his empire into a series of Bermudian trusts that have never paid taxes to Canada.

Since then a large chunk of an entire Canadian province has been owned by a series of trusts worth billions of dollars that don't pay Canadian taxes.

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Clearly, Taylor and Irving were ahead of their time, but their "business" model has become dangerously massive in Canada, and globally, removing trillions of dollars from national economies and tax departments around the globe.

I've written about this for years, but the Panama Papers reveal the extent of just one law firm who avoids, or evades, taxes.

It's not just a fairness issue, but hiding assets or spiriting assets out to secrecy and tax havens has facilitated the wholesale looting of Africa, China, Russia, Ukraine and other developing economies. It also launders the proceeds of crime and, in developed countries like Canada, contributes to lower services and obscenely higher taxes for the middle class.

The U.S. taxes citizens wherever they live and hunts them down vigorously if they cheat. But secrecy frustrates police and prosecutors too. In Canada and most of the world it's worse. Citizens or immigrants can move to lower-tax jurisdictions at will. This means that the wealthiest -- who have made millions or billions -- can leave, pay a smallish or negotiated departure tax (maybe) then never be on the hook to pay taxes again. Even when caught, Canadian tax authority's pursuit was lukewarm as happened two years ago when similar revelations about Luxembourg surfaced.

This is foolish public policy, considering that even if they play the tax-avoidance game legally, they owe Canada and their respective homelands. Canada, for instance, provided them with opportunities as a result of public education, a stable financial system, legal system, sound economy, infrastructure and security.

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Fortunately, most of the wealthiest people in Canada and other countries have not left yet, but more will as taxes increase due to tax avoidance schemes and as loopholes exist.

Worse yet, there is massive money laundering through Canadian (and Australian and American) real estate -- or conceal-estate -- most dramatically in Toronto and Vancouver and Sydney condos. Foreigners use shell companies or proxies to acquire condos in these cities, with the help of local banks, developers and brokers. These players have made housing unaffordable in both cities.

I've crusaded, with others, but the most powerful lobby in this country is the offshore lobby -- banks, accountants, lawyers, money managers -- who reward politicians for not bringing in reforms.

It's important to point out that some offshore manoeuvres are legal if people have switched tax residency and paid a departure tax. They shouldn't be.

Canada and all countries should legislate full transparency and public disclosure by both residents and foreigners who invest here, as the U.S. is proposing to do with real estate and shell companies. Laws should require citizens to pay taxes on worldwide income and assets whether they leave or not.

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Then the tax and secrecy havens must be shut down through diplomatic pressure. And Canada and others can join the international movement to shut down the tax avoidance industry globally.

If unaddressed, the estimated $32 trillion worth of untaxed offshore funds will double and redouble at the expense of nation-states and societies. The rich will get richer and the rest of the world will get potholes, social unrest and political instability.
United States Marines prepare for a patrol.

Donald Trump has become this season's campaign phenomenon. He's broken all the rules. Yet he could become the Republican presidential nominee and maybe even president.

GOP elites are in a frenzy. The Neoconservatives and ultra-hawks who have dominated Republican foreign policy for more than a decade are considering political treason. For instance, dedicated interventionists Max Boot and William Kristol have proposed voting for Hillary Clinton or starting a third party if Trump wins the GOP nomination.

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Exactly what Trump as president would do is hard to predict. He can seamlessly contradict himself, denouncing the nuclear agreement with Iran while promising to implement it. He can make no sense, criticizing the disastrous interventions in Iraq and Libya while proposing to put up to 30,000 American troops into Iraq and Syria.

He can promise to make America great again while rejecting the principle forms of peaceful engagement, trade and immigration, which helped turn the U.S. into a global colossus. He can sacrifice his boldest stands for the worst kowtowing, promising neutrality between Israelis and Palestinians before groveling at the AIPAC conference, telling attendees that he, like every other presidential candidate, wholeheartedly embraces Israel's extremist Likud-dominated government.

Still, Trump, to a degree previously matched only by such outlier presidential candidates as Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, is challenging Washington's conventional wisdom that America must dominate the globe. The "usual suspects" who manage foreign policy in every administration, Republican and Democrat, believe that the U.S. must cow every adversary, fight every war, defend every ally, enforce every peace, settle every conflict, pay every bill, and otherwise ensure that the lion lies down with the lamb at the end of time, if not before.

But not Donald Trump. He recently shocked polite war-making society in the nation's capital when he criticized NATO, essentially a welfare agency for Europeans determined to safeguard their generous social benefits. Before the Washington Post editorial board he made the obvious point that "NATO was set up at a different time." Moreover, Ukraine "affects us far less than it affects other countries in NATO, and yet we're doing all of the lifting." Why, he wondered? It's a good question.

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His view that foreign policy should change along with the world scandalized Washington policymakers, who embody Public Choice economics, which teaches that government officials and agencies are self-interested and dedicated to self-preservation. In foreign policy that means what has ever been must ever be and everything is more important today than in the past, no matter how much circumstances have changed.

Trump expressed skepticism about American defense subsidies for other wealthy allies, such as South Korea and Saudi Arabia as well as military deployments in Asia. "We spent billions of dollars on Saudi Arabia and they have nothing but money" Similarly, he contended, "South Korea is very rich, great industrial country, and yet we're not reimbursed fairly for what we do." He also criticized nation-building. "We have a country that's in bad shape," he reasonably allowed: "I just think we have to rebuild our country."

Unlike presidents dating back at least to George H.W. Bush, Trump appears reluctant to go to war. He opposed sending tens of thousands of troops to fight the Islamic State: "I would put tremendous pressure on other countries that are over there to use their troops." Equally sensibly, he warned against starting World War III over Crimea or useless rocks in East Asian seas. He made a point that should be obvious at a time of budget crisis: "We certainly can't afford to do this anymore."

That these views have been condemned as ignorant, outrageous, and beyond the pale demonstrates just how deranged and isolated Washington's foreign policy establishment has become. Ideological self-fulfillment has replaced protection of the American people as the objective of U.S. foreign policy. Constant war over the last 15 years has resulted only in more death, conflict, instability, and war. Every new intervention has created more problems than solutions. But the leaders of the Republican Party continue to demand more, more!

Trump's foreign policy views are inconsistent and ill-formed, but they offer the basis for a more coherent strategic approach which emphasizes American security and allied self-sufficiency. Consider a few principles for a new foreign policy of strategic independence and military nonintervention.

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First, Washington's principal responsibility is to protect the U.S.--its citizens, territory, constitutional system, and prosperity. The federal government is to promote the common defense of America, not the world. There is no warrant for international crusades organized by ivory tower warriors who would treat U.S. military personnel as gambit pawns in a grand global chess game. The fortunes, futures, and lives of Americans should be risked only when their own political community has something substantial at stake.

Second, war is a last resort, not just another policy tool. The consequences often are deadly, grievous, and unpredictable. Blowback is real and threatens the innocent and the homeland. Washington also is responsible for harm caused others, such as the 200,000 or so Iraqi civilians who died in the sectarian war unleashed by the U.S. invasion.

Third, allies are a means, not an end. That is, Washington should not collect defense clients like Facebook friends, but form military relationships which augment American security. Yet such NATO candidates as Georgia and Ukraine are security black holes, threatening to trigger conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. However sympathetic Americans may be to Kiev's claim to, say, Crimea, the Europeans have much more at stake in the controversy--and enjoy a GDP and population larger than the U.S. and far bigger than Russia.

Fourth, nation-building is a fool's errand. Social engineering is hard enough in America. Attempting to transform other societies while transcending often massive gulfs in culture, history, tradition, religion, geography, ethnicity, and more is hubris defined. Sending American personnel to die planting faux democracy in, say, Central Asia is bloody elitism.

Fifth, foreign policy is ultimately about domestic policy. "War is the health of the state," Randolph Bourne presciently declared a century ago. There is no bigger big government program war, no graver threat to civil liberties than perpetual conflict with the homeland the battlefield, no greater danger to daily life than blowback from military overreach.

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War is sometimes, but rarely, an ugly necessity. What justifies war is protecting domestic life in all its often mundane and boring aspects--raising families, enjoying friends, going to parks, attending theaters, visiting museums, attending school, following hobbies, eating out, helping neighbors, attending church, and doing everything else that human beings naturally do. Living, working, and playing together. Cooperating to create a better society. These are our objectives, how we gain meaning for our lives. Foreign policy should be used to protect rather than disrupt this process.
King Salman of Saudi-Arabia is rumored to be suffering from dementia but none of it was in display when visiting Cairo, speaking to the Egyptian Parliament and signing a series of agreements with his host, President Al-Sisi of Egypt. That in itself was an important signal by the Saudis, that their house is in order contrary to press reports , but the symbolic significance of the visit is, in this case, secondary to the political-strategic implications. Put in sum, this was the official inauguration of the anti-Iran axis composed of these two leading Sunni states, and with the tacit, unofficial, closeted participation of yes, Israel. King Salman said in the Egyptian Parliament, that the two countries were united against terrorism, and this was the code word to Iran. For the Saudis, and they say it repeatedly, Iran and terrorism are one and the same, and they constitute the greatest challenge to stability in the Middle East, and stability is what the House of Saud after. The Palestinian question was surely mentioned and even emphasized, but the usual anti Israel rhetoric was not there. Lip service is just what it is, and serious other business was on the forefront.

The two countries agreed, that the two tiny islands of Tiran and Snapir in the Gulf of Aqaba will be transferred to Saudi Arabia, and with it some historic memories come to mind. When Egypt, in contravention of international law blocked the straights of Tiran for Israeli shipping in 1956 and 1967, this was a casus belli , but the Saudis are not going to repeat this. The Egyptians already are at pains to explain, that it is all in accordance with the peace treaty with Israel, and Israel is consulted . Then the two countries agreed to construct a bridge between them to develop Sinai, an area which became the breeding ground of Jihadist gangs, and to considerably increase the financial support to the crumbling Egyptian economy. Egypt is in dire economic situation due to the instability created after 2011, terrorism which is aimed exactly at ruining the tourist section, which is so significant to the economy, and the on-going Muslim Brotherhood challenge to the Al-Sisi regime. Any infusion of many billions of dollars to the failing economy there , is therefore so significant. So , Saudi Arabia is taking upon itself to be the main proponent of Egypt's economy, and by extension , its internal stability. On the face of it it looks that the rich Saudis buy the poor Egyptians. By the standards of conventional political science text books, this is the case, but contrary to this cliche, this is NOT the case here.

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The Saudis have a long history of trying to buy out enemies as well as friends, using what their only strength is, and this is their financial muscle. They sometimes succeed, sometimes they did not. They failed miserably with Usama Bin Ladin in the 1990's. they failed with the House of Assad in Syria, but they hope not to with Al-Sisi. It is their inherent and consistent military weakness , which injects an on-going sense of fear about their internal stability which is at the bottom of all that. The Saudis know how vulnerable they are, and in recent years, surely after the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, it is Iran which is THE danger, either directly , or indirectly, through the use of Shi'ite surrogates in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Iran is the number one Saudi regional priority, namely, containing, restricting the Iranian threats, and if and when the time comes, stopping an all-out, direct Iranian aggression against the Kingdom. We need to look at what is being forged and sealed now between Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The two countries may have disagreements about the Assad regime in Syria, but they are not fundamentally important in the overall configuration of their relations. Sure, the Egyptians are too proud to admit in public that the Saudis want them to be a sort of mercenary state, the Saudis as well, and so it is not something to be heralded in the streets of Cairo and Riad, but not so behind close doors.

The two countries are engaging in a far-reaching alliance, in which the Saudis assign a very distinct role for Egypt; to be a protector of their regime and Kingdom. Egypt is weak economically, but much stronger militarily, and the Saudis may already now, very probably in the foreseeable future want and need Egyptian boots on the ground, not against Israel, against Iran. This is one of the unintended , though very clear consequences, of the Iran nuclear deal. It serves as a catalyst for realignment of regional politics. That brings also Israel also into the equation. The warming up of relations between Israel and Egypt is public for all to see, the daily , not so mysterious collapse of the Hamas tunnels in Gaza may be the untold aspect of it, but so important. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, does nothing in public, which indicates even the slightest of changes about Israel, but here again there are closed doors and what is behind them. The Arabic press , less so the Israeli one, are full with reports about what REALLY is happening between Saudi Arabia and Israel. So, Israel may be the elephant in the room, but it has a role, and Iran is the link with Saudi Arabia.

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Note from the author: MomsRising.org / MamasConPoder.org and the Ecology Center, which helped successfully pass a soda tax in a U.S. city, are co-hosting a twitter chat on the health impact of soda taxes at #FoodFri on Friday, April 22, at 1pmET / 10amPT. Please do join us if this is an issue you are passionate about - as I am. -Elisa

Let's be real here. Soda isn't harmless. It's liquid sugar that too often is consumed by kids like water. It's the third source of calories in kids' diets after cake and pizza. It contributes to a child's chances of getting diabetes, cavities and tooth decay. Aside from the health implications, these are costs that families don't need!

I don't buy soda at home, and treat it at restaurants like dessert. My kids can have an edible treat or soda, but not both. I've actively campaigned against the industry's aggressive marketing tactics from vending machines in schools to commercials during kids' shows thanks to MomsRising's food justice team. I phone-banked and voted for Measure D, a soda tax in my city that easily passed with over 72% of the vote. (Here is an inspirational video on how we were able to fight off the soda industry in that local race.)

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And now I want to say loud and clear: this mama supports California's proposed soda tax.

AB 2782, which was proposed in the state legislature last month, would tax sweetened soda distributors 2 cents per ounce - or 24 cents on 12-ounce cans of soda. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, "The more than $2 billion expected to be raised each year under the tax would be given to counties, cities, community-based organizations and licensed clinics to create and maintain obesity and diabetes prevention programs. The money would also go toward providing safe drinking water and creating oral health programs."

Sounds good to me. Right now, California has the highest rate of diabetes in the country, and it costs $24 billion each year to treat. 71% of children in California experience tooth decay by the time they are in third grade. $2 billion a year will go in an instant, but it's something. If anything, it would put the soda industry on notice, letting them know that moms and dads are watching and will not tolerate predatory marketing of their products to our youth.

Not surprisingly, industry lobbyists misleadingly named "Californians for Food and Beverage Choice" have said they would rally against the bill. I am already awaiting them to hem and haw about how "regressive" the tax is, government over reach, freedom of choice. Really, how much of a choice do we have when their products are being sold in schools and behind parents' backs? They are extra aggressive in marketing to low-income and communities of color. That's a fact.

But, ultimately, they are wrong because no one needs soda to live. And no, it is not good for children. Water is.

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My recent Nation columns are as follows:

"Obama and the Cult of 'Credibility" with the subhead "As his tenure draws to a close, the president is finally ready to challenge the foreign-policy establishment,"

"President Obama Wants Reporters to 'Dig Deeper'", subhead, "Snippy reactions to his sharp critique of the mainstream media only amplified his point."

So I wrote this op-ed for the Times about the "The B.D.S. Movement and Anti-Semitism on Campus" which you can find here.

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It was, predictably, unpopular in many quarters. Glenn Greenwald, who is apparently as ridiculous an ideologue as he is a great reporter, complained that I was a "fervent Israel supporter," which I am, in the same sense that Glenn Greenwald is a "fervent Hamas/ISIS supporter."

It's sad day when the crappy, awful Wash Free Beacon is more accurate than Greenwald, as is, believe it or not, Commentary.

Alter-reviews:

Paul Ellie, writing in The New Yorker, observes that "Bonnie Raitt has dodged the crush of fame that did in the Eagles; she has beaten the devils that snared Warren Zevon, found the third act that eluded Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne, tended to her vocal cords better than Joni Mitchell, escaped the undertow of the sixties that holds Crosby, Stills & Nash, and kept clear of the Rushmore-y eminence now granted Neil Young." He goes on to rave about her recent performance at the Beacon and I could not agree more. I fell in love with Bonnie back in high school, following the release of her first three albums. (I've never heard another song so wonderfully and profoundly transformed as gutsy, bluesy version of Del Shannon's whiney wimpy "Runaway.") So I was ever so slightly miffed that she leaned so heavily on her new album, "Dig In Deep," which I actually like a great deal, though you can't love something at 56 the way you do at 16.

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The two-hour set included lots of Slipstream, which won a Grammy for Best Americana Album, and was performed by a devoted audience filled with musicians/inheritors like Joan Osborne and Rachel Price, both of whom contain lots of Bonnie in their own work. In addition to her amazing voice--which miraculously--sounds just as warm and powerful as it did forty years ago and her tasteful, unflashy slide guitar, Bonnie is a remarkably sexy, and to judge by her stage patter, lusty 66-year-old. At the same time she's a pretty dedicated, albeit, sappy lefty and her show, backed by her impressively airtight band -- Hutch Hutchinson (bass), Ricky Fataar and George Marinelli on drums, and Mike Finnigan his Hammond B-3 and piano -- gave her the opportunity to showcase every aspect of her musical, personal and political personalities.

Highlights of the show naturally depend on taste, but for this old fart, I was moved all the way to tear by her near a capella rendering of John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery." On the rock n' roll side, she had the crowd um, shaking on her cover of Los Lobos' "Shakin' Shakin' Shakes" standing out.

"Love You Like a Man," by Chris Smither, Sippie Wallace's"Mighty Tight Woman," and most insistently, her second-to-last encore, "Burning Down the House." "Pretend it's The Ritz around 1986," she said. I actually saw the Talking Heads at the Ritz more than once in those days, but I didn't need to pretend. Bonnie Raitt, circa, 2016, is more than enough.

She talks about "Dig In Deep" to the New York Times here.

Steve Miller made some news over the weekend complaining about the shoddy treatment he was given upon being inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame, which, fortunately, did not appear to intrude on his mood at the wonderful show he did Saturday night at Jazz@Lincoln Center's Appel Room with Jimmie Vaughan and a first-rate band put together for the occasion. Entitled "Out of This World" with a subhead "Ma Rainey Meets Miles Davis," Miller began with the story of his first band, formed in Texas at age 12 -- he had a 10:00 curfew -- that featured a 12-year-old Boz Scaggs on the other guitar. (Miller's godfather, somehow, was Les Paul.)

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Musically directed and arranged by pianist Shelly Berg -- dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and joined on a few songs by Brianna Thomas -- the band played a set that straddled the blues, jazz, rockabilly and early rock & roll Venn diagram, often simultaneously. It featured "Sweet and Low," by Al Dubin and Harry Warren, with Miller only on vocals but when Vaughan came out and brought the B-3 virtuoso Mike Flanigan with him, the band cooked on Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies," Rosco Gordon's "Just a Little Bit," Jimmy Reed's "Caress Me Baby" and Roy Milton's "R.M. Blues." Miller's own "Take the Money and Run" was reborn as if from a faux-old Woody Allen movie, albeit with awesome guitar work. Another highlight was Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Gangster of Love" which Miller and Scaggs played at 12, and finally, "Ma Rainey Meets Miles Davis" promise was fulfilled by a combination of Miles' "All Blues," "C.C. Rider," which was originally recorded by Ma Rainey in 1924, (and later massacred, in a good way, by Bruce every night for years.)

Overall it was a remarkable evening and many kudos not only to the musicians for the chances they took, and to Jazz@Lincoln Center for booking three nights outside of its wheelhouse but now, happily, inside an expanding (and neverending) canon of great American music.

Finally, I want to mention a couple of CDs I've been listening to lately. Jazz at the Philharmonic: The Ella Fitzgerald Set is the first release in Verve's 60th-anniversary campaign. It's also marks the first time that the complete set of U.S. JATP performances are being released together with 22 remastered tracks. They were recorded live between 1949 and 1954 at Carnegie Hall and Bushnell Memorial Hall in Hartford, and the musicians include Ray Brown, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. How can anyone not like that?
"The sexualization behind telling women to smile is alarming. It makes women feel that we are only meant to be happy and pretty and it's a passive way to engage into an unwanted conversation"

Smiling is one of the warmest gestures a person can give to another person. It's especially warm when children smile because it's a sign of genuine happiness even if it's for a slight moment - that smile is appreciated. This is why I am extremely uncomfortable when strange men tell me to smile. It's overbearing, invasive and slightly eerie for men to tell women (that they've never seen or met before) to smile. I can't help but to wonder if these same men that are commanding women to smile also tell other men to smile? Telling a woman to smile, even if your intent is purely innocent is dictatorial and it shouldn't happen.

Now I know, there are some men and even women that will read this and assume I'm being a radical feminist but let me ask you, when was the last time someone, a stranger even, demanded you to do something you didn't want to do? What if you are having a bad day, perhaps you are having severe cramps, or maybe you are late for work and there is a stranger, looking at you requesting and telling you to smile? It might seem like a friendly gesture but there is nothing friendly about a man encouraging a strange woman to smile.

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Remember when Secretary of State Clinton was sweeping the Midwest in the primaries, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough was moved to tweet Mrs. Clinton to smile. He didn't tell Trump to smile, or anyone else but the only woman running for president he tells to smile. It doesn't matter if you don't agree with Clinton's politics or not the fact remains she is a very smart and accomplished woman in her own right and to subjugate her to just a 'pretty face that should always smile' is an insult.

In New Zealand, a man assaulted a woman after she smiled because according to him it is customary in Malaysia that "women who smile are inviting men to follow them." This is not a rare occurrence that only happens in other countries in cultures. Everyday, women are assaulted by men, some of those incidents occurred from strangers that use the "smile" conversations to start an unwanted conversation, this is harassment.

The sexualization behind telling women to smile is alarming. It makes women feel that we are only meant to be happy and pretty and it's a passive way to engage into an unwanted conversation. Asking a woman to smile is a selfish act and it's rarely in a caring tone; it's condescending and it turns a simple gesture into something sexual. Instead of asking a woman how she actually feels or being open minded to the idea she might not be interested, there are men that will berate a woman into doing something that she isn't comfortable doing. That is unacceptable.

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, the creator of StopTellingWomenToSmile.com created an entire art series of portraits and a street art project addressing gender based street harassment.

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Image credit: StopTellingWomentoSmile.com

"Men tell women to smile because society conditions men to think we exist for the male gaze and for their pleasure. Men are socialized to believe they have control over women's bodies. This [is the] result in them giving unsolicited instructions on how we should look, think and act. Essentially what a man is saying when he tells a woman -- one he doesn't even know -- to smile, is that his wants outweigh her own autonomy over how she exists in the world." Bene Viera, writer and activist explains to me about her views on men telling women they don't know they should smile.

Just about everyday I encounter men of all ages and nationalities that tell me to smile. I even keep my headphones on to discourage unwanted conversations from men but that doesn't deter them. I even tell them I'm married and I wear a fake wedding ring and they still try to instruct me to smile or encourage "friendship". It's a sad state of affairs that the word 'no' has to be expounded on by the receiver - no is a complete sentence and a very clear demand.

Just about every woman has a story similar to mine. Viera recalls the time she was embarrassed on a flight, "It's frustrating. Women are just trying to get from point A to point B without commentary from men on our bodies or telling us to smile. During the Christmas holiday, I was on a plane when a military guy embarrassed me in front of everyone in our section by tapping me on the shoulder and telling me, "You need to learn how to smile." I was stunned speechless. The longer I thought about how embarrassed I was the more I couldn't help but let him know that telling women to smile is both corny and sexist. So I passed him a nice "Fuck you" note explaining to him that I could've just lost a parent or went through something tragic. Telling women to smile is not men's place."

Why does it seem as if men can't understand that certain behaviors to get women's attention is not only uncomfortable but it's invasive and overstepping boundaries? Do you think this is a concept that is hard to grasp for men or do you think they just don't care? Viera weighs in, "No. Time and time again, Twitter and online discussions on this topic prove that not only do men not understand why it's harmful, they simply do not care."
I am running for President, as a Republican. You will see why. I am short, bald, Jewish, and was born in Hungary, but when the American people learn about my program, and compare the wimpy Republicans still running to me, they will demand en masse that the old outdated law that you have to be born in the U.S. to be President not be applied to me.

Let me start with guns. People, including children, have to be able to defend themselves. All adults, including of course teachers, and all children starting from 4th grade will receive guns, paid for by the government. Those for children will be nice little guns so that they can handle them with their sweet little hands. Making these guns will increase the profits of gun manufacturers and gun merchants, a boon for the country. (If I had had a gun in 4th grade, the kid who was flirting with Judy, my first love, would have been really sorry.)

This business about lighter sentences for criminals, a new craze, is ridiculous. All our privately run prisons would start losing money. We don't want to be Saudi Arabia, no cutting off hands, especially because all prisoners will have to work. We will strengthen sentencing laws, build more prisons, and build factories around prisons so that prisoners can lead productive lives and help the rest of us with their (almost) free labor.

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All this outrage about police shootings. The police is great. Citizens must be obedient to police. When a citizen disobeys and officer, it is legitimate to shoot that person. Would you expect a police officer to whine, 'please listen to me?' Also, we don't want police officers to endanger themselves--a disobedient person might be a killer. There will be new laws and regulations about when shooting by police is appropriate-- pretty much all the time, especially of suspicious looking people, like African-Americans and Hispanics. We know what they are like. Also, all community supervisory boards will be abolished.*

I will make all abortions illegal. Nine old people (well, eight right now) will not stop us from doing what is right. I will also have Congress pass new laws, prohibiting abortion. And they better do what I tell them.

Most regulations on businesses will be lifted.This will create an unprecedented economic boon. All this bunk about inequality, raising taxes on the wealthy. Instead, we will celebrate the entrepreneurs and business leaders who make this country great.

Reducing government bureaucracy will save us a huge amount of money (which will pay for the guns, new prisons, the commie-red lawsuits about abortions). Those promoting the hoax of global warming and regulations to restrict business practices to combat it will be put under surveillance. There must be a limit to the free speech that the first amendment allows.

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Muslim terror suspects within the U.S. will be imprisoned. The interrogation techniques used under our great President George W. Bush will be reinstated. America will not be a helpless giant, either at home or in the world. To make our country safe, everyone who came to America from a foreign country, is not a citizen, or became a citizen after 1965 (disclosure, I became a citizen in 1965) will be deported.

This brings us to foreign matters. In dealing with terrorists outside our borders, we will stop being namby-pamby. Some politicians are squeamish about carpet bombing ISIS, afraid of killing hostile Muslim civilians. Wake up. Be a man--or a real woman, I am not sexist. What happened to the fighting spirit of our politicians? Unless ISIS disappears by the time I am elected I will have our brave Air Force drop one of our new, small, cute nuclear bombs on them. Perhaps also on Assad. We shall see.

We will let the Chinese and the Russians know that we want to be friends, But if they allow cyber attacks from their country, or in other ways threaten us, the same may happen to them. And with our superior force, they won't dare to retaliate. We want our opponents know whom they are dealing with. And Iran will never again take our sailors prisoner, no matters whose ocean they are in.

In conclusion, I am not young any more, but a man of much experience, integrity and charm. Also, my mother was a really good woman. I know you, the American people, will love my plans, and when you see me on television, you will also love me personally. (I will have a survey done, and if the people want it, I will wear a toupe). I am a real man--I won't say more. You will be jubilant, when I become your President.

*Many police officers really are great.

Ervin Staub is Professor Emeritus and Founding Director of the Doctoral program in the Psychology of Peace and Violence, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is past president of the International Society for Political Psychology and of the Society of Peace Conflict and Violence. His latest book is The roots of goodness and resistance to evil: Inclusive caring, moral courage, altruism born of suffering, active bystandership and heroism. See also www.ervinstaub.com
Things took a strange turn in Addis Abba at the AUHIP's Strategic Consultation Meeting when a Roadmap Agreement was delivered to the Sudan government's opposition in the middle of the night followed by a warning the next morning from AUHIP Chairman, Thabo Mbeki, to sign it or face international sanctions.

The Strategic Consultation Meeting, scheduled for March 18-21, 2016, was expected to be an opportunity for the opposition and the government, in consultation with the AUHIP and other members of the international community, to develop a strategy for ending violence in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan and Blue Nile, securing the delivery of aid by the international community to war-affected populations, and setting up the preparatory meetings that would establish the confidence building measures necessary for the opposition to participate in a national dialogue process. Instead of a strategic consultation meeting, the AUHIP delivered its Roadmap Agreement already signed by the government and by Mbeki.

The Roadmap Agreement was rejected by the opposition, in part, because they refused to be forced to recognize what the International Crisis Group described as "an empty 'national dialogue' process with little prospect of significant outcomes." Just two months ago, former U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Amb. Princeton Lyman, visited Khartoum and while noting that participants in the dialogue approached certain issues with "vigor and earnestness", he went on to say, "that at the heart of the problem...there has not yet been a commitment to a real democratic transition, especially by the ruling authorities." Amb. Lyman's colleague, Susan Stigant, Director of Africa Programs at USIP, who joined Lyman in Khartoum, noted that the dialogue has not been "sufficiently inclusive" and recent actions by the government to restrict political space "runs directly contrary to the supposed purpose of the dialogue."

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The European Union, apparently thrilled that a recalcitrant government signed something and keen to demonstrate its uncritical support for the AUHIP, issued a one-sided statement warmly welcoming the Roadmap Agreement as "an important achievement for the pursuit of peace in Sudan" and urging the opposition to fully engage with the process. The Troika issued a somewhat more balanced statement essentially recommending an addendum to the agreement requiring "the government to clarify its commitments regarding the inclusion of other relevant stakeholders in the National Dialogue and to uphold the results of any National Dialogue preparatory meetings" -- meetings which the AU Peace and Security Council supports per its communiques 456 and 539, the opposition has repeatedly agreed to join, and the government persistently boycotts. The requested clarification appears to be designed to address some opposition concerns such as the exclusion of wider opposition groups, including members of the Sudan Call, from the proposed preparatory meetings and the need for guarantees that the outcome will be honored given the government's track record of back-tracking from agreements as it did when President Bashir reneged on the June 2011 Framework Agreement. Nevertheless, the Troika statement does not address the expectation that the opposition must acknowledge the current unilateral national dialogue and it fails to recognize the unfavorable environment in Sudan for an inclusive, transparent and credible national dialogue process.

At the end of the day, the Roadmap Agreement is just another step in what has been so far a dead end process. Regrettably, it does tell us something unfortunate about the AUHIP and it creates an unnecessary distraction when so much is at stake for the people of Sudan. Currently, the Sudan government has increased its ground attacks and indiscriminate aerial bombardment in the Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan and Blue Nile and in Darfur, where at least 138,000 have been forced from their homes since mid-January per UN reports.

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A recent letter, posted below, from 75 Sudanese, human rights organizations and scholars to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Chairperson of the African Union urges the UN and AU "to uphold existing UN Security Council and AU Peace and Security Council resolutions on Sudan and to hold the government of Sudan accountable for failing to cooperate." In addition and as a result of the irregular process related to the already failed Roadmap Agreement, it encourages identification of a "new, objective AUHIP team as part of its efforts to re-build confidence in a comprehensive peace process."

Letter

April 11, 2016

H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moonSecretary General of the United NationsNew York, NY 10017

H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini ZumaChairpersonAfrican Union CommissionP.O. Box 3243, Roosevelt StreetW21K19, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Your Excellencies,

We, the undersigned 75 people and organizations of the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Darfur along with our friends, human rights groups and scholars from inside and outside of Sudan, write to protest the Roadmap Agreement that was drafted and signed by Thabo Mbeki, former President of South Africa and Chief of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), and signed by the government of Sudan.

The two signatories of the agreement, do not represent and have not protected or provided for the people of Sudan, and the agreement will not achieve a just and lasting peace since the perpetrator of serious crimes against the people of Sudan, the Sudan government, is not required to accommodate the concerns or urgent needs of its victims. Instead the agreement legitimizes a national dialogue process established by the government to maintain its brutal control of the country and its citizens and resources.

If the government were sincere about ending conflict and allowing humanitarian access to war-affected communities, it would stop aerial bombardment and ground attacks against civilians and it would allow international humanitarian aid into the country, as proposed by the August 4, 2012 Tripartite Proposal, which the government signed and sabotaged. If the government was sincere about an inclusive national dialogue process in order to achieve unity based on principles of freedom, human rights, democracy and equality, it would abide by AU Peace and Security Council Communiques 456 and 539, which outline appropriate confidence-building measures for groups viciously targeted by a government that regularly signs and breaks agreements.

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The peace you seek - that we all seek - in Sudan will not be achieved through a politically expedient agreement. Instead the Roadmap Agreement will only prop up and reinforce the crimes of a government that will continue to inflict grave harm on people who have suffered for far too long. It is clearly time for a change. We urge the institutions that you represent, the United Nations and the African Union, which are charged with promoting peace, security and stability on the continent and around the world, to uphold existing UN Security Council and AU Peace and Security Council resolutions on Sudan and to hold the government of Sudan accountable for failing to cooperate. In addition, we urge the African Union to identify a new, objective AUHIP team as part of its efforts to re-build confidence in a comprehensive peace process.

Sincerely,
SAO PAULO -- Next week the United Nations is convening the largest gathering on drug policy that the world has seen in two decades. It was the brainchild of three Latin American presidents -- from Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico -- who wanted to end decades of poorly conceived and executed counter-narcotics programs. Their hope was that the General Assembly Special Session, or UNGASS, would stimulate new thinking on ways to reverse the political, social and economic wreckage of a failed war on drugs.

The hopes of these presidents -- and like-minded governments and civil societies -- were scuttled from the start. Part of the problem is that the framing of UNGASS is backwards. Rather than focusing on the "world drug problem" as prohibitionists are want to do, we should instead be addressing the "problematic way we deal with drugs." Formulated this way, it is then possible to have a genuinely "people-centered" approach to drug policy that actually improves lives rather than destroys them.

Think about it. If drugs alone are treated as "the problem" (as is currently the case), then we are lost. No one disagrees that drugs can be addictive and can negatively impact health and well-being. But drugs on their own are not the right starting point. The better way to think about this is how we, as governments and societies, choose to deal with drugs. The extent to which public authorities prohibit or regulate drugs will determine the problematic impacts -- on individuals, families, and communities -- that result.

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For fifty years, certain governments have advanced a punitive approach that treats "drugs" as the problem. They have harshly punished producers, penalized traffickers, and criminalized users. In the process, the security architecture of these same countries and their partners has swollen dramatically. Militarized counter-narcotics programs multiplied, law enforcement agencies expanded, and prison systems ballooned uncontrollably. Inflated bureaucracies that focus obsessively on drugs generate unproductive expenditures, destroying livelihoods in the process.

Making matters worse, heavy-handed law and order approach to drug policy have reinforced the power of drugs cartels. Criminal groups from Colombia and Mexico to Afghanistan and Nigeria are adopting increasingly brutal tactics to manage the production, trade and retail of prohibited substances. As states went to war against them, drug trafficking organizations responded in-kind. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and maimed in the process, and millions more displaced and rendered destitute. Across parts of Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, hard-core drug users retreated into the shadows to avoid the strong arm of the state, further perpetuating health crises around the world.

The idea that "drugs" (as opposed to errant policies) are the problem is one of the principle failings of the current UNGASS outcome document. It is also held up as orthodoxy by a disproportionately influential UN agency -- the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In a recent attempt to counter criticism of UNGASS, UNODC chief Yury Fedotov penned a letter describing the drug problem and his office's attempts to improve the situation. While professing a more balanced and compassionate approach to drug policy, his prescriptions are fundamentally flawed precisely because of how his organization conceives the issue. This is hardly surprising since UNODC by definition links drugs with crime.

It is worth considering Mr. Fedotovs letter in detail. In describing the opportunities presented by UNGASS, he immediately hones in on the "serious problems" associated with opium production, the "deadly" properties of psychoactive substances, the "ravages" of heroin and the "risks" of cocaine production. He highlights the "pervasive violence" associated with illicit drugs that "bludgeons countries and communities" before linking drug traffickers with terrorists. He concludes that health-based responses must be coupled with law enforcement to deal with illicit drug supplies. He laments the fact that "hotspots" are growing despite decades of UNODC investment to reduce the availability of drugs.

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Yet it is not just the drugs that can cause ill effects, but rather the ways in which UN member states have elected to deal with them. The position of some government is to ban all drugs outright, and in the process link producers, traffickers and consumers with crime and, now, terror. But as repeated UNODC reports have shown, drugs continue to be abundant and policies continue failing. Unless governments can acknowledge the flawed emphasis on "the drug problem" -- and this wording is enshrined in the 1961 Narcotics Convention, the 1971 Convention and the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances -- the health, human rights and well-being of mankind will suffer.

The UNODC director is right when he says that the UNGASS process is "strongly connected to the real lives of people." He then adds, as if an afterthought, that "we should not lose sight of this fact." How isn't this obvious? This statement reveals the central bias of prohibition -- the focus is on drugs, and not people. Whether UNODC likes it or not, the only way we are going to put people first is if we start a serious and informed conversation about regulating drugs. The good news is that over a dozen countries (including the U.S.) are already introducing regulatory practices and legislation to ensure a more humane, public health- and rights-based approach than those advocated in the past. Reason will prevail, even if the interests of the few would prefer it otherwise.
gay lgbt human rights concept ...

The recently published investigative report from the Virginia Office of State Inspector General pertaining to the death of 24-year-old Jamycheal Mitchell is troubling. Mr. Mitchell was arrested on April 22, 2015, accused of stealing a Snickers, a Zebra Cake and a bottle of Mountain Dew from a 7-11 store in Eastern Virginia. The value of the snacks, according to reports was $5.05. Mr. Mitchell, diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, was found dead in his cell on August 19, 2015, having been court ordered into a psychiatric hospital and awaiting a bed.

According to the investigative report, a multi-layer system failure was to blame for Mr. Mitchell's death. A complex series of events and omissions still does not justify how every sector of the criminal justice system could have failed. This includes law enforcement, court processes, and correctional health care who appeared to have missed the fact that Mr. Mitchell was incarcerated for months but wasting away in a cell. It is fair to ask; could this tragedy have been prevented if the criminal justice system operated from a human rights perspective?

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It's a question I ask, as according to The Treatment Advocacy Center reports, hundreds of thousands of inmates with serious mental illnesses are locked away in America's jails and prisons. Many out of sight and out of mind. One could question why Mr. Mitchell was arrested in the first place? Particularly in light of national efforts to reduce mass incarceration in the U.S. some reasonable balancing as to how law enforcement responds to minor crime and potential incarceration is relevant. Couldn't a notice to appear have been issued by police?

If Mr. Mitchell appeared to be in need of mental health treatment, couldn't the officers have taken him to a local emergency room or psychiatric receiving facility? Once incarcerated, if a human rights perspective existed one would expect zealous legal advocacy from public defenders, active monitoring and shared communications between jail staff and stakeholders. In this regard, jail diversion takes a human rights focus.

The evidence base of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and its call to prevent the criminalization of people with serious mental illness is long standing. For example, in 2001, Jamie Fellner, Esq., Senior Counsel for the United States Program of HRW spent several days in Broward County's Mental Health Court. At the time, Ms. Fellner was conducting a national survey for the HRW 2002 landmark report Ill-Equipped on abuse and neglect of inmates with mental illness in U.S. prisons. In its report, Broward's Mental Health Court model was one of a number of recommendations to prevent further escalation and abuses. That report was followed-up by HRW's 2015 release of the related report, titled Callous and Cruel.

In my view, a human rights perspective within the criminal justice system is fundamental. While not a panacea, this approach promotes cultural change and a raised awareness as to the unique needs of inmates with mental illnesses. A human rights approach enhances the integrity of process. This includes checks and balances by acknowledging historical institutional bias and discrimination. This pertains to race, class, sexual orientation, people with disabilities or other related identifiable characteristics. (See, Professor Michael L. Perlin, Sanism and the Law, AMA Journal of Ethics, Virtual Mentor, October 2013.) Moreover, a human rights perspective promotes dignity, advances disability rights and system coordination. Collaborative relationships therefore, must be bound by a mission larger than a singular agency role or function.

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By Megan Gustashaw for GQ.

Much has been said about designers reimagining the fashion system to better suit the retail landscape today, only the future isn't entirely in their hands. Artificial Intelligence is also ripe to revolutionize the industry and, according to a new article in The Business of Fashion, "thanks to a trifecta of cheap, ubiquitous, powerful computing, big data and the development of deep learning" the time could be now. In the article, author Kate Abnett outlines three ways AI could dramatically change the fashion industry -- and by extension, your closet -- in the near future.

No more sales = No more crap you don't need

One of the clearest wins for the fashion industry will be the ability to better manage inventory using Artificial Intelligence. "AI can crawl e-commerce sites to see which products are selling; it can analyze consumer data to learn which colors or materials customers in a specific country -- or even city -- are buying; and it can scoop up swathes of information from social media to identify trends and microtrends", writes Abnett. What this means for you is that, when you walk into a store or visit an e-commerce site, there will be more of what you want, or will most likely buy, in the right sizes and colors, and less jam-packed sale racks tempting you with stuff you don't need.

The ability to shop with the world's biggest fashion nerd

Artifical Intelligence could also revolutionize the customer service experience, which, let's be honest, is all but nonexistent since e-commerce sites became enormous traffic-drivers. An AI bot could act as a personal stylist, helping you locate hard-to-find items, figure out what will look good on you, tell you what's trending, and more. That whole Tay bot thing didn't go so well, admittedly, but better bots are just around the corner (and hopefully unplugged from social media).

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Weirder, cooler clothes in your closet

Artificial Intelligence doesn't just offer a solution for the business minds to better manage bottom lines, it'll also help designers flex their creative muscles. Abnett uses the analogy of architecture leaders like Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid using computer modeling to realize their wildest structural dreams. In the same way, AI could help fashion designers come up with new fabrications, cuts, and systems of getting dressed that they aren't able to realize working alone.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during a campaign event in New York, U.S., on Saturday, April 9, 2016. Sanders secured his seventh consecutive nominating-contest victory after voters caucused in Wyoming, to give his campaign a fresh shot of momentum heading into New Yorks pivotal primary later this month. Photographer: John Taggart/Bloomberg via Getty Images

During my latest appearance on CNN International, I addressed the fact that Clinton's FBI investigation could lead to indictment. In another appearance on CNN International, I explained that anyone fearing Trump must vote for Bernie Sanders, primarily because he defeats Trump by a wider margin than Clinton. These issues, in addition to Bernie's popularity among younger voters and seventh straight victory, highlight why superdelegates and Democratic Party bosses will eventually side with Sanders over Clinton.

The same dynamic was witnessed eight years ago. Because Barack Obama wasn't on the ballot in Michigan (interesting things take place when running against Clinton), Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2008. When superdelegates began siding with Obama that year, The Guardian wrote "Most unnerving for Clinton is the trickle of superdelegates who have defected from her corner to Obama's." After leading Obama by a 2 to 1 ratio in superdelgates, the reasoning for these party bosses leaving Clinton was summed up by an Arizona Democratic Party official quoted in The New York Times:

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"Senator Barack Obama is strengthening the Democratic Party by bringing in new voters, young and old, into the process," Ms. Fernandez said in a statement released by the Obama campaign. " I believe Senator Obama has the best ability to win the White House in November and lead this country forward." Ms. Fernandez was Mr. Obama' s 241st superdelegate endorsement...

Bernie Sanders is the epitome of this observation. Sanders dominates Clinton with younger voters, first-time voters, Independent voters, and defeats Trump by a wider margin than the former Secretary of State.

As for a general election, it's obvious to anyone paying attention that Sanders is the best chance to defeat a Republican. First, he's not linked to an FBI investigation. Second, Bernie Sanders defeats Trump by 16.5 points according to Real Clear Politics; six more points than Clinton.

If the GOP picks Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders demolishes him by an average of 10.1 points.

Clinton beats Trump by an average of 10.5 points. If the GOP picks Ted Cruz, she barely beats him, and the polling average shows Hillary Clinton ahead by only 2.5 points.

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These are Clinton's poll numbers against Republicans before possible FBI and DOJ indictments, and before the media frenzy that takes place even if Clinton escapes legal consequences. Clinton also doesn't keep polling leads and lost an over 50-point lead to Bernie Sanders, just like she lost her lead to Obama.

When discussing the issue of why Bernie Sanders will still become Democratic nominee, even if Clinton receives more delegates by late June, let's take things into context. Bernie Sanders was recently invited to the Vatican by Pope Francis to speak, while Hillary Clinton will be interviewed soon by the FBI. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have attended events to hear Bernie Sanders speak (100,000 people had attended by August of 2015), while Hillary Clinton can't fathom releasing transcripts of paid Wall Street speeches. Bernie supporters recently rallied outside his childhood apartment in Brooklyn and Sanders delivered an electrifying speech at Bronx Community College. Hillary Clinton recently used a static noise machine to prevent the press from listening to her words at a Denver fundraiser, and this was after roping off reporters last year.

One candidate is admired by millions, as illustrated by Sanders being the only leading candidate in 2016 with positive favorability ratings. The other candidate holds negative favorability ratings in every major national poll; in 6 out of 10 major polls, Hillary Clinton is viewed unfavorably by 15 points or more.

Again, in all 10 polls showing negative favorability for Clinton, 6 of these national polls show unfavorable ratings of 15 points or more.

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Superdelegates and Democratic Party officials are indeed concerned, especially since even if Clinton escapes FBI indictment, the backlash from no indictment will be fierce, and the media attention alone will hurt general election poll numbers. Ultimately, there will be major consequences from the FBI investigation, and I explain in this YouTube segment what the Clinton campaign thinks of the FBI, and in this YouTube segment why indictments are imminent.

If Clinton survives the FBI and Bernie's momentum, don't expect party unity to rally all Democrats if Hillary Clinton gets the nomination. The outdated poll showing 33% of Bernie Sanders supporters never voting for Clinton might actually be a greater number. I state the case in this YouTube segment for writing-in Bernie Sanders is Clinton is the nominee.

As for pressing issues like gun control, Clinton's stance has changed dramatically since 2008, as stated in a New York Times piece titled Clinton Portrays Herself as a Pro-Gun Churchgoer:

"I disagree with Senator Obama's assertion that people in our country cling to guns..." she said. She described herself as a pro-gun churchgoer, recalling that her father taught her how to shoot a gun when she was a young girl and said that her faith "is the faith of my parents and my grandparents."

Is there a reason Hillary Clinton chose guns and faith as two ways to alienate our nation's first black president?

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Furthermore, the problem with another Clinton White House is that Hillary is far more militant than Bill, and also once fabricated a war story according to POLITIFACT:

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." But that's not what happened, as demonstrated by CBS News video that shows Clinton arriving on the tarmac under no visible duress, and greeting a child who offers her a copy of a poem.

Imagine if Bernie Sanders had made that same statement. This fabrication is magnified by Clinton's willingness to send American ground troops back to war last November.

For superdelegates and Democratic Party bosses, it's power that drives their votes, not principle, and Bernie Sanders is quickly becoming the most pragmatic choice in 2016. In an average of national polls, Bernie Sanders is now only about 2 points behind Hillary Clinton. With Sanders defeating Clinton in two national polls and close in every other national poll, my views on polling trajectory last September were more accurate than any other prognostication regarding Bernie Sanders and poll numbers. Bernie Sanders just won his seventh straight contest heading into New York. Aside from H. A. Goodman, nobody predicted the following Guardian headline at this point in the election season: Bernie Sanders just won his seventh straight victory. Is he unstoppable?

Also, if you question my prediction that Sanders would win Southern states, be sure to read the actual article. It foreshadows Bill Clinton's recent tirade against Black Lives Matter, based upon how the Clintons campaigned against Obama. It also foreshadows the true feelings of Bill Clinton towards the epidemic of mass incarceration. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, explained in The Nation why Hillary Clinton doesn't deserve the black vote, and part of this explanation correlates to Bill Clinton's recent diatribe.

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Just months after apologizing for mass incarceration, Bill Clinton revealed his true intentions, but only after Hillary had utilized votes in the South to gain an early lead over Bernie Sanders.

"You are defending the people who killed the lives you say matter," said Bill Clinton to Black Lives Matter. Again, if you enjoy saying I was wrong about Sanders defeating Clinton in the South, read the actual article; it foretells Bill's recent defense of mass incarceration.

Superdelegates won't switch too soon, for fear of retribution from Clinton, but it's coming, and Sanders will become Democratic nominee regardless of delegate count. Lee Fang of The Intercept and several other journalists have documented superdelegate ties to Clinton and lobbying, and if Clinton becomes nominee, these ties will be magnified by a disenchanted progressive base. The party bosses are loyal, but they're not stupid.

An iceberg named Hillary Clinton threatens the system of honest graft that provides political power to so many establishment Democrats. Superdelegates and the DNC know that an irreparable fracture within the Democratic Party awaits, if Bernie Sanders isn't the nominee. They'll wait until the last second, especially until after the FBI's decision, to side with Vermont's Senator. Bernie Sanders will win the Democratic nomination, not only because of a progressive political revolution, but also because it's in the political interest of Democratic Party bosses.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at JetSmart Aviation Services on Sunday, April 10, 2016, in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

At a recent news conference, President Obama called into question Donald Trump's fitness for office by criticizing his policy stances on ceding living space to Russia as another great power and pushing wealthy U.S. allies to do more to defend themselves, so the United States wouldn't need to continue to bear most of that burden. Although Obama may be right that Trump is generally unready to be president, Trump's thinking on these specific issues is surprisingly insightful.

Facing nearly $19 trillion in debt, which has been accumulated in part by fighting expensive and unneeded brushfire wars overseas, an overstretched superpower now needs more help from rich friends to defend themselves. Based on prior US failed pleas for its allies to do more, it will not happen unless the United States does less.

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In Europe, the NATO alliance, an arrangement left over from the Cold War that requires the United States to defend well-to-do European nations against a much poorer Russia, has expanded to the Russian border - resulting in the rise of a nationalist Vladimir Putin and his aggressive actions in Ukraine to prevent that nation, so critical to Russia, from entering the hostile organization.

In East Asia, US Cold War alliances with well off Japan and South Korea have been augmented to contain China and North Korea. In both regions, the United States ultimately has agreed to the not-well-publicized pledge to use nuclear weapons if the Europeans get into a war with a nuclear-armed Russia and the East Asian allies get into a war with nuclear-armed China or North Korea. This policy essentially holds Los Angeles and San Francisco at risk to save London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, and Seoul. This trade off was never good for American security even during the height of the Cold War, let alone in a much less threatening post-Cold War world.

When irrational US commitments are put in these stark terms, as opposed to mere billions of dollars wasted on one-sided alliances, Donald Trump's idea that Japan and South Korea should be allowed to get nuclear weapons to defend themselves, and lessen the burden on the United States, doesn't seem so wild-eyed. In Europe, Britain and France already have nuclear arsenals that could protect their affluent neighbors from Russia even if the obsolete NATO were discontinued. Furthermore, ironically, as Obama was criticizing Trump for his advocacy of allowing Japan and South Korea to get nuclear weapons and the Japanese government was disavowing any desire to ever get them, Japan was moving ahead on a new plutonium processing facility that could produce eight tons of plutonium a year. Plutonium is the material used to make sophisticated nuclear warheads.

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An accepted fact among nuclear weapons experts is that the technically capable Japan is already a near-nuclear weapons state - because that country has assembled all of the items needed to make nuclear weapons quickly and just hasn't put the pieces together because of political reasons. Also, some academics have used sophisticated analytical methods to argue that more states possessing nuclear weapons, with their deterrent effect on conventional war, actually makes the world safer. In any event, even if nuclear nonproliferation is accepted as a goal, the United States should better worry about unstable countries such as Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia obtaining the bomb rather than good world citizens such as Japan and South Korea.
There's been a lot of back and forth over "constitutional duties" lately. Smart people on both sides are digging up historical sources (some better than others) to support their arguments -- one side claiming the Senate has a "constitutional duty" to consider Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court and the other side claiming no such duty exists.

I'm no constitutional scholar, so I claim no authority on this question. And surely others who are smarter than me, and more steeped in legal theory and history, have already thought through (and perhaps discarded) the thoughts I'm about to share. But I have access to this blog and two hours to spare, so I'm going to share my thoughts anyway.

Article II, section 2 of the Constitution says the president "shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint...judges of the Supreme Court." That's all the text we have to go on. And according to the no-duty crowd, the Senate has no constitutional duty to consider Garland's nomination because, quite simply, this passage -- the text of the Constitution -- imposes no "duty." Jonathan Adler (@jadler1969) says providing advice and consent might be politically prudent, but ultimately it is "discretionary." Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC), in a Twitter exchange with me, described the Advice and Consent Clause as a "condition precedent" (a term from contract law) -- and insists it imposes no "constitutional duty." According to these very smart legal thinkers (and others like them), the Senate can refuse to consider Garland's nomination for as long as it wants. Even forever. Because the Constitution creates no duty to act.

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And maybe they're right. I mean, if you just read it, it seems pretty clear the Constitution's text does not impose a duty on the Senate -- at least, not in the same way that it seems to impose a duty on the president. The text says the president "shall nominate" and "shall appoint" Supreme Court justices. That sounds like a duty. But there's no "shall" in the Advice and Consent Clause. Plus, the whole provision appears in Article II -- the article devoted to constructing the Executive Branch and delineating the president's duties and powers. Article II isn't about the Senate, so why should it be interpreted as creating a senatorial duty?

So what does Article I say? Article I is the article devoted to constructing the Legislative Branch and delineating its duties and powers. Does Article I impose a duty on the Senate, when it comes to judicial appointments? Nope. Not a word about judicial appointments. So maybe the no-duty crowd is right and the Senate has no duty to consider Garland. They can stall as long as they want -- forever, even -- as long as the voters will let them get away with it.

Except that's sort of ridiculous, if you think about it. I mean, let's just think about it.

Article I, section 2 of the Constitution says: "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states." And section 3 (as altered by the Seventeenth Amendment) says: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, elected by the people thereof." Both of these provisions use "shall," which sounds compulsory -- but nobody would say that these provisions impose a "duty" on "the people" to vote and elect senators and representatives. You don't have a duty to vote, right? Everybody knows voting is discretionary.

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But think about that. What would happen if nobody voted? Literally: nobody. What if we the people simply refused to elect anyone to the Senate? Does the Constitution allow us to do that? Clearly, the text does not impose a duty on "the people" to elect a Senate. But, just as clearly, if we refuse to elect a Senate then -- by definition -- we won't have the sort of government that the Constitution constitutes. Refusing to elect a Senate would mean, in effect, rejecting the Constitution's form of government -- and thereby rejecting the Constitution itself.

And really, isn't this also true for judicial appointments? Carried to its logical end, the proposition that the Senate can simply refuse to consider judicial nominees indefinitely means the Senate can literally -- through inaction and attrition -- do away with the Judicial Branch altogether. And the Executive could do the same, if successive presidents simply refused to nominate any judges. In other words, like the people refusing to elect a Senate, or the Executive refusing to nominate any judges, the Senate refusing to consider and confirm any judges deprives us of the sort of government that the Constitution constitutes.

Yet, according to the no-duty crowd, the constitutional text permits this sort of inaction because it imposes no duty to act. This is true: the text imposes no duty. But seriously, are we really going to say that the Constitution provides for and constitutionally permits its own demise? How can it be constitutional to do away with a branch of government constituted by the Constitution?

This seems absurd. But if we're relying only on the text of the Constitution itself, it seems that the Constitution does permit its own demise -- because its text imposes no explicit duty to prevent its demise.

For these reasons, maybe it's useful to think about two different kinds of "duties." On the one hand, there are what we might call "constitutional duties" -- duties that are created by the text of the Constitution, such as the House's duty to keep a journal of its proceedings (Art. I, sec. 5) or each state's duty to give "full faith and credit" to the "judicial proceedings" of other states (Art. IV, sec. 1). Because they flow from the constitutional text (ex post?), we might think of these as duties coming out of the Constitution.

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And on the other hand, there are what we might think of as duties going into the Constitution. These are not duties created by the text of the Constitution itself. Rather, these duties are something like prerequisites -- self-imposed commitments or obligations that preexist the constitutional text (ex ante?). Put another way: if we are committed to having the system of government that the Constitution constitutes, then we obligate ourselves to do certain things -- like elect a body of senators, as described in Article I. And we are obligated to do these things, in the sense that we have a duty to do these things, or we have no commitment to making the Constitution a reality (or to preventing its demise). Instead of "constitutional duties," we might call these "duties to the Constitution."

In sum, if you're committed to the form of government that the Constitution constitutes -- a government with three branches, etc. -- then you must embrace certain duties to act in ways that will bring the Constitution's form of government into existence (and not bring about its demise). We can't refuse to elect any senators, for example, without rejecting the Constitution itself -- because our Constitution's form of government includes elected senators. Thus, while there is no constitutional duty to elect senators, we nevertheless have a duty to the Constitution to elect senators.

Likewise, even if the constitutional text imposes no duty on senators to consider and confirm Supreme Court justices, our senators nevertheless have a duty to the Constitution to consider and confirm Supreme Court justices. They can't categorically refuse to confirm any justices indefinitely (anymore than the president can refuse to appoint any justices indefinitely) without rejecting the Constitution itself -- because our Constitution's form of government includes president-appointed and senate-confirmed Supreme Court justices.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz has run a very impressive campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. In fact, it is amazing to see he has done so well given his duplicity and polarizing nature.

Cruz has been shrewd in his approach to securing convention delegates, and he has displayed a keen understanding of each state's rules for winning delegates. Current GOP front-runner Donald Trump exploded into a Twitter rage over the weekend after Cruz won all of Colorado's 37 convention delegates. "The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!" Trump tweeted.

Trump has only himself to blame for being outmaneuvered by the man he refers to as "lying Ted." The rules are the rules and they are well known to candidates who do their homework. Last August the Colorado Republican Party announced it would not let voters take part in the nomination process. At the time, the Denver Post reported, "The GOP executive committee has voted to cancel the traditional presidential preference poll after the national party changed its rules to require a state's delegates to support the candidate that wins the caucus vote." This begs the question, "If Trump can get out foxed in Colorado, how can he succeed in negotiations with China and Iran?"

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Senator Cruz has carefully navigated the turbulent Republican nomination process to build the second largest collection of loyal delegates going into the convention. Once one of 17 GOP candidates running for the nomination, he has positioned himself well to be a viable alternative to Trump. Cruz kept his powder dry in the earlier primaries and caucuses, refusing to get caught up in the name calling and sniping that characterized much of the campaign. He was an outstanding college debater, but so far his debate performance during the primaries has been unremarkable.

Instead, he has focused on winning delegates with charm, wit and deceit. In the Iowa Caucus, the Cruz campaign adopted "social pressure" techniques to scare Republicans out to vote. It sent out mailers to likely voters with the heading "VOTER VIOLATION." The mailer included threatening text, "Your individual voting history as well as your neighbors' are public record. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well." The Iowa Secretary of State later condemned this tactic, "Accusing citizens of Iowa of a 'voting violation' based on Iowa Caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act."

Cruz was so determined to win in Iowa that as caucus goers were preparing to head to the polls his campaign sent them an urgent email blast. The email claimed that Dr. Ben Carson would be dropping out of the race and they should instead vote for Cruz. Of course, the email was a deliberate lie, but Cruz eked out an important first victory over the field.

Ted Cruz has been the great disrupter since he first entered the Senate following his victory in the 2012 election. He is very unpopular among other senators because of his brash and divisive polemics. He referred to other Republican senators as the "surrender caucus" because they did not sufficiently oppose President Barack Obama. Cruz accused his own Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of telling "a flat out lie" on the floor of the chamber. Cruz is single handedly responsible for the 2013 government shutdown by rallying gullible House Tea Party members against their leadership's better judgment.

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Fellow Senator John McCain has called Cruz a "wacko bird" and crazy. In February, Senator Lyndsey Graham, a former presidential candidate, said, "If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you." Now, remarkably, Graham has joined those supporting Cruz as a way to keep Trump from winning the nomination outright. Their hope is that Trump will fail on the first ballot and some other candidate will emerge. But Cruz knows that, so he remains busy adding delegates using every trick in the book so he can be that some other candidate.

However, a word of caution to Cruz supporters, winning a party nomination is a lot different that winning the presidency. First, Cruz will have to unite a deeply divided convention, especially Trump delegates. Secondly, Cruz will have to moderate his extreme positions on everything from same sex marriage and abortion to immigration and "carpet bombing" ISIS. His economic plan is forecast to add trillions to the national debt by many economists, and will add thousands to the unemployment roles. His plan to eliminate the IRS is unrealistic and impractical. While he qualifies as a Latino, Cuban-Americans make up a small minority of the Hispanic population, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic. He will be challenged on his qualifications to run for president because he was born in Canada. His wife worked for Goldman Sachs, which is one reason Ron Paul observed in February, "He's owned by Goldman Sachs. I mean he and Hillary (Clinton) have more in common."

If Cruz makes it all the way to the White House, how will he unite his party? How will he persuade Democrats to work with him? How will his presidency bring an end to the gridlock on Capitol Hill? How will his emotive language and tough talk earn America more respect around the world? How will he bring Americans together? The simple answer is, he won't.

You see, Ted Cruz loves to hear Ted Cruz talk. His animated motions, hands thrusting down to emphasize his points, underscores the passion he has for himself. He projects a carefully crafted point and often punctuates it with a wry smile of self-appreciation, as if to say, "I'm amazing." He always speaks with the confidence of a man who believes he is the smartest person in the room.

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"Two European foreign fighters were killed on the same day in recent U.S. airstrikes, a Pentagon spokesman announced Thursday." Thus begins yet another article addressing the killing of foreign fighters in Iraq or Syria. Published on 7 April, 2016, it continues stating, "Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition against ISIS, identified the two as Abu al-Zubair al-Bosni and Khaled Othman Al Timawi. Al-Bosni was a Swedish national of Bosnian decent who was killed in Bajar, Iraq, and Al Timawi was a Swedish-born foreign fighter, described by Warren as ISIS's deputy emir of the Anwar al Awlaki brigade."

In order to fix any problem, a fundamental rule of management is that you have to first isolate and identify it. Using root cause analysis insures you are addressing the actual basis of the problem and not just the symptoms. Terrorism, be it suicide bombings, beheadings, destruction of antiquities, or attempts to acquire and hold territory, is a symptom, not the cause. Yet, we continually focus on fighting these obvious abominations, and fail to correctly identify the real basis of the problem. Following the egregious attacks of 9/11 the U.S. declared war on terror even though many experts realized that terrorism was a means to an end, not an object that could be defeated.

The situation has not gotten much better. Since the inception of al Qaeda, most Defense and Intelligence Community officials have attempted to objectify both al Qaeda and ISIS/ISIL using geographic parameters. As in the referenced article, the location at happenstance of birth often is used as a defining factor for identity. That is an error, which, until rectified will prevent more serious efforts in substantially diminishing or eliminating that threat. Simply put, Islamic fundamentalist terrorism is a concept not a place or a thing; a notion I addressed about a year ago. The conflict's name changed several times but our lack of a coherent and viable objective remains problematic.

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As if to emphasis the non-territorial aspect of the issue, Admiral Mike Rogers, commander of the latest combatant command, U.S. Cyber Command, stated "that ISIS could start to view cyber as a weapon system" to attack critical infrastructure in the U.S. In fact, those associated with information warfare often struggle when attempting to finger the geographical location of an attacker. It is even more complicated when trying to formally associate any specific hacker with their government. On occasions the linkage can be made, but often not.

All of the responses to Islamic terrorism appear to be tactical rather than strategic in nature, aka whack-a-mole. While these seem like logical steps when you don't know what to do, those efforts fail consistently. After more than a year of constant bombing, while there have been some territorial losses for ISIS in Syria and Iraq, their strength remains about constant and they have made territorial gains in other areas, especially North Africa. The leadership decapitation tactics against them have not worked. Week after week there are announcements pertaining to the demise of one ISIS or al Qaeda leader after another. In reality, these targeted killings do little more than provide career opportunities for those ascending through the ranks behind them.

The reality is that ISIS could have been eliminated in Iraq and Syria months ago, and it would not have required ever-increasing numbers of American forces. The solution required realignment of coalition forces. Instead, Turkey is now engaging our most effective anti-ISIS allies, the Kurds, who in turn have allowed retaliation with attacks in Istanbul. Iran has fought ISIS; but with Russia, supports the Assad regime in Syria. Saudi Arabia battles Yemeni Houthi rebels who are supported by Iran. There, however, the bombing missions have raise serious issues about collateral damage and some observers called them possible war crimes. American interests come into play as U.S. Central Command supported the Saudi actions by indicating that the laws of war are being observed. Meanwhile the media focuses on the American origin of the bombs and aircraft attacking Yemen.

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All of these actions have helped facilitate ISIS, and other related terrorist groups, recruitment efforts. For ISIS members who are ideologically drive, death is anticipated, a desired outcome, and not to be avoided. Seemingly forgotten are the tenants articulated in the prescient article in The Atlantic by Graeme Wood titled What ISIS Really Wants. Specifically he noted that ISIS wanted to hold territory (a vulnerability) yet anticipates decimation and near extinction in order to precipitate Armageddon, the final days.

Competing social media programs have played interesting roles in the geography-free Netherlands of cyberspace. While techniques morph over time, media-savvy ISIS members adroitly entice a constant stream of vulnerable and willing recruits. Recently coalition elements have begun to engage in competitive messaging in an attempt to assuage would-be volunteers from venturing forth. There is debate about the attraction of ISIS. Some analysts hold radical Islamic ideology plays a central role. Others suggest that enticement is more like the recruiting methods of gangs. That is they appeal as a chance for valor, belonging, and an opportunity to do something of meaningful. While you can argue about the apparently misguided virtues of the end-states proffered by ISIS, these values are potent in the minds of restless or estranged youth.

Less clear is the acceptance of these values by the highly educated people who have joined the radical Islamic cause and committed horrific acts. Consider the case of Tareq Kemleh, an Australian medical doctor, who made a video attempting to recruit other Western doctors to join ISIS. Not an isolated case, Bilal Abdullah, a British doctor, attempted a suicide attack at Glasgow International Airport. And then there is Major Nidal Hassan, M.D., who killed 13 soldiers and wounded more than 30 others in an attack at Ft Hood, Texas. Clearly, the attraction is more than to just the alienated, or adventure-seeking youth. However, lacking an overall strategy, the coalition resorts to tactical counter-recruitment techniques.

Similarly, ISIS logistics and finance have targeted by coalition forces. It is hard to determine just how effective these efforts have been. What is known is that ISIS continues to function and wage attacks suggesting that they do have adequate resources to carry the fight forward. The continued bombing campaign has had a deleterious effect on U.S. Air Force readiness. To offset stress on the B-1 fleet, recently added to the effort is the venerable B-52 (sometimes known unkindly as the BUFF). While the B-52 can carry a lot of ordnance, even with new sensor systems, precision is not its strong suit. There has got to be more that can be done to countering logistics and finance than simply attacking the oil under ISIS control and intercepting international banking transactions.

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What is needed is a new, comprehensive strategy that acknowledges the realities of the global totality of the situation. First, we must recognize that the threat is a concept not an object. There are deep underlying issues that cannot be bombed or killed out of existence. While ISIS, with its horrific behavior, grabs most of the current headlines, there are a host of philosophically aligned organizations that act similarly. Al Qaeda, Boko Harem, al Shabaab, are a few of the better known ones. However, we can be sure that even if those elements are annihilated, without addressing the root causes, new groups will emerge and take their place.

Second, concepts transcend all borders, and thus there are no foreign fighters. Except for legal purposes we should stop addressing combatants based on their geographic location at birth.

Third, to counter a concept a more attractive alternative is required. Given the history of American intervention in the developing world, it would be nearly impossible for a U.S. led conceptual effort to succeed. Invading Iraq to establish a shining example of democracy; a notion espoused by some neocons, was simply specious and did an inestimable amount of damage to our international credibility.

Since Islamic fundamentalism is an integral part of the problem, it is essential that more moderate Muslim leaders of the world develop the alternative solution. The strategy must be global, encompassing more than the Middle East. The alternative concept must be inclusive of competing beliefs and values, yet demonstrate abhorrence for violent behavior to accomplish political means (terrorism will not be tolerated or condoned).

It will be extremely difficult to accomplish. Confounding factors include the long-existing Sunni-Shia conflagrations and counterfactual attitudes exacerbated by information technology. Unfortunately we have entered an information age in which facts are irrelevant to large segments of societies. Even well educated people often abandon facts and reason to advance their emotionally-driven positions.

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There will be geographic realignments as the antiquated Eurocentric artificial subdivisions of areas continue to dissolve. As with prior decolonization, devolution is likely to be a painful process, albeit a necessary one. Success in countering terrorist's behavior will only come when the vast majority of the world's population believes that they have a reasonable and equitable chance at personal advancement. We are a long way from that at the moment, and possibly regressing rather than making improvements.
Snitching can get you killed. That much I understood growing up in the 'hood. In kindergarten, I was taught not be a tattletale. But to tell on bad guys, on the criminally minded, especially those who breathe bloody murder, is a more serious matter than being a little, tattling toddler.

Lately here, particularly in light of the senseless violence that continues to claim innocent lives in Chicago, I have heard the lambasting of the good people of terrorized neighborhoods for not readily coming forward with information on murders. I have seen some shaking their heads, shoulder shrugging, and essentially blaming those unwilling--at least reluctant--to tell, as being in some way complicit.

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Some even seem roiled that someone might witness a murder and be reluctant to come forward to police. And, in fact, they convey the sense that those unwilling to be witnesses are somehow less human, less feeling and less willing to assume responsibility, less eager to play a role in helping turn their neighborhoods around.

In my experience of growing up in an impoverished Chicago community like those under siege, it boils down to an issue of trust. And many who live in the city's most murderous neighborhoods--who have also witnessed police and political corruption and a trail of broken promises--simply don't trust the authorities enough to come forward and by doing so, potentially laying their lives on the line.

Whenever gunfire thundered in the night in my old neighborhood,

I was always grateful when the scene was blocks away, relieved

that any blood spilled had not come nigh my front door.

It isn't that people don't want to tell. They do. And it isn't the case that they aren't concerned about their neighborhoods. They are. Nor is it simply a matter of fear, but the fact that to come forward is to risk everything, even in a world where "safety" is always relative.

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In poor black neighborhoods, we have seen the revolving door of criminal justice. We have come to understand that there is a new breed of serial killer--young men who kill and kill and kill again. And we also know this: That when the feds seek witnesses in high-profile cases to bring down notorious mobsters and crime families, they at least have the good sense to offer witness protection.

They understand what's at risk for those who come forward. They also recognize the compelling need to end the scourge of America's most dangerous.

In my old West Side neighborhood, "body snatchers" are real. There, I have known of masked gunmen to creep upon their prey in the still of night as they sit on a porch unsuspectingly, to kick in doors and hold people at gunpoint, or else to kidnap, maim and murder.

They have come for a known gang leader in broad daylight, stuffed him in the trunk of a car while bodyguards watched helplessly. From a child, I have witnessed gunplay and gangs and drug dealers and pimps in shiny Cadillacs, glaring like the sun, and the police drive by street corners--where hustlers hawk their wares--and do nothing.

The Law--the police--in certain neighborhoods isn't necessarily the law. Once the flashing white-and-blues disappear, we who were left behind understood that we were then at the mercy of the lawless or at least left to protect ourselves by any means necessary.

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For some, our insurance was God. For others, it was the gun. For others still, a little bit of both. But seldom did we consider the police.

Would someone who gave vital information to police stand more to gain, or more to lose? And if the bad guys should come for them, masked and under the cover of night, which of us could they then call? Would the cavalry arrive too late, if at all?

And furthermore, as in the shooting of LaQuan McDonald, 17, shot 16 times in October 2014 by a Chicago police officer, which of his police officers on the scene that night "snitched" on Officer Jason Van Dyke, later indicted in the incident on six counts of first-degree murder? And which city or county official snitched about Mayor Rahm Emanuel's apparent suppression of the McDonald case and also of the police dash-cam video that captured the shooting? Where was the line of snitchers then? Why should snitching be a one-way street?



And given the historic marginalization of black and brown life--and death--why would anyone ordinary citizen in one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods think that losing their life for having been brave enough to speak out might somehow make the difference? What would prevent them from simply becoming like the scores of murder victims whose names week in and week out don't even make the newspaper's police blotter?

And yet, I have heard them--politicians, police and pundits--reviling the people of these neighborhoods for not coming forward. And I think to myself, "Easy for them to say. Let them lay aside their bodyguards, their chauffeur-driven limousines and their legal sidearm, and let's see just how brave they'd be." Instead we all leave the 'hood and go safely home.

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Whenever gunfire thundered in the night in my old neighborhood, I was always grateful when the scene was blocks away, relieved that any blood spilled had not come nigh my front door. Except in a way, I always realized it was never that far away. That every evil that happened in my neighborhood, in one sense or another, always happened to us all.

I also remember wishing there was someone we could tell, someone who might be ready, willing and able to do something to end the violence and crime, in essence, to be able to snitch in a way that would not jeopardize our lives and our family's once the bad guys learned we had ratted them out.

What would happen if we diminished the risk and created a greater sense of assurance that the law would do their job in actually making the streets safe as well as protecting those who decide to turn killers in?

They still might not be lining up to testify. But I'll bet you'd find some willing to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

A man outside the funeral of a murdered child in Chicago hoists a sign.



Memorials of balloons, teddy bears and other mementos have become an all too familiar sight in Chicago's West and South Side neighborhoods.

(Photos: John W. Fountain)
"I would never vote for Trump because I'm an immigrant and I don't want to be deported!"

I recently overheard this comment seemingly fueled by anxiety and sheer panic. I couldn't help but to react - maybe it was the therapist in me wanting to try to alleviate her stress and anxiety, but also maybe because I am feeling tired of all the irrational chatter about Donald Trump. When I heard it, I spoke up and asked the woman how she came to the United States. She explained that it was through legal means. I then reminded her that my understanding was that Trump wanted to deport illegal immigrants, not legal. It seemed to calm her state of panic and anxiety, at least momentarily. One thing is certain though, as long as Trump is a contender, anxieties will run high.

Since Super Tuesday, I've had a growing number of patients talk to me about their anxiety and unease over Trump. Close to 25% of my patients express their concerns about him. For one of four patients, Trump anxiety trumps the depression and anxiety that people usually want to discuss. To give you some more perspective, that means these people are more worried about Trump being elected than they are about their careers, relationships, financial woes and even their sexual performance - all the usual stuff patients speak to me about. Not since George W. Bush have I seen this level of anxiety over a candidate or political figure. It seems the more delegates that Trump picks up in the primaries, the more anxiety I see and the greater the intensity of fears.

Much of the anxiety is utter disbelief that he can be doing so well. People wonder how someone they perceive as a bully can be leading in the polls. After all, growing up we're not taught to be mean and you'll be popular - we're taught quite the opposite. The fact that he is doing well throws people off their normal course of thinking and causes anxiety. They wonder, "How can someone be so divisive and yet so popular"?

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In my view it is simple: Trump has tapped into a hungry populous and his message resonates. If you think of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, at the very base level is security, including personal, financial, health and well-being. Trump's message has targeted all of them in a way the other candidates haven't. He's fused fear with an inspirational message "Let's make America great again" - the very structure of the slogan suggest that America isn't great (fear) and that we must aim for greatness (inspirational). Love him or hate him, the message resonates with the electorate and they have found their cheerleader and in many cases he's given a voice to the voiceless.

I also see classic anxiety and panic. As is the case with other fears, peoples' minds pull up worst case scenarios. "He'll attack Russia", "He'll deport people unlawfully", "I'm moving to Canada". They feel powerless at the mere thought of a President Trump. Their uncertainty over what exactly would happen in a Trump administration leads to more anxiety as their mind fills in the blanks, usually with unsubstantiated information. Whether it's a fear of public speaking or fear of flying or now a fear of a President Trump, I instruct people to separate fact from fiction and to focus on things that are within their control, not beyond it. For example, thoughts such as "I'll have a heart attack" or "people will think I'm stupid" or "I'll be deported" would fall into the fiction category.

Similarly, one should be reminded that in the United States, there's a system of checks and balances and it is actually quite difficult to get new policy written into law. Think about just how realistic it is that Trump would, or even could, implement radical changes to existing policy. People should realize it simply isn't that easy to enact policy and our two-party system does a wonderful job of providing a forum to debate proposed policy before it ever can possibly go into law.

Sometimes anxiety is really about feeling like you have no control. This is certainly the case with flying and public speaking anxieties. In the case of Trump, it's also true. People feel they'll have no control should Trump be elected. To deal with this, think about what you actually can control. For example, your own life, how you conduct yourself, and which news sources you choose to pay attention to. There's no doubt sensationalism sells and there's an overabundance of it now related to this election. That said, choose a trusted news source and stick with it. No need to inundate yourself with election news. Similarly, choose who you talk to and about what. If you have a friend who loves Trump and you don't, and all they talk about is Trump, well, spend less time with that person or just explain that you appreciate their passion for the candidate but you hold a different view and don't want to let politics get between the two of you so best to leave it behind.

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Finally, before hitting the panic button and researching ways to move to Canada, take a deep breath, relax, and try to appreciate the fact that you actually have the freedom to vote, express your views, and exercise the option to rally for a candidate of your choosing. Enjoy this process. Get involved with the candidate you support and do your part to get him or her elected. Complaining about a candidate might feel good and provide a sense of camaraderie, however, it will also reinforce negativity and ultimately make you feel bad about the election. So instead, embrace the true privilege and honor of voting rights in the midst of the Trump hoopla and think clearly and rationally as you move forward.
Demonstrators take part in a protest calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison on January 11, 2016 in front of the White House in Washington, DC. US President Barack Obama is expected to present his plan on closing the facility during his final State of the Union address. AFP PHOTO/MANDEL NGAN / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

In recent days, Republican politicians running for reelection have once again turned to stoking public fears about the President's plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Early last week, Illinois Senator Mark Kirk and New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayottte proposed legislation that would make it harder than it already is for the administration to reduce the current prison population.

Meanwhile, the Republican presidential candidates are leading a chorus not only to keep the Guantanamo detention camp open, but to increase its population with terrorists captured in ongoing wars, as if Guantanamo has been a resounding success.

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The continuing Republican intransigence leaves the President with an unpalatable choice not so different from the "nuclear option" he resorted to on immigration: he can renege on a near sacred campaign pledge or issue an executive order closing the Guantanamo prison using discretionary funds. Of course, doing so would burn bridges already aflame.

Which does not mean that closing Guantanamo by executive order is the wrong thing to do. There is a moral as well as a political calculus here, and the administration is mulling it over at this very moment, though it is not obvious that the president is in sole possession of the moral high ground.

In the interest of encouraging as many people as possible to weigh in on this debate, it might be useful to clear up a few misconceptions about the Guantanamo detention facility that impede rational discussion:

1) that Guantanamo is a better place to hold and prosecute alleged terrorists than U.S. federal court.

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2) that detainees slated for indefinite law-of-war detention would join a population of federal convicts at a supermax facility (most likely in Leavenworth, KA, or Florence, CO), potentially overwhelming the ability of Federal Bureau of Prison guards to maintain safety.

3) that repatriating Guantanamo detainees to their countries of origin promotes recidivism by returning what Senator Lindsay Graham is wont to call "killers" and "crazy bastards" to the battlefield.

None of this is true.

First, no matter how many times the Guantanamo military commissions have been revamped, their reliance on hearsay evidence and ex post facto law, and their setting aside of the sixth amendment safeguard of confrontation, among other defects, ensures that guilty verdicts will be mired in protracted review.

In the case exemplifying the supposed inability of the federal court system to handle terrorist crimes, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the alleged planner of the 1998 east Africa embassy attacks, was given a life sentence, while Salim Hamdam, tried at Guantanamo in 2008, just before newly elected President Obama shut the Guantanamo commissions down, was given five months in addition to time already served (the charges on which the two were convicted were the same: material support for terrorism, or conspiracy). The longest sentence handed down at Guantanamo is nine months, to Australian David Hicks.

Second, the Obama administration is not proposing to dump Guantanamo detainees in federal prison but to essentially move Guantanamo north. This would be a Pentagon operation located at or adjacent to a federal prison and run by the Joint Task Force (JTF) not by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. On, for example, federal land in the desert outside Florence, CO, there is little doubt that the JTF could run a detention facility safely. The idea that it could not do so is fear mongering.

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In making an economic case for moving the detention facility stateside, advocates compare the roughly $2.8 million dollars per year that it costs to house detainees in Guantanamo to the roughly $78 thousand dollars it costs to house a federal prisoner in a supermax facility. But that, too, is a false comparison as, again, Guantanamo north would be run by the JTF not the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Pentagon has not provided a cost estimate. The savings will not be $2 million dollars per detainee per year, but it will be considerable as Guantanamo Bay Cuba is the most costly, inconvenient, and ill-conceived location for a detention camp imaginable, as military and detention professionals argued before the camp was even opened.

Third, you can't have REcidivism without a person first having been convicted of something. Not one of the detainees repatriated over the last dozen or so years was convicted of anything. Most were not picked up on battlefields and were held on the authority of thoroughly discredited evidence. Ten of the 59 detainees that the administration wants to move to the United States have been charged in military commissions. Three of these ten have been convicted. These three convictions are being appealed and are likely to be overturned.

Yes, some of the detainees are genuine terrorists. But to repeat, the United States has successfully prosecuted terrorists in federal court and is now (safely) detaining convicted terrorists in federal prison.

Yes, there is evidence that some repatriated detainees have taken up arms against the United States. But this may reveal nothing more than the fact that individuals tortured and abused by the United States are likely to become its enemy. This was precisely the argument against the detention camp made by former General Barry McCaffrey, who once called Guantanamo "a graduate school for terrorists."

Whether the president should create Guantanamo north is another issue. If indefinite detention on 45 square miles of Cuban soil is bad for America's reputation, it is all the more awkward on American soil.

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Over the course of the next several weeks, Congress will continue to debate some straightforward questions that have been clouded by deliberate obfuscation:

Where is the best place to try alleged perpetrators of 9/11, in deeply flawed, likely unconstitutional, military commissions at Guantanamo? Or in U.S. federal court, where the Justice Department has a record of successful conviction and detention?

How can we best erode terrorist enlistment? By letting detainees languish in Guantanamo un-convicted and uncharged? Of by shuttering this notorious symbol of torture and abuse?

How can we once and for all demonstrate our adherence to the rule of law? By holding those we can't charge in indefinite detention at home or abroad? Or by releasing them as our own laws demand?

In short, the solution to the vexing moral, legal and logistical problems of Guantanamo is not to move it north but to shutter it entirely. Then and only then can we rectify a more enduring blot on the nation's global reputation -- our ongoing occupation of Guantanamo Bay -- by returning Guantanamo to Cuba.
Co-authored with Nadine Naber

In two weeks, the American Anthropological Association's (AAA) nearly 10,000 members will begin voting on a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions. It might just pass, if judging by preliminary voting at last November's AAA business meeting is any clue. Scanning the large hall, in which some 1500 hundred members attended, well beyond capacity, it was impossible for us not to feel victorious over the explicit support for Palestinian liberation and self-determination and to feel that there was a major changing of the tide within anthropology, and within academia at large. Not only was this the largest turnout in recent memory; it was also a massive shift in demographics. The meeting made clear that the AAA is far more diverse than it was even just a few decades ago; that recent generations of young scholars and graduate students are far more willing to participate in conversations regarding social justice than ever before; and that women anthropologists continue to lead some of the most urgent conversations of our times. Yet what is not clear, despite the unprecedented turnout of that business meeting, is exactly how many AAA members will vote on the actual resolution starting April 15. While academic association voting percentages are often dismally low, some might wonder whether voting matters at all and whether an academic boycott has any relevance to the Palestinian condition.

The academic boycott has not been merely symbolic as its critics claim, but a mechanism for opening up what the Israeli government has made impossible -- such as engagements between U.S.-based scholars and scholars based in Palestine. While anti-boycott detractors often claim that boycott will shut down conversations, they fail to mention the many scholars pushed out, left out, targeted for harassment, and/or fired for adding Israel to all of the states that they critically examine. Indeed, the academic boycott has already impacted public discourse in the United States and internationally. That an academic association in the U.S. is discussing it is already a monumental step in solidarity work, something that for both of us has been an ongoing challenge in our research and teaching careers. The narratives of Palestinians and the critical debate on Palestine and Israel in U.S. academia follow a clear pattern of institutional normalization of stifling free speech through administrative sanction (http://palestinelegal.org/the-palestine-exception/). The goal of these tactics is to intimidate, bully, and even prosecute those who stand up for Palestine.

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Following the attention that followed the American Studies Association (ASA) endorsement of the academic boycott in 2013, a number of acts became possible that were previously untenable. First and foremost is the public critique of Israeli settler colonialism. The lifting of the silence on the colonial occupation of Palestine has led to broader participation in the ASA by scholars that felt previously marginalized or had no organized voice, and expanded conversations on U.S. empire, racism, and U.S. settler-colonialism. The new possibilities brought about by the ASA boycott importantly included more direct outreach to international scholars and active invitations to scholars in Palestine and Israel who would have otherwise not been able to travel. Beyond the positive impact on the conference proceedings, these openings inspired new teaching, research, and advocacy-based projects and commitments to mutual respect, trust, and accountability between ASA scholars and scholars in Palestine.

While we are hopeful that the AAA will pursue policies that enact a wide range of solidarities with Palestinians, we also worry that anything less than an unequivocal victory for the boycott resolution will create uncertainty in how the association should proceed. The AAA has a chance to become the largest academic association to join the academic boycott in the United States, and importantly, the vote will serve as a mandate for the AAA executive board to pursue further action as outlined in the Task Force on Israel Palestine Report. A defiant voice that is emphatic in volume will send a clear message of how the tide has turned in the AAA. The more unprecedented the voter turnout and the more massive the win, the more exclamatory the message for the future impact of the vote.. It must be seen as a component of a collective and international strategy of boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel, called for by Palestinian civil society with a clear understanding of its symbolic and material implications that requires the active participation of all of those who believe in ending the injustices Palestinians have endured. For AAA members who in principle support the boycott, voting en masse will insure a victory that is greater than any backlash or attempt to diminish the power of the victory. This is an opportunity to institutionalize accountability to Palestinian people within AAA, and for anthropologists in the U.S. academia to join those other academic association that have put themselves on the line in the name of social justice and human rights.

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It must also be stated that this vote comes out of a history of progressive and decolonial struggles within anthropology. Voting for boycott continues the tradition of anthropologists standing on the right side of history, lifting up critiques that challenge the status quo, challenging U.S. empire, U.S. settler colonialism and their allies, and demanding the AAA follow suit. Following several years of debate leading to this vote, we cannot underestimate the significance of how far the AAA has come on the issue of the Israeli colonization of Palestine. Discussing Palestine broadly and publicly in the professional setting of AAA has been an enormous shift, one that in itself has already created intellectual and scholarly possibilities for inquiry that were at one time unthinkable.

Yet even in anthropology, a field that often appears to take activist-scholarship and the critique of colonialism for granted, teaching and writing critically on Israel has been met with vehement attack from the threat of being denied tenure to the pressure to either repress one's critique or change one's research topic in order to get a job or research funding. Anthropologists who have addressed Israel critically have been labeled anti-Semitic; radically extreme; or supporters of terrorism. For example a recent study of anthropology and the research area of the Middle East illuminates the pressures and challenges facing researchers in obtaining funding, jobs, and tenure, particularly when they address Palestine. In U.S. academia, it is more clear than ever that while critiquing Israeli policies of killing, land confiscation or expansion will be met with repression or worse, calling for the death of Arabs and Muslims most often goes unchecked. For anthropologists writing on Palestine-Israel, the choice between intervention/speaking vs. non-intervention/silence is a game-changing professional choice.

After over 25 years have passed since the original publication of Faye Harrison's remarkable volume Decolonizing Anthropology: Moving Further toward an Anthropology of Liberation, we must still ask what does decolonization and liberation mean to the discipline? How do we speak the silences of a discipline that says everything is on the table? And more practically, what can we do?

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We need to vote. We need to vote for academic boycott to provide a clear mandate for the AAA leadership to abide by the Palestinian call to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction. To vote is to counteract the intimidation of those who would not have us speak against Israeli settler colonialism and occupation. To vote for academic boycott is to continue anthropology's decolonization. A vote for academic boycott shows a commitment to both an ethical position and actions from within the center (not the margins) of AAA in tandem with political struggles of liberation.

Nadine Naber is Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
The movie ends, the credits scroll through and finally -- after a captivating two hours, it says "Adapted from the book, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green."

"Am I going to watch that say Katie Kiaunis one day?" my dad asks, knowing how badly I want to write a book that really impacts people's lives someday.

I've wanted this for as long as I can remember, but because I chose to study business instead of literature in college, I felt like I had given up by chance. I often contemplated going back to school for an MFA, but couldn't justify giving up my career. I also realized that when you devote your entire life to something, it can become much harder and actually stifle your creativity. So instead, I've spent the last four years figuring out ways to become a better novelist on nights, weekends and occasional holidays.

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1. Attend Conferences: Over the past year, I've attended both the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference as well as the Writer's Digest Well-Sold Weekend. Yes, this has been the most expensive part of my writing journey, but what I've gotten out of them has far outweighed the cost. Beyond the tactical skills learned, both conferences have taught me about what it's really like to be a full-time writer (not always so glamorous!), how to inspire yourself to write and how to find a network of like-minded writers. Some other nuggets:

Most people buy books for other people rather than themselves. This understanding helped me think about how I positioned my book, and why someone would pick it up as a gift for someone else.

Your query/pitch should always contain comps, or similar books in your genre. Best case scenario, this will be both a blockbuster hit as well as something very recent that's done well in the market.

Think about the scenarios people would read your book in (beach, vacation, commuting, etc.) and cater your book to that reader.

Conflict is what drives your book. This should be on every page in some way.

2. Get to know your favorite authors: I knew I wanted to be an author when I started reading Jodi Picoult's novels. I always liked reading, but her books made me see the world differently. All of a sudden, it was acceptable to be the curious, nosy and research-obsessed person I always was. I could actually use this skill towards something productive!

Over the years, I've talked to anyone that will listen about her books and how impactful they are. I've read her website over and over again to visualize how she got started and how I could do the same. I've gone to at least three of her book signings/talks and read every one of her 22 books. Since I watch her closely on social media, I saw that she posted a charity link this fall, where the winner would get to have dinner with her and her husband in her NH town. Despite the price tag, I jumped at the opportunity to meet my idol, and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Beyond just being a down-to-earth, kind, intelligent person, Jodi talked to me with such energy about her entire journey in the publishing world as well as her upcoming novel. She confided that she almost gave up right before her big break, and how hard it is to make it. Despite the reality that it is still very difficult to make it in this industry, I was inspired that if she could do it, maybe I could too.

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3. Figure out how to research: I've always known you should research for your novels, but given that I've mostly written Women's Fiction or Young Adult novels, I felt like I had all the information I needed in my head. By going to the above conferences, though, I realized how much better my books could be by having more points of view than just my own experiences to go off of. I set off to write a book about a PhD Psychology student -- something I don't really know much about. I went to my town's local college sites, and searched for the current PhD students, and then did some digging into what they study and are involved in. I then sent a "cold-call" email to two of them, explaining that I'm a writer and would love to pick their brains. Within 24 hours, both of them responded that they would be happy to chat. I was ecstatic, and learned so much from them that I never would have learned on my own or through books on the subject.

4. Dissect a book: Maybe this idea is so interesting to me because I loved school, but I once read about the idea to take apart a book and construct it back into an outline. I tried it on two different books that I loved, and after each time, felt a little more confident in my own ability to craft a detailed outline. The idea is to go chapter by chapter and write down what happens on each page (or paragraph if you're ambitious). By doing so, you start to understand the flow the author used and how they strung together all of the sub-plots and conflicts.

5. Read everything: A year ago, I was on a mission to read only Women's Fiction novels as that was what I wanted to write, and I wanted to know everything about my own genre. But then on a whim, I read Gone Girl followed by The Girl on The Train, and my mind was blown. All of a sudden, I realized that I was keeping myself in a box and only allowing myself the creativity of what had previously been done in my genre. By starting with these psychological thrillers, I started to read even more outside my genre, and felt more creative than ever as I allowed myself to take down the walls of staying within the genre I thought I wanted to write. Now my favorite novel is The Luckiest Girl Alive, a book that seems to be the direct results of a women's fiction-psychological thriller cross.

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6. Join many book clubs: This can be hard because they are time consuming and you can only keep up with reading so many books per month. However, book clubs are the best feedback you can get on how people read -- what they remember, what made an impact on them and what they're still thinking about when they close the book. If you think about it, this is like gold for a novelist.

I could probably go on for days as there are just so many ways that you could invest in your own writing career, but these are the ones that have made the greatest impact on me in the last year.
One of my first clear memories is a conversation with my father during a family visit to Masai Maara, Kenya. I had asked my father on arriving why some of the Masai women were bare-breasted and why this did not embarrass or shame them. My father responded that in my shorts, shirt and suspenders I probably looked absurd to the Masai, and that what they wore was to them, perfectly appropriate attire. It was clear to me that he was displeased by this moral judgment on my part. This was confusing to my five year old self but after a while the notion of differing conceptions of normal did sink in. I spent the rest of the trip being fascinated by these beautiful people in their bright red attire and magnificent headdresses.

I will return to Masai Maara, bear with me.

One of my favorite childhood books was a magical little novella called "The Seas of Morning". It was about the son of a wealthy merchant whose boyhood dream is to fight with the Knights of St John at the Island of Rhodes. I spent many a bedtime pretending I was young Dick Stockton sailing the high seas and fighting the Ottomans. At some point I became aware that as a Muslim I was in this instance, rooting for the "wrong" side. It didn't matter; young Richard still captivated me with his courage and lust for adventure.

I will return to the Island of Rhodes, bear with me.

Before all else, faith was my mother kneeling at her prayers; it was my mother reading the Quran softly but audibly. Then, it was the handful of Quranic verses I was taught at school and the stories about the life of Prophet Mohammad in my Islamic Studies textbook. It was the mosque where I would go to say my Eid prayers. These were the beginnings of a spiritual alchemy that all people of faith experience. Parents, places of worship, scripture- all little fragments of divinity that began creating in me a sense of the sacred that continues to permeate all that I experience. In the otherworldly peak of Kilamanjaro, in the waves of the Arabian Sea and in the mournful cry of the loon l continue to see and hear the expression of the will of their creator.

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I return now to Masai Maara and the Island of Rhodes. To my earliest yet most abiding lessons in empathy and moral relativism. Ideology and other aspects of human cultures are not architects of schism unless we make them so. Without the beliefs and traditions of others we would have neither diversity nor mystery in our lives. The uniqueness of our identity rests on the uniqueness of the identity of others.

Today I am told civilizations are clashing and that for those of faith ideological fidelity trumps all other loyalties. But both my rational and emotive experience informs me otherwise. I still marvel at indigenous cultures and wish fervently that they do not fade away, that they yield to no other tradition including my own. I can still step into the soul of young Dick Stockton and fight in the siege of Rhodes.

It is not beliefs that threaten us. It is not the infallibility of deities and scriptures that our problems lie but in our own fallibility. We remain easy prey for demagogues because we presume that civilization has ensured that our instincts no longer hold sway over us. That it must be some poisonous well of ideas diametrically opposed to our own that the monsters that threaten us arise from. We forget that violence dwells within us and that fear and hatred are its nourishment.

Perhaps we also know what can vanquish it.

Empathy may be an innate ability we are born with varying capacities for -- but it must also be taught, nurtured and exemplified.

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JUPITER, FL - MARCH 08: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is seen in a television cameras view finder during a press conference at the Trump National Golf Club Jupiter on March 8, 2016 in Jupiter, Florida. Mr. Trump and other Republican candidates reacted to primary day vote counts in Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho, and Hawaii. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The rampant hysteria being generated by Donald Trump's surprising run at the Republican presidential nomination is both needless and potentially destructive. It is being exacerbated by Trump's narcissism, his scorched earth campaign, and the appalling indecency of his incendiary and tasteless style; but also it has been abetted by a complicit media. For whatever reasons, the mainstream media is far more interested in political theatre than political history and therein lies the potential for a Greek tragedy that could possibly tear at the foundational fabric of our representative democracy. It is time for journalism to reclaim at least some degree of respectability by focusing on facts, and the most salient fact facing our political system this summer is that open conventions do not spell disaster. It is important for everyone to relax and for the media to perform its job, which is to report pertinent and inarguable facts.

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Contested or brokered conventions were, for the better part of our history, the norm not the exception. The rules for both parties had been traditionally that if a front-runner was even one vote shy of the number of votes needed, and no one could be persuaded to give him the needed voted, there was another ballot, and then another.

In 1924 the Democratic presidential candidate was selected on the 103rd ballot after nearly three weeks of wrangling. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the product of a brokered convention in 1932. Thomas Dewey secured the Republican nomination in 1948 and Adlai Stevenson got the Democratic nod in 1952 after brokered conventions. As recently as 1976 Gerald Ford secured the Republican nomination after arriving at the convention without the requisite number of delegates and in 1980 there was an active effort at the Democratic convention in New York to secure enough delegates away from incumbent President Jimmy Carter to give the nomination to Ted Kennedy that failed.

The time the ballots took allowed for dickering, and wheelin' and dealin'; time for promises to be made and allegiances to shift or strengthen. This was not only an attack against front runners, because there were times that the balloting procedure gave the front runner the votes to take him over the top.

Presidential nominations are secured via the vote of delegates, not the number of states or the popular vote. The two major parties set the rules for delegate selection and the conventions are held to render a process whereby nominees are selected. The current hysteria being generated pays little heed to political history or precedent and for this the Fourth Estate has been contemptible in its ignorance. No news outlet could blithely skip over fundamental facts and their context in political history. Certainly in today's nation they could not claim that Americans know their civic history. They don't because it's not taught anymore. Political facts that are immeasurably pertinent are completely unknown.

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While it appears as though the latest iteration of a Republican strategy to select someone not named Donald Trump is now taking shape in the form of citing the historical precedence of nominating conventions, the obvious question remains: namely, where has the media been?

TV journalism has been extraordinarily weak, emphasizing one story a night, while the banner that travels at the bottom of the screen tells us of other, important stories that are never picked up by the anchors or commentators. The media in its choices of what not to say can be inciting to riot as vividly as the protestors they cover.

The danger to our representative democracy lies not in the fact that there exists a restless and angry populace but rather in the fact that the narrative 'that efforts are afoot to deprive or worse yet steal the rightful coronation of the Donald' are being fueled by a complete lack of historical perspective. We do not live in a pure democracy, the Founders made it quite clear in their construction of the Constitution that checks and balances and deliberation would be the lynchpin to stability.

Compromise, deliberation, and incrementalism are the hallmarks of our system of government, which may come as quite a shock to the extreme elements on both the left and the right, but it is right there in the document itself and the Federalist papers which serve as the foundation of our government. The media needs to take special care not only to educate the citizens on the facts but also to present a fair and balanced presentation of historic precedent, especially if by not speaking to it an angry and violent atmosphere takes place.

We as a nation have weathered nomination fights and political storms that would destroy other governmental forms and we will similarly weather this one. The reckless and dangerous admonitions that anything other than a Trump nomination will result in riots is a testament to the amateurish temperament of a fool. Giving credence to such recklessness by accepting incorrect statements that can and should be easily correctable while the media offers only silence is a testament to the utter failure of the media to do its job. Shame on them.

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The 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign is set to be the most expensive yet, with some sources suggesting a whopping $10 billion in total costs. The huge price tag of the campaigns have put issues of corporate political spending and lobbying to the forefront as we enter proxy season - the period when many companies hold their annual shareholder meetings, making lobbying one of the hottest topics on the agenda of investors.

Why should investors care?

When companies do their political lobbying behind closed doors it threatens both our democracy and ultimately the credibility and trust in a company's own brand.

A key part of an investor's job is to know and understand risk. However in the U.S., as well as many other countries, there are no regulations requiring companies to publicly detail whether they have made direct payments to political parties, candidates, trade associations, special interest groups or lobbyists. This creates a lack of transparency, and increases the risk of corruption.

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A lack of transparency also means that companies often don't know what trade associations are doing on behalf of their members. Ford Motor Company is just the latest to join over 100 companies (including iconic brands Microsoft, PepsiCo, Mars, Wal-Mart, and Unilever), which have left the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) which is involved in drafting model state legislation on gun control, Voter ID laws, Stand Your Ground laws, anti-immigration bills, blocking EPA regulations, and reversing state regulations on renewable energy. Similarly, a number of US companies have left the Chamber of Commerce which has spent over $1bn on lobbying since 1998. While new research from InfluenceMap indicates that major oil companies and their trade associations spent over $100m in 2015 on efforts to obstruct and delay climate policy.

Simply put, we believe it is in the best interests of shareholders for companies to be transparent and accountable about whether they use corporate funds to influence regulation - both directly and indirectly.

Investors can shine a light on corporate political spending and lobbying

In the absence of mandatory requirements to disclose such payments the investment community has an important role to play. By engaging companies on these issues it can encourage increased transparency.

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For example in 2012 Boston Common raised the issue of lobbying disclosure and due diligence with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) when we discovered they were funding Heartland, an organization that denied the science backing climate change. In this case, GSK stopped their funding and used this as a case study to build a due diligence process to vet trade association membership and increase their disclosure on public policy positions and trade memberships. In 2013 they followed suit by leaving ALEC.

Many political spending and lobbying disclosure shareholder proposals are filed every year in the U.S. and this has led a number of companies to improve their disclosure. Another example from my firm's experience was the shareholder proposals we filed with Visa in 2012 and 2013 regarding the potential risks to the company's brand if it did not adopt best practice standards for lobbying disclosure. Visa subsequently established board level oversight, implemented due diligence procedures for lobbying disclosure and ended its membership of ALEC.

What to expect in 2016

With election campaigning in full swing, and concerns about the influence of money on politics in sharp focus, it is estimated that this proxy season there could be as many as 100 proposals filed which ask for disclosure of political spending. More than 50 investors have filed over 50 lobbying disclosure proposals including at Oracle and Verizon. At least 20 members of ALEC including Exxon Mobil and Pfizer will receive lobbying disclosure proposals. And there have been over 15 shareholder resolutions filed with fossil fuel companies on the issue of influence over climate policy.

What needs to change?

While levels of disclosure have improved over time, disclosure is voluntary. This means there is no uniform and standardized disclosure and this makes it difficult to completely assess the risks faced and opportunities available. And it isn't just investors who are asking for rules and guidance. A 2015 BDO survey found that 53% of public company board members believe the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) needs to develop mandatory disclosure rules for corporate political contributions.

A petition has been brought to the SEC asking for the development of rules that require public companies to disclose political contributions to shareholders. Yet, despite over 1.2 million letters submitted in support including institutional investors, leading academics, state treasurers, and even two former SEC Chairs Arthur Levitt and William Donaldson, Congress last year acted to prevent the SEC from implementing such a rule for the next year. A worrying decision, because when corporate lobbying and political contributions take place in the dark it is not only shareholder value that is put at risk, democracy itself is also weakened. And when that happens we all lose.

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Less than one month after the University of California Regents took a swipe at the First Amendment, voting to denounce and conflate "anti-Semitic anti-Zionist" language on campus, the California state Legislature will take up Santa Monica Assemblyman (D) Richard Bloom's bill, AB 2844, the "Anti-BDS Act of 2016," which would prohibit the state of California and its counties and cities from contracting with any private company that explicitly refuses to demolish Palestinian homes or build new settlements in the West Bank.

Who might be on California's forbidden list? European banks reeling from divestment campaigns, G4S, a prison security company that announced last month it's selling off its Israeli subsidiary, and maybe Veolia, the French multinational transportation company that ran Jewish-only buses along the West Bank's apartheid roads before a worldwide campaign successfully demanded an end to Veolia's complicity in the occupation. Last year, Veolia, which also contracted with the City of Los Angeles, announced it was selling off its investments in Israel.

Was Veolia's decision to get out of Israel a boycott or a business decision? Hmm ... therein lies the rub in Bloom's bill, because it only penalizes companies that "boycott" Israel, not ones that decide to no longer operate there for "business" reasons.

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Perhaps Bloom's bill - opposed by Jewish Voice for Peace - is mere Tarzan chest-pounding by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has pushed through similar anti-BDS legislation in various statehouses: Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Illinois among them. Even if it is all for show -- a meaningless get-tough bill Bloom and others in the Legislative Jewish Caucus (Yes, California has one - complete with an Israeli flag flying on its website) can bandy about to big donors in an election year - figuring out whether a company is boycotting Israel or simply making a necessary business decision sounds like a splitting-hairs headache for the State of California which could become embroiled in a bureaucratic nightmare, not to mention lawsuits from companies claiming unfair discrimination.

To follow the drama, stop by Wednesday, April 13, 9AM, State Capitol, the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review will deliver a thumbs up or thumbs down on Bloom's anti-BDS bill, either tossing it in the trash bin or sending it on to the Judiciary Committee to consider the bill's constitutional ramifications -- i.e., does it constitute illegal discrimination of political speech?

If you can't make it to Sacramento, consider stating your opposition in an email to:

Secretary, Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review

elizabeth.delgado@asm.ca.gov

Chair, Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review, Christina Garcia (D-Downey)

https://lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.php?district=AD58

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Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-South Gate)

assemblymember.rendon@assembly.ca.gov



Chair, Committee on the Judiciary, Mark Stone (D-Santa Cruz)

https://lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.php?district=AD29

Senate President Pro Temp, Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles)

http://sd24.senate.ca.gov/contact/email

Senate Majority Leader Bill Monning [D2] (D-Salinas)

senator.monning@senate.ca.gov



Or call the Speaker ...



Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon Capitol Office, State Capitol Room 219

Sacramento, CA 95814

Tel: (916) 319-2063 - Fax: (916) 319-2163



District Office:

12132 South Garfield Avenue

South Gate, CA 90280

Tel: (562) 529-3250 - Fax: (562) 529-3255

Bloom's water-carrying for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has raised the ire of some of his district's residents (count me in that crowd), including members of LA Jews for Peace, which requested but has yet to land a meeting with Bloom to discuss concerns the bill is an attempt to censor robust public debate about the future of Israel-Palestine.

AIPAC never sleeps, but neither do advocates for Palestinian human rights, who, like the United Nations, call for the right of banished and exiled Palestinians to return to their homeland, and for an end to the Israeli occupation, not just of the West Bank or the air space over Gaza; for but also for true equality inside Israel proper, where 20 percent of the population who are Palestinians live with pervasive Jim Crow-like discrimination that restricts where they can live.

AIPAC supporters say BDS is tantamount to calling for the destruction of Israel, but that word connotes a violent end. Here the Palestinian call to which we respond is not to war but to justice and equality, much like the call that echoed in South Africa. If exiled Palestinians were to return to Israel and if Israel ended its occupation, the term "birthright Israel" would go down in the dustbin of history, along with other colonial expressions such as "white man's burden."

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Let us honor the legacy of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old peace activist crushed to death in 2003 by a Caterpillar bulldozer as she tried to stop demolition of a family's home in Gaza.

It was Rachel Corrie who said, "I think freedom for Palestine could be an incredible source of hope to people struggling all over the world."

Let us pay tribute to the young woman who laid her body on the line. Contact the Legislature today to say NO to AB 2844 and YES to open debate.
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 9: Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign event at the Apollo Theater in New York, NY on Saturday April 09, 2016. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The generational divide in the Democratic primary is phenomenal. If it weren't for voters over 49, and their higher participation rates, Hillary Clinton wouldn't have much of a chance. "Age seems to be the most significant factor," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in New York.

The conventional wisdom is that younger voters are idealistic and impractical, and don't know enough about how the world works, and what can feasibly be accomplished in politics.

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Leaving aside that "younger" in this case includes a majority of voters under 50 that support Sanders , there is an alternative explanation that makes more sense. There are times in almost any country's history when important narratives lose credibility, and this expands the range of political possibilities. Younger people are often quicker to recognize these changes and the options that they present.

The Vietnam War is a classic example. Its legitimacy was premised on a deeply entrenched, Cold War narrative that the United States was engaged in an existential battle against communism, which threatened to take over the world. Vietnamese communists were part of this alleged existential threat, and therefore had to be defeated -- even at the cost of more than 58,000 American soldiers' lives, millions of Vietnamese, and many more casualties, as well as hundreds of billions of dollars.

It is now abundantly clear that this narrative was false. The Vietnamese communists won the war in 1975, and for more than 40 years since then, Vietnam has posed no threat whatsoever to U.S. security. But even at the height of the antiwar movement, Americans were divided, and very much along generational lines. And it wasn't simply because of the draft; to put it simply, younger Americans just didn't buy the dominant, false narrative that was used to justify the war. Even if they had less life experience and in some cases knew less about politics or even about history, they knew something very important that most older Americans did not understand.

Today's generational divide has similar characteristics. Younger people are not as steeped in the Cold War narrative, and so Hillary's foreign policy experience -- her support for wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and for potential war in Iran -- does not impress them at all. For those who know it, it repels them, and gives them more reasons to distrust Hillary and favor Bernie. The "War on Terror" is in many ways a somewhat flimsier but self-perpetuating replacement for the Cold War as a justification for our current state of permanent military conflict. Many people, especially those not so close to retirement, can see right through the official story.

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Obama himself said: "ISIS is a direct outgrowth of Al-Qaida in Iraq, that grew out of our invasion." And the original Al-Qaida, including Osama bin Laden, was also a product of earlier U.S. intervention -- in Afghanistan.

Younger people, more often than older, can also see that the label "democratic socialist" doesn't have quite the shock value that it may have had 20 or 30 years ago. This is corroborated by national polls, where Bernie does very well not only among Democrats but generally also better than Hillary in face-offs against the Republican candidates. For many respondents in these polls, the label "democratic socialist" is one of the very few things that they know about Bernie, thanks to the major media's including it in most of their reports, and giving Bernie a fraction of the coverage that they have given to Donald Trump. Yet independent voters -- whom the Democratic candidate needs in order to win the general election -- favor Bernie over Hillary by a wide margin.
One of the CNRP members arrested, Meach Sovannara, happens to also be a US citizen. And two American human rights attorneys have used this fact to file a case that could turn human rights law on its head.



On Friday, attorneys Morton Sklar and Nazareth Haysbert filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Los Angeles against the Hun Sen government of Cambodia on behalf of Sovannara and his family. Charges include false imprisonment of the CNRP leaders along with torture, cruel and inhuman treatment and punishment, and more.



As a rule, foreign governments are protected by sovereignty from being brought to trial in the US, as our leaders are abroad. The Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act, however, recognizes some exceptions, including violent actions again US citizens abroad, or torts (civil damage cases for injuries suffered from violence or abuse). Sovannara's case is the first case in the US to invoke the exceptions to hold officials of a foreign government accountable for human rights violations that affect US citizens. It could open some interesting doors.



The attorneys have also brought the US Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows a plaintiff to sue for both criminal and civil damages for acts of international terrorism, into the case. In words that will get you thinking about definitions, the lawyers argue that the arbitrary detention and torture of Sovannara "rises to the level of international terrorism." A few despotic leaders in our world might want to be paying attention to the possibility that a US court could decide in the near future that kidnapping, holding hostage and torture don't have to be done by an Islamic fundamentalist to be considered terrorism.



The filing of the case was timed to correspond with the US visit of the one of the defendants in the case. Hun Manet is Hun Sen's eldest son and head of Cambodia's military, police and security forces. A West Point graduate, he is being groomed to replace his father at the country's helm. The attorneys argue in the case that the political repression of the CNRP has taken place under his watch and if not with his planning, at least with his approval.



Saturday night outside the La Lune Restaurant in Long Beach, California, where Manet was having dinner, a process server arrived to serve papers on the case. The Long Beach Police Department was in the parking lot to monitor a small protest from the Cambodian community. The process server notified the police of what he was doing and was allowed to go forward.



Manet's bodyguards were not pleased. There was a scuffle. The process server was slammed hard to the ground by one of the bodyguards, landing on his head and spine. This time the police did intervene, called an ambulance, and got the server to a hospital. He is now in ICU and is expected to be there for up to five days while doctors determine if he will need surgery for spinal injuries.



It appears that in the first volley between political repression and human rights law, repression has scored a point. Long Beach police detectives, however, were at the hospital Saturday night questioning the process server.
California is the most populous state in the union, and the California Department of Education is responsible for educating more students than any other state agency in the country. In 2015, the department was charged with providing primary and secondary education to over six million students. With a population that size, successful education policies that are enacted in California have the potential to impact national education data, and as a result, are much more likely to influence other states to follow California's lead.

At the end of 2015, President Obama and the Republican-led Congress came together to pass a bipartisan overhaul of No Child Left Behind called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

As I've written here before, ESSA is an important step forward for national education policy, and presents opportunities to help more students read. One of the consequences of ESSA's passage is that more education policy decisions will be made in the halls of state legislatures and the offices of state school superintendents. The federal government will continue to provide broad framework and oversight, but many details on how federal education grant money will be used, and what constitutes accountability in performance, will be state-driven decisions.

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We need to define what smart state-level legislation looks like and how it can work. Founded and headquartered in California, Reading Partners is excited to support the California Golden State Reading Guarantee (SB 1145) introduced by Senator Ben Hueso (D). SB 1145 isn't just good policy for California, it's a model for state-level policy across the country.

At the end of last year, we learned that 60 percent of all California fourth graders are not meeting the reading standards set by the state's new "Smarter Balanced Test". For California and all-too-many states facing similar proficiency gaps, that's a surefire cause for concern. With so many kids being left behind we are creating a generation that will be unable to progress through school or have fruitful careers in an economy increasingly reliant on highly-educated workers, be that through college or the trades. That's clearly a worrisome trajectory for students, families and the economy.

SB 1145 takes on the reading gap emerging in California's schools by making strategic investments in students during the kindergarten through fourth-grade years in order to provide struggling students with the resources they need, when they need them the most. The critical components of the legislation include:

Individualized reading plans: Giving struggling readers exactly what they need

Family engagement: Involving parents and guardians in decisions that affect their children

Additional K-3 Funding: Seeking appropriate and sufficient funding to increase the amount schools receive for students in kindergarten through 3rd grade under the Local Control Funding Formula in order to fulfill the requirements of this legislation

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The bill starts from the premise that reading is the most fundamental skill for learning--an essential building block of all education. Children who fail to master reading at an early age will be unable to master other subjects.

What's more, each student is unique and requires an approach that is flexible and attentive to the unique needs of every learner. Hence, the legislation requires that all K-4 students identified as struggling readers receive an individualized, evidence-based intervention reading plan that is customized based on feedback from teachers, families, a reading specialist, and a school administrator. Students who are disabled or in the process of learning English will receive approaches molded to fit their particular needs.
You can judge a book by its title. Perhaps there is more than a grain of truth in that saying in the recent article by Leela Jacinto in Foreign Policy. The article and its sensationalized title belong to the unfortunate trend of parachute journalism that descends on current events with no prior knowledge, labors to grasp at straws of relevance, but sadly fails to deliver. The author makes a number of questionable blanket statements in its attempt to establish a tenuous link between the recent wave of terrorism in France and Belgium, and the northern mountainous region of the Rif in Morocco, where some of the terrorists claim ancestral homeland. Jacinto goes even farther than this, making the unsubstantiated assertion that the Rif region is the "heartland of global terrorism" - not Molenbeek, Raqqa, or Waziristan. She writes:

"At the heart of terrorist strikes across the world over the past 15 years lies the Rif. A mountainous region in northern Morocco, stretching from the teeming cities of Tangier and Tetouan in the west to the Algerian border in the east, the Rif is an impoverished area rich in marijuana plants, hashish peddlers, smugglers, touts, and resistance heroes that has rebelled against colonial administrators, postcolonial kings, and any authority imposed from above. For the children of the Rif who have been transplanted to Europe, this background can combine with marginalization, access to criminal networks, and radicalization to make the vulnerable ones uniquely drawn to acts of terrorism"

Instead of focusing the article on an analysis of the nefarious effects of marginalization and religious radicalization in European suburbs and banlieues, the author takes a detour to the ethnic and regional background of the terrorists' ancestral home. What evidence does Jacinto present to substantiate these claims? Notorious terrorists such as Najim Laachraoui and the parents of Salah Abdeslam were born in Morocco in the Rif. That evidence seems thin at best. She, however, does offer the slight disclaimer that the ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdlehamid Abaaoud, didn't come from the Rif, which should provide an early debunking lacuna in the entire premise of the article:

"Laachraoui was Riffian: a Belgian national predominantly raised in the Schaerbeek neighborhood of Brussels but born in Ajdir, a small Moroccan town with a proud Rif history. Paris attack suspect Salah Abdeslam and his brother Brahim, who was one of the Paris attackers who targeted bars and restaurants in the 10th and 11th arrondissements before blowing himself up at a popular Paris eatery on Nov. 13, 2015, were also both Riffian by parentage. (Ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud was not of Riffian origin, for what it's worth -- his family came from southern Morocco.)

The article does not offer any analysis of the complex radicalization and indoctrination of these primarily European citizens. Not a single one of these terrorists was radicalized, indoctrinated, or trained in the Rif Mountains. None of them lived, if at all, in the Rif for any extensive period of time. The fact that they, and their parents, were born in one of the most marginalized, poorest regions in Morocco, home to cannabis, contraband smuggling, and violent history with colonialism and the autocratic Makhzen state are indicators enough for Jacinto that the essence of radical religious terrorism gripping Europe and the world today lies in the Rif Mountains.

The general thrust of the article, we are led to believe, is that these Riffians and their parents brought a sort of baggage of alienation and extremism with them to Europe, which facilitated their radicalization, regardless of their early criminal background or individual and communal exclusion in a society that seeks to assimilate them radically as European citizens only.

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The Riffian identity and culture, and the "baggage of neglect", as the article contends without any shred of evidence sociological or otherwise, are radicalizing. Placed in a comparative perspective, the author claims that Turkish Belgians are not as militant as Moroccan Belgians, simply because they are not exposed to Arabic Wahhabi literature. Either Jacinto does not know, or prefers to ignore the fact that the Wahhabi ideology has long been translated to many world languages, including Turkish. Moreover, we know that several of these European Muslim terrorists do not speak Arabic and rely on translated videos and literature of radical Islamism. ISIS has also been more successful in recruiting homegrown European terrorists in their own language. But more devastating to the article is the lack of basic facts about the Rif. Riffians are predominantly Amazigh, who are ethnically and linguistically not Arab, and do not speak Arabic. According to the piece's argument, they are as foreign to Wahhabi ideology disseminated in the Arabic language as the Turks are.

The author also makes the feeble argument that the secular cultural history of modern Turkey explains the lack of Turkish terrorists in Europe. No evidence is provided of this - only the conjecture of one of the sources in her article. However, we know that there are a number of Turkish terrorists fighting for ISIS. According to the Soufan Group, there are 2,100 Turkish fighters with ISIS, the fourth largest contingency of radical Islamists after Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Russia (not an Arab-speaking country). Jacinto seems to think that all she needs to do is point out that some of the recent terrorists in Europe are from Moroccan-Riffian descent in order to offer conclusive proof of a Moroccan-Riffian radical gene. That is a dangerously false assertion on a number of levels. First of all, these terrorists are more Belgian or French than Moroccan. Some don't even speak the Amazigh dialects or associate culturally or cognitively with their land of origin. Their radicalization happened in Europe and their malaise is a European one of integration and assimilation, legitimized by reference to a violent perverted religious ideology. The problem is located more in European societies where the radicalized Moroccan transplants are liminal individuals with a dangerous sense of identity crisis.

One of the major characteristics of religious terrorism is that sense of alienation in one's society as evidenced by generations of religious extremists from the Christian identity movement at the heart of the Oklahoma City bombing, to the Jewish zealotry of Baruch Goldstein, and the apocalyptic world view of Aum Shinrikyo's perverted Buddhism in Japan. The sense of marginalization of a great number of Muslims feel at home, be it in the Muslim majority states under the yoke of authoritarian rule, or in European countries facing a divisive dangerous identity crisis. These radical outsiders view themselves at the fringe of their socio-political system, where violence becomes a sacramental act justified by ossified religious principles, and legitimized through a reference to a violent eschatolgy.

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The article commits the sin of collectivization and cast the whole Rif region as a region of militancy. Rif is among one of the most disadvantaged regions in Morocco, with a particularly bloody history of state violence. But several regions in Morocco feature the same menu of socio-economic ostracism and pathologies, with little or similar recourse to violence.
200 people found new jobs in State Street's new branch in Gdansk, and another several hundred may find till the end of 2016. Jay Hooley, CEO of State Street, even described Poland as a "new rock star". It is nice to hear that, but let's try to get a little bit further and consider why international companies choose Gdansk?

At the main street of Gdansk. Photo: Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, License CC-BY-SA 3.0

State Street managers put it straight: attractiveness of the city matters. When one considers establishing company's operations in a new city, not only local job market is analyzed. Of course, availability of highly qualified specialists or skillful graduates is important and Gdansk, with its great universities, provides that. No less important is the ability to absorb new investments and new employers - the part of that is the availability of modern office space and good transport connections.

But there is something else, something what is not always easy to precisely describe: the attractiveness of the city - the things that make people want to live in the city.

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Selecting the new location, State Street, a worldwide financial services company, was looking for cities, where experts, for example from Canada or the Netherlands, will be eager to relocate. Gdansk fulfilled these criteria.

The levels of satisfaction is quite high among residents of Gdansk. As it was checked during the renowned "Social diagnosis 2015" survey, Gdansk, along with its neighboring Gdynia, are the cities with the highest numbers of satisfied residents - 79,2% and 87,2% respectively. In case of Gdansk, this factor grew from 65,7% in 2011 to 79,2% in 2015.

Why the number are so high? I think that the reason for the attractiveness is a very unique spirit of Gdansk - a city located between dense forests and a seacoast, with great recreational facilities and with the old town, which witnessed dramatic historical events, but now is attracting thousands of tourists and residents. Gdansk has been attracting new residents for years, therefore people here are very open-minded, ready to cooperate with others, flexible. What's also very important - many foreign students arrive to Gdansk for education at our universities. Not to mention a great amount of cultural events in our city and the region.

Generik Vapeur street theatre performing in Gdansk. Photo: J. Pinkas
Author Perry Brass in Cuba, Feb. 2016, at the Morro Fortress, during the Havana International Book Fair.

My Facebook page is "no longer available." This means my 2,200 former Facebook friends cannot find out about my books, or what I am doing as a writer, since I use my Facebook page almost entirely for professional reasons. Since February I have been "blocked." Why, I have no idea but it has to do with the books I write being banned "forever" from being advertised or promoted because of their titles and possibly covers--The Manly Art of Seduction and later The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love, both available on Amazon. The Manly Art of Seduction was an Amazon bestseller, received a Gold Medal IPPY award, is on Audible.com, and in Portuguese, and soon Spanish.

I was told by the faceless "Facebook Team" that The Manly Art of Seduction violated FB's code because of the word "Seduction." I can "never advertise this product" on Facebook (it's a "product," like a condom, not a book) and there is no appeal. Still, hope springs eternal. My follow-up book The Manly Pursuit of Desire and Love, without "Seduction" in its title, might be permissible. It wasn't. I was informed that Desire itself was not allowed in any advertisement of any product on Facebook. Therefore both books were categorized as "banned" products, like vibrators.

This was done by people who hadn't read or researched the books--like Salmon Rushdie's fatwa. Or maybe by computer robots, or in some backroom in India that decided it was not going to allow books of this sort anyplace.



I was in Cuba for 10 days, from Feb 9 - 19, and from there, Facebook is off limits. When I got back, I came down with bronchitis which put me away from Facebook even longer. At the end of February, after receiving "reminders" directing me to log onto friends' updates, I started hitting links that sent me into Mark Zuckerberg's empire.

And got this message.

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We removed the content that was posted.

We restrict the display of nudity. Some descriptions of sexual acts may also be removed. These restrictions on the display of both nudity and sexual activity also apply to digitally created content unless the content is posted for educational, humorous or satirical purposes.

So, why were some of my 2,400 Facebook friends' posts being removed? After I tried my own page, I realized I had now been completely blocked from Facebook.

I started Googling what to do and learned that Facebook has recently instituted a policy that it can block anyone without warning. It is enforcing a new series of "global community standards," meaning anyone in any country can complain about your content. So if in Timbuktu someone is offended, you can be blocked by the "Facebook Team."

Also, that A), only Facebook can remove the block, so it's futile to appeal. B) If they do decide to remove it, they will in their own time with no communication with you. And C) the cause of the block will never be known to you.

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Born in Harlem, raised in Washington Heights, even though not living in New York today, at heart I am always a New Yorker. Having attended public schools, graduated CCNY, received a Masters from Baruch and taught elementary school in Harlem it is who I am. A political junkie since the age of nine handing out flyers for Adlai Stevenson; running a storefront for JFK in 1960; supporting Congressman William Fitz Ryan (D-NY), Robert Kennedy (D-NY), then Bella Abzug (D-NY) who I worked for.

My progressive activism is inherited from my mother, an immigrant from Austria from where she and my grandparents escaped Hitler. One of my childhood memories is my mom holding a fundraiser for an African American mother and her nine children being evicted from their home by Columbia University in Morningside Heights. I remember being so proud of my mom standing up to some of our neighbors who couldn't understand why she would do this saying, "Because it's the right thing to do". I imagine Chelsea thinking that way about some of the things Hillary did. I learned sticking to your principles was not only the right thing to do, often not easy, but in the end rewarding. I learned to respect people who not only spoke out, but acted on their principles. Those who learned to compromise not on principle but on the people you had to work with to get the results you wanted.

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Very few have been able to do this successfully throughout their careers and none without being attacked for it. No one more successfully than Hillary Rodham Clinton who I first met in Little Rock in 1990. She had just championed education reform in Arkansas and keynoted an education conference I ran. She spoke from her heart about a lifelong passion she still fights for today; every child deserves an education that allows them to reach their God-given potential. It resonated with everyone lucky enough to hear her that day and every day she has said it since.

I have seen political courage working for a quintessential New Yorker Bella S. Abzug (D-NY) who helped found Women Strike for Peace against nuclear testing and the Vietnam war; led the women's rights movement along with Gloria Steinem and others; introduced the first civil and human rights bill for LGBT Americans; and fought for a mass-transit trade-in from the Highway Trust Fund, along with Ted Kennedy (D-MA), getting $800 million for New York mass transit and finally stopping the building of a new Westside Highway. A brilliant progressive firebrand who none-the-less was named a Whip by Speaker Tip O'Neill in maybe the most successful six year congressional career anyone ever had. She knew when to speak out and how to get along to move her agenda forward.

This same courage and understanding of how to get things done is what makes New Yorkers respect Hillary. She has shown it in her fights for children's rights, civil rights, the rights of women and the LGBT community, immigrants' rights, universal healthcare and the rights of everyone around the world to live in freedom. Her courage in Beijing in 1995 speaking truth to the power to the Chinese government in their own capital declaring to the world 'Women's rights are human rights and human rights a women's rights'. Doing it again in Geneva in 2011 when she said to the United Nations and the world 'Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights'.

When Hillary announced she was running for the Senate in NY many were skeptical. I never was. Speaking out for her and supporting the campaign was exciting. Hillary did as she always has; met with people and listened to their needs and wants and won them over one at a time. My New York friends soon saw the woman I admired who worked harder and longer hours than anyone else. The woman who takes the time to understand people's problems, shares her principles and ideas with them, and then joins hands to get things done.

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Hillary is so many things; a woman, a mother, a lawyer, an activist, a progressive, and now a grandmother. The first lady or Arkansas, the first lady of the United States, a Senator, and Secretary of State. No one in their right mind could suggest this woman isn't qualified and ready to take on any challenge including being president of the United States.

After 9/11 she fought for and secured the money to make New York whole again. She did so by joining with others and sharing her passion and showing compassion, and willingness to fight for what she knew was right. She fought for and won healthcare benefits for those brave first responders who were heroes that day and in the weeks following.
The coming week is poised to see significant shifts in the Yemeni, Libya, and Syrian issues midwifed by the three UN envoys in charge of searching for political solutions to these conflicts, in which many local, regional, and international factors overlap and interact.

In Syria, with the approach of the real plan, the Western countries, particularly the US and Britain, seem to be caving in to the fait accompli represented in the insistence of Russia and Iran on Bashar al-Assad fighting the presidential battle to the end, because, in his view, he is part of the political process until it ends in 18 months with presidential elections.

In Libya, resolve is making its way to conciliatory international attitudes regarding the centrality of controlling the capital Tripoli and the centrality of having an official request made by the national accord government that would enable the US, Britain, France, and Italy to create an alliance against ISIS and al-Qaeda there, similar to the coalition working with the Iraqi government at present.

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In Yemen, the recent Saudi engagement with the Houthi rebels is coinciding with notable changes in the government announced last week, with both military and diplomatic implications. They also coincide with an international understanding of the new military and political facts on the ground, on the basis of which the peace process is being pushed forward.

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi took a surprising decision to sack his deputy and prime minister Khaled Bahah from both posts, appointing General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar vice president and Ahmed Obeid ibn Dagher as prime minister. Appointing Ahmar raised questions about the intentions of Saudi Arabia, particularly since he has a history of brutality and bloodiness. The sacking of Bahah also caused tension between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and Ahmar's appointment also caused anger as the man is seen as a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate.Sources familiar with Saudi thinking downplayed the concerns that Ahmar could become president of Yemen, even if Hadi dies, given his difficult history and the implication for the secession of South Yemen.

What about his affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood? The sources say that some in Riyadh see him as part of the Muslim Brotherhood, but a "lighter shade" thereof. Ahmar, the sources said, is not ideological, and is cut of the same cloth as former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Therefore, he should be seen as the military counterpart of Saleh, and this is the main reason he was appointed, in addition to the fact that Hadi is convinced Ahmar's presence along his side guarantees he would remain in office.

The advantages Ahmar brings with him to those who support him in the kingdom is that he has formidable military and tribal assets. Therefore, he has the ability to accommodate a large segments of northern tribes, and to rally and boost the morale of the Yemeni army, as well as win over part of the army forces that defected in favour of Ali Abdullah Saleh.

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Other informed sources said the Saudi support for the pro-Riyadh Yemeni president's moves is a message to the Houthis and the supporters of Saleh: Either engage in lasting peace, or continue the fierce war this time with Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar at the helm.

These sources quoted what the Saudi side told UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to communicate to the Houthis: Do not misread or miscalculate, and come to mistakenly believe the kingdom is fatigued and would not be able to continue the war. What is at stake is its strategic interests for which no price is too high. We want peace with you, but not from a position of weakness or intimidation.

In the opinion of some, it is what happened on the ground in the Yemeni war that has prompted the Houthis to reconsider and seek peace with the Saudis. A source put it this way: The Houthis were born and have grown old in the space of a single year. They concluded that Iranian assistance under the table would not be sufficient to fight a ferocious war, and that Iranian support would not be enough to cover the burden of the war in Yemen, which is why they decided to distance themselves to an extent from Tehran.

The Houthis agreed to engage with Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that their request for them to be recognized as an equal to the legitimate government of Hadi was rejected. The Houthis found an opportunity through the UN envoy to discuss a settlement based on resolution 2216, which is backed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, led by Russia and the US. They understood that these countries accepted Saudi Arabia's insistence on its own arrangements at its southern border and its desire to reach a political settlement after eliminating the threat at the border. Now there is a different dynamic after the gains on the ground.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed will build on this dynamic, after the ceasefire, which starts on April 10, is consolidated, at the negotiations scheduled for April 18 in Kuwait. Ould Cheikh will seek support from the UN Security Council for the five axes he declared and which he wants to implement through five teams working in parallel: Withdrawals; handing over weapons to the state; temporary security arrangements; resumption of the political process; and mutual release of detainees.

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These breakthroughs may amount to a quantum leap towards ending the conflict in Yemen, but it could be merely a "warrior's break" before resuming the fighting even more ferociously. It depends on several unpredictable considerations, especially since the pace of the war has become part and parcel of the pace of negotiations.

To be sure, the Ali Abdullah Saleh factor remains a key part of the equation, even if some are now claiming he is marginal and others are saying he would not be able to get any deal after the Houthis abandoned him. Some believe Saleh has become an obstacle to the political process, and that there can be no safe exit for him because the conditions for that are impossible. Indeed, his funds and assets he wants to remove from Yemen makes his exit difficult.

Perhaps it is the fatigue factor that will allow Yemen to end its many wars, and the same could apply to Libya's bloody conflict, where now there seems to be finally a willingness to stop the bleeding.

The head of the UN-backed Libyan national accord government Fayez Sarraj arrived in Libya with international support, with the UN pledging to continue to support the government to impose its authority in the capital.

The Secretary-General's envoy Martin Kobler made a first visit to Tripoli, as a number of countries said their ambassadors would be returning to the Libyan capital. In other words, there is a bare minimum level of security guaranteed in Tripoli, in what could indicate the militias that controlled the city have endorsed the national accord government. This government has received economic and political support as well, as municipalities, the central bank, the national oil company, and the Libyan investment authority all endorsed it.

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The Western governments, with Russian support, want the Sarraj government to be stable in order for this to lead to address two main threats: the expansion of ISIS in the Libyan interior and into Africa and Europe; and illegal migration via Libya's shores to Europe. What the West wants is for the Libyan government to authorize a Western intervention in Libya against terrorism and illegal migration.

The first challenge is to consolidate security control over the capital and the country. This requires equipping the army and the police. Indeed, current capabilities make the talk about the government tackling the likes of ISIS out of the question, as the UN Security Council continues to implement an arms embargo on the Libyan government. For this reason, there are agreements being sought to pass exceptional resolutions that would sanctions arms deals with fast approval.The primary beneficiary of any arms deal would be Russia. The Libyan air force's equipment is primarily Russian and Eastern European. Meanwhile, Britain and Italy could take the lead on restricting the army and police.

What Libya needs is not just mobilizing its army and police to fight against ISIS and similar groups. Help must also be extended to the government to get rid of militias and merge them into the national institutions, in addition to allowing the army and police to procure the right weaponry.The national accord government will not be able to work as long as the militias refuse to hand over their weapons and be assimilated. The government will not function unless experienced political and administrative cadres are brought in. There is now an opportunity, provided that local, regional, and international decisions are combined to effect radical changes and launch a serious effort for institution-building in Libya. Stopping the bleeding may be the result of fatigue, but reconstruction needs more than tactical measures.

The Syrian issue needs more than one last paragraph. What is certain, however, is that the moment of truth is now challenging all sides to be honest with themselves and with others, but this is still elusive amid the quest for deals and amid wishful thinking. The main obstacle is the fate of Bashar al-Assad, and this is the key to a breakthrough in the transitional political process in Syria, which is supposed to culminate with presidential elections 18 months after the start of negotiations. The onus of proving good intentions falls primarily on the duo Kerry and Lavrov, not Bashar al-Assad. Assad is clear in that he intends to fight the presidential battle even if atop the ruins of Syria. But others, especially the sponsors of the presumed political solution, are still hiding behind their fingers and dodging the issue.
Lawyers can play many roles, often contributing to economic inequality. They can represent large corporations against their low-wage workers, receive large salaries representing Too Big to Fail Banks, and lobby for tax dodges for billionaires. But they can also work for greater economic equality and to prevent the harshest consequences of racial and gender discrimination. This is probably no more evident than in the housing context, where lawyers for non-profits help to prevent eviction and foreclosure, saving people from dislocation, preserving communities, and preventing homelessness and the downward spiral that comes when a family loses its home. Recent research shows not just the economic and human costs of eviction for lack of a lawyer who could mount a legal defense, but also the benefits of government funding for non-profits to provide such assistance free of charge.

One of the most important and noble roles lawyers can play is to defend their clients against eviction and foreclosure. The human cost of homelessness is profound, as individuals of all ages suffer mental trauma, place their physical health at risk, lose days at work and are sometimes left unemployed. Children miss days of school and are simply unable to learn when their worlds are turned upside down.

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When a lawyer defends someone's home in court, he or she can interpose important and complicated defenses that can prevent eviction or foreclosure, keeping the client off the streets or out of the homeless shelter. In his recent work, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Harvard University's Matthew Desmond traces the trajectory of eight families in Milwaukee as they struggle to survive in substandard housing and face displacement by landlords seeking to exploit their tenants' lack of economic power and defenselessness. Lawyers can change that balance of power, but lawyers are not always available.

Unlike in most court cases where someone is charged with a serious criminal charge, individuals in cases in the civil courts of the U.S., when they may face the loss of their home or apartment, are seeking to discharge their debts in bankruptcy, or pursue restitution for unpaid wages, are not guaranteed a right to a lawyer if they cannot afford one. Roughly eighty percent of low-income Americans and fifty percent of middle-income Americans face these sorts of legal problems without an attorney.

Even though the federal government and many state governments offer some funding for legal services for individuals whose income does not exceed 125% of the federal poverty line, such funding is woefully inadequate and providers of free legal services typically turn away four eligible clients for every one they represent due to lack of funding. And what funding is available is always subject to the budget ax by politicians eager to please their wealthy supporters by undercutting lawyers for the poor who may work against the interests of the donor class. There are even fewer sources of public funding for the working poor and none for the middle class.

While this lack of funding has profound effects on low- and middle-income individuals and families, it also has a broader, societal effect, which should convince everyone that providing a free lawyer for those who cannot afford one makes fiscal sense. Indeed, if the human cost of evictions was not enough to urge public action to fund lawyers for the tenants and homeowners who cannot afford them, the public cost of homelessness and eviction makes apparent the need to ensure balance in the scales of justice, to guarantee everyone has his or her day in court, with a lawyer.

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How to fill the "justice gap": the yawning chasm between the need for lawyers and the availability of affordable lawyers or free lawyers for those who cannot afford them? There are many ways. Providing volunteer lawyers is one mechanism, where lawyers at private firms work on a pro bono basis. Low-cost options are now being explored, with lawyers working in an on demand fashion, in limited ways, to provide guidance and some level of representation, if not full representation in court. But there simply is no substitute for a lawyer, provided at government expense, who will help defend a low- or middle-income person's home. Certainly this would be expensive, but, as it turns out, such funding would more than pay for itself.

A just-released study of the potential benefits of providing lawyers for tenants making up to 200% of poverty--so the poor and the working poor--shows that a roughly $200 million investment to provide a lawyer for every qualifying tenant facing eviction in New York City would save over half a billion dollars in money spent on shelter for the homeless and the other costs associated with evictions.

One of the added benefits of preserving tenants in their homes is that it helps to maintain affordable housing. In a city like New York, where rent regulations help keep the rents down in roughly half of the residential units in the city, eviction from a regulated unit usually means the landlord can raise the rent for that apartment to market rate, removing it from the protections of rent regulations forever. So, eviction of a rent regulated tenant typically means not just that the tenant is homeless but his or her apartment is now no longer regulated and another low- or moderate-income tenant cannot live there, making the already overheated housing market a little hotter. This phenomenon is particularly pernicious in communities facing gentrification as landlords are eager to file eviction cases on trumped up charges so they can get tenants protected by rent regulations out of their apartments and begin charging a higher, market-rate rent. These practices have contributed to economic inequality and the displacement of whole communities in New York City over the last twenty years, leading to the hollowing out of New York's once traditional working class communities.
This week, there were developments on two major Republican voter suppression mechanisms. A three-judge federal panel greenlighted for trial an important case regarding the 2011 Republican gerrymandering of legislative districts, noting that the maps for the Wisconsin Assembly more heavily favor one party (the GOP) than any other map in the country in the last 40 years! This decision came a couple of days after we saw the impacts of the second prong of Wisconsin voter suppression - the fallout from having one of the most extreme voter ID laws in the country.

After Ted Cruz won Wisconsin, Congressman Grothman bluntly stated that the real purpose of Voter ID laws was to help power-hungry Republicans remain on top. This was compounded by a former GOP staffer disclosing that at a closed-door meeting of Republican legislators considering the Voter ID bill, "giddy" GOP lawmakers acknowledged the ID bill would most negatively affect the ability of students and minorities to vote.

Republican legislators purposefully included a requirement in the law that student IDs used for voting must expire within two years and be signed by the student, disqualifying typical student IDs at campuses around the state, while also requiring proof of current enrollment. This requirement is especially hard on out-of-state students and those without a driver's license. In my own district, which includes a large chunk of the UW-Madison campus, about a quarter of students are nonresidents or out of state students.

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Indeed, students on some campuses waited hours to get the correct identification and then to vote. There were reports both of students being turned away for not having the right ID and students leaving without voting because of the long lines caused by the ID process. Marquette University and UW-Green Bay were especially hard-hit, with 240 students still in line at Governor Walker's former University when the polls closed at 8pm. Some students wondered out loud why it seemed they were being prevented from voting.

Ideally, the Voter ID law wouldn't exist in the first place, and Democrats did everything they could to stop it on the front end. What Governor Walker and the Republican-led legislature won't tell you is that despite having passed one of the most extreme Voter ID bills in the country, they have refused to fund the public informational campaign that is specifically identified in the legislation and was supposed to precede its implementation.

That is why I introduced a bill to allocate $500,000 to the GAB to conduct this vital campaign. It is a small price to pay to make sure our citizens are informed and actually get to exercise their most fundamental right to vote. Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues refused to act and provide any funds for the voter education campaign that was an integral part of the law.

Republicans quoting Tuesday's record numbers at the polls as proof that Wisconsin's Voter ID law isn't suppressing votes are trying to throw you off their scent. Despite the high turnout, the bottom line hasn't changed - Voter ID laws don't combat fraud (which is virtually nonexistent) but they have been shown to disenfranchise voters. Think about how high the turnout could have been if everyone had been able to exercise their right to vote!

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Raise your hand if you believe the following: 1. Facts matter in politics. 2. A good argument should sway your opinion. 3. Elections should be about issues. I'll assume your hand went up. That means congratulations are in order. You have earned an A in civics. Now that we have that out of the way, we should talk about the real world.

Let's focus on facts. For either we respect facts or we don't and if we don't neither of the other two points are worth debating. Which brings me to Donald Trump. He lies flagrantly and promiscuously. He seems to lie so often and so egregiously one wonders if he himself any longer realizes when he's lying. But the interesting question at the moment is not why Trump lies as why his followers don't seem to care when he does. What's that all about?

The temptation is to think there's something wrong with those Trump voters. For they aren't reacting the way we think they should be, making them seem even more cartoonish than they already appear. They're not just susceptible to xenophobia, misogyny, racism and the other pariah appeals Trump's making; they're also dangerously impervious to plain reason. In many ways this seems like the biggest threat of all. If you can't reason with people, politics doesn't work.

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But since when have voters ever worried much about facts?

Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said that we are entitled to our own opinions but not our own facts. But facts are often held to be less precious than we think they are. Two examples drawn from Democratic Party presidents (I want to be fair and not just pick on Republicans) are illustrative.

Let's start with a Democratic Party icon: Jack Kennedy. On the campaign trail in 1960 Kennedy said it was a fact that the Russians had more nuclear missiles than the United States. He was wrong. Okay, so he made a mistake. But he continued to insist that there was a missile gap to the Soviet's advantage even after he was briefed by General Earl Wheeler that there wasn't.

After the election his secretary of defense, Robert McNamara, told the press on background that a study had found there was no missile gap, leading to blaring headlines the next morning. JFK's reaction? He ordered his press secretary, Pierre Salinger, to tell the media that there had been no study and that there was a gap. The truth was that JFK himself didn't take his own rhetoric about the missile gap seriously. At cabinet meetings he cracked on numerous occasions, "Who ever believed in the missile gap" anyway?

Then there's JFK's successor, Lyndon Johnson. During the election of 1964 Johnson told the American people that the North Vietnamese were guilty of making repeated unprovoked attacks on our naval vessels in the Tonkin Gulf. This claim was wrong on two counts. One, the "attack" LBJ drew attention to probably didn't happen as he himself privately acknowledged. "Hell, those dumb stupid sailors were just shooting at flying fish," he confided to an aide. Two, America was no innocent by-stander. For months we'd been engaged in a quasi-war with North Vietnam where we were the aggressors.

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LBJ's lies eventually caught up with him, earning him a well-deserved reputation as a prevaricating politician who could lie even about a matter as serious as war. He told Americans we were winning in Vietnam when actually we were losing, leading to the much lamented credibility gap with which his administration has forever since been associated.

But it wasn't until thousands of soldiers began coming home in body bags that Americans began to care much about LBJ's modest appreciation of the truth. And JFK's lie about the missile gap never caused the American public to reassess his character though he had built his foreign policy critique of the Eisenhower administration on the claim. To this day few remember that Kennedy lied brazenly about our nuclear capacity even though the truth had been splashed on the front page of America's great newspapers. The public preferred to believe the hokum Pierre Salinger peddled at Kennedy's behest. Not until Kennedy was implicated in numerous sex scandals did Americans finally concede that Kennedy wasn't the man they had thought he was.

The history books are full of nuggets like these. Politicians lie. In our cynical moments we admit that, but still we can't seem to acknowledge the implication. I'll spell it out. They lie because the voters often don't care about the truth. Our fixation with the truth and facts and all that is a bit of a sham. It's not just the pols who lie. So do the voters. We lie about our unwillingness to put up with lies.

It's not that we're congenital prevaricators. The answer is more complicated. Our brains are partisan. While we are quick to seize on the misstatements of other candidates, we give them a pass when it's our own. When the social scientist Drew Westen put voters in an MRI machine he discovered that their brains quickly shut off the flow of information contrary to their beliefs about their favorite candidates. The neurons actively involved in the transmission of this information literally went inactive.

Donald Trump's voters have been ridiculed for their willingness to overlook his inconsistencies and lies, but this is what all voters do once they've become committed to a particular candidate. Cognitive dissonance theory explains why. Once we have made up our mind about something contrary information disturbs our feeling of well-being and we do whatever we can to ignore it or explain it away.

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From the looks of the faces of the journalists quizzing the candidates at the presidential debates the candidates' indifference to the truth is shocking. But neither history nor the findings of social science justify this naive faith in the truth.

Human beings do indeed care for the truth and we come equipped with cheater detection software to help us detect lies. It's that software that helps us detect nervousness in a deceiver. Without trying and often without conscious awareness we pick up on subtle clues: a higher voice pitch, twitching hands, or even a fake smile.

So why doesn't that wonderful human technology help save us from lying politicians? The reason is disturbingly straightforward. It doesn't work if the person speaking believes their own lies. In those situations no flare goes up in our brain warning us to be on alert.

Mitt Romney has beseeched Trump voters not to be suckers. But as long as Trump continues to give the impression that he's being sincere his voters won't have cause to think he's misleading them if they judge him strictly on the basis of his debate performances, which many thus far have been doing.

Here's the good news: We aren't sitting ducks. When a politician lies repeatedly and egregiously they eventually get a reputation for lying (as LBJ did). Once this happens people begin to reshape their perceptions. But this process often takes a long time. Richard Nixon succeeded in fooling millions that he was innocent of charges related to Watergate for eleven months after the break-in. Only then, after the resignation of his two top aides, Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, did his support finally dip below 50 percent. When the allegation first surfaced about Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky millions refused to believe it until prosecutors revealed they possessed her infamous blue dress with a semen stain, which prompted Clinton to (sort of) admit the truth.

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Richard Branson &Anthony Scaramucci

Intolerance and divisive behavior have permeated our culture to such a degree that finding the Loch Ness monster seems far easier than encountering an intelligent debate or an open exchange of ideas.

Unusual as it may seem, a wide range of prominent leaders from business, sports politics and entertainment gather every May in Las Vegas to share their thoughts in a totally bipartisan environment at SALT (SkyBridge Alternative Conference).

SALT is the brainchild of Anthony Scaramucci and Victor Oviedo, partners in the SkyBridge Capital hedge fund who launched the conference in 2009. I spoke with Oviedo on the phone recently and asked him to explain SALT's rapid success and continuing popularity, as the conference is not just packed with attendees, but boasts an impressive roster of speakers and panelists as well.

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While SALT offers its share of impressive corporate titans (a conversation between Sam Zell and T. Boone Pickens moderated by David Westin) discussing money and business, what's really compelling about the conference is the lack of political agenda despite all of the strongly opinionated featured guests.

"We are unique in the sense that we're totally bipartisan," said Oviedo. "What we do at the SALT conference is bring forth important issues that exist in today's world without us taking a side in the debate. We let people decide for themselves where they stand on whatever topics are discussed at SALT and we always make sure that both the right and left are represented equally."

For example, this year SALT offers a panel called Politics, Polls & Predictions - a debate on the 2016 elections and both sides are well covered. On the left is Donna Brazile (Former Vice-Chair of the DNC) and Jim Messina (Obama campaign manager) and on the right Margaret Hoover (Republican strategist) and Karl Rove (Former Bush Deputy Chief of Staff).

The guest creating the most buzz is Michael Bloomberg, who will be featured in a one on one interview where he will share his thoughts on the upcoming election. "Bloomberg had a very distinct management style when he was Mayor of New York City, and I think it will be interesting to hear his perspective on how he would manage a political office on a national level," said Oviedo. "We also have a lunch with Kobe Bryant discussing what's next for him and a talk by actor and philanthropist Will Smith to close out Wednesday's session." Other speakers and panelists include John Boehner, Michael Lewis, Ron Howard and Lara Logan.

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I have attended and covered many conferences from pharmaceuticals to food, but the tone of SALT is different from all of them. While the conference is clearly attended by the 1 percent, the focus is less about making money and more about giving back and that's why it has grown so dramatically from its inception just seven years ago.

"The foundation of the conference was always to bring ideas together, but the aspect that stands out more than any other has been philanthropy," said Oviedo. Since its launch, part of SALT's mission statement has been to feature as many non-profit organizations as possible at the conference, "all of them run by amazing social entrepreneurs," added Oviedo.

"We know that our attendees have been very fortunate in life and we belief it's a moral obligation that everyone should be giving back. We're not even suggesting where or how to give, but we do present as many options and opportunities as possible, and the past results have been fantastic," said Oviedo.

Yolanda Turocy, a portfolio manager and longtime SALT attendee told me: "I have known Anthony Scaramucci for 25 years and he has not only been successful on Wall Street -- but as an author, television host and restaurateur. It's no surprise because he has an uncanny ability of bringing dissimilar people together and somehow making it work brilliantly."

It certainly has with SALT.



SALT runs from Tuesday May 10th - Friday May 13th at the Bellagio Hotel.
http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/w601/jnnault/MontageNewYork_zps4509a61a.jpg

If you think that the presidential elections are a roller coaster ride, brace yourself. President Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, and the Republicans' refusal to begin the confirmation process, has set the country on a crash course. The Constitution mandates that the President name a replacement with the advice and consent of the Senate. But President Obama's choice could transform the Court into a liberal majority not seen in two generations. The Republican-dominated Senate wishes to delay the process until after the November elections. Now it is up to us, the voters, to slam on the breaks and to resolve the impasse.

The 2016 elections are quite possibly our most important vote ever. In the next four years, three other justices will be in their eighties. This means that the newly-elected president could end up picking one or two additional members. Whether or not Garland gets confirmed, voting Democratic is the only way to guarantee a liberal court. While a president serves four, or eight years at most, a new Supreme Court will rule for a generation.

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Chief Justice Earl Warren led the last liberal court from 1953-1969. The Warren Court strengthened the separation between church and state, desegregated public schools, reapportioned legislative districts to reflect one person, one vote and paved the way for legalizing abortion.

The Court has been drifting to the right ever since. One consequence is an election system that is more malleable. Today, rewriting voting laws for political advantage is harder to prevent. The role of corporate money is significantly enhanced. And in 2000, a politically-charged Court handed George W. Bush the presidency.

The stakes could not be higher. Immediately after Justice Antonin Scalia's death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asserted, "It is a President's constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice and it is the Senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a President and withhold its consent." Upon introducing his choice a month later, President Obama stated, "To suggest that someone as qualified and respected as Merrick Garland doesn't even deserve a hearing, let alone an up or down vote . . . that would be unprecedented."

Political rhetoric notwithstanding, Scotusblog has explained that the Senate can set its own rules and that the President can do little to prevent it. Now government gridlock is gnawing at the steps of the Court. The longest ever taken to confirm a Supreme Court justice is 125 days, while the average is 25. This means the wait could be more than 342 days or at least two Supreme Court terms.

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President Obama is concerned. During a speech on the Supreme Court last Thursday, he stated, "If confidence in the Courts consistently breaks down, then you start seeing our attitudes about democracy generally starting to break down, and legitimacy breaking down, in ways that are very dangerous."

The Senate's delay tactics have legal consequences. When the Court splits 4-4, it cannot issue a precedential ruling. Instead, it must affirm the lower court's decision or schedule a rehearing for when a new justice is confirmed.

Sometimes the outcome is positive. A recent effort to weaken public unions was thwarted by a 4-4 split. But upcoming cases remain in jeopardy. For example, a lower court struck down the President's executive order on immigration. The order prevents the deportation of approximately five million people, including parents of children who are citizens or permanent residents. A Court split would affirm the lower court's decision and prevent enforcement.

Equally worrisome, a constitutional crisis may loom on the horizon. After the Louisiana election, Presidential Front-runner Donald Trump tweeted, "Just to show you how unfair Republican primary politics can be, I won the State of Louisiana and get less delegates than Cruz -- Lawsuit coming." Mr. Trump could sue if he is dissatisfied with the results of the Republican National Convention. The general election could also be threatened, as happened in 2000. A split court would not adequately resolve either crisis.

The Republicans are putting American democracy at risk in order to get out the vote. Because Garland adheres to legal precedent and practices judicial restraint, his record is mixed on partisan issues. For example, Republicans accuse him of being anti-gun.

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The Republican strategy could backfire. In Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Republican Senatorial candidates may be dependent on the moderate vote. This is because those states re-elected President Obama in 2012. If supporters of Presidential Candidate John Kasich can serve as a proxy for moderates, then a recent survey by Morning Consult is revealing. Fifty-two percent believe that the Senate should vote on Garland, while 36 percent think that he should be confirmed. Only time will tell whether such views translate into a backlash in the voting booth.

The Democratic presidential candidates do not believe that Garland is liberal enough. Both urge the Republican Senate to hold hearings. But in her widely-praised speech on the Supreme Court last week, Secretary Hillary Clinton did not definitely state that Garland should be confirmed. Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders indicated that, if elected, he would pick someone else.

The Democratic candidates' partisan politics are short-sighted. The Washington Post reported that 1.1 million more Republicans than Democrats have voted in the primaries. A loud and clear campaign against Court gridlock and in favor Merrick Garland would help win the presidency and the Senate.
Governor Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton at a Texas campaign rally in 1992 on his final day of campaigning in McAllen, Texas

It was only a matter of time before President Clinton's 2008 gaffes during Hillary's initial presidential bid would re-appear. And re-appear they did when former President Bill Clinton tried to defend Hillary's "super-predator" comment. First, I am appalled at press and media outlets referring to it as the super-predator "myth." She made the statement! Secondly, referring to black kids as super-predators back then is like how people use "thug" now. Lastly, Bill Clinton trying to "inform" Black Lives Matter protesters was akin to Matt Damon trying to school Effie Brown, the only black woman filmmaker on his Project Greenlight, about diversity in Hollywood.

I have heard some black Hillary supporters say that they have never heard of the super-predator comment. Not only did she say it, she recently commented that she "regretted" making the statement. So why are people calling it the super-predator "myth?" This is not fabricated. In 1996, Hillary made comments about certain kids that were super-predators without conscience or empathy that need to be brought "to heel." You can watch the video. The problem is that although Columbine occurred, the term was never used in reference to white criminals. It was only used to refer to black urban kids and to justify "three strikes." These policies were an extension of former President George H.W. Bush's "zero tolerance." Police in schools to bring our children "to heel" has simply lead to our children being assaulted and increasing the "school to prison" pipeline.

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Therefore, Hillary's comment holds more significance than simply referring to gang members. It was used to justify mass incarceration for many crack addicts and small dose marijuana users, not dealers. The focus was not rehabilitation of the addicts, but punitive punishment. Prisons are big business in the United States and people business is good! Mandatory minimums and longer sentences makes for huge profits. Have we forgotten about the judges that took bribes from private prisons to send juveniles away? Ironically, now that heroin has taken a foothold in white suburbia, those harsh sentencing guidelines are being struck down in favor of rehabilitation over prison. What about black and Latino addicted youth that were incarcerated? Well, they had to be brought to heel.

I am not saying that we do not have a problem with violence and gangs. My beloved hometown of Chicago is being ransacked by gang violence. However, for Hillary to pretend like her words did not have severe consequences on the black community is an insult.

Ben Jealous, former president of the NAACP, wrote an article on why Bill Clinton needed to apologize for his comments to Black Lives Matters protesters noting how this generation paid the cost for policies Clinton implemented. Like Hillary, instead of an apology, Bill Clinton "regretted" his statements and dismissed the protesters as "young people just trying to get good television."

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I have previously written that I am no fan of Hillary Clinton. Policies her husband, then President Clinton, implemented and she backed have negatively impacted the black community. Regardless of how well-intentioned the policies were meant to be, the fact remains that they caused more harm than intended good. When your good intentions harm someone, you don't tell the injured party to forget they are harmed because you meant well. Nor do you callously dismiss them when they call on you to own up to the harm caused.

Your words have power for good and bad. Most injured people simply want an apology and not a backhanded one only when you have been forced to acknowledge the harm you caused. Why does Hillary feel she should be exempt for being held accountable for her words? Maybe she needs to be brought to heel.
When I was 10 years old, my parents foisted a rather cruel yet unavoidable culture shock upon me. My family uprooted and moved from Malibu, California to Minnetonka, Minnesota. My dad had a job transfer and we went from the whiteout of SoCal sunshine to the whiteout of Minnesota winter.

I had grown up barefoot and blonde on Zuma Beach with the soaring five-part harmony of the Beach Boys serving as the soundtrack. I played football with Bob Dylan's kid, got my ass kicked by Steve McQueen's kid, folk hero Donovan dropped by and played acoustic guitar for my class once too.

It was a surreal upbringing, populated by the offspring of 1970s celebrity, awash in a post-hippie California progressive mentality that permeated my early childhood education. I didn't know it then, but my schooling was often untraditional and avant-garde.

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When we left all that behind and arrived in the Hothian landscape of suburban Minneapolis, I had no way of knowing then that the least of my concerns were meteorological. My education was about to faceplant into a frozen pond of mundanity, a scholastic reversal that literally took years to rectify.

The Minnesota school I enrolled in for fourth grade was a bastion of educational mediocrity, populated by owl-faced teachers and kids sporting Orwellian scowls. Standing upon the continental divide between childhood and pre-pubescence, my mind and body, like all kids at that age, were addled by hormonal confusion, insecurities, growing pains and indefinable fears. It was the worst possible scenario imaginable to start at a new school -- particularly one that championed auto-pilot curricula and an absolute dearth of creativity. The only thing "progressive" about my new school was that they piloted standardized tests and number two pencils 20 years ahead of the curve -- the race to mediocrity!

I don't blame my parents for the move. Job transfers and upticks in salaries afford new opportunities. We moved into a beautiful old Victorian home, part of which was once a Pony Express station. There were elm trees all across our rolling property that rustled in the summer winds like the roar of a conch shell held close to the ear. We had six dogs that roamed free across our 18 tall-grass acres. I explored creeks and woods and fields. Moving to Minnesota was a shock to be sure, but it taught me adaptability in an alien world. Gone were the Endless Summers of Beach Boy harmony, replaced by the Hotter Than Hell guitars of KISS (I still love both bands with equal ferocity).

At school I was laughed at for my sun-bleached hair and lazy L.A. affectation. I sat each day in rows of desks, where the halls smelled of mystery meatloaf and the teacher's dispositions matched the monochromatic gray days of the harsh Minnesota winter. There was a disarming shortage of creativity at my new school, I recall very little exposure to art. There was a systemic-wide scarcity of joy of any kind. There was almost no physical exercise. Sure, we had the prescribed gym classes -- 40-minute-a-day prison yard release time led by that stalwart of grade school cliches -- the '70s gym teacher. Mr. Turner wore maroon polyester short-shorts, the kind with the snappy-button waist. He had the gleaming whistle. He had a Vulcan bowl cut with matching Spock eyebrows. He yelled at us most of the time, "Faster! Harder! Drop down and gimme 20!"

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Every day I prayed, "Beam me up, Scotty," but nothing happened. I was marooned.

We climbed ropes towards the gym ceiling. I couldn't do it. We did pull-ups. I could only do one. We square-danced. Boys were often divided into shirts and skins as teams, half the kids running around half-naked and feeling self-conscious as hell.

The core academic classes were no better. My homeroom teacher was pure Eisenhower-era stereotype -- plaid sport coat and requisite Vitalis comb-over. He was mean too. I remember him grabbing one rowdy boy by the earlobe.

I honestly remember nothing fun about fourth grade. Nothing. And my grades nose-dived. I was not engaged in any way and no one noticed. Sure, my mom was concerned, but with three other kids to worry about, her answer was pretty much for me to just work harder. She had no idea how dour my existence had become, spending seven hours a day, five days a week at my Shawshankian grammar school. Had Twitter existed back then, the hashtag for the place most certainly would have been #UNINSPIRED.

Reflecting back, it could not have been any more diametrically opposed to the creative, innovative, weird, hippie-haze education I had left behind in my California third-grade classroom at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School. We never sat in rows, we sat in circles and there were stations all around the room: science and math and creative writing. We interacted and worked with kids in other grades. We performed plays and drew pictures and wrote stories. We learned about history and science through performance, experimentation and project-based learning. There were guest speakers. No standardized tests. No number two pencils. No worksheets. There were two teachers in the room, smiling, inspiring, supportive. We had an abundance of outdoor time and recess, too. Today, of course, studies demonstrate without any question the connection between learning and exercise.

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By comparison, my Minnesota school was a gulag. And this is no indictment of the Minnesota Public school system -- just my school at that time.

By the fifth grade, believe it or not, things got even worse. The beautiful elm trees in our yard had been afflicted by Dutch elm disease and were slowly, tragically withering away just like my creative spirit.

The new middle school was the Death Star of education. The shiny terazzo hallways with their endless rows of shiny gray metal lockers symbolized falling into line and I just couldn't deal. California had taught me otherwise. Three years in a progressive-minded school had rapidly forged my ethos to resist institutionalization, mediocrity and unimaginative teaching. I was 10 years old and didn't know what the status quo was, but I already despised it.

This was all such a long ways from the positive, creative, stimulating school I had attended in Malibu. I was completely disengaged. I didn't care. I was passionless.

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My academic career spiraled out of control beginning in suburban Minneapolis. It took years to right the wrongs introduced to me in the institutional lock-up I called elementary and middle school.

Today, I am a college creative writing professor. The foundation established in my early California childhood education helped me survive the years of lackluster schooling. What I didn't get during the day, I found at home in books, music, art and imaginative play. Today, as a teacher, I can recognize easily what was missing at the Minnesota school, and, frankly, what seems to be scarce in so many educational settings these days. These qualities are most definitely not measured by our cultural push towards standardized tests, or Common Core prescription. But these attributes are paramount to student success: Creativity. Motivation. Curiosity. Humor. Enthusiasm. Empathy. Humility. Persistence. Compassion. Self-reliance.
On March 21, 2016, US President Barack Obama and Cuba's leader Raul Castro held a historic joint news conference. Obama's visit to Havana, the first made by an American president since Calvin Coolidge's trip in 1928, was regarded as a seminal event in the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Cold War-era adversaries.

This trip, combined with America's removal of Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list and Obama's pledge to end the long-standing US trade embargo against the Caribbean island, has led many international observers to describe the improvement in US-Cuba bilateral relations as a "Cuban Thaw."

Upon closer inspection, however, the medium-term outlook for US-Cuba relations is not so optimistic. Cuba's trade and foreign policy is closely linked with Russia and China, so Castro will be careful to ensure that any improvement in relations with the United States will be checked and limited, as he does not want to harm these vital alliances. Also, the Cuban Communist Party's continued intransigence on human rights issues and escalation of repression in recent months could deal a devastating blow to prospects for a successful normalization of US-Cuba relations and undermine America's credibility as a guardian of human rights in Latin America.

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Why the Cuba-Russia-China Axis Limits the Scope of the Cuban Thaw

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba has relied extensively on forging diplomatic and economic relationships with Russia, China and left-wing regimes in Latin America like Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua. Castro's alliance-building efforts helped ensure that the Cuban Communist Party retained its iron grip on power and weathered the economic depression and relative isolation of the 1990s "special period."

As the Cold War-era fear of Communist diffusion was irrelevant after 1991, American policymakers had a choice between normalizing relations with Cuba or clamping down even more aggressively on the regime in the hope that greater isolation at a time of weakness would trigger a democratic overthrow. Washington chose the latter approach.

The October 1992 Cuban Democracy Act and 1996 Helms-Burton Act banned foreign subsidiaries of US companies from trading with Cuba and cracked down on private humanitarian aid to Cuba.

These efforts and the Bush administration's hardline anti-Castro stance, which included the symbolic gesture of labeling the country as an "outpost of tyranny" in 2005, ultimately did not dislodge the regime from power. The Castro family's survival in the face of American pressure encouraged Cuba to consolidate alliances with countries opposed to US interests, perpetuating the rift that began with the Communist takeover in 1959.

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This anti-American alliance consolidation means that Obama's normalization is a belated move with limited prospects for success. Cuba's ability to strengthen ties with the United States without jeopardizing its relationships with its steadier partners, China and Russia, is very limited. In response to Obama's trip to Havana, the Chinese state media warned Cubans about America's hostile intentions, pointing to a history of American "arrogance" and "interventionism" in Latin America. The nationalist Global Times paper even alleged that normalization was a cover for the Obama administration's real strategy of instigating an Arab Spring-style revolution in Havana, that would lead to the Communist regime's fall from power.

China's scathing resistance to Obama's cordial Cuba policy is aimed squarely at preventing America from becoming a genuine competitor with Beijing for economic influence over the island. The initial resources-for-manufactured goods linkage between China and Cuba has blossomed into a full-fledged investment partnership between the two countries in recent years. China has assisted Cuba financially in its efforts to extract offshore oil, in the construction of a deep-water port city at Mariel and in the construction of hospitals.

As China is attempting to expand its economic influence in Latin America, Cuba is a vital foothold. China has a clear vested interest in preserving its pre-eminent position relative to other extra-regional actors. The depth of the Beijing-Havana partnership makes it impossible for Cuba to dramatically expand economic linkages with the United States in the face of Chinese opposition.

Cuba's cooperation with Russia is also significant and even more anti-American in character than its ties with China. Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to consolidate ties with Cuba, in order to combat international isolation resulting from the Ukraine crisis, became apparent with his July 2014 visit to Havana. On that trip, Russia pledged to eliminate 90% of Cuba's $35 billion debt obligations to Moscow and announced an expansion of Russian investment in the offshore oil industry.

This agreement, combined with past Russian investments in the agriculture and construction sectors of the Cuban economy, makes Moscow an indispensable player in Cuba's economic future. Raul Castro implicitly acknowledged Russia's extensive influence over Cuba by expressing solidarity with the Kremlin during the 2008 Georgian War and 2014 annexation of Crimea. In the current climate of hostility between Washington and Moscow, Putin would regard any Cuban attempt to concretely strengthen ties with the United States as a betrayal of the historic alliance.

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Should Russia scale back its economic investments in the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba would not only lose capital but also the international status associated with its ability to resist what it regards as "American imperialism" in Latin America. The Cuba-Russia-China axis is very difficult for America to rival or dissolve, and it ensures that for the foreseeable future, Obama's Cuban Thaw might be more symbolic than transformational in its impact.

Implications of the Normalization on Human Rights in Cuba

While advocates of Obama's normalization policy towards Cuba have correctly pointed out that the trade embargo and international isolation were ineffective in encouraging Castro to liberalize his regime, it is equally unlikely that improved relations with Washington will facilitate tangible human rights improvements. As anti-Americanism still remains central to the Cuban Communist Party's doctrine, appearing to kowtow to the US political establishment by accepting democratic reforms would be disastrous for the legitimacy of the party's elites.

Fidel Castro made a public statement condemning Obama's visit to Cuba, arguing that his rhetoric was "syrupy" and warning Cubans not to accept any gifts from the "empire." With Raul Castro due to step down in 2018, a transition that will make way for a historic generational shift in Cuba's political leadership, party elites are careful to ensure that closer relations with the United States will not lead to America dictating Cuba's political actions at home.

According to numerous indicators, authoritarianism in Cuba has become demonstrably worse under Raul Castro. Cuba arrested 6,600 people for political crimes in 2012, compared to 2,074 arrests in 2010. Many of these arrests were only for a few hours or days, but the frequency of the crackdowns on civil liberties in Cuba sanctioned by the ruling elites is alarming. US policymakers must also be careful to not read too much into small-scale liberalization reforms like Castro's 2012 pledge to ease travel restrictions for Cubans, as this promise occurred simultaneously with a period of escalated repression.

The crackdowns have continued unabated in the wake of Obama's normalization of ties with Cuba. Episodes like the arrest of four dissidents calling for freedom during the Pope's September visit to Havana, the detentions of 1,500 people for political opposition in the lead-up to International Human Rights Day on December 10, and the violence employed against human rights advocates ahead of Obama's March visit, are powerful demonstrations of Cuba's intransigence on human rights issues.

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The likelihood that Cuba's repression of dissidents will remain an enduring feature of Communist rule for the foreseeable future should be unnerving for US policymakers. It is also an issue that will undoubtedly polarize the US political establishment and the Cuban American community on the normalization policy. Republican presidential candidates, Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both of Cuban descent, have scathingly condemned Obama's trip to Havana. The perception that the US government has turned a blind eye to Castro's political prisons will not sit well with more hawkish Cuban-Americans. Cuba's unwillingness to compromise on human rights will risk making any US deal with Havana appear one-sided, with America offering Cuba enhanced economic opportunities without receiving any concessions in return.

Moving beyond the domestic arena, the Castro regime has continued to trumpet its alliances with some of the world's worst violators of human rights. These partnerships, in many cases, directly counter America's international interests. While Cuba has denied that it sent troops to Syria to assist Russian and pro-Assad forces, Cuba's close relations with Iran make it a natural partner of the Assad regime. While Cuba has rhetorically opposed Iran's development of nuclear weapons, Castro has encouraged the empowerment of Iran to fight against major world powers and has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, despite compelling evidence to the contrary.

Since the normalization, Cuba has also expressed fierce opposition to the Obama administration's sanctions against Venezuela and held a ceremonial meeting with North Korea's leadership in September, celebrating 55 years of positive relations. These policies demonstrate that the normalization has not changed the fundamental direction of Cuban foreign policy in a way amenable to American interests.
Unity amongst Muslim sects is a topic that will never grow old. It is discussed on a daily basis by media outlets, television programs, online and in most Islamic organizations. The majority of Muslim Imams and preachers from various sects seek to establish unity among all Muslims, and despite governments funding such goals for the past three decades, unity among all Muslims has still not been established.

The reason for this is not because Muslims do not want to unite with one another, it is rather their misunderstanding of the term 'Islamic Unity' that has pushed them away from uniting with other sects.

Upon hearing 'Islamic Unity' some Muslims race to think that they would be compromising their beliefs for political benefits, and therefore refuse to accept the idea of unity among Muslims; whereby this is not the case.

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The topic of Islamic unity is a world on its own with many fields that could be academically examined.

'Unity' is defined as, "The state of being in full agreement". The following is my opinion on the aspects of unity amongst Muslims:

Ideological Unity (Religious Unity):

The First Aspect:

From a strictly religious perspective, all faiths in Islam stem from a particular ideological understanding that is based on the visions and jurisprudential rulings deducted from sources each faith has chosen to refer to and consider authentic, and eventually base their religion upon. Each faith takes its knowledge from scholars it believes to be the most knowledgeable, and books they believe to be authentic.

Therefore, ideologically speaking, it is impossible to combine faiths that disagree with one another, and most importantly, view each other as people in need of guidance.

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The Second Aspect:

The Muslim nation is one nation which has differences within. Being different is never a crime, neither religiously nor ethically. Therefore, the door of dialogue is open and our common beliefs and practices are the best opportunity to bridge between one another. Each Muslim denomination understands a certain event or sacred script in a specific way, as taught by their scholars and figures they consider sacred, and therefore it is not appropriate to abuse other Muslims due to their level and extent of understanding or due to the way they view certain matters. One must always respect the opinions of others and agree to disagree.

If bonding and uniting ideologically is impossible, Muslims should strive to find other areas that they are able to unite in.

Appropriate and Realistic Methods of Unity:

1. Political Unity

Political unity means that both parties have chosen to work together towards a common cause. It does not mean they all belong to the same party, but that they are willing to put aside their differences to accomplish the task at hand. This form of unity has been witnessed widely during the past few years where Muslims from around the globe, including their religious leaders, have united against ISIS and terrorism in the name of Islam. Thus, we find that Muslims are more than happy to come together and stand against political corruption in the name of Islam.

2. Economical Unity

Once Muslim scholars have realized that their affiliation to the principles of a particular faith does not affect their unity against terrorism and extreme ideologies in the name of Islam, then they will have created a solid basis for other forms of unity. Starting from that platform, they can begin discussions paving the way for the realization of the economical unity of all Muslims.

As we have witnessed in modern history, Muslims and Muslim governments do cooperate with one another to benefit each other's economies; and Muslim scholars - aside from politicians - should supplement the progress already made. If this second step is successful, then Muslims can reach higher forms of a political and economical unity, including common banks and markets.

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3. Social Unity

In our era, the annual conferences of unity in Tehran play a big role in bonding between the different schools of thought within Islam on a social level. Such conferences become the basis for Muslim scholars from different faiths around the world to visit one another, and Muslim families to gather on occasions such as the Eid festival after the holy month of Ramadhan. It is safe to say that the narrow-mindedness and inflaming speeches of a minority of scholars in the past have caused non-Muslims - who once held respect for Islam - to become perturbed to see the current state of divisions within the Muslim communities.

Some scholars and public speakers - including myself - do get dragged into the waves of controversial topics concerning the revered figures of other Muslim faiths at a point in their lives; this is very common and has become normal in certain areas and countries which support freedom of speech and thought. Yes, as Muslims, we may look back into our history and view the political and religious differences that lead to wars and deaths of sacred figures we may revere. However, it takes a brave scholar to stand up and say, "I will never compromise my faith and what I believe in, and without doubt, we will differ ideologically, however our differences will be dealt with in a wise and peaceful manner and we will unite on our commonalities." - this is my personal experience.

In the long journey of 1450 years Shi'a men have married Sunni women. Our laws of jurisprudence and doctrine did not and will never prevent this.

It is indeed true that most Shi'a Muslims in the west graduate from Sunni Muslim schools, and are very likely to end up working with a Sunni throughout their careers.

We will always have different ideologies, but we all have only one life, one God, one Quran, and one direction which we pray towards.

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Islam's top Figures Support Islamic Unity:

1. The Grand Ayatollah Sayid Ali Sistani

Ayatollah Sistani has been the spiritual father for many Muslims, both Shi'a and Sunni. His statements in this respect will never be forgotten: "There is no real difference between Shiite and Sunni beliefs, and I am the servant of all Iraqis [either Sunni or Shiite], I love everyone, and this religion [Islam] is the religion of love. There is no real difference between Shi'a and Sunni beliefs, and the difference simply is on legal (Fiqh) issues. Shiites should defend Sunnis' social and political rights before defending their own rights, and we call [everyone] for unity. As I have said before, Shiites should not call Sunnis their brethren, but their 'souls.'"

2. The Grand Ayatollah Sayid Sadiq Shirazi

Coming from a lineage of leaders, Islamic Authorities, Jurists and Ayatollahs, the Grand Ayatollah Shirazi reflects 150 years' worth of knowledge, protocols, etiquette and code of leadership. He has always portrayed a fatherly figure of himself, and his home and arms are open for all Muslims.



Shia and Sunni scholars in the presence of The Grand Ayatollah Shirazi



The Grand Ayatollah Shirazi welcoming Sunni tribe leaders from Iraq

3. Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun

Putting his political career aside, one can never forget the statement he made saying "I am Sunni in practice, Shiite in allegiance. My roots are Salafi, and my purity is Sufi.", and bridging between four faiths that differ with each other on just about everything in one simple sentence!

Sheikh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun has made it a mission in his life to preach tolerance and dialogue between all Muslim faiths. He has appeared on many television programs engaging in respectful debates with extreme Muslims and striving to reform the culture that has prevented Muslims from gathering together and embracing each other with peace.

Our Current Duty:


Photo Credit: Sofia Mazzamauro

What comes to mind when you think of the Amalfi Coast? Sceneries that rival even the best Instagram filters, basking in the sun on a beach? I think about discovering each town through my taste buds by indulging in gelato, pizza, fresh seafood, and of course, adding lemon to absolutely everything. With so much to see and do, it can be overwhelming to find a good restaurant after a long day spent sightseeing - so I've taken the guesswork out of it for you. Here's my guide to some of the best places to eat on the Amalfi Coast:

Amalfi

Don't be fooled by G.A.S. Bar's tobacco shop interior - or the fact that they refer to themselves as an American bar. Climb up to their patio for a spectacular view of the coast alongside locals sipping espresso and playing Scopa. To beat the heat, I kept ordering their crema di caffe, which is like a Starbucks Frappuccino but better. In the evening, G.A.S. Bar turns into a restaurant with pizza starting at 3! My pizza of choice was generously topped with fresh ingredients and the flavors were on point.

If you're headed to Amalfi's main square, track down Cuoppo d'Amalfi to try the local street food. I found it after seeing several Italians walking around with fried seafood cones in hand. After navigating a maze of tiny streets, you'll find this small eatery on Supportico dei Ferrari. Ignore its dingy appearance - sampling their fresh seafood is a must.

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Cuoppo d'Amalfi / Photo Credit: Sofia Mazzamauro

Once you've built up an appetite for dinner by walking through the city's winding streets, head over to Trattoria Da Gemma for a lemon and prawn risotto for two. At 40, the mouth-watering rice dish is infused with lemon and topped with a layer of shrimp. The result is near perfection. The cherry on top is their elevated outdoor terrace, which is perfect for watching the city unfold. End your evening with a gelato from Cioccolato e Gelato Andrea Pansa. You can't go wrong with either chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio, or lemon.

Sorrento

For the best pizza in town, visit Pizzeria Da Franco. Its backdrop, in true Italian fashion, consists of a display of prosciutto hanging from the wall and a Neapolitan pizza oven in the back. The eatery usually has a long lineup of regulars chatting up the staff while waiting for their takeout pizza.

Ravello

Mimi Bar Pizzeria is known for its lemon specialties - their slogan is "Save Water, Drink Limoncello," so you know they're not joking around! My pizza arrived topped with mozzarella di bufala, arugula, bresaola, and of course, lemon zest. Pair your meal with one of their signature citrus cocktails (Limoncello Cosmopolitan, anyone?). It's all about lemons in this region, so be sure to try as many dishes that feature the ingredient as possible.

Positano

Want to have a chauffeur pick you up in Positano and drive you to one of its best restaurants? Il Ritrovo is your classic Italian fare done right. Because of its elevated location, the restaurant is difficult to reach. Simply give them a call when you arrive in Positano's city center and they will accompany you there and back. Seated on a lovely terrace surrounded by greenery, facing the sea, I opted for their set menu during my visit. It included a salumi platter, tagliatelle with mushrooms, sausage, and tomato sauce, a main composed of various meats and vegetables, and tiramisu for dessert. Ending your meal with Limoncello will wake you from your impending food coma!

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Franco's Bar / Photo Credit: Sofia Mazzamauro

Before heading out for dinner, be sure to stop by Franco's Bar for a drink on their patio overlooking the water. A bustling hotspot in Positano due in part because of its location above the popular Le Sirenuse hotel, this bar has quickly become the place to be and be seen. With patrons eyeing coveted seats that give on to Positano's spectacular coastline, Franco's Bar fills up fast. Order the elderflower spritz and nibble on their complimentary chips, olives, and the occasional fried seafood cone.


The falling sun in west Texas. Image credit: Jonathan Irish

Texas may be the Lone Star State, but there are 2,000 more stars visible in the sky on any given night in Big Bend National Park than there are in most mid-sized cities around the country. This is dark sky country. I don't know about you, but I feel that seeing stars shine brilliantly in the night sky is a gift that I never want to take for granted. An effect, I suppose, of a lifetime of living in the city.

Big Bend is one of the largest, most remote and least visited parks in the lower 48 states with a low level of light pollution, resulting in remarkably brilliant stargazing that has earned it a designation by The International Dark-Sky Association. Now, we all know that I could moon about the stars for eons, but I'll stop after just saying that they were so mesmerizing that we could barely even hold up our cameras. We just gazed.



River Road is a 50-mile primitive road winding along the Rio Grande River that borders the United States and Mexico. Image credit: Stefanie Payne

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Leading into those dark starry nights are long desert days. Ours were spent exploring off road on far flung stretches of land that felt as if in the middle of nowhere--in this case, west Texas--where wilderness encompasses its viewer as far as the eye can see. After a full day bouncing along River Road, a primitive roadway sidling the north side of the Rio Grande river (the natural border between the United States and Mexico), we stopped to take it all in. It was the perfect place to pitch a tent. There is something about the combo of off-roading and hiking in intense heat that completely wipes a person out... we slept for 10 hours that night.

Well rested and excited to hike, we hit the road early to meet jackrabbits, a javelina (looks like a pig but is a different animal species altogether,) coyotes and some roadrunners. Until that day, I thought roadrunners were just an invention created for the sake of Saturday morning cartoons, but I digress. We scanned for mountain lions (known in Big Bend as panthers) and black bears that roam the region, finding instead a slew of hiking trails that led us to incredible things such as water features in the arid desert and old mining relics. We crawled with the lizards upon fossils and geology that hold the secrets of millennia, and climbed upon mountains of tuff (volcanic ash) before packing it in to meet the next day's dawn at Balanced Rock--a sunrise must for photographers (note to photogs: leave well before sunrise, after driving to the trailhead it's a mile hike up and in.)

This was our first desert adventure of the year and a warm contrast to our recent winter experiences in Cuyahoga and Shenandoah National Parks, and therefor special in that right, yet it left a strong impression for many other intangible reasons. This area is the foothold to other lands, with a long cultural history where pioneers, ranchers, miners, and Americans Indians have also lived and explored. It is intensely wild, one of the most rugged and remote places in our country. It has many of the statuesque geological wonders that you might find at Zion or Arches, but without the droves of people standing in line to photograph it. It really is one of our country's great natural treasures, tucked away at the end of the road.

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The recently leaked conference call among International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.) officials on Greece's bailout review has Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras firing on all cylinders. In a letter of complaint to I.M.F. Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Tsipras wrote: "Using a credit event as a means to pressurize Greece and other member states is clearly beyond the bounds of the negotiation process.... Successful negotiations are often difficult but they always require trust and credibility from all sides." This language was, of course, much tamer than anything Tsipras has uttered in Athens.

Lagarde's response, which was posted on the I.M.F.'s website, asserts that: "The I.M.F. conducts its negotiations in good faith, not by way of threats, and we do not communicate through leaks."

That might be the case now, but the I.M.F's behavior has not always been as white as the new fallen snow. Past experience shows that in Indonesia's case, during the Asian Financial Crisis, the I.M.F. negotiated in bad faith, accompanied by threats and embarrassing leaks.

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On August 14, 1997, shortly after the Thai baht collapsed on July 2, Indonesia floated the rupiah. This prompted Stanley Fischer, Deputy Managing Director of the I.M.F., to proclaim that "the management of the I.M.F. welcomes the timely decision of the Indonesian authorities. The floating of the Rupiah, in combination with Indonesia's strong fundamentals, supported by prudent fiscal and monetary policies, will allow its economy to continue its impressive economic performance of the last several years."

Contrary to the I.M.F.'s expectations, the rupiah did not float on a sea of tranquility. It plunged from 2,700 rupiahs per U.S. dollar at the time of the float to lows of nearly 16,000 rupiahs per U.S. dollar in 1998. Indonesia was caught up in the maelstrom of the Asian crisis.

By late January 1998, President Suharto realized that the I.M.F. medicine was not working and sought a second opinion. In February, I was invited to offer that opinion and began to operate as Suharto's Special Counselor. Although I did not have any opinions on the Suharto government, I did have definite ones on the matter at hand. After many discussions with the President, I prescribed the following antidote: an orthodox currency board in which the rupiah would be fully convertible into the U.S. dollar at a fixed exchange rate and would be fully backed by U.S. dollar reserves. On the day that news hit the street, the rupiah soared by 28 percent against the U.S. dollar on both the spot and forward markets. These developments infuriated the U.S. government and the I.M.F..

Ruthless attacks on the currency board idea and the Special Counselor ensued. Suharto was told in no uncertain terms - by both the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, and the Managing Director of the I.M.F., Michel Camdessus - that he would have to drop the currency board idea or forego $43 billion in foreign assistance. He was also aware that his days as President would be numbered if the rupiah was not stabilized.

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Economists jumped on the bandwagon, too. Every half-truth and non-truth imaginable was trotted out against the currency board idea. In my opinion, those oft-repeated canards were outweighed by the full support for an Indonesian currency board (which received very little press) by four Nobel Laureates in Economics: Gary Becker, Milton Friedman, Merton Miller, and Robert Mundell.

Why all the fuss over a currency board for Indonesia? Merton Miller understood the great game immediately. He wrote to me when, Mrs. Hanke and I were in residence at the Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta, saying the Clinton administration's objection to the currency board was "not that it wouldn't work but that it would, and if it worked, they would be stuck with Suharto." Much the same argument was articulated by Australia's former Prime Minister Paul Keating: "The United States Treasury quite deliberately used the economic collapse as a means of bringing about the ouster of President Suharto." Former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleberger weighed in with a similar diagnosis: "We were fairly clever in that we supported the I.M.F. as it overthrew [Suharto]. Whether that was a wise way to proceed is another question. I'm not saying Mr. Suharto should have stayed, but I kind of wish he had left on terms other than because the I.M.F. pushed him out." Even Michel Camdessus could not find fault with these assessments. On the occasion of his retirement, he proudly proclaimed: "We created the conditions that obliged President Suharto to leave his job."

To depose Suharto, two deceptions were necessary. The first involved forging an I.M.F. public position of open hostility to currency boards. This deception was required to convince Suharto that he was acting heretically and that, if he continued, it would be costly. The I.M.F.'s hostility required a quick about-face: Less than a year before the Indonesian uproar, Bulgaria (where I was President Stoyanov's advisor) had installed a currency board on July 1, 1997 with the enthusiastic endorsement of the I.M.F.; Bosnia and Herzegovina (where I advised the government on currency board implementation) followed suit under the mandate of the Dayton Peace Agreement and with I.M.F. support on August 11, 1997.

Shortly after Suharto departed, the I.M.F.'s currency board deception became transparent. On August 28, 1998, Michel Camdessus announced that the I.M.F. would give Russia the green light if it chose to adopt a currency board. This was followed on January 16, 1999 with a little-known meeting in Camdessus' office at the I.M.F. headquarters in Washington, D.C.. The assembled group included I.M.F. top brass, Brazil's Finance Minister Pedro Malan, and the central bank's Director of Monetary Policy Francisco Lopes. It was at that meeting that Camdessus suggested that Brazil adopt a currency board.

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The second deception involved the widely-circulated story that I had proposed to set the rupiah's exchange rate at an overvalued level so that Suharto and his cronies could loot the central bank's reserves. This take-the-money-and-run scenario was the linchpin of the Clinton administration's campaign against Suharto. It was intended to "confirm" Suharto's devious intentions and rally international political support against the currency board idea and for Suharto's ouster.

The overvaluation story was enshrined by the Wall Street Journal on February 10, 1998. The Journal reported that Peter Gontha had summoned me to Jakarta and that I had prepared a working paper for the government recommending that the rupiah-U.S. dollar exchange rate be set at 5,500. This was news to me. I did not meet, nor know of, Peter Gontha, nor had I authored any reports about Indonesia or proposed an exchange rate for the rupiah.

I immediately attempted to have this fabrication corrected. It was a difficult, slow, and ultimately an unsatisfactory process. Although the Wall Street Journal reluctantly published a half-baked correction on February 14, the damage had been done.

The Journal's original fabrication (or some variant of it) was repeated in virtually every major magazine and newspaper in the world, and it continues to reverberate to this day, even in so-called scholarly books and journals.

Setting the record straight has been complicated by the official spinners at the I.M.F.. Indeed, they have been busy as little bees rewriting monetary history to cover up the I.M.F.'s mistakes, and Indonesia represents one of its biggest blunders. To this end, the I.M.F. issued a 139-page working paper "Indonesia: Anatomy of a Banking Crisis: Two Years of Living Dangerously 1997-99" in 2001. The authors include a "politically correct" version of the currency board episode asserting, among other things, that I counseled President Suharto to set the rupiah-dollar exchange rate at 5000. This pseudoscholarly account, which includes 115 footnotes, fails to document that assertion because it simply cannot be done. That official I.M.F. version of events also noticeably avoids referencing any of my published works or interviews based on my Indonesian experience.

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During his presidential campaign, American politician (and future US President) Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004) smiles from behind a pair of microphones, Florida, June 1980. (Photo Robert R. McElroy/Getty Images)

The seeds of the modern American progressive movement were arguably first sown over 50 years ago by two events which shook American's trust in their government -- the disastrous Vietnam War and the subsequent Watergate scandal.

The lies told to Americans by their government regarding the Vietnam War cost the nation its sense of inevitability and its belief that our government at least in wartime, was invincible -- a stunning reversal for generations of Americans whose sense of American military prowess was carved by American military triumphs in two World Wars. And for people who still doubted America's failure in Vietnam, there were 58,000 reminders of that failure whose families resided in virtually every town, in every state in the nation.

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The Watergate scandal cost America its president, which in and of itself was a stunner in a nation which had come to revere its political leaders, but arguably more importantly, it shattered our perception that whether you always agreed with its policies, at its core, our government was basically good. No more.

By the late 1970s, these two events had planted the seeds for the modern progressive movement, but they did not guarantee its rebirth. More likely, these events confused and frightened Americans as much as anything and they unnerved them as the events tested their longstanding beliefs about the invincibility of American Democracy.

At this critical point in our nation's history, a true political leader could have pulled America back on course. A true political leader could have made things right again by returning to what had worked in the '50s, '60s and '70s. So, by 1980, what America needed was another Franklin Roosevelt or John F. Kennedy who believed in not just the power, but in the need for a people powered representative democracy.

Instead we got Ronald Reagan.

Reagan had a horribly cynical view of government. He championed a pull yourself up by your bootstraps assault on programs for middle and poor America while his Imelda Marcos-esque programs offered unlimited free shoes, if you will, to the rich and corporate America in the form of regulatory cuts and bare bones tax policy and loopholes for them. He also embraced the divisive and polarizing social policies of groups like the not-so-Moral Majority. All of this effectively killed and ended America's previous progressive successes while it reversed course rather dramatically. But in doing so, it was Reagan himself who nurtured the seeds for American Progressivism 2.0 which is just now beginning to bear fruit.

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This is the sum of Ronald Reagan's imprint on our government which fertilized the seeds of the progressive movement we are witnessing today:

-- Reagan gave Americans an unhealthy and even deadly cynicism toward government. He was the first president in modern times to campaign on a theme that taught Americans to virtually hate their government and give up on it because, even though it had played the most pivotal role in making America the envy of the world, he, without justification, said it did not work and was not the solution to our problems -- it was the problem. (Remember Reagan's 1988 campaign mantra, "government is not the solution to the problem, it is the problem.") It should not be lost on Americans today that just twenty short years before Reagan, when America was the envy of the world in all things economic, educational, humanitarian, technological and just about every other category of strength, John F. Kennedy was elected President largely on a mantra which said government does work and is a good force -- in fact, Kennedy argued, together with the American people, our government could do virtually anything. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" was Kennedy's reminder to Americans that their government is only as good as they demand it to be. Or to put it another way, in a truly representative democracy, the people are the government and working together nothing is out of reach.

And to show you the power of the voice of political leaders, in 1961, right after Kennedy was elected President -- on that platform that American's government was good and indeed was a reflection of the American people -- 75 percent of respondents in a Newsweek poll said that America's government was a good force in their lives. Fast forward 20 years to January 1981 right after Reagan was elected President -- on that platform that said government was not the solution to the problem, but was the problem -- Newsweek took the same exact poll and now found that 75 percent of respondents in it said government was a bad force in their lives.

In a true representative system, Kennedy was obviously right -- for government to work in a system such as ours, the people have to participate and demand and indeed dictate how their government works for everyone. Reagan was obviously wrong -- if people no longer believe that government works, in a system such as ours, the government, without the watchdog eyes of a participating constituency, is ripe for abuse.

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-- Reagan also gave Americans a misguided assault on and ultimate obliteration of much needed governmental regulations on single (read "profit") minded corporations. And when big profit and competitively driven corporations are not mandated to perform responsibly, too often they don't. These flawed decisions then manifested into a litany of damning trends for America not the least of which was the financial crisis of 2008, an ongoing and unprecedented outsourcing of jobs, our unparalleled income inequality, an explosion of corporate lobbying entities and deep pocketed marionette puppets controlled by gilded special interests who have pulled these puppet strings making our political figures into parodies of their sold out selves, a woeful and alarming underinvestment in infrastructure, research and development, education and health care, along with soaring food insecurity and an inadequate and bank-friendly housing policy. And it is directly responsible for the massive environmental disaster that is our planet in 2016, including such immediate and personal disasters such as is Flint, Michigan.

-- Reagan also gave Americans a confused embracement of the bizarre notion of trickle-down economics which abandoned 50 years of successful governmental investment in people and indeed had created the largest middle class the world had ever seen and further established the 20th Century as clearly, "the American century." Instead, Reagan initiated the largest welfare and income redistribution program in the history of our nation -- albeit welfare and income redistribution handed to the richest Americans and to the richest corporations through giveaway tax loopholes and streamlined "rent seeker" policies for the wealthy which literally handed them hundreds of billions of tax dollars with no strings attached, and included regulation manipulation and abandonment. The belief was that with this relief, corporations would have new revenue streams to invest in America. They didn't. Instead they took their government giveaways along with American jobs and sheltered them overseas or across the US border with Mexico. This turned out to be a double dose of economic destruction for our government and for our workers.

Imagine had Reagan the vision and sense of history to embrace Lincoln's call to listen to the "mystic chords of memory" and directed America to come together and build our government and our system back to a time when we invested in our people instead of dividing Americans and tearing down our government which had done so much to elevate our nation for the previous 35 years. Reagan may have called his America "a shining city on a hill" but history now shows us that city has turned out to be a gated community where only the select wealthiest are allowed to live while the rest of America toils harder and harder for less and less of the American Dream.

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-- Reagan's cynicism regarding government indeed took root. With his blessing and even encouragement, Americans started abdicating their responsibility to watchdog Washington by not participating in the voting process much less anything else when it came to governance. In short, they believed Reagan that government was bad -- so why participate in it? Fast forward to today and that cynical and shortsighted vision has resulted in only one out of two eligible voters even bothering to register to vote while only one out of two registered voters votes in most elections in the United States. That means three out of four eligible voters in America are not participating in our elections today. Talk about letting the inmates run the asylum.

And the inmates are indeed running roughshod over the American household. In just the past six years, in today's America, two dozen ideologue governors have pushed through legislation to make it even harder for voters to participate by claiming nonexistent voter fraud - and for the most part the beaten and cynical American voters seem not to notice. In today's America, the United States Senate is refusing to even hold a hearing on a U.S. Supreme Court nominee arguing Constitutional mandate where none exists -- well, except the one that says they must hold a hearing and the one that says presidents are elected for four year terms not three year terms -- but no matter, the inmates are now the guards of the asylum.

And as Americans began checking out and not participating in government, demanding that it work for them, government largely quit participating and working in the lives of the vast majority of Americans in other ways as well.

Wages in America have been shockingly flat. The U.S. minimum wage sits at an embarrassing $7.25 an hour. Had the people been participating and demanding government work for them, in this case mandating that the minimum wage at least keep up with inflation, it would be over $25 an hour today.

Corporate profits skyrocketed as did CEO pay and today a CEO makes 350 times more than the income of his or her average worker.

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Today the wealthiest 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 160 million Americans -- over half of the entire population of the country.

The Walton family, heirs to the Walmart fortune, alone have more wealth than 40 percent of all Americans combined -- yet the U.S. taxpayer bails out Walmart to the tune of tens of billions of dollars in subsidies each year to pay for the health are costs of their uncovered or under-covered employees.

Today in America, a greater percentage of people hold multiple jobs in an attempt to make ends meet than at any other time in U.S. history.

One in two minimum wage making fast food workers in America needs government assistance just to help them survive and pay their bills.

But remember that America's "safety net" was largely shredded over the past 30 years beginning with Reagan's assault on social programs that built the foundation for economic hope and opened doors to opportunity for millions of Americans.

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During the Great Recession of the late 2000s for instance, with unemployment skyrocketing into the low teens, only 38 percent of the unemployed received unemployment benefits of any kind from the government, and 44 percent never received any.

When people don't have jobs and the government abandons them instead of being a partner with them for the good of both, people do what they have to do. Unfortunately, too many people turned to crime or bounced checks to pay their bills. And today in part as a consequence of bad government policy, nearly 2.5 million people are in prison in the U.S. -- the highest incarceration rate in the world - ten times that of most of our European counterparts. Today in the US we spend $45,000 to build a prison cell and $40,000 a year to incarcerate a person in it. By contrast, we invest only about $15,000 a year to educate our school children in our best pro-education states. (In my home state of South Dakota, we spend less than $5,000 a year, the worst in America to educate a child.)

Equally as bad, one out of every six Americans today live in poverty, including almost one in four of our children.

Why are Americans making so little money while the corporate heads are robbing government blind?

In part, it is the collapse of the image and power of unions in America. And here too, Ronald Reagan played a big role. Reagan is justly credited with convincing Americans that union membership was bad, a belief that manifested with his breaking up the air traffic controllers union but also with a frightening decline in union membership that cost American workers significantly in wages, benefits and dignity.

To give perspective, in the 1960s when America was leading the world in most things economic, 35 percent of the American workforce was unionized. Today the figure is under six percent of nongovernment workers. This has contributed to America losing its longstanding claim of having the largest percentage of its people in the middle class. That distinction is now Canada's which surpassed America two years ago and where 34 percent of its workforce is unionized.

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It galls me to hear analysts say, "Americans won't work for $6 an hour jobs." That is a copout -- it puts the blame on the American worker when the real blame needs to go to greedy corporate EOs and to our government and their pro-corporate and anti-worker policies. These same analysts might as well chime, "Americans just won't work for six cents an hour jobs" because the real point is that Americans cannot live on $6 an hour jobs so the real issue is: Why aren't corporations who are making record profits paying their workers more and why when corporations are stretched in their ability to pay is the government not there to be a partner in making policy that works for both sides?

Let's say that the government decided it should double the minimum wage to $15 an hour for example. Should that happen in America, the costs to Americans for every dollar spend on goods and services would be a mere penny per dollar. So, for example, instead of paying $5 for a Big Mac, consumers would have to pay a mere $5.05 for the McDonalds sandwich. For virtually every American, that little amount would not even be noticed. But for the millions of Americans working at minimum wage or below, it would mean putting nearly $15,000 a year in their pockets! And what will they do with that $15,000? They will spend it. They will buy long needed shoes, clothing, food, appliances, and other goods and services. And what will that do? It will open factories and employ more Americans. It is a dirty little myth that raising the minimum wage will hurt business -- it would in truth energize it. And what about the smallest businesses who might be burdened? Well, first off, if everyone were required to pay the increased wage and if every company passed on the costs to their consumers -- there would be no burden at all.

Yet, it wasn't just strong unions that helped Americans secure good wages. It was a strong education system considered second to none. And government's commitment to fund education began its fateful decline during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. With Reagan's corporate loving tax programs, government revenues fell and there was less federal money headed to the states and when that happened, education became one of the first and easiest targets for states to cut.

As a consequence today, after 30 years of shrunken budgets, overcrowded classrooms, underfunding of vital services including that of providing a diversified class curriculum to students in elementary and secondary education, America's education system from early childhood education to higher education has taken a southern turn and today is embarrassing for a nation which once stood as the model for the world.

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To begin, of the 50 U.S. states, only 11 have government funded "birth to three" and "pre-kindergarten" programs for our youngest children -- even though all empirical evidence indicates this early education is fundamental to future success -- and that it returns upwards of $7 dollars for every dollar invested in these programs.

At the elementary and secondary level, overloaded teachers and classrooms, coupled with program and support assistance cuts has resulted today in our 15-year-olds not able to crack the global top 20 in reading, math or science.

In mathematics, 29 nations of the 65 nations tested in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams outperformed US school children "by a statistically significant margin" according to PISA records for 2012. In science, students from 22 nations tested better than did U.S. students, and in reading students from 19 nations scored higher than did U.S. students -- up from just nine nations in 2009. All three of these scores are benchmark indicators for future economic and personal prowess.

In addition, America's highly respected higher education system has effectively priced most American students out of the ability to participate in it. Since 1978, tuition at American colleges and universities has risen 1,800 percent. The result is that today only one out of four high school graduates will graduate from college in America.

We are now a net exporter of PhD graduates for the first time in our nation's history -- unthinkable for this country which for generations was the destination for the world's best and brightest to learn, live and produce. Those best minds will now be producing the next generation breakthroughs in medicine, electronics, technology, science and pharmaceuticals for some other nation to reap the benefits.

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What are other great nations doing to compete with the higher education system in the US? In Germany, for instance, all higher education for German students is free. In fact, the Germans learned so much from the US how an affordable and indeed even free education could benefit their nation (They watched as did the rest of the world how after the US educated 3.2 million returning World War II vets for free, the U.S. soon led the world in everything.) that they are now replicating it for all their young people -- actually they are replicating it for all of our young people as well. You see, Germany offers free higher education not just to any German student, but to any American student who desires one as well. And because they know America has not put an emphasis on the need for fluency in a second language, they offer courses taught in English to American students who do not speak German.

The truth is that since Ronald Reagan began the assault on America's public education system, the numbers have crumbled so dramatically that this generation of American school children will be the first in US history that is less educated than their parents.

I could go on of course. America's health care system is still not working as it should -- remember Reagan said government programs do not work -- even though the U.S. Medicare program is a model of success and fiscal management -- so his Republican offspring watered down Obamacare and continue to assault it. On top of that, income inequality in America has exploded, a third of America's roads and bridges are in disrepair. Our tax system is so riddled with wealth friendly loopholes that 43 percent of US corporations paid zero dollars in taxes last year while the "effective" tax rate on corporations is under 20 percent -- the second lowest in the world - not the highest as corporate propaganda would have you believe. The same can be said for the tax rate on America's wealthy individuals -- it is not 35 percent but closer to 20 percent after loopholes are taken into consideration. Finally, the US Supreme Court effectively codified the inequities in America's economy through a series of decisions that today allow a handful of the very wealthiest Americans to essentially buy our elections -- virtually assuring that the voices of the very rich are the only ones heard in Washington.

The consequences of all of this is that tens of millions of Americans, including millions of next generation Americans are turning to progressive ideals, principles and values. And while it is still too early for us to know yet what it all means, it would appear that the fruit of the seeds of progressivism sown by the ills of Watergate and Vietnam but nurtured through the fertilizer of the programs of Ronald Reagan, are about to be harvested by this generation of Americans.
I don't usually tell people what to do (probably because very few people would do what I say anyway), but I'm going to tell you what to do... plant some milkweed! Spring is here, and it's time to plant milkweed (if you haven't already). If you're planting your garden... plant some milkweed too. If you're planting flowers... plant some milkweed too. If you aren't planting anything, plant some milkweed anyway!

At this point, you may be wondering, what is milkweed, and what's my obsession with it? You might not be familiar with milkweed, but you're probably familiar with the iconic orange and black Monarch butterfly. Milkweed (a weed) is the ONLY plant the Monarch caterpillar can eat, and thus is it's only food source. Unfortunately, today in the US there is a lot less milkweed, which means there are a lot fewer Monarch butterflies. In fact, the population of Monarch butterflies has dropped so much in the past twenty years, it is possible that the Monarch butterfly could face quasi-extinction in our lifetime. We could lose this iconic butterfly.

The good news is that this past winter, the population of Monarch butterflies increased somewhat (see image above), but this positive development doesn't mean the threat to the Monarch butterfly is over. We need more milkweed! It may be hard for us backyard farmers to believe, but unlike us, the American farmer has been winning the war on weeds (which may be good for this country's food supply but is bad for the Monarch butterfly which can't survive without the milkweed "weed"). With modern farming techniques, the amount of milkweed in this country has been dramatically reduced over the past two decades. Fortunately, you can help. You can plant milkweed, and now is the time to do it. While it may seem that a few plants can't make a difference on the national scale, if you plant some milkweed and educate yourself and your family about the Monarch butterfly, and help spread the word by telling others, you can make a difference. Awareness and education are critical to helping the Monarch butterfly.

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Types of Milkweed

There are many types of native milkweeds. Check to determine what type is native to your area. There are also tropical milkweeds, which is what I grow here in Southern California. While native milkweed may be preferable to tropical milkweed, both types work to provide the critical food source for the Monarch caterpillars. Check with your local nursery to see what types of milkweed they have available, and what they recommend.

Seeds or Plants

I prefer to grow milkweed from seeds. If you buy a milkweed plant at a nursery, you run the risk that the plant may have been sprayed with pesticides, which will kill the Monarch caterpillars when they feed on your plants. It's more work to grow milkweed from seed, but I think it's worth it. Further, it can be hard to find milkweed plants at your local nursery, but you can always get milkweed seed online. If you do a Google search, there are a few Monarch preservation organizations that will provide free milkweed seed. I've been growing tropical milkweed for a few years, and this past fall got a good harvest of seed (something you can look forward to once you've established a milkweed crop). If you want to contact me via email at my personal website here, I'd be happy to send you some tropical milkweed seed for free.

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Teach Your Kids About The Environment

If you have kids, I can't think of a better way to get them away from their video games and smart phones and instill in them an appreciation of nature and the outdoors, than growing milkweed and witnessing the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. As your milkweed grows, you'll want to keep an eye on it, until one day you spot a small yellow, black, and white striped Monarch caterpillar. Have your kids gentle pick the caterpillar up and let it crawl over their hands and arms. Then keep an eye on the caterpillar as it grows and if you're lucky once it gets big and fat, you'll find it hanging in a J and then if you're really lucky you'll see it split its skin and turn into a green chrysalis. About ten days later, the chrysalis will darken as the shell becomes clear and you can see the transformed and tightly wrapped black and orange Monarch butterfly inside. Soon the chrysalis will split open and a bedraggled fledgling butterfly will emerge. Over a few hours, the new butterfly will pump up its wings and let them harden in the sun, and then it will flap a few times and flutter off. I've seen this magical process many times, but it never ceases to amaze me.
Here in New York City, we had a fascinating week in the politics of our water supply. On April 5th, New York Times reporter Jim Dwyer wrote an excellent, well-sourced, and somewhat depressing article about the de Blasio administration's defunding of the last stages of the city's third water tunnel. The third tunnel is needed in order to gradually close the other two older tunnels for repair, ensuring the city's water supply. According to Dwyer's initial story:

The entire Brooklyn-Queens leg of the new tunnel was scheduled to be finished by 2021, with $336 million included in the capital budget in 2013 by Mr. de Blasio's predecessor, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, for whom completion of the third tunnel was the most urgent and expensive undertaking of his tenure. But last year, Mr. de Blasio's administration, eager to keep a lid on water and sewer rates that had grown by an average of 8 percent annually under Mr. Bloomberg, moved financing for the third tunnel to other projects, Amy Spitalnick, a de Blasio spokeswoman, said. The city intends to finish the remaining portions of the tunnel sometime in the 2020s, but it has not set a date for completion nor allocated money in the budget to carry out the work.

The negative reaction to the Times story by the city's movers and shakers, and by many environmentalists, was swift and overwhelming. Flint, Michigan's drinking water disaster has increased the attention paid to water supply. Moreover, the city has already invested billions of dollars over many decades to build this tunnel. We are nearing the end of the project; why stop it now? To many people outside of City Hall, Mayor de Blasio's decision made no sense. According to the mayor, the newspaper story and the views of his staff quoted in the story were in error. The day after the first story, Mr. Dwyer filed a second about the restoration of capital funds to complete the water tunnel. As Dwyer wrote in his second story:

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Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday that he was going to add $305 million to New York City's capital budget to speed up work on Water Tunnel No. 3 so that it would be able to serve Brooklyn and Queens...The mayor's announcement came just hours after The New York Times reported that his administration last year had removed all money to pay for the tunnel and had also replaced the announced 2021 deadline for completion with a commissioner's "guess" that it would be ready for service sometime in the mid-2020s...The simplest part of the mayor's day may have been finding money to pay for the tunnel, not an especially difficult task in a budget swollen with revenues from a booming city economy. Far more awkward was the struggle by him and his aides to argue that they had never flagged in their support for the tunnel project, and to avoid an unflattering comparison to Mr. de Blasio's predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg, who drove progress on the construction after work on the tunnel had moved sluggishly for decades.

The mayor maintained that his staff did not explain the budget properly. This explanation was almost as disheartening as the decision. First, from the outside it looks like the mayor made the decision to delay the capital expenditure as part of a move to keep water rates from rising too quickly. It was a poor decision and not simply an error of communication. Perhaps he always intended to restore funding at some point--the administration did fund the design work for the project--but it is clear his team was playing games with the water project's capital budget. Blaming your staff is the opposite of "the buck stops here." Even if his real intent was miscommunicated, the mayor's job is to take responsibility and say: "I made a mistake and I moved quickly to fix it." A leader does not blame the people that work for him.

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But leadership and accountability aside, the real lesson of this water controversy was to reinforce the growing visibility and importance of the water supply issue. New York City has a magnificent system of water supply. It is an example of farsighted long-term leadership and investment without which the modern city of New York could never have been built. It takes advantage of ecosystems, gravity, and best management practices to deliver high-quality and relatively low-cost water to New York. However, like the city's subway system and electric grid, it is old infrastructure that is decaying and its maintenance is essential to the transition to a renewable resource-based economy.

High quality infrastructure is not inexpensive but must be seen as an investment in the future. The problem for political decision makers is that reelection is often more important to them than some abstract notion of "the future." But the future can happen quickly and without warning. And water resources are not optional for a functioning city. All over America we see older cities with crumbling infrastructure in need of reinvestment, and in the newer cities of the southwest, population growth and anti-tax zealotry puts pressure on the newer infrastructure that was not built to handle the loads they are confronted with.

We need to figure out some way of insulating the capital and maintenance budget for infrastructure from the misplaced priorities of our political class. In Washington, D.C., the wonderful and once state-of-the-art metro mass transit system recently had to shut down for a day to ensure that it was safe to operate. Faced with the need to obtain funding from many jurisdictions in two states and the District of Columbia, this once beautiful system is nearing collapse.

But as important as mass transit is to a modern city, water is actually more important. Unsafe drinking water can make you sick and if children ingest lead, it can cause brain damage. Water is a biological necessity and since the primary function of government is to ensure the security and well-being of the population, protecting a jurisdiction's water supply can be as important as police and fire services. In New York City's case, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office and asked for an assessment of the risks and threats that the city might face, he learned that a collapse in the water supply system was at or near the top of the list.

We take our water supply for granted. We turn on the faucet and clean water flows out. In parts of the developing world people walk with buckets for miles to find water and bring it back to their home. The technology of water supply has advanced dramatically in recent decades. We can filter almost any water and make it safe to use. A poor water supply is a function of underinvestment in infrastructure which must be built when the land use development process degrades traditional sources of water. At one time your home might have been in a place where you could dig a well and obtain clean water. As land development occurs that clean source can become polluted.

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by Matt Smith, Director of Food for Good, a purpose-driven business initiative of PepsiCo

Building a stronger and more equitable food system requires the fresh thinking, talents, and skills of our youth. We have the potential to feed everyone, including the millions of people globally who are most vulnerable to hunger and its serious consequences. Having worked for one of the world's largest food and beverage companies for more than a decade, I know that the next generation of farmers, business managers, NGOs, public advocates, and students can together help us reach the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goal aimed at ending hunger (SDG 2).

Many bright young minds all over the world, including those at the recent Youth Assembly at the United Nations, have taken bold steps to improve the food system and reach those in need. In the U.S., for example, 18-year-old Brittany Amano is helping the nearly one in five American youth struggling with hunger by leading "The Future Isn't Hungry," an organization of more than 450 young volunteers across three different states that collects and distributes food. Brittany, who herself struggled to stay full and healthy as she grew up, founded the organization in her hometown in Hawaii when she was only twelve. Then there's 12-year-old Braeden Mannering, a recent attendee at the White House Kids State Dinner who launched 3B Brae's Brown Bags to help homeless and low-income individuals in in his home state of Delaware access healthy snacks and water.

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Entrepreneurial spirit and drive to make a local change for the better are also found within big companies. It's how Food for Good, a PepsiCo initiative that tackles child hunger, came to be. Young employees at PepsiCo--myself included--advocated within the organization that we could make a difference--and our executives and colleagues listened. They too understood that healthy food wasn't reaching hungry people and PepsiCo had the ability to tap its resources to develop sustainable and tailored solutions. In 2009, we launched Food for Good to give children in low-income urban areas in a few states healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks when school wasn't in session and when they wouldn't otherwise have access to nutritious foods. This simple idea has now become a financially self-sustaining nationwide initiative that helps children and families in low-income communities get the nutrition they need.

Having worked for years to grow the positive impact of this program to reach more than 30 million servings, I've discovered three major lessons that youth leaders can apply to the global fight against hunger. My experience working with youth leaders involved in Food for Good makes me believe that they are best equipped to use and act upon these lessons.

First, we must understand the gaps within local and regional food systems--in order to fill them. For example, out of the 22 million American children who receive subsidized meals during the year, only 2.7 million receive meals during the summer. When we started Food for Good, we realized that this gap could be addressed by improving the logistics and distribution of food to communities in cities like Dallas, TX. We tapped the resources of PepsiCo--owners of the country's largest "food moving fleet"--to help bring healthy food to kids in a community where we worked and lived. What started as a small pilot summer program in Dallas has now grown to support 11 underserved U.S. communities during times well beyond the summer months.

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Second, always be looking for ways to maximize community impact through innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. I'll give you an example. Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan helped meet the need for healthy meals among children and their families by designing "My Neighborhood Mobile Grocery," a local traveling pantry that enables low-income families to purchase nutritious food at subsidized prices. It's a new solution to food access and distribution that has the potential to impact tens of thousands of people.

In Food for Good, we had to develop some kind of solution to keep fresh food at safe temperatures in extreme heat and in communities that lack necessary infrastructure to do so. So PepsiCo engineers developed cold boxes, a low-cost solution for the transportation and short-term storage of refrigerated food and beverages. These cold boxes are now used in this community outreach program as well as to deliver temperature-sensitive products for the company's sales team across the Southwest.

Third, none of us can do this alone. Effective, sustained cross-sector partnerships will help address hunger--both locally and globally. AmeriCorps VISTA, for example, works with partners in government, non-profit, and business to best meet the unique needs of low-income families in each market so solutions can be customized for greater effectiveness and ultimately, greater positive impact.

Together, we can continue the momentum of the Youth Assembly at the United Nations and encourage more young people, like Brittany Amano and Braeden Mannering, to use their passion, energy, knowledge, and skills to feed hungry people all over the world. If today's young people apply these lessons and develop their own, together we can end hunger and ensure nutritious food is accessible to all people by 2030.


A documentary called Borderline on borderline personality disorder directed by a woman who has the diagnosis; a proposed feature about the exchange of sexual favors for pharmaceuticals at a nursing home called Geriatrics; The Itching, a stop-motion animated short about a shy wolf and hard-partying bunnies: these are just three of the many projects discussed at an intimate lunch of women filmmakers and mentors at the Sarasota Film Festival last Thursday.

As a pelican glides by outside the Hyatt boathouse, Tangerine Entertainment's powerhouse Anne Hubbell gathers the makers and mentors - herself, the producer Bronwyn Cornelius and me - to discuss opportunities, marketing and the media in a relaxed and creative atmosphere.

Two-time Academy Award winning documentary director Barbara Kopple, a dear friend and a bottomless font of experience and encouragement stops by the "Side By Side Women's Symposium" before catching her flight back to New York. The Harlan County USA director's music documentary Miss Sharon Jones played Sarasota and she's here to represent on the festival journey toward theatrical distribution. Undaunted by the Florida sun, the New Yorker's wearing her trademark urban blacks - no sandals for her, just chunky chic combat boots.

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Kopple stands up and informally addresses the thirty women assembled, reminiscing that, for her 1976 feature she would "go up to someone at a cocktail party and say 'I'm making a film on coal miners' and they would say 'excuse me, I have to get a drink'" and disappear." Times have changed a lot for the status of documentaries since 1976.

That film went on to be nominated for an Academy Award but even then Kopple's pumpkin wasn't magically transformed into a carriage. She told the rapt assembled that when she was entered for an Oscar, her distributor threatened to "take away my p.r." Once in Los Angeles on her own dime, she got a dress, "somebody ironed my hair," a friend dropped them off at the ceremony.

In the four succeeding decades, Kopple explains, "Things have changed for us. Docs are the first films sold-out at festivals. People want a sense of what's real."

And what's real in the room is that, despite the fact that the gatekeepers in Hollywood and the media are predominately male, these creative women (black and white, gay and straight, young and old, American, Japanese and Italian) are passionate in their collective desire to achieve the connection between artist and subject that define Kopple's career.

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Everybody knows the glories of Paris, Rome, London and Barcelona, but there are legions of fabulously cultured and architecturally rich European cities that continue to dodge world attention. These 10 beautiful European cities are often mistakenly overlooked.

Belfast, Ireland

Belfast City Hall and Belfast Wheel

Associated with sectarian violence in the 20th century, Belfast has executed a speedy turnaround to become one of the buzziest cities in Europe. Its Victorian architecture largely restored to pristine condition, it has several museums covering recent history, including the Titanic Belfast on the dazzling regenerated waterfront; notorious Crumlin Road Gaol; and warship HMS Caroline, due to open in June 2016 as a floating museum. Factor into this a burgeoning gourmet scene and taste for late-night partying.

Ghent, Belgium

Ghent, Belgium, by night

The big sister of Bruges has a canal-side medieval core of startling beauty, lined with flamboyant, artfully gabled and stuccoed townhouses and warehouses. Along with its triumvirate of imposing churches - and the fabulous "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" by Van Eyck in St Bavo's Cathedral - an austere castle and seriously cool art and design museums, this vibrant university city comes alive after dark, with gourmet restaurants and a hardcore clubbing scene. Ghent also has plenty of hidden corners to explore, from the backstreets of newly bourgeois Patershol to the winding waterways of the Leie river.

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Helsinki, Finland

An aerial view of Helsinki, Finland

Europe's most northerly capital sits on the Baltic Sea amid a spectacular coastline of myriad inlets scattered with rocky islands. The city's unusual architecture reflects its time under Swedish rule in the fortress of Suomenlinna and snowy white neoclassical Lutheran cathedral, and later Russian domination in the flamboyant Orthodox cathedral and Art Nouveau mansions of waterside Katajanokka. With its raw beauty of sea-carved landscapes and regular ferry links to both Stockholm and Tallinn, Helsinki is a vital stopover on a tour of northern European capitals.

Leeds, England

Leeds Dock

Despite its rich industrial heritage, Leeds lost its way in the late 20th century and began to look distinctly down at heel. Thankfully those days are long gone, and today it's the fastest-growing city in the UK; yes, it's back with a bang. A raft of art museums and the move of the Royal Armouries from London have aided the Yorkshire city's renaissance, as have the restoration of its fabulously ornate Victorian arcades and arrival of big-name designer stores to populate them - making it the shopping mecca of Northern England.

Lyon, France

Lyon, France, sitting pretty on the Saone

Often considered little more than a quick stop-off on the journey to the snow-clad Alps, Lyon is actually a sophisticated French city with a complex backstory. Bisected by the meanders of the Saone river, it has long been known as a foodie destination of Michelin-starred distinction, but this charming city also reveals Roman amphitheaters, history museums, a cobbled vieux ville, a bizarre Byzantine-style cathedral and wide boulevards dedicated to high-end shopping.

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo Town Hall

Enjoying its moment of fame as star of Scandinavian TV series The Bridge, cute little Malmo's medieval old core is a maze of cheerily painted townhouses brimming with buzzing bars and cafes, galleries and boutiques. Its many charms include the 16th-century Malmohus Castle, cavernous St Peter's Church and gabled Gothic and Dutch Renaissance town hall. Over in the city's docklands all is sparkling new, with smart apartments and stylish quayside bars and clubs, and Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's Turning Torso - Sweden's tallest building at 623 feet (190 meters) - overlooking the scene. At 35 minutes from Copenhagen over the resund Bridge, Malmo is an accessible day out from Denmark.

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Mantua, Italy

Mantua, Italy

Making a perfect side trip from Venice or Milan, Mantua sits on a meander of the Mincio river and owes its particular beauty to the Gonzaga dynasty, who conquered the city in 1328 and ruled until 1707. As avid art collectors and architects, the family constructed palazzos to exhibit their masterpieces, grand churches and a Renaissance town to house their court. The charm of this mini-city is found in wandering the arcaded shopping streets, exploring its handsome churches and discovering the excessive lifestyle enjoyed by the Gonzagas in their vast winter and summer palaces. As a center of gourmet excellence, Mantua offers top-quality restaurants as well as a sophisticated shopping scene.

Piran, Slovenia

Sunset over the picturesque Old Town of Piran, Slovenia

Crammed onto a peninsula and simply the prettiest town in Slovenia, Piran is a Venetian city of white townhouses topped with terracotta roofs, a Baroque masterpiece of a cathedral watching over the Adriatic Sea and a labyrinthine tangle of streets leading to the handsome Tartini Square. At 90 minutes from Ljubljana, it makes a great seaside day out; but to miss out on Piran's nightlife is to miss out on one of its greatest assets - its famous seafood restaurants - which sprawl around the harborside and come alive after dark.

Valencia, Spain

A view on Valencia's historical center

Combining a complex of minimalist museums, aquariums and galleries - designed by local architect Santiago Calatrava - with splendid Modernista architecture of the late 19th century and a winsomely pretty medieval center packed with cafes and tapas bars, Valencia is often wrongly overlooked in the headlong rush to the beaches of Spain's costas. There's no need - this handsome city has its very own stretches of sand along the Mediterranean coastline, backed by the elegance of Paseo Maritimo and Valencia's fabled paella restaurants.

Wroclaw, Poland

Wroclaw, Poland, in the morning

Reveling in its year as European Capital of Culture, Wroclaw sits on the Oder river and is cultured and compact. As with many Polish cities, it was wiped out in World War II but has since bounced back with a restored Market Square that rivals Krakow's Rynek in grandeur. Its architecture encompasses medieval cathedrals, modern museums, riverside parks, elaborate bridges and the quiet backwaters of Tumski island. Wroclaw is also a happening city, with a banging nightlife and several major cultural festivals.

- Contributed by Sasha Heseltine for Viator

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On Wednesday, March 30, Teach For America founder and Teach For All CEO Wendy Kopp spoke to over 650 people, including Teach For America corps members, alumni, staff, board members and other educational advocates and community supporters at a benefit gala celebrating 25 years of Teach For America in the Houston area. Thousands of Teach For America teachers, or corps members, have taught in Houston's lowest-income schools, reaching more than 150,000 students and becoming some of the region's most prominent leaders in education.

It's so great to be here with you all tonight to celebrate 25 years of Teach For America's contribution and impact and continuous learning here in the Houston area.

As most of you know, I'm now focusing the majority of my energy traveling around the world as the CEO of Teach For All, which supports independent organizations in 40 countries and growing that pursue the approach pioneered by Teach For America. But I had to come back to be with you all here in Houston tonight.

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This is a landmark occasion especially because Houston has been so important in Teach For America's history--as one of our very first and historically largest placement sites. And Houston was the longtime host of our national training institute in Teach For America's first decade--before TFA began recruiting so many corps members that we couldn't train everyone in one place! For me, and for Teach For America, Houston feels like home.

I also had to be here in Houston because I wanted to thank all of you in person for your hard work and deep dedication to our mission. You have contributed so much, some of you for many years running, to strengthen and sustain our ability to broaden educational opportunities for students here. Thank you.

I remember so clearly coming to Houston in 1991 for an event that we held in conjunction with our launch here. Our supporters and friends were gathered in a beautiful home. There was lots of excitement about the fact that we were channeling some of our country's most outstanding and idealistic recent graduates into our highest-need classrooms. But I also remember some expressing deep skepticism that Teach For America could ever meaningfully contribute to fundamental progress in a system with deeply entrenched inequities that they felt was impervious to change.

Looking back, the people who predicted it would be tough to fundamentally change the system knew what they were talking about--the problem of the opportunity gap is so complex and so challenging.

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And yet, the people of Teach For America, working alongside so many others similarly dedicated to providing all our kids with an excellent education, are making a fundamental difference in this community. This is because once our corps members started teaching, they fell in love with their students, and at the same time they became outraged--at the injustices their kids faced, at the challenges they endured, and the opportunities they would almost certainly miss out on. And because of that powerful mix of love and outrage, they found themselves committed to the long fight for a better future.

Today, there are 1,400 Teach For America alumni here in Houston. Amazingly, fully three quarters of them are still working full-time in education. And nine in ten continue to work in roles that help to improve education or strengthen low-income communities.

There hasn't been enough progress, but if you step back and consider where we were in 1991, it's clear how far forward we've traveled.

Today, there are dozens of schools putting children from Houston's lowest-income families--just one in ten of whom would typically attain a college degree--on a path to beating the national average in terms of college attainment.

Partly inspired by what these schools have shown is possible, and with the commitment and leadership of so many Teach for America alums, we're seeing a tremendous push for change within Houston's school systems more broadly--

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Through the historic SKY partnership that is bringing the practices of high performing charter schools to the Spring Branch School District;

Through important, sustained efforts to build a strong human capital operation within the Houston Independent School District, which now aggressively recruits teachers and principals, selects them based on rigorous meritocratic standards, and prioritizes and invests in their development;

And through re-creating the science curriculum for the entire district and the state of Texas.

Not only that--today, more young people growing up in low-income communities have access the extra support they often need to stand on a level playing field in their pursuit of an excellent education.

We see this through the efforts of organizations like ProUnitas, which provides educational, health, and social services in the Kashmere Gardens area.

We see this through college access programs, such as DiscoverU and OneJump and EMERGE, which are providing students with the support they need to access, attend, and ultimately succeed in college.

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We see this through initiatives like Houston's Neighborhood Centers, which combine the best parts of community centers with schools.

And we're seeing efforts to support families themselves, so that they are informed and empowered and, on behalf of their children, can demand--and receive--the excellent education they deserve.

Teach For America's people have contributed so much to these efforts, working alongside so many others--parents, veteran educators, school board members, community leaders. They are but one part of what has helped grow the opportunities available to children today in Houston, but they've contributed so much energy and leadership--

From Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg and Chris Barbic, who have done so much to fuel our collective sense of possibility through starting and building the KIPP and YES charter school networks;

To Sehba Ali who is leading KIPP Houston forward, along with the alumni who serve as 18 of their 24 school leaders and hundreds of their teachers;

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To the YES network's current superintendent and the alumni who serve as 11 of their 15 principals;

To many alumni who have worked within HISD over the years to effect system-level change in teacher and principal development, as well as those who are taking the SKY partnership in Spring Branch forward;

To the alumni who serve as the leaders of the efforts I mentioned earlier to provide students with extra supports and empower families.

It is my sincerest hope, that as you reflect on the last 25 years of Teach For America in Houston, and on all that you and others in this community have invested in this city, you recognize and feel good about everything that has been accomplished, even as you feel a deep sense of urgency about what more needs to be done.

I've come to see this work of ours as the Long Game. Today, we live in a land where quick fixes are expected. But because the issue we're addressing is so complex, there is no quick fix.

There is a path to success--I see this constantly when I walk around schools that are experiencing transformative results, and visit communities--even whole countries--that are closing opportunity gaps.

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But the only path is for many, many more of our most committed leaders to devote themselves to this work in all its complexity.

Because progress is such a Long Game, I feel so incredibly fortunate to have found my way to this work early enough in my life, and to have helped to enlist others, early in their careers--so that we can move the needle against this problem in a significant way, in our lifetimes.

I am so optimistic about the future here in Houston.

The foundation you're building on is so much stronger today than it was 25 years ago--with whole schools showing what is possible and much more functional talent development systems and a growing ecosystem of support for our most vulnerable children and a whole different level of community and parental engagement.

We've learned so much--about what's possible, and what it will take. And we have dozens and dozens of communities all across the country and all around the world as well that are themselves making significant progress in closing the opportunity gap that we can all learn from.
By Andy Greenberg for WIRED.



(Anadolu Agency/ Getty Images)

THE NATION OF Turkey has been reeling from terrorist bombings in its biggest cities, a teeming refugee crisis, and a president who wants to rewrite its constitution to give himself more power. Now, in the midst of those calamities, it's also been hit with what appears to be an enormous data breach, one that affects the majority of the country's citizens.

The Hack

On Monday, an unnamed hacker posted to the web a 1.4 gigabyte compressed bittorrent file that appears to contain personal data on 50 million Turkish citizens, including their names, addresses, parents' first names, cities of birth, birth dates, and a national identifier number used by the Turkish government, all of which were verified as authentic by the Associated Press. The leak also included a taunting message referring to sloppy data protections and a hardcoded password that allowed the entire unencrypted database to be siphoned from the Turkish government's servers.

"Who would have imagined that backwards ideologies, cronyism and rising religious extremism in Turkey would lead to a crumbling and vulnerable technical infrastructure?" reads a statement on the site hosting the leaked data. "Do something about [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan! He is destroying your country beyond recognition."

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The hacker or hackers behind the breach seem to be American, based on another comment they posted with the leaked data referring to presidential candidate Donald Trump: "Lessons for the US? We really shouldn't elect Trump," it reads. "That guy sounds like he knows even less about running a country than Erdogan does."

Turkey's government, for its part, has downplayed the leak as an "old story," arguing that the data had actually been first leaked in 2010--though critics counter that the data wasn't actually posted online in a decrypted form until now. "This issue is brought to the agenda from time to time. It is now being served like a new story. These outdated reports are not newsworthy," Turkish Communications Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters at a press conference Tuesday, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. But he simultaneously acknowledged that "cyber threats" were a growing problem and that the government would create a seven-person council to bolster the country's protections of personal data.

Who's Affected, and How Serious is This?

The dumped data does seem to be from 2008 and doesn't include credit numbers, email addresses or passwords. But its sheer scale represents a potential privacy nightmare for Turkish citizens: With Turkey's population numbering around 80 million, the leak covers more than half the country. And even data like addresses and birth dates can serve as a starting point for identity theft in the hands of hackers who manage to cross-reference the breach with other stolen data.

As for the government's claims about the data's age, that's little comfort, says Isik Mater, a Turkish privacy activist and president of Alternative Informatics Association. "I searched my name on the list and reached all my family data," she writes to WIRED. "It doesn't matter if the data is from 2008 because I still have the same name, same last name, same home address and obviously the same national ID number so it means that, the leak data is up-to-date for me and for lots of other people which makes the leak very, very serious."

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Mater discounts the Turkish government's claim that the breach is "old news," arguing that the 2010 breach it referred to was far more limited: She points to a Hurriyet report from the time that describes a crime ring selling an even larger version of the database privately, but not dumping it on the internet. "Probably some law firms and real estate agencies used the [data] secretly," Mater says. But the data wasn't online until last month, she adds, when she says a hacker known as TheCthulhu posted an encrypted version of it.

It's not yet apparent how or if that same hacker was involved in the latest leak of the fully decrypted database. But it's clear that now that the database has been leaked again in a more far more accessible form--WIRED was able to download the full database in minutes--this national scale privacy breach for Turkish citizens has gone from an underground leak to a full-on, mass data disaster.
Women and children wait for food distrubution at the migrants and refugees makeshift camp at the northern village of Idomeni, at the Greek-Macedonian border, on April 5, 2016. An enormous and complex logistical operation involving thousands of EU and other officials was launched on April 4 to ship migrants from Greece back to Turkey under a controversial accord between Brussels and Ankara. In the first wave of deportations, around 200 mostly economic migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries were sent back to Turkey aboard chartered Turkish ferries sailing from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios. / AFP / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)

Of all the media coverage of the recent EU-Turkey deal, the NY Post may have featured the most relevant reporting. The sensational tabloid published a video on April 6 showing a Pakistani man on the Greek island of Chios attempting to hang himself. The story not only captures the chaos and desperation taking place in Greece as a result of the deal, but also rightly brings attention to the population that is being most directly affected.

The EU and Turkey agreed to a "refugee deal" on March 18 that went into effect on April 4. The deal stipulates the return of individuals arriving irregularly by boat to Greece back to Turkey, in exchange for increased EU resettlement of Syrians from Turkey, large sums of aid to Turkey and the easing of EU visa restrictions for Turkish citizens. In the first week, Greek officials have returned 326 individuals, the vast majority of whom are Pakistani nationals.

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Why is a deal that most people understand to be in relation to the Syrian refugee crisis involving such a large percentage of Pakistani nationals? And why should we be concerned about it?

Syrians are indeed among those crossing from Turkey to Greece. Turkey hosts 2.7 million Syrians, but also hosts more than 200,000 non-Syrian asylum-seekers. The non-Syrian displaced have been overshadowed in the past five years of war in Syria, both by media attention as well as aid allocation. Syrians may very well end up being part of the returns under the new EU-Turkey deal, but not likely in large numbers. Rather, as we have seen this past week, nationals of countries traditionally seen as "migrant producing," like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Morocco, will be returned to Turkey.

Large numbers of Pakistani nationals among the returns can be directly attributed to complementary actions being taken by the Turkish government. On April 7, the Turkish Parliament passed a readmission agreement with Pakistan. The bill now awaits Turkish President Erdogan's publication as law. The measure has been in the making for over 5 years and will allow for Turkey to deport Pakistanis with greater administrative ease.

A similar readmission agreement between the EU and Pakistan has been highly contentious. Signed in 2010, the agreement was temporarily suspended in November 2015 due to concerns voiced by the Pakistani government that the EU was misusing the agreement, returning individuals who were not properly identified as Pakistani citizens and in many cases without any stated legal grounds. The EU seems to now be transferring its Pakistan complication onto Turkey.

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Not all Pakistanis in Turkey or the EU are necessarily "migrants." The terminology is a critical one as it determines what obligations a host state has toward the foreign national in question. According to international law a refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution and cannot be returned, while a migrant has no fear and may be returned to his/her home country. A simple analysis of the EU's asylum statistics reveals that there were 15,810 decisions made across the EU-28 on first-instance applications by Pakistani nationals in 2014, of which 27 percent were granted a protection status (12 percent refugee status, 7 percent subsidiary protection, 8 percent humanitarian residence). In other words, 4,268 Pakistani nationals were afforded protection by the EU in 2014 and specifically not classified as migrants. This is not a tiny number, and it does not even fully account for all the undecided applications.

Nor have country conditions in Pakistan substantially improved for many citizens since 2014. Notable instances of violence and public demonization of minorities, particularly Ahmadis and Christians, have plagued the country in the last 6 months especially, as well as a huge surge in the use of the death penalty by the government since it lifted a 6-year moratorium on capital punishment in December 2014.

The EU claims that Greek authorities have ensured that the Pakistani nationals being returned to Turkey since April 04 do not need protection (as per international law). But Greek officials themselves have publicly declared that they lack capacity to make such determinations, and would need 20 times the staff to ensure rights are upheld.

The EU's management of the increase in arrivals beginning in the summer of 2015 has been in the best case pitiful and in the worst case a concerted decision to create miserable conditions. Syrian and non-Syrian arrivals do amount to a sizeable figure, but nothing "crisis"-inducing for a wealthy continent of 800 million plus. In terms of effectiveness, in its first week, the deal has not done much to stem the flow of dangerous sea crossings, as evidenced by at least 5 deaths over the weekend.

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Instead of talking tough on returning individuals back to Turkey, the EU should strengthen capacity in Greece for processing applications and improving poor reception conditions. Most importantly, stemming migrant flows to the EU from places like Pakistan could much more effectively be achieved by job-creating investment in those countries and the expansion of legal immigration channels, rather than on border enforcement in the Aegean Sea, a proven futile exercise.
ASSOCIATED PRESS Bollywood actor Anupam Kher gestures to the audience during a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival at Jaipur, Rajasthan state, India, Monday, Jan.25, 2016. (AP Photo/ Deepak Sharma)

Who's afraid of Anupam Kher?

The PDP-BJP led government in Jammu and Kashmir it seems. The authorities in Srinagar turned Kher back from the airport and refused to allow him to visit the students at NIT.

I will be back tweeted Anupam Kher.

Kher can thank the Jammu and Kashmir government for taking a character actor in Hindi cinema and blowing him up into the Terminator himself. The Mehbooba Mufti government was trying to avoid more tension at the NIT campus in an uproar since the conflagration over the India-West Indies match. Instead it just gave Kher an ego boost by making him the story.

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It would only have been a better story for Kher if it had been a National Conference-Congress coalition in power in Srinagar. Then Kher and his friends could have whipped themselves into a full-on lather of self-righteous deshbhakt rage. But in this case, the BJP is inconveniently a junior partner in the government in Kashmir and thus more vested in calming matters down than stirring up patriotic outrage. Instead of bloodshot ultimatums about patriotism, deputy CM Nirmal Singh tells the Indian Express both the clash and the lathicharge were unfortunate and there is no question of shifting the institute out of the Valley.

NIT Srinagar students argue with police.

Kher meanwhile is telling ANI, We are at that time when some individuals are saying things like desh ki barbaadi etc. So it is important to become voice of millions of Indians.

That Kher thinks he is the voice of millions of Indians is itself revealing of the high regard in which he holds himself. Its as if Anupam Khers Srinagar excursion has turned into a new Dandi March against injustice. The Kashmir government has just burnished his self-installed halo.

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But he is absolutely right when he says, As a citizen of this country I should be allowed to go anywhere. Despite all his protestations, Kher was not coming to NIT on a peace mission to sow some aman ki asha between the Kashmiri students and the non-Kashmiri students. He was coming as an act of solidarity with one side. He was bringing a special gift  an Indian flag.

This could be construed as fishing in already troubled waters but it in no way takes away from Khers rights as a citizen of India, and Kashmiri to boot, to visit Srinagar, his ancestral home and the Kheer Bhawani temple. It does not matter if his espousal of Kashmiri issues is a new-found passion. When Shekhar Gupta tweets So patriotic, @AnupamKher & others marching to #NITSrinagar Why not a padayatra with BKMJ in Bastar? More Indian soldiers being killed there he too is indulging in whataboutery. Whether or not Kher goes to Bastar has no bearing on his right to go to Srinagar. To each his own.

Activists of Vishav Hindu Parishad burning tyres during a protest against ongoing unrest at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar, on April 6, 2016 in Jammu, India.

But in a way the PDP-BJP government did Anupam Kher a favour. If he had been allowed to go the campus, unfurl the flag, pose for a few selfies, make some Bharat Mata ki Jai statements, it would have been just another day in the life of yet another publicity heat-seeking missile. Now Kher can finally notch up one more achievement in his resume  a free speech victim.

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Until this point, no one not even anti-national JNU was gagging the voluble Mr. Kher. He was a favourite talking head of the television talkshows, He was on every other literary festival debate on free speech. He was speaking on In the opinion of the house, tolerance is the new intolerance at the Telegraph National Debate 2016.

He has been booed. He has called his audience a paid audience. But he has not been gagged yet.

As @IndiaExplained tweets Ironic that antinational JNU let Kher speak freely on campus, but BJP-PDP govt gagged him at Srinagar airport itself.

Kashmir conferred on him that missing notch in his stellar resume.

At the debate in Kolkata, Kher had said, Had any of you heard of the word intolerance till seven or eight months ago? You hadnt because this is a term thats been marketed. Now Kher can market himself as a bona fide victim of tolerance, the patriot not allowed to express his patriotism on Indian soil.

Anupam Kher leading the March of Unity in 2015.

The Anupam Kher side-show brilliantly fits into our ongoing national conversation about patriotism. Or rather our ongoing national drama about patriotism, which has been turned into a performance sport. In an incisive op-ed for Business Standard, Mitali Saran writes, It used to be that patriotism was a silent non-issue, like citizenship by birth. You didnt have to rip your chest open and display the Indian map tattooed on your beating heart to be accepted as a certified Indian. By getting all pop-eyed with outrage, the BJP has invented  out of thin air  the idea that if you do not adequately prove and demonstrate patriotism, you are a traitor, or at least very dodgy. Its a wonderful way of cornering and alienating large sections of Indians. It depends not on legislation, but on social behaviour.

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Kher has already shown himself to be an adept performer in this drama. Remember his March for India to Rashtrapati Bhavan to counter what he called the manufactured controversy about intolerance? He knows how to use social behaviour to corner those he disagrees with. When he went to JNU he adroitly turned the conversation away from who raised slogans for Afzal Guru to whether the students who did not raise slogans tore down posters about Guru instead. As Mukul Kesavan wrote at that time, what Kher, the roving scourge of the politically correct was really telling us was that citizenship, in Khers view of the world, isnt a birthright; its a kind of probation and you only truly belong when you learn to perform your patriotism.

And the man, if nothing else, is a born performer. He is right when he says he will be back. Bigger, better and a victim at last. Or to borrow from Martin Luther King Jr, that other man who marched against injustice, Free speech victim at last, free speech victim at last. Thank Bharat Mata (and Mehbooba Mufti) almighty, I am a free speech victim at last.

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"I am 44 years old and I feel like I'm eight years old again. I can see that man's face every time I talk about it".

It's not easy to talk about being sexually violated as a child. It's perhaps harder, in some ways, to come forward when you are in the public eye for most part of your life. But when journalist Barkha Dutt, a survivor of sexual abuse and violence, once as a child and then as an adult, decided to break her silence, she became an inspiration for millions of women worldwide forced by society to keep quiet about rape and molestation.

At the Women in the World Summit in New York, Dutt, the author of the book 'This Unquiet Land', said she regretted not taking her abuser to court.

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"It was a difficult decision. I was writing a book on India, I wanted to tell the story and not be the story," she said.

Dutt was molested as a child by a family member and she did not speak about it to anyone for many years. She was not even 10 when the incident happened.

I cannot with any honesty write about feminism, call myself a feminist, or talk about the need to lift the veil of silence and the conspiracy of silence around sexual violence and abuse, if Im not ready to break the silence in my own life. That was the reason.

"Little did I imagine that this much-older, family figure - someone who would take the kids for piggy-back rides and twirl us around in the air - could be such a monster. Worse still, as a child unable to process the magnitude of what had happened - I was the one who felt grotesque and dirty," according to an excerpt from her book.

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"It was the loneliest and most frightened I had felt as a child and the fear lurked in the shadows, following me into adulthood. I discovered that I was often wary, even scared, of sexual relations - a familiar consequence for those who had experienced abuse as children," she wrote.

Then in her days as a postgraduate student at Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University, she was briefly in a relationship with a man at the university's mass communication centre, she wrote. She was assaulted by the man and even though she discussed the situation with a team of lawyers to bring the aggressor to justice, Dutt was dissuaded.

The lawyers told her she was just going to waste her time, "they're not going to punish him", "no body is going to believe you" and to "just forget about it". He was in the same profession as her and when she applied for a job at a company, she set only one condition.

If they hired this guy, she would not work there, a request the company decided to respect.

But she regrets her decision not to legally pursue the case.

I do regret it today, I should not have been defeatist. I should have gone to court. So what if it takes 20 years? It's important.

"I do regret it today, I should not have been defeatist. I should have gone to court. So what if it takes 20 years? It's important," she told the panel.

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Why break the silence now?

"I cannot with any honesty write about feminism, call myself a feminist, or talk about the need to lift the veil of silence and the conspiracy of silence around sexual violence and abuse, if Im not ready to break the silence in my own life. That was the reason."

Contact HuffPost India

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Mark Blinch / Reuters Blackberry CEO John Chen arrives to their annual general meeting for shareholders in Waterloo, Canada June 23, 2015. BlackBerry Ltd said on Tuesday its turnaround gained traction as sales at its crucial software segment rose in the first quarter and its broader revenue slide began to ease, sending its shares up 4.3 percent. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Blackberry will launch two mid-range Android phones this year in the range of $300-$400. The company's CEO John Chen has stated in his recent interviews that they need to modify their device strategy to make the company more profitable.

Last year Blackberry ventured into the Android smartphone market with the high-end Blackberry Priv. Despite being lauded in many departments by experts, the phone did not do well especially because of the high price-point of 62,999. The phone brought back the classic Blackberry keyboard and slider form and lot of people liked the concept as well.

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"We released our Android device just about when the high-end phone market went soft, so that was principally the reason behind the lukewarm response. However, the execution could have been better because I tried to sell these phones through carriers as retail shops," Chen told ET in an interview.

The CEO said they are looking at the affordable markets with two phones this year in $300-$400 range. One of the phones will follow the Blackberry Priv's design language with the slider keyboard format and the other phone will be a full touchscreen phone.

"India is a very important market for us. We lost a lot of ground in India. We want India to be back among the top 10 markets for us. We are also working with government agencies to provide security services," expressed Chan in a talk with the Hindu.

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It also seems that Blackberry is not yet giving up on BB10. Even after losing a significant amount of market share they are preparing to launch the next version of their own OS. The lack of applications on the platform has been a real deal-breaker for the Blackberry OS.

The company will have a very tough task ahead. While Samsung is spreading its market with quality phones in each segment, Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi, OnePlus, Vivo, and Honor are ruling the mid-range market with multiple offerings. Blackberry has to come up with something very solid in terms of both hardware and software to beat them.

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Nemai Ghosh

From actors sharing a laugh to them unwinding following a hard day's shoot, photographer Nemai Ghosh had a flair for capturing screen icons in candid, vulnerable moments in the most heartwarming, fascinating way possible. As a result he was one of the leading documenters of the cinema, especially Bengali cinema, through the seventies and the eighties.

Often referred to as Academy Award winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray's 'biographer', Ghosh has captured Ray in myriad moods. In one frame Ghosh has captured Ray in a playful conversation with a child actor - his eyes widened, his brows arched and a mischievous smile lurking around the corner of his mouth - and it almost seems like he is conversing with the child as his equal. In another, he looks pensive and focussed, giving directions to actors Soumitro Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore.

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He has exhibited his work at Cannes in 1991, at London in 1992, and several times at Kolkata and Delhi, and published a selection of his photographs in a book, titled Satyajit Ray at 70, with a preface by the late French humanist photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Ghosh was also a jury member at the 2007 National Film Awards, and was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2010.

Here are some photographs by Ghosh compiled by Cinemadrome:

Photographs by Nemai Ghosh See Gallery

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - MARCH 18: Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar addresses the media at the JNU campus on March 18, 2016 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Saumya Khandelwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) may rusticate its students Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who are out on bail after their arrest in February on charges of sedition.

Two other students are also likely to be rusticated for organising an event to protest against the 2013 hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, according to a news report.

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The students may be barred from the university and may not be allowed to stay in the JNU hostel for two semesters. They may also be asked to pay Rs 10,000 each towards fine, the reports said.

The decision follows an internal inquiry conducted by the JNU management. The inquiry committee had found out that 21 students were guilty of organising the controversial pro-Afzal Guru event and the alleged anti-national sloganeering in February this year.

The report said that other students, including the former JNUSU president Ashutosh, former JNUSU vice-president Anant, and the incumbent general secretary Rama Naga, among others, too may be suspended.

Action is likely against JNUSU joint-secretary and AVBP leader Saurabh Sharma too. Though none of the students have received any formal communication from the university management yet, these students will have to vacate the hostels for the tenure of the punishment.

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Broadcast

Ever imagined a T-shirt that will change its design according to your choice? A T-shirt controlled by a smartphone which will display whatever you want. An Indian start-up, Broadcast wearables, is in the process of making that cool product take shape.

Broadcast wearables, a Hyderabad-based startup, is designing a T-shirt which has a LED panel on the front. You can connect the T-shirt with your smartphone and voila! You can change designs at will, in addition to displaying messages, logos or pictures on the panel. The product will be waterproof.

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This is also the world's first touch-enabled T-shirt. Users can tap on the LED panel to switch it on and tap again to switch it off. A swipe across the panel will change the design from the gallery on the phone.

"Our aim is to bring innovation in fashion. Your everyday T-shirt becomes much funkier when you can change the design at your will. Our main challenge was to incorporate the LEDs into the t-shirt and yet make it comfortable for the user," Ayyappa Nagubandi, founder of the company, told Huffpost India.

"Currently, we have just entered pre-production phase and testing out the features and the product. We have designed the t-shirt in such a way that it incorporates technology without making the person who wears it uncomfortable," he added.

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The company has used Surface Mounted Device LEDs (SMD-LED) in the t-shirt with flexible Printed Circuit Board (PCB). From the front panel, few very thin wire will go through the arm and to the back where the battery is placed. The battery capacity is almost 1500 mAh.

Broadcast wearables will be also publishing an app which will be paired with the T-shirt to change the design and intensity of the light. The startup will also release an API so people can make new designs and add in the public library so the others can use it. Ayyappa said, "We want to build a community where anyone can use any design".

The size of the panel on the t-shirt is just short of an A4 size paper. A total of 792 LEDs will illuminate the t-shirt. The company said they are talking to various manufacturers in different countries to find more power efficient and compact LEDs that will help the battery of the T-shirt to last longer without a recharge.

The price of the T-shirt is not yet finalized. But the company plans to launch an IndieGoGo campaign to raise money for production as well as to gauge the response of the consumers.

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As the wearables market is growing the trend of the gadgets which are worn on the other body parts than wrist is picking up. As far as fashion-tech goes, Athos is one of the companies working on the fitness wear which measures a lot of health aspects of your body. Another company, T-Wear has developed a jacket called T-jacket which simulates hugs through deep touch pressure.
stevanovicigor via Getty Images Evil criminal with large sharp knife ready for robbery or to commit a homicide

NEW DELHI -- Two Indian students at a medical college in Ukraine were stabbed to death while another sustained injuries in the attack.

Those who died in the Sunday attack allegedly carried out by three Ukrainian nationals have been identified as Pranav Shaindilya from Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

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Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, hailing from Agra, was also stabbed and was recuperating in a hospital.

"In an unfortunate event, three Indian students in Uzhgorod Medical College (Ukraine) were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 AM in the morning of Sunday, April 10," said External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Shaindilya was a third year student while Singh was a fourth year student at the college.

"Based on his (Chauhan) statement, the police apprehended the Ukrainian nationals who were trying to cross the Ukrainian border. Passports/documents of the three Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the Ukrainian nationals," the MEA spokesman said.

Our Embassy in Kiev is ascertaining facts from police,university and local contacts.Embassy spoke to families of the deceased: MEA  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

He said Indian Embassy in Kiev was informed of the incident around 11 AM yesterday and it has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts.

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"The Embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Office of Ukraine," said Swarup.

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Reuters Photographer / Reuters Maulana Azhar Masood, chief of the Pakistan-based Kashmiri groupJaish-e-Mohammad is pictured in this photo taken in August 2001.Jaish-e-Mohammad was founded in 2000 by Masood, an Islamic militant whowas freed by Indian authorities in exchange for the release of hostageson an Indian airliner hijacked to Afghanistan in December 1999. TheUnited States this month put the Jaish organisation on a newly created

After securing an arrest warrant from a special court, NIA has approached the Interpol for issuing a Red Corner Notice against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three others for their alleged role in the conspiracy to attack the strategic Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

Official sources said a dossier along with the non-bailable warrant issued by a special NIA court in Mohali in Punjab was sent to the CBI, which is the nodal agency representing the Interpol in the country.

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NIA had sought warrant against 47-year-old Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf, Kashif Jan and Shahid Latif, two handlers of JeM terrorists who had infiltrated into India through Bamiyal sector of Punjab in the wee hours of December 30 to launch the terror assault.

The JeM terrorists had initially hijacked a taxi and killed its driver Ikagar Singh before commandeering another vehicle which carried a Punjab police officer Salwinder Singh, his friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal on the intervening night of December 31 and January one.

The terrorists, four of whom have been identified as Nasir Hussain (Punjab province), Abu Bakar, (Gujranwala), Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum (both from Sindh), entered into the IAF base and carried out a suicide attack in the wee hours of January 2.

The NIA court had issued an 'open-ended non-bailable warrant' against Azhar and three others for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with JeM terrorists and carrying out a terror strike on the IAF base which left seven security personnel dead. Bodies of four slain terrorists were also recovered from the sight of encounter which lasted nearly 80 hours.

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The NIA has forwarded the warrant to Interpol along with the gist of evidence that it has found against the four which included telephonic conversation between the terrorists and their handlers like Jaan and Latif.

The NIA has also shared the Internet Protocol address of the website which uploaded a video of Abdul Rauf, brother of Masood Azhar. In the video, he was seen claiming responsibility for the attack and complimenting his boys for it. The video has since been removed and the website has also gone off the cyber world.

India had built a strong case for seeking UN sanctions against Azhar but the move was vetoed by China.

An Interpol Red Corner notice is already pending against Azhar for his alleged involvement in the conspiracy behind attacks on Parliament and Jammu and Kashmir state assembly.

Similarly an Interpol Red Corner Notice is pending against Abdul Rauf in connection with the IC-814 hijacking case of 1999.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JANUARY 15: Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh after the press conference to announce the merging of PPP with Congress at AICC Headquarters on January 15, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Manpreet Badal, the estranged nephew of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, joined Congress and merged his outfit, Peoples Party of Punjab, (PPP) with it after meeting Rahul Gandhi. (Photo by Virendra Singh Gosain/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Its a sketch of a blue turban, a yellow inner turban prominently revealing itself through it. The background is white; there is no face. Its the logo of 'Punjab da Captain', Prashant Kishors campaign to project Congress leaders Amarinder Singh for the chief ministers chair. The idea may seem obvious, but theres more to those three words and the sketch than meets the eye.

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For one, why does that sketch not have Amarinder Singhs visage drawn out? Typically, every such detail in a Prashant Kishor campaign is part of an elaborate communication strategy.

Son of the soil

In pitching Amarinder as 'Punjab da Captain', Punjab and Punjabiat are being asserted. By doing so, theres a subtle suggestion, one that could become less subtle as the months pass by, that Punjab needs a Captain whos an insider.

A comparison with the competition is left to the voters subconscious. Unlike Amarinder Singh, the Aam Aadmi Partys face, Arvind Kejriwal, isnt Punjab da. Hes a Haryanvi whos Delhi da Captain. Hes been wearing a yellow pagdi in his Punjab campaigns, yet hes neither Sikh nor Punjabi.

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Sikh leaders of the Congress party are reticent in wearing ink blue turbans, associated with the Panthik Akali Dal leaders. The choice of the blue pagdi on the sketch is to appeal to Jatt Sikh voters, traditionally a constituency of the Akali Dal. Since the Akali Dal is down and out in Battle 2017, that vote may look for different pastures.

You will find photographs of Captain Amarinder Singh wearing the blue turban in large posters, but in person, hes mostly sticking to his pastel shade pagdis. The blue bent cant be so complete as to start alienating the Hindu voter.

Wholl be the Captain?

All shades of the palette are being deployed, because the Aam Aadmi Party seems to have managed to impress one and all in Punjab. The AAP has been projecting the Congress as being just as undeserving of the reign of the state as the Akali Dal. There are corruption charges, allegations of drug protection and indifference to the voters plight against the Congress, too. But the Congress main advantage is that the Captain is still a formidable force and largely enjoys a good image amongst voters. The Congress has the only thing that the Aam Aadmi Party does not: a credible chief ministerial candidate.

The faceless blue pagdi sketch, then, is the visual equivalent of telling the voter, Who is the Captain of Punjab? Repeat after me

A HuffPost-C Voter survey recently said the Aam Aadmi Party could win 94-100 (of 120) seats if elections were held now. The same survey also showed Arvind Kejriwal ahead of Amarinder Singh in popularity, that Amarinder Singhs popularity had increased since last year, and that between Amarinder Singh and the AAPs Bhagwant Mann, Captain was way ahead.

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Bahari versus Punjabi

Going by the subtle messaging of Punjab da Captain, Prashant Kishor seems to be challenging the Aam Aadmi Party to name a captain, and a captain who is a Punjabi, son of the soil. This is similar to the 'Bihari versus Bahari' slogan that Kishor had used against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah in Bihar. Modi and Shah had dominated the Bihar campaign despite being non-Biharis and not seeking the office of the chief minister of Bihar. Similarly, Arvind Kejriwal is chief minister of Delhi, who has become face of the AAP campaign in Punjab, and he cant say who his chief ministerial candidate for Punjab is.

The Aam Aadmi Party has cleverly exploited various issues facing Punjab, issues whose gravity has made life miserable in a once prosperous state. These are drugs, unemployment, farming distress, the flight of industries away from the state, and Sikh religious issues. Punjab da Captain tries to own the conversation about all things Punjab. It doesnt always project Amarinder as the man with solutions. The campaign itself asks voters to talk about Punjabs problems and solutions. It does so on social media and in on-ground events. The idea, again, is to show ownership of Punjab and its issues.

From Maharaja to Captain

The Aam Aadmi Partys appeal to Punjabs voters is that of the aam aadmi, the common man. Whoever their chief minister be, it is the common man wholl be in power. By contrast, Amarinder Singh is the distant royal who is said to come to life at 11 am, and not available even to his own party workers after sunset. He likes his drink, takes his status as Maharaja of Patiala seriously, and spends time on such leisurely activities as World War II stories. He takes weekends and holidays off, is not a 24x7 politician.

To counter that image is the word Captain -- Captain as in team leader, Captain as in the Amarinder Singh who was a Captain in the Indian Army when he fought the 1965 India-Pakistan war, and captain as in Amarinder Singh.

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Coffee, not lassi

If only such a multi-faceted captain could be around his people. Okay, here he is, having coffee with you.

Coffee with Captain, a series of high-profile interactions with young urban voters, seek to change the inaccessible Maharaja image. Some have joked it should have been whisky with Captain, some have said it should have been lassi with captain in keeping with the spirit of Punjab. But coffee is chosen for a specific purpose and a specific target audience. One meets people over coffee in casual meetings. One does that over tea, too, but conversations over coffee are the ways of the urban youth.

College-going urban youth have also been especially targeted by the Aam Aadmi Party. Their voice is much larger than their votes. It is a segment that is key to public opinion about the politics of Punjab, not least because it suffers the most from Punjabs vicious cycle of drugs, unemployment, industrial decay and farming crisis. As part of Punjab da Captain, Kishors Indian Political Action Committee has been appointing college captains on every campus. The move seeks to give urban youth a sense of ownership in Captains campaign, and connecting it to Coffee with Captain.

The difference between Coffee with Captain and Modis Chai pe Charcha, also organized by Prashant Kishors team, is that Modi wasnt willing to take live questions and answer them impromptu. In Chai pe Charcha, the questions were screen a few days in advance, and Modi was ready with the answers. Kishors second client, Nitish Kumar, was also never seen taking impromptu questions from the public. In todays politics, doing so is fraught with danger.

The conversation is moving

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'Poocho beta', Amarinder encourages people asking him tough questions, like a family elder letting you have your say, be cathartic about your emotions. They asking him about his alleged alcoholism (he claimed he quit two years ago), or about his not doing justice to his Constitutional position of deputy leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, or the corruption charges against him.

Amarinder sits on the centre of the stage, a moderator conducts proceedings from the sidelines. Nobody expects the coffee to turn sceptics into voters over a cup of coffee  can it be said if anyone voted for Modi because of a Chai pe Charcha event? Yet what the twin campaigns of Punjab the Captain and Coffee with Captain have achieved in just about a week is to make Amarinder Singh the topic of conversation in a state where the political chatter was dominated by the AAP for at least a year.

Instead of having to respond, Congress Captain finds himself setting the agenda. Even if this conversation means inviting some criticism and controversy, what is paramount in election time is to be the centre of conversation  like Modi in 2014 or Nitish Kumar in Bihar 2015, or like the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi since 2011.

Every Congressman is captain

As the AAP prepares a comeback, Amarinder Singhs biggest challenge may be his own party. Suffering from typical Congress-style factionalism, Amarinder faces mounting dissidence that may even look like open rebellion. To counter this, he now meets party workers in different parts of the state and sits down with them for a chat almost every day. A lot of the rebellion that comes from small local leaders is patronised by Delhi-based Congress leaders who arent exactly in the same camp as Amarinder Singh. Getting the Congress high command to crack the whip on some of this will be a lot tougher than having coffee with angry young men in Ludhiana.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images BHOPAL, INDIA - OCTOBER 30: (Editors Note: This is an exclusive shoot of Hindustan Times) Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati during an interview with Hindustan Times, on October 30, 2015 in Bhopal, India. Sharpening his attack on Sai Baba, Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati in Bhopal on Friday released a poster in which Lord Hanuman is shown driving out the revered spiritual master with a tree trunk. Swami Swaroopanand said that the trust formed on the name of Sai was responsible to spoil Hindu dharma in the country. He also said that Sai Baba was projected superior to lord Hanuman and other Hindu Gods by the trust, which was unacceptable. (Photo by Praveen Bajpai/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

NEW DELHI -- Three days after the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra was forced to revoke a centuries-old ban against the entry of women into its inner sanctum, a leading religious figure in the country has warned that this development will lead to more rapes.

In a video clip, which was played by the Times Now news channel on Monday afternoon, Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati Maharaj said that instead of destroying the drugs which caused men to perpetrate sexual crimes, women had incurred the wrath of God by entering the temple.

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The religious leader said that incidents of rape would increase because women are now praying to Lord Shani.

Following months of activism and litigation, women started offering prayers at the Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar on Friday afternoon. But this stand against gender discrimination and the patriarchal monopoly over worship came with its fair share of detractors, who offered some really bizarre reasons to maintain the status quo.

This latest piece of wisdom from the Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth is by far the most irrational and offensive explanations against the entry of women into the Shani temple.

There are still quite a few temples which restrict the entry of women such as the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The Shani temple victory has reinforced the movement for these temples to break with the past.

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In an earful to the Sabarimala temple officials today, the Supreme Court questioned why women who are going their menstrual cycles are barred from entering. "What right does temple have to forbid women from entering any part of temple, please argue on bedrock of Constitution," the court said.

With the exception of exhorting tradition, temple officials in Maharashtra failed to give a straight answer to why women should not pray to Lord Shani. The Shankaracharya has previously said, "Shani is a kroor (cruel) graha, hence women should beware of worshiping the deity."

Last week, the Bombay High Court said that if men can enter the temple so can women, and it was the state's duty to protect the rights of women. "There is no law that prevents entry of women in any place," said Chief Justice D.H. Waghela.

In fact, the Shani temple was so desperate to keep women out that they decided to bar men from its inner sanctum as well. It was only when a mob of men stormed the temple that its officials relented, begging the question whether this was really a victory for women.

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Reno County sees a spike in drug and alcohol overdoses during October

The 27 overdoses through Oct. 21 is an average of more than one a day, the highet average since officials began tracking the data real time.
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A Connecticut Roman Catholic Archdiocese is taking its insurance company to court, the latest of several to respond to carriers who have refused to pay claims related to lawsuits against church officials for sexual assault.The case, which opened Friday in New Haven, alleges that Allianz subsidiary Interstate Fire & Casualty Co. breached its contract with the Archdiocese of Hartford by refusing to reimburse the archdiocese for payments made in four settlements between 2010 and 2012. The church claims the insurer previously reimbursed payments made in other abuse settlements.The foregoing activities of Interstate constitute unfair trade practices, because they offend public policy and they are immoral, unscrupulous and unethical, the complaint states.Testimony began in a bench trial before US District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton. At issue is whether Interstate and other insurers can deny claims under assault and battery exemptions in liability policies. Such policies do not cover intentional acts, but officials with the archdiocese claim they did not know about the alleged assaults.Interstate has faced several lawsuits in other states for failing to reimburse church officials for similar priest abuse settlements, the Associated Press reported.It has found some success; in 2014, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled the insurers policy for the Diocese of Phoenix did not cover settlements of priest sexual abuse cases due to the policys assault and battery exception.Other disputes between the Catholic church and its various insurers include the Diocese of Honolul, which sued First Insurance Co. of Hawaii in January for refusing to cover priest abuse settlements. And in 2014, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis sued a hefty 20 insurance companies in an attempt to force them to cover liabilities in sex abuse cases.That lawsuit was put on hold after the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy last year.The case in question involves sexual abuse claims against the Reverend Ivan Ferguson, who died in 2002 and was accused of misconduct against minors in the 1970s and 1980s. The archdiocese hs settled many claims of sexual abuse by its priests, having agreed in 2005 to pay $22 million to 43 people who said they were abused by clergy, including Ferguson.
Dave Dybdahl, president of American Risk Management Resources, says environmental lawsuits filed against farmers in Washington and Iowa are merely the leading edge of a burgeoning field of litigation related to farm pollution.We are monitoring hotspots around the country where citizen action lawsuits are forming; you can see it. Its like watching a tornado form; you can see where that will happen next.Dybdahl said he recently attended a convention in Madison, Wisconsin, attended by about 1600 farmers. None of them seem to know of the expanding environmental laws. It is brand new news to them that their farm policies have pollution exclusions that would directly eliminate coverage of liability under the Clean Water Act or RCRA (the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act). Until now, it has never been important for them or their agents to know about these laws. This is affecting groups that have never had to know about pollution laws and the related liability.People in risk management for farmers knew nothing about environmental insurance. It had never been important for them to know about this, and it had never been important for their insurance agents to know about it. That has changed in a big way.Dybdahl said insurance agents working with farmers have also been unaware of the kinds of liability that are now being exposed through litigation based on federal environmental laws.Basically insurance agents are not educated or equipped to deal with it. If you specialized in farms you had no reason to know about pollution exclusions, environmental law or environmental insurance, and you had no reason to know about pollution insurance. These people have never had to know RCRA or the Clean Water Act; they had no reason to know about those things at all or the risk management implications of them. Likewise, people in the environmental insurance business had no reason to know anything about farms, Dybdahl said.He said this all changed in December 2014 when the Wisconsin Supreme Court said contamination from manure is a pollutant. That opened the door to selling environmental policies to farmers, but policies costing $5000 were never going to be sold to family farms.He said a typical farm liability policy has annual premiums under $500, but that a typical environmental policy is at least $5000.Dybdahl said, though, that even if farmers had been willing to pay for environmental policies, they may have found such policies didnt insure the things they needed to insure.It turns out that environmental policies that were designed for industry wouldnt even work on a farm, because the standard definition of pollution didnt work on a farm. Farms need to insure manure, and odor. Bacteria and nitrates specifically have to be insured. Pre-existing pollution conditions are troublesome because every farm in the country has pre-existing pollution conditions. So a policy that excludes that doesnt work at all and almost all of them do that. So even when farms purchased environmental insurance, it didnt work effectively for them.He said his company responded by creating a new product line with premiums he said are as lows as $3500 for a farm, and $1500 for stakeholders, people who provide services to farms.This is part 2 of a 4 part series on farms, pollution and insurance. Story 3 will be published April 16.
A proposal which could see a universal healthcare system for all of Colorados residents would have a budget larger than the ACA in the state according to independent analysis; but it would almost certainly hit insurers revenues.Voters will decide in November whether to adopt Amendment 69 which would create the new system would be a US first and generate revenue of $38 billion according to the Colorado Health Institute. That would be a larger income than McDonalds and just behind New York Life Insurance.ColoradoCare would use private providers of healthcare for everyone and, although private insurance companies would still be able to operate in the state, the CHI report notes that the market is expected to be much smaller.Under the plan, Medicaid and CHP+ clients would be transferred to ColoradoCare and the states healthcare marketplace would be shut down. Both proposals would require Washingtons approval. Federal and state money would be diverted to ColoradoCare along with a new tax, to fund the program.If voters decide they like the proposal it could be a blueprint for others states; which could mean more pain for private health insurers.Insurance companies in Canada could waive the standard 2-year exemption for suicides where deaths are assisted by a physician. The head of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association has told The Province that the association has told Ottawa that its members would pay out on policies if federal guidelines are followed.A legislated process could be announced in the coming week but may not be standard across provinces. CLHIAs Frank Zinatelli said that it wants to facilitate the wishes of Canadians. "If you follow the process, which is outlined by the government or governments, then that possible exclusion won't be applied, he said, referring to the 2-year rule.There are multiple studies on the importance of sleeping well and it has a large impact on productivity. Thats why employees of Aetna are being rewarded for getting better sleep."If they can prove they get 20 nights of sleep for seven hours or more in a row, we will give them $25 a night, up $500 a year, chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini told CNNs Squawk Box. He shared that the insurer is getting 69 minutes more per worker per month as a result of investing in wellness and mindfulness initiatives.
North Adams School Officials to Interview Superintendent Candidates



School Committee members hashed out the questions that they will ask the two candidates for superintendent this week.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The School Committee this week will be making one of its most important decisions in years.



The city will be selecting its first educational leader in more than a decade after public interviews with two finalists.



"This is an exciting time for us," said Mayor Richard Alcombright on Tuesday.



That's why School Committee members gathered around the conference table last week to develop a set of carefully worded questions to evoke answers that will inform that selection.



The questions will range from management to community relations, along with educational queries on academics, goals and programs.



Answering those questions will be Barbara Malkas, superintendent of the Webster Public Schools and Stephen Donovan, superintendent of the Acushnet School District, who were named as the finalists. They were picked from an initial 10 applications and after a narrowing down process through the appointed search committee.



Malkas will be interviewed on Monday at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers; Donovan on Wednesday, also at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers. The second interview will be followed by discussion and the expectation that one of the candidates will be offered the position. The interviews are open to the public.



School officials visited the Webster schools last Tuesday and Acushnet on Wednesday.



The format will be about a dozen questions with opening and closing statements. The committee spent nearly two hours discussing what questions to ask and how they would be phrased. Some members were concerned that some issues might not be addressed.



"Sometimes you just don't get to everything," said Howard "Jake" Eberwein, who had chaired the Superintendent Search Committee.



School Committee member Tara Jacobs noted some of the questions were open ended, which could allow the candidates to touch on topics not addressed.


IND vs PAK: 'It Has to be One of India's Best Knocks Not Just His' - Rohit Sharma Hails Virat Kohli

'He Is a Big Player Because He Overcame That Pressure'- Babar Azam Praises Virat Kohli After India's Win

'It Was Undoubtedly the Best innings of Your Life': Sachin Tendulkar on Virat Kohli's Knock Against Pakistan

Watch: Rohit Sharma Lifts Virat Kohli After India's Nerve-shredding Win Over Pakistan in T20 World Cup
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
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Imperial Valley News Center

The Twittersphere does listen to the voice of reason... sometimes

Seattle, Washington - In the maelstrom of information, opinion and conjecture that is Twitter, the voice of truth and reason does occasionally prevail.

University of Washington researchers have found that tweets from official accounts - the government agencies, emergency responders, media or companies at the center of a fast-moving story - can slow the spread of rumors on Twitter and correct misinformation thats taken on a life of its own.

The researchers documented the spread of two online rumors that initially spiked on Twitter - alleged police raids in a Muslim neighborhood during a hostage situation in Sydney, Australia, and the rumored hijacking of a WestJet flight to Mexico - that were successfully quashed by denials from official accounts.

The research team from the Emerging Capacities of Mass Participation (emCOMP) Laboratory in the UW Department of Human Centered-Design & Engineering and the Information Schools DataLab presented their findings in a paper at the Association for Computing Machinerys Conference for Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing in March.

A lot of emergency managers are afraid that the voice of the many drowns out the official sources on Twitter, and that even if they are part of the conversation, no one is going to hear them, said co-author Elodie Fichet, a UW doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication. We disproved that and showed that official sources, at least in the cases we looked at, do have a critical impact.

The case studies also offer lessons for organizations that may have plans in place to deal with an actual crisis, but havent considered how to handle online rumors and communicate before they have complete information or know what is true.

Oftentimes in a crisis, the person operating a social media account is not the person who makes operational decisions or who even decides what should be said, said senior author and emComp lab director Kate Starbird, a UW assistant professor of human-centered design and engineering.

But that person still needs to be empowered to take action in the moment because if you wait 20 minutes, it may be a very different kind of crisis than if you can stamp out misinformation early on, she said.

The UW researchers found that the vast majority of the tweets both affirming and denying the two rumors were retweets of a small number of Twitter accounts, demonstrating that a single account can significantly influence how information spreads. Much of the online rumoring behavior was driven by breaking news accounts that offer the veneer of officialdom but dont necessarily follow standard journalistic practices of confirming information.

Avoiding social media channels because you dont want to be confronted with misinformation is a real danger for an organization. Youre essentially opening up a space for information to be spreading without your voice being a part of it.  Kate Starbird, UW assistant professor of human-centered design and engineering

The first rumor was one of many that spread during the Sydney Siege of December 2014, in which a gunman took 18 hostages at a chocolate cafe in Australia. A radio talk show host reported that federal police were raiding homes in the largely Muslim Lakemba neighborhood when, in fact, officers were on a previously scheduled tour of a local mosque.

Over a period of several hours, Twitter users posted 1,279 tweets related to the rumor. Of those, 38 percent affirmed the rumor, and 57 percent eventually denied it.

Nearly all of the affirmations happened in the first hour and 20 minutes, before police responded to the rumor, and the bulk of these stemmed from just five Twitter accounts that were widely retweeted.

Once the Australian Federal Police issued a single tweet  @AFPMmedia: Reports that the APF is conducting search warrants in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba are incorrect  the tweet volume related to the rumor increased to one per second. Ninety percent were retweets of the single police account source, and all were denials. Affirmations of the rumor never resurfaced in a significant way.

The second rumor the team tracked was a possible hijacking of a WestJet flight from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Mexico in January 2015, which generated more than 27,000 related tweets. It surfaced on Twitter after flight-tracking websites picked up what they believed was a hijacked code coming from the plane, which was likely caused by an instrument error on the ground.

Being Saturday afternoon, no WestJet communications employee was officially on duty. But one member of the companys social media team caught it from home about 20 minutes after the rumor surfaced.

For the next 10 minutes, a growing crowd of users from breaking news accounts, aviation enthusiasts and others began tweeting about the signal code and a possible hijacking. While WestJet was close to certain that the signal was an error, company officials did not yet know for sure, because the plane was in final descent and direct communication was not allowed due to security protocol. As a WestJet employee explained in a later interview with the research team:

The biggest question for us was: Do we respond now with almost confirmed information, or do we wait five minutes to get confirmed info? We chose, Lets get it out now, and then five minutes later confirmed. The two WestJet denial tweets corresponded with a rapid drop in online chatter, and everything was back to normal within a couple of hours.

After that experience, WestJet decided to expand its inventory of precrafted tweet templates that do not require managerial approval and would be tweeted according to a specific protocol depending on how the issue is trending. This allows social media managers to respond to a fast-moving story and issue some type of official statement  even if complete information is lacking  before a situation escalates.

In todays information economy, its important for emergency response agencies and other organizations to invest in the personnel and have an engaged social media presence before a crisis hits, Starbird said. And these two examples of online rumoring behavior demonstrate how that investment can pay off.

Being online is really important, even if you dont want to be, Starbird said. Avoiding social media channels because you dont want to be confronted with misinformation is a real danger for an organization. Youre essentially opening up a space for information to be spreading without your voice being a part of it.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Co-authors are former UW Master of Digital Communication and Media/Multimedia student Cynthia A. Andrews, UW human-centered design and engineering undergraduate student Yuwei Ding and UW Information School assistant professor Emma Spiro.
Imperial Valley News Center

Taking on melanoma, one cell at a time

Cambridge, Massachusetts - Single-cell analysis is a groundbreaking approach now being used across biological fields to explore a common problem: how to study cellular diversity in cell environments with heterogeneous populations. Such diversity can have profound implications for cell survival and proliferation, response to drug therapies and interventions, as well as myriad other biological processes.

Over the past two years, computational biologists and cell circuitry experts from the Klarman Cell Observatory (KCO), directed by Aviv Regev, a Broad Institute core member, professor of biology at MIT, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, have joined forces with cancer researchers from the lab of Broad Institute member Levi Garraway, director of the Joint Center for Cancer Precision Medicine (CCPM) at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Womens Hospital, and the Broad Institute, to probe cancer tissue  a diverse cellular environment whose complexity has often stymied researchers.

Working with study co-leaders  single-cell analysis pioneer Alex Shalek, an associate professor at MIT and Broad associate member, and KCO associate director Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen  the team first looked at melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. Their efforts, detailed this week in a paper published in Science, are helping to unravel the diverse cellular ecosystem of tumors, providing insights into not only the heterogeneity of cancer cells within the tumors, but also T cells and other cells that may be influencing cancer behavior and response to treatment.

In an interview, the papers co-first authors Itay Tirosh, a postdoc in the Regev Lab, and Benjamin Izar, a fellow in the Garraway Lab who also served as the Science papers co-corresponding author, discussed their findings and the promise of applying single-cell genomic analysis to cancer research.

Q: How does this single-cell approach differ from previous methods that have been used to analyze the cancer genome?

Ben Izar: Up until now, scientists have been mostly doing bulk tumor sequencing, essentially using RNA-sequencing or DNA-sequencing to analyze the cancer genome or transcriptome by looking at whole pieces of tumor tissue. For RNA sequencing especially, doing these bulk analyses are limited because what you are working with is a mish-mash of tumor cells, immune cells, fibroblasts, macrophages  all types of cells that are mixed together that may or may not be contributing to cancer progression and drug resistance.

Itay Tirosh: Our single-cell method lets us probe the whole tumor one cell at a time to determine what cell types are present. And although we are studying cancer, this work was to analyze not just the malignant cells but all the different cell types inside the tumor. This is the first time that that has been done. And now that we know the composition of each tumor, and we know what the expression profile is for each cell type, we can go back and re-analyze some of this bulk-tumor data (from The Cancer Genome Atlas, for example) to figure out from that existing data how cell types might be interacting  to kind of reconstruct the bulk samples entire behavior from the components.

Q: What led you to team up and embark on this study?

Izar: Two years ago, we had a meeting  members of Levi Garraways lab and members of the KCO  to discuss how we might apply some of the single-cell technologies pioneered by the observatory to cancer research in the context of precision medicine. The question we had was: Could we take advantage of the technology for use as a translational research tool that could ultimately be used to help inform patient care?

Tirosh: Single-cell RNA-seq was a relatively new method at the time  it still is relatively new  but one of the basic problems we thought it could help solve related to the cellular diversity within tumors. The main reason we want to understand this diversity is that, when doctors treat cancer, some patients respond to treatment and others do not, and even if there is a good response the cancer often comes back. We dont understand why maybe some cells are being killed and others are not, but there has been a suspicion that this variability has to do with the cellular diversity inside the tumor environment.

Q: And what did you learn about melanoma from your study?

Tirosh: Levis lab has been studying melanoma and drug resistance for a number of years. One mechanism that they showed in melanoma with BRAF mutations is that cells that are killed by treatment preferentially express a pathway that contains the gene MITF, a master regulator of melanocytes. The other cells that are not killed by this drug express a different program. One main gene in that program is AXL. What we found was that, when you look at tumors, not only can you classify them into those that mostly express MITF and those that mostly express AXL, but by looking more deeply at individual cells, you see that every tumor has both types of cells, and we can measure the proportions.

Izar: What that means is that, by conventional methods, if you were to do bulk RNA sequencing on the tumor, the overwhelming signal may tell you that it contains cells that express the MITF program, indicating that the patient is sensitive to treatment. But already, somewhere hidden in there dormant is a small fraction of AXL-expressing cells that will ultimately cause the patients cancer to relapse. One possible implication of this finding would be to see if we can develop a treatment strategy to try and also kill those few cells that will ultimately cause that relapse.

Tirosh: And then, as we said before, we looked not just at the cancer cells but also at a lot of other cell types, particularly the T cells of the immune system, and we were be able to start to describe the specific pathways in the T cells that may reflect or cause dysfunction. What we found by analyzing the T cells, which are the target of the immunotherapies, is that within the T cell population there are some cells that may be more susceptible to those treatments.

Q: Could you explain how immunotherapy works in cancer and how T cells fit into the picture?

Izar: It is believed that all of us may have aberrant cells like cancer cells in our bodies from time to time, but our immune system is typically able to track them down and weed them out. However, if cancer cells find a way to inhibit our immune system, they have a chance to grow. The observation that cancer cells can do that  that they can actively modulate our immune system and prevent it from doing its job  has been transformative. It opened up the possibility of using immunotherapies to fight cancer. When I explain this to my patients, I tell them that these immune checkpoint inhibitors  the immunotherapy drugs that we give them  dont actually kill cancer directly, like traditional chemotherapies; instead, imagine that the cancer cells have pulled the hand break on the car that is the bodys own endogenous immunity. What these immunotherapy drugs do is release the hand break so that our T cells can race off, find cancer cells, and kill them.

Melanoma is a great example of a cancer that responds to this type of treatment, but then there are other cancers like colon cancer or pancreatic cancer that rarely respond to immunotherapy. So not only are we looking at T cells to try to learn why some melanoma patients respond to therapy and others dont, but we also want to understand across cancer types whether T cells behave the same way in cancers that respond to immunotherapy versus those that do not respond to immunotherapy.

Q: Are you already looking at other tumor types? Whats next for your research?

Tirosh: We are looking at other tumor types. Ben and I work closely on other projects and are applying single-cell technology successfully to ovarian cancer and colon cancer, while others at KCO and CCPM are further extending this approach to many additional tumor types such as pancreatic cancer and breast cancer. We are asking the same basic questions, but each tumor type has its own unique features that guide these projects. In addition, we are starting to ask how the cellular composition of these tumors will change after they are treated and if they recur.

Izar: Now that we have shown that this approach works in patient tissue, we need to ask how we might implement something like it into patient care. A next step is to test it in prospective studies, to determine whether our algorithms can help identify which patients will respond to treatment and which are more likely to develop resistance to treatment. If we can demonstrate the feasibility of single-cell RNA-seq in the context of various types of cancer, we will be one step closer to reaching our ultimate goal, which is to use this technology to guide patient care.
Imperial Valley News Center

Populations of early human settlers grew like an invasive species

Stanford, California - Bustling cities, sprawling suburbs and blossoming agricultural regions might seem strong evidence that people have always dominated the environment. A Stanford study of South America's colonization shows that human populations did not always grow unchecked, but were at one time limited by local resources  just like any other species.

In fact, the study, published by the journal Nature, finds that for much of human history on the continent, human populations grew like an invasive species, which are regulated by their environment as they spread into new places. Populations grew exponentially when people first colonized South America. But then they crashed, recovered slightly and plateaued for thousands of years after over-consuming local natural resources and reaching continental carrying capacity, according to the analysis.

"The question is: Have we overshot Earth's carrying capacity today?" said senior author Elizabeth Hadly, the Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor in Environmental Biology and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. "Because humans respond as any other invasive species, the implication is that we are headed for a crash before we stabilize our global population size."

The paper, titled "Post-Invasion Demography of Prehistoric Humans in South America," is the first in a series on the interaction of local animal populations, humans and climate during the massive changes of the last 25,000 years in South America. The series will be featured at the Latin American Paleontology Congress this fall.

The study lays a foundation for understanding how humans contributed to the Pleistocene era's largest extinction of big mammals, such as ground sloths, horses and elephant-like creatures called gomphotheres. It reconstructs the history of human population growth in South America using a newly assembled database of radiocarbon dates from more than 1,100 archaeological sites. Unlike many archaeological studies that look at environmental change in one particular site, the Stanford research's continental approach provides a picture of long-term change, such as climatic fluctuations, fundamental to human populations rather than a single culture or ecosystem.

The researchers found strong evidence for two distinct phases of demographic growth in South America. The first phase, characterized by logistic growth, occurred between 14,000 and 5,500 years ago and began with a rapid spread of people and explosive population size throughout the continent.

Then, consistent with other invasive species, humans appear to have undergone an early population decline consistent with over-exploitation of their resources. This coincided with the last pulses of an extinction of big animals. Subsequent to the loss of these big animals, humans experienced a long period of constant population size across the continent. The second phase, from about 5,500 to 2,000 years ago, saw exponential population growth. This pattern is distinct from those seen in North America, Europe and Australia.

The seemingly obvious explanation for the second phase  initial domestication of animals and crops  had minimal impact on this shift, the researchers wrote. Instead, the rise of sedentary societies is the most likely reason for exponential population growth. Practices such as intensive agriculture and inter-regional trade led to sedentism, which allowed for faster and more sustained population growth. Profound environmental impacts followed.

"Thinking about the relationship between humans and our environment, unchecked growth is not a universal hallmark of our history, but a very recent development," said co-lead author Amy Goldberg, a biology graduate student at Stanford. "In South America, it was settled societies, not just the stable food sources of agriculture, that profoundly changed how humans interact with and adapt their environment."

Today, as the world's population continues to grow, we turn to technology and culture to reset nature's carrying capacity and harvest or even create new resources.

"Technological advances, whether they are made of stone or computers, have been critical in helping to shape the world around us up until this point," said co-lead author Alexis Mychajliw a graduate student in biology. "That said, it's unclear if we can invent a way out of planetary carrying capacities."
Shorter, Intensive Radiation Can Be Recommended in Early Prostate Cancer

Durham, North Carolina - Giving early-stage prostate cancer patients a slightly higher daily dose of radiation can cut more than two weeks from the current treatment regimen without compromising cancer control, according to a national study led by a Duke Cancer Institute researcher.

Publishing April 4 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the research team compared the shortened radiation therapy schedule of about 5.5 weeks to the standard 8-week regimen to determine if rates of cure were similar. Both treatment schedules were similar in terms of controlling cancer, but doctors reported slightly more mild side effects in patients getting the shorter radiation schedule.

This study has implications for public policy, said the studys principal investigator, W. Robert Lee, M.D., a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Duke. Because the shorter regimen has advantages such as greater patient convenience and lower costs, its important to establishing whether we can cure as many patients with the shorter regimen. Our study provides that information for the first time.

Lee and colleagues, working as part of NRG Oncology, a non-profit cancer research organization, enrolled about 1,100 men whose prostate cancer was diagnosed early, before it had spread. Roughly half the patients were randomly assigned to receive the typical regimen of 41 treatments; the other half received the higher dose over just 28 treatments.

At five years, disease-free survival was no different between the two groups, with 85.3 percent of men in the traditional group being cancer-free, compared to 86.3 percent of men in the shorter regimen group. Overall survival at five years was also no different, at 93.2 percent and 92.5 percent respectively.

Mild gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicity as reported by doctors was observed more frequently in patients getting the higher daily dose, shorter frequency radiation, but no differences were observed in more severe side effects, which were rare (less than 5 percent) with either regimen. The researchers also asked patients to describe their own experiences of side-effects, but these data have yet to be analyzed.

"An estimated 220,000 men are expected to be newly diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in the United States, and the majority will have early-stage disease at low risk for recurrence, Lee said. These findings should help guide clinical decisions, and doctors should be comfortable recommending a shorter radiotherapy course as an alternative to the conventional schedule.

In addition to Lee, study authors include James J. Dignam; Mahul B. Amin; Deborah W. Bruner; Daniel Low; Gregory P. Swanson; Amit B. Shah; David P. DSouza; Jeff M. Michalski; Ian S. Dayes; Samantha A. Seaward; William A. Hall; Paul L. Nguyen; Thomas M. Pisansky; Sergio L. Faria; Yuhchyau Chen; Bridget F. Koontz; Rebecca Paulus; and Howard M. Sandler.

The study received support from NRG Oncology through the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute (U10CA21661, U10CA37422, U10CA180868, U10CA180822).
How network effects hurt economies

Cambridge, Massachusetts - When large-scale economic struggles hit a region, a country, or even a continent, the explanations tend to be big in nature as well.

Macroeconomists - who study large economic phenomena - often look for sweeping explanations of what has gone wrong, such as declines in productivity, consumer demand, or investor confidence, or significant changes in monetary policy.

But what if large-scale economic slumps can be traced to declines in relatively narrow industrial sectors? A newly published study co-authored by an MIT economist provides evidence that economic problems may often have smaller points of origin and then spread as part of a network effect.

Relatively small shocks can become magnified and then become shocks you have to contend with [on a large scale], says MIT economist Daron Acemoglu, one of the authors of a paper detailing the research.

The findings run counter to real business cycle theory, which became popular in the 1970s and holds that smaller, industry-specific effects tend to get swamped by larger, economy-wide trends.

More precisely, Acemoglu and his colleagues have found cases where industry-specific problems lead to six-fold declines in production across the U.S. economy as a whole. For example, for every dollar of value-added growth lost in the manufacturing industries because of competition from China, six dollars of value-added growth were lost in the U.S. economy as a whole.

The researchers also examined four different types of economic shocks to the U.S. economy that occurred over the years 1991-2009, and quantified the extent to which those problems spread upstream or downstream of the central industry in question  that is, whether the network effects more strongly hurt industrial suppliers or businesses that sell products and provide services to consumers.

All told, the researchers state in the paper, Our results suggest that the transmission of various different types of shocks through economic networks and industry interlinkages could have first-order implications for the macroeconomy.

The paper, Networks and the Macroeconomy: An Empirical Exploration, is being published in the NBER Macroeconomics Annual, by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The co-authors are Acemoglu, the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics and member of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at MIT; Ufuk Akcigit, an economist at the University of Chicago; and William Kerr, a professor at Harvard Business School.

Upstream or downstream

Acemoglu, Afcigit, and Kerr used manufacturing data from the National Bureau of Economic Analysis, and industry-specific data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, to examine four economic shocks hitting the U.S. economy during that 1991-2009 period. Those were: the impact of export competition on U.S. manufacturing; changes in federal government spending, which affect areas such as defense manufacturing; changes in Total Factor Productivity; and variation in levels of patents coming from foreign industry.

As noted, the network effect of manufacturing competition with China made the overall economic shock about six times as great as it was to manufacturing alone. (This research built on previously published work by economists David Autor of MIT, David Dorn of the University of Zurich, and Gordon Hanson of the University of California at San Diego, sometimes in collaboration with Acemoglu and MIT graduate student Brendan Price.)

In studying changes in the levels of federal spending after 1992, the researchers found a network effect about three to five times as large as that on directly-affected firms alone.

The decline in Total Factor Productivity constituted a smaller economic shock but one with a larger network effect, of more than 15 times the initial impact. In the case of increased foreign patenting (another way of looking at corporate productivity), the researchers found a network effect similar to that of Total Factor Productivity.

The first two of these areas constitute demand-side shocks, affecting consumer demand for the products in question. The last two are supply-side shocks, affecting firms ability to be good at what they do.

One of the key findings of the study, which confirms and builds on existing theory, is that demand-side shocks spread almost exclusively upstream in economic networks, and supply-side shocks spread almost exclusively downstream. To see why, Acemoglu suggests, consider an auto manufacturer, which has parts suppliers upstream and is linked with auto dealers, repair shops, and other businesses downstream.

When auto demand drops, Its the suppliers [upstream] that get affected, Acemoglu explains. Youre going to cut the production of autos, and you buy less of each of the inputs, or supplies.

Now suppose the supply changes, perhaps due to an increase in manufacturing efficiency, which makes cars cheaper. In that case, Acemoglu adds, People who use auto as inputs will buy more of them  picture a delivery company  so that shock will get transmitted to the downstream industries.

To be sure, it is widely understood that the auto industry, like almost every other industry, is situated within a larger economic network. Yet estimating the spillover effects of struggles within any given industry, in the quantitative form of the current study, is rarely done.

Given the importance of this, its surprising how scant the evidence is, Acemoglu says.

Multiplying our knowledge

Other scholars are impressed with the work, which the researchers presented at an NBER conference on macroeconomic matters in 2015 and is being published along with others responses. One of those published responses is by Xavier Gabaix, a professor of finance at New York Universitys Stern School of Business, who calls the current work a very exciting line of research and adds that the paper is a very useful step forward.

Tracing the propagation of shocks is something Acemoglu, Akcigit, and Kerr do particularly well, Gabaix adds. And he believes the method and findings might be [best] extended empirically and conceptually when it comes to understanding multipliers, that is, the way investment in one industrial area creates larger amounts of growth in general.

This could have policy implications: Proponents of government investment, such as the so-called stimulus bill of 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, have contended that government spending creates a multiplier effect in terms of growth. Opponents of such legislation sometimes assert that government spending crowds out private investment and thus does not generate more growth than would otherwise occur. In theory, a more granular understanding of these network effects could help describe and define what a multiplier effect is, and in which industrial areas it may be the most pronounced.

To be clear, Acemoglu adds, it is always hard to define precisely what the origins of a negative economic shock may be. Is it overseas competition, a lack of innovation, or other factors  some of which may indeed be economy-wide in nature? The more economists can identify such shocks, the better they can use the current papers framework to trace their effects.

There are many things going on, and there is the possibility that a whole [economic] area has been hit by a negative shock, Acemoglu says. Its hard to distinguish all of these channels. Thats why you need systematic work.
Stabilizing quantum bits

Cambridge, Massachusetts - Quantum computers are largely hypothetical devices that could perform some calculations much more rapidly than conventional computers can. They exploit a property called superposition, which describes a quantum particles counterintuitive ability to, in some sense, inhabit more than one physical state at the same time.

But superposition is fragile, and finding ways to preserve it is one of the chief obstacles to developing large, general-purpose quantum computers. In todays Nature, MIT researchers describe a new approach to preserving superposition in a class of quantum devices built from synthetic diamonds. The work could ultimately prove an important step toward reliable quantum computers.

In most engineering fields, the best way to maintain the stability of a physical system is feedback control. You make a measurement  the current trajectory of an airplane, or the temperature of an engine  and on that basis produce a control signal that nudges the system back toward its desired state.

The problem with using this technique to stabilize a quantum system is that measurement destroys superposition. So quantum-computing researchers have traditionally had to do without feedback.

Typically, what people do is to use whats called open-loop control, says Paola Cappellaro, the Esther and Harold Edgerton Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT and senior author on the new paper. You decide a priori how to control your system and then apply your controller and hope for the best  that you knew enough about your system that the control you applied will do what you thought it should. Feedback should be more robust, because it lets you adapt to whats going wrong.

In the Nature paper, Cappellaro and her former PhD student Masashi Hirose, who graduated last year and is now with McKinsey and Company in Tokyo, describe a feedback-control system for maintaining quantum superposition that requires no measurement. Instead of having a classical controller to implement the feedback, we now use a quantum controller, Cappellaro explains. Because the controller is quantum, I dont need to do a measurement to know whats going on.

Vacant expression

Cappellaro and Hiroses system uses a so-called nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. A pure diamond consists of carbon atoms arranged in a regular latticework structure. If a carbon nucleus is missing from the lattice where one would be expected, thats a vacancy. If a nitrogen atom takes the place of a carbon atom in the lattice, and it happens to be adjacent to a vacancy, thats a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center.

Associated with every NV center is a group of electrons from the adjacent atoms, which, like all electrons, have a property called spin that describes their magnetic orientation. When subjected to a strong magnetic field  from, say, a permanent magnet positioned above the diamond  an NV centers electronic spin can be up, down, or a quantum superposition of the two. It can thus represent a quantum bit, or qubit, which differs from an ordinary computer bit in its ability to take on not just the values 1 or 0, but both at the same time.

NV centers have several advantages over other candidate qubits. Theyre an intrinsic feature of a physical structure, so they dispense with the complex hardware for trapping ions or atoms that other approaches require. And NV centers are natural light emitters, which makes it relatively easy to read information from them. Indeed, the light particles emitted by an NV center may themselves be in superposition, so they provide a way to move quantum information around.

Local control

Like electrons, atomic nuclei have spin, and Cappellaro and Hirose use the spin state of the nitrogen nucleus to control the NV centers electronic spin. First, a dose of microwaves puts the electronic spin into superposition. Then a burst of radio-frequency radiation puts the nitrogen nucleus into a specified spin state.

A second, lower-power dose of microwaves entangles the spins of the nitrogen nucleus and the NV center, so that they become dependent on each other. At this point, the NV qubit could, together with other qubits, be enlisted to perform a computation. But in their experiments, Cappellaro and Hirose were evaluating a single qubit, so they could test only the most rudimentary computational operation: the not gate, which flips a bits value.

Because the spins of the nitrogen nucleus and the NV center are entangled, if anything goes wrong during the computation, it will be reflected in the spin of the nitrogen nucleus.

After the computation is performed, a third dose of microwaves  whose polarization is rotated relative to that of the second  disentangles the nucleus and the NV center. The researchers then subject the system to a final sequence of microwave exposures. Those exposures are calibrated, however, so that their effect on the NV center depends on the state of the nitrogen nucleus. If an error crept in during the computation, the microwaves will correct it; if not, theyll leave the NV centers state unaltered.

In experiments, the researchers found that, with their feedback-control system, an NV-center quantum bit would stay in superposition about 1,000 times as long as it would without it.

[Cappellaro] sheds light on a method, coherent feedback, which was discussed in the literature, in theory, a while back but has never been experimentally explored, says Jorg Wrachtrup, a physics professor at the University of Stuttgart, in Germany. What is extremely good in there is that shes showing  once you do it right, and once you find the right algorithm, which she did  how easy it is in the end to protect the electron spin against spin flip or dephasing.

The main advantage of this technique compared to previously reported results, like protection of spin using echoes, is robustness against noise, adds Fedor Jelezko, a physics professor at Ulm University, in Germany. The technique demonstrated by the Cappellaro group is less sensitive to the time scale of the noise. I believe that applications of this technique will appear soon, as demonstrations of new protocols applied to quantum metrology and quantum computing.
Supermassive black holes may be lurking everywhere in the universe

Berkeley, California - near-record supermassive black hole discovered in a sparse area of the local universe indicate that these monster objects - this one equal to 17 billion suns - may be more common than once thought, according to UC Berkeley astronomers.

Until now, the biggest supermassive black holes  those with masses at or near 10 billion times that of our sun  have been found at the cores of very large galaxies in regions loaded with other large galaxies. The current record holder, discovered in the Coma Cluster by the UC Berkeley team in 2011, tips the scale at 21 billion solar masses and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The newly discovered black hole is in a galaxy, NGC 1600, in the opposite part of the sky from the Coma Cluster in a relative desert, said lead discoverer Chung-Pei Ma, a UC Berkeley professor of astronomy and head of the Massive Survey, a study of the most massive galaxies in the local universe with the goal of understanding how galaxies form and grow supermassive. While finding a gigantic black hole in a massive galaxy in a crowded area of the universe is to be expected  like running across a skyscraper in Manhattan  it seemed less likely they could be found in the universes small towns.

Rich groups of galaxies like the Coma Cluster are very, very rare, but there are quite a few galaxy groups the size of NGC 1600 and its satellites, Ma said. So the question now is, Is this the tip of an iceberg? Maybe there are a lot more monster black holes out there that dont live in a skyscraper in Manhattan, but in a tall silo somewhere in the Midwestern plains.

While the black hole discovered in 2011 in the galaxy NGC 4889 in the Coma Cluster was estimated to have an upper limit of 21 billion solar masses, its range of possible masses was large: between 3 billion and 21 billion suns. The 17-billion-solar-mass estimate for the central black hole in NGC 1600 is much more precise, with a range (standard deviation) of 15.5 to 18.5 billion solar masses.

Interestingly, the stars around the center of NGC 1600 are moving as if the black hole were a binary. Binary black holes are expected to be common in large galaxies, since galaxies are thought to grow by merging with other galaxies, each of which would presumably bring a central black hole with it. These black holes would likely sink to the core of the new and larger galaxy and, after an orbital dance, merge with the emission of gravitational waves. The proposed Evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or eLISA, is designed to detect gravitational waves produced by the merger of massive black holes, while other groups are looking for evidence of gravitational waves from massive black hole mergers in nanosecond glitches in the precisely timed flashes of millisecond pulsars.

Ma and her colleagues will report the discovery of the black hole, which is located about 200 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Eridanus, in the April 6 issue of the journal Nature.

In search of quasar remnants



Black holes form when matter becomes so dense that not even light can escape its gravitational pull. In the early universe, when gas was abundant, many black holes grew to become extremely massive by swallowing it up, emitting immense amounts of energy. Looking back in time at the distant universe, these supermassive black holes appear as very bright quasars. As astronomers look closer to Earth, however, they see galaxies with little gas  its already turned into stars  and no quasars. The most massive of these local galaxies may, however, house old quasars at their cores. Ma says that the monster black holes her team discovered in 2011 in NGC 4889 and NGC 3842, each weighing about 10 billion solar masses, may be quiescent quasars.

Because NGC 1600 is an old galaxy with little new star formation, Ma suspects that it, too, may harbor an ancient quasar that once blazed brightly but is now asleep. It would be the first discovered in a sparsely populated region of the local universe, she said.

The brightest quasars, probably hosting the most massive black holes, dont necessarily have to live in the densest regions of the universe, she said. NGC 1600 is the first very massive black hole that lives outside a rich environment in the local universe, and could be the first example of a descendent of a very luminous quasar that also didnt live in a privileged site.

The Massive Survey was funded in 2014 by the National Science Foundation to weigh the stars, dark matter and central black holes of the 100 most massive, nearby galaxies: those larger than 300 billion solar masses and within 350 million light-years of Earth, a region that contains millions of galaxies. Among its goals is to find the descendants of luminous quasars that may be sleeping unsuspected in large nearby galaxies.

The supermassive black hole found in NGC 1600 is one of the first successes of the project, proving the value of a systematic search of the night sky rather than looking only in dense areas like those occupied by large clusters of galaxies, such as the Coma and Virgo clusters.

Based on spectra taken by the Gemini Telescope of the center of NGC 1600, most stars inside the sphere of influence of the black hole  a region about 3,000 light-years in radius  are traveling on circular orbits around the black hole, with very few moving radially inward or outward. It is as if the stars on radial orbits towards the black hole have been slung away, Ma said.

This would be the case only if the closest stars were scattering off a black hole pair and slingshotted away, just as NASA slingshots space probes around other planets to move them more quickly through the solar system.

The black holes sphere of influence  the region within which the mass of visible stars equals the black hole mass  is much larger than the event horizon, the point of no return, which would be about eight times the size of Plutos orbit.

Somehow the stars have been scared away from the center of very massive galaxies, and either were afraid to come in, or came in and got kicked out, Ma said. The stellar orbits around the center of NGC 1600 indicate the latter, which may be support for a binary black hole formed by a merger.

Binary black holes and core scouring

Because stars flung out by a binary black hole sap angular momentum from the orbiting pair, the two move closer together and eventually merge. If NGC 1600 does contain a binary black hole with a combined mass of 17 billion suns, orbiting a fraction of a light-year apart, the ongoing pulsar timing arrays have a chance of picking up the emitted gravitational waves, Ma said.





NGC 1600 suggests that a key characteristic of a galaxy with binary black holes at its core is that the central, star-depleted region is the same size as the sphere of influence of the central black hole pair, Ma said. A lack of stars close to the galactic center distinguishes massive galaxies from standard elliptical galaxies, which are brightest at the core.

One dynamical footprint of a binary black hole is core scouring, Ma said.

This signature will help Ma and her colleagues refine the MASSIVE Survey and more quickly find the supermassive black holes in Earths vicinity.

Mas co-authors are Jens Thomas of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany; former UC Berkeley doctoral student Nicholas McConnell and John Blakeslee of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria, British Columbia; former Miller Visiting Professor Jenny Greene of Princeton University; and Ryan Janish of UC Berkeleys Department of Physics.
These Machines Want to Make You a Deal

Los Angeles, California - At USC, researchers are studying how to train the next generation of negotiators  and doing so will require teaching machines how to convincingly lie. Using training programs called virtual humans, computer scientists want to help tomorrows leaders realize when the person sitting across from them is bluffing their way to a better deal. Virtual humans already exist to train users in leadership and communication skills; someday soon, they could be a normal part of a business education.

Jonathan Gratch, director of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies Virtual Humans Research team, will present a conference paper this May outlining one of the challenges for building successful negotiation programs. The Misrepresentation Game: How to Win at Negotiation While Seeming Like a Nice Guy, will be presented at the Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems International Conference in Singapore. The paper was co-authored by doctoral students Zahra Nazari and Emmanuel Johnson, and sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army.

As the study title suggests, the negotiation technique the study explored was all about bluffing while seeming fair. In negotiation, theres a technique known as the fixed-pie lie. The idea is that people arrive at a negotiation expecting a win-lose outcome; they dont think to ask what their opponents are willing to compromise on, and will cede more than they have to if their opponent keeps turning down each deal.

In a study Gratch led, participants were fooled into accepting worse deals when their computer opponent expressed disappointment. Gratch and his colleagues recruited 75 study participants from Amazons Mechanical Turk and asked them to negotiate over baskets of fruit. The computer would claim to want all the fruit  though in reality it only cared about certain kinds. When the participants gave in and split the fruit evenly, the computer would begrudgingly accept, saying Im not happy, but I want to be fair.

That concession tricked the human participants into thinking the computer was giving up more than it really was.

People tend to believe were fighting over the same things, so youre inclined to believe the fixed-pie lie, Gratch said. With this technique, if you realize early on that you can grow the pie, you can pretend that its fixed to make your opponent believe they got half of the pie.

In future experiments, he said, subject participants should be taught how and when to make counteroffers. These could force the computer opponents to reveal that they dont really want the same things as the human participants. It could also highlight the risks of misrepresentation: you look untrustworthy, which hurts your ability to create future deals.

Gratch is working closely with USC Marshall School faculty who teach negotiations skills. Currently, these skills are taught through classroom lectures and pen-and-paper roleplaying. Virtual humans, which are already used by agencies like the U.S. Army to teach leadership and communication, could provide believable negotiation scenarios in a consistent way.

Virtual humans are also useful because negotiation is an inherently anxiety-provoking task, Gratch said.

Many people are anxious about a salary negotiation, he said. You feel safer in a scenario like this. You dont worry about getting things wrong. And it provides scaffolding: you learn the easy stuff before you get to the harder stuff.

As more courses move online and negotiation happens in more virtual spaces, being able to access training programs from anywhere in the world could make these skills easier to develop.

The thing Im excited about is, you can really put this in a concrete mathematical framework, Gratch said. We can start proving things and covering different negotiation scenarios. The next step is putting virtual human agents on the web.

Virtual humans mimic realistic social behavior in customizable, replayable scenarios. Users can see how their interactions with co-workers, employees  or in this case, negotiators  can be modified for a more desirable outcome.
Ideas in orbit

Cambridge, Massachusetts - Talk for a while with MIT senior Raichelle Aniceto about satellites, and you might find youve caught the aerospace bug. An aeronautics and astronautics major from Salt Lake City, Aniceto has a contagious enthusiasm for the space gadgets shes spent the last four years helping to develop.

There might be something youre passionate about that other people might be interested in, but they might just not know about it, she says. I didnt know a lot about aerospace engineering until I got to MIT, and I wish I did before.

Though she was new to aerospace when she entered MIT, Aniceto wasted no time immersing herself in the field. She has helped to design and build numerous satellites, led the MIT Robotics Team in building a planetary rover, conducted flight test research in Germany, and founded the student group MIT Women in Aerospace Engineering. As a sophomore, Aniceto was named in the magazine Aviation Weeks The Twenty20s, a list of 20 of the worlds top aerospace engineering and technology students in their 20s.

Aniceto was drawn to math, science, and engineering early, joining her high schools FIRST Robotics team and science club. She spent summers at the University of Utah doing research in a biomedical lab, then working in the department of mechanical engineering.

I knew I wanted to do something math- and engineering-related, Aniceto says. MIT was always a dream school of mine that I never thought I would actually get into."

The summer after her acceptance, Aniceto chose to arrive at MIT week early to take part in a Freshman Pre-Orientation Program (FPOP), where she got to know some of her new classmates as they worked together to make bottle rockets and balsa wood airplanes.

From that experience, I realized that in aerospace you combine different disciplines, she says. You have to understand the mechanical structure, but you also have to know the code and software, as well as the systems. And on top of that, you have to learn the physics to make things fly.

Ideas in orbit

Inspired by her FPOP experience, Aniceto sought out an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) spot in the Space Telecommunications, Astronomy, and Radiation Laboratory, or STAR Lab, led by Kerri Cahoy, the Boeing Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Anicetos first project was a microsized satellite called MicroMAS. She began in the MIT Machine Shop helping to machine components, and the satellite was launched by NASA the summer after her sophomore year.

Now, Aniceto is working on a satellite the size of a shoebox, called a CubeSat. Were putting an optical communications systems on it, and its going to the moon, she says. From the moon, were going to try to beam a laser down to Earth and transmit data that way.

Getting a satellite to the moon with such a small propellant system is a challenge in itself, but using a laser to transmit data is another.

Satellites normally use radio frequency, Aniceto explains. Laser communication is a new method that people havent been able to miniaturize onto such a small platform. This one can fit in your backpack.

Not only does the laser need to produce a strong enough signal to reach the Earth nearly 240,000 miles away, it also needs to get to the right spot on the Earth.

We were designing our own system that will take the laser and amplify it, Aniceto says. The hard part about laser communications is the pointing, because you have to be really precise to hit a certain target from that far of a distance. So were using this fine-steering mirror, and its tilting back and forth by very, very small degrees. If we miss, we wont get the signal to the ground station.

Her teams CubeSat won second place in the first and second ground tournaments of the NASA Cube Quest competition this year, and theyre now competing for a NASA-sponsored satellite launch.

Anicetos growing interest in satellites and space systems has led her to internships at companies including aerospace manufacturers Orbital ATK and Boeing, as well as OneWeb, a company aiming to provide affordable global Internet access through satellites. Now, she is considering pursuing her interest further as a career.

Working in the research lab from that initial project, I was doing small things like machining a part, but that did translate a couple years down the line into something that I could see myself doing, she says.

Creating community

Just as important to Aniceto as classwork and research is her community at MIT. Shes a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, and she dances with the competitive hip hop group Ridonkulous  for her, dance is not only an outlet, but another family.

To help foster community in her major, as a sophomore Aniceto founded MIT Women in Aerospace for undergraduate students in the department. We have low numbers for female versus male students in the department, and I wanted to develop a group where we could become closer and support each other, she says. The group runs a mentorship program as well as a professional development program, bringing speakers from the aerospace industry to campus.

Aniceto has shared her passions globally as well, teaching math, science, and engineering to middle and high school students in Spain through the MISTI Global Teaching Lab and in China through the MIT China Development Initiative.

Important in all that she does, Aniceto says, is having fun  and making sure others are, too. As the events director of the MIT Undergraduate Association, she helped to plan activities for her class, such as SpringFest, an annual concert and highlight of spring term.

I feel a sense of satisfaction when I see classmates attend events and have fun, Aniceto says. I want to make sure that through it all, were still enjoying ourselves.

Satellite connections

Anicetos parents emigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines before she was born. Her mother and her father, a mechanical engineer, worked hard not only for a better life in their new home but also to help support their family members in the Philippines and California.

My mom was the oldest of her sisters, so when they all came over, she didnt get a chance to finish college and pursue what she wanted to do, because she had that family dependent on her, says Aniceto. I look to that, and I think its really admirable to give that up for your family. I think because I saw that growing up, I wanted to make sure that I was doing the absolute best that I could and challenging myself to really utilize the resources that I had.

To Aniceto, that means not only working hard, but also making an impact. I want to study hard and use my career to be able to do something to give back, she says. But at MIT, Im going to take advantage of all these things they have to offer, and enjoy it, and use my own set of talents to impact other people around me.

After graduation this spring, Aniceto plans to attend graduate school and continue to pursue her interest in space systems, as well as recently developed interests in additive manufacturing and 3-D printing. She says her dream is to become the chief technology officer at an aerospace company, and she is interested in developing satellites to help provide global Internet access.

Since my dads family is in the Philippines, we would spend a lot of time calling, Skyping, or using Google Hangout, Aniceto says. From childhood, I was very dependent on connecting with people. I think that kind of connection is really valuable and something everyone should have access to.
Reinventing childhood in the 21st century

Berkeley, California - Growing up in the U.S. isnt what it used to be. The idea of childhood - what it means to be a kid - has been reinvented time and time again.

Paula Fass, a professor of history emerita at UC Berkeley and an expert on the history of childhood, spoke with Innovation Hub about her new book, The End of American Childhood. In her book, Fass says that 19th century kids living in pre-industrial America were taught to be responsible and independent - something that she says has set the U.S. apart from other places in the world.

The way we raise our children is part of who we are as a country, she said in the interview. I think today, one of the things were struggling with is how to maintain that emphasis on independence and to encourage creativity and resourcefulness at a time when more and more parents are trying to micromanage their children.

Fass acknowledges that kids are growing up in a different time, in which the Internet and growing power of social media add new challenges to parenting. But she says its important for parents to adapt without becoming too overprotective.

Every generation has to learn how they are going to deal with those things and not go to extremes, she says. Our children are better fed, educated and safer than ever before. The fears that parents have, although real, are intensely exaggerated.

The over-managed child, Fass says, can potentially be less resourceful as adults.

As a historian, I am hopeful that the emphasis on independence and creativity thats been so deeply part of the American way of childrearing will not entirely be lost.

Paula Fass, who has taught at UC Berkeley since 1974, is Margaret Byrne Professor Emerita and a professor at the Graduate School. She is the author of The End of American Childhood, Inheriting the Holocaust: A Second Generation Memoir and Kidnapped: Childhood Abduction in America. She recently edited Childhood in the Western World and Reinventing Childhood After WWII.
'We Got Robbed': Pakistani Twitter Had a Meltdown Over 'Controversial' No Ball to Virat Kohli
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Netflix is hosting a two-day event in Paris, which will see the cast and crew of some of the streaming services most popular shows - including House of Cards and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - take to the stage for panel discussions and what has promised to be exciting new announcements.

British actor Charlie Cox took to the stage on Monday morning (11 April) to discuss Marvel television series Daredevil, the first of four standalone superheroes to be getting their own Netflix Original Series.

With season two having launched via the streaming service last month, the question on everybodys lips was on a potential third outing for the superhero.

We dont know if theres going to be a season three, he revealed to a crowded room of journalists. I certainly dont know.

Cox did go on, however, to announce that the planned Avengers-style series which will star all four of these characters - including Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage - is to start filming later this year.

Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Show all 14 1 /14 Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 House of Cards - Season Four - 4 March Last time we were in Frank Underwoods White House things werent looking to great for the President, his first Lady having just walked out on him. What will happen next in the critically acclaimed show is anyones guess. Netflix Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Daredevil - Season Two - 18 March Back in Hells Kitchen things were seemingly getting better. Kingpin is in prison and the crime syndicates should have dispersed - for the meantime at least. Unfortunately for Matt Murdoch, theres a new anti-hero in town: The Punisher. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Flaked - 11 March According to Netflix, Flaked is set in the insular world of Venice, California. It follows the serio-comic story of a self-appointed 'guru' who falls for the object of his best friends fascination. Soon the tangled web of half-truths and semi-b******* that underpins his all-important image and sobriety begins to unravel. Arnett plays Chip, a man doing his honest best to stay one step ahead of his own lies. Netflix Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season Two - 15 April Following the story of 29-year-old Kimmy Schmidt on her journey through New York, season two is set to start right where the last left us. The Tina Fey created sitcom has already been renewed for a third season, so you know this one has to be good. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Ranch - 1 April A comedy starring Ashton Kutcher. Based on a failed semi-pro footballer who returns home to a Colorado ranch. It also has some of the producers from Two and a Half Men behind it, which just happens to be one of the most successful shows of all time. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Marseille - 5 May Netflixs first French language original is a tale of power, corruption and redemption. Sounding like it could very well be the next Narcos. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Grace and Frankie - Season Two - 6 May The tale of a retired cosmetics mogul and a hippie art teacher living together was a hit across the world, especially in the US. Starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, the show has already been renewed for a third season. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Orange is the New Black - Season Four - 17 June Another Netflix powerhouse, Orange is the New Black will see us returning to Litchfield Penitentiary. Prepare for more Piper, Alex and Red come June. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Stranger Things - 15 July Eight-episode series starring Winona Ryder that follows a small community as they look for a young boy who has seemingly vanished. It all sounds quite scary. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Get Down - August 12th "Told through the lives and music of a ragtag crew of South Bronx teens, The Get Down is a mythic saga of the transformation of 1970s New York City. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, this is sure to be as stylish as anything hes done before. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Crown - Spring Starring Doctor Who actor Matt Smith, the period drama reveals the political rivalries and romance behind Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped the 2nd half of the 20th century." Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Luke Cage - Fall 2016 First appearing alongside Jessica Jones in her Netflix series, Luke Cage will pic up the pieces, seeing Cage come to terms with his super-strength and impenetrable skin. It is unknown whether Kathryn. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Narcos - Season 2 - Fall 2016 Its back. The Netflix series hyped to match Breaking Bad was an astounding success around the world, apparently watched more than Game of Thrones. Well find out what happens to Pablo Escabar now he doesnt have the protection of all his men. Netflix Inc. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 A Series of Unfortunate Events - Fall 2016 Netflix is set to revisit the much-loved childrens novel, putting Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf in a show that looks so much creepier than the 2004 film. Not much else is known - i.e. casting - but Lemony Snicket is on board as executive producer, so get excited.

"What we do know is at the end of this year were going to be making The Defenders and, of course, Daredevil is very much a part of that foursome.

I have no idea what the storyline is going to be for that show. Im very excited to see how those worlds combine and interested to see tonally how those shows become one.

In terms of his Daredevil storylines being addressed in The Defenders, Cox remains uncertain: In terms of wrapping up any storylines, maybe theyll do some of that in The Defenders. Or maybe they wont.

Daredevil seasons one and two, as well as Jessica Jones season one, are available to stream on Netflix now. The first season of Iron Fist is currently being filmed with Game of Thrones actor Finn Jones taking on the lead role.
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Netflix is hosting a two-day event in Paris, which will see the cast and crew of some of the streaming services most popular shows - including House of Cards and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - take to the stage for panel discussions and what has promised to be exciting new announcements.

British actor Charlie Cox took to the stage on Monday morning (11 April) to discuss Marvel television series Daredevil, the first of four standalone superheroes to be getting their own Netflix Original Series (including Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage).

The actor, who revealed to a crowded room of journalists in La Cite du Cinema, that The Defenders - a series starring all four of the characters mentioned above - announced that his character could potentially one day appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

"When I signed the contract for the show, I signed multiple years for Daredevil and, of course, The Defenders, and in that package there was the opportunity to be involved in the movies in some way, he said.

Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Show all 14 1 /14 Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 House of Cards - Season Four - 4 March Last time we were in Frank Underwoods White House things werent looking to great for the President, his first Lady having just walked out on him. What will happen next in the critically acclaimed show is anyones guess. Netflix Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Daredevil - Season Two - 18 March Back in Hells Kitchen things were seemingly getting better. Kingpin is in prison and the crime syndicates should have dispersed - for the meantime at least. Unfortunately for Matt Murdoch, theres a new anti-hero in town: The Punisher. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Flaked - 11 March According to Netflix, Flaked is set in the insular world of Venice, California. It follows the serio-comic story of a self-appointed 'guru' who falls for the object of his best friends fascination. Soon the tangled web of half-truths and semi-b******* that underpins his all-important image and sobriety begins to unravel. Arnett plays Chip, a man doing his honest best to stay one step ahead of his own lies. Netflix Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season Two - 15 April Following the story of 29-year-old Kimmy Schmidt on her journey through New York, season two is set to start right where the last left us. The Tina Fey created sitcom has already been renewed for a third season, so you know this one has to be good. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Ranch - 1 April A comedy starring Ashton Kutcher. Based on a failed semi-pro footballer who returns home to a Colorado ranch. It also has some of the producers from Two and a Half Men behind it, which just happens to be one of the most successful shows of all time. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Marseille - 5 May Netflixs first French language original is a tale of power, corruption and redemption. Sounding like it could very well be the next Narcos. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Grace and Frankie - Season Two - 6 May The tale of a retired cosmetics mogul and a hippie art teacher living together was a hit across the world, especially in the US. Starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, the show has already been renewed for a third season. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Orange is the New Black - Season Four - 17 June Another Netflix powerhouse, Orange is the New Black will see us returning to Litchfield Penitentiary. Prepare for more Piper, Alex and Red come June. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Stranger Things - 15 July Eight-episode series starring Winona Ryder that follows a small community as they look for a young boy who has seemingly vanished. It all sounds quite scary. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Get Down - August 12th "Told through the lives and music of a ragtag crew of South Bronx teens, The Get Down is a mythic saga of the transformation of 1970s New York City. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, this is sure to be as stylish as anything hes done before. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 The Crown - Spring Starring Doctor Who actor Matt Smith, the period drama reveals the political rivalries and romance behind Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped the 2nd half of the 20th century." Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Luke Cage - Fall 2016 First appearing alongside Jessica Jones in her Netflix series, Luke Cage will pic up the pieces, seeing Cage come to terms with his super-strength and impenetrable skin. It is unknown whether Kathryn. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 Narcos - Season 2 - Fall 2016 Its back. The Netflix series hyped to match Breaking Bad was an astounding success around the world, apparently watched more than Game of Thrones. Well find out what happens to Pablo Escabar now he doesnt have the protection of all his men. Netflix Inc. Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016 A Series of Unfortunate Events - Fall 2016 Netflix is set to revisit the much-loved childrens novel, putting Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf in a show that looks so much creepier than the 2004 film. Not much else is known - i.e. casting - but Lemony Snicket is on board as executive producer, so get excited.

But at this stage, no conversations have been had with me about doing any of the movies. I dont know what the politics are behind it all but Marvel Studios and Marvel TV are different, Cox continued.

It would be great if that was to happen, itd be wonderful - who wouldnt want to be in the biggest grossing movie of all time? But none of those discussions have happened - certainly not with me, said Cox.

The next film to be released in the MCU is Captain America: Civil War which hits cinemas on 29 April.
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Vibrant Indian curries and spicy Portuguese Perri Perri chicken are among the UKs favourite dishes: if this proves anything its that food is a unifying force.

And in a political climate where demagogues are pledging to separate countries with gigantic walls it is clear that we are desperately in need of foods power.

So, its lucky that Nikandre Kopcke, a half-Greek and half-German New Yorker, got about setting up a restaurant staffed entirely by refugee and migrant women back in 2012.

Mazi Mas current staff consists of female chefs from Iran, Ethiopia, Turkey, Senegal, Peru, Nicaragua, Turkey, Brazil and Nepal, who approached Kopcke or were recruited from migrant and refugee outreach programmes in London.

Nikandre Kopcke set up the restaurant in 2012 (Elena Manfredi)

A year since the roaming restaurant took up residence at The Russett in Hackney, east London, the women are reflecting on their achievements, and steaming ahead with plans to develop formal training programmes; attempt to recruit newly-arrived Syrian women; and support new Mazi Mas kitchens for asylum seekers springing up in Australia.

In this time, the restaurant has become mechanism both for tackling prejudice and helping women find a place in mainstream society.

Those entering a new country struggle in many ways, particularly if they lack language skills and experience a loss of status, explains Dr Jason Hart, Department of Social & Policy Sciences at the University of Bath.

The roaming restaurant took up residence at The Russett in Hackney, east London (Ibid)

In your new home you experience humiliation at being treated as one of a mass of refugees, denied meaningful employment and the regard of those around you.

But food is part of the solution, believes Kopcke. If you're having dinner with someone or eating their food its much more difficult to fear them, she says.

The restaurant is also a creative outlet. By suggesting dishes from their countries of origin and teaching each other to cook them, the women piece together eclectic seasonal menus.

A chicken dish with saffron rice (Marianne Chua)

Pan-fried fish marinated in cinnamon and tamarind-herb sauce served with saffron rice from Iran and salad plate featuring Ethiopian, Nepalese and Peruvian dishes are among the delights on the new Spring menu.

Maria Marouli, Kopckes Greek Godmother, was the inspiration for Mazi Mas, which means eat with us in Greek.

An exceptional cook, Maroulis husband smashed her dream of opening up a bakery - her job was to look after their children.

Volunteering in community kitchens and migrant centres in London, Kopcke saw her Godmothers story mirrored in the lives of the women she met. Prospective employers repeatedly rejected them for apparently having no skills.

Mazi Mas kitchen manager Roberta Siao learned to cook by watching her mother and grandmother in the kitchen (Gercama)

A sociology and gender studies graduate, Kopcke soon decided it was time for me to stop talking feminism, and start doing it.

Marlith Tenazoa Del Aguila from Rioja, Peru, is part of the Mazi Mas team. She came to London in search of new horizons and to join her daughter. She says she loves cooking because it comes from the heart and unites people. To Del Aguila, Mazi Mas is a humanitarian organisation.

Mazi Mas, regardless of race, creed or age, gives women the opportunity to better themselves, says the 59-year-old.

The restaurant has become mechanism both for tackling prejudice and helping women find a place in mainstream society (Marianne Chua) (Marianne Chua)

With Kopcke from the start was Mazi Mas kitchen manager Roberta Siao. Born In Rio de Janeiro, she learned to cook by watching her mother and grandmother in the kitchen.

Binding the public and private spheres releases women from loneliness, and gives them a space to share their experiences. Before Mazi Mas, one chef told Kopcke she simply felt invisible.

It brings our humanity to the forefront and it is inspiring to see how much more we have in common than not says Sioa, 44.

Mazi Mas gives women much-deserved opportunity to be valued, earn their own money and many times, as we say in Brazil be the owner of her own nose!"

Recipes

Marliths ceviche

Serves four

Ceviche is a popular dish in Peru (Mazi Mas/Marianne Chua)

Marliths traditional Peruvian ceviche has become one of our favourite dishes at Mazi Mas. It is super simple to prepare, yet a real showstopper  and irresistibly delicious. We love the interplay of vivid colours, textures, and flavours in this dish. Summer on a plate!

Ingredients

500 g skinless and boneless sea bass or sea bream

8-9 limes

2-3 cloves garlic

2 red onions

1 bunch of fresh coriander

Red and green fresh chillies, one each (more if you like heat)

2 large sweet potatoes

4 large lettuce leaves

Half a bag of frozen choclo peruano, Peruvian giant corn

Half a bag of maiz cancha, Peruvian corn nuts

Method

Prep your fish: wash with cold water, pat dry, and cut in 2 cm cubes. Set in a bowl in the fridge while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

Set the sweet potatoes on to boil. You want to boil them in their skins until a fork easily pierces them, about twenty minutes to half an hour, depending on size. Once they are ready, run them under cold water until they are cool enough to handle. Carefully peel them  this cannot be done perfectly, so dont worry if bits come off with the skin  and slice them into 1 cm thick rounds. Set aside.

While the potatoes are cooking, squeeze the limes into a large bowl. Pick the coriander fronds off the stalks and reserve.

Finely mince the garlic. Slice the chillis and red onions crosswise into fine rounds (if you dont like heat, seed the chillis first). Add the garlic and chillis to the lime juice and season with salt. Put the onions in a separate small bowl of cold water to draw out any bitterness.

Using a deep fat fryer, or a small saucepan filled with vegetable oil to a depth of about 3 cm, fry the maiz cancha in batches until golden brown. Drain on kitchen towel and sprinkle with salt.

Boil the choclo peruano for 5 minutes and drain; set aside.

Take the fish out of the fridge and add it to the bowl of lime juice, along with the sliced onions.

How long you leave the fish in the lime juice depends on how cooked you like your ceviche. 20 minutes will cook the fish quite thoroughly; if you prefer it raw, let it sit no more than five.

Assemble the ceviche: place a lettuce leaf on each plate and arrange two slices of sweet potato on the side. Add a spoonful each of choclo peruano and maiz cancha. Spoon the ceviche in the middle of the leaf and top with a shower of red onions and coriander.

Zohreh Shahrabi's Kashke Bademjan (Iranian aubergine dip)

Serves two

Zohreh's aubergine dip, decorated with pomegranate seeds (Elena Manfredi)

Kashke bademjan is one of the most popular dishes we serve. Artfully garnished by Zohreh in the traditional Iranian way, it is also one of the most beautiful. Kashk, a fermented yogurt used throughout the Middle East, lends the dish a distinctive, gentle sourness; its worth the effort to track it down, but you can also substitute sour cream. Kashke bademjan is wonderful as part of a mezze spread, served with Turkish bread or a good sourdough.

Ingredients

2 aubergines

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp turmeric

1 onion, thinly sliced

 cup Kashk

 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 tbsp dried mint

Salt and pepper to taste

Pomegranate (optional, for garnish)

Method

Peel and slice the aubergines into thick circles and fry in olive oil until golden on both sides. (Aubergine needs plenty of oil  make sure you use enough to saturate them.)

Remove from pan and let drain on kitchen towel.

Chop the onion and saute in olive oil, stirring occasionally until golden.

Add the teaspoon of turmeric, then add the aubergines, kashk (reserve one tablespoon for garnish) and a couple tablespoons of water.

Heat the mixture over low heat until the aubergines are soft, then remove from heat and mash with a potato masher.

To serve, drizzle with a tablespoon of kashk and sprinkle over dried mint, chopped walnuts and sweet sauteed onion. Scatter a scant handful of pomegranate seeds on top, if desired.

Serve warm or at room temperature with bread or crackers.

Azeb Woldemichael's Ethiopian Kay Wat Beef and Potato Stew with Berbere

Serves six

Beef kay wat (bottom left) pictured alongside other meze dishes (Yousef Eldin)

Azebs wonderful Ethiopian stews rely on a long, slow cooking process to draw out and deepen flavours. This dish requires some tending  its not one you can clap a lid on and forget about - but patience is amply rewarded: the flavours in Azebs kay wat are some of the richest and most complex we have ever tasted. Fiery berbere is Ethiopias signature chilli-and-spice mixture, and once it is in your cupboard you will wonder how you ever did without it. See the footnote for where to find it in London.

Ingredients

500 g diced lean beef

3 large potatoes

4 yellow onions

Half a head of garlic

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2-3 tbsp berbere

1 tube tomato puree

 tsp makelesha* (mix of ground Ethiopian spices) or cumin

Knob of butter

Salt

Method

Wash, peel and cut each potato in 7 or 8 irregular chunks; set aside.

Mince garlic and set aside. Finely dice the onion and saute in olive oil over medium heat.

Once the onions start to brown, add the berbere, stir well, and add the tomato puree. Add a cup of water, stir, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the meat and cook until it has absorbed all the water in the pan. Add another  cup of water and let it absorb that too.

Add the potatoes, stir, and simmer gently until the potatoes are about half-cooked.

Add the garlic and another  cup water, and simmer until the sauce has thickened again. Add the makelesha or cumin and butter, season with salt, and simmer a final 10 minutes to allow all the flavours to meld.
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A new taxi service dubbed the 'Uber for women' is set to launch in the US this month.

Chariot for Women, the (mostly) female-only car service, will begin picking up customers on 19 April in Boston, Massachusetts.

The company was founded by Michael Pelletz, a former Uber driver, who got the idea after picking up a drunken and potentially dangerous male passenger.

As it says on the company's website: "One thought kept coming up in his head: 'What if I was a woman?'...'How would a woman handle that situation, especially when I was so nervous myself?'"

All of Chariot for Women's drivers will be female, and the company says they will go through thorough background checks before they can start driving. Customers will also have to exchange a 'safe word' with the driver before a ride begins, in order to verify they're in the right car.

Only women and transwomen will be able to travel as passengers, although children under 13 will be allowed to use the service regardless of gender. The company also says it will donate two per cent of each fare to women-focused charities.

Rape allegations have been made against Uber drivers before, and a Buzzfeed investigation in March claimed to reveal over 6,000 complaints relating to sexual assault had been logged in the company's customer service database.

In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app London Taxi drivers in protest at Victoria Street in London In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app London Black cab and licensed taxi drivers protest at Trafalgar Square in London. Unions and groups representing taxi drivers are warning that the move is leading to unlicensed drivers being contacted via the new technology, with no checks on whether they are legitimate In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app London Black cab and licensed taxi drivers protest at Trafalgar Square, London over the introduction of a phone app called Uber which allows customers to book and track vehicles In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app London Traffic gets worst as taxi drivers protest at Trafalgar Square in London In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Barcelona A taxi proceeds demonstrators holding a banner during a strike action in protest of unliscensed taxi-type-services in Barcelona In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Barcelona Taxi drivers hold a banner during a strike action in protest of unliscensed taxi-type-services in Barcelona. Banner reads, "Out with illegal apps" In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Madrid Taxi drivers carry a banner during a strike action in protest of unliscensed taxi-type-services in central Madrid In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Madrid Taxi drivers in London, Paris, Madrid and other European capitals plan to bring chaos to the streets in protest against unlicensed mobile car-hailing services such as Uber which have shaken up the industry

Uber claimed the actual figure was far lower, and said it always fully co-operates with law enforcement and affected customers when such allegations are made. However, Chariot for Women says many of its potential customers would feel safer riding with a vetted female driver.

The company is currently preparing for launch, but some have speculated that its female-only policies could create legal issues.

Speaking to the Boston Globe, employment law expert Joseph L. Sulman said refusing to hire male drivers could potentially be against the law.

"To limit employees to one gender, you have to have what the law calls a bona fide occupational qualification. And that's a really strict standard," he said.

Dahlia C. Rudavsky, a partner at a Boston law firm, also told the paper that turning down male customers could breach discrimination laws.

"There's nothing wrong with advertising particularly to a female customer base," she said, "but if a company goes further and refuses to pick up a man, I think they'd potentially run into legal trouble."

Pelletz told TechCrunch he would welcome legal challenges, hoping they would "show there's inequality in safety in our industry."

The Independent has contacted Chariot for Women for more information.
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Alzheimers disease affects a persons ability to recognise faces, a new study has found.

No longer being able to identify otherwise familiar faces is a common symptom of the form of dementia.

Researchers hope that the findings will help loved ones understand why a person with the disease no longer knows who they are, and could help create treatments to postpone this painful sign of the disease.

The study is based on the idea that humans have evolved to have the faculty of holistic perception, or the ability to quickly identify a person by seeing their whole face.

Researchers at the University of Montreal found that Alzheimers disease affects holistic perception.

To make their findings published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the team compared how people with the disease and healthy older people were able to perceive faces and cars in photos that were upright or upside down.

The team found that both those with Alzheimers and the control group were able to identify upside-down images with relatively similar levels of accuracy.

However, with the upright faces, people with Alzheimer's were much slower and made more mistakes than the healthy individuals, said lead author Dr Sven Joubert, lead author of the study.

The seven Alzheimer's risk factors Show all 7 1 /7 The seven Alzheimer's risk factors The seven Alzheimer's risk factors Hypertension 8 percent of Alzheimer's cases are linked to mid-life hypertension Getty The seven Alzheimer's risk factors Smoking Smoking accounts for 11 percent of Alzheimer's cases Getty The seven Alzheimer's risk factors Obesity Midlife obesity accounts for 7 percent of Alzheimer's cases PA The seven Alzheimer's risk factors Low Educational attainment Low education or simply not using your brain enough accounts for 7 percent of Alzheimer's cases Getty The seven Alzheimer's risk factors Diabetes Problems with blood sugar control kick off the list of modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's.The study suggests that 3 percent of Alzheimer's cases are linked to diabetes The seven Alzheimer's risk factors Depression 15 percent of Alzheimer's cases may stem from depression Rex The seven Alzheimer's risk factors Too little exercise Not enough physical activity is the number one preventable factor that contributes to Alzheimer's cases Rex Features

He added that participants with Alzheimers were able to recongnise upright cars, which does not require holistic processing, suggesting that the disease causes problems perceiving faces specifically.

Researchers found that even those with early stages of the disease experienced such symptoms.

Dr Laura Phipps of Alzheimers Research UK, said: "The inability to recognise loved ones can be distressing for both the person living with dementia and their family and friends. We know that in addition to memory difficulties, people with Alzheimers experience challenges with visual perception and this study highlights the impact of the disease on facial recognition.

"The research suggests that people with Alzheimers can have trouble building a visual picture of a face in their mind and this is not entirely driven by underlying memory problems. Its important that researchers understand the complex symptoms that people with dementia experience, as this will help with diagnosis, symptom management and ultimately treatments.

Dr James Pickett, Head of Research at Alzheimers Society, said: As dementia develops, damage to the brain affects different parts that are dedicated to specific tasks, such as grammar, planning or finding your way around.

"This study suggests that difficulties people with dementia can have in recognising faces may not be solely due to memory loss, but also changes in the way that the brain visually processes faces. More work in this area may help us to improve therapies or activities to help people with dementia to maintain better connections with loved ones.


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A new scanning technique that could quickly reveal whether a cancer treatment is working has been tested on a patient in the UK or Europe of the first time.

Experts hope that the technique will doctors to identify the most appropriate treatments for a patient within days. Currently, doctors must wait for around three weeks to see if a tumour responds to medication.

Doctors used the rapid scan on a patient at the Addenbrooke's Hospital, part of Cambridge University Hospitals as part of a study into metabolic imaging.

The scan involves labelling pyruvate  which occurs when glucose is broken down  with a non-radioactive form of carbon which makes it easier to detect in an MRI scanner, and injecting it into the patient.

By scanning the patient, doctors can monitor how the cancer cells break down pyruvate to test whether the drug has effectively killed them.

The study as a whole has already involved patients in the US with a wide range of cancers.

Further research is needed to collect and analyse the study results in order to get an accurate early snapshot of how well drugs destroy tumours, according to Dr Emma Smith of Cancer Research UK.

She said: Finding out early on whether cancer is responding to therapy could save patients months of treatment that isn't working for them.

13 ways to help prevent cancer Show all 13 1 /13 13 ways to help prevent cancer 13 ways to help prevent cancer Stopping smoking. This notoriously difficult habit to break sees tar build-up in the lungs and DNA alteration and causes 15,558 cancer deaths a year 13 ways to help prevent cancer Avoiding the sun, and the melanoma that comes with overexposure to harmful UV rays, could help conscientious shade-lovers dodge being one of the 7,220 people who die from it 13 ways to help prevent cancer A diet that is low in red meat can help to prevent bowel cancer, according to the research - with 30 grams a day recommended for men, and 25 a day recommended for women 13 ways to help prevent cancer Foods high in fibre, meanwhile, can further make for healthier bowels. Processed foods in developed countries appear to be causing higher rates of colon cancer than diets in continents such as Africa, which have high bean and pulse intakes 13 ways to help prevent cancer Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day were given as the magic number for good diet in the research. Overall, diet causes only slightly fewer cancer deaths than sun exposure in Australia, at 7,000 a year 13 ways to help prevent cancer Obesity and being overweight, linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, causes 3,917 deaths by cancer a year on its own Getty 13 ways to help prevent cancer Dying of a cancer caused by infection also comes in highly, linked to 3,421 cancer deaths a year. Infections such as human papilloma virus - which can cause cervical cancer in women - and hepatitis - can be prevented by vaccinations and having regular check-ups 13 ways to help prevent cancer Cutting back on drinks could reduce the risk of cancers caused by alcohol - such as liver cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer and mouth cancer - that are leading to 3,208 deaths a year 2014 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Sitting around and not getting the heart pumping - less than one hour's exercise a day - is directly leading to about 1,800 people having lower immune functions and higher hormone levels, among other factors, that cause cancers 2011 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Hormone replacement therapy, which is used to relieve symptoms of the menopause in women, caused 539 deaths from (mainly breast) cancer in Australia last year. It did, however, prevent 52 cases of colorectal cancers 2003 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Insufficient breastfeeding, bizarrely, makes the top 10. Breastfeeding for 12 months could prevent 235 cancer cases a year, said the research AFP/Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Oral contraceptives, like the Pill, caused about 105 breast cancers and 52 cervical cancers - but it also prevented about 1,440 ovarian and uterine (womb) cases of cancer last year 2006 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Taking aspirin also prevented 232 cases in the Queensland research of colorectal and oesophagal cancers - but as it can also cause strokes, is not yet recommended as a formal treatment against the risk of cancer

Professor Kevin Brindle, co-lead based at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: Each persons cancer is different and this technique could help us tailor a patients treatment more quickly than before.

Dr Ferdia Gallagher, co-lead also funded by Cancer Research UK and based at the Department of Radiology at the University of Cambridge, said: Its fantastic that we can now try this technique in patients. We hope this will progress the way cancer treatment is given and make therapy more effective for patients in the future.

"This new technique could potentially mean that doctors will find out much more quickly if a treatment is working for their patient instead of waiting to see if a tumour shrinks.
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Neurolaw experts in America have been discussing whether medication could potentially affect a person to the point where their sexual tendencies "change" or manifest themselves in extreme ways.

In a discussion on ABC programme All in the Mind, Professor Jeanette Kennett of Macquarie University and Stephen Morse, a professor of law and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed the case of former Tasmanian MP Terence Martin, 58, who was convicted of unlawful intercourse with a 12-year-old in 2011.

Mr Martin pleaded guilty to the charge although at sentencing, evidence was brought forward in his mitigation that his Parkinsons medication  a dopamine agonist  had directly caused hypersexuality.

While taking this medication, it was claimed Mr Martin developed "a range of sexual interests that he had never had before": he spent [most of] his superannuation of pornography and prostitutes over about a 12-month period, and he engaged in "certain sorts of repetitive behaviours".

Professor Kennett said in the discussion that this hypersexuality as a result of this particular medication happens "reasonably often" and that there had been cases in the UK where this had been brought up as a legal defence.

When Mr Martin ceased taking the medication, those interests went away and it was therefore deemed that the medication-induced changes to his brain were likely to be responsible for the offending behaviour.

The judge in the case then ruled that Mr Martin should not serve any further sentence, and he was released on probation.

Professor Kennett commented that this was an area where neuroimaging could give more precise evidence of impairment, and predicted that it would be interesting in criminal cases as well as civil and administrative cases.

A similar case in 2000 involved a happily married 40-year-old man who was found guilty of child molestation and consequently kicked off a rehabilitation programme for sexual addiction after making advances at staff members and other clients.

The night before his sentencing the man, who was kept anonymous in media coverage, was rushed to hospital after suffering from a headache.

During a medical history check, doctors found that the man had suffered a head injury in 1984, and also had a brain tumour which may or may not have been related to the injury.

When doctors removed the tumour, the mans health returned; he completed a rehabilitation programme and was permitted to return home to his family.

Scientists concluded that the tumour interfered with the orbifrontal cortex, which helps to regulate social behaviour, and had "manifested sexual deviancy and paedophila". It was believed to be the first known case of paedophilia caused by a tumour.

Psychiatrists, psychologists and sexologists are often divided on the subject of paedophilia and its causes; some believe paedophiles are criminals, others have suggested it is an illness, while recently a more controversial opinion puts forward the idea that paedophilia is a sexual orientation.

Canadian psychologist and sex behaviour scientist Dr James Cantor, who was not involved in the tumour case, told The Independent that it was unlikely that the mans brain tumour would be treated as a cause of paedophilia today.

"Although these cases can be an important clue, I would not conclude that they represent someone who became paedophilic or became non-paedophilic again," he said.

"Rather, the evidence suggests that someone who was already paedophilic all along lost the ability to hide it after the injury, and then regained the ability to suppress it as the neurological problem was treated."
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It is regrettable that some people in Britain blame China for what is happening in the British steel industry and accuse China of 'dumping' steels in Britain and pricing local companies out of the steel market

So says that Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, in a defensive article for today's The Daily Telegraph.

No doubt its regrettable from his perspective that people in the UK are complaining of Chinese dumping. It's an uncomfortable thing to be accused of. But that doesnt make the dumping charge untrue.

Heres why, in 10 charts and tables, we should be sceptical of Mr Liu's case.

There is huge overcapacity in the domestic Chinese steel industry.

Less than 75 per cent of its domestic capacity is being used according to data from the analysis firm Cru:

Its important to recognise that this overcapacity has been created by an avalanche of cheap loans from state-owned banks to state-owned steel companies. The Chinese corporate sector is notoriously over-leveraged. And Chinese steel companies are among the most over-leveraged of all companies in China as this (showing interest payments as a percentage of operating profits) demonstrates:

If you think Tata's Port Talbot plant has problems with losing money take a look at the negative profitability of Chinese steel makers:

Overall profit margins in Chinese steel manufacturing were already pitifully low relative to other sectors of the Chinese manufacturing economy. And they have been falling further:

Two factors have driven that lavishing of China's national resources on steel production in recent years. One is cronyism and corruption. The other has been a political concern in Beijing to keep manufacturing employment levels high. That concern is entirely understandable. But these activities have global economic implications that must be recognised.

China is easily the worlds biggest producer of steel. Chinas share of output has risen from a quarter to a half in a decade:

There is global overcapacity in steel, but China is easily the biggest source of it:

If that capacity merely had domestic impacts in China that would be one thing. But its monthly exports have exploded:

China almost exports more in a month now than the UK industry produces in an entire year.

The country is now easily the worlds biggest exporter of steel by volume as this from the World Steel Association (in millions of tonnes produced a year) shows:

And that surge in exports is one of the central reasons the global steel price has collapsed:

The big losses of Chinese steel firms is strong evidence that China's steel is being sold in international markets at below its true cost of production.

And China readily admits that it has overcapacity, having laid out plans to reduce annual capacity by 100-150 million tonnes and to reduce employment in the sector by 500,000 workers.

But political and economic dysfunction in Beijing means that success cannot be assumed.

The difficulties of the UK steel sector are not entirely due to China. There is a legacy of underinvestment. An excessively strong sterling over the past thirty years has not helped the sector's international competitiveness. UK firms have high energy costs relative to other nations in Europe, as this from the EEF manufacturers' organisation shows:

Yet Mr Liu is wrong in his main point. China is a major big part of the story of the current plight of the UK steel sector.

The ambassador says Chinese exports are only 11 per cent of UK steel imports. But thats a sharp rise on previous years as this. also from the EEF, shows:

Moreover, its Chinas influence on the global price of steel that matters, not its share of UK imports. A glut of Chinese steel supply in Europe will force down the European price and prompt more cheap imports to the UK from mainland Europe. The volume of direct UK imports from China is less important.

Tough European-level anti-steel dumping tariffs on China are probably warranted under the World Trade Organisation rules (as the American government has already decided) since it's pretty clear that China is producing steel with heavy government subsidies (in the form of cheap loans and state-owned bank forbearance of loss-making firms) and selling the product on world markets below its true cost.

The UK government's decision should not be based on abstract musing over the principle of protectionism versus openness but a cost-benefit analysis. Are the benefits of shielding UK steel industry from cheap Chinese imports likely to outweigh the costs of higher-than-otherwise steel import costs for successful UK manufacturers such as car makers?

Another factor that should shape the UK policy response is the likelihood of a medium-term steel price recovery. Could tariffs help buy time for a credible buyer for Port Talbot to emerge and to save what's left of British steel production? Or by seeking protection would ministers be in danger of distorting the domestic economy in other, perhaps less visible. ways?

These questions are certainly open to debate. The question of whether China is dumping steel or not, should not be.
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Tata Steel has sold its Long Products Europe business, including its Scunthorpe plant, to investment firm Greybull Capital in a move that will save more than 4,000 jobs, the company has confirmed.

The sale covers several UK-based assets including the Scunthorpe steelworks, two mills in Teesside, an engineering workshop in Workington, a design consultancy in York, and associated distribution facilities, as well as a mill in northern France.

Greybull is reportedly lining up a 400 million investment package to turnaround the plant

Recommended Read more Serious Fraud Office opens criminal investigation into Tata Steel

Bimlendra Jha, Executive Chairman of the stand-alone Long Products Europe business, said the deal marks a "significant milestone in the sale of the Long Products Europe business.

This sale is the best possible outcome for employees who have worked relentlessly to ensure the businesss survival, and helped to make it attractive to a potential buyer, he said.

Hans Fischer, Chief Executive of Tata Steels European operations, also welcomed the news.

"Under these current challenging market conditions in Europe with the soaring levels of imports from China, we are happy that Tata Steel UK and Greybull Capital have entered the final stage of completion of the sale of shareholding in Longs Steel UK. This transaction will offer a future for the Long Products Europe business and its 4,400 employees in the UK, Fisher said.

The deal is expected to be completed in eight weeks once a number of outstanding conditions have been resolved, including transfer of contracts, certain Government approvals and the satisfactory completion of financing arrangements.

Following completion of the deal, the business will trade under the name British Steel.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Greybull Capital has been in talks to buy the business for several months.

Marc Meyohas, Greybull partner, said: We are delighted to have reached agreement for the acquisition of LPE, which we believe can become a strong business, with a highly skilled workforce and great potential.
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Coleen Rooney has hit back at the press coverage of Aintree Ladies Day at the grand national, rebuking reporters for shaming the women who attend.

In recent years, the annual racing event in Merseyside has been followed by photos of women falling over or with their underwear showing in the media.

The Merseyside-born television presenter and wife of Wayne Rooney drew attention to those members of the press who attend with the specific aim of taking unflattering photos.

People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.

Fantastic day at Aintree yesterday, lots of people made a massive effort and looked beautiful!! I am desperate to see these sad reporters, the 30-year-old wrote on Twitter.

Not talking about me....I am in the public eye so expect criticism. It's the innocent people that turn up for a great day and get slated, Rooney added.

Rooney's followers applauded her comments and also called out the unfavourable press coverage.

It's disgusting how they mock the girls and wait around for their skirts to blow up with the wind. Lowlifes, wrote one Twitter user.

Fashions suppose to be about being daring, colourful & bold but women are always judged, added another. (sic)

In the course of recent years, the press have mocked the appearance of women at Ladies Day and sneered at their choice of outfits, with specific reports dedicated to the worst dressed attendees.

Rooney declined further comment on the issue.
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Howard Marks, the former drugs smuggler known as Mr Nice, has died at the age of 70.

After announcing he had inoperable bowel cancer last year, The Guardian reported he had died at his home near Bridgend in South Wales.

Friend and former colleague at Loaded magazine James Brown said Marks was a "true modern-day folk hero", who had done "so many funny, shocking, illegal things".

Marks had a monthly column at the magazine for five years and released his autobiography, Mr Nice, which detailed his many years smuggling cannabis, in 1996.

After years living under as many 43 aliases, he was eventually caught by the American Drug Enforcement Agency in 1988.

He was sentenced to 25 years at one of America's toughest prisons - Terre Haute, Indiana - and was released on parole in 1995 after serving seven years.

Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. 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Brown, who hired Marks when he was the editor of Loaded, paid tribute to his friend, telling The Guardian: "He stood for everything we loved. Mr Nice was a thrilling book.

"Howard is a bloody great example to us all."

Born in 1945 in Kenfig Hill, a small Welsh coal-mining village near Bridgend, Howard Marks went to Oxford University where he earned a degree in nuclear physics and post-graduate qualifications in philosophy.

After his release from prison he became a prominent campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis and toured a comedy show.

He stood for parliament in four separate constituencies (Norwich South, Norwich North, Neath and Southampton Test) in the 1997 general election on the single issue of the legalisation of cannabis, catalysing the formation of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance.

 A year on: Marijuana in Colorado

A 2010 film about his life starred fellow Welshman Rhys Ifans.

In an interview with The Observer in January 2015, Marks said he had come to terms with his illness. He said: "It's impossible to regret any part of my life when I feel happy and I am happy now, so I don't have any regrets and have not had any for a very long time."

Reflecting on his career, he said: "Smuggling cannabis was a wonderful way of living - perpetual culture shock, absurd amounts of money, and the comforting knowledge of getting so many people stoned."

He is survived by four children.

PA
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Modern humans might have brought diseases from Africa that helped wipe out Neanderthals, according to a new study.

The ancient species once ruled Europe. But they would have caught many infections from our ancestors, including tapeworm, tuberculosis, stomach ulcers and types of herpes, all of which would have made them weak and unable to find food, and could have led to their extinction.

As our ancestors moved out of Africa and into Europe, they might have brought diseases that helped contribute to the decline of the now-extinct species, the new research claims. Since both groups were species of hominin, the pathogen would have had less trouble jumping from one population to the other, the researchers said.

The new claims come from research from Cambridge and Oxford Brookes that showed some infectious diseases are likely to be thousands of years older than previously thought, and might have had a role in one of the most significant extinctions in human history.

Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. 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The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. 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There is already evidence that anatomically modern humans interbred with Neanderthals  a closely related but earlier species. And there is also evidence that viruses moved from humans to other hominins in Africa.

So it isnt a leap to think that when our ancient ancestors moved into Europe, they would have brought those same diseases with them. And since the Neanderthals were adapted to diseases found in Europe, rather than Africa, they would have found it difficult to cope with the new infections.

"Humans migrating out of Africa would have been a significant reservoir of tropical diseases," said Charlotte Houldcroft, one of the authors of the study, in a statement. "For the Neanderthal population of Eurasia, adapted to that geographical infectious disease environment, exposure to new pathogens carried out of Africa may have been catastrophic."

The researchers said that those infections would not all have happened in one go, like when Europeans arrived in the Americas in the 1400s and led to huge epidemics. Rather, they would have spread between small groups and weakened them, leading them into problems and making them less able to find food and live on.

Previously, infectious diseases were thought to have spread quickly when agriculture came about, around 8,000 years ago, and humans started living in more dense groups and around animals. But the new research by Dr Houldcroft and Simon Underdown argues that diseases were in the human population much earlier than thought  and might have been passed onto animals, rather than the other way around.
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Leaflets calling for the killing of members of the Ahmadi sect of Islam have been found in a south London mosque.

A pile of the flyers, which were found in Stockwell Green Mosque, seem to endorse the killing of Ahmadis if they do not convert to mainstream Islam.

It has been speculated that they were printed by Khatme Naubwwat - a group which says on its official website that its sole aim has been and is to unite all the Muslims of the world to safeguard the sanctity of Prophethood and the finality of Prophethood and to refute the repudiators of the belief in the finality of Prophethood of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad.

The leaflets say Ahmadis must convert to mainstream Islam within three days or face "the capital punishment, meaning death.

They said they were written by Yusuf Ludhianvi, the founder of Khatme Naubwwat in Pakistan, who died in 2000.

One of the mosques trustees, Toaha Qureshi, said he had never seen the leaflets before and suggested they were fakes left there maliciously.

He told the BBC: "We have not published any pamphlet of that kind. This is nothing to do with our mosque. Someone might have put it there and taken from there with malicious intentions".

He also distanced himself from Khatme Naubwwat, saying the link between it and the mosque is only for when we need some guidance or literature on that particular issue.

Despite this, Mr Qureshi is listed as one of the trustees of the organisation and the mosque is listed as its UK headquarters in accounts filed to the Charity Commission for the financial year 2012-13.

The discovery of the leaflets follows the murder of a Glaswegian Ahmadi shopkeeper, Asad Shah, outside his shop on 24 March.

In a bizarre statement issued through his lawyer last week, the man accused of Mr Shah's murder, fellow Muslim Tanveer Ahmed, admitted to killing him because he disrespected Islam.

The is no suggestion that Khatme Naubwwat was involved in Mr Shah's killing.

The Ahmadi branch of Islam was founded in 1889, by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in India.

Ahmadis believe Ahmad - who died in 1908 - was a prophet.

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This is regarded by many mainstream Muslims as heretical as the Prophet Muhamed is supposed to be the last Islamic prophet.

Pakistan became the first and only country in the world to forbid Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims following a constitutional amendment in 1974.

The Khatme Naubwwat movement has been linked to several hate crimes against Ahmadis in Pakistan and in 2010 The Independent revealed that the organisation had been accused of handing out leaflets calling for violence against them in Kingston-upon-Thames.

A page on their website, called "Funeral of Qadyanies", says: "It is forbidden for a Muslim to treat the Mirzai apostates like Muslims. It is unlawful, totally unlawful, to associate with them, eat and drink with them and participate in their joys and sorrows or to invite them to one's own joys and sorrows.

"Those who show such kind of toleration invite the wrath of Allah and the Prophet and it does not befit a believer to maintain friendly relations with the enemies of Allah and the Rasool." 

Akber Choudhry, a spokesman for the Qern academy which runs the unaffliated Khatm-e-Naubwwat Academy in east London said they do not condone violence.

He said: "We do not propose, encourage or condone any violence by any person against any other person in any state. Part of our shared humanity and civilization is the founding principle of the state: that violence or punishment is the sole prerogative of the state, and citizens of an established state give up the right to take the law into their own hands. Anything else would be anarchy."

The Independent has contacted Mr Qureshi for comment.
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A man has admitted beating and stabbing his flatmate to death after she refused to have sex with him.

Gary Stevenson, 27, stabbed Katy Rourke, 25, at their shared flat in Govan, Glasgow, after the pair had been drinking.

Glasgow High Court heard that the pair had had sex after drinking vodka together but when Ms Rourke refused to have sex again, he started punching her.

Stevenson then got a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her three times, the court heard.

Stevenson admitted to the murder after travelling to North Berwick where he attempted to commit suicide by slashing his wrists.

He told investigators: "I lost control. I didn't think about the consequence of my actions. Once it started it just took off.

"She started kicking and stuff so I started punching her in the face.

"I tried to stop her moving but then she started shouting for help and stuff. I went into the kitchen to get a knife."

Glasgow High Court (Google Maps)

A post-mortem examination revealed a stab wound to Ms Rourke's chest had gone through her heart and she had suffered bruising, cuts and blunt force trauma to the head and face.

Presiding Judge Lady Rae has deferred sentencing till next month to allow time for background reports.

Detective Inspector Margaret-Ann May, the senior Investigating Officer on this case, said: "This was a very distressing case culminating in the death of a bright, popular young woman with her whole life ahead of her.

"A diligent and through investigation by the major investigation team lead to Gary Stevenson admitting his guilt today, and I am glad that this has spared the family the trauma of a trial.

"My thoughts are with the family."
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Two corporals with the Military police stand accused of raping an "extremely drunk" colleague who was later found half-naked and crying at her barracks, a court heard.

Thomas Fulton, 28, and Jeremy Jones, also 28, are accused of raping army corporal Anne-Marie Ellement on November 20 2009.

The two men, who have since left the army, have admitted having sex with Corporal Ellement but have said she consented.

Bulford Court Martial Centre in Wiltshire heard that Cpl Ellement, from Bournemouth, Dorset, died two years after alleging that she had been raped.

Prosecuting, Sarah Whitehouse QC said Cpl Ellement, who served with the Royal Military Police, "cannot and will not" attend court.

Ms Whitehouse told the panel of civil servants and senior military officers that the circumstances of Cpl Ellement's death in 2011 were "not relevant" to their task.

Cpl Ellement, dressed in a brown cardigan and jeans, headed to the mess at about 10pm on November 19 2009 after drinking two bottles of beer in her quarters.

Fulton - the boyfriend of Cpl Ellement's friend Cpl Sarah Noteyoung - and Jones were at the bar along with two others when she arrived.

She later recounted drinking a total of eight drinks there, including shots and a Red Bull cocktail with vodka.

Ms Whitehouse told the panel Cpl Ellement, Jones and Fulton - wearing their uniforms - were seen flirting and kissing at the bar.

Fulton and Jones were heard discussing a threesome, which Fulton later suggested to Cpl Ellement, it is alleged.

Cpl Ellement, then 28, said she told him she found the idea of a threesome "disgusting" and she would never have one.

The three colleagues went upstairs to Jones's room at about 12.30am so he could get changed to go out to another bar, she added.

"The next thing I can remember is that Tom was on top of me and I was like 'no, it is really hurting'," she said.

"The last thing I remember is Jez grabbing my breasts. Then I have a massive memory block and I can't remember anything.

"I can't remember how I got back to my accommodation."

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She insisted she would never willingly have sex with Fulton as Cpl Noteyoung - who was attending a funeral in England - was one of her best friends.

"I was saying 'no it really hurts, it really really hurts, stop'," she said.

"I know for a fact that I would never have done anything with Tom because of Sarah and because I don't like him like that."

The court heard Cpl Ellement's colleague Cpl Charlene Pritchard found her almost naked outside her accommodation at 1.37am.

Ms Whitehouse said: "This young woman was entirely naked apart from a long cardigan that she was carrying.

"She appeared to be extremely drunk. She was struggling to keep her balance. Her feet were muddy and she was crying."

Another colleague, Cpl Kelly Broadhurts, came to help Cpl Ellement and heard her say "I didn't want it. He tried to have sex with me".

"She said he had sex with her and she said 'stop' but he carried on for 10 minutes," Ms Whitehouse said.

Fulton and Jones were arrested and interviewed hours after the incident, following a complaint made by Cpl Ellement.

Fulton declined to comment, while Jones insisted both men had consensual sex with the alleged victim.

He described them all as "giggling and being silly" throughout. Cpl Ellement, in her video interview, had no recollection of sex with Jones.

Ex-corporals Fulton, formerly of 174 Provost Company 3 Royal Military Police, and Jones, 28, formerly of Close Protection Unit Royal Military Police Operations Wing, each deny two charges of rape.

The trial, in front of Judge Jeff Blackett, is expected to last between two and three weeks.
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A total of 96 per cent of British Muslims do not sympathise with those who take part in suicide bomb attacks, a survey has revealed.

The vast majority also show similar levels of support to the wider British public in support for British institutions and a feeling of belonging to Britain.

However, in terms of some social attitudes, there were a number of significant differences compared to the rest of Britain.

The survey of 1,081 British Muslims, commissioned by Channel 4, is representative of the entire UK population and more accurate than other polls because it was carried out face-to-face and avoided going through umbrella organisations, the broadcaster said.

A striking majority showed a firm rejection of violence committed in the name of Islam. Ninety-six per cent of those surveyed did not have sympathy for suicide bombers and people who commit terrorist actions as a form of political protest. A large majority  77 per cent  did not support introduction of Sharia law. However, seven per cent said they would strongly support it.

In terms of less theologically charged subjects, there were also encouraging responses. A huge majority (91 per cent) of British Muslims felt a strong sense of belonging to their local area  far higher than the national average of 76 per cent of Brits. In addition, 88 per cent of British Muslims thought Britain was a good place for Muslims to live and 86 per cent felt a strong sense of belonging here.

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Apart from Islamic schooling and some laws, 78 per cent of British Muslims would like to integrate into British life.

However, there were some results that were less in step with the wider population. A majority of 52 per cent did not believe that homosexuality should be legal in Britain and 47 per cent believed it was unacceptable for homosexuals to teach in schools.

Thirty-two per cent refused to condemn people who commit violence against people who mocked the Prophet. Of further concern will be the revelation that only 34 per cent of British Muslims would inform the police if they thought somebody they knew was getting involved with people who support terrorism in Syria.

In response to the surveys findings, former Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips said: Hearing what British Muslims themselves think, rather than listening to those purporting to speak on their behalf, is critical if we are to prevent the establishment of a nation within our nation. Many of the results will be troubling to Muslims and non-Muslims alike  and the analysis of the age profile shows us that the social attitudes revealed are unlikely to change quickly.

The integration of Britains Muslims will probably be the hardest task weve ever faced. It will require the abandonment of the milk-and-water multiculturalism still so beloved of many, and the adoption of a far more muscular approach to integration.
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Public opinion will likely force all politicians to make their tax affairs public over the next few years, a Conservative MP has said.

Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was a pity that MPs had lost privacy over their tax affairs and that the public had become confused about whether tax avoidance was acceptable or not.

The suggestion comes after David Cameron published his tax returns in light of revelations that he benefited from an offshore fund set up by his late father.

Jacob Rees-Mogg (Getty)

Other senior politicians including Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have either published their tax returns or said they will do so in due course.

Asked on BBC Radio 4s Today programme whether he would publish his tax returns, Mr Rees-Mogg said:

I think Im going to have to. I think the mood has become one thats very clear  all MPs within a year or two will be publishing their returns and Im not going to be the one hold-out against that.

The argument for doing so is that Caesars wife must be above suspicion and if you are managing the countrys affairs and voting on them then electorate want to know that youre doing it properly and independently.

I think its a pity that weve lost privacy but to some extent its politicians fault because we lost the trust of the public as much as anything over the expenses affair.

The Conservative MP, who worked in the City before becoming an MP, argued that tax avoidance was not immoral, and that the Left had misled people into believing it was.

The reason politicians may want to publish their tax affairs is that some, particularly on the Left, allied evasion and avoidance. Thats been a great mistake and has confused people about the two.

Evasion is illegal and people can go to prison for, avoidance is buying duty free. There is no morality in this question at all. Its a question of what the law says.

The Prime Minister himself  hardly a figure on the left  has however previously described legal but questionable tax avoidance as morally repugnant.

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A younger George Osborne however appeared on the BBCs Daily Politics programme in 2003 to recommend the use of clever financial products to minimise tax bills.

A poll by YouGov released last year found that 59 per cent of people believed it was wrong to legally avoid tax, with only 32 per cent believing it to be reasonable.

The issue of tax avoidance and evasion by the very wealthy has come to the fore in recent days after a massive leak of papers from a Panamanian law firm revealing key details about some users of tax havens.
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Labour MP Dennis Skinner has been thrown out of Parliament for labelling the Prime Minister 'Dodgy Dave' over his personal finances.

The member for Bolsover was asked twice to withdraw the jibe, made during a House of Commons statement on the Panama Papers revelations, by speaker John Bercow.

But Mr Skinner twice declined, leading Mr Bercow to ask Mr Skinner to withdraw from the chamber for the rest of Monday, on the ground of unparliamentary language.

Mr Skinner said: "Does the Prime Minister recall that at the time after he became Prime Minister under the coalition and at the time when he was dividing the nation between strivers and scroungers, I asked him a very important question about the windfall he received when he wrote off the mortgage of the premises in Notting Hill, and I said to him he didn't write off the mortgage of the one taxpayers were helping to pay for at Oxford.

David Cameron's biggest controversies Show all 8 1 /8 David Cameron's biggest controversies David Cameron's biggest controversies Pig-gate A book released by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft alleged that an MP and Oxford contemporary of David Cameron had allegedly seen a photograph of Mr Cameron performing a sex act on a pig while at university. Downing Street did not comment on the allegations and the peer said they could have been a case of mistaken identity David Hartley/REX Shutterstock David Cameron's biggest controversies Swarm of migrants In July 2015 David Cameron referred to refugees coming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa as a swarm. He was criticised for using the language, which critics said was dehumanising Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Child tax credits In April 2015 David Cameron was asked whether hed cut child tax credits. No, I dont want to do that, he said, saying that he rejected reports that he would. Shortly after the election the Government unveiled cuts to child tax credits EPA David Cameron's biggest controversies Cycling to work As leader of the opposition David Cameron was regularly photographed cycling to work. In early 2006 he was photographed cycling but with a driver in a car carrying his belongings. It was suggested at the time the cycling was just for show and that having two vehicles on the road instead of one was wasteful Rex David Cameron's biggest controversies Andy Coulson David Cameron employed former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as government communications director from 2010. After stepping down from the post due to coverage of the phone hacking affairs, Mr Coulson was later found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemails. He served a short prison sentence AFP David Cameron's biggest controversies His personal windmill Early in his leadership of the Conservative David Cameron made an effort to change the partys image by making eco-friendly gesures. As one of these gestures, the future PM put a wind turbine on his house. However, the turbine later had to be removed after neighbours condemned it as an eyesore and the councils planning committee said it had been put in the wrong place Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Funeral selfie David Cameron was pictured posing for a selfie with Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Barack Obama at Nelson Mandelas funeral. Some in the press criticised the prime minister for showing in an inappropriately low level of respect for the gravity of the occasion AFP/Getty Images David Cameron's biggest controversies Eating a hotdog with a knife and fork The Prime Minister was pictured eating a hotdog with a knife and fork in the run up to the 2015 general election. He was accused of being posh. I had a very privileged upbringing... I've never tried to hide that, he said Reuters

"I didn't receive a proper answer then. Maybe dodgy Dave will answer it now."

Microphones near Mr Skinner were cut off as he tried to continue speaking as Mr Bercow sought to intervene.

Under unparliamentary language rules, no MP is allowed to accuse another member of being dishonorable.

Additional reporting by PA
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The Government would be letting voters down if it failed to explain why it backs staying in the EU, the Europe minister has said, as Tory MPs branded a 9.3m information campaign an insult to electors.

Leave campaigners have reacted with outrage to the campaign, and more than 200,000 people have signed a petition calling for the leaflets to be stopped, amid claims that the Government is using taxpayers money to gain an unfair advantage in the EU referendum debate.

Defending the campaign, Europe minister David Lidington told MPs that the Government would be abrogating its responsibility if it did not set out its reasons for opposing Brexit.

Whether the UK should remain in or leave the EU is a huge decision for this countryit is right that people have the facts in front of them and understand the reason for the Governments recommendation before they go to the polls, he said.

David Cameron faced calls to include the opposing argument in the taxpayer-funded information campaign. Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who is campaigning for Brexit, has written to the Prime Minister urging him to consider correcting the balance in the debate.

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.

However, Mr Lidington said that the official campaign groups on both sides of the debate would have their own leaflet deliveries funded by public money, and both sides of the debate would also be reflected in an information leaflet distributed by the Electoral Commission.

But he drew laughs from Eurosceptic MPs when he maintained that the EU debate should be remain based on facts.

Mr Fox claimed that the leaflet contained opinions not facts. He compared to the intelligence report that preceded the Iraq War, branding it dodgy dossier the sequel.

Not only is it a waste of public money but in effectively doubling the Remain campaigns budget the Government has betrayed any sense of fairness in the process of the referendum, he said.

Nigel Adams, the Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, meanwhile, joked that he regretted the leaflet had been published on shiny glossy paper and not something more absorbent so that his constituents could put it to good use.

Labours shadow Europe minister Pat Glass, said it was perfectly reasonable for the Government to set out its position to voters.
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George Osborne is set to publish his tax returns as pressure builds on senior politicians to reveal details of their finances in the wake of the Panama Papers leaks.

The Chancellor has been given the green light by Downing Street to reveal his affairs after David Cameron released details of his on Saturday.

Those in charge of the nations finances should show transparency too, a No 10 spokesperson said.

The Treasury has confirmed Mr Osborne is likely to publish the returns - although some Tory MPs are reportedly concerned that further transparency from the Chancellor could put pressure on other Cabinet ministers and MPs to release details of their affairs.

Last week Channel 4 News asked all 21 Cabinet ministers whether they had any offshore interests and only received answers from three.

the growing clamour for MPs to publish their tax details was given added weight by the Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who told the BBC it was likely all politicians would have to release their tax returns in the near future.

And he said that while this would amount to a loss of privacy, the move was necessary because politicians had lost public trust in the wake of the expenses scandal.

Mr Osborne has previously been reported to retain a shareholding in his family business Osborne & Little, which has not paid corporation tax for seven years, according to reports dating from February this year.

John McDonnell released his tax return voluntarily in January (PA)

There is no suggestion that the interior design company, set up by the Chancellors father, has avoided tax or done anything wrong.

Mr Osbornes counterpart, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, voluntarily released his tax return in January this year and has urged senior Cabinet ministers to do the same.

Mr McDonnell has suggested all MPs should routinely release their tax returns.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also said to be readying the release of his tax returns, having agreed to do so last week.

Mr Corbyn criticised Mr Cameron for not releasing the full documents, rather only a summary prepared by Downing Street.

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I want to see the papers, Mr Corbyn told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show.

We need to know what he's actually returned as a tax return. We need to know why he put this money overseas in the first place, and whether he made anything out of it or not before 2010 when he became prime minister. These are questions that he must answer.

The surge in interest about senior politicians tax affairs comes after dozens of current and former world leaders were implicated in the Panama Papers leak, detailing the use off offshore tax havens.

Mr Cameron last week admitted after days of stalling that he had benefited from an offshore fund set up by his late father in the zero-tax jurisdiction of the Bahamas.

His tax returns also revealed that he had receive a 200,000 gift from his mother which may have resulted in a lower inheritance tax bill. He denies any wrongdoing.
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Jeremy Corbyn has dismissed the Prime Ministers statement on tax evasion as a masterclass in the art of distraction and accused him of failing to appreciate the public anger following the leaked Panama Papers.

Speaking as David Cameron addressed the House of Commons for the first time since the leak of the cache of documents, the leader of the Opposition said Mr Cameron misunderstood the scandal of destructive global tax avoidance revealed in the Panama Papers.

There is now one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest, Mr Corbyn said. Im honestly not sure Mr Speaker that the Prime Minister fully appreciates the anger that is out there over this injustice.

Recommended Read more Jeremy Corbyn publishes full tax return

How can it be right that street cleaners, teaching assistants and nurses work and pay their taxes yet some of those at the top think the rules simply dont apply to them.

The truth is, is that the UK is at the heart of the global tax avoidance industry. Its a national scandal and its got to end.

He added: "What they have driven home is what many people have increasingly felt - there is now one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest," he said.

"I'm honestly not sure that the Prime Minister fully appreciates the anger that is out there over this injustice."

Mr Cameron used his statement in the House of Commons to announce he will bring forward plans to introduce a criminal offence for corporations who fail to stop their staff facilitating tax evasion

World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here

For the first time, companies will be held criminally liable if they fail to stop their employees from facilitating tax evasion. Downing Street said yesterday the law was part of the Governments effort to clamp down on corruption in all walks of life.

The BBCs Kamal Ahmed, however, earlier pointed out that the policy was first announced by Danny Alexander during the coalition years.

Meanwhile, both the Prime Minister and the Labour leader have now published details of their tax returns, following public outcry over the Panama Papers.

It emerged that Mr Corbyn had to pay a fine for filing his tax return late and it showed that he declared 1,850 of taxable income on top of his Parliamentary salary. But the document - which was handwritten - also showed the date of submission as February 2 2016.The deadline for paper submissions was October 31 and for online submissions January 31.

Returns filed up to three months late attract a fine of 100 - with higher penalties if longer.
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Nearly a quarter of children referred to NHS mental health services are being turned away, an investigation has found.

Some mental health services are unable to accept children for help unless they express "enduring" suicidal thoughts on multiple occasions, "hear voices that command particular behaviours" or undergo a "major breakdown in family relationships", the report by think tank CentreForum said.

It said in some regions, anorexia support was refused to young people who were over a certain BMI threshold.

On average, it said under-16s referred to mental health services wait two months for a first appointment. The report's authors also note that maximum waiting times have more than doubled nationwide since 2013.

According to the report, the two-month figure masks more serious local shortcomings: in Brent, children wait an average of 25 weeks for a first appointment, while young people in South West Yorkshire and North Staffordshire wait for 22 and 19 weeks respectively.

It said services were particularly underfunded and oversubscribed in the south of the country. Since April 2015, there have been 52 days when there no beds available in the South West, meaning mentally ill children have been treated in police cells and other inappropriate locations.

 Why are people supporting the junior doctors' strike - in one minute.

Former Mental Health Minister Norman Lamb MP chaired the inquiry. He said: "This is a scandal which has existed for too long. It is unacceptable.

"If we are to finally achieve equality between physical and mental health, as the government has argued for, these shortcomings must be addressed urgently."

One in 10 young people aged between five and 16 has a mental health problem, meaning around 720,000 young people in England alone potentially require NHS support. Suicide is the leading cause of death for boys aged between five and nineteen, and the second most common cause of death for girls.

In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London

Yet mental health services for children and young people receive only 0.7 per cent of the annual NHS budget. In 2015, a Freedom of Information request found 35 million had been cut from children and young people's mental health services over the preceding year.

An open letter signed by hundreds of psychiatric experts last year said austerity measures were having a "profoundly disturbing" impact on the nation's mental health, with "increasing inequality and outright poverty" pushing more people to use already underfunded services.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We are delivering on our commitments on young people's mental health. 1.4billion will be made available as promised over the next five years, funding the biggest transformation the sector has ever seen."
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Ukips leader has ruled out publishing his tax return in response to increased interest in the tax affairs high profile politicians.

Nigel Farage refused point-blank to release the tax details when asked whether he would do so on Sunday evening.

The answer from me is no. A big no, he told BBC Radio 4s Westminster Hour programme.

A series of top politicians have released details of their tax affairs in light of the so-called Panama Papers leaks about the use of tax havens.

David Cameron this weekend released details of his earnings and tax, with George Osborne and Jeremy Corbyn expected to follow suit in due course.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood have also both released details of their tax returns.

But Mr Farage told the programme: I worry where we are going with this. If we want to have party leaders publish their tax returns then presumably all MPs must do so.

Presumably then all councillors must do so, bishops of course must do so, generals must do so, BBC presenters must do so.

Actually, I think in this county what people earn is regarded as a private matter. Neighbours would hate the thought that the people at number 32 knew what their income was.

Some Conservative MPs are also privately worried that the rush to disclose could see them put under further scrutiny, according to reports in The Times newspaper.

Labour's John McDonnell voluntarily published his tax return back in January (PA)

Tory MPs publicly joined the backlash against calls for wider tax transparency from MPs and public officials on Monday afternoon

James Cleverly, the MP for Braintree, said that MPs publishing their tax returns would make no difference to levels of trust in politicians.

I dont think the Prime Minister should have had to do or indeed should have put his tax return into the public domain, he told the BBCs Daily Politics.

World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here

He chose to do that and I respect his decision[but] at what point do we say enough is enough, were meant to take people on trust unless there is evidence to the contrary?

Fellow Conservative MP Charles Walker said the furore over the Prime Ministers financial affairs was a media confection and claimed that calls for public figures to publish their tax returns would end up with MPs constituents having to do the same, and with calls for MPs to also publish their medical records.

However, Stewart Hosie, the SNP MP for Dundee East, and partys deputy Westminster leader, said it was reasonable that Cabinet ministers should be required to publicly state whether they benefit from loopholes in the tax system.

I think they should publish a declaration that they havent benefitted from offshore funds and offshore assets, he told Daily Politics, adding that it he expected most MPs would now begin publishing their tax returns.
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The London mayor Boris Johnson paid nearly 1 million in tax in four years, a summary of his tax returns show.

The filing, which was published on his Mayoral Register of Interests, showed Mr Johnson earned between 270,000 and 491,000 over four years on top of his 143,911 salary as mayor.

The tax bill over the period totals 916,481 on an total income of 1,985,901.

In 2014/15 alone he made 484,384 after expenses from his Daily Telegraph column and book royalities - on top of his salary - making his total taxable income 612,583 excluding pension contributions.

Boris Johnson's four year summary of tax paid in full

The returns do not include his 74,962 salary as an MP as he was elected in May 2015 and returns for the 2015/16 tax year have not been filed yet.

He is the latest politician to release his tax returns following the Prime Ministers publication disclosure at the weekend.

The increased focus on politicians tax affairs comes after the revelation that David Cameron had personally benefitted from selling shares in his father's offshore investment fund, Blairmore Holdings.

The investment fund's accounts were among 11.5m records held by law firm Mossack Fonseca which were released in the Panama Papers leak last week.

10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Show all 10 1 /10 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Luxembourg There are an estimated 2.5 trillion shares of mutual funds registered in the Grand Duchy, 1 trillion of which cannot be traced to an owner 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands contain 6% of the world's total banking assets, but just 0.000008% of its population 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Isle of Man David Cameron has said the Isle of Man, where there is no corporation, capital gains or inheritance tax, should not be considered a tax haven 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Jersey There are over 3.5 billion assets per square mile on the self-governing Channel Island 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Ireland Ireland made headlines last year when it emerged Apple was registered in the country in order to dodge over 40bn in taxes 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Mauritius The Mauritian government notionally charges corporation tax, but companies can easily make this back through generous tax credits for foreign businesses 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bermuda Google holds more than 30bn in offshore cash reserves, primarily via Bermuda 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Monaco A popular domicile for super-rich private individuals, Monaco has the most expensive property in the world. 1 million will buy just 225 square feet 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Switzerland Switzerland has such secretive banking laws that it took until the 1990s to secure the release of Nazi cash reserves 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bahamas David Cameron's father ran an offshore fund which hired Bahamas residents to complete paperwork, thus dodging British tax bills

Mr Johnson has previously said he would be happy to release his tax returns - having done so in 2012 - but he said earlier on Monday that he did not believe people should be "bullied" into releasing them if they do not wish to.

It comes as Chancellor George Osborne - who is widely regarded as Mr Johnson's main rival to suceed David Cameron as Conservative party leader - has released his own tax return which showed he earned almost 200,000 in 2014-15.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn published his full tax return for the financial year 2014-15 which showed he only earned 1,850 over his Parliamentary salary of 70,795. He was fined 100 for submitting his reduced a week late.
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Senior Conservative politicians including George Osborne, Boris Johnson and Sajid Javid have come under growing pressure to publish their income and tax returns after David Cameron become the first Prime Minister to put his personal financial information in the public domain.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn upped the ante in debate over politicians financial transparency when he said voters must know what influences are at work in the decisions taken by public figures. Mr Corbyn suggested there should be a public debate about the extent to which new disclosure rules should be enforced, but added: There has to be trust in people in public office. You have to know what they are earning, where it comes from and what influences come as a result of that.

Mr Cameron will face the Labour leader in the Commons on Monday as he tries to get on the front foot over his personal involvement in the Panama Papers. He is expected to announce new rules making it a criminal offence for companies to help their employees evade tax.

But Mr Corbyn's stance and the decision by Mr Cameron to publish his own tax details will put intense pressure on other senior Cabinet figures to follow the Prime Ministers lead.

In particular Mr Osborne, who as Chancellor is responsible for the tax system, and others Tories hoping to succeed Mr Cameron are expected to follow suit in the coming months.

10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Show all 10 1 /10 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Luxembourg There are an estimated 2.5 trillion shares of mutual funds registered in the Grand Duchy, 1 trillion of which cannot be traced to an owner 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands contain 6% of the world's total banking assets, but just 0.000008% of its population 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Isle of Man David Cameron has said the Isle of Man, where there is no corporation, capital gains or inheritance tax, should not be considered a tax haven 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Jersey There are over 3.5 billion assets per square mile on the self-governing Channel Island 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Ireland Ireland made headlines last year when it emerged Apple was registered in the country in order to dodge over 40bn in taxes 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Mauritius The Mauritian government notionally charges corporation tax, but companies can easily make this back through generous tax credits for foreign businesses 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bermuda Google holds more than 30bn in offshore cash reserves, primarily via Bermuda 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Monaco A popular domicile for super-rich private individuals, Monaco has the most expensive property in the world. 1 million will buy just 225 square feet 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Switzerland Switzerland has such secretive banking laws that it took until the 1990s to secure the release of Nazi cash reserves 10 of the biggest tax havens in the world Bahamas David Cameron's father ran an offshore fund which hired Bahamas residents to complete paperwork, thus dodging British tax bills

A Treasury source said: We have been clear that the Chancellor has never had any offshore shareholdings or other interests. His income and interests are straightforward and declared publicly: his salary, rental income from a property in London and a shareholding in his father's firm, Osborne and Little. He is always happy to consider ways to offer even more transparency.

Zac Goldsmith, the multi-millionaire Tory candidate to be the next London Mayor, has already published his tax returns for the period since he became an MP.

In an attempt to wrest back the agenda from Labour on the tax issue, Mr Cameron will announce on Monday that firms that aid tax evasion by their employees will in future be held criminally responsible. Legislation, to be introduced in Parliament later this year, will create the new offence, which will mean that firms will be held criminally liable if they fail to stop their employees from facilitating tax evasion.

Mr Cameron is expected to give details of the plans in the Commons when he faces his critics for the first time.

Documents released by Downing Street on Saturday showed Mr Cameron was given a 200,000 gift by his mother following his father's death  which could potentially avoid inheritance tax.

Number 10 said that the two payments of 100,000 in 2011 came on top of the 300,000 Mr Cameron inherited from his father Ian as the Prime Minister's mother Mary attempted to "balance" the sums received by their children.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I don't personalise politics: this is about the system, and a system whereby someone can inherit, effectively, 500,000 from his mum and dad and not pay a penny on it. I think there's something wrong in the system that allows that to happen."

But Housing Minister Brandon Lewis pointed out that the gift from Mrs Cameron to her son was no different from similar arrangements used in other families; it was just a "larger sum of money". He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics: "There are many thousands of people [who do this], at different levels and different amounts of money, whether it's grandparents giving their grandchildren a bit of money so they can see them enjoy it while they are alive  that happens every day."


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Boris Johnson has kiboshed attempts by Downing Street to draw a line in the sand over the public disclosure of politicians tax affairs after he unilaterally released details of his own half-a-million a year income.

The move by the London Mayor will irritate Number 10 after David Cameron went to the Commons on Monday and ruled out the need for wider disclosure of MPs tax affairs. It will also put further pressure on the Chancellor and potential leadership rival George Osborne, who has declined to publish anything but his most recent tax returns.

The former shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper suggested that Mr Osborne's reticence may have been because his earlier tax returns would show that he benefited directly from his decision to scrap the 50p rate of tax in 2012.

So far, Mr Cameron, Mr Osborne, Mr Johnson, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow Chancellor John McDonnell have each published some or all of their tax returns over the past five years.

They reveal that:

George Osborne made nearly 45,000 in share dividends alone in 2014-15. He also received an income of 33,000 from the house he rents out while living in Downing Street

Boris Johnsons 143,000 a year income as Mayor of London is dwarfed by the 266,000 he earns as a weekly columnist for The Daily Telegraph

Jeremy Corbyn had the simplest tax affairs of all  with an outside income of just 1,850 beyond his Parliamentary salary. However, he was still unable to submit his tax return form in time and was forced to pay a 100 fine

Mr Cameron told the Commons that he did not favour widening the need for greater disclosure of the tax returns of public figures  including those in local government such as the Mayor of London. I think there is a strong case for the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and for the Chancellor and shadow Chancellor, because they are people who are or who wish to be responsible for the nation's finances, he said. As for MPs, we already have robust rules on members' interests and their declaration, and I believe that is the model we should continue to follow.

David Cameron and George Osborne were braced for a Parliamentary grilling from Labour and other members of the House (AFP)

But with Mr Cameron standing down before the end of the Parliament and his successor as Tory leader certain to become Prime Minister, those who wish to join the contest will be almost certain to follow suit. Some Labour MPs, including Caroline Flint and Chuka Umunna, have also published their tax details. That could result in many other MPs feeling they have to follow suit for fear of being caught out at the next election.

In his first full public explanation of his own involvement in the Panama Papers scandal, Mr Cameron insisted he had at all times acted properly and said he had handed all the details of his financial affairs to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. He said he had sold all his shares in 2010 because he did not want any conflict of interest.I didn't want anyone to be able to suggest that as Prime Minister I had any other agendas or vested interests," he said.

 Cameron defends tax affairs

Mr Cameron told MPs he accepted that he had handled the affair badly, but was angry about the way my father's memory was being traduced. I know he was hard-working man and a wonderful dad, and I'm proud of everything he did to build a business and provide for his family," the Prime Minister said.

Mr Cameron, who received 300,000 from his late father Ian and 200,000 from his mother Mary, said it was natural human instinct for parents to want to pass things on to their children. As for parents passing money to their children while they are still alive, it is something the tax rules fully recognise, he said.

Recommended Read more What the UK could look like if people actually paid their tax

The Prime Minister said it was right to tighten the law and change the culture to crackdown on evasion and aggressive avoidance, but the Government should defend the right of every British citizen to make money lawfully.

He said all Crown dependencies apart from Guernsey and Anguilla have agreed to provide UK law and tax agencies with full access to information on the beneficial ownership of companies. He said he expected to conclude similar arrangements with Guernsey and Anguilla in the near future.

New laws would also be introduced in the UK, Mr Cameron told MPs. "Under current legislation it is difficult to prosecute a company that assists with tax evasion, but we are going to change that, so will legislate this year for a new criminal offence to apply to corporations who fail to prevent their representatives from criminally facilitating tax evasion," he said. "We are providing initial funding of up to 10m for a cross-agency task force to swiftly analyse all information that has been made available from Panama and take rapid action."

World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here

Jeremy Corbyn said Mr Camerons statement was a masterclass in the art of distraction", while the veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner was ejected from the chamber for calling Mr Cameron dodgy Dave and refusing to withdraw the remark.

Mr Corbyn accused the Prime Minister of failing to appreciate the public anger over the scandal of destructive global tax avoidance revealed by the Panama Papers. What they have driven home is what many people have increasingly felt: there is now one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest, he said. I'm honestly not sure that the Prime Minister fully appreciates the anger that is out there over this injustice.

But former Conservative minister Sir Alan Duncan said the Commons risked being stuffed full of low-achievers if MPs were compelled to reveal their tax affairs.

What they declared - and what they didn't

George Osborne

The Chancellor earned 200,000 last year, including income from shares in his familys wallpaper company, a summary of his 2014-15 tax return reveals. The summary, published by the Treasury, shows he earned 44,647 from dividends in his familys wallpaper company, on top of his 120,526 salary as an MP and Chancellor of the Exchquer. He also made 33,562 from his half of the rental income he and his wife make from their London home. Mr Osborne has declined to publicise his previous tax returns.

Boris Johnson

The Mayor of London paid nearly 1m in tax in four years, a summary of his tax returns shows. Mr Johnson's total taxable income between 2011-12 and 2014-15 was 1,985,901. The tax bill over the period, which follows on from the last time Mr Johnson published his tax returns in 2012, totals 916,481. Mr Johnson's mayoral salary totalled 575,644 over the four years, but the amount was dwarfed by income from his outside activities, the statement by chartered accountants Begbies showed.

The prolific writer was paid 987,097 for his Daily Telegraph column, while book royalties brought in a further 469,385. New York-born Mr Johnson had an overseas income tax bill of 728, but did not have any US tax liabilities during the period, according to the summary.

Jeremy Corbyn

Beyond the 70,795 he earned as a backbench MP, the Labour leader had a taxable income of only 1,850  but he had to pay a fine for filing his tax return late.

Labour released his handwritten tax return from February this year  despite the deadline for paper submissions being 31 October last year. Returns filed up to three months late attract a fine of 100, with higher penalties if longer. Asked why Mr Corbyn  who was elected leader in September  had filed his returns late, a senior Labour spokesman said: "He did have a pretty busy few months last year. He does his own tax return. He doesn't have an accountant."

Of the extra earnings, 1,350 was listed as coming from "lecture income" and another 500 from "survey income". Mr Corbyn also registered 500 of tax-deductible expenses, described as "share of cost of study".
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Labour has stepped up demands for an independent inquiry into the Panama Papers leak after it emerged the head of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was previously a partner at a law firm which represented a number of offshore companies - including Blairmore Holdings, the fund set up by David Cameron's father.

HMRC has been given in a lead role in the 10 million taskforce launched by Mr Cameron to investigate allegations of wrongdoing linked to the Panama Papers leak of more than 11 million files from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Edward Troup, the new executive chairman of HMRC, is a former partner at Simmons & Simmons, whose clients have included the Panama-registered fund created by the Prime Minister's father Ian, the Guardian reported.

The newspaper, which has access to the leaked information, said Simmons & Simmons' name appears on dozens of emails and documents in the Panama Papers in connection with a number of companies registered with Mossack Fonseca.

HMRC said Mr Troup had never had dealings with Mossack Fonseca and none of the individuals or organisations named so far in relation to the Panama Papers were clients he had advised.

But the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, seized on the Guardian report as a further indication of why the inquiry into the Panama Papers revelations should be independent.

He said: "This further highlights why, for any inquiry to have the full confidence of the British people, it must be truly independent in structure and process.

"It certainly should not be reporting to politicians whose party has been highly implicated in this scandal, with large donors directly involved in this matter.

"But most of all it needs to be above question and beyond rebuke. And with new allegations calling the Government's approach into question the only obvious answer is a truly independent public inquiry as Labour is demanding."

The Guardian, which has access to the leaked data, said Simmons & Simmons' name appears on dozens of emails and documents in the Panama Papers in connection with a number of companies registered with Mossack Fonseca.

Mr Troup worked at the firm from 1997 until 2004 and the Guardian reported that some correspondence dates back to 2003, when Mr Troup was still a partner.

A HMRC spokesman said: "Before joining the Civil Service in 2004, Edward Troup had a successful career in the private sector, during the course of which he dealt with many companies.

"He can confirm that he never had any dealings with Mossack Fonseca, was unaware of the company until recently, and that none of the individuals or organisations named so far were clients that he advised.

World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here

"Edward Troup's role in HMRC has never involved responsibility for operational activities or direct dealings with companies on their tax affairs.

"In any event, the governance in place at HMRC means that any commissioners who have a potential conflict of interest would exclude themselves from any investigation or settlement involving a taxpayer with which they had had dealings in their previous careers."

The first emails to Mossack Fonseca regarding Blairmore date from 2005 and the Guardian reported that Simmons & Simmons was advising Blairmore from 2001

The Panama Papers appear to show Simmons & Simmons' offices in London and Hong Kong were registered as clients or intermediaries with Mossack Fonseca.

The newspaper reported that In 2008, when Blairmore was considering a change of jurisdiction, Simmons & Simmons asked Mossack Fonseca for advice on the benefits of other tax havens.



PA
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Lobbying companies working at the heart of Whitehall are exploiting loopholes in transparency legislation that allows them to avoid declaring clients who pay them thousands of pounds to help influence Government policy, The Independent can reveal.

A year after the Government made it a legal requirement for lobbying companies to publicly declare the firms for whom they act, some of the biggest firms in the business are legitimately avoiding doing so.

They include companies such as CTF Partners, which is run by David Camerons election guru Sir Lynton Crosby and has in the past controversially advised both tobacco and alcohol companies. CTF does not name any clients on the Register of Consultant Lobbyists.

Recommended Read more One more change that is leading us toward a permanent Tory government

Another lobbying firm that declares no clients is RLM Finsbury, run by one of the UKs best-connected lobbyists, Roland Rudd.

Mr Rudd, the brother of the Energy Secretary Amber Rudd, is a key strategist behind the main pro-EU referendum campaign, Britain Stronger in Europe.

RLM Finsbury advises Google, the German carmaker Volkswagen and the bookmaker Paddy Power, but none of these clients show up on the official Government register.

Google, for example, spent nearly $17m (12m) lobbying the US government in 2015, and $4.5m (3m) lobbying Brussels, but there is no information on how much they spend in the UK.

Some other influential consultant lobbyists who arent registered include Sean Worth, a one-time senior advisor to the Prime Minister who now runs the Westminster Policy Institute; and Tendo, the lobbying firm run by Will de Peyer. ex-special adviser to Danny Alexander, the former chief secretary to the Treasury.

Overall, a quarter of known UK lobbyists do not declare any clients on the register and 60 per cent of the 124 registered lobbying firms declare two or fewer clients. Thirty-four declare no clients; 21 declare one client; 19 declare two clients.

The disclosures cast further doubts over the effectiveness of the Governments lobbying legislation that was brought in following a string of scandals.

Under the legislations narrow definition of what constitutes lobbying, lobbyists-for-hire only have to declare a client on the register if they directly contact a minister or permanent secretary on behalf of a client. Lobbying of anyone else in government is exempt, as is all lobbying by corporations and their trade bodies, such as those opposing the sugar tax including the British Soft Drinks Association and the Food and Drink Federation.

These trade organisations could be lobbying on behalf of a specific client but there would not necessarily be any obligation to declare this information on the register.

Critics say the overly narrow definition of lobbying defined by the register prevents them from naming clients even if firms wanted to do so.

Sean Kemp, a former special advisor who has also worked for a lobbying company, said the legislation failed to take account of how most outside consultancies currently conducted their businesses.

Mainly, what lobbyists do these days is prepare clients in how to deal with the Government rather than deal directly with ministers or officials themselves, he said. "So a lobbyist might help arrange a meeting or plan a campaign but it would be senior figures from the companies themselves who would meet directly with the Government. That means that, as it stands, they would have no need to declare anything on the register. Generally, the only things that appear are when you organise a dinner or a reception on behalf of a client and a minister happens to be present.

This is shown by RLM Finsbury that declares 32 clients on the Association of Professional Political Consultants register that has a far broader definition of lobbying. However, this register is voluntary and firms are not obliged to sign up it.

Tamasin Cave, director of Spinwatch and the author of a book about the dark arts of lobbying said: The register was designed from the outset to reveal as little as possible. Twelve months on, it is clear that the Government never intended us to see who it is having a quiet word with, whether any favours are being exchanged and which lobbyists are wielding unhealthy influence. This is a bogus register. It needs to be scrapped and a genuine one put in its place."

Alexandra Runswick, director of Unlock Democracy, said the other countries had been far more successful than the UK at introducing such laws.

Lobbying registers should bring lobbying out of the shadows and show us who is trying to influence our government, she said.

Yet a year on, it is still possible to learn more about British companies lobbying activities from the US register than our own. This register was designed to fail. If we are to restore trust in our politics, then we need a comprehensive register that opens up lobbying to real scrutiny."

No one from CTF Partners was available to comment at the time of publication.
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A former media officer for the Somali Islamist extremist group al-Shabaab has been publicly executed by a government firing squad over the killings of at least five journalists.

Hassan Hanafi Haji, who arranged news conferences for the al-Qaeda-linked group when militants controlled the capital Mogadishu, admitted to personally killing one journalist in Somalia during his trial in March.

"Today, the court fulfills the execution of Hassan Hanafi who had killed journalists," Abdullahi Hassan, deputy judge of the court, said at the scene on Monday.

The 30-year-old, who was extradited from Kenya last year on the request of the Somali government, was masked and tied to a pole before being executed at a police academy in Mogadishu, witnesses said.

Firing squad is the only execution method used in Somalia.

Justice served  it was his turn to taste the pain of death, said a Somali journalist at the scene who asked to remain anonymous.

Haji admitted to joining al-Shabaab in 2008 when he worked as a journalist for a local broadcaster.

He called on Somali journalists to report according to al-Shabaabs media rules, which included avoiding stories relating to the groups military setbacks.

Haji later led al-Shabaab'ss media unit, inviting journalists to press conferences and giving them tours of battlefields.

Faith in the future of Somalia Show all 5 1 /5 Faith in the future of Somalia Faith in the future of Somalia pg-40-somalia-1.jpg Nastasya Tay Faith in the future of Somalia pg-40-somalia-2.jpg Nastasya Tay Faith in the future of Somalia pg-40-somalia-3.jpg Faith in the future of Somalia pg-40-somalia-4-getty.jpg Getty Images Faith in the future of Somalia pg-40-somalia-5-getty.jpg Getty Images

Haji was one of only a few suspects prosecuted by the Somali government, despite rights groups urging authorities to do more to end the killings of journalists.

Al-Shabaab seeks to impose a strict version of Sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently attacks government targets.

The group was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but controls many rural areas in southern Somalia.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries for media workers.

At least 18 Somali journalists were killed last year and 59 journalists have been killed since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Additional reporting by various agencies
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An indigenous community in Canada has declared a state of emergency after a recent hike of suicides saw eleven people attempt to take their own lives in one day.

Known as Attawapiskat First Nation, community leaders came to the decision after a unanimous vote, according to local news site CBC News.

The Health Canada federal agency said it had sent two mental health counsellors to the area to help tackle the issue, reports BBC News.

The countrys prime minister, Justin Trudeau, took to Twitter to describe the news as heartbreaking, and said: Well continue to work to improve living conditions for all Indigenous peoples.

The regions MP, Charlie Angus, said the situation was brutal and has been advocating families in the region to fight against the suicide crisis.

Mr Shisheesh told CBC News there were many triggers which could be to blame for the high number of suicides, including overcrowding in homes, bullying at school, and drug abuse.

Mr Angus took to his Facebook page to describe how more than 600 young people had tried to kill themselves since 2009, and said: The government now says the latest round of deaths and attempts is heartbreaking. No freaking kidding it is heartbreaking. Its a national scandal.

Now comes the time for Canada to stand up and say that the days when some children in this country are less valuable then others must end.

As well as the number of people who had attempted suicide on Saturday, CBC News reports that, overall, 101 people of all age groups have tried to kill themselves since September, with Mr Shisheesh confirming the death of one. The youngest was eleven, and the oldest was 71-years-old.

Home to around 2,000 people, the community reportedly saw 28 suicide attempts in March alone.

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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

In an online post on Sunday, Mr Angus described how he would be pushing an emergency resolution for national action on the pandemic which has been tearing through northern communities. He said: This crisis is not just an Indigenous issue, it is a Canadian issue.

Youth are the future of our nation. How can a country like Canada sit on the sidelines as so many wonderful young people - some as young as ten - give up hope? We have to be there as a nation to give the resources and support to deal with this pandemic of death.

He added: A nation as rich as Canada shouldnt leave it to the youth to save each other from the nightmare of a suicide epidemic. Our whole nation should be showing love, resolve, and solidarity.

Grand chief Jonathan Solomon of the Mushkegowuk Council said he was deeply moved by the determination of youth in the region to support each other after it was reported a large group had taken part in a solidarity healing march.

 NHS invest in mental health

He said: I am calling on all Mushkegowuk citizens to support them and pray for their strength and safety. Please keep all our youth in your thoughts and prayers. These are our future leaders who will make our communities stronger and healthier in the years to come.

If youve been affected by any of the issues in the article, please visit the Samaritans site for help, support, and advice
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A "quiet" barbershop owner has left $1.4 million (990,000) to his local public library, accounting for 90 per cent of his estate.

Anthony J. Ralys ran a small barbershop for 38 years in Athol, Massachusetts and on his death left behind an estate of $1,632,000.

Mr Ralys has been described by those who knew him as a "quiet" and "reclusive" man.

This is the biggest donation the town library has received since 1914, when the Carnegie Foundation donated 20,000 for the its construction.

Mr Ralys' estate attorney, Pamela Oddy, explained this bequeathal was due to the fact his late wife was an avid reader.

Former Athol Library director, Debra Blanchard told the Telegram & Gazette about her first reaction to this donation: "Literally, I gasped and almost fell out of my chair.

"I asked her to repeat it so I was sure she had not made a mistake.

"That normal hard-working people like (Mr. and Mrs.) Ralys can save that much money and then bequest it to an institution that benefits the entire community is simply amazing."

George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library Show all 9 1 /9 George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-1-ap.jpg AP George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-2-ap.jpg AP George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-3-ap.jpg AP George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-4-ap.jpg AP George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-5-ap.jpg AP George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-6-ap.jpg AP George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-7-ap.jpg AP George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-8-ap.jpg AP George Dubya Bush writes his version of history with launch of presidential library pg-32-bush-library-9-ap.jpg AP

Of the remaining money, $79,000 was left to nephew Thomas Ralys and a further $79,000 to the estate of niece Jacqueline M. Ralys.

Regarding the size of the library donation, Thomas Ralys said: "It never was my money to get, he did leave us some.

"They never had kids, and they really must have loved the library."

The current Library Director Jean Shaughnessy said:"It's wonderful, It is always appreciated when someone donates to the library, but this goes way beyond appreciation"
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Donald Trump. the Republican frontrunner, erupted today after it became clear that his rival for the partys presidential nomination, Senator Ted Cruz, had achieved a clean sweep of all 34 delegates awarded by Colorado over the weekend while his campaign had earned none.

Its a crooked deal, Mr Trump fulminated on Fox News, complaining not just about Mr Cruz but also about the unique set up in Colorado whereby delegates for the first time were chosen by party activists meeting in a series of conventions across the state, not by ordinary voters.

That there might have been something not quite democratic about this was seemingly underscored by a Tweet sent out by the Colorado Republican Party itself once it became clear that Mr Cruz had emerged from the process with all the available delegates. We did it. #Never Trump, the Twitter message said, the Denver Post reported. It was quickly erased.

After his big loss in Wisconsin last week, Mr Trump is now in trench warfare with Mr Cruz over delegates numbers. If he is to avoid a potentially chaotic floor fight at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July, Mr Trump must reach the magic number of 1,237 delegates before then. Every delegate seized by Mr Cruz makes that milestone harder to reach.

His Colorado supporters are now in revolt, Mr Trump said. The people out there are going crazy, in the Denver area and Colorado itself, he told Fox. They're going absolutely crazy because they weren't given a vote. This was given by politicians - it's a crooked deal.

The billionaire, who later on Monday was to hold another major rally in New York state, which holds its key primary on 19 March, also accused Mr Cruz of trying to steal delegates away from him in South Carolina, which he won in February and Mr Cruz came in third. Yet at the local party conventions this weekend Mr Cruz reportedly brought three delegates over to his side.

Mr Trump accused the Cruz campaign of trying to buy delegates with promises of rewards, but offered no substantiating details. Now they're trying to pick off those delegates one by one, he complained. That's not the way democracy is supposed to work. They offer them trips, they offer them all sorts of things and you're allowed to do that. You can buy all these votes. What kind of a system is that? ... It's a rigged system.

While questions will be raised about the decision of the Colorado Republicans to forego ordinary caucus or primary voting, it may also be the case that the Trump campaign simply failed to get its ground game together in the state to win support for its slate of delegate candidates at the various party conventions, whereas the Cruz campaign evidently did.

There was no officials response from Mr Cruz, but at the weekend an aide to the Texas Senator was dismissive of the Trump complaints. More sour grapes from Trump who continues to lash out in tantrums every time he loses, said Catherine Frazier, a Cruz spokeswoman. We are winning because we've put in the hard work to build a superior organization.
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Donald Trump has spoken out against the Boston Globe for a satirical front page the paper ran imagining he was the next US president.

The Republican front-runner called the Globe stupid and worthless for running the fake front page in its Sunday edition. Dated 9 April 2017, the issue illustrates a possible future in which Mr Trump carries out all of his campaign promises.

The Boston Globe

Deportations To Begin the lead headline reads, followed by stories about a falling market, US soldiers refusal to kill ISIS families, and libel laws against the absolute scum press.

In a corresponding piece by the Globes editorial board, they call for Republicans to do the right thing: putting up every legitimate roadblock to Trump that they can, and present the future frontpage as an exercise in taking a man at his word.

Mr Trump called the Globes satire a totally dishonest story at a Rochester, New York, rally on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

The Boston Globe was the subject of the 2015 film, Spotlight, which told the story of the newspapers investigative team that exposed a conspiracy within the Catholic Diocese to cover up decades of sexual abuse of altar boys in 2002.
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The wife of George W Bush has hinted that she would prefer to see democrat Hillary Clinton in the White House due to her track record regarding women in Afghanistan.

Laura Bush, 69, speaking alongside her daughters and women leaders at the annual New York Women in the World summit, indicated she would prefer anyone else to become president other than Donald Trump.

During the 3-day summit, she talked about her book on Afghan women she published in conjunction with the George W Bush Institute.

I want our next president  whoever he or she might be  to be somebody who is interested in women in Afghanistan and who will continue US policies that we continue to do what we're committed to do as a country, she said, as reported by The Telegraph.

That's who I want - or the kind of people that will do that and will pay attention to our history, and know what's what's happened before and know specifically how we can continue to do the good things that we do around the world.

Hillary Clinton, 68, visited Afghanistan four times as Secretary of State.

She even wrote a cover for Ms Bushs book, We Are Afghan Women: Voices of Hope, published in March.

For over a decade, Laura Bush has been an ally and advocate for the women of Afghanistan and, in particular, has worked to ensure that the voices of Afghan women are heard, Ms Clinton wrote.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who is battling Mr Trump, has not expressed any interest in Afghanistan apart from fighting terrorism.

Ms Bush was raised a democrat but has avoided directly airing her views or endorsing a particular candidate.

Ms Clinton's campaign could not be reached immediately for comment.

Her family suffered a blow when younger brother Jeb Bush dropped out of the presidential race after failing to get the same voting results as Mr Trump and Mr Cruz.

Ms Clinton received support last year from another unlikely source. Nancy Reagan, the late wife of former president Ronald Reagan, was quoted as saying the time for a woman to serve as our president has come.
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A US Naval officer has been accused of spying against America and passing on secrets to China. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Reports in the US media said Lt Cmdr Edward Lin worked as a flight officer on the Navys sensitive intelligence gathering aircraft, the EP-3E Reconnaissance.

Heavily redacted documents accuse Mr Lin with five counts of espionage and attempted espionage, three counts of making false official statements and five counts of communicating defence information to a person not entitled to receive said information.

A heavily-redacted charge sheet shows Mr Lin faces five counts of spying

An Article 32 hearing - the equivalent under US military law to a preliminary process - was held last Friday. The intelligence he is alleged to have passed on was classified at the Secret level, one step below Top Secret, which covers the military's most closely guarded information.

Mr Lin was originally from Taiwan and became a US citizen in 2008.

A profile about him appeared on the Navys website in 2008, and in it he spoke about becoming an American national.

I always dreamed about coming to America, the promised land, he said. I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland.

CBS News said he has been in custody since last summer. A Navy admiral must now decide whether there is enough evidence against Mr Lin to court martial him.

Mr Lin has reportedy been held in custody since last summer (US Navy)

If found guilty of one of the most serious espionage charges, he could face the death penalty.

The US Navy has said little in public about the charges. The US Naval Institute, a non-profit professional military association, reported that the country to which the commander passed secrets was China.

The investigation is being conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

The last notorious case of a Navy officer spying happened in the 1980s.

John Anthony Walker worked as a Soviet spy while serving as communications specialist for the US Navy.

He led a ring that delivered key information to the Soviet Union from 1967 until 1985. Walkers covert dealings made it possible for the Soviets to unscramble military communications and find US submarines at any time.

He had already retired as a Navy officer when arrested in 1985. Other members of his ring included his sailor son Michael, his brother Arthur James Walker, who also served in the Navy, and his friend Jerry Alfred Whitworth, who trained in the Navy's satellite communications.

Once arrested, Walker would only agree to plead guilty if his son was granted leniency for his minor involvement. Walker was given three life sentences, and died in prison in 2014.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry joined other world leaders to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed when US forces dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese town of Hiroshima in 1945.

However, a senior US official said Mr Kerry would not apologise for the atrocity.

Mr Kerry, the first current Secretary of State to visit the city, laid a wreath on a memorial to victims alongside EU foreign policy head Federica Mogherini and other diplomats at the Peace Memorial Park.

The leaders then moved on to visit the museum and a Second World War memorial.

Recommended Read more Corbyn cites horrors of Hiroshima as a reason to scrap Trident

It is a stunning display, it is a gut-wrenching display, it tugs at all of your sensibilities as a human being, it reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices in war and of what war does to people, to communities, to countries, to the world, Mr Kerry said.

The two-day G7 meeting in Japan is to discuss de-nuclearisation and terrorism, taking place in a town that was victim to the worlds first use of an atomic weapon in warfare.

Mr Kerrys speech comes one day after a State Department official, Mark Toner, said he would not apologise for the two bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed about 210,000 people, either from direct impact or radiation exposure.

If you are asking whether the Secretary of State came to Hiroshima to apologise, the answer is no, the official said, as reported by CNN. If you are asking whether the secretary  and I think all Americans and all Japanese  are filled with sorrow at the tragedies that befell so many of our countrymen, the answer is yes.

The bombs helped to end of the Second World War. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941, prompting the US to enter the conflict.

Mr Kerry spoke with Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida, and said that the trip is not about the past; its about the present and the future.

His meeting with Japanese officials comes after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposed that Japan and South Korea arm themselves with nuclear weapons to fight off North Korea without US aid. He later backtracked on his remarks.

For us to obtain nuclear weapons is completely inconceivable, said Mr Kishida.

Mr Kerrys trip to Japan, which also includes discussions on Isis, Europes migrant crisis, tensions in Ukraine and the political chaos in Iraq and Afghanistan, could lay the groundwork for President Barack Obamas visit to Japan in May.

There is speculation about whether Mr Obama will issue a formal apology for the Hiroshima bombing.
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The governor of Virginia has sanctioned the use of drugs from unregulated pharmacies to kill death row inmates as part of a compromise to stop the electric chair becoming a default option as lawmakers face a lack of transparent and legal options to execute prisoners.

Governor Terry McAuliffes amendment, if passed, would allow the Department of Corrections to secretly make the drugs through a pharmacy - unregulated by the US Food and Drug Administration - and use the drugs without public scrutiny.

These manufacturers will not do business in Virginia if their identities are to be revealed, Mr McAuliffe said, adding that his proposed changes are controversial but necessary.

He suggested the amendment as a compromise to fight against Republican Delegate Jackson Miller's proposal to make the electric chair the default choice of execution.

Mr Miller told The Independent in a statement that, although Mr McAuliffe's amendment was not "ideal", he was prepared to support it in order to "preserve the full measure of justice".

Governor McAuliffe, who is also for the death penalty, said the electric chair carries horrific consequences and is a terrible form of punishment.

Mr McAuliffe's colleagues will vote on the amendment, which he tried and failed to get signed into law in 2015, on 20 April.

He warned that if lawmakers do not accept the amendment, he will veto the bill and halt capital punishment in the state.

US lawmakers increasingly face a choice: either ban the death penalty, or find legal and transparent ways of executing their death row prisoners.

States are facing a shrinking number of options, however, as there is a lack of regulated drug suppliers as other countries around the world rule out capital punishment.

Robert Dunham, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said what the governor is offering as a substitute carries its own set of inherent risks.

He said the use of drugs from unregulated pharmacies led to Oklahoma prisoner Charles Warner being illegally administered the wrong drug last year - it took 43 minutes for him to die as he writhed in agony, strapped to a gurney.

Warner said his body was 'on fire', which is consistent with the [first] drug not keeping him anesthetized throughout the procedure and the [second] killing drug chemically burning him to death, said Mr Dunham.

Mr McAuliffes amendment to use unregulated pharmacies has been met with fierce opposition, including from the Catholic Church.

This action by the governor  and the General Assembly  ignores a very public plea Pope Francis made earlier this year that government leaders carry out no executions in this Year of Mercy and abolish the death penalty throughout the world, read a joint statement from two Virginia clergymen, Bishop Francis X DiLorenzo and Bishop Paul S Loverde.

Claire Gastanaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Virigina, tweeted her opposition to the bill, saying secret drugs protocols are never going to be reasonable, mocking the governors compromise on the death penalty.

The electric chair was outlawed in Nebraska and Georgia as cruel and unusual but remains a choice available to prisoners in other states including Virginia.

The last prisoner to die by electric chair in Virginia was Robert Gleason in 2013.

Other sanctioned methods of the death penalty, depending on the state, include firing squad, hanging and the gas chamber, but most states - 33 - use the lethal injection as the primary method.
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A colonel from North Korea's military spy agency has fled to South Korea last year in a rare senior-level defection, Seoul officials said Monday.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted an unnamed official as saying the man was the highest-level military official ever to have defected, and had already passed on details "about the bureau's operations against South Korea".

The announcement by officials in Seoul comes three days after it was revealed 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South. It was the largest group defection since North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported the restaurant is located in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

The colonel worked for the North Korean military's General Reconnaissance Bureau before defecting to South Korea, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry and Unification Ministry. Both ministries refused to provide further details including a motive for the defection.

The reconnaissance agency was believed to be behind two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch Show all 11 1 /11 Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch The North Korean leader inspects a missile launch from a safe distance Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch Kim Jong-un discusses plans with military leaders Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch A ballistic rocket of the type launched by the DPRK in defiance of UN sanctions Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch UN officials tracked two ballistic missile launches from North Korea on Friday 18 March Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch The Supreme Leader laughed with officials as the missiles were fired Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch Kim Jong-un was also pictured observing military exercises Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch Tanks fire missiles during military manoeuvres at an undisclosed location Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch The exercises are timed to coincide with military drills by the US and South Korea Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch As well as a tank-driving competition, amphibious craft carried out landing and anti-landing exercises Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch Including paramilitary reserves, the North Korean army is the largest in the world Kim Jong-un inspects military exercises and missile launch The Supreme Leader appeared pleased with the show of force

There have been occasional reports of lower-level North Korean soldiers defecting but it is unusual for a colonel to flee to the South.

The highest-level North Korean who took asylum in South Korea has been Hwang Jang-yop, a senior ruling Workers' Party official who once tutored Kim's late dictator father Kim Jong Il. Hwang's 1997 defection was hailed by many South Koreans as an intelligence bonanza and a clear sign that the North's political system was inferior to the South's. Hwang died in 2010.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records. Many defectors have testified they wanted to avoid the North's harsh political system and poverty.

Defections are a bitter source of contention between the rival Koreas, which are still divided along the world's most heavily fortified border since the end of the Korean War. Pyongyang usually accuses Seoul of enticing North Korean citizens to defect, something Seoul denies.

AP
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A new French revolution was interrupted by police early today but will resume, with official blessing, tonight.

Police moved into the Place de la Republique in central Paris to remove 100 people and dismantle makeshift structures erected by the Nuit Debout movement, which has occupied the square each night for the past 12 days.

Police announced later, however, that the movement, which aims to abolish capitalism and change the world, has been given permission to start another series of nocturnal gatherings from 6pm this evening.

The police intervention followed scattered incidents of violence on the margins of the Nuit Debout  Rise up at night  movement at the weekend. Eight people were arrested, a car was burned and a young man was seriously injured when he fell while trying to place a banner on the statue of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic in the centre of the square.

Although centre-right politicians have called for the protests to be banned, the Socialist-led government seems content for the time being to play a watching game. The Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, met student and youth leaders today to make new proposals to help young people enter the work force.

The government is listening. It understands the youths' worries, Mr Valls said, announcing subsidies for young graduates looking for a job and other aid for apprentices and students, worth a total of 400m (320m) to 500 m.

By sending in the police early today, the Paris town hall and French national government were enforcing an agreement that demonstrators and temporary structures would be removed from the site at midnight on Sunday night. In other words, it was a pointed reminder that the rolling, nocturnal protest  which claims to have no leaders and no precise demands  exists under official sufferance.

On the other hand, the left-wing government is unwilling to be heavy-handed while the movement is growing slowly, mostly youthful and, on the whole, peaceful. An estimated 2,000 people joined general meetings and debates on the future of the world in the Place de la Republique on Saturday night  twice the numbers earlier in the week.

According to the nuitdeboutistes, time froze when their meetings began on the last day of last month. Today is, therefore, not 11 April but 42 March.

Similar, smaller gatherings have sprung up in 60 French towns and cities and also in Belgium and Spain.

Police said that leaders of the Nuit Debout movement  such as they are in the supposedly leaderless movement  had asked for permission to start a new series of meetings from tonight, Permission was granted.

Nuit Debout describes itself as a citizens movement of protest against the stayus quo, without precise aims or demands. The great bulk of the participants are, however, followers of the many different French tribe of the hard anti-capitalist or anti-globalist left.
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Three men including at least one suicide bomber have attacked a police station in Russia's Stavropol region near the north Caucasus.

Witnesses described hearing at least five explosions as well as automatic gunfire at the scene, though initial reports suggest no civilians or police officers were harmed.

Video purporting to be from the scene showed the blast-damaged front entrance to the remote station, as well as scattered debris and damage to cars and buildings on the street opposite.

Initial reports from the Interfax news agency suggested three suicide bombers had been involved, and that all had blown themselves up while failing to harm anyone else.

In pictures: Russia suicide bombing Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Russia suicide bombing In pictures: Russia suicide bombing Investigators work near the entrance of a police station which was attacked in a settlement of the Novoselitsky district in Stavropol region In pictures: Russia suicide bombing In pictures: Russia suicide bombing Police work near a police station which was attacked in a settlement of the Novoselitsky district in Stavropol region In pictures: Russia suicide bombing Investigators at the scene of the attack near a settlement of the Novoselitsky district, where a local police station was recently attacked, in Stavropol region Reuters In pictures: Russia suicide bombing Servicemen of the Russian armed forces sit on an armoured vehicle in a settlement of the Novoselitsky district Reuters In pictures: Russia suicide bombing Russian soldiers ride on vehicles in a settlement of the Novoselitsky district Reuters In pictures: Russia suicide bombing A policeman speaks to a man at the scene of the attack in Stavropol region Reuters In pictures: Russia suicide bombing Investigators work near the entrance of a police station Reuters In pictures: Russia suicide bombing Interior Ministry officers, investigators and members of special services stand behind barrier tape in a settlement of the Novoselitsky district In pictures: Russia suicide bombing A vehicle of the Russian armed forces blocks the way in a settlement of the Novoselitsky district

But a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Stavropol, who was not named, later said only one of the men was a suicide bomber.

"An attack took place on a regional police station," he said. "One of the attackers blew himself up, two others were killed."

A police official told RIA Novosti the incident took place in the Novoselitsk district in Stavropol, and that more details were being "clarified".

The incident took place in a region close the volatile North Caucasus, where Isis militants have claimed a province and bomb attacks on government assets have become increasingly common.

Local security forces were prepared for such attacks in Stavropol, the ministry official told Reuters. He said police had activated their "Fortress Plan", putting the station into a military-style defensive state.
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Police have arrested a man on suspicion of trying to assassinate the chief expert witness in the investigation into the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet MH17.

Ukraines most senior forensic scientist, Oleksandr Ruvin, was shot in the leg late last year in an attack that the authorities suspect was linked to his role in the crash probe.

In a short statement, the Ukrainian prosecutors office said the countrys chief military prosecutor, Anatoliy Matios, would hold a briefing later on Monday regarding the arrest of the killer who attempted to murder the chief expert on the case of the downed Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777.

A report into the downing of MH17 published in October 2015 confirmed the plane was shot down by a Russina-built Buk surface-to-air missile launched from eastern Ukraine.

 MH17 Reconstruction Timelapse

The incident, in which 298 passengers and crew on board a routine flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed, and sparked a rapid review into the policy of allowing air traffic routes to pass over what is still a conflict zone.

While the Dutch Safety Boards report addressed ways in which the tragedy could have been avoided, it said it was for a criminal investigation to determine who was responsible for firing the missile which downed the plane.

In pictures: MH17 final report Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: MH17 final report In pictures: MH17 final report Getty Images In pictures: MH17 final report Getty Images In pictures: MH17 final report Almaz-Antei director Yan Novikov, center, looks at the screen during a news conference in Moscow. Almaz-Antei air defense consortium, the builder of Buk missiles, presented its vision of the MH-17 air crash based on a new modeling of the disaster they recently conducted AP In pictures: MH17 final report A graphic and a skin element of a passenger airplane which was used in a full-scale experiment by Almaz-Antey simulating shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine is displayed during a Russian missile manufacturer Almaz-Antey news conference dedicated to the MH17 crash in Moscow EPA In pictures: MH17 final report Almaz-Antei director Yan Novikov, seated center, attends a news conference in Moscow AP In pictures: MH17 final report Projectiles with thecharacteristic "double tee" formation of components of the warhead of a Buk missile 9?38?1, are displayed during a news conference in Moscow AP In pictures: MH17 final report Almaz-Antei director Yan Novikov, attends a news conference in Moscow AP

That probe continues, with recent Dutch media reports suggesting evidence about the type of missile and where it was fired from will be presented before the second half of the year.
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When I arrived at The Jungle camp in Calais one of the first things I saw was some graffiti on a slab of concrete spelling out the words Fuck Journalist, Fuck The Police. It turned out not everyone in the camp shared this sentiment, but once you feel the tangible sense of frustration and anger in Calais among the people in the camp, it soon becomes clear why a message like this would end up surfacing.

I want to share my experience of the camps in Calais and Dunkirk from ground level. I have been visiting the camps with fellow photojournalist Emily Garthwaite over the past few weeks (5 March for a few days and 18 March for another few days) . We wanted to understand the challenges posed for those who work and live around these areas and spoke with refugees, local policing authorities, the head of Calais commerce, medical teams, local residents and volunteers to try and grasp the bigger picture.

Upon arrival certain preconceptions we had about the camps were dispelled. For one, the living conditions in the Dunkirk camp were far more appalling than we anticipated. You can read about places like Dunkirk and even see photographs, but to go and see it first hand really hits home the gravity of the situation. The executive director of MSF UK (Doctors Without Borders) described the conditions as the worst she had seen in her twenty years of humanitarian work. Without a doubt the Calais camp is a tough place to live in, but the people living there are relatively fortunate not to be in Dunkirk. We were saddened to witness scenes that we could not believe were happening two and a half hours from London. Scabies, fever, even tuberculosis are present in the camps. There are children sleeping on mattresses pushed into the mud. They have no electricity or heating. This gloopy bacteria-ridden mud cakes everything, and is hard to keep out of the tents. Everything feels damp. We think of scenes like this to only be possible in far away countries, but it has been happening right on our doorstep.

A prayer book lies charred in the mud having been rescued from a burning tent (Photo: Alan Schaller)

MSF were only given permission in January to set up a new camp to replace the deplorable living conditions in Dunkirk. This meant that people had to live for months in squalor. Whilst the new site, which was opened on the 9 March, resembles a prison camp in many ways, the conditions are undeniably better. The wooden shelters are numbered and having an address of sorts makes the people feel more dignified.

The wooden shelters in the new MSF camp (Photo: Alan Schaller)

After speaking to many of the people living in the camps a recurring theme started to emerge. The people are not despairing over their current living conditions, but rather over the lack of certainty regarding their future. Some described the trauma of leaving their homelands, crossing seas with smugglers, and missing their families. We did not hear a single complaint about the mud, or the cold. Their anger seemed to be directed at a feeling of having no human rights or future prospects. We met refugees who left skilled work as engineers, tailors, photographers, teachers, journalists, musicians, students, surgeons, chefs, among many others kinds of work, who have been having to sit around for months unfulfilled. One young Iraqi man said to me, In hindsight I would sooner be fighting Daesh back home, making a difference. I have been here for six months and am bored and restless. There is no future here for us.

An Iraqi mother of two stands outside her MSF shelter in the newly built Dunkirk camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite)

It is a common misconception that all refugees are poor. Many come from successful working backgrounds. To make the journey into Europe from somewhere like Iraq or Syria requires a substantial finical outlay. I met one family who came to France with 16,000, which represented all of their savings. They stayed in a hotel for as long as they could afford to whilst applying for asylum before running out of money. They were eventually forced to move into the camp in Calais. Another misconception is that all the people in the camps wish to stay in Europe. As mentioned before, many were forced to leave promising careers and their families behind to make the journey, and want nothing more than to return if it is safe to do so. We met plenty of refugees who described how their lives were directly at risk in their homelands, and who had no choice but to leave. One family showed us photos on a smartphone of their former life in Iraq only five months prior to arriving in the Dunkirk camp. On this phone we saw family scenes, selfies, dinners out, normal everyday things. War and violence came to where they lived, and they had to leave. Now all they have left of their former lives are cherished memories on a small screen, and the hope that one day they will be able to return home to live in peace. It is true that many of the refugees would like to come to the UK, the reason for this is that the majority can speak English, and feel they can integrate into British society easier than say going to a country like Sweden.

Keeping people in difficult living conditions for months on end with no work results in boredom and frustration. Violence is not uncommon in the camps, and I got the sense this is largely due to high numbers of young men with nothing to do and an unclear future venting their frustration when given an excuse to. If you put 8,000 Londoners in those kinds of conditions for six months, I am convinced that the result would be the same.

The Gendarmes and CRS police forces are not popular among the people in the camps. Their heavy-handed approach to quelling disputes, including employing tear gas, rubber bullets and using force to evict people from their shelters has resulted in a tense dynamic in the camps. I wanted to keep an open mind and talk to them myself before casting a concrete judgement. After doing so, I got the impression that not all are happy with what they are being asked to carry out, and some are sympathetic. Others did not come across this way, speaking of refugees in derogatory terms.

The wreckage of the south side of the Calais camp (Photo: Alan Schaller)

I understand that their jobs are stressful and difficult and that they have orders to maintain stability in the camps, often with the media watching, but after meeting a group of Iranian hunger strikers and hearing their story, I was dismayed to hear how inhumanely the police have acted at certain points.

The lead up to their strike began when the prefecture announced that the 800 people living in the south side of the Calais Jungle were to be rehoused into 1,200 accommodations provided by the state. In reality, there were closer to three thousand people living in that part of the camp. A legal challenge was made to recognise this. The ruling from the court was fair and stated that there would be no use of force when evicting people, and no personal property was to be damaged. Soon after that announcement was made, the prefecture gave a day's warning to people to leave their tents and shelters. The following morning they came in with bulldozers and destroyed the shelters, and used force to evict those who hadn't already left. The Iranian part of the camp was the first to be razed. The Iranian people were so shocked that the legal ruling was being disregarded that some of them decided to go on hunger strike to demand that the eviction be stopped until all legal proceedings were complete. A second legal challenge was mounted when the evictions began, and few days after that a third challenge was sent to the European Court of Human Rights. We were told that the hunger strikers are Iranian Christian converts. Three of them had to flee Iran due to their Christian beliefs.

A man salvages wood from a burning home in the south side of the Calais camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite)

We met them nineteen days into their strike. One of them was a teenager, another an aeronautical engineer, another a tattoo artist. These are normal people who felt pushed to extreme lengths to have their voices heard. During the process of the hunger strike, all of the men had been offered deals to persuade them to stop. These included family reunions and being granted sped up asylum, something they no doubt wanted so much. The men turned down these offers however as they considered their cause to be about more than their own lives. They were willing to exchange their health for the chance to obtain fair legal treatment and human rights for all people in the camps. Following the example of Jesus Christ, to sacrifice yourself for others is why we are doing this.

The prefecture have made certain concessions since the strike was initiated including releasing a press statement promising that the north part of the camp will not be demolished. We were present in the shelter where the strike is taking place when this was announced by a sub prefect. I watched to see how this news would be received but men did not celebrate. The fight to get what they truly want is far from won.

A portrait of Sasan, 17 on hunger strike (Photo: Emily Garthwaite)

The people in the camps are relying on the work of volunteers for distribution of clothing, food and medical assistance. Volunteers spend much of their time in warehouses sorting through donations, organising the transfer of supplies to the camps, as well as helping on site. I spoke to Care4Calais volunteer Alice Aedy. She said: It astounds me to hear we are reluctant to improve the living conditions for the people as it might incentivise more people to come - our priority should be to decrease their suffering. We must acknowledge the current refugee crisis and treat these people with dignity. Regardless of political opinions, what is objective is the complete neglect that we see in the camps. I have met architects, interior designers, scientistspeople who left a normal life. Many wish the war would end, as they are desperate to go home. Im scared to see how history books will describe how once again, we turned a blind eye and looked the other way.

This sense of compassion and a refusal to idly sit by knowing there are people suffering is what has prised many people away from their lives, families and jobs to go and volunteer. Some told us they spend weeks at a time helping.

MSF are providing medical aid but work out of a small shelter in the camp. Professionals present include physios, GPs, nurses and a psychiatrist. The unavoidable issue is that they are only available from Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm. Medical volunteers are providing extra support, working out of converted caravans on site. They are present every day. Because of the limited space they have been allocated they can only provide first aid. The necessary equipment for more serious medical treatment simply wouldn't fit in the caravans. For people needing urgent attention a nearby hospital in Calais has sectioned off a part of its A&E ward for refugees who are suffering more serious conditions. I spent some time following the medical volunteers around the camp to get a feel for what their work is like. There was a seemingly constant stream of people requiring aid. In a very short amount of time I saw a young boy with a heavy cough, another who had collapsed, a man with bad burns on his hand, a young man who had been blinded in one eye and an older man who was complaining of heart pain. The work is demanding, but from what I saw the medical volunteers are doing a fantastic job with the resources available to them.

The medical caravans that serve the people of the Calais camps (Photo: Alan Schaller)

Calais and Dunkirk camps Show all 16 1 /16 Calais and Dunkirk camps Calais and Dunkirk camps (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps A portrait of an Afghan man wearing a traditional Perhan Turban in the Calais Jungle (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps Two Gendarmes guard the main entrance to the Dunkirk camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps One Kurdish Iraqi mans reminder to himself (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps Two young boys in the Dunkirk camp (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps An Iranian hunger striker stands outside the only remaining shelter in the South Side of the Calais camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps A church in the South Calais camp, on of the the only structures not demolished in the South Side of the camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps A man gets a hair cut in the Calais camp (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps Night falls on the Calais Jungle. Fires burn in the distance (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps The containers provided as alternative accommodation for the people in the camps (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps A young boy in the Dunkirk camp (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps A man listens to music inside one of the shipping containers (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps The awful living conditions in the Dunkirk camp (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps An Afghan man in the Calais camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps One of the Iranian hunger strikers (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps A family in their wooden shelter in the new Dunkirk camp (Photo: Alan Schaller)

Since the arrival of refugees in Calais, commerce in the area has been down 60%. This is bad news - at least in their terms - for restaurants, business owners and ultimately the locals. I spoke with the head of commerce in Calais, Pierre Nouchi who explained how this came about. Calais economy relies heavily on people from the UK coming through on holiday. Around the time that refugees began arriving in Calais, certain UK newspapers and those from other countries ran hostile scaremongering articles describing scenes of how Calais has been overrun by migrants and potential ISIS militants. In truth, you can not tell at all by being in Calais town centre what is going on a short drive away. The streets and restaurants, whilst not bustling, appear to be populated by French citizens. It is worth noting that the camp in Calais has been built on a former toxic waste dump on the outskirts of the town. This site was clearly never intended to be observable or easily accessible from the centre, and this explains why the refugees and towns people do not cross paths very often. Calais is desperate to rebrand itself and to separate the image of suffering and poverty from its name. The longer negative associations surround the name Calais, the more Nouchi is concerned that things will get worse for local business in Calais and the people.

On one of the days we spent some time talking with the children in the camp. One of the questions we asked one 12-year-old Afghan girl was do you like the food here?. She replied, no, because it is not my own. Hearing this summed up so much of what it is truly like to live in these camps. She did not mean that she is ungrateful for having food provided for her, but her reaction was an honest one. She is homesick, feeling bewildered and vulnerable in an environment no child should have to endure anywhere in the world, let alone in modern day Europe.

To find out more and to donate to helping the refugees in the camp and the people supporting them, please visit: Care4Calais, Utopia 56, L'Auberge Des Immigrants, Hummingbird Project, Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
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Egyptians have taken to social media to attack their President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, for giving away two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, portraying it as a humiliating concession to his oil-rich Gulf ally.

President Sisi was mocked for handing over Tiran and Sanafir to King Salman, claiming the strategically important islands were relinquished in exchange for Saudi largesse.

Egyptian and Saudi officials signed at least 15 agreements during the kings five-day visit, including a development package for Sinai and an oil deal worth $22billion to Egypt over five years, the New York Times reported.

Outraged activitsts portrayed the President as Awaad, a character in an old Egyptian song who sold his land, shamefully so in the eyes of rural Egyptians.

Satirist Baseem Youssef tweeted: The island is for a billion, the pyramids are for two, and they come with two gift statues on top.

 .        #__ #__   ...   ... Posted by   on Sunday, 10 April 2016

       ..  ##__ http://dlvr.it/L1bhM2 Posted by  on Sunday, 10 April 2016

Mr Sisi has even introduced a clause in the constitution explicitly prohibiting the ceding of Egyptian territory.

Since then, the economy has struggled, and the President has cracked down harshly on dissent, curtailing freedom of expression and protests. Although relations between Egypt and Saudi have warmed under President Sisi and Kind Salman, there remain differences, for example over regional conflicts in Syria and Yemen. The islands accord could serve to salve such tensions.

In response to the uproar, government supporters countered that Riyadh in 1950 asked Egypt to take charge of the islands' security because it feared an attack by Israel. Officials have cited diplomatic correspondence dating back decades that shows Cairo acknowledging Saudi ownership of the islands.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said Cairo had never claimed sovereignty over the two islands, which are unoccupied and are roughly equidistant from the two counries, and said the decision to hand the islands back had been taken by a committee of experts.

The two islands control entry to the Gulf of Aqaba and the ports of Eilat and Aqaba in Israel and Jordan, respectively. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war but returned them to Egypt after the two nations signed a peace treaty in 1979.

Meanwhile, Egypt's oldest secular university on Monday granted King Salman of Saudi Arabia an honorary doctorate for his "unique services" to Arabs and Muslims.

Additional reporting by AP
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A shaky truce has stopped the fighting in only some parts of Yemen, as UN-backed efforts get under way to end a civil war that has killed 6,200 Yemenis and enabled al-Qaeda to set up its own mini-state in the south of the country.

Often referred to as the forgotten war, the conflict has torn the Yemen apart after Saudi Arabia and a coalition of nine Sunni states intervened in March last year to stop the victory of Houthi rebels in alliance with armed forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition has inflicted heavy loss of life on civilians, including 97 people, 25 of them children, who died when bombs were dropped on a crowded market place in north western Yemen on 15 March.

People are no longer able to live because of the war which destroyed everything, Shawqi Abdullah, a taxi driver in the capital Sanaa told a news agency as the truce took hold. We had a calm night with no planes flying and fear of bombs. And we hope that the war ends.

Despite intervention by Saudi Arabia and its coalition against the Houthis, whom they see as Iranian-backed Shia rebels, the Houthis still hold Sanaa. But, though residents there said they had spent a quiet night, there was continual fighting in the city of Taiz in the south west that is under siege by the Houthis. Peace talks are due to begin under UN auspices in Kuwait on 18 April, but a year of fighting has left Yemen fragmented as different armed groups of uncertain loyalty battle for control of every province.

Saudi Arabia and the Sunni states are backing the government-in-exile of Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, which claims legitimacy because it is internationally recognised, though it was never elected. With Saudi support, its forces recaptured Aden last July, but the port city and southern Yemen have collapsed into chaos. The Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh are being pushed further north, but they have not been defeated and were able to hold a defiant rally in Sanaa to celebrate their resistance a year after the start of the coalition bombing campaign.

The outside world has paid limited attention to the war in Yemen because the country is isolated and there has been no mass exodus of refugees and migrants heading for the European Union. So bad are conditions that some Yemenis have fled to Somalia, one of the most impoverished, divided and war-ravaged countries in the world. Even before the war, Yemenis were very poor and many do not have the money to take flight, however bad local conditions.

As in Iraq, Syria and Libya, the greatest beneficiaries of the break-up of Yemen have been salafi-jiahadi movements, in this case al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group, which the US holds responsible for a series of bomb attacks on American targets, has expanded rapidly over the last year, seizing Mukalla, a city of 500,000 and the third biggest port in Yemen. AQAP makes an estimated $2 million (1.4m) a day from goods and fuel being passing through the port, in addition to $100 million from raiding the local central bank according to a special report by Reuters titled: How Saudi Arabias war in Yemen has made al Qaeda stronger  and richer.

What Raqqa and Mosul are to Isis, Mukalla is to AQAP which has long been targeted by US drone strikes. It is now stronger than at any time for twenty years, with an estimated 1,000 fighters in Mukalla and control of a further 373 miles of coastline according to the report. Paradoxically Saudi Arabia claims that one of the purposes of its campaign is to deny terrorists a safe haven in Yemen. Isis have also made advances, but not to the same degree as al-Qaeda.

AQAP got its opportunity to expand when Saudi Arabia launched Operation Decisive Storm in March 2015, Yemeni army troops were withdrawn from Mukalla and AQAP took over. With revenues from taxes and smuggled fuel, it has been able to grow in popularity and is regarded as less cruel than Isis. Its leaders are able to arm their fighters with weapons and ammunition abandoned by the army that is fighting Saudi-backed forces alongside the Houthis.

The ceasefire that was meant to begin at midnight on Sunday may be inadequate, but it is the most serious attempt to end the fighting in a year. It may be a sign that Saudi Arabia wants to extricate itself from an inconclusive war that it is not winning and which, instead, has produced a stalemate with the Houthis still holding Sanaa and with AQAP creating its own state on the southern coast.

Patrick Cockburns 'Chaos and Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East' (OR Books) is published this month
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Saudi Arabia's most senior cleric has defended a ban on female drivers, saying it is a dangerous matter that exposes women to evil.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah al-Sheikh told religious television channel Almajd that men with weak spirits and who are obsessed with women could cause female drivers harm.

He also said family members would not know the whereabouts of women if they were allowed to drive unaccompanied.

Recommended Read more Saudi Arabian woman jailed for defying driving ban to run in elections

Womens rights have long been a contentious issue in the ultraconservative Islamic country. Although driving is not technically illegal for women, it is essentially forbidden since a local license is required and they are not issued to females.

Last year, womens rights campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul received a 10-week jail sentence after she defied the ban, driving from the United Arab Emirates to the Saudi border in protest.

The Kingdom has made some progress on womens rights in recent times. In December woman were allowed to stand, and vote in, municipal elections for the first time.

Authorities also said divorced and widowed women would be allowed to get family ID cards for their children in future, so they can register them in schools and with healthcare services, according to Human Rights Watch.

However, longstanding male guardianship rules continue, forbidding women from marrying, travelling, enrolling in higher education or obtaining a passport without permission from a male relative or guardian.

The Grand Mufti has historically been outspoken on a range of matters, not just the rights of women.In March, he forbid Muslims in Saudi Arabia from playing chess, claiming it shows enmity and hatred.

In 2014, Sheikh al-Sheikh claimed Twitter was the source of all evil and devastation, and that the use of the social media site promotes evil and harm.
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As Pablo Lucio Vasquez, the Texas Vampire, was executed for killing a 12-year-old boy and  according to his own account  drinking the childs blood - he had a message for relatives of his victim:

You got your justice right here."

It was, perhaps, a reminder that justice can be harsh, regardless of whether or not you think it fair.

Pablo Lucio Vasquez (Reuters)

And sometimes justice can be very harsh indeed, even for those who are not executed.

While some prison sentences provoke cries of horror that a criminal will be out of jail way too soon, in a few cases, its quite the opposite.

In pictures: Controversial executions Show all 5 1 /5 In pictures: Controversial executions In pictures: Controversial executions George Stinney Jr, 14 George Stinney Jr became the youngest person to be executed in the US in the 20th century when he was sent to the electric chair in 1944 during the trial that lasted less than three hours and reportedly bore no evidence and barely any witness testimonies. Reuters In pictures: Controversial executions Clayton Lockett, 38 Convicted of the murder and rape of 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman in 2000 and sentenced to death. Lockett died of a heart attack after a failed execution by lethal injection in April 2014 In pictures: Controversial executions Roy Blankenship, 55 Killed by lethal injection in 2011 after he murdered an elderly woman. Witnesses saw him grimace and jerk as he became the first person put to death in that state with pentobarbital. Medical experts said he suffered greatly In pictures: Controversial executions Michael Wilson, 38 Executed by lethal injection in January 2014. Wilson was convicted of murdering co-worker Richard Yost during a robbery at a convenience store in 1995. He is one of three people executed for the crime In pictures: Controversial executions Dennis McGuire, 53 Sentenced to death following the rape and murder of pregnant 22-year-old Joy Stewart in 1989. After spending 25 years on death row fighting the order to end his life, McGuire was executed by lethal injection in January 2014

Chamoy Thipyaso, Thailand - 141,078 years

The longest prison sentence handed down by a court is thought to be that received by Chamoy Thipyaso of Thailand, who in 1989 was given a jail term of 141,078 years.

The wife of a senior Thai air force officer, Thipyaso had been involved in a pyramid scheme that defrauded 16,231 people out of a total of about 2 million.

Given that some of her victims had allegedly been members of the Thai royal household, she probably wasnt expecting leniency.

Thipyaso, however, was lucky in one respect because in 1989 Thai law decreed that regardless of the sentence given, the maximum time anyone could actually spend behind bars for fraud was 20 years.

Otman el Gnaoui, convicted over his role in the 2004 bombing attacks at Madrid's Railway Station (Getty Images)

Otman el-Gnaoui, Spain - 42,924 years

A similar technicality applied to terrorist Otman el-Gnaoui, who was given a 42,924-year prison sentence by a Spanish court for mass murder due to his part in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

His accomplice Jamal Zougam got 42,922 years for involvement in the bombings that claimed 191 lives.

As in Thailand, however, Spanish law limits the time that can actually be spent in jail, so in practice the longest either man will remain in prison is 40 years.

Charles Scott Robinson, US - 30,000 years

When it comes to sentences where there is no hope of anything like a 40-year limit on time really served, the longest might be that of Oklahoma child rapist Charles Scott Robinson.

In 1994 a jury recommended 5,000 years jail for each of the six counts against him.

Then District Judge Dan Owens decided he was weary of criminals serving only a portion of their time. So to guarantee that Robinson wouldnt be released early from any of the 5,000-year sentences, Judge Owens ordered them to be served consecutively rather than concurrently  landing the child rapist with a 30,000-year jail term.

I think I can assure that you will spend the rest of your natural life in the confines of the Department of Corrections," the judge informed Robinson, who couldnt get parole until he was at least 108.

Darron Bennalford Anderson, US - 11,250 years

Staying in the incarceration-happy state of Oklahoma, a contender for the most catastrophic appeal in judicial history might be that launched by rapist Darron Bennalford Anderson.

After being convicted of the robbery, kidnap and rape of an elderly woman in 1993, Anderson appealed, perhaps hoping to have a century or two knocked off his original 2,200-year sentence.

It went well for him at first. He won a new trial. That, however, also ended in conviction. And this time the jury decided his sentence should be 11,250 years  thus extending his jail term by 9,050 years.

Anderson is due for release on August 1 9746. Which gives him plenty of time to contemplate the fact his efforts have secured him a Guinness World Record entry for the greatest amount of jail time given as a result of an appeal.

When it came to appeals, Andersons accomplice Allan McLaurin was luckier. He got 500 years lopped off his sentence. Although since the original jail term was 21,250 years, he wasnt that lucky.

Dudley Wayne Kyzer, US - 10,000 years

To find Americas longest sentence for a single count, you have to move to Alabama, where Halloween murderer Dudley Wayne Kyzer of Tuscaloosa got 10,000 years for killing his wife.

Desbribed as a born killer by one prosecutor, Kyzer was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Diane Kyzer, his mother-in-law, Eunice Barringer, and Rick Pyron, a college student, who by complete mischance was at the Barringer home on Halloween in 1976.

He was sentenced to death in 1977, but in 1980 the US Supreme Court overturned Alabamas death penalty as unconstitutional, so Kyzer was retried. The result was that in 1981 he received two life sentences for the killings of Ms Barringer and Mr Pyron, plus the 10,000 years for murdering his wife.

Friends of Kyzer, now 74, say he has become a born-again Christian in prison and feels remorse. He was denied parole  for the 10th time  last month.

Andrew Aston (PA)

Andrew Aston, UK - 26 life sentences

The longest sentence ever received by a criminal in a UK court is the 26 concurrent life sentences imposed on Andrew Aston at Birmingham Crown Court in 2002.

During three months in early 2001, the cocaine addict attacked and stole from 26 elderly and disabled people in their own homes.

George Dale, 87, and Frank Hobley, 80, both died as a result of injuries inflicted by Aston. The killer was convicted of two murders and 24 charges of robbery.

It is understood that members of Astons defence team urged him to plead guilty in the hope of receiving a reduced sentence. Instead the killer insisted on having his day in court, thus forcing some of his victims to relive their ordeal in the witness box, and probably helping ensure he got a life sentence for every pensioner he attacked.

His 26 life sentences eclipsed even the 21 life sentences received by the Birmingham Six, who in one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history, were wrongly convicted of a series of 1974 pub bombings attributed to the IRA.

The Birmingham Six spent 16 years languishing in jail before their innocence was recognised. Even their ordeals, though, might pale in comparison to that of Ricky Jackson, who spent 39 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit  thought to be Americas longest wrongful prison term.

In 1975, aged 19, Mr Jackson was convicted with two friends of murdering salesman Harry Franks outside a Cleveland corner store  on the evidence of a 13-year-old boy who claimed to have been a witness, but had in fact been on a school bus a block away at the time of the murder.

Mr Jackson was initially handed a death sentence, and was saved from execution only by appeals and mistakes in paperwork.

The boy witness recanted as an adult, but it wasnt until he signed an affidavit saying he had lied and been coerced by police into testifying that Mr Jackson was cleared by a judge in 2014.

Last year he received more than $1 million (680,000) in compensation from the state of Ohio for his wrongful imprisonment.

Albert Woodfox, US - 43 years in solitary confinement

In terms of suffering while inside, it might be hard to find worse than that of Albert Woodfox, who was released from a Louisiana jail in February after spending 43 years in solitary confinement  despite professing his innocence.

Mr Woodfox is thought to have endured the longest stretch in solitary of any US prisoner, spending 23 hours a day in a six-by-nine-foot cell for 43 years, and being allowed only one hours daily exercise in a fenced concrete yard where he was kept shackled and alone.

He was serving time for another offence when he and two others  who became known as the Angola Three - were convicted of the 1972 murder of a prison guard.

Mr Woodfox and his supporters claim that all three men were wrongly convicted in retaliation for leading hunger strikes against inhumane prison conditions and for being members of the jails Black Panthers chapter.

In 1992 Mr Woodfoxs conviction was quashed on the grounds that he had not had effective assistance of counsel, but he was convicted at a second trial in 1998. That conviction was itself overturned in 2013 because of discrimination in the selection of the grand jury foreman.

His release came after the state of Louisiana agreed to drop its threat to subject him to a third trial in return for him pleading no contest to lesser charges of manslaughter and aggravated burglary.

Mr Woodfox emphasised that his no contest plea was not an admission of guilt, issuing a statement explaining: Although I was looking forward to proving my innocence at a new trial, concerns about my health and my age have caused me to resolve this case now and obtain my release.

In 2014, he told a blogger what he was suffering in solitary: Im afraid Im going to turn into a baby and curl up in a foetal position and lay there like that day after day for the rest of my life. Im afraid Im going to attack my own body, maybe cut off my balls and throw them through the bars the way Ive seen others do when they couldnt take any more.

Paul Geidel Junior, US - 68 years and 245 days

As for the longest time anyone has spent in jail before being released to tell the tale instead of dying of old age behind bars, that dubious honour falls to Paul Geidel Junior.

In 1911 Geidel was a 17-year-old bellhop working in a New York hotel when he sneaked into the room of guest William H Jackson. The wealthy 73-year-old woke up and in the ensuing struggle, Geidel accidentally killed him by suffocating him with a rag filled with chloroform.

Geidels crime earned him only a few dollars. He was arrested two days later, before being convicted of second-degree murder and sent to prison in 1911 for 20 years to life.

A total of 68 years and 245 days later, Geidel, now aged 86, was released. By a margin of a few months, he had beaten the record Johnson VanDyke Grigsby, who had served 68 years and three months by the time he left Indiana State Prison in 1976.

Geidel, who had endured bouts of insanity inside, had been granted parole in 1974, but having been in prison all his adult life and fearing how he would cope on the outside, he chose to stay in jail for a further six years.

He enjoyed seven years of freedom before dying in a nursing home, aged 93.
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The road to Stansted

National Express launches new routes to Stansted Airport today, stopping at Paddington, Waterloo and Southwark. It will now operate four lines to the Essex airport: from Victoria via Waterloo and Southwark; Portman Square via Paddington, St Johns Wood and Golders Green; Bethnal Green via Liverpool Street and Mile End; and direct from Stratford. Fares start at 5 one way. nationalexpress.com

Sleep in a tree

Spend a night up a tree in Frances Champagny en Vanoise National Park. A qualified instructor will give you a lesson in tree-climbing before you put on a harness and clip into safety lines amid the treetops, where you can take in views of La Plagne. You then have the option to sleep in a hammock 12-15 metres above ground. A three-hour tree-climbing session costs from 20pp, overnight stay 28pp extra; available 2-4 August. lecorce-sensible.com

Polish connection

Wizz Air has found a Polish airport not currently served from the UK - and will launch flights from Luton to Olsztyn-Mazury on 18 June. The airport, in the countrys north-east, offers access to the Mazury (the Polish lake district), as well as the Wolfs Lair, which was Hitlers East Prussia HQ - and location for a wartime attempt to assassinate the Fuhrer. To read The Independents story on this location, visit bit.ly/WolfsLair.

Free canal boating

The Canal & River Trust is offering free trips on skippered narrowboats this Sunday at 19 locations across England and Wales. Organised together with Drifters Waterway Holidays, the taster sessions dont require booking. canalrivertrust.org.uk

American airport wait

Reader Colin Harwood reports: Just returned from Las Vegas McCarran airport, where it took 1 hr 15 mins to get through security. He warns: Passengers need to allow sufficient time. For the latest predicted waiting times for all major US airports, visit bit.ly/WaitTime.

China link

Gatwick gets a new link to two cities you possibly have never considered as touirist destinations. From late June, Tianjin Airlines is flying twice a week to Tianjin via Chongqing. Tianjin is a low-cost alternative to Beijing and Chinas north-east, while the south-west city of Chongqing is close to Chengdu. tianjin-air.com

Get Twizy on the Isle of Wight

Red Funnel has launched Twizy electric car hire packages for foot passengers travelling to the Isle of Wight. They include ferry travel from Southampton to West Cowes, a two-seater Twizy waiting on arrival, and a satnav. Prices start at 49 for one person for one day (add 9 for an extra person), with deals including travel to East Cowes due to be added later. Charging points are located around the island. redfunnel.co.uk/twizy

New hotel for Palma

Nakar Hotel has opened in central Palma de Mallorca. The 57 rooms are designed in a modern, minimalist style and feature techy touches such as smart TV and automated lighting. As well as a bar and restaurant there is a spa and a rooftop infinity pool with views of the cathedral and the bay. nakarhotel.com
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Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles readers' questions. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder

Q There was an article with the headline Gatwick to launch 20 new long-haul routes in our local newspaper. The airlines mentioned are British Airways, Norwegian, Cathay Pacific and WestJet. I travel frequently to Hong Kong and the US, and would love to know more. Do you have any more detailed information, please? I am about to plan trips for June and August.

Shirley Bach, Hove, East Sussex

A Gatwicks chief executive, Stewart Wingate, announced last month that the West Sussex airport is joining the premier league of world airports, which he defined as those with more than 50 long-haul routes. That milestone will be reached with the launch of 20 new intercontinental services this year. The reason I put new in quotes is because many of the services are resurrected routes and/or duplicate existing services. For example, British Airways is re-starting flights to New York JFK, which is currently already served by Norwegian. Elsewhere in North America, Boston, Oakland (serving San Francisco) and a half-dozen destinations across Canada from St Johns in Newfoundland to Vancouver are welcome additions to the schedules, but not exactly new. Neither are the Latin American links to San Jose and Lima, capitals of Costa Rica and Peru respectively (though it will be the first non-stop service to the latter). And Cathay Pacific is simply returning to the airport it first served from Hong Kong in the 1980s - inconveniently for you, from September.

These are all valuable additions to the Gatwick network, providing travellers from Sussex, Surrey, Kent and south London with more options from their local airport. Gatwicks lower handling charges compared with Heathrow mean that (all other things being equal) fares to New York on BA and Hong Kong on Cathay should be cheaper from the Sussex airport.

And any increase in competition tends to push fares lower and standards higher.

Naturally Mr Wingate is using the expansion of long-haul routes to support Gatwicks campaign for the next runway in South East England. A decision on that subject is due by the summer, though the EU referendum may be used as a reason for politicians to kick that particular can down the road.
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Clachaig Inn, Argyll

History is everything in Glencoe, and a sign declaring that the Campbells are not welcome above the entrance to the Clachaig shows old grievances still linger on in this part of the world. Thankfully they are a lot more welcoming here to the tourists and walkers who come to tackle the peaks and appreciate the jaw-dropping scenery around these parts, stopping off for a pint and a bite to eat and maybe stay in one of the cosy and contemporary upstairs rooms.

The Clachaig has been here for around 300 years so its hardly unknown. But it is rather special, with no fewer than three bars, each with their own ambience (two are very rustic, one much more contemporary), a fabulous selection of real ales (they hold regular beer festivals and were recently named a UK Real Ale Pub of the Year) and really excellent, locally-sourced food  the venison is the highlight, but you might also want to try the black pudding or local haddock, smothered with oatmeal and served with pea and potato mash. Look out also for their regular live music events. Theres really no better place to wind up after a day enjoying what must be one of the most famous and most dramatic of all the Scottish glens.

Martin Dunford is Publisher of Cool Places, a new website from the creators of Rough Guides and Cool Camping, suggesting the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop in Britain (coolplaces.co.uk).
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In todays political climate  in which the fear of terror is ever-present and very real, and in which a whole host of social problems are blamed on the pressure placed on public services by immigration  the news that immigration officers have, for the past three years, been hacking migrants smartphones will cause few political waves. The attention of British citizens is, for the most part, diverted elsewhere, by the still-smouldering row within the Conservative party and beyond over the Prime Ministers tax affairs.

Those who did notice the statement from the Home Office yesterday, published following a story in the The Observer, are likely to be more amenable than ever before to the overreach of security powers in the efforts of security services and border guards to protect British citizens from the threat of terror.

Indeed, the language used by the Home Office seemed to suggest this is exactly the purpose and value of allowing border security to hack into and access private information from the mobile phones of migrants entering the UK, particularly those held in detention centres while awaiting a decision on their application for asylum or leave to remain.

In a statement over the specific powers provided to immigration officials, Immigration Minister James Brokenshire, said: They may only use the power to investigate and prevent serious crime which relates to an immigration or nationality offence, and have done so since 2013.

But rather than being used to weed out potential terrorists (for which the powers would be close to useless, given that free services such as WhatsApp now provide end-to-end encryption to protect their users), these powers have also reportedly been used to investigate communication by victims of rape and sexual assault. They are an infringement of the rights of migrants to confidentiality, to privacy in their dealings with their legal representatives, and in their freedom to protect personal and often distressing information about rape, torture, domestic violence and other abuses.

Up to 700 UK Border Agency staff are understood to be free to use these powers, which not only allow hacking into smartphones, but also the bugging of homes, cars and rooms within government detention centres.

There can be no justification for such aggressive intrusion into the privacy of vulnerable people seeking refuge in the UK. Migrants in detention, whatever their immigration status, have an implicit right to confidentiality, not least in their communications with those supporting them in their application for leave to remain. The lack of a public outcry over this abuse of security powers should not mean this breach of the right to privacy can be overlooked. A full review of the powers, how they are being used, and why their use was not previously revealed to the British public, is required from the Home Office to restore public trust in the ethics and efficacy of its border security force.

The move also raises new questions about the Governments appetite for the removal of basic rights to privacy under the guise of public safety or the investigation of criminal activity.

Of course not all migrants landing on British shores, or detained in secure centres awhile they await a decision from the Home Office, are refugees fleeing conflict, violence, abuse or discrimination. Many are economic migrants seeking employment and economic stability, in a more prosperous nation than their own. It is right that border forces are free to investigate the facts behind claims to asylum, but those investigations should be carried out in an open and transparent manner.

The exposure of these revelations could not be better timed for the Home Office and for Home Secretary Theresa May, with recent attacks on Paris and Brussels fresh in the mind. That they find themselves facing a public uncharacteristically supine over matters of intelligence related to immigration should not provide a free pass for government over such a fundamental breach of the right to privacy on British soil.
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One of the greatest myths  and a monstrous and dangerous one  that has grown up in recent times is that British and Muslim values are somehow incompatible.

It has been encouraged by ignorant voices in the media, by bigots with their own evil intent, on all sides, and by the activities of preachers of hate. The discovery of a hate literature at a London mosque that calls for the murder of Ahmadi Muslims, who extremists regard as apostates and thus liable to the ultimate penalty, is certainly disturbing.

It is especially chilling in the context of the recent death of an Ahmadi shopkeeper in Glasgow, allegedly stabbed to death by a Muslim for "disrespecting" Islam. Those responsible for the leaflets need to be found and made to account for what they seek to do.

Grim though such discoveries are, they have always to be placed in perspective. If it were really the case that Muslims were conducting an internecine war in Britain we would, by now, know about it. If they were intent on killing their neighbours, then again we would know about it. The overwhelming majority simply are not.

Meanwhile we have, in the UK, quite a number of what might be termed extremist Christians, whose intolerance for other varieties of their faith has few parallels  in Northern Ireland, though not as virulent as it once was, and in other pockets of sectarianism. And we still have the far right and the far left.

All that said, the Government is right to continue to co-operate with Muslim networks in the constant struggle against extremism and the preaching of violence and war. But they should not be punished for holding views simply because they are, sometimes, at variance with other British values.

For example, individual Muslims and Muslim groups are as entitled to their opinions on homosexuality as anyone else; all they should be required to do is obey the law. In fact, many Christians from African and Caribbean backgrounds often hold similar views, yet far fewer seem to want to single them out for attention as being somehow unbritish

Britain, in many ways, is a more tolerant place than it has ever been before; people are more mindful than ever about gender issues, LGBT sensitivities, race and religion. Much the biggest problem in society is in fact the intolerance of our Muslim fellow citizens by the majority.

They are entirely compatible, and the peaceable lives of millions of decent Muslim people in this country bear witness to that fact. All they wish to do, and have ever wished to do, is to make a life for themselves and their families as best they can  the same as everyone else. Terrorists and hate preachers should not be given the attention or space to succeed in dividing us.
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Size isnt everything  but when it comes to dramatic buildings, height is right. For moneyed cities and states, skyscrapers remain the ultimate architectural statements of intent. They can signify and attract wealth in equal measure.

It is perhaps no surprise, therefore, that there is currently something of a race to build ever more vertiginous towers, with the United Arab Emirates leading the way. Emaar Properties, the developers behind the worlds tallest existing building, the Burj Khalifa, announced on Sunday plans to build another mega-skyscraper in Dubai which is loftier still  by a notch.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, the Jeddah Tower  known as the Kingdom Tower  is aiming even higher. Due for completion in 2020, its 3,280 feet of concrete and steel will put its UAE rivals in the shade.

If all goes to plan, none of these monoliths will stay top of the tops for long. A design for the first mile-high building is awaiting approval and would see the construction of a 5,577 feet-high tower in Tokyo by 2045. Views from the upper floors could be remarkable. Or cloudy.

The serious side to all this is that the worlds ever-growing population has ever-expanding habitation needs. If we are to keep up, one answer to build up.

The costs of the most monumental projects may currently be prohibitive, but technological advances are likely to change that in future. In this country especially, the battle over whether we should preserve skylines or countryside is likely to get a lot more fierce.

Tower block critics will point to recent skyscraper fires in the UAE, as well as to the attraction of tall buildings to terrorists. They may even point proponents in the direction of JG Ballards great dystopian novel, High Rise, an adaptation of which recently hit cinema screens, in which residents social mores are warped by their closed society.

And as the residents of Babel found, when it comes to tower-building, it certainly doesnt do to be presumptuous.
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On the occasion of Howard Marks death, its curious to recall that once upon a time, he was a folk hero. Younger readers who scan the numerous fond obituaries for the Welsh vagabond will doubtless be searching - for it is the mood of our age - for shards of Marks life that were problematic. Ill save you people a Google search and a morning of hand-wringing: the whole lot was problematic. All of it.

The drug smuggling, his wranglings with the IRA and MI5, his interpersonal relationships while in the midst of running a global narcotics enterprise. Heck, the fact he read physics at Oxford. So many rich pickings here, ripe for posthumous outrage. Its a wonder we were allowed to love Howard Marks at all.

Recommended Read more The only thing Cameron lacks is an understanding of other people

But for a time in the 1990s, spilling over generously into the following decades, Marks held a place in a considerable swathe of the nations hearts. There was a point  although its difficult to remember sometimes - where nuance, discrepancy and downright skullduggery were tolerated in our public-facing figures.

We might not have wanted a drug dealer living in our own street creating havoc, but at the same time, Howard Marks roughshod potboiler of a biography Mr Nice lived on the bookshelves of every student and bachelor.

Howard Marks sage words of advice from a self-admittedly flawed man festooned dog-eared copies of our beloved monthly treat Loaded magazine. He was invited to discuss his exploits, his honking errors and his prison experiences on TV and at literary festivals. He was handsome, twinkly-eyed, erudite, sweet and naughty.

All the boys wanted to smoke with him and the girls wanted to shag him. He even  gasp - spoke at universities, where students would gather to listen then cogitate over his, possibly wonky, ideas on drug reform.

We did not yell no platform at Marks or demand a safe space away from him, because he offered a unique take on space laden with huge dangers. It was possible, we thought, not to condone these dangers, while at the same time wanting to hear more.

We live in different times. I do not condone cocaine smuggler Michaella McCollums choices in 2013 which led her to her festering for three years in a Peruvian jail, but I found her interview with RTE last week compelling. It is worth noting the social media backlash against McCollumn for daring to show her face publicly - wearing lipstick, no less - to offer an explanation about how an everyday 19-year-old woman from Dungannon can go to Ibiza on holiday and end up in Lima carrying 11kg of Class A drugs.

World's 10 deadliest street drugs Show all 10 1 /10 World's 10 deadliest street drugs World's 10 deadliest street drugs Whoonga Whoonga is a combination of antiretroviral drugs, used to treat HIV, and various cutting agents such as detergents and poisons. The drug is widely available in South Africa due to South Africas high rate of HIV sufferers, and is believed to be popular due to how cheap it is when compared to prescribed antiretrovirals. The drug is highly addictive and can cause major health issues such as internal bleeding, stomach ulcers and ultimately death Getty World's 10 deadliest street drugs Scopolamine Scopolamine is a derivative from the nightshade plant found in the Northern Indian region of South America (Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela). It is generally found in a refined powder form, but can also be found as a tea. The drug is more often used by criminals due its high toxicity level (one gram is believed to be able to kill up to 20 people) making it a strong poison. However, it is also believed that the drug is blown into the faces of unexpecting victims, later causing them to lose all sense of self-control and becoming incapable of forming memories during the time they are under the influence of the drug. This tactic has reportedly been used by gangs in Colombia where there have been reports of people using scopolamine as way to convince victims to rob their own homes World's 10 deadliest street drugs Heroin Founded in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, heroin is one of the worlds oldest drugs. Originally it was prescribed as a strong painkiller used to treat chronic pain and physical trauma. However in 1971 it was made illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Since then it has become one of the most destructive substances in the world, tearing apart communities and destroying families. The side effects of heroin include inflammation of the gums, cold sweats, a weak immune system, muscular weakness and insomnia. It can also damage blood vessels which can later cause gangrene if left untreated World's 10 deadliest street drugs Crack cocaine Crack cocaine first came about in the 1980s when cocaine became a widespread commodity within the drug trafficking world. Originally cocaine would have attracted a high price tag due to its rarity and difficulty to produce, but once it became more widespread the price dropped significantly. This resulted in drug dealers forming their cocaine into rock like shapes by using baking soda as a way of distilling the powder down into rock form. People were doing this because it allowed for them to sell cocaine at a lower quantity and to a higher number of people. The side effects of crack cocaine include liver, kidney and lung damage, as well as permanent damage to blood vessels, which can often lead to heart attacks, strokes, and ultimately death World's 10 deadliest street drugs Crystal meth Not just famous because of a certain Walter H White, but also because it is one of the most destructive drugs in the world. First developed in 1887, it became widely used during the Second World War when both sides would give it to their troops to keep them awake. It is also believed that the Japanese gave it to their Kamikaze pilots before their suicide missions. After the war crystal meth was prescribed as a diet aid and remained legal until the 1970s. Since then it has fallen into the hands of Mexican gangs and has become a worldwide phenomenon, spreading throughout Europe and Asia. The effects of crystal meth are devastating. In the short-term users will become sleep depraved and anxious, and in the long-term it will cause their flesh to sink, as well as brain damage and damage of the blood vessels World's 10 deadliest street drugs AH-7921 AH-7921 is a synthetic opioid that was previously available to legally purchase online from vendors until it became a Class A in January 2015. The drug is believed to have 80% of the potency of morphine, and became known as the legal heroin. While there has only been one death related to AH-7921 in the UK, it is believed to be highly dangerous and capable of causing respiratory arrest and gangrene World's 10 deadliest street drugs Flakka Flakka is a stimulant with a similar chemical make-up to the amphetamine-like drug found in bath salts. While the drug was originally marketed as a legal high alternative to ecstasy, the effects are significantly different. The user will feel an elevated heart rate, enhanced emotions, and, if enough is digested, strong hallucinations. The drug can cause permanent psychological damage due to it affecting the mood regulating neurons that keep the minds serotonin and dopamine in check, as well as possibly causing heart failure World's 10 deadliest street drugs Bath salts Bath salts are a synthetic crystalline drug that is prevalent in the US. While they may sound harmless, they certainly arent the sort of salts you drop into a warm bath when having a relaxing night in, they are most similar to mephedrone, and have recently been featured throughout social media due to the zombification of its. The name comes from the fact that the drug was originally sold online, and widely disguised as bath salts. The side effects include unusual psychiatric behaviour, psychosis, panic attacks and violent behaviour, as well as the possibility of a heart attack and an elevated body temperature World's 10 deadliest street drugs Purple Drank One of the more unusual drugs around at the moment, purple drank was popularised in 90s hip hop culture, with the likes of Jay Z and Big Moe all mentioning it in their songs. It is a concoction of soda water, sweets and cold medicine, and is drunk due to cold medicines high codeine content, which gives the user a woozy feeling. However it can also cause respiratory issues and heart failure World's 10 deadliest street drugs Krokodil Krokodil is Russias secret addiction. It is believed that over one million Russians are addicted to the drug. Users of krokodil are attracted to the drug due to its low price; it is sold at 20 a gram while heroin is sold for 60. However, krokodil is considered more dangerous than heroin because it is often homemade, with ingredients including painkillers, iodine, lighter fluid and industrial cleaning agents. This chemical make-up makes the drug highly dangerous and likely to cause gangrene, and eventually rotting of the flesh

To my mind, McCollums interview should be played five times per week right through May to Year 11 schoolchildren dreaming of their first singles holiday abroad. Instead RTE spent last week defending their choice to give McCollum airtime.

McCollum, it seemed, needed to look sorrier, more broken and more desperate for our forgiveness. She did, incidentally, look all of these things, but it wasnt enough. How dare she sit on a chair and talk without falling apart entirely?

But we did not demand that Howard Marks spend the nineties looking contrite for the narcotics empire he ran from Palma de Majorca a decade before. Personally, what piqued my interest much more was the way Marks moved to Majorca with an intention to go straight, but despite living in sunny climes, in relative luxury, could not resist getting up to his eyeballs in crime again.

To me this said more about the mind patterns of career criminals than a thousand hours of earnest anthropological study. Theres a wonderful, comedy moment in the 2010 film Mr Nice where Rhys Ifans, playing Marks, declares Palmas blissful winding streets, endless sunshine, good wine and snoozy ambience so bloody boring he has almost no choice but to become an international drug trafficker again.

Marks, in his criminal heyday, was trapped in a doomed cycle of his own making. Crime paid. It was exciting and it was glamorous. A little bit like being Robin Hood or even James Bond. Until the moment it wasnt, when he lost everything and spent seven long years in a Federal Correction Complex.

To understand why so many of the British public loved Howard Marks is to uncover something incongruent and ball-kickingly problematic about the way we choose our heroes. It is not generally for the persons saintliness. Or their blemish-free diaries.

Howard Marks won affection as he lived a big, brash, blame-filled life, and, importantly, was never, ever boring. His tales were strewn with innocent victims, but who cared, because he was a stonkingly good raconteur.

We shall not see the likes of Howard Marks again. Well, we will. Well just make sure they have no platform to talk to us.
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The Panama leaks quickly become a saga about the integrity of David Cameron and other politicians. Whats Cameron hiding? When will the other bastards publish their tax returns? These politicians are up to their necks in it.

What a tragic waste that a mountain of leaks revealing tax avoidance on an epic scale is reduced in the UK to a trivial, imprecise debate about politicians and trust. It would be the worst possible outcome of the Panama revelations for politicians alone to publish their tax returns.

Such an act would imply misleadingly that many elected MPs are at fault, and convey a totally false sense that they wield significant power when most of them do not. No wonder Cameron advised against such a feeding frenzy in his Commons statement.

The idea that an unknown junior minister or an obscure member of the shadow cabinet has more power or wealth than someone in the media or an owner, say, of a steel plant is absurd. Such an act of apparent cathartic guilt would fuel the dangerous perception that those we elect are all uniquely corrupt.

If it is to happen, transparency must apply to everyone. There should not be one rule for politicians and another for the rest of us. Why should the rest of us be the ones protected by secrecy? Some of the rest include the super-rich, experts in secretive tax avoidance. At least across-the-board compulsory transparency would bring about a form of accountability - although I suspect legal avoidance would continue on the same scale. There is quite a lot of evidence to suggest that hunger for more wealth trumps a fear of public opprobrium.

Recommended Read more Why inheritance tax should be scrapped altogether

In other words, transparency is not the best response to the Panama leaks. The best response is to curb some forms of legal tax avoidance by making them unlawful. In his House of Commons statement, Cameron pledged to clamp down on illegal tax evasion. But the issue that has tormented him in recent days, fairly or unfairly, is allegations or suspicions of tax avoidance.

As long as there are laws to legitimise tax avoidance, people will use them. They cannot be blamed for doing so. If it is possible to avoid paying inheritance tax, many affluent parents will make plans to do so. The solution is to change the law to make such an arrangement illegal. Transparency in itself changes nothing.

As I argued last week, quite a lot of the tax avoidance going on is on a global scale and demands a global response - but the current government could act unilaterally in some areas such as inheritance tax loopholes, and chooses not to do so. Cameron still has to explain why he blocked a recent attempt by the EU to tackle tax avoidance, by far his biggest error in this whole saga.

Coincidentally, at the height of Panama frenzy, the head of the Kings Fund health think tank Chris Ham wrote a measured forensic article arguing that the NHS was facing the biggest crisis in its history. He wrote that, Hospitals are running up large and growing financial deficits, missing targets for waiting times, and under pressure from rising demand at a time of constrained resources. Evidently more cash is urgently needed. Some of it could be raised if tax avoidance was curbed.

This is not an abstract debate. Tax is not raised for punitive reasons. The term tax burden is dangerous. It is not a burden to secure improvements in health provision or much-needed affordable housing. Let us make the connections between tax raised and better public services rather than using the Panama revelations to trigger yet another focus on the need for supposedly corrupt politicians to be more open.

We should be depressed but not surprised that the debate descends into a simplistic one about vague suggestions of prime ministerial corruption. Since 1997 every Prime Minister has left office amidst a whirl of unjustified hysterical allegations about their integrity.

John Major was slaughtered over claims about sleaze. Now he is seen as an untarnished elder statesman. Raging allegations that he was mired in sleaze were irrational, irrelevant and yet potent in the build-up to the 1997 election.

Tony Blair left Number Ten next, viewed widely as a war criminal. The more pertinent questions about why he became dependent on unreliable intelligence and trapped in a relationship with right -wing US Republicans were leapt over in order to make accusations about integrity.

Recommended Read more The only thing Cameron lacks is an understanding of other people

Gordon Brown limped out three years later, tormented about questions over whether he was on antidepressants, drained by endless questions about his expenses and whether some of his senior ministerial colleagues had broken the law. Once again allegations about his integrity missed the point.

Now Cameron is forced to make an unprecedented Commons statement partly about his financial affairs. On this he has the support of nearly all Conservative MPs. Not surprisingly, Cameron had an easy time of it in the Commons.

Let us not waste the illuminating Panama leaks by making them a saga about Camerons finances, as big a red herring as the earlier allegations of sleaze made against his predecessors. The leaks show that laws around tax avoidance are too lax. They should be tightened.

Look at the NHS. We need the money.
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For decades Britain has lagged behind other Western democracies, such as America, in not requiring our political leaders to open their personal tax affairs to public scrutiny  and possible scorn.

Now David Cameron has let the genie out of the bottle  and its very hard to see how it can be put back in again.

But the really interesting question is this: How broadly should this new obligation for politicians to publish their tax returns extend.

Already Jeremy Corbyn has said he will publish the details of his own tax bill  setting a precedent that the leaders of any major party hoping to form a Government will have to follow.

But with Mr Cameron himself stepping down at some point in the next four years the pressure will be on for the leading Tory contenders that want to succeed him to get out on the front foot and be financially transparent themselves.

For some that wont be a particularly difficult or onerous process. A quick look at the Home Secretary Theresa Mays entry in the House of Commons Register of Interests suggests her financial chicanery extends only to being the proud possessor of a discount card from the shoe shop Russell and Bromley.

For others though the process could prove more problematic. The Business Secretary Sajid Javid, for example, may be a self made man and the son of a bus driver but his route to Westminster was via Chase Manhattan and Deutsche Bank where he rose to become head of credit trading, equity convertibles, commodities and private equity in Asia.

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He did all this in the boom years before the 2008 crash and one could speculate that if any leading politician had the money and the acumen to squirrel their earnings away in complex financial schemes it would be Javid.

His tax return might make much more interesting reading than that of Mr Cameron.

And the prospect of disclosing it in the current climate might also have a bearing on whether he decides to go for the top job.

And how far down should you go? Should every MP have to declare their tax returns? What about the heads of public bodies or civil servants? And, while were at it, what about journalists? They have huge influence on the public debate but we have no idea if they have a financial interest in what theyre writing about.

All this would undoubtedly be good for transparency  but on the flip side it could put off capable public servants whose past careers or family background mean they have wealth that could be off-putting to voters.

In America rich politicians are considered acceptable - even admirable. It is far from clear British voters hold the same view.

But, regardless, a Rubicon has been crossed. We will all know far more about our politicians financial affairs in the future that we have done in the past. The question that is lingers is whether that is a good thing or not.
Ulster bank announced an exciting new partnership with Young Social Innovators, paving the way for some excellent innovation projects.

Ulster Bank and Young Social Innovators announced a new partnership at an event in the chq building. Over 200 people gathered to hear from a host of speakers including An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD who spoke about the important role that social innovation has to play in developing an economically stronger society.

To launch this new relationship between Ulster Bank and Young Social Innovators, a short video was commissioned, which paints a picture of what this partnership will mean to the 20,000 young people participating in the YSI programme today, and the many more who will benefit from the programme over the coming years. The video features a number of young social innovators discussing what social innovation means to them in conversation with Diana Bunici, who MCd todays event.

Young Social Innovators is the biggest civic and social innovation programme in Ireland. Educating and engaging young people in the theory and practice of social innovation whilst challenging them to creatively tackle the social issues facing them locally, nationally and globally.

Through their new relationship, Ulster Bank will provide financial support to YSI and its participants, ensuring that social innovation in Ireland continues to be fostered from a young age. A record breaking 444 innovation projects have been entered into this years Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards by over 6,500 students nationwide, an increase of 8% from 2015. Across its programmes, YSI is currently accessed by approximately one in ten students throughout Ireland whilst it works to grow its interest and activities in Northern Ireland, Canada and Zambia.

The initiative challenges young people to work within their communities to identify areas of social need and to come up with and implement solutions for positive social change. The teams pitching at this years YSI Den addressed a range of social issues including mental health, nutrition, homophobia, road safety and addiction.

By engaging our young people in programmes such as Young Social Innovators we are not only creating more caring and engaged citizens but those with the skills to tackle the very serious issues facing us at local, national and global levels. I would like to see all young people in Ireland given the opportunity to participate. said Enda Kenny, addressing guests at the event

Also speaking at the event, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, co-founder of Young Social Innovators, called on companies not to forget their social responsibilities as they focus their energies on innovation for economic growth.

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Since it was founded in 2001, over 4,500 youth-led teams have created projects with the support of YSI, many of which have had a lasting impact in their communities and beyond. Previous projects include the Forget Me Not campaign, developed by students from Davis College, Mallow in 2011/2012. This awareness campaign for missing people led to the creation of the National Missing Persons Day which first took place in December 2013 and is now an annual event to raise awareness of people who are still missing and encourage support for them and their families.

Ulster Bank is also committed to providing participants with access to support for their projects, many of which have the potential to be developed into a social enterprise and sustainable business. One such example, Greener Globe, was conceived by a team of students from Tullamore College in Co. Offaly. They patented their energy free Aquacica showerhead which uses a traffic light system to encourage users to reduce the length of time they spend in the shower, from an average of eleven minutes to seven minutes, therefore leading to reductions in water use and energy costs.
If Britain leaves the EU it will force the value of sterling down sharply and have a crippling effect on Irish firms trading there, a new report has claimed.

New figures from business lobby group Ibec claim that sterling may end up losing as much as 15pc of its value if the UK was to vote to leave the EU. That devaluation would make Irish products being traded into Britain much more uncompetitive on price and could end up cutting Irish trade with Ireland by as much as a fifth.

Ibec director of EU and international affairs Pat Ivory said his group's members are "deeply concerned" at a possible Brexit.

"The size and economic scale of the UK means the stakes are very high, not just for the UK but for Ireland and the rest of Europe

"A UK departure would be a blow to the Irish recovery and result in a protracted period of uncertainty for business. It would undermine Europe's ability to act collectively and decisively in the world and could push the EU back into a dangerous period of crisis management.

"The UK and Ireland have been close allies in Europe across a wide range of areas. An EU without the UK would be a lesser union," he added.

Different parts of the economy would be affected by a Brexit but the food and agriculture sector would be dealt a huge blow. Ibec says the UK accounts for 55pc of meat exports and 30pc of dairy exports from Ireland.

Ibec has been one of the few business groups in this country to be vocal on the dangers of a possible Brexit.

The group's chief executive Danny McCoy has warned Ireland could be forced to follow the UK out if a Brexit happened.

Ibec's report tallies with research from the ESRI, which last year said a Brexit would cut Irish-UK trade by a fifth. Given Ireland's size, it would be very difficult to replace that lost trade by doing business with other countries, the ESRI warned.

The Ibec report comes a day after British-Irish Chamber of Commerce boss John McGrane warned that for all its flaws, his members believe that Britain staying in the EU would be the preferred outcome of the referendum on June 23.

"Our members have diverse views on this. But the consensus is that Britain should stay - in a reformed, stronger EU," Mr McGrane told the 'Sunday Independent'.

"Many of our members feel the EU needs a lot of work. A lot of that has to do with the single market and the fact that there are lots of goods and services that can't trade freely at all," he said.

British prime minister David Cameron has been criticised for opening the Pandora's Box of a referendum, but Mr McGrane said that some good could still come from the referendum.

"We are poised at an opportunity to bring about the European Union we always wanted," he said.
The wife of David Drumm has formally put their Boston home up for sale for nearly $2m (1.75m).

Lorraine Drumm had been expected to sell the 4,089 sq. ft house in Wellesley and move back to Ireland to support Mr Drumm as he faces two trials next year and in 2018.

The listing for the four-bedroom, four-bathroom house describes the residence as a "beautifully renovated colonial with European flair".

The home is described by the selling agents as having "a private office with travertine fireplace, spacious living room with marble fireplace and built-in bookcases and family room with sunken brick fireplace."

The home is believed to be the only property held by the couple that hasn't been sold.
Here are the business stories you need to know about this morning:

Irish Independent

*If Britain leaves the EU it will force the value of sterling down sharply and have a crippling effect on Irish firms trading there, a new report has claimed.

New figures from business lobby group Ibec claim that sterling may end up losing as much as 15pc of its value if the UK was to vote to leave the EU. That devaluation would make Irish products being traded into Britain much more uncompetitive on price and could end up cutting Irish trade with Ireland by as much as a fifth.

*The level of new construction weakened in March but still remains close to historic highs, new figures have shown.

The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 62.3 in March, down from 68.8 in February.

Despite the fall, the sector remains firmly in growth mode. A figure above 50 indicates the construction sector is expanding, under 50 means it is contracting.

*David Drumm's wife has formally put the couple's Boston home up for sale for nearly $2m (1.75m).

Lorraine Drumm had been expected to sell the 4,089 sq. ft house in Wellesley and move back to Ireland to support Mr Drumm as he faces two trials next year and in 2018.

Irish Examiner

*Irish tourism chiefs said there has been an exceptional start to 2016 but warned of the potential for a slowdown given the strength of the euro versus sterling.

However, Failte Ireland said the omens are good for the rest of the year, with the number of airline seats into Ireland set to be up 10pc this summer.

It said Dublin hotels are reporting very high occupancy levels.

*Irish farmers, meat processors, and the Government are trying to ensure the European Commission doesn't offer concessions on beef import quotas to South American countries.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has flagged concerns about potentially offering concessions to the Mercosur trade bloc, which includes Argentina and Brazil.

Around 90pc of Irish beef is sold into the EU.

*Sanjeev Gupta, the executive chairman of the company that is mulling buying Tata Steel's UK business, said he could walk away from a deal.

He said the company wouldn't take on plants that meant it would sustain losses.

The Irish Times

*New country-by-country reporting rules to be proposed tomorrow by the European Commission are set to spark big changes to the way multinationals report their EU activities.

The rules would mean companies have to provide tax-related information for each country in which they do business, including the amount of tax due and the amount of tax paid.

*The Irish subsidiary of German bank DZ Bank has closed its Dublin branch, with 20 jobs being lost.

It was active in the securities market. DZ Bank said the decision was strategic and based on the bank's plan to focus on another arm of the business.

*Beef exports to the US were below expectations at 6m in the first quarter.

Industry insiders believe the figure will not increase until mince is included in the export licence. Talks to that effect continue between the Department of Agriculture and US officials.
'There were just 13,500 homes for sale in Munster, Connacht and Ulster in the first quarter of this year, a 36pc drop since 2014' Photo: PA

A chronic lack of homes across the country means there are now fewer houses for sale than when the property market collapsed during the darkest days of the recession.

And an analysis of recent trends in the residential market by property website Daft.ie shows the total number of properties for sale at any one time is continuing to fall.

The figure is at its lowest point since February 2007, with fewer than 24,000 homes for sale across the country.

Two years ago, 21,000 properties were on the market in Munster, Connacht and Ulster alone.

The latest report's figures shed a new light on how serious the housing crisis now is in the capital. There were 5,700 properties on the market in Leinster, not including Dublin. But in the capital itself, a mere 3,400 were for sale at any one time.

However, the issue is also becoming increasingly problematic outside of Dublin.

There were just 13,500 homes for sale in Munster, Connacht and Ulster in the first quarter of this year, a 36pc drop since 2014.

The lack of housing means that property prices are now being driven predominantly by supply and demand, with the new Central Bank lending rules looking more irrelevant.

Daft.ie has echoed calls from the construction industry to the Government to lower the cost of building.

The author of the report, Ronan Lyons, described the lack of homes as "unhealthy".

He said: "Every month, roughly 2,000 new households are formed, each requiring somewhere to live. But each month currently sees the construction of, at best, 1,000 new homes.

"It is serious, chronic and getting worse and therefore requires government action.

"This action should be focused not on trying to drive prices further up, so as to stimulate supply, but rather to drive costs down, so that they are in line with our incomes in the same way that the Central Bank now requires house prices to reflect our incomes."

House prices across Ireland rose by an average of 5.9pc in the past 12 months.

The report also confirms a divide between Dublin and the rest of the country - with prices stable in the capital.

House prices in Dublin only increased by 0.9pc in the past 12 months, compared to an average rise of 9.7pc outside Dublin.

The average national asking price rose during the first quarter of this year was 210,000, compared with 198,000 last year and 164,000 in 2013.

Prices in Dublin have increased by 41pc (91,000) compared with their previous lowest point in the middle of 2012. However, the prices are falling in Dublin 2, Dublin 6, Dublin 16, Dublin 18 and South County Dublin.

"Nonetheless, across the country, prices continue to rise because the increase in population each month is not being matched by an increase in new homes," said Mr Lyons.

He added: "Addressing the shortage of supply - in particular the high cost base on construction - must be a top priority for the new Government."
The Dublin Fire Brigade has warned people not to have smartphones covered while charging, as that could result in a fire.

The Dublin Fire Brigade tweeted images from the scenes of a fire, which started because a phone was left charging in a handbag.

It is important that mobile phones are not covered whilst charging, and the heat allowed to dissipate, the Dublin Fire Brigade wrote.

This isnt the first time that the service has issued warnings about charging phones. It also warned against placing phones under pillows while they are charging. While you may want to use your phone to track your sleep cycle, the heat produced while charging needs somewhere to go.
Chief executives can be an odd sort to say the least. Outside of Silicon Valley, most of them seem to have been born in a dark suit and tie. And many of them seem to think that dropping terms like going forward and future visibility is a sign of intelligence or something.

Perhaps its for this reason that we find the likes of Michael OLeary or Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin so interesting. And if you dont know Mr Martin he seems to be a PR mans nightmare.

In an interview with Londons Evening Standard, he makes it clear that he isnt the standard CEO. He seems to have a pretty low opinion of bankers for one thing. He recounts a banker pitching him the pub company Spirit for 2bn. Martin said he didnt have the money, the banker responded that he had the debt lined up. Martin told him where to go.

On the need for corporate governance, he says: I read the Governance Code cover to cover once, he says. It mentioned shareholders 63 times, staff three times and customers none. Its written by people who work in the City and dont understand business at all.

Dont sugar-coat it, Tim, tell us what you really think.

Martin has already brought his way of doing business to Dublin and is looking to expand, having bought a number of properties around the city. We may yet be calling him the Michael OLeary of the pub business here.

The end for bearer bonds?

If you were a fan of kitsch 80s action movies there is a good chance you will be familiar with bearer bonds. For a while back then it seemed every master criminal wanted to be paid in them. The Punt long ago last track of how many ransoms were paid in bearer bonds rather than unmarked dollar bills in low denominations. Indeed when Hans Gruber and his gang in Die Hard took over Nakatomi Plaza in the hope of stealing $640m worth of bearer bonds.

Its easy to see why the security was so popular. As their name suggests, whoever bears the bond owns it. No ID necessary. Not surprisingly, Governments have tried hard to end their use and make them illegal. However, according to a piece in the Financial Times they are still very much in use, albeit with a different name.

Essentially they have evolved to become new global notes. These have many, if not all, of the characteristics of a classic bearer bond.

Hollywood isnt likely to start using them though. New global notes doesnt exactly run off the tongue, does it?

Jet setters go for the long haul

What is the longest flight youve ever been on?

If you go to London a lot, you spend 50 minutes on the plane all the time. Go to New York and its about six or seven hours. Go further afield  say LA or towards Australia  yourre talking 11 hours.

Spending 11 hours on a plane is a long time by any stretch, but how about 18 hours or more?

For a good while the longest non-stop commercial flight was an all business class flight from Singapore to New York, before high oil prices put an end to it. Now though, after the oil crash, airlines are reviving ultra long haul travel.

Emirates has begun an epic Dubai to Auckland service. The 8,810-mile journey takes about 17 hours and 20 minutes.

Qantas runs a Dallas to Sydney flight which takes a mere 16 hours and 50 minutes.

Given the Middle East carriers growth in recent years, its not surprising that seven of the 10 longest flights involve a destination in that region.

The Punt, however, reckons these flights will have to be restricted to business class or higher if they are to be successful. After all, how anyone could handle 18 hours cramped into an economy seat is hard for us to believe. The Punt for one would take a layover just to stretch our legs.
Oscar winners, leading ladies and matinee idols were all upstaged at the Iftas when President Michael D took to the stage to deliver his speech.

President Higgins, who was presenting Liam Neeson with the Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award, paid his very own tribute to the actor by doing his very best 'Taken' impersonation and praising Neeson's "very particular set of skills".

A slimmed-down Neeson, who has shed pounds for his role in Scorsese's film 'Silence', accepted his award and called for those in Dail Eireann to invest more money in the film industry - once they've actually managed to form a government.

The annual Irish Film and Television Awards took place in the historic Round Room of the Mansion House on Saturday night.

'Sherlock' star Andrew Scott, Amy Huberman, Victoria Smurfit, Orla Brady, Natalie Dormer, and Chris O'Dowd all scrubbed up for the event.

The big winner was 'Room' which picked up seven awards, including best film, best director, best screenplay, and best score. Writer Emma Donoghue had flown in from Nice for the ceremony, and brought her children up on stage to accept her gong.

"It's the first awards ceremony they've been to," she said. "They are sick of hearing me talk about red carpets, so I said I would bring them along."

It wasn't a hit with the critics but RTE's 'Rebellion' managed to pick up a rake of nominations - although only one award.

Cork actress Sarah Greene looked slightly flustered after her red carpet dress went AWOL.

"I don't want to talk about it or I'll start to cry," she said. "I got this jumpsuit at 4pm in A Store Is Born on Clarendon Street. It's been a very stressful day."

Thankfully, the evening improved for Greene when she picked up the award for best supporting actress for her role in 'Penny Dreadful'.

Deirdre O'Kane was on hosting duties, and spoke of the high standard of Irish films. "Unlike Conor McGregor, the film industry is punching above its weight," she quipped.

Video of the Day

Producer Roma Downey received the Irish Diaspora Award, presented to her by musician Bob Geldof.

The Boomtown Rats frontman was in flying form on the red carpet and talked about moving back to Ireland and his daughters Fifi and Pixie's upcoming weddings.

"They're all getting married," he said. "They're mad for it. It's f**king terrible, just having girls."

Surprise guest of the night had to be Van Morrison, who usually shuns this sort of luvvie get-together.
It'll certainly be a Eurovision Song Contest first, if it gets past the censors...

Belarusian Eurovision entry Ivan is hoping to perform his song completely naked and surrounded by wolves.

While most people assumed his plans were a joke, Life News has released footage of the 21-year-old star in rehearsals just as he described.

At one point a wolf tries to take a bite out of him, but viewers are unlikely to witness any bloodshed since animals are banned on the Eurovision stage.

Whether or not he performs naked remains to be seen as there is no outright ban on nudity.

Spokesperson Paul Jordan told APF, however, that it's a family show and nudity would be "not appropriate".

"It's not about vulgarity or sex at all. said Ivan. "We want this to be art, not porn.

The man behind the performance is Russian producer Viktor Drobysh and he said it's like a 19th century French sculpture.

"I think the beauty that will be in our performance is comparable to that of Rodin's 'The Thinker'," he said.

"Can you imagine 'The Thinker' wearing jeans?"

The Eurovision kicks off on May 14.

Video of the Day
Tempers were frayed on Liveline today as smacking children, masturbation and homosexuality hit the agenda.

The conversation began as a discussion about an article in Catholic magazine 'Alive!' which claimed children who were smacked in their youth grow up to be more successful than those who weren't.

A few guests later on the popular radio show, and all hell had broken loose.

The first caller, who went by the name of Mary, expressed her outrage at the article and said she believed Ireland had moved on from the "Dark Ages".

"I was absolutely outraged to read this headline in big, bold writing," she told RTE Radio One's Liveline.

"The photograph showed a child in shorts and a hand on the child's leg. I really thought we'd left all this behind us in the Dark Ages.

"I thought we'd moved on to proper, authoritative parenting, we should focus on positive parenting," she continued.

"They should have looked at this article and said 'no way', we are not going back to the Dark Ages.

"Smacking is an abuse of power and control over a child and it changes the relationship between a child and a parent," she added.

In defence of the article, 'Alive!' editor Father Brian McKevitt said the angle of the article was that the research still featured on The Telegraph's most-read articles list.

"The article was not so much about parents smacking their children, but the news item was that, although the study was conducted in 2010, it continues to be one of the ten most-shared articles on the Daily Telegraph's website.

"That was the most interesting angle," Fr McKevitt continued.

Video of the Day

"People so many years after the study was published are still sharing it with others.

"The thing as well is, part of the reason the article's in the newspaper is to attract attention and to get people talking. You don't have to agree with everything in the article."

Later in the debate, Fr Keviit told the show that masturbation was "morally wrong".

His call sparked a response from Lena, in Co Carlow, who called 'Liveline'.

She said she was aware smacking children is illegal now, but did slap her children when they were younger and they have since thanked her for her strict discipline.

"When I became a parent I wondered what was in, what was out, what used to be, there was no distinct guidance there," she said.

"When this paper [Alive!]was given to me, it changed a lot for me, it gave me clarity, it helped me tremendously.

"A proof of this is my daughter was married a few months ago and my son was home from England. He said, 'when we were growing up [we thought] you were cruel to us, now I can see I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't what you did and what you told me'.

"It's not a child's fault if they haven't been disciplined," she said.

Lena continued: "Think of open scripture, the Bible is the truth, there is only one truth.

"My children were made to recognise at that particular time and that particular day where they went wrong.

"I often would have used the wooden spoon there, it was more or less if you ever step the line this will be it.

"I'm aware [it's illegal]. When I used it, I would take the child back and say 'I did this because'."

She added: "I wouldn't say I beat them, there's a difference in a slapping a beating.

"Look at scripture - to disciple a child not in anger but for the good of the child.

"No parent wants to see their child suffer but I would rather discipline them in the house than give them grief."

Lena spoke about the 'disorder' in society at the moment and said "the whole system was rotten".

She also said gay marriage "wasn't really marriage" and told another caller she could 'Google' a psychologist who could "cure" her gay daughter.

"It is intrinsically wrong. This will lead to no good, no good comes from disorderly behaviour. Society will not change until you recognise the truth," she said.

The debate also sparked a reaction from psychologist Dr Eddie Murphy who said he felt the need to pull over his car and call in after hearing the debate on air.

"I had to pull in," Dr Murphy told the programme.

"I was quite concerned with some of the messaging going out on this programme.

"Parenting is a very difficult balance at any time. I see it in the therapy room - children brought up with high levels of strictness have good motivation and self-discipline, but have very low self-esteem and are prone to depression."
'I am quite convinced that I shall see you again one day - I don't know how or when - but it must happen since I so long for itDay and night I find neither rest nor peace - if I sleep I have tormenting dreams in which I see you...Forgive me then Monsieur if I take the step of writing to you again - how can I bear my life unless I make an effort to alleviate its sufferingsIf my master withdraws his friendship from me entirely I shall be absolutely without hope. If he gives me a little friendship - a very little - I shall be content - happyMonsieur, the poor do not need a great deal to live on - they ask only the crumbs of bread which fall from the rich men's table - but if they are refused these crumbs they die of hunger."

These could be the desperate words of one of Charlotte Bronte's literary creations, but are in fact taken from letters she wrote herself to her former teacher, Constantin Heger, with whom she fell in love while studying at his school in Brussels for two years in her 20s. In a life filled with tragedy - her mother died of cancer when Charlotte was five, she watched all of her beloved siblings die - this unrequited love affair was the great passion, but not the great tragedy of the Bronte sister who would achieve the most literary success in her own life.

Perhaps Charlotte's greatest tragedy was that when she died - said to be in the early stages of pregnancy and suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, the extreme form of morning sickness Kate Middleton suffered when pregnant - she had finally achieved a potentially lasting personal happiness. Recently married to her father's long-time curate Arthur Bells Nicholls, it was not the turbulent affair that might have jumped off the pages of one of her novels, but probably all the more sustainable because of that. Nicholls had quietly loved Charlotte for years. And she, post marriage, was becoming increasingly appreciative of this solid, adoring Irish man.

Charlotte Bronte was not a beauty, a fact she was painfully aware of throughout her life. She was small - less than five feet - with a prominent brow, and nose, and a twisted smile, opening to reveal rotting and missing teeth. Like her most famous heroine, Jane Eyre, her tiny frame and diffident social manner hid a passionate nature, expressed throughout her work. Contemporaries obsessed over the gender of Jane Eyre's creator, a fact Charlotte found frustrating, writing "To you, I am neither man nor woman, I come before you as an author only, it is the sole standard by which you have a right to judge me."

Born on April 21, 1816, she was one of six children, but the eldest of the three literary sisters including Emily and Anne. The family grew up at the parsonage in Haworth. Their aunt Elizabeth moved in shortly after their mother's death to help look after the six children, and while Patrick Bronte largely withdrew from his children after his wife's death, taking all his meals separately for the rest of his life, he gave them a freedom which allowed them to flourish creatively.

Originally from Co. Down, of peasant stock, he had managed to make the unlikely transition to Cambridge University, an impressive leap that may have contributed to the sisters' remarkable self-belief in their own abilities.

The house was bordered on one side by a graveyard, on the other by the moors; not quite the isolated outpost of legend, it was minutes from a busy village. With only one male son, Branwell, who was to descend into drug- and alcohol-addiction, their father realised his five daughters would need to eventually support themselves, so eight-year old Charlotte and Emily and their two older sisters Maria and Elizabeth were sent to boarding school, Cowan Bridge. The school's brutal regime is said to have inspired the depiction of Lowood school in Jane Eyre. Both the elder sisters contracted consumption and died, and Charlotte and Emily returned home.

Largely left to their own devices, the four remaining Bronte siblings developed a detailed fantasy world which they captured in tiny manuscripts, so small as to need a magnifying glass to be read.

At 14, Charlotte was again sent to boarding school, to prepare for an inevitable career as a teacher or governess. At Roe Head, she was to make lifelong friends, who remembered her physical frailty - she always sat out games, suffered from failing eyesight, and had a quiet, self-conscious manner. In contrast, she showed a vigorous intellect, going instantly to the top of the class. Her biographer Claire Harman in Charlotte Bronte, A Life, suggests that here at Roe Head, she found, for the first and last time, happiness similar to that of home.

Having completed her studies and back home after 18 months, she developed a routine of housework, writing and walking the moors with Emily and Anne. It was a happy time for the Brontes, yet to experience the drudgery of work. Soon though, Charlotte reluctantly returned to Roe Head, this time as a teacher.

"This time it was the beginning of a life sentence for Charlotte," reflects Harman.

As a teacher, she was irritable and impatient with her pupils. "Am I to spend all the best part of my life in this wretched bondage, forcibly suppressing my rage at the idleness, the apathy and the hyperbolical and most asinine stupidity of those fat-headed oafs," she wrote in frustration.

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She eventually came home, seemingly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "To me it contains what I shall find nowhere else in the world," Charlotte wrote of the parsonage. "(The) profound, and intense affection which brothers and sisters feel for each other when their minds are cast in the same mould, their ideas drawn from the same source - when they have clung to each other from childhood and when family disputes have never sprung up to divide them."

Having tried several stints as a governess, a fate she found even worse than teaching - "I see now more clearly than I have ever done before that a private governess has no existence", she wrote to Emily. Charlotte and her sisters toyed with the idea of running their own school. In 1842 Emily and Charlotte went to study in Brussels, in order to improve their French for such a venture.

The lively atmosphere of the school was unlike anything she had experienced, and Charlotte was delighted. Then there was Monsieur Heger, the married teacher to whom she would later obsessively write, and who was to inspire some of her more dominant male characters. In her novels, she described him as "a man of power as to mind, but very choleric and irritable in temperament."

A fellow pupil remembered Charlotte as "a diminutive, short-sighted, retiring personage, of remarkable talents and studious disposition, and very neat in appearance." Charlotte returned for a second year, without Emily, to teach. Alone, her feelings for Heger grew. It was an attachment which would cause her "a total withdrawal for more than two years of happiness and peace of mind," she later wrote.

None of Heger's letters to Charlotte survive, but he kept a few of hers, and they make clear that he wasn't as assiduous a correspondent. "Your last letter has sustained me -has nourished me for six months - now I need another and you will give it me," she wrote.

Things at home were bleak. "He will do nothing except drink, and make us all wretched," she wrote of Branwell. The sisters took refuge in their writing, each secretly working away on masterpieces that would later be acknowledged as some of the greatest novels ever written.

In the autumn of 1845, Charlotte came across some of Emily's poems. Emily, a strong-willed creature who had once punched her dog brutally in the eyes after he disobeyed her, was enraged at this encroachment on her privacy. To distract her, Anne produced some of her own work. The three sisters decided to approach publishers, Emily insisting it was done anonymously.

Telling no one of the plan, they put together a collection of their poems. "As was to be expected, neither we nor our poems were wanted," Charlotte later wrote. They self published, an optimistic 1000 copies of 61 poems under pseudonyms. Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, sold two copies. While the book was in production, the sisters, who were now nightly working together around the family dining room table, submitted Wuthering Heights, by Emily, Agnes Grey by Anne and The Professor by Charlotte.

Anne and Emily's books were taken up, with them contributing to a part of the publishing costs. By now Charlotte had almost finished Jane Eyre. When the book finally reached her eventual publisher, George Smith, he read it in one day, cancelling all the day's plans. "Children, Charlotte has been writing a book - and I think it is a better one than I expected," her father announced to the family. The book sold in the thousands and was reprinted within ten weeks, with Queen Victoria describing it as "that intensely interesting novel."

Unlike her sisters', Charlotte's publisher was a kind man who cherished his best-selling author, regularly inviting her to stay in his London home. As the real identity of Currer Bell became widely known, she was feted by the great and the good, a fact the reserved Charlotte found somewhat exhausting.

Satisfaction at the achievement of their lifelong literary dreams was short-lived. After her first London trip, Branwell passed away. Emily caught a cold at the funeral. Within months she too was dead. Then, unimaginably, Anne developed a persistent cough. "Life has become very void, and hope has proved a strange traitor," Charlotte wrote to a friend. Within eight months of her brother's death, Anne Bronte died of consumption.

"The great trial is when evening closes and night approaches. At that hour we used to assemble in the dining-room - we used to talk. Now I sit by myself - necessarily I am silent," wrote Charlotte, who would tell her friend and biographer Elizabeth Gaskell that she would continue alone the pacing around the dining room the sisters had engaged in every night. Her career, she told a friend, was the only thing sustaining her. She was then working on her second published novel, Shirley, an industrial novel which did not earn her quite the rave reviews of Jane Eyre.

Charlotte's earliest impressions of her future husband Arthur Bell Nicholls were that he was "good - mild and uncontentious." When he finally proposed, although sympathetic to his obvious emotional turmoil, it gave her "a strange shock," and she turned him down. Her father was enraged at his temerity, and Nicholls instantly resigned. She seems to have eventually married him in rather a detached state of mind, - she signed a pre-nup agreement which in the event of her death protected her assets in her father's favour - but it's obvious a deep affection developed quickly, possibly starting with their honeymoon in Ireland.

The pre-nup was a legality that she was to later overturn when she realised she was terminally ill, saying to her husband shortly before she died, "Oh! I am not going to die, am I? He will not separate us, we have been so happy." She died at the age of thirty-eight. Her husband went on to look after her father, until his death at the age of eighty-four, a sign of the devotion the shy, plain but wildly talented Charlotte had inspired.
The top of Slieve Liag in Donegal. Photo: Stephanie Ni Uaithnigh

The top of Slieve Liag in Donegal. Photo: Stephanie Ni Uaithnigh

The top of Slieve Liag in Donegal. Photo: Stephanie Ni Uaithnigh

Snow, sleet, torrential rainfall and gale force winds left a trail of destruction as the weather suddenly veered from spring-like to stormy.

More than 70mm of rain fell yesterday as an Atlantic front swept over Ireland and temperatures plummeted.

Counties in the south and west witnessed snow and sleet showers, with children in Dingle and Millstreet actually able to make snowmen.

Sleet and snow showers were blamed for a number of serious accidents in Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Galway.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Credit: Met Eireann Cork Credit: Jennifer Butler Glen pier, Co. Kerry Credit: James Grandfield Bray golf club 9th green Credit: Bray Golf course superintendent / Facebook

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Met Eireann's Joanna Donnelly said the south bore the brunt of the wintry conditions.

"The heaviest of the rain fell across Cork, particularly on hilly areas," she said.

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The combination of heavy rainfall and high spring tides caused widespread flooding in both the city and county.

Cork city was hit by flooding at the 8am and 8pm high tides, with the brunt of the deluge focused on low-lying city areas, including parts of the quays.

However, flooding also occurred on Oliver Plunkett Street, the South Mall and South Terrace, with several parked cars stranded for a time.

While this was the fifth Cork city centre flood since 2009, no major property damage was reported on this occasion.

The severe weather also tore a 36ft yacht free of its moorings in Cork harbour and drove it aground on rocks at White Point outside Cobh.

Rain heavy in parts of S spreading to N&E drier conditions will push into S areas & edge N overnight, low 3-6C frost possible in parts of S  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) April 10, 2016

Flooding a problem this morning on some routes in Cork & Kerry following severe weather over the weekend. See https://t.co/qvBPcgxUj8  AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) April 11, 2016

Flood damage was also caused in a number of towns, including Youghal, Midleton and Clonakilty.

Last night's high tide resulted in flash flooding in Skibbereen with Bridge Street in the town closed to traffic. Damage was also caused to a number of low-lying properties.

Meanwhile, three Portuguese fishermen were rescued after their vessel lost power in terrible weather conditions and was driven onto rocks at the entrance to Kinsale harbour at Moneypoint last night.

The Status Orange weather alert remains in place until 8am today.

Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Credit: Orlaith Walsh Newly engaged couple Paul O'Connor, from Killorglin, and Aisling Coyne, from Corn na Mona in Co Galway, at Moll's Gap outside Killarney in Co Kerry Photo: Don MacMonagle Karen D in Galway Credit: Twitter / Facebook

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Traders have repeatedly warned that the proposed 50m flood plan for Cork city urgently needs to be accelerated.

Ireland's most flood-prone city won't have its new protection scheme fully in place for another four years. Traders said they didn't believe construction work would begin until 2017 - meaning the flood-defence network won't be fully operational until 2019.

Cork Business Association chief executive Lawrence Owens expressed concern that traders have to wait so long before full protection is in place.

"The best 'guestimate' at this stage is that we may be in a construction phase some time around 2017," he said.

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The extreme weather caused mayhem on roads all over the country.

Crashes were reported in Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Galway following particularly heavy downpours of hail, while snow forced the closure of the N11 after a multi-vehicle crash on Saturday.

Another of the crashes, which happened between Athenry and Loughrea, involved a passenger bus heading to Dublin Airport. It is understood that the bus and a number of cars skidded following a heavy fall of hail.

In the east, there was a serious collision on the N11 near Kilmacanogue in Co Wicklow.

The route was closed to southbound traffic at the Bray South junction due to the multi-vehicle crash that occurred following heavy snowfall.

It will be somewhat brighter in Munster today. However, persistent rain will develop in eastern coastal counties during the morning. The further outlook to the weekend is for continued unsettled weather.
BANKRUPT businessman Simon Stokes' estranged wife Conach has told the High Court she wants to be added to his list of creditors as part of his bankruptcy process.

"I just want to make you aware about the situation and how he has left his children - he has just returned from a holiday abroad", she told Ms Justice Caroline Costello.

The judge was dealing with a part of the process known as a "statutory sitting" whereby the full details of a bankrupt's financial affairs must be provided to the court-appointed official administering the bankruptcy, official assignee Chris Lehane. Simon and his twin brother Christian were both declared bankrupt last November.

Conach, who described herself as Simon's estranged wife, nodded in agreement when the judge suggested she may not wish to be called "Mrs Stokes".

Earlier, counsel for Simon asked to adjourn the statutory sitting for a week.

When the judge adjourned it, Conach said she was there on behalf of her three children and her parents who are also owed money.

"I would like our names to be added to the list of creditors".

After consulting with the official assignee, Mr Lehane, the judge told her that a person was entitled to appear in court as a creditor but the procedure was that anyone who wished to be added to the list would first submit a claim to Mr Lehane. Members of her family could also do likewise, the judge said adjourning the matter for a week.

Ms Justice Costello also passed the statutory sitting for Christian Stokes after a separate counsel appeared on his behalf.

Both brothers had been required to attend, or be represented, at the statutory sitting for the purpose of ensuring the official assignee has been provided with full details of their property money and to ensure that all their debts are known.

The identical twins ran the famous Bang restaurant in Dublin.

The Stokes family was also behind the well-known Unicorn restaurant, while the brothers operated the exclusive Residence club on St Stephen's Green and other venues which failed during the economic downturn.

In 2014, Christian and Simon Stokes, as well as their parents Jeffrey and Pia, consented to a 14.7m judgment being entered against them arising from various loans and guarantees.

In January 2012, the High Court disqualified the brother from being company directors again until 2016 arising out of their their involvement in the Residence club.

A judge described them as "delinquent directors" who had engaged in "a form of thieving" by using tax money to trade.
Convicted murderer Graham Dwyer wants legal aid for his action against the Garda Commissioner and State over the use of mobile phone records in his trial.

Dwyer initiated his High Court action in January 2015 but a hearing date has yet to be fixed.

The matter was in the courts chancery list on Monday in relation to a motion seeking the court to make a recommendation that Dwyer gets legal aid for the proceedings. The motion was adjourned, on consent of the sides, to May 30th.

The application has been brought because the High Court proceedings are not covered by either civil or criminal legal aid.

Dwyer was charged in October 2013 with the murder of Elaine OHara and was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in March 2015. He was jailed for life and his appeal against conviction has yet to be heard.

Many requests for disclosure of mobile phone records were made under the relevant provisions of the 2011 Act by gardai investigating Ms OHaras murder and were granted by the relevant service providers. Phone data was also admitted into evidence during the trial.

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In his High Court proceedings, Dwyer claims certain provisions of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 breach his rights to privacy under the Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

The Directive underlying the 2011 Act was struck down by the European Court of Justice in 2015.

During Dwyers trial, his lawyers argued the mobile phone data was inadmissible as evidence but those arguments were rejected by the trial judge.

In his High Court action, Dwyer is also seeking, if appropriate, damages and, if necessary, a reference of issues to the European Court of Justice.

The proceedings are against the Garda Commissioner, Director of Public prosecutions, Ministers for Justice and Communications, Ireland and the Attorney General.
A WOMAN'S decision to sell her mother's home to pay towards nursing home costs was correct despite a son's objections, the High Court ruled.

The son had objected to his sister being registered in court as having power of attorney over the affairs of their mother who is in her 80s and has severe cognitive impairment.

He claimed the sister was unsuitable largely because she put their mother's home in Dublin on the market a few months after she went into a nursing home following an illness for which she required hospitalisation.

As a result, the house was withdrawn and a hearing took place before the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly over whether the power of attorney should be registered by the court.

The judge rejected the brother's objection and said the decision to sell the house was sensible and reasonable.

The power of attorney was executed in July 2012 after the mother's doctor assessed her as having an "emerging dementia process", the court heard.

She has three children, the daughter, the brother who objected, and another brother who supported his sister.

Mr Justice Kelly said the sister and the objector brother, the youngest in the family, are not on good terms and have not spoken to each other for eight years.

The judge was satisfied there was a close and warm relationship between the mother and daughter who had looked after her very well from 2006 onwards. The objector brother accepted she looked after her very well, the judge said.

The mother had a stroke in 2006. She did not have a bank account, carried substantial amounts of money on her and was the victim of a robbery on one occasion.

Following her stroke, the mother agreed to set up a joint account with her daughter so her financial affairs could be looked after.

Mr Justice Kelly was satisfied the power of attorney created in 2012 was executed in an entirely regular way and that the mother understood what was happening.

There was a "reasonably successful" attempt at reconciliation in 2014 when the daughter invited the brother to dinner but "subsequent events have reanimated the rift", he said.

The judge was satisfied there was no desire to move the mother into a nursing home by the daughter but it became necessary when she was no longer able to look herself in her home, particularly as none of the children now live in Dublin.

The brother said he was aware their mother did not want the family home sold and that he would be quite happy to look after her in his own home in Kildare.

The judge said the daughter took steps to sell the house because there was a shortfall of 1,000 per month towards her nursing home which was costing a total of 4,000 per month. There were also outgoings for the now vacant house, including insurance and property tax, and it had also been broken into.

Around 2,000 of the mother's monthly care was being funded through the government's Fair Deal Scheme for nursing homes and some more from her pension.

Most of the value of the house is taken into account when assessing a person for Fair Deal and the small amount which is (36,000) only lasts for three years after which the entire asset is assessed.

The sister, who was sad at having to sell the house, took the view that if all of the sale proceeds went to her mother's care then "so be it" although the brother believed it could be rented out.

The judge said there were tax and tenant's rights involved in renting and in his view the decision to sell was sensible and perfectly reasonable.

The fact that the objector would prefer it to be let did not make the sister's decision irrational and "most certainly does not render her unsuitable to act as attorney".
A man has received a two and a half year suspended sentence for forcing his young friend to have sex with him when he was 15 years old.

The accused, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, abused the boy when he was 10 or 11 years old. He told the child he would not let him leave the house and would set his dogs on him if he did not let him do sex.

The now 21-year-old, was convicted by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of defilement in his Dublin home on a date between January and July 2011. He had denied the charge.

Judge Petria McDonnell said this was a heinous assault carried out on a much younger boy.

The evidence during the trial and a victim impact statement confirmed the continuing effect the assault has had on the boy and this must be taken into consideration, she said.

Judge McDonnell suspended the sentence in its entirety for two years.

At a sentence hearing last January, the accused handed in a letter to Judge McDonnell saying my sentence began the day I was accused of this disgusting crime. He said he did not think he could handle prison as he could feel himself becoming suicidal.

He told the judge he had several family members in the police force and that, before his conviction, he had hoped to become a garda himself.

He said he had to move abroad after being charged because neighbours kept calling me horrible things like paedo and rapist.

Lisa Dempsey BL prosecuting, previously told the court that the boy was in the accused's house playing computer games when the accused told him I know how to do sex and asked him to let him show him.

They boy said no because that's sick. The accused said he wouldn't let him leave the house and that he would set his dogs on him.

The boy later recalled the accused had three vicious dogs.

He was allowed leave the house after the assault and said nothing to his mother when he arrived home.

He made a complaint in July 2011 but said he couldn't remember the date the incident happened.

Defence counsel Bernard Condon SC said his client was very into music and physical activity. He said he was now living abroad but had returned home every time he was due in court.

Counsel submitted that the offence was at the lower end of the range as there was no evidence of pain, injury or threats after the fact. He said that if the matter had been reported and processed sooner his client would be a minor and would likely receive a suspended sentence.

Judge McDonnell said she noted that the offence was an isolated incident, it was opportunistic and on the mid to lower end of the scale.

She said there was no evidence of grooming and no violence, though there was a threat with regards to dogs, and these had to be taken into consideration when sentencing.
A young father who claimed he found a rusty rifle when he cycled over it in a field has been given a two year sentence.

Aaron McDermott (23) said he brought it home and left it inside the partition wall between his and his neighbours home.

He described it as a rusty old yoke but told gardai it was one of those things you just don't throw away. He said he had it for about one month and was just going to leave it there.

McDermott, of Ratoath Avenue, Finglas, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the firearm at his home on January 26, 2015. He has 73 previous convictions.

Judge Melanie Greally noted McDermott had long history of drug and alcohol misuse as well and had faced many challenges in his family and personal life.

She reactivated the suspended one year portion of a previous three year sentence imposed in March 2014 for attempted robbery. McDermott had been on temporary release at the time he committed the new offence.

Judge Greally then imposed a consecutive two year sentence with the final year suspended for the firearms offence.

Garda Christopher Sweeney told Sinead McMullen BL, prosecuting, that gardai executing a search warrant at McDermott's home discovered a small bag of cannabis worth 20 under a bed and later found the weapon at the rear of the house between partition walls.

The stock and barrel of the rifle had been shortened. It was rusty but was capable of of being fired. There was no ammunition with the gun.

McDermott told the gardai that he had been up the fields around Dunsink on his bike when he had driven over the a bag and found the gun inside. He said he picked it up and threw it between the walls in the back when he got home.

Ms McMullen said the Director of Public Prosecutions considered this offence to be at the low end of offending for the purpose of sentencing.

Gda Sweeney agreed with Seamus Clarke BL, defending, that McDermott was co-operative at the scene, answered all questions and admitted he knew it was illegal to have the gun.

Mr Clarke said McDermott had suffered several tragedies in his family background and had issues with anxiety and depression. He is the father of a young son who has cerebral palsy.
A mother who neglected seven of her children, beating them, driving a car at two young children, pushing one down the stairs and holding their heads under water has been jailed for four years at Galway Circuit Criminal Court.

The 39-year-old mother, who cannot be named to protect her children, was found guilty of 29 counts of cruelty and neglect of her children over a five year period. She was sentenced to four and a half years with the final six months suspended.

The maximum penalty for each count was seven years in prison.

A former partner of the woman, who pleaded guilty to three charges of abuse and two of neglect was given a two year suspended sentence.

Judge O'Connor pointed to his guilty pleas and obvious remorse. She said he was attempting to rehabilitate and develop a relationship with his children.

Judge Karen OConnor said that mitigating factors in the mother's case had been minimal as there had been no guilty plea, which would have helped the children and no remorse shown by the defendant.

Judge OConnor said there was general neglect, absence from home and failure to look after most basic needs of the children.

She added that there was an atmosphere of fear and the children were frightened, anxious and helpless as they observed their siblings being beaten.

The cumulative affect of cruelty was more damaging that the specific assaults, she added.

She said one of most disturbing aspects of the case was when the mother had tried to attribute blame to her eldest daughter.

Judge OConnor commended neighbours for the manner in which they tried to look out for the children, feeding and clothing them and alerting social services in 2009.

It is a matter of concern to the court that these young victims appear to have remained under the radar from the authorities, she added.

The woman had denied all charges of cruelty and neglect against her children. However, evidence from her young victims, now aged from 19 to five, along with neighbours, was heard during the nine day trial in January.

Evidence was also heard from a consultant plastic surgeon that scars on the back on one of the children was consistent with having been beaten with a back scratcher.

During the trial the mother admitted pouring washing up liquid into the mouths of three of her children but told the court she didnt see anything wrong with her actions.

She also accepted that she smacked her children, hit them with a belt and spoon and left two young daughters in the care of a functioning alcoholic while she went to a pub.

Two hours later the children were found by gardai with the man who was so drunk he could not care for them.

However, she denied this was abusive or neglectful behaviour.

Evidence was heard of heavy drinking in the family home which would often result in violence. The womans older daughter gave evidence of her mother trying to drown her in the kitchen sink. She said the violence was worse with alcohol but could happen on any day.

One young boy told how his mother had laughed after pushing him down the stairs. On another occasion she had driven a car at her two young sons after they spilled ice cream, causing them to take evasive action to avoid being hit.

The abuse came to light when the children were taken into care in May 2011, after social workers made an unannounced visit to the home in the west of Ireland.

They found the children left in a chaotic scene in the care of two intoxicated men, one of whom was asleep on a bed, while the mother was away on a short break.

Victim Impact statements were also read from some of the children, who told of their ongoing anxiety, feelings of sadness and a lack of self worth. The children also told of their sadness that they no longer saw their siblings often.

Judge Karen OConnor said the children had told of years of neglect with an absence of food, adequate footwear or clothing. All except the two youngest children gave evidence of physical violence.
A teenager accused of killing a 19-year-old girl in a hit-and-run has been remanded in custody until he hands over his mobile phone to police.

The 17-year-old appeared before Newry Magistrate's Court on Monday charged with causing the death of Lesley-ann McCarragher through dangerous driving following the incident in Co Armagh on Saturday.

Ms McCarragher was struck by a car while jogging on the Monaghan Road close to her Co Armagh family home.

A detective sergeant told the court that the car involved in the collision had been bought the previous day by the defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

However, the defendant told police that he had sold the car to two men 45 minutes before the incident.

The court also heard that the youth had refused to hand over his mobile phone to police. Officers believe he had contacted the previous owner of the car asking her to say she had sold the car to "foreigners".

The District Judge told the teenager that he would not release him on bail until he surrendered his phone.

"No phone, no bail," he told him.

The teenager's lawyer said that a family member was going to locate the phone and hand it in to officers.

The judge said the boy could be released on bail as soon as police were in possession of his phone.
A young man who was mistaken for a gang member and stabbed to death in a field had a "heart of gold and a bright future", his mother told a sentencing hearing for his killer at the Central Criminal Court today.

Michael Kinsella (24), of Swiftbrook Close in Tallaght, pleaded guilty last December to the manslaughter of 29-year-old Adil Essalhi who was killed on January 6, 2011. Mr Essalhi suffered 50 stab and chop wounds before his killers tried to set fire to his body and then dumped it in a ditch in Tyrrelstown in Tallaght.

Justice Deirdre Murphy adjourned the sentencing after hearing from Mr Essalhi's mother Geraldine. Ms Essalhi said that her son's death had destroyed her family.

"The events of January 6 2011 have shattered our once care-free and unified family," she said. "Our precious Adil, a kind and loving man with a heart of gold and a bright future ahead of him, was taken so viciously from us."

She said that she wonders if she could have saved her son and that she wishes every day for him to walk through the door "with his cheeky smile wide across his face."

"This will never happen again and the enormity of this reality has destroyed my family."

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"Adil used to tell his friends that I am his queen. He adored his family and we adored him. I can only thank God for the 29 years we shared with him and pray that God helps us through the rest."

She said Adil had done nothing to cause his death, other than to trust people he should not have trusted. "They say time is the greatest healer," she added. "But time does not heal this. For us the nightmare never ends."

Detective Sergeant Dan Callaghan of Blanchardstown Garda Station told counsel for the prosecution Kerida Naidoo SC that Michael Kinsella's uncle, Wayne Kinsella, was convicted of murder for his part in Mr Essalhi's death.

He said that Wayne and Adil met in a pub in Dublin City Centre and spent the day drinking together before heading to a party at an apartment in Tallaght. Michael Kinsella was at the party and at some point a suspicion arose that Mr Essalhi had been involved in the murder of a member of the Kinsella family in Finglas.

Wayne and Michael brought Mr Essalhi outside, telling him they were going to another party. When they reached a field near the apartment, they stabbed him to death with what state pathologist Marie Cassidy said were weapons consistent with a knife and a machete.

Counsel for Mr Kinsella, Patrick Marrinan SC, said that reports submitted to the court showed that his client has been in detention centres for most of his life since the age of 14. He said that apart from his father, he had no positive influences in his life and that he came from an "extremely difficult" family background.

He said that the State's acceptance of his manslaughter plea showed that he did not have the necessary level of intent to be convicted of murder.

He pointed to a report submitted to the court which showed that Mr Kinsella was afraid that if he did not take part in the killing his uncle Wayne would attack him. He described Wayne Kinsella as an "extremely dangerous man" and said that his client has the intellectual ability of a nine to 12-year-old and is at high risk of being coerced by a more forceful individual. "One could not imagine a more forceful individual than Wayne Kinsella," he added.

Referring to interviews in the report, Mr Marrinan said that after his uncle stabbed Mr Essalhi a number of times Michael Kinsella told him he had had enough. His uncle told him to "do him or he was going to do me too", so he stabbed him a number of times.

Mr Marrinan said that his client is now seeing a psychologist and has been attending education classes while in custody for other offences.

He said that he has shown genuine remorse and accepts that Mr Essalhi had no involvement in the death of his relative.

Det Sgt Callaghan said Mr Kinsella has 30 previous convictions, including for burglary and driving offences.

Justice Deirdre Murphy said she has a lot to consider and adjourned the sentencing until April 25.
Seamus Hanafin of Tipperary County Council, Micheal Martin and Independent TD Mattie McGrath at the General Liam Lynch ceremony in Tipperary yesterday Photo: Dylan Vaughan

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said that comparing today's political divisions to the Civil War is "superficial and dismissive".

Mr Martin, speaking at the General Liam Lynch commemoration in Newcastle, Co Tipperary, warned that Ireland was again at an important point in its history and such simplistic criticisms were not helpful.

"To try to dismiss divisions of today as 'Civil War politics' is superficial and dismissive," he said.

"It misses vital differences between parties in the last nine decades. It brushes away the often dramatic changes in patterns of political support in that time and is a convenient way of refusing to engage with substantive points."

The Cork TD explained that he categorically ruled out a partnership government with Fine Gael for very good reasons.

"I was asked repeatedly what would I do if the only majority government which could be formed was a Fine Gael/Fianna Fail government. I said we would not join such a government for a number of reasons.

"We have seen in recent years that strong majority governments can be arrogant, divisive and unfair.

"I also said that the policy differences between our parties are too large for them to be bridged in a programme for government which would retain popular legitimacy."

Mr Martin, to applause from the large crowd that braved inclement conditions to attend the ceremony, rejected suggestions that Fianna Fail was somehow tied to the past.

"Fianna Fail is not a 'Civil War party'. We honour the men and women who opposed the Treaty as people who represent a tradition which has given our country many positive things, and they were central to our foundation.

"But Fianna Fail was founded by people who were very specifically committed to moving on from the Civil War.

"The programme they developed and which so rapidly won the trust of the Irish people was a radical one based on social, economic and constitutional reform."

Mr Martin said it was incorrect and simplistic to say a party with 20,000 members and the support of 500,000 voters is rooted in events dating back a century.

He added that minority governments, despite what some may claim, can and do work.

"They can work if people are willing to try - and they represent a much truer reflection of the need to change our politics than simply [changing] titles.

"Three out of the four Scandinavian countries currently have minority governments."
'Having rejected acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny's partnership government proposal, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin last night repeated his insistence that Fine Gael must be prepared to support a minority government led by his party if he gets more support from Independent TDs' Photo: Dylan Vaughan

Merging water charges and the property tax is on the table as a potential compromise that would open the door to a minority government deal between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

Irish Water remains the most contentious issue as senior politicians from both parties are set to meet as early as this evening to begin hammering out the terms of how a minority government could work.

With the next Dail vote for selecting a Taoiseach looming on Thursday there may be just days to stave off another election.

Fianna Fail wants to suspend charges and abolish Irish Water in favour of a national water directorate, while Fine Gael insists that payments for water must stay.

The Irish Independent has learned that figures in both parties are now talking up the idea of "amalgamating" water charges and the property tax into a so-called "household package". This would allow Fianna Fail to claim that charges have been effectively scrapped, while still potentially satisfying EU rules, according to a senior Fine Gael source.

A high-ranking Fianna Fail figure said the move could "bridge the gap" between the two parties. By linking charges to the property tax it would be collected by Revenue, ensuring greater compliance - but it is unclear how rural dwellers who pay into group water schemes would be affected.

Junior Minister Michael Ring previously raised the idea of attaching water charges to the property tax with former environment minister Phil Hogan. He suggested adding 50 for water services onto the property tax. Asked for his position, Mr Ring told the Irish Independent it could be a way out of the current impasse. "Water charges were the straw that broke the camel's back. It's not that people wouldn't pay, it's that they couldn't pay," he said.

Sources at both parties said the details of when and where the meeting between them takes place have yet to be finalised. A Fianna Fail source said last night that today's expected talks are to be held at an as yet undetermined "neutral venue".

Discussions are likely to focus on the "ground rules" for a minority government, including how negotiating and passing Budgets would work. Irish Water and other specific policy issues will "follow on from that" in subsequent meetings.

A Fine Gael source agreed that talks will begin on the workings of a minority government and Irish Water and other issues like the USC were likely to be left to later meetings.

Having rejected acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny's partnership government proposal, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin last night repeated his insistence that Fine Gael must be prepared to support a minority government led by his party if he gets more support from Independent TDs. He also said that "cool heads" were now required as negotiations began.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael has appeared to soften its stance of rejecting a Fianna Fail-led minority government. Acting Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald was asked on RTE's 'The Week in Politics' if that was a precondition of the talks. She replied: "I don't think precondition is the right language... I think we actually have to have discussions about what a minority government would look like." She said Mr Kenny's partnership government proposal remained on the table.

Independent Alliance TD Kevin 'Boxer' Moran told the same programme: "I think there will be a deal, but it won't be struck before Thursday."

Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae told the Irish Independent that postponing the vote would be "a get-out-of-jail card for everybody... I'd rather see it being put off for another couple of days if it could be got right rather than just going straight for an election."
Dearbhail McDonald, Group Business Editor and former Legal Editor at INM, speaks at the event in Kilkenny Photo: Dylan Vaughan

Ireland's legal system is less transparent than Panama's - and journalists who try to report fairly and accurately are "thwarted at every turn".

Independent News and Media (INM) Group Business Editor Dearbhail McDonald was speaking at the Bar of Ireland's annual conference on Saturday in response to remarks by senior counsel Michael O'Higgins.

Mr O'Higgins SC had criticised "sensationalist coverage" of high-profile trials such as that of murderer Graham Dwyer.

Ms McDonald, the former Legal Editor at INM, said the Irish system saw journalists as the enemy and made it incredibly difficult to access documents that were readily available in other countries.

The justice systems in the UK and the US had provisions to allow journalists and members of the public to electronically access court documents - but in Ireland reporters "need to rugby tackle a garda in the hallway" or rely on a friendly lawyer to get information, she said.

This creates "layers of privilege" where only select journalists get the documentation.

"I've attempted to access legal systems in foreign countries such as India, Vanuatu and Panama," Ms McDonald continued. "And I've come to the conclusion that it's easier at times to navigate the shadowy legal system of Panama than it was to navigate part of our own open justice system."

Leading barrister Mr O'Higgins SC, who has previously represented former Anglo Irish Bank CEO Sean FitzPatrick, used the conference to criticise publicity surrounding high-profile trials.

He said certain elements of the media put Graham Dwyer's 2015 trial in danger by publishing prejudicial material after Dwyer's arrest. He said that in the 18 months it took the DPP to charge Dwyer with Elaine O'Hara's murder, gardai "relentlessly leaked information to the media". At some stages the media knew more about the case than Dwyer's defence solicitor, he added.

Two witnesses who met Ms O'Hara through a BDSM website gave evidence for the prosecution. Mr O'Higgins said it was understandable that these men's names and addresses might be published.

"But I would seriously question the venom with which those individuals were pursued to get a photograph of them," he said. "And I wonder what was the editorial decision behind this. Did they want to see what someone who uses these websites might look like, thinking that they had horns coming out of their heads, possibly?"

He said a third website user was "marginally more lucky" because he was in a car crash the day he was supposed to give evidence and didn't have to "run that gauntlet".

A trial can be thrown out because of pre-trial publicity according to Mr O'Higgins, but he claimed "this is an almost impossible bar to reach now."
A man who has not seen his birth mother since he was adopted almost 50 years ago has finally tracked her down - and discovered a big Ireland family he never knew he had.

Laurence Douglas (49) is a chef at a restaurant in Orangeville in Ontario, Canada.

Rather fittingly, his wife Heather works at the Shamrock Cold Storage in Brampton, Ontario. Laurence - who was born in Lisburn - had always longed to locate his biological mother, but had been unable to find her.

Nifty detective work by Heather made the breakthrough that has changed their lives.

Expand Close With his family including son Conner / Facebook

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Whatsapp With his family including son Conner

Heather said that Laurence had been searching adoption websites for years but because his mother doesn't use a computer, she had no way of knowing that he was out there looking for her.

Two weeks ago, Heather's luck changed.

"We knew Laurence's birth mum's name.

"I was looking around a heritage website called Geni, and I saw a name that I thought might be Karen's brother - Laurence's uncle.

"Goose is kind of an unusual name.

"I sent him an email and he replied, confirming that his sister was Laurence's mother - and she was more than happy that he'd made contact.

"Laurence's adoptive family emigrated to Canada when he was three.

"He grew up here in Ontario thinking he was an only child.

"He's now found out that he has seven brothers and sisters - six of them still living in Belfast."

Laurence's mother is now 67 and lives in Andersonstown in west Belfast.

Laurence himself is thrilled at the discovery - and at the prospect of finally meeting his mother - the woman he has longed to see for nearly 50 years.

Speaking from Canada last night, the father of two said: "I'm really excited about the whole thing.

"I really want to get back to Belfast to see my mum.

"I've been 50 years looking for her.

"Finally getting in touch with my mum has been a great, great experience."

There was another surprise in store for him.

His teenage kids Conner (19) and Taylor (17) have now set up a GoFundMe social media campaign to raise the plane fare for him to come to Belfast and be reunited with his mother.

Son Conner said on the GoFundMe appeal site: "My dad called her on Good Friday and we are going to be keeping in contact with her.

"My dad was so happy and cried at work when he found out the news about how we had his birth mum's number.

"He has always wanted this and now he has a real relationship with his mother and he couldn't be happier, and we couldn't be happier for him.

"It was a real miracle for our dad to find his birth mum and we just want him to be able to talk to her in person and meet all his siblings."

Conner said the Douglases weren't the richest family, and appealed for help to get Laurence to Northern Ireland as soon as possible to meet the family he never knew he had.

He added: "Please - it would be incredible if you could help my dad come face-to-face with his birth mum, we'd be eternally grateful!" Donations have already come in for the campaign to help Laurence make the trip back to Belfast.

"I only found out about this whole crowd-funding campaign on Thursday - my wife and kids had been keeping it a secret from me," Laurence said.

"I hope everything will work out."
CCTV footage of the raid in progress

CCTV footage of the raid in progress

CCTV footage of the raid in progress

The owner of a popular children's play centre that was at the centre of an armed raid has described the armed thieves as "the lowest of the low".

Armed raiders who stormed the adventure centre packed with kids badly slashed one mans hand as they tried to rob the business.

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Shocked families with children watched in terror as two masked men burst into Tallaght Adventure World in the Whitestown Business Park just before 6pm yesterday.

Manager Robbie Doyle bravely fought off the raiders, but was left with a gaping wound in his hand.

One of the raiders was armed with a long-bladed knife, while the second man had a metal pole.

A third man waited outside in a blue Ford Fiesta.

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The injured mans uncle is Dermot Richardson, who is owner of the popular play centre and a local independent councillor.

Speaking to Liveline, Mr Richardson described the raiders as "professionals".

"This was well-planned, these are professionals," he said.

"This is the lowest of the low, coming into a children's environment. There were no kids hurt."

Speaking today to the Herald, he continued: I was having a coffee with a customer when I heard my son shouting Dad, dad, quick, quick and when I turned around I could see the two raiders running in.

They were wearing balaclavas and the guy with the knife jumped the counter and ran to the office where my nephew Robbie Doyle, who is the manager, was counting the days takings.

I ran down towards the kitchens and I was throwing cups and things at them to try and keep them back, but the knifeman got into the office and the other one was standing at the door swinging the pole around.

The guy in the office was shouting and threatening Robbie, and then went to stab him in the head, but Robbie managed to protect himself and grabbed the knife.

Surgery

The raider then pulled it from his hand, leaving Robbie with a gaping wound.

He has to have surgery this morning on the tendons and muscles in his hand and fingers.

Its a serious injury, Mr Richardson said.

The raiders fled empty-handed and escaped in the Ford Fiesta, which was later found burned-out in the nearby Killinarden estate.

There were families and children here at the time.

It was very frightening. My biggest concern is for my customers and staff, said Mr Richardson.

In the back office today, Dermot pointed out the blood of his nephew splattered on the floor from where he was cut with the knife.

There are also blood stains on the counter and the floor of the reception area, and broken mugs and cups.
Family and friends have paid their final respects to a dental nurse found murdered in in her flat.

Laura Marshall's body was found in her flat in Victoria Street in Lurgan, Co Armagh on April 3.

Yesterday hundreds of mourners attended the 31-year-old woman's funeral at St Peter's Church in the town.

Among them was high-profile dissident republican Colin Duffy.

He was with Ms Marshall's uncle Sam Marshall when he was murdered by the UVF in 1990 while leaving Lurgan police station.

Ms Marshall was buried in St Colman's Cemetery after Requiem Mass.

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Her mother Annette, who lives in Leigh-on-Sea in England, paid tribute to her daughter online.

She posted on Facebook: "My dear Laura, justice will be served now."

She described whoever killed her daughter as an "evil monster".

Read More

She added: "Your granny is waiting for you with open arms and you will be the brightest star in the sky now that will light up the world. I wish I could turn the clock back but me and you will meet again someday and start all over again. But for now every time I look to the sky and see that bright star, I will know that it is you looking down and saying 'What about ya, you old goat', as you always called me.

"And I would tell you off, but right now, I wouldn't mind it all.

"Goodbye for now... Sweet dreams xxx."

Ms Marshall's boyfriend Gary O'Dowd (36) appeared in court last week charged with her murder.

A PSNI detective said officers had found a "violent scene" in the bathroom, which was destroyed, with a pool of blood on the floor. Mr O'Dowd denies any involvement.

A keen traveller, Ms Marshall backpacked around the USA and Australia, describing it as "the best thing I have ever, ever, ever done in my life".

It wasn't long after she returned home from Australia that she wanted to go travelling again.

Despite her desire to leave Ireland, Ms Marshall loved her job as a dental nurse with Dental Excellence.
This morning's front page from the Irish Independent reports 'Property tax and water bills merger on table in talks' as a potential compromise to open the door to a minority government government deal between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

'Hutch gang hunt Garda mole' is the splash story from The Herald as the criminal group are desperately trying to identify a "rat in the camp" who has been feeding information to gardai.

Read More

The Irish Examiner's front page political piece reads 'Martin confident of breaching talks impasse' as the paper reports that the FF leader is confident of a major breakthrough on government formation as his party goes into serious talks with Fine Gael.

'Fine Gael to continue negotiations with Fianna Fail today' is the story from The Irish Times this morning.

Read More

Fears for the life of a cage fighter knocked out by an Irish MMA star is the story reported by the Irish Daily Star on their front page this morning. 'MMA star battles for life' is the headline as Portuguese fihter Joao Carvalho was rushed to hospital after going head-to-head with Charlie Ward.

The Irish Daily Mail lead with the tale that 'Irish water to buy 500,000 new water meters' as the company reportedly is to order the meters today at a cost of up to 88m - even though the utility abolition is central to government formation talks.

'Let me out too' reads the front page of The Irish Sun as the paper reports that Peru two mule Melissa Reid is praying to be let out of prison.

Howard Marks, the former drugs smuggler known as Mr Nice, has died, it has been reported.

The 70-year-old announced he had inoperable bowel cancer last year.

Read More

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams has cancelled a performance in Mississippi, citing the state's new law that allows religious groups and some private businesses to refuse service to gay couples.

The cancelled show was due to take place on Thursday at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi.

Read More

And finally, new footage has been released from the upcoming Harry Potter spin-off movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne, who stars as Newt Scamander in the film, introduced the new trailer at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles.
Irish and Scottish authorities are in discussion over a permanent memorial to Irish nurse Karen Buckley (24) who was brutally murdered in Scotland.

The revelation came as ceremonies will this week mark the first anniversary of the Cork student's killing in Glasgow on April 12 by Alexander Pacteau.

The Buckley family will hold a special anniversary Mass for Karen in her native Mourneabbey in north Cork on Friday while Glasgow will also stage a special memorial for the young student whose killing shocked the country.

The Cork ceremony coincides with the exact date Glasgow police confirmed they had recovered Karen's body on a farm four days after her disappearance.

Friends of Karen's, coupled with University of Limerick and Glasgow Caledonian University, are discussing the best way to commemorate the young woman with a permanent memorial.

One suggestion is for a scholarship in Karen's name.
Frontline gardai have issued a stark warning that they are not properly trained to counteract and tackle international terrorism and radical extremism.

Information about the threat is being confined to members of specialist units and sections at Garda Headquarters, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors has warned.

It said rank and file gardai received severe weather alerts but heard nothing about terror alerts. The AGSI stressed that the gardai had genuine concerns about the information vacuum and were not scaremongering.

The mid-ranking members of the force are calling on Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan to take immediate action.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald was due to address AGSI delegates this evening at their annual conference in Westport. But now she will not be attending because of her involvement in talks on forming a new government.

However, the Garda Commissioner will speak at the conference at midday tomorrow.

She will hear delegates' concerns about being left "in the dark" about the nature of the threat they potentially face from extremists and terrorists.

The demands for training and briefings on the scale of the international terrorist threat for their members nationwide are expected to be sanctioned by the annual conference.

Incoming AGSI president Antoinette Cunningham said information about the threat was confined to members of specialist units and sections at garda headquarters.

But gardai on frontline duties in other parts of the country were not being briefed on what could confront them in a terrorist situation.

She said an international terror scenario could emerge in key areas, such as Shannon and Cork airports or at universities.

A motion from the Kilkenny/Carlow and Tipperary branches wants the commissioner to carry out an in-depth critical-skills analysis of the capabilities of the frontline members to counteract and tackle terrorism and extremism.

Ms Cunningham said the study should examine whether those on the frontline had the capability, the knowledge and the training to perform their duties fully.

She pointed out that the London Metropolitan Police kept an updated brief on terror threats on its website and provided information for the public on what constituted suspicious behaviour and details of a hotline they could contact if they had concerns.

Similar information was not available on the garda website and they wanted regular updated briefings for members in garda stations.

This would ensure, Ms Cunningham said, that gardai were better informed and could be more vigilant.

The gardai are also concerned about the dangers they face as a result of the upsurge in violent crime and particularly the ongoing feud between rival factions in Dublin.

Delegations from Laois-Offaly want all uniformed gardai to be issued with personal ballistic vests when on frontline duties.

Gardai say violence reached new levels when criminals opened fire with assault rifles in the Regency hotel on the northside of Dublin in February.

Those providing the initial response to call-outs to an incident now face the increasing threat of coming under fire when carrying out their duties.

Weapons

And they have warned that stab vests cannot protect them if they are confronting armed criminals.

Garda Tony Golden was shot dead when he was called to investigate an incident at a house in Omeath, Co Louth last October.

Delegates are also seeking personal miniature cameras to be worn on their clothing for their own safety, the protection of the public and the collection and preservation of evidence.

The conference will also debate plans for a series of protests, including a march to the Dail on the first day of the new government, over the political failure to restore pay rates to the pre-recession 2008 levels.

Pay and industrial demands will feature prominently on the conference agenda, with a motion from the Garda College calling for a commission of inquiry into garda pay and conditions.
Laura Whitmore has no airs and graces about her. She is a woman who has rewritten the book on cool

Michelle Obama noted that "being smart is cooler than anything in the world."

"Coolness is not an image that can be bought or worn. True cool is an attitude that is projected from a person who is extremely comfortable in their own skin," wrote American author Suzy Kassem in her 2011 book Rise Up and Salute the Sun.

The last time I met Laura Whitmore she rewrote the book on cool. Despite wearing something probably designer-y, Laura held my then-six month old baby on her lap for 15 minutes while I attempted to interview her.

I was worried that Emilia would get, ever-so-gently, sick on the MTV superstar. The MTV superstar was, however, more worried about whether Emilia needed to be fed her bottle.

Babies are great at sussing out people - and my baby's instinct was clearly that Laura Whitmore was sufficiently sincere and lovely not to get sick on. Seven months later in a bar in Dublin, Laura Whitmore's first question isn't "How long is this going to take?" or "Is this going on the cover?" or "How great am I?" but - "How's the baby?" She wants to see pictures. She also wants to drink herbal tea and talk God, Donald Trump, Enda Kenny, honesty in men, Tayto crisps and inner, non-material matters.

"I am incredibly spiritual," she says. "I believe in working hard and being kind."

I ask her what is her greatest fear.

"To not appreciate what I have."

Laura Whitmore, I think you'll agree, is quite a self-aware and philosophical young woman. Certainly no clueless prepossessing pop muppet with a fixed grin and the vocabulary of a boiled egg.

She owns her past. It is her truth.

"My parents split up before I was born," says Laura, who was born on May 4, 1985. (For the record, she looks more 25 than almost 31.)

"My mum Carmel and dad are great mates. I am very lucky to have both in my life equally," Laura told me in an interview with the Sunday Independent's LIFE magazine last November.

"I've got two lovely half-brothers who are my full brothers to me. One is turning 17 next week - and he is a proper grown-up - and the other one is 20."

It says something about Laura Whitmore that her heroes are not chi-chi fashion designers and rock stars. Her heroes are, she says, her family."My mam. My friends. The people who graft and work hard behind the scenes without the glory."

When was the last time she cried?

"Watching the movie Brooklyn. I guess it drew some comparisons to my own life in a way," she says, referring to the fact that she moved to London from her native Bray in 2007.

She is wearing skinny jeans and a denim shirt today. It needs pointing out that Laura Whitmore wearing skinny jeans and a denim shirt looks more glamorous than some women in a haute couture frock by Christian Lacroix. Two nights previous, she says she was at home in London "sitting in a onesie watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine."

She says her favourite lyric of all-time is by The Frames. "Star, star, teach me how to shine, shine," she half-recites, half-sings.

"I have two star tattoos on my wrist," she adds, showing the tats. She has an idiosyncratic sense of humour. She says she'd bring a Martian who came down to Earth for the night "probably to a gig in London and a good boogie on a dance-floor. Maybe some curry ships on the way home." God bless her imagination. She names Roald Dahl as her favourite writer. "It's his fault I've such a vivid imagination."

What five items would she bring to a desert island?

"A phone. A ship with fuel. A captain. A bottle of Sancerre - and some Tayto."

I ask her what goes through her head when she is about to go live for I'm A Celebrity. . . Get Me Out Of Here! in front of millions of television viewers

"'Lets try not to f**k this up Laura,'" Laura who rarely if ever f**ks it up replies with a hearty laugh.

"I can't believe I've anchored that show for five years. The longest running anchor on the ITV2 show. It's a great crew and everyone works really hard. I'm not sure if it's maybe time for me to hang up the jungle boots for the next project soon. Though I've been saying that for a few years now"

Asked if she were to interview Donald Trump for MTV, what would be her opening question and why, she replies without hesitation: "If you could listen to one song before you die what would it be? Music taste tells a lot about a person."

Does she think his racism is as bad as his hairdo? "Donald Trump is an evil villain in a comic book movie. He is a real life Lex Luthor with worse hair. It scares me that a man who is not only racist but also extremely sexist has managed to get so far in life."

Is Laura a political person? "Not particularly. I care more about the issues than the politicians themselves," she says. "Someone once said, politics is showbiz for less attractive people."

"As human beings, a lot of us are naturally selfish - we care about the issues that affect us. That's maybe why homelessness is so bad in Ireland. If it doesn't directly affect us we don't care. But the Gay Marriage Referendum was truly a beautiful thing, because so many people cared. It got everyone talking. It's important to know what's happening around you. And no matter how insignificant it seems to use your vote if you can."

Enda Kenny or Micheal Martin?

"I've been living in London for eight years and have my own problems worrying about David Cameron," she says.

There is something very real about Laura Whitmore. Implacably decent, even normal - quite a feat for a beautiful young Irish woman who has enough global publicity, from UK and France Vogue to the New York Times, US Elle and Harper's Bazaar and beyond, to make her a bona fide international TV star - Laura Whitmore is not full of the proverbial. Full of compassion and indeed wit, she is the MC of the Rock Against Homelessness concert at the Olympia on April 24, which Independent News & Media have organised as part of the 'One For Ireland' campaign (which aims to raise 1m to fight youth homelessness) with proceeds from the concert going to Focus Ireland's youth projects.

How does the homeless situation in Ireland make Laura feel?

"I've been living in London for almost eight years, and although there are a lot of homeless people in this city, it always shocks me to see it's more prevalent, or at least apparent, at home in Ireland," she says.

I read her out some figures supplied by Focus Ireland: 208 families and 363 children have now become homeless in the first two months of this year, as a record total of 125 families became homeless in January. The number of homeless children in the capital has doubled in the last year, with 1,616 children in emergency accommodation compared to 803 in 2015.

"Those figures are beyond crazy when you consider we are talking about children being homeless - children, kids, who haven't even had a decent start at life."

It's sometimes hard to believe that this is happening in 2016 and in Ireland, a developed country, isn't it?

"Children are so vulnerable anyway and to have so many young people unprotected, exposed and have a safe childhood removed is both upsetting and sickening," she answers.

Why do you want to get involved in the Rock Against Homelessness concert? "I suppose, for me, live music is a feelgood event," she answers, referring to the fact that the concert features everyone from The Strypes to HamsandwicH to Le Galaxie to Something Happens and Mundy and Camille O'Sullivan. "So to be able to do something positive to create awareness and help something negative, is ambitious but makes sense," Laura continues.

"I have younger brothers and cousins who live in Ireland and although I spend a lot of time travelling, I feel a strong connection to issues at home. I also remember listening to Jarlath Regan podcast An Irishman Abroad with Mick Finnegan and how homelessness can affect people you wouldn't expect at all. If you haven't listened to it, I recommend it. Very honest and insightful."

Every eye in the place is on her the afternoon we met up in Dublin. Laura Whitmore is not just the most famous person in the room but one of the most famous people in Ireland. How many Irish female stars feature in Italian Vogue, as Laura did in 2014 when the magazine photographed her and her style at Glastonbury?

Or indeed what Irish female, upon meeting Florence Welch from Florence & The Machine on the plane over from London to Dublin a few years ago and being asked to come out on the town with Ms Welch, demurely declined thus: "I have to go to my mum's retirement party tonight"?

She is grounded and self-deprecating. Most big TV stars are crass and self-absorbed. This is probably something to do with growing up in a two-bed house in Bray where the soundtrack from her room was the sound of the Dart coming in.

She tells me the story of being at a Ralph Lauren dinner in the very grande Althorp House on 13,000 acres in Northamptonshire last summer and feeling - endearingly - "completely and utterly out of my league. It was at the Spencers' residence. Earl Spencer was hosting it with the Lauren family."

Lady Laura of MTV and ITV2 recalls sitting in the house where Lady Diana grew up "when Kitty Spencer, the Earl's daughter, says to me, 'Nice to meet you. I have to tell you something really embarrassing. You are my dad's crush'. I said, 'What?' And she said, 'My dad's favourite show is I'm A Celebrity.' I went - 'Jesus!'" Laura says now hooting with laughter.

She was doubtless hooting with a similar awed disbelief in April, 2008, when she won a once-in-lifetime job on MTV as a presenter; she beat over 3,000 other applicants on Pick Me MTV. "When I first started the MTV job," she told me in a 2012 interview, "I didn't know whether people were laughing along with me or at me. Or maybe it is the Irish mannerisms. You get away with murder, I find, when you're Irish. It's the banter."

Indeed when Laura first moved to London, she knew absolutely no one. "Now everyone is living in London," she added with a laugh in 2012. "Pretty much the entire country of Ireland is over there. I didn't think about it: I was just so excited to be living in London and working for MTV," said Laura, who had gone to Dublin City University (DCU).

Asked how does she explain Ireland to friends in London, Laura tells them that Irish people "are friendly and be prepared to have a good time.".

"When I was home for work before Easter," Laura continues, "we brought some work colleagues out on a night in Dublin. Let's say they had a very good time."

What things about Ireland do you miss?

"To be honest," she says, " I've been to Ireland three times in the last two weeks: twice for work and once for my brother's surprise 21st. It doesn't feel that different to popping to south London from north London sometimes."

Would she move back to Dublin one day or is she way too ambitious with her career in England and Europe to do that for a good few years yet?

"Who knows," she replies with Sphinx-like presence. "I love travelling, so not sure where or when I'll settle down. London is my home now but Dublin has a lovely spirit that I will always be connected to."

Would she like to get married one day?

"Yes - when the timing is right "

Are you conventional in the sense of settling down, getting hitched, having a few kids and living in domestic bliss in London?

"There's no such thing as conventional," Laura answers.

Is she a domestic goddess? Or a bit of a non-entity around the house?

"I'm a bit of a nester. I'm the one making cups of tea and snacks for everyone," says Laura, who lives with her friend Conor McDonnell - the photographer who did Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's wedding in Italy in 2014 - and her dog Mick, named after Mr Jagger. (Laura looks like an agreeable mutant of the aforesaid Mick's daughter Georgia May Jagger and Lara Stone.)

What is the quality she most likes in a man?

"Honesty."

Who was the greatest love of your life? "My family."

It's a bit like David Bowie's Space Oddity when Ground Control comes on the intergalactic telephone thingy to tells Major Tom that he's "really made the grade/And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear". I tell her that the Irish nation wants to know if she is single or in a relationship.

"It's not really their business," Laura says with a half-smile.

"Maybe I am dating someone..." she says, trailing off.

"But the dating world can be a scary place. A lot of my mates are on dating sites - they scare the shit of me!" Georgia May Jagger doppelganger Laura Whitmore says, meaning dating sites not her mates.

"But it is scary how things can get blown out of proportion. And I've learned a long time ago it's good to keep some things for yourself," she adds.

"It's unnecessary pressure to have people speculating. I've always been private with certain parts of my life. Sharing a picture of me and a boyfriend on Instagram, months after being followed unknowingly and pictured on a first date, doesn't mean I have to tell the world every single detail of my relationship. "

"And believe me, my life would be a lot more exciting if half the things written were true. I do find it difficult for a woman in this business that you get judged more on what you wear or who you are talking to than what's going on in your brain."

"And demeaning that as a girl if someone approaches you, it must of lead to something else. I'm not sure if guys get it the same. I'm just a girl at the end of the day getting on with life. But I always love having banter and chatting to people. Maybe it's an Irish thing 'the crack'.

"Most of the guys I've been pictured with are just people I've had a laugh with and some banter. Can you imagine being connected to everyone you chatted to on a night out?! What a scary thought. I'm very loyal to my friends and the people in my life. And they know me very well, thankfully and they know when things are fabricated."

What is her motto? "Work hard and be kind." True to her word of working hard, Laura is off to Los Angeles for TV commitments the day after we meet up in Dublin.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how actually swish and ritzy and fancy pants glam is Laura Whitmore's life? "Less than 4. I am always working."

On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you? "One of my good friends Max said to me recently that being happy is nothing to do with money or defining where you are. It's just waking up everyday and being appreciative of what you are doing, what you are experiencing and who you are with."

On a scale of 1 to 10, how accurate was the tabloid tale about you and Leo in London after the Baftas?

"Less than zero," she says and stops. "That's all you're getting!" She gives me that look - the kind of look House of Cards' Claire Underwood would give if she was the rock chick First Lady. I've interviewed Laura so many times over the years at this stage that I can read her mind by the look in her eyes at a question.

"I'm just a girl trying to work hard and get through life and some things are taken out of context or press write things that are completely untrue," she texts me later, "so you have to learn to protect yourself. I find saying nothing is better."

A major pop music devotee like Laura will, of course, be well aware of The Tremeloes singing: 'Silence is golden, golden; But my eyes still see/ Talkin' is cheap, people follow like sheep.'

Presented by Independent News & Media, Rock Against Homelessness is on at Dublin's Olympia theatre on April 24. MC for the night is Laura Whitmore. Camille O'Sullivan, HamsandwicH, The Strypes, Le Galaxie, Something Happens, Mundy and Friends, Brian Kennedy, Heathers, Jerry Fish, The Stunning and The Celtic Tenors will perform, as well as a very famous surprise guest on the night. Proceeds from the concert will go to Focus Ireland's youth projects through the One For Ireland campaign.Tickets for Rock Against Homelessness are available from Ticketmaster Outlets Nationwide, and cost 25.00. Phone & Internet Bookings are subject to 12.5pc service charge per ticket, agents 2.15.
The iconic Danube river that splits the fascinating city of Budapest, overlooked by the imposing Szechenyi Chain Bridge and the Royal Palace

From castles and spas to bazaars, restaurants and festivals, Budapest is a world-class city break, says Christopher Jackson.

It was mid-August and the temperature was over 40 degrees - one of the hottest days ever recorded in Budapest. Sweat trickled down my brow, and my jeans - already uncomfortably tight from a night filled with beer and burgers - started to cling to my damp thighs.

Matti, my Finnish colleague, was in shorts. He, much like everyone else, must have checked the forecast. I, on the other hand, just in from rainy London, had not.

I had been there less than 20 minutes and already my T-shirt was soaked through. It was too much. I made my excuses to the group leader and left my Finnish, German and Polish colleagues behind. I dashed along the hard-packed ground, ducking and diving through the topless throngs of young men and women with dark shades and toned abs, searching for somewhere that could offer some remedy from the heat.

I found a shop selling overpriced T-shirts, shorts, flip-flops and sunscreen. I bought it all and made my way to the VIP area (press credentials has its perks) where I changed in a toilet. After much scrambling about, I emerged afresh - trouser-free and ready to join the sweltering, semi-clad masses at one of the biggest dates on Europe's festival calendar, Sziget.

Started in 1993, Sziget is now one of Europe's biggest and best music festivals. Last year's festival attracted over 400,000 visitors from more than 90 countries, while in 2014 it was crowned 'Best Major Festival' by the European Festival Awards. Set on the 108-hectare Obuda Island in the Danube (the same river that inspired Johann Strauss to compose his famous waltz), the 2015 iteration featured artists from more than 50 countries performing on dozens of stages dotted all over the island.

Headliners included Robbie Williams, Florence and the Machine, and The Kings of Leon. Unfortunately I missed Florence and Robbie (although I didn't mind missing him), but I did manage to see The Kings of Leon perform to a great sea of people which swelled to a huge crescendo as they played Sex on Fire.

The 'Island of Freedom', as the 2015 festival's tagline went, had a progressive vibe to it - as it was always intended to have by its socially progressive organisers, who seemed most excited by the fact that Pussy Riot would be there. Sziget 2015 didn't just promote diversity, it celebrated it - both on and off the stage.

The individually themed stages ranged from a Blues-Irish stage (although it didn't seem particularly Irish to me) to a vast outdoor dance arena made entirely from wooden pallets and replete with a 10-foot wolf's head. Aside from enjoying the music, you could get a haircut, a tattoo, do your laundry and even play chess against locals in a dedicated games tent, while close to the main stage you could watch acrobats perform high-wire trapeze acts.

A constant barrage of sound and colour, Sziget's carnival atmosphere left me exhausted (although the heat played a part) yet wanting more.

But what makes Sziget all the better is that it doesn't take place in some far-flung field miles from the nearest town, but in one of Europe's grandest capitals. Settled by the Celts, conquered by the Romans, pillaged by the Mongols and ruled by the Turks, Budapest was already one of Europe's most storied and cosmopolitan cities by the time it became the second capital of the great Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Divided by the Danube, Budapest is two cities - south of the river is Buda, north of it Pest. They're joined by a series of impressive bridges, the most magnificent being the Szechenyi Chain Bridge.

Throughout both are reminders of its both proud and painful past. In Buda, set on the hills overlooking Pest, is the castle district, where the sprawling Buda Castle is the centrepiece of a complex of winding cobbled streets, beautiful 19th century townhouses and quaint stone churches with high steeples. A World Heritage Site, Buda is very much for tourists, and has more of a laid-back feel than the more modern Pest.

But Pest's modernity is relative. Much of it dates from the 18th and 19th centuries, and its wide avenues, flanked by ornately decorated period buildings, alludes to its imperial past - allusions furthered by its opulent squares, museums, theatres and churches, and, most of all, the fabulous Gothic Revival-style Parliament that dominates the Pest river in much the same way the castle does Buda's.

Pest is also home to Szechenyi Baths. Nestled in leafy City Park, amid stunning Baroque-style buildings, it's Europe's largest medicinal bath complex. Rich in sulphate, calcium and other minerals, its warm waters, supplied by two natural springs, are believed to remedy a range of ailments. I'm not sure if that's true, but its thermal pools, saunas and steam rooms were the perfect festival respite - although I'd advise getting there early, as it can get quite crowded.

Budapest is more than just spas (Szechenyi is one of many) and stately buildings. Lying off its back streets are charming cafes, bazaars, markets and other treats that testify to its vibrancy, many of which can be found around the old Jewish quarter.

In Gouba, a lively bazaar (open on Sundays), excited and eccentric traders tried to sell me an array of antiques and trinkets, while in nearby Szimpla, a farmer's market, I was offered thick cuts of bread, sausage and other delicacies before I discovered the rustic-chic bar in the back, where I more than sampled the local brews (pints are less than 2).

Indeed, Budapest has become something of a gastronomic destination (I recommend Baltazhar's in Buda), with numerous high-end restaurants popping up all over the city in recent years, including several Michelin Star restaurants.

When you also its consider the draw of its celebrated night-spots and spas, in addition to its cheap prices (palatial five-star hotels can cost less than 100 a night), it's easy to see why Budapest is now one of Europe's premier city destinations, with Sziget being one of just many arrows in its considerable quiver.
You don't have to be a five-star or frequent traveller to start benefiting from travel rewards, says Pol O Conghaile.

Travel rewards aren't all about air miles and mega-hotel brands. Nor do you have to amass a gazillion points just to earn an extra croissant.

Some loyalty programmes don't get as much attention, but can be joined with minimal hassle, and start delivering small benefits surprisingly quickly.

Take Jurys Rewards. It offers free premium Wi-Fi, along with member-only sales and booking discounts before you've even earned a point.

Similarly, Select Hotels of Ireland (a group of 26 independently-owned hotels) has a 'Stay Select Club' offering late check-outs and early check-ins where available, along with free newspapers and exclusive offers for members - from the get-go.

It's worth checking whether your favourite Irish hotel is a member of a bigger scheme, too. Brooks Hotel in Dublin, Adare's Dunraven Arms and Cork's Hayfield Manor are members of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, for example - its loyalty club offers a free room upgrade on every booking, subject to availability.

The Dylan in Dublin and Meath's Bellinter House are part of Mr & Mrs Smith's boutique collection, too - its members get a 'Smith Extra' with every stay. At Bellinter, that's a 55-minute Les Luneides bath treatment for two.

Of course, rewards programmes should be entered into sparingly, and with your eyes open. This is a two-way exchange (hotels benefit from your data and repeat business), and nobody wants an inbox flooded with spammy offers. Tailored to your travel habits, however, it's surprising the perks a few little experiments can bring.

In the know

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If you like your travel deals, one website worth a look is holidayguru.ie.

Run by four Irish people based in Germany, and part of a European network of travel bloggers, the business trawls the internet for cheap travel offers, with around 191k Irish among its Facebook following (facebook.com/holidayguru.ie).

If you're on Facebook, incidentally, check out #MagicMonday, our weekly pick of the Top 5 travel deals in Ireland. Like our page ( facebook.com/IndoTravel.ie) and you'll get it in your feed every Monday at 7.45am. Not a bad start to the week!

Eat and earn

One final tip this week - if you're anything like me, one of your main outgoings will be supermarket shopping bills. That's a necessary spend, but you can leverage it for holidays, too. Supervalu's (supervalugetawaybreaks.com) and Tesco's (clubcardbreaks.ie) rewards schemes allow members to redeem points against discounted breaks, while Lidl Breaks (lidlbreaks.ie) simply does discounted holidays, without the need for points. Before you book, check in with the hotel directly. You never know what counter-offer it may make!
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John Downing Opinion Pension reforms are dicey territory  but grand plan by minister Heather Humphreys just might win through

Pension system changes all across the western world have a great propensity to infuriate those most feared by politicians: the grey brigade. And when the oldies take to the streets, they usually play for keeps.
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Mary Kenny Opinion A male contraceptive jab is on the way, but will it truly equalise reproductive control?

It looks as though a male contraceptive vaccine will be available within the next year, according to Dr Amanda Wilson at De Montfort University in Leicester. The jab is called Risug, and it could obviate the demand for vasectomies  which is falling anyway. The vaccine, which has completed its final trials, would be reversible, so it is not as radical as vasectomy.
The annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors is taking place today Stock photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

We must plan for the worst and hope for the best when it comes to the new terrorist threat Ireland faces, along with all western democracies. That is the brutal lesson of recent horrors in Paris and Brussels.

Today, senior gardai, gathered in Westport for the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), will spell out their fears about potential attacks arising from the new kind of subversive threat posed by al-Qa'ida, Isil and their myriad affiliates. Few of us will be surprised to learn that AGSI members fear there are large gaps in our state of preparedness.

It is probably equally unsurprising to hear that the limited knowledge and expertise that the security services do possess is very much centred on the Dublin area. That leaves a large vacuum in other centres of population around the country, leaving opportunities for radical men and women of violence to plan and prepare with impunity.

During the years of what we still euphemistically refer to as 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland, the Defence Forces, An Garda Siochana and the Irish Prison Service did the citizens of this State some considerable service. They stood their ground at a time when our democratic institutions were threatened - and some of their members paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Alas, the remnant of that threat persists and our security services remain preoccupied by it.

Meanwhile, a newer but more recondite threat faces us all. It is a threat we struggle to understand and we are left with cultural and linguistic gaps as we try to come to terms with it.

Of course, the AGSI is essentially a trade union dedicated to its members' welfare. But it also has a record of responsible behaviour and carefully chosen words when speaking on matters of State security. Nor is it in its members' interests to "stoke things up" on this issue.

For all these reasons, we hope the authorities will listen to AGSI calls for a full evaluation of garda preparedness to deal with these threats, including the dispersal of trained personnel and equipment around the country.

Moreover, this issue is yet another reminder of the need for prompt agreement on stable government.

The housing shortage must be tackled - now

We need to address - and address urgently - the shortage of housing supply and to tackle the high cost base of construction in particular. This must be a top priority for whatever new government emerges from the current political miasma.

That is the main lesson from the latest Daft.ie house price study, outlined in this newspaper today. The survey notes that prices are static around Dublin - which was traditionally the country's most expensive market.

But outside Dublin, there have been significant price rises - something that is undoubtedly fuelled by a lack of supply. Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway have all recorded hefty increases.

The report's author notes that supply is at its lowest level since the economic crash - and this problem must be tackled. Housing is the key issue facing this country right now, as it threatens both our economic and social wellbeing. We need a government - and a new and empowered Housing Minister - to take this issue head-on.

But we also need to depoliticise the issue and agree a cross-party strategy in order to get more houses built.
Micheal Martin: the onus is on him and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny Photo: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Ego is one of the key reasons why a government hasn't been formed in the current Dail.

Egos, egos and more egos are the reasons why deputies elected to Dail Eireann in February are failing to set aside party differences and personal pride to form a government of the Irish Republic that was first declared in 1916.

Our democratically chosen politicians, who were elected almost a month and-a-half ago by public ballot to form a government to govern our Republic, are more than able to work together, irrespective of party or political persuasion, at local level.

There, party differences are often put to one side almost incongruently in order to achieve workable local government arrangements.

We, the taxpayers, constituents and citizens of this sovereign nation, pay our taxes and fund the State.

We elected a hung Dail because we want the political class to work together in an adult and egoless way to govern us. It has now taken over 40 days and still a stable government is no nearer.

Perish the thought of what would happen in our Republic if we, as the people of Ireland, were faced with a real crisis.

Having no stable government in our Republic is a genuine national crisis and every day the crisis deepens further.

Paul Horan, Assistant Professor, Trinity College, Dublin

Capitalism leads to poverty

In his article 'Memo to TDs: capitalism is the greatest destroyer of poverty ever devised', (Irish Independent, April 8), David Quinn puts forward a number of arguments in favour of Chicago School economics.

Mr Quinn cherry-picks some statistics to show that neo-liberal policies reduce poverty.

He conveniently omits the fact that in Russia the number of people living in poverty increased by over 70 million in the years after free-market capitalism had been introduced there in the 1990s.

He also ignores the failure of neo-liberal policies to remedy the truly appalling poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, which is long an embarrassment to the champions of Thatcherism.

In the 1980s, neo-liberal policies were forced on African governments and from 1990 to 2010 the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa living in extreme poverty climbed steadily, from 290 million to 414 million, according to the United Nations.

Market forces appear to be Mr Quinn's preferred means of resolving the housing crisis. However, markets alone cannot be relied upon for provision of essential needs, such as housing, because markets cater to wants backed up by money, not needs. That is why the market has given us the 'selfie stick' while 795 million people are chronically undernourished.

The superfluous desires of those with the means to back up those desires are of more direct concern to the market than the necessities of the poor.

That is why, at a minimum, housing and core public services require the involvement of the State.

Osal Kelly, Delgany, Co Wicklow

Power is the politicians' drug

When will we understand that the failure of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to come to an accommodation in the best interests of Ireland has nothing to do with political differences but all to do with who holds power for the sake of holding power?

There is not an ounce of political difference between the two parties and the continued charade of posturing and counter-posturing eloquently highlights the contempt of the leading members of both parties to the people of our country.

Ireland has a difficult path to follow. Many of us have suffered greatly over the last decade and we need our politicians to devote themselves to finding a solution that will benefit our children and grandchildren.

What we have seen so far is people in power whose only concern is for themselves.

Harry Spillane, Mount Merrion, Dublin

Switching off from politics

In my world, I have a lot more going on than allowing TDs shout: "Hey, I'm important, look at me."

Give me a break. I still have my walks, my books, my movies, my weekend pints, my friends, my fighting with exercise and food and much, much more.

In my world, people like me get on with our lives.

To you TDs, who are focused on your self-preservation, we will survive without you.

Damien Carroll, Kingswood, Dublin 24

This impasse has real costs

Weeks ago, we elected 150-plus supposedly intelligent people to lead us as a country. As yet, we have seen no sign of its formation. It is now beyond a joke and international creditors must be looking on with some anxiety. Remember, every 0.1pc increase in our 200bn loan means a yearly increase of 0.2bn in interest payments.

All I'm seeing is verbal posturing and point-scoring. We need to knock heads together and focus minds.

My suggestion, as they are doing no constructive work at present, would be to reduce every TD's salary by half until a government is formed.

After all, hunger is a great sauce.

Aidan Hampson, Artane, Dublin

It's time for the intelligentsia

If Fine Gael and Fianna Fail cannot make the art of the impossible possible and form a new government, then perhaps the leaders of these parties could agree to nominate 11 intellectuals to take up seats in the Seanad.

The 11 could be appointed ministers, with the leaders of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael then agreeing to become joint-taoiseach for a two-year period.

This way, politicians who revel in telling all and sundry that they always act on the advice of experts would for the first time be able to say so truthfully.

Declan Foley, Berwick, Australia

Pledge to put country first

It is reported that some TDs are irritated by the practice of reciting a Christian prayer before opening each session of the Dail.

Given what we are hearing and seeing, might I suggest that perhaps an individual pledge might be more appropriate?

I suggest something along the lines of: "Today, I pledge to serve neither self-interest nor party, but only the people and the common good."

And pigs will fly, of course.

Jim O'Sullivan, Rathedmond, Sligo
The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are coming to terms with the cold mathematical reality of chasing delegates ahead of their nominating conventions, with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump driving for challenge-proof majorities against rivals who won't go away.

For Mr Trump, who remains well short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nod, that means his campaign focuses on developing a delegate-centred strategy similar to the one that rival Ted Cruz has pursued for months.

"A more traditional approach is needed and Donald Trump recognizes that," Paul Manafort, Mr Trump's new delegate chief, said yesterday on NBC's 'Meet the Press'.

For Ms Clinton, who lost Wyoming on Saturday night to Bernie Sanders, it means maintaining her commanding leads among delegates and popular votes no matter how many states Mr Sanders wins - or how much "momentum" he claims. Key to her drive is securing a win on April 19 in New York, which she represented in the US Senate.

Asked in a CNN interview that aired yesterday whether she's quietly preparing a strategy in the unlikely event of a contested Democratic convention, she replied, "No, I intend to have the number of delegates that are required to be nominated."

With neither front-runner strong enough to claim inevitability, their challengers stuck to the hope that, by winning more races and cosying up to delegates, they stand a chance of eventually grabbing their respective party nominations.

For Ohio Governor John Kasich, it's about winning enough delegates to keep all candidates from locking up the majority. And that means sowing doubts about the effect that a Trump or Cruz nomination would have on the party. He said there's "great concern" not just about how each would represent the GOP, but about the prospect of a massive loss in November.

"We would lose seats all the way from the statehouse to the courthouse" - meaning races all down the ballot, Mr Kasich told CBS's 'Face the Nation'.

Mr Sanders, behind Ms Clinton by hundreds of delegates and more than 2.4 million votes, is pointing to statewide wins in seven of the last eight contests. But his latest victory in Wyoming did nothing to help him in the delegate chase: Both he and Ms Clinton got seven delegates.

On CBS, Mr Sanders noted that the contest has moved from the conservative South - "Not a stronghold for me" - into states like New York, Pennsylvania and California where he expects to do well. "Our plan right now is to win this thing," he said.

On the Republican side, Mr Trump continued to try to catch up to Mr Cruz's ground operation, which is months ahead and trying to eat into Mr Trump's home state support in pockets of New York.

Ms Clinton has 1,287 delegates based on primaries and caucuses, compared to Mr Sanders's 1,037. When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Ms Clinton has 1,756, or 74pc of the number needed to clinch the nomination. Mr Sanders has 1,068.

Mr Trump still has a narrow path to nailing down the Republican nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, but he has little room for error. He would need to win nearly 60pc of all the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. So far, he's winning about 45pc.
An Isil-supporting teenager in prison in Australia carved a slogan on the forehead of his cellmate, writing "e4e - a reference to the Biblical phrase "an eye for an eye".

Bourhan Hraichie, 18, reportedly engraved the letters onto his 40-year-old cellmate during the attack last week, an apparent reference to the Islamic State revenge mantra "an eye for an eye".

Hraichie is alleged to have placed a towel over the face of his victim, who was reported to be a former soldier, and poured boiling water over him. The man was taken to hospital with injuries to his head and burns to his face.

NSW Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin said: "(The attack) appears to have had a strong fundamentalist element to it".

"(Hraichie) clearly identified himself as a radical. I am appalled that these two inmates were placed in the same cell.

David Elliott, the corrections minister in the state of New South Wales, described the attack as disgusting.

"This is not the way that a civilised society treats its prisoners," he told 2GB Radio.

The prison manager has been suspended after it emerged that Hraichie was a maximum security prisoner and that his cellmate was a minimum security prisoner.
Security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Somali capital Mogadishu (AP)

A car bomb has exploded outside a restaurant packed with lunchtime customers in the Somali capital of Mogadishu killing at least five people.

The restaurant in the capital's Hamarweyne district is close to the municipal government headquarters and in a busy commercial area.

Mohammed Mahdi said he saw at least five people covered in blood outside the headquarters, while shopkeeper Yusuf Ali said the car bomb exploded while the area was filled with shoppers.

Al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida, has been carrying out a campaign of deadly violence targeting government officials and international troops, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital.

Neighbouring Kenya, which has sent troops to fight the Islamic extremists in Somalia, has also been repeatedly attacked by al-Shabab.
A body believed to be that of a missing junior doctor has been been found, police said.

Rose Polge, 25, who works at Torbay Hospital in Devon, has not been seen since February 12.

A woman's body was recovered from the sea east of Portland Headland in Dorset on April 1 but has not yet been formally identified, Devon and Cornwall Police said.

Dr Polge's family have been informed.

In a statement, the force said: "Police are currently working on the belief that the body is that of 25-year-old missing person Rose Polge, from Torquay.

"Devon and Cornwall Police are working with Dorset Police and the Coroner's Office on this matter, and await the results of the formal identification."

Dr Polge's car was discovered in a car park near Anstey's Cove in Torquay, a shingle beach backed by hillside with thick woodland, at 6pm on Friday February 12.

Police officers and divers, with the Coastguard, RNLI and Dartmoor search and rescue, have been involved in the hunt for her.

A hoodie found on the beach is understood to have been identified as belonging to Dr Polge.

It also emerged that she had left a note to loved ones before she disappeared.

It is understood that UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was mentioned in passing in the note, which was addressed to her friends and family and was not political.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said at the time: "We would not speculate on any contents of any note."
A migrant man carries his daughter during a protest at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece. Photo: AP

Dozens of migrants and refugees were wounded yesterday when Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds on the Greek side of the border, aid workers said, an act condemned by Greece as "dangerous and deplorable".

More than 10,000 migrants and refugees have been stranded at the Greek border outpost of Idomeni since February after a cascade of border shutdowns across the Balkans closed off their route to central and western Europe.

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Whatsapp Credit: Anne O Rourke - Greek Refugee Crisis

An earlier attempt by a large group of migrants to cross the border fence had resulted in the confrontation, a Macedonian official said.

Greece said police on the Macedonian side of their joint frontier used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to push back the migrants. Macedonian authorities would only confirm they used teargas.

A deputy field coordinator with medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told Reuters that of around 300 people treated, more than 30 had wounds caused by rubber bullets.

There were many women and children who had respiratory problems from teargas exposure, he said.

Meanwhile an Irish woman helping refugees in a camp along the border condemned the use of tear gas, saying: "These people are refugees, not terrorists."

Anne O'Rorke, a retired businesswoman from Waterford, along with her sister Lisa Kelly, from Rush, Co Dublin, is volunteering with the refugees.

"Today was horrific. Horrific. There are 11,000 people in the main camp and 5,000 are children.

"They are doctors and nurses and florists and village people; they are you and me, they are 'us' in different circumstances," said Anne.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Nuria travelling to Germany with her family, hoping to find a home there Credit: Anne O Rourke - Greek Refugee Crisis Fatma thankful for new bag & doll from Ireland Credit: Anne O Rourke - Greek Refugee Crisis / Facebook

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Whatsapp Nuria travelling to Germany with her family, hoping to find a home there Credit: Anne O Rourke - Greek Refugee Crisis

The sisters are helping by preparing and distributing food to the migrants.

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Anne said yesterday that some of the migrants decided to cut through the wire fence running through fields which form the border between Greece, where the main refugee camp is, and Macedonia.

She said some were carrying children, others were pushing old people in wheelchairs and "there are five-year-old children who have only known war".

She said following the firing of tear gas: "Their eyes were burning and they were screaming and running. These children live in tents next to the fence. Tonight their tents are full of tear gas. Thank God it rained."

Police in Skopje said three officers were also hurt.

More than a million people fleeing conflict poured into Europe, mainly through Greece, in the past year.

The European Union (EU) is implementing an accord under which all new arrivals to Greece will be sent back to Turkey if they do not meet asylum criteria.

A Macedonian official said a large group of migrants left the Idomeni camp on Sunday morning and stormed towards the fence.

"They threw rocks at the Macedonian police. The police fired tear gas in response," the official said.

"The migrants were pushing against the fence but standing on the Greek side of the border. The fence is still there, they have not broken through."

Reuters witnesses said a small group of migrants attempted to talk to Macedonian border guards, asking for them to open the border.

After being given a negative response, they and other migrants started walking towards the fence.

Macedonian police fired teargas, and some migrants hurled back some gas cannisters and rocks, they said. A Macedonian police spokesman said the situation at the border was under control but still tense, he added.
The future of one of Europe's oldest stud farms is in doubt after two horses belonging to the wife of Charlie Watts, the drummer of The Rolling Stones, died in rapid succession.

Shirley Watts withdrew her other horses last week from 199-year-old state-owned Janow Podlaski stud in eastern Poland after the death of two mares with a combined value of 570,000. Other wealthy owners may now follow suit.

Ms Watts has also threatened to sue the Polish government over the loss.

The deaths came just weeks after the government sacked the stud's director of 38 years and replaced him with an economist who admits to knowing little about horses.

Mr Watts and his wife of 52 years are among Britain's most high-profile horse breeders. Ms Watts regularly entertains buyers at her 600-acre Halsdon Arabians stud. The business is estimated to be worth around 10m (12m). "I am going to sue them because of the way they treated my mares. They also kept me in the dark," Ms Watts told 'The Guardian'.

The Polish government sacked the management board of Janow Podlaski and fired Marek Trela, its director.

His replacement by Marek Skomorowski attracted the ire of influential figures in the Arabian horse breeding world, and prompted allegations that the government was putting its people in positions of authority in order to cement its hold on power.

The government has dismissed the accusations, citing a "lack of adequate supervision over the breeding and veterinary supervision of purebred Arabian horses at Janow Podlaski" as the reason for the sackings.

Krzysztof Jurgiel, the agriculture minister, has also accused people who "wanted to defend the old status quo" of smearing the reputation of the stud.

The government has, however, initiated a criminal investigation into the deaths of Ms Watts's horses. Mr Jurgiel said that to have two horses die so suddenly gave "reasonable grounds for suspicion" that the deaths were the "intentional acts of third parties".

Initial reports attribute one of the deaths to a twisted colon, but investigators have found traces of an antibiotic generally given to poultry in some horses' feed. Although scientists concluded the drug was not given in levels that were dangerous, it raised questions as to why the drug was even being given to horses.
Germany is considering a request from Turkey to prosecute a TV comedian who wrote a crude poem about the Turkish president, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said.

The request poses an awkward choice for the German leader as she relies on Turkey to reduce the influx of migrants to Europe.

Turkey sent a diplomatic note making "a formal request for criminal prosecution" of comedian Jan Boehmermann, spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

Mr Boehmermann read the poem on ZDF television two weeks ago to illustrate what he said would not be allowed in Germany, contrasting it with another channel's satirical song that also poked fun at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Germany's ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry in Ankara last month to hear a protest over that song.

While the German government defended the song as legitimate free speech, it has strongly distanced itself from the poem. Mr Seibert has said that Ms Merkel and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu agreed the poem was "deliberately offensive".

Germany's criminal code provides for up to three years in prison or a fine for insulting a foreign head of state.

However, it stipulates that such offences are only prosecuted if the country in question seeks prosecution and the German government allows it.

Mr Seibert told reporters that officials would take several days to decide whether to allow prosecutors to proceed in the case, but stressed that Ms Merkel holds free speech in high regard. It is "negotiable neither at home nor abroad", he said.

German officials have appeared at pains to avoid causing further friction with Mr Erdogan, steering clear of direct criticism of the president in recent weeks amid Turkey's sharp response to German satire.

Ms Merkel championed the European Union-Turkey deal for Ankara to take back migrants who travel illegally to Greece.

Mr Seibert said he was stressing Ms Merkel's dedication to free speech "to counter the impression that the freedom of opinion and art ... no longer has the necessary high value for the chancellor just because she, along with other Europeans, wants to resolve the refugee question in partnership with Turkey".

In Turkey, Mr Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that "this kind of attack, including insults and rude statements to a country's president and also targeting a society, has nothing to do with freedom of expression or with press freedom."

"It is an insult everywhere in the world, and it is a crime," he said, adding that "those who publish this kind of ugliness ... apparently are annoyed with improved relations" between Germany and Turkey.

A senior German opposition lawmaker called on Ms Merkel to reject the Turkish call for Mr Boehmermann's prosecution.

Left Party parliamentary caucus leader Sahra Wagenknecht noted that in Turkey, more than 1,800 cases have been opened against people accused of insulting Mr Erdogan since he came to office.

"If Merkel caves in in the Boehmermann case, he will be able to strike at will in Germany as well in the future," she said.
Syrian and Russian forces are preparing a joint operation to retake Aleppo, the country's largest city, they announced yesterday.

Opposition groups, meanwhile, have warned that the fragile ceasefire is now on the verge of collapse.

Wael al-Halaki, Syria's prime minister, told a delegation of Russian legislators of plans to "liberate" Aleppo from "illegal armed groups".

While an offensive is thought unlikely to succeed, it would push more civilians towards Turkey as refugees.

The move comes a month after a promised draw-down of his forces by President Vladimir Putin, who declared that their mission had been accomplished.

He withdrew some Russian forces, but maintained an air base in Latakia and kept up strikes on Isil.

The deployment of the Russian air force to Syria last year helped tip the war in favour of President Bashar al-Assad as it bombed rebels supported by his enemies, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States.

The use of Russian firepower in the government offensive to retake Aleppo clouds the future of a fragile ceasefire that is currently holding across most of the country.

The Syrian opposition has warned that while the truce had largely held so far, despite numerous violations, it is about to disintegrate.

"Over the last 10 days, we have seen a very serious deterioration and the ceasefire is about to collapse," said Bassma Kodmani, a member of the high negotiations committee of the Syrian opposition.

Aleppo, formerly Syria's economic capital and the country's second city, has been divided since 2012 between zones held by rebel groups and areas still under government control.

Clashes around Aleppo killed at least 16 pro-regime fighters and 19 members of Al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate, and allied rebel groups within a 24-hour period, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday. Free Syrian Army groups blamed the fighting on government violations.

"The air strikes are now roughly back to what they were," said Mohamed Rasheed, head of the media office with the Jaysh al-Nasr rebel group.

A Syrian military source said: "The battles are raging because  armed groups that were part of the (truce) joined Nusra in the attack."

The Observatory also reported fighting yesterday between government and rebel forces near the opposition-held town of Douma outside the capital, Damascus.

A ceasefire between the Assad regime and the rebels, brokered by Washington and Moscow, has been in place since February 27.

The truce does not include areas where Isil the Nusra Front are present.

Talks seeking to end the Syrian war are due to resume in Geneva on April 13.
SHARE Julio Alvarez Torres stands beside Lola, a 1956 Chevy Bel Air in the NostalgiCar fleet.

By Mimi Whitefield/Miami Herald

Julio Alvarez Torres started business with a single refurbished 1955 Chevy Bel Air that had been in his family for decades and put it into service in 2010 driving tourists around the city.

They liked the feeling of going back in time, and Alvarez and other cuentapropistas  self-employed entrepreneurs  liked the fact that the pointy fins, heavy chrome and streamlined hood ornaments of 1950s cars could be put to work to earn them a living.

After the 1959 revolution, Cuba became something of a car museum: the trade embargo made it impossible to import the big American automobiles Cubans loved and economic problems made it difficult to bring in much of anything except Russian-made Ladas and small Fiats. Now other makes of new imported cars are making their way to the island but they're extremely expensive.

With Russian engines, homemade parts and sheer ingenuity, somehow they kept old American cars chugging through city streets. Others carefully guarded their American cars in garages and only took them out for weekly or even more infrequent spins.

Cuba has allowed limited self-employment since the early 1990s but in 2010 when the government began emphasizing self-employment as a way to reduce bloated state payrolls, the old cars became a hot commodity.

Now lines of big-finned beauties, 1950s convertibles and two-tone models buffed to a gleaming shine wait outside the Hotel Nacional and other Havana tourist hotels to take visitors for spins along the Malecon, pick them up or drop them at the airport or ferry them to attractions and business appointments.

Alvarez began by parking his car outside the Hotel Nacional and offering his services as a taxi driver, but now he has taken the nostalgia craze to a whole new level.

Today, he and his wife Nidialys Acosta oversee a fleet of 22 classic private cars and drivers that form a loose association called NostalgiCar. Alvarez also has started an off-shoot called Garaje NostalgiCar, a garage that refurbishes vintage cars and employs eight workers. He calls the garage, which has refurbished his own cars and those of others, his Plan B.

The couple owns two of the fleet cars, a 1955 blue Chevy Bel Air and a 1956 pink-and-white Bel Air called Lola that could possibly be the most photographed classic car in Cuba. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sat behind Lola's pink steering wheel during an April business mission to Cuba as the cameras whirred.

When Alvarez lifted Lola's hood to show the governor the old engine had died and been replaced by a four-cylinder Toyota diesel engine, Cuomo said seeing a Chevy with a Toyota engine was a first for him.

Lola is a looker with whitewall tires and pink rims, pink and white plastic-covered upholstery and even lipstick-pink car locks. But another silver-gray 1956 Bel Air in the fleet has its original engine and a big-cat purr that makes Lola seem like a kitten.

Alvarez says he's constantly in touch with the government about possibly turning NostalgiCar into a cooperative. Many formerly state-run beauty salons, barbershops and other service companies have been turned over to their workers who run them independently on a profit-and-loss basis as the government seeks to pare state payrolls.

But so far he hasn't had a positive response, so each driver/owner is an individual cuentapropista. "Today we're not a company or a cooperative," Alvarez said. "There's not the legal framework to do what we want." But he's content to leave the structure of the garage as it is because he said he doesn't think the employees are prepared to become his partners and so far all the investment has been his capital.

Most of the other NostalgiCar owners reinvest about 70 percent of what they earn into their automobiles, and with the remaining 30 percent, "they live better than any state worker," said Alvarez.

Alvarez, who studied mechanical engineering, first joined forces with five friends who also had classic cars. NostalgiCar grew quickly from five classic cars to 11 to 22.

But Alvarez said his dream is to have a company that provides services with a fleet of cars that he has refurbished and owns and that has drivers that he employs. "Right now I am preparing for the future," he said.

Even though Alvarez and his wife get no commissions from the other drivers in the NostalgiCar group, he said working collectively helps them get volume and name recognition.

The early name of the association was Renta Clasico Chevrolet, but when they tried to register it, they, of course, found they couldn't because the Chevrolet trademark was taken.

After that, they came up with the NostalgiCar name, which they are in the process of trying to register in the United States as well.

A big break came in November 2013, when the Ministry of Tourism allowed the owners of classic cars to sign contracts with state tourism agencies for transportation services.

But in April, he said, the ministry revoked the resolution. It has been resubmitted and Alvarez said car owners are once again allowed to sign contracts with the state.

Meanwhile, NostalgiCar keeps banging up against market barriers that hamper growth and profits. "There are millions of difficulties and obstacles," said Alvarez. "It's a country that's constantly changing, looking to find its way without renouncing our values."

Although new U.S. regulations allow some products produced by private Cuban entrepreneurs to be exported to the United States, refurbished cars aren't included on the list of permissible products.

Then there's the problem of getting the parts needed to bring the cars back to their glory days.

Parts are hard to get in Cuba, so Alvarez often turns to Danchuk Manufacturing, a Santa Ana, California, company that makes 1955-1957 Chevrolet replacement parts, MAC's Antique Auto Parts in Lockport, New York, and even eBay.

Like so many things in Cuba, there is a Miami connection. Because he hasn't been able to buy direct, Alvarez works with a Miami middleman who purchases the parts that the garage needs with his credit card for a 20 percent surcharge and then arranges their delivery to Cuba through a Miami shipping company. He said it often costs $8 to $10 per pound to send the parts to Cuba. Then duties must be paid on the Cuba side.

That means a part with a factory value of $159 might end up costing him as much as $250, Alvarez said.

Under the new U.S. regulations, Alvarez and other private Cuban entrepreneurs like him may eventually be able to import the parts directly, said Miami attorney Augusto Maxwell.

"Theoretically any American business should be allowed to export to a private Cuban business person, but most U.S. companies aren't familiar with how to do it," he said. "It's interesting to see the forces of private enterprise begin to work in Cuba and it will be interesting to see how they manage it."

NostalgiCar also pays a middleman in Canada to host the server for its website, adding to its costs.

The big missing ingredient for Cuba's self-employed workforce, which now numbers nearly 500,000, is the lack of a meaningful wholesale market on the island. "If we can't figure out how to get access to a wholesale market, I don't think we'll grow much larger," Alvarez said.

NostalgiCar has a preference for Chevys, but the fleet also includes some Fords and other makes.

Old junkers, which cost $6,000 to $7,000, come into the garage and after a year or so, they emerge as "very pretty" machines, Alvarez said.

As Alvarez walks through the garage pointing out works in progress  a 1959 Chevy Impala with a Mercedes engine that will be finished in a few weeks and even a child-size blue classic car that he plans to refurbish for his son  he admits renovating the vehicles takes every bit of ingenuity he can muster.

And he grows very fond of them during the restoration process. "It's like having to amputate a part of your body if you have to sell them," he said.

Although he's had people from around the globe come and offer to buy the vintage cars, he said they should stay in Cuba.

Alvarez jokes that his first mistake was letting his wife join the business, but then he quickly admits that in this marriage, Nidialys, who has a background in marketing, is the "thinker" and he's the one with an extra dose of passion for the cars. On the nostalgicar.com website, it says to contact her.
State Governments Seek to Regulate Taxi Aggregators

Last week Karnataka became the first state to introduce state-prescribed fares for taxi aggregators. In addition to set fares, taxis will have to fix digital meters with printers and register themselves with local transport authorities. Maharashtra, with two of the largest taxi hailing markets  Mumbai and Pune  is set to follow this example. According to a source in the Maharashtra state government, their proposed rules go beyond the scope of Karnatakas. These will include fare determination based on the cost of the vehicle and its engine capacity; regulation of taxi numbers through an induction schedule, which could adversely impact the employment of driver partners of taxi aggregators; and the ability to cancel licenses for non-compliance.

Different states have responded differently to the entry of transport aggregators. For instance, both Uber and Ola have capitalized on the Delhi governments call for car sharing as the city struggles to combat its high pollution. Ride sharing services were introduced in Delhi in January with no government resistance, unlike in Karnataka.

The taxi hailing market in India was US $1 billion in annual gross booking value in February 2016 according to RedSeer Management Consulting. This is why Uber and Ola have so far focused on undercutting each others pricing to build their respective customer bases. Strict regulation of taxi prices will hurt their business strategies, though benefiting customers in the long run.

RELATED: Pre-Investment Advisory from Dezan Shira & Associates

Rajasthan Passes Major Land Reform Bills

Rajasthans state legislative assembly passed two land reform bills on April 4, significantly augmenting transparency in the sector.

The first bill, the Rajasthan Urban Land (Certification of Titles) Bill of 2016, facilitates statutory backing to land records and effectively solidifies land and property ownership. Apart from creating a more efficient land market, the bill also prevents unnecessary litigation and marks clear periods of tenure for the concerned party. Thus, the bill provides further confirmation of someones right to land, making the trade and/or sale of these rights easier.

The second bill, the Rajasthan Land Pooling Schemes Bill, provides for the easy aggregation of small land holdings. It argues that these small irregular parcels of land prevent proper infrastructure development. In order to do so, the bill allows the government to consolidate small land holdings, while simultaneously giving equivalent shares of development land to the land holders.

In India, there exists a system of presumed ownership, where the risk of fraud is taken on by the buyer with no guarantees provided by the state. Courts are often riddled with unresolved disputes due to such structural faults, an issue which has been corrected by the aforementioned bills in Rajasthan. The absence of a guaranteed system of title certification is something that has hindered economic growth, development, social justice, and judicial efficiency for years. India needs such a system in place for seamless municipal tax revenue collection (due to the clear ownership of taxable property) and to ensure better public infrastructure.

WhatsApps Encryption Service Raises Concerns for the Government

The introduction of end-to-end encryption services by WhatsApp may serve as a clarion call for the government to reassess the existing regulatory framework in India. Over-The-Top (OTT) services like WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, and Viber are neither classified as telecom or internet service providers, thus escaping any regulatory scrutiny.

WhatsApps latest 256-bit end-to-end encryption update means that all user calls and content via text, video, image, and other files can only be accessed by the intended recipient. WhatsApp also does not possess the decryption key, guaranteeing absolute user privacy from both WhatsApp and lawful interception by the government. Such secrecy is a double edged sword, as witnessed in the Apple v. FBI case in the US, where government intelligence services demanded access to encrypted data for security purposes. WhatsApp, which is accessed on all operating systems, with over a billion monthly active users worldwide and 70 million Indian users, has pushed the debate over a much wider realm.

Presently, the government may consider recommendations from a 2015 OTT Consultation Paper put out by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that OTT services be classified as either communication service providers or application service providers  subject to licensing requirements, including enabling lawful interception. While Section 69 of the Information Technology Act of 2000 directs intermediaries like WhatsApp to allow interception, monitoring and decryption, compliance will be impossible on account of the end-to-end encryption, and may be out of their purview as the company is based outside India.



About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email india@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight.





Managing Your Accounting and Bookkeeping in India

In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we spotlight three issues that financial management teams for India should monitor. Firstly, we examine the new Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS) system, which is expected to be a boon for foreign companies in India. We then highlight common filing dates for most companies with operations in India, and lastly examine procedures and regulations for remitting profits from India.

Using Indias Free Trade & Double Tax Agreements

In this issue of India Briefing magazine, we take a look at the bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that India currently has in place and highlight the deals that are still in negotiation. We analyze the countrys double tax agreements, and conclude by discussing how foreign businesses can establish a presence in Singapore to access both the Indian and ASEAN markets.

Passage to India: Selling to Indias Consumer Market In this issue of India Briefing magazine, we outline the fundamentals of Indias import policies and procedures, as well as provide an introduction to engaging in direct and indirect export, acquiring an Indian company, selling to the government and establishing a local presence in the form of a liaison office, branch office, or wholly owned subsidiary. We conclude by taking a closer look at the strategic potential of joint ventures and the advantages they can provide companies at all stages of market entry and expansion.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has rejected aindustry proposal to allow them to keep apart risky assets from the rest of their holdings and cap redemption, mentioning that it will motivate fund managers to take unnecessary risks, reports a daily newspaper.In March, the Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi) approached the capital market regulator to provide rules for the creation of a so-called side pocket when a specific investment faces a credit risk as a way to insulate the broader portfolio from redemption pressure.JP Morgan Asset Management (India) Pvt. Ltd followed this concept last year even though there were no clear guidelines in place.
India's leading footwear brand has recently launched its new TV commercial for its fashionable, colorful, trendy series of comfortable flipflops Bahamas. The brand is being endorsed by non-other than the Bhaijaan of BollywoodTVC features the vibrant mix of mood, outdoor activity, and young characters along with the magic of the visual landscape, weaving the brand communication into energetic, stylish, and chirpy concept.The film opens with a group of boys and girls feeling bored in a well-decorated room. In between, Salman Khan makes entry, teases them for their boredom, and asks to go to Bahamas (proposes an interesting plan to lift their mood). The girls and guys get excited while Salman opens a wardrobe filled with the entire range of Bahamas slippers. The next scene cut to a beach location with all the characters wearing colorful slippers and Salman dancing on a groovy music.Speaking on the launch ofBahamas the brand, as the name suggests transcends you into the world of free spirit and fun which unwraps & unbounds you from the mundane & routine to elevate you into a world of cheerfulness, joy & bonhomie. Bahamas boast of a versatile range of exquisite styles that suits the ever evolving needs of todays youthWith the conceptthe brand aims to position itself as a vibrant and youthful brand that compliments various moods & lifestyle of its customers. The campaign also brings in energy into characters, motivating them to enjoy the moment of life, go out and chill with friends. Theperforms some of his signature moves and thrills the crowd while making the characters to go all groovy on cheerful music. The TVC captures the spirit of joy, individuality and carefree attitude and enjoying the best in style and comfort- Relaxo Bahamas slippers.The commercial has a nice Caribbean music with a signature Bahamas step celebrating the mood of free spirit, creating a strong hook amongst the consumers.Commenting on the insight behind the campaign,The whole concept is to create a feel of Bahamas as the brand name itself is Bahamas. Bahamas is all about fun, carefree, energetic, colourful, excitement. Step into it today and just like Salman's friends, step out of boredom and turn your life into a fun loving zoneArm CommunicationsSanjeet Ahluwalia & Deepak KirodianMukesh GulatiArms CommunicationsRAT FilmsAshutosh Shah & Taher MithaiwalaRuchi Narain
President, & CEO, Stowe Aviation, Russell Barr on Friday disclosed that China has been the largest beneficiary of EB5 programme of the United States which aims at creating a great deal of employment in US through foreign investments.Addressing an Interactive Session on Destination USA under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Barr also disclosed, US administration now sees India as one of the major beneficiary of this programme because of Indians entrepreneurs skills.US according to him is an immigration encouraging country and through EB5 programme, the country would like to encourage foreign investors to park their surpluses in US economy, particularly its suburbs and urban pockets and create an established employment through such investments for the US citizens.Speaking on the occasion, President, United States-India Business Forum (USIBF), Jatinder Singh said that in the emerging scenario, the US administration would encourage Indian investors to take advantage of this programme and gradually replace China because of various factors, language and currency fluctuation among such reasons.She advised the potential investors to detail their homework and study pros and corns of the EB5 programme of US administration so that investments are well protected and their returns becomes reasonable because of stringent law of the land, non-compliance of which might create problems for investors.Co-Chairman, International Affairs Committee for Asia & Pacific, PHD Chamber, Sanjeev Ahuja said that information about EB5 programme given during the interactive session in such detailed and structured way is timely for the Indian investors as it helps them to explore investment opportunities in US and let their surplus get used differently as also enable them to be part of the EB5 action plan.
India has lined up to US$20 billion as investment in oil & gas, petrochemicals and fertiliser projects in Iran, subject to provision of concessional rights, reports a business daily.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is on a two-day visit to Tehran from 9th April, also discussed with his Iranian counterpart the repayment of nearly US$6.5 billion that Indian refiners owe to Iran.

However, there is no agreement yet on rights to develop Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf discovered by OVL, according to the financial newspaper.

Indian companies could invest up to US$20 billion and are interested in setting up petrochemicals and fertiliser plants, including those in Chabahar SEZ.

Pradhan requested Iran to allocate appropriate and adequate land in the SEZ, says the paper.

He also asked the Iranian side for favourable treatment in the pricing of natural gas for India and supply of rich gas at competitive price on a long-term basis, according to the daily.

This was the first visit to Iran by an Indian minister since the US and other western powers lifted sanctions in January.
Just Dial Ltd surged 7.4% to Rs. 817.15 at the closing bell on Monday. There was a spurt in volumes by more than 2.50 times. JD Omni which provides website and app solutions to business is witnessing good adoption rates, according to reports. The company has signed up 2000 customer since software launch in February, Bloomberg reported quoting Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank has kept buy rating and price target at Rs.900 a share.



The scrip opened at Rs. 766.7 and touched a high and low of Rs. 826.9 and Rs. 759.25 respectively. A total of 6718854(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 5365.96 crore.



The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1384.95 on 09-Apr-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 377.65 on 12-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 779.9 and Rs. 725.65 respectively.



The promoters holding in the company stood at 32.58 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 62.02 % and 5.41 % respectively.



The stock traded above its 200 DMA.
The first ever NASSCOM-DSCI Cyber Security delegation is set to visit the Hague Security Delta and Malvern Cyber Security Cluster, in Netherlands and UK respectively between 11- 15 April 2016. The delegation will be led by Dr. Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator, Government of India, will comprise of 39 representatives from the Central and State Government, Industry (Security Startups, SMBs & Large IT Services and Consulting), User organizations and Academia.



Setting up of cyber security clusters in India is an important recommendation of NASSCOM-DSCI Cyber Security Task Force (CSTF), which was set up in 2015 on the Prime Ministers exhortation, to give a fillip to the budding security entrepreneurship and to foster closer interaction between Govt., Industry and Academia on security industry development. The visit to two of the worlds most active, innovative cyber security clusters, will offer a plethora of opportunities for initiating long-lasting collaborations between the regions, help in understanding the cluster ecosystem and implementing it in Indian cities, exploring avant-garde research, technologies and solutions in cyber security, and most importantly, establishing the Indian brand in global cyber security ecosystem. Equal focus would also be given to developing research capabilities and exploring academic collaboration. More delegation visits to other relevant regions are planned in near future.



While talking about the delegation, Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator, Government of India, said, Knowledge, intelligence and experience sharing are core to our approach on cyber security. As an increasingly important issue, dealing with cyber security for businesses and the state requires global collaboration. We are looking to strengthen the collaboration with other nations on this important subject, as we align ourselves to secure Digital India revolution.



R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, said, After Honble PM Modi had asked NASSCOM to form a Task Force and chart out a Roadmap for building cyber security industry, we worked on learning the critical success factors for creating an ecosystem that would help achieve the vision of making India a cybersecurity hub. Lot of our member companies, especially startups, have developed niche capabilities in security space through products, integrated solutions and managed services. The exchange of ideas and knowledge facilitated by this delegation visit would add strength to our industry development and promotion charter.



Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NASSCOM-DSCI Cyber Security Task Force, said Setting up multiple cyber security clusters is one of the prime recommendations to achieve CSTF vision. The success of The Hague Security Delta and Malvern Security Cluster garnered great interest from CSTF members, and it was imperative that we build a deeper engagement. Global learnings will help us chart out our roadmap in a better fashion. We intend to take more such delegations in near future



Acknowledging the delegations engagement potential, Nandkumar Saravade, CEO, DSCI, said, DSCI has been hosting international security delegations for long. It was about time that we led an Indian delegation. Learning from successful global models and countries is a matter of great opportunity in catalysing the growth of the cyber security product ecosystem, that fosters entrepreneurship in security domain. This initiative will pave the way for organisations in exploring and forging alliances, in studying the ecosystem for research and productization, learnings about the cutting edge technologies, and on top in developing synergies between stakeholders. We are overwhelmed with tremendous response to this initiative. We are thankful to both the countries for agreeing to host the Indian delegation.
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Kerala is yet to recover from the shock of the tragedy that claimed 112 lives but the blame game has already begun.

A closer look at the order issued by the Kollam district administration on the application of the Puttingal Devi temple committee for conducting fireworks points out many a lapse.

timesofindia

In fact, in its order, the Kollam district administration had explicitly denied permission for any sort of fireworks as part of the Meena Bharani festival at the temple, contrary to the temple committee's claim that the ban was only on a fireworks competition.

The claim by the temple committee, it is learnt, was to mislead the implementing authorities, citing certain remarks in the order, which said the committee tried to hide its intention to conduct a fireworks competition.

timesofindia

In fact, the administration's order, which quoted the inquiry reports by assistant divisional fire officer, the environmental engineer and the district police chief, clearly denied permission for going ahead with the fireworks on the temple premises.

#KeralaFireTragedy

Indian Navy pressed into action immediately. Pics of assistance and efforts on in #Kollam. pic.twitter.com/5GcDpNNi47  Geeta Mohan (@Geeta_Mohan) 10 April 2016

Shaken by the tragic news of #Kollam. Thoughts and prayers go out to those affected. May God give us strength and resolve to bear this loss.  sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) 10 April 2016

Kerala temple fire: Additional DM's letter denying permission to hold firework display with @TimesNow pic.twitter.com/VdGwZQacGg  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) 10 April 2016

Besides, it has been learnt that the temple committee had the backing of the local politicians, who put pressure on police officials to enable the former to go ahead with the fireworks.

Meanwhile, it is also being alleged that the rules were not being strictly implemented since the district collectors (since 2008, as per the Explosives Act 2008  the central government's new explosives rules) were entrusted with issuing licence for possession and use of fireworks for public display.

timesofindia

Earlier, the explosives controller of the central government was the sole authority in giving permission for fireworks display at temples and churches.

Use Of Potassium Chlorate

It seems that the district magistrates have not taken care of the Explosives Act well, says R Venugopal, the deputy chief controller of explosives, PESO. "The use of potassium chlorate is the reason for most of the fireworks accidents occurring in Kerala. Permission should not be given to those who do not follow the 100m safe distance," he added.

As per the rules, there should be no schools, hospitals or houses within 100m radius of the fireworks display

"And, potassium chloride, which is banned in India, should not be ever used in firecrackers. Unfortunately, all these were violated at the temple in Paravoor," Venugopal said.

Kerala: It's correct that we denied permission for fireworks display, says Chandrakumar, Circle Inspector #Kollam https://t.co/GHxp9lo3ji  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) 11 April 2016

Top officials of the Puttingal Devi temple in Kerala have reportedly gone missing after the tragedy on Sunday, police sources said.

Cops have registered a case of culpable homicide against senior temple officials

The mobile phones of the senior temple officials were switched off. A case has also been registered against the father-son duo of Surendran and Umesh, who had organised the fireworks display. Both are being treated at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital.
The roads ministry has proposed to construct 25 leafy underpasses for animal movement as part of 10 national highways that pass through forests and wildlife sanctuaries in order to ensure environmental clearance for the projects.

The measures will add to the cost of construction, but that isn't a worry since these will reduce the impact on the natural habitat of animals, a senior National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official said.

These proposed highways would pass through sanctuaries such as the Madhav National Park near Gwalior; Chambal and the corridors connecting the Kanha and Pench tiger reserves; Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand and dense forests of Assam. Cost of construction for these nearly 1,900 km of highways is estimated to be about Rs 20,000 crore.

Representational image for an overbrige to be built with similar intentions. Source: siliconindia

The cave-like, concrete underpasses that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed will be layered with natural soil so that they resemble the natural habitat of the animals. The underpasses will be fitted with CCTV cameras to monitor the movement of animals.

Representational image for an overbrige to be built with similar intentions. Source: siliconindia

According to a senior ministry official, these structures will be constructed so biodiversity is untouched. Stretches passing through green corridors will have fencing to prevent vehicles from entering the core zone. Speed of vehicles will be restricted to 40 km an hour.

Representational image for an overbrige to be built with similar intentions. Source: siliconindia

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and National Tiger Conservation Authority have prepared draft guidelines for mitigation of impact of linear projects in forest ranges. For instance, height of underpasses has been suggested to be a minimum of six metres to help elephants.

Mum-Goa Highway Grows A Conscience, Will Have Underpasses For Animals To Cross Over Safely!

The government is working with the WII to implement these. "Animals have a set pattern and route of movement according to which special paths underneath the elevated road stretch would be made," the NHAI official said. State wildlife boards will also be drafted into the projects.
The Rehmani Model School, in the Walled City area in Jaipur is a model not just in its name. Having risen to a school from a madrassa, it caters to the educational needs of 1,300 students of the minority community. Guiding them is the school principal Kailash Chandra Yadav, who was previously affiliated to the RSS's Aadarsh Vidhya Mandir.

sundayguardianlive

The structure in the congested lanes of Ramganj, a minority dominated area, now stands tall as an example of communal harmony. All the students of the school are Muslims; several of them belonging to lower-middle class families. The school board, too, comprises Muslim members but several of its teachers are Hindus. Of the 63 teachers, 9 - including the principal - are Hindus. The school had its first non-Muslim teacher in 1995 while Yadav is its first non-Muslim principal.

The principal, who now sees his job as a challenge to inspire and urge the parents to send their wards to school.

"Having worked in Aadarsh Vidhya Mandir, it seemed almost weird to work for a Muslim school. However, that feeling passed soon. I am glad to be helping students who come from a community who do not always get these facilities," said Yadav.

tribune

Yadav and his team of teachers have a much larger task at hand than just teaching. "Financial condition of some students is so bad that the parents stop sending them. The parents have to be convinced to send their children as they think education is not important," he said.

Abdul Qayyum Akhtar, chairman of Rehmani Welfare Society, admits that people in his community are not eager to educate their children. 72-year-old Akhtar started this madrassa-turned-school with merely 50 students in early 1980s and has seen it grown into a higher secondary school.

Talking about the non-Muslim teachers, he says, "To me the educational qualification of teachers matters, not their affiliations or their religion. At our school, we celebrate Eid but do not forget to greet each other during Holi and Diwali."
Whether it's last years brutal attack at the office of Charlie Hebdo, or the Paris attacks in which more than 100 people died, or the more recent Brussels attack, Islamic State (IS) has become a potent threat to global peace in the last three years.

Since September 2014, ISIS has taken lives of over 1100 people in different terrorist attacks world over. Even now these attacks are far from over as ISIS remains a potent force and holds key positions in Middle-East despite the NATO as well as Russian forces claiming victory against the IS fighters.

Much like Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations, Islamic State aka ISIS too is an offspring born of nefarious imperialist intentions of the West and the Islamic worlds perpetual fear of Islam being in danger.

Daesh, as it is called in Arabic, is a phenomenon which propagates the idea of Islamic rule or the Caliphate over the world - where power would flow from the sanctum-sanctorum of Mecca itself.

reuters

Whether it was the USSRs misadventure in Afghanistan in the 1980s which gave birth to CIAs once-upon-a-time blue-eyed boy - Al Qaeda, or Americas attempt to annihilate Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussain in Iraq post September 11 - every time a Western country ventured into the Islamic World, it cemented the age-old notion of Islam in Danger and provided the very idea of ISIS with the legitimacy it was eagerly waiting for.

Currently, this Frankensteins monster has become the face of global terrorism and no matter how hard the West tries to disown it, it always comes back to haunt and torment.

IndiaTimes

The rise of the Islamic Caliphate or Islamic State

In 2001, America was attacked by Bin Ladens Al Qaeda. It was an attack on temples of American capitalism and headquarters of the worlds only superpowers military might. The then US President, George W Bush took refuge in the Old Testament and came out with theory of Either with us or against us.

It was the revival of a new dark phase and Islam became the most potent enemy the world had seen.

The neo conservatives who shaped Bushs policies asked him to go to war. The first casualty was Afghanistan, and the second was Saddams Iraq, perhaps the most secular of all Arab states.

The attack on Iraq in 2003 was different from Operation Desert Storm of the 1991 Gulf War. Saddam was ousted, hanged and Sunni-ruled Iraq was replaced by Shia Iraq.

The Islamic world was shaken. Saddam was lauded as a hero by the Sunni Islamic world against the Americans, and its trusted partner Israel.

Before the rise of the IS, the West in general was hypnotised with political scientist Samuel P Huntingtons notion of the clash of civilisations - a prescription of war between Islam and the West.

The unsolved question of Palestine was unfathomable for the Islamic world, which produced generations of muslim jihadists who believed Islam was in danger.

In short, terrorist outfits like Hezbollah, Hamas, and later Al-Qaeda, came into being.

But only Hamas stood against the might of Israel and grabbed the eyeballs of the Islamic World. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group, tried to take on Israel but failed to acquire the status of Islams savior from the wrath of the Zionists.

Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, who happened to be the godfather of IS patron Abu Bakhr Al Bagdadi, the self proclaimed Caliph and heir of the last prophet, was the one who first formed Al Qaeda in Iraq, which later became the Islamic State.

Unlike Laden who never wanted a sectarian divide among Muslims, Zarqawi wanted a Sunni Caliphate in which even Shias wouldnt be allowed to practice their faith. But his ambitions didnt materialise due to heavy American presence in the country. Before he died in an ambush in 2006, he laid the foundation of the self-proclaimed Sunni caliphate which we today know as ISIS.

IS and geopolitics - the shaping of a new Middle East

When Baghdadi rose to the self-proclaimed Caliphate in June 2014, the world reacted sharply. The Sunni pride had taken a great beating during the Arab Spring in which scores of Sunni dictators like Ben Ali, Mubarak, Gaddafi, and Saleh were dethroned. Sunni Islam looked for refuge and, Baghdadi with IS, provided it with one. The Syrian conflict which today seems to have engulfed the whole world also stemmed from the hatred between the Shia and Sunni sects.

Bassar Assad of Syria is an Alawite, a sect of Shia Islam, and his family has been ruling the majority Sunni state for more than four decades now. Thats why ISIS, in order to restore the lost Sunni pride, unleashed the offensive against the Syrian regime.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the two citadels on which Islam was born and functioned helped IS to grow and flourish. Both supported IS forces to dethrone Assad in Syria. But IS, like Al Qaeda, became a Frankensteins monster. It expanded its base from Iraq to Syria and soon wreaked havoc on other neighboring Sunni states led by Saudi Arabia. Both Saudi Arabia and Turkey did not fathom the extent of the threat from IS and the refugee crisis started taking a toll on Turkey and Europe.

Most of Western Europe already has a population of 6 to 10 per cent Muslims, who have always felt alienated. Once IS was in place, they looked up to it as the savior of Islam. For them, Islamic State was the new knight.

Islamic State: the idea of a new caliphate!

The idea of a caliphate has been an enduring part of the early phase of Islam and remained a bone of contention throughout Islamic history. Except Abu Bakr (AD 632-34), the other rightly guided caliph (companions of Prophet) Umar (AD 634-44), Uthman (AD 644-56), and Ali (AD 656-61) were assassinated. The period of the Ummayads (AD 661-750), and the Abbasisds (AD 750-1258), and lastly, the Ottomans till 1925, had always seen the multiple claims of caliphates.

Islam was expanding and so was the claim. But the question of legitimacy always remained at the core. The current idea of the caliphate though has a legitimacy of some sort. Most of the new research surveys suggest that Islamic State has a profound acceptance to an extent that 92 per cent of Saudi citizens endorsed this idea.

Islamic State seeks its idea from Abbasids. The black flag is a signature to that, but unlike the Abbasids period which was a period of many contributions from philosophy to music and art, Baghdadis caliphate seeks refuge in the idea of Ibn Taymiyaah and Abdul Wahhab, the reformers who called for puritanical Islam.

The salafist/wahhabist ideologies are an ultraconservative revivalist idea that believe even Shias are heretics like polytheists or pagans. Sign and symbols provide the idea of the importance of their legitimacy. The selection of an orange suit before beheading and burning people alive is a strategic act to remind the Muslim world how Americans carried their rendition mission against Muslims at Guantanamo Bay.

The ISs in-house magazine Dabiq has an important message. Dabiq is an ancient place in Syria near the Turkish border, where Muslims believe they will have their final war against their enemy. And they will win.

Will the Islamic State survive all challenges ahead?

The threat of IS, despite being a global challenge, hasnt found a common consensus. The West was initially reluctant till incidents of Charlie Hebdo, and the Paris and Brussels attacks, came to haunt them. President Obama earlier remarked that IS isnt a great threat, but soon his own convictions died out.

But there are certain important scenarios that have arrived that paint a grim picture. Turkey still believes the Kurds are a bigger threat than IS, despite the number of attacks in Ankara, and other cities openly challenged their position. Saudis and other Sunni states, especially monarchies, who initially helped the IS grow suddenly, find their position in quagmire. They believed the only threat was Assad, a proxy ruler of Iran by helping Free National Army and Al Nusra front against his regime. But this didnt bring much success as Assad is still strong.

Now with Iran in a post-nuclear deal situation and direct engagement of Russians, Assad is going to stay. But meanwhile, IS has become a problem for Saudi and other monarchies in the region. ISs notion of monarchies being anti Islamic has given Saudi Arabia cold feet.

reuters

Russian intervention is another important aspect. What America couldnt achieve in years, the Russians did in months. Assad's regime was strengthened, IS forces lost key positions including many world heritage places like Palmyra.

A Kurdish force also advanced its position in Iraq where they have dented IS positions significantly in recent times.

But IS is still strong, and it will remain a potent force to reckon with. The only silver lining out of this chaos is that the West seems to have learnt a lesson - creating monsters is an easy job, but controlling them is an utterly difficult task.

The author is a research scholar in the Centre for West Asian studies in School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi. His area of interest is Islam, and he is currently working on Islam in Western Discourses. He is a freelancer and writes for various websites and magazines on geopolitics. He has also worked as a journalist at Business Standard, Chennai, and as a consultant to UNICEF Bihar.
"Diabetes here I come", read the nasty comment on a customer's grande white mocha, which was ordered at a Starbucks cafe in Florida recently. The unidentified man was "taken aback" by the printed message and was extremely hurt as he has two sisters who suffer from diabetes.

Twitter

The man decided to lash out at the insensitive person and wrote back, "Two of my sisters are diabetic, so... not funny."

This @Starbucks customer tells me he wants the #Starbucks employee to know his sisters suffer from Type 1 diabetes. pic.twitter.com/lzmeAwLLdm  Kaitlyn Chana (@KaitlynANjax) April 8, 2016

The man did not go to pick his coffee himself, instead, sent an employee to bring him one. But after reading the message, he personally decided to visit the cafe and return the drink that supported his message about his sisters medical condition.

While speaking to Action News Jax, an American station, he said, "Seeing and knowing the struggle my sisters went through by third, fourth grade, it definitely struck a nerve, and I didnt just want to let it go."

A Starbucks representative said that they were "disappointed" and were directly in touch with the aggrieved customer to apologize for the unfortunate incident.
On March 20, 2016, popular Port-Harcourt based prophet, Dr Chris Okafor gave Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, a 14-day ultimatum to reverse the proposed religious bill or face the wrath of God.

At the time, the words of the prophet brewed fears in the hearts of many Nigerians who were thinking something terrible would happen to the governor following his steadfastness to the implementation of the proposed bill in the state.

It will not happen in my timeit will not happen in your timeit will not be on record that it happened in my timeNo! It will not happen! the cleric declared to a thunderous applause from the congregation.

El Rufai take time! God is angry with you! You have 14 days to reverse that law or the wrath of God will come against you! You should count it, 14 days from today (March 20, 2016), he has 14 days to reverse and invalidate that law if he refuses to do so, he should expect the wrath of God to visit him!

He also told journalists after the meeting that, I prayed very well, and the Lord told me to go ahead and warn El Rufai. And I want you all to count 14 days from the day of the prophecy (March 20, 2016). If he does not retrace his steps and abandon that bill, God will take steps to honor His words. 14 days! Please count it.



Apart from prophet Okafor, Apostle Johnson Suleman also dealt the governor a blow below the belt, stating categorically that he (El-Rufai) will die if he refuses to reverse the anti-religious bill in Kaduna state.

The difference between the pair was that while Dr Okafor gave an ultimatum, prophet Suleman was quite diplomatic, choosing to wait until the proposed bill is passed.

And during a recent interview, the charismatic governor dared the prophet who said he would die to mention the date that the incident would happen, but none of them was forthcomning.

Fourteen days have passed since Dr Okafors prophecy yet, nothing of note has happened to the Kaduna state governor.

To confirm this, the governor still posted an article on his official Facebook page about seven hours before this article was published.



Nigerians who supported the governors acts will believe the governor has been vindicated, however, those who supported the prophet may now have themselves to blame. But, will something terrible still happen to the governor?

Or did the prophet not hear clearly from God before he spoke with journalists?

Source:Naij
The House of Representatives has denied reports that the National Assembly expunged from the 2016 budget details sent to the Executive last Thursday, the vital Calabar  Lagos rail line project.

Our correspondent yesterday reported that the purported removal and mutilations of some major items contained in the 2016 Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly may have delayed its signing into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, at least, by a week.

We also reported that following the emergency Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held on Friday, it was discovered that aside the removal of the Calabar  Lagos rail line project from the budget details, the National Assembly purportedly reduced allocation to the completion of Idu-Kaduna rail project by N8.7b; slashed allocations for the completion of all major road projects across the country; proposed new roads for which studies have not been conducted; dropped proposals for the purchase of essential drugs for major health campaigns like Polio and AIDS; cancelled or reduced allocations for diversification projects under Agriculture and Water Resources; and diverted funds for rural health facilities and boreholes for which provisions had been made elsewhere.

But Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Sunday took to his verified Twitter handle @AbdulAbmJ to dismiss the reports as false.

Hon. Jibrin, whose committee worked extra weeks in conjunction with its Senate counterpart led by Senator Danjuma Goje, to get the 2016 budget details ready so they could correct all the inconsistencies, errors, omissions and padding in the document submitted to the National Assembly by the president in December last year, accused the Executive of misleading the nation.

According to the lawmaker representing Bebeji/Kiru federal constituency of Kano State, the Calabar  Lagos rail line project was never captured in the 2016 budget sent to the National Assembly.

In a series of tweets, in which he addressed the renewed controversy on the 2016 budget, Mr. Jibrin expressed shock that false information was being spread when a proper check could have easily revealed that the project was not included in the 2016 budget in the first place.

See tweets below:

Lagos-Calabar Railway line was NEVER captured in the budget that was sent by the Executive. How then could it have been removed by NASS?  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

I actually find it shocking that even some National Dailies made the removal their headlines. A little research would would have helped.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

All they, and those spreading the false information needed to have done is check the initial document sent by the Executive.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

Lagos-Calabar Rail was never included. How could NASS have removed what was not there? But the nation is being misled.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

The NASS has always been on the receiving end of bad press. This is being capitalised on in the conversations on #Budget2016  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

This is unfortunate as it is quite clear to all and sundry that #Budget2016 and all its headaches and controversies didn't emanate from NASS  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

Take the budget of the ministry of Transportation was overshot by N54b. That is, by the time you add up the items on the ministry's budget..  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

you'd still have a gap of N54b. N54billion lying there without being allocated. NASS has a responsibility and here it did the right thing  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

What NASS did with the N54billion; We added N39.7b to the Lagos-Kano Rail project. This will help complete the project once and for all.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

We also allocated N10b of this sum to the airports' navigation and security apparatus.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

We often make so much noise about airport security after major plane crashes. But we need not wait for crashes to enhance safety at airports  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

We allocated the balance to Baro Ports for its completion and equipping. Baro Port is strategic to our economic development.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

Much ado about vaccines that weren't even there. The budget of the ministry of Health was the most controversial.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

The Minister of Health came to deny the document that was presented to the NASS by the Executive for the 2nd time.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016



The All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmaker also accused the Executive of discarding about 95 per cent of the National Assemblys input to the 2016 budget, which he said would have given life to the policy thrust of the Buhari administration.

He listed some of the inputs to include:

Some of these inputs include; Special Intervention for the Solid Mineral Sector. This is even imperative seeing the realities around oil.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

Some of our other inputs include; Special Intervention for Rural Agriculture, Payment of Pension Arrears. Rural Community Light project.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

The Rural Community Light project to light up 100 communities spread across the 774 Local Governments.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

We also had Special Programmes for Women Empowerment and the payment of debt owed local contractors.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

We also suggested N100b be taken out of N500b set aside as Special Intervention Fund.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

That N50b be set aside as special bursary for students of tertiary institutions  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

and another N50b for special training on Entrepreneurship for students of tertiary institutions pre-graduation. These were our inputs.  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016



While expressing dismay that the Executive has failed to disown what he called the false reports flying around, Hon. Jibrin said:

The crux of the matter as it is, is that while the NASS believes in the bottom up agenda for development- focus on rural areas & communities  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016

The Executive seems to favour a top-down approach. But this is not enough reason to mislead Nigerians on the role of NASS on the budget  Abdulmumin Jibrin (@AbdulAbmJ) April 10, 2016
Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Gospel Assembly, Lagos, and co-convener of the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, Pastor Tunde Bakare, yesterday could not hold back the tears from his eyes as he carpeted the federal government for doing very little to rescue the 219 Chibok girls abducted on April 14, 2014 in Borno State by Boko Haram.

The fiery preacher, who spoke yesterday in Abuja at a special sit-out by the #BringBackOurGirls group, did not spare the current and past administrations in the country for their failure to rescue the Chibok girls.

The whole nation has failed these children, Mr. Bakare lamented.

According to the 2011 presidential election running mate to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, Parents, families and friends of our dear daughters, I am here today not just to speak to you, but to speak to the nation and to the world as one of you. Im here as a father burdened by the captivity of our daughters, and I am here as a friend. I am here to express our frustrations and to speak of our undying hope as we wait expectantly for the return of our dear Chibok girls.

We are not unmindful that the Nigerian state failed to provide security for our daughters as they gathered to write final examinations despite prior intelligence reports that suggested they were in danger.

It is most severely injurious to see that the fate of our daughters has been frequently politicized. Rather than rise to the occasion as stakeholders and custodians of the security and welfare of the citizens of this nation, political parties and politicians have paid lip service, using our pain and plight of our daughters to score cheap political points.

We are not convinced that the matter of our daughters has been given the needed thoughtfulness.

We do not believe that those who are in a position to act have taken sufficient actions towards addressing the issue or even towards claiming our anxiety as waiting parents.

Pastor Bakare alleged that the girls would have been rescued if they were children of politicians and renowned pastors.

Yesterdays sit-out marked 712 days since the girls have been kidnapped and part of BBOGs Global Week of Action to mark the two years anniversary of the abduction.

The clergy man expressed dismay that those responsible for the rescue of the girls have not taken sufficient actions in the last two years that the girls have been abducted.

We do not believe those concerned have taken sufficient actions concerning the rescue of these girls, he said, expressing optimism that the girls would be rescued even as he prayed God to see to that.

We believe that they are still alive, at least no evidence, satellite evidence that they are in a mass grave. We believe they are alive. It remains a scar on the soul of this nation until these girls are brought back, he said.
The Kaduna State Government on Monday revealed that 347 persons were killed during the December 12 clash between members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria also known as Shiite, and the Nigerian Army in Zaria.

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Balarabe Lawal, disclosed this in a government submission at the ongoing Public Hearing of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the clash.

The burial of the victims was done in secret, and this is the first time the state government was explaining how the remains of the killed Shiite members were disposed.

Mr. Lawal, who led a six-man government witnesses before the panel, said 191 corpses were taken from the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, and were buried at Mando area of Kaduna.

He said 156 corpses were also conveyed from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria, to the same Mando area.

The official said the corpses were those of youth members of the IMN, who he alleged attempted to attack the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Dec. 12, 2015, in Zaria.

The state government said the corpses were committed into a single grave (mass burial) at the Mando area jointly supervised by the state government officials and about 40 men of the Nigerian Army, led by an officer in the rank of a Major.

Mr. Lawal did not say whether relatives of the victims were given opportunity to identify and recover their loved ones before the state labelled them unknown corpses and buried them in a mass grave.

The SSG said 189 suspects were being prosecuted for alleged involvement in the Zaria crisis while one suspect died in custody.

He said the state government received several security reports from the State Security Service (SSS) on the activities of the movement.

According to him, several measures were taken to address the situation before it finally escalated into the clash with the Nigerian Army.

Another witness and Director-General, Kaduna State Interfaith Agency, Namadi Musa, said the mass burial was conducted on December 14 and 15, respectively, and that it took the officials about six hours to complete the burial.

Mr. Musa said while six tonnes of Mercedes tippers conveyed the 191 corpses from the ABUTH, the Army used three heavy duty trucks to convey corpses from the Zaria Army Depot.

The mass burial was authorised through a warrant of burial obtained from a Kaduna Chief Magistrates Court in Kaduna, he said.

The state government blamed some of the lapses and the excesses of the movement on the inability of the previous government which did not take serious action to curtail the activities of the sect.

On the alleged demolition of buildings and structures of the IMN leader, the witnesses said that the demolitions were based on recommendation of a committee set up by the state government.

The witnesses, including officials of the Kaduna State Urban Planing and Development Authority (KASUPDA), the Kaduna Public Works Agency (KAPWA) and the state ministry of Works, Transport and Housing, told the panel that several other structures belonging to individuals had been demolished for poor building specifications and standards.

Saratu Haruna, General Manager, KASUPDA; Namadi Musa, D-G Interfaith Agency; and Prof. Adamu Ahmed, Deputy CMD ABUTH, appeared before the panel.

The Justice Muhammed Lawal-Garba panel also took submissions from the Izala Islamic group and the Gyellesu Community in Zaria.

(NAN)
The deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar on Saturday to join the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant  the first time the aircraft have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. Washingtons decision to deploy its powerful B-52 bombers to the Al Udeid Air Base came as the American military stepped up the fight in neighbouring Iraq and Syria against ISIL, also known as ISIS.

The B-52 demonstrates our continued resolve to apply persistent pressure on Daesh and defend the region in any future contingency, said Air Force Lieutenant General Charles Brown, commander of US Air Forces Central Command, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

Lieutenant Colonel Chris Karns, spokesman for the Central Command, said he could not provide the exact number of B-52 bombers to be based at Al Udeid because of operational security reasons. Brown said the bombers would be able to deliver precision weapons and carry out a range of missions, including strategic attack, close-air support, air interdiction, and maritime operations. Karns said the bombers would enable US forces to drop one or two munitions in an area, rather than massive indiscriminate bombing.

Accuracy is critically important in this war, he said. Carpet-bombing would not be effective for the operation were in because Daesh doesnt mass as large groups. Often they blend into population centres. We always look to minimise civilian casualties. The Central Command said it last flew the long-range bombers operationally in the region in May 2006 as part of the war in Afghanistan, and during a US-led military exercise in Jordan in May 2015.

Aljazeera.
Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has welcomed Senator Smart Adeyemi to the All Progressives Congress (APC), urging him to be an agent of unity in the party.

Adeyemi last weekend in Abuja announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC. He said his defection was in the interest of his people and the nation.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kingsley Fanwo, in Lokoja yesterday while welcoming the former Senator to the party, Bello urged him to work with party leaders in the state to bring real change to the people.

The Governor said the Peoples Democratic Party has been losing important leaders to the APC since 2014, urging others who are still in PDP but possessed progressive mind like Adeyemi to jump ship to the APC in order to move the state forward.

I will continue to deliver democracy dividends to Kogi people to give my party a good platform to continue to dominate the political landscape of the Confluence State. The defection of notable political figures to the party across the state testifies to the renewed confidence of the people in the APC-led government in the state, Bello said.
A former factional chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, now chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has warned that internal crisis in the governing party may lead to its disintegration, if not properly managed.

Baraje also advised President Muhammadu Buhari to rise up to the occasion by addressing some of the knotty issues rocking the party so that it will not be factionalized under his watch.

The APC chieftain, who spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital yesterday while addressing reporters, advised Mr. Buhari to shine his face and save the governing party from the hands of a few people, who he said, carry themselves as more important than every other member of the party.

Mr. Baraje, a staunch supporter of embattled Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, lamented that factors that led to the factionalization of the PDP and its eventual collapse were gradually manifesting in the APC.

According to him, impunity, lawlessness and divisive tendencies, which led to the downfall of the former ruling party, now reigned supreme in the APC.

He further stated that the aforementioned vices were being promoted by a few self-centered leaders of the APC and pleaded with President Buhari to start showing more than a passing interest in politics so that the APC would not suffer similar fate that befell the PDP.

Baraje, who expressed dismay at the way and manner the APC was being run, noted that this had resulted in the party losing in many states where rerun elections had taken place.

Most of the distractions were created by APC itself, he stated. For instance, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who heads an important arm of government, is not getting the necessary support from the party because a few people think they are more important than others.
Relatives and tribal elders in southeastern Afghanistan are demanding an investigation into the killing of 17 people by US drones this week, claiming the air strikes hit civilians  not members of armed groups. US army officials said on Thursday two air strikes in Paktika province, near the Pakistani border, had only targeted fighters, without any evidence of civilian casualties.

Afghan officials confirmed to Al Jazeera that 17 people had been killed in Wednesdays strikes in Gomal district, but added they all had links to the Taliban.

Yet, local leaders and relatives insisted on Saturday all of those killed were innocent civilians. We demand an investigation into the brutal killings of these innocent people, Nimatullah Baburi, a deputy of the Paktika provincial council, told Al Jazeera. I know them personally and their families too. They are in no way affiliated with the Taliban, he added. Those men were doing low-paid jobs to feed their families. All of them were civilians.

Bahadur Noorullah Khan, a clerk working in the district office, was one of the 17 people killed in the raids. He left behind a wife and two children. Who is going to feed them? Khans wife told Al Jazeera. Bahadur was the sole breadwinner of our family, now where am I going to go with my children? He was innocent. He was never involved with militants. This case should be investigated.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to officially declare its candidate for the Gwagwalada Area Council election, Adamu Mustpaha Danze, winner of Saturdays poll in the Federal Capital Territory.

The party said its candidate scored the highest number of lawful votes cast after the collation of results from various polling booths, saying he garnered 15,312 votes against the All Progressives Congress, APCs 14,546 and Peoples Democratic Party, PDPs 6,082.

While declaring the election in Gwagwalada, Kuje, Abuja Municipal and Kwali area councils of the FCT inconclusive on Sunday, the INEC declared the APC candidates in the remaining two area councils of Abaji and Bwari  Alhaji Abdulrahman Ajiya and Musa Dikko  respectively, winner.

However, a statement on Monday by the APGA Director of Publicity, Ifeanacho Oguejiofor, said it had information from reliable sources that pressure was mounted on INEC not to declare Danze winner.

It will be a big shame and unmitigated disgrace to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the Presidency for an APC candidate to be defeated in an election by an APGA candidate in FCT.

However, APGA wishes to caution the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to be mindful of its actions and not to collude with some unpatriotic politicians and anti-democratic forces to deny APGA its clearly won election, divine and peoples mandate.

INEC should allow the votes of the people to count without any manipulation from any quarter, especially from the electoral body.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Federal Capital Territory to officially declare its candidate for the Gwagwalada Area Councils election conducted last Saturday, Hon Adamu Mustapha Danze, the winner of the poll, having scored the highest number of lawful votes cast after the collation of results from various polling booths, with the figure 15,312.00 as against APC 14,546.00 and PDP 6,082.00.

APGA also calls on the Presidency, the Inspector General of Police, all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians to call INEC to order in order not to jeopardize and destroy our hard-earned and emerging democracy, the statement added.
The Federal Government on Sunday debunked media reports that Boko Haram is demanding $50 million from it as ransom before releasing the abducted Chibok school girls.

According to the report, the radical Islamist sect purportedly showed a video clip of some of the Chibok girls to government intermediaries, in which the girls affirmed that they are being well taken care of and have not been sexually abused.

Dismissing the report in an interview with the Voice of America, VOA, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said ransom reports were not new to government.

He said: It appears we have several versions of this report.

The one that we heard was from a source that (Boko Haram) wants to release 10 of these girls for one million Euros.

But the most important thing is that weve gone through this route before, and until and when we establish the credibility of this source and the truth behind it, the government will not be in a hurry to make a statement.

However, government is using its own channels to authenticate the credibility of this source.

Mr. Mohammed assured that President Muhammadu Buhari would deliver on his promise to do all he could to ensure the release of the school girls.

He stressed that the promise by the president, following his recent meeting with parents of the abducted girls at the presidential villa, is sacrosanct.

The minister noted that the accusations that the Buhari administration appeared not to be doing enough to secure the release of the more than 200 Chibok girls was not fair.

No day passes without the issue of the kidnapped girls not being at the front burner. But these are highly security and intelligence issues which cannot always be discussed openly.

But I can assure you that, for this government, the return of these girls is what is going to bring the final closure on the Boko Haram terrorism and we are working very hard, daily on it, he said.

He also restated governments position that it had made significant progress in the fight against Boko Haram.

He said that those who thought otherwise were not being very fair to us.

We inherited a very bad situation where the trail had gone cold, despite that every day we send out reports, we receive (information) some of them are phony, some of them are just there to excoriate government.

But the truth of the matter is that its not a matter that the government is taking lightly.

Those who want a daily report on what we are doing, of course in security issues that does not happen.

But we have channels of information in which we make available on a need to know basis, he said.

Mr. Mohammed said Nigerias military had been able to reclaim territories previously under the control of the Boko Haram militants, adding that they had also been dislodged from their fortresses, including their main operation centre in the Sambisa Forest.

What we have today is cowardly attacks on soft targets.  and Nigeria has moved on from that and we are now concentrating very much on the rehabilitation and resettlement of those who were displaced.

And I think the fact that one of the most wanted persons all over the world was captured without even firing a shot last week is evidence so far of Nigerias success in dealing with terrorism, he said.

(NAN)
Indian police said they have arrested five people after a fireworks display at a temple sparked a fire that killed at least 108 people in one of the worst accidents ever seen at a religious festival. Thousands of people were gathered at the temple at Kollam in the southern state of Kerala on Sunday for the pyrotechnic show to mark the start of the Hindu year when sparks ignited a cache of fireworks stored on the grounds.

A police officer, Anantha Krishnan, said the five taken into custody on Monday were employees of a fireworks manufacturer who ran the show at the Puttingal Devi temple. The district administration said it had not given permission for the fireworks display following complaints of noise and pollution. The head of the manufacturing company was injured, one of 380 people who were in hospitals across the state with burns as well as injuries caused by flying concrete and debris.

Police had not been able to reach members of the temple management, Krishnan said. Al Jazeeras Divya Gopalan, reporting from Delhi, said daily celebrations were being held in the country to mark the Hindu festival. Some of the celebrations take place without the authorities permission and without taking into consideration safety measures, which is what happened [on Sunday], she said.

Kerala is studded with temples managed by rich and powerful trusts that often flout local regulations. Each year temples hold fireworks displays, often competing to stage the most spectacular ones, with judges who decide the winners.
A massive fire has swept through a temple in India during a fireworks display, killing 83 people and injuring at least 200 others. The fire broke out on Sunday morning, officials said, when a spark from the show ignited a separate pile of fireworks that was being stored at the Puttingal temple complex in the coastal town of Paravur in Kerala state.

Thousands of people were packed into the temple when an explosion was heard at around 3 am. The blaze then spread quickly through the building, trapping people inside. Al Jazeeras Divya Gopalan, reporting from Delhi, said daily celebrations were being held in the country to mark a Hindu festival. Some of the celebrations take place without the authorities permission and without taking into consideration safety measures, which is what happened [on Sunday], she said, adding that some expected the death toll from the fire could rise.

One Kerala official, who spoke to the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity, said that at least 84 people had been killed. Local TV channels showed footage of huge clouds of white smoke billowing from the temple, as fireworks contined to explode in the night sky.
Iran has received a batch of S-300 long-range, surface-to-air missile systems from Russia, the Iranian foreign ministry has said. In a recorded statement broadcast on state television on Monday, Jaber Ansari, spokesperson for the Iranian foreign ministry, told a news conference that the first phase of this (delayed) contract has been implemented.

The first batch of Russias S-300 air defense missile systems has arrived in Iran, he was quoted as saying. Ansari was replying to reporters questions about videos on social media showing what appeared to be parts of an S-300 missile system on trucks in northern Iran. In February, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that Moscow planned to soon send its first delivery of S-300 missile systems to Tehran.

That report said the systems would be transported from the southern Russian city of Astrakhan via a direct water route through the Caspian Sea to Iran. Russia and Iran signed a contract to deliver several S-300 missile systems in 2007, but Moscow nixed the deal because of UN sanctions against supplying weapons to the Islamic republic.

RIA Novosti reported that the deal had been worth about 900 million dollars.

Last year, Iran reached an international agreement on regulating its nuclear programme to remove sanctions, and Russian President Vladimir Putin then signed a decree to allow his country to sell weapons to

Iran.
At least five people, including a child, drowned on Saturday after their small vessel carrying Iraqis and Afghans capsized in the eastern Aegean Sea, the Greek coastguard told Al Jazeera. The latest boat disaster comes a day after 124 people were sent back to Turkey from Greece, as part of the second wave of deportations under a controversial EU-Turkey deal aimed at curbing the refugee flow to Europe.

The Greek coastguard said the five victims  four women and a child  were found in the early hours of Saturday northeast of the Greek island of Samos. Two men, two women and a child were rescued and were brought to a hospital in Samos.

Among them was a Turkish national, who is believed to be a people smuggler, the spokesperson, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, said. According to those rescued, there were 14 people overall on the inflatable boat, she added. A search-and-rescue operation involving patrol boats and helicopters from the Greek coastguard and the European border agency Frontex was under way for any survivors.

This horrific tragedy is a sad reminder that people will continue risking their lives, and those of their children, Eva Cosse, Greece specialist at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera. It is also a reminder of the great need for safe and legal routes to the EU.
Mr. Olushola Shokunle, Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Special Duties has advocated that each building should have a fire extinguisher to curb fire disasters in the state.

If we can come up with a law that will mandate each building to have fire extinguishers, it will go a long way to prevent some fire incidents, Shokunle said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday.

If any fire comes up, the people can battle the fire before the arrival of fire services agents to the scene.

Fire starts little before escalating; most of the fire cases can be prevented with fire extinguishers as small as 5kg. Many of them can be tackled; it is good, he said.

The lawmaker, who expressed regrets that people only resort to the use of water in cases of fire incidents, said that the committee would review some of the states safety laws.

He added that some laws in the state fire service and penalties were outdated and needed urgent review.

The lawmaker, who described the fine of N200 prescribed for safety offenders as ridiculous, said that fines should be reasonable and meet reality of the time.

According to him, the committee will work with the executive arm to review some of the laws and enact a law to mandate each house to have fire extinguishers to combat emergencies.

Speaking further, Shokunle said that gridlock, bad roads, poor accessibility, and human errors, had been affecting the response time during emergency.

He said the state government was targeting 10 minutes response time in spite of all hindering factors.

We thank the Lagos State Government for the creation of safety commission.

What the ministry is trying to do is to have at least a fire services station in each local government area and local council development area.

If this is achievable, it will be very easy to reduce our response time like that of developed countries. All the delays will be taken care of; lives and property will be saved.

If the safety station is not too far away from the scene of incidents, there will be no much challenge in accessing the place in a good time, he said.

He expressed optimism that the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA) would also have its offices in each council area to aid response time.
The Lagos State Government has announced the availability of all Lagos State Laws online, where lawyers, investors and the public can have access to all the laws of the State.

The Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem said, this is in line with the directive of His Excellency, The Governor of Lagos State Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, to ensure the 2015 Revised Laws of Lagos State recently launched are made accessible online to the general public.

He reiterated that this project is geared towards the commitment of this Administration to drive governance and Administration of Justice in the State through Innovation and Technology.

The Lagos Attorney General, Lending credence to this laudable project, said that this digital platform is the first of its kind, and another eloquent testimony to the tradition of excellence which Lagos is known for.

He encouraged lawyers and the entire public to visit the site at www.laws.lagosstate.gov.ng to view the laws and make their purchases.

Kazeem stated that the initiative was effective, added that one of the advantages of having the Lagos State Laws available online is the ability for everybody to search, view and download the Laws anywhere in the world by just the click of a button.

This online platform is set to fulfil the obligation of the State Government to create easy access to the Laws, thereby promoting accountability and responsibility, and to enable investors to make informed decisions about their investments in the State.

Other features available on the site is that online users do not need to upload all the 233 (Two Hundred and Thirty Three) Laws, but would be able to purchase and download only the Laws relevant to them, he added.

Lagos AG informed that payment cards including MASTERCARD, VISA, VERVE and INTERSWITCH have all been integrated to the online platform.

It would be recalled that at the launch of the Laws of Lagos State, His Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode announced that hard copies of the Laws will be complimented with an online digital version in conformity with modern reality.

Source:PMNews
A man has been jailed after tagging himself in Facebook photos showing him taking part in a riot. Robert Darragh, 21, from the Shankill area of Belfast, took part in a riot during a clash between nationalists and unionists during the Loyalist marching season in Northern Ireland last year.

29 police officers were injured during the disturbance as they were pelted with bricks, bottles and other missiles. Belfast Crown Court heard that during the disturbance, Mr Darragh kept his face covered to avoid detection and so could not be identified from CCTV footage, Belfast Live reports.

However, as part of their investigation, police officers looked through photos on social media sites to find images from the riot. Mr Darragh had tagged himself in a Facebook photo showing him participating in the disturbance.

The tag linked to his profile page, from which officers were able to find out his full name and other details. He was subsequently arrested and admitted one charge of participating in the riot. He has been given a two year prison sentence.

UK Independent.
Punch

The amount of crude oil processed by Nigerias three refineries slumped by 224,342 metric tonnes between January and February 2016, the latest financial and operations report of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation indicated.

Vanguard

The Presidency has dismissed the allegations by former Gov. Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State that the Buhari administration is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.

The Sun

Free yourself from ex-ruling partys sympathisers, he tells Buhari

Thisday

Chineme Okafor, in Abuja, writes on why queues at filling stations have refused to go in most states and what is being done to address the issue

Daily Times

This Department of State Services has arrested a suspected founding member of the Boko Haram, Mohammed Usman, in Lokoja, Kogi State

Daily Trust

Two supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gwagwalada Area Council were crushed by a trailer yesterday afternoon.

Leadership

The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State yesterday described as laughable and a mockery the decision by the State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson to name two state structures to immortalise the late first civilian governor of the state and acclaimed governor-general of Ijaw nation, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha.

The Nation

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Bayelsa says it has destroyed more than 400 illegal mini refineries operated by oil thieves in the state.

New Telegraph

The Director of Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Monsignor, Gabriel Osu, has asked the Federal Government to provide explanation on the alleged adoption of a controversial compulsory curriculum for basic education in the country.
A former presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Rafiu Salau, has said the privatization of the nations refineries was the best solution to the recurring problem of fuel scarcity in the country.

Efforts to privatize the refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt by the government suffered setbacks in the recent past as labour unions, specifically NUPENG and PENGASSAN, vowed to resist the move, instead calling for a complete turn-around of the refineries.

It would be recalled that on the eve of his departure from office, from President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007 privatized the refineries, a move that was reversed by his successor, late President Umaru YarAdua.

But speaking with Daily Trust yesterday in Abuja, Salau, who was also a former national chairman of the AD, said the privatisation of refineries would not only reduce unemployment in the country, it would expand the economy and generate more revenue for government.

The AD chieftain argued that if the refineries are sold to private investors, they would be put to full capacity with adequate human resources, adding that there would be no need for fuel subsidy.

He further stated that government over the years have been managing the refineries with being able to maximally satisfy the needs of the masses  a development he noted is evident in the current fuel scarcity across the country.

According to Salau, if privatized, Nigerians would buy shares, get dividends at the end of each year and boost economic activities while the best team of managers would be put at the hierarchy to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the system.

Government should privatise refineries and encourage Nigerians to buy shares. The solution is putting all the refineries in good condition. When it is managed by Nigerians who are the consumers the refineries will be very effective and the shareholders will have dividends at the end of the year. The government will also get revenue from the taxes.

Government has tried enough to manage these refineries but now it is time to privatise them. We have enough crude oil so why should we be suffering lack of petroleum products, he said.
Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) has urged the Federal Government to muster the political will and courage to recover over $200 billion stolen wealth of Nigeria withheld by some international oil companies instead of taking take a loan of $3.5 billion from the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

The request was contained in a letter dated April 8, 2016 addressed to the Minister of Finance and titled, Request for the collection of outstanding revenue of $200 billion withheld from the federation account or stolen by looters.

According to Falana, if the government refuse to accede to the request, we shall have no alternative than to initiate legal proceedings at the Federal High Court with a view to restraining the Federal Government from further plunging the nation into external indebtedness.

In his initial letter to the minister dated February 12, 2016, the lawyer urged the Federal Government to explore alternative sources of raising revenue to fund the 2016 budget instead of increasing the nations external debt of $64 billion.

He also requested the federal government to embark on the recovery of the revenue of $42 billion withheld from the Federation Account from 1999-2012 by some transnational oil companies, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other agencies of the federal government.

Falana said the minister in his reply in a letter dated March 17, 2016 gave assurance that the issues raised in our letter were receiving the attention of the Federal Government.

We were therefore surprised to learn that the Administration had applied to the Chinese Government for another loan of $2 billion. In urging the Federal Government to desist from taking the loan of $2 billion from China or any other country we are compelled to advise the Federal Government to intensify efforts to recover the nations wealth which has been criminally diverted by a handful of local and foreign looters, he said.

Falana advised government to direct the relevant agencies and the anti graft bodies to collect the stolen wealth and listed 17 areas where such funds will be collected.

According to him, the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has confirmed that from five cycles of independent audit reports of NEITI covering 1999-2012 the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), some oil companies and certain agencies of the federal government had withheld $20.2 billion for the Federation Account.

The indicted oil companies and agencies should be made to remit the said sum of $20.2 billion into the Federation Account.

In 2006, the Central Bank of Nigeria apportioned $7 billion out of the nations external reserves to 14 Nigerian banks. In 2008, the CBN also gave a bailout of N600 billion ($4 billion) to the banks.

On September 6, 2016 the NNPC announced that arrangements had been concluded to recover the sum of $9.6 billion in over-deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on major capital projects and oil swap contracts. Since the NNPC is said to have recovered the said sum of $9.6 billion it should be remitted into the Federation Account.
As marriage proposals go, Michael Banks was a cliff-hanger. Banks, 27, scaled 600-foot Morro Rock just off Californias Central Coast early Thursday morning to propose to his girlfriend, who was watching via FaceTime video. The good news: Banks girlfriend said yes, according to Morro Bay fire Capt. Todd Gailey.

The bad news: Banks got stuck, and had to be plucked by helicopter for a tricky, post-proposal flight to safety. Banks took a different trail down, much steeper and became stranded, Gailey said. He couldnt go any direction, on a sheer ledge, with his feet dangling 80 feet off the ground. Rescuers called in a helicopter, and Gailey descended by cable to hoist Banks from the narrow ledge, with the rotors spinning near the cliff and ocean spray battering both men.

Banks was calm for most of the ordeal, but a little unnerved at that part, Gailey said. Morro Rock is a landmark located just offshore from the community of Morro Bay. Climbing is banned but some go anyway and there have been several fatal falls over the years. Typically when someone needs to be rescued they are ticketed, Gailey said. It was not immediately clear if Banks, who was unharmed, was cited.

Banks said nothing during the rescue about any second thoughts on his choice of setting for the proposal, Gailey said. However, the fire captain said others should consider a place where youre not in danger of falling off a cliff.
A 21-year-old suspected robber, Akeem Popoola, says a police inspector attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, uses him to swindle unsuspecting victims.

He said he had worked for the policeman, identified as Inspector Festus, aka Ijaya, for about four months before he was arrested.

The carpenter, who is currently in custody at the Agbado divison, Ogun State, was arrested for robbery and burglary. A mattress and speakers of a sound system were reportedly recovered from him in the Giwa area of Agbado on April 6.

He told PUNCH Metro that apart from burglary, he used to collect phones from the inspector and he would later sell them.

He added that Ijaya and two others  Abbey and Aluko  would get the buyers arrested minutes later for buying stolen items.

Akeem said their victims paid Ijaya between N120,000 and N150,000 before they were released, adding that he got N5,000 as his share on each deal.

In November 2015, one of my fathers tenants and I fought. When my daddy came back home on that day, she reported me to him and he handed me over to Inspector Festus at the state police command headquarters, Ikeja. He told him I was too troublesome and wanted him to discipline me. But he (Ijaya) did not. He took me to a beer parlor at Alakuko and gave me N5,000. I was very surprised.

Two days after, we met at another beer parlour around Agbado, where I was made to swear an oath. He brought out a gun and put some gin inside the barrel. He drank from it and gave me the gun to do same. He said he would be sending me on some errands. He gave me a mobile phone and drove me in his Toyota Camry to POWA complex in Ikeja.

He told me to sell the phone inside the complex which I did for N20,000. After an hour, he handcuffed me and took me in his car with his boys  Abbey and Aluko  to the man that bought the phone. He arrested the man and told him to pay N200,000 if he did not want to be taken to the station. The man raised N150,000 among his friends in that complex and gave him.

When we left there, he removed the handcuffs and gave me N5,000 and we departed.

The Oke Ona, Abeokuta indigene said the second deal he had with Ijaya was an iPad he sold to another unsuspecting victim around Ikeja. He said he got a N5,000 share from the N150,000 bribe the inspector allegedly collected from the buyer, who was also accused of acquiring stolen property.

He added that when he decided to quit, Ijaya refused.

Akeem told our correspondent that Ijaya threatened they had sworn an oath and that he would die if he backed out from the deal or revealed it to his father.

Sometime in February, the inspector gave me a Techo phone which I sold to a guy at Agbado. The guy gave me N7,000 and a small phone. Thirty minutes later, we went back with my hands handcuffed. And as he normally did, he collected about N120,000 from him before he was released. I also got my N5,000 share. I can say all this in his presence, he added.

Akeem said he had stolen a plasma television at Oke Aro area of Agbado on the order of Ijaya, insisting that the item was still with the policeman.

His father, Mr. Ahmed Popoola, who regretted handing him over to the policeman, said his son was a thief before he took him to Ijaya for discipline.

He said he strove to meet Akeems needs and had counselled him on several occasions to no avail.

He had been stealing before I took him to a police friend, Yekini, who handed him over to Ijaya with a belief that he (Akeem) will change if he sees the way thieves are being punished. He had been embarrassing me. He still has a case in the Sango-Ota division. I was arrested and detained because of him.

When he finished his secondary school, he told me he did not want to proceed to a higher institution. I enrolled him as an apprentice in my carpentry workshop and constructed a wooden shop for him when he graduated. He removed all the planks I used to construct the shop and sold them. Let the law take its course.

The spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the police were on the trail of Ijaya and his accomplices. He added that the case had been transferred to the commands Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

He said, The suspect was arrested for robbery and burglary. He mentioned Ijaya and some others and we have commenced investigation. If any of them is actually a policeman, we are going to send a signal to the command he is attached to and he will be arrested.

But the Lagos State Police spokesperson, SP Dolapo Badmos, denied that Ijaya was a serving cop in the command.

We dont have a policeman bearing Festus or Ijaya in the command, she said.

Source: Punch
Somalia has executed a journalist accused of helping members of al-Shabab kill at least five journalists in the capital. Hassan Hanafi, who was captured in neighbouring Kenya in 2014, was executed on Monday morning by a firing squad in Mogadishu after his appeal at a military court failed.

Hanafi was accused of helping fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group identify possible targets in the journalism community between 2007 and 2011. From 2009 to 2011 he worked for Radio Andalus, al-Shababs official mouthpiece. In an interview aired on Somalia state TV in February, Hanafi admitted ordering the murder of several journalists. But in an audio recording of a phone call leaked last month Hanafi appeared to claim he made the confessions after being tortured.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists more than 25 journalists have been killed in the Horn of Africa country since 2007.

Al-Shabab, which is seeking to overthrow the countrys Western-backed government, was pushed out of Mogadishu in 2011 by government troops backed by an African Union force. It continues to carry out suicide attacks and targeted assassinations in south and central parts of the country, and it has also conducted major attacks in Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda, which all contribute troops to the African Union effort.

Aljazeera.
At least 12 people were killed and dozens wounded on Monday when a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghan army recruits near Afghanistans eastern city of Jalalabad, officials have said. It was a single suicide blast that killed 12 army recruits and wounded 38 others, Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar province, told Al Jazeera.

The target was the army shuttle bus. These recruits were traveling to the capital Kabul for their training. All of them were young. Ahsanullah Shinwari, head of the Jalalabad hospital, said on Monday that all 12 bodies were brought to the hospital in the city, 125 kilometers from Kabul. He said the rest of the 38 wounded were in critical condition. The attacker was on a motorcycle when he rammed the bus, detonating explosives, according to Ahmad Ali Hazrat, chief of the Nangarhar provincial council. No group has claimed responsibility yet. In another incident early Monday, a bomb hit a mini-bus carrying Afghan Education Ministry workers in Kabul, killing at least two people and wounding seven others.

The roadside bomb blew up as the bus was carrying workers to their offices in Kabuls eastern Bagrami district, the ministry said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Afghanistans precarious security was underlined late on Saturday when at least two rockets hit the diplomatic zone in Kabul only hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry had held meetings with Afghan government leaders in the capital. No injuries were reported.

Source: Al Jazeera
Troops attached to the 155 Task Force Battalion of the Nigerian Army rescued 14 persons and recovered weapons from Boko Haram insurgents, the Army headquarters said on Sunday.

Those rescued were mostly women and children, the Army said.

A statement signed by the Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, said the troops were on patrol to Nimila Village in Borno State when they carried out the rescue operation.

According to the statement, the soldiers also recovered equipment ranging from Dane guns to motorcycles.

In continuation of the ongoing clearance operations of suspected Boko Haram terrorists hideouts, troops of 155 Task Force Battalion conducted a patrol to Nimila village today during which they rescued 14 persons from the clutches of Boko Haram terrorists and recovered weapons. The rescued persons were mostly women and children.

The troops also recovered 3 Dane Guns; a single barrel and 2 double barrels. They further recovered 3 motor cycles abandoned by the terrorists, in addition to 2 mobile telephone handsets, Mr. Usman, a Colonel, said.


The United States and Israel on Saturday warned their citizens of a high-level, imminent threat of attacks in Turkey  urging them to immediately leave the country. Turkey has been rocked by four suicide bombings already this year, the most recent last month in Istanbul. Two of those have been blamed on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), while Kurdish fighters have claimed responsibility for the other two.

The US embassy emailed what it called an emergency message to Americans, warning of credible threats to tourist areas in Istanbul and the resort city of Antalya. Israel announced immediate risks. The US Mission in Turkey would like to inform US citizens that there are credible threats to tourist areas, in particular to public squares and docks in Istanbul and Antalya, it said.

Later on Saturday, three people were slightly wounded after a small bomb left on the side of a road exploded in Istanbuls central Mecidiyekoy district, Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The blast came from a non-lethal stun grenade, designed to create a loud noise and blinding flash. The three victims were taken to the hospital.

Earlier on Saturday, two Reuters news agency reporters in central Istanbul saw an extremely heavy police presence with roads sealed off. Armed special police units were deployed outside foreign consulates, including the German and Italian missions. Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from Istanbul, said the attacks and security alerts are keeping people in Turkeys largest city on edge.

Aljazeera.
A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, has denied reports that he has defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

It was reported earlier here that during an APC stakeholders meeting in Enugu at the weekend, Nwodo, represented by his wife, Dorothy, alongside other PDP heavyweights including former House of Representatives Speaker, Agunwa Anakwe; Senators Emma Agboti, Chris Adighije, Nkechi Nwogu, Ifeanyi Ararume and former Labour Minister, Emeka Wogu, defected to the APC.

But Mr. Nwodo, in a statement he personally signed on Monday, said while political developments in the PDP are embarrassing and unexciting, he is yet to dump the party.

The former PDP chairman faulted reports of his alleged defection to the APC, saying the unfounded reports were based on the activities of his wife, whom he described as an adult and capable of making her own political decisions.

The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, CON says his attention has been drawn to media insinuations that he has dumped the PDP and joined the ruling All Progressives Congress APC and wishes to state categorically that while developments in PDP is embarrassing and unexciting he is yet to dump the party.

Dr. Nwodo, a pioneer National Secretary of PDP and former governor of old Enugu State said that its improper for the media to stand merely on my wife being present at a meeting that I was not, to conclude that I have joined the APC disregarding the fact that my wife as an adult has her own political life.

As one of the founding fathers of PDP who has held the highest office in the party, I know the statutory procedure of resigning and would willingly do that if necessary, the statement said.

Mr. Nwodo said although a number of issues within PDP remain embarrassing to the founding fathers, the truth is that Am still a member of the PDP and has not joined the APC.

He, therefore, called on his numerous supporters across the country, particularly in Enugu State, to disregard the purported story as his political direction would not be hidden if the need arises.
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Chinese investors of his administrations commitment to contracts signed by his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on railway, roads and hydroelectric dam projects.

He gave this assurance in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency ahead of his 5-day state visit to China starting today.

President Buhari noted that China has the technical and financial capacity and the experience of development while retaining the goodwill to help Nigeria.

Really, this is an opportunity Nigeria cannot afford to lose, the president told Xinhua in Abuja.

Buhari said Nigeria and China enjoy vast opportunities in cooperation in such fields as agriculture, mining, electric power generation, and railway and road construction.

He also said Nigeria stands ready to expand the development of industries, especially in manufacturing and textile industries and speed up infrastructure construction, which presents huge opportunities for both China and Nigeria.

The opportunities that present themselves for us  are virtually limitless, he said.
Is Google eyeing Apple's Swift language as a possible "first-class citizen" on Android?

It's a good question, but here's a better one: How hard would it be for Google to make Swift a viable choice on Android for developers and users? Plus, why would Google undertake such a lengthy and arduous move in the first place?

Here are four reasons why Swift on Android is a tough proposition, as well as the obstacles Google and its developer community would face in making it happen.

It would be difficult on Android's part

Switching Android to Swift is nontrivial in the same way moving an extended family cross-country is nontrivial. First, Google would have to develop a Swift runtime for Android and deliver it side by side with the existing Java-powered runtime. Google has already done something along these lines -- swapping the Dalvik VM for the faster ART runtime -- but both were Java-based, so the job was a lot easier.

Even harder would be if Swift were to become the preferred language for Android. Moving to Swift would have to be done incrementally -- first with both Swift and Java VMs side by side, then with Swift-only over time. That kind of transition takes years, especially in an ecosystem as well-trafficked and sprawling as Android's.

Apple faces a similar issue, since it's needed to keep Swift and Objective-C ecosystems in place side by side for two years now. That's in a system where Apple controls everything. Imagine the complexities involved with Android, where the carriers, handset manufacturers, and Google are in a three-way tug-of-war.

Finally, this move would require the participation of Android developers -- many of whom might not want to come along for the ride.

It would be difficult on the developers' part

In addition to Google adding Swift to Android, developers would have to pick up on Swift.

Java was chosen for Android in big part to take advantage of the mass of existing Java development resources and programmer expertise. New and relatively untested, Swift doesn't have the same momentum.

Swift is gaining traction at a healthy pace, though. Developers are clearly getting enthused (as well as IBM), and in April it even cracked the top 20 of the Tiobe languages index (currently at No. 15).

Still, getting developers to ditch a language they know and adopt an entirely new one is no small task -- another reason why Swift and Java would have to co-exist in Android for years.

It would shift dependencies from Oracle to Apple

Right now, Android is planning to use OpenJDK rather than Oracle's Java, if for no other reason than to put more distance between the two companies after Oracle's ugly Android lawsuit. But there's little question Oracle still controls the future direction of Java.

Swift, likewise, is Apple's baby, although it's been made into an open source project -- which is expected to lead to major cross-platform adoption in the long run. Google adopting Swift as a long-term pivot makes sense if the plan is to reduce dependency on a platform and a runtime that's fraught with proprietary concerns.

But again, there's little question Swift's direction is influenced chiefly by Apple. It isn't likely Google wants to make itself dependent, even if only indirectly, on a key competitor -- not even if the technology in question is open source. In theory, Google could fork Swift and take control of the fork, but it would be stuck with the maintenance and management overhead of an entire language.

Switching to Go would be more in line with Google's thinking

If Google really wants to disassociate itself with third-party languages and runtimes, it wouldn't ditch Java for Swift. It would make more sense to turn to the language, runtime, and toolchain built in-house: Go, also know as Golang.

Go can already be used for mobile development. Versions 1.5 and up of Golang provided support for both Android and iOS, and with the "app" package, devs can write all-Go apps for both platforms. That said, mobile support for Go is still classified as experimental.

If Google intended to make Go or Swift into a complement to Java on Android -- let alone replace it -- a lot more work would be in order. It's a safe bet that Android will remain ensconced on Java for a long time to come.
Both the defenders and detractors of Google's Go language acknowledge its limitations. But according to conventional wisdom, they're there for a reason, and if you want to do things differently, fork Go and make your own version.

Toni Cardenas, a developer involved in several Go-related projects, is doing exactly that. He's rolled out the first iteration of of SGo, a Go variant that prevents certain panics, aka application crashes, by catching them at compile time instead of runtime.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Download the quick guide to Google Go today. | Keep up with hot topics in programming with InfoWorld's Application Development newsletter. ]

SGo doesn't provide these features by forking the Go compiler or runtime. Instead, it's more like a transpiler: It takes code written in SGo and generates a new Go program that adheres to SGo's rules.

In Go, variables that are uninitialized are set to nil . Unfortunately, this means there are times when an application expects a value, receives a nil instead, and crashes because the condition wasn't handled. The current version of Go doesn't do compile-time checking to prevent those problems from seeping into running code.

SGo compiles to conventional Go source code, but along the way, it provides compile-time checks. If the SGo compiler encounters a pointer, interface, map, channel, or function that could be set to nil , it throws an error.

In situations where you need nil , SGo provides a syntax for "optional types" -- a variable that can be either a stated type or nil . The flexibility of optional types is deliberately restricted by SGo -- again, to prevent a nil -related crash.

Another SGo addition, "entangled optionals," allows you to return with a function either an error or another set of values if the error is nil . This kind of multiple-return pattern for error handling is common for Go, so this feature, and many others in SGo, complement how Go already works.

Cardenas claims these latter features "introduce absolutely no runtime costs." However, as he documents, the final Go program built from SGo code also doesn't know about SGo's features.

Most criticisms of Go focus on the language's lack of generics or its error handling. In the minds of Go's creators, these are intentional design decisions, so the only way to address them would be to fork the language wholesale.

SGo's ambitions are more modest. They're aimed at catching problems that crop up in the language as it currently stands, but don't require the major, breaking changes that a full-blown fork of Go would entail.
Stock Market This Week: Five Themes to Watch Barchart - Sun Oct 23, 8:00AM CDT While the U.S. equities sector posted a surprising win last week, circumstances are only getting more ambiguous, requiring extra vigilance among investors. RTX : 88.54 (+1.49%)

Cattle bulls are back in force Sidwell Strategies - Sat Oct 22, 7:12PM CDT Cattle-on-Feed; Rebound in Equities & Energy

Triple Digit Hog Rally Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT 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 - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT 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%)
In The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader instructs bounty hunter Boba Fett to take Chewbacca and Princess Leia to his ship.

This angers Lando Calrissian, who proclaims, "That wasn't part of the deal! You said the wookiee and Leia would stay under my protection!" To which Vader replies, "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

The exchange reminds us of what's currently happening in the Seattle arts scene.

The Stranger recently reported that Shari Behnke, the prominent Seattle philanthropist who, in 2012, founded the New Foundation and opened a Pioneer Square gallery in 2014, would be shutting down the art gallery and laying off its staff next monthright in the middle of an ambitious year of planned exhibitions. Benhke cited family illness as the reason for "simplifying" the foundation.

The Seattle arts community responded with a great deal of empathy and concern. But some also lamented, like The Stranger, which criticized "the effects of the whims of wealthy."

And so the decision speaks to a deeper problem across the philanthropic arts space. The funder-organization partnership is built on explicit and implicit agreements. Nonprofits grow accustomed to the status quo. They become conditioned to expect things. What happens when a funder decides to unexpectedly "alter" the deal?

Let's step back and get a handle on what's happening with the New Foundation. Prior to Behnke's announcement, it seemed as if the foundation had the wind at its back. As we noted a few months ago, it announced a new $100,000 prizedubbed the 100K Prizethat reflected Behnke's main philanthropic interests: supporting artists, empowering women, and catalyzing social change.

And while fellow Seattle-based philanthropist Paul Allen has received a lot of grief for his own flighty forays into the arts, Behnke's influence has been more dispersed and impactful, particularly across the experimental arts spacewhich is precisely why the community is so concerned. The biggest blow is the closing of the foundation's free Pioneer Square gallery. As The Stranger notes, the gallery "became a focus because it was the public face, and because it presented the most ambitious of the foundations enterprises. The gallery has exhibited important artists from outside Seattle and provided a free art library of books and periodicals open to all. There arent really other art libraries or bookstores that are accessible to non-students in Seattle."

What's more, the foundation used the gallery to galvanize a civic and national program in 2016. That program began with the announcement of the 100k Prize. If there's any good news to be gleaned from Behnke's announcement, it's that the prizeand the funding that comes with itwill continue.

Nonetheless, the practical ramifications behind the gallery's closing are jarring. Commenting on the closure, New York-based artist Martha Rosler, who also happens to be the first recipient of the 100K Prize, said, "Im befuddled, Im concerned, Im uncertain about where were going from here, but I feel really bad for people whove had their jobs terminated in an instant, and for people who were expecting more [art] to comethe audience, and of course I feel terrible for Shari."

And then there's the symbolism involved. We all know that philanthropy ultimately boils down to dollars and cents, but symbolism matters, particularly for a space that the community viewed as the epicenter of Seattle's experimental arts scene.

Oh, and did we mention The Stranger claims the foundation has "no plan" for ongoing sustainability?

Add it all up, and one can understand why the city's arts community feels a bit "shellshocked." Many became comfortableor is the word complacent?in their relationship with the foundation. Like most philanthropic partnerships, it was a relationship built on spoken and unspoken agreements.

And though Behnke's personal challenges weren't a complete secret, if you read the Stranger piece in its entiretysomething we highly recommend, by the wayyou get the sense that certain members of the community are silently channeling their inner Lando Calrissian, claiming, "That wasn't part of the deal!"

Of course, a tendency to unexpectedly alter one's philanthropic efforts isn't a recent phenomenon, nor is it limited to whimsical rich people. Less than a year and a half ago, the Penn Foundation abruptly cut funding to the Philadelphia dance community, which according to choreographer and dancer Melanie Stewart was like "cutting off the legs and cutting out the heart." Meanwhile, the Ford Foundation's much-hyped pivot toward combating inequality had its cadre of current grant recipients sweating bullets.

Conversely, last year Denver's Bonfils-Stanton Foundation did an about-face and decided to narrow its mission to focus almost exclusively on the arts.

Ultimately, in the absence of mind reading or Jedi mind tricks (you knew that was coming), organizations can only prepare for the worst by diversifying their donor bases so that, if at all possible, their funding eggs are in multiple baskets.

Which brings us back to our final Star Wars reference. We realize it isn't good PR to compare any foundation to Darth Vader, but the concept of artistic license is something that we take very seriously. Besides, it came from a place of genuine concern, not judgment.
In a political season that has featured violent clashes at political rallies and candidates' attacks on opponents' spouses, it seems that public discourse has plunged to new lows.

Now comes the John Templeton Foundation to the rescue. One of the country's most interesting funders, it recently awarded $5.75 million to the University of Connecticut to support research into ways of balancing humility and conviction in today's public discourse.

Not a moment too soon, right? Politics, by its very nature, is divisive, but the current season has often been the polar opposite of civil discourse. There have been repeated incidents of clashes between protesters and supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. At one rally, a Trump supporter was caught on camera punching a protester in the face. Trump's own campaign manager has been charged with battery after an incident in Florida after which a reporter accused him of grabbing her.

But the incidents are not limited to the Trump campaign. Others have included the hijacking of a Bernie Sanders rally in 2015 by Black Lives Matter protesters and presidential primary debates that sound more like clashes between schoolyard bullies than exchanges of ideas and visions. The image of President Reagan and then-House Speaker Tip O'Neill sharing a cocktail, putting aside partisanship, and declaring that they were friends after 6 p.m. seems a distant memory at best.

There is a long history of foundation efforts to raise the level of public discourse in politics in the United States. One of the biggest efforts now underway is the Hewlett Foundation's Madison Initiative, which seeks to reduce the high level of polarization and hyper-partisanship in the U.S. Congress.

We've also reported on other initiatives to improve the quality of media coverage of policy issues and the quality of public discourse.

Related:

Meanwhile, a range of funders have looked to universities as a key to creating deeper, better informed public policy debates by supporting new research and a new generation of policy leaders. We've reported on many recent major gifts in that area. (See more here.)

Templeton is a major funder of higher ed work, and this is great grant money if you can get it. In this case, the foundation hopes to inject open-mindedness and intellectual humility into the public discourse through its grant to the University of Connecticut's Humanities Institute. The $5.75 million is the largest grant ever received by the institute at UConn. It is also one of the larger humanities-based research grants we've seen lately.

The Templeton funds support three public forums, a series of summer institutes for high school teachers on integrating intellectual humility into their classes, and a series of media initiatives aimed at raising awareness of the issue of civility in public discourse. Research activities funded by the grant include a fellowship program, competitive research grants for interdisciplinary research teams, and some collaborative work with the Scholarly Communications Design Studio. The latter is a UConn initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation.

This intersection of scientific research with the humanities is Templeton's sweet spot when it comes to funding. The Pennsylvania-based foundation embraces an outside-the-box approach to funding research, supporting projects that connect science and the scientific method with the worlds of religion, the arts, literature, and other topics in the humanities.

Michael Lynch, director of the institute at UConn and the project's principal investigator, hopes the work will promote more constructive dialogue on divisive issues not only in politics, but also in science and religion. We need only look at today's debates over the role of government, science's challenges to faith, and the role of religion in public life to see that his team has its work cut out for it.

Related:TempletonRemains the Oddestor Most InterestingBig Foundation Around
One summer day, probably in the 1870s, friends of a major short seller got together on the shores of Newport, Rhode Island, where they admired the enormous yachts of New Yorks richest brokers. After gazing long and thoughtfully at the beautiful boats, the short seller asked wryly, Where are the customers yachts?

 Jason Zweig in his introduction to Fred Schwed Jr.s 1940 classic, Where Are the Customers Yachts? or, A Good Hard Look at Wall Street

If investors complained about Wall Street in Schweds day, theyre howling now. You can see the distrust in deeply skeptical regulators, highly critical pop culture (The Big Short book and movie, and Showtimes Billions series) and voluble protest movements (Occupy Wall Street and Bernie Sanders presidential campaign). Since Schweds time the definition of Wall Street has broadened to include asset management, an industry that has inspired its fair share of criticism for overcharging and underdelivering. We have to admit that such strong reactions, though often based on misconceptions and exaggerated facts, are not wholly undeserved, leaving the asset management industry vulnerable to disruption.

The need for good money managers has never been greater. Total investable assets are continuously rising. High-net-worth individuals are now influential sources of capital in both established and emerging markets. Baby boomers are living longer in retirement, and as they stop working theyll need their assets to last longer. Yet for investors too few good options exist.

Many of our colleagues dont believe that disruption is imminent. After all, asset management is one of the worlds most profitable and exciting businesses. Why should we even worry about disrupters? The challenge, according to innovation expert Clayton Christensen, is that incumbents have a blind spot toward disruption. It is difficult to see because it goes against a set of ingrained assumptions that most likely have led to success so far. As a result, the profitable big players have a hard time seeing threats, especially when these are coming from smaller and more innovative players or outside their traditional set of competitors. Even when incumbents perceive the possibility of disruption, they discount it or cannot change their existing business model fast enough because of vested economic interests or internal bureaucracies  and by then it is too late.

We take the contrarian view. We expect that asset management is about to go through a particularly dynamic period of disruption, for three reasons: high profits, new technologies and a new set of client demands resulting from global social changes. First, the industry is extremely profitable, and excess profit pools attract competition and substitution. According to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), total 2014 industry profits were $102 billion globally, flowing from remarkably high operating margins of 39 percent. Second, financial technology venture capital is exploding: CB Insights reports that $10.5 billion was invested in fintech start-ups in the first nine months of 2015, compared with less than $5 billion in all of 2014. And third, a number of global trends  including changing demographics, the growing power of women and emerging-markets wealth  are shifting how and when asset managers must serve their clients. Collectively, these irresistible forces are meeting a movable object: the calcified asset management industry structure.

To frame our research we created a picture of the universe of investable assets, which is made up of the global economys money supply minus operating capital. It is equivalent to what surplus resources can be saved or invested for future use once the economy has been funded to meet todays needs. Collectively, the universe of investable assets totals more than $270 trillion, excluding leverage (see Real World, below).

We categorize the universe of investable assets into three main overlapping groups: money holders, money managers and intermediaries. The money holders are ultimately the beneficiaries most affected by how the assets perform. They also incur most of the economic risk. Money holders  including sovereign funds, individual households, retirees and corporations  range dramatically in their natures, sets of expectations and investment sophistication.

Money holders delegate to money managers, who make decisions on the holders behalf with respect to how investable assets can be allocated to generate optimal return at optimal risk. Some money holders may invest a portion or all of their investable assets directly into the market; they currently hold $47 trillion of bonds and equities through direct purchases. In contrast, alternative assets  including private equity, venture capital and hedge funds  are much harder for individuals to access directly. This sizable asset class, representing $8 trillion in capital, typically charges higher fees for access and is available to only a select few money holders.

Last, intermediaries such as investment consultants and funds of funds have become a critical part of the ecosystem. Intermediaries provide different services to money holders and managers. They offer access to otherwise inaccessible managers and can provide valuable investment perspectives. In todays period of unprecedented disruption, we see intermediaries in a strategic vise: They need to add increasing value to money holders and money managers while keeping costs low and responding to relentless competitive pressures.

The value of the universe of investable assets has increased over time, fueled by both population growth (which typically expands the value of the underlying corporations and other assets) and economic growth. This type of growth is also referred to as beta return, or the above-cash-market return. To benefit from such organic returns, investors do not require much investment acumen other than smart diversification.

But to beat markets  to create real alpha (returns above the passive benchmark performance)  is much harder and, some would argue, even impossible on a sustainable basis. Delivering alpha consistently on a net-of-fees-and-costs basis has proved an elusive goal. For example, hedge funds have underperformed U.S. equities since 2000 by 1.5 percentage points annually, on average, even though their returns look attractive over longer periods: Hedge funds topped the S&P 500 index by 3 percentage points a year from 1970 through 2015. However, one can argue that hedge funds were a different dish in the 1980s and 90s, when the industry was much smaller and more nimble.

Even if highly sought-after money managers have successfully outperformed average market returns, it is impossible to guarantee that they will continue to do so in the future. With high management fees and substantial incentive fees relative to low-cost alternatives like index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), hedge funds are under heightened scrutiny, especially in light of recent mediocre performance. As a result, many investors are asking highly skeptical questions, demanding more transparency and expecting better alignment of results and objectives.

The asset management industry is one of the few industries that collectively play a near-zero-sum game. By contrast, most other industries are positive sum: If you eat a great steak dinner, it doesnt imply that others have to eat hot dogs. In asset management each new money manager that is able to generate alpha in liquid markets normally does so at the expense of other managers or individual investors that underperform the market benchmark. Investors happily pay high fees for top managers but resist paying them for consistent underperformance. The pursuit of hot managers combined with the mathematical difficulty of outperforming markets leads to many of the peculiarities in our industry.

Initially, we based our research on Harvard Business School professor Christensens classical view of disruptive innovation. In his framework a product or service first gains customers by doing only one or two jobs for a client, typically on the low end of an established market. Eventually, the company moves upmarket and displaces the established competitors.

For a tangible example we looked at the unprecedented growth of low-cost ETFs and index funds. As a result of the sectors success (assets have jumped from $3 trillion to $11 trillion over the past decade), the proportion of money managed in traditional active core strategies has withered from nearly 60 percent of assets in 2003 to less than 40 percent today, a trend likely to continue (see The Big Squeeze, below).

Similarly, low-cost retail investment firms like Charles Schwab Corp., Fidelity Investments and Vanguard Group are not immune to pressure from the even-lower-cost, technology-enabled robo-advisers like Betterment. Change is happening so fast that disrupters are now in danger of being disrupted. In a tepid global economy, money holders worry more about minimizing costs, taxes and fees than about generating unpredictable top-line returns. Schwab is looking to take market share from traditional full-service brokerages; Wealthfront works on snaring Bank of America Merrill Lynch clients. Meanwhile, in just a few years, Chinas Alibaba Group Holding has amassed more than $100 billion in assets for its money market fund, Yue Bao. There are rumors of other Internet giants, such as Facebook or Google, also entering the investing business.

The beauty of the Christensen model is that it articulates why successful, well-managed incumbents often have a hard time both perceiving and reacting to newcomers from the bottom of the market. The model predicts power shifting back to consumers or clients because they get access to lower-cost, higher-value products. At the end of the day, disruptive innovation is generally good for money holders.

Consistent with the disruption concept, some experts we interviewed do not see the current generation of highly automated advisers as worrisome competitors. They believe robo-advisers lack both the investment sophistication of established managers and the human touch of investment advisers, and that may well be true today. We are not saying that any specific robo-adviser or Internet company will overtake the money management establishment. However, we think these players collectively are a meaningful threat to the status quo.

As Christensens theory predicts, innovators at the bottom of the market are well positioned to evolve by adding new capabilities. They lack the incumbents fear of disrupting existing profit streams and do not have the burden of old technology and the high cost structure of big organizations. The innovators solutions eventually will become sufficient to meet the requirements of more-sophisticated clients. Technology often heralds the breakthrough of new business models, particularly when they offer a lower cost. It is not far-fetched to imagine a low-cost robo-adviser to institutional investors. In fact, weve come across a number of budding early start-ups with exactly that model.

In addition to our industrys internal challenges, there are meaningful external forces at play that will likely hasten disruption: demographic shifts, wealth transfer across geographies and generations, technology revolution and the reversal of long-standing economic trends. In our view, the asset management firm of the future will likely be dramatically different in structure and offer tighter alignment with investor needs. Much as BlackRock has led a quiet revolution in the ETF space (which has become a critical component of the firms staggering growth to $4.5 trillion in assets today), we expect new business models to arise to reshape the future of asset management far more quickly than could have been envisioned even five years ago.

Historically, the asset management business has been slow to change. The stakes are high, the sector is closely regulated, and there are few early adopters of innovation. Not surprisingly, investors tend to prefer things they understand well: Roughly half of the worlds $270 trillion-plus of investable assets are in real estate and cash, which were also the most popular investment areas in the 1800s. Alternative investments, which have been a separate asset class only since the early 1980s, make up less than 2 percent of investable assets.

Though the asset management industry changes slowly, at pivotal points in its history external forces have quickly altered its dynamics. To learn more about them, we spoke with industry veteran John Casey, co-founder and now senior adviser of Darien, Connecticutbased consulting firm Casey, Quirk & Associates. We wanted to understand what drove the huge expansion in assets in actively managed funds in the 80s and 90s. In Caseys view, investors conservatism in the first half of the 20th century was inspired by the Great Depression and two world wars, with savings primarily in cash and bonds. With regulation preventing access to equity markets, banks became the main option for investors, he explains. Following the 197374 stock market debacle, coupled with new ERISA regulations, investors began to look for alternatives to the big banks. As a result of these changes, the floodgates were opened and pension funds and individual investors could invest in new ways. Thousands of firms registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as advisers.

It was like bears fishing when the salmon returned to spawn, says Casey. Little capital and infrastructure were required to start a money management business  two white men and a shingle were now a money manager, he adds. This led to the explosion of the mutual fund and hedge fund industries, and created some of todays biggest investment names. While managers grew large and profitable as assets ballooned, the pension funds and endowments were governed by much more stringent rules, resulting in a talent and incentive imbalance.

In theory, regulations protect money holders and ensure that the retired grandmother does not gamble away or get defrauded out of her hard-earned savings. In reality, the picture may be quite different. Partly as a result of institutional inertia, the incentive systems have gotten way out of whack. Although hedge fund managers can earn millions  and even billions  of dollars, public pension fund CIOs and their teams, entrusted with trillions of dollars to allocate, receive far more modest government employee salaries. Often, highly talented people at pension funds are limited by rigid internal approval processes that make it difficult to invest in new systems and operations. The situation at endowments and foundations can be similar.

The more we try to understand how asset management has evolved, the more we see how highly unusual and somewhat baffling our industry is relative to others. For example, todays 2 percent management fee, typically charged by hedge funds and other alternative-asset firms, was originally intended to provide operating capital for emerging managers. The model made sense when firms were small, in the 1970s and 80s. Yet as firms grew because of the unprecedented inflow of capital and gained economies of scale, management fees as a percentage of assets didnt go down. This created a perverse incentive to raise assets, often without regard to performance. Today alternative-asset managers earn a significant portion of their compensation from management fees, making our industry one of the few in which executives can take home millions of dollars even in years when they lose millions for their clients.

This tendency to want to grow assets under management is in many cases negative for money holders because there is an inevitable tension between size and returns. In 2013, All About Alpha, a website operated by the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, conducted a study of nearly 3,000 long-short equity hedge funds and found that small managers had outperformed their larger peers by an average of 220 basis points a year during the preceding decade. The study cited a number of factors, including higher marginal incentives for emerging managers and a desire to win that is typically more pronounced for this group. Large hedge funds will often encounter liquidity constraints and affect market pricing when they trade, reducing their ability to exploit arbitrage opportunities. Of course, it is true that size creates certain proprietary advantages, such as the ability to handle the increasing complexity of regulatory requirements and to invest in expensive new technologies that may provide a competitive advantage in beating markets.

The asset management industry is experiencing what can be described as a winner-take-all phenomenon. According to a study by BCG, the worlds ten largest managers as measured by net inflows in the U.S. and Europe over the past 15 years captured nearly two thirds of those assets. This concentration can be partly explained by the principal-agent challenge that institutional investors face.

All companies have some form of the principal-agent problem, in which the principal and its agent have different incentives and motivations. In our industry the problem is exacerbated by the presence of so many conflicted intermediaries. To avoid career risk, an individual allocator is often motivated to assign assets to the most popular fund or type of investment. If an allocator hires a known player, underperformance will rarely prompt questions about that persons judgment. The resulting herd mentality penalizes new managers, potentially stifles innovation and generates suboptimal returns.

In addition, the effort to find, assess and manage thousands of small external investments may prove unfeasible for many institutional investors. Scalable offerings from a select set of managers tend to concentrate assets into a few well-known firms regardless of returns. In theory, money should follow expected future returns. In reality, the dynamics are far more complex and tend to preserve the status quo.

While money managers are at minimal personal risk, they have disproportionate power to create systemic economic risk. This negative externality is unique to financial services and was particularly visible in the 2008 financial crisis. But the Great Recession that followed was hardly unique in this asymmetrical risk-and-reward dynamic. When highly leveraged hedge fund firm Long-Term Capital Management collapsed in the late 1990s, the resulting bailout, under the supervision of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, required 16 leading financial institutions to agree on a $3.6 billion recapitalization for a firm led by 11 individuals. By comparison, when oil prices doubled between 2009 and 2011, the spike created stress for consumers but there was no concern that the global economy would collapse.

The asset management industrys high growth and slow change are driving its next-biggest challenge: a looming talent crisis. Our business is far more homogeneous than the clients it serves, which is hugely ironic for an industry that worships diversification as the one true free lunch. Only 10 percent of mutual fund assets and 3 percent of hedge fund assets are managed by women. A similarly small percentage is managed by traditionally underrepresented minorities. The lack of diversity persists despite some studies showing that funds run by women outperform.

Lack of diversity has two other negative effects. First, it limits investors understanding. The U.S. will be a majority minority country by 2040, with inevitable shifts in consumption and behavior patterns. Second, it is hard to attract top talent if firms are looking at a small slice of the population and their immediate peer group, says Carol Morley, CEO of Imprint Group, a New Yorkbased strategy consulting firm.

As the incumbents mature, many are facing a painful leadership succession challenge, adding significant operating risk. The money manager owner class is disproportionately near retirement age. According to Imprint Group, one third of global alternative assets are managed by men over 60. While some firms, like D.E. Shaw & Co., are investing in leadership transitions years ahead of time, others are making fatal mistakes. For example, Chris Shumways botched transition out of his firm, Shumway Capital Partners, triggered huge simultaneous redemptions, requiring asset liquidations at fire-sale prices and eventually the closure of a highly successful $8 billion hedge fund. In some instances, audit and risk oversight companies and technologies that help limited partners monitor founding partner departure risk can add value. But in many cases they are monitoring stasis without understanding the internal dynamics that will make or break these sensitive leadership transitions.

Asset management shows the typical earmarks of an industry ripe for disruption: unhappy customers and extremely profitable incumbents. The industry looks a bit like the taxi business, which is highly lucrative to medallion owners while providing low service levels to riders  and is squarely in Ubers sights.

Our research suggests the power base will eventually shift from money managers to money holders. We live in a pivotal time for asset management, when both internal and external forces are creating major tensions. Industry-specific pressures, such as regulatory tightening and succession challenges, are coupled with global economic, demographic and technology shifts that are reshaping asset management.

Fundamentally, the changing nature of the global economy is disruptive to asset management. After decades of prosperity and productivity growth in the developed world and the insatiable boom of emerging markets, the worlds economic machine is running out of steam. On its own, a tectonic shift of this magnitude would rewrite the rules of any industry. In ours, the tremors are just being felt.

The first quake  the illusion of growth  has been prolonged by the infusion of massive leverage into the system. With more than $200 trillion of aggregate debt at the government, corporate and household levels, expanding the global debt burden is no longer a viable option. If the world were an individual, it wouldnt qualify for a new credit card even in the U.S. The resulting impact is a major realignment of return expectations going forward. Most institutional investors have built 7 to 8 percent net projected returns into their portfolios to be able to meet obligations and liabilities. Historically, such expectations were not unreasonable, as equity markets have delivered average returns of roughly 7 percent per year. Market expectations going forward will likely be much lower because of sluggish economic growth in the developed world, plagued with the risk of deflation, and slowing emerging-markets economies. China  perhaps the biggest driver of these shifting fortunes  is in the process of converting from an export-driven economy to a consumption-led one, which will be characterized by GDP growth falling to low single digits, the nations lowest levels in two decades.

For investors the new economic picture means that the hunt for yield continues with fervor. No longer can money managers ride the market and take credit for beta returns (that is, the general expansion of the market). Thats especially true for hedge funds. After a couple of years of lackluster performance, a record number of both new and established managers are closing their doors. BlueCrest Capital Management, JAT Capital Management, Standard Pacific Capital, Tiger Consumer Management and TigerShark Management are just a few of the notable hedge fund firms that have shuttered (and in some cases become family offices) in the past 12 months.

Oddly, this economic environment may be the perfect opportunity to better align the incentives of money managers and money holders. Boston-based Adage Capital Management offers a rare example of a business model with strong alignment. The $23 billion hedge fund firm pioneered the approach of being compensated just for alpha generation. In its model Adage receives performance fees only when it outperforms its benchmark; it returns money to investors when it misses the mark.

We also see increasing collaboration between money holders and money managers as the line between these actors begins to blur. Co-investment options, greater transparency and true thought partnership are among the ways money managers can take investors interests closer to heart and generate value in a low-growth economy.

Changing demographics are creating a series of waves in the industry. Retiring baby boomers, Millennials gaining investable assets, theincreasing role of women and the growing sophistication of the newlywealthy in emerging markets all point to a dramatically different investor base today and for the foreseeable future. And when investors change, so do their expectations.

Ultimately, shifting the power back to investors will require a greater focus on what money holders actually want. Disruptive-innovation guru Christensens work popularized the idea of analyzing a company by looking at the jobs to be done needed by its clients. The most successful companies are able to satisfy the functional, technical and emotional needs of their customers. For example, Starbucks Corp. does more than serve coffee; in fact, one may argue that its coffee is not of the highest quality available. Yet the company has a loyal customer base because it provides a unique third-place experience between home and work. This job to be done is highly valued and paid for through the sale of boatloads of high-gross-margin coffee.

Many money managers think generating outstanding investment returns is sufficient to retain and grow assets, but they are wrong. Contrary to conventional wisdom, investment performance alone does not drive asset flows, says Amanda Tepper, CEO of Chestnut Advisory Group, a Westport, Connecticutbased consulting firm. Investment performance accounts for only about 15 percent of the reasons investors place money with managers, according to Chestnuts research. We found very low correlations between trailing three-year returns [the primary metric used by most institutional investors] and subsequent one-year net capital inflows, Tepper explains.

To be successful, money managers need to cover such basics as meeting return expectations at the right risk levels with proper internal controls (the technical jobs to be done). The true opportunity set comes from connecting deeply with investor needs (the emotional jobs to be done).

By far the most significant forces for disruption are these social and demographic waves. As women and Millennials become key allocators, they will create a new group of underserved customers with as-yet-unmet values and expectations. Womens $14 trillion in investable assets today is projected to reach $22 trillion by 2020, according to the Family Wealth Advisors Council, a network of U.S. fee-only wealth management firms. Meanwhile, Millennials are coming of age in the workforce.

These new decision makers will expect the industry to reflect both better diversity and more-accessible information and insight. Indeed, managers will need to look more like the decision makers themselves in many respects and be available through multiple self-service channels at all times, like the service providers these clients use to order food or pay bills online. These money holders will be less likely to invest only with money managers who look like Warren Buffett and less willing to wait for a branch office to open on a Monday morning.

Women and Millennials tend to invest differently from the past generation of older men. Women are less likely than men to interpret or favor information that confirms their existing beliefs. When selecting investments, Millennials are both more risk-averse and more socially conscious than past generations. Having come of age during the financial crisis, they have a negative brand perception of some of the traditionally dominant financial services companies.

Last, technology innovation provides kinetic energy that makes disruption possible in all industries. Asset management is no exception. The power of technology innovation is difficult to foresee because the outcomes of disruption are not linear. Instead, technology innovation starts slowly and builds up speed at the end. We believe technology is likely to have a far greater impact on our industry in the next five years than it has had in the past ten.

At its most fundamental level, technology is driving a democratization of asset management. Retail investors, small institutions and family offices have more investment choices than ever before in terms of strategic variety, increased access and low cost. Historically, these investor groups have been the most ill served. Few quality investment opportunities have existed for individuals with less than $1 million in net worth, yet these investors represent a $147 trillion market globally. This is partly because of regulatory limitation but also because there have been few scalable, low-cost, high-quality investment options. To this end, we identified numerous disruptive models in asset management. Certain sophisticated hedge funds, like Two Sigma, rely heavily on technology to harness investment opportunities. Other emerging disrupters in this space include Artivest and Franklin Square Capital Partners, which offer retail investors direct access to hedge funds that individuals historically could not access. Crowdfunding sites (AngelList, soon Indiegogo) allow investors to buy directly into early-stage companies in a way that was impossible before.

New technology platforms also enable tremendous scale. BlackRocks Aladdin is an operational system that better enables institutions to manage their own risks. According to the Economist, Aladdin keeps its eyes on almost 7 percent of the world's $225 trillion of financial assets. A number of younger technology companies, including Novus and Addepar, are aiming to create scale through data aggregation and systematization. Technology will likely further drive greater transparency in a historically opaque industry, catching operational issues earlier and making Bernie Madofflike fraud much more difficult to execute. Emerging governance and oversight platforms like AcordIQ provide institutional investors with the scalability and reliability to manage thousands of external money managers at lower cost and lower risk.

Technology is neither a panacea nor fault-free, as the August 2015 flash crash and Bank of New York Mellon Corp.s mutual fund settlement problems readily illustrate. Overall, technology will enable asset aggregation and streamline operations, both of which will likely result in a de facto reduction in fees. But it will not be a competitive differentiator on its own because of its rapid proliferation and ability to be duplicated.

A good mentor once warned us that making predictions about the future is at best futile and at worst perilous. Thus we do not consider our research to be a prediction but rather a wake-up call for ourselves and our colleagues about how our industry is changing. Disruption is imminent whether or not we see exactly how it is happening. The results will likely lead to meaningful, positive change for investors. Both existing and emerging firms can ride the wave of disruption instead of being swept under it. Those that remain blind run the risk of losing their businesses.

So what does the successful asset manager of the future look like? Based on our analysis, the firm will embody several competitive, profoundly differentiated characteristics. First and foremost, the asset manager of the future will need to systematically identify new sources of alpha amid stagnant markets. Purely picking individual securities to gain an edge will be increasingly difficult and ultimately unsustainable, as data is more readily available and markets are far more efficient than in past decades. Instead, the manager will need the acumen to identify specific investment opportunities and allocate capital across multiple asset classes in an agile fashion.

We see the line between liquid and illiquid strategies blurring, allowing more flexibility for investing across public and private assets. A multistrategy platform that allows for both niche investment opportunities and economies of scale can be an effective way to accomplish alpha generation. Simultaneously, we see the hugely disruptive trend of passive, low-cost indexing continuing to gain significant market share among institutional and retail investors. When beta returns are low, investors will focus more on minimizing costs and reducing taxes.

The manager of the future will generate alpha for investors as a thought partner of the client investment team. This closer alignment and better understanding of evolving portfolio-level objectives will likely lead to an increase in co-investment opportunities. These shifts suggest that asset managers and allocators will change their interactions in meaningful ways. Allocators will need to evolve their assessment approach from a siloed, asset-specific model. In the end, we anticipate a more fluid model in which money managers will be more flexible and proactive and allocators will expect more accountability for managers in meeting their investment objectives for given levels of risk.

To address the operational risks that may come with flexibility, allocators will likely demand a more complete governance model. As a result, the asset manager of the future will need to look at risk in an integrated way, not in separate silos. The traditional view segregates risk into market, credit and operational buckets. In the classic organizational chart, the CIO is responsible for market risk, the treasury officer or CFO for counterparty risk and the COO for operational risk. The asset management firm of the future will learn to view risk holistically and pay attention not just to lagging indicators (losses) but to leading indicators (talent retention, investment in infrastructure, succession planning) related to its long-term enterprise health and, ultimately, delivering client results. Risk management will require a deeper understanding of correlation, not only at the strategy level but also at the substrategy level.

Technology is reshaping asset management and will contribute to alpha generation and transparency. The asset manager of the future will use technology to rebalance value from the firm back to investors. Internally, the manager will invest in technology to gain a competitive investment edge: artificial-intelligence and big-data capabilities and more-seamless integration of front- and back-office processes will become the baseline. Externally, technology solutions will pierce the veil of mystery for investors. The black-box hedge fund model is becoming obsolete, with sophisticated investors demanding greater transparency and a deeper understanding of a managers investment approach and risk management model. Firms will offer a substantially open book, enabled by sophisticated client-facing technology to communicate, share and interact with investors. Technology is the biggest impetus for disruption among low-net-worth retail investors, who up until now have been continuously underserved. Technology allows for scalability, accessibility and transparency that will likely level the playing field and provide retail investors with access to new opportunities and the ability to compare those opportunities in an intelligent way. Unexpected players with large investor networks and access to technology will likely enter the retail money management sector with creative business models. For example, Long Game, a San Franciscobased start-up, aims to disrupt the $85 billion lottery industry and convert lottery players into first-time savers and investors.

Cultivating and keeping talent will be critical for success. The investment industry today is very immature in its human capital management. As founders age and investor demographics change, established investment firms risk a talent crisis and will have to rethink how to attract, develop and retain people. We foresee that asset management leadership will professionalize to address these concerns, as has happened in other industries in a similar stage of their life cycles. In particular, we see a need for a CEO whos fully focused on leadership.

Purpose-led companies are more likely to have employees who exhibit cohesive behavior and act in the best interest of the company and the investors, says Jeff Hunter, founder of Westport-based Talentism and former head of recruiting at hedge fund firm Bridgewater Associates.

As part of this drive to professionalization, we see more self-regulation and the proactive adoption of corporate governance by private investment firms. Leading firms will establish active, engaged executive boards similar to public companies, demonstrating that decisions are being made thoughtfully, systematically and with investors objectives paramount. Of course, this will create better checks and balances on the historically all-powerful founder or cult CIO. We anticipate that this emphasis on effective governance will in turn reshape the due-diligence process. Todays largely manual and sporadic processes will evolve to include more timely, systematic and ongoing oversight.

Ultimately, the factors shaping our industry will lead to greater transparency, enhanced governance, better talent management and closer alignment of incentives and objectives. But these powerful forces will place a critical premium on a culture of trust. Egregious examples of negligence and outright fraud are far too common in our industry, and investors are getting fed up. The asset manager of the future, in both the retail and institutional spaces, will create and guard the trust of investors at all costs.

Vanguard became one of the most successful disrupters in asset management not only because of its low-cost model but also because of the high level of transparency the firm provides its investors. Like Vanguard, to continually earn and reinforce its clients trust, a leading manager of the future must embrace far higher levels of transparency than has been the norm. As opacity recedes, money holders will see who has been working in their best interests.

Still, none of the mechanisms weve outlined will work without an internal culture of high integrity. Trust will be by far the biggest competitive advantage of the asset manager of the future. Only if the culture of trust prevails in our industry can we dispel the anger embedded in the question Where are the customers yachts? 

Katina Stefanova is CIO and CEO of Marto Capital, a New Yorkbased multistrategy asset manager. David Teten is a partner at a New Yorkbased venture capital firm. Brent Beardsley is the Chicago-based global head of the Boston Consulting Groups wealth and asset management practice. To read the full results of their disruption study, visit disruptinvesting.com.
The world has come to know Justin Trudeau, Canadas new prime minister, as a man who snuggles with panda cubs and practices yoga on his desk when hes not pushing his center-left agenda. Now the financial world is meeting the rookie politician who might be considered Trudeaus straight man: Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

Morneau, 53, recently visited New York, London and Paris to spread the word about Canadas new stimulus plan. At a Canadian Association of New York luncheon on March 30, the former business executive told the crowd that investing in growth for the long term is the single best thing we can do to make Canada a destination for investors. Ensuring that the economy is vibrant and competitive across diverse industries will counteract the countrys massive losses in the energy sector, he added.

As head of the Liberal Party, Trudeau won last falls election partly by pledging to spend big to boost the middle class. Although opponents promised balanced budgets, he said his government would run a deficit of C$10 billion ($7.6 billion) in its first year to pay for things like a more generous child benefit plan, which gives families a tax-free allowance tied to income, and job creation measures. When Morneau released his first budget, on March 22, the deficit had grown to C$29.4 billion, or 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, for 2016 and C$29 billion for 2017, with smaller shortfalls to follow.

Ottawa will spend C$120 billion on infrastructure over the next decade, starting with public transit, water, housing and waste management projects. Among the other priorities he outlined: so-called innovation hubs where entrepreneurs and academic researchers can mingle, university labs and research facilities, and green technology.

Phase 2 of the plan, to be released next year, will include ambitious longer-term infrastructure investments, Morneau told the New York audience. In addition, the government will be seeking ways to amplify the benefits of those investments by working with provinces and municipalities, but also by creating opportunities for institutional investors to come, he added.

Morneau, who became a member of parliament last year after serving as executive chair and CEO of Morneau Shepell, a human resources services firm founded by his father that he helped to grow into Canadas largest pension administrator, said that his party sees the budget as a blueprint for other economies confronting sluggish growth. Studies consistently show that every $1 spent on infrastructure leads to more than $1 in economic activity, he asserted.

The Liberal plan will create 100,000 jobs, according to the partys forecasts. Investing in technological innovations to help Canada shift to a lower-carbon economy should open up new global markets to Canadian companies, Morneau argued.

Canada is in a unique position to spend because it has the lowest debt-toGDP ratio among the Group of Seven nations, he noted. Now 31 percent, that number is expected to edge up in the short term but return to roughly its current level in five years.

Morneau, a trim runner who holds a masters degree in economics from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Frances INSEAD, is an unknown quantity to his international counterparts and foreign investors, but at home hes regarded as a shrewd businessman with a social conscience.

After taking control of Toronto-based Morneau Shepell in 1990, he led a series of acquisitions that pushed the firms annual revenue from C$20 million to C$500 million. Morneaus public service record includes a stint as chair of Covenant House Toronto, a group that supports homeless youth, and spearheading a corporate partnership with the United Nations to build a girls high school in Kenyas Kakuma refugee camp.

Jack Mintz, a public policy professor at the University of Calgary, says he welcomes Morneaus infrastructure spending. But other new measures  like lowering the retirement age to 65 from 67, reversing a hike by the previous, Conservative government  will feed a demographics-fueled debt bomb, Mintz fears.

Im concerned that investors may take a look at Canada and decide its heading back to the 1970s, he tells Institutional Investor, referring to the period when Justin Trudeaus father, Pierre, was in power and ran large deficits.

The reaction from Bay Street, the heart of Torontos financial district, suggests that investors dont regard the spending agenda as particularly risky. Since the budget was released, yields on long-term Canadian government bonds have fallen slightly, and the ratings agencies havent made any changes. Fitch Ratings said that the new debt could limit the governments ability to respond to an economic shock, but it also noted that the deficits were expected and that they complement monetary policy, the Globe and Mail reported.

Morneaus plan is sustainable, at least for now, according to economist Matthew Stewart, an associate director at Ottawa-based think tank the Conference Board of Canada. This is not an anti-austerity budget, as some have dubbed it, he argues.

Canadian federal government spending relative to GDP will rise by less than 1 percentage point this year, to 14.9 percent, according to Royal Bank of Canada, and the first-year deficit is based on an annual GDP growth rate of 1 percent in 2016, lower than the 1.4 percent that private sector economists have forecast. Theyve given themselves a lot of room to do better, Stewart says.

Now theres even more room, thanks to Januarys 0.6 percent GDP growth, which doubled the consensus projection. BMO Financial Group and Toronto-Dominion Bank have adjusted their 2016 forecasts for GDP expansion upward, to 1.8 and 1.9 percent, respectively.

Numbers like those give Morneau a solid base to build upon.
The interest of Chinese players in acquiring Australian insurance companies has heightened three times since 2015, according to a Shanghai-based partner of a global law firm.Michael Cripps, who leads the China corporate group of Clyde & Co, said more financial services groups have expressed growing interest in buying stakes in local insurers, The Sydney Morning Herald reported."They're looking for minority stakes in good, established players in Australia," the report quoted Cripps as saying."Interest has tripled since [last year]," added Cripps, who specialises in M&A activity between China and Australia.While Chinese players are keen on expanding into the Australian insurance industry, they are not planning to take over the local companies.They'd typically want a board seat  they just want to be at the table, Cripps said, explaining that cash flow and exposure of Australian insurers are attracting Chinese firms."It's about the governance, the skills of [local players] that are enticing to Chinese companies who want to learn from established markets," he added.Cripps said Chinese companies have observed transactions such as Warren Buffett's purchase of 3.7% of IAG and the $2.4 billion deal involving MLC and Nippon Life, which acquired 80% of the wealth management partner owned by the National Australia Bank.According to The Sydney Morning Herald, most Chinese deals in 2015 were outside the Asian giants borders. In Australia, among the latest Chinese companies to increase its presence was Jangho Group, which became the biggest shareholder of Australia's Primary Health Care in March.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has taken its dispute with an insurance company to trial, seeking reimbursement of more than $1 million in payments made to settle sexual misconduct cases involving priests and minors.

Testimony began last Friday in a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven.

The case is one of many around the country in which insurance companies have balked at paying claims related to lawsuits against church officials seeking to hold them responsible for sexual assaults of minors by clergy  accusations that in many instances date back decades and involve priests who have since died.

A key issue in the Connecticut case and others is whether insurance companies can deny claims under assault and battery exemptions in liability policies. Many policies dont cover intentional acts, but church officials have argued that they did not know about the alleged assaults.

The archdiocese sued Interstate Fire & Casualty Co. in 2012, claiming the Chicago-based insurer breached its policy by refusing to reimburse the archdiocese for payments made in four settlements from 2010 to 2012 after previously reimbursing payments made in other abuse settlements.

The foregoing activities of Interstate constitute unfair trade practices, because they offend public policy and they are immoral, unscrupulous and unethical, the lawsuit states.

Lawyers for the insurer argue in court documents that the settlements werent covered by the policies. A spokeswoman and a lawyer for Interstate Fire & Casualty declined to comment.

The company has faced lawsuits in other states after refusing to reimburse church officials for priest abuse settlements.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said in a 2014 ruling that Interstate Fires liability policy for the Diocese of Phoenix did not cover settlements of priest sexual abuse cases because of the policys assault and battery exception.

The four cases at the center of the Hartford archdiocese lawsuit involved claims of sexual misconduct against minors in the 1970s and 1980s. Two cases involved sexual abuse claims against the Rev. Ivan Ferguson, who died in 2002 after serving as a church grammar school principal in Derby and other positions with the archdiocese.

A spokeswoman and a lawyer for the archdiocese declined to comment.

The archdiocese has settled many claims of sexual abuse by priests. It agreed in 2005 to pay $22 million to 43 people who said they were sexually abused by priests, including Ferguson.

Elsewhere in the country, the Diocese of Honolulu sued First Insurance Co. of Hawaii in January for refusing to cover priest abuse settlements. And in 2014, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis sued some 20 insurance companies to try to force them to cover its liabilities for clergy sex abuse claims. The lawsuit was put on hold after the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy last year in the wake of priest abuse claims.

Interstate Fire & Casualty has since been acquired by Munich, Germany-based Allianz Group.

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Topics Lawsuits Carriers Claims
Amtrak has been ordered to retrain rail workers on basic safety rules days after a train going 106 miles per hour struck and killed two Amtrak employees working on the same track just south of Philadelphia.

The mandate from the Federal Railroad Administration suggests the veteran Amtrak workers may not have known the track was being reopened to train traffic.

The directive, in bold print, orders Amtrak to reinforce the rule that a track will not be reopened until all workers have either left the area or been warned about an approaching train.

The engineer on the southbound Palmetto train on April 3 had only five seconds to brake before crashing into a backhoe occupying the same track in Chester, about 15 miles south of Philadelphia. Backhoe operator Joseph Carter Jr., 61, of Wilmington, Delaware, and supervisor Peter Adamovich, 59, of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, were killed.

About 30 of the more than 300 passengers aboard were injured, most with scrapes and bruises.

The National Transportation Safety Board, the lead agency investigating the crash, expects to issue preliminary findings within 10 days.

However, the directive issued on April 6 suggests the collision must have followed a breakdown in communication, possibly during a shift change. The crash occurred just before 8 a.m.

FRA rules always require that a notification be made to the workers before there are any changes to their job briefing and the track goes into service, the agency directive said.

Amtrak Chairman Joe Boardman promised to comply with the order to remind workers of the seriousness of following our rules to prevent accidents, injuries and deaths.

We will begin the safety stand down immediately with all active crews, Boardman said in a statement.

With the deaths on April 3, that makes three track workers who have been killed on the job on Amtraks Northeast Corridor since March 1, according to their union.

The federal safety directive also described secondary safety measures Amtrak should consider to prevent crashes, including the use of a device called a shunt that sends an electronic signal to the dispatcher when machinery is on the track. The use of the devices were debated after a similar crash in Chester in 1988, in which two track workers jumped to safety before an oncoming train struck their maintenance vehicle.

In the April 3 crash, three contract employees were using a machine to do stone work on an adjacent track when the train struck the backhoe, a company spokesman said. They were working in tandem with the Amtrak crew, and were unaware the other track was in service, according to Tom DeJoseph, a spokesman for the company, Loram Maintenance of Way.

During a shift change, the outgoing supervisor is supposed to brief the incoming supervisor, who then meets with his or her crew before anyone enters the track, rail safety experts said. The supervisors also communicate with Amtrak dispatchers.

The procedures were in place, and somebody did not follow them, said consultant Russell Quimby, a retired NTSB safety engineer who is not involved in the investigation.

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Plenum Investments Ltd. has launched an insurance linked securities (ILS) fund, which will invest in collateralized reinsurance transactions, to be sourced and underwritten by Bermudas boutique reinsurer Sequant Re.

The new fund will complement Plenums current ILS offering and bring to the investment community access to a greater variety of reinsurance transactions than traditionally offered in the ILS market, the companies said in a statement.

Many of the current ILS investment funds are highly exposed to peak risks, such as U.S. wind. They have limited access to invest in other lines of business, said Rainer N. Gruenig, CEO of Zurich-based Plenum, noting there is an obvious need for a balanced and diversified approach to investing in reinsurance as a complement to existing strategies.

We are delighted to partner with Sequant Re and bring to the market an ILS offering that will add value to investors, added Gruenig.

The biggest opportunity for ILS in the future lies in opening up more of the reinsurance market to collateralized solutions and increasing the diversification of transactions available to ILS investors, said Guy Cloutier, CEO of Sequant Re, a subsidiary of Sequant Re Holdings Ltd.

The reinsurance landscape is changing rapidly and this partnership will allow the two fully independent firms to bring more investment options to investors, he continued.

We are thrilled to be working with the Plenum team who bring to the table capabilities that nicely complement our reinsurance operation, said Cloutier.

Investors in the new ILS fund will benefit from Plenums track record and expertise as an ILS fund manager and also from the efficiency and flexibility of Sequant Res segregated cell structure, the companies said.

Sequant Re will source, underwrite and model a broad range of lines of business and types of reinsurance contracts, which are not commonly accessible to many ILS managers, said the statement. This will enable the fund to generate attractive returns, both absolute and risk-adjusted.

The companies said they have adopted a transparent process for the selection and underwriting of risks. The common investment committee sets out underwriting guidelines under which Sequant Re will operate, while Plenum is in control of selecting and funding transactions with Sequant Re binding risks as capital is allocated.

According to Cloutier: This ensures a high level of transparency and necessary checks and balances for greater investor protection.

Source: Plenum Investments and Sequant Re

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Reinsurance
Aegon NV, the Dutch owner of U.S. insurer Transamerica Corp., agreed to sell two-thirds of its U.K. annuity portfolio to Rothesay Life Ltd., helping to boost capital buffers under new regulations.

Aegon will initially reinsure 6 billion pounds ($8.5 billion) of liabilities of its Scottish Equitable Plc unit with Rothesay before transferring them, the Hague-based company said Monday. Rothesays investors, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Blackstone Group LP, and Singapores GIC Pte are providing capital support, a separate statement showed.

We are positive on the terms of this deal, Cor Kluis, an analyst at Rabobank Groep, wrote in a note to clients. The cash position of the group will improve by about 250 million pounds [$353 million] by this transaction.

Aegon rallied as much as 3.1 percent and was trading at 4.8 euros at 10:31 a.m. in Amsterdam, trimming the loss this year to 8 percent.

The Dutch company said in January that it was exploring options for its annuity book, which has 250,000 customers and 9 billion pounds [$12.7 billion] of reserves, because the credit and longevity risk made the business capital intensive. The insurer is also in the process of buying back 400 million euros [$455.7 million] of shares and cutting costs to improve its return on equity.

Capital Requirement

With the sale, Aegons ratio of eligible funds to the solvency capital requirement will rise to about 165 percent. The insurer is using a partial internal model to calculate risk under new stricter Solvency II capital regulations that were introduced across the European Union Jan. 1. The reinsurance transaction is expected to result in a loss for Aegon of about 30 million pounds [$42.4 million].

This is an important step in the process to fully divest our U.K. annuity portfolio, and will enable us to focus on our fast-growing platform in the U.K., Aegon Chief Executive Officer Alex Wynaendts said in the statement.

The transaction covers about 187,000 policyholders who will remain customers of Aegon until the transfer of the liabilities to Rothesay takes place.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. announced that its reinsurance segment, Aspen Re, has opened a new hub for the Middle East and Africa in Dubai.

The establishment of a reinsurance hub in Dubai is consistent with Aspen Res strategy of maximizing opportunities in markets with growth potential, the company said in a statement.

Aspen Res strategy is to enhance growth in regional areas and to build on our ability to identify and respond swiftly to emerging opportunities, said Stephen Postlewhite, chief executive officer, Aspen Re.

We operate across a wide range of geographies and lines and this new hub will allow us to ensure that we remain close to our clients and continue to understand their needs, he added. The Middle East and Africa region offer significant opportunities for profitable growth and we look forward to serving our clients in Dubai and beyond.

In addition, three senior underwriting managers have been appointed and will report to Abdallah Balbeisi, senior executive officer  head of Middle East and Africa.

Peter Thompson has more than 30 years experience in the industry and joins Aspen Re from Assicurazioni Generali. Thompson specializes in complex property risks with a focus on risk management and innovative structured solutions.

Houcine Zouaoui joins Aspen Re from Gulf Re, where he was senior underwriter. He specializes in underwriting and managing a treaty portfolio across the Middle East and North Africa.

Specializing in underwriting and developing a facultative and treaty portfolio across Sub-Saharan Africa, Attilio Tornetta joins Aspen Re from Swiss Re. Tornetta previously worked as a site engineer before moving into the reinsurance industry with a focus on complex engineering risks.

Postlewhite commented: Peter, Houcine and Attilio have extensive experience working in the region and we are pleased that they are joining Aspen Re at this exciting time as we build our presence from Dubai.

Aspen was granted a license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority to operate in December 2015.

Source: Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd.
Businesses have lost billions of dollars to fast-growing scams where fraudsters impersonate company executives in emails that order staff to transfer to accounts controlled by criminals, according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Losses from these scams, which are known as business email compromise, totaled more than $2.3 billion from October 2013 through February of this year, the FBI said in an alert issued this week, citing reports to law enforcement agencies around the globe.

The cases involved some 17,642 businesses of all sizes scattered across at least 79 countries, according to the FBI alert posted on the website of the agencys Phoenix bureau.

Law enforcement and cyber security experts have been warning that business email compromise was on the rise, but the extent of losses has not previously been disclosed.

Cyber security experts say they expect losses to grow as the high profits will attract more criminals.

Its a low-risk, high-reward crime. Its going to continue to get worse before it gets better, said Tom Brown, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan.

The FBIs alert said that fraudsters go to great lengths to spoof company email accounts and use other methods to trick employees into believing that they are receiving money-transfer requests from CEOs, corporate attorneys or trusted vendors.

They research employees who manage money and use language specific to the company they are targeting, then they request a wire fraud transfer using dollar amounts that lend legitimacy, the alert said.

It said they often target businesses that work with foreign suppliers or regularly perform wire transfers.

The size of the losses vary widely from case to case.

Austrian aircraft parts FACC said in January that it lost about 50 million euros ($55 million) through such a scam. In Arizona, the average loss ranges from $25,000 to $75,000, according to the FBI.

The FBI said in its alert, which was dated Monday, that it has seen a 270 percent increase in identified victims and exposed loss since January 2015.

Brown, who now runs the cyber investigations unit with Berkeley Research Group, said that the potential consequences of the breach of an email account are sometimes not immediately apparent to victims.

This shows that even the hack of an email account can cause significant financial loss, Brown said.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; editing by Robert Birsel)

Topics Cyber Fraud
The U.S. government on Friday appealed a court decision that major insurer MetLife cannot be considered too big to fail in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, according to a filing.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had said he strongly disagreed with the decision and the government would vigorously defend the work of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), made up of several U.S. regulatory agency chiefs, which designated MetLife as a systemically important financial institution in 2014. The designation triggers additional oversight and capital requirements.

We plan to vigorously defend Judge Collyers carefully reasoned opinion, said Chris Stern, a spokesman for MetLife.

MetLife sued the U.S. government last year, saying FSOC used a secretive, flawed process in determining that it could hurt the U.S. financial system if it faces financial distress. On March 30, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer rescinded the designation.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Diane Craft)

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Topics USA
The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) announced that Kate Carey will be joining the organization as vice president, federal government relations.

Carey has worked in the insurance industry for more than 25 years as a strategic government relations and public policy attorney. Most recently, she served as vice president and head of federal government relations for MetLife.

Carey holds a B.A. degree from the University of Santa Clara. She completed her J.D. from Catholic University and an L.L.M. from Georgetown. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

PCI represents more than 1,000 member companies writing $195 billion in annual premium, 39 percent of the nations property/casualty insurance.
Prominent U.S. lawyer Alan Dershowitz and two victims rights attorneys on Friday withdrew claims from a Florida court that they defamed each other during a legal fight about a woman who said she was trafficked for sex as an underage girl.

The parties believe it is time to take advantage of the new information that has come to light on both sides during the litigation and put these matters behind them, the three lawyers said in a joint statement on Friday.

The defamation lawsuits stemmed from claims that the woman, Virginia Giuffre, made in another court in December 2014 that she was forced as a girl to have sex with Dershowitz, the UKs Prince Andrew, and other men. Dershowitz and Prince Andrew denied the allegations, and the allegations were later stricken from court records.

Giuffre was not a party to the defamation lawsuits or the settlement. A spokesman for the law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, separate lawyers for her, said in a statement on Friday that she stands by her accusations.

Two of Giuffres attorneys, Brad Edwards and Paul Cassell, had sued Dershowitz for defamation in a Broward County, Florida, state court after Dershowitz accused them of acting unethically. Dershowitz counter-sued.

As part of a settlement on Friday, Dershowitz withdrew his accusation that they acted unethically, and Edwards and Cassell said it was a mistake to have filed the accusations against Dershowitz. They added in a separate court filing on Friday that their mistake was tactical and that Giuffre stood by the accusations.

Dershowitz completely denies any such misconduct, while not disputing Robertss statements that the underlying alleged misconduct may have occurred with someone else, the three lawyers said in the statement.

Dershowitz has produced travel and other records for the relevant times which he relies on to establish that he could not have been present when the alleged misconduct occurred. He has also produced other evidence that he relies upon to refute the credibility of the allegations against him, they said.

Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus, may be best known for helping to successfully defend OJ Simpson against murder charges.

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation director Louis Freeh, whom Dershowitz hired to investigate Giuffres accusations, said he found no evidence to support them and had found evidence directly contradicting them.

In my opinion, the totality of the evidence found during the investigation refutes the allegations made against Professor Dershowitz, Freeh said in a statement.

(Reporting by David Ingram in New York)

Topics Florida Claims
A former peanut company executive serving a 28-year prison sentence wont have to pay money to victims of a deadly salmonella outbreak linked to his Georgia plant, a federal judge ruled.

Former Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell and three co-defendants were spared by the judges order last week from paying restitution to corporate customers and the families of hundreds who got sick after eating tainted peanut butter in 2008 and 2009. The outbreak was blamed for nine deaths and 714 illnesses.

Convicted of knowingly shipping tainted peanut butter and faking results of lab tests for salmonella, Parnell received the harshest criminal penalty ever for a U.S. producer in a food-borne illness case when he was sentenced to prison in September. His brother, food broker Michael Parnell, got 20 years in prison.

But the question of whether the Parnell brothers and two former managers of Peanut Corp.s plant in rural Blakely, Georgia, should compensate victims for financial losses dragged the case out for six more months.

Ultimately, U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands ruled victim loss estimates provided by prosecutors were invalid because they were based on civil claims and included costs  such as attorney fees  that cant be recovered in a criminal case.

Parnells attorney, Tom Bondurant, said the same financial loss estimates the judge deemed too flawed for calculating restitution had played a big role in determining Parnells long prison sentence.

In the big scheme of things, there seems to be a disconnect where you can find loss and send somebody to jail for the rest of their life but not order restitution, Bondurant said.

The judge also noted an insurance policy held by Peanut Corp. paid out more than $12 million to victims. And he concluded that ordering the Parnell brothers to pay money would ultimately be for naught or close-to-naught given their lengthy prison sentences. Peanut Corporation declared bankruptcy and shut down after the outbreak.

We kind of knew it was a shot in the dark, said Randy Napier, whose 80-year-old mother in Ohio was among the nine people who died.

Napier had written the judge to suggest a restitution amount of $500,000 total. Napier said he and other victims families wanted the money to go to groups such as Safe Tables Our Priority, or STOP, that help victims of food-borne illnesses.

With all the agony and stress they put us through over the years, we thought: Why not kick them while theyre down? Napier said. They kept kicking us while we were down.

The ruling also means two former plant managers, Sammy Lightsey and Danny Kilgore, dont owe victims any money. They pleaded guilty to helping ship salmonella-tainted peanuts, peanut butter and peanut paste to customers who used them in products from snack crackers to pet food.

Three deaths linked to the outbreak occurred in Minnesota, two in Ohio, two in Virginia, one in Idaho and one in North Carolina.

Topics Georgia
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will headline an event next month at a Southern California university to benefit insurance students.

Schwarzenegger will be joined by Robert Hartwig, an economist and president of the Insurance Information Institute, who could be making his final stop in the region as the face of the property/casualty insurance industry.

Insurance Industry Trends 2020 and Beyond on May 9 at Cal State University Fullerton is being put on by the administration and professors of the Center for Insurance Studies, which is part of the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at the university.

Schwarzenegger will be featured in a moderated discussion. Hartwig will deliver a keynote speech.

Weili Lu, the centers director, said the event will bring those in attendance up to speed on future trends, such as what will happen in healthcare, the disruption of the auto insurance industry and emerging risks in an aging population.

We thought that it was very important for us as educators to present this opportunity, she said.

Some 350 people are expected to attend, as well as more than 100 students.

Hartwig has long been the go-to voice on industry trends, so having him at the event was key, Lu said.

Hes a great economist, she said. We want him to talk about trends for the whole industry.

This could also be a final chance for people in Southern California to hear a man who has been the face of insurance industry since 2007. Hartwig in February announced he is leaving the helm of I.I.I this summer to join the faculty of the University of South Carolinas Darla Moore School of Business.

Its probably the last opportunity for people out here to hear from him, Lu said.

The event also includes a panel discussion with Chris Baggaley, senior vice president at the Automobile Club of Southern California, Ron Guerrier, chief information officer of Farmers Insurance Group, Mark Costa, senior vice president at Kaiser Permanente, and Joe Celentano, senior vice president at Pacific Life Insurance co.

The events organizers are selling a title sponsorship for $25,000, and 18 corporate table sponsorships at $5,000 each. A VIP reception and a photo opportunity with Schwarzenegger are included for sponsors. An individual seat is $550.

Proceeds benefit the centers insurance marketing entrepreneurship program endowment, which provides funding for students interested in careers on the sales side of risk management and insurance. Two continuing education credits are being offered.

For more information contact Carol Spencer by email at cspencer@fullerton.edu or phone at (657) 278-2857.

Topics California Market
Lemergenza surriscaldamento globale non si arresta. Lo rivela la Nasa (Ente Nazionale per le attivita Spaziali e Aeronautiche) lagenzia governativa civile responsabile del programma spaziale degli Stati Uniti dAmerica e della ricerca aerospaziale.

Secondo lEnte statunitense, infatti, nel 2016 la temperatura globale si e attestata a 1,1 gradi centigradi in piu rispetto al XIX secolo, vale a dire rispetto ai livelli preindustriali (il periodo iniziato a partire dal Settecento in Gran Bretagna e diffusosi nell800 in buona parte del mondo). Nel 2015, evidenzia la Nasa, era gia stata raggiunta la soglia di 1 grado.

Un colpo pesante per la comunita internazionale che, alla conferenza Onu di Parigi sul clima svoltasi nel dicembre 2015, si era impegnata a mantenere laumento del termometro al di sotto dei 2 gradi centigradi, e possibilmente entro un grado e mezzo, entro la fine del secolo. Ma, a inizio secolo, siamo gia a oltre un grado.

Le brutte notizie non finiscono qui. Se dal globale passiamo al locale, di questo passo lItalia risentira (entro il 2100) di un aumento di temperatura ben al di sopra dei due gradi preventivati.

Lo rivela il Wwf (World Wide Fund for Nature), lorganizzazione internazionale non governativa di protezione ambientale piu nota al mondo. Secondo lOng, i cambiamenti climatici in Italia saranno a dir poco preoccupanti. Le migliori e piu avanzate elaborazioni dellautorevole Centro Euromediteraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici (Cmcc), indicano  nello scenario ritenuto piu probabile  un incremento della temperatura media in Italia pari a circa 3 gradi per la fine del secolo per lintero territorio nazionale.

Se si considera lultimo trentennio del XXI secolo (2071-2100)  scrive in un comunicato la ong ambientalista  laumento di temperatura giunge anche a circa 4 gradi nel nord-ovest della penisola italiana nel periodo estivo. Nello scenario peggiore, inoltre, laumento della temperatura media in Italia sara invece di circa 6 gradi entro la fine del secolo. Lurgenza dellazione anche nel nostro Paese e ormai e un obbligo civile e morale, conclude il World Wide Fund for Nature.

Emergenza caldo evidenziata anche dalla Coldiretti (Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti), la maggiore associazione di rappresentanza e assistenza dellagricoltura italiana. Il 2016  evidenzia la confederazione sorta nel 44  si e classificato al quarto posto tra gli anni piu caldi di sempre, con una temperatura di 1,24 gradi superiore alla media del periodo. Per il calcolo, la Coldiretti si e basata sui dati del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Cnr) che rilevano le temperature dal 1800. Nella classifica degli anni piu caldi dallinizio dellindustrializzazione  e percio dellinquinamento atmosferico su larga scala  ci sono, nellordine, 2015, 2014, 2003 e 2016. Seguono il triste elenco: il 2007, 2012, 2001, 1994, 2009, 2011 e, infine, il 2000.

Siamo di fronte agli effetti dei cambiamenti climatici  scrive Coldiretti  che si stanno manifestano con un pesante impatto sullagricoltura italiana, che negli ultimi dieci anni ha subito danni per 14 miliardi di euro. Si moltiplicano gli eventi estremi, sfasamenti stagionali e precipitazioni brevi, ma intense, e il repentino passaggio dal sereno al maltempo. Siccita e bombe dacqua con forti piogge a carattere alluvionale, ma anche gelate estreme e picchi di calore anomali si alternano lungo lanno e lungo tutta la Penisola. Anomalie che si evidenziano anche in questi giorni  conclude Coldiretti  con lItalia divisa in due, tra un nord dove e allarme incendi e siccita ed il centro sud che e seppellito dalla neve.
The benefits of the just-in-time (JIT) production strategy are well-documented, but it can also have some serious disadvantages. The chief issue with this production process is evidenced in its name. "Just in time" means that the success of this business strategy depends largely on precise coordination between businesses and their suppliers to ensure prompt delivery. Because there is no inventory buffer, business can suffer greatly if any one element of production is delayed.

Key Takeaways Just-in-time (JIT) is a production strategy in which a company only produces an item after a buyer has made an order, therefore keeping inventories low.

While this streamlined approach can cut down on costs and increase efficiency during business-as-usual, it is susceptible to both supply and demand shocks.

When global supply chains are disrupted for one reason or another, JIT production can leave factories unable to meet demand and worsen an economic downturn.

Just-in-Time

The JIT production strategy means that businesses do not produce items for sale until they have been ordered by customers, meaning inventory is low or nonexistent. While low inventory can be beneficial to a company's bottom line in a number of ways, running a business this way requires a great deal of coordination. From obtaining the raw materials needed for manufacturing to ensuring timely delivery, every aspect of JIT production must be synchronized. This often means businesses must invest in the implementation of information technology to enable automatic notification to suppliers when orders are received.

Supply Shocks

Under standard inventory-based production models, businesses place large orders for materials from wholesalers, and many items can be produced from one shipment. As production depletes the first shipment of raw materials, another order is shipped, creating a convenient time buffer. On-demand production means companies must find suppliers that are willing to fulfill small, frequent orders on very short notice, which often means using local suppliers to reduce shipping time and expenses. With no back stock of inventory or materials, any supply chain issue can lead to delivery delays and angry customers. A sudden increase in the price of raw goods due to issues with material sourcing, shortages, natural disaster, or political upheaval (called supply shock) can also pose a serious threat to the ability of a company to service its customers effectively.

Demand Shocks

Because JIT production is based entirely on existing orders, it is not the most efficient system for dealing with the unexpected. A company that uses this strategy may be ill-equipped to handle a sudden surge in demand for a product. The lack of backup inventory means customers must wait for the company to receive supplies and manufacture the product. This can mean extended delays, dissatisfied customers, and potential forfeit of part or all of an order if any supply chain issues arise.

Large Orders

Inability to fulfill large orders in a timely manner can cost a business money, but there are other hidden expenses inherent in the JIT strategy that are just as important, though less dramatic. Producing goods for sale in smaller quantities means spending less per shipment of raw materials, but it can actually end up costing a company more. Businesses that have high production levels benefit from the economy of scale: As production increases, the average cost of producing each item actually decreases. This is partially because large wholesale purchases often come with generous quantity-based discounts. Businesses that utilize the JIT production strategy may pay more per item because they must make smaller, more frequent orders that do not qualify for these types of price breaks. The additional shipping and delivery charges that accompany more frequent ordering can also have an important impact on the bottom line, as well as on the environment.
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Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) Continues Acquisition Path With Purchase of ELMS Assets Including Factory in Mishawaka, IN., Enabling EV Production for Retail and Commercial Vehicle Lines

BREA, Calif. - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces the US Bankruptcy Court approval on Oct. 13th, 2022 of its acquisition of electric vehicle company ELMS's (Electric Last Mile Solutions) assets in an all cash purchase.

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Breaking EV Stock News: Mullen Automotive (NASDAQ: $MULN) Taps Former GM Executive John Schwegman as Chief Commercial Officer for Next Phase of EV Growth

BREA, Calif. - October 21, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today the hiring of John Schwegman as its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for Mullen's line of commercial vehicles.

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EV Stocks Driving Higher: (NASDAQ: $MULN) (NASDAQ: $TSLA) (NYSE: $NIO) (NYSE: $F)

Vancouver, Delta, BC - October 20, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering EV and automotive stocks releases a special report featuring Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), covering the continued growth of the EV market as government policy and infrastructure plans sync up with consumer and investor interest in the EV space.

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Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses

NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore.

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There was uproar earlier this year when it was revealed that new rules will make it more difficult for American retirees to put up their feet in the Emerald Isle.

An unpublicized change in Irish immigration rules means that none but the wealthiest will now be able to settle down in Ireland in their senior years as standards on what makes one financially stable have risen dramatically.

The new rule requires that retirees have an annual income of no less than $55,138 (50,000) per person,($110,276/100,000 for a married couple) for the remainder of their lives in Ireland, regardless of their existing cash on hand or lack of debt.

Needless to say, these revisions have caused great disappointment among future Ireland retirees who now feel their plans will not come into fruition.

With one third of Irish Americans still dreaming of retiring to Ireland, however, its clear that hope has not been completely lost. If you are starting to have second thoughts about that beautiful retirement home in the Irish countryside, let us remind you of all the reasons why you should make the move.

1. Its just downright beautiful





No matter whether you decide to retire to the city or the country, the quirky characteristics of Dublin, Galway and Cork, and the sheer beauty of the green countryside make Ireland more than easy on the eye. Every county has something to offer and youll never regret deciding to wake up to views such as these.

2. Lack of language barrier





You may struggle to pick up the lingo and grasp the Irish intonation in the beginning, but unless you decide to live in a Gaeltacht community (all Irish speaking areas of Ireland ), you can take some consolation that your neighbors are speaking English, even if it initially doesnt sound like it.

3. The people





As vibrant as the countryside itself. Where else in the world is it considered the absolute height of rudeness if you dont vocally thank the bus driver on public transport or where you can still signal a sign of hello to strangers as you pass each other in your cars on country roads?

4. The craic





Helped greatly along by the people, our landscapes may be brimming with peace and tranquility but that description certainly doesnt apply when we gather together to celebrate, to relax, or when were simply gossiping or telling stories over tea.

5. The rich and vibrant culture





Traditional music, song, dance, language, theater and storytelling still have their passionate enthusiasts among the Irish population and in every village, town, and city, you can find all of this and more. As well as embracing our more traditional arts, there is a thriving modern arts community in all parts of the country and with tens of literature, poetry, theater, and music festivals, youre sure to find a new hobby to take up in your retirement years.

6. Property bargains





There are some incredible deals on the Irish property market with everything from castles, to farmhouses, to thatched cottages awaiting you. You can check out some of the cheapest homes available here.

7. Good infrastructure





With a good highway system in place, its easy to get from city to city and buses run for relatively little as well. If you stray outside of the bigger cities and towns, however, you will need to have a car to get around.

8. The food and drink





As evident in the amazing products being applauded this year as part of Northern Irelands Year of Food and Drink, Irish cuisine, restaurants, bars and breweries are really coming into their own. Leave behind notions of constant potatoes, cabbage, and bacon and experience the best fruit and veg, meat and dairy products.

9. Cost of living





Although costs within the capital and in other major cities can be high, with thanks to chain supermarkets for groceries and every Irish girls favorite clothing store, Primark, living expenses can be kept low. Rent outside Dublin is also considerably lower.

10. Access to Europe





Just on the doorstep of another twenty plus countries, Ireland is a great starting point for an European adventure. Cheap weekend trips to major European cities or holidays in the sun are easily achieved because of our proximity to the European mainland.

Read more: Ten things to know about retiring to Ireland from America

H/T: PRWeb
What do you do? The dreaded question when you first meet someone new.

Surely what you do, surely your form of employment is going to be of no interest to this human being who is surely doing something far more interesting than you are. That is not the case for Laura Doyle, a young Irish woman who spends most of her time in New York City flying through the sky.

Is it a bird? It is a plane?

No. Shes an acrobat.

In a city where circus, burlesque and aerial artistry flourishes at venues like The Box and House of Yes, there is no shortage of demand for talented creatures who can scale silk scarves and sail through the skies. Doyle is not only an active member of this weird and wonderful scene, but a teacher who is spreading the joy, the gift and the freedom to fly.

Whether its gymnastics, trapeze or aerial dance, Doyle has been able to nourish her passion for these particular arts in New York where she has lived for the last three years.

Date you arrived in New York:

September 2013.

Date you started acrobat work over here:

I began my flying trapeze internship at the Streb Lab for Action Mechanics (S.L.A.M.) in March 2014.

Where youre from in Ireland:

Co. Dublin.

Where you live in New York:

Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.

Why this job?

I have worked in many industries outside of acrobatic and aerial arts, including service and administration. In these jobs I felt stifled and unfulfilled with what I was doing. As a career choice, I feel performing and teaching is my pathway to self-expression and development.

Ive loved the art of free movement ever since I was a child. Gymnastics and dance have been a major outlet for me to tap in to my physical, emotional and creative side. Im in my element when I move through space, it makes me so happy! Especially if Im flying on my acrobatics partner or playing on a trapeze or silk 20 feet in the air! Theres no better high in the world.

The most gratifying part of performing is making the audience FEEL! I also want to help inspire other people who may not have the confidence in themselves to pursue their passion. If I manage to do that, that is a success in itself!

Im still learning and growing every day when I fly and teach through the incredible guidance and support from the wonderful team of colleagues with a special mention to Bobby Hedglin-Taylor, director of the Espana Streb Trapeze Company, who is a wonderful teacher full of encouragement and positivity. The camaraderie of the trapeze team is so wonderful and warm. It has such a great sense of community.

And why now?

Now is the only time that exists! Im at a point in my life where I feel its now or never; Im living in this amazing city that is so progressive in the arts.

I feel like this is the time and place to really leave all inhibitions behind. I never want to look back in years to come and say I never pursued my passion in life.

How does your current job compare to the first job you ever had?

My first ever job was teaching artistic gymnastics. I have only ever taught children so teaching adults has taken a bit of adjusting to.

Children are fearless (well most!). Children wont really question anything  theyll just do!

Getting used to teaching 20 feet in the air was definitely a challenge when I first started. Now it feels as though I can do it with my eyes closed!

What is the biggest risk you have taken?

Staying in New York! I could have gone home where its cozy and cushy. I have all the comforts there, but thats too safe. I want to always challenge myself in life.

I would say the hardest thing here has been persevering through the difficult times and trusting myself. It can be so scary and intimidating for first time arrivals to New York. Things do fall into place though, and it really is such a wonderful feeling when they do.

What makes you most excited about going to work?

When it comes to performing, it has to be the high. There is no better rush in the world than being on stage and transforming into a character Ive created! For teaching, Im a real people person, so meeting the returning and new students is always so fun and interesting!

Top tip for new Irish arrivals fresh off the boat?

There is no need for fear  ever. Remember your priorities alongside surviving. Make sure you are moving forward on your creative endeavors and that you are having fun.

What do you miss most about Ireland?

Awaking to my daddy cooking up a greasy storm in the kitchen every Sunday morning! I am a chocolate fiend! I miss real Cadburys chocolate (Hersheys is just terrible!), Barrys tea, crispy bacon (what is this turkey bacon?) and partying with my friends from home, of course.

Describe your borough in three words.

Gentrification. Art. Grimy.

Have you lost your Irish accent yet?

Not at all.I hope not anyway! Ive got a few more years before theres chance of that happening.

Favorite place to eat?

I really love Aurora in Williamsburg. Its a perfect little date spot that serves rustic Italian cuisine. One of the tastiest dishes Ive eaten has been cooked at home by my other half. Max makes a mean spicy garlic pasta dish

Favorite place to drink?

I love Rockwood Music Hall in the Lower East Side. Some of the best live music Ive ever heard in the city has been in this venue. I also love going to Bembe in Williamsburg.

When do you next plan or hope to get home?

I hope to go home in September for Electric Picnic. This festival holds a place in my heart as I made my first acrobatic performance there with the incredibly talented Jonah McGreevy back in 2013 right before I left for the Big Apple!
A recent report has revealed that more young people in Ireland have taken psychoactive drugs than their counterparts across the EU.

According to the 2016 EU Drugs Market Report, published by Europol and released earlier this month, nine percent of 15- to 24-year-olds in Ireland have tried a "new psychoactive substance" (NPS) at least once in the last 12 months, followed by eight percent of young people in both Spain and France. Three percent of users had purchased the drugs online, the Irish Times reports.

The NP substances include research chemicals and legal alternatives to traditional drugs  pills and powders imported from Chinese labs and sold online in colorful vac-pack bags that look like candy and have names like "GoWhizz," "JawShatterer," and "Colombian Banter Fuel."

However, the most common type is synthetic cannabinoids, or fake weed, which makes up 60 percent of all NPS seizures by police across Europe. Synthetic cathinones, like mephedrone, which is generally sold as a replacement for MDMA, and amphetamines make up the second largest NPS group and account for 22 percent of all seizures.

Vice.com reports that back in 2010 the Irish government attempted to confront the problem of increasing drug use by banning all substances that have a psychoactive effect on the brain, excluding caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.

Daryl Sullivan, who works as Policy and Communications Officer at LEAP UK (Law Enforcement Against Drugs), believes that such a ban might make these substances less accessible, but will ultimately push the market underground.

"These drugs are made more dangerous by their newfound illegal status," he says. "Organized crime gangs completely control the market for most illegal drugs, thanks entirely to the illegality itself. Simply making something illegal doesn't mean that there will suddenly be no market; it just means that criminals will move in to fill that demand. And where you see a market controlled by criminal gangs, you don't tend to see regulation  you don't see harm reduction, and you don't see quality control. All of this makes the drugs being sold more dangerous, and the potential harms of using them more serious."

Graham de Barra, the director of Help Not Harm, which is committed to changing Irelands drug policy from a criminal justice approach to a health-based one, says the 2010 legislation hasn't helped the problem.

"The environment for consuming drugs on the island has become so dangerous that people are overdosing because of misidentifying substances, which would be solved with the introduction of drug testing labs," he says. "It's taken devastating events to push the issue out to the public, and people are beginning to think more about drugs.

"However, as drugs enter into mainstream discourse, it's essential that the conversation is rooted in evidence and backed up by research, rather than giving platforms for ignorant views. With campaigns such as our own calling for more harm reduction and decriminalization, it has drawn more light in the public domain about safer drug practices and policies that reduce harm."

In 2015, de Barra and other experts helped to implement the National Student Drug Survey. 2,700 Irish college students responded to the survey, providing valuable insights into Irish drug use and the motivations behind it.

The study found that Irish students most commonly use drugs to have fun, to explore their curiosity and to simply switch off. Interestingly, the research also showed a decline in NPS use since the 2010 ban.

"Our survey... suggests that drug use is high [in Ireland], but there has been a shift back toward traditional illegal drugs, such as cannabis and MDMA," says de Barra. "There could be many reasons why drug trends change. There has been a surge in homegrown cannabis available in the country, which could be one reason why there is a shift away from synthetic cannabis. The closure of head shops also plays a factor for certain people. That said, cannabis remains a high priced drug for many people. It costs 25 [$28.50] a gram, which may be the highest among the EU.

"People using drugs may consume differently, and legal high [NPS] use may be high among certain groups of people more than others. For students, there's been a decline, but for vulnerable groups and homeless people, the rate may be as high as the head shop days, which would be more in line with the results from this particular [EUDM] survey."

"Any strategy that is rooted in the criminal justice model is unsatisfactory at reducing the harms of drugs," de Barra explained. "We need a full reform of our drug laws and to treat drugs primarily as a health issue, rather than the current situation of giving priority to the gardai and keeping doctors secondary. Therefore, the laws in Ireland are out of touch with the reality of Irish society, which has a largely misinformed relationship of drugs, including alcohol."
I love the Clintons and all they did for Ireland, but Im voting for Bernie Sanders this time.

No matter how you look at it Hillary Clinton is part of the establishment. She and her husband have been a dominant force in the Democratic Party since 1990.

It is time for a change.

Whatever we say about Donald Trump there is no doubting he has delivered a raucous wake up call to the Republicans which has snapped them out of their think tank mentality and forced them to deal with reality.

Bernie Sanders has the ability to do that. Hillary Clinton does not.

Sanders has been accused of having just one message, but it is the right one this election year  it is income inequality.

America has taken the wrong path after the election and deification of Ronald Reagan.

I have no doubt Reagan wouldnt get past dogcatcher in this current party.

But he did bring about the mistrust of government and the veneration of business and the atmosphere where the rich can get so much richer without anyone asking how is the working man and woman doing.

Unlike Hillary, Bernie really cares and the kids see it. Call them naive or call them stupid but is Bernie saying anything that FDR would not have said about the need for fairness in this country?

Hillary Clinton has been a limousine liberal so long that she doesnt even know what poverty is. Sure it needs a solution, preferably one with a nice PowerPoint presentation and a decision to work on it.

She even opposed pushing the minimum wage to $15 and wanted $12.50.

What is she afraid of? Billionaire McDonald's workers? Filthy rich home health aides and nannies?

Read more: Bernie Sanders wrote to Margaret Thatcher about the IRA hunger strikers

Sanders speaks fearlessly about the need for a new era, where greed is not good and communities come together and are not split apart.

Don't believe the nonsense about the good old days: Blacks could not find employment, women were kept at home and Father knew best.

Sanders knows that, knows the secret of America has been the work ethic, not of the top CEOs with their average $10 million salary but the cops, the firemen, the troops, the sanitation workers  oh wait isnt that the government?

Vote for Bernie, for fairness for all. It is something we Irish demanded when we came here and we achieved through the labor movement, politics and sheer hard work. It is time we reclaimed that heritage. The Clintons deserve credit for the peace process sure, but the world has moved on.

Make America Fair Again,

Vote Bernie.

Mary Murray is a public relations expert living in Los Angeles.

Read more: Irish American wife Jane OMeara is Bernie Sanders' secret weapon
Lincoln had a white Irish linen handkerchief in his pocket when assassinated on April 15, 1865  one hundred and fifty-two years ago.

He died at 7.22 am on April 15, 1865 from a bullet wound inflicted the night before at the Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer.

The presidents death came only six days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox, VA, effectively ending the American Civil War.

The contents of Lincolns pockets has been itemized by the Library of Congress but have never been displayed. Historian Michael Beschloss has posted the items on Facebook asking that they finally be shown to the public.

The Irish linen handkerchief bears the name of Abraham Lincoln on it, shortened as A Lincoln.

Read more: The Irishman who captured Abraham Lincolns killer John Wilkes Booth

Among the more poignant images are the assassinated president's glasses with one side held together by a piece of string. The Library of Congress lists the contents of his pockets as follows:

The items consist of one pair of gold-rimmed spectacles with sliding temples and with one of the bows mended with string; one pair of folding spectacles in a silver case;

An ivory pocket knife with silver mounting;

A watch fob of gold-bearing quartz, mounted in gold;

A sleeve button with a gold initial "L" on dark blue enamel;

and a brown leather wallet, including a pencil, lined in purple silk with compartments for notes, U.S. currency, and railroad tickets.

The wallet held a Confederate five-dollar bill and eight newspaper clippings. The clippings were from papers printed immediately before Lincoln's death, containing complimentary remarks about him written during his campaign for reelection to the Presidency. The Confederate five-dollar bill may have been acquired as a souvenir when Lincoln visited Petersburg and Richmond earlier in the month.

Given to his son Robert Todd upon Lincoln's death, these everyday items, which through association with tragedy had become like relics, were kept in the Lincoln family for more than seventy years. They came to the Library in 1937 as part of the gift from Lincoln's granddaughter, Mary Lincoln Isham.
There is no basis for talks or other intervention in the Luas dispute, the company which runs the service said today.

Following a meeting with SIPTU today, Transdev says the union's expectations remain in excess of what was proposed at the WRC and subsequently rejected.
Arranging a castle stay in Ireland for Michael Jackson when he visited in 2006, helped Dublin company Adams & Butler become established as a travel organiser for the ultra-rich and the very famous.

Michael Jackson stayed for a year, spending time at Luggala Castle in Wicklow and at a country house in Westmeath. He was our first mega client. Since then we have organised holidays in Ireland for celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Kim and Kanye West, and Harrison Forde, says company founder Siobhan Byrne Learat, adding that business clients have included chiefs executive and presidents of global companies such as Disney, Pixel and Starbucks.

Catering for the very wealthy, the company describes itself as an upscale tour operator providing tailor-made product using the finest castle hotels, private stately mansions, and country houses.

In addition to arranging luxury accommodation, Adams & Butler also offers customised itineraries which provide guide services from members of the aristocracy, as well as authors, historians and genealogists.

Clients can stay in private residences such as Lismore Castle, Luggala Castle and Shanagarry House in Cork. We can offer them a range of experiences, such as having a glass of whiskey with a member of the Jameson family, eating lunch with the Earl of Ross in Birr Castle or taking a private tour with historian Turtle Bunbury, she says.

Employing 10 people, the company generated sales of 2.5m last year. With the launch of a new website offering customised holiday in Africa, it aims to grow sales to 3.3m this year.

Starting out in 2003, it took time for Adams & Butler to become established as a go-to company for celebrities looking to stay in Ireland.

Ms Byrne Learat had previously worked in a company which provided high-end rentals and saw an opportunity to use her contacts with the owners of stately homes and castles to set up in business on her own.

Initially she found that the clients who contacted her wanted suites in five-star hotels and not stays in private residences.

She wasnt attracting the ultra wealthy. But in 2005, she succeeded in getting Adams & Butler accepted as a preferred supplier by Virtuoso  the largest global player in the luxury travel market with over one million affluent clients.

This resulted in a surge in business and brought in an inquiry from a client looking to stay in an Irish castle which Ms Byrne Learat subsequently discovered had come from Michael Jackson.

After that we were on the radar and we were accepted as suppliers by travel leaders, she says adding that in the region of 90% of turnover comes from business-to-business sales  selling to other companies.

About of 70% of its clients are from the US and 16% are from Brazil and Mexico.

We probably deal with around five or 10 celebrities a year, as well as a number of very wealthy clients.

The average spend is between 25,000 and 40,0000 for a two-week stay, but we have a US client who spends 100,000 a year on a holiday and 20,000 on a weekend, she reveals.

The company began by providing luxury holidays in Ireland only but has since expanded. Catering for the demand for two centre tours, Adams & Butler added Scotland and then the UK to its website and it now offers castle and stately home stays as well the opportunity to lunch with a lord at the House of Lords. Sales of Irish holidays now accounts for half of its sales.

For 2016, Ms Byrne Learat aims to grow the direct sales on its website and to develop sales of luxury holidays in Africa. We dont have any Irish clients at present but we are aiming to sell luxury holidays in Africa, Europe and South America to the Irish market, she says.

Company:

Adams & Butler

Location:

Dublin

CEO:

Siobhan Byrne Learat

Staff:

10

Business:

Luxury tour operator

Turnover 2015:

2.5m

Website:

www.adamsandbutler.com
The writer, Somerset Maugham, once described Monte Carlo as a sunny place for shady people. These days, there are plenty of locations serving as places of refuge for funds amassed by sometimes shadowy characters.

However, there are signs that the tide may, at last, be turning and that the heyday of the international tax haven may have passed.

The Panama Papers disclosure is being described as the largest leak from an offshore tax adviser ever. Tax experts have been quick to point out that many of the high-profile people caught up in the net may be innocent of the charge of tax evasion, or of a more general accusation of dodgy dealing. Nevertheless, the leak will have caused consternation right across the globe.

Democratic politicians, such as UKs David Cameron, and Icelands departed prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson may be bearing the brunt of popular outrage, but you can bet your last bottom dollar that powerful autocrats and their entourages will have been experiencing deep discomfort.

The great firewall of China has re-emerged as part of an effort to clamp down on the Panama revelations involving that countrys political and financial elite. Russias leaders have opted for the usual combination of bluster and accusation.

The activities of Mossack Fonseca, the firm at centre of the leak, are merely the tip of a much larger iceberg.

Bodies such as Transparency International have been quick to point out that tax havens are not the only facilitators of corrupt officials and criminals seeking to launder their ill-gotten gains. In a number of US states, for example, it is possible to incorporate a legal entity without disclosing the names of the ultimate beneficiaries, or the true owners.

A whole tribe of middlemen, lawyers, accountants and bankers, have come into being as tax havens have emerged and multiplied.

According to one recent estimate, the global tax avoidance and evasion industry could be worth as much as $1 trillion dollars (877bn).

The Bank of International Settlements has estimated that around a half of all international bank transactions are routed through offshore financial centres, including our own IFSC. Over half of US company offshore profits end up offshore.

As President Barack Obama reminded us, last week: The problem is that a lot of this stuff is legal. Tax avoidance is a big global problem. Folks are taking advantage of the same stuff, not that they are breaking the same laws, the laws are so poorly designed.

Wholesale avoidance and evasion on the scale highlighted in recent days is pouring petrol on the flames of public anger.

It is nonsense to suggest that the leading developed countries are pure as the driven snow in this regard.

According to reliable estimates, Panama ranks as the 13th most attractive place in which to hide assets. The US is in third place.

Writing in the Guardian, Jana Kasperkevic predicts the Panama disclosure could lead to the holders of hot money diverting away from locations such as the Cayman Islands to US jurisdictions, such as the State of Delaware which is home to around a million legal entities.

Professor Ronen Palen has traced the rise of tax havens back to the late 19th century and the easy incorporation strategy followed by New Jersey and Delaware. Leaders were awakened to the potential of earning revenues by attracting capital from other more highly regulated states.

In the 1920s, the canton of Zug near Zurich offered low regulation and tight secrecy to the wealthy. A 1934 Banking Act made it a criminal offence even to make enquiries into the trade secrets of investors. Gradually, the gnomes grew fat as custodians of other peoples gold.

The neighbouring principality of Liechtenstein followed suit. In 1929, Luxembourg came up with the idea of the holding company for those seeking exemption from income tax.

Around 1960, the emergence of the London euro-dollar market provided another alternative for those seeking to avoid national taxes.

The euromarkets also boosted the City of London, providing the basis for its contemporary position as the leading global financial centre. Dublin has carved out a niche as the lead centre for global aircraft leasing while Holland is a major centre for film finance and as a great place in which to use capital allowances.

Small states from the Isle of Man to Singapore have based much of their development strategies on the attraction of mobile global finance. The Cayman Isles by some measure was by 2008 the fourth largest financial centre in the world.

Singapores private banking sector experienced huge growth, with assets under management rising from $150bn in 1998 to almost $1.2 trillion by 2008. Bahrain and Dubai have increasingly got in on the act.

But the global downturn, together with a rise in disclosures and scandals, have generated a backlash against such havens, whether offshore, or onshore.

The wealthy with their large yachts attract just as much opprobrium. It is one thing to be rich and generous. It is quite another to be rich and stingy, without a care for the common good.

The US government crackdown on tax-driven mergers, the so-called tax inversion arrangements, is one response. The sabotaging of the Pfizer-Allergan deal may disturb those in this country with a short-term focus. In the end surely we are well rid of such tax-driven practices because a bigger prize is to hand.

Two Democrat members of Congress, Carolyn Maloney, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, are promoting a new bill aimed at boosting transparency. The law is unlikely to pass the current House of Representatives, but a shift of power in Congress in November, along with shifts in the composition of the Supreme Court, could bring real change.

At the level of the OECD and EU, efforts to promote tax harmonisation and transparency are continuing.

The Irish authorities will have to walk a delicate line in protecting the countrys tax competitiveness while not standing in the way of broader reforms aimed at boosting transparency and curbing tax evasion or questionable avoidance.

There is a danger that large states may seek to clamp down on small states while maintaining intact domestic capital raising activities.

The US, in particular, should look at activities going on closer to home, even if it involves Federal intervention in areas viewed as the domain of each individual state in the Union.

Kyran Fitzgerald

tracks the rise and rise of a trillion-dollar global industry designed to avoid taxes, protect the wealthy, and much worse
Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has spoken about the Mercosur trade talks with other member states ahead of todays Council of Ministers meetings Council of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg.

He raised alarms following indications that the Commission may be about to offer Argentina, Brazil, and the Mercosur partners tariff rate quotas for sensitive products, including beef.

Mr Coveney highlighted Irelands unique exposure to Mercosur imports to the EU, as 90% of Irish beef output is sold into the EU. The EU and the Mercosur bloc are due to make a formal exchange of offers in early May.

Any renewed engagement with Mercosur must be preceded by a period of careful reflection and further analysis, taking account of recent significant changes in the European agricultural policy environment, the cumulative impact of concessions granted under other free trade agreements, and the need to ensure parity of treatment between the EU single market and the more fragmented market organisation within the Mercosur bloc, he said.

Mr Coveney urged the Commission to defer any discussion of sensitive products until the final stages of negotiations. The Commission has adopted this approach in its ongoing TTIP trade negotiations with the USA.

Meanwhile, the Ibec meat processor group Meat Industry Ireland (MII) is calling for the Government to intervene to stop the European Commission making an unjustified and damaging offer to the Mercosur bloc.

Cormac Healy, MII director, said: We understand from Brussels the Commission is to make a new offer to Mercosur which will include substantial import quota concessions on meat from the South American countries. This has the potential to have a major destabilising effect on the EU beef market in particular but also raises real concerns for the pigmeat and poultry sectors.

A renewed offer by the EU to Mercosur is completely unjustified as the European Commission has undertaken  at the request of member states  to carry out an impact assessment on the cumulative impact of all ongoing trade negotiations on the EU agri-food sector; this will not be completed until after the summer.

Making a new offer now, in these long drawn out negotiations with Mercosur countries is completely inappropriate.

MII added that the potential of the EU beef market to absorb extra volumes of duty-free imports for South American has been significantly decreased in recent years. The EUs internal beef consumption has fallen by 500,000 tonnes; medium term forecasts on consumption recovery remain weak.

Mr Healy said: The urgency of this matter is such that the Taoiseach needs to intervene with President Junker to stop a new give-away offer being made and at an absolute minimum to ensure that offers are not made on sensitive products such as meat.

The IFA has urged Mr Coveney to make it clear that Ireland cannot accept any exchange of offers which would be negative for Irish agriculture, and particularly damaging for the 2.5bn beef sector, and impact on the pigmeat and poultry sectors.

IFA national chairman Jer Bergin said: Minister Coveney must work closely with his French counterpart to build further opposition among member states and prevent any exchange of offers on sensitive products,which include beef.

The EU draft offer is based on a tariff rate quota of 78,000 tonnes of beef, of which 39,000t is high quality beef at a tariff rate of 7.5%.

Mr Bergin said: Previous analysis by the European Commission has shown that a Mercosur deal would inflict losses of 7.8bn on the EUs agriculture sector. The individual losses at farm level would be much higher, particularly for beef farmers. This would have a knock-on effect on rural economies.
Stay lean and stay mean has been the mantra of startups for decades. How to stay lean while at the same time getting the best out of your workforce has seen the development of what can be termed as the startup mentality within big businesses.

The popularity of Startup Weekends in Galway and Limerick has grown in recent years, but now they are also attracting a lot of interest from corporates on how the process works.

One novel seminar is called Fifty-four hours to build a startup. However, large multinationals are now turning to the startup model for ideas within their own companies.

Taking an idea from inside a persons head and validating it in the market is a process that needs to move smoothly.

I recently had the pleasure of talking with a key figure in one of Irelands most formative technology companies.

The managers have created an in-house startup programme for developers and engineers to come up with an idea and make it work  all within 90 days.

They created a proposal from an idea and tested the market for it. The intense programme demands a lot of time and commitment, but the premise behind it is sound.

How do we make it faster and easier to bring ideas forward?

Big companies such as Unilever and LG have used this model to develop products more quickly.

Company structures must change too.

If you bring a product forward quickly then you need other departments also to react quickly. From engineering to marketing, processes need to accelerate to keep up with the demand of new products.

The company becomes leaner and learns that ideas need to be acted on rather than constantly discussed.

The process of product development and company culture changes.

Weve all heard of the spin-out, involving a startup that comes from research or development. Well, now this new process involves the spin-in.

It is about the internal process of creating so as to produce a viable product or service that can help the company as a whole.

Some of the biggest companies in the world now have these internal start-ups within their company.

Some are even using venture capital money to fund a teams idea after a successful pitch.

The truth is that companies need to encouraging creativity.

Doing this in a global company can be hard, especially when there is a vast swathe of middle and higher management.

Younger people are also far more likely to want to work for a startup than for a big corporate business.

That means that the competition for new talent and people who can give them the competitive edge is intense.

This has big implications for not only finding talent but also retaining it as well.

Companies are now hosting events based on employees pitching their ideas or creating internal conferences based on failure and failing well.

I wouldnt quite say that this is a new paradise of corporate business but it is a good example of how attitudes are changing in order to encourage better creativity within a companys culture.

Performance evaluations and constant job appraisal are not what people look for in a job.

So large companies are now doing away with that too and inviting a more responsive policy on workplace evaluation.

The positives of this change are there to see.

Just like startups, big companies want to encourage creative thinking, to keep their best staff, invest in people and the company.

If you want to stay big, it seems, you need to think like a startup.

In this weeks Q&A Kehlan talks with Jon Bayle, CEO of Deposify, which recently raised 1.1m in investment as they move into the American market

What do you do at Deposify?

Well, Deposify at its core is an escrow service, where parties engage with a third party in order to hold either cash or other assets on their behalf. I was a corporate finance lawyer in a previous life and lots of what we did involved an escrow service.

I thought that it was something that could be an everyday thing and I thought the best use for it would be in deposits.

When deposits are put down either between landlord and tenant or in retail, as soon as you hand over the money you have very little recourse, other than a legal one, to get that back.

That can cause time and money. So we thought lets wrap technology around this service and make it an everyday thing.

So why leave what Id imagine is a good paying job to start this?

Ive always been an entrepreneur at heart. My dad is an entrepreneur and hes been through many years of going through all that entails.

I was around it with my own family, even when I was a corporate finance lawyer. I was around startups and businesses.

So I think it all played on me as well.

So after some careful negotiations with my wife, I decided that I would go make this work in the next few years.

Was there a time limit on making the business work for you?

Yeah, but I think there is also a commercial reality to this as well. We had kids and didnt have an endless supply of money, so I think there is reality too. You have to call these things when they arent happening for you.

I know a couple guys, just in the past few months alone, who have had to call it in and go back to the real world because they just didnt get there in the end. The reality in all of this is that a startup is hard work.

You can read the newspapers every day and see some company has raised capital or has hired this amount of people, but there is so much that has gone into that, that people dont see. Its a bruising experience.

So if the business didnt fund itself I would have had to go back and get a real job.

What brought success for Deposify?

It was kind of one day at a time. I know that might seem trite or cliched, but its true. What I did was to set short-term milestones.

Im not a technologist and yet I had created a technology solution to a problem. So thankfully I knew people in the Escher Group, an Irish transaction management company, and went to see them first.

Then I needed to get a banking partner, because we werent a bank but needed a banking solution. So then we worked closely with Bank of Ireland to develop that side.

Once we had the tech and banking solutions in place it was about getting the right team around it. A guy called Tony Kelly joined us.

Tony was a former CEO of Demonware and so that brought the big brain that we needed to get behind the technology. We then had to go out and make the sales.

We had a plan and a vision, but in startups you can identify what youre going to do this week.

It gets much greyer when you are looking at what you need to do for the rest of the month. So six months down the line, you honestly have no idea where you going to be.

Things move very quickly and sometimes in different directions that you expect. You just have to keep turning up every day and try and get some road behind you.
Consequently, some farmers were upset to get letters from Ulster Bank demanding that debts be refinanced in a very short and unrealistic time frame, or else have their loans included in a sale of loans to vulture funds.

ICSA is alarmed at this and the implication that it may only be the beginning of a trend. Rumours have been about that other banks might also consider selling some loans with unknowable consequences for the farmers caught up in this.

While banks may have the right to sell on loans the authorities must ensure that the transferee of the debt will always be bound by the same stringent regulation as imposed on the transferor. ICSA is meeting with the Financial Ombudsman in the coming weeks to discuss these issues and to find a way to ensure that farm families are not put in a more disadvantageous position.

In a typical loan agreement, there is the small print which allows a bank to call in the loan at any time. In the normal course of events, loan repayments are being met on schedule and everything runs smoothly. Where a borrower runs into some difficulty, there is still a logic to a reasoned negotiation between the two parties. This is generally the most sensible arrangement.

This is all the more so in the case of most agricultural loans. Loan to value ratios for domestic mortgages have been as high as 100%. Even now, ratios would be in the 50-85% range, including some investment properties.

For farmers, the situation is quite different where loan to equity levels are on a different scale. Loans for land purchase are normally advanced where the farmer can supply a 30% deposit. However, the land being purchased is not the only security available to the lender.

Typically the range of assets which the bank can get access to can include land, livestock and direct payments. Hence, farm l ending is ultra-low risk compared to housing, development, or vehicles. The biggest reason why a farm may get into a difficulty is of course linked to low incomes and especially due to price volatility not to forget weather events or disease outbreak.

In the great majority of cases, relatively liquid assets such as livestock are equivalent to outstanding debt. Understandably, however, a farmer does not want a fire sale of livestock because this undermines the potential of the farm to generate income. A better solution is to negotiate an arrangement involving loan restructuring or repayment holidays.

For farm customers with a good track record, banks should, and mosly have, taken a pragmatic approach. But these are not normal times. The approach of Ulster Bank in threatening sales to vulture funds seemingly related to loans that are in arrears. However, most would see this move as very heavy handed.

At the very least where the borrower is a private individual trying to hold onto his or her family farm they should be given the opportunity to redeem the loan at the same figure as that for which it is being offered to the vulture funds. There will be cases where a farmer could redeem the loan by choosing to sell a piece of land or livestock. However, even more important is to give people, who are keen to find a resolution, every opportunity to negotiate a realistic outcome over the long-term.

It makes little sense to sell loan books at big discounts when a better return could be achieved by banks who use commonsense in the negotiations with borrowers. It seems insane to sell a loan at a huge discount to a vulture fund but refuse to contemplate any pragmatic re-arrangement of debt or even possible write-downs when the latter would manifestly give the bank a better return.

Even more concerning is the possibility that banks may be tempted to boost up the price of a loan book by bundling in some better quality loans with what might be termed toxic debt or negative equity loans.

There are worrying examples of banks looking for excessive collateral, not to mention imposing costly conditions and requirements for assessment of collateral. Is it necessary to seek BER ratings for houses on farmland when manifestly the land without the house is worth a multiple of the debt?

One suspicion is that farmers with very high equity relative to the loan are actually in a more vulnerable position if they were to find their loans sold to a vulture fund because they could be seen as a soft target to make a quick killing whereas selling a property in negative equity crystallises the loss. Presumably, the vulture fund will have priced the negative equity into the purchase price, but where a plethora of loans of varying qualities are bundled together the situation becomes perhaps more clear-cut.

Banks should have a long-term view of their business with key customers such as farmers. Selling loans to vulture funds can only have a negative impact on the mood towards the banks and does not fit easily with the goal to do more lending business in the future with farmers.
Sergeants and inspectors will also discuss the installation of CCTV cameras inside garda vehicles to monitor prisoners as well as the provision of flood lighting, signage and high-vis jackets to protect members dealing with major incidents, including traffic collisions.

Motions on these issues are set for discussion at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, which begins this evening.

The calls come as official figures show there were 611 incidents of occupational injury in 2014, representing a rate of 39.7 per 1,000 gardai, compared to a national rate for employees of 3.4.

The main causes were assaults (283), road traffic collisions (103) and slips, trips and falls (92), with a further 43 being injured after coming in contact with a sharp or rough object and 22 suffering needle stick or stab injuries.

The call for body cameras is being made by delegates from three separate divisions  Laois/Offaly, Tipperary and Dublin Metropolitan Region East  reflecting the widespread concern out there among members.

Their combined motion requests the AGSI leadership to call on the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice to supply members of An Garda Siochana on front line duties with a personal miniature camera to be worn on the members clothing in the interest of the members personal protection, the protection of the public and the collection and preservation of evidence.

Last year, AGSI sister staff body, the Garda Representative Association, called for a debate on body cameras.

Then GRA general secretary PJ Stone said that initial studies had suggested that the number of vexatious complaints had been hugely reduced as a result of body cameras.

He said studies also indicated that assaults on police had reduced, as had the use of force by police and encouraged early guilty pleas.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board said it had supported body cameras for a number of years, including in response to domestic violence calls.

In a related motion, delegates from Laois/Offaly are requesting the AGSI call on the commissioner and the minister to provide CCTV cameras in the cell of each garda vehicle designed to convey prisoners in order that driver/observer of the vehicle at all times has sight of the prisoner being conveyed in the interests of safety of the prisoner and the garda personnel conveying the prisoner.

Sergeants and Inspectors in Laois-Offaly are also calling for personal issue ballistics (bullet-resistant) vests to be provided and worn on front line duties.

Last October, Garda Tony Golden, who had no ballistic vest, was shot dead by Adrian Crevan Mackin when he accompanied Siobhan Phillips, Mackins former girlfriend, to their home in Omeath, Co Louth.

Delegates also want plain clothes officers on checkpoints to be provided with high-visibility vests while delegates in Kerry want members to be provided with signage and flood lighting when responding to major incidents, crime scenes, and traffic accidents.

The AGSI conference will be dominated by speeches and motions on pay levels, including for new recruits,with one motion by the Meath branch requesting the AGSI to consider all actions in protecting pay, allowances, and increments.
Thirty of the regions top companies, along with educational institutions, local, and government bodies have collaborated to stage the event in the South Court Hotel at Raheen tomorrow week at 7pm.

Over 1,200 people, including many second-level students in senior classes, attended the Limerick for Engineering event last year.

Students, parents, teachers, and those interested in engineering as a career are invited to meet local companies and colleges to discover the various engineering courses and careers available.

The event will show that fantastic opportunities in the engineering industries already exist in the Mid-West. Forecasts point to considerable growth and a real requirement for engineers in the future.

One of the many companies behind the initiative is Analog Devices. Its vice-president and general manager Ireland manufacturing operations, Denis Doyle said: In 2015, we launched what turned out to be a very successful Limerick for Engineering showcase event and, building on this success, even more companies are involved this year.

The list of companies participating is again impressive and highlights the considerable amount of high-end engineering activity and employment opportunities in the Mid-West region.

He said the Limerick for Engineering consortium is pooling its expertise and resources to ensure the MidWest is to the forefront in the promotion of and development of engineering talent, enabling the future growth of industry in the region.

Barry OSullivan, Johnson & Johnson, Vision Care, and Mid-West chair American Chamber of Commerce said: We see ongoing expansion of both Irish and foreign-owned companies in the Mid-West.

These firms will provide tremendous career opportunities for qualified people. If you are considering a course in science or engineering, post Leaving Cert or as a mature student, this event is a great place to see the type of careers that are available and the courses that can get you on track.

Engineers Ireland has signalled an acute shortage of engineers in the future and an urgent need to promote careers in engineering amongst students entering third-level courses as demand outstrips supply.

Another concern is the continuing low representation of women in the engineering profession.

Register for free at Limerick for Engineering on Facebook or see www.limerickforengineering.ie/
The organisers are urging people from north and east Cork to attend the open meeting in Castlelyons Community Centre this Thursday at 8pm.

The Cork North division, which covers towns including Midleton, Fermoy, Cobh, Mallow, and Youghal, last year recorded the highest annual increase in burglaries of any of the 28 garda divisions.

Burglaries in the region soared by 29%, up 101 to 454. Significant increases occurred in Mallow, Youghal and Fermoy.

The meeting will focus on an initiative developed by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) and An Garda Siochana called Theft Stop.

However, its not only relevant to farmers but all property owners. Gardai and the IFAs Colin Connolly are among the speakers.

Thefts of agricultural vehicles and machinery increased by 40% in recent years.

People who sign up to the service will be supplied with a unique security ID to be used to protect their property.

A comprehensive database will be maintained of all equipment for members to view online. Theft Stop will also communicate with members in the event of farm machinery theft.

Anyone interested can log on to www.theftstop.ie.

The schemes unique ID can be applied to machinery using stencil and paint as well as metal stamping.

Members of the scheme can also purchase a metal stamping kit which will allow them to apply the security ID to hidden parts of their property.

A farm gate sign displayed at the entrance of a property also identifies the owner as part of the Theft Stop initiative and assist with theft prevention.

Theft Stop also recommends people take images of all their marked equipment and upload them to the website for use in the event of a theft.

A garda spokesman in Fermoy said that the gardai fully support the Theft Stop initiative.

We would encourage all those involved in the agricultural sector to engage with the IFA in order to prevent, deter and reduce farm-related crime, gardai said.

This is part of an overall operation looking to protect this sector from thefts of vital equipment and machinery.

We always acknowledge the importance of working in partnership with organisations such as the IFA.

The meeting will also focus on a review of the garda-operated text alert system, set up in the area last year.

The Fermoy Garda District now operates one of the countries largest single text alert schemes, with over 2,600 people registered.

This scheme is operated in partnership with Muintir na Tire and Grapevine Communications.

We are always looking for new members, and to join just contact your local community alert group, Sergeant Andrew Geary, or Munitir na Tire development officer Diarmaid Cronin, the garda spokesman said.
The 611 incidents recorded in 2014 include:

The 611 occupational injury incidents in 2014 translate to a rate of 39.7 per 1,000 gardai, compared to a national injury rate of 3.4 per 1,000 employees. Some nine out of 10 victims (554) were at the rank of garda and 6% (38) were sergeants.

Demands for better protective equipment and resources for gardai will feature heavily at the three-day annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), which begins today. Some delegates want body cameras for members, CCTV cameras in Garda vehicles, and bullet-resistant vests in a bid to improve safety.

The conference will also hear motions to provide Garda districts with flood lights and proper signage, as well as high-vis jackets for plain-clothes members in responding to major incidents, including traffic collisions.

An official report, compiled by Garda management in 2015 for the year 2014, has only recently become publicly available. It is the first full year all occupational injuries have been recorded.

The overall injury rate per 1,000 for An Garda Siochanas employees was 39.7 compared to the national injury rate of 3.4 per 1,000 employed (Health and Safety Authority figures), said the Occupational Injury Report 2014.

Assaults and needle/stab wounds accounted for almost half of all incidents.

Those assaulted that year included Sergeant David Haughney, who lost 75% of the sight in one eye after he was hit in the face by a rock thrown during a violent disorder incident in Youghal, East Cork, on December 14.

As part of their normal work, gardai inevitably face significant and serious dangers and sometimes unrealistic public expectations, the report said.

The nature of policing is such that it is not always possible to completely control all risks. The special nature of operational policing may require that certain risks are taken to secure appropriate benefits to the public and the wider society, such as saving life, preventing serious crime and apprehending those responsible for serious crime.

But the report acknowledged the duty of care management had: However, there is still a requirement for those risks to be minimised as far as is reasonably practical in the context of operational policing.

Injury figures show the top-five divisions were: Dublin West (53); Dublin South (39); Waterford (37); Dublin South Central (33); and Dublin North, and Donegal (30).

In terms of assaults, the top five were: Dublin West (29), Waterford (22), Dublin South Central (21), Dublin South (19) and Kerry (15).

Of the 611 cases, 269 resulted in less than three days off work or no days off. Some 98 resulted in between one and three months off, 59 between three and six months and 22 six months or more.

When injury rates are broken down, it found the injury rate was highest in Waterford (13.6 per 100 gardai), followed by the Operational Support Unit (10), Kerry (9.1), Louth (8.8), and Dublin West (7.5).

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has declined to attend, citing negotiations on government formation.
Westview House on Patricks Hill in Cork City is being considered by the Department of Justice as a facility to house females from Limerick Prison.

The proposed facility would house prisoners for the end of their jail time, post release, or as an alternative to a custodial sentence.

A hostel was operated at Westview House but the building is to pass to the Department of Justice later this year. The probation hostel was run as a day centre for young offenders.

The site for the proposed step-down facility is within 100 metres of eight schools including Hewitt College, Bruce College, Christian Brothers primary and secondary schools, St Angelas College, Scoil Mhuire primary and secondary schools, and Happy Days Montessori.

Cork North Central TDs Dara Murphy of Fine Gael, Jonathan OBrien of Sinn Fein, and Deputy Billy Kelleher of Fianna Fail met with Minister Fitzgerald this week to discuss the project. She informed the TDs that no decision would be made on the use of Westview House until a new Government is formed.

A public meeting was recently held in relation to the project. Residents expressed concern about possible addiction problems and levels of re-offending by prisoners. Concern was also expressed about the lack of parking and infrastructure in the area for such a project.

It is understood residents will take an injunction through the courts to prevent the Department of Justice from opening such a facility on the site if all other avenues fail.

Cllr Tim Brosnan of Fianna Fail said residents are vehemently opposed to the project. It is not a case of NIMBYism. It just isnt a suitable site with so many schools nearby. Patricks Hill is an iconic view point in Cork city. It is a tourist area. If you are going to have something like this, which is needed, the obvious thing to do is build it in the county.

He said it would be totally unacceptable to have a facility which would encourage loitering in the area.
However, the talks, which are seen as the first meaningful discussions between the two parties, may face collapse if Fine Gael is not willing to agree in principal to supporting a Fianna Fail-led minority.

Independent TDs say that the parties must sign an agreement on supporting a minority government for a certain length of time before they commit to entering any government. Members of the Independent Alliance and rural Independents have also signalled that they will not be voting in the third ballot to select a taoiseach on Thursday.

Both main party leaders along with their negotiation teams are expected to meet in Dublin this afternoon in a bid to hammer out agreement on the formation of a minority government.

Writing in todays Irish Examiner Mr Martin said he believes a minority administration could provide stronger governance. We have seen in recent years that strong majority governments can be arrogant, divisive and unfair, the Fianna Fail leader writes.

We need to move to a reformed political system which ends the days of dominant governments and gives every TD the right and obligation to participate in the work of the Oireachtas.

Fianna Fail has repeatedly said it would be willing to facilitate a Fine Gael-led minority government if it receives backing from Independents.

However, Mr Kennys party has not committed to the same if Fianna Fail comes out on top and it is expected this will have to be addressed before negotiations can continue today.

While the option of supporting a Fianna Fail-led minority government was rejected outright by Fine Gael last week, there was a slight softening of this stance yesterday. Acting Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said she does not favour entering any talks with preconditions, but said the offer of a partnership government, which Fianna Fail has rejected, is still on the table.

However, acting Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe told RTEs This Week programme that a Fianna Fail-led minority government is not feasible.

A Fianna Fail minority government cannot deliver the stability that is needed, he said. The two parties are due to continue talks with Independents this week.
The figures show that 343 prisoners are in custody who have been convicted of a sex offence, and of those 168  or 48%  are currently engaged with the prison systems psychology service, including the Building Better Lives programme first opened up in 2009.

The figures, provided by the Irish Prison Service, also show that of the total number of individuals convicted of sexual violence, 178 currently in custody will be required to participate in post-release supervision with the Probation Service.

There are 258 individuals convicted of sexual violence under the supervision of the Probation Service in the community. According to a spokesman for the IPS: There has been considerable transformation in our response to the treatment of those convicted of sexual violence since 2009.

Prisoners serving sentences for sex offences are housed in the Midlands and Arbour Hill prisons, with the IPS stating that both prisons provide a National Programme of Excellence in order to reduce risk of re-offending and enhance public protection to the greatest possible extent.

It cited figures from the Central Statistics Office showing that recidivism rates for those who were released from a prison sentence for any crime in 2008 and 2009 reported a recidivism rate of 14.9% and 21.1%, respectively, with the IPS spokesman stating that of those that re-offended, none were for a sex offence.

The Building Better Lives (BBL) programme has operated since 2009 and typically sees an individual participating in the programme undergo six to eight hours of risk assessment, followed by treatment over three stages: Exploring Better Lives (EBL); Practicing Better Lives (PBL) which includes 60 to 70 sessions of in-depth therapeutic and risk relevant work; and Maintaining Better Lives (MBL), which support maintenance of progress.

The programme can be delivered to a group of offenders or individually, depending on the persons needs, and the spokesman said it includes family meetings, regular reviews and monitoring of participant progress.

It also includes the development of a comprehensive risk management and resettlement plan, with key to engagement an acknowledgement that an offence was committed.

Those who continue to deny their offence are instead subject to risk assessment and management interventions as appropriate, the spokesman said.

From 2016, the EBL will be facilitated jointly in the Midlands prison by the IPS Psychology Service and the Probation Service.

Individuals will then transfer to Arbour Hill prison to complete the PBL programme which is facilitated by the IPS Psychology Service.

Individuals will then complete the MBL in either Arbour Hill or the Midlands prison. The MBL is currently facilitated by the Probation Service in Arbour Hill.
Currency markets  which have already sold down sterling amid fears that Britain will vote to leave the EU in its in-out referendum on June 23  will be closely watching whether the new disclosures will limit the UK premiers campaign to stay in.

The warnings come as Ibec  the Irish Business Employers Confederation  today raised the level of its warning over the so-called Brexit vote, saying that sterling and Irish trade would slump and firms on both sides of the border would face huge disruption, should Britain vote to leave.
Fine Gael has refused to confirm whether they will support a Fianna Fail minority government despite Micheal Martins party agreeing to facilitate Mr Kenny if he receives enough support from Independents.

A number of senior Fianna Fail sources have said they would be unable to continue with discussions if Fine Gael refuse to agree to facilitate them in a minority government.

Fine Gael will have to agree to support minority government if we are to reciprocate, that has to be clarified. It would be extremely difficult to continue otherwise.

With a number of Independents appearing to be now veering towards favouring Fianna Fail, Mr Kenny is under pressure to agree to support that possible outcome.

Cork South West Independent Michael Collins said: The two parties must go forward with a joint agreement on minority government, not on the basis of one party thinking that they are going to get the support ahead of the other.

But Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe, who last week ruled outright the notion of supporting a Fianna Fail minority government, yesterday said his views still stand.

I do not believe it is feasible. We do not believe a Fianna Fail-led minority government is capable. I do not believe it has the stability that is needed, he told RTEs This Week programme.

However, there was a slight softening by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, who said she is not in favour of any preconditions.

We are going in to have a conversation about what a minority government would look like, and what are the key elements that would enable a minority government to continue, she told RTas The Week in Politics.

But Fianna Fails Barry Cowen said: We have been saying consistently that we will accept the will of the Dail, we just want Fine Gael to do likewise.

They have to accept that in order for us to sit down for viable discussions, he said on Newstalk radio.
But while Hollywood A-lister Liam Neeson decided to give fans and journalists the cold shoulder ahead of the event, most attendees braved the harsh conditions to sign autographs and take photos with those gathered.

Despite the weather, this years ceremony, at Dublins Mansion House, was far from a washout.

The event, which aired on TV3 last night, attracted actors, performers and personalities such as musicians Bob Geldof and Van Morrison, Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer, Sherlock actor Andrew Scott and Moone Boy star Chris ODowd.

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer and Dublin director Anthony Byrne.

Other red carpet guests included Panti Bliss, Amy Huberman, Jack Reynor, and Charlie Murphy.

In terms of the awards, Neeson received the most prestigious accolade, as presented by President Michael D Higgins. Accepting an Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award, Neeson recalled early advice given to him by film legend Clint Eastwood, who told him not to overthink his role.

Some 60-odd films since then and thats what I try to do. I try to hit the marks and say the lines, preferably in the order in which theyre written. It seems to be going good. It seems to be working out, he joked.

Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch arriving on the red carpet.

A video tribute featured directors Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, as well as actors Ralph Fiennes and Harrison Ford, praising Neesons vast body of work.

Actress and producer Roma Downey, best known for her role as Monica in TV series Touched by an Angel, received the inaugural Irish Diaspora Award from Bob Geldof.

The other big winner was Room. The Oscar-nominated flick won seven awards, including Best Film, Best Director for Lenny Abrahamson and Best Script for Emma Donoghue.

Emma wrote a brilliant book and so what we tried to do was capture the spirit of that, explained producer Ed Guiney.

Jack Reynor and Madeline Mulqueen arriving on the red carpet at the Mansion House.

Quite a few people said the film made them want to go home and given their kids a hug. I thought that was really lovely.

Cork native Sarah Greene also won big on the night, nabbing the Best Supporting Actress in Drama award for her role in Penny Dreadful.

Awards are a funny thing. Its a real honour but just to be nominated, to be celebrated with women that I really look up to. I just feel very honoured, said the actress, who won the Rising Star award at the IFTAs last year. It feels really special, Im delighted. I wasnt expecting it in the slightest.

Roma Downey with Bob Geldof after receiving the inaugral Irish Diaspora Award.

Greene dedicated the award to one of the crew members working on Penny Dreadful who tragically died from an illness last week.

When you go on a shoot youre away from home a lot and you become a family. Sadly we lost one of our family last week so Im a bit emotional right now, she explained. Joe, one of our drivers, passed away. Were burying him on Monday so I want to dedicate this award to him.

In other acting categories, Michael Fassbender won Best Lead Actor in a Film for Steve Jobs, while Saoirse Ronan won Best Lead Actress in a Film for Brooklyn.
IRELANDS postcolonial identity is a complicated one. Isnt everyones? Perhaps so  yet Irelands very status as a colony is a relatively recent assertion among historians and critics. Its a contested idea that seeks to unpack such factors as the countrys interconnectedness with the colonial centre and its culture, and how our status as Europeans clouds our view of possibly shared colonial experiences in the wider world.

Theres also our part in the imperial enterprise itself, as both coloniser and colonised  an imperial domain that nonetheless was once part of the United Kingdom, sending MPs to London and with a decidedly British metropolis of its own.

Yet, postcolonial studies, if anything, are a broadening discourse, which seeks to compare the traditions and experiences of colonised countries, and critics would argue that Ireland could seek its frame of reference with such countries, rather than only with its European allies: a suggestion rarely uttered outside the halls of academe.

Disco Africa by Eshetu

It usually takes an outsider to point out your blindspots, so, it is an intriguing prospect that EVA 2016 is curated by Koyo Kouoh, a Cameroonian curator and producer, and that it will, using the centenary of 1916 as its impetus, seek to investigate the post-colonial condition of Ireland as a point of departure.

For Kouoh, concerned as she is with colonialism worldwide, with particular focus on Africa, southeast Asian and South American countries, Ireland has always seemed a very interesting place. Of all the territories that have been occupied and dominated by the British colonial enterprise, she says, Ireland has been the one longest occupied and at the same time doesnt want to really deal with it directly somehow, which is not really the case in Africa.

The responses of 57 artists, from some 2,000 who responded to a call for submissions, will be presented at various locations around Limerick from April 16. The range of work takes in video, performance art, textiles, painting, archival works and more. Several spaces across the city will be repurposed and EVA will take art to the community via projects like Nice Screams, wherein a newly chosen national anthem will be played from an ice cream van through the city.

There are many works in the exhibition that deal with the imprint of history on the landscape, Kouoh says, through architecture, through the physicality of the landscape, through monuments for instance. There are many works in the direction of language, particularly in the context of Ireland losing Irish and trying to regain it. There are works dealing with trauma, with memory, there are works dealing with identity politics, which I think is a very postcolonial feature.

It is always the dominated person or community that needs to assert himself against the other.

Smudge by Kostas Bassanos at EVA 2016 in Limerick

EVA 2016 is titled Still (the) Barbarians, a play on Waiting for Barbarians, a sardonic poem by the Greek poet CP Cavafy, where the reader is invited to imagine the scene as barbarians approach some city state:

What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?

The barbarians are due here today.

Why isnt anything going on in the senate?

Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?

Because the barbarians are coming today.

In the end, the barbarians dont come, and the poems final question and answer couplet goes:

Now whats going to happen to us without the barbarians?

These people were a kind of solution.

Cavafy suggests the need for outsiders by which to define ourselves, the need for enemies to impose order. Kuouhs twist on the title is playfully suggestive: are the barbarians here yet? Who is still a barbarian anyway, and what does that mean? That ambiguity is fertile terrain, offered the artists by the curator.

Artists, says Kuouh, have elaborate ways of enlarging the imagination, so I think that a theme is an invitation for the artist to take it and run with it.

And the fact that my edition of EVA coincided with the centenary, it was very interesting to look at this material.

EVA 2016 opens next Saturday, April 16. See www.eva.ie
To get a Yank out of the scratcher simply yell that if he gets down to the kitchen hell make a thousand bucks, but for Paddy, what still works best is to whisper in his ear that if he doesnt, his next door neighbour will make the money.

This truism sits behind the politicisation of the Irish budgetary process, which is swamped in the politics of the loudest screaming baby and is barely fit for purpose in normal times. Passing razor blades will be easier than passing a budget in the current scramble and whatever government emerges, it will be expected to perform that task while tap-dancing on a trapdoor.

Ideally, powerful joint Oireachtas committees, backed by experts, ought to be proposing the allocation of scarce resources to the Dail as the centrepiece in budget formation.

In a calm and professionalised system of budgetary control, power blocks making additional claims would have these first vetted by a beefed-up Fiscal Advisory Council and that includes arbitrary claims to restore Tiger era privileges that includes damaging pay premiums over the private sector.

The opaque process that rewards insider power first and anything else second, is set to deliver tit-for-tat claims for pay rises, claims that compete directly against general cuts in the USC that would benefit all.

In the recent round of conferences, young teachers aired legitimate grievances about their yellow-pack status, lower pay for the same work as their colleagues. This is just the beginning, but the solution isnt to fix the injustice for some, but for all and that means Irelands entire workforce and includes tackling pernicious misuse of zero hours contracts and other practices that diminishes work quality.

The underlying problem isnt just that of relative pay differentials, between the private and public workforce, but the changing nature of human longevity and of work itself.

Torching critics on stakes outside of Sitpu headquarters as an offering to socialist deities wont alter that essential truth nor stave off fundamental changes that have yet to come, if Ireland is to avoid social fracture from inequality.

Nineteenth century German chancellor Otto von Bismarck set the first retirement pensions at age 65 for good reason  the average age of mortality in Germany was in the 50s. With mortality shortly to reach the mid-80s, it is sustainable to guarantee jobs for life and pensions that last longer than half ones working career, only by seeking a massive transfer of wealth from the majority who wont benefit, to the minority who will.

This is at the heart of the unjust Irish social contract and remains the most unspoken and inconvenient truth among the political classes. Without dramatic corrective actions, the welfare state as we know it, is heading for the rocks.

What is needed is an interconnected strategy that first transforms Ireland into a genuine enterprise culture capable of dealing with aggressive competition from the UK in the impending war for talent  and that means a rethink about how we tax against high work performance and fail to match the UK as an incubator for SME job growth, without which much of rural Ireland will continue to wither while the economic fruits concentrate around foreign direct investment (FDI) in urban clusters, exacerbating the housing crisis.

It also means starting an adult conversation about how Ireland can use the dividends from indigenous enterprise growth to deliver a basic lifestyle standard, properly funding our social insurance programmes, redesigning the rules to reflect longer lives, higher health costs and elder care and phasing in a universal pension scheme that does not distinguish between workers on the basis of when they were born, whether they work for themselves, for the State or for a private employer.

We also need to discuss if lifelong security of tenure, that includes premature retirement rights, ought to be recovered using benefit-in-kind taxation.

Economic stagnation has been avoided throughout the course of the modern industrial age by technological breakthroughs that have turbo-charged worker productivity, rewarding higher output through higher living standards, pay, leisure time, and asset accumulation, but the deck has become stacked in favour of the super-rich whose net assets accumulate faster than workers can put excess income to work.

The sickening revelations from Panama of industrial-scale tax evasion by some ought not to blind us to the compliance of the many but the solution isnt the aggressive and isolationist wealth transfers promoted by traditional hard left economics  these collapse from beggar-thy-neighbour tax competition from bordering economies, but rather in collective action among sovereigns in Europe and through international agreements.

The might of mobile FDI and the increasing power of the global super-rich can only be tackled by acting together but solutions that propose pricing against them in isolation will worsen outcomes through the flight of capital, talent and jobs. This is an iron rule.

Dreamy-eyed socialists such as President Michael D Higgins, who argue most frequently from pulpits within the security of the State, advocate for ever more of it and visualise a world that cannot exist, one populated by risk takers who are driven, not by individual incentive, but by social solidarity.

Look around and of all the technology you relied upon today, from the mobile phone to your car and TV, none of it was invented by a State agency or by a mythical entrepreneur energised by equality.

The path that remains to be found is how to develop a flourishing enterprise culture but within a social contract that supports and not worsens solidarity.

Sadly, without dramatic change to how we do politics and govern, that path is unlikely to be invented here, not so long as we first measure each spoonful our neighbour gets, before tasting our own and tolerate a political system that dines upon the differences.
I believe that we are in a position this week to make substantial progress towards the formation of a new government.

If there is good faith and a willingness to consider genuinely new approaches to government, then we can achieve an outcome which will deliver our country a breakthrough in how our country is governed rather than just focussing on who holds power.

The most frequent comment about the outcome of the general election is that it was unclear. I dont agree with this. It is very clear that the Irish people have voted for a multi-party system where many parties and individuals have received very different mandates.

Yes it makes the initial formation of a government more difficult, but this is only a problem if you believe that the old way of forming governments in Ireland is the only way it can and should be done.

According to the majority of commentators, the only reasonable form of government is a majority government capable of controlling the full agenda of our parliament and administration. This type of strong and stable government is presented as essential for solving problems.

The facts show the opposite to be the case.

Many of our most urgent problems developed exactly because the government with the largest majority in our history, strong and stable in every way, was arrogant and out of touch. It sidelined the Oireachtas and ignored problem after problem until they were allowed to become crises.

In comparison, many countries which are far more comparable to Ireland than Britain have a long history of good governance and weaker governments.

One third of all European governments since 1945 have been minority governments. Three out of the four Scandinavian countries are currently led by minority governments. All countries with a record of sustained social and economic progress.

In Denmark, the government is actually a single-party minority government consisting of the third- largest party which won 19% in their last election.

Minority governments can and do work, often working far better than less accountable majority governments.

Our national parliament has changed. Its long past time we reflected this in how we form and operate government.

In recent weeks, this has been at the core of Fianna Fails approach to negotiations. We produced a very detailed policy proposal within which short, medium and full-term objectives were identified.

These have been true to our core message in the election that we need new priorities to deliver an Ireland which serves all our people.

We have ruled out a coalition with Fine Gael. In this we have held exactly the same arguments as we used during the election when seeking peoples support.

One of the things which is most striking in recent days is the number of people who have decided that we have no right to keep our word. People who in many cases have spent years claiming that Fianna Fail is not to be trusted are now demanding at great length in every part of the media that we should abandon our promise not to form a majority coalition government.

If we want to rebuild public trust in politics, isnt it a good place to start to end the days of ah sure isnt that what you do during an election?

Wouldnt it mark a major change for the better if people started to believe that parties were committed to their major promises?

As we said during the election, we do not support the coalition option for specific reasons.

First of all, we have seen in recent years that strong majority governments can be arrogant, divisive and unfair.

Second, the priorities of our parties are too large for them to be bridged in a programme for government which would retain popular legitimacy.

Finally, we need to move to a reformed political system which ends the days of dominant governments and gives every TD the right and obligation to participate in the work of the Oireachtas.

To try to dismiss divisions of today as civil war politics is superficial and dismissive. It misses vital differences between parties in the last nine decades.

Its also bad history.

Fianna Fail was founded by people who were very specifically committed to moving on from the civil war. The programme they developed and which so rapidly won the trust of the Irish people was a radical one based on social, economic and constitutional reform.

I will never accept an approach which dismisses 20,000 members and half a million voters as being defined only by events of nearly a century ago.

It is very common for there to be a range of parties who are seen as centrist but which maintain what are for them and their voters important divides.

In our history, every time a new government make-up has been agreed it has been hailed as a radical departure and a new type of partnership. Its never been true. The only real change has been in who holds the power not how they use it.

Minority governments can work if people are willing to try  and they represent a much truer reflection of the need to change our politics than simply change titles.

Yes, there must be security that government can do its core business  but there is absolutely no need to have a situation where government has the first, last and only word on every matter.

We are offering a major compromise. We are actually pushing for real political change.

We will agree to a process which can allow a government to be formed and for that government to have reasonable security.

The outcome of the election was a surprise to many politicians and commentators because they have remained wedded to an increasingly outdated view of how politics and government should work.

Now is a moment to acknowledge that the people want a new approach to politics and government.
The Most Rev Justin Welby, who believed his father was Gavin Welby, said on Friday it was a complete surprise to find through DNA evidence that his father is the late Anthony Montague Browne  Winston Churchills last private secretary. In a statement he said: I know that I find who I am in Jesus Christ, not in genetics, and my identity in him never changes.

His mother, Lady Williams of Elvel, 86, described the revelation as an almost unbelievable shock, but added she recalls going to bed with Montague Browne fuelled by a large amount of alcohol on both sides.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster and the UKs most senior Catholic cleric, tweeted that he was praying for the Archbishop and his mother and said: Our life in Christ matters most of all.

The Bishop of Norwich, Graham James, told BBC Radio 5 live that the Archbishop took the DNA test thinking it would be disproved, and commended his maturity.

He said: For the Archbishop I think of course it is a surprise but he is dealing with it, I talked to him quite a lot last week, he is dealing with it with his usual maturity.

His identity is secure, he feels the same person that he was three weeks ago. He finds himself in the position of many other people who discover their father is rather different from the person they thought.

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, from Maidenhead Synagogue, told the Sunday Telegraph that the Archbishop had set a good example of how to deal with unexpected news.

He said: The news does not affect his personal identity in any way  he is who he has become.

Bishop Anba Angaelos, the General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, siad the Archbishops statement was very moving and indicative of the peace, love, forgiveness and resolve that we are not only all called to, but all endowed with if we but allow Gods healing, reconciling and comforting presence in our lives.

He added: For any individual and his family to learn and process, but to have them revealed and discussed so publicly will need a very particular grace.
The Republicans, too, are trying to scoop up delegates out west while bidding for some New York love.

With his weekends win in Wyoming, Sanders has won seven of the last eight state contests. But his latest victory did nothing to help him in the delegate chase: He and Clinton each got seven delegates.

Now that we are in the second half of this campaign, we are going to state after state which I think have a more progressive outlook, Sanders said. We are in this race to win.

Clinton, looking right past the Wyoming results, told a crowd in Brooklyn that she needs a big win in New York on April 19 .

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said that she has a nearly insurmountable lead in pledged delegates that will become harder to overcome after each contest.

On the Republican side, Texas senator Ted Cruz completed his sweep of Colorados 34 delegates by locking up the remaining 13 at the partys state convention in Colorado Springs.

Donald Trump organised late in Colorado and left the state convention up to his organisers, spending half an hour on Saturday touring the National September 11 Memorial in Manhattan.

He and Clinton found a rare point of agreement in poking back at Cruz for his earlier criticism of New York values.

Trumps campaign said in a statement after his museum visit that the site was symbolic of the strength of our country, and in particular New Yorkers.

Clinton, for her part, told a crowd in Brooklyn: I actually think New York values are really good for America.

Her agreement with Trump ended right there, as she launched into an argument for electing Democrats to protect the US economy.

Its a fact that our economy does better when we have a Democrat in the White House, she said.

Some say we can solve Americas problems by turning against each other.



We know better.https://t.co/UjCS0UzXFc  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 9, 2016

Clinton has 1,287 delegates, based on primaries and caucuses, to Sanders 1,037. When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 1,756, or 74% of the number needed. Sanders has 1,068.

Trump still has a narrow path to winning the Republican nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, but he has little room for error.
In a scene straight from Hollywood, or a New Yorker cartoon, a US Navy plane spotted the word help spelled out in palm fronds on a beach on a deserted island in the remote Pacific.

The three men, missing for three days after a wave overtook the skiff they were travelling in, were found waving their orange life jackets on the tiny Micronesian island of Fanadik, hundreds of kilometres north of Papua New Guinea.

The mens families reported them missing on Tuesday after they failed to show up at the Micronesian island of Weno, where they were travelling from their home island, Pulap.

Fortunately for them, they were all wearing life jackets and were able to swim to the deserted island, said US Coast Guard spokeswoman Melissa McKenzie.

A local boat picked the men up and took them to a hospital.

Two bulk carriers searched a combined 17 hours for the men as part of AMVER, a US voluntary search and rescue programme. Rescue co-ordinators identify participating ships in the area of distress and ask them to help.

In the last two weeks, 15 people have been rescued in the Pacific with the help of 10 AMVER vessels and six aircrews.

To see or not to see

Britain: Renowned artist Willard Wigan has created a microscopic sculpture of William Shakespeare, which is smaller than a full stop, to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.

The artwork has been placed in the eye of a needle and depicts the playwright striking a celebratory pose dressed in a teal tunic and purple stockings, with an Elizabethan-style frame underneath and the words To see or not to see.

Sculpted out of Kevlar and fragments of cable tie, Wigan used 24-carat gold for the frame around the quote.

It was painted using a floating fibre plucked from the air as a paintbrush, and polished to a shine using microscopic fragments of diamonds.

The tiny Shakespeare, which took four weeks to create, is part of an exhibition of Wigans work at the Light House Media Centre in Wolverhampton.

Shakespeare is believed to have died on his birthday, April 23, in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616.

Right royal prank

USA: A prank caller tricked workers at a Minnesota Burger King into smashing the windows of the restaurant to keep it from exploding, mirroring similar deceptions at Burger Kings and other fast-food outlets in recent months.

Police said employees at the restaurant in the Minneapolis suburb of Coon Rapids got the call from someone claiming to be with the fire department. The caller said the restaurant could explode, so they needed to relieve the pressure. The manager and other employees believed the caller and smashed all the windows on the ground floor.

Officers arrived and found that the manager and employees of the Burger King were smashing out the windows, said Sgt Rick Boone. The manager explained theyd received a call from a male who identified himself as a fireman who said there were dangerous levels of gas in the building and they had to break out all the windows to keep the building from blowing up.

Someone placed a similar call to a Burger King in Oklahoma days before, claiming there were high levels of carbon monoxide in the building.

Uphill battle

Scotland: A homegrown athlete beat 200 competitors to win a unique open-water uphill swimming race involving scaling canal lock gates.

The Red Bull Neptune Steps race is the only competition of its kind in the world.

Participants swim uphill through 420 metres of cold water and climb 18 metres over eight canal lock gates in Glasgow, helped by rope climbs, wooden ladders, cargo nets and climbing walls. Scottish open water champion Mark Deans secured the top place in the mens race.
William and Kate began their tour of India by having garlands placed around their necks as they arrived at Mumbais Taj Mahal Palace hotel  where 31 staff and guests were killed in the 2008 assault.

Dubbed WillKat by the Indian media, William wore a smart suit while the Duchess looked stunning in a red, paisley-themed outfit by Alexander McQueen that blended Indian colour with British couture. It had a skirt split at the front over a black underskirt  a feature borrowed heavily from Asian tradition.

The inaugural engagement began in sombre mood when they laid a wreath at a memorial in the hotel to those who died on the premises.

The couple placed a floral tribute of white lilies between 32 burning candles, with the message: In memory of those who lost their lives and those injured in the senseless atrocities at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. William, Catherine.

The royal couple are staying at the Taj as a show of support for the city in the wake of the attacks.

At the memorial, they were introduced to hotel chef Raghu Deora, 41, who was shot in the stomach and in the leg as he helped guests to safety.

William asked him about what happened on the day, while the Duchess said: It must have been a surreal time.

Mr Deora said: The Duke asked me what happened to me and I explained how I was shot. He asked me how long I took to recover, and I said six months, with the last operation two years ago.

Kate asked him about his cooking, and if he had a speciality, to which he replied that he specialises in local dishes. Mr Deora also cooked the couples lunch, which included a starter of vegetable kebabs and main courses including lentil curry with rice, ricotta cheese and okra.

It is all vegetarian because I was told that was what they preferred.

The couple were also introduced to Sunil Kudiyadi, the hotels security manager, who called police and the security services to the scene and helped save guests lives. The Duke told him: Youre very brave, you saved a lot of lives. Well done.
This is not a normal year.

Fifty-five per cent of Americans say they have a negative opinion of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the latest AP-GfK poll. But thats not nearly as bad as how they view the leading candidate for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump. His unfavorable rating stands at an unprecedented 69%.

The negative feelings for both are a harbinger of a general election contest thats shaping up to be less about voters supporting the candidate of their choice, and more about their picking the one they dislike the least.

I dont really feel like either one is that trustworthy, said Devin Sternadre, 26, a student from northeastern Ohio. Most of the elections that have happened in the past Ive felt strongly about a candidate, and I just dont this time.

But yeah, if it was held today I guess I would vote Clinton, he said, with a deep sigh. I just wish there were more choices.

Democratic strategists say Trumps deep unpopularity has alleviated some of their concern over views of Clinton. While 55% of Americans have a somewhat or very unfavorable impression of the former secretary of state, thats about the same number as those who have a very unfavorable opinion of Trump.

Clintons rating is also slightly better than Republican candidate Ted Cruz: 59% percent say they have an unfavorable view of the Texas senator. Clintons Democratic primary rival, Bernie Sanders, is at just 39% unfavorable, but he trails far behind Clinton in the delegate battle for the Democratic nomination.

Ted Cruz

Asked if she needed to improve her public image, Clinton told reporters Friday that she has worked to win over voters in the past, as when she ran for the Senate in New York.

Just remember, when I was secretary of state my approval rating was the highest of any public official. Now whats the difference? Whenever Im doing a job, people approve of my job. When I seek the job, when I compete for the job, then theres a big rush by, you know, Republicans and interests who dont agree with my values and my vision for the country, to just pile on, Clinton said.

Ive been there, I know that, Im not worried about it.

As the campaign moves toward the general election, Democrats argue, the dynamic will shift from being a referendum on Clintons character to a choice between her and a Republican opponent. If that Republican is Trump, Democrats see an opportunity to unify their own party behind Clinton and make inroads with independents and Republicans.

Nearly half of all registered voters say they would at least consider voting for Clinton, far more than say they are open to voting for Trump. Sixty-three per cent say they definitely wouldnt vote for Trump in a general election.

Thirty-eight per cent say they definitely would not vote for Vermont senator Sanders.

Even in more historically conservative Southern states, where Trump swept the GOP primaries, voters are somewhat more likely to say they would at least consider Clinton. Half say they are open to her candidacy, and 39% to his.

Voters are more likely to have a positive opinion of Clintons primary rival, Bernie Sanders, with only 38% saying they would definitely not vote for the Vermont senator.

Bernie Sanders

Lara Robles, a Republican from Round Rock, Texas, said she would back Clinton, even though she has been surprised to find her views aligned with Trump on a number of issues.

I think she flip-flops on a lot of her views, but I would vote for Hillary, said the mother of three. I just dont really like him as a person. I think he doesnt have a filter on his mouth.

Clinton is not held in very high regard among the general public. Most Americans view her as not particularly compassionate, honest or likable. They have mixed feelings on her civility, decisiveness and competence.

Half of all Americans say Clinton is not at all honest, with another 18% saying shes slightly honest. That number mirrors views on Trump, with more than seven in 10 saying the word honest describes him only slightly or not at all well.

But on the other attributes, Clintons negative ratings are at least better than the overwhelmingly disapproving views Americans have of Trump.

More than half say Clinton is not especially compassionate, and six in 10 say shes only slightly or not at all likable. Eighty per cent do not find Trump compassionate and three-quarters do not see him as likable.

What I want in a president is someone who wouldnt cause trouble for the country. I think Donald Trump would, said Steve Fantuzzi, a 54-year-old registered Republican in the Chicago suburbs.

Hillarys OK. I dont have a problem with her.

And unlike Trump, members of Clintons party largely like her. More than seven in 10 Democratic voters have a favorable opinion, compared to 53% of Republicans who have a positive view of Trump.

Just 17% of Democratic voters say they wouldnt vote for Clinton in the general election, about the same share as wouldnt back Sanders should he win the nomination. Thirty-one per cent of Republicans say the same about Trump.

Clinton remains the candidate viewed by the most Americans as able to win a general election, with 82% saying she could capture the White House. Just six in 10 say that of Sanders or Trump.
The actor received the Generation Award recognising his film career after starring in blockbusters ranging from Independence Day and Men In Black to Muhammad Ali biopic Ali, and I Am Legend.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was named movie of the year, while the films British star Daisy Ridley was awarded a golden popcorn statue for breakthrough performance for her role as Rey.

Smith, who was joined at the ceremony in Los Angeles by sons Trey and Jaden, joked that he thought his honour was code for the old-ass dude award.

This is absolutely beautiful, he said. I released my first record when I was 17. Im 47 years old now. This June marks 30 years in this business. Im dedicated to being a light in this world.

Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, who presented Smith with his award, said: Will is a champion for diversity in Hollywood, blazing a path for actors by showing that someone of any colour can play any role, and can open any movie and win any award and be the biggest freaking movie star in the whole world.

Ridley beat Star Wars co-star and fellow Briton John Boyega to win the breakthrough performance award.

Melissa McCarthy became the first woman to receive the Comedic Genius award, while Straight Outta Compton, which told the story of gangsta rap pioneers NWA, won the True Story Award.

The cast referred to their Oscars snub on stage as they were joined by the groups original member DJ Yella.

Pitch Perfect 2 stars Rebel Wilson and Adam DeVine shared a passionate moment on stage after winning the best kiss award. The pair locked lips and rolled around on the stage floor, recreating their movie romance.

Chris Pratt received the award for best action performance for his role in Jurassic World

.

Ryan Reynolds won best comedic performance for superhero film Deadpool and was introduced on stage by female hip hop group Salt N Pepa. We had a blast on this movie but it wasnt all unicorns and cocaine, he said. This cast and crew gave their last drop of blood to make the most authentic Deadpool movie as humanly possible.

Charlize Theron won best female performance for her role in Mad Max: Fury Road, while Amy Poehler won best virtual performance for her role as Joy in the Pixar film Inside Out.

The show will be aired on MTV this evening at 8pm.
Monday, April 11th, 2016 (12:03 am) - Score 4,420

Openreach, which maintains and manages access to BTs national UK telecoms network, has today confirmed that their up to 40-80Mbps Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL) dominated fibre broadband network is now within reach of 25 million homes and businesses (86%+ UK coverage).

At this point its worth reminding readers that Openreachs first 19 million premises (c.66% of the United Kingdom) were delivered as part of BTs separate 2.5bn commercial roll-out by 2014 and the progress since then has been primarily supported by the Governments state aid gobbling Broadband Delivery UK project (note: the commercial roll-out is on-going, but at a slower pace).

The operator has also made their ultrafast 330Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network available to over 200,000+ UK premises and recent reports have suggested that we could see a much greater focus on pure fibre optic FTTP connections going forward (here and here), although weve yet to be told of any solid targets.

Obviously the above effort is a large part of the reason why the Government were last month able to confirm that 90% of UK premises had been put within reach of a superfast broadband (24Mbps+) network (here), which also includes coverage from other operators like Virgin Media and Gigaclear etc.

Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said: The UK is making great progress with fibre broadband. Availability and take up are well ahead of most European countries and Id like to thank the thousands of Openreach engineers who have worked so tirelessly to make this happen. The job isnt finished however and we are working hard to get coverage to 95 per cent and above. We are also exploring how we can improve speeds for the million or so premises in the final few per cent of the country. Our approach has delivered affordable superfast services to the vast majority of the country in the fastest possible time. We want to build upon that by making ultrafast broadband available to most of the UK. We will do this using a mix of G.fast technology and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP), with the latter focused mainly on new developments and small businesses in high streets and business parks.

As for the future, Openreach has made no secret of the fact that their primary focus will be on rolling out the next generation of hybrid-fibre broadband technology called G.fast. They intend to begin the commercial roll-out of G.fast next summer 2017 (here), which will follow an expanded pilot this summer with 25,000 premises in Cambridgeshire and Kent.

The operator has pledged to make the new G.fast service available to 10 million premises by 2020, with most of the UK likely to be done by 2025 (wed guess that most will equate to around 60% UK coverage). Initially G.fast will only offer top download speeds of up to 300Mbps (50Mbps upload), before later increasing to 500Mbps. FTTP will also get a speed boost to 1Gbps, albeit mostly for business customers.

However one of the key questions for BTs G.fast technology is what tolerance for distance the operator will opt to maintain. Lines longer than 350 metres (copper run) are likely to deliver significantly slower speeds than the headline rate and we still dont know if BT will stick to a specific limit or relax their expectations in order to reach more people, albeit at slower speeds.
Monday, April 11th, 2016 (11:55 am) - Score 1,340

UK ISP Satellite Internet, which uses the SES (ASTRA) Satellite platform to deliver up to 25Mbps capable broadband services, have announced that their service has now completed deployment to the Governments final pilot test location of Broomfield in North Somerset.

The pilot is one of seven under the Governments 10m Innovation Fund, which was originally setup to test innovative solutions for delivering superfast broadband (24Mbps+) services to the final 5% of the United Kingdom (predominantly the most difficult to reach rural areas) and you can find more details about this specific pilot HERE.

Satellite Internets project uses a Satellite Distribution Node (SDN) and a Wi-Fi head-end installed at a central location. The broadband connection is then supplied to end-users via a Fixed Access Wireless network, while properties which cannot be covered by wireless have an individual Direct-to-Home (DTH) dish installed.

The Government recently hailed their Market Test Pilots as a success (here), although at the time some of them were still in the process of deploying their networks. Apparently the village of Broomfield, which has a population of around 250, was one of the final ones to gain approval for installation in January 2016 and so its arrived a little late to the party.

Never the less Satellite Internet has now provided 24 properties with a 25Mbps capable Satellite broadband connection.

David Hennell, Satellite Internet Business Development Director, said: Despite the very short timescales, we were very confident that we could provide the necessary infrastructure to make this third MTP deployment a success. However, we couldnt have achieved this without the enthusiasm and support of Broomfield Parish Council and the closeness with which we, the Broomfield community and CDS have all worked, ensuring that the installation has been a success. The effectiveness of the headend installation and supporting network is a clear example of the speed and flexibility with which satellite-based broadband technology can be deployed. This has created high-speed, reliable connectivity in an area where previously broadband speeds were very slow and where other more traditional and terrestrial-based methods of broadband delivery were simply unavailable.

Broomfield was the third and final village to take part in Satellite Internets MTP, with Luxborough and Simonsbath, also in Somerset, getting connected last year. The ISP claims that households which signed up to the trial received faster broadband speeds and as a result more than 60% of residents have retained the service on a normal commercial basis following the end of the trial period. The ISP received state aid worth 84,750 for its infrastructure capital costs and its intervention area includes about 420 premises.
In the US, the term for a collaborative workspace is huddle room  but then they say vacation instead of holiday and greet everyone as dude! There must be a better name.

So begins the launch of Logitechs new collaboration and conferencing product  the Group and it is great for huddles (come on there must be a better Aussie word  scrums perhaps?)

The launch was in Logitechs swank new boardroom at its new Alexandria, Sydney headquarters  and Joan Vandermate, Logitechs Video Collaboration Group head of marketing, had flown in from California to tell us all about it.

Were delighted to bring Logitech GROUP to Australia, extending our international footprint of bringing streamlined collaboration with teams to this market. Until now, people looking to collaborate over video faced with a choice between installing high-priced purpose-built systems or crowding around a laptop thats placed at the end of a table. This would often result in a poor experience with co-workers huddled like sardines or falling out of the frame, she said.

Logitech GROUP provides the best of both worlds. An affordable solution optimised for large rooms with a wide field of view and crystal clear audio quality. Plus, it works with virtually any UC or video collaboration software and is so easy to use you dont need IT support to get your meeting started, she added.

She proudly said that pretty much without trying Logitechs video conferencing and collaboration products had achieved number two spot (units shipped) amongst enterprise vendors like Cisco and Polycom  and perhaps it may even pip the leader soon.

In part it is because we are vendor agnostic  we need that PC, Mac, Chromebook or Smartphone as the link to the outside world  we just provide very good hardware like cameras, speaker phones and more, she said.

All Logitech collaboration products work with any app as they plug in via USB or Bluetooth/NFC. Collaboration partners , however, have incorporated Logitechs API into the app to enable camera pan and more.

The Group is just the newest and one of many Logitech hi-def cameras like A$1149.95 CC3000e suitable for up to 10 people, the $699.95 Connect for up to six people in smaller huddle rooms, and the personal $379.95 BCC950 for even smaller huddle rooms.

Read on about the Group.

Let me say that I have seen and used most collaboration equipment and invariably they are hard to set up, and often harder to use. This is easy.

The $1599.95 Group has a central hub that connects to the IP device via USB or Bluetooth. The central controller, optional microphones, and camera connect to the hub  it is fool proof. A remote controller looks after volume, pan, etc.

The camera has a 90 angle view, a 10X lossless HD Zoom, 1080p 30fps recording, inbuilt H.264 coding, and autofocus with five pre-sets. The speaker phone has full-duplex sound, acoustic echo cancellation, and four omnidirectional mics for up to 6-metre coverage. Expansion Mics (optional) can increase room coverage.

Its full certified by Skype for Business, Microsoft Lync, Cisco Jabber and WebEx compatible. Note that these all offer global cloud connectivity.

What Group is not  an IP conference system  it must connect to an IP connected device running software.

In Australia, it is available via distribution to computer resellers and a range of value-added resellers like Polaris Communications.
With the end of support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (yes it is still widely used) the logical move is to go to the cloud.

Migrating to newer platforms can reduce costs, consolidate out-of-date hardware, and future-proof company IT infrastructure. It also opens up hybrid infrastructure with on-premise servers to better manage the ever-growing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend.

Alan Hyde, Vice President, and General Manager, Enterprise Group, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise South Pacific has penned his observation on the end of support issue and his recommendations for moving forward.

Despite the end of all support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (WS2003) on July 14, 2015, many companies are still delaying or struggling to make the transition. In fact, more than 600,000 web-facing computers, which together host millions of websites, were still running the OS even after support had ended according to a survey by Netcraft in August 2015.

For some businesses, the lack of in-house IT support has led to this lack of inertia; for others its the lack of IT budget and an if it isnt broke, dont fix it mentality.

Whatever the reason, many businesses have been taking advantage of the cloud to increase business value and stave off the risks of running servers that have become increasingly easy targets for hackers and malware. Whether it was migrating workloads to on-premise infrastructure, to the cloud or to a hybrid infrastructure, here are some of the best practices HPE has seen.

Many organisations saw the WS2003 end of support (EOS) as an opportunity to step back and reassess their IT strategy and make some key decisions that will future-proof their IT infrastructure and position their business to be the most competitive in the future.

They started by taking inventory not just of the major application workloads, but also of every piece of IT infrastructure, to understand the interrelationships and how applications are used.

For example, there may be a decade-old-plus custom application that is now difficult to use due to evolutions in the companys business. Often, recoding or modernising code using newer servers, OS and tools can greatly increase the business value of the applications. Other opportunities enabled by an EOS migration include:

Enhancing security. The elimination of hot fixes for WS2003 puts infrastructure and customer data at risk to hackers and malware

Increased business agility, by utilising IT infrastructure that is easier to manage and that allows the business to respond more quickly to change

Accelerating IT innovation by investing in future technologies such as cloud that allow customers to interact more efficiently while allowing employees and partners to be more productive

Then theres mobility. The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend is powered by users who want any device, anytime access to business applications. Migrating to a new infrastructure can greatly simplify integration with the growing number of tablets, smartphones, and laptops that users and clients increasingly rely on. Migrating to a new hybrid infrastructure with an on-premise server is an excellent opportunity to address the growing need for mobility in your industry and within your company, and address this growing business demand and the security implications that result from a forward-thinking strategy.

Migrating to newer platforms also reduced costs, allowing businesses to consolidate hardware that is no longer in use, virtualise, and take advantage of newer, more efficient systems to reduce the management costs that go along with managing low usage servers. Additionally, savings in OS, license, power, and cooling costs were realised.

As part of the overall assessment, businesses had to evaluate if any workloads would make sense to migrate from WS2003 to private, public or hybrid cloud environments. For example, some organisations opted to host applications that rely heavily on mobile or remote users, taking advantage of hosting partner bandwidth and moving that traffic off of the local network. Other workloads may be destined to stay on-premises for the long haul, such as those that store sensitive financial or health-related information protected by The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA).

Choosing the right migration strategy and future state is critical. Modern servers offer trusted industry standards, support for all the major hypervisors like Hyper-V, and performance designed to accommodate the IT infrastructure demands of today  and tomorrow. Plus, as business needs change, its simple to support growth in a hybrid environment by moving selected workloads (or new users) to the cloud. And its equally straightforward to scale on-premise when you can utilise tools that help growing businesses balance workloads amongst multiple servers to deliver higher availability and better performance.
I interviewed Jesper Andersen, President, and CEO of Infoblox, an industry leader in DDI - DNS, DHCP, and IP address management.

Andersen, a great Dane, has a masters degree in computer Science from Aalborg University, Denmark - and originally wanted to be a pilot. The interview is paraphrased to avoid overuse of he said.

Lets try to explain DDI and its key components.

DNS is domain name system  a decentralised naming system for computers connected to the Internet.

DHCP is Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - client/server protocol that automatically provides an Internet Protocol (IP) host with its IP address and other related configuration information such as the subnet mask and default gateway.

IPAM is a way to plan, track, and manage the Internet Protocol (IP) address space used in a network. IPAM integrates DNS and DHCP so that each is aware of changes in the other (for instance DNS knowing the IP address taken by a client via DHCP, and updating itself accordingly).

Ever since the internet was first created, cyber criminals have been looking for ways to exploit it for their own ends. Spam emails, viruses, malware, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have all been used to both cause disruption and generate illicit profits.

Significant progress has been made on protecting users from such activities; there is one area which is still very much a focus for enterprising cyber criminals: the Domain Name System (DNS).

While other forms of attack have been declining in recent years, DNS-related activities have continued to grow. Industry research has found DNS is now the second most common vector for internet exploits, behind HTTP. Many banks around the world, for example, have found themselves the target of such activities. Sometimes the attacks have been timed to coincide with efforts to transfer money out of accounts. While specific banks are unwilling to discuss particular details, its clear they are taking their DNS security very seriously. At the same time, DNS attacks will continue to evolve.

There are two key issues that every enterprise is concerned about  security and cloud  and these shine a spotlight on DDI.

DNS has become highest attack vector (along with HTTP  another application level attack vector). It started out with DDoS - how to hurt the business if I flooded your website then you may not be able to service your real customers. But now it is about malware like Cryptolocker using DNS to contact the command and control (C&C) server for further instructions. Or it may just want to join a botnet to start spamming.

DDOS attacks are not as bad as things like the cache poisoning of DNS servers, where threat actors take over a server and redirect users to a spoofed website. Customers will then leave login credentials and credit card details which will be stolen.

We can now block that malware via a DNS firewall  no instructions means limiting the harm it can do.

The bad guys get really smart  they know you will look at DNS  so they now use DNS tunnels (like a VPN so it is private), but you dont want to allow a tunnel on your network you dont know about. We now cover that.

There are too many security vendors that say they can do everything. Infoblox is a specialised tool and is very good at what it does. It also plays well with all vendors it  APTs, Threat Intelligence, SIEM, Network access controls, Next-Gen endpoint security. And it uses STIX/TAXII/REST and other third party protocols to help paint a complete security picture.

Another issue is that a lot of companies run fairly old DNS servers or software  cybercriminals are using DNS traffic to send stolen information by encoding it in DNS headers. It is very difficult to detect unless you deploy advanced analytics and machine learning that can identify those patterns.

We can do this because we have the control point in the network that allows IP traffic in and out. Traditionally we run this on premise, but it will run in the cloud if you want. There are more and more cloud and hybrid deployments that need DNS protection.

About a year ago we created a baseline DNS threat index - which measures the creation of malicious Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure. Infoblox researchers found that 92% of newly observed malicious domains in Q4, 2015 were hosted in either the United States or Germany. Simply this means the number of malicious domains is increasing from quarter to quarter and year to year.

Our findings may indicate were entering a new phase of sustained and simultaneous plant/harvest activity. As we see this escalation of efforts by cybercriminals, it is essential we go after the infrastructure that cyber criminals are using to host these domains. So, for the first time, we are using the index to highlight the countries with the most hosting locations for bad domains.

Exploit kits are a particularly alarming category of malware because they represent the automation of cybercrime. A small number of highly skilled hackers can create the kits, which are packages for delivering a malware payload, and then sell or rent these toolkits to ordinary criminals with little technical experience. This can vastly increase the ranks of malicious attackers capable of going after individuals, businesses, schools, and government agencies.

While Angler continues to lead DNS exploit kit activity, RIGan older kit that has been far back in the pack in usage during previous quarterssurged into second place. Infoblox analysis of RIG activity in 2015 shows that it began using domain shadowing techniques similar to those pioneered by Angler to defeat reputation-based blocking strategies. This indicates that as exploit kits are updated in coming years, there may be a reappearance of past threats in a new guise or location.

We work for larger enterprise and government  there are numerous companies looking after the SME market. But the cloud deployment model and buying threat intelligence as a service is always an option.

About Jesper Andersen

A seasoned networking and software industry executive with a track record of building large businesses, Andersen is responsible for the company's continuing growth and innovation. Before joining Infoblox in December 2014, he served in some roles at Cisco Systems, including senior vice president for network management.



After leading the network management group, Andersen was senior vice president and general manager of Ciscos service provider video business unit. Andersen helped transform the business from a focus on traditional set-top boxes and cable access to the new world of streaming online video. Under Andersens leadership, the company acquired NDS, a leading provider of video software solutions, in September 2012.



Before Cisco Systems, Andersen was senior vice president of application strategy at Oracle Corporation, a position he also held at PeopleSoft before its acquisition by Oracle. At Oracle, Andersen was responsible for the definition and strategy of the companys new Fusion applications, as well as the strategy and requirements across Oracles other application solutions, including Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Applications, JD Edwards, and Siebel Solutions. Under Andersens leadership, the company embarked on an application strategy that targeted individual industry verticals, leading to some acquisitions of vertical business solutions.



Before Oracle and PeopleSoft, Andersen held various engineering and executive positions at Pivotal Software and Computer Resources International. He also serves on the board of directors of Telx Corporation.
HFC (Hybrid Fibre Coaxial) is a network technology developed by the cable TV industry that allows two-way, high-speed broadband content - video, voice and data - to be delivered to the home using a combination of fibre and coaxial cable.



And, last year, the nbn said that rather than build another broadband network over the top of the existing HFC networks, it planned to progressively acquire HFC assets and upgrade the networks to deliver high speed broadband.



The deal announced on Monday morning by Telstra follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Letter of Intent (LoI) by Telstra and the nbn late last year.

Telstra has already undertaken some early works to support the build of the nbnTM network in the existing HFC footprint, including preparing nbn exchange locations and HFC planning and design work.Telstra CEO Andy Penn says the works are expected to continue until the end of the nbn build, to be completed by 2020, and include geographic areas within the Telstra HFC network in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide.Penn said he was pleased to have come to such an important agreement with nbn.We have a very strong relationship with nbn and I am pleased that we have reached an agreement and can support nbn in building out the nbnTM network in the existing Telstra HFC footprint.Telstra has a long and proud history in network construction and we believe we will bring great expertise to this important part of the nbnTM network. We are already mobilising our workforce to ensure we support nbn in their roll out schedule.We look forward to working with nbn on this significant program of work, helping to bring the nbnTM network to millions of homes and businesses."Under the agreement, all design, program management, construction management and scheduling activities will be undertaken by Telstra, with construction split into two areas. Field construction activities will largely be performed by nbns MIMA partners, while in-exchange construction activities and limited upstream in-field activities will be undertaken by Telstra.The Multi Technology Mix (MTM) network architecture will be deployed to deliver nbnTM broadband capability in the areas covered by the existing Telstra HFC footprint, expected to mainly involve the HFC access technology.In late 2015, Telstra was awarded two new contracts as one of the network service and assurance providers to nbn and the telco says this work has already commenced.Telstra was also engaged to work with nbn on the 1000-node trial including Fibre To The Node (FTTN) design and construction as well as further design work under a Planning and Design Services Agreement.

nbn CEO Bill Morrow said the nbn network is now available to two million homes and businesses, with close to one million already connected, and the deal on the HFC network "will extend the nbn network to millions more, bringing new opportunity in education, health and online services to more families".



Telstra has enormous experience in HFC design and construction, and the rollout will be greatly assisted by having them as a key partner in the delivery of this part of the network."



Morrow said the agreement is structured to accelerate deployment of the nbn network, and multi-technology Integrated Master Agreement (MIMA) partners will be deployed, with Telstra leveraging its knowledge of the existing network to manage and coordinate the construction activities on behalf of nbn.



According to Morrow, the agreement complements and streamlines the existing arrangements nbn has with Telstra, creating a "faster rollout schedule and access to all nbn retailers".
Facebook is expected to announce chatbots, among other things, at its annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco this week, in pursuit of its continuing goal of luring back younger users.

Chatbots are programs that largely use artificial intelligence to simulate conversations with humans; the technology will likely be included in the company's Messenger app. The goal is to change the way we communicate with businesses, and with each other, on the Internet.

"Bots are conversational so they are a natural extension of how we like to communicate and what we like to do," said Julie Ask, an analyst with Forrester. They're "like having an assistant. You can chat with the bot, ask the bot to do things for you, like order take-out or get a new lipstick."

Since F8 is a developer conference, Facebook will also likely show off API tools so enterprises and third-party developers can build chatbots and Live Chat plug-ins for business users. These announcements are not getting as much buzz as the chatbots at this point.

Think of chatbots as digital assistants that could help enterprises do away with 1-800 numbers, by taking customer questions, helping users find products and even handling problems.

"Bots will give consumers, who are more comfortable chatting with someone, the ability to buy products and services and get customer service," said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. "I personally don't like getting on the phone and would love for Messenger to be able to validate my identity and provide information I need. It would be a time saver."

Moorhead added that he expects chatbots first to work only in Messenger and then to be expanded to Facebook's search service.

"And I believe Facebook will also integrate chatbots in their ads so consumers can interact directly on Facebook versus moving off the site," he said.

Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group, said chatbots could be a big move for Facebook.

"Users will be able to communicate with a restaurant to see if they can get a reservation on short notice, or communicate with a mechanic to find out what a tune-up might cost, for example," he said. "This takes away a little bit of the friction that takes place in commerce. All sorts of simple questions will now be answered by chatbots, rather than humans, taking some of the load off of the people who answer the phones and have to answer the same question over and over again."

Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner Inc., expects the company -- the largest social network in the world -- to come out strong during F8 this year.

Bots, deep learning and deep linking all "signal that the app architecture and user interaction models are changing," said Blau. "The new model will allow for a more seamless transition between individual pieces of content... I would expect them to support and innovate on these trends as they court developers to stick with them as they chart a future of more sophisticated app interactions and journeys."
Professor Chris Beyrer presented Archbishop Desmond Tutu with a special gift after the dedication ceremony.

Chris Beyrer named the Inaugural Desmond M. Tutu Professor in Public Health and Human Rights

Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH 91, was installed to the inaugural Desmond M. Tutu Professorship in Public Health and Human Rights during an April 8 ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa.

Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu attended the Bloomberg School of Public Health event with his wife Leah and daughter Mpho Tutu von Furth, executive director of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. Dean Michael Klag, MD, MPH 87, accepted the endowed award on behalf of Johns Hopkins University.

As a professor in the Bloomberg Schools departments of Epidemiology, International Health, and Health, Behavior and Society, Beyrer has worked for more than two decades to conduct collaborative research and training programs in HIV/AIDS and other infectious disease epidemiology, prevention research and vaccine preparedness. In his fight to ensure that the fundamental rights to health and well-being for all persons around the world are maintained, Beyrer founded the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Bloomberg School in 2004. There, he and colleagues measure the impact of human rights violations with population-based methods, and minimize their consequences with innovative public health approaches.

Beyrer and Archbishop Tutu have collaborated since 2008 to address human rights and public health crises around the world, including the collapse of the economy and health care system in Zimbabwe, the persecution of political prisoners like Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma and the ongoing struggles of LGBT individuals throughout Africa and Asia.

Thank you for honoring our work by inaugurating a professorship in my name, Archbishop told ceremony attendees. Thank you for acknowledging the indelible links between human rights and public health [and] for recognizing the exceptionally capable and compassionate Chris Beyrer as the first bearer of this professorship. I am so very proud to be associated with him.

Beyrer described his naming as the inaugural Desmond Tutu Professor in Public Health and Human Rights one of the signal honors of his life and work. It feels like both a humbling responsibility and an invigorating charge, he said, as Archbishop Tutu stands for such unwavering commitment to human rights and social justicebut also as such an inspiring mentor.

The endowed professorship, Beyrer said, confers resources that allow him and his colleagues to uphold the Center for Public Health and Human Rightss focus on research, teaching and advocacy.

. . . We can do work where others will not go, he said, and in contexts where its very difficult to begin to engage.

Its my most sincere hope that the professorship will allow for us to expand vital teaching and mentoring areasthats the future for this workand how wonderful will it be for junior colleagues to say theyve been a Tutu scholar?

Archbishop Tutu recounted a story of overcoming tuberculosis more than 70 years ago. The loving care that I received made a deep impression on me, he said, and although I had fallen behind with my studies, I resolved to become a doctor.

He applied to medical school, and was accepted, but was unable to secure a bursary, so he initially pursued a career as a teacher instead. Later he went on to study theology and join the ranks of the clergy, rising to become the Archbishop of Cape Town.

The point of this story, he said, is that although I have been blessed to lead a wonderfully fulfilling life, to travel widely, meet fantastic people, there has always been a part of me that would have preferred to be a real medical doctor.

Given his passions for health care and human rights, he said the Bloomberg Schools establishment of this endowed professorship is especially meaningful: You are, as it were, helping an old man assuage a childhood itch.

Dean Klag said, Of all the gifts a University can receive, few make a more profound or lasting difference than the gift of an endowed professorship. We are proud that the Johns Hopkins University now boasts more than 400 named professorships, and this will be the 30th such professorship at the Bloomberg School.

The timing of this eventduring the Schools 100th anniversary yearwas particularly fitting, Dean Klag observed: I cannot think of a better way to celebrate our Centennial.

Nick Moran

Learn More About the Center for Public Health and Human Rights.
A new scientific study has been focusing on how a ten minute face-to-face conversation may actually help change the mind of an individual. Will this help them seem less prejudiced?

It is no secret that the LGBT community has been fighting off discrimination and prejudice in the United States. According to ABC, the study, which has been published in the journal Science, looked into the Miami area on what their views are regarding transgenderism after an ordinance was passed to protect transgender people from discrimination. Those conducting the study were sent to find out if they could find and counteract any backlash to the ordinance.

Those conducting the study, or canvassers, approached each Miami resident by listening, sharing and prodding them to open up about their own lives. The canvassers then explained that they could vote for a repeal of the nondiscrimination ordinance and then asked voters to explain their views on transgender people. These canvassers then attempted a new kind of persuasion to get the resident to reconsider transgender issues. They asked voters to talk about a time when they were judged negatively for being different.

The conversation opened up a window into people's experiences in relation to transgender issues. The study authors explained, "The intervention ended with another attempt to encourage active processing by asking voters to describe if and how the exercise changed their mind."

The whole conversation only took 10 minutes. After 3 months, lead author David Broockman reported that those voters who took part in the initial introduction stages of transgender issues were exhibiting positive feelings towards transgenders.

Broockman, an assistant professor at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, said the findings don't point to a "trick" at getting people to agree with you, but seem to show tapping into people's empathy can allow them to reconsider their position.

"It's not as easy as here's a script," Broockman told ABC News. "Similar to cognitive behavioral therapy, some of the ideas are if you ask the right questions and have [people] think through their own opinions and behaviors, that can help people lead them to change their own minds."

While more research is still needed to improve this kind of social science, it is clear that talking it out can help reduce prejudice in any environment. As a manager or supervisor, be sure to invest time in your employees' by allowing an open conversation.
Americans and Canadians need to be aware and be prepared. The European Union is considering that the citizens of these two countries be required to apply for visas if they want to go to Europe even if only for a short break.

This move is an apparent reaction to what these two North American countries have been requiring citizens of the EU. Officials of the EU say these two nations are still compelling their citizens to apply for a visa when they travel to the USA and Canada, so they might as well require Americans and Canadians to do the same thing too.

Currently, these two North American peoples only need a passport when they visit any nation in the EU. But visitors from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Poland and Romania need a visa when they visit the U.S.A., while Canada also requires visas for Bulgarians and Romanians.

"The objective here is to achieve full visa waiver reciprocity for citizens of all member states and this is a priority for the European Union," said Mina Andreeva, a European Commission spokesperson.

Andreeva also stated that EU regulations call for the Commission to recommend reciprocal visa requirements for countries that don't provide visa-free entry for EU citizens. But both the EU member states and the European Parliament have the power to refuse the proposal of the Commission.

"A political debate and decision is obviously needed on such an important issue. But there is a real risk that the EU would move towards visas for the two (Americans and Canadians)," stated an EU source.

However, whether such a move is practical is debatable considering that it could have serious repercussions on the EU's large and profitable tourist industry.

The U.S. mission to Brussels noted that any recommendation by the Commission to introduce this visa requirement could be overruled they the European Council or the Parliament which is tasked to harmonize the 28 EU leaders especially when foreign policy is concerned.
Knowing what companies are hiring reduces the difficulty of finding a job. Here are 10 Valley companies that have job positions waiting right now for workers.

1. Target

Target needs 166 workers at the moment to work in their Phoenix location. Most people spend a great chunk of their paycheck in this store, so you might as well get its company discount as an employee.

2. Bank of America

This big bank is still expanding and needs 162 workers in its Arizona operations. It is one of the largest banks in the country boasting of 57 million customers. Their website lists the open positions ranging from tellers to investment consultants.

3. U-Haul

This moving company is looking to hire 146 workers, with some on home-base arrangements. The company offers a 4-week paid training.

4. Aetna

This healthcare provider currently needs 99 workers in its Phoenix locations. Positions are listed on its website which range from customer service to physician recruiter.

5. Thirsty Lion Gastropub & Grill

This restaurant is opening its third Valley outlet in Gilbert. Kitchen and floor workers are invited for walk-in interviews from Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Be quick for this is only up to April 15. Interviews will be at SanTan Village Management office community room at 2212 E. Williams Field Road, Suite 235 on the second floor.

6. Safeguard Security

This security agency has full-time and part-time job openings. Gate guards will be stationed in Paradise Valley and in the Scottsdale/North Scottsdale.

7. Salt Tacos Y Tequila

This restaurant has job openings for full-time servers, bussers and kitchen staff. Walk-in interviews are scheduled from Monday through Thursday, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

8. Epic Thrift

This store is now hiring and applicants are invited for interviews on April 13 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Epic Thrift store in Tempe, and on April 14, the same hours on its location in Phoenix. Among the open positions are truck drivers, customer service and more.

9. The Harvard Group

This discount drug company is looking to hire full-time inside sales representatives in the Glendale area.

10. Wage Works

This company is centered on consumer-directed benefits. In line with its jobs hiring, it is conducting a customer service class which starts on April 25.
Kroger, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based company has recently announced its need to hire an additional 740 part-time workers to serve in its local outlets. This company is one of the world's largest merchandise retailers.

In this regard, Kroger is holding a job fair on Saturday, April 16 at all of its Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio outlets. The job fair will start from 9 a.m. and will finish up at 3 p.m.

There are about 400,000 workers employed by this company. These associates serve in 2,625 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Even for part-time workers, this company still offers competitive wages and benefits. Regular workers are assured of periodical pay increases and advancement opportunities.

The current job openings for part-time workers call for work schedules on evenings and weekend shifts. Workers that will be hired will be assigned in various departments including drug and general merchandise, nutrition and online shopping, bakery, apparel, floral, meat and seafood, floral, line cooks, cashiers, and Starbucks.

Interested job seekers are encouraged to apply on-line before attending the job fair. They can access the company's online application form at https://jobs.kroger.com.

In 2014, Kroger was able to achieve overall sales of $108.5 billion. It is ranked number 20 on the Fortune list and is continuously expanding its operations.

This retailer has also been recognized by Forbes as the most generous company in the United States due to its activities in feeding the hungry, supporting members of the armed forces and their families, assisting local schools and community organizations and supporting breast cancer awareness.

A part-time employment with Kroger could lead to a full-time position, which could bring a lot more benefits. The company invests in their associates and it offers more than a paycheck to its associates since it values every member of its team very highly.
This year Glassdoor has released the list of professions that receive the thickest paychecks. Doctors/physicians have topped the list of the highest paying jobs in the United States. The top five highest-paying jobs according to Glassdoor are:

1. Doctors/physicians ($180,000)

2. Lawyers ($144,500)

3. Research and Development Manager ($142,140)

4. Software Development Manager ($132,000)

5. Pharmacy Manager ($130,000)

Fortune has it that physicians bring home a median salary of $180 grand while lawyers follow a close second. But what makes these top 5 so special? The top three professions have one thing in common. These jobs require the highest level of skill and these jobs are protected and high in demand. According to Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, the Glassdoor chief economist, these jobs reinforce the fact that high salaries are tied with professions that are in-demand. It also considers higher education and skill sets.

Another common thread in the top 5 is that they're most likely managers. The skill and leadership required from a manager is essential for those companies managing teams. Working in a team, now, means it's working in a fast paced industry. Technology, finance and healthcare employees are difficult to automate which means companies are willing to invest in higher salaries.

What employees or students need to know is that companies are willing to raise the salary if the skill cannot be replaced by automation. Does that mean robots may not take over the world? A previous JobsNHire article noted that robots are slowly taking over jobs. Turns out, some hard and soft skills will never be replaced by robots.

Looking closely, healthcare and technology have also cemented its place in the top 5. "The urgency of many healthcare scenarios requires snap-decisions or creative solutions to existing medical conditions," Chamberlain told 24/7 Wall St.
Ohio Democratic legislators are calling for a probe on the hiring process of the state's Department of Transportation. It is suspected that there is cronyism in the hiring process of the agency after a Facebook post from a politician revealed that young Republicans will get preference for summer jobs at the department.

Cindy Oxender (R), a member of the Marietta City Council, advertised in her March 29 Facebook post regarding six summer job openings in the Ohio department for college and high school students. She wrote that Young Republicans who will apply will have a leg up.

"It's good money, good experience, and a very nice resume builder," Oxender wrote, and added between parentheses, "Preference is given to Republican youth on this!"

After several criticisms from news media came out, she deleted her Facebook post.

One person, Teresa Asselinh-Hayes, wrote: "It's illegal to give hiring preference based upon political affiliation in employment such as this. You have just opened the door to potential lawsuits."

As their response to the incident, Matt Brunning, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation said: "We hire the most qualified people for these jobs. It's not based on their voting records."

This incident brought unwelcome attention to the city and its Governor, John Kasich, a presidential hopeful.

David Pepper was quick to take advantage of the situation and said: "Apparently, the Kasich administration now applies a partisan test even for summer youth jobs. This is totally inappropriate and should be looked into by the Inspector General."

After deleting her post, Oxender apologized for her statement. But she also tried to shift the blame by saying that she was not the one who wrote the post, but just shared it with others.

"I made an error in judgment in sharing a post made by a colleague on my private Facebook page which was a summer job notice, and indicating there might be a political preference in the selection process," she explained.
Despite the huge success that Google has attained, it was not able to please anybody. To prove the latter, recent news and updates revealed of Google and its headquarters being emptied owing to the threats that were presumed to have come from its enemies.

Google's crisis led to the company urging its workforce to immediately evacuate the place. "A few buildings on Google's Mountain View, Calif., campus were evacuated late Friday afternoon after a threat was made against the Internet giant, as noted by the USA Today.

Even Mountain View police officers went to the place and revealed the gravity of the situation and also relayed the importance of not letting the threat slide. For them, "out of an abundance of caution," said Katie Nelson, public information officer for the Mountain View Police Department. In line with that, even though there were no reported incidents, the decision to ensure that safety and lives are preserved led to the full evacuation of the place.

More statements were given by Google spokesman Rob Shilkin and even shared in Twitter, "A few buildings evacuated out of an abundance of caution, now back to normal. All good!" All the same, despite the threats that Google has experienced, the company chose to remain tight-lipped on the issue and the probably enemies that the company might have. The company also declined to offer more details regarding the incident as well.

On a different note, Google has always transcended every challenge and every hurdle. It has become one of the most dominating forces in the World Wide Web. It has even ventured in the waters of mobile technology by launching its own operating system, which is the Android 6.0 Marshmallow, a creation that that transformed communication and technology in more ways than one, as noted by a separate report from Jobs & Hire.

Nevertheless, it stands to reason that Google is facing threats and tensions not only in the Internet but even in the real world as well. Given the threats that led Google to evacuate its headquarters, speculations are rising but since Google remains elusive on the reasons, those thoughts and notions might linger for a while.
Uber has always been under scrutiny much these days. All the more, the recent incident surrounding Uber and its operations in Mexico City is filled with tensions and apprehensions.

A former report from Fox News Latino showed, "The Uber ride-sharing app offered discounts and free rides to Mexico City clients on Friday after they were charged five times normal rates or more during the city's recent pollution alert."

As to the reason of the sudden raise, it was not fully revealed. Nevertheless, Uber released a statement indicating how everyone must have been filled with "surprise and frustration." All the more, Uber has affirmed that to minimize the tension, it would reimburse clients for any trip they were charged of and would offer two free rides worth up to 150 pesos ($8.50) apiece to customers charged 3.5 to 4.9 times the normal rate, a noted by the same post.

It stands out that the complaints came after the Uber application did not relay precise pricings and eventually showcased a different pricing scheme that led to the upheaval and complaints. Even the city mayor has noticed the surging complaints and also rendered his own rebuttal for the social problem.

According to Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera, " We reached an agreement to eliminate the dynamic pricing." While at the same time, Uber also added, "We are working together with the authorities to find creative solutions that will achieve a balance between demand, efficiency and price during these environmental crises. We want to be part of the solution and avoid this happening again."

It goes without saying that Mexico City is not the only region wherein Uber is struggling because a former report from Jobs & Hire has revealed of how Uber struggled in Mombasa.

It remains uncertain on how this rising crisis would end and on whether Uber will eventually keep its word and prevent the scrutiny and complaints from rising again.
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Over the weekend the gang turned up for some poker at the old Thiensville State Bank building. We had some exquisite brisket, memorable beans, and high stakes (matchsticks, of course). Eventually, after we exhausted less contentious topics, the conversation turned to politics.

The majority of the guys present were Cruz backers so I let them crow. On and on they went about how terrible Trump is. Periodically they would throw out, as an after thought, that Cruz was a constitutional scholar and "consistent conservative" -- despite his periodic flip-flops and occasional little dirty tricks. After they had basted me in their gloating sufficiently a guy from Cedarburg looked at me with mock concern and asked, "aren't you going to man up and admit Trump met his Waterloo here in Wisconsin?"

I took my cigar out of my mouth, gazed at the butt philosophically, then looked up and caught him in my steely gaze. "It was more like Chickamauga," I growled.

"How so?" a guy from Brookfield wanted to know. He is a bona fide Civil War buff.

"You Cruz boys had the advantage of home territory, the Trump guys made some tactical missteps, and you launched a devastating attack right through an internally generated hole in the Trump lines," I noted. "But the hard core of Trump support rallied, gained a few delegates, and retired in order from the field. Lessons were learned. Now Trump reinforcements are gathering for the next battle in New York, where Cruz will probably find the outcome far less encouraging."

"And in this alternative interpretation," laughed a guy from Mequon, "old Van isn't analagous to Marshal Ney, the "bravest of the brave" at Waterloo, but instead Pap Thomas, the Union general known to history as the "Rock of Chickamauga"."

"Sure as shootin' I am considerably less genteel than Bobby Lee," I laughed again, through a cloud of smoke.

Everybody got a laugh out of that one. But we will see if my Cruz friends are still laughing in a week or so, after their candidate takes his beating out East and Trump's path to a first ballot victory becomes more clear.

In time historians will probably write that Wisconsin was Trump's Chickamauga, not his Waterloo. But who knows? Maybe Voltaire was right and history is just a pack of tricks the living play on the dead.

Editor's Note: Purple Wisconsin is a collection of community bloggers with views from across the political spectrum. The Journal Sentinel hosts these blogs as a way to encourage thoughtful debate about the important issues facing Wisconsin and the Milwaukee region. The opinions voiced here are those of the individual bloggers alone; they are responsible for their posts. The Journal Sentinel does not edit or direct the bloggers in any fashion.
Sean Platz, an employee, at Foamation, the company that makes foam Packers products such as a cheesehead, places a finished product on a rack as part of the production process. Credit: Rick Wood

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The St. Francis firm that makes the popular cheesehead hats is planning a move to a much larger building in Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood.

Foamation Enterprises LLC, which now operates at a 5,000-square-foot building at 3775 S. Packard Ave., wants to relocate to a 25,000-square-foot building at 1120 S. Barclay St., said owner Ralph Bruno.

The new building will accommodate Foamation's growing operations, Bruno said Monday. That includes the well-known cheese-wedge hats, crafted from foam material, that populate much of Lambeau Field's stands on any given Sunday.

Foamation also makes other foam "cheese" items, such as cowboy hats, as well as custom-made foam promotional items for other businesses, Bruno said.

The business also has branched out into non-foam items with the Cheesehead brand logo and pattern, such as fleece blankets and beach towels.

The new building, along with providing more space for Foamation's operations, also will allow the company to operate a much larger retail storefront, Bruno said. He also might start doing company tours.

Cheesehead Factory LLC, owned by Bruno, plans to purchase and renovate the building.

Cheesehead Factory is seeking a $411,000 loan from Milwaukee Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit business lender, to help finance the $1.4 million project, according to the group. Southport Bank would be the primary lender.

With the larger location, Foamation plans to add eight full-time and eight part-time employees within two years. The company now has 13 full-time and two part-time employees.

MEDC's Loan and Finance Committee is to consider the loan at its Tuesday meeting.

Facebook: facebook.com/JSBusiness

Twitter: twitter.com/TomDaykin
These are the best dishes I've eaten in 2022 in and around Milwaukee
Antonio M. Smith (clockwise from top left), Lorenzo Beaton, Shaheem M. Smith and Shantrell J. Lyons. Credit: Milwaukee County sheriff's office

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A Milwaukee man will now face charges he killed two people, plotted to kill a third and was trafficking heroin  all in a single trial, following a judge's ruling Monday.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge J.D. Watts ruled that all the charges, though filed separately against Antonio Smith, are connected and should be joined in a single two-week trial, scheduled for July.

Smith, known as "Tone," suffered a second setback on Monday as his girlfriend, Shantrell Lyons, pleaded guilty in the murder plot and agreed to testify against Smith.

The decision and plea set the stage for a major trial featuring several hallmarks of Milwaukee's current crime surge  witness intimidation, heroin dealing and a seemingly impulsive act of violence, turned deadly with access to firearms. Those factors, among others, contributed to a historically deadly year in 2015 with 145 people killed.

Smith, 34, is charged with two homicides  killing Eddie Powe and then fatally shooting Breanna Eskridge, 17, eight days later. Prosecutors said Smith killed Eskridge because she witnessed him kill Powe. Eskridge was dating Powe, who was 35.

And then, from behind bars, prosecutors say Smith orchestrated a plot to kill another witness to the Powe murder, John Spivey. Investigators from the Sheriff's Office, district attorney's office and Milwaukee Police Department teamed up to interrupt that plot in November. Officials said the case is an example of a scourge of witness intimidation in Milwaukee.

Smith was charged in the plot, along with Lyons, Lorenzo Beaton and Shaheem M. Smith. Beaton pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison last month.

On Monday, Watts ruled that the Eskridge murder charge against Smith could be joined with the other counts against him in a single trial, a victory for the prosecution.

Watts called the short time between the Powe and Eskridge killings "very compelling," citing statute that allows charges to be joined if they are related to each other and happened around the same time.

"There is overwhelming case law and evidence in the complaints that allows" for the cases to be joined, Watts said.

Assistant District Attorney Karl Hayes said putting the cases together makes sense and helps identify Smith as the suspect in each. Smith's attorney, Tom Erickson, opposed joining the cases.

Smith, rolled into court strapped in a wheelchair and wearing stun belts, showed no expression during the hearing.

Separately on Monday, Lyons pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Spivey and to possessing 51 grams of heroin with the intent to sell. She faces a maximum of 70 years behind bars. She has agreed to help police in the case and testify against Smith. She will be sentenced after Smith's trial.

Antonio Smith and Lyons were dating at the time of the killings. Powe and Lyons were dating earlier, and court documents suggest that relationship contributed to Smith killing Powe. Smith then targeted Eskridge to eliminate her as a witness, according to documents. Later, prosecutors said, Smith orchestrated the planned killing of Spivey, in phone calls and video messages with Lyons.

Lyons, 21, was pregnant at the time. She delivered her baby while in custody earlier this year. She remains locked up as her family cares for the newborn. Lyons has no criminal history.

Her attorney, Ann Bowe, said her client was under Smith's control, whether it was moving heroin and guns or participating in the plot to kill the witness, Spivey.

"This was Antonio Smith's idea," Bowe said. "He directed her and she took those steps."
Police respond to the scene where the victim of a fatal shooting was found Monday. Credit: Rick Wood

By of the

Dozens of Milwaukee students raised their hands when asked if they had lost a friend or family member to violence.

Many raised them again when asked if they knew more than one person who had been killed.

And a staggering number raised their hands a third time when asked if they thought they might die young.

The group of several hundred students came together Monday morning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Union for the third annual Serve2Unite Peace Summit, where they talked about gun violence and violence prevention.

"We had six of our MPS students that were shot this weekend  six," Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools Darienne Driver said. "And it's still cold outside  we haven't even made it to summer yet."

She and other mentors who spoke to the crowd Monday urged young people to try to make a difference and live lives of "purpose" and peace.

Kwabena Antoine Nixon, the event's emcee, told the crowd to defy others' expectations of them.

"I am great. I am mighty. I am awesome. I am magnificent. My destiny is not to die on a street corner," he said as students repeated after him. "I will not die young."

Mayor Tom Barrett told the crowd he gets a notification every time a shooting occurs in the city. He also described arriving at a scene where a young man killed in a crash was left to die by those riding in a stolen car with him.

"We have too many young kids who think it's cool to steal a car," the mayor said. "It's so not cool to steal a car."

Barrett urged them to think about their futures, like college applications and jobs, and encouraged them to apply to the city's Earn and Learn jobs program.

"I'm here today to ask you to be leaders, because we desperately need more strong leadership from the young men and women in this community right now," Barrett said. "I need your leadership in a real way."

Quincy Strong, 18, a senior at Washington High School, said his only uncle was shot and killed in Chicago, and that last year a young teenager he knew was killed after watching Independence Day fireworks at the lakefront.

"I want to see a difference," Strong said. "We can change the world."

He acknowledged that he'd "made some bad choices," but said he's learned from his mistakes and urges his friends to do the same.

"Life is too short to be wasting time," he said.
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A former Anchor Bank executive was released from an 18-month prison term Monday after a federal appellate court overturned his jury conviction for wire fraud related to a 2009 property sale in Texas.

David Weimert, 64, of Madison was sentenced in June, but the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the evidence didn't support the charge.

"We rarely reverse a conviction for mail or wire fraud due to insufficient evidence," the judges said in a 2-1 opinion released late Friday.

In this case, however, "there is no evidence that Weimert misled anyone about the material facts or about promises of future action."

"Dave's successful negotiation generated badly needed cash for Anchor and removed a huge liability from its books  and he did it right in the teeth of the nation's real estate market collapse," said his attorney, Stephen Meyer. "All terms were fully disclosed to Anchor and the buyers, including Dave's role. It took me a long time just to figure out what Dave was even being charged with."

Weimert was a senior vice president at Anchor BanCorp and president of the bank's real estate subsidiary, Investment Directions Inc., when he negotiated a deal to sell IDI's interest in some commercial real estate in Texas. He got a price well above the bank's target.

To get the deal done on a tight deadline  Anchor owed money to its own lender during the 2000 recession  Weimert got himself a part of the deal.

As the appeals court majority put it:

At sentencing, U.S. District Judge James Peterson said Weimert had abused his position of trust and engaged in self-dealing to complete the deal, netting a hefty commission in the process.

But the 7th Circuit found that while many specific kinds of omissions or misstatements could amount to fraud  such as failing to disclose known environmental problems at a property  keeping certain things to yourself like a bottom line price, or the relative importance of other terms of the deal, do not.

"The better answer is that negotiating parties, and certainly the sophisticated businessmen in this case, do not expect complete candor about negotiating positions, as distinct from facts and promises of future behavior," Judge David Hamilton wrote for the majority, joined by Judge William Bauer.

"He led the successful buyer to believe the seller wanted him to have a piece of the deal. He led the seller to believe the buyer insisted he have a piece of the deal. All the actual terms of the deal, however, were fully disclosed and subject to negotiation," the majority found.

"Federal wire fraud is an expansive tool, but as best we can tell, no previous case at the appellate level has treated as criminal a person's lack of candor about the negotiating positions of parties to a business deal."

In dissent, Judge Joel Flaum wrote, "I do not believe that the scenario presented in this case can be viewed as an arms-length, three party transaction."

He noted the fact that other Investment Directions board members later testified they would not have waived Weimert's conflict of interest and agreed to pay his commission had they known the buyer had not actually insisted that Weimert get a stake in the property.
Yale University professor Tracey Meares, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn and Circuit Judge Dave Swanson participate Monday in a panel discussion on policing hosted by the Greater Milwaukee Committee. Credit: Michael Sears

By of the

Milwaukee County teens are still being sentenced to a troubled Northwoods youth prison at roughly the same rate as before allegations of assault, abuse and intimidation became public, a judge said Monday.

"We are still sending kids to Lincoln Hills, unfortunately, because it's our only option," Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Swanson said Monday. "That's our only juvenile facility in the state for corrections. The problem is now we're sending them knowing that the services are completely inadequate."

Federal officials have launched a massive investigation of possible civil rights violations and abuse allegations at Lincoln Hills School for Boys and its sister institution, Copper Lake School for Girls, which share a campus 30 miles north of Wausau. Wisconsin Department of Corrections officials have said they've instituted multiple changes at Lincoln Hills to safeguard juveniles after problems there became known.

Nevertheless, local political and judicial leaders have expressed urgent concern over the institutions; Milwaukee County Children's Court Presiding Judge Mary Triggiano last month at a community forum referred to them as: "A train wreck. A failure."

At the same time, those officials have acknowledged they do not have the resources to provide alternatives and have expressed fears that state lawmakers will simply send young offenders back home  washing their hands of the problem and kicking the problem, unfunded, down the road, in the words of Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.

Swanson, who presides over child welfare and criminal cases, made his remarks Monday during a panel discussion with Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn and Yale University law professor Tracey Meares at a Greater Milwaukee Committee meeting. The committee includes representatives from the business, academic, philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. Monday's meeting focused on the state of policing and safety in Milwaukee and beyond.

"We know sending kids up there, it's a recipe for failure," Swanson said. "We look at the options available locally and we just don't have enough. We really need residential programming here in the county."

For comparison, Racine County officials moved youth under their jurisdiction out of the state facility in 2012 after a botched state response to the beating and sexual assault of a youth at Lincoln Hills. At the time, Racine officials decried the handling of the incident to Gov. Scott Walker and top state corrections officials.

On Monday, Flynn sharply criticized state lawmakers and urged business leaders in the audience to push for change, acknowledging state lawmakers were not likely to listen to him or Mayor Tom Barrett.

"The state doesn't get to throw rocks at us and defund facilities for juvenile offenders and defund re-entry services and release people from prison without sufficient resources and underinvest in the district attorney's office," without consequences, Flynn said.

Meares, the law professor, said the divide between state and local officials in the criminal justice system is seen nationwide.

"Policing agencies are funded by cities all over the country and corrections are funded at the state level, and there's usually a political divide between the leadership of cities and the leadership of the state legislatures," she said.

During the conversation, Flynn also dropped eye-popping numbers related to the 53206 ZIP code.

The area, he said, is well-known for its high rate of incarceration, but less known for its staggering homicide victimization rate, which he placed at 250 per 100,000 people during a five-year period from 2008 to 2012. The rate for the entire city was about 14 per 100,000 people during the same period. The rate was calculated using the five-year total number of homicides, instead of averaging the annual rate.

The statistic appeared to shock Meares.

"If you've got a community where people are experiencing a homicide rate of 250 per 100,000  there are no words for that," she said. "No words."

Meares said in her 20-year career the highest homicide victimization rate she had seen was in a Chicago community that had a rate of 80 homicide victims per 100,000 people.

Homicide rates are usually calculated by year. Using that measure, the ZIP code 53206 had a homicide victimization rate of about 80 per 100,000 people in 2015, more than three times higher than last year's citywide rate of about 24 per 100,000 people.

However, there are places within that ZIP code, specifically the Amani neighborhood, that have seen overall crime declines in the past three years. Residents have formed associations like Amani United and Friends of Moody Park. COA's Goldin Center and the Dominican Center for Women serve as anchor institutions in the neighborhood, which is now home to a health clinic, early childhood education center, family resource center and a renovated park.

It's worth noting that the three-year overall crime drop  about 21%  happened only in Amani, not elsewhere in the ZIP code, said Tom Schneider, COA executive director, in an interview.

"It was not accident," he said. "When people start to feel a stake in their community, they start looking out for each other. They report crime instead of pulling the shades. You've got a neighborhood that has become empowered."
Todd Weiler, certifications and communications coordinator for the City of Milwaukee, checks a zombie property in 2014. Credit: Mike De Sisti

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In 2008, before the foreclosure crisis, residential property made up 63% of Milwaukee's tax base. Last year, that had dropped to 58%. What does this mean for our community? It means residential property values still have not completely recovered from the Great Recession. It means we have lost hundreds of homes to the wrecking ball. It means "zombie" properties are blighting our neighborhoods.

Nobody benefits from this trend. Not our homeowners, not our realtors, and I would be hard-pressed to find a commercial property owner who likes paying for an increasingly larger share of city services.

The foreclosure crisis threw our community into imbalance. Even though national forces caused the problem, our city government has aggressively taken on the challenge. Recovery has been a slow and steady process. Over time, we have invested heavily to implement initiatives such as the Strong Neighborhoods Program to address the multitude of abandoned and foreclosed properties. And we have pushed hard for the state and federal governments to adopt policies and funding initiatives that further our goals.

Unfortunately, decisions made at the state level in the recent past continue to undermine our efforts. The decision to use more than $25 million of Wisconsin's National Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement funds to fill a budget hole in 2012 still reverberates in our neighborhoods. The decision to gut a number of our property preservation ordinances in 2015 Wisconsin Act 176, the recently enacted landlord-tenant legislation, makes it more difficult for us to ensure that slumlords and other nuisance property owners comply with building safety standards. It also makes it more difficult for us to recover high city costs to monitor compliance, thereby passing on millions in costs to the rest of us.

Every time we take a step forward, an interest group such as the bankers or apartment owners pushes for something that benefits a small minority of their members and hurts our community at large. Most often, the interest group members who benefit the most are the worst actors and the very parties we should not be rewarding for bad behavior.

The latest in this series of actions is Assembly Bill 720. At the behest of the Wisconsin Banker's Association, the Legislature passed this bill in an overreaction to a court case that didn't sit well with an out-of-state financial institution.

If signed by the governor, it partially will overturn 2011 Wisconsin Act 136, effective bipartisan legislation that was mutually supported by the City of Milwaukee, the realtors and the bankers at the time. It has been helping us combat "zombie" properties for the last few years.

Assembly Bill 720 proposes to take us backward. Rather than requiring a financial institution pursuing a foreclosure to take abandoned property to sheriff's sale as soon as reasonable after a five-week redemption period, it says they maytake it after five weeks but gives them up to12 months. This is much too long.

But it gets worse. At the end of 12 months, the financial institution wouldn't even have to finish the foreclosure action that it started.It could simply walk away without ever taking the parcel to sheriff sale. With the original property owner long gone, the vacant property would sit and sit.

Ultimately, local government would be forced to foreclose on property taxes against the property, meaning local taxpayers will be forced to carry the costs for the abandoned property in its dilapidated condition.

There are currently 341 properties in Milwaukee that are both vacant and in foreclosure and are candidates for the tool provided under current law. If Assembly Bill 720 is signed, each of those 341 could result in this unacceptable scenario.

Another concerning provision in the legislation is the removal of the right of the private property owner to petition the court to deem the property abandoned. In the Bank of NY Mellon vs. Carson case (2015), the Wisconsin Supreme Court unanimously held that the lender, the owner and the local government each can move the court for a determination that the parcel in foreclosure is abandoned. This legislation takes that right away from the private property owner  providing an unfair advantage to the financial institution.

It's not too late. As the investments we've made in our downtown renaissance continue to unfold, we need to have quality housing stock to support these companies and their employees. Not more "zombie" properties. I've asked Gov. Scott Walker to veto Assembly Bill 720 and so have many others. Let's all hope he does the right thing.

Tom Barrett is the mayor of Milwaukee.
State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley last week defeated Appeals Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg in a race in which groups supporting Bradley greatly outspent those backing Kloppenburg. Credit: Michael McLoone for the Journal Sentinel

By of the

Madison In Tuesday's election, labor-backed candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg lost a race for the Supreme Court in which her side in the contest was badly outspent.

The Greater Wisconsin Committee, the liberal group backing Kloppenburg, spent less than half of what it did on her behalf in her unsuccessful 2011 bid for a court seat, with opponents spending several times more in this race. Greater Wisconsin put up its TV ads only eight days before the election won by Justice Rebecca Bradley, while an independent group started running ads on Bradley's behalf just over two months before the election.

Is that a sign that the left in Wisconsin is losing its financial resources? For years, Democrats have been predicting that Gov. Scott Walker's repeal of most collective bargaining for public sector workers would dry up some labor funding for liberal candidates.

The answer is maybe, maybe not, say players on both sides of the state's polarized political divide.

"I think it has had some impact, but there is, year in and year out, a commitment on the Republican side to funnel huge resources into Supreme Court races," said Rich Judge, executive director of Greater Wisconsin.

As Judge points out, Greater Wisconsin isn't exactly starving for funds in other races. For instance, the group spent heavily in an unsuccessful attempt to block Walker's 2014 re-election.

Chris Martin, spokesman for the conservative group Wisconsin Alliance for Reform, said there may be some other reason Kloppenburg didn't have more allies.

"It doesn't seem like the left is broke," Martin said. "Maybe there was fatigue with Kloppenburg's previous run in 2011 or unhappiness with her campaign message."

Historically, business lobbies such as Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce have played a major role in court races on the right, just as unions have on the left. That might be affected by provisions in Act 10, and more recently in the state's right-to-work law, that have allowed workers in Wisconsin to avoid paying any fees to the unions that represent them.

In a ruling that will be appealed, a Dane County judge on Friday struck down the right-to-work law, underlining the importance of the judicial system in refereeing the state's increasingly bitter political fights.

The difference in funding, however, was far from the only factor in Tuesday's Supreme Court election.

For instance, Bradley was identified by both sides as the more conservative candidate in a race where more Republican voters turned out to vote in the more competitive GOP presidential primary. Appointed by Gov. Scott Walker in October to fill an opening left by the death of Justice N. Patrick Crooks, Bradley was the incumbent in the race, usually an advantage in court races.

Within their campaigns, Bradley raised more money than Kloppenburg, but the totals were relatively close after factoring in loans Kloppenburg made to her campaign. Yet spending estimates from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign show that the Alliance for Reform spent about $2.7 million on behalf of Bradley compared with the more than $700,000 spent by Greater Wisconsin on behalf of Kloppenburg, or nearly four times as much.

The Alliance for Reform's spending this spring was similar to the estimated spending by conservative groups in 2007 on behalf of Justice Annette Ziegler in her successful run for the court, according to figures from the Democracy Campaign. More often than not, conservative groups have outspent Greater Wisconsin on competitive high court races over the past decade.

For its part, Greater Wisconsin's spending on Supreme Court races has been down in the years since Act 10 went into effect following Kloppenburg's 2011 loss to Justice David Prosser. But that's not the whole story.

Spending in governor's races by Greater Wisconsin has actually grown every year since 2006, hitting a new high of $6.4 million in Walker's 2014 win over Democratic challenger Mary Burke, the Democracy Campaign estimates.

That's one reason that longtime GOP strategist Mark Graul isn't convinced that Act 10 was the reason for lower spending on the left in the court race. Graul ran Ziegler's campaign for the court in 2007 and helped on conservative Justice Michael Gableman's race in 2008.

Political groups in Wisconsin have plenty of options for spending their money this year, with the presidential primaries much more active than usual and a U.S. Senate race between Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Russ Feingold that could help decide party control of the upper house of Congress. In 2018, Walker may choose not to run for re-election, which in turn could intensify the partisan fight for that office.

"I have a hard time believing they don't have the money," Graul said of liberal groups. "There was something about this court race that they didn't like."

Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, also said this election isn't as simple as groups on the left not having resources. Partly, his side now thinks that pouring money into such races may never have been the best answer, he said.

The union leader pointed to other races Tuesday such as Racine School Board seats where union-backed candidates did well by putting in time at the local level. That local organizing could eventually yield fruit in state races by providing candidates, voter lists and volunteers for those campaigns, he said.

"It's an arms race that we can never win," Neuenfeldt said of political spending. "So you have to come up with a model in which we can win."
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (left), a Republican, faces an election challenge from former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (right). Credit: Associated Press

By of the

To all those Wisconsinites who weathered the presidential primary and thought it was now safe to turn on their TVs without being hit with political ads: Not a chance.

The ad war has broken out in the race between Democratic challenger Russ Feingold and Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

And there are more ads to come in what is shaping up to be the most expensive Senate race in state history, with outside groups already pouring millions of dollars into the contest. The race likely will eclipse the $63.6 million spent on the 2012 race between Democrat Tammy Baldwin and former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. Baldwin won.

Months before voting begins the ads may not make an immediate impact on the outcome, but they tell a story and provide a road map of where the campaigns and their allies think the race is headed.

Feingold's campaign went up with its first ad Monday, a 60-second spot highlighting the former U.S. senator's trips around the state to listen to voters. Feingold, who famously listed his campaign promises on his garage door during his first Senate run in 1992, is now knocking on voters' doors in the new commercial that will air statewide.

The ad fits with Feingold's push to show himself as a regular guy, someone who listens to the voters where they live and work. Not a bad move for a former three-term U.S. senator who lost to Johnson in 2010.

"I've visited all 72 counties, meeting people, listening to what they have to say. And I'm still at it. So if you hear a knock on your door, it just might be me," Feingold says in the ad. He closes: "If you're going to represent people, you don't tell them what they think. You go on out and listen to them."

Of course, Feingold doesn't have the field alone. He has a record that his foes are more than willing to attack.

On Tuesday, Let America Work, a super PAC that supports Johnson, will launch an ad titled "Chaos" that attacks Feingold on national security. The ad seeks to link Feingold with the foreign policy of President Barack Obama. It also notes Feingold's opposition to the Patriot Act.

Over scenes of mayhem, an announcer states: "Chaos. Obama's foreign policy is weakness, but not to Russ Feingold." The kicker: "Russ Feingold. A Risk We Can't Afford Again."

Johnson name recognition

Another ad subtly reintroduces Johnson to the voters  around a third say they haven't heard enough about Johnson to form an opinion of him, according to the latest Marquette University Law School Poll.

The ad is from Americans for Prosperity, the group funded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. The spot praises Johnson for his work in the Senate.

"There's a Wisconsin we all believe in," the ad says. "A place of inspiration and aspiration. All we ask for is for the opportunity to succeed. And Senator Ron Johnson has the vision to get us there."

The early ads aren't a surprise, said Erika Franklin Fowler, a political-science professor who tracks advertising in federal elections at the Wesleyan Media Project.

"Both sides recognize that this will be a tight race, and because we tend to see poll numbers move whenever one candidate has an advantage on air, both sides are going out early," said Fowler, who received a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In an email, Fowler said that "growing evidence suggests that outside group attacks work better than candidate attacks." She explained that a candidate is shielded from a backlash. She added that "groups who are not well-known among the broader public (including Americans for Prosperity and Let America Work) tend to be viewed more favorably than candidates and parties whom the public sees as self-interested."

Ken Goldstein, a University of San Francisco political science professor, said the race is probably more competitive than people initially thought. Democrats have often done well in Wisconsin during presidential elections, which should benefit Feingold, he said.

"A lot of these Republican groups are going in early to see if they can keep it competitive and then they'll make a triage decision later," he said. "They're testing out whether they can move numbers."

Goldstein said it's unusual for the challenger to be better known than the incumbent. "That's why you're seeing something that is odd, a positive ad by an outside group," Goldstein said of the Americans for Prosperity spot.

"They're trying to introduce Ron Johnson to Wisconsinites who vote in presidential election years, rather than in midterm elections," he said.

"I imagine that most of the advertising in that race by the Democrats ends up being focused on Johnson," Goldstein said. "Feingold is still relatively well-known and well-defined in the state."
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By IMEMC |  

Fahwad Al-Khadoumi (nsnbc) : Lance Bartholomeusz, Director of UNRWA Operations in the West Bank condemned Israels latest round of large scale demolitions of homes in the Palestinian Bedouin refugee community Um al-Khair in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Israel uses parts of the Negev desert for testing weapons with nuclear material and to dispose of nuclear waste from its not-IAEA monitored Dimona nuclear facility.

Photo courtesy UNRWA

The director of the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for Palestines Israeli-occupied West Bank issued a press release, stressing that the UNRWA condemns the latest round of demolitions of Bedouins homes in Um al-Khair, in the South Hebron Hills.

As a result of Israeli authorities home demolitions, 31 Palestinian refugees including 16 children were made homeless, stated Bartholomeusz. He added that this community has endured several rounds of home demolitions and stressed that residents often faced harassment from residents of the nearby, illegal Karmel settlement. The UNRWA West Bank director voiced his indignation and the UNRWAs protest, saying:

I am appalled. Looking in the eyes of a young Bedouin boy in a red shirt standing amongst the crumpled ruins of his demolished home, how can anyone justify this?

Some 700 Palestinians have been affected by home demolitions since January 2016, a number that approaches the total of affected people in 2015. Bartholomeusz added that the UNRWA is gravely concerned about demolitions in violation of international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the destruction of private property and obliges Israel, as occupying power to administer the occupied territory for the welfare of the protected Palestinian population.

The UNRWA already urged the international community in 2014 to stand against the forced transfer of Palestinian Bedouins. In 2015 the Israeli parliament (Knesst) adopted a bill that threatens 40,000 Palestinian Bedouins from the Negev desert with being displaced. The targeting of Bedouin communities happens within two primary contexts.

For one, Israels continued, de facto annexation of Palestinian territories and settlement expansion. For the other, the use of Bedouin land, especially in the Negev, for military exercises and in part to place nuclear waste from Israels non-IAEA monitored nuclear facility in Dimona.

Reports from June 2015 strongly suggest that Israel tested bombs with nuclear material in the Negev desert. Within this context it is particularly noteworthy that the high cancer rates among Palestinian prisoners may be attributed to nuclear toxic waste which Israel buries near several prisons in the Negev desert.

F/AK  nsnbc 07.04.2016

Via IMEMC
April 11, 2016 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, British Columbia - Nevada Energy Metals Inc. "the Company" TSX-V:BFF (OTC: SSMLF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Bill Macdonald to the Nevada Energy Metals Advisory Board.

Mr. Macdonald is a founder and principal of Macdonald Tuskey, Corporate and Securities Lawyers, a boutique securities and corporate finance firm located in Vancouver, British Columbia established in April 2008. Prior thereto, from February 1998 to April 2008, Mr. Macdonald was a partner with Clark Wilson LLP and a member of the firm's Corporate Finance / Securities Practice Group. Since May 2008 Mr. Macdonald has been a director of Blackbird Energy Inc., an oil and gas exploration company listed on the Exchange and was also the President of Blackbird from May 2008 until February 2013. In addition, Mr. Macdonald currently serves as a director of Viscount Mining Corp., a position he has held since October 2011, a director of Patriot Petroleum Corp. since December 2015 and a director and founder of Black Lion Capital Corp. since its inception on January 20, 2015. Mr. Macdonald was also previously a director of First Americas Gold Corporation, formerly Pannonia Ventures Corp. and Benz Capital Corp. Mr. Macdonald has been a member of the Law Society of British Columbia since February 1998 and a member of the New York State Bar since February 2002.

Mr. Macdonald brings with him a wealth of securities and finance knowledge and will help advise Nevada Energy Metals on the best practices to move the Company forward.

About Nevada Energy Metals: http://nevadaenergymetals.com/

Nevada Energy Metals Inc. is a well funded Canadian based exploration company who's primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's main exploration focus is directed at lithium brine targets located in the mining friendly state of Nevada. Nevada Energy Metals has acquired, 100 claims (Teels Marsh West) covering 2000 acres (809 hectares) at Teels Marsh, Mineral County, Nevada, a highly prospective lithium exploration project, 100% owned without any royalties, located on the western part of a large evaporation lake where a phase one, 20 hole shallow auger exploration program is in progress. Recently, on March 23, 2016 the Company announced the addition of the San Emidio Desert lithium project in Washoe County, Nevada. Nevada Energy Metals' first lithium project, Alkali Lake, in Esmeralda county is a 60% earn in option agreement from Dajin Resources Corp. where near surface lithium has been confirmed.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Harry Barr Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 11, 2016) - Cordoba Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:CDB) ("Cordoba" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that drilling at the Alacran Project within the Company's San Matias Copper Gold Project in Colombia has confirmed a high-grade and shallow copper-gold discovery. The initial six drill holes in the preliminary 3,000-metre diamond drilling program all contain significant intercepts of copper and gold mineralization, often from near surface. Drilling also has demonstrated similar visual copper-sulphide mineralization in an additional four holes. Drilling to date at Alacran covers 270 metres of strike length at the northern end of a 1,300-metre defined mineralized trend. The mineralized trend remains open in all directions and at depth.

Alacran drilling highlights (refer to Table 1):

ASA051: 111 metres @ 1.01% copper and 0.38 g/t gold (1.32% CuEq)

ACD006A: 109 metres @ 0.95% copper and 0.35 g/t gold (1.24% CuEq)

ACD001: 108 metres @ 0.94% copper and 0.37 g/t gold (1.24% CuEq)

ACD005: 29 metres @ 2.72% copper and 1.16 g/t gold (3.66% CuEq)

ACD002: 80 metres @ 0.75% copper and 0.31 g/t gold (1.0% CuEq)

Mario Stifano, President and CEO of Cordoba, commented: "Our drilling at Alacran has confirmed a significant high-grade copper-gold discovery within what we believe is potentially a large and prolific copper-gold district. The geological importance of the Alacran discovery confirms our belief that the San Matias Copper-Gold Project hosts porphyry copper-gold mineralization and high-grade replacement (or skarn-hosted) copper-gold systems. In addition, preliminary results from the proprietary Typhoon deep Induced Polarization technology deployed by the Company's joint venture partner, High Power Exploration, indicate multiple large and potentially significant sulphide chargeability targets, indicating the potential to make a world-class discovery."

Cordoba and High Power Exploration ("HPX") are jointly planning the next phase of the exploration program at the San Matias Project. Current plans include an expansion of the Typhoon survey and follow-on drilling at Alacran and additional high priority targets defined by Typhon IP and detailed airborne magnetic surveys.

DETAILS

Alacran Copper-Gold System

The Alacran copper-gold system is located within the Company's San Matias Copper-Gold Project in the Department of Cordoba, Colombia. The Alacran system is located on a topographic high in gently rolling topography, optimal for potential open-pit mining. Access and infrastructure are good. Alacran is approximately two kilometres southwest of the Montiel porphyry copper-gold discovery, where recent drilling interested 101 metres of 1.0% copper and 0.65 g/t gold, and two kilometres northwest of the Costa Azul porphyry copper-gold discovery, where recent drilling interested 87 metres of 0.62% copper and 0.51 g/t gold (Fig. 1). The copper-gold mineralization at Alacran is associated with stratabound replacement of a marine volcano-sedimentary sequence in the core of a faulted antiformal fold structure. The deposit comprises moderately to steeply-dipping stratigraphy that is mineralized as a series of sub-parallel replacement-style or skarn zones and associated disseminations (Fig. 2). The copper-gold mineralization is composed of multiple overprinting hydrothermal events with the main ore phase comprised of chalcopyrite-pyrrhotite-pyrite that appears to overprint a large-scale early magnetite metasomatic event.

High temperature potassic feldspar-biotite-amphibole-albite alteration in the host geological sequence, indicates that the copper-gold mineralization is proximal to a source intrusion. At least two intrusive phases, locally occurring as sills, confirm an intrusive source for the mineralizing fluids. The overall size and complexity of the hydrothermal system indicates a significant mineralization event. Mineralization occurs within all members of the sedimentary and volcanic sequence, where it can be traced over a strike length of greater than 1,300 metres and local thickness of more than 90 metres true-width from the current drilling and surface sampling (Fig. 3).

Alacran Exploration

In addition to the ongoing diamond drilling program, extensive soil sampling and detailed geological mapping programs are underway to further define the extent of copper-gold mineralization at Alacran and to determine if additional mineralized zones exist. The hydrothermal alteration halo associated with the known mineralization is of kilometre-scale dimensions, indicating the potential for a substantial mineralized zone and the high probability of additional mineralized areas. A Typhoon IP and EM survey also has been completed over the northern parts of the Alacran project and data is currently being interpreted.

Typhoon

Typhoon is a proprietary deep IP technology, developed by HPX that generates high signal-to-noise ratios enabling accurate inversions to identify prospective targets. The recently completed Phase One Typhoon program at San Matias, which covered Montiel and the northern area of Alacran, will be expanded north and south of the currently surveyed areas as the trends and targets remain open. The final 3D inversion of the Typhoon geophysical survey is being completed and will be released in the coming weeks.

About San Matias Project

The newly discovered San Matias Copper-Gold Project comprises a 20,000-hectare land package on the inferred northern extension of the richly endowed Mid Cauca Belt in Colombia. The project contains several known areas of porphyry copper-gold mineralization, copper-gold skarn mineralization and vein-hosted, gold-copper mineralization. Porphyry mineralization at the San Matias Project incorporates high-grade zones of copper-gold mineralization hosted by diorite porphyries containing secondary biotite alteration and various orientations of sheeted and stockwork quartz-magnetite veins with chalcopyrite and bornite. The copper-gold skarn mineralization at Alacran is associated with stratabound replacement of a marine volcano-sedimentary sequence. District scale alteration and an abundance of mineralized showings at San Matias shows similarities to other world-class tier one copper-gold porphyry deposits.

Technical Information

The technical information has been reviewed, verified and compiled by Christian J. Grainger, PhD, a Qualified Person for the purpose of NI 43-101. Dr. Grainger is a geologist with over 15 years in the minerals mining, consulting, exploration and research industries. Dr. Grainger is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) and Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).

All samples have been prepared and assayed at ALS laboratory in Medellin, Colombia with gold assays being carried out as 50 gr Fire-Assays with AAS finish and all trace elements and base-metals being assayed using four Acid Digest with ICP-MS finish. The CuEq values have been calculated using a US$1,250 per ounce gold price and US$2.25 per pound copper price. The company utilizes an industry-standard QA/QC program. HQ and NQ diamond drill-core is sawn in half with one-half shipped to a sample preparation lab. The remainder of the core is stored in a secured storage facility for future assay verification. Blanks, duplicates and certified reference standards are inserted into the sample stream to monitor laboratory performance and a portion of the samples are periodically checked for assayed result quality.

Joint Venture Agreement

The San Matias Project is a joint venture between Cordoba and HPX, a private mineral exploration company founded by mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland. HPX has entered Phase One of the Joint Venture Agreement whereby HPX can earn a 25% interest in the San Matias Project by spending C$6 million. In Phase Two of the Agreement, HPX can earn a 51% interest in the San Matias Project by spending an additional C$10.5 million and can earn up to a 65% interest in the project by carrying it to feasibility.

About High Power Exploration

HPX is a privately owned, metals-focused exploration company deploying proprietary in-house geophysical technologies to rapidly evaluate buried geophysical targets. The HPX technology cluster comprises geological and geophysical systems for targeting, modelling, survey optimization, acquisition, processing and interpretation. HPX has a highly experienced board and management team led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Friedland and co-chaired by Ian Cockerill, a former Chief Executive Officer of Gold Fields Ltd.

Table 1: Initial diamond drillhole results at the Alacran Project*
JURIST Guest Columnist Dwight Newman of the University of Saskatchewan discusses what is happening with recent leave decisions related to Indigenous rights and Canadian energy regulation.

The Supreme Court of Canadas decision to grant leave to appeal in the Clyde River case means that it will hear an appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal decision in the case on November 30, 2016.

The case is about allegedly insufficient consultation with indigenous residents in the context of the National Energy Boards approval of seismic testing for energy resources off the Arctic shores of Clyde River, Nunavut. At a more fundamental level, the case will see the Supreme Court of Canada revisit what role administrative boards and tribunals can play in the context of Canadian governments legal duties to consult indigenous communities. As this comment will show, this has become a particularly heated topic; it is part of the atypical circumstances to the courts granting of leave to appeal in this case, and the decision in this case may yet have significant effects on many resource-sector cases.

The Supreme Court of Canada developed the modern form of this legal duty to consult in a series of cases starting with the 2004 Haida Nation decision. Because Canada constitutionally entrenched Aboriginal and treaty rights during its major constitutional amendments in 1982, Canadas courts are engaged in an ongoing process of defining those rights and the related duties on government.

In these consultation cases, the duty to consult is a proactive duty on governments (federal or provincial) to consult with indigenous communities whose Aboriginal rights or treaty rights might be adversely affected by a government decision prior to making that decision, even where there is ongoing uncertainty on the right. More complex parts to this case law say that the scope of what is owed under the duty varies in different circumstances and attempt to set out how. The duty itself has generated some types of uncertainty, but that has had some constructive effects, such as in often encouraging the negotiation of impact-benefit agreements between industry and indigenous communities (for discussion, see my May 2014 report for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute).

In 2010 the court considered an issue that many saw as not clearly resolved in the jurisprudence to that point. In the Rio Tinto case, which drew dozens of intervening parties to get at the various polycentric implications of the decision, the court sought to set out the rules on the role of administrative boards and tribunals in relation to the duty to consult. The duty is one owed by governments. The court in Rio Tinto effectively said that governments would define the role of administrative boards and tribunals in their statutory mandates. Some administrative boards or tribunals may carry out consultation, some may review it, and some may have nothing to do with consultation. Even in the latter case, though, the duty to consult does not disappear. The point of Rio Tinto is simply that governments themselves organize how they are going to deal with the duty to consult, and they choose whether they do so through a particular board or tribunal or in some other way.

The argument for leave to appeal in the Clyde River case was that the guidance provided by the earlier Supreme Court of Canada cases has still ended up in a cross-country patchwork in the regulatory context. In the context of the National Energy Board in particular, the applicants claimed that the ongoing application of a 2009 Federal Court of Appeal precedent from before the 2010 Rio Tinto decision, the Standing Buffalo case, results in too little analysis by the National Energy Board of consultation and should be revisited in light of the 2010 Rio Tinto decision. The federal Attorney General and other respondents argued in reply that the law is clear.

Timing, though, seemed to offer a fateful turn. Three days after the initial leave application document in Clyde River was filed, a differently constituted panel of the Federal Court of Appeal issued a split decision about consultation by the National Energy Board (though, notably, in relation to its operations under a significantly different section of its constituting Act). This decision, in Chippewas of the Thames, concerned a pipeline application by Enbridge, which sought to reverse the flow of Line 9 so as to bring Western Canadian oil to Quebec refineries. Around a month later, only one of the three respondent parties in Clyde River thought to mention the Chippewas of the Thames decision in the course of their written argument against the court granting leave to appeal, but the applicant went on to hammer home to the court the idea that the cases were connected and actually ultimately asked the court to hear them together.

The argument over leave to appeal in the Chippewas of the Thames decision itself saw a further fateful effect of timing. In the Clyde River case, the federal Attorney General filed a government reply opposing the granting of leave, with the filing of this argument taking place before Canadas October 2015 election. After the election, the new Liberal government has announced its intention to seek a different, nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous communities, and it indicated that it would take a different approach in relation to litigation. When the time came for arguments to be filed in the Chippewas of the Thames case, the federal Attorney General indicated that Canada would take no position on the leave application. This choice stands out as an unusual decision, in the context of the traditional practice of the Attorney General of defending decisions of major administrative boards from attacks and of trying to avoid seeing major legal issues revisited.

There were other unusual aspects to Clyde River as well, as seen in some of the materials filed on argument. The applicant in the Chippewas of the Thames application for leave to appeal appended to the application a lengthy affidavit from the Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) commenting on why the court should grant leave and introducing a significant political dimension to the case. Although the respondent company, Enbridge, briefly commented on this in its reply, the absence of any Attorney General objection to this use of an affidavit stands out. Moreover, the applicants reply document introduced for the first time an academic study of the National Energy Boards engagement with the duty to consult, with no other party having a chance to reply to that even when the studys conclusions arguably do not align well with what was asserted from it by the applicant.

It will be interesting to see who says what about it when matters reach the Supreme Court of Canada at the end of November. The court ended up granting leave in Clyde River and Chippewas of the Thames, to be heard together. Without some fateful timing and some unusual aspects in the leave process, there might or might not have been such a result.

Now, though, the Supreme Court of Canada has significantly opened a set of questions once again on the interaction of the duty to consult with the administrative regulatory process. Clyde River will not be a decision just about seismic testing near one hamlet in Nunavut, significant though that might itself be. Clyde River and Chippewas of the Thames will together see the court pronounce, at least, on the National Energy Board and consultationand quite possibly in a way bearing on other regulatory contexts as well. With the Federal Court of Appeal having heard consultation-related challenges to the Northern Gateway project in October 2015, with its decision still under reserve, the Supreme Court of Canada will soon be pronouncing on issues that could bear on that case, adding an additional note of complexity. And in an era with many issues related to indigenous rights and regulatory processes, the effects could extend still wider.

Dwight Newman is Professor of Law & Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Rights in Constitutional and International Law at the University of Saskatchewan and is a 2015-16 Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton. His scholarship on the duty to consult has been widely cited, including at all levels of Canadian courts. Twitter: @DwightNewmanLaw.

Suggested citation: Dwight Newman, Indigenous Rights, Canadas National Energy Board, and the Supreme Court of Canada, JURIST  Academic Commentary, Apr. 11, 2016, http://jurist.org/forum/2016/04/Dwight-Newman-indigenous-rights.php.

This article was prepared for publication by Dave Rodkey, an Assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary service. Please direct any questions or comments to him at commentary@jurist.org
JURIST Guest Columnist Gregory S. Gordon of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law discusses the ICTYs acquittal of Vojislav Seselj and the serious set-back it could represent for the development of international criminal law 

On March 31, 2016, in a resounding victory for the culture of impunity, two Trial Chamber judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), over the strong dissent of a third, acquitted [PDF] ultra-nationalist Serb Vojislav Seselj of all charges against him in a case that had dragged on for nearly nine years. Already the poster child for judicial procedural mismanagement [see my op-ed in these pages regarding delays in the case and Seseljs pre-trial release], Prosecutor v. Seselj now stands out as a substantive law disaster too. This poorly reasoned and unsubstantiated decision not only adulterates much of the ICTYs foundational work over the past two decades  it is in many ways entirely at odds with the international criminal justice enterprise since Nuremberg.

A prominent ultranationalist Serb during the early 1990s break-up of the former Yugoslavia, Seselj founded the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and recruited disaffected co-ethnic youths, criminals and outcasts to serve in his militias, including the Chetniks and the White Eagles (collectively known as the Seselievicj or Seselis men). Seselj helped organize and train these hooligans to enter mixed-ethnicity enclaves in Croatia, Bosnia and parts of Serbia, so as to cleanse them of non-Serbs. In particular, he indoctrinated his charges and denigrated his victims, both in Belgrade and on the ground where the ethnic cleansing took place, in speeches that were preludes and accompaniments to commission of crimes against humanity and war crimes in these localities.

In connection with this activity, the ICTY charged Seselj with individual (via direct commission, instigation and aiding and abetting) and joint criminal enterprise (JCE) liability for commission of war crimes (including torture and forcible transfer) and crimes against humanity (including murder and persecution). The JCEs purpose, established in numerous other cases, including Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadzic [PDF] most recently, was to engage in criminal conduct to drive non-Serbs out of a giant swath of the former Yugoslavia to create a Greater Serbia.

The opening substantive paragraphs of the decision demonstrate immediately that the two majority judges take an unreasonably dim view of the prosecutions theory and approach to the evidence, well-established in previous jurisprudence, in contrast with the oft-rejected account the accused proffered. Inexplicably, the judges seem to validate Seseljs stance that the Serbs . . . were victims of aggression perpetrated by the Croats and Muslims pursuant to an unconstitutional secession that triggered an armed conflict wherein the Serbs were both defending both themselves and the constitutional integrity of the former Yugoslavia. For the majority, Seselj thus offered a different context for his speeches which, he contends, galvanized the soldiers fighting on his side and expressed his own political vision . . . which the Prosecutor incorrectly characterizes as acts of persecution and incitement to hate and forcible transfer. This interpretation foreshadows their disastrous conclusions regarding crimes against humanity.

The judicial reasoning then gets even worse. Three paragraphs later, Jean-Claude Antonetti and Mandiaye Niang, the two majority judges, refer to a certain vagueness in the Prosecutors approach. And in the following paragraphs, they complain that the Prosecutor adduces the same facts in support of both the JCE and individual liability, noting that the Prosecutor uses a circular approach, where nearly every crime is characterized in different ways and every mode of criminal participation seems absorbed by or superimposed upon the others. Unfortunately, this is just a convoluted way of complaining that the Prosecutor has charged in the alternative  a sensible and commonly used strategy. This expression of disapproval, even if not explicitly affecting the decision on the merits, is, at the very least, a disturbing augur of even worse to come.

And it does come. Flouting well-settled ICTY precedent, Antonetti and Niang then find that extremist Serbs did not carry out a widespread or systematic attack against non-Serb civilians. Instead, they supposedly operated in an ordinary armed conflict milieu, where civilians from all ethnic groups happened to participate in street fighting over contested territory, but no criminal actions were directed toward civilians. In a remarkable twist, the Chamber finds that, rather than engaging in ethnic cleansing, the Serb militias provided safe convoy for civilians fleeing combat zones to seek refuge in localities where they could find members of the same ethnic or religious group . . . the buses chartered in this context were not for purposes of forced population transfers, but rather for humanitarian assistance for non-combatants . . . Absurdly, the two judges therefore conclude that the armed Serb extremists were essentially operating a form of gratuitous Greyhound bus service for non-Serb residents of the areas they attacked! So their conduct could not have been part of a widespread or systematic attack against those civilians.

Absent such an attack, a required pre-condition of crimes against humanity (CAH), all CAH charges had to fail. Still, the Chamber reviews the speeches that were the object of the CAH-persecution charges. And in an otherwise lamentable document, this segment of the opinion is probably the nadir. The majority simply ignores the existing authority and creates a new, unjustified and unsupported rule out of thin air! The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which has adjudicated, and issued more jurisprudence in relation to mass atrocity-context hate speech than any other judicial organ, has held that the gravamen of hate speech as persecution is the deprivation of fundamental human rights. In essence, hate speech denigrating victims in the context of crimes against humanity effectuates such a deprivation, regardless of whether the words explicitly urge violence. Granted, in contrast, the ICTY disagreed in Prosecutor v. Kordic (2001) [PDF], indicating that the words must call for action against the victims, regardless of whether that action is actually carried out.

Unfortunately, the majority opinion does not acknowledge this split in approaches or even reference the relevant ICTR/ICTY precedents. The decision does recognize in paragraph 335 that in certain speeches Seselj called for expulsion of Croats from their homes and forcible transfers. Per Kordic, assuming the other CAH preconditions were met, this would have been a sufficient basis for a persecution count (and the ICTR would demand even less  mere denigrating words as part of a widespread or systematic attack would be enough). Nonetheless, the Seselj Trial Chamber denies any persecution liability based on these speeches because it finds no evidence the speeches actually caused any forcible displacement! It is no surprise that the majority fails to cite any authority in support of this  causation has never explicitly been held to be an element of hate speech as CAH-persecution.

Nevertheless, it would have been helpful to at least acknowledge the ICTR line of authority because, as the dissent notes, Seselj denigrated and dehumanized the Croats comparing them to primates and vampires' and calling the Bosnian Muslims balija or pogani which he himself translated as excrements. In dissent, Judge Flavia Lattanzi also correctly points out that, the majoritys opinion to the contrary notwithstanding, such speeches could have satisfied the actus reus requirements for aiding and abetting and the JCE.

The rest of Antonetti and Niangs decision is similarly horrible. War crimes liability can be dismissed, according to the majority, because the aim of sending armed forces to the areas in dispute was to establish a Greater Serbia  that was political, the judges note, not criminal. And Seseljs recruited militia were sent to fight in support of this supposedly legitimate war aim. Unfortunately, this analysis confuses jus ad bellum (the law regarding resort to force) with jus in bello (the law regulating conduct during armed conflict). Even if the former were complied with (and, contrary to the majority assertion, there is no evidence that is true), the latter can still be violated  and the record in Seselj of murder, torture and forcible displacement of non-Serb civilians, among other acts, proves it was.

Nevertheless, the majority seems to say, even if war crimes could be proved, Seselj could not be guilty of them because he was not in the direct chain of command of the Serb forces carrying out the ethnic cleansing operations. This is also misguided analysis  Seselj need not have been in the direct chain of command to be liable pursuant to proof of instigation, aiding and abetting, or JCE. As the dissent notes, at the very least, complicity was established by ample evidence of Seseljs militia recruitment, which Judge Lattanzi states he controlled with an iron fist. He then indoctrinated his recruits with violent speeches and selected the localities to which they would be sent. Once there, his militia participated in ethnic cleansing operations directed by Serb forces, often with Seselj present to encourage the militia and lend them moral support.

Judge Lattanzi also powerfully observes in dissent that the majority pays no heed to Seseljs obstructive and threatening behavior during the proceedings. The Trial Chambers majority opinion never even alludes to it  even indirectly. Nor does it take into account Seseljs conduct since his absurd pre-trial release on health grounds in 2014 (he was supposedly dying of cancer  see my op-ed here explaining how this decision was completely botched). Once released, Seselj launched a steady stream of hateful Jeremiads against other ethnic groups and pugnaciously vowed never to return to the Tribunal, regardless of the cases outcome. Judges are permitted to consider post-charge conduct in adjudicating a defendants culpability. Seseljs conduct during and after the close of the proceedings in his case should have been factored in as evidence of a guilty mind. Unfortunately, consistent with so many other holes in this ghastly decision, there is no meaningful consideration of the defendants mens rea.

The majority opinion in Seselj is so bad and so off-base that it seems to be issued from an alternate universe, a universe where might makes right is a validly enshrined principle and international criminal law is viewed as an obscene affront to the prerogatives of sovereignty. Certainly, it would not be a universe where the Nuremberg Principles hold sway or two decades of ad hoc tribunal jurisprudence even exists. The Economist has noted that the verdict will encourage nationalist Serbs to argue that their side did nothing wrong in the war. And Judge Latazzi powerfully states in closing her dissent:

On reading the majoritys Judgement, I felt I was thrown back in time to a period in human history, centuries ago, when one saidand it was the Romans who used to say this to justify their bloody conquests and murders of their political opponents in civil wars: silent enim leges inter arma. [Laws are silent in times of war]

For the sake of the aggrieved citizens of the territories of the former Yugoslavia, and for the very health, if not survival, of the international criminal law project, we can only hope the ICTY Appeals Chamber looks favorably on the Prosecutions inevitable appeal.

Professor Gregory S. Gordon is Associate Dean (Development and External Affairs) and Director of the PhD-MPhil Programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law. He worked with the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where he served as Legal Officer and Deputy Team Leader for the landmark media cases, the first international post-Nuremberg prosecutions of radio and print media executives for incitement to genocide. His book Atrocity Speech Law: From Foundation to Fragmentation to Fruition will be published by Oxford University Press in 2017.

Suggested citation: Gregory S. Gordon, Vojislav Seseljs Acquittal at the ICTY: Law in an Alternate Universe, JURIST  Academic Commentary, April 11, 2016, http://jurist.org/forum/2016/04/gregory-gordon-seselj-acquittal.php.
JURIST Guest Columnist Neil Sammonds, a Syria Researcher at Amnesty International, discusses the upcoming negotiations and possible solutions regarding the violence in Syria

The negotiations set to recommence in Geneva on April 11, 2016 and the recent reduction of hostilities in Syria may represent important steps towards a peaceful solution to more than five years of turmoil. Few would not welcome the guns falling silent once and for all and for an end to the suffering of civilians.

With war crimes, crimes against humanity and other abuses being committed with impunity in Syria it is essential that justice, truth and reparation form a key part of any agreement. Those who ordered, carried out or allowed such crimes to happen must be brought to justice. Yet this crucial pillar is not on the agenda in Geneva and risks being sacrificed in the interests of political expediency.

The absence of a tribunal in Syria capable of tackling the justice deficit is patently clear. The judicial system in Syria is mostly subservient to the political authorities and the security and intelligence agencies. Over the last five years, tens of thousands of civilians have been detained without trial, often forcibly disappeared. Thousands have died in custody.

Failure to Address Impunity

The gravity and scale of abuse and impunity in Syria became evident within the first few months of the crisis. Yet the UN Security Council has abjectly failed to refer the situation in Syria for investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite repeated calls by international organizations, at least 65 states and the UNs own Secretary General. An ICC investigation would have sent a powerful warning to commanders ordering war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Security Council could also have established an ad hoc international criminal tribunal, as it did with the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia; at the moment this remains a remote possibility. Another option would be to establish an internationalised criminal court for Syria, as occurred for Sierra Leone and Cambodia. It is hard to imagine that such a court could be established and be effective without the consent of the Syrian governmentwhich is currently inconceivable. Alternatively, a neighbouring country might consent to a tribunal being set up on its own territory, but this too remains an elusive prospect particularly as many of Syrias neighbours have themselves been directly involved in the conflict.

These obstacles mean that the only realistic avenue to address impunity at this time is for national authorities of other countries to exercise universal or other extraterritorial jurisdiction over crimes under international lawincluding crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The flow of people out of Syria presents fresh opportunities to gather evidence of abuses from victims and witnesses and to investigate and prosecute suspected perpetrators. These include people seeking refuge or participating in business or negotiations. Amnesty International firmly holds that anyone who has sought refuge from the conflict in Syria should be granted sanctuary.

Countries have both the right and the obligation to carry out investigations into allegations that individuals under their jurisdiction may have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity or other serious human rights abuses. In the event of such suspects having diplomatic or other privileged status, checks should be carried out into whether such status may grant immunity and under what, if any, circumstances that status may be removed and by whom. Civil society organizations and others should be vigilant and well-informed as to which legal organizations and individuals may be best able to advise and potentially file criminal complaints.

Opportunities for international justice may come at short notice and require preparedness to act promptly and decisively.

First Steps to Confront Atrocities

At least 166 countries are able to exercise universal jurisdiction over at least one crime under international lawusually war crimesregardless of the nationality of the suspect or of the victim. In recent months countries including Germany, Sweden and France, have opened such investigations into suspected international crimes in Syria. In January 2016 there were reports that a Syrian man was arrested in Germany on suspicion of war crimes relating to the kidnapping in Syria of a UN observer. In Sweden, a Syrian asylum-seeker appeared in court accused of war crimes committed in Syria. In France, a Syrian asylum-seeker is being investigated for his alleged involvement in torture and killing of government opponents. Just last month a Syrian asylum-seeker in Sweden had criminal charges filed against him regarding his suspected involvement in the killing of captured government soldiers.

States whose nationals have travelled to Syria to fight should also investigate any allegations of crimes under international law and, where sufficient admissible evidence exists and laws provide, seek to prosecute them before their national courts.

States that have ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance have an express obligation to exercise jurisdiction over those crimes allegedly committed by their nationals abroad. Sweden and Germany are also actively investigating returnees from the conflict in Syria and in December 2015, Sweden sentenced two of its nationals to life imprisonment for their role in killings by the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS).

These moves by the international community are small but deeply significant steps in the right direction. The crimes they relate to and the individuals affected are greatly eclipsed, however, by the colossal scale of the violations and impunity in Syria.

There are some misgivings that suspected perpetrators on the government side, whose forces are responsible for the overwhelming majority of serious violations in Syria, are less likely to travel outside the country. But that may well change. And states with the capacity and commitment to undertake investigations and trials should make sure that they are prepared to act quickly.

As it stands, the enormity of the injustice and impunity reigning in Syria dictates that the road to justice, truth and reparation has to start somewhere and as such, any opportunities that arise must be seized and built upon.

Neil Sammonds is Amnesty Internationals Syria, Lebanon and Jordan Researcher. Since 2003 he has been the lead author of numerous reports and briefings on a wide range of issues including discrimination against Syrias Kurdish minority, torture and ill-treatment in Jordan, the missing in Lebanon, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the siege of Yarmouk, Russian airstrikes on civilian areas in Syria and refugees from Syria. Follow him on Twitter @neilsai

Suggested citation: Neil Sammonds, Baby Steps on the Long Road to Justice for Atrocities in Syria , JURIST  Hotline, April 11, 2016, http://jurist.org/hotline/2016/04/neil-sammonds-syria-justice.php

This article was prepared for publication by Alix Ware, an assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary. Please direct any questions or comments to her at commentary@jurist.org
[JURIST] A labor arbitration panel in China on Monday opened a hearing in the countrys first transgender job discrimination lawsuit, filed by a 28-year-old plaintiff known as Mr. C. C was born as a woman but has considered himself a man since college. C alleges he was fired [WP report] from a sales job at a health services firm just a few days into the position because the staff said he looked like a lesbian and threatened the companys reputation. The company alleges C was discharged for incompetence. The case is being heralded as Chinas first transgender job discrimination case [NYT report]. Current laws in China do not allow for the job discrimination based on sexual identity. C is outspoken about the hope that his case will lead to a new anti-job discrimination law in China, or, at a minimum, raise awareness for the rights of transgender individuals to employment. A ruling is expected in Cs case by the end of the month.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity has been a controversial issue in the US and internationally. In March, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a notice of appeal [JURIST report] of a judge s decision upholding an ordinance that protects members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from discrimination. A day earlier, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper stated that he will not defend [JURIST report] House Bill 2 [materials], which he considers to be discriminatory against the LGBT community. Also that week, North Carolina individuals and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against Governor Pat McCrory claiming the bill signed the prior week [JURIST reports] regarding transgender discrimination is unconstitutional and discriminatory. In February, the Supreme Court of India agreed to review its 2013 decision reinstating an 1861 law prohibiting sex between consenting adults of the same sex [JURIST report]. The law, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, was passed during the British colonial era and calls for a 10-year sentence for carnal intercourse against the order of nature with man, woman or animal.
[JURIST] Former US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] operative Sabrina de Sousa filed an appeal in Portugals Constitutional Court [official website] Monday in a last attempt to prevent her extradition to Italy to serve a six-year sentence for her involvement in a US extraordinary renditions program. De Sousa was arrested [JURIST report] in a Portuguese airport after she had been convicted in absentia by an Italian court for her part in the 2003 kidnapping and rendition of Egyptian terror suspect Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr. The Portugal Supreme Court [official website] rejected [AP report] her appeal of an extradition order, leaving De Sousa no choice but to argue that her extradition order is unconstitutional. A Constitutional Court official has stated that it is impossible to determine how long their decision will take.

Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized on the streets of Milan in 2003 by CIA agents with the help of Italian operatives, then allegedly transferred to Egypt and tortured by Egypts State Security Intelligence before being released [JURIST reports] in February 2007. In September 2009 the US Department of Justice [official website] filed a motion to dismiss [JURIST report] a lawsuit brought by De Sousa seeking diplomatic immunity against the Italian charges. De Sousa was one of many operatives whose sentences were increased [JURIST report] from five to seven years in 2010 by an Italian intermediate appellate court and upheld by the Italian Court of Cassation in 2012. In February the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] condemned [JURIST report] Italy for its role in the rendition program.
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] on Friday overturned [PDF] a district court decision that allowed Google to ignore a subpoena. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood [official website] began investigating Google in 2012 for failing to do enough to prevent crime. He issued a 79-page subpoena, but Google refused to produce the requested information, instead filing a lawsuit. The appeals judges said their ruling did not determine whether the subpoena was reasonable, nor whether Google was immune from suit under the federal Communications Decency Act[text]. The judges said that Hood would have to take Google to state court to force it to comply and that Google could then challenge the subpoena.

Legal proceedings concerning the relationship between Internet service providers (ISPs) and alleged copyright infringers have taken place worldwide. In April the Federal Court of Australia ordered [text] six ISPs to hand over [JURIST report] information about alleged illegal downloaders of the US film Dallas Buyers Club. In April 2014 the Senate of Brazil passed a bill [JURIST report] that puts limits on the metadata that can be collected from Internet users in the country. The law also requires ISPs to remove offensive materials following court orders and removes liability of ISPs for content published by their users. The Hague Court of Appeals in January 2014 overturned [JURIST report] a 2011 order of the District court that required two major Dutch ISPs to block customers from a list of addresses linked to The Pirate Bay. The court found [Guardian report] that the ban had been nearly impossible to enforce and that the ones against whom the ban was being enforced, the ISPs, were not themselves violating any copyrights. In June 2014 the High Court in Dublin, Ireland, ordered [JURIST report] several ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay and its proxy servers within 30 days; the plaintiffs included EMI, Sony, Warner Music and Universal.
[JURIST] A former Serb general suspected of war crimes against Albanian civilians has been detained, police and a Kosovo-based human rights group reported Friday. Behxhet Shala of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms and police spokesperson Baki Kelani have confirmed [AP report] that Milovan Bojovic was arrested on Thursday after attempting to illegally cross into Kosovo at the Merdare border point. The Council noted in a statement that Bojovic, who led Serbian army operations in the area of Llapi, is suspected of committing many crimes against civilians and killings. Shala told reporters that the crimes Bojovic is suspected of were against mainly unarmed Albanian civlians, and the killings ranged from individual ones to mass murders. During the 1999 war, in which Kosovo was fighting for its independence from Serbia, 499 Albanians were killed and 53 were still missing in that area.

In response to the widespread commission of war crimes during the conflict in Kosovo, EULEX was created in 2008 [JURIST report] to assist in the effort of bringing perpetrators to justice. In January EULEX sentenced [JURIST report] a Serb politician to nine years in prison for war crimes against ethnic Albanian civilians. In May 2015 EULEX issued verdicts [JURIST report] in the Drenica I and Drenica II cases and sentenced 11 Kosovo Albanian men to prison. The charges included the intentional perpetration of violence, cruel treatment, beating, torture, humiliating and degrading treatment of civilians and for some the killing of a Serbian police officer. A EULEX prosecutor in the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office (SPRK) filed an indictment [JURIST report] against 15 defendants in November 2014 in the EULEX Mitrovica Basic Court. The individuals were accused of war crimes against civilians that occurred at a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) detention center in Likovac in 1998.
Fully autonomous weapons, as opposed to the current remote-controlled drone weapons, must be internationally prohibited [press release], Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said in a report [text] released Monday. The report is part of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots [advocacy website] and is intended for government leaders that are meeting in Geneva this week for the third annual meeting on lethal autonomous weapons systems. The attendees represent many of the countries that have joined the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) [UN backgrounder]. The report, Killer Robots and the Concept of Meaningful Human Control, focuses on the inherent dangers of relinquishing lethal power to a robot that would select and engage targets on its own. The weapons do not exist yet, but the fear has led to the discussion of the need to keep human control present.

In the arms arena, the term meaningful human control signifies control over the selection and engagement of targets, that is, the critical functions of a weapon. This means when, where and how weapons are used; what or whom they are used against; and the effects of their use, according to Article 36, a UK nongovernmental organization. Humans should exercise control over individual attacks, not simply overall operations. Only by prohibiting the use of fully autonomous weapons can such control be guaranteed.

HRW urges meaningful human control because humans make these decisions while taking into account broad principles, past experiences, empathy and other emotions, and the value of life, all things that a machine could not truly comprehend. According to the group, human control also promotes compliance with international law and provides for accountability, whereas a robot acting autonomously leaves a gap where nobody could be blamed for unlawful acts. The desire for human control is also supported by precedent such as the Mine Ban Treaty, prohibiting victim-activated landmines, and the prohibition on chemical and biological weapons. HRW is asking for an international prohibition on the development, production and use of fully autonomous weapons.

The use of drones [JURIST backgrounder] is controversial in both the international arena and in domestic circles. In January the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] ruled [order, PDF] that the presidents National Security Council (NSC) [official website] is not subject [JURIST report] to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [official website]. In November the Second Circuit ruled that the US government may keep secret memoranda [JURIST report] related to the legal justification for the use of drones for targeted killings of those in other countries believed to be involved in terrorism. The case was the result of FOIA requests by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] and the New York Times [official website] for documents prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel of the US Department of Justice [official website] regarding the drone strikes. In June 2015 the families of two Yemeni men killed by US drone strikes filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against the government, claiming they were wrongfully killed. In December 2010 a judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the Obama administrations ability to conduct targeted killings [JURIST backgrounder], a challenge spurred because one subject of a targeted killing, al-Awlaki-Khan, was a dual US-Yemeni citizen.
[JURIST] A Taiwan-born US Navy officer has been charged [charge sheet] with espionage, attempted espionage and prostitution, media outlets reported Sunday. Investigators believe Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edward C. Lin has been passing secrets to the Chinese government. Lin was an intelligence specialist on board the Navys Lockheed Martin EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance when the alleged criminal conduct was committed. It is alleged that Lin successfully transmitted information to China about two or three times. Outside of transmitting secrets, the Navy also found evidence of actions of adultery connected to Lons solicitation of prostitutes.

Lins prosecution is the latest in a long line of prosecutions for the prevention of national security leaks. Last May former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] officer Jeffrey Sterling was sentenced to 42 months in prison after being convicted of telling New York Times journalist James Risen [NY Times profile] about classified plans to thwart Irans nuclear ambitions. In April of last year General David Petraeus [JURIST news archive] was sentenced [CNN report] to serve two years on probation and pay a $100,000 fine for leaking classified information to his biographer and lover Paula Broadwell. In August 2013 Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for disclosing[JURIST reports] classified information to the anti-secrecy organization Wikileaks. In June 2013 Edward Snowden, a former government employee and contractor, was charged[JURIST report] with disclosing to newspaper reporters information about US intelligence activities that he obtained during the course of his work, raising significant First Amendment concerns [JURIST op-ed] over the Espionage Act. In January of that year, John Kiriakou was sentenced [JURIST report] to two and a half years in prison for leaking an undercover officers name to the media and for exposing parts of the CIAs torture strategies.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has established a new constitutional court that will be inaugurated Monday with the swearing in of the last justice. The court, which will hold supremacy over all others, was quietly created by presidential decree, but those that oppose the creation point out that Abbas stacked the court in his favor by appointing justices [Reuters report] from his own political party. The Fatah Party [Britannica backgrounder] supported the presidents power to establish this court and stated that none of the partys officials possesses a hidden agenda. However, with the court being perceived as one-sided, as all members are either Fatah members or affiliated with Fata, it will inevitably contribute to the widening split between the Fatah and Hamas [Britannica backgrounder], the opposing political party.

The Palestinian government has been criticized in the last year for the misuse of public funds after documents were leaked, as well as for detaining West Bank students seemingly in an effort to silence political dissent [JURIST reports]. However, internal controversy is not the only issue at hand for Palestine. Many issues are spurred by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine [HRW backgrounder]. At the end of March the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website], Rupert Colville, said [statement] that his office was concerned about the apparent extra-judicial execution [JURIST report] of a Palestinian man in the West Bank. In January Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] businesses to cease operations in Israel settlements. In August UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] urged both sides of the conflict to reconcile and move towards peace [JURIST report] after an attack occurred in the West Bank village of Duma, where Jewish extremists allegedly set fire to a Palestinian home while the family slept. In April 2015 HRW alleged [HRW report] that Israeli settlement farmers in the occupied West Bank are using Palestinian child laborers in dangerous conditions in violation of international laws. Last January Germanys top human rights official urged Israel to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] probe into possible war crimes in Palestinian territories. After a prosecutor for the ICC announced the investigation [JURIST report], Israels government said that it would not work with the ICC and called for its funding to be cut.
[JURIST] Six human rights organizations, including Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy websites], are calling for the next UN Secretary-General to do everything he or she can to protect innocent civilians whose nations face armed conflict. The groups have outlined eight priorities [text, PDF] that they believe the next UN Secretary-General must address to protect human rights in nations such as Syria, Iraq and South Sudan. The priorities outlined include strengthening the UNs impact on human rights, championing the rights of marginalized people, preventing and ending mass atrocities, combating impunity, defending civil society, ensuring gender equality, delivering a new deal for refugees and migrants, and ending the death penalty. The successor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be nominated before the end of the year.

In March EU leaders agreed to a deal [JURIST report] with Turkey to stem migrant flows, particularly of Syrian refugees, to Europe in return for financial and political incentive to Ankara. Under the terms of the deal [WP report], all migrants crossing the Aegean into Greece would be sent back to Turkey, effectively turning the country into the regions migrant holding center. Meanwhile, Amnesty International last week a reported record number of executions [JURIST report] in 2015. On the gender equality front, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated in September that no country has achieved full equality [JURIST report] between men and women
[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein on Friday warned about child torture [press release] and urged a commitment to end it. At the 43rd session of the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture [text], Zeid stated, neither national security nor the fight against terrorism, the threat of armed conflict, or any public emergency can justify torturing anyone  and yet many States and non-State actors continue to torture peoplea horror that my staff must combat daily. Customary international law, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child [text] all prohibit torture in all circumstances, especially the torture of children. The rights chief pointed out how they are easy targets in disputes in the international community.

The international community has been monitoring the rights of the child since the Convention on the Rights of the Child [text] entered into force in 1990. In July 2012 a UN committee condemned [JURIST report] Israels treatment of child detainees. In November 2011 the UN asked [JURIST report] Syria to respond to inquiries regarding a report dealing with child torture. In November 2008 the US admitted [JURIST report] to the committee that it was detaining 12 juveniles in Guantanamo. This realization came only months after the committee asserted [JURIST report] that military tribunals were not the proper venue for juvenile detainees. In May of that year the Department of Defense confirmed a previous report [JURIST reports] that the US was detaining 2,500 juveniles in Afghanistan.
[JURIST] A UN human rights expert on Friday called on [press release] the international community to put an end to financial secrecy in wake of the recent release of thousands of confidential financial documents known as the Panama Papers [materials]. UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky [official profile] stated that secrecy revealed by documents such as the Panama Papers, which expose how various wealthy people and politicians systematically hide assets in offshore accounts, can have dire effects on society and the wolrd economy. He said:

Tax evasion and the flow of funds of illicit origin undermine justice and deprive Governments of resources needed for the realization of economic, social and cultural rights.  The clients may have had different motives for depositing their assets into more than 210,000 secret shell companies. But tax evasion, hiding corruption and criminal funds appear to be a prominent reason.

Bohoslavsky also noted [UN News Centre report] that shell corporations have been used in the past for drug trafficking, illegal arms trades and even authoritarian rulers violations of human rights.

The Panama Papers [Guardian backgrounder] are a collection of more than 11.5 million documents that were leaked last week from the fourth largest offshore law firm in the world, Mossack Fonesca [firm website]. The documents reveal how wealthy individuals can utilize offshore tax regimes to their benefit. The clientele of the firm include many of the worlds richest individuals, celebrities, and politicians. The documents allegedly illustrate [JURIST report] how Mossack Fonseca laundered money and helped their wealthy clients avoid tax consequences and dodge sanctions. It is reported [BBC report] that 12 heads of state are among those implicated by the Panama Papers, and Icelands prime minister has already resigned his post as a result of the leak. Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing, claiming they were the victim of a data breach and that they have not engaged in any illegal activity.
Three UN human rights experts experts urged Egypt [press release] on Monday to cease its ongoing crackdown on humans rights defenders and organizations. They stated that Egypt is failing in its international responsibility to provide a safe and enabling environment for civil society in the country. The experts added that the Egyptian government must immediately put an end to all forms of persecution and take effective measures to protect members of human rights organizations, specifically members of Nazra for Feminist Studies, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies [advocacy websites] and the United Group  Attorneys at Law and Legal Advisors, who have been subject to interrogation and threatened with arrest warrants and prosecutions.

Egypt [BBC timeline] has been internationally scrutinized in recent months over its many human rights infringements and free speech violations. Of particular concern with Egypts constitutional and human rights is the prosecution and imprisonment of journalists by the Egyptian government, which has garnered widespread criticism from governments and rights groups worldwide. Two weeks ago, Egypt Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zind was relieved of his position after he stated that he would even imprison the Prophet Mohammed in response a question regarding the imprisonment of journalists. In January non-governmental organizations issued a joint statement [JURIST report] to the Egyptian parliament giving recommendations to ensure the enforcement of constitutional and human rights. In December Egyptian lawyer Nasser Aminchallenged a law [JURIST report] that allows writers to be jailed for writings that violate Egyptian morals. In August 2015 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi [BBC profile] approved [JURIST report] a 54-article counter-terrorism law that has been met with significant controversy, as many believe it infringes on the freedom of the press. Many have said that the law defines terrorism too broadly and imposes harsh sentences and fines on violators. The same month Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] the law saying it infringes on freedom of the press.
LOUISVILLE -- Cats arent the only pets that get stuck in trees.

Just ask the firefighters who rescued a Great Dane from a high bough in rural Louisville, Nebraska, late Saturday night.

Youre not going to believe this, one Plattsmouth firefighter said to another after receiving the call for help about 10:10 p.m. They said theres a 125-pound Great Dane stuck 20 feet up in a tree.

They werent the first in disbelief.

Wes McGuirk, the dogs owner, couldnt believe his ears and eyes when, after searching his home, yard, barn and garage for his dog, Kora, he heard a soft whining from above. McGuirk said he pointed his flashlight up the tree, and there she was, like a little owl perched in a tree, with her eyes looking at me.

Yep, my Great Dane is in a tree, he thought. He and his friends had to get cellphone pictures.

Responding deputies and firefighters also had to take cellphone shots. A video of the rescue, posted on the Facebook sites for Elmwood Volunteer Fire and Rescue and the Plattsmouth Volunteer Fire Department, drew about 25,000 views and more than 300 shares.

We just couldnt believe it, McGuirk said. It just doesnt make physical sense that she could be that high in a tree.

The unusual rescue ended well for Kora, who was caught in a canvas tarp after being partially lowered with a harness and long leash.

While McGuirk was in Omaha on Saturday, the 16-month-old bluish-gray Great Dane/mastiff mix apparently leapt a 5-foot fence and scrambled up the tree  probably while chasing a raccoon or squirrel.

When McGuirk returned home and found Kora, he climbed a ladder into the tree and tried to coax her toward him. When that didnt work, he called the Cass County Sheriffs Office.

That night, the firefighters from Plattsmouth and paramedics from Elmwood were covering for the Louisville Volunteer Fire Department, which had been holding a recognition dinner for its crew.

Kora was scared, said Jacob Blunt, an Elmwood firefighter and paramedic. We could see her shaking from the ground, he said. She didnt want to come down.

Fortunately, a K-9 officer with the Cass County Sheriffs Office, Deputy Rob Rice, had a harness to use.

A firefighter slipped on the harness, attached to a 16- to 20-foot leash, and nudged Kora off the branch. The stitching on the harness gave way about 4 or 5 feet into the descent, said Lt. Jon Hardy of the Plattsmouth Fire Department. The dog fell into the tarp, not touching the ground except for one paw that tore through the tarp, he said.

Kora scampered away and resumed just being a dog, McGuirk said.
Supporters of Donald Trump are impelled by a visceral motive  racial anxiety and animosity. They wont say so publicly, but for many of them, the slogan Make America Great Again really means, Make America White Again.

We dont say that casually. Accusations of racial prejudice, like charges of anti-Semitism, should be stated carefully and rarely. But this year, to ignore race in the political campaign is to ignore reality.

Race, moreover, is only part of a larger set of disruptions and discontents fueling the Trump movement. From gay couples holding hands to uppity women holding jobs, the world of the aging white men who flock to Trump is clearly crumbling.

To reinforce that point: Views about Trump divide sharply along gender and racial lines. In the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, 2 out of 3 Americans viewed the New York businessman unfavorably. That negative rate rises to 3 out of 4 women; 4 out of 5 African-Americans; and 85 percent of Hispanics. Among white men, only half dont like Trump.

America will never be as white as it used to be. When Ronald Reagan won in 1980, the electorate was 88 percent white. In 2012, only 72 percent of voters were white, and this year the percentages will drop again. Mitt Romney actually won a higher percentage of the white vote than Reagan did, and yet lost badly.

If were going to be a majority party in the 21st century, Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican, told The New York Times, were going to have to be a multiracial, multiethnic and inclusive party.

But Trump is following a strikingly different strategy: divide not unite, exclude dont include. His appeal to a silent majority that would take our country back is loaded with coded language. From whom, exactly, does he want to take the country back?

The answer: black militants and foreign jihadists and dark-skinned hordes who speak other languages, worship other gods and threaten our womenfolk.

Thats not a dog whistle; thats a dog siren, Republican strategist Rick Wilson told the Times about Trumps racially divisive strategy.

And Trump supporters hear his whistle. A Washington Post/ABC poll asked voters which was a bigger problem: whites losing out to preferences for black and Hispanics, or minorities losing out to white privilege. Overall 28 percent said whites were getting shafted, but that almost doubles for Trumpians.

And while were at it, Trump is saying, well take the country back from Barack Hussein Obama, the black crypto-Muslim with the strange name who, Trump believes, wasnt even born in America. Dont forget, long before he ran for president, Trump was a leading exponent of the birther movement. His worldview has always been rooted in nativism, and his campaign reflects those impulses.

He announced his candidacy by branding undocumented Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. Since then, hes doubled down on the xenophobia, proposing to ban all Muslims.

There were heartening signs out of Wisconsin that this vicious appeal to racism might be losing force. About 35 percent of Republican voters said theyd be scared if Trump became president, and about the same number said they would not support him in the general election.

Racial appeals might work in the short run, as they often have in American history, but they are doomed to fail eventually. Smart Republicans know that America is better than Donald Trump.
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(Kitco News) - In a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) will have to pay $5 billion in penalties for its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities, which eventually contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

According to reports, the bank will pay a civil penalty of $2.4 billion, provide $1.8 billion in relief to underwater homeowners and distressed borrowers, and pay $875 million in other claims. However, the settlement does not include any criminal sanctions or penalties.

"This resolution holds Goldman Sachs accountable for its serious misconduct in falsely assuring investors that securities it sold were backed by sound mortgages, when it knew that they were full of mortgages that were likely to fail," Stuart Delery, acting associate attorney general, said in a statement.

Goldman Sachs is the latest bank to have reached a settlement, taking responsibility for its role in selling shoddy investments that led to the worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Other banks that have settled with the Justice Department include Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.

By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com

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By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON  A Bremerton man was taken to the Kitsap County Jail following an hourslong standoff with police early Monday, according to Bremerton police.

Officers were called just after 2 a.m. to an apartment complex on the 3000 block of Austin Drive. A woman told police her boyfriend had choked her and pointed a gun at her before she escaped the apartment.

Officers knew the man to be a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress. They also were concerned because he had access to weapons and had been drinking, according to Bremerton Police Capt. Tom Wolfe. The apartment building was evacuated.

The man didn't respond when officers attempted to contact him using a public address system. Eventually a Washington State Patrol bomb squad robot approached the back porch of the residence, Wolfe said. The robot awoke dogs inside and that apparently woke the man.

The man, about 33 years old, surrendered to police just before 6 a.m. and was booked for assault and harassment, Wolfe said. He was jailed on $100,000 bail.
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By Chris Henry, chenry@kitsapsun.com

POULSBO  North Kitsap School District is being sued over its handling of public records related to the district's Alternative Learning Experience program.

In 2012, the state auditor found the district had made $99,000 in errors in its favor when accounting for students enrolled in ALE classes, which serve students outside the typical classroom environment. Classes might be online, at home with school support, or a combination of in-class and remote instruction.

Eric Hood, a former South Whidbey School District teacher embroiled in a legal battle with that district, "is interested in learning why so many school districts over-claim enrollment in ALE programs," according to his attorney Michael Kahrs.

North Kitsap was among a number of districts, including South Kitsap, that had reporting errors in state audit findings on ALE programs within the 2010-11 time frame.

Hood, in a suit filed March 9 in Kitsap County Superior Court, claims North Kitsap delayed its response to his request for records about the ALE program, which he submitted by email to Superintendent Patty Page on Aug. 14. Public agencies have five days to acknowledge receipt of a records request and give a response on how that request will be fulfilled. Hood also claims the district did not produce documents he asked for under the state's public records law.

On Aug. 24, Hood followed up with a second email to Page, who forwarded his request to the district's public records officer, Korinne Henry (no relation to this reporter).

Page, through the district's attorney, states she has no record of Hood's initial request.

On Aug. 25, Henry forwarded Hood a link to a state audit document reported to the school board in June. The document, published May 28, was a routine audit and not what Hood was seeking.

Although Hood's records request referenced a 2012 Kitsap Sun story about the ALE audit finding, the district misinterpreted the request to be for the most recent audit, the district's attorney Cliff Foster of Porter, Foster, Rorick said. The document provided in the link includes no information on the ALE program.

Hood on Aug. 25 acknowledged the link, according to the lawsuit, and further asked Henry whether the district had completed its response. Henry replied it had.

Had Hood contacted the district to point out the error, it would have produced the correct document, Foster said. The district is now compiling all records on how ALE students were accounted during the period in question and will provide those, along with the correct audit report to Hood, Foster said.

Under state law, the district is subject to penalties up to $100,000 per day that Hood's request was not fulfilled. The amount of the award is subject to a judge's discretion. Foster said the district will argue that Hood should have notified the district that his request had not been completely fulfilled, although state law puts the burden on the agency to fulfill the request. The district also may negotiate a settlement with Hood, Foster said.

Kahrs said any question of settlement or penalties is "premature" since the suit was so recently filed. The case was filed March 9, and the district was served with notice of the suit last week.

Hood has had a long-standing history of litigation with South Whidbey School District since his contract was not renewed in 2010, according to federal district court records.

Court records show cases by an Eric Hood against Arlington, Mukilteo and Auburn school districts. Kahrs declined to detail other suits against school districts in which his client is involved.

Hood, according to the South Whidbey Record, recently filed separate lawsuits in Island County Superior Court against the city of Langley and the South Whidbey School District for alleged violations of the state's Public Records Act. In both cases, Hood seeks monetary damages and the release of documents he claims were illegally withheld, the Record reported March 26.

Hood has sued the city and the school district several times in the past and received awards and settlements in at least two of the cases, the Record states.

The South Whidbey School District last year started a policy to identify people who made public records requests. School officials cited Hood and the district's related legal expenses as impetus for the policy, according to the Record. The board also couched the policy as a way to keep itself informed about financial expenses.

The policy, widely criticized by open government advocates and some district parents, was eventually rescinded, the Record reports.

To repay the $99,000 to the state, North Kitsap School District arranged to receive lower apportionments over time from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, according to the district's attorney.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Sunny and windy. High 86F. Winds S at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Windy with an isolated thunderstorm or two possible this evening. Then some showers later on. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 56F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The headquarters of Clayton Homes is in Maryville, Tenn. The company was purchased by Berkshire Hathaway in 2003. It's offerings include site-built and manufactured houses. SUBMITTED PHOTO

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By Chambers Williams of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Maryville-based Clayton Homes has acquired manufactured-home builder River Birch Homes of Hackleburg, Ala.

In a release, Clayton Homes said the purchase includes all operating assets of River Birch Homes, and is effective immediately.

River Birch, which makes single- and multi-section homes and markets them in nine states throughout the Southeast, has nearly 240 employees in the Hackleburg area, in northwest Alabama.

The company was started in 1997 by owners Delmo Payne and Gerald Terrell.

"We are tremendously excited about adding the River Birch facility to our family of brands," said Keith Holdbrooks, president of the Clayton home building group. "The state of Alabama is a very special place to me and our company. We are thrilled to become members of the Hackleburg community. Delmo and Gerald have done an excellent job in creating a solid brand with River Birch Homes, and we look to continue the good work they have already started."

Payne said in a statement that he is looking forward to the next chapter for his company.

"It gives me a great sense of pride to have a company as strong as Clayton take an interest in us and ultimately decide to move forward," Payne said. "It's the seal of approval. They're a family-oriented business with values that mirror ours, and I am honored to have River Birch Homes be a part of that Clayton Family.

"It means a lot to the Hackleburg community as well," he said. "This is a company that really cares about its people and the communities they work in. That was important to me."

River Birch becomes the 37th active home-building facility for Clayton. A part of the Berkshire Hathaway group, Clayton Homes was founded in 1956. Its various operations offer site-built homes, modular homes, manufactured housing, "tiny" homes, apartment complexes and other residences.

Last year, Clayton built more than 34,000 homes.
A survey about first jobs for creatives finds that it's essential to deal imaginatively with the need to bring experience to a first job, and that some employers rely on factors other than traditional jobs. (Credit: The Creative Group)

Thinking and operating outside of the box are so natural for many people in creative fields that finding a first job may be difficult. Standard career advice simply doesnt fit, unless youre willing to market basic, non-creative skills. A first relevant job may be even more elusive.

Recent findings of research conducted on behalf of Menlo Park, Californias The Creative Group, a division of Robert Half, offer insight into the recruitment pattern of 400 marketing and advertising executives. Approximately 200 marketing executives come from companies with at least 100 employees, while 200 advertising executives work in agencies with at least 20 employees.

More than one-third (34 percent) indicate that previous experience is essential. How can you get a job if you havent had it? Let that challenge but not deter you.

Think instead about work that youve done and transfer principles behind it to those involved in a job. Uncompensated work doesnt make it less respectable. However, because its not tied to a salary, you need to bring up its relationship to money. For example, by increasing efficiency or using sweat equity rather than products, did you avoid costs for a project? Estimate those costs, either in hours or purchasing dollars saved.

Next, understand that creatives are needed in a range of industries and that not everyone hiring creatives insists on previous experience. Tony Mena, office/social media coordinator of the private security firm Homeland Security Protective Service Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri, hires for basic skills, and excellence in oral and written communication to represent the brand in a public position in a positive light. He looks for diligence, a thoughtful resume and compelling blurbs about social community projects. The company has 76 employees.

Mena had served in special operations in the United State Marine Corps, earned a graduate degree in creative writing, and became a high school English and theater teacher. Despite a lack of background in business, he persuaded Homeland Security Protective to allow him to re-order its bookkeeping records. Then he moved into creative work.

Two other creatives there with minimal related work experience are a dispatcher, who honed her writing skill by working on her high school yearbook and taking a creative writing course, and a security officer, now a supervisor at a clients retirement facility with the interpersonal skills and creativity for ease in forming relationships.

Chris Post, owner of Post Modern Marketing in Sacramento, has built a digital marketing firm with three employees and a long-term group of contractors. Focusing on talent and spark, he looks first for them to market themselves creatively and bring technological competence, outstanding work samples and a winning sense of humor. If you can make me laugh, he says, you can do the same for clients.

Mena would like to see creatives approach interviews as a creative performance to erase the stigma that they dont care. Part of meeting that goal is to have others edit your resume to maximum sharpness.

Conversely, Post would like inteviews to be less formal. I feel like I get the real person, not the performance. I want to enjoy working with you.

This difference in employer perspective helps clarify for job seekers that building confidence in themselves for what they have, rather than what they dont, leads to success. Creatives need to review their candidacy thoroughly and express to employers how it differs from that of other applicants. Think (but dont say) uniqueness.

(Knoxville News Sentinel syndicated columnist Mildred Culp, Ph.D., welcomes your questions. Contact her at culp@workwise.net.  2016 Passage Media.)
Campbell County school shooter Kenneth Bartley, left, arrives in court Monday morning, April 11, 2016, for his hearing on a violation of probation charge. At right is his attorney Gregory P. Issacs. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

JACKSBORO  The woman who billed herself as Campbell County school shooter Kenneth Bartley's redeemer but turned out to be his lover also claimed to be his probation officer, records reviewed by the News Sentinel showed.

Bartley admitted guilt at a hearing Monday before Campbell County Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton to violating probation in two assault cases involving his parents that arose after he was freed in the November 2005 school shooting that left one administrator dead and two others wounded. Sexton ordered Bartley to serve the remainder of his 18-month sentence in the case in jail. State law only requires he serve 75 percent of that sentence, and he will receive roughly seven months of credit for time he already has spent behind bars in the case. That means he will go free in less than seven months.

The probation violation warrant was filed by his Campbell County probation officer, Sabrina Marsee. It alleged, among other things, that a monitoring device that tests for alcohol in body sweat repeatedly recorded the presence of alcohol just two months after he was freed on probation in February 2015 with the agreement that he would move to Vienna, Va., where his longtime counselor, Erin Tepaske, claimed she had lined up addiction and mental health counseling services and planned to teach him living skills.

Bartley and Tepaske instead became lovers, with the 23-year-old Bartley living with Tepaske and her three-year-old son, who died in May 2015 in Bartley's care under suspicious circumstances. Bartley wound up removing the monitoring device and going on the lam. He was arrested on the probation warrant in late March at his father's home in LaFollette.

A record obtained by the News Sentinel shows Tepaske told Dennis Wilson, a representative of a Virginia firm tasked with monitoring the sweat-testing device, that he should include her in any reports or alerts.

"She stated to him  that essentially she is (Bartley's) Virginia probation officer," the document stated.

Tepaske threatened to take Bartley "to another state to have a different company" outfit Bartley with the monitoring device if Wilson did not comply with her demand, according to the document. Wilson reported the conversation to Marsee, who learned that no official state agency had "agreed to accept (supervision of Bartley) or was even aware he is in the state," the document stated.

Although Marsee filed the warrant to violate Bartley's probation in April 2015, it was never entered into the National Crime Information Center because Campbell County authorities erroneously believed misdemeanor warrants could not be listed with the database that allows police across the nation to be alerted to a person's fugitive status. The policy barring entry of misdemeanors into NCIC has long been abandoned.

Bartley was questioned in the death of Tepaske's son, Beckett Josef Podomonick, as was Tepaske. A medical expert has alleged the boy suffered abuse weeks before his death and labeled the cause of his fatal injuries as blunt force trauma, but the Vienna Police Department has declined to file charges.

Defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs conceded at Monday's hearing "there were some problems" with the Tepaske arrangement Isaacs presented to Sexton to convince him to grant Bartley probation, although he never mentioned her by name.

"(Bartley) feels it's in his best interest to accept responsibility," Isaacs said of the probation violation charge.

Bartley had been freed from prison in 2014 thanks to a favorable jury verdict in the shooting death nine years earlier of an administrator in the office of the Campbell County Comprehensive High School when he was 14. He immediately ran into trouble for assaulting his parents in two separate instances.

Beckett died four months after Bartley moved in with Tepaske. The toddler suffered massive injuries including a fractured skull and a set of head injuries that pathologists have deemed consistent with being struck by an object, while in Bartley's care. Bartley has insisted the boy fell backward from a three-foot high set of steps.

Tepaske met Bartley when he was sent to a mental health facility where she worked as an unlicensed counselor. He was 11. When Bartley was charged in the school shooting, Tepaske took a job at the juvenile detention facility where he was housed and again began working with him. She testified she grew so close to the Bartley family she visited them and stayed with Bartley after his release from prison while his father underwent surgery.
SHARE Ricky Helmick Jr.

By News Sentinel Staff

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking for a man who they believe is a person of interest in the deaths of a couple found in a home in upper East Tennessee on Friday.

Investigators are looking for 30-year-old Ricky Helmick, on an active warrant on a charge of kidnapping, but also as a person of interest in the deaths of his father, Ricky Helmick, 57, and Natasha Riley, 37, near Sneedville.

On Friday, Hancock County Sheriff's Office deputies found the bodies of the elder Helmick and Riley in a home at 1041 Vardy Blackwater Road, after a call came into 911 shortly after 7 p.m. indicating that two people were dead at the home.

Their deaths were determined to be the result of a homicide and 3rd District Attorney General Dan Armstrong and the sheriff's office asked TBI to investigate them.

The younger Helmick is 6 feet tall, weighs around 225 pounds, has green eyes and brown hair. Anyone who sees Ricky Helmick or knows his whereabouts is asked to call 911 or 1-800-TBI-FIND.
Memorial service for Justin Shults and Stephanie Shults were held at Richardson's Cove Baptist Church in Sevier County on Sunday, April 10, 2016. The couple were killed in the Brussels terrorist attacks last month. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Greg Johnson

SEVIERVILLE  In a humble valley beneath majestic mountains under a broken-blue sky, hundreds of family and friends came Sunday to a memorial service at Richardson's Cove Baptist Church in Sevier County to remember Justin Shults and his wife, Stephanie, who were killed in the March 22 terrorist attack in Belgium.

Shults, 30, grew up in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains before earning both undergraduate and graduate degrees at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where he met the former Stephanie Moore, 29. The Shultses lived and worked in Brussels and had delivered Stephanie's mother to the airport there when two bombs exploded. A dozen died. Another 20 were killed at a Brussels train station. Six suspects have been arrested. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Terror in the internationally important seat of the European Union contrasted sharply and sadly with the pastoral scene of cows grazing beside the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River near the church. Though the world already comes to Sevier County, the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that sees 10 million-plus tourists each year, terror tore a hole in the heart of a community.

"We want to thank the family for doing this (memorial service)," said Sammy Justus, Shults' former pastor from a pulpit framed with spring flowers and palm branches. "We know you are emotionally and physically tired. We the people of Sevier County needed this."

Justus described the young Shults as an energetic child who burst through the doors eager to learn in Sunday school. "God gave Justin a special mind that cannot be created by education alone," Justus said. "It can only be honed and polished."

Justus saw Justin and Stephanie as one.

"It is necessary for me to speak of Stephanie and Justin in the same breath," Justus said. "They were so full of love. They were so full of life. They were so full of joy. It was their faith in God that brought them joy."

Justus drew a stark contrast between their faith and the faith of those who killed them.

"If Justin and Stephanie were to talk about their faith they would have brought a book, the New Testament, not a bomb," Justus said. "They would have brought prayer, not persecution. Most of all, they would tell people, yes, Jesus loves you. The Bible tells us so."

Photos at the service showed Justin and Stephanie at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, in Copenhagen, in London and in exotic places.

"They may have lived in other parts of the world," said David Ayers, current pastor of the church, "but their hearts were always here at home."

Jeff Ownby, a relative of Justin's, said 87 of Stephanie's cousins showed up at the funeral service in Lexington, Ky., last week and estimated 150 of Justin's cousins had come through the memorial service in Sevier County. Ownby traced Shults' local lineage on his mother's side of the family back 10 generations and on his father's side back to the late 1700s.

"There is a long history of love and caring and compassion in these mountains," Ownby said. "Justin and Stephanie took that love and caring and compassion all over the world. Love and caring and compassion were part of who they were because of where they came from."

The crowd of young, not-so-young and in-between, some in suits, some in jeans, Appalachians come to mourn their kin and friends, smiled, laughed and cried at anecdotes of how Stephanie, the adventurous one, encouraged Justin out of his comfort zone and how Justin, with a mouthful of smile, made time for his parents, grandparents and especially his younger relatives even though he had a big job in a faraway place. The congregation expressed a collective pride in one of their own having done well and gone far.

Ownby read a letter from the family.

"March 22, 2016, was the day forever etched in our family because that was the day terrorists cruelly took our beloved Justin and Stephanie," the family wrote. "From sky diving to running with the bulls, they lived life to its fullest. We will never understand why life was cut so short. But they are now in the most beautiful place they've ever been."

"The circumstances of Justin and Stephanie's deaths will not be forgotten," Ayers said as he closed the service. "Their lives will not be forgotten."

With that, a bagpiper entered, walked down the aisle, bowed before a photo of Justin and Stephanie, and made his way out the back of the church, the last strains of "Amazing Grace" echoing through the valley and up toward the mountains Justin Shults called home.
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The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has announced a new service enabling Tennesseans to more easily locate lost life insurance and annuity policies.

The Lost Policy Service enables beneficiaries to track down the life insurance policies or annuity contracts of deceased family members or friends. To use the service, Tennesseans submit a simple request form either electronically or by mail to the Department of Commerce and Insurance.

The department then sends the request to all licensed Tennessee life insurance carriers.

"Locating the correct insurance records following the death of a loved one can sometimes prove to be a challenge," said TDCI Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak in a news release. "This service provides useful assistance in situations where a Tennessean thinks he or she may be the beneficiary of a policy, but cannot provide sufficient information to identify an insurance carrier."

Each month, representatives from the department will collect the requests and then contact Tennessee-licensed insurance carriers. The carriers will then search their records to determine whether they have any policies or annuity contracts in the name of the deceased.

Insurance carriers will be expected to respond directly to the consumer within 30 days of receiving notification from the state, if the consumer is legally authorized to receive the information.

TDCI Assistant Commissioner Michael Humphreys said in the news release that the interest in lost policies has spiked in recent weeks and "connects Tennesseans to the life insurance and annuity benefits that they may have otherwise had a hard time identifying."

The department will send its first notification to carriers at the end of April.
University of Tennessee fungi specialist Joshua Birkebak, right, explains fungi taxonomy to citizen scientists during the 2013 All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory BioBlitz at Twin Creeks in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (CHUCK COOPER/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Naturalist Jonathan Carpenter, right, gives a presentation during an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory BioBlitz on Aug. 22, 2015, at High Ground Park in South Knoxville. (CHUCK COOPER/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL) Mushrooms are collected for identification during an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory BioBlitz on Aug. 22, 2015, at High Ground Park in South Knoxville. (CHUCK COOPER/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL) Citizen scientists gather for orientation during an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory Bioblitz led by naturalist Jonathan Carpenter on Aug. 22, 2015, at High Ground Park in South Knoxville. (CHUCK COOPER/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL)

By Morgan Simmons of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Among the many ways the National Park Service is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year is by hosting a series of events called BioBlitzes that focus on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area in a designated amount of time.

When it comes to BioBlitzes, Discover Life in America (DLIA) wrote the book. In 1998 the nonprofit launched the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory, an ambitious attempt to catalog every life form in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Over the past 18 years, a small army of scientists and volunteers have documented 19,250 species in the park, 970 of which are new to science, and 9,140 of which are new records for the park.

On April 22 and May 12 DLIA will coordinate two BioBlitzes in the Smokies, both focusing on native pollinators. Participants  many of them students  will catch and release insect pollinators and identify them with the help of experts. Specimens not identified on site will be photographed, and those images will be posted on iNaturalist, an online social network of biologists and citizen scientists, for identification.

The upcoming BioBlitzes in the Smokies coincide with the sharp decline of pollinators throughout the U.S. While the disappearance of honeybees (a nonnative species) has garnered much of the publicity, native pollinators, especially bumblebees, are disappearing, too. In the Smokies, the rusty-patched bumblebee and yellow-banded bumblebee have not been observed for 10 to 15 years. The park has close to 266 bee species, and an estimated 2,048 species of flies that also help pollinate.

"The pollinator decline is a widespread concern," said Becky Nichols, Smokies entomologist. "A lot of it has to do with there not being enough floral resources for bees. People mow down the edges of their fields, and open meadows don't exist like they used to."

The April 22 BioBlitz will be based at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, on the North Carolina side of the Smokies, as headquarters, while the May 12 BioBlitz will be based at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, near Gatlinburg, Tenn.

Todd Witcher, executive director of DLIA, said the park's All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory is building baseline data that will help park managers make future decisions in the face of environmental threats such as invasive species and climate change.

"You can't understand the changes that are happening unless you have the initial information," Witcher said.

Discover Life in America operates on an annual budget of about $200,000 funded entirely from donations and grants. In recent years, the Smokies' ATBI has become a role model for species inventories at various parks and nature preserves across the U.S., including Acadia National Park in Maine, and the Crane Hollow Nature Preserve, in Ohio.

A prominent advocate of the ATBI is Edward O. Wilson, a writer, biologist, and professor emeritus at Harvard University. In a recent Sunday column for The New York Times, Wilson argued for a renewed scientific focus on biodiversity, and singled out the species census in the Smokies as a prime example of what's needed to better understand "the little things that run the Earth."

Scientists who participate in the project often are funded through mini-grants secured by DLIA. Another component are the "citizen scientists" who provide the manpower needed to inventory the park's 800 square miles of mountainous terrain.

Witcher said a major challenge for the ATBI is finding biologists who specialize in taxonomy, the branch of science that focuses on identifying and classifying living organisms.

"There's a whole generation that has gotten away from field biology and are concentrating instead on molecular biology," Witcher said. "We've had a lot of help from the University of Tennessee, but we've also recruited from Japan and Australia  wherever the taxonomists might be.

"Take flies for example. A lot of general entomologists can get down to the family and genus, but to get down to the species level, to identifying minute details like wing structure and leg hairs, that's where a specific expert can help."

---

BIOBLITZ

What: The Tennessee Geographic Alliance and North Carolina Geographic Alliance  both affiliates of the National Geographic Society  are helping to fund and plan the BioBlitzes in the Smokies.

When: Friday, April 22, and Thursday, May 12

To volunteer: To learn more about volunteering for these and other Discover Life in America projects, contact Todd Witcher by phone at 865-430-4757, or email at todd@dlia.org.
SHARE photos by AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS /NEWS SENTINEL Great Starts client Ashley Williams holds her 1-month-old, Camdyn, while listening to a presentation from Cira Roberts, a nurse practitioner with the Women's Health Clinic of the Knox County Health Department, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Williams is taking part in a program that offers long-acting reversible birth control to women with drug histories. Cira Roberts, a nurse practitioner with the Women's Health Clinic of the Knox County Health Department, talks with Great Starts clients about a program that offers long-acting birth control to women with drug histories Tuesday, April 5, 2016. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS /NEWS SENTINEL) Nurse practitioner Cira Roberts of the Knox County Health Department, in rocking chair, talks with Great Starts clients Tuesday, April 5, 2016. The clients are learning about birth control options, NAS and healthy parenting and pregnancies. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS /NEWS SENTINEL) Great Starts client Kayla Cleaned, with her 5-month-old daughter, Kiley, listens to a presentation on health and family planning from Cira Roberts, a nurse practitioner with the Women's Health Clinic of the Knox County Health Department, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS /NEWS SENTINEL)

By Kristi L. Nelson of the Knoxville News Sentinel

It was in the spring of 2012 that the CAO of Sevier County's LeConte Medical Center first noticed a spike in the number of babies there being born drug-dependant.

That concerned her enough to co-found a community group on the problem. And out of that group, attended by law enforcement and Sevier County Health Department staffers, came a possible solution: offering long-acting, reversible birth control to women jailed on drug charges  while they were still in jail.

It was so successful that, three years after it began, the program is being replicated in all 15 counties under the East Tennessee Regional Health Office, as well as in Knox County and even other states.

"The statistics at that time were showing that 80 percent of women (whose TennCare was paying for) prescription narcotics, TennCare wasn't paying for any of kind of birth control for them," said Jana Chambers, director of the Sevier County Health Department.

The health department already offered birth control to these women  to all women  through the federal government's family planning program, which offers all types of birth control on an income-based sliding scale.

But Chambers said women who were actively abusing substances were "less receptive" to education about birth control and neonatal abstinence syndrome, even if they managed to get to the health department. Women in jail were more than just a captive audience, she said  they were sober. And at-risk: More than 19 percent had already had a baby born dependent; 23 percent had a child in state custody. More than 60 percent already had an unplanned pregnancy, and 30 percent used drugs during a pregnancy.

With permission from the state, Chambers and others put together a PowerPoint presentation about NAS and its effects on babies, using a news clip of a newborn in withdrawal, and about methods of birth control. The jail arranged transport for the women to the health department. They can get any kind of birth control, but emphasis is on long-acting, reversible methods  implanted rods that last up to three years, or intrauterine devices (IUDs) that could last three-10 years.

"Women have said to me, 'The last thing I'm thinking about in jail is, have I taken a birth-control pill?'" Chambers said.

Since starting the program in January 2013, Sevier County reduced its number of NAS babies born by nearly 58 percent. More than 60 percent of women who saw the presentation came to an appointment; 84 percent got birth control, she said.

Knox County started a similar program last fall, but along with incarcerated women, it targets those in recovery programs. Once a month, health educators visit the Knox County Detention Center and present information on NAS, family planning and violence prevention, among other topics. They do 10 weeks of sessions at Helen Ross McNabb Center's Great Starts program for recovering mothers, and less frequently present to its Intensive Outpatient and Silver Linings program, along with Renaissance Recovery.

"We focus on empowerment," said Dr. Martha Buchanan, Knox County Health Department director. "Choosing when to get pregnant  every woman should have that option."

Buchanan said when women are released before their appointments, the health department is trying to follow up by phone.

"We also learned a lot of women didn't know where to get birth control," she said. "We learned that we need to increase awareness about what we do."

Does the program raise ethical concerns, since it targets a certain group? That would depend on whether women feel coerced, and on how difficult it is for them to access follow-up care if they want an implant or IUD removed, said Annette Mendola, director of clinical ethics for the University of Tennessee's Graduate School of Medicine.

"It could be a very good resource, a very good gesture of support, if done well," Mendola said. "If done badly, it could be horribly coercive.  You want to make sure people feel like they have a choice."

Both Buchanan and Chambers said the women have seemed appreciative, and neither has gotten negative feedback about the program. More than half of the women who went through Knox County's program in jail got long-acting, reversible birth control, and more said they wanted it but were released before they got it. Buchanan said the health department is looking at implanting the rod at the detention center.

Her biggest question is "why did it take this crisis for us to reach out to women in jail and women in treatment?" she said. "We know they're an at-risk population for unplanned pregnancies."
The main portal at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By Frank Munger of the Knoxville News Sentinel

OAK RIDGE  The government's managing contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, which houses the nation's primary stockpile of bomb-grade uranium, is shopping around for new body armor for its security guards.

Consolidated Nuclear Security recently issued a notice seeking "expressions of interest" from companies capable of providing the protective apparel, although the Y-12 contractor said the notice does not constitute an invitation for sealed bids or a request for proposals.

"Responses received will be used for planning purposes and determining candidates for subsequent procurement actions, if any," CNS stated in the notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities.

The Oak Ridge plant reportedly has more than 500 security police officers, including paramilitary teams trained to fight terrorists and deal with other threats.

According to information posted by CNS, potential suppliers must be able to demonstrate good past performance on "large, program-level uniform/apparel supply contracts" with the Defense Department, Defense Logistics Agency, Department of Homeland Security and/or the Justice Department.

The notice indicated the company must have experience in supplying more than 500 total kits.

Consolidated Nuclear Security also manages the Pantex nuclear warhead assembly plant under the same contract with Y-12, but it was not immediately clear if CNS is seeking new body armor for guards at the weapons facility outside Amarillo, Texas.

Companies interested in supplying Y-12 with replacement body armor are asked to submit information to CNS by May 16.
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By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE  Knox County Republican activist Ken Gross, whose appointment as a Donald Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention drew criticism from some Trump backers, says he has now been welcomed into the fold by the front-runner's state campaign director.

Gross, who represents Knox County on the GOP's State Executive Committee, was appointed to represent Trump as a Tennessee delegate at an April 3 meeting of the panel to select 14 "at-large" delegates not chosen by name in statewide voting that was part of the March 1 presidential primary.

The appointment of Gross was cited in complaints from Trump supporters, including state campaign director Darren Morris, that state party officials were trying to "steal" delegates from the New York real estate mogul who won Tennessee's presidential primary. The slate of appointed delegates was selected by state Republican Chairman Ryan Haynes and his staff. It excluded some delegates that Trump supporters requested be appointed.

Morris told media that Haynes had violated an agreement to follow Trump campaign wishes. Haynes said that there was no such agreement and the appointments included Republicans well known and respected by State Executive Committee members  including Gross. The slate required committee approval at the April 3 meeting and some compromise on candidate wishes was required, Haynes said, to assure the panel would go along with the slate  as it did on a 40-25 vote.

In the case of Gross, Trump supporters cited his Feb. 29 Facebook post  a day before the Tennessee primary  that said: "To my FB friends who claim to be Conservative Republicans, when you vote for Trump tomorrow, just know that you voted for a Liberal Democrat!!"

The post, Gross said, amounted to joshing banter with friends, including multiple Trump supporters. Gross said he sought the delegate position with the understanding that, if appointed, he would be a loyal Trump delegate  not only on the first two ballots of a contested convention, as state law and party rules require, but on subsequent votes and procedural matters. He said he felt such loyalty was appropriate because Trump won in Knox County and he represents Knox County Republican voters.

"If anybody had bothered to ask me, I would have told them so," said Gross, adding that he was "shocked" to find himself named as an anti-Trump delegate in commentary featured in both state and national media reporting on the executive committee meeting.

When initially contacted last week, Gross said the attacks had left him questioning whether he should stick with his intention of being an ultra-loyal Trump delegate beyond the required first two ballots. Subsequently, he said Morris called him on Friday to say "welcome aboard" and that the "negative stuff" would be ended.

"I was finally asked for my opinion and I appreciate that," Gross said.
Gov. Bill Haslam (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam no doubt has been doing some soul-searching as he contemplates whether to sign a bill designating the Holy Bible as the official state book of Tennessee.

A devout Christian who once considered going to divinity school, Haslam is a man of faith. He also is the highest elected official in the secular government of the state of Tennessee.

The governor has expressed reservations about the bill on religious and constitutional grounds. He should act on these inclinations and veto the bill, even though only a simple majority of legislators are needed to override his action. Principles matter.

The bill has been in limbo since last year, when the House approved it by a 55-38 vote but the Senate sent the legislation back to committee. Senators resurrected the bill this session and voted 19-8 last Monday for approval. If the bill becomes law, Tennessee would be the only state in the Union to officially recognize the Bible as a state symbol.

The governor has said he might veto the measure, recently telling reporters he had "expressed reservations last year, both personally  the Bible is the most important book in my life and I think in the world  but that's very different than being the state's official book. And so I have some constitutional questions as well as some personal reservations."

Tennessee's Christians consider the Bible a sacred text, the word of God. Therefore, it is puzzling that a majority of legislators voted to reduce it to a symbol of the state's secular government alongside limestone (the state mineral), the box turtle (the state reptile) and the tomato (the state fruit).

Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey said last year that making the Bible a state symbol would demean the Scriptures. It also would leap the wall between church and state, as Attorney General Herbert Slatery III stated in a formal opinion issued last year. The attorney general's opinions do not have the force of law, but they serve as guides for lawmakers to follow as they craft legislation. Slatery determined giving the Bible official government status would violate the federal and state constitutions.

The U.S. Supreme Court has adopted a three-pronged test for laws that could violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. To pass muster, a law must have a plausible secular purpose, can neither advance nor inhibit religion and cannot entangle government and religion.

"Legislative designation of The Holy Bible as the official book  as an official symbol  of the State of Tennessee, when viewed objectively, must presumptively be understood as an endorsement of religion and of a particular religion," Slatery wrote. The endorsement, Slatery explained, exists whether it is intentional or not.

Slatery pointed out the Tennessee Constitution is even stronger, providing "that no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment or mode of worship."

We urge Haslam to veto this bill, not because of any disrespect toward Christianity or the Bible but out of a reverence for the Constitution. Religious liberty  for Christians and non-Christians alike  is best preserved by resisting government intrusion into matters of faith.
By Choi Sung-jin



Electricity consumers, corporate or individual, have long called for lower prices. Businesses complain that their electricity rates have risen 76 percent over the past decade, while households whine about "bombshell bills" of more than 200,000 won ($173) a month in summer and winter.



Their demands are gaining strength, especially after Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the state utility, recorded a record-high operating profit of 11.3 trillion won last year.



Experts, however, say these are far-fetched claims that ignore the reality facing KEPCO and the industry.



Take an individual consumer who wrote about her family's case on an Internet site. The family used about 600 kWh of power last winter for the electric floor in the living room and electric blankets in two bedrooms, plus a refrigerator and an electric rice cooker. Her power bills in three months approached 600,000 won. Another family left air-conditioners on throughout last summer, consuming more than 600 kWh and paying about 200,000 won a month.



It would be unreasonable if there are little differences in power bills between families whose members wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts at home even in winter and those who wear heavy clothes. Families who endure a whole summer with just electric fans will also find it unfair if they have to pay similar power bills to those living in air-conditioned rooms.



At the center of the controversy is the progressive power rate. Out of the six stages, KEPCO applies sharply higher charges of up to 78,850 won to the fourth stage (301-400 kWh), which accounts for a quarter of total households, or higher. If the utility lowers the progressive rate, it would force consumers belonging to the third stage (applied by the rate of 44,390 won) or lower to shoulder larger financial burdens, the experts said.



Some people even filed a class action against the progressive power rate, saying KEPCO has passed the burden to household consumers to keep the rate low for industrial consumers.



Korea's per-head electricity consumption has surged recently, mainly because of soaring demand from industries. The industrial sector consumes 82 percent of electricity, with households accounting for about 13 percent of the total.



Businesses do not appear to think so, however.



Major business associations submitted a petition to the government in March demanding it lower power prices and modify the charging system to help domestic companies weather a prolonged business slump. "The industrial electricity rate has surged 76 percent over the 10 years and KEPCO netted operating income of 11.3 trillion won plus non-operating income of 10 trillion won last year," the associations said, referring to KEPCO's extra revenue from selling its land in the Gangnam area to the Hyundai Motor Group.



A KEPCO spokesman, however, said the state utility had incurred losses for five years in a row before turning to profit in 2015 thanks to reduced costs. "Our debt has amounted to 107 trillion won, caused mainly by below-cost power charges for industrial consumers during the five years or so," said Cho Ki-hyung, head of the PR department. "The electrical bills for businesses had been kept at abnormally low levels and we are bringing them back to normal."



On the contrary, Cho said, there are several factors that support a price increase - to meet the financial needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, develop new and renewable energy sources and expand transmission and distribution lines. A senior government official agreed. "We have never considered lowering power rates," said Wu Tae-hee, a vice minister of trade, industry and energy. "Nor has the ministry thought about overhauling the current progressive rates."



Korea's industrial electricity charges are still low by global standards. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), if the level of the nation's industrial power charge is 100 as of 2013, those of Japan, Germany and Italy were 199, 184 and 350, respectively. Only those of the resource-rich U.S. and Norway were lower than Korea with 74 and 75, respectively. The average of all OECD member nations was 134.



The gap in power charges between industrial and household consumers here was also narrower than in other countries. In Korea, there was a gap of 22 percent, compared with 44 percent for the U.S., 56 percent for Germany and 34 percent for France. The OECD average was 29 percent. That shows KEPCO should raise residential electricity charges instead of lowering the industrial power rate, the experts said.



The government and KEPCO are not free from blame, however, they said.



First of all, the state utility has sharply increased dividends to shareholders to 1.99 trillion won instead of repaying accumulated debt. The government and state-run Korea Development Bank received half of its cash dividends and foreign shareholders got 31 percent, or 620 billion won.



Second, KEPCO has a serious case of overcapacity because of its failure in estimating the nation's power demand. The electricity reserve rate soared from 5.5 percent in 2011 to 16.3 percent in 2015, resulting in a reserve rate of up to 40 percent in the low-demand seasons of spring and fall while pushing up the its debt from 21 trillion won in 2007 to 95 trillion won in 2012.



To ease the supply glut, energy policymakers encouraged people to use electricity, wasting more than 1 trillion won as year as people increasingly resort to electric power, instead of oil and gas, as their heating fuel.



"This is the time to reduce power consumption and enhance energy efficiency," said Chung Yeon-jae, a fellow at the Institute for Energy Policy Research. "In the residential electricity charge, KEPCO needs to ease the steep progressive rate while raising the unit price."



Experts said the era of cheap electricity is over, and Koreans should pay more for the higher costs of producing renewable energy, as is the case in Germany. "Calls for lowering power rates are shortsighted in this regard," Chung said.




By Choi Sung-jin



Korea's four oil refineries will likely record combined operating profits of about 2 trillion won ($1.73 billion) in the first quarter of this year, a sharp increase from a year ago.



According to industry sources, the operating profit of the four refining companies  SK Innovation, GS Caltex, S-Oil and Hyundai Oil Bank  is estimated to reach 1.9-2 trillion won in the first three months of 2016.



Their first-quarter operating profit is more than double the 960.1 billion won registered a year earlier, and the highest since the first quarter of 2012, they said. Even GS Caltex, which recorded the smallest gains, will see its profit grow by 70 percent or more during the period.



The lifting of economic sanctions on Iran and the resumption of imports from the country have exerted much influence on improving the domestic refiners' performance, they said. The share of Iranian crude, including condensate, surged to 9.1 percent of total imports in February on a customs-cleared basis.



"The biggest beneficiary of resuming the import of Iranian crude is SK Innovation," an industry executive said. He estimated SK's operating profit would increase 120 percent to 700 billion won, followed by GS Caltex's 520 billion won (74 percent), S-Oil's 500 billion won (110 percent) and Hyundai Oil Bank's 200 billion won.



The improved performance is thanks largely to high demand. As a result, the refining margin  the gap between international oil prices and petroleum product prices  and the PX margin  the gap between oil prices and paraxylene prices  have been kept at high levels. "Although oil prices fluctuated in the first quarter, high demand has helped bolster petroleum product prices and refiners' margins," the executive said.



The Singapore gross refining margin, a yardstick gauging domestic refiners' performance, has hovered above the industry's break-even point of $4-$5. "The paraxylene spread for 2016 is estimated to be $362 per ton, up 27 percent from last year, giving a green light to Korean refiners' performances," said a researcher at Korea Investment and Securities.



Of particular interest are the effects Iranian oil imports will have on the domestic refining industry. In February, Korea's import of Iranian crude totaled 8.81 million barrels, an increase of nearly five times from the 1.77 million barrels in December and not much smaller than the 7.26 million barrels in 2011, before the sanctions were imposed.



Among the four refiners, only SK Innovation and Hyundai Oil Bank are importing Iranian crude. Hyundai's import volume has remained little changed from last year, indicating most of the increased volume is attributable to SK, the industry sources said.



"This gives SK's rivals nerves because the Iranian oil is lower than international oil prices," an analyst said. "If the Iranian crude continues to be traded at prices $2 to $3 lower than international oil prices as it is now, SK's annual operating profit will increase by between 120 billion won and 180 billion won."



Another reason SK Innovation is increasing the import of Iranian oil is its sister company, SK Incheon Petrochem, has facilities that refine Iranian condensate  ultra-light oil with a high proportion of naphtha - which accounts for about half the company's crude imports, the sources said.




By Nam Hyun-woo



The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is investigating chemical and textile giant Hyosung Group over claims it allegedly hid bonds with warrants (BWs) worth $26 million, the top financial regulator said Monday.



According to the FSS, it is investigating the whereabouts of the overseas BWs, which the group issued in 1999 and 2000 and later promised to buy back.



BWs refer to corporate bonds attached with a preemptive right to purchase the company's new stocks at a set price.



In 1999 and 2000, the group issued BWs worth $60 million and it was found later that some 60 percent of them went to Chairman Cho Suck-rai and his family members.



In 2003, a number of civic groups claimed that a significant amount of BWs were used for Cho family's inheritance and the FSS launched an investigation into the allegation.



The group announced on Dec. 17, 2003, through a statement that it would buy back the warrants attached to the problematic bonds to scrap them.



Hyosung claimed that it has scrapped the $34 million bonds, but the whereabouts of the remainder, worth $26 million, was still questioned by many, until the National Tax Service (NTS) in 2013 found that some $10 million of those bonds were used.



The 2013 NTS probe showed that Hyosung has created four paper companies in Hong Kong to exert the preemptive right and acquired its shares worth 8.7 billion ($7.58 million) won, gained 6.9 billion won as margin, while evading relevant taxes. At that time, the NTS referred the chairman's case to the prosecution and the chairman was indicted on charges of tax evasion and several other corporate crimes.



Last year, the FSS was criticized for neglecting its duty by failing to track the whereabouts of the remaining $26 million. In response, FSS Gov. Zhin Woong-seob pledged that it would launch an investigation into the issue.



However, it is not sure whether the financial watchdog can further regulate the group, because a Seoul lower court in January found Cho not guilty of the charge of tax evasion through the BWs. For other charges, Cho was sentenced to a three-year prison term.




Go Ara, the leading actress in the sensational nostalgic drama "Reply 1994," will represent South Korea's Air Force as its latest honorary ambassador, the Air Force said Monday.

The 26-year-old actress will serve as the face of the Air Force over the next year, appearing on promotional Air Force publications and attending key public events.

Go is the daughter of a career service member, who served for nearly 30 years with the Air Force, and her appointment reflected this background, the Air Force said.

"Go's career path and image matches those of the Air Force's four key values -- challenge, devotion, professionalism and team work," the Air Force said in a statement. "The appointment will greatly contribute to the Air Force's efforts to become closer with the public."

"I am pleased to have this precious relationship with the Air Force which I have admired so much," Go said, adding that she is very much looking forward to her activities as the honorary ambassador.

Go debuted in the local television drama "Sharp #1" in 2003, and gained wild popularity through her leading role as Sung Na-jung in "Reply 1994" which aired in 2013. (Yonhap)
By Lee Han-soo

Famous TBS cable TV talk show host Conan O'Brien aired Saturday clips that recorded his week-long visit to Korea in February.

The clips included his trip to Noryangjin Fish Market, as well as O'Brien learning Korean, acting in a soap opera, visiting Kukkiwon (world taekwondo headquarters) and seeing the Demilitarized Zone.




By Kwon Mee-yoo



The Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) announced Monday that it had decided to withdraw its application to include "seowon," or Korean Confucian academies, on the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List.



According to the CHA, a panel for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body for UNESCO, referred two seowon submissions to the UNESCO list back to it last December and in March.



"We will withdraw the application after the Cultural Heritage Committee meeting today," an official said.



The ICOMOS classifies applications in four categories  inscribe, refer, defer and don't inscribe  and conveys its recommendations to the UNESCO World Heritage Center and the country concerned.



Seowon was a type of educational institution of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), which served the combined function of a Confucian shrine and a preparatory school.



The CHA submitted nine representative academies  Sosu in Yeongju, Namgye in Hamyang, Oksan in Gyeongju, Dosan and Byeongsan in Andong, Pilam in Jangseong, Dodong in Dalseong, Donam in Nonsan and Museong in Jeongeup  to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2015.



The ICOMOS pointed out that harmony with nature is important due to the locations of the seowon in mountainous regions, but the surrounding environment was not included as a cultural heritage area.



The CHA recently included protected areas around seowon, but ICOMOS insisted on conducting a new on-site survey.



"It takes two years to be screened by ICOMOS again, so it is impossible to list the seowon this year," the official said.



ICOMOS also asked for elaboration on the originality and connections of the heritage, including the reasons for selecting the nine out of some 400 academies in Korea; and how Korean seowon differ from academies in China and Japan.



The CHA said it will resubmit the seowon for UNESCO listing again after amending its application.



"Once the UNESCO World Heritage list exceeded 1,000, the screening process became more complicated," the official said. "However, the decision does not mean that Korean seowon are not worth inscription on the list. We will revise the application with advice from experts and reapply after 2018."




Renewed calls in South Korea for the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to the country or its own nuclear armament reflect concerns that U.S. security guarantees are "fragile," a U.S. congressional report said.



The North's fourth nuclear test in January and its long-range rocket launch in February have led some leading members of South Korea's ruling party to make the case for nuclear armament, arguing that it makes no sense to rely on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" as the North's nuclear arsenal grows.



But the government rejected the idea as contrary to the principle of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.



"Some politicians in South Korea have called for the return of U.S. nuclear weapons to the peninsula, or even South Korea's development of its own nuclear capability, as a response to North Korea's development and testing of nuclear weapons," the Congressional Research Service said in a report on nonstrategic nuclear weapons.



"This view has not received the support of the current government in South Korea, but it does demonstrate that some may see U.S. security guarantees as fragile," it said.



The report also said that the debate over the relationship between U.S. nuclear weapons and nonproliferation policy has also focused on extended deterrence and the assurances the United States provides to its allies. Many analysts have argued that, if these allies were not confident in the reliability and credibility of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, they may feel compelled to acquire their own nuclear weapons, it said.



Such a view is evident among analysts who express concerns that Turkey, in particular, with its proximity to Iran, might pursue its own nuclear weapons if the United States were to withdraw its tactical nuclear weapons from Europe, the report said.



"Such calculations might also be evident in Japan and South Korea, as they face threats or intimidation from nuclear-armed neighbors like China and North Korea," it said.



Calls for South Korea's nuclear armament were fueled by U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's suggestion that he could allow the Asian ally to develop its own nuclear arsenal for self-defense in order to reduce U.S. security burdens.



But the suggestion has since been strongly denounced as contrary to nonproliferation principles.



U.S. President Barack Obama has also openly criticized Trump, saying the statements about nuclear armament "tell us that the person who made the statements doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally."



Secretary of State John Kerry also slammed the suggestion, saying nothing can be "more volatile" or "more contrary" to peace and stability. (Yonhap)








By Choi Sung-jin



The international community's sanctions on North Korea are beginning to take effect, as more residents under the isolated regime express discontent with the leadership, government officials said here Monday.



"As the economic situation gets worse, there are some signs within the North that popular anxiety and discontent could lead to social disturbance," said a Ministry of Unification official, releasing part of the information related to North Korean residents' sentiments.



The official said the government has confirmed the intelligence through various channels. But it is rare for the ministry to disclose this information.



Such intelligence is interpreted as signs of some North Koreans turning their backs on the leadership, who are forcing the people to contribute more money and labor to prepare for the seventh congress of the Workers' Party as the North's economy shrinks because of dwindling trade with China since Pyongyang's nuclear and missile provocations, North Korea watchers said.



"Pyongyang has propagandized the nuclear test and rocket launch as major accomplishments of its leader, Kim Jong-un, but some North Koreans are angry these feats have not led to the improvement of their livelihoods but tightened international sanctions on the reclusive regime," the official said.



Another official said that as life gets tougher because of sanctions, voices of discontent are growing louder, especially among young people (although these fall short of developing into turmoil).



North Korean media outlets are trying to downplay the effects of sanctions but because they are mentioning another "march of hardship," it indicates the difficulties and anxieties caused by the sanctions, the official said.



These officials, however, are yet to present concrete statistics about economic troubles in the North that back up their analysis.



"The prices of some daily necessities, including rice, have risen, especially along Sino-Korean border regions, but the increases have not been steep yet," the official said. "It will take some more time to confirm actual damage to the North Korean economy."




By Kang Seung-woo



The government's disclosure on North Koreans that defected here has triggered speculation that it is trying to rally support among conservative voters ahead of Wednesday's general election.



The unification ministry announced on Friday that a group of 13 North Koreans who worked at a restaurant operated by the regime in China arrived in Seoul a day earlier. In addition, the ministry said on Monday that a ranking North Korean military officer defected to South Korea last year.



The announcements came with less than a week before the general election to fill 300 seats of the National Assembly. There is considerable focus on whether the ruling Saenuri Party will be able to secure a majority of seats.



"The government disclosed details of the defections of 13 North Korean restaurant staff before the National Intelligence Service conducted an investigation into them. It violated the practice that the government should not make public such defections to prevent their families in the North from being put in danger," said Minjoo Party of Korea spokesman Kim Sung-soo on Monday.



"The sudden, rare announcement has heightened suspicions that the government did so to win votes from conservative groups."



Analysts studying North Korea also said that the government's disclosure seems to be related to the general election.



"The government is politically taking advantage of the issue in order to promote President Park's tough stance as well as that international sanctions on North Korea are working in order to appeal to conservative voters," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute.



He added that it is an established principle that relevant government offices investigate defectors first, but not reveal personal information about them to avoid possible threats to the safety of their families who remain in the North.



"The government's behavior has raised doubt over whether the government is willing to remain neutral in elections  which is a cornerstone of democracy," Cheong said.



Another analyst who did not want to be identified said, "The announcement of the mass defection could cause a diplomatic problem if Seoul helped their escape without the Chinese government's knowledge. In addition, the disclosure may make it harder for other North Koreans to defect."



"Without careful consideration of the consequences, the government issued information about the defections as a form of political strategy ahead of the election," the analyst said.



Following the group defection last week, the largest that has occurred since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, the government has been keen to stress that it may deal a major blow to the North Korean regime, but analysts do not buy into this idea.



"It is premature that the United Nations resolution that was adopted on March 2 is already having an effect on the North," said the analyst said.



Meanwhile, the Hankyoreh, a liberal news daily, reported on Monday, citing multiple government officials, that Cheong Wa Dae ordered the unification ministry to make the unscheduled announcement about the mass defection on Friday afternoon, despite opposition from the ministry.



However, the presidential office said the newspaper story was untrue.




The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday it will support eight regions nationwide to develop specialized medical services in an effort to help them attract foreign patients.

The ministry said it will offer a total of 1 billion won ($872,000) to eight municipalities  up to 150 million won each  to help them develop medical tourism attractions.

The eight regions are Busan, Gwangju, Daegu, Daejeon, Jeju, and North Chungcheong, South Jeolla and North Gyeongsang provinces. Specialized treatments will include those for spines, bone joints, cancer, and respiratory disease, as well as comprehensive medical checkups.

"We hope to boost the medical industry in Korea and revive sluggish regional economies outside of Seoul," a ministry official said.

The municipalities will use the subsidy to set up relevant infrastructure, carry out promotional activities, and develop medical tourism programs.

For example, Busan already has renowned joint and spinal treatment institutions. The government will help the city government connect these with rehabilitation centers there and develop medical tourism programs combining treatment with regional festivals and other activities.

Respiratory disease treatment will be a strong point for North Chungcheong Province, a region famous for its quiet mountains and forests as well as for its clean air.

South Jeolla Province will specialize in cancer treatment along with a biomedical cluster in Hwasun County, while Daejeon will specialize in medical checkups.

Jeju will develop a one-day tour program that helps patients rest and enjoy nature on the southern resort island.

The ministry said medical tourism in regions other than Seoul has been gaining popularity. The total number of foreign patients visiting Korea increased more than fourfold from 60,000 in 2009 to 270,000 in 2014. Of them, 20.3 percent visited regional medical institutions in 2014, up from 12.2 percent in 2009.
By Kim Rahn



A total of 3,000 young jobseekers in Seoul could be set to receive 500,000 won every month for up to six months as part of the city government's new welfare policies.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) said Monday that it has finalized a youth support program and is aiming to start providing the subsidy in July, pending the outcome of a Supreme Court ruling.



Residents aged between 19 and 29 that have lived in Seoul for more than one year would be eligible for the program. "We will prioritize those who have been seeking jobs for a long time and those from low-income families, as many such people would not have been able to participate in job training programs because they have to make a living through part-time jobs," said a city official.



However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare filed a petition with the Supreme Court against the Seoul Metropolitan Council in January after the council refused a request by the ministry not to allocate a budget for the subsidies program. The future of the program is dependent on the outcome of the court's decision, which is due in the next few months.



If the subsidies program progresses, those eligible can use the 500,000 won, to be provided on debit cards, when paying for tuition, study materials, study room rentals and public transportation.



When selecting the 3,000 beneficiaries, the city will first review how much the applicants' families earn, whether the applicants have dependents and how long they have been unemployed. It will then evaluate their detailed job search plan.



"The beneficiaries will be required to regularly report their job-seeking activities to the city government. Payment will be stopped for those who fail to report or do not meet other requirements," he said.



The court case which will decide whether the scheme will be put into practice came about because the SMG has been at odds with the central government, which said that the city should have engaged in consultation with it before unilaterally establishing a social welfare policy.








By Jon Dunbar



Ukrainian rooftopper Vitaliy Raskalov and his Russian "partner-in-crime" Vadim Makhorov have uploaded a YouTube video made from footage of their daring ascent of Lotte World Tower last month.



The two made a sensation earlier this month after releasing one image taken from a crane atop the 555-meter tower, still under construction, on April 3.



Raskalov told The Korea Times the overnight climb was started at night on Feb. 29, ending in the morning of March 1.



"We chose this date because it was a holiday in Korea," he said.



In a statement posted on YouTube, they describe facing heavy security precautions including "tens of perimeters, fighting drones, clusters of chambers on columns and vigilant employees with guard dogs there."



According to Lotte Corporation, about 400 security officers are on duty at any one time. They were aware the two were in Korea, and flyers with their faces were posted around the area.



"At first we thought that we had no chance to wrap that system around our fingers," they write on YouTube. "But in any one, even in ideal, there are gaps. To avoid security, they mainly climbed the stairs, avoiding any elevators. When doors were locked, they climbed the exterior of the building, before reaching their goal atop a construction crane."



Although the building was topped off at 123 stories, the cranes remain in place because of roofing work, according to the YouTube statement.



Raskalov climbed to the top of the crane while Makhorov waited below; they began their descent at 6:55 a.m.



The video shows they did more sightseeing, visiting the DMZ and various markets and accessing a few less challenging roofs around the city. They posted an Instagram picture from the top level of Jongno Tower but took pictures only from public spaces.



"After visiting this place we have absolutely positive impressions," said the YouTube statement.



But Raskalov said their focus was always on Lotte World Tower.



When asked about the reported negative response in the Korean media, with complaints about safety and legality and various other concerns, the 20-year-old said, "I didn't do any research about the reaction in Korea  actually, we don't care."



They disclosed their feat only after leaving Korea, passing through customs with minor trouble on departure, said Raskalov, who didn't elaborate.



Their trip had been sponsored by anywayanyday.com, a Russian-based air ticket selling service.



Corporate sponsors fund much of their adventures. Their work can be viewed at ontheroofs.com.




Employees of Chinese company Aurance toast during a chicken and beer party on Wolmi Island in Incheon, on March 28. About 6,000 workers of the company came to Korea on an incentive tour. / Korea Times photo by Hong In-kee



By Kim Se-jeong

Chinese companies are a new target for Korea's tourism industry, as they offer incentive tours for their high-performance employees.

As the number of tourists reaches up to several thousand at once, more and more provincial governments are seeking to attract them.

Incheon was the first this year to make headlines here for attracting more than 6,000 employees of a Chinese company called Aurance in March.

Aurance chose Incheon because many scenes of a popular Korean soap opera, "My Love from the Star," starring Kim Soo-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun, were filmed there. The employees visited the filming spots and had chicken and beer at the beach, as the combination was featured in the drama.

This week, Seoul is hosting 1,000 employees of Prudential Singapore, who arrived on Saturday for almost a week-long stay. During their stay, they are scheduled to take part in a best K-pop dresser and dancer competition, as well as trying on hanbok (traditional Korean costume) at Bukchon Hanok Village.

In May, Seoul is also expecting 8,000 people from another Chinese company. They will come in two groups, 4,000 each, on May 5 and 9, visiting Dongdaemun, Gyeongbok Palace and Myeong-dong. They will stay at 15 hotels around the capital.

Incentive tourism has always been a part of tourism targets here, but local governments have begun paying more attention to them especially after the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) dropped the number of visitors to Korea significantly, affecting regional economies.

To help boost the dwindling local tourism industry, provincial governments set out to China and other Asian countries to attract corporate tourists. The group of 8,000 Chinese who arrive next month was a result of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's promotional tour last year. Aurance also contacted Incheon after Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok returned from a promotional trip to China last year.

"Incentive tourists are a little bit different from ordinary tourists, because their spending is much bigger than ordinary tourists'," said an official from Incheon Metropolitan Government.

Choi Kyung-eun from the Korean Culture and Tourism Institute said that the good thing about municipality-supported incentive tours is that tourists do not need to worry about being ripped off by low-quality tour agencies.

"Local tour agencies often attract Chinese tourists with cheap tour programs and low-quality food, which causes complaints from the tourists and damages the nation's image," Choi said. "With such incentive tours, visitors don't have to worry about that."

Also, with the rising number of incentive tourists, provincial governments now have a chance to promote themselves, according to Choi.

"Chinese tourists usually visit Seoul and Jeju Island, but with incentive tours, other regions have an opportunity to promote themselves," she said.

But she warned of the competition among provinces getting too fierce, focusing on who attracts how many tourists.
South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold vice-ministerial talks next week in Seoul to discuss North Korea's denuclearization and other regional and global issues, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Monday.

South Korean First Vice Minister Lim Sung-nam and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts Tony Blinken and Akitaka Saiki will meet here next Tuesday for the third trilateral diplomatic consultations. The three-way meeting was last held in Tokyo in January.

The three countries are also coordinating the vice ministers' schedules in Seoul to arrange bilateral meetings between Lim and Blinken and between Blinken and Saiki, the ministry said.

"(We) expect that the consultations will offer a venue for them to discuss concrete ways to strengthen their cooperation over the North's denuclearization and the enforcement of sanctions on the North, which were stressed during the trilateral summit on March 31," the ministry said in a press release.

The ministry added that the three senior officials would also discuss regional and global issues regarding healthcare, climate change, development and maritime cooperation.

The planned trilateral talks came amid a flurry of trilateral efforts to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programs through international and individual sanctions and diplomatic pressure. (Yonhap)
By Doug Bandow

Donald Trump again is causing international consternation. His remarks about South Korea and Japan developing nuclear weapons set off a minor firestorm.

"It would be catastrophic were the United States to shift its position and indicate that we support somehow the proliferation of nuclear weapons to additional countries," argued deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

Actually, what would be catastrophic is American involvement in a nuclear war as a result of its defense commitment to another nation, especially one able to defend itself. Indeed, Rhodes praised the fact that "Japan and the Republic of Korea benefit from our very rock-solid security assurances that we will come to their defense in any event." But this has turned prosperous, populous countries into permanent defense dependents.

Trump addressed this dependency. Neither country pays enough for its own protection, instead preferring to rely on Washington. He suggested that one answer would be for them to go nuclear. The issue "at some point is something that we have to talk about," he explained.

That's hardly a radical sentiment. The issue recently was raised by a former presidential candidate in South Korea. After Trump's remarks Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute observed: "If we have nuclear weapons, we'll be in a much better position to deal with North Korea."

Over the years there has been talk in Japan about pursuing the nuclear option. Former Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said Trump's sentiments allowed "Japan to change the peace-addled notion that America will protect us."

Despite the campaign to treat nuclear nonproliferation as sacrosanct, it cannot be decided in isolation. Broadly speaking, it is better if fewer nations have nukes. Yet in some cases proliferation might be stabilizing. Had Ukraine not given up its nuclear weapons left over from the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia might not have grabbed Crimea and supported separatists elsewhere.

Worse, the way Washington won assent of some nuclear-capable powers to abstain is to provide a "nuclear umbrella," that is, promise to use nukes to defend them if necessary. As a result, the price of nonproliferation in East Asia is America's willingness to risk Los Angelis to protect Seoul and Tokyo, and maybe Taipei and Canberra too.

Today nonproliferation means only the bad guys get guns. In East Asia China, Russia, and North Korea are the nuclear powers. America is supposed to provide geopolitical balance.

The result of this situation truly could be catastrophic.

The question today is what approach is likely to most promote stability in Northeast Asia and least risk to U.S. security. So far, America's defense promises have not caused the dragon or bear to lie down with the lamb.

China is acting aggressively toward Japan, Philippines, and Vietnam in particular; Russia has challenged the U.S. in the eastern reaches of Europe and the Middle East. North Korea is worse, constantly breathing fire against its neighbors and the U.S.

Still, policymakers act as if U.S. defense guarantees will never get called. The threat of nuclear retaliation undoubtedly has deterrent value. However, the two great wars of the 20th century started because deterrence failed.

In particular, threats which seem inconsistent with underlying interests have little credibility. Thus, the Chinese have publicly doubted that America would risk nuclear war over Taiwan's independence.

Moreover, once given, it is hard to back away from "rock solid security assurances" which have lost their original purpose. Which means if deterrence fails America could be at war automatically without considering the stakes.

Finally, promising to defend other, smaller powers allows them to hold American security hostage. With Washington behind them they are more likely to engage in risky behavior. During the 2000s Taiwan's independence-minded Chen Shui-bian upset Chinese sensibilities.

Japan has refused to even discuss the status of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands with China. Washington's view that they are covered by the "mutual" defense treaty likely has encouraged Tokyo's tough stance. Philippines has a military which might not be even second rate, yet that government is attempting to enlist the U.S. in its squabble with Beijing over Scarborough Reef.

America's nuclear umbrella is something that should be debated in both the U.S. and Asia. Yet Rhodes dismissed even discussing the idea, contending that "for the past 70 years" the U.S. has opposed nuclear proliferation. But when the world changes, policy also should change.

Trump was right when he argued that "At some point, [the U.S.] cannot be the policeman of the world." America's nuclear umbrella deserves scrutiny.

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and the author and editor of several books, including "Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire (Xulon)."
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for increased naval combat readiness on Monday during his inspection of the Navy's combat commands, the JCS said.

Gen. Lee Sun-jin's visits to the Navy's Fleet and Submarine Force Commands and the underwater demolition team came as North Korea has ratcheted up its belligerent anti-South rhetoric to an unusually high level.

Over the last month, North Korea has threatened to launch nuclear attacks on South Korea and strike South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae and other government institutions.

It has also claimed to have made progress on its development of nuclear-mounted intercontinental ballistic missiles and solid rocket fuel, having conducted its fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch this year.

Earlier this month, North Korea had sent jamming signals in a provocative weeklong operation to disrupt South Korea's GPS.

"North Korea is stepping up its naval threats day by day, having conducted large-scale landing and counter-landing exercises in March and continuing its development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles," the JCS chairman said during the visit.

Lee called on naval service members to "make every effort to enhance their surveillance over the North and maintain a swift response posture in order to be able to detect and deal with any enemy vessels or submarines," according to the JCS.

"If the enemy launches a reckless provocation, (our forces) should hit back resolutely and in a proportional manner," he said.

Aboard the Navy's 214-Type submarine, Lee also checked the vessel's precision attack capability and armament, the JCS said. (Yonhap)
Ministry of Unification spokesman Jeong Joon-hee gives a press briefing at the Government Complex in Seoul, Friday, about 13 North Korean defectors from China who arrived last Thursday. / Yonhap



By Ko Dong-hwan

South Korean presidential house Cheong Wa Dae ordered a press briefing about the 13 North Korean defectors from China who arrived last Thursday to attract conservative voters for the April 13 general elections, a local newspaper said Monday.

Ministry of Unification spokesman Jeong Joon-hee told the media at the Government Complex in Seoul Friday about the defectors. But the presidential house forced the press release, despite the ministry recommending against it, according to the Hankyoreh. The ministry was concerned the press release would jeopardize the safety of the defectors' families in the North.

"The ministry's press briefing about the defectors was ordered by Cheong Wa Dae at the last minute," the report said, quoting a government official. "The ministry first objected to the order because it contradicts the government's common way of handling North Korean defectors  keeping them under the public radar to safeguard the safety of their family members in the North. But Cheong Wa Dae didn't agree to the objection."

The press briefing was held a day after the defectors' arrival here, with the press notified only 30 minutes before, a rare case.

Following the briefing, the Ministry of Unification and Ministry of Foreign Affairs each held press conferences Sunday. The report said it was the ministries' bid "to attract conservative voters for the elections by highlighting the effectiveness of the government's counter-measures against the North."

Officials from the ministries referred to the defection as "a positive outcome of the measures" and said they "locked out North Korean ships in the state's harbors."

The defectors  one manager and 12 waitresses from a Pyongyang-owned restaurant in Ningbo, northeast Zhejiang province  arrived in South Korea via a third Southeast Asian country.
Speculation grows over China's role in mass defection

Following the en-masse defection last week of 13 North Koreans who reportedly worked at a state-run restaurant in China, speculation is growing over whether Beijing played any role in facilitating their perilous journey to South Korea.

Given the traditional ties with its ally Pyongyang, Beijing could not have publicly or actively supported the defection, observers said, noting that they might have knowingly condoned the defectors' attempts to head to the South via a third country in Southeast Asia.

A government source here said that Beijing might have been aware of the defection given that it was rare that North Korean workers in China defected to the South in droves.

"It is difficult to believe that the 13 people carrying North Korean passports were able to move out of China without the Chinese authorities' knowledge," the source said on the condition of anonymity.












Oh In-gyu, a professor of the Research Institute of Korean Studies at Korea University and director of general affairs at World Association for Hallyu Studies, at his office in Seoul on April 4

/ Korea Times photo by Kang Hyun-kyung



By Kang Hyun-kyung

There were Korean drama buffs in Japan even before actor Bae Yong-joon became a heart-throb of Japanese women following the phenomenal success of the mega hit TV series "Winter Sonata." The romance drama aired in Japan on NHK in 2003.

The first fans of Korean drama in Japan were college students who took Korean language courses in the early 2000s. In classroom, instructors turned on the popular TV series "Everything About Eve," which aired on MBC in 2000, for 10 to 15 minutes to teach Japanese students colloquial expressions in Korean.

While catching up on the real Korean, the Japanese students were drawn into the drama which describes the rivalry between two female broadcast journalists for the top position in their network. Their jealousy and competition made the drama fun and exciting. The two lead characters  Chae Rim and Kim So-yeon also fascinated the students with their good looks, chic makeup and fashionable clothing.

Oh In-gyu, a professor of the Research Institute of Korean Studies at Korea University, said Everything About Eve was a game changer that triggered the hallyu boom in Japan.

He indicated that Korean dramas were already popular among young Japanese women, even before Winter Sonata. The drama was considered the beginning of the Korean drama boom in Japan.





TV series "Everything About Eve," which aired on MBC in 2000, describes the rivalry between two female broadcast journalists for the top position in their network. / Korea Times file photo



"Everything About Eve was the Japanese fans' favorite Korean drama," he said. "Prior to the TV series, Japanese students had few chances to watch well-made Korean dramas."

He has had first-hand experience of hallyu or the Korean Wave in Japan as he taught students at the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Oita Prefecture on Japan's southern island of Kyusu from 2001 to 2003.

Oh, also director of general affairs at the Seoul-based international academic society World Association for Hallyu Studies, said that Korean education at Japanese universities underwent a major reshuffle in the early 2000s following a policy change.

Before the reshuffle, the language courses were boring and unpopular. North Korean residents taught the classes, which were then called Joseon language courses. North Korean textbooks and newspaper articles were used as class material and Japanese students were trained to learn the North Korean accent. The strong North Korean accent and propaganda-oriented materials made the Japanese students sick of the courses. Class sizes were as small as five to 10.

After the change, South Koreans who earned their master's or doctoral degrees from Japanese universities were invited to teach Korean. They innovated language training with interactive teaching, new tutorial materials, and the standard Korean accent, which made the courses fun. The courses attracted many students. For example, Oh said the classroom was crowded all the time, and every semester over 100 Japanese students took the Korean language courses at Ritsumeikan.

"The shift in Korean education in Japanese universities in the early 2000s was a milestone event. It sowed the seeds for the Korean drama boom in Japan," said Oh.

An increasing number of Japanese scholars and commentators explored hallyu as their research topic and, consequently, a flurry of publications about the phenomenon followed. The Korean drama boom as a research topic spread to Southeast Asian countries, and scholars of Asian culture there shifted their attention to hallyu as a new area of specialization.

The 2003 Asian culture conference in Singapore demonstrated the popularity of hallyu as a research topic all across Asia. "The organizers were surprised because many scholars from different countries presented their analysis of hallyu," Oh said.

Oh added that he felt the need for professional hallyu studies in Korea. Until the mid-2000s, there were no Korean scholars or experts who were looking into the phenomenon. "It's difficult to understand why Koreans were not interested in hallyu which was triggered by Korean cultural products," he said.

After he returned to Korea in 2008, wrapping up his years of teaching in Japan and then Europe, Oh sought to establish a global academic association aiming to do research on hallyu.

However, it took time for him to officially launch the World Association for Hallyu Studies.

Skepticism about hallyu was prevalent at home and abroad. "Korean and foreign experts echoed the view that hallyu was over," he said. There were no mega hit dramas following the stunning success of Winter Sonata and "Jewel in the Palace," causing skepticism about hallyu.

There were also deniers. Professors in mass media departments were extremely skeptical about hallyu.

"They considered it part of low culture and hallyu was not something that Koreans should feel proud of. Thus they claimed that promoting it would only hurt the image of the country."

In an article published in 2003, a Seoul National University professor claimed that hallyu was exaggerated. According to him, there was no such thing as hallyu. Although there were some Korean drama fans in China, he went on to say that many of them were poor, uneducated people.

His writing drew a backlash from Chinese hallyu fans. They fired at him saying that they were highly educated, wealthy urbanites. In the face of the backlash, the SNU professor made an official apology to the hallyu fans in China.

The popularity of Korean dramas has fluctuated since 2003 when Winter Sonata captivated Japanese women. It hit a low point in 2006 when everyone said that the hallyu would be short-lived. But the Korean drama boom bounced back in 2013. Oh said that the TV series "My Love From the Star" which aired from December 2013 to February 2014 on SBS was as successful as Winter Sonata or Jewel in the Palace. Actor Kim Soo-hyun rose to stardom in China after the big success of the soap opera.

"It's a well-made Korea version of Superman in that the male character is an alien from another planet who lands on Earth and helps a top actress with his supernatural powers after falling in love with her," Oh said.

Oh's initiative gained momentum after some K-Pop stars became widly successful across the world after 2012. "Things got easier for me to get the World Association for Hallyu Studies off the ground because the K-Pop boom helped me rally support from experts at home and abroad for its beginning." The organization was finally launched in January 2013.

Oh said there are approximately 40 million hallyu fans across the globe. The figure is based on the number of registered hallyu club members. According to him, about a fourth of them are Chinese, making China the country with the largest number of hallyu fans. Many of them are young female urbanites in their 20s. In Japan, Korean drama fans are women in their 40s, 50s and 60s who are fascinated with "sweet" and good-looking Korean actors. In Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand, transgender people are huge fans of hallyu.

"As you can see, the majority of hallyu fans are females. This means that the popularity of Korean drama would have an impact on industries producing commodities for women, such as cosmetics," he said. "Korean automakers are unlikely to benefit from the popularity of Korean drama because of the characteristic of the fans."

The Korean drama boom overseas has led to an increase in female drama writers. Most hallyu fans are women and female writers know how to write stories that can appeal to them.
By Ranjit Kumar Dhawan

Korea is presently one of the most globalized countries with large number of free trade agreements. People from all over the world can be found in Korea these days. Similarly, Koreans are also moving out of the country and settling in different parts of the planet. This makes Koreans one of the most widespread diaspora in the world.

However, on the issue of multiculturalism Koreans are still hostile to the changes in the ethnic and cultural homogeneity of their country. Recent surveys on this issue suggest that an increasing number of the Korean people are becoming intolerant to immigrants from other countries.

The Korean national identity is basically ethnic in nature. The belief in a common origin of the Korean people does not allow the inclusion of foreigners in the national imagination. For centuries the Korean Peninsula remained isolated from rest of the world and was ruled by long lasting dynasties such as Goryeo (918-1392) and Joseon (1392-1910). This played an important role in the development of culture in the country.

The "opening of Korea" happened in the modern period after the Ganghwa treaty of 1876. This was the turning point in the history of the country. The penetration of foreign powers on the Korean Peninsula initiated several social and cultural changes in the country. With the opening of the Peninsula to the outside world it became an arena of rivalry between various powers and led to colonization by Japan in 1910. Foreign powers divided the peninsula in 1945 and fought against each other during the horrific Korean War (1950-53).

The globalization of the Korean economy after the end of the Cold War brought several foreign companies to Korea. In recent years a large number of foreign workers have entered the country who are mainly employed in sectors where there is a lack of Korean workers, such as in the 3D (dirty, difficult and dangerous) jobs or in highly skilled professions. A large number of foreign brides have also become part of Korean society, particularly in the rural areas.

But suspicions of foreigners are still deep seated among Korean people. Foreign workers are criticized for stealing jobs and foreign brides are condemned for destroying the racial purity of the Korean people. However the emerging problems of Korean society, political and economic require that the country need to be more accommodative to a multicultural policy.

Korea has an ageing population and the birthrate in the country has gone down. According to a report by the National Assembly Research Service, the entire population of Korea could become extinct by the year 2750 due to the low birthrate. As a result, Korea needs foreign workers who will fill shortages in the workforce due to the ageing population. Similarly, foreign brides are also needed to save Korean society from extinction.

Korea's export dependent economy has been witnessing a decline in recent years. The revival of the economy needs scientific innovations and the development of new technologies. The establishment of a "creative economy" and Fourth Industrial Revolution require that Korea should become more culturally inclusive to attract talented people from foreign countries.

Multiculturalism is not only about tolerance to different cultures but also about tolerance to different political ideologies. Despite being culturally homogenous Korea remains a divided country and there are sharp regional differences. Tolerance to different ideologies is needed to unify the Korean Peninsula and bring about national integration.

Therefore, a multicultural policy would be helpful to Korea in many ways and a solution to several problems the country faces.

The author is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. His e-mail address is rkdhawan13@hotmail.com.
Samsung Electronics Digital Media and Communications Research and Development Center official Kim Yun-sun speaks during the opening ceremony of an international meeting for the discussion on standardization of fifth-generation network technologies at the Grand Hotel in Busan, Monday. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



By Yoon Sung-won



Samsung Electronics said Monday it will lead the global standardization of fifth-generation (5G) network technologies for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project Radio Access Network 1 (3GPP RAN1).



At an international meeting scheduled to run for the next five days in Busan, the company will discuss how to integrate diverse services including the Internet of Things (IoT) into the faster and broader 5G network.



"We expect to create new business opportunities by providing an improved user experience through 5G network services," Samsung Electronics Digital Media and Communications R&D Center Executive Vice President Kim Chang-yeong said in a statement. "As Samsung Electronics has led the standardization of the fourth-generation long-term evolution network, we will do the same for the 5G network by collaborating with global partners to meet the schedule."



As a member of the 3GPP, Samsung Electronics will announce its plans for integrating diverse IoT services to the 5G network and securing compatibility with future 5G technologies that will be further improved by June next year. Based on such research, the company said it will complete the first standardization phase of the 5G network in June 2018.



The 3GPP is the world's largest technology standardization organization, dedicated to mobile networks. The RAN is an affiliated technology group under the 3GPP working on interfaces connecting mobile devices and base stations.



The 3GPP started discussions on 5G network technology standardization last September at a workshop in Phoenix in the U.S. More detailed research projects on candidate technologies for the 5G network will begin at the meeting in Busan, Samsung said.



About 400 technology experts from more than 80 telecom companies are participating in the meeting, it said.



Samsung Electronics started developing 5G technology in 2011 and succeeded in demonstrating 1.2 gigabit-per-second data transmission using ultrahigh frequency for the first time in the world in 2013.



During the Mobile World Congress (MWC) earlier this year in February, the company unveiled the world's first handover technology connecting 5G base stations and pushed for partnerships with global telecom operators and network equipment makers.
AF introduces Air Superiority 2030 study

The Air Force introduced the results of a yearlong study focused on developing capability options to ensure joint force air superiority in 2030 and beyond during an Air Force Association breakfast April 7 in Arlington, Virginia.



According to Lt. Gen. Mike Holmes, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, the gap between the U.S. militarys air superiority capabilities and potential adversaries network of capabilities is closing at an accelerated rate.



In order to counter emerging threats, air superiority must be viewed as a condition, not capability, using multi-domain solutions developed through a more agile acquisition process.



After 25 years of being the only great power out there, were returning to a world of great power competition, Holmes said. We need to develop coordinated solutions that bring air, space, cyber, electronic environment and surface capabilities together to solve our problems.



Air superiority is the most important thing the Air Force provides for the joint force in the tactical environment, Holmes continued. I dont believe there is anyone in our armed forces who has ever fought a combined arms battle without complete control of the air, and theres no one in our armed forces who has ever fought a combined arms battle against an enemy armed with precision weapons.



With direction from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Air Force operators, acquirers and analysts formed an enterprise capability collaboration team to evaluate these problems from a new vantage point to propose solutions and lay out a plan to achieve those solutions as quickly as possible.



The ECCT looked to military experts, academia and industry for input and then conducted integrated planning, analysis and assessments. More than 1,500 submissions were distilled into 220 initiatives, which were then divided into various operational concepts. Eventually the team determined an integrated and networked family of capabilities operating across air, space and cyberspace was the most viable option.



Theres no silver bullet, said Col. Alexus Grynkewich, the Air Superiority 2030 ECCT lead. We have to match tech cycles -- some of them are really long. Engines take a long time to make, but information age tech cycles are fast. Software updates are constantly moving. So how do you move from pacing yourself off industrial age mindsets to information age mindsets?



The answer, Grynkewich said, is parallel development of maturing technologies for sensors, missions systems, lethality and non-kinetic effects, on appropriate time cycles. The next step is to pull technologies out of each of those parallel efforts when they are ready and developing prototypes, experimenting and gaining more knowledge to determine if the developments are whats needed in the field.



Using cell phones as an example, the colonel compared the current acquisition process to the way his team sees agile acquisition happening in the future in order to maintain air superiority. In the past, the Air Force has pushed for generational technological advances equivalent to the transition from flip phones to smartphones, he said. It should instead be pursuing incremental advances like the upgrades provided by newer and newer versions of smart phones and continuing to upgrade along the way instead of waiting for a revolutionary jump in technology.



What we hope to lay out is a way to prototype and experiment with a number of concepts, Grynkewich said. You can start building and then move forward if experimental capabilities are determined to make enough of a difference in highly contested environments of the future.

In order to achieve air superiority in the future, bringing agility to multi-domain acquisitions is crucial.



We've talked about acquisition agility a number of times in terms of, How do we save money and not wasting taxpayer dollars is absolutely important, Grynkewich said. But there's an operational imperative that says we have to do this and if we don't we're at a risk of failing as an Air Force and a joint force.
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

Read more
State prison photo

Esteban Nunez, the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, was released from prison Sunday after serving less than six years for his part in the 2008 stabbing death of San Diego college student Luis Santos. The original sentence called for 16 years, but then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, on his final day in office, commuted the sentence to allow Nunez, now 27, an earlier release. He will now be on parole in the Sacramento area for three years, per the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

"Esteban Nunez was released to parole supervision this morning (Sunday). In accordance with the law, he will reside in Sacramento County, which is his county of last legal residence. Nunez will be on parole supervision for three years."

Nunez pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2008 stabbing, which happened at a party at San Diego State University. Nunez and his co-defendant went after Santos with knives and were charged with murder, but pleaded to the lesser charge. Our son has paid his debt to society. He is committed to continuing the work of healing, self-reflection and spiritual growth," the Nunez family said in a statement Sunday.

When Schwarzenegger reduced the sentence, the Santos family sued unsuccessfully. A judge found that the act was "repugnant" but legal. "It makes you sick that something like this can happen, and you have no power," Kathy Santos said.

Of course you help a friend, Schwarzenegger later said. From the LA Times:




An external fuel tank made for the space shuttle Columbia, but never used, was loaded onto an ocean barge in New Orleans Sunday bound for Los Angeles. When the tank arrives at Marina Del Rey, after passing through the Panama Canal, it will be ferried through the streets of Los Angeles to join the Endeavour space shuttle at the California Science Center in Exposition Park. ET-94, as it's called, towers 15 stories high. It's the only such tank that remains in existence, apparently.

This image is by photographer Gil Garcetti, the former DA, on Instagram and posted on Twitter by his son, Mayor Eric Garcetti.
When it comes to banning books, nothing is sacred.

The American Library Assn. has released its list of the top 10 most banned or challenged books of 2015, and among all the usual suspects, there's an unexpected bestseller: the Bible.

The text that is considered holy by hundreds of millions of people worldwide made the list at No. 6, in between Mark Haddon's novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" and Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir "Fun Home."

The list:

(Dutton Juvenile) (Test)

1. "Looking for Alaska," by John Green

Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

From the archives: John Green books come under parental fire again

(Vintage) (Test)

2. "Fifty Shades of Grey," by E. L. James

Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and other (poorly written, concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it)

(Dial Books for Young Readers) (Test)

3. "I Am Jazz," by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings

Reasons: Inaccurate, homosexuality, sex education, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group

(Candlewick Press) (Test)

4. "Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out," by Susan Kuklin

Reasons: Anti-family, offensive language, homosexuality, sex education, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and other (wants to remove from collection to ward off complaints)

(Test)

5. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," by Mark Haddon

Reasons: Offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and other (profanity and atheism)

From the archives: Parents object, Florida school drops 'Curious Incident' novel

(Los Angeles Times) (Test)

6. The Bible

Reasons: Religious viewpoint

(Houghton Mifflin) (Test)

7. "Fun Home," by Alison Bechdel

Reasons: Violence, and other (graphic images)

From the archives: Duke freshmen object to Alison Bechdel's 'pornographic' graphic memoir, 'Fun Home'

(Test)

8. "Habibi," by Craig Thompson

Reasons: Nudity, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

From the archives: Q&A with Craig Thompson

(Test)

9. "Nasreens Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan," by Jeanette Winter

Reasons: Religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, and violence

From the archives: Children's books set in Afghanistan, Iraq challenged in Florida schools

(Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young) (Test)

10. "Two Boys Kissing," by David Levithan

Reasons: Homosexuality, and other (condones public displays of affection)

L.A. Times review: A chorus of ghosts watches over David Levithan's 'Two Boys Kissing'

The list is dominated by books that are open about sex and gender. Those that are positive reflections of homosexuality and same-sex relationships are very frequently challenged.

This year, James LaRue, director of the assocation's Office for Intellectual Freedom, told the Associated Press that the Bible has drawn complaints for different reasons. "You have people who feel that if a school library buys a copy of the Bible, it's a violation of church and state," he said, noting that the association does not oppose the Bible's presence in public schools or libraries.

"And sometimes there's a retaliatory action, where a religious group has objected to a book and a parent might respond by objecting to the Bible," LaRue added.

The No. 1 spot on the list went to John Green's young adult novel "Looking for Alaska," which drew complaints for profanity and for being "sexually explicit." The book also made the list in 2012 and 2013.

Green's book was followed by another perennial target of would-be book banners: E.L. James' bondage erotica novel "Fifty Shades of Grey," which was challenged for its sexual content and over "concerns that a group of teenagers will want to try it."

Books that deal with LGBT subjects frequently make appearances on the association's lists, and this year is no exception.

The No. 3 book on the list was the children's book "I Am Jazz" by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings. The story is based on the life story of Jennings, the 15-year-old YouTube star, who is a transgender girl.

Other LGBT-themed books making the list were "Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out" by Susan Kuklin at No. 4 and "Two Boys Kissing" by David Levithan at No. 10.

The association doesn't claim that its lists of challenged books are comprehensive, estimating "that for every reported challenge, four or five remain unreported" by the media.

"[T]he Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books list should be seen as a snapshot of the reports [the Office for Intellectual Freedom] receives and not an exhaustive report," the group's website notes. "[S]urveys indicate up to 85% of book challenges receive no media attention and remain unreported."

MORE FROM JACKET COPY:

Here are the 2016 L.A. Times Book Prize winners

Festival of Books: Huffington disses Trump; Carrie Brownstein charms; everybody wants to Instagram this mural

How Tom Bissell's lack of belief compelled him to write 'Apostle'
The correlation between life expectancy and income is one of the best-established metrics in American demographics, but seldom is it portrayed as strikingly as in the graphic above, published this weekend by the Health Inequality Project and drawn from a study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The chart shows a 15-year gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest men, and a 10-year gap between the richest and poorest women.

The JAMA paper attributes much of the disparity to higher rates of smoking and obesity, and lower rates of exercise, among poorer Americans. Its authors say they found that access to healthcare and insurance, as measured by the uninsurance rate and Medicare spending, were "not significantly associated with life expectancy for individuals" in the bottom 25% of the income range. But they also acknowledge that the difference in longevity is often "attributed to factors such as inequality, economic and social stress, and differences in access to medical care," and the jury is still out on these theories. Higher rates of smoking and obesity could be artifacts of lack of healthcare services, for instance.

Last January, we explored the implications of this disparity for Social Security, particularly given the popular idea among Republican politicians to raise the retirement age as a solution to its supposed fiscal problems. As the chart shows, that's merely a pathway for the rich to become richer and the poor poorer. We reproduce our original Jan. 25 column below.

----------

As part of its effort to keep the public apprised of the facts underlying policy prescriptions, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has issued a new primer deconstructing one of the oft-heard ideas to improve Social Security's finances: raise the retirement age.

The brief by CBPP senior policy analyst Kathleen Romig makes clear that this change would be a stealth benefit cut for lower-income workers, wrecking Social Security's progressive benefit structure.

Richer people live longer -- and the gap is growing.  --Kathleen Romig, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Superficially, this "fix" seems painless, at least in the form it's generally offered by proponents. The age can be raised gradually and the near-retired (say those now 55 or older) can be exempted. The argument is that older Americans are healthier than ever and working longer, so raising the retirement age may not merely be justifiable, but essential to protect this all-important retirement program.

Plus, there's a precedent. The 1983 bipartisan Social Security reforms raised the normal retirement age, at which full benefits can be collected, from its traditional 65 to 66 for those born in 1943 to 1954, and 67 for those born in 1960 or later.

On the campaign trail, a higher retirement age has been endorsed in one form or another by Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, all Republicans. One notable holdout is Donald Trump. Neither of the leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, favors the idea.

But the proposal has all the flaws of a blunderbuss approach to an issue that cries out for painstaking care. The basic problem with raising the retirement age for Americans is that all Americans are not alike. The differences in life expectancy are closely tied to economic status, education and race.

Indeed, the divergence in longevity between America's richest and poorest workers is widening. "Richer people live longer  and the gap is growing," Romig observes. "Higher-earning men can expect to outlive lower-earning men by more than five years." This gap was almost nonexistent as recently as the late 1970s. (See graph below.)

The gap in life expectancy between rich and poor has risen sharply since 1977. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities )

To put it another way, as did a study released last year by the National Academy of Sciences, among men born in 1930 who reached the age of 50, those in the top 20% of household income had a 45% chance of living to 85, while those in the lowest 20% had only a 27% chance. Thirty years later  that is, for men born in 1960 and therefore turning 56 this year  the chances of living to 85 after reaching 50 had risen to 66% for those in the top 20% of income, while for those at the bottom, the probability had barely budged.

More disturbingly, the life expectancy of some Americans, especially women in the bottom 40% of household income, have been noticeably shrinking. The National Academy of Sciences found that women in that economic group born in 1930 who reached the age of 50 had a roughly 44% chance of living to 85; those born 30 years later had only a 35% chance. For women at the top of the household income scale, however, the chance of living to 85 rose from 60% to 77%.

The implications of this trend for Social Security are inescapable. Through its benefit structure, which provides lower-income workers with a higher benefit proportional to their earnings than it gives higher-income workers, Social Security redistributes wealth from rich to poor. That's fairly well understood. What's less well understood is that it also redistributes from those who die young to those who die older, since the latter collect benefits for a longer period.

The authors of the National Academy study, who included such retirement sages as Peter Orszag and William Gale, pointed out that Americans have tended not to see the latter inequity as unfair because it's "not predictable"  some people will live long, others will die young, "but mostly we do not know which people are which."

But that's changing. The developing trend gives us a better idea of which people are which  and those reaping the benefits are those who already are heavily advantaged in our society. The trend in life expectancy, the authors assert, could "undo much of the redistribution embedded in the benefits formula" that gives lower-income workers a better stipend in retirement.

This implication is simply ignored by those who declare that raising the retirement age is a simple fix for Social Security. It's just the opposite  it's an erosion of the program that works exactly counter to the goals it should be serving.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltzik's blog.
Olivia S. Mitchell is a professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Lately she's been pushing a plan to "save" Social Security by allowing some benefits to be taken as a lump sum.

On the surface, the proposal has some virtues. But that only makes it more perplexing that Mitchell would back it up by describing the program's fiscal condition in a way that's flagrantly misleading and arguably discredited.

I am deeply concerned that my children and grandchildren...will inherit a huge unfunded liability via Social Security.  Wharton economist Olivia S. Mitchell

Mitchell comes to the Social Security debate with gilt-edged credentials as a pension and retirement expert. She's executive director of Wharton's pension research council; has consulted for the Japanese government, the World Bank, the U.S. Treasury Dept., and the Social Security Administration; and holds a shelf-load of international awards and honorifics. Her statements about Social Security might well be taken as pronouncements from the cathedral. That's what makes it so worrisome that she profoundly exaggerates Social Security's fiscal problem to support her proposal.

Mitchell described her would-be fix in a column at Marketwatch.com published over the weekend, though she has been talking about it at least since February. It's aimed at retirees pondering whether to start taking benefits as soon as they're eligible, at age 62, or to wait as long as possible.

Retirees often are advised to defer claiming, because every year of deferral increases monthly benefits until one reaches the ultimate deadline at age 70. Under Mitchell's plan, those who put off claiming benefits until, say, 66 or 70 could get the same monthly benefits for life they were entitled to at 62, plus a lump sum payment representing the benefit increases they earned by waiting those extra four or eight years. The payment could be $60,000 or more, she estimates, a sum that could be useful for some retirees. For example, some could use the lump-sum check to pay off debts, reducing their expenses in retirement.

Mitchell says she and her Wharton colleagues are planning a study to determine how much should be offered to produce an incentive to defer claiming. Her feeling is that lump sum payments could be so attractive to some people that they might be willing to accept a little less than the equivalent of what they'd be owed in monthly payments, in order to have a bird in hand. That would "actually save the system money," she said in a video distributed earlier this year by Wharton, which called her solution "painless." And that's important, she said, because the system is in such bad shape that it needs all the help it can get.

It's in supporting that rationale  that Social Security desperately needs radical surgery  that Mitchell arguably goes off the rails.

The questionable part of her article appears near the bottom, where she writes:

"The Social Security shortfall is enormous. Actuaries have estimated that its on the order of $28 trillion in present value. Thats twice the size of the gross domestic product of the U.S. So a small delay in claiming wont solve the problem. Were also going to have to change the benefit formula. Were going to have to make changes in the retirement age." (Emphasis added.)

Most Social Security experts view that $28-trillion figure as a red flag. That's because many people who cite it are ideologues aiming to scare the public into thinking the program's finances are far worse than they really are. Let's see what makes the statistic, and Mitchell's use of it, so misleading.

Wharton Professor Olivia S. Mitchell on Social Security. Her discussion of the Social Security deficit starts at 11:42 on the video.

The figure is an estimate of the present value of Social Security's unfunded obligation not as it exists today, but as if it were calculated out to infinity. Economists find the so-called infinite horizon model useful in some contexts. But as it's typically applied to Social Security it's beloved by ideologues because it produces a really big, and really scary, estimate of the accumulated deficit.

The infinite projection appears in the annual Social Security Trustees Report, but its placement there is controversial. The Social Security Advisory Board's 2015 technical panel of economists, actuaries and demographers recommended dropping the infinite projection from the trustees reports altogether, for two reasons. One is that it incorporates enormous uncertainties. Estimating costs, revenues and policy changes for Social Security's conventional 75-year forecasts is hard enough; the influences playing on the program hundreds or thousands of years into the future are literally unimaginable. That makes the infinite projection "unhelpful as a guide to policy-making," the panel reported.

The second reason is that it's so vulnerable to misinterpretation. As an earlier technical panel observed, the projection is sometimes "quoted in policy discussions without including its relation to corresponding GDP, which is both misleading and shifts the focus from more useful metrics."

Interestingly, that's exactly what Mitchell does. (We should mention in passing that Mitchell actually gets her numbers wrong. The infinite projection deficit, as published by the trustees in their most recent report, was $25.8 trillion as of Jan. 1, not $28 trillion; U.S. GDP, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, was $18.2 trillion as of the end of 2015, not $14 trillion as Mitchell implies.)

In her MarketWatch article, Mitchell doesn't disclose that the figure she's citing is the infinite projection, which could lead some readers to think she's talking about Social Security's current deficit. (In current terms, Social Security actually runs an annual surplus and is expected to do so until 2020.) Even worse, she juxtaposes it with current gross domestic product by stating that it's "twice the size" of GDP today. The unwary reader might be led to think that a Social Security "crisis" is on the verge of bankrupting the U.S. in the here and now.

What's the proper context for the infinite-horizon deficit? Plainly, it's the corresponding calculation of GDP to the infinite horizon. That calculation shows that the deficit is nowhere near as scary as Mitchell makes it out to be. In fact, according to the Social Security trustees, the $25.8-trillion obligation amounts not to twice GDP, but only 1.3% of GDP. That's because the present value of GDP over the infinite horizon is projected to be $1.95 quadrillion.

How big is 1.3% of GDP? If applied to this year's GDP, it would come to about $237 billion. That's just over one-third of President Obama's $616-billion defense budget request for 2016.

Mitchell told me by email that she uses the infinite projection because she thinks the conventional 75-year time frame is too brief. "I am deeply concerned that my children and grandchildren...will inherit a huge unfunded liability via Social Security," she wrote. "Arbitrarily cutting the projections short at 75 years essentially says that their futures are worth nothing in current generations calculations."

She acknowledges that "obviously, no one would propose paying off all Social Security promises in a single year," but says that her purpose in "comparing the [present value] of Social Security future liabilities and the GDP is to provide a metric that people might be able to understand  otherwise these numbers with multiple zeros seem just too unreal to grasp."

Does she achieve this? One might argue that she achieves the opposite. A figure like $28 trillion is exactly what a layperson finds hard to grasp, and placing it in the context of this year's GDP only confuses the issue. A nice graspable figure is 1.3%, the share of future GDP consumed by all those trillions, with the added virtue that it's more appropriate. But of course it doesn't raise panic, either.

Mitchell also told me that she stands by her position in the MarketWatch article that her proposal, which encourages people to weather a small delay in claiming Social Security, isn't enough to solve the program's problem, and that "were also going to have to change the benefit formula. Were going to have to make changes in the retirement age.

One might argue that the myriad uncertainties about America's economy and demographics in the future argue in favor of moving very cautiously to change in Social Security. Mitchell disagrees. "Uncertainty means that action should be accelerated rather than delayed," she wrote me, "to lessen the likelihood of very large benefit cuts or tax increases in the future."

Yet she's expressing certainty here, not the opposite. She's assuming that economic growth will be so poor that Social Security revenues will fall short of benefits, and by a widening gulf, and that U.S. policy makers won't find ways to increase revenues instead of cutting benefits. She's assuming that cutting benefits piecemeal over time is preferable to doing so all at once; but why that should be so isn't at all clear, especially when the necessity of any cuts remains unproven. Accelerating changes is exactly the wrong approach when one can't know these things.

Mitchell's lump-sum plan might be a useful element in a Social Security fix if it were entirely clear that a fix was necessary. But the fact that she relied on an exaggerated statistic to make her case suggests that there may not be such a strong case, after all.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltzik's blog.
The Justice Department on Monday announced a $5-billion settlement with Goldman Sachs over the sale of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.

The deal resolves state and federal probes into the sale of shoddy mortgages before the housing bubble and subsequent economic meltdown.

It requires the bank to pay a $2.4-billion civil penalty and an additional $1.8 billion in relief to underwater homeowners and distressed borrowers, along with $875 million in other claims.

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This resolution holds Goldman Sachs accountable for its serious misconduct in falsely assuring investors that securities it sold were backed by sound mortgages, when it knew that they were full of mortgages that were likely to fail, Acting Associate Atty. Gen. Stuart Delery said in a statement.

The agreement is the latest multibillion-dollar civil settlement reached with a major bank over the economic meltdown in which millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure. Other banks that have settled in the last two years include Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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But the deal, which includes no criminal sanctions or penalties, is likely to stir additional criticism about the departments inability to hold bank executives personally responsible for the financial crisis. Attempting to address those concerns, Deputy Atty. Gen. Sally Quillian Yates issued department-wide guidance last year aimed at encouraging more criminal prosecutions of individuals for white-collar wrongdoing.

Goldman previously disclosed the settlement in January, but federal officials laid out additional allegations in a statement of facts as they accused the bank of making serious misrepresentations about the quality of mortgage-backed securities it issued. The securities contained residential mortgages from borrowers who were unlikely to be able to repay their loans.

The poor quality of the loans led to huge losses for investors and a slew of foreclosures, kicking off the recession that began in late 2007.

The bank, for instance, admitted that it did not share with investors troubling information that it had received about the business practices of some loan originators, and that it falsely told investors that the loans had been checked to ensure that they met quality standards.

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Travel group, lawmaker call for investigation of airlines over new booking policy
The glitzy boulevards of this Middle Eastern Shangri-La are better known for over-the-top cars and construction projects simmering under the desert sun, but this weekend it was Geek Culture that took center stage.

Legions of self-proclaimed nerds, comic-book addicts and manga maniacs descended on Dubai for three days ending Saturday to take part in the Middle East Film & Comic Con, or MEFCC, widely proclaimed as the regions top pop-culture convention.

Although the event is in its fifth year, 2016s MEFCC was a special one: The UAE is still flush from the excitement of being one of the shooting locations for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where Abu Dhabis rolling sand dunes filled in for the desert planet Jakku.

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That excitement brought out more Reys, Obi-Wans and Kylo Rens than you could shake a lightsaber at, even though the Star Wars sagas penchant for black-robed, masked villains made for moments of confusion alongside the traditional black covering, the abaya, donned by women in the Emirates.

This years con is also the biggest one to date, with an estimated 60,000 people to have made their way to Dubais World Trade Center.

The journey weve taken is incredible in the five years since this began, but its all down to the fans and the enthusiasm, said a visibly exhausted Ben Caddy, chief executive of the Alliance, the conventions promoter, at a news conference Friday.

The sentiment was echoed by screenwriter and director Max Landis, who attended the MEFCC for his fifth year in a row and hosted the cosplay competition.

1 / 6 Visitors gather during Middle East Film & Comic Con (MEFCC) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Ali Haider / EPA) 2 / 6 Participants wearing costumes pose for a picture during Middle East Film & Comic Con. (Ali Haider / EPA) 3 / 6 Costumed visitors attend the news conference for screenwriter, director, producer and actor Max Landis, professional wrestler and actor Randy Orton, voice actress Veronica Taylor, musician Darryl D.M.C. Matthews McDaniels, actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and author Nick Frost, actor, producer and screenwriter Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, actress Summer Glau and actor Christopher Lloyd during Middle East Film & Comic Con. (Ali Haider / EPA) 4 / 6 Actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and author Nick Frost, left, Game of Thrones actor, producer and screenwriter Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and actress Summer Glau attend the convention.

(Ali Haider / EPA) 5 / 6 Musician Darryl D.M.C. Matthews McDaniels (Ali Haider / EPA) 6 / 6 A UAE visitor poses with life-size Star Wars Stormtrooper figure on the left, while a pirate poses on the right. (Ali Haider / EPA)

The commonality of this con has always been the sheer level of enthusiasm of the people here, he said, and how not jaded and not rude and not cynical this con is compared to cons in America.

Landis reminisced about the days when Dubais convention was held in what appeared to be a backyard and the attendees numbered less than those at this press conference.

There was this vibe that was electric, Landis said. Ive watched this con grow exponentially, but the energy is the same.

Landis also talked about the cosplay experience in a country like the Emirates, where the conservative wardrobe habits of the locals may grate on the countrys sizable expatriate population, not to mention the more risque elements of some superhero costumes.

Stateside, there is a cosplay community that is very exclusionary and very intense and competitive, but here you see girls in hijab with Darth Vader masks, he said. Thats moving.

Also on hand was Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister on HBOs Game of Thrones. He spoke about the hunger and passion he saw at the MEFCC.

There was a kid, 15 years old, and he just gave me a little book he made, a comic book.... It just blew my mind, Coster-Waldau said.

1 / 14 Wondercon attendees walk past The Walking Dead booth at WonderCon 2016 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 14 Jeremy Apodaca, 25, of Hesperia, is Ken in the Jokeinthebox on the floor of WonderCon. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 14 Jesus Angel, 16, right, checks his hand during a game of Cards Against Humanity with friends Jaime Alvarez, 16, left, and Nick Barra, 16. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 14 Adriana Pinkerton, 21, of Norwalk has her photo taken with a large Incredible Hulk figure. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 14 Cosplay Beetlejuice makes an appearance at WonderCon. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 14 Tyler Botill, 20 , left, of Atwater, plays the Star Fox Zero video game. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 14 Alejandro Haezaert, 29, of Lomita, watches the flow of traffic at WonderCon. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 14 Five-year-old Max Sovers of La Habra eyes some action figure while attending WonderCon with his mother. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 14 Victoria Paege mingles with the crowd. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 14 Jonah Reyes, 25, of Cerritos, left, and her sister Flo Reyes, 24, right, relax with friend K Vo, 20, of Buena Park. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 14 Eddie Lehecka sorts comic books while working at the Comic Madness booth. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 14 Daniel Davila, 22, left, and his brothers Brandon Fox, 12, center, and Dominic Fox, 10, take a lunch break from their cosplay outfits as Undertale characters. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 14 Phelan residents Laurie Fairbanks, 30, is dressed as Red Hot Riding Hood and friend Anthony Feery, 51, as Wolfie of the Tex Avery cartoons. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 14 Los Angeles Kings fans headed to the game at Staples Center mix with costumed WonderCon attendees. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

One of MEFCCs mandates is to give a platform to local and regional talent. As such, many of the conventions booths feature local artists who, like their comic-book heroes, have normal day jobs and alter egos, relegating the use of their superpowers to nights and weekends.

I went out shopping three years ago and couldnt find any cool T-shirts that were local, said Jacob Varkey, a 33-year old engineer and unapologetic nerd who works in Dubai.

He took matters into his own hands, joining forces with his wife, Priyanka, and starting Juswearit, a design house that makes T-shirts and cellphone covers aimed at introducing Dubai to geek culture.

The demand was always there, explained Varkey. What it lacked was the entrepreneurial activity we now have.

Juswearit now has competitors (including one clothing purveyor who put a Darth Vader head with Luke, I am your Sheikh on the front), but thats a good thing for the community, Varkey said.

Others have pioneered an independent gaming industry in the Emirates, like 29-year old Fakhra Al-Mansouri, head of the Abu Dhabi-based games studio Hybrid Humans.

When I went to the municipality office, I was told I was the first gaming company registered in the Emirates, she said, smiling at the memory.

She decided to make games because they can change a person, send a message, and also entertain.

Although the Emirates has been successful in attracting big-budget Hollywood productions to the country (Star Trek: Beyond wrapped up shooting in Dubai in December), MEFCC also brought Arab film industry professionals working on local productions.

We want to give local talent a chance to work in the industry here, said Abeer Abu Shmeis, a marketing executive for The Worthy, an action-thriller from the Emirates-based production house Image Nation Abu Dhabi.

The Worthy, which features actors from Arab countries and is set in a dystopian future where clean water has become virtually impossible to find, was meant to attract local audiences who wouldnt necessarily be attracted to big-budget Arab films.

Lets face it, a lot of people here dont really watch Arab cinema and have a bad impression of it, Abu Shmeiss said. Image Nation Abu Dhabi, she said, has also launched an awareness campaign aimed at encouraging moviegoers to support their local film industry.

-----------

For the Record

An early version of this article said Abu Smeiss worked for Seven Media. She works for Image Nation Abu Dhabi.

-----------

But for many, MEFCC was really about one thing: Meeting the stars from some of their favorite shows and movies, many of whom had no clue they had such a loyal fan base in the tiny emirate.

All this is news to me, and its really exciting to be here, said Coster-Waldau when asked if he expected the enthusiasm he encountered at the convention.

But the undisputed king of the celebrity guests was Christopher Lloyd, famous for his role as Emmett Doc Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy.

One fan, nervously toying with the microphone before he asked Lloyd his question, could barely contain himself.

Youre one of my childhood heroes, he gushed. Seeing you here, its a dream come true.

calendar@latimes.com
What a pleasure it is to watch two masters at work.

Thats what I kept thinking Sunday night at the Microsoft Theater, where Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil  two aging giants of Brazilian pop whose friendly collaboration dates to the mid-1960s  played a deeply satisfying concert to begin a brief U.S. tour that will also take the duo to Oakland, Miami and Brooklyn.

Performing together with nothing more than their own guitars for accompaniment, Veloso and Gil, both 73, sang, strummed, picked and thumped their way through two hours of music  some old, some new, all of it using gorgeous melodies and propulsive rhythms to put across profound ideas.

The show came only two days after the release of a superb live album from the men, Dois Amigos, Um Seculo de Musica, whose title translates to Two Friends, One Century of Music. Recorded last year in Brazil, the two-disc set captures a gig very similar to the one they played Sunday; indeed, Veloso and Gil have been touring this stripped-down production around the world since June.

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So why were they worth seeing in person? Lots of reasons  including the fact that pleasure wasnt all they were offering.

For one thing, there was valuable visual information to be had. Both men dressed casually for the show, an indication of how comfortable theyve become onstage after 50 years of performing. At points, youd look at them  during Tropicalia, for instance, a tune from 1968 that helped foment the Brazilian cultural movement of the same name  and each mans face would be radiating the serene concentration of someone folding laundry. They werent bored, just entirely at ease and sure of how this exercise would turn out.

And yet they were still capable of surprising one another, as you could tell when Veloso lifted his eyebrows ever so slightly at the sound of Gils twisting lead line in Terra. Or when Gil laughed as Veloso stood during Andar com Fe, walked to the edge of the stage and broke into a dignified little dance.

No less instructive were the small style distinctions between the lifelong comrades, such as their choice of footwear (hip sneakers for Veloso, sandals without socks for Gil) and preferred onstage refreshment (water for Gil, an untouched glass of what appeared to be red wine for Veloso).

In contrast with the album, which showcases their musical telepathy, these details reminded you that a partnership like theirs is improved, not diminished, by what separates them.

Another sensation available inside the theater but not through your earbuds: the feeling of human belonging that an audience creates when it greets a beloved song  in this case, Gils feisty Expresso 2222 or Velosos lilting Desde Que o Samba e Samba, about the emotional power of that Brazilian song form  with a kind of collective gratitude.

The two performed in L.A. just days after the release of a strong new live album. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Finally, there were the moments Sunday when the musics beauty took on a darker cast, as in Nao Tenho Medo da Morte, which Gil delivered in a low growl, his eyes suddenly steely, while he knocked out a beat on the body of his guitar. And introducing As Camelias do Quilombo do Leblon, Veloso said he and Gil had written the song after returning to Brazil from playing shows abroad, including one in Tel Aviv that theyd been urged to cancel in solidarity with Palestinian activists.

They went ahead with that concert. But here, over the new tunes delicately thrumming groove, the two sang words about the sad hills just south of Hebron that seemed inspired by their troubling experiences in the Middle East.

The masters werent hiding behind their finery. They were welcoming inspection.

Twitter: @mikaelwood
Good morning. It is Monday, April 11. These dogs are really big fans of the San Francisco Giants. Heres what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Sex and the city

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The city of West Hollywood has a pretty cheeky relationship with sex, but some politicians say its time to tone it down. That feeling came about after the city settled a sexual harassment lawsuit against a councilman for $500,000. This is we-live-in-the-21st-century time, and treating people with respect and care and following not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law is ... part of who we are as a city, said Councilman John DAmico. Los Angeles Times

Wage loophole

In dozens of California cities, wage laws intended to help the poorest often exclude employees in labor unions. Critics say the loopholes are intended to drive up union membership and dues at the expense of workers. Its completely upside-down. They want to pay us less than the minimum wage, said a waitress with the Sheraton Universal. Los Angeles Times

L.A. AT LARGE

Union leadership: Gabrielle Carteris will serve as president of SAG-AFTRA for the next 16 months. Shell finish out the term of Ken Howard, who died in March. He left big shoes to fill, but with the support of the national board of directors and the membership, I am committed to improving the lives of all SAG-AFTRA members, she said. Variety

Lights and water show: The Electric Fountain in Beverly Hills is back in service. It was originally given to the city by the mother of silent-screen star Harold Lloyd. The recent restoration cost $1.5 million. Los Angeles Times

Book em: The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books drew more than 500 authors over the weekend to the USC campus. Arianna Huffington, who has a new book about sleep deprivation, suggested Donald Trump get some Zs. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Political theater: In New York, there are plenty of opportunities for political candidates to pretend theyre regular people. (For example, hop on the subway.) But in California, those moments are harder to come by, writes columnist Cathleen Decker. There is the occasional hotel rally or jaunt to In-N-Out to talk to voters not pre-screened or pre-assembled, but those events are few and far between. Los Angeles Times

Hearts and minds: In Los Angeles, Dave Fleischer is going door to door to weed out discrimination. His unorthodox approach to canvassing has attracted the attention of social scientists and campaign consultants. What weve learned by having real, in-depth conversations with people is that a broad swath of voters are actually open to changing their mind. And thats exciting, because it offers the possibility that we could get past the current paralysis on a wide variety of controversial issues, he says. New York Times

Double-dipped retirement: Seventeen state lawmakers collect two checks -- salary and pension -- each month, including Republican state Sen. John Moorlach, who is one of the leading voices against the skyrocketing debt of public pension systems. Its all legal, though the optics arent great. Most of us have to work until we are 65 or 67 before we can retire when Social Security kicks in, said former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. Los Angeles Times

BUSINESS

Corporate culture: Amazons Jeff Bezos used his annual investor missive to talk about corporate culture, something Amazon had to address after a critical article in the New York Times. Someone energized by competitive zeal may select and be happy in one culture, while someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose another, he said. Los Angeles Times

Safe landing: SpaceX successfully landed its Falcon 9 rocket reusable booster on a ship Friday. It was the Hawthorne-based companys first successful attempt. Los Angeles Times

Career change: The man who invented Google alerts is now an almond farmer in Modesto. I didnt know anything about farming. But I love education and I taught myself, said Naga Kataru. CNN Money

CRIME AND COURTS

Trial and error: Former Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti says he never wanted Marcia Clark to be the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial. He says he advised Clark to keep African American women, particularly mothers, off the jury, but eight African American women ended up on the panel. She didnt listen and once she did that, there was no chance that wed get a guilty verdict, although I still thought wed get two or three jurors to hold out for a hung jury, he said. New York Post

Asking for help: When Sal Shafi, a Silicon Valley executive, became concerned that his son might become radicalized, he did what he thought was right -- he called the authorities. Instead of helping Adam Shafi, federal agents arrested him. Maybe Im naive. Ive never dealt with the authorities before. I wanted to cooperate, his father said. New York Times

Rocky time: The man who had to be rescued from Morro Rock after he FaceTimed a proposal to his girlfriend was arrested on drug charges. Firefighters said the 27-year-old man was acting strange and eventually arrested him on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Transgender identity: Gender reassignment surgery can be controversial -- particularly when the patient is an adolescent. San Diego Union-Tribune

Art show: The new San Francisco MoMA has been re-created in miniature. Bloomberg

Dog days: The 13th annual Corgi Beach Day was held this weekend in Southern California and it was adorable. Buzzfeed

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Sacramento will have clouds and a high of 70 degrees. San Francisco will be cloudy and 62. Los Angeles can expect a rain shower and a high of 69 degrees. Riverside will be cool with an expected rainstorm. San Diego will have rain and a high of 68 degrees.

AND FINALLY

This weeks birthdays for notable Californians:

Rep. Susan Davis (April 13, 1944), Rep. Jim Costa (April 13, 1952), Rep. David Valadao (April 14, 1977) and former Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (April 16, 1947).

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.
The Commission on Judicial Performance, a state watchdog agency, has concluded reviews of 1,231 complaints about how judges conducted themselves in 2015 and dismissed 90% of them after initial checks concluded they were unfounded.

The agencys annual report showed an additional 86 complaints were closed without any discipline after investigations concluded the allegations were unfounded or unprovable or the judge involved provided an adequate explanation of the situation, the report said.

The commission imposed some kind of discipline in 41 cases: 26 in which a non-public advisory letter was sent to the judge, 11 in which a judge received a private admonishment, and four in which a judge was publicly disciplined.

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The annual report looks at how the commission  whose 11 members include judges, lawyers and six citizens who are not legal professionals  handles complaints filed by the public against Californias 1,830 trial and appellate court judges.

Some case dispositions roll over from one year to the next. In 2015, the commission received 1,245 new complaints against judges, the most in the last decade.

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Though complaints rose every year but one during that span, the commission initiated formal proceedings  the equivalent of an official misconduct charge  in less than 1% of them each year.

In December, the commission ordered a Tulare County judge removed from the bench for willful misconduct for having an improper relationship with a court clerk and then lying about it during an investigation.

According to the commission, the judge used trickery to pressure the clerk to have a special friend relationship and gave her $26,000 in gifts and cash, including a BMW and a trip to Disneyland.

The judge, Valeriano Saucedo, is appealing his removal to the state Supreme Court. He says the relationship was consensual and the commission failed to consider 11 years of exemplary service before two months of poor judgment.

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com

Moran writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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The Los Angeles Unified School District must pay $7.1 million to a San Fernando Valley charter school for failing to provide the school with rent-free classroom space, a violation of state law.

School districts are required to share classrooms and other facilities with charter schools but, for three years starting in 2007, Ivy Academia Entrepreneurial Charter did not get enough space for its 1,100 students.

The districts approval of the charter required arbitration of legal disputes.

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In his written ruling, arbitrator John Zebrowski said that the districts failure to comply with the law harmed children attending the charter during those years because it forced the school to use some money intended for educational programs to lease a building. Zebrowski said students were further harmed because the building leased by the charter was inferior to what it would have received from L.A. Unified.

Charter schools are publicly funded but independently run.

Ivy Academia spent $3 million on rent and other costs from 2007-10, but the arbitrator said L.A. Unified should be on the hook for more money because he believed the property denied to the charter had a higher value. The district must also pay the charter $650,000 in attorneys fees.

Ivy was forced to cobble together multiple private facilities that were inferior and didnt have things like playing fields, libraries, permanent science labs, and enough special education space, Paul Minney, an attorney for the charter school, said in a statement.

L.A. Unified acknowledged that it did not provide Ivy Academia the space it is entitled to under Proposition 39, which requires districts to offer charters facilities that are reasonably equivalent to those provided to students in traditional public schools.

David Huff, an attorney representing the school district, said L.A. Unified simply didnt have the space during the years that it did not comply.

Huff also pointed to a criminal case that in April 2013 found two of Ivy Academias leaders guilty of misuse of public funds.

According to prosecutors in that case, Yevgeny Eugene Selivanov negotiated the 10-year lease of a building for $18,390 a month but then charged the school $43,870 a month to sublease the property.

It is the districts theory that had we made a compliant offer of space. . . Ivy would have never accepted because it would have ended their $25,000 a month profit, Huff said.

But the arbitrator said the district could not prove that the charter would have rejected such an offer.

In the end, neither side can claim a full victory.

Ivy had asked for $24 million from the district, while L.A. Unified argued that the charter school was not entitled to receive any money under the law.

The district can challenge the award in Los Angeles Superior Court.

zahira.torres@latimes.com

For more education news, follow @zahiratorres on Twitter.

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In what federal authorities described as a case of modern day slavery, an Iraqi family with ties to Southern California has been accused of holding an Indonesian woman against her will and forcing her to work 20-hour days for little or no pay.

Federal prosecutors announced Friday that Firas Majeed, 44, and Shatha Abbas, 38, of El Cajon were arrested and charged with trafficking a woman for forced labor and holding her personal documents to keep her from returning to her home country. They face at least 20 years in prison if convicted.

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[The] arrests bring to light the sad reality of modern day slavery, said David Shaw, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego in a statement. HSI will not tolerate any form of human exploitation. Forced labor, which often involves individuals who are held in isolation, degraded, and most alarming  stripped of their basic human freedom, has no place in a modern society.

According to the criminal complaint, the womans servitude began in 2010, when she turned to an employment agency in Indonesia to find her work in Dubai. The company put her in touch with an Iraqi doctor, who enlisted her to care for his family in Dubai under a two-year contract.

There, the woman cooked, cleaned and took care of the familys kids for 20 hours a day every day. The homeowner locked the doors and windows when he left and didnt allow the woman, who goes by the initials W.M. in court documents, to leave except to take out the trash, prosecutors allege.

The mans family sent money on W.M.s behalf to W.M.s mother, but the payments were infrequent and sometimes went years without being made, authorities say. After her two-year contract ended and W.M. said she wanted to go home, her employer said shed have to fund the trip herself, but she couldnt because she had never been paid, prosecutors say.

One day about a year later, the homeowner forgot to lock the front door when he left and W.M. seized the opportunity to escape. She took a taxi from the Dubai home to an Indonesian consulate, authorities said. But her employer found her there and convinced consular officials to allow him to take W.M. back under the promise shed go home three months later. But that never happened, prosecutors contend.

Instead, W.M. worked her grueling 20-hour-a-day schedule for an additional two years. In 2015, her employer told her she was going to join the family in the United States for two months to care for her boss ailing father.

The family filled out her immigration paperwork, which indicated she would work only five days a week for eight hours a day  a regular 40-hour work week. But once in the United States in late 2015, W.M.s unforgiving work schedule continued like it had in Dubai, prosecutors said.

In a statement, federal officials explained the type of psychology that keeps a person in modern slave-like conditions.

Victims of labor trafficking are often overwhelmed by fear, and they fail to report crimes against them. Frequently victims are unfamiliar with U.S. culture. They may be unaware of their rights or may have been intentionally misinformed about rights in this country. Many dont speak English, and are unable to communicate with service providers, police or others who might be able to help them, the statement said.

In W.M.s case, her plea for help came in the form of a note last month. The woman handed off a note to a nurse who visited the home in which W.M. indicated she needed help and was being abused at work, according to the criminal complaint. Someone was able to translate the note, which led federal investigators to visit the El Cajon home where W.M. worked.

In an interview during which she was separated from her employers, W.M. said she wanted authorities help. Officials took W.M. away from the home and eventually arrested Majeed and Abbas. The family said they had no documentation of how much W.M. should be paid for her years of work, but that one of them was mentally keeping track of how much W.M. was owed, the complaint alleges.

Majeed and Abbas are due back in court April 21 for a preliminary hearing.

In 2013, Orange County prosecutors accused a Saudi princess of a similar practice but the charges were eventually dropped.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.

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The son of a former California state Assembly speaker has been freed from prison after his manslaughter sentence was dramatically reduced in 2011 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, prison officials said Sunday.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Esteban Nunez, now 27, will live in Sacramento County on parole supervision for three years.

Nunez entered prison in June 2010 to serve a 16-year sentence in the stabbing death of college student Luis Santos in San Diego.

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On his last day in office in 2011, Schwarzenegger commuted the sentence to seven years. Nunez is the son of Fabian Nunez, who was speaker of the state Assembly and a political ally while Schwarzenegger was governor.

Esteban Nunez received credit for good behavior and was released after serving less than six years.

Our son has paid his debt to society. He is committed to continuing the work of healing, self-reflection and spiritual growth, the Nunez family said in a statement released Friday.

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Santos mother had anticipated Esteban Nunezs early release, and she steadfastly believes a high-level political favor is sending him home.

It makes you sick that something like this can happen, and you have no power, Kathy Santos told the Los Angeles Times, adding she doesnt believe the young man has reformed.

The Santos family sued to overturn the shortened sentence, but without success.

In 2012, a Sacramento judge called the commutation repugnant but legal. In 2015, an appeals court wrote that back-room dealings were apparent, but upheld Schwarzeneggers power to reduce the sentence.

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Schwarzenegger said at the time that he acted because he thought the 16-year sentence was excessive, but he also acknowledged he was helping a friend.

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Los Angeles County officials on Monday released a proposed $28.5-billion budget for the next fiscal year -- a plan that would boost overall spending by about 1% but does not spell out how shortfalls in the coroners office and some other key programs will be solved.

In presenting the budget, county Chief Executive Officer Sachi Hamai said leaders are committed to lifting the quality of life for all of our residents, but are challenged by the demand for county services that far exceeds the available financing sources.

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The proposed spending plan is an increase of $282 million from the year before, offset by projected increases in property taxes and other revenues. It includes $99 million for the countys new homelessness initiative and $19 million for wage increases the Board of Supervisors passed last year for in-home care workers.

It also includes $11 million for physical and mental health services to be provided by the newly created Office of Diversion and Reentry, which is focused on moving low-level offenders with mental health and substance abuse issues out of county jails and into treatment programs.

An additional $9 million will go to setting up and running a new sobering center on skid row.

The budget also includes $148 million for replacing and upgrading jail facilities, including $118 million for refurbishment of the now-vacant Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster to turn it into a new womens detention facility, replacing the aging womens lock-up in Lynwood. It would put $5 million toward planning efforts for a new Mens Central Jail.

Questions remain about where the money will come from for some other potentially big-ticket items, including setting up a fund for affordable housing and addressing severe backlogs in the coroners office.

The countys chief medical examiner-coroner, Dr. Mark Fajardo, announced plans to resign last month, saying his department had not been given the resources it needed to do the job.

Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >>

The office has been under scrutiny over a backlog of autopsies and toxicology reports that has left family members waiting months for their loved ones bodies to be released or for information about the cause of death.

The office requested an increase of 80 staffing positions in the coming years budget, but the recommended spending plan increased the offices staffing by only two.

Hamai said the request was not granted because the department had not submitted required paperwork documenting its justification for the added positions.

She said her office is working to determine what additional resources the coroner needs, and positions might be added at a later stage in the budget process.

The budget includes $99 million for programs included in a plan for addressing homelessness that the Board of Supervisors passed earlier this year, but it includes only a $5 million down payment toward an affordable housing trust fund the supervisors voted to set up last year.

They had planned to start by contributing $20 million in the coming fiscal year and increase the annual contribution to $100 million over the next five years.

Hamai said staffers are still figuring out where the money will come from, so only $5 million was initially set aside for the fund in the proposed budget. The remainder would be addressed in the countys midyear budget review, she said.

And the county is looking at options, including a potential tax increase ballot measure, to raise nearly $500 million in additional funds officials have said are needed to address the regions growing homeless population.

The budget document also includes cuts in some areas, including elimination of 50 unfilled positions in the probation department, which Hamai said were cut to offset expected revenue that did not materialize, and 78 vacant positions cut from the child support services department to offset anticipated deficits there.

At the same time, the county Department of Mental Health will get 40 new positions, including psychiatrists and supervisors for clinics around the county.

County supervisors will discuss the proposed budget Tuesday and hold public hearings on it next month before adopting a final plan in June.

Twitter: @sewella

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When an armed pursuit suspect barricaded himself in a Pacific Palisades home early Monday morning, neighbor and Twitter executive Nathan Hubbard took to the social media platform to give a blow-by-blow account of the drama.

Hubbard, who had just arrived home from a trip abroad, began tweeting details of the standoff with Los Angeles police officers at 2:20 a.m.

The ordeal, which played out behind Hubbard's home, lasted for almost six hours before the suspect finally surrendered to authorities.

Here's a partial description on Hubbard's Twitter account of how the situation unfolded:

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719455143159140352

Hubbard, whose Twitter bio reads "Dad, songwriter, looking after Global Media + Commerce at Twitter. Formerly CEO of Ticketmaster," used the live video app Periscope, as well as surveillance tapes, to provide images for his followers.

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719472630785441792

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719491172062760960

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719495753719132163

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719499695769276416

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719500651827318784

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719511660797427712

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719522498698555392

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719524049823510529

As darkness slowly gave way to morning light, events in the 400 block of North Lombard Avenue developed rapidly.

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719527112181329920

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719533621120372736

https://twitter.com/NathanCHubbard/status/719538426639294464

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Esmael Adibi, a Chapman University professor and a respected economic forecaster, died Friday after suffering complications from a stroke. He was 63.

To businessmen, journalists, real estate agents and anyone else who paid attention to the state economy, Adibi was known as the expert who made economic complexities comprehensible  and even funny.

During Chapman Universitys annual economic forecasts, one of the longest-running in the country, he would joke about how the economy, like his hairline, was entering a recession. He pointed out the inflation in his stomach and depression in his facial expression.

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Chapman University professor Esmael Adibi, left, and President Jim Doti present the universitys 2015 economic forecast. (John Saade / Chapman University)

Before each live presentation, he usually tested his jokes on his son Keeya, who said he rarely had positive feedback to give.

Id tell him, I dont think anyones going to laugh at this. Keeya said. Then Id hear people laughing during the talk, and Id be speechless.

Ever the forecaster, Adibi would ask Keeya how many people had laughed in the seats around him, and try to extrapolate the success of each joke from Keeyas estimates.

Adibi came to the U.S. from Iran in 1974 to obtain an MBA at Chapman University, where he met current university President Jim Doti, a professor at the time. Adibi was one of Dotis most perceptive and gifted researchers, Doti wrote in a letter to the campus Friday.

Adibi got his masters in economics from Cal State Fullerton and earned his doctorate from Claremont Graduate University. He went on to become an economics professor at Chapman and Dotis closest friend. The two men co-wrote an econometrics textbook together and ran the universitys economic forecasts.

Its really difficult to imagine my life or that of the university without him. The power of his personality, wisdom, and intellect was so much a part of our community, wrote Doti, who declined to comment because he was grieving the loss of his best friend.

Adibi was one of Chapman Universitys most visible figures, Chancellor Daniele Struppa said. He was named a member of the California Treasurers Council of Economic Advisors and served on the board of directors for the SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, a not-for-profit banking service for teachers. Within the university, he had a genius for demystifying complex economic models in the classroom and mentored younger faculty members in his spare time.

He was very good to me when I joined the university, Struppa said. He made me feel like I was an old friend.

Adibis generosity with his time and advice made him a trusted voice for businessmen, investors and especially journalists. His name appears in more than 500 articles from Times archives, where his measured opinions narrated the California economys many ebbs and flows.

When Californias jobless rate hit a 15-year high in January 2009, Adibi explained that it was a ripple effect from the housing mortgage crisis. In an article published in August of last year, he cautioned that wild variations in stock prices were poor indicators of overall economic health.

Keeya Adibi, 28, said he was among the many Californians who took his fathers advice. He studied accounting in college because his father told him it would be a good fit. Keeya got his masters in finance, inspired by Adibis passion for economics.

Recently, he asked his father to help him pick out an engagement ring.

He was my role model, Keeya said. We are so proud of who he was.

In addition to his son, Adibi is survived by his wife, Jila, his daughter, Roxanne, and two grandchildren, Nicholas and Alexander.

Chapman University will hold a memorial service at 11 a.m. on April 16 at the Fish Interfaith Center on campus.

frank.shyong@latimes.com
West Hollywood is not shy about sex.

When city officials held a public forum about anal cancer, they called it Booty Call to Action. The City Hall lobby offers free condoms. A water conservation campaign encouraged residents to have a morning quickie by taking short showers.

But in February, West Hollywood agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city and Councilman John Duran. The suit was brought on behalf of Ian Owens, whom Duran hired as his deputy after meeting him on Grindr, the smartphone dating app for gay and bisexual men, and then having sex with him.

Now, some residents and politicians in this mecca of gay culture and the home of the Sunset Strip counterculture are wondering if City Halls famously cheeky attitude about sex needs to be checked a little.

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Councilman John DAmico, who like Duran is gay, said he often looked over during public meetings and saw Duran trolling for men on Grindr.

This is not gay-life excuse time, or This is how we do it because were gay, DAmico said at a council meeting. This is we-live-in-the-21st-century time, and treating people with respect and care and following not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law is ... part of who we are as a city.

As part of the settlement, Duran and West Hollywood admitted no wrongdoing, but a private investigators report commissioned by the city dinged Duran for openly talking about his sex life and making inappropriate comments that were sexual in nature in the workplace.

Duran publicly apologized last month for hiring a friend, but he has repeatedly denied sexual harassment. He conceded in an interview that had the lawsuit against him and the city gone to trial, West Hollywoods unique culture might not have translated well with many members of a jury outside of the city.

Im not a stuffed-shirt politician, Duran said. Yes, my humor is bawdy and funny and outrageous, but, you know what, so is everything else in this town. I could not get elected in Downey.

Indeed, West Hollywood council members occasionally engage in the kind of risque talk that in more strait-laced towns could possibly cost politicians voters or get them recalled. Here, residents sometimes playfully join in the banter during council meetings, whether its a play-by-play about a visit to the gynecologist or riffs on porn collections.

But in an email, Owens said Duran crossed the line.

I appreciate that West Hollywood is an open place that does not discourage free expression of sexuality and have nothing against that, Owens said. However, conflating free expression on the one hand with bullying and demeaning a human being on the other is dangerous.

In the heavily redacted 129-page private investigators report obtained by The Times through the states open records law, Owens  whose name is blacked out but whose statements mirror those in his lawsuit  said Duran solicited him for sex and showed Owens nude photographs on his phone of men hed slept with. Owens said Duran made objectifying comments about his appearance, telling him he didnt have to worry about things because Im pretty.

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Duran, in the report, said Owens had been a trusted friend and that they indeed had had intimate conversations. Duran said it was Owens who sent him really graphic explicit photographs.

In the report, Owens also accused Duran of having sex in his City Hall office, which Duran denied.

I have never, ever had sex in the council office at City Hall, Duran told The Times. Why would I? I have a home.

Duran also said that he was not ashamed of using Grindr, which has an instant messaging function, and that he was on it regularly not just for sexual reasons but also to chat with people around town.

The independent investigator, Steve Rodig of Anaheim, wrote that Owens had a duty to report any harassment but never did so until he was placed on paid administrative leave last year after being accused of bugging a colleagues office. Rodig found that Duran was outspoken about his personal life, but there was not enough evidence to show he sexually harassed his deputy.

Owens said city officials have mischaracterized his accusations after the settlement was reached and that the investigators report was unfairly redacted to favor the city.

On March 30, Michelle Rex, the former deputy to DAmico, also sued West Hollywood, alleging the city retaliated against her for substantiating Owens sexual harassment allegations and other complaints by firing her. She is represented by Owens attorneys.

In Rodigs report, people interviewed by investigators said Duran was well-known for saying suggestive things. One interviewee, whose name was redacted, gave an example in which a member of a swim team sat in the front row of a council meeting in a Speedo swimsuit and Duran joked that he was distracted.

Its like, oh gosh, I cant believe he just said that type of thing, but everyones kind of snickering, the person said. Its very like eighth-grade humor to a degree.

Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor and president of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, said cities should be allowed to create a culture that reflects the community, but theres a difference between being open and being lewd, and you have to walk that line.

People who decide to run for office and be public servants owe their constituents a little bit more in terms of behavior, Levinson said. No one has to be Mother Teresa  thats an untenable standard  and we should allow for variations in terms of whats appropriate in West Hollywood versus Fresno.... We should allow those leeways, but you dont want constituents to feel uncomfortable.

Steve Martin, a former West Hollywood councilman, said that residents are embarrassed by the scandal and that such issues have caused people outside the city to view it as silly, immature and corrupt.

People are dumbfounded that in the world of adults this is the norm, and it doesnt matter whether its gay culture or straight culture, it still isnt right, said Martin, who is also gay. Weve become such a soap opera.

hailey.branson@latimes.com

Twitter: @haileybranson

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The metal fence was what she noticed first, miles of tall barrier topped by barbed wire strung across the south Texas pastures  just like the internment camp nearby where she had been held as an infant.

And on the other side of the fence, again, 71-year-old Satsuki Ina saw mothers and children: this time, Central Americans.

It was like fractured pieces trying to converge  their experience today, my history  being in this place where I had been as a child, Ina said.

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Ina returned to Texas to see firsthand the system the U.S. government has created to handle a surge of immigrant families and children across the southern border, many driven here by violence in Central America.

Her visit was months before terrorist attacks in Paris led some American leaders to suggest interning refugees, before Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Muslim neighborhoods should be patrolled and Donald Trump said he wanted to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. and build a wall on the Mexican border.

Unlike the internment camps, which were filled with people singled out for their ancestry, the nations three family detention centers hold hundreds of adults and children who crossed into the U.S. illegally or are seeking asylum. Still, Ina saw parallels between today and the 1940s, when wartime fears sent Japanese Americans to the camps.

Weve been wanting to remind people of what happened to us and make sure the same hysteria does not overtake the leadership and the communities, Satsuki Ina said of internment survivors. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

Weve been wanting to remind people of what happened to us and make sure the same hysteria does not overtake the leadership and the communities, she said of internment survivors, noting that the U.S. government later apologized and paid reparations.

As Ina visited the center in Karnes City, about 100 miles south of Austin, she scrutinized families for signs of trauma she recognized as both a former detainee and a family psychotherapist.

------------

For the record

An earlier version of this article said Ina visited a detention center in Dilley. The center is in Karnes City. She also attended a protest outside a detention center in Dilley.

------------

Mothers were issued identity cards, just as her parents had been. They spoke of eating unfamiliar food at mess halls, living under constant observation and stress, never letting their children leave their sides. In the young mothers she met, Ina saw her own.

Ina had produced two award-winning documentaries on internment, Children of the Camps in 1999 and From a Silk Cocoon in 2005. Now she was discovering a new story to tell.

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One Salvadoran mother detained for five months tearfully told Ina through an interpreter that her 8-year-old daughter was afraid to sleep and cried for hours whenever children she befriended at the center departed.

Ina asked the girl why she cried. The girl glanced over her shoulder at a female guard before whispering that she feared that the departing children, whose families had fled gangs and violence, were being sent home to their deaths.

Why did she have trouble sleeping, Ina asked? Again, the girl checked that the guard wasnt listening. Then she said she had been having nightmares about a scary dog  the dog the Border Patrol had used to catch her.

Ina offered the girl a tissue. She refused, withdrawing, her face going blank. The therapist fell back on the Japanese art of origami, quickly folding the tissue into a flower and tying it to the girls wrist.

She smiled.

Times up! the guard shouted, and the girl snapped to attention.

So did Ina.

The parallels, the resonance, the familiarity of the situation was really clear. What happened in World War II is happening again.  Satsuki Ina

I recognize that part of her in myself: obeying, of doing what Im told, of living in fear, she said. The parallels, the resonance, the familiarity of the situation was really clear. What happened in World War II is happening again.

::

Ina was born at the Tule Lake internment camp near Californias northern border on May 25, 1944.

Her father and mother, Itaru and Shizuko Ina, a bookkeeper and housecleaner, had been newlyweds living in San Francisco for less than a year when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

In 1942 they were among 110,000 Japanese Americans, more than half of them children, sent to internment camps. The couple were held first at Tanforan Assembly Center, a makeshift facility at a San Bruno racetrack, then at the Topaz camp in Utah, where Inas brother, Kiyoshi, was born, and then Tule Lake.

Inas parents were kibei, U.S. citizens born to immigrants but partly raised in Japan. Once detained, they refused to swear their loyalty to the U.S. They considered it a violation of their rights and instead renounced their U.S. citizenship.

After the war ended, her father was transferred to a camp in North Dakota. Ina, her mother and brother were sent to the Crystal City family internment camp in Texas, where the family eventually reunited.

Ina has only two memories of Crystal City: staring up into her parents frightened faces from a Japanese basket, or korii, and later celebrating on a train as they left in July 1946 with just $25 each.

I remember swinging from the arms, the row of seats on the train; the freedom, knowing we were leaving, she said.

The family later returned to San Francisco and Ina eventually attended UC Berkeley, protesting during the 1960s  to her parents chagrin. Even though their U.S. citizenship had been restored in 1957, they worried that she would face the same backlash they had for speaking out.

Ina wanted to help families like hers who had survived trauma, and pursued degrees as a family therapist, becoming a professor at Cal State Sacramento.

She came to recognize in herself the aftereffects of internment: an easily triggered startle response, extreme vigilance when she was the only person of color in a room and an anxious need for control in the face of uncertainty.

Her father died in 1977, her mother in 2000. Afterward, Ina discovered her mothers diary, which laid bare the anxiety pervading families in detention.

I wonder, Shizuko Ina once wrote in Crystal City, if today is the day theyre going to line us up and shoot us.

::

Satsuki Ina didnt think much about the detention of Central American families until she started seeing reports last year of officials defending conditions at the centers.

Ina thought of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democrat who signed the executive order paving the way for internment camps. Now the Obama administration was defending family detention, noting that detainees received three square meals and clean housing.

Thats what they said about us too: You have a roof over your head, Ina said.

Then Carl Takei emailed her last spring. Takei, 35, is an ACLU lawyer based in Washington, D.C., whose grandparents were held at Tule Lake. He had visited the family detention centers in Texas and made the connection.

When we talk about family detention today, we have to consider what its place will be in history, he said. Everything the families told me echoed so strongly my own familys stories about their World War II incarceration.

He figured that if Ina visited, her background in counseling families would lend credibility to what he saw.

Ina lives in Berkeley and had never returned to Crystal City. It wasnt that she was afraid. For years, she had assumed something would eventually draw her back. Something important.

On a warm afternoon, Ina stood before a crowd gathered along a dusty road outside the barbed-wire fence surrounding another center in Dilley, 75 miles west of Karnes City. A spring breeze ruffled Inas short, salt-and-pepper hair.

My family was held for four years. Today we stand together with you in unity and solidarity, because incarceration for children and families is not only unjust, its immoral, Ina told several hundred protesters, some carrying signs that said, Free the families and Children dont belong behind bars.

Nobody came to protest on our behalf. Nobody, people like you, took the time to protest the unjust incarceration, Ina said. Lets shut it down. The crowd cheered and clapped.

As the protest wound down, Ina found herself thinking about Crystal City. Its only about 40 miles west, she thought.

And so she found herself driving past oil derricks and natural gas flares, with fellow protesters who filmed her reaction. Suddenly there it was: a cluster of monuments in a nearly empty field. A phrase jumped out at her, carved atop a gray stone cube, World War II Concentration Camp.

Both national and U.S. citizens alike were abruptly, and without justification, incarcerated in a concentration camp at this location, the inscription said, noting that internees descendants placed it there in 1985, as a reminder that the injustices and humiliations suffered here as a result of hysteria, racism and discrimination never happen again.

Ina noticed small pits where the latrines had been. She stood on one of the slabs, remnants of the more than 40 barracks that guards called cottages.

She was reminded of the families she had just visited in what todays guards call residential centers.

It masks and hides the truth, she said.

::

Last fall, Ina told a crowd at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles what she had seen in Texas. Family detention had gained more attention as opponents  including virtually all House Democrats  called on the administration to close the centers.

The Japanese American Citizens League had also called for an end to family detention, but Ina knew many were still unaware that the centers existed. Thats why she came to speak and screen Children of the Camps.

There are women and children from Central America who are being criminalized and detained, she said, noting the Dilley center is only 45 minutes away from where I was held.

The mostly Asian and white crowd fell silent.

Before the screening, Ina had surveyed a photo exhibit of the internment and found herself transfixed by the picture of a boy being evacuated with his parents and six siblings, tagged like luggage. Harry Kawahara, 84, stopped too. He had also been held at a camp. The two began chatting and discovered they knew the boy in the photo, Tooru Mochida.

Ina told Kawahara about the immigrant families detained. Its a human rights issue, she said, adding, They have cribs in the cells.

Kawahara, who lives in Altadena, shook his head. Wow. I consider myself a pretty aware person, but I dont know about this, he said.

Ina promised to keep him informed.

Hennessy-Fiske reported from Karnes City and Carcamo from Los Angeles.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

cindy.carcamo@latimes.com

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The work of a fashion model is the epitome of glamour  for about two minutes on the runway. The rest of the job can be rife with horrors including coerced starvation, sexual harassment and abuse, and wage theft.

Although models enjoy prominent status in our culture, their labor is mostly invisible and their concerns about working conditions tend to be trivialized and dismissed. But current and former models are beginning to push back against exploitation with class-action lawsuits and proposed labor-rights legislation.

For me, this issue is personal. When I started modeling at 14, I was unprepared for the adult pressures I faced, like shoots with photographers who put me on the spot to take off all my clothes and go-sees with men who made sexual demands. When I raised my concerns to the president of one agency, he suggested I was being uptight and didnt see the problem. To this day the industry has no policy of requiring advance consent for casting sessions or jobs involving nudity; at the same time, because models usually are treated as independent contractors, they are unprotected by workplace sexual harassment laws.

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The pressure to be thin ... is just the start. Models have accused fashion industry powerbrokers of all manner of sexual abuse.

With the majority beginning their careers between the ages of 13 and 16, young models need more protection. Most are just gangly teenage girls when they sign an exclusive  often deeply unfavorable  contract with a modeling agency. Even at this early age, when their bodies are still developing, theyre often told by the agency to lose weight; models have been dropped for gaining just centimeters on their hips. Staying thin at any cost can have life-threatening consequences: models become sick and some have died from anorexia complications  in one case, just hours after stepping off a runway.

The pressure to be thin, however, is just the start. Models have accused fashion industry powerbrokers of all manner of sexual abuse. In 2008, the fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander was found guilty of rape and multiple counts assault against aspiring 14- to 21-year-old models. In her 2011 memoir, Beauty, Disrupted, 1990s supermodel Carre Otis disclosed that her former agent raped her repeatedly when she was 17. More recently, numerous models have spoken out against photographer Terry Richardsons well-documented inappropriate sexual demands. And yet agencies continue to send their young talent to Richardson and top magazines hire him.

For most models, the work isnt lucrative, leaving them particularly vulnerable to those who hold the keys to more jobs. Model-turned-mental-health advocate Nikki DuBose has said she was pressured to sleep with the director of her modeling agency: When I did I worked more, and when I didnt the work stopped coming. In a legal deposition related to a sexual assault case, Bill Cosby admitted that he asked a modeling agent to connect him with women who were new in town and financially not doing well.

Because agencies insist that models are independent contractors, not employees, there is not even the guarantee of a minimum wage. Some jobs pay in trade, meaning clothes, not money. Many models experience outright wage theft, even from top agencies. A class-

action suit filed in February in New York accuses six agencies of pocketing royalty payments and ginning up expenses to deduct from models checks.

Some models even become indebted to their agency and are then induced to take unwanted assignments, including overseas. They are sent to dinners arranged by their agencies where they are expected to chat and flirt with certain men. In the New York lawsuit, Melissa Baker claims that beyond financial misdeeds, her former agency advised her to dump her then-boyfriend, who was serving in the military in Afghanistan, and replace him with an A-list celebrity or professional athlete.

It is difficult to make any complaint, let alone report illegal labor conditions, without losing your job. The fashion industry is always ready to cast off last years models just as easily it does clothes, and unlike other performers in the U.S., models have no union protection.

Agencies have fought to maintain the independent contractor arrangement, which conveniently shifts the responsibility for ensuring a safe and ethical work environment away from them or their clients. Instead 15-year-old girls are left to fend for themselves.

Recently, California Assemblyman Marc Levine introduced Assembly Bill 2539, which would extend labor rights and health and safety protections to this mostly young, female workforce.

The bill does three things. It states that models are employees, not independent contractors, and due all workplace protections including against sexual harassment. It requires employers to adopt an occupational health and safety standard to protect models from developing eating disorders. And it clarifies that modeling agencies must be licensed and regulated as talent agencies, to help ensure that models receive the same protections as actors and other talent.

If California takes this step, we can hope that other states, like New York, will follow.

The fashion industry is a superficial business that too often provokes superficial criticisms. And yet apparel is a $300-billion-a-year industry, and thousands of young men and women work to model these clothes on runways, in photo shoots, in catalogs and online. They deserve to be kept safe, paid fairly and have their concerns heard.

Sara Ziff, a former fashion model, is a graduate student at Harvard and the founding director of the advocacy group Model Alliance.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook

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Im Christina Bellantoni. Welcome to Essential Politics.

Anyone who covers campaigns usually finds the most comfort in hard data  poll numbers, raw voting totals, demographic figures and so on. But theres also the sense that you get when you get out and talk with people about the election.

Informal polling, visible campaign energy and conversations with people who arent as engaged in the day to day but plan to show up on June 7 are practically impossible to quantify.

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And, in Los Angeles at least, the data favors Hillary Clinton, while Sen. Bernie Sanders has captured the lions share of the energy.

In just one finite example, the crowd at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend was decidedly pro-Sanders.

Over the course of the three panels I moderated about presidential politics, I heard from multiple Sanders supporters who are excited about their candidate, and in many cases working for his cause less than two months before Californias primary. Sanders T-shirts dotted the audience. Bumper stickers reading Bernie were prominent in the parking lot. When I asked for a show of hands, his backers outnumbered Clintons. By a lot.

Sanders volunteers spent all day Sunday registering voters in the crowd, with one telling me he had single-handedly signed up dozens and planned to drop the forms in the mail.

I talked with many of them who are frustrated with what they believe is the medias portrayal of Clinton as the frontrunner he couldnt possibly topple. They prodded me as to why I hadnt mentioned at the panel that Sanders won the caucuses in Wyoming on Saturday. (The answer: It doesnt shift the race, since he and Clinton yielded 7 delegates each.)

Is this group just especially vocal and prevalent at an event focused on reading? Are the Clinton supporters just more quiet about their devotion? Entirely possible. The latest Field Poll in California found Clinton remains ahead, 47% to 41%.

Still, anecdotally over the last several months, it is the Sanders fans filling our inbox with emails, unhappy with our coverage of the delegate math that suggests Sanders wont become the Democratic nominee.

Ive responded to those notes and spoke to people at the Festival of Books by urging them to read this newsletter, which I think has been fair to all of the candidates, and to point out the data fueling our stories, including the piece David Lauter wrote last week about how much time the candidates are getting in the media.

We appreciate all of the feedback. And over the next eight weeks, well be reporting on both the feeling on the ground in California and the data.

To get a little more into the nitty gritty, in his Monday column George Skelton details how the Democrats divvy things up in California. From the nine delegates in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis San Francisco district to the four delegates in the San Joaquin Valley district of Republican Rep. David Valadao, he explains how the system here rewards party loyalty, which makes the numbers an uphill struggle for the senator from Vermont.

Cathleen Decker reports on todays front page that Sunday in New York served as a metaphor for the 2016 race in its entirety and that states raucous April 19 primary contest in particular.

While Clinton was visiting three African American churches and speaking nearly as much about President Obama as she spoke about herself, Sanders hosted a Coney Island boardwalk rally that was a visible, passionate counterpoint to Clintons more carefully crafted appearances.

TRUMP LOSING DELEGATES LEFT AND RIGHT

Donald Trump may have won more votes and carried more states than any other Republican, but he stands a fair chance of losing the GOP nomination because up to now he largely ignored one of the most rudimentary aspects of a presidential run: securing loyal delegates.

Melanie Mason and Mark Z. Barabrak break down how Sen. Ted Cruz was able to scoop up 13 additional delegates in Colorado last week  and why that matters.

Use our nifty chart to track the delegate race in real time.

CRUZ IN SOCAL TODAY

Seema Mehta reports Cruz will be rallying supporters in Orange County and San Diego today as he campaigns ahead of the June 7 primary.

The candidates also are starting to ask about buying ad time on television, meaning Cruz, Trump and Ohio Gov. Kasich might soon be on a screen near you.

In her Sunday column, Decker explains why California politics just arent like New Yorks, which is one reason you can get ready to watch them play out on TV.

Keep up with whats happening on the campaign trail on Trail Guide and follow @latimespolitics.

OBAMA DINES WITH JULIA ROBERTS

Obama raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for House and Senate Democrats on Thursday and Friday in Los Angeles. At his Bel-Air event at the home of a Disney executive and with Bob Iger among the crowd, the president said Trump and Cruz are doing the Democrats a favor by exposing the agenda of congressional Republicans.

Colleen Shalby was there and dishes on the big-name celebrities who were too.

DOUBLE-DIPPING LAWMAKERS

Republican state Sen. John Moorlach of Costa Mesa has emerged as a leading voice in the Legislature against skyrocketing debt piled up by public pension systems. But some in the pension reform movement say the former Orange County treasurer may be contributing to the problem: Moorlach receives an $83,827 government pension check from the Orange County Employees Retirement System while making $100,113 a year as a senator.

Patrick McGreevy introduces you to the 17 state lawmakers who collect two checks each month for government pensions and salaries as legislators.

UNION INFLUENCE IN THIS WEEKS PODCAST

Keep an eye on how Californias powerful labor unions play their political hand this fall in key legislative districts where they have turned their backs on incumbent, business-friendly Democrats.

In this weeks California Politics Podcast, Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers leads a discussion on recent non-endorsements by the unions, as well as a look at last weeks special Assembly election in Fresno and a new round of fighting over University of California out-of-state enrollment.

TODAYS ESSENTIALS

-- Has she smoked weed? What will happen with recreational pot?: A conversation with Californias first marijuana czar, Lori Ajax.

-- Who will pay for the GOPs convention in Cleveland? Joseph Tanfani reports that some of the partys big-dollar donors from four years ago, unhappy about the prospect of contributing to a chaotic or brokered convention, are holding onto their money. Blue-chip corporations that helped underwrite the 2012 convention, including Microsoft and AT&T, are now facing a pressure campaign to stay away.

-- Peter Jamison finds the less celebrated, and often unnoticed, series of loopholes that cut union workers out of the very minimum wage increases their leaders have championed.

-- You are paying 11 cents more for each gallon of gas because of Californias climate change rules, according to the states independent Legislative Analysts Office.

-- Our Trump Nation series continues, with a look at man in Las Vegas, where life in these sand-blown suburbs has come to look like much that has gone wrong with the rest of the country.

-- What do you think of Trump? Readers can weigh in with our quick survey.

LOGISTICS

Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
California has some of the strictest laws in the U.S. against publicly releasing information about officer discipline. State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) says recent high-profile clashes between police departments and the communities they serve show that now is the time to change the rules.

Leno has introduced SB 1286, which would unravel some of the protections against releasing officer information. His push for transparency is generally supported by police reform advocates as a way to improve police-community relations.

We can begin to rebuild the critically needed trust between law enforcement and community members, Leno said. I dont think its at all debatable that that trust has come into question.

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Lenos bill will have its first test Tuesday morning at a Senate committee hearing thats expected to highlight the deep divide between police reform advocates and law enforcement.

Similar efforts to make it easier to learn about officer misconduct arent common in other states. Over the last two years, lawmakers in at least half a dozen other statehouses have introduced widely supported bills to restrict access to police information that, in some ways, go even further than Californias presumption of confidentiality over law enforcement records.

The national debate spotlights the broad differences in rules governing police records across the U.S., and it reveals the lack of a clear standard in determining how much the public should know about officers whom departments have found to have behaved badly.

I wish there was some rhyme or reason to it all, said John Worrall, a criminology professor at the University of Texas at Dallas who has studied public information laws. Its a total hodgepodge ranging from openness to secrecy. And theres no coherent justification to any of it.

Nearly 40 years ago, California took its first steps to shield police misconduct from the public when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law in his first term restricting details of officer personnel files from disclosure. A 2006 California Supreme Court decision went further and extended the laws protections to cases in which civil service commissions weighed in on officer discipline. Today, almost all details about misconduct  including cases in which police officers were found to have used excessive force, engaged in racial profiling or lied on the job  are kept secret outside of court, administrative or civilian review board proceedings.

And although 23 states keep most public employee personnel records confidential, California is one of just three to provide specific protections for police information, according to a recent investigation by New Yorks WNYC Public Radio.

Lenos bill would allow the public to access police records in cases in which departments have determined officers have committed serious misconduct, and it would allow those who have filed complaints against officers to learn how their cases were handled.

His efforts fall in line with advocates call for increased transparency in law enforcement, a push that has grown in intensity after several police shootings have been questioned, including the killing of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., nearly two years ago.

But these calls for change have sparked a counter-movement spearheaded by police unions and their political allies who have argued that too much openness threatens officer safety and privacy. In California, theres already deep opposition to Lenos bill from police unions, police chiefs and district attorneys.

The debate is also occurring in the Legislature among Lenos Democratic colleagues. Two Democratic assemblymen, Miguel Santiago of Los Angeles and Evan Low of Campbell, have introduced bills that would further restrict information about officers, including in some cases their identities and details about their involvement in shootings and other serious incidents. Two other Assembly Democrats have written legislation that would result in widely different policies governing the disclosure of police body-camera footage  one favors speedy public disclosure and the other requires a court order for any public release.

In Pennsylvania, the battle between transparency and officer privacy sparked a war within a major U.S. citys police force. Last July, after a spate of police shootings, Charles Ramsey, then Philadelphias police chief and co-chairman of a police reform task force appointed by President Obama, announced that his city would release the names of officers involved in shootings within three days as a way to restore community trust.

Ramseys decision drew pushback from the citys police union. It prompted Martina White, a Republican state representative backed by the union, to introduce a bill that would restrict departments from releasing those names until after an investigation was complete.

Imagine its a gang member thats been shot, White said in an interview. Other gang members can then go out and find that officer and his family.

Over the last two years, lawmakers in at least five other states  Arizona, New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia and West Virginia  have introduced bills to restrict police information from the public that would have often gone beyond Californias anti-disclosure laws. The Virginia bill, which passed its Senate but has since been tabled, would have made the names of all police officers in the state secret. However, some states are attempting to address problem officers by developing rules to deny licenses to officers who have committed crimes or misconduct.

In California, officer identities are public. But restricting the release of police records has meant some misconduct has been kept under wraps along with information about whether those officers kept their jobs or were hired by other departments despite a history of problems.

In 2013, for example, The Times reported that the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department had hired dozens of officers with proven serious misconduct, information that emerged after personnel files were leaked.

Police unions opposed to Lenos bill say criminal and civil remedies as well as citizens review boards provide enough opportunities to ensure officer accountability.

Going further to make information from police personnel files public would violate privacy rights, said George Hofstetter, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. Beyond that, Hofstetter said, Leno has failed to show that increasing access to police records would improve community trust.

Sen. Leno and his supporters are trying to capitalize on the sometimes very vocal opposition to law enforcement that we currently see to invade the privacy of peace officers in California, Hofstetter said.

liam.dillon@latimes.com

Follow @dillonliam on Twitter

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Reformers can kill all the fun. Theres no better example than the California battle shaping up between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

Because of past do-gooders, neither candidate can really run up a big score in the June 7 presidential primary.

Most significantly, it will be virtually impossible for Sanders to catch Clinton in the delegate race, even if he achieves a stunning upset.

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See the most-read stories this hour >>

California will send 546 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia the last week in July. That will be by far the largest state bloc and 23% of the total needed to nominate the partys presidential candidate.

What if all California delegates were awarded the old-fashioned, pre-reform way  winner-take-all? The candidate who won the statewide vote would cart off all the delegates.

That would be exciting. It might even rival national attention paid earlier to pipsqueak states Iowa and New Hampshire.

It would be worth multimillion-dollar media buys, border-to-border barnstorming and bringing out the mariachi bands. The victor could win the whole enchilada: the nomination.

California primaries havent been that compelling since 1972 when the anti-establishment, anti-Vietnam War candidate George McGovern  the Sanders of his day  beat former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. He won all 271 California delegates and thus the nomination.

Well, it wasnt quite that simple. Drama ensued at the Miami convention. Crazed Humphrey forces initially stripped McGovern of 151 California delegates, triggering a pivotal floor brawl. California leader Willie Brown pounded the podium and shouted: Give me back my delegation!

Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter

The convention did. McGovern was swamped by President Nixon that November, even losing California. Brown later became a legendary state Assembly speaker and ultimately San Francisco mayor.

And the delegate-selection process was reformed. It became sort of ho-hum. No big winners, no big losers. Delegates were chosen on a proportional basis, parceled out based on each candidates percentage of the vote.

Young Gov. Jerry Brown won the California primary in 1976 and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts did in 1980. So what? One-day headlines. The state couldnt provide enough oomph.

California moved up its primary for four presidential elections starting in 1996 in a futile attempt to gain more nominating clout. But without a winner-take-all rule, the results were disappointing.

In 2008, the states last early primary, Hillary Clinton did manage to keep her campaign alive for three additional months by winning in California. She beat Barack Obama by 8 percentage points, but won only 38 more delegates than he did.

That race is one reason Clinton had a jump on Sanders this year in California. Another is that Bill Clinton beat Jerry Brown in the 1992 primary and then became only the second Democrat in 11 presidential elections to carry the state that November. Clinton won again easily here in 1996.

So the Clintons have a veteran, loyal, full-service political operation on standby in California. (Full disclosure: my daughter is part of it.)

Clinton started this campaign far ahead in the polls. But Sanders has cut sharply into her lead. In the latest Field Poll, released Friday, Clinton led by only six percentage points, 47% to 41%.

Theres a huge generation gap, as there has been all over the country. Voters under 40 strongly support Sanders; those over 40 prefer Clinton.

But none of that will matter much  except as bragging points  unless Sanders can pull huge upsets in other large states such as New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Clinton only has to capture about one-third of the delegates available in the remaining state contests.

Itll be extremely hard for Sanders to play delegate catch-up in California. Nationally, he trails by around 250 pledged delegates. Plus more than 400 ostensibly unpledged super-delegates tilt toward Clinton. She could clinch the nomination here.

It works this way: Unlike Republicans, who award the same number of delegates to each congressional district, Democrats do the politically smart thing. They reward party loyalty. Each districts delegate number is based on its past support of Democratic presidential candidates.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis San Francisco district gets nine delegates. But the Kern County district of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy  this states top Republican  is allotted only five. Take that, Bakersfield. Even fewer, four, go to the San Joaquin Valley district of Republican Rep. David Valadao.

Clinton and Sanders will divide up the delegates based on their vote totals in each district and statewide. Most delegates, 317, will be awarded by district, and 105 will be allotted statewide. Another 53 will go to party leaders. And therell be 71 unpledged so-called super-delegates, a group leaning strongly toward Clinton.

In fact, much of the system leans Clintons way.

One example: Sanders strength is among voters under 30. But their numbers are highest in districts coincidentally allowed the fewest delegates, according to Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc.

Another: Latinos have been favoring Clinton, and theyre numerous in some districts with larger delegate caches.

However, unlike Republicans, Democrats permit nonpartisans to participate in their primary. And, in the poll, they support Sanders by 10 points.

Regardless, itll be uphill for the insurgent without much reward at the top.

Our system is designed to give everyone a fair shake on delegates, says Bob Mulholland, a longtime state Democratic official and activist.

Fair, maybe. But not as much fun.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter

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Two things I resolved before arriving in Dublin: I would never eat blood sausage, and I would not leave town without having my first pint o Guinness stout in its city of origin.

One half of the pledge came true on our first night: Here I was at the Cobblestone, a self-described drinking pub with a music problem, listening to live traditional music with my first pint in front of me on the bar.

But I failed to hide my horror after my first sip of the foamy, room-temperature stout. The female bartender asked whether Id like to try it again with a shot of black currant syrup. It makes it easier for the ladies, she said sotto voce as she spiked my forbidding dark brown drink.

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Although I appreciated the sisterly gesture, the syrup didnt make Guinness any easier for this lady. It was still nasty, just sweeter. I began to wonder if I had been too hasty in writing off the blood sausage.

Irish Guinness in a bar. (Sam Burnett / Getty Images/Flickr RF)

Guinness was the only bad taste in my mouth after our three-night, two-day speed tour of Irelands capital city. My husband, Alan, and I learned that you can fall in love with Dublin even if you dont have much time.

We were on the way home from five glorious days in Italys Umbrian countryside when we decided on a whim to extend the trip with two days in Dublin. I consulted my favorite free travel agent  that is, Facebook. Anybody been to Dublin, and how should we make the most of a short stay? Posting an appealing image of the Lucky Charms leprechaun was way more fun than any cat video.

The post led us to our virtual tour guide: Paul Gregg, an American artist working in Dublin. Family demands (that is, his 1-year-old son Paolo) prevented us from meeting during our stay. Still, thanks to email he was kind enough to steer us away from tourist traps while making sure we didnt miss important highlights.

On Greggs short list: the Book of Kells at Trinity College  glorious illustrated manuscripts created by Irish monks circa 800  and the Old Librarys Long Room (Its like seeing the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia or the Crown Jewels in London, he said). He also recommended the National Museum of Ireland (home to ancient bog bodies, human remains mummified by the acidic conditions of peat bogs), and drew our attention to the citys smaller museums devoted to subjects as diverse as postage stamps and leprechauns, whiskey and James Joyce.

We sought Greggs advice on two other important matters: music pubs and fish and chips. He recommended the Cobblestones authentic free music sessions over the more touristy ODonoghues or Temple Bar pubs and steered us from fish and chips haunt Leo Burdock (too greasy) to the more civilized Beshoff Bros., where we enjoyed fluffy fried haddock in a casual diner atmosphere.

We knew we wouldnt have time for everything, but Dublins hop-on, hop-off buses made it easy to cover a lot of ground quickly and inexpensively.

Our hotel, the OCallaghan Davenport, is conveniently close to the Merrion Square tour bus stop. Although more functional than elegant, the hotel is ideally located, and the price includes a full Irish breakfast buffet (crazy-good scones and oatmeal; still not brave enough for blood sausage).

A statue of Irish writer Oscar Wilde reclines rakishly on a boulder in Dublins Merrion Square Park. (Amy T. Zielinski / Getty Images)

By chance, we landed during the annual Dublin Theatre Festival, so our only real planning was to buy tickets online to Conor McPhersons The Night Alive at the historic Gaiety Theatre as soon as we arrived at our hotel. Beyond that, we left our fate in the hands of Gregg, the hop-on, hop-off buses and the serendipity that brought us to Dublin during an almost-unheard-of run of rain-free late September days.

We bought two-day Gray Line sightseeing bus tickets from the hotel concierge and were off. We could walk to Trinity College and the Book of Kells, and the bus got us to a tour of the Old Jameson Distillery (we figured everyone else would choose the Guinness Storehouse), Beshoffs and the bustling Temple Bar and Grafton Street shopping areas.

It also took us to the charming Little Museum of Dublin. The museum, in an 18th century Georgian townhouse, chronicles the citys 20th century history. Its accurately described as a peoples museum: Most of its collection is donated by locals. Music fans created the exhibition U2: Made in Dublin, chronicling 40 years in the history of the rebellious rock band. Half-attic, half-formal exhibition, the Little Museum bristles with nonconformist energy.

But we agreed that the highlight of our visit was a literary walking tour by one Gerry McDonald. Various walking tours are included in the price of the bus ticket, and as an English major with a particular fondness for James Joyce, W.B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde, I chose this one over pubs.

Because no one else showed up, we had McDonald to ourselves. This seemingly tireless and knowledgeable guide gave us the social history of Trinity College, dropped in on Davy Byrnes pub (a Joyce hangout) and pointed out Yeats birthplace in a row of swank town houses.

He told us that although outsiders call the lands traditional language Irish Gaelic, most locals call it speaking Irish.

Standing in Merrion Square Park  one of Dublins five Georgian squares  is a 1997 sculpture of Wilde (1854-1900), jailed for indecency with other men. The sculpture features Wilde reclining rakishly on a 35-ton white quartz boulder. McDonald pointed out something its easy to miss: One side of his face is grinning. On the other side, the mouth is downturned.

Even in stone, Wilde continues to lead two separate lives.

McDonald ended our tour at Swenys pharmacy, which figures in Joyces Ulysses and now is a Joyce bookstore and memorabilia shrine. I got to talking books with a volunteer at Swenys  like a character out of Mary Poppins, with a bright red flower in her bonnet  and she invited me to leave a copy of my 2014 novel Dark Lady of Hollywood to put on a top shelf alongside those of other visiting authors.

Imagine being invited to put my L.A.-centric paperback in proximity to rare early editions of Joyce classics. And I just happened to have a copy in my hotel room right across the street.

Call it the luck of the Angeleno.

travel@latimes.com
Easter Monday, April 24, 1916. While World War I raged through mainland Europe, Dublin was center stage for events that would rock the British Empire and set Ireland on a course for independence. Armed men and women took to the streets of the Irish capital in a bid to found a new state. For a week the rebellion ripped through the city, which yielded to the explosives that reduced landmarks to rubble.

The uprising ended in failure, but the innocent bloodshed and rapid executions triggered an avalanche of public support for a republic. Rebel leader Joseph Plunkett married his sweetheart, cartoonist Grace Gifford, just hours before his dawn execution, which added a tragic romantic twist to the Easter Rising.

Commandant Eamon de Valera escaped execution; the future president of Ireland was spared because he was born on American soil. It was up to Dev and other surviving dissidents to march forward through civil war and eventually establish a new republic.

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The General Post Office served as headquarters for the 1916 Easter Rising rebels in Dublin, Ireland, and was heavily damaged in the fighting. Only its facade remained intact. (Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Michael Collins and De Valera led the campaign and became architects of the modern political landscape. Irelands version of the Fourth of July was born that Easter Monday, and this year, for the 100th anniversary of the rebellion, Dublin is drawing an international audience  and even Hollywood is on board.

Liam Neeson earned a Golden Globe nomination in 1997 for his portrayal of the rebel leader in Michael Collins, so its no surprise that he was chosen to narrate a documentary titled 1916 the Irish Rebellion. This collaboration between the University of Notre Dame and Irelands national broadcaster RTE commemorates the Easter Rising and its influence on the 20th century. It traces the fallout from that fateful Easter Monday and its rippling effect across the globe.

Irelands capital is host to myriad events to commemorate the centenary. Most of these will take place in the city center throughout 2016, with one exception. Glasnevin Cemetery, just outside Dublin, is Irelands answer to Paris sprawling Pere Lachaise and a worthwhile excursion. Although many of the executed rebels were buried at Arbour Hill Cemetery, the surviving leaders who went on to shape modern-day Ireland are interred at Glasnevin.

Countess Constance Georgine Markievicz was the first woman to be elected to the British House of Commons and one of the first female cabinet members in Europe. She rests at Glasnevin with rebel comrades De Valera and Collins. Glasnevin Cemetery has created a series of 1916-related events that will be performed throughout this year in its outdoor museum, including a powerful daily oration by an actor dressed as rebel leader Patrick Pearse.

Touring Easter Rising sites via Google with Colin Farrell, or in person with two guide authors

Irish actor Colin Farrell has joined ranks with Google and made it easy for cyber visitors to follow the rebels path in Irelands capital. Dublins Rising 1916- 2016" (dublinrising.withgoogle.com) is a step-by-step guide to 22 sites that were cornerstones of the Easter Rising rebellion.

Google Maps captures the locations as they are today, then Farrell takes you back a century, with rare footage and images that illustrate the carnage and mayhem of the Easter Rebellion.

The app and website work well for armchair travelers, but sometimes its best to experience the events of 1916 by meandering on foot through Dublins winding streets. Authors Lorcan Collins and Conor Kostick lead a daily walking tour of the capital (www.1916rising.com) and highlight Easter Rising points of interest along the way.

The pub banter afterward is as beloved as the guided walk itself. Tours at 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 p.m. Sundays; through Oct. 31. $15 per adult; booking ahead is advised.

Landmarks of the Easter Rising:

1916 LANDMARKS

The General Post Office

This was the epicenter of the 1916 Rising. Rebel leaders Patrick Pearse and James Connolly set up headquarters here and held it for a week as casualties piled up on the streets. Pearse read the Irish proclamation of independence outside the General Post Office, a copy of which can be seen in the Long Room of Trinity Colleges Old Library across the River Liffey. By the end of the Easter Rising, the building was a smoldering ruin. Only the facade remained intact, with bullet holes visible today.

Info: OConnell Street Lower, www.gpowitnesshistory.ie

St. Stephens Green

Easter 1916, and the tranquillity of this leafy retreat was shattered by gunfire. The rebels were led by Commandant Michael Mallin and Lt. Constance Georgine Markiewicz, a countess and the only female leader of the rebellion. They occupied the Shelbourne Hotel and dug trenches into the 22-acre green below. The entrance to the park, Fusiliers Arch, still has bullet holes from the battle that ensued.

Fusiliers Arch is the entrance to St. Stephens Green in Dublin, Ireland. (John Freeman / Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image)

Info: www.lat.ms/25LWnQ6

Grand Canal Dock

Bolands Mill, along Grand Canal Dock, was held by Eamon de Valera during the siege and was the last bastion to surrender. There is no better place to witness the striking transformation of Irelands capital city than at this hub of commerce and cafe lifestyle. Theres a television studio, theater and social media headquarters mixed with busy coffee houses. Its come a long way since its days as a leprosy colony called Misery Hill.

Info: www.dublindocklands.ie

Easter Rising exhibits and events in Dublin

Easter Rising showcased

Dublin Fire Brigade and the 1916 Rising

The exhibition tells the story of Dublins firefighters during Easter week 1916 and the impact the rising had on the city. Fire engines and ambulance crews were on continuous, often dangerous duty, dealing with the razing of the city center.

Info: Dublin City Hall, Dame Street. Free; through June 30. www.lat.ms/1SR3TSC

Proclaiming a Republic: The 1916 Rising

The National Museum of Ireland has put on one of the largest displays of material from the period in a new exhibition housed in Collins Barracks, named for Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins.

Info: National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin. Free; closed Mondays. www.lat.ms/2019bOy

Glasnevin Cemetery Museum

Tours of the cemetery tell the story of civilians and combatants buried here who were affected by, and involved in, the Easter Rising. A new 1916 Rising exhibition at the cemetery museum includes objects, letters, photos and previously unseen material.

Info: Finglas Road, Dublin; www.glasnevintrust.ie. Tours daily through Sept. 4, exhibition open through Nov. 25.

The Plough and the Stars

Sean OCaseys play The Plough and the Stars, which is based on the Easter Rising, runs through April 23 at the Abbey Theatre.

Info: 26/27 Lower Abbey St.; www.abbeytheatre.ie

travel@latimes.com
China has long been known as a mecca of fake Western products, such as iPhones, Nike sneakers, even IKEA outlets.

Now the country has its very own BBC  the Business Broadcast of China, that is.

The Business Broadcast of Chinas website looks strikingly similar to that of its British counterpart  the pages header bears the same shades of red. Even its choice of content carries a whiff of the British Broadcasting Corp.; recent stories include takes on the rise of financial technology, migrant labor in Germany, and the vagaries of the Chinese economy.

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Its domain name is www.bbcnews.com.cn/. (The original BBCs Chinese-language website is at www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp.)

China in recent years has blocked scores of Western media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, after they ran critical reports about the countrys leadership. Over the past week, censors also blocked the websites of the Economist and Time after they published magazine covers that cast Chinese President Xi Jinping in a negative light.

The BBCs English- and Chinese-language websites have been intermittently blocked in China; on Sunday, the English site was accessible, but the Chinese one was not.

An operations manager at the Business Broadcast of China, when reached by phone, said that any similarities to the BBCs website were a coincidence. The company is based in Hefei, the capital of central Chinas Anhui province, he said, but some of its 10 employees are scattered throughout the country. He said the site went online in late 2014, and attracts up to 5,000 unique viewers per day.

We think its not proper to have the same color [header] as BBC, so were changing it to gray, said the manager, who gave only his surname, Li.

The BBC -- the British one -- did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Strangely, the Hefei-based BBCs website also carries articles about the Panama Papers, a massive document leak publicized last week that implicated a swath of the global elite  including several current or former Chinese leaders  in an offshore finance scandal. Beijing has banned all mentions of the leak in the countrys media. (The Business Broadcast of China did not mention the Chinese leaders in its reports).

Some of the sites articles attribute their content to other, vaguely defined sources, such as German Media; others are simply attributed to Business Broadcast Network. No reporters are identified.

The site lists a BBC Twitter and BBC Facebook page, without providing links. Several links on the site lead directly to searches on Baidu, the countrys leading search engine.

At the bottom of each article is a notice: Without the Business Broadcast Networks authorization, it is forbidden to reprint [this article]. Violators will be investigated.

Yingzhi Yang in the Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report.

Follow @JRKaiman on Twitter for news from Asia

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Chinas first-ever transgender employment discrimination case came before an arbitration panel on Monday amid a grassroots push by activists to challenge widespread prejudice through the countrys courts.

Last April, the litigant  a 28-year-old surnamed Chen, a transgender man  was fired one week into a job at a health services firm in Guiyang, the capital of southwestern Chinas Guizhou province, for wearing mens clothes on the job. The firm, Ciming Checkup, did not give Chen any compensation or prior notice.

Chen filed the case to Guiyangs Yunyan District labor arbitration panel on March 7, seeking compensation and a written apology. Chens appearance really did not fit our standards, a manager at the company told the Guiyang Evening News soon afterward.

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The hearing began on Monday morning and ended at 1:30 p.m., Chen wrote on Sina Weibo, Chinas most popular microblog. He wrote that the defendants only evidence proved that he had not disclosed his gender on his job application form.

What we sued over is the reason I was fired, not the reason I was hired, so the [evidence] is irrelevant, he wrote. The defendant said I was incapable of doing my job well, but they dont have evidence. The defendant said I stayed away from work without a good reason, but no evidence. They said I only worked four days a week, but no evidence. We will definitely win the case!

Well see the [ruling] at the end of the April, he continued. In order to advance anti-discrimination employment law, this case wont be over [till we get] a written apology!

In much of China, being gay or transgender is still considered taboo, for social and political reasons. Chinese authorities do not recognize same-sex marriages, and decades of draconian family planning policies have shaped a culture in which parents put extraordinary pressure on their children to have children of their own.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

Chens case comes amid a broader effort by activists to use litigation to challenge prejudices against alternative sexual orientations and gender identities  one that has gained surprising traction, given the countrys tightly circumscribed space for activism and free speech.

The cases have received a fair amount of coverage in Chinas state-run media, much of it sympathetic, suggesting that authorities have so far tolerated the trend. Mondays case made local TV news; others have made national newspapers.

On Wednesday, a court in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province in central China, will hear the countrys first gay marriage case. The plaintiffs, Sun Wenlin and Hu Mingliang, sued the local government for refusing to issue them a marriage certificate. (Chinas marriage laws do not specifically forbid same-sex marriage).

I hope they will allow gay marriage [starting] the day after tomorrow, Sun said in a phone interview.

In November, a lesbian activist sued Chinas education ministry for describing homosexuality as a psychological disorder, although the Chinese Psychiatric Assn. stopped classifying it as such in 2001.

In 2014, a gay man successfully sued a clinic for offering gay-straight conversion therapy, on the grounds of false advertising; in September, a gay rights activist and filmmaker filed a lawsuit against Chinas media watchdog for censoring one of his films. A Beijing court accepted the case.

China is a big country that could send ripples to other Asian countries, Sun said. I hope China can take a leap forward regarding gay marriage rights.

Yingzhi Yang in The Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report.

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ASMARA, Eritrea  This struggling, low-profile nation is doing something virtually unheard of in Africa. Its turning down foreign aid.

With a president who vows not to lead another spoon-fed African country enslaved by international donors, Eritrea, a small, secretive nation on the Horn of Africa, has walked away from more than $200 million in aid in the last year alone, including food from the United Nations, development loans from the World Bank and grants from international charities to build roads and deliver healthcare.

Eritrea can scarcely afford to say no. As one of the worlds poorest nations, it has struggled to feed its people.

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But President Isaias Afwerki, a former Marxist rebel who has led Eritrea since its independence from Ethiopia in 1993, defends the nations exercise in self-reliance, even if it results in short-term hardships. He says it is crucial not only to the long-term survival of his country, but also to that of his continent.

We need this country to stand on its two feet, Isaias said in an interview. Fifty years and billions of dollars in post-colonial international aid have done little to lift Africa from chronic poverty, he said.

These are crippled societies, Isaias said of neighbors whom he described as relying on donors rather than developing their economies. You cant keep these people living on handouts because that doesnt change their lives.

But can Eritreas government fill the void without an increase in hunger and disease?

The self-reliance program began a decade ago but accelerated sharply in 2005. Relying on its meager budget and the conscription of about 800,000 of the countrys citizens, the program so far has shown promising results. Measured on a variety of U.N. health indicators, including life expectancy, immunizations and malaria prevention, Eritrea scores as high, and often higher, than its neighbors, including Ethiopia and Kenya.

It might be one of the most ambitious social and economic experiments underway in Africa.But Eritrea isnt getting much credit. Instead, the government increasingly finds itself in the international doghouse, largely because of its poor human rights record, isolationism and belligerent stance toward its neighbors and the West.

In a world moving toward globalization, Eritrea is turning inward. The government has sealed its borders and halted most imports, expelled several diplomats and aid groups, and withdrawn from the leading East African intergovernmental alliance.

Its like they have self-imposed sanctions, said one diplomat, who like many interviewed feared government retribution if identified. Theyre turning into an Albania or North Korea.

Tensions are particularly high with Ethiopia, with which Eritrea fought a bitter border war from 1998 to 2000. In recent months, both nations have beefed up troops along their border in a disputed region, threatening to resume hostilities.

Now the U.S. is threatening to make Eritrea even more of a pariah by adding it to its list of state sponsors of terrorism, alleging that Eritrea is supporting Somalias Islamic Courts Union, an insurgent alliance that U.S. officials say has links to the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

A recent United Nations report accused Eritrea of sending arms shipments to the Islamist fighters last year.

Theyre creating a lot of problems in Africa, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer said recently, criticizing the governments support for rebel groups in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia. In a diplomatic tit-for-tat, the U.S. recently closed Eritreas consulate in Oakland.

Isaias was once heralded in the United States as the George Washington of Eritrea. Now, many in Washington portray him as a budding Fidel Castro or Kim Jong Il. Foreign diplomats worry that the escalating tensions may only further alienate the country.

Eritrea shouldnt be the bad boy in the corner, said Carl Lostelius, charge daffaires for the European Union here. Its not good for Eritrea and its not good for the region.

Isaias said he was being punished for opposing Ethiopias troop deployment to Somalia last year, which helped oust the Islamic Courts group from Mogadishu. The U.S. government supported the overthrow of the Islamists.

The Eritrean leader insisted he was not trying to isolate his country but was attempting to protect it from foreign influences that he said hurt developing countries. He said Eritrea would rejoin regional and global markets once it developed a manufacturing and production capacity and could compete on an equal footing. Until then, he added, we say, leave us alone. Let us do our work.

As part of the self-reliance campaign, the government last year abruptly stopped the World Food Programs free distributions to 1 million people. This year, government officials refused a proposed $100-million development loan from the World Bank.

It would seem that this government is less concerned and careful about protecting its own people than the international community, said one aid official in Asmara, the nations capital.

Since 2005, the number of foreign aid agencies here has fallen to nine from 37 and many aid officials have complained they have little to do.

Theyve cut off our limbs, one said.

Isaias insisted his country was doing fine without the aid. Education and healthcare are free, he said. Measles and polio have been nearly eradicated in the last two years and the childhood mortality rate has dropped by nearly two-thirds since 1995. Evaluating food production has been more difficult. Eritrea, with its hostile climate and rugged terrain, has a history of famine. But Isaias said his cold-turkey approach to halting food aid was making farmers work harder, without increasing hunger or malnutrition.

Its provoked people to do more to feed themselves, he said, predicting Eritrea would produce an agricultural surplus in three years. We are fed better than anyone.

Aid officials say they cant verify the progress or measure malnutrition rates because the government wont permit independent assessments. The last survey, in 2006, found 20% of children malnourished in some rural areas.

Most agreed that food levels during the last two years have been stable, thanks largely to adequate rainfall.

Theyre surviving on favorable weather right now, said one aid worker, but there is no guarantee that will last.

Critics accuse Isaias of autocratic rule. He canceled presidential elections in 1997 and 2001 and wont say when he plans to step down. A draft constitution was never ratified.

A September 2001 crackdown against opposition groups led to the dismantling of a free press and arrests of several dozen politicians, journalists and others. Some are feared to have died in custody.

Isaias rejects criticisms, calling the constitution only a paper, dismissing those in jail as crooks, and bristling at the suggestion that hes worried about holding a free vote.

Do you think Im scared of elections in this country? he said. What have I done wrong to be scared of elections? Im moving in the right direction.

On the streets of Asmara, some citizens are less sure. Though many still view Isaias as a national hero, some of those who fought for independence say they had hoped to enjoy more prosperity by now.

He has lost his vision, said one former fighter who is unemployed. These days, we feel that every door is shut for us.

With little production and few exports, the government and citizens rely heavily on remittances from Eritreans abroad, including a 2% income tax on expatriates collected through the nations consulates. Although the tax is voluntary, not paying jeopardizes rights and property in Eritrea, so compliance is fairly good.

The governments economic program is an odd mix of socialism and capitalism. Commodities such as bread and milk are subsidized and rationed, but gasoline sells for $11 a gallon. Closed borders mean frequent shortages. The local Coca-Cola factory, for example, recently closed because it didnt have enough foreign currency to buy syrup.

Asmara is one of Africas cleanest and safest cities, with Art Deco architecture, palm-lined avenues and bustling street cafes, all remnants of Italian colonial rule.

But beggars and the homeless are beginning to appear on the streets for the first time in recent years. The government strictly controls access to cellphones and citizens cant leave the country without exit visas.

We feel trapped, said a 22-year-old student in Asmara.

By far the most unpopular government program is national service, in which every able-bodied person between the ages of 20 and 40 is drafted into a standby military force in case border clashes resume. The service is supposed to end after 18 months, but in practice can last a decade or longer. Most participants are deployed in public-service jobs, working in government ministries, building roads and irrigation systems, or teaching in schools. Salaries are $1 a day.

Whats the point of school? the student asked. There wont be any job for me. This is a time in my life when I should be working for my future. Instead, I feel hopeless. He said he was trying to raise $2,300 to pay an underground smuggler to help him out of the country.

Isaias offered no apologies. He said this generations sacrifices would pave the way for Eritreas future. People will either learn the easy way or the hard way, he said. If you aspire to become someone in this society with a good quality of life, you work for it. You dont get it for free. Its as simple as that.

edmund.sanders@latimes.com
An emotional John Kerry said Monday that Hiroshimas horrible history should teach humanity to avoid conflict and strive to eradicate nuclear weapons as he became the first U.S. secretary of State to tread upon the ground of the worlds first atomic bombing.

Kerrys visit to the Japanese city included a tour of its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and a ceremony to lay a wreath at the adjoining parks stone-arched monument, with the exposed steel beams of Hiroshimas iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.

The U.S. attack on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II killed 140,000 people and scarred a generation of Japanese, while thrusting the world into the Atomic Age. But Kerry said he hoped his trip would underscore how Washington and Tokyo have forged a deep alliance over the last 71 years and how everyone must ensure that nuclear arms are never used again.

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While we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past, he told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native. Its about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built, the friendship that we share, the strength of our alliance and the strong reminder of the imperative we all have to work for peace for peoples everywhere.

Kerrys appearance, just footsteps away from ground zero, completed an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

No serving U.S. president has visited the site, and it took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend Hiroshimas annual memorial service. Many Americans believe that the dropping of atomic bombs here on Aug. 6, 1945, and on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later were justified and hastened the end of the war.

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Kerry didnt speak publicly at the ceremony, though he could be seen with his arm around Kishida and whispering in his ear.

The otherwise somber occasion was lifted by the presence of about 800 Japanese schoolchildren waving flags of the G-7 nations, including that of the United States. They cheered as the ministers departed with origami cranes in their national colors around their necks. Kerry was draped in red, white and blue.

Hours afterward, the top American diplomat still seemed to be absorbing all that he saw.

It reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices of war and what war does to people, to communities, countries, the world.  John Kerry

It is a stunning display, it is a gut-wrenching display, he told reporters of the museum tour, recounting exhibits that showed the bomb, the explosion, the incredible inferno and mushroom cloud that enveloped Hiroshima. It tugs at all of your sensibilities as a human being. It reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices of war and what war does to people, to communities, countries, the world.

Kerry urged all world leaders to visit, saying: I dont see how anyone could forget the images, the evidence, the re-creations of what happened.

Japanese survivors groups have campaigned for decades to bring leaders from the U.S. and other nuclear powers to see Hiroshimas scars as part of a grass-roots movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

As Kerry expressed interest, neither Japanese government officials nor survivor groups pressed for the U.S. to apologize.

I dont think it is something absolutely necessary when we think of the future of the world and peace for our next generation, Masahiro Arimai, a 71-year-old Hiroshima restaurant owner, said of an apology.

Yoshifumi Sasaki, a 68-year-old, longtime resident, agreed: We all want understanding.

Both wished for President Obama to follow in Kerrys footsteps next month.

The president still hasnt made a decision about visiting Hiroshima and its memorial when he attends a Group of Seven meeting in central Japan in late May. During his first year in office, Obama said he would be honored to make such a trip.

Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial, Kerry wrote in the museums guest book. It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself.

War must be the last resort -- never the first choice, he added.

Wading into U.S. politics, Kerry and his Japanese counterpart rejected Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps recent suggestion that Japan consider developing its own nuclear weapons to defend itself against nuclear-armed North Korea.

Kishida said, For us to attain nuclear weapons is completely inconceivable.

Kerry called such notions absurd on their face, contradicting the efforts of every Democratic and Republican president since World War II to prevent wider nuclear proliferation.

Kerry acknowledged that some governments want all nuclear weapons, including those in the U.S. arsenal, destroyed immediately. He described such calls as unrealistic, potentially making the world more dangerous in the short term by ridding nations of their deterrence against bad actors such as North Korea. Instead, he urged an ordered, methodical process toward the final goal of denuclearization.

We all know its not going to happen overnight, Kerry said.

But he said, We have to get there.

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Portugals Supreme Court has rejected a former CIA operatives appeal against extradition to Italy to serve a six-year sentence for her part in an extraordinary-renditions program, a court official said Monday.

The official told the Associated Press that Sabrina De Sousas only remaining recourse to avoid being sent to Italy would be to appeal to Portugals Constitutional Court, arguing her extradition order is unconstitutional. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, in accordance with court rules.

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De Sousas Portuguese lawyer, Manuel Magalhaes e Silva, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

De Sousa, who was working in Italy under diplomatic cover, faces the prison term in connection with her role in the 2003 kidnapping in Milan of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, a terror suspect who was under surveillance by Italian law enforcement at the time. De Sousa was among 26 Americans convicted in absentia in the case, which also implicated Italys secret services and has proved embarrassing to successive Italian governments.

A lower Lisbon court ruled in January that De Sousa should be turned over to Italy following her arrest at Lisbon Airport in October on a European warrant. Authorities seized her passport while awaiting the court decision on her extradition.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

De Sousa, who was born in India and holds both U.S. and Portuguese passports, has said that she had been living in Portugal and intended to settle there. She was on her way to visit her elderly mother in India with a round-trip ticket when she was detained.

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Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, and former Finance Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski appeared headed for a June runoff to determine the winner of Perus presidential race, partial election results indicated Monday.

Keiko Fujimori received 39.5% of the votes cast in Sundays election, while Kuczynski received 22.1%, with more than two-thirds of the ballots counted, according to Perus electoral commission, known by its Spanish initials ONPE. About 83% of the first-round ballots were counted by late Monday, officials said.

Kuczynskis lead over candidate Veronika Mendoza, a socialist member of Congress who had about 18% of the vote, looked to be enough to ensure him the runoff spot against Fujimori on June 5, analysts said. A winning candidate needed 50% of votes plus one to avoid the second round.

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Fujimoris Fuerza Popular party also scored significant victories in the congressional portion of the election and was on track to win at least 65 of the 130 legislative seats up for grabs.

Although the 40-year-old Fujimori, a two-term member of Congress, would seem to be a prohibitive favorite against Kuczynski, polling firms have said the 77-year-old former minister has a chance of beating her in the runoff because of high anti-Fujimori sentiment in Peru.

The elder Fujimori, who served as president from 1990 to 2000, was convicted in 2009 on corruption and human rights abuse charges and is serving a 25-year prison term. A significant portion of Peruvians fear his daughter might bring back his authoritarian ways and say they wouldnt vote for her under any circumstance.

Also warning of a strong Kuczynski challenge was Boston University professor and Peru expert David Scott Palmer, who said the nearly 40% of votes collected by Fujimori on Sunday could turn out to be the ceiling or maximum support among Peruvians.

But Lima-based political science professor Alberto Vergara disagreed, saying Kuczynski may have too much ground to make up. He said the second-place finisher in the first round of a presidential election has never won after losing to the first place finisher by such a wide margin.

Who gains the support of Mendoza voters could be critical in determining the outcome of the June election. Popular especially in southern provinces, Mendoza capitalized on growing sentiment against miners and natural gas developers to mount a late surge in the polls.

Another significant player in the campaign could be Cesar Acuna, a former regional president who was disqualified from the presidential contest in February for alleged misuse of campaign funds. Nevertheless, Acunas party is on track to win at least 11 seats in the new Congress and thus he can still wield electoral influence, Vergara said.

Special correspondents Leon reported from Lima and Kraul from Bogota, Colombia.
Keiko Fujimori appeared to be on her way to a first-round win in Perus presidential election on Sunday, exit polls showed, but the race for second place and the right to face her in a June 5 runoff was too close to call.

According to several polling firms, Fujimori, a 40-year-old congresswoman and the daughter of disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori, was leading her closest competitors nearly 2 to 1. She was one of 10 candidates on the ballot.

Also up for grabs were all 130 congressional seats. Definitive results were not expected until early Monday, officials said.

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Although many Peruvians retain ill feelings toward Alberto Fujimori, now serving a prison term for corruption and human rights abuses, others credit him for suppressing terrorism, reforming the economy and bringing infrastructure to rural areas during his 1990-2000 administration.

My parents live in the jungle and Fujimori did what no government had ever done, said Sonia Lagos, 39, an apparel saleswoman, after voting for Keiko Fujimori in Lima. He built roads and gave us electricity and a medical clinic. All my family and I support her.

Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori waves to supporters from her Lima hotel while awaiting the results of Perus presidential election on April 10, 2016. (Martin Mejia / Associated Press)

Keiko Fujimori has proved to be a potent party organizer and campaigner for legislative candidates. Exit polls indicated that her Fuerza Popular party would win at least 60 of the 130 seats up for grabs in Sundays voting.

The Ipsos and GfK exit pollsters both showed the centrist former finance minister, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, and socialist Congresswoman Veronika Mendoza garnering about 20% of the votes each as they vied for the second-place finish and a spot in the runoff.

Monitors reported relatively heavy turnout but no violence during the voting, for which 23 million Peruvians were eligible.

Polls taken last week by GfK and others indicate that Kuczynski and Mendoza both have a good chance of beating Fujimori in the runoff. One poll found that 45% of Peruvians said they wouldnt vote for a Fujimori under any circumstance.

The elder Fujimori was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He is also accused of having ordered the sterilizations of about 300,000 indigenous women. Now 77, his many efforts to secure a pardon have failed and he remains jailed in Fundo Barbadillo prison in Lima.

To try to disassociate herself from her father, Keiko Fujimori promised during the campaign not to seek reelection if victorious and not to pardon her father. She also said she would make reparations to the sterilized women.

But Shane Hunt, a Boston University economics professor emeritus and Peru expert, questioned whether those efforts have been altogether successful. Her team consists mostly of old Fujimoristas and she draws her support from groups that supported her father, Hunt said.

Special correspondents Leon and Kraul reported from Lima and Bogota, Colombia, respectively.
When Secretary of State John F. Kerry arrived in Kabul on an unannounced visit over the weekend, many Afghans hoped he would address deepening popular concerns over the national unity government he helped create in 2014.

Instead, Kerrys statements endorsing the troubled government angered many of its opponents and, to a large number of Afghans, looked like continued U.S. interference in Afghanistans political system more than 14 years after it invaded the country.

In remarks alongside President Ashraf Ghani, Kerry said the compromise government formed to end a bitter election dispute in 2014 should last for a full five-year term. That appeared to mark a departure from the agreement that said a loya jirga, or grand assembly, would be called after two years to decide on the future of the government  as such assemblies have done at key points in Afghanistans recent history.

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The U.S.-brokered agreement signed by Ghani and his election rival, Abdullah Abdullah, made Ghani the president and installed Abdullah in the newly created post of chief executive. The text said Ghani was committed to convening a loya jirga by September 2016 to decide if the chief executive position should be changed to a prime ministership and made permanent, which would require amending the constitution.

In response to a question from an Afghan journalist about the governments term ending in roughly six months, Kerry said Saturday: There is no end to this agreement at the end of two years or in six months from now. This is an agreement for a unity government, the duration of which is five years.

Kerry said a loya jirga was a goal, not a requirement  upsetting many critics of Ghanis government who say the assembly is needed to resolve frustrations at the governments handling of political, economic and security affairs.

Mohammad Umer Daudzai, a former interior minister who has become a vocal critic of the unity government, said the loya jirga was needed immediately to bring reforms to an administration he called unhealthy.

The durability of the national unity government depends on  its popularity with the Afghan people, Daudzai said in a series of tweets Monday.

The Afghan government is facing a series of crises as the economy flatlines and Taliban insurgents battle government forces for control of parts of northern and southern Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans fled the country last year, demonstrating a widespread lack of confidence in a government that many view as having been foisted upon them by the United States.

Violence continues. On Monday, a military bus transporting recruits outside the eastern city of Jalalabad was struck by a bomb for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, killing 12 and wounding 38. Earlier in the day, a bus belonging to the education ministry struck a roadside bomb in Kabul, killing two.

Critics say the compromise that mashed two former political rivals and their teams together has produced an unwieldy administration that is prone to bickering and has been unable to hold parliamentary elections, institute electoral reforms or distribute computerized identity cards  all reform measures spelled out in the agreement.

While Obama administration officials in private conversations have urged Ghani and Abdullah to end the infighting and carry out the reforms, they have refrained from publicly criticizing the government they helped create. About 9,800 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, mainly serving as advisors to Afghan forces. But for many Afghans, Kerrys statements seemed to go over the line.

We strongly reject the message by John Kerry and call it a clear interference in Afghanistans internal affairs, the chairman of Afghanistans senate, Fazel Hadi Muslimyar, said Sunday.

One former official who was not authorized to speak to the media said, The people right now are asking Kerry: Who are you to decide our fates  you couldnt even bring peace and security after 15 years.

Many milestones in the September 2014 agreement have not been met. Chief among them was holding elections for district council members, which was to pave the way for the loya jirga.

In January, the Independent Election Commission announced Oct. 15 as the date for simultaneous parliamentary and district council elections  which would already have missed the two-year deadline in the agreement. But this month, election commissioner Yusuf Nuristani  who had been accused of complicity in election fraud in 2014  announced his resignation, casting the polls into question.

Abdullah on Monday rejected the criticisms of the government, saying opposition politicians misunderstood the 2014 agreement.

I wish those people who think of becoming part of the political future for Afghanistan could read the agreement, he said. This agreement is vital for the future of the country and our politicians were supposed to read it carefully and know what is in there.

Latifi is a special correspondent.
For more than a year, Yemen, a small country of outsized strategic importance, has been torn by warfare. But a fragile cease-fire has raised hopes for peace despite widespread skepticism and dozens of reported violations by the warring sides.

The truce, which came into effect at midnight Sunday, was agreed upon by the main belligerents in the conflict, which has left an estimated 6,200 people dead and thousands more injured or destitute.

On one side is Yemens government in exile, which is backed by neighboring Saudi Arabia. On the other are the Houthi rebels who drove out the government and now control of substantial parts of the country.

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The Houthis are backed by Iran, as well as by their onetime adversary, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who retains control of a large portion of the countrys armed forces.

The truce agreement included commitments for unhindered access for humanitarian supplies and personnel to all parts of Yemen, according to a statement Monday by the United Nations special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

I ask all the parties and the international community to remain steadfast in support of this cessation of hostilities to be a first in Yemens return to peace, said Ahmed. Yemen cannot afford the loss of more lives.

Saudi Arabia, which has led a coalition supporting the Yemeni government with a wide-scale aerial campaign and ground troops since March 2015, said in a statement that it was committed to the cease-fire, but reserves the right to respond to any rebel attacks.

The cease-fire is meant to serve as a prelude to peace talks scheduled to begin April 18 in Kuwait with the aim of reinstating the government of Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.

Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia shortly after the Houthis overran the Yemeni capital, Sana, in 2014. Previous attempts at ending the fighting have failed to make any headway.

Ahmed added that a U.N. committee had met in Kuwait to encourage the two sides to stick to the cease-fire, even as reports poured in of violent clashes as well as airstrikes soon after the truce began in Taizz, a strategic city 125 miles south of Sana.

Each side blamed the other for the violations. Al Masirah, a Houthi satellite television channel, also accused Saudi Arabia of dropping weapons to resupply pro-government forces trapped in Taizz.

Meanwhile, residents in Sana contacted via social media said that jets of the Saudi-led coalition had flown over the city and had bombed the northern district of Naham, on the edge of the wider Sana governorate.

The latest attempt at a cease-fire comes as a number of aid agencies warned of a humanitarian catastrophe. The World Food Program classified 10 out of 22 Yemeni governorates as being on the brink of famine, while the United Nations said the violence has forced 1 in 10 Yemenis, more than 2 million people, to flee their homes.

But that is only the tip of the iceberg, according to U.N., which said in a statement released Sunday that children have borne the brunt of [the] brutal conflict, with more than 900 killed.

They represent one-third of all civilian deaths, but also have played an increasing role as combatants. According to UNICEF, 848 Yemeni children have been recruited into the fighting forces this year, a fivefold increase since 2014.

Even in a country burdened by decades of conflict, this war has been the cruelest. Although it ostensibly pits the Saudi-backed Yemeni government against the Iranian-backed Houthis, the governments forces are in reality an uneasy coalition of Islamists, jihadists and separatists from the countrys southern regions, all with conflicting agendas and fungible loyalties.

Despite being backed by special forces and ground troops from both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Hadis government has not been able to secure its hold over any part of the country.

This holds true even in the port city of Aden, where pro-government forces were able to establish a foothold against the Houthis, but which nevertheless remains too dangerous for government officials to remain for anything but brief, hours-long visits.

The Saudi-led bombing campaign, which is supported by intelligence from the U.S., has fared little better.

It has been blamed by the U.N. for the majority of civilian deaths in the country since it began 13 months ago, while failing to dislodge the Houthis from their heartland areas in Sana and the countrys northern provinces.

The chaos, meanwhile, has allowed a reenergized Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the groups deadliest branch, to operate with impunity in the countrys eastern desert areas as well as the port city of Mukalla on the Gulf of Aden.

The militant group Islamic State also has been able to create another franchise in the country.

Despite the high stakes, commentators on Monday cast doubt as to whether the cease-fire could hold.

The problem is that most of the places government controlled do not follow the government and receive no support from it, neither financially nor operationally, said political commentator Ali Bukhaiti in a phone interview from the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

In Taizz especially, he said, several factions had refused to adhere to the cease-fire and vowed to continue fighting the Houthis.

Hisham Omeisy, a Sana-based analyst, shared Bukhaitis doubts. He said the U.N. was to blame for what he described as its top-down approach to negotiating a cease-fire, inviting only the main groups to take part in peace talks while snubbing others, leaving them no stake in the cease-fire.

If the cease-fire is conducted in this manner, then there [will be] no peace talks in the first place, he said in a phone interview from Sana.

The situation is now fractured with many more factions than you had before. You want to use the same model for the talks from last year without including these [new groups]? You cant.

Bulos is a special correspondent.
Donald Trump has erased the small margin he once trailed Ted Cruz by in California and now leads the Texas senator by a solid seven points in anticipation of their June 7, showdown.

A new Field Poll survey now finds Trump leading Cruz 39 percent to 32 percent, with Ohio Governor John Kasich bringing up the rear at 18 percent.

Just three months ago, before the GOP field had been wilted down to the final three candidates, the same pollsters found Cruz leading Trump 25 percent to 23 percent.

Trump Supported by Schwarzenegger Backers

At 54 percent, the poll found Trump garners strong support from among the same GOP voters who came out for Arnold Schwarzenegger in his 2003 run for governor.

Cruz, on the other hand, has strong support among Republicans in Los Angeles County, where he leads Trump 40 percent to 29 percent.

Despite all the favorable numbers, deeper analysis finds Trump still suffers from a serious image problem across the state, with 43 percent of participants insisting they have a negative image of him.

Cruz doesn't fare much better, with 39 percent of likely GOP voters revealing they have an unfavorable view of him.

Clinton Leading Among Democrats

On the Democratic side, former first lady Hillary Clinton leads Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders 47 percent to 41 percent. Over the last six-months, Clinton's support has held firm, while Sanders' popularity appears to be on the upswing.

Back in October, only 35 percent of likely Democratic voters indicated they planned to back his candidacy.

Among likely voters in the Democratic primary, 27 percent indicate they have an unfavorable view of Clinton, compared with 70 percent with a favorable impression.

In the case of Sanders, 75 percent of voters indicate they have a favorable view of him, against just 16 percent of voters who see him in a negative light.

Both Clinton and Trump also hold comfortable leads heading into the April 19, primary in New York. Polls show Trump sprinting out to more than half the vote and walloping Cruz by a 53 percent to 22 percent count. Kasich is an even more distant third at just 19 percent.

Among Democrats, Clinton leads Sanders by an average of 11 points.
John Oliver recently used his "Last Week Tonight" platform to scour the system of checks and balances known as the credit report industry.

During his blistering take-down, Oliver pointed out that while passing judgement on countless subjects the whole system of credit reporting is filled with more than its own share errors.

It all had Oliver openly wondering how a system that's yet to prove any direct bearing on job performance has now become one of the most fundamental criteria in getting a job.

"Look at me, my credit is properly fine, but I routinely waste HBO's money on stupid costumes, pyrotechnic displays, and checkered dress shirts," he said. "I clearly cannot manage this company's money well."

Many Credit Reports Riddled With Errors

On a slightly more serious note, Oliver pointed out that many credit reports are riddled with errors to the tune of one in every four individuals finding some sort of error in theirs. Of that pool, five percent of the errors are reported as significant enough to result in the victim having to pay more than they should on a given debt.

Oliver claims data shows errors range from mixing up women named Judy Thomas and Judith Kendall, to branding one young man a terrorist.

"That is terrible, because 1) He is not a terrorist, and 2) I do hope we have a better strategy for dealing with terrorists than flagging their credit reports and denying them their dream apartments," Oliver added.

Among the other most egregious errors Oliver alluded to was an instance where a smaller company confused one man with three different sexual offenders by the same name, one of whom was several decades older.

Industry leading operations such Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have not been immune. Oliver found clips of TV news stories about errors in credit reports dating all the way back to 1991.

As retribution for it all, he and his crew imagined a world where they launched a fleet of companies with names "problematically similar" to the aforementioned main three bureaus.

Equifax became Equifacks, an animal shelter launched to lick peanut butter off random people's genitals. Experian became Experianne, which existed to send people to whisper passages from "Mein Kampf" into babies ears and TransUnion emerged as TramsOnion, a company that sells steaks made from the flesh of SeaWorld orcas.

"It would clearly be an absolute disaster for the credit agencies if they were mistaken for any of these companies," Oliver said. "But don't worry, I'm sure that won't happen 95 percent of the time."

Oliver Scours Donald Trump Over 'Wall' Idea

Not many have escaped Oliver's wrath of late, including Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who was recently scoured over his idea to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep out immigrants.

"It's a big, dumb thing that only gets more expensive over time," Oliver said of the whole idea. "It's like getting a pet walrus: You think it's stupid now, wait until you learn what a bucket of cucumbers costs. You're not prepared for that."
The ongoing crisis in the steel industry has been the priority of UK Business Secretary Sajid Javid. Javid has been trying to secure deals that would save thousands of jobs at the Tata Scunthorpe plant.

According to the Economic Times, the Tata Scunthorpe plant will reach its deal as early as Monday. The business secretary has high hopes that he will be able to save the company that has been up for sale on the market since the year 2014.

As reported by BBC, Tata Steel directly employs 15,000 workers in the UK with plants in Rotherham, Corby, Port Talbot and Shotton and also supports thousands of other jobs. The secretary is also expected to give an update on the progress of the status of its buyer and the rest of Tata's UK operation.

A series of meetings with a number of potential buyers has been carried out by Javid. These meetings include the executive chairman of Liberty House, Sanjeev Gupta. Javid also had a meeting with Tata's chairman, Cyrus Mistry, after knowing that the company is losing 2.5 million pounds a day, as per The Guardian.

The general secretary of the Community union, Roy Rickhuss, is still positive that a possible sale will happen and that the steel company is still considered a good business. During the meeting with the MP's, 13 steel workers who represent 13 plants of Tata will go to Westminster to lobby parliament. The MP for Talbot, Stephen Kinnock, is hoping that they can address the workers' concern in a meeting with the Parliamentary Labour party.

The MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, Stephen Doughty, however, is adamant that Javid will be able to present substantial issues and information on the table to help save the steel industry. Doughty said that Javid has not secured any real commitments in the past. He added that they need a solid action against increasing energy prices, Chinese dumping, and other documents as well as an immediate action to save jobs at the Tata plant.

On the other hand, Gupta said in an interview that he is not sold out with the idea of acquiring the Tata plant. He said he could still walk away from the deal. He added that he is not willing to take any chances if the losses will sustain as this is not his business model.
Peugeot-Citroen plans three-stage US comeback

Apr 11, 2016, 3:04am ET

The first phase of the comeback plan calls for the launch of a car-sharing program.

PSA Group has announced plans to gradually return to the United States after decades of absence.

Known as PSA Peugeot-Citroen up until recently, the automaker will come back to our shores next year as a mobility operator. It will likely start a car-sharing program with industrial partner Bollore, a French firm that manufactures the BlueIndy cars that roam the streets of Indianapolis, as well as the cars that participate in Paris' Autolib' program.

Launching a car-sharing program in the United States will allow PSA to gather information about how American consumers get around, and what they look for in a car. If the program is successful, PSA will gradually begin to integrate Peugeot-, Citroen-, or DS-branded cars into the program to find out whether its series-produced cars are adapted to our market. The company stresses it will still own the cars, and they won't be offered for sale to the general public.

PSA will likely make a full-fledged return to the United States if both car-sharing programs are successful. However, company boss Carlos Tavares warns that a return is at least a decade away.
There was sheer heartbreak and disappointment for the Leitrim participants in this years All-Ireland Scor Final in Killarney last Saturday.

The standard of this years finalists was as high as ever seen in previous years but Leitrim were still eagerly tipped winners amongst the audience.

The new adjudication system of a single judge per competition once again left bad feeling among provinces with some of the choices that were made.

The new Question time quiz took place separately than the main event early on Saturday morning. Leitrim were represented by Fenagh St Caillins where Offaly emerged the All-Ireland winners.

St Marys figure dance team gave an outstanding performance as they were the first of our acts to hit the stage in the INEC Killarney, the eight ladies gave it all they had and it was very much felt that they stood a great chance of lifting the title but Spa from Kerry were declared figure dance champions.

Connacht was represented by Norrie Keane of Galway in solo singing; she gave a beautiful self-written performance on Saturday which clinched the province the only title of the night.

Laura Crossan from the St Mary's club gave the audience a great laugh with her recitation piece, despite serious technical issues with sound; it didnt deter her and well delivered as always, the title was won by Hugo Slevin from St Joseph's club in Westmeath.

St Marys also representing the province in Instrumental Music delivered a fabulous and uplifting array of tunes. A very talented bunch of people, having savoured their first taste of an All-Ireland experience no doubt they gave the adjudicator a tough choice to make but the title went to Tyrone.

St Marys ballad group had a long wait throughout the day as they were last to the stage in this competition, nearing the end of the evenings performances. They gave a fabulous performance and sang their hearts out but it wasn't to be their night either as the title went to Saul from Co Down.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend with the Leitrim contingent occupying their favourite "Leitrim room" organised by our number one supporter Ailbhe McGill in the Gleneagle on the Saturday night and the music and song went on to the small hours of the morning.

Congratulations to all involved, fine performances were delivered on stage on Saturday; each Leitrim act represented the county and their clubs to the finest degree, well done to all.

Many thanks to all who travelled the long journey to Killarney, the good luck messages received by text and calls and cards that were received, it was a sincere achievement to qualify for all-Ireland finals and in particular for St Marys to have had four acts in one competition.

Laura Crossan will be exhausted from the pressure of her four stage performances but should be bursting with pride for her achievements and excellent deliverance on the day. Leitrims 2016 Scor achievements will go down in history and be a memorable occasion for years to come.

All Ireland Scor winners

Figure Dancing: Spa, Kerry

Solo-Singing: Norrie Keane, Abbeyknockmoy, Galway

Instrumental Music: Derrytresk, Tyrone

Recitation: Hugo Slevin, St Josephs, Westmeath

Ballad Group: Saul, Co Down

Question Time: Clan na Gael, Roscommon

Leiriu: Truagh Gaels, Monaghan

Set Dancing: Bunbrosna, Westmeath

Question Time: 1st Ferbane, Offaly; 2nd Churchill, Kerry, 3rd Cornafean, Cavan
Le photographe Brandon Stanton est celebre a New York pour son blog Humans of New York, aussi decline en livres, sur lequel il publie des portraits des habitants de la Grosse Pomme accompagnes de petites interviews. Un groupe de Bruxellois lui a envoye une lettre afin quil fasse de meme a Bruxelles, histoire de redorer le blason de la ville, rapporte De Morgen.

 Nous desirons montrer que Bruxelles est une ville agreable et chaleureuse, avec une grande diversite humaine et culturelle, et non le  trou a rats  depeint par Donald Trump , declarent les initiateurs du projet.

 Apres les attentats, le monde entier a vu Bruxelles comme une ville de bandits alors que ca na pas ete le cas pour Paris, Londres ou encore New York. Mais Bruxelles est une ville comme une autre, avec des personnes simples qui ont aussi une histoire a raconter .

Sur son blog a succes  Humans of New York  lance en 2010, le photographe Brandon Stanton publie des photos et des recits de New Yorkais quil rencontre en rue. Ils sont ensuite publies sur sa page Facebook qui compte 20 millions de followers et font ainsi le tour du monde.

A travers une lettre ouverte (en anglais ci-dessous), ses redacteurs originaires de Bruxelles invitent Stanton a etendre son projet a Bruxelles et convient le grand public a les soutenir dans leur demarche sous le hashtag #invitebrandontobrussels. En attendant, une page Facebook intitulee  Humans of Brussels , inspiree du projet new-yorkais, propose deja de beaux portraits de Bruxellois.
Slowly but surely, local democracy is being eroded away by the Conservatives and crumbling into the sea, like parts of the British coastline. Not everyone in Britain knows this is happening. Here is how

The decision of forcing all schools to become academies, far from improving local democracy, will see decisions taken by Academy Executives who may live hundreds of miles from your school. Take the example of the E-ACT Academy trust, which has decided to remove local governing bodies entirely.

According to the Local Government Association, there is a forecast need for over 880,000 new primary school places in the UK over the next 10 years. This will require coordination and planning to ensure new schools and places are located in areas of need, rather than the free-for-all which will now ensue. In future, when parents of children at academies want to complain, they will have to go to a mandarin in Whitehall and getting a timely response and action will be as easy as getting Ryanair to give you compensation for a delayed flight.

When it comes to housing, a similar pattern emerges with the decision to force councils to sell off higher value social housing properties. These belong to housing associations and councils not Westminster, so yet another decision being forced on local decision-makers without their consultation. Who will the disabled and elderly be able to call, the day they discover their council has no more social housing left to rent and when they have no chance of getting a mortgage ?

The decision to merge local authorities is also being completed despite any concern for the wishes of local people. My council, Richmond upon Thames, is to merge services and back office staff with Wandsworth, based on the whim of our Council leader and based on a finger in the air estimate of 10 million of savings, a figure which has been challenged repeatedly by the Lib Dem opposition with no proper answer forthcoming. This decision was not subject to any form of local approval by residents, as the we know best approach comes first.

Finally the impact of the decision to devolve business rates to local councils while simultaneously exempting small businesses from them, will leave a massive financial black hole. As Tim Farron said in his budget response this is as much as anything else about devolving debt.

One day, the British people will realise there is nothing left which they can have a say in locally. It is up to us, the Liberal Democrats to tell people that their local democracy is falling off the cliff edge before its too late.

* Chris Key is dad of two girls, multilingual and internationalist. He is a Lib Dem member in Twickenham who likes holding the local council and MPs to account.
Its true. Nick was a haemophiliac and was infected with Hepatitis C and exposed to CJD through NHS treatment. And the Government knew the treatments were contaminated. They were warned. The NHS used blood treatment which bought blood  from American convicts. But the government carried on using contaminated blood products despite those warnings.

The result was 4670 haemophiliacs in the UK infected with HIV, Hepatitis C or both  and many exposed to CJD. In regard of the latter the consequences of that exposure are still unknown. In terms of HIV and Hepatitis C almost all haemophiliacs were infected with one or other or both. Over 2000 have died.

Nick died of Hepatitis C  or rather he died from a treatment meant to cure it. Nick was 35 years old, and left a 10 month old daughter, his partner of fourteen years. Nicks mother (my sister), his father and his twin will never get over that loss. And that loss is made worse by the battle to get financial support and to get the government to admit its fault. It has never done so. The crucial papers were destroyed according the Department of Health. Lord David Owen, former British Health Minister said I can see why some people would be unhappy with having all the facts revealed because it will show negligence. No public inquiry has taken place. It must.

On Tuesday there is a backbench business debate on the contaminated blood scandal  the worst treatment scandal of the NHS in its history to quote the eminent Robert Winston  Lord Winston. The timing of this debate is to coincide with the conclusion of a new (yet another) consultation on the needs of those infected and those bereft.

Its not called compensation because the government wont accept liability.

Some money was made available during the coalition government for the first time  but nowhere near enough to help those in dire need  live their lives. The proposals in this current consultation are derisory.

To demonstrate the paltry nature of the government offer let me give you just one little example of the Government proposals. Currently those infected with HIV or who have advanced disease (Hepatitis C Stage 2) currently receive payments linked to the Consumer Price Index of 14,769.00 per annum.

The government proposition is to raise this to 15,000.00  but at a flat rate  so within a very short time it will reduce the value of that payment to below that which haemophiliacs have currently.

The government states in the consultation document that this is an increase on the current amount! So shameful. So disingenuous.

Scotland is offering 27,000.

Ireland has really stood by its responsibility to the Heamophiliacs they infected with proper compensation. They have also enabled haemophiliacs to get health insurance by paying the loading of the extra cost for that condition, as it is very difficult and very expensive to get health insurance for travel etc. They have also given their haemophiliacs priority in the NHS system, as there is often need for quick treatment. When Nick died the ambulance service refused to send an ambulance and my sister was forced to get a private ambulance to get him to hospital where he died two days later.

Out of whatever money is on the table the government has the gall to suggest that some of that money be used to pay for the new treatment for Hepatitis C which has been passed by NICE and which has a 99% cure rate. Too late for Nick sadly. How dare the government even suggest that this money (inadequate as it is) should be used to pay for this new treatment? The new treatment should be on the NHS. Infected by the NHS it is inconceivable that Her Majestys Government would use money that is meant to help the families of those haemophiliacs who have died and make life possible for those infected with HIV or Hep C to pay for treatment for Hep C!

Our government needs to act for English Haemophiliacs  generously and properly. I hope anyone who responded to the consultation told the government in no uncertain terms how paltry, mean and demeaning the offer is.

When the minister rises to respond to the debate in the Commons on Tuesday they had better do the right thing  for the haemophiliac community will not rest until they get justice.

* Lynne Featherstone was the MP for Hornsey and Wood Green from 2005 to 2015, and served as a minister in both the Home Office and Department for International Development. She is now a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords and blogs at www.lynnefeatherstone.org.
I was sad to see Josh Lashkovics article explaining why he wont be renewing his membership. I was one of the enthusiastic newbies he refers to; I met him in that summer of 2015, and I thought he was a great guy with interesting ideas for ways the party could move forward after its electoral wipeout.

Im a great enthusiast for the idea of the Lib Dems as a startup, and I share his desire for the party to change. My experiences over the last year though have been completely different to his, and Id like to explain where I think hes wrong and see if he might reconsider.

Just because we need new methods, doesnt mean we should throw out the old ones

I have indeed knocked on a lot of doors and Ive delivered a lot of leaflets. But just because those methods are old doesnt mean theyre obsolete. My first full campaign was, yes, another council by-election and we did spend evenings and weekends knocking on doors. But we came second somewhere wed never had a candidate before (a new entrant disrupting an established market, you might say) and we learnt a lot.

Doing those things enables us to gather data, to test and learn, to develop new methods, see what works and get rid of what doesnt. For the GLA elections well be split-testing different campaigning and get-out-the-vote methods in a randomised trial. Eric Ries would be proud.

As for fundraising; well, every startup Ive ever worked for or advised has spent a fair chunk of its time working out where the money is coming from. We need four more years of runway and the burn rate is as low as it can be; were going to need money from somewhere.

There is room for new and radical ideas; we just need to convince people they will work

In ten months in the party, Ive been lucky enough to be involved in many new initiatives that havent involved leaflets.

Ive been appointed to our local executive and worked to streamline how we collect and use our data. Ive submitted an amendment to our economic policy calling for a recognition of the Digital Economy (partly successful), and spoken to conference twice. Im hoping to run as a candidate myself later in the year.

Ive even spoken at the House of Lords on eGovernment and the need for citizens to control their own data. If you feel that the establishment is resistant to change well, you cant get more establishment than the House of Lords.

All of the above was possible because people who had been in the party for years were encouraging and helped me every step of the way. And you can see this across London  in by-elections in Southwark and Camberwell, we saw new members encouraged to stand for election and well supported when they did so.

Yes, there are those in the party who want to keep things more traditional, who perhaps resent new ways of doing things. But persuasion and compromise are the nature of democracy. We have One Member One Vote now. If you can persuade people of the validity of your ideas, if you can take them with you, theres nothing any establishment can do to prevent it.

But you do have to take those people with you, and sometimes that does mean compromise. Remember that Napster failed in the end because it was too combative and wanted to throw out the old too quickly. New ideas need time to settle and they need advocates like you and the many other people in this party who know we need to change and have ideas for how we can.

Josh, if you have suggestions on how we can improve local parties and win more votes, it would be great to hear them. My local party is always looking for new things to try. Well be campaigning hard for the next eleven weeks; perhaps youd like to join us one day? We can go for a #LibDemPint afterwards and talk what needs to change.

This is the seed stage

Politics in this country runs on five year cycles. Were just getting started. In startup terms, this is the seed stage, and scaling takes time.

Perhaps Josh is right, perhaps this was another bright idea that has faltered and lost momentum. Perhaps. But perhaps this is just the start. Perhaps were preparing, building, getting ready for an explosion of growth. I dont know. But only people within the party can influence what happens.

Ill be sticking around to find out. Josh, dont throw away those options just yet.

* Benjamin Sims runs a technology consulting firm in London and lives in Tower Hamlets. He has been a member of the Liberal Democrats since May 2015
Our Lecturer

Jason Porter currently leads AT&T's cyber security business. He is responsible for driving growth and profitability for the AT&T Security portfolio, consisting of network, premise, cloud and mobile security products, threat management and consulting. He leads a large team consisting of Sales, Product, Marketing and Consulting leaders.

Since joining AT&T in 2002, Jason has held various leadership positions in Engineering, Strategy, Operations and Marketing spanning consumer and business. He maintains a track record of successfully introducing and maturing emerging technologies and business units as well as transforming businesses.

Previously, Jason Porter was Vice President of DevOps for AT&T Partner Solutions where he was responsible for driving profitability and growth of the AT&T Partner Exchange channel. He and his team launched over 25 products, reduced cycle times by 75% and transformed the user experience to earn one of the highest Net Promoter Scores in the industry.

Prior to that role, Jason Porter was AVP, Business Development for AT&T Business Solutions, responsible for evaluating and forming strategic cloud partnerships to extend AT&T's market share, develop differentiating features and scale the As a Service business.

Jason also was the AVP of Mobility Service Operations for AT&T Global Network Operations. He was responsible for the health, maintenance and growth of voice and data services for over 80 million worldwide wireless subscribers. In this role, Jason successfully introduced products and services such as the 3G MicroCell, Location Based Services, and devices including the iPhone, the iPad, and the Kindle.

Prior to his role in AT&T Mobility, Jason was Director of U-verse Operations, responsible for crafting and executing a strategy to introduce a first ever technology and grow it to a scalable solution. He created and executed an "Incubation Center" concept founded in the end-to-end customer experience, maximizing rapid learning and establishing operational discipline in a nascent environment. Jason's leadership in U-verse resulted in numerous patents, awards, and enabled the growth of the first million U-verse customers.

Jason holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering from The United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from Regis University. He served in the Army as an Armor Officer, leading a Tank Platoon and a Mortar Platoon. He and his wife, Tiffany, have three children and currently reside in Frisco, Texas.
IN 1866, cattle plague ravaged Great Britain resulting in the loss of at least 250,000 animals.

Ireland watched with anxiety and expectation. The Irish administration, supported by veterinary opinion, deemed the plague contagious and acted quickly to demand a ban on imports and a series of regulations to prevent the disease's spread here.

When a small outbreak did occur in Tipperary, the policy of isolation and stamping out was immediately put into action and worked very effectively.

This was the first national co-ordinated management of animal disease and 2016 marks the 150th anniversary of the State Veterinary Service of Ireland - begun in 1866 on foot of legislation passed in London.

The responsibility for the control and management of animal disease lies with the State veterinary services with local authorities and the Department of Agriculture. They will join together in Limerick in marking this event next week.

At 7pm on Thursday, April 14, a mayoral reception takes place in the Hunt Museum to celebrate 150 years of Irelands State Veterinary Service 1866-2016 and the launch of a historical exhibition.

Members of the public with an interest in animals, food, farming and veterinary history are invited to visit it. Farmers, in particular, will identify with the work in the areas of testing, foot and mouth disease control as well as the control of many other diseases and food safety.

The exhibition in the Captains Room is open from 10am to to 5pm on Friday and Saturday, April 14 and 15 and on the Sunday from 2pm to 5pm. After the mayoral reception Delia Grace MVB will speak on the history of cattle plague eradication - the disease that prompted the setting up of the State Veterinary Service of Ireland in 1866.

The date of Thursday, April 14, was chosen to coincide with the annual State Veterinary Conference which is being held in Castletroy Park Hotel on Friday evening and Saturday.

President of the Veterinary Officers Association (VOA) is Limerick inspector Mary Courtney. The VOA has collaborated with local authority colleagues including John McCarthy, Limerick City and County Council veterinary officer, in the organisation of the reception and exhibition.

Ms Courtney said Irelands State veterinary services have a proud 150 year tradition of tackling animal health and welfare, and public health issues of the day.

The successful work of several generations of our predecessors and the current work undertaken by a much reduced number of less than 300 full-time State vets working in the Department of Agriculture and local authorities throughout Ireland is reflected in the high standard of food safety and animal health in Ireland.

This underpins a successful growing agri-food industry and contributes strongly to a vibrant rural economy both here in Limerick and throughout Ireland, said Ms Courtney, who encourages as many as possible to visit the exhibition in the Hunt Museum.

The presence of veterinary expertise throughout the entire food chain should reassure the public that the production of healthy animals under good welfare conditions is the means of producing safe and sustainable food.

On Friday, April 15, the inaugural Department of Agriculture veterinary conference takes place in the Castletroy Park Hotel with a number of international speakers to explore in detail certain matters that are relevant to the work of the veterinary services within DAFM.
CALLS for equality for women  extending as far up as the Papacy  were heard at a three-day Limerick Diocesan Synod at Mary Immaculate College at the weekend  the first Synod of its kind in the country in more than 50 years.

Some 400 delegates from 60 parishes across the diocese were present at the forum, where 100 proposals involving all aspects of Church life were debated and voted on.

Many other universal issues were also examined, though the local diocese has no power in influencing these  apart from an overall report that Bishop Brendan Leahy will relay to the Vatican in Rome via the Papal Nuncio.

Sr Eileen Lenihan, St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, and a vicar for consecrated life was the first speaker to take to the floor. She called for an apology to be issued to women for the way they have been dealt with through the ages.

Women have been relegated as second class citizens  not intentionally but it has happened, she said.

Speaking to the Limerick Leader later, she said: After all this time there are still so many women feeling hurt or ignored or that their contributions are not recognised or their gifts not utilised. We need to set a new starting block - that could be brought about from an apology, so that women can close the book on that chapter and say we're into a new phase, move forward and make a contribution that is fitting and equal with the male contribution of the Church.

"I do not wish to be a priest myself but I am aware that there are many who would want to make a contribution in that way. I have no objection to women priests, I think it depends on the willingness and the capacity of the person to serve. Being male or female is not nearly as significant, as having that willingness, capacity and generosity of spirit.

The issue is not being adequately recognised and appreciated, women are not in a way enriching the church the way they could. It's largely the domestic or service role, but they [women] also have leadership gifts to bring to society. If God made us equal, then it is time that we actually behaved in that way.

For more on issues raised in the Synod see extensive coverage in the Limerick Leader this weekend.
THE Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists has made fresh calls for the University of Limerick to withdraw its High Court action against the Limerick Leader and its editor Alan English.

Secretary Seamus Dooley was one of some-30 journalists, academics and theorists who attended the all-day Journalism in Times of Crisis symposium at UL, on Thursday.

At a panel discussion on media ownership, chaired by RTEs Bryan Dobson, Mr Dooley began the talk by strongly criticising ULs legal action against the newspaper.

I was delighted to get a letter from UL inviting me, because this University has failed to respond, at all, to any of correspondence from me in relation to the libel threat against the Limerick Leader, and I call again today for that threat to be withdrawn," he said.

I think it is inappropriate, in particular, for a university like this to threaten to sue a local newspaper and, personally, the editor, he added.

Former head of journalism at UL, Tom Felle, described it as a bully-boy legal action that was ill-advised.

I would like to echo Seamus concern about the threat to the local newspaper in this city by the university. I think it is a very regrettable move that a university would threaten the right of the local newspaper to publish a story in the public interest," he said.

I would call on wiser heads to prevail. And I think that there are structures around the Press Ombudsman that can be used, if there is a grievance between both parties. And, indeed, the National Union of Journalists has a role to play, as well. I think spending students fees on expensive lawyers is not the way to conduct business. I dont think it is in anyones interest for the Limerick Leader to be threatened.

Mr Felle, now a lecturer at City University, London, also discussed paying for news in the digital era.

Investigative journalist, Gemma Doherty, kicked-off the conference at 10am, discussing media concentration and power.

Coverage of the economic crash was discussed in the Millstream Building by a number of academics, including UL journalism lecturer, Henry Silke.

UL lecturer Fergal Quinn discussed coverage of the Carrickmines tragedy and how the Travelling community was represented in the media, in an afternoon political discussion alongside national academics.

The final panel discussion examined media coverage of Irish Water protests. Dr Eoin Devereux presented his research The Reasonable People versus The Sinister Fringe, which analysed the question of media bias on water charge protests. He was joined by TD Paul Murphy, Irish Independent journalist Ralph Riegel and UTV journalist Eric Clarke.

UL head of journalism, Mary Dundon said: I think todays conference has been excellent in raising serious questions about where journalism is going now, and its not only the threat of social media that is leading to the dumbing down of reporting, but also media organisations (that) are starving their publications of resources to do good investigative work.
A RECTOR of one the longest-standing religious orders in Limerick has criticised the manner in which bishops are elected.

Fr Seamus Enright, rector of the Remptorists at Mount St Alphonsus, was speaking on the third day of the Synod in Mary Immaculate College, which has been regarded as one of the most pivotal discussions about the diocese and the Church at large in more than half a century.

Bishop Brendan Leahy and Bishop Donal Murray have been a blessing to this diocese, but I still believe that the process that led to their appointment is deeply flawed. We need a process that is more open and transparent, said Fr Enright at the third and final day of the Synod, to huge applause.

I would like bishops to be appointed by the Holy Father, as happens at present, but out of a more transparent process, in which a wide variety of voices are openly heard.

"At present we can presume a wide variety of voices are heard but we dont know. Even without naming names, there should a wide process where you ask What are the needs of the diocese now? and what kind of Bishop do we want? so that you can create a profile of the type of bishop whod meet the needs of the diocese. Id be happy with that. To make visible what is [currently] invisible needs to be done.

Speaking to the Limerick Leader, former Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray, agreed that the process may appear invisible but said the Papal Nuncio conducts wide-ranging consultations before any nominees are proposed to the Vatican.

Thats something we have to listen to and work on, agreed the Bishop, but he cautioned: Its not something the diocese can change. The number and range of people who are consulted will probably grow.

The Papal Nuncio in a given country will consult people in a particular diocese. Its quite a lengthy process, but somewhat invisible process, and in some ways theres a lot to be said for the process being confidential. You dont want a party building up for a particular man."
THE Irish premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webbers classic musical Starlight Express will take place in the Lime Tree Theatre.

The Mary Immaculate Dramatic Arts Society  MIDAS  is gearing up to present the magical tale of trains, speed and song, the first Irish company to tackle the rarely performed show, this week.

After a sell-out run of Les Miserables last year, MIDAS return to the Lime Tree for a fifth time, with, as producer Michael Finneran admits, the companys most ambitious musical project yet.

It is quite an undertaking, it is clearly my year for slightly mad ideas. It is the Irish premiere and it is that for a very good reason, because the entire show is performed on rollerskates, he laughs.

So we have 32 members of cast who, in the last eight weeks, have had to learn how to rollerskate and they are doing great  they are now dancing, singing, performing and moving entirely on rollerskates, he adds.

The producer  senior lecturer in drama at MIC  happily reports no injuries to the cast or crew, which is spearheaded by director Lee Dillon, choreographer Amanda Kearns and musical director Noel Lennon.

A simple tale, written for Lloyd Webbers kids, Starlight made history by becoming one of the longest-running West End shows after it opened in 1984, boasting a vibrant rock score, a fast pace, amazing visuals and innovative staging.

It is something else. I think it was the first show I ever saw over there myself, it was hugely popular because it was a spectacle, and that is what this is, a visual spectacle, says Michael. We have a huge lighting rig going in and a huge amount of steel pieces of truss and things like that, and the costumes are actually unbelievable, all the guys chase trains.

It is a hugely child friendly piece, warm and sincere and great fun as well. What we are trying to do is inject a lot of speed and youthful energy into it. They are an incredibly committed gang, and incredibly brave at that, to take on learning how to rollerskate, I admire their guts and bravery for doing that.

- Starlight Express runs in the Lime Tree from April 13  16. See www.limetreetheatre.ie.
Pressemitteilung: Silvia Kuhn startet YouTube-Kanal Clever Money mit Silvi Die Tochter der Honorarberater und Stiftung Warentest Autoren Stefanie und Markus Kuhn startete Mitte Mai mit ihrem neuen YouTube Kanal Clever Money mit Silvi. Ziel ist es, jungen Menschen alles Wissenswerte rund um Geld und Finanzen auf einfache Art und Weise nahe zu bringen. Die Idee zu einem YouTube Kanal ist aus einem Schulerpraktikum in 2019 entstanden. Silvia Kuhn hat

[mehr] Die Tochter der Honorarberater und Stiftung Warentest Autoren Stefanie und Markus Kuhn startete Mitte Mai mit ihrem neuen YouTube Kanal Clever Money mit Silvi. Ziel ist es, jungen Menschen alles Wissenswerte rund um Geld und Finanzen auf einfache Art und Weise nahe zu bringen. Die Idee zu einem YouTube Kanal ist aus einem Schulerpraktikum in 2019 entstanden. Silvia Kuhn hat

Pressemitteilung: Buntes Wachstum: Ceresana untersucht den Markt fur Farben Farben und Lacke verschonern nicht nur, sie konnen auch schutzen. Die Wande von Krankenhausern zum Beispiel werden zunehmend mit antibakteriellen Eigenschaften versehen. Hauchdunne, aber sehr haltbare Lackschichten bewahren Fahrzeuge vor Rost. Ceresana hat bereits zum vierten Mal den gesamten europaischen Markt fur Farben und Lacke untersucht: Im Jahr 2019 wurden 9,1 Millionen Tonnen dieser Beschichtungen verbraucht. Farbenfrohe Hauser und Autos Bautenfarben sind

[mehr] Farben und Lacke verschonern nicht nur, sie konnen auch schutzen. Die Wande von Krankenhausern zum Beispiel werden zunehmend mit antibakteriellen Eigenschaften versehen. Hauchdunne, aber sehr haltbare Lackschichten bewahren Fahrzeuge vor Rost. Ceresana hat bereits zum vierten Mal den gesamten europaischen Markt fur Farben und Lacke untersucht: Im Jahr 2019 wurden 9,1 Millionen Tonnen dieser Beschichtungen verbraucht. Farbenfrohe Hauser und Autos Bautenfarben sind

Pressemitteilung: Altlasten 2.067 Mrd. Euro - Krisensubvention 1.000 Mrd. Euro Die Welt leidet unter der Corona-Pandemie, deren Kosten viele Staaten an den Rand der Exixtens bringen konnte. Wie konnte es in Deutschland dazu kommen? Die Welt leidet unter der Corona-Pandemie, deren Kosten viele Staaten an den Rand der Exixtens bringen konnte. Wie konnte es in Deutschland dazu kommen? Lehrte 29.05.2020 In Deutschland wurden in den letzten 50 Jahren 25 Steuerarten

[mehr] Die Welt leidet unter der Corona-Pandemie, deren Kosten viele Staaten an den Rand der Exixtens bringen konnte. Wie konnte es in Deutschland dazu kommen? Die Welt leidet unter der Corona-Pandemie, deren Kosten viele Staaten an den Rand der Exixtens bringen konnte. Wie konnte es in Deutschland dazu kommen? Lehrte 29.05.2020 In Deutschland wurden in den letzten 50 Jahren 25 Steuerarten

Pressemitteilung: 16. Juni und 18. Juni um 15 Uhr CEST europaischer Zeit Real-Time Innovations (RTI) organisiert zwei neue Webinare speziell fur den europaischen Markt. Hier geht es um die Themen Konnektivitat von Elektrofahrzeugen sowie Landfahrzeugplattformen in Kombination mit Software-Systemen und DDS. Sie finden zu europaischer Zeit um 15 Uhr CEST statt und sind im Anschluss on Demand verfugbar. Sunnyvale (USA)/Munchen, Mai 2020 - Real-Time Innovations (RTI) organisiert zwei neue Webinare speziell fur

[mehr] Real-Time Innovations (RTI) organisiert zwei neue Webinare speziell fur den europaischen Markt. Hier geht es um die Themen Konnektivitat von Elektrofahrzeugen sowie Landfahrzeugplattformen in Kombination mit Software-Systemen und DDS. Sie finden zu europaischer Zeit um 15 Uhr CEST statt und sind im Anschluss on Demand verfugbar. Sunnyvale (USA)/Munchen, Mai 2020 - Real-Time Innovations (RTI) organisiert zwei neue Webinare speziell fur

Pressemitteilung:

[mehr] MCM Investor: Wohnen in Deutschland bis 2060 teuer Laut einer aktuellen Untersuchung der Universitat Freiburg wird das Wohnen bis 2060 vorrausichtlich. Magdeburg, 28.05.2020. In dieser Woche analysiert die MCM Investor Management AG aus Magdeburg eine aktuelle Untersuchung der Uni Freiburg uber die zukunftige Entwicklung des deutschen Immobilienmarktes. Demnach gehe die Bevolkerungszahl hierzulande zwar tendenziell zuruck, die Nachfrage nach Wohnraum steige aber weiter an. In der Studie geht

Pressemitteilung: Latest in Electronic Test & Measurement Equipment MICHIGAN - May, 2020 - An international provider of electronic test and measurement equipment, AAATesters has announced that it now offers the INNO View 500 SM Fiber Optic OTDR w/ V20 Fiberscope (https://www.aaatesters.com/Inno_View_500_OTDR_Model_View500_Inno_500_1.html). This new addition to AAATesters expanding inventory of electronic test and measurement equipment, will assist consumers save time and money with greater testing proficiency and success. AAA

[mehr] MICHIGAN - May, 2020 - An international provider of electronic test and measurement equipment, AAATesters has announced that it now offers the INNO View 500 SM Fiber Optic OTDR w/ V20 Fiberscope (https://www.aaatesters.com/Inno_View_500_OTDR_Model_View500_Inno_500_1.html). This new addition to AAATesters expanding inventory of electronic test and measurement equipment, will assist consumers save time and money with greater testing proficiency and success. AAA

Pressemitteilung: Thomas May ist neuer Chefredakteur fur Perfect Eagle Thomas May ubernimmt mit 1. Juni 2020 die redaktionelle Leitung der fuhrenden multimedialen Golf-Lifestyle-Plattform im deutschsprachigen Raum. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank:  Mato Johannik https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/Es4aLP2m5bhHtlEPowWj1SEB5hhgDDEv96D9i9Z_Ok9ajA?e=Xi0L1x Wien (LCG)  Perfect Eagle hat heuer allen Grund zum Feiern. Nachdem das Golf-Lifestyle-Magazin mit der Marz-Ausgabe seine erste Dekade feierte, begrut Herausgeber Thomas Wasserburger nun Thomas May als neuen Chefredakteur fur das multimediale Golf-

[mehr] Thomas May ubernimmt mit 1. Juni 2020 die redaktionelle Leitung der fuhrenden multimedialen Golf-Lifestyle-Plattform im deutschsprachigen Raum. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank:  Mato Johannik https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/Es4aLP2m5bhHtlEPowWj1SEB5hhgDDEv96D9i9Z_Ok9ajA?e=Xi0L1x Wien (LCG)  Perfect Eagle hat heuer allen Grund zum Feiern. Nachdem das Golf-Lifestyle-Magazin mit der Marz-Ausgabe seine erste Dekade feierte, begrut Herausgeber Thomas Wasserburger nun Thomas May als neuen Chefredakteur fur das multimediale Golf-

Pressemitteilung: Frische fur den Sommer mit UNIKA Kalksandstein Frische fur den Sommer mit UNIKA KalksandsteinFur die einen ist es eine Wohltat, fur die anderen eine Herausforderung: sommerliche Warme. Keine Frage, Menschen lieben die Sonne. Aber nicht jeder mag hohe Temperaturen, schon gar nicht in den eigenen vier Wanden. ... Fur die einen ist es eine Wohltat, fur die anderen eine Herausforderung: sommerliche Warme. Keine Frage, Menschen lieben die

[mehr] Frische fur den Sommer mit UNIKA KalksandsteinFur die einen ist es eine Wohltat, fur die anderen eine Herausforderung: sommerliche Warme. Keine Frage, Menschen lieben die Sonne. Aber nicht jeder mag hohe Temperaturen, schon gar nicht in den eigenen vier Wanden. ... Fur die einen ist es eine Wohltat, fur die anderen eine Herausforderung: sommerliche Warme. Keine Frage, Menschen lieben die

Pressemitteilung:

[mehr] Humor und Lachen - ein ernstes Thema Humor und Corona Rechtzeitig zu einer Zeit, in der vielen das Lachen vergangen ist, mit oder ohne Corona, erscheint das 14. Buch von Jurgen W. Goldfu. Wahrend sich die bisherigen Werke des Autors mit Themen der Fuhrung (von sich und anderen) sowie Wirtschaftsthemen beschaftigten, geht es nun ums Lachen, die Welt und sich selbst mit lachenden Augen zu betrachten. Auf

Pressemitteilung: ...einfach, schnell und effizient ...einfach, schnell und effizientUberall da verkaufen, wo die Kunden sind, ist das Ziel aller Handler. plentymarkets bietet als Softwarehersteller eine E-Commerce-Losung, die genau diese Philosophie im Markenkern tragt. ... Uberall da verkaufen, wo die Kunden sind, ist das Ziel aller Handler. plentymarkets bietet als Softwarehersteller eine E-Commerce-Losung, die genau diese Philosophie im Markenkern tragt. Eine, die alle relevanten Marktplatze unterstutzt

[mehr] ...einfach, schnell und effizientUberall da verkaufen, wo die Kunden sind, ist das Ziel aller Handler. plentymarkets bietet als Softwarehersteller eine E-Commerce-Losung, die genau diese Philosophie im Markenkern tragt. ... Uberall da verkaufen, wo die Kunden sind, ist das Ziel aller Handler. plentymarkets bietet als Softwarehersteller eine E-Commerce-Losung, die genau diese Philosophie im Markenkern tragt. Eine, die alle relevanten Marktplatze unterstutzt

Pressemitteilung:

[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

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[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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The Catholic Church has rigorous language explaining what is right and what is wrong, but last week, Pope Francis urged people to look inward at their consciences while navigating moral dilemmas.

Instead of relying on the church for rules on how to handle the complexities of sex, marriage and family life, people should use their consciences as guides while also discussing the moral way to move forward with their pastors, said Pope Francis, according to news sources.

But conscience is a complex nut to crack, scientists say. Here's a look at five fascinating studies that have shed light on humans' (and animals') ability (or inability) to understand right from wrong. [5 Animals With a Moral Compass]

1. Many animals are moral

There are myriad examples that suggest animals know right from wrong. In a past experiment, researchers found that hungry rhesus monkeys refused to shock their monkey pals, even if they could snag food for the harmful act, Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce wrote in their book "Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals" (University of Chicago Press, 2009). Another past example involved a female gorilla named Binti Jua, who rescued an unconscious 3-year-old boy who had fallen into her enclosure at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois, Live Science reported in a previous article.

These events suggest that animals can be moral beings, Mark Rowlands, a professor of philosophy at the University of Miami in Florida and author of "Can Animals Be Moral?" (Oxford University Press, 2012), told Live Science.

Some experts argue that these "morals" are actually instincts, but Rowlands disagrees.

"I think what's at the heart of following morality is the emotions," Rowlands said. "Evidence suggests that animals can act on those sorts of emotions."

2. Religious people aren't more moral

Religion doesn't make people more moral, a study on American and Canadian adults suggests.

Researchers surveyed 1,252 adults with different political and religious backgrounds to chronicle the good and bad deeds they had committed, witnessed, heard about or were the target of throughout the day, Live Science reported.

Surprisingly, religious and nonreligious people reported committing a similar number of moral acts, the researchers found. The same held true for liberals and conservatives  it didn't matter what end of the political spectrum they were on; each had about the same morality.

However, there were some differences. Religious people reported that they felt more intense guilt, embarrassment and disgust after committing an immoral act when compared with the nonreligious people. The religious group also said that they experienced a greater sense of pride and gratefulness after they did a good moral deed compared with their nonreligious counterparts. [Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind]

3. Do-gooders can be sneaky cheats

People who think of themselves as highly moral people can also be sneaky cheats, a 2007 study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found.

Researchers surveyed about 230 college students in an upper-level business class. The students answered 12 questions about the importance of personal qualities, such as generosity, willingness to work hard, honesty and compassion. They also reported whether they had engaged in 13 cheating behaviors, including using cheat sheets (crib notes) or copying, Live Science reported.

Cheating was rampant, the researchers found. More than 90 percent said they had partaken in at least one of the 13 cheating behaviors. More than 55 percent said they had benefited from an instructor's grading error, and 42 percent said they had copied from another person during a test.

Such "good" people tend to interpret their immoral actions in a way that makes those acts OK, study researcher Scott Reynolds, an associate professor of business ethics at the University of Washington in Seattle, told Live Science.

"If I cheat, then I'll get into graduate school, and if I get into graduate school, then I can become a doctor and think about all the people I'm going to help when I'm a doctor," Reynolds said, explaining one twist of logic.

4. People with OCD stress more about morality

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) worry about morality more than people without OCD do, a 2012 study in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry found.

Take this scenario, for instance: If you were hiding with your family from enemy soldiers in a basement while holding a crying baby, what would you do? Would you suffocate the baby, killing it but saving your family in the process?

In the study, researchers posed this question and others to 73 people with OCD and 73 people without OCD. Each participant lay in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine when they heard and deliberated on the question. This allowed researchers to measure the blood flow to different regions of the brain, Live Science reported.

"Faced with a problem of this type, people suffering from this type of anxiety disorder show that they worry considerably more," study researcher Carles Soriano, of the Hospital de Bellvitge in Barcelona, told Spanish news agency SINC.

In fact, the people with OCD had a higher degree of activation in the orbitofrontal cortex, a region associated with the decision-making processes and the development of moral sentiment, the researchers said. [5 Controversial Mental Health Treatments]

"The data allows us, for the first time, to objectify the existence of cerebral dysfunctions related to alterations in complex cognitions, such as experiencing morality," Soriano said. "This allows us to expand further on the characterization of altered cerebral mechanisms in OCD."

5. Morality depends on culture

Culture can influence morality, a new international study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found.

The study involved 322 people from 10 populations on six continents. The people answered questions on how they made moral judgments, by explaining whether they thought people in made-up scenarios were good or bad. The scenarios included theft, physical violence and poisoning.

Each scenario included information about whether the act was unintentional or intentional.

Interestingly, people in Western societies said that intent mattered. For instance, if a person committed a crime unintentionally, the Westerners were more likely to report that it was less wrong. But, to people on the Fijian island of Yasawa and in two African populations, intent mattered less when it came to right and wrong, the researchers found.

For example, people in the African populations said that poisoning a water supply was wrong, regardless of whether it was done on purpose.

"People said things like, 'Well, even if you do it by accident, you should not be so careless,'" study lead researcher Clark Barrett, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Live Science.

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Before 2000, Earth's spin axis was drifting toward Canada (left globe). Climate change-driven ice loss in Greenland, Antarctica and elsewhere is pulling the direction of drift eastward.

The spin of the Earth is a constant in our lives. Its quite literally why night follows day.

And while that cycle isnt going away, climate change is messing with the axis upon which our fair planet spins. Ice melting has caused a drift in polar motion, a somewhat esoteric term that tells scientists a lot about past and future climate and is crucial in GPS calculations and satellite communication.

Polar motion refers to the periodic wobble and drift of the poles. Its been observed for more than 130 years, but the process has been going on for eons driven by mass shifts inside the Earth as well as ones on the surface. For decades, the north pole had been slowly drifting toward Canada, but there was a shift in the drift about 15 years ago. Now its headed almost directly down the Greenwich Meridian (sorry Canada no pole for you, eh).

Like many other natural processes large and small, from sea levels to wildfires, climate change is also playing a role in this shift.

Since about 2000, there has been a dramatic shift in this general direction, Surendra Adhikari, a researcher at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said. It is due to climate change without a doubt. Its related to ice sheets, in particular the Greenland ice sheet.

That ice sheet has seen its ice loss speed up and has lost an average of 278 gigatons of ice a year since 2000 as temperatures warm. The Antarctic has lost 92 gigatons a year over that time while other stashes of ice from Alaska to Patagonia are also melting and sending water to the oceans, redistributing the weight of the planet.

Adhikari and his colleague Erik Ivins published their findings in Science Advances on Friday, showing that melting ice explains about 66 percent of the change in the shift of the Earth's spin axis, particularly the rapid losses occurring in Greenland.

Its a huge, mind boggling process on the global scale, but imagine it like a top. Spinning a top with a bunch of pennies on it will cause wobble and drift in a certain pattern. If you rearrange the pennies, the wobble and drift will be slightly different.

Thats essentially what climate change is doing, except instead of pennies, its ice and instead of a top, its the planet. Suffice to say, the stakes are a little higher.

Ice loss explains most but not all of the shift. The rest can mostly be chalked up to droughts and heavy rains in certain parts of the globe. Adhikari said this knowledge could be used to help scientists analyze past instances of polar motion shifts and rainfall patterns as well as answer questions about future hydrological cycle changes.

Ice is expected to continue melting and with it, polar motion is expected to continue changing as well.

What I can tell you is we anticipate a big loss of mass from West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets and that will mean that the general direction of the pole wont go back to Canada for sure, Adhikari said.

If it continues moving down the Greenwich Meridian or meanders another way remains to be seen, though.

This depends highly on the region where ice melts, or if the effect of ice melt would be counterbalanced by another effect (for example sea level rise, increased water storage on continents, changes of climate zones), Florian Seitz, the director of German Geodetic Research Institute, said in an email.

In the here and now, polar motion shifts matter for astronomical observations and perhaps even more importantly for the average person, GPS calculations.

Original article on Climate Central.
A computer algorithm analyzed all of Rembrandt's work to learn the Dutch master's style and technique, before re-creating it in a new painting.

Last week, scholars revealed an as-yet-unknown Rembrandt painting.

The picture, which shows a man looking away, had the rich colors, subtle emotion, characteristic brushstrokes, and evocative play of light and shadow so characteristic of the Dutch master's style.

But it turns out this mysterious picture wasn't a long-lost Rembrandt canvas uncovered in some forgotten 17th-century warehouse: It was instead made out of whole cloth by a computer algorithm and a 3D printer. The computer algorithm created the "new Rembrandt" after painstakingly studying the painter's entire corpus, then mimicking Rembrandt's painting techniques, styles and subjects.

While the artistic merits of the painting are a matter of personal opinion, the process could reveal more insights into the great master's works, said Gary Schwartz, an art historian and author of "Rembrandts Universe: His Art, His Life, His World" (Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2014). [Gallery: Hidden Gems in Renaissance Art]

"While no one will claim that Rembrandt can be reduced to an algorithm, this technique offers an opportunity to test your own ideas about his paintings in concrete, visual form," Schwartz said in a statement.

Following in the footsteps of a master

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is known as one of the greatest painters who ever lived. Born in Amsterdam in 1606, the master was famous for his realistic subject matter, rich color palette, subtle and nuanced depictions of emotion, and gorgeous use of shadow and light. (Like many other famous painters, he died penniless, in 1669, after years of hard times.) Rembrandt painted at least 346 paintings in his life, including the iconic "Night Watch" and "Storm on the Sea of Galilee."

The new Rembrandt project was conceived as a type of advertisement for the banking organization ING. The company approached data scientists at Microsoft and art-reproduction experts at TU Delft University in the Netherlands, along with the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, to see if they could create the "next Rembrandt" painting.

Digital paintbrush

The first step in the process was to gather high-resolution digital scans of all 346 images in the painter's body of work, then upload them to a computer algorithm that used deep learning to grasp the basics of Rembrandt's corpus.

From there, the team had to decide what the subject matter of their painting would be. Given that most of Rembrandt's paintings are portraits, it didn't take long for the computer program to settle on a portrait.

To figure out who would be depicted, the team then used algorithms to pick out the finer details of the subject matter. The computer program settled on a Caucasian white male between the ages of 30 and 40, sporting facial hair and donning the plain black and white clothing so characteristic of Rembrandt's work. The algorithm also determined that the man should be looking to the right, according to the project's participants. [Image Gallery: How Technology Reveals Hidden Art Treasures]

Next, a separate set of algorithms analyzed the typical geometry, composition and painting materials used by Rembrandt. From there, a facial-recognition program picked out the techniques the Dutch painter used to capture the eyes, nose, mouth and other features of his subjects. From there, the program began composing its picture, sketching out each of the facial features separately, then putting them together to form the face. (Clearly, human and computer painters use pretty different techniques.)

Finally, once the 2D image was complete, the team added depth by analyzing the ridges, bumps and dents typically found on a piece of canvas, then superimposing them on the flat image. That created the depth and texture found when a painter puts oil on canvas.

The team then painted the image using a 3D printer that used 13 layers of UV-based ink to create a realistic picture.

It's not clear that experts will see genius in the new piece of art. (Writing for The Guardian, art critic Jonathan Jones called the project a "new way to mock art, made by fools.") But it's clear that computer algorithms have come a long way since the first primitive algorithms and dot-matrix printers.

"When we embarked on this journey, we didn't know the outcome," Bas Korsten, executive creative director of J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam, the advertising agency involved in the project, said in a statement. "Can you teach a computer how to paint like Rembrandt? Can you distill Rembrandt's artistic DNA to create new art? All I can say about the outcome is that I see a person, not a computer image."

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Pottery shards unearthed at a seventh century, B.C. fort in the desert in Israel may reveal when parts of the Bible were written. The ostraca, or pottery shards, show that literacy was widespread by about 600 B.C., suggesting the Bible could have been compiled around that time.

Key parts of the Old Testament may have been compiled earlier than some scholars thought, suggests a new handwriting analysis of text on pottery shards.

The shards, found at a frontier fort dating to around 600 B.C., were written by at least six different people, suggesting that literacy was widespread in the ancient kingdom of Judah, said study co-author Israel Finkelstein, an archaeologist and biblical scholar at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

"We're dealing with really low-level soldiers in a remote place who can write," Finkelstein told Live Science. "So there must have been some sort of educational system in Judah at that time."

The writing shows that the kingdom had the intellectual resources to write and compile large chunks of the Old Testament during this period, he added. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]

Biblical history

Religious scholars have long fiercely debated when the Bible was written. Up until around the middle ages, people believed the Bible was written almost in real-time (as events were occurring).

Text in the Bible mentions scribes and literate officials for the kingdom of Judah, which remained a state from roughly the 10th century B.C. to 586 B.C., when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar laid waste to Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and forced most of the Jewish elites into exile in Babylonia. So scholars assumed the text must have been written prior to the destruction of the temple. [In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World]

But that line of reasoning assumed the biblical accounts were historically accurate. Another possibility is that those details about literate people were anachronisms inserted by later writers based on their own cultures, Finkelstein said. In recent years, one camp of scholars has pushed for a later date for the compilation of the Old Testament, with some even arguing the compilation occurred centuries later, when the Greeks or Persians ruled in what is now Israel, Finkelstein said.

He said he and his colleagues realized there might be a different way to address the question. Decades earlier, archeologists had uncovered archaic Hebrew ink inscriptions on ostraca, or pottery shards, from a frontier fort called Arad, a remote garrison located far away from Judah's central city, Jerusalem. Finkelstein said he wondered whether these inscriptions, which were written over the span of a few months in 600 B.C., could reveal how many people could read and write at the time.

Widespread literacy

To answer that question, Arie Shaus, a mathematics and archaeology doctoral candidate at Tel Aviv University, along with Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, an applied mathematics doctoral candidate at the university, and colleagues, relied on machine learning. They used computer programs to scan digital images of the text, systematically fill in missing lines of text and analyze each stroke. Finally, the computer algorithms compared the script on each of the 18 inscriptions to see whether they were written by the same hand. (The ancient Hebrew text was written in an Iron Age script that is no longer used.)

All told, at least six different people wrote or read the script on the ostracas, including individuals ranging in rank from the commander of the fort, a man named Malkiyahu, all the way down to the deputy quartermaster, a soldier with a low rank, below the person running the fort's storage depots, the researchers reported today (April 11) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. While none of these inscriptions were Shakespeare, most were written with proper spelling and syntax, the researchers found.

"This is really quite amazing," Finkelstein said, "that in a remote place like this, there was more than one person, several people, who could write."

What's more, other border forts have similar ostraca, suggesting that writing at that time was widespread, at least within the Judahite army, the researchers reported. Other archaeological evidence suggests that no more than 100,000 people lived in Judah at the time. Together, these lines of evidence suggest that a substantial fraction of the population (possibly several hundreds of people) could read and write, Finkelstein said.

Early biblical compilation

In order for so many low-ranking soldiers to be able to read and write, there must have been some kind of Judahite educational system, Finkelstein said.

That, in turn, suggests there were enough literate people at that time to compile some portions of the Old Testament, such as the Book of Deuteronomy, parts of Genesis, and the books of Joshua to 2 Kings, Finkelstein said.

By contrast, after the destruction of the first temple, when Israel's educated people were either killed or exiled to Babylonia, there is not so much as a pottery shard, seal or stamp with a single piece of writing from the region for more than 200 years, Finkelstein said. This suggests it's much less likely these books were compiled after the temple's destruction, he said.

The findings are very important and dovetail with other lines of research, said Christopher Rollston, a Near East scholar at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. There is no doubt that the elites in Judahite society could read and write around 600 B.C., Rollston said.

"In fact, I have argued in print that the literacy of elites (scribes, high governmental and religious officials) is already present by circa 800 [B.C.]" Rollston told Live Science in an email.

However, not everyone agrees with all of the paper's assumptions. While the notion that many could read and write in the Kingdom of Judah during the seventh century B.C. is widespread, "I do not share the authors' opinion that literacy among the elite declined after the seventh century [B.C.]," said Ernst Axel Knauf, a theology scholar at Bern University in Switzerland, who was not involved in the study.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
The restoration of a Model T Ford once owned by Larry Kiernan became a labour of love for Granard man Eamon Creamer.

It was a love affair that spanned the best part of 35 years but on St Patricks Day 2016 at the Ballymahon Parade, that famous car made an appearance in Co Longford for the first time in 100 years after Eamon and his team at the garage in the north Longford town knuckled down after Christmas and put the finishing touches to its restoration.

The story of this historic restoration struck a chord with RTE, who filmed Eamon and his beautifually restored car for their nationwide series 'Every County Has a Story' to mark the centenary of 1916.

Speaking to the Leader this week, Eamon recalled how, when he first saw the Model T Ford lying in a ditch in North Longford over 35 years ago, it was nothing more than a shell.

It was a Ford Model T and is 100 years old this year, Eamon smiled, before pointing out that the model was one of the first mass produced cars in the world by Henry Ford, whose grandparents originated from Co Cork.

Back in 1916, it was a brand new car when it arrived in Granard, purchased by the brother of Kitty Kiernan, Larry, who registered it as a hackney.

Larry Kiernan was the owner of the Greville Arms Hotel and brother of Kitty Kiernan, continued Eamon.

Kitty was the fiancee of Michael Collins and Larry bought the car brand new in 1916 - we have the records from the Longford registrations office.

Larry was a successful businessman in Granard and traded as LD Kiernan.

The car was used during the 1916 Rising when Larry drove two volunteers to Dublin.

One of those volunteers was Paul Cusack, a relative of Larry Kiernans wife.

Larry often collected Michael Collins from Ballywillan Railway Station and possibly from Edgeworthstown station as well, when he came down to Granard to visit Kitty.

Casting his mind back to the discovery of the car 35 years ago, Eamon remembers his disappointment when he discovered the condition of the car in the field, but with the gentle persuasion of a local vintage enthusiast, he brought the wreck back to his garage in Granard and spent 35 years slowly but surely restoring the car to her former glory.

We found the car as bare skeleton remains in the Mullinlaghata/Cloncivid area 35 years ago, he added.

We were starting into the vintage then and a local man came to us and was very keen about this car that belonged to Larry Kiernan.

That man subsequently brought Eamon to the field in which the car had been for probably the best part of 50 years.

We thought we were going to see a complete car when we got out there, but when we arrived we could barely see it, said Eamon who indicated that the car had rotted away down into field.

The running gear in the car is the original but the upper body works are all new, he continued.

We made that over the last 30 years as we worked on the car in our spare time.

Up until recently, we would have had the car about 80% finished.

But what really put the pressure on Eamon and his team to finish the restoration of the car came in the form of gentle persuasion and totally out of the blue - from a member of Granards Historical Society one evening last year.

Im a member of the Granard Historical Society and another member said to me one evening during the course of a conversation that it would be a good idea to finish the car and have it ready for display for the 1916 Commemorations, said Eamon. Since Christmas all hands have been on deck to get the car finished.

There is so much history attached to the car and its old so that makes it very attractive to people of all ages, he smiled.

We are very pleased to have this car and we are also enjoying the appreciation the general public have towards it as well.

I would like to see it becoming a community asset - we have the Greville Arms Hotel here in Granard and both it and the car are closely related, so I hope that will help to improve peoples interest in history around this area.

He added, There is a huge historic hub here in Granard and a lot more information has come to light in recent times as well.

It's amazing what you can learn from just listening to people telling stories.

Even if you consider Ballywillan for example; once a hive of industrial activity - now it is dormant.

There are so many stories about people leaving the area for the last time or perhaps returning home from distant lands from that train station and it is wonderful to hear about all that.

The car and the history associated with Granard provides all of us with an opportunity to have something to talk about, rather than complaining about the weather and the Government and so on, the Granard man concluded.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: April 11 2016

Legislator Kevin McCaffrey, along with others who participated in this years Babylon Village Chamber of Commerces Chinese Auction

Babylon, NY - April 11th, 2016 - Legislator Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), along with others who participated in this years Babylon Village Chamber of Commerces Chinese Auction, were treated to a night of fun, great food and networking.



The annual event took place at American Legion Post 94s banquet hall, and it was attended by a variety of elected officials and countless members of the local business community.



This year marked the events 5th year, and due to the success of its previous installments, much excitement was building beforehand. Not surprisingly, the occasion lived up to all of the hype with not just impressive attendance, but a wide assortment of products involved in the auction, in addition to the delicacies provided by local merchants.



However, it was the spirit of the community coming together to support the Chamber that was the greatest attraction of the evening.



The Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce is an innovative and thriving organization that is deeply committed to the community, said McCaffrey. Having annual events like this really brings everyone together to share ideas that will ultimately improve our quality of life.



Babylon Village has earned a solid reputation as a municipality that is very conducive to small businesses. With the diverse array of shops and restaurants, both residents and visitors can have an exciting day out anytime of the year. All of this and more is in large part thanks to the good work of the Chamber.



To learn more about the Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce, those interested are encouraged to visit its website.



About Legislator McCaffrey

Legislator McCaffrey represents Suffolk Countys 14th Legislative District which encompasses the Village of Lindenhurst, Babylon Village, the hamlets of West Babylon and North Lindenhurst, portions of Copiague, North Babylon, and Babylons barrier beach communities.
Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com

Columnists Press Releases
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the official name of the Taliban, issued a statement denying that senior leader and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mullah Adbul Qayoum Zakir has called for negotiations with the Afghan government and the West. The Taliban has been consistent in stating publicly that it would not negotiate with the West or the Afghan government, and has insisted that only the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the imposition of its harsh brand of sharia, or Islamic law, and the withdrawal of all Western forces is acceptable.

The statement, which cannot be independently verified by The Long War Journal, was released on the Talibans official website, Voice of Jihad, on April 10.

Some media outlets claimed that member of the Leadership Council of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the respected Hafiz Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir has proposed holding negotiations with America and the Kabul administration, the statement began. Today respected Zakir Sahib while talking to Al Emarah website [an official Taliban media outlet] rejected these reports.

Voice of Jihad then directly quoted Zakir.

I have never proposed holding negotiations and neither do I believe in these deceiving negotiation processes, Zakir purportedly said. We are all struggling for the establishment of a pure Islamic government.

The Taliban was responding to reports in several media outlets, including Al Jazeera, that claimed that Zakir issued a 12-point proposal which includes negotiating with the Kabul administration and foreign governments on the implementation of Islamic law, and improving military strategy and coordination within the group.

The Taliban have sought to rebut reports of dissension within the highest ranks of the organization since it announced the death of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the groups founder and first emir, in July 2015, and publicly named Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour as his replacement. The Taliban hid Omars death for more than two years, which led to disputes over the appointment of the new emir.

Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, a brother of Mullah Omar and Omars eldest son, initially disputed Mansours legitimacy, but swore allegiance to him in September 2015. Last month, the two were rewarded with senior positions within the group. Manan was named the leader of the Preaching and Guidance Commission, which is responsible for spreading the Talibans message. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoub, Omars son, was given a seat on the executive council, which is better known as the Quetta Shura, as well as the military chief of 15 provinces within the structure of the Talibans Military Commission.

Zakir is also rumored to have been at the center of the leadership dispute, but the Taliban have insisted that he remained in the fold.

Zakir is a former detainee at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility who was transferred by the US in December 2007 to Afghan custody. He was released shortly thereafter by the Afghan government and quickly rejoined the Taliban.

The Taliban immediately welcomed Zakir back into its ranks, and he was appointed the leader of the Gerdi Jangal Regional Military Shura, a regional military command that oversees operations in Helmand and Nimroz provinces.

The Taliban designated Zakir as their surge commander in 2010. In this role, he was assigned the task of countering the Coalition and Afghan surge of forces and the change of strategy to deny the Taliban safe haven in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. Zakir is considered to be one of the Afghan Talibans fiercest and most committed commanders. He is also one of several senior Taliban leaders who are closely linked to al Qaeda. [See LWJ reports, The Talibans surge commander was Gitmo detainee and Former Gitmo detainee leads top Taliban council, for more information on Zakir.]

Zakir resigned as the head of the Talibans military commission in April 2014 due to his prolonged battle with ill health, the Taliban claimed. But it was rumored at the time that Zakir and Mansour were at odds over Taliban strategy and negotiations with the Afghan government. Although Zakir resigned as the Talibans military commander, he is still a member of the Leadership Council of Islamic Emirate and is busy working in other important Jihadi works which are comparatively easier, the Taliban said. [See LWJ report, Head of Talibans military commission resigns due to ill health.]

After Mansour was named as Omars successor, the Taliban immediate issued a statement claiming that Zakir remained a member of the Quetta Shura and did not oppose the new emir, as was rumored in the press.

Zakir formally swore allegiance to Mansour late last month. On March 31, the Taliban issued a letter on Voice of Jihad in Arabic from Mansour where he pledged to the Talibans new emir.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > f Donald Trump is Americas Most Dangerous Man, History is poised for some (...)

IMPRESSIONS

Imagine Praveen Togadia becoming the Prime Minister of India. Or Vijay Mallya. That is the kind of scenario that is developing in the US with Donald Trumps apparently unstoppable race to the White House. He is full of ideological hatreds which he publicly proclaims. And he beats Mallya hollow in exhibitionist flamboyance.

Additionally, he has his own special characte-ristics as well that would be an embarrassment for a US President. He seems to cherish looking buffoonish and he can be vulgar in words and actions. He has had university education, though his grammar and syntax point otherwise. An academic research group said recently that his vocabulary was below that of 6-8 graders. But he is unfazed, saying that I am representing a tremendous many many millions of people.

(Inadequate command of the mother tongue is no bar to the American presidency as all those who misunderestimated George Bush realise. People have assembled books and videos on Bushisms ranging from you teach a child to read and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test to the great thing about books is that sometimes there are fantastic pictures. This mans murder of the English language is worse than his mass murders in Iraq.)

Clearly the rise of Donald Trump marks an epochal change in Americanand therefore worldpolitics. The two-party system that ruled America all these years is on the brink of collapse. That such an untypical candidate can capture so much popular support has shocked the system and stunned the Republican Party establishment. There have been incidents of violence in political rallies, clashes between Trump supporters and others, major Republican leaders conspiring to derail their challenger and Trump warning the conspirators that there would be rioting if backhand moves were made against himall unprecedented, and indeed unthinkable developments in US election politics.

The Republican Partys national convention (at which the party nominee for the President is formally selected) is to be held in July. Given Trumps impressive support-base, the Party establishment can stop him only by resorting to stratagems like contested convention and brokered convention. That would infuriate Trump and lead to unpredictable counter- actions, changing American politics in drastic ways.



Why has the Trump candidacy divided Americans and the Republican Party so deeply? There have been dubious Republican candidates in the past and some had won, like Bush and Richard Nixon. In these cases the candidates had established political roots. Nixon had been Vice-President earlier and Bush belonged to a political family. Donald Trump is a complete outsider. His experience is confined to real estate business and television. The rise of such an outsider is something that the establishment seems unable to stomach.

His stated policy-positions alienate and frighten a great many people beyond party lines. He is against all minorities and Mexicans; he sees them as parasites. He opposes immigrants taking jobs away from Americans. He detests Muslims and says: The IS is making $ 400 million a year on oil. Ive been saying it for years. We need to bomb the oil. He has

thrown hints that he might even be a White supremacist; he has been supported by the Ku Klux Klan. According to The Guardian of Britain, President Trump could be as big a threat as jihadi terrorism to global economy. The Economist sees Trumps rise as a global threat. Many describe him as the most dangerous man in America.

For all that, America and the world have to confront the question: How come such a dangerous man is being supported by so many of his countrymen? This is where we will have to acknowledge the rise of new revolutionary waves among significant sections of Americans. White lower and middleclass segments of the population seem to be protesting at last against the entrenched liberal-rich sections that have controlled things with their big donations and commercial lobbies. There is resentment against the unending flow of immigrants, especially uneducated and unskilled Latinos, who take away jobs while contributing nothing to America. Elements even among the educated class resent ideas like free trade that help countries like China at Americas cost. These are complex issues with multiple layers of realities.

But they feed the emotions of a people who feel increasingly that they are more sinned against than sinning. To them, Trump looks attractive with his slogan: Put the interests of America above everything else.

Its a new America. Its a new world. It could be a new war.
French container shipping group CMA CGM has offered concessions in a bid to win European Union antitrust approval for its $2.4 billion takeover of Singaporean rival Neptune Orient Lines.



CMA CGM, which ranks behind No. 1 Maersk Line and Swiss peer MSC in global shipping, submitted the concessions on Thursday, a filing on the European Commission website showed on Monday, without giving details.



CMA is expected to withdraw NOL from competing shipping alliances to allay concerns, people familiar with the matter said.



The tie-up between German container shipping company Hapag Lloyd and Chilean peer Compania Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) gained the green light from the EU two years ago after CSAV agreed to withdraw from two shipping alliances covering trade between Northern Europe and the Caribbean, and South America's west coast.



The CMA offer resulted in the EU competition authority extending the deadline for its decision on CMA CGM's NOL takeover to April 29 from April 15 to examine the package, according to the Commission website.

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee
Wartsila has been awarded the contract by Gdansk Shiprepair Yard Remontowa S.A., to supply a scope of engines, propulsion machinery, integrated automation systems, and gas handling systems required for the mid-life upgrading of two RoPax ferries and their conversion to operate on LNG fuel. The ferries, the Spirit of British Columbia and the Spirit of Vancouver, are the flagship vessels of British Columbia Ferry Services based in Victoria, Canada. The work will be carried by the Remontowa Shiprepair yard in Poland. The contract with Wartsila was placed in March 2016.

The work on the first of these ships will be carried out during the 2017/18 winter season, and during the following winter season for the second vessel. This means that the time allowed for completing the work is just seven months, including a delivery voyage of more than one month each way. The Wartsila equipment will be delivered to the shipyard in mid 2017 and mid 2018 prior to the arrival of the vessels.

The full scope of Wartsila's supply includes four Wartsila 34DF dual-fuel engines with fuel gas systems, integrated automation systems and power management systems, the Wartsila Pro-Touch propulsion control system, the power transmission systems comprising two gearboxes, the Wartsila LNGPac comprising the fuel storage tank, bunkering station, gas detection system and process control automation, Wartsila rudders, site representation and integration engineering and crew training. The upgrading work will involve surveying the stern tube and renewing components, surveying and overhauling the controllable pitch propeller (CPP) hubs, redesigning and renewing the CPP propeller blades, surveying, renewing and overhauling the oil distribution boxes, and renewing two bow thrusters and E motors.

In December 2014, Wartsila was contracted to supply the dual-fuel machinery for three new ferries being built at the Remontowa yard on behalf of British Columbia Ferry Services.
Denmark's Svitzer, the world's biggest tugboat operator, said on Monday it has established a harbour towage service in the Port of Montreal providing shipdocking, escort and ice-breaking services.



Svitzer, a unit in shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk , said in a statement it has mobilized two ice-class tugs to the port and a third tug will arrive in mid-April.



"Canada is one of our key growth markets in the Americas," the company added.



Svitzer reshuffled its organisation in August in a bet to speed up growth in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.





Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen
1783 - Congress declares the cessation of arms against Great Britain, just a few days after British Parliament passed a similar resolution, thus ending hostilities of the American Revolution.



1944 - USS Redfin (SS 272) sinks the Japanese destroyer Akigumo in the eastern entrance to Basilan Strait.



1945 - The kamikaze attacks during the Okinawa Campaign damage eight Navy ships.



1970 - Apollo 13 is launched, commanded by Navy Capt. James A. Lovell. The ship endures an explosion forcing an immediate return to Earth. Recovery is by helicopters from USS Iwo Jima (LPH 2).



1991 - The U.N. Security Council declares a formal cease-fire ending the Persian Gulf War.



1992 - USS Annapolis (SSN 760) is commissioned at the Electric Boat Division at Groton, Conn. The 10th of her Los Angeles "Improved" class of attack submarines, she is homeported at Groton.

(Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division)
Maersk starts its Krishnapatnam Service from April 17th and Kattupalli on April 19th, 2016. Both these calls are strategic and are aimed at supporting the growth of local businesses in the hinterland covering Andhra Pradesh, Northern Tamil Nadu and Eastern Karnataka.



Commenting on this announcement, Mr. Franck Dedenis, Managing Director, Maersk Line (India and Bangladesh Cluster) said, Our decision to call on these ports reiterates Maersk Lines commitment in bringing value to our customers. Both these calls will enable us to be closer to our customers. We are here for the long haul and want to grow profitably with the market. These calls will result in faster transit times for our customers in these areas, thus reaching out to a global market place in a

cost-effective manner.



These calls to Krishnapatnam and Kattupalli will help Maersk Line leverage port efficiencies and reduced transportation time.



Maersk Line services at Krishnapatnam port effective 17th April will include the following:



(A) This service coupled with the Chennai Express which has been calling Krishnapatnam for almost two years will aid its customers with a global footprint.



(B) This service will emphasize on space availability and faster transit time.



(C) Faster transit time and weekly fixed cut off: Through this call, Maersk Line will connect customers to ports in almost all West bound markets including North America and Europe. A faster transit time along with a weekly fixed cut off will ensure a smooth supply chain for customers.
Three MV-22B Ospreys flew in a large circle around a paved landing zone.

As they approached it, the aircrafts rotors tilted upward, slowing their speed just prior to their descent.

Dust flew up around each Osprey as they lowered to the ground, limiting visibility. The crew chiefs carefully monitored the aircrafts distance from the ground and communicated it to the pilots.

The Osprey has the ability to conduct confined area landings which aid in transporting, inserting and extracting ground units into an area. According to Cpl. Jesus Ontiveros, a crew chief with VMM-364, and an Oxnard, California native, its speed also enables Marines to complete missions quickly and efficiently.

For example, one of our missions is TRAP, a tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel, said 1st Lt. Luqman Salaam an Osprey pilot with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 364, and a Buffalo, New York native. If we have to recover a downed pilot, he might be in a very confined landing zone where he cant be brought out by  Practicing Confined Area Landings are important for the V-22 because it combines the Osprey's capabilities of speed and range with the ability to land in austere environments that cannot be reached by other aircraft.

According to Salaam, the purpose of Ospreys in the Marine Corps is to support infantry Marines.

[Confined area landings are] the bread and butter of our mission; thats what we do, said Salaam. Our goal is to land on time, at our exact spot.

Marines with VMM-364 Purple Foxes and VMM-165 White Knights practiced this procedure, called a division confined area landing, repeatedly over the course of several hours in Southern California, April 5.

According to Ontiveros, a division confined area landing consists of at least three aircraft and a section confined area landing consists of two aircraft.

"[Youre] making sure youre focused on landing and not hitting the other aircraft [while] making sure youre landing on the exact spot that you intend to," said Salaam.

Over time, each aircraft exchanged positions within the formation allowing the pilots to experience the difference between each assigned landing area. Whether in the front, middle or back of the formation, crew chiefs act as additional eyes for the pilots to observe and inform the pilots of what they cannot see.

We need to pay attention to whether were drifting or if another aircraft is drifting toward us or toward another aircraft, said Ontiveros. [We have to] make sure the crew in that plane is okay [and] make sure they land where theyre supposed to be.

After completing division and section confined area landings, Marines with VMM-364 returned to their hangars aboard Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, California, and conducted a post-operations check of the aircraft.

These [aircraft], they flew around four hours ... then we jumped on and flew another four hours. So basically, its like you just went on an eight-hour road trip," said Ontiveros. "You  want to check and make sure that everythings good."

Marines with VMM-364 conduct preoperation checks prior to missions, post-operation checks after missions in addition to 24-hour and 72-hour inspections.

Youre carrying Marines in the back so you want to give them the safest possible platform you can. It all starts with maintenance, said Salaam. Without safe aircraft, the pilots cant fly and maintain proficiency in their skills. Without pilots that can maintain proficiency in their skills, they cant support the ground scheme of maneuver. Without that, then the Marine Corps cant meet its mission.
Marines are known for their ability to adapt and overcome in order to quickly and effectively execute any mission. During Balikatan 2016, the U.S. and Philippine Marines proved that not even language barriers can impede their success.



U.S. and Philippine Reconnaissance Marines conducted a nighttime training amphibious raid to capture a high value target April 4 in Ternate, Philippines, as part of Balikatan 2016.



Leading the U.S. Marines of 1st Platoon, Company A, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division was Sgt. Alan Villarreal.



This was my first bilateral training with a foreign unit, said Villarreal. What we did was provide as much information as we could through reconnaissance and photography so they could conduct their raid.



As the training scenario developed so too did the understanding of the shared mission between the U.S. and Philippine Marines.



Despite the language barrier everyone understood what we were trying to do and everything was running really smooth, said Villarreal, a native of El Cajon, California.



Observing from the beach was U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Grady Harmon, from Lake Stevens, Washington, a special equipment noncommissioned officer with the unit.



They waited until they had enough information about the high value target, the surrounding area and the security detail, said Harmon. From that information they determined the best way to hit the beach and the best time.



Harmon admitted he was quite impressed by the execution of the Philippine reconnaissance plan.



They were off the boat, captured the target, and back out within 15 minutes, said Harmon. They were good; in fact they were really good. I was surprised at how fluid and how solid of a force they were when they hit that beach - it was impressive.



The Philippine Marines were quick, quiet and thorough with their raid. In the end it was a successful training mission and a great learning experience for the Marines from both countries, Harmon added.



Even though they do a lot of things differently, everyone involved was open to learning new tactics and concepts, according to Villarreal.



They take discipline to a whole new level, said Villarreal. They constantly take every little drill serious and every class serious because they understand the importance of it.



With Balikatan now in full swing, these Marines still have over a week to work together, strengthening the enduring partnership between their respective countries. In its 32nd iteration, Balikatan hones the combined readiness of U.S. and Philippine forces in response to conflict and crises throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.




Pope Francis and the Disintegration of Europe

Despite being rebuked and humiliated by the Republican presidential front runner over his inflammatory statements about U.S. illegal immigration policies, Newpope Francis of the Vatican II sect has continued to opine about the migration crisis.

In an address to a Newcatholic French group, Bergoglio admitted the obvious: We can speak today of [an] Arab invasion. It is a social fact. Yet, despite the horrific consequences of this fact, mostly orchestrated by New World Order groups and organizations of which his church is a part, Newpope amazingly contends that this will eventually be a positive thing for Europeans: How many invasions has Europe experienced in the course of its history! But its always been able to overcome them and move forward, finding itself complimented and improved by the cultural exchange they brought about.*

Europe complimented and improved?! Right. Tell that to the thousands of women who have been raped, assaulted, and terrorized by mostly Muslim fanatics, or look at the widespread destruction of private property that these trespassers have wrought, and worse, the cultural transformation that this deliberately created crisis has produced.

Bergoglio furthered these idiotic statements with some multicultural speak: the only continent [Europe] that can bring some unity to the world. And that Europe must fulfill its universal role and rediscover its cultural roots.**

If Bergoglio really wants Europeans to rediscover their cultural roots, they will find that ever since the emergence of Mohammedanism, its fanatical adherents have repeatedly attempted to overrun and conquer the Continent and subject its peoples to the crazed religious and political dictates of its possessed prophet.

At one time, Europe fulfilled its universal role by engaging in a series of military actions (the Holy Crusades) which were mostly inspired by true popes (which Bergoglio and his Vatican II predecessors are certainly not) to expunge the infidel from the sacred places where the Founder of Christianity lived, preached, was crucified, and gloriously rose from the dead. These authentic successors of St. Peter, in particular Urban II and Innocent III, understood the threat that Mohammedanism posed to their flocks both spiritually and culturally.

The failure of Christendom to ultimately defeat Islam and drive it out of the former lands of the Roman Empire was not the fault of the popes, but that of the secular powers who increasingly sought their own aggrandizement. If the European principalities had heeded the popes calls and driven the Muslims back to their tribal homeland, history would have had a happier outcome.

Bergoglio, if he cared to look, would find that Europes universal role included the justification of holy war, in the use of violence against Islam, not only during the Crusades, but in the re-conquest of Spain, and in the defense of its homeland from numerous Muslim assaults. Moreover, the idea of Muslims living side-by-side with Europeans or being able to create their own autonomous communities would have rightly been considered societal genocide.

No authentic pope would be engaged in dialogue, common prayer meetings, or other ecumenical interchanges with Muslims as Bergoglio and his Vatican II predecessors have repeatedly and blasphemously done over the years. Any pre-Vatican II pope, theologian, bishop, priest, or, for that matter, astute layman would properly consider such actions abominable and would recommend as punishment a rendezvous with some of the scum that abounds at the bottom of the Tiber for its transgressors!

Bergoglio and most of the Newchurch hierarchys support for free migration and open borders and their condemnation of those who have opposed such lunacy clearly demonstrates that the Vatican II sect is part and parcel of the New World Order which seeks the eradication of sovereignty and the extinction or at least subjugation of European peoples to the global elites.

Not only is this cretin wantonly overturning two thousand years of traditional Christian teaching on morality, but he is openly encouraging the destruction of those societies which that morality ultimately helped to build.

Despite the skillfully and deceitfully crafted persona as Mr. Humble and his white pontifical attire, Pope Francis and the sect that he heads are a clear and present danger to what remains of Western civilization and must be opposed and removed from power.

*Tom Wyke, The Pope says It is a Social fact that Europe is seeing an Arab Invasion and its a Good Thing. Daily Mail.com. 4 March 2016

**Ibid.

By Antonius Aquinas

http://antoniusaquinas.com

 2016 Copyright Antonius Aquinas - 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.

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As Ukraine Collapses, Europeans Tire of US Interventions

On Sunday Ukrainian prime minister Yatsenyuk resigned, just four days after the Dutch voted against Ukraine joining the European Union. Taken together, these two events are clear signals that the US-backed coup in Ukraine has not given that country freedom and democracy. They also suggest a deeper dissatisfaction among Europeans over Washington's addiction to interventionism.

According to US and EU governments - and repeated without question by the mainstream media - the Ukrainian people stood up on their own in 2014 to throw off the chains of a corrupt government in the back pocket of Moscow and finally plant themselves in the pro-west camp. According to these people, US government personnel who handed out cookies and even took the stage in Kiev to urge the people to overthrow their government had nothing at all to do with the coup.

When Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was videotaped bragging about how the US government spent $5 billion to "promote democracy" in Ukraine, it had nothing to do with the overthrow of the Yanukovich government. When Nuland was recorded telling the US Ambassador in Kiev that Yatsenyuk is the US choice for prime minister, it was not US interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine. In fact, the neocons still consider it a "conspiracy theory" to suggest the US had anything to do with the overthrow.

I have no doubt that the previous government was corrupt. Corruption is the stock-in-trade of governments. But according to Transparency International, corruption in the Ukrainian government is about the same after the US-backed coup as it was before. So the intervention failed to improve anything, and now the US-installed government is falling apart. Is a Ukraine in chaos to be considered a Washington success story?

This brings us back to the Dutch vote. The overwhelming rejection of the EU plan for Ukrainian membership demonstrates the deep level of frustration and anger in Europe over EU leadership following Washington's interventionist foreign policy at the expense of European security and prosperity. The other EU member countries did not even dare hold popular referenda on the matter - their parliaments rubber-stamped the agreement.

Brussels backs US bombing in the Middle East and hundreds of thousands of refugees produced by the bombing overwhelm Europe. The people are told they must be taxed even more to pay for the victims of Washington's foreign policy.

Brussels backs US regime change plans for Ukraine and EU citizens are told they must bear the burden of bringing an economic basket case up to European standards. How much would it cost EU citizens to bring in Ukraine as a member? No one dares mention it. But Europeans are rightly angry with their leaders blindly following Washington and then leaving them holding the bag.

The anger is rising and there is no telling where it will end. In June, the United Kingdom will vote on whether to exit the European Union. The campaign for an exit is broad-based, bringing in conservatives, populists, and progressives. Regardless of the outcome, the vote should be considered very important. Europeans are tired of their unelected leaders in Brussels pushing them around and destroying their financial and personal security by following Washington's foolish interventionism. No one can call any of these recent interventions a success and the Europeans know it.

One way or the other, the US empire is coming to an end. Either the money will go or the allies will go, but it cannot be sustained. The sooner the American people demand an end to these foolish policies the better.



Dr. Ron Paul

Project Freedom

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas enjoys a national reputation as the premier advocate for liberty in politics today. Dr. Paul is the leading spokesman in Washington for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He is known among both his colleagues in Congress and his constituents for his consistent voting record in the House of Representatives: Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill.

Dr. Ron Paul Archive

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Bank Bail-Ins In EU as Heta "Bailed In" In Austria

Bank bail-ins in the EU are here after Austrias financial markets regulator FMA imposed a hefty haircut on creditors in an Austrian bank. Creditors in the bank Heta Asset Resolution will receive less than half of their money back according to the countrys financial regulator, the FMA.

Senior bondholders in the so called bad bank could expect to receive around 0.46 for each euro which would be paid from the realisation of assets by 2020, according to the FMA statement. It said that this had been calculated using very conservative assumptions.

This package of measures also ensures the equal treatment of creditors. Orderly resolution is more advantageous than insolvency proceedings, the FMA said.

Bond maturities, however, will be extended to 31 December 2023 as all currently outstanding legal disputes will realistically only be concluded by the end of 2023. Only at that point will it be possible to finally distribute the assets and to liquidate the company, the regulator said.

In November 2015, the largest collection of creditors, which included Pacific Investment Management Co (PIMCO), Commerzbank , FMS Wertmanagement AoeR and a collection of distressed debt investors, proposed to extend bond maturities for 30 years in return for repayment in full.

Representatives of Austrian province Carinthia and creditors of the failed regional lender are to meet in London tomorrow to try to break the impasse over a bond buyback scheme, an Austrian newspaper reported. Carinthia, a southern Austrian province, guaranteed the debt of local lender Hypo Alpe Adria before the bank collapsed and now faces the threat of insolvency if it had to honour the 10.8 billion euro ($12.3 billion) debt in full.

Heta Asset Resolution was formed to wind down the bank but regulators froze Hetas debt repayments after discovering a gaping capital hole at the bad bank.

Hetas bail-ins pertain to bond holders but it is important to note that recently introduced EU and international bail-in regulation mean that depositors in banks are now exposed to having their deposits bailed in.

Bail-ins are one of the greatest financial risks to investors, savers and indeed companies today. Yet they remain the most poorly covered financial risk and are largely ignored by financial advisers, brokers and not surprisingly banks.

There is a belief that bail-ins only relate to the rich and very wealthy depositors as they will be imposed on those with deposits greater than national deposit guarantees. These deposit guarantees are generally the big round, arbitrary number of say 100,000, $250,000 and 75,000. These are not particularly large amounts and could amount to the entire life savings of a family or pensioners or indeed it could be the entire capital of a small to medium size business enterprise.

It is important to note that the arbitrary round number in the various deposit guarantees can be, and probably will be, reduced to a lower number  say the new round number of 50,000, 50,000 and $50,000. In the event of bail-ins, governments and banks are likely to seek to impose deeper haircuts on creditors including depositors in order to bail-out and protect the failing banking system.

Bail-Ins  Key Considerations (GoldCore Research)

Media internationally has not analysed this growing financial risk and the risk that it poses to the deposits of savers, investors and companies and indeed to our respective economies. In a world already beset with huge deflationary pressures, bail-ins and confiscating deposits would be extremely deflationary and would likely contribute to severe recessions.

This is something we warned of when we first conducted our extensive research on the developing bail-in regimes. Diversification of deposits remains vital and one important way to protect against bail-ins is owning bullion. Taking delivery of gold and silver coins and bars or owning bullion in allocated and segregated storage in the safest vaults in the world is a prudent way to protect against bail-ins.

Access Protecting your Savings In The Coming Bail-In Era (11 pages)

Access From Bail-Outs to Bail-Ins: Risks and Ramifications  (51 pages)

Gold Prices (LBMA)

11 April: USD 1,247.25, EUR 1,095.84 and GBP 878.96 per ounce

8 April: USD 1,235.00, EUR 1,085.18 and GBP 877.33 per ounce

7 April: USD 1,237.50, EUR 1,086.07 and GBP 879.70 per ounce

6 April: USD 1,225.75, EUR 1,079.76 and GBP 868.38 per ounce

5 April: USD 1,231.50, EUR 1,083.59 and GBP 866.32 per ounce

Silver Prices (LBMA)

11 April: USD 15.16, EUR 13.34 and GBP 10.78 per ounce (Not updated yet)

8 April: USD 15.16, EUR 13.34 and GBP 10.78 per ounce

7 April: USD 15.22, EUR 13.38 and GBP 10.81 per ounce

6 April: USD 15.07, EUR 13.28 and GBP 10.71 per ounce

5 April: USD 15.19, EUR 13.37 and GBP 10.69 per ounce



Silver Britannias  VAT and CGT Free

This update can be found on the GoldCore blog here.

Mark O'Byrne

IRL

63

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DUBLIN 2 E info@goldcore.com UK

NO. 1 CORNHILL

LONDON 2

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MARTINSVILLE  Theres a mysterious marker at Forest Park Country Club that likely has baffled more than a few golfers  or at least those with a bad enough slice to land a ball near it.

Facing Lake Lanier while on the Forest Park property, one will spot the marker on the slope to the right of the spillway. It reads, in full, Here lie fifty unidentified dead moved from a point 300 yards northeast Mar. 12, 1957.

Who, exactly, is buried on the hillside?

Henry County Archivist Desmond Kendrick of the Martinsville-Henry County History Museum said that there are three main theories  two that probably are not accurate, and one that likely is.

The remains of the 50 unidentified dead were discovered, Kendrick said, while Lake Lanier was being constructed between 1955 and about 1957. In all likelihood, he said, the construction crew did not know the graves were there until they discovered them during the excavation process.

The first theory about the unidentified bodies, Kendrick said, is that they were Native Americans. However, he said, this theory is unlikely, because Native American graves would have been hundreds of years old and the remains would have become indiscernible.

Additionally, he said, Lake Lanier is a valley, and Native Americans generally buried their dead in burial mounds on hills. The dead would be buried in a spiral going up the sides of the hill, with the higher-ranking members of their society buried closer to the top of the hill.

The second theory, Kendrick said, is that the unidentified bodies were members of the Moravian Church.

The Moravians were a Protestant religious sect who passed through the Mulberry area around the 1720s, Kendrick said, traveling from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to establish their religion in different locations.

They supposedly camped here on Mulberry Creek, which is still about a mile from here, Kendrick said. The theory was that the Moravians had some kind of a disease ... they caught when they were here, and a bunch of them could have died, and they were buried up here on this hillside.

While its possible that the Moravians could have lost 50 people at once while passing through the area, Kendrick said he believes it is unlikely.

In all likelihood, he said, the unidentified dead are more recent than either the Native Americans or the Moravians.

That leads to the third theory, and the one Kendrick believes most likely to be true: The 50 dead likely were slaves owned by Martha Patsey Henry Fontaine, daughter of Virginia patriot Patrick Henry.

Thats what I really think, Kendrick said. Patrick Henry owned this property, and his land, at the time, went up to the top of the hill. It encompassed all of Lake Lanier. ... His daughter Patsy owned what he called his little plantation on Leatherwood Creek, and it was almost 3,000 acres. [Patrick Henry] owned 13,879 acres in the timeframe he lived here for four years  from 1780 to 1784.
TODAYS WORD is judicious (joo-dish-uhs). Example: Judicious planning now can prevent problems later.

SUNDAYS WORD was batten (bat-n). It means to grow or make fat; to feed gluttonously; to grow prosperous especially at the expense of anotherusually used with on. Example: There have always been unscrupulous individuals who batten on the misfortunes of others.

Local rescue squads and fire departments are always in need of funds, and thanks go out to community civic organizations that hold fundraisers for them.

nOn April 23, the Rangeley Ruritan Club will hold a fundraising breakfast to benefit the Fieldale Fire Department.

nThe Ridgeway Rescue Squad will hold its 3rd annual Casino Night on Saturday, May 14, at the New College Institute. Festivities will begin at 6 p.m. with a hors doeuvre reception. Casino games will begin at 7 p.m. There will be live music and prizes. If you would like to be a sponsor of the Casino Night fundraiser, consider contributing to the following: High Roller, $5,000; Jackpot, $2,500; Royal Flush, $1,000; Four of a Kind, 500; Full House, $250; Flush, $100; Deuces Wild, less than $100.

In-kind event donations: Three of a Kind, good/services valued at over $300; Two of a Kind, good/services valued at under $300.

It is requested that sponsorships be sent in by Friday, April 15, to allow time to finalize signage for the event.

For more information call (276) 226-0409 or email Captain Travis L. Pruitt at tpruitt@ridgewayrescue.com; or President Darren Lockridge at mlockridge@ridgewayrescue.com

All donations are tax deductible.

To be a politician, one almost has to be an attorney and vice versa. One has to be acquainted with the "whereas" and the "resolves", etc., especially if they intend to introduce laws.

On a quest to restore authentic Virginia style barbecue "to its rightful place among the great barbecue styles in the country," House Speaker William J. Howell, introduced Joint Resolution 169 to designate the months of May through October of every year to be Virginias official barbecue season.

The resolution was sponsored by Howell and Del. Mark Cole, according to a release, and was passed unanimously in April by the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate. Howell will officially announce the Virginia Barbecue Proclamation during a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. April. 20 on the Capitols south portico steps in Richmond.

If you would like to read the full text of the proclamation, visit https://lis.virginia.gov

Martinsville Elks Lodge will have a Spring Money Draw Down fundraiser on April 16. Only 100 tickets will be sold, and the grand prize will be $3,000.

Tickets cost $100 per couple and include dinner and drinks.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. at the Elks Lodge across from Martinsville High School.

For tickets, call the lodge at 638-1060 after 4 p.m. daily.

The fundraiser is to help with the Elks charitable activities, including veterans activities and youth activities.
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Operating out of a Boston Road location that's been home to a number of restaurants over the past 20 years, Neighborhood Pizza and Pasta House brings Italian fare aplenty to its North Wilbraham "neighborhood."



Pasta specialties such as Fettuccine Primavera ($13.95) have a place on the menu, as do Italian dinners like Chicken Parmesan ($12.95) and Baked Lasagna ($13.95).



Patrons can additionally choose from an extensive array of "sauteed specialties."

Representative of these are the likes of Shrimp & Chicken Carmen ($16.95), a dish that brings together shrimp and chicken breast with garlic, broccoli, and roasted red peppers.



For those with more conservative mealtime predilections, Neighborhood serves steaks and chops (N.Y. Strip -- $18.95), baked seafood (Stuffed Scallops -- $17.95), and "fried dinners" (Chicken Tenders with fries -- $9.95).



The starter choices at Neighborhood favor conventional options such as Fried Mozzarella ($5.50) and Baked Stuffed Clams ($8.95).



Our starter selection, a Chicken Quesadilla ($7.95), wasn't conventional Italian restaurant fare, but it was well executed nonetheless.



A flour tortilla fold-over filled with chunks of juicy chicken breast, sauteed onions, green pepper, and plenty of melted mozzarella, the quesadilla was served with sour cream and marinara sauce for dipping purposes. Hearty enough to share, it started off our meal in fine fashion.

Shrimp and garlic butter is a winning combination, and the Shrimp Scampi ($16.95) at Neighborhood exploits that matchup to best effect.



Handsomely put together, the scampi featured eight hefty-sized shrimp served over pasta.

The garlic butter sauce in which the shrimp had been simmered benefited from a flavor-brightening squirt of fresh lemon juice; a splash or two of white wine contributed an interesting, fruity subtext. Bits of roasted red pepper and minced parsley boosted the plate's visual appeal.



Definitely a dish we'd order again.



Like most Italian fare, Antonio's Pasta ($12.95) calls on garlic to anchor its flavor profile.



Slices of sweet Italian sausage are the featured ingredient in the dish, where they join forces with chunks of sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil. Tossed with penne pasta and dusted with grated Romano, this, too, was a creation that earned our unqualified endorsement.

Entrees at Neighborhood Pizza and Pasta are served with either soup or salad. We opted for the latter; the greenery served us was simple yet fresh. Focaccia-style rolls were also included.



Neighborhood Pizza and Pasta, which is licensed for the service of beer and wine, pours a small but workable selection of both.

The pizza side of things at Neighborhood Pizza and Pasta presents plenty from which to select. Pie prices begin at $7.95 for a small, 12-inch pie; more than two dozen topping options are available to customize a pizza.



The menu also suggests "specialty pizza" combinations, all of which are $13.45 for a small and $26.95 for a party-sized version.



Examples of what's suggested range from the conventional (Hawaiian pizza, with its ham and pineapple garnishes) to the quite creative, as exemplified by a Cajun Chicken pie assembled from spicy Alfredo sauce, grilled chicken, sausage, and onion.



Intrigued by its name, we ordered a Minnechaug Special ($13.45) and were pleased that we did.



It's a pie that reinterprets the Buffalo wings experience. The crust is topped with crumbled blue cheese; the sauce is a moderately spicy variation of the butter-Tabasco Buffalo "drench." Plenty of diced chicken serves as the meaty component, while a final topping of mozzarella ties things together.



We're not big fans of "hot & spicy," but we found the Minnechaug pie quite enjoyable.



Neighborhood Pizza and Pasta House offers a small selection of desserts such as chocolate layer cake and New York style cheesecake. The house made Cannoli ($3.49) we wrapped up our visit with were simple yet appealing, their ricotta-based filling lightly sweetened and subtly flavored with vanilla.



The restaurant offers early bird specials daily from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.; those deals are priced from $7.95 to $9.95.



Name: Neighborhood Pizza and Pasta House

Address: 2481 Boston Road, Wilbraham

Telephone: (413) 599-1200

Website: pizzaandpastahouse.com

Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 9 p.m.

Entree prices: $9.95 - $19.95

Credit cards: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa

Handicapped access: Accessible, with rest rooms equipped for wheelchair use

Reservations: Not normally taken
jake.jpg

Jake Lloyd, who starred in "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" was arrested after leading police on a high speed car chase in South Carolina in June 2015.

Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace," has been moved to a psychiatric facility after 10 months in jail.

His mother, Lisa Riley, told TMZ that authorities had reached the conclusion her son needed help more than punishment, and moved him to a medical facility.

She said she spoke with her son last week and can already see an improvement in his personality.

The 27-year old actor was behind the wheel when South Carolina police deputies began to pursue the former child actor, who was driving recklessly in June 2015. The 117 mph chase eventually entered another county and ended with Lloyd driving through a fence and hitting several trees.

Lloyd had reportedly attacked his mother earlier that month.

He had stomped on his mother three or four times resulting in bruises and abrasions on her arm. She refused to press charges against her son when the police, saying he has suffered from schizophrenia since he was 19, according to the New York Post.
Chicopee sex offender George Rivera

Police are alerting the public that a Level 3 sex offender, George Rivera, has moved to 1200 Grattan St. in Chicopee. This photo was taken on January 12, 2015.

(Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board)

CHICOPEE - Police are alerting the public that a Level 3 sex offender has moved to the city.

George W. Rivera, 31, is registered as living at 1200 Grattan St.

In October 2000, Rivera was convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

Records from the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) describe Rivera as a white man, 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

SORB classifies sex offenders based on their dangerousness to the community and their likelihood of reoffending. Level 3 is the highest.

It is against the law to discriminate against or harass a registered sex offender. Violators can face more than two years in jail.
chicopee schools stock

Children raise their hands to answer a question on the first day of school at Patrick E. Bowe School in September.

(JOHN SUCHOCKI / REPUBLICAN FILE)

CHICOPEE - The School Committee once again embraced the School Choice program, or at least the money it generates.

The School Committee voted 8-1 to expand school choice to add 69 additional slots for out-of-town students for September.

School Choice state law allows parents to send their children to schools outside their towns. When a child transfers to an out-of-town district, the students' home district sends about $5,200 in tuition money to the child's new school. The allotment is more for special education children.

The receiving school committee must adopt the program every year and decide the number of children it will accept. Chicopee accepts one of the largest number of school choice students in the state. During this school year it accepted 195 students and took in $810,366, Assistant Superintendent Alvin Morton said.

Some of the communities in Western Massachusetts that take more children are South Hadley, Northampton and Quabbin Regional, which accepts one of the largest number of students statewide and took in $1.9 million last year, according to state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education statistics.

Next year the School Committee will accept a total of 264 students spread through all the grade levels. Because 37 students from other communities will graduate this year, that will leave the school with a total of 106 slots for new students for next school year, Morton said.

If all the slots are filled, the schools will take in about $1.3 million in the next school year, Morton said.



The state law that allows School Choice also permits communities to specify which schools and grades they will accept a child. But once a child begins attending the new school system, the city must keep the child until they graduate.

Not all slots have applicants every year. If there are more applicants than spaces, children are selected by lottery as is required by state law, he said.

Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. said each building principal examines enrollment and determines if there will be empty slots at different grade levels.

The idea is some grades have empty seats, but not enough to cut a teacher or other staff. It does not cost the schools by accepting new students and the district benefits from having the additional money.

"It makes good fiscal sense to fill those seats," Rege said, adding every vacant seat is not filled to ensure there is still plenty of space for students who move into the city during the school year.

The money does allow schools to offer more after-school programs, electives and other programs that could not be offered.

School Committee member Donald J. Lamothe said he usually supports School Choice, but this year he did not vote for it.

"Until we balance out our schools I will not support this," he said. "I feel we have an obligation to our kids first."

Lamothe has been pushing for redistricting of some of the schools since the new Dupont Middle School opened in September and all middle school students were redistricted.



When that happened, children from the James C. Selser School were also moved to what was now named the Fairview Veterans Elementary School.

Nearly all the children at Fairview are bused from the Willimansett neighborhood, which only has one elementary school that is not large enough to fit all the children. Lamothe said the elementary schools now need to be redistricted because there are children who live very close to the Fairview Elementary School who are being bused to other elementary schools.

The city would continue to save money in busing if the schools were redistricted, he said.

Mayor Richard J. Kos argued that accepting more School Choice students is even more important this year since the number of homeless children who have been living at hotels has been reduced to 13 now. In September 2014 there were about 250 homeless school children living in hotels in the city, sparking an outcry from Kos and other officials.

While it is good that the number of homeless children has dropped dramatically, Kos said the schools did receive extra state money to educate the children.
HOLYOKE Holyoke police now say that one man was wounded in a shooting on Appleton Street near the St. Paul's Episcopal Church Sunday night.

Holyoke Police Lt. Larry Cournoyer said the victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the legs and lower back, and the wounds are described as apparently non-life threatening. The wounded man was transported to the Baystate Medical Center where he is undergoing treatment.

Police received multiple 911 calls beginning at about 10:45 p.m. reporting the shooting, and from those callers some potential witnesses are being interviewed by detectives.

Cournoyer said the victim is an adult male who is known to the police, but he could not say if the man had a criminal background or if he had any gang affiliations.

Police combed the area in front of St. Paul's Episcopal Church for evidence. A trail of tagged items stretched down the sidewalk in front of the church along Appleton Street, beginning near Linden Street and ending in a crosswalk at Locust Street. A large apparent blood pool directly in front of the church could be seen.

Uniformed officers and a detective marked, photographed and collected the items found at the scene for later analysis.

Cournoyer said the investigation will continue throughout the night, and be picked up by CBI investigators in the morning.
UPDATE, 11:15 a.m., June 16, 2017: Michelle Carter has been found guilty

A newly released court filing has revealed details about the life and death of Conrad Roy, the Mattapoisett 18-year-old whose girlfriend, Michelle Carter, is on trial after encouraging him to kill himself.

The case is currently under review by the state's Supreme Judicial Court, which heard arguments over whether Carter should have been charged with manslaughter at a hearing last week.

But until that hearing, the prosecution's response to that appeal has been sealed due to the inclusion of secret details from the grand jury that heard Carter's case. Following that hearing, the response was posted on the court's website, giving a look into the information heard by grand jurors before they returned a manslaughter indictment against Carter.

Carter stands accused of involuntary manslaughter for a series of text messages that encouraged Mattapoisett native Conrad Roy, with whom she had a romantic but largely online relationship, to kill himself. He did so with carbon monoxide in a Kmart parking lot in 2014.

The unsealed filings gives new details both on Roy's previous bouts with depression -- a topic discussed a previous hearings -- and on Roy's life in the days before his death.

Carter and Roy met in Florida while visiting relatives in 2012, and conducted their relationship almost entirely through online communications and texting -- a description agreed on by both the defense and the prosecution. Neither Roy's mother or his best friend knew about the relationship, according to the unsealed filing.

They were not together for the entirety of those three years, according to the filing. Prosecutors wrote that Carter and Roy had rekindled their relationship just over a month before he killed himself; one of Carter's friends said the couple had not seen each other in person in over a year, the filing said.

In this Aug. 24, 2015 file photo, Michelle Carter listens to defense attorney Joseph P. Cataldo argue for an involuntary manslaughter charge against her to be dismissed at Juvenile Court in New Bedford, Mass.

Roy's history of depression has also been a flash point in the legal arguments over the case, with Carter's defense team citing his previous suicidal ideation as evidence that the suicide plan was of his making, and the Commonwealth arguing that Carter had preyed upon an emotionally vulnerable young man.

The new filing gives a history of Roy's struggles with mental illness. In 2012, Roy spent time at mental institutions in Worcester and Brookline. After his release from the Brookline facility, he tried to kill himself.

"He was discharged from the Brookline facility before he believed he was ready, and the next morning he overdosed on Acetaminophen," prosecutors wrote.

But he had told a girl he had met in treatment of his overdose and she called 911, saving his life, according to the filing.

"He told his mother he 'would never do that to [her] again,' and never again mentioned wanting or trying to take his life to her," prosecutors wrote.

On the day of his death, Roy went to Horseneck Beach in Westport, Mass. with his family. He had come back from walking his golden retriever when his mother asked him to join his sisters on the trip. He agreed, and spent the day walking the beach with his family; he bought his sisters ice cream, the filing said.

In the account given by prosecutors, Roy joked and spoke about his future to his mother, even as he was simultaneously texting Carter about the logistics of his suicide.

"Conrad and his mother took a walk on the beach, joking about bathing suits they saw, and talking about how he had gotten a four-year scholarship that would take him to the same college [his best friend] was going to. He had applied to a business program because he might want to run his father's business someday, or work with him in the meantime," prosecutors wrote.

(That account carries a different tone than the one Roy's mother gave to New York Magazine, during which she described Roy as "distracted" and more interested in texting than speaking with her.)

Starting that morning, Roy and Carter had been exchanging text messages about his plans to end his life. At 4 a.m., Carter wrote "You said you were gonna do it. Like I don't get why you aren't. So I guess you aren't gonna do it then. All that for nothing."

And throughout the day, Conrad texted Carter about his determination to kill himself, how best to do so and his fears that others could be hurt by the use of carbon monoxide, the filing said. During this time, his parents were unaware of the plan.

"Unbeknownst to his mother or any of the other people he was close to, for at least the past six days Conrad had been making plans to kill himself with carbon monoxide," prosecutors alleged. "Carter played an instrumental role: she talked him out of his doubts point-by-point, assured him that his family would understand why he did it, researched logistics and reassured him that he was likely to succeed, and pushed him to stop procrastinating and get on with it, mocking his hesitation and threatening to get him help if he did not carry through with his plans."

In a defense brief, Carter's lawyers contested the claim that Carter was responsible for Roy's death, arguing the government had overcharged Carter to compensate for a lack of applicable law against encouraging suicide in Massachusetts.

"Charging her with manslaughter was a transparent effort calculated to circumvent the fact that the legislature has not criminalized words that encourage suicide," the brief argued.

In a second brief, the defense also argued that the prosecution had taken text messages out of context to allege that Carter had encouraged Roy to delete their conversations. The brief cited sealed grand jury records to argue that it was Roy's idea to delete their communications.

The defense also argues that unlike in other cases where a suicide led to manslaughter charges, Carter did not physically assist Roy in carrying out the act.

"Regardless of how one may feel about. Carter's conduct, no Massachusetts case holds or in any way suggests that words encouraging someone to take his life, no matter how forceful, can support a guilty finding of involuntary manslaughter by the infliction of serious bodily harm," the brief says.

The prosecution's unsealed brief also makes clear that a key point of evidence for the grand jury was Carter's phone conversation with Roy while he was in that Kmart parking lot. He had exited his truck as it filled with carbon monoxide and she allegedly convinced him to get back in.

At some point, in Carter's own account, Conrad got out of the car 'because [the carbon monoxide poisoning] was working and he got scared," the filing said, citing grand jury testimony. "Carter 'f---en told him to get back in.' He did."

And according to previously released text messages cited in the filing, Carter said she felt responsible for Roy's death.

"[Conrad's] death was my fault. Like, honestly I could have stopped it. I was the one on the phone with him and he got out of the car because it was working and he got scared and I f---en told him to get back in," Carter said, according to the filing. "It's all my fault because I could have stopped him but I f---en didn't and all I had to say was I love you and don't do this one more time and he'd still be here."

Dana Curhan, one of Carter's defense attorneys, said that quote was drawn from a conversation Carter had with a friend, not from testimony or a police interview.

"Apparently she talked to her friend and said that. I don't remember if it was phone conversation or it was a text," Curhan said. "Of course that's not what she thought the legal effect of that was. It doesn't make a big difference. She doesn't get to decide what's legal and what's not legal"

Whether that quote could be admitted as evidence would not be decided until the case goes to trial, Curhan said -- an outcome Curhan is hoping to avoid through the appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court.

"Right now we're not at that stage," he said. "That will depend on a lot of things."
eric.alex.jpg

State Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, left, and Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse, right, will lead a discussion of the Senate's "Millennial Engagement Initiative" Monday, April 11, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. at Holyoke Community College. The goal is to learn the issues of importance to students and young professionals.

(FILE PHOTOS)

HOLYOKE -- The state Senate's Millennial Engagement Initiative rolls into Holyoke Community College today at 2:30 p.m.

That means that this is the latest stop as state and city officials seek to learn the topics and issues of most importance to the generation of those born between the early 1980's and around 2000.

The discussion with students and young professionals is set for Room 303 in the college's Kittredge Center for Business & Workforce Development, 303 Homestead Ave.

State Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, has been chose by Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, to lead the statewide effort to reach out to the millennial generation.

Joining Lesser, who at 30 is the state Senate's youngest member, in leading the discussion will be Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse, 27, who was elected in 2011 at 22.

"Holyoke is a city on the rise, and young people are an essential part of its energy, innovation and future," Lesser said in a press release from Morse's office Friday.

"That's why I'm looking forward to bringing the Senate's Millennial Engagement Initiative to Holyoke Community College, where we can hear directly from Holyoke's young people about the issues most important to them," he said.

Morse said in the press release that students and young professionals have the chance in such meetings to tell officials the issues they are passionate about.

"I am looking forward to hearing from Holyoke's young people about the issues that matter to them. It is so important to have young people engaged in the issues of our city, our state, and our country, and both Sen. Lesser and I believe this talented generation can really make an impact," Morse said.
Anthony James Nowak, 43, of Springfield, passed away on Saturday. He was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico. He grew up in Indian Orchard and was a 1990 graduate of Springfield Central High School. For several years, he served with the Springfield Police Department working in various divisions including the detective bureau and mounted patrol. After living in Boston and New York City for several years, he returned to Indian Orchard to work at his family's business, Nowak Funeral & Cremation Services. He attended Hudson Valley Community College and received a degree in mortuary science in 2012, graduating with academic honor. Later that year, he became a licensed funeral director and became co-owner of the business with his sister. He was a current board member of the Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association.

Full obituary and funeral arrangements for Anthony Nowak 
Fukang meteorite

A one-ton piece of Fukang meteorite on display in New York.

(Associated Press file photo)

A rock from outer space that weighs more than the average American adult has led to a federal lawsuit for a Massachusetts couple.

More than a decade ago, an enormous space rock, known as the Fukang meteorite, was found in the Gobi Desert of China. A California man bought a 220-pound slice of the meteorite several years after it was discovered. The space rock features sparkly green crystals than gleam in the sunlight.

Several years after Stephan Settgast purchased the slice, he agreed to sell it for $425,000 to Lawrence Stifler and Mary McFadden of Brookline.

The rock was shipped to a pair of rock polishers in Kansas following the sale to be cleaned before it was send to the new owners in Massachusetts. While in their possession, the professional rock cleaners reportedly commented to Settgast that he was selling the rock for a steal, that it was worth possibly more than a million, according to court documents.

After hearing that he possibly lost out of more than half a million, Settgast reportedly took repossession of the rock without the consent of the new owners, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Court documents filed on behalf of the Massachusetts couple allege Settgast took the 220-pound space rock from the Kansas studio while the cleaners were out of town.

Settgast filed suit in February to invalidate the sale, saying the Massachusetts couple declined to share that they would publicly display the rock in a New England museum. A month later, Stifler and McFadden countersued, saying public display of the rock was not prohibited in their contract and that the California man now has both their space rock and money.

The matter will be heard in federal court on June 29.
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SPRINGFIELD - Fire Department Lt. Edward Parson will remain behind bars to face child pornography production charges in Virginia.

(The Republican file)

This is an update to a story posted at 2:33 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD  A Fire Department lieutenant accused in federal court in a child pornography production conspiracy will remain behind bars until he appears in a Virginia courtroom to answer the charge.

Edward Parson, 45, of Chicopee, was arrested and charged on April 7 with conspiracy to produce child pornography. According to federal investigators, Parson was charged in a criminal complaint out of the Eastern District of Virginia along with two other men in other states.

Few details, including the nature of the alleged conspiracy and his alleged co-conspirators, have yet to be released because the complaint remains under seal.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Breslow told a federal magistrate judge in Springfield that the complaint will become public when all the co-conspirators have been arrested.

On Thursday, Breslow told U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine Robertson that Parson and the other men "used two websites designed to trick children ages 7 to 16 with hidden cameras."

Parson waived his right to a detention hearing in federal court in Springfield on Monday, reserving his right to make a case for pretrial release in Virginia. Breslow told Robertson the government will move to keep Parson imprisoned pending trial due, in part, to the weight of the evidence against the firefighter.

Magistrate judges typically must weigh the government's case, a defendant's risk of flight and the danger he may pose to the community when considering pretrial release.

Robertson questioned Parson's dangerousness after noting that the FBI searched his home and seized his computer eight months ago.

"It's not so clear to me what has changed about his dangerousness between ... eight months ago and today," Robertson said.

Parson has had a somewhat spotty employment history with the Springfield Fire Department, according to a spokesman.

In response to a request for information, spokesman Dennis Leger said Parson was hired in April of 1997, resigned in 2009 and was reinstated in early 2011. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 2015. It is unclear what prompted the two-year gap in his employment.

Leger said the department was informed by federal investigators that Parson was under scrutiny from the FBI last June. Parson was placed on paid administrative leave July 23, Leger said.

He added that the department is disheartened by Parson's arrest.

"This is an unfortunate situation. We are extremely saddened for any potential victims and regret any situation when a firefighter is accused of wrongdoing, particularly of this nature. It is a blemish on the reputation of the department, whose members are willing to put their lives on the line every day for the residents of Springfield."

Despite earning $88,000 last year, according to a public salary database, Parson told Robertson he is indigent and was appointed a taxpayer-funded attorney.
SPRINGFIELD  The city has received a new $13.8 million federal grant as compensation for the damage to the former state armory building on Howard Street from the 2011 tornado.

The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be used to assist with the cost of two major projects in Springfield - construction of a new South End Community Center at Emerson Wight Park and construction of a new senior center at Blunt Park.

The former state armory building had long been home to the South End Community Center. The building received heavy damage from the tornado, but the front portion will be preserved by MGM Springfield and incorporated into its $950 million casino project in the South End.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said the FEMA grant reflects the city's concerted efforts to go after "every dime" of disaster aid it deserves in the aftermath of the tornado of June 1, 2011.

"We continue to push appeal after appeal to make sure we received every dime due to our resilient city," Sarno said in a prepared release. "Our strong financial management allowed us to push forward with these important projects."

This is the second major grant from FEMA related to the tornado. The city had previously received $25 million in FEMA disaster reimbursement funds, and also received $21.8 million in federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal said he pledged to seek federal aid to rebuild areas of the city devastated by the tornado, and five years later, "the city continues to receive assistance from FEMA to help continue the recovery process."

Both of the planned projects - the new community center and the senior center - were pre-approved as eligible for the disaster funds, officials said.

The original grant estimate for Springfield was $4.5 million, but through appeals the city was able to reach agreement on a cost of $18.1 million related to the State Armory, said Timothy J. Plante, the city's chief administrative and financial officer.

"This is great news," Plante said.

The $13.8 million grant settlement represents 75 percent of the cost covered by FEMA, leaving the city responsible for the remaining 25 percent, under FEMA guidelines for disaster aid.

The funds are available through the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act, related to natural disasters, and is authorized under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

Along with federal funds, Springfield has also been assisted by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which agreed to reimburse the full cost of replacing the tornado damaged Elias Brookings School, costing $27.9 million, as well as renovations to the tornado-damaged Mary Dryden School, costing $15.1 million.
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Springfield Fire Department photo of the fire scene at 390 Canon Circle. Unattended food on the stove caused a fire that led to $25,000 damage to the apartment kitchen and displaced three residents.

(Springfield Fire Department photo / Dennis Leger)

SPRINGFIELD - A kitchen fire Monday afternoon at a Sixteen Acres apartment caused an estimated $25,000 damage and displaced a mother and two children, a fire spokesman said.

The fire at 390 Canon Circle was reported just before 3 p.m., said Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.

It was quickly extinguished but not before causing serious damage to the kitchen, he said.

"It was gutted," he said.

The Western Massachusetts chapter of the American Red Cross was called to provide temporary shelter for the family, Leger said.

The fire was blamed on unattended food cooking on the stove, he said.

Canon Circle is off Cooley Street in Sixteen Acres, just a few hundred feet away from the East Longmeadow town line.

The apartment is part of Spring Meadow Apartments, a 270-unit apartment complex.
Lamont.photo.jpg

Lamont Clemons, president of the McKnight Neighborhood Council, at right, is shown at prior neighborhood council meeting. The neighborhood is discussing the city's demolition practices.

(File Photo / The Republican)

SPRINGFIELD -- The McKnight Neighborhood Council is conducting a public meeting on Tuesday, April 12, at 6 p.m., at the Rebecca Johnson School to discuss the city's policies and practices regarding the demolition of blighted and damaged buildings.

The public is invited to attend the meeting at the school, located at 55 Catharine St.,

Tina Quagliato, the city's director of disaster recovery and compliance, is the featured speaker.

She will be discussing the current practices in the city about which houses are selected for demolition and how the process works, according to the neighborhood council.

City attorney Lisa deSousa and Code Enforcement Commissioner Steven Desilets are also expected to attend the meeting to answer questions, the council stated.

All neighborhood residents, and interested guests, are welcome and encouraged to attend.

There have been some questions and concerns raised about plans to demolish some properties in the neighborhood including 52 Bowdoin St., and 74 Yale St. and if other options are available, said Lamont Clemons, president of the McKnight Neighborhood Council.

City officials including Mayor Domenic J. Sarno have stated that the city pursues demolition of long-neglected, blighted properties when other options are deemed unfeasible.
NORTHAMPTON -- Two more fires have been reported in Northampton's Ward 3 neighborhood, but police have not connected to them to the rash of suspicious blazes started there in March.

City councilor Ryan O'Donnell sent community members a statement Saturday informing them of the new fires.

On April 1 at about 5:30 p.m., burn marks were found on construction tarp hanging over a fence, as well as on the gravel driveway of a home on Day Avenue, police said. Upon further inspection, officers said they believe that the tarp's burn marks had been there since December.

"The burn marks on the gravel driveway were also determined to be older," police said in a statement. "Investigators are looking into this report and are open to the possibility that the marks were caused by construction equipment."

And on April 5 at around 5:15 p.m., the Northampton police and fire departments responded to Bates Street for a report of smoke coming from a home's backyard, authorities said. By the time police had arrived, the fire had been extinguished by snow. There was no damage to property and there were no injuries.

"Several juveniles were found at the site of the fire and were interviewed," police said in their report, adding, "We have no evidence that connects this fire to any of the other fires, but because of its geographic location we are considering all possibilities."

Three suspicious fires were reported in and around King and North streets between March 12 and 20, police said.

Ornamental grasses were burned at three homes on North and Bates streets, a barrel was burned in an alley at 137 King St., and a tent at a homeless camp between the bike path and King Street was destroyed by fire, police reported.

This particular neighborhood is especially sensitive to the suspicious nature of the incidents. In December 2009, Anthony Baye went on an arson spree that burned porches and entire homes and killed two people in the neighborhood.

Baye, 31, is serving a 19 to 20-year prison sentence after admitting to setting 15 fires in the area on the night of Dec. 27, 2009, including the blaze that killed Paul Yeskie, Sr., 81, and Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39, a father and son who lived on Fair Street. He also pleaded guilty to setting another 12 fires in Ward 3, where he lived, dating back to 2007.

As part of its Arson Watch Reward Program, the state fire marshal's office has hung up posters on telephone poles in the area that advertise a reward up to $5,000 for identifying the perpetrator. Each poster lists a confidential tip line number and the Northampton Police Department number: 584-1100.

Because three of the fires involved plants that were dry and dead after the winter, authorities have asked residents to trim plantings and remove dried vegetative debris from around their homes.

O'Donnell hosted an informational session on the fires for community members on April 4.
SPRINGFIELD  A barber chair that once served a bustling Union Station in the 1930s, and beyond, was back in public view on Monday after decades of storage, refurbished to its former glory as the station itself is readied for its own grand reopening later this year.

On Monday, an appreciative crowd that included several senior barbers, local historians and some local officials including Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, and Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe attended the unveiling of the first of two refurbished barber chairs from the early days of Union Station.

Both chairs, along with many other historic items from the early days of Union Station including a chalk board with train arrival and departure times, will be on display when the station reopens later this year.

Sarno said it was very special to see the older barbers gathered for Monday's event at city Public Works building on Tapley Street, where the chairs are stored. The gathered barbers were the mayor's own father, Al Sarno, who still gives the mayor and other customers haircuts, who was joined by barbers Frank Stirlacci, Richard Gallerani and Marion Polite. The foursome represented more than 200 years of barbering.

Neal said that when the Union Station project is completed, expected in December, "these chairs will return to their original location."

"It's another way of honoring the past, during an exciting process of renewal," Neal said.

Wayne Phaneuf, a historian and executive editor of The Republican, said the barber chair is "a microcosm of what's happening" to the station on Frank B. Murray Street. Those involved in the refurbishment of the barber chair took an old "beat-up chair and made it beautiful," he said, adding "soon the whole building will be restored."

The cost is of the restoration of the two barber chairs is not yet finalized, with the second one to include the use of some parts from a third chair, beyond repair, said Springfield Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Christopher Moskal.

York Street Industries did the restoration of the barber chair, and ApMar USA, did the chrome work, officials said. The chair was found in the basement of the railroad station. It had also been used at the Hotel Charles which was next door to Union Station.

Planners expect that Union Station will draw five million rail and bus passengers a year in its first year of operation, a number that could swell to eight million or more with more service.

The grand station was built in 1926 and once served as a social and commercial hub for Springfield with restaurants, shoeshine stands, retailers, a Western Union telegraph office and package freight service.

Generations of service members left from Union Station for service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Much of the building has been closed since the 1970s.

"it's amazing, it's absolutely amazing," Moskal said. "People are getting excited."

Other memorabilia slated to return to Union Station includes an original bench, luggage stands, 35 baggage carts, and some safes, Moskal said.

Price, who has a barber for approximately 60 years, now just a few hours, said he was happy to see the barber chair restored. He said he looks forward to seeing the Union Station chairs back in the station.

Joseph Carvalho, a consulting historian, said the chair shown Monday was restored to its original appearance.

"It's a time machine, it brings you back in time," said Carvalho, a past president of the Springfield said Joseph Carvalho, past president of the Springfield Museums. "It looks beautiful. And of course, that is going to help transport people at least figuratively in their mind about what that era was like. You can tell stories through those objects."

Kevin Kennedy, the city's chief development officer, said the barber chair is the first artifact in a series of artifacts being incorporated into the Union Station redevelopment..

Some of those taking part in the ceremony pulled off a cloth to unveil the newly refurbished chair.

Sarno praised Neal for never wavering from the mission to restore Union Station as an intermodal transportation center.

Neal said the Charles Hotel, when you walked in decades ago, had five barber chairs and they were busy, as was Union Station, bustling with passengers and business.

"I think we're going to have, in the near future, a really important part of Springfield's history that is going to become a very important part of Springfield's future," Neal said.

Staff writer Jim Kinney contributed to this report.
WALLINGFORD, Conn. - Police arrested a 28-year-old West Springfield man on drug charges early Sunday after officers found him asleep in his pickup truck with more than a pound of marijuana and $1,200.

Matthew Giaquinto

Matthew Giaquinto was arrested at 2 a.m. in the parking lot of Oakdale Theater, according to reports published in the Hartford Courant and the Record-Journal of Meridan, Connecticut.

Officers spotted a pickup truck parked in the theater lot and went to investigate. The theater earlier in the evening was a venue for a performance of Brit Floyd, a Pink Floyd tribute band.

They found Giaquinto asleep and woke him up to check on him.

While talking to him, officers could smell a strong aroma of marijuana from inside the truck. Searching the truck, they found a pound of marijuana, and 24 grams of hash oil, plus money, scales and other drug paraphernalia.

He was charged with possession of more than four ounces of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia, and operating a drug factory.

He is being held on $50,000 bail and is due to appear in Meriden Superior Court on April 22.
SPRINGFIELD - Seth Lombard-Hawthorne, the Westfield man accused of providing heroin to a Westfield High School junior who died of a suspected overdose, on Monday denied a manslaughter charge in Hampden Superior Court.

Lombard-Hawthorne, 22, was already facing charges in Westfield District Court of heroin distribution and possession, following the death of 16-year-old Lillian Anderson on the weekend of Feb. 6. He was later indicted by a Hampden Superior Court grand jury for involuntary manslaughter.

Judge John A. Agostini set bail at $5,000 cash, the amount posted by Lombard-Hawthorne in Westfield District Court.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni represented the prosecution at the arraignment and Kathleen Cavanaugh was appointed as defense lawyer.

Lombard-Hawthorne must remain drug and alcohol free and report to probation weekly.

He also denied charges of distribution of heroin and possession of heroin. Other charges he denied are distribution of fentanyl and possession of fentanyl.

Investigators found bags of heroin labeled "American Gangster" and "Gucci" in blue ink in Anderson's room, and an investigation led them to Lombard-Hawthorne, a co-worker of Anderson's at the Elm Street McDonald's.

Anderson was found dead the morning of Feb. 6. After police found heroin in her room, detectives interviewed Anderson's mother and her boyfriend, who gave detectives a lead, Assistant District Attorney Edward Kivari said previously during Lombard-Hawthorne's Feb. 8 Westfield District Court arraignment on drug charges.

According to Anderson's mother, her daughter had told her the previous night that she had begun using heroin with a co-worker at the Elm Street McDonald's.

Investigators seized Anderson's cell phone and linked a phone number to Lombard-Hawthorne. They located him at the McDonald's on Saturday, and he gave a voluntary interview at the Westfield Police Department, where he cooperated with detectives, Kivari and his attorney Kathleen Cavanaugh said.

Lombard-Hawthorne allegedly admitted to providing the heroin, Kivari said.

Prosecutors charged him with distribution and possession of heroin, after bags of "American Gangster" heroin were found in his vehicle. He told police that he had arranged a heroin deal with Anderson over the messaging app Snapchat, according to Kivari.

After Anderson's death, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni called a press conference to express condolences and deliver a warning about spikes in heroin overdoses in Western Mass.

"Very sadly as we've seen in the last few months we've had another spike in overdoses and related deaths in Hampden County," Gulluni said. "This time it's really spread out throughout the county. It's been more difficult to identify a particular strain or particular location."

MassLive staff writer Dan Glaun contributed to this report.
Bomb squad units and dogs from the State Police along with police and fire officials from several local communities converged on at least one dozen schools Monday morning after many of the schools received robo-call bomb threats.

Officials from the State Police and State Fire Marshal's Office did not name the schools. WCVB News reports that schools in Hudson, Marlborough, Hopkinton, Leominster, Ayer, Brighton, Brookline, Charlestown, Medway, Stoneham and Tewksbury all received threats.

"The State Police Bomb Squad is aware of multiple school bomb threats via robo calls this morning," the State Fire Marshal's Office said in a statement. "Communities are following the established protocols that we have been training on across the state to assess each threat and the appropriate local response. The MSP Bomb Squad is responding to certain communities where appropriate. Once responses are complete, we'll work on compiling a list."

A spokesman for the State Police confirmed bomb squads responded to many of the schools. Officials said no credible threats have been found.

A Facebook post by the Marlborough Public Schools said there were 13 similar threats made across the state. Marlborough High School's main office received a robo-call bomb threat Monday.

"Although the threat did not appear to be credible, police and fire officials were contacted and responded in accordance with district safety protocol," the post said. "The determination was then made, in concert with police, to evacuate students and staff while the building was searched."

Nothing suspicious was found and students returned to class within 10 minutes.
Chad Easter.JPG

Chad Easter appears in Worcester Superior Court.

(Lindsay Corcoran | MassLive.com)



WORCESTER -- The man authorities claim is responsible for the killing of a couple who planned to testify against him in a home invasion case will remain in jail after a judge found he violated probation.

Chad Easter, 30, of Boston, is currently charged in a home invasion from 2013. Last week, prosecutors said Easter is suspected of "executing" Alex Lora and Jessica McKeon last month so they could not testify against him in the home invasion case.

Lora and McKeon were shot inside their apartment at 8 Forbes St. on March 10. McKeon was shot six times and found dead in the apartment while Lora was shot twice and died at the hospital.

Authorities said Easter, who was out on a $5,000 bail, failed to show up for a random drug test on March 11 while on probation for the 2013 home invasion case. Court officials said he failed to maintain employment, which was also part of his probation.

At a hearing in Worcester Superior Court on Monday, an attorney for Easter argued he should be released on bail again.

"Now, all the sudden there's a warrant and they can't reach him. The timing is suspect," said defense attorney Irvin Rakhlin. He argued that Easter was targeted by the probation department after being suspected in the murder.

Probation Officer Marie Mercurio said she wasn't aware of the murders and requested Easter report to probation as a result of a self-audit on his open case. Mercurio said she hadn't received proof of employment from Easter since Feb. 25.

Easter's bail was officially revoked and he was arrested when he showed up to court on March 28 - the day his home invasion trial was supposed to start.

Mercurio said that had been the longest time period Easter had gone without checking in with the probation department.

Rakhlin said Easter's violations were really just "technical" and that he could be put on house arrest rather than ordered to stay in custody.

Judge Janet Kenton-Walker ordered Easter continue to be held without bail for 90 days after violating his probation. She said she felt he wouldn't abide by any conditions of release or give accurate information to the probation department.

Easter has yet to be charged in the deaths of Lora and McKeon.

Assistant District Attorney Michael McHugh filed a motion last week saying the home invasion charges against Easter should stand despite the deaths of the witnesses.

"The Commonwealth will prove at the evidentiary hearing that both victims and McKeon in particular were deliberately targeted for execution," McHugh wrote. He said Easter "was involved in, or responsible for, procuring the witnesses' unavailability."

McHugh noted Easter "strongest motive" to commit the murders, but also that he was in the area shortly before the murders despite the fact that he lived and worked in Boston. Also, McHugh noted the gun used in both the home invasion and the killings of Lora and McKeon was 9mm handgun.

A hearing on McHugh's motion is set for May 3.
Creators Syndicate

In the polarized environment of modern American politics, there aren't many things that liberals and conservatives agree on. But they should be able to join hands and lift their voices in unison to say, "Bernie Sanders will not do."

Congress has plenty of members who stand left of center, but despite serving 16 years in the House and nine in the Senate, he's gotten the endorsement of only a handful. Vermont's other senator and its governor, both Democrats, have endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Former Rep. Barney Frank, one of the most accomplished liberal lawmakers of our time, doesn't have much use for him. "Bernie Sanders has been in Congress for 25 years with little to show for it in terms of his accomplishments," he told Slate. That, he told The Washington Post, is because he is "very wary of compromise and of accepting less than you want."

The 2010 Dodd-Frank law, which Frank co-authored, was described by The Washington Post as "the most ambitious overhaul of financial regulation in generations." Yet Sanders proclaims, "Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress."

Frank's response in Politico: "When my 2010 opponent was greeted by cheers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during our campaign, and major financial operators like Carl Icahn and David Einhorn maxed out to him to punish me for our legislation, I don't think any of them agreed with Sanders that Wall Street had somehow been regulating us."

Frank faults him for acting as though nothing big has been accomplished under Barack Obama - who, besides Dodd-Frank, pushed through the Affordable Care Act and raised the top marginal income tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent.

Liberals have other reasons to be leery. Sanders portrays climate change as "the single greatest threat facing our planet" even as he demands a ban on fracking. But the main reason the United States has been able to reduce carbon emissions in recent years is that we have replaced coal with natural gas - which has become more abundant thanks to fracking.

He proposes more than doubling the minimum wage, to $15. But Princeton economist Alan Krueger, whose research suggests a $12 floor would not destroy jobs, says a $15 national minimum "could well be counterproductive."

Sanders thinks anything worth doing is worth overdoing. But his all-or-nothing attitude, Frank contends, "makes it less likely" that progressives will succeed in moving society in the direction they want.

That may be the only consolation for non-liberals and anyone else distrustful of an all-powerful government. Sanders says he believes in "democratic socialism" but has room in his heart for the other kind. In the 1980s, he praised the Marxist-Leninist regimes in Cuba and Nicaragua.

His loathing is reserved for capitalism. His inability to explain his plan to break up big banks in an interview at the New York Daily News was confirmation that on anything to do with economics, he is guided purely by ideology.

He says our private health insurance system is the reason "we spend almost twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other country." PolitiFact noted that our per capita cost is just 38 percent more than that of Switzerland, the next highest. Some countries with lower spending rely heavily on private insurance.

He has only contempt for any U.S. company that would move production to China or Mexico just "to make even more money." He doesn't grasp that if a U.S. company doesn't shift production to raise profits, its foreign rivals may do so - and put it out of business. Sanders assumes that earnings grow on trees.

His fiscal realm is a zero-gravity environment. His tax plan would raise the top marginal rate to a confiscatory 77 percent - almost certainly stifling economic growth, not to mention reducing revenue from what it would be at lower rates.

On spending, he offers a fiesta of extravagance: free college, paid family leave, Medicare-for-all, an across-the-board increase in Social Security benefits. The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says they could add $15 trillion to the national debt over a decade. Even liberal economists have characterized his budget agenda as a joke.

Sensible voters on the left and the right will decline the suspension of disbelief his campaign invites. In the unlikely event he wins the election, Sanders won't announce, "I'm going to Disney World." He lives in his own magic kingdom.



Steve Chapman is a columnist and editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune.
pharma.JPG

Representatives of the pharmaceutical industry testify before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing about a bill that would establish transparency in drug costs on April 11, 2016.

(SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN)

BOSTON -- A Massachusetts bill that would require pharmaceutical companies to disclose pricing information -- and potentially cap drug prices -- is causing heated debate, pitting the drug industry against the insurance industry. The effect on consumers is disputed.

Insurers and consumer groups say the bill could lower drug prices as Massachusetts health care costs are skyrocketing. Drug companies say the bill would slow the development of new drugs and chase pharmaceutical businesses out of Massachusetts without helping customers.

"We have the mandate from the vast majority of the public saying essentially, we have the right to know," said state Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, vice chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, who sponsored the bill. "For those who create the myth the industry will go elsewhere, give me a break."

Dozens of advocates attended a hearing on the bill, S.1048, before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing on Monday.

Under the bill, the state's independent Health Policy Commission would develop a list of "critical prescription drugs" for which the state has a public interest in understanding pricing. Manufacturers would be required to report on the costs of drug production, research and development, and marketing and advertising; as well as the prices charged to purchasers outside the U.S., to Massachusetts purchasers such as pharmacies, and to drug benefit managers such as Express Scripts. The commission would prepare an annual report with recommendations for lowering prescription drug spending.

If the commission found that the price of a particular drug was significantly high, the commission could set a maximum price that the drug could be sold for in Massachusetts.

Similar transparency bills have been introduced around the country. Massachusetts is one of two states -- the other being Pennsylvania -- considering a price cap.

Bill supporters say drugs comprise a significant portion of health care costs. According to statistics cited by the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, drugs account for 14 to 22 percent of health care spending nationally. Prices for many brand-name drugs, specialty drugs and generic drugs have grown substantially in recent years. For example, the association says Gleevec, a cancer drug, launched in 2001 for $26,400 for a year's supply and now costs $120,000 a year. The cost of an EpiPen, used to treat allergic reactions, jumped from $90 in 2011 to $282 in 2016.

"We think transparency around prescription drug costs is essential to understand ultimately what's driving health care costs," said Eric Linzer, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans. "It's about getting at an understanding of why are pharmaceutical companies charging exorbitant prices at a time when cost control needs to be a shared responsibility."

Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, executive director of the health care access advocacy group Health Care for All, said a recent survey found that one in seven Massachusetts adults went without a prescription in 2014 because of cost. "We know that there are ... people in the commonwealth living with diseases and health conditions that go untreated or uncured because the drugs required are too expensive," she said.

Whitcomb Slemmer cited a new study that found the Boston area has some of the most expensive drug prices in the world. "We have very little to no insight into how drugs are priced and whether consumers are truly getting the value they deserve," she said.

Lynn Quincy, associate director of health policy for the national consumer advocacy group Consumers Union, said pricing factors like the size of rebates and discounts drug companies give insurers are "shrouded in secrecy." She said just as the state reviews health insurance rate increases, it should review drug prices.

The drug companies say drugs are not the primary drivers of health care costs. In 2014, for example, only 3.2 percent of MassHealth spending was on drugs. Overall, 14 percent of health care costs are for drugs, according to the national pharmaceutical trade organization PhRMA. Reports of high list prices for drugs do not take into account discounts and rebates that drug companies negotiate with insurers and provide to public health insurance programs.

"(The bill is) only focused on one part of the health care system, and one part of the system that isn't the sole driver of cost increases," said Priscilla VanderVeer, a spokeswoman for PhRMA.

VanderVeer said the price information the bill asks for does not take into account the long-term medical costs that decrease when a patient remains healthy. It does not consider costs of research and development for all the drugs a company failed to develop.

"Approximately 88 percent of all drugs that enter clinical testing fail," VanderVeer said. "That one drug that does (enter the market) has to recoup all of those costs of failures as well as the next generation of treatment and cures."

She said the bill does not lower consumers' out-of-pocket costs -- which depend on how much of a drug's cost an insurer covers.

Jonathan Fleming, CEO of the Cambridge biotechnology company Q-State Biosciences, said the bill would make investors less likely to put money into researching and developing new drugs and would make drug companies more likely to leave Massachusetts.

He said it would add cost and complexity to product development. "If government destroys incentives to invest in high-risk research, it will cause great harm to future generations of patients and young people seeking jobs for the illusory benefit of price controls," Fleming said.

Robert Coughlin, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, said the bill "will put a tremendous burden on the small companies that fuel our economy here in Massachusetts and ultimately make it more difficult to develop new drugs for patients who are in need and waiting for new therapies."

A recent report by the Pioneer Institute, a free-market think tank, argued that competition rather than price controls will do more to lower drug prices.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, and Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, both said the issue of drug pricing needs to be addressed, but they remained noncommittal on the bill's specifics.

"Obviously, biotech is an important part of our economy here in Massachusetts, and we have to be mindful of that," DeLeo said. "On the other hand ... with continuing rising health care costs and in particular drug costs, I think probably there are some things we're going to have to look at to see if we can do something to bring these under control."

Rosenberg said he sees "a number of possible solutions."

"Drug costs are way out of line here in this country ... and it's too big a cost center not to pay attention to," Rosenberg said. "I say we don't take anything off the table until we have a plan that we believe is workable that will bring down the costs of pharmaceuticals for Massachusetts consumers."

Gov. Charlie Baker said he is considering working with Massachusetts' congressional delegation to pressure the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to speed up the approval process for generic drugs. Baker, a former health insurance executive, said it takes 48 months for the FDA to approve a new generic drug, and there are 4,000 drugs in the pipeline awaiting approval.

"The calcification of the approval process at the FDA is creating real heartburn not just for consumers but for folks who would like to put drugs into the market to serve that generic market and create that kind of competition on prices that is fundamental to our ability to control prices," Baker said.
solar-net-metering-bill-signing.jpg

04.11.2016 | BOSTON -- Gov. Charlie Baker signs into law a solar net metering bill at the Massachusetts Statehouse.

(Tiffany Chan/WWLP)

BOSTON -- A year after a Massachusetts utility first hit a cap on the reimbursements paid to solar energy producers, Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday signed a law to lift the cap.

"This legislation builds upon the continued success of the Commonwealth's solar industry and ensures a viable, sustainable and affordable solar market at a lower cost to ratepayers," Baker said in a statement.

Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton said the new law will allow for more solar development while reducing costs to ratepayers.

The new law was the result of a compromise bill crafted during five months of negotiations between the House and the Senate. The final result is still only a short-term fix. It has drawn some concerns both from sides - the solar energy companies and the utility companies, who have been battling over this issue.

But lawmakers said the compromise bill was the only way to allow solar projects to continue being built in Massachusetts for at least another year while lawmakers and the administration continue to consider what incentives are necessary in the long term to keep the solar industry growing while not over-charging other electricity ratepayers.

"I believe this compromise, while not perfect, while not ideal, is an important step to keep solar working in Massachusetts," State Sen. Ben Downing, D-Pittsfield, chairman of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, said during Senate debate on the bill last week.

Net metering is the practice by which someone can generate solar energy and receive a financial credit for energy they generated but did not use. Each utility has a cap on the amount of projects that can receive reimbursements in their area. The cap applies to large-scale projects, not small residential ones.

The new law will lift the cap by 3 percent for public and private projects, which are projects owned by both governments and businesses. Lawmakers and solar advocates say this is likely to let new projects go forward until 2017, when the cap is expected to be hit again.

At the same time, the new law will lower the reimbursement rate by 40 percent for most new projects from the retail rate, which has recently ranged from 17 cents to 21 cents per kilowatt hour, to 11 or 12 cents per kilowatt hour. This addresses concerns by the utility companies that the subsidies given to solar projects are too expensive and other ratepayers are paying the price.

Projects owned by governments and municipalities and small residential projects would still get the full retail rate. Existing projects that are already connected to the grid would be grandfathered in under the old rate for 25 years.

The bill would allow the Department of Energy to charge customers a minimum monthly bill. It directs the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources to craft a new version of an incentive program referred to as SREC in a way that provides a financial incentive for low-income solar projects.

State Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Harverhill, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means and one of the bill's negotiators, said the bill "represents a balanced approach that will not only allow solar energy to remain a key piece of the state's energy portfolio, but it will also reduce costs borne by ratepayers by 40 percent."

Now that the net metering issue has been solved, energy advocates will be turning their attention to the Department of Energy Resources, which is crafting the next SREC program.

The financial incentive program SREC, an acronym for Solar Renewable Energy Certificates, provides credits that solar system owners sell to electricity suppliers to fulfill the suppliers' requirement under state law to generate a certain percentage of electricity from renewable energy sources. In February, SREC reached its cap for large solar projects. So no new projects have been able to get the financial incentive until the administration creates a new version of the program. This would be the third iteration of the incentive program. It is expected to reduce the incentives as the solar industry has matured and the technology has become more cost-effective.

The Department of Energy Resources on Friday released emergency regulations to allow projects to move forward in the interim before the guidelines for the new incentive program are written.

Lawmakers will now focus on crafting an omnibus energy bill. That bill is likely to focus on increasing the use of hydropower, which has been one of Baker's priorities, and of offshore wind.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said he feels confident that lawmakers will release an omnibus bill, likely in time for it to be debated in May and passed before the session ends in July. "I'm confident that we'll get it done and quite frankly, we have to get it done," DeLeo said.
Stephen Kulik

Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, opposes ratepayer financing of new natural gas pipeline infrastructure in Massachusetts.

(Mary Serreze photo)

A bipartisan group of more than 90 lawmakers from across the state have signed a letter to House Speaker Robert DeLeo asking him to omit any public support for natural gas pipeline expansion from an upcoming omnibus energy bill.

"We ask you to ensure energy legislation does not commit ratepayers to bearing the cost and risk associated with financing new gas infrastructure," the letter reads. "Substantial new pipeline infrastructure is inconsistent with our shared goals."

The letter is being circulated by House Ways and Means Vice Chair Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, and House Minority Leader Bradley Jones, R-North Reading, opponents of a $5 billion to 8 billion pipeline proposed by Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. that would impact not only Western Massachusetts but also the Merrimack Valley and North Shore. The two plan to present the letter to DeLeo on Wednesday.

The state's Department of Public Utilities ruled in October that electric utilities may forge long-term contracts for capacity on yet-to-be-built pipelines, sell that capacity to power generators on the spot market, and pass the costs on to their retail customers. The DPU ruling was in response to a request last May from the Department of Energy Resources for an investigation into an "innovative mechanism" whereby electrical utilities could provide stable financing for pipeline developers.

Kulik and Jones called such an arrangement "unprecedented" and said it would put ratepayers at risk. The lawmakers said Massachusetts is already heavily reliant upon natural gas for its power generation, and that a "diversified energy portfolio guards ratepayers against price spikes or fluctuation."

The letter further states that expanding pipeline infrastructure across Massachusetts would diminish property values, damage public conservation lands and prevent the state from meeting mandated greenhouse gas reduction goals.

"Doing so will create liabilities for the many legislators whose districts are impacted by one or more proposed fossil fuel projects, increase our state's over-reliance on gas and saddle ratepayers with significant expenses for years to come."

Speaking to reporters at the Statehouse on Monday, Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said the state should stick with its current construct. "We build infrastructure all the time for energy. I don't see why we should make an exception for how we handle pipelines as opposed to any other infrastructure required to support our energy needs."

"I would agree with the Senate president's articulation of that," said Gov. Charlie Baker. "Remember, every time you turn on your light switch or heat your home, you're paying for the combined cost of the product that is being sourced to provide that electricity to your house plus the cost of transmission and distribution. For me, that's how it should be. We should try to make the market as competitive as it possibly can be."

House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he shares Kulik's concerns. "He and a number of other state representatives want to come in to talk to me further about it and so we'll be talking. But I do share his concerns."

The controversial DPU ruling has been appealed by the Conservation Law Foundation and by Engie, formerly known as GDF Suez, a firm that provides liquefied natural gas to the power sector. The state's Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments May 5.

National Grid, in its filings with state regulators, claims the arrangement would save New England ratepayers $1.2 billion annually over 20 years. They argue that lower fuel costs brought by additional natural gas supply would outstrip any additional charges.

Kulik and Bradley's letter counters that assertion, saying a 2015 analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy determined that exposing customers to a "volatile global gas market" could raise domestic prices more than seven percent. The U.S. Department of Energy in February approved pipeline exports of domestic natural gas to Canada for re-export through liquefied natural gas shipping ports.

Pipeline expansion has met with vigorous opposition across the state, particularly in western Massachusetts.

The House Energy Committee is now crafting an omnibus energy bill to address the imminent loss of more than 800 megawatts of generating capacity from retiring power plants. The bill is expected to establish regulatory support for large-scale offshore wind energy and hydropower from Quebec.

The Republican reporter Shira Schoenberg contributed reporting.
stan rosenberg at umass.jpg

Senate President Stanley Rosenberg discussed the role of offshore wind in Massachusetts' energy future at a April 2016 symposium at UMass.

(Photo Rodrigo Mercado https://500px.com/rodmerfdez)

AMHERST -- An upcoming energy bill is likely to include regulatory support for offshore wind, state Senate President Stan Rosenberg said Friday at a University of Massachusetts forum on wind power and its potential place in the Bay State power mix.

Rosenberg said he expects lawmakers to send an omnibus energy bill to Governor Charlie Baker's desk by July 31 "which would create the vision for how we're going to encourage and support the creation of wind energy, particularly offshore wind" to pair with the large-scale Canadian hydropower imports promoted by Baker.

The forum featured remarks from offshore wind experts as well as from Rosenberg and university chancellor Kumble Subbasamy. The panelists were Thomas Brostrom of the European wind giant Danish Oil and Natural Gas (DONG Energy), Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski, Erich Stephens of the New Jersey-based OffshoreMW, and Matthew Morrissey, director of a relatively new trade association called OffShore Wind Massachusetts.

Video courtesy University of Massachusetts

Deepwater Wind and OffshoreMW are two of three firms which in recent years successfully bid for lease rights in a federally-designated wind farm area 12-15 miles off the Massachusetts coast. The Massachusetts Wind Energy Area has been dubbed the "Saudi Arabia of wind energy" for its strong potential.

The area is far out to sea, but still on the Continental Shelf. Turbines there will largely not be visible from the shore, unlike those proposed 15 years ago by Cape Wind, a project which now appears to be on life support after years of regulatory struggle and litigation.

While the words "Cape Wind" were never uttered on Friday, the industry representatives said offshore wind has come a long way in the past decade or so.

"Offshore wind ... had largely been defined by one project, one site, and one company for the better part of 15 years in Massachusetts," said Morrissey. "And the stories that came out of those experiences were not necessarily positive. So it became incumbent upon us to come together as a small group to tell the new story of offshore wind."

Wind energy production and development costs have come down significantly due to advances in technology and economies of scale, said Morrissey. The offshore wind industry has created 75,000 jobs in Europe and where it powers of millions of homes with reliable green energy, he said.

Rosenberg noted that New England is slated to lose more than 8,000 megawatts of generating capacity as oil and gas plants "age out" and shut down. In addition, he said, the Pilgrim nuclear station in Plymouth will probably close, taking with it 700 megawatts of carbon-free electricity.

Rosenberg went to bat for grid reliability and cost concerns, saying Massachusetts has "about the most expensive electricity in America" and that "we have a responsibility as a state government to ensure there is a reliable steady supply of energy." At the same time, he said the state will "continue to reduce our climate change impact" and that "eventually, our goal is to have, as much as possible, a totally green energy future."

"So we have to replace all of this power... and we also have to deal with our climate change situation," Rosenberg said. The state's Global Warming Solutions Act mandates a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2020.

Rosenberg said months of divisive debate on Beacon Hill over solar net metering delivered some lessons. Last week the Legislature approved a compromise solar bill which lifted a statewide cap on net metering, but dialed back reimbursement rates for solar electricity sold to the grid. The debate set electrical utilities against the solar industry and the environmental lobby.

The solar struggle was marked by "conflict over the rate at which we are to reduce the subsidies which help stimulate the industry, to allow the market to take over, and eventually go down to zero subsidies, because it would be totally market-driven," said Rosenberg. "Some people wanted us to not touch any of the subsidies... and some people wanted us to get rid of them almost completely."

He said the hard-won solar resolution "will carry us through another nine months, and we're going to be back at it again.... We can't make that same mistake again as we stimulate the wind energy industry here in Massachusetts."

Rosenberg said his understanding is that the offshore wind industry is "just looking for support in a regulatory fashion" and not seeking rate subsidies. He noted that a solution presented in Baker's proposed hydropower bill would have utilities sign long-term contracts with generators, with the most significant source probably being hydro from Quebec.

Rosenberg said he expects to visit Denmark and Amsterdam in June to take a first-hand look at the offshore wind industry there, which features thousands of North Sea turbines, many developed by DONG Energy. He said another group of senators and representatives went to Denmark several months ago with the same goal.

The US Department of Energy projects that large scale offshore wind development could generate 54,000 jobs and $200 billion in economic activity by 2030. The existing Marine Commerce Terminal in New Bedford is designed for servicing offshore wind farms, and power could be tied into the grid at the soon-to-be-closed Brayton Point power plant, according to Commonwealth Magazine, which reported in March that Baker would be amenable to offshore wind legislation in the omnibus bill.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo last month told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that the state has "the opportunity to launch a new industry that is successful in other parts of the world, right here at home," reports the Boston Globe.

Morrissey praised the University's Wind Energy Center, which has been a national leader in research and development since the 1970s. "The industry recognizes the excellence that exists right here at UMass Amherst, nationally and internationally in the wind energy area," he said. The center is directed by professor James F. Manwell, who moderated Friday's discussion.
by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, April 11, 2016

Experienced lobbyist and consultant Paul Manafort has hit the headlines in recent days as Donald Trumps new convention manager, putting Corey Lewandowskis status within the Trump campaign into question.

The embattled Lewandowski may be sidelined by Manafort, amid a shake-up in the Trump team. As reports surface about the weakness of Trumps delegate securing strategy, it became clear that a change was in order.

Over the weekend in Colorado, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz secured support from 21 of 37 delegates in the state. As one of the six states or territories that decided against holding a typical caucus or primary to pick a presidential nominee, Colorado holds a long, involved process of delegate selection.

To Cruzs 21 delegates, in that state, Trump has zero, as does Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Trumps on-the-ground organizing is so sloppy that one of the aspiring pro-Trump delegates, Charles Prignano, had his name misspelled on informational fliers. The Washington Post reported Prignano saying: It is the most disorganized campaign Ive ever seen.

Paul Manafort is the man Trump hopes can energize and command a sophisticated delegate strategy moving forward.

The bar has been set high. Manafort told NBCs Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that he is confident [the Trump campaign has] several ways through June 7th to go over 1,237. Todd explained that in order to get to that magic number, Trump will have to win 61% of remaining delegates, a difficult task in such a contentious climate.

Manafort seems a good fit for Trump, and like Lewandowski, can be expected to test the legal/ethical line.

After attacking Ted Cruz, accusing his campaign of using Gestapo tactics, Manafort refrained from answering a question about the ethical limits in obtaining delegates: Well, theres the law, and then theres ethics. And then theres getting votes. Im not going to get into what tactics are used.

As the cofounder of two lobbying firms, Manafort aroused suspicions of wrongdoing. One of his firms was investigated by a congressional panel in 1989 for its involvement in a project funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Further, he fits the mold of deal maker, whatever the deal and whomever the client. After stints working for Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and both George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, he vanished from public view, only to end up as an adviser to former pro-Russian Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych.

Paul Manafort is somewhat of an enigma, Politico reported in 2014 that Once-intimate colleagues [said] they [had] not seen Manafort in years and [heard] from him only in occasional email missives.

Hes now back in the spotlight, hoping to propel his latest client: Donald Trump.
The Washington Times, Monday, April 11, 2016 11:53 AM

Spouse of former President George W. Bush, Laura Bush seems to have hinted at a preference for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Without endorsing any candidate by name, many who heard her speak saw tacit support for Clintons agenda: I want our next president  to be somebody who is interested in women in Afghanistan and who will continue U.S. policies. Secretary Clinton visited Afghanistan multiple times during her time in President Obamas cabinet, and is the only woman left in the race for the White House.

Read the whole story at The Washington Times 
by Sara Guaglione , April 11, 2016

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday approved Gannetts move to acquire Journal Media Group, the parent company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and 14 other newspapers.

All of Journal Media Groups affiliated digital assets will also go to Gannett. Robert Dickey, president and CEO of Gannett, called the announcement "an important milestone."

In February, Gannett said the Journal Media Group purchase would add approximately $450 million in annual revenue.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel remains Wisconsins largest news outlet, and with this acquisition becomes one of Gannetts larger news organizations, stated Elizabeth Brenner, president and publisher of the Journal Sentinel. We will always be committed to the health and strength of southeastern Wisconsin. We look forward to using the extensive resources of our new owners to serve our readers, advertisers and community partners throughout Milwaukee.

According to Talking New Media, this may mean the Journal Sentinels site will adopt the same design used by all of Gannetts publications.

Journal Media Group received multiple requests for additional information and documentary material from the DOJs antitrust division before they could close the deal with Gannett. The DOJ finally finished their investigation on Friday, after the transaction was delayed for nearly two weeks.

Last month, Tribune Publishing ran into a similar issue, but had an entirely different outcome - the DOJ stepped in and blocked their bid to acquire the bankrupt Freedom Communications.

However, Gannetts new properties are spread throughout the Midwest and the South, while Tribunes bid would have added the Orange County Registerto their numerous holdings in Southern California.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 11, 2016

Siding against Google, a federal appellate court paved the way for Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood to resume investigating whether the company enables online copyright infringement.

A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted an order that prohibited Hood from trying to subpoena information related to online copyright infringement by companies that appear in Google's search results. The judges wrote that Google's request for an injunction against Hood was premature, given that the company went to court before Hood took steps to force Google to comply with the subpoena.

"This injunction covers a fuzzily defined range of enforcement actions that do not appear imminent," a three-judge panel wrote in a unanimous decision issued late last week. "We cannot on the present record predict what conduct Hood might one day try to prosecute under Mississippi law."

The appellate court directed U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate to dismiss Google's high-profile lawsuit. At the same time, they said they weren't expressing an opinion on whether Hood's 79-page subpoena, which sought "millions" of documents, was reasonable.

A Google spokesperson says the company is reviewing the implications of the decision.

Google sued Hood in December of 2014, shortly after emails disclosed in the Sony hack revealed Project Goliath -- a secret Hollywood-backed initiative to convince state attorneys general to target Google for allegedly enabling piracy.

Google sought a court order prohibiting Hood from bringing charges against the company, and from enforcing a subpoena demanding information related to outside companies -- including operators of sites that Google indexes in its search engine -- that allegedly play a role in copyright infringement.

Last March, Wingate said Google showed a substantial likelihood that its free speech rights were violated by Hood. Wingate wrote that Google's decisions about what to publish online were constitutionally protected, and that interfering with that judgment by threatening legal action would likely produce a chilling effect on Googles protected speech, thereby violating Googles First Amendment rights.

Wingate also wrote that Hood lacks authority to target Google for linking to sites that allegedly infringe copyright, because state attorneys general don't have jurisdiction over copyright infringement.
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, April 11, 2016

2015 was a pretty good year for Interpublic Group, the holding company for McCann, FCB, Initiative and numerous other advertising agencies and marketing firms. It posted a 6.1% organic revenue gain (total revenues were $7.61 billion) and a double-digit gain in operating income. And CEO Michael Roth received a handsome pay hike for stewarding the positive results.

Roth received a 12% hike in total compensation to nearly $14.5 million, according to the companys 2016 proxy statement filed with the SEC, and which was issued in advance of the companys upcoming annual meeting. This years meeting is being held on May 19 in New York.

Nearly half of Roths compensation for 2015 was issued in stock awards ($7.1 million). He also earned about $5.5 million from the companys incentive compensation plan for top executives. He also received a $100,000 base salary increase to $1.5 million.

The other top-5 earning executives at the company were: CFO Frank Mergenthaler ($5.6 million); EVP chief strategy and talent officer Phillippe Krakowsky, who added the title of chairman IPG Mediabrands earlier this year ($4.8 million); General Counsel Andrew Bonzani ($2.4 million), and Controller and Chief Accounting Officer Christopher Carroll ($1.6 million).

The entire board of directors is up for re-election and IPG recommended to shareholders in its proxy statement that all 10 be re-elected.

Two years ago the company was at odds with activist investor Elliott Management, which had taken a 6.9% stake in the company and was pressing for greater shareholder value and reportedly threatened to put up its own slate of directors at last years meeting.

The two sides came to an agreement before that happened, and Elliott appears to be satisfied with the companys recent performance. In February the firm reduced its holding in IPG to 4.8%, making an estimated $15.7 million profit on the sale.

Two shareholder proposals will be voted on at the annual meeting including a proposal to separate the chairman and CEO roles, now both held by Roth. In the proxy statement the company urged shareholders to vote no on the proposal, noting that shareholders have voted overwhelmingly against the idea at two other relatively recent annual meetings. The other proposal is for a mechanism for shareholders to propose the election of a limited number of alternative board members under certain circumstances. Among other things, IPG said the mechanism would be disruptive and urged shareholders to vote it down.
Promotion of this approach has included perinatal audits, obstetric skills training and debriefings aimed at improving procedures and preventing future incidents.

In 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) produced a report, To Err Is Human, which initiated a move away from a blame culture toward one that would encourage disclosure and learning after adverse events.

Medical mistakes can cause trauma for patients and relatives, but when things go wrong, whether due to errors or not, health professionals can be profoundly affected.

At the same time, health care workers say that complications in the delivery room can make them reflect more on the meaning of life and help them to become better professionals.

Managing a traumatic childbirth can leave midwives and obstetricians struggling with stress and feelings of guilt and blame, according to research published in the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica.

Katja Schrder, of the University of Southern Denmark, and colleagues wanted to learn more about the impact of traumatic childbirth on clinicians mental health and their professional and personal identities.

They invited Danish obstetricians and midwives to complete a questionnaire and participate in interviews.

Of 1,237 respondents, 85% had been involved in a traumatic childbirth, in which severe and possibly fatal injuries resulting from labor and delivery were experienced by the mother or the infant.

While employees feared, and sometimes experienced, blame by patients, peers or official authorities, greater still were their personal struggles with guilt and existential issues.

The traumatic delivery induced feelings of guilt in 49% of respondents, 50% said that it made them think more about the meaning of life, while 65% felt that they had become a better professional as a result.

To at least some extent, 87% of respondents felt troubled for a long time by what happened to the patient, and 36% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, I will always feel some sort of guilt when thinking about the event.

The results were consistent, regardless of how much time had passed since the event.

The researchers believe this is the largest study to investigate this issue, and the first to consider existential considerations and personal, spiritual or emotional development.

Schrder says:

Self-blame and guilt appear to dominate when midwives and obstetricians struggle to cope with the aftermath of a traumatic childbirth []. Although the current patient safety programs have promoted a more just and learning culture with less blaming and shaming after adverse events, the personal feeling of guilt remains a burden for the individual healthcare professional.

She suggests that the existential, emotional and spiritual aspects may play a profound role in the aftermath of these events.

Limitations include the 59% response rate, which could have given rise to selection bias, and the fact that 60% of the events occurred over 3 years previously, which could affect the memory and the responses.

The authors believe these findings might help in the provision of support to health care professionals after being present at a traumatic childbirth.

This, they say, would also benefit patients, because the physical and emotional state of clinicians has a knock-on effect on the quality and the safety of patient care.

Medical News Today reported last year on the treatment of injuries resulting from childbirth.
Researchers have taken a significant step toward the mass production of platelets for transfusion. They have found a way to create platelet-producing cells from stem cells faster and more efficiently than before.

Share on Pinterest The study is a major step forward toward the goal to make transfusion blood cells in the laboratory instead of relying solely on donation.

Platelets are small, colorless cell fragments whose main function is to interact with clotting proteins to stop or prevent bleeding by forming clots. They are produced in bone marrow by precursor cells called megakaryocytes.

The researchers, including a team from the British National Health Service (NHS) and the University of Cambridge in the UK, describe their new method of creating megakaryocytes from stem cells in a paper published in Nature Communications.

Senior author Cedric Ghevaert, senior lecturer in transfusion medicine and consultant hematologist at NHS Blood and Transplant at Cambridge, says:

Making megakaryocytes and platelets from stem cells for transfusion has been a long-standing challenge because of the sheer numbers we need to produce to make a single unit for transfusion.

He adds that their study represents a major step forward towards our goal to one day make blood cells in the laboratory to transfuse to patients.

When patients receive blood, they are given either whole blood or specific components, depending on the condition they are being treated for.

Up to four components can be derived from donated blood: red cells, white cells, plasma and platelets. Each component serves a different medical need, allowing several patients to benefit from a single unit of donation.

Platelet transfusions are given to patients with life-threatening bleeding due to injury or surgery. They may also be given to patients having treatments for cancer or leukemia, or with blood disorders where they cannot make enough platelets of their own.
How long a person in the US can expect to live may depend on where he or she lives, as well as income, says research published online by JAMA. Findings show that from 2001-2014, wealthier people, on the whole, could expect to live longer, but the odds varied according to location; and the gaps are getting wider. Share on Pinterest Where you live can impact how long you live. Previous research has revealed a link between higher incomes and longevity, but the more complex picture is far from complete. It remains unclear, for example, how the gaps between socioeconomic groups are changing over time, and what effect living in a specific place has on life expectancy. The roles played by inequality, socioeconomic stress and differences in access to medicine are also subject to debate. An additional question is whether a threshold exists above which additional income no longer makes a difference, or if there is an income level below which the impact on health does not continue to worsen. Researchers, led by Raj Chetty, PhD, of Stanford University in California, have examined data enabling them to estimate life expectancy at 40 years of age by household income percentile, gender and geographic location. Location was based on commuting zones, of which there are 741 in the US, each composed of several counties.

Widening gap revealed by recent figures The team used new figures on income and mortality for the American population to evaluate factors associated with differences in life expectancy, after adjusting for race and ethnicity. Income data for people aged 40-76 years came from 1.4 billion de-identified tax records for the period 1999-2014, and mortality data was from Social Security Administration death records. Subjects were aged 53 years on average, and the median household income annually was $61,175, among those who were working. There were 4,114,380 deaths among men, equivalent to a mortality rate of 596 per 100,000. Among women, there were 2,694,808 deaths, a mortality rate of 375 per 100,000. Findings showed that people with a higher income were more likely to live longer. The difference in life expectancy between the richest 1% and poorest 1% was 14.6 years for men and 10.1 years for women. Inequalities in life expectancy widened over time. From 2001-2014, the discrepancy increased by 2.3 years for men and 2.9 years for women in the top 5% of earnings. In the lower 5%, it increased by only 0.3 years for men and 0.04 years for women. Life expectancy varied significantly between geographical areas. In the lowest 25% income group, there was a difference of some 4.5 years between areas with the highest and lowest life expectancy. Some areas gained more than 4 years over the study period, while others lost more than 2 years.
Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that has plagued Brazil and its surrounding countries for months, could be linked to an autoimmune disorder that affects the brain, according to the results of a small hospital-based study carried out in Recife in Brazil.

Share on Pinterest Researchers found that two patients with Zika also developed ADEM, with scans showing signs of damage to white matter in their brains.

The findings are due to be presented at the American Academy of Neurologys (AAN) 68th Annual Meeting later this week in Vancouver, Canada.

Zika virus has previously been linked to fetal brain abnormalities, microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome  an autoimmune disorder that attacks the nervous system, leading to long-term weakness and paralysis.

The new study, conducted by Dr. Maria Lucia Brito Ferreira and colleagues at Restoration Hospital in Recife, Brazil, suggests that another condition called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) could be added to this list.

Though our study is small, it may provide evidence that in this case the virus has different effects on the brain than those identified in current studies, says Dr. Ferreira.

Much more research will need to be done to explore whether there is a causal link between Zika and these brain problems.

ADEM typically occurs after an infection, with 50-75% of cases developing after a viral or bacterial infection, according to the Cleveland Clinic. In what could be an immune reaction to the infection, swelling occurs in the brain and spinal cord that damages the myelin, the protective coating that surrounds nerve fibers.

The damage to the myelin leads to symptoms that are very similar to those caused by multiple sclerosis (MS), including fatigue, weakness to the point of paralysis and signs of white matter tissue damage in the brain.

For their study, Dr. Ferriera and colleagues followed every patient that visited the hospital presenting symptoms associated with the family of viruses that includes Zika virus, along with dengue and chikungunya. The period of observation ran from December 2014-June 2015.

Each patient that was followed during the study came to the hospital with a fever that was followed by the development of a rash. Other symptoms shown by these patients included itching, red eyes and joint or muscle pain. All patients were found to have Zika virus.
Smoking is a costly habit for both health and finances. Now, a new study reveals that unemployed smokers are less likely to get a new job, compared with unemployed nonsmokers. When they do get a new job, however, they earn much less.

Share on Pinterest The new study suggests smoking job seekers are less likely to find re-employment, compared with nonsmokers.

The research  led by Judith J. Prochaska, PhD, of Stanford University in California  is published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 16 million Americans are living with a disease that is due to smoking.

Known to cause cancer, heart disease, stroke and other diseases, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.

If these are not enough reasons to quit smoking, the new study adds further incentive.

According to the study authors, employees who use tobacco are linked to greater health care costs, unproductive time and absenteeism. In fact, private employers in the US pay an estimated $5,816 in extra costs each year for each smoking employee, compared with nonsmoking employees, they say.

A 1987 Federal Appeals Court ruling decreed that smokers are not a protected class entitled to special legal protections, and hiring policies that require employees to not use nicotine are legal in over 20 states.

Tobacco use has been linked with unemployment in studies from both the US and Europe, but the mechanism behind this association has not been investigated prospectively.
Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital collaborate on groundbreaking study of this chronic disease affecting millions.

People with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) fare better and are less likely to relapse when treated with medication on a long-term basis, according to researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

BDD is an often-chronic mental illness in which people focus intensively on perceived physical flaws, which to others appear minor or even nonexistent. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that is tailored to BDD and certain types of antidepressant medication called serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) often alleviate symptoms. Until this study, no research existed to verify that medication was effective in preventing a relapse of symptoms after medication is suspended. In addition, previous studies regarding the efficacy of medications were short-term.

"This research yielded clinically important data about BDD, a common, often-chronic and understudied illness in need of more evidence-based treatment," said Katharine Phillips, M.D., director of the BDD program at Rhode Island Hospital. "We showed that the risk of relapse can be substantially reduced by continuing effective medication and also that the continuation of medication after the acute period can further improve symptoms."

Authored by Phillips and her colleague, Sabine Wilhelm, Ph.D., director of the OCD and related disorders program at Massachusetts General Hospital, the study found that 81 percent of adults with BDD who took the SRI escitalopram, also known as Lexapro, for a full 14 weeks experienced substantial improvement in BDD symptoms. The responders who continued to take the medication for another six months tended to further improve. Furthermore, those who responded to escitalopram and continued taking the medication were less likely to experience worsening of BDD symptoms in comparison to those who were switched from escitalopram to placebo (a "sugar pill"). The study was published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Approximately two percent of the American population suffers from BDD, and it affects men and women about equally. People with BDD obsess about perceived flaws in their appearance and perform repetitive and time-consuming behaviors, such as mirror checking and comparing with others, in response to their appearance concerns. A majority receive cosmetic treatment, such as surgery and dermatologic treatment, which is rarely effective for BDD concerns. SRI medications can help relieve the obsessive and compulsive symptoms of BDD as well as accompanying symptoms such as depression and anxiety.

This research study, conducted at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (and initially at Butler Hospital, Providence), found that six months of additional treatment following initial response to the medication did positively affect outcomes. Across the sites, 74 people completed phase one, which involved escitalopram treatment during the 14-week, acute period. During phase two, the relapse prevention efficacy phase, 58 participants were randomized to double-blind continuation treatment with escitalopram or were changed to placebo treatment.

"Among patients who responded to acute-phase escitalopram, continued pharmacological treatment significantly delayed time to relapse compared to patients in the placebo group," said Wilhelm. "Further, more than twice as many placebo-treated patients relapsed than escitalopram-treated patients. This is important data for providers treating patients with BDD. Research studies are also needed that investigate whether treatment with CBT for BDD will decrease the risk of relapse when an effective medication is stopped."

Phillips and Wilhelm have presented the results of this research at the New England OCD Research Symposium; the Anxiety and Depression Association of America Annual Conference; the International College of Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders Scientific Meeting; BDD Research Day at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neurosciences, Kings College London; the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology; the Annual Conference of the International OCD Foundation; and the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Phillips and Wilhelm are currently conducting a study that is comparing the effectiveness of two different kinds of therapy for people with BDD: CBT and supportive talk therapy. Participants are now being enrolled for the study. Those who are interested in learning more about the study can visit the Rhode Island Hospital BDD Program's website at RhodeIslandHospital.org/bdd or can call 401-444-1644.
Team develop a DNA-based test that determines the degree of fibrosis in the liver -- this could be a replacement for a liver biopsy.

Newcastle scientists and medics have developed a new type of genetic blood test that diagnoses scarring in the liver - even before someone may feel ill.

It is the first time an epigenetic signature in blood has been discovered which is diagnostic of the severity of fibrosis for people with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).

NAFLD, caused by being overweight or having diabetes, affects one in three people in the UK and may progress to cirrhosis and liver failure, requiring a transplant.

Scientific breakthrough

Publishing in the academic journal Gut, the Newcastle team describe the proof of principle research in which they measure specific epigenetic markers to stratify NAFLD patients into mild or severe liver scarring, known as fibrosis.

Dr Quentin Anstee, Clinical Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University, Consultant Hepatologist within the Newcastle Hospitals and joint senior author explained what it could mean for patients: "This scientific breakthrough has great promise because the majority of patients show no symptoms.

"Routine blood tests can't detect scarring of the liver and even more advanced non-invasive tests can really only detect scarring at a late stage when it is nearing cirrhosis. We currently have to rely on liver biopsy to measure fibrosis at its early stages - by examining a piece of the liver under the microscope.

"We know that the presence of even mild fibrosis of the liver predicts a worse long-term outcome for patients with NAFLD and so it's important to be able to detect liver scarring at an early stage."

Providing a scale of damage

In this first stage of research the team developed the blood analysis in 26 patients with NAFLD. The test detects chemical changes on tiny amounts of "cell-free" DNA that are released into the blood when liver cells are injured. Changes in DNA methylation at genes like PPAR that controls scar formation are then used to stratify patients by fibrosis severity.

Senior author Dr Jelena Mann of Newcastle University's Institute for Cellular Medicine added: "This is the first time that a DNA methylation 'signature' from the blood has been shown to match the severity of a liver disease.

"It opens up the possibility of an improved blood test for liver fibrosis in the future."

Dr Timothy Hardy is a hepatology registrar within Newcastle Hospitals and a Medical Research Council-funded clinical research training fellow at the University. He conducted the research as part of his PhD project and said: "We are now working on confirming these findings in a larger group of patients.

"If we are able to accurately tell the extent of a person's liver damage with a blood test, and even track the scarring as it gets better or worse, it could provide reassurance for patients, save NHS resources and avoid patients having to undergo a liver biopsy."

This research is part of Newcastle University's response to the challenges and opportunities presented by an ageing population. Newcastle University is a world leader in the field at its Campus for Ageing and Vitality, the location for a new 40m National Centre for Ageing Science and Innovation (NASI). This research was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre.

The research was made possible through Newcastle Academic Health Partners, a collaboration involving Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University. This partnership harnesses world-class expertise to ensure patients benefit sooner from new treatments, diagnostics and prevention strategies.

4 stages of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease1

NAFLD is very common in patients who are overweight, obese or have type 2 diabetes. It develops in four stages. Most people will only ever develop the first stage, usually without realising it.

In a small number of cases it can progress and eventually lead to liver damage, cirrhosis and liver cancer if not detected and managed.

The main stages of NAFLD are:

Steatosis ("fatty liver") - a build-up of fat in the liver cells that is often picked up as an incidental finding during tests carried out for another reason Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) - a more serious form of NAFLD, where the liver has become inflamed; this is estimated to affect up to 5% of the UK population Fibrosis - where persistent inflammation causes scar tissue to form in the liver, but the liver is still able to function normally Cirrhosis - the most severe stage, occurring after years of inflammation, where the liver shrinks and becomes scarred and lumpy; this damage is permanent and can lead to liver failure (where the liver stops working properly) and liver cancer

It can take years for fibrosis or cirrhosis to develop and the presence of this scarring predicts those people with the worse prognosis. It's important to make lifestyle changes to prevent the disease from getting worse.
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But several have now reemerged, wreaking havoc among Europe's bulging migrant settlements, from where they could regain a foothold in the broader population."Maybe there is a problem in the future," warned Turkish infectious disease specialist Hakan Leblebicioglu."Regarding tuberculosis, polio and measles, these should be considered an emerging threat especially for the refugees, the region, and maybe Europe," he told delegates.More and more refugees will arrive from countries where such illnesses remain widespread.This while a growing anti-vaccine movement in Europe has left "gaps in vaccination coverage", according to Leblebicioglu, and resistance to antibiotics is a growing concern.Europe has struggled to deal with the influx of refugees from countries in Africa and the Middle East ravaged by war and poverty.According to refugee agencies, more than a million migrants arrived in the EU last year, and almost 180,000 so far this year -- many risking life and limb to cross the ocean in shoddy boats for a long shot at a better life.Most spend extended periods in camps ill-equipped to deal with the unprecedented influx.A major problem has been the lack of a coordinated European policy to screen new arrivals for contagious diseases, treat them, and vaccinate widely, the conference heard."It's very different in different countries. There's no pan-European standard," infectious diseases lecturer Nicholas Beeching of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine told AFP.The screening happens randomly, "may not be based on much evidence, and may be a partly political response," he said.Experts presented evidence of disease outbreaks in refugee camps: measles in France and Turkey, scabies in the Netherlands, salmonella in Germany, and MRSA -- a drug-resistant skin infection -- in Switzerland.The causes were multifold, explained Leblebicioglu."They live in unsanitary conditions, crowded populations, there is a problem with garbage accumulation in some countries."Cultural and language barriers can divide refugees and health care providers.Many "don't know how to access health care systems even if they have entitlement," said Beeching.Furthermore, Europe's health systems were overburdened, the experts pointed out, calling for more money and a coordinated approach to disease screening and treatment.It would be expensive, but well worth it, they argued."If you want to do it starting from zero, because that is where we are now, then you need to consider that the cost will be very considerable," said Italian public health expert Alberto Matteelli.Only about a third of European governments have a policy on refugee TB screening, he remarked, and fewer than a handful did so consistently.HIV is another concern.Danish researchers reported that migrants not only had higher rates of infection with the virus that causes AIDS, but were also more likely to be diagnosed later.This had consequences for public health, explained Laura Deen of the Copenhagen University Hospital's immigrant medicine section, "in terms of risk of transmission from individuals unware of their HIV infection."Speakers stressed the real risk of refugees setting off disease outbreaks among host populations was negligible."The fact itself that they are marginalized, and they do not integrate into the community in Europe is the cause of their disease, and protects the European community from being infected," said Matteelli."The risk is for themselves. They are a vulnerable population that needs to be protected."The best course of action was to ensure speedy diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases among refugees and provide access to the health systems of their host countries."If we do that we will get better health for refugees, for healthcare workers and also for hosting communities," said Matteelli.Refugee health was the highlighted topic at a four-day conference of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.Source: AFP
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

Recently the Islamic State (hereafter ISIS) published an article in its official newsletter Al-Naba[1] assailing the concept that the Muslims must prioritize war against the U.S.. The article, titled "Jihad Against America -Above All a Matter of Religious Law," explains to the organization's militants and supporters and to the broader Muslim public, that the war on the U.S. is subordinate to the organization's religious and theological outlook that the U.S. is one enemy out of a long series of enemies of Islam, tyrants who must be destroyed. The article is part of ISIS' polemic with competing Islamist streams, particularly Al-Qaeda, that essentially view the U.S. as Islam's primary enemy and therefore jihad's current main target.[2]

In contrast, ISIS presents its approach, which assumes that the war against the internal and nearby enemies requires priority, as one that stems from a sound theological standpoint. The article details ISIS' position that views the U.S. as an infidel country and the "tyrants'" leader by disseminating and imposing unbelief worldwide. The anti-U.S. jihad is intended to install Islam on U.S. territory itself and throughout the entire world; this contrasts with the position taken by other Muslim organizations whose jihad against the U.S. has political or strategic origins.

The article criticizes Islamic movements who have granted the war against the U.S. supreme importance, and thereby ISIS claims they have established "a new religion". Those parties are guilty of using tribal zealotry to motivate their war on the U.S. while neglecting the requirement of a legitimate Islamic foundation. The article emphasizes that just as the U.S. should not be considered a greater enemy than others so the U.S. cannot be considered an auxiliary ally against other enemies. Nevertheless, the article takes pride that ISIS inflicted on the U.S. in Iraq the "greatest defeat" in American history.

Selected passages from the article follow:

The article leads with a theological explanation: "the Tawhid [the Islamic concept of monotheism] stands on two pillars - the worship of Allah alone and rejection of the Taghout..."[3] The article emphasizes that the actualization of this principle has both a positive and negative aspect. The positive aspect is the obligation to believe in Allah and worship him. The negative aspect is the obligation to actively renounce unbelief, idolatry and tyranny. "[As for] anything subsumed under the definition of Taghout, the Muslim must keep away [from it], reject [it] be inimical to it and declare any of its worshippers an apostate, renounce them, be their foe and fight them until they repent from their idolatry and purify [their] worship of Allah."

Hinting at those movements which elevate the religious obligation of war on the U.S. more than the war against other enemies, the article notes: "It is wrong to reject only one category of tyrants and not others; or to renounce only one type of polytheists. The [proper] order of priority in fighting them necessitates the Muslim to begin by fighting the ones who are adjacent to him, followed by the next [nearest], and continuing with those who are next, until the fighting has embraced every polytheist in the world. Allah said: 'Oh you who have believed, fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers' [Quran, 9:123] this was the path of Allah's Messenger in his war against the idolaters in the Arabian peninsula and this is the path of His companions who succeeded him...

"However, what we see in our era, in which the nations of unbelief rule over the entire world, except for some countries under the caliphate [ISIS] rule, is the appearance of a new religion that prefers fighting against some of the infidels over the [principle of] Tawhid. This religion defines several groups of apostates as Muslims in order to justify not fighting them and on the contrary to [justify] forging an alliance with them against the [true] Muslims. They argue that by doing so the war against the [true Muslims] will not cause a distraction from the war against America, the head of unbelief, to the extent that in the minds of many of these people the Islamic religion is confined to war on America. They appraise how near or distant [a person or group] is to Islam by the degree of enmity to America instead of by the degree of compatibility with Islamic law. [For such people] loyalty [is defined] on the basis of enmity to America and not on the basis of actualizing the Tawhid, to the point that for these people [the essence] of religion has become [only] rejecting America without the other tyrants and without actualizing the Tawhid.

"The [rules] that apply to other actions by believers apply to enmity to America and to the war against it. Therefore [these matters] must necessarily derive from shari'a... Many of those who are enemies of America today claim that the war against it represents jihad for the sake of Allah without being familiar with the shari'a rulings on jihad against America. Their war against it has become no more than a war of jahilliya [pre-Islamic ignorance][4], [fought] on the basis of tribal zealotry or for benefit exclusively in this world.

"America today is a Taghout that is worshiped instead of Allah by the [very] fact that it is an infidel government that rules its people with laws that are not Allah's laws and practices the polytheist religion of democracy, fights Allah's rule by permitting all prohibited things, beginning with unbelief in Allah in the name of [religious] freedom and concluding with prostitution, homosexuality, alcohol, gambling, usury etc. It is the head of global tyranny by imposing the infidel laws on the entire world either in the name of the infidel United Nations Charter or by appointing tyrants who rule counter to Allah's laws, supporting them, financing them, arming them in their war on Islam and Muslims, and defending them and the laws of polytheism whenever the Muslims rebel against them.

Jihad against this Taghout should be waged from this point of departure. God's faithful are distinguished in this point of departure from others in their war on America, for their war is [fought] to remove this tyranny and consolidate Islamic rule in its stead, either within America itself or in the world which it tyrannically rules.

We know from studying history that the atheist communists were the greatest avowed enemies of the U.S. and they are followed by the Shi'ites, supporters of Khomeini who attached to it [the U.S.] the nickname 'the greatest Satan', as well as by some Arab tyrants who feel that the U.S. threatens their throne. It is known that the latter's [the Arab tyrants] hostility to the U.S. derives from the [Americans'] desire to remove their tyrannical rule in order to appoint alternative tyrants in their stead, such as a tyrant of the Communist cult of materialism [stripe i.e. Russia] and the Shi'ite theocratic rule [type i.e. Iran] and the like. Therefore, according to these new deviant norms [of the Muslims who created a new religion], should we consider the bogus hostility of these [Russia and Iran] to the United States and their war against it a jihad on Allah's behalf? Are the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of infidels worldwide, who gave their lives in wars against the U.S. or against its agents, holy martyrs whose [deserved] place is in the most exalted status of Paradise?

The preachers of the newfangled religion claim that all the Muslims' problems will be solved once the U.S. stops intervening in the Muslim lands because then the Muslims will be able to vanquish the tyrannical rulers, establish Islamic states and Emirates and then unite them into one entity that will be called the caliphate. [These preachers] are oblivious that the world is filled with tyrants, and every one of them is as hostile to Islam as the U.S., and not one of them would agree to the establishment of an Islamic state. If the U.S. should decide to isolate itself from the world, stop intervening in the Muslim lands and supporting the kings, presidents and the tyrannical Jews who rule them, to whom will they [then] transfer the nickname 'the great Satan'? Would it be to Russia? To China? Or perhaps India or to any country that will rule the world after the U.S.?

The recent events in Syria definitely prove that should the U.S. stop its intervention in Muslim countries, the ruling tyrants will find many substitutes to avail them in their war on the Muslims. Hence, after the sahwat factions [i.e. the rebel forces in Syria] did their utmost to propitiate the U.S. hoping to receive assistance from it and fearing that it would pulverize them. After they succeeded to some degree, they were surprised by the Russian planes that aided the 'Alawite regime in fighting them and provided an aerial umbrella for its advance towards their regions.

On the other hand, although the U.S. is the party that assists the greatest number of ruling tyrants in the Muslim countries, if we were to tour other countries we would find that anti-U.S. hostility is declining... Moreover, for some of the parties [who pretend] to belong to Islam it [the U.S.] has become a friend or an ally in their struggle with other governments, who killed more Muslims in these countries..." The article cites Pakistan that due to its enmity towards India seeks aid from the U.S., members of the Uyghur people who view the U.S. as an ally against the Chinese government and the Muslim states in Central Asia, who view the U.S. as an ally against Russia, as examples.

The article takes pride in ISIS' achievements in the war against the U.S.: "ISIS, thanks to Allah alone, dealt the largest blow to the U.S., because in Iraq, Allah granted its [ISIS'] mujahideen success in inflicting upon the U.S. the greatest defeat in its history. ISIS did not act like those who transformed the war on the U.S. into an idol that they worship aside from Allah and on whose behalf they abandon the principles of religion and ally with the apostates.

It is wrong for someone speaking in the name of the entire Muslim nation, to evaluate its interests from the perspective of the land where he lives or speak in its name in a language intelligible only to his nation understands. For Islam's issues are general and he must include all the Muslims. Therefore motivating [the Muslims to jihad] should be [targeted] against all Islam's enemies to avoid sowing confusion amongst the people so they will come to think that internecine hostility between tyrants transforms them into defenders of Muslims and strips them of the apostate and polytheist title. The path will be clarified exclusively in this way."
In an April 9, 2016 article in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa, Kuwaiti media personality Yousuf 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Zinkawi called on all Arab and Muslim states to recognize Israel, openly and without delay, and stop calling it "the Zionist Entity" or "the Israeli occupation." He argued that, by sitting alongside Israel in UN institutions, these states already effectively recognize it, and they should take a lesson from countries like Qatar and Oman that take a pragmatic approach to Israel and maintain ties with it openly. He wondered why certain Arab and Muslim countries take a more hardline approach to Israel than the Palestinian Authority itself, which does maintain ties with it.

The following are excerpts:[1]



Yousuf 'Abd Al-Karim Al-Zinkawi

"Israel became a member of the UN on May 11, 1949, namely 67 years ago, before most of the Arab and Islamic states [even] became independent. [It gained this status] after 37 states voted in favor of the decision [to admit it to the UN], 12 voted against and 10 abstained. At the time, the UN had only 57 member states, which means that over 62% favored Israel's admittance. Today, when the [UN] General Assembly has swelled to include 193 states, I believe that the proportion of states that support Israel is even greater, and is over 83%. This, especially after some five Arab states and quite a few Muslim ones have recognized the state of Israel, [that state] which the dreamers - those who dream of restoring the stolen homeland [Palestine] - so expertly call by a whole bunch of names, such as 'the Zionist entity' or 'the Israeli occupation,' etc. Today, there are only 32 countries that don't recognize Israel, in different parts of the world... It came to the point where the Arab League itself proposed in 2002 that the Arab states normalize their relations with Israel as part of the Arab peace initiative and as part of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"The very presence of the Arab and Islamic states in the UN General Assembly, under the same roof as the Israeli delegation, means... that they recognize Israel. Otherwise, what is the meaning of their presence [there], alongside Israel, which they do not recognize? All those Arab and Islamic states that do not recognize Israel, if they have courage, let them stand before the members of the UN General Assembly, or in a session of the [UN] Security Council, and declare that they do not recognize Israel. I say this because, decades ago, most of the Islamic states [started] changing their political tone vis-a-vis Israel, and started calling it by names that those dreamers [i.e., those who dream of restoring Palestine] had not previously heard, such as 'the Israeli government' instead of 'the government of the Zionist state,' and 'the state of Israel' instead of 'the Israeli occupation.'

"Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman deal with the reality of Israel pragmatically, and recognize that it is a fait accompli that we cannot ignore. In 1996, both of them established Israeli trade representations [in their territory], and the ties between Israel and Qatar existed until 2000, when these representations were officially closed after the outbreak of the second Palestine intifada. But it seems that the closing [of the representations] was only nominal and was meant as a political gesture, for it did not prevent the maintaining of bilateral relations in various domains, such as sports. These relations existed openly and directly...

"If the Palestinian state itself - by means of the PA, which is considered to be the legitimate representative of the Palestinians, whose lands have been stolen - consolidated its ties with Israel, why do some Arab and Muslim countries take a more proprietary approach [to Palestine] than the Palestinian owners [of the land themselves]?...

"The countries that have established ties with Israel understood reality as it was and took active steps to deal with it. The first and foremost of them is Qatar, which recently hosted a beach volleyball tournament, in which Israel took part a few days ago. If for decades we have been maintaining indirect ties with Israel, by means of Israeli companies that [operate under the flags of] other countries - and most Arab and Islamic companies and businessmen are aware of this ridiculous reality - why should we keep up this political charade, and until when?"

Endnotes:
Eminent personalities visiting India is not a new thing nowadays but Royal visits are a rarity. We have seen Royal visits in the past when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles visited our country.

This time around, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Princess Catherine are visiting India for the first time and the organisers of their visit are leaving no stone unturned to make it their best.

As part of their Royal visit, Bollywood actors and other well known celebrities hosted a gala reception for Prince William and Kate Middleton to welcome them to India. A list of celebrities were invited which included Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Kapoor and Sachin Tendulkar to name a few.

As expected, your favourite Bollywood celebs came out looking their best in all suits and tuxedos. From what we can guess, the party had a black and white theme to it as most of the celebrities chose to wear a black suit with a tinge of white. To begin with, Prince William set the tone to the party by wearing a traditional black tuxedo.

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Shah Rukh Khan chose to be different amongst all and wore a white blazer tuxedo. He looked the best dressed out of all the men present.

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Anil Kapoor opted for a classic black tuxedo as well but still looked really handsome beating them all with his beard alone.

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Arjun Kapoor wore a rather different outfit altogether by wearing an all black long bandhgala.

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Sachin Tendulkar too wore a black suit but with a classic tie and not a bow tie.

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To end the list of celebrities, Karan Johar rocked an all black tuxedo looking elegant as always.

 Facebook
Life imitates art, art imitates life. Thats exactly what youll think after reading this piece of news that looks as if it has come straight from a blockbuster film.

Three men who had been missing for three days were rescued from a far-off remote Pacific island after a US Navy Plane spotted the word HELP spelled out in palm fronds on the beach. The three friends had set out on a fun, adventurous trip from a small island on the Federated States of Micronesia called Pulap, on April 4. Little did they know that the trip would soon become a nightmare!

 US Coast Guard/Facebook

A big wave crashed into their 19-foot skiff they were travelling in and totally capsized it. They had no option but to swim two miles of dark water before finding salvation in the tiny, isolated island of Fanadik. The mens families reported them missing the following day after which the US Coast Guard set out for their rescue mission. According to a press release, two vessels that were sent on the rescue mission conducted a combined 17-hour search of 178 miles.

 US Coast Guard/Facebook

On April 7, a navy crew from the Japanese air base also joined the rescue mission post which they spotted the men holding their bright orange life jackets next to their big makeshift sign. A local boat then picked up the men and took them to the hospital.

 US Coast Guard/Facebook

Our combined efforts, coupled with the willingness of many different resources to come together and help, led to the successful rescue of these three men in a very remote part of the Pacific, Lt. William White, a Coast Guard spokesman, said in a statement. Coast Guard officials also added that the ingenuity of these men to build their sign and the preparedness of having life jackets also contributed to their safe rescue.

Heres that remote island on Google maps if any of you is interested in seeing.

H/T: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/09/men-rescued-help-palm-leaves-island-pacific
There's no suggestion that the charitable groups had any idea their name was being used in this way. International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Claire Kaplun told The Associated Press on Sunday that the revelation was "a total surprise and something we find extremely shocking."

France's Le Monde and Switzerland's Le Matin Dimanche said Mossack Fonseca created dummy foundations with high-minded names such as the "Faith Foundation" to hold shares in around 500 offshore companies. The foundation's beneficiary was routinely listed as "the Red Cross," a designation which served the dual purposes of hiding the firms' real beneficiaries and of draping them in an "NGO aura," the papers wrote.

Mossack Fonseca didn't immediately return an email seeking comment, but a leaked email cited by the publications appeared to lay out the firm's reasoning.

"Given that banks and financial institutions are today asked to obtain information about economic beneficiaries, it has become difficult for us not to divulge the identity of those of the Faith Foundation's," the email said, according to the papers. "That's why we've implemented this structure designating the 'International Red Cross.' It's easier that way."

Another email cited by the papers suggests Mossack Fonseca deliberately kept the Red Cross in the dark about the maneuver.

"According to Panama law, the beneficiaries of a foundation can be used without knowing it," the email said, according to the papers. "That means the International Red Cross doesn't know about this arrangement."

Kaplun, the Red Cross spokeswoman, said that using the group's name or logo without its permission is barred by international law  and could put the group's staff in jeopardy.

"We work in conflict zones. We work without weapons. Our protection is our name, our emblem, the faith that people have in our reputation," she said in a telephone interview.

"Let's say this money was linked to a warring party in a conflict. Imagine what consequences that could have."
This discourse appears to be taking front and center these days, most obviously in Egypt  the region's most populous country and the one that raised the highest hopes for democracy advocates when the military in 2011 removed longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak as millions rallied against him and his Western support collapsed.

The current government is aggrieved to find itself facing possibly harsher international criticism than Mubarak ever did, mostly over questions of human rights. It argues that democracy does not require tolerance of chaos in the streets, and that unfettered freedoms can destabilize a brittle society facing illiteracy, poverty, weak democratic traditions and a jihadi insurgency.

In meetings with U.S. Congressional delegations this week, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi argued that "democracy is an ongoing process and cannot be realized overnight," elaborating that Egypt is committed to "striking the balance between enhancing security and stability and upholding rights and freedoms," according to a statement from his office.

The idea has a philosophical foundation: just as democracy is about more than elections and cannot allow an unbridled dictatorship of the majority, so must freedom not be allowed to become anarchy.

Critics dismiss such talk as self-serving, a conflating of criticism and sedition typical of elites trying to hang on to privilege. But the go-slow approach does find quiet defenders not only among the wealthy and connected who benefit, but also among educated people who simply don't fully trust the masses at the moment.

How much is hard to accurately gauge in a region where pundits are muzzled in ways both subtle and overt and where polling is rarely conducted. So claims about it tend toward anecdote, experience and logic.

"People value stability more than anything else," said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a professor of political science at United Arab Emirates University. He said the instability and rise of political Islam following the Arab Spring slowed the push for greater freedom and democracy, and that most UAE citizens aren't clamoring for sweeping change while they watch turmoil elsewhere in the region.

"Let's just be modest about it," he said. "It is just very difficult to build a modern, stable democracy.

Others find it elitist to suggest that the Arab world is not ready for democracy. Are we really not deserving, they ask, of what the Indians and Brazilians take for granted? Some will mention cases of controversial election outcomes even in the West and ask: In such a complex world, can any society truly be ready? Is it not better to simply treat genuine freedom as a basic human right?

"The idea that some people are not prepared for justice is racist," respected Egyptian author Alaa Aswany told The Associated Press. "It reflects a lack of respect for people. I absolutely disagree with it."

Still, to Egyptians who see their region's turbulence and observe police and soldiers being killed by Islamic State-affiliated jihadis in the Sinai Peninsula, the security argument especially can resonate. And in Jordan, where there's little doubt that the monarchy is in charge and critics know what lines not to cross, King Abdullah gets major points among the middle classes for keeping a place that borders Syria, Iraq and Palestine calm, even showing some modest economic growth.

There is a noticeable decline in the inclination to demonstrate in many countries  although this can mislead: the right to do so is much curtailed and people may have just tired of the trouble and strife.

Certainly many seem terrified by what happened in places that have spun out of control. In Libya, militias hold sway. Yemen is mired in civil war, compounded by a year of Saudi-led airstrikes. Iraq's Sunni regions are overrun by the Islamic State group. In Syria, half the pre-war population of over 20 million has been displaced, and parts of cities have been leveled.

Tunisia has had some success in enacting democratic rule, but it is the exception. Lebanon is paralyzed by confessional politics and has hasn't been able to elect a president in almost two years, and parliament rarely meets. Mahmoud Abbas' term as president of the Palestinian Authority ran out years ago.

Democracy rarely gets mentioned in the United Arab Emirates, although there have been elections for a federal citizens' advisory council. In Saudi Arabia, the monarchy holds absolute control over an opaque, oil-financed government, and municipal councils are the only elected government body. Other Gulf nations have relatively powerless parliaments.

Egypt, compared to most other Arab states, has made impressive strides. El-Sissi overwhelmingly won presidential elections in 2014 with far more votes than had been won two years earlier by Mohammed Morsi, the Islamist president the military overthrew for alleged misrule in 2013. While the election was widely criticized because the previously ruling Muslim Brotherhood was banned, few claim the vote count was falsified  no small matter considering the region's recent history. And the president is constitutionally limited to two terms in office  a stark contrast to most of the region. Egypt also has a new elected parliament more diverse and empowered than has been the norm in the region.

There has been growing clamor by outsiders and activists against what many term a crackdown on dissent: a law against street demonstrations and another essentially criminalizing anyone contradicting official statements on security; lengthy periods of detention without charges; banning some activists from travelling abroad; and dozens of secret detentions.

But the government's defenders cast the criticism on human rights as unfair since other countries in the region are worse. In this way Egypt finds itself in an ironically similar situation to neighbor and former enemy Israel. Israel's Declaration of Independence promises full equality and that the Jewish state will be a "light unto the nations." With expectations so high, its supporters now struggle to defend the Jewish state's half-century occupation over millions of stateless Palestinians on the grounds that other situations around the world are even worse.
The Navy and Coast Guard have launched a search-and-rescue mission after a junior sailor on board the USS Carter Hall was reported missing, according to reports Sunday.

The sailor is presumed to have fallen overboard Saturday, the Navy Times reported. The dock landing ship was on a training mission off the coast of North Carolina.

The ship immediately began its search after a female third-class petty officer was discovered missing around 4:20 p.m. Saturday, the Navy Times reported, citing an internal Navy report.

A pair of boots with a note was reported found on deck near the rear of the ship, the report said, according to the Navy Times.

Several Navy and Coast Guard units are assisting in the search and rescue effort, a Navy spokesman said Sunday.

"Were doing everything we can to find and rescue the sailor and our thoughts and prayers are with our shipmates and their families," Navy Lt. Michael Hatfield told The Virginian-Pilot.

The Carter Hall is conducting routine training operations in support of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group Composite Training Unit Exercise of the coast of Cape Hatteras, WTKR-TV in Hampton Bays, Virginia, reported Sunday.

The name of the sailor won't be released until 24 hours after next-of-kin has been notified, the station reported.

The USS Carter Hall is home ported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek--Fort Story in Virginia Beach, according to the station.
Almost 100 people mostly from Haiti who were rescued from an overcrowded boat off the Florida coast had no food or water for...
Just weeks after three enlisted Sikh soldiers filed a federal suit asking a judge to issue an injunction against the Army's demand they shave their beards, cut their hair and not wear their turbans in uniform, the service said they can wear such articles of faith.

Even so, an attorney representing the enlisted personnel say the case filed with U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., last month will go forward.

"The Army's decision is not legally binding  and may be withdrawn at any time," said Eric Baxter, senior counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Fund for Religious Liberty. "In fact, the Army has already stated that the accommodations will be re-evaluated in approximately one year."

The plaintiffs include Spc. Harpal Singh, a member of the U.S. Army reserve who enlisted under the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program; Spc. Kanwar Singh of the Massachusetts National Guard; and Pvt. Arjan Singh Ghotra of the Virginia National Guard.

Harpal Singh is fluent in three languages the Army deems critical: Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu.

The Army had ordered the men to shave, cut their hair and doff the turbans before they would be allowed to go to basic training.

I will be forever grateful to the Army for at least letting me go to boot camp," Ghotra said in a statement. "I look forward to proving that I can serve as well as anyone and am hopeful the Army will extend my accommodation afterward."

The religious accommodations just announced bring to seven the number of Sikhs serving on active duty in the Army with their articles of faith. The other four are officers.

Sikhs were allowed to wear beards, unshorn hair and turbans with their uniforms from World War I through the Vietnam War. The standard exception to the uniform policy was ended during the Reagan administration by Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.

"The Army's current agreement to stop discriminating against these individual soldiers is an important step, but the court should still issue a ruling to extend that protection to all Sikhs," Baxter said in a statement Monday morning.

The Defense Department has so far resisted calls by retired senior military officers and more than 100 members of Congress to lift the ban on Sikh articles of faith.

The Pentagon no longer has a blanket ban on the Sikh articles of faith but leaves it up to the individual services to grant exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

-- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bryantjordan.
A U.S. Navy officer accused of giving defense secrets to the Chinese government is Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin, an official confirmed to Military.com on Monday.

Lin, a flight officer assigned to Patrol and Reconnaissance Group out of Norfolk, Virginia, stands accused of espionage, attempted espionage, unauthorized communication of privileged information relating to national defense, and patronizing a prostitute, according to a charge sheet released by the Navy.

According to the Virginian-Pilot, which broke the story of Lin's charges, he remains at Navy Consolidated Brig Chesapeake, Virginia, following an April 8 preliminary hearing in Norfolk.

The preliminary hearing officer in the case must now make a recommendation to the convening authority, Adm. Phil Davidson, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command. Davidson will ultimately decide if Lin will face court-martial on the charges, a process expected to take place in the next 10 days, a U.S. official said.

Lin's identity was first published by USNI News, which reported that sources said Lin had given national defense secrets to China.

A Taiwanese immigrant who moved to the U.S. at 14, Lin became an American citizen in 2008 as a lieutenant assigned top U.S. Pacific Fleet, according to a Navy news release from the time.

"I always dreamt about coming to America, the 'promised land," he said in remarks at his naturalization ceremony, the release states. "I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland."

Lin's unit, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, oversees more than 7,000 sailors who operate Navy maritime patrol aircraft including the P-8A Poseidon, MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft, P-3C Orion, and EP-3 Aries II, according to Navy officials.

The dates on which Lin is accused of passing secret national defense information on his charge sheet are redacted.

In all, he is charged with four violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including two specifications of espionage, three specifications of attempted espionage, five specifications of communicating defense information, and one specification of patronizing a prostitute.

Violation of UCMJ article 106A, the prohibition on espionage, is one of only 14 military crimes that can carry the death penalty.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
MIAMI  Ten people were rescued from a 30-foot vessel that was taking on water southwest of Freeport, Bahamas, Saturday.

Coast Guard 7th District watchstanders received a request for assistance from the Royal Bahamas Defense Force around 7:30 a.m., Saturday, regarding a vessel taking on water. The vessel reportedly capsized around 4 a.m., Saturday.

Watchstanders diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber and launched a Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft crew to search for the vessel. The aircraft crew located the overturned vessel with 10 people clinging to the hull at approximately 12 p.m., Saturday. The Bernard C. Webber crew arrived on scene, safely embarked all 10 people and transferred them to RBDF in Freeport, Bahamas, with no reported medical concerns.

The 10 survivors are believed to be migrants trying to get the United States from the Bahamas.

"Coast Guard missions and operations in the Southeast remain unchanged," said Capt. Mark Fedor, chief of response for the Coast Guard 7th District. "The Coast Guard strongly discourages attempts to illegally enter the country by taking to the sea. These trips are incredibly dangerous."
Eight ships and Navy and Coast Guard aircraft are now assisting in search and rescue efforts for a sailor reported missing from the dock landing ship USS Carter Hall off the coast of North Carolina the afternoon of April 9.

Officials with Expeditionary Strike Group 2 said personnel aboard the Carter Hall, aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Arleigh-Burke class guided missile destroyers Laboon, Mahan, Mason, Nitze, Truxtun and Stout are all helping to search an area of more than 4,500 square miles off Cape Hatteras in North Carolina's outer banks as the search continues into a third day.

"The search is ongoing, it's robust, and we are doing everything we can to find the missing sailor," Lt. Mike Hatfield, a spokesman for the strike group, told Military.com.

Hatfield could not confirm early reports about the circumstances of the sailor's disappearance. Navy Times cited an internal Navy report indicating that the sailor was a female third-class petty officer, and said officials had found boots and a note at the rear of the ship.

The Carter Hall had been conducting routine training in support of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in preparation for an upcoming deployment. The sailor was discovered missing around 4:20 p.m.

The identity and unit of the sailor are being withheld until 24 hours after next-of-kin notification, which will only take place if search efforts are called off and the sailor is considered deceased, an official said.

Meanwhile, Hatfield said, there will be an investigation into the circumstances under which the sailor went missing, though it's not yet clear what organization will lead that investigation.

"We are continuing to search tirelessly with every asset at our disposal. Our thoughts and prayers are with our shipmate and the family during this trying time," Rear Adm. Cynthia Thebaud, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 2, said in a statement.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
New exhibition for the Polyurethane Industry: PSE Europe 2017 in Munich will focus on innovative PU applications

Against the background of an increasing worldwide demand for polyurethane and the growth potential of PU for new applications, Mack Brooks Exhibitions announces the launch of PSE Europe, International Exhibition for Polyurethane Solutions. PSE Europe 2017 will take place from 27 ? 29 June 2017, in the MOC, Munich, Germany.Global PU market demand is projected to increase from 17 million tons to 24 million tons from 2014  2020 and according to recent industry research new applications and product innovations represent the biggest growth potential for the PU industry. The versatile, durable and lightweight material has become a cost-effective and modern alternative for the design of compounds and product solutions in a vast variety of industry areas, such as automotive, construction, bedding, electrical appliances, footwear, furniture, transport, additive manufacturing and packaging. For manufacturers and suppliers of raw materials, processing machinery and PU systems the expansion of PU applications across a large number of different manufacturing sectors opens up entirely new markets offering an enormous business potential.?It is in this context that we decided to launch a dedicated exhibition for Polyurethane solutions in Europe. The event is designed to give raw material manufacturers as well as equipment and system suppliers a platform to meet with a professional audience of buyers and users looking for innovative technology and bespoke solutions. A central focus of the event will be the live presentation of equipment and applications to demonstrate the potential of PU in entirely new fields and as a top-quality alternative to other materials,? explains Stephen Brooks, Chairman of Mack Brooks Exhibitions.?The decision to launch PSE Europe is based on an extensive research and an ongoing exchange with a number of key companies within the PU industry. There is an obvious need from suppliers in this sector for a showcase to demonstrate the potential of PU to new user-groups, such as tier-1 suppliers from the automotive industry, construction industry, composites and additive manufacturing. A good growth potential is also seen in the conventional PU processing sectors, such as the bedding and furniture industries,? says Stephen Brooks.An innovative approach to market PU solutionsThe Show Profile of PSE Europe covers raw materials, materials/semi-finished products, PU products/systems, processing machinery, systems & equipment as well as industry specific services. On the visitor side the event targets trade professionals from all industry sectors involved in processing PU or applying PU solutions within their manufacturing processes. The exhibition experience will be rounded off by a selection of feature areas providing room for networking, exchange of expertise and knowledge transfer. Innovation is, therefore, a central focus of PSE Europe.?Our show concept is inspired by an innovative approach and we are confident that PSE Europe is beneficial to the PU industry in order to market this versatile, modern material to a wider audience and new markets,? says Stephen Brooks.The VenuePSE Europe 2017 will take place in the MOC in Munich. As a major international hub for high tech, automotive, aerospace, life sciences, ICT, material science and green technology, Munich enjoys a prosperous economic climate. With its strong focus on R&D, the city is pushing innovation and boasts a broad mix of industries in a vast array of future-oriented sectors. With its excellent infrastructure, Munich is a renowned business centre for visitors from within Germany, its neighbouring countries as well as worldwide regions.PSE Europe 2017 will occupy Halls 2 and 3 in the MOC, which are both directly accessible via the Main Entrance. Located in the North of Munich, the venue is well connected to the city centre, Munich International Airport and the motorway network.Exhibitor Brochure, Website and BlogFor companies interested in exhibiting at PSE Europe 2017, an exhibitor brochure is now available from the organisers. The Brochure includes useful information about the exhibition, the venue and how to book stand space.The Show website www.pse-europe.com is regularly updated with news, details about the event, industry facts as well as information for exhibitors and visitors. Paul Davis? PSE Europe blog can also be followed via the show website. The blog of PSE Business Development Director Paul Davis provides background information about the idea behind the show and invites for an interactive exchange between industry experts.
GM: Dealers repairing faulty ignition switches

General Motors ignition assembly parts, including the parts affected under the recalls, being inspected, packaged and shipped Thursday, April 17, 2014 at the GM Customer Care & Aftersales Plant in Burton, Michigan. (Photo by John F. Martin for General Motors)

DETROIT, MI - The fourth of six so-called "bellwether" cases against General Motors over faulty ignition switches has been dismissed ahead of going to trial in July.

Reuters reports that a plaintiff's lawyer filed to dismiss the case Friday, a day after GM settled a third lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan, where 234 injury and death lawsuits against the Detroit automaker have been consolidated.

A faulty ignition switch in GM cars has been linked to at least 124 deaths and led to the recall of 2.6 million vehicles.

A claims facility set up by GM to compensate victims of the defective part in mid-to-late-2000s model cars is paying out $595 million to victims.

But there are still outstanding claims against the automaker, and the six trials in New York are being used as bellwethers to determine how juries view evidence, and how to proceed with the outstanding cases.

The third case, settled on Thursday, was scheduled for trial on May 2, and was one of three cases picked by attorneys representing plaintiffs.

GM picked its own three, and won the first of those cases last month when a jury ruled that the faulty ignition switch in a 2007 Saturn Vue was not the cause of a 2014 crash on a New Orleans bridge.

In the fourth overall case, an Alabama resident was suing the company over injuries in a 2013 accident. That trial was set to start July 18. It is not immediately clear why it was dismissed.

A GM spokesman told Reuters there was no settlement. It was the second case picked by GM.

In 2014, GM recalled 2.6 million vehicles, including 2.2 million in the U.S., affected by the ignition switch, which was found in 2003-2007 Saturn Ions, 2007-2010 Saturn Skys, 2005-2011 Chevrolet HHRs, 2006-2010 Pontiac Solstices, and 2005-10 Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 models.

The switch was found to be faulty because it could slip out of the "run" position to the "accessory" or "off" positions, leading to a loss of power. The risk may be increased if the key ring is carrying added weight or if the vehicle goes off road or experiences some jarring event, including rough roads.

If the key turns to one of those positions, officials say the front air bags may not work if there's a crash.

In September, a federal prosecutor's office in New York fined General Motors $900 million and issued two felonies against the company as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. The agreement means GM will have to fulfill several obligations under the auspice of an independent monitor over the next three years for the two felonies to be dismissed with prejudice.

David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.
BELL'S JOB FAIR

Comstock-based Bell's Brewery is expanding its distribution to Texas.

(MLive File Photo)

COMSTOCK, MI -- Bell's Brewery announced Monday it will start distributing beer to Texas in 2017.

Bell's entire portfolio will head to Texas in early 2017, including its year-round and seasonal beers.

"We're looking forward to making all kinds of new friends and reconnecting with our Michigan and Midwest transplants," Laura Bell, Bell's vice president, said in a press release.

"We will start with making sure we have Bell's representatives in key areas, then we will begin searching for the right distributor partner who will help us maintain the quality and customer service that are central to who we are," Bell said.

Texas marks the eighth state Bell's has recently added to its distribution, following Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Nebraska and West Virginia.
GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- The following are recent business announcements, promotions, and other business news in Mid-Michigan:

Applewood Estate is searching for volunteers to assist with its free seasonal programming. Volunteers welcome visitors, serve as tour guides and help visitors engage in activities on site. They can commit as few as 10 hours per season to as many as four hours per week. The Foundation provides free volunteer training and support, and celebrates with volunteers at an annual appreciation event. Applewood Estate, operated by the Ruth Mott Foundation, is located at 1400 E. Kearsley St. next to the Flint Cultural Center, and has tours and events planned from May through October. For more information, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Linda Bedtelyon at 810-396-3108 or lbedtelyon@ruthmott.org.

Baker College of Flint winning cyber defense team - from left to right: Greg Kempf, John Neiling, Noah Bliss, Brandon Hartwell, Chris Franklin, Fred Perakovic, Jeffery Matter, Doug Witten, Joshua Baxter, Sean Julian and Greg Kent.

A Baker College of Flint cyber defense team won the Michigan Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition on March 11-12. The winning team and a second team from Baker College of Flint were among 11 competitors at the state event organized by the Michigan Collegiate Cyber Defense Network. All members of the winning team - Jeffrey Matter, Noah Bliss, Chris Franklin, Sean Julian, Josh Baxter, Greg Kempf, Fred Perakovic, and Brandon Hartwell - are pursuing bachelor's degrees in cyber defense. To practice for the competition, members committed and volunteered approximately 20 hours a week beginning mid-November. "We are tremendously proud that both of our teams worked hard to succeed in this extremely competitive event," said Wen Hemingway, Baker College of Flint president.

The Ruth Mott Foundation has welcomed Tryphena Clarke as its community engagement officer. Starting in April, Clarke will be a liaison between the Foundation and the community, and will work to identify ways to help north Flint neighborhoods thrive. The Ruth Mott Foundation developed the position as a critical element of its recently developed strategic plan, which concentrates the Foundation's grant-making activities in north Flint. Clarke was previously director of the Building Neighborhood Capacity program at Metro Community Development, and also previously worked at WOW Outreach, Resource Genesee, and My Brother's Keeper.

Montrose-based RetroFoam of Michigan has a new partnership with Make-A-Wish Michigan. RetroFoam of Michigan will send a team of employees on a 300-mile fundraiser bicycle ride in July from Traverse City to Michigan International Speedway. The company hopes to raise a minimum of $4,500 through the Wish-A-Mile Bicycle Tour. Local business including Community State Bank and Andrea's Place in Clio have supported RetroFoam of Michigan's efforts, encouraging customers to purchase Make-A-Wish stars, which help fund the bike ride.

The American Institute of Architects - Flint chapter has established a scholarship for graduating high school seniors pursuing an education and career in architecture, as well as for continuing college students enrolled in an architect program. The scholarship fund was established to assist students in Genesee, Shiawassee, and Lapeer counties to pursue a degree in architecture or architectural technology from a college or university with a NAAB accredited program. To download an application and further criteria, please visit www.aiaflint.org.

Do you have a business announcement to share? Email Lynn Goff at lgoff@mlive.com.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Bruce Thompson says he's eager to see how the principles of compact living they developed at Urbaneer will play out in the new home he plans to build for himself and his family in Heritage Hill.

Thanks to movable walls that will alternately create an extra bedroom, home office and dining room, the 800-square-foot main floor of the bungalow will live like it has a 1,200 square feet, said Thompson, president of Urbaneer.

Urbaneer, a spinoff of Rockford Construction Co., has applied its space-saving methods in in several West Michigan apartment projects like The Morton and Living @ 600 Douglas. Thompson says he wants to try the methods first-hand in a home.

While the new house at 338 Pleasant St. SE will look like a traditional bungalow in the Heritage Hill Historic District, Thompson said the interior will be packed with technology aimed at making the most out of a small area.

The key difference will be a moveable wall that will be suspended from the ceiling with a folding Murphy bed on one side and a folding table on the other side. Depending on where the wall is located, the main level will have a dining room, a bedroom or home office, Thompson said.

"Part of this is to educate people on what they can do in a more compact space," said Thompson, who has lived in a downtown apartment with 1,500-square-feet for the past several years after selling his 4,500-square-foot house in East Grand Rapids.

The home also will have 500 square feet of livable space in the basement and 180 square feet in a half-story bedroom with a Murphy bed on the second floor, he said. The house will have up to four bedrooms available and three full bathrooms, Thompson said.

While Thompson sees the project as a work in progress, he says his wife, Brenda, an interior designer, also is eager to experiment with the house.

Thompson, who is still tinkering with the layout, said he hopes to break ground on the house in May. The exterior design has been approved by the city's Historic Preservation office, he said.

Meanwhile, Thompson said a recent Facebook posting about the house has generated nearly 100 "likes" and five serious inquiries from persons wanting to build a similar home.

"I had one asking about just finishing the main floor and keeping the upstairs as attic and lower as unfinished basement - not dissimilar to houses when we were growing up," Thompson said. "That would make this a very affordable design."

Thompson said he has not determined how much the house will cost to build, partly because the design will be evolving as it is built.

Jim Harger covers business for Mlive Media Group. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- After a two-and-a-half year renovation, the Clements Library at the University of Michigan will reopen Tuesday.

The finishing touches are being put on the $17 million project prior to a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, where an estimated 400 people were scheduled to attend. The library will reopen to researchers the following day.

"We were off campus for two-and-a-half years, so it's good to be back," said Brian Dunnigan, associate director and curator of maps for the library.

The Clements Library houses original resources (books, documents and other literature) of American history and culture from the 15th century to the 19th that are available for study by students and researchers.

The majority of the work on the building was to improve the long-term health of the structure and the collections inside.

"The heart of the renovation was the infrastructure for the building," Dunnigan said. "HVAC, better climate for the collections, upgrade on all the electrical systems, fire suppression system and new alarm systems for both security and fire."

The improvements will help ensure the quality of the collections are maintained as staff can better control the climate of the building and the atmosphere the books are sitting in. The shades on the windows are designed to lower automatically based on where the sun is at during the day. This will make sure direct sunlight doesn't hit the materials for too long.

"Light is potentially damaging," Dunnigan said.

The efforts for climates and quality control were done in the upstairs reading room, which now has seats for between 16 and 20 guests. Previously, there was a small room downstairs that was used for reading, but that room could only accommodate a handful of researchers.

That downstairs room has been completely renovated as well.

"The lower level, the half basement, was entirely gutted and turned into work spaces for staff and places where we can work on the collections away from any visitors to the building," Dunnigan said.

Along with work spaces, a conference/teaching room was built that will allow for classrooms to come in learn about certain aspects of American history while seeing the texts they're learning about in person at the library.

A 3,000-square-foot addition was built on the east side of the building that will allow more of the library's collection to be stored on site. Dunnigan estimates that about 70 percent of the collection is now at the library, while the rest is stored at another location.

While the library was closed, operations continued at an off-site space on Ellsworth Road in Ann Arbor. It was difficult however, for students to get to the site unless they had a car of their own, or another means of transportation.

Some of the staff started moving back into the building in December, but the majority returned last month. The collection was moved back over to the library in March once they curators were able to ensure the conditions in the building were suitable for the works.

Matt Durr is a reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at mattdurr@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Local filmmaker Donald Harrison believes he and his team can make a documentary about Community High School, an experiment in public education that started in Ann Arbor in 1972, that will have national appeal.

"Commie High: The Film" is the working title of the project the former Ann Arbor Film Festival director is now trying to raise money to fund.

The sign outside Community High School on Division Street in downtown Ann Arbor shows the school's rainbow-colored zebra mascot.

The title, of course, is a nod to the alternative high school's nickname, one used affectionately by insiders and sometimes disparagingly by outsiders.

Harrison views "Commie High," a school so popular there's a lottery to get in each year, as a public education success and he wants to tell that story.

So far, more than 280 backers have pledged more than $39,000 through a Kickstarter fundraising page Harrison has set up for the project.

The goal is to raise $45,000 by Wednesday morning, which means there's less than 48 hours to go to raise the last $5,000 or so.

Visit the Kickstarter page to learn more or donate

A trailer Harrison has produced, which you can watch in the video player above, gives a rough idea of what the film might be like.

Harrison describes it as a cross-generational documentary about an experiment in public education.

Donald Harrison

He believes it's important to make the film since public education reform is such a hot-button issue in America and affects the lives of millions.

"There are more than 14 million high school students in over 29,000 public high schools across America; there are more than 1,000 public charter high schools and thousands of private high schools requiring paid tuition across the country. Yet, there is only one Commie High," the Kickstarter page reads.

"What can we learn by looking at an alternative model of public education that's succeeded and evolved over four decades? What conditions allowed for the creation and long-term viability of the Community High School experiment in public education? And what would motivate students to camp out in the cold for days or weeks to attend a public school in a system containing other excellent options?"

Harrison hopes to showcase the documentary at film festivals and distribute it elsewhere. He anticipates having a completed film by the fall of 2017 and he said it's possible Community High students could be involved in making the film.

Ingrid Racine, a 2000 Community High grad, is serving as the music director for the project.

The plan is to assemble an all-star Community High soundtrack, while also giving new life to artworks by alumni through animation and motion graphics.

Harrison thinks they're going to come out of the project with a wealth of stories, music, artwork, photos and video footage. He's already talking about building off the film and creating an online platform for people to explore everything.

Harrison admits he's a little jealous of people who attended Community High. He said he went to a reputable high school and did well academically, but he doesn't think he really grew as a person during high school.

"I think the model for Community High is important for us to look at the ways we're bringing students into becoming successful young adults," he said.

He said he's been blown away by all of the stories he's heard so far from Community High grads.

"It struck me that there's a very high degree of success. I've had a number of people say, 'It saved my life.' So, I think it's an important story. I think it's a timely story. I think it's a super Ann Arbor local story, but I want it to reach a national audience."

Did you go to Community High? Share your experience in the comment section below.

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
BEAVERTON, MI -- A Michigan State Police trooper was involved in a two-vehicle crash, but no one was seriously injured.

At about 10:50 p.m. Friday, April 8, a trooper from the West Branch Post was driving to the Beaverton area to help other officers in a domestic violence call. He was driving a marked patrol vehicle with lights and sirens activated, said State Police Special 1st Lt. David Kaiser.

While heading south on M-18 in Beaverton, the trooper went into a curve near Porter Street and lost control of his vehicle, Kaiser said. The patrol vehicle struck a 2007 Kia Sedona heading east on Porter, Kaiser said.

The Sedona was driven by a 40-year-old Beaverton woman with her 14-year-old daughter as a passenger. They and the trooper were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Mid-Michigan Medical Center in Gladwin and released the same day, Kaiser said.

An investigation is ongoing to see if the trooper could have acted differently to prevent the collision. Investigators are pulling video footage from the patrol vehicle's dashboard camera, Kaiser said.

The trooper's name is being withheld at this time.

Michigan State Police accident investigators were assisted at the scene by the Gladwin County Sheriff's Office, the Beaverton Police Department, the Beaverton Fire Department, Mid-Michigan Medical Center EMS, Beaverton Towing and Supreme Towing.
DETROIT, MI -- Police on Monday released surveillance footage of a March nonfatal shooting

"The 23-year-old male victim was attempting to enter a restaurant, when an unknown male suspect opened fire outside of the location," Detroit police said in a statement. "As a result, the victim sustained a gunshot wound to the body."

The shooting occurred about 1:30 a.m. March 27 on the 15900 block of West 7 Mile Road.

After the gunfire, the suspect fled in a silver, four-door vehicle, with three other males, police said.

Police obtained additional surveillance images from a business they believe shows all of the suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detroit Police Officer Ways, 313-596-5851, email him at waysm587@detroitmi.gov, or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK UP.
William Melendez, MDOC photo

Convicted ex-Inkster Police Officer William Melendez hopes to trade his high-security prison in Ionia for boot camp.

Judge Vonda Evans' initial sentencing order allowed for the possibility of boot camp, but according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, she amended that order last week, statiing: "The Court is modifying the order and objecting to boot camp at this time. The Court will reconsider at a later date."

A jury convicted Melendez, who formerly worked for the Detroit and Inkster police departments, of assault with intent to inflict great bodily harm less than murder for the dash-cam-recorded January 2015 beating of motorist Floyd Dent.

Melendez received a sentence of 13 months to 10 years in prison with 85 days served.

His attorney, James Thomas, on Friday filed an emergency order asking Evans sentence modification order be dismissed so Melendez might be eligible for boot camp.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has until Wednesday to file a response to Thomas.
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11.04.2016 LISTEN

The premises of Happy FM in Accra can hardly contain the large anticipated crowd trooping from all walks of life across Ghana to witness the much awaited spiritual battle between Nana Komfoo Appiah and the powerful man of God, Bishop Daniel Obinim as the latter is set the throw spiritual punches and powers to the former.

According to the man of God, his father Jesus Christ has now given him the nod to meet the spiritualist and even continued to say that his father Jesus Christ is very peeved about the disgrace the spiritualist is taking him through.

"You want to disgrace me Bishop Obinim who has never consulted any shrine or spiritualist before. Even if I were the only person being disgraced, it wouldn't be a problem. You have equally provoked my father Jesus Christ. You said you are my father? Ah! Komfoo Appiah, my father? You want to scatter the children of God from his side. Jesus Christ has now given me the go ahead to punish you.

....I am giving you from now up to Friday to come out and face me. I am coming with all my branch pastors including my congregants loaded in about five buses to meet you in your house. If you fail to come out, what I will do to you is best known to me. Ghanaians will then believe I am a real Angel. You are doomed. Because you have disgraced my father Jesus Christ. You will mention those pastors who contracted you to do that and all the monies you have collected from them."

A spiritualist by name Komfoo Nana Yaw Appiah has claimed to be the brain behind the spiritual powers of Bishop Daniel Obinim, leader and founder of God's Way Church International. According to the spiritualist, he is fed up with Bishop calling himself a through man of God and that he is ready to collect all his powers from him.

The spiritualist on several instances has called for a spiritual battle between the two with the recent appearance being being made last week when Bishop failed to enter appearance.

The premises of Happy FM in Accra saw huge crowd who came around to witness the battle.
High life musician, Nana Quame was on his knees last weekend on Bekwai based Dess FM 90.3 seeking for DJs support in promoting Ghana music.

According to Quame in an interview with DJ Bullet on Dess FM 90.3, Ghana music will end up nowhere if Ghanaian DJs do not support with the promotion on air.

He said some DJs are reluctant to promoting Ghana music and artistes because of what some artistes have done to those DJs in the past.

"I have been saying this over and over again and I will continue to say that without the DJs, our music will end up nowhere. Some of the DJs have in mind that there are a lot of musicians who grow horns after they have helped them so they will never.

.....You call that musician and he's not picking up as if you've not done anything for him before. So I am on my knees begging that if any musician has offended a DJ, he should just forgive. Let's build a solid ground for Ghana music. Because I feel happy and proud to see Sarkodie going to prominent places to performance. So once again help us", he told DJ Bullet.

Nana Quame is one of the staunchest high life musicians in Ghana. Among his memorable songs include, Asew Konofour, Ateaa Adonko, and his recent hit, No parking gaining much air play.

Source: SeanCitygh.com
11.04.2016 LISTEN

'Ghanaian high life musician, KK Fosu has described musicians walking off stage during performances as childish.

According to KK in an exclusive interview with DJ Premiere on Accra FM, it is something he has several times seen some artistes doing but has realized that the act is absolutely outmoded and should not be entertained in the industry.

"It is as a result of anger and it's part of us. Especially when you're heated up on stage and some things don't work as you want for you. But it is childish. We should remember we're are there because of our fans. Sometimes someone can shout from the crowd to tell you something distasteful but we should exercise patients. It's nice to behave in a matured way. Even sometimes the sound and something else will hinder your performance."

Walking off stages has been typical of several musicians during performance. It is not only in Ghana but to the outside world at large.

Giving examples in Ghana, one can best remembered Stonebwoy who threw away a microphone in the crowd when a fan walked on stage to mimick his style of walking, Shatta Wale, walking off stage in Kumasi during a performance at Luv FMs Old Skull Reunion etc..
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Moroccans fans of Charlotte Derban flew in to surprise the actress cum model on her birthday. The gem celebrated in style last Thursday at FireFly with a whole host of her model mates in attendance.

The Miss Ghana finalist arrived with her manager and was joined by friends including Sonia and Nadia Ibrahim, Chantell Dapaah, Kinora Awini, Ekua Daniels, Sammy Tugar of Tales of Sammy Tugar fame among others.

After the well wishes, Charlotte's Moroccan fans sang the Arabic version of the popular "Happy Birthday song". Below are photos from the private party...
MTN Ghana CEO, Ebenezer Twum Asante says the only way telecom operators can be profitable in Ghana is for the country to have a maximum of three players.

He noted that what is currently happening in the industry, in terms of dwindling profits and the market share and subscriber base trends, show that the industry is gradually consolidating around four players.

According to him, those are indications that unofficially, the industry is merging into four players, but in a few years it will be made official.

"The market can do with four players but in our estimation at MTN the way to ensure real profitability and sustainability is for us to have maximum...maximum of three players," the MTN boss told Adom News Editor Sammy Dowuona.

Ebenezer Asante also believes Ghana cannot have more than one very effective, profitable and independent Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) player, even though government recently licensed three; Surfline Communications, Blu Telecoms and Goldkey Telecoms.

He therefore predicted only one of the three BWA will remain independent and the others will eventually merge with existing telcos to take advantage of the several opportunities in the data market, which the BWAs don't have the funds on their own to take advantage of.

Indeed some telcos have hinted of partnership discussions they are having with some of the licensed BWAs in the country to collaborate in deploying 4G LTE widely, since the BWAs largely lack the requisite financial muscle to spread nationwide.

Ebenezer Asante is not the first to have predicted mergers in the Ghanaian mainstream telecoms market.

Former Vodafone Ghana CEO, Kyle Whitehill, former MTN Ghana boss Mike Ikpoki and even one time Director for Regulatory Administration at National Communications Authority, Joshua Peprah predicted the market will eventually be left with a maximum of four players.

Each of the industry "prophets" pointed to the size of the Ghanaian population size as well as stiff competition and their impact on operators' profitability, or lack of it, as factors that will drive strategic mergers.

Currently, the sole CDMA player Expresso Ghana has already sold 18% shares and placed the remaining shares in an escrow account.

Meanwhile, the latest GSM player, Glo Ghana has not been doing too well since it entered the market four years ago.

Glo, for instance, chalked about 1.6million customers representing 7% market share in its first year, but has since been declining until recently it reached less than 1.4million customers, representing less than 4.3% market share by close of December 2015.

Indeed, at the time Glo came in, some telecom CEOs then felt it was a wrong move for the government to have licensed a sixth voice operator in a small market like Ghana because it was going to neutralize the profits of existing players.

True to the fears of the telecom CEOs, currently, it is only MTN which is actually ploughing back profits after tax; the rest are either breaking even, gradually inches towards breaking even or making loses.

Meanwhile, government has recently instituted three new license categories, interconnect clearinghouse, mobile virtual network operations (MVNO) and international wholesale carriers license, which have opened up the market for new entrants.

Already, one of the leading MVNOs in the UK, Lebara is in town and are almost set to start operations on Airtel, while other licensed MVNOs have obtained space on Expresso, and others are in talks with other telcos.

Ebenezer Asante believes, with a mobile voice penetration of about 130% the voice market in Ghana is over saturated but there exists opportunities in the data market, and that is where possible new entrants should focus on.

"I don't see new entrants coming in but if they do, I see them going into partnership with existing telcos to develop new models in the data space because it will not be worth their while to make investments from scratch," he said.

In the opinion of the MTN Boss, the existing opportunities in the industry are not stand alone opportunities, but rather linked to existing services already being offered by existing telcos so it will not make economic sense for any new entrant to treat those services as niche.

Asked if MTN was considering buying out or merging with any of the existing telcos, he said that is a strategic decision which can only be taken based on factors such as the scope of the consolidation and what value is there to be derived from the new business that will emerge from the consolidation.

Caution

Ebenezer Asante cautioned that the fact that the environment is ripe for consolidation does not mean players should jump into that space immediately.

"There is need to consider what synergies are we going to make - what savings we are going to make - what optimizations we need to do at the network, IT, organizational, infrastructure and deployment levels," he said.

The MTN boss also asked "would consolidation mean you consolidate your assets to be able to derive better value from whatever eventual business you create out of the consolidation - once you have the benefit of these information then you can make a call," he said.

But Ebenezer Asante stated categorically that environment is ripe for consolidation and the process has started unofficially and soon it will be made official.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Folks, it is common knowledge that the battle cry of the NPP politicians and their buffs is that President Mahama is incompetent and must be voted down at Election 2016. That clarion call resonates only with them, not with those who have eyes to see what his government is doing to transform Ghana in line with the NDC's manifesto. Those with a genuine desire to see Ghana developed along the path of peace, love, and national unity see things differently. I am one of them; so should you be too if you love Ghana.

One of our Facebook good friends, Musa Kukar, says it all; and I reproduce his comments for purposes of buttressing my stance that retaining President Mahama and his government in office spells more good for Ghana than his political opponents can ever bring themselves down to admit. Here is Musa Kukar's eye-opener:

"I am afraid the NPP wants to lie to the good people of Ghana to get power. All revenue is so low because the NPP signed a killer contract with the oil companies. What is 7 per cent profit bring to the national coffers? But for the coming to power of NDC that 'kululu' contract agreement wouldn't have gone up to the 10 per cent. To worsen matters the price of crude oil is now $38 from over $130+ NPP will never bring anything better. Did Dr. Nkrumah not use state resources to build schools and industries? Yet (UP) NPP sympathizers demonized his rule. But after over 50 years we now know he loved our dear nation. He was a selfless leader unlike his opportunistic opponents who wanted to corner our common wealth. We have seen their evil politics."

A very good observation, good friend. Yours is a comment loaded with wisdom, I daresay to support my stance that merely wishing President Mahama "to go" just because he is what his opponents are not won't solve Ghana's problems. I am poised to prove why.

There is no perfect government anywhere in the world. What we have in Ghana has its ups-and-downs; but evidence strongly persuades me that it is up to the task, especially in laying the foundation for the take-off that we should expect in future. No country ever makes progress without a solid infrastructural base.

I am more than happy that President Mahama has focused on this aspect of governance and is using public funds to prove to the citizens that providing facilities for them is a sure step toward giving them the chance to uplift themselves. And, as he explained at Axim, the government won't be fixated on infrastructural development in its second term but on measures to improve livelihood, taking advantage of the infrastructural base already laid. What could be more re-assuring than this explanation?

Providing infrastructure comes with a huge price, though, which immediately manifests in the cost of living. And which the NPP rogue politicians are highlighting as the government's failure. Their tunnel-vision approach to politics won't let them see anything good in a party and government that they regard as their nemesis. But merely wishing that government out of the way won't pave the way for them to be in power. Their kind of pipe-dream is nauseating.

Ghanaians may be in want of instant gratification (which infrastructural development doesn't immediately provide---and which Akufo-Addo and his NPP are quick to snatch at in their bitter but misplaced bad-mouthing campaign); but if they look beyond today, they should see what some of us have seen to assuage all doubts, suspicions and apprehensions. Just as Nkrumah sought to do to move Ghana beyond where his opponents could bring it after orchestrating his overthrow, so also is the NDC administration bent to do (starting with Jerry Rawlings and moving on with Atta Mills and John Mahama).

I am more than persuaded that the NPP's battle cry is vacuous and dry. It sounds pleasing only to the ears of Akufo-Addo and his benighted buffs, not the segment of Ghanaians who appreciate what the government is doing. And they are in the majority to prove their worth at Election 2016.

Crying hoarsely all over the place and using "patapaa" to create the impression that Ghana is doomed under President Mahama won't wash with those genuinely seeing what is unfolding. And they are those hailing President Mahama all over the place. The video clips on his tour of the Western Region "to account to the people" are clearly indicative of the affection and appreciation shown by the beneficiaries of the projects so far undertaken by the government.

We wait to see how those in other parts of Ghana will react to him when he visits their communities to commiserate with them. A true leader walks every step of the way with the people.

I have read a news report quoting an Akufo-Addo supporter as saying that Akufo-Addo is not for "ordinary people". The last nail in his political coffin? In politics, any leader who moves along with the "ordinary people" wins hearts, minds, and thumbs at the polls because the "ordinary people" form the majority of the voter population. Only elitists of Akufo-Addo's type consider themselves as tin-gods to be feared. Scarecrows of his type are political dinosaurs with no place in the 21st century politics of our kind.

So, if the NPP people cry that "Mahama must go" and yet do not know how to reach out to the electorate to win their hearts, minds, and thumbs, what will they resort to? Mayhem!! Even, designing schemes to cheat their own people in internal elections to choose their Parliamentary candidates and flagbearer. Intimidation, arm-twisting, plain bullying, and murderous intentions reign supreme therein. Scarecrows scaring each other? Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaa!!

Folks, we admit that the Mahama-led administration has yet to have firm grips on the economy to turn it around; many other sectors of national life are yet to be controlled and problems tackled to our satisfaction. We must admit that the going has been tough; but the consolation is that the government hasn't been sleeping. That is why it is asking for its tenure to be renewed at Election 2016. I support it!!

That is why I am happy at the level of political mobilization going on, especially by the innovative approach dubbed "I Choose JM". I congratulate the brains behind this move and urge them to intensify their efforts. Clearly, video clips on their activities (the latest ones being the Kawo Kudi and Odododiodoo sessions in Accra) are heart-warming. Others are on course in other parts of the country. They tell me that the NDC is indeed a grassroots machine that knows how to mobilize support for its cause.

Flip the coin to see how the NPP people are doing their public outreach activities. Lectures upon lectures in narrow spaces, churning out abstractions, and vain promises, not to talk about depressing lies about governance. Such a stale political move rakes in nothing but absolute rejection at the polls. The only way for them to pursue power, then, will be recourse to the dark chambers of the Supreme Court. Well dodged!!

Liars, thieves, and murderers of their sort deserve no compassion. To rub more salt into their wound, let me tell them that they are nowhere near winning the hearts, minds and thumbs of Ghanaian voters. Until they provide better alternatives for building Ghana and taking it out of the woods, they will remain what they have been all these years---disgruntled, unfulfilled nay-sayers. Let them blow their own horns and enjoy the cacophony; but it wont place them in power. Merely wishing President Mahama to go is a desire to see a vacuum in governance. But it wont happen because Nature itself abhors vacuum.

I shall return
The Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States) supports the efforts of the African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to create a Roadmap Agreement for ending conflict in Sudan.

While we welcome the Government of Sudan's signing of the Roadmap agreement, we urge the Government to clarify its commitments regarding the inclusion of other relevant stakeholders in the National Dialogue and to uphold the results of any National Dialogue preparatory meetings arranged by the AUHIP between the 7+7 Committee and opposition groups. Once that is done, we would urge the Justice and Equality Movement, the Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), and the National Umma Party to sign the Roadmap. If agreed to by all parties to the conflicts, the AUHIP Roadmap could allow genuine political dialogue at both regional and national levels that is needed to address the underlying causes of the armed conflicts that have plagued Sudan for so long.

We are deeply concerned about the increase in fighting between Government forces and the SPLM-N in both Blue Nile and South Kordofan and urge both sides to show restraint and avoid ambushes, military offensives, rocket attacks, and aerial bombardments that negatively affect civilian populations. We call on both sides to renew their unilateral cessation of hostilities commitments and to fully respect those commitments in order to create a more conducive environment for implementation of the AUHIP Roadmap. There is no military solution to Sudan's conflicts. Further violence only serves to increase the suffering of the Sudanese people. The Troika countries call on all parties at conflict in Sudan to seize this opportunity to end the wars and find a path towards lasting peace.
African Union Commission (AUC) announces the arrival of its Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) in Chad republic. The Chairperson of African Union Commission (AUC), HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has decided to send this mission for the first round of 10th April 2016, presidential election in Chad, and consequently monitor and report on the progress of the electoral process in the country.

The mission, led by H.E. Dioncounda Traore, former Transition President of the Republic of Mali, includes 34 observers and is made up of ambassadors to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Pan- African Parliamentarians, leaders of elections management bodies, members of civil society and human rights. The observers come from 23 different countries, namely: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Seychelles, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

The Mission will monitor the progress of the electoral process in the light of relevant provisions of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance adopted in 2007 and entered into force in 2012, which aims to improve the electoral processes in Africa, strengthen electoral institutions and the conduct of fair, free and transparent elections ; the Declaration of the OAU / AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa 2002; AU Guidelines for observation missions and monitoring of elections of 2002 and other relevant international instruments governing the conduct of democratic elections in Africa, including the African Mechanism Peer Review. The observation will also build on the existing legal framework for the organization of the presidential election in the Republic of Chad.

To achieve its goal of making an independent, honest, professional and impartial observation based on transparency, integrity, fairness and election reliability , the Mission will meet with various political authorities, such as the institutions in charge of elections, the candidates, the Foreign Affairs Ministry , the Public Security Ministry, the Constitutional Court and civil society. The Mission will also interact with other Electoral Observation and Diplomatic Missions present in Chad.

After the elections, the Mission will present its preliminary findings on the conduct of the election and make recommendations during a press conference to be held on the 12th April 2016 at 14:00 hours at Hotel Kempinski in N'djamena. At the end of the electoral process, the AUEOM will issue a final report containing a detailed analysis of the conduct of the electoral process in the Republic of Chad.

The AUEOM arrived in Chad on the 6th of April 2016 and will stay there until the 14th April 2016.

The Mission's Secretariat is located at Kempinski hotel.

African Union Electoral Observation Mission thanked the authorities of the Republic of Chad for all the provisions that they are willing to make in order to facilitate our work on the field.
The National Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has waded into calls for the country to set up an independent committee to investigate and punish people found to have had a hand in the recent leakage of the WASSCE papers.

A statement signed and issued in Accra, Sunday, by the National Youth Organiser of the NPP, Sammy Awuku, said the group is deeply concerned about the negative repercussions such acts have on parents and students.

The statement notes that incident has implications for the very credibility of the countrys certificates internationally.

With the cancellation of the leaked papers imminent, parents who are already overburdened with high taxes and high utility bills would once again be forced to spend huge sums of money to prepare their wards to re-sit these papers, the statement in part read.

Below is the full statement:

PROBE WASSCE LEAKAGE

The National Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is deeply concerned about the shameful perennial leakage of exam papers conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) at all levels within our educational system.

As a wing, we are deeply concerned about the negative repercussions such acts have on parents, students in particular and the very credibility of our certificates internationally.

With the cancellation of the leaked papers imminent, parents who are already overburdened with high taxes and high utility bills would once again be forced to spend huge sums of money to prepare their wards to re-sit these papers.

Again, the inconvenience caused to our mostly hardworking students cannot in anyway be quantified. Both parents and students are forced to pay for the negligence of public officials.

It is also shocking to note that in spite of this perennial challenge, there appears to be no concrete measure from officialdom to halt this disgraceful act. Rather, what we witness year after year is the shifting of goal posts deliberately calculated at distancing those whose duty it is to protect the integrity of such exams from any form of blame.

With the overall effect such examination leakage has on our overall development as a country, the National Youth Wing of the NPP adds its voice to calls for an independent committee to thoroughly investigate the matter and bring the culprits to book.

We sympathise with parents and our hardworking students for the inconvenience caused by the negligence of officials of WAEC.

Thank you

Signed

Sammi Awuku

(National Youth Organizer)
El-Fasher (Sudan) (AFP) - The war-scarred Sudanese region of Darfur voted Monday in a referendum on its future status despite international criticism and a boycott by rebel groups.

Despite ongoing unrest in areas, President Omar al-Bashir -- wanted on war crimes charges related to the 13-year conflict -- has insisted voting go ahead on whether to unite Darfur's five states into a single region or maintain the status quo.

A united Darfur with greater autonomy has long been a demand of ethnic minority insurgents battling the Sudanese government since 2003, but they have boycotted the referendum, saying it is unfair.

The United States has also voiced concerns, warning that "if held under current rules and conditions, a referendum on Darfur cannot be considered a credible expression of the will of the people".

Voting got underway at 9:00 am (0600 GMT), with a slow early trickle of people coming to cast their ballots at polling stations guarded by armed police and decorated with posters urging a strong showing.

"All polling centres in Darfur's five states opened and no centre has encountered any difficulties," said Omar Ali Jomaa, head of the referendum electoral commission.

"It is too early to assess the turnout."

The state's governor Abduwahid Yousif voted early at a centre in an area mostly inhabited by government employees, where nearly 100 women were waiting to cast ballots.

Outside one of the booths in a station at a camp for the displaced on the edge of the town, resident Fathiya Adam Hassan had just voted.

"I voted for a single region, I want a one region to solve Darfur's problems," the 38-year-old said.

Searching for her name on a list of registered voters outside the health centre where voting was taking place, Samia Haroun said she supported a five-state system, the choice favoured the ruling National Congress Party.

"I want the five states, I want that choice to win," she said.

At other locations, only a handful of residents came to vote in the first hours of the referendum.

- International concerns -

Darfur was a single region until 1994 when the government split it into three states, adding another two in 2012, claiming it would make local government more efficient.

The vast western region has been mired in conflict since 2003 when ethnic minority insurgents rebelled against Bashir's Arab dominated government over claims they were marginalising them.

Rebels have long demanded a return to the single-region system but say current unrest and the high number of people in camps for the displaced mean the vote will not be fair and are boycotting.

Despite Washington's concerns, Sudan insists the timing is appropriate and that there has been high interest in the vote.

The referendum commission says "3,583,105 out of 4,588,300 entitled to register" have signed up, a figure that cannot be verified because of limited press access to Darfur.

In response to the rebellion in 2003, Bashir launched a brutal counter insurgency combining the use of ground troops, allied militia and air power, and was indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Bashir denies all charges.

In addition to the millions of displaced, at least 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict, the UN says, although Khartoum puts the death toll closer to 10,000.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

"....Clearly, in 2016, 59 years after Ghana's independence, we would expect the Ghana Police Service to appreciate the "scientific reality" that operationally, 100 crimes in Upper West can never be the same as 100 crimes in the Ashanti Region..., even if those crimes were all of the same type, and they each occurred on the same date and time... Or maybe, IGP Kudalor and the Police Service want to propose that Ghanaians are so stupid and dumb they will never appreciate simple and useful metrics..." (Prof Lungu, 1 Apr 16).

In a comment on Ms. Afua Amoadu's article about citizen's ratings of their own political leaders (from Russia to Bolivia, to Ghana, etc.), Mr. Bond, identified a failing he characterized as "intellectual deficiency syndrome". Again, this essay and the series it represents is about leaders with twisted versions of history and deficit of intellect and critical-thinking skills. It is about intentionally cruel, absent-mindedness about the value of transparency and accountability to the business of the citizens of Ghana that the political and administrative elites claim to represent today.

Much has recently been said, and made, of the error-ridden Ghana @59 Independence Day Anniversary brochure. Again, Dr. Omane Boamah and Mr Mahama owe Ghanaians a better explanation as to who knew what, when, how, why, and how much.

To the point: The errors in the brochure are not for the leader of Kenya to approve, disapprove, or accept, as Mr. Mahama have sought to transfer acceptance and responsibility.

But these essays are not about the single case of error-ridden brochure. No, the essays are about the general lack of attention to detail in communicative media and artifacts by Ghanaian officials at all levels of power and officialdom, all functionaries paid with taxes to provide the best in governance for Ghanaians.

In fact, we spoke briefly about that deficit in our 3-part series, "Prof. Amoako Baah's Teaching is Almost Useless". Even today, after vacating as the "Head" of the Political Science Department at KNUST for reason(s) unknown, that departments website remains as pathetic as the week we completed that series back in May, 2015, when Professor Amoako-Baah was the titular "Head" of that department.

So, more often than not, our laughter at gross "communicative accidents" turns to grief when we remember that the people responsible for those "errors and accidents" are the same people representing Ghana at the highest echelons of international power and business. Increasingly, those singular "errors and accidents" have turned into perpetual walls of shame, a nauseous, fetid pool of non-performance, arrogance, mis-management, and shirking of responsibility. As a result, Ghana losses not only prestige, but also resources, however measured.

Many times, we've wondered whether only a few Ghanaian officials at the highest echelons of political and administrative power actually earned 4-year college degrees, the equivalent of the bachelor's, worthy of the parchment paper they were printed on.

Forget about Master degrees!

Forget about the terminal degrees.

Regularly, we are not sure publications and speeches approved by many Ghanaians officials reflect on the probability that those officials took and actually passed foundation courses in English, History, Biology, Mathematics, Economics, Psychology, Political Science, Business, Communications, Law, Sociology, Philosophy, Geography, Public Administration, and Statistics, etc., beyond the typical American/English grade school curriculum.

So, tell Ghana, how will those officials understand complex proposals and issues when they are sitting next to armies of the best "working stiffs" with Master's and Ph.D. degrees. You know, "working stiffs" from Canada, to UK, to France, to China, to India, to Germany, and so forth. Typically, these professionals come with 10-40 years actual work experience in all manner of modern government agencies and enterprises, from banking, to commerce, to the academy, to the military, to law, to security, oil and gas, to telecommunications, to politics, to development management, etc.).

Fact is, you simply cannot run a country professionally in the 21st Century if officials are weak individually and as groups in all those basic areas of scholarship, business, information, and critical thinking.

None of Mr. Mahama's "Divine Intervention" apply here, however loud and boastful you may pray!

No "Sika Duro" or Antoa deity ever worked in the halls of business and government, except in the minds of the gullible and confused, and the happy pockets to the pimps of religion and fantasy!

But, there is reality.

And reality is typically measurable through observation, data, and analyses!

Even so, in the eyes of many concerned observers, there is precious little evidence that when selfless individuals and other informed "commenters" present "cogent points borne out of their genuine desires" to see Ghana develop, that those same officials responsible for making the most egregious errors and mistakes, do little more than "listen".

Problem is, there is not even much for us to hang our hats on, to suppose that mant top echelon officials actually read the many comments, and even less, that they act to correct the record the next time around.

Forget about expecting them to reply to any suggestion/comment.

Take the case of the Ghana Police Service and their 18 Mar 16 annual "Wassa get-together report" detailing the incidence of crimes in Ghana, a nation of 27 million people disaggregated into 10 administrative "Regions".

According to the 2010 census, there were 702,110 people in Upper West Region, to a high 4,780,380, in the Ashanti Region.

Clearly, in 2016, 59 years after Ghana's independence, we would expect the Ghana Police Service to appreciate the "scientific reality" that operationally, 100 crimes in Upper West can never be the same as 100 crimes in the Ashanti Region or any other Region, even if those crimes were all of the same type, and they each occurred on the same date and time.

The Ghana Police Service ought not report those numbers as if they were all the same nominally. They ought not report those numbers as if they had equal impact on the work for which they receive their salaries, as if the impact of those crimes on citizens' sense of personal safety and goodwill to the Police Service would be the same in every region, city, town, and village, etc., with respect to those crimes.

It does not work that way!

So, when we finished reading the "Wassa" account on several media, our theory of convenience that practically none of the officials from the Ghana Police Service probably took a course in criminal justice, criminology, or basic statistics, (or passed those courses if they took them), was confirmed.

According to one report:

"... Present at the (Wassa) event was the IGP, Mr John Kudalor...The Ghana Police Service...revealed that it handled a total of 525 murder cases across the country in 2015. The figure is lower than the number recorded in 2014 and 2013  543 and 551, respectively. With regards to rape, complaints rose from 484 in 2013 to 514 in 2014, before dipping to 451 in 2015...narcotic cases had recorded marginal increases...Overall, the general crime rate reduced by 2.2 per cent in 2015, which recorded 4,715 cases, down from 4,738 in 2014 and 4,845 in 2013...".

Question is, who says what, IGP Kudalor?

Did it ever occur to the Ghana Police Service that to be useful in any sense for the period reported, they need to normalize their raw data by the size of the population in the aggregate, and by the size of the population in the various Regions? That is the smart way to make that type of data useful to Ghanaians and the Ghana Police Service, itself.

That is how it is done where there are "scientific-thinking heads".

Or, maybe IGP Kudalor and the Ghana Police Service want argue that the population of Ghana is the same today in all regions, as it was in 2015, as it was in 2014, as it was in 2013, as it was in 2012, etc.

Or maybe, IGP Kudalor and the Police Service want to propose that Ghanaians are so stupid and dumb they will never appreciate simple and useful metrics such as, there were:

10 homicides per 1,000 of the population in the entire country, compared to ____ homicides per 1,000 of the population in ___ year

25 marijuana arrests, per 1,000 of the population in this region with Y population, versus _____ per 1,000 of the population in ___ that Region

100 assaults per 1,000 of the population in this city with Y population compared to that city, and that city that had ________ per 1,000 of the population

50 reported cases of bribery by 250 police officer in Region X, compared to ______ reported bribery cases in Region Y.

Surely, this is not the first time someone has proposed this common "scientific" approach by way of a critique of Ghana Police Service annual "Wassa data" release.

So, what exactly is the problem with the Ghana Police Service?

Or, is it that they "listen", a la Mr. Omane Boamah, but that they just do not care?

When will the Ghana Police Service stop wasting the Peoples' time and resources on foolish, uneducated chatter and reports?

When, we must ask directly, will the Ghana Police Service start arresting this nagging, persistent "intellectual deficiency syndrome"?

Hasn't Ghana grown up since some among the leadership of the Ghana Police Service (IGP Nunoo, for example), took up the traitor banner and deposed Dr. Kwame Nkrumah 59 years ago?

Respectfully, Ghana Police Service "Wassa-Up" mo' better!

Try again!

Try harder!

Then come again!

So it goes, Ghana!

SOURCES:

1. Afua Amoadu. Mahama listed among 3 top rated presidents in the world - Rejoinder, 20 March, 2016. ( http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=424636&comment=12807685/ ).

2. Ghanaweb. Omane-Boamah breaks silence on error-ridden brochure, 11 March, 2016, ( http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Omane-Boamah-breaks-silence-on-error-ridden-brochure-422611/ ).

3. 525 murder cases recorded in 2015  Police, 19 March, 2016. ( http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=424538/ ).

4. Prof Lungu. Prof. Amoako Baah's Teaching is Almost Useless (1-2.3), 10 May, 2015, ( http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Prof-Amoako-Baah-s-Teaching-is-Almost-Useless-1-2-3-357578/ ).

5. Prof Lungu. Ghana's Youth Against Gerontocracy, Religion, Critical Thinking! 11 May, 2013, ( http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Ghana-s-Youth-Against-Gerontocracy-Religion-Critical-Thinking-273654/ ).

Join in/Sign on: Fair-Trade Oil Share Ghana (FTOS-Gh/PSA)

( https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa/ )

www.GhanaHero.com . Visit for more information.

(Read Mo! Listen Mo! See Mo! Reflect Mo!).

Prof Lungu is Ghana-Centered/Ghana-Proud.

Prof Lungu is based in Washington DC, USA.

Subj: Kwame Nkrumah's Offsprings Now More Illiterate?: The Case of Ghana Police Service.

Brought to you courtesy of www.GhanaHero.com10 Apr 16.
A 34-year-old mason is standing trial for allegedly reconnecting power to his house after he had been disconnected twice by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

He is alleged to have stolen power worth more than GH7,000.

The accused person, Joseph Kanitey, a resident of Kwabenya, near Accra, has been charged with intentionally interfering with power, stealing power and unlawfully damaging an ECG distribution cable valued at GH400.

After his charges were read to him in court, he pleaded guilty to the first two counts and not guilty to the last count.

Based on his plea, the District Utility Court in Accra, presided over by Mr Wolanyo Kotoku, levied a fine of 60 penalty units, representing GH720, for the first count and GH500 for the second.

The case was adjourned to April 30, 2016 where the trial on the third count is expected to continue.

Facts of the case

The Manager in charge of Prosecutions at the ECG, Mr Paul Assibi Abariga, told the court that Kanitey was arrested on January 15, 2016 by some officials of the Revenue Protection Unit of the ECG during their regular field investigations.

He said the ECG officials detected that Kanitey, who had been disconnected earlier for non-payment of electricity bills, had reconnected the power directly into his room, bypassing the meter in the compound house.

Kanitey, he said, was disconnected by the ECG and served with a summons letter to report at the ECG office but he failed to do so.

Subsequently, Mr Abariga said the whole house was disconnected from the main electricity pole, but the other tenants were advised to rewire the house to ensure that Kanitey was left out.

Aggrieved Kanitey is said to have engaged the services of an electrician who terminated power supply to the house, thereby damaging the cable from the pole to the house.

Mr Abariga said Kanitey was billed GH7,547,78 and had since paid GH4,000 out of the amount.

Writer's email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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11.04.2016 LISTEN

He trucks among the cynical pack, and so it is quite understandable that Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah would be advocating for the doubling of the salaries of Members of Parliament (See Ghanas MPs Are Poor  Kan-Dapaah Starrfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 4/7/16). The reasons that the former Interior Minister under the Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) gives for his call, however, do not have legs to stand on. For instance, Mr. Kan-Dapaah thinks that doubling the salaries of MPs would make them more effective. The fact of the matter, even as Mr. Alban Bagbin, the Parliamentary Majority Leader, pointed out is decidedly structural; it fundamentally has to do with a woefully defective Constitution that affords any sitting President too much powers and the Legislature relatively too little of the same.

Consequently, agreeing with the rather lame ratiocinative approach taken by Mr. Kan-Dapaah, the NPP-MP for Afigya-Sekyere, in the Asante Region, would be tantamount to pouring millions of gallons of water into a wicker basket. Then also, Prof. Mike Oquaye, the retired NPP-MP for Dome-Kwabenya, in the Greater-Accra Region, hit the right chord when he decried the hybrid culture of Parliament, whereby the overwhelming majority of cabinet appointees also doubled as MPs. Again, this anomaly is also a structural problem having to do with a deeply flawed constitutional instrument of governance. I have discussed this before and hereby add my voice, one more time, to that of the former University of Ghanas Law School Dean. In short, in allowing some MPs to double as Cabinet appointees, the entire functionally salutary notion of checks and balances among the three traditional branches of government, namely, the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary is seriously compromised.

But even more significant, Mr. Kan-Dapaah may want to take a cue from trained legal professionals like Mr. Samuel Atta-Akyea, the NPP-MP for Akyem-Abuakwa South, who also maintains an active legal practice even as he represents his constituents in Parliament. The question of whether he has been an effective representative of his people is a different subject for another column altogether. In other words, as a Chartered Public Accountant (CPA), nothing prevents the Afigya-Sekyere MP from practicing his trade as an honest means of supplementing his salary. Reducing the number of MPs currently serving in our august National Assembly may be a very good idea, but the purpose of such numerical retrenchment ought not to be on the cynical basis of using the monetary savings resulting therefrom to double the salaries of MPs who retain their seats in the process; that is morally reprehensible, to say the least.

If Mr. Kan-Dapaah sincerely believes that parliamentarians like himself are poorly paid, by all means, let him try the job of a Ghanaian public schoolteacher. I would rather have whatever savings are made in the process of reducing the number of MPs serving in our National Assembly used for the payment of the outstanding arrears owed our public schoolteachers all over the country. Ghanaian public workers and officials who receive their wages and salaries on a timely basis, like our parliamentarians, ought to be thankful and grateful for their good fortune and stop obnoxiously and greedily exaggerating their functional significance in the scheme of our national life and existence. After all, how many teachers are afforded the generous housing allowances, quadrennial auto-loans (which are actually grants) and the whopping bonuses terminally afforded our parliamentarians at the expense of the economic comfort of average Ghanaian taxpayers, including our teachers?

Part of the problem also stems from the fact that professionally trained chartered accountants like Mr. Kan-Dapaah would so facilely opt to make a full- and long-term career out of partisan politics, rather than use their remarkable professional skills to facilitate the development of employment opportunities for our youths and those in dire need of occupational assistance.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Donald Trumps defining characteristic is an obsession with winning. Trump makes no bones about this. This has been the theme of his life, his books, his ventures, and, now, his politics.

And yet few commentators, few of his rivals (to their detriment), and few of his adversaries seems to be paying attention. Their attacks on Trump have been aimed at places Trump does not much care about and thus do not rattle him. He cares about winning. Period.

Trump is determined to win at anything and everything. He is determined to win irrespective of the stakes, big or small. He is determined to win irrespective of his opponent. He is determined to win irrespective of the rules and is willing to commit infractions, even personal fouls, so long as they are likely to be advantageous to winning.

(As for personal fouls Ted Cruz could send Trump a box of chocolates and a thank you note, apply a little judo, and start referring to himself Lion Ted Cruz.)

Trumps not a bad man.

Trumps a man obsessed.

Obsessed with winning.

Many years ago, when I was a young lawyer in Albany, New York, I read an article in a legal newspaper about the controversial Roy Cohn. The reporter asked Cohn (with a certain innuendo) about his ethics. To which Cohen replied, My personal ethics is to win.

This was less cynical than it sounds out of context. The article described how often the plaintiff's and defendants attorneys would come out of the courthouse to go off to drinks together. Cohn stood aloof from such socialization feeling that it might cause him to pull his punches on behalf of his clients, for whom he held an unwavering duty, and commitment, to win.

Cohn was a key advisor to Trump during the crucial early stages of Trumps emergence as a force to be reckoned with. Obsession with winning has its own costs. In Village Voice reporter Wayne Barretts magisterial 1992 biography of Trump, titled Trump , Barrett reports that Trump repeatedly, including to reporters, called Cohn his best friend.

And then Roy Cohn began to die.

Cohn was dying, covertly, of AIDS. This was an illness then with enormous social stigma. Not something that could add to ones negotiating leverage.

Barrett:



While Cohn told Trump and the rest of the world he had cancer, everyone knew, from the fall of 1984 to his death in 1986, that AIDS was killing him. Though Cohn was struggling to maintain his practice, Donald quickly began withdrawing work from him, wounding and outraging the bulldog lawyer who was using his vast array of connections to secure every form of experimental treatment. I cant believe hes doing this to me,' Roy complained. Donald pisses ice water.

Barretts Trump is an extensive, meticulously detailed, and mesmerizing account of Donald Trumps obsession with winning. Whoever sat across the negotiating table from Trump  strangers, rivals, friends, allies, business partners, bankers, politicians, officials, relatives, even his then-wife Ivana, found him resourceful, relentless, and even ruthless in seeking to win everything at every turn.

An obsession with winning is Trumps most fundamental characteristic. It has an elemental quality. Call him the Red Sanders candidate:

Winning isnt everything; its the only thing.

Where others might be constrained by social convention Trump accepts no such constraints. His obsession with winning is complete. R eprised here:

As the Washington Posts Francis Stead Sellers astutely reported in What Trump Learned On The Apprentice: From the time they spent with Trump on and off the set, contestants recall a talented performer  and one who was deeply concerned with how he was perceived by others. Just as Trump today speaks frequently of his poll numbers, so, too, was he consumed by ratings. On a morning after The Apprentice lost to a rival Fox show, American Idol, Solovey visited Trump to introduce him to his fiancee  and found the usually ebullient businessman slumped at his desk. It was the only time I saw him totally downcast and dejected, said Solovey.

In some ways recognizing Trumps obsession with winning (slightly) softens his persona. It might give solace (some anyway) to those afraid of or appalled by him. I elsewhere have described Trump to be, much like me, a galoot, not a hater. There is not a scintilla of evidence that Trump is a creature of evil who takes pleasure from inflicting pain. Rather the contrary.

Outside of win-lose situations Trump consistently is reported to be a good guy. When negotiating for advantage, however, he turns feral.

Trumps rivals, such as Ted Cruz, and his antagonists, like MoveOn Civic Action (which has lost control of the narrative to Trump), would benefit by getting a better grip on who, and what, they are dealing with. As Saul Alinsky famously wrote in Rules for Radicals, The standards of judgment must be rooted in the whys and wherefores of life as it is lived, the world as it is, not our wished-for fantasy of the world as it should be.

Trump is what he is. Anyone confronting him who does not recognize him for what he is puts himself, or herself, at a severe disadvantage.

Donald Trump's obsession with winning has political implications. It helps predict his likely next moves. He already is establishing a framework to question the rules of the Republican convention to attempt to de-legitimize them and rewrite new rules in his favor. As Karl Rove recently pointed out in his Wall Street Journal column :

At the March 10 Republican debate in Miami, Donald Trump said I think that whoever gets the most delegates should winmeaning that if no candidate holds a majority at the GOPs Cleveland convention, the nomination should go to whoever has a plurality. A majority, The Donald said, is an artificial number that was set by somebody. But decrying the use of what he called a very random number is not just whining; it is a demand for radical change. How radical? The rule that the Republican nominee must win a majority of the national convention has been in force for 160 years, since the partys first convention in 1856 .

Attack the rules? Donald Trump can be expected to be relentless in employing any tactics that he thinks will help him win. The Marquess of Queensberry Rules do not constrain Trump. Anyone who accepts such constraints will be at a tactical disadvantage.

Also it is useful to understand that an obsession with winning surely explains a large measure of Trumps appeal, so far, to a plurality of Republican voters. It helps explain his draw with independents and blue-collar Democrats.

America is slogging through a second decade of what I have called The Little Dark Age of economic austerity. Trump describes this in more elemental terms: We dont win any more. Its a frequent leitmotif to his promise to Make America Great Again. The message we dont win any more resonates with people, especially working families, who have been struggling to break even and, in many cases, losing ground for well over a decade.

People enjoy even vicarious wins  hence the multi-billion dollar NFL. They also, even more, wish to start winning again personally. A plurality of voters has chosen Trump in hope that his obsession with winning is transferable, as promised, to America and to them. The jury is out but it might be true.

This is a strong marquee campaign narrative. It is one that has gone unrivaled.

Trumps narrative is unrivaled by Hillary Clintons campaign theme. Winning, in the minds of many voters, trumps fairness.

None of this predetermines that Donald Trump will gain the Republican nomination or the presidency. Advantage Trump but that nomination isnt in his pocket yet. Cruz, who has experienced one of the most meteoric rises in politics, is formidable. He has shown that he too can be resourceful, relentless, and ruthless in pursuit of the presidency.

Recognizing his obsession with winning does not vilify the elemental Donald Trump. Trump makes no pretense otherwise. Politics, for all its usual pretense of aspiration to service, always has been about winning or losing the prize of office.

The presidency is the big prize (although one that Trump might more enjoy winning than owning). Donald Trump is obsessive about winning every deal, small and big. For better or worse Trumps defining characteristic is his obsession with winning.

Game on. Campaign accordingly.

Originating at Forbes.com
In northern Somalia, UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) are stepping up efforts to help communities cope with a severe drought exacerbated by El Nino conditions in Somaliland and Puntland.

The two agencies have adopted a unified response to halt the deteriorating food insecurity and rising malnutrition in the affected areas, by providing an integrated package of life-saving humanitarian assistance. This includes food assistance, nutrition programmes, and health services, as well as support to help communities access safe water and improve sanitation and hygiene conditions. Amid rising school dropouts and forced migration, the focus is also on keeping children in schools and protecting them from family separation, violence and abuse.

The communities have lived through four successive poor rainy seasons. Their ability to cope with the drought has been stretched to the limit, said UNICEF Representative for Somalia, Steven Lauwerier. Our concerted efforts are needed now to save the lives of tens of thousands of children and their families. Any delay from the international community will put their lives further at risk of hunger and disease.

In addition to increased malnutrition cases and enrollment in nutrition programmes in the most affected areas, malnutrition-related deaths have been reported in areas such as Awdal region bordering Ethiopia. In response, UNICEF is strengthening services at community level, deploying joint mobile health and nutrition teams to reach pastoral and other hard-to-reach groups. Malnourished children will receive an essential package of primary health care interventions, including emergency immunization. UNICEF is also providing 50,000 households with access to safe water via vouchers in the affected areas, and have repaired seven boreholes.

The people of Somalia know all too well the dangers of drought, but a drought does not have to mean a disaster  the world must recognize that we can save lives if we act in time, said WFP Country Director Laurent Bukera. It is absolutely critical that we are able to sustain assistance to the people affected by this crisis, so we can stem the damage of undernutrition for mothers and children before it has lifelong consequences.

So far, WFP's emergency response has provided food assistance and nutrition support for 147,000 vulnerable people in the areas worst affected by the drought, and WFP continues to provide food or cash-based assistance to help families make it through the dry season. Together, the two agencies provide specialized nutrition support to prevent and treat malnutrition in pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children.

Emergency health supplies have also been pre-positioned in regional hospitals, health facilities and with partners to support the response. In Puntland, UNICEF pre-positioned nutrition supplies, including 500 cartons of BP-5  a high energy biscuit. In Somaliland, 15,000 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) were provided to the Ministry of Health.

With thousands of children at risk of dropping out of school due to the drought, the two agencies are also working together to keep children and teachers in schools, and prevent exposure of children to the risks of family separation, early marriage, child labour and abuse. This is particularly pertinent as families continue to be forced into migration, in search of food, aid, and pasture for their livestock.

The UN has appealed for US$105 million to provide humanitarian and livelihood assistance to some 1.7 million people, most of them pastoralists and agro-pastoralists who make up three quarters of the population in Somaliland and Puntland. Among them, 385,000 need immediate assistance, while another 1.3 million are on the brink of slipping into a deeper crisis if rains continue to fail and aid is too slow to come.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Introduction

The phrase "tantamount to" is found in many genres of usage in English as a Second Language (ESL). In Ghana, it is mostly pronounced in legal and political communication. While it is rightly used by some lawyers and journalists, it is equally abused by other legal and media practitioners. LANGUAGE AGENDA, therefore, sees the need to examine the phrase as a birthday gift to one of the most celebrated Senior Journalists in Ghana, Mr. A. C. Ohene of TV Africa.

Meaning

"Tantamount to" means "equivalent to", "amount to", "at par with", "commensurate with, and "along the lines of."

Lexical Category

"Tantamount" is an adjective, which is often in the predicative position. This implies that "tantamount" with its appropriate preposition "to" comes after a linking verb - also known as a verb of state - in a sentence. Examples of such verbs are "be", "become", "appear", "seem".

Usage

Ideally, "tantamount to" is used in negative contexts. Examples:

* Greeting an elderly person while standing is TANTAMOUNT TO disrespect in Dagbon.

* Insults are TANTAMOUNT TO punishable crimes in Asanteman.

* Western imposition of homosexuality on African nations is TANTAMOUNT TO cultural imperialism.

* White Supremacy is TANTAMOUNT TO disrespect for racial equality.

Etymology

Etymology is a branch of Linguistics that deals with origins of words. Etymologically, "tantamount" is from the Anglo - French phrase "tantamunter." According to Merriam - Webster Dictionary, this phrase means "to amount to as much." "Tantamunter" too comes from the old French words "tant" meaning "so much" or "as much" and "amunter" meaning "to ascend" or "to add up."

When "tantamount" first entered the English lexicon between 16th and 17th centuries, it had verb and noun versions. However, the adjectival form is the only one commonly used in modern times.

Conclusion

It is instructive to state that although a synonym of "tantamount to", the phrase "amount to" is a verb. This way, it is more likely to constitute a source of confusion and misuse if a user is NOT careful. On the basis of this explanation, the following construction may NOT be entertained in modern usage:

* "Seeking to assault the pillars of power TANTAMOUNTS TO subversion."

In modern usage, this construction - authored by one of the finest brains in Academia and Politics and published by a leading daily newspaper in Ghana recently - should be:

* Seeking to assault the pillars of power IS TANTAMOUNT TO subversion. (Adjective).

Or

* Seeking to assault the pillars of power AMOUNTS TO subversion. (Verb).

Allah is the Best Grammarian.

NOTE: In honour of the Host of MEDIA TODAY, Senior Journalist A. C. Ohene of TV Africa on the occasion of celebrating his birthday. Happy Birthday to my Host, Senior, and Mentor.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Accra To cement its resilient network reputation, Vodafone Ghana,has issued an open invitation to Ghanaians to move to its network and experience top notch Voice clarity,3G+ internet speedand value-driven packages.

The porting campaign dubbed #MOVE is a special opportunity for non-Vodafone customers to move to the company for better treatment and service.

Since entering Ghanas telecom sector in 2008, Vodafone has invested over US$700million to improve its technology infrastructure in line with current trends. The robust network has increased Vodafones capacity to accommodate more customers who switch to the network for world-class service and value for money.

Commenting on the packages available for new customers, Agnes Emefa-Essah, Director of Marketing at Vodafone Ghana said:

In every competitive telecommunications environment worldwide, the network is the key differentiator. For us at Vodafone, our network and superior offerings are our differentiators. Customers everywhere are welcome to port to Vodafone to experience a unique service. It is our bold commitment to the people of this country.

Vodafones network resilience and stability, was endorsed by a 2015 report by independent consulting firm P3, which ranked it as the best in voice clarity, accessibility and 3G+ internet speed. The research measured parameters including call set-up, speech quality as well as downloads and uploads speed.
This is not the first time that elements belonging to the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) have prevent Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia from delivering a public lecture in the Volta Region. These persistent attempts by NDC operatives to effectively bar some leaders of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) from electioneering campaign tours of the region may have to be promptly taken up for serious deliberation on the floor of Parliament. Absolutely no region or district in Ghana is the especial preserve of any one particular political party (See We Didnt Prevent Bawumias Lecture  NDC Citifmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 3/16/16).

Not very long ago, the running-mate of the NPP Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, was prevented from delivering an electioneering campaign address in Ho, the Volta regional capital. The venue for the event was riotously besieged by some youthful thugs shilling for the local National Democratic Congress leadership. Here, too, top officials of the Volta Regions NDC came public, after the fact, to vehemently deny that any such design to disrupt the lecture delivery by the former Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Ghana had been engineered by the accused.

In the Ho incident, we were obliquely told that the scrapping of Dr. Bawumias address was in retaliation for a similar one in Kumasi, during which Mr. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa had been prevented from giving a presentation to some disgruntled teacher trainees who were disaffected by the presence of the latter and Dr. Edward Omane-Boamah and another junior cabinet appointee, if I recall accurately, because President Mahama had taken the drastically unconscionable decision of withdrawing age-old stipends and training allowances paid these educators-in-training.

In the latest incident, we are told that the Oxbridge-educated economist had had his scheduled lecture at the Dambai College of Education summarily cancelled because some Abongo Boys, and perhaps Abongo Girls as well, did not like the fact that a significant aspect of the lecture aimed to spotlight the promise of an Akufo-Addo/Bawumia governments promise to restore the scrapped stipends and allowances of these teacher trainees. Then there was the recent Bawumia lecture presentation at which some NDC operatives unsuccessfully attempted to divert the attention of attendees with cups of gari or grated and roasted cassava grains. It was the most obscene political gesture yet  strikingly akin to the sticking out of the thumb that had been staged by elements doing the dirty work of President John Dramani Mahama.

As of this writing, the Gonja petty chieftain was widely reported to be traipsing the Volta Region and sneeringly asking eligible and potential voters to name a single project that the leaders of the main opposition New Patriotic Party have undertaken in the region for their quality-of-life improvement. Well, I am not living in Ghana presently and have never lived in the Volta Region, but I can readily name the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which NDC leaders like Mr. Mahama and his late boss, President John Evans Atta-Mills, vehemently pooh-poohed as a practical impossibility but today are the schemes most prominent and avid beneficiaries! President Kufuor has also mentioned the ultra-modern auditorium of the Ho Polytech Institute, the latters ICT center and the Hohoe-Dambai Highway and the Keta Sea Defense levees. I am quite certain that there are many others that I may not be aware of.

That the Mahama-led NDC government has so poorly managed the National Health Insurance Scheme as to threaten the viability and long-term survival of the same, is what these Volta-resident eligible voters ought to be thinking about come November 7, when they enter the polling booth to determine who steers their socioeconomic and political affairs for the next four years.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
Hundreds of women in small-scale oil palm extraction business in the Aboasa-Akwamu of the Eastern region have benefited from an oil palm processing machine.

The machine was acquired through the support of Tigos Community Champion programme launched in 2013 to address the peculiar needs of various communities across the country.

Traditionally, the production of palm oil was done manually by the women of the Aboasa community and as a result they could only produce a few gallons a day after a very lengthy process. The smoke from the various processes of cooking the palm fruits and extracting the oil was also dangerous to their health and wellbeing.

Commissioning the project, Tigos Director for Customer Operations and Acting Director for Tigo Business, Stephen Essien, said as an initiative, Community Champions had been a resounding success. It had responded to the various needs of several communities.

We know that women in rural areas face persistent challenges in access to resources, knowledge and services, therefore responding to their plea for an oil palm processing machine was a step in the right direction. We are confident that the new processing machine will change the lives of the women and children who essentially depend on agriculture for their livelihood, he said.

He emphasised that in providing quality and reliable access to communication services to Ghanaians, Tigo remains committed to fostering improved living standards in the communities where it operates.

The Chief of Aboasa, Nana Minta IV, was excited about the new processing machine and was optimistic it will boost employment opportunities for the women and men in the community.

Since it was launched in 2013, several projects have been undertaken as part of the Community Champions programme. They include the donation of 100 bicycles to Family for Organised Lives (FFOL); renovation of the Tafo Maternity Unity, provision of potable water to Dawurampong in the Central region and donation of hospital equipment to the Keta government hospital.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

It is an election year, where citizens get the chance to exercise their rights of franchise in (re)electing a leader for the country. From 28 April, 2016, the Ghana Electoral Commission is beginning a limited voter registration exercise. Yet, for a deliberate action by the government (and its representatives in foreign missions), many Ghanaians abroad may not be able to participate fully and fairly in the 2016 elections. It is an established fact that the Representative of People Act (ROPA) has not been given attention by the Electoral Commission since it became law. But, that is not my focus in this article.

For more than three months, Ghanaians in many countries abroad (particularly those outside West Africa) who have wanted to renew or acquire new Ghanaian passports for various reasons (including travelling to partake in the limited registration exercise) have not been able to do so. For instance, any citizen who attempts to acquire or renew passports in the United Kingdom is greeted with the message that: the Ghana High Commission informs all applicants for Ghana passport that it is currently experiencing operational difficulties which has adversely affected processing of Ghana passports. Efforts are in place to rectify the problem as soon as practicable.

In the USA, a similar message is displayed that: The Passport Office at the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC, hereby informs applicants for Ghanaian Passports that, due to technical challenges, the issuance of Passports is temporarily on hold with effect from December 2015. While we work tirelessly to resolve these challenges, the Embassy takes this opportunity to express our sincere apologise for this inconvenience.

Indeed, many are speculating that the problem causing the passport shortage is more political than the technical explanations provided by the Missions abroad. Whether this is true or not is still unknown but two main reasons back this assertion. The first is the very blame game going on with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Controller and Accountant General Department. Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement to acknowledge the situation and attributed it to a shortage of machine readable passports, which it blamed the Controller and Accountant General for failing to supply them on time.

But the Controller and Accountant General Department has also come out to deny any wrong doing with the assurance that everything is right at their outfitand they actually have stocks available. So, what is this technical challenge which is beyond the control of the missions and the foreign affairs ministry to continue to delay issuing and/or renewal of passport for over three months? Who is telling the truth? Could this linked to a deliberate attempt to deny many citizens abroad to take part in the voter registration processes?

Second, the seemingly lack of priority placed on getting the problem solved by the missions abroad or the government institutions involved lends some credence to the assertion that the situation is more political than technical. What technical issue would affect the supply of materials to the extent of this problem persisting for over three months?

It is argued that this problem would have been solved had it been in the interests of government to get it solved. Thus, blame game and the continuous delay in getting the problem solved is lending credence to the assertion that the problem is political. Much commitment have not been shown in getting the problem solvedat least from an end-user perspective.

Since the Electoral Commission has failed to fully implement the ROPA, the only chance many citizens have in participating in the elections is to register in Ghana. It is very shameful that something basic as provision of passport for citizens is still proving challenging. Because of this delay (or shortage of passports), it is affecting travel plans and cover plan at work places.

It is my humble opinion that all political partiesNPP, NDC, CPP, PPP, PNC etcshould take interest in asking government to solve the problem before the limited registration by the Electoral Commission begins. If this is a political decision to deny Ghanaians abroad from participating fully in the elections, it may turn up to counter-productive. This is because President Mahama and his government might be the greatest beneficiary of the votes of the Ghanaians abroad who would be able to register and participate fully in the elections. So, please, Mr President and team, rectify the situation for us to be able to acquire or renew our passport to be able to travel to register and vote!
11.04.2016 LISTEN

The Northampton Chapter of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), under the auspices of the UK Branch Party is being launched on Saturday, 16/04/2016.

The program, which would be held at the St. JAMES COMMUNITY CENTRE in Northampton, would host the UK Branch Chairman, Michael Ansah, and other leading Executives of the Party from Ghana and Europe.

Date-Saturday 16/04/2016

Venue- . St. JAMES COMMUNITY CENTRE, NORTHAMPTON. NN5 5LQ.

Time-6pm to 11pm

Come lets launch one more chapter in the UK, in our bid to take our Party to the people.

It promises to be a fantastic event. Do not miss it!!

NPP!!!, The battle remains the Lords

NPP!!!, Kukurudu, Eshi Rado Rado Rado!!!

For any further inquiries please contact 0704487472/ 07947810445/ 07914965733

Northamptonshire Chapter

Communications.
The mother of Nayele Ametefe has initiated moves to prevent the state from confiscating one of the jailed drug baron's properties at East Legon in Accra.

According to her, the said property belonged to her and not her daughter [Nayele].

An Accra High Court last Wednesday ordered the confiscation of properties of Nayele Ametefe also known Ruby Adu-Gyamfi.

She is currently serving an eight years, eight months jail sentence in the United Kingdom.

The assets the Accra High Court asked the state to confiscate include the Night Angels Enterprise on the Dzorwulu Motorway Extension in Accra. Six different bank accounts of the convict with the Fidelity Bank and the East Legon house.

The Ghanaian Times newspaper in its Monday April 11, 2016 edition reported that, the court, presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa asked Nayele's mother to appear before the court on April 27 to defend her position with the relevant documents.

According to the newspaper, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), in charge of Enforcement and Control, Mr. Richard Nii Lante Blankson, said his outfit was taking steps to serve Nayele with the court ruling.

Mr Blankson however noted that some people were claiming ownership of some of the buildings at Pease, Kuntunase in the Ashanti Region, East Legon and Dzorwulu.

He said lawyers of the said people have presented some documents indicating that they owned the buildings, which, they said, were rented by the convict.

According to Mr Blankson, the court also ordered that Fidelity Bank release the amounts in the bank accounts, with the accrued interest to NACOB so that it could enforce the court's orders as to the utilisation of the monies.

Nayele,was arrested on November 10, 2014 at the Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom by officers of the UK Border Force with 12.5 kg of cocaine worth $5million in her hand luggage.

The 33-year-old who pleaded guilty to carrying 12 kilos of cocaine to the United Kingdom was sentenced on her own plea by the Isleworth Crown Court in London in January 2015. The sentence was discounted because of her early guilty plea.

Prosecutors said the cocaine carried by Nayele had a purity of 78% and a street value of 1.872 million Pounds. The prosecutors told the court Nayele had $23,000 and an additional 6,000 Pounds in her handbag when she was arrested.

The money was payment for her courier services.

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11.04.2016 LISTEN

The Ghana Institute of Governance and Security (GIGS) wishes to encourage all political parties in the country to do  First Things First by coming out with their Manifestos early

GIGS believes it is very fundamental and most crucial prior to any elections and electioneering campaigns. The utmost proposal any political party could use biding for political power is its ability to design scintillating and feasible manifesto that are workable.

We know that manifestos constitute the Action Plans of political parties seeking the mandate of the electorates which is supposed to be implemented when voted into power.

However, the Institute is worried particularly about the culture of delays of political parties in launching Manifestos in the last quarter or late into election years. This obsolete trend doesnt promote modern day democracy.

Also, the practice doesnt enhance public knowledge on the proposal of the various parties due to lack of enough time for electorates to debate and dichotomize what the parties are proposing to offer the citizens.

GIGS concern is that the delays do not help electorates make informed decision on the voting day which does not inure to the interest of the country as well as the political parties, themselves.

This seems to prove that political parties are more interested in political demagogue rather than doing first things first by releasing their Manifestos for public scrutiny.

GIGS therefore, challenges the political parties to be proactive in launching their manifestos and GIGS would like to stress the importance of launching manifestos earlier into an election year to stimulate and prepare the minds of voters on the policy directions of each political parties.

David Agbee

Executive Director

GIGS

11th April, 2016
11.04.2016 LISTEN

More pressure is mounting on Gambian President Yahya Jammeh to release detained journalist Alhagie Abdoulie Ceesay.

On March 31, 2016, two US senate members wrote to President Jammeh to release Ceesay who has been in detention since July 17, 2015.

The letter from Richard Joseph Durbin, a senior United States Senator for Illinois and Patrick Joseph Leahy, Senator for Vermont, comes a month after MFWA and 36 other freedom of expression organisations from across Africa and the globe petitioned the African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion to urge President Jammeh to release Ceesay.

The letter from Senators Durbin and Leahy which also mentioned the case of disappeared journalist Ebrima Manneh among others, said in recent years we and others in the United States have written to you urging the release or accounting of Gambian journalist Ebrima Manneh, who was detained by National Intelligence Agency personnel in 2006 and not heard from again.

While a full accounting of Mr. Mannehs deeply troubling disappearance (and we fear death) has yet to be provided, we appreciate that you allowed a visit in 2014 by the United Nations Special Rapporteur. In a similar vein, we ask your help with the release of radio journalist Alagie Abdoulie Ceesay who has been held in Mile 2 Prison under questionable charges and harsh conditions since his arrest nearly a year ago.

The Senators also noted that Ceesays arrest and detention is an indication of the poor press freedom and freedom of expression conditions in The Gambia. Unfortunately, given the history of government harassment of Teranga FM, the charges and jailing of Mr. Ceesay seem more related to a troubling lack of press freedom in The Gambia and not based on any credible evidence of criminal wrong doing, the Senators said.

Since Ceesay was detained over nine months ago, many organisations have on several occasions appealed to President Jammeh to ensure his release but nothing has been done about it.

On August 27 2015, the UN Human Rights Councils Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions wrote to President Jammeh to explain the circumstances surrounding Ceesay's detention. The government failed to respond to the Working Group even though the country had 60 days to respond (August 17-October 27, 2015).

At the 74th session of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on November 30-December 2015, it expressed concern about the sedition charge against Ceesay. The crime of sedition which is used to deny the enjoyment of freedoms and the Government should reconsider its interpretation of that crime.

The Working Group noted that Ceesays detention is arbitrary .

The Working Group requests the Government of The Gambia to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of Mr. Ceesay. Taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the Working Group is of view that adequate remedy would be to immediately release Mr. Ceesay, to accord him an enforceable right to compensation and to ensure that freedom of opinion and expression is better protected, the Working Group said.

The Gambia under President Jammeh has witnessed over 21 years of crack down on freedom of expression. Several journalists, human rights defenders and ordinary citizens have suffered arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, intimidation etc. Many of these people have been forced to flee the country. In 2015, more than 17 persons reported to have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, threatened or physically attacked. There were also attempts to censor media organisations who are already practising strict self-censorship.

The MFWA is once again calling on President Jammeh to respect the several protocols and international treaties The Gambia has ratified. We are calling on ECOWAS, and the African Commission to urge President Yahya Jammeh to ensure the release of Ceesay and also to improve on the press freedom, freedom of expression and human rights conditions in the country.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Ghana indeed has come a very long way, evolving from periods of twenty-one (21) years of military rule where corruption and the need to get the country back on the line of democracy formed the footing for overthrow of different regimes; through to a system of six (6) years of one party state(1960-1966) under which period Ghanas first president Kwame Nkrumah suspended the constitution in 1964 earning him the unpopular tag of a dictator; and has now comfortably settled on multi party democracy; A system of government which occordingly and in my own words means 'mass franchise' or a system which many in total submission to America's 16th president Abraham Lincoln say is government of, by and for the people.

It's very true,our country is mostly touted as the paragon of democracy in Africa and is the first British colony South of the Sahara to gain self government in 1957 with a foreign reserve of about $481 million as at that time.Equally worthy of note is the fact that we have had so far;twenty-three(23) years of practice of democratic governance(1992-2015) and currently in the twenty-fourth year; holding six successful elections in a row and still counting since the inauguration of the Fourth Republic.

Kwame Nkrumah of blessed memory,after proclaiming on the 6th of March,1957,that Ghana was free forever needed to justify his words with action;which I guess he did by embarking on a long vision of wide - spread industrial reforms with a seven year development plan spanning the period 1964 to 1970 aimed at getting Ghana thriving on a path of economic emancipation.

Yes, the foundation of political and economic freedom was laid but the freedom of franchise was limitedly loosened and needed to be laised.The replication to the interrogation of how to widen citizens participation in the affairs of their own lives in a stable political and economic environment was rested on democracy, and so we found the reposte right there in that form of government!

Increasingly relieving thereafter I guess, was a shy of big solace,since,we now had a system of advanced solid rulership that buoyed us up and placed at our own control, our lives and destiny by vesting us with power to legitimately vote every four years to select leaders with integrity to help us realize our common goals.

As was rightly said, "At long last the battle for political liberation has ended" and democracy has been gradually initiated therefrom.Hurray!Ghana is by all odds free forever.

Indeed, the battle has ended and in our unending jubilation,little did we reflect on the reality that;We climb a mountain only to realize there are more mountains for us to climb.We long forgot and were not reminded that the battle for responsible citizens with the right mental attitude has just started....

Obviously, we lost sight and are still losing sight of the fact that democracy as a system of government in itself never meant guarantee of free rights to everything. Little did we realize also that the concept in itself was not an end but a means to an end defined by responsible citizens. Maybe, just maybe we forget what Gael Garcia Bernel said, "We think that democracy can change a lot of things, but we're being fooled, because democracy is not the elections. We've been taught that democracy is having elections .And it isn't. Elections are the most mundane, trivial, disapponting, dirty aspect".

In our context,naked truth be told,democracy means a safe haven for unleashing ethnic rivalries and deliberate antagonism born out of half truths, untruths and perceptions that defy every logical reasoning, and where elections are usually riven along preponderant ethnic cleavages at huge cost to ordinary citizens without issues.

Ponder on this,article 55 of the 1992 constitution declare as persona non grata political parties based on ethnicity, religion, regional or other sectional divisions.

Ghana's 1969 and 1979 constitutions also contain provisions aimed at curbing ethnicity in electoral political leadership and members of political parties. But are these laws not mere window decorations?When given the opportunity during elections to exercise our suffrage,citizens with such rights vote willingly out of ethnic bigotry,ethno racial fractionalization, religions affiliation and paranoid parochialism to embolden populist egocentric leaders and they respond their names by misleading.Now who do we blame?These are the category of citizens I classify as first class bad citizens.

Because,I think alike with Chinua Achebe that 'our problem as a country is leadership'.In this light, anyone that has the power to vote and does not do so wisely and based on issues but on other factors is a bad citizen.

Such bad citizens,instead of,voting for states men rather loosely endorse politicians.A politicians as used in this writeup means 'one who is more concerned about the next elections' whiles a statesman 'concerns himself with the next generation'.

Infact,they are those citizens that help to empower those without ideas with power giving credence to what PLO Limumba said which I have slightly modified, 'In our country, those with power lack ideas to develop;Whereas those without power have all the ideas to develop''.

Infact, Ghana as a matter of record as at 2012,had to its credit 23 registered political parties, out of which a little close to ten (10) or exactly had the opportunity to actively contest the 2012 elections.Those where in the category of NDC, NPP, PPP, CPP, PNC, GCPP, RPD,UFP inter alia.

Indeed,chances of winning and for that matter competition usually revolves around the NPP and the NDC commanding 90% of valid votes cast in every elections.It cannot be lost on us also that, all these political parties are founded on de rigueur ideologies and principles.

But when a party is vested with power,those ideologies are literally relegated to the background or thrown to the dogs.They become virtually non-ideological .

After all, in their non-ideological self-enriching gimmickry national pursuit,they have self-absorbed bad citizens to defend every of their action.Such citizens become party activists for several reasons other than upholding the ideologies or principles of the party.Maybe the promise of some appointment.And such attitudes maniacally enboldens monetisation of politics and money based incentive voting rather than issue based voting.

Bad citizens are intelligent enough, hence, make it their pastime to debate even Milton Friedman on economic issues when in truth they may have no clue how simple macroeconomic indicators are interpreted.And when things go bad which they often do,we start to curse the wind and all sort of non-existing forces and without choice lament in silence.

In such situations, the people who benefit 'something' from the corrupt system and I'm careful to call them 'dishonest party communicators' are now employed to ignorantly in dishonesty,mislead the unsuspecting majority.

This is what has come to stay as 'Propaganda' in our body politics.We have them on social media and other available mediums ready to defend the course of their parties or government against the national interest.I hope you can identify and name them as well?

They ignorantly and pathetically cloud their minds in psychological blindness in paranoid schizophrenic support of vampire politicians for God knows what reason.

Those characters turn every meaningful national discourse into slanging matches.They contrive their actions on what Niccole Machiavelli said,"Politics has no morals".They will succeed in startling informed minds to keep their shut from contributing meaningfully to sensitive national issues or discourses for fear or want of their hard-won integrity.

The other categories of bad citizens are right there in the media as rented disillusioned sensational journalist who instead holding corrupt leaders accountable, providing the right information and enlightening our illiterate grassroots to vote based on issues are busy doing the bidding of their 'pay masters' against the national interest.

They are right there in the law courts as demigods accepting bribes and throwing to jail the goat thieves whiles the real criminals walk scout free after digging dip into their pockets.

I hope you heard of the Anas Aremeyaw Anas undercover judicial Corruption Scandal?Need I say much!

You can effortlessly mention of them as heads of institutions and departments engaging in massive fraudulent procurement losses.

Least expected are those doomsayers and false prophets proclaiming themselves as 'Men of God' and degenerating more,the moral fiber of society,and worsestill,wresting money from innocent unsuspecting hungry-for-the-spirit God's people.A practice Jesus Christ never encouraged and hence strongly discouraged.

Which category of bad citizens do you belong to countryman and what are plans to change your ways for God and country?

Deducing from the foregoing reasons, one will verily without ado admit to the fact that things have really falling apart in our dear country.But I can tell you:there is hope for our generation and that hope is the youth.Choose to call them the salt of our redemption and you may be right,except that, salt must not lose its value else it becomes tasteless and valueless.

I can also see a hope of revival, politics of ideas and development if citizens can change their ways . Niccole Machiavelli once said,"One change leaves the way open for the establishment of others".That first change for me must start with citizens and permit me to qualify them, 'responsible citizens' making a justified pride in striving to create a new political order:where our institutions are strong and feasible;Where citizens change their attitudes and are responsible and reasonable to align with common national objectives;Where the power of the people in real terms is greater than the people in power; where citizens will not coil back and say,I won't vote again but will say, I will vote for the right candidate not some party symbol and where the regime becomes afraid of the people and not the other way round.

This is the change I envisage and pray to see!I believe the way remain forward!

May God bless our homeland Ghana and help us citizens develop the right attitude for God and country.

I hope you read and appreciate this piece like a Ghanaian(Statesman ) and not a politician.

ANANPANSAH, B ABRAHAM ( AB)

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA BUSINESS SCHOOL (STUDENT)

WHATSAPP CONTACT:0241129910; CALL LINE 0200704844

FACEBOOK:CRITICAL POLITICAL THINKER

EMAIL (S): [email protected] / [email protected]

TWITTER:@AnanpansahA
About 9 million small holder farmers in six Africa countries will soon start benefitting from the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africas (AGRA) five  year strategic plan that is aim at doubling their incomes through partnership to increase productivity and access to market and grantees.

The strategic plan includes the adoption of technology by the farmers, partnership with donors, investors and governments and also access to inputs and ready market.

The six countries to benefit from the plan include Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Mali, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

The proposed budget for the project is estimated at $31 million over the five years period.

Fadel Ndiame, head of the West Africa AGRA, speaking at a stakeholder meeting held in Accra last week to brainstorm on the modalities for the execution of the plan said the new strategy will focus on three main agro-ecological zones that is connected with the targeted countries. The zones are Guinea Savanah zone, East African Highland zones and Miombo woodlands zone.

According to him, small holder farms employ the large chunk of the population in Africa and produce the heavily consumed food crops hence the need to support them to produce more using improve technology.

In all of these women has been identified as an important stakeholders in ensuring effective implementation of the five  year AGRA strategic plan. According to Mr. Ndiame special program have been develop to equip women with the needed information in the beneficial countries.

Fadel Ndiame said AGRA will make use of cohesive approach to agriculture transformation in West Africa to achieve its objectives.

In a presentation at the stakeholder meeting, the team leader in the Ghana business plan, Mr. Kehinde Makinde said the project will support women, make agriculture attractive to the youth and also concentrate on irrigation and mechanized farming.

According to him, rice, cassava, maize and soya - bean are the four main crops the plan will concentrate on when the project begins.

The project will also pay close attention to four main themes that run through every agricultural enterprise, that is, climate change, women, youth and nutrition.
The Christian Council of Ghana has allayed fears of Ghanaians after Popular Nigerian preacher, Prophet TB Joshua warned of possible terror attack in Nigeria and Ghana.

Delivering his sermon on Sunday, the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, told his congregation he foresees the possible attack occurring on Thursday, Friday and Saturday even though he failed to mention the specific date.

Prophet TB Joshua who asked for prayers against the attack is, however, asking authorities to be on a high alert to foil any possible attack.

I see Thursday, Friday. Pray for these two nations  Nigeria and Ghana  over gathering in any way; over attack. I am seeing attack and that will be in a foreign way. The attack will come not in a local way. So please open your lips and pray for these two nations for protection, he said.

But speaking on Starr Midday News, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana Dr. Opuni Frimpong said the security of a nation must be left for professionals to handle.

According to him, the nations security agency must improve its monitoring system to foil any possible attack on the country.

In reference to Kenya that has experienced terror attacks in the past, Rev. Frimpong said security in that East African country has been ramped up and expects Ghana's security to do same despite the fact the West African country is yet to experience any attack.

He added that Ghanaians must not panic and allow the professional security operatives to protect the nation.
Female police officers in the Mexican city of Queretaro have filed complaints that male commanders subjected them to attractiveness inspections as part of the selection process for a new female unit in the touristic town centre.

Two officers have complained to the states human rights commission, said Maricruz Ocampo, of Coincidir Mujeres, an NGO which is supporting the women.

The allegations emerged as police in the city went on strike this week, demanding the resignation of chief Rolando Eugenio Hidalgo Eddy.

Ocampo said that young female officers were singled out for an inspection at which their male superiors commented on their appearance and weight  telling one woman who had been pregnant but had lost her child that she was paunchy.

The women said, I trained to be a police officer, not a showgirl, Ocampo said.

The allegations come as the country confronts a spate of sexual violence, which has drawn outrage on social media and society at large, but also a backlash of misogynistic comments and threats.

According to security analyst Alejandro Hope, the local police force in Queretaro  a prosperous manufacturing hub 220 kilometres north of Mexico  had previously performed better than most others in the country, with better funding and external oversight.

Things changed last year, when a new mayor chose retired army general Hidalgo Eddy as his new police chief.

Hidalgo Eddy had previously held a similar job in the state of Aguascalientes, where he formed a unit of attractive female officers, who went about their duties wearing high-heeled boots, tight clothes and lots of lipstick.

The scheme won national attention in 2013 when the women appeared in a photo with President Enrique Pena Nieto. Analysts say it made no impact on security and the state abandoned the project last month.

It is definitely discriminatory, and theres no evidence that by hiring attractive women they will do a better job than anyone else, said Jorge Kawas, a security analyst in the city of Monterrey.

But the stunt has been copied across the country. Acapulco recently started a tourist police force of attractive, young, female officers.

Ocampo also expressed concerns the force has reduced staff in its division responsible for responding to women and children and moved female officers out of the central part of the city. A surge of sexual harassment allegations has also occurred within the police, she says.

What were worried about, Ocampo says, is that the human rights violations inside the force are going to eventually move toward the public.

A spokesman for Queretaro police said in a statement denied that there were plans to form a special female unit. He did not comment on the harassment allegations, saying the department would wait for the human rights commission investigation.
Twenty-two students of Wesley Girls Senior High School in Cape Coast, in the Central region, have been nabbed by school authorities for practicing occultism.

According to some students who spoke to Starrfmonline.com on condition of anonymity, the culprits were grabbed during their ceremony to induct a new leader for the sect as the previous leader is expected to graduate in June this year.

One of the students disclosed that occultism in the school is prevalent and has been around for the last 23 years.

Most of the students nabbed were first and second year students who had been initiated. The current leader of the group is reported to be in Abban House, a very popular House of the Methodist school.

The occultists who are yet to be penalized by authorities of the school have been handed over to the Methodist Church in Cape Coast to help resolve the matter, Starrfmonline.com checks show.

The situation has, however, created fear and panic amongst students and parents who are alarmed their children could be brainwashed.

A credible student source confirmed to Starrfmonline.com that the occultists have a special book with various teachings which they use to brainwash and recruit fresh students into their group so the tradition does not fritter away after their departure.

The source revealed that the occultists argue that not all students can be Christians and must be allowed to perform their rituals.

The source also added that the students try to indoctrinate their colleagues by stating that there is nothing immoral about masturbation and lesbianism.

They also hold the view that premarital sex is not a sin contrary to what the Bible says and that there is no need asking for forgiveness of sins since Jesus death atoned for all sins.

The source revealed that similar groups were scattered in schools in the Eastern, Greater Accra and the Volta regions while other groups could be found in other institutions.

Several calls placed to the headmistress and other authorities of the school have been futile.

Meanwhile, the Bishop of the Cape Coast diocese of the Methodist Church, Rev. Abekah Wilson said he was yet to be informed about the issue when Starrfmonline.com contacted him.
Nayele Ametefe

11.04.2016 LISTEN

The mother of Nayele Ametefe has initiated moves to prevent the state from confiscating one of the jailed drug barons properties at East Legon in Accra.

According to her, the said property belonged to her and not her daughter [Nayele].

An Accra High Court last Wednesday ordered the confiscation of properties of Nayele Ametefe also known Ruby Adu-Gyamfi.

She is currently serving an eight years, eight months jail sentence in the United Kingdom.

The assets the Accra High Court asked the state to confiscate include the Night Angels Enterprise on the Dzorwulu Motorway Extension in Accra. Six different bank accounts of the convict with the Fidelity Bank and the East Legon house.

The Ghanaian Times newspaper in its Monday April 11, 2016 edition reported that, the court, presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa asked Nayeles mother to appear before the court on April 27 to defend her position with the relevant documents.

According to the newspaper, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), in charge of Enforcement and Control, Mr. Richard Nii Lante Blankson, said his outfit was taking steps to serve Nayele with the court ruling.

Mr Blankson however noted that some people were claiming ownership of some of the buildings at Pease, Kuntunase in the Ashanti Region, East Legon and Dzorwulu.

He said lawyers of the said people have presented some documents indicating that they owned the buildings, which, they said, were rented by the convict.

According to Mr Blankson, the court also ordered that Fidelity Bank release the amounts in the bank accounts, with the accrued interest to NACOB so that it could enforce the courts orders as to the utilisation of the monies.

Nayele,was arrested on November 10, 2014 at the Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom by officers of the UK Border Force with 12.5 kg of cocaine worth $5million in her hand luggage.

The 33-year-old who pleaded guilty to carrying 12 kilos of cocaine to the United Kingdom was sentenced on her own plea by the Isleworth Crown Court in London in January 2015. The sentence was discounted because of her early guilty plea.

Prosecutors said the cocaine carried by Nayele had a purity of 78% and a street value of 1.872 million Pounds. The prosecutors told the court Nayele had $23,000 and an additional 6,000 Pounds in her handbag when she was arrested.

The money was payment for her courier services.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Why is the issue of inequality so crucial? Why does the type of capitalism we have matter so much to the poorest people in the world? Ben Philips, working in the field of international development, confronts the answers to these questions on a daily basis. First, to put his views in context, Philips clarifies his position on capitalism. I am a capitalist, he proclaims.

A lot of what NGOs do is about helping people to make money. He cites a group of people he met recently in Kibera  the biggest slum in Nairobi, and home to one million people  who were transforming old bones from butchers shops into jewellery. There are amazing stories like that from all over the world, of people trying to make money. And thats a good thing, he says. A lot of market systems have been able to deliver for poor people.

Much of the progress we have seen since the end of World War 2, and since the independence of many former colonised countries, has been related to economic growth, he says. But, what weve seen increasingly, especially in the past 20-30 years is a de-coupling of economic growth from social progress, so we now know that economic growth alone is not enough. Philips says his views are in line with the likes of philanthropist George Soros who describe todays capitalism as market fundamentalism and call for a return to a more balanced, more managed form of capitalism. So thats where I stand in the discussion, he says. I think capitalism right now is very much on the edge.

Stark separations

Through his work, Philips has amassed a collection of encounters and images from around the world which convey the extent and scale of inequality. He shows a photograph of a slum abutting a luxury high-rise apartment block, complete with balcony swimming pools on every storey. It happens to be Sao Paulo, he says, but it could just as easily be Nairobi, or Delhi or Bangkok or Islamabad or Lagos or Joburg; they all look as divided as this.

The rich and poor live cheek by jowl, yet separate. And its not just a money separation, says Philips, its also a physical separation, and a social and cultural separation. He dips into a long list of statistics, throwing up similar examples of inequality from different continents. In Pakistan, half the population has no land, while just 5% of landowners have two thirds of the land; in the cities the top 20% of the population accounts for 61% of earned income, while the bottom 20% makes do on just 3%.

Angola has had a staggering growth rate of around 25% and one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. Papua New Guinea has had the highest growth rate in the world, and yet is the only country that has not met a single Millennium Development Goal. In the US, the richest 10% of the population has captured all of the growth since the recession. In fact  its worse, says Philips; the rich captured more than all the growth and the other 90% went backwards. The good news, says Philips, is that it doesnt have to be like this.

And that is why Philips believes it is important to talk about different forms of capitalism. He looks to Brazil, where he says the poorest 10% have grown their incomes at a faster rate than the richest. The richest have still made more money, but the poor are growing faster. In Bolivia, even more progress being made, even faster. It is possible for things to be different.

Why is inequality bad?

First, inequality is bad for growth. Indeed, there is a growing consensus that redistributing income can lift growth. The IMF research department says this, as does its head, Christine Lagarde; so does the OECD and the World Bank. Even publications with a reputation for economic liberalism, such as the Financial Times and the Economist have made this point.

Secondly, inequality is dangerous because it tears societies apart.

Philips points to a recent report from a security consultancy which advises countries and companies how to deal with insurrection. They said they were really worried about rising inequality; not from a moral perspective or a growth perspective, but as a security threat.

Thirdly, inequality promotes what academics have dubbed social capture. What this means, says Philips is that Some people have so much money they dont just buy boats, they buy elections. They buy politicians and they become immune from any form of accountability. And that then corrupts the democratic process. He borrows the words of Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court judge in the early decades of the 20th century, who said: we can have extreme inequality or we can have democracy; we cant have both.

Putting things right

In more recent times, Philips points to the Lula government in Brazil as an example of changing policy for a fairer society: redistributing land to the poorest people, increasing incomes for the poorest people, organising the economy around jobs, investing in social protection for kids and the elderly, and so on Delivering greater equality through policy is not rocket science, insists Philips. The trouble is not the policy list; that we could do in an afternoon at Murray Edwards College! The hard question is the politics, and the problem is our leaders will not lead us. The idea that producing research papers which prove something will result in changes in policy is false, says Philips. He learned that lesson when campaigning in India.

Reports which showed how investing in health and education would have a positive impact on child development and economic growth were repeatedly ignored. The reason why, says Philips, is because the politics was wrong. So, he changed tack, and the outcome was different: We started mobilising around the issue, organising people, and then we actually started to get some significant increases in health and education funding.

Ben Philips,

Director of Policy, Research, Advocacy and Campaigns

ActionAid
File Photo

11.04.2016 LISTEN

Over the years, we have focused so much in discovering and deliberating on neglected schools only in regions we consider as less-privileged or under-developed whiles we obliviate and overlook the public schools within the millennium city, Accra. One may wonder whether these Government institutions within the capital city which are supposed to serve as a bedrock to others around the country have been deliberately ignored or assumed perfect.

For the past few weeks, another disheartening incident within the educational sector has succeeded in catching the attention of the whole nation and this without doubt is a gigantic blow to the face of our beloved nation after 59 years of managing our own resources and affairs.

One can openly give credit to the rapid manner in which the Kperisi primary school crisis was solved and also laud the massive efforts put in place by all sundry in curtailing the plight of those future leaders.

The issue at kperisi primary school in the Wa municipality is not one which is new to the eye or ear of Ghanaians. We have heard the stories of students who absent themselves from school for weeks whenever it rains or whenever a little storm occurs due to old and worn-out infrastructure that have not been maintained for many years. We have also seen students sit under trees for lessons and some privileged ones using umbrellas as a means of blocking direct sunlight whiles been taught in an open area by some few passionate teachers.

Thankfully, this situation has been decreasing over the years due to the exertion of government and some private organisations who contribute through corporate social responsibilities in making the educational sector a craving one for the younger generation.

Yet still, with these massive improvements in Ghanas education, we still see schools like Shiayennoh JHS right under the auspices of Accra who share in the plights of kperisi primary school and other unfortunate ones up north. The school may look a little pleasant and beautiful from afar and therefore wouldnt even create the need for any investigations due to its outlook.

The situation of a Public school like Shiayennoh JHS which is situated at one of the most developed areas in Accra called Tesano, has a total population of about 300 students who practice a furniture shift system by waiting for other classes to end before they can get access to a few broken furniture to sit or lie on for effective teaching to go on in their classrooms. During this migration process, many of the students get injured each day and with the Lack of facilities such as a First Aid clinic, these aggrieved students have to cater for themselves by trying as much as possible to endure the pain until they go home.

Presently at the school, we have about 110 candidates steadily preparing for their Basic Education Certificate Examination which comes off a few weeks from now. Some of these candidates have to sit on one desk in threes whiles others stand during lessons just to catch up with their academic hours. These same candidates without a library or I.C.T Laboratory would have ICT as part of their national examination.

At the end of the day, our grading system is described as fair because it treats all manner of persons notwithstanding of your age, colour, gender or situation equally. These unfortunate students within the parameters of Accra who walk by schools of their colleagues everyday staring enviously at their luxurious classrooms with all their physical and mental comfort would have to compete with them in attending some of the best schools in Ghana such as; Prempeh College, Mfansiman senior high school, Tamale secondary school, Accra Academy and many more.

The despondent and gloomy story of kperisi really marvelled many concerned citizens who never believed in the existence of such a situation and this to a larger extent aroused a level of despair to the future of our dear nation. This matter was also debated by various Municipal and district chief executives, opposition communicators and many more intellectuals as if it was the Last school with such a situation.

The students of these schools are part of the only retirement benefits of mother Ghana when she finally turns 60 next year. Therefore even as we proceed in completing the 200 new schools or promise to build 350 new schools when given the chance, let us also remember to fix and modernize the old ones because these new ones would carry the stories of the old ones in the near future.

Our educational system must be lifted in high esteem, and with our collective efforts as students of this nation, we shall swiftly find the golden key to success.

Malik S.Y Basintale,

Student Welfare Analyst,

University Of Ghana.

(0540444414)
11.04.2016 LISTEN

With barely seven months to the 2016 Presidential and Legislative elections on November 7, the stakes are very high. The Chronicle expects the rivalry between the two main protagonists for the spoils of the vote  the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party  to move their rivalry a notch higher as the campaign swings to the rural areas, especially.

The prediction by the Economic Intelligent Unit that the opposition NPP has a brighter chance of winning the vote as a result of the Mahama-led administration's mishandling of the state economy leading to extreme hardship in the society, has obviously pressed the panic button at Government House.

Presidential speeches of late, have tended to target the largest opposition party in very bad light even when the issues at stake do not really bother on the activities of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition. It tells much about how things are heating up for the incumbent, especially, as Ghanaians inch closer to the vote.

Last week-end, President John Dramani Mahama was in the Volta Region, precisely Anloga, the traditional capital of the Anlo State, where a grand durbar was organized, apparently to celebrate the achievements of this administration for bringing development projects to the World Bank of the ruling political party.

The Chronicle regrets to note that instead of the celebratory speeches expected of an event to thank the Head of State for development projects initiated in the Volta Region, the traditional World Bank, things went a bit ugly.

First, Togbe Sri III, Awomefia of the Anlo State went outside the script and chastised the Government for failing the people of the Anlo State and the entire Volta Region. The traditional leader complained of lack of jobs forcing the youth into alcoholism, prostitution and other vices.

Instead of keeping his cool, President Mahama went bananas. He was quoted as accusing the Paramount Chief of doing the bidding of the NPP, when he knew too well that the King was voicing out the concerns of the majority of the people. He did not end there.

The Chronicle regrets to note that the Number One Gentleman of the Land, threw decency in the rule book to the dogs and descended into the gutters. He attacked the NPP under President Kufuor for allegedly doing nothing for the people of the entire Volta Region. He shocked the gathering by asserting that all development projects sited in the Volta Region, were the handiwork of the National Democratic Congress.

At the time the President made these assertions, he knew that what he was saying did not represent the truth. The controversy raised by these two palpably false statements from the head of state, is still raging.

Yesterday, a peeved President Kufuor enumerated a number of projects undertaken by his administration in the region, including the almighty Keta Sea Defence Wall and Housing project which cost a whopping US$89 to execute, a number of road projects, schools and many other development projects.

The NPP at both the regional office at Ho and at the national capital in Accra, addressed press conferences and pointed out the fallacy in the Presidential pronouncements at Anloga, raising more controversies on the issue.

Yesterday, the controversy moved to a number of radio stations which provided air time for government officials and members of the opposition to slug it out.

We regret this needless controversy and call on the current head of state to be more circumspect with his speeches. The idea of finding fault with the opposition all the time instead of getting on with the art of governance, would not help anybody.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with President Mahama. He is the one controlling the public purse. A word to the wise, we dare say, is in the people's vote!
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Dr. Richard Anamoo, Director General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), has indicated Ghana's readiness to comply with the July 1, 2016, International Maritime Organization's (IMO) obligation of verification of container weight.

The IMO legal binding requirement is expected to see an exporter obtaining accurate gross weight of packed container so that vessels and terminal operators can prepare vessel stowage plans prior to loading cargo ships.

That way, over 10,000 containers that are lost at sea yearly due to inaccurate gross weight of packed containers on vessels will minimize.

The IMO requirement, consequently, intends to protect personnel, vessels and assets of terminal operators, as well as shippers' cargo.

By the IMO requirement, the shipper, shipping line and terminal operator will have to ensure that the weight of a packed container has been verified by a competent authority before loading the vessels.

The GPHA Director disclosed Ghana's readiness to comply with the IMO sea safety requirement when he welcomed participants at the 15th Intermodal Africa 2016 Exhibition and Conference Accra yesterday.

This is the second time Ghana is hosting its partners in the maritime industry from the continent, and mentioning some of the massive improvements the Ghana Ports have seen over the years, Dr. Anamoo, nonetheless, mentioned maritime security threat and the high cost of services to landlocked countries as some serious challenges the maritime industry is faced with.

He hoped that the two-day conference would afford the 19 participating countries the technical opportunities to find lasting solutions to the challenges the maritime industry in Africa is faced with.

Franklin Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey, Minister for Transport, in his opening address, explained that maritime transport is a vehicle for the growth of world trade, industrial and commercial inter-connections in the world economy.

Indicating how the maritime transport alone moves about 80 percent of world cargo trade, the sector Minister said inter-modalism has therefore come to improve the efficiency of the entire distribution process by integrating the various modes of transport infrastructure and services.

He lamented that currently, Africa trails behind other regions in infrastructure, logistics, efficient transport modes and their linkages in inter-and-intra-regional trade.

This deficiency suppresses growth of inter-modal freight transport and its associated socio-economic benefits that countries are to derive, he said.

He was, however, hopeful , employment creation, which is particularly a challenge for developing countries especially in Africa, can be potentially boosted by inter-modal transport activities, especially when there is adequate provision of port infrastructure, roads and railways, as well as inland waterways, to facilitate intermodal freight transport.

Fiifi Kwetey said, We cannot tap the full benefits of ports and shipping without promoting intermodal transport. We need to secure modern and appropriate logistics, build strategic partnerships and the capacity of the human resource base of the industry and adapt best practices such as port automation and develop appropriate and relevant policies for the industry.

He was happy to announce that the GPHA has entered into a concessionary agreement with a private consortium to expand the Port of Tema to more than three times its current capacity, with the first phase of the project seeing the construction of four container terminals and the expansion of the Tema motorway into six lanes at a cost of US$1.5 billion.

The project, which is expected to be completed in 2018, he said, would be one of the biggest port expansion projects in West Africa.

Concluding, Franklin Fiifi Fiavi Kwetey said: About 350 million is being invested in the Takoradi Port to expand the facilities there to meet the dynamics of the maritime trade, especially the exploration and exploitation of the new oil and gas industry.

By Inusa Musah and Awal Mohammed
Grassroot Youth Campaign in support of John Mahama, #iChoose JM, a popular youth group of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on Sunday amassed a huge crowd at the Odododiodio Constituency in the Greater Accra Region with a mammoth youth rally which was held at the Bukom Square.

The rally which was attended by, Member of Parliament for Odododiodio, who is also the Minister for Youth and Sports, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Ebi Bright the parliamentary candidate for Tema Central, Diplomatic Platform, Doves for Mahama, Young Professionals for John Mahama/ Amissah Arthur, Celebrities for Mahama (Bukom Banku) and so on gave sympathizers the opportunity to watch the Achievements and good works of President John Mahama on a screen protector.

Addressing sympathizers of the party, the member of Parliament said, with the evidence of John Mahamas Achievements, NPP cannot decieve anyone in anyway.

The NPP knowing they cannot win the Odododiodio seat, they have decided to bring a candidate with comparable name Nii Lantey Bannerman, dont be deceived Nii Lantey Bannerman is different from Nii Lantey Vanderpuye he cautioned.

He used the opportunity to also speak on developmental projects in the constituency including the expansion of hospitals etc.

Ghanapoliticsonline.com is informed that the #iChoose JM train will soon be hitting other regions in the coming weeks

#iChoose JM rally amass huge crowd at Odododiodio
11.04.2016 LISTEN

By George-Ramsey Benamba, GNA

Accra, April 11, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama stated on Saturday that Ghana and Ethiopia were set to strengthen the existing cooperation and bilateral ties which the two nations had enjoyed for more than five decades.

He mentioned agriculture, energy, security and the fight against terrorism as some of the areas of cooperation.

President Mahama announced these in a media briefing at the Golden Jubilee Lounge of Kotoka International Airport, when he went to bid farewell to Mr Hailemariam Desalyn, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia who was departing for Addis Ababa after a three-day official visit to Ghana.

In addition to visiting the Akosombo dam, the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and Cocoa Processing company in Tema, the Prime Minister also held closed door discussions with President Mahama on a number of developmental issues.

President Mahama said Ethiopia was one of the highest coffee producing countries, while Ghana also prided itself as one of the highest cocoa producing countries and therefore their partnership in agriculture could yield mutual benefit.

In pursuance of their bilateral discussions, President Mahama announced that he would also be in Ethiopia on a reciprocal visit to cement some of the decisions they had taken during the Ethiopian Prime Minister's visit.

President Mahama said Ethiopia had enormous expertise in leather production and that Ghana would discuss with that country the possibility of acquiring knowledge and raw material for Ghana's leather industry.

On terrorism, President Mahama said both Ghana and Ethiopia were close to countries that had been victims of terrorist attacks, and that it was therefore expedient for them to cooperate in that regard to ward off the recurrence of acts of terrorism on the continent.

President Mahama said they also discussed the integration of the African continent, the implementation of the Continental Free Trade and the facilitation of intra-African trade.

He said so far the Southern Africa Development and East African communities had almost finished with the modalities and were likely to begin implementing the continental free trade in July this year, while that of the Economic Community of West African States, which is next, would be launched later in the year.

President Mahama said the North African community would also galvanize support to join others after the Southern, East and West African communities had launched the continental free trade.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Desalyn hinted that his country would strengthen relations with Ghana in the mining sector since Ghana had engaged in gold mining for several decades.

"I actually enjoyed my stay in Ghana, especially visiting some of the most important areas like the mighty Akosombo dam in Ghana," the Ethiopian Prime Minister stated.

GNA
A GNA feature by Fatima Anafu-Astanga

Bolgatanga, April 11, GNA - Many Members of Parliament (MP) and aspirants at primaries prior to the 2016 elections and in past elections pledged various projects and interventions to their constituents when they are voted into power. For some, construction of toilets in communities were key priority areas to deal with.

Some of the MPs who rendered stewardship to constituents during that period, outlined plans they still intended to undertake, urging landowners to release lands for toilet facilities to help constituents have places of convenience.

Ironically, however, the respect given to such areas have lost its place in Ghana. Ghanaians have very humble use of words that give places of convenience a special place. In most Ghanaian local parlance a place of convenience is referred to as ' Baayan Geda' or 'Bangeda' in Hausa, meaning 'behind the house'. In other languages such as Ga and Twi, words with similar meanings are used to connote that natural act of freeing one's bowels.

Today, human excreta is displayed like a boutique of faecal mounds and such is what greets everyone in the morning and during busy days in cities, towns and communities.

Therefore, the purpose of providing these projects in communities, though with good intentions, usually do not achieve good results as most communities resort to defecating in the open, in farms, forests, along water bodies and open spaces with direct consequences of pollution of water sources and contamination of food.

Mr Jacob Bukari, a former Assembly man for Tubong in the Upper East Region, who spoke with the GNA said before the construction of household latrines in the commu nity, women harvested leafy vegetables soiled with human excreta and attested that because of the absence of places of convenience, members of the community emptied their bowels anywhere.

Mr Bukari indicated that animals, especially pigs, eat the faecal matter and get infested with worms which is later transmitted to people when they consume pork.

As November 7 stares Ghanaians in the face, what do politicians promise? ver the years, the country has not fared well in the management of liquid and solid waste and this has further worsened with close to 19 per cent of the population practicing open defecation.

A report jointly prepared by WHO and the UNICEF affirm that 82 per cent of the one billion people who are practicing open defecation in the world live in just 10 countries, of which Ghana is one.

However, according to Brian W. Aldiss, 'Civilization is the distance that man has placed between himself and his own excreta.' Ironically the faecal matter and stench that greet one from gutters, farms and tree shrubs should pinch every Ghanaian to ponder how far we are from civilization.

The huge risks of complications growing around water-borne diseases with precarious consequences from daily contamination of food and water sources, also affirm reports that from every one gram of 'shit' taken in by a person, is equal to 10,000 germs consumed every day, leading to the incidence of Typhoid, cholera, worm infestation and diarrhoea, among other diseases.

Dr Alberta Britwum-Nyarko, a public health specialist, in a recent risk communication presentation indicated that in 2014, Greater Accra recorded 20,197 cholera cases, Central Region recorded 3,868, Eastern Region 1,876, whilst Brong Ahafo recorded 1056. The Western Region also recorded 429, with Volta and Ashanti regions recording 651, and 287respectively.

Dr Nyarko noted that in 2015, the country recorded 694 cases of cholera with 11 deaths with case fatality rate (CFR) at 1.6 per cent, stressing the risk factors as over-populated communities (slums and refugee camps characterized by poor sanitation, unsafe drinking water, increased person to person transmission, poor personal hygiene, poor food hygiene and floods leading to contamination of domestic water sources and broken down water and waste disposal systems.

Mr Emmanuel Addai, a Communication Consultant for UNICEF also revealed that Ghana placed second in Cholera rankings in West Africa in 2015, with 28,944 cases and 247 deaths.

This indicates that the disposal of faecal matter through inappropriate ways leads to incidences of sanitation-related risks, and this has socio-economic consequences on every household that falls prey to cholera and any of the other diseases.

Since the phasing out of pan latrines in Ghana in 2010, measures have been put in place under the environmental sanitation policy and the MDGs, targeted to create awareness through the establishment and observation of a National Environmental Sanitation Day. Its main objective is to develop and maintain a clean, safe and pleasant physical environment in all human settlements, to promote the social, economic and physical well-being of all sections of the population.

Community led Total Sanitation (CLTs), therefore, is the key strategy towards eliminating open defecation in all regions. It signifies a change from the practice of open defecation to the use of toilets as a new norm, emphasizing behavior change rather than the provision of latrines and frowns on communal latrines as a solution since their presence suppresses the zeal to invest in household toilets.

However, the unwillingness of a greater portion of the Ghanaian population to stop open defecation is worrying and calls for more commitment. In the upper East Region, out of 886 communities triggered between 2012 and 2014, through interventions by a number of development partners in the region, 210 communities are ODF, and only 27 of those communities have been verified indicating they have household toilets and use them.

According to Mr. Juventius Asanyuure, staff of the Upper East Regional Environmental Health and Sanitation Office, triggering is where communities have been educated and they understand that they are eating their own faecal matter by emptying their bowels in the open, and the accompanying consequences which they were likely to suffer and would like to move away from that situation.

In 2014, the Dugbila community, a suburb of Bolgatanga, reached the status of ODF and ever since, no other community has beaten this status though there were 119 communities that had been identified to have potentials to be ODF.

Much as an MP may want to support a community with toilet facilities, such interventions should be accompanied with responsibilities of ensuring that it is put to proper use. As a politician who stays out of one's own community for a long time because of work, the job of educating the people in the constituency should be a continuous one.

All and sundry also owe it a duty to ensure that communities at ODF stages do not backtrack. Moreover, to the District Assemblies, water is one limiting factor to effective hand washing after the use of places of convenience and therefore the need to support communities that have challenges with access to potable water.

GNA
KIEV, Ukraine, ACCRA, April 11 - (UPI/GNA) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation Sunday, after failing to initiate accelerated government reforms.

The coalition of Yatsenyuk's party and that of President Petro Poroshenko have ruled Ukraine through war, corruption and economic stagnation, while lenders, including the International Monetary Fund, have demanded faster implementation of improvements to bring a European-style transparency to the former Soviet republic. Although Yatsenyuk developed a more professional police force and closed some banks accused of corruption, he was hampered by a military insurgency, supported by neighboring Russia, and Ukraine's ongoing economic hardship.

Yatsenyuk, 41, will formally resign Tuesday. He survived a no-confidence vote in February, a call by Poroshenko to resign and public opinion polls which showed his support as low as 1 percent. He added Sunday his People's Front Party will remain in the coalition with Poroshenko's Social Democratic Party; Poroshenko is expected to nominate parliament Speaker Volodymyr Hroisman, a Social Democrat, to the prime minister position.

"I thank our nation, society, civil society activists, volunteers; I thank each and every one of you for your endurance and patience. As of today my goals are broader: new electoral law, constitutional reform, judicial reform, Ukraine's membership in the EU (European Union) and NATO," Yatsenyuk said in a statement.

Changes in Ukraine since the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 have been slow, despite a $17.5 billion bailout by the IMF and another $1 billion promised by the United States.

GNA
By Gifty Amofa, GNA (Beijing)

Beijing (China), April 11, GNA - African journalists have been asked to focus more effort on the promotion of political stability to sustain the continent on the path of development.

Professor Zhang Yan-qui, Director of Africa Communication Research Centre of the Institute of the Communication Studies, Communication University of China (CUC), said it was important for everybody to recognize that without stability development would struggle.

That was why the media needed to do everything to assist the people stay united and avoid tearing them apart 'in the name of democracy and politics'.

She was addressing a group of journalists from the continent attending a two-week joint workshop on 'China-Africa Reporting'.

The programme, jointly organized by the CUC and the University of Witwatersrand -South Africa, involved visits to Chinese media houses and lectures on the Chinese society.

Prof Zhang said media freedom must be used to foster unity to bring economic growth and create wealth for the people.

She used the occasion to deflect criticism of her country for controlling the media, saying that had been helpful and was driving China's growth.

It had been for the collective good - stabilizing the system and allowing for the rapid development, she added.

'China's media censorship may be seen by the outside world as bad but it helps to manage the world's largest population' and she said there was something good Africa could learn from them.

Prof Zhang reminded the journalists to be interested in helping to find workable solutions to the development challenges of the continent.

GNA
Accra, April 11, GNA - A four-day training programme in export marketing fundamentals for more than 30 exporters to enable them acquire managerial and technical skills has ended in Accra.

Organised by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) the training was to support the export community to understand current trends in export and to enable them prepare to meet the competitive demands of the market.

Speaking on International Trade Fairs and Exhibitions, Mr Alex Dadzawa, Head of Marketing GEPA, said trade fairs and exhibitions are among the main tools at the disposal of companies and individuals to reach the export market.

He said while fairs and exhibitions are used to export products and services to attract buyers, participation at the fairs must be backed by solid research to know a product potential in a given fair.

Mr Dadzawa said exporters need to pay attention to the market requirements, prices, quality, packaging and consumer preferences in the countries in which the fairs are being organised.

Also, exporters must consider the ability to meet demand and the cost of exhibition.

Mr Stephen Normeshie, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of GEPA, speaking at the closing session said the Authority said would take on board lessons learnt from the training to improve on future ones for the benefit of the exporters.

He said it is important to build the capacity of exporters to enable the country rake in the needed foreign exchange for development.

Mr Normeshie expressed the hope that the establishment of the Exim-Bank would help deal with the financing challenge of exporters.

Among the topics treated were Export Marketing Research, Product Planning and Product Adaptation, Legal Contracts and Negotiations, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Specification and Export Procedures and Documentation.

The Ghana Export School was set up by GEPA, the National Export Trade Support Institution of the Ministry of Trade and Industry responsible for the facilitation, development and promotion of Ghanaian exports in 1987, to address the training needs of the export community.

Mrs Loretta Solomon, the Course Prefect, expressed gratitude of the trainees to GEPA for the knowledge and new trends they had been exposed to.

GNA
Mpohor (W/R), April 11, GNA - Mr Desmond Swayne, United Kingdom Minister for International Development, as part of his visit to Ghana visited the site of the Building Business on Value Integrity and Dignity (B-BOVID), at Mpohor in the Western Region.

The visit to the B-BOVID also formed part of the Minister's agenda of gathering information on the impact of the oil find on the business community, the fishermen and inhabitants along the coast.

Mr Issa Ouadraogo, Chief Executive Officer of B-BOVID educated the UK Minister on the company's alternative livelihood programmes, innovative cassava processing centre, Agribusiness model and other ICT based skills aimed at bettering the lot of farmers.

He said already 2000 small holder farmers have been trained in technology driven agriculture to enhance food security.

'We are teaching students to also take interest in the subject matter as a means of diversifying the economy.'

Mr Ouadraogo added that the innovative cassava centre would train farmers in cassava variety cultivation and other alternative uses such as pizza, cake, noodles and flour.

The CEO of B-BOVID also called for investor support in expanding the operations of the company.

The UK Minister told the Ghana News Agency interaction with some chiefs and community members along the coast have revealed mixed feelings to the oil find.

He said while some said it had aided in developments in terms of electricity and water, others complained about the decline in fish stock and described the B-BOVID concept as 'attractive alternative'.

Mr. Swayne added that Ghana's oil find must become a blessing and the people must share in its prosperity through self-development.

'Let be honest, no one is going to give you money unless you help yourself,' he said.

GNA
11.04.2016 LISTEN

Ghanas fragile march toward multiparty democracy has serious roadblock(s). For starters, the people in the corridors of power tasked to lead the nations democratic march always take one step forward and five steps backward. In the self-serving attempt to promote a sense of prowess and self-importance, the members of the ruling government take the fancy in manipulating the security agencies and other state institutions.

The classic example in Ghanaian body politic today is the overuse of, and the manipulation of the state security bodies, especially the BNI, by the current government in its witch-hunting overtures of its political opponents activities, including in some cases the dissenting (private) media.

Democratic governance as practiced in the Western nations such as Britain, Canada, the United States, and Australia, is not only about allowing or conducting periodic elections. After all, almost all modern countriesdictatorship, monarchy, socialist, or representative democracyhold or claim to hold free and fair elections, occasionally.

Evidently, the most significant and powerful enabler of genuine democracy is the existence of strong, independent, and non-politicized state bureaucratic agencies detached from the ruling class manipulations. Today in Ghanaian political culture, many level-headed people know that the institutional structures that provide the necessary support system for the countrys shivery democracy are relatively weak because the president has too much control over all the state establishments. By the way, the military-inspired 4th Republican Constitution has a lot to do with all the executive power grabs by President Mahama.

Unlike Ghana, the US or Britains system of government functions far above average, because its leaders recognize the imperfections of the system and always strive to attain perfection, regardless. Although President Obama or Prime Minister Cameron is the current head of their respective nations top security policy councils, none of them has unfiltered control over day-to-day operations of these governmental organizations. Their legislatures also play influential and collaborative role in the activities of all their national agencies. In simple terms, its unconscionable and may be impeachable offense for the president of the United States or the prime minister of Britain to use the FBI or M15 respectively for partisan purpose as the Mahama-led government is fond of doing in Ghana.

It is true that the director of the FBI is appointed by the president of US and approved/rejected by the Senate. Yet, anytime the FBI or CIA carries out its professional functions, the US president has no direct/indirect role or doesnt try to influence the outcome of the bodys job for political gains. In Ghana, the contrary holds sway.

There are several instances; and, the recent case in point is the manner in which the present Ghana government uses the BNI to arrest and hastily deport the three ex-South African police hired by the NPP to train its security detail. There are some people who are cynically or ignorantly arguing, in view of the three former South African cops episode, that President Mahama, just like the US president, is the head of the state security so his apparent involvement with the BNIs operations is not out of order. However, what these arguments fail to realize is that in American political system, the FBI, CIA, Federal Reserve (the central bank) and all the top state agencies do not report only to the president/executive branch but also theyre accountable to, and monitored by the Congress as well.

To illustrate a point, since Messrs. Barack Obama and David Cameron are mere mortals prone to human foibles, their respective countries have in place unbiased oversight mechanisms. These arrangements ensure that the executive branch is effectively checked and balanced like the other two coequal branches of government.

As of now, many concerned Ghanaians home and abroad wonder if the government in the country is a one-person rule or a true representative democracy. The legislative branch in Ghana which is supposed to be the mitochondrial part of democratic system is woefully decayed and lacked energy. More so, the Ghanas judiciary charged to keep an eagle eye on the rule of law and its interpretation is sorely corrupt to the core as the recent incriminating expose by Anas and his investigative team show. Under these unfortunate circumstances, what comes next?

For one thing, President Mahama has been having a field day. Usually, he hides behind the fact that he is the chief executive president and commander in chief of the military and the police force, as well as the head of all the state security apparatus.

As a result, he vehemently argues it is within his so-called constitutional powers to use the state agencies for any purpose he sees fit. Most likely, the foregoing belief is the main reason the president unilaterally and naively negotiated with the smarter American government, leading to the dumping of two ex-Gitmo detainee terrorists in Ghana.

Forget that under well-oiled multiparty democracy the president doesnt call every shot; rather, the peoples house (parliament) is always the nerve center of the nations policy processes. From all indications, Mr. Mahama calls all the shots behind the scenes; and, uses the BNI for every inconsequential incident under the pretext of investigating potential threats to the national security; except that he did not involve his beloved BNI when he single-handedly brought in the two national security-threat terrorists from Gitmo Bay Detention Center.

Now, lets get this proven fact straight about democratic culture. True multiparty democracy cannot thrive in an environment where the civil and other state service agencies are not independent because theyre all under the mercy of one person called the executive president. It does not matter whether Ghana is run by the NDC, NPP, or any other political party, the nation and its well-intentioned citizens have chosen multiparty democracy over pseudo-democracy.

The political experiment most Ghanaians have selected highly demands that whoever is the president must support and ensure that the countrys bureaucratic institutions are depoliticized and stay as neutral as possible, understanding that these state institutions will always outlive any president and his/her government. The Americans or the British know this basic fact that is why they have succeeded in their political journey. Why Ghana or Africa cant succeed in almost anything?

Bernard Asubonteng teaches political science and critical thinking at the college/university level. He is based in the United States, and can be reached at [email protected]
A consummate Poet, Writer and Media Consultant, Odimegwu Onwumere has won the maiden edition of Nordica Media Merit Awards in the Digital Category at the gala night for the awards held at the Banquet Hall, The Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos State, on April 9 2016. In this report made available to the public, Odimegwu Onwumerereports:

It was a long walk to success. I was declared Winner, Digital Category, in the Nordica Media Merit Awards on April 9 2016, at the gala night for the awards held at the Banquet Hall, The Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos State.

The journey started in 2015, when I came across a call for journalism contest organised by The Endometriosis Association, Media Excellence Award, with the address, 8585 N. 76th Place, Milwaukee, WI 53223, USA.

The contest was meant for journalists around the world. I did not know what Endometriosis was or meant. I ventured into research and was shocked by the sordid stories of people that I gathered. Data collection on the subject was an eye opener.

I entered for the contest, which was benchmarked for December 31 2015. And since then, I have not heard from the organisers of the contest  whether they received my entry or not  since I entered the contest via post mail.

Nordica Media Merit Awards

I was surfing the internet on January 14 2016, when I came across the Nordica Media Merit Awards, which deadline for submission, was January 15. I noticed that the call for submission had been in place since 2015, but why I did not notice it till that day, I would not know.

I contacted the number I saw with the content of the contest information to find out the deadline, because it was not stated on the portal I read about the contest. The receiver of my call told me that the deadline was January 15. The awards were open for journalists to submit at least three articles on fertility that were published the previous year.

I filed in three of my articles with the hope that a particular article on fertility would make the shortlist. Smallest-amount did I envisage that it was going to be the story on Endometriosis I had entered for the USA awards that would bring this smile on my lips.

Entering for the awards

When I made my entry, I sent a text to the number to confirm the receipt of my entry. To my shock, I was told that the entry was not in the organisers entries bank. The reason, I would not know.

The following day being January 15, the deadline line for submission, I left my house early to a place in Port Harcourt to resend the entry.

There was no electricity in the area where I live that day and even the night before. Even if there was, Telecommunications network in the area that I reside are so poor, which suggests that the area needs effective Internet boost to help residents work with their modems  for those who use such devise for internet connectivity.

My entreaty to find out if my entry was received was from an experience I got from a particular journalism contest, which I entered and, on inquiring from the organisers if my entry was received, I got no in response.

I entered for the said award via a form meant for submission on the organisers website. When they could not receive my entry after multiple trials, they provided an email through which I did the submission.

That experience taught me a lesson that most of the awards entries made by journalists in Nigeria online are not received by the persons or organisations they were meant for. I guess poor telecoms network in Nigeria should be held responsible for this!

After resubmitting my entry for Nordica Media Merit Awards and thought that the entry was received, I got a mail after a period of time; precisely on February 24 2016, with the info, Urgent need to get the entries of the following is critical.

Seven peoples names that included mine were mentioned as those whose entries had not been received by the organisers of the awards.

I checked the email of the sender and it was different from the earlier email through which I had made the former entries. I resent my entry and inquired to find out if it was received, I got a response that the entry has been received. In my reply, I wrote, Thanks for clearing the air on my submission. I appreciate.

Shortlist

I was in a long queue in a bank in Port Harcourt on April 4 2016, when I received a call. The person introduced himself as Olakunle Oyebanjo, Head of Marketing & Sales, Nordica Lagos. He then asked if he was speaking to Odimegwu Onwumere. I said that he was.

You entered for the Nordica Media Merit Awards? he asked. Yes, I deed was my response.

To confirm you are the right person, send us with your email address again. I did that immediately and within some seconds, I got an email from Oyebanjo with the subject Invitation - Endo Gala Night & Fund Raising Dinner - Saturday April 9th 2016. I was a shortlist! Instructions pertaining to attendance were clearly detailed in the mail that came to me in the BCC icon.

Preparing for the Awards

I started preparing immediately for the awards  To travel from Port Harcourt to Lagos by road. A journey of about 8hours, depending. But by air, it is usually 45mins.

I decided to travel through the road, due to the government of Major General Muhammadu Buhari, which majority Nigerians can now see hoodwinked them with the change mantra during the All Progressives Congress electioneering campaigns in 2015, has impoverished the country than lessen poverty in the citizenry as Nigerians had anticipated.

It is only in this government that a dollar had equaled N400; and a litre of fuel (PMS) sold at N400 in fillings stations across the country  in variations. In short, it is a government of Trial and Error of Blame Game and All Promises Cancelled (APC).

I did not join the bus from Port Harcourt, I went to Aba in Abia State, knowing that as Aba is a commercial place, buses would load very fast.

I was disappointed that Friday night. There was a decline in the rate of people travelling to Lagos that night. An official of the motor station I was at, told me that ordinarily, the first luxurious Night Bus was supposed to leave Aba for Lagos by 7pm, but here we were by 10pm.

When the bus finally left with a negligible number of commuters, I wanted to sleep, but could not sleep, due to the irritant called dilapidated-roads in the country.

There was never a smooth-three-minute drive from the East to South on the journey. I got to Lagos by 9am. My brother (cousin) Udoka, who was on the fuel queue in Lagos, left for the Black Market at a very mouth-vomiting price, when I called to inform him of my arrival.

He came to the bus-stop, where I had alighted and we rode through the Mango Bus-stop axis to his residence. As we got home, we expended the one day that I stayed in his house, burning the generator.

Awards gala night

The weather in Lagos was so hot unlike the weather in Port Harcourt. When it started drizzling around 3pm on April 9 2016  the D-Day for conferring of the awards  I was relieved as the weather became mild.

Udoka, who passively knows the bus-stops by their names, but knows the roads very well and I, set out in his Camry car to the venue.

An alluring environment with hard-working security officials making sure that the influx of cars in the venue was regulated, The City Centre, Victory Island, Lagos, could win an award for the orderliness of its environment.

We parked the car and were directed to the Banquet Hall. The decoration in the hall was sparkling. Udoka and I looked for a table and occupied just two seats.

There were several tables in the hall, each with over five seats making it up. We sat waiting, filling our eyes with the appearances of some women, who were making the occasion booming with their oversized and downsized outfits! The security men and women were neatly dressed.

The awards ceremony that was billed for 6pm started latter. In making sure that all the journalists that were shortlisted for the awards were present, we were gathered to a particular place in the dazzling hall. Each of the journalists was wearing a look of Am I going to be the winner?

The MCs  a man and woman  were very good. The woman in doing everything to keep the place fun-running was loquacious. The good-looking, brilliant and soft-voice wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo was a Special Guest of Honour.

She had the brain in her Keynote address. "Endometriosis poses a danger in making the women world go on extinction if the menace is not arrested soon," she said.

I saw the likes of Veteran Journalist Dele (Momodu); Musician Shina Peters; Ex-Beauty Queen Nike Oshinowo whose authentication of how endometriosis had been an unfriendly friend brought bitter tears down her jaws; music star Tiwa Savage as well as MBGN World Unoaku Anyadike were there; Tanzanian beauty Millen Magese; Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, a consultant Obsterician and Gynaecologist and the Managing Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos; and so many other dignitaries were present and represented.

Conferring the awards

I was bewildered when the occasion got to this stage if I was going to be a winner. My befuddlement heightened when a good-looking man who introduced himself as Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, the Editor-in-Chief of Vanguard newspapers, mounted the pedestal to call out how many entries from journalists that were gotten for the awards and how many journalists were shortlisted.

Adefaye was among the Panel of Judges that screened the entries. I did not know him. He said that there were three categories for the awards: Print, Electronic and Digital. One winner will emerge in each category; each will get a reward of N250, 000.

The Health Editor of New Telegraph newspapers, Mrs. Appolonia Adeyemi won in the Print Category, while Toyin Aboh of Television Continental won in the Electronic Category and, I won in the Digital Category.

Conclusion: Nordica Media Merit Awards open and plain

I would say that the Nordica Media Merit Awards were judged on merit and not, on tribe, or who you know.

I want to thank Nigerian editors and newspapers publishers, who do not publish the chaff and dropping, the wheat. The online publishers have kept the spirit running and they deserve the support of Nigerians and the leaders.

I'm of the view that no matter what some quarters are suggesting that journalism in Nigeria was heading to extinction, I want to make a consolidated remark that journalism will not die in the country; rather some journalists may be going out of the profession for something, but the ones who remain stoical will continue to represent social justice and impartiality, contributing to society as well as being the watchdog in society.

I want to thank Udoka who was my guide in Lagos. I want to implore the authorities to support the Nordica Media Merit Awards and in so doing, initiate other journalism awards to encourage journalists.



Conversely, I want to especially thank Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, managing director, Nordica Fertility Centre, organisers of the awards, for their fertility initiative, which has added to the fertilisation of my journalism womb.

Contact Odimegwu Onwumere via email: [email protected]
Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan accused China Monday of kidnapping eight Taiwanese who had been cleared of criminal charges by a court in Kenya, and angrily demanded their immediate return from the mainland.

The alleged abduction -- described by Taiwan's foreign ministry as "illegal" and "uncivilised" -- posed a potential challenge to president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, who takes office next month.

Kenyan authorities in November 2014 arrested 28 Taiwanese along with 49 other ethnic Chinese on charges of illegally entering the African state and being involved in an telecoms scam, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A first group of 37 suspects, among them 23 Taiwan citizens, was found not guilty by a Kenyan court on Tuesday last week.

But eight of the 23 Taiwanese, were deported to China by Kenyan authorities last Friday due to Chinese pressure, it said.

Taiwan has no diplomatic ties with Kenya, which recognises the government in Beijing. Its nearest diplomat is based in the South African capital.

The ministry said China used "technical methods" to delay news of the Kenyan court's verdict.

"By the time our official rushed to the airport, the eight Taiwan citizens had been forcefully taken to a passenger plane of China Southern Airlines and sent to the mainland," it said.

"Officials from the Chinese mainland abducted the eight Taiwan nationals who had been cleared of the charges by a Kenyan court and sent them to the mainland," it said.

"The illegal and uncivilised measures have severely infringed upon the fundamental human rights of the eight people."

The ministry demanded that the mainland immediately return the eight to Taiwan, and called on Kenyan authorities to free the other 15 acquitted Taiwanese.

Asked to comment on the row, China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: "We need to check on the details, but we need to note that the One China policy should be upheld."

China still regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, even though Taiwan has ruled itself since 1949.

In reply to queries raised in parliament, Shih Hui-fen, deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, said a protest was filed to mainland authorities at Friday midnight.

"This has not only harmed the fundamental human rights (of the group), but has hurt Taiwan people's feelings and has severe negative impact on ties between the two sides," Shih said.

The incident also angered the China-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which secured a landslide victory over the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party in January.

The DPP's Tsai Ing-wen will be inaugurated as president on May 20 to replace the KMT incumbent Ma Jing-Yeou.

KMT parliamentarian Ma Wen-chun demanded a more dramatic protest by the government.

"More things like this could happen in the future as cross-strait ties face uncertainties," she said, referring to the change of presidency.

In 2011 Chinese authorities returned 14 Taiwanese suspected in a major fraud case after the Philippines had deported them to China.

That came after nearly four months of efforts to secure their return.

Taiwan and the mainland in 2009 signed a joint crime-fighting and judicial assistance agreement amid improving ties.

However, many Taiwanese have turned their backs on China as they fear closer ties may erode the island's freedoms.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

The decision by Musah Mahamadu, a supposed chief from the Tampulma ethnic group to create a new paramouncy in the Wasipe Traditional Area in the North Gonja District of the Northern Region has resulted in high tension in the area, with some of the people beating war drums over the issue.

The Tampulma people, believed to be settlers in Wasipe and the royal Wasipe people led by the Paramount Chief of Wasipe Traditional Area, Wasipe-wura Anyami Kabasageya I are at each other's throat over the issue. Musah Mahamadu is now carrying himself as Kadichari-tina Musah Mahamadu II, a chieftaincy title, which reportedly has no historic backing in the Gonjaland.

At a Press Conference held in the Royal Palace of the Paramount Chief of Wasipe Traditional Area, the Chief and Elders of Wasipe, backed by the angry youth, sent a strong warning to Musah Mahamadu and his followers to stop causing tension and violence in the Wasipe area.

The Wasipe Chief, flanked by several of his sub-chiefs, including Gabasiwura Iddrisu Jakpa, Danbol Kakore Yazeriwura, Kunkoriwura Ewuntoma Kotoma and Nbonwura Akati Dramani, in a statement read for him by the Secretary of the Wasipe Traditional Council, HarunaMuazu, said emphatically that the said Musah Mahamadu is not and does qualify to be a leader of the Tampulma ethnic group of North Gonja District.

The Wasipewura said that the Tampulmas at the moment did not have chiefs at the traditional level, and that there was no way they could have a paramount chief and also claim autonomy right. Before one can become a paramount chief, he must have a number of sub chiefs and a recognized area under his jurisdiction.

In the case of the Tampulmas who are requesting for recognition and hence paramouncy, reference, Musah Mahamadu, where is his land and how many gates or divisions ascend to this paramouncy that he is claiming? he asked.

The Wasipewura indicated that, if there should even be a consideration, including Tampulma elders in the Gonja traditional council, it could not be Musah Mahamadu because he is not a chief, let alone a paramount chief.

On the day of the press conference in Daboya, some unidentified group alleged to be members of the Tampulma ethnic group ambushed and assaulted two chiefs and their elders who were invited by the Wasipewura to his palace for the meeting.

This angered the youth of Daboya, the capital seat of Wasipe traditional area to launch a reprisal attack on the Tempulmas, but the District Chief Executive for North Gonja acted swiftly by deploying some security personnel to intervene.

Meanwhile, the Tampulmas in an earlier Press Conference in Tamale addressed by one Amadu Latif, threatened Court actions against the Gonja Traditional Council, chaired by the YagbonwuraTuntumba Boresa for failing to recognize the Tampulmas as citizens of Gonjaland.

According to Amadu Latif, who served as the group's Spokesperson, there would be a street protest ahead of the court action to back their demand for recognition. He said that the Tampulmas had been overly marginalized due to the Yagbonwura's failure to approve Kadichari-tina Musah Mahamadu II as a Paramount Chief.

Tampulma as an ethnic group requires identity as a sovereign ethnic group just as any other ethnic group in Ghana and not as an extension or part of any other ethnic group, a feat that can only be achieved under a recognized paramount chief.

However, the Wasipe youth who were fuming with rage over the attack purportedly launched on some of their chiefs by the Tampulma youth, gave a week ultimatum to the government to bring Musah Mahamadu and his people to order or be prepared for any consequences. They vowed to launch a serious attack on the Tampulmas if they continue to disturb the peace in the Wasipe Traditional Area.

From Edmond Gyebi, Daboya
11.04.2016 LISTEN

The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) is aiding noise pollution thus subjecting residents of Kumasi to unbearable noises in the Central Business District (CBD) of Kumasi.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned member countries including Ghana to be mindful of noise pollution. According to WHO, excessive noise seriously harms human health and interferes with people's daily activities at school, at work, at home and during leisure time.

It can disturb sleep, because cardiovascular and psycho physiological effects reduce performance and provoke annoyance responses and changes in social behaviour. Over 16 street preachers have taken over the CBD from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm, subjecting people who are breaking their backs to eke out a living to all manner of noises, including vans with public address system which are set at full blast, advertising to people to come and buy their products in the name of God.

Now, the trend is spreading into residential areas such as Asafo, Fante New-Town, Asem, Kronum and other areas. Over the last two years, the KMA which appears to be interested in making money more than the welfare of the masses has been issuing permits to people who claimed to be men of God to preach with loud speakers at various road intersections in the CBD and to collect offering.

The Chronicle has gathered that some persons have contracted people who claimed to be men of God to preach in the metropolis, and rendering accounts to them from the preaching. In a telephone interaction with Most Rev. Yinkah Sarfo, the head of local Churches in the Ashanti Region, he told The Chronicle that the issue will be discussed at their meeting in the coming days to find a solution to it.

Meanwhile, the public relations officer of KMA, Mr. Godwin Okumah Nyame, has denied the Assembly is aiding in noise pollution. According to him, the KMA indeed issued permits at a fee to the preachers but have inspected their gadgets to make sure it is not harmful. Mr. Nyame, however, explained that the Environmental Unit of KMA has directed the preachers to operate within a regulated noise decibel. He also said preaching in the CBD, is expected to cease by 10 am

From Richard Owusu-Akyaw, Kumasi
The Ghana Police Service has urged all Ghanaians to remain calm amidst terrorist prophesy by popular Nigerian Prophet, T. B Joshua.

The founder of the Synagogue Church Of All Nation (SCOAN) on Sunday encouraged his church members to pray for Ghana and Nigeria as he foresaw imminent foreign attacks on the two countries.

According to him, the attacks which have been planned to take place at public gatherings will happen on a Thursday, Friday or a Saturday in April 2016.

But the Police in Ghana in a statement have assured the public that it will collaborate with other security agencies to put in place measures to avert any possible terror attacks.

Below is a full statement from the Ghana Police Service.

The Ghana Police Service wishes to urge the general public to remain calm in the wake of terrorist attack prophesy by the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T.B. Joshua.

Consequently, the Police Administration hereby assures the public that the security agencies have jointly put adequate measures in place to forestall any terrorist attacks or disturbances. All the requisite operational strategies, including intelligence gathering and tactical deployment of personnel have been unfolded to nib any breach of the peace in the bud.

In view of this, the Police is seeking the co-operation of the general public in the fight against the scourge of terrorism and other violent crimes. The public is, therefore, implored to bear with the Police any inconveniences efforts to deal with the situation may cause.

Meanwhile, members of the public are also entreated to be vigilant, and report any suspicious parcels or items left at public places and other vantage points, or questionable characters to the Police for the necessary action.

The Police can be reached on the following emergency lines in case of any information relevant to crime combat:

MTN and Vodafone Shortcode - 18555

All Networks - 191 or 0302773906

Once again the Police wishes to assure the public that we are on top of the security situation in the country.

Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com| AA| [email protected]
Beni Mellal (Morocco) (AFP) - A Moroccan court on Monday released two men convicted of homosexuality -- which normally carries a jail sentence in the kingdom -- in a case that stirred emotions throughout the country.

The court also jailed two men convicted of attacking the couple, while outside two topless Femen activists from France were detained and deported after protesting for Rabat to decriminalise homosexuality.

Residents of the town of Beni Mellal in central Morocco, meanwhile, gathered to demand the release of the jailed attackers.

The trial centred on an alleged assault of two homosexual men by a group of individuals in an apartment in Beni Mellal last month.

A video of the alleged attack appeared on YouTube, showing two half naked men with bloodied faces being attacked and dragged into the street.

A first victim was sentenced to four months in jail for "acts against nature", but an appeal hearing decided Monday to release him on time served.

The other victim was handed a four-month suspended sentence for "sexual deviancy".

For the attack on the couple, one defendant was handed a six-month prison sentence and another received four months for forced entry, resorting to violence and carrying weapons.

Two others were acquited and a fifth was to be tried later in a minors' court.

Rights organisations have demanded that Morocco decriminalise homosexuality, which is punishable by up to three years in jail.

Last August, a court in Rabat sentenced two men to four months in prison for beating up a presumed homosexual because of his appearance.

The men were arrested after websites posted a video of the victim trying in vain to take shelter in a taxi to escape a crowd.

And in another incident in a string of controversies over homosexuality, two men were jailed for four months in June for kissing in public in the capital.
11.04.2016 LISTEN

A GNA feature by Bajin D. Pobia

Wa, April 11, GNA - The Environment in simple terms refers to the natural surrounding which covers and protects mankind from natural disasters. It refers to everything that surrounds mankind. The entire life on earth depends on the environment.

Despite the importance of the environment to the existence of mankind, it is sad to note that the activities of human beings, whether consciously or unconsciously, have continuously posed a threat to that same environment.

The healthy and natural environment is deteriorating day by day, and affects everything from non-living to living creatures in the Upper West Region.

The Region is dying out gradually as the residents are without any purposeful vision towards the protection of the environment.

In fact the people have closed their minds towards the environment and this could deny them some plant medicine, fuel wood, and fodder for livestock rearing, as well as trigger off food insecurity in the near future if care is not taken.

Nobody cares about what happens 50 years from now. In fact, the concept of responsibility to future generations is neglected. It seems the people have failed to learn to live with the resources that God has provided them in abundance.

Despite the fact that the forests and trees are of high importance for poverty alleviation and sustainable economic development, the rose trees in the Wa East, Sissala West, Sissala East and Jirapa Districts among others, are being harvested with impunity by some illegal companies.

The wanton felling of rose trees which is going on in some parts of the region, will worsen the challenges already posed by climate change, such as erratic rainfall, food insecurity and siltation of water bodies in the communities.

The upsurge in the illegal exploitation of forest resources in the region by illegal companies can be a major impediment for the attainment of sustainable development.

Several communities are gradually losing their precious trees and animal species as a result of these practices. It is unfortunate that the Ghana Forestry Commission has allowed companies to come and harvest trees from the region, knowing very well that poverty is endemic and food insecurity is high among the people.

As a result of the operation of these companies farmers in the communities last year experienced changing rainfall patterns and lost their crop yields because the soils are continuously losing their nutrients and productivity going on the decline as a result of these negative practices.

With the harvest of the rose trees, livestock production will suffer and livelihoods will be curtailed because owners of livestock will find it difficult to feed their animals.

The source of livelihood of women who are engaged in shea butter and dawadawa production are also endangered as the shea and dawadawa trees are not spared.

These companies are allegedly holding documents from the Ghana Forestry Commission and come to the communities with articulator trucks, tractors and chainsaw machines to cut the rose trees and other economic trees.

The companies end up paying between 500 and 600 Ghana Cedi to community members for a container full of timber or 100 pieces of trees felled.

The activities of the companies are detrimental to the growth and development of agriculture in the region. Unfortunately, there has been complete silence on the part of Ghana Forestry Commission, which is making no effort to stop them from felling trees in an area which is already a savannah zone.

No wonder the region has become the hub of commercial charcoal production in Ghana, and that is evidenced by the number of vehicles that come there to transport charcoal and rose wood to the south.

Traditional authorities in the region have expressed worry about the activities of the companies which have invaded the region, and are indiscriminately felling trees for commercial purposes.

There has also been a huge public outcry about the activities of these contractors, and no action has been taken to that effect even though the emergence of this phenomenon has created land conflicts in several communities which has the potential to disrupt the peace in the Region.

Already, in some communities people have taken to arms and fought each other over ownership of land and trees, a practice that has created differences among family members and communities.

It is a pity and a painful experience that the Sissala Districts which are a bit forested but confronted with issues of perennial bush burning, drought, water pollution and siltation of water bodies among others, have to lose trees through illegal logging.

The inhabitants in these communities who are predominantly farmers have been accusing the government for no action taken against the companies, and also deal with all those involved in the felling of the trees.

With the prevailing environmental degradation in the region, there is the need to develop appropriate environmental strategies to address the problems of the environment, which require the active involvement of all residents.

Communities should try to be vigilant on issues affecting the environment. It should be a shared responsibility to protect the environment against bush burning, wanton felling and logging of trees for charcoal and timber production.

The inhabitants should cultivate the habit of growing trees towards combating desertification. The old tradition where trees are regarded as a gift from God and should therefore grow by themselves through natural propagation must give way to aggressive tree-planting programmes.

The people must have the will to change attitudes, behaviours and negative practices and pursue the path of sustainable environmental development for future generations.

The enforcement of environmental and forestry laws to protect and ensure a sustainable environment for future generations is urgently needed now than before. Therefore, the Forestry Commission, the Ghana Police and traditional rulers as well as other community leaders including the district assemblies must work together to find a solution to the abuse of forest resources.

The Forestry Commission must avoid the practice of opening its doors wide to companies that come to harvest trees from the north because the practice is impacting negatively on the livelihoods of the people.

Government must come out with a strategic approach to solving the problem of environmental degradation. Government must be seen providing leadership in this direction. For now, governments are only concerned about what is politically realistic rather than what is in the best interest of the people.

Action to deal effectively with environmental degradation is politically impossible as long as governments are heavily under the undue sway of special interests. They will not state clearly what is needed. That is why young people will need to stand up for their rights by blocking the destruction of the environment in their respective communities.

It is often said that when the last tree dies, the last man also dies. The Upper West Region will certainly die if the people fail to protect the environment, and to particularly refrain from the wanton destruction of trees for timber and charcoal production.

GNA
Accra, April 11, GNA - The Africa Israel Initiative - Ghana, a Christian religious group, would hold its 2016 conference from April 13 to 15 in Accra, to promote Israeli technology for the development of the country.

The event would be on the theme: 'In The Steps of The Fathers' and it is aimed at transferring Israeli technology and business to Africa.

Reverend Perry Gilbert Apreala, the Country Director of the Africa Israel Initiative - Ghana, who made this known in a media briefing in Accra, said the conference would seek to advocate for technology transfer from Israel to African countries.

He appealed to Government to accept and support the initiative to foster development.

Rev Apreala urged the media to help spread the Israeli initiative for the support of national progress.

Rev Oduro Agyeman Prempeh, the National Director of International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, said this was the time Ghanaians should work hand-in-hand with Israel to fight the evils against national growth, adding that Ghana has benefitted a lot from the Israeli government.

Rev Emma Benson, Campus Director, said the initiative would help Ghana to tap into the Israeli technology and this would assist the nation and appealed to the youth to team up to benefit from the scheme.

GNA
By D.I. Laary and Alimatu Quaye, GNA

Accra, April 11, GNA - Non-state actors have met to reflect on progress made in firming up efforts to push for the full implementation of the Malabo Declaration on agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods.

Members of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Non-State Actors' Coalition (CNC) gathered in Accra, on Saturday to deliberate on ways of helping governments shape policies and design relevant programmes to transform African's agricultural sector for rapid economic growth.

The discussion was on the topic: 'renewing partnerships and commitments towards maximising Non-State Actors' (NSA) impact in actualising the CAADP Malabo targets.

Mr Kop'ep Dabugat, Coordinator CNC, told the Ghana News Agency that the meeting had become necessary for members to get involved in sensitization and come out with plans to ensure that all engaged in the process of making the Malabo Declaration work.

'We're coming together to engage with the massive structures of CAADP partner platform in Ghana, we are here to register our voice as non-state actors in the deliberations within the CAADP partnership plan,' he said.

'We are engaged in all round issues within the Malabo framework, including ending hunger, reducing poverty, reduce post-harvest loses, reduce stunting, encourage youth and women to involvement in agribusiness, finding ways to help government develop and diversify growth in agriculture production.'

'We want to raise issues around it, to crystalize plans and define our coalition as a whole, this year, we will come out with a concrete statement that tells our commitment, actions and recommendations for improvement in CAADP plan.'

African leaders gathered at the AU summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinean in 2014 and adopted a declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods, Malabo Declaration.

The Declaration implementation strategy and roadmap systematically outlines a range of priority actions to be carried out in realising the 2025 CAADP vision - creating a prosperous Africa where growth is shared among citizens through agricultural transformation and wealth creation.

The actions are expected to be realised at the regional level, focusing on boosting local systems to deliver on overcoming obstacles in the agriculture sector and raising productivity.

Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal and Nigeria are engaged in the meeting and are due to issue a communique of the end of the two-day sensitisation workshop on CAADP 2014 Malabo Declaration on Agricultural Transformation and Joint Sector Reviews.

GNA
By Kodjo Adams, GNA

Accra, April 7, GNA - Dr Charles Amoatey, Lecturer, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration Business School said the evaluation policy in the public sector should be guided by the national vision, and aligned to long-term development plan.

He stressed that the policy should be relevant, effective and implemented, understood by everybody, produced in a consistent way to allow for aggregate benchmarking and ensure the efficient allocation of roles.

Dr Amoatey said this at a dialoque on National Evaluation Policy for the country in Accra organized by the Ghana Monitoring and Evaluation Forum and supported by the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

He was of the view that to finance evaluation, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should allocate a percentage of their budgets to evaluation, public policy and major cross-sectoral evaluations be budgeted from National Development Planning Commission budget .

Dr Amoatey said the country's evaluation system is currently in a transition period and that there is very low prioritization of evaluation across the public sector.

He said several countries have written, legislated national evaluation policies but do not have the capacity, saying African countries use evaluation to comply with World Bank, United Nations Development Planning, and other donors' criteria for funding.

Touching on the evaluation policy for Philippine, Dr Amoatey said the country categorized its evaluation policy under three strategies including short term, medium term and long term.

He said the short term deals with the creation of government bodies, that is evaluation task force, an evaluation secretariat and an interim technical working group, while the medium term focus on ad hoc evaluation department through an executive order which report to the office of the President and the long term formalizes the creation of an evaluation department that is independent of the executive and the legislative branch of government.

Dr Amoatey said some of the challenges of the Philippine's evaluation policy was lack of capacity of agencies to manage evaluation and varying levels of monitoring and evaluation capacities across agencies.

He said some of the possible ways of addressing the challenges was to have joint evaluations with development partners and the Philippine Institute for Development Studies has 22 ongoing and proposed impact studies supported by the Monitoring and Evaluation fund.

He said Ghana needs to consider its options by looking at the experiences of other developing countries like the Philippine and the South Africans.

He said the Ghana National Evaluation Policy is the provision of clear mandates to relevant MDAs , civil society organizations and other development stakeholders to commission, manage and conduct evaluations of all programmes on a regular basis.

Dr Amoateng said the country's policy should make provision for penalties for non-compliance including any measure allowed by the Financial Administrative Act by Ministry of Finance.

Dr Nii Moi Thompson, Director General of the National Development Planning Commission said there is the need for a national evaluation policy which shall mandate all public sector organizations to conduct evaluations on government policies, programmes and projects to deepen the role of transparency and accountability.

He said the Commission has produced national monitoring and evaluation manual and guidelines and report formats for all MDAs to prepare monitoring and evaluation plans for their respective medium term development plan.

He said the Commission uses checklist to review all the draft monitoring and evaluation plans submitted by MDAs to ensure compliance with the key requirements of the guidelines and report format.

Mr Clemens Gros, a representative from the UNICEF said evaluation focuses on relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability adding that a national evaluation policy can provide guidance on who is responsible for commissioning an evaluation and which decision makers are responsible for using the evidence from the policy makers.

GNA
By Iddi Yire, GNA

Sota, near Dodowa (GAR), April 11, GNA - Basic Schools in Sota near Dodowa in the Shai Osudoku District of Greater Accra have undergone critical incidence stress debriefing to ease the pupil from fear following the murder of the town's chief.

The pupils were taken through followed up counselling at a group level, then one-on-one counseling as some were directly connected to the victims.

The chief of Sota, Nene Teiko Peteku III, his son, and head of family were in a Toyota Corolla vehicle on the Dodowa-Ningo road when they were shot and killed on Sunday March 21.

The Kinderfoundation, a Christian child-centred non-governmental organization, organised the psycho-social counselling session for the pupils of Sota Basic School to help them come out of the trauma.

Mr Ebenezet Tetteh Kpalam, the Executive Director of Kinderfoundation, and a Clinical Psychologist, said the process is a kind of psychological first aid 'Children are one group that are more traumatised because they have questions concerning the incident and are scared'.

The session gave the pupils an opportunity to express their opinions and emotions as the incident had left the entire village traumatised.

He said reports based on the Foundations' research indicate that after the event, the children could not concentrate on school activities because of fear.

Mr Kpalam said the psycho-social counselling session would help determine the psychological state of the children to determine the next line of action.

He said the Kinderfoundation would also have a session with the teachers, to suggest ways they could assist the children come out of the trauma, since they meet on a daily basis.

A teacher at the Sota Basic school who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the behaviour of the pupils had changed, with regards to their level of concentration in school.

He said that teachers of the school had been to the homes of the children that were directly affected by the incident to console them and discuss how to relieve the children of the trauma.

'Talking to them as a teacher, I have noticed that the pupils are really disturbed,' he said.

He said the police presence has not been felt in the area after the incident, recounting that it is not the first time an incident of that nature had happened.

One of the pupil, a Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidate, and whose father is one of the deceased, told the GNA that he felt pain and great fear, coupled with strange dreams that he was now having after the incident.

On behalf of his colleagues, he expressed his gratitude to the Foundation for coming to their aid.

Kinderfoundation is a Christian child-centre non-governmental organisation that provides child development training and psychological support for children and child advocacy.

GNA
11.04.2016 LISTEN

By Joyce Danso, GNA

Accra, April 11, GNA - The Koala Shopping Centre robbery case was on Monday adjourned to April 13, following the prosecution's inability to produce their witness in court.

When the case was called, Chief Superintendent of Police Mr Duuti Tuaruka said the third witness was not ready and prayed for a short adjournment.

The Circuit Court presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh obliged them and urged them to produce their witness at the next sitting.

Prosecution said they would be calling three more witnesses to testify.

The victim, Ms Lydia Horsu and a driver whose media name is Nana Yaw, who rescued the victim and knocked down two of the robbers, have so far testified.

The accused persons, Gilbert Osabutey, Michael Edor Ahiataku aka Old soldier, a private security man, and Frederick Sedro Kwame, who have been charged with conspiracy to rob, have pleaded not guilty.

Stanley Obaliko and Okoe Quarcoe sustained injuries during the robbery incident and they have been on admission since January 9.

Appearing before the Court, Obaliko and Quarcoe pleaded guilty to the charges of robbery.

However, the Court after listening to their explanation entered a plea of not guilty on their behalf.

Chief Supt Tuaruka said the complainant in the case is Lydia Horsu, a Marketing Administrator with the Shopping Centre, who goes round daily to collect the previous day's sales to the head office.

On January 6, this year, Osabutey, Ahiataku and Kwame hatched a plan to rob the Shopping Centre and sought the assistance of the two others, now at large, who also recruited Obaliko and Quarcoe to carry out the plan.

The Prosecution said on January 8, this year, around 2000hrs, all the accused persons met at the Koala Shopping Centre at Cantonments and Osabutey, who was a supervisor at the Cantonments Branch, briefed them about the movement of the complainant.

The prosecutor said the accused persons agreed to rob the complainant the following day.

On January 9, at about 0800hrs, the complainant went to the Koala Shopping Centre, Cantonments, but she decided to pick the Company's invoice and voucher to audit them and left for the head office at the Airport.

On seeing the complainant leave the office, Osabutey alerted the accused persons through phone calls and Obaliko and Quarcoe boarded a BMW motor bike and moved closer to the Koala head office.

Obaliko and Quarcoe trailed the complainant to a point near the American Embassy at Cantonments.

The Prosecution said Obaliko who was then the pillion rider alighted, drew out a pistol at the complainant and ordered her to surrender her handbag to him.

Chief Supt Tuaruka said Ms Horsu refused to comply and raised the alarm.

He said this infuriated Obaliko who pushed the complainant down and shot her twice in her thigh and calf and after which he (Obaliko) and Quarcoe sped off.

A taxi driver, who witnessed the incident, chased them with his vehicle and hit their motor bike.

Police investigations, however, led to the arrest of the rest of the accused persons.

Chief Supt Tuaruka said the victim, who was shot twice by the accused persons, is on admission at the 37 Military Hospital, responding to treatment.

GNA
11.04.2016 LISTEN

By Patrick Cofie, GNA

Accra, April 11, GNA - Mr Tim Millikan, the former Australian High Commissioner, has said Ghana is a land of abundant resources and there is the need for all to play their role for the development of the country.

He said Ghana is an oasis of peace in a neighbourhood where political instability is frequent and it is incumbent on every Ghanaian to help maintain this.

Speaking at a farewell reception organised by the High Commission, Mr Millikan said during his period of stay, the High Commission has had a very useful relations with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

He said the work with the Ministry was basically to help strengthen its activities and ensure that all the land rights for business entities are well protected.

Mr Millikan said 'I came to Ghana in February 2013, to help support the Australian mission in Ghana. I initially came as the Deputy High Commissioner and served as the Commissioner for the remainder of my tenure. And I have enjoyed my stay here.'

Madam Jeannie Henderson, the new Acting High Commissioner, and a new administrative team, were introduced to the gathered guests which included representatives of various foreign missions, the Australian students' alumni association and the media.

GNA
Ho, April 11, GNA - A group, the "Concerned Youth of the National Democratic Congress" (NDC) in Kpando has commended President John Dramani Mahama for what it terms, 'delivering unprecedented projects to the Municipal area'.

A press release signed by nine members of the Group, and copied to the Ghana News Agency said in the last few years, the Municipality witnessed 'massive' development projects in Health, Education, Agriculture, Energy, Roads and Housing through Madam Paulina Delali Adinyira, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Kpando.

The statement commended President Mahama for fulfilling the promises made to the area.

It said the Party was, therefore, confident about securing 95 per cent of votes in the impending general election to give President Mahama a landslide victory.

The release described Madam Adinyira as an inspirational leader.

'The Hon. MCE has been very responsible since assuming office' it said.

It said the people were, therefore, happy with the facelift being given the Municipal capital.

GNA
By Paul Achonga Kwode, GNA

Salaga (N/R), April 11, GNA - Miss Clara Nyarkoah Anim, Project Coordinator of the Ghana Cooperative Credit Unions Association (CUA) has disclosed that a credit facility totaling GHa1,594,398.00, has been disbursed to 9,000 farmers and petty traders to expand their economic livelihoods.

She said the beneficiaries were part of the Food Security through Cooperatives in Northern Ghana (FOSTERING) project, intended to enhance food security, nutritional status and economic empowerment of the beneficiaries.

Ms Anim who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency on Friday at Salaga on the sidelines of a two-day summit on Gender Model Family project said the credit facility had boosted small business activities of men and women in eight districts.

The summit was organized by SEND-Ghana as part of the Gender Model Family project that the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) was promoting as a component of the FOSTERING project.

FOSTERING project is being funded by Global Affairs of Canada and the Canadian Co-operative Association and implemented by SEND-Ghana and the Ghana Credit Union Association (CUA) with the aim of improving agricultural productivity and livelihoods for smallholder farmers.

Ms Anim said CUA has been collaborating with SEND-Ghana over the past 10 years to establish credit unions in the Eastern corridor of the Northern Region to bring financial services to the poor adding, 'We help them to mobilise their resources together for economic advantage'.

She indicated that through such collaborations, 12 community credit unions had been formed and were performing well with over 100,000 members who comprised individuals and groups.

Ms Anim noted that the minimum amount given to each farmer was GHa450.00 stressing that some farmers and petty traders were able to take more than the minimum amount, which increased their production.

Mr Siapha Kamara, Chief Executive Officer of SEND-Ghana, said the project had also registered additional advantage where couples had been equipped with knowledge and skills to live together equitably and ensured that their children - boys and girls had the same opportunities to develop their potentials.

He urged men and other family members to share family roles without showing bias towards one particular gender explaining that the burden on women is reduced when roles are evenly distributed to enable them contribute meaningfully to societal and community affairs for positive development.

GNA
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IVA Struggling with debt? Compare your debt options and write off up to 80% of your unsecured debts  from 80 per month Get Started for free

What is an IVA? With an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) you can make affordable monthly payments towards a percentage of your debt for 5 years. At the end of the 5 year plan, your remaining debt will be completely written off.

Benefits of an IVA

Here is a list of the cost common advantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA):



 Affordability  You will only be asked to pay back what you can afford, with allowances taken into account for food, bills, entertainment, travel, childcare and others. You may be sacrificing certain essential costs at the moment. With an IVA they are budgeted for so they will no longer be neglected

 No upfront costs  When you set up an IVA, there are no upfront costs whatsoever. This means that you can put a debt solution in place today without spending a penny

 You have a finishing line  Do you feel like there will be no end to your debt problems? With high interest costs and charges, the balances of your credit accounts may not reduce as you need them to. With an IVA you will become totally debt free at the completion of the IVA (usually 5 years). You can use this as an opportunity to change your financial life, for good

 Confidential  Your IVA is not advertised in the London Gazette or local newspaper. It is your decision whether you would like to disclose it to other people or not

 No more contact from creditors  When you are in an IVA, your creditors will no longer have the right to contact you or refer the debt on to debt collectors/bailiffs. This is a great benefit for most people as it will take away the stress caused by constant calls/texts/emails and home visits

 Stay in your house  Unlike some debt solutions, an IVA will allow you to stay in your current home. This is even the case if the property has a mortgage or is owned outright

 Your pension  An IVA does not have an impact on your pension. You will not have to surrender your pension or withdraw money from it to pay into your IVA

Risks of an IVA

Here is a list of the cost common disadvantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA):

Equity Release  If you own your property and it has value, you may be asked to release the equity in the property

Credit Rating  If you have a perfect credit rating, this will be damaged and you will not be allowed to take out more debt whilst in an arrangement

You must keep up with repayments  If you do not keep up with your monthly repayments, there is a risk you will be made bankrupt

Who qualifies for an IVA?

There is no office guidelines to who qualifies for an IVA. It is a legally binding, Government legislation designed to help all people. Generally speaking, insolvency practitioners (IP) will look at your situation if they think the IVA proposal they submit is beneficial to both yourself (the debtor) and your creditors. This often restricts people to a certain criteria which you will have to meet:

Over 5000 worth of unsecured debt You must have 2 or more creditors of 2 or more lines of credit Must live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland Must be insolvent Must be willing to pay at least 70 per month into their IVA Must have some type or types of regular income

What debts can I include in an IVA?

You can include a wide range of unsecured debts within your IVA. These include:

Credit card debt/credit cards

Loans/loan debt

Payday loans

Council tax arrears

HMRC debt

Overpaid benefits

Catalogues

Gas and electricity arrears

Overdrafts/overdraft debt

Water arrears

Income tax arrears

Debts to friends and family

Other unsecured debts

Note: If you are a resident of Scotland, you will need to apply for a Scottish Trust Deed (legally binding). Speak to our advisors for Scottish Debt Advice.

What debts cant be included in an IVA?

Secured loans

Your mortgage (if you still live in the house)

Car finance (if you still have the car)

Rent arrears for your current property

Court fines/Police fines

Hire purchase arrears (if you still have the product)

Log book loans (if you still have the vehicle that the debts are secured on)

Student loans

Other secured debts

What does I.V.A stand for?

IVA stands for Individual Voluntary Arrangement. It is a formal way to consolidate your debts into one affordable monthly repayment, resulting in the debtor becoming debt free at the end of their payments.

Can I apply for an IVA online?

Use the IVA Calculator to check your eligibility Prepare your IVA proposal and apply for your IVA. When your IVA is accepted, your creditors can no longer contact you. Pay 60 low monthly payments. After 5 years, you are out of your IVA and completely debt free.

Will an IVA affect my employment?

In most occupations, your credit rating or credit scoring is not a factor and it may never have been checked in the past, it may also be likely that it is not checked in the future either.

There is no law to tell you that you must advise your employer that you have entered an IVA or that you owe money. They will not be notified by your insolvency practitioner. If you wanted to keep it a private matter, in most cases this would be absolutely fine. With some roles such as financial advisors, solicitors or bank workers it may make up part of your contract to advise them of changes like this. In these situations we would advise to inform your employers of your intentions before you enter into any arrangements. This way there will be no nasty surprises for you later down the line. More often than not, we find that your employer would not be concerned by your IVA and that it would not affect your employment status. An IVA is a formal solution and could affect some employments, such as if you were a solicitor or accountant for example. We would always recommend that you receive approval from your employers that your job isnt affected before you sign up for anything.

Will an IVA impact my partner?

There are certain situations where you may not want to involve your partner at all in your IVA proposal due to personal reasons. Insolvency Practitioners are very aware of these circumstances and can operate solely via telephone and email and at your convenience, so rest assured that your matters can be kept completely private.

If the debts which you are looking to place into your IVA are in joint names, then this would be different. Your IP would look to place all of your debts into an IVA, including joint debts therefore you would have to inform your partner of your plans.

If your debts are solely yours, then there would be no negative impact on your partner, their credit score would remain unaffected and they would not be entered onto any registers or be tainted in any way.

Will an IVA affect my credit score/credit file?

Whilst you are in your arrangement, you will not be able to get any credit. An IVA will stay on your credit file for 6 years, so 12 months after a typical IVA. When this time has passed and your monthly payments have ended, you will be able to rebuild your credit rating.

What proof will I need to apply for an IVA?

Proof of ID  Passport/driving license/birth certificate/utility bills/national insurance identification/credit agreement Bank statements  3 months bank statements with all transactions displayed Proof of income  3 months payslips/P60/proof of benefits

How long does it take to set up an IVA?

Your initial call will only last around 5-10 minutes. The IVA process will be explained to you and you will be told what further information you will need to provide to proceed with your IVA proposal. Once you have returned the required information, an IVA will usually take between 7-14 days to get into place. You will be protected from creditors within this time, your advisor will provide you with documentation via email.

How long does an IVA last?

Most IVAs will last for a length of five years. The i v a will remain on your credit file for a period of six years and is placed on the Insolvency Register for that period. You can work out what date it will be removed from your credit file, it will be six years from the start date of the IVA term. So if the IVA started on 1 January 2000, it should be removed from your credit file six years from that date, which would be 1 January 2006. When you apply for an individual voluntary arrangement your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) will tell you if you qualify for an IVA, how long it lasts, how much it costs and provide you with any other debt advice which you may need.

How much will debt advice cost for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement?

The advice cost for individual voluntary arrangements is free of charge. Your I.V.A company will tell you if you qualify for an IVA. They will talk to you about your different debts, provide you with free debt advice and check if your creditors are likely to approve your proposal for your IVA for debt.

How does an IVA affect your life?

By taking out an IVA you may affect your overall financial position. You will not be allowed to take out credit for 6 years. You will struggle to get a mortgage or remortgage your existing property. It also may affect any future increase in earnings or windfalls you may receive, as these will need to be paid to your insolvency practitioner. Your insolvency practitioner will take control of your debts for this period, they will deal with all of your creditors and this is legally binding. That means you will not be allowed to take out any more debts whilst in the IVA.

Once the plan is completed, any debts which you accrue will be managed by yourself. Your ability to take out further debts in the future will not be impacted once the IVA has completed.

What is the IVA protocol?

The I.V.A protocol is a voluntary set of guidelines which your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) can sign up for which improves the efficiency of Individual Voluntary Arrangements. When you apply for debt advice, it is important that you understand the steps of the debt solution, so you can decide whether or not the solution is the best one for your circumstances.

How do I know if creditors will accept my IVA?

Generally speaking, most creditors will approve voluntary arrangements for unsecured debt. But some debts can not be included within one formal debt solution. Your Insolvency Practitioner will tell you how likely it is that your creditors will be willing to accept your proposal, based on the voting creditors.

Can I pay in one lump sum?

There are occasions when you may be eligible for a debt solution which is payable in a one off lump sum as a final settlement to your creditors. This is usually when the money is being gifted from some one else, or you have received inheritance or a windfall for example. With a one-off lump sum payment, the advice is usually the same as when you normally apply for an IVA. You wouldnt have to make regular payments into the solution, your IP can provide you with more advice on one off lump sum solutions for your debts. Your IP will provide you with more advice on the debt IVA and explain what is IVA to you.

Who regulates the debt industry?

At present the debt industry is not regulated. Some Insolvency Practitioners offices choose to sign up to the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) or register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can contact the IPA using the contact details or email address on their website. Your creditors do not regulate the debt industry and your creditors will not be able to impact any decisions which the IPA or FCA make. In our experience, the regulators will take assertive action on any advisers or businesses which do not comply with their strict codes of practice. To check if a person is regulated by the FCA, enter their name into the search box in the FCA website.

Should I use a debt charity?

There are thousands of companies which provide debt help in the UK. You may be looking for an alternative to a private company. You should know that charities usually pass their fee charging products to sister companies which charge fees and disbursements, just like private companies. So what you initially thought was a good option, on further analysis could be different to what you originally thought. Charities do have their part to play though. They can help you if you have a problem with your bank accounts, maintenance arrears, living costs, credit reference agencies, child support arrears, bankruptcy, assets, accountancy issues, mortgages, creditor issues, insurance providers, mobiles, your bank account, rates arrears, PAYE contributions or if you want to work out your expenditure. They can make sure that you speak to an adviser or supervisor and look at proposals to offer your lender. A petition has started with the possibility of a debate in parliament about how charities represent themselves and their services.

Which charities help with debt?

You can contact Money Advice Service, National Debtline, Step Change, Shelter or a combination of the three. Charities are particular useful for a low debt level under 1,000. If the debt is high (such as a debt value of 10,000 or more) you would usually seek an assessment from a professional adviser. If you do decide to use a charity to guide you, make sure you check their charity number and the registration number on their website to make sure you are content that their team can answer your questions in the right ways. A lot of clients of charities have a minimum debt level which does not meet the basis for an IVA, so you could always chat to a charity that is happy to act on your behalf for low debt levels.

Although an I.V.A could be the answer to your debt problem, its important to understand the monthly payment so call us on our free phone number. Anyone customers can receive expert feedback on their rights from debt charities, if they cant help they will usually point you in the director of firms which help with IVAs.

We are homeowners, will lenders see my proposal differently?

In some cases yes. In the majority of cases, if you are a homeowner you will not need to remortgage or take out any additional finances that will effect your property. You will need to sign a additional restrictions which remove your ability to take out additional credit tied to your property, which is something that is restricted once you are in an i.v.a. There are exceptions to this, such as when you have a lot of equity in your property/properties. If you own half of a property and another party owns the other half, only your equity will be affected.

If you are landlord and you are in a position of equity, your IP may review your trading position or business to make sure the figures in question are in order. This is usually the case if you have two or more properties, as sometimes the equity can be used to form a repayment to your creditors. But this usually depends on the amount of value built up in your properties.

Banks and building societies will not change the terms of your mortgage as long as a contribution is still being made for the duration of your arrangement. Your mortgage payments will be added to your expenses and accounted for within your budget, as long as you can provide evidence that you can afford to continue to make payments into your mortgage for duration of the plan.

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business Greybull, Tata Steel ink investment deal for Scunthorpe units As per the deal, Greybull Capital will invest about 400 million pounds into Tata Steel's plants in Scunthorpe.
business UPI to revolutionise India; great opportunity for co:RS Software The company will continue to build various applications for the money transfer software, said Rajnit Jain, CMD of RS Software, adding that there are several more features in the works.
business Govt to SC: Call drops enforceable; telcos must pay penalty The meeting between AG, TRAI and Ministry was scheduled after Supreme Court had questioned TRAI over its call drop structure.
business Bank Board Bureau's 1st meet today: What's on agenda? The board should look at strengthening the governance first and then shift focus to capitalisation and then consolidation, says Leo Puri, Managing Director of UTI Asset Management.
April 11, 2016

Hired By Nuland, Fired By Nuland

When he was selected by the neocon U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, Yats is the guy, the expectations were that Arseniy Yatsenyuk would be capable to do whatever the U.S. would order him to do in Ukraine.

But as Prime Minister of Ukraine Yatsenyuk was just a too small figure in a big game. The oligarchs still rule Ukraine and the great power politics overshadow any local politics. Even there Yatsenyuk was in way over his head. He never had real power in the parliament and the people of Ukraine hated him.

He was finally told to go by the same people who put him into his position:

KIEV, Ukraine  Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, the prime minister of Ukraine, announced his resignation on Sunday in a surprise move that opened a new period of political uncertainty here.

...

Mr. Yatsenyuk and Petro O. Poroshenko, who became president, emerged as the nations most prominent political figures. But the revolutions leaders soon turned on each other. [..] Ukraines Western allies eventually sided with Mr. Poroshenko and pushed Mr. Yatsenyuk to step aside.

Get hired by Nuland, get fired by Nuland.

The "good-bye" phone call Vice President Biden had with Yatsenyuk was lukewarm:

The Vice President thanked Prime Minister Yatsenyuk for his partnership during a historic time for Ukraine. He congratulated the government of Ukraine on its accomplishments over the past two years ..

"Partnership", "accomplishments" - I could think of greater words to express gratitude for the well paid, cushy job Biden junior was given in Ukraine. An abbreviated readout of the Biden-Yatsenyuk phone call would just say: "Don't dare to call me again".

Yatsenyuk is a good example of those who hope to ride to power on the back of U.S. regime change shenanigans. Such people are just expendable puppets to be put in the trash whenever their usefulness ends.

Posted by b on April 11, 2016 at 18:19 UTC | Permalink

Comments
In what could be the largest rally yet in support of the law, the North Carolina Values coalition has invited clergy, businessmen and an author to address people who think the state's Republican leaders have done the right thing. Smaller prayer vigils have been held in several cities by supporters of the law.

Meanwhile, a group that wants to repeal the law, "Triangle Families against HB2," said it plans to read eulogies of transgender people who have faced violence and discrimination. Both rallies are scheduled for noon Monday on or near the old Capitol grounds.

Others including the Rev. William Barber, president of North Carolina's NAACP branch, also have threatened civil disobedience later this month if the law isn't repealed.

Barber, known for past headline-grabbing protests that included hundreds of arrests at the Legislature, called for a "mass sit-in" when the legislative session starts on April 25 if the law isn't repealed before then. A separate group of clergy representing the LGBT community has announced they would also take part in civil disobedience if the law isn't repealed.

The rallies come while vocal national opposition to the law continues. Business executives are urging Gov. Pat McCrory and legislators to repeal the law. Bruce Springsteen canceled his Greensboro concert Sunday because of the law.

The state law was passed after Charlotte adopted a non-discrimination ordinance allowing transgender people to use public restrooms in line with their gender identification.

The North Carolina law overrules LGBT antidiscrimination measures passed by local governments. It also excludes sexual orientation and gender identity from the state's antidiscrimination policy and prevents people from filing employment discrimination lawsuits in state courts.

Conservatives have championed a provision that requires transgender people to use public restrooms that match the sex on their birth certificate, saying the law protects women and children from men who would use antidiscrimination measures as a pretense to enter the wrong restroom.
Global temperatures for the month of February eclipsed those on record, reminding investors that there may be considerations beyond simple rate of return to consider when investing for the future.

The concept of low carbon investing (LCI) revolves around reducing financial exposure to firms with high carbon emissions, for example oil majors like BP (BP.) or mining firms like BHP Billiton. (BLT) It has been popular with institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds and endowments globally for many years. A companys carbon intensity is one of the environmental indicators, used to determine Morningstars own recently launched Sustainability Ratings.

Investment Rationale

Like other forms of socially responsible investment, the thesis grounding an investment in a low carbon portfolio is jointly financial and social.

The financial case for LCI is not an easy one to make if we rely on historical performance alone. The available academic literature on the subject suggests that green funds have not produced superior performance.

This said, many believe we are reaching a political tipping point, when the regulatory burden on firms with a large carbon footprint must increase dramatically. As regulation tightens, we can expect rising costs and falling profits. By reducing exposure to these companies, investors may be able to achieve better returns. Simply put, companies are incentivised to reduce their carbon footprint when investment is withheld or directed to competitors with a greener business model.

Low Carbon Passive Funds

The systematic screening involved in selecting low carbon portfolios makes passive vehicles an ideal low cost way to reduce the carbon footprint of a portfolio. Leading the charge in the European low carbon passive funds space are the French providers Amundi and EasyETF.

Back in 2008, BNP Paribas launched the Easy Low Carbon 100 Europe UCITS ETF, with an annual fee of 0.6%, the first of its kind in Europe. The fund selects the 85 stocks with the lowest carbon intensity from the 285 largest companies in Europe, before adding 15 specially selected green stocks and weighting all holdings to comply with the sector weightings of the reference universe. As part of the screening process the ETF also excludes all those stocks from specific industries such as defence and tobacco, and those which have experienced Environmental, Social or corporate Governance (ESG) controversies, giving it a broader socially responsible flavour.

It receives four out of five Morningstar globes indicating above average sustainability score, when ranked against its category peers.

However, newer low carbon launches from Amundi currently offer broader and cheaper exposure through its Equity Global Low Carbon and Equity Europe Low Carbon index funds, each with an on-going charge of 0.2%. The World Equity exposure is also offered in an ETF wrapper, the Amundi ETF MSCI World Low Carbon UCITS ETF, with an annual management fee of 0.25%. The European fund receives four out of five Morningstar globes indicating an above average sustainability.

Interestingly, the Global index fund only receives three, an average score when compared with category peers. This can be explained by the fact that carbon emissions form only one part of the Morningstar sustainability rating, which also considers other environmental, social and governance factors.

These funds track indices which exclude 20% of the most carbon-intensive stocks in the parent index, such as MSCI world, MSCI Europe, before re-weighting to match the characteristics including style, geography, and sector, and returns of the parent index.

Both providers have opted to offer low carbon versions of core equity exposures, that is, funds which seek to mimic the characteristics, and in the case of Amundi the performance, of broad equity markets, while excluding firms with high carbon emissions. This makes them suitable substitutes for existing core holdings rather than as tactical holdings in a portfolio.

Taking the MSCI World Low Carbon Leaders index, used by Amundi, as a graphical example, we can clearly see that the low carbon index has successfully matched and actually marginally out-performed its parent the MSCI World since its inception in late 2010. This suggests that investors may be able to reduce their own carbon footprint by replacing core equity holdings without sacrificing performance.
Lawmakers and industry groups have been very critical of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, accusing the agency of overreach and a lack of accountability. But many consumer advocacy groups have high praise for the CFPB, insisting its actions have helped to protect consumers.



In advance of a hearing on the CFPB last week, several consumer advocacy groups provided the Senate Banking Committee with statements maintaining that the controversial agency has been a force for good for consumers.



Through its rulemaking, supervision, enforcement, and consumer education and complaint system, the CFPB has made enormous strides in ensuring that the financial marketplace is fair to consumers, wrote Americans for Financial Reform. Its rules and supervision have already begun to reform the industrys conduct, making banks and other financial services companies more attentive to consumers rights.



The Alliance for a Just Society, a human and civil rights group, praised the agency while accusing industry interests of wanting to sabotage its regulatory ability.



While we know some industry interests are intent on undermining the ability of the CFPB to protect consumers, we hope the committees proceedings will explore the continuing threats of unfair and deceptive financial industry practices facing consumers, both in debt collection and in other areas, and the important role of the CFPB in curbing abusive practices that harm families, communities, and our economy, the group wrote in a statement.



We should remember lessons from the immediate past  Congress should not roll back the protections that will prevent the onslaught of defaults and foreclosures that caused the crisis, wrote the Center for Responsible Lending. Instead of focusing on false causes of the crisis, Congress needs to give its full attention to the economic recoverywhich will remain out of reach for too many Americans as long as creditworthy borrowers struggle to keep or purchase a home. We must move forward, not backward, on the reforms that protect borrowers and promote sustainable homeownership. The reforms of Dodd-Frank and the CFPB help consumers, lenders, and the economy by the promotion of responsible loan products.



But Congressional Republicans have long expressed concern that the agency operates virtually free of oversight.



I have said many times that regulatory independence should never mean independence from accountability or vigorous congressional oversight, committee chair Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said at the hearing. Unfortunately, the drafters of Dodd-Frank immunized the Bureau from any meaningful congressional influence leaving it free to engage in questionable practices and unreasonable expansions of its jurisdiction.



What do you think? Does the CFPB serve a purpose for consumers? Should it be left alone, overhauled, or dismantled completely? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Goldman Sachs will pay $5.1 billion to settle a probe of its handling of mortgage-backed securities.



The government had alleged that Goldman Sachs didnt properly vet loans before selling them to investors as high-quality bonds, according to a Bloomberg report. Goldman Sachs will pay a civil penalty of $2.39 billion, make $875 million in cash payments and provide $1.8 billion in consumer relief, according to the Justice Department.



This resolution holds Goldman Sachs accountable for its serious misconduct in falsely assuring investors that securities it sold were backed by sound mortgages, when it knew that they were full of mortgages that were likely to fail, Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart Delery said in a statement today.



Todays resolution is the fifth multibillion-dollar settlement with a big bank related to the governments effort to hold financial institutions accountable for their role in the 2008 economic meltdown, Bloomberg reported.



The settlement also includes a statement of facts, to which Goldman has agreed, according to the Justice Department. The statement describes how the bank made false and misleading representations to prospective investors about the quality of the loans it securitized and how it would protect mortgage-bond investors from harm.



Goldman Sachs had a fiduciary responsibility to its investors, which they blatantly sidestepped, said Rene Febles, deputy inspector general for investigation at the Federal Housing Finance Agencys Office of the Inspector General. They knowingly put investors at risk, and in so doing contributed significantly to the financial crisis. The losses caused by this irresponsible behavior deeply affected not only financial institutions but also taxpayers, and one can only hope that Goldman Sachs has learned the difference between risk and deceit.




Are you the proud owner of a smartphone? As of 2015, nearly two-thirds of Americans own a smartphone. If you fall into this category, Better Business Bureau serving Central, Coastal, Southwest Texas and the Permian Basin is warning of the latest twist on computer hacking: the ransomware scam that targets smartphones.

As of March 2016, BBB has received reports of 123 cases of this scam throughout the country. This scam occurs when a hacker gains access to your mobile device  or computer  and sends a pop-up window that says your device has been compromised or something similar. Hackers use this technique because it freezes your device and demands you to pay a ransom to have the restriction removed.

Similarly, the iScam affected some iPhone users last year by sending an iOS crashed pop-up window. This scam locked iPhones and demanded money to fix the problem. News reports indicate that Apple has released a patch to fix the issue.

Unfortunately, it appears the hackers are back at it again. Your BBB recently received a report from a consumer that was affected by a variation of the iOS scam. Like the iScam, this consumer received a malicious pop-up that appeared on their iPhone masquerading as an iOS virus alert, locking the browser and urging the user to call a number to resolve the issue. The consumer was told to pay $50 and did before realizing it was a scam.

BBB offers the following advice for protecting your smartphone against a ransomware scam:

- Install anti-virus software. To remove ransomware off your computer, use your anti-virus softwares ransom tool, which should scan for and remove any ransomware attempts found on your computer. If you have an iPhone, turn on the anti-phishing feature for your Safari browser, Fraudulent Website Warning, which is located in your phones settings. When turned on, you will be alerted if you visit a suspected phishing website. Also, enable the pop-up blocker feature in settings.

- Keep your devices updated. Make sure all anti-virus software and firewall protection on your computer is up-to-date. Also, update your phone every time a new software update is available. Although it can be time consuming, it really is for your safety!

- Be cautious when giving control of your device to a third party. Allowing a business to take remote control of your device can open you up to fraud or various malware. Be cautious of third-party apps or clone apps that look legitimate but are really designed to infect your device with malware and steal personal and financial information. Be sure to ask questions and dont feel pressured into allowing a third party access to your phone.

- Protect your personal information. Think twice before providing your credit card or financial information, especially if you are cold called by a company claiming to be affiliated with an anti-virus company. Also, try not to store personal information in your phone, such as credit card numbers, account log-ins or passwords.

- Dont click on suspicious-looking links. If you do receive a text from an unknown number, dont click on any links or follow any instructions provided. If the text asks you to respond yes, no or stop, dont respond as this only confirms to scammers that the phone is active and in use. You can forward suspicious texts to 7726, or SPAM. Its then recommended that you delete the texts.

- If you are hit by ransomware, try force quitting the browser. If that doesnt work, put the phone in airplane mode, then clear the browser history and cookies. If it still doesnt work, contact tech support for your devices manufacturer directly.

Heather Massey is the Regional Director for the Permian Basin office of Better Business Bureau serving Central, Coastal, Southwest Texas and the Permian Basin. Heather is available for media interviews and speaking engagements. You can reach her by phone: (432) 741-2592 or email: hmassey@permianbasin.bbb.org.
More than a decade after the birth of the modern renewable energy industry, solar and wind await their John D. Rockefeller.

Clean power remains a tumultuous and fragmented business, crowded with companies grabbing for slices of an emerging market that aspires to reshape how the world meets its energy needs. They rise and fall as technology advances and demand seesaws. Some have grown into sprawling regional players, often propped up by government subsidies. A few, like Suntech Power Holdings and Q-Cells SE, soared to prominence, then all but flickered out.

Yet there are still no companies that dominate the industry.

To an extent, clean energy resembles the early and volatile days of oil, when wildcatters flooded the hills of western Pennsylvania and gave rise to an unruly scrum of an industry. Into that chaos stepped Rockefeller, who in the mid-1860s began assembling the Standard Oil Trust, the predecessor of Exxon Mobil Corp. At its peak, the trust controlled 90 percent of the U.S. market and dominated the globe. Rockefeller imposed order on the riotous young oil market, creating the modern oil industry.

We are a long, long way from anyone in the clean energy space exercising the kind of monopoly power that Standard Oil did,' said Ethan Zindler, head of Americas for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, an industry researcher. It surely will consolidate, but were a long way from that yet.

Executives from the largest contenders for the renewable energy crown, including First Solar Inc. and Enel SpA, will gather at a Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in New York starting Monday. A handful already have the scale to operate in multiple countries and the ability to line up global financing. Some of the prime contenders to lead the industry are:

- Enel -- Chief Executive Officer Francesco Starace is using the Italian utilitys dominance in its home market as a base to build an international giant developing clean-energy power plants. It's also acting as a technology incubator for start-ups that bring utilities into new grid- and consumer-oriented businesses.

- First Solar Inc. -- Led by Jim Hughes, the biggest developer of utility-scale solar plants also is working on systems that grid managers use to integrate variable flows of power into their networks. Its the biggest U.S. solar company.

- Iberdrola SA -- The Spanish utility led by Ignacio Galan is among the largest developers of renewable power plants, with generators and grids in the U.S., U.K., Brazil and Mexico.

- State Grid Corp. of China -- If dominating the industry means controlling the assets delivering electricity, this company will be at the lead, with the power grid that serves the most populous nation. State Grid has been expanding international connections from the Philippines to Brazil in search of deals to jointly develop energy resources.

- Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. -- Chinas biggest wind turbine maker emerged last year as the world leader in the technology and is one of the nation's few companies with a global footprint, building wind projects over the past eight years in 15 foreign countries with a total of more than 1 gigawatt of capacity.

- SolarCity Corp. -- The rooftop solar developer backed by Elon Musk has revolutionized the home solar market by writing contracts that make the systems affordable for homeowners. Its efforts have accelerated the industrys growth and challenged the traditional utility business model.

- Duke Energy Corp. -- The largest U.S. utility owners operations stretch from the countrys Midwest to the Southeast, cobbled together by former CEO and industry visionary James Rogers. He was among the first to capitalize on deregulation allowing independent power producers and utilities that transfer electricity across state lines.

The blueprint for global domination, though, remains on the drawing board. And questions abound about what a clean energy supermajor might look like, to borrow a term from the oil industry.

Will they need to rule both the wind and solar markets? Are traditional utilities with sprawling infrastructure and vast customer bases best positioned to rise? Or will it be new companies entirely?

We are still in the formative years, said Tom Werner, CEO of SunPower Corp., a San Jose, California-based panel producer majority-owned by the French oil major Total SA. It is not clear yet what the business model will be that will catalyze you to be a supermajor.

The top of the clean-energy pile can be precarious. SunEdison Inc.  the clean-energy developer based in Maryland Heights, Missouri  christened itself a supermajor in July when it announced its ill-fated takeover of rooftop installer Vivint Solar Inc. Since then, SunEdison shares have dropped 99 percent.

My pets have a longer average lifespan than the solar companies I write about, said Jenny Chase, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst.

Wind and solar technology has been around for decades, yet the modern industry only started booming in 2004, when Germany pioneered a method of subsidizing clean energy through feed-in tariffs. That mechanism guaranteed wind and solar companies a transparent revenue stream, allowing them to secure bank financing and develop enough scale to reduce costs.

Now, a dozen years later, David Crane, the former president and chief executive of NRG Energy Inc., said the moment for a supermajor could be ripe. He points to a recent selloff in renewable stocks that opens an opportunity for a private-equity giant or pension fund to cobble together a green behemoth.

Others, though, predict clean energy will remain a decentralized and fragmented industry, making it unlikely for anyone to dominate. Antitrust laws put in place partly to break up Standard Oil ensure that no one company ever will have Rockefellers market power.

Still, size and global reach is important for renewables to drive down costs in what's essentially a commodity business focused on selling electricity, said Francesco Venturini, CEO of Enel Green Power SpA. He predicted that the industry would ultimately be led by a handful of players, rather than a single monopolist.

I dont think there is going to be one Rockefeller, he said.
Someone should sue the President for ...
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Closing arguments are set for Tuesday in the death penalty case of a twice-convicted Brevard County murderer.

A jury found Vahtiece Kirkman, 37, guilty of first-degree murder on Friday in the death of a 22-year-old woman who was buried alive in 2006.

The prosecution wants the jury to weigh the cruelty of this case and Kirkman's previous offenses, including the murder that happened a little more than two weeks before Darice Knowles was buried alive.

"Was it cruel to have her thrown in that grave, face up, immobilized, looking on as the cement was mixed and thrown on her, and the dirt?" prosecutor Greg Konieczka told the jury. "You can consider that she was bound and gagged and watching when her grave was being dug."

Knowles' body was found four years later, buried in a wooded area. Brevard Medical Examiner Sajid Qaiser testified it likely took Knowles some 4-6 minutes to die.

"The hands were in the flex position, and the arms were above. So it looked like that person was in a struggle to try and get out, or escape the situation," Qaiser said.

Kirkman is already serving life in prison for 29-year-old Willie Parker's murder. That happened just 17 days before Knowles' murder on February 28, 2006. Prosecutors want the jury to sentence him to death.

The state brought Christopher Pratt back to the stand for the sentencing phase. He briefly testified about just being the driver and lookout while Kirkman and another man shot Parker to death in a car.

This is the first Florida death penalty case for a new state law in effect, saying at least 10 of the 12 jurors must vote for death.
In its nearly 100-year history, the Powerhouse of the Plains has established itself as one of the elite marching bands in Texas. However, this summer, two of its current members will take their marching to an even higher level.

Baritone players Armando Gonzales and Avan Daughrity recently were invited to join the renowned Horizon Drum and Bugle Corp based out of Odessa.

"I got really excited," said Gonzales about hearing he had made the all brass and drum ensemble.

Gonzales joined fellow Plainview High junior Daughrity, who tried out and made the musical squad just a short time before Gonzales.

"Everything is just at a whole other level," said Daughrity, who has already been named as a horn sergeant on the drum corp.

Formerly known as the Western Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, the Odessa group changed its name to Horizon Drum and Bugle Corps and has applied for a higher designation in Drum Corps International (DCI).

DCI is known as a leader in producing and sanctioning competitive marching events featuring elite ensembles from around the world.

Their open class squads are made up of professional musicians as well as high school and college players.

The groups travel throughout the United States to perform and to compete against other renowned ensembles like the Blue Devils in California, the Cavaliers from Illinois and the Cadets from Pennsylvania.

"In essence, it is an advanced level marching band with no woodwinds," said Plainview High Band Director Anthony Gonzales.

Looking to recruit, and knowing the reputation of the Powerhouse of the Plains band, Horizon held a tryout in Plainview.

"At DCI, you're considered to be a professional," said Daughrity. "You go up against kids that are in their 20s, who major in music and play their instruments every day in college."

Though Armando Gonzales couldn't make the tryout, Daughrity, along with other students Brandon Luna and Jeremiah Juanes, were able to make the cut.

It was reported Luna and Juanes decided not to join the team.

Gonzales would later make the trip to a Horizon band camp after Daughrity received his license and drove him to the audition. He eventually made the cut.

"They're all pretty good musicians," said Anthony Gonzales, mentioning that Juanes, Armando Gonzales and Daughrity had spent a lot of time playing in the high school's honors band.

Making the Horizon band was a dream come true for both students who decided to pursue the challenge.

Both musicians remembered first falling in love with the whole marching band atmosphere when they were young as they watched the Powerhouse of the Plains perform.

"I remember liking the pictures they made on the field, and the music, and the stories they told," Armando Gonzales said.

He remembered watching his cousins Jose and Monica Lara play in school.

Daughrity said his mother, Charity Lockridge, and aunt, Tonya Chambliss, both played for the PHS band.

For both students, they hope joining the new marching group will open up a whole new horizon of opportunity for them.

For Armando Gonzales, he hopes to get better with the group which will definitely help his plans to major in music after high school.

For Daughrity, he hopes the Horizon group will just open a door for him to receive some kind of scholarship to go to college.

"Right now, as it is, I'm not going to be able to afford college. The only way I'm going to be able to do that is if I make all-state my senior year," said Daughrity, who thinks what he will learn in Horizon will give him that edge to get a scholarship.

This summer, the two will attend a Horizon three-week band "bootcamp" in Kermit. There, Gonzales and Daughrity will work to earn their spot on the starting marching ensemble.

From there, the group will travel across Texas performing. They will cap off the tour with a marching competition in Columbus, and a final competition at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Currently, Gonzales and Daughrity are working to raise money to cover the $1,450 band membership fee, which includes the cost of the three-week camp.

The two have started gofundme.com accounts and plan to organize a sausage wrap sale April 16 at O'Reilly's, where Daughrity works.

For more information, Daughrity can be reached at 806-685-0616 and Gonzales can be reached at 903-812-0800.
Kate looked up as the clock chimed. Time for Jenna and Avery to go to bed. She sat aside her book and went to Averys room. At 13, she needed more sleep than her older sister.

Kate knocked on her daughters door. Avery?

Come in. I just have to finish my math and read a little history.

Avery, you need your sleep. What happened?

I dont know. I got started late. Play practice lasted too long. After dinner, I checked my messages and time got away. Just a little longer.

Leaning across the bed, Kate gave her daughter a hug. Call me when you finish, and Ill pray with you. Remember, you arent happy when youre short on sleep.

As Kate left Averys room, she shook her head. How in the world could she get her to do her homework early? She knocked on Jennas door. No answer. She peeked in. The light was on, books and laptop lay on the bed, and her phone was on the bedside table. Jenna was sound asleep.

Kate set aside Jennas books and devices and pulled up the covers. As she turned out the light, she wondered if four years had muddied her memory. It seemed Jennas grip on time management at 13 had been better than her sisters was now.

Would Avery ever make homework a priority? Kate tried to help her understand that she could enjoy fun stuff more if she got homework out of the way first. Maybe it was time to talk to her again. Or should she let Avery fall on her face (literally, if she kept missing sleep) and figure this out on her own?

Learning to manage time and make homework a priority is a habit. One of the disadvantages of small amounts of homework in the early years is that developing positive habits is not as necessary. If all a second-grader needs to do is read a few pages, that assignment doesnt take enough time to require planning. Once kids hit middle school, more homework and long-term assignments necessitate organization.

Perhaps the answer is to schedule a homework time. It can be right after school or right after dinner. Electronic media (Avery checked her messages and lost track of time.) needs an allocated amount and a specific slot of time. Otherwise, it will consume a kids evening.

My suggestion is that kids play outside right after school and then have dinner with the family. Homework should begin as soon as the meal is finished. Waiting to check with friends is an incentive to get the homework done.

Even without texts and social media to battle, my parents enforced the same schedule in my life: Outside after school, dinner as a family, and homework right after dinner. We only got to watch television, read and call friends if we had completed our homework. I used the same schedule with my kids except that they sometimes started on homework while I cooked dinner.

It will require resolve and oversight by parents, but this kind of schedule is possible even in todays environment. The good news is that you will be building a habit that will last a lifetime.

And the advantage of my parents schedule? I could use homeworks call as an excuse to skip cleaning up the kitchen!

Carole A. Bell is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a retired public school educator and counselor. Connect with her at www.ParentingfromtheSource.com, www.Twitter.com/CaroleABellLPC, www.facebook.com/ParentingfromtheSource, carole@parentingfromthesource.com
With a smile and a nice cold pitcher of lemonade, local kids will get a chance to learn the basics of business as Plainview plans its first ever Lemonade Day on May 14.

"The kids can learn the aspects of what it's like to run a business," said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Linda Morris, whose organization is working with the community to launch the first ever Lemonade Day.

A popular event in many cities, Lemonade Day is a community-wide educational program designed to teach youth how to start, own and operate their own business through a lemonade stand.

Giving kids the opportunity to learn valuable life skills through real-life experience, Lemonade Day teaches how to set goals, plan for success, create a budget, advertise their business, build a stand and provide good customer service among many other things.

Currently, the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Plainview have registered to receive an official Lemonade Day license.

Morris said the idea was presented to her last year by City Councilmember Teressa King who had seen the program's success in other cities.

Too late to start the program in 2015, the Chamber made plans to launch Lemonade Day in 2016.

However, unlike many cities, Plainview will add a twist to its Lemonade Day as the Chamber will move the lemonade stands out of residential neighborhoods and into the storefronts of local businesses.

"The purpose of this, No. 1, is the business owner can serve as a mentor to the students and talk them through some business things and help them with their advertising and marketing and things like that," Morris said.

The Chamber will partner lemonade stands with local businesses.

The stands will also drum up more foot traffic for surrounding businesses.

The locations of the stands will then be published in the newspaper and other advertisements.

The Chamber has already contacted Plainview middle and high schools to push the program and get groups signed up.

Kids in elementary school and younger will need to register their stands at the Chamber of Commerce by the end of the month. Business who want to a lemonade stand in their storefront must also call the Chamber by that time.

There is no registration fee to start a stand.

In the design of Lemonade Day, kids will do all the work, from setting up their stands, setting up a budget and making lemonade.

"They'll find out where their resources are coming from," Morris said.

Morris said kids will have to decide if they are putting in all the money to build and run the stand. Do they take it out of their profits? Do they borrow the money? Does their sponsor help?

Kids will have to work that out themselves.

On Lemonade Day, awards will even be handed out for categories like best decorated stand and best tasting lemonade.

At each lemonade stand, customers will be able to register to win prizes such as concert tickets.
Renee Armstrong was left uncharacteristically speechless Saturday night after she was announced as the 2015 Lockney Citizen of the Year.

Can we do this again next week? she pleaded to loud applause during the annual Lockney Chamber of Commerce Banquet in the Lockney Elementary School cafeteria. This is really pretty awesome, as you can tell since its left me practically speechless. I dont know who got this started, but I thank you so very much.

Others receiving key honors Saturday were Darrell Rasco, Lockney Fireman of the Year, and Ricky Davis of Davis Lumber, Lockney Business of the Year. Saturdays banquet followed a World War II USO theme and featured patriotic videos and demonstrations by members of the American Legion Post 141 and music from the 1940s with Robyn Stevenson and Lucy Dean Record.

Glenda Jones, who was the 2014 Citizen of the Year with DLynn Morris, introduced Armstrong by noting that Armstrong was born and raised in Lockney and was a member of the Lockney Longhorn Band. After marrying her high school sweetheart, Armstrong became an Army wife for the next nine years, and was a member of the Artillerys prestigious Order of Molly Pitcher.

Once she returned to Lockney, Armstrong continued her service to others as a volunteer caregiver to numerous elderly individuals while also being active with the Lockney Band Boosters, the Lockney High School Prom Committee, the Fair Board and as past president of the Floyd County Pioneer Association. While a valued member of the Lockney Chamber and involved in such community events as Old Fashion Saturday, Armstrong does not limit her volunteerism to Lockney but reaches out to Floydada and Plainview.

Her kids say that she often volunteers the entire family, Jones said.

As director of the Senior Citizens Center, Armstrong is busy most days cooking hot and nutritious meals for her clients while also supplying meals to Lockney residents during times of illness.

She has the biggest heart, and has taken on another worthy cause in the Special Olympics where she always has plenty of hugs to go around, Jones added

Earlier in the program, Jones and Morris were presented individual plaques in recognition of being 2014 Citizens of the Year. In turn, they surrendered the traveling Citizen of the Year trophy which is presented at each banquet.

Another annual recognition is Lockney Business of the Year, which went to Ricky Davis of Davis Lumber Co. That firm was established by Thurman Davis in 1959 when he purchased Brunner Lumber Co. Ricky Davis starting working for Thurman Davis in 1973 and has been with the business for almost 43 years. In 1991, Roger Stapp and Ricky Griffith purchased the business. Davis Lumber Co., was singled out for providing a valued service to the community while supporting a large variety of local organizations and activities through its charitable donations.

In announcing Darrell Rasco as 2015 Lockney Fireman of the Year, Casey Lambert noted that the annual recognition is voted on by the 25-member department. The members themselves select the recipient, which makes it even more special. Rasco serves as assistant fire chief.

To open the banquet, the American Legion honor guard presented the colors and folded an American flag while Post Commander Edward Marks explained the special meaning behind each of 13 folds before the flag was left in a triangle reminiscent of the trifold hats worn by Gen. George Washington and his officers during the American Revolutionary War.

With a huge American flag serving as the backdrop, Robyn Stevenson, who teaches at Highland Elementary in Plainview, sang various 1940s hits including the Andrews Sisters Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Dont Sit Under the Apple Tree as well as Ill Be Seeing You, San Antonio Rose, Battle Hymn of the Republic and God Bless America. In between, Lucy Dean Record used a piano to play U.S. military service hymns with veterans asked to stand as their branch of the military was recognized. They in turn received poppies assembled by disable veterans. Dean noted that only four living World War II veterans remain in Lockney.

Daniel Shaeffer was master of ceremonies with the chicken-fried steak dinner prepared by Dannys Fins and Hens Catering of Lubbock. Cobbler was donated and prepared by Citizen of the Year Renee Armstrong. Among period items on display was a 1940 Ford Standard sedan provided by Don and Carolyn Hardy.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloys record on open government isnt entirely negative, but if you look beyond the lip service, it consists mainly of his successful effort to wrap the states formerly independent watchdog agencies into one bundle and place it firmly under the control of an executive administrator who reports to  thats right: the governor.



This was not only a bad move, but a surprising one in view of the recent history of a former governor, John G. Rowland, who has been in and out of jail for offenses he committed while he occupied that office. And it was a disturbing move, given that Malloys own re-election campaign came under the shadow of an investigation into allegations that the Democratic Party illegally used contributions from state contractors on his behalf.



It took Malloy two tries, but he did finally manage to create the Office of Government Accountability, putting the Freedom of Information Commission, the Elections Enforcement Commission and several other bodies under the umbrella of the Executive Branch, over the strong objections of those in Connecticut who strive, against the odds, to continue this states pioneering efforts toward government transparency. Lest we forget, former Gov. Ella T. Grasso considered the passage of the Freedom of Information Act and the creation of an independent FOIC to be her crowning achievement.



The independent, nonprofit Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information called Malloys move an effort to gain control over the guarantors of transparency and integrity in government. We agree. And the CCFOI asked why the Malloy administration is determined to emasculate the independent watchdogs. We can see no reason that makes us hopeful about the future course of polity here in the Constitution State.



But now there is a stirring in the General Assembly to undo the governors power grab, and thats an encouraging sign. Perhaps surprisingly it comes, not from the Republican minority, but from Malloys fellow Democrats on the Appropriations Committee. They would remove three watchdog agencies from the OGA and make them independent again. Malloys stated reason for creating the new office was to streamline government by sharing resources in order to cut overhead costs. A more cynical view would be that economizing was merely window dressing, or a secondary goal at best.



Whatever the governors true motivation, it never happened. OGA oversight hasnt produced the expected savings, said Sen. Gayle S. Slossberg, D-Milford. Furthermore, lawmakers were concerned about the independence of the watchdogs agencies, so this rights that ship.



Never one to give up easily, not even on a bad idea, Malloy had proposed to fold the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities into the OGA, but Appropriations also rejected that plan. Back-office functions would still be consolidated within the Department of Administrative Services under the Appropriations plan, but the agencies involved seem to believe their independence will be better protected.



That certainly sounds like an improvement on the status quo.










Dressed to the nines in evening wear or dressed down in denim and chanclas, hungry customers have lined the booths of Jim's Restaurants for more than 50 years.

The 24-hour diner has been San Antonio's go-to spot for late-night dates with buttermilk pancakes, politico parlays over hamburgers and anything in between ever since G. 'Jim' Hasslocher and his wife, Veva, opened the first Jim's Coffee House in 1963.



"'Meet me at Jim's' became a famous saying," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, a longtime friend of the family, told the Express-News in a tribute to Hasslocher after his death in 2015 at the age of 92.
A Huffington Post blogger spent her day roaming around San Antonio, or as she has dubbed it, the new Austin.

Sidonie Sawyer, a Franco-American Hybrid Journalist, said she spent 24 hours exploring the Alamo City and found it has changed a lot from the Mexican outpost it once was, to a more sophisticated venue in the post.
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A shocking surveillance video that surfaced Sunday shows a man who identified himself as a CenterPoint Energy worker beating a Kingwood family's dogs with a pipe wrench.

Homeowner Mike Willcox said the family's 8-year-old Weimaraner bird dog, Flash, will undergo surgery Friday after suffering a swollen jaw, a concussion and a bloody cut near his eye.

The video shows a man wearing an orange CenterPoint vest walking into the backyard about 9:40 a.m. March 23.

RELATED: Woman seen dragging puppy by leash in Houston (Video)

Willcox said the family didn't have an appointment with the energy company and when his wife went outside to gather the dogs, the man told her he was there to check the meter. Upon bringing the dogs inside, his wife saw Flash was bleeding near his eye.

Willcox went outside to find him, he saw the man raise his wrench to their other 8-year-old Weimaraner, Shutter.

"I told him to stop swinging his wrench at my dog and he said, 'If they come at me, I can swing if I want. I'm going to swing it again if they come at me," Willcox said.

Surveillance footage shows that when the dogs first approached him, the man raised a wrench in his hands and hit a dog across the face.

"They've never bitten anybody," Willcox said of his dogs. "They're very friendly. I've had them since they were puppies."

Willcox filed a complaint with CenterPoint Energy but had not heard back as of Monday morning.

A spokesperson for CenterPoint Energy submitted a statement to KHOU on Sunday afternoon.

"We have determined that a CenterPoint Energy contractor was at this address on this date. CenterPoint Energy does not condone or tolerate abuse of animals by our employees or our contractors. We have notified the contract company and they have assured us that they will conduct a full investigation into the incident."

RELATED: Texas bill would train police to avoid shooting dogs

The Willcox family has filed a report with the Houston Police Department. The family expects an estimated $2,000 in vet bills.

"I don't think my dogs ever had a chance," Willcox said. "How many times has this happened to other people when they come home and see their dog injured and wonder what happened?"

When contacted about possible disciplinary action, CenterPoint did not immediately return calls from the Houston Chronicle.
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More than 1,000 people filed into St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church on Saturday morning and at least 100 more stood behind those packed pews to say goodbye to one of the Archdiocese of San Antonios best-known and most-beloved priests.

Father Virgilio Elizondo, 80, died Monday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The church parking lot was filled an hour before the 11 a.m. memorial service, attended by dozens of brother clergy who wore the customary white vestments of funerals.

Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller presided over the Mass, and Father David Garcia, a longtime friend of Elizondo, delivered a sorrowful homily in the parish where Elizondo served for 20 years while traveling back and forth to teach at the University of Notre Dame.

Former Mayor Henry Cisneros said the love and generosity shown to Elizondo on Saturday amounted to a standing ovation for his service to the church and his accomplished academic career.

At the close of the Mass, a woman yelled out, Que Viva, Father Elizondo! a rallying call of admiration that was followed by applause.

I would not have missed this for the world, said Nancy Rios of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church. She didnt know the priest, but like those who knew him well or from afar, came to show respects.

Rios said Garcia-Sillers remarks rang true to her  that what happened Monday was just one moment in the long journey that was Elizondos life.

It is a day of mourning for a lot of us, said Martha Tijerina, who knew Elizondo for close to 50 years.

It has been difficult, Tijerina added, referring to allegations against Elizondo contained in a May 2015 sexual abuse lawsuit.

The case was filed by a man, known only as John Doe, who alleged that hed been abused by a former priest, Jesus Armando Dominguez, and then kissed and fondled by Elizondo after reporting the abuse to him.

Elizondo denied the allegations.

Many noted, as did the archbishop, how important it is to remember Pope Francis declared Year of Mercy and the role of forgiveness and compassion that people must show each other in trying times.

Others remembered how their lives were touched by the priest who was born, lived and died in his beloved West Side.

Tessa Benavides, a parishioner at St. Rose of Lima, said that when her father, Raymond Benavides, died in October 2013, Elizondo came back from Notre Dame to preside over his Mass of Resurrection.

He asked us to schedule the funeral so he could be there, she said, tearing up.

Miguel Davila, 19, said Elizondo played a role in his interest in the seminary. When I was a kid growing up (in the parish), I distinctly remember how hed pick the most powerful quote in the Gospel, and you couldnt help but pay attention to him.

Many ordinary Catholics and non-Catholics attended the service, as did leaders in the citys business, academic and civic life.

Two large portraits of Elizondo were placed in front of the altar. One pictured him with his mother at his 1963 ordination. A card was distributed to attendees containing a prayer by Pope Francis about forgiveness and mercy. The congregation read it aloud together.

In his homily, Garcia made reference to the allegations against his friend and mentor and the deep sense of loss being experienced by his family, friends and the church.

We may never know all the facts, Garcia said. But what we know is the tremendous positive influence Elizondo had on so many.

Garcia said Elizondo didnt limit his reach to the Hispanic community and that his scholarship extended well beyond it.

His articulation of a theology allowed us to be a part of the story of Jesus in a deep and personal way, Garcia said, referring to Elizondos work that describes Jesus as a mestizo of his day.

Garcia mentioned Elizondos manner and ease among undocumented immigrants and the poor. He was similarly at home with the citys elites and with imams and rabbis.

We were all amazed at his depth, Garcia said. He had more ideas than anyone could keep up with.

Garcia said many people reached out to Virgil in these last months. I know, I know he was grateful to you, he said. His life has ended, but his friendship will continue in the connections we have with each other.

He pointed to upcoming Holy Week commemorations  and the darkness before the light of the resurrection. The darkness does not win, Garcia said. Death doesnt have a final say. We are children of light.

The large crowd gathered here this morning is only a fraction of the thousands and thousands of people whose lives were touched by Father Virgil, Garcia-Siller said in his closing remarks.

Many of the faculty and administration at the University of Notre Dame did not understand why Father Virgil came home nearly every weekend, the archbishop said. But we know.

Father Virgil often talked about his fathers grocery store, and it seemed at times as though it were still open and filled with neighbors, the archbishop added, showing that, You could take the boy out of the West Side, but you couldnt take the West Side out of the boy.

The mourners laughed.

Virgil never forgot his roots, the archbishop said.

He lived on the frontier between the two cultures and sharpened his insights into the richness and diversity of his heritage, the archbishop said.

Garcia-Siller said Elizondos studies led him to a conclusion that has been cited by other scholars, that Jesus himself was a mestizo, the archbishop said, a man from Galilee, living on the frontier between the Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds.

Memories of Elizondo made rounds during and after the service.

Juan Sepulveda, a senior vice president of PBS who came to San Antonio for the service, recalled that he was just 19 when the late Willie Velasquez introduced him to Elizondo. Sepulveda ran into the priest from time to time. Hed say he was running to church, but was actually on his way to the Vatican or something, he said.

Elizondo will be interred in a private ceremony at a later date.

eayala@express-news.net

Twitter: @ElaineAyala
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A Somerset family is mourning the loss of their 21-year-old daughter, sister and friend who died as a result of a head-on collision in southwestern Bexar County last week.

The Bexar County Medical Examiners Office confirmed Devanni Jene Uriegas died from multiple "blunt force injuries" she sustained in a head-on crash April 6 around 6:30 p.m. on Somerset Road in Von Ormy.

The male driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident told police the sun was in his eyes and caused him to veer into oncoming traffic. He was taken to University Hospital in stable condition is expected to survive, according to the Bexar County Sheriffs Department.

RELATED: Judson High School student killed in suspected murder-suicide

BCSO Chief Communications Officer James Keith said no charges are likely for the second driver.

Uriegas was a 2012 graduate of Somerset High School. Her 21 years of life were spent extending kindness to others and dancing, her friends and family told mySA.com.

She was a really good person [] anytime you needed someone to talk to, she was there for you, Uriegas friend, Jasmine Sanchez, said in a video shared with mySA.com. Shed ask Whats wrong, and tell you to dance because it was a stress reliever.

RELATED: South Bexar County collision leaves one dead, one injured

Vanessa Uriegas and Jesus Perez, the victims cousin and boyfriend, created a memorial for their "beloved baby girl" at the crash site. They said they are holding memories of Uriegas close and find comfort in knowing she is in a better place.

I just want to tell you how much I love you, I never got to tell you, Perez, who had been dating Uriegas for the past couple of months, said in the video. I know you knew it just like I knew you loved me.

SEE MORE: 12-year-old girl struck, killed while walking to school on North Side

Midnight Rodeo, where Uriegas worked as a bartender since 2014, also remembered her in a Facebook post.

Devanni quickly became part of the Midnight Rodeo family, the post said. Her smile was radiant. Her laugh was infectious. Her love was boundless.

RELATED: Mother of teen girl fatally shot near downtown San Antonio searches for answers in her grief

The club added that her station at the bar was closed on Friday to honor the late employee and invited patrons to bring flowers in her memory.

Mark Easterling, of Midnight Rodeo, said her death is exactly like losing a member of the family, it hurts that much, in an email sent to mySA.com.

RELATED: University of Texas freshman Haruka Weiser was victim of 'horrifying' homicide

Uriegas is one of three young girls who've died in the San Antonio area withing a one-week period. On April 7, 12-year-old Mailani Godin died after being hit by a car while walking to Eisenhower Middle School just before 7 a.m. Emilee Hurst, an 18-year-old Judson High School senior, died in a suspected murder-suicide in Selma on April 11, according to Judson Independent School District officials.

Im always going to carry her in my heart, Sanchez said of Uriegas. No one can ever be Devanni, she was just one of a kind.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
If only there was a property near downtown that could accommodate baseball and be ready for a AAA team by 2019 without costing the San Antonio taxpayers $75 million by way of a bond election.

Too bad the Alamodome, which has been used by professional baseball for exhibition games over the years, is in the way so a stadium cant be built there.

Al Pohovich

Trump to the rescue

For what seems like years now, people, including Republicans, have wondered how Donald Trump would implement the programs he gives lip service to.

Wait no longer. After his faux pas with Chris Matthews, he has had time to think. And what clear thinking hes done.

Well post a sentinel at every outlet transferring money to make certain no illegal immigrant can send funds out of the country. This will not only provide jobs for Americans but will require the elderly in, for instance, Mexico, to get up off their butts and get a job. Two problems solved right there.

While Trump licks his Matthews-inflicted wounds, he might want to glance at the column by Catherine Rampell (Congress members are the real moochers, Other Views, Thursday). It suggests U.S. representatives are taking money from government coffers under false pretenses, conducting a morality play targeting the unemployed. The overemployed and underqualified Congress passes judgment on those without work. Sounds like a job for Super Trump.

Mark A. Hall

Smith slogans empty

Re: Sanders supporter is seeking Smiths job, Gilbert Garcia, Wednesday:

This column highlights the vulnerability of Rep. Lamar Smith as a climate-change denier. It implies, however, that only Bernie Sanders followers are ready to favor the winner of the Democratic primary for the congressional nomination, Tom Wakely, which is obviously untrue. Hillary Clinton won the presidential primary in the district, Wakely the congressional. His support extended beyond the Sanders campaign to include people like myself who voted for Clinton.

Smith does not believe scientists, who put their reputations on the line in evidence-based inquiry, while he accepts the position of coal and oil lobbyists. He has also been part of the problem in Congress, fixed on campaign slogans from the past rather than focusing on current challenges. Tom, in contrast, is a breath of fresh air, open to reality rather than mesmerized by boiler-plate sound-bite rhetoric.

Anthony J. Blasi
Newly released NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report helps convenience retailers benchmark their business in areas such as compensation levels, staff turnover and benefits metrics.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.  Whether its controlling costs, navigating minimum wage regulations or competing for a skilled workforce, convenience retailers are keenly focused on labor issues. And because labor is also one of the highest costs of doing business, having exceptional talent on board is essential for success.

With the release of the NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report of 2015 Data, convenience retail companies can benchmark themselves in areas such as compensation levels, staff turnover and benefits. This years report compiles data from more than 80 c-store companies, representing nearly 12,000 stores across the country.

"This report has become an important annual tool for our management team to evaluate and benchmark compensation within key management positions, said Kevin Smartt, NACS vice chairman of research and CEO of Kwik Chek Food Stores. The ability to attract and retain the best employees is critical to our industrys success and this report is one of the tools Kwik Chek uses to accomplish that goal."

The report provides access to data dissected by firm size, region and location type to help retail companies set new fiscal year priorities, better understand the underlying drivers of their company's performance and compare their workforce investments against industry averages in key HR categories such as compensation, turnover and benefits by position and exemption status.

The NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report of 2015 Data (order number 40022075) is available to NACS members in PDF format for $175 ($275 non-member price). Orders can be placed online at nacsonline.com/compreport or by calling Reed Armstrong, NACS products and services manager, at (703) 518-4291, or rarmstrong@nacsonline.com.
AUSTIN, Texas  Last week, 365 by Whole Foods Market announced it will open its first location on May 25 in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Designed to complement the Whole Foods Market brand by bringing fresh, healthy food to a broader audience, the company says that 365 will feature a curated mix of products that adhere to the companys quality standards in an environment thats fun and convenient for shoppers.

Silver Lakes 365 by Whole Foods Market will host several Friends of 365 through partnerships with brands such as by CHLOE., Allegro Coffee Company and teaBOT. Friends of 365 is an opportunity for businesses and entrepreneurs to establish their own independent retail spaces inside of 365. Allegro will expand its coffee offer with a craft brew bar, serving hot coffee, cold beer and a selection of food items. Toronto-based startup teaBOT will install a self-serve kiosk, allowing customers to personalize tea by mixing up to three of 18 different teas and herbal ingredients. New York-based vegan restaurant by CHLOE. will offer plant-based foods, including burgers, salads, market specials, pastas and sweets available for in-store dining or grab-and-go.

With each store, were looking to curate a unique experience, said Jeff Turnas, president of 365 by Whole Foods Market. Weve really dedicated ourselves to partnering with like-minded companies that are doing new and interesting things in their respective field to bring a truly unique shopping experience that complements our thoughtfully curated selection of foods.

To provide added convenience, 365 will offer online ordering and delivery services through Instacart.

Two additional 365 by Whole Foods Market locations will open this year in Bellevue, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Up to 10 stores are expected to open in 2017.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

TPP/TTiP/TISA

Opinion columns published in California newspapers over the last year in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership use language nearly identical to drafts written and distributed by public relations professionals who were retained by the Japanese government to build U.S. support for the controversial trade agreement [The Intercept].

2016

Policy

Operative K is at it again: As with so much else, this years election is crucial. A Democrat in the White House would enforce the spirit as well as the letter of [financial] reform  and would also appoint judges [Merrick Gardland *** cough *** moderate Republican *** cough ***] sympathetic to that endeavor [Paul Krugman, New York Times]. Dear Lord, yes. The FIRE sector invested all that money in Clinton  without hope of return!  for a deeply spiritual purpose. Why, its almost as if theyre doing Gods work! The recent kerfluffle about Bernie Sanders purportedly not knowing how to bust up the big banks says far more about the threat Sanders poses to the Democratic establishment and its Wall Street wing than it does about the candidate himself [Robert Reich, LA Progressive]. Of course Sanders knows how to bust up the big banks. Hes already introduced legislation to do just that. And even without new legislation a president has the power under the Dodd-Frank reform act to initiate such a breakup.

The Voters

One answer is to talk with, not about, them. For waffling white working-class voters, we found that when we focused the conversation on issues, not personality, many working-class people were eager to hear new information and actually engage in a discussion instead of a yelling match. Connecting voters with more and better information can shift hearts and minds. We found that if we provide people with a systemic target for their economic woes and anxieties instead of focusing on the other, we can begin to counter bigotry [In These Times]. Fewer younger women have seen their prospects limited by discrimination and child-care responsibilities. Heres what they have faced personally: being part of the generation hardest hit by the Great Recession, and seeing student debt and poor job prospects as major career obstacles [WaPo]. In other words, people are a lot more likely to worry about identity politics when they can pay the bills. Show Me What Democracy Looks Like [On the Top Step]. Running for office in Ferguson.

Money

Chapman Cubine is being paid millions of dollars for direct marketing campaigns by the DNC, while it is also receiving millions of dollars to work on behalf of Hillarys campaign and the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee set up between Hillary Clinton, the DNC and 33 state campaign committees. That last Committee has been raising serious questions of impropriety since Hillary has not won the Democratic Presidential primary race [Wall Street on Parade]. The DNC is so transparent. And not in a good way.

Corruption

Watching the Democrat Establishment defending the indefensible majority opinion in Citizens United  the doctrine that anything short of an outright quid pro quo is not corruption  is both pathetic and enraging. For example: In trying to defend Hillary Clinton, @BarneyFrank of 2016 seems to be arguing with @BarneyFrank of 2012 pic.twitter.com/u8Bp6Ij5Sk  David Sirota (@davidsirota) April 10, 2016 Sad! Clintons family foundation has accepted millions of dollars directly from major fossil fuel companies  including from those that lobbied her State Department just before the agency approved a controversial pipeline delivering what environmentalists call one of the worlds dirtiest sources of energy. The Clinton Foundation did not respond to International Business Times request for comment [David Sirota, International Business Times]. Congresscritters spend 4 hours/day on the phone, begging for money [Boing Boing]. Of course, the Sanders campaign shows the way out of that ethical and institutional morass. But the Democrat Establishment doesnt want to hear it. Therefore, they like spending four hours a day on the phone sucking up to rich people, and then servicing them. Its what they do, and who they are. (When a creature has developed into one thing, he will choose death rather than change into his opposite  Frank Herbert.) NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio joins Hillary on list of Dems being investigated by FBI [Bizpac Review]. How cozy!

New York

Hillary cutting the line to get into that subway car: Hey, its not like that woman Clintons minders nudged out of the way actually had to get to work or anything. New Yorks closed primary: In New York, about 20 percent of the states 11.7 million voters are unaffiliated with any party, according to Board of Elections data [MSNBC]. Also barred from the April 19 primary are voters registered with third parties, including the 48,000 people registered with the Working Families Party. The party endorsed Sanders and its volunteers have been working hard for the insurgent, but those registered on its line wont be able to vote for him. Neither will the 26,000 Green Party members in the state.

The Trail

Sanders Supporters Call on Vermont Superdelegates to Drop Clinton [Seven Days]. The letter [from Rights & Democracy] specifically targets four Vermont superdelegates who have said they plan to vote for Clinton at the convention: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Gov. Peter Shumlin, former governor Howard Dean and Democratic National Committee member Billi Gosh. It notes that Sanders defeated Clinton 86.1 to 13.6 percent in the states Democratic primary By Friday evening, more than 3,000 had signed. After losing an embarrassing six straight primaries, including the critical states of Florida and Illinois, the upstart presidential candidate came under tremendous pressure from the party establishment to get out of the race. Party insiders called his proposals simplistic, pundits fretted he was too old and even a key aide admitted one goal was to show we were not the candidate of kooks' [Will Bunch, CNN]. But the challenger insisted that hed tapped into real anger among the ignored rank-and-file voters who wanted him to fight all the way to the party convention in July.  And so, in the spring of 1976, Ronald Reagan pressed on. He got you, didnt he? Ha. The Best from Mad Dog Mattis' [Free Beacon]. Still wondering if Mattis is Roves fresh face. Not that I dont think highly of Roves existing face, you understand.

Clinton Email Hairball

Obama on Hillary Clintons emails: Theres classified and then theres classified. How does that work? [WaPo]. We already know how that works. If youre a whistleblower like Thomas Drake, you go to jail. If youre an elite member of the political class you have impunity, and so you dont. Nice to see Obama standing between Clinton and the pitchforks, though.

Stats Watch

No interesting stats today, at least to Econoday.

Short Uber?

Just witnessed @Uber driver literally peeing in a cup and flinging it out window in city streets. Ridiculous  Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) April 11, 2016

The economic calendar is moderate. Once again, the Fed participants will be out in force. More importantly, earnings reports begin with Alcoa on Monday and the big banks late in the week. This season might be the most important in recent years. Economic reports reflect only modest growth. The Q1 GDP estimate is plunging [Econintersect]. For equity investors, nothing is more important than earnings and future earnings potential.

February 2015 Philly Fed Coincident Index Rate of Year-over-Year Growth Trend Unchanged [Econintersect]. Theres also a handy map of state coincident indexes. Rust belt and New York between 0.6% and 1.0%.

Wholesale trade (April 8, 2016): Here we go- the inventory liquidation looks to be underway in earnest [Mosler Economics]. Again, sales also fell, so the inventory to sales ratio remains at a still very high 1.36%.Look for more downward revisions to Q1 GDP.

Assets invested in ETFs/ETPs listed globally have broken through the 3 trillion US dollars milestone for the second time at the end of Q1 2016, according to ETFGI [ETFGI]. ETFGI [sic] the leading independent research and consultancy firm on trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem. Ugh. Ecosystem. Another horrid cliche, in the innovation bucket.

Prada SpA reported its lowest profit in five years on ebbing demand in Asia and said its impossible to make any forecast this year [The Fashion Law].

Shipping: The red carpet was rolled out in Greece over the weekend as one of the nations most important foreign investors touched down to seal a huge port deal while promising further maritime investment in the Mediterranean country [Splash247]. Xu Lirong, chairman of China Cosco Shipping, came to Athens on Friday to officially sign for the takeover of Pireaus port. China Cosco is paying EUR280.5m to take the port private with an initial 51% stake. The company will pay another EUR88m within five years to increase its stake by a further 16%. One European terminus of the Silk Road, and at a bargain basement price. Thanks, Wolfgang!

Shipping: Today, Piraeus could again be a lifeline for Greece, helping attract billions in foreign investment and turning a backwater into a global hub [Foreign Policy]. COSCO is reportedly interested in snapping up the Greek railway system, which is also set to be privatized. Doing so could transform the Port of Piraeus into a key corridor linking Germany, Central Europe, the Indian Ocean, and China, [said said Frans-Paul van der Putten, a China expert at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations].

American Cities Are Nowhere Near Ready for Self-Driving Cars [Wired]. No duh!

Todays Fear & Greed Index: 69, Greed (previous close: 68, Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 75 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Apr 11 at 11:27am. No Stormy Monday this time!

#NuitDebout

Violent scenes break out in France as tens of thousands protest controversial labour reform [Independent]. Well, of course. The tight focus shot of a black clad young man with a background of smoke and/or flame is such a cliche. Scenes, indeed; as in spectacle.

Police evacuate protesters from Paris square following riots [Guardian]. It will be interesting to see if #NuitDebout leaps the Atlantic to Montreal. Ive seen rumors of a Facebook page, but no reports of events.

 Nuit Debout : citizens are back in the squares in Paris [Open Democracy]. [T]he movement in France is not casual at all. Since late February, all the ingredients have been united for the emergence of a movement similar to the Spanish indignados movement and the Occupy in 2011.

Podemos isnt necessarily a role model that many want to follow. Nuit debout is founded on participation and the rejection of representation. By entering party politics, Podemos became part of the establishment that the Indignados and Nuit Debout are reacting against [Independent].

#PanamaPapers

[F]or many, the Panama Papers are reminiscent of a broader phenomenon that played out in the run-up and the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis: The perception of a system run and managed by a political establishment that serves the rich and connected and fails to hold these elites accountable for the damage they cause to the rest of society. There is still notable residual resentment that very few bankers were brought to justice for their role in a financial debacle that caused significant misery and almost tipped the world into a devastating multiyear depression [Mohamed A. El-Erian, Bloomberg]. WTF do you mean, almost? One unintended side effect: There will be even less appetite to govern from the bipartisan political center, thus making it more difficult to secure sufficient buy-in for pro-growth structural reforms, better demand management and more timely solutions for excessively high levels of over-indebtedness. What a shame, given the operational definition of pro-growth structural reforms (like passing TPP, a Grand Bargain, and so forth).

Icelands Pirate Party ready to board ship of state [France24]. Recent public opinion polls have shown the party with 43 percent of voter support, with many Icelanders furious to discover that hundreds of their rich and powerful countrymen were named in the so-called Panama Papers leak which exposed hidden offshore dealings around the world.

Dear Old Blighty

Thousands of protesters storm Downing Street calling on David Cameron to quit amid Panama Papers row [Telegraph]. The Tories are very efficient at stabbing their leaders in the back and heaving them over the side if need be. If Cameron were in serious trouble with his party, Id expect to see leaks in the press from his rivals, sticking the shiv in. Have I missed them?

And a historical note:

Black Injustice Tipping Point

When black neighborhoods are compared with white neighborhoods of similar income levels, you see similar rates of crime. The fallacy of comparing white neighborhoods with black neighborhoods is in lumping together together wealthy and upper-middle-class neighborhoods (categories that not many black folks are in) with middle- and low-income ones. But thats not how the world works. Poor white people in Memphis arent kicking it with rich ones in Bel Air [(The excellent) Boots Riley (remembered from Occupy Oakland), Guardian]. Yet the myth of black-on-black crime has enormous staying power.

Police used punches, knee strikes, elbow strikes, slaps, wrist twists, baton blows and Tasers at Homan Square, according to documents released to the Guardian in the course of its transparency lawsuit about the warehouse. The new information contradicts an official denial about treatment of prisoners at the facility [Guardian]. Sure is odd the Guardian is pursuing this story, instead of the local Chicago press. And this is on Rahms watch. Maybe somebody should ask Clinton about this? Given that Rahm is the quintessential Democrat Establishment figure?

Water

Classified U.S. cables reviewed by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting show a mounting concern by global political and business leaders that water shortages could spark unrest across the world, with dire consequences [Reveal]. Many of the cables read like diary entries from an apocalyptic sci-fi novel. Maybe I should have filed this under The Jackpot

Following Mondays announcement that Chicago is preparing a water testing program to determine whether the citys pipes are partly responsible for problems with lead poisoning, Water Management commissioner Tom Powers has announced his resignation [The Chicagoist]. Powers has so far served as Mayor Rahm Emanuels sole Water Management commissioner, and he will be replaced by Barrett Murphya deputy who has worked for the city since his appointment by former Mayor Richard M. Daley. Maybe somebody should ask Clinton about this, too?

The Jackpot

Researchers fly over 8,000 well pads and find hundreds of methane leaks [Public Source].

Imperial Collapse Watch

Ancient Romes Donald Trump [Project Syndicate]. No spoilers!

What Rome Can Teach Us Today [Foreign Affairs]. A review of Mary Beards SPQR. SPQR is a translation of Roman history into the English of todayinto the phrases and patterns of thought that we absorb from mass media and that bring order and meaning to our livesand Beards genius is in using this idiom alone, rather than outright comparison, to suggest ancient parallels with the politics and controversies of the twenty-first century.

According to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences recently completed Lincoln Project report, between 2008 and 2013 states reduced financial support to top public research universities by close to 30 percent. At the same time, these states increased support of prisons by more than 130 percent [The Atlantic].

Class Warfare

Poor New Yorkers Tend to Live Longer Than Other Poor Americans [New York Times]. And why?

research found that New York was, in many ways, a model city for factors that seem to predict where poor people live longer. It is a wealthy, highly educated city with a high tax base. The local government spends a lot on social services for low-income residents. It has low rates of smoking and has many immigrants, who tend to be healthier than native-born Americans.

Goddamn Communists. If we could clean them out, we could kill a lot more working people!

Treating workers as if they are widgets to be used up and discarded is a central part of the revised relationship between employers and employees that techies proclaim is an innovation as important as chips and software. The model originated in Silicon Valley, but its spreading [New York Times]. Read the story for the language. Its absolutely vile.

University of Chicago Medicine didnt want an adult trauma center. What caused its change of heart? In part one of our two-part series, we examine how activists and their allies upped the pressure on the prestigious university health system [Crains Business Review]. Surely an amazing source for an article with this theme?

As we argue in our forthcoming book, the neo-liberal narrative of a diminishing state is a myth. The capacity of the currency-issuing, legislating state is well understood by the neo-liberals and, while they have publicly declared the state to be irrelevant in the globalised world, the reality is different, they have actively co-opted the state to advance their own ends at the expense of the rest of us [Bill Mitchell].

News of the Wired

Software is too important to be mediocre [Seth Godin].

How an internet mapping glitch turned a random Kansas farm into a digital hell [Fusion]. Watch those defaults

This is defiantly retro and could be fun [HTML etext]. Only works in Chrome, for me.

One Artist Holds the Exclusive Rights in This Shade of Black [The Fashion Law]. And not Frank Stella.

Swearing, it seems, can be creative, smart, and even downright lyrical. This should also open our eyes to the unique subfield of research that spends its time deconstructing the many and varied ways in which, and reasons why, we swear [Scientific American].

Readers seemed enjoy funk from Bernie Worrell, so heres James Browns Escape-ism:

(One of the more amazing transitions in popular  vernacular?  music at 2:38. And here, unbelievably, are the lyrics, with exegesis.) This should get you going after your coffee break!

* * *

Readers, I still need to fix my fershuggeneh contact form! Hopefully noting that fact publicly will serve a lash and a spur to my endeavors. (Meanwhile, thanks to readers, who already have my email address, who sent in images of plants!)

See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And heres todays plant (Kokuanani):

Kokuanani writes: As one of my friends noted: What the heck, April?!!'

* * *

Readers, Water Cooler will not exist without your regular support. Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. If you enjoy what youre reading, please click the hat!
I seldom post a extract from another site without further commentary of my own, but this is sufficiently important that it deserves to be highlighted without me getting in the way. From Ben Jealous via Medium:

Furthermore, virtually every American between 18 and 24 is paying a price for mass incarceration.

This is because state after state has cut their higher education budget to pay for higher incarceration. As a result, public university tuition and student default rates have soared. Our youngest voters find themselves most likely to either be in prison, indentured by student loan debt or afraid to even apply to college.

President Clinton was misleading when he suggested his 1994 crime bill was only responsible for 10 percent of Americas mass incarceration crisis because that bill only applied to the federal system. Since at least the 1970s, when incarceration rates began rising in America, the states have quickly replicated federal changes in sentencing laws.

Indeed, most Black Lives Matter activists have paid a steep price for President Clintons policies.

However, they also understand what President Clinton has often ignored: while the percentages are higher in the black community, an equal or larger number of our white sisters and brothers have been impacted by the sky-high incarceration, poverty, and student debt default rates spurred by the very policies he touted.
By David Dayen, author of the book Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Streets Great Foreclosure Fraud, available for pre-order now and releasing May 17.

My initial understanding of the vacancies on the Securities and Exchange Commission was that the selection of Lisa Fairfax last October to replace Luis Aguilar as a Democratic commissioner represented a victory for the reform coalition in the Senate. In fact Ive written as such. Covington & Burling lawyer Keir Gumbs was the clear choice of the Administration, but his work advising issuers and investors about corporate disclosure of political activities, which opponents defined as advising CEOs to hide their political spending, did him in. Fairfax, a law professor at George Washington University, was reportedly put forward by Sherrod Brown and placed on a list of acceptable nominees by Elizabeth Warren (theres some question now of whether or not that was the case). Swapping Fairfax for Gumbs was reported as a win for the reformers.

So why did Democrats block her from advancing in the Senate Banking Committee, probably dooming her nomination?

The reversal, or at least perceived reversal, turned on the same issue that tripped up Gumbs: a long-delayed measure to force public companies to disclose their political spending. But that masks a larger dissatisfaction with Fairfax, in particular for her vague, mushy answers both in public and in private meetings with Senators. She has earned a reputation as something of a cipher, whose presence on the SEC could be malleable depending on the other leadership.

First off, heres the public source of the controversy. Banking Committee Chair Richard Shelby was all set to wave through Fairfax and the nominee set to fill the vacant Republican seat, former Shelby staffer, Mercatus Center fellow and all-around ideologue Hester Peirce. But Democrats held things up. From the AP via the NY Times:

Opposition from top Senate Democrats on Thursday stalled two of President Barack Obamas picks for the Securities and Exchange Commission over whether the nominees support requiring publicly traded corporations to disclose political spending. Nominees Lisa Fairfax, a Democrat, and Hester Peirce, a Republican, had waffled on the issue. Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., were among four members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee opposing Obamas choices. That led the chairman, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., to postpone a vote set for Thursday. Schumer said the nominees are fence-sitting on whether to force corporations such as Koch Industries to reveal their political giving. Republicans succeeded in blocking the proposal in last years catch-all spending bill. The SEC needs commissioners who believe in and support campaign spending transparency, Schumer said. I hope that both nominees will reconsider their fence-sitting on this critical issue before the vote, and make clear that they will support an SEC rule that will help root out secret money from our politics.

You wouldnt expect Peirce to support the SEC rule. This was supposed to be a package deal to get the SEC back at full strength, where both parties support their respective nominees. But Democrats balked at Fairfax, ostensibly because she wavered on the political spending rule at her hearing in March, failing to give a clear answer. A snippet:

Senate Democrats have pushed SEC Chairman Mary Jo White to begin drafting a rule that would require the disclosure, while Republicans say the amounts are immaterial and shouldnt have to be disclosed. I think there is certainly an argument to be made that it is material, Ms. Fairfax said. Ms. Peirce said she would want to read the details of any disclosure requirement before taking a position. Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) later warned the two lawyers he was leaning against both of your nominations because their answers werent straightforward enough for his liking.

But Fairfax really wouldnt be the holdup on any rulemaking; its Mary Jo White who hasnt committed to a vote. Theres also the matter that Republicans got a rider in the budget bill that blocks the SEC from spending any funds toward finalizing the rule (Schumer thinks they can do that anyway and wanted Fairfax to say so, but she declined).

The bigger problem is that Fairfax plenty-of-wiggle-room answer on corporate disclosure was more the norm in her hearing than the exception. And theres not a voluminous record to fall back on to guide the expectations of her views. Fairfax specialized at GW in research on shareholder activism and corporate board diversity, which is fine, but theres very little else where she has a stated view. And in the hearing, according to most who watched it, she tried very hard to leave every possible position open, without much substance behind the remarks. Worse, Im hearing that the behind-the-scenes interviews yielded little more than that, if anything. Her typical answer is that she would not prejudge any issue without the benefit of full engagement and thoughtfully and carefully consider all issues, and you could fit the substantive part of that answer in a thimble.

So this is a mushy-middle academic who could be a perfectly good Democratic commissioner, or not; its difficult to say. It would be easier for the reform wing to get behind her if she revealed anything of value on their issues. But the lack of substance combined with the non-answer on something Schumer takes pretty seriously (because he thinks the disclosure issue would help Democrats win the Senate) gives Fairfax very little of the support she needs.

The AP assures that confirmation of both nominees is likely, but Im not sure why. It was highly unexpected for Schumer, Warren, Bob Menendez, and Jeff Merkley to come out against Fairfax confirmation. Shelby postponed the vote (which actually stopped a number of nominees, as Shelby attempted to vote them all out of committee as a bloc) without rescheduling it. In the meantime there are three members of the five-member SEC, which actually gives all three members nearly equal power. If any of them abstain from a vote, it dies for lack of a quorum. That means the lone Republican on the panel, Michael Piwowar, can block anything he doesnt like, but so can Kara Stein. And with Mary Jo White effectively a moderate Republican, its probably more valuable that nothing can get any worse at SEC at this moment than that nothing can get any better.

The way out for Fairfax is to give a strong statement on political spending disclosure, which would put pressure on White. But nothing in Fairfax posture throughout her nomination suggests she would do that. The status quo doesnt seem to give Democrats of any stripe too much agita, so the agency might operate with three commissioners through the election. Whether that is a good scenario or not depends on the next president.
Graphene Flagship announces a new Work Package to design 2D-materials-based biomedical technologies (Nanowerk News) With a budget of 1 billion, the Graphene Flagship represents a new form of joint, coordinated research on an unprecedented scale, forming Europe's biggest ever research initiative. It was launched in 2013 to bring together academic and industrial researchers to take graphene from the realm of academic laboratories into European society in the timeframe of 10 years. The initiative currently involves over 150 partners from more than 20 European countries. The Graphene Flagship, coordinated by Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), is implemented around 15 scientific Work Packages on specific science and technology topics, such as fundamental science, materials, health and environment, energy, sensors, flexible electronics and spintronics.

Today, the Graphene Flagship announced in Barcelona the creation of a new Work Package devoted to Biomedical Technologies, one emerging application area for graphene and other 2D materials. This initiative is led by Professor Kostas Kostarelos, from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom), and ICREA Professor Jose Antonio Garrido, from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2, Spain). The Kick-off event, held in the Casa Convalescencia of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), is co-organised by ICN2 (ICREA Prof Jose Antonio Garrido), Centro Nacional de Microelectronica (CNM-IMB-CSIC, CIBER-BBN; CSIC Tenured Scientist Dr Rosa Villa), and Institut dInvestigacions Biomediques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS; ICREA Prof Mavi Sanchez-Vives).

Smart implants with therapeutic functionality for specific clinical outcomes

The new Work Package will focus on the development of implants based on graphene and 2D-materials that have therapeutic functionalities for specific clinical outcomes, in disciplines such as neurology, ophthalmology and surgery. It will include research in three main areas: Materials Engineering; Implant Technology & Engineering; and Functionality and Therapeutic Efficacy. The objective is to explore novel implants with therapeutic capacity that will be further developed in the next phases of the Graphene Flagship.

The Materials Engineering area will be devoted to the production, characterisation, chemical modification and optimisation of graphene materials that will be adopted for the design of implants and therapeutic element technologies. Its results will be applied by the Implant Technology and Engineering area on the design of implant technologies. Several teams will work in parallel on retinal, cortical, and deep brain implants, as well as devices to be applied in the periphery nerve system. Finally, The Functionality and Therapeutic Efficacy area activities will centre on development of devices that, in addition to interfacing the nerve system for recording and stimulation of electrical activity, also have therapeutic functionality.

Stimulation therapies will focus on the adoption of graphene materials in implants with stimulation capabilities in Parkinsons, blindness and epilepsy disease models. On the other hand, biological therapies will focus on the development of graphene materials as transport devices of biological molecules (nucleic acids, protein fragments, peptides) for modulation of neurophysiological processes. Both approaches involve a transversal innovation environment that brings together the efforts of different Work Packages within the Graphene Flagship.

A leading role for Barcelona in Graphene and 2D-Materials

The kick-off meeting of the new Graphene Flagship Work Package takes place in Barcelona because of the strong involvement of local institutions and the high international profile of Catalonia in 2D-materials and biomedical research. Institutions such as the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) develop frontier research in a supportive environment which attracts talented researchers from abroad, such as ICREA Research Prof Jose Antonio Garrido, Group Leader of the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group and now also Deputy Leader of the Biomedical Technologies Work Package. Until summer 2015 he was leading a research group at the Technische Universitat Munchen (Germany).

Further Graphene Flagship events in Barcelona are planned; in May 2016 ICN2 will also host a meeting of the Spintronics Work Package. ICREA Prof Stephan Roche, Group Leader of the ICN2 Theoretical and Computational Nanoscience Group, is the deputy leader of this Work Package led by Prof Bart van Wees, from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). Another Work Package, on optoelectronics, is led by Prof Frank Koppens from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO, Spain), with Prof Andrea Ferrari from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) as deputy. Thus a number of prominent research institutes in Barcelona are deeply involved in the coordination of this European research initiative.
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Shelley Young has joined hr-haven inc. as client development manager in Naples and Southwest Florida.

Laird A. Lile, a board-certified wills, trusts and estates attorney in Naples at Lile & Hayes, has been re-elected to the Board of Regents of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

The Naples Council on World Affairs elected officers for 2016-2017: President Donna L Suddeth; Vice President Robert (Bob) Erbstein; Vice President-Programs Mimi Gregory; Secretary Mo Winograd; Treasurer Gregory Hudson. Richard Clemens and Judith Lipnick were elected to the board of directors.

Honors

Hilton Naples has been accepted as a Platinum level GreenLeader into the TripAdvisor GreenLeaders program, which helps travelers worldwide plan greener trips by highlighting hotels engaging in environmentally-friendly practices.

Greater Naples Leadership said R. Wayne Mullican, graduate of GNL Masters Class IX, is the recipient of the 2016 GNL Distinguished Leadership Award.

Fort Myers facial plastic surgeon Dr. Stephen R. Prendiville is one of 100 doctors in the nation to receive the RealSelf 100 Award for 2015 from RealSelf, an online community that helps people make choices in elective cosmetic procedures.

Deals

Crawford Landscaping Group will provide comprehensive landscaping services to Treviso Bay.

To submit your business news directly online, go to naplesnews.com/BIZwire or email news@naplesnews.com.
Social Security cards, cash and stock market chart

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By June Fletcher of the Naples Daily News

Collier County made its first appearance in the top ten in a study on places in Florida where a Social Security check stretches furthest.

New York financial services firm SmartAsset says Collier ranks sixth in the state of Florida in its annual list of counties where a retiree's check gets the most mileage.

It was only outpaced by Sumter, Baker, Charlotte, Marion and Indian River counties.

Last year it ranked 44th out of Florida's 67 counties.

Meanwhile, Lee County ranked 17th, up from 43rd last year.

In both cases, the improved ranking for both Southwest Florida counties was likely due to "richer people moving to the region," said A.J. Smith, managing editor of SmartAsset.

"The new people who are collecting on checks have worked longer or had bigger incomes that would result in higher checks," she said.

In Collier, annual Social Security checks averaged $21,263, up from $20,860 last year.

Social Security checks jumped to $20,233 from $19,670 a year earlier in Lee.

In general, Southwest Floridians brought home bigger checks than the average for the state as a whole, which was $17,762 in 2016 and $17,294 in 2015.

They also did better than the nation as a whole, where annual Social Security checks averaged $16,979 this year and $16,541 last year.

Meanwhile, in both Southwest Florida counties, the cost of living dropped.

Smith explained that Smart Asset used the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's "Living Wage" calculator to determine a bare-bones cost of living.

That metric includes the cost of renting a basic apartment, not buying a place.

In Collier the cost of living fell to $20,819 from $23,035 in 2015.

Over the same period in Lee, it decreased to $20,795 from $21,844.

That's a bit higher than the statewide average of $19,653, up from $19,082 a year earlier.

It also was more expensive than the national average, which hit $18,088, down from $17,320 last year.

Smith emphasized that while SmartAsset's lists show where you can best get by on a Social Security check, "it doesn't necessarily show a dream existence."

She added that wherever you live, "it's important to plan for retirement so you have more than just a Social Security check to live on."
SHARE Ocean Musgrave, 6, plays with a "sandman?" About 70 people scoured Tigertail Beach Saturday morning, cleaning it as part of the Bay Days program. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent Mo Jahanbaksh photographs birds at the edge of the lagoon. About 70 people scoured Tigertail Beach Saturday morning, cleaning it as part of the Bay Days program. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent Mason, 3, insists "it's garbage" after finding a piece of palm frond. About 70 people scoured Tigertail Beach Saturday morning, cleaning it as part of the Bay Days program. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent Ocean Musgrave, 6, plays with a "sandman?" About 70 people scoured Tigertail Beach Saturday morning, cleaning it as part of the Bay Days program. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent

By Lance Shearer

There were a host of people walking along the beach at Tigertail on Saturday morning, carrying buckets and bags. Some of them were even picking up trash.

A lot of the beachgoers along the Gulf of Mexico side of the Tigertail lagoon were looking for shells, or just soaking up rays and the sea breeze. But there were plenty of "trash collectors" of all sizes participating in the annual Bay Days cleanup, sponsored by Keep Collier Beautiful at 23 sites throughout the county.

The Friends of Tigertail volunteers had 18 pre-registered before the event, said Mary Ann Maniace, helping out at the table next to the playground and concession stand. But by 9:30, 63 had checked in and headed out, making it necessary to get off the beaten path to find more than the stray cigarette butt. This was no challenge for beach cleanup veterans such as Katie O'Hara of the Marco Island Chamber of Commerce, who got back in the dunes with her grabber and was well on the way to filling her bucket. And although he started late, Ron Weilmuenster had the marks of an experienced hand, with his own gloves rather than the flimsy plastic ones supplied at the registration desk, a wide-brimmed hat and a can-do attitude.

"I'll have a full bag when I get done, buddy," he told a reporter. "We live in unincorporated Naples, and this is our beach."

Members of Girl Scout Troop 109 on Marco Island and Troop 490 from Naples headed out on the run to find items to collect, leaving their chaperones (moms) following along in their wake. Several of the girls were stopped dead in their tracks by what, in a different climate, would have been a snowman, but at Tigertail was apparently a sandman, complete with driftwood sticks for arms and shells for eyes and ears.

Longtime cleanup volunteer Sue Miller brought visitor Kate Powers from South Carolina, and did kind of the reverse of removing trash, finding egg casings from horse conch, the state shell of Florida, and returning them to the water from where they had blown onshore.

The low tide made it easier to wade the lagoon to the Gulf side for anyone so inclined, and also brought out a gaggle of bird photographers, toting camera rigs with hefty lenses and equally hefty price tags.

Nancy Garrison, Nancy Springer and Kathy Snead were handholding their SLRs, but Mo Jahanbaksh, from Fort Lauderdale and originally from Iran, used a tripod to support his Nikon 600mm f/4 lens, which comes with a price tag of between $11,000 and $13,000, not including camera. Swathed in a camo-patterned sleeve, it looked like military artillery and is what makes possible those ultra close up shots of birds you see in magazines.

The people carrying these items were wading in a muck-bottomed lagoon, where dropping the camera into the salt water would essentially mean it would become just another piece of trash for the beach cleanup.

This is the 20th year for Bay Days, since the event was taken over by Keep Collier Beautiful, said organization president Jim Zimmerman. He praised Susan LaGrotta with the Friends of Tigertail for her organizing efforts. "She's very reliable, and very detail-oriented," said Zimmerman. On Sept. 24, Tigertail Beach will be one site in the international Coastal Cleanup, with sites all around the world collecting trash from the oceans' edges, and compiling a database of the results. Tigertail will also host a cleanup on July 9.

To learn more, volunteer, or make a contribution to the Friends of Tigertail, go to the organization's website, friendsoftigertail.com.
SHARE Stephanie Lucarelli Lee Dixon Erick Carter Gene Ungarean

By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News

Less than 100 days are left to join the race for one of two seats on the Collier County school board appearing in local ballots this summer.

As of Friday, six locals have filed with the Collier County Supervisor of Elections to run for a seat.

Up for grabs are school board districts 2 and 4. The seats are currently held by board members Kathleen Curatolo and Julie Sprague, who have not indicated whether they plan to run for re-election. The Collier County School Board doesn't put limits on the number of terms a school board member can serve.

Four candidates have filed to run for District 2, which contains schools in North Naples, including Veterans Memorial Elementary and Barron Collier High. District 4, which includes Lake Park Elementary and Naples High, is being contested by two candidates.

DISTRICT 2

Among the candidates running for District 2 is John Brunner, 50, a former educator.

Brunner has taught at four local schools  including two traditional public schools, a charter and a private school.

"I am an educator and not a politician," Brunner said. His platform, he says, is based on shifting the focus of Collier County schools to what it was before the implementation of No Child Left Behind, a federal law that ushered in increased school accountability through standardized testing.

"I think we can do that on a local level," Brunner said. He has two school-aged children living in Collier County, both of whom attend a local private school.

To date, Brunner has raised over $18,000 for his campaign  almost twice as much as the second largest fundraiser.

A local mother of four children in traditional public schools, Stephanie Lucarelli, 41, also is vying for a seat. The former educator said she has spent the last few years raising her children and volunteering at their schools.

"I have a vested interested in what is going on because of my four kids," she said, adding that her "background in education and ... 11 years volunteering in the schools" would serve as assets.

On the board, Lucarelli hopes to work on retaining more qualified teachers in the county, and to stop the privatization of education. That includes concerns over privately-managed charter schools and contracted services, such as custodial services.

Louise Penta, 69, is retired nurse who has lived in Collier County since 1999.

Penta said she has been eyeing a run for a school board seat for years, and has now come upon an "opportune time."

Penta serves on the board of the Immokalee Foundation, and hopes to bring to the school district a mentoring program similar to the one run by the foundation to help students carve a career path.

She said she supports fostering more respect among students and staff in public schools to curb discipline problems. Cellphones, she says, should be banned from the classroom.

Also in the race for District 4 is Gene Ungarean, 54, a retired police chief and father of two young daughters  one who attends a traditional public school and another one almost old enough to.

Ungarean said he supports less standardized testing and local learning standards. He said that, on the board, he would focus on getting more local children ready for kindergarten and more parent involvement in educational decisions.

"I've wanted to this for a long time but couldn't be involved in politics, except to vote. Now that I have two daughters going to school, I want to make sure they get a world class education."

DISTRICT 4

A local business owner, Erick Carter, is one of two candidates vying for the District 4 school board seat.

Carter is district graduate who attended Lorenzo Walker Technical College to train in cosmetology and now co-owns Salon Zenergy in Naples with his wife, Anita.

Carter has a daughter enrolled in a local middle school, and wants to make sure the A-rated school district stays "strong." Carter said that in addition to reducing testing, he wants to make sure that when it comes to the district's billion-dollar budget, "we're not leaving any money on the floor."

Lee Dixon, 47, says that his experience with his autistic son and the education system in the county and the state were what prompted his run.

The father of three sons, two of whom attend local public schools, says that he has struggled to have his autistic son placed in a school Dixon sees fit and also that would challenge his son academically.

Dixon says he doesn't support the Common Core Learning Standards, in part because he believes teaching should be tailored to every student individually.

"Education is not a one size fits all endeavor," Dixon said.

The deadline to enter the school board race is June 24. School board elections will be held Aug. 30.

If no candidate attracts more than 50 percent of the vote in August, the top two candidates will face off in a runoff Nov. 8. But historically, a majority of school board seats have been filled following the first round of votes.

In Collier County, school board members must reside in the district that represents the seat they are running for at the time of filing and through their term on the board. Board members, however, are elected by voters countywide and are supposed to represent the interests of the entire school district.
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By Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas of the Naples Daily News

An 11-month-old baby boy died from injuries he suffered after falling into a family pool, authorities said Monday.

About 7 p.m. Sunday Collier County sheriff's deputies were called to the 400 block of 25th Street Southwest.

By the time Deputy S. Leoni arrived, the 11-month-old baby was already in an ambulance being tended to by emergency responders, according to an incident report.

The child was later identified as Courage Chad Allen Woodall, born in late April of last year.

The child's mother, Dana Woodall, said Courage's older brothers had left a sliding door open and the baby walked out and fell into the pool, the report states.

At 8:08 p.m. health professionals from NCH declared Courage dead.

Family members at the home included the two older boys, approximately ages 5 and 8, and the children's mother and her mother. The mom wasn't able to answer deputies' questions because she was so distraught.

She asked Deputy Leoni to pray for her baby.

Dana Woodall initially was identified by her Colorado driver's license. It is unknown how long the family lived in the Golden Gate Estates home.

The drowning is being treated as a death investigation.
By Ashley Collins, ashley.collins@naplesnews.com

Historic Monroe Station, one of the last original existing outposts on the Tamiami Trail, burned down Saturday night, leaving the community in dismay.

Efforts by firefighters with the Ochopee Fire Department couldn't save the building in Big Cypress, which was on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Firefighters were called out about 11:45 p.m. and found the station engulfed in flames. They were able to control the fire, leaving at 2:20 a.m.  but the building was burned down to its foundation.

Bob DeGross, spokesman for the Big Cypress National Preserve, said the preserve conducted, more than a month ago, a prescribed fire in the loop unit, which included the Monroe Station. However, the burn was already inactive by the time of Saturday's fire, so he said it's "highly unlikely" any remnants or sparks from the controlled brush burn caused the structure fire.

"If there's any burn activity we would have staff involved. The fire from the burn was inactive," DeGross said. "In the evenings, the humidity gets so high any type of activity from a burn would be unlikely."

DeGross also said the Preserve was in the process of restoring the building to its original appearance.

"In 2004, the National Park Service sought funds to restore the building," DeGross said.

However, the building stood vacant for years due to lack of funds.

The historic station was built in the 1920s. It was one of six built by the Collier Corp. after the company saw a need to provide gas, food and safety to people traveling along the Tamiami Trail. The stations were constructed along the Trail, 10 miles apart.

"It eventually opened up South Florida to everyone," DeGross said.

Between the 1960s and 1980s, the Collier Corp. leased the building to many people, DeGross said. In 1988, the federal government and the Collier Corp. orchestrated a land swap deal to transfer land, which included the land the station was on, to the National Park Service to turn it into a national preserve.

It was a lively place before that.

Jeff Klinkenberg remembers visiting Monroe Station as a young man during the 1970s. He said at that time a couple by the name of Joe and Susie Lord ran the station, providing food, supplies and a gathering place for people, especially Gladesmen, who would get together to discuss hunting, among other things.

"I grew up in Miami and when I was a teenager, we would go out to the Trail to bass fish and then we would sometimes catch snakes. I would go to the station and used to sit at the bar and order food  It was a wonderfully colorful place," Klinkenberg recalled.

Klinkenberg described the station's appearance during the 1970s as rough-looking with animal heads on the walls and uneven floors. He now lives in St. Petersburg but remembers traveling back to the station in 2003 when he was a writer for the Tampa Bay Times.

"It felt dangerous to go inside. It was so dilapidated," Klinkenberg said. He recalled that he didn't attempt to walk up to the second floor because of its unstable condition.

The fire also hit close to home for Betty Osceola, who lives in the Big Cypress area. When she was a little girl in the 1970s she would visit the station with her father, who would often go hunting in the Big Cypress. Her mother worked there as a waitress.

"We'd get there and get gas and supplies and say hello to the owners and we'd go get on an air boat or swamp buggie," Osceola said.

Just a couple of days before the fire, Osceola remembered passing by the station, saddened by its damaged appearance.

Now she's even more saddened to find the station is gone.

"It has a lot of history for local people. It was a gathering place, a place if you went on the weekends, people would stop in and chitchat," she said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Tracked excavator on the street asphalt road repair

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By Maria Perez of the Naples Daily News

Immokalee residents could soon see some of the transportation infrastructure the community needs, but other projects will need to wait, they were told at a Collier Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting.

One of the main demands that Immokalee leaders have long made to Collier County government is that they invest in the community's transportation infrastructure, building sidewalks, road extensions and other transportation safety projects. Many have felt Immokalee hasn't gotten its fair share of investment.

But after the meeting on Friday, some attendants said they have now hope that things can change.

Frank Nappo, chair of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency advisory board, said it was positive that the MPO held a meeting in Immokalee and that its members agreed to be taken on a tour on to see what the community needs.

"I think we've moved Immokalee up in the list of priorities," he said.

Collier MPO, whose members include all five Collier County Board Commissioners, is in charge of developing transportation plans for the county, and receives federal funds to execute them.

Christie Betancourt, interim operations manager of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency said she was satisfied with the meeting.

"This is good," she said. "We're getting everyone together."

Collier County staff said in the meeting they have scheduled to start building new sidewalks on New Market Road in 2016  a project mainly funded with state funds.

They also hope to build a 9-inch concrete curb along a stretch of shoulder near Lake Trafford Elementary School to increase safety. Pedestrians currently walk along the shoulder of the two-lane road, only separated from traffic by a string of plastic poles.

The curb will be a temporary solution while they search for a permanent one, said Trinity Scott, Collier County transportation planning manager.

But other projects that many in the community consider urgent may have to wait.

Many in Immokalee would like to see Little League Road extended to Westclox Street and State Road 82 to create a second evacuation route north. That project, if approved, won't start until at least the period 2030-2040, Scott said.

She also said the county transportation planning department is applying for a federal $10 million Tiger grant to build sidewalks along many Immokalee streets that lack them. She said the project would probably double the amount of sidewalks currently in the area. If they are awarded the grant at the end of the year, she said, construction could start in a year or two.

Whether the intersection of Westclox Street and S.R. 29 will get a steady light is still up in the air. Residents complain the intersection, currently regulated by a flashing light, is dangerous and can take a long time to cross. They have demanded a steady light to regulate traffic.

Florida Department of Transportation's liaison Bessie Reina said a signal at the intersection could increase the potential for crashes. Instead, they are still analyzing whether they should build a roundabout.

"A roundabout is good in a subdivision, in small communities," said Danny Gonzalez, president of the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce, after the meeting. "In Immokalee you have trucks, tractors, pickup trucks, buses that carry the farm workers ... There's not a way a roundabout is going to work in Immokalee, especially in that intersection."
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., gives a thumbs up to supporters as he boards his campaign bus during a stop at the Maple Street Biscuit Company in Jacksonville, Fla., Monday, March 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)

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By Bartholomew Sullivan, bartholomew.sullivan@jmg.com

WASHINGTON  Marco Rubio has gone back to his day job.

Two days after dropping out of the race for president March 15, Florida's junior senator voted with 95 others to adjust ambulance fees under the Medicare program. Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, still in the race, missed that vote.

Last week, Rubio was part of a unanimous 87-0 vote dealing with the theft of trade secrets; he voted Wednesday to amend the Internal Revenue Code; and he voted Thursday on two amendments to a small business relief bill.

So Rubio, whose missed-vote record increased from 12 percent in 2014 to 53 percent during his presidential campaign, is 5 for 5 since those have been the only roll-call votes the Senate has taken since billionaire Donald Trump trounced him in the Florida primary.

Rubio has been re-engaging in other ways too, now that he's back in the saddle in Washington.

"Among other priorities, Sen. Rubio will continue working on national security issues and oversight of the Obama administration's disastrous foreign policy, pushing for greater accountability at the VA, stopping the Obamacare bailout again, and getting the Central Everglades Planning Project finally approved in the Senate's water resources bill," spokeswoman Kristen J. Morrell said. "Sen. Rubio also looks forward to seeing the Ten Mile Creek Preserve de-authorization law he authored take effect as this reservoir is handed over from the federal government to the state by June 15 ... This will capture and treat stormwater flows and will help address some of the Indian River Lagoon's problems."

Rubio this week also joined 42 other Senate Republicans in a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court alleging President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration "supplant Congress' constitutional power to establish immigration laws. The senators said an executive order deferring the deportation of the parents of American citizens or legal immigrants is "an explicit effort to circumvent the legislative process." Oral arguments in the Texas case are April 18.

Rubio's missed votes became a campaign issue during his presidential bid. His 53 percent missed-vote record exceeded other candidates', such as Cruz's, which is currently at 40 percent.

In the last weeks of his presidential campaign, Rubio voted on three of the 33 Senate actions from Jan. 11, when the 114th Congress' second session resumed, until March 15. He voted yes on all three measures:

Jan. 12: To end debate on the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which would have called for an audit of the central bank.

Jan. 20: To end debate on the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, which would have required additional certifications for admission of certain aliens immigrants as refugees.

Feb. 10: A bill to extend sanctions against North Korea.

Also on his calendar, just five days before his disastrous Sunshine State primary loss, Rubio took the time to commend Energy and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe for pledging to keep the Central Everglades Project in a forthcoming water resources bill.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in October, when he himself was still in the presidential race, chided Rubio for not showing up for work, especially for a job he joked had a "French workweek"  typically just three days long.

"I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and expected he would show up to work," Bush said on the CNBC debate stage. "But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term. ... You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job."

Rubio countered that Bush hadn't been so critical of John McCain missing 51 percent of the votes during his 2008 campaign. But Rubio's "no-show" reputation caught on.

Rubio said he plans to become a private citizen when his term ends in January.
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Gerri Noyes, Naples

Trump and Cruz

Ted Cruz:

He wants to patrol Muslim neighborhoods. Will armbands be next?

His pro-life stance is a sham: He says he is unequivocally pro-life, that every life be protected from conception until natural death. He advocates carpet bombing, a war crime. Carpets bombs cover large areas, killing pregnant women, babies, children, innocent adults, the sick and elderly. He promotes an anti-choice activist who advocates killing abortion doctors.

His Christian/Judaic values are anti-American. They exclude 88.5 million Americans who are neither Christian nor Jewish.

He praises Gun Owners of America, an extremist group led by a far-right activist with ties to militia groups and white supremacists.

His $23 billion government shutdown hurt millions of Americans and disrupted our economy. He has threatened another shutdown over Planned Parenthood.

He will reverse progress made under Obamacare.

He's an obstructionist: brought dysfunction to Congress, and blocked a Senate compromise on immigration and a bipartisan bill on firearms background checks.

Donald Trump:

He's anti- Latinos, Muslims, blacks, war prisoners. He insults women, the overweight and disabled. He's against minimum wage and reproductive freedom. He said we should punish women for abortions.

He incites violence at rallies and promises convention violence if he doesn't get his way. He advocates killing families of terrorists, the use of nuclear weapons, doesn't know about trade deficits, isolationism, foreign policy, domestic affairs, national security, history, constitutional law, public policy, judicial branch, the military, NATO, U.N., etc.

He flipflops  when caught, he pleads amnesia.

Some 5,000 students lost millions of dollars to him.

He overextended his companies into debt, went bankrupt. His 65-foot wall and unconstitutional deportation of millions of immigrants will cost billions of dollars. He promises the moon but can't deliver.

These are dangerous men for America.
The Reverend Tony Fisher will be addressing the topic of Religious Freedom in a special program at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation building, 6340 Napa Woods Way in Naples on Thursday, April 28. A reception will be held at 6:30 pm and the presentation will begin at 7:00 pm. The event is sponsored by the Naples Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the Collier Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Social Justice Committee of the Naples Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Everyone is invited to this presentation on a topic that is so significant in today's news and the political arena.
(NaturalNews)(Story by Milo Yiannopoulos, republished from Breitbart.com .)Tyson, whom liberals love because they are racists who can't believe a black guy could be smart enough to be a scientist and so spontaneously ejaculate and soil themselves every time they see him on TV, hasn't published anything of note for years. The advantage of being a celebrity scientist is that you don't actually have to do any science. You're exempted from the usual "publish or perish" rules.Even when hemaking a go of being a proper academic, Tyson didn't exactly have the most glittering record. He didn't get the PhD he was studying for at the University of Texas and had to go elsewhere for his qualification. Obviously, rather than take responsibility for his academic performance, Tyson has blamed racism. In reality, Tyson was playing in bands and appearing on stageinstead of completing essays. Typical science PhD students are at any given time either studying, teaching or sleeping.It's tough to avoid the conclusion that much of what is frustrating about Neil deGrasse Tyson stems from identity politics and the victimhood ideology peddled by leftist academics and journalists. Despite all his media success, Tyson insists that racism is responsible for his academic failures,alluding to sinister "forces" that keep women and ethnic minorities down.In 2005, he said: "I know these forces are real and I had to survive them in order to get where I am today. So before we start talking about genetic differences, you gotta come up with a system where there's equal opportunity." He of course doesn't address the fact that the only reason Neil deGrasse Tyson is on television at all, given his intellectual shortcomings, is that he is black.Perhaps realising how ridiculous he sounds, the world's most celebrated populariser of science has stopped talking about race in interviews and says he has never given an interview whose primary focus is race since 1993.Which is something, at least.Social justice-inspired grievance culture has flavoured much of Tyson's output during his media career. Indeed, some observers say he's more left-wing propagandist than rigorous thinker these days. His reboot of Cosmos, for instance, was saturated with progressive garbage designed to appeal to liberal-minded students and lefty geeks.The problem is, every time Tyson plays to this crowd, he has to get his facts wrong to make the argument work. Take his gushing tribute to Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake. None of the details are correct.Bruno wasn't a scientist: he was a cult leader who dined out on wild conjecture and guesswork.Elsewhere in Cosmos, Tyson makes other serious errors. I say "errors" but for a man of his ostensible erudition you do have to wonder how these mistakes and bizarre claims keep creeping in. He says Venus is suffering from global warming,for instance. And I think we can live without the televisual trope of space ships making sound in space  unless Tyson is claiming no more astrophysical literacy than an episode of Star Trek.Because he has given up on the scientific method in favour of progressive politics, Tyson has jettisoned fairness and fact in favour of slipperiness and propaganda: he is caught again and again repeating quotes that he appears to have simply made up, or which at a bare minimum are stripped of essential context or provenance. He shows no interest in correcting the record or addressing these mistakes  we'll be diplomatic and call them mistakes which does rather cast doubt on his entire benevolent genius schtick, don't you think?Read more at Breitbart.com [1] Alcalde.TexasExes.org [2] Alcalde.TexasExes.org [3] En.Wikipedia.org [4] Blogs.DiscoverMagazine.com [5] TheFederalist.com [6] TheFederalist.com
Ineffective and downright dangerous

Big Pharma companies contesting the ban

P&G is no stranger to controversy

(NaturalNews) Vicks Action 500 Extra, a cold medicine made by Procter and Gamble (P&G), has been pulled from store shelves and production in India, following a March 10 decision by the Indian government to ban the manufacture, sale and distribution of more than 300 different fixed-dose combination drugs.Meanwhile, several other Big Pharma firms , including Abbott and Pfizer, have stopped selling their own popular cough syrups in the country , since these were also covered by the new regulations.Vicks Action 500 Extra is used to treat the common cold and flu, and contains a fixed-dose combination of the drugs paracetamol, phenylephrine and caffeine. This is one of 344 different combinations that the government prohibited on the grounds that it lacked "therapeutic justification."The government's idea that the drug lacks therapeutic justification is not quite as unfounded as P&G would have you believe.One of the ingredients in the drug, phenylephrine , made its way into a number of OTC cold medicines after new regulations were put in place on the sale of ephedrine. At the time, many pharmacists expressed surprise that the ingredient would be used in such medications, since it is known to be ineffective when taken orally for relieving congestion, because it is poorly absorbed into a person's bloodstream.A study from the University of Washington that appeared in the journal,, found that when caffeine and paracetamol are administered together in a combined dose, as they are in the case of Vicks Action 500, the risk of permanent liver damage occurring jumps threefold.Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, doesn't even need to be combined with caffeine to be toxic; it's pretty dangerous all on its own. It is a known liver toxin , and acetaminophen toxicity that comes from cold medicines and other painkillers is the top cause of acute liver failure in the U.S.The move by the Indian government to protect its people is being applauded by many in the health industry. One health expert told the Business Standard , "Enforcing the ban will always be an issue. But the fact that government has shown its intention of banning drugs  without coming under pressure from pharmaceutical companies  which are known to be harmful all across the world is praiseworthy."P&G said immediately that they would be challenging the ban, while Pfizer is looking into options to get around the regulations and get its poison back into the hands of consumers, as the move is expected to hurt it financially.A BSI filing by the firm said: "The company is exploring all available options at its disposal... The prohibition is likely to have an adverse impact on the revenue and profitability of the company."On March 29, Big Pharma companies told the Delhi High Court that the decision to ban was made without considering clinical data. More than 150 petitions were filed by firms such as P&G and Pfizer, and the decision was stayed.It's not the first time that P&G has come under fire. In Defense of Animals claims that P&G tests its products on animals, harming them and often killing them in the process. There are also reports that they fail to provide basic care for the animals.Earlier this year, the firm's operations in Argentina were suspended by the government, amid accusations that it over-billed $138 million worth of exports to funnel currency abroad.
Don't drink the water

'In every state'

(NaturalNews) Even as the contaminated water crisis in Flint, Mich., continues to make headlines, communities in three separate Northeast states have been facing a crisis of their own: widespread contamination of water supplies with the toxic chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, or C8).PFOA is one of the key ingredients in nonstick cookware and is also used in plastics, wax paper coatings and stain-resistant fabrics. It is a known toxin that accumulates and persists in the human body. Studies have linked PFOA with cancer and with immune malfunction in children."It stays in the body for many, many years, and it turns out to interact with processes in our body," said Harvard environmental health researcher Philippe Grandjean, as reported by NPR.The story began in 2013, when a man named Michael Hickey began to wonder if his father's death from kidney cancer might be related to his job at a PFOA factory in Hoosick Falls, NY. Hickey worried about the plant's proximity to village wells, so he paid to have the well water tested.The tests found PFOA levels above the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) safe threshold of 400 parts per trillion. Followup tests near the factory came up at 18,000 parts per trillion, 45 times the safe limit. In November 2015, the EPA said residents should stop drinking or cooking with local well water. That ban was recently lifted, but many residents have said they will stick with bottled water for now.Just across the border in North Bennington, Vt., high PFOA levels were found in private wells near a former plastics factory. The soil around local homes tested at higher than 20 parts per trillion, the safe level set by the state Department of Health.Communities in New Hampshire have also found high levels of PFOA contamination in recent months.Unfortunately, the problem almost certainly goes far beyond these three Northeastern states. In recent years, PFOA manufacturers, including DuPont and 3M, have been sued for contaminating water in Alabama, Ohio and West Virginia. And the Pentagon is testing water at 664 separate military sites for contamination with PFOA used in firefighting foams."This is not just a local problem," Grandjean said. "This is a problem which I am sure occurs in every single state."The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 98 percent of the US public has detectable levels of PFOA in their blood.In March, the governors of New Hampshire, New York and Vermont sent the EPA a letter, calling PFOA contamination "a national problem that requires federal guidelines and a consistent, science-based approach."Unfortunately, the EPA has hardly been on the forefront of tackling this problem. The agency's supposedly "safe" threshold of 400 parts per trillion has been criticized as unscientific. When the standard was first passed, the Environmental Working Group accused the EPA of giving communities a "false sense of security."The level was based on the belief that short-term exposure to PFOA in concentrations of 500 parts per trillion would cause no health effects."The fact is that there is no such thing as short-term drinking water exposure," EWG President Richard Wiles wrote in an open letter to the EPA administrator. "People drink tap water every day. PFOA persists in the environment, and thus in water supplies, for hundreds of years. ... Applying this short-term health advisory to long-term exposure to contaminated water directly contradicts both sound science and EPA's own principles of risk assessment and risk management."In fact, a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania found that drinking tap water containing 400 parts per trillion PFOA rapidly produced blood levels 10 times higher than the EPA's "safe" threshold.Levels would almost certainly end up even higher, since most people are also exposed to PFOA daily from non-water consumer sources.To find out how you can help citizen scientists test America's drinking water to improve water quality and protect public health, visit EPAwatch.org
Opposing views on cancer risk

Transparency a problem in America, too  think Monsanto

(NaturalNews) It is becoming increasingly obvious that cronyism and big money are buying influence among lawmakers on several continents when it comes to scientifically vetting many of the chemicals being used in the world's food supply . That is certainly the case in the United States, where biotech-giants like Monsanto wield far too much sway over agricultural policies, and it is becoming the norm in Europe, as well.But European officials, at least, are battling back in an effort to scale back the influence of the biotech giants, in favor of doing what is right for agriculture and the global food chain.As reported by, Europe's health and food safety commissioner, Vytenis Andriukaitis, says that his directorate, DG SANTE, is looking into the possibility of requiring full transparency for industry studies of pesticides At present, the industry studies submitted to support regulatory mechanisms and authorizations for the use of pesticides are kept under wraps and out of the public's eye, as per corporate confidentiality agreements with regulators. However, Andriukaitis says that policy needs to change, and soon."We are ready to assess the legal environment," Andriukaitis said, in reference to certain legal protections in place on industry data. However, he continued, "It's absolutely crystal clear, we need to change today's situation. We see different options, but at the moment, yes, the idea is to change the rules, especially keeping in mind the overriding public interest."His move came during a press conference that closed the Environment Council meeting on March 4, a discussion that turned to the upcoming vote on Europe's re-authorization of the herbicide glyphosate , the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, and the difference of views on glyphosate's cancer-causing agents between the World Health Organization  which has said it probably does cause cancer  and the European Food Safety Authority, or EFSA.reported further:"While IARC said that glyphosate is a 'probable' carcinogen, EFSA, basing its view on a report by Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), said it is unlikely to pose a cancer risk. However, while IARC used only data that was in the public domain, BfR based its report on secret industry studies that were unavailable to IARC or to the public."Andriukaitis spoke in response to an inquiry by a journalist who asked him whether the commissioner agreed that, in light of the debate over glyphosate, there was an overriding public interest argument for full transparency of all industry studies, to include presentation of the raw data, likely for further evaluation by other researchers. Currently there are only summaries of studies available, and then only through government regulatory agencies. Increasingly, there are questions being raised about the agencies' interpretations of the industry data, meaning that any doubts can only be resolved by making the data public, and allowing it to be scrutinized independently.In addition to other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and scientists,says it has consistently argued for more transparency of regulatory data on agricultural and environmental chemicals for many years. "The public cannot be expected to take on trust claims of safety for pesticides when they are based on secret studies carried out or commissioned by the very same companies that stand to profit from the sale of those pesticides," the advocacy group says."The pharmaceutical industry has had to accept the policy of the European Medicines Agency to make clinical trials data public," GMWatch noted further. "The time is long overdue for the pesticide industry to follow suit. Andriukaitis's statement may represent the first cracks in the wall of secrecy that surrounds and protects pesticide approvals."Lack of transparency in research that guides governmental policy-making is also a problem in the U.S.In November, reported that, "Monsanto-funded scientists are calling for an end to Freedom of Information Act requests after they were ousted for colluding with the biotech industry to push GMOs and their associated pesticides."
The initial smear campaign

Wakefield exonerated

Mainstream media ignores the truth, continues pushing the lies
Beach trips are the top vacation choice of many. With the fast-phased life today, it is but fitting to indulge in luxurious swim trips every now and then.

But for those getting tired of the usual scenario, there's a new way of enjoying the waters--swimming with animals. You can choose among jellyfishes, whale sharks and even pigs.

Here's a list of places to go if you want to swim with animals for a not-so-typical beach experience:

1. Jellyfish Lake in Palau

(Photo : Clark Anderson/Aquaimages/Wikimedia Commons)

The famous jellyfish lake is situated on an uninhabited island in Koror, Palau. There's a body of water filled with millions of jellyfish and you can actually swim in it. The Coral Reef Foundation said there are about 13 million jellyfish in that lake.

During a marine conservation assignment, New York Times was able to visit the Jellyfish Lake. Writer Ian Urbina said the experience is nothing short of surreal.

"I was quickly engulfed by an overwhelming number of ominous pulsating orange blobs, which ranged in size from bowling balls to Ping-Pong balls," he said. He described his experience as somewhat similar to the cartoon show "SpongeBob SquarePants."

The abundance of jellyfish can be overwhelming and may sometimes cause panic in some cases, but experts assure tourists that the jellyfish found in Palau are safe to swim with.

Although everyone is welcome to swim in the lake, authorities advise tourists to wear fins for better movement control. They also prohibit the wearing of sunscreen because it might affect the quality of algae which the jellyfish eat.

2. Swimming with Pigs in The Bahamas

(Photo : Trent from Nina Lu/Flickr/Wikimedia Commons)

A recent article by Conde Nast Traveler said if you want to swim with pigs, you should head to Exuma inThe Bahamas.

Big Major Cay is creating a stir in social media because tourists started sharing their photos swimming at the beach with pigs.

It has become extremely popular that travel agencies use "swimming with pigs" to entice tourist to visit their beaches.

"They live freely on the sandy beaches, and after basking in the sun for hours, they swim in the surf," they said.

One interesting fact, though, is that the island is also uninhabited so where the pigs came from is still a mystery to the locals. Folklore suggests that the pigs were dropped there by sailors or they might have gotten there due to a shipwreck.

Even the government recognizes the contribution of pigs in the tourism industry in Bahamas. "As a destination that is world-renowned for welcoming visitors and providing them with the most beautiful beaches, lavish hotels and resorts, and fine dining, and for being a dream destination, the Islands of The Bahamas are very proud to be the Official Home of the Swimming Pigs," said Joy Jibrilu, director general of The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.

3. Whale Sharks in... well, a lot of different places

(Photo : Feefiona123/Wikimedia Commons)

Whale sharks are gentle giants known to be very careful with fellow swimmers, including humans.Research says that whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea, measuring up to 40 feet and could weigh as much as 20.6 tons.

Over time, more areas are discovered where whale sharks feed. Some local authorities developed these sites so it would be conducive for tourists to swim in. No matter where you are in the world, there's always a place where you can swim with whale sharks. Here is a list you can explore:

a. Isla Holbox, Mexico

b. Utila, Honduras

c. Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

d. Gladden Spit, Belize

e. South Ari Atoll, Maldives

f. Sorsogon, Philippines

Although it is safe to swim with whale sharks, conservationists suggest that you choose a site where they naturally feed. You should also check the migration pattern of the animals before your trip so you'll be sure to catch the gentle giants in action.

So the next time you plan your trip, remember there are other places where you can relax and swim with these amazing creatures which are not just friendly, but Instagram-worthy, too.
Researchers thought that the ability of clouds to reflect sunlight is going to be an effective preventive countermeasure against global warming, but a new study suggests that it might not be the case anymore.

The basic idea behind clouds acting as a reflective barrier of light is quite simple.

According to most climate change models that analyze mixed-phase clouds--those that contain cool liquid and ice water--is that as the global temperature rises, the ice water in the clouds produces more cool liquid.

The more liquid and less ice clouds, according to the researchers, are better at reflecting light back into space compared to the more ice ad less liquid ones because the liquid reflects more light than ice.

But a new study, published in the journal Science, suggests that most climate change models have overestimated the amount of ice that currently exists in the mixed-phase clouds.

According to a report from New York Times, the researchers discovered that the current mixed-phase clouds contain more water and less ice than expected. This means that there would be lesser ice to be converted into liquid, thus, speeding up global warming.

The prevalence of liquid in the clouds can be attributed to the lack of particles that helps turn the liquid into ice water, Maine News Online reported.

With this new finding, a Times report suggested that the goal of the world leaders to prevent the temperature from rising less than 2C (35 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial period by 2100 is much more difficult to achieve.

"Clouds do not seem to want to do us any favors when it comes to limiting global warming," said co-author Mark Zelinka of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Washington Post described the recent study as "well-reasoned" and "sobering."

But this doesn't mean that the study will be accepted open-heartedly by other experts.

Chris Bretherton of the University of Washington said that if the study is correct, the global warming should have been even higher.
Death is inevitable. Billions of people walking on the face of the planet right now will eventually go back to Earth upon death. Usually, people resort to cremation or the traditional burial practices to lay the body to its final resting place.

However, studies show that these practices are harmful to the environment. This is why environmentalists recommend "green burial" practices to lessen our environmental impact, even to our death.

In a study by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme, or NICNAS, in Australia, they discovered that embalmers are exposed to health hazards caused by formaldehyde used in embalming, which is also found to be carcinogenic.

According to the same report, formaldehyde, which is used as a preservative and disinfectant, is an integral chemical during the embalming process. "Formaldehyde is present as a dissolved gas in the water-based solution called formalin, in concentrations from 37% to 54%," it said.

Based on their findings, it is not healthy for both the embalmers and the environment to continue using formalin and formaldehyde. Their study states the following important points:

1. Formaldehyde is toxic by inhalation, skin contact, and by swallowing.

2. During embalming, formaldehyde levels can reach up to four parts per million (ppm). Humans start experiencing discomfort at 0.5 ppm.

3. Breathing formaldehyde vapor can result in burning, stinging or itching sensation, sore throat, watery eyes, blocked sinuses, runny nose and sneezing.

4. Skin contact can cause skin rashes and allergic skin reactions. Splashes into the eyes can cause irritation, corrosion of the cornea and possibly blindness.

5. Formaldehyde has been shown to cause nasal cancers in animals at levels not found in the majority of workplaces.

6. Formaldehyde is a highly reactive, flammable gas and can form explosive mixtures in air.

Yet instead of simply taking extra precautions with a toxic substance, there is another alternative called green burial or natural burial, which has minimal environmental impact.

This type of burial uses biodegradable and non-toxic materials in the caskets, urns and shrouds.

Green burial is simple: it performs the same embalming process but uses formaldehyde-free embalming materials. Aside from toxic chemicals, burials will require caskets, cement and steel.

Some of these materials will not decompose and will rot underneath the Earth. Green burial will replace these with biodegradable alternatives so that it will decompose together with the body and won't add to the wastes underneath the earth's surface.

The Green Burial Council started in North America. Their advocacy is to change the death care industry by embracing a new burial technique which is not harmful to anyone. "We hope to make 'green' or 'natural' burial the new standard within the industry," they said.

Aside from being environment-friendly, Green burial is economical, too. In an interview with TechInsider, Kate Kalanick, their executive director, said, "Americans are funny about feeling like they own a 4-by-8 plot for eternity".

Green burial is something everyone should consider. We don't want to be a burden the environment even after we die.
Climate change has long been considered a threat to human beings, but a new study showed that climate change also affects how the Earth tilts its axis in an interesting and harmless way.

Researchers already know that the Earth's spin axis has been drifting and this is attributed to the melting ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica.

In a report from CBS News, Erik Ivins, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the study's co-author, said about 275 trillion pounds of ice is being lost at West Antarctica while East Antarctica gains 165 trillion pounds of ice yearly, causing the Earth to wobble further towards Canada.

But the new study, published in the journal Science Advances, showed that changes in the terrestrial water storage also play a crucial role in the Earth's decadal swings.

For the study, researchers used data collected from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite that can detect any change of mass in Earth's water, which consists of ice sheets and oceans, Christian Science Monitor reported.

Ivin thought that the Earth's flipping is a natural phenomenon that happens all the time and characterizes the entire Earth's rotation time.

According to Scientific American, the study does not provide any concrete data to indicate that the recent climate change causing the Earth to tilt are man-made.

Even if climate change tilts the Earth's axis, Jianli Chen, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas' Center for Space Research, said there is nothing to worry about.

However, Chen still personally believes that human activities are behind the drastic shift in the pole.

Chen is the first to link climate change and pole shift in 2013.

"It is just another interesting effect of climate change," Chen added.

Even when it is not harmful, scientists believe that studying the cause of Earth's axis shift is helpful in highlighting the profound and real impacts of human activities are having on the planet, said Jonathan Overpeck, professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona, in a statement.
Mayday, mayday! We have trouble in space. NASA's exoplanet hunter, Kepler, which is stationed 75 million miles away from home, malfunctions. In a routine scheduled contact, the Kepler entered into Emergency Mode, alarming NASA's engineers.

On a scheduled routine contact with Kepler last April 7, NASA said their mission operations engineers found out that the spacecraft cum telescope was in Emergency Mode (EM).

The Kepler Telescope is NASA's Exoplanet hunter. According to Charlie Sobeck, Kepler and K2 Mission Manager, "Kepler completed its prime mission in 2012, detecting nearly 5,000 exoplanets, of which, more than 1,000 have been confirmed."

For NASA, Kepler's malfunction is alarming not only because the system is in its lowest functioning level during EM, but also because Kepler uses more fuel during this time.

Launched in 2009, Kepler is positioned 75 million miles away from Earth. The distance is making the communication with Earth-based agency Deep Space Network slow and difficult. In the same press release by NASA, they said that it takes 13 minutes to send a message to Kepler and back.

It is not the first the Kepler Telescope malfunction. But The Christian Science Monitor is asking, can it be saved this time?

According to a report from RT, the recent repositioning of Kepler might have caused it to malfunction. The report says that the problem happened when NASA engineers tried to flip Kepler to face it's travel direction.

If ever we lose Kepler, how would it affect NASA's space exploration projects? Well let's just put it this way, we might lose a very important tool in discovering whether or not there really is any kind of life forms outside Earth. Kepler is our best hope in space exploration with its 95-megapixel camera.

Currently, Kepler is engaged in mission K2, which is tasked to "survey millions of stars toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy in search of distant stars' planetary outposts and exoplanets wandering between the stars."

NASA has already given priority to Deep Space Network and instructed engineers to prioritize the recovery of Kepler. It might be a 75 million mile problem but it is something which should be addressed as soon as possible.
The son of a once-prominent California lawmaker, convicted in the stabbing death of a Bay Area man, has been released from prison after his sentence was reduced by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Esteban Nunez, 27, pleaded guilty in the 2008 stabbing death of college student Luis Santos in San Diego. Nunez is the son of Fabian Nunez, who was speaker of the state assembly and a political ally of Schwarzenegger.

Prosecutors said Esteban Nunez and three other men were angry because they were refused entry to a party. They attacked Santos, stabbing him in the chest, near San Diego State University on Oct. 4, 2008.

In June 2010, Esteban Nunez entered prison to serve a 16-year sentence. Schwarzenegger, however, intervened on his last day in office in 2011, slicing Esteban Nunez's sentence to seven years. Esteban Nunez was released for good behavior after serving less than six.

"I feel disgusted," said Santos mother, Kathy. "Makes me sort of sick that two guys in political power can pull strings to get one of their own murdering children off the hook. I just don't understand that."

Kathy Santos, and her husband, Frank, of Concord, visited their son's grave Sunday after Esteban Nunez went free. Luis Santos  their "silly," "charming" and "popular" boy  would have been 30 years old this year.

"While Esteban is probably out celebrating with his family tonight, this is where we come to be with our family," said Kathy Santos, who brings flowers and balloons and sometimes blows bubbles at her sons grave.

Kathy and Fred Santos believe the friendship between two ex-politicians allowed their son's convicted killer to go free after serving less than half his original sentence. At the time, Schwarzenegger said he acted because he thought the 16-year sentence was excessive, but he also acknowledged he was helping a friend.

"Even though weve been expecting it, it's still not easy to take," Fred Santos said. "They stole justice from our son."

Fred Santos also disagreed with Schwarzenegger's reasoning that Esteban Nunez should be let off easy because Luis Santos' death was his first crime.

"The question is how many murders do you have to commit before you're eligible to be sentenced harshly?" he said.

The Santos family sued unsuccessfully to overturn the shortened sentence. In 2012, a Sacramento judge called the commutation "repugnant" but legal. Then, in 2015, an appeals court wrote that "back-room dealings were apparent," but upheld Schwarzenegger's power to reduce the sentence.

Fred Santos said the commutation reveals Schwarzenegger's "cavalier attitude toward the case and the lack of importance assigned to the crime. He said it also seems to beg the questions, "Is your dad good friends with the governor? What access do you have to people in high places?"

The Nunez family released a statement last week, which read, in part: "We continue to grieve over the losses related to our son's involvement in this tragic incident and pray daily for God's healing grace. Our son has paid his debt to society and will continue to meet all legal and financial obligations to the victim's family as agreed."

Fred Santos, however, said he doesn't forgive Esteban Nunez or his family.

"I have nothing to say to them," he said. "What can I say? There's nothing I can say that will bring my son back or give him justice."

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Sunday that Esteban Nunez will live in Sacramento County on parole supervision for three years.

Kathy Santos, however, said she is sure Esteban Nunez's future will be no different than his past.

"I have full belief that his future actions will not have changed and I really believe that ultimately Esteban will end up in a place just like this because of his own character and his own trouble making," she said. "And I dont think his dad can get him out of that."

Of the three other suspects, two pleaded guilty and the third is serving the entire 16-year sentence.

NBC reached out to Schwarzenegger for comment Monday.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hold double-digit leads over their closest challengers ahead of their home state's presidential primaries, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll has found.

More than half of likely voters in New York's upcoming Republican and Democratic party presidential primaries said they would vote for the Manhattan businessman or former secretary of state and U.S. senator representing the Empire State, respectively.

Trump leads his closest challenger, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, by 33 points, while Clinton holds a 14-point lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Brooklyn native.

The poll has a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points for Democrats and 6.1 for Republicans.

"The road to the conventions goes through New York for both the Democrats and Republicans," said Lee M. Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. "Right now, the front-runners look like they will erase recent setbacks and add significantly to their delegate margins. New York is not likely to enhance the hopes of those trying to close the gap in the delegate hunt."

Monday found all of the candidates but Cruz stumping in New York, which could be pivotal if underdogs manage to wrest delegates from the front-runners. Clinton was in Long Island, while Sanders, Trump and Kasich were upstate. Two of Trump's children were found to have missed the deadline to register as Republicans, meaning they won't be able to vote for their father next week.

Fifty-five percent of polled Democrats said they were planning on voting for Clinton, while 41 percent of voters said they planned to vote for Sanders. Three percent of likely voters were still undecided ahead of the April 19 primaries.

On the Republican side, Trump was the favored candidate of 54 percent of polled voters. Twenty-one percent told pollsters theyd be voting for Kasich, and another 18 percent said they were planning to cast ballots for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

If Trump wins the state but goes to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland later this year without enough delegates to win the partys nomination on the first ballot, about 64 percent of likely Republican primary voters in New York said that Trump should still get the nomination. Another 28 percent said that the party should nominate someone else.

Regardless of whom the GOP selects as its nominee, pollsters found theyd have trouble beating the Democratic nominee. Sanders and Clinton both hold large margins over each of the Republican candidates. Kasich performs better than Cruz or Trump, but still would trail either Democratic candidate by at least 15 points.

The poll comes the same day as a Monmouth University poll of likely Democratic voters that found Clinton would likely beat Sanders by about 12 points if the primary were held today.
Three people were killed and at least 13 others wounded in shootings across the city between Friday evening and Monday morning.

The latest fatal shooting happened Sunday morning in the Marquette Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

About 11:25 a.m., officers responding to a call of a person on the ground in the 6500 block of South Fairfield found 18-year-old Dennis Bradford III unresponsive with gunshot wounds to the head and wrist, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiners office.

Bradford, of the the 6200 block of South Mozart, was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:43 a.m., authorities said.

Earlier Sunday, a 28-year-old man died after being dropped off at a Far South Side hospital with a gunshot wound to the hip, police said.

He showed up at Roseland Community Hospital, 45 W. 111th St., shortly before 5 a.m. and later was pronounced dead, police said. His name has not been released.

Authorities are trying to determine where the shooting happened. Area South detectives are handling the homicide investigation.

The weekends first fatal shooting happened Friday evening in West Elsdon on the Southwest Side.

Lauren Membreno, 23, was in the front seat of a vehicle parked in the 5500 block of South Karlov about 7 p.m. when another vehicle pulled up and someone inside opened fire, authorities said.

Membreno  who wasnt the intended target  was shot in the head and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 5:37 p.m. Saturday. She lived in the 5300 block of South Spaulding, authorities said.

A police source said her boyfriend, who was sitting in the driver seat, was thought to have been the target.

The most recent nonfatal shooting happened early Monday in the West Side Austin neighborhood.

A 25-year-old man was a passenger in a vehicle going westbound in the 5300 block of West Chicago about 12:30 a.m. when he heard gunfire and realized hed been shot in the right foot. He was driven to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

Four people were wounded during a two-hour spate of gunfire Sunday night.

About 10 p.m., a 14-year-old boy was shot in the hand in the Belmont Central neighborhood on the Northwest Side. He and two other people were walking in the 5700 block of West Belden when a gunman opened fire. The boy was taken to West Suburban Medical Center and transferred to Lurie Childrens Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said. Detectives were questioning a person of interest in the shooting Monday morning.

Twenty minutes earlier, a 25-year-old man was outside in Austins 4800 block of West Monroe about 9:40 p.m. when a gray car drove by and someone inside fired shots, striking the man in the right arm. He took himself to West Suburban Medical Center, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

About an hour earlier, a 43-year-old man was shot in both legs and the hand in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side. The shooting happened at 8:50 p.m. in the 9200 block of South Cottage Grove and he was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized, police said. The circumstances of the shooting were unknown.

At 8:05 p.m., a bullet grazed the right shoulder of a man who heard shots while walking in the 8300 block of South Houston in the South Chicago neighborhood. He declined medical treatment.

At least eight more people were wounded in separate shootings between 8:30 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Monday.
The Chicago City Council Finance Committee approved payment of more than $6 million, Monday, to settle two wrongful death cases involving Chicago Police.

Aldermen expressed outrage at still more cases involving what appeared to be excessive force, or at the very least, indifference to a suspect's suffering, with at least one council member wondering why the officers had not been criminally charged.

This is, to me, clearly not an issue of policy and training, said 17th ward alderman David Moore. And I will go on record saying this is purely criminal.

The largest settlement, $4.95 million, was for the family of Philip Coleman, who died in police custody after being tased three times in a jail cell and 13 more times in a hospital emergency room, despite the fact that his family warned officers he was suffering mental episodes and should have been hospitalized.

In that incident, a police supervisor at the scene was quoted telling Coleman's father, "We don't do hospitals, we do jail."

It couldve been my son, said an angry 34th ward alderman Carrie Austin, who noted that she knew Colemans family personally. And for him to be treated that way? That is totally unacceptable!

Committee Chairman Edward Burke reminded the gathering that in 2006, the City had been forced to pay over 22 million dollars to the family of a mentally ill woman who jumped from the eighth floor of the Robert Taylor Homes, shortly after being released into the neighborhood by Chicago Police. Following that incident, Burke noted, the Council established new guidelines for dealing with mentally ill suspects, which he said clearly had been disregarded in the Coleman case.

I believe the police bureaucracy failed this young woman, Burke said. And I believe the police bureaucracy failed this family.

Its almost like deja vu, he said, an insult to our profession, to the profession of law enforcement.

In the second case, the Finance Committee approved payment of $1.5 million to the family of Justin Cook, who died while suffering an asthma attack during arrest. Witnesses at the scene said Cook begged for his inhaler, and that one of the officers sprayed it in the air, rather than letting him use it.

"It's clear these officers may be taken into account by a higher authority," said Burke, a former police officer, who expressed shock that the officers were still on the force, with the potential "to neglect again."

After the hearing, Corporation Counsel Steve Patton expressed hope that new reforms announced last fall, aimed at reinforcing crisis training, might cut down on abuse.

Those should over time, bring down the number of incidents we have, said Patton. Believe me, theres nobody who would be happier to see fewer of these types of incidents than me!

The Independent Police Review Authority is still investigating the Cook Case, IPRA previously investigated the Coleman case without finding any of the officers at fault. Newly appointed IPRA investigator Sharon Fairley recently announced plans to reexamine Colemans arrest and how it was handled..

But many aldermen wondered why more hadn't been done to discipline the officers in both incidents.

"We need to start firing some people" said Alderman Anthony Beale. "Here we are paying out millions of dollars, and nobody's being terminated!"
School officials in Gary, Ind., on Wednesday said they were investigating a scuffle that left a student and an off-duty police officer injured.



Lonnie Holman, 16, needed 10 stitches to close the gash in his eye, has cuts to his arms and head, and a fractured eye socket following the Tuesday afternoon incident at Lew Wallace High School. The officer, who was working as a security officer for the school, had cuts to his hands and a wrist injury.



According to the Gary Police Department, school officials ordered students back into the gymnasium after an incident during the school's lunch hour. Holman said a security officer who was escorting his sister to the office socked him after Holman refused to go back to the gym.



"I will always protect my brother and siter. They're all I have," the teen said Wednesday evening. "They're the only family I have."



Holman's mother, Esmerelda Hernandez, said she's been told nothing about why her son was punched.



"I want the officer and the school to be held responsible for what they've done to my child," she said. "It could have easily been anyone else's child."



Holman, a transfer student whose only attended the school for nine days, spent Tuesday evening in juvenile detention and remains under house arrest, charged with assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest.



A school spokeswoman said only that an investigation was ongoing.



"Their [SIC] was an incident where a student was involved in an altercation with a police officer and as a result the student was arrested. It is under investigation and we have no further information to offer at this time," said Charmella Greer.
A motorcyclist who hit a Ford Escape in Torrington on Sunday afternoon is in serious, but stable condition, according to police.

A teen driving a Ford Escape was trying to pull out of Birden Street onto Highland Avenue at 4:05 p.m. when the motorcycle Paul Ledda, 27, of Torrington, was driving hit the drivers side door of the Escape, police said.

An ambulance brought Ledda to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, then LifeStar flew him to Hartford Hospital to be treated for internal injuries and several broken bones.

Police said it appears that Ledda was not wearing a helmet.

The driver of the Ford Escape is over 16, but is still a juvenile and police have not released the teens name.

There was extensive damage to both vehicles and Highland Avenue was closed for several hours while police investigated.
The head of the first Syrian family to be resettled in the United States said Monday he is honored to be here and that ever since they arrived in Kansas City last week, his wife and their five children feel "safe."

Speaking through a translator during a press conference, Ahmad al-Abboud said "he will be doing his best to insure that he fits in with everybody."

"There is absolutely nothing to worry the American people," the translator said. "The Syrian refugees are seeking a life with dignity, a better life for their family and kids."

Al-Abboud's family fled Syrias civil war three years ago and found refuge in Jordan, according to NBC News. But al-Abboud was unable to find work. His family is among the 1,000 Syrians who have been permitted to enter the U.S. from Jordan since last October.
Reverend Chineta Goodjoin is a new kind of pastor  and she's shaking up Orange County by turning her ministry at New Hope Presbyterian Church into a social action network.

Reverend Goodjoin and her family experienced racism when she started the church back in 2007 in the city of Orange, where African Americans make up just 2 percent of the population.



"The police were often called on my husband. He would come to the church at night to get music together for choir practice," she said.

This only made Reverend Goodjoin more determined to make her church a success.

Before long, she'd built her congregation from just 25 to 100. Her multicultural team spread out into the community to speak out against injustice and lend a hand to those in need.

"Insuring the needs of the poor, the hurting, the widows and those who have been victimized  I don't see how this church can do anything but that," she said.

Reverend Goodjoin said her passion for helping was inspired by her own experience as a victim of rape when she was in college.

"We must use our brokenness as a springboard for purpose, for growth, for greater wisdom and for making a greater impact in the community," she said.

But it was the 2015 racially-motivated shooting of nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina that pushed Reverend Goodjoin into high gear. The college friend she leaned on after her assault, Sharonda Coleman Singleton, was among the victims.

"I didn't know how to process that," Reverend Goodjoin said. "It was awful."

She turned her tears into triumph by inspiring her church to take action.

The church's Social Justice Committee is organizing a town-hall meeting on gun violence, inspired by Reverend Goodjoin's personal tragedies.

"To contextualize that suffering and experience into a message and a life of forgiveness and love, that's a choice we can all make, and that's a choice that she makes," said Chris Mears of the Social Justice Committee.

When her church is criticized for its political activism, Reverend Goodjoin said she feels the spirit of her dear friend Sharonda reminding her to follow her heart.

"No matter what happens in life, all shall be well," she said. "I believe she's with us, and she's guiding all these things that are happening."

The town hall meeting on gun violence will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at New Hope Presbyterian Church in Orange.


President Barack Obama is guaranteeing that evidence, not politics, will dictate the outcome of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's handling of emails as secretary of state.

Obama's comments came during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," his first as president. Obama said he continues to believe Clinton didn't jeopardize America's national security with her private email server, but he added that "there's a carelessness in terms of managing emails" that she has recognized.

Obama said no one has suggested that Clinton's handling of government emails detracted in any way "from her excellent ability to carry out her duties." When asked specifically whether he can guarantee that Clinton will "not be in any way protected" during the course of the investigation, Obama said he maintains a strict line about not talking to FBI directors about pending investigations.

"I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department, or the FBI, not just in this case, but in any case," Obama said during an interview that was taped during his visit to the University of Chicago School of Law, where he taught.





The FBI is investigating whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton's email server was mishandled. The inspector generals for the State Department and U.S. intelligence agencies are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken.

Obama touched on several issues during the interview, including the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court and how he deals with the threat of terrorism.

"What I think we can't have, is a situation in which the Republican Senate simply says, 'Because it's a Democratic president, we are not going to do our job, have hearings, and have a vote,'" Obama said, adding that he will stick with Garland through the end of his term.



The president also responded to Republican criticism that he hasnt adequately communicated to the American people how concerned he is about terror attacks. Obama said he hasn't let acts of terror disrupt some of his regular activities because it's important to communicate a message of resilience.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

"The job of the terrorists, in their minds, is to induce panic, induce fear, get societies to change who they are," he said. "And what Ive tried to communicate is, 'You cant change us. You can kill some of us, but we will hunt you down, and we will get you.'"
The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are coming to terms with the cold mathematical reality of chasing delegates ahead of their nominating conventions, with front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump driving for challenge-proof majorities against rivals who won't go away.

For Trump, who remains well short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nod, that means his campaign focuses on developing a delegate-centered strategy akin to the one that rival Ted Cruz has pursued for months.

"A more traditional approach is needed and Donald Trump recognizes that," Paul Manafort, Trump's new delegate chief, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Even so, the billionaire developer later in the day complained that the system is "corrupt" and "crooked" and said it's unfair that the person who wins the most votes may not be the nominee.

"What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in a packed airport hangar in Rochester, New York. "We're supposed to be a democracy," he added, drawing parallels with Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.

If denied the GOP nomination, he went on to warn, "you're going to have a big problem, folks, because there are people who don't like what's going on."

Trump took to Twitter, saying the "people of Colorado had their votes taken away," saying the process was "totally unfair."

The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2016

For Clinton, who lost Wyoming Saturday night to Sanders, it means maintaining her commanding leads among delegates and popular votes no matter how many states Sanders wins  or how much "momentum" he claims. Key to her drive is a win April 19 in New York, which she represented in the U.S. Senate.

Asked in a CNN interview that aired Sunday whether she's quietly preparing a strategy in the unlikely event of a contested Democratic convention, she replied, "No, I intend to have the number of delegates that are required to be nominated."

After stops in New York City churches, Clinton headed to Baltimore for her first campaign rally in Maryland, where she picked up the endorsement of popular local congressman Elijah Cummings.

Maryland, where Clinton is favored, holds its primary on April 26 along with Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut.

Clinton's campaign is pushing for big wins across the northeast, in an effort to gain what they've termed an "all but insurmountable" lead in the delegate race. It's a strategy shared by Trump, who is also looking to win all the delegates he can in New York.

With neither front-runner strong enough to claim inevitability, their challengers stuck to the hope that by winning more races and cozying up to delegates, they stand a chance of eventually grabbing their respective party nominations.

For Ohio Gov. John Kasich, it's about winning enough delegates to keep all candidates from locking up the majority. And that means sowing doubts about the effect that a Trump or Cruz nomination would have on the party. He said there's "great concern" not just about how each would represent the GOP, but about the prospect of a blowout loss up and down the ticket in November.

"We would lose seats all the way from the statehouse to the courthouse"  meaning races all down the ballot, Kasich told CBS's "Face the Nation."

Sanders, behind Clinton by hundreds of delegates and more than 2.4 million votes, is pointing to statewide wins in seven of the last eight contests. But his latest victory in Wyoming did nothing to help him in the delegate chase: Both Sanders and Clinton got seven delegates.

On CBS, Sanders noted that the contest has moved from the conservative South  "Not a stronghold for me"  into states like New York, Pennsylvania and California where he expects to do well.

"Our plan right now is to win this thing," Sanders said on "Face the Nation." ''I think we have a real shot to end up with more delegates."

On the Republican side, Trump continued to try to catch up to Cruz's ground operation, which is months ahead and trying to eat into Trump's home state support in conservative pockets of New York. Manafort said the Cruz campaign was using a "scorched earth" approach in which "they don't care about the party. If they don't get what they want, they blow it up."

"The key, especially for uncommitted delegates, is the electability question," Manafort said on NBC.

They spoke after Cruz completed his sweep of Colorado's 34 delegates by locking up the remaining 13 at the party's state convention in Colorado Springs. He already had collected 21 delegates and visited the state to try to pad his numbers there.

Clinton has 1,287 delegates based on primaries and caucuses, compared to Sanders' 1,037. When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has 1,756, or 74 percent of the number needed to clinch the nomination. Sanders has 1,068.

Trump still has a narrow path to nailing down the Republican nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, but he has little room for error. He would need to win nearly 60 percent of all the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. So far, he's winning about 45 percent.

Following Cruz's sweep of Colorado's remaining delegates on Saturday, the Associated Press count stands at Trump 743, Cruz 545, and John Kasich 143. Marco Rubio, who suspended his campaign, has 171 delegates.

Lerer reported from Baltimore. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed from Rochester, New York.
After receiving a heros welcome, a Philadelphia Police officer praised for chasing down a gunman who ambushed him three months ago threw out the first pitch during the Phillies home opener Monday and then proposed to his girlfriend.

The crowd cheered as Officer Jesse Hartnett walked to the mound and threw out the first pitch at Citizens Bank Park around 3 p.m. Monday, before the Phillies took the field to face the San Diego Padres. Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz shook Hartnetts hand and the two posed for a picture. The Phillie Phanatic gave Hartnett a high-five and posed for a photo with him as well.

Hartnetts moment in front of the crowd didnt end there. As his girlfriend greeted him on the field, Hartnett pulled a ring out of his sling, bent down on one knee and proposed to her. Much to the delight of Hartnett and the crowd, she said yes. The two embraced and kissed as the fans cheered.

Hartnett, 33, spent two weeks in the hospital after he was shot three times in the arm during an ambush attack in January. Edward Archer, 30, faces attempted murder and other charges in the ambush-style shooting. Archer's attorney said he may have mental health problems.

Despite being shot, Hartnett returned fire and helped capture Archer, police said.
A Pennsylvania man has been charged with a weapons offense after his arrest at the entrance to the Holland Tunnel.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police say an officer noticed a pickup truck driving through the toll plaza Saturday evening with a large, blue plastic drum in the back.

Officer Evangelos Mageros pulled the truck over to check for hazardous materials and the driver said there was a weapon in the drum, according to investigators.



A search found a 12-gauge shotgun and 175 rounds of ammunition. Police say 45-year-old Marlon Murphy, of Easton, Pennsylvania, couldn't provide documentation for the shotgun.

He was charged with unlawful weapons possession. Bail was set at $30,000.

A phone listing couldn't be found for Murphy, and it wasn't immediately known if he'd retained an attorney.
STEP INTO ANY GROVE... in or around Ojai come the start of April and what you're sniffing is no April Fools' Day joke: The air is fragrant with blossoms, the kind that are symbolic, scent-wise, of the arts-and-nature enclave. Of course, other Golden State burgs can lay rightful claim to that same scent, seeing as how citrus-y spreads pop up all around California come the spring, but Ojai's singular association with the Pixie makes it a forerunner in the fragrant department. So much so that the Ventura County village pauses during the fourth month of the year to pay tribute to its tasty, sunshine-flavored, easily peelable symbol through a host of tangerine-tangy to-dos and deals. Are you proudly obsessed with tangerine juice, tangerine sweets, tangerine savory sauces, tangerine everything? And do you dig small, walkable towns with a strong gallery/winery vibe? Then you're probably already ensconced in Ojai, sipping something sweet, and enjoying all of the pleasures of a fruit-forward April celebration. Best put your citrus-peeling hands on deals like...

A PIXIE PASS, which gives the buyer a cool 20% off a pair of Ojai Music Concerts concerts when bought online with a special code. There are other happenings, like Pixie picking at Friends Ranch, a mixology demonstration (featuring Pixies, natch) at Azu, Cloud Climbers Jeep Tours that go above Ojai to admire the many groves in the area, and a Pixie Open House at Enhanced Day Spa (yep, Pixies play a part in some of the mini treatments). Cooking glasses, Pixie-perfect desserts, Pixie syrup, and Pixie mimosas -- hello there -- are also on the local-lovely menu.

OF COURSE, you can't get far from the Pixie, regardless of the time of year, if you're calling upon Ojai. But April is the tangerine's moment on the throne, its star occasion, and lovers of the pocket-sized citrus go all out in admiring one of the Golden State's most celebrated sectional foodstuffs. Which inspires this question: Do you eat your Pixies by neat sections, juicy quarters, or mouth-messy-ing halves? (There's no wrong answer.)
The body of a woman, whose 2-year-old daughter is missing, was found in a San Francisco park, sources say.

Nicole Fitts was last seen April 1 and reported missing four days later, police said. She was found slain Friday in John McLaren Park, the citys second-largest park, sources close to the investigation told NBC Bay Area.

San Francisco police have enlisted the publics help in finding the homicide victims child, Arianna. They have also expanded their search to the Los Angeles area. A Facebook page has been set up to find her.

Speaking at a news conference Saturday, police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan said Arianna was last seen in late February by someone other than her mother. It was not immediately clear who that person is.

The child is "considered 'at risk' due to her young age, and because police suspect foul play in her disappearance, Gatpandan said.

On Sunday, Nicole's sister, Contessa Fitts, said she is hopeful her niece will be found.

Contessa Fitts said San Francisco police haven't told her much about what happened to her sister, but added that she knows they are doing everything they can to locate Arianna.

"I'm really scared," she told NBC Bay Area on Sunday night. "I don't know where she is and who she's with. I want to believe she's OK and no on has hurt her."

The two sisters kept in touch and despite living in different cities, would get together about once a month, Contessa Fitts said. She described Nicole as a cheerful and pleasant person.

Nicole Fitts, who went by Nikki, most recently lived in San Francisco and worked at a Best Buy store, her sister said. The SoMa store on Harrison Street is less than five miles north of McLaren Park.

"None of this makes sense,'' Michael Jacobo, Nicole's friend and co-worker, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "She was one of the kindest people you would ever meet. She always had a smile on her face. It always stuck with me how kind and shy she was.''

The manager said employees close to Fitts were sent home on Sunday.

Some co-workers wrote on Facebook that they are devastated, broke down crying, and yesterday was Nicoles one-year anniversary at the store.

To them, Fitts was like family.

Best Buy officials also released a statement, which said in part, We are saddened by the news and our thoughts go out to Nicoles loved ones and pray her daughter is found safely.

The mother-daughter duo were known to frequently visit San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Oakland, Emeryville and other California cities, according to Gatpandan.

"The more people that are aware of her, the better, she stressed.

Due to the sensitive nature of this investigation, police said they can't disclose any other details about the killing or any other circumstances of the case.

Anyone who sees Arianna is asked to immediately call 911.
Flying between San Diego and Stockton could cost you just $39 thanks to an introductory fare for a new airline route.

Allegiant began its new, nonstop service between the two cities on April 7. The flight will run twice a week between Stockton and San Diego International Airport, also known as Lindbergh Field.

Allegiant is very excited to give Stockton travelers a chance to enjoy some fun in the San Diego sun with this new route, Jude Bricker, Allegiant chief operating officer said in a news release.

The airline based in Las Vegas has more than 80 aircraft and offers more than 300 routes around the country.

The company also flies between Bellingham, Washington and San Diego.



Go to Allegiant.com to get information on the low fares. Tickets must be purchased by April 14 for travel by Nov. 13.


While U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) said shes not endorsing any of the candidates running to fill her seat in Congress, two of those candidates seeking her vacant seat are supporting her run for Senate.

Maryland Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk said she will be supporting Edwards in her run to fill current U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulskis seat. Pena-Melnyk was one of two Prince Georges delegates to support Edwards when she first ran for Congress and said shes happy to do it again.

She would do an excellent job, Pena-Melnyk told News4. We need to be represented. We need to be at the table. Women, black women, women of color need to be at the table.

Pena-Melnyk is one of many candidates vying for the 4th District Congressional seat. Edwards released a statement, saying she is proud to have Pena-Melnyks support.

"I am proud to have the support of Joseline Pena-Melnyk, a great partner and force for positive change in Annapolis, said Edwards. Together, we've worked to expand economic opportunity for women, make the DREAM Act a reality for Maryland, and ensure a more fair and equitable criminal justice system for all Marylanders."

The Washington Post reported a second candidate also endorsed Edwards, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown.

From her fierce advocacy on domestic violence issues to defending womens rights, Donna has been a champion for Maryland women and their families, Brown said in a statement reported by the Post.

Prince Georges County Executive Rushern Baker, state Sen. Joanne C. Benson, state Sen. Ulysses Currie and state Sen. Victor R. Ramirez are among those backing Edwards opponent, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, in the U.S. Senate race in Maryland.
A police officer shot and wounded a man at a grocery store in Maryland, Sunday night, police said.

Laurel police said they received a burglary alarm call from Indus Food International Market on 4th Street about 11:15 p.m. Sunday.

A 15-year-old suspect ran from the store and refused commands to stop, Laurel Police said. Police used a Taser to subdue him, then took him to a hospital. Then he was released to his mother.

The second suspect, a 20-year-old man, remained inside the store, police said. Four officers with their weapons drawn went to the back of the building to search it, and one of the officers fired his gun when he was startled by movement in the dark after opening a back door, Laurel Police said.

The suspect is in stable condition after surgery at MedStar.

The shooting appears to be unintentional, police said. Laurel Police are cooperating with the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office.

Police are reviewing video of the inicident.

Detectives will try to determine if this burglary is conntected to a November break-in when someone stole $5,000 and a December break-in when $8,000 was taken, police said.

The officer who shot the suspect, a 17-year veteran of the Laurel Police Department, was placed on routine paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.

This is the first police-involved shooting in Laurel since 2003. The town is located midway between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.
Authorities said the sheriff in Anne Arundel County was charged with assaulting his wife at their Pasadena, Maryland, home.

Charging documents stated a county police officer was called to Sheriff Ronald Bateman's home on Sunday, where his wife said they argued, and Bateman told her to leave.

When Bateman's wife grabbed his money clip, the documents stated she said Bateman held her down on a bed and later pushed her to the floor. The documents state that Bateman said he didn't hit her but held her down to get his clip back.

Bateman was arrested and charged with second-degree assault. Investigators said he was released on personal recognizance.

In a press release from the Office of the Sheriff in Anne Arundel County, Bateman denied assaulting his wife, calling the incident an emotional family dispute which led the police to come to our home.

Bateman said Lt. Col. Paul Tabor, the chief deputy sheriff, would be handling the day to day operations of the sheriffs office until the case is finished. He said he would remain at work in an administrative capacity only.

If one of our deputy sheriffs was charged with second-degree assault as a result of a domestic dispute, that deputy sheriff would be placed in an administrative status, and his police powers would be suspended, Bateman said. I will not be treated any differently than I would treat one of my deputies.

Batman said he was committed to working with his wife with counseling to address the domestic issues.
What to Know The weapon police seized was a loaded AR-15 semi-automatic rifle with 27 rounds in it.

The AR-15 was reported stolen in North Carolina. The suspect was walking back to a baby shower after a fight.

People inside the building where the baby shower was being held locked the doors to prevent the suspect from entering.

Charles County, Maryland, police arrested a man in Waldorf, Maryland, who retrieved a loaded AR-15 from his car after getting in an argument at a baby shower.

Charles County Sheriffs Office said in a press release one of their officers was flagged down in the 2000 block of Nantucket Drive shortly after 4 p.m. on April 9. A person told the officer they saw a man carrying a long gun at a nearby recreation center.

The release said the officer, Cpl. P. McCue, went to the center and spotted a man walking in the parking lot holding a rifle. When the man, later identified Rodrigueze Lavon Nowlin Jr, 21, of North Carolina, saw the officer, he ducked down behind a car before surrendering to McCue.

Officers located a loaded AR-15 semi-automatic rifle with 27 rounds in it. A check revealed the gun was reported stolen in North Carolina.

Investigators said Nowlin was attending a baby shower at the center with 13 other people when he became involved in an argument with another man, who assaulted Nowlin during the confrontation. They said Nowlin left the party, went to his car and retrieved the weapon.

Guests inside the center saw him returning with the gun and locked the doors to stop him from entering the building. The man who allegedly assaulted Nowlin fled but was later stopped by police and in possession of brass knuckles.

Nowlin is charged with multiple counts of first-degree assault, second degree-assault and reckless endangerment. It is not known where he is being held or if he has a lawyer.
D.C. police and Mayor Muriel Bowser will canvas Southeast D.C. Monday afternoon to gather leads on who shot a 7-year-old girl out walking Friday night with her family.

The child was hit by a stray bullet as she walked with her parents and brother after 9 p.m. Friday on the 2900 block of Knox Place SE, Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Peter Newsham said.

"The only thing she was doing was walking on a Friday evening in her neighborhood with her family," Newsham said at a news conference Monday morning.

The child was shot in the stomach. Her father helped stem the bleeding, Newsham said.

"In all likelihood, he saved her life," he said.

The girl, who police did not identify, was airlifted to a hospital. She was in critical condition Friday night and was upgraded to fair condition, Newsham said.

The shots were fired during a clash in the neighborhood.

"You had a violent offender with an illegal firearm who was brazen enough to cause an injury to a little girl," Newsham said.

Police and Bowser will go door-to-door about 4 p.m. Monday to ask neighbors for tips, Newsham said.

"We feel pretty confident we're going to be able to get to the bottom of it," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 202-727-9099 or send a text message to 50411. A reward of as much as $10,000 is offered to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
A 3-month-old baby girl is fighting for her life after she was stabbed Saturday by a woman watching her in Woodbridge, Virginia, police said.

Leah Greer Arrington, 35, was arrested Saturday. Prince William County police said Monday she stabbed the infant in Arrington's home on Ridge View Court.

Unable to stop the baby from crying, Arrington stabbed her in her lower body with a kitchen knife, police said. A family member called police, who arrived about 12:40 p.m.

The baby was rushed to a hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries, police said.

Arrington was charged with aggravated malicious wounding and held without bond.

It was not immediately clear if she had a lawyer.
A glance at some of the legislation that has cleared the Maryland General Assembly, as lawmakers near the end of their 90-day session Monday at midnight:

BALTIMORE-AID

The state will provide about $94 million over the next several years to demolish vacant buildings in Baltimore. It's part of a package that includes additional funding to help invest in projects in declining communities and provide grants and loans to ``anchor institutions'' like colleges and universities in blighted areas. The package also includes funds to expand summer programs for students, college scholarships and library hours.

BEES-PESTICIDE PROTECTION

Maryland would become the first state in the country to take pesticides found to harm bees off of retail store shelves, starting in 2018.

BUDGET

With the help of surplus of more than $400 million, Gov. Larry Hogan's $42 billion budget passed smoothly on bipartisan votes. It includes a provision creating a $5 million scholarship program for private school students from low-income families after years of debate over state funding of private-school scholarships.

DIVORCE WITNESS

A witness would no longer be needed to confirm a couple hasn't lived together for a year when someone is seeking an uncontested divorce.

EQUAL PAY

Maryland's equal pay law would be expanded to prohibit businesses from retaliating against employees for discussing or disclosing salaries.

GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION

A new 40 percent greenhouse gas reduction target has been set for 2030. The governor has already signed the bill.

LAND PRESERVATION

Funding to the state's land preservation program known as Program Open Space will be restored. The law, already signed by the governor, will return $60 million over the next two years.

LAW ENFORCEMENT-BENEFITS

The maximum age of eligibility for state pension benefits for young adult children of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty increases from 18 to 26. The governor already has signed the bill, which was filed in honor of two slain Harford County sheriff's deputies.

PRINCE GEORGE'S HOSPITAL

The state and Prince George's County will be required to provide operating and capital funding for a new Prince George's County Regional Medical Center. The legislation will become law without the signature of Gov. Larry Hogan, who supports the idea but opposes mandated funding over several years.

TRANSPORTATION

Maryland will have a new scoring system to prioritize transportation projects. While the governor won't be prevented from funding a project with a lower score than another, an explanation would be required for the decision. The governor vetoed the bill, but his veto was overridden last week.

UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP

A partnership between the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, would be strengthened, creating one University of Maryland with two campuses and two presidents.
Supporters of a proposed drunk driving law are pushing Maryland lawmakers to pass the bill as they enter their last day of legislative session on Monday.

The law, which requires ignition interlock devices for drunk drivers, is named after Montgomery County Police Officer Noah Leotta, who was struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver.

Noah's Law supporters are worried that additions to the bill could kill its chances of passing.

"We are here because Noah's law is in peril," Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said at a news conference Sunday.

The state Senate version of the bill would put ignition interlock devices on the cars of those convicted of driving under the influence. A driver would have to pass a breathalyzer test before the car would start.

Only repeat drunken drivers and drivers described as having been excessively drunk are currently ordered to use the ignition interlock devices in Maryland.

The House tacked on an punitive damages bill to the legislation that would increase penalties for death or injuries from drunk driving, however, that addition is getting little support.

"That law, though it's a good law, does not have the votes to get it passed," said Rich Leotta, Noah Leotta's father.

Leotta and other supporters worry the added legislation could sink the whole measure and say it is a direct connection between a parliamentary move and public safety.

"Shame on them. They would be killing more people in the state of Maryland if Noah's Law does not pass," Leotta said. "Some of these individuals represent drunk drivers when they're not doing their job as legislative body, so it's a pocketbook issue and I think they've been influenced by the liquor lobby."

The eleventh-hour push comes as a committee is set to meet tomorrow in Annapolis to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the law.

Lawmakers also will be working to pass a police reform bill and a tax-relief plan.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Monday that he has proposed keeping secret the identities of pharmacies that supply lethal-injection drugs for executions, instead of changing the law to force inmates to die in the electric chair if there are no available drugs.

McAuliffe stripped the contentious electric-chair provision from a bill and vowed to veto the measure if lawmakers reintroduce it. He warned that unless Virginia shields lethal-injection-drug manufacturers from public scrutiny, capital punishment in the state will come to a halt.

Lawmakers "have the opportunity to be part of the solution,'' McAuliffe said. "If they pass up that opportunity, they will bring the death penalty to an end here in Virginia,'' he said.

McAuliffe's amendment would give Virginia's Department of Corrections the authority to compound its own execution drugs using products from pharmacies whose identities would remain confidential.

Without the secrecy provision, the measure is "only an empty gesture,'' McAuliffe said, because manufacturers will continue to refuse to supply drugs to Virginia unless their names are kept under wraps. Florida, Texas and Ohio have included similar provisions in their compounding laws, he said.

Virginia is one of at least eight states that allow electrocutions, but currently gives inmates the choice of lethal injection or the electric chair.

The original bill sought to allow the state to use the electric chair when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.

Supporters of that measure said Virginia has no choice but to make electrocutions its default method because death penalty opponents have made it so difficult to find drugs. Lawmakers who backed the bill used the pending execution of a convicted murder to make their case, detailing his grisly crimes in emotional speeches in the General Assembly.

But McAuliffe faced intense pressure to veto the electric chair bill from religious groups and other death penalty opponents, who say electrocutions are cruel and unusual punishment.

The governor said Monday that he agrees that the electric chair is "reprehensible,'' adding that Virginians don't want to revert back to a past when "excessively inhumane punishments were committed in their name.'' But he said he does not want to end capital punishment in the state.

It's unclear whether there will be enough support in the Republican-controlled General Assembly to approve McAuliffe's amendment.

A similar measure backed by the governor failed in the General Assembly last year amid concerns over transparency. Republican Del. Jackson Miller, who sponsored the electric chair bill, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on Monday.

Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, a staunch death penalty opponent, said he's pleased that McAuliffe didn't sign the electric chair bill but has serious concerns about shrouding the execution process in secrecy.

"For some reason, the Department of Corrections seems to be obsessed with secrecy,'' he said. "Of all the things that we ought to require transparency on, the execution of human beings seems to be something that ought to have max transparency, not minimum transparency.''

Virginia's two scheduled executions have been put on hold, pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Ricky Gray, who was sentenced to death for the 2006 murders of a family of four in Richmond, was supposed to be executed March 16. Ivan Teleguz, who was convicted of hiring a man to kill his ex-girlfriend, was set to receive a lethal injection on Wednesday, but his execution has also been delayed, pending the high court's review.
Police in Weymouth, Massachusetts, have arrested a suspect in relation to the investigation of the "Felony Lane Gang."

Christine Cosentino, 45, was arraigned in Quincy District Court Monday morning. She was ordered held on $15,000 bail after pleading not guilty. Police say she is a member of the Felony Lane Gang.

She allegedly engaged in a fraudulent transaction at a bank in Weymouth while wearing a wig, which is a Felony Lane Gang trademark.

According to police, the gang is made up of over 800 members who travel across the country, specifically along the eastern coast, to break into cars and steal personal items and money.
A 21-year-old Hartford man who told police that an 18-year-old Cromwell woman committed suicide has been charged in her murder.

Torrick Maragh was arraigned on Tuesday and bond has been set at $1.5 million.

Maragh was initially charged with two counts of possession of a sawed-off shotgun and has been incarcerated on those charges, but police later obtained a warrant charging him with the murder of Nasashalie Hoy, 18, of Cromwell,.

Hartford police found Hoy after receiving a frantic 911 call at 11:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

When they rushed to the basement of 1688 Broad St. in Hartford, they found her lying on the ground and bleeding from the throat.

She was rushed to Hartford Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:58 p.m.

According to arrest paperwork, Maragh told detectives Hoy shot herself with a shotgun after the two had an argument.

Hoy's family never believed that was the case.

We knew she didnt commit this herself. She was never capable of doing this. She was just a happy soul, Hoy's cousin, Kassandra Ortega, said.

They maintained that Hoy didn't shot herself and several family members were at the courthouse for the arraignment.

Im just glad that it finally happened today, because its been sitting here for so long, Felix Hoy, Nasashalies father, said.

Maragh told police he and Hoy were initially tussling over a shotgun shell and she had a knife in her hand, but he was able to confiscate it from her before she ran out of the room, according to the arrest warrant.

When Hoy came back, she straddled Maragh, who was sitting on a bed, and she had a shotgun pointed at her neck when it went off, he said, according to the warrant.

The medical examiners office classified Hoy's death as a homicide and determined she died from a bullet to the neck.

Police said they worked closely with the state forensic science lab to analyze evidence.

According to arrest papers, Maragh owns the gun that took Hoy's life and admitted to hiding a second gun in the ceiling before police got to the scene.

I think this situation all around is tragic, Maraghs attorney, Steve Slattery, said.

In court today, the states attorney said they had a strong case against Maragh, but his attorney says it's not an open and shut case.

56:52 Slattery: The warrant does indicate that there was DNA of the deceased on both the handle and the trigger of the gun.

He also pointed out that Slattery stayed on the scene to cooperate with police, telling them that Hoy killed herself when an argument between the two got out of hand.

48:49 Felix Hoy, Victims Father Im hoping he takes it to trial. If he says she killed herself, which I know she didnt, let him prove it.

TAKE KRISTEN LIVE

Maraghs family was also in court today, but declined to comment.

He is due back in court on May 16th.

In court, the states attorney said they had a strong case against Maragh, but his attorney said it's not an open and shut case.

"The warrant does indicate that there was DNA of the deceased on both the handle and the trigger of the gun, Slattery said.

Felix Hoy said he hopes this case goes to trial.

Im hoping he takes it to trial. If he says she killed herself, which I know she didnt, let him prove it, he said.

Maraghs family was also in court, but declined to comment.

Maragh is due back in court on May 16.

The warrant charging Maragh with murder has a judge-set bond of $1.5 million.
More than a dozen bomb threats at schools across Massachusetts Monday morning led to evacuations for some schools and left students sheltering in place in other schools.

"For so many communities to be affected it's disturbing," Brookline Police Deputy Superintendent Michael Gropman said

Brookline was one of at least 16 communities where a threat was called in. Many were automated calls similar to the dozens of threats at area schools back in January.

The other affected schools include those in Billerica, Stoneham, Cambridge, Hudson, Belmont, Leominster, Ayer, Hopkinton, Tewksbury, Lexington, Charlestown, Melrose, Fitchburg, Marlborough, and Wakefield.

"It gets these kids to be frightened for no real reason because they have no idea whether it's real or not," parent Scott Elba said.

"It really is frustrating that somebody is taking advantage of technology and hacking into places that should be just safe and getting done what they need to do," parent Joni Burstein said.

Not only are parents frustrated, but students say they're getting sick of the interruption to their classes.

"We were actually in the middle of a test that we were taking for our class and usually this you of thing doesn't really interrupt the day but this is like something that we've been studying hard for," Brookline senior Ben Thomas said.

"Take necessary precautions to make sure it's safe, but don't take too many to keep the students waiting while they could be getting a good education," freshman Yuli Burstein said.

But state and local police say they have to take each school threat seriously, oftentimes deploying resources that are needed for emergencies elsewhere.

"It's a danger to the community, we had a serious car accident where a car went into a tree and actually one of the fire units that's supposed to respond to that was over at the high school," Deputy Supt. Gropman said,

In the first three months of this school year, the Massachusetts State Police bomb squad have responded to 29 threats, compared to six in 2015 and eight in 2014 in the same time frame.

The FBI, state and local police say they take hoax threats like these very seriously and will prosecute suspects to the fullest extent of the law.
The Green Pastures Christian bookshop in Dereham has won a national award for providing boxes of Christian books to 21 local schools.

The Green Pastures Christian bookshop in Dereham has won a national award for providing boxes of Christian books to 21 local schools.

Norma's care home jigsaw challenge complete A resident at Norwich-based care home Corton House has completed an incredible 70 jigsaw puzzles in celebration of the homes 70th anniversary this year. Read more

Norwich charity's appeal to support Palestinian students A Norwich educational charity, set up in memory of a Norwich Anglican priest, to support students from a Palestinian refugee camp, is inviting people to support its Christmas appeal  to be launched on November 29. Read more

Norfolk drug and alcohol charity pays tribute to its founder Andy Sexton, CEO of the Matthew Project, introduces a series of tributes from the charity to its founder, Peter Farley. Read more

Cliff look alike at Cromer Church breakfast Cliff Richard tribute performer Will Chandler will be the speaker at a special Mens Breakfast at Cromer Parish Hall next month, and all men are welcome to come along. Read more

Heartsease Lane Methodist church to close As part of a reorganisation of the Norwich Methodist Circuit, Heartsease Lane Methodist Church will be closing towards the end of the year. Read more

Free Julian of Norwich reflection and prayer day The Friends of Julian of Norwich present a free Quiet Half-Day with Robert Fruehwirth, author and former Priest Director of the Julian Centre, on Saturday November 12, 10.30am-2pm. Read more

What it means for us to repent Nigel Fox believes that now is the time for a tide of repentance, and shares his thoughts about what that actually means for our society. Read more

Christmas card shop opens in Norwich church Thousands of Christmas cards from around 30 local Norfolk charities have gone on sale today (October 19) at the Original Norwich Charity Christmas Card Shop inside St Peter Mancroft church in Norwich city centre. Read more

Revelation Christian Resource Centre and Cafe Revelation in Norwich is a Christian resource centre, offering a bookshop, a meeting place and a welcoming refuge for refreshment open to visitors of any faith or none. Read more

Farewell as Yarmouth church leader moves on Captain Marie Burr, the Salvation Army leader in Great Yarmouth, has paid tribute to everyone at the church and charity after she left her post at the end of last month to move to a new role. Read more

Norwich Cathedral chorister in BBC final Norwich Cathedral chorister Alice Platten has her sights set on being crowned BBC Young Chorister of the Year after reaching the final stages of the prestigious nationwide competition. Read more

Norwich to hear pastor, Policeman and tramp tale Essex Baptist Pastor Dave McDowell has been a Policeman, fed orphans in India and lived under a boat as a tramp. He will tell his remarkable story at the October dinner of Norwich FGB on Wednesday October 26. Read more

Pioneer UK leader speaks at Sheringham church Ness Wilson, national leader of the Pioneer network of churches, was the main speaker at a day of teaching and worship held at Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham on 12 October, to be followed up by Word and Worship sessions at October half term. Read more

Norwich event to give tips on bouncing forwards St Stephens in Norwich will be hosting an evening in October with Patrick Regan OBE, as he explores themes from his book Bouncing Forwards. Read more

Youth for Christ lights a fire in north Breckland North Breckland Youth for Christ will be putting on a mini residential camp this year to coincide with Bonfire Night. Read more

Delia Smith interviewed at Norwich church Top TV cook and well-known writer Delia Smith spoke about her faith at SOUL Churchs weekly Chapel gathering on October 11. Read more

Children's Christian holiday club in Briston A half term childrens holiday bible club is taking place in Briston next week, and there is no charge to take part in the fun. Read more
This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitters approach.

The cloud is the promised land when it comes to storage. A recent 451 Research report said AWS and Azure will be two of the top five enterprise storage vendors by 2017 with AWS as number two overall. But the challenge with using the cloud for primary storage is the latency between that storage and users/applications. To take advantage of the economics, scale, and durability of cloud storage, it will take a combination of caching, global deduplication, security, and global file locking to provide cloud storage with the performance and features organizations require.

"Any time you move your infrastructure somewhere outside of your data center, there's going to be latency involved, and you run in to the speed of light problem: The speed of light can only go so fast, says Scott Sinclair, analyst with the Enterprise Strategy Group. But unlike most storage problems, the trick to achieving high-performance cloud storage isn't just to throw more disk drives or flash at the problem. When solving for the speed of light, new technologies need to rely on a specific innovation to solve the problem -- namely, co-locating data very close to compute, or introducing some sort of network optimization or caching mechanism.

Lets first take a quick look at AWS S3 as an example of why there is so much hype around cloud storage. AWS provides 11 nines of durability and is designed to sustain the concurrent loss of data in two facilities. AWS also lets customers pay as they grow and immediately take advantage of any price drops in storage. This is much different than buying fixed amounts of storage at todays prices ahead of the actual need for that storage.

And there are few organizations, if any, that can match the scale of AWS. Everyday, AWS installs enough infrastructure to host the entire Amazon e-tailing business from back in 2004 (when Amazon the retailer was one-tenth its current size at $7 billion in annual revenue).

With all these advantages why is cloud storage relegated to only a back-up role instead of primary storage? The speed of light between the datacenter and cloud storage is hard to overcome. However, there are ways to overcome the latency and break the speed of light.

Latency normally manifests itself in slow performance. This is where caching, global deduplication and global file locking come into play.

Caching data locally is the first step to eliminate the effect of latency. Many analysts will tell you that 70% of data has not been accessed in 60 days. When we evaluate the storage for prospective customers, we find that 90% of their data has not been accessed in six months. This means that if you cache the hot or active data in the office, the rest of the data can be stored in the cloud.

The goal is to have as much active data in the cache as possible. This can be accomplished by having enough storage to cache the active data, and/or by using an efficient caching algorithm. We typically find that customers underestimate the amount of local cache needed even if they are planning for growth. They often add more users than they forecast, or they put more types of data in the cache than they originally planned, as the data in the cache does not need to have back-up, DR, or archive systems.

A caching algorithm uses machine learning to know what data needs to be locally cached and what data can recede into the cloud. There are techniques that can be used in the caching algorithm to predict what data needs to be kept in cache based on how the data was written in time. The goal is to predict what data is needed based on the data that is being accessed and then pre-fetch other data that is not cached.

Caching does not have to be black or white from a file perspective if global deduplication is used. A global dedup table in cache enables the caching algorithm to leverage common blocks across different files so it only pulls down the missing blocks of a file if that file is accessed but not fully in cache. This dramatically reduces the amount of time to access a file that is not fully cached locally.

Global dedup is especially useful when transferring a file from one local cache to another local cache assuming both caches are connected to the same cloud storage. Since each local cache has a dedup table, it knows what blocks that it is missing from a file that is being transferred. Only the missing blocks are actually transferred across the wide area network between the two different local caches. Electronic Arts reduced the transfer times of 10GB-to-50GB game build files from over 10 hours to just minutes as only the new blocks of the files were actually transferred.

While caching and dedup are a tremendous help, they do not fully solve the latency issue. Caching and dedup eliminate or significantly reduce the time to transfer data, but do not solve for application chattiness. People often talk about chattiness and latency, but do not fully understand how the combination of latency and chattiness can have a much bigger performance impact than data transfer. This can be illustrated with a time and motion study that was done with a chatty application opening a small 1.5MB file across the country -- from New York to California.

CAD, like other technical applications, has a significant number of file operations that happen sequentially when a file is opened. In the case of AutoCAD, the most widely used CAD program, nearly 16,000 file operations happen when the file is opened. This is the chattiness of the application. If the authoritative copy of the file (with the file lock) is 86 milliseconds away (the round trip latency from California to New York), then it takes 16,000 * 86ms for the file to open  approximately 22 minutes. The actual data transfer for a 1.5MB is a fraction of the 22 minutes.

This is where global file locking comes in. When the file lock is transferred from New York to California, it is as though the authoritative copy of the file is stored in California (even though the authoritative copy is still in New York) so the latency is LAN latency instead of WAN latency, and drops from 86ms to 0.56ms. The time to open the file drops significantly: 16,000 * 0.56ms for a grand total of 8 seconds.

Of course, not every application has the level of chattiness of AutoCAD, but any application that was developed for a high-speed, low latency local area network will have some sort of chattiness that will often cause more performance issues than the transfer of the file data itself.

Organizations can take advantage of all the benefits of cloud storage for all their files, not just the files they are not using. When this happens, organizations begin to rethink storage in general. Since there is so much durability and redundancy in the cloud itself, customers have to get their head around the fact that systems and processes used for back-up, DR, and archiving are really not required anymore. Those functions become a natural byproduct of using the cloud for primary storage once you solve for the speed of light.
In my last post I discussed a Web-based programming environment for the Raspberry Pi. Today, for your further Raspberry Pi delectation, I have another RPi-compatible programming tool but this its rather more specific: Its called Sonic Pi and its for programming music in real time.

Created by Sam Aaron at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, Sonic Pi is a free, open source, live coding synthesizer released under the MIT License. Better still, it not only runs on the Raspberry Pi as its name suggests, it also runs on Windows, Linux, and OS X.

To use Sonic Pi you simply launch the application on whatever platform you've installed it on and start programming in Ruby; the GUIs Help button displays a really great tutorial on how Sonic Pi works with loads of examples and theres a free e-book to take you further. When youve created your opus, you can hit Play (you can pick up a conductors baton if you like). Want to change something? Do it on the fly; make your mods and voila! Realtime music generation! Then if you like your composition you can record it as a WAV file and or save the code in a text file.

Sonic Pi user interface

Just to show what a simple Sonic Pi program can do, heres a one that makes the sound of the Lightcycle bikes from Tron:

You can hear the output from this in the Examples section of the Sonic Pi site (its the third example from the top).

Sonic Pi can also be driven by sending Open Sound Control, or OSC, requests over UDP to port 4557 of the device running the application and there are even plugins for Emacs and Vim that support live coding!

If youve had any experience with the loop-based music creation apps such as Apples GarageBand or Sony Acid this will seem both familiar and very different. With Sonic Pi you not only work with loops but you also use oscillators and other synthesizer components and youre interacting with all of the resources in a far more detailed way under Sonic Pi. This detail and complexity arguably provides more control but less immediacy unless you become very fluent with the Sonic Pi language. Check out this article on programming Rimsky-Korsakoffs Flight of the Bumblebee for the Sonic Pi; the author notes its a 5 page score and took about 4-5 hours to program in 1268 lines of code so were out of the realm of instant gratification for serious projects.

But the heavy lifting has a huge payoff in education to teach both programming and music and Sonic Pi has an accompanying (ha!) teaching plan for schools. Theres also an even more ambitious teaching project, Sonic Pi: Live & Coding:

 a ground breaking digital research and development project, has been working intensively with Sonic Pi and looking at how the program can be used to provide new pathways for young people into digital music. The research-centred process involved a delivery team of instrumental music teachers, school music and computing teachers, researchers, technologists and artists who worked with children at two secondary schools (KS3) and a five day summer school to explore the creative potential of Sonic Pi and test and develop resources.

This is an amazing set of resources so if youre involved with education or just want to explore music creation, you need to check Sonic Pi out. Heres Sam Aarons TED Talk, Programming as Performance:

Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions? Lay some feedback via email on me or comment below then follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
A crash on U.S. Highway 310 near Silesia sent two people to the hospital Monday.

The three-vehicle wreck was reported just after 11 a.m. and occurred near milemarker 45, said Trooper Chan Barry of Montana Highway Patrol.

The crash occurred when a woman driving northbound in a KIA Sedona left the roadway to pass a man in a Dodge Ram pickup who was following a farm implement. The woman cut back onto the road and struck a southbound Ford F-150 which in turn hit the Ram pickup.

The man driving the Ford and the woman in the KIA were taken to an area hospital.

Montana Highway Patrol is investigating the wreck. Other responding agencies included Joliet Fire and Ambulance, Laurel Volunteer Ambulance Service, Carbon County Sheriffs Office and the United States Forest Service.
This website is intended for U.S. visitors only.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 78F. Winds S at 25 to 35 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 62F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph.
This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up and thumbs down on issues from the past week.

Up

The Great American Bike Race marked its 20th anniversary Saturday in Bismarck as riders pedaled furiously to raise money for cerebral palsy and related disabilities. In 2015 the 102 teams of 12 riders raised $360,000 and 106 teams pursued this years goal of $400,000. The event is a lot of work for the participants and support staff. Teams must raise money before hopping on the bikes and when they do get on it can be an exhausting, but satisfying experience. Its the fun and competitive spirit of the event that makes it so successful. The rides started before Saturday, with students raising money during rides at school. For many riders its one of the highlights of the year. For those it benefits its a yearly reminder that people care.

Down

Most people associate rabies with animals. The 1957 Disney movie Old Yeller told the story of a stray dog befriended by a family. When the dog fought off a rabies-infected critter, the family faced a terrible choice. They knew if the dog got rabies he could give it to them. So the news that the state has had more animal rabies cases this year than in all of 2015 means we should take notice. Granted, we are at seven cases compared to six last year. The highest number in recent years was 75 in 2012. However, this should remind us to be alert to the signs of rabies since there are almost nine months left in the year.

Up

Jean De Dieu Musabyimana has endured more than most people could bear. He survived the genocide in Rwanda, but not before witnessing his grandfathers murder and his mothers rape and death. He survived in the wilderness for weeks before the genocide ended. Raised a Christian, his faith in God has been renewed. Most recently a resident of Dickinson, he plans to move to Bismarck. His plan is to pursue a career where he can help people. He has one passion in life, to teach the world forgiveness.

Down

Most people dont think about the draft  its part of the past, part of the Vietnam war. However, young men are still required to register for the draft at 18 even though its not being used. North Dakotans have been good about signing up until recently. The states sign-up rates ranged from 90 percent to 99 percent until 2014, when the rate dived to 57 percent. What happened? Scott Rising, state director for the Selective Service, thinks its a mistake in the data. Lets hope so. No matter your opinion of the draft, registration is required and the law should be followed.

Up

Tom Erie, who works for Liechty Homes Inc., spotted one of the companys trucks going north on Highway 83 and he took action. He turned around, followed the truck and checked the license plate. Sure enough, it was a company truck that had been stolen from Minot. He called law enforcement and followed the truck to Wilton, where it was intercepted by officers. Erie and his coworkers had about given up on seeing the truck again but his action provided a happy ending.
NOTICE: This Consumer Medicine Information (CMI) is intended for persons living in Australia.

Clindamycin phosphate Consumer Medicine Information

What is in this leaflet This leaflet answers some common questions about Dalacin C Injection. It does not contain all the available information. It does not take the place of talking to your doctor or pharmacist. All medicines have risks and benefits. Your doctor has weighed the risks of you being given Dalacin C Injection against the benefits this medicine is expected to have for you. Dalacin C Injection should only be given to you by a health professional. If you have any concerns about using this medicine, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Keep this leaflet with your medicine. You may need to read it again.

What DALACIN C Injection is used for Dalacin C Injection is an antibiotic. It is used to treat infections in different parts of the body caused by bacteria. This medicine works by killing or stopping the growth of bacteria causing your infection. It will not work against viral infections such as colds or flu. Dalacin C Injection is recommended for patients who are allergic to penicillin. Ask your doctor if you have any questions about why Dalacin C Injection has been prescribed for you. Your doctor may have prescribed Dalacin C Injection for another reason. This medicine is available only with a doctor's prescription. Dalacin C Injection is not addictive.

Before you are given DALACIN C Injection

When you must not be given it You must not be given Dalacin C Injection if you have an allergy to: clindamycin or lincomycin any of the other ingredients listed at the end of this leaflet (see 'Product Description'). Some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction may include: shortness of breath wheezing or difficulty breathing swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body rash, itching or hives on the skin. You should not be given this medicine if the expiry date printed on the pack has passed or if the packaging is torn or shows signs of tampering. If it has expired or is damaged, return it to your pharmacist for disposal. If you are not sure whether you should be given this medicine, talk to your doctor.

Before you are given it Tell your doctor if you have allergies to any other medicines, foods, preservatives or dyes. Tell your doctor if you have or have had any of the following medical conditions: severe diarrhoea associated with the use of antibiotics severe liver disease kidney disease bowel disease any gastrointestinal (stomach or gut) problems. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant or are breast-feeding. Your doctor can discuss with you the risks and benefits involved. If you have not told your doctor about any of the above, tell him/her before you are given Dalacin C Injection.

Children Dalacin C Injection contains benzyl alcohol. Benzyl alcohol has been associated with a rare but serious side effect in infants. Your doctor will decide if treatment is appropriate.

Taking other medicines Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any other medicines, including any that you get without a prescription from your pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop. Some medicines and Dalacin C Injection may interfere with each other. These include: erythromycin, a medicine used to treat bacterial infections rifampicin, a medicine used to treat bacterial infections some medicines that may be used during surgery. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any of the following: erythromycin, a medicine used to treat bacterial infections. These medicines may be affected by Dalacin C or may affect how well it works. You may need different amounts of your medicines, or you may need to take different medicines. Your doctor and pharmacist have more information on medicines to be careful with or avoid while being given this medicine.

How DALACIN C Injection is given Follow all directions given to you by your doctor and pharmacist carefully. They may differ from the information contained in this leaflet. If you do not understand the instructions in this leaflet, ask your doctor or pharmacist for help.

How much is given Your doctor will decide what dose of Dalacin C Injection you should receive and for how long you should receive it for. This depends on your condition, the infection being treated and how severe it is. For children, the doctor will work out the dose based on their age, body weight and how severe the infection is.

How it is given Dalacin C Injection is usually given as an injection into a vein (intravenous drip) or into a muscle (intramuscular). It is given by a doctor or trained nurse. Dalacin C Injection will be diluted if given as injection into a vein.

If you take too much (overdose) As Dalacin C Injection is usually given to you in hospital under the close supervision of your doctor, it is unlikely that you will receive too much. However, if you experience severe side effects after being given Dalacin C Injection, tell your doctor or nurse immediately. Symptoms of an overdose are the same as those listed under the "Side effects" section but are usually of a more severe nature. Immediately telephone your doctor or the Poisons Information Centre (telephone 13 11 26) for advice, or go to Emergency at the nearest hospital if you think that you or anyone else may have been given too much Dalacin C Injection. Do this even if there are no signs of discomfort or poisoning. You may need urgent medical attention.

While you are being given DALACIN C Injection

Things you must do If the symptoms of your infection do not improve within a few days, or if they become worse, tell your doctor. If you get severe diarrhoea, tell your doctor, pharmacist or nurse immediately. Do this even if it occurs several weeks after Dalacin C Injection has been stopped. Diarrhoea may mean that you have a serious condition affecting your bowel. You may need urgent medical care. Do not take any medicines for diarrhoea without first checking with your doctor. If you get a severe skin rash tell your doctor immediately. Do this even if the rash occurs after Dalacin C Injection has been stopped. A severe skin rash may mean you are having an allergic reaction to DALACIN C Injection. You may need urgent medical care. If you get a sore, white mouth or tongue while being given Dalacin C Injection or soon after Dalacin C Injection has been stopped, tell your doctor. Also tell your doctor if you get vaginal itching or discharge. This may mean you have a fungal/yeast infection called thrush. Sometimes the use of this medicine allows fungi/yeast to grow and the above symptoms to occur. Dalacin C Injection does not work against fungi/yeast. If you become pregnant while you are being given Dalacin C Injection, tell your doctor immediately. If you are about to be started on any new medicine, remind your doctor and pharmacist that you are being given Dalacin C Injection. Tell all doctors, dentists and pharmacists who are treating you that you are being given Dalacin C Injection.

Things you must not do Dalacin C Injection should not be given to treat any other complaints unless your doctor tells you. Do not give your medicine to anyone else, even if they have the same condition as you. Do not stop using your medicine without checking with your doctor. If you stop using Dalacin C Injection too soon, the infection may not clear completely or your symptoms may return.

Side effects Tell your doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you do not feel well while you are given Dalacin C Injection. This medicine helps most people with bacterial infections, but it may have unwanted side effects in a few people. All medicines can have side effects. Sometimes they are serious, most of the time they are not. You may need medical attention if you get some of the side effects. Do not be alarmed by the list of side effects. You may not experience any of them. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to answer any questions you may have. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you notice any of the following and they worry you: stomach pain, cramps or discomfort nausea and/or vomiting diarrhoea skin rash; irritation of the skin vaginal thrush - sore and itchy vagina and/or discharge low blood pressure (feeling of dizziness or light-headedness) joint pain and swelling pain, swelling, redness or formation of an abscess at the site of the injection loss or distorted sense of taste. Tell your doctor immediately or go to Emergency at your nearest hospital if you experience any of the following: sudden signs of allergy such as rash, itching or hives on the skin, swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body, shortness of breath, wheezing or trouble breathing moderate or severe skin rash or blisters often with flu-like symptoms enlarged lymph glands and/or fever diarrhoea, usually with blood and mucus, stomach pain and fever yellowing of the eyes or skin, also called jaundice pain, swelling, redness and tenderness in vein or pain swelling of the legs, ankles, or feet, passing less urine, irregular heartbeat, confusion, shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue and nausea chest pain, shortness of breath and/or fainting. These are very serious side effects. You may need urgent medical attention or hospitalisation.

After finishing it Tell your doctor immediately if you notice any of the following side effects, particularly if they occur several weeks after stopping treatment with Dalacin C Injection: severe stomach cramps; watery and severe diarrhoea which may also be bloody; fever, in combination with one or both of the above. Dalacin C Injection can cause some bacteria, which are normally present in the bowel and normally harmless to multiply and therefore cause the above symptoms. You may need urgent medical attention. However this side effect is rare. Do not take any medicine for diarrhoea without first checking with your doctor. Tell your doctor if you notice anything else that is making you feel unwell. Other side effects not listed above may also occur in some people. Some of these side effects (for example, abnormal blood test results, and certain kidney and liver conditions) can only be found when your doctor does tests from time to time to check on your progress.

After using DALACIN C Injection

Storage Dalacin C Injection will normally be stored in a hospital. It should be stored at 2C to 8C (Refrigerate. Do not freeze).

Disposal The hospital staff will dispose of any leftover Dalacin C Injection.

Product description

What it looks like Dalacin C Injection appears as a clear colourless solution and comes in 2 mL or 4 mL glass ampoules.

Ingredients Dalacin C Injection contains clindamycin 2-phosphate as the active ingredient It also contains: benzyl alcohol disodium edetate sodium hydroxide hydrochloric acid water for injections.

Supplier Dalacin C Injection is supplied in Australia by: Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd Sydney NSW 2000 Toll Free number: 1800 675 229 www.pfizer.com.au  = Registered Trademark  Copyright This leaflet was prepared in February 2022.
Angiogenesis represents the formation of new blood vessels (either via sprouting or branching) from existing ones. This process is involved in tumor growth and metastasis, thus its inhibition is often a critical point of intervention in the treatment of malignancies.

Endothelial cells need to undertake four crucial steps in order to form new blood vessels. Those are degradation of adjacent matrix, migration toward the angiogenic stimuli, proliferation to create additional cells for the new blood vessels, as well as reorganization to form 3D vessel structures.

The development of angiogenesis assays was a pivotal step in the discovery of proangiogenic and antiangiogenic molecules. Among them, in vitro assays have been quantitative and expeditious as initial approximations that warrant further confirmation in vivo.

Characteristics of in vitro assays

A majority of endothelial cell assays utilize human umbilical vein endothelial cells or bovine aortic endothelial cells  not because these types of cells are good representatives of vascular conditions in vivo, but primarily because they are relatively easy to harvest from large blood vessels.

It must be emphasized that there are differences among endothelial cells from large and small blood vessels, as well as from different organs. Furthermore, endothelial cells that are used in laboratory conditions are basically always in a proliferative state rather than the normal quiescent state of the established vasculature.

Another issue is the environmental conditions in which endothelial cells are cultured. In the living organism, endothelial cells are exposed to a plethora of hemodynamic forces that activate multiple signaling pathways. On the other hand, endothelial cells in the laboratory are usually cultured in room air, which is hyperoxic compared with the in vivo oxygen tensions (especially in the microcirculation).

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Furthermore, in vivo interaction between endothelial cells and other cells types (such as fibroblasts, pericytes and macrophages) is cumbersome to translate and simulate in vitro. Therefore in vitro angiogenesis assays should be viewed as a starting point rather than an endpoint for discovery.

Types of in vitro assays

There are a myriad of well-established in vitro methods for studying cell proliferation. The most reliable among them calculates proliferation by direct measurement of DNA synthesis, and thymidine incorporation assay is often cited as a reference model.

Thymidine Incorporation Assay BrdU offered by a company Thermo Fisher Scientific includes a nucleoside analog that is identified during active DNA synthesis by employing immunohistochemistry. This firm also developed Click-iT EdU Microplate Assay that utilizes nucleoside analog EdU (5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine) and a detection method that does not necessitate DNA denaturation.

In some types of angiogenesis, endothelial cells degrade the basement membrane and migrate along chemical gradients previously established by proangiogenic growth factors. The transwell migration assay (a modification of the classical Boyden chamber assay) is frequently utilized to assess endothelial cell migration, which is one of the main in vitro assays in the repertoire of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

24- or 96-multiwell BD FluoroBlok insert (with 3 m pore size) coated with human fibronectin was developed by a company BD Biosciences, and also serves as a cell migration assay. Other variants of migration assays include under-agarose assay, Teflon fence assay, wound healing assay and phagokinetic track assay.

One of the highly specific tests for angiogenesis is assessing the propensity of endothelial cells to form 3D structures (also known as tube formation). At the moment, the most popular tube formation assays involve plating human umbilical vein endothelial cells or bovine aortic endothelial cells with Matrigel.

The aortic ring angiogenesis assay is widely used in angiogenesis research due to its reliability and reproducibility. Other in vitro angiogenesis assays that cover all angiogenic functions (i.e. proliferation, migration, tube formation) include mouse metatarsal assay, embryoid assay and others.

Further Reading
AstraZeneca and its global biologics research and development arm, MedImmune, will report new clinical trial and scientific data from their industry-leading lung cancer franchise of marketed and pipeline medicines at the European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) in Geneva, Switzerland, 13 -16 April 2016.

Fifteen abstracts will be presented at the meeting including eight oral presentations, two "best abstracts" and two "late-breakers". Five abstracts have been selected for the official press programme. Highlights will reinforce the potential of Tagrisso (osimertinib) for the treatment of specific types of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), compare plasma testing and tumour tissue biopsy for treatment decisions in advanced NSCLC, and demonstrate the progress of combination therapy in immuno-oncology.

Tagrisso in first- and second-line lung cancer treatment

Two oral, late-breaker presentations share data from the Tagrisso AURA studies. They build on evidence that supported the accelerated approval of Tagrisso as the first indicated treatment for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) T790M mutation-positive metastatic NSCLC in the US, EU and Japan.

On Thursday 14 April, updated efficacy and safety data will be presented from two Phase I expansion cohorts exploring Tagrisso as first-line treatment for patients with EGFRm advanced NSCLC (Abstract #LBA1_PR). Phase I/II data in pre-treated patients with EGFR T790M advanced NSCLC (Abstract #LBA2_PR) will also be presented. Both presentations will feature in the ELCC press programme on Thursday 14 April.

Mondher Mahjoubi, Senior Vice President, Head of Oncology, Global Product and Portfolio Strategy at AstraZeneca, said:

ELCCs recognition of the importance of our data for the lung cancer community is very encouraging, and we are excited to present more mature data from the AURA programme for our new, first-in-class lung cancer medicine, Tagrisso. We are also reaffirming our commitment to deliver the right treatment to the right patient based on scientific research, with updates from our pioneering plasma circulating tumour DNA trials.

Plasma ctDNA testing: Delivering the right treatment to the right patient

Accurate identification of patients with tumours carrying key molecular mutations is essential for delivering next-generation targeted therapies to those most likely to benefit. Detection of plasma circulating tumour-derived DNA (ctDNA) in a simple blood test offers a minimally invasive alternative to tumour tissue biopsy, and is already available for identifying patients suitable for treatment with AstraZenecas Iressa (gefitinib).

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Building on this work, the latest results from innovative research in minimally invasive plasma ctDNA analysis to identify patients with EGFRm T790M NSCLC and predict response to Tagrisso will be reported (Abstract #134O_PR and #135O_PR). Further data from the ASSESS study for EGFR mutation detection in plasma from this patient group will also be presented (Abstract #58O_PR). ASSESS is the first large-scale "real-world" study comparing tumour biopsy with ctDNA testing for EGFRm in advanced NSCLC. These studies are highlighted in the ELCC press programme on Friday 15 April.

Marc Denis, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Nantes University Hospital, Nantes, France, said:

Plasma ctDNA testing has the potential to rapidly identify patients suitable for targeted therapy not just for lung cancer but across a wide range of tumour types. Availability of these simple blood tests may streamline diagnosis, including for patients where tumour samples are unavailable.

Immuno-oncology (IO): Combination focus

AstraZeneca has a broad programme of combination clinical trials underway in oncology and continues to explore novel combination therapies addressing the needs of difficult-to-treat patients with lung cancer. Safety and efficacy data from two exploratory trials combining immunotherapies and small-molecules will be reported at ELCC. These presentations have been designated "best abstracts" (Abstracts #57O and #136O) by the conference.

Robert Iannone, Head of Immuno-Oncology, Global Medicines Development, at AstraZeneca, said:
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln researcher is partnering with Brazilian officials to distribute a device that could accelerate testing for the Zika virus and monitor contamination of the country's freshwater food sources.

In 2014, biochemist Jiri Adamec and colleagues introduced the Noviplex card, which separates plasma from a blood sample taken by the simple prick of a finger. After the sample is blotted on a small card, the technology can upload a digital image of the separated plasma to a clinic or laboratory that can analyze it for signs of disease.

If those signs are detected, the sample -- which retains its integrity for weeks even in the humidity of a tropical rainforest -- can be sent to a medical facility and further tested for a diagnosis.

This unprecedented capability makes the technology especially suited to prescreening for the Zika virus, Adamec said. The virus has been strongly linked with microcephaly: abnormally small heads, and often underdeveloped brains, among the babies of women who have contracted the virus.

"The current Zika virus outbreak is affecting remote areas such as the Amazonian region of Brazil, and it's extremely difficult to get to those areas to screen residents for the virus," said Adamec, associate professor of biochemistry. "Medical professionals (currently) have to fly in and out by helicopter very quickly to ensure the blood samples remain stable at a low temperature."

This reality has made mapping the prevalence of Zika more difficult, Adamec said. Moreover, he said, an existing test used to screen for Zika has exhibited unacceptably high rates of false positives and false negatives. This means that some uninfected individuals are identified as carrying Zika, even as some who actually have the virus are mistakenly told they do not.

In an effort to overcome these challenges, Adamec said Noviplex cards will soon be distributed to eight South American states throughout the Amazon. The World Health Organization, which has classified Zika as an international public health emergency, is monitoring the project.

The technology is already addressing another health issue within South America's largest country. Because some Brazilian mining operations illegally use mercury to extract gold -- afterward dumping the toxic element in local rivers -- officials are also using Noviplex cards to prescreen for elevated levels of mercury in marine life and citizens who consume seafood.

And with the Olympic Games set to descend on Rio de Janeiro in August, the Brazilian Olympic Team has adopted the technology to monitor biomarkers that can indicate the onset of fatigue and other physiological stressors.

Modifying the technology, which R&D Magazine named a top-100 invention of 2014, might even allow physicians to eventually detect biomarkers of brain injury in athletes, Adamec said.

"It's difficult to say what impact Noviplex will have in the next five years," he said, "because the possibilities are really endless."
Research at the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Valencia, led by professor Rafael Sanjuan, reveals that viruses work in groups to attack host cells more effectively. The results of this study were published in the journal 'Cell Host & Microbe'.

A virus that is genetically diverse is better able to colonise new a host, evade immunity and evolve drug resistance. Diversity is typically assessed at the population level. However, the existence of cell-to-cell variations in their genetic makeup means that studying viruses at the level of the individual cell is vital to understanding how they work.

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To this end, researchers at the Universitat de Valencia (UV) combined cell isolation with other ultra-deep sequencing techniques to define the genetic structure and diversity of an RNA virus at the cellular level. What they found was that individual infectious units are made up of genetically diverse viral genomes, with viral particles that "interact functionally" (Sanjuan).

Rafael Sanjuan emphasises that the rate of spontaneous viral mutation varies from cell to cell, and early production of diversity depends on the viral yield of the very first infected cell.

The results of this study also show that natural selection "facilitates the teamwork of viruses in relation to their position in the same cell" (Sanjuan).

Understanding infections better

Traditionally, virologists have tried to expunge viruses by isolating single cells. However, in the words of UV researcher Rafael Sanjuan, these research results show that this approach "is not necessarily valid, since it ignores the social dimension of viruses".

Social interactions between viruses were first discovered some years ago and have changed our view of these viral microbes. This study, together with others published recently, provides evidence that viruses establish connections, an understanding of which could help us to fight off the infections they cause.
Although a new influenza virus, now called influenza D, was discovered first in pigs, researchers found it was more common in cattle. However, further research has identified antibodies to the virus in small ruminants, but not in poultry.

To identify exposure to the virus, South Dakota State University doctoral student Chithra Sreenivasan tests blood samples for influenza D antibodies. Working with the Minnesota Poultry Testing Lab, she found no evidence of the new influenza strain in poultry; however, she did find antibodies to the virus in sheep and goats from the Midwest through blood samples archived at Washington State University.

Sreenivasan co-authored a paper on those findings that was published in the international journal Veterinary Microbiology last year. In ongoing work, she and her colleagues have also identified antibodies in horses. For her work, she has received the Joseph P. Nelson Graduate Scholarship Award that recognizes original scientifc research.

"The virus has not been shown to be pathogenic in humans. No one should be afraid of this," professor Radhey Kaushik said. SDSU alumnus Ben Hause, now a research assistant professor at Kansas State University, discovered the virus, which he identified and characterized as part of his doctoral work under tutelage of his research adviser, professor Feng Li.

Li and Kaushik secured a National Institutes of Health grant for nearly $400,000 to continue this work. Both faculty members have joint appointments in the biology and microbiology and veterinary and biomedical sciences departments at South Dakota State.

Ultimately, the goal is to determine whether the virus can cause problems in humans, he explained. "If the virus can undergo reassortment in combination with a closely related human influenza virus, it may be able to form a new strain that could pose more of a threat to humans."

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

Identifying animal model, studying virulence

Using the bovine Influenza D strain, Sreenivasan proved that the guinea pig could be used as an animal model to study the virus. Though guinea pigs showed no symptoms, she successfully isolated antigens in tracheal and lung tissues. In addition, her research showed the virus is spread only through direct contact. Those results were published in the Journal of Virology, with Sreenivasan as the first author of the article.

Her current study uses the guinea pig model to compare virulence among bovine and swine Influenza D strains and human influenza C. She has just begun analyzing the data. Influenza D has about 50 percent similarity to human influenza C, Sreenivasan explained.

"Human C affects mostly children," she said, noting that the most common symptom is a runny nose. "It's not a serious disease. We all have some antibodies because we were infected as children."

In addition, she is developing a way to study the virus in living cellstrachea and lung epithelial cells from swine and cattle. "I isolate the cells and allow them to grow and then infect them to study the genetic and biologic characteristics," she said.

Thus far, she's completed the swine cell cultures and will now begin work on bovine cells. Using the in vitro culturing system, Sreenivasan said, "We will see how the virus attaches and what the receptors are."
New research led by Professor Cathie Martin of the John Innes Centre has revealed how a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine produces compounds which may help to treat cancer and liver diseases.

The Chinese skullcap, Scutellaria baicalensis - otherwise known in Chinese medicine as Huang-Qin - is traditionally used as a treatment for fever, liver and lung complaints.

Previous research on cells cultured in the lab has shown that certain compounds called flavones, found in the roots of this plant, not only have beneficial anti-viral and anti-oxidant effects, but they can also kill human cancers while leaving healthy cells untouched. In live animal models, these flavones have also halted tumour growth, offering hope that they may one day lead to effective cancer treatments, or even cures.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

As a group of compounds, the flavones are relatively well understood. But the beneficial flavones found in Huang-Qin roots, such as wogonin and baicalin, are different: a missing - OH (hydroxyl) group in their chemical structure left scientists scratching their heads as to how they were made in the plant.

Professor Cathie Martin, lead author of the paper published in Science Advances, explains: "Many flavones are synthesised using a compound called naringenin as a building block. But naringenin has this -OH group attached to it, and there is no known enzyme that will remove it to produce the flavones we find in Huang-Qin roots."

Working in collaboration with Chinese scientists, Cathie and her team explored the possibility that Huang-Qin's root-specific flavones (RSFs) were made via a different biochemical pathway. Step-by-step, the scientists unravelled the mechanism involving new enzymes that make RSFs using a different building block called chrysin.

"We believe that this biosynthetic pathway has evolved relatively recently in Scutellaria roots, diverging from the classical pathway that produces flavones in leaves and flowers, specifically to produce chrysin and its derived flavones," said Professor Martin.

"Understanding the pathway should help us to produce these special flavones in large quantities, which will enable further research into their potential medicinal uses. It is wonderful to have collaborated with Chinese scientists on these traditional medicinal plants. Interest in traditional remedies has increased dramatically in China since Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2015 for her work on artemisinin. It's exciting to consider that the plants which have been used as traditional Chinese remedies for thousands of years may lead to effective modern medicines."
Pope Francis has made support for migrants and refugees a priority of his pontificate, and has encouraged nations to adopt an open-door immigration policy. But few countries, especially in Europe, appear interested in adopting his approach, underscoring just how limited an influence the pope has on foreign policy.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighting the popes inability to strongly affect geopolitical affairs quotes Kishore Jayabalan, director of Acton Institutes Rome office and a former Vatican policy analyst:



Starting with Pope Benedict XVs efforts to end World War I, the leader of the Catholic Church has regularly been a prominent voice for peace, usually with disappointing results. St. John Paul II failed in his attempts to dissuade the George W. Bush administration from launching the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Pope Paul VI went to the U.N. and said No more war, war never again. Thats a nice sentiment, but it doesnt accord with reality, said Kishore Jayabalan, who served as an attache to the Vaticans mission to the United Nations in the late 1990s. An early backer of the European Union and a consistent supporter of the U.N., the Vatican has long favored international cooperation and multilateral solutions to geopolitical problems. Mr. Jayabalan, now director of the Istituto Acton in Rome, said the Vaticans humanitarian emphasis on universal rights over the claims of sovereign nation-states has grown even more pronounced under the current pope. That emphasis, along with Pope Francis heritage as the son and grandson of Italian immigrants to Argentina, helps explain the priority he has placed on the rights of migrants, whether refugees or economic migrants.

Read more . . .
Degrees of slavery

That resistance of the Irish Republic Brotherhood against the British had long seeped into black consciousness drawing cultural, historical and experiential parallels is well known.

Territorial rape, and systemic dehumanisation were visited upon the Irish and African people. Teetering on romanticism, many Caribbean artists found grounding and expression in the works of Yeates and Joyce, and an undeniable nexus between two cultures developed.

Yes, the Irish people were among the oppressed in the Caribbean.

On this subject, the contribution of Jerome Handler and Matthew Reilly is noteworthy.

They cite Fr Antoine Biet who wrote of the wearisome life of the Irish in the 17th century: All were very badly treated. When they worked, the overseers ...are always close by with a stick with which they often prod them when they do not work as fast as is desired.....They were sold, especially when it was discovered that they were Catholics, the husbands in one place, the wife in another, and the children so as not to receive any solace from each other. Handler and Reilly paint a paradoxical system that allowed the Irish religious freedom on one hand, but was unrestrained in its punitive, malicious treatment towards them.

And it is this dichotomy that arguably defined Irish life throughout the islands.

In the essay, The Irish in Barbados, Riley introduces the theme of creolisation and the attenuation, if not effacement of the Irish identity by the 19th century.

Many fell under the ignoble category of poor whites or Redlegs.

Riley notes, Overtime, the lines and boundaries defining nationality, ethnicity and race became empirically blurred as interaction between poor whites (whether enslaved or free) led to miscegenation. He later adds, Conversations with Barbadians, immigrants, and visitors to the island on the topic of local accent and dialect usually lead to claims of a wide assortment of influences. Informal cases are made of the accent, and that the dialect echoes those of County Cork, of Somerset, and parts of West Africa is correct. But in other Caribbean islands, in particular, Montserrat, Irish footprints are more markedly embedded. That islands passport bears the shamrock stamp, an imprint of Irish legacy.

Its Irish past now figures strongly in its tourist marketing, and it brands itself the Emerald Isle of the region.

Further, its national flag depicts Erin, the female symbol of Ireland...

alongside the Union Jack. In fact, Montserrat is the only country outside Ireland to celebrate St Patricks Day as a national holiday.

But this day - March 17 - is also etched in memory for a starkly different reason. It is a bitter reminder of an ill-fated slave revolt on the island.

These contradictions, enigmas and surrealisms are spelled out in Karina Williamsons Irish Encounters in Jamaica. She chronicles the enigmatic sentiments of notable Irishmen during the apprenticeship period, notably those of Marquess Sligo and James Kelly.

Sligo, of Anglo-Irish ancestry and governor of the island for a two-year period (1834- 1836), was overtly sympathetic toward blacks.

Pressing for the full implementation of the letter of Apprenticeship, his legal battles with the Colonial Office didnt go unnoticed.

But he was also a slave owner, having been bequeathed land from his Irish fore-bearers.

And from James Kelly, we get a clear idea of an Irish people psychically torn between indignation toward the British and admiration for their oppressors fortunes and stature that they readily sought and in many cases attained.

That blacks somehow had a friend in the Irish is sketchy, at best, although Kellys words beg to differ. He writes, In the presence of the sailor [Irish], the Negro feels as man; - in that of the white man who lives in continual view of his degradation, he feels a slave. - Alas! all the meliorations or petty advantages they may possess, are not to be named as the smallest equivalent to the misery of his consciousness. But there is truth in reality. In a colour- based society, poor whites had a clear advantage over every other oppressed group.

Alison Donnells Entanglements of Root and Branch details the Irish imaginary, questioning acculturation and the blurring of genealogical lines. Among the Irish there was a yearning to bridge the past and the present as they reclaimed ancestral roots within a diasporic framework.

Donnell concludes that Irish identifications retain an obsession with genealogy and roots. Here, the progeny of African slaves and those of the Irish underclass part ways, again. Donnell is quite clear on this. The claims of a historical archive are complimented by the generous Irish national right of return, which extends citizenship even to second generation immigrants.

As a consequence, many Irish diasporic subjects have remained part of a history, both in political status and in a more imaginary, mythic sense of belonging.

These possibilities were never manifest for enslaved Africans... Caribbean Irish Connections later shifts gears although the embers of colonialism and oppression burn. The contributions of Richard McGuires Two Tunes (Settler-Colonist Worlds), Elizabeth Bowens The Last September, Jean Rhys Voyage in the Dark, Jean Antoine-Dunnes Mutual Obsessions, and Emily Taylors Rewriting Heathcliff (Irishness, Creolization, and Constructions of Race in Bronte and Conde), explore the rudiments of Caribbean and Irish literary artists who are caged by their own experiences, yet, artistically free by their unique sensitivity to time and space.

Caribbean Irish Connection is unquestionably a substantive addition to Caribbean socio-historical narrative.

With overlapping, well-researched themes on the Irish Question, its importance cannot be overemphasised.

Feedback: glenvilleashby@ gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@ glenvilleahsby Caribbean Irish Connection: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Publisher: UWI Press, Mona, Jamaica ISBN: 978-976-640- 504-5 Available at Amazon Ratings: Recommended
TT Chamber supports more efficient tax refunds

However the Chamber says this is but one aspect of a much-needed total transformation of the public service, including accountability, productivity and use of technology .

This objective will require fundamental changes in service delivery throughout the public sector. Each minister is now challenged, therefore, to take up the mantle of championing institutional reform. The Chamber noted Fridays 15 percent increase in the price of super and diesel fuel has the potential to affect the cost of living through increased transport costs .

It is therefore calling for the speedy implementation of the proposed reduction, this May, of taxes on maxi taxis and taxis .

The Chamber also wants to see an expansion of the public transportation fleet (to) soften the impact on the more vulnerable since there was an immediate increase in the super and diesel prices. Super gasoline is $3.58 per litre while diesel is now $2.00 per litre .

Noting Finance Minister Colm Imberts recognition that business confidence is critical to providing expanded revenue to the economy, the Chamber says it expects the cap on the fluctuation in the exchange rate of not more than seven percent over the September 2015 rate will have the desired effect of removing uncertainty and encouraging local business investment.
'He Had the Chance to Go in

and Save the Children'
(Newser)  In an effort to prevent the "increasingly decrepit" building from falling into further disrepair, Austrian officials say they plan to draft a law that would allow them to seize Adolf Hitler's birth home in Braunau, a quaint town of 17,000 on the German border, reports the New York Times. "The aim is to prevent the property from falling into the hands of neo-Nazis" who sometimes make pilgrimages to it, a journalist in Vienna tells NPR. "We have come to the conclusion over the past few years that expropriation is the only way to avoid the building being used for the purposes of Nazi [sympathizers]," interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck tells AFP.

The building is owned by an aging and "reclusive" Gerlinde Pommer, reports Newsweek, who is a descendant of the family that has owned it for more than a century. (Hitler was born in the house on April 20, 1889.) But as a local historian told the BBC in 2014, Pommer "does not allow any changing of the house, so you can't rebuild any rooms, you can't build modern bathrooms or put in a lift." Though it has been empty since the last tenant moved out in 2011, the Austrian government still pays nearly $6,000 a month in rent. The building has recently been proposed as the site for a center for adult education, a museum, or even flats, reports the BBC, which notes that one Russian MP has offered to buy the house and blow it up. (Hitler largely ignored his birth home, visiting it just once during his reign.)
(Newser)  Death-row inmates in Virginia won't have to face the electric chairunless they want to. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has blocked a measure that would have made death by electrocution the mandatory Plan B if the state runs out of lethal-injection drugs, reports the Washington Post. McAuliffe had until midnight to veto or amend the legislation, and he chose to amend it: If the state runs out of drugs in the future, it can authorize an anonymous pharmacy to supply some more. Religious leaders had pressured McAuliffe to block the "inhumane" electric chair, reports the Huffington Post. However, the state is one of a few that still allows inmates to choose the chairit's nicknamed "Old Sparky" in Virginiawhen condemned to die. (Read more electric chair stories.)
(Newser)  The question of who owns a particular chunk of a famed meteorite is heading to federal court with the filing of a lawsuit and countersuit, SF Gate reports. It all started billions of years ago with the Fukang meteorite slammed into China's Gobi Desert. Fast-forward to the year 2000: when the meteorite was discovered and collectors began acquiring slices of it. Among them was Stephan Settgast, currently of California, who says he bought his 220-pound piece in 2004. In 2014, according to court documents, Settgast agreed to sell it to Lawrence Stifler and Mary McFadden of Massachusetts for $425,000. And then it all went bad. Settgast says the couple violated the conditions of the sale by planning to show it in their rock museum. They say not showing the meteorite was never a condition of the sale and suggest that Settgast got "seller's remorse" after learning he might have undervalued it.

And, they allege, that remorse manifested in what they call the "outrageous act" of Settgast stealing back the rock from the studio of a pair of Kansas rock polishers who spent two years preparing the stone for the buyers, per NBC News. After all, the rock polishers did tell Settgast the meteorite could fetch up to $1 million (which, documents point out, would bump up their 5% fee to $50,000). How the alleged theft of the gold-flecked meteorite actually went down is unclear. Settgast filed a suit in February alleging breach of contract. Stifler, McFadden, and Darryl Pitt, the meteorite expert who brokered the deal, countersued last month. Local authorities in Kansas say they are going to hang back on pursuing Settgast for theft until a federal judge determines who owns the meteorite. "This isn't a typical theft," Miami County undersheriff tells NBC. (No one noticed this meteor the size of a large living room plowing into the earth.)
(Newser)  The latest count of the world's tigers reveals that conservation groups deserve congratulations, though it's not entirely clear what for. Tiger numbers in the wild worldwide are up after more than a century of drastic declines, which the AP reports can mean one of two things: There are more tigers out there, or conservationists are getting better at counting tigers. (National Geographic notes that in addition to estimates, "rigorous national surveys" were conducted this time around.) Either way, the global count of 3,890 tigers in the wild is welcome news after 2010's record low of 3,200, which was down from an estimated 100,000 in 1900. "More important than the absolute numbers is the trend, and we're seeing the trend going in the right direction," says World Wildlife Fund official Ginette Hemley.

The WWF says that tiger numbers are going up in India, Russia, Nepal, and Bhutan. The picture is worse in Southeast Asia; tigers have vanished in Cambodia and an estimated dozen are left across all of China and Vietnam, according to the WWF, which notes that there are more tigers in captivity in the US alone than there are in the wild. After 2010's all-time low, governments and conservationists teamed up to try to double wild tiger numbers by 2022. "When you have high-level political commitments, it can make all the difference," Hemley says. "When you have well-protected habitat and you control the poaching, tigers will recover. That's a pretty simple formula. We know it works." As far as poaching goes, the WWF points out that there is an illegal market for every bit of a tiger, "from whisker to tail." (In terms of tigers in captivity, this tiger was recently killed by her mating partner at a California zoo.)
(Newser)  A gift fit for a king? Saudi Arabia's King Salman is visiting Cairo, and Egypt has agreed to hand two small but strategic islands over to his country, the New York Times reports. The country's Cabinet announced on Saturday that it had agreed to give up control of Sanafir and Tiran, two largely uninhabited islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Tiran, the larger of the two, is roughly the size of Manhattan. Saudi Arabia gave the islands to Egypt in 1950 amid fears that Israel might seize them, but while Egyptian officials claim the territory is simply being returned, the announcement caused a public outcry in Egypt and at least five people were arrested during a demonstration in Cairo, the AP reports.

The deal still needs to be approved by Egypt's Parliament. Authorities say it follows 11 rounds of negotiation since 2010, reports the Wall Street Journal. Critics, however, say it looks as if Egypt is selling its land to the wealthier country, especially since Salman announced a new $16 billion investment fund during a speech to Egyptian lawmakers. Al Jazeera reports that the king's visit also yielded an agreement to build a bridge over the sea to connect the two countries. It's not clear where it will be built, though it would involve Tiran island if it's built where the countries are closest. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has already suggested a name: the "King Salman Bridge." (Read more Egypt stories.)
(Newser)  A retired cop in Georgia tried to end his life as soon as he discovered that he was likely to spend the rest of it in prison for molesting a young girl. Kelless Twohearts Lory, 58, drank what authorities say was a poisonous liquid from a vitamin bottle when a jury foreman announced that he had been found guilty on charges that included aggravated child molestation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

His victim, a family member who was 9 years old when the abuse began in 2011, testified at the trial, reports the New York Daily News. Lory was hospitalized and will be sentenced at a later date. He faces two life sentences plus 40 years. (This sex offender in Missouri ate cyanide when he was found guilty.)
(Newser)  If Donald Trump wins the presidency, he'll need a new CIA chief. In an interview with NBC News, John Brennan says he would defy presidential orders to waterboard prisoners. "Absolutely," he said. "I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again." Trump on the campaign trail has vowed not only to reinstate waterboarding but other tactics that were a "hell of a lot worse." In the interview, more of which will air on the evening news Monday, Brennan makes clear that he's not on board with such a shift.

"I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure," he said. The position would seemingly run counter to a President Cruz as well, notes the Guardian. Cruz has said he doesn't view waterboarding as torture, and while he wouldn't bring it back in "widespread" form, he says he would authorize "whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep America safe." (Read more waterboarding stories.)
(Newser)  As former Florida Sen. Bob Graham told 60 Minutes on Sunday, he's been on a quest since 2003. His mission: Get the so-called "28 pages"classified pages from a congressional report that are said to detail suspected Saudi Arabian support given to the 9/11 attackersbrought out from the guarded vault in which they are reportedly kept. Graham sees the pages as a "key part" to understanding a scenario he tells 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft is "implausible": that 19 non-English speaking foreigners, most with little education, "could've carried out such a complicated task." In Graham's view, that points to the existence of people (specifically, Saudis) who must have lent the hijackers support in the lead-up to the attacks. Kroft asks if the suspected Saudi involvement encompasses the government, rich people, or charities. "All of the above," says Graham.

The 60 Minutes report is a timely one, with President Obamawho the Daily Beast reports has twice vowed to declassify the 28 pages excised from the report by the Bush administrationa little more than a week away from visiting Saudi Arabia. The Beast observes that the pages potentially weigh heavily on the ability of 9/11 victims' families to go after the Saudis in court. The feds say sovereign immunity shields the Saudis, and the Saudis themselves point to one sentence in the report that seemingly absolves senior Saudi officials from playing a role. But that sentence is "not an exoneration," says former Sen. Bob Kerrey. "We did not, with this report, exonerate the Saudis." Kerrey is one of the few who have read the 28 pages, which 60 Minutes likens to "a grand jury or police report" containing both verified and unverified evidence that hijackers living in Southern California had help from the Saudis. (This blacksmith took on 9/11 truthers in a YouTube video.)
(Newser)  On Friday, South Korea announced that 13 North Korean employees from a restaurant in China had defected into its fold, the AP reports. On Monday, the country added a pair of North Korean officials, one of whom is reportedly a spy-savvy army colonel, in what Reuters calls a "coup for Seoul." One of the new entrants, said by South Korea's defense and unification ministries to have entered South Korea last year, is reportedly a senior North Korean diplomat who was stationed in Africa. But it's the second defector, now being granted political asylum, who's of most interest, as he was linked to the North's clandestine General Reconnaissance Bureau and spent much of his time spying on the South. "He is believed to have stated details about the bureau's operations against South Korea to the authorities here," an official told Yonhap via the BBC, adding the colonel was the highest-ranking military defector there ever.

What's odd isn't just the defection of such a high-level official, but also that South Korea is talking about it. Some liberal opposition members say it's a purely political move by the South's conservative president, Park Geun-hye, to nab votes in Wednesday's parliamentary elections. But South Korean officials deny that, saying they spoke up about the defection of the restaurant workerssaid by CNN to be 12 women and a man who experienced "pressure from North Korean authorities" to send money homebecause there were so many from the same place; the AP notes it's the largest group defection since Kim Jong Un took over in 2011. About 29,000 people have fled the North since the Korean War's 1953 ceasefire, even though the BBC notes it's "almost impossible" for North Koreans to cross the well-guarded borders. (Meanwhile, the North is demanding the South execute some of its own officials.)
(Newser)  A "suicide epidemic" that started last fall in a northern Ontario communitywith 11 suicide attempts this past Saturday alone, per the CBChas led the Attawapiskat First Nation to declare a state of emergency, per the National Post. The remote enclave of 2,000 people has reportedly experienced suicides for decades, but the latest string is so worrisome that the Attawapiskat community is pleading for help. Resident Jackie Hookimaw says the latest string of deaths was spurred by the fall suicide of her 13-year-old great-niece. Chief Bruce Shisheesh tells the CBC that 101 people between the ages of 11 and 71 have attempted suicide since September; one has died. "I'm asking friends, government, that we need help in our community," Shisheesh says. "I have relatives that have attempted to take their own lives." Members of the Attawapiskat community say citizens suffering from drug abuse, overcrowding, and bullyingas well as intense poverty, per the BBCdon't receive enough government help.

"When a young person tries to commit suicide in any suburban school, they send in the resources, they send in the emergency team," the area's MP tells the Post, calling the problem a "rolling nightmare" often left to untrained teachers, cops, and parents to handle. "The northern communities are left on their own." There are four health-care workers, but they lack training and are "burned out" and "backlogged," says the deputy grand chief of the Mushkegowuk Council, representing eight Ontario First Nations. On Sunday, federal and Ontario health officials said a crisis team of mental health nurses and social workers, as well as an emergency medical team, was being sent ASAP. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau lent his own moral support Sunday, tweeting, "The news from Attawapiskat is heartbreaking. We'll continue to work to improve living conditions for all Indigenous peoples." (The Globe and Mail offers further context.)
(Newser)  Donald Trump won't be able to collect two easy votes in New York's primary later this month: Daughter Ivanka and son Eric failed to register in time and thus can't cast votes on April 19, reports NBC News. "They were unaware of the rules," Trump said on Fox News. "So they feel very, very guilty. They feel very guilty but it's fine." Yahoo News reported last week that only oldest son Donald Jr. is a registered Republican and that both Ivanka and Eric have previously donated to Democratic candidates. Trump has two younger children, Tiffany, a college student not active in the campaign, and a son, Barron, who's just 10. (Read more Donald Trump 2016 stories.)
(Newser)  A new study says America's wealthy live longer than its poor, which is hardly surprising. But it also says low-income people live longer in certain placeslike affluent cities including New York and San Francisco, NPR reports. Why isn't clear, but lead study author Raj Chetty of Stanford University was surprised. "I would have thought these very expensive big cities ... for most poor would be stressful and would be places with poor health among the poor, but that's not at all what these data suggest," he tells CBS News. Media reports note that local health policies may have an effect (New York City and San Francisco banned trans fats and restricted tobacco use early on), and Chetty agrees that "thinking about policies that change health behaviors at a local level is likely to be important."

The study's other findings highlight the crushing effects of inequality. By analyzing over a billion tax and Social Security records, the Stanford researchers found that the richest 1% of men live roughly 15 years longer than the poorest 1% of men. And in the 21st century, life expectancy has risen 2.3 years for the richest 5% of men and 3 years for the richest 5% of women, while the poorest 5% of Americans saw hardly any improvement. An overall three-year boost in lifespan, the Washington Post notes, is about the difference we'd expect to see from curing cancer. As Chetty puts it, "The poorest men in America have a life expectancy comparable to those living in Sudan and Pakistan." (One study says that eating like the Japanese will make you live longer.)
(Newser)  The Navy is dealing with an espionage case that involves allegations of both treason and adultery. Though authorities haven't officially identified the officer involved, multiple outlets report that he is Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and became a naturalized US citizen in 2008. The New York Times reports that Lin is accused of passing along military secrets to Chinavia his "Chinese girlfriend." Exactly what he passed along is unclear, but the Virginian-Pilot reports that his unit works with a slew of reconnaissance planes and vessels, including the P-8A Poseidon, the P-3C Orion, and the MQ-4C Triton.

Lin was arrested about eight months ago, but details are just now becoming public, reports Newsweek. In addition to the charge of providing classified information to a foreign nation, Lin is charged with adultery, which is a crime under military law. Specifically, he is accused of visiting a prostitute, though it's unclear whether this is the "Chinese girlfriend" referred to in the Times report. He has been held since last summer while the government determines whether there is enough evidence to court-martial him, reports CBS News. (Read more espionage stories.)
(Newser)  On Adrienne Kromer's first day back at work following three and a half months of maternity leave, she called her daughter's new daycare center three times to check on the baby girl. McKenna Felmly had shown no signs of illness or distress when she was dropped off at the Lehigh Township, Pa., center in the morning, her dad, Bryan Felmly, writes on GoFundMe. But Kromer was nervous, and when the daycare center told her McKenna was having trouble taking a bottle, and later said she'd fallen asleep quickly (a rarity for the infant), Kromer decided to leave work early and pick up her daughter. Just minutes after she left, the daycare center called her and told her McKenna wasn't breathing. By the time Kromer arrived, McKenna had been transported to the hospital; soon after Kromer and Felmly arrived at the hospital, doctors told them they couldn't save the couple's little girl.

Per the Allentown Morning Call, daycare workers found McKenna unresponsive in her crib and attempts to revive her began at the daycare, but she was pronounced dead upon her arrival at the hospital. An autopsy showed no signs of trauma and police say the death does not appear suspicious at this time, but a cause of death won't be determined until toxicology and viral tests are completed and other aspects of the case, including the crib, are investigated. "We are continuing to conduct interviews with family, friends, and employees of the daycare," the police chief told Lehigh Valley Live Wednesday. "We still have some work to finish yet. I can't say when we will determine manner of death." The Times News says it could take as long as three months. The daycare center has a valid certificate of operation and had last been inspected in January. (Last year, a New York 3-month-old also died on his mom's first day back at work.)
(Newser)  The mastermind of the Paris attacks was nearly saved by one woman and had his fate sealed by another, the Washington Post reports. Documents from French investigators show that terrorist Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 28, turned to these women for help two days after the November attacksand while one did help, the other tipped off authorities. Abaaoud's helper, 26-year-old cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen, was enamored with the man who had moved up the Islamic State ranks and appeared in online videos. "I'm meant to marry him," she once said. The other, Aitboulahcen's sometime roommate, joined her on an obscure road that night and met Abaaoud. Aitboulahcen leaped gleefully into his arms, but the other woman shuddered. "I'd seen him on TV," she said.

Abaaoud apparently offered his cousin 5,000 euros to help him and an unseen accomplice get new clothes and find an apartment to hide out. The other woman, who is keeping her identity secret, says she later tried and failed to get Aitboulahcen drunk enough to call police. The next day, the woman secretly visited France's counter-terrorism unit, the SDAT, and spilled everything. That's how French authorities knew to raid an apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Nov. 18; during the raid, Abaaoud and Aitboulahcen were killed. "I no longer feel safe when I walk around," the woman says. "Its important the world knows that I am Muslim myself. It's important to me that people know what Abaaoud and the others did is not what Islam is teaching." (Abaaoud was said to be planning other attacks after Paris.)
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Hawaii's Gemini Telescope made an observation that indicate that these colossal objects of the universe are perhaps more popular than thought. So far, the largest galaxies discovered, approximately 10 billion times the mass of sun, have been at the center of some very large galaxies. In fact, the largest ever spotted is recorded at 21 billion suns, residing in a dense galaxy, Coma, that contains over 1,000 galaxies.

"The newly discovered supersized black hole resides in the center of a massive elliptical galaxy, NGC 1600, located in a cosmic backwater, a small grouping of 20 or so galaxies," said lead discoverer Chung-Pei Ma, a University of California-Berkeley astronomer and head of the MASSIVE Survey, a study of the most massive galaxies and supermassive black holes in the local universe.

While it is possible to spot a massive black hole in a crowded area of Universe, it is very unlikely to discover one in sparse areas of the universe.

"There are quite a few galaxies the size of NGC 1600 that reside in average-size galaxy groups," Ma said.

"We estimate that these smaller groups are about 50 times more abundant than spectacular galaxy clusters like the Coma cluster. So the question now is, 'Is this the tip of an iceberg?'"

"Maybe there are more monster black holes out there that don't live in a skyscraper in Manhattan, but in a tall building somewhere in the Midwestern plains," said Ma.

Ma and her team of scientists reported the discovery of the black, situated about 200 million light years from Earth towards constellation Eridanus in journal Nature. The lead author of the paper is Jens Thomas of Max Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany. The scientists explain that the most probable reason for the black hole's massive size is that perhaps at some point, this one merged with another when its interacted frequently with the galaxy.
The Galaxy S7 proves to be a major hit for South Korean tech giant Samsung. The Galaxy Note 6 may also be the same as rumor mill churns out a slew of features that would surely give its tough rivals a run for their money. As with the S7 device, the 'phablet' is likely to come with IP68 certification with clues pointing to a water-resistant package plus an iris scanner.

As reported by Sam Mobile, the forthcoming flagship from the Note series will be dust and water resistant- tech attributes that make Samsung's recent handsets valuable among high-end smartphones. With the IP68 certification, the Note 6 handset is expected to survive after being submerged in water, one-and-half-meter deep, for about thirty minutes.

Galaxy Club also noted that it managed to pick up some information suggesting that Samsung just imported a significant number of iris camera from India for its research and development activities linked to its Mobile division. While no confirmed specs have been officially announced, analysts and observers expect that the iris scanners will be fitted to its high-end devices and not to its mid-ranger series.

If the rumor proves accurate upon Note 6's release, then it marks the first time a scanning lock mechanism is incorporated in a Galaxy handset. Even such feature is nowhere to be found on Apple's most current flagship but is already available on a number of devices running on Windows 10 OS.

In addition to a number of features mentioned above, Note 6 is reportedly equipped with 5.8-inch display plus a generous 6GB of RAM according to BGR. Even more importantly, the forthcoming flagship from the Note lineup is slated to arrive in Europe- an opportunity that Note 5 did not have. Taking cues from tech observers, the release schedule would fall sometime in June but may also fall on Samsung's more traditional Note launch schedule around late August or early September.
Last fortnight's nays have been falling like a ton of bricks on Hillary Clinton, after she lost seven of the recent primaries to the Democratic presidential rival, Bernie Sanders.

Her woes probably doubled on "Saturday Night Live" show, which mocked her desperation to pip the post for the primary election in New York. She was role-played by "SNL" cast member Kate McKinnon.

"I'm the underdog now, I'm this election's Rudy," McKinnon as Clinton said.

"I love being back in the Fat Apple, my home state," she continued. "Except for Illinois and Arkansas, but they already voted for me, so we cool." By the way, Clinton was born in Chicago and became the first lady of Arkansas when her husband, Bill Clinton, was made the governor of the state before becoming president.

In order to exhibit her love for New York City, she faked eating a New York hot dog and peanuts. She followed it by recalling her visit to the big, hot Broadway play, "Chicago." She then donned her much-worn Yankees hat with the price tag on it. But later she shifted it off for a New York Mets hat that she called "meets."

She then took the subway, in order to exhibit how she could relate to New Yorkers.

"The New York City subway is the best way to get around," she said, as she approached the station. Though she tried to enter the turnstile a number of times, she was not able to swipe her card. She even tried to jump the gate, but gave up in the end.

"I'll just take a cab. Cabs are the best way to get around," she said.

McKinnon's Clinton then tried to win over all the people of the nation when she referred to a "Game of Thrones" and then pulled out a fake version of a three-eyed raven from the highly rated HBO show.

"This is the three-eyed raven from the 'Game of Thrones' and she is here to tell you if you don't vote for me on April 19th then Winter is coming," she said.

YouTube/Saturday Night Live
Even if Anthony had a year to analyze and dissect each piece...(he couldn't tell if it would)... stand the harsh light of public exposure.

WUWT insider Willis Eschenbach tells you all you need to know about Anthony Watts and his blog, WattsUpWithThat (WUWT). As part of his scathing commentary , Wondering Willis accuses Anthony Watts of being clueless about the blog articles he posts. To paraphrase: Click here to read more.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Becoming partly cloudy later with any flurries or snow showers ending by noontime. High near 30F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. Low 18F. Winds light and variable.
Kolkata/Guwahati:

In Assam: The second and final phase of Assam Assembly elections began at 7 AM today amid tight security to decide the fate of 525 candidates in 61 of the 126 constituencies with ruling Congress, BJP-AGP-BPF alliance and AIUDF locked in a keen contest.



An electorate of 1,04,35,271, comprising 53,91,204 males, 50,44,051 females and 22 others, will exercise their franchise in 12,699 polling stations to decide the fate of 477 male and 48 female candidates in Lower and Central Assam.



More than 50,000 polling personnel have been deployed with security tightened across the constituencies, particularly those in four Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) where NDFB(S) militants are active and in Goalpara district which recently witnessed a bomb blast.



Security has been also stepped up in minority dominated constituencies. A strict vigil is being maintained along the Indo-Bangla border in Dhubri district and Indo-Bhutan border in Baksa district.



While Congress is contesting in 57 seats, AIUDF, the major opposition party in the outgoing assembly, in 47, BJP in 35 while its alliesthe Bodo Peoples Front (BPF) in 10 and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in 19. CPI(M) is contesting in nine, CPI in five, unrecognised parties in 129 and independents in 214.



Among the prominent candidates are cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Naz

rul Islam for the Congress, former two-time AGP Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta, AIUDF Chief and Dhubri MP Badruddin Ajmal and former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who led a dissidence against the Chief Minister before joining the BJP last year.



While Congress looks forward to retain power for the fourth successive term, BJP called for a parivartan (change) and AIUDF aims to play the king-maker in the formation of the next government.



In Kolkata: The second part of phase one of West Bengal Assembly polls for 31 seats, where the future of top state opposition leaders is at stake, began this morning.



An alliance of Left Front and Congress have put up a tough fight against Trinamool Congress which aspires to come to power for a consecutive second term.



Altogether 163 candidates, including 21 women, are in the fray in those 31 seats of West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan districts.



Around 70 lakh people are eligible to cast their votes between 7 AM and 6 PM.



Electorate in Bankura and Burdwan districts will have a tough time fighting the scorching sun as the districts are reeling under heatwave conditions with temperatures soearing above 40 degree Celsius.



Provisions for shade and drinking water have been made in many polling booths.



A multi-tier security system including two helicopters, quick response teams and flying squads has also been made.



The Election Commission has not provided information about critical polling booths and also refused to specify the number of companies of security forces deployed.



The Central Armed Police Forces have been mandated the responsibility of handling situation inside the booths, while the state police forces are involved in other jobs like maintaining queues and managing crowd. Nearly 1,500 micro-observers, 23 general observers and over 36,600 polling personnel have been deployed in this phase.



Polling is being held at 8,465 polling stations amid tight security. Of the about 70 lakh voters in this phase 33.6 lakh are women and 50 belong to the third gender. Five more phases of polling will be held in the state till May 5.



Repoll in two booths of Bankura and West Midnapore districts, where polling was held in the first part of the first phase poll on April 4, is also being held today.



Besides TMC and the Left-Congress alliance, the BJP, which has only one MLA in the outgoing Assembly, has also fielded candidates from all the seats in the hope of making it a triangular fight.



Five-time CPI-M MLA from Narayangarh and Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, senior state Congress leader Manas Bhuniya from Sabang are among the major candidates in this phase.



91-year-old Gyan Singh Sohanpal, the senior most member in the Assembly, is in the fray again from Kharagpur Sadar seat where he is pitted against BJP state president Dilip Ghosh.

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New Delhi:

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called up Premier Narendra Modi to offer condolences over the Kerala fire tragedy.



Sharif called up Prime Minister Modi to express grief over the temple fire tragedy in Kerala, a PMO official said.



Expressing gratitude, Modi offered his condolences to Sharif over the loss of lives and property due to earthquake in Pakistan.



Earlier on Sunday, Pakistan had extended deep condolences over the pre-dawn disaster that has claimed 106 lives so far.



The people and the government of Pakistan express their deep condolences on the loss of precious lives, resulting from a fire in the temple, Pakistans Foreign Office said.



Our sympathies are with the bereaved families. We wish early recovery to all injured people, it said.

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Jamuria:

At least five people were injured in the clash that broke out between CPI (M) and the TMC workers in Jamuria, located in Bardhaman district of West Bengal. The polling for second phase of Assembly Polls is underway in this area. One person has been reported severely injured in clash.



One of the CPI (M) workers, who got injured in the incident, alleged that three to four workers of the TMC thrashed them with lathis. "They started beating us with lathis. The police did not come as we were being beaten," he said. Meanwhile, long ques of people willing to cast their votes were seen in the state, which is undergoing polls for its 31 constituencies in the polls. A total of 163 candidates, including 21 women, are contesting in 31 seats of West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan districts.
Burdwan:

A CPI(M) agent was allegedly beaten up by Trinamool Congress workers and obstructed from entering a polling booth, while bombs were found in two bags near another booth in Jamuria Assembly constituency in Burdwan district where polling is underway today.



A police official said two CPI(M) agents were obstructed from entering booth numbers 76 and 77 of Jamuria seat, just as polling began at 7 AM. One of the agents sustained head injury after he was beaten up allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers.



The injured person was taken to the nearest Primary Health Centre. A Trinamool Congress worker, Sheikh Shamser, was arrested in this connection, the official said. In another incident, two bags containing bombs were found near booth number 35 under Jamuria seat.



Police personnel were making arrangements to defuse the bombs. Polling is being held in 31 Assembly seats of Burdwan, Bankura and West Midnapore districts during the second part of phase one of elections today.
New Delhi:

Naps are the best thing. No matter if it is home, office or outside its always a good idea to take a nap, whenever possible. In what can be said as one of a kind, Smarin, France-based furniture studio, created a nap bar in Dubai last month to snag some rest for an hour or so during the day.

Visitors just have to take naps, recharge their bodies by ditching their devices and closing their eyes. Once can find the dreamy place with companys specially-designed lounge chairs, soft lighting, music and luxury pillows.

A good nap comes with a thousand benefits, research shows that taking naps can help increase your alertness and boost employee productivity. While the location was only open for a limited time, it makes us hopeful that other areas across the world also bring home some sort of rest in the form of nap bars.
New Delhi:

Two Indian students at a medical college in Ukraine were stabbed to death while another sustained injuries in the attack. Those who died in the Sunday attack allegedly carried out by three Ukrainian nationals have been identified as Pranav Shaindilya from Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Indrajeet Singh Chauhan, hailing from Agra, was also stabbed and was recuperating in a hospital.

In an unfortunate event, three Indian students in Uzhgorod Medical College (Ukraine) were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 AM in the morning of Sunday, April 10, said External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Shaindilya was a third year student while Singh was a fourth year student at the college. Based on his (Chauhan) statement, the police apprehended the Ukrainian nationals who were trying to cross the Ukrainian border. Passports/documents of the three Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered from the Ukrainian nationals, the MEA spokesman said.

He said Indian Embassy in Kiev was informed of the incident around 11 AM yesterday and it has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts.

The Embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the Foreign Officeof Ukraine, said Swarup.

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New Delhi :

Debunking the 400 year tradition, women entered the famous Shani Shingnapur temple and offered prayer. Now, the row has caught fire why other temples have banned the entry of women. The Supreme Court on Monday, lashed out at Sabarimala temple authorities and questioned the ban on the entry of menstruating women in the temple.

The apex court even went on to said whether any old tradition can override the constitutional provisions in this country. The top court observed "What is the basis on which women have been denied entry into temples and anyone can worship God, he is omnipresent".

This is not the first time that the top court has questioned the ban on the shrine. Earlier this year, the court had said that unless it's a constitutional right, women cannot be prohibited from entering the Sabarimala temple.

The shrine has a tradition of not allowing women between the age of 10 and 50 and only allowing girls before they attain puberty and women above the age of 50 who are menopausal.

In 2015, the head of the temple's board sparked another controversy by saying that women would be able to access the temple only after a body scanner is created to determine which women were pure.

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New Delhi:

Shankaracharya of Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati has raked up another controversy with his latest comment. The Shankaracharya has said that allowing of women into Shani Shignapur Temple will invite more rapes.

Shankaracharya, whose comment and actions often lead to controversies, made the remarks days after lifting of an age old ban of female entry in Shani Shignapur Temple.

Shani is a planet of sins. Worshipping him will lead to a rise in crime against women, he said here. Women entered Shani temple inner sanctum, due to this, incidents of rapes will increase further, Shankaracharya Swaroopanand was quoted as saying by ANI.

The Shankracharya also said that the drought in Maharashtra is a result of worshiping the unworthy Sai Baba. The Dwaraka-Sharda Peeth Shankaracharya is known for his bitter opposition to Hindus worshipping Shirdis Sai Baba.

The Hindu Seer made these remarks during a fortnight long visit to Haridwar.

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London:

Tata Steel today kickstarted the sale process for its cash-guzzling UK business with divestment of Long Products Europe business unit to investment firm Greybull Capital for a nominal amount. The embattled steelmaker also appointed KPMG LLC as process advisors as well as Slaughter and May as the legal advisors for thorough, but expedited sale of the entire shareholding in its subsidiary Tata Steel UK.

Tata Steel UK today announced signing of an agreement to sell its Long Products Europe business to family investment office, Greybull Capital.

Sale for a nominal consideration, would be in exchange for Greybull Capital taking on the whole of the business, including assets and relevant liabilities, and securing an appropriate funding package.

The deal would be completed once a number of outstanding conditions have been resolved, including transfer of contracts, certain government approvals and the satisfactory completion of financing arrangements, it added.

The Long Products Europe business employs 4,800 people - 4,400 in the UK and 400 in France.

On the sales process, it said following the advice from the Tata Steel Board to evaluate all options for the portfolio review of Tata Steel UK, the Board of Tata Steel Europe at its meeting held on March 31, 2016 reviewed several options.

Keeping in view the interest of all stakeholders, the Board (Tata Steel Europe) has decided to commence the process of divestment of its entire shareholding in its subsidiary Tata Steel UK.

Executive Chairman of the Long Products Europe business Bimlendra Jha said: This sale is the best possible outcome for employees who have worked relentlessly to ensure the businesss survival, and helped to make it attractive to a potential buyer.

The agreement follows negotiations between Tata Steel UK and Greybull Capital and is an important milestone towards continuing steelmaking in Scunthorpe and steel processing in other locations in the UK and France, the India giant said.

Tata Steel Europe CEO Hans Fischer said: Under these current challenging market conditions in Europe with the soaring levels of imports from China, we are happy that Tata Steel UK and Greybull Capital have entered the final stage of completion of the sale of shareholding in Longs Steel UK.

This transaction will offer a future for Long Products Europe business and its 4,400 employees in the UK, he added.

The sale covers several UK-based assets including the Scunthorpe steelworks, two mills in Teesside, an engineering workshop in Workington, a design consultancy in York and the associated distribution facilities, as well as a mill in northern France.

On the sale of the entire UK business, Tata Steel Europe said: It is the intention of Tata Steel Europe to run a thorough, but expedited sale process by reaching out to a wide universe of potential investors globally.

The formal process has commenced today with despatch of the Summary Information Memorandum to potential investors, it added.

Tata Steel and its advisers are committed to working together and conducting the process in a transparent and time bound manner, the firm said.

Last month, Tata Steel put its entire UK business on the block, a development that has put thousands of jobs at risk amid a deepening crisis in Britains once-storied sector that the Indian conglomerate had entered nearly a decade ago with a USD 14-billion takeover with much fanfare.
Mumbai:

Television producer Rahul Raj Singh, accused of abetting suicide of his actress girlfriend Pratyusha Banerjee, today approached the Bombay High Court seeking pre-arrest bail.

On April 7, a sessions court here had rejected Rahuls anticipatory bail application, following which the producer filed a plea in the high court.

Rahuls bail plea is likely to be heard tomorrow. On April 1, 24-year-old Pratyusha, who shot to fame for her role as Anandi in hit TV series Balika Vadhu, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat in suburban Goregaon.

Two days later, a case under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC was registered against Rahul following a complaint lodged by the actresss parents.

Rahul, in his anticipatory bail application, claimed that Pratyushas parents did not make any allegation against him in their first statement to police.

He said they filed the FIR against him after two days of the suicide incident, as they got influenced by certain people who were against Pratyushas relations with him (Rahul).

Rahul said Pratyusha had not left behind any suicide note blaming him for her death, and also that there were no marks on her body other than the ligature wound.

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Nagpur:

Congress Vice President today compared Hyderabad University Student Rohith Vemula who committed suicide this year to the architect of Indias constitution BR Ambedkar.



Speaking at a rally, Rahul said, BR Ambedkar had raises his voice when he wasked to sit in the corner away from other children. Rohith Vemula raised same issue, but what did the central government do. Narendra Modi, his ministers and the RSS did everything possible to run over that aspiration.



Rohith had committed suicide in January this year allegedly after being expelled at the behest of the Union HRD Ministry.

Addressing a rally to mark culmination of the year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar at Kasturchand Park here, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi asserted the legacy of the dalit icon for Congress and tore into RSS over reservation.

The right-wing outfit is bent upon to destroy the democratic values, disturb secular fabric and alter Indian Constitution authored by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

RSS wants to crush reservation for the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, OBCs and minorities which is guaranteed to them by Constitution, she said.

In an apparent reference to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Sonia said Sangh is posing a great threat to the reservation system when it talks against it.

Seeking to blunt BJPs efforts to appropriate legacy of Ambedkar, Sonia said, Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his dues by appointing him as chairman of the Draft Committee of Constitution.

Congress will leave no stone unturned to save the democratic values and secular fabric being destroyed by some forces. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to give protection to these factors.

Focusing her speech mainly on issue of reservation, the combative Congress chief said the Narendra Modi government is set to discriminate against women at Panchayati level by depriving them from enjoying power in their villages.

In Haryana and Rajasthan, the BJP-ruled governments are contemplating to bring legislation asking for certain education level for contestants, she said.

Sonia said this will deprive about 80 per cent of dalit women from contesting Panchayati elections.

The Congress regime brought the mid-day meal scheme for the children, which was a social revolution as dreamt by Ambedkar. Ambedkar received good support from the then Congress stalwarts like Jawahralal Nehru and Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, she said.

Targeting Modi, she said BJP government is destabilising the democratically-elected Congress governments in Uttarkhand and Arunchal Pradesh.

The students unrest has grown manifold under the current Modi government in the country. Congress has a moral responsibility and constitutional duty to protect the backward community, dalits, minorities and the under-privileged ones and party will not fail in it..Congress has been doing this for more than 60 years, she added.

Earlier in the day, Sonia and Rahul visited memorial of Ambedkar at Deekshabhoomi here where the dalit icon had embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956.

With PTI Inputs.

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VoIP and QoS

Patton started embedding PacketSmart into its SmartNode VoIP CPE. Considering the quality issues on broadband, this is a good move.

Crappy call quality on cell phones lowered the bar enough that VoIP was able to take over on the wireline side. Edgewater Networks says that "VoIP Service Providers Must Focus on Call Quality as VoLTE Emerges". If cell phones get HD Voice - and wireline or HPBX doesn't, people will see less value in moving to an inferior phone system.

Even Vonage Business is working on call quality. "A big differentiator is SmartWAN - real-time packet optimization which is similar to those provided by standalone SD-WAN companies such as CloudGenix....Their cloud-level SmartWAN solution includes a customer premise device (CPE) which allows Vonage to track MOS scores as well as jitter," writes TMC's Rich Techrani.

Speaking of quality, Frontier's take over of Verizon properties has once again been a huge cluster for the customers. Frontier is asking for patience as it enters week three of the transition.

The Channel

7 Predictions for the Channel [PDF] "Accenture says 80% of tech revenue is coming from the indirect channel."

The forecast is for $70 Billion in channel discounts and incentives to be spent in 2016. [source]

Other:

"Birch Communications, Inc. has completed the Canada component of its purchase of select assets and customers of Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. and its affiliates, the company said. Primus, Canadas largest independent, full-service telecommunications and cloud service provider, serves more than 250,000 businesses and consumers throughout Canada." [pr]

Google says that if you want Gigabit Broadband you have to take all the hurdles in dealing with your local government. There are already significant road blocks thrown up by the cable company, the ILEC and the electric company on right of way, access to conduit, access to poles (for aerial fiber). These are barriers to gigabit broadband. So are laws against muni networks.

On Salespeople:

Why are there so few great salespeople? Not everyone wants to work that hard, push that much, make those sacrifices to be the best. It takes a certain set of traits to be really successful - see this article on BI with Tony Robbins. Not everyone wants to work that hard. Their priorities may lie elsewhere.

Also, this goes against the notion that all salespeople are motivated by money. Think about that.

Communication: The Greatest Challenge for Sales and Marketing Alignment

Verizon, which owns AOL, is making a bid for Yahoo.
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The University of Bridgeport is one of the most diverse colleges in America, attracting people from 80 countries. A new program is aimed at helping local students keep it as an option, as well.

UB last week unveiled Connecticut Promise, a program to allow students who are Connecticut residents to attend the private university at a cost comparable to a public college education. Beginning in the fall semester, the program guarantees that first-time, full-time freshmen who live in Connecticut will pay no more than $18,500 out of pocket for tuition, fees, and room and board after all scholarships and grants have been applied. An in-state commuting freshman not living on UBs campus will be required to pay no more than $12,000 a year.

This is about knowing how important financial aid is to our prospective students, and that it is becoming more and more important over time, said Karissa Peckham, associate vice president for enrollment.

The program will apply to about 40 percent of undergraduate freshmen.

According to the universitys website, tuition alone starts at $29,550 per year for undergraduates, with fees adding hundreds of dollar more. Add in room and board, and the total cost for attendance can be more than $51,000 per year.

The program will apply only to freshmen, but there is a possibility is could expand in future years. We wanted to start somewhere and see how effective it is, and whether its making a real difference for students, Peckham said.

Other local schools have tuition roughly in line with UB, with Fairfield University at close to $60,000 for undergraduates living on campus, and Sacred Heart University at about $54,000.

Public schools are in general less expensive. At the University of Connecticuts main campus in Storrs, the total cost for in-state students comes to about $28,000, and at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury the cost comes in at almost $24,000.

All prices are before any financial aid or scholarships are considered, and most students do not end up paying the schools sticker price.

The Connecticut Promise is part of an effort to attract more state students, Peckham said. Its a mix of the two, she said. We want to have more state students, and we want to ensure the students we are serving are getting as much help as we can give them.

The University of Bridgeport is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the most diverse national universities in the country, with students from 46 states and more than 80 countries, but Connecticut residents make up the largest group on campus.

hbailey@ctpost.com; 203-330-6233; @hughsbailey
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GREENWICH  On Sunday afternoon at the Old Greenwich Civic Center, Doug Hartman lingered by a table of clear 19th century decanters, trays and other glass objects, explaining they were products of the Sandwich Glass Co. of Massachuetts, examples of what he described as gothic glass.

As a collector, Hartman specializes in this type of glass, which was made between 1840 and 1880 using wood presses to mold molten globs of glass into shapes with fine traces of ornamentation, he said. He lifted one dining room vessel up and flicked it with a finger, creating a resonant ping, explaining the tone is created by the use of flint in the glass.

Im interested in 19th century American design, and a few museums have worthwhile displays on glassmaking, but not many, Hartman said. For the true collector, you come to the shows to learn.

Over two days on Saturday and Sunday, several hundred people browsed through dozens of tables stacked with displays of antique glassware, stoneware and ceramics at the 40th annual Westchester Collectors Glass and Ceramics Show and Sale. Alongside the odd 16th or 17th century flask and modern-day art glass were many pricey dining table relics of Americas Industrial Revolution and the glassmaking heritage of the central Connecticut and the western corner of the state.

For most collectors and dealers, the beauty of the glass and learning the hard-won science and discoveries that refined the technique of creating it are major draws of the show, said Jim Russell, co-president of the Westchester Glass Club, the event sponsor.

Its a really good show and an excellent opportunity for people to learn about glassmaking, Russell said. It is a field that is packed with history.

At the middle of the auditorium, Noel Tomas, president of the Museum of Connecticut Glass on Route 44 in Coventry, engaged history buffs around a table display stacked with19th century liquor flasks made in that Connecticut town. Some of them marked with pictures of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who fought with American forces in the Revolutionary War.

The Coventry Glassworks, active in the late 19th century, also pumped out thousands of inkwells that were used by schoolchildren, Tomas said.

There are several good books out now about glassmaking in Connecticut as well as documents in the state library that help you learn the history, said Tomas, a Glastonbury resident.

Scott Roland, owner of Schenevus, N.Y.-based Glimmerglass Antiques, pointed to a handful of colored glass decanters held in silver-plated receptacles. They originated in factories in Meriden in central Connecticut in the 19th century.

An electroplating process created in England was adopted by Connecticut firms, contributing to Meriden gaining the name, The Silver City, Roland said.

People at these shows are really glass specialists, and this show does a great job of picking some of the best vendors in the business, Roland said.

Roland lamented what he sees as a decline in the industry driven by the recession that started in 2007, and sustained by a lack of discretionary income among younger buyers.

It isnt like younger people arent interested in collecting things or have different brains, they just dont have the discretionary income, Roland said. My business is a third of what it was in 2007.

One of the younger enthusiasts at the show was Nick Wrobleski, a 16-year-old collector from Killingly who is on the board of the Connecticut Museum of Glass.

One of Wrobleskis prize possessions is a beaker with coat of arms of Duke Fredrick William I of Prussia from sometime in the early 18th century.

I think it is really interesting part of American and world history and an interesting art form, Wrobleski said.
File photo / Nelson Oliveira

DANBURY  A city man was arrested Friday on a warrant accusing him of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl, police said.

Germano Vilela 41, of Moss Avenue, was charged with risk of injury to a minor, a felony, and fourth-degree sexual assault.
GATINEAU, QC, April 11, 2016 /CNW/ - The explosion of Internet-connected everyday objects and privacy concerns surrounding our increasingly wired world have prompted the Global Privacy Enforcement Network to focus on the Internet of Things during the 2016 global privacy Sweep.

This year's Sweep will take place from April 11th to 15th, 2016 and will involve a number of data protection authorities from around the world, including the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), which will focus its efforts on health devices.

"Connected devices, such as fitness trackers, smart scales, sleep monitors and other health related products, are capable of capturing some of our most intimate data," Commissioner Daniel Therrien says.

"Given the sensitivity of the information, it is imperative that the companies behind such devices are transparent about what they collect, how the information will be used and with whom the data will be shared. I'm pleased the Sweep will focus on this important area under the Internet of Things banner."

As part of this year's initiative, authorities will focus on accountability. Sweep participants will look at the privacy communications and practices related to Internet connected devices, but each has the flexibility to choose a different category of products and a preferred approach. While some authorities have opted to sweep wearables, health-related devices or appliances, others will be looking at very specific things like smart meters, connected cars or smart TVs.

Some authorities will purchase products and assess privacy communications right out of the box. They may even put the products to use to get a first-hand look at what personal information is being collected and whether that coincides with what privacy communications say is being collected. Others will choose to examine the privacy information that's available through the manufacturer's website. In other instances, authorities may contact the manufacturer, retailer or data controller directly with specific privacy questions. The OPC will use all three methodologies.

The goal of the international Sweep is to increase public and business awareness of privacy rights and responsibilities, encourage compliance with privacy legislation, identify concerns that may be addressed through targeted education or enforcement and enhance cooperation among privacy enforcement authorities.

Concerns raised during the Sweep may result in follow-up work such as outreach to organizations and/or enforcement action.

This year's Sweep themethe Internet of Thingsdovetails other initiatives by the OPC in this emerging area. For example, in February the Office published a research paper on the subject.

The body as information, a term used to describe privacy concerns surrounding the increased use of highly sensitive health, genetic and biometric information, was also identified among four strategic privacy priorities that will guide the OPC's work over the next five years. The focus on health devices during this year's Sweep builds on the OPC's work in this area.

The results of the Sweep will be compiled and made public in the fall.

About the Global Privacy Enforcement Network

The Global Privacy Enforcement Network connects privacy enforcement authorities to promote and support co-operation in cross-border enforcement of laws protecting privacy.

About the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is mandated by Parliament to act as an ombudsman and guardian of privacy in Canada. The Commissioner enforces two laws for the protection of personal information: the Privacy Act, which applies to the federal public sector; and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada's federal private sector privacy law.

See also:

The Internet of Things - An introduction to privacy issues with a focus on the retail and home environments

GPEN 2015 Results

SOURCE Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

For further information: please contact: Valerie Lawton, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, E-mail: [email protected]
By GMM 11 April 2016 - 12:25





Mick Schumacher is pressing the throttle on the next stage in his quest for future F1 glory.

The son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher, the 17-year-old is racing in both the Italian and German F4 series this year and at the weekend he kicked off his 2016 campaign with two wins in damp conditions.

Germanys Die Welt newspaper said that although the fiercely-private Schumacher family has guarded the youngster to date, he is now doing interviews and has launched an official website and Instagram account.

And the wider media is enjoying Micks rise through the single seater ranks, with La Gazzetta dello Sport calling his performance at Misano at the weekend "spectacular".

Italys Tuttosport agreed: "Schumi is back! But its Mick, his (Michaels) legacy".

Carrying the torch at Michael Schumachers old team Ferrari, meanwhile, is Sebastian Vettel, who said the seven time world champion is very much not forgotten at Maranello.

"What happened is tragic," the German told Welt newspapers PS Welt supplement. "For many people here, it is very hard when his name is mentioned.

"Those who have worked with him have tears suddenly in their eyes. The Italians and the Ferraristi have a strong relationship with Michael," Vettel added.
[April 10, 2016] 51bn a Year Boost to Economy if Government Acts Now on Electric Cars

LONDON, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- An independent academic report, published on 13th April, will warn the Government to make significant investment in charging infrastructure and upskilling of the UK motor industry or risk missing out on major economic benefits in the future. The Author of the report, Professor Jim Saker of Loughborough University, says that 320,000 jobs could be created and 51bn per year generated into the UK economy but only if the Government acts strategically to make charging low emission cars convenient to drivers, and to make sure there are enough qualified people to service and repair them. The report, which was commissioned by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), will be presented to a cross-party group of MPs on Wednesday 13th April by Professor Jim Saker and IMI CEO Steve Nash. They will highlight the need for the Government to focus on protecting both the economic growth of the motor industry, and the safety concerns across the sector. Electric vehicles are powered by 600 volt battery units and pose a serious danger of death to untrained personnel. With 81% of independent garages struggling to recruit highly skilled technicians and the UK retail motor industry failing to attract young people into technical roles; it's clear that unless a proactive strategy is undertaken the UK will not be able to support the growth of future car technology safely. Saker suggests the Government make it illegal for untrained technicians to work on electric and hybrid vehicles with a license to practice in order to drive investment in the necessary training. With only 1,000 technicians in the UK currently qualified with a Level 4 in Electric and Hybrid Car Mainteance, the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) believes it is likely that the potential benefits to the UK economy from this development will not be realised.



Professor Jim Saker said: "The UK by the nature of its size and geography has a natural advantage in the rapid adoption of vehicles with the new power train technologies, but it is dependent on Government investment to pump prime this initiative.

Without proper regulation a skills gap will emerge with only a limited number of technicians working in the franchised sector being able to service and repair new technology vehicles. If this trend is found to be true then it is likely that the independent sector of the retail automotive sector will decline. This will mean that the market will fail to open up and develop to the benefit of the UK economy." Steve Nash, IMI CEO, said: "The potential growth for the UK economy is immense, and we are calling on the Government to act now in order to reap the financial rewards. To avoid further skills shortages across the sector there is an urgent need for a higher skilled workforce. We have seen growth of more than 20% in alternatively fuelled vehicles with Tesla announcing orders of 7bn in only two days for their new model. It's vital we take the appropriate steps now if we want to ensure that the UK has the skilled workforce it needs across the whole industry to support and service these vehicles. This will only be possible if appropriate actions are taken with some urgency to avoid a serious and growing skills shortage, most particularly in the non-franchised part of the automotive sector." Professor Jim Saker and the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) Chief Executive, Steve Nash, are hosting a meeting in Parliament on Wednesday 13th April to discuss the independent academic report. Notes to Editor Report summary The overall economic and social benefit of EVs, connected and autonomous vehicles could be in the region of 51bill per year by 2030.

The nature and geographical structure of the UK presents the opportunity for the country to be world leading in the implementation of the new technologies.

Government should commit to supporting the installation of 1,250 hydrogen refueling stations across the UK.

Government should make it illegal for unregistered technicians to work initially on EV and FCEV cars from 2016 with the scheme being rolled out for all technicians by 2020. About IMI IMI is the professional body for individuals working in the motor industry, and the authoritative voice of the sector. IMI is transforming the automotive industry by setting, upholding and promoting professional standards - driving skills acquisition, establishing clearer career paths, and boosting public confidence. IMI's online Professional Register is here to make sure consumers are in skilled, competent and trustworthy hands. Please visit http://www.theimi.org.uk to find out more. Follow us on Twitter - @The_IMI Find us on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/theimipage

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[April 10, 2016]

CNOGA Receives CFDA Approval for Marketing in China of Non Invasive Multiple Bio Parameters Monitors

SHANGHAI, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CNOGA Medical Ltd., a developer and manufacturer of medical devices, today announces that it has received an approval for its TensorTip MTX and VSM non-invasive multiple bio parameters measurement devices from the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA).

CNOGA Medical Ltd. is expecting to launch the TensorTip devices during Shanghai's CMEF exhibition, April 2016.

CNOGA TensorTip devices use a real time color image sensor and unique algorithms to accurately measure more than a dozen bio parameters such as fingertip blood pressure, Hemoglobin, Hematocrit and Blood Gases from the patients' fingertip blood capillaries.

The TensorTip product family optionally integrates with CNOGA's SINGULAR cloud base architecture, further enhancing the users' control over his health and wellbeing.

Dr. Yosef Segman, Founder and CEO of CNOGA states: "Securing CFDA approval in China is a significant milestone towards achieving our long term global expansion goals."

Dr. Segman added; "China is the largest market for noninvasive e-health monitoring at home as well as hospitals and clinics. In 2014, medical device sales in China totaled CNY 255.6 billion (EUR 36 billion) a year with a yearly increase of 20%, according to the China Medical Pharmaceutical Materials Association[1].

The following milestone represents a substantial growth opportunity for CNOGA with expected commercial agreements in China valued at tens of million dollars in the upcoming year. Recently, CNOGA established a diversified presence in China with a CNOGA HQ in Shanghai and an R&D center in Changzhou, Jiangsu," concluded Dr. Segman.

About CNOGA Products

TensorTip Matrix (MTX) noninvasive measurements of Hemodynamics (Pulse, Blood Pressure, Cardiac Output, stroke Volume, MAP (Mean Arterial Pressure), blood gases (pH, PCO2, PO2, CO2, O2), Blood Chemistry, Hemoglobin (Hb), Hematocrit (Hct) and Red Blood Cell (RBC)

TensorTip Vital Sign Monitor (VSM) Measures Vital signs such as blood pressure, Pulse and SPO2 (saturation).

About CNOGA Medical Ltd.:

CNOGA Medical Ltd. , a privately held international company, with offices in Israel, China, Germany & Brazil, was founded in 2004 by Dr. Yosef Segman, a technology innovator and entrepreneur, who has led the product development from the early stages through a strategic partnership with Texas Instruments Inc., to commercialization. The company Medical Advisor is Prof. Dr. Uriel Trahtemberg, MD/PhD Hadassah Ein-Kerem Hospital

Press Contacts:

Mr. Liu Wei

[email protected]

+86 13338617896

Mr. Steven MacWan

[email protected]

+972 544-465614

http://www.CNOGA.com

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160411/8521602292
[April 10, 2016] Stratus Extends Leadership in Industrial Automation with Always-On Infrastructure for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

MAYNARD, Mass., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratus Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of continuous availability solutions, today announced it is extending its commitment to Industrial Automation worldwide with the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for IIoT. Providing a proven always-on foundation for IIoT deployments, the Stratus solution features Stratus ftServer technology with VMware vSphere 6, as well as application monitoring and OPC integration. Stratus is reducing the complexity and risk that can be associated with software defined Industrial Automation technologies, bringing the best of both worlds to OT and IT. For OT organizations, the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for IIoT delivers an operationally simple platform, an intuitive dashboard with visibility into system and application health, and continuous availability. And for IT, the solution provides a standard platform that can be integrated into existing management and security processes. "The business potential IIoT can bring to Industrial Automation is a game changer for our customers," said Jason Andersen, vice president of business line management, Stratus Technologies. "As more software is being deployed to support IIoT, successful IIoT implementation is reliant on absolute integrity of data right from the source. As SCADA and sensor systems increase in complexity and their data collection rates move to milli-second intervals, the need for reliability and availability increases even more. In addition, with continued virtualization adoption in IT, we are further reducing complexity for our OT customers by delivering our solution with VMware vSphere 6." Stratus is streamlining and simplifying the continuous availability and management of industrial applications in three ways: Operational Simplicity -- By consolidating traditionally disparate systems, ftServer Gen8 for VMware streamlines the management of different devices, such as servers,

management consoles and external storage, into a single high-performance solution for industrial automation teams in remote locations with limited IT resources. Full Visibility -- By integrating Sightline AssureTM, Stratus delivers full visibility across the entire infrastructure (from bare metal to the applications), enabling continuous monitoring in order to predict performance issues in advance, and prevent unplanned downtime and data loss. Open Platform Communications -- By adopting the OPC standard the Stratu solution becomes an integral part of the entire industrial automation infrastructure and interoperability with other business critical applications is further extended.



All of these technologies are available today from Stratus Industrial Automation partners worldwide. Supporting Quotes

Vernon Turner, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Systems and IDC Fellow for The Internet of Things "Stratus' ability to maintain their leadership position when it comes to providing the highest levels of availability and serviceability in the industry throughout the various technological evolutions is second to none," said Vernon Turner, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Systems and IDC Fellow for The Internet of Things. "This latest offering -- the Stratus Always-On infrastructure for IIoT with OPC integration -- demonstrates Stratus' commitment to providing practical solutions to address the needs of segment specific customers. Stratus' solutions are especially relevant for Industrial Automation that leads in the adoption of IIoT and demands that their system investments today are future-ready for years to come." Craig Resnick, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group "Industrial automation and 'always on and available' are synonymous," said Craig Resnick, Vice President, ARC Advisory Group. "Manufacturers and processors live in an environment where eliminating unscheduled downtime is a top business priority, and now in a world that embraces the benefits of IIoT and IT/OT convergence, 'always on and available' extending from the plant floor to the enterprise is more important than ever. The Stratus Always-On infrastructure for IIoT, combined with its OPC UA integration for Industrial Automation connectivity, provides the industry with a proven solution that is modern, future-ready and can address the continuous availability issues of IT /OT convergence head-on." Howard Hall, Senior Director, Global Technology Partnering Organization, VMware "With Stratus ftServer technology for VMware vSphere 6, organizations can cost effectively transform Industrial Automation by enabling the reduction of technical footprint, without risk or complexity," said Howard Hall, Senior Director, Global Technology Partnering Organization, VMware. Paula Bognar, Manager Encompass Product Referencing Program, Rockwell Automation "The Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork is critical to helping customers on their journey to achieve The Connected Enterprise and Stratus has been an active member of the Encompass Product Referencing Program since 2006," said Paula Bognar, Manager Encompass Product Referencing Program, Rockwell Automation. "Innovation targeted around IIoT is a great step forward in addressing the changing needs that manufacturers face today. Virtualization solutions -- like the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for IIoT -- can provide scalability through flexible connectivity and reliable information sharing from the plant floor to the enterprise." Tom Schiller, President, AutomaTech "Stratus is our 'go to' partner when we want to deliver the highest level of availability to our customers across water, wastewater, gas, life sciences and food and beverage industries," said Tom Schiller, President, AutomaTech. "These customers need to be running 24/7 and can't afford to have even a minute of downtime. The Stratus systems are so reliable that many of our customers have been running the same system for 5 to 10 years. This, combined with the reduced complexity they deliver for virtualized environments, will continue to become even more important as Industrial Automation evolves towards IIoT." About Stratus Technologies Stratus Technologies is the leading provider of infrastructure-based solutions that keep applications running continuously in today's always-on world. Stratus enables rapid deployment of always-on infrastructures, from enterprise servers to clouds, without any changes to applications. Stratus' flexible solutions -- software, platform and services -- prevent downtime before it occurs and ensure uninterrupted performance of essential business operations. For more information, please visit www.stratus.com or follow on Twitter @StratusAlwaysOn. Media Contact Bee Yiu

Marketing Manager, Marketing Communications

852 2844 5219

[email protected] Stratus and the Stratus logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Stratus Technologies Bermuda Ltd. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160406/8521602206LOGO

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[April 11, 2016] HotForex Launches a Brand New Forex Trading App

PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The innovative HotForex App, built in-house by HotForex's team of developers, puts a wealth of information at the fingertips of traders on-the-go. HotForex, the award-winning online Forex broker, has announced the launch of the HotForex App - an essential trading tool for Android and iOS devices. With everything from breaking Forex news, market analysis and upcoming economic events to live currency rates, client positions, currency movers and trading calculators, the HotForex App puts everything Forex market related in the palm of traders' hands. A spokesman for HotForex commented, "The HotForex App is a great addition to every trader's toolkit and our clients can use it alongside their HotForex mobile, desktop and web-based MT4 trading platforms to keep their fingers firmly on the pulse of the global financial markets. Plus, as the App was developed in-house, we will be able to introduce new tools and upgrade existing features with ease. Our clients now have reliable access to the most important Forex trading tools and resources on their Android and iOS devices and can expect even more great featres and languages to be added in the coming months."



The HotForex App features: Daily Market Analysis prepared daily by HotForex's Chief Market Analyst.

prepared daily by HotForex's Chief Market Analyst. The HotForex Traders ' Board which gives an indication of what is happening in the markets by providing currency movers, live charts for major currency pairs and volume traded per symbol.

which gives an indication of what is happening in the markets by providing currency movers, live charts for major currency pairs and volume traded per symbol. Client Positions gives investors real-time information about which currencies and commodities are moving.

gives investors real-time information about which currencies and commodities are moving. Forex Market News which is streamed to the HotForex App as and when it breaks.

which is streamed to the HotForex App as and when it breaks. Live Quotes on Forex, Commodities, Stocks and Indices.

on Forex, Commodities, Stocks and Indices. Trading Calculators which allow investors to calculate risk percentage, pivot points, position size, pip value and more on-the-go.

which allow investors to calculate risk percentage, pivot points, position size, pip value and more on-the-go. The HotForex Economic Calendar which helps traders to keep track of and plan for key upcoming financial events and announcements.

which helps traders to keep track of and plan for key upcoming financial events and announcements. HotForex Webinars which help traders to improve their Forex knowledge and skills.

which help traders to improve their Forex knowledge and skills. Bonuses, Contests & Latest Releases so that users can take advantage of new releases as they are launched. The HotForex App is available to download from Google Play and the App Store for both iOS and Android devices.



Google Play

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hotforex.http://www.hotforex&hl=en App Store

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hotforex/id1097517968?ls=1&mt=8 Contact: Jaymes Payten

Head of Marketing

Tel: +44(0)203-318-5978

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.HotForex.com SOURCE HotForex

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Washington

Members of the ESSA negotiated rulemaking committee couldnt come to a consensus about how to regulate the Every Student Succeeds Act when it comes to ensuring that federal Title I aid for low-income students does not merely supplant state and local funding.

The supplement-not-supplant rule is designed to ensure that federal funding isnt filling in funding gaps left by state and local decisionmakers. It promised to be one of the contentious issues on the last day of the committees three-day session this week. And indeed, despite hours of discussion on Friday, the members could not agree how to balance various concerns. U.S. Department of Education staff then said theyd go back to the drawing board to try to craft new language for the regulation.

Negotiators agreed to come back for a third ESSA negotiating session from April 18-19 to discuss regulations for the law.

The proposed regulation on this issue , released a week ago by the Education Department after the first round of negotiated rulemaking discussions that took place last month, would require that districts methods of showing compliance with supplement-not-supplant ultimately results in the LEA spending an amount of State and local funds per pupil in each Title I school that is equal to or greater than the average amount spent per pupil in non-Title I schools. In other words, per-pupil spending levels in the two types of schools have to be brought in line with each otherbut theres debate on what exactly that means (more below).



But state and local school administrators, in particular, argued strenuously that the language went too far, would not work in practice, and could create a host of unintended consequences.

Others, including representatives from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the NAACP, argued that the regulations were an appropriate safeguard for ensuring that Title I money is used as federal law requires.

Disrupting School Operations

Lets start with those who disliked the regulation. They said the regulations amounted to an out-of-bounds micromanaging of district expenditures in at least two clear ways:

They said that a separate part of ESSA says the Education Department cant dictate to districts what method they use to show that theyre abiding by supplement-not-supplantbut that the proposed language amounts to exactly that.

 And they also argued the regulations defied ESSAs statutory language by requiring equalized per-pupil spending between schools in the regulations.

Thomas Ahart, the superintendent of Des Moines, Iowa schools, said it would place too high of a burden on his schools to reallocate resources in order to equalize per-pupil funding between Title I and non-Title I schools. He and others raised the idea that the regulation, as written, would force transfers of teachers to balance out personnel expenditures between schools, and could disrupt various methods of budgeting for schools that deal with weighted-student formulas and by full-time equivalent positions.

My biggest concern is how its going to impact the day to day operations, said Alvin Wilbanks, the superintendent of Gwinnett County schools in Georgia.

Meanwhile, Tony Evers, Wisconsins state superintendent, also expressed concern that the regulations required that state and local funds at Title I schools provide basic educational services. What exactly did that mean, Evers asked, particularly in states and districts without legal definitions of basic education?

Theres just so much weve embedded in terms of supplementing the classrooms, said Lynn Goss, a paraprofessional in the Menomonie district in Wisconsin. How do you figure out what you can take away and keep it basic?

Upholding the Intent of Title I

First, addressing the argument that the regulation inappropriately forced equalized per-pupil spending between schools, Ary Amerikaner, a deputy assistant secretary at the department, said the regulation didnt demand equalized spending because it only referred to the average of per-pupil spending in non-Title I schools, not exactly equal spending.

Amerikaner also said it was the Education Departments understanding that it would not necessarily require huge funding transfers between schools in many situations in order for districts to be in compliance with the proposal. Districts could take various approaches to meet the proposed regulatory language.

One of the more vigorous defenders of per-pupil expenditure regulation proposed was Liz King, the director of education policy at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. She said that the only way districts would be violating the per-pupil equity rule between Title I and non-Title I schools is if they were, in fact, using Title I money to supplant state and local funds and not supplement those funds, and therefore violating ESSA.

The only flexibility that is not allowed that you cant spend less in Title I schools, King said.

King also noted that theres a new reporting requirement in ESSA in which districts and schools must publish per-pupil spending, including personnel and non-personnel costs. The issue of teacher salaries as it relates to supplement-not-supplant has been a contentious issue for a long time this blog item I wrote last week on teacher-pay equity as a policy and political issue gets into some of that background.

And Janel George, the senior education policy counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, made a similar argument that the regulation did not ask districts to do anything that they were essentially not required to do under supplement-not-supplant.

I see what it should result in, which is how we should measure compliance, George said.

At one point, the committee considered a proposal to strike the language concerning basic educational programs and per-pupil spending between Title I and non-Title I schools from the proposed regulations and put it into regulatory guidance instead. But the proposal was rejected.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
[April 11, 2016] Founder of Mind Digital Group Wins the Prestigious 'Build India Award'

NEW DELHI, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mind Digital Group takes great pleasure in announcing that its founder and director, Mr. Yusuf Javed, has won the prestigious Build India Award for his contribution in the development of India. The group feels extremely proud to bag an award instituted to honour NRIs (Non Resident Indians) for their relentless service and dedication to the cause of building India which is one of the fastest growing countries in the world today. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160411/10143744 )

The award ceremony took place on the 19th of March 2016, at IIC, New Delhi and saw the congregation of some well-known luminaries and dignitaries from across industries. Founded by the Bharat Nirman Organization and supported by the Government of India, the award was presented by a noted Member of Parliament (MP) from the current ruling party. Mind Digital feels honoured at the selection of its founder for an award which recognises our founder and his zeal towards the cause of the nation's development. At the same time, the group is elated at the timely recognition of its mentor for his relentless passion to making a difference in theonline marketing domain.



This award holds great value for a company that has recently gained Google AdWords Certification. It's a huge honour to a man credited to have helped build multiple world-class organizations across the world. The award is a perfect tribute to someone who has worked across 3 continents and played an integral role in building many world-class organizations. It is a fitting acknowledgement for Mr. Javed's decade-long experience in online marketing (SEO, PPC, social media & display media) and development (Web, Salesforce, Mobile, CRM). The award acknowledges an industry stalwart who has been a part of organizations as notable as Forward3D, the largest independent digital agency in Europe; Zeta Interactive, a top 10 digital agency in New York and Yodle Inc. a brand that hit #35 on the INC 500 list for 'Fastest Growing Companies in the US.'

For Mind Digital Group, the award comes as a massive achievement as it reflects the true spirit of its founder in serving esteemed clients for their high-end digital marketing and development requirements. With this award, Mind Digital feels more committed in delivering world-class customer service to clients across industry verticals. Mind Digital has more than 75 people on staff with offices in New York, New Delhi & London and works with a varying array of clients across the US, UK, Australia, South America & Europe. Visit https://www.minddigital.com to know more about the award-winning director of Mind Digital Group and his diverse business activities and interests in the domain of digital marketing or internet marketing or online promotion. About Mind Digital Group Mind Digital Group is an independent digital company that is focused on servicing global clients and partner agencies. With offices in New York, London, and New Delhi, Mind Digital are able to provide local support globally for all your digital needs. If you are looking for onshore or offshore development, a complete knockout digital marketing and sales strategy or to incubate your own startup, Mind Digital can help. Media contact:

Ian Alam

[email protected]

9999007195

Digital Marketing Manager

Mind Digital Group



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[April 11, 2016] Gulfstream Fleet Continues to Grow in Greater China

SAVANNAH, Ga., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. today announced that its fleet in Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan) has grown to more than 165 aircraft and makes up more than half of the Asia-Pacific fleet, the company's largest internationally. "We have experienced tremendous growth in Greater China, particularly on the mainland, where we had 30 aircraft in 2010 and now have more than 100, including the new G650ER that recently delivered into China," said Scott Neal, senior vice president, Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Gulfstream. "We are honored by our customers' continued confidence in Gulfstream and our industry-leading brand recognition and will continue to maintain and invest in service and support to exceed our customers' expectations." JETNET's latest iQ Report, published quarterly, lists Gulfstream first in its Brand Reputations of Aircraft Manufacturers survey for Asia Pacific, where the company has nearly 290 aircraft. "We have more than 65 percent of the market share for large-cabin aircraft in Greater China," Neal said. "That speaks to the performance, reliability and comfort of our flagship, the G650ER, along with the G650, G550 and G450, as well as the world-class service and support we give to our owners and operators." China-based operators have a strong resource for their maintenance needs in Gulfstream's Beijing service centerNovember 2012, the site at Beijing Capital International Airport has grown to 52 employees, including 24 technicians. The facility has had more than 540 aircraft visits, including 134 in 2015.



To support Gulfstream's growing fleet in the region, approximately $65 million in parts are positioned in Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore. Gulfstream's Jim Gallagher, who recently joined the Asia-Pacific support team as director, Customer Support, said continued focus on parts in the region has resulted in faster shipments to operators and quicker returns to service. A short distance from Hong Kong International Airport, the home base of more than 50 Gulfstream aircraft, including eight G650/G650ERs, is Gulfstream's Product Support Asia office, which includes a valuable resource for operators, the Asia Customer Support Contact Center. The center offers computer maintenance program analysis, technical system support, over-the-counter parts sales and warranty assistance.

Gulfstream also recently signed its first China-based customer for its cost-per-hour maintenance program, PlaneParts. The program offers customers predictable maintenance costs for replacement parts due to scheduled and unscheduled events. Working closely with operators in Greater China are field service representatives in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. In Hong Kong and Bangkok, Gulfstream has Field and Airborne Support Team (FAST) technicians who specialize in rapid-response assistance to operators in aircraft-on-ground situations. Also in Hong Kong, Gulfstream has a company-authorized service center, Jet Aviation, and a company-authorized warranty facility, Metrojet. Another customer resource is FlightSafety International's Gulfstream Learning Center for technicians and pilots that features a level-D qualified full-flight simulator for the G550 and G450. NOTE TO EDITORS Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world's most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,500 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. To meet the diverse transportation needs of the future, Gulfstream offers a comprehensive fleet of aircraft, comprising the Gulfstream G150TM, the Gulfstream G280TM, the Gulfstream G450TM, the Gulfstream G550TM, the Gulfstream G500TM, the Gulfstream G600TM, the Gulfstream G650TM and the Gulfstream G650ERTM. Gulfstream also offers aircraft ownership services via Gulfstream Pre-Owned Aircraft SalesTM. We invite you to visit our website for more information and photos at www.gulfstreamnews.com. More information about General Dynamics is available at www.generaldynamics.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140428/81320 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gulfstream-fleet-continues-to-grow-in-greater-china-300248906.html SOURCE Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.

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[April 11, 2016] NHK WORLD To Air "Tidy Up With KonMari!" Two-Part TV Special Featuring Marie Kondo, Best-Selling Author And Decluttering Consultant

NEW YORK, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Marie Kondo, best-selling author and creator of the KonMari decluttering method, will be the subject of "Tidy Up with KonMari!," a two-part television documentary special from NHK WORLD TV, Japan's sole public broadcaster and all English language channel of NHK. The 28-minute programs chronicle the KonMari process used by Ms. Kondo as she helps two Brooklyn homeowners declutter their abodes and are scheduled to air as follows:







Part 1 Friday, May 6 at 7:10PM (EDT)

Saturday, May 7 at 1:10AM/6:10AM/1:10PM Part 2 Saturday, May 7 at 7:10PM (EDT)

Sunday, May 8 at 1:10AM/6:10AM/1:10PM

"Tidy Up with KonMari!" can be viewed on the NHK WORLD website or NHK WORLD TV App (available on Android and iOS). A complete list of NHK WORLD partner stations airing the "Tidy Up with KonMari!" specials in Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Charlotte can be found HERE. "Americans generally have larger living spaces than the Japanese which causes them to utilize their excess space as storage for things they may not necessarily need or want," said Marie Kondo. "The positive effects of an organized and tidy environment transcend all areas of our lives, from relationships and work performance to our general state of mind." Yoko Mizutani, a producer from NED, NHK Educational Corporation, the NHK division producing the specials, was responsible for overseeing the production. "Through our program, viewers will see Ms. Kondo in action as she smartens up rooms with her KonMari method and shares new ways of thinking about possessions, our surroundings and their inter-relationship," said Ms. Mizutani. "With specific tools and approaches, Ms. Kondo helps us understand what kind of things people hoard as collections and how people can effectively downsize their possessions and improve their lives. In our program, you will see exactly how people change their lives through the process of decluttering." "We are pleased to announce our special program featuring Marie Kondo, now the most well-known decluttering consultant in Japan and the U.S.," said Ken Kumata, Senior Manager, Digital and Program Management Division, NHK WORLD Department, who is responsible for the Kondo programs. "Tidying up is a thorny problem common to us all. Through this new program, we hope to increase awareness and viewers of NHK WORLD TV in the US." About Marie Kondo About NHK WORLD NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is Japan's sole public broadcaster, operating the nation's largest domestic and international television network. In Japan, NHK broadcasts four TV channels and three radio stations. NHK also transmits two international television channels, NHK WORLD TV (English, HD, 24/7) and NHK WORLD PREMIUM (Japanese, 24/7), as well as international radio services in eighteen languages. NHK WORLD TV reaches over 290 million households in 150 countries and regions via local satellite and cable TV providers. The free mobile App, online live streaming, and VOD (video on-demand) services on the website, give viewers access to NHK WORLD TV anywhere and anytime. You can also connect through Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. Presenting an extensive range of Asia-centered programming, NHK WORLD is your window to Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world. About Japan International Broadcasting, Inc. Japan International Broadcasting Inc. (JIB), a subsidiary of NHK, is responsible for the worldwide distribution of NHK WORLD TV, as well as the Japanese language channel NHK WORLD PREMIUM. Currently, the two channels are broadcast around the world on three international plus domestic satellites in their respective markets and reach households, hotels and others via DTH, cable, IPTV and terrestrial broadcast. An edited reel of Ms. Kondo visiting the Brooklyn home owners can be found here: "Tidy Up with KonMari" TV Special Reel including her tidying consultation with two Brooklyn homes. For more information or interview coordination, please contact Heidi Raker, RG PR, 212-863-4108 or 201-681-5878 or email [email protected]. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nhk-world-to-air-tidy-up-with-konmari-two-part-tv-special-featuring-marie-kondo-best-selling-author-and-decluttering-consultant-300248908.html SOURCE NHK WORLD TV

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[April 11, 2016]

Chegg to Announce First Quarter 2016 Financial Results

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chegg, Inc. (NYSE: CHGG), the Student Hub, today announced that it is scheduled to release its earnings results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2016 ended March 31, 2016, on Monday, May 2, 2016, after the market close. Chegg will host a conference call to discuss the first quarter financial results at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) on the same day.

To access the call, please dial 1-877-407-4018, or outside the U.S. +1-201-689-8471, five minutes prior to 1:30p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (or 4:30p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). A live webcast of the call will also be available at http://investor.chegg.com under the Events & Presentations menu.







An audio replay will be available beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time May 2, 2016, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time May 9, 2016, by calling 1-877-870-5176, or outside the U.S. + 1-858-384-5517, with Conference ID 13634835. An audio archive of the call will also be available at http://investor.chegg.com.

ABOUT CHEGG

Chegg puts students first. As the leading student-first connected learning platform, the company makes higher education more affordable, more accessible, and more successful for students. Chegg is a publicly-held company based in Santa Clara, California and trades on the NYSE under the symbol CHGG. For more information, visit www.chegg.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140116/NY47534LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chegg-to-announce-first-quarter-2016-financial-results-300249332.html

SOURCE Chegg, Inc.
[April 11, 2016] Bigelow Aerospace and United Launch Alliance Join Forces to Foster a New Era of Sustainable Commercialization in Low Earth Orbit

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bigelow Aerospace (BA) and United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced they are partnering to develop and deploy habitable volumes in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The volumes will be based on the Bigelow Aerospace B330 expandable module with the initial launch to orbit in 2020 on ULA's Atlas V 552 configuration launch vehicle. The B330 will have 330 cubic meters (12,000 cu ft) of internal space. The craft will support zero-gravity research including scientific missions and manufacturing processes. Beyond its industrial and scientific purposes, however, it has potential as a destination for space tourism and a craft for missions destined for the Moon and Mars. "We are exploring options for the location of the initial B330 including discussions with NASA on the possibility of attaching it to the International Space Station (ISS)," said Robert Bigelow, founder and president of Bigelow Aerospace. "In that configuration, the B330 will enlarge the station's volume by 30% and function as a multipurpose testbed in support of NASA's exploration goals as well as provide significant commercial opportunities. The working name for this module is XBASE or Expandable Bigelow Advanced Station Enhancement." "When looking for a vehicle to launch our large, unique spacecraft, ULA provides a heritage of solid mission success, schedule certainty and a cost effective solution," continued Mr. Bigelow. Transportation to the B330 will be provided by NASA's commercial crew providers, whether the station is free flying or attached to the ISS. The traffic to just one module will more than double the number of crew flights per year. "We could not be more pleased than to partner with Bigelow Aerospace andreserve a launch slot on our manifest for this revolutionary mission," said Tory Bruno, ULA president and CEO. "This innovative and game-changing advance will dramatically increase opportunities for space research in fields like materials, medicine and biology. And it enables destinations in space for countries, corporations and even individuals far beyond what is available today, effectively democratizing space. We can't begin to imagine the future potential of affordable real estate in space."



Development of Bigelow's B330 is well underway as is the integration of the B330 to the Atlas V. The companies are working together to develop the business construct, commercial product offerings and marketing plans. Once the habitat is proven and markets are established, additional B330's will be deployed to other locations, even the moon and Mars, to meet increasing demand for habitable volumes in space. About Bigelow Aerospace

Bigelow Aerospace is a destination oriented company with a focus on expandable systems for use in a variety of space applications. Chief among which are habitable systems for human or robotic use in low Earth orbit, on the lunar surface or in deep space. As such, these NASA heritage systems provide for greater volume, safety, opportunity and economy than the aluminum alternatives. For more information on Bigelow Aerospace visit www.bigelowaerospace.com, www.facebook.com/bigelowaerospace, www.twitter.com/BigelowSpace and www.instagram.com/bigelowspace

About United Launch Alliance

With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation's most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 100 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system. For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com. Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch, and instagram.com/ulalaunch. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bigelow-aerospace-and-united-launch-alliance-join-forces-to-foster-a-new-era-of-sustainable-commercialization-in-low-earth-orbit-300249646.html SOURCE United Launch Alliance

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The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Dr. Lanre Tejuoso, on Monday said that between 50,000 and N100,000 Nigerians contact cancer ann...

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Dr. Lanre Tejuoso, on Monday said that between 50,000 and N100,000 Nigerians contact cancer annually in the country.Senator Tejuoso spoke as stakeholders at a one-day public hearing on a Bill for an Act to Establish National Centre for Cancer Research and Treatment in Nigeria expressed concerns over the spread of the disease in the country.Tejuoso underscored the World Health Organisation (WHO) report that cancer is a major cause of global deaths with seven million being recorded every year and 72 per cent of such deaths occurring in middle income countries such as Nigeria.He noted that the rate of deaths caused by cancer in the world is about13 per cent.The Ogun State lawmaker noted that the Cancer Research Centre will foster scientific improvement to cancer prevention, treatment and care and as well co-ordinate and liaise between the wide range of groups and health care providers with an interest in cancer.Tejuoso listed other objectives of the centre to include making recommendations to the government about cancer policy and priorities; overseeing dedicated budget for research centre; assisting with the implementation of government policies and programmes in cancer control and providing financial assistance out of money appropriated by the National Assembly for research and treatment.He noted that one out of every eight women expect to be diagnosed of breast or cervical cancer in their lifetime.According to him, two of every 10 men expect to be diagnosed for prostate, lungs and colorectal cancer.He said: It is also well known that the various forms of cancer disease have been more felt in Africa and Nigeria in particular where resources and awareness are not readily available for prevention, diagnose and treatment. This bill seeks to provide for establishment of the National Centre for Cancer Research and Treatment to research into cancer and to provide treatment to patients in Nigeria.The Ministry of Health represented by a director in the ministry, Dr. Patience Osinubi, noted that instead of narrowing the handling of cancer disease to establishing a research centre, the bill should embrace a holistic approach to the disease by establishing National Agency for the Control of Cancer.She also highlighted the need to focus on every area related to the ailment, noting that cancer is treatable if it is detected earlier.
The House of Representatives on Monday accused the executive of causing disaffection over the 2016 budget, saying it was the Minister of ...

The House of Representatives on Monday accused the executive of causing disaffection over the 2016 budget, saying it was the Minister of Transportation that attempted to pad the bill.Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Chairman of the Houses Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas, said that majority of the stories in the media were mere propaganda.Stating that the media reports were meant to cause disaffection between the National Assembly and a section of the country, he said that Lagos-Calabar rail project was never included in the budget by President Muhammadu Buhari.The item was brought for inclusion in the budget by Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, but was not included in the budget because only the President is allowed to present the budget before the National Assembly, Namdas said.According to him, this was an attempt at padding the budget.The media is awash with story that the National Assembly has removed the Calabar- Lagos railway project from the budget.I want to make it very clear that we dont have that in the presentation made by the President to the National Assembly, so we couldnt have removed what was not even inserted in the first place.It was the Minister of Transport that brought the Calabar- Lagos railway to be included in the budget.We want to state clearly that the budget is something that is proposed by the president; we do not receive budget from minister.So, for somebody to say we actually removed the Calabar-Lagos railway project from the budget, I think someone is trying to spoil our good image.We want to state again that all that was sent to the National Assembly from the supplementary budget and others had a smooth sail, and it is on record that some people lost their job because of this budget, he said.Namdas said that the executive had agreed that some people tempered with the budget.He said that if the president discovered something that he wanted to be included, he should have sent the budget back and we will take a look at it.But right now, there is no official notice to the National Assembly that the president will not sign the budget, he said.
Two major urban areas are trying to make it easier for parents to choose and enroll in schools. But Los Angeles and Detroit district officials are taking opposite approaches.

Los Angeles Unified School District wants to start a one-stop application for its own specialized schools, such as magnets and dual-language programs. But the district plans to exclude charter schools.

Detroit only has charter schools and one private campus in its new application system. No district schools are involved.

School districts across the nation are increasingly trying to simplify the way parents apply for the myriad of public-school choices and make the process more equitable. Single-enrollment systems, especially, have grown in districts with many choice options, such as efforts started in 2012 with Denver and New Orleans . But the results have been mixed and often have resulted in parent complaints, such as in Newark, N.J.

Los Angeles and Detroit both have neighborhood schools, along with charters and other options.

Los Angeles Unified, the nations second-largest school district with 640,000 students, recently started discussing a unified enrollment process to help parents navigate the districts eight or so specialized programs, as well as its traditional district schools.

Now, if parents want to leave their neighborhood schools, every program has a different application system. The enrollment process spreads over eight months, said Jesus Angulo, director of academic and counseling services. An April 1 story in LA School Report described how more than 100 parents lined up at one school to get a permit for a school. One father spent the night.

The district wants to crunch down the window to about six weeks in the fall each year as a way to better support communities and families so they can make important choices for their sons or daughters, Angulo said.

No timeline has been set to start the new application process.

The plan comes as Los Angeles Unified already has lost many students from traditional district campuses to charter schools. More than 150,000 students attend Los Angeles charter schools, which make up about one in five in the district, according to the California Charter Schools Association .

Its really streamlining our own internal process, Angulo said. We really want to do the best job we can in our own system within our district.

In Detroit, district officials were initially part of the talks to join the common enrollment system, run by the non-profit organization, Excellent Schools Detroit . But Detroit Public Schools, which has roughly 50,000 students, decided to stay out for now.

The district has been under state oversight and emergency managers since 2009 .

Detroit Public Schools actively participated in the policy discussions surrounding the development of a common enrollment system for schools in Detroit. However, given the state of transition that currently exists in the District, we elected not to join in the pilot program, said Michelle Zdrodowski, Detroits executive director of communications, in a statement.

In the meantime, Detroit families with children entering kindergarten or 9th grade can choose between more than 40 schools during the 30-day window this month, according to a story in the Detroit Free Press .

Education Week has been following school-choice programs, as well as issues in Los Angeles and Detroit schools. Here are some of our stories:

Contact Sarah Tully at stully@epe.org .

Follow @ParentAndPublic for the latest news on schools and parental involvement.

Dont miss another K-12 Parents and the Public post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox.
Fresh reports have exposed how the National assembly cancelled development projects in southern Nigeria then divert the money for more dev...

Fresh reports have exposed how the National assembly cancelled development projects in southern Nigeria then divert the money for more development projects in the north.According to ThisDay, in a shocking move, the lawmakers scrapped the N80 billion earmarked Lagos-Calabar rail project diverting N40 billion from the earmarked Lagos-Calabar rail project to the Lagos-Kano rail project. Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted that he will review the 2016 Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly.Buhari said he would check if passed bill is in-line with his agenda for the country.The balance of N40 billion was then distributed to projects located in the north, mainly roads  many of which are located in the constituencies of the appropriation committee chairmen in the senate and House of Representatives, Senator Danjuma Goje and Hon. Abdulmumini Jibrin, respectively.The Lagos-Calabar rail project is joint project between Nigerias federal government and the government of China.It was also reported that the project is one of the reasons why President Buhari is visiting china.(This Day)
A startling confession left members of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos speechless on Sunday 10th April 2015, as a Ni...

A startling confession left members of The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos speechless on Sunday 10th April 2015, as a Nigerian university lecturer revealed her literal journey through hell.Dr Azuh Mary Ifeoma said her battle with demonic oppression had led her to practically all the major churches in Nigeria but it was the prayer of T.B. Joshua  whom she had been bluntly told was a devil  that finally set her free.According to the academic, her problem began when her father, who was a pastor with the late Archbishop Benson Idahosas Church Of God Mission, decided to destroy the shrine where a goddess was worshipped in her village in Aniocha North, Delta State, Nigeria.Mary led the youth of that village in a triumphant dance at the scene of the destroyed temple, mocking the gods the community had worshipped for centuries. Little did she know the horrific spiritual repercussions of her innocent actions that were about to unfold.One unforgettable night in her mid teens, a female image appeared physically to Mary. She told me that my father burned her shrine, she reminisced, describing the lady as old but extremely beautiful. That signalled the beginning of a tortuous journey.With her uncanny academic proficiency, Mary quickly rose through the ranks to become a lecturer in Economics at Delta State Polytechnic in her early 20s. But it was in front of her students at the lecture hall that the demons struck in the cruellest of manners.Each time I entered the lecture hall or I was in a crowd of people, the image would appear, she solemnly recalled, stressing this was a supernatural phenomena she alone witnessed.It comes with a sound like the beating of drums. When she comes, she would stand and order me to be dancing in the way we danced before her shrine. I would abandon everything I did at that moment, start dancing and then collapse. When I opened my eyes, I would see myself surrounded by my students or in a hospital.Understandably, most onlookers attributed her eerily erratic behaviour to a mental breakdown but frequent visits to psychiatric hospitals left no discernible diagnosis of any psychological problem.Abandoning her home in Delta State, Mary began a desperate search for deliverance that cost her millions, left her heavily indebted and took her as far afield as South Africa.The problem was beyond my pastor, Mary acknowledged, adding that she was a faithful member of Faith Liberation Church. Her overseer directed her to Dunamis International Gospel Centre in Abuja to seek for spiritual help.Dr Paul Enenche prayed for me and told me that the case had been settled, she recounted. I thought the end had come but it continued.Dr Azuh was next advised to see to a female senior leader of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), who organised a special day of deliverance for her.Merely days earlier, the lecturer had been casually given an Anointing Sticker from The SCOAN by a friend conversant with her unusual troubles, which she placed on her vehicle.I went to that place with my Highlander SUV, she began. When the pastor entered, she was climbing the stair case and shouting, Who owns that car? When she learned I was the one, the woman burst into tongues. At a point, she spoke out  The spirit of TB Joshua has possessed you! Mary was perplexed. She had never visited The SCOAN or met T.B. Joshua before. She told the pastors to form a circle and instructed I kneel down and confess everything I had to do with The Synagogue, Dr Azuh recalled.The angry crowd of pastors then led her to the car and demanded she give them the demonic sticker. They bought kerosene and poured it on the sticker. The woman started striking the matches but they all refused to light.The female pastor began shouting obscenities about Joshua at her failed attempts to burn the sticker before proceeding with prayers for Mary.The night after this deliverance, Marys spiritual entanglements seemed only to worsen. She was then directed to Apostle Johnson Suleman of Omega Fire Ministries in Auchi, Edo State.I met the senior pastor of the church, she revealed. He said there was no way I could see the apostle unless I sowed a seed of faith.N50,000 later, Mary met with the charismatic apostle. He said that he had known my case, that before his mentor, Archbishop Benson Idahosa, died, he warned him not to have anything to do with TB Joshua. He said deliverance was a small matter. He prayed for me and told me the problem was solved and it would never happen to me again.That night, still in a hostel belonging to Suleman, Mary said she was almost strangled to death by the strange forces that had possessed her.After complaining that the deliverance did not work, Suleman asked Mary to follow her to Lagos where she met with Nigerias biggest pastor, presumably referring to Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church Of God.He prayed for me and assured me all was well, she narrated. Alas, the attacks continued unabated.I was just like a mad person, looking for a solution at all costs to this problem, Mary described, adding that she had sold or mortgaged most of her properties to finance her various church trips.Her next port of call was to the church headed by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).The same rhetoric was repeated. Why will you have anything to do with T.B. Joshua? That man is demonic. What you are seeing are tricks. He is not recognised. He must show us the one mentored him before he became a pastor.Invited to Oritsejafors Jubilee Program in Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, Mary says she was anointed by blood of Jesus that was especially brought in from Jerusalem. The day after the program ended, she was sacked from her place of work.On the verge of giving up, Mary then decided to try another upcoming pastor in Warri known as Prophet Jeremiah of Christ Mercyland Deliverance Ministries. They sucked all the money from my pocket, she revealed, explaining that she was at his expensive mountain for 14 days without any improvement to her condition.A friend then financed a trip to South Africa for Dr Azuh to meet with Prophet Shepherd Bushiri of the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG). However, it was only general prayer and laying of hands that happened and no change materialised.Losing hope in pastors, Mary went to a graveyard with a spiritualist who said she must sleep on the tomb of someone who had died at her age.In the process of performing the diabolical ritual, a security man monitoring the graveyard discovered the duo, causing the herbalist to run away in fear.The final straw came in March 2016 when Mary was attacked inside a stadium where she was about to present a speech. Getting home, her fifteen year old son confronted his mum angrily, saying the shame and embarrassment of her problem had made him a mockery in school.Mummy, if you dont go to The Synagogue, I will never eat food again, he defiantly told her. Penniless and hopeless, she decided to visit the place she had been warned never to step foot into, resolving that if this failed, she would flee Nigeria for good.Arriving at The SCOAN on Sunday 3rd April 2016, as T.B. Joshua began to move around during his time of prophecies, something remarkable happened.When he got closer, I was not seeing the prophet; I was seeing a pillar of fire. The next thing I knew was that I saw myself on the floor.Unbeknown to her, in the time-frame of her lost consciousness, the demonic goddess within Dr Mary had confessed before Joshua intricate details of the destruction it had wrought in her life, career and family.The Federal University of Imo State lecturer testified that since her deliverance, there was not a single demonic encounter, adding that she visited the local market amidst people without any qualms for the first time in well over a decade.To cap it off, she reconciled with her brother who assumed she was dead and had even conducted a traditional burial ceremony in the light of her strange disappearance nearly 17 years prior.We searched almost all of the cities in Nigeria  all in vain, Azuh Don Uche tearfully testified as he embraced his sister.Then, we gave up. The trauma of that killed both of my parents. The year we buried her was the year my mother died. Four years later, my father also died.Surprisingly, one of the first people to contact Mary after her deliverance was a senior pastor of Oritsejafors church, stating that they had seen her live on Emmanuel TVDont allow somebody to deceive you, Dr Azuh concluded. I went to many churches but none showed me love like what I received here. Love is the greatest.Surprisingly, T.B. Joshua was absent for the entirety of her testimony.Ihechukwu Njoku is a freelance Nigerian journalist.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has criticized Governor Ayodele Fayose over his stance against the establishment of e...

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has criticized Governor Ayodele Fayose over his stance against the establishment of election crimes tribunal to try individuals involved in election frauds.The party also alleged that the governor was banned by the United States of America government from travelling to the country for his consistent involvement in alleged electoral and fnancial fraudsThe governor had last week faulted the plan by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) to establish election crimes tribunal to try individuals involved in fraudulent practices and violence during elections saying it was a ploy by the Federal Government to appoint its cronies into as judges to give favourable judgements to the ruling party.He also said the Federal Government would manipulate the federal institutions, such as the Police, Army, DSS and INEC officials to implicate members of the opposition in such election crimes courts.In a statement by APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun yesterday, the party said that by opposing the proposal, Fayose was afraid of his own shadow by the way the federal institutions he listed were manipulated to help him win the June 21, 2014 governorship election.Olatunbosun who noted that it was not surprising that the governor was a lone voice in the opposition to poll crime court said,We are not surprised that Fayose is afraid of election crimes court because he knows how he emerged as the governor. He is afraid to face the court because he can never win any election without committing fraud and attacking the opposition.
The Presidency has confronted the leadership of the National Assembly, NASS, with details of distortions orchestrated by the lawmakers ...

The Presidency handed down the plea at a crucial meeting summoned by President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday night with the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and ministers in attendance.Sources close to the meeting, which took place at the Presidential Villa, revealed that the President used the opportunity of the meeting to review the budget with the leadership of the NASS and highlighted the areas of concern to his administration.However, the House of Representatives insisted that what it did was in tandem with President Buharis change agenda.In particular, the president complained to the leadership of the legislature that the huge sums of money the lawmakers removed from key areas of infrastructure, agricultural and socio-economic development and added to non-essential areas would derail the agenda of his administration.The president was said to have expressed regret that it amounted to a slap on his change agenda for the money meant for the strategic Calabar-Lagos Coastal Railway project and major agricultural projects to be removed by the lawmakers when the administration was trying to open up the country and provide mass transportation scheme for goods and services.The meeting was called after ministers had spent the night to rush through the details of the budget which the lawmakers transmitted to the Presidency only last Thursday. The ministers, it was learned, came to the conclusion that their budget had been significantly distorted and that it would be impossible for them to make the needed change if the budget was accepted the way it was given to them by the NASS.For that reason, the presidency has asked leadership of the NASS to take back the document and rework it to accommodate the key national projects, which they removed and to eliminate the ones inserted by them to enable the president assent to the budget. Alternatively, the president would sign the budget as a formality and introduce a supplementary budget to remove the offending items and to reflect his wish for Nigerians.Among the offending discoveries in the budget details, which the President is uncomfortable with are the huge sums of money taken away from key projects and added to constituency projects of the lawmakers, most of which were never discussed or proposed by the executive.* N4 billion removed from Ministry of Health budget and added to Code of Conduct Tribunal* Cost of 80 illegal roads without designs added to Works budget, 30 of them not Federal* Money meant for Works, power transmission, diverted by lawmakers for tricycles, town halls, boreholes in their constituencies* 73 illegal projects added to Education budget  no designs available for the projects, and no tenders conducted* Lawmakers slashed money for poor students by 50% in Education budget and added same to their states constituencies.It was gathered that although the N60 billion meant for the Calabar-Lagos rail budget was not in the original budget, the Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, successfully defended and got it included in the amended budget.President Muhammadu Buhari, who left Abuja for Beijing, China, last night, to press for more financial support for the country, was said to be working on the premise that the NASS would rework the budget to meet his expectation for assent upon his return within the week. Lawmakers, especially those who were schemed out by the leadership in the sharing of the constituency projects are upset by the discovery and are likely to confront the beneficiaries as they resume today for plenary.Meanwhile, some Senators and members of the House of Representatives were divided, yesterday, over refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Budget. For instance, Senator John Enoh and Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmunin Jibrin, disagreed over the inclusion of the rail project in the budget. While Enoh said it was included and wondered who removed it, Jibrin said the Lagos-Calabar rail project was never included.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has thrown its weight behind President Muhammadu Buharis decision to return the 2016 ...

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has thrown its weight behind President Muhammadu Buharis decision to return the 2016 Budget to the National Assembly and not to assent to it until the lawmakers restore the removed portions.Rivers APC in a statement signed by its Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, argued that the lawmakers erred in removing what the party described as critical aspects of the 2016 Appropriation Bill, saying that what NASS submitted to the Presidency on Thursday was unacceptable.The party said: We are shocked to read in the papers about the removal of some of the critical portions of the 2016 Budget by the National Assembly. These include the Coastal Railway project being jointly funded by Nigeria and China, for which a counterpart funding of N60bn was provided but which was completely removed by the National Assembly. While the Lagos  Kano provision was left untouched, the Calabar  Lagos line was inexplicably removed by the lawmakers. Also, the amount proposed for the completion of the Idu  Kaduna rail project which has reached an advanced stage was reduced by N8.7bn, a development which will make it difficult for the project to be completed. In addition, while the Executive had provided for the completion of all major road projects across the country, the National Assembly reduced the amounts provided and instead included new roads which studies have not even been conducted.As if that is not enough, in the health sector, proposals made for the purchase of essential drugs for major health campaigns like Polio and AIDs for which the store is fast depleting were removed and the amounts allocated to provision of ambulance, which the ministry did not ask for. Besides, certain provisions made in the areas of Agriculture and Water Resources to further the Federal Governments diversification project where either removed or reduced while the funds were moved to provision of rural health facilities and boreholes, for which provisions have been made elsewhere.Continuing, Rivers APC said in the statement issued Monday in Port Harcourt: Some hawks within NASS are saying that the missing portions are not contained in the budget in the first instance but we are aware that in the amended budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari last January after the dust had settled over the missing budget, the sum of N80 billion was included for the Calabar  Lagos rail project in the amended budget by the executive and submitted to NASS. After the submission, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, also followed up by presenting a document in defence of the Calabar  Lagos railway project to the National Assembly in order to ensure that it was passed as one of the subheads for the budget of his ministry. However, to our chagrin, this important aspect of the budget was removed for reasons we do not know.We wish to emphasise that this unholy act by NASS is unacceptable because these are some of the key projects with which the present administration can positively impact on the countrys economy and meaningfully touch the lives of the generality of Nigerians.By rejecting the doctored budget by NASS, President Buhari has once more proved that he is not just an ordinary leader but a patriotic, astute, caring leader and a true statesman who means well for the emancipation and greatness of this nation. We therefore appeal to our distinguished lawmakers not to fall into the hands of parochial and enemies of our nation by doing the needful to avoid being tagged as working against the common interest of the people of Nigeria. We plead very sincerely with our lawmakers not to play politics with this budget as it will go a long way in restoring hope and faith to our people.Meanwhile, we urge Nigerians to exercise patience and continue to have faith in the APC led Federal Government as it will surely bring smiles to the faces of the good people of this nation.Rivers APC said it understood that President Buhari had wished to sign the budget before embarking on his official trip to China earlier on Sunday. We, therefore, appeal to our distinguished lawmakers to correct the errors in the budget and resend to the Presidency in good enough time for President Buhari to sign shortly after he returns from China, the party said.Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze,SSA on Media and Public Affairs to the State Chairman, APC Rivers State
A Channels TV correspondent identified as Mr. Tope Kutiyi has reportedly been kidnapped by unknown armed men in the early hours of Monday.

A Channels TV correspondent identified as Mr. Tope Kutiyi has reportedly been kidnapped by unknown armed men in the early hours of Monday.It was gathered that Kutiyi was woken up from his sleep by his abductors, after they successfully scaled through the perimeter fence of his residence in Federal Housing Estate, Umuguma, and whisked away to an unknown destination by his captors.Although it was not clear if the hoodlums removed anything from the house, however it was gathered that Kutiyis wife was not at home when the kidnappers struck, because she went to visit her sister, whose husband reportedly died.Meanwhile, passionate appeals have been sent to the correspondents captors, to release him unconditionally and unharmed.The Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Acho Ihim, who said he received the news with shock, also described the incident as regrettable, uncharitable, unchristian and anachronistic.Chief Ihim described Mr. Kutiyi as a complete gentleman, who does his job with sentimental attachment, equally wondered why he should be a target for kidnappers.Reacting also on behalf of Governor Rochas Okorocha, his Chief Press Secretary, CPS, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said the young man is only a reporter who cannot be said to have been kidnapped because of money, adding that only those behind the act know why they decided to inconvenience the reporter and his family.Those holding the reporter should please release him to reunite with his family. A reporter cannot afford to pay any ransom. To some of us, he may have been a victim f mistaken identity, Okorocha said.The Governor also reasoned that they must have done this to blackmail the state government, having been heavily commended for fighting and reducing cases of kidnapping and other heinous crimes in the state to the nearest minimum.When contacted, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, confirmed the incident and quickly added that the Command was already at work to unravel those behind the crime.
Barely three weeks after their arrest, the self-confessed Chibok suicide bomber, Aissatou Musa, and her partner, Mamma Sali, are yet to...

Barely three weeks after their arrest, the self-confessed Chibok suicide bomber, Aissatou Musa, and her partner, Mamma Sali, are yet to be released to the Federal Government.The two girls were said to be undergoing what a security source described as bonafide investigation in Yaounde.Some Nigerian security agents are in the Camerounian capital, Yaounde, to assist their counterparts on the profiling of the girls.According to a top security source, the Camerounian government said it wanted a comprehensive investigation which may provide some information on the operation of Boko Haram in the Francophone country.The source said: The two girls have not been handed over to the Federal Government because of the ongoing strategic bonafide investigation.They said they cannot just dismiss the girls and return them to Nigeria because they were arrested by local self-defence forces in Limani , which is in the far North of Cameroon being ravaged by Boko Haram.They told our team that it is in the interest of the two countries to gather enough intelligence from the suspects.Some of our security agents are still in Yaounde to compare notes and collaborate on the next step. We have asked them to hand over the girls to us for further investigation.The Cameroonian authorities have concluded a preliminary investigation which indicated that the girls were not Chibok girls and they had no connection with the abducted 219 girls.It was learnt that the two girls have never had the opportunity of Western Education.A report said in part: Available information as regards the acclaimed Chibok girl indicated as follows: Aissatou Musa, who claimed to be one of the Chibok girls, is the daughter of Musa Bladi and Fanta(mother) of Mandara Ethnic Group.The second girl is Mamma Sali. She is the daughter of Sali Chetima and Hajiya Bintou of Kanuri tribe.Both hailed from Bama and speak in Mandara, Hausa and Kanuri. They have never been to Western school except Koranic schools. They have no relationship with the 219 Chibok girls.The #BringBackOurGirls group has however, in a statement, offered suggestions on how to manage such an incident in a quicker, more responsive and professional handling in the future.The statement said: Following the incident of Friday 26 March, 2016, wherein two females carrying explosives were arrested in the northern Cameroonian town of Limanione of which professed to be one of our Chibok girlswe feel obligated, as a movement in the forefront of the advocacy for the rescue of our 219 Chibok girls (as well as other abductees of Boko Haram, and related issues), to offer our well-considered positions on the matter.We are convinced that our positions and suggestions will be useful for our especially the Nigerian government in the on-going operations to rescue all Nigerian abductees and our 219 Chibok girls who were taken under distressing conditions from their school on the night of 14 April 2014.
For the second time in six months, ex-Petroleum Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has been told by a London court that she has a case...

For the second time in six months, ex-Petroleum Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has been told by a London court that she has a case to answer regarding the 27,000 money laundering and bribery allegation made against her by the United Kingdoms National Crime Agency (NCA).She will be returning to the court in September this year, after the Westminster Magistrates Court granted the request of the NCA on March 31, for another six months to give the agency more time to tighten its case.Mrs. Madueke will be on bail with her mother Mrs. Beatrice Agama, the lead suspect; son Ugonna Madueke, family friend Ms Melanie Spencer, wife of a Ghanaian oil tycoon, Kevin Okyere; and one of her siblings till the court reconvenes in September.It is typical of the NCA, drawing its authority from the Proceeds of Crime Act, to ask for more time for its investigations to build a strong case.The Proceeds of Crime Act says: The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) sets out the legislative scheme for the recovery of criminal assets with criminal confiscation being the most commonly used power.Confiscation occurs after a conviction has taken place. Other means of recovering the proceeds of crime, which do not require a conviction, are provided for in the Act, namely civil recovery, cash seizure and taxation powers.The investigation is now global, extending to Nigeria and Switzerland, where billionaire businessman Kola Aluko was questioned and his home raided on the request of the NCA.Aluko, with Swiss nationality and owner of Atlantic Energy, did some oil deals with NNPC while Alison-Madueke was in charge. He is believed to be a key figure in the money laundering network.Atlantic Energy signed a lucrative strategic alliance in 2011 with NNPC while Alison-Madueke was in charge of Petroleum Ministry, giving it rights to sell oil from four big blocks on behalf of Nigeria.Before the oil price crashed, Aluko said the commercial value of the contract was estimated at $7 billion.Aluko confirmed to the Sunday Times of London last year a probe on potential violations of the United Kingdom Proceeds of Crime Act and Bribery Act, but professed his innocence.He said: I am willing to co-operate with anybody. I have nothing to hide.The businessman added that he paid the rent on a flat in St Johns Wood in London for Alison-Maduekes mother, as well as bringing her hams, sausages and orchids.Beatrice, Alison-Madueke, son and others involved in the laundering and bribery allegation risk losing the 27,000 in contention and jail term if the charges were filed and proved against the respondents.
Former Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro has taken another shot at her former employers over her sacking this season.Carneiro was branded naive" by the ex-Blues boss for rushing on to the field to treat Eden Hazard, meaning his side were left with nine men for the final seconds against Swansea.Carneiro, who is suing Chelsea and Mourinho, told a London medical conference: The relationship with management absolutely affects how ready (players) feel to take on a risk.Trust in the medical team is essential. If you get a player to trust you enough, he is much more likely to progress well."
The Federal Government has set aside a substantial amount of money in the 2016 budget to empower one million women through disbursement ...

The Federal Government has set aside a substantial amount of money in the 2016 budget to empower one million women through disbursement of loans.Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who said this in Kano yesterday, added that investment in women would have a positive impact on the countrys growth and their families.He was in the Northern commercial city on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari to commiserate with the government and traders, who lost goods worth trillions of naira in a fire, which engulfed Abubakar Rimi market in Sabon Gari.Osinbajo, who said the women would use the loans to start whatever business they desire, added the President was determined to surmount the economic challenges facing Nigerians.He assured the citizens that the nations lingering fuel scarcity and other hardships would soon be a thing of the past.The vice president said: I want to assure you that better days are coming. There are myriad of problems inherited by the incumbent administration and we are not only determined, but committed to tackle and solve them.President Buhari appreciates the pains Nigerians are feeling now, he knows what is going on and I want you to know and we know that he is an honest man, who is determined to make sure that the common man in this country enjoys the dividends of democracy.I will like us to join hands together with the governors and the government, so that we can all prosper and work diligently for the countrys development. President Buhari-led administration is determined to induce a change in the nations circumstances.I am here to commiserate with the market men and women, whose goods were recently consumed by a fire outbreak in Abubakar Rimi market in Sabon Gari. The market is the largest in West Africa, which is located where predominantly non-indigenes reside. But I learnt that in Kano, we have no non-indigenes, as everybody is a citizen, where people converge from here and there.He added: I commend Governor Ganduje for the massive structure being embarked upon by his government in rebuilding the market, which I hope would be a modern one that could be befitting and beneficiary.Osinbajo laid the foundation of projects to be executed by the Ganduje-led administration, as well as inaugurated an empowerment involving 500 women and 60 waste disposal tricycles.The governor noted that when the fire started, the government searched for firefighting vehicles, but learnt that they had gone for service, a situation which, he said, frustrated the efforts of putting off the fire.
A majority of African-American and Latino parents report that they want higher expectations for their children and better teachers in public schools, where they believe there are racial inequalities and funding disparities, according to a new national poll .

And some believe public schools are doing a poor job overall addressing those concerns.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights , a national coalition of 200 organizations, is releasing Monday a survey of about 800 African-American and Latino parents and caregivers about their attitudes toward and priorities for public schools. The release of the poll results will be accompanied by an event in Washington to discuss the findings.

About 90 percent of the polls participants said expectations for low-income children should be as high or higher than for other students.

They really want to see higher expectation for students of color, said Matt Hogan, a partner with Anzalone Liszt Grove Research that conducted the poll, in a Friday conference call with reporters. They overwhelmingly say basically, those expectations are not high enough and they want to see them higher.

About 80 percent of African-American and Latino students rated their own childrens schools positively, with higher opinions about schools where the student populations are mostly white.

But when asked about schools nationally, 53 percent of African-American participants said schools were doing a poor job preparing African-American children for the future, compared to about 28 percent of Latino respondents.

Also, about one-third of African-American and one-quarter of Latino participants responded that schools are not really trying to educate African American and Latino students.

I would say theres a big difference in how they see their childs school and how they see schools nationally, Hogan said.

Other poll findings include:



Both communities believe there are funding disparities between low-income and wealthy schools, as well as by race. About 83 percent of African-American respondents and 61 percent of Latino respondents reported they believe their schools receive less money as those in primarily white communities.

Half of the respondents said that quality teachers are the most important aspect of a good school. Respondents say the lack of funding, low-quality teachers, and racial bias are the top reasons why African-American and Latino students dont receive an education thats equal to that of white children.

About 45 percent of respondents said students family support was the most important factor for school success for low-income children, more so than schools themselves.

Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference Education Fund, said the poll was done to show the opinions of the new majority because children of color now make up most of the public school population . Also, the group wanted to highlight parents opinions in light of the recent passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which will be rolled out in schools soon.

(The group has spoken up about ESSA, the main federal K-12 law, before. Heres what the group said about ESSA in December and also what it is saying about the negotiated rulemaking , which is now underway.)

Henderson said he hopes the survey results will be used by advocates and schools to gauge public opinion, as well as engage parents in the process.

Phone interviews were conducted with about 400 African-American and 400 Latino parents and caregivers in March. About one-fifth of the interviews were conducted in Spanish. Focus groups were held with Latinos in Chicago and African Americans in Philadelphia.

Contact Sarah Tully at stully@epe.org .

Follow @ParentAndPublic for the latest news on schools and parental involvement.

Dont miss another K-12 Parents and the Public post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox.
A former Military Administrator of Bauchi and Osun states, Col. Theophilus Bamigboye (retd.); a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mallam Yusuf ...

A former Military Administrator of Bauchi and Osun states, Col. Theophilus Bamigboye (retd.); a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mallam Yusuf Ali; and the Bishop of the Diocese of Kwara, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Dr. Olusegun Adeyemi, on Sunday urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the anti-graft agencies to ensure that the anti-corruption war was not selective.They also advised him not to spare any corrupt person in the country, irrespective of the persons political affiliation or status.Bamigboye and Ali spoke during interviews with journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on the sideline of presidential/award luncheon and fund raising of the Rotary Club of Ilorin GRA.Adeyemi spoke in an interview with journalists during the dioceses synod at Eiyenkorin, Ilorin.Ali, who noted that the anti-corruption campaign was going on well, advised the Federal Government to grant amnesty to corrupt people who were willing to return their loot.He believed that this would make the recovery of stolen money easier.Ali said, I agree that the anti-corruption war must be holistic; holistic to the level that even those who have not been caught are tracked down. There should be amnesty; call people who you have found to have taken our money to return the money. What is important to us is how to get the money. Sending people to jail will not translate to money.So if you have taken our N20 and you are ready to give back N19, you can keep the N1 and we take the N19, we are still better off.Bamigboye, who is the President, Rotary Club of Ilorin GRA, urged Buhari and the anti-graft agencies to recover all Nigerias stolen money.He said, Of course, I support the anti-corruption war. It should be holistic. If you are a thief, you are a thief. If you are caught, you return what you have stolen. We should recover all stolen money.Adeyemi stated that it would be wrong for some corrupt people to be indicted and prosecuted while other corrupt people are left untouched, adding that there must not be any sacred cow in the anti-graft war.He added that Buhari must not be cowed or afraid in his efforts to reposition the country.Adeyemi said, Let President Buhari always remember to call for prayers. He cannot do it alone. He was a soldier, now he is a politician, and he is somebody who is into perfection. He should not be afraid. There are many people who love forthrightness. Let us work as a single entity.The Deputy Governor of Kwara State, Mr. Peter Kisira, called for divine intervention in the affairs of Kwara State and in Nigeria.Kisira, who was represented at the synod by the Permanent Secretary, Political, Cabinet and Special Services, Mr. David Adesina, urged Nigerians to continue to pray for the resuscitation of the national and state economies.He also deplored anti-social behaviours and vices in the society and called for attitudinal change.Kisira said, Events of the recent past have confirmed, in no unmistakable terms, that we are already at end times. It is no longer news that insurgency, terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, economic strangulation, poverty, youth restiveness, cultism, sexual abuse, and the likes are today the order of the day across the globe.
The Secretary to the Ekiti State Government, Dr Modupe Alade, has debunked news that she resigned her appointment from Governor Ayodele F...

The Secretary to the Ekiti State Government, Dr Modupe Alade, has debunked news that she resigned her appointment from Governor Ayodele Fayoses government.News had spread to town on Monday that she had resigned her appointment for an undisclosed reason.Social media was awash with the news of her resignation, forcing the state government to debunk the rumour in the state owned Broadcasting Service.The rumour came barely a week after a former Commissioner for Works, Kayode Oso, resigned from the cabinet on health ground.Dispelling the rumour of her alleged resignation, Alade in a terse message to journalists in Ado Ekiti, said she was on a two-week casual leave, commencing from Monday.She said it was regrettable that people misinterpreted her vacation for outright resignation, adding that she remained a staunch loyalist of the governor.Alade said she will return to her duty post at the expiration of her leave.
Akeem Popoola, a 21-year-old robbery suspect, claimed that a police inspector attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Lagos Stat...

Akeem Popoola, a 21-year-old robbery suspect, claimed that a police inspector attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, uses him to swindle unsuspecting victims.He said he had worked for the policeman, identified as Inspector Festus, aka Ijaya, for about four months before he was arrested.The carpenter, who is currently in custody at the Agbado divison, Ogun State, was arrested for robbery and burglary. A mattress and speakers of a sound system were reportedly recovered from him in the Giwa area of Agbado on April 6.He told news reporters that apart from burglary, he used to collect phones from the inspector and he would later sell them.He added that Ijaya and two others  Abbey and Aluko  would get the buyers arrested minutes later for buying stolen items.Akeem said their victims paid Ijaya between N120,000 and N150,000 before they were released, adding that he got N5,000 as his share on each deal.In November 2015, one of my fathers tenants and I fought. When my daddy came back home on that day, she reported me to him and he handed me over to Inspector Festus at the state police command headquarters, Ikeja. He told him I was too troublesome and wanted him to discipline me. But he (Ijaya) did not. He took me to a beer parlor at Alakuko and gave me N5,000. I was very surprised.Two days after, we met at another beer parlour around Agbado, where I was made to swear an oath. He brought out a gun and put some gin inside the barrel. He drank from it and gave me the gun to do same. He said he would be sending me on some errands. He gave me a mobile phone and drove me in his Toyota Camry to POWA complex in Ikeja.He told me to sell the phone inside the complex which I did for N20,000. After an hour, he handcuffed me and took me in his car with his boys  Abbey and Aluko  to the man that bought the phone. He arrested the man and told him to pay N200,000 if he did not want to be taken to the station. The man raised N150,000 among his friends in that complex and gave him.When we left there, he removed the handcuffs and gave me N5,000 and we departed.The Oke Ona, Abeokuta indigene said the second deal he had with Ijaya was an iPad he sold to another unsuspecting victim around Ikeja. He said he got a N5,000 share from the N150,000 bribe the inspector allegedly collected from the buyer, who was also accused of acquiring stolen property.He added that when he decided to quit, Ijaya refused.Akeem told our correspondent that Ijaya threatened they had sworn an oath and that he would die if he backed out from the deal or revealed it to his father.Sometime in February, the inspector gave me a Techo phone which I sold to a guy at Agbado. The guy gave me N7,000 and a small phone. Thirty minutes later, we went back with my hands handcuffed. And as he normally did, he collected about N120,000 from him before he was released. I also got my N5,000 share. I can say all this in his presence, he added.Akeem said he had stolen a plasma television at Oke Aro area of Agbado on the order of Ijaya, insisting that the item was still with the policeman.His father, Mr. Ahmed Popoola, who regretted handing him over to the policeman, said his son was a thief before he took him to Ijaya for discipline.He said he strove to meet Akeems needs and had counselled him on several occasions to no avail.He had been stealing before I took him to a police friend, Yekini, who handed him over to Ijaya with a belief that he (Akeem) will change if he sees the way thieves are being punished. He had been embarrassing me. He still has a case in the Sango-Ota division. I was arrested and detained because of him.When he finished his secondary school, he told me he did not want to proceed to a higher institution. I enrolled him as an apprentice in my carpentry workshop and constructed a wooden shop for him when he graduated. He removed all the planks I used to construct the shop and sold them. Let the law take its course.The spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, DSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the police were on the trail of Ijaya and his accomplices. He added that the case had been transferred to the commands Special Anti-Robbery Squad.He said, The suspect was arrested for robbery and burglary. He mentioned Ijaya and some others and we have commenced investigation. If any of them is actually a policeman, we are going to send a signal to the command he is attached to and he will be arrested.But the Lagos State Police spokesperson, SP Dolapo Badmos, denied that Ijaya was a serving cop in the command.We dont have a policeman bearing Festus or Ijaya in the command, she said.
Four months after Nigerian cleric 'T.B. Joshua' gave a series of prophecies concerning South Africa, the writing on the wall shows...

Four months after Nigerian cleric 'T.B. Joshua' gave a series of prophecies concerning South Africa, the writing on the wall shows a significant semblance to his words.In several articles widely circulated online, Joshua is quoted as telling congregants on January 3rd 2016 that a Southern African leader would face a 'peculiar' trouble, calling for prayer during February's ending and April.The prophecy sparked a national debate when it was disingenuously misinterpreted by Malawi's Presidential advisers to mean their leaders death would fall between this time-frame.Peter Mutharika responded with a controversial verbal attack against the 'prophet', suggesting his predictions were 'fake' and financial enrichment the actual motive.However, Joshua's followers point to the current travails of South African President Jacob Zuma as being the subject of the prediction.The South African president's hold on power looks increasingly frail as calls for his resignation continue to heighten.This follows the damning corruption scandal which has engulfed Zuma after a court ruled on March 31st that he had "failed to uphold" the constitution when he did not pay back some state funds used for the upgrade of his personal home.Joshua additionally predicted on the same day the fluctuating South African rand currency would eventually 'stabilise'.Although initial signs seemed to contradict his prediction, the announcement of Pretoria's successful issuing of a foreign dollar bond led to South Africa's rand, stocks and bonds all rallying, with investor confidence lifted."Prophet T.B. Joshua did give a word of prophecy concerning this South African business turn around," wrote Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper in its report on the news, which stated the rand seemed to be finally showing signs of stability.Joshua stressed that South Africa's attention should be directed to fighting the economic implications of the 'El-Nino' drought.The government should not be tempted to surrender most of their industries to foreign countries, he warned, adding that the farming industry would especially be affected.In what has been described as the worst drought in more than 100 years for the rainbow nation, Al Jazeera recently reported it is costing South African farmers more than an estimated $600m in lost crops.On the same day, Joshua gave a global warning concerning the volatile North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, stating he saw an 'arrow' being released from the communist nation which would 'affect the world'.Days later, North Korea announced they had developed and tested an H-bomb, revealing later in April that it had successfully tested a rocket that will let it launch nuclear strikes on countries as far away as the United States.T.B. Joshua is arguably Africa's most popular albeit controversial pastor.He boasts an impressive presence on social media, with over 2,000,000 fans on Facebook and nearly 350,000 YouTube subscribers.Joshua has an especially large following within South Africa, with hordes still flocking to visit his church in Nigeria despite the building collapse incident that claimed the lives of 84 South Africans in September 2014.Tebego Motalaote is a writer currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Femi Gbajabiamila, majority leader of the house of representatives, has appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience with the government of ...

Femi Gbajabiamila, majority leader of the house of representatives, has appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience with the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.He attributed the challenges facing the country to the deep hole the nation was pulled into in the last 16 years, saying if it took President Barack Obama of the United States almost eight years to take America out of the rots he inherited, then the Nigerian president would not be able to do the same in 10 months.The lawmaker was speaking at the 4th convocation ceremony of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo state, where he was conferred with a honorary degree.I am aware Nigerians are facing challenges and everybody is complaining but I want us to look at this problem contextually, he said.Let us look at advance countries like US it took almost eight years for Obama to take America out of the rots he inherited. It is the same thing that is going on in Nigeria we inherited a rot that there is no way we could come out of it in 10 months.The drafters of our constitution gave him (President Buhari) 4 years knowing fully well that it is nearly impossible for something meaningful to be achieved in 10 months.Change is an organic thing and cannot be achieved overnight. It is not only in the physical but most times in the subliminal. We see that change every day in our psyche and mentality and I plead that Nigerians should be a little bit patient with this government.We are coming out of a hole and in no time I believe we will come out that hole into the promise land and our destined future.He also advised the graduating students to avoid unlawful conduct, particularly during the Ondo state governorship election.I want to charge the students that elections are beckoning again in Ondo state. I am a politician and I know you are the ones politicians run to in their time of need and that time of need is now, election time, he said.I dont want you to leave this hall and fall into the same trap and be dumped afterwards. I want you to go out there and exercise your franchise and civic responsibility with the fear of God so that your state would be the better for it.Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, who delivered a speech at the occasion led members of the lower chamber of the national assembly to the event.Lai Mohammed, minister of information, and Rotimi Ibidapo, a prominent businessman, were also honoured.
28 individuals who defaulted in payment of tax to the Lagos state government will soon be arraigned at the state High court.

28 individuals who defaulted in payment of tax to the Lagos state government will soon be arraigned at the state High court.The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem who disclosed this to newsmen in Lagos yesterday said that the Rapid Tax Prosecution Unit has filled all the necessary information at the State High Court for the arraignment of the individuals described as recalcitrant tax payers.Kazeem said the recalcitrant tax payers were referred for prosecution by the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) and that prosecution will begin in earnest.He said their offences ranges from failure to furnish and file tax return to failure to pay personal tax to the State.He explained that these offences committed by the tax defaulters violate the Personal Income Tax Act 2004 as amended and the Lagos State Revenue Administration law.If found guilty, he said they may be fined or imprisoned or made to face both as provided in the Personal Income Tax Act.Under the Personal Income Tax Act, a taxable person is statutorily required to file a return of income for the preceding year within 90 days from the commencement of every year of assessment (March 31st being the deadline), while every employer of labour is required to file all emoluments paid to its employees for the preceding year, not later than 31st of January each year.Therefore, any taxable person or corporate organisation, who fails to file their tax returns with LIRS by the stipulated date, is in breach of the provisions of the law, which is a criminal offence that is punishable under the tax laws, Kazeem stated.He explained that the Lagos state Government established the Rapid Tax Prosecution Unit to aid the LIRS in its drive to collect taxes, and warned members of the public to cooperate with tax officers as obstruction of these tax officers in their lawful duty can and will lead to prosecution.Lagos Attorney General said the enforcement of the tax laws became necessary because a large number of Lagosians have not paid their taxes.
Following the claim that some important projects were wiped out from the 2016 budget by the National Assembly, some senators and members o...

Following the claim that some important projects were wiped out from the 2016 budget by the National Assembly, some senators and members of the House of Representatives yesterday blamed members of the Appropriation Committees of both chambers for the disappearance of key projects in the details of the 2016 budget submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.A few hours after the emergency Federal Executive Council meeting on Friday, it was discovered that key projects in the health and transport sectors were missing from the budget details. The FEC meeting was specifically convened to scrutinise the budget details.The Senate Committee on Appropriation is chaired by Senator Danjuma Goje and Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin chairs that of the House.A senator who spoke with newsmen yesterday on condition of anonymity said the Appropriation Committees should take the blame for the disappearance of the key projects.The committees worked on all the reports of the committees that interacted with heads of MDAs during the budget defence. In my committee for instance, I worked with my counterpart at the House of Representatives and there was no issue like this. So, Im surprised when this issue came up. They should be blamed, he said.The chairman of one of the committees at the House of Reps also said the Appropriation Committees should be held responsible as they were the ones left with the responsibility of coming up with the final copies of the budget.The truth of the matter is that they (Goje and Jibrin) just went and did all that have now become a controversy. I believe what they did was wrong, the lawmaker who also did not want to be named said. Efforts to get Gojes reaction failed but the spokesman of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger North) said they did not pad the fiscal document.The National Assembly did not do any padding, it carried out the appropriation as empowered by the constitution. If you check the budget we submitted back to the executive, every single line and item was properly defined and assigned, contrary to what we got from the executive where there are items that are not defined, that is what can be called padding, he said.House of Reps spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa) said they treated the budget in good faith. He said the House dealt with the budget in line with the agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari and that they would never do anything that would portray the administration in bad light. Although Rep Jibrin did not answer his calls, he responded to a text message and referred our correspondent to clarifications on his twitter handle.The Executive seems to favour a top-down approach. But this is not enough reason to mislead Nigerians on the role of NASS on the budget. That N50bn be set aside as special bursary for students of tertiary institutions and another N50bn for special training on entrepreneurship for students of tertiary institutions pre-graduation. These were our inputs.Lagos-Calabar rail was never included. How could NASS have removed what was not there? But the nation is being misled. We also suggested that N100bn be taken out of the N500bn set aside as Special Intervention Fund. We also had special programmes for women empowerment and the payment of debt owed local contractors, he said on his twitter handle.
A female lodger, identified only as Joy, has been found dead in a room at the Triple F Hotel, Randle Road, in the Apapa area of Lagos Stat...

A female lodger, identified only as Joy, has been found dead in a room at the Triple F Hotel, Randle Road, in the Apapa area of Lagos State.It was learnt that Joy, who hailed from Benue State, had checked into the hotel on Friday with a male partner.However, when the woman was discovered dead, the lover had reportedly sneaked out of the hotel.Our correspondent learnt that the matter was reported at the Apapa Police Division, while policemen came to remove Joys corpse and deposited it in a morgue.A resident of Randle Road, who gave his name only as Matthew, said the hotel workers discovered Joys remains when it was time for her to check out of the hotel and they did not see her.He added that there were no sign of torture on her body to suggest unnatural death.He said, Joy was a mother of five children. She was a food seller. She ran a restaurant close to the Police Complex in Apapa. She was married to a man from Enugu State.The hotel workers on Friday, during the time Joy was to check out, went to her room to remind her. The door was locked and they knocked on the door. After several knocks and no answer, they forced the door of the room open. They were shocked to find her dead.They raised the alarm and the matter was reported at the police station. The woman had come to the hotel with a partner.When our correspondent reached out to the manager of the hotel on the telephone, the man, who did not give his name, declined comment on the incident.Our correspondent learnt from a police source that the police had invited the hotel workers on duty as investigation had started to unravel the cause of Joys death.It was gathered that the police had also launched a manhunt for the lover who came to the hotel with Joy.The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident.She, however, said the police found marks of torture on Joys body.She said, The female lodger died while she was with the fleeing suspect. There were marks of violence on her body. The corpse has been deposited in a morgue for autopsy while investigation is ongoing to track the suspect.Meanwhile, the police in Lagos have also launched a manhunt for a suspect, identified only as Azeez, who allegedly stabbed his friend to death in the Morogbo area of the state.Our correspondent learnt that the deceased, identified as Kamolu Isiaka, was allegedly stabbed in the neck by the suspect last Monday around 4pm during an altercation bordering on money.It was gathered that the two were at a beer shop on Ololade Street when an altercation resulted in the fight.The deceased, Kamolu Isiaka, was said to have been attacked by Azeez with a broken bottle.It was learnt that the suspect fled, after which the matter was reported at the Morogbo Police Division.A witness said the victim died while he was being rushed to a hospital.The PPRO, Badmos, confirmed the incident, adding that the police were on the trail of Azeez.She said, The corpse has been deposited in a morgue where an autopsy will be carried out. Investigation continues as the police are on the trail of the runaway suspect.
Fiery preacher and Senior Pastor of the Latter Rain Gospel Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare yesterday in Abuja, amid tears, chided the Feder...

Fiery preacher and Senior Pastor of the Latter Rain Gospel Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare yesterday in Abuja, amid tears, chided the Federal Government for doing so little to rescue the 219 Chibok girls abducted two years ago.Bakare, a former political ally of incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari spoke yesterday in Abuja at a special sit-out of the #BringBackOurGirls, BBOG. Pastor Bakare berated past and present administrations in the country for their failure to rescue the girls saying; The whole nation has failed these children.According to him; Parents, families and friends of our dear daughters, I am here today not just to speak to you, but to speak to the nation and to the world as one of you.Im here as a father burdened by the captivity of our daughters, and I am here as a friend. I am here to express our frustrations and to speak of our undying hope as we wait expectantly for the return of our dear Chibok girls. We are not unmindful that the Nigerian state failed to provide security for our daughters as they gathered to write final examinations despite prior intelligence reports that suggested they were in danger.It is most severely injurious to see that the fate of our daughters has been frequently politicized. Rather than rise to the occasion as stakeholders and custodians of the security and welfare of the citizens of this nation, political parties and politicians have paid lip service, using our pain and plight of our daughters to score cheap political points.We are not convinced that the matter of our daughters has been given the needed thoughtfulness. We do not believe that those who are in a position to act have taken sufficient actions towards addressing the issue or even towards claiming our anxiety as waiting parents.According to him, the girls would have been rescued if they were children of politicians and renowned pastors. The sit out marked 712 days since the girls have been kidnapped and part of BBOG Global Week of Action to mark the two years anniversary of the abduction.He said that those responsible for the rescue of the girls have not taken sufficient actions in the last two years that the girls have been abducted. We do not believe those concerned have taken sufficient actions concerning the rescue of these girls, he said, expressing optimism that the girls would be rescued even as he prayed God to see to that.We believe that they are still alive, at least no evidence, satellite evidence that they are in a mass grave. We believe they are alive. It remains a scar on the soul of this nation until these girls are brought back, he said.
Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said he will never shy away from investing in Nigeria economy as his company, yester...

Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said he will never shy away from investing in Nigeria economy as his company, yesterday, performed the $1 billion ground breaking of Dangote cement plants at Okpella, Edo State.The new plants are expected to add six million metric tonnes of cement per annum to the companys current output bringing it to 41 million metric tonnes per annum with potentials for 6,000 new jobs. Speaking during the ground-breaking ceremony, Dangote said Nigeria still remains the best place to invest in the world, adding that a key factor that drives investments in an economy is the presence of an investor-friendly business climate.The African richest man noted that Edo State is today one of the most attractive investment destinations in Nigeria, saying: The economic reforms in Edo State, especially in the area of tax, innovations in rural finance and investment on infrastructure, have produced an enabling environment that has further provided a platform for future growth. All these factors made us consider investing in the state.Nigeria is a growing economy. Our developmental challenges are quite enormous and will require the combined efforts of government and private sector to overcome them. It is in this light that we are here to contribute our own quota to transforming the economy of Edo State as we have done elsewhere. Dangote explained that the investment in Okpella, Edo State was one their several successful projects ongoing in parts of the country and outside in more than 15 other locations in African countries, in line with their Pan African investment strategy.He said: Last June, we commissioned our cement plant in Ethiopia, and in August of same year in Zambia and Cameroon. We commissioned our plant in Tanzania in October. We plan to commission very soon, some of our other African plants in Senegal and South Africa. Also last year, in Lagos, we signed a deal valued at $4.34 billion, with Sinoma International Engineering Company Limited, for the construction of 10 additional new cement plants across Africa, with one in Nepal in Asia.The combined capacity of these new projects will be 25 million metric tons per annum. By the time all these new projects are completed in the next few years, we will have a total capacity of 81 million metric tons per annum. This will make us one of the top six cement companies in the world. We are currently consolidating our cement businesses across Africa in order to reap the benefits of scale. As a matter of fact, our operational offshore cement plants have started to make substantial contributions to our group revenue.By Gods grace, we will all gather here again to commission this plant within the next 26 months. There is no doubt that the presence of the plant here will impact positively on the community, its people and the state.
What Is a Gang Injunction?

We increasingly hear about gang injunctions on the news, but what do they do and why are they so controversial? An injunction is a court order, generally speaking. A gang injunction is a court order targeting a specific group that prosecutors have deemed a public nuisance.

The practice of seeking these injunctions has come under fire from civil rights groups and some cities have paid a high price for using these orders as a criminal justice shortcut. Let's explore.

What Is a Gang?

The National Institute of Justice points out that there is no single universally agreed-upon definition for a gang in the criminal justice context. The word is defined differently by the federal government and states, however, many states have adopted the following definition, drafted by the California legislature:

"'[C]riminal street gang' means any ongoing organization, association or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as one of its primary activities the commission of one or more of the criminal acts [...], having a common name or common identifying sign or symbol, and whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity."

Curbing Gang Behavior

Injunctions are sought to curb gang violence. They allow police to stop activities in the streets and arrest suspected gang members with less cause than is required for crime generally.

Usually, police need probable cause to suspect criminal activity in order to make an arrest. But when a gang injunction is in place, mere association between two people can be sufficiently suspicious for a stop, causing innocents to be swept up in the efforts to clear the streets of criminal elements. Arrests are then based on how people look and who they hang out with and where they meet.

Concern for Civil Liberties

That's why gang injunctions are controversial. Legal standards exist to protect people from the power of authorities. When the standards are lowered, sometimes innocent bystanders get ensnared and everyone is deprived of important rights, like the right to representation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU says that gang injunctions result in serious civil liberties violations. "Law enforcement use them as a tool to label people gang members and restrict their activities in a defined area. Gang injunctions make otherwise legal, everyday activities-such as riding the bus with a friend or picking a spouse up from work late at night-illegal for people they target."

The city of Los Angeles became familiar with gang injunction drawbacks recently and has agreed to pay a price. Last month it announced a $30 million settlement with citizens who filed a class action lawsuit over arrests based on a gang injunction that swept up innocents.

Accused?

If you or someone you know has been accused of crime, speak to a lawyer today. Don't delay. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to discuss your case.

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Governor Nyesom Wike has expressed optimism that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will be stronger ahead of the 2019 general elections...

Governor Nyesom Wike has expressed optimism that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will be stronger ahead of the 2019 general elections. The governor who spoke, weekend, at Government House, Port Harcourt, as the Chairman of PDP National Convention Committee, said the partys national convention would set in motion, the machinery for the party to win more states.According to him: One thing that is important is that this committee will revive our party. It will also allay the fears of our members over the rumours they hear. It is important for us to rebuild PDP to be a stronger party. PDP is our home in Rivers State. This is the only party we know here.
Despite spending less than a quarter of his tenure in office, President Muhammadu Buhari has been endorsed for a second term by the Tarab...

Despite spending less than a quarter of his tenure in office, President Muhammadu Buhari has been endorsed for a second term by the Taraba State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC.This was part of the 11 resolutions unanimously agreed by the stakeholders of the party at a meeting convened at the weekend in Taraba.While reading the communique of the meeting to journalists on Saturday night, the state chairman of the party, Hassan Ardo, said APC members in the state unanimously declared a vote of confidence on the leadership of both the state and national executives of the party.The APC members declared their total and unconditional support for all the policies and programs of the Federal Government and endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari for second tenure if he is interested in contesting in 2019, Mr. Ardo said. It urged all APC members to remain loyal to the Federal Government to enable it to successfully deliver on all its campaign promises.The meeting noted with great concern the continued victimization of APC members in the state especially civil servants on their perceived sympathy to the APC.The meeting condemns in strong terms the politics of religion, ethnicity and other divisive sentiments by the PDP led government and calls on all Tarabans to remain united.The APC has resolved to engage the Taraba State Government constructively on all its policies and programs, the chairman said.The meeting was attended by leaders of the party in the state as well as state and federal lawmakers elected on the partys platform.
The Department of State Security (DSS) have claimed that five Fulani herdsmen were abducted, killed and buried in a mass grave by members ...

The Department of State Security (DSS) have claimed that five Fulani herdsmen were abducted, killed and buried in a mass grave by members of IPOB in Abia state a few days ago.They have also claimed that there were up to fifty more bodies in that mass grave and that they are all Fulani. The implications of this announcement is obvious. It will create more tension and fear in the land and it will lead to reprisal killings in the north.Violence is never the way out and I have always believed that it has no place in any civilized society. Yet what I find curious about this announcement is the fact that it is unique and historic. I say this because thousands of Igbos, Yorubas, Niger-Deltans and Middle Belters have been killed by Fulani militants and herdsmen over the last ten months since President Buhari came to power yet the DSS has never announced it and told the country about the details and ethnic identities of the victims.When one thousand Shiite Muslims were slaughtered in Zaria and buried in mass graves the DSS did not speak. When five hundred Idomas were massacred in Agatu by Fulani militants the DSS did not speak.When hundreds of southern and Middle Belt farms were raided by AK-47-wielding Fulani herdsmen who murdered, raped, burnt down and took over the land of their victims the DSS never gave us details of the victims or made any announcements.When our leaders in the south were kidnapped and when men witnessed their wives and children being raped and butchered by the Fulani militias before their very eyes the DSS made no announcements. When the International Terror Index told the world that the Fulani militias in Nigeria are the fourth most deadly terror organization in the world the DSS said nothing and neither did they give us details about their activities or their victims.Worse of all is the fact that our government and our President, who himself happens to be a Fulani, has never deemed it fit or necessary to condemn the activities of the Fulani herdsmen and militants and neither have they expressed any sympathy or displayed any empathy for their many victims. Let me be clear: the murder of anyone, regardless of their ethnicity or faith, is unacceptable to me. I deplore murder and violence and in my view the killing of one innocent soul diminishes the humanity of every single one of us as a community and nation.However it seems curious that the minute that Fulanis are killed in the east the DSS is quick to rise to the occasion and express concern about it whilst they do not express the same concern when Nigerians from other ethnic nationalities are killed by the Fulani in their own homes and land. Therein lies the double standard and it is sad and unfortunate. Furthermore not only is it very dangerous but it also confirms the view that our government and security agencies are not only partial but that they are also attempting to implement an ethnic and religious agenda.Three questions must be answered: firstly who is funding the Fulani herdsmen and where do they get their weapons from? Secondly why does our government not only turn a blind eye to the mass murder and genocide that they regularly indulge in but also go out of their way to protect them?And thirdly why do the government and security agencies have so much hatred and contempt for those that the Fulani regularly target and their victims and why do they believe that those victims do not deserve to enjoy the full protection of the Nigerian Federal Government?Could it be because they are regarded as slaves and second class citizens? Is Fulani blood and are Fulani lives more important than others? Indeed do non-Fulani lives matter in President Buharis Nigeria?Are we compelled to begin a non-Fulani lives matter movement which is based and fashioned on the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States of America before we can draw the attention of the world to what is going on in our country?Is it not obvious and logical that when the security agencies refuse to protect the citizens from the murderous hordes and herdsmen from hell those citizens will eventually seek to protect themselves and go on the offensive?That is human nature and it is to be expected. Is it not clear to those in power that when a people are convinced that their government is no longer impartial in any conflict and that the security agencies of that government have been directed to go out of their way to actively and openly support those that constantly and regularly slaughter their people it will eventually lead to open war?Is it so difficult to accept the fact that no government and no force from hell or on earth can compel or intimidate a man into lying down passively and silently watch his family, loved ones and kinsmen being butchered and slaughtered morning, day and night without trying to protect them and without indulging in some form of retaliation? With the sort of things that are going on in our country today it is time to tell ourselves some home-truths. No-one wishes to accept it let alone say it but sadly war will come to Nigeria again within the next few years. I do not want war and I consider it to be the ultimate evil but I am constrained to speak the truth and say things as I see them.The fact that a war is coming is a testimony to the fact that we have all failed to manage the peace that God has given us since 1970 and the cessation of hostilities after our brutal civil war. We have failed so badly that the remote and immediate causes of that civil war are back with us today even though we hate to admit or acknowledge it.Our country is like Yugoslavia unfolding before it exploded and violently broke into five separate countries. All the signs are there. Anyone that knows about the history of Yugoslavia or that is a student of world history will agree with me and appreciate what I am saying. Consider the dangerous mix.A crumbling economy. An inept, weak, failing and paranoid government. A hungry, angry and increasingly desperate civilian population. An ignorant, obsessive, arrogant, insensitive, corrupt and self-absorbed political class who are out of touch with reality. The ruthless implementation of an ethnic and religious agenda by a reckless and irresponsible government that refuses to consider the implications of taking such a course of action and that have an early-1960s mind-set.The growing unrest, ethnic killings and sectarian murders. An ethnic and religious division within the Armed Forces and security agencies. A relentless clamp-down on and persecution of the opposition and all dissenting voices by the government and the use of fear as a tool of governance and control.The entering into a secret and covert treaty and military alliance with a group of Arab Sunni Muslim countries that seek to Islamise our country, that have, over the years, funded the most brutal and barbaric jihadist and radical Islamist terrorist organisations all over the world and that seek to impugn our national integrity and violate the secularity of our state. The constant and open abuse of power. The impunity and insensitivity of the Buhari administration to the plight of the masses. The hunger, hardship, poverty and suffering in the land. The failure of the government to get rid of the fuel queues and supply electrical power.The demonisation of peaceful and law-abiding self-determination groups and the unlawful incarceration of their leaders. The breach of the constitutional rights of the citizens and the ignoring of court orders and judicial processes by the government.The attempt to intimidate and control the Judiciary and Legislature by the government and so much more. The list goes on and on and history proves that such a mixture of circumstances is dangerous and can only lead to open conflict if not halted.The country is badly divided today and the people are suffering as never before. The division and hatred amongst some of our ethnic groups has reached pre-civil war levels. We in the south must prepare for the worse and not be found wanting when the trouble starts. That is my greatest fear. We must not end up like the Bosnians of Bosnia-Herzogovina did during the Yugoslavian civil war in the European Balkans in the late 1980s right up until 1992.They were the only ethnic group in Yugoslavia that was not prepared for it when the war started. They had no arms, no plan, no allies and no fall back position. When the fighting started they were caught unawares and for two years they suffered immeasurably for their stupidity and naivety whilst their people were killed like flies and their women and children were raped and enslaved. God forbid this should happen to our people.The reason that they suffered for two years was because there was an international arms embargo placed on all the ethnic groups and warring militias and armies in Yugoslavia when the war started. And sadly the Bosnians were the only ones that did not buy and stockpile arms in preparation for war months and years before it actually broke out.Plagued by a cowardly and weak-minded ruling elite and a naive, self-serving, servile, ignorant and intellectually-challenged middle class the Bosnians just kept talking, writing newspaper articles, appeasing the aggressors and their tormentors, praying and hoping for peace whilst all the other ethnic and religious groups and warring parties were quietly preparing for war.Sounds familiar? They suffered immensely for their lack of understanding, insight and foresight and their civilian population paid a heavy price. For two years after the civil war started the Bosnians could not even buy a gun or bullet to defend themselves.Their towns were besieged and blown up whilst their women and children were raped, enslaved and butchered. Their men were rounded up into Second World War-like Nazi concentration camps and starved and tortured to death and their dignity and self-respect was taken from them.They were turned into an internally-displaced people and their land was transformed into a sea of desperate and suffering refugees. It was a nightmare from hell and suffering on this scale had not been seen on European soil since the First and Second World Wars.It was after the international community silently watched them being slaughtered by their Serbian and Croatian compatriots for two long years that they were compelled, as a consequence of pressure from the people of the world and on moral and humanitarian grounds, to lift the arms embargo on them so that they could buy arms to defend themselves. The war dragged on for more years after that but at least the Bosnians, though two years late, were now able to fight back and defend themselves.It took the intervention of NATO, the bombing of Belgrade by the international community led by the Americans and the eventual break-up of the entire country into five pieces to stop the carnage and barbarity of the Serbs and eventually bring the civil war to an end. It was during that war that the term ethnic cleansing was first used by CNN to describe what was being done by the Serbs to the Bosnians, the Croats, the Slovenians, the Kosovars, the Macedonians and the Monte Negrans, all of whom represented the other ethnic groups that made up the old Yugoslavia. Eventually the country broke up and each of them got their independence from the dominant Serbs and from one another.If such a thing could have happened in the heart of Europe in the early 1990s why on earth would any reasonably intelligent person dismiss the notion that it can happen here? The only difference would be that if such a thing were to ever unfold in our country it would be far worse than what happened in Yugoslavia due to the sheer size of our population. The signs are already there and it is left for us to recognize them and prepare ourselves for the worse or to ignore them and, like the Bosnians, eventually pay a very heavy price. I pray that I am wrong but as far as I am concerned, for Nigeria, the bell is tolling. May the Lord deliver us.
The Rivers Police Command on Monday denied that there were casualties during a protest by students of the University of Port Harcourt (U...

The Rivers Police Command on Monday denied that there were casualties during a protest by students of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT).The commands Public Relations Officer, DSP Ahmad Muhammad, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt.He said that there was no casualty on the part of the police or students during the violent protest by the students over a no tuition fee-no examination fee policy introduced by the UNIPORT management.No student or policeman lost their lives during the UNIPORT protest.The policeman reported dead had nothing to do with UNIPORT, because the deceased policeman was shot dead by armed robbers in an isolated case.Similarly, no university student was killed to the best of my knowledge.All roads earlier blocked by the protesting students have been reopened by the police, he saidMuhammad said the police was cooperating with UNIPORT management to ensure that normalcy was restored on campus and host communities.Earlier, UNIPORTs Deputy Registrar (Information), Dr Williams Wodi, told NAN that two persons, including a policeman lost their lives in the violent protest.The spokesman said the policeman was shot dead at a junction along the East West inter-state road, close to the university.Also, another person whose identity had not been confirmed was also shot dead on Monday during the protest which lasted for several hours, Wodi said.NAN reports that management of UNIPORT had announced the closure of the university for one month following the students protest over new tuition fee policy on Monday in Port Harcourt.UNIPORT management had in 2015, adopted a policy which made tuition fee a prerequisite for students participation in examination, a policy which compelled defaulting students to repeat a whole academic session.The protest which initially started on a peaceful note, later turned violent with students destroying school property worth millions of naira.They demanded the withdrawal of the policy, which they argued, was unfair to poor students. (NAN)
ATLANTIC CITY -- A Superior Court judge ruled Monday that the state government can use eminent domain to seize property for a protective dune in the city of Margate, according to news reports.

Moreover, the decision is the second ruling in less than a month regarding the state's use of eminent domain for beach protection projects.

In October, the state filed an eminent domain action against Margate to get an access easement that would seize 87 lots owned by the city. Margate resisted the action, however, with officials saying they preferred a wooden bulkhead to protect against storms. The city had already battled with the state over the plan for large sand dunes, saying the projects would eat up the width of the town's beaches.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), meanwhile, said last fall that "refusal of remaining holdouts along the New Jersey coastline to provide easements has forced [the state] to seek condemnation of portions of their properties so we don't further delay these critical U.S. Army Corps projects that will protect lives and property."

During a February hearing, Margate's attorneys reportedly argued that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had failed to meet the standard for using eminent domain. But on Monday morning, Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez ruled that the state's plan "is not arbitrary and capricious nor is it a manifest abuse of the state's eminent domain power," according to the Press of Atlantic City.

The Associated Press quoted DEP Commissioner Bob Martin praising the ruling.

"Today's decision, coupled with the March 30 court ruling in Ocean County, clearly signals the authority of the state and the federal government to acquire property for the purposes of shore protection," Martin said.

Gov. Chris Christie has said much the same when it comes to obtaining property easements, criticizing the hold-outs as "selfish" residents who didn't want their ocean views blocked.

Monday's decision comes just two weeks after another victory for the state. A judge in Toms River supported the seizure of land in Ocean County for another beach replenishment project, which had begun after Superstorm Sandy.

Andy Polhamus may be reached at apolhamus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ajpolhamus. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
HACKENSACK  "I used to be undersheriff and that's a friend of mine."

Bergen County Public Safety Director Ralph Rivera Jr. told police of his connections to North Jersey law enforcement several times after a truck-driver friend was stopped for allegedly driving drunk on March 19, according to dashcam video released Friday.

The incident occurred after police pulled over Francisco Almonte, 53, as he drove a 2004 Jeep with his wife, Luz Almonte, in the passenger seat, according to police.

Almonte was arrested and issued summonses for DWI and failure to signal.

Driving a black, unmarked police SUV, Rivera approached officers with the Bergen County Sheriff's Office during the early morning traffic stop and let them know of his connection with their department, according to the video and an officer's incident report.

"Hey, officer?" Rivera calls out on the video.

"We're a little busy. Do you mind waiting over there for me?" says the officer.

"Retired state trooper and the public safety director," Rivera tells him.

Again the officer asks Rivera to wait. "I'm under camera and microphone, so I need to act accordingly. I can speak with you in a few minutes. Let me conduct my operation."

Moments later Rivera offers to park his vehicle at a nearby 7-11 store so he can drive his friend's vehicle to avoid impound.

"You familiar with John's Law at all?" an officer asks Rivera, referring to a state law prohibiting an accused drunken driver from having access to his vehicle for 12 hours after an arrest.

"Yes, I am," Rivera responds. "I was undersheriff for six years."

According to police reports, the vehicle was impounded.

In an incident report, Officer Andrew Kara wrote that Rivera "interrupted and distracted me" four times during the traffic stop.

"At multiple points throughout my stop he kept asserting himself as, and referring to the title that he currently holds," Kara wrote. "I felt overwhelmed after learning Mr. Rivera's identity."

Last week, Bergen County Executive James Tedesco suspended the director and asked the county prosecutor's office to investigate the matter.

"Any additional action on behalf of the county will be determined following completion of the prosecutor's investigation," Tedesco said in a statement. "As this matter is now the subject of an active investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, my administration will have no further comment."

Rivera continues to collect his $103,000 a year salary.

Rivera and the Almontes could not be reached for comment Monday.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
FORT LEE -- A man who allegedly tried to blow up a pizzeria in Connecticut following a "bad experience" last year and then went missing for more than three months was arrested Saturday in New Jersey, according to a report.

A Fort Lee police officer saw Scott Basile, 23, of Wolcott, Conn., walking a bicycle and acting suspiciously, according to a report on Rep-Am.com. When the cop approached him, Basile fled into the woods, the report said.

Basile re-emerged without the bicycle several minutes later and was questioned.

Basile told police his name was "Bruce Wayne" and "Christopher Reeve" until police matched his fingerprints in a national crime database, the report said.

Basile has been sought for questioning by police in Connecticut since he claimed he found a bolt in his order at a Waterbury pizza place and caused a scene there.

Cops said he later used an accelerant to start a fire at Fratelli's Pizzeria on Dec. 18 that caused about $25,000 in damage, according to NBCConnecticut.com.

Then, on Christmas Day, police said Basile was seen near the restaurant, but he eluded officers conducting surveillance, the Waterbury Republican-American's website said. Cops said they found a 20-pound propane tank and several Molotov cocktails at the eatery.

Basile's parents told police they last saw their son on Jan. 2 and reported him missing several days later. At that point, Basile was a suspect in the arsons, but had not been charged.

He will be charged in Connecticut with attempted arson and manufacturing of bombs. Fort Lee police charged Basile with hindering apprehension.

Basile has a history of mental health issues, Fox61.com reported.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
PHILADELPHIA -- Three men broke into a business in northeast Philadelphia last week and wheeled out two dozen cases of cigarettes worth tens of thousands of dollars, police said.

Surveillance video released on Monday shows the three men, all of whom were wearing masks, arriving at a warehouse in the Juniata Park section of the city early Friday morning. The men are seen carrying a ladder, which they use to help them break into the business on East Hunting Park Avenue.

Police said the three men pried open a rear door.

The men are later seen wheeling a cart full of cigarettes out of the business. Police said the men stole 24 cases of cigarettes, which are worth about $64,000.

Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call (215) 686-3243.

Erin O'Neill may be reached at eoneill@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LedgerErin. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
diabetes-here-i-come-starbucks-label.jpg

Is Starbucks drink-shaming their customers? A Florida man thinks so after receiving what he felt was an insensitive comment on his label.

Starbucks may be drink-shaming their customers. The chain, who has always been known to poke fun at its customers, got into a bit of hot water recently when they may have taken the fun a bit too far.



A Florida man was recently peeved after seeing what some feel was an insensitive Starbucks label on his grande white mocha.



Mashable reports that the anonymous customer received the label "Diabetes here I come" where a customer's name would normally appear.

A @Starbucks customer tells me he's hurt by the message he received on his coffee cup. Details on @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/hNMeC6ysRJ  Kaitlyn Chana (@KaitlynChana) April 8, 2016



He told Action News Jax that he was immediately taken aback. "That first word just automatically brought the picture of both sisters in my head, and I was taken aback," he told the station. "Just the struggles they went through and all the doctor appointments they had."



He did not drink the coffee. In fact, he returned it with a note that said, "2 of my sisters are diabetic, so ... not funny."



Starbucks tells Mashable that they reached out to the customer in an effort to apologize. "We strive to provide an inclusive and positive experience for our customers, and were disappointed to learn of this incident," Starbucks said in a statement. "We are working directly with the customer to apologize for his experience, and with our partners (employees) to ensure this does not happen again."



He told the station that he didn't want an apology just that he didn't want it to happen again.



Last week, the Seattle-based chain found themselves the topic of discussion once more when they found themselves to be the subject of a lawsuit that purported Starbucks underfills their lattes.



Starbucks started in in 1971 in Seattle, Washington and currently operates over 23,000 locations worldwide. To visit a New Jersey Starbucks near you, visit their official web site.

Let us know in the comments below whether you feel the label is offensive or not.

Anthony Venutolo may be reached at avenutolo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @AnthonyVenutolo and Google+. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
We don't often think of doomsday films as universally appealing, but 'Panic in Year Zero!' somehow fits that unique profile. The low-budget exploitation flick takes a frightening end-of-the-world scenario and combines it with action and suspense, family bickering and bonding, dog-eat-dog desperation, and a beguiling cheesiness to produce a thoroughly entertaining - and relatable - popcorn movie. It's just serious enough to make us sit up and take notice, but never somber and morose like more high-minded treatments that shamelessly parrot an anti-nuke platform. Though director and star Ray Milland makes sure the cautionary message comes through loud and clear, it's tempered by a tense narrative that focuses more on the survival of a family and how a nuclear attack changes them than government policy and regretful hand-wringing.

Released on the heels of 1962's Cuban Missile Crisis, which stoked the fears and paranoia of a public not yet ready to confront the realities of nuclear warfare, 'Panic in Year Zero!' predates 'Mad Max' by almost two decades, yet gives us a road warrior family hellbent on surviving a holocaust by any means necessary. As the film opens, Harry Baldwin (Milland), his wife Ann (Jean Hagen), and their two teenage kids, Rick (Frankie Avalon) and Karen (Mary Mitchel), pile into the family car and head for the hills outside Los Angeles for a relaxing fishing trip. But an hour or so beyond the city's quiet suburban confines, a few blinding flashes of light, distant rumbling, and a telltale mushroom cloud signal the detonation of nuclear missiles, much to the Baldwins' horror. Harry instantly envisions danger and chaos, and shifts into survivor mode, stockpiling food and water and harnessing weaponry to steel himself and his family against civilization's impending collapse.

Violent confrontations ensue as the Baldwins embark on an odyssey that tests their mettle, resolve, and nerves. As L.A. residents recklessly flee, flooding the roadways and desperately foraging for supplies, the Baldwins make a beeline for an isolated hiding place where they can hopefully hole up and wait out the crisis. Yet vicious thugs, rabid looters, and other obstacles stand in their path, quickly transforming this mild-mannered family into a tough, suspicious gang of trigger-happy gun-toters willing to defend themselves at all costs in the hope of weathering the storm and rebuilding their shattered lives.

Produced by American International Pictures, 'Panic in Year Zero!' flaunts an appropriate bargain-basement feel that ties in nicely with the film's gritty, world-gone-mad storyline. The nuclear attack occurs only minutes into the movie, and then it's off to the races, with plenty of action and confrontations keeping us engaged. It's all a bit frenzied and over the top - the jazzy music score by Les Barker lends many scenes a weird 'Batman'/'Beach Party' vibe and the fake-looking exterior sets often recall TV's 'Lost in Space' - but somehow everything hangs together, thanks mainly to the natural performances and realistic family dynamics.

Milland won a Best Actor Oscar 17 years earlier for his searing portrait of an alcoholic in Billy Wilder's 'The Lost Weekend,' and he treats this far different role with equal seriousness. As an upstanding citizen turned renegade badass, he's always believable and interacts well with Hagen and Avalon, both of whom file solid portrayals. A decade earlier, Hagen played her most memorable part, the ditzy, squeaky-voiced Hollywood diva who struggles to make the transition from silent to talking pictures in 'Singin' in the Rain,' but this no-glamor role is the polar opposite of Lina Lamont, and her sincerity and restraint help us stay invested in the story, despite some wild plot developments. Avalon, a year before his first 'Beach Party' movie, also asserts himself well, effectively combining boyish innocence with a teen idol swagger to paint a fine portrait of a typical adolescent prematurely thrust into manhood.

'Panic in Year Zero!' looks a bit dated, but its core element - one family's desperate struggle for survival during a global crisis - remains timeless. Though nuclear threats have somewhat abated over the years, radical enemies still conspire to rock the world's foundations, and this film brings the fallout from a cataclysmic attack down to an intimate level, and its hopeful message tempers the disturbing reality we all face. The world is a crazy place, and this somewhat crazy movie tells us someday we all might need to become a little crazy if the world falls off its axis and leaves us hanging in limbo.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'Panic in Year Zero!' arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard case. Video codec is 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 and audio is DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. Once the disc is inserted into the player, the static menu with music immediately pops up; no previews or promos precede it.
BLOOMFIELD -- A mostly suburban township of about 47,000 residents in the northeastern portion of New Jersey, Bloomfield could be considered a typical New Jersey municipality. Demographically, it has a diverse population, and it borders both urban centers, Newark and East Orange, and upscale towns like Montclair and Glen Ridge.

That, a group of researchers at the Seton Hall University School of Law Center for Policy and Research, said is what made Bloomfield a perfect location for its study on racial profiling among N.J. police departments.

The report - the subject of a VICE News documentary, "Driving While Black" that airs online Monday afternoon - analyzed appearances at Bloomfield municipal court and a year of ticketing data to determine where in the township, and to whom, the most tickets were given.

THE STUDY'S FINDINGS

Based on student observations of 70 hours of Bloomfield municipal court and an analysis of tickets handed out in the township between Sept. 1, 2014 and Aug. 31, 2015, the Seton Hall report found that a "disproportionate number" of tickets were given to people who appeared to be black and Latino.

The study found:

78 percent of residents who answered tickets at Bloomfield municipal court over a month-long period last year were black or Latino, and 20 percent were white. Those numbers, the study found, sharply contrasted the

Based on an analysis of 9,715 tickets that were given out in Bloomfield over the year prior to the study, the researchers found that about 88 percent of tickets were given out in the southernmost third of the township, which borders Newark and East Orange.

Ticket distribution "shows that the Bloomfield Police target specific areas within Bloomfield, acting as a de facto 'border patrol.' By stopping and ticketing those who crossover into Bloomfield from East Orange and Newark, the police are effectively functioning as a deterrent to African American and Latino residents."

According to the student observations, 28 percent of the tickets were given to Bloomfield residents; 30 percent to people from majority "black-border" towns; 11 percent to people from majority "white-border" towns; and 31 percent to people from elsewhere.

The township is making a "significant" amount of money off of the tickets. At an average of $137 per ticket, the report estimates that over the course of a year, tickets to African Americans and Latinos brought in more than $1 million to municipal court.

"There is overwhelming data that they are pulling people over based on race," said Professor Mark Denbeaux, the director of Seton Hall Law's Center for Policy and Research who lead a group of 21 law students in the yearlong study.

"We didn't (start out) thinking we would find something so blatant and obvious ...(but) it's pretty ugly racial profiling."

Denbeaux called the practices in place in Bloomfield "profiling for profit."

'IRRESPONSIBLE' STUDY?

Seton Hall researchers said they selected Bloomfield randomly. It had a few qualifications they were looking for - a suburban town with "black border" towns, and most importantly, it was near the university.

But, municipal leaders in Bloomfield question why the study singled out the township, the methods it used to track the alleged racial profiling, and why the university did not consult with the township on its research.

DeMaio in a file photo. (John O'Boyle | The Star-Ledger)

"Their entire analysis is based on 70 hours sitting in a courtroom," Bloomfield Police Director Samuel DeMaio said in a phone interview. "To issue a scathing report of the entire police department (based on that) seems irresponsible."

According to DeMaio, the police department implemented several technological elements in 2015 - such as license plate readers, e-ticketing systems, and GPS tracking devices - that led to an uptick in ticketing overall. At the end of 2015, when reviewing the ticket increases, the department started tracking the races of people who are pulled over in the township - something it is not required to do by the state.

"We are one of the only departments that tracks racial data," DeMaio said.

Since the beginning of 2016, DeMaio said the department has given out 678 tickets to Latinos, 672 tickets to whites, and 684 to blacks.

"We are virtually even across the board," he said. And, though DeMaio said officers are not required to hit racial quotas matching the demographics of the town, "we look for a (racial) balance, because this is a very diverse (area)."

DeMaio also took issue with the conclusion that police are acting as a "border patrol." The bottom third of the township, which includes where busy thoroughfare Bloomfield Avenue cuts through the township, is where about 75 percent of the crime takes place, DeMaio said. So, about 75 percent of the police department's resources are deployed there, and more tickets are handed out there as a result, he said.

"That's police work 101," said DeMaio, a former Newark police director who moved into the Bloomfield job in 2014. "If 75 percent of crime is in that part of town, that's where you put your resources."

METHODS?

Township officials and researchers are also at odds over some methods used in the study. The township questioned the following methods used by the researchers:

When analyzing ticket data, the researchers compared the tickets to Latino surnames identified by the U.S. Census to count which ticket recipients were Latino. The actual race of the recipients was not tracked until 2016.

The researchers did not ask people in court their ethnicities, but recorded races based on visual cues. The study claims this was a valid method, because racial profiling would be based only on officers visually seeing drivers.

The courtroom analysis did not take into account people who received tickets and chose to pay them online, or otherwise not contest them in court, which DeMaio said is a "large number" of people.

In a statement, Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia pointed to "new procedures, reforms and technologies that have contributed to a 28% overall reduction in crime (since January 2014) -- a statistic we can all be very proud of -- as well as measures designed to enhance community policing and build trust between officers and residents of all racial and ethnic backgrounds."

He said the town was "disappointed" in the way the college conducted the study, and that "(we) do not believe that it reflects a complete and accurate assessment of our police department."

But, a team of consultants who fact-checked the methods and data compiled by the study says it meets academic standards.

"The data speaks for itself," said consultant Rich Rivera, a retired West New York police officer who now works as a police practice expert.

All of the components of the study were randomly chosen and statistically sound, he said. "This is a case study that is cautionary. ... It's readily evident that there is a huge racial disparity ... going unchecked."

STATEWIDE?

Denbeaux said given the outcome of this study, he is now planning to carry out similar studies in other New Jersey towns. His hope, he said, is that other research universities take on similar studies to reveal police practices in many other towns across the country.

The consultants say they are hoping for a fix at the state level. Though about three dozen states across the U.S. have mandated municipal police departments track racial data from traffic stops, New Jersey is not one of them. Racial tracking by the New Jersey State Police after a 1990s racial profiling scandal has made a difference in that department, they say.

Professor Mark Denbeaux. (Sean Sime)

"The state police have been in check, because they know they are being watched," said Ed Correa, a civil rights advocate who consulted on the study. "It's time to prohibit this type of behavior and data collection is going to help us get there."

In their documentary, the "Driving While Black" co-producers Simon Ostrovsky and Claire Ward said they felt that the study revealed not necessarily a racist police department in Bloomfield, but a systemic policing problem.

"It's really because of where the police are deployed, that's why this is happening," Ostrovsky said. "It's a systemic issue that is in place even if individual police officers are not racist."

When the 15-minute documentary goes live on VICE's website Monday, the producers said they hope the data will help lead to systematic changes.

"Anecdotally, these stories come up a lot," Ward said. "But, they are actually creating new data. That's something."

As for Bloomfield, though DeMaio and Venezia both deny many of the study's findings, they do say they would be open to talking with the university and advocates to determine whether or not reforms are necessary.

"We would welcome the authors to meet with members of our local government, police department and our African American and Hispanic communities to discuss their findings and look for common ground and opportunities to keep improving," Venezia said.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK -- A state appellate panel on Monday upheld more than $1 million in rulings against an Essex County detective for wrongfully arresting a man for attacking one prostitute and killing another in 2009.

The appeals court rejected a bid by Robert Prachar, a detective with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, to overturn a jury's 2014 verdict in a lawsuit filed by Edwin Williams over his false arrest. Williams spent more than a year in custody before the charges against him were dismissed.

The appellate decision maintains a roughly $850,000 judgment awarded to Williams as well as an award of more than $560,000 for his attorney's fees and costs.

In handing down their decision, the appellate judges found Williams "presented sufficient evidence to allow the jury to properly infer that Prachar's intentional conduct was wrongful without just cause or excuse."

After a roughly three-week trial, the jury on June 26, 2014 determined Prachar had arrested and imprisoned Williams without probable cause, maliciously prosecuted Williams, and intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon him.

Jurors found that co-defendant Kevin Lassiter, a Newark detective at the time of Williams's arrest, did not commit those offenses against him.

Williams, now 52, of Newark, had been charged with assaulting Jean Walker on Jan. 4, 2009 and fatally shooting Darsail Crooks on Feb. 8, 2009.

Both incidents allegedly occurred in Newark. Authorities determined the same handgun was used in both incidents based on shell casings found at the scene, according to Williams's attorney, Patrick Bartels.

The case against Williams was based on the identifications made to police by Walker and another prostitute, Aisha Anderson.

Walker identified Williams as the man who had shot at her in the area where Crooks was later shot, and Anderson identified Williams as the man driving a vehicle that Crooks entered in the hours before she was killed.

After authorities said they could not locate Walker or Anderson for a pretrial hearing, the charges against Williams were dismissed on June 30, 2010 and he was released from the Essex County Correctional Facility on July 2. Williams spent 490 days in the jail before his release.

Williams was later arrested in 2012 in an unrelated drug case and he was sentenced last year to a term of probation.

In the lawsuit, Williams alleged Prachar and Lassiter coerced Walker and Anderson into identifying him. During the trial, both women testified they had been coerced by the police when they were separately presented with pictures of Williams and other potential suspects, according to the appellate decision.

After reviewing a photo array, Walker and Anderson did not initially identify Williams, the decision states. But then after speaking with Prachar and allegedly being coerced, the women each reviewed the photo array a second time and identified Williams, the decision states.

On the day when Anderson reviewed the photo array, an audio recording was made of her statements, but Prachar has said he accidentally erased it, the decision states.

As part of his appeal, Prachar argued "the jury's verdict was against the weight of evidence," and that Williams failed to prove the detective had acted with malice, according to the appellate decision.

But the appellate panel rejected Prachar's arguments. If the jury found Walker and Anderson to be credible, "it could have justifiably concluded that Prachar purposely misrepresented the facts" in affidavits to secure arrest warrants for Williams, the decision states.

"Since Prachar acknowledged speaking to both Walker and Anderson between their respective photo displays, the jury was permitted to credit their testimony, and reasonably infer that Prachar influenced them to identify plaintiff," the decision states.

Bill Wichert may be reached at bwichert@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillWichertNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
FRANKLIN TWP. -- Police are asking for the public's help after a resident reported that she found two men in her home recently.

Police released this composite sketch of a man wanted in a burglary and theft in Franklinville. (Franklin Township Police Department)

Police responded to the Franklinville section of the township shortly before 2 p.m. on April 1 for a report of burglary and theft.

The victim told police she was in the bathroom when she heard footsteps in her home.

When she investigated, she encountered a man who claimed he was with the gas company. She told him to leave her home, which he did. As she was speaking to him, another man emerged from her bedroom and left through a side door. The resident didn't get a good look at this man but provided police with a description of the first intruder.

The resident was not injured but told police she noticed several pieces of jewelry were missing from her bedroom.

One intruder is described as Hispanic, with a slim build, mustache and goatee. He was wearing a gold chain, khaki pants, and a white crew neck long-sleeved shirt. He also had a strong odor of cologne, the victim told police.

Glassboro Police Detective Julie Howery provided a composite sketch of the suspect.

A neighbor also described seeing a gray van or SUV driving around the area at the time of the crime.

Anyone who has had a similar experience or who recognizes the man in the sketch is asked to contact Franklin Township Police Detective Bureau at 856-694-1415, ext. 4.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
Lawrence Campbell, 27, who shot and killed Jersey City Police Officer Melvin Santiago on July 13, 2014, had alcohol and PCP in his system that day, a new report says. New Jersey DOC photo

JERSEY CITY -- Lawrence Campbell had alcohol and PCP in his system and cocaine in his possession the morning he shot and killed rookie cop Melvin Santiago, according to a report released last week by authorities investigating the 2014 shooting.

Campbell, who was killed when officers returned fire, was shot eight times, including once in the head and several times to his side and back, wounds authorities believe were sustained when he turned away from officers firing at him, the report says.

The report, issued by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, includes a handful of new details about the July 13, 2014 incident, the first time since 2009 that a Jersey City police officer had been killed in the line of duty.

Campbell's widow said after the shooting that her husband was likely high on PCP at the time, but authorities had never confirmed her suspicion until now.

The report, posted Friday on the HCPO website, concludes that the officers were justified in killing Campbell.

"In response to Campbell's unlawful use of deadly force, the undisputed facts establish that the officers used justifiable force in the reasonable belief that such force was immediately necessary to protect themselves and their fellow officers, and to make a lawful arrest for a homicide and to prevent any further commission of a crime threatening bodily harm," the report says.

The state Attorney General's Office has reviewed the HCPO's investigation into Campbell's killing and stands by the findings, according to the HCPO.

In the early morning hours of July 13, Campbell entered the Walgreens at Kennedy Boulevard and Communipaw Avenue and assaulted a security guard and took his .45 caliber handgun, according to authorities. Store employees hid inside a back room and one of them called 911.

Campbell waited outside the store, took out a bloody knife and told a motorist in the parking lot "something bad was going to happen and that he will read his name in the news tomorrow," the report released last week says.

Santiago and his partner arrived at about 4:11 a.m., the report says, and Campbell opened fire as Santiago got out of his car, striking the 23-year-old once in the head. Simultaneously, a second and then third police car arrived on the scene and officers began to fire on Campbell from inside their vehicles, the report says.

Campbell walked toward the rear of one of the police cars, then stumbled and fell, according to the report. Officers got out of their vehicles and continued to fire on Campbell, who still held the handgun and refused to drop it, the report says.

Campbell was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:16 a.m. Santiago was taken to Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health, where he was pronounced dead at 4:39 a.m.

Santiago, a Jersey City native, dreamed of becoming a police officer. He had been on the job for about six months when he was gunned down. The new west district police station has been named for him.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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JERSEY CITY -- After nearly three hours of plan presentations and emotional testimonies, the city's zoning board unanimously approved a five-story building that neighbors have been criticizing for more than two years.

Plans for the 12-unit building proposed for 375 Fifth St. will begin "as soon as possible" with minor adjustments recommended by the city.

Neighbors at 369 Fifth St. had strong objections to the project, saying the new building would block out the sun from their balconies. The owners of 375 Fifth St. had asked the board to waive two provisions -- a 35-feet rear setback, along with building above the current three-story maximum height.

A setback is the amount of open space required between a structure and the property line.

Medraj Gupta, one of the owners of the property at 375 Fifth St., told the board his family moved to the United States when he was 6 years old. A St. Peter's Prep graduate and Jersey City resident for 41 years, Gupta said the process to develop the land began in April 2014, with several neighborhood meetings held.

He said he has worked with two design teams through the exhausting process with hopes of gaining the neighborhood's approval.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, more than a dozen residents that live within 200 feet of 375 Fifth St. took to the podium to show their disapproval for the project.

In an emotional speech, Jenny Yin, who owns a condo at 369 Fifth St. said she was "exhausted at fighting this."

"I can't sleep, I can't eat. ... I just can't stop thinking about it," Yin said with tears in her eyes. "I was very shocked to see that some people didn't care about the situation."

The board additionally rejected an online petition Yin started in opposition of the project, which 280 residents had signed as of this morning.

But not everyone opposed the project. When asked for those who supported the new building at 375 Fifth St., more than 20 people stood in acknowledgement. Residents in opposition of the building asked for a vote to be done that showed how many of those residents lived within 200 feet of the property. Less than five remained standing.

The approval of the project came with some conditions, including adding a few feet to the side setback adjacent to 369 Fifth St.

Anil Varghese, who wanted the board to reject the project, said he was "crushed" by the vote.

"The city doesn't seem to care about the existing residents," he said.

Attorney Donald Pepe, of Scarinci Hollenbeck, representing the applicants, said it has been a "long journey with a lot of twists and turns."

"It's very hard to find a consensus that makes everyone happy; we struggled to do that," Pepe said. "We actually left more of a setback than the law would require and we're very grateful for the board for seeing our efforts and rewarding them with the approval."

Rob Crow, president of the Village Neighborhood Association, called the approval "disappointing."

"I think the nature of allowing variances to be approved, we're playing a dangerous game right now."

Officials pointed out that many of the current buildings in the neighborhood needed variances approved and that the owners of 375 Fifth St. should not be held to a higher standard.

Pepe said the property owners are "overjoyed" and their objective is to begin construction "as soon as possible."
bayonne police car.jpg

A resident found a grenade while cleaning an East 51st Street backyard yesterday afternoon, police said.

(Journal File Photo)

BAYONNE -- A East 51st Street resident discovered a grenade while cleaning his backyard yesterday afternoon, police said.

Shortly before 3 p.m., an M61 demilitarized fragmentation hand grenade was found in a backyard near Avenue E, Lt. Anthony Maddalone said.

Maddalone said the grenade posed no threat to residents, but the Jersey City Bomb Squad was called to take the grenade. The scene was cleared within an hour, he added.

According to militaryfactory.com, the M61 style grenade was used by the United States and Canada during the Cold War. The website said the grenade was primarily used to detonate into pieces of metal to clear tight spaces, like trenches.

Police said it has not been determined how the grenade ended up in the backyard.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
jcpd.JPG

Jersey City police responded to a Bostwick Avenue apartment complex where a woman's car was vandalized there early this morning, cops said.

(Journal file photo)

JERSEY CITY -- A 40-year-old woman found her car vandalized with lipstick following an apparent parking dispute, according to a police report.

The Bostwick Avenue woman told police when she arrived home at about 2 a.m. yesterday morning, another car was parked in her assigned space at her apartment complex near Ocean Avenue. The victim said she decided to park in a different space in the lot, police said.

But when she went back to move her gray Hyundai Elantra to her assigned space at about 2 p.m. yesterday, she found "offensive words" written in red lipstick on the outside of her car, the report states.

Among the incendiary messages was "Not your spot b----" written across the front windshield and "park in your own f---ing spot" written across the driver's window, according to the report. The woman found "how dare you" written on the driver's side rear window, "b----" across the back window of the vehicle, as well as a number of other offensive terms, police said.

Police were searching for the person assigned to the parking spot where the victim parked overnight. The woman told police she and person have had parking disputes in the past, the report states.

The report does not specify whether the person who originally parked in the victim's space was the woman whose space the victim then used.
No one at Goldman Sachs will go to jail despite the company's world-destroying, multi-billion-dollar frauds that culminated in its unloading billions' worth of worthless mortgage-backed securities on its customers just before the crash.

Goldman's settlement requires it to admit that it knowingly committed these frauds for years on end.

Again, no one will go to jail.

The company will pay $5B in fines.

The deal was negotiated through the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group, a joint state and federal working group formed in 2012 to share resources and continue investigating wrongdoing in the mortgage-backed securities market prior to the financial crisis. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who serves on the working group, says the funds obtained by the settlement will go toward helping residents keep their homes and rebuild their communities. "This settlement, like those before it, ensures that these critical programssuch as mortgage assistance, principal forgiveness, and code enforcementwill continue to get funded well into the future, and will be paid for by the institutions responsible for the financial crisis," Schneiderman says in a statement.

Goldman Sachs To Pay $5B To Settle Charges Of Selling Troubled Mortgages Ahead Of The Financial Crisis [Ashlee Kieler/Consumerist]

(Image: Molly Crabapple
The new, evidently terrible Batman vs Superman movie turns on Lex Luthor's evil plan to lobby the US government to grant a variance in its import controls on kryptonite (making the movie part of the pantheon whose creators bravely decided to make the major plot points revolve around regulation, see, e.g., the Star Wars prequels).

The Law and the Multiverse blog (which uses comics, science fiction novels, and superhero movies as case-studies for understanding the legal system) (no, really, and they have an amazing book that's practically a first-year law-course made out of comic book examples!) invited Lawrence M. Friedman from the Customs Law Blog to weigh in on the ins and outs of import regulation, and providing pro bono advice to Lexcorp on getting its exception.



Lexcorp's best option might be the research and development exception of 40 CFR  720.36. This still requires that the amount imported be small and it also requires notice to employees of the risks associated with the chemical. Given that kryptonite has no apparent negative consequences for humans, that appears possible. But, at the point in time depicted in the movie, it is not clear that the full consequences of human exposure to kryptonite are known. Lexcorp should be careful about that. On a related front, if Lexcorp is able to import kryptonite, it may have to contend with the Hazardous Substance Act, which regulates, among other things, the labeling and packaging of hazardous materials. Again, based on what we see in this movie and 75 years of Superman lore, it appears that kryptonite may not be hazardous to humans. So, this may not be an issue.



Batman v. Superman and Import Licenses

[Lawrence M. Friedman/Law and the Multiverse]
The Panama Papers  a massive cache of 11.5 million records leaked from the law firm Mossack Fonseca  reveal that several heads of state have been sheltering their personal wealth in offshore accounts to evade taxes. This is not surprising, as dictators are known for draining public coffers and hoarding the ill-gotten funds in secret accounts. What's more disturbing is learning that well-known global businesses and civic leaders have been doing the same thing for decades, and getting away with it.

Mossack Fonseca specializes in setting up untraceable shell companies. There's nothing overtly illegal about them, but they're often used by political and financial elites to hide assets, dodge taxes, and launder money. Creating shell companies is a big business, and Mossack Fonseca is just one of many firms that do it. FACT (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency) Coalition says shell companies house up to $21 trillion globally. (By way of comparison, the US gross domestic product for 2015 was $18 trillion.)

Too Big to Jail



The firms employing the services of Mossack Fonseca include a rogues' gallery of brand name corporations with a track record of breaking financial regulations with virtual impunity. Remember back in 2013 when HSBC was slapped with a $1.9 billion fine by the U.S. Justice Department for laundering drug cartel money? Its fine amounted to less than one tenth of its annual profits. And remember when UBS was caught in 2012 spreading false information to manipulate banking exchange rates? It was fined $1.5 billion, which sounds like a lot, until you learn UBS' revenues are almost $40 billion a year. Both banks are clients of Mossack Fonseca.

The reason banks and financial institutions are ignoring regulations comes down to simple economics. The organized criminal economy is over $2 trillion a year, and someone has to launder it, says journalist Drew Sullivan, co-founder and editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and a 2014 Institute for the Future (IFTF) Fellow. "You can either be a bank that takes that money or a bank that doesn't take that money. Because nobody is penalizing you seriously for this, and nobody holds it against you, you don't get a reputation of being a bad bank, and you can keep doing this."

These slap-on-the-wrist fines are simply the cost of doing business, says Sullivan, who compares the bank's criminal behavior to the Koch Brothers' modus operandi: violate sanctions and fight the fines in court for as long as possible. "It's a risk minimization plan, rather than honorable business," he says.

The Collapse of the Legitimate Economy



The fact that these financial institutions can get away with wildly criminal acts makes it clear that something is very wrong with the way business is being done around the world.

It's as if the entire financial industry ate a black market hamburger contaminated with prions. Those billions of dirty dollars are a fast-acting version of mad cow disease that turns institutions and their regulators into corrupted host bodies for worldwide tax evasion, slave trafficking, weapons trading, money laundering, and fraud. And we are paying a steep price for it. Global Financial Integrity's December 2015 report found that "developing and emerging economies lost US$7.8 trillion in illicit financial flows from 2004 through 2013, with illicit outflows increasing at an average rate of 6.5 percent per year  nearly twice as fast as global GDP."

What we're seeing is a shadow economy that closely mirrors  and is indeed intertwined withthe mainstream economy. "Organized crime operations use familiar business structures  companies, banks, networks of employees  to conduct illegal activities," writes IFTF executive director Marina Gorbis in her 2013 book, The Nature of the Future. And just as the criminal economy learns from the mainstream economy, the mainstream economy learns from the criminals. This is why IFTF's Ten Year Forecast identified the criminal economy as a locus of innovation for six other economies  corporate, civil, collaborative, among them.

There's no longer a line to be drawn between the legitimate economy and the criminal economy. The Panama Papers clearly bring this to the fore. Many so-called leaders of the civil economy whose job it is to create and monitor the legitimate economy  and to penalize those who step outside it are themselves a part of the web of global corruption. The liberalization of trade and finance often gives get-out-jail-free cards to everyone from the drug growers of Mendocino County, California (their transgressions overlooked by elected sheriffs) to large corporations who build the greater share of their profits, not from the products and services they produce, but from the investment of their large stockpiles of money.

It's no accident that the large global corporations have been steadily jettisoning their workforces since financial deregulation began in earnest in the 1980s. While the problem of unemployment is often laid at the feet of factory robots and their algorithmic bosses, the truth is that big companies don't need a big workforce to build profits from investments. They can just as easily (or more easily) profit from stashing money, preferably cash, in various tax havens, instead of investing them in productive activities. It is easy to hide the money in places where they can't actually be traced and therefore taxed by the officials charged with taxing it. Oh wait! They're hiding their cash flows, too! This confederacy  one might almost call it a conspiracy  of the corporate, civil, and criminal economies has not only produced the high-profile criminal acts revealed in the Panama Papers, it has also hollowed out the opportunities for all but the relative few who can afford to play the investment game and created the conditions for the growth of the criminal workforce.

The Future of Legitimacy



We can't expect governments alone to solve the problem, especially when government leaders are often entrenched players in the crooked game. And traditional modes of civil engagement  voting, protesting, civil disobedience, or even acts of violence  are unlikely to bring about the broad resurrection of legitimacy that will be necessary to reinvent a trusted economy.

Organizations like the OCCRP offer a new model for turning the tide on widespread financial crime. The OCCRP goes beyond simple naming and shaming, which often isn't enough to make crooked companies clean up their act. You also have to "hack and track," says Sullivan of the OCCRP, whose organization joined the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and more than 100 other news organizations to conduct the yearlong investigation that led to the release of the Panama Papers. "Basically, what we do is we follow them all around, and track them through public records and other data sources, and show exactly what business dealings they're doing, and who they're working with," says Sullivan.

Distributed reporting organizations like the OCCRP "will increasingly assume the role of de facto regulators and drive demand for increased levels of transparency in the political and financial systems," writes Gorbis in her book. When these organizations realize that their behavior is being scrutinized by the entire world, they'll be better corporate citizens.

In addition to public tracking efforts, a multitude of experiments are being undertaken that do away with the need to trust companies to do the right thing. Applications that run blockchain technology have the potential to generate databases of immutable ledgers that allow anyone to view the flow of money from one place to another. Blockchain technology is used by Bitcoin to validate transactions (including illegal money transfers), but blockchains can also be used to track asset transfers, and enable smart self-executing contracts and distributed collaborative organizations as alternatives to human bureaucracies prone to graft.

Ultimately, to fight global corruption, we need to rebuild our civic imagination. Institutional corruption is the root of our global, social, and economic malaise. We need to go beyond the polarized debate of public vs. private, of government vs. business, because both of these poles are already clearly corrupted. We need to reach deep into our collaborative, empathic psyches to find new ways to negotiate a global commons in which we collectively, repeatedly, and with great creativity reimagine what a legitimate economy can look like.
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.
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.
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.
Party votes to turf leader Tom Mulcair at weekend convention in Edmonton

The surprise decision to oust Leader Tom Mulcair last weekend at the federal New Democratic Party convention in Edmonton was a surprise to the leader of the Sudbury riding.

Chad Machum, president of the NDP's Sudbury federal Electoral District Association, said Monday he expected Mulcair to at least receive the support of a majority of the delegates.

"Yeah, I was fairly surprised. Machum said. I figured Tom would have gotten a little higher (level of support.) I thought it would have been his choice whether to stay or not."

Mulcair, after making his pitch to the convention to stay on as leader, received just 48 per cent support. Traditionally, 70 per cent is seen as the magic number for a leader to receive as a vote of confidence. Technically, anything above 50 per cent is needed to stay on.

"I figured he get somewhere around 60-65 per cent, so it would be a tough choice for him," Machum said.

In his analysis of what went wrong in the October federal election  where the NDP started strong, but finished third, well behind the Liberals and Tories  Machum said he thinks two factors are largely to blame.

The first was the pledge not to run budget deficits, hamstringing the NDP's to counter the Liberals' massive spending promises. The second factor was the niqab issue, which led to the party's support in Quebec to collapse.

"Those are the two issues that really sunk us -- it started in Quebec with the niqab and the budget issue was the other one."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took his party farther to the left of the political spectrum, leaving the NDP struggling to explain to voters why they were a better option.

"If you noticed during the election, we would come out with something in our platform, and the Liberals would come out with something similar," he said.

"We've always been left of centre. The Liberals have not. We've always been a little more left than the Liberals. I think they came from a little bit more left of centre than they normally do.

"So it wasn't so much Tom. Tom was standing up for his beliefs, as well as the party's values. I supported Tom and his decisions."

But Machum would have liked Mulcair to have campaigned with a different style, one he thinks would have connected more with Canadians.

"I would have like to have seen Tom be a little more ... like he is in the House of Commons, he said. He speaks with a lot of emotion -- I didn't see a lot of that out of him."

While Machum wasn't in Edmonton for the convention, seven delegates from the Sudbury NDP were there. He said Mulcair will stay on as interim leader while the party organizes a leadership convention within the next two years.

"Speaking for Sudbury, we will look at all candidates and make sure our members are informed about whoever decides to run for leader," he said. "I support our members' decision. I look forward to seeing who is going to run as candidate and that the Sudbury EDA will do their best to inform the members on upcoming events."

And for a party that just turfed its leader, Machum said the process of getting the party back on track has already begun.

"I think we did some healing, coming together as a party, at the convention," he said. We do a leadership review every two years and we give our membership a chance to be heard. Our membership spoke and I support what the membership had to say."
Northern Ontario School of Medicine hosting its annual summer camp in July

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) maintains a commitment to providing information to rural, remote, Indigenous, and Francophone youth about health careers.

This year, NOSM will host its annual Health Sciences Summer Camp from July 48 at Laurentian University in Sudbury and from July 1115 at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.

These week-long programs provide students with an opportunity to explore health-care careers, obtain hands-on experience and find a mentor.

Camp activities include: casting and x-rays; CSI; physiology and anatomy; Indigenous culture, health and tradition; Francophone culture, health and tradition; and, much more.

NOSM is currently seeking interested high school students who are 14-16 years of age and will be attending Grade 10 and 11 in September 2016. Applications are due by May 13.

Accepted applicants will be contacted by NOSM by June 8 and will be required to submit a non-refundable registration fee of $400.
Regional science fair names top projects

Amber Wiwchar, of C.C. McLean Public School in Gore Bay, talks about her project, Bubbly Bacteria, with teacher Bruce Lindsay. Photo by Arron Pickard.

1 / 1 Amber Wiwchar, of C.C. McLean Public School in Gore Bay, talks about her project, Bubbly Bacteria, with teacher Bruce Lindsay. Photo by Arron Pickard.

College Notre-Dame student Patrick Trottier, 17, will be going to the Canada-Wide Science Fair for the second year in a row.

He earned the right with his latest science project, The Ultimate Computer Team. Essentially, it revolved around having people connected to one server, all sharing computing power to perform whatever task they need to accomplish.

The goal is to share information, he said on Saturday, during the 47th annual Sudbury Regional Science Fair.

One computer can solve a problem in X-amount of time, two computers might be able to solve in half of X, and three computers might be able to solve it even faster. The idea is to get people connected to one common goal, which would allow us to solve problems faster and for less cost. No one uses the full power of their computer, so why can't it be spent elsewhere, like helping a scientist do research, or anyone who needs that extra computing power.

His project claimed the top spot in the computer sciences division. Trottier is among a group of seven students who will attend the Canada-Wide Science Fair, taking place this year in Montreal, Que., from May 14-21.

There were at least 400 projects there last year, he said. It's a full week of fun. You get to talk and hang out with people who are all their for the same thing. It's the best experience I've had.

This year's regional science fair featured 62 projects and 94 participants. More than 60 judges critiqued the students and their projects, all of whom were vying for 36 regular awards and 44 special awards.

The science fair is a great event where students can share their work with professional scientists and the general public, said Nicole Chiasson, president of the Sudbury Regional Science Fair Committee. It is wonderful that such an event can get students thinking about the world around them and at the same time let them have fun with science.

For the second year, the Sudbury Regional Science Fair Committee also presented an award recognizing a teacher for excellence in science. Nominated by school principal Paul Dupont, Dean MacDonald, of R.L. Beattie Public School, was recognized for his strong passion for teaching science, for his extensive involvement with science fair projects in his school and for his dedication in helping students succeed at their science fair project.

Since its inception in 1969, approximately 4,600 students have participated at the regional science fair level and 272 students have had all expense paid trips to the Canada-Wide Science Fair.

Following is the list of winning young scientists and their project who will represent Sudbury at the Canada-wide Science Fair:

The Effect of Worms on the Decomposition of Food Waste

Eran Bursey

MacLeod Public School

No More Dehydration, Use Solar Desalination

Kaylee Kruk

Marymount Academy

Determiner si l'endroit ou le ballon est frappe fait une difference dans la distance voyager? (Does a ball travel farther depending on where it's hit?)

Luc Couture

College Notre-Dame

Don't Waste Waste Water

Nethra Wickramasinghe

MacLeod Public School

Ethanol: Heating Things Up

Mariam Alaeddine

Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School

L'ultime equipe informatique

Patrick Trottier

College Notre Dame

Best-in-Fair Project:

Oscar Sorting: Sorting the Waste Stream

Brendon Matusch

Sudbury Christian Academy
The Constitutional Elm, a tree once located in Corydon, provided shade near the location of the 1816 constitutional convention. While tales of the tree have grown over the many generations since 1816, the Constitutional Elm remains an important part of the states founding. The elm died from disease in the 1920s, but visitors can still visit the marker that remains of the great tree in Corydon. Visitors can also come learn about the constitutional convention that took place in the shade of the elm at the Indiana Historical Societys exhibit, You Are There 1816: Indiana Joins the Nation, in Indianapolis.
VALPARAISO  Payton Ball sees himself in a sportscasting booth one day, giving play by play or commentary for the NFL, NBA or MLB.

The junior at Wheeler High School already has a head start on his career. Hes the host of the Saturday morning sports talk show Under the Radar on WVLP, a local radio station found at 103.1 on the FM dial.

I got into that because of this class, Ball said about the Video Production and Media Studies class at the Porter County Career and Technical Education Center.

Hed follow former students of the program who have paged for Late Night with David Letterman or worked on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or the new reality show featuring Caitlyn Jenner.

About half of the 36 students in this years class will end up pursuing careers in broadcasting, video production, film or similar fields, said instructor Bob Phelps. His goal, is that when they do head off to college, theyll be a step ahead of other students.

I want them to go off to college and be the students the other students want to partner with, said Phelps, a former TV photo journalist who has taught the class for 10 years.

The program was recently named the Television School of the Year by the Indiana Association of School Broadcasters for the second year in a row. It also recently received the Indiana Department of Educations Award for Excellence for being the top career and technical education program in the state. It was one of three programs throughout the state to receive the distinction.

Two student-produced videos have also made the top 30 of 69 videos submitted for the national 10 Day Film Challenge.

The media studies program is offered at two levels, Video I and Video II, said Phelps, but students from both levels blend into one class.

Level I students are taught the basics of video, from A to Z, said Phelps, while Level II students dive in deeper into the areas they are most interested.

I want to expose them to everything, Phelps said of the class, which starts daily with a focus on current events, moves to story writing then on to the technical aspects of the profession.

Ben Nielsen, a senior at Valparaiso High School, is in his second year of the program.

Nielsen said while he always loved school, he found his passion when his mom suggested he look at the career center offerings and found the media studies classes.

The amazing thing about the career center is getting the hands on experience, said Nielsen, who will go to Vincennes University to earn an associates degree in telecommunications, then possibly transferring elsewhere. Hes looking at becoming a video or film editor.

Phelps said students who complete the two-year program have an edge, earning six college credits through Vincennes University upon their high school graduation.
HIROSHIMA, Japan  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshimas atomic bombing on Monday, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after United States used the weapon for the first time in history and killed 140,000 Japanese.

Kerry became the most senior American official to travel to city, touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining parks stone-arched monument, the exposed steel beams of Hiroshimas iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.

The otherwise somber occasion was lifted by the presence of about 800 Japanese schoolchildren waving flags of the G7 nations, including that of the United States, and cheering as the ministers walked past.

Kerry didnt speak publicly at the ceremony, though could be seen with his arm around Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native, and whispering in his ear. The ministers departed with origami cranes in their respective national colors around their neck, Kerry draped in red, white and blue.

Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial, Kerry wrote in the museums guest book. It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself.

War must be the last resort  never the first choice, he added. This memorial compels us all to redouble our efforts to change the world, to find peace and build the future so yearned for by citizens everywhere.

Kerrys appearance, just footsteps away from Ground Zero, completed an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

No serving U.S. president has visited the site, and it took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend Hiroshimas annual memorial service. Many Americans believe the dropping of atomic bombs here on Aug. 6, 1945, and on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later were justified and hastened the end of the war.

Nevertheless, Japanese survivors groups have campaigned for decades to bring leaders from the U.S. and other nuclear powers to see Hiroshimas scars as part of a grassroots movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

As Kerry expressed interest, neither Japanese government officials nor survivor groups pressed for the U.S. to say sorry. And a senior American official traveling with Kerry said no apology would occur.

I dont think it is something absolutely necessary when we think of the future of the world and peace for our next generation, Masahiro Arimai, a 71-year-old Hiroshima restaurant owner, said of an apology.

Yoshifumi Sasaki, a 68-year-old, longtime resident, agreed: We all want understanding.

Both wished for Obama to follow in Kerrys footsteps next month.

The president still hasnt made a decision about visiting the city and its memorial when he attends a Group of Seven meeting of leaders in central Japan in late May, according to the senior U.S. official, who wasnt authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. During his first year in office, Obama said he would be honored to do so.

Shortly before the ceremony, Kerry called it a moment that I hope will underscore to the world the importance of peace and the importance of strong allies working together to make the world safer and, ultimately, we hope to be able to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.

And while we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past, Kerry said as he met with Kishida. Its about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built, the friendship that we share, the strength of our alliance and the strong reminder of the imperative we all have to work for peace for peoples everywhere.

The museum includes harrowing images of the destruction and shocking exhibits, including the torn clothing of children who perished and skin, fingernails, deformed tongues and other horrible examples of the exposure to the blast and its residual radiation.

Some explanations mounted on the wall, however, dont align with the views of all historians and experts in the United States or elsewhere. One suggests that the U.S. used the weapon in part to justify the costs of the Manhattan Project to develop it. Disagreements over motivations and possible justification rage among historians, ethicists and others to this day.

___

Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
In recent days, Hillary Clinton's campaign has been making heavy use of former President Bill Clinton, who on Monday helped rally Clintons base and took some more jabs at Bernie Sanders. Bobby Cuza filed the following report.



Theres no doubting Bill Clintons political skills. On Monday, he used them to take repeated digs at Bernie Sanders without ever identifying him.



"Sometimes in this primary, I get the feeling that the gentleman thats running against Hillary is running harder against President Obama and me than he is against the legacy of the Bush administration and trickle-down economics," Bill Clinton said. "You know, after hes been a Democrat a little while longer, hell get used to it."

Bill Clinton has faced some heat after sparring with Black Lives Matter protesters last week.



"I think he owes the American people an apology," Sanders said Saturday.

Clinton has not responded to that request, but on Monday, he took backhanded swipes at Sanders' record on immigration and on gun control, by way of praising his wife.



"Shes the only one you can vote for who voted against giving gun manufacturers, making them the only industry in America to be immune from lawsuit," Bill Clinton said.

The popular former president is clearly viewed as an asset by his wifes campaign, deployed across the city to energize supporters. Monday, it was the Hebrew Home for the Aging in the Bronx.

"She has been a good friend of Israel," Bill Clinton said.

Later, it was a Brooklyn church. This, after speaking at three Harlem churches on Sunday.



While Clinton at no point on Monday referred to Bernie Sanders by name, he did call out one presidential candidate, Republican Donald Trump, for his rhetoric on both Muslims and on Mexican immigrants.

"Hes blamed, as near as I can see, everything but dog owners for problems in this country," the former president said. "'Ill put up a wall and make the Mexicans pay for it, and then Ill send all the immigrants home, Ill give you their jobs.'" Thats not only unethical, it would crash the American economy."

Clinton is keeping up the pace with at least two more appearances in the city on Tuesday.


DETROIT  After two years of heavy legal and financial consequences, General Motors has finally turned the tide and started winning lawsuits related to the gravest safety crisis in its history.

So far this year, G.M., the nations largest automaker, has prevailed in three injury lawsuits, including a case dismissed on Friday, in ongoing litigation to resolve hundreds of remaining claims linked to its recall of 2.6 million small cars with faulty ignition switches.

And in a critical fourth case involving a fatal accident, G.M. left nothing to chance in its effort to move past the ignition switch scandal  and settled the case last week before it could go to trial.

It has all been part of G.M.s methodical march to compensate victims, pay penalties and resolve claims stemming from its admission in 2014 that employees had known for a decade that faulty ignitions could suddenly cut engine power and disable airbags, often with tragic results.
THE SCENE was beginning to take shape, a Walter Mitty-like fantasy about a schlub taking out the garbage. A small team was imagining how the mundane task might be suddenly transformed. After briefly considering an action sequence, they landed on a number with a lift straight out of Dirty Dancing.

Although it felt more like an improv class at the Upright Citizens Brigade, the setting was a corporate brainstorming session in a Midtown Manhattan loft, and the centerpiece of an unusual approach that one San Francisco agency is hoping will disrupt the industry.

Long hours, tight deadlines and a stream of demanding clients can sometimes make advertising seem deadly serious. But the two-year-old agency Funworks has found a way to inject some humor into the business, joining its clients and copywriters with a team of sketch and improv performers for collaborative workshops that attempt to kick-start the creative process.

Paul Charney, the founder and chief executive of Funworks, said the method gets at what he thinks is a fundamental problem in the industry: how long it takes to produce a campaign and get the client to sign off on it.
The Boston Globe published a parody front page on Sunday that offered a satirical view of a Donald Trump presidency.

The fake page, with headlines like Deportations to Begin and Markets Sink as Trade War Looms, ran as the front page of the newspapers Ideas section, with an editorial denouncing Mr. Trumps candidacy on the next page.

The spoof, says the editorial, was intended to take Mr. Trumps rhetoric and his policy positions to their logical conclusion.

It is an exercise in taking a man at his word, the editorial says.

There was no immediate comment from Mr. Trump or his campaign.
The stakes for a network like Discovery are high. The show produces real ratings for the network, as does its spinoff, Naked and Afraid XL, which debuted to the best numbers of any first-year unscripted cable show last year with an average of 3.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen. (The shows have broken through in other ways: Saturday Night Live had its own Naked and Afraid spoof this month featuring Peter Dinklage and Leslie Jones.)

Image Johnny Hestich, a designer at the production company Renegade 83. Credit... Coley Brown for The New York Times

The risks are high, too. After the first wave of success for Naked and Afraid in 2013, other naked-themed reality shows like TLCs Buying Naked and VH1s Dating Naked followed. Two years ago, a woman sued VH1 and the production team of the show Dating Naked after she contended that a blur did not fully cover her crotch. (The suit was thrown out.)

Its something we live in constant fear of, said Steve Rankin, an executive producer, referring to prospective lawsuits. He added: The Discovery Channel is not an R-rated network. Its seen by families. We dont want to upset people.

Enter the Blur Man Group.

Just a few years ago, these designers were having a difficult time finding regular work. They were all graphic artists, and most of them were moving through different jobs in television.

Then the production company Renegade 83 conceived of Naked and Afraid and Discovery gave it the green light and a Sunday night time slot. But the only way to do a kind of nude Survivor was to find people who could make it suitable for broadcast.

And what a job it is.

People talk about the whole aspect of nudity, Mr. OSteen said. That goes away really quick. He added, Theres a job you have to do.
Heading in an entirely different direction, this week wed love to make a few of Julias new recipes for sesame-based desserts: her salted tahini chocolate chip cookies, for instance, or her halvah semifreddo with hazelnuts, or her chocolate-sesame crunch.

And were forever excited, at the top of the week, to consider the possibilities afforded by our slow cooker for the middle of the week: perhaps Marks recipe for braised pork with red wine, or that recipe for Mississippi Roast everyone natters on about on Pinterest.

Have you made Melissas recipe for vegetarian skillet chili yet? Davids recipe for asparagus revuelto? If you see fiddleheads at the market, grab them: Peter Meehans recipe for the fiddleheads Andy Ricker makes at his Pok Pok restaurants, off a technique he picked up in Phrae province, Thailand, south of Chiang Mai, is a superb Monday night meal, even if it clashes a little with the Bach. (Try the excellent Thai straightedge band X on the Hand instead.)

You can find many more ideas for what to cook tonight and later this week on Cooking. You know the drill: Save the recipes you like to your recipe box; rate them when youre done cooking (five stars for Julias new chocolate chip cookies for sure!); and leave notes on them  for yourself or for others  if youve discovered a shortcut or postscript youd like to share.

We are as always standing by to help if you run into problems with our technology or technique. Just write us at cookingcare@nytimes.com. And were posting pictures, links and all sorts of excitements to our social media accounts  were on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram.
Employees Only has been one of New Yorks most popular cocktail bars since it opened in the West Village in 2004. By the end of this year, it will be an international brand.

The bar plans to open branches in Singapore, Miami Beach and Austin, Tex., in the next several months. Each will be called Employees Only and reflect the character and design of the original, which is known for its Art Deco decor, undulating bar and white-jacketed bartenders.

The new bars will each be owned by one of the five partners behind the New York original.

One partner, Igor Hadzismajlovic, hopes to open the Singapore spot in June; he has already moved to there. The Miami Beach bar, scheduled to open in September in a building on the grounds of the Washington Park Hotel complex, will be the project of the partner Billy Gilroy. And a third, Jason Kosmas, who lives in Austin, will spearhead the Texas branch sometime this fall at a location yet to be determined, working with local partners.

The expansion is long in coming. Since year two, we envisioned being able to move into other cities that had a growth of professional service people, Mr. Kosmas said. Mr. Hadzismajlovic began taking exploratory trips to Singapore years ago.
Quixotic as his campaign might seem, Mckesson still possesses the same seemingly bottomless well of self-confidence that moved him to wake up one morning and drive 550 miles from Minneapolis to Ferguson, Mo., to protest after Michael Brown was shot to death in August 2014. Hes a man who doesnt much know failure. So all day, in the Ubers he took around the city, between tweets and through interviews, he was personalizing fliers, signing his name in black marker right over the word education, covering up the mistake. Then, the plan went, he would pass out these fliers, and then something else would supposedly happen, and then DeRay Mckesson would be the next mayor of Baltimore.

DeRay Mckesson will not be the next mayor of Baltimore.

Baltimore  as anyone who has spent any time there (or just binge-watched The Wire) will tell you  is a city with problems. There were 344 murders last year, the most per capita in the citys history. Its Police Department is being investigated by the Department of Justice over its use of force and possible discriminatory policing. Almost a quarter of its citizens live below the poverty line  many of them in West Baltimore, where hypersegregation pins blacks without the education, or even the public transportation, they would need to escape.

Mckesson, the child of two drug addicts, was raised here by his father and his great-grandmother. His dad eventually got clean and started working 16-hour days at a local seafood distributor, and when Mckesson was in sixth grade, the family moved out of the city to nearby Catonsville. Mckesson was elected to student government from sixth grade all the way through Catonsville High; at Bowdoin College, in Maine, he spent each year as class president, student government president or, in his senior year, both. He majored in government and legal studies but went into education, and soon moved back to Baltimore to work in the citys public-school system.

By then, he says, he already had mayoral ambitions. I thought about it a long time ago, he says. Then I was No. 2 in human capital in the school system. And it was actually, like, that was the perfect role to get things done. In 2013, he was recruited to be the senior director of human capital for Minneapolis public schools, and his career path seemed all but mapped out.

Then came Ferguson. Mckesson watched the protests on television and was moved to drive to a town he had never visited, just to bear witness. It was a stark departure from who he was  a self-described system guy, a technocrat who believed at his core that the system was good, or at least not inherently bad. Youre not born woke, he says. Something wakes you up. He was anonymous when he pulled into Ferguson, but in the midst of the tear gas and rubber bullets, he made a small group of friends, including a local woman named Johnetta Elzie. They reported what they saw on social media and eventually started publishing a newsletter. They werent organizers, operating more like a communications team. Mckesson was a patient, passionate speaker and an incessant Twitter user. He also understood the power of branding and soon settled on wearing his bright blue vest to every protest.

He had spent much of his life in Baltimore and his entire career in the system, but he was reborn, publicly, in Ferguson. He and Elzie emerged as powerful symbols, new faces of a leaderless movement. By March 2015, he had resigned from his job and become a full-time activist, the biggest star within a movement that had grown, since the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, to hold the nations attention. Then, in April, Freddie Gray died of a spinal injury suffered in the custody of the Baltimore police, and the protests that followed brought Mckesson home. And in September, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced that she wouldnt seek re-election in 2016.
Both Mr. Rechnitz and Mr. Reichberg served on a committee that planned Mr. de Blasios 2014 inaugural celebration. Mr. Rechnitz owns a real estate development and management firm that controls several buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Mr. Reichberg operates a consulting company, but the precise nature of its business is unclear.

Two of the people briefed on the matter suggested that investigators were trying to determine whether Mr. Rechnitz and Mr. Reichberg benefited from some type of favorable municipal action, or the promise of some action, in exchange for their donations, their fund-raising or some other gesture. But the precise allegations under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are unclear. The two people, like others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the case publicly.

Neither man has been charged with a crime.

To date, there has been no suggestion that Mr. de Blasio was involved in any improprieties, and it remains unclear whether the prosecutors and F.B.I. agents working on the case have developed evidence, conclusive or otherwise, of the kind of quid pro quo necessary to prove most corruption crimes in federal court. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mr. de Blasio said no one in his administration had been contacted by investigators, and he described his relationship with the two businessmen as cursory.

A lawyer for Mr. Rechnitz, Marc S. Harris, said last week that his client had broken no laws and that he had not been notified that he was the subject of any inquiry. Mr. Reichberg could not be reached for comment. A lawyer who was said to represent Mr. Reichberg said last week that she does not comment on who she does or does not represent.

Both the United States attorneys office in Manhattan and the F.B.I., which are conducting the investigation, declined to comment.
In the 10 years since he tested positive for H.I.V., David Goode has grown weary of the stigma and the ostracism that have accompanied his diagnosis. Among the most searing rejections were those from landlords and realtors, who told him time and again they would not accept rental subsidies from New York Citys H.I.V./AIDS Services Administration, in violation of city and state law.

Last week, Mr. Goode earned a measure of recompense when a real estate brokerage firm that had denied him housing agreed to pay him $5,000 in damages and to overhaul its business practices to curb such cases in the future.

People on H.A.S.A. are so used to being told no that we often just accept it, Mr. Goode, 28, an AIDS activist now living in Miami Beach, said on Saturday, referring to the subsidies. Thats what realtors and landlords are banking on.

Officials from the citys Commission on Human Rights, which investigated Mr. Goodes complaint and arranged the settlement, said the case demonstrated their strengthened efforts to rein in source-of-income discrimination. Last month, the commission fined a landlord $100,000 for a similar violation after the landlord failed to cooperate with the investigation and did not show up for trial.
After a brief chase outside a South Bronx housing project, the police arrested a 35-year-old man early Sunday morning and charged him with fatally stabbing another man during a house party.

Investigators believe an argument over a dance contest erupted into a brawl between several men and women in an apartment on the 15th floor of the St. Marys Park Houses, at 645 Westchester Avenue, the police said.

Julian Washington, 30, stepped into the middle of the fight to try to break it up and pushed his friends to safety, witnesses said, before the other man, Vernon Hubbard, stabbed him several times in the neck and torso around midnight.

Friends of Mr. Washingtons tried to stop the bleeding, and a police officer administered first aid, but Mr. Washington lost consciousness in the hallway and was pronounced dead at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center.
To the Editor:

Re Could There Be a Terrorist Fukushima? (Op-Ed, April 5):

In calling for greater vigilance in protecting nuclear power plants from terrorist attack, Graham Allison and William H. Tobey dont reach the necessary conclusion: Its time to bring our precarious romance with the peaceful atom to an end.

They point to the need for rigorous personnel security checks, armed guards and simulated attacks at nuclear facilities. Its hard to fathom why these measures are not universally required today. Yet sabotage and security breaches in Belgium barely hint at the gaping holes in plant safety that plague nuclear power in a politically unstable world.

Though President Obama was a leader in highlighting the vulnerability of nuclear materials at the recent Nuclear Security Summit, his administration is subsidizing a new wave of nuclear construction here at home, and the Commerce Departments Civil Nuclear Trade Initiative is pressing to expand American nuclear exports.

With a global market estimated at $500 billion to $740 billion over the next decade, both government and industry are eager to get a piece of the action.
AS the Democratic presidential campaign comes to New York, the candidates are competing to dance on the grave of fracking, even though the oil and gas extraction technique of hydraulic fracturing has been banned in the state since 2014. The anti-fracking rhetoric seems to be rooted in the assumption that liberalism is as inherently antithetical to fracking as it is, say, to the Defense of Marriage Act  or monarchy. That assumption, however, does a disservice to liberals claims to be on the side of empiricism and climate science.

I can already hear the derisive howls at my being able to make that claim objectively: I am a fracker, an executive at an investment firm that funds oil and gas shale development, someone whose own economic interest would be crushed by a national ban on fracking. But my job has also provided me with palpable, irreplaceable encounters with the environmental, economic and global impact of fracking and the shale revolution, in places like Midland, Tex., and Mount Morris, Pa.

Nothing I have seen as a professional has shaken my politics as a person: I remain a classic New York City liberal, whose opinions my friends in Midland see as evidence of either perverse disregard for my own self-interest or pitiable softheadedness.

But I find liberalism and fracking to be completely compatible. This opinion was once relatively common, whether in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s (later disavowed) 2009 assertion that shale gas was President Obamas most obvious first step toward saving our planet to the presidents own State of the Union address in 2012, which praised domestic oil and gas production  whose renaissance has been enabled by fracking  as part of an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy on energy.
Panama City  DESPITE their name, the Panama Papers are not mainly about Panama. They are not even primarily concerned with Panamanian companies. The more than 11 million documents, illegally hacked and released last week relating to previously undisclosed offshore corporations, is roiling the world with revelations of the vulnerability for rampant abuse of legal financial structures by the wealthy.

They are unfairly called the Panama Papers because this particular trove of documents came from a single law firm based in Panama. But the problem of tax evasion is a global one.

Panama does not deserve to be singled out on an issue that plagues many countries. But we are willing to accept the responsibility for fixing it, in part because greater transparency is ultimately a continuation of reforms we have recently undertaken. The world must tackle this problem collectively and with urgency, and Panama stands ready to lead the way.

The scope of the information is breathtaking: The files include information on more than 14,000 banks, law firms, corporate incorporators and other middlemen from more than 100 countries, which is just a small part of a worldwide industry that harbors trillions of dollars.
The New York State Legislature rebuffed Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year when he proposed that the State University of New York, which has 64 campuses, and the City University of New York, which has 24, develop a plan for combining their administrative functions.

Legislators correctly saw this as a stealth plan for merging two systems with dissimilar cultures and different educational missions and, in the process, undermining City Universitys historic commitment to the urban poor.

Nevertheless, the merger idea reappeared this year in news reports and again when Mr. Cuomo, complaining of administrative bloat at City University, tried to cut its state allotment by nearly half a billion dollars.

The merger idea has been around for quite a while. As the City University professors Stephen Brier and Michael Fabricant explain in their forthcoming history, Austerity Blues: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education, Nelson Rockefeller, who essentially built the states public higher education system, wanted to absorb New York Citys colleges into the state university system at the beginning of the 1960s.
For 10 years, the Election Assistance Commission, the bipartisan federal agency created after the 2000 election debacle to help make voting easier and more standardized, has made it clear that prospective voters do not need to prove that they are American citizens before they may register.

Anyone registering to vote with the federal voter-registration form, which can be used for both federal and state elections, must already sign a statement swearing that he or she is a citizen. Congress rejected a proposal to require documented proof as well, finding that the threat of criminal prosecution for a false statement was enough to deter fraud. This did not satisfy some states, like Kansas and Arizona, where Republican officials have fought for years to block voting by anyone who cannot come up with a birth certificate or a passport.

These laws, like voter identification laws, have been pushed by Republican lawmakers trying to reduce turnout among the poor, minorities, the young and the elderly, who tend to lean Democratic. And, like voter ID laws, theyre based on a fiction. There is virtually no evidence of voting by noncitizens, or by people pretending to be someone else. Kansas officials  led by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican and one of the countrys most tireless advocates of other restrictive voting laws  have identified, at most, a few dozen cases of noncitizens who had registered to vote.

For this and other reasons, Mr. Kobach and others pushing proof-of-citizenship requirements have lost repeatedly, before the Election Assistance Commission and at the Supreme Court, which ruled in 2013 that states may not require proof of citizenship from people registering to vote in federal elections. (They are allowed to require such proof on registration forms for state elections only, and Kansas has already denied registration to at least 30,000 residents who are missing the necessary documents.)
To the Editor:

Re Political Discontent Festers in Indiana Town Despite Jobs Surge (front page, April 3):

All I could do was shake my head as I read this article. Despite leading the country away from the abyss of the Great Recession, despite being instrumental in lowering the unemployment rate in Indiana (one of the nations lowest at 3.8 percent, down from 20 percent seven years ago), and despite the fact that the jobs have returned to Elkhart, Ind., people there are turning away from President Obama and the Democratic Party and are considering voting for Donald Trump.

It continues to amaze me how people  especially women  vote against their best interests and continue to support the Republican Party. According to your article, while the folks in Elkhart are pleased as punch that they are all earning a comfortable wage and that there are so many job openings that employers are seeking workers from elsewhere, they are upset with the president over his stand on gun control. Please.

I am a state representative in New Hampshire and a Democrat. When I was campaigning last year, I met an elderly disabled woman who lived in my ward. She gushed to me that since Obamacare came into being, she no longer had to pay any out-of-pocket costs for her monthly foot treatments at the local hospital.

Figuring this was a sure vote for me and the Democratic Party, I told her that I was counting on her vote in November. She looked at me and said: Oh no, dearie, I will be voting Republican. I always vote Republican. At first I thought she was pulling my leg, but when I realized she was dead serious, I asked her if she realized that if the Republicans had their way, they would repeal Obamacare in an instant. She looked at me and said, Oh, they wouldnt do that, would they?
Duane R. Clarridge, a pugnacious American spy who helped found the C.I.A.s Counterterrorism Center, was indicted and later pardoned for his role in the Iran-contra scandal, and resumed his intelligence career in his late 70s as the head of a private espionage operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, died on Saturday in Leesburg, Va. He was 83.

His lawyer, Raymond Granger, said the cause was complications of laryngeal and esophageal cancer.

Mr. Clarridge was an unflinching champion of a brawny American foreign policy and of the particular role played by the C.I.A.s clandestine service  a cadre he likened to a secret army that marches for the president and ought to be subjected to as little outside scrutiny as possible.

Mr. Clarridge, widely known by his nickname Dewey, delighted in the role of rogue. He often arrived at work in white Italian suits or safari jackets and bragged to other C.I.A. officers about the brilliant ideas he had conceived while drinking the previous night.

If you have a tough, dangerous job, critical to national security, Deweys your man, Robert M. Gates, the former director of central intelligence and later defense secretary, was quoted as saying in Casey, a 1990 biography of William J. Casey, the Central Intelligence Agencys chief during the Reagan administration, by Joseph E. Persico. Just make sure you have a good lawyer at his elbow  Deweys not easy to control.
What the historical record does show is that many federal and state changes in criminal justice policy led to a fourfold rise in the incarceration rate from the early 1970s until it declined modestly in the last few years.

The rise in incarceration was driven by state laws like the 1973 Rockefeller drug laws in New York. And it was stoked by a major 1986 federal drug act, which expanded mandatory sentences and set the now-notorious 100-to-one ratio in the quantities of powdered versus crack cocaine that could trigger severe penalties.

Still, the incentives offered to the states in the 1994 law  nearly $10 billion for prison construction on the condition that states adopt truth in sentencing policies  may have added somewhat to the prison populations of the 28 states that took advantage of the provision. There, the results may still be playing out decades later as prisons are forced to establish geriatric units for inmates they cannot parole.

Incarcerations disproportionate effect on African-Americans continues: In 2014, the Justice Department reported, 6 percent of all black men age 30 to 39 were in prison; the rate was 2 percent for Hispanic men and 1 percent for white men.

The steady rise in incarceration into the 21st century calls for further explanation because it persisted through a steep decline in violent crime.

No one could have known for sure in 1994, but the violent crime rate had already peaked. It plummeted over the next quarter-century, even as more people were sent to prison.
NDJAMENA, Chad  Voters in Chad participated in an election on Sunday to determine if the president, Idriss Deby, would serve a fifth term in office.

Mr. Deby, who led a rebellion to take power in 1990, is the favorite to defeat 13 challengers. He campaigned on the promise that only his government can maintain stability in the face of a threat from Islamic militants.

The militant group Boko Haram has staged a series of attacks in Chad in the past year as part of its effort to expand its Islamist insurgency from bases in northeastern Nigeria.

Chad has one of the most capable armies in the region, and Mr. Deby has played a key role in efforts backed by the West to combat Boko Haram and other militants.
CAIRO  Since King Salman of Saudi Arabia arrived in Cairo on Thursday for a five-day visit, the leader of the oil-rich kingdom has lavished his Egyptian allies with promises of aid and investment.

But this time, instead of writing a blank check with little more than a polite thank you to show for it, King Salman will return home Monday with something more substantial in return: two islands in a strategic corner of the Red Sea.

Egypts cabinet announced on Saturday that it was transferring sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir, arid and uninhabited islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, to Saudi Arabia. The cabinet tried to suggest that the transfer, pending approval from Parliament, merely returned Saudi Arabias own territory.

Saudi Arabia transferred Tiran and Sanafir to Egyptian control in 1950 amid concerns that Israel might seize them.
Despite the composers wishes, the Kitchen didnt quite turn into an aquarium on Sunday evening when the American Contemporary Music Ensemble performed a new transcription of Charlemagne Palestines Strumming Music. In program notes for the event, Mr. Palestine, a minimalist composer known for immersive soundscapes and eccentric performance rituals involving stuffed animals and alcoholic libations, expressed his hope that his music would create a liquid sonority that would inundate this performance space in Chelsea.

Strumming Music began life in 1977 as a work for solo piano. Its an extended meditation on a perfect fifth interval, that blooms and grows louder while spark-like overtones and amorphous cluster chords complicate the purity of the opening consonance. The performance on Sunday of a transcription for mixed instruments by Clarice Jensen, a cellist and founding member of this ensemble, maintained the hypnotic beauty and heart-quickening intensity of the music, and there were moments when rows of audience members swayed and nodded to its pulse as if bobbing on water.

But in the same program notes, Mr. Palestine also expressed his ambivalence about the act of transcription. Allowing a work to be notated and performed by others, he suggested, also means losing what he called the somnambulistic charleshamanistic dialogue inherent in performances of me playing me.

The program opened with another bold transcription, this time of Julius Eastmans manic-ecstatic The Holy Presence of Joan dArc for 10 cellos (1981), the score for which was lost after the composers struggles with addiction and homelessness left his estate in disarray. Here, the performance was preceded by a recording of Mr. Eastman singing a solo improvisation on the names of the saints Joan of Arc invoked during her trial. Created after the premiere of the cello score, this improvisation was intended to serve as a prelude to it. The vocal line with its stentorian triads and insistent repetitions would be easy enough to transcribe, but the unhinged sternness of Mr. Eastmans delivery might be hard to replicate.
I reread All the Kings Men recently, in the wake of the Ohio and Florida primaries. It remains a salty, living thing. Theres no need for literary or political pundits to bring in the defibrillators. It is also eerily prescient, in its portrait of the rise of a demagogue, about some of the dark uses to which language has been put in this years election.

All the Kings Men, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1947, details the rise and governorship of a Long-like politician named Willie Stark. (A revised edition of the novel calls him Willie Talos, Penn Warrens name for the character before he was persuaded to change it. Im going to stick with Stark.) Its told from the perspective of Jack Burden, a former political reporter who is Starks conflicted right-hand man  his Doug Stamper, if you watch House of Cards.

Burdens crucial observation, early in the novel, is that Stark needs to stop droning about policy in his speeches and start stirring up the animals, as H. L. Mencken once put it. Heres Burden advising Stark after a speech that has flopped:

Just stir em up, it doesnt matter how or why, and theyll love you and come back for more. Pinch em in the soft place. They arent alive, most of em, and havent been alive for 20 years. Hell, their wives have lost their teeth and their shape, and likker wont set on their stomachs, and they dont believe in God, so its up to you to give em something to stir em up and make em feel alive again. Just for half an hour. Thats what they come for. Tell em anything. But for Sweet Jesus sake, dont try to improve their minds.

Stark becomes a belter. He learns to stand on a podium, refer to himself as a redneck (like you all, if you please) and intone: Look at your pants. Have they got holes in the knee? Listen to your belly. He says: Look at your kids. Are they growing up ignorant as you and dirt because there isnt any school for them? He stirs class resentments; the crowds are mesmerized.

There was some Donald J. Trump in Longs anti-establishment, outsider persona and his knack for free-range invective. Yet the comparisons between Huey Long/Willie Stark and Mr. Trump can be stretched only so far. Long was a Democrat, for one thing. He did not grow up wealthy and was not a businessman. As a lawyer, he bragged that he never took a case against a poor man.
Howard Marks, an Oxford-educated drug trafficker who at his peak in the 1970s controlled a substantial fraction of the worlds hashish and marijuana trade, and who became a best-selling author after his release from an American prison, died on Sunday. He was 70.

His death, from colorectal cancer, which he disclosed last year, was confirmed by Robin Harvie, publisher for nonfiction at Pan Macmillan, which released Mr. Markss final book, Mr. Smiley: My Last Pill and Testament, in September. No other details were provided.

Mr. Markss drug-smuggling career started at Oxford University, where he studied physics and philosophy in the 1960s and peddled marijuana on the side. (He swore off harder substances, like heroin and cocaine, after his friend Joshua Macmillan, a grandson of the former British prime minister Harold Macmillan, died of an overdose.)

In a 1996 autobiography, Mr. Nice  Donald Nice was one of his aliases  Mr. Marks wrote that his induction into the drug trade followed a chance encounter with a Pakistani supplier.
Canadian Pacific Railways $28 billion bid for its rival Norfolk Southern pushed all the wrong deal buttons. The offer, unsolicited and now abandoned, managed to alienate nearly every ally the railway needed: American regulators, the targets board, customers, lawmakers and even the American military.

The conventional wisdom over the last 15 years or so has been that regulators will block any major rail deal. A wave of messy restructurings in the industry led to higher prices and service disruptions, prompting the federal Surface Transportation Board to be wary of more mergers. The board tightened standards to require any transaction to enhance, not merely preserve, competition. Thats a difficult bar to clear.

Canadian Pacific and one of its biggest shareholders, the activist investor William A. Ackman, pursued a strategy of more efficiency and some fancy legal footwork. The company argued that establishing a voting trust that would hold Norfolk Southern shares could allow the two firms to integrate quickly and smoothly. The savings expected from the deal would then be passed on to customers, meaning all sides would come out ahead. Most people beyond Canadian Pacifics boardroom were skeptical.

Norfolk Southerns board dismissed the bid, and subsequent revisions, on the basis that they were too low and would never win shareholder approval. Justice Department officials said the trust mechanism made no sense, because it would effectively allow Candian Pacific to complete the merger before regulators had a chance to review the transaction. They urged the Surface Transportation Board to reject the arrangement.
After five months of pressure, three merger offers and one rejection from regulators, Canadian Pacific Railway said on Monday that it had abandoned efforts to combine with its American railroad counterpart Norfolk Southern.

Canadian Pacific withdrew a resolution for Norfolk Southern shareholders to vote on negotiations between the two companies, according to a statement by Canadian Pacific.

We have long recognized that consolidation is necessary for the North American rail industry to meet the demands of a growing economy, Canadian Pacifics chief executive, E. Hunter Harrison, said in the statement. But with no clear path to a friendly merger at this time, we will turn all of our focus and energy to serving our customers and creating long term value for C.P. shareholders.

The terminated offer is the latest black eye for the hedge fund activist William A. Ackman, who is among Canadian Pacifics largest shareholders and an outspoken proponent of the merger. Mr. Ackman won a proxy battle for control of Canadian Pacific in 2012 and installed Mr. Harrison as chief executive. They have spoken at great lengths on conference calls about the need for consolidation among railroad operators.
LONDON  GE Money Bank, a business of GE Capital in the Czech Republic, said on Monday that it planned to list its shares on the Prague Stock Exchange.

The plans for an initial public offering are part of continuing efforts by General Electric to retreat from finance and to refocus on its industrial roots.

The conglomerate said a year ago that it planned to sell the bulk of GE Capital within two years. Since then, GE Capital has entered into agreements for sales worth about $165 billion.

GE Money Bank said that it planned to sell a majority of its shares in an offering to institutional investors, although it did not give a time frame. The bank had a tangible equity value of 27.3 billion Czech korunas, or about $1.2 billion, at the end of 2015.
They appear to have grossly inflated the settlement amount for P.R. purposes to mislead the public, while in the fine print, enabling Goldman Sachs to pay 50 to 75 percent less, said Dennis Kelleher, the founder of the advocacy organization Better Markets, referring to the government announcement. The problem all along, with all of these settlements  and this one highlights it even more  is that they are carefully crafted more to conceal than reveal to the American public what really happened here  and what the so-called penalty is.

A Justice Department official with direct knowledge of the negotiations, who spoke on the condition that his name not be disclosed, said that the banks were given extra credit for activities that the government wanted to encourage, like funding development of low-income housing or providing relief to areas hit by natural disasters. But he also said that the final terms were a result of a back and forth between the banks and government officials.

Goldman is the last of the big American banks to reach a settlement with the national working group that was set up in 2012 to investigate how Wall Street exacerbated the mortgage bubble and ensuing financial crisis. The group included several federal regulators and state attorneys general.

The final bill for Goldman is less than the settlements of mortgage giants like JPMorgan, which the government said was paying $13.3 billion, but more than the $3.2 billion settlement the government secured with Goldmans closest competitor, Morgan Stanley.

The special credits negotiated by the banks are laid out in annexes connected to each settlement.

JPMorgan Chase, for instance, earned a $1.15 credit toward its settlement requirements for each dollar of loan forgiveness it offered within the first year, according to the settlement it completed in 2013. Goldman, in contrast, is getting $1.50 of credit for each dollar of loan forgiveness within the first six months after the settlement  an additional incentive that JPMorgan did not receive. JPMorgan also did not get the 70 percent discount on money going to affordable housing.
MADRID  A disgraced former Spanish banker, Mario Conde, was arrested here on Monday as part of an investigation into whether he fraudulently repatriated the equivalent of nearly $15 million in money he had hidden offshore while presiding over the collapse of one of Spains largest banks, Banesto, more than two decades ago.

Mr. Conde was arrested along with six other people, including two of his children and a son-in-law. The arrest was ordered by a judge from Spains national court who is inquiring whether Mr. Conde and relatives set up a network of companies to help channel back to Spain money stashed away in offshore accounts in Switzerland, Britain and other financial centers before the demise of Banesto.

Spains central bank ousted Mr. Conde and took over Banesto in December 1993 after the lender had accumulated unsustainable losses. Banesto had a financial shortfall of 605 billion Spanish pesetas at the time, equivalent to about $4 billion, and was eventually sold at auction to Banco Santander.

Mr. Conde was convicted on a series of fraud and embezzlement charges and served two separate prison sentences. His arrest on Monday comes as several banking-related corruption cases are moving through the courts, set off by the bursting of Spains property bubble in 2008.
Lawyers in the United States are not required to comply with anti-money laundering compliance procedures imposed on financial institutions that require gathering information about the identity of account owners and the source of funds or assets. By avoiding the duty to inquire about their clients, lawyers can turn a blind eye by focusing only on what the client wants without asking the harder questions about what led to seeking legal advice.

That may be the root of the issue of how lawyers enable their clients to engage in questionable transactions while avoiding any direct involvement, which allows them to claim to have done nothing improper.

If legal advice is viewed merely as a tool, just like a car, with no requirement to inquire any more deeply about the clients background and intentions, then it is easy to see how lawyers become part of the problem. The lawyers who were caught on video by Global Witness can assert they were simply discussing options with a potential client, with no obligation to question too deeply because this was only a preliminary discussion that might not advance any further.

Lawyers often defend themselves by asserting that their only obligation is to represent their clients, with no greater public obligation. As long as they do not know the client will engage in criminal or fraudulent conduct, then advancing the clients interests by ostensibly legal means is not only permissible, but a positive social good, even if their services might be misused.

The way to change this approach is to focus on the tools that lawyers have available by making it harder for clients to use their services to engage in misconduct. The Panama Papers detail the use of shell companies to hide assets, something The Times also described extensively in its series Towers of Secrecy articles about how the Manhattan condominium market is rife with anonymous owners shielding their identities behind corporate facades.

The Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act, which has been introduced in the House and Senate, would require states to gather the names of those who control corporations and limited liability companies, the vehicles used to hide the true owners of assets. These proposals have not gained any traction yet in Congress, with the American Bar Association opposing earlier bills on the subject. The Panama Papers may give a push to the effort to require that ownership of corporate entities be available to law enforcement, even if it is not publicly disclosed.

The Treasury Department is close to issuing a rule that would require banks to determine the identity of any individual owner of 25 percent or more of a corporation or L.L.C. that opens an account, along with individuals who exercise control over them. Lawyers will have to provide that information to banks if their clients are going to have an account, which may push lawyers to gather more information.
LONDON  Tata Steel of India agreed on Monday to sell part of its British business to the investment firm Greybull Capital, preventing thousands of job losses and freeing it up to focus on the sale of its other big plant in Britain.

The British government has been under pressure to ensure that the Tata plants are sold rather than shut down after the steel maker, one of the worlds biggest, said on March 30 that it would sell its unprofitable British business, possibly putting 15,000 jobs at risk.

Greybull said it would buy Tatas Long Products Europe division in Scunthorpe, in Northern England, which employs 4,400 people. Separately, the process to try to find a buyer for Tatas other major British plant, at Port Talbot in Wales, began on Monday.

Greybull said it was arranging a 400 million pound, or $565 million, investment and financing package for the Scunthorpe business, as part of a deal that included an agreement with suppliers and trade unions.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.  A judge agreed on Monday to release a trove of previously sealed documents related to the Hulk Hogan sex tape trial against Gawker Media, which concluded in March with a jury awarding the former wrestler $140.1 million in damages after three and a half years of litigation.

Judge Pamela A. M. Campbell of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Pinellas County, who called the trial and its follow-up motions unusual and crazy during Mondays proceedings, ordered the release of dozens of documents that were sealed during the trial. They were sought by a legal team representing a group of news media outlets that have covered the case.

Gawker Medias flagship website, Gawker.com, posted a nearly two-minute excerpt from a secretly recorded video of Mr. Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, having sex with a friends wife in 2007. Mr. Bollea had sued for $100 million, claiming invasion of privacy.

Alison Steele, a lawyer for the media organizations and lead counsel for The Tampa Bay Times, said it normally took one to two days for records to be unsealed and made public.
Maybe we should flip it around, Dr. Friend thought. The idea was to create a compensating mutation that would, in effect, cancel out the bad one. Maybe we could develop new therapies.

That led to the idea of searching for healthy people who had been born with compensating mutations, but researchers could not simply put out a call for such individuals. Healthy people would have no reason to be screened for mutated genes, and would therefore have no idea that they were resilient, notes Daniel MacArthur, a geneticist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Broad Institute, who was not involved with the new study.

So, a little over three years ago, Dr. Friend and Dr. Schadt began searching international databases for people who were over 30 and healthy but carried mutations that typically cause childhood diseases like Tay-Sachs or muscular dystrophy. They cobbled together genetic data from 12 large studies, looking for mutations in any of 874 genes that were linked to 584 severe diseases. They found 15,597 people who might fit their criteria for resilience. But they discarded nearly all, either because they found errors in the data or because the evidence supporting the notion that those mutations inevitably caused a severe childhood disease was shaky.

What remained were 13 people who had verifiable mutations that cause one of eight serious diseases before age 18 in all who inherit them  or so it had been thought. The eight diseases were cystic fibrosis, Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, familial dysautonomia, epidermolysis bullosa simplex, Pfeiffer syndrome, autoimmune polyendocrinopathy syndrome, acampomelic campomelic dysplasia and atelosteogenesis.

The tiny number of individuals, 13 out of more than half a million, teaches us something about how big these studies must be, Dr. MacArthur said. To truly understand why these people did not get sick, many more resilient individuals are needed, including unrelated resilient people with mutations in the same disease gene. For that, he said, even a million samples will not be enough.

It is a sobering thought, but it is not completely ridiculous, Dr. MacArthur added. Efforts are getting underway now  like the Precision Medicine Initiative and the Million Veterans Program in the United States, and the U.K. Biobank in Britain  that make the idea feasible.
Nearly two months after a single-engine plane made an emergency landing in Setauket Harbor, the body of the missing passenger was found on Monday, the Suffolk County Police Department said.

The body of Gerson Salmon-Negron, 23, of Elmhurst, Queens, was found on a beach in the harbor, the police said.

Mr. Salmon-Negron was studying business at the City College of New York and expected to graduate in June, a friend said in February.

The plane, a Piper Archer, made a forced landing in the harbor, about 60 miles east of New York City on the North Shore of Long Island, around 11 p.m. on Feb. 20, the police said. Officials said the plane had left Fitchburg Municipal Airport in Fitchburg, Mass., and was headed to Republic Airport in East Farmingdale, N.Y.
Unbalanced Power

The union is a formidable political force, protected in the Legislature, primarily by upstate lawmakers in districts where prisons are the biggest employers. The chairman of the corrections committee in the State Senate, Patrick M. Gallivan, a Republican who represents an area outside Buffalo and Rochester, has five prisons in his district alone.

Image Senator Patrick M. Gallivan Credit... Mike Groll/Associated Press

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, has walked a thin line. While he oversaw the remaking of internal affairs, he also has ties to the union. His chief of staff, Melissa DeRosa, worked in public relations for the union for several months in 2009 and is the daughter of Giorgio DeRosa, a major Albany lobbyist whose firm received $691,000 from the union between 2010 and 2015, according to state filings. (A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo said Ms. DeRosa had always been recused from anything involving her fathers firm.)

Union leaders have managed to negotiate favorable labor contracts with a long line of governors, including Mr. Cuomo, in many cases giving them more control over personnel decisions than the prison superintendents or even the corrections departments commissioner.

Under the current contract, union seniority rules dictate that superintendents have practically no power to transfer problem officers.

Disciplinary rules give an arbitrator, not the commissioner, final say on who gets fired.

Rules governing internal affairs investigations require officers to receive 24 hours notice before being questioned, and while on the job, a guard cannot be penalized for refusing to answer questions from an outside law enforcement agency.

Moreover, details of disciplinary measures taken against guards are kept secret from the public, because of privacy protections won by the police and corrections unions over the years.

The result is that a culture of brutality has been allowed to thrive in the prisons, where a few rogue guards, often known on the cellblocks as beat-up squads, administer vigilante justice, while fellow officers look the other way, according to cases documented over the past year by The New York Times and its reporting partner, The Marshall Project.
A Rutgers University student was killed and his roommate, a recent graduate, was seriously injured in a shooting at their apartment near the schools campus in Newark, the authorities said on Monday.

The Rutgers Police Department said that the shooting was not random and that the downtown campus, which serves about 12,000 students, was not under threat.

The student, Shani Patel, 21, was shot and killed shortly before 10 p.m. on Sunday at an off-campus apartment building near the corner of Central Avenue and Halsey Street, said Katherine Carter, the spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutors Office.

Mr. Patels roommate, a 23-year-old whose identity has not been released, graduated last year from the Newark campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Ms. Carter and the Newark police said. The roommate was in critical condition on Monday at University Hospital in Newark.
Notably, Ms. Khatun added, the loans that are approved by bank directors with connections to the party that happens to be in power are the ones that get defaulted, invariably.

Heres an example: Salman F. Rahman, one of Bangladeshs wealthiest individuals and a co-founder of Beximco, a major business group that specializes in exports of pharmaceuticals and garments. A 2007 cable from the United States ambassador in Dhaka subsequently disclosed by WikiLeaks called Mr. Rahman allegedly one of Bangladeshs biggest bank loan defaulters. He was imprisoned for fraud in 2007-8, under the caretaker government.

In an interview in his Dhaka office early last year, Mr. Rahman told me he owed about $800 million to state-owned banks. He blamed the previous government, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party  a staunch rival of the Awami League, which is in power today  for not servicing his debts. By the time we met, though, Mr. Rahman had become an adviser to Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh and the president of the Awami League. And the Bangladesh Bank was now restructuring his debts, he said.

Mr. Rahman is no exception. Some $565 million in assets are said to have been looted from the state-owned BASIC Bank between 2009 and 2012, yet the scams suspected mastermind, a former chairman of the bank, wasnt troubled by the anticorruption commission investigating the fraud, reportedly thanks to his political connections. Banking in Bangladesh is beholden to the politicians.

This is largely because state institutions are underfunded and weak. Technocrats, auditors, courts  all those traditional safeguards dont have enough authority or muscle in Bangladesh to keep the politicians in check.

This, in turn, is due to the fact that Bangladesh has one of the smallest tax-to-G.D.P. ratios in the world, at less than 10 percent. Lack of infrastructure prevents the collection of income taxes. There are myriad taxes on corporations, but its easy enough to bribe ones way out of paying them. Partly as a result, imports are subject to exorbitant fees  which only gives importers an incentive to finagle a way to avoid them.

Then theres capital flight. If you loot state resources in a country like Bangladesh, you dont want to risk losing it to someone elses scams or to seizure by the government. And so you take the money abroad, far from the prying eyes of local tax collectors, preferably to a low-tax, low-transparency jurisdiction.
This is not true. Both groups are Kurdish, but the Syrian Kurds, with their Arab allies and international support, are locked in a difficult, but thus far successful, battle against the Islamic State. The Y.P.G.s fight is about Syria, not Turkey. Its role is to defend the institutions of self-government in Northern Syria (the party of which I am co-president, the Democratic Union Party, is part of this political coalition, along with other parties and civil society organizations).

Its a fair question to ask what kind of democracy this is. Its central philosophy is that people should govern themselves from the bottom up, and so as much decision making as possible is left to local assemblies. These assemblies, furthermore, are designed to ensure a voice for non-Kurdish minorities and for women. This is real and genuinely inclusive democracy, and it deserves to be supported, not ignored.

This system could be a model for all of Syria, a country where any functioning democratic system would have to include all ethnic groups and religions in order to survive. This is why we have proposed a federal model of government for Syria. More local autonomy, without breaking up the country, offers more stability and inclusion than distant rule from Damascus. This realistic and pragmatic solution should be on the table for discussion in Geneva.

Unfortunately, while the Kurdish National Council, which is sponsored by the Kurdish administration in Northern Iraq and claims to speak for Syrian Kurds, was invited to the talks as part of a coalition of opposition groups, they do not legitimately speak for Rojava. The decision was made not to invite our own representatives.
To the Editor:

Re Race and the Death Penalty in Texas (editorial, April 3):

The case of Duane Buck, a black man from Texas sentenced to the death penalty for the murder of his ex-girlfriend and a man who was with her, is an extraordinary example of the distressing persistence of racial disparity in the application of the death penalty, but it is not the only one.

As a former prosecutor involved in capital cases in Texas, I know that there is no place for racial bias in the courtroom. Troublingly, studies show that in all too many cases, it continues to taint the death penalty process.

Recently, I joined the group Public Safety Officials on the Death Penalty, comprising nearly 60 other current and former prosecutors, law enforcement officers and corrections officials from around the country who, regardless of their own personal views on the death penalty, are increasingly concerned about its fairness and accuracy.

No matter where one stands on capital punishment, everyone agrees that racial bias should not play a role in death penalty cases, whether introduced by the prosecutor or the defense. The Supreme Court can and should correct the egregious error in Mr. Bucks case.
BRUSSELS  There are military trucks parked in Molenbeek, and soldiers with submachine guns patrol the jittery streets of the Brussels district that has been the epicenter of European terrorism in recent months. On the Place Communale idle youths loiter, shooting glances at the police. This is where the Paris and Brussels attacks, with their 162 dead, overlap.

Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving direct participant in the Paris attacks, hid in Molenbeek before his arrest on March 18. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected chief planner of the Paris attacks, lived in Molenbeek. In all, at least 14 people tied to both attacks were either Belgian or lived in Brussels.

One of them is Mohamed Abrini, a Belgian of Moroccan origin who grew up in Molenbeek and was arrested in Brussels on Friday. He has told the police he is the man in the hat caught on surveillance cameras leaving Brussels airport after two accomplices blew themselves up on March 22. Cameras also placed him in Paris last November with the Paris attackers.

Sleepy Brussels: goodbye to that image. Yet even today theres something soporific about this French-speaking city marooned within Flemish-speaking Flanders, beset by administrative and linguistic divisions and the lethargy that stems from them, home to a poorly integrated immigrant population of mainly Moroccan and Turkish descent (41 percent of the population of Molenbeek is Muslim), and housing the major institutions of a fraying European Union.
Two international arms control groups on Monday issued a report that called for maintaining human control over a new generation of weapons that are increasingly capable of targeting and attacking without the involvement of people.

The report, which came from Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic at the opening of a weeklong United Nations meeting on autonomous weapons in Geneva, potentially challenges an emerging United States military strategy that will count on technology advantages and increasingly depend on weapons systems that blend humans and machines.

That strategy has been described as the Third Offset strategy and it seeks to exploit technologies to maintain American military superiority. Pentagon officials have recently stated that the new technologies  and particularly artificial intelligence software  will help, rather than replace, human soldiers who must make killing decisions.

Machines have long served as instruments of war, but historically humans have always dictated how they are used, the report, titled Killer Robots and the Concept of Meaningful Human Control, said.
Before Hamilton and Bright Star arrived on Broadway, they made pit stops at Vassar College as part of its 2013 Powerhouse Theater season of works-in-progress, organized with New York Stage and Film. A host of new projects hope to follow their path at this years event, from June 24 to July 31, which features Taylor Mac, Josh Radnor and Santino Fontana.

Mr. Mac will perform the first 12-hour version of A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, his touring production that traces the history of American pop music from 1776 to the present. The performance will take place on July 30 from noon to midnight, and bring Mr. Mac halfway to his final goal of a 24-hour performance.

Two new plays, Transfers, by Lucy Thurber, and The Wolves, by Sarah DeLappe, will receive fully staged productions. And Head Over Heels, a mash-up of Elizabethan romance and the pop music of the Go-Gos, will be further developed after its premiere last summer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Several actors lately known for their television roles will dip back into theater. Santino Fontana (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) will star in his new adaptation of Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newleys The Roar of the Greasepaint  The Smell of the Crowd. There will be a reading of Sacred Valley, a play by Josh Radnor, star of How I Met Your Mother. And John Slattery of Mad Men fame will direct a reading of Lorien Hayness new play, Good Grief.
People are definitely salivating over the California market, said Troy Dayton, chief executive of the ArcView Group, a research firm in the Bay Area that specializes in marijuana. Its huge, and Californians love cannabis so much.

In search of a tax windfall, cities across the Southern California desert, like Adelanto and Desert Hot Springs, have raced to be first to permit commercial marijuana cultivation. The price of land here tripled almost overnight as entrepreneurs bought up every inch of property where pot-growing was permitted  most of it bare desert dotted with only Joshua trees and tumbleweeds.

And celebrities who for years have supported the open use of marijuana are also seeking a piece of the action: Musicians like Snoop Dogg and one of Bob Marleys sons, Ky-Mani Marley, have been meeting with officials about licensing marijuana grown here.

Bullet Train to Nowhere : Construction of the California high-speed rail system, Americas most ambitious infrastructure project, Construction of the California high-speed rail system, Americas most ambitious infrastructure project, has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare

A Piece of Black History Destroyed: Lincoln Heights  a historically Black community in a predominantly white, rural county in Northern California  endured for decades. Lincoln Heights  a historically Black community in a predominantly white, rural county in Northern California  endured for decades. Then came the Mill fire

Warehouse Moratorium: As warehouse construction balloons nationwide, residents in communities both rural and urban have pushed back. In Californias Inland Empire, As warehouse construction balloons nationwide, residents in communities both rural and urban have pushed back. In Californias Inland Empire, the anger has turned to widespread action

Amid the frenzy, though, anxiety is growing in some corners of the state that corporate money will squeeze out not only the small-time growers, but also the hippie values that have been an essential part of marijuanas place in California culture.

Tommy Chong, of Cheech and Chong fame, has long been synonymous with Californias outlaw stoner culture, growing his own pot and crafting bongs from kombucha bottles at his Los Angeles home. Now his representatives are negotiating with a company in Adelanto to mass produce his brand of legal marijuana, Chongs Choice, here.
He received fewer votes in one state than a candidate who was no longer in the race. He has not added a single delegate since March 15. And outside of his home state  the only one he has won to date  he has been the top vote-getter in just four counties.

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio has performed so abysmally in the Republican presidential primary that his curious insistence on remaining in the race has made him into a cant-take-a-hint punch line.

As the race for the Republican presidential nomination turns toward a series of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states this month, even Mr. Kasichs supporters concede that he must quickly demonstrate relevance if he is to have even a long-shot hope of emerging as an alternative candidate at a contested convention this summer.

Funny things can happen at conventions, but John has got to start picking up some delegates, said former Representative Thomas M. Davis III, a Virginia Republican who is co-hosting a fund-raiser for Mr. Kasich this week. Hes got to walk in there with at least 230 or so delegates, some sort of critical mass in hand.
EL FASHER, Sudan  After years of crisis, displacement, turmoil and bloodshed, the people of Sudans Darfur region had a chance on Monday to participate in a referendum on their future.

Most were not interested.

Empty polling places, bored poll workers and a skeptical public characterized the voting on Monday that will determine the administrative status of Darfur, a region of Sudan that exploded into a devastating conflict in 2003.

The Sudanese government says the referendum will help bring peace. Opposition parties have condemned it as a ploy to fool the people of Darfur and part of a campaign to further Arabize the region.

No sane person believes that the Darfur referendum run under the prevailing security conditions will reflect the free will of the Darfuris, said Gebreil Ibrahim, chairman of the Justice and Equality Movement, an opposition group. The referendum aims to eliminate the strong historical entity named Darfur so that they can easily devour the crumbs, and people should boycott this malicious plot.
BEIJING  More than 80 percent of the water from underground wells used by farms, factories and households across the heavily populated plains of China is unfit for drinking or bathing because of contamination from industry and farming, according to new statistics that were reported by Chinese media on Monday, raising new alarm about pollution in the worlds most populous country.

After years of focus on Chinas hazy skies as a measure of environmental blight, the new data from 2,103 underground wells struck a nerve among Chinese citizens who have become increasingly sensitive about health threats from pollution. Most Chinese cities draw on deep reservoirs that were not part of this study, but many villages and small towns in the countryside depend on the shallower wells of the kind that were tested for the report.

From my point of view, this shows how water is the biggest environmental issue in China, said Dabo Guan, a professor at the University of East Anglia in Britain who has been studying water pollution and scarcity in China.
HIROSHIMA, Japan  Secretary of State John Kerry attended a memorial ceremony in Hiroshima on Monday for victims of the American atomic bombing 71 years ago, becoming the highest-ranking United States administration official to visit the site of one of the most destructive acts of World War II.

The visit is likely to intensify speculation about whether President Obama will go to Hiroshima during a planned trip to Japan next month. Mr. Obama would be the first sitting American president to visit the city, a decision that would resonate deeply in Japan but would be controversial at home.

Everyone should visit Hiroshima, and everyone means everyone, Mr. Kerry said at a news conference on Monday in response to a question about whether Mr. Obama would go. He said that the president had been invited by Japanese officials and that he would like to visit someday, but Mr. Kerry added: Whether or not he can come as president, I dont know.

Mr. Kerry spoke after he and other leading diplomats from the Group of 7 industrialized countries toured Hiroshimas atomic bomb museum, laid flowers at a cenotaph in its Peace Memorial Park and examined the former exhibition hall that stood directly under the atomic blast and has been preserved as a skeletal monument. He called the experience stunning and gut-wrenching.
HONG KONG  The government of Taiwan criticized Beijing on Monday after eight people from the island were deported to mainland China following a trial for fraud in Kenya.

The eight were part of a group of 37 from China and Taiwan who were acquitted of telecommunications, immigration and organized crime charges on April 5. Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused China of blocking the eight from returning to Taiwan, calling that an illegal capture of people through uncivilized conduct, and it said the move seriously harmed the rights of the people involved, according to a statement issued on Monday.

Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek fled the Chinese mainland after losing a civil war to Mao Zedongs Communist forces. China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has sought to limit the islands international presence, including blocking it from membership in global bodies and refusing to have diplomatic relations with countries that recognize it.
SEOUL, South Korea  A colonel belonging to North Koreas spy agency recently defected to South Korea, the South announced on Monday. He is one of the highest-ranking North Korean military officers known to have defected to South Korea in recent decades.

The Defense and Unification Ministries of South Korea would confirm only that a colonel from the Norths General Bureau of Reconnaissance had recently defected, declining to provide further details.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap, which earlier reported the officers defection, said he arrived in South Korea last year. A few South Korean news outlets also reported on Monday that a North Korean diplomat stationed in Africa defected to the South last May. The government confirmed that defection as well.

The revelations followed South Koreas confirmation on Friday that 13 North Koreans working for a North Korean government-run restaurant abroad had defected to the South a day earlier.
The estimated number of tigers living in the wild rose this year for the first time in more than a century, conservation organizations said. New technology, including hidden cameras, are helping to track and count the animals, which may account for some of the increase.

There are now an estimated 3,890 wild tigers, mostly in Asia, up from a worldwide tiger population of 3,200 estimated in 2010, the World Wildlife Fund and Global Tiger Forum announced on Monday. Wild tigers are considered endangered and had seen shrinking numbers because of hunting, poaching and loss of habitat, such as deforestation, particularly in Sumatra, for palm oil, and paper and pulp industries, the groups said. The official count had declined every year since 1900, when tigers numbered an estimated 100,000.

For the first time after decades of constant decline, tiger numbers are on the rise, said Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, in a statement. This offers us great hope and shows that we can save species and their habitats when governments, local communities and conservationists work together.

The report was based on wild tiger data from 13 countries. It was released ahead of a major tiger conservation meeting scheduled to begin Tuesday in New Delhi, with remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. The meeting will be the first since governments agreed at a summit in Russia in 2010 to double the wild tiger population by 2022.
LONDON  Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain clashed with the opposition Labour Party in Parliament on Monday over tax havens and his inherited wealth, and, in a spirited debate over economic fairness set off by the disclosures in the Panama Papers, defended the right of Britons to make money lawfully as long as they paid their taxes.

Aspiration and wealth creation are not dirty words, said Mr. Cameron, a Conservative, attacking the Labour Party for wanting to tax anyone who wanted to pass on their home or their wealth while still alive to their children, calling that the real lesson of today.

The Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, assailed Mr. Cameron for presenting a master class in the art of distraction, and accused him of losing the trust of ordinary Britons.

Does he realize why people are so angry? Mr. Corbyn asked, citing six years of austerity to the detriment of the poor, much of which could have been avoided, he said, if this country wasnt ripped off by the superrich.
MOSCOW  Three suicide bombers tried to attack a small police station in southern Russia on Monday, but they were thwarted without causing any casualties, the investigations department for the region said in a statement.

The attack started just after 10 a.m. in Novoselitsk, a village near the city of Stavropol, when one of the men lobbed a grenade at a small office building used by the Interior Ministry, the statement said.

The police then opened fire on the attackers, killing two, and a third blew himself up, the statement said. There was some damage to the building and to nearby police cars, it said.

Previous reports had said the attackers were stopped at a checkpoint near the building.

The local police declined to answer questions about the episode, saying the case had been referred to the National Antiterrorism Committee, which had no immediate comment.
JERUSALEM  A 12-year-old Palestinian girl who was imprisoned after she confessed to planning a stabbing attack in a West Bank settlement will be released early, Israels prison service said Monday, capping a saga that drew attention to the dual legal system in the West Bank.

The case put Israels military justice system in a tough spot as it dealt with a girl who had pleaded guilty to a crime, yet had not completed the seventh grade. She is believed to be the youngest Palestinian girl ever sent to an Israeli prison.

According to court documents provided by the military, the girl, whose name cannot be published because of her age, approached the West Bank settlement of Karmei Tzur on Feb. 9 with a knife hidden under her shirt.

A security guard ordered her to halt, and a resident instructed her to lie on the ground and told her to give up the knife, which she did. An amateur video clip showed the resident asking the girl, who was wearing her school uniform, whether she had come to kill Jews, and she said yes. She later pleaded guilty to attempted manslaughter in a plea bargain and was sentenced to four and a half months in prison.
It was the second time that an American service member had been killed in Iraq since President Obama resumed military operations there nearly two years ago.

In the days after Sergeant Cardins death, American military officials were forced to disclose why he and the Marines were at the base, how Marines would be used in the future and how many American troops were actually in Iraq. The new information illustrated how the conflict had quietly expanded far from the publics view, and raised questions about Mr. Obamas pledge to keep American troops out of combat there.

Just because the commander in chief says there wont be combat doesnt mean that will be the case, said Sergeant Cardins brother, Vincent Cardin, a former Army infantryman, in a telephone interview. It doesnt take much for someone to launch a rocket and start a fight when youre in someone elses country. If thats not combat, I dont know what is.

From the beginning, Sergeant Cardins mission in Iraq was secret.

He was assigned to the Second Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment, part of an expeditionary unit of roughly 2,200 Marines based on three Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. Last October, Sergeant Cardin left Camp Lejeune, N.C., for the passage across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz.

By November, he and the Marines had arrived in the Gulf, where they remained aboard the ships as a quick-reaction ground force in case of a crisis nearby. They were to return to Lejeune this spring.
The new study, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, combined archaeology, Jewish history and applied mathematics, and involved computerized image processing and the development of an algorithm to distinguish between the various authors issuing the commands.

Based on a statistical analysis of the results, and taking into account the content of the texts that were chosen for the sample, the researchers concluded that at least six different hands had written the 18 missives at around the same time. Even soldiers in the lower ranks of the Judahite army, it appears, could read and write.

There is something psychological beyond the statistics, said Prof. Israel Finkelstein of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations at Tel Aviv University, one of the leaders of the project. There is an understanding of the power of literacy. And they wrote well, with hardly any mistakes.

The study was based on a trove of about 100 letters inscribed in ink on pieces of pottery, known as ostracons, that were unearthed near the Dead Sea in an excavation of the Arad fort decades ago and dated from about 600 B.C. That was shortly before Nebuchadnezzars destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, and the exile of its elite to Babylon  and before many scholars believe the major part of the biblical texts, including the five books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch, were written down in any cohesive form.

The Arad citadel was small, far-flung and on an active front, close to the border with the rival kingdom of Edom. The fort itself was only about half an acre in size, and probably would have accommodated about 30 soldiers. The wealth of texts found there, recording troop movements, provisions and other daily activities, were created within a short time, making them a valuable sample for looking at how many different hands wrote them.
KABUL, Afghanistan  A suicide bomber struck a bus of army recruits in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens, officials said on Monday.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement that all those killed in the attack, at 4 p.m. in the Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar Province, were army recruits, and that at least 26 people were wounded. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, put the number of injured at 38.

The bus was coming to Kabul from Jalalabad city when a bomber riding a Zarang three-wheeler blew himself up, the Defense Ministry statement said.

The Afghan Army, which has struggled with casualties and attrition as it has taken the combat lead after NATOs drawdown, recruits heavily in the east and north of the country. The army and the police lost a combined total of about 6,000 men in 2015, nearly half of those casualties coming in the southern province of Helmand, which is the countrys largest province both in terms of territory and opium production.
Tahini and carob molasses is the peanut butter and jelly of the Middle East, said Mr. Massoud, who lived in Lebanon until the age of 15; his family has been in the business of sweets there for more than 100 years. A sandwich of butter, halvah and chocolate shavings is the best after-school snack of all time.

Image Rose-water halvah from Seed & Mill, with tahini dip. Credit... Liz Barclay for The New York Times

Tahini, or pure sesame paste, and halvah, a soft sesame candy, are among the most ancient and beloved foods of that region. But outside traditional Middle Eastern enclaves like Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and Dearborn, Mich., sesame has never been a favorite flavor in American desserts.

For decades, sesame bars and brittle were available only in health-food stores, a tip-off that any possible deliciousness would be trumped by nutrition. For American Jews, halvah has long been familiar but often feared as a strange beige loaf passing itself off as dessert and stored a little too close to the herring at venerable appetizing stores like Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side.

But no more. The updated Russ & Daughters Cafe that opened in 2014 serves a sundae of halvah ice cream and sesame crumble, drizzled with a deep salted caramel. New producers like Brooklyn Sesame and Soom Foods in Philadelphia are inventing mash-ups like coconut halvah spread and chocolate sesame butter. They are also making tahini that is fresh, light and creamy enough to remain emulsified in the jar, eliminating the hassle of stirring rock-solid sesame paste into oil.

When I arrived, I couldnt believe people here still thought that was tahini, said Lisa Mendelson, an owner of Seed & Mill, a new all-sesame emporium in Chelsea, who was raised in Israel. Americans just havent had a chance to develop a palate for it.
At the end of each 52-year cycle that governed their calendar, the Aztecs would put out all the fires they burned for everyday use, and as night descended, priests would use a friction rod to ignite a new blaze atop a sacred volcano that soared over the surrounding shimmering lakes. The event involved the burning of a human sacrifice and culminated in runners carrying torches lit by the fire back down the mountain to relight hearths in temples and in every home.

That volcano, though not the ritual, can still be found amid Mexico Citys sprawl. The Cerro de la Estrella, or the Hill of the Star, is now an oasis of trees in Iztapalapa, the capitals most populous borough. The Aztecs last officially performed what has become known as the New Fire ceremony in 1507, before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes in 1519. Now, according to local news reports, violence comes much more often than every 52 years: Tales of tortured bodies dumped on the sidewalk and killer packs of wild dogs tend to scare away tourists.

Such notoriety is stunning for a place whose history earned it a national park designation in 1938 and so inspired the poet Octavio Paz that he called it the spot where the world was created and where time itself is reflected and satiated. Its location gave it strategic military importance. And it is, simply, one of the most important religious sites near Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital now mostly buried under Mexico City, according to David Stuart, who directs the Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Its off the normal route people take despite being the greatest of all cosmological sites in the Aztec world, Dr. Stuart told me by phone.
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If you could spend all day on one local theme park attraction, which one would it be?

One of the perks of living in Orange County is our ability to play hooky and take a day and spend it at one of the worlds top theme parks.

Many local residents own annual passes to Disneyland or Knotts Berry Farm, or to the near-by Universal Studios, Legoland or SeaWorld. Once youve paid for that annual pass, you might as well use it as often as you can, right?

If youve been on every attraction in the parks and dont feel the need to rush around and do it all, what should you do on a getaway day in the park?

If you give me a getaway day at the Disneyland Resort, Im heading straight for the Animation Academy in Disney California Adventures Hollywood Land.

Animation Academy is the perfect attraction for a frequent visitor to California Adventure because it provides a different experience every time you go. Plus, its one of the rare places in the park where you can get a free souvenir though you will have to work for it.

In Animation Academy, a Disney cast member guides visitors through the process of drawing one of an ever-changing line-up of Disney characters. You can find the days schedule of classes on a board outside the Disney Animation building in Hollywood Land. Pick the character you want to learn to draw and show up a few minutes before that show to claim your place in line.

The Animation Academy classroom is tucked in a corner inside the Disney Animation building, and you might have to fight your way through the families queued to meet Frozens Anna and Elsa to get to its entrance. Ive never had to wait long for the next class to start, even on days when other visitors are waiting an hour or more for rides elsewhere in the park.

As you enter the steeply terraced room, pick up an easel and sheet of paper, upon which you will draw your character. Pick a row and make your way down  every seat offers a clear view of the big screen upon which you will follow the animators work.

A Disney cast member will be your teacher, showing each step in the process of sketching whatever character you are drawing in that class. You dont need a lick of talent  just the patience to follow instructions of the teacher. The pencils that Disney provides do not have erasers, so when the teacher tells you to sketch with light hand, thats how you avoid drawing the noticeable mistakes that you wont be able to erase later.

Dont like the result? Remember, Practice makes perfect. And with another class typically starting in just a few moments, you can come back in and try it again. If you do like what youve drawn, you can take your work with you as a free souvenir.

Ive found that the cast members in the Off the Page store at the Disney Animation buildings exit are happy to help you roll up your worksheet, give you a rubber band to hold it, and a bag to carry it home.

Over the years, Ive drawn everything from classic characters such as Goofy and Pooh to newer ones such as Phineas and Ferb and Olaf from Frozen.

As much fun as it is to see familiar Disney characters emerging from your own hand, as a frequent visitor, I also enjoy looking around and watching everyone else at work, too. Maybe one of those kids the row over will become the next Ub Iwerks, John Hench, John Lasseter or Pete Docter.

The heart of the Walt Disney Company is animation, and Animation Academy connects Disneyland visitors with that tradition in the most engaging way imaginable. In Animation Academy, you dont just watch Disney animation. You create it.

And thats why its one of my favorite places to spend a day in the parks.

Robert Niles is the founder and editor of ThemeParkInsider.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThemePark.
Sunday, April 10 marked the 150th anniversary of the founding of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The organization was created in the U.S. with the goal of protecting animals. Heres a look at the ASPCA and our furry friends.

ASPCA MISSION

Our focus is to get pets out of shelters and keep them in homes, while increasing the protections of animals under the law. We are helping to shape a society that continuously improves the lives of animals.

-Matthew Bershadker

ASPCA President and CEO

In 2015, the ASPCA:

Rescued 12,200 animals

Granted $14 million to animal welfare organizations

Did 54,300 spay/neuter surgeries

The founder: Henry Bergh, 1813-88

Bergh was the son of a successful New York shipbuilder. He followed in his fathers footsteps for a while, then sold his shares in the company. While traveling abroad, he saw and was disgusted by abuse to animals; bullfighting in Spain and a wagon driver beating his horse, which was stuck in the mud, infuriated him. While in England, he studied the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and vowed to create a similar organization in the U.S. Although Bergh was ridiculed for his efforts, the ASPCA, founded in 1866, helped create anti-cruelty laws in nearly every state within 20 years.

Pull!

Bergh was a major developer and proponent of clay pigeons. Real birds were often used for marksmanship, and when Bergh protested, he was met with angry sportsmen with guns.

Protecting the young

In 1874, Bergh got involved with the protection and prevention of abuse of a girl who was beaten by her foster parents. When the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was founded, Bergh became the vice president of the organization.

Needing shelter

10,000

The percentage of pet owners who consider their pets to be family members.

150,000

American horses slaughtered each year, for human consumption in Mexico and Canada.

250,000

Animals that become hoarding victims annually.

50

Number of states where dog fighting is a felony.

10,000

Estimated number of people involved in dog fighting each year, based on ASPCA analysis of shelters.

Sources: ASPCA, Pet-abuse.com, New York Historical Society Museum and Library, Pew Research Center, American Veterinary Medical Association

NOTEABLE NUMBERS

Part of the family

A Pew Research Survey of more than 3,000 Americans asked who they feel close to.

Pew Research Center, 2006

63.2%

The percentage of pet owners who consider their pets to be family members.

$375

The average veterinary expenditure per household for all pets in 2011.



Most common animal abuse categories in U.S.

Source: 17,282 cases from 2002 to 2016 compiled by Pet-Abuse.com and the AARDAS project

Of the estimated 164 million pets owned in the U.S. in 2015, only 20 percent were adopted.

About 7.6 million companion animals enter shelters every year.

2.7 million of the animals in shelters are euthanized.

38 percent of the cats in shelters are euthanized. 31 percent of the dogs in shelters are euthanized.

Pet nation

Distribution of dogs and cats in the U.S.

Other animals in the U.S.

Households

(in 1,000) Population

(in 1,000) Fish 7,738 57,750 Ferrets 334 748 Rabbits 1,408 3,210 Hamsters 877 1,146 Guinea pigs 847 1,362 Gerbils 234 468 Other rodents 391 868 Turtles 1,320 2,297 Snakes 555 1,150 Lizards 726 1,119 Other reptiles 365 732 Poultry 1,020 12,591 Livestock 661 5,045 All others 246 898

ONE CAT

One unspayed cat that has four kittens can lead to 

 52 other cats in a little more than a year.

 In three years, the number will be nearly 400.

 In seven years, 420,000 cats could be produced.

Two dogs:

 Two unspayed and unneutered dogs can produce about 67,000 dogs in six years.

 The cost of spaying or neutering a pet is less than the cost of owning a puppy or kitten for a year.

Sources: ASPCA, Pet-abuse.com, New York Historical Society Museum and Library, Pew Research Center, American Veterinary Medical Association
Wheres the beef? asked a 1980s Wendys commercial, suggesting its burgers offered more hamburger than those of its fast-food rivals. The well-traveled phrase popped up during an April 4 hearing in the Legislature on the finances of the states high-speed rail project.

We want to see a strategy, like, how are we going to get from here to there, said state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. Id like to see more beef, he told executives of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which is building the project.

I think Wheres the beef? is a good comment, added state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, chairwoman of the Senates Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection, Energy and Transportation. Bakersfield Now reported that Sen. Wolk praised the plan to build north first, but said major questions remain.

In February, the authoritys Draft 2016 Business Plan for the 400-plus-mile system shifted Phase 1 to the Bay Area, from Southern California. The projected cost of the whole project also was cut a bit, to $64 billion from $68 billion. And expectations persisted of more federal funding.

But the $64 billion question remains: Where will the money come from? Wheres the beef?

So far, there are only three sources: The $9.95 billion in seed money from Proposition 1A in 2008, $3.5 billion from President Obamas 2009 stimulus plan and $500 million a year from state carbon cap-and-trade revenue, from the 2016-17 budget proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown, a key bullet-train backer.

Prop. 1As summary in the pamphlet sent to voters solemnly promised, private and public matching funds required, including, but not limited to, federal funds, funds from revenue bonds and local funds. But no private investments have been forthcoming. And even if anti-rail Republicans lose control of Congress, its doubtful enough Democrats in other states would pony up more money for a California project.

Except for part of Phase I under construction in the Central Valley, there just isnt enough money to build what has become the states biggest boondoggle, benefiting only politically connected contractors and construction unions. Instead of Wheres the beef? its more apt to point at the project and proclaim, Theres the pork.
COSTA MESA  Burglars used a blow torch to break into a closed business early Sunday morning before fleeing with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, police said.

A Ford van and Ford truck, both stolen out of Santa Ana, were seen shortly before 9:30 a.m. parked near the rear of EnGenius Technologies, Inc., 1580 Scenic Ave., police Sgt. Jim Brown said.

Police responded to the business to find the stolen vehicles parked next to a metal roll up door, which had been cut open with a blow torch, he said. By the time officers arrived, the burglars had fled.

Surveillance camera footage showed two people broke into the business at 1:47 a.m. that morning, while three or four other people waited outside.

All of the people were wearing dark clothing and hooded sweatshirts, which concealed their identities, Brown said.

The group took about $6,300 worth of telecommunications equipment, but police did not specify what was taken.

EnGenius Technologies, Inc. manufactures industrial cordless phones and long range industrial wireless computer products, according to its website.

It was unclear how the group fled the business.

The (stolen) cars could be totally unrelated, Brown said.

Anyone with information about the burglary can leave information anonymously through the Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or aduranty@ocregister.com
SANTA ANA A homeless man has been declared mentally unfit to be tried for the killing of a handyman bludgeoned to death at a planned Costa Mesa sober-living home.

After receiving psychological evaluations, Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Edward Hall on Friday declared 36-year-old Christopher Ernest Leovy to be mentally incompetent and unable to stand trial.

Leovy was facing trial for the September 2013 slaying of John Kubat, 54, who was helping renovate several residential units on Hamilton Street slated to become a sober-living facility. Leovy was also accused of assaulting two officers when they arrested him at a park.

Authorities dont believe that Leovy knew Kubat but say a confrontation broke out between the two when Kubat went to check on the renovated property. Kubat was beaten with a heavy object, an autopsy showed.

A transient who moved to Orange County from the Los Angeles area, Leovy had been a client of a sober-living home in the past.

It isnt clear from the court record what, if any, specific mental conditions Leovy is believed to suffer from. According to court files, Leovy repeatedly refused to talk to psychologists evaluating him.

Commissioner Hall on Friday ordered the Orange County Mental Health Department to evaluate Leovy, in preparation for a May 20 commitment hearing. That hearing will likely determine which state hospital Leovy is assigned to.

If he is ever declared competent, the criminal case against him will resume.

Contact the writer: semery@ocregister.com
SAN FRANCISCO  This city is full of parks that invite exercise, and bike lanes that make commuting a workout. Its home to social services that tend the poor, and taxpayers who willingly fund them. Smoking is banned at restaurants and bars  as well as in workplaces, at bus stops, throughout public housing, at charity bingo games and even inside stores that sell tobacco.

These factors may help explain why the poor live longer in the San Francisco area than they do in much of the rest of the country. According to a new study published Monday on how income and geography shape life expectancies, a poor person living in the San Francisco area can expect to live about three years longer than someone making the same income in Detroit. That difference  three years  is equivalent to how much national life expectancies would rise if cancer were eliminated.

If you think about the cancer comparison, having cancer is not just about having a shorter life. Its also about having an unhealthier life, a much lower quality of life, said Stanford economist Raj Chetty, the lead author who co-wrote the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, along with seven other economists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the Treasury Department and McKinsey & Co.

Think about their new data as if the poor in Detroit get cancer and the poor in San Francisco dont. Then, Chetty said, you can see that this is a big deal.

The research, based on the tax and Social Security records of everyone in the United States between 1999 and 2014 with a valid Social Security number and earnings, gives the most precise look yet at a pattern that has long troubled health experts: The richer you are in the United States, the longer you live. But whats especially striking is that the poor live even shorter lives in some places than others. They have longer life expectancies in affluent, highly educated cities such as San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Among the 100 largest commuting zones ranked by the researchers, six of the top eight for low-income life expectancies are in California, a state with a strong safety net and a history of regulating where you light your cigarette or what comes from your tailpipe.

The poor live shorter lives in Las Vegas, Louisville and industrial Midwestern towns such as Gary, Ind. Geography also matters much more for the poor than for the rich. The health behaviors of the wealthy are similar wherever they live. For the poor, their likelihood of risky behaviors such as smoking depends a great deal on geography, on whether they live in a place where smoking is common or where, as in San Francisco, cigarettes have been shunted out of view.

It is as if the top income percentiles belong to one world of elite, wealthy U.S. adults, Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton writes in a journal editorial accompanying the new paper, whereas the bottom income percentiles each belong to separate worlds of poverty, each unhappy and unhealthy in its own way.

Overall, the study offers the most exhaustive account yet of the rich-poor gap in U.S. life expectancy. The data reveals that life expectancies continuously rise with income in the United States.

For men, the gap between the top and bottom 1 percent nationwide is nearly 15 years. For women, its 10 years. And these disparities have widened since 2000. People in the top 5 percent have gained about three years of life expectancy. People at the bottom have gained almost nothing.

The economists dont have definitive explanations for the relationships they observe between income and health. Its hard to imagine, for instance, that the richest Americans can buy things that make them healthier that people who are just slightly less rich cant afford, Harvard economist and co-author David Cutler said.

But among the poor, the differences in what money can buy likely explain an important part of the longevity gap.

At some point, it does become causal: You can buy better housing, you can buy better food, Cutler said. You own a car that actually works, so you can drive to the grocery store more regularly.

But its also true that the stress of poverty can have lifelong health consequences.

An emerging body of science is showing that adversity itself will shorten your life span, said Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician in San Francisco and a founder of the Center for Youth Wellness that tries to treat the role of toxic stress in undermining health in the citys poorest neighborhoods. Her patients, who deal with adversity from neighborhood violence to childhood abuse, come in with high rates of asthma and cardiovascular disease, or even repeated cases of uncommon autoimmune diseases.

Across the country, shorter life expectancies for the poor, measured at age 40, were most closely correlated with places that had lower exercise rates, and higher rates of smoking and obesity. For men and women, stretches of the industrial Midwest promised the lowest life expectancies. Some of the results also align with the findings of a Washington Post analysis of mortality rates that found deteriorating health, particularly for whites, outside big cities in rural America where unhealthy behaviors are on the rise.

Places with high shares of college graduates, high population density, high home values and high government expenditures per capita were correlated with better life expectancies for the poor. In some ways, this finding is surprising: Health experts suspect that higher inequality may be connected to poor health. But the authors found little correlation between income inequality and life expectancy. And wealthy San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, among the places in the United States with the widest income inequality, look here like the healthiest.

Burke Harris offers a caveat to that finding: Poor people only have better health status when theyre living in a wealthy environment if the people in that wealthy environment believe in investing in the safety net.

That is certainly true in San Francisco, a city with both private wealth and major public expenditures. To the extent that fostering health requires money  either to fund a clinic such as Burke Harriss or to invest in parks and city services  San Francisco has it.

Policies such as these, and New Yorks universal pre-kindergarten, are notably the result of more than the money needed to fund them. Theyre also the product of a particular idea about the role of government in supporting the poor and shaping behaviors linked to health.

Its no coincidence that New York City banned trans fats, Cutler said. New York is a very rich city. People there feel like, Look, socially its not doing anything for us, we know its harmful. Why not get rid of it? 

Then-New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg also famously tried to ban oversize soft-drink servings in 2012. He pushed for calorie labels on restaurant menus, higher taxes on cigarettes and tighter restrictions on buying them.

Critics outside of New York called Bloombergs public health policies draconian, and less out-there ideas such as expanding Medicaid have been met with public skepticism, too. But in the new research, New York City ranks as the place where the poor have the longest life expectancies, ahead of all the California cities. Life expectancies between the rich and poor there still vary widely. And its still better to be rich in Detroit than poor in New York. But something about the environment there, as in San Francisco, is counteracting at least some of the massive national disparities by income.

Perhaps in highly educated cities people are savvier about health, Cutler suggested, more likely to advocate for smoking bans or to push doctors to adopt the latest in medicine. Or perhaps its that more educated, wealthier cities also tend to be more politically progressive, believing in the power of government to make people healthier and to shape what are fundamentally personal decisions about lifestyle. New York and San Francisco are also more walkable and transit-friendly, factors that have been associated with health as well.
Heres a roundup of restaurant and retail news from across Orange County. Take a look at the slideshow for more details on each.

Closures

Hometown Buffet: Locations in Laguna Woods and Santa Ana (on Bristol) have shuttered just weeks after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Nello Cucina: The popular Italian eatery at South Coast Plaza has closed. It was operated for years by the owner of Antonello Ristorante and Quattro Caffe, two other South Coast Plaza properties. South Coast Plaza said Nello will be replaced by Mezzet, a Middle Eastern small plates concept.

La Perlita Mexican Food: The Foothill Ranch eatery has been converted to an Avilas El Ranchito.

The North Left: The downtown Santa Ana restaurant formerly known as The Crosby, was forced to reinvent itself after a deadly beating occurred outside the restaurant/nightclub in 2014.

Dickeys Barbecue Pit: A representative confirmed the closure of the Brea and Laguna Niguel locations due to unforeseen circumstances.

The Balcony Grill & Bar: One of the first tenants at Diamond Jamboree in Irvine closed in late February. Owner Paul Zhu said he was unable to renegotiate agreeable terms for a new lease. The restaurant was known for its authentic Taiwanese cuisine, which included dishes such as fried stinky tofu.

Big Belly Deli: Owner Marcy Noelte confirmed she closed the delicatessen at 6310 W. Coast Highway in Newport Beach a couple of weeks ago. But, she emphasized, shes bringing a similar concept in a couple of weeks called 6310 Deli.

New stuff

Anthropologie: The brands Fashion Island location will celebrate the grand opening April 22 of its expanded store. The store is now 25,000 square feet, making it the largest Anthropologie in Orange County.

K. Hall Designs: The company, which specializes in personal-care and home fragrance products, will open April 15 at Fashion Island.

LOFT Outlet: The store has opened at the Outlets at San Clemente. The brand is a division of Ann Inc., which also owns fashion retailer Ann Taylor. Other stores that opened recently at the center include AT&T, Nautica Factory Store, Flip Flop Shops, Zales Outlet, Pearl Izumi Factory Store, 2XU, Starbucks, Auntie Annes Pretzels and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Lindora: The weight-loss clinic opened a new location Friday in Laguna Niguel at 31271 Niguel Road, Suite B. Lindora offers personalized weight-loss programs. Patients then come to the clinic two to five times a week and meet with a nurse each time to weigh in and review their weight-loss plan.

Need a job?

Super Kings Markets: The grocery store is looking to hire 80 employees for its new market in Santa Ana, in a former Ralphs location. The hiring events will take place from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday and April 21.

Staff writer Joanna Clay contributed to this report.

Send any retail updates to hmadans@ocregister.com and any restaurant news to nluna@ocregister.com
Brazilian security forces are deploying thousands of troops and erecting barricades in the capital city of Brasilia this week to prevent violent clashes as Congress holds key votes on the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.

The citys rare state of alert reflects concern that the countrys polarized political climate will reach a fever pitch in coming days. Authorities on Sunday enlisted the help of inmates from a nearby prison to set up metal barriers that will separate the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians who are expected to demonstrate for and against the presidents ouster.

Protesters already are converging on Brasilia as the nations drawn-out political crisis moves into a decisive phase, with a special committee in the lower house scheduled to vote on Monday whether to move forward with the impeachment request against Rousseff. The full house could vote as early as April 17, either squelching impeachment or setting the stage for Rousseffs ouster in the Senate.

An economic crisis that cost Brazil its coveted investment-grade rating and the corruption scandal known as Carwash that ensnared top executives and politicians have left Latin Americas largest nation deeply divided. Growing speculation that Rousseff is getting closer to being ousted buoyed the countrys assets last week. Yet many centrist legislators remain undecided whether to support Rousseff or side with Vice President Michel Temer, who would replace her and whose party abandoned the ruling alliance last month. Rousseffs fate seems to be hanging in the balance, unlike former President Fernando Collor de Mello, who in 1992 was ousted by an overwhelming majority in both chambers of Congress.

As of Sunday evening, the anti-government organization VemPraRua said there were 286 votes for and 125 against impeachment in the house. A group of Rousseff allies, including members of her Workers Party, said there were 127 votes against the presidents ouster. If 342 of 513 lower house lawmakers back impeachment, the case moves to the Senate, which several analysts say would probably follow the lower chambers lead.

Supporters of Rousseff and Temer in recent days have both sought to sway undecided legislators by offering them government posts. They have also squabbled over procedural issues that could slow the process and push back voting in the full house.

Demonstrators for and against Rousseff began arriving in Brasilia on Sunday and will be directed to congregate on opposite ends of the mall outside Congress. Police controls in downtown Brasilia will be set up on Monday, according to a statement from the government of the Federal District that includes Brasilia. Megaphones will be banned and children are recommended not to participate in demonstrations, it said.

Some 3,000 local police will be reinforced by troops of the National Force, Brazils equivalent of the U.S. National Guard, local media reported. Among the security measures is a prohibition to carry inflatable dolls, like the one of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in prison garb featured in recent weeks by protesters demanding he be locked up in relation to a sweeping corruption probe. He has denied wrongdoing.

Minor Skirmishes

More than 3 million people on March 13 demonstrated nationwide in favor of Rousseffs ouster, a move that is supported by 61 percent of Brazilians, according to an April 7-8 Datafolha poll. Since mid-March, government supporters and dissenters have staged smaller protests with only minor skirmishes reported.

Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo has said he could challenge the impeachment process before the Supreme Court, citing among other concerns insufficient legal grounds for her removal from office. Rousseff, 68, who was imprisoned and tortured during Brazils two-decade military dictatorship that ended in 1985, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said that an impeachment process without sufficient evidence would amount to a coup.

The impeachment committee in the lower house will vote on a report presented last week that concluded Rousseff bypassed Congress in authorizing credits to mask a growing budget deficit. While the report is not binding, the vote to confirm or reject it is the first real barometer on the prospect for her ouster. Cardozo will present another defense of the president before the committee vote on Monday.
A bill that would end smoking in Californias state parks is scheduled to be considered by lawmakers on Tuesday, a move that brings advocates a step closer to putting out butts along several miles of coastline in Orange County where smoking is still allowed.

The proposal would outlaw smoking along Orange Countys five state beaches  Bolsa Chica, Huntington, Crystal Cove, Dana Point and San Clemente  and comes more than a decade after city beaches tackled the issue and extinguished smoking on the sand.

The proposed ban includes all of the state parks system in California, which encompasses 40 miles of coastline, 970 miles of lake and river frontage and 4,500 miles of trails. About 67 million people visit state parks each year. In Orange County, state parks also manages the trails and open space areas of Crystal Cove and El Morro.

The issue is scheduled to be discussed at the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water. If it passes, it moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Its the not the first time the issue has gone before state decision makers, with the Assembly voting down a similar bill in 2010.

The issue often draws up the debate of secondhand smoke and the annoyance of smoking in public, verses personal rights and governments interference of those rights.

Scott St. Blaze, a Los Angeles bartender who surfs areas such as Bolsa Chica and San Onofre, was surprised that smoking was still allowed at state parks. So two years ago, he started the process of drafting and filing the bill, which finally got noticed by Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego.

I assumed there was someone trying to get a ban. I found no one was doing it, he said. I didnt realize at the time how difficult it would be.

In 2004, Huntington Beach was one of the first cities to ban smoking on the sand at city beaches.

I think the smoking ban has been one of the best things weve done on the beach, Huntington Beach Marine Safety Lt. Claude Panis said. It takes one cigarette to ruin the air for a whole bunch of people downwind. Most of the people going to the beach are healthy people and they wont want to smell the cigarette smoke.

Panis said lifeguards seek voluntary compliance from smoking beachgoers and they usually abide. Theyve rarely had to enforce the ordinance, which would cost violators $125.

He said he was surprised that state parks didnt follow the rest of the coastlines lead years ago. I was surprised they arent mirroring what we did, he said. Im surprised its taken this long, but its a step in the right direction for them.

County beaches also allow smoking along their stretches of sand, which include areas such as Salt Creek, Aliso Viejo and areas of south Laguna Beach, and Sunset Beach.

The government is best which governs least, former Supervisor Bill Campbell said in voting no when the issue came up in 2006. Theres a feeling that we should have government intervening to tell people how to behave. I dont know if thats right.

Rick Erkeneff, south Orange County chapter chairman for Surfrider Foundation, compared smoking to someone playing loud heavy metal music at a peaceful park.

It infringes on other peoples serenity, he said. When your personal freedom intrudes on my health, I have a personal issue with that.

Erkeneff pointed out that while he and the Surfrider Foundation support the ban, its still not enough. The majority of the cigarette butts that end up along the coastline come from inland areas.

The majority is from the storm drains, he said. Most smokers that go to the beach are pretty responsible, but some are not. Its a really complex litter stream.  Until smoking is banned everywhere, youre still going to have them.

The past decade has seen a major push against smoking in public, including bans at city parks, most college campuses and the OC Fair. Some beach areas such as Laguna Beach have extended bans at beach boardwalks and walkways, and Huntington Beach extended its ban into beach parking lots. San Clemente in February introduced an ordinance that outlaws smoking at beach entrances.

Theres also the risk of wildfires in some state parks. Discarded cigarette butts are one of the leading causes of fires in the state.

Some state parks areas have already addressed fire concerns.

Rich Haydon, local state parks superintendent, said that while smoking is legal on state beaches, it is banned on hiking trails located in the upland section of San Onofre State Beach extending well inland from I-5. The smoking ban there is aimed at preventing wildfires, Haydon said.

Staff reporter Fred Swegles contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com
HUNTINGTON BEACH  A body was found at Bolsa Chica State Beach at the end of the jetty, officials said Sunday.

A California State Parks ranger responded Saturday to reports of a deceased person and requested the coroner, state parks spokeswoman Gloria Sandoval said.

Huntington Beach police responded to a call for a possible drowning around 5:15 p.m. on Saturday and arrived at the scene, Lt. Steve Bushhousen said, but the case was outside the departments jurisdiction.

No further details were released Sunday night.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7762, jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong
Velikaya Kopanya village is better known as Ukraines Land of the Twins because of its record-breaking 61 pairs of twins among the less than 4,000 inhabitants. The village is soon expected to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records, having already made its way into Ukraines record book.

According to locals, the number of twins born in the village is higher than anywhere else in the country. The ultimate baby boom came in the year 2004, said local councillor Maryana Savka. But ever since then we are having at least between two and three sets of twins born every year.

Maria Chorba, the towns oldest twin with three pairs of twins among her own grandchildren, said the towns twin-phenomenon is not a recent one. When we were growing up we had some friends who were twins, so we are definitely not the first ones here, she said, recalling her twin sister Anna who died in 2007. No one could tell us apart. Later Anna moved to live far away and we met only once a year. But if she would get sick I would know that straight away. And then I felt that something really bad had happened to her  at the very moment she died.

Photo: Karpat News

While the older twins have mostly moved out of the village, its the younger, school-going twins that are more conspicuous. A 2010 BBC report featured Misha and Vanya Fogorosh, 10 years old at the time. The identical twins would dress in similar clothes, making it difficult for even their father to tell them apart. A few times in school when Vanya did not do his homework I pretended to be him and got a good grade for him, Misha said. There were 58 pairs of twins in Velikaya Kopanya at the time, and despite the steady exodus, the number has now risen to 61 pairs.

Whats shocking is that the twin-effect is not just limited to the human inhabitants of the village. The number of twin cows born in the area is record high. Locals believe theres something in the water  they claim that the local spring has special properties that boost fertility. In fact, they tell a story of a woman from a town about 100 miles away who, unable to have children, would drive to the village to drink its water. A few months later, she conceived  twins, of course.

Photo: Karpat News

Ukrainian scientists have studied the water carefully, but havent noticed anything special about it apart from the fact that its very clean. Which is probably the main reason why people from neighboring towns and villages come to collect it. Several cars can always be spotted parked at the foot of the mountain, and men collecting the water in barrels.

Even if they privatise this spring and start selling water, Ill pay for it, a man named Konstantin, who drives 50 km every week to collect the water, told the BBC in 2010. At home Ive got yellow filthy water coming out of the taps and a filter just doesnt help  its so full of metals. This is the cleanest and tastiest water in the whole region!

Photo: Radio Svoboda

Apparently, its not just the village water that people from outside line up for. Actually weve got queues of suitors for girls from our village  we are that popular, local restaurant owner Maria Fyodoranich said. Everyone wants our genes. And its all because of this water.

Velikaya Kopanya is not the worlds only twin-prone area. In the past, we wrote about other lands of twins around the world, like Candido Godoi, a small town in Southern Brazil, Igbo-Obra, in southwestern Nigeria and Kodinhi, Indias Village of Twins.
New York-based beauty, lifestyle and consumer agency Ink & Roses has been named agency of record for iconic herbal cough drop line Ricola US.

Swiss brand Ricola, which is owned by parent company Ricola Ltd./Ricola AG, produces more than 40 varieties of cough drops, breath mints and teas. The Laufen, Switzerland-based company, which was founded in 1930, now exports its products to more than 50 countries throughout Asia, North America and Europe.

As AOR, Ink & Roses will now lead all publicity for Ricolas US portfolio of products.

Ink & Roses, which was founded in 2004, maintains a second office in Washington, D.C. Clients include Johnson & Johnson, Mustela, Healthy Mama and Rogaine.
When it comes to global wealth inequality, we know how bad its getting, but what do we know about who is responsible? When Oxfam reports that 1% of the world population owns more than the other 99% put together, the question arises: who or what is making the rich so much richer, and the poor so much poorer?

It turns out we know surprisingly little about the key actors behind this momentous change. This creates a problem for policy makers who want to stop or reverse the growth of wealth inequality. The trend cannot be arrested without understanding its sources.

The research Ive conducted over the past eight years suggests that some of the most important players have been overlooked: wealth managers. They are an elite group of lawyers, accountants, bankers and others who protect the fortunes of their high-net-worth clients from tax authorities and creditors, among others. To achieve these ends, wealth managers design complex, often multi-national structures composed of trusts, foundations and offshore corporationsthe building blocks of tax avoidance, and law avoidance more generally. There are at least 20 000 wealth managers spread across 95 countries, and their control of billions in private capital flows plays a major role in the extreme concentration of wealth worldwide.

Making the rich richer

When economists such as Gabriel Zucman tell us that governments around the world lose $190 billion annually in revenues due to tax avoidance by the ultra-rich, that points to the work of wealth managers. Such a feat is not accomplished by millionaires and billionaires themselves: they are otherwise occupied, often in accumulating more wealth or in spending it. Instead, the task of mastering the intricate and changing body of laws applying to tax, estates and multi-national transactions falls to a highly-specialised group of professionals. The skills they offerwhich enable their clients to defeat the spirit of the laws without violating them formallycost handsomely. That in itself is a major factor in the growth of inequality: the old saying it takes money to make money is true not because wealth accumulation is natural or inevitable, but because rich people can afford the best advisors.

This helps explain an unanticipated result of the 2008 financial crisis: while some expected it to be a great leveller in terms of inequality, the opposite occurred. Although the wealthy initially lost money in the crash, within a few years they had not only recouped it all, but had become wealthier than ever. According to Oxfam, the richest 62 people in the world increased their fortunes by a total of US$500 billion between 2010 and 2015; meanwhile, the majority of the worlds population has yet to recover their losses. This can be attributed in part to the multi-pronged wealth defence strategy that professionals can provide to the worlds economic elites. This involves not only the avoidance of taxes and debts that could dissipate clients fortunes, but access to exclusive investment opportunities.

States and international organisations like the OECD are aware of the wealth management profession, which gets occasional mention in policy briefs and legislative hearings. But little effort has been made to address the professionals role in exacerbating inequality. Instead, the vast majority of political and institutional efforts to combat the problem have been directed at states (particularly offshore) and the wealthy themselves. These efforts have consistently proven to be disappointing. It seems that every time a loophole is closed or a sanction imposed, someone is there to get around it. That someone is often a wealth manager.

Making the poor poorer

Wealth management techniques dont just make the rich richer: they also make the poor poorer. When professionals help high-net-worth individuals avoid paying their taxes or their private debts, the poorand the middle classbear the costs, both directly and indirectly. Indirectly, they pay through a reduction of public services, such as education, health care and transportation, which are critical for making a living and becoming upwardly mobile.

The direct costs come from the surcharges on honest taxpayers and borrowers. Even with service cuts, the fiscal burden of the state must still be borne; tax avoidance by the rich shifts those costs downwards. In the US and Europe, estimates of this surcharge vary between 7% and 15% in additional taxes to cover the underpayment by the rich. At the same time, banks and other financing firms such as car dealerships raise the costs of borrowing to recoup their losses from high-net-worth individuals, who can default on their debts without penalty by using wealth management strategies. The resulting increase in borrowing costs has the largest impact on the poorest members of society, deepening their indebtedness and making upward mobility increasingly difficult to attain.

This has ominous long-term implications for human capital and national development. Drastic cuts in public services are occurring now in Greece, Spain and other EU countries where massive levels of tax avoidance by the wealthiest citizens depleted government coffers prior to the financial crisis. As under-funded states crumble, the most able and talented citizens often leave. Those left behind are ripein the words of economist Thomas Pikettyto be tempted by nationalist solutions, ethnic divisions, and the politics of hatred. Thus, rising inequality creates a threat to democracy itself.

Perhaps the most significant political issue is how wealth managers work has enabled inequality to grow in obscurity for so long. Trusts, foundations and offshore finance work by concealing the true ownership of wealth. This not only makes it difficult to collect taxes and debts: it also cloaks economic privilege in a strategic veil of privacy.

Wealth managers have been very successful in keeping their clients off the radar, and limiting public awareness of the concentration of economic power. For example, a recent study by Michael Norton and Dan Ariely found that people in the US underestimate the extent of wealth inequality in their own country by 42%. Similarly, research conducted in Argentina suggests that the poor significantly underestimate how economically disadvantaged they are and have no idea how much better off the rich really are. This lack of awareness is partly due to the physical segregation of rich and poor in most parts of the world. But it is also linked to strategic obfuscation by wealth managers, who keep their clients affairs out of the newspapers and courtrooms that might otherwise expose the real extent of the economic divide.

A new approach to policy?

As the title of Tolstoys book about the wealth divide in his time put it, What then must we do? With 21st century inequality already so extreme, it may seem too late to reverse the trend. Since tightening tax laws, sanctioning offshore states, and pursuing tax avoiders in court has not stemmed the tide of wealth concentration, there would appear to be few options left.

My research points to a new policy direction: lawmakers must engage directly with the experts who control wealthy clients capital flows, and who devise the strategies that undo the intent of laws governing private taxation and debt. A recent study on Israel by Adam Hofri suggests some reason for optimism on this front. With a few targeted legal changes, the government there was able to co-opt wealth management professionals and enlist them on the front lines of combating tax avoidance by high-net-worth individuals. As a result, wealthy Israelis now have fewer incentives to take their money offshore, and Israeli wealth managers now profit from ensuring tax compliance as much as they once profited from facilitating avoidance.

Whether these innovations can be adapted to other national contexts remains to be seen. Some argue that Israel is a special case due to traditionally high levels of social solidarity. Others point out that recent opinion polling among Israelis reveals that social solidarity is now quite low, particularly when it comes to economic inequality and measures to combat it. This suggests that the case may offer a useful precedent, and even inspire a new approach at the OECD: focusing on wealth managers can help states address revenue losses from tax avoidance, and enable governments, international organisations and others to combat the growth of economic inequality more effectively.

References

Harrington, Brooke (2016), Capital without Borders: Wealth Management and the One Percent. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press*

Hofri, Adam (2014) Professionals' Contribution to the Legislative Process: Between Self, Client, and the Public. Law & Social Inquiry 39: 96-126.

Norton, Michael and Dan Ariely (2011) Building a Better AmericaOne Wealth Quintile at a Time. Perspectives on Psychological Science 6: 912.

Piketty, Thomas (2015), Foreword, in Gabriel Zucman, The Hidden Wealth of Nations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Page viii.

Tolstoy, Leo (1941 [1886]), What Then Must We Do? New York: Oxford University Press.

Zucman, Gabriel (2015) The Hidden Wealth of Nations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Visit Brooke Harringtons website at www.brookeharrington.com

*Capital without Borders is coming out in July 2016.

Productivity and inclusive growth at the OECD Forum 2016

OECD Forum 2016 issues

OECD work on inequality

OECD work on tax

OECD Observer website

OECD Yearbook 2016
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ROCKVILLE, Neb.  Family reunions in Nebraska and a nightmare inspired filmmaker Matt Sobels first feature film, Take Me to the River.

Sobel, originally from San Jose, Calif., and currently from Los Angeles, said while growing up he and his parents, Judy Dethlefs and David Sobel, would travel to the Dethlefs family reunions every summer near Rockville. He said the film is based on the family reunions and the location of the reunions. However, he said, none of the drama is inspired by real events.

The movie does parallel parts of Sobels life.

I was thinking a lot about myself as a 17-year-old, Sobel explained. People assume that Im gay because the character in the story is gay, but thats not true. That sort of confidence and naivete was what I took from myself.

He said he once had a nightmare about a family reunion.

In the nightmare, there was this sort of misunderstanding I was being wrongfully accused of harming one of my cousins in some way, and I actually couldnt remember when I woke up what I was accused of, Sobel explained. I woke up with this incredibly frustrated feeling of not being understood.

Sobel said the film is based on being misunderstood, and all of the characters feel that emotion.

These misunderstandings can perpetuate for years and years, he said.

Sobel said Take Me to the River opens with California teenager Ryder announcing to his parents that he intends to tell the rest of the family that he is gay at a reunion in Nebraska. However, he never gets to do so because of an incident when he and his 9-year-old cousin Molly are in the barn where no one is there to see, Sobel said.

The next scene is of Molly screaming and running out of the barn with the front of her dress bloodstained, making Ryder a child-abuse suspect.

The more he tries to exonerate himself, the more the family believes he did something really wrong with her, Sobel said.

The movie proceeds with uncomfortable situations between Ryder and his cowboy family, Sobel said.

He comes thinking his family doesnt understand him, but at the end he comes out really wrong, not really knowing anything about his family, Sobel said.

The family in the film treats Ryder differently from how Sobel was treated when he visiting Nebraska for the reunions, Sobel said.

I never felt oppressed in the way that this 17-year-old character in the movie does, he explained. He feels like he is going to be ostracized. I was never made to feel ostracized in any way.

Sobel said the film reflects true Nebraskans and the difficulty to speak about painful and upsetting memories.

It goes with the stiff-upper-lip cowboy attitude, he said. The plus side is that family is incredibly close, and the downside is that disagreements might not be solved as quickly as they should.

The movie was filmed in summer 2013 on the farm of Sobels late grandparents, Carl and Laura Dethlefs, near Rockville. The farm is now owned by Sobels uncle and aunt, Jerry and Dianna Dethlefs.

The story was so intimately based on this location, Sobel said that he had to film the movie in Nebraska.

We traveled over the continent looking for places that could double for Nebraska and couldnt find them, Sobel said.

Sobel explained that many countries and states give tax credit support to make movies but Nebraska doesnt.

Sobels favorite spots on the farm were represented in the movie, including the Middle Loup River, he said.

Sobel said his grandmother died in 2008 after he wrote the script but before he filmed the movie. It was important to him to capture the way the house and the farm looked when she lived there, so his mom asked people who inherited his grandmas belongings to loan them for the movie set, he said.

His aunt Dianna and Sobels cousin Gary Dethlefs and his wife, Dar, opened up their homes for the 1-month shoot. Dianna helped on the set behind the scenes, and a handful of cousins were extras in the movie, Sobel said.

Dianna said the city of Loup City was hospitable to the cast and crew. She said the Loup City Public Schools cook accommodated them with meals at the farm, the Colony Inn had meals ready for them when they would get in late from the shoots, and a local bar was available late nights for them.

Sobels cousin, Joan Barent was one of the extras in the movie during the family picnic scene.

We even went through the (food) line like grandma had it set up on the picnic bench, she said.

She said she didnt know how unique her family was until she started talking to cast members and learned that some of them dont know their extended family.

Five generations have been to that river for the picnic, she explained. I guess I didnt realize how special it is.

Sobel said the family will have a chance to see the movie at a private screening in Nebraska in May.

Dianna said the conversations the family will have after seeing the film should be interesting.

Were so comfortable in our culture and the lines are so distinctly drawn, and Im not saying drawn negatively, she said. It does take you out of your comfort zone and is that all bad?

Sobel said the film is for people who enjoy having conversations after movies.

There have been many people who have seen it four or five times and are still asking questions about it, Sobel said. That makes me feel good because thats what I like to do.

The movie will play at Film Streams in Omaha on May 19 and at the Ross Media Arts Center in Lincoln May 20-26.

* * * * *

An earlier version of this story had an incorrect spelling of Diana Dethlef's first name.
Among those benefiting from Roberta Bertie Buffett Elliotts support for Northwestern Universitys international studies program is Omahan Alison Brockman, a triple major in economics, political science and international studies.

Last years $100 million pledge by Warren Buffetts younger sister, in honor of her Class of 1954, created the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Studies, aimed at a multidisciplinary approach to solving global problems.

Brockman, Class of 2017, said the donation touches every international studies student, from programs with visiting scholars to other improvements.

I want to live and work internationally, she said, possibly as a consultant for government agencies.

Last year, it didnt look as if she could afford to take a public sector internship because they are usually unpaid, and her familys finances are tight following her fathers death. She likely would have returned to Omaha, where her past jobs include lifeguarding at the Field Club and working at Zios Pizza.

But a $3,000 grant from Northwesterns internship fund, separate from the Buffett money, opened the way for an internship at the British Embassy in Chicago, helping American businesses investing in the United Kingdom and U.K. businesses selling goods and services in the United States.

The British folks encouraged her to apply for a full-time job. This summer she plans to work for an international trade consulting firm.

Brockman is a graduate of Brownell-Talbot High School and was a member of The World-Heralds all-metro high school academic team in 2013.

Looking to the future

With Berkshire Hathaways stock price on the rise and Chairman and CEO Buffett soon to hold his annual meeting with shareholders, talk about the companys future is increasing.

The share price for the Omaha-based conglomerate is up more than 13 percent from a low point in January, although it hasnt recovered entirely from last years decline. At $211,705 per Class A share and $141.06 per Class B share, its still more than 7 percent below the all-time peak in December 2014.

Money manager and Berkshire shareholder Whitney Tilson of Kase Capital Management told Yahoo Finance that he estimates Berkshire cant fall below $185,000 without triggering a price-boosting buyback by Berkshire.

He pegged its current intrinsic value at $283,000 and its potential a year from now at $308,000 per share.

Its safe, its cheap, he said.

Tilson said that top estimate projects the performance of existing Berkshire holdings and doesnt consider what he called Buffett magic  deal-making, investments and acquisitions  that might happen.

Tilson also said Buffett, 85, is likely to keep running the company for years  an 80 percent chance of remaining in charge for five years and a 50 percent chance for 10 years.

Actuarial tables say people of Buffetts age live an average of eight more years, said Tilson, adding that he expects Buffett to beat that number.

African power plant

Buffetts son Howards foundation is funding a $19.7 million, 14-megawatt hydroelectric power plant in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in a plan to preserve Africas oldest national park, Virunga National Park, home to the worlds last 700 rare mountain gorillas, and help people in the region.

Bloomberg reported that Belgian conservationist Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park, believes electricity generated by the regions rivers can power industries in the region, which is wracked by poverty and political violence.

Having worked alongside partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past 14 years, we are convinced that creating employment in sustainable industries through Congolese institutions is fundamental to creating lasting peace in the region, Howard Buffett said in a statement.

For the 3,000-square-mile nature preserve to survive, de Merode said, we need an economic model that meets the needs of the population.

Economic opportunities are few and fertile land is coveted  1.2 million acres of it in the preserve, representing $1 billion a year in lost farming revenue. The goal is to use the electricity to create industry that would offset that cost, de Merode said.

Dams to be dismantled

Berkshires PacifiCorp utility and federal and state agencies signed an agreement last week toward removing four PacifiCorp hydroelectric dams that block salmon migration on the Klamath River in northern California and southern Oregon, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Congress has failed to authorize the U.S. Department of Interior to move ahead on a 2010 removal agreement.

PacifiCorp would transfer the dams to a new nonprofit group, the Klamath River Renewal Corp., that will seek approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to remove the dams by 2020.

The State of California would contribute up to $250 million, and PacifiCorp customers would pay a surcharge of up to $200 million toward removal, both terms of the original agreement.

Tribal, farming and fishery interests had backed the agreement originally, the story said, but disputes have arisen over use of the rivers water.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., said the new agreement is an end run around Congress and cuts out those affected by the decision in favor of environmental extremists, bureaucrats in Sacramento and Washington, and a taxpayer bailout for billionaire Warren Buffett.

PacifiCorp has said dismantling the dams is a prudent business decision and has said it would spend about $400 million on fish ladders and water quality improvements as the dams are removed.

Cross-border trades

Berkshires energy division is asking 38 power companies in the western United States to join in making power trades electronically across their borders, Bloomberg reported.

Traders currently monitor solar and wind generation and then communicate by phone or email about every hour to even out the peaks and valleys of power generated from wind and sunlight.

The Energy Imbalance Market lets power companies trade electricity almost instantaneously, making renewable energy more widely available and reducing reliance on fossil fuels, said Jonathan Weisgall, vice president of government relations at Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

The market was started in November 2014 by PacificCorp and the California Independent System Operator Corp. Last year, Berkshires NV Energy company in Nevada joined in.

The Omaha World-Herald is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
LINCOLN (AP)  Advocates of a medical marijuana bill that was rejected by Nebraska lawmakers have united behind an effort to place the issue on the November general election ballot, but group leaders say they might not be able to rally enough support before the July 1 deadline.

Bryan Boganowski of the Omaha chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws said a successful ballot measure this late in the process would cost about $800,000.

Shelley Gillen, president of of Nebraska Families 4 Medical Cannabis, said unless a private donor comes forward, the group will wait until the following year to submit a petition.

Medical marijuana has been opposed by Gov. Pete Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson, the Department of Health and Human Services and law enforcement groups.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In Pics: How celebration turned into devastation at Puttingal temple in Kollam

Feature

oi-Preeti

Puttingal temple in the coastal town of Paravur located in Kollam District of Kerala which is about 60 kms from the capital city Thiruvananthapuram was celebrating its Meena Bharani festival on April 9, Saturday.

Meena Bharani Festival is celebrated in the Bharani Star day of Malayalam Month Meenam (Present year of Malayalam Era is 1191). April 9th was that auspicious day. Fireworks by two groups is part of the Meena Bharani Utsav which happened on April 9th, Saturday night.

But the celebrations soon took a tragic turn when the firewroks went horribly wrong and led to a massive fire, killing 112 devotees and leaving over 380 injured.

The tragedy occurred at about 3.30 am on Sunday when a spark from an firecracker landed on a building where a huge quantity of powerful firecrackers were stored, setting off massive explosions and a fireball that brought down the structure.

Here are some heart-wrenching pics of the fire mishap at Puttingal temple:

In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy A man severely injured during fireworks tragedy at Puttingal temple in Kollam, Kerala. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Dead bodies of a woman and a man lying on the accident site and people watching helplessly. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Firecrackers loaded with gunpowder that was exploded during the prayers, that led to one of the biggest fire tragedy. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy People carrying a badly injured man for treatment. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Locals and police officials inspect the aftermath of massive fire mishap at Puttingal temple in Kollam, Kerala. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy BJP President Amit Shah visits the district hospital to meet the victims of tragedy in Kollam Paravoor Puttingal temple on Sunday. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College to meet the victims of tragedy in Kollam Paravoor Puttingal temple on Sunday. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the district hospital to meet the victims of tragedy in Kollam Paravoor Puttingal temple on Sunday. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Officials inspecting the scattered debris of temple. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Locals gathered near the massive fire site at Puttingal temple in Kollam, Kerala. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the site of tragedy in Kollam Paravoor Puttingal temple on Sunday. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Prime Minister Narendra Modi along-with Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy visits the site of the tragedy in Kollam Paravoor Puttingal temple on Sunday. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the site of the tragedy in Kollam Paravoor Puttingal temple on Sunday. In Pics: Kerala Temple Fire Tragedy Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visits the site of tragedy in Kollam Paravoor Puttingal temple on Sunday.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, April 11, 2016, 13:03 [IST]
Madhya Pradesh polls: Bundelkhand may not be a cakewalk for BJP this time

Union and State Governments join hands for Drought Hit Bundelkhand

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

Bundelkhand, Vidharbha and Marathwada regions in India are facing severe drought situation. Prime Minister Narenda Modi had announced a high level review of drought situation in these regions.

To help farmers of Bundelkhand the Union Government has joined hands with Uttar Pradesh Government. Bundelkhand region falls under Madhya Pradesh state too.

Drought situation review of Bundelkhand: Meet chaired by HM recommended Rs1304 Cr for drought relief to UP  ANI (@ANI_news) April 10, 2016

Govt announced development works worth Rs.372.8 Cr for Bundelkhand region, a road map will be chalked out soon. pic.twitter.com/jF9PNYugEM  CMO Madhya Pradesh (@CMMadhyaPradesh) April 4, 2016

First such review meeting was held in PMO recently and Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh and his team made a presentation. At the meeting following steps were taken to bring relief for the farmers of Bundelkhand.

Relief Measures

High Level Committee chaired by the Union Home Minister has recommended Rs. 1,304 crore for drought relief to UP under National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). The State Government would disburse the relief amount directly into the bank accounts of farmers within a week.

It was decided that Government of UP will forward a Memorandum for Rabi 2016 soon.

Ministry of Home Affairs will examine if an exemption can be given under SDRF on 25% limit and continuation of distribution of food component beyond 90 days.

Drinking Water

Chief Secretary, UP informed that a comprehensive contingency plan to address the drinking water situation in Bundelkhand region especially Mahoba, Chitrakoot and Banda districts of Chitrakoot division are ready. He further assured that drinking water will be made available.

Employment and livelihood

Provision of extending mandays from 100 to 150 under MNREGS in the Bundelkhand for financial year 2016-17 was approved.

MNREGS extended from 100 to 150 days in Bundelkhand in 2016-17 by @PMOIndia given the drought there. Rural workers now assured 150 day wages  Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai) April 10, 2016

State Government will ensure distribution of Rs. 700 crore released under the labour component of MGNREGS directly to the eligible beneficiaries via electronic payment system.

It was decided that to provide alternate source of income National Rural Livelihood Mission would be strengthened and intensified and coverage would be extended to all the blocks.

Food Security

Chief Secretary, UP confirmed that NFSA has been implemented w.e.f. 01.01.2016. Accordingly, food grain allocation has been enhanced in Bundelkhand.

State Government was advised to ensure Aadhaar seeding of MNREGS beneficiaries and ration cards on high priority.

Bundelkhand Package

During the meeting, implementation of previous Bundelkhand package was high on agenda. It was brought to the notice that Rs. 264 crore was released by NITI Aayog on 31st March 2016 to complete the committed liabilities on ongoing projects in UP as a one-time grant.

It was agreed that the State Government would ensure completion of all ongoing 37 Piped Water Schemes on priority. Further, the warehousing marketing infrastructure built under the package needs to be better utilised.

Drought Proofing

It was also decided that water tanks, building of dug wells, farm ponds would be taken up on priority under various projects and schemes for Bundelkhand.

CEO, NITI Aayog in consultation with State Government will explore the possibility of taking up fresh projects for drought proofing from the resources available under the package for Bundelkhand region.

Agriculture

It was brought out that Sesame is the most important Kharif crop in Bundelkhand. It was agreed that MSP for Sesame for 2016-17 be announced expeditiously.

A bonus of Rs. 20 for Bundelkhand region over and above the MSP shall be considered. State Government would finalise a procurement plan for Sesame in consultation with Secretary, Agriculture.

To focus on boosting agricultural production and productivity in Bundelkhand region State Government will send a proposal for introduction of a new sub scheme under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

Crop Insurance

It was noted that the coverage of crop insurance scheme in UP is between 7 to 10% only. However, the coverage in Bundelkhand due to distress situation is around 30 percent.

More than Rs. 250 crores in Rabi 2014-15 and around Rs. 180 crore in Kharif 2015 has been distributed as claims benefitting around 3.34 lakh and 2.16 lakh farmers respectively.

State Government was asked to ensure maximum coverage of farmers in the recently launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and it was agreed that the State Government would hold district wise camps to ensure that both loanee and non-loanee farmers are covered in a campaign mode.

Irrigation

Secretary, Water Resources was requested to ensure release of funds on priority for the nine ongoing projects under Repair, Rejuvenation and Restoration (RRR) of water bodies.

CEO, NITI Aayog, Secretary (Water Resources), Principal Secretary (Irrigation), UP will meet on 12th April, 2016 to resolve various issues pertaining to Arjun Sahayak, Varuna and Banasagar irrigation projects.

CEO NITI Aayog in consultation with State Government will also resolve the pending proposals of drinking water at the earliest.

Cooperative Federalism

It was also agreed that various development proposals especially under PMGSY, drinking water, village electrification etc. should have wider consultation with local public representatives especially Members of Parliament.

As per the Prime Minister's vision and in the true spirit of cooperative federalism, Government of India and the State Government will together work for long term sustainable solutions to address the problem of vulnerable regions in natural distress.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, April 11, 2016, 10:18 [IST]
"Kick us out if we don't do anything": How Modi's emotional appeal resembles that of Mamata

WB Assembly polls: Mamata may taste victory, but with a pinch of salt

Feature

oi-Pallavi

By Pallavi

Mamata may emerge victorious in these elections too, but there are too many fallacies on her part that have started disturbing the public.

She has been true to her poll agenda, but at what cost? No, we cannot blame her entirely, but her mistakes cannot be ignored too.

Flyover collapse and the comments that followed

The recent tragedy of Jorashanko flyover collapse, claiming 26 lives proves to be a black day in the history of West Bengal. In fact, the ripples of the tragedy is far resounding than it seems to the naked eyes. Followed by CM Mamata Banerjee's claims that the building was contracted to IVRCL by the communist government and that it had failed to submit the plan with the present government is not being taken sportingly in many quarters.

[Read: CPI(M) agent beaten up, bombs recovered near polling booth in WB ]

The question that now arises is why was the project continued, if the design was approved by the present government? If the government had found fault with the design, it should have taken action against the construction company. Was any background check conducted on the construction company that was already blacklisted by the CBI for malificous activities? Who would answer these questions, if not the CM!

The affect of this, however, may be restricted to Kolkata alone unless the opposition banks upon the question of why the flyover collapse happened, successfully. It has been seen in the past that what happensin Kolkata stays there and does not resonate outside.

Narada case and an apology

Stung by the media bee, the TMC just recovered from the Sharada shocker when it was hit by the Narada scam. Narada News, on March 13 and 14, saw 13 Trinamool leaders accepting cash from members of a fictitious company.

While TMC survived the Saradha scam, where TMC honchos like Madan Mitra and Mukul Roy had to face the heat. While Mitra was arrested, Mukul Roy distanced himself from the party.

[Read: Mamata dares Modi to send her to jail ]

TMC had started showing cracks as Banerjee's nephew Abhishek became the party's number two, replacing the once powerful General Secretary Mukul Roy. In fact, Roy was stripped of the position of TMC all India general secretary as well as from the post of party's leader in the Rajya Sabha.

Nevertheless, TMC may still win, given the landscaping it has done in West Bengal....including the administrative ones. But it needs to be more careful with words, especially when the public is accepting it despite its fallacies.

[Read: West Bengal assembly elections 2016: Campaigning ends for April 11 polls ]

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, April 11, 2016, 14:03 [IST]
Assam 2016: Another rhino falls victim even as poaching became key poll issue

Guwahati

oi-Shubham

Guwahati, April 11: Unabated poaching of one-horned rhinoceros became a major issue in this year's Assembly election in Assam with all parties vowing to protect the State Animal, especially in the Kaziranga National Park.

Assembly Polls 2016 Full Coverage; Assam election Phase 2

However, all the talks proved to be hollow as yet another rhinoceros fell victim on Saturday, ahead of the second and final phase of the Assembly election held on Monday.

According to forest department sources, a female adult rhinoceros was fired at by the poachers at Garpal area in Assam and they sawed off its horn. Forest officials later found the injured animal seething in pain and took it to the hospital where it died on Sunday.

Poaching of rhinos is a pressing issue in Assam where nearly 200 of them have been killed since 2001, when the Congress returned to power. The ruling party since then has faced flak from the Opposition BJP and AGP on the issue. The BJP has even accused it of having nexus with the poachers and allowing them to get away.

The issue of rhino poaching featured in the poll speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national chief Amit Shah who asked the voters to back their party in this year's election to ensure that the animals' plight is brought to an end.

Modi said in a rally at Bokakhat near the KNP that the Congress was not only indulging in corruption but also eating up the rhinos in the wild.

The AGP, which is contesting this election in alliance with the BJP and BPF, has promised to enact strict law to deal with the menace of rhino poaching and setting up eco-sensitive zones inside the wildlife protection areas to improve the steps taken to improve the safety of the endangered animals.

The Congress, on the other hand, promised to out to use a state-of-the-art mechanism to safeguard the rhinos, especially those living in the wild of Kaziranga. The ruling party has often blamed militants armed with modern weapons for the poaching of the rhinos.

The latest poaching is expected to keep the debate alive.

Oneindia News
Assam Direct Recruitment: SLRC Grade 3 and Grade 4 results out; How to check

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Heroin worth Rs 20 crore seized and 2 peddlers arrested in Assam

Assam hikes DA of home guards from Rs 300 to Rs 767

Assam govt to award meritorious students with over 35,000 scooters

Poll Updates: 79% voter turnout recorded in Assam

Guwahati

oi-Sandra

Guwahati, Apr 11: Sixty-one assembly constituencies will go to polls today in the second and final phase of Assembly elections in Assam.

The polling will be held from 7 a.m. till 5 p.m. at 12,699 polling stations in the 61 constituencies spread across 13 districts. 525 candidates are in the fray in this second and final round of voting in Assam.

[Special coverage: Assembly elections 2016]

Top contests of Assam polls 2016: Sarbananda Sonowal vs Rajiv Lochan Pegu

Assam polls 2016: A look at past results (1952-2011)

Photos

Get all the live updates here:

7.30 pm: In Assam also, by and large poll was peaceful except one incident in Barpeta: Election Commission.

7.25 pm: Voter turnout was 82.02% in Assam at 5 pm today, this could change when final figure comes in: Election Commission.

7.20 pm: In morning Assam CM addressed a press conference in Guwahati which is a violation as per RP act 126, as it may influence the voters: EC.

7.15 pm: 78.09 per cent polling in Assam, voters still in queue.

6.00 pm: Polling concludes.

5.10 pm: Around 75% voter turnout recorded in Assam till 5 pm.

3.55 pm: 69.50% voter turnout recorded till 3 pm in Assam.



3.25 pm: 62% voter turnout recorded till 3 pm in Assam.

1.58 pm: 55.3 % polling recorded till 1 pm during Phase 2 in Assam

1.45 pm: Voters of Assam will reward Congress for good work, says Manmohan Singh

Voters of #Assam will reward Cong for good work it has done for people of state in last 15 years: Dr. Manmohan Singh pic.twitter.com/AZmSYwswcU  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

1.40 pm: 50% voter turnout recorded till 12 pm in Assam.

1.20 pm: Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh casts his vote in Dispur for final phase of Assam Assembly polls.

Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh casts his vote in Dispur for final phase of #Assam Assembly polls pic.twitter.com/dTMLMVeBm4  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

12.40 pm: Clash between CRPF and voters during Assam polls. One dead and several injured in lathicharge.

12.10 pm: Election Commission terms CM Tarun Gogoi's press meet a violation of Model Code of Conduct.

11.50 am: 35% polling recorded in Assam till 11 am.

11.08 am: 25% polling reported in Assam till 10 am.

11.03 am: "For the first time, I have seen Election Commission not being impartial in the state," CM Tarun Gogoi says.

10.48 am: BJP CM candidate Sarbananda Sonowal urges people to vote in the final phase of Assam assembly elections

Your vote is the foundation of a strong democracy. It is a privilege, please use it.  Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) April 10, 2016

10.45 am: CM Tarun Gogoi holds press meet because he didn't receive Election Commission's order in writing.

9.45 am: Former CM PK Mahanta casts his vote in Nagaon

Voting underway for 2nd & final phase in 61 constituencies of #Assam: Former CM PK Mahanta casts his vote in Nagaon pic.twitter.com/vowZKXYIaq  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

9.42 am: 16% polling reported in Assam till 9 am.

9.05 am: "AIUDF will be Kingmaker in Assam," says party chief Badruddin Ajmal.

8.40 am: Women dance and celebrate after casting their vote at a polling booth in Kokrajhar in the final phase

Assam: Women dance and celebrate after casting their vote at a polling booth in Kokrajhar in the final phase pic.twitter.com/zlQf142COg  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

7.50 am: All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal casts his vote in the final phase.

Hojai(Assam): All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal casts his vote in the final phase. pic.twitter.com/SlDzGQUtUB  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

7.33 am: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and his wife will cast their votes in Dispur, Assam today, where they are registered as voters.

7.25 am: People in large numbers queue up outside a polling booth in Guwahati, voting underway for the final phase

Assam: People in large numbers queue up outside a polling booth in Guwahati, voting underway for the final phase. pic.twitter.com/mIIDugHAS0  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

7.10 am: Nagaon: Voting underway for the second and final phase in Assam

Nagaon: Voting underway for the second and final phase in #Assam. pic.twitter.com/KNARdxWtjc  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

7.02 am: Phase 2 polling begins in 61 constituencies in Assam.

7.00 am: People queue up outside a polling booth in Nagaon, Assam.

Nagaon: People queue up outside a polling booth in #Assam ahead of the final phase of voting in 61 constituencies pic.twitter.com/IBE0ReDZdn  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

6.50 am: People seen queueing up outside a polling booth in Assam ahead of the final phase of voting.

Kokrajhar: People queue up outside a polling booth in #Assam ahead of the final phase of voting in 61 constituencies pic.twitter.com/lmJ9GaJ747  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

6.45 am: Preparations underway ahead of the second and final phase of voting in Assam

Kokrajhar: Preparations underway ahead of the second and final phase of voting in #Assam for 61 constituencies. pic.twitter.com/X7wD5XBU9z  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

OneIndia News
Bypolls to seven assembly seats across six states on Nov 3, result on Nov 6

EC failed to play its role in some areas: CPI-M's Mishra

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kolkata, April 11: The Election Commission failed to play its expected role in ensuring peaceful and fair assembly polls in some areas of West Bengal in the first phase, CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra alleged on Monday, April 11.

"The role which the Election Commission was expected to play and the determination which it was supposed to show, they have not done it. "In West Midnapore's Keshpur and Garbeta, even after informing the Election Commission, there has been no fundamental change in the situation.

"In other areas, there was sporadic violence but there were arrangements by the Commission. And people came out despite the violence," Mishra told the media in West Midnapore's Belda.

"In Burdwan, Jamuria, Raniganj, Pandabeswar there have been troubles but people have managed to successfully overcome them and vote," he said. [West Bengal Live updates: 71.60% polling turnout till 3 pm]

Amid sweltering heat and allegations of violence, voting is underway in 31 constituencies for the first phase of the assembly polls spanning West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan.

Mishra said voters were being prevented from entering booths in his constituency Narayangarh.

"There has been people's resistance in all areas. The role which the Election Commission was expected to play and the determination which it was supposed to show, they have not done it. We have no faith in the state police," he said.

"There has been people's resistance in all the areas. We don't have faith in the state police. We have told the people to be alert until the Electronic Voting Machines are sealed."

Mishra, who is also Leader of Opposition, faced angry demonstrations from residents, said to be Trinamol Congress supporters, while visiting some of the booths in his constituency.

Refuting allegations of his absence from the constituency, Mishra claimed the ruling Trinamool Congress is "angry" because of his presence.

"I can see why they are angry. We had complained to the chief electoral officer about electoral malpractices and terrorisation in 23 booths. We have not seen such violence since 1977. After 1977, this the second time I am going from booth to booth for the assembly polls.

"Since this time there is violence, I am here. They are angry because I am here. And after I complained, the number of troubled booths have come down to four," Mishra said.

He exhorted people to stay calm and vote.

"This is the Trinamool's culture. This is a sign of disappointment and defeat. Don't get swayed," he said.

Asked about the complaint monitoring system of the poll panel, Mishra said the reporting system is "functional" and it is a "good sign".

IANS
Irom Sharmila to end her fast: What it means to Manipur and struggle against AFSPA

God must be crying: Why are temples countrys favourite tragedy territories

India

oi-Oneindia

By Maitreyee Boruah

It was definitely not god's will. This is what every "god-fearing" citizen of the country is saying as news channels beamed footages of victims, who died in Kerala's Kollam temple tragedy. More than 110 people died after firecrackers caused a massive fire at the Puttingal temple in the coastal town of Paravur in the Kollam district on Sunday (April 10).

Several injured are said to be critical and fighting for their lives. The massive scale of the tragedy, as hundreds have died and injured, is nothing less than a national calamity.

However, it is difficult to imagine such a huge crisis visiting a religious place. After all, the very mention of a temple, church or a mosque conjures up the images of a group of devotees with folded hands asking for almighty's blessing.

To see dead bodies strewn near a crumbled temple can shock both believers and non-believers alike.

Man-made tragedies

Media reports say the temple authorities did not have the required permission to conduct the fireworks display.

Nonetheless, they went ahead with it in the name of continuing with their age-old tradition as the state is set to celebrate the New Year.

Blaming the temple authorities won't exonerate the administration for dereliction of duty. They should have ensured that pompous display of fireworks should not have taken place when there was no permission for it.

Louder the better

What about the role of temple patrons? Why do they always want grand and loud display of music and fireworks to mark festivals?

Festivals in Kerala are grand in nature. The temple authorities and devotees go to any extent to show their money power in hosting these festivals. Perhaps that is why several of these festivals have come under the scanner of animal rights activists for parading elephants as part of festivities.

Kerala, the hub of temple tragedies

Way back in 1952, Kerala witnessed a similar mishap. Around 68 people died and several were injured in a fireworks accident at the hill-shrine of Sabarimala.

According to statistics, in the last five decades Kerala has witnessed more than 400 temple-related accidents (both small and massive) where more than 400 people have died.

It's not just Kerala

Remember, what happened in March in Karnataka? Around 70 devotees suffered burn injuries after they accidently fell into the embers during a fire walk at a village in Tumakuru.

These people were attempting to walk on fire as part of a ritual at a temple for goddess Marammadevi near Tumkuru. One of the injured, a 35-year-old woman, died few days later.

Jinxed pilgrimages

In August 2015, at least 10 people died and 20 injured in a stampede at a temple in Deoghar in Jharkhand. In October 2013, more than 115 people died and 110 injured in a stampede in Ratangarh Mata Temple, Datia in Madhya Pradesh.

These are just few episodes of deadly stampedes in religious places in India. A quick search in google will show you a list of innumerable such stampede cases in last few decades where thousands have lost their lives.

No safety measures in place

Festival occasions are deadly times for temples, literally. These are the occasions when lakhs of devotees visit shrines of Hindu gods and goddesses. Unfortunately, often the administrations don't take necessary measures to have a safety net in place to avoid any untoward incident.

Every time a tragedy strikes us, not only blame game erupts (most often political in nature), but our preparedness to face the calamity is also tested. Do we need to wait for the god's command to make places of worships safer for devotees before another catastrophe visits us?

OneIndia News
Kerala temple fire: 5 arrested for culpable homicide

India

oi-Vicky

Kollam, Apr 11:The Kerala police have arrested five persons in connection with the temple fire that took place on Sunday, April 10 in which over 100 persons died.

The five persons are said to have carried out the fireworks display at the Puttingal temple despite a specific order not to do so.

Kerala temple officials go missing after tragedy

The police say that this case relates to culpable homicide. Further the police men on duty will also be booked for watching the display for nearly 3 hours despite knowing that the norms were being flouted.

Meanwhile a search operation has also been launched to find some of the temple authorities who have gone missing after the incident.

Puttingal temple fire in Kollam: Here are the Emergency Numbers

The Kerala police say that there would be many more arrests during the course of their investigation. Several persons have flouted the norms.

The police say that the ban on the fireworks was imposed following a complaint by one Pankajakshi. However some have claimed that the ban had been lifted in the night which is why the fireworks display took place.

OneIndia News
Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav

Mumbai: Gathering of 5 or more, loud speakers, illegal processions banned for a fortnight from Nov 1

Amitabh Bachchan reveals he had to get stitches after he cut a vein on his leg

Kerala Temple fire: Prince William expresses grief

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Apr 11: Duke of Cambridge Prince William on Sunday expressed grief over the fire mishap at a temple in Kerala's Kollam district, in which over a hundred people were killed.

"Before I begin, Catherine (Kate) and I would like to offer our condolences to all those affected by the terrible fire at the temple in Kollam. I know all of you in this room will join us in the sentiments," William said at the Bollywood gala night at the iconic Taj Palace Hotel here.

Puttingal temple fire in Kollam: Here are the Emergency Numbers

William, along with his wife Kate Middleton attended a glittering reception alongside some of the biggest names in business and Bollywood.

In one of the worst tragedies to hit Kerala, at least 106 people were killed and 383 injured in a devastating fire that engulfed the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi Temple complex near here during an unauthorised display of fireworks early on Sunday.

PTI
Mehbooba asks bureaucracy to deliver projects on time

India

oi-PTI

Jammu, Apr 12: Asserting that real efficiency lies in delivering projects on time, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today asked the bureaucracy not to show laxity as they are custodians of development and the people have huge expectations.

She made the comments at a meeting called to assess the progress achieved on the commitments made by her father and late Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on several development projects.

"The real efficiency lies in delivering public infrastructure within the stipulated timelines. The officers are custodians of development and therein lie the huge expectations of the people on the development front," she said and exuded confidence that the officers will put their best foot forward.

"If fund crunch was the problem in the past, nowadays it is the struggle over efficiently executing development projects and achieving desired results that hold us back," she stated.

The Chief Minister took a detailed review on the forward movement achieved on cross-LoC Trade and Travel at two crossing points of Salamabad in Baramulla and Chakan da Bagh in Poonch, which she said were described by late Mufti as the 'show-window' for travellers from across the LoC.

Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Shailendra Kumar, said a fresh list of additional items to be included in the already approved list of 21 items has been sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs which will be taken up for approval in the next meeting of the Joint Working Group between India and Pakistan.

Naidu congratulates Mehbooba Mufti on becoming J&K CM

On the smooth navigation from present barter system of trade to banking system for cross-LoC trade, Kumar said RBI has agreed to discuss the issue with Pakistan in the meeting of the joint working group.

He said for smooth movement of trucks in and out of the terminals at Chakan da Bagh and Salamabad, tenders have been floated for procurement of full body scanners and the same shall be installed over the next 18 months.

On being asked about the new features in the recently-announced State Industrial Policy, the Chief Minister was apprised that issues related to change of constitution, maintenance of industrial estates, e-trade in famed Handicraft products, self-attestation and delegation of financial powers to subordinate officers have been taken care of in a pragmatic way.

In the Tourism sector, Mehbooba got first-hand appraisal on developing Mantalai in Udhampur district as an International Yoga Centre and bringing several areas like

Abdullian and Chamlyal within the ambit of border tourism, on pattern of Suchetgarh. She also stressed upon outsourcing high-end assets like Pahalgam Club, which will generate revenue that can be ploughed back in developing the highly-remunerative travel industry in the state.

In order to position Gulmarg as valley's premier travel destination, the Tourism Secretary said the heritage masterpiece Maharaja Palace, helipad, waiting terminal in Gandola premises and a new restaurant are ready for inauguration.

A revised plan of Rs 198.65 crore for up-gradation of roads leading to tourist destinations has also been formulated, the meeting was told.

PTI
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Narendra Modi, Maldivian President hold talks over lunch

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, April 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom over a working lunch here on Monday.

"Doing more with Maldives. PM @narendramodi hosts a working lunch for President Gayoom at Hyderabad House," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj meets Maldivian president

Doing More with Maldives. PM @narendramodi hosts a working lunch for President Gayoom at Hyderabad House pic.twitter.com/nWXnD6qHhj  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) April 11, 2016

Earlier on Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on President Yameen in the latter's first engagement of the day.

Yameen is also scheduled to call on President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening before departing from India.

Advancing the goal of Neighbourhood First. PM welcomes President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom at Hyderabad House pic.twitter.com/dOJlIryv2E  Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) April 11, 2016

Yameen had earlier come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended the Modi government's swearing-in in May 2014.

Though India and Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year and the two countries historically enjoy a close relationship, Yameen's visit assumes significance because of New Delhi's discomfiture over China's increasing investments and influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Sushma Swaraj visited Maldives in November 2014 and again in October 2015 for the India-Maldives joint commission meeting, which was held after 15 years.

This year, ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement.

India has sought to deepen its relations with the Yameen dispensation following the unease in ties that had crept in after New Delhi was seen backing former president Mohamed Nasheed.

India had voiced concern over his prolonged incarceration, and Prime Minister Modi had also cancelled a visit to Male earlier.

IANS
International news brief: Pak's ex-PM Imran Khan's helicopter makes emergency landing & more

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International news brief: Confident of Pak's commitment, ability to secure its nuclear assets, says US & more

News Flash: Tamil Nadu: Two die in stampede at Jayalalithaa rally

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, April 11: Get the latest national and international updates here:

2.00 am: One more weather agency forecasts for good rains.

1.30 am: At least two dead in stampede at a rally addressed by chief minister Jayalalithaa.

1.00 am: Exams held in NIT, Srinagr, many missed.

12.30 am: 19 year-old died while performing stunt for TV inHyderabad.

12.00 am: Left front alleges booth capturing in West Bengal.

11.25 pm: Thrissur temple gives go ahead for another fireworks fest after Kollam temple fire.

11.00 pm: No plan to storm Aleppo in northern Syria: Russia

10.30 pm: Women activists termShankaracharya's remark 'outrageous and appalling'

9.50 pm: Our decision on women's entry to Sabarimala will be based only on Constitution not custom: SC

9.40 pm: 12 NLFT militants, 19 family members surrender before Triura police.

9.30 pm: PDMDK to support DMK in Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

9.20 pm: Fire engulfs six vehicles during LPG refilling in a car parking in Moradabad.

9.00 pm: Indian prisoner Karpal Singh, serving life term in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore, dief of crdiac attack today.

8.45 pm: A team of 4 burn specialists departs frm INS Garuda (Kochi) for Trivandrum

8.30 pm: BJP will form government in Assam, says chief ministrial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal.

8.15 pm: Visiting Duke & Duchess of Cambridge cut Queen's birthday cake with a sword at British High Commission in New Delhi.

8.00 pm: Himanta Biswa Sarma of BJP did not address a rally within 48 hrs of polls. Allegation found to be incorrect: ECI

7.45 pm: FIR lodged against Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi after direction from ECI.

7.36 pm: Heavy rainfall and hailstorm hit Assam capital Guwahati.

7.31 pm: Holding press conference within 48 hrs of closure of polls is violation which may result into action being taken, says EC.

7.25 pm: In Assam also, by and large poll was peaceful except one incident in Barpeta, says Election Commission.

7.15 pm: In none of the polling stations in West Bengal, any type of violence or clash has taken place, says Election Commission.

7.12 pm: Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton at the British High Commission reception in Delhi.

7.00 pm: They attack me because they know I will never surrender before the ideology of RSS and Manu, says Rahul Gandhi.

6.53 pm: Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at a Dr B R Ambedkar Jayanti function in Nagpur.

6.39 pm: At least 12 killed, 38 injured in a suicide blast in Jalalabad in Nangarhar, says Afghanistan media.

6.21 pm: A pipeline is being laid down to supply water from Railway's Miraj filtration plant to Miraj goods shade, says Anil Saxena, Indian Railways.

6.00 pm: We've prepared a goods train with 50 wagons to supply water in Maharashtra, says Anil Saxena,National Spox,Indian Railways.

5.40 pm: 11 dead after high voltage cable hit by Police firing falls on them, says Assam DGP in Assam.

5.32 pm: We are trying to decongest hospitals and shift few patients to other hospitals, says JP Nadda,Union Health Minister on Kollam tragedy.

5.30 pm: We have registered FIR, Crime Branch has taken over the investigation, says Ananthakrishnan, ADGP on Kollam fire tragedy.

5.10 pm: India and Maldives signed agreement for exchange of info on taxes and for avoidance of double taxation of income derived from International air transport.

5.00 pm: Case being investigated on merit, hv deployed teams, says MK Meena (Jt CP,Delhi) on Rajinder Nagar Metro station incident.

4.59 pm: Devaswom bench to hear the complain tomorrow after Kerala HC's registrar referred the complain to the bench Kollam Temple Fire

4:53 pm: At least 5 killed in bomb blast at a restaurant in Somalia

4:30 pm: Accused in Delhi's Mercedes hit-and-run case sent to police custody for 2 days.

3:56 pm: Delhi: Duke & Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William & Kate Middleton pay tribute at Amar Jawan Jyoti.

3:40 pm: Curfew imposed in Mayang, Imphal (Manipur) after clash between two groups over alleged lynching of 3 youths.

3:12 pm: Three cars with explosives found near Puttingal temple. Investigations on.

2:57 pm: Hearing on women entry in Sabarimala temple: SC Judge Justice Dipak Misra questions, "Can any tradition override constitutional provisions?".

2:55 pm: Before this accident, a part of my house was damaged due to fireworks: Pankajakshi, Kollam resident.

2:50 pm: Mumbai: Fire broke out at a dumping ground in Hari Om Nagar (East Mulund), flames and smoke still billowing.

2:47 pm: Voting underway for the second part of the first phase of assembly elections in West Bengal: 59.78%% voter turnout recorded till 1 PM.

2:45 pm: India is the most important friend of Maldives, ties between the two nations are based in civilizational roots: says President Abdullah Yameen.

2:42 pm: India and Maldives sign six agreements. PM Modi says close relations between two countries a boon for both.

2:30 pm: The progress of Maldives, its economic growth and its security is our aim as well-PM Modi

2:22 pm: Maldives is one of India's oldest friends and we have historically and culturally shared values: PM Modi

2:14 pm: Minor fire breaks out in dumping grounds in Mumbai's Mulund suburb.

1:50 pm: If Shani casts his vision on women, incidents of rape will increase: Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati.

1:36 pm: Assam polls: 55.28 per cent votes cast till 1:35 pm.

1.20 pm: Fire broke out at a dumping ground in Hari Om Nagar(East Mulund,Mumbai), fire tenders working to douse flames.

1.17 pm: 10 wagons with 50000 litres of drinking water each,leave for drought hit Latur from Miraj.

1.15 pm: Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh casts his vote in Dispur for final phase of Assam Assembly polls.

1.10 pm: One dead and three injured after locals clash with CRPF personnel near polling booth no.94 in Barpeta, Assam.

1.05 pm: Former MP Jagmeet Singh Brar expelled from the primary membership of Congress.

1.00 pm: Paravoor Police register case against 25 people including 15 temple committee members, 2 fire work contractors and 8 others.

12.56 pm: A team led by Sudarshan Kamal (Chief Controller Explosives) inspects the site of Kollam temple fire tragedy.

12.50 pm: Fire broke out at a dumping ground in Hari Om Nagar(East Mulund,Mumbai) this morning, situation not under control.

12.45 pm: In an unfortunate event,3 Indian students in Uzhgorod Medical College(Ukraine) were stabbed by 3 Ukraine nationals on 10 April, says MEA.

12.27 pm: Sai Baba is revered in Maharashtra especially Shirdi,thats why it(drought) is happening, says Shankaracharya Swaroopanand.

12.20 pm: 3-member committee ordered by Calcutta HC to comprise of officers deputed by DGP, WB police, DIG CBI (Kolkata) and HC each. The committee will go to Delhi and collect the footage of sting and the device from Mathew Samuel (Narada News Chief).

12.20 pm: Man stabbed and looted of Rs 12 lakh at Rajender Nagar Metro Station in Delhi today at 5.30 am. Police examining CCTV footage.

12.10 pm: First batch of ten Railway wagons with five lakh litre water leave from Maharashtra's Sangli for Latur.

12.00 pm: Congress leader Manas Bhuniya casts his vote in West Midnapore for 2nd part of 1st phase of West Bengal Assembly polls.

11.55 am: SC refuses to grant any immediate relief to taxi owners who challenged NGT order restricting entry of no. of vehicles going to Rohtang Pass.

11.45 am: CJI asked petitioner to approach the bench which is hearing Maharashtra Govt's appeal against Salman's acquittal in Hit and Run case.

11.30 am: We've taken many steps through technology like installing hi-tech CCTV, sensors so that infiltration can be put to an end completely, says Rijiju.

11.17 am: The Kerala police have registered cases against 30 persons in connection with the Puttingal temple fire in which 110 people were killed.

11.15 am: EAM Sushma Swaraj meets Madives President Abdulla Yameen in Delhi.

10.35 am: PIL filed in Karnataka HC seeking shifting of IPL matches out of Bengaluru in wake of drought situation.

10.15 am: One killed and seven wounded in a blast on Afghan education ministry employees bus in Kabul, says Afghan Media.

10.00 am: Voting underway for the second and final phase in Assam. 15.90 % voter turnout recorded till 9 AM.

9.50 am: Voting underway for 2nd & final phase in 61 constituencies of Assam. Former CM PK Mahanta casts his vote in Nagaon.

9.35 am: Official Death toll in Kollam temple tragedy stands at 107 according to Kerala Home Ministry sources.

9.20 am: CPI(M) polling agent hospitalised after being allegedly attacked by TMC workers at a polling booth in Chandrakona (WB).

9.05 am: People help a differently abled person cast his vote at a polling booth in West Bengal's Asansol.

8:55 am: Two bags carrying bombs found in Jamuria (Asansol,Bardhaman district in West Bengal). Police team present at the spot.

8:50 am: Crude bomb hurled in West Bengal's Bankura district by unidentified men this morning. No casualties reported.

8:45 am: Five people have been detained in connection with the 'Fireworks show', says Kerala DGP to ANI.

8:30 am: Morning Visuals from Puttingal Temple fire accident site in Kollam.

Kerala: Morning Visuals from Puttingal Temple fire accident site in #Kollam pic.twitter.com/FLCUHYqIr8  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

8:15 am: Clash between CPI(M) and TMC workers in Jamuria, Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Four injured and one critically injured.

Voting for 2nd part of the first phase underway in West Bengal:People cast their vote in West Midnapore(West Bengal) pic.twitter.com/6INuO8WGQ2  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

Assam: People in large numbers queue up outside a polling booth in Guwahati, voting underway for the final phase. pic.twitter.com/mIIDugHAS0  ANI (@ANI_news) April 11, 2016

8:00 am: Voting for 2nd part of the first phase underway in West Bengal:People cast their vote in West Midnapore(West Bengal)

OneIndia News
From plotting a hijack to creating the JeM, why Pakistan guards Masood Azhar so much

In a case of bad karma Taliban outs Pakistan on what India had always said on Azhar

NIA approaches Interpol for Red Corner notice against JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Apr 11: After securing an arrest warrant from a special court, NIA has approached the Interpol for issuing a Red Corner Notice against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar and three others for their alleged role in the conspiracy to attack the strategic Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

Official sources said a dossier along with the non-bailable warrant issued by a special NIA court in Mohali in Punjab was sent to the CBI, which is the nodal agency representing the Interpol in the country.

NIA had sought warrant against 47-year-old Azhar, his brother Abdul Rauf, Kashif Jan and Shahid Latif, two handlers of JeM terrorists who had infiltrated into India through Bamiyal sector of Punjab in the wee hours of December 30 to launch the terror assault.

The JeM terrorists had initially hijacked a taxi and killed its driver Ikagar Singh before commandeering another vehicle which carried a Punjab police officer Salwinder Singh, his friend Rajesh Verma and cook Madan Gopal on the intervening night of December 31 and January one.

The terrorists, four of whom have been identified as Nasir Hussain (Punjab province), Abu Bakar, (Gujranwala), Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum (both from Sindh), entered into the IAF base and carried out a suicide attack in the wee hours of January 2.

The NIA court had issued an 'open-ended non-bailable warrant' against Azhar and three others for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy with JeM terrorists and carrying out a terror strike on the IAF base which left seven security personnel dead.

Bodies of four slain terrorists were also recovered from the sight of encounter which lasted nearly 80 hours.

The NIA has forwarded the warrant to Interpol along with the gist of evidence that it has found against the four which included telephonic conversation between the terrorists and their handlers like Jaan and Latif.

The NIA has also shared the Internet Protocol address of the website which uploaded a video of Abdul Rauf, brother of Masood Azhar. In the video, he was seen claiming responsibility for the attack and complimenting his boys for it.

The video has since been removed and the website has also gone off the cyber world. India had built a strong case for seeking UN sanctions against Azhar but the move was vetoed by China.

An Interpol Red Corner notice is already pending against Azhar for his alleged involvement in the conspiracy behind attacks on Parliament and Jammu and Kashmir state assembly.

Similarly an Interpol Red Corner Notice is pending against Abdul Rauf in connection with the IC-814 hijacking case of 1999.

PTI
NIA seeks remand of three Bharuch double murder accused

India

oi-PTI

Ahmedabad, Apr 11: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the 2015 murder of two BJP leaders in Bharuch, today moved a Special Court here seeking the remand of three accused in the case lodged in Sabarmati Jail.

In its application, the central agency sought three-day custody of the accused Nasir Khan Pathan, Abdul Salim Ghanchi and Shoaib Zoaid who are among 12 persons arrested in the case.

The Special Court, presided by Principal Judge P B Desai, fixed April 13 for hearing the plea. The NIA lawyer told the Court that the anti-terror agency needs the custody of the trio, who are under judicial remand, for questioning and to ferret out more details about the case.

The agency is probing the murder of two BJP leaders Shirish Bangali and Pragnesh Mistry. Bangali was a former President of Bharuch district BJP unit while Mistry was General Secretary of local branch of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the saffron outfit.

NIA officer's murder: Terror busters who faced bullets, suspension

Both were shot dead by assailants in Bharuch, about 190km from here, on November 2 last year. The NIA was handed over the case after Gujarat Police probe showed that the duo were murdered to avenge riots in Mumbai and Gujarat in 1993 and 2002 respectively.

PTI
No concession for OBC candidates in JNU

India

oi-Pallavi

New Delhi, April 11: In a breakthrough decision, JNU will not give any relaxation to OBC candidates in entrance examination for Mphil and PhD courses from the upcoming academic session. However, they will be entitled to a concession of 5 marks in the eligibility criteria. A decision in this regard was taken at a standing committee meeting of the university last wekk, which was attended by Deans of various schools.

Presently, the university treats both the OBC and general categories equally for admission into various courses. They need to have secured a minimum of 55% marks in the qualifying examination. The SC/ST candidates, however, are given a relaxation as they are required to pass the qualifying examinations with just 34% marks.

The OBC were, however, offered a 10% relaxation in the entrance examination or interview stage. So, when th egeneral category students were required to get 40 marks, they could be selected with 36 marks.

The OBC students have been demanding a concession at both the stages. Last year, a student had also approached the court chellenging the denial of admission in JNU as he had stood second in the entrance exam but did not meet the eligibility criteria.

An internal source said,"It will be unfair to give the concession at both the stages so it has been decided that the OBC candidates will be given a relaxation in eligibility but they will have to compete with the general category students in the entrance exam or the interview."

It further added,"If less number of OBC candidates meet the eligibility criteria then the seats that remain vacant under the category will be given to general category students."

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, April 11, 2016, 10:08 [IST]
PM Modi, BJP govt God's gift to India: Radha Mohan Singh

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, April 11: Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Monday, April 11 hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government as "God's gift to India" even as he claimed that in the 10 years of the Congress-led UPA rule, welfare of farmers had remained restricted to "mere slogans".

"After Independence, no government has come to power that worries so much about the future of the country. In a way, to the people of the country, the Modi government and the Prime Minister are a God's gift," Singh said at a farmers conclave organised by BJP's Kisan cell.

Last month, another Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had also called the Prime Minister God's gift to India". In a veiled attack on the Congress leadership, Singh said, "There are some leaders who talk about the welfare of farmers. Some write it down and they read out aloud though they can't tell 'arhar' shrub from another plant."

He asked why the parties had not taken measures like making crop insurance norms farmer friendly, which the Modi regime has done now.

In his around 70 minute-long speech, Singh dwelt on various initiatives being undertaken by the Modi government ranging from crop insurance scheme to soil health cards, use of mobile apps and electronic trading platforms for farmers among others.

He said the amount disbursed as relief to framers under the Modi govermenthas also increased. Emphasising on the importance of disseminating correct information to farmers, he said, "There are some people, a party in this country, which does nothing, still talks big. For us, to do and then not speak would not be good."

PTI
PM is a victim of secular syndicate: Naqvi

India

oi-PTI

Jaipur, Apr 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the victim of "secular syndicate" and "intolerance" for the last 20 year but that will not affect the pace of development which he is carrying out in the country, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said today.

"Modi has been the victim of 'Siyasi Secular Syndicate' and intolerance for the last two decades. As the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he was the face of development and now as the Prime Minister he is working for the empowerment of the poor and youth," the Minister of State for Minority Affairs said here. "After coming to power, the PM has eliminated power brokers from within the corridors of power.

He is working on the agenda of development which 'Loot ke Langoor' (people who looted the country through scams) are not being able to digest," Naqvi said.

He also said that efforts are being made to create hindrance in the way of development through a campaign spreading disinformation but the government is committed to delivering good governance and accelerating growth. The agenda of development will remain unaffected, he said.

PTI
Repeat LS feat in 2017 UP polls: New state BJP chief to workers

India

oi-PTI

Lucknow, Apr 11: Newly elected Uttar Pradesh BJP President Keshav Prasad Maurya today said his party would contest the 2017 state Assembly polls only on the issue of development and appealed to workers to ensure its victory in over 265 of the 403 seats.

"In 2017 state Assembly polls, we have to repeat the grand performance of the Lok Sabha election when BJP won 71 seats and its ally 2 out of the total of 80," he said here at the party headquarters, which wore a festive look with saffron flags and banners to welcome him.

Comparing BJP workers to the mythical figure "Hanuman", Maurya exhorted them to work towards sweeping more than 265 seats of the 403 member assembly.

The 49-year-old OBC leader also said that there was no criminal case against him.

"People say that I have criminal cases against me. I don't have any criminal case and I will not tolerate if any party worker is harassed," he said.

Apparently targeting SP and BSP, Maurya said people know which parties indulge in caste politics and nepotism.

"People say SP has Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP has Mayawati. BJP is a democratic party and its one member is equal to 10 Mulayams and 10 Mayawatis," he said, adding that it was "one man show" in both parties.

"In BSP can anyone speak against Mayawati and remain in the party or in SP can any one other than a family member of Mulayam become the CM," he said.

PTI
Seven lakes supplying water to Mumbai can last nine months

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'Water train' leaves Miraj for drought-hit Latur

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, April 11: A 'water train' with 10 wagons carrying water for parched Latur in Marathwada region, which is battling the worst drought ever, today left from Miraj in western Maharashtra. The train is expected to reach Latur later on Monday, April 11.

The railway wagons meant for supplying water to Latur had reached Miraj from Kota in Rajasthan yesterday. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said yesterday that Maharashtra government and Railway Ministry were working hard to bring relief to people in drought affected region.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had said, "50 Tank Wagons steam cleaned reached Miraj for Latur." On April 8, one of two goods trains carrying 50 wagons of water for drought-affected areas of Latur departed from Kota workshop for Miraj in Pune division.

The second goods train consisting of 50 wagons is expected to be ready for water loading around April 15, a Railway official earlier said.

"As per instructions from the Ministry of Railways, Kota workshop received two goods trains consisting of 50 tank wagons (BTPN) each for deployment in drought-affected areas of Latur during the summer season and the trips of the trains will be arranged as per the requirement," he said.

The carrying capacity of these wagons is 54,000 litres of waters per wagon.

PTI
Women's entry in Shani Shingnapur temple will invite rape: Swami Swaroopananda

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, April 11: Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati has stoked fresh controversy. He has said that if women will be allowed to enter Shani Shingnapur temple, it will lead to crimes such as rapes against them.

The statement has been given, days after the Shani temple trust in Maharashtra lifted ban and allowed women to enter the inner sanctum of the temple.

Swami was quoted as saying, "If they worship Saturn (Shani), the incidents of rape will increase. They should have prayed that the people who indulge in alcoholism must not violate women. What will shani do for them?"

Shankaracharya also held Sai Baba responsible for the present drought-like situation in Maharashtra.

"Sai is not worthy of worshipping. People are putting the idols of Hanuman and Ganesh on the legs of Sai and this is happening extensively in Maharashtra. Wherever these kinds of things take place, such calamities take place," Swaroopanand Saraswati was quoted by ANI.

On April 8, the temple trust had lifted the ban following Bhoomata Brigade's agitation against gender bias and the Bombay High Court order upholding the equal rights to worship.

The chief trustee of the temple Anita Shete said the trustees had taken the decision to uphold the high court directive and accordingly all devotees -- men and women -- would now have free access to the inner sanctum.

Soon after the temple trust announced the decision, some women devotees entered the sacred area and offered worship.

Later, Bhoomata Brigade leader Trupti Desai, who had led a sustained campaign over the issue, reached the temple located in western Maharashtra and offered prayers.

OneIndia News

(With inputs from PTI)

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, April 11, 2016, 16:33 [IST]
Russian journalist shot and killed in Kiev; not us, says Russia

Less than 24 hours after he died, Russian journo Arkady Babchenko appears at presser alive

2 Indian students murdered in Ukraine, one critically injured

International

oi-Sandra

Kiev, Apr 11: Two Indian students were murdered and one critically injured in Uzhhorod, Ukraine when the trio were attacked.

Reports sugget that the three students were attacked and two of them were allegedly murdered.

The incident came to light after a local named Shchedrin informed the police about the incident. Shchedrin is said to have given his apartment on rent to the three students.

All three students are believed to be in their third year of college. Police officials found the third student injured and rushed him to the hospital.

Meanwhile, police officials apprehended two men and a woman, who were found travelling without documents near the Solvak borders.

Police officials have also recovered the passports of the students, and a knife from the crime scene.

Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said the three students were stabbed. "Pranav Shaindilya and Ankur Singh died while Indrajeet Chauhan is recuperating, based on his statement Ukraine police apprehended accused," MEA said.

Indian embassy there taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with Ukraine, says MEA.

OneIndia News
Heatwave shuts more than 250 Malaysian schools: Reports

International

oi-PTI

Kuala Lumpur, Apr 11: More than 250 Malaysian schools were closed today due to a heatwave brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon which is severely affecting food production and causing chronic water shortages in many countries.

Authorities ordered schools in the states of Perlis and Pahang to shut after temperatures soared above 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over a 72-hour period, according to local reports.

The education ministry said the decision was made to protect the health of some 100,000 students, the official news agency Bernama reported. The sweltering heat in Malaysia has reportedly slowed vegetable production, leading to price hikes. Paddy fields and rubber plantations have been also been affected by the severe temperature rise.

January and February 2016 smashed global temperature records, the World Meteorological Organisation said in March, attributing the highs to the "unprecedented" advance of climate change. Many parts of Asia have been affected by the strong El Nino dry spell which has also hit agriculture in Thailand and the Philippines.

El Nino is triggered by a warming in sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. It can cause unusually heavy rains in some parts of the world and drought in others. But Malaysia's Meteorological Department said the current heatwave was expected to ease soon.

"The worst is over because the inter-monsoon season started last week and more rain is expected," director-general Che Gayah Ismail told AFP.

(AFP)
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump push to rebound in Northeast

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Apr 11: Front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have pushed for big wins on friendlier terrain in the Northeast as they tried to build challenge-proof delegate majorities ahead of their nominating conventions against rivals who won't go away.

Both Trump and Clinton on Sunday campaigned in New York ahead of its April 19 primary which offers a large trove of delegates who will select the parties' nominees at their national conventions in July.

Bernie Sanders defeats Hillary Clinton in Wyoming Democratic caucus

Trump is seeking to rebound in his home state after a decisive loss to his main rival, the ultraconservative Texas Sen Ted Cruz, last Tuesday in Wisconsin.

The billionaire real estate developer remains well short of the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the Republican nomination. His campaign is now focusing on developing a delegate-centred strategy akin to the one that Cruz has pursued for months.

"A more traditional approach is needed and Donald Trump recognises that," Paul Manafort, Trump's new delegate chief, said yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Even so, Trump later in the day complained that the system is "corrupt" and "crooked" and said it's unfair that the person who wins the most votes may not be the nominee. "What they're trying to do is subvert the movement with crooked shenanigans," Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in a packed airport hangar in Rochester, New York.

Nude Donald Trump painting on show in London

"We're supposed to be a democracy," he added. If denied the Republican nomination, he went on to warn, "You're going to have a big problem, folks, because there are people who don't like what's going on."

Clinton, who lost Wyoming on Saturday night to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, is trying to maintain her commanding lead among delegates no matter how many states Sanders wins or how much "momentum" he claims.

Key to her drive is a victory in New York, which she represented in the US Senate. Sanders, who was born in Brooklyn, can claim New York as his home state.

After stops in New York City churches, Clinton headed to Baltimore for her first campaign rally in Maryland, where she picked up the endorsement of popular local congressman Elijah Cummings. Maryland, where Clinton is favoured, holds its primary on April 26 along with Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut.

Clinton's campaign is looking for big wins across the Northeast, in an effort to gain what they've termed an "all but insurmountable" lead in the delegate race.

PTI
Kenya to develop disease free zones to boost livestock

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Nairobi, April 11: Kenya is fast tracking the development of disease free zones in order to boost livestock exports, an official said on Sunday.

Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Principal Secretary Dr Andrew Tuimur told Xinhua in Nairobi that two disease free zones will be operational by the end of the year.

"They will enable the country to quarantine animals and test before being exported," Tuimur said. Currently Kenya exports livestock products to the Middle East, Mauritius and Seychelles.

The EU banned Kenyan beef products due to the high prevalence of livestock diseases such as Food and Mouth Disease and the Contagious Bovine Plueropnemonia.

"We hope to regain the EU market in 2017 after implementing measures to curb livestock diseases," Tuimur said.

He said that Kenya is also working closing with its neighboring countries such as Uganda, Tanzania in order to control the animal diseases.

"Most of the livestock diseases are trans boundary in nature, so we need regional collaboration due to the movement of livestock across the countries," he said.

"We are also working with international donors so as to reduce the incidences of the diseases," he added.

IANS
Former US state secy John Kerry trying to save Iran deal by himself: Report

Trump thumps Kerry once again over Iran Deal activism, this time on Twitter

John Kerry visits Hiroshima memorial 7 decades after A-bomb

International

oi-PTI

Hiroshima (Japan), Apr 11: US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the revered memorial to Hiroshima's atomic bombing today, delivering a message of peace and hope for a nuclear-free world seven decades after the US used the weapon for the first time in history and killed 140,000 Japanese.

Kerry became the most senior American official to travel to city, touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialised nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining park's stone-arched monument, the exposed steel beams of Hiroshima's iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.

The otherwise somber occasion was lifted by the presence of about 800 Japanese waving flags of the G7 nations, including that of the US.

Kerry didn't speak publicly at the ceremony, though could be seen with his arm around Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native, and whispering in his ear.

The ministers departed with origami cranes in their respective national colours around their neck, Kerry draped in red, white and blue.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial," Kerry wrote in the museum's guest book.

"It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself."

"War must be the last resort never the first choice," he added. "This memorial compels us all to redouble our efforts to change the world, to find peace and build the future so yearned for by citizens everywhere."

Kerry's appearance, just footsteps away from Ground Zero, completed an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

No serving US president has visited the site, and it took 65 years for a US ambassador to attend Hiroshima's annual memorial service.

Many Americans believe the dropping of atomic bombs here on August 6, 1945, and on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later were justified and hastened the end of the war.

Nevertheless, Japanese survivors' groups have campaigned for decades to bring leaders from the US and other nuclear powers to see Hiroshima's scars as part of a grassroots movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

As Kerry expressed interest, neither Japanese government officials nor survivor groups pressed for the US to say sorry.

And a senior American official travelling with Kerry said no apology would occur. Shortly before the ceremony, Kerry called it "a moment that I hope will underscore to the world the importance of peace and the importance of strong allies working together to make the world safer and, ultimately, we hope to be able to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction."

AP
Malaysian ex-PM faces four police probes

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kuala Lumpur, April 11: Malaysian former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is under four separate police investigations for offenses including his recent call for foreign intervention in Malaysia's domestic affairs.

Some of the investigations into the alleged offenses, including sedition, have concluded, said Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar.

Khalid confirmed one of the offenses Mahathir was being investigated over was sedition, but did not elaborate on the rest of the charges, EFE news reported on Monday.

The former prime minister told The Weekend Australian newspaper in an interview published on Saturday that without foreign interference and external pressure, there was little hope that current Prime Minister Najib Razak, under fire for the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, would step down.

In response, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the former premier should not allow foreigners to get involved in the country's internal affairs, adding he was going politically "berserk", reported The Star Online on Sunday.

The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Veterans Club has also called for action against the former prime minister for his comments, saying he had cast aside his principles, Bernama news agency reported on Sunday.

"Clearly he has double standards. He did not want foreign interference during his time, but he himself is working to get the foreign powers to bring Najib down," said UMNO Veterans Club Secretary Datuk Mustapha Yaakub about the former UMNO president.

Mahathir is leading a "Save Malaysia" movement calling for the embattled head of state to step down, and has recently filed suit against Najib alleging corruption and "misfeasance and breach of fiduciaries" in public office, over the 1MDB scandal that broke out in June last year.

Najib, who denied accusations in foreign media that he had received $681 million from the state investment fund, claiming the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family, was absolved of all charges by the public prosecutor in January.

IANS
Conversions, abuse, sexual crimes: Will Pope apologise for these when he visits India too?

Pope Francis appeals for release of Indian priest in Yemen

International

oi-Sandra

Vatican City, Apr 11: Pope Francis has called for the release of the Indian priest Fr Tom Uzhunnallil, who is feared to have been captured by ISIS militants in Yemen.

Pope Francis appealed to abductors in confict zones to free their hostages as he conducted prayers in the Vatican.

Abducted Indian priest safe in Yemen, says Sushma Swaraj

"I particular I wish to remember Salesian priest Fr Tom Uzhunnallil, who was abducted in Aden on March 4 this year," Pope Francis said at St Peter's Square on Sunday.

This comes after it was reported that Uzhunnallil was crucified by alleged ISIS militants on Good Friday. However, neither did Yemeni officials nor did Indian officials confirm this news.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj earlier this month informed The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) that Father Tom Uzhunnallil was safe and assured that all efforts were being made to secure his release.

Militants attacked the Missionaries of Charity's home for the aged in Aden on March 4 where an Indian nurse was killed.

16 people were killed in the attack when terrorists stormed the old age home and sprayed bullets at the residents.

The militants, believed to be affiliated to ISIS abducted Uzhunnallil on that day and whereabouts of him are unknown since then.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, April 11, 2016, 15:11 [IST]
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A policewoman, simply identified as Inspector Justina, has been accused of assaulting a sergeants 26-year-old expectant wife, Mrs. Usuman, at the MOPOL 20 Barracks in Ikeja, Lagos.

Besides assaulting the expectant mother, the inspector serving at MOPOL 43, allegedly arrested, caused the woman to be arraigned and remanded at Kirikiri Prison for pouring hot rice on her.

This development was said to have angered junior police officers wives, who planned to protest the alleged abuse of power by the inspector today.

According to The Nation, trouble was said to have started on April 11 after the duo had a disagreement at their Block 6, Flat 3, Mopol 20 barracks home. Inspector Justina was said to have accused the expectant mother of gossiping about her with another neighbour.

She was said to have entered Mrs. Usumans kitchen, pulled her hair and it led to a fight between them. The woman poured a pot of hot rice on her buttocks.

Although Mrs. Usumans husband was said to have reported the case at the Provost Unit of the Police Command in Ikeja following threats from the inspector, it was gathered the sergeant and his wife were detained and compelled to send people to beg the inspector.

They sent relatives to appease the woman while they were still being detained. The mediators went with N50,000 for the inspectors treatment. While the couple were still in detention, the Woman Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) investigating the case took the expectant mother to an Ogba Magistrates Court, Lagos, where she was arraigned and taken to Kirikiri Prisons, a source said.

Mrs. Usumans detention did not go down well with her mates at the barracks, who wondered why she was charged pending the conclusion of investigation by the Provost Unit.

It was gathered that the sergeant and his wife are still being detained, while their four children are left in the care of neighbours.







Contacted yesterday, police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said he was unaware of the incident, but promised to find out.

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Opalesque Industry Update - From the corruption scandal that rocked Brazilian energy behemoth Petrobras and reached as far as some of the countrys most senior politicians, to the Chinese governments frequent intervention in its marketplace, there is no doubt that geopolitical risks can substantially impact how overseas investments ultimately fare. At the same time, as the worlds marketplaces and the businesses that operate within them have become increasingly international it is now all but impossible to find a well-balanced investment portfolio without some sort of overseas exposure. Given this reality, The New York Hedge Fund Roundtable recently surveyed its membership about the alternative investment industrys approach to investing overseas and evaluating the risks inherent in doing so. Assessing global political risks and opportunities was the topic of the Roundtables March meeting, where featured speakers William McCahill, a senior advisor with Veracity Worldwide, and Yael Eisenstat, a managing director with Veracity Worldwide, both weighed in on the topic. People need to look beyond the headlines, Eisenstat told attendees at the March event, noting that media coverage and public perception dont always give the most accurate picture of a countrys investment prospects. One specific example she pointed to is Nigeria, which has long been widely viewed as being an extremely corrupt country. Meanwhile, even with such very real challenges, she says Nigerias current president is making good on his promise to prioritize tackling corruption. Despite the prominence of the Petrobas scandal and Brazils ongoing struggle with its major recession, members of the Roundtable believe there are numerous attractive, long-term investment opportunities within multiple areas of the Brazilian investment landscape. The alternative investment community has long been aware that taking the time to dig beneath the surface of popular opinion can unearth investment opportunities with the potential for sizeable long-term gains, said Timothy P. Selby, President of the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable. And as the investment world becomes increasingly global such deep dive analysis will become more important than ever. New York Hedge Fund Roundtable members had the opportunity to weigh in on geopolitical risks and opportunities Roundtables most recent event, as well as through an online electronic poll. *Of the respondents to this survey, 27% were fund managers; 20% were allocators; 7% were risk management or trading; 36% were service providers; and 10% were other industry participants. Following are some of the key findings of that survey:  When asked where the greatest overseas investment opportunities lie for alternative investors at the moment, 56% of respondents think that Brazils struggles with a major recession have created a ton of attractive long-term opportunities in distressed debt, private equity and even real estate; 30% think that Kyle Bass and Warren Buffet have made a compelling case for shorting the Chinese yuan in anticipation of a banking crisis that is expected to be far more significant than what the U.S. experienced in 2008; 7% think expectations for a collapse of Japans banking system make shorting Japanese equities an attractive bet; and another 7% think that Puerto Ricos struggles to repay its debt, coupled with the inability of its municipalities and public companies to utilize Chapter 9 bankruptcy filings, makes the purchase of heavily distressed bonds in its secondary market a good bet.  73% of respondents said that they have a different risk tolerance when considering investments in companies within emerging markets, while 27% said their risk tolerance remains the same whether investing within the U.S. or abroad.  When asked where they believe the greatest potential geopolitical risks for investors are in 2016, 37% of respondents think it will be the Middle East, due to issues ranging from ISIS to ongoing religious conflict within the region; 30% think it will be cyberspace, because of the increasing sophistication of cyber crime and terrorism and the absence of a geographic limit to their potential reach; 23% think it will be China, because of the meddlesome nature of its government in its marketplace and uncertainty regarding its claims in the East and South China Seas; and 10% think it will be Russia, because of its increasing reliance on military force abroad coupled with its heavy reliance on oil revenue at a time when the commodity has lost significant value.  80% of respondents said that the possibility of reputational risk tied to a companys operation in a country rife with corruption, or where the government is known to be invasive, would be enough to deter them from investing in an otherwise promising company; while 20% believe that a strong company should ultimately be able to rebound from any reputational harm and that such an investment should ultimately pay off.  Asked whether they routinely consider political risks and the potential ways those could impact a companys future prospects when investing abroad, 70% of respondents said they consider such risks regardless of where a company is located; 17% said this is something they would only consider in countries where there are existing issues; and 13% said this is something they consider when investing in emerging markets, but not in developed countries such as Europe.  When asked if they would be willing to look past the longtime perception of widespread corruption in countries such as Nigeria if opportunities arose to invest in companies located there with tremendous growth prospects, 63% said they would not because the mindset of corruption in such places runs too deep for even the most promising businesses to overcome and would make it too hard to sell institutional investors on such investments; 37% said they would because, under the right circumstance, an existing bias towards a specific country can actually create a great opportunity for early adopters. Marchs bonus question: Given the ongoing controversy surrounding Donald Trumps presidential campaign, including the fact that high profile members of the Republican party such as Mitt Romney and John McCain have denounced his candidacy, Roundtable members were asked whether they believe Trump will ultimately win the Republican nomination. 57% of respondents believe that, despite opposition from high profile Republicans, the party will accept Trumps majority and nominate him as its candidate; while 45% think that, regardless of what kind of lead he may have, there is no way the Republican party will ever allow Trump to be its nominee and that he will ultimately be forced to run as an independent. The New York Hedge Fund Roundtable is a non-profit organization focused on promoting ethics and best practices within the alternative investment industry. The membership consists of investors, fund managers and other industry professionals who regularly meet to discuss current issues within the industry and connect with peers. Monthly events center around thought-provoking speakers and panels designed to keep members apprised of timely and important issues within the alternative investment industry. The Roundtables goal is to provide a forum for thought leadership, where industry professional have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills and to network with other individuals committed to advancing the industry with the highest ethical standards. Brazil presents opportunities in real estate, structured credit, infrastructure, and agriculture, said participants in the latest Opalesque 2016 LatAm Roundtable: Article source - Opalesque is not responsible for the content of external internet sites


Avaaz campaigns for Syria no-fly zone.

(Image by Defence Images) Details DMCA



"I worry sometimes that, when people say 'impose a no-fly zone,' there is this almost antiseptic view that this is an easily accomplished military task. It's extraordinarily difficult. Having overseen imposing a no-fly zone in Libya, a force that is vastly inferior in air forces and air defenses to that which exists in Syria, it's a pretty high-risk operation"It first entails -- we should make no bones about it. It first entails killing a lot of people and destroying the Syrian air defenses and those people who are manning those systems. And then it entails destroying the Syrian air force, preferably on the ground, in the air if necessary. This is a violent combat action that results in lots of casualties and increased risk to our own personnel." -- Now-retired four-star General Carter Ham, former commander, U.S. Africa Command, who oversaw U.S. military enforcement of the Libyan no-fly zone in 2011 [CBS News]

"It is quite frankly an act of war and it is not a trivial matter"I know it sounds stark, but what I always tell people when they talk to me about a no-fly zone is . . . it's basically to start a war with that country because you are going to have to go in and kinetically take out their air defense capability." -- Four-star General Philip Breedlove, NATO's current supreme allied commander, U.S. European Command [Stars and Stripes]

The New York Times reported that in 2012 General Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the White House that imposing a no-fly zone in Syria -- in the Times paraphrasing -- "would require as many as 70,000 American servicemen to dismantle Syria's sophisticated antiaircraft system and then impose a 24-hour watch over the country." [New York Times] (Dismantle being a Times polite euphemism for bombing the bejeezus out of Syria's antiaircraft defenses.)

Readers of the national edition of the June 18, 2015 New York Times were greeted with a dramatic full-page ad featuring a photo of an apparently injured baby fitted with a breathing device and being tended to by a partially visible adult beneath a big, bold-type headline: "PRESIDENT OBAMA, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" (A partial picture of the ad can be found here.)

In smaller type, under the picture of the baby and the adult, was the message: "Trapped and under chemical attack, the Syrian people are desperate for help."

And below that in slightly smaller type was the risky military operation that the ad's sponsors wanted the reluctant President to undertake. To wit: "A majority of Americans support a No-Fly Zone in Syria to save lives and 1,093,775 people around the world [in an on-line petition] are calling for action now."

The on-line petition cited in the ad also has an urgent headline calling for a "Safe zone for Syrians, now!" The body of the petition demands the establishment of an "air-exclusion zone in Northern Syria, including Aleppo, to stop the bombardment of Syria's civilians and ensure that humanitarian aid reaches those most in need." The petition -- slightly different than the New York Times ad -- was addressed not only to Obama, but also to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron "and other world leaders."

Now it's not surprising to see such an expensive ad in the current political climate in which Syrian war fever has seized much of the U.S. political establishment. A climate in which Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (but not Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump), and every neoconservative and "humanitarian interventionist" and chicken-hawk in creation have, at the very least, called for a no-fly zone in northern Syria as part of a greater U.S. military involvement to remove President Bashar al-Assad.

What stood out about this ad, then, isn't so much the neocon-like call to action -- a move toward a wider war in Syria which could entail even more U.S. and western military air bombardments, as well as additional displacement and death for civilians -- but rather the ad's sponsors.

This ad wasn't the product of a gaggle of bellicose Republicans or acolytes of the Brookings Institution's war-enthusiast-in-chief Michael O'Hanlon -- or even supporters of regime change advocate Hillary Clinton -- offering one of their bold, armchair-military solutions to the many-sided, complex Middle East conflicts.

Rather, the ad and its supporting on-line petition were the handiwork of the Internet phenom activist organization Avaaz.org. With the staggering claimed number of 43.1-million members in 194 countries as of mid-March 2016 (anyone who has ever signed an Avaaz petition is considered by the organization to be a member), the New York City-based Avaaz is easily the largest and most influential Internet-based, international advocacy organization on the planet. (Having myself signed many Avaaz petitions over the years, I am counted as one of those 43 million.)

Avaaz, which means "voice" or "song" in many languages, was started in 2006 and officially launched in 2007 by the U.S. online powerhouse MoveOn.org Civic Action and the little known global advocacy group Res Publica. With initial significant financial backing from -- and some blogger critics allege, continued influence of -- financier and liberal philanthropist George Soros and his Open Society Foundations (then called Open Society Institute), Avaaz has grown at a mind-boggling pace each year. Since 2011, the organization has increased six-fold to its current membership of almost 43-million. (The second of our two articles on Avaaz will provide more background on the organization, its key issues, its founders and current officials, and funding sources.)

Although widely regarded as liberal to progressive in its campaigns, Avaaz stands alone on the left as the one major on-line activist organization to call for an escalation of the U.S. military role in Syria -- just as before that it was alone on the left in 2011 in campaigning successfully for a no-fly zone for Libya, with subsequent disastrous consequences for that country. (More about this in a follow-up article.)

For this article, we submitted a series of questions to Avaaz media personnel, with an emphasis on obtaining specifics as to its rationale for its support for no-fly zones in Libya and Syria. These questions included why the organization had not informed its members of the warnings (cited above) of top U.S. generals and other experts about the potential dangers to civilians and military personnel inherent in the establishment of a no-fly zone in Syria.

After requests (and reminders) on five occasions in November, December and January, we finally received a response on February 11, but that addressed only a few of our specific questions. The organization ignored our question as to why Avaaz had not presented petition-signers with the potential dangers of a Syrian no-fly zone that the prominent generals had warned of. Our follow-up questions, submitted on February 12, have gone unanswered.

What Avaaz spokesperson Nell Greenberg did tell us is: "When it comes to Syria, millions of Avaaz members have repeatedly over the last six years demonstrated that they believe the world has an obligation to protect civilians in Syria as well as those who have fled the country as refugees. In addition to Avaaz members calling for a targeted no-fly zone back in spring of 2015, Avaaz members have called for diplomacy, negotiations and ceasefire as well as raising over a million dollars for the victims inside and outside Syria and volunteering to house and support refugees displaced by this war."

Avaaz and signers of its no-fly zone petition, "see every human life as equally precious and deserving of protection," Greenberg said, adding: "At the time of the Syria no-fly zone campaign, a majority* of our membership supported the call for a targeted no-fly zone in northern Syria. But there were deep questions and concerns brought up by other members of the Avaaz movement that we did not ignore. A Q and A was written to go along with the campaign that you can find here, which spoke to many of their questions and I think addresses the heart of yours: "http://avaaz.org/en/syria_safe_zone_faq/. To be clear, this Q and A was written by the Avaaz Campaign Director [John Napier Tye] who developed this campaign and is his personal perspective, which is why he signed it. It is not a statement from the Avaaz community." (* A majority of a random sample of 10,000 Avaaz members, not a majority of its entire membership, supported the campaign for a no-fly zone.)

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The recent kerfuffle about Bernie Sanders purportedly not knowing how to bust up the big banks says far more about the threat Sanders poses to the Democratic establishment and its Wall Street wing than it does about the candidate himself.

Of course Sanders knows how to bust up the big banks. He's already introduced legislation to do just that. And even without new legislation a president has the power under the Dodd-Frank reform act to initiate such a breakup.

But Sanders threatens the Democratic establishment and Wall Street, not least because he's intent on doing exactly what he says he'll do: breaking up the biggest banks.

The biggest are far larger today than they were in 2008 when they were deemed "too big to fail." Then, the five largest held around 30 percent of all U.S. banking assets. Today they have 44 percent.

According to a recent analysis by Thomas Hoenig, vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the assets of just four giant banks -- JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo -- amount to 97 percent of our the nation's entire gross domestic product in 2012.

Which means they're now way too big to fail. The danger to the economy isn't just their indebtedness. It's their dominance over the entire financial and economic system.

Bernie Sanders isn't the only one urging the big banks be broken up. Neel Kashkari, the new president of the Federal Reserve bank of Minneapolis -- a Republican who used to be at Goldman Sachs -- is also pushing to break them up, as has the former head of the Dallas Federal Reserve, among others.

Recall that just eight years ago the biggest banks were up to their ears in fraudulent practices -- lending money to mortgage originators to make risky home loans laced with false claims, buying back those loans and repackaging them for investors without revealing their risks, and then participating in a wave of fraudulent foreclosures.

Dodd-Frank addressed these sorts of abuses in broad strokes but left the most important decisions to regulatory agencies.

Since then, platoons of Wall Street lobbyists, lawyers and litigators have been watering down and delaying those regulations.

For example, Dodd-Frank instructed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to reduce certain risks, but the Street has sabotaged the process.

In its first major rule under Dodd-Frank, the CFTC considered 1,500 comments, largely generated by and from the Street. After several years the commission issued a proposed rule, including some of the loopholes and exceptions the Street sought.

Wall Street still wasn't satisfied. So the CFTC agreed to delay enforcement of the rule, allowing the Street more time to voice its objections. Even this wasn't enough for the big banks, whose lawyers then filed a lawsuit in the federal courts, arguing that the commission's cost-benefit analysis wasn't adequate.

As of now, only 155 of the 398 regulations required by Dodd-Frank have been finalized. And those final versions are shot through with loopholes big enough for Wall Street's top brass to drive their Ferraris through.

The biggest banks still haven't even come up with acceptable "living wills," required under Dodd-Frank to show how they'd maintain important functions while going through bankruptcy.
I was prompted to post this after reading Mike Rivage-Seul's article on the Pope's Amoris Laetitia. It is from my website while running against Hatch a few years back, voteutah.us. It is not 100% on point, but I believe close enough.

Recently I received a letter from a visitor to this website, asking the following: "I see that you are running for Senate. I would like to know your stand on the following issues:



1. Abortion





2. Euthanasia





3. Embryonic Stem Cell Research





4. Same sex marriage



5. Human Cloning





My answer follows: I appreciate your asking and investigating my take on these matters of great importance. I am happy to attempt to address them.





Abortion. I believe that many people place this as their central issue in voting, I think because they view it as the destruction of a soul, presumably immortal. That is actually the position I took in a college speech class, several decades ago. I had graduated 12 years of Catholic school, with some very strict nuns. Since then, I've grown physically and spiritually, read countless articles on the topic, known a number of women who had an abortion (probably many more than actually talked about it to me), and thought about the subject from many points of view.





First, I do think many people take the topic too lightly, whether one believes in an immortal soul or not. Clearly, if a person believes, for whatever reason, that abortion is the taking of innocent human life, I can understand their abhorrence of such an act. Not to stand up for that belief would be a disregard of one's own morality. Of course, there can be an infinite spread of further complicating issues. Is the mother's life endangered, does the fetus have serious medical problems that will cause a life of misery or a very short life anyway, and the list goes on and on.





That said, the view that a fertilized egg has a soul, mortal or otherwise, is ultimately a personal, generally religious one. At the same time, even if there is no soul, as many believe, this is not something many women I've known take lightly. It is a major, life-changing event, either way. Given the variables, the timing, the medical aspects, the nature of conception (e.g., was it rape?), and the simple fact that I am a male who doesn't want to poke his nose into other people's life (and don't think doing so is moral in itself, except in extreme cases--e.g., I would do my best to help someone being beaten on the street), I believe whether or not to have an abortion is a woman's decision and the state should stay out of it. A woman, her doctor, and the relevant people in a woman's life are the ones who should be making this choice.





Briefly, personally, I would look closely at the state of consciousness of the unborn and try to factor that into this weighty question. A freshly conceived egg is smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, and I am far more concerned in general with our country killing other fully conscious and innocent men, women, and children around the world (calling it "collateral damage" and now using robotic drones to do it), and sending our own young men--with so much potential to do real good in their lives--to foreign countries to take over resources, namely oil, as we've done in Iraq and Afghanistan. Euthanasia. Again, we have definitional issues right off.





When I was lying in the LDS Hospital in June and July of August 2005, on an artificial heart and other machines, waiting for a real heart from a then living donor, I wanted to be "disconnected" many times. I am glad now that I wasn't, but I actually had a living will somewhere saying that I wanted no part of being on medical life-support. Also, for the year before that time, I was living like a vegetable, with a 15% ejection fraction, and a helpless burden to those I lived with. For life to go on like this was becoming more and more unfathomable, and I was beginning to ponder how to end it. Yes, suicide, another form of euthanasia.

If one is considering this question seriously, I would strongly encourage them to watch Million Dollar Baby, with Clint Eastwood. I cannot think of a more potent and compelling movie to give deep insight and provoke thought on this incredibly weighty issue. Again, it comes down to one's own conscience. My friend, Dr. Robert Weitzel, was up on murder charges which you may have been following in the press a few years back. He was adhering to strict and clear directives from relatives regarding his geriatric patients, to not keep these elderly, badly ailing folks on life support, but instead to give them end-of-life care. That meant to reduce their pain and suffering to the greatest extent possible. 60 Minutes did an excellent and I think objective piece on this, which takes about 12 minutes to watch: click here Dr Jacob Kevorkian , who died not long ago [2011, based on a video I re-recently watched and most strongly recommend], I think was ahead of his time, and certainly not some kind of "mad killer," as he has been portrayed. Countless Americans would love to have him or another like him around near the inevitable end of their life (please note: Dr. Weitzel was NOT taking an active role in anything but rather helping his five patients exit life on earth with dignity, and he makes a very big point of this distinction).





I think his was a five day trial, with a jury of 12 lay person peers, and the decision came in unanimously to vindicate Dr. Weitzel on all counts. The only reason they took an hour to deliberate, we later learned, was that they had pizza for lunch. This was in Davis County, north of Salt Lake, and a very conservative place (I hate labels, but I think this is fair to say here). So euthanasia has many sides and definitions too, near as I can tell.





I once saw a high school student who was crippled and completely paralyzed and in need 24 hours of care. I don't really know all his circumstances, but he appeared to be barely aware, if aware, of his own existence. My heart bled just to see this, and I could not possibly imagine how the parents must have been suffering all those years. I would not make such an unfathomably difficult and personal decision for someone else. I also do believe that the vast majority of doctors are not leaping for joy when such cases arise.





Again, I'd leave the state out of this sphere of any person's life, while realizing there could exist cases where a decision had to be made by someone. Generalizing on these topics and passing laws based on such generalizations is, I believe, not a good idea. My father is 90, btw, [now deceased, at 93, due to a stroke; he was trying to "break his half mile" walk the week of his stroke!] and [at the time I wrote this] doing well after yet another surgery. His new wife, a few years younger, is wonderful company for him. If decisions of this nature were to come up in their relationship, I would NOT want to be in a position to call the shots.





Embryonic Stem Cell Research. I am glad that scientists are in large measure bypassing this issue by learning to use other than stem cells for research and conclusions and findings they would not otherwise be able to reach. From all I've read, stem cells that would be used for this kind of research would die off anyway. Since I believe we should use the tools we've been given to alleviate human suffering--I see this as our moral duty--I am in favor of stem cell research, though this is seeming less and less relevant with each passing week. Had medical technologists been able to grow a heart for me, a kidney for my friend or brother-in-law (who wound up with one of my sister's kidneys, risking her life), I would have been most pleased.





Same sex marriage. As I've written on my website: "Establish marriage equality. If a person wants to marry a potato, a slug, or a stinkbug, let them. Many already have, and this has had no known effect on the marriage or relationships of others." I can't add to that in any meaningful way, except to say that I've known many same-sex oriented people and read tons on the subject and believe this is genetically determined (with a few possible exceptions, that would be none of my business). Just remembered, I did write about this some years back: click here Nothing has changed since I wrote that article that I am aware of.





Human Cloning. There have been many times when I thought a few clones of myself would have been very helpful, particularly in the classroom (a very scary thought at the moment!). Likewise, I have known many beautiful people who it seems like we should have more of. However, my gut feeling is that this is unnecessarily playing God (and one can take that term in whatever way they want, I merely mean this would be taking our technology too far too fast, when we don't really know what we're doing). I have little doubt that the philosophical complications that would come from this would be overwhelming, just as they are already on the question of whether we should use gene manipulation to create "super humans" (which I oppose, due to the vastly complex issues this creates).





A few last thoughts. I was in biology for four years and have followed much of the work in that field since I left college. I say this to give a better sense of where I'm coming from. I DO think that how a society treats the weakest and least amongst its members is one major direct measure of its greatness.





Hence my interest in improving education (literally, "to lead out of the dark"), ending poverty, ending wars, and creating a viable and sustainable society. I am a firm believer in bona fide sex education (parents would be free to opt out if they wished), free contraceptives and much contraceptive information from clinics, and even free vasectomies. This would eliminate many of the problems I've written about here. Sadly, at least to me, over 60% of the pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned. I believe we've all seen the deleterious effects of this, probably more than once. I think not taking the issue of bringing new life into the world most seriously is itself immoral.





I have one biological son, another adopted, and more recently an autistic step-child who I spend much time working with. To the person who sent the questions: Thank you for prompting this article and causing me to spell my thoughts out in more detail. Most appreciated.

(Article changed on April 11, 2016 at 09:13)

(Article changed on April 11, 2016 at 09:18)
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"In his groundbreaking new book Bottom Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution, Rob Kall invites and eases us into in a much-needed meta-level shift -- a truly basic paradigmatic shift from top-down to bottom-up. He capably and imaginatively explores the differences between these ways of approaching life, clearly demonstrating that bottom-up allows us to flourish. His vision and his book are enriched by telling references to interviews which he has engaged in over the years with bottom-up researchers, theorists, activists, and dreamers in a variety of areas. Think about Rob's interviews. Read this revolutionary book. And take one step further into the bottom-up universe yourself. You will not regret it."



Bonnie Burstow, MD, author of Psychiatry and the Business of Madness and Radical Feminist Therapy, associate professor at the University of Toronto
Originally published in Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly

Despite the ongoing opioid crisis, insurance companies are skirting the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). Both the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) and the MHPAEA require insurance companies to provide parity for mental health and substance use disorders, but the insurance companies are coming up with every possible excuse not to do it. The law provides a strategy to take meaningful action -- but the health insurance companies are, quite simply, blocking it.



Health care has been a constant issue in both the Republican and Democratic presidential debates. Chris Christie's strongest moment of his failed presidential campaign was his speech, which went viral on social media, about his personal connection to constituents with drug addiction. It was a shining moment regardless of what party anyone supports. In September 2015, Hillary Clinton proposed a $10 billion plan to provide substance use disorder treatment, as well as reversing the mass incarceration for nonviolent drug offenses that is overcrowding prisons. President Obama proposed a $1.1 billion plan toward treatment of prescription opioid abuse and heroin use.

Despite the existence of both the ACA and the MHPAEA, people still are not receiving the promised coverage. Private insurance exists, by definition, for profit. The companies maximize what people have to pay out of pocket. Their alternative is to remain untreated. Insurance companies have identified the loopholes in the MHPAEA and take advantage of their customers' lack of knowledge about the requirements, and a willingness to accept the insurance evaluation as trustworthy.

For instance, under the MHPAEA, insurance companies are supposed to provide coverage for what they believe is "medically necessary." This vague language allows insurance companies to be the decision-makers, rather than the actual doctor. In addition, insurance companies continue to deny coverage for their clients that clearly violate the MHPAEA. In one case, Chicago citizen Elizabeth A. Craft brought Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC, which includes Blue Cross and Blue Shield) to court for refusing to cover her 16-year-old daughter's medical expenses in 2014. Although HCSC covered her daughter's nine hospitalization visits caused by her post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and anorexia nervosa, they denied the same coverage when they relocated her daughter to a residential treatment center. Insurance directly interfered with the treatment location that her physician recommended. The court forced HCSC to pay, because denying the location of treatment is a direct violation of parity laws.

Even covering simple medical treatment, such as prescription pills, is difficult. Insurance companies require "prior authorization" for controlled substances. This is a form of discrimination.

Insurance companies do not understand the immediacy and necessity in treating mental health and addiction.

Even with the confusion and lack of effective implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, there is a solution, to strengthen and build the Affordable Care Act. Single payer, and the government option, would have been solutions. But Hillary Clinton has said that revisiting the law could create a horrific congressional debate that could jeopardize health care reform completely. A far easier approach would be for the Department of Health and Human Services to set regulations in place that force the insurance companies, who make enormous profits, to do their jobs.

Health insurance profits have soared with the 20 million new enrollees and the private-insurance structure compromise Obamacare employed versus the single payer and government option Congress rejected. Since March 2010, each of the six largest health insurance companies -- United, Health Net, Anthem, Aetna, Cigna and Humana -- have increased profits by 224 percent to 375 percent.

Instead of allowing insurance companies to force consumers to empty their wallets while at the same time restricting their care, we need to tighten up the federal regulations and enforcement of the two laws. Insurance coverage is possible. If we build up the ACA, more people can receive their basic rights to health insurance. The federal government needs to take a tip from states with the strongest parity laws.
In the middle of March Polish minister of defence Antoni Macierewicz visited the University of Father Tadeusz Rydzyk to participate in the discussion on the subject "Problems of actual politics, military conflicts and terrorism". One of the listeners asked him if Poland has a strategy addressing the illegal experiments with electromagnetic weapons on Polish citizens. The minister replied that his ministry is performing an analysis aimed at finding out in what regions of Poland the people, who are complaining about such attacks, are living and that, according to preliminary information, most of the complaints originate from Lower Silesia and northwestern Poland. He also stated that in about half a year he will know more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgVs4-m0lNY#t=33 . His words ran through practically all of the Polish media http://www.dziennikzachodni.pl/polska-i-swiat/a/minister-macierewicz-o-broni-elektromagnetycznej-zdjecia-wideo-raport-juz-wkrotce,9741513/ . With this statement the Polish minister of defense was the first top politician in the European Union and the whole world who did not deny the existence of electromagnetic weapons; nor did he deny the fact that those weapons affect the human nervous system and human organism and that testing is very probably being done on humans.

The human organism is full of salty liquids or in other words, full of electrolytes, and for that matter electric currents are produced in these electrolytes by electromagnetic waves. If microwaves, pulsed in frequencies that mimic the activities of the human nervous system, are targeted on a human being, the activity of his nervous system, which is essentially governed by the flow of electric currents, becomes controlled by those pulsed microwaves. The first scientific experiments in this area have already been preformed in the 30s of the past century in Russia and, after the publication of several such experiments in the West in sixties and seventies of the past century (with calcium efflux in the nervous system http://jap.physiology.org/content/17/4/689) resulting in the inability to concentrate in humans and the transmission of sounds, and later words, into the human brain via pulsed microwaves https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3V8FIUj7brsMzJhOTY4ZWItMGI5OC00MzkzLWJjMDQtMDM0OGE1ZDFhOGF m/view?ddrp=1&authkey=CKnE554O&hl=en ), the following research was classified. The most evident reason for this being the possible use of such technology in war. It can be used for killing of even large masses of people at a distance with the speed of light, as well as the transmission of messages or orders into their subconsciousness, which could change their behavior. This intention was proved by the publication of the U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute "Revolution in Military Affairs and Conflict Short of War". The authors wrote about "the sort of psychotechnology which formed the core of the RMA (revolution in military affairs) in conflict short of war ...

As technology changed the way force was applied, things such as personal courage, face-to-face leadership, and the 'warfighter' mentality became irrelevant". In the book the futuristic scenario was presented describing how: "In the pre-RMA days, psychological operations and psychological warfare were primitive. As they advanced into the electronic and bioelectronic era, it was necessary to rethink our ethical prohibitions on manipulating the minds of enemies (and potential enemies) both international and domestic... Through persistent efforts and very sophisticated domestic 'consciousness raising' ," old-fashioned notions of personal privacy and national sovereignty changed... United States gradually abandoned collective efforts. Nearly all allies, with their old-fashioned, pre-RMA militaries, proved more an encumbrance than a help... Potential or possible supporters of the insurgency around the world were identified using the Comprehensive Interagency Integrated Database. These were categorized as "potential" or "active," with sophisticated computerized personality simulations used to develop, tailor, and focus psychological campaigns for each." http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?lng=en&id=47511 . In this way the U.S. Army produced a concept of the world political system controlled by the american totalitarian power of the new type.

In Russia, shortly after the failed putsch against Gorbatchov, the vice president of the League of Independent Soviet Scientists, Victor Sedlecki, had published in the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda in the article "Authors of program Zombie discovered in Kiev" a declaration where he wrote, "As an expert and judicial person I assert: in Kiev was launched mass production (and this is principally serious) of psychotronic biogenerators and their testing. I can not assert that those were specifically generators from Kiev that were used during the putsch. To be able to make such a statement it is necessary to know their technical characteristics. However the fact of their use is evident to me." He wrote as well that he himself is the designer of one such psychotronic biogenerator.

By the end of the 90s a deputy of Russian parliament Vladimir Lopatin published a book, "Psychotronic Weapon and the Security of Russia", where he warned that it is necessary to assure that people will not be used as biorobots. At that time Russia http://www.agentura.ru/text/press/2000/duma1.txt and the European parliament (in the resolution A4-0005/1999 - Resolution on the environment, security and foreign policy) were trying to achieve an international ban of those weapons. In the European parliament's document on "Crowd control technologies" we read: "In October 1999 NATO announced a new policy on non-lethal weapons and their place in allied arsenals"; and "In 1996 non-lethal tools identified by the U.S. Army included. directed energy systems" and "radio frequency weapons". Directed energy system is further defined: "Directed energy weapon system designed to match radio frequency source to interfere with human brain activity at synapse level" http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/stoa/2000/168394/DG-4-STOA_ET(2000)168394_EN(PAR02).pdf (the last line "disappeared" from the latest internet version of the document). However this effort was thwarted by lack of interest of the USA to join the international convention, which would introduce the international ban of the development and use of weapons capable to control remotely the activity of the human nervous system similarly to conventions banning chemical and biological weapons. After only a short resistance to the US the European Union gave in to the U.S. pressure and accepted the NATO policy of non-lethal weapons.

The next stage of this "psychotronic war" started in 2012. At that time Russia had realized that by 2018 its nuclear arsenal will no more pose a threat to the USA (due to its antimissile shield), which would deter them from allowing their army to get in direct conflict with the Russian army. The Russian state news agency Ria Novosti published the words of Russian defense minister Anatoli Serdiukov, "The development of weaponry based on new physics principles; directed-energy weapons, geophysical weapons, wave-energy weapons, genetic weapons, psychotronic weapons, etc., is part of the state arms procurement program for 2011-2020," http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20120322/172332421.html. In this way Russia has openly warned the USA that it will be able to cause a mass destruction on their territory in case of a conflict between the U.S. and Russian army. As a matter of fact both Russia and the USA developed radar systems capable to manipulate the ionosphere to emit electromagnetic signals pulsed in the human nervous system's frequencies on large areas of the planet and for the same purpose they can use their satellites. In this way they could erase the whole populations of certain areas of the planet with the speed of light.

Certainly those weapons are tested on unwitting individuals so that their operators possessed necessary skills in the case of war and their states did not risk that the war will be lost due to their inability. Polish minister of defense thus set en example to the world by his acknowledgement of the existence of those classified weapons and their use on unwitting individuals. In this way he confirmed the crisis that the world has reached at the beginning of the third millennium of the christian age due to the american desire to get it under complete military control. We are facing technologies capable of erasing whole populations of this world. We are facing technologies capable of eliminating the elementary natural interaction of human beings with their environment, based on authentic perception of the surrounding world and developing of authentic opinions from personal experience. We are facing the fact that technologies capable of destroying the development of the society based on freedom of thought of its citizens, exist without the knowledge of ordinary people and at any time can be put to use.

This is going to prove that if democracy is supposed to have a future, it can not be subjected to the desire of one state to reach total military control of the world. The only effective way to prevent the rapidly growing scientific knowledge (let us not forget that the USA and the European Union are actually spending billions of dollars and euros on brain research) from being used against people or even for destruction of billions of human lives, is that democratic states stop the military competition. At the present time it would mean that the USA would stop building military bases around Russian territory and deploying its Navy to the Chinese sea. Military competition must give way to t he economic one, if democracy is supposed to last.

Recently ten European organizations sent a letter to the European Commission and the European parliament, where they warned them that the weapons capable of manipulating the human nervous system can be produced relatively easily and asked them to enact legislation prohibiting their production and use from individuals, companies and state agencies and to form agencies specializing in detection of "psychoactive" signals and their sources. So far they have not received a meaningful reply.

To make it still worse the British and U.S. Indymedia deleted articles on this subject from their websites.




This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Reprinted from Alternet

An exclusive Latuff cartoon on Israel lobby outrage over Sanders' comments on Israel's 2014 massacre of Gaza civilians.



In an interview with the New York Daily News, a tabloid owned by ultra-Zionist multi-billionaire Mort Zuckerman, Sen. Bernie Sanders held forth on Israel's 2014 assault on the Gaza Strip. "My understanding is that a whole lot of apartment houses were leveled. Hospitals, I think, were bombed. So yeah, I do believe and I don't think I'm alone in believing that Israel's force was more indiscriminate than it should have been," Sanders declared. He then overstated the civilian casualty toll, asserting that "over 10,000 people" were killed by Israel.

Sanders' comments infuriated the pro-Israel lobby, provoking former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren to accuse him of a "blood libel," referring to the false rumors of Jews kidnapping and cooking gentile babies spread to justify pogroms and anti-Semitic repression. The Anti-Defamation League joined the festival of outrage, demanding Sanders apologize for his comments. When Sanders visited his childhood home in Brooklyn, he was met with protests by right-wing allies of the Israeli settler movement including New York State Assembly member Dov Hikind, an unrepentant former member of the violent extremist Jewish Defense League.

While Israel lobbyists like Oren were determined to extract a display of contrition from the Democratic presidential challenger, it's hard to imagine they would want to acknowledge the real toll of Israel's 51-day-long assault, from the 551 children killed to the Associated Press's finding that Israel killed 844 Palestinian civilians in airstrikes on their homes to the fact that a whopping 100,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by Israeli violence.

Indeed, Sanders' comments about the leveling of apartment houses and bombing of hospitals were absolutely accurate. When Israel shelled a UN-run shelter for displaced civilians in Gaza on August 2, 2014, US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki declared, "The United States is appalled by today's disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] school in Rafah sheltering some 3,000 displaced persons, in which at least 10 more Palestinian civilians were tragically killed."

Click Here to Read Whole Article
Reprinted from Campaign For America's Future

Bernie Sanders won the Wyoming Democratic caucus on Saturday by a double-digit margin -- 56 percent to 44 percent -- over Hillary Clinton. That is seven contests in a row and eight of nine. And now the campaign heads into the New York hothouse with the primary on April 19. Here are five brief reflections on the state of the race:

A storm is gathering around unelected superdelegates

Despite winning by double digits in Wyoming, Sanders only got a split of pledged delegates -- seven to seven. And all four of Wyoming's superdelegates currently support Clinton, giving her 11 of 18 delegates from a state Sanders won by double digits.

The Clinton campaign's answer to this is that Wyoming is small; only 7,000 people caucused, so forget about it. But the Democratic Party will face real trouble if superdelegates give Clinton the nomination over Sanders, particularly if he wins the majority of the pledged delegates.

Sanders is still surging

Is that possible? Sanders is still surging. Clinton's pledged delegate lead is down to 219 (the Sanders campaign says 214). In comparison, Ted Cruz trails Donald Trump in the Republican presidential race by 226, yet pundits increasingly assume a contested Republican convention.

Nationally, Sanders has gone from trailing Clinton by 24 percentage points on January 1 to even (edging her by 1 or 2 points in the most recent national polls of registered Democrats). He's closed in California from 57 percentage points behind Clinton a year ago in the Field poll of registered Democrats to just six points now (47 percent Clinton to 41 percent Sanders). And he leads her by double digits among independents who can vote in the Democratic primary in California. His small donors have raised more than her campaign for three months running. He's picking up support among Latino voters, and now wins a majority of the votes of young people across lines of race and gender.

Sanders has now won 17 contests, from Alaska to Kansas to New Hampshire. He's basically split five more -- Iowa, Nevada, Massachusetts, Illinois and Missouri. Clinton has won 14 plus the five close races, a total of 19 with 11 of the victories in the South. (For a comprehensive look go here).

New York is a big lift

Sanders faces a formidable challenge in New York, where Clinton ran statewide and won twice as U.S. senator. He trails her by double digits in recent polls, and the margin hasn't moved much since his Wisconsin victory.

Sanders is winning young people, and Bill Clinton's recent angry defense of his wrong-headed crime and welfare bills and dismissal of Black Lives Matter activists as "afraid of the truth" will surely will add to that. (He "almost" apologized later.) But Hillary Clinton sustains her large lead among seniors and they are more likely to vote. Sanders leads Clinton by double digits among independents, but New York prohibits them from voting in party primaries. Worse, for those excited by Sanders, New York requires registering as a Democrat six months before the election occurs, the earliest change of party deadline in America. Independents eager to register as Democrats to vote for Sanders would have had to do so last October, when most weren't even thinking about the presidential race.

Candidates will be AWOL in New York

Sanders has made the dubious commitment to fly to Rome in the middle of the New York primary battle to speak at the Vatican, even though he may or may not meet with the Pope who may be out of the country. He may be hoping for divine intervention.

For more secular motives, Clinton will leave the state for a similar amount of time to travel to California for the $353,000-per-couple fundraiser with George Clooney. The contrast is revealing, although the Clinton event will no doubt be closed to the press.

Sanders keeps driving the debate
If the 5% disappeared

And the 95% became the 100%

There would be a tomorrow.

We could buy maybe another hundred years

To get our sh*t together.

There would be an ease of panic.

The doomsday clock would back off

A few minutes from midnight.

Everyone in the world would have enough.

It's possible. See,

We aren't all equal.

We're not all the same.

We're not all in the same boat.

Some are in a sinking raft

Trying to get to a safe landfall.

Some are in a sturdy lifeboat

With cover and adequate rations.

And some are in a yacht

Partying their brains out.

(I didn't even know how to spell yacht.)

Guilt is a funny thing.

If you're guilty

Guilt becomes your yoke

And people who are looking for workers

To service their estates,

Clean up after their mess,

Feed them,

Educate their children,

Groom their dogs,

Don't have to look far for help.

If we want to make the crisis go away,

First we have to stop feeling guilty

And realize that we aren't the problem.

The problem is that we,

In the lifeboat

Think that we are the problem,

And guilt is devouring

Our ability to act.

The problem is

That we are

Taking on the guilt

That belongs to those who are truly guilty.

No, we are not all in the same boat.

But the ones in the sinking raft

Can use some help.

And the ones in the yacht?



They have to know they are guilty.





A few words on the writing of this poem:



I wrote "We're not all in the same boat" with reservations. It is a shadow-poem. In other words, I think I am writing about my shadow.



The critical situation, as depicted, isn't true in the sense that it can't be corroborated by any objective source. But is it true enough? Is it emotionally accurate? Does it resonate somewhere in us? Are most of us comfortable with identifying ourselves with the 95%, even though "we" are all walking different paths in a diverse society and our incomes might range from 0 to a few hundred thousand dollars?



If this metaphor does speak to us, how strange a position to find ourselves in. We, the vast majority feel like a minority, but not a minority in number but a minority in potency. We have essentially been minimized. Our place, in terms of determining our own destiny, has been minimized by a world that maximizes and magnifies wealth, status and power. This is what it feels to like to live in an oligarchy. We are like ants. We are the peasants. We are many but we have no voice or vision or power to enlarge our presence or status.



I have just finished writing a book about initiation, and karma. I have concluded that we can't affect any shift in the disastrous status quo without undergoing initiation. Something is playing out here. Being in a raft is an image of utter helplessness. So be it.



Do you know anyone who is in the 5%? I don't. There is only one time in my life when I crossed paths with a millionaire. When I was young and living on the rural outskirts of the University of Connecticut (My father was a professor.) a wealthy family moved into the house next door that used to belong to a retired professor. They were the 1967 version of the 5%. He was the president of a cable manufacturing corporation whose business, thanks to the war in Vietnam, was booming. They owned three other homes in other states, including one on Cape Cod. They had moved to Storrs to take advantage of the local high school, which had a good reputation, and they wanted their son to be influenced by my brother and me. He was between our ages. The plan backfired. It's true that my brother was one of the highest achievers in the school and we were both popular and involved in extracurricular activities, but we were about to become radicalized hippies, not exactly suitable mentors for this millionaire's son. But that is another story. The point is, they were from another world and they were using us. That fits the yacht / lifeboat metaphor.



One might have a dream of being in a lifeboat on the sea and looking out and seeing some people in a sinking raft who are much worse off, and scanning in another direction and seeing a super-yacht with music blaring and people partying. And the dream would have to be taken seriously because dreams usually carry important information, not just for the individual, but for the wider world. Some metaphors come from the same place as dreams: they both serve an archetypal given. When I contemplated writing a poem around this metaphor of the yacht and the lifeboat and the raft I realized it wasn't going to be written from my heart, but a place of negativity with a little fear in the mix, but poems aren't supposed to be sermons and they rarely come from a centered place where everything has been worked out. I don't pick and choose my dreams, though I prefer the ones that feel more creative. And I don't pick and choose what I write poems about. They all have value for the self that is seeking transformation.



The only thing that matters to me, when I am deciding whether to write a poem (once I have found a metaphor to write about) is whether the metaphor can stand up to the conversion into language and retain its integrity. The jury is out on this one but I had to let it a try.


Military

(Image by mellofoto85) Details DMCA



Who: The US War Machine: the diabolical Bush Regime at the controls



What: Imperial war for profit based on manufactured evidence and nationalist propaganda.



When: (This incarnation) March 2003 to present.



Where: Iraq



Why: Because the US War Machine needs perpetual war for perpetual profit and to subjugate the people of the world and suck the life out of those in the US.



Every good crime report or newspaper article needs to answer these five questions and this is a war crime report.







The US war against the people of Iraq was a major conspiracy to commit mass murder. There have been many exposes of the lies and mass-marketing propaganda which led to the 2003 Shock and Awe invasion. Once the initial felony was committed, many other war crimes were piled on. Since preemptive wars of aggression are an international crime, all subsequent actions fall into that category also. However, ironically, like all US wars before and after, the only criminals held accountable are those at the bottom of the blood drenched food chain.



I fear, being in the midst of another US electoral quagmire of propaganda and distraction, that the fact that active violence is still happening in Iraq (and so many other places) is being ignored or forgotten. The stain of the Bush Regime is fading into the Memory Hole and Bill Clinton is still struttin' his war jackal self around in support of his wife's criminal aspirations. Few blink an eye at this injustice, while some of us still blink at it through our tears.



Not one of the candidates of either wing of the War Party are saying that the people of Iraq deserve justice and reparations (of course, they aren't--most are complicit in the crimes). In fact, when Obama was vying to be the Big Boss of the US Crime Mob, he said that justice for all the crimes of the previous murder regime would not be prosecuted because we had to "look forward." Remember that? I wonder how many more USAians have gone to prison in the last seven years not knowing that he Boss said that we were now "looking forward?" I just know not one of those people who have been incarcerated were members of the Bush Crime Mob. When will a sitting Crime Boss ever seek accountability from his predecessor when he/she will be looking for the same professional courtesy from future Bosses?



I miss Casey so much, especially around holidays, his birthday and the beginning of April which brings allergy season and emotional agony to me. This heartbreak is compounded by the fact that I know that each and every day more mothers and families will unnecessarily feel the same unending anguish.



I recently gave an interview to RT Arabic (LINK in Arabic) and I was asked if I would join the mothers of Iraq in seeking justice. The short answer is "Hell, yes!" I have received a few emails since then of people from Iraq who are suffering such unspeakable loss as we search for that elusive accountability moment for the deaths of our children and other loved ones.



If you have any ideas, or connections, please email me at:"CindySheehansSoapbox@gmail.com



Cindy Sheehan Social Media Pages:

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is a co-founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace and the author of two books: Not One More Mother's Child and Dear President Bush.

The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.





OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help. If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.
Exploration & Drilling Security Market Segment Forecasts up to 2020, Research Reports:TMR

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/exploration-drilling-security-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=3660

The increasing challenges for exploration companies to operate in a challenging environment has led to the development of exploration and drilling security market. Rising production in offshore locations and unconventional sources has led the major exploration companies to invest in drilling and production activities. Many major companies are expanding their present infrastructure in less developed regions, thus security concerns increases with the increasing infrastructure development. To cater the rising security issues and the threat of attacks, many technology developers are heavily investing in exploration and drilling security market. Attacks on supply infrastructure, terrorist attacks and unnatural disasters are some of the major concerns which have forced the major exploration companies to invest in this market. The market for exploration and drilling security is expected to rise at a substantial pace in the future owing to rising security issues.Complete Report Exploration & Drilling Security Market with TOC :Increasing expenditure of exploration companies in infrastructure development and expansion of exploration sites are the major drivers encouraging investment in exploration and drilling security market. With rising investment in infrastructure development the major exploration companies have also started investing in the security market for safe operations at these sites. The increasing drilling activities in politically unstable areas such as Africa and Middle East are also a major driver bolstering the exploration and drilling security market. The political situations in these regions is not stable, thus the exploration companies operate in an unstable environment which forces these companies to invest in the security market. However, all the major hydrocarbon discoveries, especially the offshore discoveries, are located at distinct areas which make it difficult for the companies to implement a central comprehensive security system. This security implementation problem may act as a restraint in further growth of exploration and drilling security market. Increasing security regulations and mandatory standards in major oil and gas producing regions of the world provide an opportunity for the growth of the market in future.The market for exploration and drilling security can be segmented into two broad categories depending on technology solutions implemented in this market. Network security and physical security are the two major areas in the exploration and drilling securities market. Network security can further be segmented as firewall protection, incident response and disaster recovery system, SCADA network security, security information and event management system. Physical security market can also be further categorized as microwave detectors, radar and thermal imaging, fiber optic sensors, acoustic systems, alarms, sonar systems, personnel tracking and RFID. The market for exploration and drilling security can also be segmented based on professional services as risk management services and system design and integration services.Get FREE Sample PDF file of :Africa is the major potential segment for the growth of the exploration and drilling security market. The political unstable environment of this region and increasing offshore drilling activities in this region are the major factors driving exploration companies to invest in the securities market. Middle East and South America are also prospective regions which are investing heavily in exploration and drilling security market. Increasing drilling activities from unconventional sources in North America has also encouraged technology developers to provide security solutions in this region.Some of the major companies operating in the exploration and drilling security market are Lockheed Martin Corporation, Siemens AG, Cisco Service, Waterfall Security Solutions and Honeywell International, Inc.This research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsThis report is a complete study of current trends in the market, industry growth drivers, and restraints. It provides market projections for the coming years. It includes analysis of recent developments in technology, Porters five force model analysis and detailed profiles of top industry players. The report also includes a review of micro and macro factors essential for the existing market players and new entrants along with detailed value chain analysis.Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsIt provides distinctive graphics and exemplified SWOT analysis of major market segmentsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 Sate Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207
Walter Van Dingenen is new Regional Sales Director for Perfion PIM in the Benelux

www.perfion.com

www.perfion.com

Perfion is now strengthening the its organization in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg by welcoming Walter Van Dingenen as Regional Sales Director.Business Software such as ERP, CRM, E-commerce & Product Information solutions have run like a red thread throughout Walter Van Dingenens professional career. In the past he has worked both in multinational and small enterprises in technical niche markets where correct product data was key to succes in sales.READY TO FOCUS 100% ON PIM  YEARS OF PERFION EXPERIENCE Throughout the last 5 years Walter has held a position as Key Account & Engagement Manager at one of the larger Dynamics Partners in the Benelux. His job was to add the value of ISV solutions, such as Perfion, to Microsoft Dynamics NAV accounts & prospects.Therefore, Walter has a deep knowledge of the Perfion PIM system and is now ready to focus 100% on the solution:I am looking forward to working in and with the dedicated Perfion team, to expand the business and to sharing our mutual knowledge. From my previous experience with Perfion, I know all about the systems ability to integrate seamlessly with other IT solutions. I also learned that Perfion users are able to manage their product data really fast and easy on all platforms. Consequently I am very proud to be part of the Perfion team now.In addition to the Benelux countries, Walter will also be responsible for Perfions customers in France.ALWAYS STRIVING TO SERVE BUSINESS PARTNERSWalter Van Dingenen is a true perfectionist, always striving to serve his business partners in the best possible way. Fortunately, he also makes sure to take good care of himself by keeping the balance of a healthy mind in a healthy body with windsurfing and mountainbiking.THE PERFION COMPANYPerfion is the worlds only 100% standard Product Information Management (PIM) solution for companies with a large number of product variants and parts and/or need for multi-channel, multi-language communication.With Perfion you get a single source of truth for product information which gives you full control of all product data from day one wherever it is applied (e.g. webshops, websites, supplier portals, smart phone apps, printed catalogues, fact sheets, social media, direct mails, newsletters).Perfion is the easiest and fastest PIM solution to implement. It is open to integrate with your existing IT-platform and handles continuous changes in requirements without extra cost.Perfion integrates easily with existing ERP systems and 100% into Microsoft Dynamics NAV, AX, GP and SL as well as SAP, Oracle, Infor, Movex plus Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, EPiServer Commerce, Sana Commerce, Dynamicweb, Magento and OXID eSales.Perfion has a documented ROI of less than a year.PerfionNiels Jernes Vej 8DK-9220 AalborgDenmarkPhone: +45 70 26 26 80info@perfion.comJan Nrret, CEOjn@perfion.com
COSEC Standalone Access Control Solution

www.MatrixSecuSol.com

Matrix COSEC PANEL LITE is a Standalone Access Control solution, ideal for SMB and SME units where door controllers are connected to a small panel on the Ethernet. It does not require any kind of software installation. This small panel manages up to 25,000 users and 255 door controllers, and provide all advance access control features required for fool proof security. Standalone access control solution enhances security, improves security, simplifies installation and improves reliability required for an ideal access control.Features: Controls 255 Door Controllers Templates of up to 25,000 Users Storage up to 500,000 Events Ethernet and RS-485 ports available USB for Wi-Fi, 3G/4G/LTE and Data Transfer Auxiliary Input and Output Ports Wiegand OUT Port Available for Integration Advance Access Control FeaturesContact: MATRIX COMSEC394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara+91 93744 74302More@MatrixComSec.comABOUT MATRIX COMSECEstablished in 1991, Matrix is a leader in Telecom and Security solutions for modern businesses and enterprises. An innovative, technology driven and customer focused organization; Matrix is committed to keep pace with the revolutions in the telecom and security industries. With more than 40% of its human resources dedicated to the development of new products, Matrix has launched cutting-edge products like Video Surveillance solutions, Access Control, Time-Attendance, IP-PBX, Universal Gateways, Terminals, Convergence solution, VoIP Gateways and GSM Gateways. These solutions are feature-rich, reliable and conform to the international standards. Having global foot-prints in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa through an extensive network of more than 500 channel partners, Matrix ensures that the products serve the needs of its customers faster and longer. Matrix has gained trust and admiration of customers representing the entire spectrum of industries. Matrix has won many international awards for its innovative products.Matrix COmsec394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara -390010
Femaleadda, Feminine Beauty, Fashion and Wellness amenities just a mouse click away in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and in India

http://www.femaleadda.com

http://www.femaleadda.com/about-parlour

Noida, Uttar Pradesh April 08, 2016 - Femaleadda is India's largest portal for Beauty, Fashion and Wellness Services dedicated to women, currently operating in Delhi and NCR region. FemaleAdda offers women an online portal to book appointments for Parlours, Salons, Spas, Boutiques, Fitness Centers and Doctors in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad.Femaleadda is currently offering heavy discounts on various services, thereby entering its customer acquisition phase. A discount up to 50% is can be availed on services by a newly registered user. One lucky user will win one year beauty care home service by expert beauticians for free. Now the women can enjoy their parlour time with no hassles with the help of pre confirmed appointments. Women can book appointments at branded, top-tier, standard and regular beauty parlours and salons depending on their choice. No more waiting at salons or guessing the quality of service of a newly opened parlour. Make your decision based on the reviews of others and enjoy exclusive discounts along with the services. Get prompt, effective and immediate service at the salon of your choice. All this, only because you booked your appointment online beforehand. You can find, evaluate and review, rate and book appointments at centers you wish at the time you prefer.Salons and parlours fulfilling the service quality and hygiene criteria of femaleadda are listed on the website, along with a list of services they provide and their prices. Bellissa Home Service is another option given to the women, where they can book appointments from beauticians to get services at their homes. By showing only the most relevant services, appointment times are accurately booked, customers time and money is well spent.Official announcement of Femaleadda stated This is a one stop online portal for all basic feminine amenities, so that women find everything to serve their beauty needs on one portal. Femaleadda is a trusted platform for finding quality, affordable and reliable service in any locality. One can also post her opinion or give ratings after she has used a particular service. The centers and professionals delivering optimal services get praised in reviews, which makes it easier for them to draw new customers. It also saves service providers from overcrowding and lets them attend to their customers individually and properly.Users get a chance to refer their friends to the website and earn reward points. These points can be later redeemed. All modes of payment are accepted. Appointment time can be changed or cancelled, with a single click. All the update confirmation reaches the service providers and the user through a text message from the company. The appointments can be booked through the website, or the app. The service providers register and maintain their accounts or can have their data updated by one the company staff member.FemaleAdda is a total solutions provider, delivering all basic feminine requirements at a single platform. This portal will be further expanding to pan India level, starting with metro cities. Services can be booked on the website as well as through mobile app. To Know More About -andFemaleAdda, 212 3rd Floor Arcade Building Sector 18 Noida Uttar Pradesh 201301 India
Diabetes Devices and Drugs: North America Guides Global Market at a 5.9% CAGR from 2013 to 2019

Insulin Pump

http://bit.ly/1V1xPzl

http://bit.ly/23jJE4Z

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Diabetes is a group of metabolic disorders in which pancreas is not able to produce enough insulin (sugar metabolizing hormone) (type-1) or the body develops a resistance to produce insulin and is not able to utilize the produced insulin (type-2). This condition triggers various malignancies and diseases. Diabetes market is a consolidated market and the demand for various advanced devices and medicines is increasing steadily, owing to exponential growth in the prevalence of diabetes across the globe. This report is focused towards identifying the current scenario as well as the future market potential for diabetes drugs and devices globally.The global diabetes devices and drugs market is segmented into two segments, namely; diabetes devices and diabetes drugs class. Diabetes devices segment is divided into diabetes diagnostic and monitoring devices and insulin delivery devices. Diabetes diagnostic and monitoring devices class is further split into analog glucose meters, test strips, lancets and lancing devices, CGM devices and others. Insulin delivery devices class is divided into insulin pens, insulin syringes, insulin pumps and insulin injectors. The second segment of the market, that is, drugs class is fragmented into insulin derivatives, oral anti-diabetes drugs (OADs) and non insulin injectable anti-diabetes drugs.Brochure Download:Insulin derivatives are categorized on the basis of their time of action, such as, rapid-acting, short-acting, intermediate-acting, long-acting and premixed insulin derivatives. Oral anti-diabetes drugs are divided into sulphonylureas, biguanides, meglitinides, alpha glucosidase inhibitors, thiazolidinediones, DPP-IV inhibitors, and SGLT2 inhibitors. GLP-1 agonists represent the injectable anti-diabetes drugs class. The report also provides in-depth analysis of pipeline diabetes drugs.Out of all the above mentioned diagnostic and monitoring devices, continuous glucose monitoring devices segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2013 to 2019. Insulin pen is a rapidly growing segment in the global insulin delivery devices market. The rising population of diabetic patients across the globe is the most important driver of the market, followed by extensive R&D practices. According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), as of 2013, around 382 million people were diagnosed with diabetes, and the number is expected to grow to 592 million by the end of 2035. This rise in diabetic population propels the market growth.Further, due to extensive R&D practices in drugs and devices, large numbers of drugs (around 180) are under pipeline studies. Hence, the market is augmented to grow steadily during the forecast period 2013  2019. In addition, rising demand for SGLT2 inhibitors, DPP-IV inhibitors, GLP-1 agonists and long-acting insulin derivatives drive the market of drugs to higher end. In addition to existing drugs, drugs and formulations under pipeline studies (for example, U-300, Afrezza, Dulaglutide and others) are also considered and the forecast for these products is estimated considering their expected approval and commercialization years.Geographically, in this report, the diabetes devices and drugs market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). Presently, the North American region is the largest market in the world, owing to the presence of large number of type-1 and type-2 diabetic patients, technological advancements and world-class medical infrastructure. However, Asia-Pacific region is considered as the most promising market during the forecast period 2013 to 2019. High incidence rate of diabetes, steady increase in medical expenditure, increased healthcare awareness towards self-monitoring and management of diabetes are some of the important factors supporting the growth of diabetes devices and drugs market in Asia-Pacific region.Globally, the market for diabetes devices is dominated by selected number of players, namely; F. Hoffmann La Roche Ltd., LifeScan, Inc. (J&J), Abbott Diabetes Care, and Bayer AG. In addition to this, some other important players that offer an important contribution to the total diabetes devices market include B Braun Melsungen AG and DexCom, Inc. Whereas, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca plc, Merck, Inc., and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited are the key players having presence in the global diabetes drugs market.Browse Full Research Report:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesUSA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Cleanroom Technology Market to Rise due to Growing Demand for Sterilized Pharmaceutical Products

http://bit.ly/1EfGdA2

http://bit.ly/1YiDQFp

A new market research report by Transparency Market Research, titled Cleanroom Technology Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015  2023, encapsulates an in-depth analysis of the market for cleanroom technology. The study is an amalgamation of both primary as well as secondary research and presents the current scenario and the development prospects of the market for cleanroom technology. In order to calculate the markets size, the report considers the revenue generated in the overall market by the major vendors. Moving further, the vendor landscape section includes an extensive analysis of the key vendors operating in the market. The prime factors impacting the growth of the market, along with the chief challenges faced by the prime vendors, form an integral part of this study.Browse Full Report:As per this report, the market for cleanroom technology is predicted to rise owing to the expansion in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, the increasingly favorable regulatory framework, and the increasing demand for cutting-edge products. In addition, the increasing healthcare spending, the rising occurrence of infectious and contagious diseases, and the growing demand for sterilized pharmaceutical products are also amongst the major factors propelling the cleanroom technology market.In terms of equipment, the market is segmented into cleanroom air showers, laminar air flow/hoods, fume hoods, HEPA filters, dessicator cabinets, environmental monitoring systems, gloveboxes and isolators, cleanroom filters, softwall cleanrooms, cleanroom pass through systems, and particle counters. In terms of consumable, the report segments the market into beard covers, bouffant caps, shoe covers/boot covers, wipes, cuff sealers, gloves, swabs, and face masks. On the basis of apparel, the cleanroom technology market is segmented into suits, Nomex suits, Tyvek garments, shoes, cart covers, polypropylene garments, chemical suits, blankers, and aprons.This report states that cleanroom technology finds its application in a number of industries. The major end users of cleanroom technology are the biotechnology industry, the hardware industry, the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, medical device manufacturers, the food industry, the optical industry, the electronics industry, the plastic industry, and others.On the basis of geography, the report segments the market into Europe, Asia pacific, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). Amongst these, North America led the market in 2015 and was trailed by Europe. The reasons for the superiority of the North America market include the increasing disposable income of consumers and the stringent regulations on healthcare within this region. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is also experiencing swift growth in the market due to the expansion of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in this region.According to this report, the chief players operating in the cleanroom technology market are Alpiq Group, Azbil Corporation, Ardmac Ltd, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Illinois Tool Works, Inc., E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Taikisha, Ltd, and, Royal Imtech N.V., among others.Download Free Sample Report Brochure:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact Us:-Mr.Sudip.STransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com
In Vitro Toxicity Testing Market to Reach US$4.1 bn by 2018 due to Rising Health-consciousness

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=395

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/in-vitro-toxicity-testing-market.html

Transparency Market Research (TMR) has recently published a research study on the global in-vitro toxicity testing market. The report estimates this market to rise at a CAGR of 15.30% over the period from 2012 to 2018 and reach US$4.1 bn by the end of the forecast period.The research report, titled In Vitro Toxicity Testing Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Analysis And Forecast 2012 - 2018, states that the worldwide market for in-vitro toxicity testing attained a value of US$1.5 bn in 2011.Get Free Sample Research Report:In-vitro toxicity testing is the scientific analysis of the impact of toxic chemical substances on mammalian cells or cultured bacteria, which is primarily utilized to identify harmful chemicals in agricultural products, therapeutic drugs, and food additives. According to the popular notion among various toxicologists, in-vitro toxicity testing methods are more useful, efficient, and less time-consuming compared to toxicology studies.The strong objection of environmentalists to animal testing has influenced the demand for in-vitro toxicity testing positively. Technical advancements in the in-vitro toxicity testing methods are also propelling this market significantly.The report studies the worldwide in-vitro toxicity testing market on the basis of the type of in-vitro toxicity testing and the regional spread of this market. Based on the regional spread of the worldwide in-vitro toxicity testing market has been segmented into Europe, Asia, North America, and the Rest of the World.North America led the overall market with a share of approximately 40% in 2010, attaining a value of US$526.9 mn. Analysts project this regional market to retain its leadership during the forecast period. However, Europe is likely to surpass North America in the long term, states the report.The growing prevalence of cosmetic product testing in Europe is expected to boost the in-vitro testing market in this region over the forthcoming years. In addition to this, the ban on animal testing in this region also fueling the demand for in-vitro testing for the analysis of genotoxic effects.Based on the type of in-vitro toxicity testing, the market has been classified on the basis of dose, absorption, and toxic substances. By dose, the market has been segmented into dose response and threshold response. By absorption, distribution, excretion, and metabolism have been identified as the key segments of this market. Toxic substances-wise, the report categorizes this market into acute and chronic toxicity, toxin, toxicant, and toxicokinetics.The study also evaluates the global in-vitro toxicity testing market on the basis of application and end user. In-vitro toxicity testing methods and cytotoxicity assays used for in-vitro toxicity testing have been identified as the main application segments of this market and the pharmaceutical industry, the food and beverages industry, the chemicals industry, and cosmetics and household products have been identified as the key end users of in-vitro toxicity testing.Covance Inc., Charles River Laboratories International Inc., Accelrys Inc., Cyprotex, and Bio-Rad Laboratories are the leading enterprises functioning in the global in-vitro toxicity testing market.Other prominent companies mentioned in this report are Xenobiotic Detection Systems (XDS), Gene Logic Inc., Mattek Corp., In Vitro Technologies, Molecular Toxicology Inc., RTI Health Solutions, MB Research Laboratories, SBW Ltd., and Xenometrix.Full Research Report on Global In-vitro Toxicity Testing Market:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207
Mattias Berglundh is new Area Sales Manager for Perfion Product Information Management in Sweden

www.perfion.com

www.perfion.com

The Swedish companies are aware that efficient Product Information Management is crucial for business growth. Consequently we are now strengthening Perfions presence on the Swedish market.Perfions new Area Sales Manager, Mattias Berglundh, resides in Stockholm and will give his full attention to Swedish companies in need for a PIM solution.GREAT EXPERIENCE IN ECOMMERCE AND SOFTWARE SYSTEMSMattias has held a number of different Nordic Sales Executive and Business Development roles for primarily American software companies like Webtrends, Omniture and Adobe. He now joins Perfion directly from German based SAP where he was responsible for selling hybris commerce solutions across the Nordic countries.He also spent around 11 years abroad having worked and studied in the UK and France.From now on it is time to focus on PIM solution selling:I am very excited about joining Perfion with its great solutions and to be part of building up and develop the Swedish market. Perfion offers very sought after solutions for the companies in Sweden. By now becoming a true Perfioneer, I hope to be able to make a great contribution to our growth and success.FAMILY AND SNOWBOARDING IN THE SPARE TIMEMattias spare time is mainly consumed by spending time with his family, which includes a lot of LEGO building with his 5-year-old son and re-setting the iPad after his little daughters playtime. He also enjoys snowboarding and the occasional run when time allows.PERFION  THE COMPANYPerfion is the worlds only 100% standard Product Information Management (PIM) solution for companies with a large number of product variants and parts and/or need for multi-channel, multi-language communication.With Perfion you get a single source of truth for product information which gives you full control of all product data from day one wherever it is applied (e.g. webshops, websites, supplier portals, smart phone apps, printed catalogues, fact sheets, social media, direct mails, newsletters).Perfion is the easiest and fastest PIM solution to implement. It is open to integrate with your existing IT-platform and handles continuous changes in requirements without extra cost.Perfion integrates easily with existing ERP systems and 100% into Microsoft Dynamics NAV, AX, GP and SL as well as SAP, Oracle, Infor, Movex plus Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, EPiServer Commerce, Sana Commerce, Dynamicweb, Magento and OXID eSales.Perfion has a documented ROI of less than a year.PerfionNiels Jernes Vej 8DK-9220 AalborgDenmarkPhone: +45 70 26 26 80info@perfion.comJan Nrret, CEOjn@perfion.com
Worldwide Snake Robots Market Shares, Strategy and Forecasts Research Reports 2015 to 2021

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=401827

http://www.researchmoz.us/snake-robots-market-shares-strategy-and-forecasts-worldwide-2015-to-2021-report.html

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Snake Robots: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.The 2015 study has 465 pages, 206 tables and figures. Worldwide snake robot markets are poised to achieve significant growth as the next generation units provide an access and movement mechanism that is unique and useful in a variety of industries. Target markets are for confined spaces.Confined spaces exist. A confined space exists because of a lack of ability to take apart or dismantle components. Confined spaces exist in nuclear reactors where radiation is dangerous for human, aircraft inside the wings and other small spaces that need to remain intact, the human body which likewise cannot be dismantled easily, industrial processing plants that have containers, underwater environments, ship-building, and space. Buildings, roads, pipelines and other man-made spaces all have confined spaces. The world is full of awkward confined spaces.Snake-arm robots are self-contained portable devices and extensions to existing systems. These products build on software and hardware technology.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Snake robots used for small space access, inside airplane wing access, first responder tasks, and surgery: They are used for going where nothing else can go. Snake robots provide systems that significantly improve traditional open surgery by consolidating the number of minimally invasive access ports to one and eliminating open surgery.The automated process revolution has come to robotics, used in surgery, industry, ships, airplanes, first responder help, and communications. Automated process is being implemented via robots. Robots are automating systems, providing significant improvement in the accuracy of surgery and penetration of spaces that were previously impenetrable.A confined space needs long smooth snake shapes to achieve access. Confined spaces exist by design (aircraft engine), by failure (collapsed building) or naturally (human body). Existing open surgery can be replaced in large part by robotic and minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Minimally invasive surgery MIS, drug therapies, radiation treatment, and emerging interventional surgical approaches complement robotic surgery techniques as a replacement for or complement to open surgery. The snake robots reduces the number of ports needed to gain access and repair the heart.The companies that get an early foothold in the market have significant strategic advantage. The robotic snake leverages a new technique for robotic movement that benefits users by providing efficient access to difficult spaces. This factor is driving demand for snake robot systems. Since robotics provide a precise, repeatable and controlled ability to perform procedures in tight spaces, they are increasingly in demand.During a robot assisted surgical procedure, the patient-side cart is positioned next to the operating table with the electromechanical arms arranged to provide access to the initial ports selected by the surgeon. Metal tubes attached to the arms are inserted through the ports, and the cutting and visualization instruments are introduced through the tubes into the patients body. The surgeon performs the procedure while sitting at a console, manipulating the instrument controls and viewing the operation through a vision system. When a surgeon needs to change an instrument the instrument is withdrawn from the surgical field using the controls at the console. This is done many times during an operation.The aging US population has supported demand for robotic surgical instruments, since the occurrence of health issues that require medical devices is higher in the elderly population. Buoyed by strong demand and sales, industry profit margins have increased. Snake robot device markets at $33.6 million in 2012 are anticipated to reach $2.3 billion by 2019 as next devices, systems, and instruments are introduced to manage access to difficult spaces through small ports when large openings are unavailable or inconvenient.Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersOC RoboticsHiBotMedroboticsHirose Fukushima Lab ACMSarcoMarket ParticipantsApplied Robotics Technologies, LLCFanucKawasaki RoboticsKukaMitsubishiSintefTeslaTokyo Institute of Technology Research LaboratoriesUnifireUniversity of Michigan Mobile Robotics Lab OmnitreadYaskawaSelected List of Robots, University and Research Snake RobotsBrowse Detail Report With TOC @Table of ContentSnake Robots Market Shares and Market Forecasts ES-1Snake Robot Market Driving Forces ES-1Snake Robots Market Shares ES-10Snake Robot Market Forecasts ES-121. Snake Robots Market Description and Market Dynamics 1-11.1 Snake Robots Are Different 1-11.2 Modsnake Robots 1-21.2.1 Modsnake Robots Support Human Workers 1-31.3 Snakelike Robots Slither over Rough Landscape 1-41.4 Snake Robots Locomote 1-41.5 Serpentine Robot Applications 1-51.5.1 Seizing the Robotics Opportunity 1-61.5.2 Modular Self-Reconfiguring Robotic Systems 1-71.6 Public Aware That Robotics Have Arrived 1-71.7 Next Generation Snake Robotics 1-92. Snake Robots Market Shares and Market Forecasts 2-12.1 Snake Robot Market Driving Forces 2-12.2 Snake Robots Market Shares 2-102.3 Snake Robot Variety of Applications 2-132.3.1 HiBot / Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM 2-132.3.2 OC Robotics Snake-Arm for Aircraft Assembly 2-152.3.3 Minimally Invasive Equipment Surgical Robots 2-162.3.4 Medrobotics Cardioarm Is A Jointed Robot 2-172.3.5 SINTEF Robot Snakes Climb Pipes 2-182.3.6 University of Southampton. 2-182.3.7 CCTV Inspection 2-192.4 Snake Robot Market Forecasts 2-192.4.1 Snake Robots Market Industry Segments 2-212.4.2 Cardiac Surgery Snake Robots Market Forecasts 2-262.4.3 Medrobotics Initial Goal Is To Help Avoid Open-Heart Surgery 2-262.4.4 Minimally Invasive Surgery Positioning: Medrobotics Requires One Incision At The Bottom Of The Ribs Whereas The Da Vinci Endoscopic Surgical System Could Require Up To Six Incision Points 2-272.4.5 Medrobotics Positioning 2-282.4.6 Cardiac Surgery Snake Robots Market Forecasts 2-282.4.7 Reaching The Un Reachable Snake Robot Market Forecasts 2-302.5 Snake Robot Prices 2-312.5.1 Inaccessible Spaces - OC Robotics 2-312.5.2 Cardiac Surgery - Medrobotics 2-312.6 Snake Robots Regional Market Analysis 2-333. Snake Robot Product Description 3-13.1 OC Robotics 3-13.1.1 OC Robotics The Explorer Range 3-23.1.2 OC Robotics Snake-Arm Control 3-73.1.3 OC Robotics Snake-Arm Simulator 3-73.1.4 OC Robotics Snake-Arm for Aircraft Assembly 3-83.1.5 OC Robotics Extender Snake Range Of Motion Robots Reach The Unreachable 3-93.1.6 OC Robotics Snake-Arm  3-123.1.7 OC Robotics 3-153.1.8 OC Energy & Environment Robotics 3-163.1 Medrobotics Techonology 3-173.1.1 Medrobotics Medical Devices for Minimally Invasive Surgery 3-183.1.2 Medrobotics Flexible Robot Platform 3-183.1.3 Medrobotics Snakelike Robots for Heart Surgery 3-193.1.4 Medrobotics Cardiac Surgery Snake Robot 3-203.1.5 Minimally Invasive Surgery Positioning: 3-243.2 University of Michigan All-Terrain Robotics: 3-253.2.1 University of Michigan Mobile Robotics Lab Omnitread 3-293.2.2 OmniTread Robot Snakes 3-323.3 Applied Robotics Technologies, LLC 3-333.3.1 The FLEXnav Proprioceptive Position Estimation (PPE) System 3-343.3.2 Applied Robotics Technologies Pricing 3-353.3.3 Heuristic Drift Reduction for Gyros in Vehicle Tracking Applications 3-363.3.4 Applied Robotics Technologies Key Benefits 3-393.3.5 Applied Robotics Technologies Pricing 3-393.4 NASA Robotic Snakes 3-393.5 Canadian Robotics Ltd. 3-403.6 Japan Guru World-Class Snake Robotics 3-403.7 NTNU and SINTEF in Norway World-Class Snake Robotics 413.7.1 Sintef Anna Konda 3-413.7.2 Anna Konda Firefighting Snakebot 3-473.7.3 Sintef Aiko 3-503.7.4 Sintef Pneumosnake 3-513.7.5 Sintef PiKo 3-523.7.6 Sintef Climbing Robot 3-553.7.7 Sintef Robot Learning 3-573.7.8 Department of Engineering Cybernetics at NTNU Pneumosnake  Snake Robot With Pneumatic Bellows 3-583.8 Hibot Pipetron 3-603.8.1 HiBot Expliner 3-613.8.2 HiBot ACM-R4H 3-623.8.3 HiBot ACM-R5 3-633.8.4 Hibot ACM-R5 Amphibious Robosnake 3-643.8.5 HiBot Japanese Snake Robot 3-663.8.6 Maintaining High Voltage Transmission Lines Using Robotics 3-683.8.7 Hydro-Quebec Research Institute (IREQ)LineScout Tele-operated obstacle crossing system 3-683.8.8 HiBot Expliner 3-683.8.9 Americas Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) In Chile: Latest Report Presents Market Outlook To 2030

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MarketResearchReports.biz has announced the addition of the Solar Photovoltaic (PV) In Chile, Market Outlook To 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost Of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations And Company Profiles report to its offering. The report is a professional in-depth study on the current state of the solar photovoltaic industry in Chile. The report comprises definition and specifications of the solar photovoltaic industry, along with its classification, applications, industry chain structure, industry news, and industry policy analysis.View Press Release atSolar cells or solar photovoltaic cells have the capability of converting sunlight into electricity. Solar photovoltaic (PV) gets its name from the process of converting light, or photons, to electric energy, i.e. voltage. A solar photovoltaic system is an arrangement comprising several solar panels, solar inverters, mounting, cabling, and other electrical accessories. PVs have the benefits of being operable silently, not containing any moving parts, and, most importantly, producing electricity without any harmful emissions. The growing concerns among people regarding environmental deterioration are encouraging the growth of the PV systems market from being a niche market to a mainstream electricity generation method.Solar photovoltaic is primarily used for grid-connected electricity required to operate commercial equipment, residential appliances, and lighting and/or air conditioning buildings. PV systems are particularly beneficial in remote areas, where electricity is not available on a large scale. Solar photovoltaic units can be mounted on the rooftops of buildings or can even be ground mounted, as per the conditions of the particular location. The future will see an increasing number of applications being run by solar photovoltaics.The growth of the solar photovoltaic market in Chile can be attributed to the encouragement given by the government to make use of these eco-friendly systems to generate electricity. Their high efficiency and cost-effectiveness make them a smart choice for the generation of electricity.The report provides a detailed analysis of the installed capacity, cumulative installed capacity, and cumulative installed capacity by region and by country. Major active plants in Chile as well as projects that are under construction have been studied to give readers a detailed overview of the future of the solar photovoltaic market. The investment trends and opportunities in the market are studied as well. The solar photovoltaic market in Chile has been studied by volume and value in the report.The report profiles major players in the solar photovoltaic market. Some of the leading players studied in the report are: TerraForm Power, Inc., 4.5 Enel Green Power S.p.A., SunEdison, Inc., and Etrion Corporation. The study of these companies helps in understanding the strategies implemented by these companies to reach among the top positions in the PV market. Business description, company overview, major products and services, as well as the contact information of each company have been included in the study.MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Mice Model Market to Exhibit Strongest Growth in Asia Pacific; China and India Brimming with Opportunities

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The global mice model market was valued at US$1.01 bn in 2014. After exhibiting a CAGR of 6.40% within a forecast period from 2015 to 2023, this market is expected to reach US$1.7 bn by the end of it. This data has been compiled in a research report released by Transparency Market Research. The report, titled Mice Model Market : Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023, provides a comparative analysis of the markets various segments, and a conclusive description of the markets future.Read More:According to the report, the primary driver of the global mice model market is the growing level of research and development in the field of genetic technology. Mice models are being used increasingly in biomedical research in order to get better results in trials for human diseases and testing of new drugs.The report links the global mice model market to major developments in the medical field, such as the introduction of efficacious treatment options for APL, which was previously considered to be a terminal disease. Mice models were used extensively in the development of new drug candidates for APL, thus driving the global mice model market.The report also distinguishes mice models in comparison to other medical testing methods. Mice models can provide a precise correlation with the human symptoms of various diseases. Another top advantage of using mice models is the higher scope for exploring functions that are specific to human genetic coding through the molecular events inside a living organism.The report provides a segmented view of the global mice model market, based on type, specialty, service, and geography.In terms of type, the global mice model market was dominated by inbred mice models in 2014. This was attributed to their multiple benefits, such as higher data reproducibility and improved cost-effectiveness. Other segments include mice models that are surgically modified, transplanted, outbred, carcinogen-induced and spontaneous, knockout, hybrid or congenic, and transgenic.In terms of specialty, the global mice model market is segmented into immunology, CNS, diabetes, oncology, metabolism and regulation, and cardiovascular. Of these, the global mice model market was led by the metabolic and regulation segment in 2014, while the segment of diabetes mice models is expected to rise at the highest growth rate within the reports forecast period. The growing prevalence of diabetes will lead to better and faster research and development rates.Request A Sample Of This Report:In terms of service, the global mice model market is being propelled by the increasing importance of providing customized mice models for various fields of applied research, along with the growing production levels and development efforts in the field of critical biomolecules.Geographically, the report puts North America at the top position in the global mice model market for 2014. This regional markets lead is attributed to the presence of a large number of top companies in it, which has given rise to major opportunities in biomedicine. The second place in the global mice model market for 2014 was held by Europe. At the same time, the report expects Asia Pacific to display the highest CAGR among all major regions for the given forecast period, owing to the rapid developments in research and infrastructure in developing economies such as China and India.The key players in the global mice model market are TransGenic, Inc., The Jackson Laboratory, SAGE Labs, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Taconic Biosciences, Inc., ImmunoGenes AG, Harlan Laboratories, Inc., GenOway S.A., Deltagen, Inc., Crescendo Biologics Limited, and Charles River Laboratories.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Mr. Sudip STransparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email:A sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Indian Tyre Market illuminated by New Research Report Published By :MarketResearchReports.biz

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MarketResearchReports.Biz presents this most up-to-date research on Indian Tyre Market: Trends & Opportunities (2012-2017).DescriptionGovernment policies and norms play a major role in shaping the dynamics and future of tyre market. Recently, the government of India went for the outright sale of its wholly owned, West Bengal-based Tyre Corporation of India limited (TCIL). TCIL, engaged in manufacturing and marketing of automotive tyres was declared sick in 1992. From the last ten years, the company has not been manufacturing its own brand of tyres and has been doing work for companies such as CEAT and Birla Tyres.The Indian tyre market is highly concentrated as about 60% of the market is catered by top notch players. The market is expected to witness fierce competition from international players entering the Indian market. The major players in the market are MRF, JK tyres, Apollo, CEAT, Birla etc.At present the two-wheeler and commercial tyre segment is witnessing tremendous growth. And passenger cars tyre segment is the fastest growing category with a raising demand in future. Talking about the technological aspect, the market is flooded with technology like tubeless tyres, radialisation and retreading.The report titled Indian Tyre Market: Trends and Opportunities (2012-2017 analyzes the growth of the market and the future direction of the industry. The key market challenges recognized by the analysts and the major trends of the Indian tyre market are presented in the report.The report also provides a brief over viewing on the pricing strategy, profiling of the major competitors and their market strategy. Key players of the market like MRF, JK tyres, Apollo, CEAT, Birla have been profiled and the growth of the market has been projected taking into consideration various aspects like previous growth patterns, the current trends and the growth drivers.Download Full Version PDF report at:TABLE OF CONTENT1. Executive Summary2. Understanding Tyre Market3. Global Tyre Market Analysis3.1. Market Size3.2. Global Market Share3.2.1. By Production3.2.2. By Type of Vehicle3.2.3. By major Players4. Indian Tyre Market Analysis4.1. Segment Analysis4.2. Market Share4.2.1. By Major Players4.2.2. By End Users4.3. Pricing Strategy5. Indian Tyre Market: PEST Analysis6. Indian Tyre Market: Drivers and Challenges6.1. Drivers6.2. Challenges7. Tyre Market Trends7.1. Vertical Integration7.2. Emergence of Tubeless Tyre7.3. Retreading Technology8. Michael Porters five Forces Analysis9. Company Profile9.1. MRF9.2. JK Tyres9.3. Apollo Tyres9.4. CEAT10. RecommendationsHigher penetration of RadialisationReduced Excise DutyAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports.MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients.We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated researchreports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and typesof companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Military drone markets at $3 billion in 2014 are anticipated to reach $11 billion by 2021

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http://www.researchmoz.us/military-drones-market-shares-market-strategies-and-market-forecasts-2015-to-2021-report.html

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Military Drones: Market Shares, Market Strategies, and Market Forecasts, 2015 to 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.Next generation drones leverage better technology, launching from ships anywhere and from the battlefield should that be necessary. The drone technology is evolving: better launching, better navigation, softer landings, longer flights, better ability to carry different payloads are available. The study has 881 pages and 415 tables and figures.The military drones are able to achieve terrorist control tasks. They have been evolving air camera integration for surveillance systems capability. They are used for surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence missions. They do 3D mapping and support ground troops. These are more energy efficient, last longer and have a significantly lower cost of operation than manned aircraft.Drone aircraft are sophisticated and flexible. They take off, fly and land autonomously. Theyenable engineers to push the envelope of normal flight. Reconnaissance drones can fly for days continuously. Remote, ground-based pilots can work in shifts.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Drone technology extends everywhere, even to airline control towers. Drones evolving technology is extending uses, making units combat enabled. The use of drone technology to control moving devices remotely extends the notion of drones, creating a larger potential drone market. Military drones will make every navy ship an aircraft carrier. They can be launched from anywhere, not needing an airfield in many cases.Drone unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has reached a level of maturity that has put these systems at the forefront of aerospace manufacturing. Procurement around the world is adapting to drone availability. Use in the global war on terrorism has demonstrated unique usefulness for military intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications relay.Removal of the need for an onboard pilot ushers in an era of low cost drone aerial craft. The drone elimination of the need for human support systems on aircraft dramatically reduces the aircrafts size, complexity, and power requirements. The drones effectively reduce overall program cost, development time and risk. Many advanced flight technologies are for piloted craft. These are initially tested using unmanned subscale demonstrators.Designers work to simplify the aircrafts configuration, making systems that are adaptable to different payloads on different days. Drones can be redesigned and tested at reduced risk than with development of manned aircraft. Drones allow configurations that would be impossible or impractical for human occupation. Drones are becoming easier to control.A common issue with UAV platforms is the need to optimize these aircraft. UAVs need to carry useful payloads. These platforms are flexible as to payload, permitting interchangeable or additional sensors and other electronics, extra fuel or weapons systems. The sole function of an unmanned aircraft is to get to a target location, perform a task, and then return in the most efficient and cost-effective way. Without a pilot aboard, the return trip is optional. Light weight is central to UAV design.Drones represent a way to use air to travel faster and at less cost. The market is divided between large and small military drones. Military drones represent the future of the national security presence for every nation. Increasing technology sophistication and lower costs are achieving dramatic market shifts.Unmanned aircraft systems are achieving a level of relatively early maturity. Fleets of unmanned aircraft systems have begun to evolve. The U.S. Army has achieved one million flight hours for its unmanned aircraft systems fleet. Unmanned aerial systems have good handling characteristics. UAS units are designed to perform high-speed, long-endurance, more covert, multi-mission intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and precision-strike missions over land or sea.Quantities of fielded military and commercial systems of every size and description are set to increase. Every ship can become an aircraft carrier with drones, Military drone units feature a variety of internal loads, including 2,000 lb payload, an Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor, and an all-weather GA-ASI Lynx synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator (SAR/GMTI), maximizing long loiter capabilities.Military drone markets at $3 billion in 2014 are anticipated to reach $11 billion by 2021. Segments are persistent, penetrating, tactical, small tactical, and mini, Persistent drones represent the largest revenue segment in 2015 and remain the biggest throughout the forecast period.Browse Detail Report With TOC @Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersNorthrop GrummanAeroVironmentBoeing / InsituGeneral AtomicsLockheed MartinDraganflyerTextron / AAIIAIMarket ParticipantsAeroVironmentASN TechnologiesAurora FlightAviation Industry Corp (Avic)BAE SystemsBoeingChallis UAV Inc.China AerospaceDenel DynamicsDJIDraganflyerFinmeccanicaFlirteyGeneral AtomicsGeneral DynamicsGoogleGoProHoneywellIntegrated DynamicsIsrael Aerospace IndustriesL-3 CommunicationsLaird / Cattron Group InternationalLockheed MartinMarcus UAVMMistNorthrop GrummanParrot/senseFlyProx DynamicsProxy TechnologiesRUAG AerospaceSafran MorphoSAICScaled CompositesSchiebelTextronTRNDlabsWing LoongAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Drones Even Trains and Planes Use Remote Control Like Drones, Market Shares, Strategies and Forecasts Research Report 2015 to 2021

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Drones: Even Trains and Planes Use Remote Control Like Drones, Market Shares, Market Strategies, and Market Forecasts, 2015 to 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.Drones: Trains, Planes, and Drones Use Remote Control: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021. Next generation drones leverage better technology, launching from ships anywhere. The technology is evolving better navigation, softer landings, longer flights, better ability to carry different payloads.The drones are able to achieve military and commercial tasks. They have been evolving airfreight delivery systems capability. They are used for surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence missions. They do 3D mapping, commercial pipeline observation, border patrol, package delivery, photography, and agriculture. These are more energy efficient, last longer and have a significantly lower cost of operation than manned aircraft.Drone technology extends everywhere, even to airline control towers. Drones evolving technology is extending uses, even evolving to trains and planes. The use of Drone technology to control moving devices remotely extends the notion of drones, creating a larger potential drone market. Military drones will make every navy ship an aircraft carrier. They can be launched from anywhere, not needing an airfield.In the recent Germanwings airline crash, the control tower knew for 10 minutes that the airliner was set to destruct with all the passengers on board but the controllers in the tower were powerless to help. This crash represents an instance of how security systems and sensors might be used from a control tower to effect remote control in response to a security issue.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Headlines like Amtrak train derailed going 106 M.P.H. on sharp curve; at least 9 killed, represent another instance of where remote control of a transport unit would improve safety in train operations. Remote monitoring. and remote piloting offer guidelines on the commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems . Drone commercial uses will provide billions of dollars in economic growth.Drone unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has reached a level of maturity that has put these systems at the forefront of aerospace manufacturing. Procurement around the world is adapting to drone availability. Use in the global war on terrorism has demonstrated unique usefulness for military intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications relay.Relatively low-cost of drones make them work for civilian applications. Law enforcement, mapping, video making, movie making, environmental monitoring, and aerial survey become compelling applications in the future.Drone aircraft are sophisticated and flexible. They take off, fly and land autonomously. They enable engineers to push the envelope of normal flight. Reconnaissance drones can fly for days continuously. Remote, ground-based pilots can work in shifts.Removal of the need for an onboard pilot ushers in an era of low cost aerial craft called drones. The drone elimination of the need for human support systems on aircraft dramatically reduces the aircrafts size, complexity, and power requirements. The drones effectively reduce overall program cost, development time and risk. Many advanced flight technologies are for piloted craft. These are initially tested using unmanned subscale demonstrators.Removing the pilot allows designers to simplify the aircrafts design and then test it at reduced risk. It allows configurations that would be impossible or impractical for human occupation.A common issue with UAV platforms is the need to optimize these aircraft. UAV are used to carry useful payloads. These platforms are flexible as to payload, permitting interchangeable or additional sensors and other electronics, extra fuel or weapons systems. The sole function of an unmanned aircraft is to get to a target location, perform a task, and then return in the most efficient and cost-effective way. Without a pilot aboard, the return trip is optional. Light weight is central to UAV design.NORTHROP GRUMMAN GLOBAL HAWKLEXINGTON, Massachusetts (July 30, 2015)  WinterGreen Research announces that it has published a new study Drones: Trains, Planes, and Drones Use Remote Control: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021. Next generation drones leverage better technology, launching from ships anywhere. The technology is evolving better navigation, softer landings, longer flights, better ability to carry different payloads.The drones are able to achieve military and commercial tasks. They have been evolving airfreight delivery systems capability. They are used for surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence missions. They do 3D mapping, commercial pipeline observation, border patrol, package delivery, photography, and agriculture. These are more energy efficient, last longer and have a significantly lower cost of operation than manned aircraft.Drone technology extends everywhere, even to airline control towers. Drones evolving technology is extending uses, even evolving to trains and planes. The use of Drone technology to control moving devices remotely extends the notion of drones, creating a larger potential drone market. Military drones will make every navy ship an aircraft carrier. They can be launched from anywhere, not needing an airfield.In the recent Germanwings airline crash, the control tower knew for 10 minutes that the airliner was set to destruct with all the passengers on board but the controllers in the tower were powerless to help. This crash represents an instance of how security systems and sensors might be used from a control tower to effect remote control in response to a security issue.Headlines like Amtrak train derailed going 106 M.P.H. on sharp curve; at least 9 killed, represent another instance of where remote control of a transport unit would improve safety in train operations. Remote monitoring. and remote piloting offer guidelines on the commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems . Drone commercial uses will provide billions of dollars in economic growth.Drone unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has reached a level of maturity that has put these systems at the forefront of aerospace manufacturing. Procurement around the world is adapting to drone availability. Use in the global war on terrorism has demonstrated unique usefulness for military intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communications relay.Relatively low-cost of drones make them work for civilian applications. Law enforcement, mapping, video making, movie making, environmental monitoring, and aerial survey become compelling applications in the future.Drone aircraft are sophisticated and flexible. They take off, fly and land autonomously. They enable engineers to push the envelope of normal flight. Reconnaissance drones can fly for days continuously. Remote, ground-based pilots can work in shifts.Removal of the need for an onboard pilot ushers in an era of low cost aerial craft called drones. The drone elimination of the need for human support systems on aircraft dramatically reduces the aircrafts size, complexity, and power requirements. The drones effectively reduce overall program cost, development time and risk. Many advanced flight technologies are for piloted craft. These are initially tested using unmanned subscale demonstrators.Removing the pilot allows designers to simplify the aircrafts design and then test it at reduced risk. It allows configurations that would be impossible or impractical for human occupation.A common issue with UAV platforms is the need to optimize these aircraft. UAV are used to carry useful payloads. These platforms are flexible as to payload, permitting interchangeable or additional sensors and other electronics, extra fuel or weapons systems. The sole function of an unmanned aircraft is to get to a target location, perform a task, and then return in the most efficient and cost-effective way. Without a pilot aboard, the return trip is optional. Light weight is central to UAV design.Browse Detail Report With TOC @Drones represent a way to use air to travel faster and at less cost. The market is divided between military and commercial drones. Military drones represent the future of the national security presence for every nation. Increasing technology sophistication and lower costs are achieving dramatic market shifts.Remote operation occurs in a control tower. The control tower knew for ten minutes that the Germanwings flight was headed for disaster and could do nothing about it, the same was true during the airliner participation in the 911 terrorist bombings. What this study is about is control towers that have the ability to stop trains, planes, and control drones.Control towers are set to become a way of life and drones light the way. Other technologies will follow. If a train is approaching a curve at 100 miles per hour when it should be going 50 miles per hour, there in the future there will be a way to remotely take over the train and slow it or stop it.If a plane is hijacked, if there is a bad guy in the pilots seat, then in the future, the control tower will take over the plane. Drones lead the way in this regard. Drones provide a way to permit a plane to enter an airspace and to be controlled remotely. It is the drone technology that will be adopted by the trains and planes in the future of control tower expansion.In this study, we illustrate how drones achieve doing work even though they are remotely controlled. Remote operation of trains is now possible. A speeding train can be stopped by trained staff watching remotely. The rules for this have yet to be fully implemented.Transportation Trades AFL-CIO Endorses Federal Mandates To Require At Least Two Crew Members On U.S. Freight TrainsDrone market forecasts indicate strong growth anticipated Markets at $3.6 billion in 2014 are anticipated to reach $16.1 billion by 2021. A $3.6 billion market is substantial indicating the presence of many reference accounts for vendors. The wide variety of models and applications speak to the strong foothold in the market. With many vendors pushing products, the aggregate marketing will contribute to building a huge market for drones.Commercial drone agricultural markets will grow significantly as the aircraft are able to perform more cost efficiently than other ways of farming, ranching, and orchard tending. Package delivery is evolving as a nascent market for commercial drones.Military markets for drones with strike capability will grow rapidly. Every segment of drone market applications is poised for strong growth as the designs become more mature and vendors spread throughout the world..Military drones will be used on ships to replace missiles. Drones will master becoming more elusive and able to fly faster to get out of the way of armies firing at them. Drones will be launched from the decks of ships and controlled remotely to deal with trouble anywhere.Drones markets promise to grow significantly because of the more economical visualization and navigation provided by systems. Visualization includes mapping from the air, inspection from the air, surveillance from the air, and package delivery from the air. The unmanned aircraft equipped with cameras are able to do things that cannot be done in any other way. This bodes well for market development.Unmanned aircraft systems promise to achieve a more significant aspect of commercial market presence. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems flying of 3 million flight hours gives drones market credibility. Eighty eight percent of those hours were logged in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, paving the way for commercial drone markets to develop.According to Susan Eustis, leader of the team that prepared the study, Quantities of fielded military and commercial systems of every size and description are set to increase. Every ship can become an aircraft carrier with drones, every commercial endeavor can be made to operate more efficiently with drones. Police departments, the oil and gas industry, border patrol, and utilities are all using commercial drones. Units are used for agriculture. Vendors continue to improve the capabilities of drone aircraft. Governments continue to improve the rules and regulations controlling drones.Their ability to support the military and commercial endeavors is increasing. Unmanned aircraft have fundamentally changed the accuracy of utility and oil and gas inspections. The drones are set to fundamentally change how agriculture is conducted.WinterGreen Research is an independent research organization funded by the sale of market research studies all over the world and by the implementation of ROI models that are used to calculate the total cost of ownership of equipment, services, and software. The company has 35 distributors worldwide, including Global Information Info Shop, Market Research.com, Research and Markets, Bloomberg, electronics.ca, and Thompson Financial. WinterGreen Research is positioned to help customers facing challenges that define the modern enterprises. The increasingly global nature of science, technology and engineering is a reflection of the implementation of the globally integrated enterprise. Customers trust wintergreen research to work alongside them to ensure the success of the participation in a particular market segment.WinterGreen Research supports various market segment programs; provides trusted technical services to the marketing departments. It carries out accurate market share and forecast analysis services for a range of commercial and government customers globally. These are all vital market research support solutions requiring trust and integrity.Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersAeroVironment Lockheed MartinTextronBoeing / InsituNorthrop GrummanDraganflyerAeroVironmentMarket ParticipantsAeroVironmentASN TechnologiesAurora FlightAviation Industry Corp (Avic)BAE SystemsBoeingChallis UAV Inc.China AerospaceDenel DynamicsDJIDraganflyerFinmeccanicaFlirteyGeneral AtomicsGeneral DynamicsGoogleGoProHoneywellIntegrated DynamicsIsrael Aerospace IndustriesL-3 CommunicationsLaird / Cattron Group InternationalLockheed MartinMarcus UAVMMistNorthrop GrummanParrot/senseFlyProx DynamicsProxy TechnologiesRUAG AerospaceSafran MorphoSAICScaled CompositesSchiebelTextronTRNDlabsWing LoongKey TopicsMilitary DronesAutonomous trainsAutonomous systemsDronesAutonomous planesRoboticsUASPlanesTrainsCommercial DronesDrone Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)Drone 3D MappingDrone Commercial Pipeline ObservationDrone Border PatrolDrone Package DeliveryDrone PhotographyDronr AgricultureRemote ControlDrone SurveillanceDrone ReconnisanceDrone IntelligenceDrone MisselsDrone LaunchersAerial RefuelingAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Industrial Robot: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=296678

http://www.researchmoz.us/industrial-robot-market-shares-strategy-and-forecasts-worldwide-2015-to-2021-report.html

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Industrial Robot: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.Industrial Robot infrastructure in one industry makes it easier to extend product sets so that they are more available across all industries, remaking all manufacturing everywhere.Controllers permit leveraging industrial robot technology to improve automated process via iteration of work cells. Using controllers to leverage efficiencies is an evolving art, extending the current state of the art. Robots can perform tasks at less cost, and do work in a manner that cannot be replicated with human manufacturing workers. Information technology is used to implement the services provided by controllers.Growth prospects for the industrial robotics industry depend on market opportunity metrics relative to the different industries. Automotive investment levels globally have remained at historical highs. Increasing usage of robotic automation by non-automotive companies is driving the usage of industrial robot automation to a new level.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Increased adoption of industrial robots coupled with a huge push from the industry for collaborative robots, opens opportunities for robotic solutions. In the immediate future industrial robots strengthen the position of every industry, promising more manufacturing efficiency at every level.The industrial robots have not yet achieved economies of scale, illustrating the market opportunity that will come quickly after economies of scale are achieved. New technology and improved controllers open the path to economies of scale for industrial robots. As this occurs a new industrial revolution will occur. There are massive numbers of products offered by each major industrial robot vendor. Product consolidation is occurring in the market. Customization of a few products to increase product volume hold the promise of changing the market so it functions at a level that means devices that basically have eluded economies of scale in the past, will now be able to be mass produced.A few leading vendors profiled in the report lead the market. ABB provides a comprehensive range of robots to help manufacturers improve productivity, product quality and worker safety. Regardless of application ABB has a robot to meet needs of the customer in any industry. ABB has installed 250,000 robots worldwide.ABB's small IRB 120 multipurpose industrial robot weighs 25kg and can handle a payload of 3kg (4kg for vertical wrist) with a reach of 580mm. It is a cost-effective and reliable choice for generating high production outputs in return for low investment. A white finish Clean Room ISO 5 (Class 100) version, certified by IPA, is available.With a global install base of nearly 300,000 industrial robots, Yaskawa Motoman has over 150 robot arm models currently in production. Well defined criteria help users find a robotic arm that suits industrial applications. Required payload, reach and repeatability specifications are market aspects. Each robotic arm model is paired with a robot controller that enables workers to program and control tasks of a single robot or coordinate multiple robot arms.Yaskawa. Motoman offers 40 fully integrated, pre-engineered work cell solutions. These work cells include robots, process equipment, and safety equipment. Cost-effective world solutions are available to meet requirements for safety and easy of use. Customers look for industrial robots that are easy to set up and operate. Industrial robots automate manufacturing, starting with automotive factories providing automated process stat is cheaper, more reliable, and proven. Industrial robots are changing the economics of manufacturing and materials handling in all industries. Industrial robots are poised to change every aspect of modern business.Robots bring a new industrial revolution. Adoption of industrial robots in non-automotive applications is occurring in the electronics, chemicals, pharmaceutical, and food & beverages industries. Industrial robots have opened up new market opportunities. High installation costs have been largely overcome, making industries in developing markets available to vendors. The adoption of robots in underdeveloped countries occurs because of the unavailability of skilled labor.industrial robots are set to bring a new industrial revolution more important than anything seen before. Industrial robots perform repetitive tasks efficiently, they do not eat, they do not make mistakes, they do not get tired, they do what they are told.Browse Detail Report With TOC @Manufacturing plants are frequently long aisles of nothing but robots, no human in sight. Beyond industrial robots that repeat actions, more intelligent robots loaded with sensors, cameras, and intelligent software are able to automate process using controllers to manage action. Use of microprocessors provides a measure of intelligent control over the activity of the robot based on input from the sensors and the cameras.Think about the current industrial revolution. Before the invention of the automobile, buggy whip manufacturing was a thriving business. No longer. In the same vein, industrial robots hold the promise of eliminating many of the existing jobs in manufacturing. Innovation, centers of excellence. New enterprises promise to replace many of the existing jobs. People need to be flexible, to develop new industries.Increased adoption of industrial robots coupled with a huge push from the industry for collaborative robots, opens opportunities for robotic solutions. In the immediate future industrial robots strengthen the position of every industry, promising more manufacturing efficiency at every level.The issue becomes creating jobs and building economies worldwide so people can afford to support a family and a lifestyle and buy the goods that are manufactured so efficiently. This new job creation market thrust will come from industry and government investment in innovation and centers of excellence.Industrial robots promise to replace 70 to 90% of existing manufacturing jobs. People will learn new ways to achieve an economy, to achieve economic development. An economy needs to adjust, to be flexible if you gave pink slips to more than half the labor force.According to Susan Eustis, principal author of the market research study, Industrial robot vendors have discovered that with intelligent use of new technology, they can dominate an aspect of some manufacturing automated process for a particular sector. As the early adopters in the auto industry have proven, robots do the work cheaper and better than humans once a repetitive process has been evolved. Industrial robots make the difference between winning competitive advantage or losing it. Solutions offered by vendors are creating market growth opportunities .Industrial robots can perform tasks faster and more accurately than humans. Increases in productivity are provided by industrial robots. Robots help reduce overall manufacturing costs in developing and developed countries. Markets are expected to rise 11.5% annually through 2021. Industrial robot markets at $22 billion in 2014 are anticipated to reach $48.9 billion by 2021.WinterGreen Research is an independent research organization funded by the sale of market research studies all over the world and by the implementation of ROI models that are used to calculate the total cost of ownership of equipment, services, and software. The company has 35 distributors worldwide, including Global Information Info Shop, Market Research.com, Research and Markets, Electronics.CA, Bloomberg, and Thompson Financial.WinterGreen Research is positioned to help customers face challenges that define the modern enterprises. The increasingly global nature of science, technology and engineering is a reflection of the implementation of the globally integrated enterprise. Customers trust WinterGreen Research to work alongside them to ensure the success of the participation in a particular market segment.WinterGreen Research supports various market segment programs; provides trusted technical services to the marketing departments. It carries out accurate market share and forecast analysis services for a range of commercial and government customers globally. These are all vital market research support solutions requiring trust and integrity.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Worldwide Stationary Oxygen Concentrators Market Shares, Strategy and Forecasts Research Report 2015 to 2021

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=285014

http://www.researchmoz.us/stationary-oxygen-concentrators-market-shares-strategy-and-forecasts-worldwide-2015-to-2021-report.html

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Stationary Oxygen Concentrators: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.The 2015 study has 464 pages, 187 tables and figures. Worldwide markets are poised to achieve continuing growth as the aging population worldwide needs homecare oxygen treatment. Older people develop COPD and other respiratory conditions where oxygen is able to improve the quality of the life in a dramatic manner. Portable devices have become affordable and support a mobile lifestyle even while on oxygen.Stationary oxygen concentrators are needed for night use by patients on portable oxygen concentrators during the day. People on oxygen wish to continue usual activities, the portable devices are useful for that during the day. Distributors are concentrated on determining which stationary oxygen concentrator supports patient lifestyle.Major factors driving the market for stationary oxygen concentrators include its ability to provide oxygen under all circumstances. The worldwide aging population. An increase in the number of people with COPD and other respiratory diseases. Advantages of newer stationary oxygen concentrator devices are that they weigh less, are somewhat quieter than toe older units, and are easy to use. They are generally affordable but reimbursement drives markets.There has been a quantum improvement in the home based stationary oxygen concentrator technology. Less weight, more power are the characteristics of the new stationary units. The huge jump in technology is illustrated by the effectiveness of the devices in providing improved patient lifestyle.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Stationary concentrator systems are always used by a patient to supplement portable oxygen concentrators. Portable oxygen must be supplemented with standard large, bulky, and inefficient, heavy, and impractical stationary devices because the stationary devices provide a more stable source of oxygen during sleep.According to Susan Eustis, lead author of the team that wrote the study, This transformation from stationary to portable devices presents an opportunity for people who make oxygen equipment. Economies of scale and a new distribution modality leveraging homecare services are set to change the medical oxygen industry. Home delivery markets tend to be shrinking. Users of stationary oxygen systems generally still need a stationary unit for night, but service needed is limited.Home oxygen therapy (HOT), is administration at home of highly concentrated oxygen produced using a therapeutic oxygen concentrator as an ongoing therapy for patients with chronic respiratory ailments.Home oxygen therapy has spread rapidly since health insurance began covering these treatments in 1985. Stationary oxygen concentrator markets at $669.5 million market in 2014 are set to become a $2.0 billion market in 2021. Steady growth is anticipated because the portable units will still need a stationary unit for sleeping throughout the forecast period.The move from a primary delivery distribution sales model with a cost structure that accounts for truck rolls to a portable device market has brought havoc to the industry, permitting the evolution of a direct sales system. This has brought dramatic changes to the industry. For vendors that have relied on the distribution network and financing the distribution network, their hold on the market has shifted.Oxygen concentrator markets at $669.5 million in 2014 are anticipated to reach $2 billion dollars by 2021. Growth is a result of new competitors in the market, demand for the smaller lighter technology by patients, and the market need by for stationary devices at home even as portable devices provide greater mobility support for older people.WinterGreen Research is an independent research organization funded by the sale of market research studies all over the world and by the implementation of ROI models that are used to calculate the total cost of ownership of equipment, services, and software. The company has 35 distributors worldwide, including Global Information Info Shop, Market Research.com, Research and Markets, electronics.ca, Bloomberg, and Thompson Financial.WinterGreen Research is positioned to help customers facing challenges that define the modern enterprises. The increasingly global nature of science, technology and engineering is a reflection of the implementation of the globally integrated enterprise. Customers trust wintergreen research to work alongside them to ensure the success of the participation in a particular market segment.Browse Detail Report With TOC @WinterGreen Research supports various market segment programs; provides trusted technical services to the marketing departments. It carries out accurate market share and forecast analysis services for a range of commercial and government customers globally. These are all vital market research support solutions requiring trust and integrity.Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersChart / Caire / SeQualPhilips RespironicsAirSepInvacareMarket ParticipantsAir LiquideBraun and CompanyCareFusion / Intermed EquipmentChart IndustriesCAIRE / SeQual TechnologiesCovidienDeVilbiss HealthcareDragerDrive MedicalFanemFisher & Paykel HealthcareGardner Denver / Thomas CompressorsGE HealthcareGetinge Group AB / MaquetGraham FieldHamilton MedicalHeinen & Loewenstein GmbH & CoInogenInova LabsJiuxin MedicalLeistung EngineeringLongfian ScitechMeritsNidek MedicalO2 ConceptsOSI SystemsResMedTeijinDriveO2Concepts OxlifeSmiths Group plc / Smiths MedicalTeleflex Incorporated / Teleflex MedicalTerumoUltraNebsVBox TrooperVitality MedicalVygonAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Your Hygiene Product Supplier

www.arrowhygiene.co.nz

http://www.arrowhygiene.co.nz

Arrow Hygiene was previously known as Arrow Mats, a company which delivered safety mats for homeowners and office owners across New Zealand. Over time, clients were asking for a broader range of services and products. That is how Arrow Hygiene was developed, to take care of the new market demands.Currently, the family-owned business sources and supplies cleaning products, ranging from hygiene equipment to accessories. We partner with leading importers around New Zealand to bring our clients the best products. Presently, our clients are hotel owners, homeowners, offices, schools and even shopping centres all over New Zealand. However, our main concentration is the North Island area.Our ServicesWith our experience in the cleaning industry, we source the best products for our clients. Our services range from cafeteria supplies, hand care accessories, floor pads, mps, squeegees, brushware and even cloths and wipes. We also supply chemicals and other cleaning products for different surfaces. These include cleaning products for sinks, floors, walls, toilets and bathrooms.Apart from these products we also supply cleaning machinery and equipment. These always come in handy for clients who need heavy cleaning equipment for larger cleaning projects. Our products are not only cost-effective but they are also durable. We always source for a wide range of products so that our clients can have a wide variety and options to choose from.From our website, you can browse cleaning products and add them to a wish list. When you make your order, it will be delivered once the payment is made. Simply add the items to your cart and check them out.Why Choose UsIf you are looking for a supplier of quality hygiene products, Arrow Hygiene is your best bet. We not only supply the best products in the market, but we also ensure that they meet the highest standards of quality and safety.Apart from our quality products, we pride ourselves in our professional services. Our clients keep coming back for more products because of our reputation and credibility. We have a team of professionals who not only deliver products to our clients but who also handle custom care matters. You will notice that we pay attention to your needs and that we are also friendly.Additionally, the cleaning products which we supply are all eco-friendly. This means that they are proven harmless for use in the home or office environment. The ingredients used in making the products are also safe and harmless to the environment in general. Eco-friendly products also minimise the chances of you or the occupants of your premises from catching respiratory illnesses or allergic reactions.Contact UsAt Arrow Hygiene, we try to treat all our clients with the care and attention they deserve. Whether you want to buy hygienic products or accessories from us, you can easily do so from our website. If you have any questions regarding our services, products and delivery, kindly contact us. Our website is. Our professional team will get back you in no time to schedule your purchase, payment and delivery process.Arrow Hygiene was previously known as Arrow Mats, a company which delivered safety mats for homeowners and office owners across New Zealand.Darryl HartArrow Matting (Arrow Hygiene)22 Cornish Street, Petone 5012, New Zealand04 589 5889sales@arrowhygiene.co.nz
Passover Delight

www.cooknewton.com

www.cooknewton.com

WHAT: In celebration of Passover, Cook Newton is offering the neighborhood a selection of special dishes on Friday, April 22nd through Saturday, April 30th, 2016. Executive Chef Paul Turano will serve three unique takes on traditional Seder fare including Matzo Ball Soup ($8), Red Wine Braised Brisket with cauliflower mashed, carrots and pearl onions ($23) and Almond Macaroon Torte with chocolate frosting and berries ($8). The regular menu will also be available. For more information, visitor call 617-964-2665. Reservations are recommended.WHEN: April 22nd, 2016  April 30th, 2016; Sunday-Thursday, 4:30PM to 10:00PM; Friday & Saturday: 4:30PM to 11:00PM.WHERE: Cook Newton | 825 Washington Street | Newton, MA |02467RSVP: Reservations recommended by calling 617-964-2665.MENU: Matzo Ball Soup, $8Red Wine Braised Brisket, $23cauliflower mashed, carrots and pearl onionsAlmond Macaroon Torte, $8chocolate frosting, berriesAbout Cook:Cook restaurant is an 80-seat New American bistro is located in the Greater-Boston area in Newton, Massachusetts. Cook presents a menu that crosses all cultural lines and spans from the simple to the complex. The perfect place to meet for lunch, brunch or dinner, or simply to stop in and enjoy items from their snack menu while sampling craft cocktails, or something from the extensive beer and wine list. Cook is a true neighborhood restaurant in every way. Executive Chef/Owner Chef Paul Turano is dedicated to using only the freshest local ingredients. At Cook the food is dressed up, but you can dress down. Cook serves lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30AM- 3:30PM, Dinner: Sunday- Saturday from 4:30PM - close, and brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30AM -2:30PM. Cook is located at 825 Washington Street in Newton, MA. For more information please visit46 Waltham Street, Suite 301Boston, MA 02118
Global Ophthalmic Drugs Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 7% during 2015-2022

http://www.briskinsights.com/report/global-ophthalmic-drugs-market-forecast-2015-2022

http://www.briskinsights.com/category/pharmaceutical-industry

http://www.briskinsights.com/category/pharmaceutical-industry

http://www.briskinsights.com/

According to a recently published report, the Global Ophthalmic Drugs Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 7% during 2015-2022 and it is estimated to be $XX billion by 2022. The global ophthalmic drugs market is segmented on the basis of type, therapeutics, end user applications and geography. The report on global ophthalmic drugs market forecast 2015-2022 provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.The market is driven by various factors which include increase prevalence of eye related disorders such as glaucoma and cataract aging population, regulatory approvals to new drugs and devices, new technologies such as focus on combining drugs and device therapies and increasing economic factors such as rise in disposable income and health expenditure in emerging countries such as India and China.Browse Here For Full Report With ToC :The market is expected to grow at good growth rate due to growing awareness especially in the emerging and underdeveloped countries. However, factors such as expiration of patents, drying pipelines and major slowdowns in economies may hamper the market growth.The popular drugs include Lucentis, Eylea, Avastin, Restasis, Lumigan and Ganfort, Xalatan/Xalacom, Pataday and other. The drugs include drugs for glaucoma, retinal disorder, dry eye, allergic conjunctivitis, inflammation and conjunctivitis. The end users include hospitals, eye clinics, diagnostic centres and patients.Request For Sample :The major geographies include North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and rest of the world. North America is the largest market followed by Europe and Asia pacific. The North American market is driven high awareness, availability of drugs due to presence of major players. Better regulatory policies have led to increased trust in the drugs. Asia Pacific market to have high growth rate driven by strong markets in China and India. Market includes top players such as Abbot Laboratories, ltd, Allergan Inc, Roche, Pfizer, Novartis, Bayer, Senju, Johnson and Johnson and Santen.SCOPE OF THE REPORT1. Global ophthalmic drugs market By type 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)1.1. Global Prescription ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)1.2. Global OTC (over the counter drugs) ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)2. Global ophthalmic drugs market by therapeutics 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)2.1. Global Glaucoma ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)2.2. Global retinal disorder ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)2.3. Global Dry eye ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)2.4. Global Allergic conjunctivitis ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)3. Global ophthalmic drugs market by end user 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)3.1. Global Hospitals ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)3.2. Global Eye clinics ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)3.3. Global Diagnostic centers ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)3.4. Global Patients ophthalmic drugs market 2012 - 2022 ($ BILLION)4. Global ophthalmic drugs market regional outlook 2012-2022 ($ billion)4.1. North America4.2. Europe4.3. Asia Pacific4.4. Middle East & Africa4.5. Central & South AmericaClick Here For Same Category Reports :Contact Us :Jennifer SmithOffice 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LanenottinghamNG1 6DQPhone : +448081890034 (UK)Email : sales@briskinsights.comWebsite :About Us :Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies.Working in a highly dynamic and multi-dimensional business makes decision making complex. Effective business decisions are a result of the synthesis of market information. Our Research and data analysis is an efficient and cost-effective way of providing robust market analysis and can yield highly valuable intelligence relating to consumers, competitors and markets.Office 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar Lane
M&A activity shrinks after 2015 high

The value of mergers and acquisitions in the UK has halved year on year in the first quarter of 2016, on a slowdown at the top end of the market, according to analysis from Experian.The volume of M&A deals also fell, with 1,372 deals announced in the first quarter of 2016, a 15% fall from the 1,616 transactions recorded in the same period last year. The volume was also down by around 20% quarter on quarter.Experian said: After 2015s highs, this represents the most subdued quarter in almost three years, and mirrors a global trend for declining activity.But it said it was not yet clear whether the fall represents a small blip or an indication that the volume of deals will be more modest in the year ahead.In the first quarter of the year, there were just seven mega (1bn-plus) transactions, down from 15 in the same quarter last year. This caused the value of deals to fall from 82.5bn in 2015 to 41.8bn this year.The number of large deals (100m to 1bn) in the quarter fell 40% year on year, while mid-market deals (10m to 100m) fell 29%, and small deals (500,000 to 10m) declined by 22%.Deal volumes in London dropped sharply in the first quarter of the year, marking the slowest start to a year since 2009, when the UK was in the deepest point of its recession.The number of completed transactions fell to 509, a drop of 26% from the first quarter in 2015.Meanwhile the total value of London deals hit 17.5bn, down from 46bn in 2015, with high-value corporate deal-making, which was a prominent feature in 2015, largely absent at the start of this year.National firm Gateley was the busiest legal adviser in the quarter, advising on 31 deals, while international firm Davis Polk & Wardwell topped the table according to deal value, advising on 7.5bn worth of deals.James Turner, research manager at Experian Market IQ, said: A more cautious approach, particularly evident amongst the large corporates, alongside reduced private equity activity, market volatility and fewer deals involving UK SMEs, has produced a more subdued start to the year than many expected.Still, the UK remains an attractive target for overseas investment, there are pockets of growth and, while deal volumes on last years scale look unlikely at this point, the outlook remains broadly positive for deal-makers as we move into the second quarter of the year.The WBLCA helps companies define their strategic direction and remove the obstacles to profitable growth. It is also a key resource for businesses and organizations in the Capital Region and worldwide. The WBLCA helps its members build upon their successes through an array of skills development, resource sharing and networking opportunities, while working together to maintain the standards and reputation of the consulting profession. Our organization is the ideal first stop shop for anyone seeking consulting services. We can help you to build and develop your business giving you the right information which will help you to perform better on the market and eliminate the concurrency, so our professional consultants will eliminate the obstacles from your way.World Business Legal Consulting Alliance, 40 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, E14 5NR, London
Technology company partners with sight loss charity to bring roadshow to Kent

A Worcester technology company is partnering with Kent Association for the Blind and other sight loss organisations and charities to deliver a 3 day roadshow in Kent.KAB is a local charity and service provider supporting sight impaired people within the county to live independent lives through information, skills training and support. As part of their commitment to the local community, they are bringing together a group of exhibitors to showcase products and services available to people who are visually impaired.Dolphin Computer Access, whose headquarters are in Worcester, develops software to enable people who are blind or partially sighted to use computers in the same way as their sighted peers. Dolphin believes that everyone should be able to use a computer, whatever their level of sight, and design and develop software from the ground up to help people achieve that.With a range of products designed to meet different sight needs, Dolphin products cater for young and old, computer savvy or technically inexperienced and those with partial sight loss, worsening vision or without sight. People who benefit from Dolphin products include children and young people in education, people in employment, and older people who may never have used a computer before but soon find themselves emailing friends and family, or reading audiobooks through inbuilt product features.The 3 day roadshow is designed to enable as many people as possible across the county to explore the options and support available to them. With a range of organisations including Hi Kent, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Blind Veterans UK, International Glaucoma Association, Macular Society, British Wireless for the Blind, Calibre Audio Library and Enhanced Vision, there is something available for everyone.The events start at 10am, are completely free to attend, and open to anyone who may benefit from finding out more about sight loss support.Wednesday 20th April at St John the Baptist Church, St Johns Hill, Sevenoaks, TN13 3TXThursday 21st April at Kent Association for the Blind, 72 College Road, Maidstone, Kent, NE15 6SJTuesday 10th May at St Mary's Parish Centre, Cannon Street, Dover, CT16 1BYFor more information contact Kent Association for the Blind on 01622 691 357.At Dolphin we believe that everyone should be able to use a computer, whatever their level of sight. We design and develop software from the ground up to help people achieve that. It doesnt matter if youve never used a computer or are tech savvy but need help with accessibility; we have a product to meet your needs. From crystal clear magnification through to speech output, our products enable people to work, learn and play.Dolphin Computer AccessTechnology HouseBlackpole Estate WestWorcesterWR3 8TJ
Protect and License Spreadsheets, Plugins, Games and Desktop Apps

www.excelsoftware.com

Excel Software today shipped QuickLicense 8.0, the industry leading tool for protection and licensing of Mac, Windows and Linux software. The new release adds major enhancements for spreadsheet protection, application usage statistics, end-user interface enhancements and improved developer tools.QuickLicense is used to define the type of license (Trial, Product, Try/Buy, Subscription or Floating), the licensing features (feature flags, pre-activation message, license release, restore, reset and suspend) and the activation process (manual, online, dongle or floating license server). A license can be applied to any kind of digital product (application, plugin, library, game or spreadsheet) using the AddLicense wrapping tool or programming API.AddLicense allows a developer to add any configured license to a compiled Mac or Windows application with a few button clicks. No programming is required to assign the license, add a splash screen or embed resource files and folders directly into the protected application file. Applications created with Unity, MAX MSP, Adobe Air or any environment that normally exposes resource files can be delivered as a single application file.AddLicense can protect an Excel spreadsheet by generating an EXE file for Windows or APP file for Mac. The protected application handles the licensing process, presents a user interface to create, name and open documents into Microsoft Excel, but prevents use on unlicensed computers. New AddLicense features include sort, find and organizational folders in the user interface. AddLicense was enhanced to protect Mac Excel 2016 and Microsoft Access (ACCDE files).AddLicense can now generate 32-bit or 64-bit applications on Mac or Windows and check the user computer for minimum OS or RAM requirements. A splash screen can be presented on application launch for a specified time period. Applications that require several seconds to launch can begin running behind the splash screen. AddLicense can modify version and copyright text in the Get Info dialog for Mac applications.Protected applications support many activation methods including a manual process with a computer unique activation code, activation through a web browser, instant online activation or USB dongle. Excel Software offers three online activation solutions including the Safe Activation Service. Desktop License Server or WebActivation are self-hosted activation servers that run on a developer website.QuickLicense 8.0 adds HTML formatting to a pre-activation message that presents application information or a license agreement that must be confirmed to continue. A licensed application can record status logs on Safe Activation to track how often an application runs or what licensing features are used.QuickLicense supports companion products including runtime plugins for Xojo or FileMaker applications. The QLRT Xcode product consists a runtime library file that can be dropped into any Swift or Objective-C application. The Xcode program can send any API command with one function call. QuickLicense runtime files are available for the Linux or Android OS.QuickLicense can be used with DocProtect to apply all license types and features to protected PDF, EPUB, SWF, Video or HTML files. Applications protected with the QuickLicense API or AddLicense wrapping tool can require a USB dongle. Developers can generate their own dongles from empty USB drives using MakeDongle.QuickLicense 8 is $595 for the Standard edition or $995 for the Pro edition on either Mac or Windows. The package includes a PDF and printed User Guide, tutorials, online videos, programming code examples, the AddLicense wrapping tool and SendMessage testing tool. QuickLicense includes royalty-free runtime distribution rights for any number of protected products or licenses.Excel SoftwarePh: (702) 445-7645Web:Email: info@excelsoftware.comExcel Software makes tools to design, build, protect, sell and activate Mac and Windows software used by thousands of developers in over 50 countries.Excel Software515 N Racetrack RdHenderson, NV 89015 USA
Global Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners Market 2016 Trends, Size to 2020 Examined In New Market Research Report

http://www.9dimengroup.com/market-analysis/global-aliphatic-hydrocarbon-thinners-market-2016-industry-growth.html

http://www.9dimengroup.com/report/53943/request-sample

http://www.9dimengroup.com/

According to the latest market report published by 9Dimen Group titled "Global Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners Market 2016 Industry Growth, Size, Trends, Share, Opportunities and Forecast to 2020"Global Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners Industry 2016 is a comprehensive, professional report delivering market research data that is relevant for new market entrants or established players. Key strategies of the companies operating in the market and their impact analysis have been included in the report. Furthermore, a business overview, revenue share, and SWOT analysis of the leading players in the Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners market is available in the report.Browse full report with TOC @Combining the data integration and analysis capabilities with the relevant findings, the report has predicted strong future growth of the Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners market in all its geographical and product segments. In addition to this, several significant variables that will shape the Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners industry and regression models to determine the future direction of the market have been employed to create the report.The report begins with a market overview and moves on to cover the growth prospects of the Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners market. The current environment of the global Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners industry and the key trends shaping the market are presented in the report. Insightful predictions for the Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners market for the coming few years have also been included in the report. These predictions feature important inputs from leading industry experts and take into account every statistical detail regarding the Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners market.Statistical forecasts in the research study are available for the total Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners market along with its key segments. The key segments, their growth prospects, and the new opportunities they present to market players have been mentioned in the report. Moreover, the impact analysis of the latest mergers and acquisition and joint ventures has been included in the report. The report also provides valuable proposals for new project development that can help companies optimize their operations and revenue structure.Download sample request @A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Thinners market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report.9Dimen Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact UsJoel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@9dimengroup.comWeb:
Thermal Power in UAE Market 2016 Industry Trends, Research, Generations, Size, Growth & Analysis 2025

http://goo.gl/bOQa9m

http://goo.gl/uiFV6T

Thermal Power in UAE, Market Outlook to 2025, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), Investment Trends, Regulations and Company ProfilesSummaryThe report "Thermal Power in UAE Market Outlook" provides in depth analysis on Thermal Power market in UAE with forecasts upto year 2025. This report analyzes the Thermal Power market scenario in UAE (also includes renewable energy, nuclear, conventional thermal and large hydro sources) and includes future outlook upto 2025. The report ( Thermal Power Market in UAE ) highlights installed capacity as well as power generation trends in UAE Thermal Power market from 2001 till year 2025. UAE Thermal Power Market Research Report also provides company snapshots of some of the major Thermal Power market participants.Scope:-The report analyses global renewable power market, global Thermal Power market, UAE power market, UAE renewable power market and UAE Thermal Power market. The scope of the research includes -- UAE Thermal Power market includes a brief introduction on global carbon emissions.Do Enquiry Before Purchasing Here :- Report on global Thermal Power market also provides brief introduction on global primary energy consumption on Thermal Power market scenario.- An review on UAE power market, highlighting installed capacity Thermal Power Market trends, Thermal Power generation trends and installed capacity split by various renewable power sources Thermal Power energy scenario.- Report "UAE Thermal Power market" covered for the historical period 2001-2014 and Thermal Power Market forecast in UAE during period 2015-2025.- Thermal Power Renewable power sources include wind (both onshore and offshore), concentrated solar power (CSP), solar photovoltaic (PV), small hydropower (SHP), biomass, biogas and geothermal.- Overview of the global Thermal Power market with installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity split by major Thermal Power countries in 2014 and key owners information of various regions on Thermal Power market scenario.- Thermal Power Power market scenario in UAE and provides detailed Thermal Power market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewable energy sources) with Thermal Power forecasts up to 2025.Get Sample Copy of Report Here :Reasons to buy- The report (UAE Thermal Power market) will enhance your decision making capability time sensitive manner.- Thermal Power UAE Market report will help you to identify key growth as well as investment opportunities in UAE Thermal Power renewable power market.- Facilitate decision-making based on deep historic (2001-2014) and forecast data (upto 2025) for Thermal Power market in UAE.- Thermal Power UAE Market report will help you to position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the Thermal Power industrys growth potential.- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events.- Identify key partners and business development avenues.- Understand and respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.About Us:Energy Market Study is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact Us:Joel JohnDeerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Web: Energy Market StudyEmail: sales@energymarketstudy.com
After a Successful Run in Ahmedabad, Voolsy is Ready to Launch in Mumbai

Landing At Mumbai Soon

After a successful launch in Ahmedabad, and creating a lasting favorable impression amongst the restaurant goers in the city, Voolsy has got more plans in its sleeves. The plan is to further expand and make its presence felt in the Indias economic capital, Mumbai. After learning valuable lessons during its launch and expansion phase in Ahmedabad, Voolsy is ready to broaden its consumer base.After tasting success in Ahmedabad, we want to give the diehard foodies of Mumbai the time of their lives by providing them with a fine dining experience they have never experienced before. We want to give the residents of the maximum city the ultimate in dining out experience, saving their time in the process. Now Mumbaikars would not have to wait to place their order or to pay their bills, and considering the fact that time comes at a premium in this city, this is boon that the people will surely lap up.As per Amrish Patel, President of Voolsy, The Indian restaurant industry is worth Rs.75,000 crores and is growing at an annual rate of 7%. Most of this growth is coming from highly urbanized areas where we have seen a considerable rise in the disposable income. Such urban areas are also home to a large number of nuclear families and a rising working population, giving an impetus to the eating out culture. Besides this, the rapid urbanization and consumerism coupled with an increased private equity interest has poised the restaurant industry to grow rapidly in such urban areas. So, launching Voolsy in Mumbai is the next logical step in our expansion plans where people expect a basic minimum standard of service in the restaurants and cafes that Voolsy can easily provide.As per Smit Nebhwani, CEO of Voolsy, Indians on an average eat out lesser than 2 times a month, compared to 40 times in Singapore. Even a small increase in this figure provides a huge market opportunity for restaurants in India, especially in large metro cities. This is the reason Voolsy is now venturing into Mumbai.Besides the geographic expansion, Voolsy is also poised to broaden its feature base. More features will be added in the app in the coming time and the aim is to make Voolsy a big success in Mumbai as well.Voolsy is an application designed to enhance your joy of dining out. Right from the time you enter in a restaurant, order your food and pay your bill, Voolsy is with you every step to make your dining experience better. All this is achieved without the intervention of the restaurant staff so it speeds things up and saves your time.Spend quality time with your family, friends or colleagues as your order and payments just need a single tap with Voolsy.Voolsy Networks Pvt. Ltd410, Zodiac Square, Opp. Gurudwara,S.G.Road, Ahmedabad, Gujarat - 380 054+91 (79) 4030 5787
Increasing Demand for Recyclable Tapes to Drive Global Adhesive Tapes Market

http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/pressrelease/1294

http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/668431

http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/

A new market research study titled Global Adhesive Tapes Market 2016-2020 has been recently included by MarketResearchReports.biz to its huge database of research studies. The research report provides a detailed analysis of the global market for adhesive tapes, including an overview, the product segmentation, current trends, major geographical segments, drivers and barriers, and vendor analysis. The growth prospects, opportunities, and drivers and barriers of the global adhesive tapes market have also been discussed in the scope of the research report.According to the research study, the global market for adhesive tapes is projected to register a healthy 4.73% CAGR between 2016 and 2020. The research report studies the present scenario of the global adhesive tapes market, taking help of several analytical tools. The historical data and forecast figures are included in the research report with the help of infographics, charts, tables, and graphs.Adhesive tape refers to a variety of backing materials that are coated with an adhesive. These tapes are used for sealing, bonding, packaging, and masking. They stick to any kind of substance when pressure is applied to them, without any need for heat, solvents, or other activators. On the basis of type, the global market for adhesive tapes is segmented into single-coated, double-coated, double-sided, single-sided, adhesive transfer or transfer adhesive, electrical and electronics, carton sealing, and masking. All these types are available across the globe and are used widely.View Press Release Report at:The increasing demand for adhesive tapes from the healthcare industry is one of the major factors fueling the growth of the global adhesive tapes market. In addition, the increasing demand for eco-friendly tapes and recyclable tapes is estimated to spur the growth of the market in the forecast period. On the other hand, the increasing costs of raw materials are projected to hamper the growth of the market in the next few years.The global adhesive tapes market has been divided on the basis of geography into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the world. The market share and forecast statistics of each region have been further discussed in the research report. Furthermore, the research report has offered a detailed vendor analysis of the global adhesive tapes market. It provides detailed profiles of the major players, including an overview, contact details, financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments.For Sample Copy, click here:The prominent players operating in the global adhesive tapes market include Tesa, Nitto Denko, Avery Dennison, Henkel AG, 3M Company. SWOT analysis of the players has also been included in the scope of the research study to guide the new entrants and existing players regarding the opportunities, growth prospects, and threats concerning the market. Some of the other vendors mentioned in the research study are Intertape Polymer Group, Lohmann, MACtac, Adhesives Research, Shurtape Technologies, Scapa Group, Advance Tapes International, Nova Films and Foils, Bostik, and Franklin International.MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E : sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Important messenger substance in human cells measured "live" for the first time

http://mbbc.medunigraz.at

http://www.fwf.ac.at

http://www.prd.at

Scientists have succeeded in making real-time measurements of changes in the concentration of the important messenger substance nitric oxide (NO) in human cells for the first time. The breakthrough, which has been published in the journal "Nature Communications", was achieved by fusing two special proteins which then acted as a measurement probe. The fusion protein can be genetically coded and thus directly produced in the cells to be tested. This development paves the way for completely new insights into the dynamics of NO, which plays an important role in the cardiovascular, nervous and immune systems.Since the discovery of its role in erectile dysfunction, it went upwards  with the recognition of nitric oxide's (NO) role as a regulator of important functions in the cardiovascular, nervous and immune systems. Up to now, however, it was not possible to measure its cellular concentration directly in real time. With the help of funding from the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a research group led by Roland Malli at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry of the Medical University of Graz has now succeeded in accomplishing this.Fluorescent proteinThe team produced a fluorescent protein whose fluorescence changes when it binds to NO. The change in the fluorescence depends on the concentration of the NO; it is also reversible and the process more or less unfolds in real time. Consequently, it fulfils all of the conditions necessary to enable intracellular measurement of the NO dynamics. Malli and his team succeeded in measuring these dynamics in different types of cells. These were genetically modified in such a way that they produced the new protein themselves and the NO concentration could be measured on the basis of the fluorescence emitted by the cells.The chimeraProteins that bind to NO with a high level of specificity were crucial to the group's research. "We considered fusing this kind of NO-binding protein to a naturally fluorescent protein. In other words, to create a chimeric new protein that would be able to both bind to NO and fluoresce", explains Malli. The assumption was that the fluorescence of the new protein would change when it binds to the NO. Computer simulations confirmed that this was the case for a very special combination of proteins.Playing around with proteinsBased on the simulation, Malli started by making a number of new proteins. The NO-binding component in all of these proteins came from a bacterial protein called NorR. This is a so-called transcription factor, which acts as an intermediary between an NO signal and the activation of genetically stored information. Malli explains the advantage of using a bacterial protein as follows: "It was very likely that this would have little influence on mammalian cells, in which we wanted to measure the NO." The team then merged the part of the NorR, which is specifically responsible for the NO binding, with five different fluorescent proteins. The fusion proteins, which were referred to as "genetically encoded NO probes" (geNOps), were actually produced in such a way that their genetic information, which was rapidly introduced into cells, resulted in the biosynthesis of functional NO probes.Less is moreMalli himself was surprised at how effective the different geNOps were: "As expected, the binding of the NO resulted in a reduction  that is quenching  of the fluorescence. The effect can be clearly measured and its intensity depends directly on the NO concentration. Moreover, the NO binding is easy to reverse which means that changes in the cellular NO concentration can be measured very quickly. This is a truly fantastic advance!"Patented technologyBased on this, Malli and his team were able to measure the NO concentration in cellular compartments like the mitochondria. In addition, they combined the use of geNOps with the measurement of the calcium concentration in cells and, in this way, were able to demonstrate links between the activity of the messenger substances NO and calcium at a high temporal resolution. The development of the geNOPs, which has already been patented and was made possible by the support of the FWF, heralds a new dawn in the measurement of nitric oxide and its wide-ranging physiological impacts on the level of individual cells.FWF Austrian Science FundThe Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is Austria's central funding organization for basic research.The purpose of the FWF is to support the ongoing development of Austrian science and basic research at a high international level. In this way, the FWF makes a significant contribution to cultural development, to the advancement of our knowledge-based society, and thus to the creation of value and wealth in Austria.Scientific Contact:Prof. Roland MalliMedical University of GrazInstitute of Molecular Biology and BiochemistryHarrachgasse 21/III8010 Graz, AustriaT +43 / 316 / 380 - 7565E roland.malli@medunigraz.atAustrian Science Fund FWF:Marc SeumenichtHaus der ForschungSensengasse 11090 Vienna, AustriaT +43 / 1 / 505 67 40 - 8111E marc.seumenicht@fwf.ac.atCopy Editing & Distribution:PR&D  Public Relations for Research and EducationMariannengasse 81090 Vienna, AustriaT +43 / 1 / 505 70 44E contact@prd.at
Global GigE Camera Market 2015 is poised to grow USD 1.7 billion by 2022 : Industry Research Report

GigE Camera Market

http://goo.gl/hiERkz

http://goo.gl/t6mJV7

Global GigE Camera Market Outlook - Trends, Forecast, and Opportunity Assessment (2014-2022)The Global GigE camera market is valued at $0.5 billion in 2014 with CAGR of 14.1% is expected to reach $1.7 billion by 2022. Fast data transfer speed, efficient video transmission with easier configuration options and decreasing development cost are the factors driving the GigE Camera market. Increased CPU load and requirement of universal driver are limiting market growth. The opportunity for the market lies in 3D vision technologies and smart camera based systems. North America dominates the GigE cameras market for non-manufacturing applications as GigE cameras are widely used in different ITS applications such as speed enforcement, travel time information and electronic tolling. Asia Pacific dominates the global GigE Camera market in terms of value and market size. However, Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during forecast period.Request For Sample Report Here:Area scan cameras are used in non-manufacturing segment whereas line scan cameras find more applications in manufacturing segment. CMOS technology based GigE smart camera commands the market over CCD technology based camera in Global GigE camera market. It is mainly because of high efficiency of CMOS technology based camera in terms of cost & performance, improved image quality, resolution, better colour reproduction and higher frames rate as compare to the CCD based camera. Security and surveillance is expected to be the largest contributor to the overall GigE camera application market, accounting around 25% share of the non-manufacturing segment, in 2014. The Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) application is estimated to have the highest growth potential during forecast period.Global GigE Camera market is segmented by technology, by type, by application and by geography. Depending on the technology, market is segmented into Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) and Charge Coupled Device (CCD). Based on type, market is categorized into line scan and area scan. Based on applications, market is segmented into manufacturing and non-manufacturing. Manufacturing is further segmented into automotive, food & packaging, printing/publishing, pharmaceutical/medical device, ic/semiconductor & electrical/electronics, miscellaneous manufacturing applications and non-manufacturing into security and surveillance, military & defense, intelligent transportation system (ITS), medical imaging & lab automation, postal and logistics, miscellaneous non-manufacturing applications. Market by geography is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World.Do Inquiry Before Purchasing Report Here:The Key players in the market include, Allied Vision GmbH, Point Grey Research, Inc, Teledyne Dalsa, Inc., Basler AG, Sony Corporation, Toshiba Teli Corporation, Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd, Qualitas Technologies Pvt Ltd, and Jai.What our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 8 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsAbout Market Research StoreMarket Research Store, we have market research reports from competent publishers. Our Research Specialists have thorough knowledge about offerings from different publishers and different reports on respective industries. They will help you refine search parameters and get desired results at your doorstep. Here you can review the complete range of available reports, review the scope of study and methodology of reports. Apart from the published market research reports, we also provide customized study on any topic to meet the varied requirements of our clients.Whether you are looking for new product trends, competitive analysis or study on existing or emerging markets, Market Research Store has best offerings and expertise to get the critical information for you. You can also choose the option to purchase full reports or sections from the report or only charts or tables.Contact us:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, USAUSA Tel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com
Asia Pacific Insulin Market to 2020  Market Estimate, Industry Size: Grand View Research, Inc.

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/asia-pacific-insulin-market

The Asia Pacific Insulin market is expected to reach USD 15.04 billion by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Growing regional prevalence of diabetes, increasing market penetration rates of modern insulin products in emerging markets such as India and China is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Furthermore, patent expiration of key products such as Lantus is expected to trigger the manufacturing of biosimilars from local manufacturers such as Biocon.Long acting analog dominated the overall market in terms of revenue share in 2013, with revenue estimated at USD 2,051.9 million. High prices coupled with relatively higher efficacies exhibited by these products account for its large share. Rapid acting analogs followed the long acting segment in 2013 accounting for a revenue share of over 25.0% on account of their high market penetration rates in developed markets such as Australia and Japan.Browse full research report on Global Asia Pacific Insulin Market:Further key findings from the study suggest: The analogs source segment accounted for the largest revenue share in 2013 was valued at USD 3,441.7 million. Growing demand for analogs in emerging markets with high unmet medical needs such as China and India is one of the major factors attributing to its large share. Japan, on behalf of its sophisticated healthcare infrastructure, high patient awareness and disposable income levels dominated the market in 2013 with a revenue share of over 38.0%. China on the other hand is expected to register the highest CAGR of 21.1% during the forecast period owing to the growing prevalence of type I and type diabetes and the expected decline in insulin prices as a result of continued initiatives to improve healthcare access. The Asia Pacific insulin market is oligopolistic in nature and is dominated by three key players including Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Sanofi Aventis.For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the Asia Pacific Insulin market on the basis of product, application, source and region: Insulin Product Outlook Rapid acting Long acting Premixed Premixed analog Short acting Intermediate acting Insulin Application Outlook Type I and Other Diabetes Type II Diabetes Insulin Source Outlook Human Recombinant Analogs Insulin Regional Outlook India China Australia New Zealand South Korea Taiwan Philippines Vietnam Indonesia Japan Malaysia Thailand Rest of Asia PacificGrand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Sherry JamesCorporate Sales Specialist, USAGrand View Research, Inc
Agricultural Drones Market Is Expected To Reach $3.69 Billion By 2022 : Radiant Insights,Inc

http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/agricultural-drones-market

www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/automotive

http://www.radiantinsights.com/

Agricultural drones use automated process to make farming more productive. Drones provide better, more flexible visualization. Smart drone agricultural uses cameras and provide the prospect of trillions of dollars in farming economic growth. Smart commercial drones connect seamlessly and securely to the Internet and to each other.Agricultural drone technology has reached a level of maturity that has put these systems at the forefront of farming modernization. Farmers around the entire world are adapting to drone availability, using aerial cameras to visualize plants. Use cases are evolving rapidly. Video, specialized video, targeted video, and agricultural spraying systems are offered.Browse Full Research Report With TOC onVenture investment in agricultural drones has been strong. Investment of venture capital in agricultural technology start-ups reached $2.06 billion in the first half of 2015, 4.25 billion in 2015 doubling the amount of capital invested in this area in 2014.Agricultural drones leverage the Internet of things (IoT). IoT brings sensors to supplement images of the land from above, making it possible to communicate and use analytics to understand changes in vegetation.Digital electronics brings significant change to the ancient manual processes of farming. Markets portend to reach multitrillion-dollar payoff from the emerging technology that increases the production and distribution of food. There are technical and policy issues to leverage the potential of the drone use of the Internet of Things (IoT). Challenges include security, privacy and standards. Hackers can enter apparently secure networks to remotely control engines, brakes and steering. This could create a problem on a farm if the network was hacked.Agricultural industrialization has been brought in some measure by tractors and columbines. Drones bring far greater automated process. Preindustrial agriculture, dating from before Christ to about 1920, consisted of labor-intensive, essentially subsistence farming on small farms. This took two acres to feed one person. With industrial agriculture, from 1920 to 2010, tractors and combine harvesters, chemical fertilizers and seed science opened commercialization of farms. Gains in productivity achieved one acre feeding five people.According to Susan Eustis, lead author of the study, Transparency is one of the benefits of IoT that drones bring to digital farming. The benefits of digital farming are higher productivity and more efficient use of land, water and fertilizer. Transparency in farming is being asked for by consumers. Consumers want to know where their food came from, how much water and chemicals were used, and when and how the food was harvested. They want to know about consistent refrigeration during transport.Use of drones represents a key milestone in provision of value to every industry. Customized cameras are used to take photos and videos with stunning representations. Digital controls will further automate flying, making ease of use and flight stability a reality. New materials and new designs are bringing that transformation forward. By furthering innovation, continued growth is assured.See More Reports of This Category by Radiant Insights:The worldwide market for agricultural drones is $494 million anticipated to reach $3.69 billion by 2022. The complete report provides a comprehensive analysis of drones in different categories, illustrating the diversity of uses for remote flying devices in farming. Analytics makes the images more cogent to farmers, letting them anticipate problems that only become visible to human farmers days or weeks after the drone images detect issues.About Radiant Insights,IncRadiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions.Contact Details:Michelle ThorasCorporate Sales Specialist, USARadiant Insights, IncPhone: 1-415-349-0054Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519Email: sales@radiantinsights.comWeb:
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2022: Grand View Research, Inc.

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/carbon-fiber-market

The global carbon fiber reinforced plastic market is expected to reach USD 23.55 billion by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Stringent regulations particularly in the U.S. and Europe to improve the fuel efficiency of automobiles has led manufacturers to reduce the overall weight of vehicles by using lightweight, high-performance materials. This trend is expected to drive the demand for carbon fiber reinforced plastic over the forecast period.Increasing penetration in the aerospace industry is also projected to have a positive influence on the market growth. Carbon fiber reinforced plastic has emerged as the best suitable option for reducing structural weight without compromising on strength. In spite of extraordinary benefits offered by carbon fiber reinforced plastic, the high price is expected to remain a major barrier to its penetration.Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) emerged as the leading raw material and accounted for over 95% of total market volume in 2014. The growth may be attributed to superior properties offered by PAN-based CFRP. The segment is also expected to witness the highest growth over the forecast period.Browse full research report on Global Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) Market:Further key findings from the study suggest: The global carbon fiber reinforced plastic market demand was 83.0 kilo tons in 2014 and is projected to reach 212.9 kilo tons by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 12.6% from 2015 to 2022 Thermosetting CFRP emerged as the leading product segment with demand share exceeding 75% in 2014. However, thermoplastic CFRP is expected to witness the highest growth on account of its superior characteristics such as high viscosity, short process time and recyclability. Aerospace& defense was the leading application segment and accounted for 30% of total market volume in 2014. The increasing use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic for manufacturing lightweight aircraft especially in Europe is expected to drive this segment. Automotive is expected to witness the highest growth of 14.8% from 2015 to 2022. North America led the global market with demand share estimated at 36.8% in 2014. Established automotive manufacturers coupled with favorable regulations particularly in the U.S. have helped the product penetration. Europe is expected to witness the highest growth of 13.2% over the forecast period. Stringent environmental regulations and the need for fuel-efficient vehicles are projected to spur the regional market growth. CFRP is an oligopolistic market and top six players including Toray Industries, Zoltek Companies, Toho Tenax, Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd. and SGL-Group accounted for over 70% of the total market share in 2014.Grand View Research has segmented the global carbon fiber reinforced plastic market on the basis of raw materials, product, application and region:Global Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Raw Material Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012  2022) PAN-based CFRP Pitch-based CFRPGlobal Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Product Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012  2022) Thermosetting CFRP Thermoplastic CFRPGlobal Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Application Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012  2022) Automotive Aerospace & Defense Wind Turbines SportEquipment Molding & Compound Construction Pressure Vessels OthersGlobal Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Regional Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012  2022) North Americao U.S.o Mexicoo Canada Europeo Germanyo U.K.o France Asia PacificMiddle East & Africao Japano Taiwano China Central & South Americao BrazilGrand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.Sherry JamesCorporate Sales Specialist, USAGrand View Research, Inc
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The Old Town Pizza location in Northeast Portland plans to start brewing beer.

(Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian/2008)

Old Town Pizza turns 42

It will be like 1974 all over again when Old Town Pizza celebrates its 42nd anniversary with a party at the original location in Old Town. The beer? Summer of '74, their newest bottled beer named for the year they opened. The food will be at 1974 prices and a DJ will be playing 1974 hits, a little "The Way We Were" anyone? More details here.

Old Town Pizza 42nd Anniversary and Bottle Release: 6 p.m., Thursday, April 14, Old Town Pizza, 226 N.W. Davis St.

Cascade, Bruery Terreux collaborate

Do two sour-beer brewers make one sweet collaboration? The odds are good.

Cascade Brewing Barrel House, known for its Northwest sour ales, and Bruery Terreux, a new brand that specializes in farmhouse, wild and sour beers from The Bruery craft brewery from Orange County, Calif., have announced a collaboration project.

It all starts with a party at Cascade Brewing. The evening begins with a live barrel tapping and continues with a six-beer lineup from Bruery Terreux.

According to a press release, the five sours are:

Filmishmish

Humulus Terreux

Oude Tart with Cherries

Sourrento

Blue BBLS

White Chocolate (the one not-sour beer).

Sour, tart, barrel-aged beer. Cascade Brewing pioneered the Northwest-style sour beer.

Pro tip: Look for the collaboration blend the breweries made for this event. They made 10 gallons, so it won't last too long.

Bruery Terreux brewers will come to Portland to design a beer with Cascade, and Cascade brewers will head to California in May to continue the collaboration. The resulting beer will be bottled and released by the two breweries in 2017.

Cascade-Bruery Terreux Collaboration kickoff: 6 p.m., Friday, April 15, Cascade Brewing Barrel House, 939 S.E. Belmont St.

Hood River Hard-Pressed Cider Fest

Hood River, home to more than 440 orchards and 11 cideries, is also home to a cider scene that's busting out like blossoms in spring. And where there's cider, there's a cider fest, the Hood River Hard-Pressed Cider Fest. This year, its third, the festival is offering more than 30 ciders from more than 20 Oregon and Washington cideries. This festival gives seasoned cider drinkers as well as novices a chance to taste cider from Hood River County and beyond set among the apple, pear and cherry orchards. To go with the local cider, they'll have local food, local bands and place for the kids to play.

Hood River Hard-Pressed Cider Fest: Noon-7 p.m., Saturday, April 16, 3315 Stadelman Drive, Hood River. Tickets $10, $5 for entry only.
"Coffee has long been one of life's subtle pleasures. ... Whether you enjoy it along with the morning paper, pass it out at a tense business meeting, or share it with your sweetheart after an intimate meal, a cup of coffee does more than satisfy your thirst."

That's common knowledge these days. But when longtime Oregon food writer Sara Perry wrote the introduction to "The Complete Coffee Book" in 1991, Portland's coffee culture was in its infancy. Starbucks was considered a boutique roaster, and many people still brewed coffee with a percolator.

But Perry saw the boom that was coming, as she did with so many food trends over the years.

Perry passed away in February at age 70, leaving a legacy of delicious recipes. For more than a decade, she wrote the Taste Makers column for The Oregonian, in which she shared hundreds of recipes from chefs and home cooks that chronicled how Oregon's food scene went from culinary backwater to the national powerhouse it is today. And she wrote more than 20 cookbooks, ranging from simple holiday sweets to intense dishes for garlic lovers, all showing how cooking can be creative, fun and flavorful.

Recipes included with this story: Savory Salmon Cheesecake; Crab Salad With Shallot Dressing; Broiled Halibut With Hazelnut-Lemon Butter; Madras Chili; Sizzling Herb Pasta With White Beans and Crisp Smoked Bacon; Couvron's Fresh Strawberries With Sabayon.

In Taste Makers, Perry profiled the heavy-hitters of Oregon's food scene, coaxing from them recipes that showcased classic Oregon ingredients like salmon, crab and strawberries.

Prolific food writer Sara Perry wrote the popular Taste Makers column for The Oregonian for more than a decade. She also wrote numerous cookbooks on a wide range of topics. Perry passed away in February, leaving a legacy of delicious recipes that capture the essence of Oregon dining.

In 1991, Perry caught up with Emily Crumpacker, a cooking instructor and caterer for movie stars with a background that includes stints helping out in the kitchens of food giants Simone Beck and Julia Child.

"Emily Crumpacker's intense enthusiasm for Northwest cuisine is apparent the moment you meet her. Adjectives such as 'terrific, fantastic and sensational' sparkle throughout her conversation," Perry wrote, calling Crumpacker one of a handful of visionaries instrumental in gaining worldwide recognition for Northwest cuisine.

Crumpacker says that Perry was just as much an enthusiast for the region's cuisine as she was.

"It was always so much fun to talk with Sara, because she loved the Pacific Northwest," Crumpacker says. "We had the same love and respect for everything that we have here, and she did a lot for Northwest food way before it became a la mode."

Crumpacker gave Perry her recipe for Crab Salad With Shallot Dressing, which takes terrific ingredients and features them in an unfussy way. The whole dish can be pulled together in minutes.

Perry featured fresh strawberries many times in her column, but no recipe could be more luscious than the Strawberries With Sabayon she got from French chef Anthony Demes. In 1995, he was the chef at Couvron, one of the most highly regarded restaurants in the city, where he would serve this French version of Italian zabaglione during the height of Oregon berry season.

It's a perfect dish to rediscover as berry season approaches, since its sherry-spiked custard and whipped cream can be prepared in advance, then assembled just before serving. At Couvron, Demes would dress it up with puff pastry and spun sugar - you expect these things from a French chef - but it's just as good dolloped on a pretty plate with plenty of strawberries, mango slivers and sprigs of fresh mint.

Perry's cookbooks reflected her adventurous spirit in the kitchen. In her coffee book, for example, she not only showed how to make elaborate drinks at a time when people didn't know the difference between a latte and a cappuccino. She incorporated coffee into dishes like Madras Chili, a hearty stew of cubed top sirloin and beans. Instead of soaking red beans overnight in water, she used extra-strong coffee to give the beans the essence of an Old West chuck wagon.

Long before bacon became Portland's unofficial religion, she wrote the 2002 cookbook "Everything Tastes Better With Bacon," which featured crispy pork belly in unusual ways. In her Sizzling Herb Pasta with White Beans and Crisp Smoked Bacon, drippings are used to give fresh herbs extra richness. The result is what Perry called the "humble but charismatic" combination of salt and fat.

"Salt brings out flavor, and fat carries it to our taste buds," she wrote. "But not only that - bacon has bite. It's chewy and crunchy. Savory. Slightly sweet. And habit-forming."

The same could be said of Perry's recipes.

-- Grant Butler

503-221-8566; @grantbutler
University of Oregon campus

Students ride bicycles on 13th Avenue in Eugene on the University of Oregon's campus.

(Andrew Theen/The Oregonian)

More than one-quarter of Oregonians in their prime working years attended a college or university but didn't complete their degree, according to a report released Monday.

The percentage of Oregonians aged 25-64 who went to college but didn't finish is 4.8 percent higher than the national average, according to the Lumina Foundation's annual report on post-secondary education. Some 555,381 Oregonians in that age group didn't complete college, more than the number of residents who did receive a bachelor's degree.

The report comes as Oregon continues to tinker with new strategies to help students finish college and as public universities face a new state funding model where part of their revenue is based on how many students graduate rather than the total enrollment

"It inches upward year by year," Ben Cannon, the executive director of Oregon's Higher Education Coordinating Commission, said of Oregon's student success rate, "and it does so in spite of very significant decreases in public investment for higher education."

Cannon said the fact that more Oregonians drop out of college than complete bachelor's degrees isn't a recent phenomenon. "It underscores the importance of the efforts that we're making," he added.

Inside the numbers

2.1 million: Number of Oregonians aged 25-64

44.7 percent: With either a degree or quality certificate

555,381: Number of Oregonians who went to college aged 25-64 but didn't finish

60.3 percent: Of Benton County residents with at least an associate degree, highest in state

15.5 percent: Of Morrow County residents with at least an associate degree, worst in state

50 percent: Of Washington County residents with at least an associate degree, highest in metro area

(Source: Lumina Foundation; U.S. Census, county figures are 5-year average)

Lumina's report is based on U.S. Census data from 2014, and it analyzes the post-secondary education landscape in Oregon and across the nation. In 2009, Lumina set a goal that 60 percent of Americans attain a post-secondary degree or "high quality certificate" by 2025. To reach that goal, an additional 10.9 million Americans must complete their bachelor's or associate's degrees in less then a decade.

As of 2014, the national figure is 45.3 percent. In Oregon, the total is 44.7.

The report found that while the percentage of Americans with a post-secondary degree continues to grow, the increases aren't enough to meet workforce demands. The number of first-generation and underrepresented students obtaining degrees also falls below expectations.

"You're clearly seeing the expectation that completing some form of higher education is the norm, not the exception," Dewayne Matthews, Lumina's vice president of strategy development said in a conference call.

Two-thirds of all jobs require post-high school education or training, the report said. Training and education are "indispensable" to filling the estimated 2 million unfilled jobs in the U.S. economy.

Matthews said the "obvious concern" in the report centered on the lagging success rates for minority students. For Hispanics aged 25-64, the total number with a degree or certificate from a community college program designed as "high quality" by Lumina was just 20.9 percent. For African-Americans, the total was 28.7 percent.

"This not only adds to a troubling increase in income inequality, it also severely reduces economic and social mobility," the report said.

In Oregon, the number of African Americans aged 25-64 with degrees was 31.9 percent, slightly above the national average. The Hispanic total was 2.5 percentage points lower than the national average.

Lumina leaders said one big takeaway from the report is that states must continue to remove barriers for all students, but particularly underrepresented ones.

"Students can and will be successful in college if they're given the opportunity," Jamie Merisotis, Lumina's president and chief executive said in the conference call.

He added that Lumina is closely tracking how Oregon and other states fare with outcome-based funding and programs such as the Oregon Promise that are designed to increase access to two-year community colleges.

Oregon is also one of 26 states that has its own benchmarks to track student success. The state's mantra is 40-40-20 by 2025; with 40 percent of the populace having a bachelor's or associate's degree and 20 percent obtaining a high school diploma by that time.

Cannon said according to his figures, 31 percent of Oregonians have at least a bachelor's degree, while 18 percent have an associate's degree. Roughly 10 percent of Oregonians have not completed their high school diploma, Cannon said.

He said the state has a number of programs that could improve outcomes. The state is revamping math requirements for public universities, making it possible for students to opt out of college algebra in favor of more applied mathematics courses.

"There's no question that Oregon in the last decade has made steady but slow progress," Cannon said of improving its college completion rate.

He noted those improvements are happening despite the national college affordability crisis. That means Oregonians value and understand what a degree can mean for their livelihood, he said. The increase reflects "a significant increase in Oregonians paying for certificates and degrees," he added, "and paying too much."

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
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Tom Cruise stars in the action-packed "Mission Impossible" movies.

When Tom Cruise's blockbuster sequel "Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation" was released last year, it received some kudos that action movies rarely get. Co-star Rebecca Ferguson, Forbes magazine noted, "has been the subject of much discussion over the last couple weeks," because she's presented as Cruise's equal as a "butt-kicker" rather than being relegated to Bond Girl-like eye-candy status.

That's all well and good, but the business publication pointed out another pertinent, and less impressive, fact about the picture: "Ms. Ferguson is the only onscreen female character of note over the course of the Paramount/Viacom Inc. film's 131-minute running time."

So it goes. Women continue to mostly play second fiddle to men in the movies. This has increasingly led to women in the business speaking out. "Harry Potter" star Emma Watson recently counted the ways sexism has affected her. "I have experienced sexism in that I have been directed by male directors 17 times and only twice by women," she said last September. "Of the producers I've worked with, 13 have been male and only one has been a woman."

Polygraph, a publication devoted to explaining popular culture through data, decided to go even further in marshaling numbers to make Watson's case. The online magazine analyzed Hollywood screenplays and "matched each character's lines to an actor. From there, we compiled the number of words spoken by male and female characters across roughly 2,000 films, arguably the largest undertaking of script analysis, ever."

What did they find from this deep dive into "high-grossing" movies of the past 30-plus years? About what you'd expect, and yet still a kick in the gut. Middle-aged men rule on movie screens -- by a lot. Next came thirty-something men. Twenty-something men placed a distant third, followed -- finally -- by young women in fourth.

In the movies examined, men ages 42-65 had 53 million words of dialogue. Men ages 32-41 had 43 million words and men 22-31 got 27 million words. Twenty-something women scored 20 million words, and women 32-41 had 17 million words. Women 42 and older had 11 million words, more than 40 million fewer than their male counterparts of the same age.

In short, men's roles grew as they got older, while women's roles shrank as they became more mature. Tom Cruise, by the way, is 53. Rebecca Ferguson is 32. Check out the data below.

Polygraph acknowledges that its work isn't perfect, that "a plot can center around a character even though the dialogue doesn't reflect it. And all of our data is based on screenplays, not a perfect transcription of a film."

Even with these caveats, the analysis is a powerful reminder that Hollywood has miles to go on gender equality. How much this gender gap drives or simply reflects the wider society is, of course, very much up for debate.

-- Douglas Perry
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Robert Gallant of Midland has spent a career working for The Dow Chemical Co., and now he is happy to be working at his second career as an author.

Gallant said his latest release has taken him years to research and write. A fiction author, Gallant said the book explores a heist never attempted.

I know how to rob the Vatican, he said with a sly smile.

Rob the Vatican is the latest novel from the Midland-based author. In the story, Craig Reynolds, an American jewel thief, plans the biggest heist in history. With the help of an Italian gymnast and a young priest, Reynolds makes his play at what appears to be the most guarded, and secretive, site on the planet. And to make things interesting, there is a conspiracy that raises the stakes even higher.

Gallant, 81, is energetic, interesting, and instantly likeable.

What would be the most amazing robbery in history, he asked with a gleam in his eye. He was responding to a question on why he chose the Holy City as the site of his latest tale. This is the greatest treasure trove in the world. Just think of all the treasures that are inside.

Gallant said he has no plans on trying to make the big score himself, but during his time researching the legendary and mysterious place known as Vatican City, located in Rome, he believes he may have found a way to make it in and out, along with taking several treasures along the way. He said he made a couple of trips to Rome to get a feel for the place and for research.

I spent five years researching this book, he said. I believe at the end of that time, I knew more about the Vatican than a lot of people. I went through hundreds of books about the Vatican.

Gallant said he knows some people might be turned off by a caper set in such a revered place.

I hope people are not offended by it. No way is this intended to be negative (toward the Catholic Church), he said.

Gallant said one of the reasons for selecting the Vatican as his setting was the mystique that surrounds the city, as well as the treasures said to be housed within. He said the original Gutenberg Bible is said to be kept there, along with priceless works of art, stores of gold, and currencies from all over the world.

But there is much more to the author than just his latest work. Originally from Ohio, Gallant and his identical twin brother grew up on the family farm.

My brother is named William, he said. So we are Robert and William. Or Bob and Bill.

William Gallant went to work for the government, and found himself working on some serious projects, including designing navigation systems to be used on nuclear submarines during the 1960s and 70s.

Author Gallant said since they are identical twins, the joke was that Robert would be grabbed by a foreign power, thinking he was his brother, William.

We joked that the interrogator would go to his bosses and say, We interrogated this guy for six months, and he knows nothing, Gallant laughed. He told us all about how to write a book, but he doesnt know anything else.

Gallant said when he was younger, he had to make a decision about what kind of work he was interested in.

Believe it or not, I wanted to be either a journalist or an engineer, he said. He chose a business career, and Gallant came to the professional writing world when he began authoring a series of articles to help fellow employees complete tasks.

My first book was published in the 70s on technology, he said. It finally ended up being three books. They were really highly regarded (in the industry).

He said his writing was geared to help train those in his charge to better manage their time and duties. As he wrote more about his work and ideas, he found his writings made their way into trade journals.

My philosophy as a manager was that my job was to make people who work for me to be successful, Gallant said. Because if I make the people working for me successful, than we will be successful. It shouldnt be this dog eat dog world.

While working for Dow, Gallant and his family spent time in Louisiana, Texas, and finally in Midland. He retired from Dow in 1998.

My final job at Dow happened to be here in Midland. My wife and I, wed been here for about five years when I retired, he said. And we liked Midland so much ... and despite the fact that I had spent so much of my life in the South, we decided to stay here.

Gallant said through his career as a fiction writer, his best advice came from someone outside of the writing world: his wife, Margie. When he began writing his series featuring a female character named Chesney Barrett, his wife gave him a suggestion that Gallant said changed his writing for the better.

She said, Do not make her dependent on some manly hero, he said, laughing. And he didnt. Heeding his wifes advice, he wrote the character as a strong, independent woman.

Chesney Barrett came to life through four novels. Thanks to Margies advice, the female heroine took center stage in the books Satans Stronghold, Jerichos Trumpets, The Armageddon Virus and Gods Domain. Throughout the novels, Barrett, a former collegiate swimming champion, aids a shadowy government operative in pursuit of drug dealers and international terrorists.

The writer said he came to rely on his wifes insight more and more as he wrote.

She helped make me be a better writer. She was an avid reader of womens mystery novels by women authors, he said. She changed my writing for a significant time.

Sadly, Margie, Gallants best proofreader and most constructive critic, passed away in 2013. The couple had been married for 53 years.

These days, Gallant keeps himself busy researching and thinking about new story ideas. He said he likes to stay active, and has advice for people his age and older.

One, exercise, he started, counting off on his fingers. Two, never stop learning. You have to take on new things. Three, help those around you. And four, have fun doing it.

Gallant said he has been thinking about writing a sequel to Rob the Vatican. For now, he is working on other projects.

So, after all of the research and writing, does Gallant have plans to rob the Vatican?

No I dont, he said, laughing. But if anyone uses my plan, thats on them, not me.

Rob the Vatican is available on Amazon.com. For more information, amzn.to/1MbG48R
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Remember those teddy bears when you were young? How soft and cuddly they were? And how when hugged, they brought a warm feeling, peace and security?

Local resident Jacqueline K. Lamont is providing that same feeling for children who might need some encouragement as they deal with health issues, or disruptive situations.

There are children that need a little boost, she said. I dont need to know who they are. I prefer to be humble, but its the feedback that gives you that inspiration to create more bears and give that child a smile on their face and some happiness.

That boost has motivated Lamont to create over 500 bears to assist children since her retirement from Dow Corning in 2001.

Retirement meant that Lamont could spend six months in St. Petersburg, Fla. to be closer to her sister. While in Florida she became involved in a sewing group where Lamont learned how to sew the bears from a former home economics teacher.

For the past couple of years, she has no longer made the annual trek to Florida, which means that the sewing room in her basement has become home to fabric and yarn from two residences. The room has a sewing machine at one end. But, its the walls along each side that amaze visitors. The left hand wall contains 4-foot-high wire shelving filled with fabric, folded neatly and sorted by color. On the opposite wall resides shelving full of different colored yarn. Between the two walls is a table with a couple of dozen bears below waiting for their finishing touches.

Each bear contains 11 pieces and Lamont estimates that it takes about six hours to complete one.

I audition each bear, Lamont said, smiling. Do I want pink with this? Or gray? Do I want stripes? Or checks? That is the first step.

After pinning the pieces, she sews each of them together while leaving a slot in the back for the stuffing. The bears then take their first trip, upstairs to Lamonts living room where she begins stuffing each bear while watching TV. Next to her chair is a pile of bears taking a break while the stuffing settles. Then its some more stuffing and a trip back downstairs for the final sewing and finishing touches.

Sometimes, I miss a part and they need a little bit of surgery and healing, Lamont said, chuckling.

Just as her bears may need healing, so do children. Thats exactly why Lamont creates the bears, to help children along the process to recovery.

I kind of decided that this had meaning for me. If a child was ill or sick, if a bear brought that child some happiness or whatever, I could do that, she said.

Lamonts bears have brought comfort to children at MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland, Shelterhouse, children who encounter law enforcement and the St. Joseph Health System in Tawas.

When a child receives a stuffed animal after a traumatic event, its something to hold on and means the world to them. Ive seen a little boy carrying a stuffed animal wherever he goes, said Shelterhouse Executive Director Janine Ouderkirk. They may not be able to bring their toys with them. So a stuffed animal is something tangible that is theirs.

A major source of Lamonts fabric has been the Ben Franklin store in East Tawas.

They are having another sale at the end of April so Ill have to go back, laughed Lamont. Do I need any? No? But, its the thought that I might miss something. Some of the fabric has been given to me. Some Ive purchased. Some Ive gotten at yard sales or thrift stores.

The bears come in two sizes: 17 inches and 20 inches. But, for those special people, the bears may be a little larger.

Ive made up to a 32-inch, but that is just for grandchildren, she said.

Lamont has expanded her creations to baby afghans, which are given to new mothers.

When a new mom loses a child, they wrap the baby in the afghan to give to the mom to say goodbye, and then she keeps the afghan, Lamont said.

Some bears are made as a remembrance of a relative who has passed away. People who have lost a parent or grandparent will bring her a piece of the loved ones clothing and she will create a bear.

One of the girls I used to work with had lost her father and they had a sweatshirt with an insignia on it. I built the bear around that. You are only limited by my creativity. Its endless, Lamont said.

At 71, Lamont is definitely not done using her endless amount of creativity to provide cheer for others.
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  A roiling political fight that began last month isn't showing signs of abating after GOP state lawmakers discovered draft voluntary guidelines from the State Board of Education that included recommendations on how to address transgender K-12 students who want to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

Escanaba Republican Sen. Tom Casperson said he's firmly committed to introducing legislation to stop kids sharing bathrooms who are "biologically different." That is despite the political and now potentially economic fallout after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation prohibiting sexual orientation-based anti-discrimination protections. The law also requires transgender people to use the bathroom matching the sex on their birth certificates in government buildings and schools.

Not even the Obama administration's consideration of cutting billions of dollars in federal aid for schools, highways and housing over North Carolina's new gay and transgender law dissuades Casperson. He was appalled when he discovered the proposed State Board of Education guidelines that suggested schools could  if they so choose  allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice and refer to students by the pronouns they request.

Casperson said transgender students should be able to use staff facilities or their own bathrooms only with parental consent, and that they should be barred from using bathrooms that don't match their birth certificate.

"Maybe, there's something there that's just not normal," Casperson said. "And normal's not the right word. Maybe there's something there that's just not right, where we're mixing these kids together."

House Speaker Kevin Cotter and other Republicans in the Legislature also spoke out against the draft and voluntary guidelines last month, when a House committee voted to strip reimbursement funding for the State Board of Education's travel expenses. The State Board is an elected, unpaid body of officials that makes recommendations for the state's K-12 schools and oversees the state department.

"(Parents) have very real concerns about allowing their children to officially change their name or their gender without parental approval," Cotter said in a statement. "The Department ignored those concerns, wrote a policy proposal that specifically cuts parents out of the process and appears uninterested in hearing from them going forward.

An online public comment section for the guidelines shows overwhelmingly negative responses, though there is no way to ensure that only Michigan residents comment. Many seem to fear the prospect of males using girls' bathrooms. The site shows nearly 7,000 comments so far and lets people post until May 11.

If Republicans push forward with a plan to restrict transgender students from using bathrooms of their choice, it could entail federal civil rights violations, said John Austin, State Board of Education president. Austin said the guidelines were prompted in part to make sure Michigan schools comply with federal civil rights law. Austin said it's also meant to ensure that schools are safe places for all students.

Austin said Casperson's bill would be "damaging for young students" and that it could further ostracize students who are at-risk for suicide, depression and bullying.

"We don't want to be another North Carolina," Austin said.

It was Michigan teacher of the year Rick Joseph's idea to come up with a guideline list for schools determining how to accommodate transgender students.

Joseph, a self-described reformed "homophobe," said his perspective shifted after meeting a gay person years ago. He said he's now committed to making sure students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have a good learning environment.

"I came to (John Austin) because I felt that if the State Board of Education were able to propose guidelines statewide, it would enable more districts to avail themselves of resources that frankly have existed for 15 years," said Joseph, who teaches fifth and sixth grade at Birmingham Covington School. He calls the need to allow transgender students to express their gender identity and use the bathrooms of their choice a "moral imperative."

"They're not deviants or freaks," Joseph said. "They're just people."
DETROIT (AP)  Students will be spending less time taking the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, or M-STEP, this spring after complaints last year that the new exam took too long to complete, education officials say.

Students will spend no more than four to eight hours on the test this year, instead of the seven to 16 hours it took to complete last year, Jan Ellis, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Education, told the Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/1SpTPwQ ).

The Education Department reduced the number of tests high school students are required to take in addition to the college entrance exam from four to two. In grades three to eight, the state will include a performance task for English language arts only in grades five and eight, instead of each grade. The performance task requires students to complete an in-depth project during the course of the exam that demonstrates their analytical and problem-solving skills. The state also eliminated a classroom activity that helped set up the performance tasks.

The M-STEP last year replaced the 44-year-old paper Michigan Education Assessment Program.

Ellis said 95 percent of the schools in the state will give the M-STEP online. That's up from 80 percent last year.

The math and English language arts exams for grades three through eight will be computer adaptive, meaning the tests will be customized for each student. With a computer adaptive test, the difficulty of the questions a student gets changes based on how a student is doing. Ellis said the state determines proficiency based not just on the number of questions answered correctly but also the difficulty of the questions.

Another change is high school juniors will take the SAT college entrance test instead of the ACT. Ninth- and 10th-graders will take the PSAT, the practice exam for the SAT.

Students in grades five and eight can be tested any time between Monday and April 29. Grades three and six can be tested between April 25 and May 13. Grades four and seven can be tested between May 9 and May 27.

High school juniors will take the SAT on Tuesday and a workplace skills exam on Wednesday. Meanwhile, freshmen and sophomores will take the PSAT on Tuesday and Wednesday.

___

Information from: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com
PONTIAC  Prayer services and comfort dogs were available at St. Marys Catholic Middle School in Pontiac Monday to help students deal with the sudden death of a classmate.

Blaze Masching, 14, of rural Pontiac was killed about 12:56 p.m. Saturday when the all-terrain vehicle he was riding fell on top of him, said Livingston County Coroner Danny Watson.

The accident happened in a field in southern Livingston County between Chenoa and Pontiac, said Watson.

Our school held a prayer service (Sunday) afternoon with the eighth-graders and their families and then (Monday) morning we held another prayer service with our fourth-to-eighth-grade students, said St. Mary's Principal Richard Morehouse.

We have counselors and priests available for students to speak with and three comfort dogs from the Lutheran Church Charities out of Northbrook.

The eighth-grader was a member of the baseball team and the schools undefeated 1A state championship basketball team, scoring a point in the championship game against Griggsville-Perry Feb. 18 in Bartonville.

He enjoyed playing golf. He loved to hunt, fish and ride his four-wheeler, Morehouse said. He was a great kid and will be sorely missed by all.

The funeral service for Blaze is at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Marys Catholic Church.
Imagine emerging from a rocky political week only to announce, as Bernie Sanders did, that, oh, by the way, the Vatican called. Actually, it was the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, but close enough, I suppose.

Hillary Clinton thought bubble: He's Jewish for crying out loud. What am I, chopped liver? No, I'm Methodist! But if I can become a New Yorker, I can become a Catholic!

Some people have all the kismet. Or, maybe sometimes people just happen to agree that communism isn't really so bad. OK, I'm exaggerating, but only a smidgeon.

It should surprise no one that the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences  or especially Pope Francis  might find common cause with Sanders' worldview. Both the pope and the Bern speak of helping the disenfranchised and the poor.

But Sanders is a democratic socialist who wants to be president of the United States. And the pope is, well, the pope.

A pastoral leader who washes the feet of the homeless and eschews the elaborate trappings of the corner office, he's the real deal, as in living as Christ did, spiritually if not physically. Also like Christ, he's a radical. Just ask Sanders.

"People think Bernie Sanders is radical," Sanders said Friday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Uh-uh. Read what the pope is writing (these days)."

What's radical about this pope is that he, like both Sanders and Jesus, says fresh, untraditional things that sound an awful lot like liberal ideas. What he says (and writes) is aspirational both in scope and application. As popes often do, Francis asks us to love one another, which makes us uncomfortable because loving others ultimately means sacrificing our interests to others. This comes naturally with our children but not so much with strangers, whose behavior probably annoys us and, oftentimes, costs us money.

Sanders, who thinks more or less as Francis does, just makes us nervous. Some of us, anyway.

The core difference between the two men is that one wants to raise consciousness about our obligation to the less fortunate; the other wants to restructure America's economic institutions to ensure that money trickles down  mandatorily rather than charitably.

Theoretically, this is a noble concept. It's how you do it that causes taxpaying citizens to seek shelter. Let's face it, most of us work hard not for the satisfaction of a well-made widget but for a paycheck. As the taxman chisels away at such monetary rewards, where goes the incentive to work hard? This is common sense, obviously, but less common than it once was, judging by the popularity of Sanders' proposals.

His bid to break up the too-big-to-fail banks sounds awesome enough: Let's stick it to the fat cats and watch 'em squirm. But will it really help the poor, or might such draconian action ultimately hurt more than it helps?

To the larger point, the highest priest urging morality in all human endeavors, including economic policies that fail to adequately address the needs of the poor, plainly comes from the heart. It's important for Francis to speak out as a messenger for the greater good. It's important, too, that we be reminded of our moral obligation to each other.

It's his job. It's our job not to conflate a pope's message of Christian charity with a political candidate's promise to remake America's economic system. The "rampant individualism" that Francis condemns is precisely what has driven American ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and a level of prosperity unmatched in human history.

That more people are doing less well  and the middle class has suffered  means there's work to do, but it doesn't necessarily require radical restructuring. The striving for greater equality is always a proper operating principle, but what Sanders is aiming for without saying so is equal outcomes. The imposition of equality by third parties never works very well and inevitably carries the unwelcome penalty of less freedom. Greater effort toward raising the bottom rather than tearing down the top would seem a better approach than extreme measures that likely would have a destabilizing effect.

A pope needn't worry about such things and is free to ponder the universe through the pulpit's lens. He is also free to chat with politicians who share his worldview, though it isn't clear whether he and Sanders will convene.

Still, a visit to the Vatican a couple of days ahead of the New York primary surely cant hurt. If Sanders wins, one might even say it was divine intervention.
Kotkamills Appoints Pirjo Etelainen as Director Consumer Boards

April 11, 2016 - Kotkamills announced that Pirjo Etelainen has been appointed Director, Consumer Boards. She replaces Christian Hoglund, who has left the company to pursue other opportunities.

Etelainenwill be responsible for the operating result of the business unit and development of Kotkamills' sales and support network associated with the upcoming launch of the company's new board machine, BM2.

Kotkamills also announced that David Ingham has been appointed Global Sales Director, Consumer Boards.

Both appointments are made with immediate effect, Kotkamills said.

Kotkamills is in the process of converting a paper machine, PM2, for the production of recyclable folding boxboard and barrier board grades. The repurposed machine is expected to start up in June and will have an annual capacity of 400,000 tons per year.

Kotkamills is a forest products company based in Finland. The company specializes in laminating paper, coated bulky paper, sawn products and consumer boards (in 2016). To learn more, please visit: www.kotkamills.com.

SOURCE: Kotkamills Oy
Barbie and other children's toys have an important role in the domestic violence debacle. Gendered toys reportedly contribute in forming gender stereotypes among kids.

Australia's toy industry and domestic violence groups made an inquiry to the Senate regarding the issue, News.com.au reported. They are arguing that children's toys and entertainment play are forming gender stereotypes and contributing towards domestic violence.

Sue Phillips from Junction Australia, an organization that gives services and housing to domestic violence victims, said gendered toys contribute to gender inequality. Barbie and G.I. Joe are some of these so-called gendered toys. "Women are not valued, respected and treated as equals and that allows the power, control and cycle of abuse to continue," Phillips said, as quoted by News.com.au.

Toys Teach Gender Stereotypes

Phillips noted that the marketing and display of toys greatly influence the development of children. They also reinforce society's gender stereotypes in the minds of kids.

"When we separate the two genders in toy stores and catalogues -- by saying that blue is a boy color and pink is a girl color -- we reinforce the idea that boys play with these sorts of toys and girls play with other toys," Phillips added, as reported by the news outlet. Phillips said there's nothing wrong with Barbie wearing a short dress or being in a kitchen.

Boys loving toy trucks isn't wrong, but this kind of segregation "does perpetuate those gender stereotypes, which is what this is all about - gender inequality. It's saying that women are in a different space in terms of their influence in our communities than men are," News.com.au reported.

When a man believes that he has more power and control over his family because of his gender, it can escalate into making decisions for his female partner. If she breaks away from her partner's view of a relationship dynamic, that's when the male wants to control her, the report stated.

Toy Industry Rejects Argument

Australia's toy industry fired back at the suggestion made by Phillips' organization. Gabby Anderson, executive director of the Australian Toy Association, said that toys are important to a child's growth because they challenge and stimulate the kids. He argued that family environment, school life, and mass media influence a child's behavior more.

"It's too great a stretch to think there is any link between domestic violence and toys," Anderson said, as quoted by News.com.au. "We believe there is an ongoing problem between domestic violence and gender inequality, and it's definitely worth investigating. But we strongly reject any link between these behaviors and playing with toys."

Pamela Blyton, the owner of Monkey Puzzle Toy Store in Summer Hill, avoids gender stereotypes in their toys, but she admitted that it isn't always easy. Like Anderson, she also dismissed the idea that playing gendered toys could lead to domestic violence.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert has signed two education bills promising programs that will benefit students. The ceremonial copies he signed into law are Senate Bill 101, the High Quality Preschool Readiness Expansion Program, and Senate Bill 67 the Partnerships for Student Success.

The education bills are aiming to "increase funding for early childhood programs and enhance community partnerships to improve student outcomes," Good4Utah reported. For this year, the legislature has approved around $454 million towards improving the state's quality of education.

"By signing these bills and saying we believe in you, and we're gonna put some money behind that belief to make sure these education programs continue, and I'm honored to have that opportunity to celebrate with you," Herbert said in an auditorium packed with students at the Lincoln Elementary School, as reported by Good4Utah.

Spending Money for Education Not an Issue

The Republican governor stressed that his office deeply cares about education and they are willing to put a great amount of money to improve it. The first bill's expansion of early childhood programs will provide multiple sources and tools for parents to improve their child's early education.

The second bill will increase community partnerships and involvement so children will have more resources that will help them succeed in their endeavors, the news outlet noted. Herbert said he appreciates "working with the legislature who've along with me have made education our number one budget priority," Good4Utah added.

Among the significant investments passed by the legislature is providing more funds to each student in schools in the state. An investment of $90 million has been given to Utah schools.

Senator Ann Millner, who is the former president of Weber State University, sponsored the education bills. For her, providing early education programs for children and parents will give them better outcomes in life.

Millner said that after children have learned to read in third grade, they should be able to read to learn. Early education can make that development happen.

While the senator is proud of Utah's achievements in its education sector, she acknowledges that there's still plenty of work to be done. According to Millner, teachers should have more resources, "learning to integrate new technologies into the classrooms, and improving that technology," Good4Utah noted.

Equity is Needed

Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh, president of the Utah Education Association, said lawmakers should not just focus on budget equality. Equity and the diverse needs of Utah students should be taken into account as well.

Gallagher-Fishbaugh said both charter and traditional schools need more money. However, prioritizing charters only benefits students who are whiter, wealthier, and enrolled in smaller classes than their district counterparts, Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Uber has recruited 50,000 U.S. service members, veterans, and military spouses for its UberMilitary program. The ride-sharing company is expanding its operations in and around military bases.

Uber intends to lessen alcohol-related incidents in military communities by increasing people's access to reliable rides, CNET reported. The UberMilitary program, which was launched in September 2014, offers special perks and a savings program to attract more veterans and military people to be an Uber driver.

"Although 50,000 veterans and other people connected to the military have signed up, only around half have actually started driving. Uber said that's a pretty good conversion rate of people following through from signing up to actually hitting the road," CNET wrote.

Helping Jobless Veterans

Uber Technologies Inc. Senior Vice President Emil Michael was responsible for the creation of UberMilitary, the Washington Post reported. After spending some time in public service as a White House fellow and aide to then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Michael found that veterans have a hard time looking for jobs after leaving the armed forces.

According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the jobless rate for veterans of the United States' most recent wars clocks in at almost 6 percent. Uber's military program aims to help solve this problem.

"The thing that was missing was an income-earning opportunity that was extremely flexible," Michael said of the military veterans' employment issue, as quoted by the Washington Post. "When you come back, maybe you're studying for your next degree, maybe you have medical issues."

Michael described UberMilitary as "a passion project," but he admitted that "it's also good for business," the news outlet added. By 2020, Uber hopes to pay out $500 million to its veteran drivers.

Donations, More Plans to Help Veterans

The company is also making a $1 million donation to charitable organizations that support veterans and military families, such as Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and a program connected to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the Hill wrote. According to Michael, they are also having discussions with the Department of Defense about other ways to encourage more Uber drivers to operate in military areas.

The donation is made on behalf of former military officials, including Gates, General James Mattis, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, CNET listed. Those men are all members of the advisory board for UberMilitary.

"Driving with Uber is an incredible opportunity," Mullen said, as reported by CNET. "It provides flexibility and allows veterans to pursue the American dream, be it furthering education, pursuing certification or starting a small business."
Employers with job openings that require bachelors degrees are currently facing a big problem: many of those belonging to the working age do not own that requirement. Other jobs that only require a high school diploma, however, face the direct opposite: there are more people who own a diploma than jobs that require one.

Supply and Demand

In North Dakota and Minnesota, the gap between the demand and supply for bachelor's degree owners is huge, reports the Grand Forks Herald. Based on recent statistical data, 34 percent of jobs in North Dakota require workers to have a bachelor's degree, but only 18 percent of adults aged 25 and older have one. In Minnesota, the gap is even bigger: 50 percent of jobs in the state require bachelor's degrees, but only a mere 19 percent of adults have one.

The data presented comes from "The College and Career Readiness of U.S. High School Graduates" report by Achieve, a Washington-based nonprofit group that was involved in helping develop the Common Core State Standards. The report, which includes data from all U.S. states, can be accessed here.

North Dakota, which adopted the Common Core standards for Math and English in 2010, has a relatively high graduation rate, but the college-readiness of these graduates is still unclear as many graduates still need remedial classes. To this, the Chamber of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks president Barry Wilfahrt said that North Dakota is facing job shortages in every education level, emphasizing that some fields, such as engineering, seriously require degree holders.

"Even in Grand Forks today, there's a tremendous workforce shortage across the board in our community, and it's going to continue to be one of the biggest challenges (we face)," Wilfahrt said.

Opposite Trends

However, the trend is quite the opposite when only high school diplomas are required. Jobs that do not demand for a bachelor's degree but only ask for a high school diploma are far outnumbered by adults who have diplomas.

In North Dakota, for example, only 46 percent of jobs require diplomas, while 52 percent own one. Minnesota, on the other hand, has another bigger gap: only 33 percent require diplomas, while 53 percent of adults have one.
"Descendants of the Sun" is down to its last two episodes and fans across the globe are wondering what will happen next to its lead stars Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo once the Korean drama comes to an end. The 30-year-old actor recently shared his thoughts on returning to the hit variety show "Running Man."

Song Joong Ki instantly became a household name following his successful portrayal of Captain Yoo Si Jin in the hit KBS2 drama, "Descendants of the Sun" next to Song Hye Kyo. It is no wonder that the actor has already received countless offers for CFs, pictorials and roles in upcoming movies and TV series.

Many fans, however, were wondering whether Song Joong Ki will be returning to the hit variety show, "Running Man" after he left the series to pursue his acting career. In their recent press tour for "DOTS" in Hong Kong, Joong Ki expressed his interest in returning to the series.

"I would go on the show at any time," Joong Ki told the local media, according to International Business Times. "'Running Man' is like my hometown to me. If I have the opportunity, I'd like to appear on the show."

Joong Ki has previously made a short appearance in "Running Man" after his military service came to an end. The "Innocent Man" actor appeared on the show along with his friends, Jo In Sung and Im Joo Hwan.

Meanwhile, as "Descendants of the Sun" is about to end, many fans were wondering if there would be a happy ending between Yoo Si Jin and Kang Mo Yeon. While it remains to be seen whether these two would ever get to live a happily ever after kind of story in the end, fans are even more curious over Joong Ki and Hye Kyo's relationship in real life.

According to Straits Times, the "Song-Song" couple recently gushed about each other during the "DOTS" press event in Hong Kong.

"She's really pretty," said Joong Ki about Hye Kyo. The actress, on the other hand, told the press that she and Joong Ki had a really great time filming on set.


Is sex education in a state of crisis? Many parents, students and educators have complained about different aspects of sex education in the U.S. Fortunately, a new sex education bill pending in the Senate addresses these concerns.

BGD Columnist @viancjm breaks down how how sex education is often a racist educationhttps://t.co/EHVioXfctU pic.twitter.com/C4aIEh42Td  BGD (@BGDblog) April 1, 2016

The sex education bill, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Cory Booker, is called Real Education for Healthy Youth Act, which focuses on making sex education more LGBT-inclusive and medically correct and accurate, Slate reports. This sex education Senate bill also promotes more funding to provide teachers adequate sex-ed training.

"Sexual health education that includes information beyond abstinence has been found to delay sexual intercourse, increase condom or contraceptive use, reduce the number of partners among young people, and decrease physical aggression with intimate partners," Booker's office said in a press release. Topics such as relationship violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment and STD and pregnancy prevention are also emphasized in the pending sex education Senate bill.

This sex-ed bill is very important for many people because only 13 states are requiring schools to teach medically accurate sex education lessons. For this reason, many untrained and religious sex education teachers have taught medically inaccurate lessons to students, Slate explains.

Most sex education classes are also not covering topics about the sexual concerns of the LGBT community. "Truly L.G.B.T.-inclusive sex ed weaves the issues of L.G.B.T. people throughout the curriculum without judgment or stigma and creates space for honest discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity," the New York Times reports.
More and more teenage boys are paying prostitutes in exchange for sex. Doctors are concerned that this could lead to the teenagers' higher chances of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases and infecting other people.

In a study conducted between 2009 and 2014, around 300 heterosexual boys aged between 16 and 19 were found to have visited a government specialist clinic that treats sexually transmitted infections, the Straits Times reported. Only 15 percent of boys surveyed who went to the Department of Sexually Transmitted Infections Control Clinic between 2006 and 2009 said they had sex with prostitutes.

Public Health Concern

Associate Professor Wong Mee Lian, of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, said the study's findings cannot generalize the vast population of sexually active teens. Lian, however, said teenage boys paying for sex are becoming increasingly common.

Researchers consider this trend among teenage boys a public health concern given that sex workers carry infections. According to the Straits Times, 30 percent of the boys surveyed in the study between 2009 and 2014 said they didn't use a condom while engaging in sexual activities with prostitutes.

Infecting Others

Doctors are concerned that teenage boys could transmit sexual infection to their girlfriends or to other sexual partners. Lian said the teenage boys had a median of 4.5 sexual partners, including their girlfriends, while they were being polled for the study.

"Many of those infected with an STI show no symptoms and they could have sex with others without knowing they are infected," she said, as quoted by the Straits Times. The median age of boys who have paid for sex was only 16, with 38 percent of their first sexual experience with a prostitute.

Main Factors

Two main factors have been identified by doctors and social workers as to why teenage boys prefer prostitutes. One of these factors is the ease of access to pornography on the internet.

There are plenty of websites advertising sexual services on the internet. Dr Lin Kai Wei of Nuffield Medical Siglap clinic said teenage boys visit online sites because "they find it less daunting than going to the red light districts where others can see what they are up to," the news outlet wrote.

"There are all these websites where there are pictures of the girls and their vital statistics. So the boys are tempted," Wei said, as reported by the Straits Times.

In response to the study, Singapore Children's Society chief executive Alfred Tan said that parents should start talking about concerns regarding sexuality with children. This is to teach them right from wrong and should be done when they are as young as possible, per Straits Times.
Almost 500 students in a top Chicago public school were mistakenly accepted for next school year. Acknowledging the oversight in school admissions, the institution retracted the offers, which left the parents and students enraged. The school district is trying to ease the tension by consulting with the parents.

Chicago Sun Times reported that the elementary school, LaSalle Language Academy, inadvertently sent 512 letters to parents informing them that their children got in. However, there were actually just 16 slots in total for incoming first to eighth grade students and the mistake was blamed on an "internal error" which was later advised to the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). "Unfortunately, due to an error in assigning transfer students to LaSalle, CPS discovered that LaSalle does not have enough available seats for the number of offers that were made," the school admissions letter stated.

Why Parents Prefer Top Chicago Public School LaSalle Language Academy

Per Education News, LaSalle's curriculum allows for the students to learn languages like French, Italian, Mandarin and Spanish and it's a big help considering 30 percent of enrollees belong to low-income families who normally cannot afford this kind of privilege. LaSalle's school admissions are processed through a computerized lottery, but students who have siblings already attending the school are given priority. It caters to residents within 1.5 miles around the district.

School Admissions Mistake Highlight Flawed Chicago Public School System

The parents received the letters rescinding their child's acceptance to the top Chicago public school a few days late. For many of them, this was the only institution that approved their application after trying out five or six other public schools.

The CPS acknowledged the delay, citing they were dealing with budget talks that lead to the teachers strike, as Parent Herald previously reported. "The application and enrollment process is an emotional time for many families, and I want to assure you that we will work individually with your family to make sure you understand your options," said CPS admissions head Kathryn Ellis in her message to parents.

School Admissions Offer Solutions



The school district has been coordinating with the families affected to offer some alternative solutions. This includes either a reinstatement in other schools that have rejected earlier applications or referrals to other schools, per Chicago Tribune. "LaSalle was my son's ONLY offer although they promptly pointed me to my neighborhood school...overcrowded, of course," one parent told Chicago Sun Times.

What can you say about this issue? Did you think CPS handled the issue properly? Sound off in the comments!
As of 2015, numbers of students in Hawaii that are not aware of sexually transmitted diseases are incredibly rising. Pupils who know HIV and AIDS inside the school premises fall to a two-decade low, according to a Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

According to Civil Beat News, compared to 1999, there is about 85.7 percentage dropped of middle school students who learned STDs in the public schools with only 44 percent last year. In the same year, the high school students sink 90.6 percent with just 75.6 who has proper knowledge of sex education.

Expected Change From Sex Education

The said numbers are expected to be changed in as the Board of Education decided to oblige every school to teach thorough and medically-accurate sex education. The Sexual Health Education Policy 103.5 is now added with HIV awareness and changed the BOE rule from "Abstinence-based Education Policy."

The new rule is still waiting to include education on abstinence in sex education as an addition to the use of contraception and safe sex policies. However, it is not yet known how many schools are going to follow the new mandate.

"We have the policy in place. Now we have to get to the logistics of how to make that happen in every school," Judith Clark, executive director of Hawaii Youth Services Network, told Civil Beat when the new rule passed. Sex education is already known to be included in the curriculum but, the U.S. schools are still having a hard time to implement the said policy, as per Parent Herald.

Middle and High School Students Remain Unaware

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found out a lot of students still don't have the proper knowledge regarding sexually transmitted diseases like HIV and AIDS. There are only a small number of middle and high school pupils that have been taught of sex education topics.

Hence, experts are encouraging every teacher to teach students everything about sex education and sex awareness. "We need to do a better job of giving our young people the skills and knowledge they need to protect their own health," CDC National Center for HIV/AIDS director Dr. Jonathan Mermin said.

What do you think of the new sex education mandate? Share your thoughts below.
Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx have been plagued with engagement, wedding and pregnancy scare rumors despite their denials that they are not an item. New reports suggest that Katie Holmes and Jamie Foxx have ended their relationship.

Katie Holmes Stops Wearing Her Engagement Ring With Jamie Foxx

According to Inquisitr, Katie Holmes was spotted multiple times without her engagement ring. In one instance, she wore a pair of slim-fitting jeans and a light-colored sweater that she complemented with a pair of sunglasses. Later on, she went out in a restaurant sporting a different outfit without the rumored engagement ring again.

Katie Holmes Uses Jamie Foxx to Boost Career?

MStars News reported that Katie Holmes is taking advantage of her affair with Jamie Foxx. "Holmes has no problem with the industry attention she's getting from the talk surrounding herself and Foxx," one insider told the publication. "Since they've started hooking up he's introduced her to so many big producers and power players, it's a massive turn-on to her and something she's taken full advantage of."

The insider revealed that Jamie Foxx has many connections and has a great influence in the music industry. Since their rumored romance, Katie Holmes has received several script offers and is slowly finding her way back into the stardom.

Katie Holmes Done With Foxx to Focus on Career

Did Katie Holmes get what she wants from Jamie Foxx? Is she now ready to take her career to the next level alone? Celebuzz reported that Tom Cruise's ex-wife is taking the directorial chair for the new drama film, "All We Had," where she also stars as Rita.

Rita is a mom who struggles to give her daughter a better life. The film is an adaptation of Annie Weatherwax's novel. Katie Holmes was impressed with the book at how it looked into superheroes and she believed it's a wonderful theme for a movie.

Although Katie Holmes is now taking the director's chair, she said that she would never give up her first love, which is acting. "I'm an actress," Holmes said. "You don't give good roles away."

Now that Katie Holmes is busy with her craft, do you believe that this will end her rumored relationship with Jamie Foxx? Do you believe about the Katie Holmes-Jamie Foxx romance? Share your thoughts below.
Pregnant actress Emily Blunt still looks ravishing despite carrying a big baby bump. She confidently carried a dress during a photocall for her movie "The Huntsman: Winter's War" in New York over the weekend.

Daily Mail reported that the 33-year-old actress was photographed showing her baby bump in a fit cream dress. It noted that her fashion style was also highlighted with a neckline that showed her cleavage and her knees.

In another photo shot in a studio, Blunt covered her dress with a blazer and wore nude sandals. The same report said that she also sported "ombre locks" matched with a simple makeup and a pale red lipstick.

Aside from anticipating for her second baby, Blunt is also busy promoting her recently released film. E! said that the actress sometimes forgets that she is pregnant because of the movie.

Blunt plays the role of Freya, the sister of main character Ravenna, in the movie released last April 7. The siblings' main aim is to dominate the kingdom with The Huntsman and his love interest.

"The first pregnancy is the most self-indulgent thing in the world because you get massages and prenatal yoga and hypnotherapy CDs," she was quoted by the same report as saying. "During this one I forget that I'm even pregnant. I'm hoisting my 2-year-old around!"

Blunt confirmed in January that she is having another child with husband John Krasinski. The couple has a two-year-old daughter named Hazel.

She said that it was hard, at first, to reveal the news to their young daughter but she finally understood the good news. Blunt said Hazel is already excited for the coming of the new baby.

"She dismissed it wholeheartedly when I first brought it up, but she's coming round to the idea now," the mother added. "[She] coming round to the idea of it [having a younger sibling]."
Leah Messer from MTV's "Teen Mom 2" was once again caught on video, texting while driving with her twin daughters, Aleeah and Aliannah Simms at the back of her car. The video was a sneak peak of the show's new episode posted by MTV on April 8.

Hollywood Life reported the new preview of "Teen Mom 2" and it showed Leah Messer driving and texting, not minding the welfare of her kids who are onboard. It is making a lot of people concern because being on the phone while driving is already dangerous, not to mention illegal. It is not helping her image to include her children in such a dangerous act.

A photo posted by Leah dawn (@leahdawn92mtv) on Apr 1, 2016 at 2:18pm PDT

For those who have been following the show since it started, they know that this is not the first time Messer was caught driving and texting. The reality star was seen quite a few times on the show doing it. This time, the teenage mom just finished picking her kids up from school and they were having a little bit of an argument while she is trying to drive. She was in the middle of talking to Aleeah when she decided to take her smartphone out and started texting.

Meanwhile, Radar Online said Messer wasn't successful in gaining full custody of her children. Her behavior as a mother contributed to the court's decision. Fans of the show even labeled her as a "monster mom" and despite the court's decision, the now 24-year-old mom is still not changing her parenting style.

On the show's preview, she was also caught in a bit of a fight with her kids trying to explain to them that they are arriving at school on time. One of her twin daughters, Ali, was saying they are always late for school and it is kind of her fault. Leah snapped at her daughter saying, "First of all, you guys have no business worrying about what time you get to school."

Find out more about this episode when "Teen Mom 2" airs on MTV on April 10. Watch the sneak peek of the new episode below. What do you think of Leah Messer as a mom?
Kate Middleton and Prince William are two of the most favorite names being tagged to several nasty rumors. Now, new reports claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their third child now.

Kate Middleton desperate to save marriage with Prince William

Celeb Dirty Laundry reported that Kate Middleton is now pregnant and Prince William was in shock when he learned about it as nothing was completely expected. Several reports are claiming that Kate Middleton decided to get impregnated once again to save her troubled marriage with Prince William.

An unnamed source told Life & Style that Kate Middleton and Prince William planned to wait for another year before welcoming their third baby. However, everything just happened and another baby is reportedly on the way.

The news about Kate Middleton's third pregnancy broke amid the Duchess and Prince William's trip in India. The same insider even divulged that Kate Middleton has been craving spicy Indian food, which is an indication that the wife of Prince William is going to have a baby. To recall, she had the same cravings when she was pregnant with Princess Charlotte.

Despite her rumored pregnancy, Kate Middleton is still pursuing her trip to India and Bhutan. However, her Travel to Rio de Janeiro for the Summer Olympics is reportedly cancelled. As to what is the reason why, no one can confirm as of yet.

Kate Middleton could not forgive Prince William for seeing Jecca Craig

Meanwhile, Parent Herald previously reported that Prince William went to Kenya and met his ex-girlfriend. Now, new reports revealed that Kate Middleton is not going to forgive her husband yet for abandoning the family for Jecca Craig.

An unnamed source divulged to GLOBE that Prince William kept his appointment with Jecca Craig a secret to Kate Middleton until the last second that he was jetting off. It was also said that Kate Middleton was completely furious that Prince William was not around during Princess Charlotte's first Easter despite the Duchess' begging and pleading with husband not to go.

Do you think Kate Middleton and Prince William are now expecting their third child? Do you think Kate Middleton has enough reason to not forgive Prince William yet? Share to us your thoughts in the comment section below.
7-year-old Afghan Ahmed, a refugee from a camp in Calais, France saved his life and 14 others with the help of charity worker Liz Clegg. Child refugee Ahmed was some thousands of miles away from Liz Clegg when he sent a text to the health worker begging for help to save his life.

New York Post reports that Liz Clegg, who runs a women's and children's hospital in Calais, gives cellphones to refugee children who come through the camp to help keep them safe. Ahmed had been one of the refugee children to receive a cellphone from Liz Clegg and the other volunteers in Calais.

Liz Clegg was at a conference in New York City when she received the urgent text from Ahmed. The text message was in broken English, but Liz Clegg was able to sufficiently understand.

"I ned halp darivar no stap car no oksijan in the car no signal iam in the cantenar. Iam no jokan valla," Ahmed texted. The refugee's message was deciphered as follows: "I need help. The driver won't stop the car. No oxygen in the car. No signal. I'm in a container. I am not joking. I swear to God."

Liz Clegg immediately liaised with Tanya Freedman, who is a member of Help Refugees and is located in London. Freedman was quick to act upon the message passed on by Liz Clegg. Freedman contacted the authorities about Ahmed's life and death predicament.

Right now we desperately need more hands on deck in Calais. Have you got a few days to spare? Email volunteerincalais@gmail.com to register  HelpRefugeesUK (@HelpRefugeesUK) 9 April 2016

According to RT, the authorities and a Pashto interpreter worked together to find out Ahmed's location. A trace revealed that Ahmed was in a truck in Leicestershire. When the authorities reached the truck, they discovered that 14 other refugees were with Ahmed and each one was close to suffocation.

The oxygen-deprived refugees were attempting to enter the U.K. illegally through the said truck. Freedman expressed her own admiration for Ahmed, who despite his young age, had the presence of mind to know that his life was in danger and found a way to seek the help that he and the other refugees needed.

Thousands of refugees as Ahmed have been displaced in recent times by war and violence in their countries. These refugees have been trying to seek asylum and find new homes and rebuild their lives. However, most of have them have been stuck in refugee camps such as the one in Calais, France.
The key to a great musical accompaniment in a film is imperceptibility. When a song is so perfect for a movie moment, audiences wont even notice it until the scene has already begun. The fit is intuitive. But listening back to a soundtrack after seeing a movie immediately can create a different experience. The melodies and lyrics conjure visual memories from those other stories. Sometimes, though, a soundtrack stands on its own, independent of the film that united those individual tracks. Whatever the situation, movie soundtracks offer essential cultural contributions to both movies and music, and weve rounded up the 50 best of all time.



Trevor Jones and David Bowie combine for a soundtrack that was very much of its timemuch like the film itself. Jim Henson and George Lucas fantasy musical was made for Bowie. And Bowie contributions like Magic Dance and Underground could only live in the world they all helped create. Mark Lore



Oh, Whitney! You timeless diva, you. Whitney Houston carried half of a soundtrack that won the 1992 Album of the Year Grammy award in her definitive peak. The movies lead track, I Will Always Love You, also won the Record of The Year Grammy and highlighted a slate of songs that also included I Have Nothing, Queen of The Night, Im Every Woman, and Queen of The Night. Pretty ridiculous right? Not to be forgotten, is the fan-frickin-tastic collaboration between Kenny G and Aaron Neville, Even If My Heart Would Break, along with a Joe Cocker and another Lisa Stansfield track. Say what you will about the suspect film (Kevin Costner!) but this soundtrack was early 90s gold and make no mistake about it, its all because of Whitney. Adrian Spinelli



As delirious as its many influences, the Monkees Headboth the Bob Rafelson film and its soundtrackis a beautifully catchy catch-all of late 60s psychedelia, commercial pop and celebrity-obsessed culture, pulled between the two polls of avant-garde performance art and big box record label consumerism until it snaps. With contributions from Harry Nilsson, Carole King and Jack Nicholson (who co-wrote the films script and sequenced the soundtrack), Head perfectly encapsulates a time in which once-opposing forces came screeching together into a maelstrom/melange of everything that made absolutely no sense in American culture at the timewhich was, literally, everything. Dom Sinacola



The gentle sounds of Cat Stevens take on a darker veneer when set to Harold and Maudes macabre humor. Of course, love is at the center of this 1971 cult classic, and what is Stevens all about, if not love? The songwriter even penned two new songs especially for the film. Mark Lore



Another Coen brothers film with T Bone Burnett at the musical helm, the soundtrack for 2013s Inside Llewyn Davis includes a wide selection of traditional folk songs, many of which are performed by lead actor Oscar Isaac. While Isaacs interpretations of folk ballads like Hang Me, Oh Hang Me and Fare Thee Well (Dinks Song) stand well on their own, this soundtracks most impressive feat might just be introducing audiences to the music and story of Dave Van Ronkthe films not-so-subtle muse. Hilary Saunders



The beauty of this soundtrack is that its an American history lesson told through the music that was prevalent during the historical events that Tom Hanks eponymous character lives through. In the opening scenes, Forrest gets his clanky-legged dance moves by watching Elviss breakthrough TV performance on the Ed Sullivan show. Later in the movie, Creedence Clearwater Revivals Fortunate Son plays as Forrest and Bubba land in Vietnam. And then finally, Lynyrd Skynyrds Sweet Home Alabama plays as Jennys return back to Greenbow culminates their epically unpredictable love story and a history that we all shared through the eyes of Forrest Gump. Adrian Spinelli



While there is plenty of traditionally performed classical music to be found throughout A Clockwork Orange, what everyone rightfully remembers is the chilling renditions of Beethoven and Purcell works performed using synthesizers by the artist formerly known as Walter Carlos. Through those wowing tones and trilling melodies, viewers were set deeply into the world of Alex and his treacherous droogs as they terrorized a dystopian England. Director Stanley Kubrick also got in a little horrifying wink to close the film by playing Singin In The Rain over the closing credits; the same song that Alex sang as he tortured a suburban couple in their home. Robert Ham



Martn Scorsese reportedly had Layla playing on set as he filmed the scene it would soundtrack. Ray Liotta gives us voiceover, but its really the wistful guitar and piano that provide all the necessary explanation as we see a montage of dead bodies (Jimmys cronies who ignored his command to not buy flashy things with their heist money) uncovered in garbage trucks, cars and a meat truck. That concept of the soundtrack as a Greek chorus of sorts carries through all of Goodfellasevery song selection comments on the scene in which its featured, whether its Tony Bennetts Rags to Riches setting the tone for the entire story, The Crystals Then He Kissed Me lending a sense of awe to that long tracking shot as Henry walks his date through the Copacabana, or Cream warning us that its getting near dark with Sunshine of Your Love as Jimmy contemplates killing his crew. No tune in this movie is an accident. Love Man and not think of Swayzes pelvis, congratulations, youre better than me. Bonnie Stiernberg



The movie about four teenagers misadventures to see KISS in 1978 is better than its typically given credit for. And the soundtrack does a solid job of capturing the era with a mix of originals (Detroit Rock City, Iron Man, Rebel Rebel), and covers, including Panteras take on Cat Scratch Fever. Forget about Everclears cover of The Boys Are Back In Town to maintain your sanity. Mark Lore



While Ernest R. Dickersons film is worth revisiting to witness just how magnetic Tupac Shakur could have been had his starring roles continued to exponentially multiply in profile, its soundtrack, produced by the Bomb Squads Hank Shocklee, is the films second breakout star. Possibly the mainstreams first codified collection of where hip-hop was heading in the early 90s as it became certifiable big business, as well as a confirmation that new jack swing had influenced pretty much every inch of urban radio at the time, the Juice OST spawned four Billboard charting singles and a template for how to capture an eras rapidly changing musical DNA. From Teddy Riley to Too $hort to Salt N Pepa, from EPMD to Cypress Hill and back to Aaron Hall, Juice whiplashes between sensitive R&B cuddle-croons and plain-faced gangsta rap, between emerging talent and icons, providing a surprisingly versatile variety of sounds and samples all pulled from the same primordial pool of influence. And yet, the soundtrack never loses its balanceeven when it ends on the unabashedly bright and funky People Get Ready by NDea Davenport and the Brand New Heaviesgrounded by a tactile sense of time and place throughout. That a few of the artists from the soundtrack also appear in the film (though no 2pac on the OST) is fitting, so indelible to the films fiber is its music, and so indicative of the times sense of blue-sky ambition is its cadre of should-be and soon-would-be superstars. Dom Sinacola



Capturing the punk scene in Salt Lake City in the mid-80s 10 years after the fact requires dusting off punk rock nuggets of the time. The soundtrack for 1999s SLC Punk does just thatand then some. Songs like Fears I Love Livin In the City and The Exploiteds Sex and Violence comingle with the Velvet Undergrounds Rock N Roll. Makes sense. Mark Lore



Although released in 1986, Stand By Me is set in the 50s. The coming of age story starring a baby Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, and Corey Feldman, as well, as a slightly older Jerry OConnell, features a soundtrack hits from the 50s that captures the boys adolescence in the midst of the birth of rock and roll. Hilary Saunders



Empire Records carries the legacy of being High Fidelitys less intelligent, less neurotic idiot cousin, romanticizing the implosion of the record industry without the insight of a pop culture omnivore god like Nick Hornby. Thats OK. For all of High Fidelitys romantic realpolitiks and Tim Robbins amazing pony tale, the film completely lacked a soundtrack with anything half as memorable as Gin Blossoms Til I Hear It From You. The Blossoms may be shafted to 90s nostalgia tours today, but their Beatles-inflected pop bliss infected the radio airwaves with magical tenacity. That one marquee tracks harmonies and melody line remain as infectious today as they did in 1995. The rest of the Empire Records soundtrack offers a catalogue of alterna 120 Minute footnotes like The Cranberries, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Better Than Ezra and The Lemonheads Evan Dando. It may not have been the most innovative musical era, but this soundtrack defined it in all of its awkward post-grunge glory. Sean Edgar



Every hip-hop fan over the age of 25 has a particular era of rap that they consider to be untouchable, and for me its the late 90s/early 2000s. But 1998 is an especially magical year, as the year DMX dropped not one, but two great albums (his debut being a classic, and both going on to make him the first rapper to have released two number one albums in one year). Its also the year he starred in Belly, alongside Nas and Method Man. The films soundtrack now stands, not only as a great reflection of the gritty and simultaneously flashy Hype Williams movie, but also as one of the best examples of what hip-hop had become at the time. This was back when, for many of us, Roc-a-Fella records and the Ruff Ryders ruled the world. Putting DMX, Jay Z, Beanie Sigel and Ja Rule (before he started singing) all on one album would have been plenty. But when you throw in a Wu-Tang track, and a soulful and lyrically gangsta Dangelo favorite, along with one of the most intoxicating reggae/rap collaborations in history (I dare you to try and listen to Top Shotter just once) and you have a classic album. The Belly soundtrack (with production credits from the great Swizz Beatz, Poke & Tone, Diddy, Irv Gotti and others) functions like any great collection of music, in that it transports the listener back to the exact time and place it was createdits so good that its both timeless and, simultaneously, so specific to its time. At the risk of sounding like just another old head, I have to say that well never have music like this again, and hip-hop will probably never be as brilliant, dark and untouchable as it was in the time of Belly. Shannon M. Houston



While the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap is almost universally beloved for its satirical portrayal of big box rocks most extravagant moments. But the movies soundtrack, also written by Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, and Rob Reiner, captures the same hilarity as the film, but in musical form. Hilary Saunders



We hear a lot about break-up records, but The Frames Glen Hansard and newcomer Marketa Irglova gave us the loveliest falling-in-love record of the decade, as the Once co-stars fell slowly for one another, both on-screen and off. Hansards voice is as vulnerable as an open wound, and Irglovas is the salve that makes everything OK. Josh Jackson



The film is as campy as youd expect from a Roger Corman movie featuring The Ramones. But the soundtrack stands up. Side One is mostly The Ramones, including a live medley of five songs in 11 minutes, including Blitzkrieg Bop and Teenage Labotomy. Side Two features Devo, Todd Rundgren and, of course, Alice Coopers Schools Out. Its all great, brainless fun. Just like the movie. Josh Jackson



One of the most important cultural commentaries of all time, Do The Right Thing depicts racial tensions in Brooklyn though director Spike Lees exacting eye. The soundtrack, which blends hip-hop, jazz, and Latin music, represents the diversity of the neighborhood. But it was Public Enemys Fight the Power that charted and brought the films social message off the screen and into peoples ears and hearts. Hilary Saunders



Wed expect any movie with dancing in its title to have a great soundtrack, but one that would go on to become one of the highest-selling albums of all time? Thats something else entirely. The Dirty Dancing soundtrack managed to resonate with over 32 million peoplegoing Platinum 11 timesby appealing to both nostalgia for the oldies (with classics like The Contours Do You Love Me, Otis Reddings These Arms of Mine, etc.) and modern-at-the-time sensibilities with tracks written or recorded specifically for the movie, like Hungry Eyes, Patrick Swayzes Shes Like the Wind and of course, its grand finale, (Ive Had) The Time of My Life, which managed to earn its writers an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. But what really sets the Dirty Dancing soundtrack apart is the fact that nearly every one of its songs is inextricably linked to a memorable scene from the movie. Its impossible to hear Mickey and Sylvias Love is Strange and not immediately picture Baby crawling across the floor while playfully lip-syncing. Solomon Burkes Cry to Me should bring to mind that slightly overwrought but somehow still perfect dance/sex scene in Johnnys bedroom, and if you can hear Love Man and not think of Swayzes pelvis, congratulations, youre better than me. Bonnie Stiernberg



If youre looking for a quick and dirty introduction to the L.A. punk scene of the early 80s, your best bet would be the soundtrack to the cult sci-fi classic Repo Man. This spotless collection boasts the essentials like Black Flags TV Party, Suicidal Tendencies stop/start teen angst anthem Institutionalized, and Fears Lets Start A War, while also introducing listeners to the Latino punks The Plugz, and Juicy Bananas, the one-off project led by Zander Schloss. If that werent enough, the whole thing is capped off by a title track by none other than Iggy Pop, who was backed up by former Sex Pistol Steve Jones and Blondie drummer Clem Burke. Its all-powerful stuff that matched the gritty, sunbaked spirit of this wonderfully untamed flick. Robert Ham



There are two forces at work to make Rushmore, like most Wes Anderson soundtracks, a great listening experience, even separate from the joys of watching young Jason Schwartzman tell Bill Murray, I saved Latin. What did you ever do? The first is Andersons love of classic rock from The Kinks and Cat Stevens to The Who and Faces. The second is composer and former Devo lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh. His whimsical classical guitar and harpsichord mixed with modern synths and organ melodies mashed with tribal drumming capture the enormous personality of Max Fisher. Song titles like The Hardest Geometry Problem in the World and Piranhas Are Very Tricky Species are just a bonus. Josh Jackson



If Danny Boyle never made another film past his second feature Trainspotting, he would still have earned a place in cinematic history for his brilliant opening gambit: two junkies, arms full of stolen good, running down an Edinburgh street with the police in pursuitall to the tune of Iggy Pops rousing sex-and-drugs anthem Lust For Life. It set the tone for this rapid-fire picture and set us up to anticipate every perfectly placed song throughout. From the pulsing Underworld classic Born Slippy to the hazy beauty of Brian Enos Deep Blue Day to the disco smackdowns of New Orders Temptation and a cover of Blondies Atomic by underrated Britpop quartet Sleeper, each tune commanded your attention as much as the brilliant acting and desperate situations happening onscreen. Robert Ham



John Hughes use of music was so distinct and masterful that to this day, lazy music writers can describe something as sounding like it belongs in a John Hughes movie and you know exactly what they mean. And out of all his soundtracks, Pretty in Pink is perhaps the John Hughes-iest, full of new wave classics worthy of its record store-clerk heroine. (The movie even takes its name from the Psychedelic Furs track it opens with.) Its weird to think that there was a time when people would make out to stuff other than Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Darks If You Leave at prom, but the band actually wrote the song specifically for the movie. Echo & the Bunnymen did the same thing with Bring On the Dancing Horses. The soundtrack manages to fit perfectly with the themes of the movie, the tastes of its characters and the musical era during which it was compiled. Even its one outlierOtis Reddings Try a Little Tenderness, which Duckie famously lip-syncs in yet another fruitless attempt to woo Andie, and which technically does not appear on the official soundtrack albumsounds less like friendly advice and more like a desperate plea within the context of the story. Bonnie Stiernberg



For his darkly funny tale about a hit man who returns home to attend his 10-year high school reunion and take out a target, writer-producer-star John Cusack turned to friend and Clash frontman Joe Strummer to supply the scoreand the retro mix of punk, pop, and rock cuts collected here is just as hip. U.K. ska icons The Specials cover Toots and the Maytals Pressure Drop, Guns n Roses take on McCartneys Live and Let Die, and the Violent Femmes and Pete Townshend show up in trippy remixes of Blister In the Sun and Let My Love Open the Door, respectively. Of course, The Clash are amply represented (Rudie Cant Fail, Armagideon Time), and an equally worthy follow-up disc (More Music From) features a funky instrumental Strummer composed for the film. Amanda Schurr



You might expect a film with such a title to be filled with high-octane modern rock, but Drive instead fuels its neo-noir coolness with poised synthy gems. Kavinskys Nightcall is darkly mysterious yet undeniably alluring, much like Ryan Goslings unnamed Driver; and the College/Electric Youth collab A Real Hero sounds so authentically 80s, it had to have been created using Docs Delorean. Unsurprisingly, its a great collection of tracks to drive to-especially if you happen to be wearing an awesome scorpion jacket. Trevor Courneen



This soundtrack has gone triple Platinum. More than three million albumsof a soundtrackhave been sold. With 41 singles, the double LP includes a range of early rock n roll hits from Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and Fats Domino to instantaneously recognizable songs like (Were Gonna) Rock Around The Clock, Green Onions, and Heart and Soul. These are the sounds that defined rock n roll and provided the foundation for what it would become. Hilary Saunders



More so than any other filmmaker of his generationand a few years in advance of fellow audiophile Wes AndersonQuentin Tarantino wrote his earliest screenplays around and based upon the playlists in his head. For this, Tarantinos era-defining debut feature, deadpan comic Steven Wright served as the now iconic, though still unnamed, voice of K-BILLYs retro radio show that ran throughout the bloody exploits of the colorful crooks Mr. Pink, Orange, White, Blonde, et al. Interspersed with Wrights spoken interludesalong with that now classic character dialogue about the meaning of Madonnas Like a Virginis a jukebox of kitsch ranging from Harry Nilsson (Coconut) to Blue Swede (Hooked On a Feeling) to the George Baker Selection (Little Green Bag) to Stealers Wheel, whose Stuck In the Middle With You so vividly soundtracked a scene we got an earful of in more ways than one. Amanda Schurr



Once upon a time, an angsty 16-year-old was driving through the hip and trendy part of her hometown blaring her favorite soundtrack. Mark Mothersbaughs masterpiece of a score, Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue Op was playing. She passed by the neighborhood cinema and a dastardly handsome man on the street screamed out, YEAH! LIFE AQUATIC! Surprise! That 16-year-old was me. As a grown-up I have a better appreciation for the album musically, but I still hold fast to my opinion that I had when I was a teenagerits one of the best soundtracks out there. From the heartfelt Zombies The Way I Feel Inside to all of the Portuguese Bowie covers by Seu Jorge to the Stooges Search and Destroy, this album is perfect. Annie Black



Any soundtrack that puts Black Lips together with Regina Spektor, The Smiths and Hall & Oates just gets me. Though You Make My Dreams will now forever conjure images of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his absurdly choreographed dance scene in my head, you dont have to see the movie to appreciate the glory of this curation. It plays like my early college iPod was put in a blender, a mishmash of artists that dont intuitively play well together but that somehow works. I dug the movie, but I dug the soundtrack even more. Emiy McBride



When you have a movie about Factory Records and the Madchester scene of the 1980s, you better get the soundtrack right. Fortunately Michael Winterbottoms film gets it right, starting out with The Sex Pistols Anarchy in the U.K. and ending with Joy Divisions Love Will Tear Us Apart. In between are tracks from The Happy Mondays, The Buzzcocks and The Clash. Legendary British DJ Pete Tong, who produced the album, even got Moby and Billy Corgan to record the Joy Division song New Dawn Fades with New Order, specifically for the movie. Josh Jackson



This soundtrack album for Franc Roddams 1979 film provides an interesting compare/contrast exercise for fans of The Who. The majority of the tracks on the double LP are remixed versions of the songs found on the groups 1973 album of the same name, as well as tossing in a few newly recorded tunes that were written for, but left off of, the initial rock opera. Nothing is lost in the translation, thankfully, and in fact, the story of the troubled mod Jimmy only finds deeper meaning through it all. The original soundtrack also features a full side of pop hits by the likes of James Brown, The Ronettes, and The Chiffons that were featured in the 60s-set film. Robert Ham



Cameron Crowes ode to love in the early 90s was a flop upon its release, but its accompanying soundtrack album went double platinum. Thats thanks to the director tapping into the rising grunge and alt-rock scenes to set the stage for each scene following the trials of a bunch of lovelorn Seattle residents. With the exception of Paul Westerbergs bubbly pop tunes and Chris Cornells moody solo track Seasons, Crowe homed in on loud jams by Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, and Soundgarden, with a little classic rock flair provided by Jimi Hendrix and a Led Zeppelin cover performed by Nancy and Ann Wilson of Heart. Robert Ham



Indeed, 1980 was a fan-terrible year for Neil Diamond. After 14 albums of gilded, gravel-voiced rock, the singer/songwriter earned the lowest and highest accolades of his career: the first Worst Actor Razzie for his performance in The Jazz Singer, a remake of the commercially successful 1927 talkie, and the best-selling record of his career for his soundtrack for the same film. So a Neil Diamond in blackface might have been the first and last stop of his theatric career, but these tracks mark an auteur at his height. Like a proto-pop Bruce Springsteen, Diamond channeled earnest, echo-in-your-bones anthems like America and Hello Again. Wed watch a million more shitty remakes for a record just as timeless. Sean Edgar



Its no accident that Dazed and Confused starts and ends with a song. From the moment that orange GTO pulls up to the last day of school to Aerosmiths Sweet Emotion to the end when a still-buzzed Mitch slaps on those headphones and vibes out to Foghat, Richard Linklaters classic coming-of-age tale is absolutely littered with perfectly selected songs befitting both its tone and its 1976 setting. Is there any other song to fling the contents of your locker into the hallway to after that last bell besides Schools Out? No. Are you gonna listen to something besides Tuesdays Gone when the keg runs dry and you say your goodnights? Doubtful. Dazed and Confuseds soundtrack is so deeply rooted in a specific timein history, sure, but also in life itself. It sounds like the 70s, but it also sounds like being a teenager. In other words, we keep getting older, but it stays the same age, and to that we say alright, alright, alright. Bonnie Stiernberg



Like so many of Stanley Kubricks films, if you took away or altered 2001: A Space Odyssey even a little bit, it would irreparably damage its impact and grandeur. That goes treble for the music chosen to accompany the still-startling images throughout. Where would the opening sequence be without Richard Strausss titanic Also Spake Zarathustra? Or the gentle dance of the space station orbiting to the tune of Johann Strauss IIs Blue Danube Waltz? For many people, including this writer, it was also their first introduction to the work of 20th century composer Gyorgy Ligeti whose unsettling Lux Aeterna made mans first encounter with the Monolith so memorable. Robert Ham



Like the play at home version of the movie, High Fidelitys soundtrack lets you, the viewer, act out all the best scenes from the film. Anguish over an ex-lover to the 13th Floor Elevators! Turn people on to the Beta Band! Make your sweetheart a mixtape to Stevie Wonder! Stand in the rain to Bob Dylan! The games as fun as the movie is funny. Austin L. Ray



I always cringe whenever a film is made about music. It makes me so nervous that somehow the soundtrack is going to be terrible, that the music director wont do the historical and social context of the film justice. For Almost Famous, this was not the case. The soundtrack fits the film perfectly. The 70s were a prime time for rock n roll, and that is explicitly shown thanks to the tracks selected. Even the fake band for the film, Stillwater, sounded exactly like an American 70s group. Of course, Im not the only one who thought this album was worthwhileit won a Grammy for Best Soundtrack in 2000. Annie Black



People who really like The Blues Brothers sometimes act like the film completely rediscovered a lost musical genre, like archaeologists brushing the dust off a centuries-undisturbed tomb, and perhaps this was truefor white people in the audience who looked something like Jake or Elwood. In reality, though, the blues has never gone anywhere, and The Blues Brothers soundtrack is a raucous celebration of its influences. It absolutely venerates all kinds of great performers, name-dropping them constantly in the film: Magic Sam, Wilson Pickett, Elmore Jamesthese guys dont even appear in the movie. Then there are all the actual show-stopping performances from the likes of James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway and Ray Charles, not to mention Belushi and Aykroyd. The fact that their first album, Briefcase Full of Blues, became a bonafide hit and went double platinum speaks to how tight their band truly was. You can be a blues hipster and turn up your nose at the songs as being somehow whitewashed, but the passion is immediately and palpably obvious. Jim Vorel



There are few cinema characters who have ever benefited so strongly from the films opening credits music as John Shaft. Before Richard Roundtree even speaks a word, the heart-stoppingly funky bass of Theme From Shaft is your companion as a jaywalking Shaft strides confidently across busy New York streets, stopping traffic dead with his machismo. Isaac Hayes Grammy and Academy Award-winning delivery (the first non-acting Oscar ever won by a black performer) immediately establishes Shaft as the ultimate badass from the very first line: Whos the black private dick whos a sex machine with all the chicks? SHAFT! Its equal parts ridiculous and wonderful, 100 percent a product of its time and sincere in a way that would be impossible to replicate today without irony. The entire soundtrack is like the King James Bible of Shaft. Jim Vorel



By 1969, the schmaltzy strings of traditional Hollywood soundtracks had been usurped by rock and roll. But Easy Rider, with its hypnotic marriage of electric guitars and revved-up motorcycles, made it feel like art unto itself. The track list is a map of moods, cruising from psychedelic landmarks (Jimi Hendrixs If 6 Was 9) to roots-rock staples (The Bands The Weight) to obscure freak-folk (The Holy Modal Rounders If You Want to Be a Bird (Bird Song). Ryan Reed



Almost two decades before Obama ushered in a new era of cross-cultural exchange, Wim Wenders Academy Award-nominated documentary introduced audiences to the joy, poetry and exile of a members only Havana collective of musicians essentially embargoed since the titular clubs shuttering in the 1940s. The audio document of Wenders and musician/producer Ry Cooders effortswhich culminated in sold-out performances in Amsterdam and at Carnegie Hallis transcendent, a testament to Cubas rich heritage exemplified in the voices of Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Compay Segundo and other seasoned talents. Songs like the signature Chan Chan and the title track, performed by legendary pianist Ruben Gonzalez, feel both vibrant and nostalgic, paving the way for a companion series of solo albumsand international tours that continue to this day. Amanda Schurr



Not only did this film introduce the world to the smoldering screen presence of John Travolta, but it cemented the Bee Gees place in pop culture history. Their four tracks that kick off the double LP disco primerStayin Alive, How Deep Is Your Love, Night Fever, and More Than A Womanare stone cold classics and have remained so for nigh on 40 years. The rest of the soundtrack is equally vibrant and important in capturing the tone of the 70s, from disco remakes of the classical canon to a little Latin boogaloo to plenty of pop hits that are wedged firmly in the consciousness of everyone alive post-1977. Now if youll excuse me, I have to strut down the street carrying a paint can, looking cool as can be. Robert Ham



Every aspect of a Wes Anderson film is presented with immaculate precision, and his soundtracks are no exception. The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack remains one of his greatest curations, with everyone from The Clash to Paul Simon to Bob Dylan rounding out the unmistakable aesthetics. Elliott Smiths Needle in the Hay during Richie Tenenbaums (Luke Wilson) attempted suicide and Nicos These Days atop Margot Tenenbaums (Gwyneth Paltrow) slow-motion walk from the Green Line bus are the most memorable standouts, adding that perfect final layer that keeps such scenes ingrained in your brain. Trevor Courneen



For every college student whos ever had a Bob Marley poster on his or her wall, every Millennial whos ever taken the time to grow dreadlocks, every human being whos ever smoked weed religiouslythe soundtrack to The Harder They Come should be buried permanently in the silt of their subconscious. Perry Henzells vehicle for reggae stalwart Jimmy Cliff carries the honor of not only being Jamaicas first feature film, but of bearing a near perfect distillation of reggaes most forward-thinking musicians, assembled by Cliff with his penchant for fusing traditional reggae with ska and rocksteady, featuring such heavies as the Maytals, Desmond Dekker, the Melodians and the Slickers. Far from holistic, the films soundtrack is better than a primer for trustafarians, its a detailed, celebratory glimpse of the political/spiritual/socioeconomic realities behind a kind of music popularly known for its worst parts. Dom Sinacola



Superfly was a 1972 blaxploitation film about a a cocaine dealer who gets the better of two dirty cops. The only reason we remember it is because of its soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield, which managed to outgross the movie it accompanied. While the film may have glorified the life of a drug dealer, Mayfields concept album addressed the victims of social injustice and pushed back against the realities of life in the ghetto. Songs like Freddies Dead were laments, speaking out for those ruined by drugs and the violence they wrought in the inner city. Josh Jackson



The Fab Fours fifth LP, and second soundtrack, is the first major turning point in their discography: more sophisticated sonically, more poignant lyrically. Help! found John Lennon submerged in life crisis; folky Youve Got to Hide Your Love Away mined (and matched) Bob Dylan. Meanwhile, Yesterday, the orchestral pop ballad to end all pop ballads, proved the mop-tops could break hearts as well as they shook hips. Ryan Reed



These days, The Sound of Silence is what we use to turn sad Ben Affleck into a meme, but itll forever be linked to a different angsty BenBenjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), drifting aimlessly in the pool in Mike Nichols masterpiece, The Graduate. What Nichols managed to do for Simon & Garfunkel with the filmand, perhaps more accurately, what Simon & Garfunkel managed to do for the film with their songsis nothing short of remarkable. Mrs. Robinson would have been Mrs. Roosevelt had it not been for the movie, and had The Graduates iconic final scene featured anything other than a reprise of The Sound of Silence as Ben and Elaines smiles slowly fade and they drive off into the unknown, it wouldve never landed like the punch to the gut it is. Its a running gag now, but in The Graduate it was gorgeous, sad and nothing short of revolutionary. Bonnie Stiernberg



The Garden State soundtrack has been praised by indie lovers to the point where its not really even cool to talk about anymore, but it cant be avoided on this list. Its a given that its an amazing compilation of artists, and it deserves mention almost any time great contemporary film soundtracks come up. Way to go, Zach Braff, for thrusting The Shins into mainstream culture, opening my eyes to the glory of Nick Drake (I was a youngn at the time, so dont judge) and fostering my obsessive love for Frou Frou and Imogen Heap. Garden State came out when I was early in my high school years, totally malleable and idealistic, and this soundtrack helped shape my musical landscape for years to come. And Im not ashamed to admit it, either. Emily McBride



Its difficult to hyperbolize this album and be called out for going too far. Princes sixth LP and the sonic, piquant periwinkle-scape to his first feature film, Purple Rain is monumental both within Princes discographymerging his fetishizing of chart-topping synth-pop with his epically lascivious dancehall tendencies to refine, once and for all, his Minneapolis Soundand within the world of soundtracks in general, pretty much defining for a whole decade what a cinematic soundtrack should be. Whether thats an overblown statement or not, Purple Rain was Princes most successful album, a commercial triumph that sacrificed nothing of the artists quirkiest, weirdest, most obscene tendencies. Whatever the industry, be it music or film, Prince catered to no one, convincing the world with radio-ready songs about magazine masturbation and garish, nuclear precipitation that his was a will not to bend, but to bend to. Have you ever purified yourself in Lake Minnetonka? Listening to Purple Rain, youve got no real choice. Dom Sinacola



The Soggy Bottom Boys were the sensation of rural Mississippi in this Depression-era retelling of Homers Odyssey, and their hit Man of Constant Sorrow made the T Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack a surprise sensation at the turn of the Millennium. You may have been seeing the face of George Clooney, but you were hearing the voice of Dan Tymisnki (a dream-come true for his wife, according to Tyminski). Thanks to contributions from Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris and Ralph Stanley, the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers comedy became the unlikeliest Platinum-selling album and Grammy winner in recent memory, bringing old-timey, bluegrass and country roots to the mainstream.Josh Jackson
Holy hell, was Bill Clinton ever wrong about every goddamn thing in a recent widely shared racially tone-deaf whitesplaining meltdown on the campaign trail!

When confronted by Black Lives Matter protesters at a Hillary campaign event, the first black president came off sounding like Cliven Bundy, or a deranged comment section on a police union anonymous website forum.

Lets take a closer look at the former Presidents ill-advised remarks and what this whole episode says about white privilege and criminal justice reform!

Actual quotes from Bill Clinton are in bold, followed by my trenchant commentary:

Heres the thing. I like protestors, but the ones that wont let you answer are afraid of the truth.

OK, Bill  I know that hecklers can be annoying, but are you really sure you want to call Black Lives Matter protesters afraid of the truth? Do you  the first black president, whose political career has benefited from a seemingly special affinity with black voters  really want to sound this defensive and confrontational, and risk coming down on the side of the people who disparage and distrust the Black Lives Matter movement?

And why is Bill Clinton even arguing with Black Lives Matter in the first place? Bill Clinton himself  in July 2015  admitted that he regretted his 1994 crime bill because it led to an era of unprecedented mass incarceration and made the problem worse. Nothing about this argument makes any sense.

Hillary spent her time trying to get healthcare for poor kidsand who were they? Their lives matter.

Good point! Weve got to keep poor black kids healthy so they can grow up to spend decades in federal prison for nonviolent drug crimes! The Clinton White House worked tirelessly to provide health care for poor black kids  and also to provide them with government-funded housing, food, uniforms, and job training in the fast-growing field of license plate making!

And hey, if theres one organization that has been an outspoken critic of Obamacare, it is Black Lives Matter. Remember all those protesters in Ferguson carrying signs that said, Dont Shoot  and Dont Make Me Buy Health Insurance? Or the BLM protesters in New York City chanting I Cant BreatheAnd I Cant Afford These Obamacare Premiums?

I dont know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out into the street to murder other African American children. Maybe you thought they were good citizensshe didnt.

Bill Clinton gets a lot of credit for being a great debater and orator, but hes really good at knocking down Straw Men. This statement is so insulting and willfully obtuse, I dont even know how to make fun of it. No one from Black Lives Matter is advocating for leniency for gang leaders and instigators of violence or suggesting that violent criminals are good citizens  they want equal protection under the law for black people, an end to police brutality, sentencing reform to stop sending millions of predominantly black people to prison for nonviolent drug crimes, and a new level of transparency and accountability for the justice system.

And whats with Bills strangely specific, vivid example of 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack going out to commit murder? That rhetoric sounds a lot like the idea of the superpredators, a racist, classist myth from the early 1990s.

This might be hard for you young people to believe, but there once was a time when white America was so afraid of inner-city poor black people, and so hysterical about the specter of gang violence and black urban crime, that they actually made up stories to stigmatize and criminalize young black people. (Can you imagine??) Back in the early 1990s, respectable academics and policy wonks like Princeton University political scientist John J. DiIulio, Jr. predicted that the rising population of poor inner city black children would lead to a grim future of superpredators  bloodthirsty, remorseless black teenage killers.

But as it turns out, the superpredator scare never happened In fact, murders committed by young people ages 10 to 17 declined by approximately two-thirds from 1994 to 2011. But even though it wasnt true, the superpredator myth still did a lot of damage to black lives and black communities, in part because it inspired many states to pass laws making it possible to try children as adults, even at the age of 13  treating kids (many of whom are  surprise!  black) not as the flawed, growing, learning, still-developing children that they are, but as irredeemable, fully-formed adult criminal offenders who deserve to be mercilessly locked away for years.

(Bonus: Remember back in 1996, when then-First Lady Hillary Clinton said in a speech They are not just gangs of kids anymore. They are often the kinds of kids that are called superpredators. No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel. Ouch! Those remarks havent aged well at all! In fairness, Hillary has apologized for using those words, and as part of her presidential campaign has pledged to end the school-to-prison pipeline and replace it with a cradle-to-college pipeline. And also, in fairness: Bernie Sanders voted for the 1994 crime bill.)

So anyway: Shame on Bill for using a stupid Straw Man argument, and especially for doubling down on the antiquated, discredited, racist concept of the superpredators.

You are defending the people who killed the lives you say matter. Tell the truth.

Jesus, Bill! Yikes! Is he trying to be the new spokesperson for the Fraternal Order of Police?

Here, Bill dresses up his Straw Man in the old canard of black on black crime. Bills basically saying, Why are you black people complaining about how the system is treating you? Why cant you just stop killing your own people first?

This is Bill Cosbys Pound Cake speech  shaming and blaming the victims of Americas systemic injustices, without even acknowledging their grievances or accepting the possibility that the system itself might be to blame for their suffering.

This is conservative-style victim blaming, from an allegedly liberal former president. Who needs Republicans when the Democrats can make the Republicans favorite arguments so forcefully and succinctly?

Ill tell you another story about a place where black lives matter: Africa.

Sweet Jesus. What does this even mean? Is Bill telling the protesters to go back to Africa? Sounds perilously close. This is such condescending, white daddy boss paternalistic crap  Hey, if you black folks dont like the way American democracy has treated you, why dont you go back to the African countries that your ancestors were kidnapped from!

Or is he saying that Africa treats black people really badly too, so black people in America should stop complaining, because it could be worse  they could be living in Africa instead??

Either way, this is so damn racist and wrong, especially coming from a rich, powerful, white millionaire, I dont even know how to debunk it. Im sitting at my desk right now feeling slack-jawed.

takes coffee break, goes for a walk

OK, Im back. Lets do a three-point breakdown of how and why Bill is so, so wrong about this:

1. Its not OK to tell black people to go back to Africa, ever. Because black people  even more than any of the other oppressed minority groups of America  didnt choose to be here in the first place. Remember a little thing called The Transatlantic Slave Trade??

Suggesting to black people that if they dont like it in America, Africa would be worse is incredibly condescending and borderline threatening  like youre saying to them, Watch your mouth, or maybe well ship you back to Africa.

2. Making black people compare their lives with Africa is insulting and unfair  it places an extra burden on black people that white people are never asked to face. White people in America are always just assumed to be permanently at home here  no one ever tells white people to go back to Europe. No one ever asks white people in America to take the blame for the present-day problems and failings of Europe.

3. Even aside from how wrong it is for a former American president to say this stuff to American citizens, its also pretty insulting to Africa. Africa is a complex, dynamic, fast-developing continent that despite its challenges (mostly caused by centuries of Western slave-kidnapping and European colonialist looting and pillaging) is home to many positive trends that go beyond the misery porn that we so often see in media coverage of the African continent. Life in many parts of Africa is getting better all the time. In fact, in some ways, Africa is better than America at racial equality. America today has worse wealth inequality by race than apartheid South Africa  the average white household has a net worth that is 18 times higher than the average black household; in South Africa in 1970, the ratio was only 15 times as much.

Black Lives Matter has nothing to do with Africa  its about American citizens demanding to be treated as full equals in the eyes of American law. And, oh by the way, the particular group of people protesting also happen to be some of the most loyal voters and activists for the Democratic Party! Bill Clinton and Hillary and Bernie and all other Democrats should not be making enemies of Black Lives Matter  they should be giving Black Lives Matter whatever the hell they want!

So what the hell was Bill Clinton thinking? Some people assume that these egregiously hamfisted remarks were just a bad mistake  perhaps he was overtired and got irritated at the wrong moment, and said some things that he didnt really mean. But maybe Bill was making some bigger political calculations with his statements  maybe hes trying to send a subtle message to disaffected white voters who are afraid of how uppity all these black people are getting, and who might be tempted to vote for the Republicans in November. Maybe hes trying to tell these anxious white people that he and Hillary know how to keep these rowdy Black Lives Matter protesters in line  they know how to bring them to heel.
The battle between the EU Commission, Apple and the U.S. Treasury has been heating up since the beginning of the year. Apple's CEO met with the EU's antitrust chief back in late January and by early February we learned that the meeting mustn't have gone well because the EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager made it absolutely clear that that they were determined to pursue their tax case with Apple. Vestager made it clear at that time that "Just as it is an obvious right for U.S. tax authorities to tax revenues when they are repatriated, it is also for European tax authorities to tax money that is made in the member states." Then in March we posted a story titled "U.S. Treasury Investigates Retaliatory Measures against the EU's Aggressive Investigation of Apple & Others." At that time the war was escalating in the press based on letters and media coverage. The two sides decided to meet face to face last week to clear things up.

After the meeting took place, Vestager stated that having face-to-face meetings with her US counterparts was preferable to what the two sides had been doing: exchanging letters and waging war in the media. "One of the things that I would like to do is engage even more in order not to leave questions unanswered. We may disagree, but that shouldn't be on the basis of things not being clear," she said.

And they certainly disagree. The Financial Times reports the repeated position of the EU Commission which is "its probe into Apple's tax deals with Ireland would continue even if the company moved some of its $200bn overseas cash pile back to the US."

The report further noted that "Apple's stated intention to repatriate a substantial portion of its overseas cash could prove crucial as it tries to fend off the EU's long-running investigation into its alleged sweetheart tax deals with the Irish government.

Support has been growing in Washington for proposals to overhaul the taxation of American companies' overseas profits, with presidential candidates including Donald Trump advocating a one-off mandatory levy at a reduced rate to encourage executives to bring the money home.

However, on a visit to Washington last week, Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition commissioner overseeing a probe into Apple's Irish tax arrangements, said that moving its offshore cash around now would change nothing.

"Whether or not Apple wants to repatriate part of their unrepatriated profits is purely up to Apple and is of no concern [to] our case work," she told reporters after meetings with the Obama administration and lawmakers in the US capital.

Apple's accounts show that it has earmarked about half of its overseas cash for repatriation to the US. In October's annual report, Apple estimated a deferred tax liability of $30bn related to a cumulative total of $91.5bn in foreign earnings. As a result, Apple's advocates in Washington argue that European governments have no rights to those funds.

The EU commissioner insisted that she was not targeting American businesses but indicated that her meetings with Mr. Lew and senior senators had not resolved the fundamental points of disagreement. "I think it's very much the same," she said.





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And again, I say unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord.

Therefore, let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, saith the Lord; and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.

Therefore, let him come up hither speedily, unto the land of Zion; and in the due time he shall be made a merchant unto my name, saith the Lord, for the benefit of my people.

Therefore let no man despise my servant Oliver Granger, but let the blessings of my people be on him forever and ever.

(Doctrine and Covenants 117:12-15)

But does anybody really remember Oliver Granger any more? Hasnt he been forgotten? Is this not a manifest case of a false prophecy by Joseph Smith?

Building upon previous writing by John Tvedtnes, Robert Boylan responds to this issue here:

http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2016/04/oliver-granger-and-sacred-remembrance.html

And, besides, everybody who reads this passage in the Doctrine and Covenants (including critics) thinks of Oliver Granger. Thats a lot of people. And its been a lot of people for approaching two centuries now. How many early nineteenth-century Americans are remembered by anybody at all? Answering even one percent would, I suspect, be far too generous.

Oliver Granger has been discussed in the official magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on at least two different occasions, by President Howard W. Hunter in 1992 and by President Boyd K. Packer in 2004.

Moreover, Brother Granger has an entry on Wikipedia, which must surely be a measure of something or other. Even most living people dont have a personal Wikipedia entry.

For more on this issue, see Is Oliver Grangers Name Forgotten?

Finally, Im remembering Oliver Granger right now. And I say, May the Lords blessing be on him forever and ever!
From time to time, I read claims that Islam and Muslims have contributed absolutely nothing to world civilization beyond terror and oppression. Sometimes  to my considerable astonishment  such assertions are sent to me directly.

A week or so ago, one poster online explained that the golden or classical age of the Arabs (which extended, arguably, from around 800 AD until the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258 AD, and which was overwhelmingly propelled by Muslim thinkers, scientists, poets, and scholars) came to an end when Muhammad (570-632 AD) introduced his new religion of Islam. (Another online commenter explained that, until roughly the nineteenth century, Egypt was 90% Christian. Actually, though, Egypt was majority Muslim by the mid-tenth century.)

Anyhow, much could be written about the claim that Muslims and Islam have offered nothing but evil to the world.

For tonight, however, Ill content myself with the image above. It should be sufficient refutation by itself, no further comment required.
in the new apostolic exhortation, The Joy of Love?

Nothing that I can pin down with certainty  or, at least, I cant pin down the long-term impact of the document. It reportedly has long passages on the importance of marriage, and speaks of the need to prepare couples for marriage and counsel them once married, and quite unambiguously rejects same-sex marriage. The fuzzier issue is what the pope has to say about those who reject church teaching.

Ill be honest  I havent read this, and I dont expect to in the near future, and, at the same time, I dont think Id feel any more enlightened by reading the whole text than by reading the excerpts Ive seen already. From what I understand, he has emphasized the importance of conscience, but has written without explicit prescriptions of what to do, and anyone looking for a direct statement on under what circumstances a cohabitating couple may take communion (or what pastoral staff should say if asked the question) wont find it here. He is trying to walk that fine line of reaching out and encouraging greater welcome, while also teaching that the Churchs understanding of Gods plan for marriage and family is not just an arbitrary set of rules but has real meaning and value.

But heres some of the commentary Ive seen:

CNN reports that

Pope Francis put his shoulder to the doors of the Catholic Church and shoved them open a little wider Friday, calling for the church to be more tolerant in practice while not changing any official doctrines. . . . He emphasizes that unjust discrimination against gays and lesbians is unacceptable, downplays the idea of living in sin and suggests that priests should use their own discretion on whether divorced Catholics in new marriages can take Communion.

They also quote Father James Martin, without a link, but they seem to be referring to his reaction in America, where he writes,

Divorced and remarried Catholics need to be more fully integrated into the church. How? By looking at the specifics of their situation, by remembering mitigating factors, by counseling them in the internal forum, (that is, in private conversations between the priest and person or couple), and by respecting that the final decision about the degree of participation in the church is left to a persons conscience (305, 300). (The reception of Communion is not spelled out here, but that is a traditional aspect of participation in church life.) Divorced and remarried couples should be made to feel part of the church. They are not excommunicated and should not be treated as such, since they remain part of the church (243).

What do you make of this? The Pope didnt just say that anyone who wants to receive communion, can, but one suspects that itll be interpreted that way.

The National Catholic Reporter staff gathers some reaction, citing optimism and, at the same time, displeasure from a gay & lesbian Catholic group that the document did not include any changes in Church teaching on same-sex relationships.

And Edward Pentin, writing at the National Catholic Register, provides a substantial summary of the document, emphasizing the ambiguity of the text. A couple paragraphs:

Chapter Eight, probably the most controversial element, deals with accompanying, discerning and integrating weakness. Its a chapter, the Pope writes, that everyone should feel challenged by and which the Vatican describes as very sensitive. The field hospital analogy he first employed early in his papacy is reused, and the Pope reaffirms what Christian marriage is. He then notes exceptions that contradict the ideal, while at the same time stating that the Church does not disregard the constructive elements in those exceptions. Francis speaks in the chapter of a need to avoid judgments that dont take account of the complexity of various situations, and stresses the need of reaching out to everyone. The divorced, he writes, should not be pigeonholed in overly rigid classifications leaving no room for personal and pastoral discernment. The Pope tackles the matter of divorced and civilly remarried persons in this chapter, calling for them to be more fully integrated into the life of the Church while avoiding any occasion of scandal. In a key paragraph, he states that considering the immense variety of concrete situations, it is understandable that neither the Synod nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases. Instead, the Pope says what is needed is simply a renewed encouragement to undertake a responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases, one which would recognize that, since the degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases, the consequences or effects of a rule need not necessarily always be the same. The Pope, the Vatican says in its summary of the document, develops in-depth the kind of discernment needed for profound dialogue between the faithful and their pastors.

What does this all mean? Near as I can tell, not an awful lot until we see how this plays out. I would guess that the German and Austrian cardinals would be tempted to use the statement about local circumstances as an invitation to indeed announce that communion is open to everyone, but will they? At the same time, will exhortations about support for families inspire local parishes or dioceses to increase their activity in terms of instruction and counseling, or are they stretched too thin? After all, its a lot easier, and less time-consuming, and requires less neck-sticking-out, to say, do what your conscience tells you.
In the wake of yesterdays publication of Amoris Laetitia allow me to weigh in with a parish priests perspective. In the midst of a busy day in the parish I didnt actually have time to read the exhortation. Neither did I have time last night or this morning. However, I have read some of the online commentary, and I have read the paragraphs deemed controversial and I will read the whole thing over the weekend.

Am I allowed, therefore, to be just a teeny bit annoyed at all the armchair experts, Facebook moral theologians and Monday morning priests who have felt it their moral duty and obligation to go online just as soon as possible to point out the Holy Fathers errors and correct the successor of Peter?

What strikes me about this document is that it is first and foremost a pastoral exhortation. While it fully affirms the traditional teaching of the church regarding marriage it also makes a valiant attempt to deal with the messiness of real life. With respect to all the dear laypeople, the armchair experts, the theoreticians, amateur theologians and experts in church lawit is we priests who actually deal with the real life situations of ordinary people. Were the ones who have to help them match up their lives with the teachings of the church.

It was Jesus who knelt in the dust with the woman taken in adultery. It was the scribes and Pharisees who stood at a distance accusing her of breaking the law. His response to them and his response to her, it seems to me, is exactly what Amoris Laetitia is all about. I just wonder why the Holy Father didnt simply refer all of us to that text and say. There it is. Read it and weep. Instead he took the trouble as a loving Father in God to lay out for the clergy and faithful some principles in helping to navigate the perfect storm that is modern marriage.

The fact of the matter is, all of us who are faithful Catholics wish to uphold the indissolubility of marriage, we are all dismayed at the rising tide of remarriage after divorce, the increase in co habitation, artificial contraception and all the rotten fruit of the sexual revolution. Like every revolution, the sexual revolution has been violent, and we priests realize more than anyone else that many of our people are the walking wounded. We are the ones they go to when it all goes bad. We are the ones who hear them crying in the confessional. We are the ones who struggle with them as they try to reconcile their lives with the teaching of the church.

Therefore instead of a line by line nit picking through the popes exhortation trying to find something to disagree with, let me present my views from where I sit in my study and in my confessional. The few tales I am going to relate are, of course, not real. That would be to betray confidences and the seal of the confessional. However, I can tell stories that are mosaics: pictures built up from the broken pieces of various true stories. The names are fictional and the situations are composed, but they are all true stories inasmuch as they are very similar to real people I know and have helped.

Every priest who takes time for his people will agree. They have heard these stories and many more. These are the people we are here to minister to, and the black and white definitions and condemnations of todays Catholic scribes and Pharisees just wont do. Are parts of Pope Francis exhortation ambiguous, fuzzy or messy? Listen to these stories I have to tell and see if you think that maybe, perhaps, just a little bit, real life is fuzzy, ambiguous and messy. I will make no judgements. I tell you the story. You decide, if you were a parish priest, what you would do.

Story 1: Bob admits that he never had a life with God. He was a child of the 1960s and lived that way. His first marriage was at the beach to a fellow love child when she got pregnant when they were both high. He married his second wife because she was a rich widow. Later in life he found God through an Evangelical house church and then met Susana lapsed Catholic. They married outside the church, but then Susan re-discovered her Catholic faith and she and Bob started going to Mass. He went through RCIA in a liberal Catholic parish where the priest waved a hand and said he didnt need to worry about all that annulment stuff. So Bob became a Catholic and now twenty years later, he and Susan have six kids a great marriage and are active members in the parish. Only after a conversation with the priest did Bob and Susan discover that they were in an irregular relationship. Bobs second wifethe elderly widow was dead, but he reckoned his first wife (the hippie who was married to him for less than a year) was still living somewhere, but Bob has no idea where she might be. So what do you do?

Story 2: Lucy was married to Phil for twenty five years. They were both Catholics when they got married in church after proper preparation. For fifteen years of their marriage Lucy and Phil had no relations and Lucy suspected Phil was having affairs. Then in his early fifties Phil walked out and declared he was gay. He moved to Florida and Lucy never heard from him again. All during their marriage Lucy was faithful to Phil. The divorce was quick and final. Lucy continued to raise their two kids who were finishing high school. Her faith deepened through her difficulties and she got more involved in the parish. Through her work with the local soup kitchen she met Harolda Catholic widower. They became companions then fell in love. Lucy tracked Philip down and asked him to co operate with the annulment process but he told her to get lost. Lucy and Harold decide to get married anyway. One of the reasons is that Harold is well off and Lucy will benefit materially as they get older together. What do you advise?

Story 3: Malcolm married his high school sweetheart when they were both nineteen. He was from a poor broken home. She was the daughter of the towns banker, the prom queen and the most popular girl in school. Both were nominal Methodists. By the time they were married five years they had both grown up and grown away from each other. The sixties hit her hard and after a string of affairs Sally began to hit the bottle. Malcolm stuck it out for another ten years, and finally had enough. They divorced and Malcolm dated various women for five years. During that time he married Jeanettea girl he met on vacationin a Las Vegas wedding chapel. Jeanette took off with another man after two unhappy years and Malcolm met Frances in rehab. Frances was there because, like Malcolm she had turned to drink when her own Catholic marriage broke down. They married quietly and started to attend Mass. God touched their lives and healed both of them of the deep wounds they had suffered. As a result Malcolm entered RCIA and longs to be received into the Catholic Church. What would you do?

I know what I would do in each situation. I know how I would try to match the high ideals for marriage that we uphold with the reality on the ground, but I am not outlining what I would do, because if readers have read this far, they might see how complicated such situations are. Furthermore, the three stories I have made up are the simple ones. Others are even more complex and heart breaking.

I relate these stories to remind readers that for many complicated reasons marriage in our society is a shipwreck. Its hit the iceberg and gone down long ago.

The people picking through the Popes exhortation like carrion crows do not make me feel very good to be honest. The Pope has made a good effort to help us sort through the wreckage, salvage what we can and build a raft to sail on.

Perhaps all the armchair critics should have the dignity and self respect to listen to the pope and seek to learn from him. He said in the opening paragraphs of the exhortation that it is long and complex and we should read it prayerfully and give it time. I plan to do so.
Patna: Thousands of people in Patna on Sunday participated in 'Run for Prohibition', an initiative of Patna Development Commissioner Anand Kishore in an attempt to encourage people to support ban on alcoholic drink in Bihar while also promoting a healthy lifestyle for the recovering alcoholics.

Starting at the Miller High School on Birchand Patel Marg at 6:30 in the morning, participants made their way through the Income Tax Roundabout, Dak Bungalow Road, and Frazer Road to the Gandhi Maidan where in a simple ceremony, the Development Commissioner administered oath of liquor-free life to the people of Patna, including government officials.

As reported before, partial prohibition became effective in Bihar from April 1 and total prohibition from April 4. The Cabinet passed tough laws to deal with those who are caught drinking or selling alcoholic beverages in Bihar including death penalty to manufacturers of country liquor resulting in mass death due to poisoning.

"Going by the large number of participants in the race, it is clear people of Bihar support the government's decision to impose prohibition in the state. Now it is up to us and the people of Bihar to make it a grand success," Kishore said.

Plans are afoot to take the message of alcohol-free life to all schools in Bihar, the Development Commissioner said adding more 'Run for Prohibition' rallies will be organized in other districts including Kaimur, Rohtas, Bhojpur, Nalanda, and Buxar on April 17.

Patna District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agrawal, City Commissioner Kapil Ashok, and Bihar State Beverage Corporation Managing Director Mithilesh Mishra were among many who also took part in today's run.
Patna: Hundreds of Janata Dal  U workers and supporters on Sunday night gave a warm welcome to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the Patna Airport after he became the third President of the party following the resignation of Sharad Yadav.

Supporters of Kumar welcomed him at the Patna Airport with band and drums to express their pleasure over him becoming the President of the JD-U whose past Presidents, besides Yadav, include veteran socialist leader George Fernandes.

As soon as he emerged from the Airport, Kumar was surrounded by his followers who covered him with garlands while chanting 'Desh ka PM kaisa ho; Nitish Kumar jaisa ho' (How should be the Indian Prime Minister? Just like Nitish Kumar). Some even tried to feed him sweets. The Chief Minister, however, rushed into the waiting car and sped off to his residence after thanking his admirers.

As reported earlier, Kumar was elected the party President unanimously after Sharad Yadav declined to go for a fourth term.

Insiders, however, said that this was Kumar's plan all along to get rid of Yadav just as he played a pivotal role in sidelining Fernandes to assume more power in the party several years ago. Now with Sharad Yadav gone and Kumar firmly in the driver's seat with no one above him to question his political decisions, it is believed the next natural move by the new JD-U President would be to expand his profile outside Bihar in his ultimate move to fulfill his dream of becoming the Prime Minister of India.

Kumar was congratulated by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Lalu Prasad Yadav and Congress leader Ashok Kumar Chowdhary who said that with his election, the Chief Minister had acquired the leader of 'national status'.
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Iranian opposition leader Karroubi petitions President Rohani for day in court

04/11/16 Source: Radio Zamaneh

Mehdi Karroubi has reportedly written an open letter to Iranian President Hassan Rohani calling on him to compel the establishment to comply with the Article 168 of the Constitution and give him his day in court.



Mehdi Karroubi





Karroubi, who has been under house arrest since February of 2011 for challenging the 2011 elections and triggering mass protests, refers to the establishment as "despotic" and says he will reveal in court "how the children of the country have been treated in prison".

He adds that he does not ask for the president to secure his release because he is aware that it is not in his powers to do so; however, he urges Rohani to give him his day in court and a chance to defend his allegations of "fraud in the 2009 presidential elections and what the children of the country suffered in the legal and illegal detention centres."

The letter comes as a reaction to the most recent statements of Iran's Supreme Leader regarding the latest elections in the country, in which Ayatollah Khamenei favourites Yazdi and Mesbah did not earn the necessary votes to join the Assembly of Experts and almost all of the candidates endorsed by reformists got in.

Khamaeni said the behaviour of the two defeated members of the clergy was noble and the behaviour of those who lost in 2009 was indecent.

Karroubi writes that his testimony in court will reveal the "true indecent elements" in the system.

Karroubi became a whistleblower for the extremely abusive treatment of prisoners in detention centres following the 2009 protests leading to the Kahrizak scandal, in which the revelation of abuses and even the death of prisoners under torture finally forced the hand of the authorities to shut down the centre.
Nazarbaev, Rohani Hold Talks In Tehran

04/11/16

Source: RFE/RL

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rohani have discussed building stronger trade and business ties between their countries at talks in the Iranian capital. Nazarbaev arrived in Tehran on April 11 at the start of a tour that will also take him to Turkey and Uzbekistan.



Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev (left) with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rohani in Tehran on April 11.

(source:

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev (left) with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rohani in Tehran on April 11.(source: Islamic Republic News Agency

On the sidelines of the two leaders' talks, companies from Iran and Kazakhstan signed dozens of contracts worth more than $1 billion, according to the Interfax news agency.

Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran stood at $635 million in 2015.

Nazarbaev's office said he will visit Turkey on April 13-14 to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attend a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The Kazakh president will then travel to Uzbekistan on April 15 for a meeting with his counterpart, Islam Karimov.

Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS, IRNA, Mehr, and PressTV
Protest erupts in Tehran over transfer of contemporary art museum

04/11/16

Source: Radio Zamaneh



photo by Ghanoon daily



Protesters gathered in front of Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art on Saturday April 9 to oppose the handover of the institution to the Roudaki Foundation. The protesters insist that Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art is part of the country's national heritage and should not be transferred to the private sector.





read related report by Ghanoon daily





When the handover hit the news on Friday April 8, a group of citizens announced their intention to gather in protest in front of the museum on Saturday.

The deputy head of the Ministry of Culture denied the handover on Thursday, but Architectural News published a series of documents which appear to confirm the arrangement.







cartoon by Ali Miraei, Ghanoon daily





The Roudaki Foundation is a non-governmental organization with a board of directors comprised of the Minister of Culture, the ministry's deputy for Artistic Affairs, the head of National Planning and Management and two experts appointed by the minister
Russia Delivers First Part Of S-300 Air Defense System To Iran

04/11/16

Source: RFE/RL

Iran's Foreign Ministry says Russia has delivered the first part of its shipment of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran. The announcement was made by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari on April 11.

Ansari was replying to reporters' questions about videos on social media showing what appeared to be parts of an S-300 missile system on trucks in northern Iran.

The Kremlin, however, refused to comment on the reports, according to Russian media.

Russia says it canceled a contract to deliver S-300s, among the world's most capable air defense systems, to Iran in 2010 under pressure from the West.

But President Vladimir Putin lifted that self-imposed ban in April 2015 following an interim nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Israel strongly opposes the supply of the system to Iran, which does not recognize the Jewish state.

Based on reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and TASS

Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Iran: Two political prisoners pardoned by Supreme Leader

04/11/16

Source: Radio Zamaneh

Iranian political prisoners Mostafa Azizi and Payam Bastani Parizi were released on Saturday April 3 after a receiving a "pardon from the Leader", according to HRANA.

Mostafa Azizi



Mosatafa Azizi was sentenced last June to eight years in jail for "assembly and collusion against national security, propaganda against the regime and insulting the leader".

The sentence was later reduced to three years and a fine in the appeals process.

Azizi, a 53-year-old television producer, was arrested in 2015 when he returned for a visit to Iran from Canada, where he had been residing since 2010.

Payam Bastani Parizi, 26, was sentenced to two years in jail and 30 lashes for insulting the Imam, the leader and the president".

He was released after suffering the 30 lashes.
India vows to invest $20bn in development of Iran's Chabahar port

04/11/16

Source: Press TV

India says it is ready to invest $20 billion in the development of Iran's southeastern Chabahar port - a move that would enable New Delhi to dodge Pakistan and establish a strategic connectivity to Afghanistan as well as the Central Asia



India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan (L) with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh



India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan (L) with Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh

The announcement of the ambitious investment has been made by India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Tehran after meeting his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zangeneh.

"India is prepared to develop Chabahar Port and I will pay a visit to the region on Sunday," the local media have quoted Pradhan as saying on Saturday.

In 2003, Iran and India agreed to develop Chabahar port. However, the project was later suspended following the introduction of international sanctions against Iran.

In May 2014, India and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop the port once the international sanctions against Iran were lifted. Both sides agreed as per the MoU to allow India lease two docks at the port for a period of 10 years, a move that was meant to cut India's crude oil and urea transportation costs by around 30 percent.

Chabahar is located in the Gulf of Oman on the border with Pakistan. It is the closest and best access point of Iran to the Indian Ocean and Iran has devised serious plans to turn it into a transit hub for immediate access to markets in the northern part of the Indian Ocean and Central Asia.

India is also relying on the prospects of establishing rail links from Chabahar to Afghanistan and thereon to Central Asia.

Nevertheless, the project has not been moving smoothly over the past years.

Iranian officials said last October that a deadline for India to decide over investing in the project is way over and New Delhi has not yet informed Tehran about its final decision.

Iranian officials said in early October that China is also looking into the prospects of investing in the project.
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The free ride is over for new Google Fiber subscribers in Kansas, as Google drops the free Basic Internet option from its plans.

Google has offered the free plan since Fiber first launched in July 2012. Compared to Googles $70 per month Gigabit Internet offering, the free plan was considerably slower, with just 5 Mbps download speeds and 1 Mbps upload speeds. It also required a hefty $300 construction fee, which Google waived for paying customers who signed on for at least a year of service.

According to Recode, that plan is now going away for new subscribers, suggesting that existing customers can hang onto their service for now. Google still offers free Basic Internet plans in Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah, and is collaborating with the U.S. government on free broadband connections for public housing residents.

The news isnt all bad for Kansas residents. In place of the free plan, Google is now offering a Fiber 100 option for $50 per month, with 100 Mbps upload and download speeds. And just like Googles 1 Gbps plan, theres no installation fee for subscribers who sign a one-year contract. Google employs a similar pricing scheme in Atlanta, where Fiber service went live in February, so its safe to assume the free option wont be coming back as Google Fiber expands.

Beyond Kansas, Austin, Provo, and Atlanta, Google plans to bring Fiber service to San Francisco, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Nashville, Huntsville, Charlotte, and Raleigh-Durham. Down the road, Google is eying 11 more cities for potential expansion, including Chicago, Irvine, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Jose, and Tampa.

Why this matters: On the business side, Recode notes that Fiber is the most expensive initiative for Google parent company Alphabet, with this years expansion costing between $1 billion and $2 billion according to unofficial estimates. As Alphabet looks to turn its many experiments into sustainable businesses, nixing Fibers free offering could be one way to tighten the belt.

Replacing the free plan with a more compelling paid option also makes sense from a product perspective. Basic Internets 5 Mbps download speeds are barely enough for a single video stream, but 1 Gbps is excessive for most of todays web services. A 100 Mbps option for $20 per month less than Gigabit could hit the sweet spot for most users, allowing Fiber to better-compete with cable giants like Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
While the BlackBerry 10 operating system will live on for at least a couple more years, weve likely seen the last of its hardware.

Speaking to Gulf News and The Nationaltwo English-language newspapers published in United Arab EmiratesBlackBerry CEO and Executive Chairman John Chen said the company has stopped producing BlackBerry 10 smartphones. The company is now focusing on its Android phones, with the goal of being the most secure Android smartphone for the enterprise, Chen told Gulf News.

BlackBerry released its first Android handsetthe $700 BlackBerry Privlast fall, and is planning a pair of midrange Android phones for 2016. Meanwhile, the status of BlackBerry 10 has been ambiguous. In January, Chen wrote a letter saying he was committed to the operating system, but also told CNET that the company was not investing in new BlackBerry 10 hardware this year.

Chens latest interviews paint a clearer picture. We will support BB10 for minimum two more years as a lot of governments are using it, such as Canada, the U.S., Germany, and UK, Chen told Gulf News, noting that two more software updates are coming this year and by next April. At that point, BlackBerry will reassess the situation based on how secure its Android software has become.

If we can make Android phone as secure as Blackberry 10, which will be difficult, but if we can make it then the two lines will merge, Chen said. If it doesnt, then I have to look for an answer to the customer.

Why this matters: Chens comments leave open just the slightest possibility that BlackBerry 10 phones could reemerge, but only if the platform remains more secure than Android in a couple of years, and if governments are still using it. BlackBerry 10 hardware isnt quite dead, but its survival seems like a longshot with the company fully invested in making Android a better alternative. Either way, BlackBerry 10s relevance outside of ultra-niche business cases expired long ago, as the platform lacks the support of major app makers like Facebook.
Some people are so unhappy with the performance of their Fitbit activity tracker theyre willing to sue. But at least one person can credit his wristband with dramatically improving his health. A 42-year-old man was recently admitted to the emergency room at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, New Jersey with an irregular heart rhythm (arrhythmia) suffered in the wake of a seizurea condition that doctors treated with an electrocardioversion after consulting historical data from his Fitbit, according to The Annals of Emergency Medicine.

This appears to be the first time that a patient was diagnosed and treated based on data taken from a Fitbit device. Fitbit was unavailable for comment at this writing.

The story begins with the patient in question suffering from a grand mal seizure that lasted about one minute. The man had a history of seizures and was on anti-seizure medicationa pill he forgot to take on the day in question. By the time the paramedics arrived, the seizure was over and the man had an irregular heart rhythm among other symptoms.

Once the patient arrived at the hospital doctors had to decide how to treat his arrhythmia. The hospitals standard operating procedure said that if a patient could reliably relate that the onset of arrhythmia was within 48 hours then the doctors could use electrocardioversion to reset his heart rate.

Unfortunately, thats something the patient couldnt confirm at the time. Then doctors noticed he was wearing a Fitbit Charge HR. After looking at data collected by the device on the patients smartphone, doctors were able to confirm that the patients pulse rate had spiked after his seizure and only came down once paramedics treated the elevated pulse. Based on that information, doctors were confident that the arrhythmia began about three hours before the patient hit the ER. They then performed the electrocardioversion.

Why this matters: There are plenty of stories about fitness trackers or smart watches improving a persons health and helping them lose weight. But this is the first time a fitness tracker was used to potentially save a persons life, as far as we know. That said, its a stretch to start calling these wearables life saving devices. As the study in AEM notes, activity trackers are not considered approved medical devices, though the studys authors suggest a trackers data could help doctors in other cases where a pulse rate history influences diagnosis.
Voters in Californias 42nd Congressional District can be excused for feeling deja vu when looking at the ballot for the June 7 primary.

Thats because the three candidates in the race  Republican incumbent Ken Calvert of Corona, independent Kerri Condley of Murrieta and Democrat Tim Sheridan of Lake Elsinore  are the same three who ran in 2014.

Two years ago, Calvert and Sheridan advanced out of the primary. Calvert got 66 percent of the vote in the November general election to extend his two-decade tenure in Congress.

The three again are competing for the right to represent a district of 754,000 that includes Eastvale; Canyon Lake; Corona; Lake Elsinore; Menifee; Murrieta; Norco; Wildomar and part of Temecula.

Registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats by almost 15 percentage points in the district, and nonpartisan political forecasters predict Calvert will win re-election.

KEN CALVERT

The Inland Empires senior congressman, Calvert, 62, had a straightforward re-election strategy two years ago  erect signs around the district with the slogan Vote Calvert, Stop Obama.

For the lifelong Riverside County resident, this years race is easy to explain. People want a choice, they got it, Calvert said. Two left-wing liberals versus a proven conservative (in me).

I know the people here. I know peoples views and priorities, he said. I think thats the reason they continue to elect me  This is a conservative district with serious concerns about President Obama.

As chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees spending on the Department of the Interior and the environment, Calvert said hes fought job-killing regulations proposed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and worked to cut the EPAs staffing to 1989 levels.

If re-elected, Calvert hopes to make E-Verify, which determines an employees eligibility to work in the United States, mandatory nationwide. Calvert wrote the bill that created E-Verify.

He added hell continue his work fighting burdensome regulations. Certainly the EPA is on a jihad in getting more and more regulations completed as far as trying to move them through the rules-making process, he said. Theyre going to cost more and more jobs for the American economy.

KERRI CONDLEY

Two years ago, Condley ran as a Democrat. This time around, the 52-year-old business consultant is shedding party labels.

As the only independent in this race I am not beholden to dark money or partisan party politics, she said. Both major political parties are dysfunctionally entrenched in pay-to-play politics and the American people know it.

Congress needs an infusion of thinkers who will buck traditional politics and push our country towards economic solvency. Any candidate from the two major political parties is immediately stripped of their political autonomy and forced to toe the party line.

As congresswoman, Condley, who comes from a military family, said one of her first tasks would be to push for a select committee on veterans suicides. Its something Im determined to get to the bottom of, she said. Its a national shame. We cant have our veterans killing themselves.

Condley also wants to eliminate unnecessary federal agencies  she considers one to be the Department of Energy  and reduce the national debt without raising taxes.

She called Social Security the most successful and reliable federal program in modern American history and said she wants to bring attention to Alzheimers Disease and work to reform the mental healthcare system.

TIM SHERIDAN

A 50-year-old field representative for the National Treasury Employees Union, Sheridan, a Democrat, is optimistic things will be different should he face Calvert once more in the general election.

I think this year, people are a lot more engaged, he said. I think theres going to be many more voters coming out to vote.

Sheridan said Calvert is an out-of-touch establishment member who never veers from the Republican Party line. Calvert brags about cutting the EPA when district residents care about the environment, Sheridan said.

Its the same old, same old with him, Sheridan said. He just says The Democrats are going to raise taxes and the Democrats are going to increase regulations. He never talks about what he does for the district in part because he doesnt do anything for the district.

If elected, Sheridan said he would fight efforts to privatize Social Security and work to secure a better cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients. He also wants to lower student loan interest rates and make repayment terms more fair, and he said hed make sure the Veterans Administration has the funding it needs to properly care for veterans.

Sheridan, who vowed never to go on a congressional junket, said he would work with business leaders to bring more jobs to the district. He called climate change a threat to future generations and said he is a proponent of clean energy.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@pressenterprise.com
President Barack Obama says he can guarantee there will be no political interference from his administration in a continuing probe of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clintons e-mail practices.

I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department or the FBI, Obama said in an interview on Fox News Sunday, adding that he doesnt talk to Attorney General Loretta Lynch or to the FBI about pending investigations. That is, institutionally, how we have always operated.

We have a strict line, and always have maintained it, Obama told Foxs Chris Wallace in in a session taped at the University of Chicago on April 7. Nobody gets treated differently when it comes to the Justice Department, because nobody is above the law.

Pressed to comment on the disclosure that some 2,000 of Clintons e-mails contained classified information and 22 were thought to have top-secret information, Obama registered some skepticism of the governments classification process.

What I also know, because I handle a lot of classified information, is that there are  theres classified, and then theres classified, Obama said.

I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized Americas national security, Obama said of Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination to succeed him in the Oval Office.

Obama spoke at length of the fight to confirm Merrick Garland as Supreme Court justice. He said he looks for the Republican-led Senate to evolve on its refusal to hold a hearing on Garland.

Things will evolve as people get familiar with Judge Garlands record. As it becomes apparent that the overwhelming majority of the American people think that the President nominates somebody to the Supreme Court, and the Senate should now do its constitutional job and give him a hearing, Obama said.

Obama is pressing the Senate to hold a hearing on Garland, his nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by Antonin Scalias death in February. Top Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have said they dont plan to hold a hearing with the nominee. An increasing number of Republican lawmakers have agreed to meet privately with him.

As he did in a speech to the University of Chicago law school on April 7, Obama said Republicans refusal to consider Garland on the grounds that Obamas term will soon end risked setting a dangerous precedent:

Because if that happens, Chris, then it is almost impossible to expect that that the Democrats  lets say a Republican president won  that the Democrats wouldnt say the exact same thing. Theyll say, Lets wait for four years, and well take our chances on the next president.

Obamas first appearance on Fox News Sunday since being elected in 2008 was part of an effort by the president to take his message to voters, including Republicans who typically favor Fox news channels.

An increasing number of Republican Senators have agreed to meet privately with Garland, including some who face re-election fights this year.

In the coming week, Garland has meetings scheduled with Republican senators Chuck Grassley, of Iowa; Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska; Pat Toomey, of Pennsylvania; Kelly Ayotte, of New Hampshire; Rob Portman, of Ohio; and Jeff Flake, of Arizona, as well as with independent Angus King, of Maine, White House spokeswoman Jennifer Friedman said Friday.

Obama returned to Washington late on Saturday after headlining four fundraisers in Los Angeles and San Francisco to raise money for Democratic candidates for the House and Senate. His messages to wealthy backers was that being engaged  and turning out to vote in November  is imperative if Democrats want to gain seats in either chamber of Congress.

Theres an awful lot at stake in this election, Obama said at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser Friday at the home of oilman Gordon Getty and his wife, interior designer Ann Getty. And I want to make sure that everybody here feels the same sense of urgency I do.

Speaking in a soaring ballroom in the Gettys opulent house overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, Obama said the stakes are high in this years election. He had earlier spoken at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser in San Francisco that was closed to the press, and a breakfast in Los Angeles at the home of Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire to raise money for the Democratic National Committee.
An auto parts store in Palm Springs was robbed at gunpoint Sunday night, April 10, and by Monday morning police hadnt caught the suspects.

The robbery was reported at 9:58 p.m. at an OReilly Auto Parts store at 1717 East Vista Chino, Palm Springs Police Lt. Mike Kovaleff said in a news release.

There were no customers inside at the time, but the two male suspects told employees to go into a restroom and then fled on foot with the businesss money.

Police couldnt find the suspects during a search when they arrived, Kovaleff said in the release.
A mothers worst nightmare became my reality. The midnight phone call from a sheriffs deputy waking me with horrible news: My son, Mark, had been in a collision and he did not survive.

The rest is a huge blur. My adult son was the victim of a hit-and-run crime, and he was unable to defend himself. His voice was silenced. It became our family responsibility to ensure that Marks voice would be heard.

During the criminal trial, we were offered the opportunity to address the judge by writing a victim impact statement. It allowed us to tell the court about the effects, the impacts of Marks death and the damage the offender had caused.

We read our statements out loud during the sentencing hearing.

I held a large photo of Mark to put a real face on a judicial case number. Like Joan Didion in The Year of Magical Thinking, I wanted to scream, but I remained calm. Marks voice resonated through me, through his father, his son, his brother and his aunt. We spoke for him.

Victims are seldom called to testify in court, and if they do testify, they must respond to narrow, specific questions.

But the California Constitution allows victims to present written and oral statements. These statements are often the victims only opportunity to participate in the criminal justice process, or to confront the offenders who have harmed them.

These are testimonials about how a crime has affected them. They generally are included in the presentencing report presented to the judge and are allowed during the sentencing process.

When a victim is deceased, as in our Marks case, the relatives have the right to be heard. A judge may use information from these statements to help determine an offenders sentence.

I welcomed the opportunity to articulate to the judge how my sons death was a horrible loss to our family. And I was able to list prior offenses committed by the offender that had been stricken by the judge during a pretrial hearing.

I also helped Marks 12-year old son, Paul, write a statement about how the loss of his father affected him. His Uncle Leonard read Pauls statement at the trial.

There are benefits to writing an effective statement. Fairness and justice for your loved one is the main goal. It could be your best shot at persuading the judge. Like writing in a journal, the reflection process and the act of writing down your thoughts about the crimes impacts help with emotional healing.

Indeed, it improved my satisfaction with the criminal justice system, especially when the jury ruled in favor of the people of California, as they did in our case.

The Riverside Main Library has stacks of volumes in the 800-section that may help those unsure of how to write a statement. For example, Beth Kepharts Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir and Brandon Royals The Little Red Writing Book are full of advice and recommendations.

When your case goes to trial, be prepared for the bad memories to be relived all over again. Attend all court hearings, especially the trial. It demonstrates that the victim is loved and supported. Keep notes of the proceedings and visit the Superior Court website frequently to review the minutes and other documents regarding the case.

Search different county court websites for a history of prior offenses. Describe how the crime has hurt you. Include descriptions of physical and emotional damage caused by the crime, medical or psychological treatments required by the victim, financial costs to the victim and the need for restitution.

Finally, write your views on an appropriate sentence. I requested restorative justice and recommended that the offender undergo physiological evaluation.

The Riverside County District Attorneys Office has a Victim Services Division with a staff of advocates to guide and support victims through the entire criminal justice process. Carlos, our advocate, worked closely with the prosecutor and our family. He did a phenomenal job of keeping us informed on the status of our case. He was our compassionate liaison with the D.A. and the Superior Court.

Advocates also can help you prepare and submit your victim impact statement.

National Crime Victims Rights Week is being observed today through Saturday with candlelight vigils and other events in Riverside County.

Visit rivcoda.org to learn more about victims rights and services.

Riverside writer Frances J. Vasquez is president of Inlandia Institute.
Kylie Jenners wildly successful make-up biz is once again in hot water, after already fielding accusations last week that the factory that produces Kylie Cosmetics is akin to a sweatshop.

People who have ordered her Lip Kits  which retail for $US29 ($AU38.50) and sell out in seconds, sometimes reappearing on eBay for 10 times their original selling point  are complaining that their orders have either arrived in terrible conditions, or not at all. One person ordered the Posie K one and literally received a box of foam.

To add insult to injury, theyre also complaining the customer service is doing precisely jack shit about the problem.

When beauty blogger Cody Wren received her Lip Kit order after the latest restock (they sell out in seconds), one of the three arrived with the product spilt friggin everywhere.

A photo posted by Cody Wren (@codywren) on Apr 8, 2016 at 10:33am PDT

Upon closer inspection, she saw that the Lip Kit was missing a stopper, the piece thats supposed to stop the product from spilling out the top.

But when she emailed the customer service team asking for a replacement, she received nothing but silence for days.

Eventually, they got in contact to claim that there was nothing wrong with the Lip Kit (it was the Candy K one, btw), and that it is simply of a thinner consistency. A thinner consistency of what, they didnt say, nor did they offer her a replacement given that three quarters of the product was all over the packaging.

She posted a screenshot of their email to Instagram:

A photo posted by Cody Wren (@codywren) on Apr 8, 2016 at 10:39am PDT

Another blogger, UK-based student Amy Liddell, literally received an empty box instead of her order.

In a post she published called Why Ill never order from Kylie Cosmetics ever again (which has chalked up a solid 245 retweets in less than a day), she wrote:

I opened the door to my postman who handed me the trademark Kylie Cosmetics box and I couldnt contain my excitement. I opened it up, expecting my (very expensive) lip product to fall out and what did I get? Nothing but a box full of foam. Yep, that is it. All that was in my Kylie box was protective foam and my order confirmation. No lip kit. No cute Kylie postcard. Nothing. Im not going to lie, I was devastated. Four emails, almost a week and hundreds of tweets later, I have had no reply. Ive been completely ignored by the Kylie Cosmetics Twitter account, Instagram account and customer service email, with not so much as an acknowledgement that theyve received my email. So far I have paid over 30 for an effing cardboard box and it doesnt look like its going to be remedied any time soon.

And a third blogger, UK-based Heather Nausid whose order was missing an entire product, told PEDESTRIAN.TV shed only received a response (after five days of trying) when she threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau.

They asked what the problem was, and that they would respond ASAP, she told us. I told them [about the missing product] and still havent heard anything. At the time of publishing, shes still waiting for a response.

Kylie Cosmetics havent responded to P.TVs questions (shocker), but its Terms & Conditions state the products are delivered as is, and dont come with any warranties or conditions of any kind, either express or implied.

It also says that products are subject to return only to its Return Policy, which simply states that they dont accept returns, exchanges or refunds, and all sales are final.

So, yeah howzabout Kylie rolling people for cash monies in her new Lip Kit ad, hey?







Photo: Instagram / Cody Wren; Kylie Cosmetics.
Princess Kate  or Marilyn Monroe?

Royal watchers had a serious case of deja vu during Princess Kate and Prince Williams visit to Mahatma Gandhis house on Tuesday, when a heavy gust of wind came through, nearly blowing up her white Emilia Wickstead dress  and giving us flashbacks to that iconic scene in Monroes classic film, The Seven Year Itch.

The couple was laying a wreath at India Gate, which serves as a memorial to the 74,000 soldiers who died fighting in World War I. Amid the somber setting, Kate found herself facing an unpredictable fashion challenge: the wind.

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This isnt the first time Kate has had a close brush with the wind  back on the couples first royal tour to Canada, her yellow dress was caught in a gust on an airport tarmac.

But this time around, Kates mid-calf-length white dress  and its similarity to Monroes famous halter  makes this occasion even more of a classic Marilyn moment.

The Queen herself is so cautious about having a Marilyn moment of her own that shes known to sew weights into the hems of her skirts to avoid one. (Not that we can blame Kate for not wanting to have to carry around weights all day!)

And Princess Kate wasnt the only one: Prince William had his own mini-Marilyn reenactment himself.

Hey, when the wind is strong, theres not much you can do to stop it!


Lagniappe Paul Ford:What should we

do about big data leaks?

The internet makes critical information accessible. Now let's make it usable.

I have a great fondness for government data, and the government has a great fondness for making more of it. Federal elections financial data , for example, with every contribution identified, connected to a name and address. Or the results of the census . I don't know if you've ever had the experience of downloading census data but it's pretty exciting. You can hold America on your hard drive! Meditate on the miracles of zip codes, the way the country is held together and addressable by arbitrary sets of digits. You can download whole books, in PDF format, about the foreign policy of the Reagan Administration as it related to Russia. Negotiations over which door the Soviet ambassador would use to enter a building. Gigabytes and gigabytes of pure joy for the ephemeralist. The government is the greatest creator of ephemera ever. Consider the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission , or FCIC, created in 2009 to figure out exactly how the global economic pooch was screwed. The FCIC has made so much data, and has done an admirable job (caveats noted below) of arranging it. So much stuff. There are reams of treasure on a single FCIC web site, hosted at Stanford Law School: Hundreds of MP3 files, for example, with interviews with Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs. I am desperate to find time to write some code that automatically extracts random audio snippets from each and puts them on top of a slow ambient drone with plenty of reverb, so that I can relax to the dulcet tones of the financial industry explaining away its failings. (There's a Paul Krugman interview that I assume is more critical.) The recordings are just the beginning. They've released so many documents, and with the documents, a finding aid that you can download in handy PDF format, which will tell you where to, well, find things, pointing to thousands of documents. That aid alone is 1,439 pages. Look, it is excellent that this exists, in public, on the web. But it also presents a very contemporary problem: What is transparency in the age of massive database drops? The data is available, but locked in MP3s and PDFs and other documents; it's not searchable in the way a web page is searchable, not easy to comment on or share. Consider the WikiLeaks release of State Department cables. They were exhausting, there were so many of them, they were in all caps. Or the trove of data Edward Snowden gathered on a USB drive , or Chelsea Manning on CD . And the Ashley Madison leak , spread across database files and logs of credit card receipts. The massive and sprawling Sony leak , complete with whole email inboxes. And with the just-released Panama Papers , we see two exciting new developments: First, the consortium of media organizations that managed the leak actually came together and collectively, well, branded the papers, down to a hashtag (#panamapapers), informational website, etc. Second, the size of the leak itself2.5 terabytes!become a talking point, even though that exact description of what was contained within those terabytes was harder to understand. This, said the consortia of journalists that notably did not include The New York Times , The Washington Post , etc., is the big one. Stay tuned. And we are. But the fact remains: These artifacts are not accessible to any but the most assiduous amateur conspiracist; they're the domain of professionals with the time and money to deal with them. Who else could be bothered? If you watched the movie Spotlight , you saw journalists at work, pawing through reams of documents, going through, essentially, phone books. I am an inveterate downloader of such things. I love what they represent. And I'm also comfortable with many-gigabyte corpora spread across web sites. I know how to fetch data, how to consolidate it, and how to search it. I share this skill set with many data journalists, and these capacities have, in some ways, become the sole province of the media. Organs of journalism are among the only remaining cultural institutions that can fund investigations of this size and tease the data apart, identifying linkages and thus constructing informational webs that can, with great effort, be turned into narratives, yielding something like what we call a story or the truth. Spotlight was set around 2001, and it features a lot of people looking at things on paper. The problem has changed greatly since then: The data is everywhere . The media has been forced into a new cultural role, that of the arbiter of the giant and semi-legal database. ProPublica , a nonprofit that does a great deal of data gathering and data journalism and then shares its findings with other media outlets, is one example; it funded a project called DocumentCloud with other media organizations that simplifies the process of searching through giant piles of PDFs (e.g., court records, or the results of Freedom of Information Act requests). At some level the sheer boredom and drudgery of managing these large data leaks make them immune to casual interest; even the Ashley Madison leak, which I downloaded, was basically an opaque pile of data and really quite boring unless you had some motive to poke around. If this is the age of the citizen journalist, or at least the citizen opinion columnist, it's also the age of the data journalist, with the news media acting as product managers of data leaks, making the information usable, browsable, attractive. There is an uneasy partnership between leakers and the media, just as there is an uneasy partnership between the press and the government, which would like some credit for its efforts, thank you very much, and wouldn't mind if you gave it some points for transparency while you're at it. Pause for a second. There's a glut of data, but most of it comes to us in ugly formats. What would happen if the things released in the interest of transparency were released in actual transparent formats? By which I mean, not as a pile of unstructured documents, not even as pure data, but, well, as software? Put cost aside and imagine for a minute that the FCIC report was not delivered as web pages, PDFs, finding aids, and the like, but as a database filled with searchable, formatted text, including documents attributed to the individuals within, audio files transcribed, and so forth. Now listen, if you work in this field I can hear your near-hysterical laughter: What I'm talking about is culturally impossible. I'm asking for people to hack on huge pools of data like they might hack on an app at a startup. It's like asking someone very drunk to put the books back onto the library shelves. Imagine the specifications that would need to be written, the meetings that would need to be held, the document entitled Findings Release Format Specification 1.0 that would itself simply be a list of further modules that would need to be created. How do you deal with foreign languages? With right-to-left character systems? What exactly is the definition of a document? How do we indicate that something is a transcript, or an email, or a what-have-you? I look at that FCIC data and see at least 300 hours of audio. That's $18,000 worth of transcription. Those documents could be similarly turned into searchable text, as could any of the PDFs. We can do the same for emails. These tools exist and are open. If there are any faxes they can be OCRed. In this case we'll assume it's all in English. And we'll aim for internal consistency. We're talking gigabytes, not terabytes, of data, at least so far. Chop it all up and put it into a database with full-text search. I'd use SQLite3 . Its code is in the public domain and is so widely deployed as to be ubiquitous. It even runs on phones. Make a giant SQLite3 file. Then release that. You could put it on a peer-to-peer network like BitTorrent . What would that mean? It would mean that instead of pawing through a giant PDF that points out other documents, and then finding those documents, anyone with a few minutes of training could download the file, start up a database client program, and start searching through the documents. If they had basic skills as a web developer, they could make new and novel interfaces for that data. They could even start exploring large data dumps right from their phones. Without the internet. I know this is not the source of joy for all. But there are some of us, a few at least, who would enjoy drifting off to sleep browsing charts and graphs, listening to Jamie Dimon explain himself , and thinking about the world as it was in 2008. In the world of software you have to ship products that people can use. You gather feedback and iterate on it. Otherwise your product will be subsumed by its competition. This is why we are on version umpteen of Microsoft Word or Excel, and why there are such regular updates to the Facebook app on your phone. But the same norms and rules only barely exist for data. The media has been thrust into the role of data keepers, because only it has the time to unpack the schemata that define a given file and turn it into something usable and newsworthy. You don't need a web professional to make a book or make a magazine, you don't need them to publish a web site or tidy up a picture. But you do need them to clean up data and make it easy to explore. And as the data dumps keep happening, our reliance on the media to make sense of themlegal or not, structured or notwill only increase. I'll be completely, well, transparent: I don't think we're ready for highly searchable, easily accessible, leaks and data dumps. We are not a particularly measured society, and this sort of information actually rewards a sense of historical context and measured analysis. We like to validate assumptions, not explore corpora. But the data keeps falling off the back of the truck, or is released by some august governmental body, or sneaked out of the country on a mislabeled compact disc. A transparent society is one that makes data not just available but usable. What use is a window if you can't stare through it?

Paul Ford is a contributing editor at at the New Republic . His book about web pages will be published in 2016 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. @ ftrain . Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views. Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published by New Republic , on April 1, 2016. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers. http://www.bbc.com All comments posted and published on Petroleumworld, do not reflect either for or against the opinion expressed in the comment as an endorsement of Petroleumworld. All comments expressed are private comments and do not necessary reflect the view of this website. All comments are posted and published without liability to Petroleumworld. Use Notice:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues of environmental and humanitarian significance. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.



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Cut spikes for life... or at least for this entire gruesome week of World Cup action.

Some Lourdes accommodation only for the most committed of pilgrims. Unfamiliar rays of golden light shone down from the heavens.

Keeping warm and dry this time in Lourdes was a bit like, let's see... peeing into the wind. Until today.

Sunshine was a welcome way to start things off and while the air was still cold, at least things could finally began to dry up.

In the juniors, Great Britain's Matt Walker obliterated his way through the mud to claim second.

American newcomer, Nikolas Nestoroff, tore this track a new-one to land in third.

Finn Iles had a commanding run today, but also had some luck on his side as top qualifier, Kevin Marry, crashed out at the last split on a real burner.

Iles just moments from claiming the win in his first WC race. Congrats Finn, we have a feeling we will be shooting a lot of photos like this over the next few years.

Emilie Siegenthaler had a solid ride to fifth place today and will look to get comfy on the podium for the whole season ahead.

Tracey Hannah went absolutely massive off the final bridge en route to 4th.

Manon Carpenter held things together nicely all weekend, but for the first time found herself lagging behind Tahnee Seagrave and by a big margin. Fastest qualifier, Seagrave, was on it again today, but in the end couldn't up the pace enough in the dry conditions to match Rachel.

Rachel Atherton cooling down on her warm-up.

Another race and another big victory for Atherton, but this one was hard-fought and definitely did not come easy.

Rachel dropping down to the finish area with the fastest time of the day.

Hucks and hugs, all on GoPro.

Lourdes and ladies 2016.

Steve Peat was loving being back on the World Cup circuit after missing most of last season with an ACL injury. It's hard to believe this will be his last.

Remi Thirion wasn't at full strength today after a big crash in practice, but wanted to put a result down thinking ahead to the overall.

The Lourdes title-fight rematch was on: Bruni Vs Gwin, part II.

Gwin never showed much in the way of his cards during practice and his crash in the qualies muddied the water further still. What kind of pace was last year's champ on exactly?

If somehow you don't yet know the result of the battle it's too late to look away now. It was to be more than a fine day to remember for Martin Whitely and YT Industries.

Devinci had an excellent showing with Stevie in second and Mark Wallace in 8th Top 10 and in the mix of things for Brendan Fairclough.

Roosty goodness through the off-camber as the mud baked harder and the grass flew.

Bonjour l'equipe des Smurfs.

Connor Fearon parting the crowds, flying into 9th position.

Gee Atherton muscled his way down to 7th, and while that's not the result he hoped for, it gives him very solid points going into what will no doubt be a long and hotly contested season.

Stevie Smith came out swinging and showed us that he might soon be back on the top step. Second place for the Chainsaw Massacre.

The Canadian Chainsaw is right back where he left off after 2013. No more injuries... Just podiums.

When the mud comes out, Danny's about.

Another massive result for Hart on this holy hillside - third place for the Redcar Rocket.

Holy moly was Ratboy's run a wild one. It didn't seem to translate to an outrageous result, but better believe he's still got it.

Troy Brosnan's ability to let his bike float over terrain took him straight to fourth place. We'll have to wait and see what home soil can help deliver in two weekend's time.

For the third year in a row, Aaron Gwin has won the opening round of the World Cup series, and set the bar at a new level that others must now push to meet if they ever want to contest for the overall.

Aaron Gwin charging into the finish area on yet another insane run.

Amaury Pierron was one of many French that shook up the field today.

It was a massive result for the up and coming Lac Blanc-Commencal team sender.

The arena atmosphere was both electric and deafening as all phones and eyes were trained on Loic Bruni.

After being almost 3 seconds up at the last split it was a shocker to everyone to see Loic cross the line more than 7 seconds behind Gwin.

This is why Loic is the people's champ. Moments after crashing out of a winning run he was celebrating in the finish area with the thousands of fans who had cheered him on all weekend.

With less than 20 seconds and only a handfull of turns remaining, it all came unraveled for Loic today.

Loic's fans will stand by him no matter what, and he was greeted at the finish line with a hero's welcome.

Gwin wasn't about to let Loic steal the spotlight, and with setting the fastest time of the day he was in high demand among all the fans.

Welcome to the podium club, Amaury Pierron.

The man to beat. Again. It's on.

From the holy steeps of Lourdes for another year... over and out.

What a beginning... What a sign of things to come. At long last, all the prophecies and wild speculation of the off-season can be laid to rest because Judgement Day has been and gone, sorting the good from the bad, the weak from the strong and dealing out some ugly crashes along the way. The crowds swelled and buckled rims and horns deafened, as all of mountain biking's most loyal French followers gathered together to witness a real life downhill miracle.With a now dry, but hideously mutilated path through the woods our riders found themselves flying at twice the pace of yesterday, but not without confusion as their previous days of training had become somewhat obsolete. In the end it was a true mix of experience and fresh-blooded enthusiasm that would prosper. Canadian, Finn Iles, dominated the juniors, Rachel Atherton bounced back from her second place qualifier, and despite Loic Bruni's very best efforts, Aaron Gwin came down from above like hellfire to set the 2016 season fully ablaze.
Following the accident investigation, the tankET-94, officiallynever flew. After the shuttles retired, Michoud began transitioning to its new role as the manufacturer of the Space Launch System, NASA's new heavy lift rocket set to debut in 2018. ET-94 was moved outdoors and left to bake under the Louisiana sun.

But after all these years, the tank finally has a new mission.

It is shipping by barge to Los Angeles, where it will meet up with Endeavour, the space shuttle orbiter currently on display at the California Science Center Samuel Oschin Pavilion. A pair of solid rocket boosters will be added to the tank, and the complete stack will be rotated into launch position. It will be the firstand onlypost-shuttle-era flight stack.

"Pretty early on in this process we had our eyes on ET-94, knowing it was the last," said Jeffrey Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center. "It took us three to four years talking to NASA about it get to the point where they agreed it would make sense; and in fact, they became very supportive of it."

The science center originally planned to construct a replica tank for Endeavour, as ET-94's fate was uncertain. At one point, NASA officials considered cannibalizing it for use in the Space Launch System program. But after that plan was scrapped, NASA agreed ET-94 would be better served joining Endeavour in Los Angeles.
ATS Armor LLC (wholly owned subsidiary of Achilles Technology Solutions, LLC [ATS]), a global designer and manufacturer of advanced, lightweight hard body armor, was selected to provide 500 Active Shooter Kits to the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD). The Active Shooter Kit consists of at least one front and one back torso stand-alone hard armor plate and a tactical carrying vest to be worn by the officers.

"ATS Armor is pleased to provide our Active Shooter Kits to protect the officers of the MDPD," stated Thomas Smith, CEO of ATS and Co-Founder of TASER International Inc. "Officers on the street today are facing an increasing threat from long-rifles compared to years past, and the protection for that threat requires hard armor. ATS Armor is working diligently to provide the best hard armor plates that protect the officers facing these threats and to ensure they come home safely," concluded Mr. Smith.

"As our police officers patrol and safeguard the streets of Miami-Dade County, ensuring their personal safety is paramount," stated Miami-Dade Police Department Director Juan J. Perez. "MDPD is always looking for new ways to reduce the risks posed to our officers, as well as ensuring they are prepared and equipped to address any threat. Although we hope the day never comes, we must prepare with the best training and latest equipment available to do our jobs."

About Achilles Technology Solutions LLC

Achilles Technologies Solutions (ATS) is a holding company, located in Scottsdale, AZ, for two subsidiaries: ATS Armor LLC and ATS Materials and Electrochemical Research LLC. ATS Armor LLC (www.ATSArmor.com) develops, assembles, and markets hard body armor for use in law enforcement and military markets both in the U.S. and around the world. The company's body armor is designed to meet and exceed the standards set forth in the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Standard 0101.06.

ATS Armor manufactures rigid body armor solutions to defeat the following Type threats as defined by the NIJ: IIIA, III, and IV along with special threat testing for customized performance. All ATS Armor is stand-alone and incorporates a patent pending QuadCurve design to increase both safety and comfort.
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* The following is an opinion column by R Muse *

Americans love sensational legal battles, and yet most likely they missed what is being hailed as the most significant legal decision in our nations history in the most important lawsuit on the planet right now. A growing number of Americans are alarmed, and frustrated, that the fossil fuel devoted Republicans nationwide are winning a religious crusade to perpetuate the damage of anthropogenic climate change that President Obama seems to be fighting alone.

As it turns out, a group of 21 young people from across the nation have joined the climate change war in the savviest way possible and they just won a significantly historic and constitutional climate change court battle. And they prevailed against the fossil fuel industry and the federal government.

The 21 young plaintiffs were very dedicated, and clever, in suing the federal government for violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property, as well as their right to essential public trust resources. The 8-19 year old plaintiffs asserted that by permitting, encouraging and otherwise enabling continued exploitation, production and combustion of fossil fuels, the federal government infringed on their constitutional rights; a federal District Court Magistrate Judge in Oregon agreed.

For a moment, it appeared the children were out-gunned because giants in the fossil fuel industry joined the government in seeking to dismiss the youths climate change lawsuit. The government and fossil fuels motions to dismiss specifically denied any duty under the United States Constitution, or the public trust doctrine, to protect essential natural resources like the air, land, waterways and oceans for the benefit of all present and future generations. The Judge in the case disagreedvehemently.

The Judge, Thomas Coffin of the Federal District Court in Eugene, ruled that the 21 8-19 year old plaintiffs could continue their landmark constitutional climate change case. Despite the federal governments battle being enjoined by powerful fossil fuel to get the young peoples case dismissed, Judge Coffin said the case is going forward specifically because,

The government has known for decades that carbon dioxide (C02) pollution has been causing catastrophic climate change and has failed to take necessary action to curtail fossil fuel emissions resulting in carbon pollution of the atmosphere, climate destabilization and ocean acidification.

The ruling also upholds the young plaintiffs claims that by not doing everything in its considerable power to combat global climate change, the federal government violated their Fifth and Ninth Amendment protections. As Judge Coffin said, by denying them protections afforded to previous generations, and by favoring short term economic interests of certain citizens.

The Judge specifically noted, and agreed with the youngsters, that both ignoring climate change and enabling it was also a violation of the public trust doctrine. It means that the government must adhere to the principle that certain natural and cultural resources are preserved for public use, and that the government owns and must protect and maintain these resources for the publics use. Thus, any use or sale of such land must be in the public interest. Exacerbating anthropogenic climate change and all of its devastating effects is certainly not in the public interest.

It was a major win for the young people and all Americans, and a defeat for fossil fuels opinion that the public trust is an abomination. That opinion informs why Republicans in the employ of the fossil fuel industry oppose the government either owning or regulating, protecting or preserving land and water.

The attorney for the 8-19 year-old plaintiffs, Philip Gregory, said

The court upheld our claims that the federal government intensified the danger to our plaintiffs lives, liberty and property. Judge Coffin decided our complaint will move forward and put climate science squarely in front of the federal courts. The next step is for the court to order our government to cease jeopardizing the climate system for present and future generations.

As Judge Coffin noted in delivering what is an historic decision,

This is an unprecedented lawsuit addressing government action and inaction. Plaintiffs give this debate justiciability by asserting harms that befall or will befall them personally and to a greater extent than older segments of society. It may be that eventually the alleged harms will befall all of us. But the intractability of the debates before Congress and state legislatures and the alleged valuing of short term economic interest despite the cost to human life, necessitates a need for the courts to evaluate the constitutional parameters of the action or inaction taken by the government. This is especially true when such harms have an alleged disparate impact on a discrete class of society.

The significance of the Judges ruling was not lost on one of the young plaintiffs, Kelsey Juliana who said,

This decision marks a tipping point on the scales of justice. Youth voices are uniting around the world to demand that government uphold our constitutional rights and protect the planet for our and future generations survivability. This will be the trial of the century that will determine if we have a right to a livable future, or if corporate power will continue to deny our rights for the sake of their own wealth.

It is stunning, really, that such an elegantly simple argument about 21 youths Constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property may indeed be the tipping point that forces the Republicans in government to combat climate change, even if it is by judicial decree. This case comes at a particularly prescient time as Republicans in state legislatures and Congress are expanding their vicious assault on the governments right to even own land, much less protect, maintain and preserve it. Conservatives claim all public belongs in the hands of logging, mining and oil industry interests. But based on Judge Coffins historic ruling, that claim contradicts the public trust doctrine, the Fifth and Ninth Amendments, and the Constitutional rights to life, liberty and property.

h/t Ecowatch
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Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is feeling the heat from his refusal to do his job, telling delegates that he is facing a severe campaign for re-election. Grassley has decided  out of nowhere and for no legitimate reason  to block President Obamas nominee Judge Merrick Garland. Grassley wont even hold a hearing, let alone a vote.

Voters have not been impressed . Editorials have raked Grassley over the goals for his unprecedented obstruction. The Senator is feeling the heat.

Sen. Chuck Grassley told delegates at the 4th Congressional District convention Saturday that hes facing a severe campaign for re-election, reported Kathie Obradovich in the Desmoines Register.

Grassley begged and implored room full of delegates to help him win re-election (so he can keep on not doing his job?). The delegates seemed really pleased with Grassleys refusal to work, applauding his justification for his blockade, which a totally not-defensive Grassley spent the majority of his convention trying to explain and excuse.

Last week Senator Harry Reid (D-VD) humiliated Grassley after Grassley tried to blame Chief Justice John Roberts for the politicization of the Supreme Court. Reid pointed out that Grassley had turned the Senate Judiciary Committee into a political arm of the Republican Party, so if anyone was politicizing the courts, it is Grassley.

The reason the delegates like what Grassley is doing is because the modern day Republican party doesnt care about order, law, process, or respect. If they did, this would be embarrassing and troubling beyond belief. Instead it seems to energize the hardcore Republicans. This is the party of Trump. Fragile, easily hurt, thin-skinned egos reign supreme.

Republicans just want to win against Obama so badly they dont care if they are breaking down the system of checks and balances. Constitution? Meh. Must win Even if winning is destroying the U.S. system of government just to deny a very moderate nominee to the Court out of spite and revenge because President Obama won another election by nearly five million votes.

On April 7th, Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, updated the Senate ratings to show that 6 seats had titled away from Republicans. Senator Chuck Grassley was on the list. His seat went from safe Republican to lean Republican in the wake of his Obama SCOTUS blockade, which has confused and angered his constituents.

Grassley keeps repeating the absurdly silly talking points given to him by special interests and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying he will let the next President decide in order to give the people a vote. But the people already voted and they picked President Obama.

This is so inexcusable it is making a mockery of Grassleys long standing in the Senate, and his up until now record a Republican would be very proud of. Even if Grassley wins re-election, he wont shed this shame. He will go down in history as changing the rules of the Supreme Court nomination process for partisan political purposes so rank that even the mainstream press is disgusted.
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A new poll from Monmouth University shows Hillary Clinton leading Bernie Sanders by 12 points eight days before voters go to the polls in the critical New York Democratic primary.

According to the Monmouth University Poll:

Currently, 51% of likely Democratic primary voters in New York support Clinton compared to 39% who support Sanders. Another 9% do not have a candidate preference with just over a week to go before the election. The race is basically tied among non-Hispanic white primary voters (48% for Sanders and 46% for Clinton), while Clinton enjoys a large lead among black, Hispanic and other voters (62% to 22%). Clinton holds a significant advantage among voters age 50 and older (57% to 36%), while the race is much closer among voters under 50 (45% for Clinton to 43% for Sanders). Clinton earns similar levels of support across the state, including Manhattan and the Bronx (52%), Brooklyn and Queens (48%), Staten Island and the metro suburbs of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, and Putnam counties (51%), and upstate New York (51%). Sanders performs better upstate (44%) and in the metro suburbs (41%) than he does in Brooklyn/Queens (36%) or Manhattan/Bronx (35%). However, 13% of primary voters in these four New York City boroughs say they do not have a candidate preference.

Each of the last five polls of the Democratic primary in New York found Hillary Clinton holding a double-digit lead. The data suggests that the lack of Independents crossing over to support him is hurting Sen. Sanders. Only 54% of New York primary voters described their choice as definitely locked in. Sen. Sanders did have the higher percentage of supporters who are locked into voting for him (65%), but he has fewer supporters overall.

Voters dont consider either Clinton (29%) or Sanders (28%) New Yorkers, so there has been no home field advantage in the states Democratic primary. Clinton also appears to be benefitting from the states voters holding a positive view of her time in the Senate. Seventy percent of those polled either gave Clinton excellent (28%) or good (42%) marks for her time representing New York in the Senate.

The fact that Sanders is trailing by 40 points with non-white voters in the state suggests that not much has structurally changed in the Democratic primary. Bernie Sanders is strongest in open caucuses and in states where white voters are the dominant demographic. Hillary Clinton runs stronger with the same coalition that President Obama won with in 2008 and 2012. Clintons better numbers with younger voters in New York are likely a byproduct of the closed primary.

Bernie Sanders needs a big debate performance on Thursday, because as the race currently stands, Hillary Clinton appears to be on her way to a potentially double-digit victory in New York.
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* The following is an opinion column by R Muse *

By now some Americans are likely aware of the news that the leaked records in the Panama Papers exposed a world of what should be considered unlawful tax avoidance by the rich and powerful. What is less likely known is that in 2007 European and American leaders were already starting to work in concert with Panama to rein in the practices that were depriving many of the worlds nations of tax revenue and it is an important fact.

As if the topic needed more drama, the release of the Panama Papers somehow became a hot issue on the presidential primary campaign. At issue is the free trade pact with Panama that is curiously being portrayed as the disaster that created Panamas booming offshore banking business and tax haven for wealthy international tax avoiders.

One presidential candidate took advantage of the leaked Panama Papers covered here and here to condemn President Obama and members of his Administration for helping the uber-rich and corporations evade paying taxes by contributing to the expansion of Panamas tax havens with a free trade deal.

I predicted that the passage of this disastrous trade deal would make it easier, not harder, for the wealthy and large corporations to evade taxes by sheltering billions of dollars offshore. I wish I had been proven wrong about this, but it has now come to light that the extent of Panamas tax avoidance scams is even worse than I had feared.

The only problem with that criticism against the President and the trade pact in general is that it is not founded in any kind of reality. Contrary to the negative prediction and stated facts, evidence in the Panama Papers themselves informs that the truth is nearly the opposite of the assertions. It is why the course of wisdom is always vetting ones facts before making bold proclamations or criticizing the President, even if it means taking a minute to look at the readily-available empirical data. That is what an international group of 190 investigative journalists did.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) culled through reams of data from the Panama Papers and presented several charts and graphs on the consortiums website. The charts show that the Panama-based law firm whose specialty was setting up offshore accounts and shell companies for the rich and corporations has steadily reduced its activity in Panama; for nearly a decade. In fact, the reduction started slowly close to the time Panama and the Bush administration first began discussing a free-trade pact. But after the deal actually took effect during President Obamas first term, the reduction in offshore incorporations accelerated incredibly and rapidly when the trade deal was enacted. Dont believe it?

In 2005 there were 4,741 offshore incorporations in Panama to evade taxes, and by early 2015 the number fell to 835. What is more important is that the law firm setting up the lions share of incorporations has nearly completely ceased incorporating the least transparent form of company known as bearer shares which typically does not register under an owners name.

As noted above, long before the free-trade deal was in place, Panama was under pressure from both the United States and Europe to clean up its tax-haven act. After the Republican financial crisis in 2008, the Obama Administration intensified pressure on Panama with a Democratic Congress support. The President made it abundantly clear to Panama that if they really wanted a free-trade deal as badly as they claimed, they would agree to his conditions; sign a separate agreement granting U.S. tax authorities nearly unfettered access to Panamas financial system.

President Obamas particular insistence was that Panama immediately plug the bearer shares loophole and change its laws. Panama agreed to meet President Obamas terms, granted access to American tax authorities, and changed its laws well in advance of the free-trade agreement even reaching the Senate for final approval. Still, some Senators voted no because they knew it would make the tax haven problem much worse. The Panama Papers prove that prediction to be blatantly wrong and it is curious why President Obama is still getting criticism for an action that reduced not increased, offshore tax havens in Panama.

It is true that there is no such thing as a perfect trade agreement, international treaty or pact, or finely-tuned and well-crafted legislation for that matter. It is, frankly, quite like the perfect candidate; they just do not exist. However, there was a monumental reduction in tax shelters in the free trade deal with Panama making it clear that although not perfect, President Obamas approach to the tax haven issue improved considerably on the status quo; he certainly did not make it worse and his approach was more effective than doing what the Congress proposed, nothing whatsoever.

There is only so much a President can do to affect tax avoidance schemes, particularly in a foreign country, without Congress behind them. This President has made progress on his own such as the Treasury deal reining in pharmaceutical giant Pfizers attempt to change its corporate address to avoid American taxes. As no small number of pundits are saying about the Presidents handling of trade deals and tax cheats, far from selling out to corporations, President Obama has consistently made the right calls to create progress on an important and outrageous issue such as tax evasion.

In the case of the Panama free trade deal, the President made the right call that reduced the economic damage of tax evasion to more than just America. And for that he is getting wrongly criticized because he missed an opportunity to completely eradicate tax havens. No, what the President did, without any assistance from Republicans and without Panamanian officials ceding control of its government and becoming part of the United States, is make significant and real, measurable progress to reduce tax avoidance by the rich and corporations; and he did it using a free trade deal that has enriched America.

As one pundit noted, politics cannot be about allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the practical, or opposing an improvement to the status quo when there is no clear alternative in the works. Everything detailed in the Panama Papers is abominable and must be addressed and it has to be addressed by more than the President. Hopefully now that the world is aware of the issue there will be more progress made on an international scale. But in this dysfunctional American political environment, any chance of achieving real progress cannot be thwarted by anybodys idea of perfection.

President Obamas trade deal with Panama is not perfect, but it engendered real progress by drastically reducing Panamas tax shelters. The Panama Papers fairly proved once again that trade deals are not inherently evil, and that it is a good idea to check the data before condemning President Barack Obama or anyone in his Administration for being a corporate sellout when he effectively did the exact opposite.
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The idea for his latest novel came to Chris Bohjalian in an organic and sobering way. Visiting Armenia in 2013 with his wife, then-teenage daughter Grace and Grace's friend, he got up early to see Grace's friend safely to the airport to fly home. Waiting for her in the hotel lobby around 3 a.m., he spotted a young girl talking to a bellman.

"She was paying him off to go upstairs," he says. "She was clearly an escort, clearly younger than my daughter. It was heartbreaking to see, as a dad, as an Armenian American. She was just so young. I began to wonder: Is there a novel in a girl such as this?"

The answer was yes  "The Guest Room" (Doubleday, $25.95), which tackles the harrowing subject of human trafficking and sexual slavery. The novel opens with a bachelor party gone horribly wrong in a tony New York suburb. Richard Chapman has grudgingly hosted the gathering for his younger, disreputable brother, his wife and daughter off to the city for the evening. He expects strippers, and there are two of them. What he doesn't expect  what no one expects  is the carnage that ensues.

Bohjalian examines the aftermath through the eyes of the stunned and guilty Richard, his angry wife and confused daughter and Alexandra, one of the strippers, an Armenian teenager abducted and forced into sexual slavery by Russian mobsters.

Her story is graphic, terrible and unforgettable. Bohjalian admits he still can't listen to the audiobook  his daughter Grace, now 20, reads the part of Alexandra. "There are certain things," he says, "that I don't want to hear my daughter say."

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Bohjalian not only lays blame on the mobsters who kidnap Alexandra, he also calls out the Richards of the world for justifying their bad behavior.

"One of the things I inadvertently ended up exploring is the grotesque male herd behavior," says Bohjalian, who's the author of 16 other novels, including "The Sandcastle Girls," "The Light in the Ruins," "The Secrets of Eden," "Midwives" and "Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands." "Men in a herd behave in very different ways than we do individually. In no place is that more manifested in this country than at bachelor parties.

"A strip club is just the most depressing place in the world. I think men justify strip clubs and prostitution by viewing it as a monetary transaction among equals, which it is not, ever. No 7-year-old girl says, 'I want to grow up to be a hooker.' It's the profession of last resort. Men justify it by believing we are more attractive and appealing than we really are."

Bohjalian calls "The Guest Room" "a 21st century 'Sandcastle Girls,'" referring to his novel that touches on the Armenian genocide carried out by the Ottoman government during and after World War I. Both novels involve Armenia  Bohjalian's grandparents were survivors of the genocide, estimated to have killed 1.5 million people  but they also spring from the same mindful, socially conscious place, one Bohjalian says has emerged over the course of his career.

"I'm looking for two things at this stage in my life," says Bohjalian, who's 53 and lives in Vermont (he grew up mostly in New York, with a brief side trip to Miami, where he attended Hialeah-Miami Lakes High). "I look for a good story, and I look for a good story that can make a social difference. I know no one would have ever read The Sandcastle Girls if it were a litany of the dead in the desert. I needed characters who excite me and make me want to be at my desk at six in the morning. I didn't think like that consciously 20 years ago."

The idea may have lurked in his subconscious, however: His fourth novel, "Water Witches," was set against a backdrop of drought and climate change in Vermont. Still, he says the reception to "The Sandcastle Girls," published in 2012, changed him and how he thinks of his fiction.

"It's great that the book turned me into an activist," says Bohjalian, who has traveled across the world to discuss the book and the genocide, including trips to Russia, Lebanon and even Turkey. "A day doesn't go by even now, four years after it was published, that I don't get a message on my Facebook page from somebody commenting they had no idea the genocide occurred until their book group read the book."

Talking about the topic to a Turkish audience was eye-opening, he says.

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"The thing about the genocide in Turkey is how many young adults and intellectuals are aware of the crimes of the Ottoman empire and want to see their government acknowledge it," he says (Turkey has continued to deny it happened). "But the majority of Turkish citizens know what they've been taught, that Armenians were a horrible minority, turncoats in the war who slaughtered Muslims. Maybe a few Armenians died, but way more Muslims died and that's why the Armenians moved away.  and the Turkish government is more dangerous now than it was in 2013. The way it's destroying Kurdish neighbors is horrific. That's the kind of thing that happens when a government hasn't acknowledged its past crimes."

This notion of a being a socially conscious writer, of calling out injustice, is one that Bohjalian hopes he'll continue to cultivate.

"I don't think I was a particularly good person as a young man. I was really self absorbed. I'm not proud of that. So if my fiction is able to make a difference, I'm enormously grateful."
Seven area high school graduates were presented with scholarships of $500 each from the Rochester chapter of Sons of NorwayKristiania Lodge on Thursday, May 9, at the lodge meeting.

Anna Austin of Century, David Barsness of Pine Island, Sandhya Kumar of Mayo, Mary Laudon of Mayo, Emily Norman of Mayo, Kaelyn Pewowaruk of Rosemount and Maggie Yadlosky of John Marshall were chosen from 22 area applicants based on academic record, school activities, community service record, letters of recommendation and career goals.

A total of 64 students have received these scholarships in the 11 years the Kristiania Lodge has granted them.
Yes. I vote for candidates who have lawmaking experience.

Yes. I'm voting for newer or first-time candidates.

No. I vote based on candidates' stances on issues.

No. I vote based based on political affiliation.

Experience matters, but other factors are just as important.

Vote

View Results
A political shakeup is occurring in my neck of the woods. Our congressman, leftist Chris Van Hollen, is running for the Maryland Senate seat that Barbara Mikulski will vacate. Hes opposed by radical leftist Donna Edwards.

Rep. Edwards, an African-American, has a reputation for poor constituent services. Her predecessor Albert Wynn was no star in this department. My daughter, who interned for Rep. Connie Morella, tells me that Wynns constituents used to seek assistance from Connie. Reputedly, Edwards is worse than Wynn in this department.

With Van Hollen attempting to move on up, our congressional seat becomes vacant. The two leading contenders are thought to be Chris Matthews wife Kathleen, a former local news anchor, and Jamie Raskin, a lefty law professor.

There is also David Trone, the owner of Total Wine & More, who is using his fortune to finance his run. I know nothing about Trones politics, but considering the opposition, Ill be rooting for the wine merchant on the Democratic side. (Our district is reliably Dem.)

With the possible exception of Trone, Id be embarrassed to have any of these people represent me in Congress. The government would have to be on the verge of setting fire to my house before Id be inclined to ask Donna Edwards or Chris Matthews wife for help.

Which brings me to my modest proposal. Why not allow people to opt out of representation by their Senator or Representative? Why not allow them, for a fee, to be represented by someone else?

You can pay extra to send your kids to an out-of-state public university. Shouldnt you be able to pay extra for out-of-state congressional representation?

The wealthy already have this option, effectively. They can make large contributions to politicians all over the country and then seek (and, within reason, expect to obtain) their help.

Few can afford to make hefty contributions, however. Thus, I modestly propose that by paying, say, $100 a year, a family be allowed to come under the representation of the Senator or Congressman of its choice. For Senators, one could choose to pay just $500 for a full term. There should also be a discount for seniors.

It would be a bargain for me to pay no more than $200 a year to be represented by Tom Cotton in the Senate and Mia Love in the House. My senior discount would make this all the more attractive.

If this proposal seems too radical, geographic limitations could be placed on the opt-in. It could be limited, for example, to Senators and Congressmen from neighboring states. For now, this would enable me to select Sen. Pat Toomey and Rep. Alex Mooney.

As a conservative, I generally dont like to disturb time-honored rules of governance. But its common knowledge that the nation has gradually chosen sides along geographic lines (Red States, Blue States, and all that). Shouldnt those of us stranded behind enemy lines, so to speak, get some relief?
Gregory Diskant, an accomplished New York lawyer, argues in the Washington Post that President Obama could appoint Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court without the Senate having confirmed the nomination. How is this possible? Because, says Diskant, the Senate could be deemed to have waived its advice and consent role on a Supreme Court nomination if it fails to act on the nomination within a reasonable time.

Diskants argument is clever, but unpersuasive, as Ed Whelan shows. The Appointments Clause of the Constitution requires the president to secure the advice and consent of the Senate; it does not require the Senate to advise or consent. In any event, the Senate has effectively advised the president that it will not consent to Garlands appointment.

Diskant doesnt say what more he thinks the Senate is required to do to avoid waiving its advice and consent role. Would it be enough to hold a hearing and have the Judiciary Committee vote against the nomination or must the nomination go the Senate floor? Once on the floor can it be blocked by a filibuster or must there be a vote on whether to confirm?

Diskant does say how long the Senate has to do whatever he thinks is required  90 days. This number is arbitrary. He derives it from an analysis of past precedent. However, as Whelan points out, there have been nominees who never got a vote or even a hearing.

But the fact that Obama lacks the power to place Garland on the Court without him being confirmed doesnt rule out the possibility that Obama might try this. If he did, it would hardly be the first time Obama usurped power from the Senate.

What would likely happen if Obama acts as Diskant suggests? Diskant says the Senate would sue to remove Garland from the Court. Thats a certainty. However, if the suit dragged on into 2017 and Democrats won control of the Senate, that body might well withdraw the suit.

If the Supreme Court decided the suit, with Garland recused, the result might be a 4-4 vote. Its possible, however, that one or more liberal Justices would balk at writing rules for how the Senate must treat judicial (and other) nominees. They might also be reluctant to undermine the publics confidence in the Courts legitimacy by approving of a power play as naked on the one Diskant has in mind, particularly since the Justices can be pretty confident that a new Justice will be confirmed early in 2017.

Its possible that Chief Justice Roberts, who seems particularly sensitive to issues of judicial overreach and public perception of the Court, might refuse to permit Garland to sit. This seems unlikely, though.

Its even possible that Garland would not accept Obamas appointment under these circumstances, especially if it looks like the Democrats will win the White House. But this seems extremely unlikely.

In the worst case, I think the Supreme Court might write a decision that gave the Senate the opportunity to void any waiver by acting on Garlands nomination. In that event, the Senate could vote Garland down or, if Hillary Clinton has been (or is about to be) elected president, confirm him on theory that her nominee will be even worse.

Given the overwhelming likelihood that Diskants gambit would not enable Garland to become a Justice, I doubt that Obama will decide to end his presidency on this note.
John Fund calls the Colorado GOP convention the scene of a political revolution. A Power Line reader writes with this first-hand report:

I thought you might be interested in a report on the Colorado state Republican convention. I attended the convention as a floor delegate from my local precinct in Arvada, Colorado. My wife and I also attended the dinner and VIP fundraiser the night before.

At the dinner/reception I was able to talk to several Republican legislators, including a couple of Congressmen. Of course most of the conversation was on the Cruz/Trump battle. One congressman in particular told me in no uncertain terms that Trump had a zero chance of getting the nomination. I dont know for sure if meant that the party was not going to allow it or that he could not get to the necessary votes. However, the consensus was that he was not going to get to 1237 and that unless he made it on the first ballot, he stood no chance.

The other problem most of the politicians observed was the lack of grassroots organization within Trumps campaign. This was almost as much a negative for Trump as any of his policy positions (if you could define any). I pretty much found that first-ballot sentiment at the convention as well. The one positive for Trump was that almost all of the Cruz supporters admitted that if Trump were the nominee they would eventually vote for him, but that they would probably not work and/or support him nearly as much as they would have for Cruz.

As you may know there are seven congressional districts in Colorado, each given 3 delegates to the national convention. Cruz has won all 21 of them. It was evident at the dinner and convention on Saturday that Trump (as well as Katich) was completely unorganized.

John Sununu made a speech at the dinner and convention for Kasich that drew only polite applause. Not much different for the spokesman for Trump at both events. Quite a bit different for Cruz (of course, he elected to speak at the convention).

There were about 3500 delegates and a couple of thousand more alternates and guests at the Convention Arena in Colorado Springs. It seemed to me that Cruz gave his (more or less) standard stump speech here, but he drew one standing ovation after another throughout his speech. I though he got the biggest response when he stated his unequivocal support for Israel. I also might note that other speakers during the day who expressed unqualified support for Israel got their best response from the delegates.

One of the duties of the delegates at this convention were to select the 17 ( I believe) at large delegates to the national convention. Cruz was the only one who had a clear and effectively advertised slate of pledged delegates/candidates. There were over 600 people on the ballot as potential delegates to the national convention that we had to vote on (what a ballot). All I know is that everyone in the row I was sitting in was marking his or ballot with the Cruz slate. I believe he wound up sweeping the state. Another thing to remember is that the delegates to the state convention were selected in mid-March, not just in the past couple of days.
Its good to have President Obama on record regarding Hillary Clintons insecure private email system for her official business as Secretary of State. In his interview with Chris Wallace broadcast on FOX News Sunday yesterday, Obama explained that the classified information on her server wasnt really classified and that the Top Secret information on the email server was not really top secret top secret.

FOX News has posted the transcript of the interview here; I quote the relevant passage here. I have embedded a video of the interview below (about 16 minutes). Obama is asked about Clintons email setup at 8:35 of the video.

The media coverage of Clintons email scandal has been pathetic. Perhaps it is too much to expect any member of the press at the White House daily press briefing today to ask the logical follow-up questions, but I offer a few in the spirit of constructive criticism.

Will Obama now see to the immediate release of the 22 emails withheld in their entirety by the State Department from its production of Clintons official email? Obama has told us that the documents are not really top secret top secret.

Will the White House now hand over a complete set of unredacted Clinton emails? Clinton herself wrote and sent at least 104 emails containing classified information. Obama has told us that the redacted passages do not really contain classified information.

At least two emails contained information for Special Access Programs (SAP), a level of classification even higher than top secret. Obama didnt specifically address those emails in the interview broadcast yesterday. Will someone ask the White House today if these emails were not really SAP SAP? If so, wed like to see them now.

If one remains detached from the seriousness of the issues, Obamas comments are laughable. Taking them at face value, Obamas comments undermine laws that his administration has otherwise enforced against journalists and government officials. Insofar as Obama is duty bound to enforce the laws of the United States, his comments are, to say the least, not really presidential. They constitute the apologetics of a pathetic hack.
Last week, Holland voted against an EU trade agreement that facilitates trade and cooperation between Ukraine and Europe. Im often happy when the EU loses a referendum, something of a regular occurrence albeit usually without consequences, as Andrew Stuttaford notes.

In this case, there is no cause for joy. Ukraine faces an existential threat from Russia. The West has done little militarily to help. The least the EU can do is to cooperate more with Ukraine on trade. After all, Ukraines strong tilt towards Europe and away from Russia is a cause of, or at least a pretext for, Putins aggression.

Why did the Dutch reject the agreement? Anne Applebaum argues that both the Dutch far-left and he Dutch far-right. . .used he vote to undermine a center-right, economically liberal government and to galvanize their anti-European followers. She also blames Russian disinformation:

Many of the no campaigns themes, headlines and even photographs were lifted directly from Russia Today and Sputnik, Russias state propaganda website. According to a poll cited by a Ukrainian foreign ministry official, 59 percent of those who voted against the treaty listed, as an important motivation, the fact that Ukraine is corrupt; 19 percent believed that Ukraine was responsible for the crash of MH-17, the plane that Russian separatists shot down over Ukraine in 2014; 34 percent believed that the treaty would guarantee Ukraines membership in the European Union. Of those three points, the second two are certainly false. The first, while true, is hardly a rational argument against a treaty designed to reduce corruption in Ukraine.

Its my understanding that Russia does, in fact, operate a powerful propaganda machine throughout Europe. However, I question whether Russia needed it for this vote.

Stuttaford, quoting Open Europes Pieter Cleppe, views the Dutch vote on the Ukraine agreement as a proxy for many Dutch citizens desire for a broader debate about the EU and the direction it is heading in. With a full referendum on EU membership precluded by Dutch legislation, opponents of membership needed a piece of EU legislation which was yet to come into force and upon which they could hang their broader concerns, this agreement seemed to fit the bill.

Evidence that anti-EU sentiment fully explains last weeks vote is found in the fact that the tally was virtually the same as when, in 2005, the Dutch electorate voted to reject the EU constitution. 61.4 percent voted against the constitution; 61 percent voted to reject the Ukraine agreement. Furthermore, the geographic split was very much the same. (Turnout was much lower this time, however).

The 2005 vote didnt block the EU constitution and this years vote is unlikely to block the agreement with Ukraine, which has been in effect since January. The referendum is non-binding and the prime ministers party has said its stance on the agreement wont change.

This stance may hurt the governments political prospects in relation to Geert Wilders anti-EU formation Party for Freedom, which is already leading in the polls according to Cleppe. It will, however, help salvage the deal with Ukraine. This, it seems to me, is the optimal outcome.

Nonetheless, theres a lesson in the Dutch vote, and Cleppe spells it out: EU overreach and lack of accountability has the potential to undermine legitimate objectives like promoting trade and strengthening the economies of nations staring down the barrel of Putins guns.

I dont doubt that Putin put his propaganda machine to use in the Dutch vote on the Ukraine trade agreement. But the EU appears to have provided the most persuasive arguments in favor of voting no.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) says it is targeting a revenue of N4.9 trillion in 2016.

The chairman of FIRS, Tunde Fowler, disclosed this on Monday at the opening of the 134th Joint Tax Board meeting in Kano.

He assured that 80 per cent of the targeted amount would be collected before the end of the year.

It is a known fact that once the oil price drops, the revenue from the sector will drop.

So, our mandate now is to ensure increase in the non-oil revenue to ensure stability in the entire system, Mr. Fowler said.

He said the meeting would address challenges militating against effective tax administration in the country.

He recalled that the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, had dismantled all road blocks across the country as part of efforts to check indiscriminate and multiple tax payment.

The meeting will also review all the existing tax laws with a view to ensuring their effective implementation for great result, he said.

Mr. Fowler called on the participants to come up with useful suggestions to improve revenue from tax in the country.

Earlier, Kano State Commissioner for Finance, Kabir Dandago, said the state government would continue to support measures aimed at improving internal revenue generation, not only for the state but for the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the meeting is: Imperatives of Transitioning from Oil Revenue Dependency to Non-oil Revenue Sufficient.

It was attended by heads of board of internal revenue service from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

(NAN)
A suicide bomber and two accomplices were killed while attacking a police station in the southern Russian city of Stavropol on Monday, the Interfax news agency reported.

The report said the attackers were unable to enter the police station.

No police or civilians were injured during the attack, the report said, citing the local police press service.

During the attempted attack, two were killed and one managed to perpetrate a suicide bombing, the press service said.

The city is located in the northern tip of Russias North Caucasus Mountains, where authorities have struggled with a home grown Islamist insurgency for decades.

(dpa/NAN)
The spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, will commence his defence after a long legal battle between the counsel and the court.

Mr. Metuh is facing a seven-count charge of fraud linked to the allegedly diverted $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of arms by the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, who himself is being tried in a separate case.

The trial Judge, Okon Abang, had on April 8 ruled that Mr. Metuh must commence his defence, Monday, after dismissing five applications preventing the commencement of the trial.

Among the applications dismissed on Friday was that brought by Tochukwu Onwubufo, a new counsel to the second defendant, Destra Investment, who asked the court to give him time to go through court proceedings, since he was a new party to the matter.

Mr. Abang, however, refused the application on the ground that the counsel was wrong in applying for an adjournment through a written letter when he himself would be present in court.

Once a counsel appears in person he can no longer send a letter to the court, he can make the application orally, Mr. Abang stated.

He further said the second defendant along with Mr. Metuh had outdone their right of adjournment and that no further adjournment would be granted at the instance of both defendants.

Mr. Abang therefore ruled that Mr. Metuh opens his defence within five minutes, but later adjourned after Mr. Onwubufo drew his attention to section 396 (5) of the ACJA and other sections of the act which stated that counsels to both parties could still be allowed an adjournment that shall not exceed seven days including week days.

The Monday case



But on Monday, Mr. Onwubufo told the court that the request he made, Friday, for time was yet to be attended.

He stated that based on section 36; (B) and (C) of the constitution, his client was entitled to all the details regarding the case in which an accused person stands trial.

He added that it might be important for him to cross-examine witnesses who had testified against Destra Investment, stressing that the letter he had written to the court before Fridays sitting contained various important applications that were not looked at, because the court refused to consider his written application.

All the applications made to the court and determined by it were never known to me, Mr. Onwubufo stated.

Parts of what was contained in the letter by Mr. Onwubufo is that Destra Investment had disengaged Onyeachi Ikpeazu, Mr. Metuhs lead counsel, who was standing in for the first and second defendant.

Other applications included the request for time and for details of court proceedings to be accorded Mr. Onwubufo.

Mr. Onwubufo further said the ruling of the court that the first and second defendants had outdone their adjournments did not prevent them (The first and second defendants from making request for further adjournments), following section 396 (5) of the constitution.

He added that the ACJA also provides that the court grants a new counsel, such as himself a reasonable time, not exceeding 30 days to go through the court proceedings.

The defence lawyer therefore prayed the court for an adjournment to allow him time to go through the certified through copies of evidences, as well as other court proceedings after they have been made available to him.

At that point, Mr. Abang noted that the application for certified true copies of documents should have been made through the office of the chief registrar, not directly to the office of the Judge.

In his reply, the prosecution, Sylvanus Tahir argued that the points raised by Mr. Onwubufo have all being argued and conclusions reached.

He said the former counsel to the second defendant, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, should have given the court at least a three days notice before disengaging himself from the case, which was not the case here.

Mr. Tahir argued that although its counsel may be new to the case, the second defendant, Destra Investment Ltd, is not a new party to the matter; and that all the court proceedings had been served on it, which makes it legally an obligation that Destra Investment provides same to its counsel.

Responding to some of Mr. Tahirs arguments, counsel to the First defendant, Emeka Etiaba, said there was no legal obligation for Mr. Ikpeazu (who was just arriving the court) to have notified the court of his disengagement since he was not the one that disengaged himself, but was sacked by Destra Investment.

He further said if there was mis-compliance on the part of the defence, the in-coming counsel shouldnt have been made to face the consequence of their mistake.

Mr. Etiaba further stated that the appearance of the team of the first defendant on Friday clearly did not cover the second defendant on the same day.

Trial must continue

In his ruling, Mr. Abang said the court lacks the jurisdiction to review its own decision.

He noted that the court had given its ruling on the application for adjournment on Friday and would not be made to go back its ruling.

The Judge however ruled that the application for time will be considered at the end of Mondays sitting.

More details later
A former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, on Monday triumphed at the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) court in the first leg of his court action challenging his alleged unlawful arrest and detention since December last year by the Nigerian government.

Against the objection of government, the court ruled in Abuja that it has jurisdiction to entertain the suit brought before it by Mr. Dasuki for the enforcement of his fundamental rights to liberty and to own property as enshrined in the Nigerian 1999 constitution and African Charter on fundamental rights of persons, news agency, PRNigeria, is reporting.

In the ruling delivered by Justice Friday Chijoke Nwoke, the ECOWAS court dismissed the objection of government against Mr. Dasukis suit on the ground that the objection was misconceived, frivolous and lacked merit.

Justice Nwoke who delivered the unanimous ruling by the three-member panel of the court, held that the claim of government that Mr. Dasukis case emanated from his trial on certain offences was inappropriate since the relieves sought by Mr. Dasuki had nothing to do with his ongoing trial at the domestic courts of Nigeria.

The justices held that the claim of government that Mr. Dasuki ought to have filed contempt charge against the Nigerian government for disobeying court orders cannot be sustained because the case of the applicant is not ambiguous, in that it has no root from any criminal trial in any court.

Justice Nwoke said at any rate, the claim by the Nigerian government could not stand in the face of the law because there was no evidence that Mr. Dasuki had filed similar matter in any international court.

The judge said even if he had similar matter in any Nigerian court (up to Supreme Court), such a domestic court would not be allowed the status of an international court as envisaged in the treaty in which Nigeria is signatory.

In our opinion, what Dasuki brought before us as a case is an issue for the enforcement of his fundamental rights to liberty and own property and against unlawful arrest, unlawful detention and unlawful seizure of properties without any court order or warrant of arrest.

From the totality of the issues brought before this court, it is clear and there is no ambiguity that the applicant is seeking enforcement of his right to freedom and not on the issue of his trial for any alleged offence before any Nigerian court.

Justice Nwoke further said, Therefore, the objection of the government and the request that the case of the applicant in this matter be struck out on the ground of emanating from any criminal matter has no basis, the claims and the request lack merit and hereby dismissed and we declare that the application of Dasuki is admissible to this court, the court said.

The sub-regional court said it was not out to decide the issue of whether the applicant is guilty of the charges against him in the Nigerian courts or not but simply to ascertain whether his continued detention, having been granted bail in criminal matters and rearrested since last year and kept in an unknown place, constitute an abuse of his rights to freedom.

Mr. Dasuki, through his lawyer, Robert Emukpoeruo and Wale Balogun, had filed an action before the ECOWAS court to complain that Nigerian security agencies invaded his homes in Abuja, Kaduna and Sokoto without any court order or warrant of arrest and seized his properties, comprising vehicles, money and documents, an action he argued amounted to abuse of his rights to liberty as enshrined in section 36 and 34 of the 1999 constitution and other international laws to which Nigeria is signatory.

Besides, he complained that the invasion of his homes by operatives of government traumatised his 94-year old father who became traumatised and had, up till now, yet to recover from the sickness that followed.

Mr. Dasuki therefore asked the ECOWAS court to award N500million compensatory damages in his favour having been denied access to medical attention abroad as ordered by a Nigerian court since November last year.

The government, through its lawyer, Tijani Gazali, had objected to Mr. Dasukis case on the ground that the ECOWAS court had no jurisdiction to dabble into the trial of any Nigerian in a Nigerian court and asked the ECOWAS court to strike out the case, saying it constituted an abuse to the Nigerian courts.

After the court dismissed the objection of the Nigerian government, it fixed May 17 and 18, 2016 for hearing of the substantive matter._
Temitope Joshua is arguably the most influential preacher in Africa. The founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nation (SCOAN) attracts huge numbers of people from across Africa and beyond, many of them seeking faith healing from ailments and exorcism from demonic possession.

On September 12, 2014, a guesthouse within his church collapsed, killing 116 people, most of them South Africans, who travelled to the Lagos headquarters of the church for pilgrimage.

The cleric has also endeared his Christian ministry to many political leaders on the African continent who throng his church, with some of them openly testifying that he correctly predicted the outcomes of the elections that brought them to power.

One of the African leaders who believed in Mr. Joshuas prophesy was former Ghanaian president, John Atta-Mills. After his inauguration in 2009, the first visit made by Mr. Atta-Mills, a Professor of Law, was to the Synagogue, as Mr. Joshuas church is commonly called.

Mr. Atta-Mills died in office on July 24, 2012. It remained unclear whether Pastor Joshua saw his death coming.

The pastors television station, Emmanuel TV, is believed to be one of the most viewed in the continent.

Apart from evangelism, Mr. Joshua is not known to be involved in any other business.

However, files obtained by PREMIUM TIMES from the massive leaked data of a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, has now shown that Mr. Joshua and his wife, Evelyn, own Chillon Consultancy Limited, a company incorporated on June 20, 2006 at the British Virgin Island (BVI).

Both owners own one ordinary share each, although the company, with registration number 1033675, is authorized to issue a maximum 50,000 no par value Shares of a single class.

It remains unclear what businesses Mr. Joshua transacted with the shell company which has no physical presence in Tortola, the largest and most inhabited island at the British Virgin Island.

Chillon Consultancy Limited uses the office address of its registered agent, Mossack Fonseca (Akara Bldg., 24 De Castro Street, Wickhams Cay 1, Road Town, Tortola) as its contact information in the British Virgin Island.

Mr. Joshua is the second Nigerian mega preacher shown to set up offshore companies in tax havens.

An April 2013 investigation by PREMIUM TIMES had exposed Chris Oyakhilome, founder and leader of Christ Embassy, as incorporating Gmobile Nigeria Limited, an offshore firm in 2007, at the British Virgin Island.

Although other individuals were listed as shareholders and directors, that investigation was able to determine that the pastors teenage daughters  Sharon and Charlyn  were the real beneficial owners of the company.

Like many mega preachers in the country, Mr Joshua is reported to live in opulence. Last September, online news website, Sahara Reporters, claimed the televangelist bought a Gulfstream G550 aircraft in April 2015.

According to Sahara Reporters, the jet, registered as Synagogue Of Nations, was purchased using the Bank Of Utah trustee as front.

A Gulfstream G550 is sold for as much a $45 million and could take up to $3 million dollars in yearly maintenance cost.

Mr. Joshua did not respond to this newspapers multiple requests for comments. A person who picked his phone when he was called last week said the he was not available to take calls. He requested our reporter to send an email.

But an email sent to his churchs official email address was also not responded to.
The Kaduna State Government on Monday announced that 347 persons were killed during the December 12 Shiite/Nigerian Army clash in Zaria.

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Balarabe Lawal, disclosed this in a government submission at the ongoing Public Hearing of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the clash.

The burial of the victims was done in secret, and this is the first time the state government was explaining how the remains of the killed shiite members were disposed.

Mr. Lawal, who led a six-man government witnesses before the panel, said 191 corpses were taken from the Nigerian Army Depot, Zaria, and were buried at Mando area of Kaduna.

He said 156 corpses were also conveyed from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria, to the same Mando area.

The official said the corpses were those of youth members of the Islam Movement (IMN) who he alleged attempted to attack the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, on Dec. 12, 2015, in Zaria.

The state government said the corpses were committed into a single grave (mass burial) at the Mando area jointly supervised by the state government officials and about 40 men of the Nigerian Army, led by an officer in the rank of a Major.

Mr. Lawal did not say whether relatives of the victims were given opportunity to identify and recover their loved ones before the state labelled them unknown corpses and buried them in a mass grave.

The SSG said 189 suspects were being prosecuted for alleged involvement in the Zaria crisis while one suspect died in custody.

He said the state government received several security reports from the State Security Service (SSS) on the activities of the movement.

According to him, several measures were taken to address the situation before it finally escalated into the clash with the Nigerian Army.

Another witness and Director-General, Kaduna State Interfaith Agency, Namadi Musa, said the mass burial was conducted on December 14 and 15, respectively, and that it took the officials about six hours to complete the burial.

Mr. Musa said while six tonnes of Mercedes tippers conveyed the 191 corpses from the ABUTH, the Army used three heavy duty trucks to convey corpses from the Zaria Army Depot.

The mass burial was authorised through a warrant of burial obtained from a Kaduna Chief Magistrates Court in Kaduna, he said.

The state government blamed some of the lapses and the excesses of the movement on the inability of the previous government which did not take serious action to curtail the activities of the sect.

On the alleged demolition of buildings and structures of the IMN leader, the witnesses said that the demolitions were based on recommendation of a committee set up by the state government.

The witnesses, including officials of the Kaduna State Urban Planing and Development Authority (KASUPDA), the Kaduna Public Works Agency (KAPWA) and the state ministry of Works, Transport and Housing, told the panel that several other structures belonging to individuals had been demolished for poor building specifications and standards.

Saratu Haruna, General Manager, KASUPDA; Namadi Musa, D-G Interfaith Agency; and Prof. Adamu Ahmed, Deputy CMD ABUTH, appeared before the panel.

The Justice Muhammed Lawal-Garba panel also took submissions from the Izala Islamic group and the Gyellesu Community in Zaria.

(NAN)
The Environmental Rights Action / Friends of Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), has called for a comprehensive audit of safety procedures at Agip oilfields in Bayelsa following frequent fatal explosions.

This is contained in its field report on pipeline explosions in the companys facility, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Yenagoa.

According to the report signed by Alagoa Morris, Head of Field Resources at ERA, the incidents resulted in 11 deaths within the past nine months.

The group, therefore, called for strict sanctions including revocation of operational license of Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), if found culpable.

The authorities should set up an investigative panel of inquiry to follow up this incident to its logical conclusion and; there should be a public hearing of the report of such a panel.

Community representatives and the Civil Society should be given an opportunity to also contribute towards such an effort to bring out the truth of the matter.

The oil industry is too important to the nation and, it would be gross disservice and negligence on the part of three tiers of government not to accord proper investigation of such incidents the importance they deserve, the report said.

The group further recommended that autopsy be carried out on the victims to determine the actual cause of death, adding that the deaths recorded during repairs at NAOCs oil fields was alarming.

It said that sanctions were necessary to make operators in the industry more serious and professional especially in the areas of safety and oil fields management.

It also urged the regulatory agencies to ensure that Agip clean up and re mediate the affected areas.

The Director-General, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency, Peter Idabor, had confirmed the death of three oil workers in the explosion.

Mr. Idabor identified poor safety procedures as cause of explosion at the oil field.

When contacted, NAOC officials and its parent company, Eni, declined comment on the explosion.

Fillippo Cotalini, Media Relations Manager at Eni, is yet to respond to an email requesting the companys reaction to the March 26, 2016 pipeline explosion.

Three explosions had occurred at oilfields operated by NAOC in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa between July 9, 2015 and March 26, 2016.

The July 9, 2015 blast at Azuzuama area left 14 people dead; three were killed on March 26, 2016, but no casualty was recorded in the earlier explosion recorded in February.

(NAN)
The Zone C chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, on Sunday expressed shock over

the abduction of a Channels Television correspondent in Owerri, Imo State, Tope Kuteye.

The reporter, according to reports, was abducted on Sunday from his residence in Owerri around 3am.

A statement by the unions vice president and secretary in charge of the zone, Christopher Isiguzo and Kenneth Ofoma respectively, condemned the act and urged the kidnappers to release the reporter immediately.

We condemn the kidnap of this innocent citizen and journalist, the statement said.

Kuteye is neither a politician nor a money-bag business man. It therefore baffles the union as to why he should be the target of this dastardly act.

We therefore appeal to the abductors of Mr. Kuteye to release him unconditionally without delay.

We equally call on law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned to secure the release of Kuteye soonest should his abductors hedge.

We regret that journalists, who are always at the forefront in the battle for social change, accountability, transparency in governance and social justice should be made the victim of the vices they stood against, the union said.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, on Monday accused the Nigerian government of dashing the hopes of the people after promising them change.

The president of ASUU, Nasir Isa, made the unions position known while presenting a State of the Nation Address to journalists in Abuja.

The union called on Nigerians to rise up and reclaim the country from an inept ruling class and their foreign collaborators, saying the tools to confront the system are both structural and instrumental.

The union also advocated the establishment of a genuine party which is organised to meet the challenges of building a nation where groups and individuals live in freedom and happiness.

Structurally, there is need to adopt a development model that will make majority of Nigerians the key subjects and objects of the development process in the face of aggressive intervention from a genuine workers party, organised to meet the challenges of forging Nigeria where nations and individuals live in freedom and happiness, ASUU stated.

The union said the nation was facing a serious socioeconomic crisis and listed the symptoms of the crisis as rising poverty level, increasing unemployment and heightened expectation leading to frustration due to failure to realise improved living standard.

Other symptoms the union listed are higher food prices, poor healthcare delivery, insecurity of life and property and suffering.

Despite drastic fall in the price of crude oil, ASUU said Nigeria has enough revenue sources to lift its people out of poverty and develop the nations economy.

The union said the government could mobilise revenue from unpaid and underpaid taxes by multinational oil companies, wealthy Nigerians who patronize tax heavens, wealthy public officers and property owners who pay very little tax in Nigeria.

ASUU said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration can also recover stolen public assets and unremitted revenues collected by state agencies in all three tiers of government and mop up illegal security votes appropriated by state governors.

It listed other sources as recovery of public assets sold to individuals and firms at give-away prices and unremitted revenue accruing from recovered stolen funds.

In the light of tax evasion and tax avoidance by wealthy Nigerians and foreigners, it is unjust to continue to overburden the Nigerian working people including the unemployed through indirect taxation, the union stated.

This heavy burden takes the following forms: increase in electricity tariff; illegal and disguised increases in the petroleum products as well as increase in road and air transport fare.

The union said Nigerians are particularly disappointed because the government that promised change has failed to deliver on its promises, adding that the present administration was yet to come to terms with the tenets of democracy.

It argued strongly that the government did not consider the primacy of the people in its national development goals as well as in budgeting and anti-corruption campaign.

The union criticised the reliance of successive governments in the country on the Bretton Woods Institutions and ideologies and advocated the adoption of socialist ideology in governance.

It argued that both the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that won and lost the 2015 general election at the center embrace the neo-liberal ideology of the International Monetary Fund, IMF and the World Bank.

It said the large number of cross-over that resulted in the victory of the APC had nothing to do with a viable economic or political ideology and suggested the establishment of an alternative political framework to mainstream the articulation of explicit ideologies.

On the recurrent fuel crisis, ASUU said the situation has led to increase in the cost of food, transportation and power while also widening the distance between the government and the people.

Government is slow in implementing the policies it pronounced in 2015, namely, that it would get refineries working, end crude and refined products swap, reintroduction of direct sale, direct purchase in the oil sector and making specific unambiguous pronouncement of the oil subsidy, the union stated.

The government should implement its proclaimed policies in the oil and gas sector. On no account should this result in any increase in the price of petroleum products because Nigerians have suffered enough.

And if increment of the prices of petroleum products is forced upon the people, our union will join Nigerian workers to resist until the increase is reversed.

On the power sector, the union condemned in strong terms the illegal sale of the countrys power assets by the ruling class, noting that it will continue to work with progressive forces to protest the sharp practices going on in the sector.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has advised the Inspector General of Police to disregard a National Assembly resolution to seal the Kogi State House of Assembly, saying the legislative body erred in its resolution.

On March 17, the Senate concurred with the earlier resolution of the House of Representatives to take over the Kogi State House of Assembly and ask the police to seal the assembly complex.

The complex has since been under lock, following the directive.

The National Assembly had intervened in Kogi legislative crisis after the emergence of two persons parading themselves as Speakers.

Momoh Lawal was declared impeached by five of 25-member Assembly on February 16, leading to the emergence of Umar Umar.

Some lawmakers insist Mr. Lawal remains Speaker, while others support Mr. Umar.

While the police had since complied with directive of the National Assembly, the Inspector General of Police sought legal opinion from the minister of Justice via a letter dated March 18.

In his reply obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Malami said the National Assembly erred.

He explained that Kogi legislative crisis was a mere misunderstanding between legislators with no implication for the wider security of the state as envisaged by the constitution which can lead to take over of a state house of assembly.

He further stated that careful reading of the factual situation envisaged under Section 11(4), which can give rise to a take-over decision by the National Assembly in respect of the affairs of a State House of Assembly revealed that it must be by reason of the situation prevailing in the State.

The Constitution, in my opinion, presumes that the general security situation in the State should have deteriorated to the extent that the House of Assembly finds it difficult or impossible to operate or exercise its normal legislative activities.

Section 11(4) is therefore, not meant to address mere issues of disagreement between legislators within the State House of Assembly, since it is recognized that such disagreements or disputes are normal incidences within the democratic governance space.

The 1999 Constitution therefore never presumed that every disagreement within a State Legislature would be visited with the sanction of National Assembly legislative oversight.

It is instructive to note that Section 11(4) is part of the general Section 11 of the Constitution which is titled Public Order and Public Security. It must therefore be read within such a context and not merely in relation to the situation within the House of Assembly.

In view of the foregoing, the next question would be: Was there a security situation in Kogi State at the time in question which made it impossible for the State House of Assembly to exercise its legislative functions?

From information available to me, it would appear that the answer to the question is No as there was no such alarm raised by the relevant security agencies or by the Federal Government itself.

Without prejudice to the above issues, it is further necessary to interrogate the legal status of a Resolution of a House of the National Assembly. It is a notorious fact that Parliamentary Resolutions are merely persuasive and not binding in law adding that its lack legal efficacy and cannot become the basis to compel Executive action such as the present directive to the Nigeria Police Force to seal off the House of Assembly.

A close reading of Section 11(4) further suggests that if the National Assembly is expected to make laws for the peace, order and good government of a State in crisis, it cannot make such laws on the basis of a Resolution.

In view of the foregoing, I am of the considered opinion that sufficient legal basis has not been established for the consequent directive to the Inspector-General of Police by the House of Representatives to Seal the Kogi State House of Assembly Complex until the matter is resolved, the minister wrote.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, on Monday said President Muhammmadu Buhari did not reject the 2016 budget as being speculated.

Mr. Enang told journalists in Abuja that media reports alleging that the budget had been rejected were untrue.

He said what Mr. Buhari did before travelling to China was to send the budget to ministries in order to get feedbacks that would inform his assent.

The president received the budget and convened an emergency Federal Executive Council meeting.

He gave each of the ministers, departments and agencies the opportunity to look at the details as submitted by the National Assembly.

This is to enable him get opinion on the state of the budget to enable him take a decision.

The exercise was conducted on Friday and it is ongoing by the different ministers and ministries, he explained.

Mr. Enang said Mr. Buhari currently had not exceeded the constitutional time frame to assent to the budget, adding that it should not be assumed that the budget had been rejected.

The constitutional time frame for Mr Presidents receiving and considering the budget began on Friday last week.

The question has not arisen as to returning or otherwise.

But I want to say the best way we as liaison officers are handling this matter is to speak less and work more, creating interactions.

So, we will raise more interactions, consultations, engagements.

There is nothing for the country to worry about, because we do not want to have crisis between the Executive and the Legislature, and it would not arise; this is one government, he said.

(NAN)
A former militant leader declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has sued the Nigerian government seeking an end to his trial for alleged fraud.

Government Ekpemupolo (also known as Tompolo) is asking the Federal High Court, Lagos, for an interpretation and nullification of sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, adding that the said sections violated his constitutional rights.

Mr. Ekpemupolo had, in February, headed to the Court of Appeal seeking to set aside the warrant of arrest issued against him.

He also asked that the charges against him be transferred to a different judge.

The former militant leader, who is still at large, and Patrick Akpobolokemi, the former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) are accused of a multibillion naira fraud at the agency.

Others charged alongside them are Global West Vessel Specialist Ltd, Odimiri Electrical Ltd, Kime Engozu, Boloboere Property and Estate Ltd, Rex Elem, Destre Consult Ltd, Gregory Mbonu, and Captain Warredi Enisuoh.

A federal court had, on January 14, issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Ekpemupolo after he shunned an invitation to appear before the court.

On February 8, Justice Ibrahim Buba renewed the arrest warrant and a few days later, the EFCC declared Mr. Ekpemupolo wanted.

At the last court sitting, on February 19, the Commission told Justice Ibrahim Buba that the whereabouts of the ex-militant leader remained unknown.

Last month, with the EFCC still unable to apprehend Mr. Ekpemupolo, the agency separated the charged and arraigned his co-accused of conspiracy to commit fraud amounting to over N35 billion.

In his fresh suit before the federal high court, Mr. Ekpemupolo, through his lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, stated that sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, are invalid and unconstitutional.

Section 221 of the law states that: Objections shall not be taken or entertained during proceedings or trial on the ground of an imperfect or erroneous charge.

According to Section 306: An application for stay of proceedings in respect of a criminal matter before a court shall not be entertained.

Mr. Ekpemupolo said the sections prevented the court from exercising its jurisdiction to entertain any objection to a criminal charge and an application for a stay of proceedings pending appeal.

He is thus asking the court to stop his further trial until the determination of these issues, said Mr. Adegboruwa.

Joined as respondents in the suit are the Federal Government of Nigeria, the EFCC, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, and the Chief of Air Staff.
The electoral misfortune Peoples Democratic Party suffered in the 2015 general elections which ended its 16-year rule was a consequence of imposition of candidates, a former Senate President, David Mark, has said.

Mr. Mark said the party must avoid imposition of candidates if it must return to power in 2019.

The former senate president has been linked to eight undeclared offshore companies by leaked #PanamaPapers in breach of Nigerias code of conduct law for public officers.

He spoke on Monday in Otukpo, his Benue State country home where he held a meeting with PDP faithful, according to his spokesperson, Paul Mumeh.

Ahead of the PDP congresses and convention, Mr. Mark canvassed strongly for the repositioning of the Party (PDP) if it must return to power in the next general election.

We must come to terms with reality that PDP lost the last general election because of over bearing tendencies of some leaders who imposed candidates on the people.

It is inevitable that we must change from the old ways and allow the will of the people prevail. Unfolding events clearly show that the PDP is the party for the people. But we must not take them for granted by forcing unpopular candidates on the people.

The coast is clear that the PDP has the road map for peace, unity and development of Nigeria. Nigerians now know the difference, he said.

Mr. Mark therefore counselled that popular candidates be put forward to drive the ship of the party ahead of the next general elections.

He stressed that the PDP has bright chances of returning to power if all party faithful agree to work together in one accord.

To achieve fortune of returning to power, he stated that people must learn to sacrifice their individual or personal interest for the larger interests of the people.

Also at the meeting were State Chairman of the PDP, Emmanuel Agbo; former Interior Minister, Abba Moro and Geofrey Ejiga.

The trio corroborated Mr. Marks position that the party should repositioned.

In separate remarks, they said that the continued non-performance of the ruling All Progressive Congress ( APC) was giving the PDP a clean bill of health to return to power but must avoid the pitfall of imposition of candidates for elections.
Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and his Imo State counterpart, Rochas Okorocha, have said that the killing of five Hausa-Fulani herdsmen in a forest along the border of the two states was done by miscreants.

Mr. Okorocha said the attack was not directed at a particularly ethnic group as two Igbos were also killed in the attack.

The State Security Service, SSS, had on Saturday said it discovered mass graves of Hausa-Fulani residents abducted and murdered by suspected members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, in Abia State.

Messrs. Ikpeazu and Okorocha spoke on Monday in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, on the outcome of a Joint Security Council meeting of the two states, apparently disagreeing with the spy agencys statement.

Mr. Ikpeazu said kidnapping had become a recurring decimal in the area, adding that the meeting was convened to make a bold statement on the security challenges that confronted both states.

We condemn the killings as it concerns the five Fulani men that were abducted and assassinated in a forest.

And we are all united in the fact that the particular forest and such other forests will be rid of criminals that use them as hideouts.

It is our responsibility to protect lives and property of people that reside in Abia, as security agencies of both states have been mandated to cross the borders of both states to hunt down criminals, Mr. Ikpeazu said.

He said the time when criminals would launch attacks and hide in Imo and or Abia State had become a thing of the past.

In his remarks, Mr. Okorocha also condemned the killing, saying the culprits would be punished.

On the issue of the killing of five Fulani men that has caused tension, the culprits have been arrested and will be dealt with under the law as well as made to pay the ultimate price, he said.

Mr. Okorocha said the killing was a case of kidnapping and had nothing to do with ethnicity.

Information reaching us reveal that it is not just five Fulani men as there are two corpses believed to be Igbos from the area, so it is not a direct attack on any ethnic group, he added.

Awa Kalu, the Security Adviser to Abia Governor, said the alleged killing of herdsmen should be in Isuikwuato Local Government Area, along the border between Abia and Imo around Uturu axis.

Mr. Kalu, a retired captain, said the suspects arrested in connection with the crime had been giving useful information to the security agencies.

(NAN)
Following violent attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Ondo State, Governor Olusegun Mimiko has warned that Nigeria may be heading for the rocks if the incessant killings are not checked.

Mr. Mimiko said the issue of Fulani herdsmen rampage had become a monster that is threatening the security and unity of the country.

He gave the warning in Akure on Monday during a peace meeting with members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC).

According Mr. Mimiko, the situation demands a national emergency, and called on President Muhammadu Buhari and other leaders to put heads together to save the nation from imminent catastrophe.

There is no question about the fact that this is becoming a monster of sort. I have had cause to express my view on this on many occasion and I think we all ignore this menace as a nation, he said.

I can see us moving towards a precipice and we must do something about it as early as possible, it is getting dangerous, the audacity is very disturbing.

He condemned the recent attack on the farm of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, and the killing of one the guards, Ayodele Ige.

The governor described the development as unfortunate and barbaric.

He appealed to the OPC members not to take laws into their hands, just as he commended all the security operatives in the state for rising to the situation, adding that the police had been supportive, having successfully traced those behind the killing of the guard.

Mr. Mimiko further warned that if his advice was not heeded, it may reach a stage where people would resort to self-help.

I say it again, we are moving towards the precipice and the earlier we pull back, and it requires all the stakeholders from the president and this is a bi-partisan issue, all major stakeholders must come together on how to resolve this issue, he said.

These herdsmen must be called to order, these wanton destructions, audacious incursions in other peoples territory cannot continue for too long.

The governor noted that the activities of the Fulani herdsmen would not only pose a threat to national security but a great challenge to food security especially when people are calling for the diversification of the economy while agriculture remains the main focus.

It is very ironical, we have been talking about diversification and agriculture is the main focus but in this state there is hardly any medium scale or large scale farmers that has not had any encounter or the other with the herdsmen, he said.

They just go to the farm and devastate the farms, some of them have been turned to perpetual debtors because some of the input for the farms are from bank loans , the herdsmen will just get there and destroy these farmlands and we are talking of diversification.

But I think if we dont do anything about the activities of these herdsmen, I can see a threat to the security of this country so it is a major challenge and I think the President and all major stakeholders should take this as a very serious challenge.

Mr. Mimiko faulted the proposed Fulani grazing reserves bill by the National Assembly saying the law would further aggravate the crisis between the land owners, farmers and the Fulani herdsmen.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to officially declare its candidate for the Gwagwalada Area Council election winner of Saturdays poll.

APGA said its candidate, Adamu Danze, scored the highest number of lawful votes cast after the collation of results from various polling booths, saying its candidate polled 15,312 against APCs 14,546 and PDPs 6,082.

In a statement by the partys director of publicity, Ifeanacho Oguejiofor, APGA said it had information from reliable sources that pressure was mounted on INEC not to declare APGA winner.

It will be a big shame and unmitigated disgrace to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the Presidency for an APC candidate to be defeated in an election by an APGA candidate in FCT.

However, APGA wishes to caution the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to be mindful of its actions and not to collude with some unpatriotic politicians and anti-democratic forces to deny APGA its clearly won election, divine and peoples mandate.

INEC should allow the votes of the people to count without any manipulation from any quarter, especially from the electoral body.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Federal Capital Territory to officially declare its candidate for the Gwaqwalada Area Councils election conducted last Saturday, Hon Adamu Mustapha Danze, the winner of the poll, having scored the highest number of lawful votes cast after the collation of results from various polling booths, with the figure 15,312.00 as against APC 14,546.00 and PDP 6,082.00.

APGA also calls on the Presidency, the Inspector General of Police, all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians to call INEC to order in order not to jeopardize and destroy our hard-earned and emerging democracy, the statement added.
Over 30 housing units were submerged while 200 persons have been rendered homeless in Calabar, Cross River State, following a heavy downpour at the weekend.

Some of the areas affected include 8-Mile, CRUTECH staff quarters, Howell, Okoro Agbor, Goldie and Target streets.

Other areas include Efut Unwanse community in Calabar South, Mbukpa, Muritala Mohammed Highway, Wappi junction among others.

The flood which followed five hours of heavy downpour, also grounded business activities and movement in Calabar, the state capital.

When some of the affected areas were visited shortly after the rain, residents were seen evacuating soaked valuables from their homes to forestall further damages.

Other victims were seen scooping water from their rooms to pave the way for them to locate their property that were already submerged by the flash storm water.

One of the flood victims, Charity Okpong, 58, lamented that properties worth millions of naira had been lost to the disaster.

She, however, called on the government to come to their aid by relocating residents of the flood prone areas to safer part of Calabar city.

This is what we have been passing through for the past years. Each time there is heavy downpour, we dont sleep. We keep vigil to protect our property but even at that, water still washes away out properties, she said.

Collins Ikpi, who resides at the Cross River University of Technology, CRUTECH, staff quarters, pleased with the government to save them from the menace.

Speaking on the issue, the Director of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, John Obaji, said most times the flood is caused by residents of the affected areas, who indiscriminately dump refuse inside the water channels.

He said the government was putting modalities in place to tackle flood headlong.

A team of SEMA staff has gone round to the flood affected areas. But the thing is that, sometimes this flood is caused by the inhabitants of those areas, Mr. Obaji said.

If you ask them to dump their refuse at the appropriate places for evacuation by the relevant agency of the government, most of the people would rather dump them into gutters and drainages.

Our officials who worked under the rain were able to clear some of the drainages to allow free flow of water. From our assessment, about thirty houses were affected and over two hundred persons were displaced.

Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Information, Mike Eraye, corroborated what Mr. Obaji said, adding that the government was exploring ways of addressing the problem through counterpart funding with relevant agencies of the federal government.

He added that the state governor, Ben Ayade, was committed to making life comfortable for the people of the state.
( Read 4465 Times)

The Ryan International Group had one more reason to celebrate as Madam Grace Pinto, Managing Director was recognized for her inimitable leadership at the Economic Times Inspiring Business Leaders event. The event was held at the Sahara Star hotel in Mumbai on March 31, 2016. Madam Grace Pinto was presented with the Inspiring Business Leader of India by Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, Founder & CEO, UTV.The Economic Times Business Leaders event brought together the business stalwarts from various spheres. The event provided an excellent platform for them to showcase their area of expertise and products. The attendees at the conference absorbed the varied aspects of entrepreneurship from an exciting mix of past and current entrepreneurs across diverse sectors.Speaking after receiving the award, Madam Grace Pinto said, I thank our Lord Jesus Christ for this recognition from the prestigious Economic Times and I am also grateful to the vision and leadership of our Chairman, Dr A F Pinto, as also the efforts and support of our stakeholders. She further added, This award belongs to all our staff, parent community and well-wishers who have stood by us at all times. The Ryan Group will continue to empower the youth  the future of our society.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.  SpaceX has made good on a high-priority delivery: the worlds first inflatable room for astronauts.

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, two days after launching from Cape Canaveral. Station astronauts used a robot arm to capture the Dragon, orbiting 250 miles above Earth.

The Dragon holds 7,000 pounds of freight, including the soft-sided compartment built by Bigelow Aerospace. The pioneering pod  packed tightly for launch  should swell to the size of a small bedroom once filled with air next month.

It will be attached to the space station this Saturday, but wont be inflated until the end of May. The technology could change the way astronauts live in space: NASA envisions inflatable habitats in a couple decades at Mars, while Bigelow Aerospace aims to launch a pair of inflatable space stations in just four years for commercial lease.

For now, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module  BEAM for short  will remain mostly off-limits to the six-man station crew. NASA wants to see how the experimental chamber functions, so the hatch will stay sealed except when astronauts enter a few times a year to collect measurements and swap out sensors.

This is SpaceXs first delivery for NASA in a year. A launch accident last June put shipments on hold.

SpaceX flight controllers at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, applauded when the hefty station arm plucked Dragon from orbit. A few hours later, the capsule was bolted securely into place.

It looks like we caught a Dragon, announced British astronaut Timothy Peake, who made the grab. There are smiles all around here, NASAs Mission Control replied. Nice job capturing that Dragon.

SpaceX is still reveling in the success of Fridays booster landing at sea.

For the first time, a leftover booster came to a solid vertical touchdown on a floating platform. SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk wants to reuse boosters to save money, a process that he says will open access to space for more people in more places, like Mars. His ambition is to establish a city on Mars.

NASA also has Mars in its sights and looks to send astronauts there in the 2030s. In order to focus on that objective, the space agency has hired U.S. companies like SpaceX to deliver cargo and, as early as next year, astronauts to the space station. U.S. astronauts currently have to hitch rides on Russian rockets.

In a sign of these new commercial space times, a Dragon capsule is sharing the station for the first time with Orbital ATKs supply ship named Cygnus, already parked there two weeks. This is also the first time in five years that the compound has six docking ports occupied: Dragon, Cygnus, two Russian Progress freighters and two Russian Soyuz crew capsules.

The Dragon will remain at the station for a month before returning to Earth with science samples, many of them from one-year spaceman Scott Kelly. He ended his historic mission last month. Cygnus will stick around a little longer.
By PrintWeek Team

All eyes are on the Awards Night of the 12th edition of the PrintWeek Awards to be held at the Grand Hyatt (Santacruz East, Mumbai) on 2 Nov...
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.




THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Aegon announces the sale of two thirds of its UK annuity portfolio to Rothesay Life. The transaction is consistent with the company's ambition to free up capital from non-core businesses. Under the terms of the agreement, Aegon will reinsure GBP 6 billion of liabilities to Rothesay Life, followed by a Part VII transfer. The pro forma Solvency II ratio per end-2015 for Aegon's operations in the United Kingdom increases to an estimated ~155% following the reinsurance transaction and ~165% following the Part VII transfer. Aegon is exploring options to also divest the remainder of its UK annuity portfolio.

"I am very pleased that we have reached an agreement with Rothesay Life," said Alex Wynaendts, CEO of Aegon. "This is an important step in the process to fully divest our UK annuity portfolio, and will enable us to focus on our fast-growing platform in the UK. We are confident that this transaction is also in the best interests of our annuity customers, as Rothesay Life is an established and respected specialist provider in the UK annuity market."

Aegon has not been an active player in the UK annuity market since 2010. By selling the majority of the annuity portfolio, Aegon will be able to focus on its platform which enables workplace savers and consumers to build their savings across their working lives and then manage an income in retirement with the support of a financial adviser or directly online.

As a result of the transaction, the benefit in the Solvency II own funds from transitional measures for Aegon's UK annuity portfolio will be reduced. After the completion of the transaction, Aegon intends to upstream excess capital to the holding in line with Aegon's capital management policy for its units.

Following the transaction, Aegon expects annual operational free cash flows from its UK operations to be reduced by approximately GBP 35 million (EUR 43 million). The expected impact of the transaction on 2016 underlying earnings before tax is approximately GBP (20) million (EUR (25) million). The reinsurance transaction is expected to result in an IFRS loss of approximately GBP 30 million (EUR 37 million) to be reported in other charges in the second quarter of 2016.

To ensure a smooth transition for its customers, Aegon and Rothesay Life will put a migration plan in place in which the administration of the annuity portfolio will be executed by Aegon until the completion of the Part VII transfer.

DISCLAIMERS

Forward-looking statements

The statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following are words that identify such forward-looking statements: aim, believe, estimate, target, intend, may, expect, anticipate, predict, project, counting on, plan, continue, want, forecast, goal, should, would, is confident, will, and similar expressions as they relate to Aegon. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which merely reflect company expectations at the time of writing. Actual results may differ materially from expectations conveyed in forward-looking statements due to changes caused by various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following:

Changes in general economic conditions, particularly in the United States , the Netherlands and the United Kingdom ;

, and the ; Changes in the performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, such as with regard to:

The frequency and severity of defaults by issuers in Aegon's fixed income investment portfolios;

The effects of corporate bankruptcies and/or accounting restatements on the financial markets and the resulting decline in the value of equity and debt securities Aegon holds; and

The effects of declining creditworthiness of certain private sector securities and the resulting decline in the value of sovereign exposure that Aegon holds;

Changes in the performance of Aegon's investment portfolio and decline in ratings of Aegon's counterparties;

Consequences of a potential (partial) break-up of the euro or the potential exit of the United Kingdom and/or Greece from the European Union;

and/or from the European Union; The frequency and severity of insured loss events;

Changes affecting longevity, mortality, morbidity, persistence and other factors that may impact the profitability of Aegon's insurance products;

Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting risks may fail to meet their obligations;

Changes affecting interest rate levels and continuing low or rapidly changing interest rate levels;

Changes affecting currency exchange rates, in particular the EUR/USD and EUR/GBP exchange rates;

Changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, liquidity sources such as bank and capital markets funding, as well as conditions in the credit markets in general such as changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness;

Increasing levels of competition in the United States , the Netherlands , the United Kingdom and emerging markets;

, , the and emerging markets; Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting Aegon's operations' ability to hire and retain key personnel, the products Aegon sells, and the attractiveness of certain products to its consumers;

Regulatory changes relating to the pensions, investment, and insurance industries in the jurisdictions in which Aegon operates;

Standard setting initiatives of supranational standard setting bodies such as the Financial Stability Board and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors or changes to such standards that may have an impact on regional (such as EU), national or US federal or state level financial regulation or the application thereof to Aegon, including the designation of Aegon by the Financial Stability Board as a Global Systemically Important Insurer (G-SII).

Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general related to, among other things, the type of products also Aegon sells, including legal, regulatory or commercial necessity to meet changing customer expectations;

Acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics;

Changes in the policies of central banks and/or governments;

Lowering of one or more of Aegon's debt ratings issued by recognized rating organizations and the adverse impact such action may have on Aegon's ability to raise capital and on its liquidity and financial condition;

Lowering of one or more of insurer financial strength ratings of Aegon's insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such action may have on the premium writings, policy retention, profitability and liquidity of its insurance subsidiaries;

The effect of the European Union's Solvency II requirements and other regulations in other jurisdictions affecting the capital Aegon is required to maintain;

Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay significant damages or change the way Aegon does business;

As Aegon's operations support complex transactions and are highly dependent on the proper functioning of information technology, a computer system failure or security breach may disrupt Aegon's business, damage its reputation and adversely affect its results of operations, financial condition and cash flows;

Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution channels;

Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect profitability, the distribution cost of or demand for Aegon's products;

Changes in accounting regulations and policies or a change by Aegon in applying such regulations and policies, voluntarily or otherwise, which may affect Aegon's reported results and shareholders' equity;

The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings, product withdrawals and other unusual items, including Aegon's ability to integrate acquisitions and to obtain the anticipated results and synergies from acquisitions;

Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, could result in material losses and significantly interrupt Aegon's business; and

Aegon's failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or operational efficiencies as well as other cost saving and excess capital and leverage ratio management initiatives.

Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting Aegon are described in its filings with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable law or regulation, Aegon expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Aegon's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Aegon's roots go back more than 170 years - to the first half of the nineteenth century. Since then, Aegon has grown into an international company, with businesses in more than 20 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Today, Aegon is one of the world's leading financial services organizations, providing life insurance, pensions and asset management. Aegon's purpose is to help people achieve a lifetime of financial security. More information: aegon.com.

Media relations

Debora de Laaf

+31(0)70-344-8730

gcc@aegon.com



Investor relations

Willem van den Berg

+31(0)70-344-8405

ir@aegon.com



PRN NLD

SOURCE Aegon N.V.
SOUTHEND-On-SEA, England and HOLON, Israel, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Telematics Wireless Supports Southend-on-Sea's Energy Saving 'Smart Cities' Scheme

Telematics Wireless, a leader in smart city applications, has announced it has been selected to deploy its T-light Pro streetlight control and monitoring system across the Borough of Southend-on-Sea. The system includes the deployment of 14,500 Light Control Units (LCU), system gateways and a management control solution. This deployment continues the council's energy saving initiative of upgrading their luminaires to LEDs and their replacement of street lighting columns. Southend-on-Sea is situated 40 miles east of central London and is the largest conurbation in the East of England with a population of 175,000 and an area covering more than 16 square miles. The deployment of Telematics Central Management System (CMS) is programmed to begin in February 2016.

Telematics Wireless T-light Pro System is a highly robust wireless mesh multi-hop network, utilizing self-healing and cognitive radio algorithms. It enables reliable and secure two way communications between lighting nodes and the CMS via wireless network using a small number of lamppost-mounted gateways with cellular modems. Southend-on-Sea has chosen Telematics Wireless 7-pin NEMA* LCUs for ease of installation and seamless network configuration. The T-light Pro system offers the Council real-time control of the network such that they can vary luminance levels and automatically receive fault reporting and warning alarms, allowing faster response to outages and reduced maintenance costs while realising energy savings.

The Smart Lighting System will act as a platform for other future smart city applications. The new CMS RF infrastructure can support additional smart sensors and applications such as water resource management, traffic and environmental monitoring.

"A Smart Infrastructure will give our residents confidence in Southend-on-Sea's Council to meet its goals of efficiently reducing energy costs and CO2 emissions, whilst realising further savings in the future through other smart characteristics," said Paul Mathieson, Group Manager of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. "We hope to align this smart CMS with other IT applications such as future ICT based procurements and cloud computing."

"Southend-on-Sea is clearly demonstrating its commitment to grow the use of technology. Installing a Smart Infrastructure will set the stage to cost-effectively add other smart city applications to the Borough," said Eddy Kafry, Chief Executive Officer of Telematics Wireless. "We look forward to working with Southend-on-Sea to be at the technological forefront helping them generate further savings and income through the implementation of other Smart City applications."

* NEMA - National Electrical Manufacturers Association

About Telematics Wireless

Telematics Wireless is a recognized global leader in the delivery of outdoor lighting control systems, as well as robust, reliable and advanced energy and water resource management systems based on RF wireless networks. With almost 20 years of experience in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technologies, our solutions support a wide spectrum of smart city applications, increasing their efficiency, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. The company has deployed its street and outdoor lighting solutions in dozens of cities, including tens of thousands of Light Controlling Units worldwide. Telematics Wireless has also delivered and installed over 14 million cutting-edge wireless devices and water systems for Automatic Meter Readings (AMR), Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), energy resource management, smart grid, location-based services, asset tracking and monitoring, and electronic toll collection.

Media Contact:

Leora Borgenicht - Telematics Wireless

leora.borgenicht@telematics-wireless.com

+972-(0)3-557-5736



SOURCE Telematics Wireless
DENVER, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Spinnaker Support, the fastest growing provider of third-party support, managed services, and consulting for Oracle and SAP software applications, today announced that the Company continued record growth across its Oracle practices in the first quarter of 2016.

"In Q1, we signed 54 new contracts with 37 new customers that depend on Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Database, and other Oracle technologies," said Matt Stava, CEO of Spinnaker Support. "After highly competitive sales campaigns, we were selected on the merits of great customer references, a broader services footprint, financial staying power, and our history of litigation-free support delivery. Wins are coming from many places, including Israel, Brazil, and Nigeria, as well across our strongholds of USA and Europe."

Feedback from New Customers

Partner Communications Company, Ltd., one of Israel's largest telecommunications companies, conducted a six-month evaluation between the two leading third-party support vendors. Each vendor supported various aspects of the company's broad Oracle application footprint, including Oracle Database, E-Business Suite, and Siebel. "We have selected Spinnaker Support to provide ongoing support for our entire Oracle application landscape," stated Raz Bartov, acting CIO with Partner Communications Company, Ltd. "As the head-to-head evaluation progressed, it became crystal clear that Spinnaker Support is the best choice for Partner Communications Company Ltd. They provide an exceptionally high level of local support at an attractive price point and have quickly evolved into a natural extension of our own internal IT team. Spinnaker Support gives us great confidence going forward. They always do things the right way and consistently display in-depth Oracle application knowledge as pertains to our unique environment."

Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) is a leader in delivering market and shopper information, predictive analysis, and actionable foresight to empower clients in the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and over-the-counter healthcare industries. To support its business and front office operations, IRI utilizes Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) version 11.5.8, Siebel CRM version 7.8.2, and Oracle Technology applications. Until recently, IRI has leveraged Oracle for ongoing EBS, Siebel, and database applications support. "After exhaustive due diligence, we opted to pass on upgrading or migrating our existing E-Business Suite and Siebel software applications," said Brian Corderre, EVP and Controller at Information Resources, Inc. "Third-party support is tailor made for our organization and Spinnaker Support is the wise choice for us. They deliver best-in-class third-party support, provide incremental managed services we will consider going forward, and bring an impressive history of consistent growth and financial stability. Spinnaker Support brings the low-risk profile that we seek in our vendors."

Also announced today, the Denver Post named Spinnaker Support a 2016 winner of the state of Colorado Top Workplaces award. This award was based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by WorkplaceDynamics, LLC. The survey measured various aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, and connection.

Spinnaker Support is exhibiting at COLLABORATE 16 in Las Vegas, NV from April 10-14, 2016. This Oracle user conference will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Spinnaker Support can be found in booth 1229.

About Spinnaker Support

Spinnaker Support is now the fastest growing global provider of third-party support, managed services, and consulting for Oracle and SAP enterprise software and database applications. According to our more than 500 clients, spanning 77 countries, we consistently deliver a higher caliber of service for a fraction of what they've previously paid to the ERP vendors. Spinnaker Support is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with regional operations centers located in London, Mumbai, Singapore, and Tel Aviv. We support more than 4,000 instances of Oracle E-Business Suite, JD Edwards, Siebel, Oracle Database, and SAP for enterprises of all sizes and industry segments.

Spinnaker Support provides third-party support, managed services, and consulting for SAP, Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Database, Siebel CRM, and JD Edwards software applications. To learn more about Spinnaker Support, visit www.spinnakersupport.com, call +44 (0)20 8242 1785 internationally or 877-476-0576 in the U.S./Canada. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.

Related Links

http://www.spinnakersupport.com



SOURCE Spinnaker Support
DUBLIN, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Data Storage Market: Middle East Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2015 - 2025" report to their offering.

The Middle East data storage market was valued at $1,475.9 million in 2014 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 14.4% during the forecast period (2015-2025) to reach $6,537.6 million by 2025. The commercial end-user segment was valued at US$ 1,085.9 Mn in 2014 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 14.3% during the forecast period. However, as compared to the commercial end user segment, the residential end user segment is expected to expand at a higher CAGR of 14.7% during the forecast period.

Continuous decline in the prices of consumer storage devices, such HDD (hard disk drive) and (solid-state drive) SSD, is further promoting growth of the data storage market currently. Development of the 3D NAND technology has been a game-changer for the consumer storage industry, resulting in the rise in SSD capacities and decline in prices. Increasing market presence of regional players in majority of the countries is further cementing competition and, in turn, leading to the reduction in the average selling price of consumer storage devices.

Advancements in information and social technology have paved the way for unabated data growth. Business enterprises have moved from duplication and compression techniques to rack servers and data centres in order to manage growth of Big Data. This offers enterprises an improved, scalable and cost effective platform solution. Additionally, surge in demand for smartphones and other IoT devices, along with growth of social media channels, have led to a rise in demand for additional storage, which in turn is further driving growth of the global data storage market currently.

Introduction of high-performance computing solutions with minimum complexities is the key focus area for vendors in the enterprise data storage market. In data-intensive applications, such as simulation and modelling of enterprise process creates huge amounts of complex data. In order to store and process this data, high performance solutions that can manage escalating data capacities are of utmost importance.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Research Methodology

3. Assumptions & Acronyms Used

4. Market Overview

5. Middle East Data Storage Market Snapshot

6. Middle East Data Storage Market Analysis, By Application

7. Middle East Data Storage Market Analysis, By End Users

8. Middle East Enterprise Data Storage Market Analysis, By Industry Verticals

9. Middle East Data Storage Market Analysis, By Region

10. GCC Data Storage Market Analysis

11. Levant Data Storage Market Analysis

12. GCC Data Storage Market Analysis By Country

13. Levant Data Storage Market Analysis By Country

14. Competition Landscape

Companies Mentioned:

EMC Corporation

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

Hitachi Data System Corporation

IBM Corporation

Microsoft Corporation

NetApp Inc.

Nexenta Systems Inc.

Open Text Corp.

Sandisk Corporation

VMware, Inc.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/n8kqgf/data_storage

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com



SOURCE Research and Markets
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T is recognizing 215 Florida employees who are being honored with the President's Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) for giving their time to transform their communities for the better.

The PVSA, the nation's premier volunteer awards program, gives U.S. Presidential recognition to individuals who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to volunteerism throughout the year. AT&T employees in Florida are among 4,527 AT&T employee awardees nationwide to receive this honor. They logged a minimum of 100 hours in service to others last year, with some employees volunteering more than 500 hours to receive the Gold Award.

"The employees receiving the PVSA award are improving our community through their selfless acts every day  whether it's mentoring students, cleaning up our parks or helping feed those who are hungry," said Joe York, AT&T Florida president. "We would like to congratulate these employees and hope their stories inspire others as much as they inspire us."

Impacting a community can take many forms. Throughout Florida AT&T volunteers have stuffed and donated teddy bears for patients in medical facilities, mentored high school students, provided gifts to children in need, volunteered in animal shelters and supported local veterans among many other AT&T employee volunteer activities across the state.

Over time, these moments of giving can add up to millions of service hours. AT&T employees and retirees have volunteered more than 5.4 million hours in 2015 alone.

PVSA is an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and is administered by Points of Light. With a shared mission of inspiring more to answer the call to service, PVSA celebrates the impact we can all make in bettering our communities and our world. The award is available on an annual basis and is an honor that every American  from youth to seniors  can participate in and be recognized by our nation's President for being civic leaders.

AT&T has participated in awarding employees with the PVSA since 2012, and the number of honored employees grows each year. To be eligible to receive the award, AT&T submits a record of employees' annual volunteer service hours to be verified and considered eligible for the award.

For more information, visit: www.presidentialserviceawards.gov.

About Community Engagement at AT&T

At AT&T (NYSE: T), Community Engagement means engaging our employees to build healthy, connected, and thriving communities where we live and do business. Employees are focused on three key issues: improving educational outcomes, building sustainable communities and promoting the responsible use of technology. In 2014, AT&T employees and retirees volunteered more than 5.6 million hours of time in community outreach activities worth more than $126 million and pledged more than $36 million for charities of their choice through employee giving.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120612/DA23287LOGO

SOURCE AT&T

Related Links

http://about.att.com


WASHINGTON, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In recognition of the impact of cancer on the African American, Hispanic, and Asian American communities, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and its members are calling upon minority patients and their health care providers to help reduce the risk of cancer through dedicated prevention efforts and regular cancer screenings.

While cancer death rates have declined among African Americans, 1 in 2 African American men and 1 in 3 African American women will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanics, according to the American Cancer Society.

Approximately 20 percent of cancers are preventable, and nurse practitioners emphasize the importance of strong patient-provider partnerships to create individualized treatment plan that help patients manage their weight, increase their physical activity, reduce their intake of alcohol, and quit smoking and using tobacco products. Some cancers are caused by chronic infections, which may be prevented, in cases like HPV, through vaccination, or treated through other means.

"Early identification of cancer is critical to improving patient outcomes in every patient population," said Cindy Cooke, AANP President. "We recommend patients work closely with their health care provider to understand the screenings most beneficial to them, based upon their age, gender, and risk factors. Screenings for breast, colon and rectal, cervical, prostate, lung and skin cancer all help detect cancer early and save lives."



Eighty percent of nurse practitioners (NPs) are focused on primary care with an emphasis on disease prevention and health management. In addition, NPs' specialty areas include oncology, in which they specialize and provide care for patients with cancer. NPs handle over 990 million patient visits per year.

"It's important that patients know the cancer screenings most important to their own health and the early warning signs to look for and make an appointment with their health care provider," said James LaVelle Dickens, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP, U.S. Public Health Service, Office of Minority Health, Region VI and a Fellow of AANP. "These symptoms can mimic other conditions and include: unexplained weight loss, fatigue, pain, skin changes, bloating, bleeding, lymph node changes, difficulty swallowing, heart burn, and more."

"Patients shouldn't ignore their symptoms. They should see their health care provider for evaluation," said Dickens.

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) is the largest professional membership organization for nurse practitioners (NPs) of all specialties. It represents the interests of more than 205,000 NPs, including more than 66,000 individual members and 200 organizations, providing a unified networking platform and advocating for their role as providers of high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, patient-centered and personalized health care. The organization provides legislative leadership at the local, state and national levels, advancing health policy; promoting excellence in practice, education and research; and establishing standards that best serve NP patients and other health care consumers. For more information, visit www.aanp.org. To locate a nurse practitioner in your area, visit www.npfinder.com.

Media Contacts:

Marichelli Hughes or Will Rijksen

SevenTwenty Strategies

[email protected]

[email protected]

202-715-3906

SOURCE American Association of Nurse Practitioners

Related Links

http://www.aanp.org


"With suicide among the leading causes of death in Ohio, greater mental health awareness and education of suicide risk and warning signs needs to be on the forefront," said Gigi Bertolini, an AFSP field ambassador in Ohio . "It is crucial that we work together with legislators to prevent suicide and save lives."

Advocates will be asking their representatives to support two different pieces of legislation: House Bill 323 regarding Public School District/Private School License Plates, and House Bill 440 regarding Ohio Survivors of Suicide Loss Day.

House Bill 323 would require public school districts that receive contributions from the use of public school district license plates to use those contributions to pay expenses for student services to develop or maintain student mental and emotional well-being, or to train faculty to provide said student services. Services may include bereavement counseling and/or counseling and education regarding bullying, dating violence, drug abuse, and suicide prevention, among others.

House Bill 440 would designate the Saturday before Thanksgiving as "Ohio Survivors of Suicide Loss Day." Survivors of Suicide Loss Day is an internationally recognized day when people affected by suicide loss gather at events in their local communities to find comfort and gain understanding as they share stories of healing and hope.

Last year, in a significant move forward in combatting this leading cause of death, the Ohio legislature passed House Bill 28, which now requires state institutions of higher education in Ohio to develop, implement, and post online a policy that advises students and staff of available suicide prevention and mental health services on and off campus. AFSP thanks the legislature for their unanimous support of this important legislation.

Suicide in Ohio

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 15-34 in Ohio. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death overall in Ohio: on average one person dies by suicide every six hours in the state.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that's smart about mental health through education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, and with a public policy office in Washington, D.C., AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states with programs and events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report, and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353062

SOURCE American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Related Links

http://www.afsp.org


CONCORD, Calif., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AssetMark, Inc. (or the "Company"), a leading provider of innovative platform, investment and consulting solutions serving financial advisors, announced today that Huatai Securities has agreed to purchase the Company from private equity firms Aquiline Capital Partners and Genstar Capital.

"As a management team with ownership that ensures alignment of interest in our continued success, we are confident we have the right partner to invest in AssetMark's next stage of growth," said Charles Goldman, president and CEO of AssetMark. "We are excited to work with Huatai through this transition and beyond as we share a common belief in delivering outstanding service and innovative solutions to advisors and the investors they serve."

The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2016.

Huatai Securities is a leading integrated securities group in China with a strong customer base, a leading digital platform and comprehensive service capabilities. Huatai provides services including brokerage and wealth management, investment banking, asset management and investment and trading to retail investors, institutional investors and corporate clients. For the year ended 2015, Huatai was the No. 1 ranked broker by stock and funds trading volume and No. 4 in terms of total assets among Chinese securities companies. The firm is publicly traded on both the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges with a market capitalization of over US$18.5 billion.

After the transaction closes, AssetMark will remain an independently operated company with the same experienced leadership team, brand, sales and service structure and strategy to help advisors deliver great outcomes for their investors. AssetMark's portfolio strategist lineup and custodian options will also remain the same.

AssetMark was purchased by private equity firms Aquiline Capital Partners and Genstar Capital in summer 2013 from Genworth Financial. "We particularly want to thank Aquiline and Genstar for being tremendous partners over the last few years in providing us with the opportunity to build a platform that has helped so many advisors," said Goldman.

Huatai's President and Executive Director, Zhou Yi, commented, "This transaction is a strategically important action for Huatai as it is our first investment in the U.S. We are excited to work with the management team and invest in AssetMark's growth. We also believe that AssetMark's asset management capabilities and technology leadership give us the opportunity to provide new and innovative wealth management solutions to our clients."

After the transaction, AssetMark will continue to develop the innovative investment solutions and powerful technology enhancements already outlined as part of its strategy. Recently the firm launched its new Investing Evolved investment framework, which is designed to help advisors build portfolios that better meet investor needs.

Moelis & Company LLC, Raymond James & Associates, Inc. and Starr Strategic Partners, LLC served as financial advisors to AssetMark, while Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Jun He Law Offices served as legal counsel.

About AssetMark, Inc.

AssetMark, Inc. is a leading independent provider of innovative investment and consulting solutions serving financial advisors. The firm provides investment, relationship and practice management solutions that advisors use to help clients achieve their investment objectives and life goals. AssetMark, Inc., including its Savos and Aris divisions, has approximately $29.3 billion in assets on its platform and a history of innovation spanning over 20 years. For more information, visit www.assetmark.com and follow @AssetMark on Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACTS :

Andrew Jarrell, Group Gordon

(212) 784-5721

[email protected]

Ben Johnson, AssetMark

(925) 521-2750

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140128/SF53225LOGO

SOURCE AssetMark, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.assetmark.com


LAFAYETTE, La., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ATC Group Services LLC ("ATC"), a leading full-service environmental consulting and industrial hygiene firm, today announced that it has acquired Sage Environmental Consulting, a recognized leader in environmental engineering and technical consulting services focused primarily on providing air quality, due diligence and emission reduction credit consulting. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas and founded in 1998, Sage has over 200 employees across 24 offices strategically located throughout the United States and provides regulatory compliance, permitting and remediation assistance, as well as a range of environmental programs, including air quality, water quality, hazardous and solid waste, hazardous materials and petroleum storage activities.

Bobby Toups, ATC's Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are delighted to welcome the Sage Environmental team to the ATC family. We look forward to leveraging their unique experience and expertise in air quality and control, leak detection and repair services, which will be a natural complement to ATC's work within the environmental services market. By joining together, we will be better-positioned to continue serving our customers and drive growth."

As a result of the acquisition, ATC will grow to more than 1,500 employees nationwide, significantly expanding its technical capabilities in air quality.

Sage, which has been honored five times on Inc. 5000's list recognizing the fastest-growing private companies in the United States, will be renamed "Sage ATC Environmental Consulting." Steve Probst, Chairman, will continue in his role, and Sage will remain headquartered in Texas.

Mr. Probst said, "We are thrilled to join ATC, which has long been regarded as one of the nation's most respected multidisciplinary environmental consulting and engineering firms. We look forward to benefitting from ATC's differentiated network of global subject matter experts, as we work to best serve ATC and Sage clients."

ATC Group Services LLC is owned by a group of investors led by Bernhard Capital Partners, an operationally-focused private equity firm dedicated to investing across the energy services spectrum.

About Sage Environmental Consulting

Sage provides a broad range of air permitting, regulatory compliance, due diligence, flares, tanks, BWON, fence line monitoring, information collection request, and process safety consulting services to the refining, petrochemical and related industries. Sage Environmental has always and will remain focused on exceeding customer expectations. www.sageenvironmental.com

About ATC Group Services LLC

Established in 1982 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, ATC Group Services LLC provides environmental consulting, industrial hygiene, geotechnical engineering, government services and construction-materials testing and special inspection with 70 locations throughout the United States and over 1,350 employees. ATC nurtures strong client relationships and referrals by consistently exceeding expectations through our professional, well trained, well-equipped and highly motivated team. www.atcgroupservices.com

About Bernhard Capital Partners

Bernhard Capital Partners is an energy services-focused private equity firm established in 2013 by Jim Bernhard, Jeff Jenkins and a team of experienced private-equity professionals. BCP seeks to create sustainable value by leveraging its founding partners' 25 years of experience in acquiring, operating and growing energy-services businesses. From strategic industry insight to operational efficiencies and best-practice management, BCP provides resources far beyond its investments. www.bernhardcapital.com

Contact

Bobby Toups

ATC Group Services LLC CEO

337.234.8777



Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160411/353556LOGO

SOURCE ATC Group Services LLC

Related Links

http://www.atcgroupservices.com


WASHINGTON, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the candidates for the next president of the United States head to the Northeast for the New York State primary on April 19th, the topic of human rights has not been a focal point in the presidential conversation. President Obama's signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal on February 4th this year made few headlines, despite its massive implications on millions of U.S. and foreign workers. Yet fair trade, labor, and human rights are issues critical to everyone in America  Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike  and are fundamentally rooted in American values. To quote U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the TPP is "a trade agreement that affects jobs, environmental regulations, and whether workers around the globe are treated humanely This trade agreement doesn't matter to just the biggest corporations  it matters to all of us."

In Malaysia, one of the TPP signatories, modern-day slave labor practices were uncovered in its electronic factories as recently as 2014. In Brunei, another signatory, being homosexual is punishable by death. Some of America's trade partners in the Middle East have faced international criticism for a wide range of high-profile human rights abuses. Reputable media outlets have reported that every week in the State of Qatar, approximately 29 migrant workers die  total deaths are estimated to ultimately total around 4,000  building the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer facilities in Doha as a result of deplorable working conditions. Thousands more across Asia and the Middle East will suffer other horrifying abuses, as workers across business sectors have no protections, and can be legally held in indentured servitude. All of these abuses bring into serious question how much trade the U.S. should have with nations that oppress human rights, and what sort of protections should be in agreements for the U.S. to enforce.

The mistreatment of international labor workers and human rights issues haven't been discussed much during this election cycle, in spite of the fact that American companies and American workers are competing every day against slave labor. The Alliance for Workers Against Repression Everywhere (AWARE), a multi-constituency effort working to bring national attention to human rights and American policies that can defend or destroy them, calls on Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, John Kasich, and Ted Cruz to consider labor and human rights abuses when working with America's trade partners. They should each ask themselves: "Does the United States want to do business with a company or a nation that oppresses labor and human rights? Do we want our businesses and workers competing against slave labor?"

Headed by progressive veteran Mike Lux, AWARE has a specific focus on the rights of oppressed workers. "Consumers are beginning to speak with their wallets and not do business with foreign nations and companies that offer absolutely no worker protections," said Lux. "Many are choosing not to buy products and goods from nations and companies with blood on their hands. The U.S. government is in a position to do a tremendous amount for workers by employing the same tactic  let's not engage in trade unless protections for workers are both firmly in place and actually enforced."

The best American business strategies are those that treat their workers with dignity and give them high enough wages so that they have money in their wallets. What's good for American workers is good for workers everywhere, which is why it's crucial we hear from our future leaders on these topics.

AWARE is calling for the conversation around labor and human rights to happen now on the public stage of the presidential election.

To learn more or to help continue the conversation, visit: allianceforworkers.org @Alliance4Wrkrs #humanrights

CONTACT: Jesse Brown at (443) 961-4833 or [email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/340272LOGO

SOURCE Alliance for Workers Against Repression Everywhere

Related Links

http://allianceforworkers.org


NASSAU, Bahamas, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BMD Holdings LTD, the developer of Baha Mar, today reported that it has made an offer to China Exim Bank under which Baha Mar would be opened successfully, payment would be made to unsecured creditors, and no discount would be incurred by China Exim on its Baha Mar funding.

Sarkis Izmirlian, Chief Executive of BMD Holdings, stated, "All of us in The Bahamas want Baha Mar to be completed and opened successfully as soon as possible. We want this to be achieved in a manner that is advantageous to Baha Mar's unsecured creditors and Exim bank and assures that Baha Mar has an owner who is committed to putting back to work the many Bahamians who were laid off as a consequence of the winding up/liquidation process to which Baha Mar is now being subjected.

"There is no other potential owner who unequivocally has these goals for Baha Mar, for the creditor parties, and for Bahamians. There is no other potential owner, other than us, who has the expertise, capabilities, and commitment to move quickly to get this project opened and running in a manner to make The Bahamas proud.

"It is unfortunate what has happened to Baha Mar these many months, but all of this is correctable. We are confident our offer is the right solution. We know we can make Baha Mar successful. We want all creditors' economic interests to be addressed fairly. We want former Baha Mar employees to be able to be back at work. While we will continue to fight the ill-advised winding up/liquidation through the courts, following a positive meeting last week with Prime Minister Perry G. Christie, we hope to work with him towards our shared goal of opening Baha Mar rapidly and successfully for the benefit of all Bahamians, especially our highly trained Baha Mar team members. They are colleagues in whom we have the highest confidence to make Baha Mar into a leading international destination resort. We are prepared to move forward immediately with Exim Bank on our offer. Time is of the essence," Mr. Izmirlian emphasized.

The following is the letter sent today from Mr. Izmirlian to President Liu of China Exim Bank:

Dear President Liu, April 11, 2016

I wanted to follow up with you on the offer we made to Exim Bank on January 11, 2016 as we have not heard from the bank why the proposal is not acceptable. Our goal in structuring the offer was to make sure that Exim would not be required to take a discount, or "haircut," on its debt which we have been told repeatedly is an important goal of the bank. Also of great importance is the fact that our offer ensures payments to unsecured creditors, including those many suffering in the Bahamas.

Our offer stands, and we are prepared to invest the further funds necessary to open Baha Mar. Last Friday, I met with Prime Minister Christie, and I reiterated my interest to make Baha Mar a successful reality, including addressing the needs of all the creditors. With our offer, there is no reason to allow the property to continue to linger, to become further distressed, to incur further layoffs of capable team members needed to open Baha Mar, and to delay the re-employment of so many well trained Bahamians.

Without a doubt my team and I have the best chance of opening Baha Mar quickly and successfully for the benefit of the Bahamian people, Exim bank and the stakeholders of Baha Mar. I have maintained since last year the former senior most management team of Baha Mar at a significant cost and we are unequivocally committed to making an opened Baha Mar a truly Bahamian driven business success for the direct benefit of Bahamians both economically and in terms of quality of life.

Many have already commented that the sale process for Baha Mar launched by the receivers is opaque, fraught with obstacles and irregularities and is not designed to maximize value for all. Rather, there is great concern that serious and experienced bidders are being driven away by the process. I don't believe that is the goal, nor the moral standard, that you have established for the bank and therefore offer again for my team to meet with you.

We remain prepared to move forward immediately on a transaction that serves the best interests of all

Sincerely,

Sarkis D. Izmirlian

cc: Prime Minister Perry G. Christie

Media Contact

Robert Siegfried / Ross Lovern

212-521-4832 / 212-521-4876

[email protected]

SOURCE BMD Holdings, LTD
CHICAGO, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BluStor, a leader in combining multi-factor biometric authentication, authorization and data security tools onto an ultra thin, smart card-sized solution, announced today that it plans to begin shipping in May its CyberGate Mobile Enterprise Credentials (MEC).

BluStor's biometric identification and data storage product includes AutoLogN and Mobile PassWord Vault (PWV), features that enable automatic authentication to a user's devices and websites, subsequently eliminating the need for usernames, passwords or pins.

"Companies spend billions of dollars to secure the cloud and the devices, but the weakest link in the whole chain of mobile security turns out to be with the individual," Finis Conner, BluStor's founder and CEO, says. "The first thing you need to do is secure the employees who generate, share and manage content in order to eliminate phishing schemes, ransomware and insecure email use."

Indeed, with 78 million medical records stolen; a 614% growth in mobile malware and email fraud; and a 165% growth in ransomware that is holding enterprises, hospitals and consumers hostage to their own data, BluStor knows that cybercrime and digital identity theft has reached dangerously dire proportions.

The reminders of just how insecure all of our digital identities are continue unabated. One only has to think back to last month, when email swindlers, posing as a legitimate employee, fooled a Seagate Technology employee into sharing the 2015 W-2 tax forms of all current and former employees  a number exceeding several thousand, according to Seagate spokesperson, Eric DeRitis.

Other companies  including mobile communications firm Snapchat and Alaskan ISP and telecom provider, GCI, have also recently fallen victim to W-2 scams, unknowingly giving phishing frauds over 2,500 employee W-2s.

In answer to this unrelenting spate of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, BluStor's CyberGate Mobile Enterprise Credentials  via facial recognition; positive identification and authorization; secure automatic login to user devices; and management of all usernames, passwords and pins  can effectively eliminate many types of phishing scams, ransomware and other types of email fraud.

"By leveraging biometrics, such as facial recognition  rather than pins or passwords  our Mobile Enterprise Credentials product provides the first level of defense in the mobile world," Conner says. "This way, users can prove to the authenticating agency that they are who they say they are and that they are authorized to do what they're requesting  but in a way that is almost transparent to them."

The CyberGate platform on which the Mobile Enterprise Credentials product is fueled combines high-performance computing with low power consumption, up to 8GB of flash memory, Bluetooth Classic, Bluetooth Low-Energy and a long lasting rechargeable battery  all in a smart-card-sized form factor. By utilizing Bluetooth to interface with mobile devices, CyberGate allows users to leave the card in their wallet or purse for ease of use, thus minimizing the chance of loss or theft.

In addition, CyberGate's multi-factor biometric security application  GateKeeper  acts as the "bouncer at the door," securing access to the data and identity information stored within the card. Only the owner's biometrics can access the private data behind the GateKeeper.

BluStor plans to begin shipping in May its CyberGate Mobile Enterprise Credentials. The product is currently available for a pre-order price of $149.95. Visit BluStor to place your order.

About BluStor

BluStor CyberGate Mobile Enterprise Credentials (MEC)  by returning control of a person's ID to the owner  is the only cyber security solution you need in the digital and mobile world.

Designed for government, enterprise, healthcare, medical and financial services markets, the CyberGate Secure Mobile Briefcase (SMB) platform is the first  and only  solution to address the full array of digital security: device, user and data. For more information, visit http://www.blustor.co/, telephone 312-840-8250, or email.

Media contact:

Lorne Wilson

408-416-1246

SOURCE BluStor

Related Links

http://www.blustor.co


TSX.V Symbol (DMI)

KELOWNA, BC, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Diamcor Mining Inc. (TSX-V.DMI / OTCQX-DMIFF), (the "Company") is pleased to announce that its application for a Water Use License (the "WUL") to support long-term diamond mining operations at the Company's Krone-Endora at Venetia Project (the "Project") has been approved and granted by the South African Department of Water and Sanitation (the "DWAS"). The granted WUL provides the Company with the required approval for all requested items in its application.

"We are very pleased to have successfully secured this WUL for the Project," said Mr. Dean H. Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Diamcor. "The granting of the WUL represents the culmination of a multi-year effort in the ongoing advancement of our Project, marks the achievement of yet another significant milestone, further de-risks the Project, and most importantly, provides us with the desired allocation of water to support the targeted design capacity of the processing facilities installed at the Project for the long-term. Mr. Taylor added, "I would like to personally thank everyone involved at both the regional and national DWAS offices, our Project Management team, and the various consultants involved for their collective contributions towards securing this critical element required to advance the Project." With the granting of this WUL, the Company's focus will now quickly shift to finalizing the additional infrastructure required to support the WUL, with that work expected to be completed within the current fiscal quarter.

The WUL approved and granted by DWAS provides the Company with the requested ability to extract 410,148 cubic meters of water per year from seven boreholes, with that amount aimed at supporting the Project's envisioned long-term processing target of 300,000 tons per month. The WUL is valid for a period of 15 years from the date of issuance, subject to standard reporting and compliance requirements, and may be reviewed at intervals of not more than five years. The Company anticipates that, upon completion of the additional infrastructure related to the WUL, the resulting additional water resources will enable the Company to complete the testing and evaluation of the full targeted design capacity of its processing facilities and to compile key data from these higher processing rates which will assist the Company in arriving at an initial production decision.

About Diamcor Mining Inc.

Diamcor Mining Inc. is a fully reporting publically traded junior diamond mining company which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol V.DMI, and on the OTC QX International under the symbol DMIFF. The Company has a well-established operational and production history in South Africa and extensive prior experience supplying rough diamonds to the world market.

About the Tiffany & Co. Alliance

The Company has established a long-term strategic alliance and first right of refusal with Tiffany & Co. Canada, a subsidiary of world famous New York based Tiffany & Co., to purchase up to 100% of the future production of rough diamonds from the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project at then current prices to be determined by the parties on an ongoing basis. In conjunction with this first right of refusal, Tiffany & Co. Canada also provided the Company with financing to advance the Project. Tiffany & Co. is a publically traded company which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TIF. For additional information on Tiffany & Co., please visit their website at www.tiffany.com.

About Krone-Endora at Venetia

In February 2011, Diamcor acquired the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project from De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, consisting of the prospecting rights over the farms Krone 104 and Endora 66, which represent a combined surface area of approximately 5,888 hectares directly adjacent to De Beers' flagship Venetia Diamond Mine in South Africa. On September 11, 2014, the Company announced that the South African Department of Mineral Resources had granted a Mining Right for the Krone-Endora at Venetia Project encompassing 657.71 hectares of the Project's total area of 5,888 hectares. The Company has also submitted an application for a mining right over the remaining areas of the Project. The deposits which occur on the properties of Krone and Endora have been identified as a higher-grade "Alluvial" basal deposit which is covered by a lower-grade upper "Eluvial" deposit. The deposits are proposed to be the result of the direct-shift (in respect to the "Eluvial" deposit) and erosion (in respect to the "Alluvial" deposit) of material from the higher grounds of the adjacent Venetia Kimberlite areas. The deposits on Krone-Endora occur in two layers with an average total depth of less than 15.0 metres from surface to bedrock, allowing for a very low-cost mining operation to be employed with the potential for near-term diamond production from a known high-quality source. Krone-Endora also benefits from the significant development of infrastructure and services already in place due to its location directly adjacent to the Venetia Mine.

Qualified Person Statement:

Mr. James P. Hawkins (B.Sc., P.Geo.), is Manager of Exploration & Special Projects for Diamcor Mining Inc., and the Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 responsible for overseeing the execution of Diamcor's exploration programmes and a Member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta ("APEGA"). Mr. Hawkins has reviewed this press release and approved of its contents.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Mr. Dean H. Taylor

President & CEO

Diamcor Mining Inc.

[email protected]

Tel (250) 864-3326

www.diamcormining.com

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. While these forward-looking statements represent our best current judgement, they are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict and which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Further, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

WE SEEK SAFE HARBOUR

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Diamcor Mining Inc.

Related Links

http://www.diamcormining.com


SEATTLE, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Diego Pellicer Worldwide (OTCQB: DPWW) a real estate and a consumer retail development company that is focused on developing Diego Pellicer as the world's first "premium" cannabis brand, today reports that the company has been booking revenue from the first of its three Colorado facilities, with the others scheduled to come on line in the ensuing months.

The Company has been generating $12,000 per month from the Jason Street (CO) cultivation facility for the past six months. An escalator clause in the lease agreement triggers this month and it is anticipated that the rate will increase to $32,000 on May 1, 2016. (Pending finalization of rate increase negotiations with tenant.)

"Our corporate development plans and Company growth continues as expected. We are pleased with the progress of our tenants, and are confident that they will exceed our expectations," said Ron Throgmartin, Diego Pellicer's CEO. "We remain on track with the rollout of our next three facilities in both Colorado and Washington, and we are very encouraged by the market's continued acceptance of our business model."

About Diego Pellicer Worldwide:

Diego Pellicer Worldwide Inc. is a real estate and a consumer retail development company that is focused on developing Diego Pellicer as the world's first "premium" marijuana brand by adhering to the highest quality and standards for its facilities along with both cannabis and non-cannabis products. The company's initial focus is to acquire and develop legally compliant real estate locations for the purposes of leasing them to state licensed companies in the cannabis industry. Diego does not grow or sell marijuana or marijuana infused products in the early stages of the plan. http://DiegoPellicer.com/

Diego Pellicer Worldwide Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release may be construed as "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). The words "estimate," "project," "intends," "expects," "anticipates," "believes" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Act. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our history of losses and limited revenue, our ability to develop new products and evolve existing ones, the impact on our business of the recent financial crisis in the global capital markets and negative global economic trends, our ability to attract and retain key personnel. For a more complete description of these and other risk factors that may affect the future performance of Diego Pellicer review its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company also undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONTACT:

For Diego Pellicer Worldwide:

Ron Throgmartin

CEO

(516) 900-DPWW

(516) 900-3799

SOURCE Diego Pellicer Worldwide Inc.

Related Links

http://diegopellicer.com


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) today formally commissioned its Port Everglades Next Generation Clean Energy Center  the third in a series of such facilities powered by American-produced natural gas. As was the case with the company's Next Generation Clean Energy Centers at Riviera Beach and Cape Canaveral, the Port Everglades facility replaces a 1960s-era, oil-fired power plant that was demolished in mid-2013. During its operational lifetime, the new, fuel-efficient plant, which entered service two months early and under budget, is expected to provide FPL customers with hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel and other savings.

"The Port Everglades Next Generation Clean Energy Center is yet another demonstration of our commitment to dramatically reducing our dependence on foreign oil, while at the same time, delivering clean, reliable and affordable energy for our customers," said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. "This facility is the equivalent of taking a car from the 1960s and replacing it with a hybrid, which is more fuel efficient and produces less emissions. This energy center is one more example of how the nearly 9,000 employees of FPL are working hard each and every day to ensure our customers benefit from electric bills that are among the lowest in the state and 30 percent below the national average."

FPL invested approximately $1.2 billion to build the new energy center on the same site in Broward County where a 1960s-era oil-burning plant was dismantled three years ago. Construction was completed two months ahead of schedule, allowing the plant to officially enter commercial operation on April 1.

By making smart investments in high-efficiency energy centers that operate on American-produced natural gas and use less fuel to generate more energy, FPL has cut fuel costs and saved its customers more than $8 billion since 2001. The new Port Everglades energy center, running on 35 percent less fuel per megawatt-hour, is estimated to save FPL's customers $400 million during the 30-year life of the facility.

New energy center benefits local economy, environment

FPL's investment in the new energy center also brings with it important benefits for the local economy. At the peak of construction, more than 900 people were employed, the majority of whom were Floridians, giving an economic boost to numerous local businesses.

"Hollywood is proud to be the home of FPL's newest state-of-the-art, high efficiency, natural gas energy center in Port Everglades. The center will benefit the City of Hollywood for years to come by providing reliable, domestically produced, clean energy," said Hollywood Mayor Peter Bober. "Additionally, FPL's investment will specifically assist Hollywood in the form of new tax revenue in the years ahead."

In addition to saving on fuel costs, the energy center's technology further improves FPL's emissions profile  already among the cleanest in the United States. In fact, as a result of FPL's investments in clean energy technology, the company is already positioned to meet the U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan targets by 2030 today. Compared to the former plant, the new energy center reduces air emissions by more than 90 percent and cuts the carbon dioxide emissions rate in half, which is the equivalent of removing 46,000 cars from the highway each year.

The new energy center is capable of producing about 1,277 megawatts of electricity or enough power for more than a quarter million residential customers.

Other investments in clean, efficient generation

The Port Everglades Next Generation Clean Energy Center is part of FPL's ongoing effort to modernize its power generation fleet in order to continue providing clean, affordable, reliable energy for its customers. These investments, which are projected to save customers billions of dollars in fossil fuel costs, include:

Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center: In April 2013 , FPL commissioned the new energy center, which replaced the 1960s-era power plant on the Space Coast.

In , FPL commissioned the new energy center, which replaced the 1960s-era power plant on the Space Coast. Riviera Beach Next Generation Clean Energy Center: The company dismantled the Riviera Beach Plant in June 2011 . It was replaced by FPL's Riviera Beach Next Generation Clean Energy Center, which entered service in April 2014 . Earlier this year, the company opened on the center's property Manatee Lagoon - An FPL Eco-Discovery Center, a free environmental educational center and observation area to view manatees.

Florida Power & Light Company

Florida Power & Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving more than 4.8 million customer accounts or more than 10 million people across nearly half of the state of Florida. FPL's typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is approximately 30 percent lower than the latest national average and, in 2015, was the lowest in Florida among reporting utilities for the sixth year in a row. FPL's service reliability is better than 99.98 percent, and its highly fuel-efficient power plant fleet is one of the cleanest among all utilities nationwide. The company was recognized in 2015 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Market Strategies International. A leading Florida employer with approximately 8,800 employees, FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2016 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. For more information, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com , www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.

EDITORS NOTE: B-roll and photos of the new plant are available below:

https://fpl.sharefile.com/d-s723394acab5479e8

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SOURCE Florida Power & Light Company

Related Links

http://www.FPL.com


PHILADELPHIA, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Senate Candidate Everett Stern has announced he is running on the independent ticket in Pennsylvania, following efforts by the state's Republican leadership to keep him off the ballot and protect their incumbent, Pat Toomey. By running as an independent, Stern plans to expose the broken and sometimes criminal system hidden within American politics.

"I'm not another politician  I'm a fighter, and I intend to stand tall for the values of honor, integrity and loyalty," explains Stern. "We've entered a sad new world of profits over people, both in business and politics. My goal is to push back against the apathy that's allowed this disease to flourish. Voters deserve to be represented by individuals of high character  not puppets doing the bidding of corporate masters."

Stern has more than walked his talk. As the whistleblower in the HSBC money laundering scandal, he put truth and justice ahead of any personal interests. Stern plans to embody that same ethical position once elected, getting dirty money out of American politics and restoring transparency to the U.S. Congress.

In a provocative letter to Pennsylvania voters, Stern explains how the incumbent, Senator Toomey, has been part of the problem for too long. He describes a major conflict of interest between the senator and the banking industry  the senator serves on the Bank Financing Committee, while at the same time accepting campaign contributions from the banks he's supposed to be regulating. The best interests of the American people are a non-factor in this perverse equation.

"What I have that Toomey doesn't is a steely resolve to do what's right for every American citizen," concludes Stern. "While politicians today stand for the establishment, I stand for the people."

About Everett Stern

Everett Stern is a U.S. Senate Candidate, Intelligence Director at Tactical Rabbit, and the HSBC Whistleblower. He has received extensive international media coverage, including a feature in Rolling Stone Magazine. He uncovered, analyzed, and reported terrorist financing/national security threats to the CIA and then the FBI. As the whistleblower in the ongoing HSBC money laundering scandal, he uncovered billions of dollars of illegal money laundering transactions that led to an SEC investigation and a $1.92 billion fine against HSBC in 2012.

In the fall of 2013, Stern (R-PA) worked across the aisle with Maxine Waters (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, on the Holding Individuals Accountable and Deterring Money Laundering Act, which sought to give the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network the authority to litigate on its own, and to stiffen penalties and criminal sentences for bank executives involved in money laundering. Stern received a BA from Florida Atlantic University and an MBA from Stetson University. He was the winner of the F&M Presidential Scholarship for outstanding academic achievement and was a highly-ranked national debater.

Contact:

Everett Stern

The Committee to Elect Everett Stern to U.S. Senate

www.EverettStern.com

890 S. Matlack Street, Ste 449

West Chester, PA 19382

Phone: 703-229-1412

SOURCE Everett Stern

Related Links

http://www.everettstern.com


WASHINGTON, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and its New York Chapter today jointly took issue with a new report from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield about "potentially preventable" emergency visits, calling their statistics seriously flawed and misleading  saying, once again, an insurance company is using misleading data to draw inaccurate conclusions about whether emergency visits are appropriate. The two emergency physician organizations took issue with Excellus Blue Cross BlueShield in 2010. http://newsroom.acep.org/2010-05-27-ACEP-and-Its-New-York-Chapter-Take-Issue-With-Blue-Cross-Blue-Shield-Report-That-Is-Based-on-Misleading-Data

"Health insurance companies, and especially this one, have historically used these types of tools as a way to justify denying legitimate medical claims and padding their profits," said Jay Kaplan, MD, FACEP. "It is very alarming that a report like this is being issued because it undermines the language in the ACA and patients' responsible use of the emergency department."

The report assesses whether emergency visits for certain conditions could have been avoided, based on the patients' final diagnoses, not their presenting symptoms. The data does not take into consideration the national "prudent layperson" standard, which says emergency visits must be covered by insurance companies based on the patients' symptoms, not their final diagnoses. This standard was included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). It also directly contradicts data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which says that the vast majority (96 percent) of emergency patients seek care appropriately. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ahcd/NHAMCS_2011_ed_factsheet.pdf

Dr. Kaplan adds that patients never should be forced into the position of self-diagnosing their medical conditions out of fear of insurance not covering the visit. For example, this report cites sprains and strains as a "potentially preventable" condition in the ER. But does a patient have a severe strain or a broken leg? Another condition cites is abdominal pain. This can be the symptom of something life-threatening, like a heart attack, an abdominal aortic aneurysm or an ectopic pregnancy, not just indigestion. It's not always possible for a patient to know unless he or she gets a medical examination. In addition, some patients, with certain conditions make the mistake of delaying seeking medical care when they are truly having an emergency.

"A report like this may discourage some people from visiting the emergency department who really should be there," said Dr. Kaplan. "The consequences of that could be (and has been) tragic."

Many people still do not have access to patient-centered medical homes and as a consequence, turn to the emergency department for care. While we certainly support everyone having access to a primary care physician, that's not always an option if they need a timely appointment.

"I treat patients in the emergency department daily who couldn't access a primary care physician," said Louise A. Prince, MD, FACEP, president of ACEP's New York State Chapter. "They had no choice but to come to the emergency department for treatment."

Four in five people who contacted their primary care physician or other medical provider before seeking emergency care were told to bypass their doctor's office and go directly to the emergency room, according to a 2013 report by the RAND Corporation.

Many patients are also redirected from urgent care centers. Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of emergency physicians responding to a poll in 2015 said they treated patients every day who ended up in the ER after first seeking help in an urgent care that was not equipped to care for them. More than half (54 percent) of emergency physicians say urgent care centers are marketing themselves as alternatives to the emergency department.

According to a report from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), many assessments of "unnecessary" use of emergency care incorrectly look at patients' diagnoses, instead of patients' symptoms and why they are choosing to seek emergency care. A study conducted by HSC in 2012 found that most emergency visits by Medicaid patients were for urgent or more serious symptoms. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2013 found that most patients with so-called "primary care treatable" diagnoses come to the emergency department with identical symptoms to patients with true emergencies.

ACEP is a national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.

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SOURCE American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)

Related Links

http://www.acep.org


ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Linda Schoep is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Professional in the field of Legal Services. Linda is the Owner and Attorney at Schoep Law Firm.



Owned and operated by Linda, Schoep Law Firm provides first class representation to individuals facing workplace discrimination as well as in those having suffered various accidents and injuries on the job.



Upon graduating from law school in 1984, Linda began her legal career when she attained a position working for the Chippewa County District Court as a Law Clerk. Prior to establishing her own practice, Linda was a partner in two separate firms for twenty six years specializing in worker's compensation and personal injury. Linda has now been in private practice for over a year.



A member of the American Association for Justice, Minnesota Association for Justice and Minnesota State Bar Association, Linda specializes in employment law, personal injury, litigation, mediation, sexual discrimination and harassment, strategic planning, worker's compensation, trial work and more.



Throughout the course of her studies, Linda earned her Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education from SW State University in addition to a Master's degree in Learning Disabilities from Mankato State University. She then went on to complete her JD at William Mitchell College of Law.



For more information, please visit www.schoeplawfirm.com



CONTACT: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who

Related Links

http://www.continentalwhoswho.com


For each Neon Lokai sold between April 11 th , 2016 and May 31 st , 2016, Lokai will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, with a guaranteed minimum donation of $300,000. The limited-edition Neon Lokai will officially be sold online at Lokai.com for $18. Lokai's contribution will directly grant the wishes of dozens of children and their families across the country.

On behalf of Lokai, Cam Newton surprised three children who wished to meet the superstar in Charlotte, North Carolina. Video content featuring Cam surprising the kids will be shared via Lokai & Make-A-Wish social channels on April 29th, World Wish Day  a celebration of the first wish that inspired Make-A-Wish.

"We are so proud to support an organization that brings hope and happiness to children with life-threatening medical conditions," said Steven Izen. "It is extremely rewarding to work with Make-A-Wish, helping to make wishes come true for these amazing children and their families. We encourage the entire Lokai community to join our efforts in bringing Make-A-Wish closer to achieving their ultimate vision  making the wish of every eligible child come true."

"We're incredibly passionate about granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions and are thrilled to work with our friends at Lokai to make even more wishes come true," said Mr. Williams. "We're dedicated to the thousands of wish kids whose wishes we grant each year around the country  and for good reason: a wish-come-true is a game-changer for kids in the fight against their illness. We know that a wish is a vital part of treatment, helping wish kids feel better, and sometimes get better. However, we can't grant wishes without people like our friends at Lokai. Their support will help us grant even more incredible wishes that will help change the lives of wish kids and their families, forever."

Since its launch in 2013, Lokai has raised over $4 Million for a variety of non-profit organizations. The partnership with Make-A-Wish represents the newest chapter in Lokai's ongoing commitment to giving back. Supporters can share their Neon Lokai photos on Instagram, tagging @livelokai and @makeawishamerica, and using the hashtags #livelokai and #neonwish.

For additional information on Lokai's partnership with Make-A-Wish, please visit the Make-A-Wish page on the Lokai website, Lokai.com/wish.

About Make-A-Wish Foundation

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. According to a 2011 U.S. study of wish impact, most health professionals surveyed believe a wish-come-true has positive impacts on the health of children. Kids say wishes give them renewed strength to fight their illness, and their parents say these experiences help strengthen the entire family. Headquartered in Phoenix, Make-A-Wish is one of the world's leading children's charities, serving children in every community in the United States and its territories. With the help of generous donors and more than 28,000 volunteers, Make-A-Wish grants a wish somewhere in the country every 35 minutes. It has granted more than 270,000 wishes since its inception in 1980; more than 14,800 in 2015 alone. Visit Make-A-Wish at www.wish.org to learn more.

About Lokai

Lokai is a socially responsible lifestyle brand that represents the importance of finding balance along life's journey. Cornell University Cum Laude Graduate, Steven Izen, founded the company in 2013, on the heels of a deeply emotional and transformative experience. Realizing that life is a cycle of highs and lows, he grew to appreciate the importance of remaining both humble and hopeful. The company infuses its trademark bracelets with elements sourced from the highest and lowest points on Earth - water from Mt. Everest and mud from the Dead Sea. The Lokai lifestyle is devoted to finding balance, sharing success during life's peaks and gaining perspective during lows. Lokai supports this message by donating 10% of their net profits to various charitable organizations. Since launching, Lokai is sold in over 160 countries. Please visit www.lokai.com for more information.

www.instagram.com/livelokai

www.twitter.com/livelokai

www.facebook.com/livelokai

Media Contacts :

Lokai

EVINS Communications, Ltd.

Chelsea Ford

(212) 377-3594

[email protected]

Make-A-Wish America

Josh deBerge

(602)792-3185

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353207

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SOURCE Lokai

Related Links

http://www.lokai.com


CHESTERFIELD, United Kingdom, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: MNK), a leading global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced it will present on Tuesday, May 10, 2016 , at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2016 Healthcare Conference at the Encore at Wynn, 3131 S. Las Vegas Blvd. in Las Vegas.

Mark Trudeau, Mallinckrodt President and CEO, and Cole Lannum, Senior Vice President of Investor Strategy and Investor Relations Officer, will represent the company in a fireside chat session scheduled at 3 p.m. Pacific time.

Individuals who cannot attend the meeting in person can find webcast information at: http://www.mallinckrodt.com/investors. A replay will also be available following the meeting.

ABOUT MALLINCKRODT

Mallinckrodt is a global business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products and therapies, as well as nuclear imaging products. Areas of focus include autoimmune and rare diseases in specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology and pulmonology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; analgesics and hemostasis products; and central nervous system drugs. The company's core strengths include the acquisition and management of highly regulated raw materials and specialized chemistry, formulation and manufacturing capabilities. The company's Specialty Brands segment includes branded medicines; its Specialty Generics segment includes specialty generic drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients and external manufacturing; and the Nuclear Imaging segment includes nuclear imaging agents. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com.

Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website.

Contacts:

Investor Relations

Coleman N. Lannum, CFA

Senior Vice President, Investor Strategy and IRO

314-654-6649

[email protected]



Media

Rhonda Sciarra

Senior Manager, Communications

314-654-8618

[email protected]

Meredith Fischer

Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs

314-654-3318

[email protected]

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SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc

Related Links

http://www.mallinckrodt.com


ASHBURN, Va., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MCW Solutions (MCW), a leading technology systems integrator, has successfully completed the audiovisual, security and teledata for phase one of WeWork's co-living brandWeLive--in Crystal City, Virginia. Although almost a year in the making for MCW, WeLive has been the growing brainchild of WeWork founders, Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann, since the beginning.

"Phase 1 of WeLive: Crystal City has successfully launched thanks to [the MCW] team," said Mark Bardolf, head IT engineer on the Crystal City project. "Members are moving in and already love what [MCW has] done. It was so great to execute the beginning of this plan alongside the best minds in the business."

The WeLive venture applies the WeWork model to housing, offering a fully furnished and digitally connected community of like-minded people. The building features top-of-the-line audiovisual equipment and network infrastructure for 24 studio apartments as well as the community kitchen and living room, all of which are connected through an app that keeps residents informed of what's happening around them. And of course, it has been secured to the nines with access control and intrusion detection throughout.

"This project has been an interesting take on integrating technology into a multi-family buildingsomething we have been doing for more than a decade," commented Ghattas Hajjo, co-founder and principal at MCW. "We're really excited to be a part of the big things that WeWork is doing and can't wait to see what's in store for the future."

For more information, visit www.mcwsolutions.com or www.wework.com

About MCW Solutions, LLC

Headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, MCW is a global provider of cost effective, innovative and reliable IT services and solutions in support of managed IT, network infrastructure, security and surveillance systems, audiovisual applications, automation and control systems. A respected industry leader, MCW has experienced double-digit growth since 2003 and continues to add to its list of high profile clientele.

Media Contact

Rachel Baehr, 571-207-7109; [email protected]

SOURCE MCW Solutions

Related Links

http://www.mcwsolutions.com


WASHINGTON, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Press Foundation has awarded the first Carolyn C. Mattingly Award for Mental Health Reporting to a joint investigation of Florida's mental health hospitals.

The winner of the Mattingly award is a collaborative investigation by the Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune that exposes harrowing conditions at Florida's institutions for the mentally ill after $100 million in budget cuts. The five-part project, titled "Insane. Invisible. In Danger," reveals the dangers to mentally ill patients and workers in the hospitals, where treatment takes a back seat to controlling rampant violence.

The NPF judges said: "This investigation represents the best in journalism. It was revealing, thorough, comprehensive and deep. Every element was compelling, from surveillance videos, graphics, data, strong multimedia and top-drawing writing. The project was extraordinarily strong from start to finish." The judges also noted the unusual collaboration between competitors in Florida.

The winning team includes Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier of the Tampa Bay Times and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Honorable mention goes to Gisela Telis of Arizona Public Media for a video on the lack of mental health services in rural areas, and the determination of one mother to improve the situation in her rural community after her son committed suicide.

The National Press Foundation established the new journalism award to honor excellence in mental health reporting in memory of Carolyn C. Mattingly, the Potomac, Maryland philanthropist and activist. Mattingly's family decided to establish the award in the aftermath of her tragic death in 2014. The award, sponsored by The Luv u Project, recognizes exemplary journalism that illuminates and advances the understanding of mental health issues and treatments for the illness. It carries a $10,000 prize.

The NPF judges were Frank Deford, sportswriter, author and commentator, winner of numerous awards, including NPF's W.M. Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism Award; Bob Meyers, president emeritus of NPF and member of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship advisory board; and Amalie Nash, executive editor/VP of the Des Moines Register and a Pulitzer Prize jury chair.

The primary mission of the National Press Foundation is to increase journalists' knowledge of complex issues in order to improve public understanding. The nonprofit foundation recognizes and encourages excellence in journalism through its awards and training programs. A complete list NPF's journalism awards is here. More information about NPF training is on our website.

The Mattingly family established The Luv u Project, a nonprofit that focuses primarily on mental health issues and causes dear to Mrs. Mattingly. More information on The Luv u Project's work can be found here.

SOURCE National Press Foundation

Related Links

http://www.nationalpress.org


SAN DIEGO, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The San Diego law firm of Estey Bomberger is announcing a record $20 million settlement finalized this month in a medical malpractice case involving a newborn baby left brain damaged by the actions of a Southern California hospital.

Attorney Michael Bomberger represented the family of a young child, harmed by a hospital nursing staff that failed to properly monitor a feeding tube, resulting in brain damage to the child. Because the newborn is a minor the entire $20 million settlement, including payment disbursements, will be protected and supervised by the courts.

The Estey Bomberger litigation team consulted with and retained a number of medical experts in order to determine the extent of the harm and the level of care that would be required for the child. By assembling a top notch team of medical experts, Mr. Bomberger was able to develop a future prognosis for the child and come up with a life care plan that would ensure the child received the level of care that was appropriate.

According to Mr. Bomberger, in most cases both parties agree to the use of a CNA at an average of $17 an hour. In this case, the foreseeable problems will require an RN at an average of $47 an hour due to the real probability of seizures, shunt failure, and medication overdose.

The case took more than three years to resolve, and settled only after the hospital was faced with a trial before a California jury. In preparing the case for trial, Mr. Bomberger and his trial team conducted nearly 20 focus groups, prepared strategies to depose defense experts, and had identified the weak points in the hospital's case.

The confidential settlement does not allow the hospital to be named.

During the three years that Mr. Bomberger was working on this case, he was also lead attorney on a product liability case that took five years to settle, but did so for $21 million for victims who suffered orthopedic injuries from a popular retail product.

Media contact:

Michael Bomberger

Estey Bomberger

800) 925-0723

http://www.ebtrialattorneys.com/

SOURCE Estey Bomberger

Related Links

http://www.ebtrialattorneys.com


PHILADELPHIA, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education is pleased to announce Retirement Plan Products and Services: Collective Investment Trusts, Mutual Funds, and Beyond. Formerly Collective Trust Funds Today, this up-to-date program has been expanded in 2016 to focus on an even broader range of retirement plan products. The conference will take place at the NY State Society of CPAs Conference Center in New York City on Friday, May 13, 2016.

Practitioners and industry professionals will learn the latest market and regulatory issues impacting today's retirement plan products, including collective investment trusts, mutual funds, and more. An expert faculty of leading banking, SEC, and ERISA lawyers and other investment professionals will address the key topics affecting retirement plan products and services, including:

Collective trust funds, competing products, and new product design;

Mutual funds in the retirement workplace;

The latest on the DOL fiduciary rules;

Litigation: excessive fees and sub-advised funds; and

Key changes in the regulatory landscape, including the latest on FINRA and SEC enforcement.

Attendees will be able to network with experienced faculty and peers from across the country and take home a sophisticated understanding of today's retirement plan products and regulation.

Both experienced practitioners and those newer to the practice will benefit from this definitive review and discussion. Past registrants have praised this course, saying that its "topics were well focused and presented," and "presenters were engaging and discussion was insightful."

About American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education

American Law Institute CLE is the continuing legal education division of the American Law Institute. American Law Institute CLE, a non-profit organization, is committed to the work of promoting continuing professional education for lawyers throughout the United States and to creating standards to ensure quality and relevance in CLE programs. American Law Institute CLE is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the legal profession, furthering a tradition of unparalleled service to lawyers. For more information, go to https://www.ali-cle.org/.

CONTACT: Danelsy Medrano

Senior Digital Marketing Manager

ALI CLE

(215) 243-1622

[email protected]

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SOURCE American Law Institute CLE

Related Links

http://www.ali-cle.org


PHILADELPHIA, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ESIS, a risk management services provider and subsidiary of Chubb, has issued an advisory to help companies prepare for and manage a crisis that unfolds across social media.

Authored by Lori Brassell-Cicchini, Vice President of ESIS Catastrophe Services, the advisory, "When Catastrophes 'Go Viral'," explores various tenets of social media communication during a crisis, including the ever-increasing chance that a company-related fire, explosion, or other disaster is captured on film and rapidly and broadly disseminated across social media before the company is even aware of the incident. The other real risk is that information shared via social channels may be inaccurate or simply false. To avoid suffering from serious and potentially irrevocable damage to their brand, companies need to plan and prepare for how they will communicate via social media if a catastrophe occurs.

"Social media has transformed the way information is consumed by the media and the public  we no longer have to wait for the evening news to receive up-to-date information. Therefore, companies are not afforded the luxury of time to prepare and deliver public statements," said Ms. Brassell-Cicchini. "In order to counter the rapid spread of potential misinformation, companies need to develop a nimble, comprehensive social media plan that can be deployed immediately in a time of crisis. In addition, they should consider insurance that provides coverage for experienced public relations catastrophe management services to protect their corporate reputation. When a disaster is handled in a timely and accurate manner, companies can boost their reputation and take control of their image."

The advisory, which can be read here, offers the following tips and steps for responding to and addressing a catastrophe via social media:

Review the current corporate communications plan to identify its limitations regarding social media.

to identify its limitations regarding social media. Develop a detailed social media crisis management plan , including assigning roles and responsibilities to specific staff.

, including assigning roles and responsibilities to specific staff. Prepare a response by organizing some information ahead of time that can be published when a crisis actually occurs.

by organizing some information ahead of time that can be published when a crisis actually occurs. Monitor and test the social media plan to see where snags may occur, and to address questions that may be unanswered.

the social media plan to see where snags may occur, and to address questions that may be unanswered. Preserve the corporate reputation and consider insurance coverage that mitigates the cost of public relations counsel and social media consulting.

About ESIS

Organized in 1953, ESIS, Inc. (ESIS) provides customized risk management services. ESIS is a Chubb company. Chubb is the marketing name used to refer to subsidiaries of Chubb Limited providing insurance and related services. For a list of these subsidiaries, please visit our website at www.new.chubb.com. Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance group. With operations in 54 countries, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance, life insurance and related services to a diverse group of clients. Chubb Limited, the parent company of Chubb, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Additional information about Chubb can be found at new.chubb.com. Additional information about ESIS, Inc. and its products and services can be found at www.esis.com.

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SOURCE Chubb

Related Links

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"Our Share-A-Haircut program and the work of NNEDV are both incredibly impactful causes," said Dennis Ratner, CEO and founder of Hair Cuttery. "Together, we are aiming to spread awareness about the hardships and injustices of domestic violence, while pampering and comforting those affected."

Through the partnership, Hair Cuttery and NNEDV will work closely to distribute thousands of free haircut certificates to individuals affected by domestic violence, including women, children and men.

"It is essential to be a voice for survivors who have been silenced by domestic violence," says Kim Gandy, NNEDV President and CEO. "We are thrilled that Hair Cuttery is rising against violence and standing with survivors. This positive impact is two-foldsurvivors have the opportunity to get pampered and relax amid the chaos that abuse brings, and they also save money on a service that they might not be able to affordaiding in their financial empowerment."

2016 marks the 17th year of Share-A-Haircut, with the program already having donated more than 85,000 certificates to the homeless in February. Hair Cuttery has an established history of charitable giving that has supported a range of local and national causes including: St. Baldrick's Foundation, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society and Girls on the Run.

About NNEDV

The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that serves as the leading national voice for domestic violence victims and their allies. NNEDV's membership is comprised of all 56 state and territorial coalitions against domestic violence, including over 2,000 local programs. NNEDV has been advancing the movement against domestic violence for 25 years, having led efforts among domestic violence advocates and survivors in urging Congress to pass the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994. To learn more about NNEDV, please visit NNEDV.org.

About Hair Cuttery

Hair Cuttery is the largest family-owned and operated chain of hair salons in the country, with nearly 900 company-owned locations on the East Coast, New England and the Midwest. A full-service, value-priced salon, Hair Cuttery offers a full complement of cuts and styling, coloring, waxing and texturizing services with no appointment necessary, as well as a full line of professional hair care products. Hair Cuttery is committed to delivering a delightful client experience through WOW Service including a Smile Back Guarantee. Hair Cuttery is a division of Ratner Companies, based in Vienna, VA. www.haircuttery.com

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Kelsey Miller / Emily Noto

TBC for Hair Cuttery

410-986-1253 / 1209 [email protected] / [email protected]

Amy Hudzik

Ratner Companies

703-269-5175

[email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353085

SOURCE Hair Cuttery

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FARMINGDALE, N.Y., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sturgeon Ventures LLP is celebrating its 18th Birthday and will be sponsoring a fundraiser on behalf of Samuel, son of Becky Neill. Strathmore's Who's Who Honored member, Seonaid Mackenzie, of London, United Kingdom, and Managing Partner of Sturgeon Ventures, has been instrumental in arranging and promoting this special Times Square appearance.

Seonaid Mackenzie is Managing Partner of Sturgeon Ventures LLP, a financial services firm which provides investment management, corporate finance and compliance/regulatory advice as well as training for start-ups and established firms. Sturgeon Ventures, the Pioneer of Regulatory Incubation, is celebrating its 18th year since being formed in 1998 and coining the phrases Regulatory Incubation in 2001, FSA Umbrella, now FCA Umbrella and creating change whilst providing a Key for Entrepreneurs in financial services start ups. Being an entrepreneur is a journey. The innovation has created a wonderful business for all the service providers involved in hosting these entrepreneurs. As of December 31, 2015, we track 56 firms offering the wholesale Appointed Representative model. The information on the FCA website as of December 31, 2015 shows 751 start-up firms as AR's have adopted this model within 56 wholesale firms since we launched the innovation, creating layers of work for the principal regulated firms, lawyers, insurance brokers, compliance consultancy firms and PR companies.

Becky Neill, who is one of our valued consultants at Sturgeon Ventures has a son Samuel who needs help as a Key to Change his life. Seven year old Samuel was born 11 weeks prematurely (due to an infection). As a result of this he suffered a small abrasion on the brain which resulted in Cerebral Palsy. In a nutshell, his muscles are too tight in his legs, causing him to walk on tip toes; he also has little core strength so poor stamina, tasks that other children take for granted he has to work really hard on. The proposed operation offered by GOSH in June 2016 will reduce the tightness (spasticity) in Samuel's legs, as the surgeon will shred the nerves around the spine that are telling his muscles to tighten. Although Samuel is able to walk, etc. the concern is that unless he has the operation his muscles get tighter and tighter as he gets taller and his mobility will decrease. The fund is also to help with the physio costs before and after the operation as the stronger her is, the quicker and better the recovery. The cost of the Operation and Physio is 50,000 ($80,000). If we are fortunate enough to raise anything higher than that, the surplus would go to the Cauldwell Children, Changing Children's lives, who have given us a cell of theirs as a charity to raise this funding as Host. The operation is called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy and involves a 3 week stay in Great Ormond Street Hospital with a very intense follow up physio for more than a year. With a humble heart we ask, if you would donate an Auction prize and in return we will give you appropriate branding on the page. Top prizes include: A Tiffany Key, a ticket to The Milken Institute Conference in LA in April 2017(usually by invitation only), a Who's Who in Finance and Politics Around the World and an amazing donation by The Milken Foundation. Also included, a bottle of Chateaux Margaux and amazing experiences. The Auction will close at 8:30pm London time on April 28, 2016. People can start to bid from mid-March. The auction will be hosted by www.jumblebee.co.uk/fundraiseforsamuel Please e-mail [email protected] with any donations or suggestions or if you feel you want to give now to help with the pre-physio, please go onto this link. Thank you so much for any donation large or small.

Seonaid Mackenzie is an award winning Scottish, female entrepreneur in Financial Services. Seonaid has had a 32 year career in the City, having been a stockbroker, fund manager, as well as operating UK funds, and fund raising for private companies and funds, and sat as a non-exec in financial services or SMEs over this time. Seonaid founded Sturgeon Ventures LLP as a "single family office" in 1998 investing in public and private companies. Those funds today are passively managed, and so Sturgeon, took a new active business line and became the pioneer coining the phrase "the regulatory incubator" for financial services starting in the year 2001, known by some as an FCA Umbrella, or Regulatory Hosting Platform. In 2013, Sturgeon Ventures became an Investment Advisor with the SEC, and in 2014 an AIFM (Alternative Investment Fund Manager) and Operator of Collective Investment Schemes and AIFM Solutions their trade mark was launched in 2014. The firm has 'incubated over 100 start ups since this business model began'. The clients include fund managers with various strategies, third party fund raisers, corporate finance firms, family offices, amongst others. Sturgeon Ventures celebrates its 18th Birthday this year. 1998-2016.

Sturgeon's team offer regulatory and risk services, within their incubation model and start up mentoring, a virtual Chief Operating service for fund launches, and often assist overseas, especially US firms starting in London. They work with leading law firms, accountancy firms, and most well known compliance firms. Although jurisdiction neutral; Sturgeon have assisted in a number of firms within the last 6 years, setting up funds in Malta. Seonaid is also regulated by the MFSA as an investment manager and sits on a number of investment committees in Malta, as well as being an Investment Manager in Guernsey. Seonaid was on the Strategic Advisory Board of Kleinwort Benson for 2 years.

Sturgeon Ventures LLP was awarded Best Global Consultant in Business Strategy category by the Hedgeweek 2016. Highest Commendation as the Best Overall Advisor by HFM for 2015, in April, 2015. Sturgeon won the prestigious 2014 UK Business Incubator award at the ACQ Global Awards, was named Most Trusted FCA Regulatory Incubator in the UK among 2014 Finance Award winners and won Venture Capitalist of the Year at 2014 M&A Awards and was shortlisted as Best Overall Advisory Firm to US Hedge Funds by HFM in 2014. Sturgeon was awarded Compliance Innovator of the year in 2013 by Thompson Reuters. Seonaid was recently at the end of 2014 voted by Brummell as one of the top 30 most inspirational female entrepreneurs in financial services in the United Kingdom. Seonaid was a finalist in 2012 Women of Achievement in the City won by American Express, and the winner of Enterprising Women of 2013 a global award. Seonaid is a Freeman of London with The Worshipful Company of International Bankers, a member of The Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments, a Member of the Corporate Finance Faculty of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Member of the Women's President Organisation (WPO). Seonaid has been a guest speaker at several London secondary schools, speaking to 17/18 year olds about a career in financial services and being a female entrepreneur. Focusing on issues such as her predominantly female workforce of working mothers, with flexible hours. She is the Founder of a charitable foundation 'The Wellness Fund Foundation' that focuses on education to parents and teachers on self harm in young persons, sits on a secondary London School Council, and is the angel investor also of www.Kidtection.co.uk a childcare agency for the 21st century engaged in active listening and children who think for themselves especially tweens and teens. Seonaid has two school aged children and a puggle and a cocker spaniel.

The Times Square honor is of particular significance because of the high visibility it offers. This visual celebration of Seonaid Mackenzie's career will appear at regular intervals on two monitors attached to the landmark skyscraper at 3 Times Square, #1, New York, NY 10036. This structure is situated in what could be considered the busiest area of Manhattan. Strathmore's Who's Who is pleased to honor her. Contact the Sturgeon team: [email protected] or simply visit the website www.sturgeonventures.com

SOURCE Strathmore's Who's Who

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AUSTIN, Texas, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Martindale Hubbell Legal Resource Directory has once again given the attorneys of the Austin, Texas disability law firm of Bemis, Roach and Reed its highest possible AV Preeminent Peer Review rating for 2016. Martindale Hubbell ratings have been the gold standard for attorney ratings for over a century. Attorneys wishing to refer a client as well as individuals searching for a lawyer use these highly respected ratings to evaluate and select an appropriate attorney for their particular legal issue.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353329

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160408/353330

The ratings are established by requesting an attorney's peers to rate the candidate's ethics, expertise, and communication skills in five distinct areas: Legal Knowledge, Analytical Capabilities, Judgment, Communication Ability and Legal Experience. Martindale Hubbell ratings are based on the average of these scores and are as follows.

Peer Reviewed  rated, but not by a sufficient number of reviewers to receive a rating.

Notable  Rated for strong ethical standards by a large number of their peers.

Distinguished  This is an excellent rating for an attorney with experience, being recognized by a large number of their peers for their legal expertise and ethical standards.

Preeminent  This rating is reserved for attorneys whose peers consider him one of the best available in his field judged by his communications skills, professional expertise and ethical standards.

The Social Security and Long Term Disability firm of Bemis, Roach & Reed has once again been recognized by their peers as one of the highest rated firms in their field, each of the three partners earning a top AV Preeminent Rating.

Partner Lloyd Bemis, with over 32 years trial experience and certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in both Personal Injury Trial Law and Consumer and Commercial Law. Mr. Bemis focuses his practice on Social Security and long term disability law, helping those who have been denied coverage obtain or recover their deserved disability benefits.

Partner Lonnie Roach is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is highly experienced in ERISA long term disability insurance law. As one of the top appellate lawyers and one of the most published in Texas, his reported cases are often used as a reference in legal matters involving ERISA disability claims.

Partner Greg Reed is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law. Selected to the Super Lawyers honor list five years in a row, Mr. Reed is considered an authority and a valuable industry resource in the field of disability law in particular Social Security disability claims in Texas.

With over 75 years combined trial experience, the attorneys of Bemis, Roach & Reed have proven time and again that their compassionate, experienced and knowledgeable approach to disability cases are what it takes to win claims against big insurance companies and the Government.

In the words of Partner Lonnie Roach, "The clients who hire us have had something taken from them. Sometimes it's their income, when their disability benefits have been denied; other times it's their medical care. The 'takers' are usually powerful corporations that are not accustomed to having their decisions to deny challenged. In a disability practice, there's rarely such a thing as a quick and easy resolution. A successful disability attorney must be tenacious and unwilling to give up."

The Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent rating reinforces what peers and clients have come to know - for Social Security or long term ERISA disability claims in Texas, Bemis, Roach & Reed is at the top tier.

http://www.brrlaw.com/

Tim Springer 512-323-5079

SOURCE Bemis, Roach and Reed

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"The Top Workplaces award is not a popularity contest. And oftentimes, people assume it's all about fancy perks and benefits." says Doug Claffey, CEO of WorkplaceDynamics. "But to be a Top Workplace, organizations must meet our strict standards for organizational health. And who better to ask about work life than the people who live the culture every daythe employees. Time and time again, our research has proven that what's most important to them is a strong belief in where the organization is headed, how it's going to get there, and the feeling that everyone is in it together." Claffey adds, "Without this sense of connection, an organization doesn't have a shot at being named a Top Workplace."

Spinnaker Support was founded in 2008 to provide lower cost, higher quality software support without compromising the intellectual property of both customers and ERP software vendors. Subsequently, the company achieved the first and only end-to-end support delivery model that is 100% ISO9001:2008-certified. The company hires employees who embrace and execute the Spinnaker Support model. From day one, employees are trained to adhere to this model to ensure quality, consistency, security, and legal risk-mitigation for customers. This method of delivering support has translated into best-in-class employee retention (97.3%), customer retention (90.2%), overall customer satisfaction (98.3%), and customer referenceable-ability (99.2).

"Spinnaker Support is a service organization, so our people are our 'product'. I started this company with the goal of hiring and retaining the best people for the job," stated Matt Stava, CEO of Spinnaker Support. "By creating a culture where the employees feel valued and good about where the company is going and the work they are doing, we have been able to instill a sense of job satisfaction which in turn retains employees and keeps our customers happy and highly satisfied. I am proud that this goal has been validated by the survey that lead to the Top Workplaces award we have received."

About Spinnaker Support

Spinnaker Support is now the fastest growing global provider of third-party support, managed services, and consulting for Oracle and SAP enterprise software and database applications. According to our more than 500 clients, spanning 77 countries, we consistently deliver a higher caliber of service for a fraction of what they've previously paid to the ERP vendors. Spinnaker Support is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with regional operations centers located in London, Mumbai, Singapore, and Tel Aviv. We support more than 4,000 instances of Oracle E-Business Suite, JD Edwards, Siebel, Oracle Database, and SAP for enterprises of all sizes and industry segments.

Spinnaker Support provides third-party support, managed services, and consulting for SAP, Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Database, Siebel CRM, and JD Edwards software applications. To learn more about Spinnaker Support, visit www.spinnakersupport.com, call +44 (0)20 8242 1785 internationally or 877-476-0576 in the U.S./Canada. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.

About WorkplaceDynamics, LLC

Headquartered in Exton, PA, WorkplaceDynamics specializes in employee feedback surveys and workplace improvement. This year alone, more than two million employees in over 6,000 organizations will participate in the Top Workplaces campaigna program it conducts in partnership with more than 40 prestigious media partners across the United States. Workplace Dynamics also provides consulting services to improve employee engagement and organizational health. WorkplaceDynamics is a founding B Corporation member, a coalition of organizations that are leading a global movement to redefine success in business by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business.

CONTACT: Michelle Wilkinson, 720-457-5442, [email protected]

Video - https://youtu.be/SmlQx-cmSzY

SOURCE Spinnaker Support

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ziero Finance, a provider of solutions that let employers offer zero-interest loans to employees, has been selected by LenditUSA, the largest conference series on global online lending, to present at its PitchIt @ LendIt event, a leading competition for fintech startups. Ziero is one of just 8 fintech innovators selected from a pool of 92 entrants. Ziero will present its platform that creates valuable financial perks by connecting employers and employees to financial institutions for turnkey interest-free loans. The PitchIt @ LendIt competition takes place at LendItUSA in San Francisco on April 11, 2016, 3:55-5:45pm PDT.

Ziero debuts in the online lending market with a mission to offer employers a solution that helps employees through personal financial events. "We came up with the idea for Ziero based on our experience in finance and technology," said Benny Yiu, CEO of Ziero Financial. "We realized new platforms can provide innovative loan products that deliver value to multiple parties, and have designed it to offer real financial relief to working people across the country." Ziero's innovative solution revolutionizes employee benefits and the financial wellness space by enabling employers to offer employees immediate access to small loans that typically range from $2,500 to $5,000. Ziero partners with capital providers to make available simple repayment terms and zero-interest financing for employees, with employers covering the flat one-time fee.

By providing this valuable benefit, Ziero gives financially-stretched employees access to a powerful alternative to high-interest credit cards and predatory payday loans. It can be used to help with medical deductibles, moving costs, unexpected car repairs, and more. "This type of benefit is extremely valuable because it's uniquely suited to a 21st century workforce that prizes flexibility," said Nate Randall, Founder and President of Ursa Major Consulting and former Head of Global Benefits and Employee Experience at a Fortune 1000 company. "From new hires to veterans, employers are recognizing their people have individual needs, tastes and preferences, and that it's hard to tailor benefits to everyone's situation. Making available a zero-interest loan is a brilliant way to deliver financial flexibility that meets everyone's needs. It's a smart tool for attraction, retention, and overall productivity."

Ziero's platform allows employers to control loan eligibility. It promotes attraction and retention as part of an employee benefits portfolio, or as a perk based on tenure or performance. Employers are also relieved of complications from directly lending, managing and collecting on loans to their staff.

About Ziero Finance

Ziero is a company with a social mission to offer a valuable financial perk for the modern workforce. Ziero empowers all employers to provide improved financial wellness and flexibility to employees through access to zero-interest small loans. Founded in 2015, Ziero is based in San Francisco, CA. For more information, email [email protected], or visit: http://www.zierofinance.com/.

SOURCE Ziero Finance

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050416 AGINGPAI HAPPY

BY Tom Kathoa

Meanwhile, Director of Eastern Gold Mine Limited, Felix Qua AGINGPAI said he is happy that his company has met the government`s requirements to enter into gold and minerals business in the region.

Mr Aginpai said his company has a responsibility to pay tax to the government and to meet other requirements that would result in the economic growth of the region.

Gold Dealers license is K5000 which is renewable every year.

Under the new Bougainville Mining Act, illegal gold dealers could be prosecuted and fined a sum of K20,000 or be jailed for a period of 2years

THE GRACE PERIOD ENDS ON THE 21st OF THIS MONTH, APRIL 2016

End


050416 BOUGAINVILLE A NATURAL BEAUTY

BY Tom Kathoa

Bougainville has been described as a natural beauty and home to a variety of varied cultures and traditions not found elsewhere.

This is the view of some potential business entrepreneurs wanting to conduct business activities in the region.

In Buka alone, the famous Buka Passage with its fast flowing tide is one of the many things to be enjoyed by visitors entering the region.

Setting up guest houses and hotel accomodations along and over the seafront stands to earn millions of kina for owners of such properties.

Ends


If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Wolfsburg (Germany), April 7 : Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale has claimed that he was not given a penalty even as his side's Champions League hopes were left hanging by a thread after a disappointing 0-2 defeat in the first leg of their quarter-final tie against Wolfsburg here.

Beside his appeal falling on deaf ears, Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo had a goal disallowed for offside in the second minute on Wednesday night.

Bale cut in front of Luis Gustavo and got the ball before falling over inside the area. The Welshman's plea was waved off by the referee and then Ricardo Rodriguez and Maximilian Arnold scored within seven minutes of each other in the first half to gift Wolfsburg a remarkable victory.

"I went down. I had the ball in front of me and he took me out, if that's outside the area it's a foul, so inside it has to be a penalty," Bale was quoted as saying by goal.com on Wednesday.

"Obviously it's a frustrating result but we get another chance. It's not a good result, but we have time to turn it around. What we have to do is make sure we win the return leg by three goals."

The second leg will be played in Madrid on April 12.
New Delhi, April 7 : Reliance Communications (RCOM) is all set start upgrading CDMA customers to 4G LTE from May 2016, it informed the government on Thursday.

Industrialist Anil Ambani-led RCOM will upgrade to LTE using liberalized 800 MHz spectrum under Jio sharing agreement, the company told the government in a letter, an official source told IANS.

The communications services companies of the two Ambani brothers in January announced agreements for trading and sharing of scarce airwaves, or radio frequency spectrum, in the 800 MHz band, covering the entire country.

RCOM had paid Rs.5,383.84 crore to the government as fee toward spectrum sharing and trading in 16 circles for the 800-850 MHz band.

The companies got a shot in the arm, after the government approved changes in the policy where telecom spectrum or airwaves were allotted administratively rather than auctioned, to arrive at the market-determined price for the scarce resource.

"Jio and RCOM have entered into a spectrum trading-cum-sharing deal across most markets which requires RCOM to liberalise its spectrum before sharing. However, there were four markets which did not have an auction-based price and hence the necessity of the policy decision," the global banking and financial services company Deutsche Bank Equity Research said in a report.

The two companies were already sharing spectrum in 17 circles. Only four circles were left -- Rajasthan, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

"We have estimated the cost of liberalisation at Rs.55 billion for RCOM. The department of Telecom has a 45-day period to approve the sharing of spectrum after the operators file for such a request. We expect Jio and RCOM to file for sharing immediately," it added.
New Delhi, April 7 : Cigarettes-to-hotel major ITC and Starwood Hotels and Resorts have signed an agreement to extend their existing partnership for 11 ITC Luxury Collection hotels and one hotel under the Sheraton brand in India, a company statement said here on Thursday.

The two companies also announced three upcoming ITC hotels under "The Luxury Collection" brand in India.

The statement said the addition of the ITC Kohinoor in Hyderabad, ITC Narmada in Ahmedabad and ITC Royal Bengal in Kolkata will take the inventory up to 15 hotels, over the next four years.

"ITC's hotels exemplify our commitment to create world-class Indian brands that demonstrate global competitiveness," said ITC executive director Nakul Anand.

"The association with Starwood Hotels and Resorts for close to four decades, bears testimony to this commitment and we are pleased to further strengthen our alliance with three upcoming ITC luxury hotels in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, which will be an archetype of the culture and region they are located in," he added.

"Starwood is experiencing strong growth momentum in India with signings of new hotels in the past 12 months representing nearly 30 percent of our current operating footprint in the country," said Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide CEO Thomas Mangas.
Beijing, April 8 : Chinese President Xi Jinping met Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe here on Friday and discussed issues of core interests.

China is willing to work with Sri Lanka to consolidate traditional friendship, expand reciprocal cooperation and push forward strategic partnership of cooperation to a new high, Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

He urged the two countries to integrate development strategies, maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen strategic communication, and handle bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic perspective.

Wickremesinghe echoed Xi saying the strategic partnership of cooperation featuring mutual support and long-lasting friendship was in the interests of both Sri Lanka and China.

It was also a consensus of all political parties in Sri Lanka, he said.

The Sri Lankan leader appreciated the positive role played by China in promoting global economic stability and growth and thanked Beijing for its long-term assistance to Colombo.

With regard to bilateral cooperation, Xi said the two countries should take the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity to deepen cooperation in trade, infrastructure, industrial parks, manufacturing and technology.

China will positively consider helping Sri Lanka build health projects and was ready for more cooperation in areas such as tourism, education and culture, Xi said.

He also vowed to strengthen communication and coordination with Sri Lanka under the frameworks including the UN, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the South Asian Association Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

The Sri Lanka leader said Sri Lanka was willing to strengthen cooperation with China within the SAARC.

Wickremesinghe will conclude his official visit to China on Saturday.
New Delhi, April 9 : Around 150 youths from various parts of country on Saturday began a protest march "ChaloNIT" from Delhi Srinagar to support the non-Kashmiri students in the valley and hand them the national flag.

The youths led by Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena's head Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga commenced the protest march in the morning from Rakabganj Gurudwara here to reach National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Srinagar.

Bagga, in a press statement said, two buses and seven cars have been arranged for the youths participating in "ChaloNIT" rally. They will reach Srinagar on Sunday.

"Seeing the tense situation in Jammu and Kashmir, we will hand over national flag and show that it is not a crime to hoist the tricolour in the state. We want to show our support to the non-local NIT students who stood up for the nation and were brutally bashed up by the locals and the police," Bagga said in the statement.

Youngsters from various professions like IT, architecture have joined the movement to support the non-Kashmiri students, who have been protesting peacefully in the campus.

They were resorted to severe lathi charge by the Jammu and Kashmir police.

Many will join the rally on the way from Sonipat, Ambala, Panipat and other places during the course of the journey.

"This country has to stay united and fight against anti-national forces. The meaning of nationalism is fading away. We support these youngsters for their endeavour," President of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, Manjeet Singh GK said.

The Gurdwara management is arranging for the participants' meal.
Islamabad, April 9 : Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has offered to investigate the Panama Leaks through the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Speaking to the media in Rawalpindi on Saturday, Nisar Ali Khan asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to name any FIA official who he wanted to make the inquiry, Geo TV reported.

The PTI chairman has demanded an inquiry panel, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice and comprising of audit experts, to look into the Panama Papers leaks.

Nisar said Britain, Russia and Argentina have rejected Panama leaks allegations, adding that "This matter should now be resolved in Pakistan as well."

Nisar said he will consult with political parties after approval from the cabinet over the matter of public rallies in Islamabad.

PTI has announced it will hold its founding day rally on April 24. The party had changed its venue from D-Chowk to F/9 park in Islamabad.

Speaking about Imran Khan's announcement to address the nation via Pakistan Television, Nisar Ali Khan said only the president and the prime minister can address the nation on state TV.
New Delhi, April 10 : The army, navy and air force on Sunday joined rescue operations in a Kerala temple where a fire tragedy left some 100 people dead, officials said.

At least six helicopters, two aircraft, three naval ships and army medical teams were deployed, a defence ministry official said.

A Dornier utility aircraft, two Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) and two Chetaks with medical teams were sent to the site from the Garuda naval air station at Kochi.

Four other utility helicopters, including Mi17 and ALH, were launched from Sulur air force station in Tamil Nadu.

Indian naval ships Kabra, Kalpeni and Sunayna sailed to Kollam with medical supplies, the official said.

"Medical assistance is being provided by the army in Kollam. Two medical teams rushed from Thiruvananthapuram. Military hospitals are kept ready to receive patients," the official added.

An illegal fireworks show in a Hindu temple in Kollam in Kerala early on Sunday set off a huge fire which left nearly 100 people dead and over 350 injured, many in critical condition.
New Delhi, April 10 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Tuesday leave on a 10-day US visit to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, followed by an address at a UN session on the drugs problem, as well as an interaction with American investors.

Briefing reporters about the finance minister's US visit, an official source here said that during his stay in Washington, Jaitley is also likely to meet US administration officials.

The Spring Meetings will also be attended by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

Jaitley will arrive in New York on April 17 for the second leg of his US tour, where he will address a Special Session of the UN on the World Drug Problem on April 19.

Later, Jaitley will hold meetings with the American business community and investors, the source added.

The IMF's historic quota and governance reforms, that for the first time place four emerging market countries -- Brazil, China, India, and Russia -- among its 10 largest members, came into effect in January this year after these were approved by the US Congress in 2015.

They had been approved by the IMF's Board of Governors in December 2010.

The reforms, pending for long, also increase the financial strength of the IMF, by doubling its permanent capital resources to SDR 477 billion (about $659 billion) from about SDR 238.5 billion (about $329 billion).

Other top 10 members of the 188-nation agency include the US, Japan, and four big European countries -- France, Germany, Italy and Britain.

The reforms represent a major step toward better reflecting in the institution's governance structure the increasing role of dynamic emerging market and developing countries, the IMF has said.

Currently, India has voting rights of 2.34 percent. In terms of quota, the country has a share of 2.44 percent.
Bengaluru, April 10 : Karnataka plans to send a 10-member medical team to treat victims of the temple fireworks tragedy near Kollam in Kerala, Health Minister U.T. Khader said on Sunday.

"We are awaiting clearance from the Kerala government to send the team of specialist doctors and paramedics," Khader told IANS here.

An illegal fireworks show at a temple dedicated to Puttingal Devi at Peravur in Kollam early on Sunday set off a huge fire, leaving at least 110 people dead and over 350 injured, many critically.

As the news of tragedy reached here, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directed Khader to send the medical team to Kerala.

"We have also kept aside medicines and blood to send with the medical team to Thiruvananthapuram, the nearest point (60km) to Kollam on the west coast," Khader said. He also spoke to his Kerala counterpart on the issue.
Tokyo, April 11 : US Secretary of State John Kerry became the first top US diplomat to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and museum on Monday.

Kerry offered flowers at the cenotaph inside the park in a move that could pave the way for a possible visit by US President Barack Obama during G7 summit next month, The Japan Times reported.

In a visit that will be closely analysed by Tokyo, Kerry visited the site of the US atomic bombing with other G7 foreign ministers.

Ahead of trip, Kerry told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida that he had been looking forward to the visit.

US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy also said that Washington understands Hiroshima is a special place for Kishida, a third-generation lower house lawmaker who represents the city.

It remained unclear what G7 foreign ministers spoke about in the museum as only official photographers were allowed there, a sign that could mean Tokyo is wary of public reaction among the nuclear powers, especially in the US.

Kerry would not apologise for the bombing, a US official travelling with Kerry, said.

A majority of Americans still believe the use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 71 years ago was justified, according to a Pew Research Centre survey last year.

A visit to the atomic bomb sites is crucial for Kishida, as Tokyo works to build momentum for a potential visit by Obama during the G7 summit scheduled for May 26 and 27 in Japan.

Kishida has repeatedly voiced his hopes that world leaders visit Hiroshima to experience the reality of the atomic bombings.

The Washington Post has reported that Obama, winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his vision of a nuclear weapons-free world, was considering a Hiroshima visit in May, citing aides to the US president.

A US diplomatic cable released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks revealed that Tokyo had rejected the idea of an Obama visit to Hiroshima in September 2009.

Meanwhile, G7 foreign ministers are expected to adopt a communique and three other statements to conclude the two-day meeting on Monday.

"I'm hoping that we can create momentum for a world free of nuclear weapons by agreeing on issues of nuclear disarmament among the nuclear powers and the non-nuclear powers among the G-7 nations, and send a message to the world," Kishida said at the end of first day of meetings on Sunday.

Kishida said there was a heated debate over the North Korean nuclear issue at the final session on Sunday.

The foreign ministers are expected to send a strong message against escalating provocations by North Korea, which conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, followed by the launch of a long-range satellite, which many saw as a cover for a long-range missile.
New Delhi, April 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday welcomed Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom here ahead of bilateral talks with the Indian Ocean archipelago nation.

"Advancing the goal of Neighbourhood First. PM welcomes President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom at Hyderabad House," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Earlier on Monday, External Affairs Minister called on President Yameen in tbe latter's first engagement of the day.

Yameen is also scheduled to call on President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening before departing from India.

Yameen had come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended the Modi government's swearing-in in May 2014.

Though India and Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year and the two countries historically enjoyed a close relationship, Yameen's visit assumes significance because of New Delhi's discomfiture over China's increasing investments and influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Sushma Swaraj visited Maldives in November 2014 and again in October 2015 for the India-Maldives joint commission meeting, which was held after 15 years.

This year, ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement.

India has sought to deepen its relations with the Yameen dispensation following unease in ties that had crept in after New Delhi was seen backing former president Mohamed Nasheed. India had voiced concern over his prolonged incarceration, and Prime Minister Modi had also cancelled a visit to Male earlier.
New Delhi, April 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom over a working lunch here on Monday.

"Doing more with Maldives. PM @narendramodi hosts a working lunch for President Gayoom at Hyderabad House," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Earlier on Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on President Yameen in the latter's first engagement of the day.

Yameen is also scheduled to call on President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening before departing from India.

Yameen had earlier come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended the Modi government's swearing-in in May 2014.

Though India and Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year and the two countries historically enjoy a close relationship, Yameen's visit assumes significance because of New Delhi's discomfiture over China's increasing investments and influence in the Indian Ocean region.

Sushma Swaraj visited Maldives in November 2014 and again in October 2015 for the India-Maldives joint commission meeting, which was held after 15 years.

This year, ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement.

India has sought to deepen its relations with the Yameen dispensation following the unease in ties that had crept in after New Delhi was seen backing former president Mohamed Nasheed. India had voiced concern over his prolonged incarceration, and Prime Minister Modi had also cancelled a visit to Male earlier.
Mumbai, April 11 : Actor Pulkit Samrat has denied rumours that he is staying with his "Sanam Re" co-star Yami Gautam.

Pulkit, who has been linked with Yami several times over, took to Twitter to publicly deny a media report claiming that the actor has moved in with the "Vicky Donor" actress.

"Duh! No! Fake News," Pulkit tweeted along with a link of the news clip which made the claim.

The "Fukrey" actor was recently shooting in Jaipur.

After beginning the year with "Sanam Re", Pulkit is soon to finish filming his upcoming romantic film "Junooniyat".
New Delhi, April 11 : A Baloch woman leader and rights activist has accused Pakistan of "genocide" in Balochistan and says India must support the "freedom movement" in the restive province for its own "strategic interests" as an "antidote for the Pakistan-China anti-India coalition".

Naela Quadri, 50, said she was here to make a "conscience awakening call" to the government and people of India who helped liberate East Pakistan from Islamabad in 1971 to help it become an independent Bangladesh.

"It is not only for us. An independent Balochistan is the only antidote for Pakistan-China anti-India coalition," Quadri, a Harvard graduate and a champion of Baloch rights, told IANS in an interview.

The Balochistan Independence Movement leader made a passionate plea to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get involved in the "freedom movement" of the sprawling western region which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

"India has to take a stand, not only against gross human rights violations in the neighbourhood but also because its strategic interests are involved," said Quadri, who also heads the World Baloch Women's Forum and campaigns for Baloch people's rights worldwide. She was once jailed in Pakistan.

Pakistan has been accusing India of stoking trouble in Balochistan, which is the size of France and is rich in gas, gold and copper reserves. It is also home to massive untapped sources of oil and uranium. Angry over Pakistan's exploitation of the resources and alleged repressive rule, Balochis have so far launched five armed insurgencies since the territory, a princely state under the British, was annexed by Islamabad in 1948.

She accused Pakistan of resorting to "genocide" in Balochistan in response to the "political, democratic and secular" freedom struggle.

"They have killed some 200,000 Balochis in the last decade. The Pakistan Army has participated in enforced disappearance of 25,000 people including men and women," she said.

"They are using all the eight UN indicators of genocide including dehumanization, polarization, extermination and denial."

Recalling the May 28, 1998 Pakistan nuclear tests, Quadri said the army "illegally" used Balochistan for testing its atomic weapons that it got from China. "They have hid the weapons in Balochistan.

"The Balochs are facing all this in isolation and loneliness. No country has come to our help. Not India, so far.

"India is not what it was in 1971 (when Bangladesh was liberated). You had a strong headed and brave leader in Indira Gandhi. She was determined and had a tough foreign policy to deal with Pakistan.

"Unfortunately, the case is different now."

She hoped that Prime Minister Modi would come off "as strong as Gandhi" to help Balochistan win its freedom.

"Modi has a popular mandate and I am sure Indian people would support the Balochistan initiative," said Quadri, an activist since her childhood.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at sarwar.k@ians.in)

Latest updates on Gandhi Jayanti 2019
New Delhi, April 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid tributes to social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule on his 190th birth anniversary.

"Mahatma Phule was a stalwart ahead of his time, who gave voice to the marginalised and sought to end their suffering. Tributes on his jayanti", Modi tweeted.

In another tweet, the prime minister said the country should work on Phule's ideas to create a 'harmonious' society.

"Inspired by Mahatma Phule's ideals, let us collectively work to create an equal and harmonious society where the role of education is pivotal," he tweeted.
Ranchi, April 11 : The police beat up several journalists in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, causing an outcry among media persons which led to the suspension of four police personnel.

The incident happened on Sunday night at Sitaramdera police station in steel city Jamshedpur in East Singhbhum district where journalists had gone to report on the detention of a BJP-supported builder.

"TV journalists were shooting the incident and print media photographers were taking photographs. The policemen objected to the media coverage," Manoj Singh, a reporter of a local TV channel and who sustained head injuries, told IANS.

"All of sudden, they started beating journalists. We were just doing our professional work," he added.

The reporters were drawn to the police station by a fracas over the detention on Sunday of a builder which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers opposed.

Several BJP workers as well as Jharkhand Food and Supplies Minister Saryu Rai reached the police station and demanded to know why the builder had been detained.

The builder had actually lodged a complaint against some people demanding money from him, they said.

Instead of proceeding against the extortionists, the police detained the complainant, said the BJP workers.

The fracas made for a 'good story' for the media personnel, but the police got hassled enough to charge at them.

Several media persons were then roughed up by the police, causing an outrage among them.

Senior police officials were then called in to control the situation.

On the demand of the journalists, one head constable and three other policemen were suspended. The media persons, however, continue to demand suspension of the officer in charge of the police station.

The Jharkhand Journalist Association has condemned the incident and demanded action against the police officials involved.
Karwar, April 11 : Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived at the Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka on Monday.

Carter, who is on a three-day visit to India, was briefed here by Flag Officer (Karwar) Rear Admiral R.J. Nadkarni on Project Seabird, the first phase of construction of the base.

Parrikar and Carter will be holding a joint press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, officials said.

Prior to Carter's visit, the US under secretary (administration) had also visited India and held discussions on various bilateral issues including defence technology and trade initiatives.

A statement from the US embassy ahead of Carter's visit had said Carter will advance the US' growing security where the country is developing new partnerships and modernising a long-standing alliance with India.
New Delhi, April 11 : The meteoric rise and an equally dramatic fall of Rajat Gupta -- the former head of McKinsey who was charged in the largest insider trading case in the US -- will be captured in a memoir to be published by Juggernaut Books.

"Candid, compelling and poignant, Gupta's book promises to be an extraordinary human story -- of a man who had it all before he lost everything," the publishing house said in a statement about the top corporate advisor, who was released last month after serving 19 months in US prisons.

"His memoir tells the story of his meteoric rise, and an equally dramatic fall and the lessons he learned from this journey -- from the hardships of his childhood to his unprecedented success in corporate America and his years in prison," the statement said.

Gupta, now living in his Manhattan home, himself recollected what he went through.

"My life has had many ups and downs and in this book I want to talk about my struggles and how I've found solace, strength. How do you act without attachment. Help others without expectation. And forgive without bitterness." he was quoted as saying in the statement.

"How do you maintain peace and dignity in the most difficult circumstances. These questions permeate all of our lives. I hope the youth in particular will benefit from the learning in my journey," he said rather candidly.

Gupta, who was convicted in June 2012 for leaking tips to hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, was released on January 5 this year from Federal Medical Centre Devens, a federal correctional facility in Ayer, Massachusetts, 64 km from Boston.

He then completed his final two-month sentence at his apartment in New York City.

His publisher's statement said for nine years he ran the world's most influential consultancy and was considered a leading mind in business strategy. He also led many social initiatives, such as the Indian School of Business and the Public Health Foundation of India.

He also chaired the advisory board of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others.

"After a high-profile and lengthy trial in 2012 he was found guilty and sentenced to two years in jail. He served his jail time, which included periods of solitary confinement, and was released in 2016," the statement said.

"Throughout this time, Gupta has maintained his innocence and his appeal to vacate his conviction is still pending before the US Court of Appeals."

As regards Juggernaut Books, it aims to give authors digital and physical platforms. Its authors include Arundhati Roy, William Dalrymple, Prashant Kishor, Twinkle Khanna, Sunny Leone, Rujuta Diwekar, Husain Haqqani, Svetlana Alexievich, and Rajdeep Sardesai.
Canberra, April 11 : The number of tigers in the wild has risen for the first time in 100 years, marking a major turning point in the big cat's plight against poaching and habitat loss.

Figures collated from national surveys conducted in tiger range states and from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), estimate the number of tigers living in the wild to be around 3,890.

That is up almost 700 animals from the 2010 figure, which estimated their numbers at 3,200, ABC reported.

Current tiger estimates across Asia are: 2,226 tigers in India, 433 in Russian Siberia, 371 in Indonesia, 250 in Malaysia, 198 in Nepal, 189 in Thailand, 106 in Bangladesh, 103 in Bhutan, more than seven in China, less than five in Vietnam, two tigers in Laos, and none in Cambodia. Data on tigers in Myanmar was not available.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Australia's national manager for the species, Darren Grover welcomed the news, saying it was the first increase since the turn of the 20th century.

"That's great news. It's the first positive trend for wild tiger populations in more than 100 years," he said.

In 1900, approximately 100,000 tigers were estimated to be living in the wild.

"In those 100 years or so, we've lost around 97 percent of wild tigers," Grover said.

A WWF background document said the increase was likely the result of major changes made in India, Russia, Nepal and Bhutan, including improved survey techniques and ramped up conservation efforts.

But despite the increase, Grover said there was still a long way to go before tiger range states reached their goal of doubling the number in the wild by 2022.

In 2011, about 14 countries from across the tiger range, which extends from India across South Asia and to Far East Russia, got together in St. Petersburg in Russia and agreed to the Tx2 target.

"They took 3,200 as the number at that time, so that would mean they are aiming for a wild tiger population of around 6,400 by 2022," Grover said.

"We're on the way towards that target. We're obviously making progress, but there is still quite some way to go."

Grover said some countries, such as Malaysia, China and Thailand, were holding back efforts by failing to conduct habitat surveys.

"There is some information available on how many tigers remain in those countries, but until we do those accurate surveys, we won't know for sure," he said.

"The good thing is, most of those countries have committed to doing those surveys over the next year or so, so that will enlighten us to a more accurate figure and hopefully show that that overall number is increasing further."

He said in the meantime, tourists needed to be aware of the overseas practices threatening tigers in the wild.

"While loss of habitat has been a major reason for the decline in tiger numbers, the illegal poaching of tiger and the use of products in traditional medicines is also a major factor behind the decline in tiger populations," he said.

"We really urge people who are going to these countries, if you're in markets and you are seeing what are claimed to be tiger products, don't purchase them."

"As we like to say, there's only one place where those tiger products should be, and that's in a tiger."
New Delhi, April 11 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley leaves for the US on Tuesday on a 10-day visit to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, followed by a UN session on the drugs problem, and an interaction with American investors.

Briefing reporters about the finance minister's visit, an official source said that Jaitley is also likely to have a meeting with US administration officials.

The IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings will also be attended by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

After the first leg of his tour, Jaitley will reach New York on April 17, where he will address a Special Session of the UN on the World Drug Problem on April 19.

Jaitley will also hold meetings with the American business community and investors there, the source added.

The Indian government had in March presented in parliament a supplementary demand of grant of Rs.69,575 crore towards increasing India's quota in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will allow increased voting rights for the country at the IMF.

"After taking into account additional receipts of Rs.52,181.60 crore by issue of securities, monetising Rs.17,393.87 crore through India's SDR (special drawing rights) holding with RBI and saving of Rs.2,618.94 crore available in the revenue section of the grant, this supplementary will not entail cash outgo," said the supplementary demands for grants moved by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The IMF's historic quota and governance reforms, had for the first time placed four emerging market countries -- Brazil, China, India, and Russia -- among its 10 largest members in January this year after being approved by the US Congress in 2015.

They had been approved by the IMF's Board of Governors in December 2010.

The reforms, pending for long, also increase the financial strength of the IMF, by doubling its permanent capital resources to SDR 477 billion (about $659 billion) from about SDR 238.5 billion (about $329 billion).

Other top 10 members of the 188-nation agency include the US, Japan, and four big European countries -- France, Germany, Italy and Britain.

The reforms represent a major step toward better reflecting in the institution's governance structure the increasing role of dynamic emerging markets and developing countries, the IMF has said.

Currently, India has voting rights of 2.34 percent. In terms of quota, the country has a share of 2.44 percent.
New Delhi, April 11 : The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, on Monday visited Gandhi Smriti and paid respects at the 'Martyr's Column' -- the spot where Mahatma Gandhi fell to an assassin's bullets. The royal couple later interacted with school children there.

They went to Gandhi Smriti after paying tributes to the Unknown Soldier at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate where they laid a wreath.

Gandhi Smriti on Tees January Road is the location where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life.

On Sunday, the royal couple attended a charity dinner hosted by the British High Commission in Mumbai to welcome them. The high-profile dinner was attended by the Who's Who of Bollywood, who rolled out the red-carpet for the royal couple.

Prince William and Kate are scheduled to have lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
April 11 (IANS) Iran and Russia have signed a new deal on the delivery of S-300 missile defence system and it is in the process of implementation, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said here on Monday.

"The first stage of the new contract has been implemented and we hope that, based on the new plan, the contract will be completed in its due time," Xinhua quoted Jaber Ansari as saying in response to a question of whether Iran has received the first batch of S-300 equipment in its northern port city of Anzali.

Earlier on Monday, some media outlets quoted Iranian spokesman as saying that Iran has received the first batch of the equipment pertaining to the missile system.

However, Jaber Ansari later criticised as inaccurate media reports about his remarks on the S-300 issue, saying that he was referring instead to "the implementation of the first stage of the new deal".

Jaber Ansari did not elaborate on what is being implemented about the new contract.

In March, RIA Novosti news agency reported that Russia would hand over the first batch of the S-300 defence missile systems to Iran in August or September.

Russia and Iran signed a $800 million contract in 2007, according to which Moscow would supply Tehran with five S-300 missile systems.

In September 2010, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev cancelled the contract in line with a UN Security Council resolution, which banned such deals with Iran.

In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban as Iran withdrew a lawsuit against Russia over the cancellation.

The S-300 is regarded as one of the most potent air defence systems.
Thiruvananthapuram, April 11 : The fire tragedy at the Puttingal Devi temple in Kerala has killed 109 people and 24 others are in critical condition, Health Minister V. Sivakumar announced on Monday.

Official sources had in the morning put the death toll at 112 after two young people succumbed to their injuries in a hospital here.

Giving the latest official figures, the minister said 109 people died in the Sunday morning tragedy when a huge quantity of firecrackers went up in a fireball.

The temple is located in the coastal town of Paravur in Kollam district, about 60 km from Thiruvananthapuram.

The minister said 24 people continued to be in critical condition. Among them, 15 were in Kollam and nine in Thiruvananthapuram.

Only two of the dead were women, he said.

Fourteen bodies were unclaimed in hospitals, the minister said. DNA tests would be conducted on them.

Sivakumar said 327 patients were undergoing treatment in hospitals in Kollam (221) and Thiruvananthapuram (106).

Sivakumar spoke after a high-level meeting of medical experts from the state and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

He said the AIIMS doctors agreed there was no need to shift the patients outside of Kerala as the treatment available in the state was adequate.

"Ten specialist doctors will arrive today (Monday) to help the present medical team," Sivakumar said.
Imphal, April 11 : At least 10 people, including three police commandos, were injured as a group of protesters fired indiscriminately and clashed with police on Monday in Imphal West district in Manipur, officials said. Indefinite curfew has been imposed over fears that the law and order situation might worsen.

The incident happened around 10 a.m. at Mayang Imphal Konchak in Imphal West district.

The district magistrate imposed indefinite curfew at Maynag Imphal Konchak and nearby areas with immediate effect.

A clash broke out between two groups of villagers, and nine houses and shops were burned down.

Police sources told IANS that they received information that the house of a man named Rajen of Mayang Imphal Konchak has caught fire.

However, people said the fire was a deliberate act by someone and started protesting.

Police and fire tenders were rushed to the site but the agitating crowd did not allow them to enter.

Witnesses said some people fired at police and the crowd, injuring 10 of them.

Three seriously injured people, including a police commando, were rushed to a private hospital in Imphal.

Police said they were investigating whether Rajen's house was set ablaze deliberately.

"The reasons for the clash between the two groups of villagers are being investigated. But the immediate task is to restore normalcy. Additional police forces from three other districts have been rushed to maintain law and order," a police official said.

Meanwhile, normal life was thrown out of gear in neighbouring Thoubal district following an 18-hour general strike called by people demanding the arrest of some police commandos who allegedly looted Rs.6 lakh from a shopkeeper in October 2015.

Shopkeeper Atao Rahman told IANS that on that day he had come to Imphal on a two-wheeler from Lilong in Thoubal district to buy some goods for his shop.

He alleged that some police commandos intercepted him on the Old Assembly Road in Imphal, assaulted him, looted the money and left him in the Mantri Pukhir area.

He said police accused him of being associated with an insurgent group.

Police have denied the charges.
New Delhi, April 11 : The Federation of All India Farmers Associations (FAIFA) on Monday urged cigarette companies to resume production following new rule for pictorial warnings on all tobacco products.

Tobacco crop worth approximately Rs.1,200 crore was lying unsold in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh due to shutdown of production by leading cigarette companies after the government mandated 85 percent package area of tobacco products to be covered with pictorial warnings from April 1, the association said.

"Farmers have taken loans of Rs.700 crore, which will be at high risk if the situation continues to linger," an association statement said.

Many cigarette firms stopped production after the new rule was enforced, citing ambiguity.

The government decision came even after a parliamentary committee recommended that the pictorial warnings be brought down to 50 percent from 85 percent of package surface area, saying the latter will be too harsh on the tobacco industry.

The farmers have been providing Flue-Cured Virginia tobacco to cigarette companies till now, used in cigarette manufacturing.

The association said the crisis has come at the worst time for growers as it is the peak season for them to sell tobacco crop.

"Already, Indian farmers are facing severe challenges of water crisis and expensive credit etc. The ongoing tobacco industry closure will leave a big hole in the farmers' pockets," said FAIFA president B.V. Javare Gowda.

India earns Rs.6,000 crore from tobacco exports every year.
Hiroshima, April 11 : The two-day G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting closed here on Monday with the foreign ministers of the seven countries issuing a joint communique, reaching consensus on a variety of global and regional issues including terrorism, refugees, and North Korea nuclear problem.

Countering terrorism was placed ahead of other challenges in the communique. It condemned recent terrorist attacks in Turkey, Belgium and other regions.

The communique said a concrete action plan on countering terrorism would be adopted at the G7 Ise-Shima Summit in May, Xinhua reported.

It also condemned "in the strongest terms" the nuclear test and missile launches by North Korea, and demanded Pyongyang not to conduct any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology, nor engage in any other destabilising or provocative actions.

Regarding the issue of refugees, the communique said the flow of refugees, irregular migrants and internally displaced persons is at the highest level since WWII and requires a decisive response by the international community.

It also addressed the issues of Iraq, Syria, Libya as well as climate change, anti-corruption, counter-narcotics, global health, among others.

Along with the communique, the ministers also issued two statements calling for nuclear disarmament and no-proliferation, one of which is also called the Hiroshima Declaration.

In the declaration, the ministers reaffirmed their "commitment to seeking a safer world for all and to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons."

G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting is the first of a series of ministerial talks leading up to the G7 summit to be held in Mie prefecture in May.
Haridwar, April 11 : Hindu seer Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati on Monday said the shocking Kerala temple tragedy occurred due to women forcibly entering the Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra, which a tradition of over four centuries earlier banned.

The fire tragedy at the Puttingal Devi temple in Kerala on Sunday left at least 112 people killed and 327 severely injured and undergoing treatment in hospitals.

The Shankracharya of Dwaraka Peetham told reporters here that even the draught situation in Maharashtra was the result of people worshipping Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Rejecting Sai Baba and Shani as gods, the Hindu seer said it is due to their worship that the water crisis in Maharashtra has worsened. He called on women to not worship Sai Baba and Shani.

Swami Swaroopanand has been a strong opponent of Shirdi Sai Baba for which he had even called a 'Dharm Sansad'.
Srinagar, April 11 : Police detained Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena president Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga on Monday outside the NIT here when he tried to enter the campus.

"Bagga and his two associates were detained by the Jammu and Kashmir Police while they were trying to enter the National Institute of Technology here," a senior police officer told IANS.

Reports said Bagga, who reached outside the NIT in Hazratbal area, wanted to enter the NIT campus to unfurl the Tricolour and show solidarity with the striking outstation students.

Bollywood actor Anupam Kher was on Sunday detained at the airport here to prevent him from visiting the troubled NIT campus. He was later put on a Delhi-bound flight.
Cape Town, April 11 : Former South African President Thabo Mbeki on Monday hailed a recent court ruling against incumbent President Jacob Zuma on his home upgrade case.

The court ruled on March 31 that Zuma violated the constitution by ignoring the public protector's request for him to repay part of the state money lavished on security upgrades at his private home in Nkandla, Xinhua reported.

Mbeki called the judgment a "critical contribution" to the evolution of South Africa's democracy.

The failure to observe the fundamental values of South Africa's constitution threatens the survival of the country's democracy, Mbeki said.

The ruling has prompted calls from outside and within the ruling African National Congress for Zuma to resign.

"This decision has evoked much understandable and inevitable political discussion and activity in our country, which has included calls for the immediate removal of the president of the republic," Mbeki said.

Zuma has said he would abide by the ruling and repay the money.
Cairo, April 11 : Egyptian former Minister of Agriculture Salah Helal and his deputy were sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday in a corruption case.

Cairo criminal court found Helal and his deputy, Mohey al-Den sl-Saeed, guilty of bribery in return for granting land licences to prominent Egyptian businessman, Xinhua reported.

Helal was fined one million Egyptian pounds ($110,000), while his deputy was fined half a million.

The former minister was arrested in September after he resigned upon a request from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over corruption charges.

Egypt has taken deterrent measures to counter deeply-rooted corruption since Abdul Fattah al-Sisi sworn into office as president in June 2014.

The Berlin-based anti-corruption Transparency International Organisation said in its recent Corruption Perceptions Index that Egypt is one of the countries showing the strongest improvements.

The report put the Middle Eastern country at 95 out of 175 countries surveyed by the organization. In 2013, Egypt ranked 114.
New Delhi, April 11 : The Supreme Court on Monday observed that the bar on women aged between 10 and 50 from entering the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala was ultra vires the Constitution.

Prima facie it appeared the ban on womens temple entry would not stand legal scrutiny, the court observed.

The apex court was a considering a batch of petitions challenging the temple entry ban at Sabarimala temple imposed on women of menstrual age.

Asking on what basis the temple authorities were keeping women away from the holy shrine, the court pointed out that the culture of our country mandates that mother should be given precedence.

Even as the judges stated that they were loath to go into the correctness or otherwise of religious traditions, they categorically said that they were only concerned about whether the rights of women were being impinged upon.

In an observation that could be construed as a strong rebuttal of the temple authorities stock argument that the ban on women has been in existence for ages taking into consideration the difficulty for women in observing the mandatory penance period and to undertake the arduous pilgrimage, the apex court asked whether women could be barred from climbing Mount Everest.

The Kerala government also drew flak from the court for its contradictory stands on the temple entry issue. The affidavit filed recently by the present dispensation favours retaining the ban on women, citing age old traditions.

However, the affidavit filed by the previous Left Democratic Front government on the issue had taken a position in favour of lifting the ban.

Reiterating that temples were not private properties but public places, the SC asserted that the ban on women at Sabarimala was a challenge to gender equality.

Significantly, the apex courts observations come close on the heels of women entering the sanctum sanctorum of the Shani temple in Maharashtra in the wake of the Bombay High Court order directing the authorities to ensure women were not denied entry to any temple.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the affairs of the Sabarimala temple, forbids women of menstrual age from entering the sanctum sanctorum of the hill shrine on the ground that Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity, is a perpetual bachelor (naishtika brahmachari).
Kolkata, April 11 : CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra, who is contesting from Narayangarh assembly constituency in West Bengal, on Monday said polling there was "overall peaceful", with the Trinamool Congress failing to capture any of the booths.

"The elections were overall peaceful. There was trouble in some areas, but there were no major incidents. People have voted ignoring terror and intimidation," Mishra, who is a doctor, told news channel Kolkata TV.

Mishra, who has been winning in the constituency under West Midnapore district since 1991, said it was his presence in the area that foiled the Trinamool's plans to "loot votes" and so they got angry and staged demonstrations when he went to some of the booths.

"Over the past five years since the 2011 assembly polls,, none of the elections there was free and fair. They (Trinamool) looted votes, there was false voting. This time they couldn't do it.

"I had said earlier that I will be there in the constituency from the night before polling. I did that. Their plans failed. So they were angry. The media was also there," said Mishra, who is regarded as the "face" of the Left Front-Congress poll tie-up.

He said polling could go up to close to 90 percent at Narayangarh.

Asked about the role of the central forces, Mishra said he could not feel their presence on Sunday night, but saw them stationed in the booths on Monday.

On allegations that the central forces did not patrol in the villages, he said: "Yesterday (Sunday), I didn't see them patrolling. But today (Monday), I was told in one area voters were obstructed, but they removed the trouble-makers."

Earlier in the day, Mishra told the media that he had lodged complaints with the poll panel about electoral malpractices in 23 booths of the constituency.

"We had complained to the chief electoral officer about electoral malpractices and terrorisation in 23 booths. We have not seen such violence since 1977. After I complained, the number of troubled booths have come down to four," Mishra said.

He exhorted people to stay calm and vote.

"This is the Trinamool's culture. This is a sign of disappointment and defeat. Don't get swayed," he said at the CPI-M office in Belda of West Midnapore district.

Describing the Left Front-Congress tie-up as a people's alliance, the CPI-M politburo member said "it will win everywhere".

"It is the people's alliance. Those who have come under attack over the past five years, have played the main role in forming the alliance. The parties and leaders have also played some part, but overall, this alliance has got its strength from the people's desires."
New Delhi, April 11 : An interaction with anti-poaching staff and a visit to an animal rehabilitation centre are being lined up for Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, during their visit to the Kaziranga National Park in Assam on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The royal couple will arrive in Tezpur, some 90 minutes' drive from Kaziranga, on Tuesday evening, and will be received by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

They will be taken to the Difflo River Lodge adjacent to the national park, famed for its one-horned rhinoceros, for their two-night stay.

"The next morning (Wednesday), they will be taken to the Bagori range where they will be shown photographs of the park," M. Ali, director of the Kaziranga National Park, told IANS over phone from Kohora in Assam.

"Thereafter, they will embark on a one-and-half hours' jeep safari to see the fauna inhabiting the park," he said.

The weather is expected to be warm, as it normally is in April in this part of the country.

After the safari, the royal couple will interact with the park's frontline anti-poaching staff at a place called Dimoli, according to the park director.

The royal couple will then go to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) under the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and visit a centre for treatment of captive elephants named after British conservationist Mark Shand. He was the brand ambassador of the park till time of his death in April 2014.

There they will interact with veterinary doctors of the centre.

During their stay in the park, the royal couple will be presented with a cultural programme, including Bihu and Jhumur dances, by the residents of two local villages.

As the visit comes on the eve of the state's biggest festival, Bohag Bihu, Prince William and Kate will also be treated to Assamese delicacies like pithas (rice cakes) and laroos (sweet balls) among other dishes.

The royal couple will leave for Bhutan on Thursday.

Apart from being world famous for the successful conservation of the one-horned rhinoceros, Kaziranga is also believed to be the most densely habited tiger region in the world.

Kaziranga is also home to the Asiatic wild buffalo, swamp deer, sambar, hog deer and over 500 species of birds.

Preliminary notification of Kaziranga as a reserve forest was issued in 1950.

It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1950 and a national park in 1974.

In 1985, the park was declared as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The year 2005 marked the centenary year of the successful biodiversity conservation of the Kaziranga National Park.

(Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in)
New Delhi, April 11 : Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will visit India on April 13 and hold a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This follows up on their first meeting in Paris in April 2015, according to a statement issued by the French embassy here.

It said Sarkozy will also have meetings with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and former prime minister Manmohan Singh besides paying tribute to the Mahatma at Gandhi Smriti during his stay in Delhi.

The visit comes in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris in November last year that left 130 people dead.

During his presidency from May 2007 to May 2012, Sarkozy came twice on bilateral visits to India, including as the chief guest for the Republic Day parade in 2008.

Sarkozy will interact with business representatives at a conference organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), in partnership with the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ifcci) in the morning of April 13.
Ahmedabad, April 11 : A 50-year old woman was mauled to death by a lioness in Gujarat's Bharad village on Monday in a second such incident of lion killing a human on the periphery of the Gir lions sanctuary in last one month.

The attack took place in Dhari taluka of Amreli district in the state's Saurashtra region.

Labhuben Solanki, a migrant labourer, was sleeping with her family members in a mango orchard when a lioness dragged her into the nearby ravine. Her mutilated body was found barely half a kilometre away.

Dhari assistant conservator of forest (ACF) M.M. Muni said the woman's family members tried to save her by shouting but in vain.

"One of the three cubs of the lioness has been caged by the forest department while efforts to nab the killer beast are on," Muni said.

Earlier on March 19, 62-year-old Jinabhai Parmar was mauled to death by a lion in a similar manner while he was asleep in the open at Ambariya village of the district.

Muni said two lions were rounded up the next day and bones and a piece of cloth belonging to Parmar were found in the stool of one of them in the animal care center in Sasan. It meant the man was eaten up by lion.

Amreli district is home to over 170 Asiatic lions, according to the latest census conducted by the State Forest Department last year.

Asked about the recent attacks by lions on human beings, the forest officer said: "We are trying to find out the reason for such an unusual behaviour of the wild cat."

"Maybe hungry and thirsty lions get attracted to people sleeping in the open near a water body," he added.
New Delhi, April 11 : After four long years, 15 countries where tigers still roam free will come together on Tuesday to participate in the 'Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation' during which the latest tiger census will be presented.

The three-day conference, which will see conservation experts, ministers and senior officials from 15 Tiger Range countries gather together, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

"The prime minister will inaugurate the Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation. More than 700 tiger experts and other stakeholders are gathering to discuss the issues related to tiger conservation," union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said in a statement.

At the conference, the tiger countries will submit the updated census on the big, striped cats, as per the recommendation of the 2nd Stocktaking Conference to Review Implementation of the Global Tiger Recovery Programme (GTRP) in 2014 in Dhaka.

The conference is being hosted at the 'mid-way' of the "Global Tiger Summit" resolution adopted by 13 tiger range countries in 2010 at St. Petersburg, Russia, which was to double the tiger population by 2022 -- 'The Year of Tiger' as per Chinese calender.

India has also hiked the budget for Project Tiger to Rs.380 crore, Javadekar said. This is around Rs.240 crore more than the last budgetary allocation, a record hike.

"We have allotted Rs.380.00 crore to the Project Tiger in the current fiscal year, which is an all-time high and indicates that the Government of India is committed to the conservation of our national animal," said Javadekar.

Representatives from the earlier 13 Tiger Range Countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand and Vietnam as well as the two new ones of Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan will be participating. The two new countries gained entry for the Snow Leopard.

While several Tiger Range Countries like India, Nepal, Russia and Bhutan have registered an increase in tiger population, the status of tiger remains 'endangered', and has declined to 'non-viable' level in some range countries, a cause for concern. India is home to 70 percent of the world's tigers.

As per 2014 census, India had 2,226 tigers in 2014, which was 800 more than 2006. The country had 1,411 tigers in 2006, with 1,706 recorded four years later in 2010. Russia and Indonesia with 433 and 371 tigers respectively, have also recorded a hike in tiger population. China has just seven tigers left, according to data.

The Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation (AMCTC) is a part of Global Tiger Summit which was hosted at St. Petersburg, Russia in 2010.

The first AMCTC was hosted in 2010 at Thailand and the second in 2012 in Bhutan.
New Delhi, April 11 : The National Human Rights Commission on Monday issued a notice to the Kerala government over the temple fire tragedy that killed at least 109 people and left over 300 injured.

Taking cognizance of media reports on the tragedy at the Puttingal Devi temple in the coastal town of Paravur on Sunday, the commission said it was a serious matter of concern that temple authorities went for the fireworks despite no permission from the Kollam district administration.

"The commission has issued notices to the state chief secretary, the district magistrate and the Kollam superintendent of police, calling for reports within four weeks," said an NHRC statement here.

The commission also asked the Kerala government to report on steps taken to ensure such incidents did not occur in the future.
Guwahati, April 11 : The second and final phase of polling to the Assam assembly in 61 constituencies on Monday saw 82.02 percent of the over one crore voters casting their ballot, on a day that witnessed the death of a voter in a clash with security forces and injuries to many others in different places.

Polling officials estimate that the final poll percentage is likely to touch 85 percent as reports were still coming in from polling centres.

Balloting, which started at 7 a.m., saw incidents of violence in some areas.

Chief Electoral Officer Vijayendran said 82.02 percent polling has been recorded so far but the percentage was likely to increase further to 85 percent.

He said a total of 191 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were replaced in different polling stations due to their malfunctioning.

One person died following a baton charge by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel after a scuffle took place between a group of people and security forces at a polling station in Barpeta Road. Three other people were injured in the incident.

In another incident, security personnel deployed at a polling station at Nagarbera had to open fire in the air to control a crowd. No one was, however, injured in the incident.

Election officials said similar incidents were reported from some other areas as well.

Vijayendran said polling across the 61 constituencies was by and large peaceful.

Former prime minister and Congress leader Manmohan Singh cast his vote at the Dispur Government High School in Dispur area of Guwahati.

His wife Gurcharan Kaur, also a voter in Dispur constituency, however, did not come to vote.

"I think the people of Assam will reward the Congress party for the good work it has done for the people in the last 15 years," Manmohan Singh told the waiting media persons.

Asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegation that he had not done anything for Assam when he was the prime minister, he said: "I do not want to counter what the prime minister (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) has said about me. But he (Modi) also knows that what he has said is not true."

Tight security measures were put in place at the school since Monday morning.

Security forces, including personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force and Special Protection Group, allowed voters to enter the polling centre only after frisking.

Long queues were seen before the polling stations since around 6 a.m.

A total of 1,04,35,277 voters were eligible to cast their ballot in the second phase. Of these, 50,440,51 voters were women and 22 from the third gender.

There were 525 candidates in the fray -- 48 of them women. Voting took place in 12,699 polling stations across the state.

The first phase of polling for 65 constituencies took place on April 4 which remained peaceful and recorded 83.20 percent turnout.
New Delhi, April 11 : The Supreme Court on Monday said that the plea for SIT probe into the assault on JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others by some lawyers at Patiala House court complex on February 15 and 17 was "justified".

"That is the efficiency of the police in such a situation... they (petitioner) are justified in asking for an independent inquiry," said a bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre.

The bench said this as it was told that the Delhi High Court's registrar general had asked police to apprehend the stranger who was present in the "holding room" and had allegedly hitting Kanhaiya Kumar but by the time the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) who was called came, this man had left.

"Why did not police act? Obviously no body acted. In a high voltage drama if the registrar general of the high court was asking for him (stranger) to apprehended, why he was not (apprehended)," asked Justice Chelameswar.

The court observation came in the course of the hearing of a contempt petition by Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against three lawyers -- Vikram Singh Chauhan, Yashpal Singh and Om Sharma -- for allegedly interfering in the administration of justice and wilfully violating the February 17 order of the apex court.

Even as Delhi Police denied the presence of a unauthorised person in the "holding room" where Kanhaiya Kumar was kept before being moved to the trial court room, the court asked senior counsel Ajit Sinha appearing for Delhi Police to go through the registrar general's report which confirmed the presence of a stranger.

Sinha said that so-called stranger being mentioned was in fact among lawyers who had come to court room number three (which became holding room after lunch break) to inquire about the status of their case during the court proceedings before lunch.

At this, Justice Chelameswar asked: "Were they in their black robes?" "Even the high court registrar confirms the presence of the stranger in the court room number 3 (holding room)," he added.

The apex court had on February 26 sought response from the central government and Delhi Police on a plea for SIT probe into the assaults.

The apex court had also issued notice to three lawyers for allegedly interfering in the administration of justice and wilfully violating its February 17 order.
Kolkata, April 11 : The Border Security Force said it on Monday apprehended a woman and seized gold worth over Rs.33 lakh from her near the Bangladesh border West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district.

In a joint operation with the customs department, troopers of 76th battalion nabbed Tashlima Khatun from under Tarali border outpost area.

"Acting on intelligence input we intercepted a bus in which Tashlima Khatun was travelling. 10 gold biscuits weighing 1,164 grams and valued at Rs.33.33 lakh wer recovered form her. She along with the seized metal has been handed over to police," said a BSF officer.

The BSF so far in the year has apprehended six gold smugglers and seized gold worth over Rs.1.18 crore from across its south Bengal frontier zone.
New Delhi, April 11 : Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday embarked on a two-nation tour of France and Germany to further a semi-high speed train project, station redevelopment agreement and other projects.

Scheduled to visit France on April 11-12, Prabhu will meet French Transport Minister Alaon Vidalies and discuss the jointly funded project to increase the speed of trains on the Delhi-Chandigarh route from the current 110 km per hour to 200 km per hour with SNCF of France, an official statement said.

He will also discuss redevelopment of Ambala and Ludhiana stations based on French experience.

Prabhu will visit Germany from April 13 to 15 and meet officials there to discuss cooperation in various technologies of the rail sector, the statement added.
New Delhi, April 11 : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will on Tuesday leave for a 10-day visit to the US to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, a UN session on the drugs problem, and an interaction with American investors, said an official statement.

Jaitley will leave on Tuesday evening on an official visit to the US and arrive in Washington early morning on April 13, said a finance ministry statement.

The IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings will also be attended by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan and Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

In the first leg of his US visit, Jaitley on April 13 will address the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - on "Steering India Towards Growth", it said.

"On April 14, Jaitley will hold one to one meeting with his US counterpart, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, which would be followed by the 6th Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue between India and US," the statement said.

Jaitley will also meet National Development Bank's board of governors and BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors, it said.

On April 15, he will participate in the G-20 session for finance ministers and central bank governors. Thereafter, he will participate in the event to honor the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for nurturing the World Bank-United Nations partnership.

After the first leg of his tour, Jaitley will reach New York on April 17, where he will address a Special Session of the UN on the World Drug Problem on April 19.

He will address an Asia Society Event on the topic "Make In India-The New Deal" and also hold meeting with long-term funds and pension funds on "Invest in India", the statement said.

Jaitley is also proposed to participate in the Institutional Investors Meet in New York before leaving for India on April 20.
New Delhi, April 11 : The government on Monday asserted that no one would be allowed to exploit farmers and made it clear that it has the right and powers to regulate prices of items like cotton "whenever required".

"We will continue to regulate prices of seeds and other products whenever required," Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh said addressing a kharif conference here.

The observations are significant as the central government for the first time recently fixed a uniform price of Rs.800 per packet for Bt cotton seed.

Radha Mohan Singh on March 9 said there was "no uniformity" in pricing of Bt cotton seeds across the country and the government therefore intervened and issued a Cotton Seed Price (Control) Order to fix a uniform price of Bt cotton seed in 2015 "for the benefit of farmers".

As a matter of policy, the government is, however, not against Bt cotton or GM crops even as both the BJP's election manifesto in 2014 and the Rashtriya Sawemsewak Sangh (RSS) has from time to time said GM food will not be allowed without full scientific evaluation.

Government sources also maintained on Monday that just owing to patent rights and "knowledge", big companies and MNCs cannot be allowed to "charge whatever price because they have the know how".

In this context, the agriculture minister said the government was committed to help farmers increase their income "by reducing their marketing expenditure".

"A national agriculture market is being set up for electronic trading. In this programme, 585 agriculture mandis of India will be connected to each other. The farmers will get maximum price of their crops," Radha Mohan Singh said, adding that foreign investment will also be encouraged on this.

The efforts would minimise the "interference of mediators to a greater extent", he said.

The agriculture minister also said the government was taking concrete steps to remove debt problems of farmers.

The government has increased agricultural credit target Rs.9 lakh crore for the year 2016-17 to bring the farmers within institutional fold, he added.

Concerned that whitefly and bollworm attack could harm Bt cotton crop yields, the central government last week said henceforth it would promote native cotton varieties in states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

The decision to encourage cultivation of indigenous cotton was taken by Radha Mohan Singh after he and ministry officials held a detailed meeting here.
West Midnapore: People queue up to cast their votes during the second phase of West Bengal legislative assembly polls in West Midnapore of West Bengal on April 11, 2016. Image Source: IANS

People queue up to cast their votes during the second phase of West Bengal legislative assembly polls in Asansol of West Bengal on April 11, 2016. Image Source: IANS

Kolkata, April 11 : Braving the sweltering heat and oppressive humidity, people turned out in huge numbers on Monday to exercise their right to franchise in the West Bengal assembly polls in 31 constituencies, amid reports of sporadic violence and intimidation.

The opposition parties accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of resorting to widespread violence during the day, when the second part of the first phase of the assembly election took place covering 13 constituencies in West Midnapore and nine each in Bankura and Burdwan districts.

According to Election Commission officials, between 75 and close to 85 percent polling was seen in the three districts till 5 p.m. However, till 8 p.m., the officials could not provide the final overall percentage.

"In West Midnapore, the percentage was 84.71, Bankura recorded 78.87, and Burdwan 75.12," the officials said.

A polling official, Parimal Barui, deputed to a booth in Pandabeshwar of Burdwan district, fell ill on Sunday night and died on Monday, the EC said.

At least 13 people were injured in a clash between political rivals at Jamuria of Burdwan district. "Three-four people have been detained," said a police officer.

An Election Commission official said in Delhi that orders have been given for lodging an FIR against Trinamool legislator Mohammed Sohrab Ali, for entering a polling booth. The presiding officer was also removed.

Ali was not nominated by the Trinamool as a candidate this time, as he was given a two-year jail term by a court last year in a theft case.

An EC official here said no one was arrested anywhere for any poll-related offences, and there were no incidents of booth capturing.

"We have also not received complaints of any serious offences," the official said.

But the Left Front, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the polls were far from peaceful and fair.

Several crude bombs kept in a bag were seized from about 50 metres from a booth in Jamuria, while a Communist Party of India-Marxist polling agent had to be hospitalised after he was attacked at a polling booth in Chandrakona.

Tension prevailed in Bankura's Sonamukhi where a CPI-M polling agent was attacked and masked men, armed with bamboos and cane, were seen roaming around.

Locals, said to be Trinamool Congress activists, staged angry demonstrations against CPI-M state secretary and candidate from Narayangarh constituency of West Midnapore Surjya Kanta Mishra when he visited some of the booths on receiving complaints of electoral malpractices.

Pointing fingers at the Trinamool, the Left Front said the EC failed in its responsibility to protect people's democratic rights.

"There has been booth capturing and false voting across the constituencies. Our polling agents were assaulted, abducted and driven away, voters intimidated and our complaints regarding all that went un-redressed," said Left Front chairman Biman Bose.

He alleged that 150 booths were captured in Keshpur constituency, 30 in Garbeta and over 20 booths in Chadrakona.

Congress candidate from Sabong in West Midnapore district Manas Bhunia alleged that Trinamool "goons" looted votes in some parts of the constituency.

In Delhi, the Congress moved the Election Commission alleging malpractices in some constituencies and sought "protective measures" from the poll panel.

Union minister and BJP leader Babul Supriyo said: "Today there have been sporadic violence, but with every phase, the Trinamool's terror would increase. So we would urge the EC to enhance its supervisions and observation to ensure the polls are free and fair."

An electorate of nearly 70 lakh (69,79,788), including 33,68,311 females and 50 from the third gender, were eligible to choose their representatives from 163 candidates -- 21 of them women -- across 8,465 polling stations including two auxiliary stations.

The Trinamool, the Left Front-Congress combine and the BJP are locking horns in all the seats.

In the 2011 assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress had bagged 17 and its then ally Congress got three seats. The Left Front, then in power, won the remaining 11.

Voters in 18 constituencies -- six in West Midnapore, nine in Purulia and three in Bankura -- exercised their franchise on the first polling day on April 4.

Polling for the remaining phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5.
New Delhi, April 11 : India and Sri Lanka could soon finalise an agreement for building a bridge connecting both the countries, union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

"The project is under consideration, it is under discussion. But nothing has been finalised," Gadkari told journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club here.

He said discussions have been held on the issue with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

The Sri Lankan side is also "interested" in the project, he said, adding that even the Asian Development Bank has made a recommendation to that effect.

Wickremasinghe said in Colombo on March 23 that no formal talks between India and Sri Lanka have started yet on the project.

The issue had figured in Sri Lankan parliament as well.

"The Asian Development Bank is ready to fully finance a bridge building project connecting Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka. The project was also discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart during the latter's recent visit," Gadkari said last year.

Addressing correspondents of foreign media and others on Monday, Gadkari said the first Maritime India Summit 2016 to be inaugurated by Modi in Mumbai on April 14 will be a game changer in the development of India's coastal and port infrastructure.

The three-day summit being organised in pursuance of the government's policy of giving prime importance to developing infrastructure is aimed at attracting potential investors to the vast opportunities in the maritime sector.

Representatives and experts from 40 countries, in addition to India, will participate in the summit, where South Korea is the partner country, he said.

Gadkari, who had earlier favoured the Sethu Samundran project, declined to answer any question on the same, saying the model code of conduct is in place in Tamil Nadu in view of the assembly election.
New Delhi, April 11 : Moving to cement ties after a period of unease, India and the Maldives on Monday inked six agreements, including on defence cooperation, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen here and affirmed that the strategic Indian Ocean archipelago nation is among India's closest partners.

In his media statement after bilateral talks with Yameen, Modi said: "The Maldives is among India's closest partners. The stability and security of the Maldives are in the strategic interest of India."

He said he and President Yameen discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as terrorism.

"We are united by ancient cultural links, strong people-to-people ties and the tides of the Indian ocean," he said.

"India understands its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean and is ready to protect its strategic interests in this region."

He said the prompt implementation of a concrete action plan in the defence sector would strengthen security cooperation between the two countries.

Modi said that development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance would be the main elements of the security cooperation.

He also said that India was ready to be partner for the Maldives in its iHaven project, one of the most important projects in President Yameen's economic vision, and is being developed under the new laws of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The project has six main goals, which are to develop an airport, a harbour, bunkering services, real estate, shopping malls, and resorts on an atoll.

India and the Maldives exchanged six agreements in the fields of taxation, tourism, space research, defence and conservation of mosques following Monday's talks.

"President Yameen and I are aware of the growing dangers of cross-border terrorism and radicalisation in South Asia," Modi said, adding: "Information exchange between security agencies and training and capacity building of Maldives Police and security forces is an important part of our security cooperation.".

Modi also said that the South Asian satellite proposed by India would help the Maldives in the fields of education, health and tourism.

He said the agreement on cooperation in the tourism sector would boost people-to-people ties.

The agreement on conservation of ancient mosques in the Maldives would strengthen cultural ties, he said.

"We welcome the Third Maldives Investment Forum that will take place in India and which will boost our trade and investment relations," Modi said.

"President Yameen, India is a well-wisher and will match steps with the Maldives in its journey towards progress," he stated.

On his part, Yameen said that India was the most important friend of the Maldives.

"India is the most important friend of the Maldives. Relations between the Maldives and India are based on the cherished principles of mutual respect...That is why the Maldives pursues an India first foreign policy," he said.

Relations between India and the Maldives had cooled off following the incarceration of former president Mohamed Nasheed, who is viewed as a friend of India. India has also been uneasy of the growing closeness between the Maldives and China and Beijing's increasing investments in that country, including an estimated $800 million development of Male airport by a Chinese company.

India's GMR, which had bagged the initial contract to develop Male airport, was thrown out in 2013, adding to tension in ties.

Modi had also skipped making a visit to the archipelago nation in 2015.

However, both sides have been moving to mend ties. In December last year, India shipped shiploads of water to Male after a fire destroyed the generator of its biggest water treatment plant.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Male in October last year for the India-Maldives Joint Commission meeting, which was held after 15 years. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar visited the country in January this year.

Earlier on Monday, Sushma Swaraj called on President Yameen in his first engagement of the day in the city.

Yameen also met President Pranab Mukherjee before departing from India on Monday evening.

Yameen had earlier come to India on a bilateral visit in January 2014 and was among the South Asian leaders who attended Prime Minister Modi's swearing-in in May 2014.

India and the Maldives completed 50 years of diplomatic ties last year.

This year, Maldivian ministerial delegations to India, led by the foreign minister, defence minister, tourism minister, and foreign secretary "have further strengthened bilateral ties between India and Maldives", said a Maldives high commission statement.
Karwar, April 11 : Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday visited the Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka.

Carter, who is on a three-day visit to India, was briefed here by Flag Officer (Karwar) Rear Admiral R.J. Nadkarni on Project Seabird, the first phase of construction of the base.

The US defense Secretary also went on board the Indian Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Carter, who arrived in Goa on Sunday, visited the Manguesh temple and the tomb of St. Francis at the Basilica Bom Jesus situated in Old Goa area.

Parrikar accompanied Carter and later hosted dinner for him.

Parrikar also gifted Carter a model of HMS Minden, a ship built in a Mumbai dockyard where the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written on board by Francis Scott Key, a Baltimore author and lawyer who was held captive in 1814 by the British.

Parrikar and Carter will be holding a joint press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, officials said.

Prior to Carter's visit, the US under secretary (administration) had also visited India and held discussions on various bilateral issues, including defence technology and trade initiatives.

A statement from the US embassy ahead of Carter's visit said he (Carter) will advance the US's growing security where the country is developing new partnerships and modernising a long-standing alliance with India.
New Delhi, April 11 : The Indian government on Monday said that it will not allow the Cairn India-Vedanta Ltd. merger unless the former's over Rs.10,200 crore retrospective tax issue is settled.

"Cairn-Vedanta merger cannot be allowed unless the tax liability is settled. Cairn will have to first settle the tax liability," a senior official told reporters here.

"Government will notify time limit for settling retrospective cases under settlement window announced in budget. It will be a time-bound window. Notification will come after passage of the Finance Bill by mid-May," he said, adding the government continues to follow the judicial process in both the Cairn and telecom major Vodafone cases.

The IT department notice was issued on February 4 before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech on February 29 made a one-time offer to waive interest and penalty if companies paid the principal amount to settle the retrospective tax disputes.

The Anil Agarwal-led natural resources firm Vedanta Ltd. received approvals last September from both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the NSE on the company's proposal to merge with its hydrocarbons subsidiary Cairn India.

Merging Cairn India with itself would provide Vedanta access to the oil explorer's cash and help reduce its debt burden. Vedanta took majority control of Cairn India for $8.67 billion in 2011 and holds 59.9 percent in the latter through its various units.

Meanwhile, British oil major Cairn Energy has called for an annual general meeting of shareholders on May 12 in London to approve, among other things, the proposal to dispose of its 9.82 percent residual stake in Cairn India.

"One of the resolutions seeks approval of the renewal of the existing authority (renewed at last year's AGM held on 14 May 2015) to dispose of all or part of the Group's residual interest in Cairn India," the company said on its website.

The proposal comes against the backdrop of the retrospective tax demand of Rs.29,000 crore from the Indian tax department Cairn has received, on alleged capital gains the company made in a 2006 reorganisation of its India business.

"The aggregate amount of Rs.29,000 crore excludes any applicable penalty, which may also be applied to the final assessment (potentially up to 100 percent of the final assessment order, excluding interest)," Cairn said, adding the amount comprises final assessment of Rs.10,200 crore plus interest back dated to 2007 of up to Rs.18,800 crore.

Asserting that it would contest the assessment proceedings, it said it was pursuing its right to appeal against the order under the Indian law on the retrospective tax and penalty, besides protecting its assets from any legal action.

"The total assets of the Cairn subsidiary against which the tax authorities are seeking to pursue a tax claim are $477 million (including principally the group's near 10 percent shareholding in Cairn India Ltd.) and any recovery by the Indian authorities would be limited to such assets," Cairn said last month.
New Delhi, April 11 : The International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) on Monday appealed to the Centre to declare a national holiday on Ashoka Jayanti -- the birth anniversary of Emperor Ashoka -- on April 14.

IBC secretary general Lama Lobzang said they would pass a formal resolution at a cultural function in Delhi on April 14.

Lobzang said Emperor Ashoka was the tallest figure in India's history and yet there was no day to celebrate his legacy.

"All major symbols of our country's governance contain symbols related to Ashoka. For example, our national emblem Ashoka Chakra. To honour his immense contribution to the Indian ethos, we hope that the Indian government will take note and celebrate the historic day," he added.

He said the Bihar government had already declared Ashoka Jayanti a public holiday in the state.

"The cultural event to be held in Delhi on Ashoka Jayanti will be attended by union ministers Upendra Kushwaha and Kiren Rijiju, apart from many national and international personalities," he said.
New Delhi, April 11 : Hitting out at the RSS and the BJP, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that while his party was trying to destroy Manu's ideology of a caste system, they were trying to protect it.

Addressing a rally here as part of B.R. Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary celebrations, he said: "It is often said that around 1,000 years ago, a person called Manu lived in India. Ambedkar ji was talking about that person's ideology. He was pained by his idea.

"The Congress stood with Ambedkar ji and together they drafted the constitution, which was against Manu's ideas. The truth is that we've been successful in defeating Manu's ideology. But his ideas could not be erased from the minds of (certain) people.

"The constitution and the right to vote was just the beginning to defeat Manu's ideology. But, the battle is a long one."

Gandhi said that in India, there are only two ideologies - "one which protects Manu's ideology and the other which attacks it. The Congress talks about equality and in favour of the poor; on the other hand, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiay Janata Party (BJP) protects Manu's ideology. This is the truth of our country".

"The BJP is trying to eliminate Panchayati Raj in our coutry, which was started by us. Haryana and Rajasthan are glaring examples. They are saying if you don't go to schools, you can't contest panchayat elections. By doing so, they are denying lakhs of Dalit women the right to contest elections," he said.

"On one hand, there is constant attack on democratic structures and Panchayati Raj, and on the other, people are being denied education. Their aim is to deny you access to better education. Now, there is RSS influence on everything - education, bureaucracy everywhere," he added.

"Today, there is no university in India where there is no RSS person (in position of authority). They attack me because they know I will never surrender before the ideology of the RSS and Manu."
New Delhi, April 11 : Top commanders of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday began a three-day conference which will discuss key operational and organisational issues of the force, which is presently down to 33 operational squadrons, as well as issues of air bases' security.

The commanders' conference was inaugurated by Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar, and Defence Production Secretary A.K. Gupta were also present.

The meet is also expected to discuss induction into the force of Tejas light combat aircraft, with IAF's sanctioned strength at present is 39.5 squadrons, which is sought to be raised to 42.

Also on the agenda is the security of air bases in light of the terrorist attack in January on the Pathankot airbase and the security audit that was undertaken after that.

An official statement later said the aim of the conference is to "enhance the operational capability of the IAF".

Air Chief Marshal Raha updated Singh on operational status of the IAF, security measures in vogue and the progress on infrastructure development.

He also highlighted the efforts made to increase the aircraft serviceability and the corresponding increase in flying task of the IAF as compared to the previous years.

Achievements during recently conducted IAF and international exercises were also covered.

Air Chief Marshal Raha elaborated on the IAF's Focus Areas and the future road-map and also dwelt upon the efforts initiated for the well-being, morale and enhancement of physical fitness of the air warriors.

Singh meanwhile complemented the IAF for professional conduct during various exercises like Livewire and Iron Fist and also its contribution towards humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.

He emphasised on aviation safety, infrastructure development and the IAF's role towards indigenisation.

The coming two days will also focus on issues pertaining to air operations, maintenance, human resources and administration and aspects of support provided by Defence PSUs through indigenised production of prime equipment.

High level delegation from HAL, BEL and BDL will be attending the conference.

The air force commanders' conference is held twice a year.

More conferences of the commanders of the armed forces are scheduled this month: Navy's on April 21 and Army's from April 25 to 30.
Dubai, April 11 : India-UAE trade has increased phenomenally in the last half century and at $60 billion per annum currently, has made the Gulf nation India's third largest trading partner since the last couple of years, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

He was addressing prominent industry captains of UAE on the first day of his two-day official visit to this country, India's petroleum ministry said in a statement.

"India genuinely believes that there is potential to transform the buyer-seller relationship with UAE in energy into a genuine energy partnership," said Pradhan, who is accompanied by the CEOs of state-run companies like Indian Oil and BPCL.

Earlier, he inaugurated the Make in India pavilion at the annual investment meet being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre. "Inaugurated Make in India pavilion at Annual Investment Meet of Dubai with Deputy Minister of Economy of UAE," Pradhan tweeted.

He also visited the Jebel Ali Free Zone and met Indian investors there.

"Visited Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai & met the Authorities;it hosts 70000 Indians workers & 790 Indian companies," he said in another tweet.

Pradhan's visit to the United Arab Emirates is a follow up of the February India visit of Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei.

Pradhan will meet Al Mazrouei, besides meeting the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. UAE contributes in a major way to India's energy security, being the sixth largest supplier of crude oil. India is the second largest destination for UAE's oil exports.
Lucknow, April 11 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday condoled the killing of two medical students, hailing from the state, in Ukraine and ordered officials to extend all possible help to their families.

He also hoped that the third student, injured in the stabbing incident on Sunday, will recover soon.

Akhilesh Yadav asked district magistrates concerned and the resident commissioner of Uttar Pradesh in New Delhi to extend all possible help to the families of these students and talk to the Indian embassy in Ukraine to ensure that their bodies are brought back home at the earliest.

Of the two killed students, Pranav Shandilya belonged to Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh came from Ghaziabad. The injured student, Inderjeet Singh, is a resident of Agra.
Jerusalem, April 12 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel has carried out "dozens" of attacks in Syria to prevent weapons transfers to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

This was the most explicit statement Netanyahu, who visited a practice of reserve military soldiers in northern Israel's Golan Heights, had made in regards to airstrikes conducted in recent years against convoys allegedly carrying weapons in Syria, which Israel did not officially acknowledge in the past, Xinhua reported.

"We operate when we need to operate, as well as just over here across the border," Netanyahu told Israeli soldiers and journalists on Monday, pointing towards the direction of Syria.

"We have acted with dozens of attacks in order to prevent Hezbollah from receiving game-changing weapons," Netanyahu said.

Israel conquered and annexed the Israeli Golan Heights from Syria following the 1967 Mideast War.

Israel claims Iran and its proxies in Syria are providing weapons to Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia militant organisation situated in southern Lebanon, against which Israel had fought a war in 2006.

The attacks against convoys carrying weapons in Syria were connected to Israel by international media outlets, but Israel did not officially acknowledge these attacks.

Israeli officials only said they will operate "when and where" they see fit in order to defense Israel's security interests.
The organisation that represents house builders in the UK has issued a blueprint for Londons future housing supply which hopes that politicians in the city will take it on board when forming policy.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) says that its 10 point blueprint, Capitalising on Growth, should be taken into account by this years candidate in the London mayoral election when declaring their policies for housing in the city which is desperately short of new homes.

Current London mayor Boris Johnson is regarded as having done a lot to boost housing supply and put in place a number of measures to continue his vision but he is not standing for mayor this time.

The HBF wants the candidates to adopt 'tangible, workable and realistic' policies to deliver the increases in housing supply and build on the significant increases in the number of new homes being built over the last two years.

The document includes recommendations that the next mayor of London ensures sites are viable and deliverable by introducing realistic levels of affordable housing and supporting the delivery of specialist private rented housing.

It also calls on the next mayor to make better use of and improve London's existing estates while working with authorities in the wider South East to create a strategic approach to delivering homes that can support London's growth.

The blueprint says that the mayor neds to act as a hub to coordinate efforts by all the public bodies with land holdings in London so that more land actually comes forward for house building and it calls for more underused commercial spaces to be turned into homes.

We welcome the very vocal commitments of candidates to increase housing supply in London. We now need to see realistic, workable policies to be developed that will allow these homes to be built, said HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley.

If London is to maintain its status as the world's capital city and keep on powering the national economy, it must continue to attract people, businesses and investment. The capital's chronic housing shortage and resultant affordability crisis now threatens London's status as a global powerhouse and can only be solved by a sustained increase in supply, he explained.

In just two years, housing supply has increased by over 25% but we are still only delivering around half the number of homes needed. We need to maintain a strong investment environment for developers, keep sites deliverable and ensure that planning resources are in place so that builders can obtain planning permission and get on site as quickly as possible, he added.
Despite the rise of urban living in the UK, many home buyers are still searching for the ultimate period property in an idyllic green setting, research suggests.

In particular, the countrys 15 designated green breathing spaces or National Parks along with 45 smaller Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) often appeal to many.

A new analysis from real estate firm Savills of these areas across the country, excluding coastal locations, shows that the average sale price for a detached house within a National Park or AONB is 450,000.

This compares with a value of 347,000 for properties in the same county not within the park or AONB and represents a hefty 29.7% premium for buyers seeking their perfect property in these locations.

The research report identifies key established prime and emerging prime hotspots throughout the UK and the most expensive areas were found to be in the south of the country. Surrey Hills is the most expensive green location in the prime market while Snowdonia National Park in Wales is the cheapest.

The established prime areas are named as Surrey Hills where the average sale prices in 2015 was 963,000, some 82.4% over the rest of the county and up 9% compared to five years ago. Next is the South Downs with an average 2015 sale price of 721,000, some 57.6% above the rest of the county and up 20.1% over five years. Then it is the Cotswolds with an average price of 558,000, some 47% more than the rest of the area and up 9.8% over five years.

Emerging prime areas are topped by Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs with an average sale price of 507,000 in 2015, some 26.5% more than the rest of the area and up 10.9% over five years. Next is the Kent Down with an average of 565,000 but this is 4.4% less than the rest of the country although average prices are up 8.4% over five years. Then is High Weald with a 2015 sales price average of 570,000, some 7% above the rest of the area and up 5.7% over five years.

In the emerging prime market, the Midlands and Wales saw strong growth, with the Lincolnshire Wolds showing an 11.9% increase over a five year period, attracting a premium of 25.8% above county averages. Clwydian Range and Dee Valley in Wales has an average sale price of just 272,000 but this is some 26.2% over the country average and up 9.6% over a five year period.



In the North of the country the Howardian Hills, populated with scenic villages and historic houses, maintained a 36.9% premium over the surrounding county. In the Yorkshire Dales the average 2015 sales price at 380,000 is some 27.2% compared with the rest of the country but is down 2.6% over five years.

In Scotland in the Cairngorms National Park the average price of 250,000 is some 0.8% below the average and up just 0.7% over five years. In the popular Lake District while the average sales price of 446,000 is 64.8% over the rest of the county it is down 1.5% over five years.

Although we believe the trend for urban living will continue for at least the medium term, villages and rural countryside now represent good value in comparison to larger towns, and an overall good buy opportunity, the report concludes.
Some 50% of homes sold in the UK in the last two weeks of March were bought by landlords as they sought to beat the new stamp duty deadline on 01 April, new research shows.

There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence that buy to let landlords had been rushing to beat the additional homes surcharge of 3% but the monthly lettings index from Countrywide confirms this.

It says that 50% of homes were bought by landlords in the final 15 days of March compared to 18% during the same period in 2015.

Countrywides whole market estimates also show that 28 billion worth of home sales were completed in March, a 76% increase on the previous year, and overall landlords accounted for 23% homes sold in March compared to 13% in the previous year.

This surge in landlord activity means more housing has been made available for tenants to rent and some 22% more homes were brought to the rental market in the first quarter of 2016 than in the same quarter in 2015 and has contributed to lower rental growth rates compared to last year.

The percentage increase in the number of homes to rent has not been matched by the increase in the number of prospective tenants looking for a home which has put further downward pressure on rents. The number of tenants registering was up 16% in the first three months of 2016, compared to the same time last year.

London experienced the largest increase in new rented homes, up 40% on the first quarter of 2015, but lower growth of tenant numbers, up only 8% over the same period. This has resulted in a rapid deceleration in rental price growth with rents in Greater London growing 2.9% in March, less than half the 7.4% recorded in 2015.

The average UK rent rose 3.4% in the year to March 2016, two thirds of the rate in March 2015. Rents grew fastest in the East of England, increasing by 8.5% over the year. Growth in the East of England was driven by increasing numbers of new tenants registering in the first three months of the year, up 34% year on year, the highest increase of any region.

Quite at odds with the intentions of the policy, the first measurable effect of the introduction of the new stamp duty rate has been to increase the number of homes owned by landlords, although this will likely be a temporary affect as we see reduced investor activity in future months, said Johnny Morris, Research Director at Countrywide.

The increase in supply of homes to rent from landlords bringing forward purchases seems to have taken the edge off rental growth. A similar increase in tenants looking for a home to rent though would indicate this may not persist, he pointed out.

The large number of sharers, and people living with parents means there is a big store of pent up demand in the rental market, he added.
"Front Street is pleased to partner with UF and JLL to build further momentum within Innovation Square by managing and leasing Ayers, said Nick Banks, managing director, Front Street.

Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group (Front Street) has been selected to work with the University of Florida (UF) and JLL as the local property management and leasing agent for Ayers Plaza at Innovation Square. UF has engaged JLL, a professional services firm specializing in commercial real estate, to manage UFs assets in and around Innovation Square to accelerate progress in the area. Front Streets role in this project began April 1, 2016.

Ayers Plaza is a key property at Innovation Square, as it has space available immediately for interested businesses wishing to capitalize on the strategic location in proximity to UFs main campus. As JLL and UF work with site selectors, corporations and developers on the surrounding shovel-ready acreage, Front Street will work to fill existing office space in alignment with current area tenants.

Front Street is pleased to partner with UF and JLL to build further momentum within Innovation Square by managing and leasing Ayers, said Nick Banks, managing director, Front Street, Our brokers in Gainesville and throughout the state are excited to bring new companies to our region.

With expansion of the Florida Innovation Hub scheduled for completion in 2018 and JLL working to identify leasees for surrounding properties, existing office space at Ayers Plaza offers an immediate opportunity for businesses to maximize public-private partnerships and to connect technology and research offerings from UF with the market.

Innovation Square is an important part of UFs drive to preeminence, said Lee Nelson, director, Office of Real Estate, University of Florida, In order to compete with the universe of innovation districts around the country, UF enlisting JLL and Front Street will enable the message of Innovation Square to be spread to the potential users and developers who will find value in creating something at one of the countrys premier research universities.

Front Street has already started marketing Ayers Plaza in coordination with UF and JLL as part of a long-term vision for Innovation Square and the surrounding area. Additional information about the property can be found at: http://www.frontstreet.net/ayers-plaza

###

About Front Street:

Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group is a leader in the Central and North Central Florida commercial real estate business. The companys mission is to impact its community, clients and industry by doing commercial real estate differently. Front Street is committed to leadership in the commercial real estate business by offering superior brokerage, commercial mortgage banking and property management solutions to its commercial real estate clients. For more information please visit http://www.FrontStreet.net.

About JLL:

(NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual fee revenue of $4.0 billion and gross revenue of $4.5 billion, JLL has more than 200 corporate offices, operates in 75 countries and has a global workforce of approximately 53,000. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 3.0 billion square feet, or 280.0 million square meters, and completed $99.0 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2013. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $53.0 billion of real estate assets under management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit http://www.jll.com.

About Innovation Square at the University Of Florida:

Innovation Square brings technology and business together, enabling companies to harness the innovations of researchers at the University of Florida. Serving as a live/work/play community to foster the collision of ideas and the collaborative spirit of todays researchers and entrepreneurs, Innovation Square features a long-term, 40-acre urban plan that will include more than five million square feet of labs, offices, residences, shops, restaurants and more. For further information, visit: http://innovationsquare.ufl.edu/.
The American Board of Audiology (ABA) today announced that Samantha Dixon, AuD, of Jacksonville, FL; Leann Johnson, AuD, of Greeley, CO; and Susan Von Dollen, AuD, of Philadelphia, PA; are now Board Certified in Audiology. By obtaining this nationally recognized credential, Drs. Dixon, Johnson, and Von Dollen demonstrate their commitment to professional excellence in audiology.

The ABA identifies and formally recognizes audiologists whose knowledge base is consistent with the highest professionally established credentials and distinguishes them as Board Certified in Audiology. By becoming ABA certified, Drs. Dixon, Johnson, and Von Dollen also show they are willing to achieve and maintain the highest professional standards while remaining current in the latest audiology developments and issues.

The Board Certified in Audiology credential is administered by the ABA for the express purpose of certifying audiologists and helps consumers recognize those individuals who have completed standardized education and training and are committed to continuing their professional development.

Meagan Lewis, AuD, Board Certified in Audiology and holder of the ABA Cochlear Implant Specialty Certification (CISC), is the Chair of the Board of Governors for the ABA. Lewis notes, I am a firm believer that pursuing certification is a way for audiologists to demonstrate true commitment and dedication to the field and to excellence in audiology. Holding the ABAs Board Certified in Audiology will allow Drs. Dixon, Johnson, and Von Dollen to demonstrate to both patients and colleagues that they care deeply about their profession and are willing to take the time and make the effort to stay current in best practices in audiology.

The ABA has been granting credentials to audiologists since 1999. Board Certified in Audiology is a voluntary program administered by audiologists for audiologists through the ABA. Benefits accrue to both the audiologist and the consumer through recognition of the commitment to continued education in the field of audiology.

For more information regarding Board Certified in Audiology and the American Board of Audiology, visit http://www.boardofaudiology.org or call the ABA at 1-800-881-5410.

About the American Board of Audiology (ABA)

The American Board of Audiology (ABA) creates, administers, and promotes rigorous

credentialing programs that elevate professional practice and advance patient care.

ABA credentials are earned by leading audiologists, respected by other healthcare providers, and trusted by patients. The ABA administers the Board Certified in Audiology, the Pediatric Audiology Specialty Certification (PASC), the Cochlear Implant Specialty Certification (CISC), and the Certificate HolderAudiology Preceptor (CH-AP) certificate training program, all of which are voluntary certification programs.

Follow us on Twitter @AmerBoardofAud

# # #

Website: http://www.boardofaudiology.org
Sanders joins North American Title Co. as VP, regional education director, Mountain Region Mickeys hiring is part of a new initiative to present more continuing education accredited training in the Mountain Region.

Mickey Sanders has joined North American Title Co.s Mountain Region as its new vice president, regional education director. Sanders experience includes 12 years as director of real estate agent training for a national title company and 14 years with a Colorado title company, where she served as a manager and sales representative.

Mickeys hiring is part of a new initiative to present more continuing education accredited training in the Mountain Region, said Devin Spindler, vice president and sales manager, North American Title Co. Its very exciting to have such a dynamic trainer on staff. We are looking forward to all the ways in which we can utilize her talents to assist our local real estate professionals.

North American Titles Mountain Region includes Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota and Utah.

Sanders career in the title industry began in 1990. She quickly rose to a managerial position, while also holding responsibility for business development. In her most recent position, she gained experience in group and individual training, content development, sales and market share improvement and conference planning, which was directed to real estate agents in the Denver market. Sanders has also served since 2009 as an adjunct faculty instructor at Red Rocks Community College. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado  Colorado Springs.

Located at North American Titles Cherry Creek office at 101 University Blvd., Suite 310, Denver, CO 80206, Sanders may be reached at telephone number (303) 316-3400.

About North American Title

With well over 1,000 associates and a vast network of branches from coast to coast, North American Title (NAT) is among the largest real estate settlement service providers in the United States. Consisting of both agent and underwriter operations, NAT reported annual net revenues in fiscal 2015 of $229 million. The company also has the resources and stability of a wholly owned subsidiary of an S&P 500 company with over $14.4 billion in assets (fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2015). North American Titles agency network operates nationally under the name North American Title Co. (NATC) in 19 of the fastest-growing states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia, in addition to the District of Columbia. Through our relationship with our expanding affiliate network, NATC provides real estate settlement services in all 50 states. NAT is headquartered in Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.nat.com
Wheelhouse Workshop "My normally quiet and introverted son leaves this workshop smiling and excited to share out the adventures he just embarked upon. He sees how to better listen, interact, and help others. Thank you for this experience for him and our family."

Wheelhouse Workshop, a Seattle-based group helping teens and adolescents build social skills using role-playing games, is expanding into the South Seattle area this summer. Since 2013, Wheelhouse Workshops Kirkland and Greenwood neighborhood weekly social skills groups have used modified rules from the popular and accessible game Dungeons and Dragons to provide a safe, supportive, and fun setting in which youth build friendships and connect with others who have similar challenges and life experiences. Using their training in counseling, drama therapy, and human development, Wheelhouse Workshop founders Adam Davis and Adam Johns target real-world areas of social growth in a compelling format that makes players want to return week after week.

Wheelhouse Workshop groups serve families with teens or adolescents who have had difficulty making friends or developing social skills, either due to a mental health diagnosis or simply a lack of rewarding social experiences. Players sit around a table, rolling dice and role-playing as a team of heroes in a fantasy world that they create. Players work on frustration tolerance, leadership skills, empathy, and creative problem solving, while they are having fun and interacting directly with their peers. Wheelhouse Workshop group facilitators are additionally trained to design in-game scenarios, so that players can work on specific areas of social growth identified by a parent, therapist, teacher, or the player themself.

For enrollment or to learn more about Wheelhouse Workshops services, visit http://www.wheelhouse-workshop.com.

Adam Davis and Adam Johns founded Wheelhouse Workshop in 2013 while studying psychology and human development at Antioch University Seattle. Adam Johns earned his MA in psychology and is a licensed marriage and family therapist working in private practice in Kirkland. Adam Davis earned his Masters in education with a specialization in drama therapy. Adam Davis is a recognized member of the North American Drama Therapy Association, and is a contributing author to a book about the role of psychology in pop culture.

Davis and Johns have spoken around the country about their work with Wheelhouse Workshop, addressing audiences at the Penny Arcade Expos in Seattle and San Antonio; Emerald City Comicon; OrcaCon; and Save Against Fear, a convention in Pennsylvania about the therapeutic use of gaming. They have appeared on several podcasts, including Psychology in Seattle, Role Playing Public Radio, and the Cap and Ton show, and were interviewed for both d-Infinity.net and pixelkin.org. Antioch University recently contracted them to teach a Masters workshop concerning the use role playing games in clinical practice.

Wheelhouse Workshop returned as panelists to Emerald City Comicon on Friday, April 8, 2016, with a panel titled Please Dont Punch the GM: Adventures in Gaming Therapy.

Adam Davis & Adam Johns

contact(at)wheelhouse-workshop(dot)com

(206) 588-5523

http://www.wheelhouse-workshop.com
The Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin is presenting the first HealthCare Texas 2016, the annual technology and venture capital conference bringing together more than 300 leading innovators in healthcare information technology, digital health, life sciences, and therapeutics. The two-day conference, running May 3-4, will feature more than 20 speakers, 30 investors, and 40 companies. It will be held at Brazos Hall in downtown Austin TX. For more information and to register to attend, see http://texasgrowthcapitalforum.com/.

This is such an exciting time, and Texas is such an exciting place to be working on improving health and transforming healthcare, said Clay Johnston, inaugural Dean of the Dell Medical School, which is the first brand new medical school to be built at a top-tier research university in about 50 years. We see unprecedented opportunities for connecting innovators with people who are wrestling with some facet of the health ecosystem. Our leaders are looking forward to discussing some of these developments and the platforms for innovation that result from them.

The HealthCare Texas 2016 event schedule includes three distinct program tracks. The first day, May 3, will feature keynotes and innovation panels, and both days will have a programs for venture capital matching. On May 3, speakers include a keynote address open to the public featuring Mark McClellan, Former Commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration, discussing The State of Innovation Policy. For more on Mark McClellan, visit http://goo.gl/Te8B3s

The four forum panels will be comprised of industry and thought leaders representing local, regional, and national perspectives. Topics will cover issues fundamental to Texas healthcare innovation and effective public policy, including innovations role in reducing cost and improving the quality of healthcare delivery.

A VIP lunch keynote will feature Christopher W. Kersey, Chairman of the Board of Johns Hopkins International and Managing Member of Camden Partners, talking about Global Health and Technology. For more on Christopher W. Kersey, visit http://goo.gl/aHjVej

HealthCare Texas 2016 is accepting applications for companies interested in pitching before investors at the conference. Up to 20 Series A companies will have the opportunity to present open demonstrations and schedule private sessions with matched investors and prospective partners. Five of these will be selected by a jury to present to attendees in fast-pitch format for a chance to win the Series A Venture Award. In addition, 35 Texas growth, or Series B, companies seeking late-stage funding will participate in private investor-matched one-on-one sessions. Five of these companies will be selected to present to the full conference audience in a fast-pitch format for a chance to win the Series B Innovation Award. It is free to apply.

This business match-making and fast-pitch competition is being produced by the Texas Growth Capital Forum, whose mission is to ignite the innovation and success of the brightest Texas technology companies with access to capital from national and regional investors. Its 2015 Texas Venture Growth Forum conference brought together 42 venture capitalists and growth investors and 27 Texas CEOs, who participated in more than 125 matched one-on-one meetings. The 2016 event provides a first focus on health and healthcare, including digital health, healthtech, life sciences and biotechspanning medical devices and software solutions to therapeutics and pharmaceuticals. Companies may apply at http://texasgrowthcapitalforum.com/register/

Our mission is to measurably increase the venture capital and investor presence throughout the state. Startups founded in Texas need broader access to capital at every stage of growth to maximize their potential to achieve global scale, said Matt Black, director at the Texas Growth Capital Forum who is producing HealthCare Texas 2016. Were focused on attracting diverse capital interests to Texas to build a lasting national network.

Presented by the Dell Medical School, HealthCare Texas 2016 is produced by Texas Growth Capital Forum (TxGCF), and sponsored by Austin Healthcare Council and the Moon Group at Merrill Lynch. More information is found at http://texasgrowthcapitalforum.com/ Conference will be tweeted at #HCTX
There is so much contradictory information online, that we wanted to create a guide for our customers that would have all the latest, most accurate information, all in one place.

LinkNow Media, a web design and online marketing company based in Montreal, has released the second installment of their free ebook, "The Ultimate Guide to Online Marketing for Small Businesses." Their stated goal is to provide the definitive guide to online marketing for small business owners who want to handle as much of the work themselves as possible.

"We started this project because we noticed a huge amount of demand for this kind of information," says writer, Lauchlin MacDonald. "There is so much contradictory information online, so we wanted to create a guide for our customers that would have all the latest, most accurate information, all in one place."

MacDonald continues, "This second installment is all about one of the most important factors in online marketing and one that we've seen the most confusion about. Domain authority and link building are complicated topics and small business owners trying to learn about them will find a lot of confusing and outdated information. The new chapter of our guide is a great starting point for small business owners who want to learn how to start boosting their websites' rankings in Google and other search engines."

LinkNow Media's Ultimate Guide to Online Marketing for Small Businesses is being released for free one chapter at a time on their website. Both the guide and many other online marketing posts can be found on their blog.
Intermedix CEO, Joel Portice There is a mistaken assumption that sophisticated crisis management software, such as WebEOC, is widely used in Europe, but that is not the case. We are looking forward to changing this in the months and years ahead.

Intermedix will formalise its UK debut as a sponsor of this years Ambition EPRR Expo, the Emergency Preparedness Resilience & Response event at Olympia in London. The global provider of technology-enabled solutions to emergency services and health care professionals will showcase its offerings from 19-20 April, at the world class Ambition Expo.

Ambition delegates will get the first UK demonstration of WebEOC, the key software solution from Intermedix, and the platform on which the company aims to develop its presence in the European market. Ambition is a key event for those involved in worldwide emergency preparedness and an interest in the EPRR community generally. It is the venue to see the very latest technology and discuss the most pressing topics faced by the industry today. All reasons for Intermedix to attend in 2016.

Our attendance at Ambition is another key plank in our expansion plans. As our European operations are based here in Reading, this is the event weve been waiting for, said Intermedix CEO, Joel Portice, who will be attending the event. Emergency services in the UK and Europe have a hard-earned reputation for excellence, but were all well aware of the complex challenges faced by these services, both within the Inner Cordon and working in civil contingencies. Intermedix has answers to many of these challenges, added Portice.

Ambition 2016 is aligned with the National Resilience capabilities Programme and the National Respond and Rescue Strategy supported by the Cabinet Office. Major incident scenarios are likely to be high on the agenda, and the Intermedix team will be ready to discuss the firms solutions with policymakers and operational managers.

WebEOC is the ultimate crisis management tool in the industry. Used in more than 25 countries worldwide, WebEOC is the first choice for those working in crisis management. Trusted by federal and local government agencies in the US, WebEOC has been at the heart of managing a host of significant events, from President Obamas Inauguration to major disasters like Hurricane Irene in 2015 and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Intermedix is a byword in the US for technology-driven solutions, and our goal is to bring our know-how and innovative software to the European market, said Portice. There is a mistaken assumption that sophisticated crisis management software, such as WebEOC, is widely used in Europe, but that is not the case. We are looking forward to changing this in the months and years ahead.

WebEOC is a fully integrated control hub, enabling all partner agencies involved in an incident to make informed decisions fast, based on real time evidence. Providing all Category 1 responders (fire, police and ambulance services) with the means to share live information from an incident allows for unrivalled cooperation so essential in saving lives when a major incident is in progress. The reliability and unrivalled functionality of WebEOC continues to make it the mainstay of civil contingency and emergency resilience and response.

WebEOC has been the go to incident management solution for more than ten years, said Joel Portice. When people see it in action, to say they are impressed is an understatement. The latest upgrade of WebEOC represents the next generation in emergency response, and we need to give policymakers and the wider industry in Europe the opportunity to see the benefits for themselves. The Ambition EPRR Expo is a great place to start, concluded Portice.
The StaySafe app provides peace of mind that our employees are safe while they work alone. StaySafe is the most user-friendly solution we have seen and both the Hub and the app are extremely simple to use.

Kingswood provide servicing and installation of air conditioning equipment to businesses across the UK including the NHS and Universities. Their engineers often travel and work on sites alone, working at height and with heavy equipment.

StaySafe is an app and cloud-based monitoring service which allows employers to monitor the location and safety status of their lone workers and be alerted if an employee is in need of assistance.

According to HSE (2014/2015) slips, trips and falls as well as heavy lifting are two of the top causes of workplace accidents and those working in the facilities management industry are particularly at risk. With Kingswood also operating an out of hour call service, having a way to alert someone if an accident occurs became a top priority for the business.

Prior to launching the app Kingswood employees were expected to call into the office on an hourly basis to confirm they were safe. However, employees were not always following this procedure and problems with phone signal meant that they couldnt always keep in contact.

After researching the market for a more reliable and less time consuming solution, Kingswood selected StaySafe. The app works on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry and offers a wide range of functions including a panic button, working session expiry and low battery warnings, GPS and satellite tracking, man-down and duress alerts.

James Oliver at Kingswood comments the StaySafe app provides peace of mind that our employees are safe while they work alone. StaySafe is the most user-friendly solution we have seen and both the Hub and the app are extremely simple to use. The man-down feature as well as location monitoring were particularly important to us when selecting a solution and StaySafe ticked all the boxes. The solution overcomes many of the issues we faced before such as out of hours monitoring and lack of phone signal at some of our sites. We now feel confident that we are meeting our duty of care to our lone working employees around the clock.

Don Cameron CEO at StaySafe adds we understand that there are many different safety challenges facing lone workers across different industries. For the facilities management industry, accidents are a very prevalent risk and employees sometimes arent able to call for help. StaySafe offers peace of mind that regardless of the situation someone will be alerted and can respond quickly, preventing a situation from escalating further.
A new survey of 1,000 teens by Junior Achievement USA and Voya Foundation shows that nearly two-thirds of teens, or 65 percent, understand that borrowers are ultimately responsible for paying off their student loans, even if they borrowed more money than they are able to pay off, while 11 percent believe the government should do so. Fewer, 7 percent, believe it is the responsibility of the college and 5 percent think its up to the lender to resolve.

The survey was conducted March 1-6 by Opinion Research.

"College education is the second largest investment many people will make in their lifetimes, and yet decisions to take on student debt are made by 17 and 18 year olds who have received little to no financial literacy education," said Bernadine Venditto, president of Junior Achievement of Western CT.

Junior Achievement of Western CT is addressing students' need for improved financial literacy this month and year round with its Financial Literacy programs for elementary, middle and high school students. At each grade level, students learn, through interactive lessons, about spending money within a budget, savings, debt, investing and using credit cautiously.

To help make better informed decisions about paying for higher education, Junior Achievement offers a free online guide, Understanding the Student Loan Explosion: Implications for Students and Their Families (https://www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-usa/ja-influencer), to teens, parents, teachers and school counselors. It highlights factors students should take into consideration when exploring opportunities for higher education. These include how to better understand the real costs of going to college and how to weigh alternatives to a four-year school, such as community college and technical schools.

The survey also found that 89 percent of teens who responded expect to attend college. Of those, 40 percent expect help in the form of scholarships and grants; 21 percent believe they will receive financial support from their parents and family members; 17 percent plan to work to earn money for college; and approximately 11 percent anticipate taking on student loans to help pay for their higher education.

About Junior Achievement of Western Connecticut

Junior Achievement is the worlds largest organization dedicated to empower young people with the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. For more information about JAWCT or to volunteer, please visit http://www.jawct.org or call 203.382.0180.

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SAP Pinnacle Award It is a great honor to win an SAP Pinnacle Award, said Brad Peterson, Co-Founder and CEO of Macromicro. This award highlights the innovation possible with the HANA Cloud Platform and reflects our commitment to the technology.

Macromicro today announced that it has received a 2016 SAP Pinnacle Award as the Application Development Partner of the Year, which recognizes its outstanding contributions as an SAP partner. SAP presents these awards annually to the top partners that have excelled in developing and growing their partnership with SAP and helping customers run better. Winners and finalists in 19 categories were chosen based on recommendations from the SAP field, customer feedback and performance indicators in the following umbrella categories: Build, Service, and Sell with each category including a Customers Choice award, which recognizes a customer-nominated SAP partner.

It is a great honor to win an SAP Pinnacle Award, said Brad Peterson, Co-Founder and CEO of Macromicro. This award highlights the innovation possible with the HANA Cloud Platform and reflects our commitment to the technology.

Winning the SAP Pinnacle Award is a tremendous accomplishment, said Rodolpho Cardenuto, president of SAP Global Channels & General Business. Only 16 companies in our ecosystem of 13,000 partners received this recognition. Macromicro should be very proud of their success.

Kevin Ichhpurani, executive vice president of SAP Strategic Business Development & Global Ecosystem added, The SAP Pinnacle Award winners represent the very best in our partner community, and we congratulate Macromicro for a well-deserved 2016 SAP Pinnacle Award.

Macromicro is an SAP Partner, and member of the SAP PartnerEdge for Application Development program. Its flagship application, OrgInsight, leverages SAP HANA to extend existing workforce applications with unique mapping and visual analytics that provide insights not possible with traditional solutions.

Working with SAP and the HANA Cloud Platform was the perfect choice for us said Harri Nieminen, Chief Technology Officer of Macromicro. The platform provides an unparalleled environment for innovation, and implementation of our visual workforce mapping and analytic solution.

SAP Pinnacle Awards shine a spotlight on SAPs partners remarkable contributions, acknowledging their dedication to teamwork, innovative approach and capacity to challenge what is possible to help customers achieve their goals. Award winners will be formally recognized at the SAP Global Partner Summit being held on May 16, in conjunction with SAPPHIRE NOW, SAPs international customer conference being held in Orlando, Florida, May 1719.

For descriptions of the awards, visit: http://www.sap.com/partners/become/partner-program/benefits/pinnacle-awards.html.

About Macromicro

Macromicro is recognized for making cutting-edge, interactive data visualizations and organizational analysis tools. Based on a blend of business insight and design thinking, Macromicro enables new forms of organizational discovery and multidimensional analysis not possible through traditional analytic tools or spreadsheets. Its flagship application, OrgInsight, is used by HR leaders, workforce planners, and HR data analysts to understand context and proactively manage organizational complexity.

# # #

SAP, SAPPHIRE and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx for additional trademark information and notices.

All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

SAP Forward-looking Statement

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, forecast, intend, may, plan, project, predict, should and will and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
We saw several compelling presentations at Cypress University that underscored the real successes companies are having with self-funding.

An annual conference hosted by Cypress Benefit Administrators in Las Vegas, Cypress University recently wrapped its fifth year of sharing solutions and strategies to help contain the ever-escalating costs of employee health plans.

Adam Russo of the Phia Group opened the first day with a dynamic keynote address that communicated a clear message to the 250+ participants in attendance: five million lives have come into self-funding at the start of 2016 for the simple reason that self-funding puts employers in control. He explained that having this control gives employers the ability to customize their plan offerings to fit employees needs and avoid unnecessary costs which, in turn, leads to significant savings. With self-funding, employers find savings opportunities everywhere, Russo said.

Cypress, a Wisconsin-based third party administrator (TPA), has been hosting the event since 2012. The TPAs goal is to connect employers, brokers and experts in the self-funded industry through a series of panels, presentations and networking opportunities. This latest installment re-visited popular topics from years past like client successes in self-funding and developments in stop loss insurance, but also focused on new innovations and ways of thinking.

Self-funding has really been in the spotlight in the last few years as its experienced some tremendous growth, said Tom Doney, president and CEO of Cypress. The conference is a way for us to emphasize what continues to work with this health plan model and introduce new strategies to keep enhancing it.

Some of the topic areas covered at Cypress University for the first time included the new, innovative GoodRx app with explanation from Bryce Canfield on how it allows consumers to shop for the best prescription prices, and a session by Sean Fogarty of CuraLinc Healthcare that took a closer look at mental health costs and employee assistance programs.

In focusing on having better control of the costs of medical care, Ed Day of HST and Cindy Hom of MedWatch shared the latest progress in the reference-based pricing (RBP) realm and Curt Kubiak of NOVO Health introduced an alternative pricing model thats based on direct contracting with providers.

Other sessions at Cypress University 2016 covered:



Managing prescription costs and understanding new specialty drugs; Cheri Caruso of Magellan Rx

Comprehensive cancer care management; John Van Dyke of INTERLINK

Advances in domestic medical tourism; John and Shauna Thomas of Hostcare Resources

Patient advocacy and navigating the health care system; Angela Altherr of Akeso Care Management

Captive insurance and employer successes; Andrew Clayton of Pareto Captive Services

How to comply with ACA reporting requirements; Mark Combs of ProACA Reporting Solutions

On-site and near-site medical clinics; Deb Geihsler of Activate Healthcare

Chronic kidney disease management; Shelley Grace and Sally Repucci of Renalogic

Controlling the costs of diagnostic imaging; Jim Phifer of One Call Care Management

We saw several compelling presentations at Cypress University that underscored the real successes companies are having with self-funding, Doney said. Its our hope that participants will take some of the savings tips and tactics learned here and apply them in their own health plans.

A privately held company headquartered in Appleton, Wis., Cypress Benefit Administrators has been pioneering the way toward cost containment in self-funded health benefits since 2000. The third party administrator (TPA) is the countrys first to bring claims administration, consumer driven health plans and proven cost control measures together into one package for companies ranging from 50 employees to thousands of employees. It serves employer-clients across the U.S. with additional locations in Portland and Salem, Ore., Omaha, Neb. and Denver, Col. For more information on Cypress and its customized employee benefits, visit http://www.cypressbenefit.com.
A large part of the companys success is due to its employees passion for working in healthcare.

Healthesystems has again been named one of the best places to work in Tampa Bay. This is the fourth consecutive year in which the healthcare technology company has received the honor, which is based exclusively on employee surveys conducted by an independent research firm on behalf of the Tampa Bay Times. Healthesystems was recognized in the mid-sized employer category along with other leading businesses and non-profits in the region that employ between 150-499 workers.

Healthesystems blends innovative technology, clinical expertise, and advanced data analytics to provide medical cost management solutions for the workers compensation industry, helping insurance payers to reduce medical costs and provide quality care to injured workers. The companys emphasis on core values, which include a positive and rewarding working environment, enables Healthesystems to recruit and retain top-notch talent.

While many medical cost management companies within the workers compensation industry have faced recent consolidations, Healthesystems has remained successfully independent since its inception in 2002. A large part of the companys success, explains president Daryl Corr, is due to its employees passion for working in healthcare. Its fulfilling to our employees to know that they are bringing value not only to our customers, but also to a person who has been injured on the job. Our companys objective is to accelerate the transformation of healthcare, and we have the right people in place to make that happen.

Healthesystems corporate headquarters are located in Tampas Westshore Business District, but employs more than 400 people in several locations, including Florida, Texas and Arizona. To hear firsthand from employees why they believe Healthesystems is a special place to work, watch the #Healthestories video.

About Healthesystems

Healthesystems is a specialty provider of innovative medical cost management solutions for the workers compensation industry. The companys comprehensive product portfolio includes a leading pharmacy benefit management (PBM) program, expert clinical review services, and a revolutionary ancillary benefits management (ABM) solution for prospectively managing ancillary medial services such as durable medical equipment (DME), home health, transportation and translation services. By leveraging innovation, powerful technology, clinical expertise and enhanced workflow automation tools, Healthesystems provides clients with flexible programs that reduce the total cost of medical care while increasing the quality of care for injured workers. To learn more about Healthesystems, visit http://www.healthesystems.com.
Dr. K. John Morrow, Jr., PhD, has written an important contribution to the national debate on the deterioration of our environment and the risks posed to human health. Cancer, Autism and Their Epigenetic Roots (McFarland & Co, Inc. Publishers) delves into the connection between a striking increase in certain diseases and disorders including cancer, autism, Alzheimers disease, and diabetes, and the exposure to pollutants that influence epigenetic expression. The term epigenetic refers to modifications of our genetic heritage caused by changes in the controllers of the DNA message.

The author highlights the gathering body of evidence implicating our increased exposure to environmentally hazardous substances and the increase in the incidence of diseases believed to have an epigenetic basis. Morrow penned this work as a warning, arguing there is a wealth of evidence demonstrating that epigenetic mechanisms play a critical, and previously unrecognized, role in driving many diseases. The author weaves a compelling story that argues for more scientific research in a battle to understand the risks to our society of epigenetic damage.

The book includes personal anecdotes, recollections, interviews with players in the science of epigenetic discovery, and a review of the uncertainties in this burgeoning branch of scientific detective work. The final chapters discuss the implications for society.

Having taught and researched in genetics and molecular biology at the University of Kansas and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and held positions in the private sector as research director at Meridian Biosciences, Inc., Morrow shares his perspective from both the commercial and basic research side of the world of epigenetics. The author asks readers to look at the book on two levels: first as a short exposition of the scientific, social and political issues raised by epigenetics, and second for a source for nitty gritty footnotes covering critical details the interface between science and society.

For media inquiries contact Diane Dennis at info(at)inspiredmc(dot)com

About K. John Morrow, Jr., PhD, President/CEO Newport Biotech Consultants

Dr. K. John Morrow, Jr., trained in the field of genetics (PhD, University of Washington, Seattle) did post-doctoral study at the Istituto di Genetica, Universita di Pavia, Italy, and the Institute for Cancer Research (now the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia PA).

Morrow has extensive experience in the academic community, including faculty positions at the University of Kansas and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications reporting original research in molecular genetics, as well as hundreds of articles in trade papers and articles on medicine and biology aimed at general audiences.

He was involved in over $2.5M of federally and privately funded research, and was the principal investigator on a small business innovative research grant (SBIR) from the National Institutes of Health to Meridian Biosciences, Inc.

In addition to his academic experience, Dr. Morrow has been associated with Meridian Bioscience, Inc., an immunodiagnostics firm located in Cincinnati, for the last 20 years. He was first Principle Investigator on a research project supported by the company, and later as Director of Biological Sciences Research at their Cincinnati facility. In addition to his involvement as a research scientist at Meridian, he has consulted for numerous private companies.

Dr. Morrow serves on the editorial boards of Biopharm International http://www.biopharminternational.com/biopharm.

In 2009 he was awarded a Science Journalism Laureate for excellence in scientific writing from Purdue University. This spring (2016) he joins Point A Consulting (Louisville KY; http://pointaconsulting.com/ABOUT-POINT-A-CONSULTING) as part of a team evaluating an expansion proposal developed by a Southeastern US research institute, consulting and advising the scientific staff on the details of their proposal.

About the Book

Cancer, Autism and Their Epigenetic Roots (McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers)

This book considers the branch of heredity known as epigenetics and its implications for a variety of diseases in humans and animals. After background information on the growth in understanding genetics and mechanisms of the epigenetic control of gene expression, the book moves into its main focus:

The gathering body of evidence connecting genetic expression due to environmental risks to a range of significant illnesses, including cancer, autism, Alzheimers disease, diabetes and others.

Scientists have begun to tap into the correlation between environmental pollutants and health issues. More study is needed. The author has written this book to educate the lay public and to highlight the urgent need for more scientific research into this branch of study. In an election year, the author hopes to instill a body of knowledge about the relationship between our environment and our health with the purpose of voters becoming informed and make wise choices for choosing leadership that aligns with goodness, good health and a healthy planet.

The final chapters discuss the implications for society.

For media inquiries and to arrange an interview with John Morrow, Jr., PhD, please contact Diane Dennis, Inspired Media Communications at info(at)inspiredmc(dot)com.
By increasing market reach and connecting with consumers on a personal level they will achieve top results.

R&R Business Consultants have revealed that they will be sending an expansion unit to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this month in order to prepare for a new campaign and extended company growth. The firm has announced that a group of their strongest leaders will travel to Pittsburgh to expand the business and increase market reach for their clients.

About R&R Business Consultants: http://www.rrbusinessconsultants.com/about-us/

The sales representatives that travel to Pittsburgh will be conducting market research on behalf of their clients in order to gain an understanding of the area and get to know potential prospects. R&R Business Consultants will be implementing a new direct marketing campaign on behalf of their clients within the area. The firm is striving to deliver high quality results for their clients and believe that by increasing market reach and connecting with consumers on a personal level they will achieve top results.

Having confirmed the expansion, R&R Business Consultants have revealed how this is an exceptionally exciting time within the firm and the news has created a huge buzz within the business. We only recently found out about the expansion and everything has been put into place very quickly. This is incredibly exciting for us as we are a relatively young company, but we are establishing ourselves within the sales and marketing industry, states CEO Richard Randazzo. R&R Business Consultants reveal how the expansion plans have helped increase motivation and productivity within the firm.

R&R Business Consultants is an outsourced sales and marketing firm with headquarters based in Ohio. The firm specializes in a personalized form of direct marketing on behalf of their clients brands. R&R Business Consultants connect with consumers on a face-to-face basis which allows them to establish long-lasting and personal business relationships between brand and consumer. In turn, this often leads to increased customer acquisition, brand awareness and brand loyalty for their clients. R&R Business Consultants guarantee a high ROI for their clients through their no win  no fee marketing services.

R&R Business Consultants have announced that they are planning to put more growth plans in place and aim to be a hugely successful force within the sales and marketing industry. The firm aims to expand into multiple locations over the next year.
Our team members share a passion for a better future, and we nurture this passion inside and outside of our office walls.

Kitware has been awarded a 2016 Top Workplaces honor by the Albany Times Union. The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by WorkplaceDynamics, LLC, a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. Several aspects of workplace culture were measured, including Alignment, Execution, and Connection, just to name a few.

The Top Workplaces award is not a popularity contest. And oftentimes, people assume its all about fancy perks and benefits, Doug Claffey, CEO of WorkplaceDynamics, said. But to be a Top Workplace, organizations must meet our strict standards for organizational health. And who better to ask about work life than the people who live the culture every daythe employees. Time and time again, our research has proven that whats most important to them is a strong belief in where the organization is headed, how its going to get there, and the feeling that everyone is in it together. Claffey adds, Without this sense of connection, an organization doesnt have a shot at being named a Top Workplace.

Collaboration and the ambition to change the world form the bedrock of the culture at Kitware. At the heart of this bedrock is a commitment to the principles of open source and open science, which have steered the company business model since its founding in 1998. These principles promote innovation and support team members as they engage in efforts that inspire and make a difference.

We are proud to receive a Top Workplaces award and appreciate the opportunity to recognize our one-of-a-kind culture, Will Schroeder, president and CEO of Kitware, said. Our team members share a passion for a better future, and we nurture this passion inside and outside of our office walls. We participate in team charity runs, attend community events, and host activities ranging from technical lunches to wellness boot camps. These experiences bring us together to celebrate the challenging yet rewarding work we do to build and support solutions that are used worldwide to further scientific discovery and accelerate technical innovation.

To meet the growing demand for high-quality, scalable, and cost-effective software solutions, Kitware is looking to expand its team. The company has posted job and internship opportunities on its employment site for technical and support positions. To learn more about and apply to join the award-winning culture at Kitware, please visit http://jobs.kitware.com.

About Kitware

Kitware is an advanced technology, research, and open-source solutions provider for research facilities, government institutions, and corporations worldwide. Founded in 1998, Kitware specializes in research and development in the areas of HPC and visualization, medical imaging, computer vision, data and analytics, and quality software process. Among its services, Kitware offers consulting and support for high-quality software solutions. Kitware is headquartered in Clifton Park, NY, with offices in Carrboro, NC; Santa Fe, NM; and Lyon, France. More information can be found on http://www.kitware.com.

About WorkplaceDynamics, LLC

Headquartered in Exton, PA, WorkplaceDynamics specializes in employee feedback surveys and workplace improvement. This year alone, more than two million employees in over 6,000 organizations will participate in the Top Workplaces campaigna program it conducts in partnership with more than 40 prestigious media partners across the United States. Workplace Dynamics also provides consulting services to improve employee engagement and organizational health. WorkplaceDynamics is a founding B Corporation member, a coalition of organizations that are leading a global movement to redefine success in business by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business.
Alliance Homecare moves to new space with five complimentary aging care organizations Our new collaborative space gives us a unique and very unusual opportunity to bring aging care advocates together in an industry that tends to be fragmented.

Alliance Homecare  a concierge home health care provider serving individuals and families in New York City, Long Island, Westchester and the Lower Hudson Valley  has expanded to meet growing demand for its private home care services. To better service its clients and the community, Alliance has moved its headquarters to a new collaborative space across the street that is more than three times the size, which will also house five complimentary aging care organizations.

This expansion gives us ample space to run our operations, enhance our service line and expand our capacity to meet the needs of our growing client base, said Greg Solometo, co-founder and CEO of Alliance Homecare. Our new collaborative space also gives us a unique and very unusual opportunity to bring aging care advocates together in an industry that tends to be fragmented. Our home care services, although best in class, are really meeting the most basic of needs for our clients. The reality is that there are a wide variety of valuable ancillary services within the home care industry, all of which we are able to refer to, thanks to our strong network with dozens of reputable industry partners. We look forward to sharing a physical space with some of our most trusted referral partners with this expansion.

Alliances newly renovated 4,985-square-foot headquarters is located on the sixth floor of 252 West 37th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The new location features a private meeting space where Alliance Homecare team members can discuss and collaborate on home care plans with clients and their families. There is also a dedicated training and skills assessment space for Alliances specialized caregivers to take continuing education classes to ensure they are consistently up-to-date on certification and training for clients.

Joining Alliance Homecare are five organizations within its expansive referral provider network. These organizations have been thoroughly vetted and offer services that range from massage and yoga services, visiting house call dentists, and a geriatric psychologist to a professional care management firm and specialists in senior downsizing and estate dissolutions. Alliance Homecare has developed strong relationships with these referral partner organizations over the course of the past three years.

Alliance Homecare has welcomed the following organizations to join the firm in its new headquarters:



Elder Care Alternatives, a regionally renowned care management company that assists older adults and their families with professional care management and support

Nothing Forgotten, Inc., a senior service provider that carefully and respectfully guides and manages all aspects of the downsizing or dissolution of a loved ones material legacy

Namaste New York, a wellness concierge, which sends wellness professionals to clients private homes for yoga, assisted stretch, massage, pilates, meditation, and personal training

Geriatric Psychologist Sandy Krohn, PsyD, founder of City Psychology Group: Dr. Krohn also serves as the senior psychologist for Integrated Therapeutic Services and spends two days per week at one of NYCs premier senior living residences

House Call Dentists, one of very few concierge dental practices that provide compassionate visiting dental care services to patients in their private homes or residence facilities

These organizations, along with a host of other medical professionals and service providers, are all available through Alliance Homecare and are dedicated to caring for the aging population.

We have practiced a culture of collaboration since I co-founded Alliance Homecare a decade ago. Sharing a physical space with some of our partners is just a first step to providing a more fully integrated home care model for our clients and their families. Our hope is to strengthen our existing referral network and to build new relationships with sought-after aging care specialists so we can continue to deliver best possible care to our clients and their loved ones, Solometo said.

To learn more about Alliance Homecare, visit http://www.alliancehomecare.com. Alliance is also on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Testimonials from clients and families are available at http://www.alliancehomecare.com/testimonials.

About Alliance Homecare

Alliance Homecare is a concierge home health care company which offers an extensive range of high-quality private home care services to an elite client base in lower New York State which includes: the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland Counties. Co-founded in 2006, Alliance has a very selective hiring process, known as The Grandma Rule (SM), in which Alliance will only hire the highest caliber of registered nurses, home health aides and health care professionals. These specialized professionals provide best-in-class care for Alliances clients and their loved ones while honoring a strict code of confidentiality. A Licensed Home Care Services Agency (LHCSA), Alliances services include private duty nursing, home health aides, companions, professional care management, physical therapy, and nutritional counseling. To learn more, visit http://www.alliancehomecare.com.
The best selling X-ELITE PRO by award-winning Stand Steady The standing desk is one approach at reducing this sedentary time, especially hunched over a computer which can wreak havoc on the back and neck. - Dr. Michael Martin

Award-winning standing desk manufacturer Stand Steady disagrees with last months news that standing desks may not be healthier than sitting all day. This news was based on a review published by Cochrane Library.

Based on hundreds of reviews of Stand Steady's ergonomic standing desks, employees benefit physically and mentally when a standing desk is introduced to their environment. Stand Steady customer Sarah R. reviewed the X-ELITE PRO sit/stand desk on Amazon and said her hips no longer bother her.

Deanne J., another Amazon reviewer of the X-ELITE PRO desk explains that she sits at her desk all day long. Her lower back began aching and the muscles in the back were so tight as was the upper lumbar. In the standing position, she would work on tightening her core while holding her shoulders back...all in good posture, which is the key to reducing and eliminating lumbar pain.

Dr. Jos Verbeek, a health researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and one of the scientists on the report claimed, what was actually found is that most of it is, very much, just fashionable and not proven good for health. Washingtonian Top Doctor Dr. Michael Martin cautions against jumping to any conclusions. What is known is that people are becoming increasingly sedentary at work with this having negative effects on health. The standing desk is one approach at reducing this sedentary time, especially hunched over a computer which can wreak havoc on the back and neck. So what does the available science say then? Dr. Martin says, the review noted that very limited evidence is available so far regarding the benefits of a stand up work station and it simply cautions that more rigorous study is needed.

And these studies are ongoing and have begun to suggest benefits that extend to mental health and improved cognition and focus. Even children may benefit from a learning environment that incorporates these desks. A recent study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M shows that students using standing desks were engaged in their studies seven minutes more per hour than the group who used a traditional desk. That is more learning time and certainly could be a lot more time to get work done if the impact is the same on adults.

Because Stand Steadys number one priority is the customer experience, they strive to deliver ergonomic standing desks, at an affordable price point. Standing desks arent just the fashion, with reduced back pain and better mental health of workers, standing at work could be the new normal.

To learn more, visit http://standsteady.com/ today.

Company Information:

About Stand Steady

Stand Steady is located in the greater Washington, DC area and is a leading manufacturer of affordable, ergonomic, adjustable standing desks. Stand Steady has sold thousands of desks nationally and internationally. Standing at work provides a solution to the negative impacts of sitting all day, such as back pain and increased rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Stand Steady is a Certified WOSB (Woman Owned Small Business); for more information about Stand Steady, please visit the companys Web site at http://standsteady.com/.
Saepio Technologies has collected over 2,000 toilet paper rolls to donate to the local City Union Mission, who provides beds, food and a place of safety for thousands of poverty-stricken and homeless people. Saepio turned the toilet paper drive into a fun event, dividing employees into teams and giving them the task of building a creative structure out of the rolls.

The teams spent a week brainstorming, collecting rolls and building their masterpieces, resulting in an Eiffel Tower, Kansas City Royals crown and a giant mug. Four judges were brought in to decide which one would reign supreme - the Eiffel Tower being deemed the winner.

The City Union Mission goes through 2300 rolls a month, said Shannon Knopke, Administrative Assistant and Philanthropy Chair at Saepio. Something we take for granted makes a huge impact on these people and we wanted to help.

The desire to give back to the local community is a core component of the Saepio culture. In addition to donating to the City Union Mission, Saepio participates in a number of philanthropic activities throughout the year. The first Friday of every month, Saepio employees volunteer to read to the classrooms at The Childrens Place. Saepio also routinely participates in the Head for the Cure 5K to support brain cancer research and at the end of April will be participating in Warrior Dash, having already raised nearly $1,000 for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.

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About Saepio:

Saepio empowers marketers to plan and execute meaningful and engaging marketing campaigns across distributed networks and around the globe  ensuring local relevance, brand consistency, speed to market and significant cost savings. The worlds best known brands turn to Saepios powerful software platform and extensive portfolio of support services to automate the marketing process, eliminate redundancy and ensure that all marketers connected to the brand  whether global, distributed, franchise, VAR or chain store marketers  have the assets and tools they need to quickly customize and execute campaigns. To learn more about Saepio, visit http://www.saepio.com.
ACPI, home to Echelon Cabinetry and Advanta Cabinets, is expanding its manufacturing capacity to include a second plant in Mount Union, Pennsylvania. The 200,000 square foot building is situated on 36 acres in a modern industrial park, with paved parking capable of supporting 1,800 employees.

The plant is strategically located in close proximity to our Thompsontown manufacturing facility. Mount Union will serve as a feeder plant for expansion of both our Thompsontown assembly operation and future satellite assembly operations, says Wally Cisowski, acpi COO/CFO. In addition, the new plant will enable us to expand into new markets.

Built in 1996 and designed for heavy to light manufacturing, the Class A facility is uniquely suited to accommodate the needs of a modern cabinet manufacturing company. The single-story building features 16,000 square feet of office space and 185,000 square feet of manufacturing space, with the potential to increase the footprint by an additional 400,000 square feet in the future.

Cisowski adds, We intend to invest a substantial amount of capital over the next 18 months to become the preferred cabinet manufacturer in North America. This investment will include state of the art finishing systems featuring the greenest footprint in the industry, door manufacturing cells, and innovative equipment to capture emerging market opportunities.

The additional space will increase acpis manufacturing capacity for its current product offering by 60% as well as allow the companys brands to offer a wider variety of product options and configurations. ACPIs new facility will support Echelon and Advantas promise of delivering orders on-time and complete.

We are very excited about the addition of our new factory in Mt. Union, PA. Not only does the additional facility provide growth capacity, but we have identified new and innovative ways to bring value to our customers, says Larry Denbrock, acpi President and CEO. Our promise is to provide the high-quality, great value and the peace of mind our customers need to be successful. Our new factory is a demonstration of our commitment to keep this promise.

ACPI will begin manufacturing cabinets at the Mount Union location in 2017.

Media Contact:

Jami Harmon

jharmon(at)acpicorp(dot)com

About acpi:

http://www.advantacabinets.com

http://www.echeloncabinetry.com

ACPI manufactures and distributes kitchen and bath cabinets throughout the United States under the Echelon Cabinetry and Advanta Cabinets brand names. Echelon was developed for home builders, dealers and remodelers; Advanta, for the multifamily and commercial markets. Headquartered in The Colony, TX, with manufacturing operations in Thompsontown, PA, acpi offers a wide array of high quality product styles and configurations in a variety of wood species and constructions, including alder, cherry, maple, oak, birch, plantation hardwood, laminate and thermofoil.
Its humbling to have all the behind-the-scenes work on the sites redesign acknowledged by industry peers.

WebLinc, the commerce platform provider for the fastest growing online retailers, is proud to announce FAM Brands Zobha brand has been named a 2016 Top Innovator by Apparel Magazine. The annual award recognizes retail brands that move the industry forward in interesting and unexpected ways in areas like marketing, merchandising, and technology.

Were very honored to have our new site recognized by Apparel Magazine, said FAM Brands Ecommerce Team Lead Justin Zarabi. Its humbling to have all the behind-the-scenes work on the sites redesign acknowledged by industry peers. Our customers reaction to the site has been very positive and this accolade is a major bonus.

WebLinc and FAM Brands creative teams partnered to redesign all aspects of Zobhas site, http://www.zobha.com, to complement the brands newly defined, edgy design direction and aesthetic. In order to highlight Zobhas activewear designs, the new site features lookbooks, video content, and improved photography.

Zobhas revamped site invites customer to interact using WebLincs exclusive Hearting feature and advanced reviews engine. Far beyond traditional reviews options, customers can educate would-be customers on how garments fit, a products style and comfort levels. Utilizing user-generated content (UGC) to produce detailed personal reviews, customers can upload pictures and share details including location, product size purchased, body type, and preferred workout.

Its great to see FAM Brands efforts honored by Apparel Magazine, said Darren C. Hill, CEO and co-founder of WebLinc. Zobhas site looks and performs as well as it does because it blends great design with features todays online shoppers want. FAM Brands has been steering the activewear category for decades offline and it was our job to bring that success online. Were eager to see where our partnership with FAM Brands takes us next."

Apparel Magazine will feature FAM Brands Zobha and other 2016 Top Innovator in a special report appearing on its website and in its 9th annual Top Innovators special May issue. To honor all Top Innovators, an invitation-only special reception and dinner will be held at the 16th annual Apparel Executive Forum from October 5-7 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

About WebLinc

WebLinc is the commerce platform for fast growing online retailers. Mid to large-size retailers consistently outpace their competition with the modern, agile technologies of the WebLinc Commerce Platform and the companys strategic expertise. Based in Philadelphia with satellite offices in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, WebLinc powers commerce sites for dynamic, high-growth retailers including Rachel Roy, Sanrio/Hello Kitty, Urban Outfitters, Inc.s brands Terrain and BHLDN, U.S. Polo Assn., Stila Cosmetics, Jeffers Pet, and others. To learn more, visit http://www.weblinc.com or follow @WebLinc.
Salaam Ahmad I am so happy to be chosen as the winner. This is the first time I have tried cooking African food and it turned out amazing!

Celebrity chef Craig Higgins, who presented the BBC's Safari Kitchen has chosen his competition winner. Salaam Ahmad, 27, from Swindon has been officially announced the winner of chef Craig Higgins's cooking competition with his Babotie dish, based on a recipe from Craig's book 'Elephant in the Kitchen'.

The budding British-Asian chef has never attempted to cook African food before or even entered a cooking competition before. He wins the chance to learn African-inspired cooking in a one-on-one session with the celebrity chef.

Craig's focus on African-fusion cooking has set him apart from many other celebrity chefs and given him a niche that has attracted worldwide attention. Entrants were invited from all over the world to share in Craig's love of African fusion food at attempt one of his recipes. Along with photos of their dish, entrants included their own version of Craig's recipe and notes on their dish. After hundreds of responses, the final five were chosen. This was whittled down to one winner, all chosen by Craig himself.

When asked how he came up with the winning recipe, he said: 'I was flicking through Craig's book, and this was the one that looked the tastiest. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone with a complex dish. I eventually found the one to try - it was his Babotie recipe.'

Salaam said it took him five attempts to perfect it, but eventually he got it just right. He recalled: 'I finally got it perfect, but then I realised that my phone was not working, so before it went cold I quickly ran next door and asked my neighbour to use his professional camera. Luckily he agreed and I took the winning photos!' With the help of neighbour, James Dickinson, 22, he took the quality photos that did his winning dish justice and helped him win.

He impressed the judges with his take on the traditional African dish. It won on looks, precision and flare. Craig commented on Salaam's attempt: 'I chosen Salaam Ahmad as the winner after seeing how he mastered this traditional African dish, and infused it with Indian spices. I would be proud to serve this at my restaurant and I look forward to spending time with him'.

Salaam Ahmad, 27, from Swindon has won the chance to spend the day training with Craig Higgins. Craig has recently returned from Africa, where he has been filming his soon-to-be released new cooking show. He and Salaam have arranged to hold their one-on-one session in the coming month. Salaam has said he is open to pursuing a career as a chef, and has embraced this opportunity to work with one of the world's top chefs. View his winning photos on the Salaam Ahmad's Twitter page.
The CRN 2016 Virtualization 50 recognizes technology vendors who are leading the way in meeting a growing need for state-of-the-art virtualization offerings.

Liquidware Labs, the leader in desktop transformation software solutions, today announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named the company to its 2016 Virtualization 50 list. The annual list recognizes channel-friendly companies that provide some of the most innovative virtualization technology available.

Selected by CRN editors, the 2016 Virtualization 50 list recognizes technology vendors that are leading the way in meeting a growing need for state-of-the-art virtualization offerings. These vendors are instrumental in helping solution providers select and deploy the right tools for building virtualized environmentsa critical first step in transitioning customers to the cloud. In addition to honoring vendors for outstanding products and services, the list serves as a valuable guide for solution providers looking for best-in-class virtualization technology suppliers.

CRN editors select companies for the Virtualization 50 list on the basis of multiple criteria, including each company's overall impact on the market, its influence on the channel as a whole, and the desirability of the technology and services it makes available to its partners.

Selling only via the channel, Liquidware Labs has a strong partner base in Citrix, VMware and Microsoft channels. Its desktop transformation solutions provide Desktop Monitoring and Diagnostics with Stratusphere UX, User Environment Management and Application Layering with ProfileUnity and FlexApp.

Virtualization encompasses some of the most powerful tools in the IT industry today, enabling the centralization of resources and remarkable scalability of IT infrastructure, said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. This thriving segment of the IT market is the driving force behind the rapid, fascinating transformation of the data center, and we are pleased to shine a spotlight on some of the key players in this space.

This is the fourth year running that Liquidware Labs has been named to CRNs Virtualization 50. As a 100% channel- focused company, we couldnt be more proud to be honored with this recognition from the leading channel publication, stated Chris Akerberg, COO, Liquidware Labs. With so much momentum in the desktop virtualization market, the channel has a unique opportunity to capitalize on this segment in 2016.

The Virtualization 50 list will be featured in the April 2016 issue of CRN and online at http://www.CRN.com/virtualization50.

About the Channel Company

The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace.http://www.thechannelco.com

About Liquidware Labs

Liquidware Labs provides industry leading platform-agnostic desktop solutions for hybrid Windows desktop environments including Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop, VMware Horizon View, and physical Microsoft Windows PCs. Stratusphere FIT and Stratusphere UX products deliver visibility into desktop environments and support assessment, design, monitoring and diagnostics (Health Checks). ProfileUnity provides just in time delivery of User Profiles, application and user rights management and context-aware policies. ProfileUnitys FlexApp feature delivers advanced Application Layering. Flex-IO supports IOPS acceleration in virtual desktop environments. The solutions are available in an extremely cost-effectively priced bundle called Liquidware Labs Essentials. Liquidware Labs products are Citrix Ready, VMware-certified, and are available through a global network of partners. Visit http://www.liquidwarelabs.com for further information.

CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. The Channel Company logo is a trademark of The Channel Company, LLC (registration pending). All rights reserved.

Media Contact:

Jane Rimmer | +44 7710 633488 | jane(at)hiviz-marketing(dot)com
Let the photos in this e-book serve as inspiration for you when choosing your cake.

Perfect Wedding Guide recently released its latest eBook, written by Susan Southerland.

"Wedding cakes are a fun way to infuse personality and style into a wedding day. From cakes inspired by a favorite hobby, to the lace appliques on a gown, ideas are only limited by the imagination a couple has when it comes to design," said Susan Southerland of Just Marry!

Couples can find more information about this eBook on social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. They can also download their free copy of the eBook at Perfect Wedding Guide.

About Perfect Wedding Guide:

For over 24 years, Perfect Wedding Guide has been dedicated to creating innovative wedding planning solutions for brides of all budgets. Our company offers couples fun, useful, and FREE products to help make wedding planning less of a chore and more of a treat. Our local guides and bridal shows are available coast-to-coast in over 20 markets, showcasing some of countrys top wedding vendors who work right in the brides backyard. Our national website, PerfectWeddingGuide.com, is full of fresh planning tips and wedding ideas, wedding news, an extensive photo gallery for inspiration, easy-to-use wedding planning tools, as well as a wedding blog community hosted by our national wedding planning expert.
Gene Suemnicht, winner of the 2015 Joseph W. Aidlin Award (left) with GRC President Paul Brophy These awards are considered among the most prestigious in the geothermal community.

The Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) is pleased to announce the opening of nominations for this years GRC Awards. The awards recognize distinguished colleagues in the geothermal community from around the world and have been a highlight of the geothermal calendar since the late 1970s.

The winners will be honored at the GRC Awards Luncheon, the climax to the GRC Annual Meeting being held in Sacramento, California, USA from October 23 26. The theme for this years meeting is Geothermal Energy, Here and Now: Sustainable, Clean, Flexible.

The Joseph W. Aidlin Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the Geothermal Resources Council and to the development of geothermal resources.

The Geothermal Pioneer Award is given for outstanding achievements in the development of geothermal resources. It recognizes the pioneering efforts of members of the geothermal community who have made lasting contributions to the industry, worldwide.

The Henry J. Ramey, Jr. Geothermal Reservoir Engineering Award recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of geothermal reservoir engineering.

The Ben Holt Geothermal Power Plant Award honors outstanding achievement in the field of geothermal power plant design and construction.

The Special Achievement Award recognizes special or outstanding achievements in any aspect of geothermal energy development and related areas.

The recipients of these awards often have a lifetime of achievement in the academic, scientific and commercial geothermal communities, said GRC Executive Director Steve Ponder. These awards are considered among the most prestigious in the geothermal community.

More information on the GRC Awards, including a nomination form, can be found on the GRC website. The deadline for nominations is June 24, 2016.

##

About the Geothermal Resources Council:

With the experience and dedication of its diverse, international membership bolstering a more than 45-year track record, the Geothermal Resources Council has built a solid reputation as the one of the worlds preeminent geothermal associations advancing geothermal development through education, research, and outreach.

For more information, please visit http://www.geothermal.org.

Get your daily geothermal news at Global Geothermal News. Become a fan on Facebook.com/GeothermalResourcesCouncil. Follow GRC on Twitter @GRC2001 and #GRCAM2016. Check out GRCs YouTube Channel. See geothermal photos on GRCs Flicker Website.

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Dr. Laura Bernaix, dean of the SIUE School of Nursing Dr. Bernaix is a proven leader, a strong University citizen and a champion for SIUEs goals and values.

Dr. Laura Bernaix has been recommended as the new dean of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing. Bernaix has served as interim dean since June 2014, and her permanent appointment is contingent upon SIU Board of Trustees approval.

Bernaix is an alumnus of SIUE and brings 27 years of academic experience as a faculty member at the University. During those years, she has provided significant service to the School and to the University in a variety of roles. She served as chair of the Department of Primary Care and Health Systems Nursing from 2009 to 2013 when her role expanded to also serve as associate dean.

It is an honor and a privilege to serve the School of Nursing, said Bernaix. I am grateful to be able to work alongside the Schools exceptional faculty, staff and students, as well as our community and agency partners, in order to prepare expert nurse clinicians, educators, administrators and leaders for the region.

During Bernaixs time as interim dean, the School has experienced continued growth and received numerous external accolades. Her efforts in developing corporate partnerships and expanding the accelerated online RN to BS program have helped position the School as a leader in the field and the region. In addition to its outstanding array of bachelors, masters and DNP programs, the Schools support for experiential learning and service at the East St. Louis WE CARE clinic are important to the Schools success and impact. Bernaix has also supported the Student Nurse Achievement Program (SNAP), which serves as a model initiative for supporting an inclusive and diverse student body.

Dr. Bernaix is a proven leader, a strong University citizen and a champion for SIUEs goals and values, said Denise Cobb, PhD, interim provost and vice chancellor of Academic Affairs. Her leadership has been instrumental in the School of Nursings and the Universitys continued success. I am grateful for her collegiality, her innovative spirit and her commitment to our students, faculty and staff.

Furthermore, she understands the critical role that SIUE has to play in helping the region and the nation meet the nursing shortage and strengthen healthcare education. I am pleased that she will remain part of SIUEs academic leadership team.

SIUE is fortunate to have Dr. Bernaix leading our School of Nursing, added SIUE Interim Chancellor Stephen Hansen. I have worked with Dr. Bernaix in a number of capacities, and I have been singularly impressed with her skills and dedication as a teacher, scholar, administrator and colleague.

Among her many service activities within the School, Bernaix has served on the Research and Grant Review Committee, the Graduate Curriculum Committee, the P&T (promotion and tenure) Committee, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education Task Force and several key search committees. She has chaired the Deans Advisory Committee, the Doctor of Nursing Practice Project Committee and the School of Nursing Faculty Council.

At the University level, Bernaix served on the Faculty Senate from 2002-05 and the Graduate Course Review Committee from 2003-10. She has been a counselor in the Peer Consulting/Mentoring Program since 2010, participated on the New REALITY Experiential Learning Work Group, and served as a STEP Review Panel member, a board member to the Undergraduate Research Academy, and a committee member on the University Fellowship and Scholarship Committee.

Bernaix is acknowledged professionally for her extensive service to the national Association of Womens Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nursing Research Advisory Panel. She was a co-principal investigator for the NIH National Childrens Study from 2009-13 and has presented her work at international and national conferences.

Bernaix has been published in various professional journals and is a reviewer for two maternal-newborn nursing journals and one textbook publisher. She is a Fellow in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Leadership for Academic Nursing Program and has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing since 2009. In February 2014, she served as a reviewer for the 2014 NIH NRCS Study Section.

Bernaix replaces Dr. Anne G. Perry who retired in 2014 after 10 years at SIUE.

The SIUE School of Nursings fully accredited programs are committed to creating excellence in nursing leadership through innovative teaching, evidence-based practice, quality research, patient advocacy and community service. Enrolling nearly 1,400 students in its baccalaureate, masters and doctoral programs, the School develops leaders in pursuit of shaping the nursing profession and impacting the health care environment. SIUEs undergraduate nursing programs on the Edwardsville campus and the regional campus in Carbondale help to solve the regions shortage of baccalaureate-prepared nurses and enhance the quality of nursing practice within all patient service venues. The Schools graduate programs prepare nurses for advanced roles in clinical practice, administration and education.
Photo courtesy of Placer County. (LtoR) Willy Duncan, President, Sierra College, and Veronica Blake, Vice Chair, Placer County Economic Development Board with Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, CACT. Sierra College CACT is a dynamic partner and contributor to this effort, building a quality workforce with technical skills, problem-solving abilities and cost effective customer focused solutions.

Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT), Sierra College won a Placer County Economic Development Award for "Best Support for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Deployment." The award was presented on Thursday, March 31, 2016 at the 25th Annual Placer County Economic Development Summit.

The award was presented by Veronica Blake, CEO, Placer Community Foundation, and Vice Chair of the Economic Development Board for Placer County. We know that successful societies are those that attract and nurture the most creative workers and entrepreneurs, said Blake. Sierra College CACT is a dynamic partner and contributor to this effort, building a quality workforce with technical skills, problem-solving abilities and cost effective customer focused solutions.

Under Carols leadership, 480 employees from local companies received training last year, upscaling their skills, said Blake. She also helped create a Third Space for innovation and entrepreneurship in Rocklin with Hacker Lab by forming one of the only community college public private partnerships with a maker space in the country. Additionally, through the Sierra STEM Collaborative, more than 15,000 students at eight local high schools completed manufacturing and product development courses. Sierra College CACT secured grants to rebuild labs, develop new curriculum and inspire teachers through collaboration, training and industry externships.

Sierra College President Willy Duncan was honored that Sierra College was selected as an economic development award recipient. Carol is a dynamo and we are extremely proud of the amazing work she does, said Duncan. Her efforts were instrumental in bringing Hacker Lab to Rocklin and providing workforce development services.

According to Pepper-Kittredge, the Sierra College CACT program works with businesses, schools and organizations throughout the region. It takes a community, said Pepper-Kittredge. I see a bright and productive future for Placer County as a result of all the partnerships weve been able to form with cities, businesses, colleges, schools, professional organizations and community groups to nurture innovation.

About Sierra College CACT

Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) is focused on Advanced Manufacturing and is funded through the Workforce and Economic Development program of the California Community College Chancellors Office. Since 1992, the Sierra College CACT has provided customized training for organizations, manufacturers and technology companies throughout Northern California.

About Sierra College

Sierra College serves 3200 square miles of Northern CA with campuses in Roseville, Rocklin, Grass Valley, and Truckee. With approximately 125 degree and certificate programs, Sierra College is ranked first in Northern California (Sacramento north) for transfers to four year Universities, offers career/technical training, and classes for upgrading job skills. Sierra graduates can be found in businesses and industries throughout the region.
Recently, Dr. Suvit Maesincee, Thailands Deputy Minister of Commerce, and Mr. Supant Mongkolsuthree, Chairman of The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), have visited Double As office in Seoul and its business in Korea to observe the successful roll-out of a Thai local brand to the world market. Double A is the most preferred paper brand in the Korean market and a household-name with over 90% brand awareness.

On this occasion, the dignitaries were welcomed by Mr. Yothin Dumnerncharnvanit, the President of Double A; Mr. Kevin Sung, Asia Cluster Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Cheol Hoon Lee, General Manager of Double A Korea; and Mr. Phichej Wangtherdkiat, Double A International Network Co-CEO.

About Double A

Double A is a global leader in premium copy paper and is one of the most advanced and fully integrated pulp and paper manufacturers in the world. Double A produces high performance, super smooth Double A paper, which is available in more than 130 countries worldwide. Double A copy paper is produced from Farmed Trees grown by over 1.5 million contract farmers in Thailand. Double A's pulp and paper production practices set an industry benchmark in environmental responsibility. Double A's unique Farmed Trees initiative saves precious old growth forests from logging. Trees are planted in open areas between and around rice fields and other crops, thereby maintaining the natural biodiversity.
CreateWriteNow Journaling is a wonderful tool that can be used for support, perspective and as a source of strength throughout any times of change." ~Mari L. McCarthy

CreateWriteNows newest journaling program, 22 Days Manage Life Transitions Journaling Challenge, is scheduled to return May 1st, 2016.

Introduced last year, the program gained attention for its original approach to helping participants cope with the challenges of lifes transitions through the power of journaling.

Whether its changing careers or retiring, getting married or going through a divorce, becoming pregnant or grieving the loss of a loved oneevery transition is unique and brings its own set of changes and emotions, hurdles and triumphs. The Manage Life Transitions Journaling Challenge empowers participants to embrace the transitions they face and find their best path forward.

Offering a creative combination of daily journaling exercises along with online guidance and support, the program delivers 22 consecutive days of exercises and ideas, instruction and inspiration.

Participants are encouraged to explore all aspects of the unique life changes they are experiencing, express and understand all the emotions they feel, and chart their way through unfamiliar territory. With a gentle hand, the course empowers them to move beyond the past, accept a new beginning, envision and create the future they desire.

As part of the program, participants are also invited to join a private Facebook group, where they can share experiences and support, and connect directly with Mari L. McCarthy, journaling therapy expert and founder of CreateWriteNow.

Said McCarthy, Journaling is a wonderful tool that can be used for support, perspective and as a source of strength throughout any times of change. By asking the right questions and taking time to reflect, we can all find strength in the face of any challenge we may face, and find a path forward that can enrich our lives.

All that is needed to participate in the Challenge is the related course eWorkbookand a pen! eWorkbooks are available for purchase in multiple formats including eBook, which can be purchased at the CreateWriteNow store. Other formats include downloadable versions for Kindle, iPad, and NOOK.

About CreateWriteNow

CreateWriteNow teaches individuals how to use the power of daily journaling to achieve self-discovery, personal transformation and perfect health. Founded by Mari L.McCarthy, who has used the power of daily journaling herself to overcome many of the debilitating effects of Multiple Sclerosis, the company publishes regular articles, journaling prompts, videos and eBooks and holds a number of interactive journaling challenges throughout the year.

Learn more about the upcoming Journaling Challenges here: http://www.createwritenow.com/journaling-service-listing/journaling-services

Learn more about CreateWriteNow at http://www.createwritenow.com

Contact: Mari L. McCarthy

mari(at)createwritenow(dot)com

(781) 635-5175

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreateWriteNow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CreateWriteNow

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/create-write-now

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MariLMcCarthy/videos
We are constantly working to make innovations to the standard wine fair program that will add value for our Italian producers. And that includes growing the numbers of visitors from abroad, since overseas sales are crucial.

As Vinitaly celebrates 50 years in business, Managing Director Stevie Kim has been on a steady campaign to expand the arsenal of business development tools under the umbrella of Vinitaly International  starting at the fairgrounds in Verona.

In addition to more than 4,100 exhibitors and an intense calendar of tastings and seminars, this year Vinitaly brings in an international delegation of nearly 1000 buyers from 30 countries. The ICE-Italian Trade Agency has collaborated with Vinitaly to invest heavily in the incoming program, in order to enhance the presence and prestige of Italian wine in foreign markets. Visitors will be able to taste wines and meet producers from all 20 of Italys regions; specialty areas include the VinInternational pavilion with wines from around the world, VinitalBio with organic wines, and ViViT (Vigne Vignaioli Terroir), an area dedicated to natural wines made by independent winemakers.

Wine consumers, conversely, are drawn to the city center by the fuorisalone format of Vinitaly and the City, a series of tastings, concerts and seminars designed to bring wine lovers out of the expo halls and into the heart of Verona, with a full calendar of events from April 8-11: http://www.vinitaly.com/en/vinitaly-and-the-city/. Wine may be the focus of the celebration, but the agenda has something for everyone: Piazza dei Signori hosts djs and live concerts; Piazza Arsenale showcases organic wine and street food; and departing from Piazza Bra, visitors can choose from 8 walking tours of Veronas historic sites and enjoy food and wine tastings along the way.

Back at VeronaFiere, producers and visitors to Vinitaly alike will be encouraged to remain out at the booths tasting  and buying  wine, since the most important business-focused seminars have been shifted away from the annual April mega-fair and into a new Vinitaly International initiative, wine2wine. Stevie Kim is working to make wine2wine the established definitive wine business forum. Last years edition included over 2000 attendees, who participated in seminars and workshops on topics including law and finance, international markets and digital marketing. All events focused on the business side of how to sell your wine is in December. Weve organized it that way to help producers prepare for Vinitaly in April, explains Kim.

With the creation of a dedicated, separate wine business forum, buyers at Vinitaly will be free to focus their attention on producers. We are constantly working to come up with innovations to the standard wine fair program that will add value for our Italian producers, says Stevie Kim. And that includes growing the numbers of visitors from abroad, since overseas sales are crucial for growth of the wine market.

The opening day of the 50th edition of Vinitaly had an especially official flavor, since for the first time ever the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, was on hand to inaugurate the fair, together with Verona mayor Flavio Tosi, president of the Region of Veneto Luca Zaia, and Minister of Agriculture Maurizio Martina. Guests included the US Ambassador John R. Phillips and the Consulate General Philip T. Reeker.

The presence of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, for the 50th year of Vinitaly is a very important recognition for us, says VeronaFiere President Maurizio Danese. In these 50 years Vinitaly has become one of the most well-known fairs in the world  an achievement made possible by the thousands of winemakers who have always believed in this exhibition as a way of increasing our economic growth, and most importantly, of elevating the Italian wine sector to the world stage.

The official state presence will continue tomorrow when Prime Minister Matteo Renzi meets with Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of the Alibaba Group.

About:

Veronafiere is the leading organizer of trade shows in Italy including Vinitaly (http://www.vinitaly.com), the largest wine and spirits fair in the world. During its 49th edition Vinitaly counted some 4,000 exhibitors on a 100,000 square meter area and 150,000 visitors including 2,600 journalists from 46 different countries. The next edition of the fair will take place on 10 - 13 April 2016. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine (http://www.vinitalyinternational.com) Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers, will unite international wine professionals on April 9th in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 100 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly International travels to several countries such as Russia, China, USA and Hong Kong thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA has now also organized its very first Certification Course with the aim of creating new Ambassadors of Italian Wine in the World.

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Lucas Group Our team works efficiently, consultatively and discreetly to find the legal professionals that todays businesses need in order to succeed.

Lucas Group, the leader in executive recruiting in North America, today announced the firm will attend the 2016 NALP conference. Held April 13-16, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts, the conference is the largest, most comprehensive, and well-respected educational program in the legal recruiting industry. For knowledgeable and efficient legal recruiting expertise, visit Lucas Groups team of legal recruiters at booth 312.

The annual Education Conference and Resource Center Exhibition programming will cover all areas of the legal recruiting profession from recruiting and career counseling to professional development, diversity and inclusion and more. The theme this year, Going the Distance, is aimed to position recruiters to achieve higher results in their professional careers with specific sessions targeting topics such as the current challenges faced in a changing legal environment, issues in lateral hiring, delivering bad news, change management, understanding the ins and outs of judicial clerkships, presentation skills, summer program updates and more.

The annual NALP conference allows our legal recruiters the opportunity to connect with high caliber legal professionals throughout the country, said Tom Williamson, General Manager for Lucas Groups Legal Division. Through the conference, our team is able to learn cutting-edge methods to better serve our Clients and Candidates while also fostering relationships with top legal talent.

For more than 40 years, Lucas Group legal recruiters have matched leading employers with exceptional legal talent for positions ranging from partner to in-house counsel. Working with Fortune 500 corporations to small, boutique firms, Lucas Group recruiters source the talent that employers need to drive results and achieve milestones.

With national reach combined with localized, expert search technique, our recruiters are able to find the talent that no one else can, said Williamson. Our team works efficiently, consultatively and discreetly to find the legal professionals that todays businesses need in order to succeed.

Lucas Group legal recruiters welcome conference attendees to their exhibitor booth #312.

About Lucas Group

Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Bokka Group Co-Founder, Jimmy Diffee It is time that the home building industry and those who have the power to make change take a deep look into ways to make every day interactions memorable, by finding those defining moments and ways to delight customers.

Last week, in a larger effort to encourage the home building industry to see the importance and opportunity in improving the customer experience, the Bokka Group brought their Ritz-Carlton partnership to the BDX Summit: The Digital Transformation of the Customer Experience in Austin, TX.

Keynote speaker, Joseph Quitoni, Corporate Director at the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, shared philosophies, gold nuggets, strategies and, stories of profound experiences that make the Ritz-Carlton synonymous with memorable customer service experiences. Bringing some audience members to tears and others to their feet in ovation, Quitoni brought much needed perspective into what the customer experience means to the home building industry.

We hope this insight will become a catalyst for the change this industry so desperately needs, says Jimmy Diffee, Co-Founder/Creative Director at the Bokka Group, who welcome Quitoni to the stage with a brief introduction about the Age of the Customer and highlighted the fact that those who are not willing to invest in the experience today will quickly be left behind.

We have been missing the mark in so many ways with our customer experience, confided one executive attendee. What the Ritz-Carlton and the Bokka Group shared with us today has made me rethink everything weve been doing and realize that I need to set new priorities moving forward, shared a CEO.

While inspiring the audience with heart-warming stories, Quitoni emphasized the importance of empowering every employee, with not just their (job) function, but their purpose (to create memorable customer experiences). These are the people, like it or not, that hold a brand in the palm of their hand. They can tarnish it or make it shine it within seconds of every customer interaction. Its not one person or one department. Its not exclusive to a customers stage in their journey. Quitoni shared exclusive Ritz-Carlton service strategies and the framework to create memorable customer experiences. He continued to encourage all attendees to begin today, by developing a written service statement for their company.

Diffee summarizes it well, It is time that this industry and those who have the power to make change take a deep look into ways to make every day interactions memorable, by finding those defining moments and ways to delight customers.

Leveraging Ritz-Carltons rich legacy of customer service excellence, the Bokka Group brings industry-exclusive best practices and the Ritz-Carltons tradition of superior customer experiences to the home building industry. The Bokka Groups partnership with the Ritz-Carlton includes speaking engagements and private client workshops. For more information on upcoming engagements or to bring a workshop to your company or event, contact Paula Huggett at the Bokka Group: (720) 889-3741 or hello(at)bokkagroup(dot)com

ABOUT THE BOKKA GROUP

At the Bokka Group, there is a fundamental belief that the current home buying experience is unsustainable. From advanced research incovering motivation behind a customers path-to-purchase, to evaluating the entire customer life-cycle experience, the Bokka Group is in the business of improving the home buying experience for every buyer, every builder, every day.

The Bokka Group offers a wide range of services to attract, engage, nurture, convert, optimize, and manage prospective new home buyers throughout their entire new home journey. With a legacy of extraordinary success in prospect cultivation and lead conversion, Bokka offers proven solutions that are second to none.
Aeras and the Human Vaccines Project announced a new collaboration aimed at accelerating the development of vaccines and immunotherapies for key global populations.

The Human Vaccines Project is a new global initiative that brings together leading academic centers, industry, nonprofits and governments in a global discovery consortium to solve the primary scientific hurdles impeding the development of vaccines and immune-driven therapies.

Understanding the principles of human immunity represents one of the great frontiers of science and is a key to accelerating the development of vaccines against complex diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV and malaria, said Jacqueline E. Shea, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Aeras. The Human Vaccines Project, with its network of public and private sector partners, provides a new focus on vaccine and immunotherapeutic development.

Under the Projects scientific plan, a global network of leading research and development groups will conduct extensive clinical research studies aimed at decoding the immune system, facilitated by state-of-the-art bioinformatics and machine learning. Such studies will be conducted in diverse global populations, enabling for the first time a detailed understanding of how human immunity is influenced by genetics, age and environment.

Understanding how the immune system varies by populations is essential to designing and optimizing vaccines and immunotherapies for key global demographics, said Wayne C. Koff, Ph.D., President and Founder of the Human Vaccines Project. Such understanding is critical for successful development of vaccines for major global diseases ranging from TB to cancers, and ensuring vaccines and therapies are designed specifically for populations most in need. We are honored to have Aeras bring its significant vaccine discovery and development expertise to facilitate the objectives of the Human Vaccines Project.

Aeras joins a growing list of global product developers engaged with the Project including the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), which initially incubated the Project, GSK, Medimmune, Janssen, Sanofi Pasteur, Regeneron and Pfizer.

About Aeras

Aeras is a nonprofit, global biotech advancing the development of new tuberculosis vaccines for the world, in partnership with other biotech, pharmaceutical, and academic organizations. Aeras has 90 employees from over 20 countries around the world, and has offices in the U.S., Africa, and Asia. Aeras receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Department for International Development, the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, and pharmaceutical organizations. Support also is received from the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, as well as from other governments, as well as partnerships and collaborations with universities and pharmaceutical companies. http://www.aeras.org

About the Human Vaccines Project

The Human Vaccines Project is a non-profit public-private partnership with the mission to accelerate the development of vaccines and immunotherapies against major infectious diseases and cancers by decoding the human immune system. The Project, incubated initially at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), has a growing list of partners and financial supporters including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, GSK, MedImmune, Sanofi Pasteur, Crucell/Janssen, Regeneron, Pfizer, Aeras, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, UC San Diego, The Scripps Research Institute, J. Craig Venter Institute and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. The Project brings together leading academic research centers, industrial partners, nonprofits and governments to address the primary scientific barriers to developing new vaccines and immunotherapies, and has been endorsed by 35 of the worlds leading vaccine scientists.
PureCars logo

April 11, 2016  PureCars, provider of the leading digital advertising platform for the automotive industry, announced today it has won a 2016 Automotive Website Award (AWA) in the Marketing Solutions category for its SmartAdvertising solution.

Winning products in the AWA Marketing Solutions category are designed to help dealers sell more cars in a digital age and help dealers reach in-market shoppers. PureCars SmartAdvertising platform dominates advertising across all screens, including search, display, social and video, to serve relevant content to low-funnel car buyers across every touchpoint. Within SmartAdvertising, the Inventory Targeting feature allows dealers to allocate ad spend based on current inventory by putting more dollars towards vehicles that need a boost so dealers do not waste dollars on high-demand vehicles.

Our SmartAdvertising platform has made a real impact on dealers, and were honored to have been recognized for our efforts by the Automotive Website Awards, said Jeremy Anspach, CEO of PureCars. Our mission is to help dealers connect with in-market car shoppers using new technology that better targets them in all the right places and at the right time. Advertising is expensive, and we want to ensure dealers theyre spending their valuable marketing dollars effectively.

In 2016, PureCars added two products to its SmartAdvertising platform: social and video. SmartAdvertising Social is the only solution in the market that allows automotive dealers to serve dynamic, VIN-level retargeting ads on search and display networks. Leveraging PureCars extensive data library, SmartAdvertising Video serves brand- and model-level pre-roll online video ads to in-market buyers based on online behavior, third-party data and geographic information.

Just as weve added social and video components to our platform, PureCars will continue to offer new products based on dealer and consumer demand, said Anspach. As consumers needs change, dealers marketing strategies must change, too. Striking a balance between traditional and digital marketing is crucial to reach the modern car buyer.

Founded in 2007, PureCars' line of automotive solutions that include SmartAdvertising, Value Intelligence, Trade-In Report, and Showroom & BDC App, are used by thousands of dealers, dealer groups, OEM brands and ad agencies across North America. Ranked for two consecutive years on the Inc. 500|5000, PureCars is also one of the fastest-growing companies based in South Carolina. It was recently acquired by Raycom Media for $125 million in an effort to bridge the gap between digital and traditional advertising in the automotive industry.

Complete results of Automotive Website Awards can be found at http://www.awa.autos.

About PureCars

Technology drives us. Armed with automotives most extensive data library, PureCars offers search, pay-per-click, site and display retargeting and advertising to help dealerships reach the right consumer with the right vehicle at the right time. As a Google Premier SMB Partner, our award-winning technology is flawlessly designed to drive high probability buyers to a dealers site, optimize traffic once on their site, and convert those customers in the showroom.

About Automotive Website Awards

The Automotive Website Awards are given annually by PCG Consulting and recognize innovative automotive marketing website platforms, CRMs and other tools that help dealers achieve greater success. Vendors submit their newest products to PCG to be recognized for their design, technology and usability, with the best in show being awarded in a ceremony and the Automotive Website Awards Report and Buyers Guide.
Working in Support of Education (w!se), a New York City-based, national educational nonprofit, today announced its fourth annual 100 Best w!se High Schools Teaching Personal Finance national ranking during a ceremony sponsored by Voya Financial at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The schools were honored with banners as well as a trophy for the No. 1 ranked school and No. 1 small, midsize and large schools at the ceremony, which included the following speakers:



Carmen Farina, Chancellor, New York City Department of Education

Sharon Epperson, Senior Personal Finance Correspondent, CNBC

Chip Wheeler, Director of Community Relations, Voya Financial

Phyllis Frankfort Perillo, Founding President and CEO, Working in Support of Education (w!se)

Sam Stovall, Managing Director, S&P Capital IQ

The award-winning program provides teachers with a curriculum and instructional resources to teach personal finance and measure students financial literacy through w!ses Certification Test. Students who pass the test are designated Certified Financially Literate. Schools in 43 states participated in the certification program, up from 40 in the prior year. Since its introduction, the program has become an integral tool to teach personal finance in thousands of classrooms across the United States.

The 100 Best w!se High Schools Teaching Personal Finance recognizes the top performing high schools in w!ses national network. The Top 3 ranked schools for 2016 are:



Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne, NJ;

Aviation High School in Long Island City, NY; and

HS for Math, Science & Engineering @ CCNY, New York, NY.

Other high schools among the Top 30 are located in Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. For the complete list of the Top 100 schools, visit http://www.wise-ny.org/100BestRanking2016.htm.

The 100 Best w!se High Schools Teaching Personal Finance ranking seeks to highlight the importance of personal finance education. High school students are on the cusp of making important financial decisions, such as taking on student loans for college and applying for credit cards, making it vital that they are equipped to navigate these new financial frontiers.

Our certification initiative continues to grow rapidly each year, said Phyllis Frankfort Perillo, Founding President & CEO of w!se. Warm congratulations to the 100 Best schools. You are the leaders in preparing young people with the knowledge and skills to make wise financial decisions and to have good financial habits that pave the way to a life of economic well-being.

Financial literacy is the key to securing financial independence. We are proud to support w!se and help advance its mission across the country, said Braeden Mayrisch, program manager for Voya Financial, sponsor of this years ranking and ceremony. Empowering students  our leaders of tomorrow  to better understand and take control of their finances aligns with Voyas efforts to build financial knowledge and skills among young people and ultimately close the U.S. retirement savings gap. The Top 100 schools, along with their teachers and students, are truly worthy of being honored today.

w!se developed the ranking with support from an Advisory Board of psychometricians and experts from academia and finance. The predominant factor was the average score on the Financial Literacy Certification Test and the proportion of test takers to the school population.

The Financial Literacy Certification Program now includes more than five and a half million hours of instruction in participating high schools annually. The average passing rate for the 2014-2015 school year was 81.6% percent for students at schools participating in the certification program. All schools participating in the Financial Literacy Certification Program have an opportunity to earn a place on the 100 Best list each year.

About Working In Support of Education (w!se)

Working in Support of Education (W!SE) is a leading educational nonprofit based in New York City with a mission to improve the lives of young people and at-risk adults through programs that develop financial literacy and readiness for college and the workforce. Our initiatives are built on the five pillars of relevancy, real-world experiences, strong partnerships, volunteerism and assessment. At the heart of our offerings is a family of financial literacy initiatives, comprising the Financial Literacy Certification for high school students, the Certification in Personal Finance for educators, MoneyW!SE for survivors of domestic violence and the Personal Finance Institute for public school parents. These programs differ in scope and target audience, but all share a common thread  the administration of our standardized assessment of personal finance knowledge and a certification for those who master the subject matter. For more information, visit wise-ny.org. Follow w!se on Facebook and Twitter @wisenewyork.

About Voya Financial

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings  to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2015. The company had $452 billion in total assets under management and administration as of Dec. 31, 2015. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible  one person, one family, one institution at a time  Voyas vision is to be Americas Retirement Company. The company is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible  Voya has been recognized as one of the 2016 Worlds Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, and as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com or view the companys 2014 annual report. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.

About Voya Foundation

Voya Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life in communities where Voya Financial operates and its employees and customers live. Voya Foundation provides grants and establishes signature partnerships in the areas of financial literacy and children's education and fosters employee engagement to deepen our positive impact on the community. For more information, visit http://www.voyafoundation.com.

Media Contacts:

Ben Rosner

Finsbury

646-805-2085

Ben(dot)Rosner(at)Finsbury(dot)com

Steven Appel

Working in Support of Education (w!se)

212-421-2700

Sappel(at)wise-ny(dot)org

Jeanne LaCour

Voya Financial

212-309-8949

Jeanne(dot)LaCour(at)voya(dot)com
Jim Funari, CEO and co-founder of StratusLIVE We are very focused on delivering state-of-the-art improvements in data driven decision making.

StratusLIVE, LLC, a leading provider of enterprise-class fundraising, relationship management, and business intelligence solutions to nonprofit organizations announces its latest major release.

As a leading Microsoft partner, the StratusLIVE for Fundraisers suite is built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform which provides seamless integration and built-in productivity gains as Microsoft continues to invest heavily in ongoing platform advancements.

In tandem with the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016, StratusLIVE Version 7 introduces new functionality and offers numerous enhancements to existing capabilities. The StratusLIVE for Fundraisers Version 7 release also lays the groundwork for future development against StratusLIVEs product roadmap.

Some major themes expressed in the application and platform capabilities of StratusLIVE Version 7 via Microsoft Dynamics 2016 include:

Productivity

Major improvements in the user experience and an increasingly seamless experience between CRM and Office 365, including improvements in the Outlook experience, Excel and Word integration, and new integrations with Microsofts Cloud Products.

Social Engagement

Further integration with Microsoft Social Engagement with social listening and social analytics. In addition to external social sources like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, videos (YouTube) and news, other sources will now be exposed, such as search boards, forums and custom sources via RSS, including non-public sources like Yammer. New collaboration and group capabilities similar to Office 365 and intelligent sentiment analysis.

Business Intelligence and Analytics

New capabilities in business intelligence across key fundraising and marketing subject clusters reduce the time and complexity involved in data analysis.

We are very focused on delivering state-of-the-art improvements in data driven decision making, said Jim Funari, StratusLIVE CEO. Users across our client base want simple yet powerful analytics and reporting delivered on any device and this release moves us closer to that objective, added Funari.

Powerful real-time campaign analytical capabilities allow marketing professionals to model, test and execute segmentation strategies with predictive analytics. StratusLIVE leverages the industry-leading functionality in the new Microsoft Power BI v2 release and SQL Server Reporting Services Mobile Reports. Power BI analyses may be exposed directly within CRM dashboards.

Mobility

Major enhancements in mobility with the delivery of the Microsoft CRM Mobile application, a re-imagined mobility app for web, tablet and phone. It supports native CRM experiences across iPhone, Android and Windows phones. It now includes off-line capabilities and cascading deployment settings across all devices and form factors, which means the app doesnt have to be configured for every device. When designing forms in CRM, you can now easily preview the tablet/phone forms and dashboards directly in the browser.

For more information about the StratusLIVE for Fundraisers Version 7 product suite, please visit http://www.stratuslive.com or call 757-273-6324.

About StratusLIVE, LLC

StratusLIVE is a leading provider of cloud-based solutions for nonprofit organizations. The StratusLIVE for Fundraisers suite features enterprise-class relationship management, online fundraising, business intelligence, and analytical marketing capabilities, natively integrated with the commercial Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. StratusLIVE is headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia with offices throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.stratuslive.com.
PMSC logo Exceeding our customers expectations is our secret to thriving when others have not. We look forward to another 30 years of sharing innovations, delighting our customers, and giving them the stability and peace of mind needed to help them do their jobs.

PMSC, a woman-owned small business, is celebrating 30 years providing premiere facility support services.

According to Carole Metour, PMSCs CEO, Exceeding our customers expectations is our secret to thriving when others have not. We look forward to another 30 years of sharing innovations, delighting our customers, and giving them the stability and peace of mind needed to help them do their jobs.

PMSC has been awarded multiple competitive contracts and grown to over 200 employees and craftsmen across the continental U.S. The company boasts an outstanding safety record and low employee turnover and is considered one of the top go to companies for turning around underperforming contracts on a very short schedule.

About PMSC

PMSC was founded in 1986 in California by the companys President and Chief Executive Officer, Carole Metour. With the headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida since 1993, PMSC has grown to over 200 employees and craftsmen across its network of contract sites throughout the contiguous United States.

PMSC was awarded 8(a) certification from the Small Business Administration (SBA) in July 2001 for performance of work under prime NAICS Code 561210, and during the initial years, was awarded multiple 8(a) or sole source contracts. Yet, during PMSCs total certification years the majority of contracts with the Federal Government were awarded through competition, either as a small business set-aside or unrestricted. PMSC successfully completed its 8(a) status in May of 2010, and is currently designated as a Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB).

PMSC has enjoyed over three decades of growth and continues to excel in delivering Complete Facilities Maintenance (CFM) and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) to the Federal Government. PMSC continues to be one of the top go to companies to successfully turn around underperforming contracts on a very short schedule.

PMSC is a registered trademark of The Preventive Maintenance Services Company, dba PMSC in the United States.

For more information, press only:

Leslie Powers

720.328.7999

lpowers(at)pmservicescompany(dot)net

For more information on PMSC: http://www.pmservicescompany.net
SBS Group announced today the first two gold sponsors for their Summit 2016 event series: Solver and ImageTag. Both of these organizations will be featured thoroughly throughout SBS Groups Summit 2016.

Summit is SBS Groups annual event to gather their clients and other interested parties to discuss emerging trends in enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and cloud with a focus on Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft Cloud technologies. This year Summit 2016, the 10th annual Summit, will be located in five cities (New York City, Dallas, Atlanta, Irvine and Chicago) and each locations event will be held at the Microsoft Technology Center located in that particular city. Each locations event consists of presentations, meetings, networking opportunities and a reception to cap off the event. Registration information can be found on SBS Group's website.

Sponsorships are still available for companies interested in reaching this audience. For details, contact Melissa Tow at mtow(at)sbsgroupusa(dot)com.

About SBS Group

SBS Group is a national Microsoft master VAR (Value Added Reseller) with Gold level competency in enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). Over the past 25 years, they have been recognized as Microsoft Partner of the Year, Inner Circle Member and Microsoft President's Club member multiple times. The company is headquartered in Edison, New Jersey and operates offices across North America. For more information, please visit SBS Group's website at http://www.sbsgroupusa.com. Follow us on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/sbs-group, on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/sbsgroup and find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SBSGroupUSA.
Father Patrick Desbois

Internationally renowned Holocaust researcher and human rights activist, Father Patrick Desbois, will visit Denver April 14th to the 15th for a city-wide speaking tour to discuss his experiences in documenting long-hidden Nazi atrocities and his current investigations of modern-day genocide. Father Desbois is the founder and president of Yahad  In Unum, a politically unaffiliated organization whose mission is to uncover facts of genocidal practices and mass violence wherever they are found and provide a voice to all victims and potential victims of genocide. Desbois tour will include an open lecture at History Colorado on the evening of April 14th. Additionally, Desbois will visit and speak to invitation only audiences at Temple Sinai, Regis University, the Colorado Holocaust Educators and The University of Denver.

The tour will begin Thursday as Father Desbois joins Temple Sinai for an invitation-only interfaith panel of Denvers religious leaders that will be lead by Rabbi Richard Rheins. The History Colorado Center will present an open lecture, An Evening with Father Patrick Desbois at 7:00 p.m. On Friday, April 15, at 3:00 p.m., there will be an invitation-only event, An Afternoon with Father Patrick Desbois at the Regis University Recital Hall, St. Peter Claver, S.J., Hall. Desbois' visit is sponsored in partnership by: CBS 4 (KCNC-TV), Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action, Colorado Holocaust Educators, Facing History and Ourselves, History Colorado, Holocaust Awareness Institute - University of Denver, Regis University, Temple Sinai, University of Colorado - Program in Jewish Studies, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of JEWISHColorado and Yahad-In Unum.

For more than a decade, our organization has investigated the brutal crimes of the Nazi death squads in Eastern Europe during World War II. Millions of innocent civilians were murdered in the name of Nazi dogma, says Desbois, More than 70 years later, we see continued and ongoing evidence of these similar kinds of atrocities, notably in the Middle East. Call them ISIL, ISIS or Daesh, their methods have one name  Genocide. However, today we will not be silent. We will give the world the evidence it needs to denounce the systematic killing of innocents for the sake of a brutal ideology. I am honored to be given the opportunity to come to Denver and share this message.

During his lectures, Father Desbois will review the findings of his decade-long investigation of the war crimes committed by Nazi death squads in Eastern Europe. He will also discuss his most current work to create greater worldwide public awareness of the ongoing genocidal practices of ISIS against the Yazidis, a Kurdish religious community indigenous to Northern Iraq. This work includes on-site interviews with the Yazidi men, women and children who narrowly escaped slavery, rape and slaughter at the hands of ISIS. As part of his leadership role as president of Yahad-In Unum, Father Desbois launched Action Yazidis, an initiative that collects the testimony of survivors to document and offer evidence of the Yazidi genocide.

About Father Patrick Desbois

A Roman Catholic priest and consultant to the Vatican, Desbois is a founder and president of Yahad-In Unum a global humanitarian organization based in France that is dedicated to identifying and commemorating the sites of Jewish and Roma mass executions in Eastern Europe during World War II. He is also the founder of Action Yazidis, an organization that collects the testimony of survivors to document and offer evidence of every step of the Yazidi genocide.

The work of Father Desbois has been documented in the best selling book The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews, and is currently the subject of the national touring museum exhibit, Holocaust by Bullets. Desbois also serves as director of the Episcopal Committee for Catholic-Judeo Relations, under the auspices of the French Conference of Bishops. He is the grandson of a WWII French prisoner held in the Rawa Ruska camp on the Poland-Ukraine border. In 2004, he began to research the story of the Jews, Roma and other victims murdered in Eastern Europe during WWII by the Nazi mobile killing units, the Einsatzgruppen. His work has been recognized through numerous awards and public commentary in France and throughout the world.

About Action Yazidis

Action Yazidis, an initiative of Yahad-In Unum, seeks to reveal and denounce the moral disease of the genocide against the Yazidis. Using the methodology of research developed by Yahad-In Unum, the project consists in collecting the testimony of survivors of the Yazidi Massacres and persecutions to document and offer evidence through first hand interviews held with Yazidi victims of all ages  women, men, children, and the elderly. As testimony is gathered and verified, the evidence of genocide will be broadly disseminated. The eye-witness accounts of those who escaped slavery and imprisonment by ISIS are cross-referenced with other sources, including photographs and written material, as well as from separate testimonies. http://www.actionyazidis.org

About YahadIn Unum

YahadIn Unum combines the Hebrew word  Yahad meaning together, with the Latin phrase In Unum, meaning in one. Founded in 2004 by Father Patrick Desbois, in partnership with Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the organization is dedicated to systematically identifying and documenting the sites of Jewish mass executions by Nazi mobile-killing units in Eastern Europe during World War II. Yahad-In-Unum is not a politically affiliated organization, nor does it advocate any political, economic or military action be taken by any group or nation. Rather, its mission is to uncover facts of genocidal practices wherever they are found and provide a voice of protest on behalf of all victims and potential victims of genocide and mass violence. http://www.yahadinunum.org
Local fishers carrying their fishing boat onto the shore in Mozambique. Our direct partnership with IDEPA and the Ministry of Fisheries reflects our shared commitment to empower and equip local communities with the necessary tools to manage their fisheries more sustainably

This week, the international conservation organization, Rare, adds Mozambique to its list of partnering countries participating in its Fish Forever program, an initiative for small-scale fisheries management worldwide. This launch aims to move the country toward sustainable fishing practices that both preserve the countrys incredible ecosystem biodiversity, and allow for more sustainable fisheries.

In partnership with the Nordic Development Fund, the World Bank, the National Institute for the Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture (IDEPA), and Mozambiques Ministry of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, the launch of Rares Fish Forever program in Mozambique signifies its 5th country globally and first African nation to partner on transforming both the local and national approach to small-scale fisheries management.

Our direct partnership with IDEPA and the Ministry of Fisheries reflects our shared commitment to empower and equip local communities with the necessary tools to manage their fisheries more sustainably, said Patrick Mehlman, Rares Vice President of Mozambique Programs, noting that this tandem effort will further strengthen the framework for success in future efforts to establish a national model for fisheries management along the countrys vibrant coast.

The launch of this partnership also addresses formidable global concerns around food security, livelihood sustainability and climate change mitigation. For many in Mozambique, fishing serves as an essential source of food and income. Nearly half a million people nationwide rely on small-scale fishing for employment, and small-scale fishers account for more than 85 percent of the countrys annual catch.

Like many other countries in the developing tropics, Mozambiques reliance on small scale fishing is threatened by overfishing, which is in turn depleting fishers food security, income and way of life. Rares Fish Forever approach and partnership with IDEPA will work to turn the tide by establishing long-lasting solutions deeply embedded in government policy and community practice.

Since its inception, Rares Fish Forever program has been implemented in Belize, Brazil, Indonesia and the Philippines, addressing key environmental and social challenges faced by communities

Rares proven success in Belize is just one example of how pre-existing government partnerships can provide a successful and rapid transition to complete in-country ownership. With IDEPA staff playing a critical role in bringing the program to scale, there exists an even greater potential to create long-lasting change in fisheries management that allows both people and nature to thrive.

Working in close partnership with the Mozambique government, we are proud to expand Fish Forever into Africa, said Brett Jenks, CEO of Rare. These changes in fisheries management will ultimately address poverty, food security and development, while providing resilience against climate change for Mozambiques small scale fishers.

Working with the Mozambican government, and the National Institute for the Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture (IDEPA), Fish Forever will work with community fishing councils to empower local people to better manage their fisheries. Mr. Narci de Premegi, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Sea, Inland Waters, and Fisheries, welcomed campaign manager candidates, touting them as the best of the best, and first to benefit from this innovative approach to coastal fishing communities.

IDEPA staff will participate in a two-year long training program, ultimately providing them the tools to train and empower local fishing communities to sustainably manage their fisheries.

#FishForever

ABOUT RARE

Rare is an innovative conservation organization that implements proven conservation solutions and trains local leaders in communities worldwide. Through its signature Pride campaigns, Rare inspires people to take pride in the species and habitats that make their community unique, while also introducing practical alternatives to environmentally destructive practices. Employees of local governments or non-profit organizations receive extensive training on fisheries management, campaign planning and social marketing to communities. They are equipped to deliver community-based solutions based on natural and social science, while leveraging policy and market forces to accelerate change through programs such as Fish Forever. To learn more about Rare, please visit http://www.rare.org/.

For more information and downloadable imagery, please visit our electronic press kit at https://www.rare.org/en-press-kit.
Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Quarter

United States Mint (Mint) and National Park Service (NPS) officials launched the America the Beautiful Quarters Program coin today honoring Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky.

Modern day explorers and travelers stand in awe at this great break in the Appalachian Mountain chain, which gave passage to thousands seeking something new beyond the horizon, said Marc Landry, plant manager of the United States Mint at Philadelphia, who represented the Mint at the launch event. Millions of Americans will now have a reminder of the important role this mountain pass has played in the settlement of our Nation.

Hattie Landen and Makaya Patterson, both fourth-grade students at Middlesboro Elementary School, shared master-of-ceremony duties of the event held at the parks visitor center. Guest speakers included U.S. Representative Hal Rogers, NPS Deputy Director Peggy ODell, NPS Director for the Southeast Region Stan Austin, and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Superintendent Sula Jacobs. Highlights included an en masse swearing in of more than 2,200 junior rangers followed by a coin exchange, where the public traded cash for $10 rolls of newly minted Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarters.

The Mint also hosted a coin forum at the C.V. Whitney Convention Center in Pine Mountain State Resort Park the evening before the launch ceremony, where local residents gathered to express their views about future coinage and learn about upcoming Mint coin programs and initiatives.

The Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter is the 32nd release in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, a 12-year initiative authorized by Public Law 110-456 to honor 56 national parks and other national sites. Each year, five new national sites are depicted on the reverses (tails sides) of the America the Beautiful Quarters. The United States Mint is issuing these quarters in the order in which the national sites were officially established.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:



B-roll of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9atV2oHVg&list=PLoycqRjxZI6Y5A9igJnCtTuDMZhVoyM_9&index=3.

Interview with Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter Sculptor-Engraver Joe Menna is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNvT3VXnwbQ&list=PLoycqRjxZI6Y5A9igJnCtTuDMZhVoyM_9&index=4.

A digital image of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter is available at http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/?action=photo#AmericaTheBeautiful.

Information about Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is available at http://www.nps.gov/cuga/index.htm.

Additional information about the America the Beautiful Quarters Program is available at http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/atb/.

Information about the United States Mint is available at http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/.

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Contact Information: Carol Borneman (606)-246-1070.

# # #
Right now, 6% of the wines we sell in China are Italian. We want change that 6% into 60%, and help you sell as much Italian wine in China as possible.

On the second day of its 50th Edition, Vintaly hosted Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Founder and Executive Chairman of the Alibaba Group Jack Ma for a tete-a-tete on the role of e-commerce in the diffusion of Italian wine and food abroad. Mr. Ma announced the launch of Alibabas first ever Wine Day on September 9th, which will mark a turning point for Italian wine in China.

The Alibaba Group today is the premier e-commerce platform in China, with over 400 million users and 120 million clicks per day. It includes a consumer-to-consumer portal Taobao similar to eBay, and Tmall, its online retail platform which already hosts more than 90 Italian brands. Alibabas Singles Day  a day of e-commerce focused on unattached Chinese consumers  on November 11 2015, brought in over $14 billion.

After an introduction by Minister of Agriculture Maurizio Martina, Mr. Ma announced that Wine Day - the first ever Tmall Wine & Spirits Festival - will launch at 9am on September 9. Nine means wine in Chinese, so 9-9-9 means wine-wine-wine, explained Mr. Ma. The events objectives are to introduce more international wines to Chinese consumers, and to make it easier for small producers to launch in what can be a challenging market. The goal is to make 9/9 into an international day of wine.

Id like to take the model of Singles Day and use that to promote Italian wine, Mr. Ma told the Italian wine producers present. Right now, 6% of the wines we sell in China are Italian. We want change that 6% into 60%, and help you sell as much Italian wine in China as possible.

Prime Minister Renzi echoed the importance of e-commerce, and agreed that Alibabas Wine Day could mark a turning point for Italian wine in China. The future of Italy and of Alibaba are interconnected. As the worlds biggest e-commerce platform, Alibaba can radically transform our society. If we dont maximize technology, we have no future.

The Chinese love quality Italian products. You have incredible products, but you need to use the power of the internet, agreed Mr. Ma. We cant bring all the Chinese to Italy, so we bring Italy to them. Alibaba wants to be the gateway of quality Italian products in China.

China represents a crucial market for the Italian wine sector; Chinese sales of wine and spirits are projected to reach nearly 8 billion euros by 2017. Mr. Mas visit highlights the opportunity this provides for Italian winemakers. Despite the slowing Chinese economy, Jack Mas presence at Vinitaly creates a burst of interest in China for the Italian wine community and the future of Italian wine in China, said Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly International. This creates an emphasis on the marketplace in China  which is a very tough market to penetrate. We have to channel all our efforts in a unified way to represent Italian wines abroad, especially in China, because unfortunately Italian wines are still largely unknown and unrepresented there.

The visit by the Prime Minister elevated the importance of wine in the Italian national story. What a historic day for all of us at Vinitaly, and what an honor it has been. Its exciting that Prime Minister Renzi is here for the third time , said Kim. This gives real weight to Vinitalys 50th and definitively shows how important Italian wine is for Italy  for its politics, its economy, and its culture.

About:

Veronafiere is the leading organizer of trade shows in Italy including Vinitaly (http://www.vinitaly.com), the largest wine and spirits fair in the world. During its 49th edition Vinitaly counted some 4,000 exhibitors on a 100,000 square meter area and 150,000 visitors including 2,600 journalists from 46 different countries. The next edition of the fair will take place on 10 - 13 April 2016. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine (http://www.vinitalyinternational.com) Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers, will unite international wine professionals on April 9th in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 100 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly International travels to several countries such as Russia, China, USA and Hong Kong thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA has now also organized its very first Certification Course with the aim of creating new Ambassadors of Italian Wine in the World.

# # #
Our goal is to facilitate conversations in which experienced leaders are able to share their wisdom and knowledge that will encourage resolutions to the ongoing challenges faced by the IT industry.

IDR, Inc., a leading employment agency in the technology industry is presenting a Speaker Series titled Elevate 2016. The inaugural event in the series focuses on How to Win the Battle Hiring and the War on Retaining IT Talent. The event will be held Thursday, April 21 from 8:30 am  11:30 am at Roam Buckhead. The event is complete with four key speakers on a panel who will engage in conversation circulating the discussion of Hiring and Retaining IT talent. Panelists come from a range of backgrounds including academia, consulting and quality assurance. Eric French, Founder and President of IDR, is proud to introduce speakers Kelly Kierans, President and COO at Celtic Testing Experts, Mike Cleland, Staffing Industry Consultant at Charted Path, Nash Ogden, President at Innoppl Inc. and Dr. Benn Konsynski, Professor at Goizueta Business School Emory University. Hiring managers, CIOs, industry leaders and executives are among the guest list.

Brooke Hohman, the Corporate Event Planner from IDR, briefly discussed her intent for the series, stating that, the event is an opportunity for individuals in the industry to connect to others. Our goal is to facilitate conversations in which experienced leaders are able to share their wisdom and knowledge that will encourage resolutions to the ongoing challenges faced by the IT industry."

If you are interested in attending the Elevate 2016 Speaker Series, please visit http://www.idr-inc.com/elevate-2016/.

About IDR, Inc.

IDR, Inc. has been providing companies with high-quality IT talent since 1998. Founded and headquartered in Atlanta, GA, IDR has grown organically and now also serves the Nashville and Dallas markets. Supporting their clients, growing their candidates careers and providing their employees with a rewarding and fun work environment are all key objectives in reaching their ultimate goal: To be the BEST IT staffing company the world has ever seen. IDR is the proud winner of Inaveros Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for a third consecutive year, earned by less than two percent of all staffing agencies in the U.S. and Canada. To learn more about IDR, Inc. please visit http://www.idr-inc.com
The final beam is lifted to complete the structure of the new Choctaw Regional Medical Center Clinic in Durant, Oklahoma. This is such a historical day for our tribal members and for all of those in Southern Oklahoma. -- Chief Gary Batton

Robins & Morton celebrated the topping out of the new Choctaw Nation Regional Medical Clinic on March 29 at 10:00 a.m.

The Choctaw Nation Durant Regional Medical Clinic is a 20-acre campus-style development which includes three buildings totaling 174,000 square feet. The three buildings include the clinic, health administration and facilities maintenance.

The clinic functions include primary care (including Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), pediatrics, geriatrics, podiatry and specialty care), employee health, rehabilitation services, outpatient surgery, dental care, audiology, eye care, pharmacy services, lab and radiology services, behavioral health, education and meeting facilities and a wellness center. Administration functions include WIC, public relations, public health nutrition, healthy aging, rapid results, education and meeting facilities and Choctaw Nation Health Services Authority administration offices. The projects estimated completion date is slated for January 2017.

This is such a historical day for our tribal members and for all of those in Southeastern Oklahoma, Chief Gary Batton said. It takes the whole team to make projects like this happen.

# # #

About Robins & Morton

Founded in 1946, Robins & Morton is a privately held engineering and construction firm that consistently ranks among the 100 largest U.S. contractors in Engineering News-Record Magazine. The company has also been named one of the best mid-sized companies to work for in America because of its worker-friendly and family-friendly practices. Robins & Morton is based in Birmingham, Alabama, with offices in Dallas, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama; Orlando and Miami Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.robinsmorton.com
Victoria Reggie Kennedy, senior counsel at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, will be honored at the American Task Force for Lebanons (ATFL) 18th Gala Awards reception and dinner April 12, 2016, at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C. The event brings together members of Congress, members of the Lebanese-American community, current and former public officials, the diplomatic corps, and the business community to celebrate the rich heritage and contributions of Lebanese Americans to the United States.

The ATFL is presenting Kennedy with its Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her exceptional professional and personal contributions to her community and the country. In addition, the ATFL will present its Award for Distinguished Achievement to the Founder and CEO of Nest and Senior Vice President of Google Tony Fadell, and its Award for Distinguished Public Service to ABC News anchor and reporter Paula Faris.

In addition to her role in the Corporate and Securities Practice at Greenberg Traurig, Kennedy is the president of the Board and co-founder of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston, a non-partisan organization created to educate the public about the unique role of the U.S. Senate in our democracy. She is a member of the Commission on Political Reform, a project of the Bipartisan Policy Center focused on examining the causes and consequences of America's partisan political divide and to advocate for specific reforms. Kennedy has recently been elected to the Board of the New England Council and, in January 2016, received the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce 2016 Pinnacle Award for Lifetime Achievement.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 1,900 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No. 1 on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, third largest in the U.S. on the 2015 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2015 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Bielat Santore & Company is proud to report the success of their second webinar based on Tip #2 in the Restaurant Tip of the Month video and blog series. The April 5th webinar hosted by commercial real estate broker, Richard Santore discussed the fundamentals of Developing a Business Plan as well as showcased three of the companys current restaurant listings. Throughout the ten-part series, viewers will also be provided with assistance, information and guidance from leading commercial real estate, banking, appraisal, insurance and other industry professionals on everything from finding and financing a restaurant to operating, staffing, maintaining and promoting a successful business.

Restaurateurs are encouraged to attend the next webinar, Securing Financing which is slated to take place on Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 10:30 am. Special guest and Senior Managing Director at Peapack-Gladstone Bank, Andy Glatz is currently scheduled to co-host the webinar. A recording of the webinar will be made available to attendees and those who already own a restaurant will be offered an opportunity to be featured in the companys Annual Restaurant Guide.

Bielat Santore & Companys Restaurant Tips of the Month can be found on their website http://www.123bsc.com, Hub page, as well as their sponsored Jersey Beats & Eats blog page and YouTube channel.

About Bielat Santore & Company

Bielat Santore & Company is an established commercial real estate firm. The companys expertise lies chiefly within the restaurant and hospitality industry, specializing in the sale of restaurants and other food and beverage real estate businesses. Since 1978, the principals of Bielat Santore & Company, Barry Bielat and Richard Santore, have sold more restaurants and similar type properties in New Jersey than any other real estate company. Furthermore, the firm has secured in excess of $500,000,000 in financing to facilitate these transactions. Visit the companys website, http://www.123bsc.com for the latest in new listings, property searches, available land, market data, financing trends, RSS feeds, press releases and more.
Dr. Jonathan Kulbersh - Carolina Facial Plastics "With RealSelf, that piece of advice you offer one person can reach millions, said Kulbersh.

Dr. Jonathan Kulbersh is 1 of 100 doctors to receive the prestigious and highly sought-after RealSelf 100 Award, out of nearly 13,000 specialists with a presence on RealSelf- the leading online community to allow patients and doctors to interact within a public forum, giving doctors the opportunity to help people make confident, educated choices on elective cosmetic procedures.

In recent years, plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures are on the rise. More and more men and women are not only undergoing cosmetic procedures, but 1 in 4 U.S. adults share their health experiences on social media. RealSelf is a credible, informative forum that provides valuable insight for patients or those considering certain procedures. They can ask questions in a safe environment and receive honest answers from specialists within their field of inquiry, explained Dr. Kulbersh.

Visit Dr. Kulbersh's website to learn about treatment options: https://CarolinaFacialPlasticSurgery.com/

The doctors receiving this award were among the top 1% of our 13,000-member doctor community in 2015, said Tom Seery, RealSelf founder and CEO. When I started RealSelf, many doctors questioned why they should give away their expertise for free on the web. Now, eight years later  and with over one million doctor answers on our platform  we are proud of the standard this select group has set. They're leading the way by empowering millions of consumers to gain access to the information they need to make smart and confident health and beauty decisions.

As a doctor, its very rewarding to know that you can help patients by sharing your skills and advice with them one-on-one, but, now, with RealSelf, that piece of advice you offer one person can reach millions, informed Kulbersh.

Dr. Jonathan Kulbersh is an expert contributor to RealSelf, and to date has posted 1,553 answers to questions on RealSelf. Each month people from all over world ask important aesthetic-related questions, such as Am I too young for a face lift? Dr. Kulbersh maintains a perfect patient star rating of five out of five stars in RealSelf reviews.

For more information about facelifts, please visit: https://CarolinaFacialPlasticSurgery.com/Facelift-Procedure/

Its a honor to receive this award, said Kulbersh. I am elated that there is an active forum where doctors can offer their personal experience and insight on so many topics, allowing patients to read differing opinions and decide the best course of action for themselves.

For more information about Dr. Jonathan Kulbersh. please visit Carolina Facial Plastics and for the full list of RealSelf 100 Award winners, visit http://www.realself.com/RS100.

Carolina Facial Plastics

6849 Fairview Road Suite 200,

Charlotte, North Carolina 28210

(704) 842-3644

info(at)CarolinaFacialPlastics(dot)com
Mark Paduveris- Environmental Equipment Specialist, Standard Equipment The equipments versatility and technological edge will be key to success. There is a gap in the environmental equipment market in Hawaii, and with this strategic alliance we are positioned perfectly to address it.

Envirosight is pleased to announce expanding the exclusive territory for Standard Equipment to include Hawaii. Standard Equipment has been a long-time sales partner for Envirosight, and the expansion coincides with Standards hire of municipal equipment sales expert to serve the territory.

In his role as Environmental Equipment Specialist, Mark will work to grow market presence for Envirosights sewer inspection technology among the islands municipal, contractor, DOT and engineering clientele. Hawaii has a wide range of infrastructure challenges for which Envirosights equipment is perfectly suited, said Mark. The equipments versatility and technological edge will be key to success. There is a gap in the environmental equipment market in Hawaii, and with this strategic alliance we are positioned perfectly to address it.

Standard Equipment knows the importance of having the right people in place to achieve growth, said Mike Vislay, Director of Sales for Envirosight. Mark has 20 years experience in the industry, and understands Hawaiis market inside-out. Standard has been an exclusive dealer for Envirosight products in Northern Illinois for the past 10 years.

We are thrilled to expand our territory to include the State of Hawaii, said Jerry Donlon, President of Standard Equipment. We look forward to strategically utilizing Marks industry relationships and market knowledge to promote Envirosights innovative sewer inspection technology.

For more information visit http://www.standardequipment.com and http://www.envirosight.com.

About Envirosight LLC

Randolph, New Jersey-based Envirosight, LLC provides video pipeline inspection solutions to municipalities, contractors, departments of transportation, and civil/environmental engineers. Envirosight is committed to ongoing innovation, delivering products that enhance user productivity and inspection detail. Envirosight serves customers through a trained network of regional sales partners who deliver localized support and expertise with rapid turnaround. All Envirosight technical employees hold NASSCO PACP certification. Visit Envirosight online at http://www.envirosight.com
iSocket Systems address the problem of a prompt notification of power cuts to help customers take the first steps to limit the consequences of power outages and avoid costly damage. Among different applications are: shore power failure monitoring to marine applications, power monitoring of fridge/freezers or vaccine storage aggregates and monitoring of power during the cold season to avoid frozen pipes. The company pioneered the technology of power outage alerts via the mobile network and they were the first to provide a solution for power outage monitoring on AT&T and T-Mobile 3G networks in USA. They helped many customers in USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia to avoid the consequences of a power outage.

Rick McAndrew from Australia shares his experience of how a prompt shore power outage alert could help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIUSUn7YdbA

The companys offering for consumers is a simple smart plug  iSocket 3G  with a standard North American NEMA 5-15 plug to connect to a standard wall socket to monitor mains power. This smart plug is managed by apps for Android and iPhone or simple texting for users who do not have smartphones. The solution is plug and play and does not require any specific knowledge for installation or configuration.

Today the company begins shipping their iSocket 3G to 184 countries. The product is available with all major plugs for the different countries now: the standard British plug BS 1363 for the UK and some countries in Africa; CEE 7/4 "Schuko" plug for Germany and for most countries of the European Union; CEE 7/5 plug for France, Belgium and other countries with the French plug.

This will be the first time iSocket 3G is introduced to Switzerland and Italy. The new product is now available with the SEV 1011 Swiss plug for Switzerland and CEI 23-50 S17/P17 for Italy, Uruguay and Chile.

With this selection of plugs the company now covers the majority of the countries of the world. The product can be ordered directly from the website https://www.isocket3g.com/
Selling a business isnt like selling a car. A value maximizing process takes months of planning before buyers can be sought, and a well prepared set of documents helps to entice buyers. Past News Releases RSS Financial Poise Announces...

Financial Poise Announces...

Financial Poise Announces...

Great companies fail for lots of reasons that have nothing to do with the product or service they are selling. Turning an idea into a business is hard, often because the creative entrepreneur with the great idea does not have the same level of skill, training, experience, and passion in the other critical areas required to make a product into a successful company.

These areas include knowing how to attract and retain people, understanding accounting and finance, and being able to negotiate various contracts - including potentially a contract to buy a competitor or, ultimately, to even sell the business.

This Financial Poise webinar series, entitled Business Advice - From Start Up to Sale 2016, covers some of these topics in plain English. As with all Financial Poise Webinars, each episode in the series is designed to be viewed independently of the other episodes, and listeners will enhance their knowledge of this area whether they attend one, some, or all of the programs.

Episode #2 of the series is "Legal and Practical Advice - Roadmap to Selling Your Business." (Register Here) Moderator Michael Schwarzmann of Crowe Horwath will be joined by of Peter Feinberg of Hoge Fenton, Mark Miller of Arnstein & Lehr and Trisha Lotzer of Lotzer Law Group.

Selling a business isnt like selling a car. A value maximizing process takes months of planning before buyers can be sought, and a well prepared set of documents helps to entice buyers. Planning includes seeking to optimally present the opportunity: are there key customers that should be put into long term contracts? Are there expenses that can be eliminated to increase EBITDA and Free Cash Flow? Should contracts or leases be extended to provide stability or will a buyer want flexibility to merge operations and achieve synergies? Is a likely buyer a financial or strategic party? How does understanding a company and a buyer help to position the opportunity and compile the diligence information? When is a business broker, an investment banker, or just a lawyer needed? This Financial Poise webinar helps explain how to anticipate the opportunities and pitfalls.

ABOUT FINANCIAL POISE:

Financial Poise provides unbiased news, continuing education, and intelligence to private business owners, executives, investors, and their trusted advisors. For more information contact Emily Goldin at egoldin(at)financialpoise(dot)com or 312-469-0135.
Youth members of the Young Marines atop Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima during the Reunion of Honor "Our Young Marines had an opportunity that few will ever have," said Bill Davis, CEO of the Young Marines. "To walk the ground and have a personal view of the challenges our Marines and others faced during that battle is irreplaceable."

Youth members of the Young Marines, a national youth organization, have returned from their March trip to Guam and Iwo Jima for the annual Reunion of Honor. This year was the 71st anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima and the 72nd for Guam.

Each year, American and Japanese veterans come together for remembrances of their fallen brothers and to recall the fierce battles that took place on the two islands during World War II.

"Our Young Marines had an opportunity that few will ever have," said Bill Davis, national executive director and CEO of the Young Marines. "To walk the ground and have a personal view of the challenges our Marines and others faced during that battle is irreplaceable. I know they truly appreciated this opportunity and will now be part of 'telling the story', so others will not forget the sacrifices made for our freedom."

The Young Marines who went on the trip include:



YM SgtMaj Lucas Ward, 18, of Farmington, Illinois, the National Young Marine of the Year

YM GySgt Shaina Halverson of the Eastern Mountain Young Marines in Pinetop, Arizona - Director's Choice

YM GySgt Kendra Base, 17, of the Eagle Young Marines in Oceanside, California  winner of the Jimmie Trimble Scholarship

YM MGySgt Jonathan Jimenez, 18, of the Milton Lewis Young Marines in Gainesville, Florida - winner of the Jimmie Trimble Scholarship

Also on the trip were all six Division Young Marines of the Year:



YM SgtMaj Joseph J. Bacon, 16, of Ludlow, Massachusetts - Division 1

YM SgtMaj Caleb Maurer, 15, of Bromley, Kentucky - Division 2

YM SgtMaj Cooper Johnston, 16, of Wakefield, North Carolina - Division 3

YM SgtMaj Seraphina Faye Gayle, 17, of Waco, Texas - Division 4

YM SgtMaj Matthew Carr, 17, of Greenwood, Indiana - Division 5

YM SgtMaj Abigail Bambilla, 17, of Vancouver, Washington - Division 6

"This was my second trip to Guam and Iwo Jima," said YM GySgt Lucas Ward, 17, the National Young Marine of the Year. "The trips had a lot in common but also contrasted quite a bit, which I liked, because I got to experience things differently. I think my absolute favorite part about this trip was the veterans, hands down. We had a much smaller group of veterans this year, which means I got a lot of personal interaction with each one. This made the journey very personal and emotional for me."

The Young Marines were able to attend the memorial service which took place for veterans and family members at the Anniversary Monument on Iwo Jima.

A 36-day assault resulted in an American victory but at great cost. There were more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. Of the 20,000 Japanese defenders, only 1,083 survived. The Marines' efforts, however, provided a vital link in the U.S. chain of bomber bases.

About the Young Marines

The Young Marines is a national non-profit 501c(3) youth education and service program for boys and girls, age eight through the completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral and physical development of its members. The program focuses on teaching the values of leadership, teamwork and self-discipline, so its members can live and promote a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

Since the Young Marines' humble beginnings in 1959 with one unit and a handful of boys, the organization has grown to 281 units with 9,600 youth and 2,400 adult volunteers in 40 states, the District of Columbia and Okinawa with affiliates in other countries.

For more information, visit the official website at: http://www.YoungMarines.com.
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News

From Bulgaria

Moscow Has Not Discussed the Idea of a Bulgarian Gas Hub (Energy Minister)

According to minister Novak, such a project would not be feasible without pipelines to supply it

AUTHOR: publics.bg



 Digi_shot, flickr.com



The subject of a gas hub in Bulgaria has not been discussed in Moscow, Russian energy minister Alexander Novak told the Bulgarian National Radio.

Moscow has learnt about this idea from the media, but there have not been any official steps towards notifying the Russian side. The Russian energy ministry has not received any such offrers from Bulgaria and this is why it is not a matter of discussion, Novak said.

According to minister Novak, such a project would not be feasible without pipelines to supply it.

Where from would this gas come and what is, in fact, the gas hub idea? If there are no gas supplies via the bottom of the Black Sea and the South Stream project, then there could not be a gas hub, I reckon. We do not have any detailed scenarios on this subject, Novak further told the Bulgarian National Radio, adding that the South Stream project was not frozen on Moscows initiative but rather that of the European Commission.

Novak said that out of all the planned gas pipelines, South Stream 2 was the one most likely to be realised.

All other projects, such as Turkish Stream, are in a suspended state, Novak said, also alluding to the recently rekindled Poseidon project.

Minister Novak also tackled the Gazprom  Overgas conflict, which led to the halting of natural gas supply by the Russian energy giant to Bulgarias largest consumer gas supplier, in which Gazprom also has a stake. Novak declined to comment in details, as this was related to the relations between two trade companies and that the contract between the two details the way such disputes can be settled.

Last week Overgas declared its readiness to take Gazprom to court for breach of contract.
In a tone-setting keynote delivered this morning at the London Book Fairs Quantum conference, Penguin Random House U.K. chair, Gail Rebuck told attendees that for all the curious incidents shes witnessed over her publishing careerfrom her days binding and setting hot type at the London College of Printing, to the emergence of e-readersbooks remain the DNA of our civilization."

In her 20-minute talk, Rebuck acknowledged a series of seismic shifts in the book business over the last two decades, and both the potentialand the pitfallsof technology for publishers and authors.

Today our job as publishers is made easier, and infinitely more sophisticated, by terabytes of digital research and sophisticated insight tools that enable us to segment audiences by their passions and their literary tastes, to reach readers with the individuality of an email message, to constantly refresh and repackage the way books and backlists are managed and marketed, Rebuck said. But, she also noted a concerning decline in authors revenues, adding that only one in 10 writers today live on their writing income alone, and that half of all self-published authors earn less than $500 a year.

She went on to cite the complexity of the modern world for the pressure on todays publishers and authors: squeezed margins across the whole supply chain, the lack of diversity in e-book distribution, price deflation, and competition from other media for readers time.

The technology that has made it easier than ever to tell a story and get it out to the world cuts two ways, she noted. Its made it possible for a handful of authors to hit a global jackpot of unprecedented, Himalayan, proportions, while at the same time making it so much tougher for many authors to be seen or heard in the vast sea of information in which we now live.

Rebuck also cautioned publishers against framing digital and physical as enemies, insisting that what matters is that readers are discovering and buying books, whatever the form of delivery.

Rebucks speech echoed some of the observations of bestselling British author Philip Pullman, who gave the afternoon keynote at the 31st International Publishers Congress Sunday.

In his talk, Pullman, like Rebuck, stressed that the central role of storytellers remains, while acknowledging four revolutions over the course of history: the emergence of the oral tradition; the transition from an oral tradition to written language; the advent of movable type and the codex, and finally, digital.

In each case, Pullman noted, new ways of doing things did not entirely replace to the old ways, and suggested the e-reading devices like the Kindle may in fact be reminding readers today of the elegance and functionality of the codex.

But Pullman also cautioned against the developing digital world, where public libraries are being cut, and books are considered cheap. Things from the third revolution are still needed in the fourth, he said.

If I was a publisher today, I would ask most urgently what it is that makes me necessary to writer and reader, to storyteller and audience," he said, observing that publishers need to look carefully at what they bring to the publishing process in order to "survive and prosper" into the fifth revolution. "Because," he concluded, "there will be a fifth revolution."
Schreier to HC

At HarperCollins Eric Meyers took North American rights at auction to a currently untitled book about video game development by Jason Schreier. The author is a news editor at Kotaku, a Gawker-owned website about gaming. The book was sold by Inkwell Managements Charlie Olsen and is about, he said, the often bumpy development cycles of high-profile games and the colorful personalities that shepherd them along the path from concept to release. The book is set for fall 2017.

Scribner Watches Maclears Birds

In a joint acquisition, Kyo Maclears Birds Art Love Death was bought by Kathy Belden at Scribner (U.S. rights) and Martha Kanya-Forstner at Doubleday Canada (Canadian rights). Jackie Kaiser at WestWood Creative Artists handled the sale for Maclear, calling the book a work of creative nonfiction. Maclear is a picture book author (Spork and Virginia Wolf) and this book, Kaiser said, is an adult title that documents how the author became an amateur birder. While juggling the demands of children and aging parents, Kaiser said, Maclear learns to look for birds in the urban landscape, exploring along the way ideas such as freedom, patience, creativity, inspiration, and the value of small things. The book, which is slated for January 2017, will feature photographs from Jack Breakfast and artwork from the author.

Other Press Takes Hoffmans Daughter

Judith Gurewich at Other Press nabbed German journalist Andrea C. Hoffmanns Not Without Her Daughter, a nonfiction work chronicling a young womans captivity under Boko Haram. The book follows the ordeal of a Nigerian woman who was pregnant when she was abducted by the terrorist group at 19. Other Press called the title a first-person account of survival. Agent Barabara J. Zitwer, who has an eponymous shingle, and Christine Proske at Ariadne Buch brokered the deal.

Bliss Gets In with Katherine Tegen

For her eponymous imprint at HarperCollins, Katherine Tegen took North American rights to a currently untitled picture book by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss. Holly McGhee at Pippin Properties sold the book, which is set for winter 2018. She said it is about a little girl who singlehandedly transforms the life of a lonely classroom hamster.

Mira Inks Neggers to Six

Nicole Brebner at Mira signed Carla Neggers to a six-book world-rights deal. The agreement, which Jodi Reamer at Writers House brokered, will cover three books in the authors Swift Valley River series, and three books in her Sharpe and Donovan line. The former consists of contemporary romances set in the titular New England town; the latter is a suspense series following FBI agents Colin Donovan and Emma Sharpe.

Briefs

Christine Dore at Adams Media took world rights to blogger Jamie Harringtons The Unofficial Guide to Crafting the World of Harry Potter. Kate Schafer Testerman at KT Literary represented Dore and said the book features 30 craft projects for children ages 814, as well as for adult fans of the series. The book is set for an April 2016 release.

Rowman & Littlefields Suzanne Staszak-Silva took world rights to Aroop Mangaliks Dealing with Doctors, Denial, and Death. Mangalik is a medical doctor and the book, Staszak-Silva said, explores the ways in which we are accustomed to treating illness at all costs and the medical professions role in overtreating patients. Publication is set for January 2017.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the full title of Kyo Maclear's forthcoming book; it is Birds Art Love Death, not Art Love Death.
A North Carolina store adds a West Coast location; a California bookseller considers closing; and a veteran Minnesota bookseller prepares to call it quits.

Stevens Books to Hold Grand Opening on April 16: The Christian, used, and new bookstore, which opened in Raleigh, N.C., 62 years ago and has a large online store, which offers free delivery worldwide, is about to celebrate its new store on the West Coast. The San Francisco location will hold day-long events on Saturday, including a puppet show, live music, and a poetry reading.



California Bookstore Potential Minimum Wage CasualtyAnn Kinner of Seabreeze Nautical Books and Charts in San Diego is the latest California bookseller to express concern over the impact of minimum wage on her store. She is worried about a June 7 vote to raise the citys minimum wage to $11.50 next year, coupled with a bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown to increase it across the state to $15 in 2022. Kinner has already cut business hours and reduced staff.

Christian Bookstore in Winston-Salem Turns 30: April 1 marked the pearl anniversary of Carolina Christian Supply. Co-owner Carol Sheets credits the stores longevity to its outreach to churches with choral music, clergy robes, communion bread and cups, offering envelopes, sanctuary candles, and other items in addition to books and bibles.

A Video Poem a Day at Diesel: April is a sort of High Holy Month at all three California Diesel bookstores, according to Brad Johnson, co-manager of the store in Oakland. To celebrate, throughout the month friends and colleagues of Diesel read one-a-day from published poems as well as original works by a local writing program for fifth graders.

Closing Time for the Book Shelf in Winona, Minn.: After an unsuccessful Indiegogo campaign last year, which raised only $810 of the $15,000 needed, the store will close on April 15. On his Facebook page, owner Chris Livingston wrote: It is has been a wonderful experience being your independent bookseller for the past 14 years, and I wish it were possible to continue to be.
Following Sherman Alexie cancelling his appearance last Friday Linda-Marie Barrett, general manager of Malaprops Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, N.C. wrote an open letter in which she pled with authors, Please dont abandon us; we need your support now more than ever. Shes not the only bookseller to worry about being targeted by authors and illustrators in the wake of the passage of North Carolinas HB2, or the Charlotte bathroom bill.

Under the law, it is illegal for transgender people, who have not taken surgical and legal steps to change the gender on their birth certificate, to use public restrooms of the gender with which they identify.

Alexie may be the first big-name author to take to take that step. He made the announcement via Twitter, In honor and support of the LGBT community, I am cancelling all upcoming events in North Carolina. But other artists have followed suit, including Bruce Springsteen, who cancelled a concert in Greensboro the same day Barretts letter appeared.

Barrett told PW, We looked at our author schedule going forward and also at the momentum happening with businesses and conferences pulling out of North Carolina because of HB2 and realized we needed to be proactive. I could see the real possibility that authors in all genres might sign on to cancelling their tour dates in North Carolina.

The store has also lost tourist dollars because of the new law. A customer from Tennessee, who liked to come to the store and bring her friends, wrote, Im not a major customer, as I probably only spend about $200 a year at Malaprops. I know its not your fault, but I will not return until the law changes. I just wanted you to know that you are losing business, and I know I am not the only one to feel this way.

Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh hasnt had any author cancellations, but Erik Larson, who appeared at the store the day after the bill passed, told events coordinator Rene Martin that he considered it. But he didnt think it would be fair to the bookstore. Nor has Park Road Books in Charlotte experienced any cancellations. Even though we started this mess, we havent had any repercussions yet, owner Sally Brewster said.

Neither has Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. But [we] are holding our breath, Jamie Fiocco, owner and manager said. Its ironic that authors would cancel an event with an independent bookstore when were one of the most likely entities to speak out against this type of legislation.

The day after the bill passed, Flyleaf revised its logo to reflect gay pride by adding a rainbow. The store is also hosting a Roundtable on Workplace Nondiscrimination, HB2, and Your North Carolina Small Business with the Small Business Majority association. And Fiocco and Barrett are planning to write a joint anti-HB2 letter to the legislature and are inviting other booksellers to sign.

The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, hasnt had any cancellations either. But co-owner Tom Campbell has given the matter a lot of thought and in a letter to PW he wrote, It would be sad indeed if one of the effects of this legislation was to diminish the number and strength of voices speaking out here for openness, inclusion, fairness and nondiscrimination.

Campbell proposed offering big-name authors a chance to designate their events with the store as Liberty and Justice events. The store would donate a portion of the authors and its proceeds to the North Carolina ACLU and the North Carolina Justice Center, which are fighting HB2. And he suggested that other stores follow suit.

So to authors (and rock stars) we say, Campbell stated in closing, Dont let the North Carolina legislature scare you away. Come on down here and get in their face! Help fire up the troops, here on the ground. Be a thorn in their side, not a silent, empty space.

As for North Carolina, its not the only state feeling the heat. Alexie is also cancelling appearances in Mississippi over LGBTQ legislation recently signed into law. And that customer in Tennessee acknowledged that her state is considering similar legislation.
Kadokawa, a major Japanese publisher of manga, prose and digital content, has taken a majority stake in Yen Press, the Hachette Book Groups manga and graphic novel imprint. Kodakawa plans to turn the imprint into Yen Press LLC, a joint venture between HBG and Kadokawa.

Kakokawa has taken a 51% stake in Yen Press LLC, leaving HBG with 49% of the joint venture. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of April. Yen Press cofounder and publishing director Kurt Hassler has been named managing director and publisher of the newly conceived joint venture.

Masaki Matsubara, representative director and president of Kadokawa, said the deal was driven by the fact that U.S. market remains incredibly important to Japanese manga publishers. He cited both the rebound in manga sales in North America and the continuing popularity of Japanese pop culture in general. Visitors at anime and pop culture events held in North America continue to rise year by year, demonstrating the increased popularity of Japanese content in the market, Matsubara said. Kadokawa considers the North American market as the most important international market for the company alongside China.

As another impetus for the agreement, Hassler also pointed to the growing popularity in North America of light novels, Illustrated prose works based on manga and anime properties. Yen Press is a longtime licensee of Kadokawa light novels. I cant think of another instance in the manga field where leading publishers from Japan and the U.S. have pooled their resources in a true joint venture, Hassler said. With the demand for manga and light novels already exploding, the possibilities seem endless.

Michael Pietsch, CEO of HBG, said the new venture will combine Kadokawas expertise in manga and light novel genres, digital distribution and anime platforms, with HBGs sales, distribution and publishing support services. Pietsch added that the venture "will further strengthen our Yen Press brand, and allow us to leverage Kadokawas superb reputation in both manga and light novel genres.
With the 28th IBPA Publishing University occurring just days after the completion of Ingram's purchase of the Perseus Books Group distribution business and the closing of Partners Group Distribution, changes in the distribution landscape was a repeated topic of discussion at the event. In addition to the distribution topic, the IBPA featured a lively keynote speech from author Kwame Alexander, and over 30 education panel.

Much of the distribution discussion at the two-day conference, held April 8-9 in Salt Lake City, centered around what changes Ingram's purchase of Perseus will mean for both former Perseus clients as well as publishers distributed by Ingram Publisher Services. Publishers were especially eager to learn if they would be getting new sales representatives, or if Ingram intends to change existing sales territories.

Finding a good distributor remains a challenge for many of the 230 new and independent presses who were in attendance at the conference. The purchase of the country's largest distributor of indie presses, Perseus, by what had been the second largest independent distributor, IPS, will further limit the distribution options for publishers. A number of publishers told PW they had either left IPS to join Perseus, or had left Perseus to join IPS. Now these houses are part of a distribution group representing over 600 publishers.

Some publishers suggested that the time may be right for a new distributor to emerge that could represent a smaller group of publishers. A smaller player, they feel, could potentially offer more personal service than what the IPS/Perseus combination can. A couple of publishers said they hoped Mark Suchomel, who formed the Legato Publishers Group for Perseus after leaving IPG, might be interested in starting another new venture. (Suchomel, who had been running all of Perseus' distribution businesses, did not make the move to Ingram after the sale.)

Asked at a panel what she thought the Perseus acquisitiong meant for self-published and indie authors, Robin Cutler, senior manager of IngramSpark, said her hope is that some of the self-published authors in IngramSpark will evolve into publishers that could take advantage of one of Ingram's full service distributors.

The conference was not all talk of distribution, however. Newbery winner Alexander, in his keynote, gave a spirited description of the road he took from a young child working for his father's publishing company to an award-winning children's author.

During his career, Alexander has operated his own small press and, at one point, self-published his work. Along the way he learned the value of taking chances in marketing. He took big publishers to task for believing there is only one to sell books when, in fact, "there are hundreds of ways." To promote a book by one of his first authors, Alexander recalled, he hired two actors to attend a book reading, fearing that his shy author would not make a good presentation. Sure enough, as the audience was getting bored with the reading Alexander signaled the actors to start acting out the text. He ended up selling out the hundred or so copies of the book he brought to the store.

When sales of his first self-published book were slow, Alexander took to showing up at Farmers Markets up and down the Middle Atlantic states, often selling $1,000 worth of books in a day. Self-published authors and independent publishers can't think like large publishers, he said. "You have to do what you have to do to sell your books."

Throughout his early career Alexander was repeatedly told poetry doesn't sell, particularly children's poetry. When he was doing a reading of one of his early books at a BookExpo America, a publisher asked if he had written anything for a middle grade audience. Though he had not, Alexander said he had and quickly wrote a few dozen pages. The project was rejected.

After Alexander expanded the manuscript to 230 pages, the project was rejected not only by the publisher who had originally asked for the material, but by 17 other houses as well. Alexander was getting ready to publish the book himself when he received an offer from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The Crossover would go on to win the Newbery. Even after he signed with HMH, though, Alexander continued to aggressively market his own titles. "To be an author is to be active," he said.

Asked if he would considered returning to the publishing side of the business, Alexander said he wouldn't rule it out. "My heart is still with small presses."
Publishers looking to make their content more visible on Web pages can try following a number of best practices that have risen up in recent years. These practices include the following:

 making sure content can be indexed,

 providing crawlable link structures,

 using keywords effectively,

 writing good tag descriptions,

 creating informative URL structures.

To improve discovery, publishers should ensure that their content can be consistently indexed by search engines. Providing so-called alt text to describe images is an easy way to allow those engines to associate the title of a book with its cover image; so, too, is offering a text transcript of video and audio content. Because many publishers sites are targeted at wholesalers or retailers, they rely on search boxes to help trading partners find what they want. That approach wont attract consumers, since most readers are still unlikely to search for ISBNs or similar identifiers.

Publishers who rely on search boxes often think less about how search engines might navigate from a landing page to title-specific pages on a site. If a site lacks crawlable link structures, search engines will miss some (or much) of the descriptive content elsewhere on the site.

Keywords should be the terms consumers are likely to use when searching for an answer or book. The challenge with keywords is as much selection as presentation. It can be helpful to use tools such as Google Adwords to understand what readers are looking for.

Publishers sometimes default to author names and book titles as keywords. These can be effective when consumers know what they want to find: To Kill a Mockingbird, or Harper Lee, for example. But other terms can be very effective tools for publishers, whose lists include titles that offer unique content to targeted audiences. A cookbook featuring Cajun cuisine or an appetizer for a Mardi Gras party might find that jambalaya and Louisiana crab dip (as well as Mardi Gras appetizers) work well.

The order, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization of keywords all matter. This is true anywhere the keywords appear, including page fields that present the title, body text, or metadata about a book.

Keywords can help a books Web page rank highly in search results. So-called keyword stuffing (repeatedly using certain terms in page descriptions with the hope of boosting the pages ranking) is controversial and for the most part does not deliver the results publishers need. Instead, try to use keywords as follows:

 early in the title tag, but just once;

 once prominently near the top of a page;

 up to three times in body copy (more is allowed if the text is extensive);

 smartly, at least once in the alt text description of an image;

 once in the page URL.

Good Tag Descriptions

Both title tags and metatags give publishers opportunities to aid discovery. Title tags describe the content of a website. Ideally, the length of the tag would fall between 65 and 75 characters, with the most important keywords featured early.

The title tag should be readablean effective description of the content of the page. The more effective tags convey emotion, something tied to the content of the page. Too often, publishers miss this opportunity to bring aspects of a book to the immediate attention of those searching the Web.

Metatags essentially provide the promotional copy that appears when search results are returned. The best metatags run fewer than 160 characters. Once a page is found, metatags give publishers a chance to describe whats on the page in their own words. Its important to complete metatags because without a tag, search engines will create something based on the page.

The structure of URLs is another under-used opportunity for publishers. The best URLs help you figure out whats there before you click. As with most aids to discovery on the Web, shorter is better, but be smart about it. Refer back to your keywords and try to include them where they make sense. And make sure the URL is something humans can read. Numbers and other characters can make for a unique Web address, but they dont appeal to readers.

Paying attention to indexing, link structures, keywords, tags, and URLs wont solve every problem publishers have in making content discoverable, but they provide a good foundation.

Brian F. OLeary is founder and principal of Magellan Media, a management-consulting firm that works with publishers.
Much of Jianxin Ma's work focuses on tapping into the genetic diversity of wild soybeans (left) to improve cultivated varieties (right). (Purdue Agricultural Communication photo/Tom Campbell)

Download Photo

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University professor of agronomy Jianxin Ma will receive the 2016 Agricultural Research Award for his work in plant genetics and genomics.

The award is given each year to a faculty member in the College of Agriculture with fewer than 18 years of experience beyond a doctoral degree. Recipients are scientists who have demonstrated a high level of excellence in research and made significant contributions to agriculture, natural resources and quality of life for Indiana citizens.

Much of Ma's research focuses on characterizing the genomics of globally important crops. He is internationally renowned for his seminal work on the soybean genome and his prominent role in decoding the genomic structure of rice, cacao and other plants. Understanding these genomes helps researchers identify and select for desired traits to boost crop yields, improve nutritional value and increase plants' ability to flourish in a changing climate.

"Dr. Ma is a meticulous and innovative researcher whose discoveries have made invaluable contributions to the science of plant genomics," said Karen Plaut, director of agricultural research and associate dean for research and faculty affairs. "He possesses a unique ability to translate a thorough understanding of basic plant biology into crop improvements that are essential to feeding a growing global population."

Ma's work lays a foundation for more sustainable soybean production by using the unique and largely untapped diversity of wild soybeans to improve cultivated varieties. Using a combination of techniques, he has discovered and characterized many genes underpinning key agronomic traits in soybeans that could be used to improve yield, plant architecture, disease resistance, seed oil and calcium content and resilience to climate change. He is working with a team of Purdue scientists to transform this knowledge into the development of new, elite soybean cultivars for farmers.

Indiana is a leading producer of soybeans with the value of the 2015 soybean crop weighing in at more than $3 billion.

"Dr. Ma's work is a terrific illustration of the important role that basic scientific research plays in bringing forward advances that translate into direct benefits for farmers in Indiana and far beyond," said Jay Akridge, Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture. "He represents the best of the best in a land-grant faculty member."

Ma will receive the award in an on-campus ceremony in the fall.

The award includes $10,000 to support Ma's research program, a $1,500 honorarium and a commemorative plaque.

Writer: Natalie van Hoose, 765-496-2050, nvanhoos@purdue.edu

Sources: Karen Plaut, 765-494-8362, kplaut@purdue.edu

Jay Akridge, 765-494-8391, akridge@purdue.edu

Jianxin Ma, 765-496-3662, maj@purdue.edu

Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-2722;

Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu

Agriculture News Page
Shovik Bandyopadhyay Download Photo

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Purdue University junior Shovik Bandyopadhyay is a new 2016 Goldwater Scholar.

Congress established the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program in 1986. It awards up to $7,500 toward tuition, fees, and board to sophomores and juniors pursuing research careers in science, mathematics or engineering.

Goldwater Scholarship recipients are undergraduate students who already conduct research in their fields and show promise for the future. Students pursuing the scholarship participate in a university-wide nomination process through Purdue's National and International Scholarships Office, housed in Purdue Honors College.

Bandyopadhyay, of Eureka, Missouri, studies biological science in the College of Science and Honors College. He is laying the foundation to pursue his goal to discover new and better treatments for blood cancers.

"I aspire to focus on research in cancer biology while maintaining patient contact," he said. "My research should translate into treatments and maintain the human side of medicine."

At Purdue, Bandyopadhyay has conducted research in the lab of Ji-Xin Cheng, a professor of biomedical engineering and chemistry, and spent his summers in the lab of Stephen Oh at Washington University in St. Louis. He initiated a cooperative effort between their laboratories to research the combination of two drugs for a synergistic interaction to fight chronic myelogenous leukemia.

"In my 12 years as a faculty member at Purdue, I have never seen an undergraduate student start and facilitate collaboration at this level between two specialized labs at major research universities," Cheng said.

Bandyopadhyay said he also is committed to supporting the health of his local community and citizens abroad.

"Shovik is highly regarded for his academic talents in biology, which he expands with activities outside the lab and the classroom," said Rhonda Phillips, dean of the Honors College.

Bandyopadhyay began a regional "Get Onboard Active Living University" program together with IU Health, which taught and mentored nearly 100 elementary school children in 12 sessions with Purdue student mentors. The Purdue volunteers were drawn from students who also volunteer for Timmy Global Health, an organization close to his heart. With Timmy, Bandyopadhyay went to Quito, Ecuador, to care for local citizens attending the clinic.

Media contact: Sashaun Wood, Purdue Honors College, 765-496-1146, sashaunwood@purdue.edu
The (Champaign) News-Gazette (http://bit.ly/1qC3Dhb) reported Sunday that there were 100 Cook County inmates behind bars last week in other counties. The reason is inmate safety, especially in high profile cases.

The counties also make a profit.

The News-Gazette reports Piatt County averages about 15 Cook County inmates daily, receiving money for each stay. Piatt County Sheriff Dave Hunt says it totals about $360,000 a year.

Dwright Boone-Doty has been charged in the November murder of Tyshawn Lee. Boone-Doty is accused of killing the child in an alley as an act of retaliation against the boy's father.
CHICAGO (AP)  Frustrated by a state budget impasse stretching into its 10th month, rank and file Illinois lawmakers are meeting in bipartisan groups to discuss potential solutions.

Some legislators spoke about their efforts Monday at a forum hosted by The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, saying the goal is to present plans to legislative leaders in hopes of resolving the stalemate between Democrats who control the Legislature and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

State Reps. William Davis, a Homewood Democrat, and Republican Robert Pritchard of Hinckley said they recently attended a lawmaker gathering in suburban Chicago to discuss tactics. Aside from noting revenue and reforms are in the mix, they declined to discuss specific proposals because they're in the initial phases.

"Sure, there's an element of frustration, there's also an element of realism," Pritchard said after the forum. "We're seeing the leaders aren't willing to come together. We're feeling the pressure from our constituents so we want to do something about it."

But the legislators face a tough road in trying to convince Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan, who haven't met with Rauner in months over a budget deal for the fiscal year that began in July. Democrats want Rauner to sign off on a tax increase, but Rauner first wants "structural reforms." Democrats refuse, saying those plans  like changes to collective bargaining  hurt working families.

Meanwhile, the state's fiscal problems continue to grow, something none of the eight lawmakers participating in the forum disputed. Because of court orders and other mandates, Illinois is spending without a budget at rates both sides say is unsustainable. The state comptroller's office has said the backlog of unpaid bills could reach $10 billion by the end of June.

Still lawmakers, due in Springfield Tuesday, are convinced their efforts help.

At least five separate groups have been meeting to discuss the budget. Four have sought guidance from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a progressive Chicago-based government accountability group, according to executive director Ralph Martire.

Also state Sen. Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat, said she's part of a bipartisan and bicameral group that's met "off and on" for some time.

"It will take rank and file folks coming together," she said during the forum. "It's a strategy that can be effective."
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)  A 4-H Club wants to restore a Springfield building that was an orphanage for African-Americans.

The 4-H Spark Tank club has picked "Preserving the Lasting Memory of the Lincoln Colored Home" as a project, the (Springfield) State Journal-Register (http://bit.ly/1Sq6D6y) reported. Club member Zaire Harris said the goal is to have it completely renovated.

"I applaud their efforts," said Lee Hubbard, whose family owns the property. "We're trying to get some traction here."

Hubbard's father returned to Springfield in 2005 and purchased the property with an idea to convert it to a museum and community center. His father, a former Tuskegee Airman, died in 2012 before being able to get funding.

Hubbard said the building is sound structurally. It's currently vacant and has deteriorated.

Harris and the three other club members are Springfield High School freshmen. He said their goal is to complete the project in three phases by when they are seniors. The desire is to make it a place for meetings, for learning about aeronautics, and "where kids can come to learn and have a protective environment," he said.

The first phase is to place signage in front of the brick building to identify it as a landmark and denote its National Register of Historic Places listing, with hopes to finish doing that by June. Harris said work to make the exterior more attractive will come after that, followed by interior restoration.

"It still has the same magic about it that it always has," Hubbard said. "It is so worth saving."

The Lincoln Colored Home was founded in 1898, and a new home was finished in 1904. As many as 60 to 70 orphans and indigent elderly were housed at the home at one time. It was an orphanage until 1933.

Club members met at the building with Hubbard and others to accept a $250 check from Farm Credit. The Illinois State 4-H Foundation has awarded the club a $1,000 grant, according to Erica Austin, 4-H educator for metro programming for Sangamon County for University of Illinois Extension.

The club also plans a capital campaign for renovation investment and wants more youth involved, Austin said.
ROCK ISLAND -- Republican county board member Mike Steffen claimed at a news conference outside the Rock Island County Clerk's office Monday that 10 people were denied the right to vote during last month's primary election.

However, the only person he could find to speak about the alleged voter suppression was unable to vote because he did not have the correct photo identification to register to vote.

Wayne Lyter, who spoke alongside Mr. Steffen at the news conference, had attempted to register to vote at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Center in Rock Island at 5:30 p.m. on election day.

He had recently moved to Illinois from Iowa and only had an Iowa driver's license as photo identification. An Illinois state identification or driver's license is required to register to vote.

"When some bureaucrat denies you the opportunity (to vote), it bothers me," Mr. Steffen said during Monday's news conference.

Responding to Mr. Steffen, county clerk Karen Kinney said Republicans were "trying to create something out of nothing" by seeking to publicize Mr. Lyter's problems voting. Mr. Lyter, she said, simply did not have the proper photo identification to register to vote.

"There was no attempt to suppress anybody's vote," she said. "To lose your right to vote you must first be a registered voter; he had an Iowa driver's license. This is nothing but a witch-hunt from the opposing party's side."

Republicans are generally on the side of laws that require stricter photo identification rules for voting and Mr. Steffen said he supported photo identification requirements. He also said he did not have the names of the other nine people he claims were denied the right to vote at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Center.

Mr. Lyter, who works at Theo's Java Club in downtown Rock Island, said he had left it late to register to vote, which was allowed on election day for the first time, and was disappointed when he was unable to do so.

"It was made to appear a lot easier than it ended up being," he said, but he added that he was grateful to county officials for listening to his concerns and plans to be registered in time to vote in the November general elections.
ROCK ISLAND -- State Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, has repeated his call for up or down votes on the anti-union measures backed by Gov. Rauner that are holding up progress in the Illinois budget stalemate.

Illinois has been without a budget since last July because the governor has insisted that any deal with the Democrats who control the state legislature must include the pro-business, anti-labor reforms that are part of his Turnaround Agenda.

But Rep. Moffitt said it was time to put the argument about those reforms to bed once by voting on the governor's proposals. He made a similar call in January and is frustrated that there has been no real progress since then.

"I'm in favor of having up or down votes on some of his Turnaround Agenda because right now those are the stumbling blocks, those are the reasons that are being given for why we can't move ahead," Rep. Moffitt said in Rock Island on Monday.

"In the meantime, there's huge collateral damage in the state with no budget, that has to stop. The time for talk is over, the time for action is here."

The lack of a state budget has meant cutbacks and layoffs at colleges and universities and uncertainty for many local students from low-income families who are not receiving state grants for college they were promised.

Court orders and consent decrees have meant that most of the things the state funds, including K-12 education and pay for state workers, are continuing to be funded.

Non-profits that serve addicts, seniors, the disabled and low-income families, are among the losers who are not being funded because of the budget stalemate. As a result, they have cut back on staff and services as uncertainty over their futures continues to mount.

"We're really stressed out," said Barbara Eskildsen, executive director of the Western Illinois Area Agency on Aging in Rock Island, said in an interview last week. "Our whole network is crumbling, piece by piece."

She said waiting lists for services like home delivered meals for seniors are growing because state funding is not coming in, staff are having to take unpaid days off and some open positions are not being filled.

"It doesn't seem to matter to the people in Springfield that these are actually people they're hurting, it's not just a budget number," Ms. Eskildsen said.

Rep. Moffitt, who was speaking at a Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon Monday at the Holiday Inn Rock Island, said it was time to "stop making excuses" on the budget impasse and vote on the governor's proposed reforms.

"Then we know, can you pass it or not? If you cannot pass some of his reforms, you've got your answer, now move on," he said.

Democrats did pass a $36 billion budget last year, but it was $4 billion more than the estimated $32 billion in revenue for the fiscal year, and Gov. Rauner says he won't look at ways to close that deficit unless an agreement is reached that includes his reforms.

Those reforms include the creation of right-to-work zones that would allow local governments to opt out of collective bargaining, a proposal Democrats are unlikely to ever support.

Still, state Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, who also spoke at Monday's chamber luncheon, said there is room for compromise with the governor.

As an example, he said he has been a longtime supporters of changes to redistricting to make the process independent of partisan politics, a reform Gov. Rauner also backs.

State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, said at Monday's chamber luncheon that he sees room for compromise on workman's compensation rules, another area where the governor wants to see change.

But state Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Rock Island, noted at the luncheon that Democrats had passed a workman's compensation reform bill in 2011 that was supposed to produce $1 billion in savings for employers but only $300 million was realized.

Rep. Smiddy said insurance companies had not passed on all of the expected savings to employers and said the legislature should work together to change that.
DAVENPORT -- A different kind of a fireworks exploded in downtown Davenport on Sunday, during a special version of Tchaikovsky's famous 1812 Overture.

Arguably the largest orchestra in Quad-Cities history gathered for the first time to exult in the powerful, triumphant work that traditionally closes the Quad City Symphony Orchestra Riverfront Pops concerts at LeClaire Park, with fireworks. Sunday was a new Community-Wide Side-by-Side Concert, as 55 professional musicians played with 170 community members of all ages and skill levels.

"It was awesome -- what a rush!" Lisa Crews, of Davenport, who plays piccolo, said shortly after they performed at the RiverCenter's Mississippi River Hall. Chief financial officer at the Putnam Museum and Science Center, she performs regularly in the Quad City Wind Ensemble and Quad City Flutes Unlimited and got to sit next to Janet Stodd, the QCSO principal flute and piccolo.

"I love music; I just love to play," Ms. Crews, a frequent symphony-goer, said. What was it like to be in the big orchestra and not merely listen? "The sound was really amazing in here. Wow, the brass section, what awesome brass. Being part of the QCSO is really a thrill for me. I would love to play at that level, in that kind of organization."

Jeff Engel, who plays violin, drove from Macomb to participate. A biology professor at Western Illinois University, he's not a regular symphony-goer but studies with QCSO violinist Karen Martin.

"I could play more of it than I expected to. It was very difficult," Mr. Engel said of the Tchaikovsky, noting he practiced for about a month.

"It was great; it was a little adulterated by us here," he said of the combined group. "I was disappointed there was no cannon."

"What an intriguing, unique experience to bring the community together with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra," said Archana Wagle, of Bettendorf, who plays violin. "Especially to be under the tutelage of (orchestra music director and conductor) Mark Russell Smith."

"Music is my passion," said the Unity Point Health anesthesiologist, who's a QCSO season-ticket holder and plays with the Muscatine Symphony and a string ensemble based at St. Ambrose. On Sunday, Dr. Wagle performed with her teenage sons, Rishi (violin) and Keshav (oboe), who both are in the Q-C Youth Symphony Orchestra.

"I enjoy the process of making music together as a team and meeting other people outside of my area," she said. "I'm around people in health care all the time. I love meeting people who are passionate about something I'm passionate about."

Of the 1812 Overture, Dr. Wagle said: "It's such a spectacular, momentous piece."

"I chose this piece because it's a piece everybody knows. It's not an easy piece," Mr. Smith, who rehearsed with the players a half hour before a full run-through, said. "The professionals are excited because we have to be ambassadors, evangelists basically, for the music. The amateurs are excited because they get to play with the professionals.

"It's a rare thing today. So much culture comes to us; we don't have to create," he said. "To make sounds and harmony together is a unique thing. That's why people like doing it. That's why people continue to play.

"They played in high school, and now they play in community band or an orchestra, or sing in choir, because it's such a unique thing to create in today's society," he said.

Similar "side by side" programs have been done in Richmond, Va. (where Mr. Smith has conducted), which has attracted 600 people from the community to play each year.

Marc Zyla, QCSO principal horn, coordinator of education and community outreach and general manager of its youth ensembles, was pleased by the large turnout Sunday, more than was expected. Some people registered within just hours of the event.

"I'm hoping the young kids hear what it sounds like, with the Quad City Symphony musicians, something to model after," he said of the wide range of performers. "There's a wealth of talent in this community. This is a way to tap into that."

Mariah Spence, of Sherrard, a high school junior (and flutist), came with her sister, Josie, an eighth-grader and trumpeter, and other friends. They play in school band but not the Q-C Youth Symphony -- which earlier in the afternoon gave a formal side-by-side concert with the QCSO and other youth groups.

"We thought it'd be cool to get together with just the community and form a big band altogether," Mariah said. "They're definitely a lot better than I am."

Mr. Smith said he'd never seen so many bassoonists in one place before, and Mr. Zyla was part of a horn (also known as French horn) section with 16 players Sunday, compared to four or five in the 85-member QCSO.

The new event -- which Mr. Smith plans to make an annual tradition, likely with different pieces each year -- was held the day after a new family concert Saturday of Disney film music. Other QCSO staff also played Sunday -- including Ben Loeb (viola), Mary Tallitsch (flute) and Ben Klemme (trombone).

The informal community concert is part of QCSO's effort to engage the community more, such as Saturday's concert and daylong carnival and a prior networking event for young professionals, said marketing director Brad Lewis. Nearly 2,000 tickets were sold for the family concert, he said.
Filmmakers from Moline and Davenport have earned honors for their latest projects.

Moline-based Fourth Wall Films, operated by Kelly and Tammy Rundle, won an Award of Excellence from the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards in Los Angeles for "Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg."

"Movie Star" is the first documentary film to focus on the private side of Ms. Seberg, an actress from Marshalltown, Iowa. It explores her American and international film career, civil rights-era activism and her mysterious, untimely death in Paris.

The Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards is a monthly film competition with quarterly award ceremonies. "Movie Star," the feature documentary winner for the March edition, will screen in June during the a red-carpet ceremony held at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles.

The film also received the Gold Eddy in the Pro-Am Documentary category at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival. Their "River to River: Iowas Forgotten Highway 6" won the Gold Eddy in the Pro Documentary category -- plus the Iowa Connection Award from Produce Iowa for the film the group feels best represents filmmaking in Iowa -- Kelly Rundle said Monday.

This is Fourth Wall's 11th honor from CRIFF, a nationwide contest open to movies with an Iowa connection such as setting, subject, shooting location or home base of the filmmakers, he said.

I think because we won our first award for our first film at the 2006 CRIFF, this festival will always be special to us, Mr. Rundle said. "Villisca: Living with a Mystery" won the Gold Eddy at the 2006 festival.

"River to River" takes viewers on a nostalgic classic-car journey through yesterdays soda shops, filling stations, general stores, drive-ins, historic sites and roadside attractions that line U.S. 6 in Iowa.

Davenport-based Stephen Folker also won two awards at the CRIFF. His horror spoof, "The Orange Man," won a Silver Eddy in the Pro Feature (fiction film) category, competing against movies that have much higher budgets. He also won the Audience Choice Award, saying by email, "This is what every entry in the festival crosses their fingers to get."

In his film, middle-aged friends go on a camping trip only to be hunted down by a sadistic maniac, whose weapon of choice is orange. "The Orange Man" is being represented by a California-based distributor; Mr. Folker plans to release it through iTunes, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target later this year.

He's also planning a Quad-Cities screening on Halloween.

Fourth Wall's "River to River" and "Movie Star" have been shown locally. June's screening will be the first in Los Angeles for the Seberg documentary. It's also special for the Rundles because they worked 18 years in the film industry there.

Mr. Rundle said there are no plans for a "Movie Star" limited theatrical release across the country, but they're working on screenings in Europe. This was the first time they entered the Hollywood competition.

Fourth Wall won the CRIFF audience award last year for "Letters Home to Hero Street."
The investigation showed the dog accidentally escaped Millan's control, and people present instantly captured the dog, attended to the pig and called in a veterinarian, who found there was no need for treatment, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Jacobs wrote in a case evaluation statement.

"There is no evidence that the pig was used as bait, and all parties who witnessed the incident felt it was an accident," the evaluation said. "Although in the video the pig is seen bleeding, the dog's act was merely a nip and did not tear or bite the skin off."

The complaint was started online and based on footage from Millan's television show "Cesar 911," in which a French bulldog-terrier mix named Simon was undergoing behavior modification because it had a history of attacking other animals, including its owner's pigs.

Simon chased and nipped the pig after Millan placed the animals together in a yard. A Change.org petition called on Nat Geo WILD to take the show off the air, calling Millan's methods inhumane.

The county Department of Animal Care and Control independently investigated and concluded the pig "is fine and has no discernable injury to its ear," the evaluation said.

Millan said in a statement that he was pleased but not surprised by the decision.

"Our animal handling procedures are safe and humane. ... I am continuing my work rescuing and rehabilitating even the most difficult problem dogs, which has saved the lives of thousands of animals that otherwise would have been euthanized," Millan said.

The dog trainer has said he has used the same technique to help aggressive canines hundreds of times. The training involves getting the dog together with the animal it doesn't like so the two can learn to get along.

Millan's attorney, Brian Klein, said his client cooperated throughout the investigation.

"We were always confident that Animal Control would conclude that Cesar and his team did nothing wrong and that there would be no charges," he said.
McAuliffe stripped the contentious electric-chair provision from a bill and vowed to veto the measure if lawmakers reintroduce it. He warned that unless Virginia shields lethal-injection-drug manufacturers from public scrutiny, capital punishment in the state will come to a halt.

Lawmakers "have the opportunity to be part of the solution," McAuliffe said. "If they pass up that opportunity, they will bring the death penalty to an end here in Virginia," he said.

McAuliffe's amendment would give Virginia's Department of Corrections the authority to compound its own execution drugs using products from pharmacies whose identities would remain confidential.

Without the secrecy provision, the measure is "only an empty gesture," McAuliffe said, because manufacturers will continue to refuse to supply drugs to Virginia unless their names are kept under wraps. Florida, Texas and Ohio have included similar provisions in their compounding laws, he said.

Virginia is one of at least eight states that allow electrocutions, but currently gives inmates the choice of lethal injection or the electric chair.

The original bill sought to allow the state to use the electric chair when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.

Supporters of that measure said Virginia has no choice but to make electrocutions its default method because death penalty opponents have made it so difficult to find drugs. Lawmakers who backed the bill used the pending execution of a convicted murder to make their case, detailing his grisly crimes in emotional speeches in the General Assembly.

But McAuliffe faced intense pressure to veto the electric chair bill from religious groups and other death penalty opponents, who say electrocutions are cruel and unusual punishment.

The governor said Monday that he agrees that the electric chair is "reprehensible," adding that Virginians don't want to revert back to a past when "excessively inhumane punishments were committed in their name." But he said he does not want to end capital punishment in the state.

It's unclear whether there will be enough support in the Republican-controlled General Assembly to approve McAuliffe's amendment.

A similar measure backed by the governor failed in the General Assembly last year amid concerns over transparency. Republican Del. Jackson Miller, who sponsored the electric chair bill, said that while the governor's amendment isn't ideal, he intends to encourage lawmakers to support it in order to ensure capital punishment can continue in the state.

"I am pleased the governor agrees that the death penalty must remain available in order to preserve the full measure of justice," Miller said in a statement.

Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, a staunch death penalty opponent, said he's pleased that McAuliffe didn't sign the electric chair bill but has serious concerns about shrouding the execution process in secrecy.

"For some reason, the Department of Corrections seems to be obsessed with secrecy," he said. "Of all the things that we ought to require transparency on, the execution of human beings seems to be something that ought to have max transparency, not minimum transparency."

Virginia's two scheduled executions have been put on hold, pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Ricky Gray, who was sentenced to death for the 2006 murders of a family of four in Richmond, was supposed to be executed March 16. Ivan Teleguz, who was convicted of hiring a man to kill his ex-girlfriend, was set to receive a lethal injection on Wednesday, but his execution has also been delayed, pending the high court's review.
Kerry's visit Monday to the Japanese city included him touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining park's stone-arched monument, with the exposed steel beams of Hiroshima's iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.

The U.S. attack on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II killed 140,000 people and scarred a generation of Japanese, while thrusting the world into the dangerous Atomic Age. But Kerry hoped his trip would underscore how Washington and Tokyo have forged a deep alliance over the last 71 years and how everyone must ensure that nuclear arms are never used again.

"While we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past," he told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native. "It's about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built, the friendship that we share, the strength of our alliance and the strong reminder of the imperative we all have to work for peace for peoples everywhere."

Kerry's appearance, just footsteps away from Ground Zero, completed an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

No serving U.S. president has visited the site, and it took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend Hiroshima's annual memorial service. Many Americans believe the dropping of atomic bombs here on Aug. 6, 1945, and on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later were justified and hastened the end of the war.

Kerry didn't speak publicly at the ceremony, though he could be seen with his arm around Kishida and whispering in his ear.

The otherwise somber occasion was lifted by the presence of about 800 Japanese schoolchildren waving flags of the G7 nations, including that of the United States. They cheered as the ministers departed with origami cranes in their national colors around their necks. Kerry was draped in red, white and blue.

Hours afterward, the top American diplomat still seemed to be absorbing all that he saw.

"It is a stunning display, it is a gut-wrenching display," he told reporters of the museum tour, recounting exhibits that showed the bomb, the explosion, the "incredible inferno" and mushroom cloud that enveloped Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. "It tugs at all of your sensibilities as a human being. It reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices of war and what war does to people, to communities, countries, the world."

Kerry urged all world leaders to visit, saying: "I don't see how anyone could forget the images, the evidence, the recreations of what happened."

Japanese survivors' groups have campaigned for decades to bring leaders from the U.S. and other nuclear powers to see Hiroshima's scars as part of a grassroots movement to abolish nuclear weapons.

As Kerry expressed interest, neither Japanese government officials nor survivor groups pressed for the U.S. to apologize. And Kerry didn't say sorry.

"I don't think it is something absolutely necessary when we think of the future of the world and peace for our next generation," Masahiro Arimai, a 71-year-old Hiroshima restaurant owner, said of an apology.

Yoshifumi Sasaki, a 68-year-old, longtime resident, agreed: "We all want understanding."

Both wished for Obama to follow in Kerry's footsteps next month.

The president still hasn't made a decision about visiting Hiroshima and its memorial when he attends a Group of Seven meeting of leaders in central Japan in late May, and Kerry made no promises. During his first year in office, Obama said he would be "honored" to make such a trip.

"Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial," Kerry wrote in the museum's guest book. "It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself."

"War must be the last resort  never the first choice," he added.

Wading into U.S. politics, both Kerry and his Japanese counterpart rejected Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent suggestion that Japan consider developing its own nuclear weapons to defend itself against nuclear-armed North Korea.

Kishida said, "For us to attain nuclear weapons is completely inconceivable."

Kerry called such notions "absurd on their face," contradicting the efforts of every Democratic and Republican president since World War II to prevent wider nuclear proliferation.

Kerry acknowledged that some governments want all nuclear weapons, including those in the U.S. arsenal, destroyed immediately. He described such calls as unrealistic, potentially making the world more dangerous in the short-term by ridding nations of their deterrence against bad actors such as North Korea. Instead, he urged an ordered, methodical process toward the final goal of denuclearization.

"We all know it's not going to happen overnight," Kerry said.

But he said, "We have to get there."
JERUSALEM (AP)  With President Barack Obama in his last months in office, the Palestinians are hoping he will follow up his historic breakthroughs with Iran and Cuba with a push for their cause as well.

The first step is reintroducing a United Nations Security Council resolution the United States vetoed back in 2011 seeking "accountability" for Israeli West Bank settlement building.

In an interview, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the hope is that Obama, freed of re-election concerns, will break with American protocol and refrain from vetoing it this time around.

"There are indications that President Barack Obama may try to put a basis for a new era regarding the Palestinian-Israeli issue before leaving the White House after his achievements in Iran and Cuba," Malki said. "Thus the U.S. administration may surprise Israel by voting in favor of a Palestinian resolution or at least not to use the veto against it."

The draft, which Malki said stresses the "violence and terrorism of the settlers," still needs approval from Arab nations before the Palestinians would consider presenting it. But the move signals a renewed effort to get back on the agenda.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down some two years ago, and the Palestinians have struggled to attract international attention as the world focuses on the Syrian civil war, the migrant crisis in Europe and the U.S. election.

The Palestinians have long sought to press their case in the United Nations, where they enjoy widespread support. In 2012, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly accepted the Palestinians as a nonmember state, giving them upgraded status that, among other things, has allowed them to push for war crimes charges against Israel.

A Security Council resolution is generally considered legally binding and would add even more pressure on Israel.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but nearly 600,000 Israeli settlers remain in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Palestinians claim all three areas for a future state, a position that has wide global support. Similarly, the international community widely sees Israeli settlements as illegal or illegitimate, and a major obstacle to peace.

Israel's closest ally, the United States, also opposes new settlements, but has consistently opposed moves in the Security Council against Israel, arguing it would complicate peace negotiations.

Asked last week about the latest Palestinian proposal, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Washington had no position, saying the draft is still at a "very early stage."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the Palestinian efforts at the U.N. as an attempt to impose a solution on Israel and circumvent negotiations.

Last week, he accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of "taking a step that will push negotiations away. The only way to advance peace is by direct negotiations."
U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura's plea came amid stepped up fighting around the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, and elsewhere in the country's northern and western provinces.

He spoke after meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus in preparation for the talks, set to begin Wednesday in Geneva between the government and an umbrella opposition coalition backed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and other Western powers.

De Mistura said he emphasized the importance "of protecting and maintaining and supporting the cessation of hostilities," describing it as fragile and stressing that all sides "need to make sure that it continues to be sustained."

The U.N. envoy said the talks would focus on a political transition for Syria, where the civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 250,000 people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of 23 million people. About 4 million people have fled the country.

"We will be focusing in particular on political transition, on governance and constitutional principles," de Mistura said. "We hope and plan to make them constructive ... and concrete."

Al-Moallem called for a dialogue "without preconditions," a reference to opposition demands that President Bashar Assad step down and be excluded from any transitional government. He said the government delegation would arrive Friday, two days after parliamentary elections are to be held in Syria. The vote  expected to be a rubber stamp of Assad loyalists  will only take place in government-controlled areas as the Damascus authorities are unable to organize any balloting in territory under rebel or Islamic State control.

Meanwhile, opposition activists reported clashes and government air raids near Aleppo, where rebel factions alongside al-Qaida's Syria affiliate, the Nusra Front, seized territory from the government earlier this month.

Russia's military announced Monday it would help the Syrian army battle back the Nusra Front, but "there is no plan to storm Aleppo."

Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's general staff said Nusra has nearly 10,000 fighters southwest and north of Aleppo and plans to cut a strategic highway linking the city with the rest of the country. Rudskoi said the Syrian army backed by Russian warplanes is taking action to derail Nusra's plan.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a telephone call Sunday, expressed concern over the recent increase in violence in Aleppo and elsewhere aimed not just at IS and the Nusra Front, which are excluded from the U.S.- and Russian-brokered cease-fire, but at rebel groups that are covered by it.

"We are concerned about plans to attack and seize control of Aleppo, when there are clearly opposition groups there that are part of the cessation of hostilities," Toner said.

Russia's air force was instrumental to reviving Assad's military command in the months leading to the cease-fire that came into effect in late February and has brought relative peace to the country for the first time in the civil war.

Meanwhile, IS militants shot down a Syrian war plane during violent clashes Monday west of Damascus, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said the plane was shot down in the vicinity of the Dumayr Air Base in the eastern Qalamoun mountains, which straddle the border with Lebanon.

A news agency for the extremist group said the wreckage landed inside the base, damaging three other planes. The Aamaq News Agency posted a video on social media showing thick smoke emerging from what it said was the Dumayr base.

Earlier Monday, IS militants captured the strategic town of al-Rai on Syria's border with Turkey after intense fighting, the Observatory said. The town serves as the Islamic State group's access point to supply lines and also sits along the road to the IS stronghold in Aleppo province.

The latest IS gains show the group is still capable of launching counterattacks as it comes under pressure on different fronts in Iraq and Syria. IS has lost wide areas in Iraq and Syria recently, including the historic central town of Palmyra that was captured by Syrian government forces and their allies.

The extremists have also suffered leadership setbacks as U.S. drone strikes in Syria have killed several top IS and Nusra Front commanders and key figures in recent weeks.
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Vijay Solanki, Chief Digital Officer for SCA was charged with transforming their digital business and after 13 months in the role, he is leaving the company.

SCA CEO Grant Blakely made the announcement late on Friday:

Vijay Solanki, Chief Digital Officer has led this digital transformation including the creation of new product and data teams plus the initiatives .. He will leave his role given we have achieved this stage of digital transformation.

Vijay joined SCA as Chief Digital Officer from Phillips in Europe where he was head of Global Digital Innovation. His radio experience goes back to 1999 with Capital Radio, later launching Shazam.

Vijay shared with Radio Today, I was asked to drive digital transformation at SCA and my core job is done.

Over the last 12 months saw SCAs digital audience twice the size of any radio competitor according to the recent Nielson Digital results released last week.

In memo to staff Vijay Solanki said, Im really proud to have played my part in driving digital transformation as part of the SCA digital journey. The strategy was always about enabling the entire business to step up in digital. Over the last year, we have built great products including RadioApp, mobile apps & websites, products like Facebook Live and initiatives like Omny Studio and A2X.

The crescendo has been the recent Nielsen digital result showing SCAs digital audience to be twice the size of any radio competitor. My team have been awesome.

The next stage of SCAs Digital strategy will see a new leadership role created overseeing digital technology, digital product development and data analytics. SCAs new Head of Digital and Information Technology will lead SCAs existing digital and ICT teams and work closely with Director of Engineering & Technology.

Vijay will continue his role with SCA to support the transition of the new head and will then pursue his next challenge in Australia.
Seasoned radio and television host Osher Gunsberg fired a shot at young new kids on the block Ben and Liam from Adelaide youth community station Fresh 92.7.

The boys Liam 19 and Ben 22 have a segment called Twitter Beef, where they tweet well known celebrities. So far they have tried Donald Trump, Christopher Pyne, Kanye West, Vegans and James Blunt.

They tweeted Osher: Hey Andrew G, loved your work on Master chef mate.

Its well known he is now prefers to be called by his real birth name Osher Gunsberg. Clearly Osher wasnt impressed, he tweeted back @BrekkieBadBoys thanks heaps Hamish. ( Say hi to Andy for me ).

Was Osher confused or just not being very friendly towards the young new Adelaide community radio duo?

The boys naturally would have taken it as a huge compliment to be mistaken for or accused of sounding like radio superstars Hamish & Andy.

Ben and Liam can be heard on Adelaides Fresh 92.7 breakfast Monday to Friday 6am to 9am.
The deal marks SNTF's entry into the joint venture, and the national railway will take a 10% stake in the business, with Ferrovial reducing its shareholding from 41% to 31%. Alstom and EMA will continue to hold 49% and 10% respectively.

According to Alstom, SNTF plans to order a further 98 Coradia Polyvalent bi-mode (diesel and electric) multiple units as part of its plan to expand and modernise the network. Last year SNTF awarded Alstom an initial contract to supply 17 six-car Coradia Polyvalent sets, which will be delivered from January 2018 onwards. These trains will be built at Alstom's Reichshoffen plant in eastern France, which is currently producing similar Regiolis multiple units for the French regions.

Cital was established in 2010 to assemble and maintain Citadis LRVs for new light rail lines in Algerian cities. Under the latest agreement, the joint venture's facility at Annaba will be expanded from 46,400m2 to 190,000m2 with an engineering department, production lines, and a maintenance depot.

The plant will have capacity to assemble one Coradia set per month.

Expansion of the facility is expected to directly create around 270 jobs, in addition to the 240 already employed at Annaba. Alstom says it will provide training and transfer skills and technology for production and maintenance of the trains.
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Media executive Deanne Weir is joining Australian pay-TV operator Foxtel as executive director of channel aggregation and wholesale in June 2016.





She will work closely with Foxtels channel partners and its executive director of television Brian Walsh and his team. In addition she will play a lead role in determining key elements of Foxtels distribution strategies, said Peter Tonagh , Foxtel CEO.Weir spent ten years as group director of corporate development at Austar and was deputy chair of Screen Australia prior to current role as chair of the boards of captioning business Ai-Media, Emmy and BAFTA award-winning production company Hoodlum and concert streaming business Moshcam. In the not-for-profit sector she is chair of the Australian Women Donors Network.Deanne will play a key role in ensuring that we become the aggregator of choice bringing together great content from all possible sources and ensuring that we have the rights and ability to distribute it on the platforms and in the ways that consumers want to view it, said Tonagh.Deanne will take the lead in working with our channel partners to ensure that great brands like Disney, BBC, Discovery, Fox, Turner, NBCU and Viacom continue to deliver world leading content to our subscribers. Deeper relationships with these extraordinary companies will enrich both Foxtel and their Australian operations.He added: Not only is Deanne highly experienced in the subscription television business, she has a real depth of knowledge of how content is made, funded and distributed.Walsh commented: I am delighted Deanne is returning to the subscription television sector. This is a great coup for Foxtel. Deanne is a formidable television executive and one of the most respected in our industry.Weir expressed excitement at her new role, adding:  Foxtel has been connecting audiences to the best international and Australian content for over 20 years, and the story is about to get even better.
MOSCOW, April 11 (RAPSI) - A criminal case against Yekaterina Smetanova, who stands accused of embezzlement at the Defense Ministrys subsidiary Oboronservis and commercial bribery, has been again referred to Moscows Presnensky District Court, the courts spokesperson Nina Yurkova told RAPSI on Monday.

In February, the case was returned to prosecutors for correction of defects committed during the inquiry.

The trial is expected to be held behind closed doors because Smetanova has been included in the witness protection program.

Smetanova has pleaded guilty to the crimes of which she has been accused, and provided detailed and consistent testimony exposing the other individuals involved in the crime. She has been released under restriction notice. Case against her was singled out and considered separately.

The corruption scandal broke out at the Defense Ministry in 2012 and led to the resignation of then Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Yevgeniya Vasilyeva.

Serdyukov was charged with negligence. Investigators claimed that his actions or inactions resulted in damages to the state estimated at 56 million rubles (about $830,000) by ordering army personnel to build a private road to a Caspian Sea resort owned by his brother-in-law.

However, the Russian media reported in late December 2013 that the criminal probe into Serdyukovs actions was closed. Serdyukov's lawyer Genrikh Padva said later that his client was pardoned under an amnesty program.

On May 8, 2015 the Presnensky District Court of Moscow sentenced Yevgeniya Vasilyeva, an aide to Serdyukov, to five years in prison for her involvement in corruption cases at the Defense Ministry.

In late August, a court in the Vladimir Region released Vasilyeva on parole.
Chinese citizen arrested for alleged frog poaching in Russia

MOSCOW, April 11 (RAPSI)  A Chinese citizen has been arrested on suspicion of frog poaching in Ussuriysk, a town in the Primorsky Krai bordered by China, RIA Novosti reported on Monday citing the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB) Directorate in Primorye.

The man dressed in rubber fishing clothing was arrested when he was poaching the amphibians, according to the statement. Border patrol unit found him while he was setting fish traps in the stream not far from the ChineseRussian border. Ten captured frogs were discovered.

A criminal case has been launched under Article 322 of Russias Criminal Code Illegal border crossing.

This is the first case of the arrest of a frontier violator on suspicion of poaching the amphibians.

Frogs are not depleted, threatened or endangered species, but catching them by Chinese poachers from China from the late 1990s to early 2000s resulted in nearing extinction of tree frogs in Primorye.

Over the last 10 years, the number of such violations has fallen from several tens to one or two incidents per year.
Criminal case opened over attack on police station in southern Russia

MOSCOW, April 11, (RAPSI)  A criminal case has been opened after an attack on a rural police station in Stavropol region in southern Russia, reads a statement released on Monday by the Investigative Committee.

Three attackers attempted to enter the police station using grenades. Two of the men were killed in gunfire, one another blew himself up, according to the Investigative Committee.

No police officers or civilians were reportedly killed in the attack. Technical damage was done to the police station and nearby cars, the statement reads.

The counter-terrorist operation regime was introduced in the region after the attack, the press service of the Russian Federal Security Service in Stavropol said to TASS news agency.

"In accordance with federal law, a decision was made to conduct a counter-terrorist operation on the territory of Novoseletsky municipal district at 11am Moscow time. The operation is controlled by the National Counter-terrorism Committee," the press service added. Security forces had sealed off the area around the attack and were working to establish the attackers' identities, Russia's National Counter-terrorism Committee told Interfax.

Rapid deployment units, security forces, law and order agencies, and bomb-disposal experts have been reportedly put on high alert.

After the attack had been reported, nearby schools and hospitals were evacuated. Additional security measures were introduced across the region, news agencies quoted Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov as saying.

It remains unknown whether or not the attackers were members of an Islamic State (IS), an organization prohibited in Russia. IS has vowed revenge after Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria last September. In November, a Russian passenger jet was blown up over Egypt by a bomb planted by an Islamic State affiliate. In December, the IS has claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Derbent, a city in the North Caucacus republic of Dagestan.
Al Jazeera, April 11, 2016

Shereena Qazi

Relatives and tribal elders in southeastern Afghanistan are demanding an investigation into the killing of 17 people by US drones this week, claiming that the air strikes hit civilians, not members of armed groups.

US army officials said on Thursday that two air strikes in Paktika province, near the Pakistani border, had only targeted fighters, without any evidence of civilian casualties.

Afghan officials confirmed to Al Jazeera that 17 people had been killed in Wednesday's strikes in Gomal district, but added they all had links to the Taliban.

Yet, local leaders and relatives insisted on Saturday that all of those killed were innocent civilians.

"We demand an investigation into the brutal killings of these innocent people," Nimatullah Baburi, a deputy of the Paktika provincial council, told Al Jazeera.

"I know them personally and their families too. They are in no way affiliated with the Taliban," he added.

"Those men were doing low-paid jobs to feed their families. All of them were civilians".

Bahadur Noorullah Khan, a clerk working in the district office, was one of the 17 people killed in the raids.

He left behind a wife and two children.

"Who is going to feed them?" Khan's wife asked. "Bahadur was the sole breadwinner of our family, now where am I going to go with my children?" He was innocent. He was never involved with militants. This case should be investigated."

Another man killed in the air strikes was 37-year-old Hussain, who like many Afghans goes by one name.

"This man got married a year ago," his friend Mohammed Hassan told Al Jazeera.

"Innocent people die every day in our country. No one asks about them ... These drone strikes have taken lives of innocent people since the beginning of time."

However, Aminullah Shariq, the governor of Paktika province, told Al Jazeera on Saturday only Taliban-affiliated people were killed in the attack.



Drone strike victims in Pakistan. Drone strike victims in Pakistan.

"We've been in touch with the Americans and after all the investigations and inquiries, we've come to the conclusion that all people killed in the strike were linked to the Taliban," he said.

"We will continue to support the US in their operation as both of us have the same aim: to defeat the militants."

His comments came after Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, spokesman for the US military in Afghanistan, said in a statement on Thursday: "We can confirm that the US conducted two counterterrorism strikes in Paktika on Wednesday afternoon.

"There was no evidence to indicate that there were any civilian casualties at all."

'Nameless and faceless'

Emran Feroz, an activist and founder of Drone Memorial, a website documenting civilian drone-strike victims, said Afghan officials are not doing enough to protect civilians.

"The new government of [President] Ashraf Ghani doesn't even criticise the attacks," Feroz told Al Jazeera.

"We witness that the Afghan police and army say that the victims were Taliban, or al-Qaeda militants.

"It's not clear why they insist on this but it's always the same scenario after drone strikes, which is why most of the civilian victims of the strikes remain nameless and faceless."

The US has intensified drone operations in the country since Islamic States of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known ISIS) loyalists started appearing in Afghanistan.

According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Afghanistan is the "most drone-bombed country in the world" with at least 1,368 people killed since 2015.

Originally published on Apr. 9, 2016
Property details:

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The 19-member Board of Regents decides whether undocumented immigrants can attend the University of Georgia, whether smoking will be allowed on campuses, who the president of each state university will be and whether tuition rates will rise for the 318,164 students in the system.
In this Friday, Dec 4, 2015, photo, French director Pascal Elbe, left, and French actor Vincent Elbaz, right, attend a promotion for their movie "Je Compte sur Vous" in Paris, France. "Je Compte sur Vous"  released in English as "Thank You for Calling"  is based on the exploits of the French-Israeli con man Gilbert Chikli, who engineered rogue payments by phoning companies and pretending to be the firm's CEO or a French intelligence agent. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

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By RAPHAEL SATTER, Associated Press

PARIS (AP)  The man who nearly stole over 70 million euros from France's business and banking elite is a serial manipulator who sees fraud not as a crime but as a way of life, according to those behind a new film based on the con artist's exploits.

"Je Compte sur Vous"  released in English as "Thank You for Calling"  is based on the exploits of the French-Israeli Gilbert Chikli, who engineered rogue payments by phoning companies and pretending to be the firm's CEO or a French intelligence agent. Those behind the film, which was released in France on Dec. 30, describe Chikli as a chameleon of a man, a brazen charmer whose boasts suggest he has yet to abandon his criminal career.

"Chikli is an unstoppable seduction machine," said director Pascal Elbe in a recent interview in Paris. "For him it's a job, it's definitely not a con."

Chikli's heists were astounding in their daring. With a little background research and a well-placed phone call, Chikli could cajole or bluster his way into organizing the transfer of several hundred thousand, a million or even millions of euros to bank accounts in Dubai, Russia, China or Hong Kong.

His victims put down the phone convinced they were speaking to their boss or to a genuine French spy. One spoke of being taken in by a man with "an extremely powerful tone of voice and self-assurance." Two more were convinced  somehow  to withdraw cash and hand-deliver it to bars in Paris. When tricks or charm didn't work, Chikli turned to bullying; another employee was threatened with losing her job if she didn't immediately organize the transfer of nearly $2 million to the U.K.

"He adapts to his interlocutor, that's what's crazy," Elbe said. "He improvises. He reacts. He riffs off what you're saying and gives you back what you want to hear."

The idea for the film came from producer Isaac Sharry, who bought the rights to Chikli's story when he was still in French custody and visited him in Israel shortly after Chikli jumped bail. Chikli remains a wanted man in France, but today lives openly in Ashdod, a port town south of Tel Aviv. Israeli authorities refused to explain why Chikli is able to live freely in Israel.

Sharry said he wanted to speak to Chikli in depth to ask how "bankers who make thousands of euros and went to fancy schools let themselves be hoodwinked by a simple guy on the phone?"

The producer amassed 10 cassettes worth of tape which became the basis for a screenplay. Elbe was tapped as filmmaker and actor Vincent Elbaz was brought in to play the Chikli-like con artist at the center of the film. All three spent significant periods of time with the fraudster, trying to draw out the secrets of his trade and unwrap the mystery of his character.

Elbaz said he found it difficult to get access to the man behind the con.

"He adapts constantly his behavior to the other. It's constantly a lie," he said.

Whether Chikli has mended his ways is open to question. At one point, Elbaz said Chikli announced that there would be a sequel.

Elbaz said he warned Chikli off the idea. "The film is super and all but you have to sell millions and millions of tickets for it to be a sequel," he said.

Elbaz said Chikli replied: "No. We're going to do a sequel not because the film is going to be a success, but because of what I'm going to do next."

Contacted later by The Associated Press, Chikli denied the exchange ever took place.

___

Associated Press reporter Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
This Saturday, March 26, 2016 photo shows chocolate Easter Eggs and bunnies on display in a shop near the EU Commission in Brussels. While chocolatiers throughout the city are quick to offer condolences to the victims of the tragedy, they are equally fast to express concern about the future. Their livelihoods depend on people from around the globe streaming into their shops to indulge in their world famous goodies _ and they know tourists dont go anywhere to be afraid. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

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By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP)  At the aptly named Planete Chocolat, the shelves are laden with enticing Easter treasures for shoppers: bunnies with bows, pastel-wrapped eggs and elegant boxes of pralines.

Swannee Vranckx, a clerk at the shop near Brussels' main square, said she would normally have seen 50 to 100 customers by midafternoon in the days before one of the biggest holidays of the Christian year. But after the bombing attacks that shattered the tranquility of Belgium's capital, only a handful had come in search of Easter treats.

While the city's chocolatiers are quick to offer condolences to the victims of the tragedy, they are equally fast to express their concerns about the future. Their livelihoods depend on people from around the globe streaming into their shops to indulge in their world-famous goodies  and they know that tourists don't go places they don't feel safe.

"I'm sure it will happen  people will cancel their trips," Vranckx said. "They think it is a place for terrorists."

The March 22 attacks that killed 31 people and wounded 270 are only Brussels' latest brush with violence. Just days before the bombings, Belgian and French police arrested Salah Abdeslam, the chief suspect in the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris, in his Brussels hideout. In May 2014, three people were killed when a gunman targeted the Jewish museum of Belgium.

The notion that Belgium, a small Western European nation of 11 million, might become known for terrorism is shocking to many here. This is a place where U.S. President Barack Obama says it was "easy to love a country known for chocolate and beer."

And at Easter, the nation's sweet tooth is on full display: shop windows are crammed with chocolate. Belgians are said to eat more than 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) of the stuff every year  ranking them among the world's top consumers.

The country traces its love affair with chocolate to King Leopold II's control of the Congo in the late 19th century, which provided the country with a ready supply of cocoa. Things really began to take off after 1912, when the son of a Swiss pharmacist created the first filled chocolates, which he called pralines, at his family's Brussels factory.

Today, Belgian chocolatiers ship their wares around the world and Brussels shopkeepers compete with artistic window displays in hopes of luring in tourists on their way to the art museums or the Grand Place, the UNESCO world heritage site.

This year, not far from there, residents and visitors alike gathered to remember the victims and scrawl messages of sadness and hope in the aftermath of the attacks.

The bombings will cut consumer spending on recreation, leisure and tourism but they are likely to have only a short-term impact on the whole Belgian economy, according to Francesca Peck, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London. The losses may be magnified because the attacks occurred so close to the long Easter weekend, when restaurants and bars are typically busy.

As a result, the Belgian economy is expected to grow 1.45 percent this year, down from a previous forecast of 1.6 percent, IHS estimated.

But the slowdown will probably be temporary, as it was after the November attacks in Paris, where shoppers refused to change their habits in the face of terror threats, Peck said.

"As terrible as the events in Brussels have been, economic activity is typically pretty resilient to terrorist attacks," she wrote.

Belgians, though, are worried about what this means for the longer term  will people in Japan, the United States and China change their minds about visiting their beloved cobblestone streets and classic European cafes? Shopkeepers were just beginning to hope things were about to improve as the months after the Paris attacks had passed uneventfully.

Now all bets are off.

At the sleek Neuhas chocolate shop near from the Grand Place, manager Tim Verstraeten could only shake his head.

"We don't know what is going to happen," he said.
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By Amber Sandhu of the Redding Record Searchlight

Crime victim assistance is going down in Shasta County.

Over the past two years, the number of applications for crime victim assistance in Shasta County has fallen about 16 percent, while the amount paid out to them has dropped about 31 percent.

According to data provided by the California Victim Compensation Program, the Shasta County victim's assistance program processed 718 applications in 2015 and paid a total of $322,530 in benefits, the second-straight year the number of applications processed and money paid out fell.

In 2014, the agency processed 754 applications and paid out $357,327. In 2013, there were 853 applications processed and $472,310 was paid. In each of those years, the highest number of applications, categorized by crime, was for assault and child abuse.

Shasta County Victim Advocate Angela Mellis said that Shasta County's rate of child abuse is much higher than the California average.

This week marks National Crime Victims' Rights Week and the California Victim Compensation Program, a 50-year-old program established to help victims deal with the aftermath of crime, is increasing its outreach to diverse areas and spreading the word about services.

The program helps victims with medical, dental, mental health counseling bills, relocation costs and in some cases, funerals and burials.

"No one expects to be a victim of crime," California Victim Compensation Program Executive Officer Julie Nauman said. "But when it happens, we hope that they could know about the state program."

Mellis said in Shasta County the program is run through the District Attorney's Office and has a victim advocate co-located at One SAFE Place, a domestic violence victim's shelter in Redding.

For Shasta County, they have also begun doing more research on elder abuse, and are looking to do more outreach with the population, since they are an underserved group and make up nearly 20 percent of the population, she said.

Nauman said they have identified the Intermountain region, tribal communities, homeless population, disabled community, those living in the rural or frontier areas and those with limited English proficiency, as populations in need of service.

But Nauman said the agency is also making changes in the way it operates. She said victims may cooperate with their abuser and worry that filing a police report may have repercussions against them or their children. "Emotions run high during victimization," she said.

Under new regulations, in order to receive benefits from the program, the victim will no longer be forced to file a police report, Nauman said.

She said they are also working with legislators to increase the amount of money paid out for relocation. According to their research, in some of the larger cities $2,000 would not help a parent with three children for a very long time. They are looking to increase the $2,000 limit to $4,500. They are also hoping to increase the yearly maximum benefit rate from $63,000 to $70,000, Nauman said.

They have also worked on Assembly Bill 2160 to help cover childcare and transportation costs for victims who need help with transport to their medical appointments. She said once the benefits change, more people can be helped.

"We want to make sure we have the bandwidth to meet their needs," she said.
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By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight

Shasta County's Board of Supervisors will consider an agreement between the county and an employees union that would increase salaries, with an estimated cost of $865,000.

The updated agreement from the Shasta County Employees Association Supervisory Unit was approved by its members April 5 and has been discussed with the board, according to county documents.

Employee titles to be effected by the salary increase include Maintenance Supervisors, Mental Health Business Supervisors, Claims Supervisor, and Sheriff's Records supervisor, Senior Victim Advocate, Welfare Collection Officer and many more.

As many as 90 employees would see a salary increase by later this month.

If approved employees would see a 3 percent increase with the pay period beginning April 17, of which 2 percent would go to the Public Employees' Retirement System. Another 3 percent increase would go into effect Jan. 8, 2017, and again on Jan. 7, 2018, by another 2 percent.

The agreement between the county and the bargaining unit would also provide employees working in the county jail a 5 percent stipend, and eligible employees would receive 3 percent longevity pay stipend if they have worked for the county for at least 20 years, of which at least three years have been served in the unit, according to county documents.

Benefits are also included in the agreement, with employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2017 and current employees who choose to participate in a plan where the county will contribute an agreed upon amount for retiree medical benefits.

The agreement between the county and the bargaining unit was set to expire Dec. 31, 2015, but county officials and union members were able to begin negotiations in October and will formally present the resolution to county supervisors Tuesday.
Jerald Brooks, right, one of the original participants in a Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, walks down a sidewalk to go shopping for groceries with Chris Cates, left, his caseworker, in Seattle. Funding from the expansion of Medicaid brought on by President Barack Obama's health care law in some states has made repeat drug offenders such as Brooks eligible for coverage, which could be a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system as an alternative to the drug war. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

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SEATTLE (AP)  When pondering how to keep low-level drug offenders out of jail, officials in Albany, New York, faced a challenge: How could they pay for a case manager to coax addicts onto the straight and narrow, sometimes by tracking them down on the streets?

The money turned up in a previously untapped source: President Barack Obama's health care law, which by expanding Medicaid in some states has made repeat drug offenders eligible for coverage, including many who are homeless or mentally ill and have never been covered before.

The idea could make the joint federal and state health insurance program for the poor into a new tool for shifting addicts out of the criminal-justice system. Advocates hope to prove that the concept works, possibly paving the way for more cities to try it as an alternative to the drug war.

Many repeat drug offenders are "precisely the population Medicaid expansion was designed to cover," said Gabriel Sayegh, co-founder of the Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice, an advocacy group that aims to reduce incarceration rates and promote drug war alternatives. "Down the road, we see a path for case management and many other services to be supported by Medicaid."

The notion of using Medicaid to steer people away from jails and into services that offer housing, job training and mental-health or substance-abuse treatment comes at a crucial time for the criminal-justice reform movement. Incarceration numbers are making headlines. States are legalizing marijuana, and police departments hammered over questionable shootings are trying to reconnect with the public they serve.

"This shows the community we're willing to try different things," said Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox. "This just makes all the sense in the world."

Albany's efforts and others have been based on a highly touted Seattle program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD. Launched in 2011, it aims to keep people out of prison by focusing on those who use a disproportionate share of public resources by repeatedly getting arrested or seeking care at emergency rooms.

Instead of booking those addicts or prostitutes into jail, police contact program employees, who meet with the offenders and try to enlist them in social services. That can mean getting them a pair of shoes or a bus pass to help keep appointments; buying them groceries until they obtain food stamps; providing short-term housing or even paying for yoga, art supplies, utility bills or college classes  whatever the person needs.

Unlike in drug courts, participants are not kicked out or threatened with jail time if they relapse.

"They know we're out there struggling," said Jerald Brooks, one of the original participants in LEAD. "Sooner or later, you start to do a little better."

Following a White House summit about Seattle's program last summer, dozens of cities are considering whether to follow suit. Santa Fe, New Mexico, launched its version in 2014. Albany began its pilot program this month, and Baltimore, Atlanta and Fayetteville, North Carolina, are expected to launch versions next year.

Medicaid "makes it not crazy-expensive to do this," said Lisa Daugaard, director of Seattle's Public Defender Association and a top proponent of LEAD.

In cooperation with the Katal Center, Seattle's program just opened an office to guide other jurisdictions through the process.

Evaluations in Seattle have shown that LEAD participants were up to 60 percent less likely to be arrested than a control group. The program also saves money on criminal-justice costs, but it still takes money to start such programs.

Before the Affordable Care Act, low-income adults with no children living at home were largely shut out of Medicaid. The law expanded Medicaid to cover people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or nearly $16,400 for a single person.

So far, 31 states plus Washington, D.C., have taken advantage of it. The federal government pays a much bigger share of the cost of covering the new enrollees than for groups traditionally covered by the program.

Some programs around the country have been enrolling inmates in Medicaid just as they leave prison. More than 112,000 were signed up by January 2015, many of them single men being covered for the first time, according to a Johns Hopkins University study published in December.

Medicaid expansion remains a highly politicized issue, and 19 states have rejected it.

Among them is Georgia. That leaves Atlanta in tougher shape as it plans to launch a LEAD program next year, said Xochitl Bervera, co-director of Atlanta's Racial Justice Action Center.

Instead of relying on Medicaid, the city is trying to arrange a combination of county, private and possibly federal money to supplement a $200,000 grant from billionaire George Soros' Open Society Institute, which has provided similar LEAD startup grants to several other cities.

Because many people who would benefit from behavioral health services were not previously covered, there was little incentive for providers to offer services in many areas, including Atlanta. Medicaid's expansion could remedy that, she said.

"The case managers are one piece, but then you need in-house drug treatment for some people and mental health care for others," she said. "We just don't have enough here."
What if California voters repealed a law, but it remained the law anyway?

That's a situation the state may soon face if a yet-unnumbered proposition aiming to repeal a 2014 statewide ban on plastic grocery bags should pass in November. The statewide law also requires stores to offer paper bags for at least 10 cents each.

The bottom line on this referendum measure, which qualified for the ballot within a mere five months of when legislators passed the plastic bag ban, is that it likely won't matter much.

In fact, there's little effect from the fact that the state ban is not in force today, almost two years after it passed. Any law challenged by a referendum gets suspended until the outcome of the vote is official.

There's a pretty simple reason why neither the vote nor the law's suspension matters much: Many local governments have their own bans in place, 146 cities and counties  about one-third of all California communities, containing a large majority of the populace. Repealing the state law would not affect those laws.

Try to get a supermarket plastic bag in any of California's largest cities. Can't do it in Los Angeles. Nor in San Francisco, nor anywhere in Los Angeles County, nor many others.

This infuriates makers of plastic bags, which have pretty much disappeared from the shoulders of major highways they once littered.

Grocers at first opposed the plastic bag bans, protesting the inconvenience to themselves and their customers from forcing consumers to bring their own bags or buy paper ones at checkout counters. They've been converted and now support the bans.

"Early polling is that consumers are adapting to no plastic bags," Ronald Fong, head of the California Grocers Assocation, told a reporter. "It's really unfortunate that out-of-staters are sinking millions of dollars into telling us that we're wrong here in California."

Altogether, more than $4 million has been raised to fight the statewide plastic bag ban, only a small fraction of it raised in California. An industry association, the American Progressive Bag Alliance, which represents the plastic bag industry nationally, raised more than $4 million from its members shortly after the state ban passed. None came from California.

Contributors were led by South Carolina's Hilex Poly ($1.9 million), with companies like Superbag (Texas), Advance Polybag (Texas) and Formosa Plastics (New Jersey) also among big donors.

"We believe California voters share our concerns and will make their voices heard at the ballot box," the pro-plastic alliance's director, Lee Califf, said in a statement. The statewide ban, he said, threatens thousands of jobs and will have "no meaningful effect on the environment."

While removing the statewide ban would not kill any of the local ones, it could perpetuate some confusion, as the state law was intended to standardize regulations that differ slightly among localities.

What's more, say backers  state and local  the bag bans are taking millions of unneeded bags off the street. "When they have to pay, customers avoid buying the bags," Mark Murray, executive director of the group Californians Against Waste, said recently. He cited figures showing the number of grocery customers buying no bags (usually because they've brought their own) has jumped from about 10 percent to more than 35 percent.

Califf and the pro-plastic group maintain the bag ban and fee have been "a massive, billion-dollar giveaway to grocers under the guise of environmentalism." The plastics alliance hopes to qualify a second measure for a November vote, earmarking the 10-cent bag fees for environmental causes rather than letting grocers keep them. The state legislative analyst estimates this could provide $10 million or more to such causes, but nowhere near billions.

The bottom line on this is that aside from any environmental benefits of banning plastic bags, this has devolved into a fight between two well-heeled interest groups: Grocers now love the ban on plastics because it gives them a new revenue source while they no longer must buy plastics. Meanwhile, the plastic bag companies desperately want back into the huge California market, something that's looking more and more like a pipe dream.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com.
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Not only is Earth getting warmer, but the humans who walk upon it are getting heavier. In the latter phenomenon, however, there is little debate as to the cause. It's a man-made global health crisis.

A new study led by British scientists, undertaken with the World Health Organization and 700 researchers worldwide, has some grim news: About 640 million adults are obese, up from 105 million in 1975. At this rate, about 20 percent of the adult population will be obese by 2025. While China is coming on strong, the United States maintains its status as being home to the highest number of severely obese men and women in the world.

Among the many factors at play, the main culprit is food  bad and relatively cheap food. Over the 40 years charted by the study, many countries have risen out of poverty. The citizens turn to high-calorie and processed foods in abundance, not more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and free-range chicken raised without antibiotics. The resulting obesity is "too extensive to be tackled with medications  or a few extra bike lanes," said Majid Ezzati, the study's senior author. "We need coordinated global initiatives."

Personal choices made by members of an affluent society are part of the problem. Makers of public policy, however, cannot mandate CrossFit memberships and portion control. The focus should be on the international food industry, as examined by authors such as Michael Moss ("Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us") and former Food and Drug Administration director David Kessler, whose "The End of Overeating" laid bare the strategy of corporations that "design food for irresistibility" on a mass scale  akin to tobacco companies manipulating nicotine content.

The study notes that amid the plenty, many people around the world suffer from hunger and low body weight. Yet the study's main finding shows that the trend lines have crossed: Global health is now more endangered by people who are overweight than underweight.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Most sought-after market of the past few years doesn't feature among top bets in Asia, emerging markets

High relative valuations amid weak earnings delivery is costing India its earlier tag of most-preferred destination among Asia and emerging markets (EMs).

In calendar 2013, 2014 and the better part of 2015, India was the highest recipient of global fund flows in EMs and Asia (excluding China and Japan). However, over the past few months, foreign investors have been preferring other regional peers and pruning their exposure to India.

As a result, the Indian markets saw more foreign outflow than others in January and February of 2016. In March, after an improvement in risk appetite, India saw foreign inflow of nearly $4.1 billion. However, it was less than Taiwan, which got $5.1 billion, and slightly more than South Korea ($3.1 billion) and Brazil ($2.2 billion). Brazil, however, had seen net inflow of $555 million in January and February, compared to $3 billion outflow from India and around $2 billion in South Korea.

In March, MSCI India rallied sharply but underperformed the MSCI EM for a third straight month.

"India has been the largest overweight position for global funds that invest in Asia and EMs. That is already on its way down and might continue. We are seeing growing appetite for Korea and also Asean (the 10-country Southeast Asian bloc). It doesn't mean investors start selling India but it could get a relatively small portion of incremental flows coming into EMs," says Herald Van Der Linde, head of equity strategy for the Asia-Pacific at HSBC.

Kotak Institutional Equities' quantitative analyst Saifullah Rais, who tracks foreign fund flow into various markets, says allocations to India by global EMs and Asia ex-Japan saw a "large drop" in February.

The sharp inflow in March was largely due to $6 billion into EM-focused exchange traded funds. Reduction in allocations mean India got a lesser portion from the $6 billion inflow than it would have previously. Lesser flows could mean India would underperform its peers in the EM and Asia, which could lead to further pruning of exposure by global funds.

"We've been overweight India since the May 2014 elections. This largely worked, though not in the past three months," says Manishi Raychaudhuri, head of Asia ex-Japan equity strategy at BNP Paribas Securities. "There were several reasons for the recent underperformance. Earnings, for one, are still not picking up due to weak demand in the industrial and rural sectors. The government's legislative initiatives continue to be hindered in Parliament's upper house. Finally, a correction in India's egregious valuation premium to Asian and EM peers seemed overdue."

Following a sharp 10 per cent rally in March, the one-year forward price to earnings multiple for the Sensex has climbed to nearly 15.3. In comparison, the MSCI EM index and MSCI Asia ex-Japan index trade at around 12 times.

"Earnings growth expectations have to be much more realistic. At the moment, the consensus is looking at 17 per cent earnings growth in 2016-17. For us, five per cent looks more reasonable. So, if we see significant downgrades, that could be a time to take a relook at the Indian market," says Van Der Linde of HSBC.

Photograph: PTI
Over salad and sandwiches, Hemant Kanoria tells Niraj Bhatt why understanding the dynamics of the borrowers business is critical for the lender.

The Belvedere Club at The Oberoi, Mumbai, on a Saturday afternoon turns out to be the perfect venue to meet Hemant Kanoria, chairman and managing director, Srei Infrastructure Finance.



The members-only club for CEOs has few guests at lunchtime.

Kanoria, based in Kolkata, is visiting the financial capital on business.

Srei is one of the few non-banking financial companies in the country to have survived and succeeded for over 25 years.



Kanoria attributes it to the managements focus on understanding, managing and mitigating risk.



He gives the example of how the groups telecom tower business, Viom Networks, which it sold to American Tower Corporation (ATC) last year, began small and Kanoria scaled it up only after evaluating and understanding the risks.

Decision-makers in the financing business often get carried away by financial analysis without understanding how the underlying business operates, and make mistakes.

In infrastructure, several things can go wrong.



The gestation period is long, project-specific issues can crop up, but the biggest risk is change in government policies, as governments change in the states and at the Centre.

Our risk assessment, mitigation, in a practical way, has helped us steer clear of these storms, Kanoria says.



In the mid-1990s, there was the CRB scam; in 2000 there was Ketan Parekh; in 2007-08 the global financial crisis took place; and the last two-three years have been bad for infrastructure.



Its not that we havent been exposed to the heat of the fire, but we have not got burnt. If there has been some scorching, it has been restricted to the fingers, he says.

When many other lenders are struggling with the Kingfisher Airlines debt, Kanoria has the distinction of buying the beleaguered airlines securitised debt at a discount and recovering it by selling the collateral - shares of United Spirits.

Srei is based in Kolkata, where Kanoria says he can hire intelligent engineers, MBAs and chartered accountants - the knowledge workers it requires.



We could have set up the business in Mumbai or Delhi, but we asked ourselves, why not Kolkata?



The availability of talent, the quality of life and the standard of living are all good. Srei is able to provide a congenial environment for its employees to work and grow.

With infrastructure projects stuck for a long time and the stress in the banking system, how is Srei coping, I ask.



It is not that we dont have stress. Our NPAs (non-performing assets), which used to be at 0.5-1 per cent, went up to about 4.5-5 per cent but are coming down now. However, the NPAs have been far less because of our specialisation in the sector and our understanding of the risks, he says.

The Viom Networks stake sale will bring Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) of cash for the company. We were among the first to get into the telecom tower rental business, says Kanoria. Till 2007, each telecom company owned its towers.



He looked at the successful tower-sharing models such as that of ATC in the US, and found no reason for it to not work in India.



The group acquired Spice Telecoms towers and Viom was formed after the merger of the tower businesses of both the Srei group and Tata Teleservices.

Kanoria is known to be a foodie with an affinity for sweets, but today he has ordered a quinoa and sunflower seed salad, mashed potato and a cheddar cheese and lemon chutney sandwich.



He says his metabolism is slowing and he tends to put on weight quickly.

Kanoria is a fitness buff - he wakes up by 5.45 every morning and starts the day with yoga, followed by squash, gym, running or walking.

While part of the proceeds from the Viom sale will go in reducing debt, Srei is also on the lookout for the right strategic investments.



It sees an opportunity in acquiring stalled projects from existing promoters or banks, which can be turned around.



Srei has also launched a Rs 2,000-crore (Rs 20 billion) fund with a minimum ticket size of Rs 1 crore to invest in stressed assets.



Kanoria is also exploring the possibility of acquiring tower assets in markets outside India such as Russia, Africa and Bangladesh.

Kanoria travels two to three days every week to understand policy from government officials and the perception of India from international financial institutions.



This is important, he says. We are in a capital-intensive industry and our raw material is funding.

He also meets clients regularly to understand their needs and how their businesses are doing.

Kanoria stepped away from the family business of flour mills, food processing and animal feed and started Srei Infrastructure in 1988-89 to finance equipment for Larsen & Toubros contractors.



Besides infrastructure equipment finance, Srei is into project financing and has a portfolio of strategic investments. Brother Sunil Kanoria, the vice-chairman of the company, complements Hemant.



Sunil Kanoria is involved on the policy framework and operations side of the business and became the president of Assocham last year.



In 2008, Srei had set up a 50:50 joint venture with BNP Paribas to finance retail equipment with a ticket size of less than $3 million.



In late 2015, this joint venture was merged with Srei Infrastructure Finance and BNP Paribas will own five per cent stake in Srei.

Over the years, Srei has made strategic investments in power, roads, ports, special economic zones and water projects because there were good opportunities.



Viom Networks was one such investment. Kanoria says, In these investments we do the ploughing, sowing and then harvest them at the right time, like we have done in Viom Networks.

Kanoria is now looking at harvesting some parts of the road portfolio, though he clarifies that it is to maximise shareholder value and it wont be a distress sale. He says things have started moving in the infrastructure space.

The only constraint is that a lot of unsettled claims of contractors and concessions need to be settled.

Once the contractors get the money, they will be in a position to redeploy funds to take up more projects.

Kanoria, who has some public-private partnership (PPP) projects, is also turning into an evangelist for PPP and wants to showcase the Indian example to the world.



He has met government officials in the US and Russia, as both countries grapple with the issue of the right PPP model.



We are the most successful country to get PPP in infrastructure, with an investment of over $200 billion, he says.



We have our fair share of successes and failures, and we can teach other countries what not to do.

We walk out of the hotel and I ask Kanoria how long he is staying in Mumbai.



He has met executives of banks and financial institutions, but has to meet some clients, who are under some stress, later in the day to see how Srei can help them.



He says: Ultimately, both of us have to stay in the sector. Branding them incompetent and pushing them out of the sector will not help anyone.

Then, gazing at Marine Drive, Kanoria says that he makes it a point to run a stretch every time he is in Mumbai. After a quick run the next morning, he will head home.
Delays at immigration counters blamed on shortage of officers, increase in passengers arriving on e-tourist visas

Around 200,000 tourists entered India using e-tourist visa (e-TV) in the first two months of this year.

This is equal to 50 per cent of those who arrived in the country using this facility in 2015.

The Union government decided to extend the e-TV facility to travellers in 150 countries, up from the previous 113 countries, on February 26.

The announcement, however, precedes the setting up of additional infrastructure and resources needed to manage the increased influx of tourists.

This has led to long queues at the immigration counters, leaving both the passengers and officials exasperated.

Officials say a passenger takes three-four minutes to clear the entire immigration process -- scrutiny of his travel documents, collection of biometrics and his initial security profiling.

But, he ends up standing in a queue for 35-40 minutes waiting for his turn at the immigration counter. On weekends and peak hours -- between 11 pm and 2 pm  the wait time extends to one-and-a-half hours.

Officials blame it on the shortage of trained staff at immigration counters.

We are understaffed by 15-20 per cent.

Still, our performance is phenomenal compared to both the developed and the developing nations, said a senior immigration officer, requesting anonymity.

The official reasoned that immigration was the first opportunity where they check a passengers antecedent to avoid a situation similar to the David Headley episode.

Headley, an alleged operative of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, made five visits to India to scout the locations for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

He made videos of two luxurious hotels, a Jewish boarding house, and military installations.

His travels went unnoticed until he was arrested by the US authorities.

Officials say there are 12-13 exclusive immigration counters for passengers arriving on e-TV at the Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The authorities want to increase the counters to 20 depending on the number of flights and passengers.

This usually happens on weekends or when there is a bunching of flights, meaning two-three flights landing at the same time.

Besides these e-TV counters, the Delhi airport has another 42-43 immigration counters for other passengers at arrival and departure terminals.

According to Union Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi, the reasons behind the long queues at airports include the increase in the number of passengers and shifting of more people to e-TV.

For instance, 1.69 million tourists arrived in India in the first two months this year against 1.55 million in the corresponding period last year, showing an increase of nine per cent.

In February this year, 847,000 foreign tourists arrived in the country compared to 761,000 in the same month last year, recording an increase of 11.3 per cent.

Overall, India received 6.97 million, 7.68 million and 8.03 million tourists in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.

In November 2014, the government launched e-TV for which a tourist applies for visa online and gets an answer within 96 hours, to boost tourism and avoid inconvenience to travellers.

Zutshi said a total of 450,000 e-TV holders visited India in 2015, while 200,000 people visited the country on e-TV in the first two months of 2016 alone.

We are certainly alive to the issue and are taking remedial actions, he added.

While Zutshis ministry is planning to hold a joint survey of the airports along with the other stakeholders, there appears to be a blame game and abdication of responsibility.

According to the tourism ministry, its for the Union home ministry, which has administrative control of the Immigration Bureau, and the Airports Authority of India, to remove the bottlenecks.

Immigration officials say although they are in the process of raising more staff, they find a space crunch at the Delhi airport and have no control over the movements of flights.

We cant do anything if there is bunching of flights due to a variety of reasons.

We also feel that the Delhi airport is reaching its saturation in terms of passenger capacity, said the senior immigration officer quoted above.

However, the Delhi International Airport disagreed with this view.

Immigration is a sovereign function, which is looked after by officials deployed by the government of India.

As an airport operator, DIAL has provided adequate infrastructure to Immigrations at T3 arrivals.

As of now, our total Terminal passenger capacity at IGI Airport is 62 million per annum against the actual traffic of 41 million passengers handled in FY15, said a DIAL spokesperson said in an email reply.

The situation is no different at the Mumbai airport, where only half the immigration counters are manned despite availability of space.

Subash Goyal of the Indian Association of Tour Operators says Prime Minister Narendra Modi might have proposed adding of more countries on e-TV, but the bureaucrats are failing to implement the same.

The situation might deteriorate further with more and more passengers opting for e-TVs and the government planning to launch this facility for those visiting India for business and medical tourism.

IMAGE: Delhi Airport. PHOTOGRAPH: Courtesy, Kprateek88/Wikimedia Commons
'Reluctance to go against temple rituals is understandable and the Hindu vote bank is extremely important at the ensuing elections.'

'But even devout Hindus will not hold it against the government if the opportunity presented by the tragedy is utilised at least for a temporary ban.

Later, it may be too late as it might dawn on people that a hundred lives are not too much of a sacrifice to save a tradition,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.

'As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport,' said William Shakespeare.

In the case of the pyrotechnics tragedy inside a temple compound in Paravur, Kerala, on April 10, it was devotion to the gods that killed the devotees in a huge explosion. Just like human and animal sacrifices were performed to please the gods in the past, today they pray with fire and sacrifice themselves.

Offering of noisy explosions have been a mysterious tradition in temples, particularly where Durga Devi is worshiped. Just like ringing the bell for the attention of the gods, firecrackers are used as part of the ritual, though the noise and the smoke can only disturb the peace of the temple and its vicinity.

Why they think the deity will be pleased with the ritual is not known. At a famous Devi temple, the tradition is that the firecrackers should stay outside the temple compound and the privilege of lighting them belongs to a Christian family next door.

These offerings are prevalent at Devi temples throughout Kerala. The tradition of fireworks must have grown out of this tradition, which developed into a celebratory ritual in the temples through the techniques developed by enterprising people.

Much innovation has taken place in the techniques with no research or scientific support. It has become widespread in Kerala, though there are no facilities for training of technicians. At one time, one of them managed to send a dog up in the air, imitating the launch of Laika by the Soviet scientists. The dog was, of course, smashed into smithereens.

The fireworks still consist of crude devices, often made in bamboo containers with highly explosive material, which needs to be carefully handled. Safety is left to the care of gods as they are offering to the gods, who are expected to protect the devotees.

Of late, the pyrotechnics have become more advanced and spectacular, making them ever more lethal. Occasional accidents highlight the hazards and measures are taken to restrain the operators, but enthusiasm, competition and business interests prevail and safety measures are easily abandoned.

Within days, the accidents are forgotten and people go back to their ways of gay abandon and merry making with fire, totally oblivious of the risks involved.

Looking around where the people gather in large numbers, one can see that the wonder is not that such disasters take place, but that more such tragedies do not take place.

The trampling of people that take place in temple stampedes in the north does not take place in Kerala temples, but God alone is taking care of safety. Narrow exit and entry points in temples cannot be widened and the hazard is considered part of the penance to reach God.

The reaction of the government and political parties to the Paravur tragedy may have been different, if the elections were not so close in Kerala. They saw the tragedy as an opportunity to prove their capabilities and commitment to the people.

Without realising the strain that imposes on the rescue operations, leaders, including the prime minister rushed there and competed with each other to announce largess.

Did that make a difference to the victims that images of national leaders passed by them as they were still in anguish of physical pain or agony over the dear departed?

Will such demonstrations win the politicians the vote? As of now, no one can claim victory except that the leftists were not able to join the star wars.

Like the efficient management of a cyclone that hit the US contributed to Barack Obama's second election victory, will Oommen Chandy ride on the glory of crisis management and form the next government?

In fact, the media is already all praise for the quick and efficient measures the government has taken within minutes of the tragedy. The revelation that the fireworks were not permitted by the district collector also gave the government some credit.

The air dash of the prime minister and Rahul Gandhi looked more like a distraction than help. In these days of quick communications, visits by VVIPs to assess the extent of tragedies are unnecessary and avoidable.

The hesitation on the part of the government to strike when the iron is hot by declaring an immediate moratorium on pyrotechnics till establishing an effective regime for the future is inexplicable. Reluctance to go against temple rituals is understandable and the Hindu vote bank is extremely important at the ensuing elections.

But even the devout Hindus will not hold it against the government if the opportunity presented by the tragedy is utilized at least for a temporary ban. Later, it may be too late as it might dawn on people that a hundred lives are not too much of a sacrifice to save a tradition.

The use of elephants in temples in harsh circumstances and instances of the elephants striking back have not created a public outcry. People have even resigned themselves to the fate of being possible victims of stray dogs. For a government, which has taken the brave action to close bars and created a change of thinking in the Opposition, a ban on fireworks should not be difficult.

The argument of impracticality is more applicable to liquor rather than to fireworks.

The profile of the victims show that it is the poor and the disabled that perished in the tragedy. Most of the more prosperous devotees had left after the initial display and most of the explosives had already been exhausted by the time tragedy struck.

The remaining devotees were those who may have had no choice but to stay in the temple premises till public transport became available in the morning. The affected public thus belongs to the silent majority, which has no opportunity to influence decision making.

The lobby against the ban, on the other hand, will be the businessmen, community leaders and fireworks professionals, who have a stake in the continuation of the status quo.

Voluntary restraint will not work as in the case of liquor and the government must go for a moratorium at the earliest. Such a measure will win approbation and votes for the government.

Explosion of faith is a reality in Kerala for all religions. More and more places of worship are springing up everywhere and noisy celebrations are the part of the upsurge. Here again, there is reluctance to clamp down on the noise pollution and the traffic blocks.

Bold decisions in these cases, like in the case of fireworks will be helpful to the government to return to power.

T P Sreenivasan is a former Ambassador of India and Governor for India at the IAEA; Executive Vice-Chairman, Kerala State Higher Education Council and Director General, Kerala International Centre.

IMAGE: Empty fire cracker shells at the Kollam temple a day after the horrific fire that killed 109 people and injured hundreds of others. Photograph: Sivaram V/Reuters
The US intends to break up Indias strategic partnership with Russia and to continue to interfere in Indian-Iranian relations, apart from inserting itself into the Sino-Indian bilateral discourse, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, analysing the US defence secretary's visit to India.

IMAGE: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and US Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carter on board INS Vikramaditya. Photograph: Ministry of Defence

United States Defence Secretary Ashton Carter has outlined in some detail the purpose of his mission to India. Principally he hopes to discuss arms deals and explore the parameters of co-production of weapons feasible under American laws prohibiting technology transfer. His focus is on the 'potential production of fighter aircraft.'

American diplomacy makes it a point to envelop arms deals with rhetoric couched in the idiom of 'shared values' -- even when the US wraps up highly lucrative multi-billion dollar deals with countries such as Saudi Arabia. Thus, it comes as no surprise that in an address at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York on Friday, entitled 'Americas Growing Security Network in the Asia-Pacific', Carter endeavoured to habitate the upcoming "exciting new projects" with India within an proposed regional security architecture under US leadership.

From the US perspective, the growing "interoperability" involving the two militaries serves the purpose of anchoring India as a key non-NATO ally, which of course demands a fundamental shift by India away from its non-aligned policies and its aversion to military blocs. Carter saw the US-Indian co-production of weapons under the 'Make in India', the 'burgeoning' military exercises as well as various other activities of military-to-military cooperation as ensuring the "interoperability" of the armed forces.

Carter outlined in his speech the US blueprint for creating a new alliance system in Asia that can tackle the challenges posed by the rise of China. Washington assigns an important role in it for India. Carter saw a "strategic handshake" already existing between the US and India, with Washington's re-balance in Asia poised to "reach west" and New Delhi's Act East "reaching east that will bring it farther into the Indian and Pacific oceans."

Carter fleshed out a road map that involves the US "augmenting" its traditional alliances in Asia-Pacific (Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore) by coupling them with bilateral relationships (India, Philippines) and any other trilateral and multilateral arrangements existing at present.

The US will be "weaving these partnerships together to more effectively bolster American and regional security". The objective is to create a "network" of countries with "shared values, habits of cooperation, and compatible and complementary capabilities" under American supervision, which will expand the strategic reach of the participating countries, enable them to pool their resources to share the security burden, and, thereby, "help ensure the peace and stability in the region for years to come."

Carter singled out in two trilateral mechanisms in which India is involved -- the "burgeoning" US-Japan-partnership (which has evolved from a mere strategic dialogue to "real, practical security cooperation that spans the entire region from the [Indian] subcontinent right around to East Asia") and, second, the nascent Japan-Australia-India format.

The above two mechanisms involving India will be part of the US-led "network" by actively developing their "inter-connected security relationships". Thereby, Carter said, "we (US) are helping create an interconnected regional architecture -- from one end of the region to another."

This proposed "network" forms one vector of an integrated approach to "operationalise" the US's re-balance in Asia, the two other vectors being, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and, the military vector of enhanced American force posture "throughout this vitally important region to continue playing a pivotal role from the sea, in the air, and under the water, as well as to make our posture more geographically distributed, operationally resilient, and politically sustainable."

The stunning part of Carters presentation was that he took it for granted that India is already on board the US-sponsored "network". He cited the Joint Vision Statement of January 2014 by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as confirmation of the US-Indian "strategic handshake."

The salience of Carters speech is that Washington expects India to make a fundamental shift away from its strategic autonomy and its aversion to military blocs. Carter saw the US-Indian defence cooperation under the "Make in India", the "burgeoning" military exercises and other activities ensuring the "interoperability" of the armed forces as ultimately providing a crucial underpinning for the US's alliance system in Asia.

Call this proposed alliance system "network" or by any other name, what is on the anvil is an "Asian NATO" to contain China (and Russia).

In fact, at the very outset of his speech, Carter spelt out in black and white the "five evolving, major immediate challenges" to the US's security interests. They are, ad seriatim:

"countering the prospect of Russian aggression and coercion";

managing historic change in the vital Asia-Pacific region, including China's rise;

strengthening USs deterrent and defense forces against North Korea;

"checking Iranian aggression and malign influence in the Gulf"; and,

accelerating the defeat of the Islamic State.

Strategic congruence with a superpower with global interests is indivisible. Put differently, the US intends to break up Indias strategic partnership with Russia and to continue to interfere in Indian-Iranian relations, apart from inserting itself into the Sino-Indian bilateral discourses.

The USs motivations are understandable. The re-balance is urgently in need of gravitas. Indeed, Carter admitted the Pentagons corporate interests insofar as the re-balance calls for a phenomenal increase in the US defence allocation.

But, what is there in such an alliance system for India? That needs a separate analysis.

The text of Carters speech is here (external link).

To be concluded.

Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar is a retired diplomat, who is widely acknowledged as one of the most authoritative experts on Afghanistan. Mr Bhadrakumar blogs at http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/
A 50-year-old Indian national who was languishing in a Pakistani jail for nearly 25 years on spying charges has died in Lahore under mysterious circumstances.

Kirpal Singh had allegedly crossed Wagah border into Pakistan in 1992 and was arrested. He was subsequently sentenced to death in a serial bomb blasts case in Pakistan's Punjab province.

"Kirpal Singh was found dead at his cell in early hours of Monday at Kot Lakhpat jail," an official of Kot Lakhpat jail said.

He said that the body of Kirpal has been shifted to the Jinah hospital Lahore for an autopsy.

A judicial magistrate was also called who recorded the statements of some prisoners about the death of Kirpal, the official said.

Asked if there were any signs of torture in Kirpal's death, he said, "The inmates of the jail near to Kirpal stated that he complained about pain in his chest and died instantly."

Kot Lakhpat jail police station head Nafees Ahmed said the jail authorities had called police to shift the body to the morgue.

"Apparently, it seems the Indian prisoner died of natural death. However, autopsy will tell the exact cause of death," he said.

Ill-fated Kirpal from Gurdaspur was reportedly acquitted of bomb blast charges by the Lahore high court but his death sentence could not be commuted because of unknown reasons.

Jagir Kaur, Kirpal's sister, earlier said that the family could not raise voice for his release due to financial constraints and no politician came forward to plead his case.

Earlier, in last week of April, 2013, Indian prisoner on death row Sarabjit Singh was brutally attacked and murdered by his fellow prisoners at Kot Lakhpat jail.

Both accused -- Muhammad Muddasar and Amir Tamba also condemned prisoners -- are facing trial for his murder in jail.

Sarabjit was arrested on charges of conducting four bomb blasts in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore that killed 14 bystanders in 1990. He was sentenced to death.
While some would give the BJP full marks for starting early in the only state in the south where it stands a chance, the 'party with a difference' has fallen back on a tainted leader.

Raghu Krishnan reports.

Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, who faces charges of underhand dealings in the state's biggest mining scam, will lead the Bharatiya Janata Party in the next assembly election in 2018.

The strongman of the majority Lingayat community is facing a trial in a Central Bureau of Investigation court for receiving bribes from a private mining company.

The decision to make him the face of the Karnataka BJP and perhaps its chief minister candidate was taken by a party high command that is pledged to fighting corruption.

The decision follows pressure by the Lingayat community after Yeddyurappa edged himself out of a slew of cases on illegal denotification of government land. The cases were quashed by the Karnataka high court on procedural grounds, which the Supreme Court upheld.



In 2011, Yeddyurappa had to step down as chief minister after his name figured in a Lokayukta report on a Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) scam in the iron-ore rich Bellary district.

Apart from Yeddyurappa, party colleagues Sriramulu, Janardhana Reddy, Anand Singh and Nagendra were indicted for shipping thousands of tonnes of iron ore to China.



Yeddyurappa, who is now a Lok Sabha member from Shivamoga, will on April 14 take over the state unit's reins at an event the BJP plans to use to project itself as a Dalit-friendly party.



On Saturday, April 9, BJP leaders thronged Yeddyurappa's residence in Bengaluru, calling him the only popular face of the party who could lead it in elections two years from now.



The developments were watched warily by the Congress, which has been ruling the state since 2013. "It shows their hypocrisy in appointing a person charged with corruption," said party spokesperson Dinesh Gundu Rao.



The Congress government has been facing flak over infighting and for not providing development. "In the last three years, there were irritants. Now that is over, we have two years to showcase our performance," Rao said.



"Yeddyurappa has time and again proven he is inevitable for the BJP. The party's calculation is that only he can galvanise the state unit,"said Sandeep Shastri, political scientist and pro vice-chancellor at Jain University.

While some would give full marks to the BJP for starting early in the only state in the south where they stand a chance -- having given up on Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala -- finally, it was a tainted leader that the 'party with a difference' has to fall back on.
IMAGE: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in Baisakhi celebrations at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday. Photograph: Chris Wattie/Reuters



Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said he will 'formally apologise' for Canadas refusal to allow entry to Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 immigrants, mostly Sikhs, from India in 1914 due to 'discriminatory laws of the time'.

Speaking at the Baisakhi celebration in Ottawa, Trudeau said that the Komagata Marus passengers were seeking refuge and better lives, like millions of immigrants to Canada since.

With so much to contribute to their new home, they chose Canada. And we failed them utterly, the prime minister said, adding that the passengers were refused entry to Canada due to discriminatory laws of the time.

As a nation, we should never forget the prejudice suffered by the Sikh community at the hands of the Canadian government of the day. We should not and we will not, Trudeau said at the Gurdwara Sahib Ottawa Sikh Society.

He further said that he will formally apologise on May 18 in the House of Commons, 102 years after the infamous incident, Toronto Star reported.

The Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, carrying 376 immigrants, mostly Sikhs, from India was denied entry by the Canadian government in May 1914 and was forced to return to India.

Two months later, the ship arrived in Calcutta (now Kolkata) where British soldiers fired upon the disembarking passengers in which 19 people died.

A painful chapter in the history of Sikhs in Canada, the incident also highlighted the discriminatory immigration policies Canada had followed against Asian immigrants in the 19th century.

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper did apologise for the incident at a public event in British Columbia in 2008, but the Sikh-Canadians were demanding a formal statement in the Parliament.

Trudeau-led Liberal Party, which has four Sikh ministers in the cabinet, has promised a formal apology during the election campaign last year.
The teenager who had allegedly run over a 32-year-old man with his fathers Mercedes in Civil Lines area in New Delhi, will be taken to the accident spot and questioned by a juvenile welfare officer for the next two days, the police said.

He was sent to two days in 'police custody' by the Juvenile Justice Board on Monday, a senior police official said.

Unlike normal police remand in which the accused persons can be interrogated for the whole day, the juvenile will be made available only from 10 am to 6 pm. At other times, he will be at the juvenile home, though technically in police custody, the official said.

During the remand period, he will be taken to the accident spot and asked a wide range of questions.

He could not be questioned on Monday because of the time constraint. The eight-hour slot would apply for Tuesday and the day after, following which his police custody would end, the official said.

Meanwhile, the police is also preparing to challenge the bail granted to the juveniles father on Sunday. While the son has been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, the father was booked for abetment to the offence.

The teenager was again held by the police on Sunday after he went to surrender at a city court, where his father and the man, who had once claimed to be the driver of the Mercedes at the time of the accident, were produced.

While the teenager was sent to a juvenile home, his father (arrested on Friday) and the other man (arrested on Sunday) were granted bail.

The man, who had claimed to be the driver and later retracted his statement, was arrested under Section 203 (giving false information respecting an offence committed) of the Indian Penal Code.

The police said on Sunday that the juvenile turned 18 on April 8.

The incident took place on April 4 when 32-year-old marketing executive Siddharth Sharma was trying to cross a road near LudlowCastleSchool and the speeding Mercedes hit him.
In one of the worst tragedies to hit Kerala, at least 106 people were killed and 383 injured in a devastating fire that engulfed the 100-year-old Puttingal Devi Temple complex near Kollam during an unauthorised display of fireworks early on Sunday.

Thousands of people had gathered at the temple precincts to watch the display of fireworks which was underway since midnight when the blaze erupted around 3.30 am. The central government has ordered a probe into the tragedy.

This is yet another accident blamed on safety norms violations at places of worship in India. Heres a list of the top five major temple tragedies in the past 10 years.

IMAGE: A man weeps as bodies of victims lie outside a morgue at the Kollam district hospital after a massive fire broke out during a fireworks display at the Puttingal temple complex. Photograph: PTI

1) Mandher Devi Temple

On January 26, 2005, nearly 350 devotees were killed and over 200 injured at a religious fair at MandherDeviTemple near Wai in Satara district in western Maharashtra. The stampede occurred was when some people fell down on the steps made slippery by devotees breaking coconuts.

2) Naina Devi Temple

On August 3, 2008, over 150 people, mainly women and children, died at NainaDeviTemple in Himachal Pradesh in a stampede.

3) Chamunda Devi Temple

On September 30, 2008, more than 200 devotees were killed and over 60 injured in a stampede at ChamundaDeviTemple in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The reason was mentioned for this huge unfateful incident that there was a rumour of a bomb going off. More than 10,000 people had turned up at the famous temple for a darshan of the Hindu goddess.

4) Sabarimala Temple

On January 15, 2011, 104 Lord Ayyappa devotees were killed and 50 injured, in a stampede that occurred at Uppupara. Majority of the deceased were from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The tragedy occurred when a jeep carrying pilgrims ran into a crowd and fell to the ground, killing some on the spot and causing the stampede.

5) Ratangarh Mata Temple

On October 14, 2013, 91 people were killed in a stampede at the Ratangarh Mata Temple in Datia, Madhya Pradesh. The stampede was caused by rumours that a bridge they were crossing was about to collapse.
IMAGE: Congress president Sonia Gandhi is presented a memento as Party vice president Rahul Gandhi and MPCC president Ashok Chavan looks on at a public meeting in Nagpur on Monday to mark culmination of 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Photograph: PTI Photo

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday spent some quiet moments at Dr B R Ambedkars memorial Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur, after paying him floral tributes.

Deekshabhoomi commemorates the place where Dr Ambedkar and thousands of his followers embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956.

Sonia, Rahul and former Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde paid floral tributes to Ambedkar. Then they sat down near the urn containing his ashes with closed eyes.

This is a matter of great happiness to have the opportunity to pay my respect and homage to Deekshabhoomi, Sonia Gandhi wrote in the visitors book.

Chairman of Dr Ambedkar Smarak Samiti Bhante Sarai Sasai and close associate of Dr Ambedkar Sadanand Fulzele presented them mementos on the occasion.

Later, addressing a rally to mark culmination of the year-long celebrations of the 125th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar at KasturchandPark in Nagpur, Sonia asserted the legacy of the Dalit icon for Congress and tore into the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh over reservation.

The right-wing outfit is bent upon to destroy the democratic values, disturb secular fabric and alter Indian Constitution authored by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, she said.

RSS wants to crush reservation for the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, OBCs (other backward castes) and minorities which is guaranteed to them by the Constitution, she said.

In an apparent reference to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Sonia said Sangh is posing a great threat to the reservation system when it talks against it.

Seeking to blunt Bharatiya Janata Partys efforts to appropriate legacy of Ambedkar, Sonia said, Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his dues by appointing him as chairman of the Draft Committee of Constitution.

Congress will leave no stone unturned to save the democratic values and secular fabric being destroyed by some forces. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to give protection to these factors, she said.

Focusing her speech mainly on issue of reservation, the combative Congress chief said the Narendra Modi government is set to discriminate against women at Panchayati level by depriving them from enjoying power in their villages.

In Haryana and Rajasthan, the BJP-ruled governments are contemplating to bring legislation asking for certain education level for contestants, she said.

Sonia said this will deprive about 80 per cent of Dalit women from contesting the panchayat elections.

The Congress regime brought the mid-day meal scheme for the children, which was a social revolution as dreamt by Ambedkar. Ambedkar received good support from the then Congress stalwarts like Jawahralal Nehru and Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, she said.

Targeting Modi, she said the BJP government is destabilising the democratically-elected Congress governments in Uttarkhand and Arunchal Pradesh.

The students unrest has grown manifold under the Modi government in the country. The Congress has a moral responsibility and constitutional duty to protect the backward community, Dalits, minorities and the under-privileged ones and party will not fail in it. The Congress has been doing this for more than 60 years, she added.

IMAGE: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is presented a memento by senior leader Sushilkumar Shinde at a public meeting in Nagpur on Monday. Photograph: PTI Photo

Speaking ahead of his mother, Rahul said, I would not let the nation become weak due to continuous efforts by the RSS to make changes in Constitution and to alter entire reservation facilities, thereby depriving a huge population of Dalits in the country (sic).

He blamed the Modi government for growing unrest among the students community in the country.

Referring to the suicide of HyderabadCentralUniversity research scholar Rohith Vemula, Rahul said, The Modi government is suppressing voice of Dalit scholars in the country by appointing RSS-backed functionaries at top positions. The HCU vice chancellor is one among them who wanted to crush the Dalit students there.

I went to Hyderabad to express my solidarity with Rohiths supporters and will continue to do so wherever and whenever such injustices are done to them, he said.

The Congress vice president alleged that the RSS was running the government from behind the curtain by appointing their own men as officers on special duty (OSDs).

He alleged that the BJP government ineptly handled the issue of levying excise duty on jewellery, which triggered indefinite strike by jewellers since last 40 days.

On one hand, Narendra Modi is talking about Make in India and on the other, hundreds of artisans and workers in the jewellery market are on the verge of dying since they are on an indefinite strike, he said.

Sushilkumar Shinde, former Union home minister and chairman of Babasaheb Ambedkar 125th birth anniversary celebration committee, Opposition leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ashok Chavan also spoke on the occasion.

A phalanx of Congress leaders -- including ex-Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh, Veerappa Moily, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramahiah, Ashok Gehlot, Oscar Fernandes and Prithviraj Chavan -- were present on the occasion.
The Trimbakeshwar Temple authorities have gone back on their April 3 resolution wherein they decided to ban entry of men too into the core worship area at the famous Lord Shiva shrine in Nashik.

A meeting of the Trimbakeshwar Devasthan Trust held on Sunday cancelled its earlier resolution restricting entry of males into the 'garbhgriha' (sanctum sanctorum), Nivrutti

Nagare, one of trustees and Chief Officer of Trimbakeshwar Municipal Council said.

The trust revoked its decision of April 3 owing to pressure from locals, Nagare, who presided over the meeting of the trustees said.

The meeting did not decide anything on the centuries old ban on women's entry into the core area, he said. However, the temple trustees were unanimous about seeking further guidance from the Bombay high court in the matter even after its recent ruling that it is the fundamental right of women to go into places of worship.

The court had also directed the Maharashtra government to take pro-active steps for ensuring compliance with the law for the prevention of discrimination against women vis-a-vis entry to places of worship.

Continuing with the old practice, men devotees were on Monday allowed between 6-7 am into the core area where the main 'linga' is placed. They can enter this innermost part only after donning a specific gear called the sovala (silk clothing).

Women, can, however have 'darshan' from outside the core area.

The ancient temple, located 30 kilometre from Nashik, is a major Lord Shiva shrine of the country, which has one of the 12 'jyotirlingas', drawing devotees from far and wide.

According to Ghule, a member of the Trimbakeshwar Temple Trust, the ban on entry of women into the 'garbhagriha' is an age-old tradition and not something enforced in recent times.

The ban goes back to the Peshwa period. Some priests in the temple town said most of the women devotees might not want to defy the tradition. They claimed that there are certain rays that concentrate in the core area which could probably be harmful to the health of women.

Trustees Kailas Ghule, Yadavrao Tungar, Advocate Shrikant Gaidhani, Sachin Pachorkar, Lalita Shinde, Satyapriya Shukla and Jayant Shikhare were present in the meeting, Nagare said.

On April 3, the temple authorities had imposed a restriction on men's entry too into the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine with an aim to provide "equal treatment" to both the genders.
Two Indian students at a medical college in Ukraine were stabbed to death while another sustained injury in the attack even as the police have apprehended some Ukraine nationals in the case.

"I am sorry two Indian students Pranav Shandilya of Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh (Ghaziabad) were stabbed to death in Ukraine on April 10. Inderjeet Singh Chauhan (Agra) is recuperating in hospital," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.

She said based on the statement of Chauhan, the police have apprehended Ukraine nationals while they were trying to cross the Ukraine border. "Passports/ documents of the Indian students and blood-stained knife were reportedly recovered" from them, MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

"Our Embassy is in touch with authorities and monitoring the case. My heartfelt condolences to bereaved families. We promise them all help," the minister said.

The students, who were from Uzhgorod Medical College in Ukraine, were stabbed by three Ukrainian nationals at around 3 am in the morning of Sunday, Swarup said.

Shaindilya was a third year student while Singh was a fourth year student at the college.

He said Indian Embassy in Kiev was informed of the incident around 11 am on Sunday and it has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the University authorities and other local contacts.

"The embassy has spoken to the families of the two deceased students. All necessary actions are being taken to complete the formalities for sending the two bodies to India. The Embassy is also taking up the matter related to safety of Indian students strongly with the foreign office of Ukraine," said Swarup.

Image: The Uzhgorod Medical College in Ukraine where the three students were stabbed.
Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati has waded into a controversy by saying that entry of women in the Shani Shingnapur temple will lead to rise in crimes against them like rape.

Women should not feel triumphant about visiting the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra. They should stop all the drum beating about what they have done. Worshipping Shani will bring ill luck to them and give rise to crimes against them like rape, he told reporters in Haridwar.

A 400-year-old ban on entry of women into the shrines core area was lifted by the temple trust last week following advocacy group Bhoomata Brigades agitation against gender bias and the Bombay high court order upholding the equal rights to worship.

Noting that worshipping shani is not good for women, Swaroopanand said instead of exulting over visiting the sanctum sanctorum of Shani Shinganapur temple, they should have done something about stopping men from consuming intoxicating substances under whose influence they commit crimes against them like rape.

Outraged by Swami Swaroopanand Saraswatis comment? Boo him.

Criticising his statement, CPI-M leader Brinda Karat said his views need to be rejected as they are far removed from reality and the Indian Constitution.

Will the Shankacharya answer that all these years women were not allowed into the temple so was there absolutely no problem that women faced, she asked.

How can he say that women going into the temple is going to lead to the destruction of women. So all these years women were not there but many women faced so many problems and issues, she said.

Karat said the thinking itself is far removed from reality, from Indias Constitution, from people of Indias experience, that just has to be rejected.

Not a stranger to controversies, Swaroopanand also held the prevailing practice of worshipping Sai Baba in the temples of Maharashtra responsible for the drought in the state.

Sai Baba has been installed in the temples of Maharashtra and deities like Ganesh and Hanuman have been placed at his feet. When those not meant to be worshipped are worshipped in temples, disasters like droughts are bound to happen, he held.
'Pakistan has responded with appropriate contempt -- hrowing our national dignity into the waste paper basket.'

Rashme Sehgal reports on how Prime Minister Modi's grand diplomatic gesture in Lahore has typically been thwarted by Pakistan.

IMAGE: Indian soldiers at the Line of Control in Jammu. Photograph: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com

Ministry of external affairs mandarins are still recovering from Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit's comments on Thursday, April 7, when he declared among other things that the investigation into the Pathankot airbase attack by his country's Joint Investigation Team had been carried out 'in a spirit of cooperation' and was not 'based on reciprocity.'

When asked how there could be 'cooperation between nations which was not based on reciprocity,' Basit replied it was possible, but declined to elaborate.

This lack of cooperation would disallow the National Investigative Agency team to visit Pakistan. This flew in the face of the NIA claims made by NIA Director General Sharad Kumar that an Indian team would soon visit Pakistan following the JIT visit in order to take the probe forward.

This, India had hoped, would be in continuation of its attempts to nail the Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist group headed by Mazoor Azhar and his brother Rauf in their role in plotting and executing the Pathankot airbase attack.

Pakistan's snub to India's bold gambit of allowing Pakistani counter terrorist, police and ISI officers access to 16 witnesses including suspended Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh as also to the crime scene where a gun battle had raged for more than 80 hours, has more than six decades of precedence with every overture from India having being matched by a corresponding Pakistani snub.

There is no doubt that Modi hoped that his grand diplomatic gesture of stopping by and chatting with his counterpart Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his way back from Russia and Afghanistan on December 25 would pay some dividends.

Behind the bonhomie of smiles and handshakes is the glaring reality that Pakistan is constantly sharpening its knives against India.

Defence experts wonder why Modi was not prepared for an immediate stab-in-the-back as seems to be the pattern in India-Pakistan relations.

Dr Ajay Sahni, director, Institute of Conflict Management, points out that the Pathankot attack occurred within one week of Modi's Lahore stopover. The Kargil attack similarly occurred soon after Atal Bihari Vajpayee's bus ride to Lahore. Basit's snub to the Indian State came on the heels of India's invitation to Pakistan's JIT.

"Pakistan has responded with appropriate contempt -- hrowing our national dignity into the waste paper basket," says Dr Sahni. "When processes become so personalised, one forgets the basic principles of governance."

"Just because Modi visited Lahore," he adds, "this was followed up with an invitation to the JIT. Everything is being run by the PMO where officials are working to translate every whim of the prime minister without understanding that no one individual or coterie of individuals can manage the nation's affairs."

Vajpayee, Dr Sahni believes, despite Kargil, had more to show in terms of achievement than the disastrous Pakistan policy being pursued by Modi in the last two years. "Vajpayee wrested some concessions. He was able to negotiate a cease fire which lasted between 2003 and 2008. He was also able to build a fence between the two nations and so at least had something to show on the ground. What gains can the Modi regime show?" he asks.

Military expert Maroof Raza goes a step further. "We suffer from a failure to assess the intentions of our enemy. Pakistan is definitely an enemy State unless it chooses to behave like a friend," says Raza, who served in the Indian Army.

"If the government had chosen to invite the JIT, then the terms of engagement should have been publicly announced instead of the cut-and-paste job that was done now," says Raza.

"Why were they given all of 55 minutes in Pathankot?" he asks. "If they wanted to keep sitting for three days, they should have been permitted to do so, but after having restricted their movements."

Raza asks why India is wasting its time with Pakistan.

"Why are we engaging with Pakistan?" he says. "We need to lay down the red lines and not allow them to get blurred. For the present they are laughing to our face, they are laughing on our back."

"India should be prepared for a 100-year conflict with Pakistan," warns Raza. "There will not be regular wars, but the present situation will continue.'

The Pakistan military establishment has laid down some thumb rules and these continue to be followed in their entirety across the country.

"They have constantly sought parity, if not superiority with India," says Raza. "Kashmir remains the bonding addictive for the Pakistani State and without the Kashmir issue they will be left rudderless."

IMAGE: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, right, with Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's adviser on foreign affairs, and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, centre in Ufa, Russia. Photograph: PTI

India, on the other hand, continues to remain ambivalent and rudderless in their approach to Pakistan.

This confusion is not lost on our neighbour.

'There is no short cut for achieving viable peace,' Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit declared last Thursday. 'Nor does cherry picking work. Jammu and Kashmir is the root cause of our mutual distrust and other bilateral issues. A fair and just resolution of J&K is a must. To put this on a back burner will be counter productive.'

During the last one month, Basit said, 'Our authorities have arrested scores of terror operatives with foreign linkages. Their arrest is quite disturbing.' He declined to provide information about those who had been arrested or from which countries these terrorists belonged.

Even the terrifying threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists was dismissed by Basit with a perfunctory claim, 'Our safety and security regime is second to none as far as our nuclear assets are concerned.'

The subject of continuing the comprehensive dialogue between the two nations was also shrugged aside with the assertion, 'If India is not ready, we can always wait.'

Such is the preponderance in authority of the military-jihadi axis in Pakistan that its civilian government has little say in foreign affairs, especially relating to India. By engaging directly with Sharif, Modi felt he could force the pace of relations and work out something that could prove satisfactory for both sides.

Modi, security experts believe, should now ignore Pakistan especially since its military will continue its policy of bleeding India with a thousand cuts.
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Two icons who helped establish the foundation for agriculture education died in recent weeks after many years of service. The contributions of Robert Kensing and Yates Smith will live on in future generations.

Robert was 90 when he died March 26 in Kerrville.

After he graduated from Texas A&M in 1960, his job was Farm Management Agent with the Texas A&M Agriculture Extension Service in San Angelo. In 1979, he was elected president of TAEX Specialist Association.

Robert assisted in organizing the four-state Regional Pecan Shows and loved judging the county, regional and state shows. He was responsible for the grove of pecan trees on the grounds of Texas A&M Extension and Research Center north of San Angelo.

As the region's first economist, Robert was credited for saving many area old country school houses and converting them to community centers. The Lowake school now restored community center comes to mind.

My first contact with Robert came about in 1963, when I was a student at San Angelo College. I worked part-time for the San Angelo tandard-Times and the Ranch Magazine. In those days, Robert, Roy Huckabee and Jim Gray shared an office in a building across from my dorm. Those were the early years of the regional extension people stationed here.

He first volunteered for the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo as records superintendent in the 1960s. Elected SASSA president in 1980-1982, and after his term, he became executive vice president. The scholarship fund was established, land was purchased and the modern office built near the Fairgrounds at this time.

For me, I worked very closely with Robert in 1982, when he commissioned me to compile the "50 Years at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo" book.

After retirement from the Extension Service, Robert and wife, Doris, purchased a ranch in Menard County where he started his purebred Spanish goat business.

Yates was three months shy of his 96th birthday when he died April 1 in San Angelo.

His service to agriculture came about after serving his country in the military.

He applied for flight training in the Army Air Corps in December 1941 and was assigned to Kelly Army Air Field in San Antonio for cadet training in May 1942.

He first saw West Texas at Coleman Army Air Field and in October 1942 was assigned to San Angelo Army Air Field (now Mathis Field) for bombardier training.

In May 1945, Yates' bomb group was transferred to Tinian in the Pacific. He completed 35 combat missions and 10 hump trips and was awarded numerous military honors.

Yates, who retired on July 11, 1980, from the Air Force reserve with the rank of major, earned his place as a member of "the Greatest Generation."

With the help of the GI bill, Yates went back to college receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture, majoring in soils and chemistry, from the University of Missouri at Columbia in June 1949.

From February 1949 to January 1951, he was an "On the Farm" instructor for the Veterans Administration at Senath, Missouri.

"From August 1953 to August 1958, I was field representative for Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp. at Lubbock," he told me in July, 2011. "My original territory included Tom Green County."

When he was 38, Yates enrolled in graduate school at the University of Georgia in Athens. He received a master's degree in soil-water-plant relationships in June 1961, and a doctorate in June 1963.

Yates was best known throughout the Southwest for more than 40 years as regional director for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

From 1964 to June 1992, his duties were to coordinate the TVA programs with Texas A&M University, New Mexico State University and Colorado State University. He also worked with the fertilizer industry in the three-state region on new fertilizer processes, production, distribution and computerization.

In January 1987, he was given the Outstanding Member Award and Man of the Year Award from the Texas Plant Food Institute. In January 1992, he was bestowed and awarded for outstanding service to farmers, ranchers and the fertilizer industry.

"Yates had a thirst for knowledge," said the Rev. Ben Hubert at his memorial service Thursday. And to that end I can agree. A few days before he died, he was asking me about the particulars of the new round baler for cotton.

It was my pleasure not only to spend many years of experiences professionally with Robert and Yates, but the good times we shared with them and their families as personal friends as well.

Jerry Lackey is agriculture editor emeritus of the San Angelo Standard Times. Contact him at jlackey@wcc.net or 325-949-2291.
Sweetwater Police Chief Brian Frieda said Josh Bailey, a former Wendy's employee in Sweetwater, was in custody Monday morning after allegedly burglarizing the restaurant at 403 N.E. Georgia Ave.

According to Frieda, police responded about 5 a.m. after the morning manager at Wendy's came to work and noticed things in the kitchen out of place.

The manager then looked into the restaurant's dining area and saw Bailey either sleeping or attempting to hide in one of the booths, which prompted the 911 call.

Police arrived, with two officers coming from two different doors, and Bailey ran out of a door to a nearby convenience store.

He then reportedly got into a vehicle and attempted to leave when the owner of the vehicle confronted him, so he allegedly hit her with the door of the vehicle.

"She instinctively grabbed onto the vehicle and so he dragged her through the parking lot until she lost her grip, causing minor injuries," Frieda said. "It just so happened that I had a patrol car that was at that intersection and watched all that take place, so he activated his emergency equipment to try to stop the fleeing suspect."

Bailey then reportedly took off south on State Highway 70, as two police units pursued him, out of Nolan County until they apprehended Bailey in San Angelo.

During the pursuit, Frieda said Sweetwater police had two successful spike deployments to slow down the vehicle, which was traveling "on three metal wheels and one good tire."

Bailey, 27, is in the Nolan County Jail on bonds totaling $80,000 on charges of burglary of a building, aggravated robbery and evading arrest.

"This is not his first time of doing this with former employees," Frieda said. "In fact, we have an ongoing investigation where he's done this to some other previous employers."

The Texas Department of Public Safety out of Nolan and Tom Green County, along with the Nolan County Sheriff's Office, assisted in the pursuit of Bailey, Frieda said.

Twitter: ARN_Titus
What once was considered 'pie in the sky' is slowly becoming law. In New York, state legislators just agreed to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour, with the full effect beginning in New York City by December 2018. California just passed a compromise raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. New Jersey and the Districtare planning to move similar laws. After New York and California, nearly 1 in 5 (18 percent) in the U.S. workforce will be on the path to $15 an hour.

How did this reform go from being scorned as 'extreme' to being enacted? Consensus politicians don't champion it. Pundits and chattering heads tend to ignore it. Many liberal economists deride it as too radical. The idea moved only because workers and allies organized and demanded the change.

Three years ago, fast-food workers walked off the job in what began the 'fight for $15 and a union.' With the federal government as the largest low-wage employer, federal contract workers demonstrated repeatedly outside the Pentagon, Congress and the White House, demanding executive action under the banner of a'Good Jobs Nation.'

Progressive politicians added their voices. In Seattle, Kshama Sawant, an engineer and economist running under the banner of Socialist Alternative party, won a seat on the city councilin 2013. She made a $15 minimum wage a centerpiece of her campaign and pushed it when in office. The Service Employees International Union, one of America's largest unions; business leaders such as Nick Hanauer; and political leaders such as Seattle Mayor Ed Murray helped build the coalition needed to get it done. Now wages in Seattle are headed to $15. And in SeaTac, the airport district that passed a $15 minimum wage in a referendum, the wage is in effect now.

In New York, insurgent mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio made raising the minimum wage central to his campaign. He and the Working Families Party joined with striking low-wage workers, labor and community groups, and city council members. Zephyr Teachout's surprisingly strong challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) put pressure on him to act.

At the national level, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, and Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Arizona, joined with demonstrating contract workers. The CPC lobbied President Obama to use his executive power to raise wages for federal contract workers. The president responded with three historic executive orders, lifting the minimum wage for contract workers to $10.10, cracking down on wage theft and other workplace violations, and extending paid leave to contract employees.

Obstacles remain. Today, 42 percent of American workers earn less than $15 an hour. And the right to a union has been trampled by relentless and at times lawless corporate resistance. The Republican leadership in Congress refuses even to allow a vote on raising the national minimum wage that, at $7.25 an hour, means full-time workers can't even raise their families out of poverty.

But now Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, says that 'the Fight for $15 launched by underpaid workers has changed the nation's economic trajectory, beginning to reverse decades of wage inequality.'

Contrary to the business lobby, an analysis by economists at the University of California at Berkeley shows that New York's increases will not lead to job losses. The higher wages will generate billions in new consumer spending; the increased sales will offset the costs to businesses. In Seattle, the unemployment rate reached an eight-year low after the initial increases in the minimum wage last year.

This movement continues to build. The Fight for $15 and Good Jobs Nation initiatives will ratchet up their walkouts and demonstrations this month. On Monday, an interfaith coalition of religious leaders issued a call for 'moral action on the economy.' They will press presidential candidates to pledge to 'issue an executive order to make sure taxpayer dollars reward 'model employers' that pay a living wage of at least $15 an hour, provide decent benefits and allow workers to organize without retaliation.' As Jim Winkler, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, summarized: 'This election is fundamentally about whether the next president is willing to take transformative executive action to close the gap between the wealthy and workers.'

Sanders has made $15 and a union a centerpiece of his campaign. He has urged Obama to take executive action and surely will sign the pledge. Hillary Clinton supports raising the minimum wage to $12.50, allowing cities to go higher. Her position on the pledge is unknown. The Republican candidates  Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich  oppose raising the minimum wage and would likely repeal Obama's executive orders on low-wage contract workers if elected.

With inequality reaching record extremes, childhood poverty the worst in the industrial world and more Americans struggling simply to stay afloat, this country is desperately in need of bold reform. Yet bold ideas are repeatedly mocked as unrealistic and blocked by entrenched interests and conservative politicians. What the activists and low-wage workers have shown with their fight for $15 is that the changes we need will come if people organize and force them. Many commentators deride Sanders's call for a political revolution, but that may be the most realistic idea of them all.

Katrina vanden Heuvel wrote this for The Washington Post.
Halloween events, fall festivals pack October in Abilene, Big Country

From family-friendly to frightful, there are plenty of opportunities to don the costumes and scare up some treats.
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China's tightening of government controls may raise tough questions for its environmental policies and plans for reforms.

Growing resistance to the government's centralization of power surfaced dramatically last month in an open letter from "loyal Communist Party members," urging President Xi Jinping to resign.

The letter posted March 4 on the Canyu (Participation) and Wujie (Watching News) websites faulted Xi for "gathering of all power," citing problems on a broad range of political, foreign policy and economic issues.

The unnamed members charged that Xi's "excessive concentration of power" has "weakened the independent power of all state organs, including that of Premier Li Keqiang and others," according to a translation by the California-based China Digital Times.

While the criticism was comprehensive, covering subjects from the anti-corruption campaign to cultural events, it left out a key policy challenge for Chinathe battle against pollutionat a time when changes in government control have been planned.

In February, the official English-language China Daily reported at length on the progress and problems that the country has faced in pursuing polluters under a revised environmental law that took effect at the start of last year.

The law allowed nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to bring civil suits against polluters and negligent authorities for the first time, theoretically reducing the pressure and the risk of retaliation against residents from business interests.

The result has been a marked increase in the volume of environmental cases, but given China's size and the sources of its pollution problems, the number of suits remains relatively small.

In 2015, China's courts heard 48 environmental public-interest cases, compared with 65 in the previous eight years, China Daily said.

The public-interest cases before environmental tribunals represent a small fraction of pollution complaints.

In the first 11 months of last year, China's courts accepted 50,331 environmental cases, including 2,595 for compensation, official media reported in December.

But legal hurdles for NGO lawsuits remain.

The new law requires NGOs to have five years of experience before they can sue. Some 700 groups have been certified, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but only nine have participated in cases so far, said an environmental judge under the Supreme People's Court.

Administrative lawsuits

In three cases, prosecutors have brought administrative suits against local environmental departments, addressing a key enforcement weakness in anti-pollution laws.

Officials of local environmental protection bureaus (EPBs) often turn a blind eye to violations due to city or village business pressures, while environmental impact assessment requirements for development projects are often ignored.

Those conditions may be starting to change with shifts in the law and authority over environmental affairs.

In a precedent-setting case, a judge in southwestern Guizhou province ruled against a Jinping county EPB in January for failing to enforce water pollution laws against local factories, China Daily said.

The ruling follows a pattern of antipollution activism in the province, where China's first environmental tribunal was formed under a pilot program in 2007.

In another groundbreaking decision, the court ruled in favor of a nonprofit group seeking information from a local EPB about discharges from a dairy in 2012, state media reported at the time.

Last year, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) authorized a pilot program for prosecutors in 13 provinces to pursue similar suits.

The central government may now be ready to take further steps to rein in irresponsible EPBs and local agencies at city and county levels.

Under planned reforms, local monitoring and inspection bureaus will become independent, reducing their reliance on city governments, to be supervised and funded instead by provincial EPBs, according to China Daily.

"County-level monitoring and law enforcement departments will no longer be supervised by the civic environmental protection authorities and will no longer be classified as government departments," the paper said, citing Ren Yong, head of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) personnel and administration systems division.

The reforms are set to take place under pilot programs with nationwide application by 2020 under the 13th Five-Year Plan, Ren said.

China's Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining speaks during a National People's Congress press conference in Beijing, March 11, 2016. Credit: AFP Less susceptible to corruption

The combination of higher-level centralization and independence is meant to make EPBs less susceptible to local corruption. The MEP plans similar steps for agencies that provide environmental impact assessments (EIAs).

Under regulations that took effect in November, agencies that perform EIAs must cut all ties to environmental protection authorities this year and become independent commercial entities, China Daily reported separately in February.

The rule followed an anti-corruption investigation of "widespread trading of money and influence" in the EIA sector last year.

"The team found some leaders and their relatives received kickbacks for helping companies obtain easy approval during the assessment process," the paper said.

The regulatory changes suggest that China faces not one, but a series of environmental challenges. In order to clean up pollution, it must clean up corruption at various levels of industry and government, as well.

Daniel Gardner, a history professor at Smith College in Massachusetts who writes frequently on China's environment, said the central government and the MEP are on the right track.

"In my view, it is absolutely the right direction in which to go," said Gardner, who is also a senior fellow at Columbia University's Center for Sustainable Development. "The challenge for the central government will be wresting control of EPBs from local government."

"I'm trying to understand how that will be accomplished, but as a goal, it's brilliant," he said. "If the move can be implemented, it will mark a tectonic shift in environmental enforcement."

The direction of the environmental reforms may also be an exception to the abuses cited by the "loyal party members" in complaints about increasing centralization of power.

Despite decades of central government support for high-polluting industries in the past, the biggest problems for effective enforcement may now stem from lower levels and local resistance rather than central power and control.

But there may be no model in China for what the government is trying to do in creating "independent" monitoring and inspection bureaus, as well as independent commercial entities for EIAs.

These could be seen as lacking authority to carry out their tasks, while there is little assurance that commercial EIA companies will be immune from pressures to produce positive reports.

All of the eight EIA agencies previously affiliated with the MEP have already been spun off into independent companies, said Cheng Lifeng, director of the ministry's EIA department.

But will it succeed?

It is unclear whether either commercialization or centralization will succeed in curbing corruption, which has been found at all levels of environmental regulation and enforcement.

At the higher levels, MEP Vice Minister Zhang Lijun was removed from office and the Communist Party in December on charges of bribery, abuse of power and misuse of public funds.

Last year, anti-corruption investigators also found that the MEP had allowed officials and their relatives to profit from projects that required EIA approvals and let some proceed without EIAs.

Two weeks after the finding, MEP Minister Zhou Shengxian was replaced.

But the China Daily report suggests that a mix of higher government authority and local legal action is needed to advance anti-pollution enforcement, protect activists and get results.

Even with a transfer of supervisory authority to the provincial level, the powers of local EPBs may not be enough.

The paper cited an incident last September in Jinan city, capital of coastal Shandong province, where local air quality officials were attacked and prevented from inspecting a factory for emissions.

MEP Minister Chen Jining said the assailants would be punished and enforcement teams would be protected in the future, but the factory was not identified.

Jinan was repeatedly ranked among China's 10 worst cities for air quality in MEP monthly reports last year.

Last week, the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced an investigation of Jinan's mayor, Yang Luyu, citing "suspicion of serious violation of discipline."

In March, two subsidiaries of Hong Kong-listed China Shanshui Cement Group filed a lawsuit against Yang and a deputy mayor, alleging a conspiracy to take control of a Jinan cement plant, the South China Morning Post said.
Authorities in Phnom Penh continue to hold opposition lawmaker Um Sam An and are expected to interrogate him for at least another day, officials tell RFAs Khmer Service.

The lawmaker was arrested around midnight on Sunday in Siem Reap after he arrived in the country, according to authorities. Um Sam Am told reporters he is being held because of his criticism of the governments Vietnam border policy.

Um Sam An and the CNRP have angered Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian Peoples Party, accusing them of giving Khmer land to Vietnam. The land dispute has been a potent political issue for the CNRP.

He said the maps [of the border between Cambodia and Vietnam] are fake, said Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak. Authorities arrested him because he committed obvious crimes.

U.S. concern

The arrest sparked expressions of condemnation from the CNRP and concern from Washington as Um Sam An is also a U.S. citizen.

U.S Embassy Deputy Spokesman Courtney Woods said the U.S embassy has asked the government of Cambodia to explain Um Sam Ans arrest because the lawmaker is a U.S citizen.

We have called upon the Cambodian government to explain the charges against Mr. Um and to provide the embassy consular access, Woods wrote in an email to RFA. The Department of State takes its obligation to assist U.S. citizens overseas seriously. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular services.

CNRP lawmaker Son Chhay told RFA that the government was once again abusing lawmakers constitutional immunity privileges.

A lawmaker has the right to address all issues, not only the border issue, he told RFA. All rights are protected by the constitution.

Son Chhay added that Um Sam An didnt commit any obvious crimes that can be prosecuted.

Talking about border issue, showing images or express opinions are not obvious crimes, he said. The CNRP cant accept this kind of abuse.

Disputed maps

In 2015, the government matched a map from France issued prior to Cambodian independence in 1953 and a set of 1964 maps from the United Nations delineating the border between Cambodia and Vietnam to its own official chart to dispel allegations that it was giving Vietnam land.



Afterwards, Hun Sen ordered police to arrest anyone who accused the government of using fake maps and ceding national territory amid an ongoing political dispute over the demarcation of the countrys border with Vietnam.



The move came after Cambodias parliament voted to strip opposition senator Hong Sok Hour of his immunity, prompting criticism from rights groups, after Hun Sen accused him of treason for posting a disputed diplomatic document online relating to the Cambodias border with Vietnam. Hong Sok Hour is awaiting trial on the charges.

Written for RFA's Khmer Service by Moniroth Morm and Chandara Yang. Translated by Samean Yun. Writen in English by Brooks Boliek.
Cambodian reporter Ouk Touch holds a copy of the court complaint he filed against a police officer who threatened to kill him over a report he planned to write in Pailin province, April 11, 2016.

A reporter who works for a little known newspaper in a western Cambodian province filed a court complaint against a local police officer on Monday for threatening to kill him if he published stories about the official firing at villagers homes for fun while he was drunk.

Ouk Touch, who is based in Pailin province which borders Thailand, told RFAs Khmer Service that he filed the complaint a day after officer Kear Sokhorn brandished an AK-47 rifle at the reporters home and warned him not to write articles about the shots he fired at villagers houses on April 4.

The four bullets he shot hit the walls of the houses, and none of the occupants suffered injuries, Ouk Touch said.

Ouk Touch said Kear Sokhorn sought him out after he investigated the shooting incident to write a report about it for the Kampuchea Development Newspaper.

He told me that his boss didnt mind [that he fired at the villagers houses], so why should I care about it, Ouk Touch said.

Nhek Thol, police chief of Sala Krav district, where the shootings occurred, said authorities were moving to prosecute Kear Sokhorn for firing at the villagers houses.

As the first step, I am working to discipline him, he told RFA. I am working on the case.

Ying Mengly, the Battambang provincial coordinator for the domestic rights group Adhoc, called the incident a serious human rights violation and abuse of press freedom.

He said police officers cannot use weapons to threaten reporters and keep them from publishing stories, and urged local authorities to take legal action against Kear Sokhorn.

Some bad officers try to hide information from the press, he said. They use their power to stop the news.

Reported by Hour Hum for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Dead sheep in Arikunduleng township in Inner Mongolia's Zaruud Banner are shown in this undated photo.

Hundreds of ethnic Mongolians in the northern region of Inner Mongolia are staging protests over pollution from alumina plants near their traditional grazing lands that they say is making their livestock sick, herders told RFA.

More than 300 Mongolian herders from the region's Zaruud Banner (Zaluteqi in Chinese) began protesting on Friday in front of smelting plants in neighboring Huuliin-gol.

The herders tell RFA pollution from the plants is contaminating their grazing land and poses a serious threat to the health of both the herders and their livestock, they said.

Police turned back a convoy of more than 100 herders in dozens of trucks on Monday after they tried to protest outside one of three plants they blame for high death rates among sheep and high cancer rates among local people.

"Herders from Arikunduleng township in Zaruud Banner tried to go to the alumina plant, one herder told RFA. We were on our way, but we were stopped at a tollbooth on the expressway,

"The herders are all trying to get to the plants but the riot police are blocking their way," said the herder who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Despite fears of a government crackdown, the herders began the latest in a string of protests against local pollution on Friday.

"Mongolians and Han Chinese are all affected in the same way, a local resident who declined to be named told RFA following protests at the weekend. "There has been huge environmental destruction here, but the herders daren't speak out, because they'll be targeted by the authorities.

She said there are currently concerns over the fate of 20 local residents who traveled to the regional capital, Hohhot, to lodge a complaint.

"They are being followed everywhere closely by police, including the ... Inner Mongolia state security police," she said.

Herders clash

More than 300 herders clashed with police over the weekend following a string of protests outside the Huuliin-gol Alumina Refinery, rights groups and activists said.

According to ethnic Mongolian scholar Huubis, the dispute is the culmination of more than 10 years of complaints from local residents over pollution from the plant.

"The pollution has already gotten to the point where it's a threat to the health of both man and beast," Huubis said. "The people all have misshapen teeth, and the bones and teeth of dead animals have been found to have an unusual color."

He said local officials had done little to help.

"The government is only concerned with pursuing economic interests nowadays," Huubis said. "The local people have been lodging complaints for years, but [officials] lie, and cover up and protect the status quo."

He called for an independent inquiry into the problem.

"They should come here and carry out medical checks, and be open about the problem," Huubis said.

An official who answered the phone at the Zaruud Banner government offices on Sunday said the alumina plant was in a separate jurisdiction to that of the protesting herders.

"There is definitely pollution from Huuliin-gol; we know about that,"

the official said. "The smoke and so forth from the plant has been polluting Zaruud Banner, and I think the herders from Zaruud were petitioning about that."

He said local officials "don't have all the details yet," however.

"If you want to know more, you should call up the Huuliin municipal government."

High cancer rates

A former Zaruud resident said he had left the area because of high cancer rates among local people.

"The rate of cancer among local herders is clearly high because of the waste from that alumina plant, including stomach, esophogeal and lung cancers," the former resident said.

"As soon as you get near it, you can smell the stink of it, and you start to feel the nausea."

He said he had moved to a healthier part of the region.

"I saw how high the cancer rate was, and I couldn't tell the factory to leave, so I had to leave," the former resident said. "When people complained, the authorities told them to produce data, but where were they going to get figures from?"

"Wherever they go to complain, they are told that petitions aren't accepted at higher levels of government."

Nearly 20 herders from Zaruud Banner's Ar-Hundelen Som, a grouping of yurt 'villages' on traditional grazing lands, were beaten up and thrown into a police bus before the rest of the protestors managed to rescue them from arrest and possible detention, according to the U.S.-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights and Information Center (SMHRIC).

Herders told the group they are calling on the government to close three alumina plants.

"[They] are dumping toxic wastes into our land, water, and air and poisoning us herders and our livestock," SMHRIC quoted another local resident as saying.

Video shot by protesters and posted on SMHRIC's website showed riot police forcefully dragging herders toward a bus, while local police tried to confiscate the cell phone used to take the video.

"Riot police beat us with their shields and batons in an attempt to block us from marching toward the refinerys main gate," Zaruud herder Altanbagan was quoted as saying.

"Some herdswomen were surrounded by many police and were kicked and punched by them before they were thrown into the bus."

An officer who answered the phone at the nearby Arikunduleng township police station said all those detained over the weekend had since been released.

"That's right, they've been released," the officer said, also agreeing that pollution in the area was "very serious."

Herders told SMHRIC their sheep and goats are dying in large numbers, while some have abnormally long teeth that have been linked to high levels of fluorine in water, soil and grass.

Herder Altanbagan told SMHRIC: "Our health is threatened, our livestock is wiped out, our land is destroyed, our community is torn apart, and our lifeline is cut off."

Reported by Qiao Long and Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Siu-san and Wong Si-lam for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
A group of four Tibetans was sentenced on Monday to up to three years in prison for their attempt last year to reclaim land seized by local authorities in western Chinas Sichuan province, the RFA's Tibetan Service has learned.

Rinchen Dorje, Kurde Yeshe and Phurko received two-year jail terms, while Jigje Kyab was given a three-year term, for their part in the attempt to take the land back from the government, sources inside Tibet told RFA.

None of the Tibetans will have to serve out their entire sentence in prison, however, as an unusual sentencing arrangement allowed them to serve their terms on parole, as long as they agreed to serve an additional six months. All four agreed to take the deal, the sources tell RFA.

The four were part of a group of Tibetans who had briefly reoccupied confiscated community land in Thangkor town in Dzoege (in Chinese, Ruoergai) county in the Ngaba (Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, a local source told RFAs Tibetan Service.

During the trial, each defendant was asked who was responsible for marking and fencing off the disputed land. Five years ago the government confiscated the parcel for a development project, but no developer has begun work on the land and local authorities were leasing it out to private individuals.



During the proceedings, Jigje Kyab asked the court to spare Rinchen Dorje, who is in poor health, and to send him to prison in his place, with Rinchen Dorje asking that he be sentenced instead of Jigje Kyab, who is still young and has his whole future ahead of him, RFAs source said.

In April, Jigje Kyab, also known as Jigme Kyab, went into hiding after a Thangkor official and local government employees visited his home, and said via video at the time that he had evaded capture and was in a safe place.

Entrusted by community members with documents supporting Tibetan claims to the confiscated property, Kyab said he had gone into hiding so that he could present the communitys case to higher provincial authorities.

Kyab also played a role in organizing a Jan. 28 protest by 20 Thangkor-area Tibetans in the Sichuan provincial capital, Chengdu, sources told RFA in earlier reports.



In that incident, authorities quickly broke up the protest and detained 11 Tibetans, later releasing all but two, after the group petitioned in front of government buildings during a meeting of the Sichuan Provincial Peoples Congress for the return of their land.



According to sources, the occupation of land in Thangkor was not related to a specific Chinese policy  but was the work of local authorities who had bullied the Tibetan residents for their personal gain.



The requisitioning of rural land for lucrative property deals by cash-hungry local governments triggers thousands of mass incidents across China every year.



Many result in violent suppression, the detention of the main organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the governments wishes.

Reported by RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
The memoirs of Madame Nhu, the "first lady" of South Vietnam who died recently in exile in Rome, are not expected to shed light on her vast wealth and power, according to a family friend.



Some readers are eagerly waiting for her memoirs because they want to see what she says about the rumor that she had 17 billion U.S. dollars or about the people who killed her husband. She did not mention those stories, said Truong Phu Thu, who is translating the memoirsalready written by her in French into Vietnamese.



Madame Nhu was the sister-in-law of Vietnams bachelor President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was in power from 1955 until 1963, and considered herself the nations First Lady. She was an influential and deeply feared political figure in the early days of the Vietnam war and was known as the Dragon Lady of South Vietnam.



Her real name was Tran le Xuan but she was popularly known as Madame Nhu.



Military coup



Her husband, Ngo Dinh Nhu, was Diems brother. He controlled the secret police and special forces. Both men were killed in 1963 in a military coup.



This memoir is not a normal memoir. Normally when you write a memoir, you write about all the stories that happened in your life, both the happy and sad ones, but this book is not like that, Thu said in an interview.



Anybody who wants to see sensational stories or any correction of what she had done should be prepared to be disappointed, he said.



Thu said he had only received the first and second parts of her bookand is unsure if Nhu, who died at the age of 86, finished writing the final part on politics, which many had expected to be sensational.



The book was supposed to be published this September or October, but because of her death publishing will be delayed until next spring.



Nhu said she forgave everyone, including people who shot her husband, let alone people who defamed her, according to Thu.



Meditation



Le Chau Loc, the personal assistant of President Diem who had read part of her book, said she also wrote about meditation and prayers.



I thought I was reading a memoir of a nun. I think she was suffering a lot , he said. I think this book can be helpful to a lot of Vietnamese women who have been suffering, [who] lost husbands, or children at sea.



Many Vietnamese perished when there was a mass emigration in old and crudely made boats during the late 1970s, fleeing from Communist-controlled Vietnam following the Vietnam War.



Nhu, although married to the presidents brother, helped Diem run his household and offered her opinion on all of his decisions. She was once featured on the cover of Time magazine and became the public face of the South Vietnamese regime in media interviews and overseas speaking tours.



She was particularly outspoken against Buddhist monks who set themselves on fire in protest at Diems crackdowns.



Her harsh and confrontational words and actions forced her Buddhist father to quit as ambassador to the United States.



Quiet life



After the deaths of her husband and Diem, Madame Nhu was unable to return to Vietnam. She lived with her children in exile in France and Italy, where she led a quiet life until she was hospitalized in early April.



Thu said he had been receiving phone calls and emails enquiring about Nhu's book, which she began writing about 10 years ago.



Thu said she first wanted translate it into Italian and English by herself but then changed her mind because it took too much time to write and also after being told her the readers would be mostly Vietnamese.



Reported for RFAs Vietnamese service and translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Rachel Baker.








One person has been killed in a bomb attack targeting a government employee bus in the Afghan capital.

An Afghan official said the bus was carrying Education Ministry employees to work in Kabul on April 11 when it exploded. Five people were also wounded.

The officials said the blast was caused by a magnetic bomb attached to the bus.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Taliban frequently use roadside and so-called sticky bombs, as well as suicide attacks against Afghan security forces and government employees across the country.

Such bombings regularly take place in Kabul, though the Afghan capital has not seen a major attack in some months.

Based on reporting by AP


A new documentary that explores the rights of women in Afghanistan features a clip in which a member of parliament appears to threaten his female interviewer with rape. Now, he is demanding an apology.

The apparent threat from leading cleric and lawmaker Nazir Ahmad Hanafi is made during a testy interview conducted by Isobel Yeung, a reporter for the documentary series Vice on HBO.

"What if a husband rapes his wife, is that domestic abuse?" Yeung asks Hanafi while querying him about his opposition to Afghan legislation that would eliminate violence against women. "Should the man be punished or should the woman be punished for that, in your opinion?"

Speaking through an interpreter, the two debate the definition of rape, culminating with the parliament member from Herat saying, "There is a kind of rape you have and another we have in Islam."

Yeung begins to ask a follow-up question, "Do you think women should be allowed...", but is abruptly cut off by Hanafi, who tells someone off-camera that "I think you should stop it now."

The clip then shows Yeung sitting silently as a conversation in Dari plays out. The cleric is then captured on film suggesting that she should be raped. "Hand her over to an Afghan man so he can give it to her so hard it'll come out her nose," he says under his breath.

The exchange was revealed in a promotional video for the documentary Afghan Women's Rights And Floating Armories, which aired on HBO on April 10.

Hanafi, however, when queried by RFE/RL about his comments, initially denied having ever spoken to Yeung. "I haven't met such a person, I have no idea about this, and have not said anything," Hanafi told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on April 9, a day after the promotional clip emerged. "No one has spoken with me."

He continued to deny having participated in the interview, suggesting that someone made a fake video featuring his likeness. "It's very simple to make a video," he said. "There are people who put together a head, a beard, and a body in a video that would look more authentic than the real person."

Under further questioning, Hanafi eventually admitted to having participated in an interview. "When we were talking about marriage issues," he recalled, "I told her, 'If you want to know about it, you can marry an Afghan man.'"

When asked if he would apologize if it was determined that he had, in fact, made the remarks, Hanafi struck a defiant tone. "What else do you want? There is a person who fabricated this [video] and I should ask that person why they did it," he said. "Who should apologize? Me or those who distributed [videos] against me? They are plotting against a person who is minding his own business."

RFE/RL has yet to view the full documentary, or the unedited version of Yeung's exchange with Hanafi, to determine the precise sequence of events. In the case of his rape comment, for instance, a man is seen in the background who does not appear in different camera angles during Hanafi and Young's exchange.

But there is no question that Hanafi made the rape comment during the session, translated by Vice/HBO as "Maybe I should give you to an Afghan man to take your nose off," and that it has caused a stir.

Responding to a tweet noting that Hanafi had denied participating in the interview, Yeung replied, "Perhaps it was more memorable for me than it was for him."

In a separate "debrief" video promoting the documentary in which Yeung spoke about her work in Afghanistan, she described her interview with Hanafi as "incredibly awkward and very frustrating."

The documentary seeks to highlight the plight of women in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Hanafi, a lawmaker from the western Herat Province, has opposed the Elimination of Violence Against Women Act, which was decreed by former President Hamid Karzai in 2009 to much fanfare, but has yet to be passed by parliament.

Hanafi appears uncomfortable with the questioning at various points of the interview, and at times seems to be avoiding eye contact with Yeung. "He refused to look at me, he talked to my translator, he talked over me, he didn't listen to my questions," the reporter said.

The reporter explained that she thought it was understood by everyone that "Hanafi felt rather hostile toward me being a woman," and that she believes the translator "thought it wise not to translate everything that he was saying."

This, Yeung said, meant she didn't "actually realize a lot of the abuse that he [Hanafi] was throwing my way."

Written by Farangis Najibullah with an interview by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Mustafa Sarwar
At least 12 recruits in the Afghan National Army have been killed and dozens of people wounded by a Taliban suicide bomber who attacked the recruits' bus near the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed the death toll in the April 11 suicide attack, adding that the bomber drove a motorized tricycle packed with explosives into the bus.

Waziri said the recruits were being transferred from Jalalabad to Kabul.

He said at least 26 people were wounded. But medical workers at a regional hospital in Nangarhar Province said 38 people were being treated for injuries after the attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said later that a Taliban militant had carried out the suicide attack.

The attack came days after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Kabul to underscore Washington's support and called on Taliban militants to resume direct peace talks with Afghanistan's government.

With reporting by AFP
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on April 11 that struggles within the Iraqi government won't stall a U.S. military campaign to strengthen the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants in the country.

Carter said Washington was going to accelerate the military campaign as fast as we can" against IS militants in Iraq.

The Pentagon is preparing recommendations on ways to increase support for Iraq's ground fight, including a possible increase in U.S. forces.

Other options could include the use of U.S. Apache helicopters in combat missions, deploying more U.S. special operations forces, or sending U.S. military advisers to Iraqi units that are closer to the front lines.

Carter said he expects President Barack Obama to ask countries attending next weeks U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council Leaders' in Saudi Arabia to help in a broader effort to rebuild Iraq once IS militants are defeated there.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev is to travel to Tehran on April 11 for talks with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rohani.

Nazarbaevs office said the two presidents were due to discuss ways to foster cooperation in the sectors of trade, investment, agriculture, and transport.

More than 40 cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding were expected to be signed during the visit.

Trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran stood at $635 million in 2015.

Nazarbaevs office said he will visit Turkey on April 13-14, where he will hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attend a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The Kazakh president will then travel to Uzbekistan on April 15 for a meeting with his counterpart, Islam Karimov.

Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS, IRNA, Mehr, and PressTV
KYIV -- Ukrainian officials said vile Russian missile strikes on civilian energy sites have caused power outages nationwide, leaving more than a million households without electricity, while Russian authorities ordered residents to leave Kherson "immediately" ahead of an expected effort by Kyivs forces to retake the crucial southern city.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram on October 22 that Russia carried out a "massive attack" on Ukraine overnight and that "the aggressor continues to terrorize our country."



"At night, the enemy launched a massive attack: 36 rockets, most of which were shot down...These are vile strikes on critical objects. Typical tactics of terrorists," he wrote. "The world can and must stop this terror."



Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Zelenskiys office, said Ukrainian air defense forces had shot down 18 of the missiles.



Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a number of missiles had been shot down on the approach to the capital.



"Several rockets flying toward Kyiv were shot down in the region by air defense forces. Thanks to our defenders!" Klitschko said.



There was no immediate word on deaths related to the missile attacks, but officials said several people had been injured.



It was not possible to verify the reports on either side.



In the face of continued Russian strikes, Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba again urged Ukraine's Western allies to speed up the delivery of modern air defense systems.



"We intercepted some, others hit the targets. Air defense saves lives. In [Western] capitals, there should not be a single minute of delay in the decision regarding air defense systems for Ukraine," Kuleba said.



Local officials said power stations were hit in the regions of Odesa, Kirovohrad, and Lutsk, while other regions reported problems with electricity.



"Another rocket attack from terrorists who are fighting against civilian infrastructure and people," the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on the Telegram app.



Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting that from October 10 to October 20, Russian strikes damaged more than 400 facilities in 16 regions of Ukraine, including dozens of energy facilities.



"The Russian Army has identified our energy sector as one of the key targets for its attacks," Shmyhal said on October 21.



"Russian propagandists and officials speak openly about the purpose of all these attacks: Ukraine, according to them, should be left without water, without light, without heat," he said.



Meanwhile, Russian-appointed authorities in the occupied and illegally seized southern Kherson region on October 22 ordered the estimated 60,000 residents of the region's eponymous main city to leave "immediately" in the face of Kyiv's advancing counteroffensive.



"Due to the tense situation on the front, the increased danger of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank of the Dnieper River," the region's Russia-backed authorities said on social media.

Russina-installed officials are moving people out of the strategic city in what they are calling an evacuation but which Ukrainian officials label as deportations.



The order came in spite of a claim by Russia's Defense Ministry on October 22 that its forces had prevented an attempt by Ukraine to break through its line of control in Kherson.



"All attacks were repulsed, the enemy was pushed back to their initial positions," the Defense Ministry said, adding that Ukraine's offensive was launched toward the settlements of Piatykhatky, Suhanove, Sablukivka and Bezvodne, on the west side of the Dnieper River.



The ministry's statement said Russian forces had also repelled attacks in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.



Kherson city, which had a prewar population of 280,000, is one of the first urban areas occupied by Russia at the start of the invasion.



Zelenskiys office said 88 settlements in the southern Kherson region and 551 settlements in the northeastern Kharkiv region have been de-occupied, while the Ukrainian forces' counteroffensive in the Kherson region moves ahead.



Ukraine is trying to drive Russian forces in Kherson back east across the Dnieper. Russian soldiers on the western bank, where the city of Kherson is located, are reportedly close to being cut off from supply lines and reinforcements.



Natalya Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraines southern operational command, said the Ukrainian military struck the Antonivskiy Bridge over the Dnieper in the city of Kherson during an overnight curfew Russia-installed officials put in place to avoid civilian casualties.



We do not attack civilians and settlements," Humenyuk told Ukrainian television.



Ukrainian strikes made the Antonivskiy Bridge inoperable, prompting Russian authorities to set up ferry crossings and pontoon bridges to relocate civilians and transport supplies.



Russia has sent in thousands of recently mobilized troops to reinforce the defense of Kherson, the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said on October 21.



Zelenskiy again on October 21 urged the West to warn Russia not to blow up a dam at the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the Dnieper River as this could flood settlements toward Kherson.



Zelenskiy said Russian forces had planted explosives inside the dam, which holds back an enormous reservoir, and were planning to blow it up.



"Now everyone in the world must act powerfully and quickly to prevent a new Russian terrorist attack. Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster," he said in his nightly address.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and the BBC
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariev has announced he will resign.

The announcement on April 11 at a government meeting in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek comes after several parliament members accused his cabinet of corruption.

"Squabbles, rumors and gossip have upset the balance within the government," Sariev said.

"The government's work has stalled at such a difficult time."

The Kyrgyz presidential press service said President Almazbek Atambaev had accepted Sariev's resignation.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
Authorities in Pakistan say six people were killed across northern Pakistan after a strong earthquake rattled major cities in South Asia at the weekend.

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on April 11 that five people were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Another was killed in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan state, the NDMA said.

At least seven people were reported injured across Pakistan, many of them in the northwestern frontier city of Peshawar.

The 6.6-magnitude quake on April 10 startled residents in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and forced some people in high-rise buildings to escape onto the streets of the Indian capital, New Delhi.

There were no immediate reports of widespread damage in either Afghanistan or India, despite the quake rattling buildings in all three countries for more than a minute.

Based on reporting by Reuters


Never cross a priest in Novosibirsk, particularly a defrocked one.

Police in the Siberian city say they are investigating an apparent road-rage incident that was caught on video and appears to show a former priest brutally beating another driver.

The 42-second video, shot on the evening of April 10, circulated initially on the Russian social-networking site VKontakte, before being republished by the local affiliate of the state-run national broadcaster Vesti and other news sites.

In it, a man is shown bent over a waist-high fence, pinned from behind by two bearded men, one wearing a suit, the other wearing a large cross around his neck and black robes common to Russian Orthodox priests.

The video doesn't show what preceded the attack.

The priest, whom Vesti said had been defrocked about a year ago, uses his fists to pound the man's face and head.

"Who gave you permission to beat up a person?" the priest yells. "I will break your glasses. I will break everything, you bastard. We'll see who beat whom.

"I'll rip off your ears and shove them up your [expletive]," he says.

The news website Gazeta.ru said the priest was named Aleksandr Cherneikin, who had been thrown out of the priesthood last year for unspecified commercial activities and calling for a schism in the church.

The other attacker, who wears a business suit, was identified as the brother of the former priest.

The video was shot outside a major shopping center by a bystander who appears to call out "let him go, let him go" repeatedly.

According to Gazeta, the victim was a businessman named Vadim Maltsev who claimed the incident began when the car the former priest and his brother were in blocked a section of road and refused to move for what he said was several minutes.

Maltsev said he got out, knocked on the other car's window and, he said, politely asked them to move, but he was cursed at.

Maltsev was quoted as saying that he then took a screwdriver out of his pocket and threatened to puncture the tires of the other car, but the driver of the car -- the brother of the former priest -- got out of his car "using a few choice words that referred to my mother. I very much wanted him to apologize."

Maltsev then said he took the other driver's hat, threw it on the ground, and removed his glasses, grabbed the driver's ponytail and told him, "You have a cesspool for a mouth." At that point, Cherneikin got out of the car and began to attack him.

Maltsev said Cherneikin used his cross to beat him as well, though the bystander's video doesn't show that moment.

For his part, Cherneikin told the Novosibirsk website NGS Novosti that he was afraid his brother would be hurt by Maltsev wielding the screwdriver as a weapon.

"So to calm him down, I grabbed his collar, twisted his hands around, and pushed him onto the fence," Cherneikin was quoted as saying.

The Novosibirsk police told NGS Novosti that they took statements from all three men, and would be investigating.

There was no word if anyone was badly injured.

According to Gazeta, Cherneikin was thrown out of the Orthodox priesthood after being reprimanded for buying and selling jewelry and for calling for the establishment of a new Orthodox church in Novosibirsk independent of the national church.
ON MY MIND

In many ways, corruption is the new communism. The Soviet Union sought to spread communism and establish a bloc of nations loyal to Moscow. Vladimir Putin's Russia seeks to spread its corrupt business model to establish a bloc of nations dependent upon Moscow. The Soviet Union tried to co-opt Westerners with the power of an idea. Putin's Russia is seeking to corrupt them with the allure of easy money, by using shady financial flows to ensnare foreign elites. The Soviet Union first concentrated on its immediate neighborhood, Eastern Europe, before seeking to spread its model outward. Putin's Russia is also concentrating on its immediate neighborhood, the ex-U.S.S.R., but has also set its sights farther afield. Corruption isn't just a matter of good governance anymore. It's now a national security issue and should be treated as such.

IN THE NEWS

Suicide bombers have attacked a police station in a Russian town in the Stavropol region.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has resigned, paving the way for a new government.

The European Union has criticized an outbreak of violence in Eastern Ukraine after OSCE monitors were attacked near Donetsk.

Reuters is reporting that the European Union go ahead with visa-free travel for Ukrainians despite a Dutch referendum that rejected the EU's Association Agreement with Kyiv.

Russia's state-run Rossia-1 television station is advertising a "documentary" film, which will be aired on April 13, depicting opposition leader and anticorruption blogger Aleksei Navalny as a paid foreign agent engaged in espionage.

Navalny has called for a criminal investigation to be opened into the TV station.

WHAT I'M READING

The Nonlinear-Hybrid-Reflexive-Control War

Eerik-Niles Kross, an Estonian parliamentary deputy who previously served as the country's intelligence chief has a piece in Politico looking at "Putin's War of Smoke and Mirrors."

"Success in Ukraine and Syria will not be defined by military victory in either country. It will be defined by whether or not America and NATO decide to fight, and whether or not Europe confronts Russia over its values," Kross writes.

How The Kremlin Sees The U.S.

Sergei Karaganov, honorary chairman of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, gives his take on U.S.-Russian relations in Izvestia. It's a useful read as it sheds light on the thinking of the Kremlin elite.

The Kremlin's Balance Sheet

The Financial Times looks at Putin's balance sheet, arguing that "sanctions and a falling oil price threaten to derail economic progress amid fears of a return to the chaos of the 1990s."

What's Next For EU-Ukraine Pact?

The Center for European Policy Studies looks at the legal options for the EU Association Agreement in the aftermath of the Dutch referendum

What The Dutch Referendum Taught Us

Writing in The Washington Post, Pulitzer Prize winning author Anne Applebaum argues that the Dutch referendum showed the world how Russia influences Western European elections.

"In a vague sort of way, many people are aware that the Russian government provides material and moral support to extremist political groups in Europe. But until last week's Dutch referendum, we hadnt seen a good example of how Russian influence actually works in a Western European election," Applebaum writes.

The Kremlin's Alternative Model

Juliet Johnson and Seckin Kostem of McGill University have a paper out, "Frustrated Leadership: Russias Economic Alternative to the West."

"The Kremlin is doomed to frustration in its quest to assert international economic leadership," the authors argue. "The Russian government has the ability to shake up the existing international order but lacks the credibility, stability, or economic clout to lead the creation of a new one. This has troubling implications for the future of international economic cooperation and reform, as Russia's frustrations have increasingly turned it in reactive and confrontational directions."

Zolotov, Kadyrov, And the National Guard

Open Russia has a profile of Viktor Zolotov, a former Putin bodyguard who has been tapped to head Russia's new national guard.

Novaya Gazeta, meanwhile, has an article claiming that the creation of a National Guard is blow to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Open Russia has also unearthed footage of Russian police training to put down a popular uprising.

A Spring Offensive?

Is Russia planning a spring offensive in Ukraine? Former special operations pilot Nolan Peterson takes a look.




Coalition talks in Ukraine aimed at creating a government have run into difficulties.

The two main parties at the talks in Kyiv were unable on April 11 to come to an agreement with the candidate nominated to be the next prime minister -- current parliament speaker Volodymyr Hroysman.

Oleksiy Honcharenko, deputy leader of the parliamentary Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, said an agreement could not be reached with Hroysman about the structure or personnel in the next government.

Mustafa Nayem, a lawmaker in the bloc, confirmed in an interview with Ukrayinska Pravda late on April 11 that Hroysman had so far refused to accept the post of prime minister.

Nayem said that talks between the pro-presidential bloc and outgoing Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's party ended late on April 11 with Hroysman refusing to accept the prime minister's post -- so far -- because his conditions had not been met.

However, Nayem said coalition talks were scheduled to continue in Kyiv on the morning of April 12.

Hroysman was nominated by the Petro Poroshenko Bloc as a replacement for Yatsenyuk, who came to power in 2014.

With his approval rating sinking over a corruption scandal and the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine against Russia-backed separatists, Yatsenyuk announced on April 10 after weeks of pressure that he would submit his resignation to parliament on April 12.

Yatsenyuk also has said his party would remain part of a revamped ruling coalition, alongside the Petro Poroshenko Bloc.

That announcement was thought to have cleared the way for Hroysman, a close ally of the president, to lead a reshaped government that tries to bring the country out of its worst political crisis in two years.

Poroshenko said in an interview that he had received assurances during a recent visit to Washington that agreeing on a new cabinet would be enough to restart billions of dollars of international aid.

With reporting by AP, Bloomberg, TASS, Interfax, and Ukrayinska Pravda
France has voiced concern over rising cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine between Kyiv's forces and pro-Russia separatists.

The French Foreign Ministry statement on April 11 comes days after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said its observers monitoring the cease-fire had been shot at for the second time in a week.

"The recent incidents targeting monitors close to the contact line are not acceptable," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, urging both sides to guarantee OSCE access to their respective areas.

"The situation can only be stabilized by the full application of the Minsk agreement," it said, referring to the peace deal backed by Kyiv, its Western allies, and Moscow.

The conflict has killed more than 9,100 since April 2014.

Late on April 9, the OSCE said a group of its monitors had been shot at in Zhovanka, northeast of the city of Donetsk, which is controlled by pro-Russia separatists.The report did not say who fired the shots.

OSCE observers were also shot at on April 7. No one was wounded in either incident.

On April 10,spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini condemned the recent incidents targeting OSCE observers as "unacceptable," calling on all sides to "refrain from such actions."

Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa


The man identified by Ukraine's outgoing prime minister as his successor, Volodymyr Hroysman, is a 38-year-old loyalist of President Petro Poroshenko who was thrust onto the national scene after the Euromaidan unrest that toppled a government.

Hroysman's meteoric rise from mayoral upstart to speaker of a notoriously obstreperous parliament was fueled in part by perceptions that a relative outsider with little political baggage could unite rival lawmakers, but it also prompted questions about his inexperience and political indebtedness to Poroshenko.

Announcing his planned resignation to avoid any "destabilization of the executive branch during a war" despite having batted down a no-confidence vote by lawmakers last month, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the ruling Petro Poroshenko Bloc "has nominated" Hroysman to the head the next government.

Hroysman, who recently underlined Kyiv's commitment to Western-backed reforms, responded by saying he was prepared to lead the next Ukrainian government.

However, reports from Kyiv overnight on April 11-12 said coalition talks had stalled over the makeup of a possible cabinet, and even suggested Hroysman had withdrawn from consideration.

Hroysman has had changes of heart before.

Prior to the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, with pro-European and anticorruption anger boiling over under the Euromaidan banner, Hroysman expressed no desire to serve in the national government, telling journalists he was not interested in Kyiv or any ministry post.

But within days of Yanukovych's exit, Hroysman became government minister for regional development and a deputy prime minister.

The ascension to the presidency in June of industrial mogul Poroshenko, whose confectionery conglomerate Roshen had recently built a plant in Hroysman's hometown, by many accounts lent further weight to Hroysman's political ambitions.

There was also speculation that the appointment of Hroysman, a Jew, to a top government post was aimed in part at blunting suggestions in Russia's state-controlled media that the post-Yanukovych government in Kyiv was unduly influenced by anti-Semites. After Hroysman was named deputy prime minister, the BBC quoted chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich as saying it was meant to "shut the mouths of those who say the government is anti-Semitic."

In his government posts, Hroysman coordinated Kyiv's relief efforts for civilians displaced by the war against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

He was also put in charge of Kyiv's investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine, arguably a key turning point in the conflict as public outrage allowed Western governments to impose sanctions against Russia.

A Fresh Face

By November 2014, Hroysman was voted in as speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, as a deputy for the Petro Poroshenko Bloc.

Political analyst Anatoliy Oktysyuk told RFE/RL at the time that Hroysman's selection was part of Poroshenko's plan to "lessen the degree of conflict in parliament" with the support of a "loyal and reliable" parliamentary speaker.

Hroysman was seen by some as a young politician with a fresh approach to resolving differences among the parties and parliamentary factions within the fractious governing coalition.

Political analyst Vadym Karasyov, director of Kyiv's Global Strategies Institute, warned that Hroysman was too young and that his political rise -- a result of lobbying efforts by Poroshenko -- had been too rapid.

Today, most political commentators in Kyiv see Hroysman's possible appointment as the next Ukrainian prime minister as a move that could give Poroshenko more control over a reform process that had sputtered amid corruption allegations and vicious coalition infighting under Yatsenyuk's government.

One crucial task for Hroysman, or any other prime minister, would be to push through parliament the remaining constitutional changes required under the Minsk accords -- a package of decentralization reforms that give special status to separatist-held territory in eastern Ukraine.



Another task would be overseeing economic reforms demanded by the West in order to put negotiations back on track for a new $1.7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- money that is desperately needed to prop up Ukraine's struggling economy.

Western-Oriented



Hroysman graduated in 2003 from the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management with a specialization in jurisprudence.



He first entered politics in 2005 when he joined Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party as a 27-year-old city councilor in the central city of Vinnytsya.



He was elected in 2006 as the mayor of Vinnytsya and remained in that post for eight years -- becoming known at the time as a young progressive who was oriented more toward Western Europe than Russia.



As the youngest head of a city administration in Ukraine, Hroysman continued his studies until February 2010, when he graduated from the National Academy of State Administration.



His specialization there was in community-development management, with a focus on local and regional management.



Hroysman continued to serve as Vinnytsya's mayor until the first government of Prime Minister Yatsenyuk was created on February 27, 2014.



Hroysman was appointed as deputy prime minister for regional policy as well as the minister of regional development, construction and housing, and communal services.

Five months later, when the parliamentary coalition that supported Yatsenyuk's first government collapsed and Yatsenyuk submitted his resignation, Hroysman was nominated to serve as acting prime minister until new parliamentary elections could be held.



However, the parliament rejected Yatsenyuk's resignation  setting the stage for the October 2014 snap elections that brought Hroysman into parliament as an ally of Poroshenko and which led to his appointment as speaker of parliament in November 2014.



In March 2016, Hroysman vowed he would "do everything that society expects of me and what our state needs now."



He told journalists in Kyiv on March 24 that, if he became Ukraine's prime minister, he was "not going to serve the interests of the powerful elite of the world."



He said he wanted to "work with people who are trusted and not rejected by the people" and that he would "never agree to lead a cabinet that is made up of losers."



"It's important to form a qualified team to carry out a plan of action," he said. "People who will work in the government should have untarnished reputations and professional qualifications."



Hroysman also has vowed that his government would not sit on the sidelines "observing the crisis that is hurting our people today."



"With the current crisis in Ukraine, it is unacceptable to take a wait-and-see approach about how things develop," he said.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
In the spring of 1989, Georgians took to the streets to demand independence from the Soviet Union. At the peak of the demonstrations, many thousands of people -- some of them on hunger strike -- gathered in central Tbilisi. On April 9, Soviet Interior Ministry troops moved in to crush the peaceful protests, killing at least 20 people and leaving hundreds injured or poisoned by gas. The crackdown became one of the turning points in the final years of the Soviet Union. (13 PHOTOS)
State archaeologists say Confederate treasure hunters shooting a television series last year dug up artifacts and caused damage to an old plantation site in southwestern Pittsylvania County.

They had permission to dig from family members who owned the land and did nothing illegal. However, their methods have the family regretting their decision and state preservation officials angry at irreparable damage done to historic records.

The treasure seekers excavated at the Oak Hill Plantation site along Berry Hill Road in January 2015 for the Rebel Gold series on the Discovery Channel.

A regional archaeologist with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources said the treasure hunters actions disrupted the arrangement of artifacts, which is important for historic interpretation of the area.

Historic context is the key element, said Mike Barber, state archaeologist with the department.

Barber said he did not know what their credentials were but they certainly did not act like archaeologists. They had some idea where to dig but they had no methodology, Barber said.

Nate Starck, listed as a supervising producer for the Rebel Gold series on the Internet Movie Database at imdb.com, declined to comment when reached by the Danville Register & Bee. Alyssa Sales, senior publicist for Discovery Communications, also declined to comment.

Oak Hill story lost?

The archaeological evidence in the ground at Oak Hill constitutes a history of Oak Hill Plantation, said Tom Klatka, the departments regional archaeologist.

The removal of the artifacts from Oak Hill without proper documentation is analogous to ripping out pages from a book and destroying those pages, Klatka said. That part of the story of Oak Hill is lost.

Klatka said the treasure hunters kept some of the artifacts and donated others to local historical organizations. The treasure hunters gave half of the donated artifacts to the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History and the other half to the Pittsylvania Historical Society, said Mark Joyner, founder and project director for the Association for the Study of Archaeological Properties. The items were unwashed and in unkempt condition, Joyner said.

Archaeologically, what they did was beyond reprehensible, Joyner said. They were just basically looting the site.

The historical society and ASAP currently have all the donated artifacts, including those that were initially given to the museum, said Joyner, who is on the board of directors for the historical society. They were displayed at the Pittsylvania County Public Librarys History Research Center and Library in Chatham, but are in the historical societys repository, Joyner said.

Items from the site in the societys possession include animal bone, bottle and plate fragments, hand-carved wooden buttons, oyster shell hand-carved buttons, suspender buckles, coins dating back to 1829, smoking pipe fragments, safety pins from the 1800s and other items.

We plan on displaying them again, Joyner said.

The Oak Hill Plantation  which belongs to the Hairston family  includes the remnants of a main house built in 1823, a barn, slave quarters, the foundation of an old hunting lodge, terraced gardens and other features. It also has what is believed to be the remains of an icehouse, or a subterranean pit filled with trash.

Will Hairston, whose parents own the site, declined to comment for the story because he did not want to bring too much attention to the property.

The dig

According to Klatka, the treasure hunters used a backhoe to excavate the icehouse site and had metal detectors for their search as well. The excavation looked to be about 12 feet deep and 18 feet in diameter, he said.

They also excavated two of four rooms in the old brick structure for house servants, digging under the floor in the soil before abandoning their work when they discovered no gold or silver, Klatka said.

They collected a lot of artifacts, he said. Its impossible to determine where the artifacts came from.

For archaeologists, its not just the artifacts but their arrangement that enables them to interpret what took place at the site, Klatka said. The items recovered by the excavators from the series cannot provide an interpretation of the past, he said.

The artifacts have lost their interpretive value, Klatka said.

However, they got permission from the Hairstons and did not violate any laws, Klatka said.

A professor and students from Mary Washington University measured, photographed and documented the old slave quarters at the site Feb. 13. Klatka, Joyner, Dean Hairston and Preservation Virginia Field Representative Sonja Ingram were also there.

Hairston is a distant relative of the owners and his great-great grandparents were slaves at Oak Hill.

Archaeologists had planned for a while to excavate the site but the treasure hunters activities brought a sense of urgency to the project.

It was in the works and we just had to speed things up after we learned what happened due to the treasure hunters, Klatka said.

Klatka said they found bone, egg shell and personal items such as jewelry, ceramics, glass and other items, nothing of monetary value but materials with lots of historic value.

Archaeologists will process and study the artifacts and produce a written report. The artifacts will belong to the landowners, who have the final say on what will happen to them, Klatka said.

State archaeologists will recommend they be put in a place where they will be cared for, or that they be curated at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville, Klatka said. They could be exhibited there, studied by archaeologists and loaned to organizations who want to create exhibits, he said.

We would like to see the artifacts stay in the local area, he said. Its important for them to be stored where they will be protected and have their integrity maintained in perpetuity.

Ingram told the Danville Register & Bee a member of the Hairston family that owns the site notified her that a Discovery Channel crew was coming out there.

I immediately got concerned, Ingram said.

She said the treasure hunters told her they got the artifacts from the slave dwelling and an area they thought was an icehouse.

This is something that concerns us [Preservation Virginia] and its something that we need to educate people about, Ingram said. If you have an archaeological site on your property, we would encourage you not to allow just anybody to come out and dig. Be careful and try to protect the site because it can be destroyed easily.

The Oak Hill property is on the Virginia Department of Historic Resources threatened sites list, Ingram said.

Confederate treasure and Oak Hill Plantation

Hairston said he talked to the treasure hunters and told them about a theory he had that led them to the Oak Hill property. It didnt make sense to Hairston that the treasure would be in a cemetery, as some believe.

To me, its safer to leave money with someone who has money, Hairston said.

A local attorney had told Hairston about someone finding Spanish coins by the riverbank at Oak Hill, he said. When a crew came and explored Green Hill Cemetery, they concluded the treasure was not there but somewhere about 18 miles away, Hairston said.

Train tracks behind Green Hill run through Oak Hill, Hairston said. The Hairstons who owned Oak Hill supported the Confederacy during the Civil War and had 45 plantations and more than 10,000 slaves in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi at the height of their empire, Hairston said. They were worth about $5.2 million in 1852, he said.

According to Hairston, all the clues lined up  distance from the Green Hill to Oak Hill, the coins found there, the Hairstons support of the Confederate cause. Why would someone leave the treasury in an open cemetery when they could put it in the hands of someone with lots of money and no temptation to steal it?

Also, Peter Hairston at Cooleemee Plantation in North Carolina had asked one of his slaves to hide silver to keep the Union from getting it, Hairston said.

Hairston said Nate Starck, the supervising producer, asked him to work with him on an exploration of Oak Hill. The treasure hunters used metal detectors and checked slave dwellings, Hairston said.

It was like going to a crime scene, said Hairston, deputy chief with the Danville Police Department. You lose so much when its not done correctly.

The plantation is a time capsule with a lot of information thats been lost, Hairston said. The Discovery Channel was there for entertainment purposes only, he said.

Preservation wasnt their main focus, Hairston said.

Their use of a backhoe at the property was especially disturbing, he said.

I didnt know that until I saw the program, Hairston said.

He said he regrets giving clues to the Discovery Channel.

I regret the methods that they used, he said. I would have much rather seen what the archaeologists are doing now. I would rather have seen that first.

Hairston said he looks forward to the property being renovated and resurrected and the story of the Hairstons  which included slaves and their owners  preserved for future generations.

Staff writer Denice Thibodeau contributed to this story.
Community Capital Bank of Virginia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Virginia Community Capital Inc., is not a typical retail bank.

It doesnt do consumer lending. Nor does it provide credit or debit cards. It doesnt have branch offices or automated teller machines and it doesnt offer mobile banking.

We would never be your primary bank, said Jane Henderson, president and CEO of Virginia Community Capital, a nonprofit loan fund that owns the for-profit bank.

Think of us as a wholesale banker as opposed to a retail bank, Henderson said.

Community Capital Bank is one of about 10 banks in the country owned by a nonprofit, Henderson said.

It recently became the first regulated bank in the United States to become a benefit corporation, or B Corp, a type of business structure that emphasizes social causes and the environment in addition to making a profit.

The conversion to benefit status underscores Virginia Community Capitals mission to provide capital to low- and moderate-income people and in under-served markets.

The organization seeks to support housing and community development ventures, generate jobs and build sustainable communities by providing credit and financial services to people, businesses and communities not served by mainstream lenders.

We can be sure the bank remains mission focused, Henderson said about the change in legal structure. We are working on revitalizing neighborhoods in rural or urban areas. But you wont find us financing a gated community with a golf course.

Benefit corporations are stock-based companies with goals to create general public benefits. Virginia was an early adopter of the benefit corporation legislation, which was passed by the General Assembly in 2011, allowing companies to changes their articles of incorporation to become benefit corporations.

Virginia Community Capital, with headquarters in Christiansburg and offices in Richmond and Norfolk, is one of about 50 benefit corporations in Virginia.

We are a big fan of VCC and we have each grown in a friendly, collaborative partnership, said Michael Pirron, chief executive officer of Impact Makers, a 10-year-old management and technology consulting firm in Richmond and the first certified B Corp in Virginia.

A year ago, Impact Makers gave ownership of the company to two organizations that support philanthropy and community development: Virginia Community Capital and The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia.

They were one of our first substantive lenders, Pirron said. We introduced them to the B Corp movement. Then we gave them a significant amount of our stock. I mean we hug when we see each other. How many of your bankers give you a hug?

***

Virginia Community Capital was chartered in 1995 under a different name as a microloan fund in Southwest Virginia.

It was transformed in 2005 with $15 million in equity capital from the state of Virginia to expand as a community development financial institution.

In 2008, Virginia Community Capital was awarded a state banking charter, allowing the nonprofit holding company to operate Community Capital Bank, a for-profit bank.

For those who believe in its mission to create better communities, Virginia Community Capital offers individual and institutional investors a safe, secure method of investing through federally insured deposits. Investors earn financial and social returns on their investments.

The nonprofit bank holding company owns 99 percent of the stock in the bank.

The banking entity also offers certificates of deposit and money market accounts, often at better-than-market rates, for people interested in supporting its causes.

Investing in the mission is not just for the wealthy. A lot of people open $250 deposit accounts just because its important to them, Henderson said. Its amazing how many people of all incomes want to invest in their communities.

Virginia Community Capital doesnt bring the vision; it brings the capital to make the vision happen and it is typically one of five, six or even seven sources of funding on a project  which is why they take so long to put together, Henderson said.

We take clients who are not quite bankable and work harder and longer to make that happen. Financing is often a blend of foundation and grant monies and federally insured programs that allow Virginia Community Capital to take more risk than a traditional bank.

Were able to capitalize with money that isnt from Wall Street, Henderson said. We dont have pressure to increase earnings. We take well thought-out risk in under-served markets.

***

In Richmond, it helped provide financing for the William Byrd Senior Center and the Somanath Senior Apartments at Beckstoffers Mill in Church Hill.

Its focus now is on Richmonds East End, where Virginia Community Capital is involved in financing arrangements for a grocery store.

It recently provided financing for LeBrent and Angela Crawford, who moved here three years ago to buy and run a dry-cleaning business renamed The Dry Clean Factory, a discount cleaner on Brook Road in Richmond.

The couple had operated a dry-cleaning business in Sunnyvale, Calif., but it didnt work out, LeBrent Crawford said.

When we first got here in Richmond, we had the opportunity to work in the business and make sure everything was what was promised, he said. Our credit was bruised and we had financial challenges that we had to get over.

Virginia Community Capital understood their story, Crawford said. The couple closed on $240,000 in financing at the end of 2015.

***

The organization is a funding source for projects throughout the state, including the conversion of a former elementary school in Lynchburg into 28 apartments for people with low incomes and disabilities and the restoration of the Henry Hotel, a distressed building in Martinsville into residential and commercial space.

We are involved in catalyst projects to start things moving, Henderson said, adding that Virginia Community Capital provided some of the first money into revitalizing Shockoe Bottom.

Virginia Community Capitals original $15 million in equity was used over 10 years to originate $320 million in loans. Those financings drew an additional $468 million from public and private sources for a total investment of $788 million.

It was really about privatization, said Michael Schewel, secretary of trade and commerce in Gov. Mark R. Warners administration and director emeritus of Virginia Community Capital, about the original infusion of capital.

Can we take government program dollars and using the strength of the private market, multiply our impact in these Virginia regions with the greatest need? And keep politics out of it?

The experiment worked.

Virginia Community Capital has a nine-year average charge-off ratio of 0.10 percent on loan losses, compared with an average 1.9 percent for its peer community development financial institutions.

The organization is able to take a little more risk, because we are blending various sources of capital to make the community development project work, Henderson said. Sources often include philanthropic capital, government guarantees, tax credits and social deposits, Henderson said.

***

Some of its leveraged money over the years recently went to help Kelly Walker Wombold, who started Chocolates by Kelly in 2008 and considered the possibility of expanding her Richmond venture at some point in the future.

With the recession, I had given up pursuing outside financing, Wombold said, adding that she was referred a couple of years ago to Virginia Community Capital.

We developed a long-standing relationship and eventually we were able to make a deal at the right place and at the time, Wombold said.

She received a $50,000 loan in November, allowing her to buy a delivery vehicle and equipment to increase productivity.

We are able to temper 600 pounds of chocolate a day, she said. Before, we could do up to 150 pounds a day.

Its time to grow and expand into new markets, Wombold said, adding that she is not sure yet where that will lead. This is so new. We just got it (the financing) in place a few months ago.

An entrepreneur at heart, she along with her mother and aunt traveled to her grandmothers house in Philadelphia 20 years ago to learn the art of making chocolate. Wombold, 38, is the fifth-generation chocolate and confectionery maker in the family and the first to open a candy business.

She uses family recipes and her own concoction for a chocolate balsamic vinegar, which she says brings a lot of life to seared duck and steak, and vegetables such as mushrooms, asparagus and Brussels sprouts.

***

Rush Lifetime Homes Inc., another client of Virginia Community Capital, took an abandoned elementary school that was a blight on the community in Lynchburg and renovated it into 28 apartments for the disabled. The $6.5 million project opened a little more than a year ago.

This is our coolest project yet, said Kate Goodman, residential support coordinator for Lynchburg-based Rush Lifetime Homes, an organization that builds and renovates homes for people with disabilities, physical, mental and/or intellectual challenges.

Were a small housing nonprofit, said Jeff Smith, Rushs executive director. Funding sources for this type of development are complicated.

Financing involved low-income housing tax credits, historic tax credits, grants from the city of Lynchburg and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development in addition to money from a foundation and charitable and community trusts.

Banks are a bit intimidated by tax credits, Smith said. Some banks have told me they have regulatory reasons why they cant work with us.

All the funding sources have to be committed, Smith said. Were not one of the big guys with plenty of liquid assets. We need to work with people who feel comfortable with our mission.

Armstrong Place, as the apartment project in the former school building is called, was fully booked before it was finished.
State Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance, D-Petersburg, told her hometown mayor in a personal phone conversation in February that she would work to cut all federal and state funding for the city if the mayor failed to rally the City Council around a motion to fire the citys nonelected leadership.

You will get no state money. You will get no federal money. You will not because my reputation is out there, Dance told Mayor W. Howard Myers, according to a notarized transcript and recording of the conversation obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Theres no project that youve got out there that the state will support unless Lashrecse and I say, Governor, yes, we want you to support this, said Dance, referring to Del. Lashrecse D. Aird, D-Petersburg.

Myers said Saturday that he was the victim of political threats by Dance.

She threatened me, if I didnt do what she wanted, he said.

At the time of Myers and Dances conversation, the City Council was under public pressure to consider parting with City Manager William E. Johnson III after weeks of protests over Johnsons handling of Petersburgs finances. Calls for Johnsons ouster grew louder after a finance audit found overspending of the total general fund budget by $1.8 million, increasing the citys total budget shortfall to $6 million.

Myers conversation with Dance prompted then-City Attorney Brian K. Telfair to hire former Del. Joseph D. Morrisseys law firm, asking politics-savvy attorney Paul Goldman to assess the situation at the citys expense. The contract with Morrisseys firm has since been terminated because the City Council did not authorize it.

Dance, a former mayor of Petersburg, said in a phone interview Saturday that the emergence of the transcript of her conversation with Myers is an attempt to distract from Myers own troubles. Today, the City Council will meet in closed session to discuss a motion to strip Myers of his mayoral duties.

In Petersburg, the mayors role is mostly ceremonial and the city manager is responsible for day-to-day operations of the city. As an elected official, Myers cannot be taken off the City Council, but his fellow council members, who elected him mayor, could strip him of that role and vote one of their own into the office.

Dance did not know the conversation was being recorded. Myers said in an email Sunday that he recorded the call to have a record of her threats.

He said that during a meeting with Dance at her home before the phone conversation, she told him to write up City Council proposals for hiring and firing city leadership.

I knew that when I did not comply that she would call and demand to know what was going on, Myers said. So naturally to protect me and the people of Petersburg, I decided to record the phone call.

***

Dance spoke with Myers on Feb. 13 ahead of a closed City Council meeting Feb. 16 during which members, for the first time, were to discuss an exit for Johnson.

During the phone conversation, Myers was reluctant to give in to Dance, who pressed him to take the lead and unite the council behind a motion to oust Johnson.

I do have a mind of my own, Myers said in the conversation, uncomfortable with Dances persistence.

Im asking you to allow me to digest what you have given me to work with. Allow me to figure out how to make my decision for Tuesday night. ... Im not going to make a decision or a rash decision immediately because someone tells me something. I need to understand, Myers said.

Dance stands by the comments she made in her conversation with Myers, she said Saturday.

This was in defense of the city of Petersburg, trying to help the mayor. He is in so much trouble. My concern in the beginning has been justified, Dance said.

As to telling Myers that she would work to cut state and federal funding for Petersburg, Dance said that it is important to understand the context of the conversation about saving a city that is millions in debt.

(Myers) wanted to keep them in place, that city manager and attorney. And you want me to ask (state legislators) to send more money down here? That was my concern. You owe a lot of money, and now you are thinking in good faith that I am sending more money down there? No way.

The transcript shows that Dance also told Myers that she and Aird would publicly distance themselves from Myers and criticize his leadership.

To tell you the truth, come Tuesday, if this aint resolved, she and I both are going straight to the media, Dance told Myers.

Were going to hold our press conference and we are going to say that  we have lost confidence in the leadership. ... (Petersburg) is where we live and where I have lived and raised my family. I do this unselfishly. Ive taken the heat of whatevers been thrown my way, but this is the worst ever.

Dance then proceeded to tell Myers that this is hard ball, adding that Myers was truly insulting her intelligence.

Dont think I just want to set you up. Dont think I did not pray. Ive been praying ceaselessly for the last couple days that the right thing will happen, that we will correct this, that we will go on, that we will shut those people down because you can shut them down. Its all in how you come out on Tuesday, but you control the message.

Dance then told Myers that there would be no written record about her communication with him that would link her to the mayors actions.

From this point on Im not writing anything. Im just talking to you. There is nothing, Dance said.

There wont be a paper trail. They will not find my name attached to anything, nothing. It is totally in your shop. I have made the decision there will be nothing. There will be nothing coming my way to you telling you what to do, nothing. Im just talking to you. You can use it for what its worth or what its not, but I would not try to hurt you.

Reached late Sunday, Aird said: Having briefly reviewed the draft 22-page transcript, it is important to clarify that I do not have the power to withhold state funding from the city of Petersburg or any locality that I represent. During the 2016 General Assembly session, I introduced and advocated for two budget amendments at the request of Petersburg.

***

After the conversation, Myers postponed the closed City Council meeting scheduled for Feb. 16, citing an unspecified threat as the reason. Myers decision angered several City Council members, who said they were unaware of the nature of the threat. Five of the seven council members still showed up at Union Train Station that day, along with a number of residents.

On Feb. 17, Telfair said that racial slurs and threats of physical violence against some members of the City Council and administration staff led to the cancellation.

On Feb. 18, the City Council reconvened and voted unanimously to start negotiating an exit for Johnson, the city manager.

The council also voted to negotiate a separation with Telfair  the city attorney  and to hire a law firm to work out the agreements.

Johnson was eventually dismissed March 3. Telfair resigned that same day. He has since found a job as an attorney for Spencer Shuford LLP in Richmond.

Telfair said in an email Saturday that he was gravely concerned with what he called Dances threat to withhold state and federal funding from Petersburg if the mayor did not give in to her wishes.

I also found the call troubling as Senator Dance stated that there was no way to trace her actions back to her, Telfair said. As city attorney, I decided to hire Morrissey and Goldman after listening to the phone conversation. This was a legal matter.

Goldman said in a phone interview Saturday that Telfair made a wise choice hiring Morrisseys law firm. He said Dances phone call was clearly a kind of thing that would make anybody uncomfortable.

Morrissey, a former state delegate from Henrico County, has his own history with Dance. Last year, he launched an unsuccessful bid for Dances Senate seat. He has since announced his candidacy for Richmond mayor.

Howard needs some help here because there is all kinds of people coming after him, and all in the context of the water fiasco, Goldman said.

Petersburg has been plagued with water billing issues, with many people reporting they had not received water bills from the city for months. Others were billed more than usual, sometimes thousands of dollars.

***

The utility situation and the citys financial crisis sparked a movement of residents pushing for a change in leadership, resulting in Johnsons ouster and Telfairs resignation. Many of those residents have made Myers their next target.

Ward 1 Councilwoman Treska Wilson-Smith, who made the motion to unseat Myers that will be debated today, said Saturday that the City Council never approved the citys contract with Morrissey and Goldman.

In March, Mr. Goldman came to a closed session meeting. That was the first time I and the majority of council members had ever seen him, Wilson-Smith said.

One of us asked who hired him and we were told by the mayor that the attorney did. We as a council never authorized that, and (Goldman) did not have anything to report. He just talked about what he would do and how he would go about it. We werent really pleased with him.

On March 21, interim City Manager Dironna Moore Belton sent a letter to Morrissey on behalf of the City Council, terminating the city contract.

Information about the cost of Goldmans services was not immediately available Sunday.

Goldman said he will still attend a community meeting that Myers wants to hold in Petersburg this week, where Goldman will present his findings of Myers role in the water billing problems.

Its true that we stopped working when we got the letter by the city terminating the contract. But we have a draft report and its in pretty good shape. It indicated what we found. Its a long piece. They can release it or not release; thats up to them, Goldman said.

Goldman said it would be helpful if the public knew the facts.

People will be surprised about some of the things that will come out. Then they can make up their own minds. But I think its unfortunate the way it has come out.

Goldman said his report concludes that Myers cannot be blamed for the water fiasco.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has found a new way to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the red-letter year for the Jamestown Colony  $2 million from the state budget for a scholarship named after Richmond businesswoman Maggie L. Walker to help women and underrepresented minorities receive a college education.

The proposed scholarship fund is one of 30 amendments to the pending two-year budget that McAuliffe announced Monday, along with an agreement with General Assembly budget leaders that would end a looming impasse over replacement of the General Assembly Building and allow a $2.1 billion bond package to move forward on July 1.

The bond deal will add three projects sought by McAuliffe: expansion of the state center for sexually violent predators in Burkeville; construction of an admissions office at Longwood University; and construction of a juvenile correctional center in Chesapeake to replace one of Virginias two remaining youth prisons, as well as planning for a second, slimmed-down center.

The proposed new scholarship fund, named for the first African-American woman in the country to found and lead a bank, is tied to a $10 million budget appropriation for the 2019 Commemoration of the red-letter year of 1619, when the first Africans and women arrived in Jamestown, the first Thanksgiving feast was held at Berkeley Plantation, and the House of Burgesses was formed as the foundation of the Virginia General Assembly.

The purpose of these scholarships is to increase access and diversity at public institutions of higher education in Virginia, McAuliffe said in a letter to members of the House of Delegates outlining his amendments to House Bill 30, the budget.

The steering committee of the 2019 Commemoration is chaired by the governors two biggest political adversaries in the General Assembly  House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City. House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, also serves on the committee for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, chosen by the legislature in 2013 to plan for the 400th anniversary.

Cox said he was surprised by the amendment to designate $2 million of the $10 million appropriation for the celebration. Thats up to the commission to decide, he said.

McAuliffes proposed amendments to the budget were generally modest. They added $14.1 million in revenues from unused debt service and proceeds from the sale of an ABC office in Alexandria, while proposing $12.6 million in additional spending, increasing the unappropriated balance to $11.4 million.

On the spending side, the governor added: $2 million for development of the solar energy industry, primarily in Southwest Virginia; $1 million to create scholarships in cybersecurity for higher education students who would be required to work an equal number of years for the state; and $432,000 to hire a director and develop cybersecurity curriculum for community colleges.

He also removed a budget provision strongly opposed by local governments and sheriffs to require a portion of local fines and fees they collect to be given to the state.

McAuliffe, who vetoed 32 bills approved by the legislature and amended 54, also proposed some budget amendments that arent likely to pass the House of Delegates.

For example, he proposed to remove a restriction on expanding the states Medicaid program in the budgets second year. Adopting this change will allow us to continue the dialogue on the merits of and business case for expanding the Medicaid program in Virginia, leading to a full and reasoned discussion at the 2017 legislative session.
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Several Craig County landowners are determined to keep kayakers and canoeists off their property and are taking their fight to the courts in a complex legal battle that involves stream navigability and land grants dating to the 1700s.

Two citizens and two businesses that own land on Johns Creek in Craig County are suing the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and its commissioner, John Bull, for what they call a property rights violation involving the land at the bottom of the creek.

The landowners claimed ownership of the creek beds dating back to when the king of England and then early Virginia governors doled out land grants to colonists.

But that changed in March 2015 when the resources commission issued a letter stating portions of Johns Creek and 13 other streams throughout the state were considered navigable and open to paddling enthusiasts, a designation the commission could only make if it claimed the land was state owned.

Craig County resident Joe Looney, David Willis and Johns Creek Properties LLC and Tinker Creek Realty Corp., for which Willis is the registered agent, claim the commissions navigability designation is a violation of their constitutional rights, according to the lawsuit filed April 7 in Craig County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit claims the commission, which doesnt have the power to exercise eminent domain, seized the creek beds for the public in violation of the Fourth and Fifth amendments, which prohibit unreasonable property seizures without due process or just compensation.

The landowners claim this seizure is a violation of their privacy and obscures their property records.

Representatives for the resources commission declined to comment on the lawsuit.

A lot of these streams go right by peoples houses and to have that turned into a public road is very much offensive to them, said Lenden Eakin, the Roanoke attorney representing the landowners.

Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax, spearheaded the campaign to open more than a dozen creeks and rivers to the public. More than a year ago, the politician and paddling enthusiast solicited a list of paddling nirvanas from the canoeing community.

Marsden took the list of 14 waterways, which includes streams in Craig, Botetourt, Franklin and Rockbridge counties, to the resources commission. It deemed portions of each stream navigable and open to the public because their watersheds exceed 5 square miles.

The water belongs to all of us, Marsden said. The land beneath the streams does not. The banks next to the streams do not. But the water belongs to all of us.

Marsden claimed paddlers follow state laws that specify walking on privately owned stream banks is considered trespassing and require kayakers and canoeists to put in and take out at their own private property or public locations.

In 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the public has the right to float along waterways deemed navigable even if they run through specifically granted land after a case dealing with fishing rights on the Jackson River came before the court.

The state senator said the landowners suing the state are shortsighted and too concerned with their privacy to see the bigger picture. Kayakers and canoeists from out of state will flock to Virginias public paddling hot spots and increase tourism dollars spent in those communities and across the state, he said.

Marsden compared the fight against paddlers in Virginia to North Carolinas recently passed law requiring transgender people in public buildings to use the bathroom corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates. Both send the message the state is unwelcoming, he said.

Whatever the courts decide, I will certainly respect that, he said. But honestly, dont people have anything better to do than hassle people who arent doing any harm?

In the lawsuit, the four plaintiffs trace their property deeds back to kings and governors grants from the 1700s.

According to the lawsuit, Englands King George II first granted Looneys property that includes a portion of the Johns Creek bottom land in 1760 to Peter Ipsher. Looneys family purchased the land more than a dozen owners later.

Johns Creek Properties and Willis land were first granted to William Thompson by Gov. Norborne Berkeley in 1770. Tinker Creek Realtys property was first granted to Henry Banks in 1786 by Patrick Henry when he was governor.

The case boils down to the burden of proof, Eakin said. In the past, the state assumed the landowner with the deed owned the property, but the recent commission ruling flipped that assumption.

Forcing landowners to research their deeds and view centuries of property records to prove ownership of a creek bed can be tedious and costly, he said.

Its a chore to go back to the 1700s and find all of this, Eakin said. And to put that burden on the landowner is a pretty heavy load.

This isnt the first time one of the plaintiffs fought to retain his privacy from paddlers. Looney, a local farmer, owns a 200-acre farm that borders Johns Creek downstream from a popular paddling section called the gorge.

In 1999, Looney, represented by Eakin, filed trespassing charges against Roanoke paddler Karl Albert after he kayaked Johns Creek without getting permission from surrounding landowners. Looney warned a group of kayakers beforehand that navigating the creek without permission was trespassing. Albert was the only paddler to put in and paddle downstream.

Albert later turned himself in and was convicted and fined $1,000 with all but $50 suspended for running the creek without permission.

The case set a precedent for the county sheriffs office and state police to issue trespassing summons for running several local creeks without permission. Since the resources commissions ruling in March 2015, the sheriff and local commonwealths attorney have not arrested or prosecuted paddlers for trespassing on Johns and Barbours creeks.

Property owners on other waterways named in the resources commission letter are concerned about the states review of their creeks.

In February, Craig County resident Charles Barnes asked county supervisors to draft a resolution urging the state legislature to reconsider the navigability determination. While the board has yet to pass such a resolution, Barnes is hopeful they will do so before the legislative session next year.

Barnes has lived on Barbours Creek since 1961 and claims ownership to about a mile of creek bed in the valley between Potts and Bald mountains.

The concerned landowner worries the commissions ruling will devalue his property and trigger paddlers walking up and down the creek banks on private property.

Its more than kayaking, Barnes said. Its privacy.
THE SALES process for Tata Steels UK plants - including those in Rotherham - begun today.

The company also confirmed today it has sold its Long Products Europe business to Greybull Capital, saving thousands of jobs at its Scunthorpe plant.

But a deal is yet to be found for any of its other plants in the UK - including those at Aldwarke and Brinsworth.

A Tata Steel spokesman said the company has appointed KPMG as its financial advisers for any potential deal.

He said: It is the intention of Tata Steel Europe to run a thorough, but expedited sale process by reaching out to a wide universe of potential investors globally.

The formal process has commenced today with the despatch of the Summary Information Memorandum to potential investors.

Tata Steel and its advisers are committed to work together and conduct the process in a transparent and time bound manner.

Speaking during a visit to Tata's Aldwarke site last week, the business minister Anna Soubry said she estimated Tata could find a buyer within four to six weeks.
Belgiums Diamond Trade Slides in March

11 april 2016 News

Belgiums polished diamond exports fell 5.9 percent year on year to $1.16 billion in March, according to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC). By volume, polished exports slid 8.1 percent to 489,611 carats, while the average price climbed 2.4 percent to $2,372 per carat.

Among Belgiums main trading partners, polished exports to Hong Kong plummeted 53 percent but shipments to Switzerland increased 8.5 percent. Exports to the U.S. rose 9.6 percent.

Total polished imports by Belgium dropped 13 percent to $1.57 billion, while net polished exports, representing exports minus imports, rose 30 percent to negative $409 million.

Rough imports into Belgium slumped 30 percent to $979.5 million in March even as the global rough diamond market was strong in the first quarter. De Beers rough sales in January and February rose from a year ago, according to Rapaport News estimates, and positive ALROSA revenues since the start of 2016 pointed to a year-on-year improvement.

Net rough imports, representing imports minus exports, were negative $140.2 million compared with positive $97.6 million a year ago.

Belgiums March net diamond account, representing total polished and rough exports minus total imports, jumped 60 percent to a deficit of $268.8 million.

During the first three months, polished exports fell 7.3 percent to $3.53 billion, while polished imports dropped 13 percent to $3.44 billion. Rough imports declined 7.4 percent to $3.04 billion and rough exports lost 0.7 percent to $3.19 billion.

Belgiums first quarter net diamond account showed a surplus of $241.6 million compared to a deficit of $189.8 million last year.




Zimbabwe said last years change of ownership of Murowa Diamonds is currently under investigation as it happened outside the country.

Rio Tinto disposed its 78 percent stake in the kimberlite diamond mine mid-last year to RZ Murowa Holdings.

Details on the ownership of RZ Murowa Holdings were hazy although a statement issued by Rio Tinto at the time of the sale suggested it was an entity controlled by the Zimbabwean-listed RioZim, which had a 22 percent stake in the company at the time, The Source reports.

RioZim, however, indicated in its financial results for the year to December 31, 2015 that were released last month that its shareholding in the diamond miner remained at 22,2 percent.

Mines deputy minister Fred Moyo said the ownership change happened outside the country.

Ownership of mines and change of ownership depends on where the shares are being held, he was quoted as saying in Parliament.

The shares were held offshore and we are still investigating the manner in which the shares changed hands outside the country.

Murowa Diamonds was not forced to be part of the countrys diamond consolidated company despite previous attempts to do so.

Government officials only said that negotiations would be done with the company regarding the proposal.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




The terrorists who struck Brussels last month had been plotting a fresh attack in France, but changed their plans as the police were closing in on them, according to reports citing Belgian prosecutors.

The gang whose members allegedly included Mohamed Abrini, the "man in the hat" Brussels airport bombing suspect now in police custody, switched targets to hit Brussels four days after the arrest of one of its members. The death toll in the March 22 attacks at the airport and a downtown subway station was 32.

Investigators have determined that "the terrorist group initially had the intention to strike in France again. Surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation, they urgently took the decision to strike in Brussels," the Belgian prosecutor's office reportedly said.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (RPTP) Monday announced its first commercial sale of Quinsair in Germany and Denmark. The company plans to launch the inhaled fluoroquinolone therapy for cystic fibrosis in other EU countries and Canada this year itself.

The therapy is already approved in the European Union and Canada for chronic pulmonary infections and is the first fluoroquinolone to be approved as an inhaled therapy for a pulmonary disease. Raptor said it is pursuing approval of Quinsair for Cystic Fibrosis patients in the United States.

Dave Happel, Raptor's Chief Commercial Officer, said, "Raptor is excited to offer a new, first-in-class inhaled antibiotic treatment option for the many patients and families living with cystic fibrosis and battling chronic bacterial lung infections. We are beginning the European launch of QUINSAIR in Germany and Denmark."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The Department of State has urged U.S. citizens to carefully consider the risks of traveling to Saudi Arabia following continued reports of threats against U.S. citizens and other Westerners, as well as locations frequented by them in that gulf country.

"There have been multiple attacks on mosques which were directed or inspired by ISIL in the past year. Furthermore, there are ongoing security concerns related to the crises in neighboring countries such as Yemen and Iraq," the State Department said in a Travel Warning update Monday.

Visitors who choose to travel to these areas despite U.S. government concerns have been advised that, in addition to the above noted border attacks, terrorist and criminal elements may be operating there, including AQAP. The Department of State strongly urged U.S. citizens to read its Travel Warning for Yemen before traveling to areas near the Yemeni frontier.

U.S. citizens in Saudi Arabia have also been strongly urged to select hotels or housing compounds with careful attention to security measures and location.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Overstock.com (OSTK) Monday announced that its CEO and founder Patrick Byrne will take a personal leave of absence for medical reasons.

The e-commerce retailer said it was "unknown if he will return to work."

Byrne has recommended the board to appoint Mitch Edwards as Acting CEO. Edwards is a veteran internet and tech executive behind firms like BitTorrent and Skullcandy and most recently served as general counsel of Overstock.com.

"I must take an indefinite medical leave of absence. The proximate cause is that for over a year I have been gutting it out through a Stage IV diagnosis of Hepatitis C, contracted (to save awkward questions) in 1984 in Xinjiang when a barefoot doctor sewed up a head wound under less-than-ideal conditions. I have finished treatment and think I have it beat but only time will tell," Byrne said.

Cottonwood Heights, Utah-based online retailer Overstock.com was launched in May 1999 and sells furniture, home decor, bedding, and other goods that are primarily closeout merchandise.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
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By SA Commercial Prop News

The South African investment property sector delivered an ungeared total return of 13.5% in 2015  an increase of 50 basis points from 13.0% in 2014



Despite South Africa's economic and social headwinds, 2015 proved a good year for direct commercial property and for those attuned to its peculiarities.

The South African investment property sector delivered an ungeared total return of 13.5% in 2015  an increase of 50 basis points from 13.0% in 2014, according to IPD South Africa Annual Property Index released recently by MSCI Inc.

Income return remained steady at 8.7%, while capital growth ticked up to 4.4% - up 40 basis points from the year before. Capital growth was driven by a 5.2% growth in base rental while yield compression also contributed 1.0%. However, a negative income residual, an indication of sentiment, of -1.8% reflected a cautious attitude among valuers and detracted from overall capital growth.





The latest property index, sponsored by Nedbank CIB over the period, reflecting the value of this asset class in volatile times. Over a five-year period, direct property maintains its reputation as a hybrid asset class, delivering a total return between the MSCI SA Equities Index and bonds at a lower volatility.



He adds, The headline figures show that the property sector is treading water. Although prospects for absorbing excess market supply in a low-growth environment remain; economic and political shocks present serious downside risk to confidence and investment appetite.



Aggressive asset and property management remains a key theme in the years results where tenant retention was a priority. Although basic rental growth was similar to the year before, operating costs declined as a percentage of gross rentals.



At a sector level, retail property was the top performing sector during the year with a total return of 14.3%, marginally outperforming industrial at 14.2%. The office sector continued to underperform in a difficult market, though it still managed a respectable 12.0% total return, mainly because of significant income return, which stood at 9.8%. The vacancy rate of all three major sectors trended broadly sideways during the year, but excess supply in specific property segments and geographies continue to weigh on base rental growth.



At a property segment level, CBD and decentralised offices counted among the worst performing segments for the year. Super Regional shopping centres, with a total return of 13.6%, counted among the most improved segments for the year after a slight value correction in 2014. A positive yield impact and minimal income residual suggests this segment is now fairly priced, which is critical as the economy enters a period where disposable income may come under pressure.



Robin Lockhart-Ross, Managing Executive of Nedbank Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking said, Once again the index results for 2015 have demonstrated the resilience of the South African investment property sector in the face of a challenging economic and socio-political environment, characterised by low GDP growth and increasing cost pressures. This is a consequence of the quality of the property portfolios and the professionalism of asset management in the sector, which make commercial property an attractive asset class for investors looking for sustainable growth and consistent returns over time. The results endorse our confidence in and experience of the sector from NCIBs perspective as the leading provider of commercial mortgage finance to the SA property industry.
50% of Indian mobile users wish to upgrade to new device in 5G era

About 50 per cent of smartphone users in India plan to buy a new device within the first year as 5G ...
The law firm at the center of the Panama offshore accounts scandal routinely usurped the name of the Red Cross and other charities to help obscure the origin of millions of dollars in questionable funds, two newspapers involved in the investigation reported Sunday.

There's no suggestion that the charitable groups had any idea their name was being used in this way. International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Claire Kaplun told The Associated Press on Sunday that the revelation was "a total surprise and something we find extremely shocking."

France's Le Monde and Switzerland's Le Matin Dimanche said Mossack Fonseca created dummy foundations with high-minded names such as the "Faith Foundation" to hold shares in around 500 offshore companies. The foundation's beneficiary was routinely listed as "the Red Cross," a designation which served the dual purposes of hiding the firms' real beneficiaries and of draping them in an "NGO aura," the papers wrote.

Mossack Fonseca didn't immediately return an email seeking comment, but a leaked email cited by the publications appeared to lay out the firm's reasoning.

"Given that banks and financial institutions are today asked to obtain information about economic beneficiaries, it has become difficult for us not to divulge the identity of those of the Faith Foundation's," the email said, according to the papers. "That's why we've implemented this structure designating the 'International Red Cross.' It's easier that way."

Another email cited by the papers suggests Mossack Fonseca deliberately kept the Red Cross in the dark about the maneuver.

"According to Panama law, the beneficiaries of a foundation can be used without knowing it," the email said, according to the papers. "That means the International Red Cross doesn't know about this arrangement."

Kaplun, the Red Cross spokeswoman, said that using the group's name or logo without its permission is barred by international law  and could put the group's staff in jeopardy.

"We work in conflict zones. We work without weapons. Our protection is our name, our emblem, the faith that people have in our reputation," she said in a telephone interview.

"Let's say this money was linked to a warring party in a conflict. Imagine what consequences that could have."

The newspapers' examination of the Faith Foundation turned up a host of questionable connections.

Both said that the Faith Foundation was a relay in the money trail leading back to former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who succeeded him in 2007. The foundation also played a role in a complex London real estate transaction involving Emirati leader Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the papers said, adding that another Panama-based foundation played a similar role in obscuring the finances of Elena Baturina, the wife of Moscow's ex-mayor and repeatedly listed as Russia's wealthiest woman.

Meanwhile, the offshore scandal made for awkward exchanges at a meeting between French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmalek Sellal.

Coverage of the meeting has been overshadowed by a partial French media boycott which kicked in after Algerian authorities refused to issue visas for journalists from Le Monde and Canal+. The former had used the Panama files to explore the finances of several high-profile Algerians, one of whom was pictured embracing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Valls had previously condemned the visa refusal.

Quizzed during a joint news conference Sunday, Sellal complained that Le Monde had "dared to attack" the "honor and prestige" of the presidency.

-AP
Dear Editor,

I write in response to the letter titled Muslim in Samoa writes published in your newspaper. Mr Qamar, let me point your attention to the personal internal conflicts and contradictions faced by many Muslims around the world.

We in Samoa do understand Islams message very well and there is no misunderstanding because that is why there are only a few that have been deceived. You claim to be an Imam and therefore you should know that what you are saying is in direct conflict with the Prophet Mohammad peace be upon him, and his teachings and doctrines.

You claim to advocate for peace, We advocate and believe that Islam is a religion of peace, as the name suggests. If you are an Imam, then your statement is your first direct challenge against your own prophets message. ISIS follows the teachings of Mohammad to the letter. Violent and irrational. There is no other example to follow in Islam than the example of Mohammad peace be upon him. Here is what the Quran says:

Quran 2: 191. And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah is worse than killing. And fight not with them at Al-Masjid-al-Haram (the sanctuary at Makkah), unless they (first) fight you there. But if they attack you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers. 192. But if they cease, then Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. 193. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah) and (all and every kind of) worship is for Allah (Alone). But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimun (the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)

So your claim as being an advocate of peace suggests that you are a minority in Islamic doctrine or thinking but the reality remains that Islam is not a religion of peace. The Quran confirms that. The Bible on the other hand was violent also in its historical base but the difference is that the message of Jesus is about love. Mohammad? Conquer and submit the non believers by fear.

The Quran directly discourages friendship between believers and non-believers. Quran 3:28. Let not the believers take the disbelievers as Auliya (supporters, helpers, friends, etc.) instead of the believers, and whoever does that will never be helped by Allah in any way, except if you indeed fear a danger from them. And Allah warns you against Himself (His Punishment), and to Allah is the final return.

Bukhari Volume 3, Book 49, Number 857: Narrated Um Kulthum bint Uqba: That she heard Allahs Apostle saying, He who makes peace between the people by inventing good information or saying good things, is not a liar.

In other words, lying is fine in Islam. These are respected sources of Islam and it encourages lying and deceit to achieve Allahs course. So my question to you is, is what you are saying as a religion of peace a lie to deceive non believers, as the Quran directly disagrees with you? If you are an Imam, then you are either lying through your teeth to deceive non-believers or you dont know prophet Mohammads violent message. If you had studied the history of Mohammad, then you would have noticed how violent his life was. Like his life, his death was just the same poisoned by a Jewish woman.

I challenge you to read trusted historical sources to get a better understanding of facts. Historical facts, regardless of source confirmed Jesus died on the cross and was crucified. The only book that said Jesus wasnt crucified was the Quran, 600 years after the death of Christ. Any reasonable researcher would rather trust historical facts and sources than a book by an illiterate person.

Claiming to be an advocate for peace is admirable but Islamic doctrines demand lying for Allah and death to the infidel. The Quran confirmed that. So, Samoa fully understands Islam contrary to your claim. You cannot go any higher than the Quran, Hadiths, and Bukhari as Islamic sources.

Dr. G.F.H

Samoa
Australia-Pacific Technical College (A.P.T.C) graduate Reshad Shah is currently making waves in the Australian culinary industry.

In 2010, Mr. Shah graduated with a Certificate III in Commercial Cookery from A.P.T.C and currently works as a chef with the Australian Leisure and Hospitality (ALH) Group in Melbourne.

A.P.T.C is an innovative development programme funded by the Australian Government. A.P.T.C delivers a wide range of technical and vocational courses to increase the supply of skilled, competitive and productive workers in targeted sectors across the Pacific region.

The A.P.T.C Commercial Cookery course reflects the role and expected Australian industry standards of commercial cooks and as such there are a wide range of cookery skills delivered in the program. Students are taught to use discretion and judgment, and graduate with a sound knowledge of kitchen operations.

Mr. Shah acknowledges that the practical training he received helped him professionally and has significantly contributed to his achievements.

The A.P.T.C training is the best thing to happen to my career. Not only did it upgrade my skills and advanced my knowledge as a chef, but it also was my passport to an Australian skills visa.

I thank the Australian Government for this life changing opportunity and the entire A.P.T.C team for making my journey a successful one, he added.

Mr. Shah said that after he completed his A.P.T.C studies, he started applying for employment in Australia. He was successful in being offered a job with the Australian Leisure and Hospitality (A.L.H) Group who sponsored him to work with them as a chef.

He said that he has settled well in his new work environment although he admits that working in Melbourne is different from Fiji.

Previously, Mr Shah worked as a Restaurant Manager and Commis Chef at global resort chains - Hilton Fiji Resort and Radisson Fiji.

He plans to further his education with a Bachelors Degree in Culinary Management this year.

Mr. Shah expressed his well wishes to A.P.T.C students and fellow graduates for their future. He also applauded A.P.T.C for continuing to deliver exemplary training to Pacific people.
The group of Scientists from the United States, American Samoa and Samoa are back after a week of research out at sea.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A) led the joint research between foreign and local researchers to survey fish species, coral reefs and collect oceanographic data around the Samoan Archipelago.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (M.A.F) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (M.N.R.E) represented Samoa.

Dr. Joseph M. OMalley, a Research Fisheries Biologist of N.O.A.A, said the research was successful largely due to the help of the local officials.

They helped us out tremendously and we managed to collaborate on some of their work like their coral bleaching and their sea grass surveys around Manono Island, he said. They jumped right into work; they stayed up with us in the early mornings and all night long, they were involved in every aspect of our research; they were great from the actual fishing to the surveys and then the process of the fish afterwards. They did great.

Now that the field work is complete it is straight to the laboratories for the scientists.

With a lot of our research we wont know anything until we get back to the lab and look at the biological specimens that we collected, Dr. OMalley said.

But M.N.R.E already has some results available on coral bleaching, but there doesnt seem to be anything significant about the bleaching here in Samoa compared to the places like the Great Barrier Reef and some other areas.

As for us right now we can only provide information to the Fisheries department on the fish we caught and their size frequency distribution, but the real findings wont be available until about a year because it involves a lot of laboratory analysis and we have to make the papers and reports; its just the nature of our work.

One of the aims for N.O.A.A in coming to Samoa was to be able to research the full Samoan archipelago as opposed to their usual routine of visiting only American Samoa. Dr. OMalley saw that as only half of Samoa but not much will be known on their research until they get back to base.

We will be heading now to Honolulu to start working on the specimens that we collected here, and the N.O.A.A ship has another survey in American Samoa, he said. So the ship rotates from the different research cruises.

Dr. OMalley concluded with a word of thanks to Samoa.

We had a great time working here and I feel that we have accomplished a lot, he said.

Were looking forward to coming back and we are grateful for Samoa and the Samoan researchers for allowing us to collaborate and work in your waters.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A) has kindly opened the doors of their research vessel to give touring opportunities to different schools and organizations in Samoa.

Science students from St. Marys College, Pesega College, the National University of Samoa (N.U.S), Samoa Maritime as well as different organizations came onboard the N.O.A.A ship for a chance to get an insight of the work they did.

Dr. Joseph M. OMalley, a Research Fisheries Biologist from the N.O.A.A group spoke to Samoa Observer about the tours.

So when the ship pulls into different ports we like to share what we did on the research cruise especially to the children or to local fisheries and environmental organizations, he said.

We generate a lot of interest when we pull into the port and people tend to want to know what our ship is doing on their shores so we send out invitations for them to come onboard so we can explain what were here for and what we know.

The tour consists of 4 sections within the ship dedicated to different aspects of N.O.A.As work.

So the first part of the tour is the bridge which is the command centre of the vessel and from there the Lieutenant Commander Golden shows students the instrument that we have on the bridge, Dr. OMalley said.

The next station is where we show the children the footage from the cameras we attach to the fishing gear; this is where we show the fish in their natural environment and how we catch them.

The next station is where we show them the specimens that we caught just to show what we were catching; and then the final station is what we call the local researchers stations and that is where M.N.R.E and M.A.F presents on the Fish Aggregate Device work that we have done as well as their coral bleaching and sea grass surveys.

According to Dr. OMalley this is all done in hopes of inspiring the young people of Samoa.

What we like to do is to hopefully inspire the younglings with our work and to try get them into Marine Science especially at the local level, he said.

We feel that when we bring them along and they see what we do it will inspire them to be like us; someone inspired all of us and we want to pass that on to the next generation. For me personally Im very happy everyone came up and it was a nice coincidence that it is the holidays; it was good to see the kids come out, they seemed very engaged and asked a lot of great questions.

For the U.S Embassys Charge d'Affaires, Angelina Wilkinson this is a great opportunity for the people of Samoa.

The U.S Embassy is very happy to share this project with the students of Samoa, not only from the perspective of the American Scientist but also the Samoa scientists and ministry participants, she said. Hopefully what the students have seen and learnt today will interest them further in a career as a Marine Scientist.

According to Faainuseiamalie Latu, a professor at the National University of Samoa who brought 2 groups of students for the tour, the students were really excited about the tour.

I mentioned this opportunity to them last week on Tuesday and they were very keen to participate especially in terms of research because it is very rare for us to get opportunities like this, he said.

With this visit Im bringing two classes; one class is a 200 level paper where we look at ecosystems with the hot topic being coral reef researches and thats something the students are engaged in right now; Im pretty sure they are making the most of this opportunity to help them out with their projects.

The second class is a 300 level paper called natural resource management where these students look at the management of coral reefs, fisheries and natural resources.

The students all took advantage of the opportunity extracting as much information from the tour guides as possible.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/11/2016 -- "Nuclear Power in Netherlands, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles is the latest report from GlobalData, the industry analysis specialists that offer comprehensive information and understanding of the nuclear power market in Netherlands.



The report provides in depth analysis on global nuclear power market with forecasts up to 2030. The report analyzes the power market scenario in Netherlands (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro, pumped storage and renewables) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030. The research details nuclear power market outlook in the country and provides forecasts up to 2030. The report highlights installed capacity and power generation trends from 2006 to 2030 in Netherlands nuclear power market. A detailed coverage of nuclear energy policy framework governing the market with specific policies pertaining to nuclear is provided in the report. The research also provides details of active nuclear reactors in the country, market size of major equipment and company snapshot of some of the major market participants.



The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalDatas team of industry experts.



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- Power market scenario in Netherlands provides detailed market overview, installed capacity and power generation trends by various fuel types (includes thermal conventional, nuclear, large hydro and renewables) with forecasts up to 2030.



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Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/11/2016 -- Luxury goods comprises of products such as accessories, footwear, apparel, watches and others which are quite expensive and target those consumers who belongs to premium class. The market for luxury goods consist of three types of end consumers, which includes kids lying between the age of 0-12 years, teenagers belonging to the age group of 13 to 19 years and the rest lies in adult group. Luxury goods market can also be segmented on the basis of application which includes soft luxury goods and hard luxury goods. Soft luxury goods includes designer apparel and leather goods such as hand bags and others, which is easily available for the customers in the hypermarket stores or directly operative outlet. Whereas hard luxury goods comprises of jewellery and premium watches. The hard luxury goods are offered to the consumers through premium class outlets, stores or sell out through internet.



Thus the market for hard luxury product is also segmented on the basis of mode of distribution channel used for offering products to the consumers. The mode of Distribution channel is segmented into retail outlets, sell out through internet, company's brand outlet and others. Among all these distribution channel online retailing is expected to be most preferred mode for distribution in the forecasted period. This is due to consumer convenience preferences and availability of the products at lower price. Furthermore, the second most preferred mode is expected to be the company's brand retail outlets as they provide better offerings at less price.



Request Free Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-as-106



Globally, the demand of hard luxury goods are showing robust annual growth of 10% to 12%.North America and Europe is the highest contributor in the market share of hard luxury goods market. Increasing demand of accessories coupled with rising middle class disposable income has supported the growth of emerging markets in Asia-Pacific. It is expected to account for the fastest CAGR growth as compared to other regions. Among all the countries in Asia Pacific China is expected to be the most lucrative market followed by Japan. India is also expected to show a healthy growth in the forecasted period by registering a single digit CAGR growth. Whereas in ASEAN region Singapore is expected to be the most dominant market. The rising growth for hard luxury goods in Singapore is supported by the new entrants of jewellery brands and rising sales of watches. Rapid urbanization coupled with increasing disposable income in Thailand and Malaysia is predicted to boost the customer base and prominent contributor in the revenue of hard luxury good market in ASEAN region followed by Indonesia and Philippines.



Expanding middle class income group coupled with the urge of consumers for premium class products are the key drivers for the market growth of hard luxury goods in ASEAN region. Moreover, wide varieties of product offerings in each segments and continuous innovation and product launch is also expected to influence the consumers of ASEAN region to fuel the market growth of hard luxury goods in the forecasted period.



Download TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-as-106



However, the market of hard luxury goods in ASEAN region possess some restraining factors. This includes the weak distribution channel and limited availability of the products. Furthermore, the consumers perceives these products as quite expensive and also it is considered as a premium class product and not an absolute necessity.



The key international market players for hard luxury goods operating in ASEAN region includes Gianni Versace S.p.A., LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA, Prada S.p.A., Hermes International SCA, Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A, Prada S.p.A, Ralph Lauren Corp, Christian Dior SE, Gucci, Rolex SA, Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton Malletier, Tod's S.p.A. and others.
Shenzhen, China -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2016 -- PCBSino.org, a renowned contract PCB prototype manufacturing company from Shenzhen city, China, recently started offering turnkey solutions for its domestic and global business partners. According to the owners, they are now offering a range of solutions that include electronic product manufacturing services, EMS or OEM manufacturing, PCB assemble, electronic assembling, electronic printed board soldering services.



The owners of PCBSeino.org also added that they can now offer PCB assembly services along with SMT/EMS/OEM Shenzhen, China facilities and even for their partners nestled in other parts of the country or in other countries. "Our professional thru-hole wave soldering and PCB assembly services to our clients and anybody can call us to get quotes at any time of the day or night. Our quick turnaround and state-of-the-art assembly equipment make us one of the strongest players in the PCB assembly market segment now", said a top executive of PCBsino.org. "We have clients spread across all over North America and Europe and we look to expand our business within the borders of Chinese mainland as well.



The turnkey solutions that PCBsino.org offers now include component procurement, PCB fabrication, board electronic testing and inspection, and a range of electronic manufacturing and testing services. The Shenzhen city based company has its manufacturing facility in Longbi Industrial Park, Shenzhen City.



"Over the years, we have emphasized more on contract PCB manufacturing and assembly as we believe that we can only meet the varied needs of our esteemed clients if we continuously upgrade ourselves. Our Shenzhen city manufacturing facility has undoubtedly the best set up and the best technologies in China and we would like to reassure our clients that we can only better our PCB manufacturing and assembling services in the near future and there's no stopping for us", said a chief engineer who has been associated with the company since its inception. PCBSino.org is now keen to join trade fairs and business events in the 2016 quarter 2 to promote their services, revealed the engineer.



About PCBsino.org

PCBsino.org is a China PCB assembly service provider.



To know more, visit http://www.pcbsino.org/
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/11/2016 -- construction market in Spain is slowly recovering after the global economic crisis of 2008-2009 compared to other countries in Europe. To revive the growth in the construction market, Spanish government is planning to invest huge amount in the construction of road and transport infrastructure, which is expect to drive the market in the coming years. In addition, the government is encouraging the private investors to fund for these activities.



The construction market in Spain to grow at a CAGR of 2.57% over the period 2014-2019. This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the construction market in Spain for the period 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers the GDP of Spain and construction investment in the country. A detailed segmentation of the construction market in Spain is included in the report. The report forecasts investment in the residential and non-residential and infrastructure construction sectors in Spain during the period 2015-2019.



Browse Market info, get a Sample PDF with TOC: http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=284693



The report presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top four vendors and a brief description of the other prominent vendors operating in the market.



Key Vendors

- Acciona

- FCC Construccion

- Ferrovial

- Sacyr Vallehermoso



Other Prominent Vendors

- ACS Group

- Isolux Corsan

- Obrascon Huarte Lain

- Tecnicas Reunidas



Market Driver

- Recovery of Construction Market

- For a full, detailed list, view our report



Market Challenge

- High Unemployment Rate

- For a full, detailed list, view our report



Market Trend

- Development of Energy-efficient Buildings

- For a full, detailed list, view our report



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/11/2016 -- This research study analyzes the industrial boilers market in terms of revenue (US$ Mn). The market has been segmented on the basis of capacity and geography. For the research, 2014 has been taken as the base year, while all forecasts have been given for the period from 2015 to 2023. Market data for all the segments has been provided at the regional and state level from 2015 to 2023. The report provides a broad competitive analysis of companies engaged in the industrial boilers business. The report also includes the key market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities affecting the industrial boilers market. These market dynamics were analyzed in detail and are illustrated in the report with the help of supporting graphs and tables. The report also provides a comprehensive industry analysis of industrial boilers with the help of Porter's Five Forces model. This analysis helps in understanding the five major forces that affect the market structure and profitability of the U.S industrial boilers market. The forces analyzed are bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and degree of competition.



Read Complete Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/us-industrial-boilers-market



The high-level analysis in the report provides detailed insights into the industrial boilers business in the U.S. There are currently numerous drivers of the market. One of the most prominent drivers is the stringent regulations for emission control. Market attractiveness analysis was carried out for the industrial boilers market on the basis of revenue realization and industrial growth. Market attractiveness was estimated on the basis of common parameters that directly impact the market in different regions.



Read Full Table of Content @ http://www.mrrse.com/us-industrial-boilers-market/toc



The industrial boilers market was analyzed across eight regions: South Atlantic(Delaware, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia), West South Central (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas), West North Central(Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota), Pacific States(Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington), Mountain States (Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming), North East(Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania), East North Central(Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin), and East South Central(Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee). These regions are further segmented by states and capacity of installed industrial boilers in the U.S. Capacity ranging from (0 to 300 BHP and 301- 600 BHP) has been provided for each states and region. Regional data has been provided for each sub-segment of the industrial boilers market. Key players in the industrial boilers market include Fulton Boiler Works, Inc., Hurst Boiler & Welding Company, Inc., Columbia Boiler Company, Superior Boiler Works, Inc., and Le Groupe Simoneau Inc. The report provides an overview of these companies, followed by their financial details, business strategies, and recent developments.



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U.S Industrial Boilers Market: By Region



South Atlantic

West North Central

West South Central

Pacific States

Mountain States

North East

East North Central

East South Central



U.S Industrial Boilers Market: By Capacity



Upto 300 BHP

10-150 BHP

151-300 BHP

300600 BHP



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Winter Park, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/11/2016 -- Floridians riding motor scooters are not required by law to have the typical insurance associated with traditional standard vehicles. However, riding a motor scooter with a 49cc engine does require having a valid standard driver's license, though this license can be issued from another state besides Florida.



Motor scooter buyers considering a higher performance model with a 150cc or 250cc engine will need to make sure that their license has a motorcycle endorsement. This endorsement is typically obtained by taking a motorcycle instruction course that lasts two days.



Teenagers seeking to drive a motor scooter must be at least 16 years of age and they must also have a learner's permit that was issued a minimum of one year ago with no citations on record. These drivers may also attend a motorcycle instruction course and upon completion they will receive a "motorcycle only" license through their local Florida DMV.



About Ride Green Scooters

Spearheaded by owner Ron Schwartz and launched in 2008, Ride Green Scooters is the number one Orlando scooter dealership, specializing in 50cc, 150cc, and 250cc motor scooters as well as trikes and electric bikes. The company is the exclusive dealer for Gorilla Motor Works and Jonway and also sells brands like Peace Sports, Ice Bear, Tao Tao, and Lance.



Call 407-332-7900 for more information on Orlando scooters for sale or Orlando scooter rentals. You can also visit the dealership at 700 W Fairbanks Ave. Winter Park, FL 32789.
Lewes, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/11/2016 -- World textile industry is deeply affected by economic condition. After a decline in 2009 due to the global economic crisis, the textile industry is on the rebound and is expected to grow continuously at a rate of 6% in the coming years.



In global textile and clothing markets China is by far and away the dominant player with significant import penetration into most developed and many developing country markets. Developed countries such as the United State, Italy, South Korea, and Hong Kong join the stages which bring higher added value design, including marketing and branding, commercialization and export.



China, The United State, Germany and Japan are the four largest apparel markets. Apparel market size in developing countries is mainly contributed by their large population, expenditure per capital spent on garment shows disparity between the developed countries and the developing countries. In the next 5 years, the emerging markets with large population size such as China, India and etc. are expected to grow strongly, while textile markets in developed countries, especially in European countries, tend to slow down and show signs of saturation.



Trade agreements like the TPP and RCEP will promote formation of trade areas with complete value chain thanks to strict rules of production as well as rules of origin.



Textile and garment industry is one of the leading sectors of Vietnam, its export turnovers contribute 10-15% to the GDP. In recent years, the textile industry is continuously expanding at an average rate of 17% a year. Vietnam is among the top 5 T&G exporters in the world with market share of 3.1% in 2014. The United States, EU, Japan, and Korea are our main export markets, accounting for 85% of total export turnovers. Despite constituting for only 25% of total companies, FDI enterprises make up for 65% T&G export sale.



According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, by the end of 2014, Vietnam had over 5,000 textile companies, a majority of them are in medium or small size. Workforce textile sector accounts for over 20% of employment in the industrial sector and nearly 5% of the total national workforce.



Currently, Vietnam mainly operates in sewing and export processed clothes, thus the value added is very limited. Vietnam's garment sector is still dependent on raw materials (70-80%) imported mainly from China, Taiwan and Korea.



Domestic apparel market is relatively small. Vietnamese companies face severe competition from foreign brands, counterfeits and illegally imported clothes. Domestic enterprises are yet to focus on skill and knowledge-intensive stages of production, for example: distributing, exporting, designing, and branding. Viet Tien, Nha Be, May 10, etc. are a few successful enterprises in brand building and marketing.



The Free Trade Agreement, especially VKFTA, EVFTA and TPP, opening up many export opportunities for T&G sector. However, Vietnam has to comply with rigorous rules of origin, labor standards, social responsibilities, eco-labeling, environment protection and etc. in order to get tariff reduction. Moreover, Vietnam's textile and clothing production largely depends on materials imported from China and Taiwan which are not in TPP. Therefore, when the FTAs come into force, Vietnam cannot enjoy tax incentives. The industry made up of SMEs with low financial strengths and competitiveness will face challenges in the open economy. However, in the long run the FTAs will drive the industry to move to higher stages in the value chain.



Spanning over 136 pages "Vietnam Textile and Garment Report 2015" report covers Executive Summary, Business Environment, Industry Overview, Industry's potential and risk analysis, Industry's key players, Conclusion, Appendix.



For more information Visit at: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/virac/vietnam-textile-and-garment-report-2015



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Astronomers using data from NASAs Kepler mission have identified a new type of exoplanet called hot super-Earths.

Extrasolar planets with gaseous atmospheres that lie very close to their parent stars are bombarded by a torrent of high-energy radiation, according to the team led by Dr. Mia Lundkvist of Aarhus University, Denmark.

Due to their proximity to the star, the heat that the exoplanets suffer means that their envelopes have been blown away by intense radiation, the scientists said.

This violent stripping occurs in exoplanets that are made up of a rocky core with a gaseous outer layer.

The team used asteroseismology to characterize 102 planetary systems (stars and their planets) to levels of accuracy not achieved before.

Asteroseismology studies the stellar pulsations, and it allows us to determine the properties of many exoplanet host stars to high accuracy, which in turn markedly improves the planetary properties, Dr. Lundkvist and her colleagues explained.

NASAs Kepler mission has provided high-quality data for thousands of potential exoplanets and their host stars.

We exploit these data, using asteroseismology, to make a robust detection of the hot-super-Earth desert, a region in the radius-flux diagram completely void of exoplanets. The detection of the existence of a hot-super-Earth desert confirms that photoevaporation does play a role in shaping the exoplanet population that we see today.

The results, published in the journal Nature Communications, have important implications for understanding how stellar systems, like our own Solar System, and their planets, evolve over time and the crucial role played by the host star.

For these planets it is like standing next to a hairdryer turned up to its hottest setting, said co-author Dr. Guy Davies, from the University of Birmingham, UK.

There has been much theoretical speculation that such planets might be stripped of their atmospheres.

We now have the observational evidence to confirm this, which removes any lingering doubts over the theory.

Our results show that planets of a certain size that lie close to their stars are likely to have been much larger at the beginning of their lives, Dr. Davies said. Those planets will have looked very different.

_____

M.S. Lundkvist et al. 2016. Hot super-Earths stripped by their host stars. Nature Communications 7, article number: 11201; doi: 10.1038/ncomms11201
A new study, published in the journal Science Advances, has revealed how the popular Chinese herbal remedy Huang-Qin (Scutellaria baicalensis)  also known as the Chinese skullcap  produces compounds which may help to treat cancer and liver diseases.

The Chinese skullcap is cultivated in China, Siberia, Mongolia and Korea. It is an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a variety of conditions including epilepsy, hepatitis, infections, and cancer. It is often used in combination with other botanicals such as PC-SPES and sho-saiko-to.

Previous research on cells cultured in the lab has shown that certain compounds called flavones  found in the roots of the Chinese skullcap  not only have beneficial anti-viral and anti-oxidant effects, but they can also kill human cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched.

In live animal models, these flavones have also halted tumor growth, offering hope that they may one day lead to effective cancer treatments, or even cures.

As a group of compounds, the flavones are relatively well understood. But the beneficial flavones found in the roots of the Chinese skullcap  such as wogonin and baicalin  are different: a missing hydroxyl (-OH) group in their chemical structure left scientists scratching their heads as to how they were made in the plant.

Many flavones are synthesized using a compound called naringenin as a building block, said study senior author Prof. Cathie Martin, from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK.

But naringenin has this -OH group attached to it, and there is no known enzyme that will remove it to produce the flavones we find in the Chinese skullcap roots.

Prof. Cathie and her colleagues explored the possibility that Chinese skullcaps root-specific flavones (RSFs) were made via a different biochemical pathway.

Step-by-step, they unraveled the mechanism involving new enzymes that make RSFs using a different building block called chrysin.

We believe that this biosynthetic pathway has evolved relatively recently in Scutellaria roots, diverging from the classical pathway that produces flavones in leaves and flowers, specifically to produce chrysin and its derived flavones, Prof. Martin said.

Understanding the pathway should help us to produce these special flavones in large quantities, which will enable further research into their potential medicinal uses.

Its exciting to consider that the plants which have been used as traditional Chinese remedies for thousands of years may lead to effective modern medicines, she added.

_____

Qing Zhao et al. 2016. A specialized flavone biosynthetic pathway has evolved in the medicinal plant, Scutellaria baicalensis. Science Advances, vol. 2, no. 4, e1501780; doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1501780
A new study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology suggests that the transfer of infectious pathogens between populations of Neanderthals and anatomically modern Homo sapiens may have played a role in the extinction of Neanderthals.

Recent hypotheses for the cause of Neanderthal extinction range from climate change to an early human alliance with wolves resulting in domination of the food chain.

It is probable that a combination of factors caused the demise of Neanderthals. And the evidence is building that spread of disease was an important one, said study lead author Dr. Charlotte Houldcroft, a researcher with the University of Cambridge and UCL Institute of Child Health.

According to Dr. Houldcroft and co-authors, many of the infections likely to have passed from humans to Neanderthals  such as tapeworm, tuberculosis, stomach ulcers and types of herpes  are chronic diseases that would have weakened the hunter-gathering Neanderthals, making them less fit and able to find food.

Hunter-gatherers lived in small foraging groups, Dr. Houldcroft said. Neanderthals lived in groups of between 15-30 members, for example. So disease would have broken out sporadically, but have been unable to spread very far.

By combining skeletal, archaeological and genetic evidence from modern humans and extinct Eurasian hominins (Neanderthals and Denisovans), we question whether the first epidemiologic transition in Eurasia featured a new package of infectious diseases or a change in the impact of existing pathogens, the scientists said.

Coupled with pathogen genomics, this approach supports the view that many infectious diseases are pre-Neolithic.

They describe Helicobacter pylori  a bacterium that causes stomach inflammation (gastritis) and ulcers in the stomach and duodenum  as a prime candidate for a disease that anatomically modern humans may have passed to Neanderthals.

It is estimated to have first infected humans in Africa 88,000 to 116,000 years ago, and arrived in Europe after 52,000 years ago.

Another candidate is the herpes simplex type 2 virus (HSV-2), a genitally transmitted virus that also causes painful sores.

There is evidence preserved in the genome of this disease that suggests it was transmitted to humans in Africa 1.6 million years ago from another, currently unknown hominin species that in turn acquired it from chimpanzees.

Humans migrating out of Africa would have been a significant reservoir of tropical diseases, Dr. Houldcroft said.

For the Neanderthal population of Eurasia, adapted to that geographical infectious disease environment, exposure to new pathogens carried out of Africa may have been catastrophic.

_____

Charlotte J. Houldcroft et al. Neanderthal genomics suggests a Pleistocene time frame for the first epidemiologic transition. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, published online April 10, 2016; doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22985
[JAKARTA] Pests and disease outbreaks are threatening to decrease cassava production by 30-40 per cent this year in South-East Asia, home of the worlds largest cassava producers.

The pestilence will endanger the livelihood of 40 million people in the region, according to a recent study published in Pest Management Science.

Cassava witches broom disease has spread substantially and is currently found at high infestation levels in western Thailand, central Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines. By Kris Wyckhuys of CIAT

Together with Brazil and Nigeria, South-East Asian countries Indonesia and Thailand supply the international market with millions of tonnes of this starch-producing crop that is used to make various commodities from food products to paper to biofuel.

In recent years, the invasion of the mealybugs and the insect-vectored witches broom disease have cut cassava yields in South-East Asia. In Thailand, the mealybugs have infected 200,000 hectares of cassava plantations, resulting in 30-50 per cent yield loss.

In Indonesia, the mealybugs have infected areas in Java and southern Sumatra and are now heading to the eastern part of Indonesia, where cassava is a primary food source, says Aunu Rauf, senior entomologist at the plant pest and diseases department of the Institut Pertanian Bogor in Indonesia,

According to Rauf, the mealybugs have decreased cassava production in West Java to 30-40 per cent, and if the same case happens to other places in Indonesia, the losses will reach 9.6 million tonnes per year. Indonesias annual cassava production is 24 million tonnes, grown in 1.1 million hectares of cassava plantations across the archipelago.

The invaders, which originated from South America, are a serious threat for cassava agriculture in South-East Asia because of their rapid spread throughout the region in just a matter of years, says Kris Wyckhuys, the co-author of the study who is an entomologist at the nonprofit International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

Cassava witches broom disease has spread substantially and is currently found at high infestation levels in western Thailand, central Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines. The mealybugs have affected about 70 per cent of Asias cassava fields. This fact exemplifies how successful they are as invaders, he notes.

Wyckhuys warns that climate change could exacerbate the invasion in various ways. Climate extremes such as extended drought periods can benefit the mealybugs because the insects build up their population in the absence of rainfall. Drought can also cause stress on host plants and make them more susceptible to pests and diseases.

To alleviate the problem, Wyckhuys says, Work is needed on a surveillance and monitoring angle, forecasting and early warning front, as well as on developing adult education tools to train South-East Asia's cassava farmers to deal with these threats.

Wykchuys also suggests improvements in pest management as well as introducing biological control from the invaders origin.

In Indonesia, Rauf says they have been collaborating with CIAT and FAO as well as Indonesias Ministry of Agricultural Affairs in introducing into infected areas a parasitic wasp called Anagyrus lopezi, which is the natural enemy of the mealybugs. It is hoped this biological control agent will successfully thwart the invasive pests.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets South-East Asia & Pacific desk.
Just 10 per cent of African science academy members are women. Its time governments act, writes Linda Nordling.



A woefully low proportion of members of the world's learned bodies and science academies are women, and African academies fare particularly badly.



A report published by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in collaboration with the InterAcademy Partnership and launched on 29 February puts the figure at 12 per cent. [1] It assessed 69 national academies, including 11 in Africa: Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.



Among the African academies that participated in the survey, the mean proportion of women members was even lower  ten per cent.



But the tally varies wildly between individual academies. South Africas ASSAF comes in at 24 per cent, making it one of the most women-friendly academies in the world. But at just four per cent, Tanzanias Academy of Sciences comes in last, a position it shares with Poland.

The report recommends ways academies should promote greater gender parity. These include collecting annual data on womens membership and establishing permanent structures to promote the role of women  not just within the academy but also more broadly across science, technology and innovation.



However, many of Africa's (mostly poorly funded) academies will struggle to implement these recommendations, even if their leaders want to. Better support for academies, and for research more widely, is therefore crucial to achieving better gender balance in African science.



Shocking mismatch



One thing is certain: the problem is not that there arent enough women scientists. Across the world, the proportion of women in science is vastly bigger than the proportion of women on the academies. So why is that?



Many blame childcare and family responsibilities for the dearth of women that reach the highest echelons of academic institutions.



One thing is certain: The problem is not that there arent enough women scientists. Linda Nordling

But is that really all there is to it? Evidence paints a much more complex, and more alarming picture. In the United Kingdom, for instance, just six per cent of members of the Royal Society are women, but they hold 18 per cent of the countrys professorships, according to Nature magazine [2]. The picture is more or less the same across the whole of Europe.



In Africa, it is difficult to find data on the numbers of professorships held by women. However, the disparity between the ratio between men and women scientists generally, and that found in the academies, mirrors the trends found in Europe and elsewhere. For instance, Ugandan women make up 24 per cent of the country's scientists overall, but only 13 per cent of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences membership are women.



And in South Africa there is near parity between men and women in research jobs across the board. Against that background, 24 per cent women in the academy is not a number to be proud of, said Daya Reddy, president of ASSAf, at the reports launch in Hermanus, South Africa.



Is patriarchy the problem?



So what else is holding back women from attaining academy membership? Is there something a bit conservative and patriarchal about the academy as an institution?



Given that the seeds of the national academies we have today were planted several hundred years ago, when women were excluded from most spheres of public life, there may be a grain of truth in this. Moreover, the focus most academies have on rewarding excellence may unintentionally skew membership against women.



For, what constitutes excellence? And does the system give equal chances to attain it for women as for men?



Tonya Blowers, coordinator of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) based in Italy, says the system favours men. She likens the situation to getting on the property ladder in an expensive city.

Improving gender balance

Winning a prize will give you points that can be used towards getting another prize, she says. It's much like the housing ladder in London. Once you've bought your own house, you can sell it and buy another. You can keep moving up and up that ladder. But the problem is getting on the first step of the ladder  and that's the problem for women getting into academies too.



However, some academies have managed to improve their gender balance through targeted action. South and Central American academies are among the most gender-balanced academies in the world.



The Brazilian Academy of Sciences has a working group on women in science. The Cuban Academy of Sciences, which at 27 per cent has the highest proportion of women in the world, has had such a group since 1999. These dont just promote women entering the academy, but also promote women in science more broadly.



The report recommends that all science academies should form committees or bodies like these. However, many African academies dont even have permanent secretariats. This makes it extremely difficult for them to implement any policies, let alone ones that try to change the culture of the institution.



What is needed is more government support for Africas academies. There is no doubt that academies play an important role in representing the scientific community to governments, and presenting them with advice on scientific matters. Therefore, African governments should support their academies. It does not have to be much  just enough to staff a secretariat and manage the academys activities.



Even simply establishing a network of female scientists would be a step in the right direction towards recognising womens scientific contributions. Such networks would provide up-and-coming women with role models and support, perhaps helping them onto that crucial first rung of the ladder.



Journalist Linda Nordling, based in Cape Town, South Africa, specialises in African science policy, education and development. She was the founding editor of Research Africa and writes for SciDev.Net, Nature and others.



This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
[AMAZONAS/LORETO] More than two months after a pair of devastating oil spills in the Peruvian Amazon, local communities remain unsure about the safety of their water.

While cleanup work continues following the leak of nearly half a million litres of oil from a damaged pipeline into the Chiriaco river in the Amazon and Morona river in Loreto, a region in northern Peru, indigenous people do not know if it is safe to bathe in or drink the water, or eat the fish they catch.

The fear is not only for people, because of illness, but for the entire food chain, says biologist Raul Loayza, who heads the ecotoxicology laboratory at Perus Cayetano Heredia University in Lima. In the long run, there could be a significant effect.



Elias Wasun, president of the Wampis indigenous community of Mayuriaga, stands on the pipeline that carries crude past his village from oil fields in Peru. A spill 13 km on the community's land, fouled a stream where residents and neighboring villages have traditionally fished and hunted. Barbara Fraser Children walk along a spur of the oil pipeline that carries crude across Peru.. The northern spur passes through the Wampis indigenous community of Mayuriaga, where about 1,000 barrels of oil spilled in early February, fouling land and streams. Barbara Fraser Workers hired from local communities collect some of the estimated 2,000 barrels of oil that spilled into a creek near the northern Peruvian town of Chiriaco in late January. Heavy rains washed some of the oil into the Chiriaco River, a tributary of the Maranon. Barbara Fraser Children in the Awajun indigenous community of Nazareth display the clothes they were wearing when they scooped oil out of the river after a spill from a pipeline operated by Peru's state-run oil company, Petroperu. Barbara Fraser

In villages along the Chiriaco, many people, including children, were directly exposed to oil that washed downstream from a broken pipe. When maintenance workers dug down to repair the pipe on 25 January, about 2,000 barrels (around 300,000 litres) of crude oil spilled into the river.

When residents saw oil pooling in backwaters, they scooped it up in buckets, tins and bottles, using no protective gear. Petroperu, the state company that runs the pipeline, paid them about US$43 for every barrel of oil recovered.

The fear is not only for people, because of illness, but for the entire food chain. Raul Loayza, Cayetano Heredia University

Over the next few weeks, many of those who came into contact with contaminated water complained of headaches, nausea, dizziness and skin lesions, local residents told SciDev.Net.

Following the disaster, local and regional health officials pledged to monitor residents health, but Loayza warns it could be hard to recognise long-term problems because there is little information about the state of peoples health before the spills.

On 3 February, two people from the Wampis community of Mayuriaga, which is close to the Morona River, were walking along the pipeline some 13 kilometres from their village when they reported seeing oil on the ground and in the trees.

Residents had previously paid little attention to the pipeline running past their houses, says Elias Wasun, the communitys chief.

Stopping the leak, which totalled about 1,000 barrels, took several days, according to Petroperu. German Velasquez, president of the board of directors of Petroperu, said the company would remediate the spill sites and leave them in their original condition.

Coming on top of an outbreak of wild rabies that killed eight children in villages farther up the Morona, the second oil spill put pressure on already scant health resources, local healthcare workers say.

SANIPES, the government agency that oversees the health of fisheries, says it is analysing fish samples from the Chiriaco and Morona, but has yet to release any results. Both are tributaries of the Amazon River, and because Amazonian fish migrate long distances and absorb toxins from oil trapped in river sediments, long-term monitoring will be needed, Loayza says.

For families living along the Chiriaco and Morona rivers, uncertainty about the future adds stress, explains Richard Kwok, a researcher at the United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. If villagers are worried about their health or livelihoods, that could have a psychological impact even if they were not in direct physical contact with the oil, he says.

Petroperu and government agencies are now distributing food, bottled water and family-size water filters to the communities until there is more clarity about the safety of local food and water sources. But the management of the spills points to the need for communities to receive faster warnings about possible dangers from crude oil, local community leaders say.

David Abramson, whose work at New York University in the United States focuses on how people deal with disaster, says that any plan to warn communities about spills should begin by understanding what the risk is.

It may be that the communities dont know the questions to ask, he says, so its incumbent upon the companies to introduce better risk messaging.
The current issue of a water crisis in Flint, Michigan prompts the school officials nationwide to test water from the eatery faucets and classroom sinks for lead. This is to ensure the safety of the citizens especially the students from any harm that lead may bring.

About a fraction of daycare centers and school across the country are necessitated for lead testing. The federal and state lawmakers called for urgency for the said testing. On the other hand, approximately 90,000 of them--those that receive water from the municipality systems are not entailed to take the lead testing, according to Environmental Protection Agency.

The Guardian reports that some schools in Newark, New Jersey were positive for testing. They close down the faucets and sinks in 30 buildings. They also provide a lead testing for about 17,000 children.

Meanwhile, the school officials in Riverside elementary in the northern Wisconsin town of Ringle decided to remove the drinking fountains over a decade ago. The water pipes of their water system were made from lead and buried in the concrete foundation. They did not replace the lead pipes instead they purchased bottled water for the students that cost about $1,000 each month.

Otherwise, the school officials in Idaho Falls, Idaho also decided to cut out their two drinking fountains following a report on a recent high sample. The school officials said if they only flushed the water every day, they could have kept the drinking fountains. This is because lead particles can build up in the pipes when the water is not used for a longer period.

CNBC reports that the White House together with 150 other institutions guaranteed over $5 billion for the improvement of the water quality and accessibility all throughout the nations. School buildings that have high lead readings are in New Jersey, Maine and Pennsylvania. On the other hand, CNBC reports that states that have the safe level in the water system are Hawaii, Tennessee, Alabama, Nevada, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Dakota, North Dakota and Nevada.
Researchers from the University of Hong Kong have synthesized a molecule called Cortistatin A, which can help in mitigating the cancer tumor from developing. The study is led by Professor Pauline Chiu from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hong Kong and was issued online in Chemistry-A European Journal.

Science Daily reports that Professor Chiu and her team applied a (4+3) cycloaddition reaction in their strategy to synthesize the Cortistatin successfully. Cortistatin A is in the group of steroidal alkaloids from Indonesian marine sponge. It contains potent anti-angiogenic activity in small dosages. It is discovered that Cortistatin A is the lead compound in the development of anti-cancer therapies. Its derivative is also a powerful anti-HIV agent.

Professor Chiu said that the invention of the new chemistry reaction is very significant in the field of research. This can synthesize the important molecules. "In this case, the cycloaddition reaction we developed is the key step in our strategy that enabled our synthesis of Cortistatin A to be accomplished efficiently," explained Professor Chiu.

Many well-known chemists all over the world synthesize Cortistatin A because of its complexity structure and biological properties. Professor Chiu established the maximum total synthesis of cortistatin A can yield in the world. It is about more than 7-fold higher than the overall synthesis that been developed at Harvard University. With this number of Cortistatin A and its analogs, it can facilitate further medical chemistry research that may lead to drug development.

WebMD states that cancer is an abnormal growth of cells. Cancer tumors have a size of about two millimeters. They would not grow if they are supplemented by angiogenesis, which is the expansion of the blood vessel network that is needed to nurture the tumor and capable of metastasizing. These angiogenesis-inhibiting molecules can help alleviate the spread of cancer tumors.

There are almost 100 types of cancer. These include skin cancer, treat cancer, lymphoma, colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer among others. Cancer treatments involve surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
Kingstree  Discover Financial Services announced recently that it has awarded Williamsburg School District a nearly $18,000 grant to cover the cost of enhancing financial education in the high schools curriculum.

The grant is part of Discovers Pathway to Financial Success program, a five-year commitment to bring financial education curriculum into public high schools across the country. Schools receiving grants must agree to pre, and post, testing of students on the curriculum to measure success.

This grant will reach 1,200 students, in C.E. Murray, Hemingway and Kingstree high schools. Discover has awarded more than $210,000 in financial education grants to 25 schools across the state since 2012.

The knowledge acquired will empower our students far beyond their high school years. As a result of the Pathway to Financial Success grant, Williamsburg County Students will have the necessary tools that will help them to successfully navigate their financial futures by making informed decisions that will lead to positive outcomes, said La-Dine Williams Gamble, district grant writer.

To learn more about the program, please visit Pathwaytofinancialsuccess.org.
Lake City - Council member Nicole Singletary, from the City of Lake City, has graduated from the Municipal Elected Officials Institute of Government. Graduates received their certificates during the Municipal Association of South Carolina's Hometown Legislative Action Day recently.

Established in 1986, the Institute is a program of the Municipal Association of South Carolina that gives municipal officials a strong foundation in the operation of local government. Participants learn about the role of elected officials and administrative staff and the relationships municipal officials have with other local governments, the state and federal government. The Institute includes two daylong sessions and three evening sessions.

Crumpton receives award

Nicole P. Crumpton, a U.S. Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps cadet at S.C. State University, Orangeburg, has received the George C. Marshall Award during an awards ceremony at the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The award is named in the honor and legacy of General of the Army George C. Marshall, who served in World War II as the Army Chief of Staff and in the post-war era served as secretary of state and secretary of defense. The award is presented annually to the most outstanding senior cadets in military science studies and leadership values in each battalion at host universities or colleges.

Top cadets from each cadet battalion represent the very best of a highly selective organization. This is a national award and the highest award an ROTC cadet can receive. The cadets participate in focus groups and round table discussions and lectures on the theme of the national security of the U.S. and the Army's security role in the international arena. Cadets receive formal speeches from the highest echelons of the U.S. Army's leadership ranks, scholars and experts in the area of national defense.

Crumpton is the daughter of Maxsena V. and Irvin Nelms Jr. of Lake City, and wife of Joe M. Crumpton Jr. of Orangeburg. She is a 2004 graduate of Lake City High School.
JOHNSONVILLE, S.C. - AAA Insurance Co. donated $14,000 to restore the Johnsonville Elementary and Johnsonville Middle School playgrounds after they were damaged during the flooding in October 2015. More than that, AAA provided volunteers on April to help do the work on the playgrounds.

AAA employees came from nine cities in North and South Carolina, giving up a Saturday to participate in the work. They also brought in mulch, shovels, and their love for community.

Jim McCafferty, President of AAA Insurance Co. in Charlotte, said, "It's a way for our employees to stay engaged in community and give back."

There are more than 2 million members of AAA in North and South Carolina, he said, so the company feels a responsibility to step in when its members have experienced something devastating. McCafferty said when they employees heard of the flood damage, they wanted to do something to help restore the community.

"We're glad to come help out and hope it inspires others to get involved."

Randy Smiley, Florence County School District 5 Superintendent said the district appreciates AAA wanting to get involved. "They heard about the flooding and how our playgrounds needed work. We appreciate them taking the time to come 'down to the woods' to help out."

Two shifts of AAA employees arrived, with the morning crew working on the elementary school playground and a second crew working at the middle school. Lunch was provided by the elementary school cafeteria staff, and the aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies drew everyone inside.

AAA provided T-shirts for everyone with the state of South Carolina on the back, along with the word "home" across the image. The company encourages employees to value everywhere their members call home.

Arriving from Raleigh, Charlotte, Apex, Columbia, Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Murrells Inlet, Myrtle Beach, and Conway, the volunteers said it's traditional for AAA to get involved in community projects.

"While we don't have a membership office here, we have members all over. It's part of what we do to come out in response to emergencies to support and to give back," said Freda Dumas of Summerville.

"It's great knowing how happy the children will be with the playgrounds restored again," said Crystal Harper who drove from Mt. Pleasant.

Tim Key of Columbia said, "It was a no-brainer for me when they asked for volunteers. I signed up immediately. And of course, the chocolate chip cookies have been a great reason to be here!"

Dayne Coker, Principal of JES, was there to welcome, serve, and thank all the volunteers who came to work. Other school employees were also on hand, such as Randy Willis and Allen Kirby of JMS. They pitched in, pushing wheelbarrows of mulch for the playground floor.

To be able to provide the students with a restored playground is a high priority and part of providing for their overall education, district officials said.

"Our community is grateful for AAA's investment and hard work ...Thank you, AAA," school officials added.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Tony McElveen, a small business owner and local pastor, announced Monday that hell be running for mayors spot in Junes primaries.

McElveen told a group of supporters outside the Florence City Center that its time for a change. He said the city is divided and needs a leader who can bridge that gap.

Were spending hundreds of millions of dollars downtown for redevelopment that really only benefits a few, he said. Its time to invest those millions of dollars in our neighborhoods and communities where thousands of people will see the benefit.

McElveen, a Florence native and graduate of South Florence High School, said his experience as owner of the Rooms R Us Furniture Store and as pastor of Greater Faith Church in Florence has allowed him to see the true needs of Florence citizens.

Ive been employing people here for the last 15 years, and I believe in giving people a second chance, he said. I know what I can bring to the city. Im all about economic development in neighborhoods besides downtown.

McElveen said uniting the city begins with selfless service.

Ive been serving people all of my life, and I want to serve the people of Florence in a greater capacity," he said. "I want to help bring about the change thats desperately needed here in the city. This city belongs to us all, not just a particular group of people, and together we can make Florence the greatest city in all of South Carolina.

McElveen will face two-term incumbent Mayor Stephen J. Wukela in a June primary. The primary winner will be the eventual winner in the general election, because there are no Republican or Independent challengers.
Local reports cited group cfo Richard Ling as saying that the usual suspects of overcapacity and weak demand will have a continued impact on charter rates.

The demand is not strong enough and everybody (shipping firms) is fighting for the cargo, Ling said, commenting on the market outlook for the shipping industry.

Although Shin Yang is a market leader in the domestic Malaysian container market, Ling said business was still tough going as freight rates had remained stagnant as stiff competition for cargo has continued to put pressure on the rates.

Shin Yang has even laid off three container vessels after ceasing unprofitable regional operations more than a year ago. It now focuses on domestic routes with its fleet of 14 container vessels plying Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia ports and coastal towns.

For the financial year ended 30 June 2015, the group transported 108,218 teu, 13% more than 95,456 teu in financial year 2014.

For the bulk side, while Shin Yang's bulk carriers transport mainly timber products to the Far East region, and it is not involved in major bulks such iron ore or coal, even this niche trade was down 20% last year from 2014, with just some 580,000 cu m of timber products shipped.
Press Release

April 10, 2016 BONGBONG MARCOS SHINES IN VP DEBATE, CHALLENGES AQUINO ADMIN TO GIVE COMPENSATION TO HUMAN RIGHTS VICTIMS Vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. today challenged the Aquino administration to give up its claim on the award of compensation to human rights victims saying it has been the government that has been preventing its award to the claimants. Appearing in top form at the first Commission on Elections-sponsored vice presidential debate at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Marcos disputed the statement of Camarines Rep. Leni Robredo that the Marcos family should return their ill-gotten wealth to human rights victims during the time of his father, the President Ferdinand Marcos. He said the Marcos family has not been the reason why the money has not been awarded to the human rights claimants since they have not been participating in the case. "The Marcos family is not the reason why human rights claimants have not received the compensation awarded to them. It is the government, headed by the Liberal Party which our congresswoman is a member of," he said. Marcos, front runner in the vice presidential race, said if the government is really serious in its pronouncement on compensating human rights victims, it should withdraw its claim on the fund and just give the money to the claimants. "If this administration really wants to give the money, then I challenge them to give up their claim and just give the award to the claimants," he said. He also refuted claims that he has failed acknowledge the human rights abuses during his father's time saying he always recognized that abuses were committed during his father's administration as well as those that came after his term. "I have always recognized that human rights abuses have been committed in all administration and I also believe that he we have to learn the mistakes of the past so we are not bound to repeat them," he said. The debates showed Marcos' cool composure as he led the debates in the midst of the seeming never-ending attacks leveled against him primarily by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. Marcos earlier said he had expected that he will be the center of attacks. But staying true to his vow of sticking to the issues, he answered all the attacks calmly and went on to present his platforms in the topics chosen during the debate - corruption, poverty, political dynasty, human rights, traffic/transportation, internet connectivity and foreign policy. The Comelec's VP debate is co-organized with CNN Philippines and Business Mirror. In an earlier statement, Marcos said he will stick to his campaign policy of keeping it centered on his call for unity and platform of government and not engage in mudslinging just to stay ahead of his rivals. "It has always been my belief that mudslinging will not do our country any good. We have been polarized by our leaders long enough and look where it brought us. Instead of trying to put each other down, we should just present our plans and programs to the people so that they will have an informed choice on who to vote come May 9," he said.
Press Release

April 11, 2016 Netizens, social media news proclaim Cayetano

winner of VP debate Social media was abuzz with the first and only Vice Presidential Debate organized by the Commission on Elections and CNN Philippines last April 10, especially with the performance of Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano. Cayetano swept the seven (7) rounds of Rappler's online polls, mirroring the performance of his running mate, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte, in the two previous presidential debates. The figures Cayetano obtained were as follows: Round 1 - 47.17%

Round 2 - 50.78%

Round 3 - 47.62%

Round 4 - 41.12%

Round 5 - 54.88%

Round 6 - 41.57%

Round 7 - 51.3% "Editors' pick" Cayetano was also picked by Rappler's editors as the overall winner of the debate, citing his consistency in talking about his platform of government with Duterte, as well as his clear message of political will and leadership. Cayetano leads CNN online polls The Senate leader also took the lead in CNN Philippines' online polls. During the debate, the news outlet asked online readers who their VP bet is. Cayetano was the top choice, garnering 41 percent of the votes. In a separate statement, Duterte congratulated his running mate, describing him as the clear winner in the debate. "Alan was able to show the political will, courage, and strength of character that we are offering to the Filipino people. He was able to distinguish himself from the others and put forward our bold solutions to end the country's disorder and realize meaningful change. His performance affirmed my decision to pick him as my running mate. He will truly fight for the people," Duterte said. This was echoed by Atty. Paola Alvarez, spokesperson of PDP-Laban, Duterte's political party. "Sinusuportahan talaga namin si Sen. Alan bilang ka-tandem ni Mayor Duterte. Lubhang nagustuhan namin ang kanyang debate performance. Naipakita niya kung ano talaga ang agenda ng tambalang Duterte-Cayetano. Pinamalas talaga niya ang tapang ng loob at political will na kailangan sa ating mga namumuno," Alvarez said. Cayetano is running with Duterte under a comprehensive platform of government, which aims to end the country's disorder caused by crime, illegal drugs, and corruption.
Press Release

April 11, 2016 GOV'T SHOULD STEP IN AS TELCOS

HAVE NO INCENTIVE TO IMPROVE INTERNET SPEEDS--CHIZ Telecommunications companies have no incentive to improve Internet speeds because this would reduce their profits, as the use of web-based messaging services like Viber would cut into the profits made by telecommunications companies (telcos) from traditional text messages and phone calls. This according to independent vice presidential candidate Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero, who at the vice-presidential debate organized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) stressed that this is precisely the reason the government should take the lead in investing in infrastructure and technologies development and not rely on the telecommunications firms to deliver faster data connection to subscribers. "Kapag ka mabilis ang Internet speed dito sa ating bansa, hindi na po kayo magte-text o tatawag. Viber na o kung anong application ang gagamitin ninyo kaya ayaw nilang gawin," said during the debate hosted by CNN Philippines with Rappler and BusinessMirror at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. "Privatized ang telco industry kaya po hindi ginagastusan 'yan ng gobyerno sa ngayon. Tama ang sinabi ng ibang mga kasamahan ko dito, hindi ito ginagastusan ng telco industry dahil kumikita sila sa cellphone calls at sa texts," explained Escudero. When asked if telcos should be held accountable for failing to deliver its commitment to subscribers, Escudero said "yes." The veteran lawmaker said if he and his presidential running mate Sen. Grace Poe are elected in the May elections, the government will lay out fiber optic cables simultaneous with the building of roads to improve Internet speed in the country. "Layunin po namin ni Senator Grace, kasabay sa paglalatag ng infrastructure at kalye sa ating bansa. Dapat kasabay na rin ang paglalatag ng fiber optic at cable," he said. Escudero said it is important for the government to invest in technology as he noted that internet access is now a human right. "Karapatan ng ang mabilis na Internet speed, hindi lamang para sa mga estudyante, pati na rin sa mga magulang, pati na rin sa bawat Pilipino na gustong makausap at makapiling sa pamamagitan ng Internet ang kanilang mga mahal sa buhay," Escudero said. The top choice for vice president in various pre-election surveys earlier said that making Internet service available in all public learning institutions is among his plans to improve the state of education in the country. Global Internet provider Ookla said in its household download index report ranked the Philippines 21st out of 22 countries in Asia in terms of Internet speed, trailed only by Afghanistan. The Philippines has a household download speed of 3.64 Mbps, top-ranked Singapore has a broadband speed of 122.43 Mbps and Hong Kong clocked in with 102.96 Mbps. Despite the poor service, the Philippines still has one of the most expensive internet services in the world.
Press Release

April 11, 2016 KIDAPAWAN BLAME GAME WON'T EASE EL NINO IMPACT - GUINGONA REELECTIONIST Senator Teofisto "TG" Guingona III reminded on Monday that the problem that fueled the bloody Kidapawan incident is not confined to the city in North Cotabato but is widely felt in other parts of the country. In this regard, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation prodded government agencies concerned for fast implementation of mitigation measures to avoid any further violence. "Right now, El Nino is also being endured by farmers in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, but their hopes are still high that they will harvest a considerable number of onions planted in more than 4,000 hectares of land; We would not want them marching over empty stomachs, too," Guingona noted. "We are now at the peak of the El Nino episode that is expected to unleash effects worse than in 1998, we cannot afford to spend time pointing fingers and leave our farmers helpless against the withering of their crops and against the exploitation of their plight," Guingona further admonished. The April 1 dispersal between protesting farmers and anti-riot police resulted in the death of three farmers and injury of hundred more from both sides, including two policemen in critical condition. According to Guingona, closer and faster coordination between the national and the local government is needed to prevent similar confrontation from happening again. "We have the P19-billion supplemental budget specifically for the mitigation of El Nino's effects, we have the Roadmap for Addressing the Impact of El Nino; we have measures at our disposal to prevent blows of low crop production and food price hike from hitting our countrymen, let us mobilize these," Guingona added. Cotabato is just one of the six provinces under a state of calamity due to El Nino. According to Guingona, it should not have taken an episode of this dry spell to emphasize on the fact that many of our food producers are themselves deprived of proper provisions. "Blood spilled on these barren lands will not encourage agricultural and social growth. Kapwa magsasaka at pulis ang mga biktima dito."
DEATH OF SOLDIERS DEMONSTRATES PASSION OF FILIPINOS VS INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM - GUINGONA

CHAIRMAN of the Senate Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, Senator Teofisto "TG" Guingona III, has condemned attempts of international terrorists to gain a foothold in the country saying that "deaths of Filipino soldiers from Mamasapano to Basilan demonstrate the determination of Filipinos to willingly lay down lives against terror."

"Let this be a warning to international jihadists," Guingona said. "Filipinos shall not be cowed by the threat of terrorism, no matter the cost."

The reelectionist senator noted that the casualty rate in recent Basilan firefights closely parallels the sacrifices of PNP/SAF elements killed and wounded last year after killing Jemaah Islamiyah's Zulkifli Abdhir, alias Marwan, in the terrorist's Mamasapano hideout.

"I commiserate with the families of 18 slain soldiers who recently perished in close quarter combat against 120 Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Sitio Bayoko, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan," Guingona said. "I join the wounded and those who still fight in the belief that the heroic deaths of soldiers are justified even by just one lifeless body of Moroccan bomb expert, Mohammad Khattab."

Khattab was slain in Basilan alongside Ubaida Hapilon, son of the Sayyaf leader, Isnilon Hapilon. Khatam's companion, Malaysian jihadist Mohammad Najib Hussein, alias Abu Anas, was killed by military forces in December last year.

"If this is the cost of nipping international terrorism in the bud, the price paid is one to be proud of," Guingona said. "We salute their effort of derailing Jihadist plans to link local Abu Sayyaf bandits with international terrorist groups."
BONGBONG MARCOS TAKES SOLO LEAD IN SWS SURVEY

A day after dominating the Commission on Elections-sponsored vice presidential debate at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. maintained his lead over his rivals, securing the solo top spot in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

In the First Quarter 2016 SWS Survey conducted last March 30 to April 2 using face-to-face interviews with 1,500 respondents nationwide, Marcos took solo lead with 26 percent over his closest rival Senator Francis Escudero who dropped to 21 percent from his previous 28 percent in a survey conducted from March 8 to 11.

He was followed by Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo who had 19 percent also dropping 3 points from 22 points. In fourth place was Senator Allan Peter Cayetano with 13 percent. Tied for fifth place were Senators Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan and Antonio Trillanes IV with 5 percent each.

The survey had a margin of error of 3 points.

Two other separate surveys also showed Marcos gaining momentum. The Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC)-DZRH Third Wave Survey Result on April 2, 2016 showed Marcos surging to 29.8 percent taking the solo lead from his rivals.

Marcos also took the lead in the latest Pulso ng Pilipino non-commissioned polls conducted by Issues and Advocacy Center showing him cornering 27 percent vote share, 3 percent higher than his closest rival, Escudero.

The senator also dominated the VP debates held Sunday night at the UST as an online poll conducted by GMA News via its official Facebook page showed him getting the approval of 51 percent of 40,158 respondents as of 11:47 p.m. Sunday as the candidate who was able to adequately answer all questions thrown at him during the 3-hour discussion.

Following Marcos in the poll was Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano with 30 percent and Robredo with 12 percent.

Escudero got 4 percent, Honasan 2 percent and Trillanes 1 percent.

Marcos expressed hope that he was able to bring his message and platform during the VP debates. "Sana naiparating ko ng klaro ang ating mensahe at plataporma sa ating mga kababayan upang mas lalo nilang maunawaan ang ating mga balakin upang bigyan sila ng mas maganda at progresibong bukas," he said in an interview after the debate.
Press Release

April 11, 2016 THOUSANDS OF ILONGGOS PLEDGE SUPPORT FOR VP BID

OF BONGBONG MARCOS Thousands of Ilonggos braved the sweltering heat in Iloilo City today to wait for the arrival of vice presidential candidate, Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. and pledge their support to his candidacy as his "Unity Caravan" began its sortie in Western Visayas. Marcos was met by an estimated 5,000 volunteers and supporters, cheering, screaming or waving flags and campaign banners as he entered the jam-packed Jaro Plaza Gymnasium shortly before noon. Marcos thanked his supporters, noting they remained in the gym despite the brown out that unexpectedly hit the gym starting a few hours before his arrival. "I'm sorry that you had to wait in this heat. I don't understand why we suddenly have this brown out here. We really need to do more to ensure we won't have brown outs, particularly when your candidate arrives here," said Marcos. "But the effect of this brown out is that your welcome became a lot warmer," he added. Organizers said the brown out only affected the gym but BBM volunteers chose to stay on despite the heat just to hear the senator speak. However, Marcos refused to comment on speculations the brown out may be a deliberate ploy to sabotage his campaign in the province. While Iloilo is the home province of Marcos' presidential running mate, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, it is considered to be largely a bailiwick of the ruling Liberal Party. Marcos led his supporters in a formal oath-taking where they vowed to abide the laws and help in civic programs of their organization, among others. "Further, I voluntary pledge to support the candidacy of Bongbong Marcos, as vice president of the Philippines," the volunteers said in their oath. Shortly before this, Marcos also inaugurated the Compact Team BBM Volunteer Center in Jaro, Iloilo City. "I am here to campaign and I am here to get as much support as I can from Region VI. And I'm sure that once my message has been heard, more people will join us, similar to what is happening all over the country," said Marcos. The latest survey of the Social Weather Stations showed Marcos taking the solo lead in the vice presidential race. He said this supports his belief that people are receptive to his call for national unity.
Press Release

April 11, 2016 Recto: Next pres must cut calamity aid red tape; preposition aid to regions

'Form ready-to-deploy rescue brigades, build hospital ships' The next administration should cut the red tape slowing down calamity aid and preposition Quick Response Funds (QRF) to the regions in order to bring relief to disaster areas fast, Senator Ralph Recto said today. Recto said calamity funds and resources must end being "Manila-centric", and one way of doing this is to deploy part of the QRF to calamity-prone regions. The senator also batted for the setting up of regional hubs where "food, medicine, construction materials" are warehoused. "This will spare us from transporting relief goods all the way from Manila." Recto said Malacanang's next occupant should also prioritize the formation of "ready-to-deploy disaster response brigades", with one each stationed in Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Drawn from military and police units, each brigade shall consist of a medical company, a construction battalion, hygiene and sanitation specialists, among others. Recto said government should also tap Cebu shipbuilders in building a fleet of hospital ships. "We are an archipelago and many areas can only be reached by sea. A hospital ship can also be a floating HQ of all disaster response units." All of these, Recto said, can be funded out of Calamity Funds, but to do this, "kinks and chokepoints" in releasing them, must be ironed out. Recto earlier said "complicated rules and cumbersome requirements" governing the request, release and use of national calamity funds are equally liable for the trickle down of aid to El Nino-hit areas. "Red tape and rules are the main culprits why aid is moving in a very slow pace," he said. "If we want to turbocharge the release, then we must first change the rules," Recto said in calling for the review of the procedures on how disaster-hit areas can access the Calamity Fund, or what is officially called National Disaster and Risk Reduction and Management Fund. "Kung i-diagram mo yung proseso, parang wiring ng kuryente. From request to release to procurement to delivery of reconstruction materials, easily one hundred steps. Kawawa talaga ang mga local governments," Recto lamented. For this year, P39 billion has been allocated as National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund in the 2016 national budget. A lump sum fund, the Calamity Fund covers aid, relief, and rehabilitation services to areas hit by man-made and natural calamities. It also funds pre-disaster projects and operations. The release involves "the interplay and layers of approval" of many agencies including the National Disaster and Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Office of the President, and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Recto said. He said a local government unit (LGU) flattened by a typhoon will have to submit documentary requirements "through a gauntlet of agencies." Citing an official workflow, Recto said the documents an LGU must submit include the following: Complete description and justification of the project;

Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRMC) damage report and calamity Impact Assessment report and Work and Financial Plan, including pictures;

Sanggunian Resolution declaring the area under a State of Calamity or Imminent Danger and appropriating local counterpart for the project;

Certification by the Local Chief Executive (LCE) through a Sanggunian Resolution assuring that whatever amount will be provided by the Office of the President, the project will be completed;

Endorsement of the RDRRMC Chairperson (Office of Civil Defense Regional Director);

Certification and justification by the LCE concerned that funding requests chargeable against the Calamity Fund are emergency in character;

Certification by the Local Accountant that their Local Calamity Fund is already depleted or exhausted;

Certification of non-availability of funding source other than the Calamity Fund;

Certification that the infrastructure being requested for funding support are not covered by insurance;

Pertinent documents may be required on a case to case basis "Kung naanod na computer mo, nawawala ang encoder, at wala kang kuryente, magagawa mo pa ba ito?" Recto said. The request is then checked by the Office of Civil Defense, which is the operating arm and secretariat of the NDRRMC. After verification, it is sent to the Office of the President for approval. Once approved, the request is forwarded directly to the DBM, for another round of vetting. The DBM then issues the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) and Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) directly to the LGU. LGUs, however, receive only 50% of the cash requirement with the balance to be released based on progress and reports to be submitted. "At ito ay sa pagrelease pa lang ng pondo. Hindi pa pumapasok sa bidding, where another set of rules await under the Government Procurement Reform Act," Recto said. Recto said the procurement law "must be revisited insofar as the relaxation of rules for emergency relief purchases are concerned." "Kung parating na ang bagyo, may leeway ka dapat ibigay sa mga nandoroon sa frontlines, sa pagbili nang mga pagkain, halimbawa. Yung iba tuloy ayaw bumili kasi takot sa COA (Commission on Audit)," Recto said. The Calamity Fund, however, is separate from the P6.7 billion QRF which has been distributed among 12 agencies, with P1.32 billion given to DWSD, and P500 million each to DA and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
Press Release

April 11, 2016 Villar: Environment R&D to benefit agriculture Sen. Cynthia Villar said research and development in environment protection will also benefit the agriculture sector since it is also the sector that incurs the greatest damage and losses during environmental disasters. During the National Multi-Stakeholder's Consultation Workshop on the Review and Updating of the Research, Development and Extension Agenda Program (RDEAP) for Agriculture and Fisheries held in Luxent Hotel, Timog Ave. Quezon City recently, Villar urged the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research and Agriculture (SEARCA) to put in place a climate resilient RDEAP for 2016 to 2022. "The Philippines, an archipelagic country, is most vulnerable to the climate change. With the extent of environmental degradation prevailing in our lands and seas, again I believe, that R&D coupled with science and technology will continue to be our lifesaver. Any talk about food security and sustainability of our resources is of course closely linked with environment protection," Villar said. Villar recalled that damage to agriculture caused by super typhoon Yolanda which hit the country in November 2013, reached over PhP90 billion. The losses are such because the typhoon struck between two planting seasons. It damaged about 600,000 hectares of agricultural lands, with an estimated 1.1 million metric tons of crops lost. "Mindanao is still reeling from an extended period of drought. Maguindanao has even been placed under a state calamity with more than 20,000 farmers affected by the damaged rice and cornfields. The adverse impact of El Nino continues to hound the agriculture sector," she added. Villar cited that research and development led to climate-resilient seeds and the carrageenan plant growth regulator o CPGR that increases rice yield by 65 per cent. Also, research in genomics increased coconut farmers' yield or harvest from only 46 coconuts per year per tree to 100 coconuts. "More than that, of course, the development and adoption of modern, appropriate, cost-effective and environmentally safe agricultural and fisheries machinery and equipment will enhance farm productivity and efficiency to achieve food security and increase farmers' and fisherfolks' income," she added. Villar, chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, also said the the review of the implementation of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act or (AFMA) and the Agriculture and Fisheries Mechanization Law (AFMECH) should also be tackled in the consultation. "Lack of technical expertise and mechanization are among the challenges that hinder the competitiveness of our farmers and fisherfolks," Villar pointed out.
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BART and its three major unions secretly negotiated and agreed to a tentative four-year contract extension that prevents the possibility of a worker strike in the near-term, just as the transit agency is planning to head to the ballot this fall and ask voters for a massive $3.5 billion bond measure to help pay for rebuilding the aging system.

The new labor deal was to be announced at a news conference Monday at BART headquarters, with representatives from management and the three major transit unions in attendance. Those unions include SEIU Local 1021, ATU Local 1555 and AFSCME Local 3993.

The new contract, which was negotiated during secretly held meetings between the two sides in recent weeks, replaces the current contract that was set to expire next year. That contract was won only after the union workers twice walked off the job during negotiations in 2013, leaving thousands of riders stranded and scrambling for a limited bus service that replaced it.

According to a BART source, the new pact calls for nearly 11 percent in total worker raises over the next four years. The deal includes a pair of 2.5-percent hikes over the next two years, followed by two 2.75-percent raises in each of the following two years.

That means there wont be a strike at least until 2021, said one BART source, assuming union members ratify the deal in the coming days.

One big argument for negotiating the settlement early was for both the unions and management to clear the path for the successful passage of a new general obligation bond in November asking voters in San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties for new property taxes to pay for rebuilding BART.

The measure requires two-thirds voter approval for passage, but already has been facing tough questioning from the likes of state Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, and other East Bay elected officials who have been demanding BART impose a no-strike clause in any future contract.

BART insiders say that was never in the cards, though assuring the public there wont be a strike in the next four years could at least take the issue off the table for the forseeable future.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross
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Undeterred by gloomy skies and a few sprinkles Sunday, thousands of people poured into the middle of Valencia Street in San Franciscos Mission District for the kickoff of the annual Sunday Streets series, a monthly road-closing festival that rotates among the citys neighborhoods.

The mile-long route between 26th and McCoppin streets was clear of cars, allowing runners, cyclists, scooters and strollers clear unimpeded access down the center yellow line, save for the handful of stoplights to let cross traffic through.

Cormak Hale, 3, took the opportunity to sit in the middle of the street with a big piece of chalk to write letters, successfully spelling an H, then an A and then an M.

HAM?

His mom, Jessica Hale, shrugged. No idea, she said.

We love Sunday Streets, she added, noting that theyve attended several over previous years. I really like that we can walk and I dont have to worry about him running around with the traffic stopped.

I like drawing the best, Cormak said.

The event prohibits vendors along the route, so people will be encouraged to check out the local businesses. It seemed to work: Stores and restaurants along Valencia Street were hopping as people sipped coffee, brunched or wandered into stores selling vintage furniture, tacos or  at least in one case  skull-laden and metal-spiked attire.

Along the curb, public agencies and community groups had set up tents and tables offering information about energy efficiency, animal rescue or political candidates, with a good bit of separation between the Hillary Clinton tent and the Bernie Sanders table.

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich signs were inconspicuously absent, San Francisco being San Francisco.

And San Francisco wouldnt be San Francisco without a protest. About 40 sign-wielding marchers walked the route during the first hour of the event to protest police killings of minorities.

Along with protesters, there were also preschoolers, with a table near 16th Street set up for the Mission Kids Co-op Preschool, which shares space with a homeless shelter for transgender and other LGBT people, said dad Greg Mann, adding that the shelter opens after the kids go home.

The kids are really exposed to San Francisco in all its facets, he said as his son, Teo, sat still while a face painter put the finishing touches on a pink-and-red butterfly. Its San Francisco life.

Down toward the lower end of the route, a table featured three birds, including Cappi, a 45-year-old yellow-naped amazon parrot, said Pamela Lee of Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue.

The table was among the popular stops for families with kids, as Cappi blurted out loud noises and the occasional hello. He can also do a little opera and sometimes says, Get the car, because a former owner worked in an auto shop, Lee said.

Sunday Streets, she said, offers the opportunity to raise awareness that not just dogs and cats need new homes, but birds do, too.

A way down from Cappi, at the very end of the route, Quintin Mecke was also hoping to raise awareness, with a sign on his clipboard calling to End the Death Penalty.

Mecke acknowledged that it wasnt quite a chipper message for a family outing in San Francisco and considered that might be why his table was pretty much the last possible stop for many walking the route.

We are the grim reapers of Sunday Streets, he said, laughing. That said, You couldnt ask for a better event.

Chronicle staff writer

Connor Radnovich

contributed to this report.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
SACRAMENTO  If Gov. Jerry Brown knows who he wants to see in the White House next year, he isnt saying.

At the end of a news conference Monday morning at which he signed a bill expanding paid family leave in California, the four-term governor dodged a question about whether he is voting for Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.

Brown didnt answer the question, saying instead that he plans to use the full range of his responsibility and prerogative as a superdelegate, a title allowing him to vote for whomever he wants, regardless of whom the Democratic Party endorses.

Brown said he is in no hurry to decide.

Once you make a decision, you give up the ability to make a decision, Brown said. I didnt propose to my wife for 15 years. And it turned out great.

After the news conference, the governor also took a jab at GOP hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz when a reporter asked him about what message he has for Cruz as he campaigns in Southern California ahead of the June 7 presidential primaries.

I marvel at the fact that he got out of Harvard with so many lame ideas, Brown said.

California has become a pivotal state if Cruz is to win the GOPs presidential nomination over front-runner Donald Trump or trailing Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Brown has previously joked that if Trump were elected president, California might need a wall of its own, referring to Trumps calls for Mexico to pay for a wall along the U.S. and Mexico border.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
While African Americans make up less than 6 percent of San Franciscos population, they account for nearly half of all people arrested for not paying traffic-related fines or fees, according to a new report written by a consortium of legal groups including the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

The report, released Monday, found large racial disparities among those police arrest for not paying a traffic ticket, failing to appear in court regarding a traffic infraction, or driving with a suspended license in San Francisco.

While a host of factors may account for the the differing arrest rates, the legal groups allege that such racial disparities have a disparate impact on low-income drivers who may not be able to afford to pay traffic tickets, resulting in over-incarceration and undue financial and social stress.

Its creating a two-tiered system where some people get a ticket, send in the money, and its no big deal, and some people end up in handcuffs, said Elisa Della-Piana, legal director of San Franciscos Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

After protests in Ferguson, Mo., in the wake of the police killing of an unarmed black teenager, the U.S. Justice Department criticized that citys Police Department for suspending drivers licenses and arresting people for failing to pay traffic tickets.

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators has said that suspending licenses for failure to pay or appear in court is not a good use of resources and undermines public safety, according to the report.

The reports findings for San Francisco were based on data from the citys Sheriffs Department and the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

The group found that just under 50 percent of the 855 people arrested for not paying a traffic ticket or failing to appear in court for a traffic-related infraction were African American. By comparison, roughly 19 percent of people arrested were Latino, and 23 percent were white.

About 9,300 people were arrested for driving with a suspended license. Of those, 45 percent were African American, 41 percent were white, and 10 percent were Latino. People whose licenses were revoked for reckless driving or after receiving a DUI were excluded.

Not everyone accused of such offenses is arrested. For such infractions, police can also issue a warning or citation, or have the drivers vehicle towed. The report attributed the high arrest rate partially to disproportionate traffic stops of black and Latino drivers.

A separate Chronicle analysis of SFPD data found that between 2013 and 2015, 16 percent of all people stopped for violating a traffic law were black; a proportion 2.5 times higher than population estimates. African American and Latino drivers also were far more likely to be subjected to certain types of searches after a traffic stop than white and Asian drivers.

San Francisco Police Department officials said they could not comment on the reports findings until they had a chance to thoroughly review it. The report did not specify which departments  SFPD, sheriff or California Highway Patrol  made the arrests.

Joaquin Palomino is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jpalomino@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino
Firefighters responded to a reported crash at Oakland International Airport after the nose gear of a plane collapsed Sunday afternoon.

No one was hurt, said Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Coy Justice, who added that there were only two passengers on the small airplane at the time of the incident.

The plane landed safely about noon on Sunday before the front wheel under the nose of the aircraft buckled, Justice said. The plane came to a stop on the runway. It was eventually towed away.

The plane, a Citation 750 aircraft, is owned by on-demand private jet service XOJET Inc., which is based in Brisbane.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse, though XOJET chief executive Bradley Stewart said the company is investigating.

The aircraft was being repositioned from San Francisco International Airport to Oakland at the time of the incident, according to the companys records. Both people on board were crew, and no passengers were present.

This was the first incident of its kind for the 10-year-old company, spokeswoman Shari Jones said.

We are happy to report that there were no injuries and minimal damage to the aircraft, XOJET chief executive Bradley Stewart said in a statement Sunday. We will be conducting a full investigation into the cause.

Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae
In whats clearly a move to distance itself from its former CEO, a Brisbane biotechnology company previously led by Martin Shkreli unveiled a pledge Monday not to engage in price gouging and committed to being more transparent about its costs.

KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, which is developing drugs to treat cancer and a parasitic infection known as Chagas disease, filed for bankruptcy in late December after Shkreli was arrested on securities fraud charges.

Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, became infamous last year when he was also serving as chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Virtually overnight, he raised the price of a drug used to treat a parasitic infection by 5,000 percent, or to $750 a tablet from $13.50.

KaloBios fired Shkreli on Dec. 17, the same day he was arrested. He had only been CEO for a month, but had already announced plans to raise the price of a KaloBios drug to treat Chagas disease. The price increases and subsequent arrest of Shkreli helped draw national attention to the problem of soaring drug costs.

KaloBios plans to price its products at overall cost, plus a reasonable and transparent profit margin, the company said.

Our new pricing model is a commitment to define and develop transparent, responsible pricing for the products we hope to bring to patients in the future, said Dr. Cameron Durrant, KaloBios new chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.

Durrant said drug pricing is a big concern for everyone involved in health care. We believe that our approach balances the needs of key stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, payers, NGOs, investors, policy makers and advocacy groups, he said.

In California, the drug pricing controversy has led to the reintroduction of a drug transparency bill, which will be heard Wednesday in the Senate Health Committee.

SB1010, authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-Azusa (Los Angeles County), would require pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose drug price increases of more than 10 percent to state payers. A state measure to address drug prices is also scheduled for the November ballot.

Ramon Castellblanch, professor of health education at San Francisco State University and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeleys Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, said the companys pledge is all just talk unless real action is taken.

I see this as PR effort to clean up their image after the disastrous revelations of price gouging a few months ago, he said. Theres nothing in this document that doesnt mean they will not continue to overcharge.

Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver
Two men and a woman were killed within 24 hours in three separate shootings in Oakland, police said Sunday.

Police have not identified any suspects in the killings, and all shooters remain at large.

The first shooting happened about 4 a.m. Saturday just blocks from the Fruitvale BART Station. Police found a man with a gunshot wound in the 1400 block of 40th Avenue in East Oakland. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:16 a.m., police said.

Another man was killed in an unrelated shooting about 12:15 a.m. Sunday in the 3000 block of Richmond Boulevard in Oaklands Westlake neighborhood, near Kaiser Hospital. The victim, a 30-year-old man who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Less than an hour later, a 30-year-old woman was killed outside a home in East Oaklands Webster neighborhood. Police arrived on the scene about 1:04 a.m. Shortly after, the woman was taken to the hospital, where she later died.

Friends and family identified the woman on social media Sunday as Oakland resident Lakeya Venson.

Venson was helping to clean up outside a home where her relatives had thrown a childs birthday party Saturday, according to the East Bay Times. Several adults had stayed late to socialize and help clean up, police said.

Witnesses told police that a man began shooting at the gathering before fleeing in a car, the East Bay Times reported. Venson was the only one shot.

The three killings brought the number of homicides in Oakland this year to 17. By this time last year, Oakland had seen 24 homicides.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering a reward of up to $10,000 in exchange for information that leads to the arrest of the killers. Anyone with information should call police at (510) 238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at (510) 777-8572.

Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae
Robyn Beck/AFP / Getty Images

It sounds like a belated April Fools' Day joke, but Uber and San Francisco mainstay hurricane bar the Tonga Room are  believe it or not  hosting electronic duo Jack U Tuesday night.

The group, made up of Skrillex and Diplo, will be part of a free-ish promotion by UberX near Union Square this week.
People love a good Photoshop fail, and it appears as though the Internet gods gave it to them. Or did they?

Posh Spice Victoria Beckham recently posted a photo of herself from a Vogue China photo shoot and it looks as though the graphic artists got a little heavy-handed giving her a thigh gap. Or that's at least what many on the web so desperately want to believe.

Being the in-depth journalists we are, we researched this worldwide debate (i.e., we zoomed in on the picture) to settle it once and for all.

The verdict: Underwear oops, not Photoshop fail.

SEE ALSO: Zigazig ah: 1990's pop culture icons, then and now

Exhibit A: The crotch part of underwear is typically double-lined, making it appear brighter white than the part along the tummy. That would explain why the color appears to drastically change shades in that area. Commenters on her Instagram account have also surmised that it could be the fabric from her shirt.

Exhibit B: We feel pretty confident that Beckham's social media people are on top of this. If it was indeed a Photoshop fail (quelle horreur!), it wouldn't still be up on her Instagram account for days now.

While Victoria Beckham has been found not guilty in this crime against modeling, take a look at the gallery below of the former Spice Girl's style evolution.

Still not convinced? Let us know in the comments section below whether you think this is a Photoshop fail or an underwear oops.
Howdy Mick: Im perplexed/fascinated by the modern concept of celebrity, what power these stars have over us and why they should be so noteworthy. To me, Jonas Salk and Raoul Wallenberg were far greater people than any of these purported stars. So why the adulation?

Hal Rowland, San Francisco

Howdy Hal: The biggest fans of any modern celebrity would acknowledge that Jonas Salk and Raoul Wallenberg were superior to their favorite star, and contributed more to humanity. But the affection for movie stars and pop stars isnt about determining gradations of worthiness and bestowing admiration accordingly. To a large extent, the appeal is about sex, and its also about the ideas and values that the star images embody. The effect is of either wanting to be that person or to be in love with that person, to have them as your boyfriend or girlfriend. Its fantasy  a visceral connection  and within limits theres nothing wrong with it. Id be much more excited about meeting, say, Jennifer Aniston than Aung San Suu Kyi, but it doesnt mean I dont admire the latter as one of the greatest people in the world.

Esteemed Film Critic Mick LaSalle: Are certain film actors and actresses so greedy that theyre willing to make embarrassing commercials that could tarnish their reputations? Im thinking, in particular, of Matthew McConaughey, whos made a series of car ads that make him look foolish.

Julian Grant, Pacifica

Esteemed Film Connoisseur Julian Grant: Just about every actor is that greedy. Its just that McConaughey has the great gift of shamelessness, and so he does it in the United States. The rest go to Europe and Asia to do it. But can you blame them? Were talking about millions upon millions of dollars, and for very little work  and some of the commercials are good. Online and now on U.S. TV, you can find George Clooneys commercials for Nespresso, which are anything but embarrassing. In fact, they bolster his image. Theyre funny and ironic and very much in keeping with his persona. Ive done worse things for money. Havent you?

Dear Mick LaSalle: What if Donald Trump produced an updated movie version of Mein Kampf (perhaps blaming Muslims rather than Jews)? What if he hired the best director, writer, actors and production crew money could buy and made a fantastic movie? How would you review it?

Elliott Halpern, Martinez

Dear Elliot Halpern: Id say it was a fantastic movie, produced by a stunted and diseased imagination. But, really, what youre describing can only exist in theory. You cant make a faithful screen rendering of something as twisted as Mein Kampf and have it turn out great. Leni Riefenstahls Triumph of the Will (1935) is a pro-Nazi film, but in terms of its actual content, its not overtly political. Its about political figures, but the movie itself is all about parades, speeches and spectacle. And the truth is, if Hitler and all those other lunatics appeared onscreen talking about what they really intended to do, instead of spouting the platitudes they speak in the movie, everyone watching would get the creeps, and the film would not succeed. It could not be a good movie.

For confirmation of this, just watch films made during the Third Reich to see how Nazi ideology degraded and infected them. Even movies that werent remotely political or propagandistic, such as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1943), show a weird callousness toward human life that really does diminish the quality of the films. If something made to delight makes you feel a little sick, thats a problem. Of course, I could be wrong about this, or overly optimistic. Recent history has made it seem at least possible that some hideous demagogue could come along and make a fascist message palatable to a mass market. But even then, I expect the majority of people will still recognize it for what it is and recoil.

Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.
NEW YORK  Tensions frayed in both parties on Monday, as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tried to stave off the prospect of a lengthy battle to the nomination with big victories in New York.

While Clinton escalated her attacks against rival Bernie Sanders, Republican leader Donald Trump complained about a rigged nomination process prompting a fierce defense from party leaders. Both candidates are pushing for big wins in New Yorks primary April 19, hoping to create a sense of inevitably around their candidacies with sizable delegate gains.

Campaigning in Irvine (Orange County), Texas Sen. Ted Cruz described Trumps attacks on the Republican nomination process as whining. Trump erupted on Fox News on Monday morning over his loss of recently allocated delegates in Colorado to Cruz.

And at a rally in Rochester, N.Y., on Sunday, Trump blasted the way political parties choose presidential nominees as corrupt and crooked  a sentiment echoed by surrogates and supporters who appear increasingly troubled by Cruzs superior efforts when it comes to wrangling delegates.

I see it with Bernie, too, Trump told Fox News on Monday, pointing to the Democratic race. Every time I turn on your show  Bernie wins, Bernie wins, Bernie wins. And yet Bernies not winning. I mean, its a rigged system folks.

Trumps accusations come as he seeks to outmaneuver Cruz in local state gatherings where the delegates who will attend the summer convention are being chosen. In state after state, Cruzs campaign has implemented a more strategic approach to picking up delegates, which, despite Trumps current lead, are essential if he wants to reach the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination.

The complaints call into question the integrity of the voting process at a time when the party could be working to unify behind its front-runner. But Cruzs appearance in California, which holds its primary in June, was a reminder that regardless of what happens in New Yorks primary, the presidential nomination on the Republican side  if not for both parties  wont be decided for another two months.

Clinton hopes to capture what her team says would be an all-but-insurmountable lead by the end of the month. Campaigning across southern New York on Monday, she targeted Sanders record on guns, immigration, Wall Street reform and foreign policy.

I have noticed that under the bright spotlight and scrutiny here in New York, Sen. Sanders has had trouble answering questions, she told reporters after a campaign event at an Indian restaurant in Queens.

Sanders hit back at a rally in the upstate city of Binghamton, rallying supporters with a lengthy rift slamming Clinton for promoting fracking as secretary of state and only offering conditional opposition to the practice. The oil and gas drilling method, reviled by environmentalists, has been banned in New York.

The harsher tone comes just days before the two Democrats will meet on stage for the first Democratic primary debate in more than a month. Since their last face-off, the contest has taken a decidedly negative turn, with the two candidates trading a series of barbs over their qualifications for the White House.
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RALEIGH, N.C.  Hundreds rallied Monday to defend a North Carolina law limiting protections for the LGBT community, using cheers and a booming public address system to drown out a smaller counterprotest across the street.

About 500 gathered on the grounds of the old Capitol in the largest demonstration yet by supporters of the law, seeking to strike back after more than two weeks of negative publicity along with condemnation from business leaders and other public figures.

Signs reading No Men in Womens Bathrooms highlighted a single provision of the multifaceted law that has served as a major rallying point for conservatives: a measure requiring transgender people to use the public bathroom corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificate.

Rally attendee June House said she believes people should use the bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding with their gender at birth. The issue is important to the Fayetteville resident because she ran a fitness center before retiring and continues to swim frequently at another gym.

When I come out of the shower, its a semi-nude situation. I think modesty and safety are not what they should be if cross-dressers are in there, she said.

On a nearby sidewalk, nearly 100 people gathered in a counterprotest, holding signs such as Bigotry is Bad for Business and chanting: They are up there preaching hate! They do not represent our state!

The dueling demonstrations reflected a fervor thats expected to keep the debate stoked through the legislative session later this month  and likely through fall elections that include a closely contested governors race.

Opponents of the law including the Rev. William Barber, president of North Carolinas NAACP branch, have threatened civil disobedience when the legislative session starts on April 25 if the law isnt repealed. Those who support the law are also planning a rally outside the Legislature that day, said Mark Creech of the Christian Action League.

Creech told the crowd at his rally that a smear campaign has been deployed against a law that protects small-business owners who want to follow their religious beliefs.

The state law was passed after Charlotte adopted a nondiscrimination ordinance allowing transgender people to use public restrooms in line with their gender identity.

The North Carolina law overrules LGBT antidiscrimination measures passed by local governments. It also excludes sexual orientation and gender identity from the states antidiscrimination policy and prevents people from filing employment discrimination lawsuits in state courts.

Dozens of business executives are urging Gov. Pat McCrory and legislators to repeal the state law.
WASHINGTON  The Interior Departments inspector general has opened an investigation into possible funding irregularities involving the proposed delta tunnels, a $15 billion plan to dig giant twin pipes to siphon water directly from the Sacramento River and send it underground to farms and cities in the southern part of the state.

The decision, made public Monday, came after a nonprofit called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a complaint alleging that federal money intended to go for fish and wildlife was spent instead on planning for the tunnels.

Paula Dinerstein, the groups senior counsel, said the federal Bureau of Reclamation gave the California Department of Water Resources more than $60 million under the authority of the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, to pay for environmental studies. She alleged the statutory authority does not apply to the tunnels.

This is not a contract to benefit fish and wildlife, Dinerstein said, but rather to do work on a project that is a detriment to fish and wildlife.

Water consultant Patricia Schifferle, a critic of the tunnels, agreed, adding that it is illegal to use federal funds for a purpose that Congress didnt authorize. If the inspector general finds the funds were misused, Schifferle said the state could be required to pay the money back, dealing a major setback to the tunnel project.

The project, renamed California Water Fix, has strong backing from Gov. Brown but has struggled amid concerns about its cost, whether San Joaquin Valley farmers can afford the project, and its effect on the deltas declining health.

The nonprofit group received a letter Friday from Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall saying her office had decided to conduct a review that will begin his month after studying the information.

Nancy Vogel, a spokesperson for the California Department of Water Resources, said her agency will cooperate fully with the U.S. Department of Interiors office of inspector general and has no comment beyond that.

In a separate development on the tunnels, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District said Monday that it has signed a $175 million deal to buy 20,000 acres of delta islands from the Zurich Insurance Group. The water district, which supplies water to 19 million people, has said the islands could be used for construction of the tunnels.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com
AUSTIN, Texas  Federal securities regulators charged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday with four civil counts of fraud, piling on more legal troubles for the Republican already under criminal indictment for allegations that he deceived friends and wealthy investors.

The lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission provoked new calls from critics that Paxton should resign but no immediate response from state Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott.

Paxton, who has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of securities fraud handed up by a Texas grand jury last summer, has said he wont step down and has faced no public pressure from state leaders to do so. But questions about his private financial dealings have made for a tumultuous first 16 months on the job.

The new federal lawsuit essentially mirrors the charges in Paxtons criminal case  that he defrauded investors in a high-tech startup called Servergy Inc.  but provides a far more detailed narrative of Paxtons alleged misdeeds than what has previously been made public.

The SEC describes how Paxton allegedly betrayed a friend, raised $840,000 and pressured one investor to make a hasty decision to immediately invest, thereby increasing the value of Servergy stock that Paxton received as commission. Paxtons investor recruiting took place in 2011, when he was still a state legislator.

SEC investigators say Paxton claimed he planned to invest $100,000 of his own money into Servergy but that company founder Bill Mapp refused. The lawsuit alleges Paxton said Mapp told him, I cant take your money. God doesnt want me to take your money. Paxton claimed he accepted Servergy shares as a gift, according to the lawsuit.

But both state prosecutors and now the SEC accuse Paxton of never telling investors Servergy paid him to raise money.

The investors wouldnt have invested had they known Paxton was being paid to promote the company, the lawsuit reads.

Those same allegations led to Paxtons indictment and facing a possible sentence of five to 99 years in prison if convicted. By filing a civil lawsuit, federal regulators arent seeking prison time but instead want Paxton to pay back any ill-gotten gains or unjust enrichment and be ordered to pay additional financial penalties.

Paxton attorney Bill Mateja rejected the accusations. Like the criminal matter, Mr. Paxton vehemently denies the allegations in the civil lawsuit, he said.
LOS ANGELES  The daughter of The Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker reached a $10.1 million settlement with the estate of the man driving the car her father died in three years ago, court records show.

The estate of Roger Rodas, a longtime friend of Walkers who was driving the Porsche Carrera GT in which the two men died after a wild 2013 crash, agreed to place more than $7.2 million in a trust for Walkers teenage daughter, Meadow, according to terms of a settlement that was reached in November 2014.

Nearly $2.9 million was set aside for legal fees, records show.

Walker was on a break from filming the seventh installment in the Furious series when he and Rodas decided to drive away from a charity event in Valencia on Nov. 30, 2013. Investigators said the vehicle was traveling at least 90 mph when it smashed into several trees and a concrete light pole on Hercules Street. Both men died within seconds.

It was unclear why the terms of the settlement became public this week. Walkers name is not mentioned in the court filings. Meadow, who was a juvenile at the time the order for settlement was granted, is listed as Meadow W. in the court filings.

Meadow Walker and Rodas widow, Kristine, have filed wrongful death suits against Porsche, claiming various design flaws or mechanical failings led to the crash. Investigators with the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department and the California Highway Patrol both ruled that speed was the main factor in the wreck, but the lawsuits contend the vehicle was traveling slower than police indicated.

A judge threw out Rodas suit earlier this week. An attorney representing Meadow Walker said Friday that news of the settlement with Rodas should have no effect on her pending suit against Porsche.

Through his estate, Mr. Rodas, the driver of the car, took partial responsibility for the crash, which Paul Walker would have survived, attorney Jeff Milam said in a statement. Our lawsuit on behalf of Meadow against Porsche AG  a $13 billion corporation  intends to hold the company responsible for producing a vehicle that was defective and caused Paul Walkers death.

In a response filed last year, Porsche said Walker was responsible for his own death, claiming the vehicle was misused and improperly maintained.
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SACRAMENTO  California workers who need to take time off to care for a newborn or family member will receive up to 70 percent of their pay after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Monday to expand the benefit.

Brown said AB908 adds to the states efforts to address income inequality. He recently signed a bill to raise the states minimum wage to $15 by 2022.

We are trying to compensate for gross inequality, Brown said at a Capitol news conference in his office. This will help a lot of people.

The bills author, Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, said many low-wage workers cant afford to take advantage of the Paid Family Leave Program, which now provides 55 percent of a persons pay for up to six weeks of leave, and the state disability insurance program, which provides 55 percent of pay for up to 52 weeks depending on the non-work-related injury.

Under AB908, workers making around minimum wage would be eligible for 70 percent of their pay while on paid family leave or on state disability, while other workers who earn more would be eligible for 60 percent of their pay, Gomez said.

The new law goes into effect in 2018 and comes on the heels of San Francisco becoming the first U.S. city to require six weeks of fully paid leave for new parents.

This program is for all workers and all families  women and men, gay or straight, Gomez said. However, after 10 years of data, weve learned that the Paid Family Leave Program is simply out of reach for many Californians because the wage-replacement rate is simply too low.

President Obama lauded the expansion, calling it great news for California.

Expanding the program will cost the state an additional $348 million in 2018 and $587 million by 2021, which would come out of the states Disability Insurance Fund, which is funded by employee payroll deductions. That fund has reserves of $3.3 billion, which is 60 percent of annual program costs.

California was the first state in the nation to create a paid family leave program, which began in 2004. In 2013, the program was used by 204,000 people, with 90 percent of those claims filed by parents taking time off to bond with a newborn. The average claim in 2013 was $527 a week for 5.4 weeks.

The current maximum weekly amount is set at $1,104 and is adjusted every year based on the statewide average weekly rate.

Vivian Thorp of the Alameda County Homeless Action Center, who is now taking care of her ill mother, said the bill will help many people who find themselves in the unexpected position of caring for a loved one.

This is absolutely vital, Thorp said.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
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Just feet from a playground in San Franciscos John McLaren Park, city workers made a grisly discovery: the body of a 32-year-old mother, whose missing 2-year-old daughter is the subject of a massive police search and investigation.

The Recreation and Park crew found the body of Nicole Fitts around 9:30 a.m. Friday on a patch of ivy surrounded by thick brush near University and Woolsey streets next to the parks playground, baseball fields and a tennis court.

Fitts and her daughter Arianna had been missing since April 1, and although investigators found the mothers slain body, the daughter remains unaccounted for.

Authorities continued their around-the-clock search Monday for the toddler and on Saturday evening released several photos of the joyful young girl, hoping anyone from the public who sees her will come forward and call 911.

But police have released few details on what happened to Fitts, including where and how she died and whether a suspect has been identified or arrested in her slaying.

The mother of two worked at Best Buy on Harrison Street in the citys Mission District and is described by her family and close friends as warmhearted, shy and kind. Her older daughter is not part of the investigation, police said.

Fitts close friend and Best Buy co-worker Michael Jacobo, 33, has been tormented since learning of the womans killing and her daughters disappearance.

He said in an April 5 post on Facebook that he last heard from her four days earlier in an electronic message, saying she was in Fresno with a friend named Sam. Friends on the social media site said that shortly before she went missing, Arianna may have been with a babysitter in Oakland.

I cant release any information on that, a San Francisco police spokeswoman, Officer Grace Gatpandan, said Monday.

On Sunday, Jacobo described his friend to The Chronicle as one of the kindest people you would ever meet.

After learning that Fitts body was found at McLaren Park, Jacobos father, Guy, visited the playground on Monday afternoon.

Im devastated, he said near the scene. They had a good friendship together.

He said Fitts and his son had stayed together at his house a few times and she was always shy and very quiet.

More recently, he said Fitts had moved into a room at a home off Third Street in the citys Bayview neighborhood. Guy Jacobo and his son wondered whether the message from the womans phone on April 1 was sent by her or someone else.

He feels he could have done more, Guy Jacobo said of his son, who has been interviewed by police along with scores of other close friends and family members of Fitts.

He, like other friends and relatives, is hoping Arianna turns up safe.

I hope someone is protecting her and looking after her, he said.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
California voters could be asked this fall to approve new statewide gun restrictions if an initiative championed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom qualifies for the ballot. Some California cities aren't waiting to enact a key provision of the law  a ban on possessing magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds.

But it's hard to measure what, if any, difference these so-called high-capacity magazine bans make in curbing day-to-day gun violence common on the streets of major California cities. The state has banned the sale and import of such magazines since 2000, but any owned before that are grandfathered in. Newsom's initiative would ban their possession, and anyone who owns an 11-plus round magazine would be required to get rid of it within about nine months or be guilty of a crime.

Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Sunnyvale have enacted similar ordinances.

"In 2015, there was definitely a resurgence of interest," said Allison Anderman, an attorney at the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The organization advises local governments on gun restrictions.

Anderman said the mass shooting in which Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malika killed 14 people and injured 22 others in San Bernadino last year has driven an uptick in interest from California cities.

"We've seen a lot of local governments wanting to do things, especially governments we haven't heard from in a while," she said.

But experts and law enforcement can't point to any actual impact: no magazines turned in, and none seized as a direct result of the local large-magazine bans on the books.

"The fact that these laws may be difficult to enforce in some cases is not an argument against enacting them," Anderman said, "if they are laws that have the potential to have an impact."

Measurement Difficult

Reliable statistics on guns and gun violence are hard to come by in the U.S.

"One of the other issues with determining the efficacy of local regulations is of course the prohibition against federal funding on researching gun violence," UC Irvine criminal justice professor George Tita said.

But he knows the numbers that are out there. Gun manufacturers in this country make around 10 million firearms every year, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and all but a few hundred thousand stay in the U.S. Plus we import a few million.

A majority are handguns, and Californians  like the rest of the nation  have been buying more of those in the past few years.

That constant flow of new weapons exasperates Tita.

"There were almost a half million handguns legally purchased in the State of California last year," he said, "and a half million the year before. So, it is a little bit frustrating, but that doesn't mean that we just turn a blind eye and don't try to do things."

Proponents of high-capacity magazine bans say limiting the number of a rounds a shooter can fire before having to reload can save lives. Opponents say these kinds of laws will only punish law-abiding gun owners, so their impact on violence is mnoute.

Either way, it's hard to tell if penalties under the ordinances aren't enforced. Simply possessing a magazine that can carry more than 10 rounds is a misdemeanor, in all four cities and under Newsom's proposed law. Punishment for breaking the law can include short stints in jail, a fine or both. But misdemeanor charges typically pale in comparison to the felonies prosecutors can charge if someone is caught with an illegal magazine while committing another crime.

"The fact that it's a misdemeanor doesn't make it something that doesn't have a consequence," said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, who supports Oakland's recently enacted high-capacity magazine ban.

"The misdemeanor does allow us to take the guns away," she said. "It allows us to destroy guns, or in this case, magazines. We have a great capacity to stop someone from going further, and if they do go further, then we have the misdemeanor conviction to be more effective in prosecuting them the next time."

Lawsuits Likely

Passing local firearms regulations almost guarantees a city will face a lawsuit.

Ordinances in San Francisco, Sunnyvale and Los Angeles have all faced legal challenges that are still playing out through state and federal courts, and California's branch of the National Rifle Association has threatened litigation against Oakland.

Anderman said those challenges are overwhelmingly defeated.

"The gun lobby tries to intimidate local governments by bringing frivolous lawsuits because they know that local governments are cash-strapped," she said. "But insofar as the gun lobby has challenged those laws, they've lost."

It's hard to say what will happen if California voters enact a ban on possessing high-capacity magazines statewide. Gun owner groups are focused right now on defeating the ballot measure. But if it passes, expect a well-funded legal fight based on federal law.

This article was originally published on KQED.org.
Though not born of either Marvel or DC, Cyrano de Bergerac has been a superhero all along. From his debut on the French stage in 1897 to his current appearance with TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Cyrano is the ultimate romantic warrior with unrivaled skills as both poet and swordsman.

In TheatreWorks Cyrano, which opened Saturday, April 10, at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, the 2011 adaptation by Aaron Posner and Michael Hollinger (who also translated from Edmond Rostands French original) takes pains to show us Cyranos heroics.

In an early scene set in a theater, the proud, quixotic Cyrano, played with gusto by J. Anthony Crane, is offended by a beribboned fop called De Valvert (Kit Wilder). Rather than simply cross swords with the man, Cyrano challenges him to a duel and promises to compose a Shakespearean sonnet while he fights.

Its a wonderfully entertaining scene, mostly because Crane wields his sword and his words with such  and heres a word said to be popularized by Rostand  panache, followed shortly by another swashbuckling episode in which Cyrano singlehandedly fends off 100 armed attackers.

By the end of Act 1, though, Cyrano is wilting in the face of his Kryptonite: Roxane, his unrequited love. Not to psychoanalyze poor Cyrano too much, but it seems his unusually large nose has caused his self-esteem to crumble, with his acts of derring-do masking a lonely heart that has long since given up hope of returned affection. At the thought of telling Roxane how he feels, Cyrano says, Shell laugh in my face, at my face.

So Cyrano helps his young compatriot, Christian (Chad Deverman), woo the lovely Roxane (Sharon Rietkerk), resulting in the second-most-famous balcony scene in Western drama, with Cyrano feeding Christian the poetry that will make Roxane fall for the wrong guy.

Theres a robust charm to director Robert Kelleys production in the first act, when Cyrano is surrounded by a noisy crowd of soldiers, actors, friends and antagonists. The second act, however, loses steam in a major way as the lively comedy and masterful swordplay (fight direction by Jonathan Rider) gives way to less exciting romance, a detour into battle and then a 15-year time jump into outright tragedy.

At nearly three hours, this Cyrano is at least 20 minutes too long and has a much easier time bearing the laughs and action of the first act than it does the increasingly sad drama of the second. Still, Cranes central performance has its affecting moments, and Rietkerk makes it easy to see why Cyrano might find Roxanes spiky-sweet intelligence and lust for poetry so disarming.

Theres some lively support in the ensemble as well, from Darren Bridgett as drunken poet, Michael Gene Sullivan as a beleaguered captain, Monica Cappuccini as a donut-loving nurse. And the stage is attractive. The moving set pieces designed by Joe Ragey are simple and elegant, while the part-modern/part-period costumes by Fumiko Bielefeldt make a handsomely convincing case for cargo pants as 17th century fashion.

Still, in the end, the shine on this Cyrano dulls and you cant help wishing Roxane would just figure it out already: Her boyfriend is a handsome dullard and the guy with the nose is Superman with a sword and a soulful way with a sonnet.

Chad Jones is a Bay Area theater critic and writer.

Cyrano: Romantic drama. By Edmond Rostand, adapted by Michael Hollinger and Aaron Posner. Directed by Robert Kelley. Through May 1. $19-$80. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View. Two hours, 40 minutes. (650) 463-1960. www.theatreworks.org.
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It can take a while to settle into a new job in a federal bureaucracy, but Jared Blumenfeld managed to get his feet wet within months of taking over as regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Hed barely taken the oath of office in 2010 before he was sloshing through acid water at a polluted mine in Northern California. A few months later he was in waders picking up plastic trash in a Bay Area waterway. It wasnt long before Blumenfeld was mingling with Native American tribes and personally overseeing toxic waste cleanups in California, Arizona, Nevada and the Pacific Islands.

His was a hands-on approach that the federal agency hadnt seen in a long time and, it turns out, may not be seeing again anytime soon.

The EPAs activist administrator announced to his staff Monday that he will be stepping down next month. His last day will be May 6.

Its been fascinating. I loved it, said Blumenfeld, 46, who plans to spend the next four months hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Hopefully, what Im leaving behind is a stronger agency that is able to deal with the complex challenges of the future.

Blumenfelds departure comes seven months before his term as Region 9 administrator was set to expire; he was appointed to the position by President Obama in January 2010. His deputy, Alexis Strauss, will be the acting administrator until the end of the Obama administration. The next president will choose the new regional administrator.

Blumenfeld said he is leaving because he feels he has done most of the things he set out to do with the EPA. And he realized recently that his greatest love is the outdoors, and he wants to spend more time in it.

Ive worked every single day since I graduated from law school at UC Berkeley, said Blumenfeld, who was head of San Franciscos department of the environment before joining the EPA.

Oversaw S.F. initiatives

Blumenfeld made a name for himself during nine years in San Francisco government, championing the citys plastic-bag ban and mandatory composting laws. As EPA administrator he was in charge of enforcing federal environmental regulations throughout the West and the Pacific Islands, including 34 air districts.

When he took office, he vowed to make the EPA relevant again. He said he wanted to reconnect with citizens after the regional office went under the radar during the eight-year term of his predecessor, Wayne Nastri, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.

Blumenfeld created an enforcement division and immediately set about cracking down on polluters and those who were exploiting resources in downtrodden inner-city communities, Indian reservations and around San Francisco Bay.

Shortly after his appointment, he toured the Iron Mountain Mine outside of Redding, a hellish pit where acid water splashed against his boots, greenish bacterial slime gurgled out of the walls, and stalactites and stalagmites of acid salt, copper and iron jutted like rusty daggers.

He was soon being photographed in hip waders plucking discarded bits of plastic that sicken fish and birds out of the water at Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline in San Leandro, to highlight an EPA crackdown on dumping by plastic manufacturers.

I'm a huge admirer of his energy and creativity and knowledge on a wide range of environmental issues, said David Lewis, executive director of the environmental group Save the Bay. The EPA has been a big leader in reducing runoff pollution, especially trash, from getting into the bay and ocean.

The EPA under Blumenfeld emphasized the protection of wetlands, tidal marsh restoration and efforts by communities to prepare for sea-level rise. It also began enforcing climate-change regulations and took an active role in Gov. Jerry Browns Bay Delta Conservation Plan.

The EPA at one point forced the Brown administration to go back to the drawing board when it ruled that a proposal to build twin tunnels to siphon water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta did not adequately protect fish and wildlife.

Community oriented

The regional office forced Californias Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources to re-examine regulations that had been allowing oil companies to inject their wastewater into California aquifers.

He has focused particularly on poor communities in California, where he said about a million people, many of them migrant farmworkers, lack access to water that meets federal drinking water standards.

He raised the profile on safe drinking water issues in California, and that was really important, said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board who served as EPA regional administrator during the Clinton administration. He shined a light on disadvantaged communities that werent getting help.

He actively supported the work of the Comite Civico Del Valle Inc., an Imperial County outreach group that helps disadvantaged people, many of them farmworkers. Among their causes was ongoing hazardous waste dumping on tribal land owned by the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians.

The EPA stepped in and did enforcement  brought in their muscle  and Jared was there when it happened, said Luis Olmedo, executive director of Comite Civico Del Valle. Jared has always had a willingness and open mind to tackle big issues. Hes not afraid to dive in and roll his sleeves up. Thats not always the case with top executives.

Among Blumenfelds proudest achievements was his work with Native American tribes. He has visited American Indian leaders from 140 tribes across the West, and he expects to have visited every tribe in his region by the time he leaves office.

Under his tenure, the EPA secured almost $1 billion in settlement money to help clean up about 50 abandoned uranium mines in and around the Navajo Nation, the largest Indian reservation in the country, covering an area about the size of West Virginia.

Blumenfelds agency took legal action against the Bureau of Indian Affairs for not providing adequate drinking water to schools on Indian land. He approved a plan after some 50 consultations that drastically reduced pollution emitted by the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant that had covered the area in a brown haze for decades.

Focus on renewables

Since 2009, the EPAs regional office has reviewed 47 solar, 20 wind and 17 geothermal projects, an emphasis on renewable energy that Blumenfeld pushed.

Blumenfeld said it was during a hike last year to the spectacular Havasu Falls, the brilliant blue waterfalls on Havasupai tribal lands in the Grand Canyon, that he decided he wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail.

I realized then that I love hiking and being in nature, and that this was something I wanted to do, he said. His time in the EPA was an incredible privilege and a real learning experience. Im confident the agency has a goal of advancing the values Ive set forth. Now, I just need time to figure out what I want to do next.

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite
Cuba is running low on beer.

Visiting tourists have been drinking up the beer supply and the country's main manufacturer, Bucanero, is having issues keeping up, according to the Costa Rica Star.

This year, the company will produce 19 million cases of its beer  the brands include Cacique, Mayabe, Bucanero and Cristal, Cuba's most popular beer  and will import 3 million cases of Dominican Republic beer, Presidente.

Along with thirsty visitors, Bucanero has also had issues with shipping delays of brewing malt from the Czech Republic, all leading to less beer for sale.

To keep up with the drinking crowds, Bucanero will need to build a new plant in Cuba, Reuters reported.

Also causing an increase in demand are privately owned cafes and restaurants that are competing with state-run bars for the beer supply.

"Private bars can go out and find supplies where they can," a manager of a state-run bar told Reuters. "I can only sell what the government gives me." When that bar ran out of beer, Reuters reported, a privately run operation upstairs from the bar had its own supply of beers to sell.

The number of tourists have increased over the past years with Cuba welcoming a record 3.5 million visitors in 2015, according to Reuters. American travelers to Cuba have also increased, with 161,000 tourists visiting the country after the last of the U.S. travel restrictions on Cuba were lifted.
KIEV, Ukraine  Swept into office by the mass protests that deposed the Russia-friendly president two years ago, Ukraines new leaders promised that the country would soon be welcomed into Europe as a thriving new democracy.

Instead, Ukraine lost the Crimean Peninsula to Russia and found itself at war with Russia-backed separatists in the east. The new, pro-Western government failed to show that it was serious about taking on corruption or enacting the promised reforms. The economy and living standards tanked.

Disillusioned and angry, Ukrainians now await the arrival of a new government that will be under immediate pressure to win back their trust and restore the confidence of the West.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk  one of the leaders of the protests on Independence Square, known as the Maidan  announced Sunday that he would submit his resignation to parliament on Tuesday. This appeared to clear the way for the parliament speaker, Volodymyr Groysman, to replace him and form a new government.

The parties led by Yatsenyuk and President Petro Poroshenko still dominate the governing coalition, but the choice of Groysman, a member of Poroshenkos party, is seen as strengthening the hand of the president.

Time is running out and the patience of Ukrainians is fading. And that can be dangerous, said Pyotr Shevchenko, a 46-year-old driver who took part in the Maidan protests. He later joined sporadic pickets outside the presidential administration, where tires were set on fire as a reminder of the protests and the promises that were made.

The protests were set off in November 2013 when President Viktor Yanukovych abruptly decided to abandon a free-trade agreement with the European Union and seek closer cooperation with Moscow. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets of Kiev. The protests later turned violent, with more than 100 people killed, many of them by sniper fire.

After Yanukovych fled to Russia in February 2014, the new pro-Western leadership of Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk promised to enact reforms and fight the corruption that had flourished under the previous government. But most Ukrainians have seen little progress, while life has only grown harder.

Every day we hear beautiful words about reforms, but we dont see any beautiful results, said Oksana Nichiporuk, 42. After losing her job last year as an economist at a Kiev plastics factory, she now sells knitted scarves with European symbols on the Maidan.

Last weeks referendum in the Netherlands rejecting the EUs free-trade agreement with Ukraine was another blow, serving as a reminder to Ukrainians that the promises of closer ties with Europe and visa-free travel remain largely unfulfilled two years after the agreement was finally signed.

Of course its shameful that our dreams of Europe were so quickly crushed by the endless Ukrainian scandals, the corruption and lack of reforms, said Galina Rudenko, 30, who works for an IT company. When you sit down at the table with Europeans, you first need to learn how to wash your hands.
DAMASCUS, Syria  The U.N. special envoy on Monday urged Syrias warring sides to preserve the fragile U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire ahead of the next round of peace talks in Geneva this week.

The plea by Staffan de Mistura, who spoke after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus, came as Islamic State fighters retook a northern town along the border with Turkey from Syrian rebels and government forces and rebels clashed across northern and western Syria.

Opposition activists also reported clashes and government air raids near the northern city of Aleppo, Syrias largest city and once its commercial hub.

The fighting has endangered the U.S.-Russia-engineered truce that has mostly held since the end of February. Al Qaedas branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group are excluded from the cease-fire, which had brought relative calm to much of Syria.

De Mistura said the next round of peace talks, due to begin Wednesday in Geneva, will focus on a political transition for Syria, where the civil war, now in its sixth year, has killed 250,000 and displaced half the countrys pre-war population of 23 million people. About 4 million have fled the country.

In northern Syria, Islamic State fighters took control of the town of al-Rai, just days after losing it to the rebels, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Today TV station.

The Observatory said Islamic State captured al-Rai early Monday after intense fighting. The town is strategically located on the border with Turkey, serving as the Islamic States access point to supply lines. It also sits along the road to the Islamic State stronghold in Aleppo province.

The Observatorys chief Rami Abdurrahman said Islamic State fighters also captured six villages near al-Rai on Monday.

Islamic State has lost wide areas in Iraq and Syria recently, including the historic central town of Palmyra that was captured by Syrian government forces and their allies. The extremists have also suffered leadership setbacks as U.S. drone strikes in Syria have killed several top Islamic State and Nusra Front commanders and key figures in recent weeks.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India  The Hindu temple in southern India was packed with thousands for a religious festival early Sunday when the fireworks began  an unauthorized pyrotechnic display that went horribly wrong.

Explosions and a huge fire swept rapidly through the Puttingal temple complex about 3 a.m. in the village of Paravoor, killing at least 110 people and injuring 380 others, officials said.

Scores of devotees ran in panic as the massive initial blast cut off power in the complex, while other explosions sent flames and debris raining down, a witness said. Many people were trapped inside.

It was complete chaos, said Krishna Das of Paravoor. People were screaming in the dark. ... No one knew how to find their way out of the complex.

Das said the first deafening explosion occurred as the fireworks display was about to end. It was followed by a series of blasts.

One of the explosions sent large chunks of concrete flying as far as half a mile, said Jayashree Harikrishnan, another resident.

The fire started when a spark from the fireworks show ignited a separate batch of fireworks that were being stored in the temple complex, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the top elected official in Kerala state.

Most of the deaths occurred when the building where the fireworks were stored collapsed, Chandy said.

Villagers and police pulled many of the injured from under slabs of concrete.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control by about 7 a.m. Rescuers searched the wreckage for survivors, while backhoes cleared debris.

Thousands of worried relatives went to the temple to search for loved ones. Many wept and pressed police officials and rescue workers for information.

The temple holds a competitive fireworks show every year, with different groups putting on displays for thousands gathered for the end of a seven-day festival honoring the goddess Bhadrakali, a southern Indian incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali.

This year, however, authorities in Kollam district had denied temple officials permission to hold the fireworks display, said A. Shainamol, the districts top official. Chandy said he had appointed a retired judge to investigate the events.
SKOPJE, Macedonia  A rift between Macedonia and Greece over the refugee crisis deepened Monday, with Macedonia accusing its southern neighbor of not reacting to prevent hundreds of migrants and refugees from attempting to breach a border fence between the two countries.

Macedonias foreign ministry asked Greece to fully engage its police forces to prevent what it called the violent rioting of migrants. The call came a day after clashes between Macedonian security forces and hundreds of migrants and refugees who attempted to break through the border fence at a refugee camp housing more than 11,000 people near the Greek village of Idomeni.

Macedonian authorities fired tear gas and rubber bullets, and medical aid agencies said they treated about 300 people, including children, for respiratory problems and injuries. Macedonia said 14 police offers and nine soldiers were wounded.

Greek police observed from their side of the border and did not intervene, while the Greek government strongly criticized the indiscriminate use of chemicals, plastic bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable people.

A few hundred people also protested in Idomeni on Monday, marching to the razor-wire border fence carrying a Greek and German flag, but no violence was reported.

More than 53,000 people who made their way to Greece from Turkey have been stranded in the country since Balkan and European nations shut their land borders to them to stem the largest refugee flow the continent has seen since World War II. Greece has been frantically building new refugee camps, but still does not have the capacity to house them all.

Those in Idomeni have refused to leave the sprawling camp, made up mostly of small tents pitched along railway tracks and in fields, in the hope the border might open. Activists have circulated in the camp over the past few weeks, distributing flyers urging camp residents to protest and make a push on the fence.

The Macedonian foreign ministry said Skopje has been continuously requesting from Athens cooperation, information sharing and preventive action to dissuade violent rioting of migrants and illegal border crossing from Greek into Macedonian territory.

It added that Macedonian security forces, along with police officers of several European Union member states deployed at the border, were attacked by migrants throwing stones and they responded swiftly and accordingly.

The ministry insisted that while tear gas was fired, no other riot control means were used  despite clear evidence of rubber bullets being used, with migrants and reporters on the Greek side of the border collecting scores.
1 Refugee crisis: Migrants clashed with police Sunday after trying to scale a fence separating Greece from Macedonia in the border town of Idomeni. Macedonian police used tear gas, stun grenades, plastic bullets and later a water cannon, while migrants responded by throwing rocks at officers. Twice, migrants tried to breach the fence but were pushed back. Greek police stood by, not interfering. Tear gas fumes wafted into a nearby camp on the Greek side of the border holding over 11,000 stranded migrants. Volunteer doctors treated several dozen migrants with respiratory problems and slight injuries from the plastic bullets, said Achilleas Tzemos, deputy field coordinator of Doctors Without Borders. Macedonia and other Balkan countries to its north have shut their borders, closing what was the busiest migrant route to central Europe.

2 Islamic State: Thousands of Iraqis have returned to the western city of Ramadi three months after Iraqi troops backed by U.S.-led air strikes drove the Islamic State group out of the provincial capital, the citys mayor said Sunday. The returning families must go through security checks and are allowed to return only to areas cleared of mines left behind by the extremists, Mayor Ibrahim al-Osaj said. The militants seized Ramadi in May and held the town until they were driven out in December. As in other cities and towns in Syria and Iraq, the fight to retake Ramadi demolished large parts of the city.
1 Yemen cease-fire: A U.N.-brokered cease-fire was mostly holding across war-torn Yemen on Monday except in the besieged city of Taiz, according to residents. There were also sporadic exchanges of gunfire in other parts of the country after the truce between the Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemens internationally recognized government, and the Shiite rebels known as Houthis went into effect at midnight Sunday. The truce is meant build confidence between Yemens warring sides ahead of the U.N.-sponsored peace talks scheduled to take place in Kuwait on April 18.

2 Defection: A colonel from North Koreas military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in an unusual case of a senior-level defection, Seoul officials said Monday. The announcement came three days after Seoul revealed that 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South. It was the largest group defection since Kim Jong Un, North Koreas young leader, took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported that the restaurant is located in the Chinese city of Ningbo. Defections are a bitter source of contention between the rival Koreas, and Seoul doesnt always make the high-profile cases public.
Former PricewaterhouseCoopers chairman John Shewan has been drafted in by the government to run the rule over the country's foreign trust disclosure rules after tax-dodging practices unearthed in the so-called Panama Papers showed that activity extended to New Zealand.

Finance Minister Bill English and Revenue Minister Michael Woodhouse appointed Shewan to hold an independent inquiry to check whether New Zealand's disclosure rules are fit for purpose or need improving. The terms of reference include reviewing foreign trusts' disclosure rules on record-keeping, enforcement and the exchange of information with other tax jurisdictions, and Shewan is to report back by June 30.

"Ministers decided that in light of the 'Panama Papers' being released last week, it's worth looking at whether the disclosure rules are fit for purpose and whether there are practical improvements we can make," English said in a statement. "We've asked Mr Shewan to take a thorough and independent look at the current regime to check that it's fit for purpose."

Shewan, who chairs the manager of the Fonterra Shareholders' Fund, has been involved in a number of high-profile tax cases. Evidence in the structured finance suit against Westpac Banking Corp showed he advised the lender to declare tax at a rate comparable with competitors, at around 15 percent, although actual cash payments could be as low as 6 percent, against the then-legislated corporate tax rate of 30 percent.

The IRD's case against four Australian-owned banks operating in New Zealand was settled for $2.2 billion on Christmas Eve, 2009.

Shewan also came in for criticism when he provided expert advice in the Penny and Hooper case, where Christchurch surgeons Ian Penny and Gary Hooper were found to have paid themselves artificially low salaries to reduce their tax bills when the top income tax bracket was hiked to 39 percent in April 2000. The Court of Appeal and Supreme Court put his evidence to one side, as it expressed views on legal issues which shouldn't have been given by an expert witness.

Woodhouse again rejected claims New Zealand is a tax haven, saying former Finance Minister Michael Cullen put in place a policy to allow for cooperation across tax jurisdictions in 2006 which has since been further improved. He said Inland Revenue will send a representative to a specially-convened meeting in Paris called by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and will look at any issues raised there.

New Zealand's provisions around tax secrecy are under scrutiny in a separate review of tax legislation, with the government looking to scale back New Zealand's privacy protections to allow more sharing of taxpayers' information. The government wants to let IRD share more information on an anonymised format to provide better services, and also improve how law enforcement can use IRD information more effectively. That also extends to cross-border sharing as US legislation aimed at preventing tax evasion imposes stricter standards on other jurisdictions.

Separately, a review of legislation governing intelligence agencies by Cullen and incoming Governor General Patsy Reddy recommended extending tax information sharing to the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and Government Communications Security Bureau.

Tax secrecy has traditionally been considered necessary to encourage compliance by taxpayers.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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The University of Auckland has taken a major step towards quitting its unsuccessful experiment to relocate much of its medical school and innovation activity to its Tamaki campus, selling the site to a company controlled by property developer Tim Edney.

Tamaki Village Ltd will buy the remaining 11.9-hectare site for an undisclosed sum and lease back its core buildings and car parks for up to three and a half years while the activity at Tamaki is transferred to the university's three central city campuses in Grafton and Newmarket.

During the vice-chancellorship of John Hood in the early 2000s, the Tamaki site was seen as the logical place to expand the university, and a state-of-the-art building to house the new School of Population Health was opened on the site in 2004.

However, the remote location was never popular with teaching staff or students and when the university bought a disused brewery site in Newmarket, near the Grafton medical school campus, plans were made to shift activities back to a more central location.

Post-graduate degrees were increasingly conjoint, requiring access to more than one faculty, and research was increasingly multi-disciplinary, vice-chancellor Stuart McCutcheon told BusinessDesk. "Having faculties remote from the main university campus, students really struggled to be engaged."

The university had owned the site, which also included the Colin Maiden Park grounds, already sold to Auckland city, since 1944, he said.

"There have been a lot of attempts to make it work."

Proceeds of the sale will go towards the refurbishment and updating of other facilities.

Edney is listed as a 74 percent shareholding of Tamaki Village Limited, which was registered at the Companies Office on Feb. 29, with the remaining 26 percent held by Shundi Group Investment, whose shareholders are listed as Auckland-based Huojun Shao and Lijuan Zhu.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to provide "all possible assistance" to a woman for obtaining the autopsy report of her husband, who died in July 2013 due to an alleged cardiac arrest in US, for initiating legal proceedings there.



Justice Manmohan passed the direction on a petition filed by Binu M K who had approached the court seeking a direction to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to make available the autopsy and medical reports of her husband Manoj M C.



The woman told the court her husband, who was working as an assistant security officer on a cruise liner 'Carnival Triumph' at Florida, had died of a cardiac arrest on July 28, 2013 while on duty.



Her counsel claimed the deceased's friends and co-workers had informed that there was gross negligence on the company's part as Manoj was suffering from acute pain for more than eight hours but the firm allegedly did not provide basic medical facilities to him.



The lawyer said she needed the autopsy and medical reports for taking legal action against the company.



The counsel appearing for the Centre handed over to the court an e-mail written by Consul General of India at Houston which stated that sharing of medical records in the US was an issue covered by strict privacy.



"We will approach the Ministry to allow us to hire an attorney to go through the legal/court process to obtain relevant medical records/autopsy report for the next of kin in accordance with local privacy laws," the e-mail said.



After the e-mail was handed over to the court, Binu's advocate said he wish to withdraw the petition with liberty to file proceedings in a court in the US.



The lawyer, however, requested the court that the MEA and Consul General of India at Houston be directed to provide all assistance to her.



"Consequently, the present writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with a direction to the respondents (MEA and others) to render all possible assistance to the petitioner in accordance with law," the court said.

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U.S. Asks Maldives To Rectify Injustice To Nasheed

Source: PTI
LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron was to announce a new taskforce today to deal with the so-called Panama Papers as pressure mounted over the handling of his own offshore finances.



The force will be led by the HMRC tax authority and the National Crime Agency, but is unlikely to spare Cameron from more scrutiny over his admission on Thursday that he bought and then sold shares in his late father's Bahamas-based offshore fund.



Cameron at first refused to comment on his father's fund, details of which emerged in the leak of documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, and admitted yesterday he had mishandled the controversy.



The prime minister was to insist today that Britain has been at the "forefront of international action to tackle aggressive tax avoidance and evasion," according to a statement from the finance department, but the latest revelations appear to have undermined his claims to be leading the efforts.



A Yougov poll released Thursday showed that Cameron was the second least trusted British politician on tax affairs, coming behind only his finance minister George Osborne.



The taskforce will investigate the leaked files to identify clients of the Panama firm suspected of money laundering and tax evasion, and will have a europe million (USD 14-million, 12-million-euro) budget.



"There is clearly further to go and this taskforce will bring together the best of British expertise to deal with any wrongdoing relating to the Panama Papers," said Cameron.



The taskforce will report its findings "later this year", according to the statement.



Cameron said he would publish his tax returns and shouldered the blame for the row.



He earlier admitted he and his wife had held a stake in his father's Blairmore Holdings scheme. They bought the stake for 12,497 in 1997 and sold it for 31,500, four months before he became prime minister in 2010.



He is believed to have paid tax on the dividends paid out by the trust, but not on the profits when sold.



"It has not been a great week. I know that I should have handled this better, I could have handled this better," he told his Conservative Party's spring forum in London yesterday.



Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Downing Street Saturday to call for his resignation.

Read Also: Proposed GST In Ind Is Of Paramount Importance: U.S.

Kejriwal Questions Modi's Language Over Kolkata Flyover Tragedy
NEW DELHI: With global players exploring India as a talent pool for animation content and Indian filmmakers looking out for subjects with a broad mass appeal, theres a huge potential for the growth of the animation world in the country, says US-based Avneet Kaur, who has lent her creative touch to Hollywood entertainers like Tangled, Frozen and Zootopia.

The animation industry is definitely evolving in India. It has witnessed unprecedented growth rates in recent times, told IANS in an email interview from Los Angeles.

Her statement is well supported by the fact that Indias animation industry generated revenues to the tune of 51.1 billion in 2015, marking a growth rate of 13.8 percent, according to a FICCI-KPMG report.

Kaur, who is a simulation technical director at Walt Disney Animation Studios, said: Over the last decade, it has seen the entry of many global studios who have tapped into Indias talent pool.

Additionally, leading Indian production houses like Tata and Reliance are now investing in the animation market and collaborating with Indian filmmakers to make animated features that have broad mass appeal and entertain their local audiences.

I believe that this industry has huge business potential in India and is beginning to scale new heights.

India is said to have nearly 300 animation, 40 visual effects and 85 game development studios with over 15,000 professionals working for them, and these cater to not just the movie world but also to small screen content for children and regional platforms

Kaur says it is Bollywood that taught her to dream big, and her love for films made her walk on the animation path to reach the world of Hollywood.

Having worked on films like Bolt, Wreck-It Ralph and Feast, would she want to try her hand at an animation project in Bollywood?

May be some time in the future if the correct opportunity arises. It will be a homecoming, for my work, said Kaur, who after spending her growing up years in New Delhi and pursuing Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch) from the Birla Institute of Technology, India, took a foreign detour as she did her M.S. Visualisation Sciences from Texas A&M University, U.S.

While the cinematic world at large continues to paint a picture of India as a place with a mysterious, magical and enchanting quality, Kaur believes people in the west define India as a strong, modern and forward-thinking nation which is in touch with its culture and history.

India is a potpourri of diverse cultures. Growing up in so many different cities, each with its unique and diverse traditions, our family always had more festivals and occasions to celebrate.

Bollywood taught me to dream big, and my family and friends taught me the essence of life, and kept me grounded. I am so grateful for everything I have learnt growing up in India.

She added that she always loved to draw as a kid, and her parents encouraged her passion for the arts. Then she landed in Hollywood enthused with her love for films of all kinds.

Kaur asserted:Having a job of making movies was the best thing that could have happened to me and what better place to do this at, than Walt Disney Animation Studios. I was offered a job at this magical place in 2005, and since then this is my second home.

She joined the team of Zootopia, a film which brings the world of animals alive on the silver screen, when it was in early production, and worked as a character simulation technical director on it. Her next tryst with animation is Disneys musical adventure film Moana.

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G7 Declaration Calls For World Without Nuke Weapons
New Delhi: The Indian armed forces today pitched in with helicopters, aircraft, ships and medical teams to ensure quick treatment of the more than 300 people who were injured in the devastating fire which broke out in a temple in Kerala.



Following a request from the state government, Indian Air Force sent six helicopters, two AN32 transport aircraft and two business jets to Kerala, a spokesperson said.



While army medical personnel were rushed to Kollam from Trivandrum, the military hospital in the latter city also swung into action, army sources said.



The navy has dispatched six aircraft -- two Dornier fixed- wing aircraft, two ALH helicopters and two Chetak helicopters -- to the site of the tragedy that has claimed the lives of at least 106 people, a navy spokesperson said.



Two ALH with a nine-member medical team as well as three doctors, paramedics, supplies and equipment were rushed at 1130hrs to Kollam, where the tragedy occurred during a fireworks display organised at the Puttingal Devi Temple.



While the helicopters landed at the Ashramam Ground, Kollam, at 1200hrs, one Dornier aircraft from Kochi has been positioned at Trivandrum since noon. The rest of aircraft are on standby at Kochi.



The INS Sunayna, Kabra and Kalpeni set sail immediately from Kochi with 200kg of medical supplies and a medical team to provide succour at the site of the tragedy.



INS Kabra and Kalpeni reached Kollam jetty at 1600hrs while INS Sunayna is off Kollam and awaiting instructions.



The medical supplies have been handed over to the local administration while the ships have kept blood donors ready to meet requirement of blood.



The Indian Coast Guard, too, sent in a helicopter with medical supplies along with one of its ship.

Read Also: Proposed GST In Ind Is Of Paramount Importance: U.S.

Kolkata Boy Invents 'TrueEmoji' Technology, Gets Awarded by Google
White House: Climate Change Poses Urgent Health Risk

Posted on 11 April 2016 by Guest Author

This is a re-post from Bobby Magill at Climate Central

Climate change is a major threat to human health, with extreme heat likely to kill 27,000 Americans annually by 2100, according to a report released Monday by the White House.

The report, by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, outlines numerous ways global warming could devastate public health in the U.S. this century.

Projected increase in deaths due to warming in summer (April-September) and winter (October-March), and net change in deaths compared to 1990 baseline period for 209 U.S. cities examined. Data from Schwartz et al. 2015.

Click Image to Enlarge. Credit: U.S. Global Change Research Program

Global warming will lead to heat waves so extreme that in the hottest times of the year, it will be physiologically impossible for people who work outdoors to do their jobs, John Holdren, a science advisor to the Obama administration, said during a news conference about the report.

People who work outdoors will be unable to control their body temperature and will die, he said. This is a really, really big deal.

A 2015 Climate Central analysis of climate threats through 2050 for all 50 states, States at Risk, found heat to be the greatest threat of all, and the one for which most states, particularly high-risk states in the South, were poorly prepared.

Climate change will pose a major health threat to people of color, indigenous people and low-income communities, according to the report. It will lead to worsening air pollution, expose more people to waterborne illnesses, leave the American food supply vulnerable to a greater number of toxins and will potentially devastate the U.S. healthcare infrastructure as it becomes exposed to extreme weather.

By the end of the century, climate change will kill many tens of thousands of people every year in the U.S. because of disease and more extreme heat waves, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, winds, lightning, cold snaps and winter storms, the report said.

For the first time in history weve been able to show its not just about polar bears and melting ice caps, its about our families and about our future, Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said. Every part of the U.S. is impacted now by climate and is going to be increasingly impacted if we do not take action now to reduce those impacts.

The 332-page report, with contributions from hundreds of scientists from universities across the country, was released as part of the Obama administrations Climate Action Plan. The plan aims to reduce the U.S. contribution to global warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by up to 28 percent by 2025. The U.S. is a party to the Paris climate agreement, which aims to keep global warming from exceeding 2C (3.6F).

Global warming is driven primarily by carbon dioxide and methane emissions from agriculture, deforestation, petroleum-based transportation and fossil fuel-fired electric power plants. As those greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the globe, it is expected to lead to rising seas and more extreme weather, such as more frequent and intense heat waves, heavier rainfall, greater flooding, more wildfires and more severe hurricanes and tornado outbreaks in the U.S.

Changing climate is impacting the intensity, frequency, duration and geographical distribution of the extreme events were seeing today, said Stephanie Herring, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The report says climate change will threaten public health by increasing the severity and frequency of existing health problems and by posing unprecedented health problems  such as the spread of tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease  in places where they have never occurred before.

Click Image to Enlarge. Credit: U.S. Global Change Research Program

As temperatures warm, mosquito-born illnesses such as West Nile virus, malaria and dengue fever could also spread throughout the U.S., sickening and killing Americans in the process, the report said. Air quality is expected to decline because of increased ozone pollution and a greater number of severe wildfires, leading to worsened allergy and asthma conditions and deaths.

Poor water quality caused by climate change could also lead to the spread of disease, according to the report. Warmer temperatures will warm lakes and streams, contributing to blooms of toxic algae, while coastal flooding from rising seas and higher storm surge could overwhelm urban wastewater systems and expose residents to waterborne pathogens.

Americas food supply is vulnerable to toxins and diseases spread by warming temperatures, the report said. Higher sea surface temperatures will lead to more mercury in seafood while warming will lead to the wider spread of pathogens, pests and parasites in the food supply such as norovirus, listeria, salmonella, E. coli and others.

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide also reduces the concentrations of proteins and minerals in some plant species, reducing the nutritional value of wheat and rice, according to the report. Extreme weather could also severely damage Americas food distribution infrastructure, leaving people without access to nutritional food.

Daniel Dodgen, director of At-Risk, Behavioral Health and Community Resilience at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, said climate-related deaths and extreme weather could also lead to mental health problems as people lose homes, jobs, family and other loved ones to disease and weather extremes.

If it impacts peoples health, it impacts peoples mental health, he said.
Flood crisis: Life-threatening floods, wild storms batter NSW, VIC, QLD Life-threatening flash flooding, heavy rain and wild thunderstorms are battering communities in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland on Sunday as the flood crisis ramps up; with evacuation orders issued as rivers break their banks.

15:46 We cant have a spending spree in upcoming budget: Dutton Opposition leader Peter Dutton says Treasurer Jim Chalmers does talk a lot, but he doesnt say much, as Labor prepares to unveil its...

07:58 Budget focus will be on election commitments Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood says Treasurer Jim Chalmers stated the budget will be a bread-and-butter budget and by that, he really means...

06:55 Solid, sensible and suitable to the times: Treasurer discusses budget priorities Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the upcoming federal budget will be solid, sensible and suitable to the times.

03:42 Australia draws Group B for FIFA Womens World Cup Australia drew Group B and will go head-to-head with the Republic of Ireland for their first match in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Victorian Coalition launches plan to address states ballooning debt The Opposition in Victoria has vowed to address the states eye-watering debt which is forecasted to surpass New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania combined.

01:27 Murray River approaches 100 year peak Several evacuation orders in Victoria have been issued along the engorged Murray and Loddon Rivers as water levels increase.

Angus Taylor rules out gender quotas within the Liberals The Oppositions Angus Taylor has stood firm against gender-based quotas within the Liberal Party amid a renewed push to boost female representation.

49:15 Business Weekend, Sunday 23 October Australian businesses smashed by floods. New initiative for SME cyber attack prevention. Plus, the future of carbon capture and storage.

01:03 Andrew Clennell looks ahead to the coming week in politics Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell has assessed what is set to be seen in the coming week in politics.

Shes not fit to serve: Dutton calls for Thorpe to leave Parliament The Opposition leader has joined calls for Ms Thorpe to have her portfolio stripped after details of a relationship with an ex-bikie member while on a law enforcement committee emerged.

14:05 Budget will try to bring people together around economic challenges Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the upcoming federal budget will be about trying to bring people together around big economic challenges.

Man charged after teens body found dumped in Sunshine Coast bushland A man has been charged with murder after the body of an 18-year-old woman was discovered dumped in bushland just meters from homes on the Sunshine Coast.

03:29 Higher budget deficits likely when inflation comes off: Clennell Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says despite Labors talk of lifting wages in the upcoming budget, this will be followed by a downgrade...

02:16 Australia and Japan upgrade security relationship with new agreement Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warmed up for the summit season with a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in...

Family friendly: Treasurer Jim Chalmers Budget pledge The Opposition says there are a lot of expectations for struggling Australians ahead of the Budget on Tuesday, which Treasurer Jim Chalmers has described as family friendly.

02:21 Australia and Japan sign security deal Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Japanese counterpart have signed an updated security pact, aimed at strengthening defence ties between...

00:53 Qld braces for severe storm warning Parts of Queensland are facing a weather emergency this morning as a severe storm warning is issued for the sunshine state.

00:57 Northern NSW facing third major flood Parts of northern New South Wales are on alert as further rainfall is expected over the coming days.
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Michael Ledeen;

Just last week, for example, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said Iran is preparing for all-out war with the U.S. and its allies, and has vowed Iran will continue advancing and testing its ballistic missile program.

Speaking at a gathering of senior IRGC commanders in Tehran Tuesday, Jafari declared that the U.S, "would not be able to do a damned thing" in the face of Iranian advances, according to the official Tasnim News Agency.

This echoed an earlier speech by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who, in response to Washington's latest plea for new talks about the ongoing Iranian ballistic missile tests, coldly said: "Those who say the future is in negotiations, not in missiles, are either ignorant or traitors."

[...]

Those who laugh off Iranian braggadocio might wish to rethink their light-heartedness. All indications are that Tehran is deadly serious, and has been all along.
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About Kate

Why this blog?

Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.

This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me."

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Andrew Barr believes there was nothing unusual about minister Meegan Fitzharris holding an official meeting with her husband over the Manuka Oval redevelopment bid, because she has no portfolio responsibility over the proposal.

Speaking in Singapore on the first day of a trade mission, the Chief Minister said there was nothing problematic about the February 18 meeting, which included Ms Fitzharris' husband, Pierre Huetter. Mr Huetter works for Dowse Projects, which has been employed by the GWS Giants to work on its bid with Grocon to redevelop the oval and build up to 1000 apartments, a hotel, shops and commercial space.

Greg Ellis, former Jon Stanhope staffer Greg Friedewald, Meegan Fitzharris and husband Pierre Huetter, right, pictured in 2011. Credit:Lyn Mills

Mr Huetter is also a former staffer for Mr Barr.

On Friday, Ms Fitzharris admitted he had taken part in a briefing to her office and representatives of the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate. The confirmation came a day after Ms Fitzharris said she had gone to some lengths to avoid a conflict of interest and would remove herself from any government discussions or deliberations about Manuka.
Canberra and Singapore can learn from one another as "forward thinking" cities of trade and development, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said on Monday.

Meeting with Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Josephine Teo, Mr Barr kicked off a week-long trade mission that will include the island city-state, Hong Kong and China.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr with Singapore's Senior Minister of State, Josephine Teo. Credit:Tom McIlroy

Mr Barr attended a reception hosted by Australian High Commissioner Philip Green with a delegation of Canberra business chiefs and Singapore Airlines executives, after joining a signing ceremony for Canberra start-up Mineral Carbonation International's a $100 million memorandum of understanding with Singapore company ArmorShield Holdings.

The Canberra company is building a global business and developing technology that can store carbon dioxides in carbonates in building materials for use in the building and construction industry.
Thousands of homeowners may be at risk of having substandard home warranty protection due to a legislative failure by the ACT Government.

John and Maria Ireland, of Forde, have blamed the bungle, which cut a year off their statutory six-year building warranty protection, for leaving them tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Chantelle, Ethan,10, and John Ireland at their home in Forde. The home has structural damage which QBE insurance is refusing to cover. Credit:Rohan Thomson

While territory builders must provide a six-year structural defect warranty on new houses, the mandatory insurance policies that kick in if they die, go broke or disappear only have to run for five.

The anomaly, which dates back at least as far as regulations signed off on by the then planning minister, Andrew Barr, in 2008, is not widely known, even within Access Canberra's building and construction bureaucracy.
It's been quite the journey for Snickle Fritz the dog, from a rubbish dump in Afghanistan to the leafy suburbs of Canberra.

But her story is more profound than that. Her calm presence helped a United States Marine keep a grip on humanity as he fought the Taliban in Afghanistan. She continues to help him as he lives with the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder after six deployments to the Middle East, the first as part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq when he was just 18.

Former United States Marine Eric Yarger with his wife Olympia and their daughter Charlotte, 4, at home in Isaacs with Snickle Fritz, the dog he rescued from a rubbish dump in Afghanistan. Credit:Rohan Thomson

The former marine, Eric Yarger, cradles four-year-old Snickle Fritz, an Afghan Kuchi breed, like a baby in the sunny kitchen of his Isaacs home in Canberra's south. Her name means mischievous child in Pennsylvania Dutch but she seems more like an old soul.

"It's her nature, she's always calm. She's sweet," he said.
Australia's largest investment bank has backed a proposal to secure funds from the sale of gift cards in a trust so customers are not left empty-handed if the business collapses.

The suggestion was made after customers were left with thousands of dollars worth of unredeemable Dick Smith gift cards when the electronics retailer collapsed in January and receivers Ferrier Hodgson refused to honour the cards.

Gift card holders have been left out in the cold by the Dick Smith collapse. Credit:Josh Robenstone

Investment bank Macquarie Group has said that establishing separate trusts for funds from gift cards may be a way to protect their holders in the event of a collapse.

"If the trust was properly established and administered, the cardholder may have a much higher likelihood of being repaid in the event of insolvency," Kristine Neill, Macquarie's global head of corporate communications and investor relations, wrote in a submission to a Senate inquiry launched in the wake of Dick Smith's demise.
His bravery earned him the US Bronze Star and the French Legion d'honneur. More importantly, he became the only living member of his tribe whose wartime exploits qualified him to be a war chief  with the name of High Bird.

Inspired by his ancestors' martial spirit, Medicine Crow enlisted for active service in the US Army during the Second World War. Under traditional tribal rules, to qualify as a "pipe carrier" (war chief), a Crow warrior must accomplish four acts of bravery in battle: touch an enemy without hurting him; take an enemy's weapon; lead a successful war party without losing any followers; and capture an enemy's horse. As a scout with the US 103rd Infantry in Europe, wearing war paint under his Army uniform, Medicine Crow achieved all four, including setting off a stampede of 50 horses from a stable run by the Nazi SS.

Joe Medicine Crow, who has died aged 102, was a descendant of Lt-Col George Custer's favourite scout; a war chief and historian of the Crow nation of American Indians; and one of the last links with those who fought in the Battle of Little Bighorn of July 1876, when Custer and 263 of his men died in a "Last Stand" against the Plains Indians.

Barack Obama reaches around the head dress of Chief Joseph Medicine Crow to place the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck in 2009. Credit:Alex Brandon

Crow country once sprawled over 30 million acres of Wyoming and Montana, stretching all the way to Canada. Today, the reservation has been reduced to 2.3 million acres. Yet while the perils of unemployment, alcoholism and illiteracy have taken their toll on other American Indians, the Crow tribe has proved resilient. Tribal elders argue that is because the Crows were never conquered. In his best-known book, From the Heart of Crow Country (1992), Medicine Crow highlighted the tribe's decision to establish friendly ties with white settlers, based on a 100-year-old prophecy that resistance would lead to disaster, and an 1825 treaty with Washington that was consummated by the ritual touching of a knife blade to tongues.

The alliance with the white man also had something to do with the traditional enmity between the Crow and the Sioux and Cheyenne, which led the tribe to side with the US authorities in the so-called "Great Sioux War" of 1876-7. Medicine Crow maintained that during that conflict the Crow saw themselves as using  rather than being used by  the whites.

The cause of the conflict, of which the Battle of Little Bighorn was one of many skirmishes, was the desire of the US government to obtain ownership of the Black Hills of South Dakota, where gold had been discovered, but which had been confirmed as belonging to the Sioux under the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. As white settlers began to encroach, the Sioux and Cheyenne, under the leadership of Sioux Chief Sitting Bull and his warrior, Crazy Horse, refused to cede ownership. One government official complained that they "set at defiance all law and authority, and boast that the United States authorities are not strong enough to conquer them". The US Army, the report went on, would need to "whip them into subjection".

George Custer became a mythic figure, glorified in highly fictionalised accounts of the Last Stand. Six Crow scouts served in his ranks and witnessed the Battle of Little Bighorn, when Custer led a force of some 700 men in an attack on several thousand encamped Cheyenne, Sioux and Arapaho warriors. Four of the scouts, including Joe Medicine Crow's great-uncle, White Man Runs Him, rode with Custer's column while two others rode with Major Marcus Reno.
The Australian Tax Office is investigating 800 Australians in relation to the use of tax havens mentioned in the leaks. Among them no doubt will be many people with political links either directly or through donations to parties. We will find out within a few months.

Already Iceland has lost a prime minister over his concealment of links to the leaks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been rattled enough to accuse the West of conspiracy. The Chinese government has censored the internet to stop the public accessing reports about the links with Beijing's powerful.

If any Australian prime minister - or MP for that matter - had been named in relation to the Panama Papers tax haven leaks, the public would want to know why and jobs would be on the line.

The Panama Papers showed his late father Ian, a stockbroker, had co-founded Blairmore Investment Fund in the tax haven of Panama in 1982. Run out of the Bahamas, where corporate tax is zero, the fund allowed wealthy Britons to minimise their tax. Blairmore hired Bahamians to create the impression that it was based there and not in Britain. The fund paid no tax for 30 years. The fund used bearer shares  in effect cash  which allowed for anonymity of ownership and which Mr Cameron had criticised for being linked to money laundering and corruption. In fact he banned them in Britain. Yet after Mr Cameron became Prime Minister, his father was still seeking legal advice on which was the best tax haven to which the fund could be moved. Above all, Blairmore was a longstanding client of another legal firm, Mossack Fonseca, an offshore services provider at the centre of the Panama Papers leaks.

When asked if there was any of his family's money in that fund, Mr Cameron at first said it was a private matter. Then he deliberately used the present tense to suggest: "I have no shares, no offshore trusts, nothing like that." He was soon forced to admit he and his wife had sold an interest in Blairmore in 2010, before he became Prime Minister. He also admitted having received 200,000 in gifts from his mother after his father died. This may end up avoiding Britain's inheritance taxes if his mother dies after 2017. More important, it remains unclear whether those gifts came from the Channel Islands tax haven of Jersey. It has emerged, too, that Mr Cameron urged the European Union not to push for greater transparency of trusts. And last week he even had to release his tax returns to restore public trust in him. Many other politicians are likely to have to follow suit.

Mr Cameron has done nothing illegal and did not have to register his interest in Blairmore when he still held it while Opposition Leader. But "I know there are lessons to learn, and I will learn them," the Conservative Party leader said on the weekend. "And don't blame No. 10 Downing Street or nameless advisers. Blame me."

He deserves blame not just for the PR bungling over his father's trust fund and his mother's gift. He is also hypocritical. In June 2012 he said it was "frankly and morally wrong" for comedian Jimmy Carr to channel money through a company in Jersey. The following year Mr Cameron said that "after years of abuse, people across the planet are rightly calling for more action" on tax evasion and tax avoidance, "and, most importantly, there is gathering political will to actually do something about it." Perhaps. But not to admit to having been involved in a fund in a tax haven himself.

It is clear that public expectations about tax transparency have risen to the point at which every politician has to be true to their principles. You cannot preach tax purity in public unless you can show you also behave that way in private.
Germaine Greer quashed the claim that "extreme jealousy" was the overriding cause of domestic violence, telling ABC's Q&A misogyny was the root cause of violence perpetrated against women.

The renowned feminist locked horns with fellow panellist Theodore Dalrymple, a British writer and former psychiatrist, after an audience question suggested women should bear some responsibility for their violent partners.

"With all the opportunities that are afforded young women of today, why are they still making poor relationship choices and having children in abusive relationships? Should women be held more accountable for their choices? And should we be targeting anti-domestic violence campaigns more towards women than men?" the questioner asked.

"Unfortunately it's a very complex one... but in my view the main driver of domestic violence that I saw was actually jealousy. That was the most powerful factor before there was violence," said Dalrymple, having examined 400 women who had experienced domestic violence during his research career.
An art dealer's estate wants the current owners to return the work, with authorities saying a criminal procedure is now underway. The estate claims the painting is held by the International Art Centre, in turned owned by art world heavyweight David Nahmad.

Swiss prosecutors raided a storage facility to "sequester" the 1918 work, Seated Man with a Cane, by Amedeo Modigliani meaning it cannot be moved.

A $A25m Modigliani painting claimed to have been looted by Nazis during the French occupation has been held in Switzerland following a legal stoush over its ownership.

The Nahmad link was revealed in the so-called Panama Papers, a collection of 11 million documents held by the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, which were passed to a German newspaper and then shared with the International Consortium of Journalists.

The family of Oscar Stettiner, a Jewish art dealer, claimed he originally owned the painting before fleeing Paris in 1939. Since 2011, Stettiner's grandson Philippe Maestracci has been attempting to recover the work through the US courts, which have struggled to establish the ownership of the painting.

The case has made transparent much art world corruption, with fusion.net reporting that Mossack Fonseca's attempt to keep assets and their ownership secret weas "tailor-made for servicing the international art world".

The site's investigation unit reported that it was no surprise, amid the high-profile scandals in the Panama Papers, that "art is something of a constant".

"Mossack Fonseca was constantly helping to shuffle billions of dollars' worth of art in and out of shell companies based in tax havens around the world."
COMEDY FESTIVAL

AUNTY DONNA: NEW SHOW 

Max Watts, until April 15





It may have a generic name, but New Show, from absurdist sketch comedy troupe Aunty Donna, is in a league of its own. This home-grown trio (Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane) have a bright future ahead of them: you get the sense their self-titled pilot for the ABC, and this year's web series funded by Screen Australia and Google, are the beginning of something much bigger.

Compulsive lunacy: Australian comedy group Aunty Donna.

They open with a side-splitting and surreal splurge of Australiana  like some bizarre cross between Ozploitation films and Monty Python  and it has to be said they're at their best when their brand of madcap flapdoodle rises to the condition of satire.

Not everything in the show is so brilliant. That whoopee cushion sketch, for one. (I still laughed, I just hated myself for doing it.)
As well as directing the adaptation of Tim Winton's bestselling novel, Baker is playing a reclusive surfer named Sando.

Yearning: Simon Baker, Samson Coulter and Ben Spence in the first photo for the film Breath , which has started shooting in Western Australia. Credit:Nic Duncan

Elizabeth Debicki, Richard Roxburgh and Rachael Blake have joined the shoot for Breath, which has started in Western Australia.

For his debut feature film as director, Simon Baker has assembled a top-flight cast alongside two rising young surfers.

Newcomers Samson Coulter and Ben Spence play Pikelet and Loonie, two teenagers who form an unlikely bond with the charismatic Sando and his wife Eva in the 1970s.

Inspired: Tim Winton is pleased the film is being shot in the Western Australian locations of his novel. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Debicki (The Great Gatsby, The Night Manager) will play Eva, with Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge, Rake) and Blake (Sleeping Beauty, Truth) as Mr and Mrs Pike.

Having spent almost a year searching for the right teenagers to play Pikelet and Loonie, Baker said he was thrilled with the cast.

"Tim's book viscerally captures the restless curiosity and yearning for identity that often defines our coming of age," he said.
ABC journalists have hit back at Clive Palmer, releasing text messages to prove they gave the federal MP multiple opportunities to be interviewed for an expose on his business interests and political career.

Ahead of a widely publicised Four Corners episode on Monday evening, Mr Palmer has claimed the ABC has not given him the right of reply. He said he had written to ABC's outgoing managing director Mark Scott to complain about "a number of factual errors".

Mr Palmer has also released a statement accusing the broadcaster of "unbalanced" reporting and a "denial of the public's right to know".
Modelling in the May issue of Vogue China, Posh Spice showed off her new collection by striking flexible, ballet-inspired poses in a series of elegant, black and white shots. But one picture stood out, not just because of the ambitious flamingo-esque stance on her tippy-toes.

Back in the day, it was her husband David Beckham's legs that grabbed all of the headlines. Now it's Victoria Beckham's turn.

Wearing an oversized white shirt and clasping her left leg to her chest, it looked as if her right leg had become detached from the rest of her body.

Was it a Photoshop fail or did the designer's outfit blend in with the grey background? If so, it's incredulous that no one spotted it before the images were signed off.

Photoshop fail or just an oversight? There's a heated debate going on over Victoria Beckham's new Vogue China spread. Credit:Getty

Her fans debated the issue in the comment section with some arguing that it was a "Photoshop fail", while others said it was part of her white body suit.

"Shocking how blind AND stupid people can be! Look, USE your eyes, its underwear, WHITE panties she has on (as if she would pose without them like that)its NOT a gap, so no P fail here!! (sic)," a fan called @vogueair wrote.
The idea of a "marriage advantage" to health and happiness has existed for well over 150 years. In 1858, epidemiologist William Farr found that people who were coupled up lived the longest, while the unmarried died in much higher proportions from the diseases like cholera that were raging at the time. The disparity, it turns out, appears to still hold true in modern-day America when it comes to one of the current leading killers: cancer. Credit:Jessica Shapiro For a pair of studies published on Monday in the journal CANCER, researchers Scarlett Lin Gomez, of the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, and Maria Elena Martinez, of the University of California-San Diego, looked at records from a large number of Americans  some 800,000 of them, all adults diagnosed in 2000 to 2009 with invasive cancer. They sliced the data by income, race, insurance status and other factors and found that unmarried cancer patients are suffering from higher death rates than their married counterparts. Just how big a difference does being married appear to have on survival? Big, and for both genders, but the impact seems greater for men than women.

According to the analysis, men who were unmarried had a death rate that was 27 per cent higher than those who were married. For unmarried women it was 19 per cent higher. If you're wondering what magic powers marriage conveys on cancer patients, Gomez said the pattern was only "minimally" explained by the larger economic resources couples get by pooling their resources. That might give them access to things like private health insurance and the ability to live in nicer neighbourhoods which have also been correlated with higher survival rates. But Gomez said their analysis shows that money doesn't explain the extent of the protective effects and points instead to "social support as a key driver". Gregory Masters, an oncologist who works at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Centre in Newark, Delaware, explained to HealthDay that it has to do with the care of "a devoted caregiver". "It suggests that a concerted effort to evaluate a patient's psychosocial resources may be as important as other factors in helping to improve cancer survival," Masters told the publication. The researchers found that the beneficial effect of marriage holds across different racial and ethnic lines but to varying degrees. White men and women benefited the most, Hispanics and Asians the least. But people of Hispanic and Asian origin who were born in the United States appeared to see a greater benefit than those who were born abroad.
Unlike the six-movie Star Wars saga on Blu-ray, Disney is throwing in a free digital copy when you buy The Force Awakens on disc.

The Force Awakens is finally coming to Blu-ray and DVD on Wednesday, hitting Australia's physical shelves two weeks after it landed in iTunes, Google Play, Dendy Direct and the other digital stores. The $25 digital HD download is $5 cheaper than the Blu-ray disc, but in return fans who hold out for the disc can enjoy the best of both worlds with Disney throwing in a digital download for free.

Until now, Disney has expected you to pay twice to watch Han and Chewie on your different gadgets.

The Star Wars franchise was a long-time digital holdout  the first six movies were only released as digital downloads for the first time last year. These days you'll find the six-movie high-def bundle for sale in the iTunes store for $120, which is more expensive than the $99 six-movie Blu-ray box set. These movies are still not available to rent online, or in subscription services like Netflix, you're expected to buy them.

The six-movie Blu-ray collection was originally released in 2011, but even when Disney reissued this box set just before The Force Awakens hit the cinemas it refused to include digital download codes. In countries like Australia where you're permitted to rip your music discs but not your movie discs, we're expected to pay twice if we want to watch those movies on disc and on our handheld gadgets.
Controversial taxpayer-funded commercials spruiking future infrastructure projects such as an airport rail connection will be banned under new laws to be introduced to the Victorian parliament.

There has been long-held criticism of both sides of politics about the use of state-funded commercials, disguised as consumer information, to promote the government of the day's plans and achievements.

Gavin Jennings is cracking down on taxpayer funded advertising. Credit:Damian White

The Napthine government, despite being strident critics of the Brumby government advertising regime  it spent $124 million on advertising in 2009-2010  spent big, including $3 million alone on the "Moving Victoria" campaign which spruiked the East West Link well before it was signed off by government.
Paris: The Brussels bombers had planned to attack Paris again but instead attacked the Belgian capital because they knew police were closing in after their ringleader, Salah Abdeslam, was arrested.

The jihadist cell was "surprised by the speed of the progress in the ongoing investigation" and decided to rush the airport and metro station attacks on Brussels, according to the Belgian federal prosecutor's office.

Armed police officers walk through La Defense, Paris, on the Monday after the Paris attacks. Credit:Bloomberg

Their change of plan may have been spurred by the arrest of Paris attacks suspect Abdeslam, which took place just four days before the Brussels bombings.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the revelations about the Belgian terrorist cell proved there was a major, ongoing threat to his country.
PHILIPSBURG:--- As part of Minister Lees self-financed visit to Coomeva and medical facilities in Colombia, Minister Lee made a point of visiting as many patients as possible from St Maarten that were in the cities of Cali, Bogota and Medellin at the time. As part of the Ministers hands on approach, the Minister felt that it was important to get direct feedback from patients as to the quality of service and quality of medical treatment being received by our patients. The informal interviews with patients included discussions about the ability of patients to communicate with hospital staff, comfort level, experiences with logistics, quality of the medical services, experience with SZV and the entire referral process. These informal interviews were conducted in private and without the presence of hospital or Coomeva staff present which allowed patients to speak freely about their experiences.

According to Minister Lee, The feedback on the quality of care and level of professionalism from the medical facilities has all been very positive. Most expressed satisfaction with the entire referral process. Other patients expressed some frustration with the referral process much of which seems to be on either a breakdown in chain of communications or issues that originate prior to arrival in Colombia. Based on first impressions and feedback from patients in Colombia, I am comfortable that our patients from St Maarten are being well treated. Naturally, there is always room for improvement and discussions will continue on how to streamline and improve communication and level of service for our residents.

As discussions continue with regards to the development of a new hospital for St Maarten, there will always be a need to refer patients abroad. As the range and quality of services offered locally improve, hopefully we will be able to keep patients close to home and reduce the number of referral. However, it is anticipated that there will always be a need for some level of referral for more complicated cases and therefore, it is important to have a reliable and high quality referral program in place, said Minister Lee.
This week, the representatives of the National ombudsman will be visiting Statia and Saba once more. Every citizen with complaints about the functioning of the government can visit the consultation hours. Reinier van Zutphen, the National ombudsman himself, will also be there to get acquainted with the people and the organizations.

The National ombudsman is an independent and impartial body, and deals with complaints about different government bodies. For Statia and Saba, these could be: the public entity, the immigration and naturalization service (IND), the health care insurance office (ZVK) and the tax authorities (Belastingdienst). Both citizens and organizations can file their complaints with the ombudsman about the functioning of the government, but not about laws and regulations.

It is very satisfying that people are aware of our services, says Armin Dorn, one of the representatives. We take each complaint seriously, explains Gaby von Maltzahn. We have also issued several reports, which may help put abuse of power or other wrongdoings on the political agenda. We have noticed that the public entities of Statia and Saba are working hard to establish appropriate rules governing complaint handling and enforcement. 

From April 11 - 15, you can visit our consultation hours at the following locations and times (no appointment necessary):

Statia:

 Monday, April 11, between 2pm - 4pm at the Public Library

Saba:

 Wednesday, April 13, between 2pm - 4pm at Windwardside: RS Accounting (near RBC bank)

If you have any questions, please call Statia: 318 4413 or Saba: 416 6648 (only operational between April 11-15).

See www.nationaleombudsman.nl/cn for more information, or visit our Facebook page: Nationale ombudsman Caribisch Nederland
PHILIPSBURG:--- K1 Britannia Foundation in collaboration with The Foundation Judicial Institutes St. Maarten (SJIS) recently completed its third STAP training which qualifies adults to become certified mentors and foster parents to foster children on the island. The 6 session course which was given by psychologist Aisheline Maduro dealt with the foster care system on St. Maarten, steps to becoming a mentor, stages of grief, types of abuse, active listening, effecting behavior change etc.

Nineteen K1 Britannia volunteers who signed up to assist or mentor foster children completed the course and were very keen and engaged in discussions on the well-being of these disadvantaged youth. "The sessions were very inspiring, informative and a life-changing experience. My eyes were opened up to foster life, my own life, and home" said one K1 Britannia volunteer. They have now completed the course and are excited to be paired with a foster child to be a mentor and positive role model.

One of the goals of the foundation is to use its volunteer program to qualify persons in the community to be mentors, as there are close to 100 children and teenagers in foster care on the island. Having a mentor for every child and teenager in foster care is one of the best ways to help them heal and go on to become well-adjusted members of society.

The K1 Britannia Foundation will co-host another STAP training with SJIS later in the year for persons 21 years and older who are interested in assisting or mentoring foster youth. All are encouraged to sign up as a volunteer online at www.k1britanniafoundation.org/volunteer/ , to participate in making a difference in the lives of youth and other areas on the island.
PLUMgrid Partners With NocSys to Offer OpenStack SDN Solutions in China

Posted by Publisher Hardware

SANTA CLARA, CA  (Marketwired)  04/10/16  , a leader of secure and scalable SDN and NFV solutions for OpenStack clouds, today entered a global reseller agreement with , a cloud solutions provider focused on serving enterprises and service providers in China. NocSys will deliver PLUMgrids SDN and NFV solutions, expanding the companys presence into Chinas market where its distributed data plane powered by IO Visor is crucial to customers deploying scalable OpenStack clouds. Together, the two firms help customers quickly and efficiently deploy applications and services within the cloud with the highest levels of security, scale, performance, operations monitoring and diagnostics.

Under terms of the contract, NocSys will resell PLUMgrids full SDN portfolio of solutions including its for OpenStack, CloudApex SDN visualization and monitoring platform, training and professional services. In addition to its vast experience in one of the biggest technology markets in the world, NocSys offers expertise and knowledge, systems integration, and professional services for its clients.

We chose PLUMgrid for its production-ready, best-in-class SDN solutions because our clients require the utmost reliability, said President and Chairman of NocSys, Rebecca Lin. With this partnership, we deliver its comprehensive, secure and scalable SDN portfolio to our joint customers ensuring multi-point recovery, elastic scalability, rapid deployment and the ability to dynamically perform upgrades across OpenStack environments.

With government support for Open Source, the OpenStack ecosystem in China is driving a new generation of innovative businesses that are using the cloud to bring their products and services to market at a rapid pace. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), Chinas total public and private cloud market size was US$ 2.46 billion in 2014, maintaining a high compound annual growth rate over five years of more than 26 percent to reach US$10 billion in 2019.

Fueled by a mobile consumer base estimated to reach 700 million this year, China has the worlds largest e-commerce market, said PLUMgrid CEO Larry Lang. The markets size and technology adoption rate make the need to rapidly provision cloud apps and services essential to our joint enterprise and service provider clients. Partnering with NocSys enables us to add new, high-growth customers and gives us a local presence that delivers essential regional and technical expertise as well as services.

NocSys local expertise, combined with the comprehensive PLUMgrid SDN portfolio, gives customers access to a powerful cloud solution that enables reduced Capex and Opex while improving deployment flexibility and agility. PLUMgrid and NocSys work together to address todays primary requirements for successful OpenStack deployments through:

PLUMgrid secures OpenStack clouds by enabling Virtual

Domains, a unique approach that provides micro-segmentation and firewall service insertion technology.

PLUMgrid offers distributed and programmable data planes powered by IO Visor software for inkernel forwarding and IO services.

Critical for operationalizing OpenStack clouds, PLUMgrid and NocSys offer a broad portfolio of tools and exceptional customer support. PLUMgrid recently announced CloudApex, a real-time SDN visualization and monitoring platform to ease management.

Join PLUMgrid and NocSys at the upcoming Cloud China Expo in Beijing, April 12-14, 2016. During the event, PLUMgrid and NocSys will showcase their SDN and NFV solutions at NocSys booth, and PLUMgrid founder and CTO Pere Monclus will deliver a presentation on April 12, 3:20-3:40pm CST.

is a comprehensive software suite that enables secure and scalable SDN and NFV infrastructure for OpenStack clouds. Deployed by service providers and enterprises in more than 70 OpenStack clouds, PLUMgrid ONS enables micro-segmentation through Virtual Domains, production-grade resiliency, and distributed scale-out performance for hybrid data centers. Built on technology, ONS supports the industrys broadest set of OpenStack distributions and installers including Mirantis OpenStack, Rackspace Private Cloud powered by OpenStack, RDO, Red Hat OpenStack, and Ubuntu OpenStack by Canonical.

PLUMgrid ONS is available worldwide with free test drives through the .

PLUMgrid is the leader of secure and scalable virtual network infrastructure solutions for OpenStack clouds. PLUMgrid delivers industry leading software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) solutions that enable modern data centers to connect tenants, applications and workloads efficiently across hypervisors, virtualized, container and bare metal architectures. PLUMgrid is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. and is funded by venture capital and strategic investors. Visit, read the and follow the company on Twitter @PLUMgrid.

Bob Eastwood

10Fold Communications

415-800-5385
Global Industrial Robotics Market to Grow at a CAGR of 7.0% From 2014 to 2020: Grand View Research, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA  (Marketwired)  04/11/16  The global was estimated at USD 25.68 billion in 2013 and is expected to reach USD 40.00 billion by 2020 owing to increased number of deployments in the manufacturing sector to simplify complexities and enhance productivity. Industrial robots are being increasingly used to simplify business activities including marketing, designing, selling, building, installing, maintaining and operating.

An increased emphasis has been laid on productivity index to sustain in the competitive environment of the manufacturing sector and achieve quality results is expected to drive the industrial robotics market. Increasing labor costs coupled with growing demand from automotive industry is anticipated to be a key driving factor in the industry.

Manual labor has eventually replaced with self-programming robots owing to the job efficiency and cost-effectiveness on account of their ability to sense environmental changes through integration of sophisticated sensors. Growing measures concerning safety rights of laborers are also expected to augment growth in the market.

Application of robots in non-automotive industries namely chemicals, food & beverages, electronics, and electricals have resulted in the development of new opportunities and prospects over the past few years. Increasing installation costs and lack of skilled labor are expected to pose a challenge for the companies.

In 2013, automotive robots contributed to the highest market share by volume. The market is projected to gain prominence over the forecast period on account of technological advancements and integration of artificial intelligence. Increasing demand from heavy machinery and food processing industries are also expected to have a positive impact on growth over the coming years.

Asia Pacific accounted for the largest market in 2013 on account of substantial investments by organizations to expand globally. Countries including Korea, Japan, and China have experienced significant growth owing to supportive government programs involving tax incentivisation, investments in skill management, and R&D funding while Singapore, Taiwan, and India are anticipated to have a high potential for growth.

Rising production capacities in North America coupled with the modernization of factories are expected to result in an increasing number of robotic installations. Significant investment in robotics by automotive industry players in Europe is projected to augment demand over the forecast period.

The industrial robotics market encompasses numerous Japanese suppliers namely Denso, Motoman and Fanuc. Europe comprises of specialized industrial robotics establishments including Kuka and Comau along with prominent corporations including BAE and ABB Systems.

New entrants are expected to emphasize on a particular application and find ways to diversify to cope with high capital cost. Initiatives including Blue Competence sustainability initiative by Anlagenbaue.V. (VDMA) and VerbandDeutscherMaschinen, which aims at achieving environmental sustainability through technological modernization, is expected to propel growth in the coming years.

Inductive

Resonant

RF

Others

Automotive

Consumer Electronics

Industrial

Healthcare

Defense

Others

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa (MEA)

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

,

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email:

Web:
Novosco Chooses Ampliphae to add Intelligence to Cloud Connectivity

Posted by Publisher Internet, SaaS

Cloud Expo Europe, London, 11th April 2016  Ampliphae Ltd today announced that Novosco, the leading UK-based cloud solutions provider, has chosen Ampliphae virtualised network analytics to significantly enhance its direct cloud connectivity offering. Ampliphae will complement Novoscos Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect service, enabling Novosco to launch differentiated value-added services leveraging AWS.

Ampliphae deep network analytics provides unprecedented visibility into the traffic flowing across the network from enterprise to cloud, enabling Context Aware Networking that supports business-critical cloud and SaaS services. Ampliphae dynamically prioritises and steers critical business traffic flows to optimise and assure the user experience of enterprise cloud and SaaS applications.

Novosco is committed to enabling our customers as they adopt cloud technologies. Our AWS Direct Connect solution provides our customers with a secure and predictable connection to Amazons IaaS and PaaS public cloud, giving them the confidence to accelerate migration of their business applications as well as their own services to the cloud, said Patrick McAliskey, Managing Director of Novosco. Ampliphaes analytics further enhance our cloud service by allowing customers to control and prioritize the network, in support of their business-critical cloud and SaaS applications. With Ampliphae, we can ensure that the highest levels of security and performance are maintained throughout the cloud adoption journey.

Trevor Graham, CEO of Ampliphae, commented: We are delighted that Novosco have chosen our technology to help power their cloud offerings. We look forward to working closely with Novosco, supporting their customers as they adopt cloud and SaaS services, and delivering an effective mechanism for customers to control and optimize their cloud network. This provides strong validation for Ampliphaes product and value proposition. Our investors have demonstrated strong belief in Ampliphaes unique and disruptive technology, and we are very pleased that we now have the opportunity to demonstrate our product in a major service provider network.

Novosco and Ampliphae are jointly demonstrating intelligent cloud connectivity on stand 460 at this years Cloud Expo Europe event at the ExCeL Centre in London, United Kingdom, 12th-13th April 2016.
Satellite Internet brings superfast connectivity to third UK village in Government-funded scheme

Posted by Publisher Internet

11 April 2016. Satellite Internet, a specialist satellite Internet Service Provider (ISP), today announced it has connected the third and final village selected to take part in a UK Government-funded Market Test Pilot (MTP) by providing high-speed internet to Broomfield in North Somerset.

Working closely with Connecting Devon & Somerset (CDS), Broomfield Parish Council and the wider community, Satellite Internet was able to provide 24 properties with substantially enhanced broadband connectivity within a very limited deployment timeframe.

Final approval for this third installation came late in the project on January 11, 2016. Despite this, Satellite Internet was able to install the complete network rapidly  providing a robust satellite broadband service offering speeds of up to 25Mbps and bringing residents online within just seven weeks.

Satellite Internet Business Development Director David Hennell said: Despite the very short timescales, we were very confident that we could provide the necessary infrastructure to make this third MTP deployment a success. However, we couldnt have achieved this without the enthusiasm and support of Broomfield Parish Council and the closeness with which we, the Broomfield community and CDS have all worked, ensuring that the installation has been a success.

The effectiveness of the headend installation and supporting network is a clear example of the speed and flexibility with which satellite-based broadband technology can be deployed. This has created high-speed, reliable connectivity in an area where previously broadband speeds were very slow and where other more traditional and terrestrial-based methods of broadband delivery were simply unavailable.

The UK Government-funded MTP project is part of a wider programme  involving six other deployments across the UK  which aims to assess which technologies and commercial models are best suited to deliver superfast broadband to the hardest-to-reach areas. Satellite Internets project uses a Satellite Distribution Node (SDN) and a Wi-Fi head-end installed at a central location. The broadband connection is then supplied to end-users via a Fixed Access Wireless (FAW) network, while properties which cannot be covered by wireless have an individual Direct-to-Home (DTH) dish installed.

Broomfield is the third and final village to take part in Satellite Internets MTP, with Luxborough and Simonsbath, also in Somerset, getting connected last year. Households which signed up to the trial received majorly increased broadband speeds, leading, so far, to more than 60% of residents retaining the service on a normal commercial basis following the end of the trial period.

Somerset County Council deputy leader councillor David Hall said: Im delighted for everyone in Broomfield who now has the opportunity to access improved broadband as a result of this technology trial. The ability to access high-quality communications infrastructure is critical to businesses and an important part of improving quality of life. The more people across Somerset and Devon who are connected, the better for everyone.

To connect Broomfield, CDS rapidly established it as eligible, with 17 postcodes in the parish and surrounding area  around 160 homes and businesses  receiving broadband speeds of below 2Mbps. After the final green light was given, detailed surveys were carried out to establish the optimum location of the satellite distribution node headend and installation of the core wireless network began within weeks.

The Parish Council was key in helping share information about the upcoming trial, which was communicated to residents at a well-attended community drop-in session held on January 28, 2016. All 24 properties signed up to the trial and have now been provided with either a DTH dish-based solution or a wireless connection.

The scheme is based on SES Techcoms Astra Connect For Communities model to provide homes with internet speeds of up to 25Mbps. Satellite Internet partners with SES Techcom Services to deliver high-speed satellite broadband services across the UK and Ireland.
Unite Private Networks Extends Its Fiber Network to IP Pathways Iowa Data Center

DES MOINES, IA  (Marketwired)  04/11/16  Unite Private Networks (UPN) a leading provider of high-capacity, fiber-based communication networks, today announces it is now offering a full suite of carrier-grade, high-bandwidth Ethernet, IP, dark fiber and data transport services to customers in IP Pathways Urbandale, IA data center.

We look forward to providing advanced connectivity options for customers that require IP Pathways extensive infrastructure capabilities and UPNs high capacity network, said Travis Noble, Vice President of Enterprise Sales at UPN. Our secure, reliable and low-latency network offers connection speeds ranging from 100 Mbps to 100 Gbps and we are certain Iowa businesses will benefit from this partnership.

We are very excited to welcome UPN into our Urbandale, IA data center. Businesses are rapidly moving out of the data center and business and colocating their IT assets in facilities like our Tier 2, carrier-grade facility. UPN offers our customers high performance, high speed connectivity to our data center and allows them to unleash the power of our data center, cloud and managed IT services, says Joe Shields, President, IP Pathways.

UPN provides high-bandwidth, fiber-based communications networks and services to schools, governments, carriers, data centers, hospitals, and enterprise business customers across a 20 state service area. Service offerings include dark and lit fiber, private line, metro-optical Ethernet, Internet access, data center services, and other customized solutions. Headquartered in Kansas City, MO, UPN has been providing customer focused communications solutions since 1998. For more information on UPN, please visit , or connect with us on and .

IP Pathways, based in Urbandale, IA, provides IT hardware & software, data center, cloud and managed & professional services solutions to business customers throughout Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. The companys highly-certified and nationally recognized IT engineering team architects, implements, monitors, supports and manages private and hybrid cloud solutions for your data center, our data or any data center.

Brandi Tubb

816-903-9400
eyevis is a Reliable Partner for Robotic Training

One of the worlds leading suppliers of robotics and plant and systems engineering has selected eyevis products. KUKA Aktiengesellschaft, based in Augsburg, has installed nine 16 touch-controlled video walls featuring 22 EYE-LCD-5500-XSN-LD displays, as well as 6x EYE-LCD-8500-QHD-Touch(AG)-32IR.

Customer service programs play an essential role at KUKA. In more than 30 KUKA Colleges the company provides seminar students throughout the world with hands-on training, in which they can learn the necessary specialist knowledge and skills at first hand. For its major college locations in Germany, KUKA invested in an upgrade of the audio-visual technology to improve presentations during the courses.

At the training facilities at the company?s headquarters near Augsburg nine interactive video walls with a configuration of 2by2 55-inch video wall LCD screens were installed together with four 85-inch Ultra-HD LCD touch monitors. Similar systems in smaller quantities went to further KUKA colleges in Braunschweig, Siegen and Gersthofen.

The unique, bespoke installations feature an especially designed touch overlay system which allows front service accessibility and height adjustability of the entire video wall. The whole construction was customized to meet the customer?s individual needs. All video walls and individual screens allow the display of interactive content with Quad-Full-HD resolution and touch control with up to 32 simultaneous touch points.

The video wall displays were attached to front-service wall-mounts to enable the committed fast exchange of a display in a maximum of 30 minutes if there is a defect. The EYE-LCD-CAS System was also included to ensure a quick calibration of the screens. With this semi-automated system the screens within a video wall can easily be matched to provide a uniform appearance of colours and brightness.

The video walls are used to display CAD data and presentations during training sessions which can easily be controlled through touch gestures with 32 simultaneous touch points, so several students can work simultaneously.

As one of the world?s leading suppliers of intelligent automation solutions, KUKA offers its customers everything they need from a single source: from the core component ? the robot ? to cells and fully automated systems.

KUKA operates internationally for customers from the automotive industry and general industry.

State-of-the-Art LCD Technology for Video Walls and HiRes Displays

The new EYE-LCD-5500-XSN-LD represents the cutting-edge of LCD technology for video wall applications. Thanks to the extremely slim bezel of the device it is possible to create video wall setups with an almost invisible mechanical gap of only 3.5mm between the displays in a combined video wall configuration. Perfect display characteristics paired with several new features for the electronics make the new EYE-LCD-5500-XSN-LD a first choice for modern video walls in professional applications. The EYE-LCD-8500-QHD-LD is an 85-inch Ultra-HD/4K LCD monitor for professional applications. Besides its pin-sharp resolution of 38402160 pixels, the optional IR touch system and anti-glare surface, with a brightness of 500nits it provides sufficient light output for use in training rooms.

eyevis Delivers First-Class Quality and High System Availability

Daniel Nauwerck of KUKA said: ?We chose eyevis because of the quality of their products and their ability to complete special constructions. We also wanted to take advantage of their first-class quality and high system availability.?

Michael Reichart Sales Manager at eyevis said: ?KUKA has a global reputation for precision and quality. We were able to completely customize the installation to meet the customer?s requirements and it is a great endorsement of eyevis technology that they have chosen our display screens for their training centre.?

eyevis, the German manufacturer of large scale video systems, is one of the leading providers and integrators of visualization systems for professional applications in control rooms, virtual reality and simulation as well as broadcast and AV. eyevis has a worldwide network of subsidiaries and certified retailers. As one of only a few providers, eyevis is capable of offering entire systems from one source. The complete solutions of eyevis include display solutions, graphic controllers, software applications as well as all necessary accessories.
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Isaiah Foskey's heroics on defense, special teams lead Notre Dame

No player in program Notre Dame history had ever blocked two punts in a game, much less a quarter, before Isaiah Foskey
Mars Global Surveyor was a spacecraft that produced data about the Red Planet that will keep researchers busy for some time. Launched in 1996, the orbiter found intriguing hints of running water and confirmed that the famous "Face of Mars" was a trick of the light. Unfortunately, NASA lost contact with Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) in 2006.

A pioneer

MGS was the first NASA spacecraft to reach Mars in almost 20 years, since the Viking missions arrived in 1976. Right from MGS's first moments at Mars, it was a pioneer: it was the first spacecraft at the Red Planet to use the technique of aerobraking to put itself into its final orbit. It was also part of a new concept for building spacecraft after a series of cost overruns and unsuccessful missions.

Soon after reaching orbit, MGS set about generating a great deal of science. It spotted gullies that could have had streams of water rushing through in the ancient past. It snapped pictures of a "Swiss-cheese-like" south pole, and it watched dust devils leaving tracks in the Martian surface. It spotted hematite  a mineral that forms in water. And it took detailed photographs of the infamous "Face on Mars."

When the Spirit and Opportunity rovers reached Mars in 2004, the spacecraft also served as a communications relay for the rovers to send data back to Earth until it fell silent in 2006.

Return to the Red Planet

MGS had been born out of the failure of a previous planned Mars mission. Mars Observer, launched in 1992, was just three days from its planned orbit insertion around the Red Planet when NASA lost contact with it on Aug. 21, 1993.

The failure stung, particularly because flight delays and other matters had nearly quadrupled the projected cost for Mars Observer.

"Originally budgeted at $212 million, Mars Observer wound up costing $813 million," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory noted in a brief history about the mission. "By the time it was launched on Sept. 25, 1992, Mars Observer had come to symbolize out-of-control costs."

Under new administrator Daniel Goldin, NASA embarked on building a "faster, better, cheaper" (FBC) set of spacecraft. The concept was supposed to use small teams and less complicated components to build low-cost spacecraft. The program had a mix of successes and failures, but did birth the wildly popular Mars Pathfinder/Sojourner rover mission that landed in 1997.

NASA started building cheaper spacecraft under the Mars Surveyor program. MGS  at just $154 million (excluding launch costs) in 1996 dollars  was to be the first of a series of spacecraft launching every 26 months. The Mars Surveyor concept was altered after two Mars spacecraft failed in 1998.

Early days on Mars

MGS launched successfully on Nov. 7, 1996, on board a Delta II rocket. From its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, it bounded into orbit and then fired its engines again to accelerate towards Mars. Ten months later, on Sept. 12, 1997, MGS successfully made it into orbit at the Red Planet.

To save on the cost of hauling fuel to Mars, mission planners used a new technique  aerobraking  to finalize MGS in its orbit around the planet. MGS pushed against the atmosphere gradually in its first several months at Mars to put itself in the final orbit. This technique proved so successful that it was used again for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey missions.

Mars Global Surveyor photographed the "Face on Mars" in greater detail. (Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems)

One of MGS' first targets was the "Face on Mars," an infamous feature snapped by the orbiting Viking 1 spacecraft on July 25, 1976. The shadows appeared to be a human face gazing up at the sky, which sparked a generation of conspiracy theories on Earth.

MGS passed over the same location at the Cydonia region on April 5, 1998, to get a more detailed look. Although NASA already knew the "face" came from a trick of shadows, MGS' pictures were in higher-resolution and were used by the agency to debunk the theory. The European Space Agency confirmed the finding in pictures taken with Mars Express in 2001.

NASA carefully selected its first targets to include areas of public interest. Other spots that MGS imaged in the early days included the Viking landing sites and the Mars Pathfinder landing site.

A planet in flux

Mars, revealed by MGS, was a rapidly changing planet that probably had a different environment in the past. Pictures in February 1998 showed a possible ancient river channel. Other snapshots over the years showed slowpoke dunes, regolift drifts and sandsheets on the surface, suggesting that wind was a big factor in shaping Mars history.

As MGS skimmed the planet from pole to pole, it tracked changes in carbon dioxide ice deposits near the south pole of Mars. After three Martian summers of observations, data from MGS revealed that the deposits were shrinking  a possible indication of climate change.

The spacecraft mapped Martian terrain with a laser altimeter, detected traces of magnetic fields with its magnetometer, and mapped at least 20 new impact craters between the time it started operations and the time it fell silent.

When MGS spotted hematite  a mineral that forms in water  from orbit, the discovery spurred NASA to land the Opportunity rover in a hematite-rich area. Just weeks after landing, Opportunity found hematite "blueberries" just a short distance from where it touched down in Meridiani Planum.

End of the extended mission

MGS lasted four times longer than its design lifetime, but the end came rather unexpectedly. On Nov. 2, 2006, controllers ordered MGS to shift its solar panels  a routine adjustment. The spacecraft reported back several errors, but the transmission also indicated that things had stabilized. Then MGS fell silent.

"The spacecraft reoriented to an angle that exposed one of two batteries carried on the spacecraft to direct sunlight," read a NASA press release describing the most likely cause of the failure.

"This caused the battery to overheat and ultimately led to the depletion of both batteries. Incorrect antenna pointing prevented the orbiter from telling controllers its status, and its programmed safety response did not include making sure the spacecraft orientation was thermally safe."

NASA tried for weeks to get in touch with the dead spacecraft, with no success. An independent review board determined that the MGS team did follow the correct procedures to help the spacecraft, but added that the procedures themselves were not strong enough to "catch the errors that occurred".

The agency pledged it would overhaul its procedures to improve other Mars missions. Indeed, NASA has since had more success in resurrecting spacecraft that had software problems.

A notable example is the Mars Odyssey mission, which has entered safe mode several times but been successfully recovered. Odyssey, as a side note, is currently the longest-running Mars mission with more than a decade in service.

But it was MGS that got there first, and that paved the way for more Mars missions to follow. The spacecraft kickstarted a new age of Martian exploration, and provided the first detailed look at the Red Planet in a generation.

Still contributing

Although MGS' mission is long over, there still are occasional science results publicized in the media. For example, in March 2016 NASA released an improved gravity map of Mars that in part used data from MGS. The goal of the map is to better understand variations in the Red Planet's gravity to track the geological history of Mars, such as the differences between the northern lowlands and the southern highlands.

In 2013, researchers suggested that Eden Patera, previously believed to be a crater basin, may instead be remnants of an ancient supervolcano. Based on data in part from MGS, researchers noted a lack of ejecta debris in the region as well as features that usuallly point to volcanism, such as "bathtub rings" created when lava recedes from the area.
Artist's concept of NASA's Kepler space telescope, which has discovered more than 1,000 exoplanets since its March 2009 launch.

NASA's Kepler spacecraft, the most prolific exoplanet hunter of all time, has bounced back from a mysterious glitch and may be able to resume operations soon.

Mission managers succeeded in getting Kepler out of "emergency mode" (EM) Sunday (April 10), and the space telescope is in a stable state with its antenna pointed toward Earth, allowing communications to resume.

"Once data is on the ground, the team will thoroughly assess all onboard systems to ensure the spacecraft is healthy enough to return to science mode and begin the K2 mission's microlensing observing campaign, called Campaign 9," Kepler mission manager Charlie Sobeck, of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, said in a statement. "This checkout is anticipated to continue through the week." [Gallery: A World of Kepler Planets]

Kepler's handlers discovered on Thursday (April 7) that the spacecraft had gone into EM  the lowest operational mode  for the first time ever. They still don't know what caused the anomaly, though they have ruled out some possibilities.

For example, Kepler went into EM about 14 hours before a planned maneuver that would have pointed the spacecraft toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy for the above-mentioned Campaign 9. So the team doesn't think the maneuver, or the observatory's orientation-maintaining reaction wheels, were responsible.

"An investigation into what caused the event will be pursued in parallel, with a priority on returning the spacecraft to science operations," Sobeck wrote.

The $600 million Kepler mission launched in March 2009, tasked with determining how commonly Earth-like planets occur around the Milky Way. The observatory has been incredibly successful, spotting more than 1,000 confirmed exoplanets to date  more than half of all known alien worlds  as well as 3,500 additional "candidates," the vast majority of which will likely turn out to be the real deal.

In May 2013, the second of Kepler's four reaction wheels failed, ending the spacecraft's original planet hunt. But mission team members figured out how to stabilize Kepler with the aid of sunlight pressure, and the spacecraft began the new K2 mission in 2014.

Kepler is still hunting for exoplanets  which it does by noting the tiny brightness dips caused when alien worlds pass in front of their stars from the spacecraft's perspective  during K2, but on a more limited scale. The observatory is also studying a wide range of cosmic objects and phenomena, including supernovae and bodies in our own solar system such as asteroids and comets, during a series of K2 "campaigns."

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
On April 12, 2016, billionaire Yuri Milner and cosmologist Stephen Hawking will announce a new space-exploration project called Starshot. This photo shows Milner (left), Hawking (second from left) and other researchers in July 2015, during the unveiling of a $100 million search for signs of intelligent alien life called Breakthrough Listen.

Update for April 12: Stephen Hawking and investory Yuri Milner have unveiled Breakthrough Starshot, an audacious $100 million research initative to develop technology for small, unmanned interstellar probes that could reach Alpha Centauri within 20 years of their launch. Read our full story: Stephen Hawking Helps Launch Project 'Starshot' for Interstellar Space Exploration

Stephen Hawking will announce a mysterious new space exploration initiative Tuesday, and there's plenty of reason to think it will be a pretty big deal.

There's the famed astrophysicist's involvement, for starters, as well as the project's name  "Starshot." Furthermore, Hawking will make the announcement with billionaire entrepreneur and investor Yuri Milner, who is also bankrolling a 10-year, $100 million search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) initiative called Breakthrough Listen.

Hawking was among a group of researchers who helped unveil Breakthrough Listen last July. (Milner is also funding a related project called Breakthrough Message, which will award prizes to people who help craft the best messages humanity could send to alien civilizations.)

That's pretty much all we know about Starshot  the project's name and the involvement of Hawking and Milner. A media advisory announcing the unveiling, which will occur Tuesday at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) during an event at One World Observatory in New York City, describes Starshot only as a "new space exploration initiative."

So we'll just have to wait and see what the project is all about. But there's one more intriguing tidbit: April 12 is the 55th anniversary of the first-ever human spaceflight, which was made by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, as well as the 35th anniversary of the first orbital mission of NASA's space shuttle program.

These two milestones are marked every year on April 12, during a celebration known as Yuri's Night . Milner was born in Moscow, and he has said he was named after Gagarin.

This story was originally posted on Monday, April 11. It was updated on April 12 to include the nature of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' will chronicle the Rebels' acquisition of plans for the Empire's Death Star, which ultimately allowed Luke Skywalker (in the original movie 'A New Hope') to destroy the superweapon. From left to right: Jyn Erson (Felicity Jones) and construction of the Death Star as seen in the new trailer and Luke Skywalker (Makr Hamill) attacks the Death Star in "A New Hope."

Probably one of the most captivating untold tales from the "Star Wars" universe is the sub-plot that involves the Rebel Alliance's acquisition of the plans for the evil Empire's superweapon, the Death Star. And, as revealed in the teaser trailer for the Star Wars spin-off movie "Rogue One" on Thursday, we'll finally get the gritty story behind the daring mission.

ANALYSIS: Is New Star Wars Movie (or Anything Else) So New?

The trailer has everything: a strong female lead (Felicity Jones), snappy dialog, atmospheric sets and costumes with powerful echos from "A New Hope" and a promise that we'll finally get the details behind how the Rebels smuggled the Death Star's plans from behind enemy lines, eventually allowing Luke Skywalker to sink his X-Wing-launched torpedoes into the battle station's exhaust vents.

Screenshot from the "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" movie trailer showing Felicity Jones as Rebel leader Jyn Erso (Image credit: Disney)

For me, I'm almost more excited for "Rogue One" than I was for "The Force Awakens" that was released in December. Though I enjoyed "The Force Awakens," I felt that, to live up to the ground-trembling hype, there was too much of a focus on CGI and a lack of original storytelling, instead depending on tried-and-tested tropes (a super-duper-planet-sized Death Star? Really?). That said, the new generation of characters, led by Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega), are providing a strong direction for the franchise, which will be exciting to see flourish in upcoming movies. And, of course, it was a thrill to see Solo, Leia and (albeit briefly) Luke 30 years after the destruction of the Empire's second Death Star in "Return of the Jedi."

ANALYSIS: 'The Force' Awakens in Star's 'Lightsaber' Jets

But "Rogue One," which is the first of the "Star Wars Anthology" series, appears to be a standalone tale (directed by Gareth Edwards) following Jyn Erso (Jones) on her epic adventure to lead a group of Rebel misfits on a mission to grab the plans for the Galactic Empire's first Death Star.

'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' will chronicle the Rebels' acquisition of plans for the Empire's Death Star, which ultimately allowed Luke Skywalker (in the original movie 'A New Hope') to destroy the superweapon. From left to right: Jyn Erson (Felicity Jones) and construction of the Death Star as seen in the new trailer and Luke Skywalker (Makr Hamill) attacks the Death Star in "A New Hope." (Image credit: Disney)

In the opening crawl for "A New Hope" that was released in 1977, we were given a primer for the premise of "Rogue One:"

"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

"During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

"Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy."

ANALYSIS: 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek' Collide on Pluto Moon Charon

Apart from mentions in fan fiction and spin-off "Star Wars" novels, little more information is known about these "Rebel spies." Considering that the plans for the Death Star are pivotal to "A New Hope"'s story line, it's about time a movie is devoted to their story. And their story looks thrilling. And there's not a Jedi in sight.

At least from what we can tell from this trailer, the movie is independent of the Skywalker canon and "mythical" Force, instead focusing on Jyn, a rebellious fighter who may have a problem with authority ("This is a rebellion, isn't it?" she says when her rap sheet is read out to her). There's hints of her compatriots and a powerful scene (that feels as if it was inspired by the "Star Wars: Battlefront" video game) showing Jyn and co. running at an AT-AT, blasters blazing. There's also some pretty cool hand-to-hand combat scenes. But there's little time for levity or needless lighthearted one-liners, this is war and we're going to live the grit of this war through the eyes of a brave band of Rebels who will stop at nothing to find the Achilles Heel of the Empires superweapon before it goes online.

NEWS: Star Wars Day: The Force Is Strong in These Tweets

Of course, we know the Death Star plans do get stolen and smuggled to the Rebels (via Princess Leia and R2D2), who then realize there's a small exhaust vent leading to the core of the Death Star that could be exploited. But what happened to to the brave team who captured the plans in the first place? We'll have to wait until December to find out.

For updates on the movie and its release, keep an eye on the official Star Wars website.

Originally published on Discovery News.
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Thanks to Daniel for the following.



I'm not sure if it's true, but Dennis Smith, who has directed many NCIS episodes and is directing episode 13.22 "Homefront", has tweeted that he is filming the show in DC and that First Lady Michelle Obama is there too. While I have not heard anything about it, I don't have any reason to believe that this is not true. I would post it with a question mark in the post title.



Note: this is also the first time ever that NCIS has shot on location in DC. The show is set in DC but is filmed in LA.





News flash! In Washington to shoot #NCIS Gibbs with FIRST lady Michelle Obama  Dennis Smith (@NCISDIR) April 9, 2016


Thanks to tsukikomew for the heads up.



British actor Charlie Cox took to the stage on Monday morning (11 April) to discuss Marvel television series Daredevil, the first of four standalone superheroes to be getting their own Netflix Original Series.With season two having launched via the streaming service last month, the question on everybodys lips was on a potential third outing for the superhero.We dont know if theres going to be a season three, he revealed to a crowded room of journalists. I certainly dont know.Cox did go on, however, to announce that the planned Avengers-style series which will star all four of these characters - including Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage - is to start filming later this year.Netflix originals to look forward to in 2016"What we do know is at the end of this year were going to be making The Defenders and, of course, Daredevil is very much a part of that foursome.I have no idea what the storyline is going to be for that show. Im very excited to see how those worlds combine and interested to see tonally how those shows become one.In terms of his Daredevil storylines being addressed in The Defenders, Cox remains uncertain: In terms of wrapping up any storylines, maybe theyll do some of that in The Defenders. Or maybe they wont.
Annet Mahendru has been cast in a recurring role on the third season of Tyrant. Mahendru will play Nafisa Al-Qadi, the wife of Sheik Al-Qadi, the spiritual and political leader of Maan, who is caught between the violent tactics of the Caliphate and his distrust of the Al-Fayeeds. Nafisa is more politically hardline than her husband, and also happens to be the sister of a high-ranking Caliphate sympathizer.Tyrant is the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the inner workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Bassam Barry Al-Fayeed (Adam Rayner), the youngest son of a war-torn countrys controversial dictator, returns to his homeland after a self-imposed 20-year exile in America, only to be forced back into the treacherous familial and national politics of his youth. When his brother, Jamal (Ashraf Barhom), assumes the presidency, Barry becomes a powerful force within the government, fueled by visions of bringing humanitarian freedoms to his homeland. Upon realizing that Jamal lacks any sense of justice or morality, Barry colluded with members of the U.S. government on a failed attempt at overthrowing his tyrannical reign and was arrested on charges of treason. Having been betrayed by the West, Jamal now sets his sights on the East, developing an alliance with China that he hopes will make Abbudin a global power. But Barry continues to be a thorn in Jamals side, becoming a symbol of freedom for the increasingly vocal insurgency.
This report comes just weeks before the high-level United Nations signing ceremony for the historic Paris Climate Agreement reached in December, and highlights the actions taken by the agricultural industry which have had a positive effect on production efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions.

Increased professionalism across the industry, the launch of the Feed Adviser Register, the addition of new GHG mitigation training into the Fertiliser Advisers Certification and Training Scheme (FACTS), farmers signing up to DairyPro and the Pig Industry Professional register are all paying dividends and have been delivered despite the challenging economic climate and the impacts of significant weather events in recent years.

Richard Laverick, Chief Technical Officer from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) said:

The work of AHDB focuses on supporting farmers and the supply chains across all sectors, to improve productivity and deliver reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. We aim to make our industry more competitive and sustainable through factual, evidence-based information and activity.

More soil sampling from grasslands and the adoption of renewables also show the large range of activities undertaken by farmers to help deliver climate change mitigation whilst being good for the farm business.

Guy Smith, Vice President of the NFU said:

Farmers are committed to improving their businesses whether its fine tuning nutrient management on arable farms, so reducing nitrous oxide emissions, or tackling infections on livestock units, so decreasing methane emissions.

But if farming is to fulfil its future potential, the food chain must support profitable farming, backed by the government providing the right regulatory framework and fiscal incentives. The irony is that with exciting current developments in technology such as robotics, GPS guidance, remote sensing and camera recognition, farmers increasingly have the ability to farm more precisely and thus reduce their GHG footprint, but without a profit margin the necessary investment cannot be made.
The Centre will be built at the Cumbrian college's uplands farm and will be a national showcase for the best hill farming practice, ensure the industry's future workforce and leaders have the key skills they need and provide a focal point as a demonstration farm.

The 430,000 project is based at Low Beckside Farm in Mungrisdale and includes demolition of the existing buildings, constructing the new Sheep Husbandry Centre, which will be a steel portal framed building measuring 36m x 25m x 2.95m with Yorkshire boarding and a fibre cement roof. There will be additional work to provide new areas of hard standing to aid sheep handling, and improvements to the silage clamp. Robinsons Scotland Ltd has been awarded the contract and work is expected to begin later this month and be complete by September.

The Centre will be used throughout the year, particularly for practical teaching. It will be the focus for the college's lambing operations, a base for sheep shearing and for general sheep husbandry.

Alongside the specialist courses for students, the Centre will host farm events and demonstration activities within uplands agriculture and sheep management to show best practice and encourage professional development.

Low Beckside Farm is home to two flocks, a Swaledale flock of 350 ewes which are hefted to the fell at Mungrisdale and a draft flock (older ewes from the fell flock) which are kept on land at Low Beckside and Redmire.

Wes Johnson, Campus Principal, said:

Our vision is that Newton Rigg College will become the UK hub for training and education in uplands land management and sheep husbandry which will not only benefit students but the UK hill farming industry as a whole.

He added: This new Centre will enable us to demonstrate the best modern hill farming practice with high standards of animal welfare and hygiene and provide the future workforce with key hill farming skills. The UK uplands are a vital part not only of our countrywide and heritage, but of British agriculture and this initiative will help ensure the future viability of this important sector of farming.

Newton Rigg is the only college in England to have its own hill farm and it also hosts the National Centre for the Uplands. It is part of York-based Askham Bryan College, which took over the running of Newton Rigg in 2011. Since then student numbers have increased year on year, particularly across the land-based courses. There are currently 600 students studying agriculture across Askham Bryan's 11 centres in the north of England.
It's not too early to grab a calendar for 2017, especially one going toward such a worthy cause.

Georgetown Volunteer Fire Company in Redding, Conn., came up with a unique way to raise money to buy boots for their firefighters. The GFD Boots Matter 2017 calendar features the department's volunteers in some situations not typical of a day's work fighting fires.
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College students are reaching deeper into their pockets as more schools approve tuition hikes nationwide.

Rice University , the highest ranked college in Texas, announced a 3.2 percent ($1,660) tuition increase this week, bringing the total cost for a year at the school to $57,668. The University of Texas also approved a tuition hike, which was the school's first increase in five years.

RELATED: The most selective colleges in America

Startclass examined data from the National Center for Education Statistics to find the public schools with the highest tuition increases over the past 10 years. Of those schools, 16 saw in-state tuition double. Many of the schools with the biggest increases are located in Colorado and California, along with one in Texas, according to Startclass.

>> Click the gallery above to see the colleges with the biggest tuition hikes over the past 10 years

The list includes schools with at least 5,000 undergraduate students. All tuition amounts were inflation-adjusted for 2015.

Rising tuition costs have moved state leaders in Texas to look for solutions in regulating college costs. Learn what options are on the table in this story on HoustonChronicle.com.
The folks at Dictionary.com have released a list of the words that college students are looking up most on its reference site.

Theyve listed a number of the top colleges across the country, including many in Texas, where Texas A&M students seem to have trouble with the spelling of the word computer," or at least need the exact definition of it.
S mall business agony aunt Jo Malone on why it pays to get legal advice before signing on the dotted line.

Dear Jo

Im considering the purchase of a franchise. The company is asking me to sign a partnership agreement rather than a franchise agreement.

Will this give me sufficient protection against the risk of losses?

Franchises are very exciting propositions because youre effectively buying into a company which offers the opportunity and freedom to run and grow your own business, which already has a proven reputation and record of success.

Its a great option if you dont want to start a business from scratch or can recognise the potential of an emerging brand. Some of the worlds most successful business are franchised, including McDonalds, Hertz and 7-Eleven.

There are different contracts that could be used to support a franchise, each with different obligations and liabilities. You need to fully understand each one and ensure you consult a lawyer who specialises in this field.

You are right to be wary of possible financial losses; investment always comes with risk, so equip yourself with as much information as possible to help minimise the risk and optimise opportunity.

"Simply buying the blueprint doesnt guarantee success. You need to bring experience, personality and passion."

People often say that in business, you dont get what you deserve but what you negotiate. The time to negotiate is now!

I would urge you to get your lawyer to oversee any document before signing and returning. Often small print can be life changing. I once made the mistake of signing something without getting it properly checked and it cost me a fortune.

The good news is that when you buy into a franchise, the foundations have been laid. Therefore there is no need to invest in store design or branding, so in theory its quick and easy to get things off the ground.

That said, remember that simply buying the blueprint doesnt guarantee success. You need to bring experience, personality and passion to a business and stamp your identity on it.

...and Jo asks

Will Hedges, a senior commercial solicitor at law firm Macfarlanes, says: Traditionally a franchise will involve you paying an initial franchise fee and ongoing fees or royalties in exchange for the right to operate under the franchisers brand for a set period of time.

Usually the franchiser will have a standard agreement that you are required to sign detailing your and their rights and responsibilities. This is likely to be restrictive from your point of view as the franchiser seeks to ensure all of its franchises are run in a uniform way.

A partnership could be used as an alternative model for a franchise, though it is important to remember that in a partnership one partner can enter into obligations on behalf of the other partner. In my experience, it would therefore be quite unusual to structure a franchise relationship in this way.

Regarding the risk of losses, the contract will deal with which party is responsible for what losses, though, generally speaking, losses resulting from your operation of the franchise would be your responsibility.

You may also wish to consider purchasing and operating the franchise through a limited liability company, which could reduce your risk if things go wrong.

Need help with a small-business problem? Contact JO Malone at askjo@standard.co.uk

To read more news about London-based entrepreneurs and to get their top tips on how to make a business a success, join the Evening Standard's small business community, Business Connections.
T he outcry against BP boss Bob Dudleys $19.6 million (13.8 million) pay has intensified as another shareholder group labelled the deal as simply too high.

Dudleys vast pay - coming in a year that the company lost $6.4 billion and shed 5000 jobs in the wake of a plunging oil price - has triggered a storm of protest among investors.

The board has so far refused to back down over the deal ahead of the companys annual meeting this Thursday. The vote on the remuneration report is non-binding, but a vote against would be a serious embarrassment for the FTSE 100 giant. Shareholders have to wait until next year to vote on BPs pay policy.

A spokesman for ShareSoc, a mutual which represents individual investors said: We consider the pay of the chief executive to be simply too high, and particularly so in a year when the company suffered a record loss. Even so his pay went up 20%.

It also attacked BPs excessively complex remuneration scheme, which includes six performance measures to calculate bonuses.

ShareSoc said only one of the performance measures used to calculate Dudleys long-term share award, which is worth up to 550% of his $1.8 million basic salary, was transparent - the companys total shareholder return relative to rivals.

It added: This makes it very difficult for shareholders to judge how easy or difficult the targets are. It also means the plan is complex - not simple.

The group is the latest voice to join a chorus of shareholders objecting to BPs pay plans. Last week, Royal London Asset Management branded the proposed rise in Dudleys pay as unreasonable and insensitive and said it would vote against the report.

Shareholder advisor Pirc has called his package highly excessive and not acceptable.

Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis also recommended BP shareholders reject the packages, although the company has defended its stance on boardroom pay despite rising ire among investors.
C ampaigners against the controversial 800 million redevelopment of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard in Shoreditch have welcomed a snub for the scheme from City Hall.

The London Borough of Hackney has opposed the joint scheme from developers Hammerson and Ballymore on grounds including a lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable workspace to encourage tech industries in the area, and the impact of tall new residential towers, planned to provide 1350 flats.

Concerns over the shadow of the towers was such that councillors  who had no say over the plans after Mayor Boris Johnson called in the scheme last year  launched a campaign warning of a dark future for Shoreditch.

The Greater London Authoritys staff have recommended the mayor reject the application at an open meeting on April 18.

A Hackney spokesman said: We will be making representations at the public meeting next week and we welcome the fact that the GLA has re-echoed our concerns over the scheme.

A disappointed Hammerson is committed to the Goodsyard  one of the capitals largest sites  but is likely to redesign parts of the scheme.
A glossy brochure should be circulated to every sovereign wealth fund from Abu Dhabi to Singapore with a picture of Sir Joseph Bazalgettes sewage system on its cover.

If the decade-long investment in Thames Water by funds managed by the Australian bank Macquarie doesnt drum up more interest in investing in British infrastructure, nothing will.

Far from money down the drain, the Aussies have done very nicely thank you. Macquarie diluted the risk of the initial 8 billion takeover by bringing in investors from China and the BT pension fund. It swallowed its share of 1.6 billion in dividends and interest payments and could rinse off another 3 billion from the auction of its remaining 26% stake.

True, it has sunk cash into upgrading Thames Victorian pipework, but London customers are more likely to associate its tenure with rising bills and hosepipe bans.

"Investors should no longer be rewarded for loading strategic assets with debt which lessens tax contributions."

The truth is water privatisation was ill thought through and private investors are still reaping the benefits.

Monopoly status delivered a guaranteed income stream but weak regulation meant consumers have not seen anything like the promised benefits. You need only look at the 10-year performance of shares in two of the remaining listed water companies  Severn Trent, up 30%, and United Utilities, ahead by nearer 40%  for evidence.

Now, as Macquarie looks to sell out, there are two lessons to be learnt. Investors should no longer be rewarded for loading strategic assets with debt which lessens tax contributions.

And efforts should be redoubled to create giant, domestic wealth funds that can take control of lucrative assets such as Thames so dividends do not always flow overseas.

Trade chiefs must walk a tightrope

Financial services trade associations seem to grow like Japanese knotweed between the pavement cracks of the Square Mile. So efforts to merge five into one following a review led by from former Ofcom boss Ed Richards must be welcomed by any institution shelling out multiple membership fees  or those on the receiving end of endless lobbying and spin.

It is only a shame that the Building Societies Association and Finance & Leasing Association felt unable to throw in their lot with the British Bankers Association, Council of Mortgage Lenders et al just as the bonfire was kindling nicely.

Trade associations have a precarious existence  too niche, and they risk having no voice; too broad, and the leader fails to say anything of interest for fear of irritating a portion of the membership.

Above all, the boss must remember he or she is there to represent the members views, not their own. Daniel Godfrey was ousted by the Investment Association last autumn for pursuing a reform agenda too radical for some of the cautious fund managers who paid his wages.

His replacement, Chris Cummings, is unlikely to rock the boat so much. He arrives from TheCityUK, the body that represents the financial services industry in its widest sense and was conceived to drag the Citys reputation off the floor.

With a 65-strong advisory council of bankers, insurers, accountants and landlords, Cummings could be forgiven for getting nothing done in his six years at the helm. Yet TheCityUK managed to produce some of the earliest and most salient research into the damage that Brexit would do to the Square Mile. It also despatched regular reminders that the financial services sector supports jobs not only in London but also everywhere from Bournemouth to Belfast.

His successor has it all to do to keep up momentum.
S hares in Carrs Group turned sour today as cheap milk prices nibbled away at the agricultural firms profits.

The company, which makes flour and feed blocks for livestock, as well as farm machinery, said pre-tax profits for the first half of its financial year slipped 1% to 10.5 million, and revenues dropped 9% to 189 million.

Fortunately for the business, it suffered no adverse financial impact from the December floods  which affected its Lancaster feed mill and a major customer of its Cumbrian flour mill  thanks to its comprehensive insurance policy.

Chief executive Tim Davies warned that depressed milk and livestock prices will continue this year and next and will directly adversely impact our UK farm customers. The shares fell 4.5p to 148p.

Markets continued to track the price of oil in choppy early trade which saw the FTSE 100 up 9.18 points at 6213.59.

Traders were planning to take cues from Wall Street / Timothy A. Claro/AFP/Getty Images

Traders said investors will likely wait until the unofficial start of the US earnings season later  when Alcoa reports first-quarter results  before making bolder bets.

Punters had a flutter on the bookies after an outsider claimed the Grand National. Rule the World, at 33/1, galloped to victory in a great result for the gambling companies, as well as owner Ryanair boss Michael OLeary: William Hill was 2.7p wealthier at 332.7p and Ladbrokes 0.1p better off at 117.2p.

There was more good news for OLeary as analysts at Barclays were feeling generous and added his budget airline to its list of stocks to Buy. The companys LSE-listed shares though were still off 0.05p at 13.1p.

Rule The World wins the 2016 Grand National

Aggreko powered down 38p to 1006p as UBS alerted investors to the power rental firms structural troubles. As the power rental market has matured, we think Aggrekos competitive advantage has been eroded, said the Swiss broker as it cut its rating to Sell.

Eclectic Bar Group, soon to be renamed The Brighton Pier Group plc, jumped as it returned to trading after its 18 million takeover Brighton Piers operator. Executive chairman and serial entrepreneur Luke Johnson upped his stake to 24% in the deal, which boosted the stock by 16.5p to 75p.

Gaming Realms, the AIM-listed mobile gambling group, remained unmoved at 20.5p after launching BGTGames.com for Britains Got Talent-themed slot games.

The launch comes after it signed a three-year deal with Fremantle Media, the shows producer.
T ata Steel has formally raised the For Sale sign over its British steel interests after striking a separate deal to sell steelworks in Scunthorpe and other plants in Teesside to Greybull Capital.

The Indian group has sent sales documents to potential buyers for a quick sale of the extra bits of the firm, which includes the Port Talbot facility, after agreeing a sale of Scunthorpe.

It is the intention of Tata Steel Europe to run a thorough, but expedited sale process by reaching out to a wide universe of potential investors globally, the firm said.

KPMG and Slaughter and May have been appointed to handle the deal. The business has attracted the attention of Sanjeev Guptas commodity firm Liberty House, which is examining a bid.

Greybull will pay a nominal sum for the Scunthorpe site, two mills in Teesside, and other sites in Workington, York and a mill in northern France. It is reportedly lining up a 400m investment package to turnaround the plant

This makes up Tatas steel long products Europe business, which employs 4,400 people.
T he EU is trying to deter migrants from coming to Europe but those already here are still trying to push north. The Balkan route from Greece to Germany is closing and yesterday Macedonian police used teargas and plastic bullets to drive back thousands of people massing on its borders in Greece. It may be that efforts to return some migrants from Greece to Turkey will put others off making the crossing to Europe in the first place. The trouble is, the new strategy has real vulnerabilities.

Gaining the agreement of Turkey to accept the migrants meant conceding to President Erdogan of Turkey not only a substantial 6 billion but promises of visa-free entry for Turkish citizens and a reinvigorated process of Turkish admission to the EU. These promises are highly unlikely to be kept since keeping them would involve breaching basic principles of democracy.

President Erdogan announced on the day of the agreement that words such as democracy and human rights are meaningless in the Turkish context. Quite what will happen if he thinks the EU is not delivering is an open question.

In addition, whether the capacity can be mustered on the Greek islands physically to return thousands of migrants against their will is doubtful. The Greek government has little interest in implementation and it lacks the practical capacities. The European Commission is attempting to organise secondments from other governments, but to date this has not materialised on anything like the required scale. This will be compounded by intense media attention on any breaches of human rights: foot-dragging would be one way of avoiding bad publicity.

On top of this, because of the mounting opposition of ordinary German citizens to open-ended migration, the Merkel plan to accept the same number of refugees into Europe as the number of migrants returned from Greece to Turkey has been capped at around 73,000. It will be in the interest of the people-traffickers to bust through this ceiling by bringing more migrants into Greece.

The people-trafficking business is not a small-scale amateur operation: Latin American trafficking syndicates have moved into this new market. To induce people to continue to try their luck on the boats they have an evident interest in exaggerating the continued chance of permanent settlement. European officials will be trying to counter this but they also have an evident interest in saying that the door has been firmly closed. Potential migrants are not fools: they are likely to recognise that both of these messages are self-serving. It is unclear which migrants will believe, but the people-trafficking message offers hope and so is more appealing.

Finally, and most alarmingly, the entire people-trafficking industry could simply relocate to the coast of North Africa and ship migrants to Italy instead of Greece. The agreement with Turkey would not apply and no equivalent repatriation agreement could be negotiated because, whereas Turkey can be deemed a safe haven, countries such as Libya cannot.

'The current actions towards refugees have been driven not by recognition of our duty of rescue, but by fear and hatred'

If the end result is a shift of the industry to North Africa the long-term consequences could be massive, since the entire Sahel region, and beyond it huge societies such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, become potential feeds.

What would a more viable alternative to our present policy look like? I think it would be based on a profound rethinking of how our duty of rescue to the desperate can best be met.

In awful situations such as the exodus from Syria the duty of rescue is primarily to ensure there are neighbouring safe havens to take all those displaced. This requires generous and sustained finance for haven countries. The EU should have provided such support for the countries bordering on Syria. Shamefully, it left Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to bear the financial burden.

But the duty of rescue is not just about safety, shelter and food. Most of the refugees in the haven countries have avoided the camps where shelter and food are free, preferring the grim opportunities of working illegally in the cities; a small minority have risked their lives on the boats. What this demonstrates is that the human condition craves autonomy: refugees in the camps are housed and fed but are stripped of the dignity that comes from earning a living. Hence part of the duty of rescue is to provide viable employment opportunities to refugees in situ in the havens.

As a result of globalisation this is entirely feasible. For example, German firms have spent two decades creating many thousands of manufacturing jobs in Poland and Turkey: they could do this for refugees in all the haven countries. During the past decade a remote Turkish town has become the worlds main production centre for synthetic carpets. Jobs can be brought to refugees as long as global firms receive incentives to do so, and trade regulations are adjusted to ensure easy market access for what refugees produce. The Jordanian and British governments are jointly trying to bring this kind of dignity to refugees; meanwhile, Chancellor Merkel is offering President Erdogan whatever it takes to ship them back to Turkey.

Human rights law is a grey accumulation of rules that is procedurally so cumbersome as to leave substantial opportunities for extra-legal migrants to game the system. As has become evident, if would-be migrants are de facto able to improve their changes of remaining in Europe by extra-legal arrival on European territory, immigration will escalate as people-trafficking businesses expand their highly profitable niche.

The current actions towards refugees have been driven not by compassionate recognition of our duty of rescue, but by fear and hatred. The predominant narrative that refugees hear from Europe should be the offer of credible hope that life will improve. That hope should never have been to reach Germany  refugees are not migrants. Hope should mean jobs in the havens bordering on Syria, followed by a return to Syria once peace negotiations restore order. That is what refugees overwhelmingly want.

Sir Paul Collier is professor of economics and public policy at Oxford University and author of Exodus, published by Allen Lane, 9.98
U nfashionable as it is, I think we can entertain a little sympathy for David Cameron. With the Prime Minister of Iceland out and Putins inner circle knee-deep in dodgy money, hes facing calls to resign over his fathers creation of an offshore investment vehicle, whose workings few of us understand, and the possibility that his mother might deprive the exchequer of inheritance tax by having the gall to live until 2018.

Sipping our tax-dodging Starbucks lattes, we Google the latest on Mr Camerons finances and tweet our outrage. Some of us in the media write disapproving articles about him, and bill newspapers for them through the limited companies we use as a convenient and, ahem, tax-efficient means of running our affairs. Well done us.

Mr Cameron is a rich man. That embarrasses him for no more sinister reason than that being better off than your voters is a bad look for a politician  though its true of nearly all of them. Its not evidence of hypocrisy. As a Tory hes declaredly in favour of private wealth  of the basic idea that inequality is baked into the system, underpinned as it is by the sanctity of private property, but that that system benefits us all.

He dragged his heels last week. He has acknowledged as much and apologised. Thats not necessarily the sign of villainy. It might be human. The politics of this is vicious. Having his six-figure income on the front pages hurts him politically; he may feel an instinct to protect the privacy of his family and  honestly  which of us would feel entirely relaxed about sharing every detail of our private financial affairs with our neighbours, let alone the nation?

Now he has shared with the group  and those hoping for evidence of corruption have been disappointed. Such of his tax affairs as he has made public dont paint the portrait of a double-dyed banana-republic kleptocrat. If hes a tax-dodger, hes a tax-dodger in a distinctly marginal way.

Although he has benefited from an offshore investment vehicle he appears to have paid the top rate of tax on the money he has earned. He has voluntarily forgone several thousand pounds worth of entitlements. And as Robert Peston has argued, the actual workings of Blairmore may have served to increase rather than decrease HMRCs take.

There are still unanswered questions. But because questions can be asked it doesnt follow that they deserve an answer. And implicitly wishing Mr Camerons mother would drop dead so he pays more tax starts to look a little obsessive.

Transparency with regard to the beneficial owners of shell corporations, or reforming the law on inheritance tax, is one thing. Unlimited personal transparency is another. Its superficially attractive but its logic leads to complete transparency for all of us. Is that something were comfortable with? It might be but its not an upheaval so obviously good that it doesnt require any debate.

Incidentally, Mr Cameron sharing his private finances isnt unprecedented. As long ago as 1952, one politician provided an exhaustive public accounting of his whole assets. Well, thats about it, he concluded. Thats what we have and thats what we owe [but] every dime weve got is honestly ours. His name? Richard Nixon.

Another special Cowell moment

Say what you like about Simon Cowell talent shows  most of us do  but where they excel is when someone completely unlikely produces the musical equivalent of a surface-to-air missile from the folds of a quite ordinary overcoat.

One such moment was the appearance of 12-year-old Beau Dermott on Britains Got Talent. This innocuous little girl appeared on stage looking as if she still had half her milk-teeth  and then belted out a song from the stage musical Wicked in the sort of voice that would look big on a fully grown diva. Jaws dropped. Tears sprang to eyes. Amanda Holden banged the gold buzzer as if it were a fairground test-your-strength machine.

Even the tackiest formats can produce moments of pure magic. Or, as Noel Coward more cynically observed, extraordinary how potent cheap music is.

GCHQ spies on Harry Potter

A bizarre little story emerged this week. Nigel Newton of the publisher Bloomsbury said in a recent radio interview that, ahead of the heavily embargoed 2005 publication of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: We fortunately had many allies. GCHQ rang me up and said, Weve detected an early copy of this book on the internet. I got them to read a page to our editor and she said, No, thats a fake. Blimey.

It does seem a bit odd  since GCHQ is mostly there to defend the realm against terrorists, foreign spies and so on  that it would be taking an interest in the embargo on a Harry Potter book. But perhaps its not so strange after all  nor, necessarily, frivolous. Intellectual property is one of the cornerstones of our national economy now that heavy industry has gone the way of all coal.

For a few years Harry Potter was a titanically important contribution to that. The defence of the realm and defence against the dark arts arent always different things.

A victory for people power

Theres rejoicing in my corner of north London that Hampstead Heaths Parliament Hill Cafe  aka the pasta cafe  has been saved. The City of London Corporation had presented more or less as a fait accompli to the public that the much- loved cafe  owned and run for 33 years by the DAuria family  would be taken over by the Benugo chain, as would similar venues in Highgate Woods and Golders Hill Park.

A petition in protest quickly garnered 13,000 signatures. For anyone with kids, that reasonably priced and friendly cafe has been a staple of north London life. Benugo has now withdrawn from the bid, saying: We believe this is the best thing to do.

Yesterday campaigners were partying at the cafe in celebration. This is a victory for people power, but, it should also be said, casts Benugos owners in a very decent light.
During the drawn-out negotiations to discuss the future of Net-a-Porter, one comment stuck in the mind of fashions fairy godmother Carmen Busquets.

Investor Richemont was planning a merger between the luxury fashion website and its Italian rival Yoox that would take it in a new direction, 15 years after it was founded by the now chair of the British Fashion Council Natalie Massenet and backed financially by Busquets.

When the sale was happening last year, Johann Rupert [chairman of Richemont] said its time for the big boys to take over. Busquets breaks off, a look of incredulity in her wide eyes. How can you say that when more women are buying your clothes and jewellery for themselves than ever? Your clients are top women and there are more women in power than ever before.

Busquets is an expressive Venezuelan with long silver hair and a tiny, bird-like frame. Aged, 50 (she calls it high five!), she is dyslexic and deaf - she only puts her hearing aids in after she has done her morning meditation. She invested in Net-a-Porter in 2000, when she met Natalie Massenet through an ex-boyfriend and took a punt on her idea to sell designer clothes online. Neither is involved with the site now (it is part of the Yoox Group) but the pair remain friends - Massenet arrives at the end of our meeting in the penthouse Busquets rents when visiting London. Busquets gives her a close hug.

Natalie Massenet at Burberry's Menswear Spring/Summer 2016 / Dave Benett

Busquets is full of admiration for Massenet, saying: Natalie is like a sister, its so hard to find someone like that you can work with, working on Net with her was the most fun I ever had. Natalie is a woman who created so much. Queen Elizabeth agreed because she made her a dame. I say hats off to Queen Elizabeth, you made my day for recognising all the pain that we went through this year. She breaks off. I mean look at my skin.

There was me, the Latin, fighting because thats who I am, but Natalie was a dame, she said the most beautiful, elegant things even when going through pain, which is why I love her. You can tell a lot about a woman from the women they surround themselves with.

Massenet was initially positive about the merger, hailing the future of fashion last April, but resigned from the company in September.

Busquets claims that Net-a-Porter was originally undervalued. Richemont had agreed to a merger based on a valuation of about 950 million, but Busquets says Massenets experts estimated the business was worth more than 1.5 billion.

Natalie Massenet holds her Dame Commander Insignia / John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty

She fought to drive up the price: Whats important is that they drove up the valuation. I cant stand devaluing the companys work.

I hate the fact that they didnt make Natalie a co-CEO. I feel [Richemont] is a group that did not empower women so how would they have believed in a company where two friends were empowering each other? Maybe thats what bothered them.

Shes unhappy that it is trading on the Italian stock market. This is an English company; I want it to be on the market here. Why would you go to Italy? London has creativity, technology, they back-up entrepreneurs and understand that seeing companies succeed encourages others to invest.

Busquets has homes in Spain, Switzerland, Miami and Paris. She meditates every day and goes to spiritual retreats.

Weve met to discuss her latest investments, in London companies Vinaya, which makes wearable technology, and Unmade, who sell knitwear that you can customise online. She is the only independent female investor in the luxury technology industry, putting her own money behind ventures and says people treat her differently but I dont care. Im confused as to whether its because Im a woman or I have an extravagant and weird personality but whoever takes me for granted should know they should not.

Her portfolio is wide-ranging. The roses on her table are from Flower Box delivery and the coffee we drink is Cafe Cru, another investment.

She is an active investor, going to board meetings, getting so excited about projects that she cant sleep. She has no children and says that she has no desire to be the richest person in the cemetery, preferring to use her money to support people with ideas. Even if a start-up doesnt go well you learn. Theres nobody thats done a start-up who has a worse job than before.

How does she decide what to invest in? Curiosity, intuition. Sometimes I know things wont go well or love ideas too early. Thats the most dangerous moment. Why give a million to someone who has never made that? I start with 100,000 and drip-feed as they grow.

She is influenced by her father, a businessman: Hed give me a hundred dollars and only give me another hundred once Id made a hundred.

Busquets had a hunch that Net would work because when she was 23 she opened the first shop in Venezuela to stock designer clothes from Europe  she went to catwalk shows, took photos and sold the clothes before they had been dispatched. In 1992 Hugo Chavez led a coup against the government and Busquets was targeted as she sold clothes to privileged people. She sold up and says the internet was my solution.

Her investments complement my lifestyle. Vinaya was attractive because founder Kate Unsworth produces beautiful jewellery that helps you with digital detox by only vibrating when you have an important message: When you are a slave to your inbox you end up doing someone elses agenda.

Wearable tech can become mainstream, especially watches, but there is a market for high-end smart jewellery, once the technology becomes so small that you can put it behind a diamond. She compares it to hearing aids, which are getting smaller and more accurate. She is collaborating with a hearing aid company and a jeweller: I need to wear them every day so why not make them beautiful, interesting and useful?

She says the most exciting thing in my day is an app called Elbi, which supermodel Natalia Vodianova is involved in and combines liking photos with donating to charity. She bought an iPad as its easier to draw pictures for Elbi on and prefers it to Instagram, because she doesnt like selfies. I just do a duckface.

The positivity of Elbi appeals to her. I love empowering women and empowering men who empower women. There is no space for insecurity, just compare yourself to yourself. She admits it is hard in an industry where you have a perfume called Envy and a company called Nasty Girl. I was invited to dinner with them and said no  why would I invest in a company called Nasty Girl? If women criticise each other she will try to change the subject and say the person they are insulting is beautiful.

In politics women are doing better, Hillary Clinton represents change, in the same way that Obama meant hope for the whole world. Whether or not Obama did bring hope doesnt matter, it matters for the symbolism.

On that note, her assistant tells us that Natalie Massenet is waiting, and Busquets is off to discuss her next move with her friend.
B ag-in-box wine pop-up BIB Taproom is returning to London for a six month residency, following a much shorter run late last year.

The bar, which serves only wine that is packaged and served from a plastic bag set in a cardboard box, will open on May 4 at Brunswick East Coffee in Stoke Newington. It will once again focus on natural, biodynamic and low-intervention wines.

This time round it will also offer food, with small plates being created by chef Harry Kaufman who previously worked at Lyles in Shoreditch and Stoke Newingtons Rubedo.

Speaking about the concept, BIB founder Kirsty Tinkler said: Natural wine often tends to be expensive but it shouldnt be something thats exclusive  serving wine from a box allows us to offer it cheaper. The eco credentials of bag in box also makes it a natural extension of biodynamic, organic and natural wines.

London's best wine bars 1 /17 London's best wine bars The Laughing Heart The Laughing Heart is well-equipped for lingerers  it is very much a place for gathering and cracking open as many bottles as is sensible. The personal touch of its convivial nature is echoed in a wine list that champions artisan growers, in turn showcasing the entire portfolio of a chosen small producer. Its by-the-glass list is short but precise, while its bottle menu is sprawling  youll have time to explore more than one, considering the place stays open until 2am, with a kitchen open until 1am from Monday to Saturday. The late-night food isnt just your average stomach-lining grub either: chef Tom Angleseas innovative cooking melds British produce with Asian flavours  his signature dessert is a creme brulee with sparky Sichuan peppercorns. P. Franco East Londons natural wine scene just keeps getting better  and a lot of that is down to the team behind P. Franco. This unassuming Clapton wine bar was set up in 2014 in a former Chinese takeaway by Liam Kelleher and James Noble, of the Noble Fine Liquor shops. In the years since, it's garnered runaway praise for mixing an innovative wine selection with an eclectic, very contemporary food menu in utilitarian surroundings. It's so relaxed that they don't even have a wine list, technically  the daily changing selection is delivered verbally. Bright and latterly Peg have followed in its suit  all are wonderful places to take wining and dining back to basics. Benjamin McMahon Terroirs Just off Trafalgar Square, Terroirs is always busy. Evenings start at a hum and end on with a roar as reams of Londoners bravely battle their way through glorious bottle after glorious bottle. The list is long enough to offer lots of choice and good enough that youll struggle to make a bad one. Food is excellent and there is barely a better spot in town to quaff down a bottle than up against the bar. Theyre big on natural wine here: if youre unsure about organic and biodynamic wine, try it here. A slight price premium comes attached, but its good fun. Wine is categorised by region and includes lesser-spotted wines from the likes of Greece, Slovenia and Georgia. Humble Grape This wine-merchant mini-chain prides itself on its organic, sustainable producers and how well it knows them. The bars get their wines directly from artisan, often family-run producers  this means they skip out the expensive distributors and both you and the winemakers save a little. Humble Grape is also so keen to stay in-the-know with its sources, the bar even gets producers in to train the staff. You can currently find the bars in Battersea, Fleet Street, Islington and Liverpool Street, with one more opening in Canary Wharf this summer. Compagnie Des Vins Surnaturels This Covent Garden outpost of a popular Parisian spot offers a catalogue of wine options that focuses on lesser-known styles and varieties  hence its popularity with those in the industry. French wine takes top billing, naturally, but there are bottles from around the world and the team are on hand to enthuse over what to try. Theres an impressive range by glass  including an extensive selection of Madeira  to facilitate more trying, while a fun touch is the inclusion of a mystery wine on the list. This regularly-changing offering costs 9 a glass and could be any wine from the list that costs between 35 and 95 a bottle. If you guess which one it is, you get a bottle free. Noble Rot Earlier this year, the World Restaurant Awards named Noble Rot the best Red-Wine Serving Restaurant on the planet. Yes, the vast majority of restaurants in the world serve red wine, but Noble Rot does do it particularly well. More than 60 per cent of its 700-bottle strong list is red, and wine leapfrogs food to the top of the agenda. The whole set up is rebellious in nature: the menu lambasts lazy misconceptions by proclaiming chardonnay to be the the worlds greatest white wine and its shop sells both its own magazine and tote bags emblazoned with Sex & Drugs & Pinot Noir. The food is not to be forgotten in the fracas: Stephen Harris of the Sportsman in Kent has a consulting role, making it easy to fill up both glasses and plates. Sager + Wilde This modern spot set up by wine experts Michael Sager and Charlotte Wilde is easy enough not to notice on the Hackney Road  and the blinds on the windows do nothing to suggest they want people in. But to take it that way would be a mistake: inside, all marble, dark wood and glass bricks, is an unpretentious take on a wine bar, modern London and old Paris all at once. They serve up some unusual offerings, perfect for anyone wanting to explore and, happily, the small plates of food they serve arent very small at all. The more restaurant-leaning Paradise Row edition in Bethnal Green is also excellent, while the new Fare Bar and Canteen is natural wine hotspot. Gordon's Enough has been written about Gordons to sell the place a thousand times over. There isnt anything left to say, really: its an institution thats far more about the atmosphere than the wine served (though they do that pretty decently, too). Its family run, has been since 1890 and has become a London institution in its own lifetime. Some prefer it in the summer time, when the outside tables fill up, but the cave-like indoors are a wonderful place to get lost in. Just remember to get there early: Gordon's gets full to bursting extremely early.



Info: 47 Villiers St, WC2N 6NE

gordonswinebar.com Comptoir Xavier Rousset can be found at the helm of many an acclaimed, wine-centric hotspot in London. Formerly head sommelier at Raymond Blancs Le Manoir aux QuatSaisons, Rousset went on to set up the 28-50 wine bars alongside restaurants Blandford Comptoir, Cabotte and Michelin-starred Texture. His most recent opening, Mayfairs Comptoir, showcases his love for a glass or two in more informal settings  a cafe and wine shop during the day, a wine bar by night. Around 30 wines are available by the glass  but more than 1800 are available by the bottle. Andrew Edmunds There are few better things to do in Soho than take your time over a bottle of wine. Where better to do such a thing than in one of the last bastions of Old Soho? Andrew Edmunds is small in size, but big in character, history and wine list. Wines by the glass at this restaurant start at a startling 4 something, and dont climb too much. A gloriously wide-ranging repertoire will take you up to the heady heights of a 475 1996 Abreu, but its possible to stay mercifully down to earth with enough bottles for less than 30. 10 Cases This small bistrot is a little like the French place you always wished you could find: somewhere for home-cooking and jugs of plonk. The only difference is that they dont serve any plonk  they do, however, have a very respectable selection under 10. Wines can be bought by the glass, carafe or bottle, with bottles available to take-away or drink in with 12 corkage. Youll also never be tempted (nor able) to settle into ordering your favourite wine over and over again: wines are only ever purchased in 10 case orders, and once theyre gone, theyre gone  in all its years of trading, the venue has never listed the same wine twice. 68 and Boston Bottles

At the pop-up, glasses of wine will start at just 3.

BIB Taproom will open every Wednesday to Saturday from 6pm to late and continue throughout the summer.

Also see:

Boxing clever: Why bag-in-box wine is taking London by storm

Get tanked up: why London's top bars are embracing the trend for tanked beer and wine

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H undreds of Londoners will get cut-price access to a major new Picasso exhibition after the National Portrait Gallery announced its first subsidised ticket scheme.

One hundred tickets for the show, which opens in October, will be made available every Friday for 5, instead of the full prices of 15.50 to 19.

The show gathers more than 75 portraits, including work never before seen in Britain, such as a 1919 Cubist portrait of German art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, which is being loaned by the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition also includes portraits of Picassos family and friends, along with contemporaries such as composer Igor Stravinsky, writer Jean Cocteau and photographer Lee Miller, as well as a series of self-portraits.

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, the gallerys director, said the subsidised scheme was a result of a new sponsorship deal with investment bank Goldman Sachs. He said: We are pleased to be able to bring Picasso Portraits to the National Portrait Gallery, a collaboration with Museu Picasso, Barcelona, which focuses on the artists manipulation of time-honoured conventions of portraiture and his genius for caricature.

10 exhibitions not to miss in 2016 1 /13 10 exhibitions not to miss in 2016 Women: New Portraits from Annie Leibovitz

Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, January 16 - February 7

This exhibition will update the collaboration between Leibovitz and Susan Sontag that first emerged more than 15 years ago. A series of extraordinary photographs taken by the incomparable Annie Leibovitz looks at the role of women in the world today.

ubs.com Annie Lebovitz, from WOMEN: New Portraits Visions of our Solar System

Natural History Museum, January 22 - May 15

Dramatic photographs from Michael Benson are paired with an original score from Brian Eno in an exploration of our solar system, showing it in all its stunning glory.

nhm.ac.uk NASA SDO/GSFC/Michael Benson, Kinetikon Pictures/Natural History Museum Electronic Superhighway

Whitechapel Gallery, January 29  May 15

More than 100 artworks feature in this exploration of how the computers and the internet have impacted artists over the last 50 or so years. Work comes from the likes of Cory Arcangel, Jeremy Bailey, James Bridle and Constant Dullaart.

whitechapelgallery.org Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Surface Tension (1992) Courtesy the artist and Carroll/Fletcher, London. Installation photograph by Maxime Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse

Royal Academy of Arts, January 30 - April 20

From the 1860s to the 1920s, gardens served as a heavy influence on artists across the world, especially in the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Avant-Garde movements. This exhibition will detail how, with a stunning collection of works from the likes of Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Pissarro, Manet, Sargent, Kandinsky, Van Gogh, Matisse, Klimt and Klee.

royalacademy.org.uk Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1914-15/Royal Academy Vogue 100 - A Century of Style

National Portrait Gallery, February 11  May 22

Iconic magazine Vogue will be showcasing the best of its British publication in this exhibition, which promises to be little short of stunning. It's part of Vogue's centenary celebrations. It will feature 280 prints from the Conde Nast archive, revealing the extent of the magazine's substantial influence on fashion, taste, and culture at large.

npg.org.uk Vogue/Vogue 100/National Portrait Gallery The Clangers, Bagpuss & Co

The V&A Museum of Childhood, March 19 - October 9

Oliver Postgate's voice and Peter Firmin's puppets, which include Bagpuss, The Clangers and Ivor the Engine had a dramatic hand in shaping the childhood of millions of children in Britain and across the world. This display will tell the story of the puppets, of Smallfilms and Four Corners books, and of how Postgate and Firmin developed their signature stop-animation process.

vam.ac.uk Smallfilms & Four Corners books/V&A Museum of Childhood Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones

Saatchi Gallery, April 5 - September 4

The Saatchi Gallery will be taken over by never-before-seen Stones memorabilia, rare instruments, iconic costumes, album artwork and even the band's personal diaries. This exhibition will reveal their story from 60s blues band to the world's greatest rock n' roll band.

saatchigallery.com Stones Archive/Gerry Images This Is A Voice

Wellcome Collection, April 14  July 31

An exhibition for the ears: This Is A Voice explores how voices work, how we emotions are carried in our tone, pitch and rhythm of speech, and looks at non-verbal forms of communication, too. Paintings, manuscripts and illustrations compliment an acoustic journey featuring work from artists and vocalists including Joan La Barbara, Marcus Coates, Matthew Herbert and Imogen Stidworthy.

wellcomecollection.org Enrico David, courtesy Michael Werner Gallery, New York and London Undressed: A brief history of underwear

The V&A, April 16  March 12 2017

Worth going to for the pun-tastic title alone, this exhibition explores all things lingerie, from its practical use to its place in the world of high fashion and, of course, how its developed and shaped our attitudes towards sensuality and sexuality.

vam.ac.uk Photographer Sebastian Faena, Model Eniko Mihalik Painters Painting: Van Dyck to Freud

National Gallery, June 22 - September 4

Ever wondered what painters hang on their walls? On display here will be works owned by the likes of Lucian Freud, Matisse, Degas, Lawrence, Reynolds, and Van Dyck. It will explore why painters were interested in the work of others, and their reasons for building a collection, from personal interest to artistic inspiration. It should be a fascinating insight into what made some of our greatest artists tick.

nationalgallery.org.uk Detail from Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Italian Woman, about 1870

Our exhibition, which is supported in London by Goldman Sachs, gathers together major loans from public and private collections that demonstrate the breadth of Picassos oeuvre and the extraordinary range of styles he employed across all media and from all periods of his career.

The scheme is similar to the National Theatres Friday Rush, in which every Friday at 1pm a limited number of 20 tickets can be bought online for the following weeks performances.

The show will be the first major exhibition dedicated to Picassos portraits in 20 years since a 1996 show in Paris and New York.

Bernardo Laniado-Romero, director of the Museu Picasso, said: The exhibition will surprise and confront ones preconceived ideas of what a portrait should be and how a portrait by Picasso ought to look like.

Picasso Portraits is at the National Portrait Gallery from October 6 to February 5. Visit npg.org.uk for more information.

@RobDexES

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C hef Ben Spalding has announced a new supper club series which will see him collaborate with top chefs from restaurants across the UK  and even Oslo.

Ben has been an increasingly big name on Londons foodie scene since he led the kitchen at John Salt in Islington for a short time back in 2012, where diners were encouraged to lick a brick.

He left due to disagreements with the owners and has since run numerous sell-out pop-ups and supper clubs  including most recently at The Laundry in London Fields.

His next run, named #AllGunsBlazing, will take place in Whitechapel, starting on May 31 and June 1 when hell cook with Paul Foster who is set to launch his restaurant Salt in the West Midlands shortly.

He will then cook with Graham Garrett of West House in Kent on June 28 and 29; Ernst Van Zyl of The Lord Clyde in Macclesfield on August 2 and 3; Michael Wignall from Devons Gidleigh Park on August 30 and September 1; and Mikael Svensson of Restaurant Kontrast in Oslo on October 4 and 5.

His final date of 2016 will be on November 1 and 2 with Adam Simmonds who is currently consulting at the Old Swan & Minster Mill in The Cotswolds but is looking to launch his own restaurant in London next year.

Each dinner will feature 10 courses  four from Ben, four from the guest chef and two collaboration dishes prepared by both chefs together, one savoury and one sweet.

Ben said: Often but not always, collaboration dinners are wildly overpriced for safe and stagnant cooking in a overly formal environmentthese nights are about wanting to create a special dinner with a special chef willing to come out of the comfort zone...and introduce the cooking to an audience who are maybe not familiar with that chefs food.

The food will be accompanied by a wine list from Bibendum, a changing selection of cocktails, and live music.

Tickets for each dinner will cost between 79-89 per person, and can be booked by emailing book@allguns-blazing.com around 6-8 weeks beforehand. Follow @ChefBenSpalding for details.

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A man accused of endangering the safety of a transatlantic flight became extremely angry and swore when he was told he could not have extra nuts and crackers, a court has heard.

Jeremiah Mathis Thede pointed his finger at the face of a flight attendant and demanded to know her name when she refused his request for additional snacks, a jury heard.

Lisa Hall told a court in Ireland: "He became very angry and he told me he could have all the f***ing peanuts and crackers he wanted."

The United Airlines flight from Rome to Chicago diverted to Belfast International Airport after the alleged air rage incident last June.

United flight attendant Ms Hall gave her version of the in-flight encounter with US citizen Thede as she gave evidence at Antrim Crown Court.

She claimed Thede had come back to the galley area of the economy section a short time after take-off, when the seat belt sign was on, and asked for peanuts and crackers.

He was given the snacks on that occasion but when he returned a short time later, Ms Hall said she told him there was only one snack per passenger.

Ms Hall claimed Thede became enraged and pointed his finger at her face.

"I felt like my heart was pounding, that something wasn't right with him," she said.

She added: "He started shouting at me before I could even finish my sentence."

Asked to characterise his demeanour, Ms Hall said: "He seemed extremely angry and it was just not normal behaviour."

The flight attendant with almost 30 years of experience told the court she expressed concern to the head flight attendant that "somebody was going to get hurt".

Asked who, she added: "Anybody confronting this passenger - any passenger on the aeroplane or any flight attendant."

A barrister representing Thede said his client denied swearing or pointing his finger during the conversation about the peanuts and crackers.

The Boeing 777 carrying 264 passengers was flying to the US on June 20 last year when the captain made the decision to touch down at Belfast.

Thede, 42, from Berkeley, California, denies a charge of endangering an aircraft or persons in the aircraft.

The plane had to dump thousands of litres of fuel before making the unscheduled stop in Northern Ireland.

As the crew would have exceeded their legal flying hours if the aircraft had resumed the journey straight away, the passengers had to wait almost 24 hours before the plane could take off again, with many having to sleep on the terminal floor.

Thede, dressed in a light grey suit and white shirt, listened from the dock as Ms Hall gave evidence.

The trial continues.
C hampion boxer Jamie Cox has been jailed for breaking into his ex-girlfriend's flat and grabbing her around the throat.

Cox attacked Viktoria Gribovskaja at her home in Lambeth, south London, on July 16 last year after their relationship broke down and he attempted to collect his belongings.

The Swindon-based boxer, who appeared in court under his real name Jamie Russan, was convicted of assault by beating, violence to secure entry, harassment and criminal damage.

The victim was awoken by Cox forcing his way into her flat, prompting her to call 999, before he broke through her bedroom door.

Alex Slater, prosecuting, said Ms Gribovskaja told police she was "frightened" of Cox because he was a boxer.

He said: "Viktoria said she had never been so scared in her life. She thought he was going to kill her.

"She had seen Jamie react angrily before but never as badly as this."

At his trial last month, Cox said he had "barged" through Ms Gribovskaja's front and bedroom doors because he feared she "could kill herself", but magistrates said they found the victim's account of the confrontation "credible and convincing" and the 29-year-old's evidence "not credible".

The WBO European super-middleweight champion was heard in a recording of a 999 call, which lasted 21 minutes, to say: "I will knock you spark out."

The pair began dating in 2014 after the Swindon-based boxer met Ms Gribovskaja when she was working as an exotic dancer in a gentleman's club in London.

In mitigation ahead of sentencing Nathaniel Ikeazor, representing Cox, told Croydon Magistrates' Court the boxer regretted the incident.

He said: "Jamie is remorseful as to how his actions affected Victoria and affected the relationship thereafter.

"Jamie, throughout this incident, has been quite depressed it has to be said.

"This incident has gone some way to damaging everything he has worked for all his life."

Chair of the bench Carole Markham said the offence was "serious" and only a custodial sentence could be considered.

"It was a violent attack on a victim in her own home. You grabbed her around the throat with force," she said.

"She was harassed by you with threats of violence that caused her distress."

Cox was sentenced to 26 weeks in prison for the assault and harassment charges, 20 weeks for violence to secure entry and 12 weeks for criminal damage, to run concurrently.

He was also ordered to pay 1,105 in compensation to his victim and court costs.

Cox, wearing a grey blazer and black jumper over a white shirt and dark tie, showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.


A man has appeared in court charged with murder after the remains of police officer Gordon Semple were found in a south London flat.

The body of PC Semple was found at a property in Southwark on Thursday, six days after the 59-year-old was reported missing.

The discovery was made after a neighbour alerted police to a smell of death coming from the flat.

Stefano Brizzi, 49, of Peabody Estate, Southwark Street, appeared via videolink from Lewisham police station at Bromley Magistrates Court.

Bearded and wearing a prison issue grey sweatshirt, Brizzi spoke to confirm his name and address.

He added: I am an Italian citizen but a UK resident.

He was charged with murder between April 1 and 7 April.

Chairwoman of the bench Sue Polydorou remanded Brizzi to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

PC Semple, who had worked for the Metropolitan Police for 30 years, left his home in Greenhithe, Kent, to go to work in Westminster on Friday, April 1 and visited the Shards Shangri-La Hotel later that day.
A man has died after being slashed across the throat following a petty argument in west London.

Police were called to a housing estate in Isleworth at 4pm yesterday following reports of a stabbing in the street.

Officers found a man collapsed in the road and fought for over an hour to save him but he was pronounced dead at 5.18pm.

The 28-year-old victim was named locally as Sahil Roy and neighbours described how he was attacked in a petty row over a few pounds, just yards from the flat he shared with his family.

A forensic officer at the scene of the stabbing in Isleworth / Nigel Howard

He is said to have been pushed to the ground and stabbed in the neck before his attackers fled.

Witnesses and friends told how the victims mother sobbed by his side as she cradled him while he lay in the road.

His younger brother also came down from the flat Sahil shared with his family near the scene, according to friends.

One witness said: I just saw his mother with him in the road crying, holding his neck and head as he lay there in the road bleeding. It really was terrible.

Police in riot gear responded to the stabbing

Friend Larissa Maher, 21, said: He was an easily approachable person. He was really lovely. He wouldnt say boo to a ghost we have a lot of bad people on the estate, but he wasnt one of them and you wouldnt expect it to be him.

A lot of people on the estate are in tears. Its very hard for people. A lot of people came out to pay their respects which shows how much people loved him.

His brother came down and saw it as well, he must be going through hell. You cant feel safe around here. People just need to not carry knives around.

Tributes have been paid to the victim, who was stabbed yards from his home / Nigel Howard

Yj Burton added: Such a shame and over nothing really. Now Sahil has lost his life and a family in bits for a tenner.

The victims shocked cousin Asil Astars posted news of the death on Facebook, writing: Just heard some disturbing news that my cousin Sahil Roy is pronounced dead over stabbing on his estate.

I cant believe it - still hoping its not true. Feeling devastated and not sinking in, dont know what to say.

Just getting loads of flashbacks of the times we spent together. I only saw him recently for a few minutes, didnt know it would be the last time.

Malik Arshard, 32, a father-of-two who lives nearby, said he saw 15 police cars rush to the scene with the air ambulance.

A Met spokesman said: Police were called at 4.05pm on Sunday to Summerwood Road in Isleworth following reports of man suffering from a stab injury.

Officers, the London Ambulance Service and Londons Air Ambulance attended. The man, believed to be aged in his late 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene at 5.18pm.

Next of kin are in the process of being informed. We await formal identification. A post-mortem examination will be held in due course. Enquiries continue.

A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held at a south London police station.
A man has been arrested after two Jewish teenagers were allegedly showered with racial abuse as they walked in a north London street.

Comments including Kill the Jews, F*** the Jews and Allahu Akbar were allegedly shouted at the boys on Manor Road in Stamford Hill.

Police arrested a man, 23, on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after being called to the scene shortly after 11pm on Sunday.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said the alleged victims were aged 14 and 17.

Jewish neighbourhood watch group Shomrim also attended the incident.

Stamford Hill supervisor Chaim Hochhauser said: "Anti-Semitism and all types of Hate Crime is unacceptable. I urge victims and witnesses to report such incidents immediately."
A mother who stamped her toddler daughter to death has been sentenced to life behind bars.

Kathryn Smith, 23, was sentenced to spend a minimum of 24 years in prison today after she was convicted of murder by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.

The court heard during a six-week trial how 21-month-old Ayeeshia Jane Smith died of a fatal heart laceration in May, 2014.

Smith was also found guilty of child cruelty and her 22-year-old ex-partner Matthew Rigby was convicted of causing or allowing the death of the vulnerable toddler.

Tragic: 21-month-old Ayeeshia died in May 2014 / PA handout

Rigby was jailed for three years and six months but was cleared of murder. Both defendants denied having anything to do with the childs death.

Jailing Smith, judge Mrs Justice Geraldine Andrews said: "You are a devious, manipulative, selfish, young woman who would stop at nothing to get your own way.

"To that end you were prepared to tell lie after lie."

She added: "Ayeeshia was a particularly vulnerable victim, thin and slight of frame, deserving of protection and under the protection of social services for the whole of her short life.

'Manipulative': The judge said Kathryn Smith 'would stop at nothing' to get her own way / PA

"She was killed in her own home by her own mother - that is the grossest breach of trust."

Ayeeshia was known to Derbyshire social services from birth and had been in care in mid-2013 before she was returned to her mothers custody.

After her death it emerged she suffered an undiagnosed bleed on the brain during a collapse in February 2014, despite being taken to hospital.

A post-mortem examination uncovered a series of injuries including extensive bruising on her spine which her mother and her partner said claimed was caused when she fell off her potty.

After the pair were convicted, the toddlers father Ricky Booth said in a statement: It's pure evil, no punishment is good enough and nothing will bring AJ back and I will always be left with the guilt that I wasn't able to protect her."

Speaking outside court, Detective Inspector Andy Maxfield, of Staffordshire Police, said: "Some people stand here and they say things like they're pleased with sentences, I always think that's a bit wrong. No sentence is ever going to reflect what's taken place and what happened to Ayeeshia.

"Kathryn Smith is a vile, manipulative individual, the judge said as much, and I think the fact that she's going to prison for a minimum term of 24 years is appropriate."
T his is the shocking moment a thief ran over a female courier with her own van, leaving her lying seriously injured in the street.

The white van was driven into the 22-year-old woman in a street in south London by an opportunistic thief who spotted she had left the keys in the ignition.

CCTV cameras on a house opposite captured the shocking incident in full.

The clip shows the courier dropping off a parcel at a property in Biggin Hill, south London.

Shortly after approaching the front door of a property, the thief jumped in the vehicle while it was unattended.

The woman is hit by her van as a man attempted to drive off in it / Metropolitan Police

The visibly distressed woman rushed back to her van and stepped into the street in an effort to stop the vehicle.

But the driver ploughs into her, throwing her into the air.

The woman makes her way down the steps to find her van is being stolen / Metropolitan Police

Scotland Yard said the victim was left with serious injuries and spent weeks in hospital undergoing treatment for a shattered kneecap and broken ankle, following the incident on January 21 at about 1.40pm.

No arrests have been made and the woman remains unable to work, a spokesman said.

The female delivery driver rushed into the street in an effort to halt the man's escape / Metropolitan Police

The white Ford Transit van was later traced to Waldens Close in nearby Orpington about two hours after the crash.

Detective Constable Chris Taylor, from Bromley CID, said: We would like to speak with anyone who has any information, who may have seen the van or anyone who was in the Sunningvale Avenue, Loxwood Close or Waldens Close areas in the early afternoon of 21 January.

Anyone with any information should contact Bromley Polices CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, quoting reference 3301373/16.
F ootage has emerged of a clash between Muslim worshippers and far-right activists at a protest outside a mosque in east London.

Videos shared on social media showed Britain First protesters being driven away from the East London Mosque amid scuffles in the street, shortly after they had assembled.

In one clip, a man can be seen fly-kicking the retreating protesters. Another man can be heard shouting come on! and several police officers were pictured at the scene.

The fight broke out after members of the right wing group attempted to hold an anti-mosque demonstration outside the building in Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel, on Saturday afternoon.

The group had arrived at the building with union flags and a large banner saying no more mosques.

The mosque tweeted that members of its community were provoked and attacked by the protesters.

Britain First claimed on social media that it was set upon by around 150 aggressive Muslims while trying to stage a peaceful demonstration.

Two people were arrested after police were called at about 3.30pm.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: Police were called following reports of a protest outside the East London Mosque on Whitechapel Road.

Officers attended and spoke with the group. A short time later, a counter-protest commenced. Two men were subsequently arrested.

One man was held on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Another was arrested on suspicion of going equipped to cause criminal damage.
P olice are appealing for witnesses after a woman was raped in south-west London.

The woman, in her early 40s, was attacked by a man in New Malden on Monday, April 4.

Detectives believe he followed her from the South Lane West area to Springfield Place, where the attack was carried out between 10pm and 11pm.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: Officers would like to speak with anyone who was in the area at the time, or who may have any information that could assist police with the investigation.

Police said the man was black, aged between 25 and 30, about 6ft tall and of slim to muscular build, with short dark hair. He was also wearing dark clothes.

Anyone who can help is asked to contact detectives on 020 8721 4122 or via 101 or to phone Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 to remain anonymous.
A sthmatic children are wearing pollution monitors and GPS trackers to measure how much noxious air they breathe in walking to school for a major study by a team of London scientists.

Queen Mary University of London researchers are examining whether children and teenagers can lessen the air pollution to which they are exposed while walking along the capitals traffic-choked main roads and waiting at junctions. They will be advised on alternative school walking routes through parks and back streets, if possible, to expose them to less pollution.

Fifty participants aged seven to 16, mostly Royal London Hospital outpatients, are carrying air pollution monitoring badges and GPS trackers for scientists to measure their pollution exposure. Each child has their medication checked and hospital appointments to examine samples, including saliva and breath vapour.

The three-year study will measure how much black carbon  a pollutant in diesel fumes associated with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases  and nitrogen dioxide children breathe in, and whether cutting this has a positive impact on their symptoms. It is being supervised by Professor Jonathan Grigg, an expert in how exhaust pipe fumes affect lung growth.

I have to walk half a mile across the A13 Twelve-year-old Esther Bakare has suffered asthma since she was a baby and her family home backs on to a dual carriageway section of the A13, one of Londons busiest roads that links Aldgate to Essex. Her daily half-mile journey to the school bus stop means she has no choice but to take the walk from her Canning Town home under the choked A13. She needs fortnightly injections of Xolair at the Royal London to manage her asthma and calm her allergies, which include dust. Esther said she hoped that helping with the Queen Mary study will help other youngsters better manage their asthma. She said: We live a few metres from the A13 and most of my walk to the bus stop is near a main road. For me, there is no other way to the bus stop, you either walk under the A13 or through a subway further up. In the morning, theres loads of cars rushing through and in the evenings its really busy with a lot of traffic and pollution. If I walk too fast my breathing gets heavier. Having asthma is very difficult, I used to be restricted to a few things and I started getting injections that helped me with my allergies so its not as bad now. I hope that by taking part in the study it will rescue peoples intake of pollution.

Dr Abigail Whitehouse, clinical research fellow at Queen Marys Blizard Institute, said: We are looking at whether we can change childrens exposure to air pollution  particularly for asthmatic children  who are exposed to higher levels of fumes walking to school while stopping at crossroads or walking down main roads.

We are trying to see if we can significantly change their pollution exposure by giving them advice to walk down side streets, back roads and through parks when safe.

We send them off with pollution-monitoring devices and then analyse all their results to give them personalised feedback on where they are exposed to pollution.

Last year, Queen Mary PhD researcher Lee Koh, who is running the child asthma study, used a portable pollution monitor to measure rush-hour levels of black carbon while walking about a mile from Whitechapel to Moorgate.

Mrs Koh then took another quieter route along back streets where there are lower levels of air pollution.

She found that just five minutes walking on the main road route exposed people to nearly a quarter of the maximum recommended intake of black carbon over 24 hours.

Mrs Kohs results were presented at the European Respiratory Societys international congress in Amsterdam.

She said: People can avoid peaks in black carbon if they choose to walk a quieter route. Government action will be required to further improve the general air quality around us.

Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said: Air pollution kills tens of thousands of people every year and puts two-thirds of people with asthma at risk of a potentially fatal asthma attack.

There is also mounting evidence that pollution can cause asthma as well as making it much worse for people who already have it.
S cientists have discovered the strongest evidence yet of a link between an early type of breast cancer and the risk of it spreading and becoming life-threatening.

The Kings College London research confirms that a family history of DCIS breast cancer, diagnosed in 5,000 UK women a year, could be important in assessing whether it is likely to develop into invasive cancer.

It also moves doctors a step closer to being able to identify which cancers are low risk and do not require unnecessary treatment, such as lumpectomy  surgical removal of part of the breast  and radiotherapy.

DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) cancers  where there are abnormal cancer cells in the milk ducts account for one in 10 breast cancers, with about half going on to become invasive if left untreated.

The difficulty in predicting whether the cancer will spread means up to 2,400 women a year may receive unnecessary treatment, according to NHS estimates.

Dr Elinor Sawyer, clinical reader in oncology at Kings College London and consultant oncologist at Guys and St Thomas NHS trust, said: This is a great leap in our understanding of DCIS, but also just the first step.

We now hope to carry out a larger study assessing more genetic changes to discover whether there are any that predispose solely to DCIS, something that could help us predict whose non-invasive cancer is unlikely to progress.

The study compared DNA extracted from the blood of more than 5,000 women with DCIS with samples from 24,000 patients with invasive breast cancer. It found most of the genetic causes of invasive cancer were shared with DCIS. Until now, little had been understood about the genetic risk factors of DCIS and its relationship with invasive cancer.

Researchers, funded by the charity Breast Cancer Now, hope to develop a test to assess the risk of disease progression in DCIS patients, potentially allowing thousands to be spared unnecessary treatment.

Dr Sawyer said: We hope to develop a test which will accurately predict how likely a woman is to develop DCIS and invasive breast cancer so we can offer intensive screening and consider the use of drugs.

The findings were published in the journal Breast Cancer Research. Katie Goates, of Breast Cancer Now, said: This study is invaluable as we have previously known so little about the inherited genetics of DCIS. However, we still have not cracked identifying which womens DCIS wont progress to invasive cancer.
M ore than half of all tenants in London and the South-East say they have experienced problems with their landlords such as failing to carry out repairs on their homes.

Having to deal with bad landlords is the biggest bugbear of tenants, beating exorbitant agent fees and rent increases, according to a survey.

It also found that almost 40 per cent of members of Generation Rent have to view as many as five properties before finding the home of their choice because of the intense competition.

Only four per cent said they feared being kicked out of their homes, although this was the highest in Britain and twice the national average rate.

Case study: 2 weeks to fix leak Legal marketing executive Nikki-Kim Yates has rented a room in South Wimbledon since arriving from South Africa last year. She has been appalled by the competition for even second-rate accommodation in London. The 24-year-old, who said she paid 550 a month, said the place was run down but complaints to the landlord fall on deaf ears. She said: When we had a leak it took two weeks to sort. Landlords in London dont have to look after their properties to the standard they should, people are so desperate they will take anything.

Londons private rental sector has exploded in recent years as soaring property prices force the capitals workforce to stay in rented properties far longer while saving for a deposit.

Around a quarter of Londoners now rent from private landlords but the sector is still seen as underregulated, with thousands of small-scale landlords often providing poor levels of housing.

Research by housing charity Shelter last week found almost half of families who are private tenants have had to borrow money to cover the rent.

Government figures show rents rose 19 per cent in London in the past five years, with the average for a two-bed flat now more than 1,600 a month.

Boris Johnson launched the London Rental Standard  a form of quality kitemark for landlords  in 2014 but uptake is said to have been limited.

Wayne Treveil, of credit check firm Tenants Plus, which commissioned the survey, said: It is not agents and landlords that are the main offenders here, but successive governments that do not deliver on new housing promises.

There is an obvious need for the Government and next Mayor to prioritise more stable tenancies and commit to building the genuinely affordable homes young Londoners are desperate for.
T he River Thames has burst its banks, bringing flooding to Putney and Richmond.

Heavy rainfall over the weekend saw several vehicles, including one of London's iconic black cabs, trapped by high Spring tides along Putney Embankment on Sunday evening.

In Richmond, Surrey Search and Rescue stepped in twice to rescue people trapped by rapidly rising waters.

Crews were out on the river training new recruits at about 5.30pm on Sunday, when they saw that several vehicles had become partly submerged in the water.

As they set about checking the cars to make sure they were empty, they spotted two men in a white BMW waving to them for help.

Then, just 100 metres along the river, they came to the aid of two women who were trapped on a bench.

A spokesman for Surrey Search and Rescue told GetSurrey: "The car was an automatic and had an electronic handbrake  so it couldn't be moved.

We took them both to dry land. Then, 100 metres upstream we spotted two ladies sitting on a bench totally cut off.

Trapped: Crews rescued two women who were caught out by rising water levels (Surrey Search and Rescue) / Surrey Search and Rescues

"So we went over and dropped them off on the grass.

"All were okay but surprised how quickly the water level came up.

Head of water at Surrey Search and Rescue, James Rossell, added: We were very lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

Flooding: Cars were trapped by high tides along Putney Embankment / Judy Urmossy

We were on the tidal stretch of the River Thames for a training exercise as the exceptionally high tide brings very fast flow, which is great for teaching our new recruits.

Typically this stretch of the river is covered by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Car drifting away on the Thames by Putney Bridge

Flood warnings are still in place from Putney Bridge to Teddington Weir, with locations that could be affected by flooding including Putney Embankment (SW15), Chiswick Mall and Strand on the Green (W4), Thames Bank at Mortlake (SW14), Ranelagh Drive (TW1), Friars Lane and Water Lane (TW9), Riverside and The Embankment at Twickenham, and the Towpath below Teddington Lock.
C ommunity groups working in some of Londons most deprived areas have told how grants from the Standards The Estate Were In campaign are transforming lives.

Campaigners fighting radicalisation and drawing people away from gang violence were among representatives of dozens of groups who met in central London for a celebration of their work.

The networking event, held in the Westminster offices of Citi banking group last week, was an opportunity for them to discuss their remarkable work.

It was also a chance for Citi, which has given 500,000 to the campaign, and the Standard to praise the campaigners for their unique roles in helping people to tackle social problems on estates.

Trailblazers who joined the first part of the 1.5 million campaign backing residents of Angell Town in Brixton were in attendance while others came from its pan-London roll-out which has given grants to charities and groups operating on other estates.

Dez Brown, 42, from Spark2Life, told how a 19,000 grant has helped fund a programme of outreach work in Waltham Forest and Brent focusing on young people caught up in, or at risk from, gang violence.

He said the drive-by shooting in March of Oliver Tetlow, 27, on the Church End estate in Harlesden, which is being helped by the programme, showed how vitally the work was needed.

Residents described the estate as a school-to-prison pipeline, he said. The funding has helped us to get more people in to spend real time with the people at risk to help them find another path.

Andrew Brown, from Elevating Success UK, said he had received funding in March to put programmes into the Turnham Estate in Brockley where aspiring musician Myron Issac-Yarde, 17, who was fatally stabbed in New Cross, was from.

He added: Its a community where three murder victims have come from in the past six months. The funding we have received is vital as we can move our programme into an area which desperately needs it.

The estate, where a 13-year-old recently became pregnant, is to benefit from a project to stop the sexual exploitation of girls. A boys programme will help those at risk of gangs, while one for parents will support those struggling to keep their children safe and in education.

Salaam Peace told how they were helping counter rising extremism in east London thanks to a 18,500 grant.

Dr Sabir Bhams group uses sport and education to engage young people on estates and then builds them into an outreach team of community champions. He said: Our philosophy is to show people a positive path to follow and they will join that path.

In a speech to the guests, James Bardrick, head of Citis UK operations, said: The most massive thank you to everyone who has been involved in this campaign and this set of activities. We couldnt be prouder than to have been involved in this.

The Standards campaign editor also thanked other financial backers including the Cabinet Office, Linklaters law firm, Mount Anvil property developers, Lambeth council and developer Citygrove Securities.
E lliott Livingstone, the face of our Great Ormond Street fundraising campaign, has been given the gift of life after undergoing a heart transplant.

The two-year-old has been kept alive for more than a year by a mechanical heart  longer than any other child patient in the UK.

He is now recovering in intensive care at GOSH after a seven-hour operation.

His parents, Candace and Adrian, said they were overwhelmed with gratitude to the donors family.

The story of Elliotts fight for life while waiting for a heart transplant helped inspire Evening Standard readers to donate more than 3.5 million to our Give to GOSH appeal.

In an emotional message to the anonymous donor, Elliotts parents said: Thank you little angel. In their darkest hour, as you prepared to take your last breath, your family selflessly thought of others.

Chance of life: Elliott Livingstone in Great Ormond Street with his father Adrian

"While your wings were preparing for your flight to glory, they decided their own grief was not their sole focus. Instead they chose to gift your heart to a stranger.

Heart patients Elliott Livingstone and Marley Scott are reunited

Elliott, who has spent most of his short life in hospital, suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy and his only hope was a transplant. He has had many setbacks including numerous infections and two failures of the Berlin heart that was keeping him alive.

His parents watched as organs were found for every other heart transplant patient on his ward, but never gave up hope that a match would eventually be found for Elliott.

Elliott Livingstone's face launched the Evening Standard's Give to GOSH appeal

Describing the moment the call finally came offering hope of a potential donor, Mr and Mrs Livingstone said: Our stomachs flipped a thousand somersaults. There was no happiness. It was far too early for this. Out of all the emotions felt, the one that weighed most heavily on our consciences was responsibility.

Someone had made the decision to give Elliott a shot at a new life in the most tragic of circumstances. We had to make it work. We had to make the most of this opportunity.

Elliott is now doing well in intensive care at Gosh. When he is stronger he will return to the cardiac Bear ward to recover fully. If all goes well he will then be allowed to return to his Hampshire home.

Mr and Mrs Livingstone described the moments before they had to say goodbye to him as he was taken into theatre. He had been communicating using sign language after temporarily losing his speech because of the traumas he has been through. Elliott had wanted an ice-cream.

His parents said: When it was time to take him down to the operating theatre, he was already asleep in our arms, worn out by his increasingly frantic requests for ice-cream that were going unanswered. We carried him towards his destiny. We have hope Elliott is now over the biggest post transplant hurdles but we know that many challenges are still to come.

"Thank you to the Berlin heart for keeping Elliott alive long enough for him to receive his call. Thank you Great Ormond Street Hospital for performing your daily miracles. Thank you to Organ Donation for allowing us to have hopes and dreams of a future and a more normal life.

Candace Livingstone with her son Elliott / Sharon Leese/Great Ormond Street Hospital

'Thank you little angel' - Elliott's parents' letter to the anonymous donor in full

Thank you little angel. In their darkest hour, as you prepared to take your last breath, your family selflessly thought of others. While your wings were preparing for your flight to glory, they decided their own grief was not their sole focus.

Instead they chose to gift your heart to a stranger. They had no idea what battle he faced, who he was or where he came from. Their one intention was for life to flourish as your own sands of time quickly slipped away. In that moment they showed us, in a world full of so much pain and suffering, just how amazing humanity can be. Thank you will never be enough. Your family has given our family hope. A chance of a future. A chance of life itself.

We will endeavour to uphold your honour and your sacrifice. Not a day will go by without remembering your unselfish nature. For every additional day enjoyed, we will make sure each moment encapsulates the vibrancy and quality of life you have afforded us. We promise to make you proud of your decision to donate.

Thank you for giving Elliott this chance.

Find out more about organ donation by visiting www.organdonation.nhs.uk
A motorist who was killed by a lorry as he got out of his car on the hard shoulder of the M25 has today been named as a dependable and hard-working royal police officer.

Police Sergeant David Jennings, 48, who protected members of the royal family, was struck by the lorry on a stretch of the motorway near Brentwood on March 31.

Detectives believe his car had struck the central reservation between junctions 28 and 29 and that he had pulled over and got out of the car to inspect the damage when he was hit.

PS Jennings, who served in the Metropolitan Police Service's Royalty and Specialist Protection Command, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash at around 9pm.

Paying tribute to him today, his family said in a statement: David has been taken from us in such a tragic way. We have lost a devoted father, husband, brother and son who was dependable, hard-working and completely rooted to his family.

He was committed to his job and was loved and respected by his family and friends. He will be deeply missed and the world will be a darker place without him."

Chief Superintendent Bert Moore, of the Royalty and Specialist Protection Command, said: "Dave was a consummate professional who displayed all that is good about the Metropolitan Police.

He was my staff officer so I saw daily the commitment he gave to the force. His death will be keenly felt by his colleagues and friends and our thoughts are with his family at this time."

The driver of the HGV is thought to have stopped briefly at the scene of the crash but drove away before emergency services arrived. Police were appealing for the driver to come forward.

Officers later arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by careless driving. He has been bailed until early July.

Anyone who witnessed the crash or with information is asked to call Roads and Transport Police on 020 8597 4874.
N ew footage has emerged which apparently shows a creature lurking in the River Thames.

The two clips have ramped up speculation that London could have its very own version of the Loch Ness monster.

An 18-second clip of a mysterious dark shape moving through the water was posted on YouTube on Saturday.

It shows faint splashing and a large hump emerging from the river's surface.

The Evening Standard investigates: Is there a monster in the Thames?

But even the person who posted the clip wasn't convinced by what they saw.

The video was shared with the caption Nessie in the Thames by user Lea K, who wrote: Everyone was looking at a freaking rainbow and no one paid attention to this thing its probs just rubbish haha.

A day later, footage of another apparent sighting emerged, showing a strange object near the Thames flood barrier.

In it, a dark shape briefly surfaces before disappearing again with a small splash.

The apparently sceptical user who posted the video wrote: Could be anything. COULD be the new Nessie! Let's go with that.

TODO: define component type apester

It is not clear when the videos were filmed and the Evening Standard has not been able to independent verify their authenticity.

The apparent sightings come after wildlife experts last week admitted they were stumped by grainy video appearing to show a huge mass with two humps emerging from the Thames near the O2.

Marine biologists and conservationists said they had no explanation amid speculation it could be a whale, a pod of porpoises or a trick of the camera.

Ian Tokelove, from the London Wildlife Trust, told the Standard: We are not aware of anything that large and moving in the Thames.

We had a good look at the footage but it isnt clear enough to make out what we are looking at.

More than 2,000 seals and some 450 porpoises and dolphins have been spotted in the Thames in the past decade, figures from the Zoological Society of London show.
T he worlds first local currency cash machine opened today in Brixton.

The Brixton Pound (B) ATM in Market Row despenses special Brixton bank notes, which can only be spent in the area.

Banknotes carry images of local heroes, including David Bowie and Luol Deng, as well as pieces of Brixton public art.

B is the only local currency of its kind in London, and it aims to encourage Brixtonites to spend their money locally and support independent businesses, boosting the area's community.

Brixton Boy: David Bowie features on one of the notes / Brixton Pound

Notes can be spent in more than 300 local independent businesses, including shops, bars, and restaurants.

Many have been designed by local creatives, including Jeremy Deller, the British artist who won the Turner Prize in 2004.

The cash machine, which was designed and produced by local independent and creative agency Kind Studio, is funded by the London Mayors High Street Fund.

Local hero: Basketball player Luol Deng on one of the notes / Brixton Pound

The scheme is also supported by Lambeth Council, through Payroll Local, a scheme that allows council staff to turn some of their salary directly into electronic Brixton Pound (Be).

Payroll Local is completely optional, but those employees who participate can then use their B balance to buy their lunch, go shopping, use services around Brixton, or donate to local charities.

Creative: a note designed by Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller / Brixton Pound

Brixton Pounds Managing Director Tom Shakhli said: Our cash machine is the latest in our challenge to the conventional view that were moving towards a cashless society, and gives locals and visitors to Brixton an opportunity to experiment with money that celebrates community and creates conversations rather than closes them off.

The ATM can be found in, Market Row, part of the covered market between Coldharbour Lane, Atlantic Road, and Electric Avenue, and is available during market opening hours.
Z ac Goldsmith announced a 20 million fund today to revitalise Londons 600 high streets, as Sadiq Khan took his fight for City Hall to his Tory rivals south-west London heartlands.

Mr Goldsmiths plan includes a 2 million stop and shop fund to encourage councils to offer 30 minutes free parking to draw shoppers to town centres.

The mayoral hopeful would appoint a retail czar to promote regeneration and bring empty shops back to life, following a petition backed by almost 30,000 Londoners.

His plans build on work begun by Boris Johnson to help boost high streets, which are under threat from expensive rents and rates, out-of-town shopping centres and online shopping. It is funded in part from a 23 million underspend by the current Mayor.

There are thought to be more than 3,400 empty shops across the capital, mostly in outer London, with independent shops particularly at risk.

Mr Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park, said: London depends on the success of our local high streets and independent shops  they are the heart of our communities and the building blocks of the economy.

It came as Mr Khan parked his tanks firmly on his rivals lawn in a pitch for former Liberal Democrat voters in outer London boroughs. He will be highlighting Mr Goldsmiths support for government cuts to help for disabled Londoners.

The Labour hopeful visited Kingston on Saturday and is expected to be in Sutton tomorrow. Voters in south-west London will be targeted with leaflets and a Facebook campaign.

The second-preference votes of the Lib-Dems, which numbered around 90,000 last time, could be key in the closely fought race.

Labour believes that despite three Lib-Dem seats in south-west London falling to the Tories at the last election, voters are already moving away from them.

While there is little sign they are turning to Labour, Mr Khans campaign believes they are open to persuasion.

A Labour source said: Voters in south-west London are abandoning the Tories over the ongoing Tory chaos.

"They are furious over cuts to support for disabled Londoners, the Tory civil war over Europe and David Camerons inadequate response to the steel crisis and the Panama Papers. There is particular anger at Goldsmith over his support for George Osbornes cuts to disabled Londoners.

A Lib-Dem spokesman said: Labours performance in council by-elections in south-west London has been poor in seats won by the Lib-Dems. Local residents know that only the Lib-Dems can beat the Tories there, and Labours record shows nothing has changed.

Meanwhile Boris Johnson has attacked the anti-Semitic sickness that was a cancer in Jeremy Corbyns Labour  and cast doubt over whether Mr Khan was capable of being a force for inclusiveness.

That means emphatically not setting community against community, he said. That, alas, is not the Corbynista agenda, he wrote in his newspaper column.
D avid Cameron today declared that aspiration and wealth are not dirty words as he fought to recover from the damaging row over his family taxes.

In an extraordinary statement in the Commons, the Prime Minister was expected to come off the back foot and strongly defend the right of people to make investments to support their families.

George Osborne was expected to publish his own tax returns, after Downing Street declared chancellors should follow the PMs example. No 10 sources said Boris Johnson should do the same  if he throws his hat into the Tory leadership ring.

Conservative MPs said the huge row over alleged avoidance by the rich and powerful meant that in future all MPs would have to publish their tax returns and details of unearned income.

Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has published her tax return and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to do so. Nigel Farage said he would not publish his. The answer from me is no, he declared. Big no.

Labour stepped up demands for an independent inquiry after it emerged that Edward Troup, head of HM Revenue and Customs, was previously a partner at law firm Simmons & Simmons, which represented a number of offshore companies  including Blairmore Holdings, the fund set up by David Camerons father.

The Premiers Commons fightback comes after his unprecedented decision to publish details of his tax returns at the weekend, to counter suggestions of avoidance  revealing at the same time a 200,000 gift from his mother that appeared to have been made by her to avoid future inheritance tax.

He also took full responsibility for Downing Streets failure to come clean about his familys finances straight away, after the Panama Papers leak showed his late father Ian had run a fund offshore.

Today the PM was expected to unveil new laws against companies that fail to stop evasion, while adding: But as we do so, we should differentiate between schemes designed to artificially reduce tax and those that are encouraging investment. We must defend the right of every citizen to make money lawfully. This is a Government that believes in aspiration and wealth creation. These are not somehow dirty words.

They are the engines of growth and prosperity in our country  and we must always support those who want to own shares and make investments to support their families.

Hundreds march on Downing Street calling for Cameron to resign over Panama Papers scandal

The Prime Ministers spokeswoman said: When it comes to tax returns, the PM has made clear he is willing to be transparent. Its right for potential prime ministers also to do so. When we think who is in charge of the nations finances, the PM thinks chancellors and shadow chancellors should too.

This stance would mean Mr Johnson and other senior politicians would be expected to publish returns if they made a bid to succeed Mr Cameron. But No 10 stopped short of calling for other ministers and MPs to publish information. No 10 also said Mr Cameron had given unprecedented detail about his tax affairs, and batted away questions about why he had not published his full tax return.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the problem with Mr Cameron not publishing details of other share investments was that it all keeps coming back with more questions. Mr McDonnell said there would be a debate about whether all MPs should publish their tax returns  a move he backed.

TODO: define component type apester

Justice Secretary Michael Gove leaped to Mr Camerons defence, saying: I think he has behaved with integrity. A HMRC spokesman said Mr Troup had confirmed he never had dealings with Mossack Fonseca, the firm at the centre of the Panama Papers, and was unaware of Mossack until recently.

None of the individuals or organisations named so far were clients that he advised when he worked in the private sector, the spokesman added, while Edward Troups role in HMRC has never involved responsibility for operational activities or direct dealings with companies on their tax affairs.

Conservative backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg, a member of the Commons Treasury committee, told BBC radio: I think ... its very clear that all MPs within a year or two will be publishing their returns, and Im not going to be the one holding out against that.

I think it is a pity that we have lost privacy, but to some extent it is politicians fault because we lost the trust of the public over the expenses affair.

He said overseas investment funds did not give tax advantages to UK residents, pointing out that he had run and set up such financial schemes himself.

Mark Field, Tory MP for Cities of London and Westminster, warned that if MPs were made to publish their returns it could become a slippery slope for other public figures to have to do so. He favoured a new section in the Commons Register of Members Interests for unearned income such as interest on investments and inheritances.
K en Livingston today accused supporters of Tony Blair of plotting to nobble him after it emerged he has fallen behind in a battle to keep his place on Labours ruling body.

Internal party data leaked to the Evening Standard reveals the former mayor of London is trailing other Left-wingers and several Blairites in nominations for the National Executive Committee. They are voting strategically to keep me off, he said. It is bound to have some sort of effect.

He added that the moderniser group, Progress, was behind the alleged machinations, saying it was well-funded by Lord Sainsbury to gain influence.

The disclosure prompted claims that Mr Livingstones star might be fading after three decades as one of Britains best-known mavericks.

It comes amid reports that Mr Livingstone has been sidelined by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for being a loose cannon and stopped from appearing on a BBC political programme.

Mr Livingstone poured scorn on the reports, saying: If Jeremy wanted me to keep a lower profile he would pick up the phone and tell me. He would not get his staff to tell a journalist. Its complete nonsense.

Out of 35 nominations by constituency branches recorded at party HQ so far, former party chair Ann Black was frontrunner with 27, with Blairite Luke Akehurst second on 16. Young Labours Bex Bailey, who has clashed with Corbynites, was on 12, with Mr Livingstone last on just eight.
L abour MP Dennis Skinner was today thrown out of the House of Commons for calling the Prime Minister dodgy Dave.

The veteran politician was suspended from the Commons chamber for the rest of the day after making the comment during David Camerons statement on the Panama Papers leak.

Commons Speaker John Bercow asked Mr Skinner to withdraw the remark  considered unparliamentary language  but he refused and instead chose to repeat it.

Mr Bercow then ordered the Bolsover MP to leave the chamber immediately and barred him from debates for the rest of the day.

Do what you like, Mr Skinner, known as the Beast of Bolsover for his angry attacks on Tory ministers, could be heard saying, before walking out as instructed.

The 84-year-old Labour politician made the comments while asking the Prime Minister to explain his financial affairs further  with particular reference to the mortgages on his homes in Notting Hill and Oxford.

During his questioning, Mr Skinner said: Maybe dodgy Dave will answer it now?

Mr Bercow replied: I must ask the Honourable Gentleman to withdraw that adjective - you're perfectly capable of asking the question without using that word.
P olitical leaders from both sides of the house have published details of their tax affairs, taking a lead from the Prime Minister, who made his public yesterday amid a row over tax avoidance.

David Cameron has set out new measures to make it harder for people to hide the proceeds of corruption offshore as Jeremy Corbyn and George Osborne published details of their tax returns.

In a Commons statement, Mr Cameron - who published his own tax return at the weekend - said it was right that those who aspired to run the nation's finances declare their own tax affairs.

"I am not suggesting that this should apply to all MPs," he said.

"I think there is a strong case for the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and for the Chancellor and shadow chancellor, because they are people who are or who wish to be responsible for the nation's finances.

Cameron in Commons on Panama: wealth not a dirty word

"As for MPs, we already have robust rules on members' interests and their declaration and I believe that is the model we should continue to follow."

Mr Osborne's return showed he received a total taxable income of 198,738 in 2014/15, including 44,647 in the form of dividends from his family's luxury wallpaper firm, and rental income of 33,562, and that he paid income tax of of 72,210.

However, Mr Osborne has refused to publish records going back further. saying they are "not interesting".

Chancellor: George Osborne published a summary of his tax return / George Osborne

Mr Corbyn's return for 2014/15 showed that he declared 1,850 of taxable income over and above his parliamentary salary made up of lecture fees and "survey" income.

It has emerged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had to ask Revenue and Customs for a copy of his tax return amid reports he did not keep a copy of the most recent tax statement he submitted to the authorities.

Mr Corbyn also had to pay a fine for filing his tax return late, he has revealed.

Late: the Labour leader had to pay a fine for submitting a late return (The Labour Party/PA Wire) / he Labour Party/PA Wire

The document - which was handwritten - also showed the date of submission as February 2 2016.

The deadline for paper submissions was October 31 and for online submissions January 31.

Returns filed up to three months late attract a fine of 100 - with higher penalties if longer.

London mayor Boris Johnson also released a summary of his tax return, which showed he paid nearly 1 million in tax in four years.

The Prime Minister said he had followed the rules of the House of Common for registering shareholdings "in full".

Corbyn: the opposition leader's extra income came from lectures and surveys / The Labour Party/PA Wire

He told MPs he had given the "relevant information" to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards but if the watchdog believed the premier should say more about it, he was "very happy" to do so.

The Prime Minister said he sold his shares in 2010 because he did not want "any conflict of interest".

"I didn't want anyone to be able to suggest that as Prime Minister I had any other agendas or vested interests."

Income: Jeremy Corbyn declared 1,850 of taxable income on top of his Parliamentary salary / The Labour Party/PA Wire

Mr Cameron told MPs he accepted he had handled the affair badly but was "angry about the way my father's memory was being traduced".

"I know he was hard-working man and a wonderful dad and I'm proud of everything he did to build a business and provide for his family."

Mr Cameron, who received 300,000 from his late father Ian and 200,000 from his mother Mary, said it was "natural human instinct" for parents to want to pass things on to their children.

Four years: The London Mayor paid nearly 1million in tax / Boris Johnson

"As for parents passing money to their children while they are still alive, it is something the tax rules fully recognise," he said.

Dodgy Dave comment in Commons by Dennis Skinner MP

The Prime Minister said it was right to "tighten the law and change the culture" to crackdown on evasion and aggressive avoidance", but the government should "defend the right of every British citizen to make money lawfully".
A man who was abandoned as a baby in a Gatwick Airport toilet has made an emotional plea for his birth parents to finally come forward.

Steve Hydes was discovered wrapped in a blanket in the ladies' washroom 30 years ago.

He was found in a good condition by a duty-free employee who said he appeared well looked after.

After he was dubbed "Gary Gatwick", a series of media appeals were made in an effort to trace his biological parents but none were successful.

Long search: Steve as a baby pictured in a newspaper clipping from 1986 / Facebook/Steve Hydes

But Mr Hydes, now 30, told Sky News he still desperate wanted to find them.

"It's the not knowing - why it happened and things like that I really want to know," he said.

"To me it's just a blank space that everyone else seems to have."

He added: "I'd just like to know what happened, it will explain more about myself, complete me in a way."

Organisation Missing Family are aiding his search and believe they have found two DNA matches who may hold the key.

Gail Hickman said: "Right now we have two close relatives for Steven that we cannot contact as they have not logged into their profile to collect their messages, which is not only frustrating, but greatly hinders the search."
A body has been found in the search for missing junior doctor Rose Polge.

Police believe the woman's body found off the coast of Dorset is that of the 25-year-old, who vanished two months ago.

Ms Polge, a doctor at Torbay Hospital in Torquay, Devon, has not been seen since February 12.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "Police are currently working on the belief that the body is that of 25-year old missing person Rose Polge, from Torquay.

"The family of Ms Polge are aware of this latest development."

The body was recovered from the sea east of Portland Headland in Dorset on April 1 but has not yet been formally identified, police said.

Dr Polge's car was discovered in a car park near Anstey's Cove in Torquay, a shingle beach backed by hillside with thick woodland, at 6pm on Friday February 12.

Police officers and divers, with the Coastguard, RNLI and Dartmoor search and rescue, have been involved in the hunt for her.

A hoodie found on the beach is understood to have been identified as belonging to Dr Polge.
K ate had a "Marilyn moment" today when her dress blew about in the wind as she was supposed to be paying her respects to the Indian war dead.

A gust of wind caught her 1,700 Emilia Wickstead dress as she was paying tribute to the Indian soldiers who lost their lives in World War I.

As the couple laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Kate found herself repeatedly battling to stop it flapping up in the breeze in images reminiscent of the iconic Marilyn Monroe 'white dress' pose.

Her flyaway hair and outfit then continued to cause her embarrassment as she tried to stand in a moment of reflection while the Last Post was played.

The royals laid a wreath to honour soldiers from Indian regiments who served in WWI (Getty) / Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images

India Gate is a towering 42-metre high arch designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the heart of New Delhi, but its open plan design channelled the wind, turning a strong breeze into troublesome gusts.

The Duchess managed to keep her composure throughout the sombre ceremony that honoured the 70,000 Indian soldiers who died fighting for the British Army during the First World War.

Later on the royals paid their respects to Mahatma Gandhi at the spot where he was assassinated 68 years ago.

Kate struggled in the breeze with her 1,700 cream Emilia Wickstead dress (Getty) / Dominic Lipinski/Getty Images

On the second day of their week-long tour, the royal couple made the solemn tribute to Indias founding father as they arrived in New Delhi.

Kate, who wore a 1,700 cream Emilia Wickstead dress, took off her shoes as she and William toured the Gandhi Smriti, housed in the Old Birla House in the centre of the capital.

Gandhi, who had led the struggle for Indian independence from Britain, was shot aged 78 on January 30, 1948, by a Hindu extremist opposed to his support for Pakistani Muslims.

The royals stand solemnly side-by-side at the memorial / Getty

Later today, the royal couple were attending birthday celebrations for the Queen, who turns 90 this month, at the British High Commission.

Last night, the Duke and Duchess partied with Bollywood royalty at a charity gala in Mumbai. Before they left the western city this morning, Williams culinary reputation took a bit of a battering after Kate turned down his offer of an Indian-style crepe.

They were visiting The Social, a cafe and business centre used as a meeting place for young innovators. Kate, 34, joined her husband at a stand for Mukunda Foods, set up three years ago by entrepreneur Eshwar Vikas.

The royals walk barefoot together at Gandhi Smiriti, the museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi / AFP

He showed them his app-controlled DosaMatic machine, which can be loaded with batter to make pancakes and dosas  similar to crepes.

William, 33, gave the invention a try, pouring batter onto the hotplate to make a dosa. He took a bite and told Mr Vikas it was delicious before offering it to Kate, who declined.

The couple paid a solemn tribute and were unruffled by the gusty weather / Rex

Mr Vikas, 24, said: The Duke told me he and the Duchess love dosas and he said it was a wonderful machine.

"He said they would love to have one in their palace and the Duchess said that because you can also use it to make pancakes the whole of London will want one.

The Duke of Cambridge had a taste of a dosa but Kate politely refused (Getty) / Heathcliff O'Malley/Getty Images

William and Kate also met the team behind Mahindra Racing, which competes in the electric Formula E championship.

The Prince sat in a simulator and grinned as he drove around the Buddh International circuit in Delhi, managing a lap time of two minutes and six seconds.

Prince William also had a turn around Delhi's race track in a simulator (Getty) / Heathcliff O'Malley/Getty Images

Tomorrow, the Duke and Duchess will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.

They will then fly to Kaziranga national park in the north-eastern state of Assam before continuing their tour of the region in the mountainous kingdom of Bhutan.
S tephen Fry has angered social media with his comments on political correctness which he has branded infantile.

Fry, 58, was speaking to US chat show host Dave Rubin who asked the former QI presenter if he believed the regressive left, coming after language and free speech, was evident in the UK.

Referring to the controversy over a Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College, Oxford which campaigners called to be removed on the grounds it expressed a positive message about imperialism, Fry said: Its started to happen in the attempted removal of statues of people who are considered unlikeable  once beloved  and have become un-persons in a very 1984-way.

Fry went on to criticise those who avoid trigger words for fear of controversy and said some people are becoming too sensitive.

There are many great plays which contain rapes, and the word rape now is even considered a rape, he said. Theyre terrible things and they have to be thought about, clearly, but if you say you cant watch this play, you cant watch Titus Andronicus, or you cant read it in an English class, or you cant watch Macbeth because its got children being killed in it, it might trigger something when you were young that upset you once, because uncle touched you in a nasty place, well Im sorry.

Its a great shame and were all very sorry that your uncle touched you in that nasty place  you get some of my sympathy  but your self pity gets none of my sympathy.

He added: Self pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of it, because no ones going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself. The irony is well feel sorry for you, if you stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just grow up.

TODO: define component type apester

But Fry  who is the president of mental health charity MIND  was met with a fierce backlash on social media with some deeming him "dangerous" and "hypocritical".

One user posted: Self pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Says the man who deleted his Twitter account over being criticised for a sexist comment.

Another wrote: Saw that Stephen Fry was trending. Apparently he's said something about self pity! Oh, the irony!!

Follow @StandardShowbiz for more news.
High school students from around the Panhandle traveled to the Scotts Bluff County courthouse Tuesday, April 5 to take part in Boys and Girls County Government Day. This historic program is about to enter its 70th year in Nebraska. The focus is to educate our young people in the practice of government. The belief that informed citizens build a better country has always been the force behind the program.

John Brehm, Scotts Bluff County Veterans Service director, said, We had 6 schools participate from 3 different counties.

Brehm has been involved with County Government Day for four decades.

Ive been a Veterans Service officer here in Scotts Bluff county for 42 years and our office has been doing this for the last 40 years and we think its a very important program.

Brehm says they keep trying to build upon the program and to keep it current and interesting for the kids.

The day begins with the Pledge of Allegiance. Then, from the moment the students receive the oath of office, they become engaged. Presentations on voter registration, running for elective office, adult and juvenile detention, all aimed at giving the student practical knowledge in the operation of county government.

The students get to meet and spend time with a county official in an area that interests them. Officials for law enforcement, tourism, information systems, healthcare, and more answer questions and demonstrate what each position involves. The students get to see the gears and cogs of our local government.

Western Nebraska Intelligence & Narcotics Group (WING) did a presentation on drug abuse and the ongoing war on drugs in our community. Scotts Bluff County 911 Communications Director Ray Richards provided a look into 911 operations and gave tips on what to do in the event a student should ever need to call 911. According to Richards, the most important thing to tell the 911 operator is your location.

Tell them where you are first, advises Richards. If you get cut off, we can still find you.

A luncheon was hosted by the First United Methodist Church in Gering, where Sheriff Mark Overman talked about the possible and very serious dangers of social media and focused on the need to be safe and responsible online. Representatives of the Nebraska National Guard provided a flag presentation, explained the meaning behind the ceremony and discussed flag etiquette.

Back at the county administration building, the star of the day was waiting for his part of the program. Dexter, a police dog with the Gering Police Department K-9 unit, was ready and willing to demonstrate how he does his part to help keep the city safe. To the crowds delight, Dexter performed brilliantly. He subdued the bad guy in authoritative fashion, over and over again.

To wind up the day, there was a mock trial presided over by Judge James Worden. Giving the students a chance to experience up close what is an integral part of the justice system.

Angie Hilbert teaches history and American government at Banner County High School. Hilbert feels its a great program, saying, It teaches them about the responsibilities involved within government.

Dreah Hinze, an 11th grader at Gering High School, said of the program, Its really cool. I want to come again.

Hinze has an interest in law enforcement and chose to meet with the Sheriff. Allie Wilson, also an 11th grader at Gering, said, The program is really cool and very interesting. Its important to know, because it affects everybody. Wilson is interested in the medical field, so she chose the Health Department.

It would appear that County Government Day was a success, yet again.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  Nebraska's attorney general is appealing a federal judge's decision to block the state from putting a 13-year-old boy who moved to Nebraska from Minnesota on its public list of sex offenders.

Suzanne Gage, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, said the appeal is needed "because the outcome of the case has important ramifications on how Nebraska's Sex Offender Registry Act should be properly interpreted," the Lincoln Journal Star reported Saturday.

In Nebraska, lawmakers opted to exclude juveniles from the Nebraska Sex Offender Registration Act unless they were prosecuted criminally in adult court. The Nebraska State Patrol determined the boy had to register when he moved to Nebraska, saying that the way the law was written made it seem as if all sex offenders who move to Nebraska must register.

In his ruling last month, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said it "makes no sense to believe that the Nebraska statutes were intended to be more punitive to juveniles adjudicated out of state as compared to juveniles adjudicated in Nebraska."

If the boy had done in Nebraska what he did in Minnesota, he would not have been required to register as a sex offender, Kopf said.

Josh Weir, an attorney for the boy's family, said the attorney general's decision to appeal is "an absolute waste of time, energy and resources."
The Nebraska Legislature has advanced Sen. Beau McCoys LB10 to final reading. This bill would give all five of Nebraskas electoral votes for president to one candidate in a winner-take-all format. By all accounts this is a giant leap away from democracy and is a clear effort on McCoys part to nullify a good number of voters presidential votes.

McCoy, a conservative Republican, knows that most of Nebraskas votes will most likely go to a Republican presidential candidate. Just for the sake of argument, lets say Candidate A wins 55 percent of Nebraskas statewide popular vote and Candidate B had 45 percent, but did have the most votes in District 2.

Out of our 5 electoral votes, four would go to A and 1 would go to B, not an exact science but at least a close representation of Nebraska voters.

Under McCoys bill, all five would go to A. If you were one of those folks voting for B, too bad. Your vote for president will not count at all. How does this advance democracy? It does not. It is a clear partisan move to bolster McCoys Republican Party in an already very red state.

Would McCoy introduce this legislation if he was a Democrat? Of course he wouldnt, which is exactly the problem with this bill. It is partisan politics at its worse when we already have a nation struggling under the weight of partisan bickering.

Currently, only two states in the country have proportional electoral votes, Nebraska and Maine. We are the only two states that have it right, while the other 48 have it wrong. We in Nebraska should set the example as we do in the Unicameral. We are the only nonpartisan single body legislature in the country. It is more transparent and accountable to voters, which is just the opposite of what McCoys bill would do.

What is McCoy afraid of, the voter? Does he not trust us to make a legitimate vote? Does he think the state should speak for us when it comes to presidential votes instead of our own ballot? The answer to these questions is yes, or at least his LB10 would indicate as much.

This bill should not pass, and any senator voting for it will be signaling their trust in government is stronger than in the people of Nebraska.
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In the January-February period this year, 90 medium-size and large coal enterprises in China produced 370 million mt of raw coal, down 5.3 percent year on year, as announced by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
Monday, 11 April 2016 23:38:06 (GMT+3) | San Diego

Citing the dramatically worsening steel market situation in all three countries, the governments of Canada Mexico and the United States agree on the need for governments of all major steel-producing countries to make strong and immediate commitments to address the problem of global excess steelmaking capacity, according to a release from the US International Trade Administration.





Officials of Canada Mexico and the United States, along with North American steel company representatives, met in Mexico City on March 31  April 1, for the North American Steel Trade Committee, where they reviewed the current market situation and discussed options for addressing the excess steel capacity situation.





Globally, excess steel capacity has more than doubled from 2000 to 2014, led by unsustainable expansion in capacity by China. At a time when steel demand is weakening worldwide, global steelmaking capacity is expected to grow through 2017 to 2,420 million metric tons. North America , which experienced modest growth in steel demand over the past two years, saw steel production decline while the volume of non-NAFTA finished imports increased dramatically over 40 percent in 2014 and 2015 compared to 2012 and 2013 levels. Imports represented 22 percent of regional finished steel demand in 2015, up from 21 percent in 2014 and 16 percent in 2013. Exports from the three countries declined 19 percent in 2015 from 2014 levels. The regions steel industries are experiencing decreased profitability and thousands of job losses.





The three North American governments support efforts by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)s Steel Committee to arrange a highlevel meeting on steel, hosted by the Government of Belgium, on April 18, which will assess the situation and adopt policy approaches to address the excess capacity situation. In recent years, this Committee has undertaken useful analytical work and facilitated inter-governmental policy dialogue in this area, helping to clarify the magnitude of the excess capacity problems and its leading causes.





Canada, Mexico and the United States agreed on the value of the high-level meeting to lay the groundwork to restore a healthy global steel market and reduce government-led distortions in the steel sector. This includes working towards robust commitments by governments to curtail government subsidies and other supports that artificially maintain or increase steelmaking capacity and to reduce uneconomic excess capacity.








Victor Ponta says that in a state in which everyone is equal before the law, anticorruption prosecutors should start probing the President. Klaus Iohannis is allegedly guilty of conflict of interests, the former Premier wrote on his Facebook page. He referred to the fact that the President nominated Mihai Alexandru Gradinar, whose father declares himself Klaus Iohanniss good family friend, as ambassador to Denmark.

Referring to the ambassadors President Klaus Iohannis nominated, Victor Ponta writes that in normal conditions there should be a chain of events that would result in the criminal prosecution and resignation of the President.

DNA should ask for the start of the criminal prosecution against Mr. Klaus Iohannis for conflict of interests, a crime stipulated by Article 301 of the Criminal Code, because: when exercising his prerogatives he took part in the adoption of a decision that resulted in a benefit for a person with whom he had commercial or professional ties in the last 5 years, the former Premier wrote on his Facebook page.

Victor Ponta also considers that it would be normal for Romanians to take part in street protests against the President, just as they did after the Colectiv nightclub tragedy. The street protests sparked by that tragedy in early November 2015 resulted in Victor Pontas resignation from the office of Premier.

The beautiful and free young people who asked for a different kind of politics will take to the streets this evening to ask for the resignation of the guilty President (just as they are doing these days in Brazil, France etc.), Victor Ponta added.

On the occasion of his resignation, Mr. Iohannis will also be investigated for forgery and use of forgery, crimes committed in order to fraudulently obtain a house in Sibiu, as already established by the Brasov Court of Appeals through a final ruling. And, of course, ANAF will ask him to pay back the RON 600 M he unlawfully collected as rent for the house he fraudulently obtained, the former Premier opined on what the next stage should be.

I believe Romania is a rule of law state in which we are all equal before the law and responsible for our actions  or NOT?! Victor Ponta concluded.
LOUISVILLE, Ky.  The spirits company behind Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey is taking a deeper plunge into Kentucky bourbon.

Brown-Forman Corp. said Monday that Coopers' Craft will be its first new bourbon brand in 20 years. The roll-out for the premium whiskey will come this summer in eight southeastern states, with plans to expand distribution once supplies increase, company executives said.

Brown-Forman master distiller Chris Morris, whose production team spent more than a decade creating Coopers' Craft, said "the time for a new style of bourbon has arrived."

Louisville-based Brown-Forman's flagship brand is Jack Daniel's and its extensive spirits lineup includes Woodford Reserve and Old Forester bourbons.

Coopers' Craft whiskey will age four to six years before bottling, the company said.

It's bottled at 82.2 proof, lower than Woodford Reserve and Old Forester, making it a prime "entry-level whiskey" for people unfamiliar with bourbon, said Doug Petry, co-owner and beverage director at RYE, a Louisville restaurant.

The new brand's name is meant as a tribute to the craft of barrel making and the importance of wood in creating bourbon, the company said. Bourbon matures in charred, oak barrels, resulting in its amber color and distinctive taste.

Its initial rollout will be in Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi and Florida. The whiskey is produced at the Brown-Forman distillery in Shively, southwest of downtown Louisville.

The company's newest brand introduction comes amid continued strong sales for whiskey.

Combined U.S. revenues for bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey shot up 7.8 percent to $2.9 billion in 2015, up $210 million from the prior year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. Domestic volume rose 5.2 percent last year to 20.4 million cases, it said.

Kentucky distilleries produce about 95 percent of the world's bourbon supply, according to the Kentucky Distillers' Association.

The state's bourbon sector is in the midst of a $1.3 billion investment boom that could grow as demand increases, it said. The expansion includes new and expanded distilleries, warehouses, bottling operations and tourism centers.

Brown-Forman is building a new distillery in downtown Louisville to produce Old Forester, the company's founding brand.
Updated at 3:30 p.m. Monday

TEHRAN, Iran  Boeing Co. offered Iranian airlines three models of new aircraft to replace the country's aging fleet during the first visit by the Chicago-based manufacturer in decades, the Islamic Republic's state-run news agency reported Monday.

Boeing declined to discuss specifics from the negotiation with officials in Tehran, but the airplane builder undoubtedly wants a piece of the action in post-sanctions Iran, which already saw Airbus sign a 22.8 billion euros ($25 billion) deal.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Maqsoud Asadi Samani, the secretary of the Society of Iranian Airlines, as saying Boeing officials offered 737, 787 and 777 model aircraft. Samani said Iran was reviewing the offers.

Iranian airlines have some 60 Boeing airplanes in service, but most were purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought Islamists to power.

Out of Iran's 250 commercial planes, about 150 are flying while the rest are grounded due to lack of spare parts. The country's air-safety record remains spotty, as parts and servicing remained nearly impossible to get while the world sanctioned Iran over its contested nuclear program.

Now though, with the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran in place, airline manufacturers can re-enter the market, though Boeing has been more hesitant than its European competitor Airbus.

"The Boeing delegation assured Iranian airlines that it will provide all said support after signing an agreement," IRNA quoted Samani as saying. "Boeing's cooperation in supporting the current airplanes of Iran and its loyalty to its commitments will contribute to decisions by the airlines for purchasing airplanes from Boeing."

John Dern, a Boeing spokesman, declined to offer specifics about the negotiations, but said the company discussed the "capabilities of Boeing airplanes, along with the support the company provides." Previously, Boeing said that its license from the U.S. Treasury Department only allowed it to offer "commercial passenger aircraft fleet planning."

"The meetings, which were closely coordinated with the U.S. government, enabled us to better understand the status of their current fleets, their route structures and their plans for future operations," Dern said in an email. "Should any agreements be reached at some future point, they would be contingent on the approval of the U.S. government."

In late March, a U.S. State Department negotiator on the nuclear deal said nothing under the deal would stop Boeing from making a deal with Iranian airlines. The negotiator, Chris Backemeyer, described Boeing as "considering their options and that, I think, is a good thing."

On Monday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner offered similar sentiments.

"Although I can't speak to the specific report regarding Boeing, I can say that we have seen a number of major companies making tangible plans to take advantage of the new commercial opportunities afforded by," the loosening of international sanctions, he said, "As we have said before, we are not going to stand in the way of permissible business."

Since the deal took effect earlier this year, Iran Air has signed agreements to buy 118 planes from the European consortium Airbus and 20 more from French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR. Other European companies have pushed into Iran as well, though American firms have been far more cautious as Republican candidates in the U.S. election repeatedly have threatened to tear up the nuclear deal if elected this November.

In February, the Missouri Senate endorsed a proposal that would put a question on the November ballot asking voters if they support barring state pension funds from being invested in companies that do business in Iran. The measure is pending in a House committee.

Kurt Erickson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

______

Our earlier story, from the Associated Press, posted on Saturday

TEHRAN, Iran  Iran said Saturday that the United States has allowed Boeing Co. to have direct talks with Iranian airliners following reports that a Boeing delegation will visit the country, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The report quoted Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, as saying "Boeing intends to launch its talks with Iranian companies with permission from the U.S. government."

Abedzadeh said Boeing has provided an Iranian airline with, "some technical issues to upgrade flight safety." He did not elaborate.

He also said Iran has "appropriate offers" from airplane manufacturers in Brazil, Canada and Japan for both leasing and selling airplanes to Iran.

On Friday, IRNA said a delegation from Boeing will visit the country to review "possible cooperation" with Iranian airlines. It said officials from Iran's national carrier, Iran Air, and other Iranian airlines will meet the Boeing delegation.

In March Abedzadeh said Iran will likely sign an agreement to buy airplanes from Boeing. The Chicago-based airline manufacturer has denied repeatedly that it will sell airplanes on the visit, instead saying it will discuss fleet-planning options with Iranian officials.

Last summer's nuclear deal between Iran and world powers has brought an end to international economic sanctions, allowing the Islamic Republic to upgrade its aging fleet of aircraft. Iran Air has already signed agreements to buy 118 planes from the European consortium Airbus and 20 more from French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR.
The St. Louis Chamber Chorus, with no fixed performance home, is a peripatetic organization. Churches provide the usual venues for artistic director Philip Barnes and his choir; for a polytheistic program like the one the SLCC gave on Sunday afternoon, Washington Universitys now-secular 560 Music Building provided the right setting. All Manner of Gods, starting with a hymn to Apollo and working its way through Egyptian and Hindu tropes, was diverse even for this ensemble, ranging widely chronologically, stylistically and in religious traditions.

The concert opened with Oraculo, a setting of a hymn to Apollo by Brazilian Jose Antonio de Almeida Prado that the composer turned into a disguised political commentary; it set a mysterious tone, which continued through much of the program and was beautifully sung.

Danish composer Vagn Holmboes 1960 Solhymne set a hymn to the sun attributed to the monotheist pharaoh Akhenaten to a mixture of radiant music and rhythmic chanting; the latter sometimes overbalanced the former. That gave way to Wendy Hiscocks brief, sinuous Divine Pymander and Salamone Rossis Baroque glorious two-choir Ein Keloheinu, its Hebrew text setting it apart from its counterparts.

John Schlencks five Hymns of the Upanishads were written as worship music for a Hindu offshoot, the Vedanta Society. Their mood ranges from the joyous to the meditative, mostly Western in sound but with aspects from the Subcontinent.

The first half ended with a poignant world premiere. Pulitzer winner Steven Stuckys final composition was the SLCC commission The Music of Light, completed shortly before his death from brain cancer in February. Stucky selected lines on music from the Sufi mystic Kabir and set them to contemplative, translucent music, contrasting a semi-chorus with the full choir, that expressed the light in Kabirs words. It would benefit from another hearing; Barnes and the choir performed it meaningfully.

The light returned in the second half for Gustav Holsts simple two-choir setting of Ave Maria, and remained for Stephen Paulus graceful, exquisite Meditations of Li Po, a cycle of mystic poems by the Chinese poet (701-762) that holds the heart.

Musae Iovis, a memorial written for the great Josquin des Pres by his student Nicolas Gombert (1496-c.1560), invoked Roman gods in a gorgeous piece of polyphony. Granville Bantocks 1920 Invocation of Pan uses voices in 12 parts instrumentally, to varying effect in would-be Bacchic moments. The encore, William Harris Holy is the True Light, provided a gorgeous conclusion to the afternoon.
ST. LOUIS  The man behind a business that sets up bungee trampolines and other amusements in malls has been arrested and accused of producing child pornography.

St. Ann police were contacted about Joseph Masters, 50, on March 18, when a woman claimed that hed tried to sodomize her 9-year-old daughter, according to an affidavit filed in court by St. Louis County police Detective Sgt. Adam Kavanaugh.

St. Ann police learned that Masters frequently had young children in his St. Ann home, which had surveillance cameras in the living room, bedroom, bathroom and computer room.

St. Ann police Detective Scott Schmidt obtained a search warrant for Masters house, and police found a video of Masters masturbating near a young girl, a video of a girl using the bathroom and a video of Masters watching surveillance videos, Kavanaugh wrote in court documents.

Masters was arrested but released pending charges, his lawyer, Daniel Juengel, said Monday in court.

He was arrested again on Thursday on a federal criminal complaint charging him with producing child pornography.

Masters told court staff that he is self-employed at Action Joes, which also rents portable zip lines, giant human hamster balls and other items for events at sporting events, schools churches, carnivals, conventions and company picnics, according to the companys website.

The phone number and email address listed on the website were not working Monday.

Masters is listed as the organizer of the company in state records.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang has asked that Masters be held in jail until trial.

In court Monday, Lang cited the St. Ann allegations, as well as two prior interactions with law enforcement  an indecency charge in 1992 and an improper touching incident in Texas in 2013, according to court testimony Monday.

Lang also mentioned Masters secret cameras.

Juengel said that the cameras were a security measure.

Juengel said that the indecency charge was dismissed after the payment of court costs and that the improper touching was amended to a misdemeanor assault after Masters passed a polygraph test about whether the touching was for any kind of sexual purpose.

Juengel also said that Masters denied any allegations that he inappropriately touched children and said that Masters has not been charged for the alleged St. Ann incident.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Shirley Padmore Mensah said that she would take the issue of Masters release under advisement.
ST. LOUIS  A St. Louis jury on Friday found Joseph Bowens guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of a night manager at the Drury Inn & Suites hotel on Jan. 15, 2015.

Scott Knopfel, 50, of St. Louis, was shot in the chest and face during a robbery just before 3 a.m. at the hotel, on Hampton Avenue at Interstate 44.

Bowens, 45, of Poplar Bluff, Mo., was captured a few days after the murder in the area where he lived, after surveillance images from the hotel were shared widely by the media.

Video depicted the robber approaching the front desk and talking to Knopfel for about a minute before pointing a revolver at Knopfel and vaulting over the front desk. Two of three shots fired were captured by the cameras.

A car similar to Bowens was also caught on camera, and a security guard identified Bowens in court as the person she saw enter and leave the hotel at the time of the murder.

Prosecutors said Knopfels DNA was found on a leather jacket found at Bowens home  a jacket that matched the one the robber was seen wearing. Also, they said, an autopsy revealed Bowens DNA on Knopfels left hand.

Cell tower data also put Bowens near the scene that night, prosecutors said.

Bowens attorney, Celestine Dotson, had argued the DNA evidence was flawed and that her client had been mistakenly identified as the robber.

Bowens first-degree murder conviction will mean an automatic sentence of life without parole. The St. Louis jury, which deliberated only a couple hours after a three-day trial, also found him guilty of first-degree robbery and two counts of armed criminal action.

His sentencing, before Judge David Dowd, has not yet been scheduled.

Bowens had a conviction history including drug, robbery, assault, DWI and gun cases. Court and prison records showed he had repeatedly violated the terms of his probation or parole.

Knopfel was a lifelong resident of south St. Louis. He graduated from Southwest High School in 1983 and was single. He had worked at the hotel about three years, his brother, Mike Knopfel, told the Post-Dispatch at the time.
ST. LOUIS  In the latest tremor from the ideological earthquake wracking Republicans nationally, conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly says the board of the advocacy group she founded 44 years ago is trying to oust her for endorsing Donald Trump.

Its disloyal, and its terribly shocking, and Im completely depressed about it, she told the conservative website WND.com prior to an afternoon telephone meeting of the board of the Eagle Forum.

That meeting ended with the possible removal of the groups president, Ed Martin, but left Schlafly in her post as chairman and CEO. One board member vehemently denied there is any movement to remove her. But Schlafly insisted otherwise in a statement and vowed to fight for Eagle Forum.

The board members on the other side of the divide include Schlaflys daughter, Anne Cori. She, with at least three other board members, is on record endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is battling Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

Weve had some excitement, quipped Cori, who strongly disputed the claim that the conflict is rooted in the presidential election. When pressed about what discussions she and Schlafly have had on the issue, she paused and said, I love my mother deeply.

Cori implied that some of the criticism of the board that has been attributed to her mother is actually coming from Martin.

Martin, president of Eagle Forum since January 2015 and a staunch supporter of its 91-year-old founder, wrote in a post on the groups Facebook site over the weekend that word has come of a rogue board meeting and an upcoming hostile takeover of Eagle Forums board and its assets. Phyllis Schlaflys endorsement of Trump is a likely catalyst.

Members of the board said in a statement that they ousted Martin in Mondays meeting, specifying no reason. But Schlafly, in her own statement, alleged the meeting was improper and that its conduct will not stand, so it was unclear whether his removal is official. Neither Martin nor Schlafly could be reached for comment.

One of the board members, Eunie Smith of Alabama, said in an interview that Martin was removed because of issues related to his character and management style. She declined to be more specific, and she strongly denied Schlafly herself has been targeted for removal as chairman of the board.

Shes a legend, said Smith.

Though Smith is on record endorsing Cruz, she denied that Schlaflys endorsement of Trump is a point of contention for the board members. We have always, in Eagle Forum, been free to disagree over candidates, she said.

But another board member, Cathie Adams of Texas, a Cruz supporter, told the Dallas Morning News last month that she has no respect for Trump, and she theorized that Schlaflys endorsement of him was the result of manipulation from an unidentified source.

When youre 91, and youre not out with the grass roots all the time, it is very much taking advantage of someone, Adams told the newspaper. We love and respect her, but we disagree.

Schlafly participated in Mondays phone meeting. She claimed in her statement that she was muted from the meeting after she objected, an allegation Smith vehemently denied.

(T)he attendees purported to pass several motions to wrest control of the organization from me, Schlafly alleged in her statement. They are attempting to seize access to our bank accounts, to terminate employees, and ... to control the bank accounts and all of Eagle Forum.

For days leading up to the meeting, Schlafly and Martin have been releasing apparently coordinated messages on Facebook, Twitter and email, alleging a planned hostile takeover of Eagle Forum by six of its 11 board members  a group Martin, in one missive, dubbed the Gang of 6.

Four of those six  Schlaflys daughter, Cori; Smith; Adams; and Rosina Kovar of Colorado  were listed on a campaign webpage for Cruz in January. They were among 20 Eagle Forum officials from whom Cruz was touting endorsements.

The Eagle Forum, based in Alton, is a conservative interest group that claims a membership of 80,000. It oversees a political action committee as well as a legal fund.

Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, has deeply divided Republicans because of his controversial comments about women, his alleged encouragement of violence at his rallies, his denunciation of immigrants and other issues. Some prominent Republicans have vowed not to support him even if he becomes the partys nominee.

Schlafly, whose long history of conservative activism includes leading the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, has formally endorsed Trump. She appeared with him on stage during his March 11 rally at the Peabody Opera House in downtown St. Louis.

Martin has been a controversial figure himself in posts that have included chief of staff to former Gov. Matt Blunt and as Missouri Republican Party chairman. In both jobs, Martins aggressive, heavily ideological style sometimes rubbed even fellow conservatives the wrong way. He also made unsuccessful runs for Congress and the Missouri attorney generals office.
JEFFERSON CITY  It's crunch time for backers of a proposed state constitutional change allowing medical marijuana in Missouri. The group New Approach Missouri will have to turn in about 160,000 signatures by May 8 to make the November ballot.

Jack Cardetti, spokesman for New Approach Missouri, says the group is a little more than two-thirds of the way there.

"We feel we're in really good shape with basically five weeks to go to get the signatures," Cardetti said last week. "The response we've gotten from Missourians who want to make Missouri the 24th state to allow doctors to recommend marijuana for medical purposes has been extraordinary."

The group must gather signatures from eight percent of legal voters in six of Missouri's eight congressional districts. The minimum amount of signatures needed, then, is about 157,000, according to the Missouri Secretary of State.

"We've really had a good response statewide," Cardetti said. "There are really no problem districts. We feel really good about the progress made in each one of them."

The state Department of Health and Senior Services would regulate the new amendment. Those with cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, intractable migraines, post-traumatic stress disorder, HIV or AIDS, Alzheimer's disease or a terminal illness would qualify. Those with chronic muscle spasms or chronic pain could also qualify.

The limit on how much pot a patient could buy in a month would be no less than six ounces, according to the proposal. Qualifying patients could also grow up to six plants in their homes.

For growers, the state would give out no more than one license per 80,000 residents and would start a seed-to-sale tracking program. A 4 percent sales tax would be used for veterans' health care.

But just as New Approach Missouri is working to collect signatures, some in the Missouri Legislature are pushing an alternative.

Another measure, sponsored by state Rep. Dave Hinson, R-St. Clair, would tighten the list of acceptable conditions and wouldn't allow home growing. His bill would also limit the amount of grower licenses to 30 statewide.

Hinson's bill has made it to the House floor, but still needs to pass the House and Senate with just five weeks left in the legislative session.

"We're going to whip it within our caucus in the next day or so and see where were at," Hinson said last week. "The Senate has assured me that they would, you know, give it time, get it on the calendar in committee and, if it makes it to the floor, give it time for an up-or-down vote."

If passed, Hinson's bill would go before voters in August, potentially sabotaging New Approach Missouri's measure if it makes the November ballot.

"The other one is going to be on the November ballot, so if we can get mine passed in August then I think voters wont turn around and vote for the other bill," Hinson said.

Besides that Hinson thinks conditions such as chronic pain  which people could conceivably lie about  should be left off the acceptable conditions list, he also opposes changing the state's constitution, which would mean lawmakers couldn't tinker with the language.

"They realize that the General Assembly really cant touch a constitutional amendment," Hinson said. "Basically, the constitution is kind of like our states Bible, and I just dont think we need to have that in the constitution because its very difficult to make changes."

Eapen Thampy, a registered lobbyist representing companies wanting to invest in Missouri medicinal pot, says a cap on the number of licenses in both proposals will mean higher prices for patients and inevitable controversy surrounding who eventually gets licenses.

Hinson's bill also states that those wanting to apply to grow or sell medicinal pot will be required to have $500,000 in assets. Thampy also lamented what he said were high licensing fees written in to New Approach's language.

"Our fundamental concern is the barrier to entry with both the ballot petition and the bill," Thampy said. He said he will lobby to change either Hinson's bill or a bill sponsored by state Rep. Jim Neely, R-Cameron, which has yet to gain much traction.

Meanwhile, New Approach Misouri has continued to collect big checks from donors. The group had just over $266,000 cash on hand at the end of the last reporting period in January and has since collected numerous donations over $5,000.

In April alone, New Approach Missouri has reported raising almost $129,000 in donations over $5,000, including a $30,000 check from Luke Sinquefield, son of Missouri mega-donor Rex Sinquefield.

Hinson's bill is House Bill 2213.
ST. LOUIS  Thirty minutes before Francis Slay took to the podium Friday morning to make the shocking announcement that he would not seek a fifth term as St. Louis mayor, he let longtime friend and political ally Gregory F.X. Daly know of his intentions.

Less than two hours later, Daly, who is the citys collector of revenue, was making his own intentions known: He was strongly indicating that he would make a run to be Slays replacement.

But Daly will not be alone. Lewis Reed, who serves as president of the Board of Aldermen and ran against Slay three years ago, said he is definitely going to run again. And longtime Central West End alderman Lyda Krewson said she also is interested in the job.

Others who have long been thought of as possible candidates for mayor such as city Treasurer Tishaura Jones and aldermen Antonio French and Jeffrey Boyd did not rule it out but were careful not to say they are going to make a run.

Police Chief Sam Dotson and Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, who has already announced she is not seeking re-election, also are on the short list of names circulated in St. Louis political circles.

#STLs next leader should be collaborative, inclusive, experienced, smart, and completely dedicated to the public interest, not their own,  Joyce tweeted within an hour after Slays announcement.

With no incumbent running as a formidable opponent, the list to replace Slay is expected to grow over the next few months with the Democratic primary less than a year away. The city has long been run by Democrats, leaving little drama for general elections.

What I imagine is that now that there is an open seat, you will have several hats in the ring,  said French, a Slay critic and alderman for the 21st Ward, tucked between OFallon and Fairground parks in north St. Louis.

There are a number of people talking about it right now,  Daly said. I think its the nature of the political cycle that when there is an opening you are going to have individuals take a shot at it.

The fact that Daly was one of the few people given a heads up about the announcement is notable. For example, Slay left a voicemail for Krewson letting her know he had just announced his decision. But in a news conference that was publicly announced only 40 minutes before it began, reaching out to all his allies would have been impossible.

In his announcement, Slay gave no indication whom he would support to replace him.

I have not endorsed a successor, but I might,  Slay said.

In Slays long political tenure as alderman, board president and mayor, he has built an impressive patchwork of allies, allowing him to become the longest-serving mayor in St. Louis. But he has also been criticized along the way for not attracting a broader base of support, specifically from African-Americans.

Slays four terms came after the city elected back-to-back one-term African-American mayors. Slay angered some blacks by running in 2001 for mayor against incumbent Clarence Harmon, and the man he beat four years earlier, Freeman Bosley Jr. And Slay did little to improve relations with African-Americans when he fired Sherman George, the citys first African-American fire chief.

But he managed to win three more terms, each against a black candidate, including the 2013 defeat of Reed.

I'M NOT, BUT I MIGHT

French said four victories in a row does not mean Slay was a good leader.

I had always hoped after each election day that there would be an attempt to build bridges, an attempt to say, We do indeed value you,  French said of Slay. This 50 percent plus 1 mentality left the city divided for many years. You still have entire groups of people that basically have not had a mayor in 15 years.

French blames part of Slays success on voter apathy, especially among African-Americans.

Ideally, getting people passionate about local politics will help transform government and make it more representative and inclusive,  said French, who stopped short of saying the next mayor should be black in a city that is equally divided between whites and African-Americans.

I do think the next mayor needs a better relationship with the African-American community,  he said.

French, however, is not putting forward his name just yet. I have no plans at this time to run for mayor. Ill be considering my options in the next few months,  he said.

Jones, the daughter of former city comptroller Virvus Jones, is a rising political star, winning a four-person race for treasurer in 2012. But on Friday, instead of agreeing to an interview, she released a short statement that did little to set the record straight on her political future.

First and foremost, I want to thank Mayor Slay for his service to the City of St. Louis,  Jones statement reads. At this time, I am focused on my re-election campaign for treasurer, and am taking time to consider my options.

The Im not, but I might comments continued throughout the day Friday. Boyd, who has been the 22nd Ward alderman for 13 years, ran unsuccessfully against Jones for treasurer in 2012 and then unsuccessfully for license collector in 2014.

He said running two citywide campaigns gives him a good understanding of the citys political landscape and puts him at an advantage if he chooses to run for mayor. But, he stressed, that has not been decided.

No, hey, Im just blown away like everyone else,  Boyd said. But Im keeping options open. Ive gotten several calls on it.

'DESK FULL OF ISSUES'

Dotson was not made available for an interview. Instead, a department spokesman provided an emailed statement:

Chief Dotson is enjoying serving as Chief of Police for the Metropolitan Police Department. Since 2006, crime in the City of St. Louis is down nearly 50 percent and Chief Dotson will continue to focus on crime reduction and ensuring our City is a safe place to live, work and visit.

Reed and French have accused Slay of focusing too much on developing downtown and the citys central corridor and not enough on the safety of neighborhoods where minorities and the poor live. Until St. Louis can overcome its image as one of the countrys most dangerous, the citys population of 315,000 will continue to drop, Reed said.

Whoever the next mayor will be, they will be faced with a desk full of issues and problems, many that have existed for many, many years,  French said. If the next mayor is African-American, you will see a lot of these issues plaguing St. Louis, specifically African-American communities, suddenly discovered.

Krewson has been an alderman for the citys Central West End for 18 years and made an unsuccessful run for board president 14 years ago.

Although Krewson was a Slay supporter then and remains one today, Slay did not offer an endorsement in the board president race, something that Krewson thought she would get. It also looked like she would not make another run at a citywide office. But on Friday, she indicated otherwise.

Well, I certainly didnt get up this morning thinking about it,  Krewson said Friday afternoon. But I have been thinking about it the last couple of hours. I think its of interest to me if I can be a positive force for the city.

Daly has been a fixture at City Hall since 1980, where he began as an administrative assistant working for three board presidents, starting with Tom Zych, followed by Tom Villa then Slay.

He said the call from Slay on Friday morning came out of the blue.

I was with the mayor on Tuesday evening watching the results on the earnings tax (proposition),  Daly said. He mentioned that we will talk at the end of the week. I was not really putting things together. Then this morning, he called and said, Im not going to run. My first response was, Is everything OK with you and your family? He assured me everything was fine.

If Daly does run, he is well ahead of all the other possible candidates, with $653,000 cash on hand, based on campaign finance forms filed with the state Ethics Commission. Reed is a distant second, with just under $136,000.

Slay, meanwhile, is sitting on nearly $877,000, which he could pour into the campaign of a candidate who wants to be his successor. If he so chooses.
Dana Emmenegger has listened to her mother tell stories of her childhood in rural Texas, when she grew up with an African-American caretaker. Emmeneggers mother didnt understand why her second mom had to use different water fountains than everybody else and sit at the back of the bus.

Emmenegger, who is white, believes in advocating for racial equality. But still, when protesters marched through Clayton for Michael Brown and the school canceled her childrens recess, she didnt know how to explain to them that this was a racial issue.

She had always told them to treat everybody kindly and fairly, but that wasnt the same as explaining that black people are sometimes treated differently because of their skin color.

Oftentimes you feel like, I am white, who am I to engage in this conversation? What is a white persons role in fighting for equality? Emmenegger said. While its really important to me to send our kids to a school that has diversity and whatnot, I also realize that I havent had to have that same fight that my black peers have had. I wanted to have a voice, but its a very different voice than somebody whos been through it and been oppressed in that way.

To get more parents, particularly those who are white, to talk about race with their children and in general, two St. Louis County moms launched a free childrens book program called We Stories this week. The program already has a wait list of more than 200 families.

Anyone with children ages 7 and under can sign up.

Parents enrolled in the program get a free starter set of four culturally diverse childrens books  which feature nonwhite protagonists, teach about both historical and present discrimination issues and celebrate racial identities while promoting tolerance and inclusion. Their core message: you shouldnt feel ashamed of who you are, and its unfair to treat people differently because of how they look.

For example, one of the books for younger children is Happy in Our Skin, and celebrates the different skin colors people may have with vibrant and positive descriptions, like cinammon or peaches and cream.

The Name Jar, also recommended by We Stories, is about a Korean-American girl who is teased for her Korean name and wants to adopt an American name, only to realize later that she is proud of her heritage.

Every month, We Stories organizes reading resources, discussion aids and events around a theme. The events can include history walking tours, storytimes, coffee chats and anti-racism workshops by the Anti-Defamation League. For example, in a month with a theme of neighborhoods, We Stories would feature a book that comes with discussion questions for families like: Whos missing from your neighborhood? Does everyone look alike or different?

The St. Louis County Library is partnering with We Stories and has added 700 culturally diverse childrens books to its catalog under a We Stories collection. The library will also provide We Stories book discussion kits for checkout starting this summer.

We Stories is focused on providing diverse books for children, but its just as much about having parents get used to talking openly and explicitly about race.

Adelaide Lancaster of Webster Groves and Laura Horwitz of Clayton, started organizing the We Stories nonprofit last year, looking for a way they could respond to Ferguson as parents of young children.

Lancaster said that while discussions of race proliferated in the media and the national conversation after the Ferguson protests, she noticed that white families around her were largely staying silent on the matter.

I didnt find that all the parents that I was connecting with, or schools, were talking about it to the same degree that mightve been helpful, she said. We live in an area of town thats very homogenous, so it felt like a very important thing for us to do.

A frequently cited 2007 study in the Journal of Marriage and Family showed that nonwhite families talk about race three times as often as white families do, and that the majority of white families dont talk about race.

Black families talk about race because they have to. They have things going on and race comes up all the time, said Lori Markson, an associate professor of psychology at Washington University who currently studies how children develop racial awareness and biases. White families dont talk about race because they dont have to. Its a choice. It could actually be completely ignored.

Some parents try to adopt a colorblind approach with their children by not bringing up race at all, hoping their kids will believe that racial differences dont matter, or that race doesnt even exist.

But children as young as 3 years old voluntarily sort and distinguish people by race, and by age 6, they adopt assumptions and stereotypes about certain racial groups, several studies have shown. Research suggests that children notice race early on and will pull from societal cues and mass media to deduce their own conclusions and stereotypes about race, if parents dont step in to guide them.

White parents involved with We Stories said they care about diversity, but didnt talk about race with their children before joining We Stories because they didnt know how to bring it up. Other parents they knew just didnt feel comfortable talking about race. And some, like Emmenegger, questioned whether they have the right to do so.

But for all the silence they had observed in their peers, Lancaster and Horwitz said they were surprised by the number of parents who signed up for We Stories. About 80 families, including Emmeneggers, took part in their pilot program this past winter, and about 400 parents total  about half of whom are from St. Louis city  have told them they want to participate.

Lancaster and Horwitz believe that, to get white parents to talk about race, they need a community of people doing the same to make it okay to do so, and tools to teach them how.

It became clear to us that other folks, just because they were being silent on it, didnt mean they didnt care or that they werent interested in doing something different, Lancaster said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect spelling of Laura Horwitz's name. This version has been corrected.
In coming days, the Missouri Senate is expected to debate Senate Bill 1028, the so-called 21st Century Grid Modernization and Security Act. The bill was written by lawyers working for Ameren Corp. The Senate must not ignore the concerns of Amerens biggest customers, who warn that this bill is a job killer.

The 65-page bill is extraordinarily complicated, but the bottom line is simple: It would radically overhaul regulatory oversight of Missouris three investor-owned electric utilities, Ameren Missouri, Kansas City Power & Light and the Empire District Electric Co. of Joplin.

The upshot would be higher electricity rates, as much as 71 percent higher by 2026, according to analyses by both the Missouri Public Service Commission staff and the Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers organization. Ameren forecasts maximum increases of 40 percent by 2026.

Industrial consumers say SB 1028 would increase Amerens rates by $200 million a year for the next 10 years. All this on top of rates that already are 50 percent higher than a decade ago. Some companies already are in deep budget-cutting mode with layoffs pending or planned.

Every additional dollar that goes to Amerens shareholders is a dollar taken out of Missouris industrial base, Diana Vuylsteke, a lawyer representing the industrial group, told us. Among the industrial companies are Anheuser-Busch InBev, Boeing, Ford, General Motors and Monsanto. These are powerful voices that the Senate ignores at its peril.

Higher rates but fewer jobs

In 2013, economist Gilbert E. Metcalf of Tufts University attempted to quantify the relationship between electricity prices and employment in Missouri. He estimated that a permanent increase of 10 percent in electric rates would result in 61,000 fewer jobs, 1.8 percent of the state workforce.

Ameren argues that the existing rate-making process is too slow, requiring companies to justify rates and investment to the Missouri Public Service Commission. Utilities have to wait for commission approval before they can recover their investments in upgrades to infrastructure and customer service.

Ameren proposes to replace that system with formula ratemaking. The commission would merely set rates based on a predetermined formula derived from the utility companys costs and a reasonable rate of return. Ameren argues that would provide utilities with more incentive to make improvements.

However, nowhere in the bill is there any language requiring Ameren to spend any money on grid modernization. The company has not provided consumers or lawmakers with a list of facilities that might need improvement.

The bill contains financial engineering language permitting Ameren, the parent company, to issue higher-yielding bonds covered by ever-higher infrastructure spending by Ameren Missouri, the subsidiary. Vuylsteke said double leveraging benefits shareholders, but not consumers, who bear the cost of unnecessary spending. Ameren says the bill has no double leveraging language.

Current law says utilities must provide safe and reliable service. Ameren currently spends $700 million a year doing that in Missouri; it has chosen to spend extra money in Illinois, which adopted formula ratemaking in 2011, thus allowing Ameren to recoup investments more rapidly.

Opponents, including MEIC, the Missouri Consumers Council and the Office of Public Counsel, which represents residential consumers before the Public Service Commission, say Amerens system is already safe and reliable. Any needed upgrades can be financed through normal operations, they say. The firm is a regulated monopoly that is allowed to earn profits of up to 9.54 percent a year. Its stock has risen steadily. It pays solid dividends, and its debt is highly rated. In short, they say, SB 1028 is a solution in search of a problem.

Ameren executives and lobbyists are working the halls of the Capitol hard. The company has roughly three dozen registered lobbyists, including its top executives and an all-star team of top Jefferson City insiders.

When Arkansas adopted formula ratemaking last year, utility companies made private deals with big corporate energy consumers. The logic was simple: Lawmakers pay more attention to big employers and campaign donors than they do to residential customers, who have only the underfunded Office of Public Counsel to speak for them.

Ability to make secret deals?

In Missouri, any private deal would become public when the Public Service Commission reviews the rate formulas. This could cause considerable backlash by residential users and small companies who would bear extra costs of private deals.

Ameren already made such a deal with Noranda Aluminum, the troubled New Madrid smelter, long Amerens largest customer and staunchest foe at rate hearings. In a 2014 commission hearing, Noranda chief executive Kip Smith testified that Ameren offered support for a special rate if we were to no longer participate in rate cases, step out of the Legislature and discontinue our participation in the Fair Energy Rate Action Fund.

The deal came too late; the hostage died. Noranda, faced with a worldwide glut of aluminum and liquidity troubles, entered bankruptcy in February and closed its New Madrid smelter last month.

Michael Brosch, president of Utilitech of Kansas City, a consulting firm that advises utilities as well as consumers on rate issues, told a legislative committee last month that formula ratemaking will result in higher utility costs and rates as the [Public Service] Commissions role is reduced to carefully restricted review of the utilities annual formula rate calculations. This has happened in Illinois and should not be repeated here. Higher utility bills are harmful to residential consumers, Missouri businesses and the states economy.

Brosch said, If you would not send your teenage child to the mall with your credit card and no spending limit, you should not pass this bill.

Correction: An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly listed Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals among Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers member-companies opposing HB 1028, based on information provided by MIEC. The company says it has taken no position.
LONDON MARKET CLOSE: FTSE 100 ends higher; Mordaunt makes UK PM tilt

Friday, October 21, 2022 - 17:22

The pound regained some poise on Friday afternoon but remained in precarious territory, after falling below the $1.11 mark in afternoon trade.

The pound was quoted at $1.1203 at the close on Friday, down versus $1.1294 at the London equities close on Thursday. It hit an intraday low of $1.1063 not long after midday.

Sterling was hurt by continued political uncertainty. Speculation about who will join Penny Mordaunt in throwing their hats in the ring in the race for Number 10 continues. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, one-time neighbours at Number 10 and 11 Downing Street - but now bitter rivals - have pockets of support from Tory MPs.

Adding to the pressure on sterling, disappointing UK retail sales data showed a bigger-than-expected decline in September, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Retail sales fell 6.9% annually in September, with the decline accelerating from a 5.6% fall in August. It also was worse than FXStreet-cited market consensus, which had expected a fall of just 5%.

The pound had initially found some support on Thursday after Liz Truss called an end to her disastrous tenure as prime minister - poking above $1.13 - but has since been dragged lower.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 25.82 points, or 0.4%, at 6,969.73 - closing out the week up 1.6%.

The FTSE 250 lost 182.38 points, or 1.1%, at 17,206.55, but still managed to gain 1.0% this week, and the AIM All-Share ended down 1.04 points, or 0.1% at 785.40 - but advanced 0.8% over the past five days.

The Cboe UK 100 closed up 0.4% at 696.31, the Cboe UK 250 ended down 1.0% at 14,694.15, and the Cboe Small Companies lost 0.3% at 12,240.46.

In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.9%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt gave back 0.3%.

The Tories have begun to declare their allegiances in the party's second leadership contest of the year as speculation mounts over who will seek to replace Truss at the helm of the party.

Supporters of Johnson are backing the former prime minister to make an extraordinary political comeback, while ex-chancellor Sunak and Commons Leader Mordaunt also have the public support of several MPs.

Mordaunt become the first to declare her candidacy, with a pledge to re-unite the bitterly divided party.

The leader of the House  who finished third in the last leadership election  said she had been encouraged by the support she had received from fellow Conservative MPs.

There has also been no declaration yet from Sunak, who did not answer questions from reporters as he left his home on Friday morning.

Whoever does win will face an immediate test, choosing whether to go ahead with the planned Halloween statement setting out how the government intends to get the public finances back on track, Downing Street has said.

Work is continuing in Whitehall, led by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, in preparation for the medium-term fiscal plan to be announced on October 31 along with an updated set of economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

However, a Number 10 spokeswoman said it would be up to Liz Truss's successor to decide whether to proceed with that approach and with the same timetable.

In London, blue chip miners helped push FTSE 100 higher. Glencore gained 3.6%, Anglo American 3.1%, Antofagasta 2.7%, and Rio Tinto added 1.6%.

Retailers, however, were showing weakness after the disappointing UK retail sales data. A profit warning from Adidas did nothing to help the mood either.

JD Sports closed down 6.1%, Frasers 4.0%, Burberry 2.2%, and Next shed 2.9%.

On Thursday, Adidas lowered annual guidance as it struggles with "deteriorating traffic" in China and high inventory levels.

The sports apparel maker said it has needed to turn to "higher clearance activity" to try and shift stock.

It lost 9.0% in Frankfurt.

Deliveroo gained 3.6%.

The London-based online food delivery service said gross transaction values rose 8.3% annually in the third quarter to 1.70 billion from 1.57 billion, though orders fell by 1.1% to 72.8 million from 73.6 million.

Deliveroo said the decline in orders was due to a difficult consumer environment. With economic data on Friday showing that UK consumer confidence remains near record lows, this seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

InterContinental Hotels gave back 2.2% but reported strong revenue growth in the third quarter to September 30, saying that high global employment levels are boosting occupancy levels.

Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, rose 28% year-on-year and now exceeds its pre-pandemic level, being up 2.7% on the third quarter of 2019.

In the third quarter of 2022, the average daily rate increased by 13% compared to a year ago and was up 11% on 2019.

Chief Financial Officer & Head of Strategy Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson will leave the company in six months time to become CFO of Flutter Entertainment in the first half of 2023.

IHG has started the process of finding a new CFO.

The euro stood at $0.9802 Friday evening, down against $0.9822 at the close on Thursday.

Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP148.03, compared to JP149.77 late Thursday. The yen was staging a fightback after the open on Wall Street, after nearly hitting JP152 during the Asia session.

Stocks in New York opened higher on Friday, with the DJIA up 1.1%, the S&P 500 index up 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.6% higher.

Brent oil was quoted at $92.84 a barrel late Friday, down from $93.29 late Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1,643.70 an ounce Friday, up against $1,641.90 from Thursday.

In the international economics events calendar next week, Monday will be dominated by a slew of composite PMIs, with Japan overnight followed by Germany, eurozone and the UK in the morning then the US in the afternoon. A quiet Tuesday will be headlined by a US house price index.

On Wednesday, there is Chinese GDP, retail sales and industrial production overnight, then on Thursday attention will be on the European Central Bank interest rate decision at 1315 BST. Friday will be headlined by a Bank of Japan rate decision.

In the local corporate calendar on Monday, there are half-year results from Dr Martens, while education publishing firm Pearson will issue a third quarter update.

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Back in 2006 when I was starting to get into cigars, Mike Copperman of Bethesda Tobacco generously donated his time (and cigars) to give me a private session on cigar tasting. Copperman, now the legislative director for Cigar Rights of America, is about as well-versed in the field as anyone. His invaluablealbeit brieftutelage made a huge impact on me.

I remember tasting cigars with Copperman at his Maryland shop, which today is another DC-area location of W. Curtis Draper. We were on the second floor of Bethesda Tobacco, in a small room with scant ventilation that assured the cigar smoke would hang heavy enough in the air to sting the eyes. On a muggy summer day we sampled sticks that were comprised entirely of Piloto Cubano tobacco, then Viso, then Ligero. Tasting these tobaccos independently instilled a great appreciation for the final cigar, which was a harmonious combination of all three: the Davidoff Grand Cru No. 3.

I didnt know much about cigars at the time. But, thanks to Copperman, I really adored the Davidoff Grand Cru No. 3. It was a cigar I later reviewed, and it became the first cigar to earn a five-stogie rating on this website, which was only a few months old in the summer of 2006.

Hundreds of cigar reviews and almost eight years later, I still fondly revere the Davidoff Grand Cru line. For reasons including price and the need to constantly smoke different cigars for this website, I dont smoke the blend often. But when I do, I love it. Flying in the face of todays obsession with thick smokes, the five Grand Cru vitolas all have ring gauges less than 50. According to Davidoff, only the Corona shape gives the Grand Cru the ideal ring gauge with which to enjoy this medium-bodied flavor.

For this review, I bought a five-pack of No. 4s (4.75 x 41) for just under $50. Like the other sizes, the No. 4 is a gorgeous smoke with a clean wrapper, a well-executed cap, and faint pre-light notes of molasses and hay off the foot. After setting the burn with a wooden match, a bright, crisp, mild- to medium-bodied profile emerges with flavors of oak, peanut, cream, and earth. The finish leaves a surprisingly long-lasting sensation of spice on the tip of the tongue. The texture is dry and silky and the combustion properties are perfect.

Im not sure its possible for me to write a completely unbiased review of a Davidoff Grand Cru cigar. Even when I do my best to set aside the memories and nostalgia, I cant help but arrive at the same conclusion: This is a tremendous blend with exquisite balance and subtlety. Now keep in mind Ive always had a soft spot for cigars at the milder end of the spectrum. Some cigar enthusiasts live for those full-bodied flavor-bombs and could never imagine paying $10 for a milder smokeparticularly one this small. Not me. I adore the Davidoff Grand Cru No. 4, and I cant think of a more suitable rating than five stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here. A list of other five-stogie rated cigars can be found here.]

Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys
Tektronix Delivers Network Monitoring Expertise to Address Challenges for the Next Phase of Broadcasting

Latest Enhancements to Sentry Help Broadcasters Deliver High Quality Content and Achieve Compliance

BEAVERTON, Ore( )

Tektronix, Inc., an industry-leading innovator of video quality monitoring solutions, today announced a series of enhancements to its Sentry video quality monitors tailored to the needs of broadcasters. Broadcasters have been challenged with the ever increasing competition from OTT providers, the FCC repack and having to meet even tighter compliance regulations. The enhancements to Sentry help Broadcasters remain competitive while reducing operational costs. These include full TR 101 290 monitoring and alarming, new RF interfaces and end-to-end closed caption checks to ensure the output meets the latest FCC regulations. The new Sentry capabilities will be demonstrated in Booth #SU5006 at NAB Show, taking place April 18-21 in Las Vegas.

Many broadcasters and other service providers rely heavily on standards like TR 101 290 to monitor Quality of Service (QoS) and Sentry provides real-time monitoring and alerting to notify broadcasters right away if there are errors related to the priority checks they are most concerned about. This saves them on operational costs related to resolving issues. In addition to TR 101 290 Priority 1, 2 and 3 checks, Sentry also supports a range of program clock reference (PCR) measurements including PCR jitter, PCR drift, PCR frequency offset and PCR cycle time.

Further adding to its broadcast monitoring capabilities, Sentrys RF monitoring capabilities have been expanded to include two new RF interfaces, DVB-S/S2 and DVB-T/T2. These new interfaces, along with IP, ASI and 8VSB allow easy integration into any broadcast signal distribution monitoring scheme.

Service providers including broadcasters and cable operators must comply with FCC Title 47 rules or face the risk of fines or other actions. For enhanced closed caption monitoring, Nexidia Comply is now integrated with Sentry. Nexidia Comply provides an accurate, scalable and affordable automation solution that empowers broadcasters to verify that captions and video description across all of their outputs comply with Title 47 FCC regulations.

Broadcasters turn to Sentry as an affordable QoS monitoring solution for identifying and isolating problems quickly, said Charlie Dunn, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix. Then, over time as they add more services and capabilities, they can very easily and affordably upgrade to full quality of experience (QoE) monitoring.

Sentry is a next generation video and audio quality monitoring solution for advanced video networks, offering scalable and comprehensive QoE and QoS monitoring. It enables video service providers to deliver services with optimum quality while reducing operational expenditures.

Availability

The new enhancements to Sentry are available now.

Wondering what else Tektronix is up to? Check out the Tektronix Bandwidth Banter blog and stay up to date on the latest news from Tektronix on Twitter and Facebook.

About Tektronix

Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix delivers innovative, precise and easy-to-operate test, measurement and monitoring solutions that solve problems, unlock insights and drive discovery. Tektronix has been at the forefront of the digital age for over 70 years. Join us on the journey of innovation at TEK.COM.
Piper Jaffray analyst David Amsellem reiterated an Underweight rating on Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) after a closer look at 2016 guidance. The firm's conclusion is that there is significantly more downside risk to 2016 guidance than upside potential.

Amsellem commented, "We took a closer look at a number of Valeants U.S. segments with the goal of sizing up the extent to which managements 2016 guidance (expected 2016 EBITDA of $5.6B-$5.8B) is realistic. There are obviously quite a lot of moving parts and certain items that are not yet quantifiable (e.g., the extent to which VRXs damaged relationships with customers will impact volumes). Nonetheless, after looking at historical pricing for over 90 U.S. products, and doing a detailed dive into prescription (Rx) volume trends across the U.S. business (see below for more details), our conclusion is that there is significantly more downside risk to 2016 guidance than upside potential. We reiterate our Underweight rating and our PT remains suspended in the absence of audited financials."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Valeant Pharmaceuticals click here. For more ratings news on Valeant Pharmaceuticals click here.

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals closed at $33.67 yesterday.
Settlement Includes $670 Million For New Yorkers, Including $190 Million In Cash And $480 Million In Consumer Relief Committed To Mortgage Assistance, Principal Forgiveness, And Affordable Housing Programs

New York Has Now Received $5.3 Billion In Cash And Consumer Relief From National Mortgage Settlement And Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group Settlements Combined Since 2012

Schneiderman: Since 2012, My Number One Priority Has Been Getting New York Families The Resources They Need To Help Rebuild

NEW YORK  Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today joined members of the state and federal working group he co-chairs to announce a $5 billion settlement with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) over the banks deceptive practices leading up to the financial crisis. The settlement includes $670 million  $480 million worth of creditable consumer relief and $190 million in cash  that will be allocated to New York State. The resolution requires Goldman Sachs to provide significant community-level relief to New Yorkers, including resources that will facilitate a significant expansion of the New York State Mortgage Assistance Program enabling distressed homeowners to restructure their debt, as well as first-lien principal forgiveness, and funds to spur the construction of more affordable housing. Additional resources will be dedicated to helping communities transform their code enforcement systems, and invest in land banks and land trusts.

The settlement was negotiated through the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group, a joint state and federal working group formed in 2012 to share resources and continue investigating wrongdoing in the mortgage-backed securities market prior to the financial crisis.

New York has now received $5.33 billion in cash and consumer relief from the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS) and all five Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group settlements (RMBS). The combined $3.2 billion in cash and consumer relief from RMBS settlements is more than any other state.

Since 2012, my number one priority has been getting New Yorkers the resources they need to rebuild, Attorney General Schneiderman said. These dollars will immediately go to work funding proven programs and services to help New Yorkers keep their homes and rebuild their communities. Weve witnessed the incredible impact these programs and services can have in helping communities recover from the financial crisis. This settlement, like those before it, ensures that these critical programssuch as mortgage assistance, principal forgiveness, and code enforcementwill continue to get funded well into the future, and will be paid for by the institutions responsible for the financial crisis.

The settlement includes an agreed-upon statement of facts that describes how Goldman Sachs made multiple representations to RMBS investors about the quality of the mortgage loans it securitized and sold to investors, its process for screening out questionable loans, and its process for qualifying loan originators. Contrary to those representations, Goldman Sachs securitized and sold RMBS backed by large numbers of loans from originators whose mortgage loans contained material defects.

In the statement of facts, Goldman Sachs acknowledges that it securitized thousands of Alt-A, and subprime mortgage loans and sold the resulting residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to investors for tens of billions of dollars. During the course of its due diligence process, Goldman Sachs received pertinent information indicating that significant percentages of the loans reviewed did not conform to the representations it made to investors. Goldman also received and failed to disclose negative information that it obtained regarding the originators business practices. Indeed, Goldmans due diligence vendors provided Goldman with reports reflecting that the vendors had graded significant numbers and percentages of sampled loans as EV3s, i.e., not in compliance with originator underwriting guidelines. In certain circumstances, Goldman reevaluated loan grades and directed that such loans be waived into the pools to be purchased or securitized.

Even when the percentage of problematic loans in pools sampled by it vendors indicated that the unsampled portions of the pools likely contained additional such loans, Goldman typically did not increase the size of the sample or review the unsampled portions of the pools to identify and eliminate any additional such loans. In many cases, 80 percent or more of the loans in the loan pools Goldman purchased and securitized were not sampled for credit and compliance due diligence. Nevertheless, Goldman approved various offerings for securitization without requiring further due diligence to determine whether the remaining loans in the deal contained defects. A Goldman employee overseeing due diligence for a particular loan pool noted that the pool included loans originated with [e]xtremely aggressive underwriting and large program exceptions made without compensating factors. Despite this observation, Goldman did not review the remaining portion of the pool, and subsequently securitized thousands of loans from the pool.

Goldman made statements to investors in offering documents and in certain other marketing materials regarding its process for reviewing and approving originators, yet it failed to disclose to investors negative information it obtained about mortgage loan originators and its practice of securitizing loans from suspended originators.

Beginning in mid-2006, Goldman recognized that Fremont, a key originator, was experiencing an increasing level of early payment defaults (EPDs) (i.e., loans for which the borrowers had failed to make one or more of their first payments). Goldman was aware that EPDs were a sign of originators bad credit decisions and could be indicators of potential borrower fraud. However, Goldman did not put Fremont on its no bid list and continued to purchase loan pools from Fremont during the period Fremonts EPD claims remained unpaid. Moreover, Goldman [u]ndertook a significant marketing effort to tell investors about what Goldman called Fremonts commitment to loan quality over volume and significant enhancements to Fremont underwriting guidelines. Likewise, Goldman identified issues with Countrywides origination practices. Goldmans head of due diligence, when presented with a very bullish equity report on Countrywide, another large originator, exclaimed [i]f they only knew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Attorney General Schneiderman was elected in 2010 and took office in 2011, when the five largest mortgage servicing banks, 49 state attorneys general, and the federal government were on the verge of agreeing to a settlement that would have released the banks  including Bank of America  from liability for virtually all misconduct related to the financial crisis. Attorney General Schneiderman refused to agree to such sweeping immunity for the banks. As a result, Attorney General Schneiderman secured a settlement that preserved a wide range of claims for further investigation and prosecution. In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Obama announced the formation of the RMBS Working Group. The collaboration brought together the Department of Justice (DOJ), other federal entities, and several state law enforcement officials  co-chaired by Attorney General Schneiderman  to investigate those responsible for misconduct contributing to the financial crisis through the pooling and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities.

Under todays settlement, Goldman Sachs will be required to provide a minimum of $480 million in creditable consumer relief directly to struggling families and communities across the state. The settlement includes a menu of options for consumer relief to be provided, and different categories of relief are credited at different rates toward the banks $480 million obligation, including at least:

 $220 million for debt restructuring

 $30 million for land banks and land trusts

 $30 million for code enforcement

 $150 million for first-lien principal reduction

 $50 million for the creation and preservation of affordable rental housing

In addition to the settlement with Goldman Sachs, the RMBS working group has reached settlements with four other major financial institutions since 2012:

 J.P. Morgan Chase: $13 Billion

 Bank of America: $16.6 Billion

 Citibank: $7 Billion

 Morgan Stanley: $3.2 Billion

The National Mortgage Settlement (NMS), reached with the five largest national mortgage servicers, has provided $51 billion in consumer relief and cash nationwide. The combined amount of cash and consumer relief that has been returned to New York as a result of all the RMBS and NMS deals is $1.481 billion in cash and $3.857 in consumer relief, for a total of $5.338 billion. This matter was led by Senior Enforcement Counsel for Economic Justice Steven Glassman and Assistant Attorneys General Desiree Cummings and Kenneth Haim, both of the Investor Protection Bureau.
Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) and Hatteras Financial Corp. (NYSE: HTS) announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which Annaly will acquire Hatteras for consideration to be paid in cash and shares of Annaly common stock, which values Hatteras at $15.85 per share of Hatteras common stock based upon the closing price of Annaly common stock on April 8, 2016. The value of the consideration represents a premium of approximately 24% to the 60-day volume-weighted average price of Hatteras common stock ending on April 8, 2016 and a multiple of 0.85x Hatteras estimated book value per share as of February 29, 2016.

Subject to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Annaly will commence an exchange offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Hatteras common stock. For each share of Hatteras common stock validly tendered in the exchange offer or converted pursuant to the second-step merger described below, Hatteras shareholders may elect to receive: (a) $5.55 in cash and 0.9894 shares of Annaly common stock; (b) $15.85 in cash (the Cash Consideration Option); or (c) 1.5226 shares of Annaly common stock (the Stock Consideration Option). Hatteras shareholders who elect the Cash Consideration Option or Stock Consideration Option will be subject to proration, in each of the exchange offer and the subsequent second step merger, so that the aggregate consideration will consist of approximately 65% of Annalys common stock and approximately 35% in cash. In addition to the above consideration, Annaly would assume the existing notional $287.5 million in Hatteras 7.625% Series A cumulative redeemable preferred stock.

The transactions contemplated by the merger agreement, including the exchange offer and the merger, have been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Annaly and unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Hatteras upon the unanimous recommendation of the Special Committee of the Hatteras Board of Directors, which is comprised entirely of independent directors (the Hatteras Special Committee).

This strategic transaction represents a unique and sizeable value creation opportunity for our shareholders, commented Kevin Keyes, CEO and President of Annaly. With the acquisition of Hatteras, we significantly grow our diversified portfolio and broaden our investment options, further fortifying Annalys position as the market leading mortgage REIT. Wellington Denahan, Chairman of Annaly, added: We are tremendously excited to announce this partnership today. Both Hatteras and Annaly are seasoned veterans in the sector, and we are confident this acquisition strengthens our ability to deliver superior returns to our shareholders over the long-term.

Michael R. Hough, Chairman and CEO of Hatteras, said: We are excited by the opportunity to join the Annaly platform and believe our diversification efforts are greatly enhanced by the industry-leading business Annaly has built. The complementary nature of this transaction should enhance the risk-adjusted value proposition weve always strived for. Jeffrey D. Miller, Lead Independent Director of Hatteras, added: The strategic combination with Annaly will offer our shareholders increased scale, diversification and liquidity, which we believe will result in higher and more sustainable shareholder value over the long-term.

Transaction Highlights

Benefits to Annaly shareholders

Expands and further diversifies Annalys investment portfolio: Hatteras portfolio, which consists of agency residential mortgage backed securities, residential whole loans and mortgage servicing rights is complementary to Annalys existing businesses

Hatteras portfolio, which consists of agency residential mortgage backed securities, residential whole loans and mortgage servicing rights is complementary to Annalys existing businesses Transaction accretion to Annaly shareholders: Transaction is expected to be accretive to Annalys book value per share and core earnings in 2016

Transaction is expected to be accretive to Annalys book value per share and core earnings in 2016 Reinforces Annalys stature as industry leader: Acquisition of Hatteras further entrenches Annaly as the largest, most liquid and diversified mortgage REIT in the world

Acquisition of Hatteras further entrenches Annaly as the largest, most liquid and diversified mortgage REIT in the world Strong liquidity position: An enhanced capital base will support the continued growth of all investment businesses

Benefits to Hatteras shareholders

Meaningful premium to Hatteras common stock price : The value of the consideration represents a premium of approximately 24% to the 60-day volume-weighted average price of Hatteras common stock ending on April 8, 2016 based upon the closing price of Annaly common stock on April 8, 2016

: The value of the consideration represents a premium of approximately 24% to the 60-day volume-weighted average price of Hatteras common stock ending on April 8, 2016 based upon the closing price of Annaly common stock on April 8, 2016 Benefit from a more diversified business: Through ownership of Annaly common stock received in conjunction with the transaction, Hatteras shareholders will benefit from a more diversified investment portfolio; including agency and non-agency MBS, residential whole loans, mortgage servicing rights, commercial real estate debt and equity and corporate credit

Through ownership of Annaly common stock received in conjunction with the transaction, Hatteras shareholders will benefit from a more diversified investment portfolio; including agency and non-agency MBS, residential whole loans, mortgage servicing rights, commercial real estate debt and equity and corporate credit Enhanced scale and access to capital : With a pro-forma equity base of over $10 billion, Hatteras common shareholders will benefit from the operating scale, liquidity and capital alternatives of a larger combined entity

: With a pro-forma equity base of over $10 billion, Hatteras common shareholders will benefit from the operating scale, liquidity and capital alternatives of a larger combined entity Enhanced trading liquidity : In connection with the transaction, Hatteras common shareholders will receive approximately 93.5 million shares of Annaly common stock in the aggregate. Over the past twelve months, Annalys trading volume has been approximately $87 million per day

: In connection with the transaction, Hatteras common shareholders will receive approximately 93.5 million shares of Annaly common stock in the aggregate. Over the past twelve months, Annalys trading volume has been approximately $87 million per day Hatteras shareholders may elect between cash and stock consideration or a combination of both: Hatteras shareholders will have an ability to elect between cash and stock consideration (or a combination of both cash and stock consideration), subject to proration rules such that the aggregate transaction consideration will consist of approximately 65% of Annalys common stock and approximately 35% in cash

Prior to closing, each of Annaly and Hatteras will pay its respective shareholders a pro rata common dividend based on its last regular quarterly dividend declared prior to closing and the number of days elapsed since the record date for the most recent quarterly dividend, as of the day immediately prior to the closing date.

In connection with the transaction, Annaly entered into 30-month consulting agreements with four members of Hatteras executive team, including Michael R. Hough and Benjamin M. Hough.

The exchange offer is subject to customary closing conditions, including the tender for exchange of one share more than two-thirds (66 2/3%) of all then outstanding shares of Hatteras common stock when added to any shares of Hatteras common shares owned by Annaly and its wholly-owned subsidiary. Following completion of the exchange offer, the parties will promptly effect a second-step merger without the approval of Hatteras shareholders under Maryland law pursuant to which all remaining shares of Hatteras common stock not tendered in the exchange offer will be converted into the right to receive the same consideration as in the exchange offer, with the same election options and subject to the same proration rules. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2016.

Wells Fargo Securities and Sandler ONeill + Partners, L.P. served as financial advisors to Annaly, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal counsel to Annaly. Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as financial advisor to the Hatteras Special Committee, DLA Piper LLP (US) served as legal counsel to Hatteras, and Hogan Lovells US LLP served as legal counsel to the Hatteras Special Committee.

Conference Call

The Companies will hold a joint conference call on April 11, 2016 at 9:00 A.M. Eastern Time. The number to call is 1-888-317-6003 for domestic calls and 1-412-317-6061 for international calls. The conference passcode is 2598977. There will also be an audio webcast of the call on www.annaly.com. If you would like to be added to the e-mail distribution list, please visit www.annaly.com, click on Investor Relations, then select Email Alerts and complete the email notification form.
Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) announced last week that it appointed Hugh Johnston and Martha Lane Fox to its Board of Directors. But, the social media giant may have been looking more major media types as potential directors.

According to the NY Post , Twitter was in talks with Rain Man producer Peter Guber and TV creator Shonda Rhimes about possible board seats. Rhimes has created shows such as How to Get Away with Murder, Greys Anatomy, and Scandal.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey did say last week that more additions to the board will be coming, so who knows whether another set of Hollywood directors will occupy a few seats.

Shares of Twitter are flat in early trading following a 2 percent close lower last Friday.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) announced the acquisition of Charles Allen Agency, Inc. in Waite Park, Minnesota. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2010, the Charles Allen Agency, Inc. (CAA) is a retail insurance broker that provides commercial surety bonding and insurance services to clients throughout the Midwest. They specialize in coverage for the construction industry. Mark Gresser and his associates will continue to operate from their Waite Park location under the direction of Michael Pesch, head of Gallagher's Midwest region retail property/casualty brokerage operation.

"The CAA team is well known for their industry experience, strong market relationships and quality client service," said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr. Chairman, President and CEO. "Their construction expertise and Minnesota presence will be a wonderful complement to our Midwest Region. We look forward to working with Mark and his colleagues, and we welcome them to our growing Gallagher family of professionals."
VIENNA (Reuters) - Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner, often the face of Austria's increasingly tough line on immigration, is leaving the government and plans to swap jobs with the deputy governor of her home province, Lower Austria, her party said on Sunday.

Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner, who heads the center-right People's Party (OVP), confirmed that its leadership had approved the decision, speaking at a joint news conference with Mikl-Leitner and her planned replacement, Wolfgang Sobotka.

"Now that we have the decision of the party leadership, we will clear it with the president and of course with the chancellor," Mitterlehner said, adding that the job switch should take place within about two weeks.

The announcement confirmed reports on Saturday that the party was planning the move. Mikl-Leitner and Sobotka praised each other, giving little indication of any change in policy.

Chancellor Werner Faymann, a Social Democrat, said in a statement: "It is the coalition partner's decision, which I respect, of course."

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
A Macedonian policeman uses his baton to prevent migrants and refugees to open the border fence at a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, Greece, April 7, 2016. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

By Stoyan Nenov

IDOMENI, Greece (Reuters) - Dozens of migrants and refugees were wounded on Sunday when Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds on the Greek side of the border, aid workers said, an act Athens called "dangerous and deplorable".

More than 10,000 migrants and refugees have been stranded at the Greek border outpost of Idomeni since February after a cascade of border shutdowns across the Balkans closed off their route to central and western Europe.

An earlier attempt by a large group of migrants to cross the border fence had resulted in the confrontation, a Macedonian official said.

Greece said police on the Macedonian side of their joint frontier used teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to push back the migrants. Macedonian authorities would only confirm they had used tear gas.

A deputy field coordinator with medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told Reuters that, of around 300 people treated, more than 30 had injuries caused by rubber bullets.

A news release issued by MSF quoted one doctor with the charity saying said three children had been taken in to its field clinic with head injuries caused by rubber bullets.

Police in Skopje said three officers were also hurt.

Over a million people fleeing conflict poured into Europe, mainly through Greece, in the past year. The European Union is implementing an accord under which all new arrivals to Greece will be sent back to Turkey if they do not meet asylum criteria.

A Macedonian official who asked to remain anonymous said that a large group of migrants left Idomeni camp on Sunday morning and surged towards the fence.

"They threw rocks at the Macedonian police. The police fired tear gas in response," the official said.

"The migrants were pushing against the fence but standing on the Greek side of the border. The fence is still there, they have not broken through."

Reuters witnesses said a small group of migrants attempted to talk to Macedonian border guards, asking for them to open the border. After given a negative response, they and other migrants started walking towards the fence.

Macedonian police fired tear gas, and some migrants hurled back some gas canisters and rocks, they said.

"INDISCRIMINATE FORCE"

In an unusually strong statement, George Kyritsis, a spokesman for migration coordinators in the Greek government, said the use of force was unacceptable.

"The indiscriminate use of chemicals, rubber bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable populations, and particularly without reasons for such force, is a dangerous and deplorable act," Kyritsis said.

More than 50,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece as a result of the border shutdowns. By Sunday morning, there were more than 11,200 people at Idomeni.

"We urge the authorities of FYROM to comprehend the potential risks the use of violence against refugees and migrants entails," said Kyritsis, referring to the official name of the neighboring country, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Athens has long refused to accept its neighbor as just 'Macedonia'. Some Greeks fear accepting 'Macedonia' could provide a basis for territorial claims by that country on a northern Greek province of the same name.

A Macedonian police spokesman said the situation at the border was under control but still tense, he added.

Achilleas Tzemos, MSF deputy field coordinator, told Reuters more than 300 people had been treated at the makeshift camp.

In addition to more than 30 treated for rubber bullet injuries, over 30 had open wounds and 200 had respiratory problems from tear gas exposure. "Among those with breathing difficulties were quite a few women and children," he said.

Greek authorities have been trying to convince the people to move to reception camps, but migrants have been refusing to move.

(Additional reporting By Renee Maltezou, Kole Casule, Ayat Basma and Sergiy Karazy; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

For the month of April 2016

Commission File Number: 001-35829

Vermilion Energy Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

3500, 520  3rd Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta T2P 0R3

(Address of principal executive offices)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F  Form 40-F 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1).

Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted solely to provide an attached annual report to security holders.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): _____

Note: Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7) only permits the submission in paper of a Form 6-K if submitted to furnish a report or other document that the registrant foreign private issuer must furnish and make public under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the registrant is incorporated, domiciled or legally organized (the registrant's "home country"), or under the rules of the home country exchange on which the registrant's securities are traded, as long as the report or other document is not a press release, is not required to be and has not been distributed to the registrant's security holders, and, if discussing a material event, has already been the subject of a Form 6-K submission or other Commission filing on EDGAR.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Yes  No 

If Yes is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82- .

Exhibit

Exhibit Description 99.1 News Release dated April 11, 2016 - Vermilion Energy Inc. Announces $0.215 CDN Cash Dividend for May 16, 2016 Payment Date

SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized. VERMILION ENERGY INC.

By: /s/ Curtis W. Hicks Title: Curtis W. Hicks, Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer



Date: April 11, 2016

Exhibit 99.1

Vermilion Energy Inc. Announces $0.215 CDN Cash Dividend for May 16, 2016 Payment Date

CALGARY, April 11, 2016 /CNW/ - Vermilion Energy Inc. ("Vermilion") (TSX, NYSE: VET) is pleased to announce a cash dividend of $0.215 CDN per share payable on May 16, 2016 to all shareholders of record on April 22, 2016. The ex-dividend date for this payment is April 20, 2016. This dividend is an eligible dividend for the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

Vermilion is an international energy producer that seeks to create value through the acquisition, exploration, development and optimization of producing properties in North America, Europe and Australia. Our business model targets annual organic production growth, along with providing reliable and increasing dividends to investors. Vermilion is targeting growth in production primarily through the exploitation of light oil and liquids-rich natural gas conventional resource plays in Canada and the United States, the exploration and development of high impact natural gas opportunities in the Netherlands and Germany, and through oil drilling and workover programs in France and Australia. Vermilion also holds an 18.5% working interest in the Corrib gas field in Ireland. Vermilion pays a monthly dividend of Canadian $0.215 per share, which provides a current yield of approximately 7%. Management and directors of Vermilion hold approximately 6% of the outstanding shares, are committed to consistently delivering superior rewards for all stakeholders, and have delivered a 20-year history of market outperformance. Vermilion trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VET.

SOURCE Vermilion Energy Inc.

PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2016/04/11/20160411_C3631_PDF_EN_661510.pdf

%CIK: 0001293135

For further information: Dean Morrison, CFA, Director, Investor Relations, Suite 3500, 520 - 3rd Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta T2P 0R3, Phone: (403) 269-4884, Fax: (403) 476-8100, IR Toll Free: 1-866-895-8101, www.vermilionenergy.com

CO: Vermilion Energy Inc.

CNW 11:00e 11-APR-16
*** Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) and Hatteras Financial Corp. (NYSE: HTS) announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which Annaly will acquire Hatteras for consideration to be paid in cash and shares of Annaly common stock, which values Hatteras at $15.85 per share of Hatteras common stock based upon the closing price of Annaly common stock on April 8, 2016. The value of the consideration represents a premium of approximately 24% to the 60-day volume-weighted average price of Hatteras common stock ending on April 8, 2016 and a multiple of 0.85x Hatteras estimated book value per share as of February 29, 2016.

Subject to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Annaly will commence an exchange offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Hatteras common stock. For each share of Hatteras common stock validly tendered in the exchange offer or converted pursuant to the second-step merger described below, Hatteras shareholders may elect to receive: (a) $5.55 in cash and 0.9894 shares of Annaly common stock; (b) $15.85 in cash (the Cash Consideration Option); or (c) 1.5226 shares of Annaly common stock (the Stock Consideration Option). Hatteras shareholders who elect the Cash Consideration Option or Stock Consideration Option will be subject to proration, in each of the exchange offer and the subsequent second step merger, so that the aggregate consideration will consist of approximately 65% of Annalys common stock and approximately 35% in cash. In addition to the above consideration, Annaly would assume the existing notional $287.5 million in Hatteras 7.625% Series A cumulative redeemable preferred stock.

The transactions contemplated by the merger agreement, including the exchange offer and the merger, have been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Annaly and unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Hatteras upon the unanimous recommendation of the Special Committee of the Hatteras Board of Directors, which is comprised entirely of independent directors (the Hatteras Special Committee).

This strategic transaction represents a unique and sizeable value creation opportunity for our shareholders, commented Kevin Keyes, CEO and President of Annaly. With the acquisition of Hatteras, we significantly grow our diversified portfolio and broaden our investment options, further fortifying Annalys position as the market leading mortgage REIT. Wellington Denahan, Chairman of Annaly, added: We are tremendously excited to announce this partnership today. Both Hatteras and Annaly are seasoned veterans in the sector, and we are confident this acquisition strengthens our ability to deliver superior returns to our shareholders over the long-term.

Michael R. Hough, Chairman and CEO of Hatteras, said: We are excited by the opportunity to join the Annaly platform and believe our diversification efforts are greatly enhanced by the industry-leading business Annaly has built. The complementary nature of this transaction should enhance the risk-adjusted value proposition weve always strived for. Jeffrey D. Miller, Lead Independent Director of Hatteras, added: The strategic combination with Annaly will offer our shareholders increased scale, diversification and liquidity, which we believe will result in higher and more sustainable shareholder value over the long-term.

Transaction Highlights

Benefits to Annaly shareholders

Expands and further diversifies Annalys investment portfolio: Hatteras portfolio, which consists of agency residential mortgage backed securities, residential whole loans and mortgage servicing rights is complementary to Annalys existing businesses

Hatteras portfolio, which consists of agency residential mortgage backed securities, residential whole loans and mortgage servicing rights is complementary to Annalys existing businesses Transaction accretion to Annaly shareholders: Transaction is expected to be accretive to Annalys book value per share and core earnings in 2016

Transaction is expected to be accretive to Annalys book value per share and core earnings in 2016 Reinforces Annalys stature as industry leader: Acquisition of Hatteras further entrenches Annaly as the largest, most liquid and diversified mortgage REIT in the world

Acquisition of Hatteras further entrenches Annaly as the largest, most liquid and diversified mortgage REIT in the world Strong liquidity position: An enhanced capital base will support the continued growth of all investment businesses

Benefits to Hatteras shareholders

Meaningful premium to Hatteras common stock price : The value of the consideration represents a premium of approximately 24% to the 60-day volume-weighted average price of Hatteras common stock ending on April 8, 2016 based upon the closing price of Annaly common stock on April 8, 2016

: The value of the consideration represents a premium of approximately 24% to the 60-day volume-weighted average price of Hatteras common stock ending on April 8, 2016 based upon the closing price of Annaly common stock on April 8, 2016 Benefit from a more diversified business: Through ownership of Annaly common stock received in conjunction with the transaction, Hatteras shareholders will benefit from a more diversified investment portfolio; including agency and non-agency MBS, residential whole loans, mortgage servicing rights, commercial real estate debt and equity and corporate credit

Through ownership of Annaly common stock received in conjunction with the transaction, Hatteras shareholders will benefit from a more diversified investment portfolio; including agency and non-agency MBS, residential whole loans, mortgage servicing rights, commercial real estate debt and equity and corporate credit Enhanced scale and access to capital : With a pro-forma equity base of over $10 billion, Hatteras common shareholders will benefit from the operating scale, liquidity and capital alternatives of a larger combined entity

: With a pro-forma equity base of over $10 billion, Hatteras common shareholders will benefit from the operating scale, liquidity and capital alternatives of a larger combined entity Enhanced trading liquidity : In connection with the transaction, Hatteras common shareholders will receive approximately 93.5 million shares of Annaly common stock in the aggregate. Over the past twelve months, Annalys trading volume has been approximately $87 million per day

: In connection with the transaction, Hatteras common shareholders will receive approximately 93.5 million shares of Annaly common stock in the aggregate. Over the past twelve months, Annalys trading volume has been approximately $87 million per day Hatteras shareholders may elect between cash and stock consideration or a combination of both: Hatteras shareholders will have an ability to elect between cash and stock consideration (or a combination of both cash and stock consideration), subject to proration rules such that the aggregate transaction consideration will consist of approximately 65% of Annalys common stock and approximately 35% in cash

Prior to closing, each of Annaly and Hatteras will pay its respective shareholders a pro rata common dividend based on its last regular quarterly dividend declared prior to closing and the number of days elapsed since the record date for the most recent quarterly dividend, as of the day immediately prior to the closing date.

In connection with the transaction, Annaly entered into 30-month consulting agreements with four members of Hatteras executive team, including Michael R. Hough and Benjamin M. Hough.

The exchange offer is subject to customary closing conditions, including the tender for exchange of one share more than two-thirds (66 2/3%) of all then outstanding shares of Hatteras common stock when added to any shares of Hatteras common shares owned by Annaly and its wholly-owned subsidiary. Following completion of the exchange offer, the parties will promptly effect a second-step merger without the approval of Hatteras shareholders under Maryland law pursuant to which all remaining shares of Hatteras common stock not tendered in the exchange offer will be converted into the right to receive the same consideration as in the exchange offer, with the same election options and subject to the same proration rules. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2016.

Wells Fargo Securities and Sandler ONeill + Partners, L.P. served as financial advisors to Annaly, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal counsel to Annaly. Goldman, Sachs & Co. served as financial advisor to the Hatteras Special Committee, DLA Piper LLP (US) served as legal counsel to Hatteras, and Hogan Lovells US LLP served as legal counsel to the Hatteras Special Committee.

*** Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI) announced today that it acquired Tower Development Corporation (TDC) for approximately $461 million in cash on April 8, 2016. TDC, a portfolio company of Berkshire Partners, owns and operates 336 towers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico with an average tenancy of approximately two tenants per tower.

The transaction is expected to contribute approximately $25 to $27 million to site rental gross margin in the first full year of Crown Castles ownership and be immediately accretive to Adjusted Funds from Operations per share. Crown Castle funded the acquisition with available cash, including cash on hand, cash from borrowings under its revolving credit facility and cash from the sale of approximately 3.5 million net shares of common stock at an average price of $85.52 per share year-to-date.

Our acquisition of TDC is another successful milestone in our long-term relationship with Berkshire Partners, stated Ben Moreland, Crown Castles President and Chief Executive Officer. The TDC acquisition represents an attractive and accretive investment opportunity that further enhances Crown Castles portfolio of wireless infrastructure.

*** Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (NYSE: CP) announced that it has terminated efforts to merge with Norfolk Southern Corp. (NS)(NYSE: NSC), including the withdrawal of a resolution asking NS shareholders to vote in favour of good-faith negotiations between the two companies. No further financial offers or overtures to meet with the NS board of directors are planned at this time.

CP proposed the creation of a true end-to-end railroad that would enhance competition, ease freight congestion now and into the future, improve service to shippers, better support the economy and generate significant shareholder value for both companies. "We have long recognized that consolidation is necessary for the North American rail industry to meet the demands of a growing economy, but with no clear path to a friendly merger at this time, we will turn all of our focus and energy to serving our customers and creating long term value for CP shareholders," said CP CEO E. Hunter Harrison. CP has a proven approach  precision railroading  that delivers superior results for customers, employees, communities and shareholders. CP will continue to focus on providing the best service, controlling costs, optimizing assets, operating safely and developing the best team of railroaders in the industry.

*** Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW) announced that it has closed on the acquisition of 100% of the stock of Correctional Management, Inc. (CMI), a privately held community corrections company, along with the real estate used in the operation of CMI's business from two entities affiliated with CMI, for approximately $35.0 million, excluding transaction related expenses. The all-cash transaction closed on April 7, 2016, and was funded utilizing the Company's revolving credit facility.

CMI has provided community corrections and non-residential day reporting services since 1984. It currently operates seven facilities, including six owned and one leased, constituting a total of 605 beds in Colorado. With a focus on utilizing evidence-based programs and individualized treatment plans tailored to clients who have serious substance abuse problems and histories of criminal conduct, CMI provides people preparing to return to their communities the opportunity to end the cycle of addiction and incarceration. CMI provides these services through multiple contracts with Boulder, Denver and Arapahoe Counties, as well as the Colorado Department of Corrections, a longstanding and valued partner of CCA. "With a commitment to providing high-quality service for the state of Colorado and its local communities for more than 30 years, we are excited to have CMI join CCA's expanding community corrections platform," said Damon Hininger, CCA's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are continuing to pursue additional opportunities to acquire community corrections providers with strong operating histories that are accretive to our earnings and align with CCA's commitment to reducing recidivism and preparing individuals for their successful reentry into society." Following the acquisition of CMI, CCA owns or controls 24 residential reentry facilities with a design capacity of 4,970 beds located in six states.

To keep up on all the Mergers & Acquisitions data in real-time, go to our M&A Insider page.
Protesters take part in a demonstration calling on Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to resig.

Several thousand people have filled a square in Malta's capital and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat after the leaked Panama Papers said two of his political allies had offshore accounts, one of which is in New Zealand.

"Shame on you, you are shaming Malta, you have lost the moral authority to govern," opposition leader Simon Busuttil said to applause on Monday (NZT).

The rally, organised by the opposition outside the prime minister's office, drew no official comment from Muscat. He said on Wednesday he would decide on the future of his two allies when he knows all the facts and on the basis of public sentiment.

The Nationalist Party opposition wants the removal of Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the prime minister's Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri.

READ MORE:

* Cameron releases tax records

* Cameron admits mishandling Panama saga

* Cameron benefited from father's Panama trust

* Mossack Fonseca office raided

* OECD will scrutinise New Zealand's foreign trust rules next year says Paris official

* Q&A: Panama Papers' fallout has only just begun

* Foreign trusts hiding darker secrets than tax avoidance

The Panama Papers showed how Mizzi set up a company in Panama and a trust in New Zealand.

Mizzi denies wrongdoing and says the arrangements were made to facilitate the management of his family assets, including income from a property in London.

He has refused calls to resign but on Thursday he told the ruling Labour Party he was ready for any decision the prime minister might take.

Busuttil said the opposition was also calling for the resignation of Schembri, for having similarly set up a company in Panama and a trust in Panama.

Schembri has denied any wrongdoing. He says that he was in business well before he assumed his government role and that he handed over his business management as soon as the government was elected in 2013.

Busuttil said that although the scandal became known in Malta as early as February, Muscat had done nothing about it.

Rather, he had promoted Mizzi to deputy leader of the Labour Party.

"His inaction is undermining Malta's reputation and endangering its financial services centre," he warned.

"How can the prime minister defend Malta's financial services industry in the EU when his fellow minister has a secret company in Panama?" Busuttil asked.

The opposition has presented a parliamentary motion of no confidence in the government.

The Panama Papers scandal broke a week ago when a German newspaper said it had received 11.5 million leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca showing how offshore companies are used to stash the wealth of the world's elite.

The leak quickly led to the resignation of Iceland's prime minister and embroiled British Prime Minister David Cameron in difficulties over offshore investments made by his father.

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Michele A'Court says one of the great things about her show is seeing it affect people emotionally.

The author and comedian is bringing her show Stuff I Forgot to Tell My Daughter to the Picton Little Theatre on April 1.

"It's a show that I wrote in 2013 after my daughter left home to go flatting," A'Court said.

Parents in the audience come up to A'Court pleased she had opened up an opportunity for them to discuss things with their children.

READ MORE:

* Michele A'Court is trying to make NZ feminism fun

* Michele A'Court columnist

"They say 'that's amazing, I'm so glad you told my teenagers this so I don't have to'," she said.

At her last show there were people of all ages in the audience, from teenagers to people in their 70s.

A'Court said she thought the theme of parenting was fairly universal.

She said more women and girls tended to turn up at the show, but she was always "thrilled" to see men there.

"The men who turn up just adore it," she said.

A'Court's book of the same name was published last year and was a bestseller in New Zealand, and is due to be released in the United Kingdom this July.

The show and book were based on a list of things A'Court wished she had told her daughter, Holly, but expanded out to include other themes, A'Court said.

There was a lengthy segment on the history of feminism, she said. 

She said her favourite part of the show was a surprise story she told, just before the end.

A'Court said her daughter loved the show and sent her a "good luck" text before every performance.

The show was about her reaction to her daughter leaving home, and was not really connected to what A'Court wished her own mother had told her.

You eventually worked things out yourself, she said.

However there was one thing A'Court wished her mother had kept to herself: "dust is made of skin".

A'Court said while talking about feminism had always been important, it was especially relevant now. The conversation went a bit quiet at the end of the 1990s, A'Court said.

There was a lot of enthusiasm for fourth-wave feminism among young women who were questioning economic inequality with men, she said.

A'Court said there were more young women coming onto the comedy scene in New Zealand.

All over the world there were more men than women in comedy, partly because being a comedian was hard for a primary caregiver due to the hours they had to work.

"The women that stick in there are really good," she said.

A'Court had another book and show in the pipeline, a collection of stories about couples meeting one another.

She was inspired after asking her friends how they got together.

"They told me this great story about how they met," she said.

She thought it was such a good story someone should write a book about it.

"I thought 'gosh, that should probably be me'," she said.

* Michele A'Court's show Stuff I Forgot to Tell My Daughter will be at the Picton Little Theatre on April 1 at 3pm and 7.30pm. Tickets $20 for matinee performance and $25 for evening performance. Book at Take Note, in Picton.
Natalie Wilson from the Central Otago Winegrowers' Association, right, talks Helen Scholes from the Cromwell i-SITE through the new visitor-friendly wine map.

A new-look Central Otago wine map showcasing 58 wineries will make it easier for people to plan their winery experiences.

After a year in the planning the Central Otago Winegrowers' Association has launched their new-look Central Otago Wine Map.

James Dicey, President of the Central Otago Winegrowers' Association and brain child behind the new wine map said based on feedback, a number of changes were made, including the move from a fold out map to booklet that featured each of Central Otago's wine regions.

Popular tourist attractions, accommodation providers, events and some quirky wine facts had also been included.

"Food and Wine tourism is a strong growth segment internationally and ensuring that Central Otago is able to tap into the needs of that market will see an increase in visitor spend in the region. A long time in the planning, we have received excellent feedback about the improvements that we have made to the map. We are now looking at how we make a web-based version of the map available to visitors."

Fifty-eight wineries open for wine tastings were showcased on the new map from the six Central Otago wine sub-regions bordered by Gibbston, Wanaka, Bendigo, Alexandra and Bannockburn.

Helen Scoles from the Cromwell i-SITE said the wine map had been well received by the Central Otago i-SITES.

"The Central Otago wine map is one of our most popular brochures. It's an excellent brochure, easy to follow and it's great that the new map includes other activities for tourists to do while they are in the region."

There have been 60,000 maps produced and are available from wineries, local I-SITES, accommodation providers and tourism operators.
The suspense and drama of a $4.2 million Aston Martin Vulcan super car unveiling at Highlands Motorsport Park was more fitting for a James Bond movie than a car launch.

As hundreds of people gathered at the track for the launch at the Cromwell complex on Saturday, an Aston Martin technician was working furiously in the pitlane garage replacing the computer in the super car.

Highlands chief operating officer Josie Spillane said the drama started Thursday when owner Tony Quinn took the Vulcan out for a "shake down" where he could test it on the track before presenting it on the global stage.

SUPPLIED Highlands management team with the new $4.2 million Aston Martin Vulcan. From left: Kynan Yu, Josie Spillane, Tony Quinn and Mike Sentch.

"We pushed her out of the museum and put it on the circuit but unfortunately there was an issue with the computer and she would not go longer than three minutes."

READ MORE:

* Tony Quinn unveils $4.2 million Aston Martin Vulcan supercar in Cromwell

* Happy to pay for the thrill of a riding shotgun in $4.2m Aston Martin Vulcan

DOUG SAIL/FAIRFAX NZ Tony Quinn's NZ$4.2m Aston Martin Vulcan comes into pit lane during its unveiling runs at Highlands Motorsport Complex in Cromwell.

Aston Martin representatives were at the launch and wasted no time getting an expert technician on the phone and flight out from the UK to Central Otago, she said.

"It was 3pm New Zealand time, 2am their time and they made the decision to put him on a plane to New Zealand. We very quickly had a discussion with the team. Tony and I were confident in Aston Martin's ability to deliver and we decided to stick to the plan."

The car was unveiled at a private party on the Friday night - most unaware there was a problem and there was a risk the super car was not going to perform, Spillane said.

"The technician arrived in Auckland at 5am, and Aston Martin chartered a private jet that flew into Alexandra and we collected him at 8.30am. While all this was happening 500 people in Cromwell were walking our circuit oblivious to the problem that was unfolding in the garage at pitlane.

"The technician put in a new unit and she started first go and we delivered a world class event.

"We tip our hats off to the incredible people that work within our business. They kept the engine running perfectly while the experts in the business sorted out the Vulcan and Cromwell and Highlands delivered a moment in our history that will be celebrated for many years to come."

The supercar, unveiled as part of Highlands third birthday celebrations, is the only version of the 24 built in the Southern Hemisphere.

Spillane said with New Zealand having such a rich history in motorsport on the world stage, it was only fitting that something as rare as the Vulcan had a home here.

As part of the car's launch, Quinn, who sold his VIP Petfood business in Australia last year for over $440 million, offered an "Aston Martin Vulcan Experience" to those who fronted with $5000. The experience served up VIP treatment and a number of hot laps in the Vulcan.

Throughout Saturday these VIPs, including TV personality Paul Henry, were taken for "rides".

It has a top speed of more than 320 kilometres per hour and a 0-100kmh time of 3 seconds. Fast cars need good stoppers and it has carbon ceramic disc brakes while there is a six-speed sequential gearbox, variable traction control and a fully-adjustable suspension to the power to the track.

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Te Puni's speech conveyed a simple message: don't be a bystander, stand up and speak for others.

A head boy is urging Kiwis to stand up against racial abuse through a speech that took out first place in the New Zealand Race Unity Speech Competition.

Palmerston North Boys' High School head boy Te Ariki Te Puni delivered an inspirational speech with a simple message: "don't be a bystander, stand up and speak for others".

Te Puni said he wanted people to understand this couldn't be achieved alone.

TOM MACINTOSH Te Ariki Te Puni at the 2016 New Zealand Race Unity Speech Competition in Auckland.

"Only when we are united together for the right cause will we start to make leaps of improvements," he said.

READ MORE:

* Palmerston North Boys' High teacher remembered

* Palmerston North student "dreams it and achieves" it in speech contest

The speech used the ideas embodied by the national anthem to highlight how New Zealanders should prevent themselves from falling into the trap of being a bystander.

MURRAY WILSON/FAIRFAX NZ Te Ariki Te Puni isn't new to public speaking - the 17-year-old won the prestigious national Korimako speech award at the Manu Korero speech competition last year.

"What kind of country are we? What do we stand for?" Te Puni asked in the speech.



"God defend our free land ... but what use is free speech if we don't use it?"

He said afterwards he was quite nervous and tired but excited he got across his message.

"I really hope I inspired people to start thinking about the problem at hand. I'm very happy with how it went and really appreciate the teachers and boys who came and supported me."

Te Puni said it was important to recognise people's differences, but people should also recognise that their similarities also brought them together.

Boys' High teacher and dean of Maori achievement John Kendal plays a part in mentoring Te Puni, and said the student was an incredibly talented orator.

"His greatest attribute is his humility. He's very humble, and talks through his actions.

"He really leads by example in all areas of his life."

In the powerful speech, named "Stand up for race unity  don't be a bystander", Te Puni spoke of New Zealanders who stood up for what they believed in.

Dame Whina Cooper and Kate Sheppard were mentioned, as well as Te Puni's own personal hero, the late Pa Dawson Tamatea who taught at his college.

A spine-tingling haka performed by 1500 Palmerston North Boys' High students at Pa Dawson's tangihana that went viral around the world showed that "standing together we are invincible", Te Puni said.

Hundreds of high school students from around the country took part in regional competitions that culminated in the national finals, held at Te Mahurehure Marae in Auckland on Saturday.

The competition was launched in 1999 after a spate of racially motivated attacks.
A motorcyclist killed in a crash on the Waikato expressway was riding to his trial for historic child sexual abuse charges.

Police confirmed that Garry John Jones was the rider who struck the back of a logging truck and crashed onto the highway north of Huntly on Monday.

The 64-year-old died on the tarseal of State Highway 1, where his bike was left smashed and strewn next to the median barrier at 7.15am.

MIKE MATHER Garry John Jones at the High Court in Hamilton.

Jones was travelling from his home in Auckland to Hamilton where he has been on trial in the High Court on 49 sex charges including rape, indecent assault, abduction for sex, and assault with intent to commit sexual violation.

READ MORE: Former top bodybuilder facing 49 historic child sex charges

It was the first day of the second week of the trial before Justice Mark Woolford and a jury of 10 women and two men.

GEORGE HEARD/FAIRFAX NZ The motorcycle was left strewn under the median barrier of the Waikato Expressway.

A former bodybuilder, Jones' alleged offending dates back to the 1970s and 80s in the eastern Bay of Plenty, Kawerau and Taupo.

His alleged victims, of which there are nine complainants, were aged between five and 16 at the time.

Most of the incidents were said to have occurred in various homes in Whakatane. One alleged rape happened in a single men's camp in Kawerau.

Between 1984 and 1990 Jones owned the Whakatane Health and Fitness Centre and was also a holder of the Mr New Zealand Bodybuilding title before he relocated to Auckland.

Some of the alleged offending happened inside the gym on Peace St, including one incident at a party attended by Jones and one of his alleged victims; and another that took place in the facility's weight training area, Crown prosecutor Heidi Wrigley said in opening addresses last week.

In some cases the Crown alleges Jones punched his victims in the face. In others the alleged victims were babysitting younger children at the time. Much of the alleged offending involved oral sex.

Court was adjourned on Monday after news broke of Jones' death.

Crown Prosector Greg Hollister Jones said the charges had now been dropped due to the defendant's death.

Initial reports from police said the rider hit the median barrier where the red and black bike lay.

But after preliminary examinations, Waikato police Senior Sergeant Pete van de Wetering said the rider was heading south on the dual lane expressway when he struck the rear of a logging truck also heading south.

The truck and trailer unit stopped about a kilometre up the road where police later spoke with the driver.

Van de Wetering said the truck driver likely didn't feel the impact and stopped after seeing the crash scene behind him.

"Even if he had seen something he may not have realised there was a connection with his truck and what he saw in the mirror in the distance behind him."

"The truck driver had pulled over about a kilometre away and phoned it in, and discussed it with us."

What exactly had caused the rider to collide with the truck was still under investigation by the Serious Crash Unit, van de Wetering said.

"We are appealing for any witnesses to come forward and contact police."

Fulton Hogan contractors removed the wire median barrier to divert traffic from the southbound lane onto the opposite side while police investigated. A drone was also used to map out the scene.

A post-mortem would be conducted in Hamilton on Tuesday before the body was released, van de Wetering said. The death had now been referred to the Coroner.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Waikato police on 07 858 6200.
The Maori Party Co-leader, Te Ururoa Flavell, has accepted a request to present a petition to Parliament, which calls for the establishment of Maori wards on District Councils.

We wholeheartedly support this petition thats being led by New Plymouth Mayor Andrew Judd who unsuccessfully championed the creation of a Maori ward in New Plymouth under the existing legislation.

Everyone is aware of the low participation of Maori in local government and the existing legislation is clearly inadequate. A law change is needed to ensure that tangata whenua views are provided across the country, says Mr Flavell.

Mr Judd wants the House of Representatives to consider a law change to establish Maori wards by following similar rules for setting up other local government wards. Under the Local Electoral Act 2001 no local councils have been able to establish a Maori ward.

Mr Flavell says A change is long overdue. The fact that five percent of the voting public can challenge any decision related to Maori representation is disheartening and means Maori will almost always be defeated in this process. How is it fair that mechanisms such as these can apply?

Maori Party Co-leader, Marama Fox, says Guaranteeing Maori wards would ensure Maori have more effective Maori representation at the local government table.

Mr Flavell says Maori wards would better representative and reflect the make-up of communities.

Maori wards would not only enrich the culture of councils by sharing knowledge about Maori history, significant sites but would also provide appropriate support to address issues facing Maori and others in their respective regions,Marama Fox she says.

The Maori Party congratulates New Plymouth Mayor, Andrew Judd, for putting forward his petition.

Source: Maori Party.
Major state care reforms and a complete overhaul of Child, Youth, and Family has been welcomed with open arms by a Tauranga social worker.

The new child-centred model and legislation changes, which is expected to take up to five years and an extra $364 to implement, were unveiled by Social Development Minister Anne Tolley on Thursday.
Infestations of highly invasive pest plant velvetleaf have been discovered on five more farms in the Waikato recently.

Waikato Regional Council is already working to contain and eradicate velvetleaf on farms located in Matamata, Piopio, Atiamuri and Ngakuru as part of its response to infected fodder beet crops.

The additional five infestations appear to be related to the movement of infested maize or maize silage throughout the region, particular in the Matamata-Piako, North Waikato and South Waikato districts.

WRC biosecurity spokesman Patrick Whaley theyre also inspecting a further 14 sites where it is suspected velvetleaf might be growing.

These latest developments mark a significant escalation in the scale of the velvetleaf problem in our region, explains Patrick.

We will be working hard to help landowners manage the situation, in co-operation with the Ministry for Primary Industries which is leading the national response to velvetleaf infestations linked to potentially contaminated fodder beet seed.

In response to the magnitude of the discoveries and the potential for more sites to be uncovered, councils set up an incident management team which is developing a long term plan to build on work already underway.

Patrick says its unclear at this stage how the new infestations occurred and the source of the outbreaks would form part of ongoing investigations.

For now we strongly encourage landowners to keep an eye out for this pest and ensure they dont do anything to help spread it, he says.

Chairperson Paula Southgate says the welfare needs of affected landowners was of the highest priority for the regional council.

Farm management of velvetleaf is complex and can have a significant impact on individual landowners, she says.

Staff are really conscious of ensuring farmers have the support they need and so the council is working closely with the Rural Support Trust and Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management welfare staff.

WHAT IS VELVETLEAF?



Highly invasive pest plant velvetleaf flowering. Photo: File

Velvetleaf is one of the worlds most invasive pest plants, damaging crops by competing with them for nutrients and water. In New Zealand, it is an unwanted organism under the Biosecurity Act.

It is an annual broad-leaved herb that grows between one and 2.5 metres tall. It has buttery-yellow flowers about three centimetres across. It flowers from spring through autumn. Leaves are large, heart-shaped and are velvety to the touch.

Seedlings are vigorous and the plant grows rapidly in the first few months after germination. Seeds remain viable for up to 60 years. The seeds are spread by water, farm machinery when harvesting grain, through livestock and as a contaminant of grain.

Farmers are being advised to photograph any plants and mark their location so they can be found again easily. Do not pull up plants or graze stock in infested crops.

A ministry or regional council staff member will provide strict protocols to follow which includes carefully removing plants to make sure seed is not spread.

To report any signs of velvetleaf call the Ministry for Primary Industries on 0800-80-99-66.
Bay of Plenty Lotto players will be shouting the morning coffees this week after each winning $13,859 with Lotto Second Division in Saturday nights live Lotto draw.

A total of 23 players throughout the country took out the prize pool on the weekend.
Police are seeking witnesses to a motorcycle crash that took place on SH 54 near Cheltenham on Saturday, March26.

The crash took place at around 1.40pm and involved at least five motorcycles. Several riders were hurt in the crash, with injuries ranging from minor to serious.

Many of the riders come from the Levin/Foxton areas, but had travelled via Shannon, Linton, Ashhurst, Colyton and Kimbolton.

If you witnessed the crash and have not yet spoken to Police, please get in touch with Constable Matt Love on 021 192 4023.

Source: New Zealand Police.
Counties Manukau Police have charged a Manurewa man with murder following the death of 22-year-old woman.

The victims body was located in Hampton Downs by the side of the road yesterday evening.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out today.

A 24-year-old man will appear in the Pukekohe District Court today charged with murder.

The incident is believed to be domestic related and no one else is being sought in relation to her death.

The victims name will not be released until formal identification procedures have been completed and all relevant next of kin identified.

Her family have made a specific request that media do not attempt to contact them and ask that they be allowed to grieve in private during this difficult time.

Source: New Zealand Police.
An Omokoroa school teacher is in Melbourne this week, starting a third fight against acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Her pupils are back home raise money and awareness of her journey in receiving a new immunotherapy drug not available in New Zealand.
Prime Minister John Key will lead a high-level business delegation to China, visiting Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.

China is a key destination for our goods exports and an important consumer of New Zealand services, says Mr Key.

"The visit provides an opportunity to strengthen our relationship and showcase New Zealands creativity, innovation, and high-tech credentials.

In Beijing, Mr Key will hold meetings with Chinas leaders, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

Along with a broad range of topics, I look forward to continuing discussions with them on an upgrade of the China New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed eight years ago this month, says Mr Key.

Since this time, two-way trade between New Zealand and China has more than doubled, reaching almost $19 billion. An FTA upgrade would allow us to modernise the agreement and ensure it continues to drive our relationship forward.

In Beijing, Mr Key will address students at Tsinghua University, one of Chinas premier tertiary institutions, and meet with senior Chinese business leaders.

Mr Key will hold official meetings with senior provincial and city leaders in the major centres of Xian and Shanghai.

In his first visit to Xian, Mr Key will support New Zealand business and cultural links with Xian, including through a visit to Xians international trade and logistics hub  part of Chinas Belt and Road initiative.

Mr Key will also help to promote New Zealands creative industries by attending the launch of the New Zealand Film Festival in Shanghai.

Mr Key will be accompanied by Trade Minister Todd McClay and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy. The delegation will be in China from April 17 to April 22.

SOURCE: Office of John Key
Donning their lab coats and name tags, 11 children from House of Sciences inaugural Outreach Programme graduated on Monday.

The ceremony, held in-front of peers, parents, teachers, members of the Merivale Community Centre and House of Science volunteers, marks the culmination of an eight-week Outreach Programme, which was run in conjunction with the school, the centre and not-for-profit group House of Science.
April 11, 2016: Win a Trip to Parque Warner Madrid in "Batman v Superman" Contest

In celebration of the recent premiere of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" in the UK, Toys R Us is hosting a contest in which one lucky individual will win a prize package trip to Parque Warner in Madrid, Spain.

Go head to head, hero to hero at the fantastic Parque Warner theme park in Madrid! From Cartoon Village via Hollywood Boulevard, arrive at the stupendous Super Heroes World! In the space of a few steps, you'll travel from Gotham City to Metropolis.

To enter, visit Toysrus.co.uk and simply upload a photo of your little one dressed as Batman or Superman before midnight on April 23rd.

The winner will receive a family ticket (2 adults & 2 children) to the Parque Warner theme park as well as round trip airfare (from Barcelona, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lisbon, London, Paris, Vienna, Warsaw, or Zurich) and accommodations.




Next week on April 20th, Plenty! is holding two separate events in support of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley GiveBigNRV campaign. Plenty! welcomes all of their friends and neighbors to come out and support its mission to help feed hungry neighbors in Floyd County.

First, folks can enjoy a free meal at Plenty!s Community Lunch, which will have fresh, homemade soup, bread and dessert starting at noon on Wednesday April 20th. Most of the ingredients for the meal are either grown on the Plenty! Farm or donated by local farmers. If you are not able to make the lunch, Plenty! invites you to stop by later in the day between 4 and 6 p.m. for refreshments and a tour of the farm. Individuals are welcome to walk the farm and learn about all the different programs Plenty! is doing in the local community.

Jonathan Vandergrift, Plenty! Director, stated, There are many great non-profits and charities in the area participating in this campaign, and I hope everyone in Floyd County reaches out and supports their favorite organization on April 20th.

Plenty! is proud to be a part of GiveBigNRV, an initiative of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley. Plenty! is located at 192 Elephant Curve Road, Floyd off Route 8. For more information about GiveBigNRV please visit https://cfnrv.givebig.org or about Plenty! www.plentylocal.org.
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Joseph Lawson, 34, 100 block of Banyan Drive, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, grand theft.

Jorge Miranda, 27, Hialeah; warrant for failure to appear, docket sounding, uttering a forged instrument, grand theft.

Hector Pagan, 47, 3300 block of Southeast Ellendale Street, Stuart; possession of cocaine with intent to sell; resisting arrest with violence.

Christian Kloberg, 21, Jacksonville; warrant for violation of probation, possession of oxycodone.

Markee Felton, 34, 4800 block of Southeast Isabelita Avenue, Stuart; warrants for attempted robbery with a weapon, aggravated assault with a weapon.

Louis Piselli, 50, 3900 block of Northwest Cinnamon Circle, Jensen Beach; domestic battery on a person over 65.

Marcelo Martinez, 53, 15000 block of Southwest Indianmound Drive, Indiantown; possession of a controlled substance (oxycodone).

Peggie Jeune, 30, Elmont, New York; fleeing and attempting to elude.

Luis Rivera Matos, 60, 2500 block of Monroe Street, Stuart; larceny/petty theft, second degree, third subsequent offense. Arrested in St. Lucie County.
Gov. Rick Scott (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

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By Sun Sentinel

Thanks to the power of social media, it was a rant witnessed across America.

Cara Jennings, a former city commissioner from Lake Worth, lashed out at Gov. Rick Scott in a Gainesville Starbucks on Tuesday. She hurled a vulgarity at him, and yelled that he didn't "care about working people," "stripped women of access to public health care" and "cut Medicaid."

Scott, well known for staying on message  even if it means not responding to specific assertions or questions  calmly countered that the state had added 1 million jobs under his leadership. He then beat a retreat with his entourage.

This coffee clash, less than a minute long, received more than a quarter of a million views on YouTube in the next 24 hours and was broadcast on national television on Wednesday. So on Friday, the governor's YouTube channel posted a response attacking Jennings, who had asked: "A million jobs? Great, who here has a job?" A male voice answers, "Well, almost everybody  except those that are sitting around coffee shops, demanding public assistance, surfing the Internet and cursing at customers who come in."

While Jennings' rant was boorish, the governor's response was tone deaf.

Still, the question remains of whether the governor and his intemperate interlocutor were wielding facts in their Starbucks exchange. The verdict, according to the independent analysts at PolitiFact: sort of.

But there's at least one more takeaway from this week's showdown at Starbucks: Job growth is great, but it doesn't nullify all other shortcomings in state policies under Scott.

The numbers back up Scott's boast about employment. From the first month he took office to February this year, the last month for which figures are available, Florida has gained 1,028,100 jobs. That's got to be a positive development for the million-plus state residents who found work, though many of their jobs aren't high-paying positions with good benefits.

But it's a stretch to attribute all the increase to Scott and his policies, as PolitiFact and others have pointed out. After all, it came during a period of economic recovery nationally and population growth in Florida. There's a limit to how much credit, or blame, any governor deserves for job gains or losses  especially in Florida, whose economy depends heavily on Americans in other states having enough disposable income to vacation here.

As to Jennings' claim about stripping women's access to public health care, Scott recently signed into law a bill passed overwhelmingly by the Legislature's Republican majority to bar public funding for any health clinic that performs abortions. Planned Parenthood, which provides other services to women in addition to abortion, has said its clinics will lose up to $500,000. Scott's office pegged the number at $114,000. Health clinics that provide other services to women but not abortions  including clinics operated by county health departments  will not be affected by the law. That explains why PolitiFact rated this claim half-true.

Still, this bill was excessive, punitive and politically driven. We don't excuse Jennings' incivility, but we understand her anger.

The claim that Scott "cut Medicaid" also is half-true, according to PolitiFact. He hasn't overseen major reductions in the federal-state program that provides health care for the poor. But last year he and state House leaders blocked a bipartisan Senate plan that could have provided private health insurance to 800,000 low-income Floridians using billions of federal dollars. Senate leaders were deterred from another attempt to pass the plan this year by the governor's unrelenting opposition.

So while he didn't cut Medicaid, Scott deserves much of the blame for denying many more Floridians a chance to gain access to health care. In September, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 2.8 million Floridians lacked insurance.

Job creation is a worthy priority for the governor. But not to the exclusion of all others, including health care.
By Ocala Star-Banner

For almost 50 years, manatees  the slow-swimming, sea-grass-grazing sea cows that inhabit waterways in Florida  have been classified as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The classification means that the manatee is "in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future." The designation has led to protective measures, such as slow-speed boating zones and limits on dock and dredging permits, which have helped the manatee population to increase.

The protections have been successful enough, in fact, that the Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed that the manatee now be "downlisted" to "threatened"  that is, no longer in immediate danger of extinction.

The service made the determination in January, and a public comment period on the proposal ended last week. A final decision on the downlisting is expected to be made next year.

The service cites studies showing, among other signs of progress, that the manatee population in Florida has risen from a little over 1,000 in 1991 to more than 6,000 today.

Based on its estimates, the service says that "it is unlikely" that the manatees' Southeastern U.S. population "will fall below 4,000 total individuals over the next 100 years, assuming current threats remain constant indefinitely."

That last part  "assuming current threats remain constant indefinitely"  is the reason why the proposed downlisting is premature and dangerous to the future of the manatee.

As pointed out by Patrick Rose of the Save the Manatee Club, threats to the manatee have not remained constant in the last few years, let alone indefinitely.

For example:

 Biologists have yet to determine what caused an illness, beginning in mid-2012, that killed more than 130 manatees in the Indian River Lagoon on Florida's east coast. State scientists say severe algal blooms, possibly caused by pollution, that killed the lagoon's sea grass may have contributed to the die-off.

 In 2013, 274 of the state's 830 manatee deaths were attributed to "undetermined" causes.

 Last December, Florida's human population surpassed 20 million, while a marine manufacturers' association reported that boat sales in the state could increase 8 percent this year. Boat strikes are one of the leading causes of manatee deaths. Watercraft killed 86 manatees in 2015, about 21 percent of the overall death toll  up from 69 in 2014.

 Warm-water discharges from power plants, which manatees depend on to survive cold weather, are declining as the plants become more energy efficient. More than 60 percent of the manatee population will be affected by the loss of artificial warm water, according to Dr. Katie Tripp, the Save the Manatee Club's director of science and conservation. In fact, the Fish and Wildlife Service identifies the potential loss of power-plant discharges and of natural warm-water springs as "a significant threat" to wintering manatees.

These variables make any change in the protective status of these gentle, iconic creatures premature.

There's no guarantee the manatee population increases, if lost, could be regained.

The rising numbers of Florida manatees that resulted from the endangered-species classification are encouraging. But that success is no reason to let down our guard. The threats to the manatee that continue are reason enough to maintain the species' current protections.
A group from the Martin County Sheriff's Office preside over a body that washed up from the ocean early Monday south of House of Refuge in Stuart. A boat capsized Sunday shortly after departing from shore, claiming the lives of 2 adults and 1 child. (LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

By Gil Smart of TCPalm

Quick context on what Treasure Coast residents are talking about this week:

Deadly waters

The second fatal boating accident in a week occurred after four boaters went missing Sunday night. One victim's body was found Monday morning near the House of Refuge in Stuart and two additional victims were discovered near the St. Lucie Inlet. One survivor was found.

Those who died were Willis Bell, Fernandas Jones (a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Deputy) and his 9-year-old son, Jayden Jones.

A week earlier, on April 3, New Jersey boater Stephen Graga, 70, died after his pontoon boat capsized in rough waters near the Sebastian Inlet.

Serious boating mishaps along the Treasure Coast are rare, but statewide boating fatalities are on the rise.

According to U.S. Coast Guard data, there were 70 boating deaths in 2014 in Florida, the latest year for which statistics are available. That was the highest number since 2007, and up from 58 in 2013 and 50 in 2012.

Florida ranks first in the nation in both boating accidents and fatalities.

Nationally, 610 people died in recreational boating accidents in 2014, up from 560 in 2013  the lowest number on record. So while two accidents along the Treasure Coast don't constitute a trend, these incidents  and the rising numbers statewide  are of legitimate concern, an issue worth addressing in hopes of preventing future tragedies.

With 4 Treasure Coast #boating deaths in 1 week, time to take a free safe boating course https://t.co/lXb6s3WImi via @TCPalm  Ed Dead Water Killer (@TCPalmEKiller) April 11, 2016

Hope vs. reality on AAF

In dueling columns last weekend, Martin County Commissioner Anne Scott and Treasure Coast Newspapers columnist Rich Campbell offered divergent views of the All Aboard Florida proposal.

Scott's populist take asserted that local opponents "will not be bullied into submission by the corporate behemoths whose high-risk venture will put our citizens' lives at risk and destroy our communities."

MC Commissioner Anne Scott points out "many unjust and irregular aspects" of AAF. #TCOpinion https://t.co/0mcfuIuhXE pic.twitter.com/VrWDAExUlY  TCPalm (@TCPalm) April 8, 2016

But Campbell's realist take noted "the establishment has laid the groundwork to bring All Aboard Florida to fruition" by hiring lobbyists and donating money to politicians.

Though AAF needs to secure 17 permits and approvals from six state agencies, how realistic is it to believe the heads of those agencies  who report to Gov. Rick Scott, a passive proponent of AAF  will derail the plan?

Doesn't this mirror the political debate taking place at the national level, as populist candidacies Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders take on "the establishment," and that establishment pulls the strings and maneuvers behind the scene to neutralize the challenge?

What many might not realize is Scott and Campbell actually are on the same side of the issue, believing AAF would be detrimental to the Treasure Coast.

It's not a matter of whether that "should" lead to the defeat of the proposal. The question is, given the amount of money spread around  how could it?

The give-and-take between local residents and government entities about AAF is largely just for show. #TCOpinion https://t.co/pdn2VswJEJ  TCPalm (@TCPalm) April 10, 2016

Healthier turtles

Florida's green sea turtles have been listed as "endangered" sine 1978, but that's about to change.

The turtles are doing so well they are being reclassified to "threatened," but even with increasing numbers and the status change, federal protections will remain in place.

Along the Treasure Coast, the number of green sea turtle nests has more than doubled from 3,202 in 2011 to 6,868 in 2015, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Statewide, there were 37,341 green sea turtle nests counted last year.

The rising numbers show that protections put in place at the federal, state and local level have worked; as such, even with the species in better shape, those protections remain key to ensure the turtles continue their recovery.
Caption Caption Caption

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By Carl Hiaasen

Hastily rejected first draft of a new TV commercial for the Mossack Fonseca law firm, exposed in the ongoing "Panama Papers" scandal:

Are you worried about being indicted? Or having your bank accounts seized?

Are your friends and associates blabbing to prosecutors?

Or maybe you're just an ordinary deadbeat nephew of an iron-fisted dictator, looking for a safe real-estate investment in the United States?

Come see us at Mossack Fonseca.

We help wealthy weasels hide their money. It's what we do!

Ask around. We're Panama's premier law firm for privacy-seeking movers of cash  and don't worry, we promise not to ask where you got it.

Because we don't want to know. Seriously. Do not tell us.

Let's say you've got your heart set on a $2 million condo on Brickell Avenue in Miami, but you don't want your name on the deed.

Maybe it's a birthday surprise for your wife  or maybe you're worried that people back in Rio won't understand how you can afford such a posh crib on a government minister's salary.

No worries, friend.

Come to Mossack Fonseca, and we'll create an offshore shell company to help you purchase that dream condo.

Shell companies are a great way to hide ownership, and we'll make up a legitimate-sounding name for yours.

(Cut to client testimonial).

I'm Leon Cohen-Levy, and the Mossack Fonseca law firm helped me and my father set up 13 different offshore companies!

One of them was called BlueOcean Finance, which doesn't sound anything like the money-laundering scam it was.

With Mossack Fonseca's help, Dad and I were able to buy a mansion on Miami Beach, a condo on Fisher Island, fancy cars and even a helicopter.

The IRS eventually busted us for a $49 million tax fraud, and we were sentenced to 10 years in the slammer.

But that wasn't Mossack Fonseca's fault. We didn't come right out and tell them we were scumbags.

Four years after we were convicted, the law firm was still listed as the registered agent for our shell companies.

Now that's loyalty!

(Cut back to lawyer spokesperson).

The vast majority of our clients here at Mossack Fonseca are not convicted criminals, we're pretty sure. They're just honest, regular folks with loads of cash they want to invest using a made-up company name, far from the jurisdiction of their country's courts.

As a future client of Mossack Fonseca, you wouldn't ever have to come visit us personally.

In fact, we like dealing with intermediaries, especially other lawyers.

And we have offices all over the world, from Lichtenstein to Uruguay. We've even got a booming operation in Wyoming, where the laws of incorporation are basically a joke.

Think of it as the Cayman Islands, with cows.

Many people come to us because they're interested in prime Florida real estate, one of our specialties.

(Cut to client testimonial).

My name is Helder Rodrigues Zebral. If you've ever been to Brasilia, you might have dined at my trendy steakhouse.

What you probably didn't know was that I've been convicted twice of embezzling public funds and avoiding public bidding.

Yet, between my criminal trials in Brazil, I was able to buy a $1.9 million condo in beautiful Sunny Isles Beach.

Thanks to the hardworking lawyers at Mossack Fonseca, my dream of owning a piece of Florida's Gold Coast came true, leaving virtually no trail of paperwork.

I highly recommend this law firm to anyone who is facing corruption charges and possible confiscation of assets in their home country.

(Cut back to lawyer spokesperson).

The guiding ethical philosophy of Mossack Fonseca is best summarized by co-founder Ramon Fonseca himself, in a recent exchange with The New York Times:

"We are like a car factory who sells its car to a dealer (a lawyer for example), and he sells it to a lady that hits someone.

The factory is not responsible for what is done with the car."

So, whether you're a restless Russian oligarch, an indicted Wall Street financier, or the new prime minister of Iceland, we here at Mossack Fonseca make this solemn commitment:

We really don't care what you do with the "car" we sell you.

We'll park it offshore, and happily look the other way.

Call us today, at 1-800-LOOPHOLE.

Carl Hiaasen is a columnist for the Miami Herald. Readers may write to him at: The Miami Herald, 3511 N.W. 91 Avenue, Doral, Fla. 33172; email: chiaasen@miamiherald.com.
The recently concluded Huawei Cloud Congress 2016 orchestrated by one of the worlds leading ICT companies, Huawei was succesfully held in Mumbai this year. The Cloud Congress focused on Transforming with Cloud while being aptly themed Make IT Simple, Make Business Agile. The event saw a gathering of over 200+ attendees, including industry experts and opinion leaders from key Organizations like Relaince , TATA, Vodafone, Idea who gathered to discuss the latest trends in the Cloud technology.

Several discussions were held on a wide range of topics like the latest trends in Information technology, transformation opportunities in the Cloud era and how Cloud computing plays an integral role in a carriers digital transformation.

Huawei Demonstrated its latest offerings in cloud solutions and showcased how its products like the Fusion resource pool and high end storage servers can enable cloud networks for the enhanced functioning of modern applications like 4K televisions, video on demand and user created applications. The benefits of the cloud interface on fields like Healthcare, SMEs and Traditional Telecom & IT organizations were also discussed at length.

Chandan Kumar, Director, Marketing and Integrated Solutions, Huawei said, We are constantly working towards innovating range of Product & Solutions for both Carriers & Large Enterprises to enable a true experience for their end customers. We are already working with large enterprise and now also in the initial phases of working with Indian carriers to deploy our Cloud Solution Capabilities.  TRANSFORMATION towards a DIGITAL EXPERIENCE & how to make businesses agile truly reflects the main idea of this years Huawei Cloud Congress, India 2016

Huawei has been communicating with more than 400 carriers worldwide, and is well aware of the pain points and issues in their road to digital transformation. As the strategic partner for lot of global carriers, Huawei will together  BUILD A BETTER CONNECTED WORLD  with operators as they transform digitally.

Huawei entered the cloud computing market in 2010. Since then, it has invested heavily in technological R&D and product innovation to promote industry development and act as a catalyst for transformation. Mr. David Li, Head of India Sales for Huawei commenting on the Open ROADS strategy said, With consumers demanding more personalized and innovative digital services, a superior user experience is becoming critical to global carrier success.

Encompassing five fundamental characteristics  Real-time, On-demand, All-online, DIY, and Social ROADS encapsulates Huaweis definition and vision for the ultimate user experience. IT is the foundation for digital businesses. From a landing point of view, cloud data centers are the core support and foundation for digital transformation. We advocate a comprehensive cloud strategy for carriers businesses, operations and networks.

At HCC India, Huawei shared its Strategy for Digital Transformation and how cloud is enabling this digital transformation for carriers across the globe . It also shared what can be considered for operators in India Market and how they can transform their services with Could. Huawei had deployed more than 1.4 million VMs in 108 countries and regions, serving over 2500 customers in the government and public sector in addition to telecom, energy, finance, and other industries. By the end of December 2015, Huawei had established 660 data centers around the world, including 255 cloud data centers.

Huawei IT & Cloud Solutions helped Huawei see remarkable improvements in the Gartner Magic Quadrant rankings and enabled Huawei to become one of the worlds leading IT providers. Huawei was added to the Gartner Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure thanks to its FusionSphere cloud OS, and was included in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integrated Systems with the FusionCube hyper-converged infrastructure as well. HCC India this year was divided into two parts; Starting digital transformation, Diving into solutions and best practices of digital transformation. The 1st session saw experts speaking on what could be the Strategy for Transformation and some success cases across the world which huawei has with leading operators in different countries. and the 2nd session saw how huaweis products & solutions can enable ROADS to Agile Digital Operations,; how Converged Resource Pool is the KEY to Meet the Demands of the Operators IT Infrastructure Platform and how DC Consolidation & Migration can be efficiently be done for Carriers Infrastructure.

@ Technuter.com News Service
five reasons for gifting yourself or your new graduate with Sonys latest flagship series









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Well, allow me to share with you this informative article courtesy of our friends at Sony Philippines regarding their top-of-the-lineAndroid smartphones and how these stellar devices can fit the needs and meet the desires of our fresh graduates:Graduation may be over but the adventure is just beginning. For most graduating Filipinos, life outside the academe brings opportunities to rediscover themselves, acquire new skills, and take on a new and challenging world ahead of them. Todays graduates need not fret as they have the latest technologies to help them in this new chapter in their lives.Smartphones like the brand new Sony Xperia Z5 Sony Xperia Z5 Compact , and Sony Xperia Z5 Premium can help todays graduates ease the fear of taking on real world challenges. They offer a perfect combination of business and leisure, reminding us that our work and life can be better balanced. Capture professional and personal milestones with the best camera in an Android smartphone found only in the Sony Xperia Z5 family of devices. The Z5 series family of devices goes beyond just technology and provides ease into a lifestyle that new graduates need to jumpstart professional careers.Here are- New grads can face the world with fresh eyes, thanks to Xperias 23 mega-pixel camera. Document exciting moments with your new colleagues with the Z5 series camera, which delivers the fastest autofocus in a smartphone with a ground-breaking speed of just 0.03 seconds (faster than the blink of a human eye!) to catch split-second moments with ease.Capture clear moments even at night with the latest advancements in low-light photography, making dim photos better with less noise and less blur. Sonys SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode will enable shake-free videos. The 5x Clear Image Zoom allow getting closer to subjects with no compromise to photo quality.- Grads dont need to worry about recharging when faced with back to back to back interviews. Both the Z5 and Z5 Compact are equipped with Sonys incredible up to two-day battery stamina and innovative power-saving technology, which gives superior long-lasting battery performance. Hook it up with the Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 (UCH10) and get 5.5 hours usage with just 10 minutes of charging.- Seize the day with Xperia Z5 series combination of powerful hardware and elegant design. The Xperia Z5 family of devices comes in a range of fashionable colors.The Xperia Z5 flagship phone comes in sleek white, classic black, stunning gold, and luscious green to match any grads OOOTD (Office Outfit of The Day). The Xperia Z5 Compact comes in black, white, coral, and yellow, while the Xperia Z5 Premium comes in black, gold, and eye-catching chrome.Take the Z5 series smartphones anywhere. Not only are these next-generation smartphones comfortable to hold, they are also waterproof for everyday convenience.- Give your graduate the first class treatment by letting them see images the way they are meant to be viewed: vivid, stunning, and striking. With Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, experience four times the resolution of full HD. Third-party content, be it video or photos, can be upscaled to near 4k quality for their viewing pleasure.Grads can keep all their special university moments close to their hearts, thanks to Sony. The Z5 series also allows them to store all their important files, favorite videos, and stunning photos with its 4k file size that gives up to 200 GB of storage  memories all the way from freshman year that they dont have to get rid of.- Keep the gaming in life despite a grads busy schedule of sending resumes and attending interviews. Xperia Z5 series is the only smartphone that has PS4 Remote Play Capabilities. Simply connect the Xperia Z5 series device to the PS4 via home Wi-Fi and use the DUALSHOCK 4 Wireless Controller to ensure not missing a minute of the action.says, Product Marketing Officer for Sony Mobile Philippines.She added,
Since its release back in mid-2014, the Logitech G502 Proteus Core has found itself permanently attached to my gaming rig. By now I have a pretty good idea of just how solid it is, having run the thing around my mouse pad for two years. I try to tell myself I don't have time for computer games but obviously that hasn't been working -- just last week I was forced to replace the feet of my G502, so it has some miles on the clock.

Looking back at our review, we gave the G502 a high score of 90 with the only real complaints being the lack of wireless support and the low-profile design, which might not suit those that prefer a palm grip. Everything else was spot on; the features, performance, price and overall look did it for us.

For the longest time I gamed using the Logitech Performance MX and although it wasn't as good as many of the preferred wired solutions, I couldn't part with it. Not having to deal with the attached cable, which for me didn't feel nearly as good, I stuck with the wireless Performance MX and risked input lag, albeit minuscule input lag.

Still, the G502 was so good it convinced me to go back to the cord, though the dream would be to own a mouse as responsive as the G502 without a wire attached. That dream has now been realized with Logitech's new G900 Chaos Spectrum wireless gaming mouse.

The G900 has been redesigned from the ground up to not just be a great wireless gaming mouse, but rather the best gaming mouse money can buy period. At $150, the G900 costs about twice as much as you might typically spend on a gaming mouse, but Logitech assures us that it's worth every cent.

Design & Features

The Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum has been designed with an emphasis on weight, or rather reducing it as much as possible. Every aspect has been scrutinized to remove fractions of grams, from the thin wall molding to the hollow "spoked" hyper-fast scroll wheel design. The result is a wireless mouse that weighs just 107g, which should make it comfortable to use over long periods while delivering quicker response to motion.

The G900 looks impressive and is very comfortable to hold. Whereas the G502 was designed exclusively for right-hand users with that nice big thumb rest on the left side, the G900 is targeting a wider audience with an ambidextrous design, something we are seeing more as of late from high-end gaming mice.

In conjunction with the symmetrical design are included magnetic button covers that allow gamers to truly transform the G900 into a left- or right-handed mouse. Although the G900 is 11% narrower when compared to the G520, Logitech claims it boasts a non-prescriptive grip that accommodates a variety of palm, claw and fingertip holds.

Admittedly I was confused by this at first, until I realized that at least 15mm of the G502's girth is accounted for by the thumb rest. Still that only makes the G900 a little over half a centimeter wider, but this does seem to make all the difference as it certainly feels like there is a lot more mouse to grab a hold of. Length and height-wise, both the G502 and G900 are virtually identical.

The G900 measures 130mm long, 67mm wide and 40mm tall while tipping the scales at just 107 grams, even lighter than the 121 grams of the G502 (168 grams if you included the permanently attached cable) thanks to those weight saving elements we mentioned earlier.

Logitech knows that everyone has their own gaming style and so the G900 is fully customizable. Its surface tuning calibration is an interesting feature that Logitech calls 'Delta Zero' technology, which lets gamers tune the mouse's sensor to work efficiently on any surface. Whether you prefer your mouse pads hard or soft, light or dark, you can expect the best possible tracking response.

The G900 contains a 720 mAh rechargeable lithium-polymer battery that lasts a claimed 24 hours of continuous use with the mouse's default LED lighting scheme and 32 hours with the lights off. This was difficult to gauge when testing, but based on my heavy use scenario I would estimate gamers will get at least a week between charges with the LED lights on, which admittedly isn't much.

The G900's battery also takes two hours to charge, though it can be used as a wired mouse while charging, which isn't really an issue. Logitech supplies a nice braided cable with a custom molded connector and while it looks cool, any micro USB cable can charge the mouse.

At its heart, the G900 features the PMW3366 sensor, Logitech's state-of-the-art optical gaming sensor with exclusive clock-tuning technology. This is widely accepted by enthusiasts and professionals as the best gaming mouse sensor on the market and works just as well with wireless connectivity as it does wired. It has zero smoothing or filtering across the entire DPI range (200-12,000 DPI), delivering exceptional tracking accuracy and consistent responsiveness at any speed.

The buttons of the G900 have been engineered to deliver a crisp, clean click feel with rapid click. A metal spring tensioning system and mechanical pivoting hinges are built into the main left and right clickers. This design reduces the pre-travel distance between the buttons and switches, while also minimizing the force required to click, enabling faster recovery after each click.

Those who want custom buttons for certain games will enjoy the fact that the G900 offers almost a dozen programmable controls thanks to a 32-bit ARM processor controlling the Chaos Spectrum's onboard memory.

There are 11 programmable controls, and while the mouse works well in its default configuration, there are certain situations where gamers will want to change things. Logitech allows gamers to set up one-button triggers, put push-to-talk in easier reach, temporarily down-shift DPI for sniping and reassign any command or macro.

Using the software gamers can also set the lighting color and brightness to match their style, system and environment from a palette of up to 16.8 million colors. Cool effects such as breathing light patterns are available and you can set the G900 lighting to sleep when you aren't using your system.

A nifty feature is the dual-mode hyper-fast scroll wheel with on-the-fly DPS adjustments. This is an updated version of Logitech's exclusive dual-mode scroll wheel that gives gamers an enhanced click-to-click precision when scrolling as well as blazing scrolling speeds for surfing the Internet with the looser secondary mode.

Fans of first person shooters will appreciate on-the-fly DPI shifting when changing from fast-paced close quarters action to slower more precise sniping. This feature allows gamers to make the right move with up to five DPI settings that range anywhere from the pixel-precise 200 DPI to a lightning-fast 12,000 DPI, with three buttons in easy reach of your thumb.

Obviously, that 12,000 DPI sensor is the main event of the G900, allowing the mouse to track movement at 300 inches per second with up to 40G of acceleration.

Finally, the G900 is backed by a two-year limited hardware warranty which we feel is a little short for a $150 gaming mouse. Hell, we think even the G502's three-year warranty would have been a bit stingy on this premium product and to me, two-year coverage says Logitech isn't confident in the battery going the distance, which is a real concern.
Brazil, South Africa, India and China on April 7 had expressed opposition towards any move from aviation authorities proposing carbon emission tax on airlines.

Collectively known as the BASIC countries, these nations believe that the proposed carbon emission tax by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would only place unfair economic burden on developing countries.

The concern emerged during the two-day BASIC meeting, where they voiced out concerns over the ICAO's recent proposal that details its plan to limit the aviation sector's carbon emission thru a market-based mechanism.

Although ICAO was not part of the landmark Paris climate agreement in December, the organization is schedule to meet in September to finalize plans for taxation.

Union Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar, India's representative during the BASIC meeting, said they oppose the move because of its impact on developing countries.

Specifically, Javadekar said the ICAO's Global Market Based Measures (GMBM) would affect the still-maturing aviation market in these developing countries.

With that, he said they have asked the ICAO to create a GMBM that aligns with the spirit of the Paris agreement.

All 195 countries that adapted the Paris climate deal are expected to take steps voluntarily as per their national climate action plan, which they had submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

However, the Paris climate agreement did not mention any emission cuts in the aviation sector.

The BASIC group's meeting is ahead of the formal signing ceremony of the Paris climate agreement, which will take place on Earth day, April 22, in New York.

Representatives of the four BASIC nations will sign the agreement, while United States Secretary of State John Kerry is set to sign the deal.

"This agreement represents the best chance we've had to save the one planet that we've got," said U.S. President Barack Obama.

The BASIC meeting in India was attended by Brazil's Antonio Marcondes, South Africa's Maesela Kekana, and China's Xie Zhenhua.

All ministers urged developed countries to increase levels of financial support with a complete road map to achieve the goal of jointly providing $100 billion per year within five years. They also reiterated the importance of implementing pre-2020 actions in building trust among the countries.

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A 10-minute in-depth conversation can lower transgender prejudice, a new study suggested. Findings can help address the widespread discrimination as well as the high homicidal rate linked to these biases.

In the study, two researchers from the University of California, Berkeley tried the 'deep canvassing' method, which is commonly used in political campaigns, to see the people's thoughts on transgender rights.

But compared to the conventional canvassing method, the researchers decided on a more intimate approach. They engaged registered voters in a 10- to 15-minute in-depth conversation about transgender individuals.

During the conversations, they asked the votes to reflect on their own past, personal experiences wherein they felt they were not treated fairly because they perceived as different.

Majority of the 56 trained canvassers were from SAVE, a Florida-based LGBT advocacy group, and some were transgender themselves. The canvassers talked to 501 registered voters during the study period.

"We help voters remember and then speak aloud their own real lived experience that is most analogous to the experience at hand," said David Fleischer, the Los Angeles LGBT Center's Leadership LAB director.

After the quick but in-depth conversation, the voters answered the same questionnaire they've completed prior to the deep canvassing. These questions asked them to gauge how they felt - positively or negatively - towards transgender individuals on a scale of 0 to 100.

The voters who had personal experiences on biases had more positive views towards transgender people on average. The study found that deep canvassing managed to change the views of about 1 in 10 voters. The researchers noted that the findings were "greater than Americans' average decrease in homophobia from 1998 to 2012."

They found that deep canvassing was effective across various demographics and the 10- to 15-minute conversations worked well over time. Six weeks after the initial canvassing, the canvassers showed the votes advertisements that were anti-transgender but the deep canvassing stayed strong.

In a 2015 poll from the University of Illinois Springfield, researchers found that 81 percent of Americans expressed that transgender individuals deserve the same protection and rights as the non-transgender people.

The research was published in the Science journal on April 8.

Photo: Pedro Ribeiro Simoes | Flickr

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The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 has garnered a number of reviews praising its design and battery performance, among other features, for its price range.

Competitors LeEco, Huawei, Lenovo and Coolpad should be wary of Xiaomi's flagship phablet as it boasts optimal features that, more often than not, beat those of its rivals. The current Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, also referred to as "Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro" by its developers, houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 Chipset that has been earlier released in India during one of the company's so-called "Flash Sales." Its previous version, released earlier in China, had contained a MediaTek Helio X10 processor.

Let's take a closer look at the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 through the eyes of reviewers.

Build Quality And Design

The metal rear of the phablet has been sand-blasted to give the phone a sleek and flowy design. Most sites applauded its design as it gives the phone a more premium look that hides the fact that it's cheaper than most leading brands.

Its edges are also curved in, disguising its dimensions of 150 x 76 x 8.7 millimeters (5.91 x 2.99 x 0.34 inches) that would require both hands for comfortable use. Marie Brewis from PC Advisor notes that there's an "easily accessible" one-hand feature "that lets you shrink down the contents of the screen to 4.5-, 4- or even 3.5 [inches]."

The phone weighs about 164 grams, or 5.8 ounces, which according to Abhimanyu Ghoshal from The Next Web is evenly balanced throughout the phone to give it a lighter feel.

A chrome strip runs around the phablet's front side, which should protect the screen from face-down situations and which Nimish Sawant from Digit notices as "quite thoughtful."

Android Authority's Bailey Stein comments on the "convincingly colored" plastic touches on the phone's upper and lower side, which may provide easier grips for landscape use while its more practical uses allow for a greater signal reception.

Display

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 boasts a 5.5-inch display with 1,920 x 1,080 resolution and 403 ppi. The screen's colors can be adjusted to warm and cold situations, and there is also a "Sunlight Display" feature that automatically adjusts the screen in sunny outdoors. Brewis notes how they like the "effect" created by the black borders around the edges of the phone's screen, despite the device's "slim" bezels.

Stein remarks that the screen's display is "quite good overall" but is a bit lacking in the contrast and display departments compared to other devices within this price range.

The absence of a Corning Gorilla Glass means the phone may be susceptible to scratching. The Times of India's Debashis Sarkar recommends a screen guard, also noting that the screen is "quite reflective."

Rajat Agrawal of BGR Media reports otherwise, saying that Xiaomi developers swear on the screen's protection capability, which they attest to as being equivalent to Corning standards. Xiaomi says the quality will be the same across all batches.

Sawant noticed that the screen is susceptible to smudges, which although quite easy to wipe off, still proved to be a bit "annoying." He also adds that the IPS LCD display has a "good contrast ratio" and has "decent black levels."

Sound

The Note 3 Pro's speaker is at the rear bottom, which most sites did not approve of. Most of the back of the phone is flat, considering that camera and fingerprint sensors on other devices are usually extended, save for a little protruding mark placed below the speakers. This was placed intentionally to let the sound out when the phone is laid on its back.

Ghoshal observed that the sound produced by the phone lacks the loudness it needs for music on the go but would easily fit indoor situations when it is used for viewing videos. Sound adjustments can be made using the "Sound Levels" feature of the phone to fit certain conditions.

Stein also adds that "while [the Note 3] may get reasonably loud," the sound quality may get a little "tinny" and "somewhat distorted."

CPU Performance

Upgraded from last year's MediaTek Helio X10 processor, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 now uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 1.8 Ghz hexacore processor combined with an Adreno 510 GPU. There are two RAM variants to choose from, 2 GB or 3 GB. These enable the phablet to endure any multitasking conditions effortlessly and play most HD games quite well.

Its fingerprint scanner, which can be used for locking and unlocking, as well as snapping photos and even locking apps, works in about 0.3 seconds according to developers, and reviewers can attest to that.

Those who use their phone for games do not need to worry about lagging issues as the phone can handle games like Hitman: Sniper, Relic Run, Total War Battles: Kingdom and Asphalt.

Sarkar notes, however, that the 3 GB RAM variant's idle state only allows about 1.5 GB RAM, so he advises that gamers should go for the 3 GB model instead of the 2 GB one. Some heating can also arise from continuous use but overall, it doesn't impact performance.

A few bugs that Sarkar noticed are the phone's SIM card detection issues and the slow-loading user interface. The SIM card issue puts the phone in airplane mode without notifying the user whenever the phone is turned on or restarted, or even after turning off airplane mode.

The phone can handle 4G networks and has good network coverage. Sawant shares that in one instance, he used the phone in an elevator and experienced no network issues. This, according to him, is "speaking a lot." Sawant also recommends that users finish all their tasks on the phone before rebooting for an update as this takes quite some time.

Battery

The Redmi Note 3 houses a non-replaceable, built-in, 4,050 mAh battery, which is the "densest" available for Xiaomi. Average users can use the phone for more than a day with Wi-Fi and 3G turned on. It takes around 4 hours to fully charge, but because of fast charging, the device charges to 50 percent in about an hour.

The phone also has "Performance" and "Balanced" modes for its battery usage, wherein "Performance" improves stability while "Balanced" lessens the impact of usage on the battery charge.

Stein calls the battery life "impressive," and Agrawal claims that the Redmi Note 3 is "the best smartphone" people on-the-go canhave as it eliminates the constant need to be near an electrical socket or carry a power bank.

Camera

The device has a 16-megapixel PDAF f/2.0 five-element lens rear camera outfitted with a dual-tone LED Flash and a 5-megapixel f/2.0 selfie camera.

Reviews collectively agreed that while the rear camera works sufficiently well in daylight, poorly lit subjects, nighttime shoots and dark conditions adversely affect the camera. Autofocus capabilities take a while to recognize objects and most of the time, the camera produces poor-quality pictures.

On the other hand, Sarkar remarks that the front camera can take "quality selfies," which uses face recognition and can be tweaked with beauty enhancement options. Ghoshal adds that the front camera can take sharp pictures outside and "even under artificial light."

Software And Features

Xiaomi uses its own custom OS based on Android, called MIUI. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 uses the current MIUI 7 that was built on Android 5.1. It features 15,000 UI themes, "XXL Text" display and is 30 percent faster and 25 percent more efficient than its predecessor. It also has "Child Mode Whitelisting and Restrictions" and "Baby Picture Detection" albums.

Stein remarks that MIUI is "one of the most polished skins" currently available on the market because of its number of customizable themes and features. He also adds that the MIUI is "smooth and snappy overall."

Ghoshal notes, though, that the custom OS lacks features to automatically organize apps and users have to rely on folders to manually organize their contents.

Others patiently await if the MIUI 7 is evidently planned for an upgrade to the newer Android Marshmallow, which can further boost the phone's battery with the Doze mode.

Pricing And Availability

While past models of the Redmi Note 3 became available in China last year and the updated version was previously launched in India on March 3 this year, other countries can only order through third-party programs, like GearBest for the UK, to get their hands on a unit. Prices may change depending on import and export prices offered through these sites.

The current Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is priced at around Rs 9,999 or about $150 for the 2 GB RAM/16 GB ROM variant and Rs 11,999 or about $180 for the 3 GB RAM/32 GB ROM variant in India.

Conclusion

Stein lists the pros and cons of the current "Pro" version:

PROS CONS Excellent design and build quality No U.S. availability Impressive battery life Camera is still about average for the price Great software experience Display is lacking a bit in contrast and saturation Very good performance Fast and accurate fingerprint reader Includes an IR blaster for controlling household appliances Great sunlight readability Excellent call quality

Different ratings gathered are:

Category/Source Android Authority 10/10 Tech2.com 10/10 PC Advisor 5/5 Build and Design 9 7.5 4.5 Features 8 4 Display 8 7 Software 8 7.5 Performance 9 7.5 4.5 Camera 7 6.5 Battery Life 9 8.5 Value for Money 4.5 Overall 8.5 7.5 4.5

To conclude, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3's overall features trump its lacking qualities in the camera department. Its long battery life, smooth performance, custom OS, and premium build makes the unit one of the industry's leading phablet brands within this price range.

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A UFO watcher spotted a millennium falcon-like metal object while watching a NASA live feed from the International Space Station, drawing questions and pushing the space agency to explain.

The so-called metal spaceship is said to look like it belongs to a Star Wars production set. However, NASA has yet to confirm anything.

Surprising Experience

Among the UFO watchers who got a firsthand experience of seeing the metal object was 20-year-old Jadon Beeson from Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, United Kingdom.

Beeson was watching the live stream footage on his phone on April 5 when he unexpectedly noticed a bizarre-looking object in the background of the actual clip.

He took a closer look and realized that a metal object is above the Earth. He further describes it as having a blue glow and that it remained in its spot for approximately two minutes.

"I thought it was all very strange," he says.

Beeson was able to get a screenshot of what he saw. He sent the photo to NASA, along with his message of inquiry and request for explanation. Up until now, the space agency has not yet responded or made a statement.

The Millennium Falcon-like Metal Object

Beeson described the object as having similar features with the Millennium Falcon, which is one of the spaceships in the Star Wars movies. He adds that it can also pass as an object from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a 1977 fantasy movie whose main characters attempted to contact aliens.

He considers the object very strange, but admits that he has no idea about what it really was. He then hopes that experts can help him find out.

Live Feed Cut

The live feed, which may be viewed from the NASA app for free, was cut short after the suspected UFO surfaced from the gadget screens of Earthlings looking intently at the footage at that time. Such move by the space agency sparks controversies, especially because it has not provided any explanation yet.

This is not the first time that NASA cut its live feed from the ISS. In 2015, people saw what look like UFOs zooming away from the Earth. What's strange is that NASA cut the feed in the middle of the broadcast.

Such action of NASA raises allegations that it is trying to cover up the presence of possible UFOs lurking near the planet.

Photo: Vladimir Pustovit | Flickr

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A survey of the rare Bawean warty pig (Sus blouchi) on Indonesia's Bawean Island suggests that the animal deserves to be designated as endangered.

In a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE, Mark Rademaker, from VHL University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, and colleagues reported that fewer than 250 of the rare pigs remain.

The pigs cannot be found elsewhere on Earth and until now, researchers only rely on museum specimens and information from local islanders to understand the behavior of the animal and gauge its conservation status.

The pigs are characterized by distinctive markings. The females look very similar to wild boar while the males have three pairs of big warts on each side of the face.

The researchers were able to get a better idea of the animal's status by setting up camera traps at 100 locations on the island. Based on the videos, the researchers estimated that the island is home to between 172 and 377 Bawean warty pigs making the animals the rarest pig species in the world.

The footage also revealed when the pigs are most active and where they prefer to live. The animals were found to be most active after dark looking for food on forest land. The forests where the pigs forage hold roots and tubers, which provide high-energy nourishment for the pigs.

With such a small population, the researchers said that the Bawean warty pig needs to be listed in the IUCN Red List as endangered albeit the pig's low population is not unexpected.

Because the pigs live on a small island with very little forest cover, the animals often forage in agricultural fields and community forests. Researchers said this raises concern as this may increase the likelihood of the animals getting into conflict with farmers around the area, which could result in trappings and killings.

"On behalf of the IUCN/SSC Wild Pig Specialist Group we conducted this assessment and concluded that the species should be listed as Endangered, primarily because of a population size estimated to number fewer than 250 mature individuals," the researchers wrote. "This information may further assist in effective future conservation planning for S. blouchi."

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Our modern human ancestors had interbred with Neanderthals hundreds of thousands of years ago, passing on about 99.5 percent of the same DNA.

Despite the overlapping genes, the lineage of both modern humans and Neanderthals have been kept apart, and it's all rooted to genetic incompatibilities.

A study led by researchers from Stanford University revealed that modern humans are genetically mismatched with our ancient relatives because of a missing chromosome fragment in males: the Neanderthal Y chromosome.

The differences may have caused a "dead end" between Neanderthals and modern humans, genetically separating both groups.

Genetic Incompatibilities Discouraged Interbreeding

Neanderthal genes have been incorporated into our own, specifically on our X chromosomes.

Neanderthal DNA has been linked to people's susceptibility to allergies, as well as to the increased risks for depression and nicotine addiction.

Now, in the new study, Stanford researchers examined the Y chromosome from a 49,000-year-old male Neanderthal discovered in the El Sidron cave in Spain. They compared it with that of chimps, and archaic and modern humans.

Turns out, the Neanderthal Y chromosome has seemingly gone extinct without leaving a trace in human DNA.

Although the missing gene could have just drifted out of the modern human gene pool, scientists say there is also another possible explanation for this distinction.

If Neanderthals and modern humans often interbred, the Neanderthal Y chromosome could have created conditions that might have often led to miscarriages, experts said. The hybrid offspring who carried the Neanderthal Y chromosome could have also been infertile.

Stanford researcher Fernando Mendez and his colleagues found mutations in four genes that could have hindered the process of passing the Y chromosome onto hybrid children. Mendez said these mutations could have played a role in the loss of Neanderthal Y chromosome.

"We should pay attention to the potential role of immune incompatibilities in population isolation," said Mendez.

Mendez and his team said male fetuses who were fathered by Neanderthal males and carried in the womb by human females would have miscarried.

One of the mutations was found in the gene KDM5D, which contributes to cancer suppression. It has been linked to higher risks of miscarriage because it can trigger an immune response in pregnant women.

Mendez said a woman's immune system may target a male fetus that carried the Neanderthal Y chromosome, specifically the H-Y genes, which are minor antigens that resemble HLA antigens. The latter is often transplanted by surgeons to ensure that recipients and organ donors have similar immune profiles.

Evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel said this could very well be the reason why the Neanderthal Y chromosome is not present in modern humans. It could be the factor that keeps both species separate from each other.

The findings of the study are featured in The American Journal of Human Genetics.

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The planet's axis has moved eastward toward England and climate change may have contributed to this shift. Scientists, however, are keen in determining the causes that affect the shifting of the planet's axis.

In a new study by NASA, scientists have included Antarctica's melting ice sheets as a contributory factor in the Earth's rotation shift. This adds up to the previous work that considers the impact of Greenland's melting ice sheet.

The scientists looked into decades-worth of data to see whether the dramatic changes like melting ice sheet and changes in the planet's hydrology are caused by natural phenomena or are human-induced.

Climate Change Affects Global Temperatures

Scientists who study the planet's well-being see indisputable evidence that the Earth is getting warmer. Many believe that human activity like burning fossil fuels and the resulting buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are to blame for drastic changes on the planet.

Aside from the increasing temperatures of the planet's oceans, they have noticed the retreat and changes in the distribution of ice across the globe.

For instance, scientists observed the rapidly increasing water levels from Greenland's melted ice sheets. However, the new study pointed out that the melting of ice sheets in Antarctica has contributed to increasing water levels too.

Continental Water Is Also Affected

Continental water plays an important role in the dynamics of the Earth system. Availability of water on land regulates the presence of water and energy into the atmosphere which results in changes in the planet's climate.

Global warming that has caused the melting of ice glaciers has increased the water levels across the globe.

The distribution of continental water is vital to the stability of global hydrology, ecology and climate dynamics. Water circulates on the globe in a predictable pattern; changes in the oceans conveyer belt could affect not only the climate, but also the planet's axis.

Shifting Of The Planet's Axis

In the new study by NASA scientists, the planet's axis has shifted sharply to the east and is now drifting almost twice as fast as before, with a rate of about 7 inches (17 centimeters).

The scientists suggested that Greenland and Antarctica's mass of ice sheet have been rapidly melting that has caused the eastward shift of the spin axis. One contributory factor of this change is the movement of water through daily processes.

The calculations showed that the movement of North Pole has not only been caused by changes in Greenland alone, but also, Antarctica's loss of ice mass. These changes in ice sheets have caused a gigantic amount of energy needed to pull the planet's axis as far it has shifted.

For years, the North Pole shifted back and forth from east to west. Its trend, however, had it moving toward Canada. Starting 2000, the trend had a major shift as it moves steadily eastward toward the Prime Meridian that passes across England.

Photo: Claire Rowland | Flickr

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About $5 per person a year could avert the crisis of millions of child and maternal deaths in poor nations, according to a new report.

According to John Hopkins researchers, 4 million lives could be saved each year by targeting 90 percent of target groups with maternal and child health services, including pregnancy care, improved childhood nutrition, and treatment of malaria and other life-threatening infections. The improved healthcare services could prevent 1.5 million infant deaths, nearly 1,500 maternal deaths, and almost 850,000 stillbirths every year.

These basic services, researchers added, should be expanded in the 74 poor countries that take up a massive 95 percent of annual maternal and child death toll worldwide.

While death rates for children under age 5 were slashed in half during the last 25 years, about 6 million newborns and children died in 2015 alone, along with 2.6 million stillborns and 300,000 pregnant women.

"Many of these deaths could be prevented if high-impact and affordable solutions reached the populations that needed them most," says lead researcher and international health professor Dr. Robert Black.

The team, for instance, estimated that over 1.5 million lives could be saved annually by preventing 28 million unwanted births.

In the study, the researchers analyzed three important health care packages: maternal and newborn health, child health, and reproductive health. It appeared that services from these packages with the most significant impact included managing malnutrition, promoting pre-term birth care, providing contraception, managing labor and delivery, and treating serious infections.

These three health care packages, they explained, could be quickly scaled up to almost all people in need through investing $6.2 billion in low-income nations, $12.4 billion in lower middle-income nations, and $8 billion in upper-middle income ones. This translates to just $4.7 average overall investment per person.

Community workers and primary health facilities can deliver most of these services and therefore reduce the cost of expanded coverage, adds Black, pinpointing additional benefits such as enhanced cognitive development in children due to better nutrition.

Arijit Nandi, a professor at McGill University in Canada, lauded the findings potential yet mentioned barriers to implementing them, including the lack of resources and facilities for immunization.

[T]heres persistent gender discrimination that can prevent women from availing themselves of family planning, he warns, emphasizing the inadequate control over healthcare decisions and the possibility of being unable to travel outside the home and access the services.

Black says the report, which was published by the World Bank, will hopefully influence grant support as well as UN agencies and their partners. The provided costs are expected to slightly increase by 2035 when the population increases.

The findings were published on April 9 in the journal The Lancet and presented at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health conference held in San Francisco.

Photo: CDC Global | Flickr

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Harry Potter fans who were watching the MTV Movie Awards on April 10 were in luck as Eddie Redmayne-Newt Scamander himself-gave everyone a magical treat when he revealed the latest teaser trailer for the first installment in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them trilogy.

Fans of the Harry Potter franchise have been waiting to know more about the film adaptation of author J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them but all that was released were a few exclusive photos and a less than 2-minute teaser trailer that begins with Newt Scamander casting "Lumos Maxima" and ends with a partly destroyed room where Newt discovers that his briefcase was not as tightly sealed as he hoped. But now we finally have more.

In the latest teaser, we discover a little more about the popular Magizoologist, Newt Scamander, and his ties to Hogwarts. A voice of someone who seems to be speaking to Newt recounts his not-so-good reputation as a student of Hogwarts who was kicked out for endangering lives because of a magical beast. The voice also mentions the name of a great wizard we all know who stood up for Newt and was against his explulsion: Albus Dumbledore.

While we learn about Newt's past, we see him on a ship with his suitcase, doing magical things like herbology or non-magical things like waiting in line inside what seems to be a muggle bank. The voiceover ends with Newt at the port being questioned by an officer before gaining entrance to New York. He also pulls a quick trick with his briefcase to make it seem normal. What else could a wizard with a briefcase full of magical creatures do but ensure that the muggle would see only what he was meant to see  plus that obvious Hufflepuff scarf that deserves to be mentioned?

We are then taken to see more of the 1920s New York that Newt stumbled into. Newt and his companions rush towards a hidden doorway concealed by a brick wall  much like the passage to Diagon Alley behind the Leaky Cauldron. Newt and Jacob Kowalski enter what seems to be the home of the Goldstein sisters, and Jacob is in awe of the floating dinnerware, wizards apparating and two magical creatures making an appearance.

Despite the seriousness of much of the trailer, it ends in a humorous note with Scamander, who is probably unable to sleep, opening his briefcase and entering it in front of a very astonished Jacob. He also whistles and signals for the No-Maj to follow him inside and we can just imagine Jacob wondering if he's already going crazy.

Watch the full teaser trailer below!



Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them apparates in cinemas on Nov. 18.

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A mother warms a large rock over hot coals and rubs it against each of the breasts of her 10-year-old daughter, and the child squirms and screams in pain. The mother repeats the process for days until the breasts look flat and almost diminished. This ritual is practiced in the United Kingdom.

Also known as breast flattening, breast ironing is one of the forms of female mutilation practiced in different African countries, particularly in Cameroon where about 50 percent of girls experience it during their pre- and early adolescence, according to United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

The ritual involves heating a spatula, hammer, coconut shell, or rock then rubbing, massaging, or pressing it to the breasts repeatedly until they look flat. The objective is to prevent young women from becoming victims of rape, sexual harassment, and other forms of sexual abuse by making sexual characteristics, such as developing breasts, less obvious.

In the UK, the ritual has been detected in London and Birmingham among African communities that brought over the tradition from their countries of origin and have passed it on to succeeding generations.

The effects of breast ironing, which range from missing breasts to tissue damage and cancer, are debilitating, contended Conservative Jake Berry, MP for Rossendale and Darwen. However, not one of the perpetrators, who are often mothers, has ever been arrested for the offense.

As it turns out, "15 percent of police forces are unaware of this barbaric practice happening in our communities, and 38 percent of the forces admitted they required more guidance to tackle it," said a post in Berry's official website.

While the UK has already passed several measures against female genital mutilation, there's no clear regulation on breast ironing, forcing the police to work on whatever existing criminal offense is available to them.

Based on the Freedom of Information request obtained by Berry, no more than 25 percent of children's services in the country know how to deal with incidents of breast ironing, although about two-thirds of them would like to be trained for it.

Berry calls on the government to "acknowledge the practice of breast ironing by giving it further recognition as a criminal offense," so the abusers will be prosecuted and the practice stopped.

He also urges the government to collaborate with healthcare facilities like hospitals, which can be requested to report cases of breast ironing to "shine a light" on the matter.

In the meantime, groups such as CAME Women and Girls Development Organisation (CAWOGIDO) have been working relentlessly against gender-based violence, such as breast ironing, helping over 1,000 women in their cause.

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Hitachi unveiled its latest creation, EMIEW3, the humanoid helper robot, last April 8. The new kid on the block is designed for commercial purposes and expected to hit the market in 2018.

The company first began its experiments with helper robots a decade ago, and now in 2016, EMIEW3 marks Hitachi's most commercially viable creation, being the third of the series.

This android on wheels is programmed to run at a maximum speed of 6 kph (or about 3.7 mph), unlike its strongest competitor, Pepper, Softbank's answer to humanoid robots, which can assume a maximum speed of only 2 kph (or 1.2 mph). Designed to assist people in stores and public places, particularly tourists, it now has around four languages fed into the system, with cameras and microphones feeding data into its environs.

After unveiling the machine, Hitachi conducted a demonstration that successfully showcased how quickly the robot responds to questions and identifies the change in language.

"Is there something I can help you with?" the robot, after surveying its surroundings, asked the actress playing a lost foreigner. The question asked in default Japanese was responded to in English by the woman, "Where is the tourist information?" The robot was seen to quickly change its language and lead the "tourist" to her destination.

Built with a remote brain configuration and the latest voice and language processing technology that figures out external voices, image and languages, even amid a loud background, the 33-pound android can thus identify customers looking for help and autonomously approach them with assistance. A definite upgrade over its predecessors, the humanoid helper robot also knows how to slow down while rounding corners and can reinstate its standing position on being knocked over.

While the Japanese companies may have mastered the creation of humanoid robots, each striving to break through to the commercial segment, Hitachi has nailed it with its latest creation that has a competitive edge as a real-world-situations expert. The company plans to extend its EMIEW3 services beyond Japan after its slated launch in 2018. And why not? This faster and supremely intelligent helper is likely to be seen in most public places like hospitals, stations, and airports with ready assistance in just a few years' time.





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What if you could have your photos edited by professionals for free? Hippo Pic, the new app for iOS devices, is created to do just that.

The collaborative app, created by Elizabeth Pritts, is designed to connect individuals to photographers and editors to generate eye-pleasing photos. It debuted on the App Store on March 12, and you don't have to be a photography professional to get use out of it.

As soon as you log in, you can submit a photo from your Camera Roll to be reviewed and edited by the pros. Hippo Pic encourages individuals to send over unedited, raw photos that give professionals the most leeway while editing. Additionally, landscapes, architecture and creative portraits are recommended over selfies and blurry food photos.

Once the photo is in Hippo Pic, professionals can start editing it and turning it into a work of art. Then, it's posted to the Hippo Pic feed, where other users can marvel at the editor's work. To show the full transformation, Hippo Pic also has a feature that allows individuals to see how the photo was changed by tapping and holding the image on the screen.

At the very least, Hippo Pic can be a fun app for those who crave eye candy when they're using their iOS device. The Hippo Pic app has a feed that allows users to scroll through the edited works once they're complete, showcasing the efforts of photography professionals.

Individuals who want to be editors for Hippo Pic can register directly through the app or contact the developer directly. Prospective editors will be asked to submit their Instagram profiles or portfolios to prove their worth before being added to the team.

Those who just want to stick to photo submissions maintain the ability to delete photos from the app at any time. Even after a picture has been edited, you can delete it from Hippo Pic, if you so choose.

Hippo Pic may not be for everyone, but those who want to get a taste of what they'll find on the app can visit the developer's Instagram page. There, you will find a slew of edited photos and collaborations to whet the palette of digital photography lovers everywhere.

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No lights? It's all right.

Ford recently flexed major muscle with its Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicle  without headlights  being able to navigate on dark desert roads with nothing but its LiDAR sensors.

In the pitch black of Ford's Arizona Proving ground, the company's self-driving research vehicle's LiDAR sensors were able to work with the car's virtual driver software to steer "flawlessly around winding roads," according to the automaker. The experiment drove home Ford's point that, although it's ideal to be equipped with all three modes of sensors  including radar, cameras and LiDAR  the latter can function alone on roads without stoplights.

The test marks a huge success, as Ford was quick to point out a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistic finding the passenger vehicle occupant fatality rate during nighttime hours to be about three times higher than that of daytime rates.

Thanks to LiDAR, the test cars arent reliant on the sun shining, nor cameras detecting painted white lines on the asphalt, Jim McBride, Ford's technical leader for autonomous vehicles, said in a company press release statement Monday. In fact, LiDAR allows autonomous cars to drive just as well in the dark as they do in the light of day.

So, how did Ford get the job done? Its research vehicle used high-resolution 3D maps and LiDAR pulses to pinpoint itself on the maps in real-time. During the test, Ford engineers wore night-vision goggles, monitoring the Fusion's path via interior and exterior views, while its LiDAR sensors shot out 2.8 laser pulses a second.

Inside the car, I could feel it moving, but when I looked out the window, I only saw darkness, Wayne Williams, a research scientist and engineer with Ford, said. As I rode in the back seat, I was following the cars progression in real time using computer monitoring. Sure enough, it stayed precisely on track along those winding roads.

As announced during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 in Las Vegas this past January, Ford is tripling its autonomous vehicle testing this year, aiming to put nearly 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid sedans on roads in California, Arizona and Michigan.

Mark this down as a testing achievement for sure.

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The news of Dr. Phil McGraw appearing on Monday Night Raw live from Los Angeles tonight might be a head-scratcher for most of the WWE Universe.

However, fear not  the host and executive producer of the top daytime talk show Dr. Phil could actually be of help to WWE's roster, which is afflicted by a bevy of problems.

Here, we pinpoint five situations that Dr. Phil can help WWE's roster on Raw tonight. After all, McGraw is Raw!

Vince McMahon-Shane McMahon Power Struggle For Raw

Vince McMahon gave his son control of Monday Night Raw last week for the crucial after-WrestleMania show. Now, the question is: will Shane-O-Mac keep control of the company's flagship show a week after lighting it up with an impressive influx of NXT talent? We smell a power struggle, and who better than Dr. Phil to get to the bottom of it?

If not for rights to pull the reins of Raw, at least McGraw could tackle Vince disowning his son and relegating him to the last word in the S.O.B. acronym. This strained father-son relationship needs all the help it can get.

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon Reasserting Themselves

There's no doubt that Triple H losing the WWE World Heavyweight title to Roman Reigns last weekend at WrestleMania 32 had him and his wife, Stephanie, losing some of their power overseeing the action, allowing a battered Shane McMahon to sneak in and run Raw.

Now, it's time for Triple H and Stephanie to reassert themselves and grab some of their power back. In order to do so, they might need to sit down with McGraw for a heart to heart and some self-fulfilling prophecy.

League of Nations Chemistry Issues

Rumored to be walking away from the company this summer, King Barrett was rather unceremoniously kicked out of his own faction last Monday night, when his League of Nations brethren attacked him after a loss to the New Day. Currently in season 14 of his show, which has also been renewed through 2020, McGraw will need to handle all the ornery personalities of the crew like only he can. Hey, Dr. Phil ... just don't get too close to Rusev. That could get ugly.

John Cena's Identity Crisis

For months  if not, years  John Cena has walked the fine line of being a babyface who relishes in the hate of being a heel without fully crossing over to the other side. It remains WWE's biggest identity crisis, one that needs McGraw's input. It's high time that Cena sit down with Dr. Phil and is totally honest with who he is and how he'd like to be viewed by the WWE Universe. It's now or never, John. Get the help you need. It starts with you.

The Wyatt Family Staying at the Forefront of WWE Storylines

They're arguably the darkest bunch WWE has, deriving pleasure from others' pain. However, there's no doubt that the Wyatt Family, especially its leader Bray, has an insatiable hunger to be among the top in the business, having a hand in its most significant outcomes.

That's where you'd add Dr. Phil and have him delve into what nobody else has been able to  the psyche of Bray and what makes him and his Wyatts tick. Godspeed, Dr. Phil.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Game of Thrones season five may have ended with the death of Jon Snow, but it is certain there will be plenty more deaths to come, if the latest trailer for season six of the show is any indication.

The trailer picks up shortly after Snow's death, as the brothers of the Night's Watch are divided on what to do next. There is a ton of new footage here and a ton for fans to break down, so we'll go over the highlights.

For starters, it looks like all-out-war is about to go down between the Lannisters and the radical Faith's Militant. Jaime threatens to kill their leader, and later in the trailer, we see armed Lannister guards facing off against the priests on the steps of the Sept of Baelor in King's Landing.

Up North, Bran looks to be having some kind of vision with the help of the Three-Eyed Raven. Across the sea, we see Arya continue her training as a Faceless man, as she carves off faces, spars with her mentors and is told that she has been given a second chance.

This trailer also focuses on Daenerys and her dragons. Dany looks to have been captured by another Khal, but we suspect her dragons may give her ultimate control of the situation. In her absence, Tyrion and the others must figure out what to do with the two remaining dragons chained up under the city of Meeren.

Looks like Theon will return home to the Iron Islands, and the Boltons are preparing for war with the Wildlings, though why exactly remains unclear. We even get yet another glimpse at the Night King, the leader of the White Walkers. Looks like they are preparing for war too, of which Davos warns the Night's Watch.

The final scene shows Tyrion investigating the dragon prison himself, an encounter that might not go too well for the fan-favorite character.

It's a lot to take in, but it certainly looks like this season will be one of the most action-packed yet. You can check out the trailer for yourself below.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
If you have seen Netflix's Snapchat today, you probably already know that the streaming service is on a press tour in France with some of its actors that star in its series. What better place than France to announce the premiere date of its upcoming original series Marseille, starring French actor Gerard Depardieu?

During its conference in Paris on Monday, Netflix announced the dates of the series coming and returning to the platform in the next few months, including Marseille, Marco Polo and The Crown.

The new House of Cards-like original series Marseille will premiere on May 5 at 12:01 a.m. CET globally. The series is about the city's mayor, Robert Taro (Gerard Depardieu), who attempts to sway the vote in his favor when it comes to adding a casino in the historic center. Of course, nothing is easy when it comes to politics, and the series will feature characters that are willing to go to extremes to get what they want.

Written by executive producer Dan Franck, Marseille co-stars Nadia Fares, Stephane Caillard, Jean-Rene Privat and Guillaume Arnault. Florent Siri is in the director's chair for episodes 1 to 4, with Thomas Gilou directing episodes 5 through 8.

Netflix announced that season 2 of Marco Polo will launch globally on July 1, and will be available to stream in 4K. Season 2 will consist of 10 episodes that will follow the explorer's adventures in Kublai Khan's court in China during the 13th century.

The series was created by John Fusco and stars Lorenzo Richelmy as Marco Polo, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong and Joan Chen.

The following video only reveals the date and nothing more than fire, but we expect "an empire will burn."

Another buzzed-about original series about to make its way on the streaming service is The Crown. Netflix revealed that its 10-episode first season will premiere on Friday, Nov. 4, and will also be available in 4K.

Director Stephen Daldry and writer Peter Morgan team up once again in The Crown, which stars Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II, Matt Smith as Prime Phillip, John Lithgow as Sir Winston Churchill and Jared Harris as King George VI.

The series follows the story of the young newlyweds, as Elizabeth takes the crown to take over a new era in politics.

"Prepare to be welcomed into the coveted world of power and privilege and behind locked doors in Westminster and Buckingham Palace ... the leaders of an empire await," Netflix writes in the series' description.

Although not part of the press conference announcements, Netflix also released a date announcement trailer for Bloodlines. Season 2 of the series will premiere on Friday, May 27, with 10 episodes to be available to binge-watch in 4K resolution.

Bloodline comes from the creators of Damages, and stars Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn and Linda Cardellini. It follows a family that must face its secrets when one of the black sheep brothers comes home. In season 2, the family must try to cover up a crime.



Source: Netflix

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Top Programming Languages That Will Bag You A Top Notch Job

With several programming languages available in the market, it is very important to choose the ones that can help you plan your future or plan your development teams. There are constant lists about programming languages that come out every year.

TIOBE, a Netherlands-based company is one such company that keeps a regular list of the most commonly used languages and assesses code for quality. The companys list not only shows the relative popular languages that it is testing currently, but also a good picture of the development market as it exists right now.

Another way to figure out which programming languages are currently hot in the market is looking at the companies graph for hiring programmers, which in turn gives us a peek into the future.

Toptal is a company that acts as a broker between developers and the companies that want to hire them. It has a list of the most popular languages used in hiring searches  a list that doesnt directly track to the TIOBE list.

Alvaro Oliveira, VP of talent operations for Toptal said according to their list that the No. 1 language that the companies are searching for is Swift. Swift is new, so its expected for its growth to be way higher than any other languages, Oliveira said. Its also the language that has allowed a lot of people to join the iOS market.

According to Oliveira, Swifts growth is coming from two sources: Those moving their programming from Objective C, and those coming into the iOS development market for the first time. The iOS programming market was always held back by Objective C, which is a language that a lot of people found uninviting, he said. But then Swift came along and was much easier.

The other language at the top of Toptals chart is HTML. For any web project, HTML is going to be there. Whether its a Ruby on Rails or Rython job, HTML will be there. It shows that Web pages are still in demand, Oliveira said.

Lets have a look at the languages most commonly used in March 2016.

Java

For the last three years, Java has been an important business programming language for companies, which is no surprise. Its one of the top languages taught in university computer science programs and known by everyone. Its both adaptable and powerful, as long as you dont have to reach down to simple metal for your application.

And if you do need to reach down to bare metal, theres always 

C

C has come a long way from the time when it started life telling long-distance telephone switches how to work. For the last decades, it has been almost near the top of the popular programs list, and doesnt really show any indication of slowing down. If you need to cut through all the APIs and SDKs and directly influence the hardware itself, then C is powerful and the next best thing to assembler.

Of course, C is a procedural language, which places it one step above carving code into stone for many developers.

If you want the power of C in an object-oriented package, you can always turn to 

C++

In the early 1980s, Bjarne Stroustrup developed a pre-processor that gave C classes and objects, and he called it C++. Its a cliche to say that the rest is history, but really, there it is.

Since the mid-1980, C++ has given a strong competition to C, and long since been developed as its own language rather than a simple pre-processor for its foundation language. This is another language that is regularly taught in universities.

However, if you need to write code similar to C++ but specifically enhanced for a Microsoft environment, you can turn to.

C#

Microsoft made a tactical decision to develop a language based on C in 2000, which was enhanced for the .NET environment. And the outcome was C#. C# (pronounced C sharp) is an object oriented language, which with the help of C-like syntax makes it possible to create well engineered code. Maybe most important for many developers, C# is tied tightly to the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI), which allows a program to be written and compiled once, then executed on multiple different platforms.

There are additional ways to run applications on a number of different hardware platforms.

One of them is to base the application on a Web interface, which brings us to

Python

One of the languages that divides the difference between being a scripting language and a full programming language is Python. Python is most often used with a powerful framework that allows it to build powerful applications in specific markets. The fact that it rarely stands alone is the thing that most often drives Python over the line into full programming.

While Python doesnt need the involvement of internet, but theres a good chance that you will find Python wherever you find an advanced Web application.

And in several of those advanced Web applications, you will also find 

PHP

PHP is used as a general-purpose programming language that has crossed over as another scripting language in many organizations. In comparison to Python, PHP is more closely connected to a browser, although it can also live inside a number of application management systems and frameworks.

PHP is an interpreted language, which is a point in favor of keeping it in the scripting language camp for those who keep track of such things. Rather than as the result of a standards effort, it has grown organically which reflects in some of its quirks. In spite of all this, if your aim is to make a living in the software development world, then PHP ranks highly on most lists of languages you should know.

If your corner of the software development world is surrounded by Microsoft, in addition to C# you probably want to learn 

Visual Basic [.Net]

The name Visual Basic.Net is outdated, as it made sense at the turn of the millennium, when Microsoft was trying to differentiate the language that was part of its .Net framework from what had come before.

Visual Basic is a perfectly suited language for building business process applications, especially if you want those applications to include functionality or an interface from one of the Microsoft Office applications.

Instead of a personal productivity application, if you are interested in a browser interface, then you should look at 

Javascript

Everyone knows that Java and Javascript are not related to each other. Coming just behind HTML in ubiquity, Javascript is one of the foundation languages of the Web. By iteslf, Javascript isnt going to live outside a browser interface, though it is likely to condense that interface in a program that doesnt have to invoke a full browser instance every time it runs.

As time goes on, Javascript is becoming more entirely functional with server-side implementations with Javascript in virtual machines taking it step-by-step away from the browser.

Though, in general, its a scripting language that carries a Web heritage with it. In that regard its rather like 

Perl

A language that pre-dates the Web by half a decade, Perl yet has got connected with advanced Web applications. The connection is mainly because Perl is wonderful at working with text and text objects stored in databases. Despite being clumsy and occasionally ruthless, it is good: Two words mostly used to explain Perls method to development are chainsaw and duct tape.

Mostly used for scripts, Perl is an interpreted language that holds snippets of larger applications together. While it is doubtful one can make a career out of Perl alone, it is however necessary that this language should be in every developers toolkit.

The same applies to

Ruby

Ruby is not primarily a scripting language unlike many of the languages mentioned above. Rather, it is an object-oriented, compiled, full-featured programming language with a syntax that should be known to anyone who is acquainted with Python or Perl.

Ruby has been used to code frameworks and controllers, most notably Ruby on Rails, which offers structures for Web pages, databases, and other complex applications. While they are not the same, the two share language and hence should not be confused for one another.

Besides, the programming languages mentioned above, there are also React and React Native. React is the Javascript framework that lets you build applications with a Facebook interface. A further extension of the concept, React Native allows you to build iOS and Android (and even set-top box) apps with Javascript.

These two frameworks are seen as an incredible growth in the number of companies seeking for programming talent said Alvaro Oliveira. Given their foundation, they make a convincing case for learning Javascript and then adding React as a way to enhance your chances of getting recruited in 2016 and 2017.

What other languages do you think programmers should know? If you think we have missed out any of the languages in the list, please feel free to mention in the comments section below.
The Conagua indicated that the atmospheric phenomenon registered maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 165 kilometers per hour. | Read More
TRS Govt misusing official machinery: Congress

Hyderabad, April 11 (INN): TPCC Chief Spokesperson Dr. Sravan Dasoju has accused the TRS Government of misusing official machinery for the training camp of party corporators.



In a media statement, Sravan strongly condemned Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for organising the TRS corporators' training camp at the cost of State's exchequer. He asked the government to furnish the details of expenditure being incurred on organising three-day training camp in a private resort. "Training new legislators or corporators is not a new practice. If KCR was serious then he should have conducted the training camp for corporators belonging to all political parties. What sin the corporators of other parties have committed that they were deprived of this training?" he asked.



Sravan accused KCR of making a bid to turn GHMC into TRS Bhavan. "The Chief Minister is trying to give an impression that no other party, except TRS, exists in the State. He must treat all corporators equally if he truly believes in democracy and participative development," he said.



The Congress leader also slammed the senior officials for attending the training camp. "The behaviour of IAS officials is highly condemnable. They must not get inclined towards the ruling party for whatever be the reason. They owe an explanation on the grounds on which they took part in the training camp of TRS corporators,' he said. He asked whether GHMC Commissioner Dr. Janardhan Reddy, HMWSSB MD Dana Kishore, Hyderabad Police Commissioner M. Mahender Reddy and other senior officials will attend a similar training camp if conducted by Congress or other opposition parties.



Sravan asked senior officials to do a serious introspection on their behaviour. He said All India Service officials are public servants and not the "servants of ruling party". They enjoy a high status in the society and they should not stoop down to the level of bowing down before the leaders of a ruling party. "Either they should restrain from attending political meetings or resign from their posts to officially join the TRS," he said.









News Posted: 11 April, 2016








Telangana Govt launches e-Stamps module

Hyderabad, April 11 (INN): The Telangana Government on Monday launched e-Stamps (e-Stamp duty in Telangana Assessment, Management & Payment System) module to replace existing system of payment of stamp duty, transfer duty, registration fee and other sums through challan into designated bank.



The e-Stamps module was launched by Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Mohammed Mahmood Ali at D-Block Conference Hall in the State Secretariat. Principal Secretary S.K. Joshi, Commissioner & IG Ahmed Nadeem, GCM SBH Vishwanadh and other senior officials were also present.



Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy CM informed that the Registration Department is registering around 10 lakh documents per annum. In the new State of Telangana, the department stood at 3rd revenue earner in the financial year 2015-16, collecting Rs. 3100 crore for government in the form of stamp duty and registration fee and around Rs. 650 crore for local bodies in the form of transfer duty. Total revenue earned was Rs. 3,750 crore with a growth of 24% over 2014-15. Therefore, there was a need to modernise the assessment, management and collection mechanism of stamp duty and other charges, keeping in mind the Citizen's comfort and financial prosperity of the State, he said.



The Deputy CM said under the e-Stamps module payment could be made through online or offline channels, as per convenience of the citizens. In the online method, the citizen can pay registration charges through net banking, debit card, credit card or IMPS through department web portal http://registration.telangana.gov.in. Offline payment can be made into any of the 900+ branches of SBH in the State. He said there was no scope for any manipulations in challans and online verification by Sub-Registrar is possible. Further, there is no need for maintenance of manual records either in Sub Registrar offices or in bank. It will lead to enhanced security for the government and convenience of the citizen, he said.









News Posted: 11 April, 2016








OUCET 2016 notification released

Hyderabad, April 11 (INN): The notification for Osmania University Common Entrance Test 2016 has been released here on Monday.



Speaking to media person, OU Post-Graduate Admissions Director Prof. Gopal Reddy informed that students could apply online for various courses from 13th April to 7th May. Besides Osmania University, the students could also apply for admissions into the campus colleges and affiliated institutions of Telangana University, Palamuru University and Mahatma Gandhi University. Graduates can apply for MA, M.Com, MSc, MLIC (5-year course) and PG Diploma course.









News Posted: 11 April, 2016








Govt will improve education standards: Dy CM

Hyderabad, April 11 (INN): Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari on Monday said that the State Government would take all measures to improve the standard and quality of education in Telangana State.



Addressing a review meeting with the senior officials, Kadiyam directed them to make arrangements for online admissions into degree first year from this academic year. He also asked them to prepare educational profiles at mandal levels. He said bio-metric system of attendance should be introduced in all junior, degree and pharmacy colleges across the State.



Kadiyam also directed the officials to ensure installation of CC cameras in all institutions by 13th June. He said that the government would take a decision on fee in private schools within a week.









News Posted: 11 April, 2016








Testing positive for HIV is a traumatic event for most people in Vietnam, one that prompts thoughts of suicide and all too often, actual attempts to end it all.

The social stigma and ostracism that people are subjected to, as well as several misconceptions about the infection, seen typically as a death sentence, drive reactions and responses of those who are afflicted as well as their loved ones.

Local doctors are advising those who test positive for HIV not to become despondent and take drastic action because the condition can be treated now.

They also say that it is possible that the tests are not accurate.

Doctor Le Manh Hung, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Tropical Diseases Hospital, said HIV/AIDS is no longer a big threat thanks to medical innovations, and that an HIV infection does not mean the end of ones life.

First thing is to calm down, dont ever think about suicide, Hung said.

He said Health Ministry regulations require three positive tests on one blood sample before it can be determined that a person is infected.

If only one test has shown the person is negative, the tests have to be repeated two weeks later before any conclusion can be reached.

The doctor said errors have been recorded in labeling the samples or even faulty technical performances that have altered the sample content.

Homes have been wrecked because people have accepted HIV test results in haste.

Le Quang Danh from the central province of Ha Tinh was ostracized by his family and neighbors when he came home with a HIV positive result early this year.

He had undergone a health check at a local medical clinic to gather documents needed for him to work in South Korea. He had got the job after waiting for a long time and spending a lot of money on procedures.

News spread fast in the rural neighborhood that he lived in, and by the time he returned home from the clinic, practically the whole village had gathered at his door, and his wife was in tears, struggling to keep herself together.

A couple of days later, his two children, including the elder one, who had been among the provinces most gifted students for years, insisted on dropping out of school because their friends teased and shunned them.

Danh said he knew he had engaged in no risky behavior, so he had himself tested again at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, where he tested negative for the virus.

He brought the news home but no one believed him, and losing confidence himself, Danh left home to work in Ho Chi Minh City, working at construction sites and saving money to get an HIV test done every three months at a major hospital.

After three more tests came back negative, he went home and demanded that commune authorities publicly clear his name.

The hostility against his family died out soon after. But his children had already dropped out of school. The elder daughter had begun working for a factory near Ho Chi Minh City and her brother had found work as a porter at a border gate in the province.

Dang Thai Chinh, 25, of HCMC, had to cancel her wedding when her fiance broke up with her after she tested positive for HIV following a routine reproductive health check.

He immediately married another woman who had been following him for sometime.

The shock of the diagnosis and sickness caused Chinh to have pneumonia, which only confirmed the test results in her mind and that of her relatives.

However, when she sought treatment at the Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital in HCMCs District 5, she found she never had HIV. This was confirmed by several subsequent tests at different places.

Her former fiance, whod had an unhappy marriage and was divorced, wanted to get back with her, but she rejected his proposal.

A survey of diagnostic tests done at HCMC hospitals in 2013 found 12.2 percent of biochemical test results were erroneous, as were 9 percent of blood tests, and 7.5 percent of immunity tests, according to officials at the Center for Standardization and Quality Control.

Tran Huu Tam, director of the center, said a large number of labs at district-level hospitals as well as private labs failed to comply with Health Ministry regulations, especially regarding diagnostic quality.

Nguyen Thi Nguyet, 32, lost a lot to the HIV stigma after she was informed that she had tested positive for the virus.

The HCMC resident, now proven clean, miscarried twice and aborted a deformed embryo in its fourth month during her five-year marriage.

Nguyet fears that the HIV treatments that she sought could have affected her babies, but she never dared discussed it with her husband.

Nguyetd had sex with different boyfriends before her marriage.

When one of her ex-lovers died of HIV/AIDS, her fiance cancelled their wedding.

Nguyet herself was on the verge of committing suicide after she underwent a test and was told she had been infected with the virus.

She said a friend stopped her from killing herself, and took her regularly to a HIV/AIDS treatment facility twice a week.

No further tests were done to see if the first test was accurate.

Nguyet was given pills and injections, which caused her pains and seizures, sometimes high fever and faint fits.

After six months, the doctor asked her to take a blood test to see what her condition was, and the result came in negative, as did tests that she underwent later at 10 different hospitals and clinics.

She got married and gave birth to a premature baby when she was 28. The 4-year-old girl now weighs just eight kilograms.
The past week has demonstrated one of the most durable and yet under-recognised rules of politics: A person who writes a novel with a sex scene will never be prime minister.

The latest lab-rat to prove the rule is poor Dennis Jensen, the not-for-much-longer Liberal Member for Tangney in Western Australia, who was shown the door by preselectors in his safe seat last weekend. The result was a knife-edge affair. OK, possibly a blunt knife: Seven votes for Jensen, 57 against.

Dennis Jensen, Liberal Member for Tangney.

Jensen is suing The Australian newspaper for publishing, days out from the vote, an excerpt of his unpublished novel Sky Warrior, which he pitched to publishers nine years ago hoping it would become an anonymous smash hit. He slightly undermined the anonymity by using his parliamentary letterhead, a decision he has since conceded may have been a misstep.

"Yasmine didn't believe in wearing bras; in fact, she really didn't need to wear them as her breasts were still as firm as they had been in her late teens," reads one passage of the work, a geopolitical thriller with China and Indonesia in the baddie role.
That was before a Syrian refugee  an inhabitant of the house  confessed to the crime.

Local politicians in the city of Bingen were shocked and immediately set up a pro-refugee march to advocate for tolerance.

One of the many units housing refugees and migrants across Germany. Some refugees are not happy with the accommodation. Credit:AP

Someone had sprayed a swastika on one of the house's walls, which made investigators believe that they were dealing with right-wing extremism.

When a house used to shelter refugees was burned down in an arson attack last week, there seemed to be no doubt about the motives behind it.

According to police, the 26-year old had lived in the house for more than six months and wanted to express his dissatisfaction with the accommodation, which he described as cramped. He has since been jailed, as investigators search for explanations and evidence.

A similar scene played out in the town of Winsen in the state of Lower Saxony on Sunday. There, a 17-year-old allegedly set on fire an asylum centre where he and more than 20 others lived. Nobody was injured in the attack.

Both incidents are likely to fuel anti-refugee tensions in Germany, which have risen since Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to open the borders for Syrian refugees last year. More than one million people arrived in the country last year alone.

Although the number of daily arrivals has significantly decreased in recent months, the fallout continues to shape German politics. The Alternative for Deutschland party celebrated major successes in regional state elections and is currently the third most popular party on a national level, according to polls.

The two main traditional political parties  Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats  have lost public support as a consequence. On Monday, the Social Democratic Prime Minister of the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, was quick to condemn the attack in Bingen but defended blaming right-wing extremists for the crime last week.
A court has cleared the path for a woman to sue Calvary Hospital for negligence after she claimed she was likely to be infertile after abdominal surgery a decade ago.

The woman alleged her appendix was torn and bowel contents contaminated her abdominal cavity, reproductive organs and other internal organs when a doctor operated on her at the hospital as a 14-year-old in 2006.

The woman claims surgery she underwent at Calvary Hospital as a teenager left her likely to be infertile. Credit:Melissa Adams

She has since launched legal action against Calvary Health Care in the ACT Supreme Court, claiming hospital staff breached their duty of care and caused her injury, loss or damage.

The hospital applied to have the case dealt with by summary judgment, which would bypass a trial, or struck out of court on the grounds that the claim was made more than six years after the surgery. That delay meant the case fell outside the ACT's statute of limitations, the hospital said.
A Virgin pilot who failed a breath test before he was due to fly out of Canberra with 96 passengers has lost a bid to clear his name.

The pilot was selected for the test at Canberra Airport at about 8am on the morning of his birthday in August 2013.

A Virgin pilot has lost an appeal against his conviction for being over the limit before a commercial flight. Credit:Kate Geraghty

He had just arrived and was in the Virgin crew area sitting at a computer when a Civil Aviation Safety Authority officer approached him.

The pilot was due to later fly a commercial flight between Canberra, Brisbane, and Townsville with up to 96 passengers on board.
CITIC's Australian arm lowered its 2014 tax bill by using related parties in places like Bermuda, at the same time as it received government subsidies for the Portland aluminium smelter.

CITIC Resources is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange but incorporated in tax haven Bermuda.

Portland Aluminium smelter.

It is independent of CITIC Pacific, which has faced massive losses and is in a long-running court stoush with mining magnate Clive Palmer.

But both companies belong to the parent, CITIC Group Corporation, which is majority-owned by the Chinese government.
By six Lindsay was diagnosed as "obviously retarded". The "experts" at the Children's Hospital told her "never use sign language" because it would make him lazy and he wouldn't learn to lip-read. Lip-reading would make him appear completely normal, they said, but there was no training at all. He was expected to pick it up naturally. However, he would never look at anyone in the face. At 10 the experts changed their minds and said "sign all you can, communicate with him", but by then it was too late  he'd had years of "silence" and no language. Childhood language-learning years had been lost. He never learned sentences or abstract concepts. For the rest of his life he communicated only in single signs, and only to people he knew well. The family engaged a sign-language tutor because the deaf school on St Kilda Road would not accept him because of his autistic behaviour. Ellen May complained that the government promised to educate all children  except hers. The tutor said Lindsay was learning faster than all his other students, but suddenly stopped coming. In those days teachers couldn't have a job outside the government, and the principal found out he was being paid by the family.

Lindsay's behaviour deteriorated as he became a teenager. The family lived on a bush block in Beaumaris, south of Melbourne. Lindsay would run all over the district with his little dog, and end up in the back of utes and at police stations. His mother and siblings would have to run after him. She couldn't go to the toilet without losing him. If she turned her back he'd tip out all the flour and sugar all over the floor, and he smashed every breakable item in the house. He destroyed all his brother's and sister's schoolbooks and toys, and they had to do their homework at school. At her wits' end Ellen May showed Lindsay an axe and a pile of wood  they only had an open fire for heating  and he took to it like a duck to water. From that day until his death he had a passion for chopping wood. However, his parents' mental health was suffering and they needed relief. In the 1950s Kew Cottages was out of the question because it had a reputation for mistreating its residents and leaving them running around filthy and malnourished. The family had to beg the Christian Brothers at their centre for "retarded boys", Yarra View, to take Lindsay. Established in 1957, the order had about seven Brothers and up to 90 wards at Lilydale. The definition of "retarded" was flexible. There were boys there who had been moved from the notorious Ballarat orphanage simply because they were unruly. Lindsay was the only deaf boy.

He lived at Yarra View for 28 years. Little is known about his time at "The Farm", except that he chopped wood every day. He also developed scoliosis, and by his 20s was called a "hunchback". Shadows on his lungs pointed to the probability he had untreated tuberculosis while there. In the late 1980s, the Victorian Government embarked on a program of taking people out of institutions and placing them in community houses. Instead of sleeping in a dormitory and eating at a trestle table, Lindsay now had his own room and individual meals. He still filled his glass right to the brim, though, because you only got one chance at a drink at The Farm. He also had a habit of drinking lemon juice, and would consume a dozen lemons in a sitting. With personalised care plans and support and a smaller staff-to-client ratio, Lindsay started to form relationships, and became close to two carers in particular, Trish and Lolita. His range of emotions grew and he developed friendships and expressed feelings and lived a fuller life. He entered a facilitated painting program and won second prize at the Lilydale Art Show in 1991, but cared little to show others his work. In the care houses, he was prohibited access to axes and saws. They only had "safe" indoor activities for him such as cooking and drawing. I drew him into my life when I bought my first house. The only other place he could chop would was at his ageing mother's.
If Bill Shorten was seriously wanting a royal commission into the banks, he could have voted for it last year when the Greens put up the idea. But he didn't. So when he changed his mind and called for a royal commission last week, he exposed nothing more than a stunt for the election. He couldn't even dream up a terms of reference and he has no answer to the fact that existing agencies like APRA, the RBA and ASIC have between them as many powers as a royal commission. It would cost more and take longer than existing agencies.

Shorten's approach is not just an example of a party that still worships Ben Chifley who failed in his attempt to nationalise the banks in the late 1940s. It is also exposes a lack of understanding of the importance of banks in a free-enterprise system. Playing games for political purposes to win a few populist votes is just plain irresponsible.

I worked in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a few years and saw first-hand why private sector banks are important. Australia should now leave the EBRD but putting that issue aside, the EBRD did one very important job in the early 1990s. It re-engineered the communist banks that had been behind the Iron Curtain. The days of government, banks which just collected funds from the proletariat to prop up government businesses, was over. The EBRD taught the staff how to run a bank for the benefit of business, large and small, and then listed the newly restructured banks on the stock exchange.

The essential element of the EBRD policy was to reinvigorate the economies of those countries that were kept behind the Iron Curtain by giving them access to the funds they needed to grow their businesses. Instead of being the servants of communist dictatorships, the new system put the customers of business at the centre of the new system. And the banks had to face real competition from other banks who in turn had to answer to their shareholders. .
Today, however, Norgaard appears relaxed  until he begins speaking about his new project, which investigates the way economics has become the new religion, providing the frame of reference we use to make sense of the world.

It's a second edition, printed just one year after the first had sold out in 1994. Norgaard, one of the first environmental economists, is confident about his reputation and can afford to be dismissive. For years he was denied tenure. He'd made the mistake of challenging economic orthodoxy and, in the tight world of academe, his broader views stretching across intellectual disciplines to apply insights from one area in another field often weren't welcome.

He picks up an old, used, blue paperback. It's one of his own books that he's picked up from a second-hand shop. "Let's give it another life," he says, grinning, placing it into my hands. He flicks through, looking at where its one-time owner has underlined sentences, and laughs gently. "I don't think he got much beyond the star here at page 83," he says, before quickly correcting himself. "Oh, no, he started underlining again at page 137. That's OK."

A thick mist blocked the view down through the valley and across the water to San Francisco, but Professor Richard Norgaard just seemed to shrug slightly. He knew the view was there and he's spent a lot of time  it must seem like most of his life, really  aware of things that others can't quite seem to grasp. It's the way we go about making sense of things.

Knowledge  in the sense of a true understanding of the way the world works  is a difficult thing to grab hold of. Today, thanks to the internet and explosion of "knowledge factories" such as universities and think-tanks, you'd think we'd have a full and serious comprehension (far better than ever before) of all the factors that drive society. Instead, we have furious disagreement, even over simple scientific facts such as climate change. Beliefs pose as facts before being injected into public debate, shouting replaces logic, and public opinion becomes the arbiter of correctness.

The problem isn't that we lack facts: it's all to do with the way we construct knowledge. We can, for example, narrowly focus on a particular subject and gain a great deal of understanding about it. Norgaard's book describes how those who have studied an issue closely inevitably become respected specialists in that field (after all, they "know about it").

University learning particularly encourages intensity and detailed focus as research students are steered away from generalisations. Instead, they're urged to make their reputation in one area by establishing their territory with research papers and books in much the same way that animals mark out their territory in a more elemental way. Breadth is replaced by depth.

The point that Norgaard is making is that society needs more. Knowledge is like a patchwork quilt rather than a clean white sheet. He's still pushing the boundaries, making connections, and peering into the future to see what's there. This isn't, unfortunately, the way our society normally works. We're encouraged, instead, to concentrate on the particular and examine the detail rather than make the necessary leap that reveals new insights. The trouble is that no matter how many individual nuggets of knowledge are uncovered, they'll be useless by themselves.

What we need to do to make sense of them is construct a broader model that allows us to incorporate different elements. That's exactly what many subject specialists are not prepared to do. They have invested a great deal of time and effort in establishing their mastery of a particular subject or, as is often the case with think-tanks, have their own particular interpretations and models to push. There's never been a great deal of financial advantage to be gained by rowing against the intellectual tide, because you never know how long you'll have to wait until you can be proved right.
Pardon me boys, is that the Brisbane-to-Melbourne Very Fast Choo-Choo?

Nostalgia is a powerful emotion, and no one is immune to its seductive pull. And sometimes that makes sense - Revolver is an amazing album, Catch-22 is a magnificent classic of 20th century literature, and no-one argues with the established consensus that the greatest film of all time is Jaws: The Revenge - but other times it seems downright weird.

"Man, I wish I was endorsing someone right now." Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

And it is in the latter state that we look at the resurrection of the Very Fast Train, a term that returns like a comet every eight years when desperate prime ministers are out of ideas and urgently need to come up with something big picture that seems olde-worlde enough not to spook conservatives while also green and modern looking enough to look like a bold vision for the nation.

It was first mooted in 1984, when the Hawke government took a CSIRO proposal for an electric train line before everyone decided they couldn't be bothered after all and canned the venture in 1991. But by 1998 PM John Howard was trumpeting the development of a line from Sydney to Canberra for a private sector rail service, which was then was shelved in 2000.
The five Australians including a 60 Minutes crew being held in Beirut over a botched child recovery operation are unlikely to receive "extreme" punishment, a police source in Lebanon has said.

The source said that authorities in the country would likely be sympathetic to Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner's desperation, but stressed it still amounted to kidnapping under Lebanese law.

The source also revealed that a Romanian national who was part of the operation has evaded capture by Lebanese police and remains on the run.
The fate of three 19th-century Highgate Hill houses appears to have been sealed with the Queensland Heritage Council voting against their listing on the state's heritage register.

QHC chairman Peter Coaldrake said the houses, at 18, 20 and 26 Jones Street, did not meet the threshold of heritage significance to Queensland as a whole.

"While we acknowledge the interest of the local community in this matter, the Heritage Council must weigh nominations up against specific criteria and other considerations outlined in the Heritage Act before making a decision," Professor Coaldrake said in a written statement.

Heritage Protection Minister Steven Miles had issued a stop work order in February, after which Department of Environment and Heritage Protection officers assessed the properties' cultural heritage significance.
Four prisoners have managed to overpower eight police officers - hospitalising two - in a bid to break out of a Melbourne police station.

Victoria Police will now conduct an internal review of security following the attempted escaped at the Moorabbin police station on Monday night, but Police Association secretary Ron Iddles says the real issue is police cells being used to house suspected criminals who should be in prison.

The prisoners attacked four police officers who were in the cells to place them on lock-down just after 10pm.

The men assaulted the officers, before one of the prisoners grabbed a bottle of capsicum spray.
If you are diagnosed with cancer, do you have to tell your employer?

And if you've had more than a month on sick leave, is it unreasonable for your bosses to threaten you with dismissal unless you give them more details or pass on your doctor's phone number?

Silver Chef flagged a material fraud event, sending the shares lower on Friday.

In a recent finding, the Fair Work Commission ruled that in both of these instances it is unreasonable for an employer to make these demands of an employee.

The case concerned the executive chef of the Moonee Valley Racing Club, who did not want to disclose that he had cancer in case it led to his dismissal, his lawyer Francessca Lee said.
'Breast is best' is the message driven home to all expecting and new mums. But the breastfeeding journey is not always an easy one for some women.

Now new Perth mothers who wish to breastfeed their babies but struggle to do so have sparked a thriving online market trading the 'liquid gold' - human breast milk  despite mixed reaction from health officials.

Expressed breast milk is being shared by women. Credit:Getty Images

While the concept of wet nurses might conjure up images of well-to-do English families in the 17th century, today feeding a baby with milk from a woman other than its mother is facilitated by social media or online classified websites.

Human Milk 4 Human Babies Western Australia is one of many Facebook pages worldwide connecting women for the purpose of milk sharing in their local area.